Page 1 of Dark Shaman: Love Found (The Children Of The Gods #99)

ELUHEED

" L et me tell you about the future of human evolution," Zhao said, raising his drink in a mock toast.

The mad scientist was so drunk that Eluheed doubted he could string words together into coherent sentences.

Still, he worried about the barman overhearing what Zhao was about to say, and then there was the surveillance equipment in the bar, which he had no doubt was recording everything the patrons said.

"Perhaps you should retire to your room and rest," he suggested.

Zhao laughed. "I'll rest when I'm dead. Until then, I'm going to squeeze every moment of pleasure out of this miserable life, and talking with an intelligent man is a rare treat in this godforsaken place." He held up his drink to Eluheed. "Don't deny me this grace, Elias. "

Apparently, the guy wasn't as inebriated as Eluheed had thought because he sounded quite lucid.

"I would never deny such a heartfelt request." He clinked his glass against the scientist's, the sound sharp in the quiet bar.

Zhao leaned in conspiratorially. "The thing nobody understands is that everything has a price. The universe requires balance, and to gain something, you need to sacrifice something else. You can't make an imbecile powerful and expect him to remain the same obedient little soldier he was before."

"The power goes to their heads?" Eluheed asked.

"Of course." Zhao laughed, the sound bitter.

"Wouldn't you think that you were the king of the world if you were granted such advantages not only over your peers but also over your superiors?

" He didn't wait for Eluheed to answer before continuing.

"They become magnificent. Stronger, faster, even their little brains work better.

You should see them in combat training. It's like watching the gods of war pummel each other.

I bet the gladiators of Sparta weren't as entertaining. "

Eluheed's hackles rose. "They sound incredibly dangerous. I'm sure Lord Navuh is very happy with your results."

"Oh, he is." Zhao took another long pull from his drink.

"But here's the beautiful irony—their increased physical strength is only one side of the equation.

Their minds become stronger and more resilient as well.

On the one hand, it makes them even better killing machines, but on the other, they are no longer as easily controlled and manipulated. "

Eluheed's hand tightened imperceptibly on his glass. "Isn't that good?"

"Depends on who is doing the manipulation." Zhao made a vague gesture near his temple. "Lord Navuh might find it more difficult to keep his dogs on their leashes."

The puzzle pieces fell into place, completing the picture Eluheed had been putting together since his arrival on the island.

Lord Navuh used compulsion to control his subordinates.

He'd tried it on Eluheed, but fortunately, Eluheed was resistant to the lord's mental manipulation.

He was well aware that having this immunity was a strong advantage, and now he had learned that the enhanced soldiers might share the gift.

The difference was that Eluheed was not endangering anyone, while the same couldn't be said about Zhao's creations.

The realization sent ice through his veins.

"Is there anything you can do about that?" he asked. "Perhaps you could adjust your formulas to mitigate this side effect?"

"Adjust the formula?" Zhao's voice rose indignantly.

"Do you have any idea how complex this is?

I'm not mixing cocktails here." He gestured wildly, nearly knocking over his glass.

"I'm rewriting genetic code in real-time and triggering evolutionary changes that should take millennia to develop naturally. "

"Perhaps you need different subjects to work with? Those who are more obedient and loyal to start with should yield better results."

Zhao snorted. "Lord Navuh sends me his 'best-of-the-best.'" He made mocking air quotes. "The problem is that his best are half-wits, men selected for their fighting skills, not their intelligence. Is it any wonder that they become unstable?"

"Unstable in what way?" Eluheed was keeping his tone conversational, glancing at the bartender who was busy taking orders from a group of guards sitting in the back of the bar.

"Aside from tearing each other apart?" Zhao snorted and emptied the rest of his drink down his throat. "They develop a god complex. These muscle-bound idiots who couldn't solve a basic mathematical equation think that they are the equals of gods because they can punch through concrete."

A god complex coupled with enhanced strength and resistance to Navuh's mental control was a disaster in the making.

Navuh was creating an army of monsters that he might not be able to control.

"The intersection of physiology and psychology is fascinating," Eluheed murmured. "I'm a great believer in the mind-body connection."

"Exactly!" Zhao slapped the bar, delighted to find someone who seemed to understand. "The psychological changes are just as dramatic as the physical ones. Increased aggression, decreased impulse control, heightened sense of superiority—it's a potent cocktail."

"Have you told Lord Navuh about these complications?"

Zhao's expression darkened. "He calls them minor side effects and tells me to fix them, give them something to control their aggression while they are on the island.

He thinks that as long as they behave while they are here, everything is fine, and that he can unleash them on his enemies or anyone else he wants to eliminate, and they will obediently do what they are told.

He doesn't understand that these are fundamental changes to their brain chemistry, and that the same enhancements that make them perfect weapons also make them impossible to predict or control. "

"That's worrisome." Eluheed glanced again at the barman. "I worry for you. What if they turn against you?" And everyone else on the island, including their lord and everyone Navuh held dear, like his ladies.

"I worry about that too." Zhao grimaced.

"But what choice do I have?" The bitterness in his voice could have curdled milk.

"It's not like I can refuse. I'm stuck on this island, surrounded by thugs and…

He caught himself, glancing at Eluheed. "Present company excepted, of course. You seem intelligent."

"I try to keep an open mind," Eluheed said.

"Yes, that's it exactly. You are open-minded. Not like these brutes who only care about killing." Zhao looked around for the barman, and spotting him, signaled for another drink. "Do you know what the real joke is? "

"What's that?"

"I've created the perfect formula, and it does exactly what it's supposed to do. The problem is that nobody, including me, thought about what happens when an invincible soldier decides he doesn't need to follow orders because he knows better."

As the bartender returned and supplied Zhao with a new drink, Eluheed waited until he left again to ask, "So what happens next?"

Zhao's laugh was hollow. "That's the billion-dollar question, isn't it?

So far, I've managed to contain the incidents with mitigating drugs like the lord had suggested.

But he still insists on perfecting the formula and producing even better specimens.

More powerful, requiring less sleep, and so on.

" He sighed. "Navuh doesn't understand that you can't make someone powerful and expect them to remain powerless.

The enhancement changes them fundamentally.

I don't know what to do, and I'm not used to that. I always know what to do."

Talk about a god complex.

"What about fail-safes?" Eluheed asked. "Ways to neutralize them if necessary?"

Eluheed wasn't as knowledgeable about modern technology as he would have liked to be. Still, he'd read about chips implanted in the brain that could be activated remotely to neutralize operatives. The problem was that he'd read it in fiction novels and wasn't sure such things existed in reality .

Zhao let out a breath. "Don't you think I considered that?

Their bodies reject implants. Besides, I'm a biochemist, not an engineer.

I've prepared something as a last resort.

A compound that can end even enhanced immortals in seconds.

The problem is the delivery. I will need to put it in a capsule and build a gun that can shoot it.

You don't happen to know anything about engineering, do you? "

Eluheed shook his head, still thinking about what Zhao said in regards to the immortals' bodies rejecting implants.

He had never tried to have anything implanted, so he didn't know that immortal bodies rejected foreign objects, but it made perfect sense.

The same way his body expelled bullets, it would expel a chip designed to terminate his life.

He was still thinking about it when a guard walked into the bar and strode toward them.

His gaze locked on to Zhao, but the scientist either didn't notice or was too drunk to care and launched into a long ramble about evolution and natural selection.

"Doctor Zhao," the guard said. "I've secured your appointment as you requested."

"Appointment?" Zhao blinked. "What appointment?"

"Your favorite servicer is ready for you, but you are once again too drunk to enjoy her. Why do you insist that I make arrangements for you when you have no intention of making use of them?"

Zhao lifted his hands in mock surrender while shooting Eluheed a conspiratorial wink. "Who says I don't make use of the lovely Sheila? She has many uses." Another wink, this one even less subtle.

Eluheed understood immediately. The appointments were Zhao's way to buy himself a few moments of privacy without the guard breathing down his neck.

"It was a pleasure to make your acquaintance," Eluheed said, playing his part. "I look forward to more philosophical discussions with you about the nature of the universe." He stood up and offered the scientist his hand.

As Zhao clasped it, his grin was sloppy, but his eyes were sharp with understanding.

"Ah, yes. The eternal dance between order and chaos, between control and freedom.

The universe tends toward entropy, my friend.

Everything breaks down eventually. Every system, no matter how perfectly designed, contains the seeds of its own destruction. "

The words might have sounded like drunken philosophy to the guard, but Eluheed heard the message underneath. Navuh's system of control was breaking down. The enhanced soldiers were entropy in action, chaos waiting to be unleashed.

"Profound," Eluheed said. "Perhaps we can continue this discussion another time."

"I'm here most evenings," Zhao said as the guard hauled him to his feet.

"When I'm not working, I'm enjoying the lavish presidential suite Lord Navuh has graciously made available to me or sitting in this bar, enjoying the fine alcohol the lord pays for.

Other times, you can find me in the brothel, enjoying the lovely girls without having to pay for their services either.

" He laughed. "I've died and gone to heaven, my friend.

Or hell." He stumbled slightly on his way out but maintained enough composure to wave goodbye.

Eluheed remained at the bar, nursing another fine whiskey and processing what he'd learned.

The situation was worse than he'd imagined.

Navuh was creating an unstoppable army of enhanced soldiers that would eventually turn on their master.

And when they did, everyone on the island would be caught in the crossfire.

Tamira. The other ladies. The innocents who served on the island and who had no part in Navuh's ambitions. They would all become collateral damage when the monsters broke free.

He would have to warn Navuh somehow, but without revealing his source or his own immunity to compulsion. A false vision seemed the only way, but the thought made his stomach turn.

Among his people, lying was considered a great sin. Since his arrival on Earth, he'd been forced to falsify the facts countless times to conceal his origins and his immortality, but he usually managed to skirt the truth rather than lie outright.

Tomorrow, when Navuh inevitably summoned him, he would have to subtly incorporate the enhanced soldiers into his previous vision of fire and mayhem on the island, without revealing how he'd discovered their existence .

He would use Navuh's own paranoia against him, feed into his fears of betrayal and loss of control. It might be enough to make the master of this island take the threat seriously and perhaps limit the enhancement program or at least develop better containment protocols.

The problem was that it might make things worse instead of mitigating the risk.

Navuh's paranoia was a double-edged sword; it kept him in power, but it also made him unpredictable. There was no telling how he'd react to Eluheed's new interpretation of the vision.