Episode 45

Scarlet's eyes focused on the video footage playing out before them. In the center, there appeared to be a fighting pit where two men seemed to be fighting to the death. But before the scene could fully play out, Helfeirch had already backed out and began scrolling through the countless videos, opening some for a few seconds before continuing the process.

Scarlet said nothing and let him sift through the files. She could only guess what kind of thoughts were swirling through his mind. But suddenly, she felt him tightly grip her shoulder while his other hand froze in the air, in front of the display.

She glanced back at him to find his goggles now pulled up, exposing the intense look in his eyes. His face was a mixture of disbelief, pain, and affection. Scarlet's head whipped back to the video currently playing.

In the center of a fighting pit were another two men. It only took her a few seconds to realize that one of the men was, in fact, Helfeirch himself. He quickly brought about the end of the man he was fighting. It was only then that Scarlet noticed the young woman that was chained up just outside the fighting ring.

Scarlet watched as the petite girl, who looked to be in her late teens, was drug into the ring. She hung her head, causing her strawberry blonde hair to fall into her face, and one could easily see how she trembled. In the next moment, her chain was passed to the blood-covered Helfeirch.

At first, the Helfeirch in the video didn't move. He only stood there staring at the small trembling figure before him. When he did finally move, it was to remove her shackles. One could see on the video that he was saying something to her, but what exactly, only Helfeirch himself know knew. The girl then nodded her head and followed him from the ring.

Scarlet understood instantly what she was seeing. That girl was Helfeirch's deceased mate. She remembered how affectionately he'd spoken of the woman. In that moment, Scarlet couldn't help but compare herself to that meek girl she'd just seen.

Helfeirch then closed the video and let the hand that he had extended drop to his side, causing Scarlet to look back at him once more. His eyes had become cold, numb.

"Since there are files of my people on here, that means…?"

Scarlet nodded. "You're people are the products of one of their experiments." She paused. "From what I can tell, it's been ongoing for several generations."

Helfeirch nodded before he turned his head to look down into Scarlet's eyes. She watched as the coldness in his eyes washed into something unreadable. His overly tight grip on her shoulder loosened, and she could feel the tension draining from him as he returned to his usual self.

"Keep looking for what you were searching for," he then said.

Scarlet could only bring herself to press her lips together and nod in response before directing her attention back to the files. She made her way back out of the Bwbach files, and that's when she began to come across an assortment of files dedicated to human enhancements.

It didn't take much sifting to figure out that many of the experiments conducted under this umbrella had led to the uses of the widespread and various enhancements currently common among the populace in Lygredd Grand.

The files following these gave an account of various experiments where they tried placing the human brain or consciousness inside the body of an android. In all instances, the experiments were deemed an epic failure. In most instances, the subjects would reject their new body to such an extent it would lead to a swift descent into madness, quickly followed by death.

Those who didn't die would still succumb to insanity, many of which became utterly homicidal. The fallout of this had become known as the android rebellion.

'So, the androids Helfeirch and I encountered on our way to Lygredd Grand are supposed to be the remnants of this. At this point, I don't know if I can be surprised anymore.'

It was only after this, did she come across the files that she'd been searching for. She could feel her chest tighten as she hesitated for a moment before proceeding further into the files. She instantly recognized the lead scientist on these experiments.

'The woman from my dreams…'

But that wasn't the only person she recognized. Among the other lead scientists was the picture of the man she'd woken up to in the Scavenger Lands. And even though she could tell that the photo was from some time ago, he still had that slightly mad glint in his eyes.

Taking a deep breath, she pulled her eyes away from the two and began scrolling through the various subjects that had been deemed failures. Those who survived, were dumped on the ground as a sort of social experiment.

Then her eyes settled on the one thing she both wanted to see, and didn't want to see at all. Upon opening her own file, she simply stood there and stared at everything there. All the images from her dreams came rushing back to her. She could now say with certainty that they were more memories than they were dreams.

She felt some unidentifiable emotion wash over her. It wasn't shock, and it wasn't quite anger, but it seemed to run deep into her soul, filling with coldness.