Ascendants: Tides of the Morn

Chapter 15

( A picture of Dr.Luigi Coda. Here comes chapter 15!)

I was about to ask if that was his intention when Angela intercepted me. "Then you have created a cure?"

I glared at her but decided to hold my tongue as this information might be crucial. Dr. Coda gave her a perusing gaze before giving her a gentle smile. "No, not yet. The Ascendants is a fascinating breed which has a far more complex structure than humans. I've tried to remove certain parts in order to water down an Ascendant's structure to a human's more simplistic existence-"

"Such as removing a Monarch's wings?" I asked coldly and Dr. Coda nodded eagerly.

"But I failed. Removing the external traits of an Ascendants did nothing so I began to remove the internal traits and replaced them with human parts but it didn't work. The organs and blood were rejected by the subjects."

Dr. Coda pondered over his failures while my eyes caught signora Karlovic sneaking behind him in order to catch him off guard. I needed to keep his attention on me. "Why are you trying to create a cure?"

"That's a silly question. You create a cure to cure something," Angela muttered but Dr. Coda merely chuckled.

"I do miss the naivete of youths. There is no cure for being an Ascendants. For being an Ascendant is no sickness."

"Then what are you creating?" I asked and narrowed my eyes as I started to envision his goal.

"A weapon. Imagine the power such a cure has! The fear it could instill."

"Why? Why are you in need of such a weapon," I sighed wearily.

"It is needed! The world of the Ascendants is cruel and barbaric. We need to control the clans. The threat of a cure can do that," Dr. Coda said in a mere whisper. Almost like he was afraid to utter his plan.

"Control which clan?" I asked. My suspicion is started to grow rapidly as I could hear the ill-hidden fear and rage underneath Dr. Coda's voice.

"The Beast clan... You want to control the Therians," Angela whispered like she was unsure of her own deduction. Dr. Coda merely shook his head.

"No... I want to eradicate them!"

I frowned at his vicious words and turned to Angela.

"Why the therians?" I asked but it was Dr. Coda who answered.

"So little you newborn knows. We, La Strega, ruled this city. Our beautiful Sovereign, Decima Lucania, was the head priestess of the temple of Hecate. She ruled with such grace. Until they came... Those animals!"

"What are you talking about?" I could merely ask as the madman made little sense.

"During the time of the Roman Empire, we Mages ruled this city under our sovereign Decima Lucania. But then the Ursin clan came with the Lombards. As the Lombards conquered Roman cities, their rulers, the therian bear shifter, killed Decima and enslaved the mages. We were later freed by the Monarchs," Angela explained as she saw my confusion.

"Freed! They took what should have been ours. These lands are ours," Dr. Coda growled and I was rather surprised by the shift in his temper. Though he seemed to collect himself and brushed off his clothes like he tried to remove the earlier signs of his wrath.

"Lands change rulers all the time. You could hold this land against the Therians, so why not let the Monarchs do it?" I asked carefully as I didn't want to rile him up again.

"True, we don't have a clear leader among us and most likely never will as no one could compare to Decima, but they... No, he! He wasn't punished for ripping her to pieces. He waltzes around like he owns the place and the Monarchs let him."