They walked down the corridor coming to a set of double doors. The double doors had the large glyph of a rune across it, the mark of a protection spell to keep unwanted visitors from entering the room. Again the two men put their pass keys towards a passkey inlaid in the wall next to the doors and after a moment access was granted.

  “I have never been in this building before,” Varithorn said.

  “You never would have had a reason to before now,” Prometheus said as he opened the door, “a Niepean would not have many deceased Xerxean friends.”

  “This is the morgue?” Varithorn said in confusion, “Meryn is royalty, she should be in the catacombs along with your other ancestors!” Prometheus could detect a touch of anger in his voice.

  “It was not my call,” he answered, “according to the Dauntless the investigation into her death is still ‘ongoing’. I have tried to convince them to give her a proper burial but they are too obsessed with the circumstances around her death rather than honoring her in death.” Prometheus said. Varithorn was visibly confused, Prometheus understood his confusion.

  In the room there was a small console with different dials and buttons that correlated to metal doors that were all around the room. Prometheus walks towards the console and presses a few of the buttons to select one one of the doors. A few seconds later one of the metal doors opens and a long tray with a body on it slides out. As the body fully slides out Prometheus waves his hand and four crystals that are set up in the corners of the room begin to glow, emanating a strange blue light that points itself towards the body. The body begins to float into the air towards the two men until it is floating upright in the middle of the room.

  “Wha…how…how is this possible?” Varithorn asks.

  The two men stare at the body of Meryn, but Varithorn was consumed with bewilderment. It looked as if Meryn was asleep, her body did not look decayed, more like she was in a state of stasis. Varithorn walked towards her body, reaching out his hand to grab hers but has blocked by the levitation magic suspending her body.

  “Why does she look…” Varithorn started to say.

  “Alive?” Prometheus answered, “We do not know. When Meryn passed away it was because of a malfunction with a spell she was working on creating. We do not know exactly what happened but the spell somehow has kept her body in a state of stasis even if she is now void of life. She is gone, but we are cursed with seeing her in a state as if she is asleep.” Prometheus looked at Meryn with sadness in his eyes. The one person he connected with, the one who taught him his craft, she floated before him as a lifeless husk, never decaying but also never being the same again.

  Prometheus sighed to himself, “it makes it hard to move on, the Dauntless especially have been struggling with it.”

  “Is she truly gone?” Varithorn asked, “I mean if her body is in this state then there is a chance that she is just…” Varithorn searched for the right words.

  “Your line of thinking is the same as my parents,” Prometheus walks over to Varithorn, “they see her in this state and believe that she is still alive, somewhere. Meryn was always incredibly secretive about her work as I am sure you are well aware. She would sometimes give me hints as to what she was working on but never actually told me.” Prometheus grew solemn.

  “In the explosion, most of her work was destroyed. We had no idea what she was working on and with what we do have it is still almost impossible to figure out exactly what the spell was supposed to do,” Prometheus said.

  “What did she tell you?” Varithorn asked.

  “She said the spell was ancient yet incomplete, it seems she found something in her excavation of the ruins outside of Styx,” Prometheus looked to Varithorn, “What did she tell you?”

  Varithorn shook his head, “Like you said she was secretive. Even being her lover, she never shared her research with me. Maybe she thought I would not understand, maybe it was her pride, but I never knew what her work was,” Vairthorn did not avert his gaze from Meryn. Not many knew of their relationship, Prometheus was one of the few. They would often meet in secret, Prometheus respected and loved his sister so helping her see her boyfriend was a showing of kindness for him. Whether she would sneak to Niepe or Varithorn would sneak here. They were never quite a trio as Prometheus was usually the odd man out, but he did enjoy their company. Unlike most, their happiness did not disgust him, he enjoyed seeing someone he loved be in love. He so often was uncomfortable with the ways that people acted in relationships; the lovey-dovey nature they had around them he found nonsensical. But for some reason their love gave him a sense of peace.

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  However, Varithorn’s words set something off in Prometheus. A confusion of sorts. Prometheus and Meryn had many talks with each other, Prometheus looked to her for advice about research and new infusions he could work on; but Meryn never did the same. She always kept her work to herself but would often say that if he really wanted to know ‘Varithorn would be more likely to say something’ than she was. Prometheus decided to prod a little.

  “She did not say anything?” Prometheus asked more pointedly.

  Varithorn looked towards Prometheus, “No,” he replied back, “it was a bit of a tough subject between us. I wanted to know more about her work, thought it would connect us but she insisted her work was too important. Even though I know she loved me, she did not want a Niepean to know.” There was a touch of bitterness in Varithorn’s voice. Prometheus could hear the sincerity he spoke with but the information still did not fit.

  “Varithorn,” Prometheus says, “Why do you cover your face with me? I thought it was odd at the center isle but I understand the Niepean secrecy, but why now? In the privacy of this room, why continue to hide yourself?” Prometheus began to speculate. The signs began to point towards something being off with his friend. Prometheus carefully moved his hand towards his passkey, putting both hands behind his back. If his suspicions turned out to be correct, he would need to alert someone as soon as possible. Prometheus also put his hands close to a small circular device on the back of his belt, just in case.

  “I understand your suspicion,” Varithorn finally said, “You have a right to be concerned.” Varithorn walked to the side a little bit, still focused on Meryn. Prometheus kept his eyes focused, looking for any sense of danger.

  “I actually was going to speak with you about this to begin with, but then you offered to let me see Meryn and I could not refuse,” Varithorn says, “My father advised that we should not share the situation in Niepe surrounding heirs and blessings. As you know I have always been the heir as well as have been confirmed to receive the blessing.” Prometheus was puzzled, he had known that Varithorn had always been the heir to his country but did know understand what Varithron was getting at.

  “Of course, that is how you and Meryn got so close. You and Haldrin would fight for her affection. But what are you getting at?” Prometheus asked.

  “As you know this shadow group we are going after is targeting the heirs of the different countries, so if they were to target someone in Niepe…” Varithorn trailed off.

  “Then they would target you,” Prometheus answered, “but you have not been attacked, I mean if you were not…” Prometheus began to put the dots together.

  “There was an assianation attempt,” Varithorn said, “It is why I was not around for a while, and the same reason why I never tried to come back to Xerxes after Meryn’s death.” Varithorn began to lift up the sleeve of his arm. “The attempted left me…disfigured.” As Varithorn lifted his sleeve Prometheus could see instead flesh his arm was completely metal and machinery. The cultivation of many magical processes and artificial work to create a working metallic appendage. Prometheus was astonished, he immediately ran over and grabbed the arm to examine it.

  “Incredible!” Prometheus exclaimed, “a fully functioning magical appendage, this is a marvel of the arcane and engineering!” Varithorn quickly pulled his hand away and put his sleeve back down.

  “I appreciate your enthusiasm but I do not share your sentiment. The deformities to not stop there, my face has become disfigured as well as other parts of my body due to the spell cast upon me,” Varithorn said.

  Prometheus let his guard down completely, “of course, Varithorn this is astonishing to say the least, I know I should be more understanding but I just cannot believe…” A ping went off in Prometheus’s mind. A small voice went from the back of his mind to the forefront, he heard the voice of Daedelus, it was a message:

  Prometheus sent back his reply by simply thinking of the words:

  Nothing for a moment, but then once again his voice started small and then came into being in his mind:

  Prometheus nodded.

  “As much as I would love to examine you further, it appears the delegation from Fearsh has arrived, we will talk more about this later.,” Prometheus says to Varithorn.

  “We will talk more about everything I asure you but let us deal with the beast people, I am sure they are going to be so much fun to travel with,” Varithorn answered. Prometheus tapped some of the buttons on the console and Meryn floated back towards the table the she currently rested on. Varithorn said some parting words to her as the door closed and the two men exited the room.