Page 70 of Celestial Bodies

Carnufor continued, “We’ve captured five, but special forces are training to catch more. They will be the new Lapistrean army.”

Julen’s mouth opened and closed. He shook his head and whispered, “Idon’t understand.”

Carnufor approached Julen like a spider about to pounce on its prey, stopping just a few inches from his face.

“Years of research.Years!And that bastard, Morab, tossed me into this torturous crag. I wept as they sentenced me. I pleaded for mercy—promised to share everything I knew.” Carnufor’s saliva sprayed Julen’s cheek as he spoke with frenzy; his breath smelled like decay.

“It made no difference. Morab considered my actions immoral. Tampering with the Black Arts was an offense in the eyes of such a saccharine milksop.”

Carnufor backed away from Julen and drifted to the beasts on display. “I was so close to fully understanding its full potential.” He inched towards the creatures, cupping his hands over the legs of the translucent one. “Your father knew better. They dragged me from the mines, half dead, and tossed me to his feet. He opened a book, one from the ancients, describing the blackness. He wanted to know everything I had learned. Everything Morab was too soft to take advantage of.”

Julen felt the blood drain from his face—the Black Arts.The syrup! From the book.Julen looked at the creatures. They all had black eyes as if clouded by oil. “He wants to use that black mineral? This can’t be real. You created those creatures to look like our childhood fables. You and my father are insane!”

Carnufor’s wheezing laugh bounced off the cavernous walls around them. “Do you hear that, Your Majesty? The prince thinks you’re insane.”

The echo of footsteps filled the room. Julen turned to see his father walking down a flight of stairs flanked by two guardians.

Nausea gripped Julen as his father approached. Haligran’s face twisted with rage. He had an arm in a sling. Bruises decorated his face, and a deep cut stretched over his eyebrow. Julen couldn’t help but revel in knowinghehad caused these injuries.

Despite Julen’s fear, he sneered at his father.No matter what you do to me, you will never make me afraid again.

Haligran spoke to Carnufor, never taking his eyes off Julen. “Carnufor, bringme the serum. Let’s show my son who holds the power in this territory.”

Carnufor approached Haligran, holding a vial of black liquid, and the guardians moved to either side of Julen.

Haligran took the vial and drank its contents. His face twisted and trembled. The veins in his neck and arms briefly turned black before fading. He heaved as the serum settled, then placed his fingers on his temples as if concentrating.

Haligran took another deep breath and then smirked. An inhuman groan filled the space, and Julen turned to see the creature made of sand come to life.

Julen’s stomach coiled as the creature shuffled toward him.

“Now, do you believe us?”

The creature’s wheezing voice mixed with Haligran’s. His father didn’t move, but the beast continued to approach Julen. Haligran kept his eyes closed the entire time.

The creature’s dreadful voice, a mix of its inhuman cry and Haligran’s, spoke. “Dr. Carnufor is as brilliant as he is repulsive. The Black Arts, you see. Carnufor has developed a chemistry that allows me to channel into anything that survives an injection of the black substance. All I need is a sip to inhabit a creature injected with Carnufor’s chemistry. As will all of my guardians. We no longer need to fight our battles. We’ll have monsters fight for us. And you’ll be one of them.”

I’ll be one of them?Julen shook with fury and tried to rip his limbs from the shackles. The creature chuckled at Julen’s futile attempts to free himself, then said, “Carnufor. Let’s begin.”

“Yes, Your Majesty.”

Carnufor held a syringe filled with the oily liquid. Julen thrashed in the manacles with a force that nearly broke his wrists.

“NO! NO!” Julen screamed.

A guardian took hold of Julen’s arm, keeping it still, and the doctor injected the black oil into Julen’s vein.

Julen wailed as the substance entered his bloodstream. He couldfeelittraveling through his veins like a physical force swallowing his blood and trapping it within the sludge. He began convulsing. The oil burned his insides. He cried out in agony as the substance permeated his body.

The monster spoke again, “My son. You will be my most prized guardian. With your powers, I will conquer all of Terratan. Perhaps all of Vexora.”

Julen’s body writhed as the substance took hold. The bile crawled up his throat. He became sick, black ooze pouring from his mouth as despair washed over him.

His eyes began to darken, and with each shallow gasp, he felt the grip of fear tighten around him. He coughed violently, desperate to expel the sludge from his lungs. The power of the darkness surged within, taking over and drowning him.

The blackness enveloped his vision like creeping tar, and at that moment, a chilling realization washed over him: he was losing himself, fading into the abyss.

Once the blackness befell him, Julen could feel himself, his essence, retreat into his body as if the sludge had snagged onto his soul, pulling it deeper and deeper.

---