It is a well recorded fact that many men, when faced with the choice of upholding some ideological ideal even unto death or renouncing their faith in return for freedom, will choose the former, especially if there is a wider audience to witness their sacrifice.  So it was with Dr. Erasmus P. Bennett, when, on a chilly November night, shots rang out, from police handguns, and ended his macabre, experimental operations, thereby saving the very soul of his hapless victim.  Had the Police fired even ten minutes earlier, however, they may well have also saved his life.

Twenty years earlier, when the Bennett family moved to New England, their only son, one Erasmus P-, had shown great interest, during his schooling, in both History and the Sciences, especially Medicine.  Indulging his love of ancient civilisations as a whim and a hobby, his parents greatly encouraged his study of Medicine; with the result that, some years later, the graduate and Medical Doctor Erasmus P. Bennett left university and found work with the Boston Hospital for the Medically Insane.

Over the course of the next several years, Dr. Bennett discharged his duties admirably, all the time gaining new knowledge and perfecting existing techniques, rapidly rising in prominence and renown.  It was not long until he was rewarded with the title of Professor and a chair on the board of the Hospital's governing body.  With his new position came the freedom to take more frequent and more extended leaves of absence, during which he used his time to pursue his greatest passion - the history and exploration of the ancient civilisations of Central America.

Following each of these sabbatical leaves, he would return to his position, seemingly renewed and vigorous, working long hours and hard shifts in order to clear his diary of any backlogged work, after which he would lock himself away in his laboratory for many hours, the only indication he was there being the locked door and, afterwards, the need for hospital staff to clear away the remains of autopsies performed on deceased patients.  It was during these laboratory examinations that Dr. Bennett refined his knowledge of the inner workings of the human body, the functions and interconnections of each organ.

During these periods of frequent and lengthy excursions, Dr. Bennett came across references, in his studies of Central American civilisations, to 'The Jewelled Heart of Aberantolli'.  This fantastic device, crafted of a single piece of ruby, and laid about with various designs and incantations, etched into its very surface, was supposedly created thousands of years ago by magicians of the Toltec peoples of Central America.

The Heart, according to legend, was fashioned to represent, both in size and design, a Human heart - being so great a work of art as to mimic the internal structures as well as the external features.  Recorded in the few sources that remain, all in Dr. Bennett's possession, which make reference to the Heart, are many warnings regarding its use - the most chilling being that 'whosoever uses the Heart places his soul in jeopardy as surely as his body becomes the automaton of the Heart's controller'.

After those shots rang out in that Boston hospital, on that chilly November night, Policemen rushed into Dr. Erasmus P. Bennett's laboratory to find, to their satisfaction, the bullet ridden body of Dr. Bennett, holding what appeared to be a giant ruby, and, to their absolute horror, the freshly dead body of one of the hospital's patients - his still beating heart lying on the bench beside him.