Ascendants: Tides of the Morn

Chapter 14

(A Picture of Angela Traversa, here comes chapter 14!)

Poor man! Couldn't they have buried him when they abandon the asylum? I sighed in both relief and grief as I saw no sign of Angela in the room. That means that I still have to look for her in this horrid place. I was about to turn when a walked onto a small frame. The room echoed by mine and another's scream.

I looked up to see Angela's small frame staring back at me as we both caught our breath to still our hearts.

"What are you doing here, Valeria?" Angela asked while patting her chest to still her heart.

"Looking for you! Well, Vittoria wanted me to investigate this place as it seems that her lover has gone missing in this horrid place," I exclaimed and forced my breath to return to normal.

"It might have been a place of unspeakable horror but there are plenty of drugs and materials for me to use," Angela said while patting her bags which made a plunking sound as it was filled with glass bottles.

"And the bodies? Are they good material as well?" I asked sarcastically.

"Bodies?"

"Yes, like this one. I guess it was too much to ask for humanity to bury their dead before they abandon this place!" I exclaimed in disgust and pointed to the body on the operation table.

Angela peeked over my shoulder and suddenly turned pale as her eyes went wide.

"What?" I narrowed my eyes awaiting the ill news.

"That... The asylum was abandoned around 70-80 years ago. That body is to fresh. It could only have died around... a few days ago," Angela muttered while closing in on the corpse as she inspected it. She suddenly looked deadly pale.

"Did you happen to know which clan Vittoria's lover was?"

I felt my insides grow cold when I realized what she was insinuating. "He was a Monarch!"

"Then we will have grave news for Vittoria. This was a male Monarch. His wings have been cut off and his organs have been removed, " Angela muttered as she carefully turned the corpse to get the better look at it.

"His face.." I whispered as I looked at the face willed with horror and pain.

"Indeed, he was most likely alive when he was..." Angela suddenly went silent as she stared at the corpse.

"More ill news?" I asked and Angela looked over at me.

"This was done by a professional. Could the culprit be working from the old asylum? It has all the tools for such... feats."

"Are you trying to tell me that we are in the lair of a murderer who was not afraid of mutilating a Monarch, and we are not running for our lives?" I muttered as I watched my surroundings.

"I'm so sure that we should leave?" Angela answer as she left the room.

"Are you mad? I got you and new of Vittoria's lover. What more might we need?" I exclaimed.

"We Mages has a legend of this place. It was owned by one of us. A mad alchemist named Luigi Coda who was quite famous for experimenting and torturing humans and even Ascendants. It is said that he wanted to create a "cure" for our ailment but we in the Mage Clan is not as convinced as we never found his research and most of all, we never found him. He just vanished. We assumed that some relative of the victims had gotten to him but what if he never left. What if he still here?" Angela explained eagerly. A tad too eager to my liking.

"And how does that justify us staying? Why not take this information to your clan so they can investigate?" I asked disapprovingly.

"Because all we have is theories. That won't convince the Mages to make a move. We need to find some proof!" Angela exclaimed and ran down the hall as I reluctantly followed. Last time I just wanted to investigate to make sure of something I ended up fighting a giant half human, half spider.