Hunched over his desk, Rotvil’s chair laid on the floor behind him, knocked over from his excitement as his research neared its end. Meticulously checking over all of his notes, a wide grin stretched across his face, his eyes blown wide open as he frantically flipped through page after page of writing.

Dozens of cages lined the walls of the room, each holding a single rat. Squeaks filled the air as the rats flung themselves at the bars of their cage, chewing at it in an attempt to escape. Occasionally, the light of the torches would catch on their heads, glinting off the metal bolts lodged into their skulls.

Suddenly, Rotvil looked up, slamming his hands onto the wooden surface of his desk. Eyes falling onto the large operating table in the center of the room, he threw his head back and laughed.

The creature’s body was a mix of grays and pale bluish skin. Stitches ran along the entire length of its body, outlining each specific part that Rotvil had foraged for. The graveyard outside the castle had proved quite helpful in the reconstruction of a body, providing ample specimens for him to choose from. Yet, despite the stitches and mismatched body parts, the two matching metal bolts on either side of the creature’s head was what truly caught the attention.

The heads of each bolt were larger than a person’s palm, holding numerous electric wire clamps. Each clamp was connected to a wire that ran from a central generator near the table, it’s power switch resting on Rotvil’s desk.

And right under his finger. Flick.

“Let there be life!”

For a split second, everything in the room froze.

Then, a bolt of lightning struck. As if shocked back to life, the rats began to squeak louder in an ever growing crescendo as the generator buzzed with electricity. Flickering blue light crawled up the wires leading out of the generator, pouring into the metal bolts on the creature’s head.

Quietly, a groan sounded from the table.