House of Scales

Chapter 20: Bittersweet regret

"It can't be." He refused to believe. "It can't be true."

"Do you think I'm lying, father?" Aodhan inquired.

"But then—"

"Are you so blind you can't see the mistake in your own creation?"

"No..."

It couldn't be. It wasn't supposed to be true. How couldn't he have noticed it before? His son had mentioned it to him on more than one occasion, that his control could be broken. Of course, he had never made such a big deal out of it, because he still trusted the results he got. It was clear to him that, since all this had begun, the abominable creatures that moved through the darkness with their golden eyes glowing were under his control.

"It was so..." he said to himself in a lower voice. "They were under my control."

It was partly right; the creatures obeyed everything his voice told them. Perhaps, not only because of his voice but also because of the blood that ran through his veins. Maybe, all the senses of the beasts told them that this figure that was entering the dark maze of tunnels was their father. Knowing this, he didn't need to be afraid of any of them. It was in that situation that, drunk with egocentricity for his creation, he could only serve fervour for those creatures, despicable in other eyes. For him, there was no other option; he couldn't be wrong. Not because he didn't want to admit his mistake, which he could do without problems. After all, as a researcher, he could only get one measly hit after many failures. It was those situations where everything was lost that could bring out the best in him, that pushed him forward, that mapped out the route to the future. Only from his mistakes could he learn and improve, from which all his research on the hill had come. The misstep his son had made him see, however, meant much more. The failure would be more significant because it would affect many other people.

"What have I done?" he wondered as he ran into the woods with a fireproof hood he had designed years ago.

His feet led him fleetingly to the area of disturbed soil his son had detected. He had rushed to warn him, hoping that he would honour his promise and put an end to it. He couldn't betray him, not him, not in that way. He had to be true to his word and end it all.

"This is where it all begins," he said before dropping into the hole that Aodhan had enlarged by brute force.

His feet reached the rock, and his hands touched the ground to cushion the impact. The sharp points went into his skin and tore it apart, but he didn't care. He had no time to worry about any injuries that wouldn't prevent him from getting where his duty dictated. He advanced through the tunnel and let himself be guided by his smell, without lighting any lanterns, so as not to disturb the peace that reigned down there. Now deprived of the accompaniment of sight, his nose indicated that there had been a fight nearby. He could sense the smell of burning where he came from and the unmistakable stench of fresh blood where he was going. He knew this was the path he had to take. He followed it, knowing that at any moment he could turn on the flashlight he carried in one of his robe pockets. Although he didn't need to; he had navigated that maze many times, no path would surprise him.

"What? How?" He stopped, perplexed when he came to a crossroad, and his senses told him something he didn't think possible. "What is this?"

He was now at a junction, two roads diverging before him, but, to his surprise, there was a third one that was falling apart. He didn't recognise that route, even though he had already gone down there many times at the beginning of his experiments. That had been the place where he had learned everything, amidst the shadows, accompanied only by the golden glow of eyes that looked at him in the still darkness. He had to keep going. He had to make his way. Not caring about the pain his hands had been transmitting to his brain for some time, he promptly scratched at the brittle, cracked pieces of rock. It didn't take much effort for him to make his way through the mess and get to the other side.