Tora Steals Things

“We’re not gonna find the amulet in there,” Tora finally responded. He said it more to himself, trying to convince himself to leave well alone. This whole hallway had been abandoned for a reason—a reason that was none of his business, probably dangerous, and certainly had nothing to do with the amulet they were after.

Damn his curiosity though, he opened it anyway: 1-2-3-4.

The door slid open and the two cautiously stepped inside. They were barely in the room before they froze, startled and wide eyed.

They’d finally found living staff.
Sort’ve.
Before them was a lab seemingly trapped in time: showcasing a living snapshot of

what appeared to be some kind of accident. A dozen or so asura in inquest uniform populated the lab, most of which appeared to be making a frightened dash for the door. The few left were pouring over documents and lab equipment, indifferent and unaware to the panic before them. All of them were frozen in place, like statues made of flesh rather than stone.

“They’re not breathing,” FPS said sombrely as he checked the pulse of one.

Disturbing.

Every cell in his body was screaming to leave, but Tora fought it, working his way to the back of the lab. He weaved about the frozen asura, the upturned tables and chairs, the papers and beakers and tools stuck mid-flight, and stopped at a wall of glass containers. Each container held someone in it: a charr, a sylvari or two, and a lot of humans. No asura. They all were naked, seemingly asleep, and suspended in some kind of purple liquid.

“Oh I don’t like that,” Tora said under his breath.
“It appears our Rakak here has been studying time magic,” FPS called behind him. “Yeah? No shit.”
“There’s reports here.”
“Yeah?” Tora glanced back to see FPS shuffling through a stack of paper on a

nearby table. Apparently this room hadn’t been gutted like the others. Perhaps it was deemed too risky to. “Readable?”

“Asuran script, but I think I can get the gist of it. Looks like they were experimenting on some subjects.”

“These guys, no doubt. Anythin’ new there, detective?”

“I think they’re all mesmers. I suppose that’s where they were getting the time magic from.”

Mesmers, time magic, and a lab room stuck in time—Tora half expected to see