One month has passed since he killed that man in the basement.
Ever since then, he has been entrusted with more work. He no longer just studies, or practices magic, although that is the majority of his life.
Many people Wilhelm experiments on… don't die. They end up in a state between life and death, some are comatose others are paralyzed but still conscious.
His job has been to release them.
One of them grabbed his sleeve once, begging… he killed him anyway.
This has caused his proficiency with the killing curse to increase by leaps and bounds.
He doesn't know what to feel, if he doesn't kill them that means he has no value, then he dies… or worse, end up as an experiment.
He has assisted Wilhelm in his experiments and knows: there truly are worse fates than death.
His actions over the past month have made sleep difficult.
All the people he sees get experimented on, all people he assists in getting experimented on, their faces haunt his dreams… and their screams wake him.
Rhys stood by his window and looked out, he had dark circles under his eyes, and his eyes that had previously been filled with light, were now a notch dimmer.
I wonder what my work will be today? He dreads the mornings, they are the worst time of the day.
It's now he gets to know what the work for the day will be.
Just then a paper bird flew in through the open door, it flew over and landed in Rhys's outstretched hand.
After it landed, then did it start to unfold. On the unfolded paper was a message.
"Come to the basement."
Rhys crumpled the paper and put it in his pocket. He took one last glance outside and walked towards the basement.
He remembered a month ago when he walked down these stairs, he remembered the dread, and fear.
At some point the fear disappeared and now he felt nothing, just like how you would feel going to school or work.
Arriving in the basement he headed down the well lit corridor until he saw an occupied laboratory.
"Sir, you called."
Wilhelm looked at the man laying on the table. And without looking up said.
"Yes, clean laboratory number three."
Rhys furrowed his brows, cleaning duty.
"Yes, sir."
He walked out and headed for laboratory number three.
When he arrived he saw the scene inside.
In the middle of the room was a steel table, and around that table were multiple carts, and on these carts were metal instruments of various shapes and sizes.
On the table lay a cold corpse. No release necessary. Rhys breathed a sigh of relief.
He walked over and levitated the corpse with Leviosa, then headed for the burner room.
His methods were fast and methodical. And a few hours later, the laboratory was spotless.
The reason it took so long is because you need to clean the instruments by hand. No magic allowed.
He headed back towards the laboratory Wilhelm was in.
As he entered he heard a loud bang followed by Wilhelm's curses.
"Damn! Their souls aren't corrupted enough."
He looked at the dead corpse in front of him, then he started to mumble to himself.
"But how can I corrupt their souls fast? Potions?"
Rhys heard his mumbles but ignored it.
"Sir, I'm done with laboratory number three."
Wilhelm looked over.
"Yeah."
He didn't say anything more; he kept thinking about how to quickly corrupt a person's soul.
"Dark magic, it must be the answer, but which one?"
He mumbled on.
Rhys sighed.
"Maybe it's pain, sir."
Wilhelm stopped and thought.
"Pain…"
The more he thought about it the brighter his eyes became.
"Yes, you're right."
He glanced at the corpse on the table then at Rhys.
"Here take this." He reached into his bag and took out a notebook.
Rhys watched as the notebook floated over and stopped in front of him.
He grabbed it and looked at it. It looked a lot like the book about the killing curse.
Great, another "present".
"Take that back to your room and practice. Learn it as fast as possible so you can assist me."
"I can't do the experiment and inflict pain at the same time." Wilhelm said.
Rhys nodded.
"Yes, sir."
Just from his words did he learn what the spell was.
The Cruciatus Curse.
Another one of the three unforgivable curses.
Rhys walked back to his room and started to read.
The idea about this spell was similar to the killing curse, but the emotion was a little different.
Instead of killing intent, it was the intent to inflict pain.
Hate was also a strong emotion that could be utilized.
The days passed and soon four days passed, he had practiced the spell with all the free time he had.
If he wasn't reading the material given by Wilhelm or doing his tasks in the basement, then he was practicing the cruciatus curse.
But just like with the killing curse… he didn't get the hatred, the will to inflict pain on another person wasn't strong enough.
Sigh.
He had tried to imagine torturing Wilhelm with the spell, but it wasn't enough, it didn't stick.
All he could do was keep practicing, hoping for a breakthrough.
Three more days passed in this fashion. He had been practicing for a week total.
He was sitting eating breakfast at the kitchen table.
"Have you learnt the spell?" Wilhelm asked as he took a bite of his porridge.
Rhys shook his head.
"Not yet."
Wilhelm nodded.
"Keep practicing, I can feel that I'm close to a breakthrough in my research."
Rhys nodded.
"Also, you need to clean the laboratory tonight."
Rhys kept chewing.
"Yes, sir." He responded after swallowing.
After finishing breakfast, Rhys walked back to his room and kept practicing the spell.
Time passed and before he knew it, it was night.
"Time for work." Rhys said as he looked out the window at the moon,
He headed downstairs towards the basement. When he arrived he found the laboratory he needed to clean.
A few hours later and he was done. He looked down the corridor at the still lit laboratory.
Should I tell him I'm done? Rhys hesitated, he didn't like interacting with Wilhelm, and would much rather stay away.
But he might get mad if he leaves without checking off.
Sigh. Avoiding Wilhelm was never an option. With that Rhys headed towards the laboratory Wilhelm was in.
...
Enjoy.
CHAPTER END.