I couldn’t hang the painting because I didn’t have any kind of adhesive. How Dans did it, I would never know. But the painting was lovely. It figuratively brightened up my room like one of those plug-in night lights. Not too bright and conspicuous either. Just a mellow blue.

Now that that’s done… I left my room once more. The crematorium called for me. I needed to figure out more about those soldiers… Well, that was more of an excuse. I was honestly just a little bored.

I followed the same route I took a few moments ago and arrived at the entrance to the crematorium. The door was still there, closed as I had expected, but as I got closer, I realized that it wasn’t actually fully closed. I could see a sliver of opening. I peered back over my shoulder to check if anyone was nearby. Nobody in sight. Good. I slipped in and pulled the door shut behind.

When I entered the crematorium, I ended up in another small intersection. Two more doors in front of me. It felt like another airlock. The interior of the crematorium seemed to have been sectioned off into two parts. The doors lead to the left and the right.

These doors were completely see-through. I couldn’t see past the corners because they curved back towards the direction of the entrance, so I was left to wonder which way to go. From what I could see, it seemed like the crematorium was in the shape of the letter, U.

I went with my gut instinct and pushed through the right door. As I turned the corner, I saw a bunch of equipment and notes. There were no bodies in sight.

Wrong turn. I decided to go to the other side. However wrong it sounded, I was here to find bodies, not notes and equipment.

As I walked through the glass door and into the three-way compartment again, I heard footsteps coming from the entrance leading back outside. It felt like the sound was getting louder, so I quickly opened the door to the left. I sprinted past the corner and peeked over my shoulder, trying to get a glimpse of whoever was coming.

When the entrance to the crematorium opened again, I realized it was none other than Mark. He had a mask on, but I could tell just from his muscular body. He pressed a few buttons inside the compartment and smoky air started to spew out from above him. It looked like some sort of air shower scientists used to decontaminate themselves in movies. As the smoke dissipated, he turned his back towards me and walked to the right, the section where I had initially found all those notes and equipment from.

I exhaled in relief that he didn’t spot me. I was confident I could talk my way out of this, but I didn’t prefer it. But the air shower was a little nerve-racking. It implied that this place could potentially be dangerous for me since I had to decontaminate myself. I wondered if I should go use the air shower myself, but I quickly decided against the idea. That would alert Mark of my presence.

My mask wasn’t with me either. It was back in my room. The door was also closed and locked now. I didn’t know if I could exit much less reenter if I did manage to get out.

Ah, whatever. I decided to continue my exploration. The air shower could just be protocol. I still hadn’t exactly seen anything in the crematorium. I was too focused on the footsteps and the door.

I looked around. I didn’t notice anything that caught my eye at first. But when I started looking a bit closer, I realized there were several glass chambers full of some kind of blue liquid all lined up to the back wall. Inside, there were these grossly disfigured chunks of something fleshy… Oh… that’s disgusting.

I could see parts of the arms and fingers. Some of the skin looked like it was burnt, but I couldn’t really tell because it was all in small bits and pieces. Tiny bubbles rose to the top of the container. It looked like these flesh chunks were dissolving in the blue liquid.

“Ugh,” I gagged. I should’ve skipped the soup. Looking at the evidence, I concluded that these were the soldiers who were burned by the dragons. The bubbles made it seem like these body parts were going through some kind of chemical reaction. Probably some kind of acid, I thought.

I didn’t realize beforehand, but I heard rhythmic clinks coming from beneath the chamber. And it wasn’t just the one I was investigating; it came from every single liquid chamber around me. There seemed to be some kind of metallic compartment below all the liquid. It had a handle and it rattled every time I heard the clink. I was pretty sure this drawer compartment was collecting something from all the dissolving going on above it. But what? I couldn’t tell.

I stared back at the bodies slowly melting away. The blue liquid seemed to be eating away at the flesh. There had to be a reason for that. They wouldn’t just melt people down, would they? I peered down at the container. They were making something. I could tell. I pulled the handle.

The drawer compartment slid open revealing to me things that I would have never guessed would be in a container underneath this contraption. Crystals. Shiny, gray crystals littered the bottom. I looked from crystal to dead body, trying to fit the pieces together. None of it clicked. I understood none of this technology or culture.

I took a few steps back to investigate the process behind these machines. Clearly those bodies were being used. But how did these bodies become crystals?

The place was called the crematorium. Unless sakonians had a different definition for crematorium, it would mean that this place was somehow burning bodies. I vaguely remembered reading on the internet about how incredible amounts of heat could create diamonds. Maybe something similar is happening here, but with dead bodies? In the end, human bodies were partly made of carbon too.

I took another glimpse at the crystals. Maybe these are diamonds. I was about to pick one up when I heard a voice behind me.

“Mel? What are you doing here?”

Oh no, it’s Mark. Ignore him. Act natural. “Hmm… interesting.” I rubbed my chin with my gloved hand.

“Mel?”

“Hmm… This is very interesting, Mark.”

“Mel, you’re not supposed to be here.”

I glanced up at Mark. “So, how does it work?”

“This?” He pointed at the machine.

“Yes. This.” I also pointed at the machine while staring him in the eye.

“It’s-Wait. Stop changing the subject. Why are you here?”

Damn, so close. “Well, Mark. I had orders from Captain Dans.”

“Orders? You? For what?”

“I was very stressed out about the fact that I couldn’t give my thanks to these poor soldiers who died, so she gave me permission to come here. You’d understand, right? You’re a soldier like them.”

Mark crossed his arms. “Sorry, but I’m no soldier, and Captain Dans wouldn’t give out an order like that.”

I also crossed my arms. “And how would you know that?” We both stared at each other before I realized what he had just said. “Wait, you’re not a soldier?”

“No, I’m just a part of Captain’s crew.”

“Captain’s crew? Is Dans not a soldier?”

Mark scoffed at the idea. “Soldier? Far from it. We’re a private trading sakoar. Captain decided to help that useless emperor out of her own volition.”

Oh wow. I learned much more than I expected. “Alrighty then.” I took a step towards the exit. “Good luck with your work, Mark. I’ll be going then.”

He grabbed me by the shoulder. His grip was iron tight. “Where do you think you’re going?”

“Uh, to my room?”

He held me up and pulled me into the air compartment. “First, we decontaminate.” He clicked a few buttons and air started blasting through my suit and hair. It honestly felt refreshing. “Now, we’re going to”—he pulled me into the other section of the crematorium—“test you for potential bacterial infections.” He sat me down on a chair and started rummaging through a bunch of tools.

“You know, you don’t have to. I’m probably fine.” I started to get up, but he stopped me.

“It's a procedure for safety. Just be happy I’m not reporting you to the Captain. Now sit down.” He took out a syringe.

Oh, god no. Not needles. “Oh, wait. I’m not sure—”

Mark put the needle into my arm and pulled out some of my blood. He patched the area where he just took some blood from and replied, “Done.”

I stared at the place he had just inserted the needle. “Oh, that’s it?”

“Yep. I’ll let you know if you were infected with something.”

“Are you like a doctor?”

“No, I’m a mortician.”

“Oh?” A mortician? Did a mortician just give me the most painless shot I’ve ever had in my life? Now that’s crazy.

“Now, get outta here before I report this to the captain.” He pointed at the crematorium entrance.

“Um, okay.” I got out of the chair and strolled out. Now what? Maybe I should ask Dans about the weird crystals.