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Two little dead bodies lay on the wet floor, a disgusting smell of blood spreading through the room. More than five men wearing gray uniforms formed a circle around the two dead children.

A year earlier, in one of Louis's asylum rooms, the somber atmosphere grew louder with the sounds of footsteps. The captain of the guards pushed away one of the employees to check the horrible scene.

Kosie's little dead hand clutched the silver nail embedded in it, while blood splattered the boy's hair.

The two dead bodies lay motionless as mud found its way to their noses, dead eyes staring into the void while a blue color began to spread on their cheeks.

The workers stared in shock for a few seconds, and although they had spent a long time within the walls of this institution, some of them lost their composure. You don’t see an execution like this every day, even here in the asylums.

"What are you waiting for? Hellworms to eat them? Move before it gets stinky," the captain of the guards screamed.

"But they are just children; maybe we should spare them from..."

"Shut it," another employee whispered as he grabbed his fellow's shirt from behind.

"What's that new one?" the captain of the guards asked. The dark circles under his eyes indicated a long night of sleeplessness, and despite his fancy nickname, his authority wasn’t that wide; he was only responsible for the employees.

"All I meant is..." the young man started to finish his sentence before he found himself at the center of a circle.

The other workers surrounded him from all directions, even the one who warned him moments earlier.

"Well, carry on!" the captain of the guards demanded as he snatched one of the chains from the employees and wrapped it around his fist.

The young man examined the situation he was in; it didn't take him long to understand how things worked in the madhouse: you do your job and keep your mouth shut, or else.

"Nothing, sir," the man said and turned around to lift one of the dead boys.

"Good, make this room appropriate for tomorrow morning," the captain of the guards said, then turned his face and exited the room while the other employees began their work.

Ten minutes later, between the cold structures of the asylum and at the end of a long hallway, the floor was wet and cracked in some spots. A few lanterns attached to the walls of the hallway illuminated the area.

Two employees from the slums were slowly marching through the passage, holding Kosie and Horras on their shoulders.

"This isn't right!" the young man said, then stopped.

"What are you doing? Move; we have another job after this," his friend said as he stopped in front of two scratched doors.

"I didn't think that..." the young man said while staring at his friend.

"What will they do with them anyway?" the young man asked, pointing at the door behind his friend.

"I don't know, but they surely won’t bury them if that's what you're asking," the older employee answered, then added, "Told you, this job is not for your kind."

The two men opened one of the doors and threw the two bodies inside the room, then rushed back to the hallway.

"Relax; you'll get used to it," the man told his fellow as they walked quickly through the hallway before the smells from inside the room burned their eyes.

A few minutes later, inside the stinky room.

A heavy weight began to lift from his eyes; a smell of rotting meat entered his nose, and the huge scar on his neck started to vanish and turn red.

Soon enough, he was able to see a slight light coming from under the door.

He took a breath and whispered, "I'm alive?"

After a few seconds, his other senses came back to life: the wet shoe he wore, the cold sensation of the muddy earth beneath him.

"How?" Horras stood up, not believing it, touched his neck, and found the huge scar was gone.

"People don't come back from death just like that!" Horras wondered.

He took his time to understand what happened, but no explanation came to mind.

The room was so dark, but somehow he managed to get near the exit door.

"Anyone!" Horras was about to knock on the door when suddenly, from the darkness, a hand reached out from behind and shut his mouth.

"Shush," a familiar voice whispered in Horras's ear.

"Kosie?" Horras tried to talk, then turned around and saw a small shadowy figure in the dark.

"You're alive?" Horras exclaimed, then touched Kosie's vest.

"Of course I am!" Kosie replied.

"It's a...it's a miracle!" Horras said, then looked up at the ceiling, raised his hands, and closed both his eyes.

"Not exactly," Kosie argued as he took a deep breath.

"Wait a minute! You're alive." Horras said, then caught Kosie's arm.

"You...you! You tried to kill me?" Horras accused.

"Great, here we go again," Kosie thought before his friend's voice grew louder.

A punch hit Kosie's face before he found himself lying on the ground.

"You despicable rat! How could you do such a thing?" Horras yelled.

"Is that how you thank me for getting us out of that miserable room?" Kosie responded while he stood up and brushed some of the dirt off his clothes.

"Thank you? For what? Cutting my throat like a sheep?" Horras proclaimed.

"Well...you’re alive now, aren't you?" Kosie asked.

"Yes, but?" Horras answered and for about ten seconds, a goofy innocent expression covered his little face.

"Is this the plan you talked about before?" Horras asked, then raised his face.

"Correct!"

"But how did you?"

"It doesn’t matter; now we need to get the hell out of here."

"I want answers, now!" Horras exclaimed.

"Will you let it go if I tell you how I did it?" Kosie asked.

"Yes."

"Hah, fair enough." Kosie said, then showed Horras the silver nail he had hidden in his fist earlier.

"This nail is not ordinary as it looks; it affects the human body and paralyzes it for a specific amount of time."

"And the...blood?" Horras added.

"The nail has a chemical substance on its outer surface that interacts with human flesh and causes it to produce blood in the area where the nail is inserted."

"And you expect me to believe this nonsense?" Horras demanded as he stared at the silver nail in his friend's hand.

"You have the right to believe whatever you want," Kosie answered as he tucked the nail back into the sleeves of his vest.

"Go ahead, say it," Kosie thought, and just after that, Horras yelled, "Witchcraft!"

"Stay away from me, sorcerer!" Horras yelled, then stepped back until the exit door touched his back.

Kosie smiled, then defended himself in a low tone.

"Again, you have the right to believe whatever you want, but just for your knowledge, my father used to call it alchemy."

He knew that most people would not understand the noble art which Mr. Graham practiced.

The amount of studies and research an alchemist must go through to fulfill a simple, but nearly impossible, chemical reaction just like the one that got Kosie and Horras out of their room.

"Your father!" Horras wondered as he stared at Kosie.

"Yes, he's the one who made this artifact," Kosie answered. A small sense of pride touched the boy when he mentioned his father, the great alchemist, but not for long.

"You mean that you have parents?" Horras asked, then added, "And no one claimed you back?"

A gruesome feeling spread in Kosie's veins; his muscles froze for a second, and the small sparkle that had lit his eyes for a few seconds perished.

Kosie's head fell, the mud on his face covered him while he stood in silence for a minute and cleaned the dirt from his little nose.

"I...I didn't mean it that way," Horras quickly apologized, then stepped away from the portal.

"Satisfied?" Kosie asked, surpassing Horras and opening the door.

The light from the lanterns in the hallway entered the dark room, and as it did, the scene Horras saw was not favorable.

Dead, rotting corpses of men, women, and even children were piled upon one another. Some of the corpses had worms, flies, and other remains such as blood, urine, and leftovers.

Horras rushed and exited the stinky room. He knelt and tried to vomit in the hallway, but his empty stomach had other opinions.

"What the hell?" Horras exclaimed as he tried to erase the previous memory from his mind.

Nearby, Kosie took one of the lanterns and went back to the previous room.

"Hurry up; we're not supposed to be here anyway," Kosie called to Horras from inside the room.

"Are you serious?" the boy asked before he followed his friend unwillingly.

Horras closed his eyes this time and walked backward into the room to avoid the uncomfortable experience he had earlier.

Soon enough, Kosie shut the door slowly behind him, then turned to face his friend.

A strange silence lasted for about ten minutes while the two children stared at the lantern in front of them.

Both of them were tired and sick of all the torture they had to deal with each day in the rolling chairs. They closed their hands around the lantern to get some warmth.

"Now what?" Kosie asked, then settled down.

"Hold on! How long have you had that nail with you?" Horras asked again.

"Hah, you and your questions; spare me," Kosie said, then stretched out on the ground. The ugly smell of the place didn't affect the two kids except for a small burn inside their noses.

"Since day one," Kosie replied and closed his eyes, then before he heard another question, he carried on.

"I haven't used it earlier because..." Kosie said, then opened his eyes, and his mind took him back to the past.

Three years earlier, these events took place on the other side of door 1474, in a small library; one little child was sitting at a mahogany desk while his brother sat next to him holding a red-covered book.

"Mulysa? What does it mean?" Mark asked, gathering his hands in excitement.

"Guess we’re about to find out!" Kosie added, then opened the first page.

{Dear reader, if you are reading this, then you have to let go of all the facts and lies you've been told before. This book contains the truth, and if you can't handle it, I suggest you go no further and put this back to where you found it... author's note.}

Kosie read these phrases aloud, but this time he wasn't excited to continue; he looked at Mark for a second.

"Strange intro!" Kosie wondered.

"True," Mark answered.

Kosie flipped the page, then read:

{ My name is George L. Hemingway, an ex-member of the Flame Holders. After a preplanned vote, obviously prepared by Alethia, the other members of our organization have banished me from the leadership. They might be able to throw me off their table, but my authority remains. They hired an alchemist nicknamed Graham to try to find a cure for the curse that has befallen our city, MULYSA, but I suspect that even a man of wisdom like him will not go any further. I can see it in his eyes; he's more afraid than we are of this infection...}

"That's our father's name?" Mark exclaimed while his brother looked at the book in his hand.

"This isn't a book of fiction; a memoir, maybe," Kosie thought.

"Probably a coincidence," Kosie added, then continued reading:

{ November 12, 1835. My doubts have been confirmed. The alchemist's attempt to create a replacement diamond has made the original diamond's infection even worse, and now even with the resources we have, none of us has been able to retrieve the diamond back. A treachery perhaps...?}

The two children looked at each other, and although Mark's condition, he was able to track Kosie's voice.

"We should put this back where it belongs," Kosie said and closed the book.

"Good idea," Mark murmured, then added, "but..."

"No!" Kosie interrupted him then put the book back on the shelves.

"Organization, treachery, for God's sake, aren't you interested in dad's history? I mean, I never considered him an adventurer, but who knows?" Mark said, but Kosie replied.

"No, not really; we should leave."

Mark stood up from his place, and just before Kosie could get near to help him, the boy asked again.

"Just a few more lines."

"No!"

"Please."

"The answer is still no."

"Okay, maybe dad will read this book for me later if I ask him to," Mark smirked, then sat back down in his chair.

"You won't," Kosie said while Mark placed both hands back on the wooden surface.

Kosie stared at Mark for a few seconds, then released a deep breath.

"Fine, just a few more."

"Yes!" Mark raised his hands in joyful expression.

"It won't hurt, I guess," Kosie thought, then grabbed the red-covered book and opened it slowly where he left off earlier.

The boy read aloud:

{ January 18, 1836. One of our members has been infected just before she was about to find the diamond. The people who knew her last movements were few; I'm starting to think that at least one of our members is not real — a reflection within our lines...?}

"Not real! What does it mean?" Mark wondered.

"I...I don't know," Kosie replied.

"An infection! Could it be what killed mom?" Kosie thought.

"Enough, now let’s go," Kosie said, then guided his brother to the exit.

"Now, promise me that dad will not hear a word about us sneaking into his library without permission," Kosie demanded while the two children were now in the endless corridor.

"Relax, I won’t; besides, aren’t you just as curious as I am to read more?" Mark said, then snapped his fingers.

"No, I'm not," Kosie lied.

Back to the corps room, at Louis's asylum.

The light of the lantern sparkled in the dark place, reflecting shadows of the dead.

"I haven't used it before because today they will empty this room and open the entrance," Kosie said.

"You mean the giant door that the other residents talk about?"

"Yes."

"You're joking, right? That door weighs at least ten tons; the basic foundation of this place isn't older than that."

"Even the new patients are guided into the asylum with force through other hidden spots; nonsense!" Horras wondered as he looked at Kosie.

"Trust me; somehow the door will open, and all the dead will be stored outside the slums to..." Kosie said, then stopped.

"To..." Horras asked.

"To the city of MULYSA."

Horras laughed, then hit the ground with his hands.

"MULYSA? Kosie, that place is for nobles or royal members, not for low-class citizens like us," Horras said, then opened his eyes and checked Kosie, who hadn't blinked for a second.

"Are you serious?" Horras asked.

Kosie didn’t reply; he simply headed toward the scratched door.

"How do you know that?"

"I read it in a book, a rare one," Kosie said, then opened the door slightly.

"Wait! What about the rest of ..."

"No more questions," Kosie interrupted while he observed the hallway ahead of him.

"It's a long way from here to the giant entrance," Kosie thought.

Back to present day at Behemoth Street.

A man with a knife threatened a small child; still, it was a normal scene people in ITEFE were used to seeing every day.

Guided by a sick will, Bob cut through Kosie's cheek, and he was capable of more since there'd be no punishment.

Before the royal family ruled, Bob was no more than a drunken wounded soldier who lost an arm in war, but now his new job allowed him to meet people with great authority, such as the Bishop of ITEFE himself, who controlled the slums system.

Power...authority. Bob didn’t care about them; it was all about business. The more he brought people to the slums, the more money he made.

Whether the ones he caught were mad or not, that wasn't Bob's problem as long as he got paid and made a living for himself, and certainly had fun in the process.

"You see this kid!" Bob said as he showed Kosie a piece of paper he kept in the inside pocket of his black coat.

The boy didn't answer; he just kept staring at the knife beside his left eye while the man continued.

"This is a signed order. Do you want me to read it for you?" Bob demanded.

Kosie smirked, then answered, "You can read? That's a first! Thank you, but no th..."

"It's a misformed question," the slums hunter yelled, then slapped the boy with the knife in his hand.

Afterward, Bob pretended to move his eyes between the letters on the paper, then puffed his chest and announced, "It says, in the name of the church, the man who has this order has the authority to use any necessary force to catch a citizen suspected of being a loony and take him to Louis's asylum..."

"Dead or alive." Bob spelled the last two words he remembered well from the signed order, then he gave Kosie a sick smile.

{...chapter three ends...}