Melovar felt the pain fade, and as he fell into darkness he was suddenly at peace. A soft circle of light appeared in the distance, growing closer and closer as he approached. Melovar was with the Evermen, truly content for the first time in his life, and he knew that what he had done was right. Now that he had served his purpose, and the Evermen had no more worldly demands to make of him, others would take up his mission.

Or perhaps the Evermen had further use for him after all.

An intense sensation of bursting pain punched into Melovar's ebbing consciousness, taking away the light like a soap bubble being popped. It came again. In complete disregard for his ruined flesh, something was pounding on his back, slapping at it with strong, regular strokes.

Melovar opened his mouth and coughed; liquid poured out his lips, and he retched at the foul, oily taste of the elixir, his body using the last of its strength to purge itself of the foreign substance.

When the liquid was all gone, Melovar choked and spluttered, drawing in lungfuls of precious air. Finally normal breathing returned — as normal as it could be with the searing pain at the front of his consciousness.

Then the voice spoke again. "Open your mouth. I'm going to insert a funnel. It's time to do this again."

~

THE next time Melovar woke, he could see. He tried to sit up, and the voice spoke:

"Slow down. You're lucky to be alive. You need to rest, Primate."

Melovar ignored the voice and sat up. The pain was excruciating, indescribable, but with a great strength of will the Primate put it to the back of his mind. The Evermen had spoken with him. He had been entrusted to see this thing through.

Melovar turned as he heard the scraping sound of a chair being pulled closer. A templar in the white robe and black stripes of the upper echelons sat watching. Plump and squat, he wore a frame of circular lenses around his eyes, a contraption he had made himself to improve his vision. The eyes behind the glass were small but intelligent, and the hands he held clasped on his lap were surprisingly large for his body, with long, delicate fingers.

"Zavros, it's you," the Primate said. He vaguely remembered hearing a voice giving him instructions; this was the owner of the voice.

Zavros nodded slowly, a strange expression on his face.

"What is it?" Melovar said.

"I can't believe you're alive," Zavros said. "Anyone else… The only thing that saved you is you've had so much of the elixir that your body was able to repair much of the damage, even as it occurred."

"What do you mean, 'much of the damage'?"