Chapter 66 The Doctors Diary (2/2)

On the first day after consuming their respective meals, all of the rats became unwell within a few hours. I initially was willing to write it off as a failure, but after three days, the rats who had consumed blood were suddenly active. Those who had consumed the tissue samples however, were at death's door. The rats who survived became increasingly erratic over the next 4 days. Any food that was given to them was consumed quickly, they never attempted to stash the food or leave it for later as they had done in my initial observation of their behaviour. Nine days in, and one of the rats attacked another, with the other four proceeding to follow in its footsteps. They consumed their fellow rat in its entirety, but their increasingly violent behaviour did not seem to stop.

The larger of the rats in the proceeding days consumed the others as it had the first. Just yesterday, it appeared to get so violent that it attempted to break out of its cage, succeeding in breaking the glass. This was proof of its increase strength. Considering its now uncontrollable state, I had to order it killed. Upon examining the body, I noticed immediately that unlike the specimen, it did not possess fangs. I have concluded one of 3 possibilities for this.

First, the transformation was incomplete, whether through lack of time or stimulant is unclear.

Second, perhaps it is a difference in species. The original specimen was originally human, far different than a mere rodent. Perhaps a more sophisticated subject is required, though this will increase the risk of uncontrollable factors.

And finally, third, the transformation was at its core, different to the original specimen.

I have decided it is safest to proceed in exploring the first potential problem at this stage due to the risks involved with the other two.

***

Eldovian Era 1707, 25th day of the 2nd month:

Since my first experiment I have managed to conduct two more experiments based off of my first assumption that the transformation was incomplete. As glass cages were a poor choice for the experimental subjects originally, I have procured more cages that are surrounded by anthrite in hopes that it will inhibit any increases in strength or speed in the subjects should they try to escape, but not in ordinary behaviour. After all, the original specimen seems to only be affected by the metal whilst in direct contact. The second experiment was conducted with blood alone in order to stimulate a successful transformation. The six rats collected were given various volumes in order to determine whether this had an effect on the transformation. The rats as before were sick for three days before they began exhbiting the same erratic behaviour as the last batch. Three of the rats were fed raw meat, and the other three were fed blood procured from the slaves. Those who were fed the raw meat followed the same line of behaviour as previously observed, increasingly violent behaviour. The three rats who were fed blood seemed highly active, but were violent only when they were not fed within a particular time frame. Out of curiosity, I began feeding one of the raw meat rats the blood instead, and witnessed his behaviour change to something akin to that of the blood-fed rats. Still, even with a diet of blood, the rats showed no signs of physical developments such as fangs, and when shaved, there were no Life Lines present on their bodies. Even those rats that were fed more of the original specimen's blood showed no further signs of transformation. Upon eradicating this second batch, I conducted a series of autopsies, but found no biological changes or differences.

The third batch of just three rats were given the blood of the specimen and followed the same pattern of being ill for a few days before their behaviour changed. They were fed a diet of blood for a week, and I have now decided to starve them to see if the same stasus state can be induced in them as in the original specimen.

On another note, the drawings observed on the specimen's walls are becoming more and more extensive, though there seem to be no apparent connection or sense. It is reasonable to assume that the specimen's mental stability is growing weaker.