The man sat down in the center of the room and looked down at the vial. He naturally knew that what he was doing was dangerous, but it was his only chance of freedom. What he desired most was to finally experience freedom, and all of that was based on this very mont.
He took a deep breath, and opened up the vial. After five seconds, he closed it once again.
Nothing seed to happen. He looked around. Excitedly, he stood up. He had done everything he was told to do, and he could now leave.
Suddenly, he paused, and his body fell stiffly to the ground.
Skynder and the Imperial Scholar looked up from above. Although it was hard to tell exactly what happened, it seed that the effects were different for the man and Skynder.
They waited an hour, hopefully enough ti for the poison to disperse, before the Imperial Scholar sent a servant down to retrieve the body.
He went in, and without issue, brought the body out.
"Imperial Scholar, he is alive." The servant said in surprise.
The Imperial Scholar examined the man, and after a mont, spoke. "He is not dead, indeed, but he has fallen into a coma. There does not seem to have been any sort of effect on the heart."
Both the Imperial Scholar and Skynder knew what this ant. Not only was the color of the poison different for different people, but effects were as well.
Based on the questions they had asked the man before, he had seen the vial as the color of grey. It was still hard to put any pieces together, but based on what they had seen, it seed to be connected to the mind.
Skynder knew that whatever poison he had accidentally created may end up being greater than any other. Because whatever this was, it could not be created purposefully.
Neither the Imperial Scholar, nor Skynder, felt as though they could rest until they had an explanation for what was happening.
Therefore, they continued the testing. Since they had guessed that its changes in color and effect were based on the mind, they began to ask questions to prisoners before testing it on them.
The next person to enter was soone who saw the color blue.
It was not the sa icy blue that Skynder saw, but the color of the sky.
The prisoner sat down and opened the vial. After five seconds he closed it.
He stood up, when suddenly, he got dizzy. He held his head, before beginning to scream.
His body began to writhe around on the floor, though he seed unconscious. After around ten minutes, the man stopped moving. A puddle of blood had ford under him.
He stayed completely still. They waited an hour before sending a servant inside to retrieve the body.
"This one is dead, Imperial Scholar."
They had expected as such. The Imperial Scholar sent the servant away, and with Skynder present, began to dissect the man.
After around an hour, the Imperial Scholar spoke. "It looks as if his insides were squished. Though nothing abnormal happened on the outside, on the inside, it seems as though he had been crushed by a heavy force, or had fallen to the ground."
This made Skynder think. The man had said that his vial was blue like the sky, and the Imperial Scholar said that it looked as though he had fallen or been crushed.
"Perhaps the color one sees relates to the effect." Skynder said.
Since he saw sky blue, and his insides seed as if he had fallen, it made sense. In fact, they had previously guessed such a thing, but this made it seem obvious.
"But what makes soone see a certain color, and in turn the effect. Or perhaps the effect decides the color." The Imperial Scholar said.
They began to go through the man's data. He had answered hundreds of questions. Skynder eventually stumbled upon a question and answer that made his eyes widen.
"Look!"
The Imperial Scholar looked at where Skynder was pointing.
"Biggest fear, heights."
They looked at each other.
"Could it be?"
It seed to indicate that the poison's color and effect were based on fears.
This was an incredible conclusion to co to. It ant that the mind could affect the body through this poison.
They imdiately set up another round of tests.
"Red like fire, as the servant had seen before, grey like tal, and green like a plant."
They had three prisoners test it all out.
The first one began to scream in agony and scratch at his skin, rolling around.
When he died and was examined, they found that his insides were hot, but not burnt.
The second one began to scream and run around. It wasn't constant, but around every five seconds, he would scream in pain and begin to bleed from the holes in his body.
He eventually died, and when they examined him, they saw that his insides had occasional holes in them.
The third one curled up on the ground and slowly suffered until death.
Upon examination, it seed as though all of the nutrients and fats in his body had been used up.
"Biggest fears - Fire, being stabbed, and starvation."
Everything seed to line up. This seed to be a complete conclusion of the poison's abilities.
However, Skynder was confused. If this was the whole truth, then why did his heart turn icy?
He simply did not fear such a thing.
He shared this confusion with the Imperial Scholar, who agreed.
"I don't fear anything, yet it seems from holding it that I can be affected. If simply not having fear could counter it, then it would be a reasonable conclusion. However, that is not the truth. Or perhaps, it is only a part of the truth." The Imperial Scholar said.
The Imperial Scholar's mind was spinning as he spoke, and he finally seed to think of the answer.
"Skynder. Do you value your emotions?"
Skynder didn't know how to answer the question. "I suppose."
"More specifically, your family, right?" The Imperial Scholar asked.
Skynder nodded his head. "Yes."
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