Across Eternity: Book 5 - Chapter 5
Date: 5/30/2024,
Categories:
Fantasy
Author: Sage_of_the_Forlorn_Path
... out.
As Noah approached, Lupin looked around, seeing all the other fiends being brought down by his knights and soldiers. “Lord Noah, were you able to secure the middle echelon members?”
“All unconscious and accounted for, just waiting to be hauled away.”
“Then we have victory.” He raised his fist. “Men, we have just struck a decisive blow against the Profane! The night is ours!” All the knights and soldiers raised their weapons and cheered, and their voices were heard throughout Welindar.
As the captured Pack members were hauled away, Noah quickly collected the vanquished ghoul. Tenacious as he was, his wounds were extensive and healing slowly, and Noah didn’t want to lose such a valuable research subject. From previous experiments, he found that the Profane didn’t react to healing potions, but gained power by consuming others. He was too injured to willingly eat, but that wasn’t a problem. Noah retrieved one of the ghoul’s severed arms and forced it into his mouth, guiding the lower fangs into an artery. Immediately, the muscles in the throat began to quiver as they started sucking in the blood, turning the arm into a shriveled husk and restoring some vitality to the splattered ghoul.
Once the captured Pack members were brought back to the castle, those with parasites were separated from those without. Even if they couldn’t transform, the hosts received the benefits of their parasites, and Noah was still searching for a way to safely remove them, so regular ...
... interrogation methods wouldn’t work. He had a couple ideas of what to do with them, but in the meantime, he turned his attention to those with unblocked pain receptors.
The men without parasites woke up in a dungeon chamber, all of them chained to the walls, unable to move. Though facing each other, the gags in their mouths wouldn’t let them talk. They could only grunt and groan to express their confusion. What happened? How did they end up here? A few candles lit the chamber, and fresh air wafted through the steel grates of the small windows overhead. Of course, this dungeon was built by beastmen, for beastmen, so whether the prisoners could transform into snakes or mice, there was no squeezing out.
The door opened, and a man stepped inside, carrying a brazier filled with wood. He was older, with icy eyes and a pale face covered in scars. Was he the jailer? The interrogator? He looked like he had plenty of dark experience, but it didn’t matter what he tried because they wouldn’t talk. They attempted to curse him and spit despite their gags, but he ignored them and set the brazier down in the middle of the room.
“I know what it feels like to be in your position, chained up and awaiting torment, trying to brace yourself against the pain you know is coming,” the man said, speaking with a dry, deep voice that forced the Pack members to listen. “Your throat is as parched as the sand under your feet, and your hands tremble in your shackles. You try to leave your body, to ...