Eight Intertwined

90 - Blood

As soon as Gideon's body fell to the ground and all of the travelers were certain that he was dead, Therion and Tressa retreated to the cell door once again. It didn't take them anywhere near as long as it had previously for them to get the door open, and from there, the travelers carefully pulled the victims of Gideon out into the main room. Luckily, all of them were still alive, and the only murdered one of the group was the man the travelers had found first. One of them was an old man who couldn't seem to move his knee the way he should have been able to, and another one of the hostages helped him to his feet carefully. If Cyrus had to guess, he would assume the second of the two was one of the newest captives. 

The girl Cyrus had seen first was still motionless as she stared up at the ceiling. Cyrus wasn't certain if she was conscious at all given the circumstances, but judging by the gentle rise and fall of her chest, she was still breathing. After everything Gideon had done, that was an accomplishment to be proud of, though Cyrus didn't know if the young woman had the energy left to be grateful for her luck. 

The old and young men collected themselves as much as they could before moving towards the door, and Cyrus turned to watch them go. He was glad they were still in good enough condition to get themselves out since he could only imagine that he and the rest of his traveling companions would be caught up for a while longer caring for the young woman. Cyrus waited until the two men were out of the room before turning his attention elsewhere, but along the way, something peculiar struck his gaze. 

A small book had fallen free of Gideon's robes when the man collapsed, and miraculously, the cover had been spared the bloodshed that came with the dark mage's wounds. The book had seemingly been hidden away in some well-concealed pocket of Gideon's robes, but Cyrus opted to not ask any questions on the matter. The book was surprisingly well made, its covers flawlessly bound together and the pages shockingly neat as well. Cyrus crouched down carefully before picking up the tome, though he had to turn it over in order to see just what the volume was. 

He never could have expected what he was going to find. 

"What's this? It couldn't be... A copy of From the Far Reaches of Hell?!" Cyrus yelped, and immediately afterwards, all of the travelers whirled to look at him. They waited patiently for him to explain his findings, but Cyrus said nothing, instead simply flicking through the pages of the volume for any hints as to what could have prompted a book like that to find itself in Gideon's hands. After a few heavy beats of silence, he shook his head. "Well, that's unfortunate."

"What's unfortunate?" Olberic questioned. Each word seemed to weigh much more than it had any right to, as though his hope for the end of Cyrus' quest had been shattered with those final two words the scholar spoke. 

"It's but an abridged copy, translated into the modern tongue," Cyrus explained. "And aside from the basic instructions on performing the rites of blood crystals and the reagents required... All other details have been all but omitted. Why, it doesn't even mention the possible uses of these blood crystals."

"So much for wrapping that up in a timely manner," Primrose muttered to herself with a shake of her head. "Still, I would argue that finding an abridged copy of this book is a victory. If it vanished completely years ago, this is a step in the right direction."

Cyrus gasped before anyone had the chance to follow up on Primrose's words, and he pulled out a small piece of paper that had been wedged between the other pages of the book. "What's this...?" He examined the page carefully, and the air seemed to swell from tension as the travelers waited for his follow up explanation. "Calculations on the number of test subjects needed to make a single blood crystal. I see... And there's a note. 'First specimen successfully synthesized and delivered.'"