Rahul quickly realized a painful truth: the further evolution of his parasite organism would require an enormous number of experimental hosts. The limited supply of prisoners, criminals, and rebels could not possibly sustain the scale of research he envisioned.
He hesitated at the thought of using ordinary humans. Despite his ruthlessness, he still considered them his own species. Unless absolutely necessary, he would not use them as breeding stock for his parasite experiments. But Rahul was pragmatic. If the time ever came when no other options remained, he would sacrifice morality for progress.
For now, though, he sought alternatives.
---
A New Realm of Experiments
To continue his research, Rahul needed access to other races, preferably those far from humanity's fragile island. He summoned the Night Watchers and gave them a clear directive.
> "Find me a new realm. Beyond the borders of mankind's territory. Somewhere untouched, where test subjects are abundant, and where no one will care if they vanish."
The Night Watchers began their search.
Humanity's "realm," if it could be called that, was nothing more than a small fragment of land compared to the vast expanse of the world. Like a solitary island floating in a sea, it was roughly comparable in size to Asia from his original Earth. Yet in this world, even this landmass was but a speck under a larger sun, proof of just how insignificant humans truly were.
The orcs dominated the continents. They controlled the mines, the trade routes, and the fertile lands. Humans existed only because the orcs allowed them to — tolerated as laborers, miners, and petty craftsmen. Without their island separation, humanity would already have been reduced to nothing more than slaves or slaughtered prey.
Rahul knew this well. Humanity survived not because of strength, but because of irrelevance.
Two months passed before the Night Watchers returned with a report that stirred Rahul's curiosity.
Far from humanity's isolated landmass — nearly 15,000 kilometers away across the ocean and skies — they had discovered a realm unknown to most humans. It was a place ruled not by orcs, nor humans, nor the beastfolk, but by a race that called themselves the Zhikovs.
The Zhikovs were unlike anything Rahul had seen or even imagined. They were a flying race, winged humanoids capable of soaring through the skies at speeds that reached, and sometimes exceeded, the speed of sound. Their command of the air made them untouchable by ordinary forces. Few outsiders dared to approach their territory.
They dwelled in colossal forests where the very trees themselves reached unimaginable heights — some rising more than a kilometer into the sky, their canopies lost in clouds. In this forested realm, the Zhikovs built their cities high among the branches, a civilization suspended above the ground, almost unreachable to ordinary races.
The Night Watchers brought with them sketches, stolen fragments of Zhikov culture, and firsthand observations of their power.
Rahul listened carefully, his eyes glinting with both awe and hunger. But he knows that right now he is not strong enough to face them and decide to smuggle the night Watchers with basic specimen and biological equipment in batches and then will go himself to the realm.
Got it 👍 You're showing Rahul methodically building up his invasion into the new Zhikov-controlled realm (through the Jekowap Forest), and how he organizes the movement of Night Watchers and equipment through the unstable gate.
Rahul did not rush blindly into the unknown. Just like his previous campaign, he began with patience and precision. For nearly three months, he mapped out his strategy for entering the realm that his scouts had named the domain of the Zhikovs, the winged overlords of the Jekowap Forest.
He gathered his Night Watchers and briefed them thoroughly.
> "The passage into the new realm is not a stable door," Rahul explained, pointing toward the swirling vortex of distorted light that pulsed like a living wound in space. "It is a turbulence of time and space. When you pass through, your body will be shaken, your senses may blur, and weakness may strike you for a short time. Endure it. Once you land, you must immediately regroup and secure yourselves."
The warriors listened intently. Each batch he sent carried not only their own strength but also specimens, containment jars, nutrient solutions, and the biological instruments Rahul required for his experiments. These were the seeds of his new laboratory.
The first wave of ten Night Watchers departed at once. They stepped into the turbulence gate, their silhouettes swallowed by rippling folds of fractured reality. Moments later, the vortex contracted and stilled, leaving no trace of their passage.
A month later, the second wave of fifteen Night Watchers followed, bearing with them several live specimens and more refined equipment. Then came a third and fourth wave, each carefully timed, each pushing deeper into the new realm.
Rahul's plan unfolded with ruthless efficiency. Within six months, nearly fifty Night Watchers had crossed over, scattered but close enough to one another. The turbulence gate, though unstable, rarely transported them beyond ten kilometers of one another. That meant the risk of total separation was low, and the building of a forward base was inevitable.
Finally after seven months, Rahul went to the realm himself. As the turbulence hit, the familiar wave of dizziness and nausea swept over him—an emptiness that forced him to vomit—and he knew he had stepped into a new world. This place would be his new testing ground.
He looked out across the alien undergrowth and thought of the small, lovely creatures that lived here — his soon-to-be experimental subjects. A twisted smile curved his lips. He felt the cold thrill of what he was about to unleash and the carnage he would bring to this world.