TW: gore, violence, deaths, experiments, and descriptions that may be disturbing.
I met my wife when we were children.
Our parents had arranged our engagement.
At first, I didn’t want to be engaged to someone I didn’t know, but when I saw her for the first time, I was immediately captivated by her.
She had golden-blond hair, green eyes, a delicate appearance, and a very gentle personality.
She was very patient with everyone, while I awkwardly tried to court her.
When we turned eighteen, we got married and lived a very happy life as a young couple.
We often went for walks around the city dressed like ordinary townsfolk so we could blend in and look like a normal couple.
We would hide in alleyways to kiss in secret and spent quite a bit of time in taverns, drinking and celebrating with the locals.
Some of them had recognized us because they had attended our wedding, but they never said anything and treated us like ordinary people.
When I finally inherited my title as count, my father passed away shortly afterward, worn down by old age and illness.
We were all saddened, but he had passed away so peacefully.
His only regret was that he would never get to meet his grandchildren.
The years went by, and when my wife and I finally decided we wanted a child, it didn’t happen.
No matter how many times we tried, we always failed, until one evening, Isabela came to me with some wonderful news.
—Dami, we did it!
You’re going to be a father!
—the young woman exclaimed, completely overjoyed.
—Really?
We did it?
—Damien asked, tears welling up in his eyes.
—Yes, my love.
We’re finally going to have a child —his wife assured him.
We spent the entire night holding each other.
We had thought of several names: if it was a boy, we would name him Liam, after my grandfather, and if it was a girl, Maria, after Isabela’s mother.
The months flew by.
Every evening, I put my work aside so I could spend time with my wife and our unborn child.
Those were some of the happiest moments of my life.
When the time finally came for the birth, I was so nervous that the midwives asked me to leave the room.
From the other side of the door, all I could hear were her cries.
But when I heard our baby’s cry, I felt so relieved that my legs nearly gave out beneath me.
I entered the room and saw my wife holding our daughter in her arms.
She brought her over to me, and I promised them both that I would protect them forever.
Unfortunately, I couldn’t keep that promise.
I cried tears of joy at every one of Maria’s first moments: when she said her first words, when she took her first steps, the first time she hurt herself…
We were surprised that she didn’t shed a single tear when she lost a tooth.
She wanted to show us that she was strong.
It was so adorable.
Those moments are still engraved in my memory.
We had lived six wonderful years together, but fate was against us.
While my wife was traveling to visit her family in the capital, her carriage was attacked by bandits.
One of the servants accompanying her came to warn us.
We arrived in time, but my wife was gravely wounded.
I sent for the priest so he could try to heal her, but he simply looked at me with a bitter expression.
Those savages had taken her view, and she was already very weak.
I don’t know what they did to her, but afterward, I searched for them and found them.
I never told my wife about it, but I believe she suspected something, because she said this to me: —Don’t try to avenge me.
You know, I’ve lived a life that was more than full.
I had a wonderful daughter and an incredible husband.
The only thing I regret is that I won’t get to see our little Maria grow up.
You will ask her to forgive me.
Tell her too that I hope she lives the life she dreams of with a husband who knows how to listen to her, support her, and love her no matter what happens.
I wish her all the happiness in the world.
My little girl…
I love her so much.
I don’t want to leave her so soon.
And with those final words, she took her last breath.The next day, I stayed in the room where she had left me for the last time, wanting to remember her forever.
From that day on, I left the room exactly as it was.
But I couldn’t accept the loss of my wife, so I set out on a journey to find out whether there was any way to bring her back.
I traveled to several cities and villages.
I used a business trip as an excuse.
I asked at every apothecary and spoke to all kinds of herbalists, but some refused to answer me while others called me insane.
Then one day, I entered yet another apothecary without much hope, and the shopkeeper gave me an answer I would eventually regret hearing.
He gave me a direction and a name: Linipous.
When I reached the place he had described, I found a cabin in the middle of the woods.
I went inside and asked the shopkeeper if he knew what Linipous was.
—It’s a gem that can bring the dead back to life by fusing them with another species.
When I heard that answer, I couldn’t help but feel frightened, but the answer I had been searching for all this time was finally within my reach.
So I took the opportunity and bought several, nineteen in total.
The shopkeeper explained how it worked: I needed a human and a creature with magical powers.
Then, I had to place the gem inside the human’s body, put the two bodies next to each other, and the gem’s magic would do the rest.
Finally, I needed a drop of my blood to bind them to my life.
The procedure was simple.
When I returned home, I couldn’t bring myself to use them right away.
For months, they remained abandoned in a corner of my study.
But eventually, I used them.
I didn’t want to experiment on my wife’s body, so I came up with a terrible idea: I would take one of the inhabitants of my town and conduct a first experiment.
The problem was that I didn’t have the body of a magical creature.
Then an idea came to me: I would organize a tournament that would attract all kinds of magical creatures, with a reward of 2,000 gold coins.
From then on, the news began to spread, and all kinds of people started coming from all corners of the world.
Before the beginning of every tournament, I made them sign a waiver stating that, in the event of a death, no one could be held responsible and no one would come looking for the bodies.
The rules stated that the participants had to neutralize their opponents, but sometimes magical creatures died during the fights.
I took advantage of those deaths.
I would change my appearance, secretly collect the bodies, and bring them down to my basement.
I never did anything in plain sight, so I always kept this appearance to make sure my people wouldn’t recognize me.
Wearing that mask made me feel a little less guilty.
“I’m sorry.” Those were the words I kept repeating.
I couldn’t stop seeing the fear in their eyes as a complete stranger had killed them.
The first was a middle-aged man, tall and muscular.
I fused him with an orc who had been eliminated during the tournament.
It was a failure.
So I changed targets.
I took a middle-aged woman and fused her with an elf.
It was another failure.
The failures kept piling up.
Every time, they ended up becoming huge, deformed monsters, with only one ability in common: regeneration.
After so many failures, I completely lost hope.
One night, as I was coming up from my laboratory, one of the beasts managed to escape.
I quickly raised the alarm and told everyone to evacuate.
We had to work together for three days and three nights before we finally managed to neutralize it completely.
That was when I realized the terrible mistake I had made.
I decided to turn to the only person I trusted: Father Paul.
He had been a friend of my father and had known me since I was a child.
He had been there for the most important moments of my life, and I went to him with sadness, carrying this unforgivable sin that I couldn’t confess to anyone else.
I told him everything, and he listened in horror as I explained what I had done.
He didn’t approve of my actions, but when I explained my solution for fixing everything, he couldn’t hold back his tears.
—I’m sorry, my child.
Your father entrusted you to me, and I failed to guide you down the right path.
May God forgive me for this sin —the priest said through his tears.
—I am sorry too, for you and for Isabela.
I have disappointed you both —Damien said.
I returned home and sealed the room shut.
From that day on, I never opened it again.
I devoted myself to my work, my people, and my daughter, the last gift my wife had left me.
I went on with my life, but I never forgot the terrible crime I had committed.
Then, during a tournament like the ones held in previous years, I saw those who could finally help me with my project.
—It’s been more than ten years, and you’re still keeping this secret.
Do you really intend to never tell your daughter?
—the priest asked.
—How am I supposed to tell her that ten years ago, I kidnapped and fused people from my own town in order to bring her mother back to life?
Even though she’s my daughter, she would never forgive me.
So I’d rather keep it a secret.
Besides, there isn’t much time left.
I have to put an end to this once and for all —the count said.
Behind the door of the great hall stood someone who had heard everything.