For being a supposedly impressive man it was a rather unimpressive house, and Lucius cocked an eyebrow as he studied the plaque on the fence, squinting as the moon barely let any light through the clouds.
"Dr. Nicholas Carner," he mumbled and folded his arms. He'd had enough of doctors recently. All the easier to kill him, he supposed. Though the scourge hadn't specified why it wanted him dead in the first place and that didn't sit well with him.
This isn't some kind of trickery to get me in trouble or accidentally kill an estranged uncle or something I hope?
The crawling sensation bloomed in his chest again and he clenched his jaw to not let the discomfort show.
"I would never guarantee you not getting in trouble, perhaps especially when it's you," the scourge's voice echoed through Lucius' head. "As for the uncle I'd be surprised if you cared even the slightest about relatives at this point."
I guess I'd like to know your motives so I don't end up miserable by doing this.
"You said it'd be easy. That it was just murder."
Lucius sighed, rubbing his temples.
Just answer me.
"It's just for entertainment. When game like you run out of time we usually send new game to hunt you down."
Lucius scowled.
So it's someone who's made a pact with you as well?
"Well, no. Not this time. We're stealing the kill from another scourge."
Lucius couldn't help but let out a snort despite the disturbing conversation. He wasn't fond of the idea of scourges playing around with their patrons' lives like that, but then again they were scourges. What did he expect?
Besides, he'd just cut down anyone who'd come after him.
"I wouldn't let my guard down if I were you just because he's not a... What was it that wolf-beast called you? A glorified thug?"
"Oh?" Lucius mumbled out loud and cocked an eyebrow again as he took a stroll around the area to get a better view of the house, not that it was easy to see through the dark.
"Over the course of the years I've heard he's become a bit... Unhinged."
Unhinged?
"It happens. Some say scourges talking in your head will do that to you."
Lucius shook his head as he scanned the area. He'd believe it.
It was a nicer neighbourhood, sure, but not so nice it'd taken long for Lucius to walk from Fisherman's friend where he'd taken up residence.
So a "nice but also close to the harbor" neighbourhood.
It wasn't an optimal place to break in, he noticed as he'd rounded the house. It was in the middle of a row and no convenient places to hide. The dark was on his side but if he'd learned anything about South Kerilia it was that the streets were never completely empty.
Rounding another corner of the house once again to check for clues in the windows or places to climb up he soon stumbled forward, almost falling over.
"Oh, for the love of—" He spun around, ready to kick the scourgefucking blight cat that kept tripping him, only to realize it was a regular cat scurrying off after the collision.
Lucius pinched his lips together.
Good.
Then he turned around, immediately jumping as he spotted the blight cat just a couple of feet away, staring at him with big, bulging eyes.
Lucius glared back at it. Why did the scourge need to keep an eye on him like this? It seemed as though it could already watch him through his mind and he'd figured the blight only stuck around to physically sway him on occasion.
Turning his attention back to the house again he sighed. There was no stealthy way to get in, was there? He supposed he could always burn the house down and hope the man was inside, but it seemed a bit excessive even for him and there was no guarantee it'd work.
Perhaps approaching him by just knocking on his door would be easier, pretending to be someone of interest and being invited in. He was good with first impressions after all and shouldn't be a subject of suspicion if everything went all right, and it'd give him more of a hint at what to expect on the inside.
He chewed on his lip, gaze wandering from the door of the house to the gate he'd just stared at.
The man was a doctor, he reminded himself as he looked at the plaque, and doctors could always use assistants. Even if he didn't it'd still be a way to approach him.
It was as good of a reason as any, and Lucius shrugged to himself as he walked past the gate.
He frowned as he reached the door however.
It was open. Not just unlocked but someone had just left it ajar, and his frown refused to let up. Was something wrong?
Whether or not it was, it gave him yet another reason to just walk into the house to see if everything was all right with the people who lived there.
He grew cold. What if he didn't live there alone? Chances were he was married, or had children. Lucius couldn't kill children so what would he do if that was the case?
"Hello?" he still called out as he opened the door further. Fortunately, his less stealthy approach was better that way. If things took an unexpected turn he could always leave as if nothing had happened.
As no one answered he stepped inside the entrance hall and had a look around. Things were dark. No candles were lit and he couldn't hear any noises from inside. Perhaps he wasn't home.
He cleared his throat and walked through the entrance into a larger hallway with a thin, steep looking staircase to the left.
"Hello?" he called out again and as there was no answer he let go of the tension in his shoulders. What then? Would he wait until the man came home? It was such a tedious bother. He didn't even know the man, and while he probably wouldn't mind killing him the whole waiting and planning process seemed so excessive. He didn't even care if the man died or not.
"Is this scourge game of yours really that important?" he whispered as he quietly opened a door leading further into the house. "Which one are we stealing from in the first place?"
"That would be the scourge of desire."
"Tixbris?" Lucius arched his eyebrows as he stepped into the next room. His knowledge about the scourges wasn't great, but he was pretty sure that was the one.
A pause, and then a revolting, bone-chilling laughter from the scourge. Lucius made a mental note to never make the scourge laugh again.
"The name?" he asked, already guessing what the scourge was so amused by. "What did the old man even—"
He paused, stopping in his tracks as numerous frames on the wall caught his eye and he turned his head to take a better look.
"That's a lot of diplomas," he whispered, mostly to himself as he took a step closer to the wall to read one of them.
The isle of Wypera's institute for species exploration honour the scientific achievement of Dr. Nicholas Carner, for the discovery of the ghastly badgerabbit.
Lucius held back a snort. A badger what now?
His gaze wandered. A similar diploma, this one for the discovery of a squirbat, the next of an eaglox.
"These are just words for animals mashed together." He shook his head. He had a hard time believing either of those pairings could produce an offspring, so the man was a fraud somehow. Was that what he'd sold his soul for? For some kind of pretended fame? How was he even keeping that charade up?
Another set of frames caught Lucius' attention and his confusion grew.
Art exhibitions? Was he some kind of painter as well? Or sculptor? Regardless, the man had certainly lived a busy life.
He reached the room furthest back of the house. The vague moonlight lit up the room if only a little through the row of windows ahead, and Lucius was grateful to see better.
He paused as an odd feeling of being watched swept over his shoulders and he glanced to the side, having to squint through the gloomy light and immediately regretting doing so.
As if the blight cat usually wasn't enough. Lucius recoiled as a whole array of blight-like beasts looked down at him, all standing in a row on each side of the room.
"What the Waste?" he whispered, letting out a relieved sigh as he confirmed neither of them were moving.
The one closest to him looked like a huge pig, except not. Lucius was pretty sure pigs didn't have the body of a horse, or such an abnormally long neck for that matter.
He grimaced and looked around. All of them were wrong. Each one with grotesque mutations and mounted in threatening poses.
The one next to the pig had two large wolf heads on the body of some kind of large feline animal. At closer inspection Lucius shuddered at the idea that they could actually be werewolf heads, but it was hard to see in the dark.
There were smaller creatures as well, and Lucius frowned as he stopped by a rabbit's head attached to a badger's body.
The badgerabbit.
Clearly they were all animals sewn together, weren't they? He looked around at the room to find the squirbat as well. The man had spliced them and claimed to have found new species, surely.
But he honestly couldn't tell. Perhaps it was the dark or his lacking skills in stuffing creatures but if the idea hadn't been so ridiculous there was a chance he would've believed it as well.
He wondered what the Unity would consider amalgamations like this. Unified, sure... In a very disturbing way. Not that a man who'd sold his soul would care, he supposed.
To his confusion he thought he could spot a different light source from the room next to the one he was standing in. Not just from a window but something akin to a fiery glow, and a chill ran down Lucius' spine. So someone was home after all?
He stepped forward, grateful the floor showed no wish to creak, and looked closer. There was a small window in the room, but the placement wouldn't let much light shine through it and it was hard to make out what was inside. Dark silhouettes indicated either furniture or possibly, to Lucius' disgust, more ghastly animal exhibits.
The one thing he could be certain of was the fireplace straight ahead, but the small embers barely provided any light.
He took another step, cautious to not cause any noises.
"Welcome back."
Lucius' heart stopped as a low, gravelly voice called out through the dark, and a stir in the fireplace allowed the glow to hint at someone sitting in a chair beside it.
Lucius blinked in confusion. Who was back? Did he somehow know this person after all?
"So you've sent another piece." The person slowly rose from the chair, seemingly turning towards the fireplace. "Turning out to be quite the collection by now."
Lucius readied himself, squeezing the knife's handle harder in his hand. The man wasn't talking to him, was he?
"What did you promise them?" A stir in the fire caused the silhouette of the man to appear, and Lucius prepared to step forward. To end it then and there.
"Wealth?" the man continued, picking a piece of glowing coal up from the fireplace with some sort of tool. "Fame? Power?" He scoffed. "And of course they fell for it... Just like we all did."
Lucius opened his mouth but was interrupted before he could speak.
"Lost... Helpless... Wishing for something better than we had," the man continued, and the glow proceeded up in the air. Lucius raised his knife should it suddenly be thrown at him. "Pitiful creatures we are, us humans, falling so easily for your little games... But you know what the most laughable part is?"
The coal was suddenly dropped and a spark ignited just further down, sending a trail of flames along carvings in the room's floor and into what looked like two large incense burners on each side of the door.
"That you keep sending them, one by one, despite knowing all too well what happened to the ones before them."
Lucius failed to suppress a gasp as the area was lit up completely, showing him an entire room filled with yet another array of stuffed creatures.
Humans.
Twisted, mutilated corpses mixed into horrific mutations between human and animal. A man with a missing jaw, hooves where his hands would be and a cow udder on his belly. A woman with leathery arms and a horse's muzzle. Another with a pig's head and four more human arms holding what most likely used to be her own head.
Lucius almost dropped his knife. He couldn't help it. His pulse sped up without his permission and his legs wanted to give out underneath him.
"Oh, such a pretty face." The withered looking man smiled as he laid eyes on him. "It will be perfect."
Lucius drew a deep breath, backing away as quickly as he could manage. His eyes stung. It was almost like his vision was clouded with tears, but he knew he wasn't crying.
"So..." The man began walking towards him, slowly raising the fire poker he'd used for the coal to aim it at Lucius. "... What should I make out of you?"
"Don't come closer!" Lucius warned him. He wanted to just throw the knife and be done with it. Either that or run away. He would've preferred the latter but he knew the scourge wouldn't have it. It had put up with his weakness for too long already.
But his knife wasn't balanced for throwing, and he couldn't risk missing and losing it.
"I—I think you're mistaken," he said as he blinked through the pain in his eyes. "I don't know what you're talking about, or—Or who you're even talking to, because—"
A spine-chilling laughter rung through the air, almost worse than the scourge's nasty voice.
"Do you think I can't sense it?" The man readied his weapon and Lucius threw himself to the side just as it struck through the air. "Do you—" The man paused to chuckle again. "Do you think that—That after forty-three years of hearing them in my head, that I wouldn't know? That I wouldn't know who you were from the moment you approached?"
Lucius wasn't listening. He was already crawling out into the corridor of spliced animals and tried standing up, but the room was spinning. There was no stopping though. He had to get out of reach.
Suddenly he noticed movement just beside him, and his eyes widened as he noticed the stuffed wolf heads turning in his direction.
"Wha—"
Failing to hold back a scream he used all his strength to jump away as the drooling monstrosity snapped its fangs together just inches from his face.
Except it wasn't moving.
Lucius' gaze darted around. Nothing was moving. He'd just imagined it.
The man now standing in the doorway however, was very real.
"I do love the hunt," he said as he studied Lucius' face. "It's just... Easier to see which expression to make permanent."
Lucius pursed his lips together. He wasn't going to be hunted. The man was too slow for him and even if he couldn't abandon the task he still had to retreat for the time being, so he turned around.
The image of the horse bodied pig rearing in his direction flashed before his eyes, and with another sharp cry he threw himself to the side.
Once again, he looked up to see they were all completely still where they'd always stood.
What the everfucking Waste?
He couldn't lie down for long. Carner was suddenly upon him and a whistling sound rung through the air as the fire poker was struck down against the floor just an inch away from Lucius' arm
Lucius rolled over to get on his feet again. To his dismay the door to the entrance hall had been blocked by his pursuer, and he would have to find another way out.
A window was the only way he knew, but he couldn't just break through glass without getting severely injured and he wouldn't risk that.
So just kill him.
Getting ready to fight back Lucius raised his knife and turned towards Carner again, but he was quickly caught off balance as the fire poker had already began its journey through the air.
"Fuck," Lucius whispered under his breath as the weapons clashed, the shock of the impact causing his knife to fly out of his hand.
He backed away, trying to find it. Trying to spot it on the floor while also making sure Carner didn't get to him.
But all he could see were the spliced creatures surrounding them, and once again he was pretty sure they were all looking in his direction. Twitching limbs and twisted jaws turned towards him and Lucius found himself thinking back to Ravi and his quick death by a dog to his throat.
His stomach turned.
He had to get out. Whatever was happening to his mind he couldn't let it stop him. He wouldn't die in a place like this and be turned into another sick piece of the man's collection.
Ducking under Carner's arm and only barely escaping the swing of the fire poker he made his way towards the room with the fireplace and grotesque human artworks. As luck would have it, his knife had landed right in front of the door and he hurriedly picked it up before heading inside.
Much to his horror there was no key to the door. He still slammed it shut and tried to think. How would he keep Carner out long enough for him to regain his composure and prepare for fighting back?
The room kept spinning, and he tried focusing his eyes. Could he even fight back even if he prepared? Still, he had to do something.
Swallowing his disgust he turned towards one of the monstrosities, trying his best not to look as he used all his strength to tip it over to cover the door. It brought one of the incense burners down with it, soon having flames sizzling against its skin and Lucius wrinkled his nose at the smell before running up to the small window.
"Help!" he yelled as loudly as he could as it flung open and tried using his arms to climb up on the windowsill. His strength was failing him. Perhaps it was the dizziness or being weakened by fear, but he kept trying. "Someone! Someone, please, help!"
Before he could get any response from the outside a searing pain shot through his back and he fell down on the floor as Carner lowered his weapon again. Lucius gasped for air. His back protested as he tried to crawl away but he couldn't be still. No matter how useless it was he wouldn't just give up and die.
"Now, let's not let all the fun out, shall we?" Carner said as he closed the window. "You'd only just begun to see them, I think? How beautiful my creations can really be?"
The air went out Lucius as he looked up from the floor, finding the entire group of spliced humans staring down at him. Even the one he'd tipped over was crawling towards him, eyes rolling in its head and tongue hanging out of a burnt, carved off face.
He couldn't move. Why could he never move? Why was he always paralyzed in moments of danger?
The fire suddenly shifted in color, bathing the room in a pale green light. Carner's face had begun twisting as well under whatever kind of blightish curse Lucius seemed to be under. His smile widened as a green glow flared up in his eyes and Lucius struggled to regain his breath, doing his best to crawl away further as the creatures closed in on him.
He didn't have anywhere to go. His vision was failing him and his consciousness seemed to be fading. All he had left was the nightmare creatures in front of him and an odd smell from what he assumed was the burners stinging his nostrils.
His eyes widened.
The smoke.
He was being drugged, or somehow influenced by something. His gaze instantly fell on the burning fire holders in the room. They were burning something. Something causing him to hallucinate.
Not that it mattered now. He couldn't put the fire out. He couldn't get to fresh air in time to save his skin. His gaze fell onto his knife. He'd sworn that the scared Lucius was gone. That he didn't care about emotions anymore. That he was strong. But gazing up at the green flames and shadows of monstrous abominations moving towards him kept his breath from leaving his throat, and instead he seemed to choke on it.
Carner stood in the middle of the fire, eyes still burning green and surrounded by his creations as he readied his aim again.
"Don't worry," he said, voice distorted and he wiped a greasy lock of hair away from his face. "I'll make you the center piece."
Lucius closed his eyes. This was it.
No. They're not real. Those creatures are not moving.
Easy to think, but when his senses claimed otherwise it was hard to discard the feeling.
It's one threat. One! You've dealt with far more, haven't you? Just move. For once in your life move out of the danger!
Lucius grimaced through the pain, fighting back the paralyzing sensation and summoning every bit of strength he had left to force his body to listen.
Then he shot forward, hand squeezing the knife to make sure he wouldn't drop it again.
A strike from the fire poker missed him, and he swung his knife forward, missing as well as his vision played tricks on him once again and he dodged to the side, preparing to turn around for yet another attack but Carner was faster.
A heavy blow to Lucius' side sent him down onto the floor again and he groaned as he tried standing up again. Carner was already above him and Lucius had no choice but to block the weapon with his hand, a burning sting shooting through his body as he did but he resolutely grabbed it and refused to let go.
Finally a look of surprise on Carner's sinister face, and Lucius took his chance. Disadvantage aside, he used the man's confusion to quickly swing his knife forward.
Finally, he hit his mark and Carner coughed as blood bloomed over his shirt.
"You—"
He toppled over with a grunt and Lucius gave him no time to regain his composure. He threw himself on top of him, this time having gravity on his side and forced the knife down again.
He just kept stabbing. With a furious cry he plunged the knife down into the man's chest over and over again. He wasn't even sure for how long he kept going at it. Blood spattered across his face, across his clothes, all over the floor and ghastly art pieces. He wouldn't stop. Not even when the bloodied shape that used to be Carner blended into the other nightmarish visions. Only this time it wasn't a hallucination.
A weak laugh escaped him as he kept stabbing. Finally, someone else suffered instead of him. It was so exhilarating, Lucius couldn't stop even if he'd wanted to.
He didn't even stop as voices approached him. He didn't pay any attention to them. It wasn't until several people entered the room and a sharp jab against his neck sent him into an unconscious darkness that he even considered his surroundings again.