Page 65 of Orc's Pride
“Mmm.”
Malik shakes his head, his gaze moving back to the list in his hands. “Well… this is certainly troubling. I do have other news as well. About the experiments that I wrote to you about.”
I tilted my head, glancing up at Pitha. “Experiments?”
Both orcs incline their heads at the same time but Malik speaks first.
“The letters and notes that I’ve been decoding after the past few months, they’ve all been a part of a series of correspondence between the dark elves talking of human experimentation.”
I shudder at the thought. “That sounds horrible.”
“It is. Even worse than that, they’re planning on using humans as their conduits in order to gain more power here. Infusing them with dark magic using torturous techniques.”
Pitha squeezes my hand when I lean into them, the shock of Malik’s words rendering me speechless. “Have you figured out where the experiments are taking place?”
“Not yet, but I know what we will need to look for in order to identify these carved out humans.”
Carved out? Gods, that sounds worse than him talking about experiments in general. Just how far are the dark elves willing to go in order to conquer these lands? Didn’t they have enough of that back from where they came from?
It’s as if they refuse to let anyone flourish without wanting to cause them suffering.
“What do we look for?”
“They’ll have a mark on their body, like a gemstone infused into their skin. It’s a way for them to connect to the magic itself and be infused with the dark power that the dark elves seek to use in order to wield against the rest of us.”
Pitha sighs. “At least we know what to look for.”
Malik nods. “Indeed. Though, it will vary on where the stone is. I’ve only found one human so far with this and it was on their left hip.”
“What was the color?”
“This one was a deep magenta, but I’m sure that won’t be the only one. Dark elves may be brash but they unfortunately aren’t stupid. They’ll likely use all kinds of stones and spots to place them. Some humans may have a few on them.”
Dark elves really are horrible.
“Can we save them? Maybe…” I struggle to find the words. “Pull them out of the humans and restore them back to their natural state?”
Malik shakes his head. “By that point, the human’s soul will have been carved out of them. They’ll be a walking husk. There is no point in not killing them for they will already be dead. Don’t feel bad if you cross one, Dana. Kill it the moment you are able to or else they will kill you.”
As haunting as his words are, I understand the graveness in his tone. He’s only telling us these horrible details because he wants to protect us and make sure we remain safe. I’m sure that any sort of hesitation on my end when faced with a dark magic-infused human would only result in my quick demise.
Without knowing, I would want to help them, even if it meant letting them get close to me in order for them to kill me. It’s the type of person I am. Leaving someone to struggle if I thought I could help would never cross my mind.
As long as Malik believes these people to be dangerous though, I’m going to follow his orders to kill them. I wouldn’t let someone that was only a husk of a being steal my life away when I was still walking around living and breathing.
Plus, I don’t know what I would do if Pitha were to be hurt by one of them. I’d more than likely tear the whole world down if that were to happen.
I nod. “Kill them. Got it.”
Satisfied with my answer, he glances over Pitha’s way. “Over the coming days, we’ll go through what I’ve found out about the human experiments. You and your guard will need to become experts at spotting them since you’re a first line of defense.”
Pitha inclines his head. “I’m ready whenever you are.”
“Excellent.”
Malik rises to his feet, taking the list again and holding it up to his eyes. “Thank you for this, Dana. It’s an invaluable piece of information.”
I preen at the praise, even if everything else has successfully scared the shit out of me. “Will you be able to stop the people on that list?”