Role

Chapter 6

Years of loneliness and isolation, spent with mind-shattering,
soul-draining books and with darkness, his only friend couldn't pass
unnoticed. Slowly, Itzenxilaatl was losing his connection with the world
of living. Yet, he still was a mortal, and had weaknesses that mortals
usually do. One of them was a need for socialization, or, rather, he
needed someone to admire his successes and discoveries. He had learned
how to raise the undead, but they weren't intelligent enough to praise
Itzenxilaatl's achievements. Mercenaries he bought didn't speak truth,
and other mages what could they understand about the true art!

Partially out of boredom, partially out of his twisted mind, Itzenxilaatl
started to experiment with embalming - but in an unusual way: instead of
using it on the corpses and their body parts, he captured the living
beings and embalmed them while they were still alive. What was he trying
to achieve? He didn't know himself. But over time, he had collected a
large number of live-embalmed body parts. His most successful achievement
was an embalmed live fetus of an elf who was now dwelling in an old glass
can that Itzenxilaatl keept on his belt. Empowered by dark energies, his
friend was not alive, but also not dead. But now, at least, Itzenxilaatl
didn't feel alone, and that unnamed thing was kind of a friend.
Sometimes, Itzenxilaatl being distracted, would talk to that thing,
calling him Bob. Why Bob? He couldn't say if someone asked. Sometimes,
Itzenxilaatl thought that he heard his words, but they were always
somewhere in the corner of his mind, like a quiet and distant echo of a
whisper.