The "Things" in the Basement

You have to understand when I first got here I had absolutely no desire to view what was in that room but over time my curiosity got the better of me.

You see Glenda the witch I'd come to have as a mentor had several oddities that I couldn't really just look over.

In the entire 3 months I'd been here I had never seen the woman sleep, eat, or drink once. It was like she was some variety of machine who ran off some other type of fuel.

The strange thing was she didn't even appear to have a bedroom. The only room allocated to that type of thing was the one I was using.

When I asked her about this she just gave me some excuse and said

"Don't worry I just eat while I work and sleep at my desk most days."

I couldn't really trust that and given her witch like appearance I was beginning to think my previous horror movie sense was spot on.

Now the other thing about Glenda was she would always fly out on business every three days and wouldn't be back until the evening. She would always be carrying a large sack that appeared to be about the size of an average adult. she would never tell be what was inside only that it was an ingredient to her research.

Between all of these factors I had begun to fear for my own safety. I wasn't sure what was going on but I knew I couldn't sit around and wait for my own death.

If she was doing witchy experiments on people I would find a way to get out. so I decided to explore the basement.

I waited for her to leave on her usual time on the third day and using a little ingenuity from my life before I got into the lock on the basement. As I walked through the door I found myself a little nervous.

The cellar was a little old and musty and I never expected what I saw inside. I didn't see humans like I had expected but what appeared to be humanoid beasts all chained up. Well one of them was the rest appeared to be dead. I was honestly confused at what I was seeing.

At that moment I heard a voice.

"Well well what do we have here. I thought I told you not to look down here and what do I find. Do you really think I'm someone you can just disobey."

"Gle-Glenda I'm sorry what are you doing back so soon?"

"Did you really think I'd just leave the only room I didn't want you to see without a means to see if you'd look."

"Fair, I guess this means you'll be killing me then."

"What is heavens name are you talking about. Why would I kill you over something."

"Because I saw your witchy research."

"What... you know what never mind I don't have time for this right now. You need to hide and honestly we can discuss this later."

And with that she shoved me in a cabinet to the side and almost like magic immediately after a previously unseen magic circle lit up across the floor and a strange man appeared. He had black hair that looked closer to wool then hair, piercing red eyes, and even stranger two horns.

"Hmm... That's unusual. Your not usually here for my inspections Glenda. I guess it saves me a little bit of the usual trouble of deciphering your notes."

"Umm yeah I suppose so. Something came up and I had to cut my hunting short for today."

"So how has the beasts progressed. Have you had any success with giving them the blood."

"Well I've managed to get a creature to survive for an extra two days but as expected it looks like the blessing of the goddess Layas is getting in the way. I don't think we'll be able make it work. The two forces are just incompatible. A human can't use the soul force and magic."

"That's disappointing but I suppose it's to be expected. Well no need to continue. I suppose at this point it would just be a waste of time and effort. I guess us demons just weren't meant to gain the force of the dragons. Oh and one more thing."

"Yeah what can I do?"

"Die for me you know loose ends and all."

And with those words the strange man immediately appeared before Glenda putting his hand which had become a claw through Glenda's chest. I could only watch on as I was reminded of a scene.

A blonde woman with a hole through her stomach "Leo... you have to make it back. be a good boy I love you."

The woman was my mother in my last life and was the primary reason I had become the way I was. Her death lead to a downward spiral of trying to find a way to cover up my own emotions. As Leo was thinking about his mother he was reminded of the plethora of issues he had forgotten up until this point in his life.

At some point during this moment of internal reflection the strange man had disappeared leaving Leo alone in the cabinet.

"Glenda..."

As he approached the woman's body he was reminded of that scene once again and the man he'd once called father who had committed the atrocity. He didn't have much he could do at this point. He decided to bury the body.

Next time the the force that makes dragons