Hey there, me again. I bet you’re wondering why that troll is about to drop me into its mouth, aren’t you?

Oh, you’re just laughing at the face I’m making? You know I’m crying, right? I’m about to be eaten by some 7-foot, hairy magical ape, and you’re laughing at me?!

Even Avarra is laughing! So is her assistant. Is my pain that funny?

….

Well, I feel we need to turn back time a little just so you can get the whole picture. Maybe you’ll sympathize with me a little then.

Remember when I was screaming for Viodel to come and switch with me? Yeah, he never came.

Instead, while I shook the bars in my frantic display of fear, Avarra stuck her ridiculously long needle in my neck and injected whatever sinister liquid it held.

My vision went completely black just seconds after but, and of course there’s a but, I didn’t blackout. I felt the entirety of what happened next.

My body went numb, and I collapsed backwards, banging my head on the stone floor. And yes, I felt the same pain from that as I normally would have. I mean, why wouldn’t I, right?

Then, a pair of muscly arms reached underneath my armpits and lifted me from the ground with ease. I heard weeping as this took place, so my not so Prince Charming was most likely that Greater Demon that was getting tortured before.

I was dragged into the hot room and hoisted onto the same wooden table I had seen before.

“You can go now,” Avarra said. “I believe your punishment has been fulfilled.”

“ThAnK yOU,” the demon replied. Or at least, I assumed he replied. There was no one else in the room besides us three, and the voice that spoke was crackly and vile, so I believe my assumption was correct.

My wrists and ankles were strapped to the table, and for the next 15 minutes, there was no talking. None from Avarra as she seemed to be rustling through cupboards and drawers and exiting and returning to the room the entire time. And none from me as I had my tongue flopped down to my chin with saliva falling from my mouth. In case you couldn’t guess from that description, I couldn’t speak.

I had tried, but all that came out was a gurgling of air passing through a mouth full of spit. If Viodel had seen me like this….

I shivered. Thank god he feared the….laboratory. Which, by the way, I was coming to fully, entirely, with every fiber of my being, understand.

Avarra’s rustling then stopped and she dragged a chair to sit next to me.

“So, how are you feeling?” she asked.

Have you ever wanted to strangle another human before? I don’t know if I have, but at that moment, there was no doubt in my mind that I would’ve.

Gurgle gurgle, gurgle gurgle gurgle. Gurgle.

Is that what you want to hear? That’s all I can respond with!

And what a question to ask the person you just drugged and restrained to a table….

I heard her chuckle, and then say, “Oh, that’s right. How silly of me,” and another needle pierced my skin. This time in my forearm.

Was this going to be my life from now on? Subjected to a multitude of injections for testing purposes while my reactions and symptoms got documented, and—hey! My vision was returning.

The numbness slowly receded, giving me control over my faculties again. I slipped my tongue into my mouth immediately, and spit any excess saliva out to the side.

“What are you doing!? That’s filthy. Don’t spit on my—”

“Shut up!” I interjected. “Who drugs and restrains someone the instant they see them? Hmm? Psychopaths! That’s who!”

“But the Queen said I was supposed to start working on you immediately. No time wasted! She said that directly into my brain, so I know I’m not mistaken. Though, my brain has been pretty rotted these days, probably because of all the heat. I’m not too fond of the heat, but it’s essential for the growth of bacteria, and I grow a lot of bacteria. But then that makes you wonder if I should prioritize my health or my work. Which, of course, I would choose my work, but then again, if I’m not in my best shape, my results won’t be—”

And she just continued to yammer on. It was as though she was no longer speaking to me and was just rambling off her thoughts to herself.

Her skin was extremely pale, almost deathly, and her black hair was quite thin. Her face was small and oval-shaped, and her dark brown eyes sat softly above her small nose. She was a small woman. But most of all, she was a human; there was no doubt about it.

Avarra was a human. What was she doing with demons? And why was she given such freedom to do as she pleased? Both Viodel and the Queen despised humans, it made no sense that they’d welcome one into their home and allow them freedom. She wasn’t Mel Gibson!

Wait, who’s Mel Gibson? I racked my brain for what exactly I meant by comparing her to this Mel person, but all I got in return was a booming pain. Courtesy of the spell that thief placed on me, I presume. Oh well.

“....and then, believe it or not, every deer in the forest attacked him like it was their goal in life. I’m not a fan of deer; I’m more of an elk person myself. But anyways, let me cut you open and run some tests.”

“How the hell did you come to that conclusion?!” I shouted.

“What do you mean? The deers nearly turned his insides into outsides, wasn’t that a logical segue? Was it not? Hmm….Doesn’t matter. I want to cut you open, that's what matters,” Avarra said. She then swiveled around in her chair and shouted, “Daisy! Bring me the sanitized scalpels and pliers please!”

On the table to her right were an array of test tubes and syringes and towels. She reached for one of the racks of tubes and said, “I’ve made flavoured anesthesia: Mint, Strawberry, Orange, and Banana. Most clients like the banana one. They say it tastes nothing like banana, and that’s what makes it so good! Isn’t that something? So, which one do you want?”

“None! I want none! Why do I have to be cut open? Won’t that kill me? The Queen doesn’t want me dead, you know.”

“You don’t want to use anesthesia? Are you sure? It’ll be quite painful if we go in while you’re awake.”

I yanked against the restraints in exasperation.

“You’re ignoring me! Why am I being cut up? You're supposed to help me learn to use my ability, and I’m supposed to help you in return! What does this have to do with any of it?” I said.

Avarra looked at me as if I had just said something foolish. Once my hands got free from these restraints, I swear….

“Well, I want to cut you up. So you’re helping me by letting me cut you up. I like doing the take before the give; you know, give and take? I like take and give more. Oh, in my favour of course. I won’t be killing you if that’s what you’re afraid of. I just want to see what you got inside you, that’s all.”

That’s all? Oh, ok. That’s all. How foolish of me for being so freaked out. They’re just checking under the hood; no biggie.

As if!

I started kicking and thrashing at my bindings in hopes to break free. My muscles strained as I yanked against them, my veins raising to the surface.

Amidst my torrent of desperation, another woman entered the room; another human. She carried a metal tray that held a wickedly curved scalped and a crudely shaped plier.

She had red, chin-length hair, and her skin was a creamy brown. Her eyes were a dark green which only added to her unique visuals. She too wore a white lab coat over top a tunic and pants. Daisy, I presumed.

Of course, I couldn’t care less about her, as my eyes were fixated on the thin blade that was now in Avarra’s hands.

I grunted as my flurrying continued. “Let me go! I’ll help you in some other way, not this!”

Avarra ignored my plea and sliced open my raggedy shirt with one clean swipe from her scalpel.

“You’re decently fit. I expected a more….malnourished appearance; I suppose they feed you well enough. But that doesn’t mean you have enough strength to break those restraints. Not even the demon before you could. The only way you’re getting free is if those straps randomly disintegrated,” Avarra said as she looked at me and smiled.

The bags under her eyes creased dramatically. “You and I both know that’s not gonna happen. So take your medicine like a good boy, and go to sleep. This will all be over before you know it.”

Daisy removed the cap of a test tube and Avarra stuck a needle inside to draw the yellow liquid into the syringe. I suppose she chose banana….

I needed to break free. My thrashing hadn’t stopped even for a moment. I could feel the exhaustion settling in, but I didn’t care. The table rattled and rattled and rattled.

Daisy gripped my left forearm with a strength I hadn’t expected from her, demobilizing it as Avarra positioned the needle, preparing to inject it.

Shit! Shit! Shit! Dammit!

These blasted restraints! I needed them off of me!

Disintegrate! Disintegrate! Disintegrate! Dissolve! Dissolve! Dissolve!

[Dissolve!]

At each point the straps made contact with me, I felt a surge of energy. It was like water was flowing over top my skin and gathering at those four points.

Avarra made a sound, but I couldn’t hear her clearly.

The energy continued gathering, and I felt my blood pulsing through my body. It was painful but exhilarating. It felt like a storm flurried inside of me.

That storm raged until it couldn’t any longer, and when it stopped, everything burst. The four points where the energy had gathered exploded, sending all the energy outward.

Avarra let out a screech as Daisy jumped in front to protect her.

Then, there was nothing but the eerie sound of sizzling. It came from all around: the cabinets, the tables, the floor, the walls, Daisy. But most importantly, it came from the melted restraints that no longer held me in place.

Now free, I jumped off the table and backed up against the wall.

Almost half the room was releasing a faint smoke from the erosion that took place. It was like something ate away at the wood and stone and glass. The more smoke that raised from them, the smaller they became.

This….was my ability? It was incredible. It disintegrated whatever it touched. Except for Daisy. Her body was entirely intact. Her clothes weren’t, though. There was a hole on the back of her coat and shirt that slowly became larger as my [Dissolve] ate away at it.

I stared down at my hands in awe and tried focusing on anything besides the fact that I could disintegrate clothing with this. Imagine pulling that trick out in the bedroom. Steamy.

Avarra began to laugh.

“Amazing!” she said as she rushed from behind Daisy. “This is what the Queen was talking about when she said you had something of interest to me? I love it!”

Uhhhh….miss Avarra? The skin on your right arm is melting off.

Did she seriously not notice?

“A-Avarra….I think some of it got on you. I’m...I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to harm you like that. Oh god, what are we going to do?”

I had no idea what to say to her.

The skin on her arm bubbled and slowly slid off like it was syrup dripping from a bottle. She seemed completely unfazed. I, on the other hand, wanted to vomit.

It looked like cheese! Her skin was turning into melted cheese and sliding off.

Uurp….

Avarra lifted her melting arm in the air and wiggled it around.

“This?” she said. “Don’t worry about this. I’ll be fine.”

She then slammed it down on the table that was in between us, and her arm fell off at her elbow. Her forearm and hand slide across the table towards me as they continued melting.

“Holy shit! Your arm! Avarra! Your arm! Is my [Dissolve] that potent? Good god….”

For some reason, I was the only one who was unsettled by this all. Both Daisy, who currently only had the front of her shirt intact, and Avarra, who just lopped off her bloody arm, were completely straight-faced.

Actually, Avarra chuckled a bit.

Aight, cool. Let’s lose an arm and laugh it off. That’s what the cool kids were doing these days. I see why she thought cutting me open was no biggie.

“[Accelerated Repair]” Avarra said.

Her elbow began to glow. Slowly, the light formed into a luminescent arm and, from the elbow upward, began materializing into bone and flesh.

I simply stared in awe as Avarra grew her arm back right in front of me.

When the light disappeared, it was as if she had never lost her forearm to begin with.

That was much cooler than what I just did.

Kind of unfair if you ask me….

“I told you, didn’t I? It was nothing to worry about. If I feared your ability would cause me harm, I wouldn’t have forced you into using it,” she said.

Forced me? What the hell did she mean by….

The only way you’re getting free is if those straps randomly disintegrated.

Avarra’s words played back in my mind. Was her intent from the start to get me to use the power?

She seemed to notice my confusion.

“The Queen told me you had never used the power before and that she had no idea how to teach you to do so. You see, every race has a different style of magic, and that means they each have different ways of awakening their magic. You’ve never used magic before, so you wouldn’t have any clue how to do it. And since neither you nor any of the demons in this place know how to awaken a human's magic, you’d be stuck with no way to use your new ability. So sad. That’s where I come in!” she explained.

Avarra turned to Daisy and whispered something inaudible, prompting the red-haired woman to leave the room. I guess she told her to go change her clothes.

“Come out from the corner there. Sit on the table. I promise I won’t strap you to it again.”

It was too late for me to trust you, Avarra….another victim added to the list. What exactly did she do to Viodel? I could only imagine it was something horrendous after what I just experienced.

Despite my lack of faith in her, I propped myself up on the table and slid to the edge. This topic was far too interesting for me to care about anything else.

“Good. Where was I….ah, yes. The Queen asked me to help you awaken it. I know my humans quite well, after all. I was worried your power wouldn’t function the same as human magic since it comes from something entirely different, but I suppose we got lucky! The Gatekeeper’s soul must’ve merged with your own because your activation method is human-like. Humans require a stimulus to activate their magic. Be it fear, anger, excitement; they need something to warrant the usage.”

I nodded along. So she scared me into using my power. Seemed like quite an efficient method.

But….wait a minute.

“What if I didn’t awaken my magic before you injected me with the anesthesia?” I asked.

“I would’ve cut you open, of course. What else did you expect me to do? Let you sleep? Ha, as if! I wanna see what’s inside!”

Ah….I should’ve expected that much.

That sensation I had felt, the feeling of water flowing over my body, I wonder if that was the magic activating? It could also have been the pulsating blood. Whatever it was, I wanted to try it again.

I tried focusing on that feeling again. I closed my eyes and imagined that water coursing over my body, just as it had before. I imagined the energy that had condensed around my wrists and ankles emerged once again from my soul. Nothing happened.

I simply stood there in a dumb pose, my arms spread and arched slightly as I made a face like I was constipated.

Luckily, this was Avarra and not the others. She simply laughed at my silliness.

“I’m guessing you’re trying to focus on the feeling you felt? That’s not correct. Or at least, that’s not how you call the energy forward. There is energy flowing through your body right now, but it can’t come out on its own. It needs to be transformed into something….less pure? Sure, let’s go with that. Pure energy can’t leave your body, but by using incantations, or spell names, you can transform it into something tangible. Then you’ll be able to feel it just as you had before. Give it a try.”

I felt slightly embarrassed for my mistake, but quickly brushed past it and did as she said.

[Dissolve]

I thought the words just like before.

Suddenly, I felt my blood begin to hasten. This was followed by a sensation of some liquid being excreted from my pores and sliding over my skin.

So the rushing blood came first, and then the water-like substance. Noted.

With my eyes open this time, I noticed that the watery feeling came from this blue, aura-like mist that swirled around my arms and legs like a lengthy scarf.

Whoa.

“That’s your aura, or energy, or skill in physical form. The reason it’s flowing around like this instead of condensing at your joints like before is because you haven’t controlled it this time.

You simply called it forward. It has no purpose, so it just floats there. Try gathering it to a single point and see what happens,” Avarra said.

While the sensation of gathering it did flash through my mind, what gave me a stronger image was Avarra’s usage of her own magic. Her green energy formed in the shape of her severed arm. Did she intricately form that shape, or was it automatic? What if she was slightly off with her control and made her arm smaller than before?

With the image of her shaping her energy to match her arm, I subconsciously did the same. My blue mist gathered at my elbow and wrapped around my entire forearm and hand. The energy was so dense I could no longer see beneath it.

I heard Avarra whistle and saw amazement on her face as I turned to look at her.

“You’re quite quick on the uptake, aren’t you. That’s some impressive control for someone who has never used their magic before. Are you sure you’re a beginner?” she said.

I nodded with a foolish smile. Her praise made me feel fuzzy. Couldn’t I just live up here with her? She was a human, and everything, why did only I get the cellar….

There were zero chances I would bring that up, though. My body still twitched every now and then thanks to the Queen’s magic. I didn’t want a second dose of ‘Know your place’ thank you very much.

This coating of energy, wasn’t it corrosive? Did that mean if i—

I lowered my fist to the wooden table and felt some resistance as my arm slowly melted through the wood like I was submerging it in mud. The resistance suddenly gave way as I popped out on the other side of the table.

Removing my arm revealed the hole that just got punched into the tabletop.

Yeah. Hell yeah.

Screw F-rank monsters, let me test this puppy out on some B-ranks or something! It wasn’t powerful enough to punch a hole through a creature in one hit, but I could imagine an extended fight of being hit with blows from acid-covered fists.

“With more control, you could condense it to just the edges of your fist, making it much more potent. Of course, that could also be achieved with the strengthening of your energy. But that comes from using your skills more and more. Control is always more important,” Avarra said.

“I want to try this out, immediately. Control may be the most important, but I want to experience using this first hand,” I replied.

Avarra’s eyes lit up with excitement at my words which only served to make me anxious. The last thing she was excited about was cutting me open and checking my insides.

“That’s perfect! Because I want to make use of it too! I could make some deadly poisons with it. But I’m all out of the components to make them. If you’re up to the task, do you mind accompanying me to go and gather some supplies?”

Oh? That seemed fun. I was worried for nothing. I’d get to leave the castle again and travel to a different place than that slime-infested forest. Why wouldn’t I go?

“Let’s do it!” I said with glee.

Avarra leaped from her seat and ran to one of the doors on the right wall.

“Daisy!” she shouted. “Get ready, we’re going to harvest some ingredients for potion making! The magical kind.”

She then yanked open the door and entered it.

I heard grunts come from the room Daisy had entered when Avarra told her to leave. They weren’t very….human-like. I was then hit with a shock of PTSD as my brain remembered where I had heard similar grunts before.

M-Scum….is that you? The sounds coming from that room caused me to shiver and filled my mind with memories of that red, angry, creature. I hadn’t seen my old jailer since I made my escape and got relocated to a new cellar.

Just to make it clear, I had zero qualms about our estrangement. Even if I never saw the red blob again, I wouldn’t care whatsoever.

I wouldn’t. So please, tell me why I watched as a Lesser Demon emerged from the room wearing a torn lab coat and pants. It carried a backpack in one arm and a set of human clothes with a thick parka in the other.

M….M-Scum? Why? What are you doing down here!?

“Perfect timing, Daisy. I have your medicine right here. Get changed quickly,” Avarra said as she emerged from the room wearing a similar, fur-lined parka to the one Daisy held.

Wait….Daisy?! That redheaded woman was a Lesser Demon?

When I looked closer at the rotund beast, it certainly didn’t look exactly like M-Scum. Just similar. There were differences like how Daisy was slimmer and had a softer face. Actually, those were the only differences.

“I’m going to need some explanation here,” I said. “Daisy is a demon? I thought you were both humans.”

Avarra flinched when I said that.

“Both? Wait, you think I’m a human? Really? Well, you’re not the brightest. You just watched me regrow an arm; humans don’t regrow body parts, you know,” Avarra said.

Wha….?

“But….accelerated repair?”

“If I accelerated your repair, would that mean you’d suddenly regrow a limb? No. It accelerates what would have happened even if left alone. So a gash in your stomach or a wound similar to it; that’s what could be healed for you. Not a limb.”

It was then that I decided to use my Omni Vision on her. I had just assumed she was a human and thought it’d be foolish to check her.

But I suppose it was foolish not to.

[Title: Undead]

[Danger Level: Quite friendly but completely insane. Will cut you open and stuff your insides like a turkey just to see the outcome if you’re not careful. Oh, she’s also an Undead. You couldn’t kill her even if you tried]

True….

An Undead wasn’t that bad. She was just a human who died but was still living. Soft. I got nerves of steel now, a simple Undead human wouldn’t be enough to spook me. A horde of slimes though….too soon.

“So, you’re a zombie then? I’ll count that as being a human,” I said.

Avarra was surprised by my calm demeanour but made no mention of it.

“It’s nice that you consider me human still, but I think of myself as a demon. We share the same type of energy, after all,” she replied.

I looked at her, confused. And she simply shook her head.

“You have much to learn about demons. There’s more to use than what you humans think; even I once thought demons to be much simpler than they were. Demon isn’t even the correct term, to be honest, but we don’t have time for a biology lesson! Daisy! Drink!”

Avarra tossed her round assistant a vial containing some yellow liquid.

“Transmutation potion,” Avarra said as she turned to look at me. “It’s my special concoction. It only works on Daisy, though. I based the formula on her DNA. Sadly, that’s my last vial. I’m all out of troll fat which is an essential component. Without it, the potion doesn’t exist.”

“Why’s that?” I asked.

Daisy downed the potion. Her body slowly morphed into the tanned skin, red-haired woman she was minutes ago. She now only had a lab coat covering her front, and baggy pants nearly slipping off her bottom. Erotic.

“Trolls are magical creatures, just like dragons and leviathans. They’re capable of storing magic inside their physical bodies. For trolls, that place is their fat. Infusing a troll’s fat with your own spell allows you to preserve your spell in a physical form. Melting that down turns it into a potion. Of course, some spells don’t work well in potion form. Imagine drinking a wind blast; I don’t even know what would happen, actually. Anyways! We’re hunting trolls. You were eager to use your power, weren’t you?” Avarra said with a smile on her face.

Trolls? The term was familiar, but I couldn’t think of what a troll looked like without my memories. But if Avarra was capable of harvesting their fat by herself before, then having me tag along should only better our efficacy.

“Troll hunting!” I said, and both Daisy and Avarra cheered in return.

This would be fun. I was quite excited to see what a troll looked like. I would get to harvest a new species soul, too! This was perfect. What could possibly go wrong?

Am I right? What could possibly.

Go.

Wrong.

….