Chapter Text
It wasn't unusual for HighCastle to do experiments. It was, however, strange for him to do them on human test subjects.
Only a select few with his court knew of his experiments, but they knew better than to run their mouths. The only one who had ever uttered a word outside the labs was gone the next morning. Not a single soul questioned it and when his family demanded answers, they were sent away to live in the Mistwoods.
Kaser had demanded an audience with the Emperor when he was barely nineteen, wanting aid and help for his sick younger sister. Perhaps out of pity, the Emperor had agreed to hear the youth out. There was something HighCastle saw in him; the fiery gaze, the determination, the boldness, the desperation... Ah yes, that's what it was: desperation.
HighCastle had been around long enough to know how to use someone's desperation against themselves, to turn it into his favor. Over the course of a thousand years, he had learned how to work a silver tongue. All it took was some poor soul being desperate enough. It was how he had claimed lands, gained allies, retained loyalty, and struck fear into those who went against him. Rarely did he ever have to show his power nowadays to obtain what he needed.
And this young man was the perfect subject.
So HighCastle struck a bargain with Kaser that if he would willingly partake in a series of experiments, his sister would get the aid and medicine she needed in order to recover. The only condition was that Kaser would not be allowed to see her until the experiments were finished.
Left with no other alternative, Kaser agreed.
The terms were simple enough. Kaser and his sister wouldn't be allowed to return to the slums, nor would they be allowed to have contact with anyone there. Their lives now belonged to the Emperor, their fates in his hands.
Kaser had only gotten a glimpse of Louisa's pale face one last time when HighCastle had his soldiers bring her on a stretcher from the slums. She had been sleeping a lot lately, suffering from fevers often, and the only way she could escape the random flares of pain were through sleep, especially if he couldn't find enough herbs to make medicine. They certainly couldn't afford to buy it.
Kaser tried to ignore how creepy and mechanical the soldiers holding his sister's stretcher were as he took her hand, whispering promises that they would see each other again and she was going to get better now.
There was no response, as usual. Just her shallow breathing and the occasional flicker of pain pinching at her brow. Then she was gone as they carried her off down a long dark corridor.
And that was the last time Kaser saw her for the next several years.
He's locked away below the palace, stuck in the labs. The needle pricks to draw blood, the bright artificial lights, the endurance tests, the examinations and so forth.
Nothing seems out of place though. They don't inject him with anything, they don't make him eat anything unusual, they don't push him beyond his limits often. But the scientists are cold. They talk about him like he's an inanimate object more than a living, breathing person.
Kaser gets used to it. He doesn't need them or their approval. He doesn't need to be pampered or loved or cared about. He just needs to be here for Louisa to get well. That was the only thing that mattered.
They train him in mastering different weapons, some he's better with than others. They run him through trials and mazes. See how high his pain tolerance is.
It isn't until after his twenty-first birthday that he understands what everything had been leading up to.
The Voidrax. A being HighCastle had captured long ago and had been extracting power from.
On nights Kaser hadn't been able to sleep, he would sneak out of his room and dig through the scientists files, hoping to find out what kind of experiments to expect for himself.
He had come across the term Voidrax a number of times and what he had managed to put together, was that they were extraterrestrial species that came from the cosmos and had been involved in humanity throughout time, though there weren't any specific details Kaser could find.
This creatures power alone wasn't enough though, HighCastle wanted more. Someone who could fuse with it and harness its power.
That someone was Kaser.
Maybe Kaser should have been scared. Terrified, even. A part of him did wonder if he would still be himself after fusing with this thing, but his mind was set. If this was a success, he would see his sister again after so many years. Maybe even healthy and well.
Kaser doesn't remember much once it begins. The ground trembling, scientists scattering and talking in panicked voices, things falling over, glass shattering, and a strange growl within his head before something hits him over the head and he crumples to the hard floor.
Flashes of scenes rise within his mind. A war torn civilization. Desolate and eerie. A large being that reminds him of a dragon, glowing blue eyes, large claws...
Someone is shaking him, the choas of the lab returning as his consciousness slowly surfaces.
He barely has time to register anything as one scientist grabs his arm, draping it over their shoulder and hauling him to his feet, practically dragging him from the room. Bits and pieces get past the ringing in his ears.
Failed... Partial success... Voidrax escaped... HighCastle...
The last thing Kaser is aware of is the moving platform as the scientist let's him slump down against the console and the broken prison that once contained the Voidrax. Empty and void of the lifeform that was once inside.