The medical team rushed near the chamber’s entrance, waiting for its unsealing procedure to be done before running inside to the rescue. They were positioned beforehand by the Chief Researcher, just in case something bad happened in order to treat as fast as possible the injuries Dragee would sadly suffer through the experiment.

The nurses and doctors were stupefied when they tumbled upon a furry ball. However, even with a worried expression on their face, they still went and examined the apprentice to see if anything was wrong with him. The sight truly was unbelievable for them. A few couldn’t help but giggle when looking at what had become the guinea pig, while the ones cross-examining him didn’t knew where to begin.

The best they could do was check for any injuries, bruises, broken bones, organ failures, haemorrhages. At the end of this quick check, they showed a thumbs up at the window where stood the Chief Researcher and Friture.

Dragee was fine.

On Friture’s side, his happiness was clearly tangible as he wrote down notes after notes, validating some remaining points in his theory, and throwing away his old and finally resolved equations behind him. How could he not be happy? The experiment was a success on the first try.

Actually, he knew from the beginning that it would work. He just didn’t know HOW it would work. There would always be this constant variable of randomness and impossible-to-expect situations. Fortunately, nothing bad happened here. It was even better than predicted.

Divine energy didn’t only prevent death, it even prevented the body from suffering serious injury and blackout with a sudden peak of regenerative condition placed on the patient. The only less-brighter side was, apparently, it made the body shrink in the form of a sphere, probably due to the immense exhaustion the body was exposed to suddenly. What this meant was still a mystery for Friture, but right now it wasn’t as important as the celebration of this huge success.

Meanwhile, the medical team dragged Dragee in another room to rest, still keeping him under strict surveillance and periodic verifications of his physical and mental state. What worried him the most was if he would ever again regain his already short size one day.

But, while looking at everything happening under his nose, the direst piece of news to Peche Amaretto was… What the heck just happened?

As a spy in disguise, his job simply consisted of robbing the identity of a character from the research center, and act like a guard patrolling or an assistant busily running around. Fooling the already focused mind of the researcher wasn’t that complicated, as long as they didn’t ask him questions that were too complicated. But again, they were so busy with their studies that nobody would notice.

His infiltration was a success, making him grin whenever he thought of the security level of the Republic of Biscotti. It was supposed to be heavily guarded, yet he was easily able to steal one of the nurse’s plate, lock her away, and play her role without anyone noticing any change.

“Fools” he always thought.

But now? After hearing of a secret experiment, his duty obliged him to participate as an observer. The less distance he put with the scenery, the better. And what unfolded before his eyes shattered most of the things he knew about the concepts of war. If people stopped dying, then… Who would hire assassins? At best kidnapping would still be in the business, but even torturing would become pointless if this divine energy came in the way.

However, at the same time… Wouldn’t that become the most successful barrier to protect one’s king? If nobody was able to kill the highest authority, if it became impossible for one’s army to lose his head thanks to this semi-immortal protection, then wouldn’t it be for the best?

If Peche could bring back the method to render any stab under the table ineffective and puerile, just how rich and glorious would he become? The gain was formidable. It was way too much to be ignored. Way too dangerous for the enemy to possess it.

He needed to act swiftly and decisively, leaving no traces nor witnesses behind him.

Excusing himself of his assistant’s duty, he returned to his base, still thinking on the best scheme to secure the documents. He inserted the keys in the hole, unlocking the mechanism behind the door before entering his secret pathway. An underground corridor, meant for evacuating the castle in a final attempt to live for another day. Fortunately, the wars were being waged far away from the capital, so he expected nobody to come and clean this place.

Now arrived, he put his mind at peace, focusing his entire being to the next step of the plan.

“… I hate to do this…”

He threw away his civilian clothes, standing naked in front of a cleverly-made set of equipment. The leather was thick enough to deflect a badly oriented blade or to put a brake to a slightly more experienced one, while still light enough to allow a good flexibility and agility from its owner.

“… I really hate to do this…”

The many belts were meant to tighten the whole gear. They were also very handy when it came to holding some pouches for the various accessories he loved playing with. White powder to blind the enemy, black powder to fumigate the passage and open an escape, easy-to-dissolve poison just in case, reactive ointment for the blade to make it more deadly, and bandages because you always needed some.

“… Like, I should wait for the night to fall…”

As a veteran in the field of assassination, he always preferred long-bladed dagger, with a maw of teeth at the base for butchering alive his opponent. The more damage he could dealt with one hit, the better.

And, as a veteran in the field of espionage, he also developed a certain sixth sense for precarious situations. Right now, this little voice was telling him to get out of here as fast as possible, before they locked the document in a faraway place and spread the technology with everyone in the army.

“… But I guess it’s part of the business... Oh right, I almost forgot…”

Fully equipped, he walked toward a heavy door. It was at first meant to serve as a bunker or something similar he thought, but it also was pretty useful when you desired to lock away someone.

Opening the creaking entrance, his eyes, already adapted to the darkness, laid on the famished body of a young person. There was so much blood, it was hard to find a speck of skin that wasn’t red. Looking at the scar on his head, anyone could guess that this one wasn’t born earless. At the jointures, the bones were exposed, either because of a fracture, dismemberment or removing of the flesh. Nobody would expect this corpse to still breathe, and yet...

“… We said no witness… Sorry?...”

***

When Friture finally came out of his frenzy, everyone already left for another place. There were two large bundle of papers on his desk, all were notes he had quickly written in a hurry, fearing he would lost his inspiration if he ever stopped just to drink his coffee.

“Now that I’m thinking of coffee, I’d like a cup…”

With his fatigued eyes, he looked for his preferred cup that always was somewhere there. Maybe he forgot to bring it back from the cafeteria, he thought with a hint of indignation. He wanted his cup of coffee, yet was too tired to stand up and go look after it, so he simple kept sitting on his chair, stretching his sore arms before lying on the desk.

The experiment was a success. He couldn’t stop saying those words in his head again and again, making himself waving his tail in self-inflicted joy.

What to do, now? Should he just sleep and wait for the Chief to come back with the next plan? For the first time, Friture felt tired, uninspired to plunge his head in his study for today. He just wanted to laze around for the rest of the day.

Just… Laze around… And…

“Forget it, I want my coffee.”

Unable to bear the boredom anymore, Friture found the strength to stand up, stretching his legs this time, then walked in the direction of the cafeteria, hoping to find his cup in this place. He usually left it inside a furniture, or next to the coffee machine, so it had to be there.

Once entering the cafeteria, he noticed the room was empty. It was still a large room, big enough to act as a canteen for half of the researchers. You would usually find two or three colleagues in the area, but it looked like nobody was here this time. Somehow, he felt it was kind of creepy. Maybe his imagination playing tricks on him.

Guiding himself toward the backroom to fetch some grains, Friture brought the sack to the coffee machine, preparing a spoonful before… Where was his cup again? He looked around hi-

“AAAAAAH!!!”

“AAAAAAH!!!”

Friture and Dragee both screamed at each other, the first dropping his spoon while the latter lost his bread, yet skilfully caught it back before it landed on the ground.

“You-You scared me!”

“I’m the one frightened here!”

Picking up the dropped spoon, Friture waited for his heart to stop beating so much, before sighing a little.

“So-sorry. I didn’t know there was someone here.”

“Ehm… It’s okay. Maybe I should have announced myself when I heard you coming… Wait, you’re… Friture, right?”

The researcher’s ears perked up, reacting to its name pronounced by the apprentice knight.

“That’s right. And you’re Dragee, if I don’t spell it wrong? Sorry for using you as guinea pig…”

“You mean this thing with the divine energy? Well, there was no harm done, so…”

Dragee scratched his beaten cheek. He did took a splendid shot at the face, yet it was like it was nothing more than a past dream.

“… I guess it’s fine? Actually, I’m more impressed by what happened. After the pain, I suddenly… Like, felt better all of a sudden. And when I thought for a second, I found myself in this strange form, before finally growing back to normal after a rest.”

He manipulated his fingers to prove his well-being to Friture, still amazed by this unique experience.

“So it can basically make you immortal, does it?”

“No. It only prevents death, and blackout as well apparently. Ah ah…”

“What’s the difference, anyway?”

Asked about this miraculous project, Friture couldn’t help himself but explain the process to Dragee, detailing the specifications and the details about this particular manipulation of divine energy. But his speech was interrupted by another man that made his arrival in the cafeteria.

“… Seriously Friture… Next time you disappear from your lab looking for coffee, put a tab on the door…”

“Oh, ehm…. Sorry.”

Out of habit, Friture apologised for whatever wrong he did… Only to notice now the strangeness of the scene. In one hand, the man was holding a familiar jacket, and in the other hand a reddened and damp dagger.

Blood rushed only once through the head of Friture. What he was facing wasn’t a colleague, but a man ready to eliminate anything in his path to assure his victory.

“… You’re the last one to understand how this shit work…. Oh man, you HAD to be accompanied…”

The spy dropped the jacket on a nearby table to free his hand, slowly making his way toward the young researcher and the apprentice knight to finish his job.

“… Friture, stay behind me.”

“… You’re the guinea pig they used, right?... Well, I need to take care of any witnesses, so… Sorry?”