Obsidian Eyes and Crystal Wings

Chapter 9 File 3113

Cora's POV

Silent unanswered questions are left behind as Imno walks away. I am left more confused now than I did walking in. I have the answers to most of my questions but they are strange answers.

I walk after Imno with frustration in my eyes and not once do I look at the cat demon when he takes my empty plate. At the bottom of the stairs I stare at the end of the hallway in disbelief. I could have sworn I was just a sprint away from him and now he is gone. I look to the right at the slightly opened door. Perhaps he went in there. I have to get at least some answers that make sense.

The door makes no sound when I open it wide enough to slip inside. The room just has a desk and a few bookshelves along the walls. Nearly every book is written in a language I do not know. I walk over to one of the many bookshelves and I grab a book from it. Along the spine are runes and the title is hard to read. When I try to open it the book suddenly becomes hard like a rock and doesn't let me see what is inside. How strange. Is it fairy magic? I try with another and the same thing happens.

I look over at the desk and on it is several maps and scattered papers. Some are letters to or from houses and sigils I do and don't know. Most from the fey kingdoms north of my home. A few are already opened. I find myself wanting to snoop but something else catches my eye.

A nice little file cabinet of metal sits next to the oak desk. A drawer labeled "failures" in red ink catches my attention away from the opened letters on the desk. The drawer above it is labeled "3113". The other cabinets are named other things such as "formulas" and "wicked sweets". They are all weird names but only "failures" is in red and the lock is up which means someone failed to close it properly.

It looks almost set up for me to find but I open it and reach inside anyway. I'm too short to see what I am grabbing but I get a hold on a few files. I pull them out and close the drawer not enough to shut on me.
I set the files on the ground in a pile rather than disturb what is on the desk.
Horror, that is the only word that can describe what I see on that first file.

2732: failure
Emotional download failure. Brain lag. Organ failure of the kidneys and lungs. 17.5 months old
A pencil drawing of a 2 year old toddler takes up a whole paper. Tubes are sticking out of it at each limb and the spine as well. It's face is a sheet of black glass. The limbs look almost made of metal bird legs.

I want to throw up. I look at the next file without reading anything on it.
2334: failure
It's body looks like it's spine was twisting in all the wrong ways. The eyeballs where too big for the skull and the nose was too flat and almost alien like. A pair of metal spider like limbs sprout from its back.
I close the file and I don't want to look any further. What was he doing to these things. I don't want to call these abominations anything that sounds too human.

I look at the pile of four more files but I'm not going to read any more. 2567, 2341, 2343, and 2679. I stack them back up and cram them best into the file cabinet as I can. I feel nauseous. Those where children. He had numbers in the two thousands. I don't want to wonder how many he had exactly.

A notebook falls from ontop of the cabinet as I shut the drawer, hard. I stare it down with intensity for a moment, wondering if anyone else heard that. I need to leave this place. My curiosity makes my hand go down and pick up the overused book. I immediately regret it as I open the pages to see a baby without eyeballs and shiny smooth skin. I shut the book just as quickly and I try to hold down my breakfast.

Disgust is setting in. What he said about being a god and a scientist starts setting in. He made monsters from babies. Did he capture me because I'm a virgin girl so he can use me for this? I don't want to believe he would do that. That a man is that evil to use fetuses for experiments— I need some air.