21 Battle of Souls (1/2)

”Lock the past's energy?” Garett felt befuddled, how could an artifact created by human hands mess with the vicissitudes of time?! That was the realm of the gods!

This is not something humans should mess with… Garett felt his world vision crumbling! If one could interfere with something as fleeting and transient as time, and only using an artifact created in a small room at the back of a church, he wouldn't be able to trust time itself in the future!

”Yes! This mutant had the ability to lock energy into one place, so I believe it to be possible. We only need to match both artifacts and we should be able to do it!” The elderly man's eyes radiated excitement. ”This will be a breakthrough in the usage of artifacts in the future, you should feel honored, kid.”

He stood there with crossed arms and a smile on his face, every inch of his emitting boundless confidence. It was as if the idea of failure never once crossed his thoughts!

”Is this not considered… Blasphemy?” Garett inquired with apprehension. ”Time is the domain of the Gods… and not even one of them dares to clutch this power to themselves!”

”The gods have their own preoccupations, kid. It belongs to us, humans, the task of breaking new horizons.” The elderly Keeper lectured, a tinge of solemnity permeating his face. ”Besides, I wasn't the creator of the artifact that directly pries into the mysteries of time. I'm only creating a… Additional gadget to perfect the usage of the lens.”

.

”Remember, kid. Most of the groundbreaking innovations were once dismissed as madness or blasphemy.” The elder started to walk towards the two objects, intent on starting with the procedures.

Wasn't this only some mad scientist bullshit!? You're clearly just creating excuses… Garett felt a headache coming, was this the eccentric personality Alice had warned him about?

”Hah!” The Keeper snorted with a frown. ”Uncountable young artisans would be begging to assist me in this experiment, and look at you, frightened like a little chicken.”

You are the chicken! And a crazy chicken to boot!... Garrett screamed inwardly, the old keeper surely did have a weird personality! Alice wasn't just being alarmist of unfair.

Nonetheless, Garett was quite interested in the creation process of artifacts; not to mention a groundbreaking one at that!

Steeling himself, he followed the old Keeper steps and approached the two tables in the middle of the crampy room.

”That's better. You can remove the blanket of that thing, and pass me those tools.” The Keeper felt pleased and nodded before starting to order the young recruit in all sorts of tasks. ”Oh… You should wear protective clothing first, there's a spare set on that shelf over there.”

Garett stopped on his tracks instantly and left to look for the clothing. He couldn't help but curse at the Keeper inwardly, as he didn't know the implications of meddling with this kind of stuff without protection! What if he suddenly mutated into something horrendous!? Nobody would cry for him!

Of course, I should be only overthinking. But that doesn't mean the possibility doesn't exist! Safety comes first… Garett silently mumbled to himself.

The protective clothing was a set of thick brown leather gloves and apron with a beaten and old exterior. There was also a thin silk mask near the pair, so Garett thought it wouldn't hurt using it too.

”Good.” He said, nodding in satisfaction. He felt a lot safer now! He didn't know if those items had some mystical property like artifacts, but he nonetheless trusted the old Keeper and believed he would not harm him, at least not intentionally.

Returning to the middle of the room, he was greeted with an elderly man dressed in a similar way to himself; but the leather apron dragged on the ground every time the short man took a step.

”Yes, I see you are ready.” The old Keeper, however, wasn't wearing a mask. And continued to show his yellowish teeth in an unconcealed smile. ”You should always wear the church's protective clothing when handling things like a mutant corpse.”

It was you that almost forgot to tell me beforehand, don't look at me like you succeeded in correcting a wayward junior… Garett lampooned once more, he felt that this kind of behavior had already segmented into his personality! Such was the frequency it had happened in the last few days.

”Now you can remove the blankets, please.”

”Ah, yes, sir.” Gareth felt flustered as he was forcefully dragged out from his reverie, and promptly started to do as he was ordered.