old room

Ai Wen walked slowly in the dark corridor.

His footsteps were very light, as light as a faint ghost, but he himself was not aware of this.

What he noticed was that the lamps used for lighting in the corridor had been replaced by trembling, black-smoky candles from the previous magical electric lamps—no one knew how many years ago those candles were in stock. Behind the candles, there is a tin plate that has been knocked thin, so as to reflect the faint light more.But it was still of no use, the light drifted near the candle, so dim that it looked like the eyes of a dying person.

This corridor was not so dark in Ivan's memory (of course, this place was not bright before, who would use the word "bright" to describe the interior of the mage tower?).Aiwen walked for a while, and then came to the end of the corridor. It was a thick and heavy door. On both sides of the door, there were ancient characters written on the vague stone carvings, which probably meant "a place to eat." (Of course it could also be "The Swallowing Lands", but who cares?).

This is where basic meals are provided to mage apprentices.But it's clearly not the kind of place to enjoy a meal.

Even if the mage apprentice's canteen is on the upper floor of the mage tower, it is not much better. The vaulted, low ceiling is covered with black oil stains and mold. Tall people need to pay attention to their heads when walking in it. So as not to run into that old dangling chandelier.No matter how many years passed, the place remained so dark and cramped, it seemed more like a goblin lair than a place of food to the hapless apprentices who had to come here to get a little food.The smell of bad ingredients mixed with the musty smell will not only make people feel no appetite, but will make people feel sick.

The canteen of the mage tower will use the corpses of the unlucky dead experimental subjects as ingredients - Aiwen has always sneered at this rumor, but this does not prevent him from secretly envious of those real mages: they can make Vitality potions instead of normal food, thus avoiding the nightmare food provided by the mage's cafeteria.

If possible, Ivan really doesn't want to come to this damned place.

He pushed open the door, and the first thing he felt was the sight of people.

Countless sights and whispers passing through the crowd were projected straight towards him.

Evan was not surprised by this.

Because even a person with a snail brain can see the strangeness in Ivan.

These days, Alvin has become very thin, very thin, he looks like a thin skin wrapped around the skeleton, and the sunken cheeks clearly outline the shape of his skull.

But on the other hand, the aura that appeared on Ivan's body was not haggard, depressed, or insane.On the contrary, even in this extremely thin state, Ai Wen was filled with a strange vitality.

Aiwen's aristocratic black hair is now as shiny as the feathers of the most advanced nightmare crow, and there is a faint multicolored streamer in the darkness; the thin and smiling lips are just tightly pursed now Even so, his lips were still so bright red, as if a second ago, his lips were still sticking to the pure white neck of a pure virgin, sucking the blood gushing out from it.And his eyes, my God, his eyes were like two emeralds set in white jade--the kind of green gemstones that contain full forest magic--but they were two dead forests.

Some kind of surging "vitality" is contained in that forest, but there is only a dead silence in that forest.

These two diametrically opposed breaths not only appeared in Ivan's eyes at the same time, but also lingered throughout his body.

The unnatural distortion and strangeness made everyone notice Ivan, but at the same time, no one dared to look at him for a long time, or come forward to communicate with him in any form.

Or instinct—or, in other words, the intuition of a spellcaster.Aiwen's colleagues all feared and avoided this poor man with something wrong all over his body from the soul level.That kind of cowardice is like a young child tightly covering his eyes, thinking that in this way, the beast with red eyes and saliva dripping from its yellow teeth will disappear automatically.

Aiwen's temples were beating regularly, as if he could hear the subtle sounds of blood vessels flowing through here.Of course, it may not be "as if".

He found that his hearing seemed to be sharper than before.

Everyone seemed to be focusing all their attention on the small incidents that were spreading inside the Mage Tower (as if when they saw Aiwen, the moment of silence was just an illusion).

"Have you heard? The magic rune disks are failing one by one..."

"...The magic circuit is clogged, who would have imagined that Mithril can rust..."

"Summoning... No one can summon anything, no one, believe me, you can't even summon a magic tooth fly..."

"God... all the magic of life has failed, I thought it was my problem... no... no... the little tricks that require instant absorption of free magic factors are all over..."

"God, I really don't want to come to this goddamn place, this thing is disgusting..."

……

Ivan passed by those people expressionlessly, just as those people muttered to themselves, because of the failure of various life magics, there were many more people in the cafeteria than he had expected before.

Some of them are queuing up to get mottled and gray thick porridge, chowder with rather interesting ingredients, and sour beer from several half-person-high wooden barrels near the wall—

Thankfully, sour beer is still served in the Wizard's Tower.

Ivan suspects that sour beer is the only liquid he can put into his stomach.

He drank some sour beer, which caused some commotion. Some people were not satisfied with his jumping in line, but the clamor soon subsided, and Ivan didn't care about that.He just felt like his headache was getting worse, and his ears were ringing with his overly keen hearing.

Ivan staggered holding the tin cup, found a table closest to the light source and sat down.

【"rustle--"】

He heard the sound of joint limbs scratching in the crevices of the stone, many, many, like the rustling sound of rain.

Those are countless tiny insects, insects that are difficult to see even with the eyes of a mage, trying to escape the sound from here.

【"Crack."】

【"call……"】

【"Hiss..."】

In addition to the sound of insects, Aiwen also heard more movements-the sound of the magic circuit outlined by Mithril curling and deforming under unknown forces; the sound of the rune disk breaking from the depths of the material; The screams and wailing of the high-level mage after the spell failed...

Oh, by the way, there is still that faint friction sound.

【"Da-da-da-da-"】

Ai Wen suddenly felt that his body seemed to be shaking slightly, because his vision was a little distorted.

"..."

Alvin's breathing suddenly became extremely heavy.

He lowered his head pale and looked at his hands.

The hand holding the tin cup was trembling, and his nails struck the metal surface of the cup, making a series of small knocking sounds, which sounded like a series of...

"Da da"……

In Ivan's fantasy, he screamed and jumped up, throwing the cup out.But the reality is that he can only sit on the spot with his whole body stiff, even though he is too scared to move because of the illusory voice in his head, sweating profusely.

He had a rather strong feeling that something was approaching.

That kind of thing wrapped in thick mist, illusory, unable to be summarized by shape, color, or words.

That's... "He"...

He is coming.

"Hey……"

Suddenly, the light dimmed.

A young man appeared in front of Ai Wen.

"Evan, you look terrible."

Ivan raised his head slowly, and he stared blankly at Alister, his bright red hair swaying constantly in his field of vision, like a cluster of flames.

Alister's voice seemed to come from far away.

"... Ivan?"

Finding that Ivan's reaction was quite wrong, Alister frowned.

He reached out to Ivan's shoulder and found that the latter's body was as stiff as a stone.

"Evan! Can you still talk? Can you see me?"

Alister shook Ivan gently.

It wasn't until this time that Ivan finally regained consciousness.

He lifted those stunning green eyes to Alister.

This is a pair of eyes belonging to the abyss——

Alister didn't know why those words came to his mind.

In fact, there is no need to get close to Ivan Reeves, Alister can also detect the strangeness in the other party.That wrong thinness, that wrong stiffness, that...

That wrong charm.

After Alister entered the mage tower, his mind was held by Ivan.Yes, that's right, Ivan's pale skin, emerald green eyes, including that black hair, are all to Alister's liking.

But Alister swears that until a certain point in time, the man in front of him never had that venom-soaked appeal.

It's like now, just looking at Ivan, Alister felt chills all over his body, and the trembling feeling made every hair on his back stand on end, but it was not because of anything else, but because of excitement and nervousness .

Alister's heart was pounding, and he had no doubt that even if Ivan still looked like this, telling him with a sleepwalking look, asking him to dig out his heart, he would definitely do it.

But of course... Ivan didn't make that request.

It took the dark-haired mage apprentice a while, and finally slowly recovered (it looked like a vampire thawed out bit by bit after being hit by a high-level freeze spell).

"Well, I think... I'm... fine."

Aiwen muttered quietly in a weird tone.

Alister watched him hold the glass in both hands, sipping the sour beer in it like a small animal-he was obviously frightened, his hand holding the glass was shaking all the time, the sour beer splashed out, dusting the ashes. The fluttering apprentice's robes were half wet.

"God, is... is Master Doug doing something to you?"

Alister could hardly control the emotion surging in his heart, he lowered his voice and asked softly.

But Ivan's reaction looked like it took him a long time to remember who Master Doug was.

"No, it's not."

But Ivan obviously felt a little better because of Alister's question, he shook his head, and a bitter smile flashed across the corner of his mouth.

"I hope it's him." Ivan said inexplicably.

For a moment, Alister almost suspected that the youth in front of him would be completely shattered, just like emeralds or other priceless jewels were hit hard, shattered, and then turned into pieces floating in the air. , a colorful piece of powder.

It was a strange thought, but Alister couldn't help worrying.

"I can help you," Alister leaned over, and he took Ivan's hand, "just like you helped me before. I can give you my life, anyway, I was saved by you down."

Alvin's hand was like ice.

"help me?"

"Yes, as long as you ask..."

For a short moment, Alister could feel that the black-haired man in front of him had been shaken.

Like a drowning person who couldn't resist a piece of driftwood floating towards him, Ivan seemed to be planning to hold back the hand Alister extended to him.

"Do you know the room?" But at this time, Ivan suddenly asked a rather strange question, "The room among the stars, and the visitors, and them."

"Room... what room?"

Alister couldn't help asking.

He regretted it a second later—extreme regret.

Because he realized that his answer ruined everything.

The despair in Ivan's eyes broke Alister's heart.

Little by little he withdrew his hand from Alister's.

"No, forget everything I said. Thank you, Alister, but you can't help me and nobody can help me and nobody—"

Ivan stopped talking suddenly. From Alister's point of view, he seemed to be listening to something, and it was obvious that "something" frightened Ivan.

"no no……"

Aiwen's teeth were chattering, and he uttered a series of murmurs out of tune.

And just when Alister was trying to ask more questions, a black figure slammed open the door and fell on the greasy and black floor of the cafeteria.

"Apprentice Alvin Reeves, Apprentice Alvin Reeves—"

Immediately afterwards, the shadow jumped up from the ground.

This is a crow-shaped communication bird that uses the magic stone as a power source, which is probably why it still works.

But that unexplained magic failure accident apparently affected it too.All the artificial feathers on its body fell off, leaving only the white skeleton as the frame and the red magic stone that was constantly beating and flashing inside.

It twisted its own neck in a previous flight accident, so at this time it can only droop its ugly bird head, open its bright red eyes and let out piercing screams, and then it flops in the direction of Ivan up.

Alister grabbed it and carefully handed it to Ivan.

"Mr. Doug... is... looking for me... I should go..."

Aiwen read the message brought by the communication bird, and he muttered intermittently, with a dreamy trance still floating on his face.

"Evan, wait, you have to be careful—"

For some reason, the communicator, with its neck drooping from a malfunction and its voice raspy, gave Alister a bad feeling.

It was like Master Doug made him feel bad.

But Ivan is obviously the opposite of Alister.

He even looked better than before.

"No, it's okay, he... he's still alive."

A strange shudder rushed up Alister's spine, and Ivan's words sounded as if he had already determined that Master Doug should not be alive.

Alister didn't guess Ivan's thoughts wrong.

Indeed, in Ivan's perception, Master Doug shouldn't be alive-Ivan has not forgotten the nightmarish sound he heard when he closed the door of Master Doug.

At this moment, he even felt a little happy.

This was the only time in so many days that his heart was slightly relieved.

I'm afraid even Ivan himself would not have thought that one day he would feel extremely grateful that someone like Master Doug was still alive-even if this blessing only lasted for a very short period of time.

It was just short enough for Ivan to come to Master Doug's laboratory and push open the heavy door.

very dark.

This was the first thing Ivan felt when he opened the door.

Master Doug didn't light up the magic electric lamp, didn't burn the fluorite, and didn't activate any lighting magic. He didn't even light an ordinary non-magic candle.

In the huge laboratory, the only thing that can be called a lighting object is the unicorn blood on the test bench—after the unicorn blood loses its activity, it will emit this kind of grayish green.

Aiwen bet that the spoiled unicorn blood should still be the one he concocted the last time he came.

Master Doug sat in a corner of the laboratory with his back to Ivan, his shoulders raised high and his hair hanging down.

"..."

Ivan wanted to leave the moment he saw Master Doug, but he was still a step too late.

As if there was a cold rope stumbling heavily on Ivan's ankle, Ivan fell into the laboratory unsteadily, and at the same time, the door slammed shut behind him.

"Mage Doug?"

Ivan tried to adjust his breathing, and he spoke softly.

After the door was locked, the darkness in the laboratory seemed to become more intense.

A strange smell filled the entire laboratory, and Ivan once again smelled the ominous metallic smell that made him dizzy and trembling. In addition, there was also the smell of rotten potions and moldy things. No smell of excrement from cleaning oneself.

The strong stench filled Aiwen's nasal cavity, and Aiwen covered his mouth.

He widened his eyes and stared in the direction of Master Doug.

A moment of silence.

At that moment, Ivan almost thought that Master Doug was dead-he would rather that Master Doug was really dead now.

But soon, he heard the vague laughter.

It was Master Doug's voice, but at the same time it wasn't.

"whee……"

Ai Wen really wanted to run away from the door, but there was a small place inside his body that clearly told him that it was impossible for him to open that door.

So Ivan held back his fear, gritted his teeth, and walked cautiously towards Master Doug.

"You let me come to you."

Alvin hoped that his voice would sound calm enough, but God knows how much he was shaking at this time.

The communication bird was always in his hands.

At this time, there was a muffled clicking sound, and the skeleton had been completely crushed by Ivan.

In Aiwen's memory, Master Doug's laboratory is well-organized, but at this time, there is only a mess left here, precious scrolls and classics are randomly torn apart like garbage, scattered on the ground, and the goddess of magic is broken The sculptures and funnels filled with alluvial gold are also scattered all over the place.The edges of the wreckage of those objects were lined with a faint green line of rotting unicorn blood, making it look like a graveyard illuminated by will-o'-the-wisps.

As for Master Doug, he plays the role of "zombie in the graveyard".

"Hee hee... I have a little cat... My cat is the cutest..."

Master Doug crouched on the ground, not in the manner of a mage, but in the manner of a wild dog.

He hummed a nursery rhyme intermittently.

After Ivan got closer, he saw it more clearly.

He originally thought that Master Doug was wearing a mage robe, but this was not the case.

The mage who is no longer young but always pays attention to his appearance (even uses beauty magic seriously) is completely naked at this time, only wearing a plush blanket with kittens printed on himself, and his two thin pale thighs are stretched out from the blanket. The edge of the chest sticks out, the muscles and skin hang loosely, and the bones on the knee seem to be about to pierce the skin.

"Goddess of Magic..."

Alvin felt his teeth chattering.

"He wants you to see... see His existence, recognize His greatness..."

Master Doug said.

He was slurring a bit as he spoke, as his mouth was full of blood.

His arm was broken unevenly from the shoulder position, the white bone stubble was dyed greenish by the light, while the blood looked black.

Alvin began to stagger back.

Master Doug, right in front of his eyes, tore off one of his arms, and then he carefully smeared it on the ground with the severed limb that kept gushing blood.

"Doug... mage... what are you doing?"

Ai Wen almost suspected that this was another nightmare he had, just like the seemingly endless nightmare he experienced in his groggy these days.

After hearing Ivan's question, Master Doug's humming stopped abruptly.

He grabbed his own hand and turned his head slowly, his face became dry and shriveled, and his eyes were blood red.

"He wants to see you..." Master Doug said hoarsely, his jaw was blood red, "He knew you belonged to Him the first time he saw you... You stood at the window like a star Pale death star...a dead nebula...you should go and see what he has prepared for you...you should...go back...to the palace he built for you..."

Mage Doug crawled towards Ivan while muttering.

"Master Doug, oh no—"

Ivan screamed, and threw a sober spell at Mage Doug while stepping back.

But these small spells were as useless as ever. The shimmer of magic was as weak as static electricity in winter. It could only flash tiny sparks at Aiwen's fingertips, and then disappeared without a trace.

"I'm so scared... woo woo woo... He's really scary... So scary... Hee hee hee I have a cute kitten..."

In very occasional intervals, Master Doug will show a little bit of sanity, but that sanity seems to scare Ivan even more than his madness.

He whimpered, cried, laughed wildly, and sang songs. His crawling movements were clumsy and slow at first, but Ivan could barely distance himself from him, but soon, Master Doug's movements became quicker— —and of course he looked even less human.

His knees hit the floor, one arm propped up in front of him, his back arched high.

In theory, it should have been difficult for Master Doug to maintain balance, but to Ivan's shock, Master Doug solved this problem in an inexplicable way.

The mage's severed limb, the part that was still bleeding out before, seemed to have softened.

Soft and boneless, flexible yet tough.

What looked like a tentacle protruded from his wound, circles of purple-red suckers embedded in flesh-colored limbs.

Alvin turned his head and started running wildly.

"He loves you--he loves you--he'll come for you--for you--ho-hoo-"

Master Doug's voice seemed to be elongated, becoming extremely harsh and distorted.

Thinking about it afterwards, this chasing battle seemed embarrassing and pathetic, and there was nothing worthy of detailed description: Aiwen’s brain was blank, he couldn’t understand, and he didn’t want to think about why things became the way they are now. The edge of the wall and the high and low test equipment are running around like a little monster trapped in a mouse ball.

As for Master Doug, his situation may be even more sad.

Even a dog may have more hunting skills than him, and he has obviously lost his wisdom and humanity as a mage, and will only chase after Aiwen in vain, with his mouth constantly uttering that he can no longer distinguish any Howl of meaning.

Finally, when he didn't know the number of laps, Ivan walked around the test bench panting, and then he pushed hard to the display rack where countless bottles and cans were placed.

"Shut up! I fucking told you to shut up!"

Alvin let out a roar of collapse.

"boom--"

The crystal vessels all made a cracking sound.

Not knowing which potions among them reacted with each other, a strong light suddenly pierced the threatening darkness of the laboratory.

The light spread along the pattering water stains on the ground, illuminating the entire laboratory as bright as day.

"Ah ah ah ah ah--"

Behind Aiwen, Master Doug let out a scream of pain.

Ivan turned his head suddenly, and he saw an afterimage.

That might be Master Doug, but maybe not.

Aiwen recognized the ridiculous blanket with countless yellow kittens printed on it, but it was hard to admit that the soft white object under the blanket would be the mage he knew.

The thing has countless tangled white tentacles and purple-red suckers. The part of the head is wrinkled, and the gray and black hairs fall off from the flesh-colored skin, forming patches of alopecia areata.

It is clearly afraid of light.

The moment the light came on, it rushed towards a certain corner of the room, where the laboratory used to discharge the waste water (and the excess blood of the experimental subjects).

The mouth of the pipe might only be as big as the mouth of a bowl, but the last scene Aiwen saw when he turned his head was the scene of a large group of tentacles squeezing into the narrow pipe.

"Huh...huh...huh..."

Alvin gasped.

He heard grunts coming from the pipe, the wet, squashing sound of the mollusk.

He even heard a small scream.

The blanket fell by the drain, covered in snot-like mucus.

The light from the potion gradually became weaker.

Aiwen withdrew his gaze from the drain, and he turned his head to look at the place where Master Doug was squatting before.

After seeing clearly what Master Doug painted with his own blood, Ivan's body froze again.

【"He wants you to see... see His existence..."】

In a trance, Master Doug's hoarse and weird murmur came from Ivan's ear again.