Tonight there was no moon. The land lay covered with darkness, with very little light sneaking through the moving clouds in the green sky. The wind had picked up too, creating an eerie atmosphere at the stronghold.
Almost nobody was sleeping after the wee hours, and many more guards than usual patrolled the four floors. Everyone felt tense after being searched three times the previous day without any notice, but what else could they do other than agree?
It was the professor's way or the swamp way, and only one of the two promised any kind of stable life with food, water, and shelter. So even with great unrest among the students, nobody spoke out or questioned the intention of these searches.
Nobody but Ken.
When the coast was clear, Keneric finally slipped into the fourth-floor corridor without making a sound but heard footsteps around the corner before he could move any further. He quickly made his way into one of the empty classrooms that had been salvaged—desks and boards removed to reinforce the first-floor barricade. Keneric moved to a dark corner— well everything was dark without any lights in the building to avoid attracting monsters—but he found an even darker corner and froze. He closed his green glowing eyes and focused only on listening to footsteps that moved from his left, then to the center, and finally to the right before they disappeared around the corner.
He sighed, opening his green eyes again. Somehow both times he had tried sneaking up the floors, he had found himself caught between patrols. He didn't know the exact times the guards moved and circled around the building—call him unlucky.
Keneric slowly walked out of the empty classroom and started checking rooms as he passed them. Room 406, 407, 408—he checked them all, but like yesterday, they were empty with nothing new to discover. After turning a corner, he found himself outside Melissa's room, and when he looked inside, she was, as usual, not there.
"On to the Dean's office," Keneric whispered, not wanting a repeat of last night's close call. But when he finally reached it, that room was empty too.
"What is this professor doing at a time like this?" Keneric muttered, finding no one in the bathroom or the storage room used to hold the professor's personal food supply.
Ten minutes had already passed when he spotted another student guard passing in front of the window. Something seemed strange about this guard. He was moving from right to left when all patrolling people typically moved left to right. This second guard also seemed to be in a hurry and carried something in his hands.
Keneric, finding it suspicious, decided to follow him quietly. After making two lefts, the guard moved deep into the 4th floor, looked around, and then entered what appeared to be a toilet. For a second, Keneric thought he had wasted his time because the guy probably needed to freshen up in the middle of the night, explaining why he deviated from the normal route.
But just as Keneric was about to turn around and leave to check other rooms, he heard a strange banging noise from inside the toilet—like someone hammering against the wall. His mind filled with questions that he couldn't ignore. He had to know the source of that sound, but as he moved closer, he also heard the professor's voice.
Keneric's expression hardened. He quickly crouched near the entrance and peered inside. To his surprise, all the important people in the professor's cohort were there, even Melissa. They stood in a line with their backs facing the entrance, preventing Keneric from seeing what held their attention at this ungodly hour. However, he could still hear their discussion.
"Here's some more rope, Professor Nawatt," the guard said.
Another person asked, "So who will do it?"
Keneric finally heard Melissa's voice. "Clearly not me. You guys can decide among yourselves." She turned slightly and looked at the professor. "You should go rest, sir. We've already tried asking about his background, and he wasn't even outside the building on missions. We can find out more tomorrow."
The professor nodded and gave orders to the rest of the people before turning to leave. Keneric, positioned right by the exit, instantly ran toward the corner and jumped outside to hang by the wall as the professor and his men walked back through the corridors toward their rooms. He also heard the professor say, "I want someone to monitor him at all times," before his aged voice faded away into the distance.
Keneric slowly made his way back to the toilet and sneaked inside. What he saw shocked him. A student Keneric had seen when entering the building—the one who had searched Keneric and his team when they tried to enter the stronghold a few days ago—was tied up with many ropes in one corner where he struggled without any break. His mouth and eyes were sealed shut with tape. But that wasn't the most surprising part.
From the guy's hands, feet, cheeks, and shoulders, porcupine-like skin-colored needles protruded everywhere. Somehow, the person had mutated into something more than human. And that wasn't even the worst part—this person hadn't died like Keneric had before transforming. And according to Nawatt's earlier words, he hadn't even gone outside or come in contact with the green water or monsters. If that had happened, he would have become a ravager by normal standards, but this person had just mutated on his own into something barely recognizable.
Does that mean everyone would slowly but surely mutate? Or would it only affect some people? Keneric had no idea, and neither did anyone else. Only time would tell.