Chapter #51

The gang surprised the Witchers at the keep with their story. No one mentioned the note left by G.O.D. but Zeno was sure Vesemir would mention it to someone.

He could only hope that Vesemir himself wouldn't run into Gaunter O'dimm. Nothing good came out of that man unless you beat him in his own game.

Anyhow they got their ingredients and only the witchers knew the details about their origins. The rest thought they actually went out to kill monsters and kept glancing at them in awe.

They spend the next week resting and protecting their left over Ducat from the Witchers.

At last the day arrived for the second trial. The infamous trial of the grasses, an incomparably painful process which breaks the body down before it is rebuilt with mutagenic alchemy.

This is the trial that enhances the witcher's body to inhuman levels, heightened their senses and gave them superior control over their bodily functions.

"First dose is given as tea in the morning... Then we'll be strapped to the tables called the Sad Albert since the rest is given with needles." Eskel told what he knew about the trial.

"You forgot to mention how painful it will be..." Lambert muttered but Eskel ignored him.

"Thinking about pain won't help us, Lambert. So don't think about it." Geralt said.

"Anyway, the process lasts a week. If we survive we will be a step closer to going out on the path." Eskel finished as they arrived at the laboratory.

The survivors for this batch were a bit more so mages had to conjure more tables to strap the children. At least the laboratory was large enough to fit them all.

No one spoke once they entered the laboratory, the atmosphere was so stifling that some forgot to breathe.

Mages soon gave them instructions to take their shirts off leaving them with just their trousers.

While the children were undressing, the mages prepared the tea and put a cup on each table, those who were ready immediately drank the tea before laying on the tables.

The mages fastened their straps immediately after, soon all the children were tied up and soon started convulsing on the tables due to the tea that was given.

The head mage made a gesture with his hands and needles started to levitate before they found themselves in the children's arms injecting the alchemical concoction.

This was the cue for the screams to begin as the concoction started to break the children's bodies. The tea served at the beginning was hallucinogenic causing random bouts of madness to help with the pain.

Meanwhile Zeno was staring at the ceiling with a bored expression. He was no doubt in pain considering he was gnashing his teeth but most importantly he wasn't feeling the hallucinations.

'This is going to be a long fucking week.' Zeno mentally sighed.

He couldn't even converse with his other selves since System was too busy recording the changes and Ouryuu was praying for the children's safety.

So Zeno was left by himself, the pain and his draconic instincts still screaming at him to reproduce before he died.

'...' Zeno really wanted to cover his hands in shame due to the vibrant imagination of his draconic side.

"Why is Zeno not screaming?" Deglan asked, looking over Zeno.

During this trial, being silent was the worst, it either meant you needed another dose which would increase the pain and chances of death or you were actually dying.

"The pain isn't enough to make him scream, look at his face, he is suffering alright." One of the mages pointed out.

'What did that damn dragon do to this kid?!' All of those present thoughts were the same.

Deglan approached Zeno and looked him in the eye. He was expecting to see glassy eyes of someone who wasn't really awake but instead he saw Zeno wink at him.

"For fuck's sake!" Deglan spat and actually did a backwards pirouette to back away.

"What happened?" One of the mages asked while approaching Zeno.

Soon he almost opened a portal to run away but he failed as the other mages retrained him with their own magic...

"The...the kid... The kid is awake!" So he settled on pointing Zeno with his fingers.

Zeno would really like to curse the idiots for yelling since his senses went haywire but he couldn't open his clenched jaw.

Soon the mages started to take turns to check over his body, their spells were nullified by his Karmic Virtue, dispersing in a golden glow.

They naturally thought the dragon gave him the ability to nullify certain types of magic. They really wanted to dissect him but they also wanted to see him survive the trials.

To see how the gift of a dragon would turn out...

_______

Things were going good at first, until they administered the second dose of elixirs, Zeno didn't bother to count the days so he didn't know how long had passed.

The pain basically doubled surpassing anything Zeno went through so far.

'How is this possible?!' He wondered but his mental facilities were held up by the pain.

Still he didn't scream...

The symphony of screams left their place for the disgusting sounds of children vomiting, losing control of their bowels.

Add that to the fact his senses were getting more powerful each day in an uncontrollable manner Zeno was suffering.

He somehow ended up shutting off his senses, trapped in his own mind yet he still felt the pain. Even his draconic side retreated leaving him alone.

It was at that time Ouryuu came back from wherever he went to pray, he came back wordlessly without his usual cheerful smile.

He sat next to Zeno before hugging him tightly, Zeno could hear him singing a lullaby, he couldn't make out the words but he felt the pain subside.

Meanwhile Ouryuu was looking at his hands that were going slightly transparent.

'How much time do I have? A century? Maybe a bit more? Well, whatever. I wasn't even supposed to be awake in the first place.' Ouryuu thought with a bitter smile and kept singing a lullaby from his long gone village.

________

When they woke up by the seventh day, their eyes had already turned cat-like. No more than three or, at best, four in ten survived; the rest died in agony. (AN: This means their pupils are like that of a cat, it doesn't say anything about their colors. So Zeno's eyes are still blue unlike the game verison.)

Aside from the eyes, The Trial followed by the Changes granted witcher adepts lightning-quick reflexes, slower aging, physical strength as well as sharpened senses.

Zeno woke up almost immediately after the trial was over and snapped his leather straps before falling to the ground.

His hands immediately went to his nose and held his breath to stop himself from smelling the disgusting scent lingering in the laboratory.

Meanwhile he could feel the seal on his bloodline weakening as he felt the residual pain disappear in an instant.

'I will most likely get back my powers after The Trial of Dreams...' He thought to himself.

{Exactly.} Ouryuu confirmed.

'How do you know?'

{I had this power far longer than you albeit weaker. Still I can still recognize it's condition. It is kind of similar to the time I was away from Hiryuu Castle where my healing slowed down.} Ouryuu explained.

[Hey, have you ever tried to put enough distance between the castle to see if you can die?] System asked in curiosity.

It was done recording the data, they could go over it later.

{Yeah I went to the other side of the world, I simply remain in a deathlike state until I somehow end up close enough to wake up...} Ouryuu sighed.

Hearing his somber tone the two stopped asking questions.

On the other hand the other children were groggy, some were still convulsing and some lived but their minds didn't survive the process rendering them in a vegetative state.

A mage quickly came to Zeno's side and helped him to his feet before taking him out of the laboratory while checking up on him.

He couldn't use spells on him since it was futile, he could only do a physical examination.

At this point Zeno regained enough functionality to adjust his senses to block out the smell of shit, piss and vomit and could finally breathe.

"Man, you had us scared when you started sprouting golden scales on the last day but you pulled through." The mage was talking animatedly, especially after making sure Zeno was okay.

"Golden scales?" Zeno asked his mortification hidden behind his surprise.

"Yeah, too bad they vanished into sparkles as you woke up. Master said it was some type of energy that can negate magic. At least we found out why you haven't been able to use signs so far." Mage explained calmly as they arrived at the main hall where the witchers minus Vesemir and Luka were waiting for the survivors.

They all cheered after seeing Zeno and didn't hide their surprise at him being able to walk immediately after the trial.

Zeno had to alleviate their curiosity for the rest of the night by talking about his experience of being completely awake during the trial.

Well, he wasn't awake during the last part but that was because his mind shut off due to pain.