Chapter 120: Chapter 120: The Specter
Siderius entered the storage room with the Baron. He kneeled down on one knee and pulled the cover off of one of the corpses.
A young lady with black hair. Even after death, her hair stayed fresh and lively like she was alive. Hair was the most durable material in the body, composition wise. It could remain the same for years after death, even when the body had completely decomposed.
To actually determine the dead, people usually noticed the color of the skin and its warmth. The eyes also clouded quickly, showing that the internal mechanism of the body no longer worked.
"Well? Who did it?" The Baron said.
"Not who. But what..." Siderius said.
A dead body, no matter how later it was after death, must exude any amount of Necron Energy. But these bodies had none.
That could only mean one thing. They weren’t dead. Or their Necron Energy was taken away.
"What is this?" Siderius reached out and touched the glue between her eyelids.
He still wore the gloves he had found in the monastery. The leather should be sufficient to prevent any poison from leaking through.
"Glue. Made from resin and some oil." The Baron explained.
"Hmmm?"
Siderius quickly went over to each corpse and pulled the cover away. Every corpse had their eyes glued tight.
"The victims never shut their eyes after death. We tried closing it but their eyes would always shoot back up. They must encounter unimaginable terror upon death. It must be why they can’t even close their eyes." The Baron explained.
"A very reasonable theory, Baron. But that isn’t why their eyes aren’t closed."
The Baron’s brow furrowed.
Siderius continued to examine the body of the victims. They still had their clothes on. He lifted up the shirt of the young lady.
On her body were countless cuts. Short, shallow cuts that had no distinguishing pattern. It was as if the killer hated her with all their guts and blindly sliced the poor lady.
Siderius traced his finger on her skin. There was no heat under those flesh. But the skin was surprisingly soft, no sign of rigor mortis.
Rigor mortis was a process that occurred after death that caused every muscle in the body to become stiff and rigid. She should be hard as a rock, not soft.
"Who is she?"
"That is Anna. One of our maids. She was the first to die. We found her in her room, pale as a corpse with no wounds at all. We thought she was alive but she had no breath nor warmth. Then we found the wounds hidden beneath her clothes." The Baron said.
"These are all flesh wounds. She couldn’t die from the cuts. That is for sure."
"So it is as I suspected. They died because of strangling." The Baron squatted down at the opposite side of Siderius, carefully observing the way he was examining the body.
It was fascinating in the Baron’s eyes. One simple glance and he knew that he was dealing with a professional. It was the right call to summon Siderius here, the Baron thought.
"She didn’t die from strangling either. There aren’t any marks on her neck. But what is interesting isn’t her neck."
"What is?" The Baron said.
"No sign of struggle. No bruises or scratches. The only wounds here are the cuts."
The Baron nodded. "That is what has been bothering me as well. The killer seemed to have some sort of spell to control the victim. But I can’t find any traces of magic. That witch is a sneaky one. He must have found a way to purge the leftover magic."
Siderius shook his head. "Magic leaves traces. That is its eternal weakness. No amount of spells can erase it. You can only mask it."
Siderius took a handful of salt and sprinkled it all over the body of the lady.
The Baron saw Siderius did the questionable hand signs.
Witches didn’t need physical movements to do their magic. They never had to. Their magic reacted to their will. The Baron was curious but he didn’t ask. He only assumed that it was some unique school of magic that he didn’t know about.
"Reveal yourself."
A gust of wind blew over the room. Dust flew off from the floor. The salt burned brightly in blue. But then, they disappeared, leaving the room exactly as it was.
Then low moans echoed throughout the space. The voices of the victims.
"They didn’t die by a natural death, alright." Siderius said.
The Baron took a deep breath. His right fist clenched tight. Jude looked deep into his mind to try and find which of his enemies were capable of such things.
But Siderius cut his line of thought quickly.
"This isn’t a witch."
"Then what is it?
"Something with a lot more rage."
Siderius made an incision and cut the glue on the victim’s eyelids, lifting them open. The eyes of the dead always lose their color and become clouded.
The eyes of this lady were not clouded nor were the corners of eyes decomposed. They were pure white. The iris had disappeared completely, leaving only the white sclera visible that took the entirety of the eyeballs.
This could easily be mistaken for the clouded eyes after death. But there was a difference.
"Have you ever heard the phrase ’the eyes are the windows to the soul’?" Siderius said.
The Baron nodded.
"There are beings. Or rather, monsters that exist outside of our Kingdom of Man. They can be birthed by natural causes or by invisible hands manipulating behind the curtains.
Before I came here, I visited a monastery called Santa Roberto. You must be familiar with it, yes?"
The Baron nodded again. "I know the Mother Reverend of that monastery. Sister Lisa Cullen."
"She died and turned into one of those monsters. The culprit was a witch that found shelter inside the monastery."
The Baron’s expression darkened. "There were letters from Sister Cullen. But I didn’t have time to check it... The Monastery... How is it?"
"Everyone inside is dead."
Jude lifted his head up and looked at the ceiling. He shared a long heavy breath. "I didn’t know... If I did..."
"I am not here to accuse you of anything, Jude Fisher."
"Then why did you..."
"So that you understand better what we are dealing with."
Siderius moved on to the next victim. He did the same examination as before. The process revealed the same thing. Shallow cuts and a pair of white eyes.
He moved on to the third victim.
"The eyes are the windows of the soul. If your soul is influenced, the eyes will show it." Siderius whispered while continuing the examination. He was explaining to the Baron.
There was more knowledge about the situation but Siderius didn’t share it with him. After all, all these pieces of knowledge came from the Alchemy Compendium, which couldn’t be explained in this world.
According to the Compendium, all beings in existence were made out of four categories. The Alchemists called this Dominions.
Dominion of Flesh. Dominion of Soul. Dominion of Element. And Dominion of Construct.
Humans and witches belonged to different kingdoms, the Kingdom of Man and the Kingdom of Chaos. However, they both belonged to the Dominion of Flesh. Their strength and life force came from their physical body.
But there were families, species and genus that held their power in the abstract force of the soul
Families like Specter. A family under the Kingdom of Monster.
"A specter is a soul without a body. It has no home in the physical world and cannot cross to the afterlife.
Usually a specter will choose a place to occupy. This is what the commoners refer to as haunting.
A lost specter with no home and no purpose is a ghost. They are mostly neutral unless provoked. A harmless being at the core.
But it is the only type of specter that is neutral. The rest aren’t.
A revenant is a specter of an evil being that died a violent death. Its violent delight had a violent end. And in its death, it continues to harm others.
The opposite of it is a phantom. A being that was wronged and murdered horrifically. In life, it met a violent death. So in death, it had a violent life.
This is your murderer. A specter of vengeance."