The team stood still at the edge of the narrow tunnel opening into a cavernous space. Through his link with Specter and Cipher, Jonah could see the chamber clearly, and the image that flooded his mind made his blood run cold.
"What is it?" Seraph whispered, her hand resting on her sidearm. "What do you see?"
Jonah struggled to speak. "It's the lab," he finally said. His strained voice echoing in the tunnel. "We found it."
"Do you sight any threats?" Draven rumbled, his greatsword buzzing softly in his grip.
"No," Jonah said "No one's here. Just… the aftermath."
He gave the signal and the team moved as one, stepping out of the tunnel and into the laboratory.
The first thing that hit them was the sll. It was a mix of antiseptic cleaners, burnt tal, and old blood. It was the sll of a hospital and a slaughterhouse combined.
The chamber was huge, the ceiling disappearing into shadows above. But this was no natural cave. The walls were lined with ugly fusion of high-tech equipnt and bloody operating tables. Clean, white computer terminals stood next to steel tables stained with dark, dried fluids. Clean fiber-optic cables ran across the floor next to gutters. The gutters were filled with a reddish-brown sludge.
The scene was a nightmare. It was a place of science and savagery, all mixed into one.
Dozens of cages lined the far wall. Most were empty, their doors hanging open. But so were not. Inside one, the broken body of a Gryphon was slumped against the bars, its wings clipped and mangled. Wires and tubes were crudely jamd into its body, connecting it to a humming, black machine.
"They were experinting on them," Vanessa breathed, her hand flying to her mouth, her eyes wide with horror. "They were… vivisected." She saw their confused looks and clarified, her voice trembling. "It ans they were cut open… while they were still alive."
Draven let out a low snarl. "Cowards. This isn't a lab. It's a torture chamber."
He was right. This wasn't the clean creation of a Weaver. This was sothing else. Jonah's power was about understanding a creature's essence, its very soul and giving it a new form. This… this was just taking things apart. It was brutal, artless work.
He walked past a long, steel table and had to force himself not to look away. He had to see it. He had to understand what these people were. The body of so kind of large, reptilian beast was strapped down with heavy leather restraints. Its chest had been brutally cut open, and its heart had been ripped out. It had been replaced with a sparking piece of machinery that was connected to a car battery. A thick, tal plate had been bolted directly onto the creature's skull, and a ssy tangle of wires trailed from it like a set of tal dreadlocks.
It was a disgusting, monstrous fusion of life and machine, with none of the harmony or beauty of a true creation. There was no art to it. There was no understanding. This was the work of butchers who only knew how to steal, cut, and paste.
Jonah felt a surge of pure rage rise up in his chest. This was wrong. It was an evil, ugly mockery of his gift. He was a creator who wove life together with respect. These people were butchers who just smashed it into pieces to see how it worked. The contrast made him feel sick to his stomach.
"They don't get it," he murmured to himself, his fists clenching at his sides. "They don't understand the soul of it.
"Jonah."
Seraph's voice cut through his anger. He looked up. She was pointing toward the center of the cavern.
His eyes followed her finger, and the breath caught in his lungs.
In the middle of the lab, surrounded by a ring of dark, complicated machinery, was a reinforced stasis pod.
It was a vertical, human-sized cylinder made of thick, frosted glass and reinforced steel. It wasn't dormant. It wasn't off. it was unstable and purple black light pulsed from within it. The light would flare and dim, then flare up with a weak energy.
Waves of pure pain and confusion radiated from it. The waves were so strong that even Draven and Seraph, who were not sensitive to magic, could feel it on their skin. It felt like standing too close to a broken, sparking power line.
This was it. The reason for all this horror.
Vanessa slowly raised a hand, her palm open. A complex, beautiful device appeared in a shimr of blue, runic light. It was the compass she had designed, a delicate, beautiful instrunt of polished silver and glowing crystal.
The mont it appeared, it went so insane.
WHIIIIIIIIINE!
The needle didn't just point. It spun so fast it was a blur, slamming against its casing with a frantic ticking sound. The crystal at its center began to glow with a blinding red light, and the device let out a high-pitched, screaming sound that hurt their ears.
Vanessa clutched the compass with both hands, her face pale. "It's here," she said, her voice shaking, but her eyes were locked on the pod. "Whatever is in that pod… it's giving off a huge trace of Jonah's unique energy signature. It's… it's screaming."
The team moved forward as one, their boots echoing on the blood stained concrete floor. They ford a half circle around the stasis pod, their weapons raised, their faces grim and ready.
The sickly light from within the pod pulsed, casting their shadows on the floor.
Draven reached out an armored hand, resting it on the pod's heavy, tal release valve. He looked at Seraph, his eyes asking the silent question.
Seraph gave a sharp nod, her sidearm aid squarely at the frosted glass.
The screaming of the Resonance Compass was the only sound in the silent lab.
It was ti to see the monster they had made.
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