The simple black-skinned book was a scholar's chronicle of his search for lost knowledge at the time of the coming of the Dark Gods, and while it was an interesting read, it didn't really teach Viktor anything very useful.The book titled only Anatomy, on the other hand, fascinated him and he had to acknowledge that the concepts and detailed information it contained were easy for him to assimilate and integrate into his own knowledge. In fact, he seemed to have a strange affinity for the ideas presented in the book. He attributed this to the long relationship he had had with death by growing up as the son of a priest of the death god.After a week without any sudden and unexpected visit from the guard or worse, Viktor dared to go out into the street again. He even dared to return to the School to continue his work there. When Professor Ulbert Hinsteil asked him where he had been, Viktor replied that he had suffered a bad summer cold. Lying was another thing he was not

Viktor continued to descend, the voices that seemed to be casting a spell clearer with each step. He still didn't understand the words they were singing; they seemed to belong to a language he did not know. But as he listened to them he felt his scalp tighten and his hair stand on end. Sound leaked like icy liquid from every pore.Suddenly Viktor realized his teeth were chattering, so he clenched his jaws. Was it really from the cold under the house, or was it due to something else?The stone steps ended and he began another corridor, this one made of crumbling bricks, glittering with algae and water. The ceiling was covered with cobwebs where the skeletal corpses of their owners could be seen. The light flickered at the other end of the hall. By going down that path, Viktor risked coming face to face with whoever was casting the spell, probably Doctor Tepes, but now he couldn't help himself.Before he knew it, he was peering around the archway at the other end

Viktor knew that he should have reported what he had seen that night, what he thought he had seen, to the Inquisitors. But now it was too late. In fact, he should have gone to the Inquisition earlier, after the discovery he had made in Dr. Tepes' library or even before that, when he saw the body snatchers. Of course, it was too late. The consequences for him were too dire and final to consider. No, he should just watch and wait alone and unaided for this to be over.On the thirtieth day of the month, Herwin visited him again. The excuse was that Professor Theodria had sent him to find out what had happened to Viktor and find out what was happening. Herwin was treated unceremoniously and Viktor dismissed him without giving any reason for his recent absence from school.Herwin returned four days later and insisted that they let him in and the two apprentices explain what was going on. On that occasion, a delusional Erich expelled him from the apartment. Herwin stormed of

Viktor arrived at the apartment building as the temple bells struck ten o'clock. In the dark, one of his feet brushed against something hairy and wet. Viktor stopped and took a step back. The unearthly luminescence of the moon illuminated even the darkness of the street, where the light devoid of shades stripped the object of all its color, but in spite of that it was unmistakable. Erich's cat lay dead in the street. His skinny body was unnaturally stretched out. Hideously black blood stained his spiky ginger hair where the wagon wheel had passed over him. Seeing such an incongruous image momentarily distracted Viktor from his own worries and anguish. Erich would be greatly affected. For some strange reason, he adored that grungy stray cat. Viktor bent down and scooped up the cat's body in the cape. The pungent acrid smell of the dead animal assaulted his nostrils even more strongly than the smell of

His dreams grew darker, but he told himself it was undoubtedly a simple adaptation to his new gift. Each night, by the light of a lamp, he filled notebook after notebook with notes of his new discoveries. It had been weeks since Viktor and Erich had last attended a class at the magic school. They slept during the day, and when dusk cast its shadows over the city, they ventured outside to discreetly make their way to the warehouse. Each night they followed a different route, sometimes retracing their own steps in order to make sure they did not follow them and to avoid detection. They worked non-stop until the first gleams of the pre-dawn light began to fade the velvety darkness of the sky. And so they continued as the first month of autumn progressed. But life was on its way to the other side of the insular world of darkness they had created, and by the twelfth day of the month the plague had already