AN: Well, it''s late, I''m reeling especially crazy, and this chapter''s supposed to be messed up.


    It''s as if the stars align...


    As for the other AN you can forget them. I am quite fond of lying, after all. Hell, I''ve lied about the entire Lich story.  As for this one...I wonder what lies I''ll spin?


    EXTRA WARNING: If you''re offended by anything, don''t read this. So basically, everyone shouldn''t read it.


    Oh, and massive time skip from this chapter to the next chapter, so Trololololollolololololololololololololololololololololololololololololollolololololololololololololololololololololololololol


    <hr />


    -The Emperors'' Laboratory, Lileas'' Room-


    I was sitting on the forest floor, a dead fox on my lap. It was young, barely a month old. I petted it''s head with my five-year-old hands, and tried to smooth out the bloody fur. It had something long and metal buried in it''s side, with steel imitations of feathers on the end.


    I was crying, my tears falling on it''s head. This poor wolf hadn''t done anything wrong, yet it was still dead. My mother told me our souls went to someplace better when we died, my father told me that death was a fact of life. I''m not sure what to think.


    I grip the end of the metal rod with a shaking hand, and pull it out. At least it had been painless. I could tell it had died instantly, as the wound was clean. If the fox had struggled, it would have widened the wound. I took it a short distance, then dug it a shallow grave, next to it''s parents. All three would be dug up by other animals later, but I felt better for having done something.


    After putting them to rest, and praying to the tree spirits, I laid white lily''s on their graves. Their meaning, at least for my tribe, was peace. It was what the living wished for the dead, as my parents said. It was funny, then, that they had named me after flowers that were laid on the graves of the dead. My mother always asked my father why he was set on that name. My two brothers were named Baro, after the Beairs, who symbolized strength, and Eragel, after the Eragels that symbolized nobility. My sister was named Wutaro, to symbolize the beauty of water.


    I, however, had been named after a flower that symbolized peace. I doubt I''d ever understand why.


    As I got up to leave, I smelled smoke.


    "That''s odd...dinner preparations usually don''t start for another hour, and I don''t think it''s a holiday today..."


    I picked up my basket, filled with mushrooms and berries, and started back. Even after the death of those foxes, the forest still exuded beauty. The way the sun filtered through the leaves, and the gentle sounds of animals whispered softly in my ear. Without realizing, I''d begun to skip lightly and hum along with the sounds. I twittered with the birds, and clicked with the crickets, Stepping lightly with the rhythm.


    I spun lightly, feeling the leaves beneath my feet and the warm sun on my skin. I twirled with the wind, and followed the steps laid by the patterns of life.


    Soft, light, warm, fragrant. I touched a trees'' bark as I spun, and swiped a petal as I passed, picked a berry and dodged a branch, feeling the beat of nature. A Deiro grazed a foot by me, but my steps and motion swirled so unanimously with the forest that it didn''t feel my passage.


    Animals, plants, sun and sound, they beat in my body like a second heart. I danced to it, I danced with it, I danced to it. Steps sure and fast, beat pure and strong, beauty and strength blended perfectly into one, a single, perfect symphony. The forest laughed, and I laughed with it. I took it''s arms and let it twirl me around, spinning and laughing, feeling the soft embrace of life. Then I stopped.


    I looked forward, the beat drowned out, the sounds deafened from my ears, and all of the beauty bled out. I didn''t feel the basket fall from my numb hands, but I heard it smash against the ground. My knees were weak, and all thoughts in my head were replaced. The rhythm, the beauty, the life...was gone.


    I sat up, breathing hard. I slapped my face and felt at my left eye, making sure the eye-patch was on. I looked around the dark room, and let myself feel comfort in the fact that I was tens of feet underground and in the dark, dark belly of the earth. For a long time, I held myself in my own arms and let myself feel safe.


    I don''t know how long I sat there, but I didn''t try to stand up or go back to sleep. After an indeterminable amount of time, I heard steps from outside my door. They were quiet, as if the person was used to stepping silently. There was a knock, then light flooded my room as someone opened the door.


    The shadow stood, back dropped by the light, his voice sounding like gravel in my ears. "Wake up-oh, you''re up. Well, I hoped you got enough rest, cause'' we''ll be starting immediately. Come on out and eat something, then I''ll show you around. After that, I''ll give you your first lesson."


    I said nothing, but starred into his eyes. He seemed sort of uncomfortable because of this, and left. His steps echoed down the hallway, and I had to ask myself if I could get up.


    I threw off the blanket, then swung my legs around off the bed. I stood up without a problem, and began stretching. Nothing seemed wrong, and my body felt fine...guess dreams were only dreams. Lilea can handle dreams.


    Lilea stepped over to her wardrobe, then swung on her cloak and put on her scarf, wrapping it around her lower face. After adjusting it well, she pulled her gloves and, and I stepped out of the room. I started down the hall, remembering with a queasy stomach the scene that had been in the room before...


    I hesitated to open the door, but stiffened my lip and told myself that I''d not embarrass myself like before. I opened the door, and a pleasant smell reached my nose...


    On the table where...that...had been before, was instead a tablecloth and an assortment of food. FIfteen places were set, and besides the shadow and the old man, there were twelve other people. They all wore black robes, and beside each of their plates were ghouls masks like the novice and the old man. The twelve had bone-white skin, probably from being down here without the sun for so long. I sat down on the edge, and looked at the food.


    The old man acknoledged me, the shadow ignored me, and the twelve others seemed to be trying very hard to not stare at me. I filled my plate, then realized that if I took off my scarf, they''d be able to see my face...


    The shadow grunted, then said, "Don''t worry about it. Down here, the only thing about you that matters is your loyalty to the Emperor. Well, I say loyalty, but in reality as long as you do as your told you''ll be fine. Things like your skin don''t matter."


    I wasn''t sure I believed him...but, after coming down here, I had gotten a new outlook on life. I very much doubted anything other than my ability mattered, but showing my face to other people was...different, for me.


    Hesitantly, I pulled down my hood. The twelve showed moderate surprise at my hair color, but were a little more shocked when I pulled down my scarf. Seven couldn''t stop staring at my dark skin, and the other six stole glances every time they thought I wasn''t looking. Doing my best to ignore them, I put a smile on my face and ate.


    The shadow eyed my eye-patch saying, "Same thing with your eye. These people have seen much worse than a mutilated eye."


    I finished, let out a burp, then sighed. "I don''t wear an eye-patch to hide it. Rather, I''m wearing it for other people."


    He shrugged, then rose from his seat and headed to the door while motioning for me to follow. I got up and went out the door with him, feeling very odd that my face wasn''t covered.


    When we were about to leave the second door, he picked up a much larger lamp than what he''d taken down here when we first descended into this pit, and stepped into the small room before leaving. As I stepped into it with him, he struck a match against he wall and lit the lamp, then closed the door we came through and let the dark close in.


    For a second, we were in a small, dark room, and I felt a sense of deja vu, and thought back to the stairs. I had to resist the urge to strangle him again.


    Reading on Amazon or a pirate site? This novel is from Royal Road. Support the author by reading it there.He opened the other door, and together we stepped out into the dark. All around, the silence deafened me. Like a thousand voices screaming all at once from a great distance. I followed the shadow, the chill from the ground permeating everything.


    As we walked, I stepped quickly to keep up with the shadow. He was walking with determined purpose, not looking to the side or behind, but with his gaze focused straight ahead. All around me, the silence warped and twisted, like the body of a long snake, thrashing and undulating, wrapping around and around, trying to strangle itself.


    Suddenly, the shadow spoke. "Hey mouse, have you ever wondered about the slaves?"


    I thought back to the men and women with gaunt faces and bent bodies, working endlessly on fields and construction. "I can''t say they haven''t crossed my mind, but I don''t really think too much about them."


    He continued walking, and spoke as if he hadn''t heard me. "You see, they were all either soldiers, beggars, or people who resisted conquest, at one point. Now, they are serving the empire they once resisted, making it prosper and become richer. Ironic, isn''t it?"


    I got the sense he was talking to himself, so I stayed silent.


    "So if the slaves were taken from the captured soldiers and the oppressed peoples from countries we''ve taken, don''t you ever wonder?"


    I felt the need to speak, as he had stopped. "Wonder what?"


    He whispered to himself, "The Emperor doubled the size of the empire. And yet, the slave population across the empire is only a third of the citizen population, on average. Have you ever wondered where the rest go?"


    I thought about it, but what he was saying didn''t make sense. "So what? Doesn''t that just mean their cities weren''t as populated as ours? They were all pretty small, and a third of the population is still very large."


    This time, he looked back at me. "No, you''re wrong. You see, if all of the slaves taken were to be put to work in the cities and fields, there would be an equal amount to the regular population. Because the Emperor didn''t just double the size of the empire, he''s doubled it and a half. So, if you believe what I''ve said so far, do you start to wonder where those hundreds, those thousands, those tens of thousands of prisoners went?"


    We''d been walking for a long time, but here he stopped, and held up his lamp. I looked at him, not comprehending, but then felt the stare of dozens of eyes. I looked around...


    The first thing I noticed were the bars. Wrought iron, five-feet high, and set less than a foot together. The locks on them were rusted, as if they hadn''t been used for years. Behind those bars, there were people.


    Light skinned, dark skinned, tall, short, bright-eyed and dark-eyed, all different sorts of people stared out at that single source of light.


    And cowered from it.


    I felt horror, disgust, and pity, to name three of my emotions. I looked at the shadow, saying, "What is this? Why are these people here? And why are they so scared?"


    He still spoke, in a slight whisper. "To answer your questions in order, this is the holding cell of the guinea pigs. They are here because they won''t be missed. And finally, they are deathly scarred of the dark, because they are exposed to it for months on end, but they are terrified of the light, because we teach them to."


    "Scarred of the dark? Terrified of the light? That doesn''t make any sense."


    He lowered the lamp, then covered it. My eye took a second to adjust, but when it did, I saw the shadow gesturing around. I looked closely, and saw small dots of light. They blinked in and out of existence as they passed bars, and their speed changed frequently. Again, the shadow whispered.


    "For the prisoners, the light means two things. They are being taken away by the monsters in masks, the novices, or..."


    Distance was hard to tell, but I heard a metal door squeal on rusted hinges, and the screams of several people. Then those screams turned to howls of pain.


    The shadow uncovered the lamp, then started walking down another path. Now that we had walked a little, I could see that the cells were laid out in a grid-like pattern, two cells by two cells, with around eight prisoners in each. As we walked, the number of people in the cells lessened, until we were walking through blocks of cells with single prisoners in them. They were...different.


    Some of them growled at me, others huddled in corners and clawed at the ground, or at their faces, and the floors of their cells were oddly flat...


    Here, once again, the shadow stopped. "Here is a place commonly known by the novices, though with no real name, as, "The halls of murderers. You see the people alone in their cell? There used to be seven other people in their with them. Those others you saw, they were relatively new. Only a month or so has passed since they''ve been down here, so they''ll still relatively sane. These people...some have been in for nearly six months, and the darkness drove them mad. The fear, the paranoia, the drugs we fed them, and the pain we doled out without discretion, finally snapped them. These people are those who survived, as there is a certain thing that we do after a cell has been down here for five months.


    We stop feeding them.


    And then, like animals, we leave them to fight. Usually they''re alone within two weeks. Once that happens, the more experienced members of the church get to take them, and do more...advanced experiments."


    I was shocked. I couldn''t speak, but numbly followed him as we walked further down. After a long time walking, we reached larger cells. Here, the shadow stopped once more.


    "Ah, this brings back memories. Back in the day, we were trying to cut down on costs, so we put nearly a hundred people in one cell. That was around a year ago. The people in these cells...can''t be called human anymore. Calling them animals would be a bit of a stretch, so we call them what they are...monsters. This here is, "The Den of Monsters" from which long-term experiments are still being done. The things we''ve done to them, the things they''ve done...I doubt we''d ever be able to turn them back into people, no matter how long we tried. Good thing we don''t have to try."


    He kept walking, and I couldn''t tell whether I was following him, or if the darkness was pushing me or dragging me with him. We walked for a long time, the crying and sobbing, the growling and howls, and the most disturbing, laughing, lone prisoners slowly grew distant. We came to an open space, and here there was a constant, grating sound.


    Screaming.


    It didn''t lessen, it didn''t stop, it just kept coming. They would take rests to breathe, then start all over again, getting louder, if possible. They overlaid each other in a reverberating, multi-voiced howl, that never stopped.


    "Here is the place where special prisoners, the kind that can take the punishment, are given...special treatment."


    I just kept my head down, and followed the shadow as he led me in a different direction. Frost crawled up my spine, and horror slowly mounted as I left behind the screams...


    And was embraced by the laughter.


    Inconsistent. Throbbing. Never-ending.


    "Here...here are the people that pain no longer fazes. Different experiments are used for them. Come on, the rest can wait. Now that you know what''s down here...I need to teach you how to survive in the world above. Before we''re done, you''ll forget there''s an above. But believe me when I say I won''t be forgiving. I may not have chosen this job, but I''ll be damned if I don''t do my best to help you survive in the world above. The skills I''ll teach you down here will make you useful, and because you''ll be useful, you won''t be discarded. Because you can count on one thing, above all else, in this world.


    If you''re of use to the emperor, you''re fine. If not...well, there''s another special place down here for traitors. I''ll show you tomorrow."


    We walked back to the small building were I''d slept, and I had to wonder how I''d ever accomplished a thing like that.


    I very much doubted I''d ever sleep again. Not after hearing that laughter.