Young Writers Society

A couple thoughts popped into Aegeas's mind. Neither of them were reassuring. "If this body's a clone, and my soul went to it, what happened to the first body?" He tried to remember where he'd been last. He'd opened a door in a building to meet someone. Aegeas imagined that his body had then slumped to the floor, scaring whoever he'd gone to see. Where was his original body now? Was it dead? Was it still breathing? Would he come back to Fayne to wake up in a grave?

Oh, the other person had been Kellach.

"And what happens if this body dies?"

"Your first body is unharmed," Kartiel reassured him, a smile that didn't reach his eyes spreading across his face. "I've taken measures to guarantee that none of yours are hurt while you are here. It would be irresponsible of me to have the bodies of my test subjects tampered with during your stay here. Any researcher knows that it's best to observe the experimentee after the experiment is concluded - that's when...side effects might show themselves. And for your second question?"

He mimed slitting his throat.

"If that body dies with your soul in it, you die as well."

There really was no logical reason for that last comment to be so intimidating. Dying in this body would be just the same as dying in his original body. That he'd come to terms with - or at least, thought he had, to whatever extent one can. But - this really put the nail in the coffin for him. This... this was definitely real. Bo swallowed.

"So where are our original bodies? Back in our homes? Passed out, seemingly unconscious where we last were before arriving here?"

Well, so much for that plan. Not as though Aegeas had liked it; it would've been painful and probably distressing, even if it would've done an amazing job of spiting Kartiel.

"My friends wouldn't have let you go near my body," Aegeas said. "There's no way you could've taken it away or 'kept it safe.' And what kind of side effects are you talking about?" The idea that he could be, in any way, wrong irritated him. Especially if a changed him hurt his friends in the process.

"If that body dies with your soul in it, you die as well."

Raiden dropped the helmet he had picked up a few moments prior.
"That means..." he whispered, his eyes wide as he stared at his hands.
"That means...if we die...we die."

He fell to his knees, his hands running through his hair. He cursed while slamming his fist against the floor. Then came the sudden realisation.

That's what happened anyway.

With a cough, he stood up straight and acted as if nothing ever happened. He picked up the helmet and placed it on his head.

He didn't feel like talking at the moment.

Kartiel gave Raiden a look of disbelief. Codix probably would have too, if he wasn't so worried by what he had heard in the past few minutes. "...It's literally the same as when you're in your actual body," Kartiel said. Then he cleared his throat and turned back to the others; like Raiden, it seemed like he wanted to put that particular comment in the past.

"For the most part, your original bodies are being cared for in your homes with a variety of protective and healing spells. There are a few exceptions - Codix is in the statis pod he has hidden in his basement, with Nadira's body beside it."

He smiled at Aegeas. It was the same sort of smile ad before: a cold, terrifying one that didn't reach his eyes and made shivers run up Codix's spine. "I have methods that I employ. It involves a certain amount of acting, to say the least. As for the side effects?"

He paused.

"Well, none are exactly confirmed. You see, you might be the first group to survive one of my little experiments - the others never made it back." Kartiel crossed his arms and nodded to himself. "I'd expect some issues with your identity, or possibly memory damage from your soul moving so much. You could, theoretically, even lose your mind. But that would be an extreme outcome, one that I don't think is all that possible."

Bo didn't mean for it, but he wore his feelings on his face. He looked hurt.

"Dude... that's just messed up, man." Bo paused for half a second.

"W-wait. So like, you grew these bodies... so does that mean, like, I could've had two eyes? Did you stab out my eye, Kartiel? And like, does that mean you've seen us.... all... naked?"

I stood aghast for a solid minute. I had been seen through before, but never so quickly. I had no element of surprise, and I could not rely on the hope that I could unsheath my dagger faster than Kartiel could attack. I was sure that my soul was damned.

But no such thing came. He just laughed heartily, jeered, boasted, and went on chatting merrily with the others as though he hadn't a care in the world.
My fear instantly melted into indignant rage. I may have only been so overly pleasant because I was trying to manipulate him, but the way he had turned me down was just so unforgivably rude.
In my book, there was no greater sin than adding insult to injury.
Crime is crime, but that is no reason to forget ones' manners.

On top of the threat of potential death or insanity, as well as cloning me twice, and having seen me unclothed without at the very least taking me out to a stageplay, he had wounded my pride.
Perhaps that was a minor complaint, but what was there to do? Worry about the safety of me and my companions? The odds were against us in any case, so caution could be damned.


''I wish you had thought to make us a few changes of clothes while you were at it.'' I said with bitter indignance. A little sulkily even, admittedly.

''But for now I shall put aside that appalling oversight, to ask you the purpose of our secondary clones. And to warn you now that if mine is even slightly unflattering in any respect, I will cut out your eyes.''

Aegeas took a few deep breaths. Killing Kartiel wouldn't accomplish anything, but it would feel so good. Still, he'd just gotten away from the whole war business. Going around stabbing everyone he didn't like wasn't good for either his sanity or the sharpness of his swords. He was in a risky situation, one where he could go mad or even die. That was fine; he'd been in plenty like this before. Aegeas had always come out okay. This couldn't be any different.

"You would've had to lie to least five people," Aegeas said. "I still don't believe you. And, if you did pull my body away, protected or otherwise, you could, theoretically, lose your head. Are you a moron?"

"The goal was to bring you to another location," Kartiel said, addressing Bo's comment. "If possible, I would have loved to simply bring your original body and soul here. But reality is a fickle thing, and I can only do so much with it. So, yes, I gave you that scar you currently had. And, yes, I did see you somewhat naked - but I did use magic to mirror the injuries, for the most part."

He looked somewhat hesitant when he was talking. Whether it was because he was embarrassed that he had seen their bodies like that, or because he had contemplated not going through with giving the clones that much detail, it was impossible for Nadira to determine. But, no matter what it was, it left a disgusting feeling in her gut.

Kartiel turned to Boris. "I'm going to pretend I didn't hear your comment about childishly cutting out my eyes, and just focus on what you asked instead. The secondary clones are here in case something unforeseeable happens to your current bodies. While that would be a valuable piece of information for my experiment, I don't want to cut things short."

He smiled that horrifying smile again, and Nadira hated every bit of it.

"You wouldn't want that either, would you?"

Kartiel didn't wait for an answer, instead looking over at Aegeas as his comment sunk in. "You'd be surprised at how good of a liar I am, Aegeas," he said. "Being around for thousands of years has its perks. But even though I may be a liar, I promise you on my true name that I've done everything I possibly can to protect the original bodies of everyone in this room. I would never let any harm come to them."

"Okay but... and hear me out," Bo said evenly, talking with his hands. "What if, and just what if, you could've let me keep both eyes. Like, then maybe I'd even be happy to be here."

Raiden cleared his throat.
"So...uh, that means that you looked at me nakey. That's sexualization of minors. That's a jailable offense." Probably. Raiden wasn't sure, but he felt like it could be. At least enough to bring about a fine.

Nadira didn't really think it was a good idea to irritate their mysterious and clearly evil captor, but the others seemed quite adamant on infuriating him. He wasn't visibly angry yet; they hadn't gotten to that point yet. But he was clearly growing agitated by the endless slew of comments and questions - especially the ones that were clearly meant to cause a rise in tensions.

"You weren't supposed to learn that you were in the bodies of your clones," Kartiel said. "I made the mistake of not disabling the life signs detector. If I hadn't, you would have never found this room-"

"But we did," Codix interrupted. Nadira wanted to groan. Didn't he see how stupid it was to egg him on? A smile began to grow on Codix's face. "That was a pretty big mistake, Kartiel. I'd never make one that big."

Kartiel balled his hands into fists and took a deep breath. Didn't anyone realize how bad of an idea it was to anger the guy who could manipulate their souls? "You're not the one running this place, Codix. This cloning isn't the only thing I'm responsible for - I'm the one who made sure this place was above water when you arrived, and the one who made sure the wraith haven't found you yet. A little mistake is nothing compared to what I've done."

"It's still a mistake," Codix argued. "And I'd say it's a big one. It ruins all of your plans, doesn't it? And you still haven't addressed what Raiden said - some of us are pretty young. What you did sounds pretty illegal to me."

Another deep breath. If he didn't snap soon, Nadira would be surprised. "I'm a villain. Doing illegal things is expected, although I never saw any of you naked. I used magic to scan your bodies for any noticeable wounds or skin markings and then used my magic to replicate them onto the clone bodies."

Codix shrugged. "You're kind of a pathetic villain, though, aren't you? You can't even get your evil plans to work right! The first groups died, and we figured out what you're doing before even being here for a full day. If I was a villain, I'd easily outdo you!"

Wow. This was the solution Aegeas had been looking for. Kartiel was fuming - fists balled, chin up, cheeks red - but not dead. All Aegeas had to do was insult him, and there were plenty of ways to do so.

Putting his sword back in his scabbard, Aegeas cupped his hands over his mouth. "How many experiments did you have, huh?" he said. "You're all high and mighty, but I bet you failed a lot. They all died, you killed them, you didn't make clones. Doesn't it sting? All that time and effort, and you. still. failed. And you're doing it again here. You gave me my swords. I struck you down. You can lie as much as you want, but I know the truth - you are a moron."

Aegeas laughed, making it as long and bitter as he possibly could.

Raiden laughed a hearty laugh.
"Jeez, what kind of villain are you? Even I wouldn't have messed up so badly dude!" He managed to get out before his laughing took over.
"Hey my name's Kartiel and I can't hide my plans properly! I'm the worst villain in history!" Raiden mocked, imitating Kartiel but exaggerating himself.