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It had been months since William had last stepped foot in the tower, when the construction had finally been finished. And when he returned to Vienna he eagerly awaited his older brother’s reply to his letters. But as time flew by and the seasons changed and winter soon set upon the land with not a single word from Victor, William could wait no longer and set about visiting the tower and seeing his brother himself
He was not expecting to see the tower completely vacant however. The front doors were sitting wide open, propped open by piles of snow and William knew that was a bad sight. Upon entering the tower, he searched endlessly through the upper part of the tower calling his brother’s name. But with no response, that left only the basement to check
Upon approaching the steps leading downwards, William was suddenly hit with an awful putrid stench that he had never smelt before. Even despite covering his nose, the smell seemed to slip past his fingers and fill his each and every breath. Each step descending downwards made the stench only grow more pungent. Eventually, by the time William made it down to the dark and damp basement, he was almost certain he would lose his stomach right then and there on the floor. As if the smell wasn’t bad enough, the sight he beheld was certainly one to make anyone throw up their food
In what could barely be seen in the dark room, was old dried blood and entrails. Every wall as far as the eye could see had some kind of splatter or smear of viscera. William knew that Victor’s experiment delved into the usage of dead bodies, but the carnage he had witnessed down there was completely unprecedented. He feared his older brother had gone mad somehow and thrown the bodies all about
But upon stepping further into the dark room, William noticed something in the only light that somewhat illuminated the room. In the center of the vast basement, an opening in the ceiling shined down the day’s light from above. And in the light of that chute, in a small puddle of blood and water, was a pair of gloves. As much as it offended William’s sense of smell, he ventured closer towards the center of the room to get a closer look at the gloves
Upon standing right below the chute, William knelt down and picked up the small pair of red leather gloves. Suddenly, he felt a strange prickling in his skin, a feeling telling him that he was being watched, that he wasn’t alone down in this basement. Standing up in the light, William looked around frantically towards the darkness, trying to spot any kind of figure. Eventually his gaze did land on something, but it was far too dark to make out. The figure looked hunched over and had its back to him. “Victor?” He called to the figure
Suddenly the figure snapped its head far too back for William’s comfort and stared at him from the darkness. He could just barely make out its massive frame, but the one thing he could in fact see were its eyes. One of them glowed a faint golden hue in the reflection of the light. He took a step forward to try and get a better look at the thing before it slowly stood up, and it was massive
“You don’t want to do that..” The figure then murmured in a voice far too deep for any human to have. William felt himself freeze in fear as he felt the figure’s gaze scan him in curiosity. “I mean you can if you really want to. But you’re not going to like what you see. Sometimes, not being able to see something is quite a good thing.”
William took a step back as the figure took a step forward. He could feel every muscle in his body tense and tight, preparing to flee if need be. “W-Who are you?” He asked, hating the tremble he heard in his voice. That question seemed to give the figure pause. “Well, my father called me Adam. And then I killed him. So I felt that I rather deserve to have his second name too.”
The figure took several steps forward and stepped into the light of the chute and William felt himself physically shrink away from the massive figure that stood before him. A tall man, if William could even describe him as a man. He was covered in scars, his skin different colors in so many patches. But all over his skin he was absolutely covered in long since dried blood, turning his pale skin to a dirty red and brown. His hair was long, thin and oily. Parts of it were crusted together with dried viscera. Every part of this man was disgustingly horrifying
But then a thought occurred to William, this must be Victor’s successful creation. His experiment was a success, but then again where was Victor? The man spoke with a wide exaggerated grin as he held his hands out in an informal greeting. “Which makes me Adam Frankenstein! Pleased to meet you at last!” He exclaimed with a grin that sent shivers down William’s spine
The words that creature spoke began to register in William’s mind. He said that he had killed his father and took his last name. Frankenstein. William felt the color and heat drain from his face and he felt himself getting sick again. No, it couldn’t be, he had to be lying. But with one quick glance around the room and to the red gloves clenched tightly in his hand all but confirmed his fears
“You…you killed Victor Frankenstein?” William asked, now truly terrified beyond his wits. “Yep!” The creature merely replied, scratching at an old patch of blood on his neck and sending the blood dust falling to the ground. “He got really mean and I’m a monster! In his words at least I am.” The creature explained, that wide chilling grin never leaving his face
William’s breathing became ragged and labored and his heart was pounding wildly against his rib cage as the creature got even closer to him, now practically a few feet away from him. “I mean what do you want me to do? Not pull him apart?” The creature asked before suddenly turning and heading towards a large stone table nearby in the dark. William followed him with his gaze but could hardly make out what was on the table
He didn’t need to wonder long however as the creature gathered whatever was on the table and brought it into the light. William thought that what he had seen entering the basement or seeing the creature itself was horrific enough, but this had clearly taken the cake
It was Victor…or rather what was left of him. His head was barely distinguishable, eyes plucked out, jaw ripped clean off, his teeth and tongue were missing too. His body wasn’t much better either. His hands remained mostly intact but the flesh from his arms and torso were mostly stripped away, leaving mostly bone and a few of his organs. But what organs did remain were either crushed by the creature’s clenched fists or had teeth marks in them from where he had attempted to try and eat them. Victor’s legs were badly broken, twisted and mangled in ways that no human should ever have them twisted in those horrible ways
If it weren’t for Victor’s curly raven hair still atop his head, William wouldn’t have been able to identify him. But now, he was met with only one dilemma, how would he get out of there alive?