[Warning!]
[Warning!]
[Energy levels have surged past the recommended threshold!]
[Evacuation is advised.]
"Prepare for spatial fractures," Dae exhales, unbothered. She walks toward the terminal with swift, deliberate steps. The energy surrounding her surges, forming a thick red layer of mana that clings to her skin. The walls begin to blend together, her runes glowing as they spiral and shift, dancing in unpredictable patterns.
Ignoring the steady leakage of blood from the sword driven through her abdomen, she slices her finger and strides over to the massive tank. Stepping above it, she lets her blood drip into the fluid below.
With a sigh, Mirelith glances around, watching calmly as space itself begins to crack, revealing slivers of a dark void. The entire lab contorts, warping from the dense energy. The floor quakes—earth and stone fracturing beneath them. Nearby, several now-empty tanks collapse under pressure.
"What a strange phenomenon," Mirelith murmurs, his golden eye absorbing every detail. "At this rate, you'll attract unwanted attention."
He raises his right arm. From his palm, a stream of pulsing blue magic flows, sealing cracks as fast as they form—though not fast enough.
The runes carved into the shattered stone begin to glow brighter, reforming and spiraling around the central tank.
"The essence seems to be resisting," Dae mutters. She places her bleeding palm into the liquid, and her blood twists unnaturally, spreading until it envelops the seed in a sphere of pulsing red.
Cough
Cough
'This portion of my soul should be enough.'
Blood trickles from her mouth as Dae wipes it away with her sleeve. She steps back, descending slowly—until halfway down, her fist punches into the air. Space fractures with a rippling crack as she seizes a massive hound-like, purple worm mid-ambush.
"These pests are bothersome," she says flatly.
The creature screeches once before withering in her grip, its body rapidly draining of life until nothing remains but ash. She withdraws her hand, and space seals shut behind it.
"Indeed, quite bothersome," Mirelith echoes with a nod. He twists his arm, golden energy pulsing outward. A larger beast—hidden nearby—cries out in agony as its form shatters from within.
"You should hurry. The energy here is beginning to stir even me. It won't be long before they notice."
Dae says nothing. She turns back toward the tank. The blood around the seed continues to twist and spiral, forming tighter patterns.
Her lips part to speak—
"AAH! FUCK!"
Kael screams, clutching his head. His pale body convulses as he collapses to the ground.
"S-SHIT! SYSTEM! FUCK! DO SOMETHING!"
[Your understanding of forbidden knowledge has slightly increased.]
[You are incapable of withstanding the incantation and will be transported to another point in time.]
And just like that, Kael's translucent body vanishes.
"Hurry," Mirelith says, his stance firming as radiant magic blasts outward from his form. "Space is beginning to collapse into a single point."
Even still, the cracks form faster than he can mend them.
The compressing energy begins eating into the main tank. Dae pushes her energy outward, slowing the destruction with sheer force of will.
Inside the fluid—bathed in blood and magic—a figure begins to form.
[Warning!]
[Main tank destabilization imminent.]
[Spatial compression has exceeded safe thresholds.]
[Core failure projected: 19.3 seconds.]
The blood sphere wrapped around the seed trembles—pulsing erratically, flickering between red and black. The energy density twists light itself, warping reflections into unrecognizable shapes.
Dae remains still.
The veins in her arm swell, thickened with unnatural pressure. She raises her other hand, pushing a glowing seal into the air—an anchor glyph, built from overlapping sigils too dense to decipher. The moment it locks into place, the tank halts. Time does not stop, but something like it: a forced suspension. Matter convulses and stills. Water curls upward without rippling.
From within the blood sphere, a silhouette begins to form. No flesh. Not yet. Just intent.
Thin lines sketch themselves into being—bones without mass, a nervous system of red light. Then comes the outline of skin, semi-translucent and unstable, flickering between forms. Arms. Legs. Spine. A feminine frame begins to take shape.
The system flickers violently.
[Unclassified Entity Detected.]
[Warning: Fragmented soul imprint anchoring to mortal vessel.]
[Soul Fusion: 9.3% → 14.1%]
[Body Crystallization Phase Beginning…]
Lines of light shoot through the tank—spiral arrays locking the forming being into place. The blood reacts, shifting from liquid to a semi-solid gel, binding the shape more firmly.
The temperature in the room drops sharply.
The stone walls rattle.
Three pods collapse in unison—glass shattering as containment fails.
Mirelith raises his arm again. "Your bindings are cracking. I'll only hold the collapse for moments longer."
She doesn't answer. Her eyes stay locked on the forming figure.
[Essence Core Alignment: 21.2%]
[Integration Breach Detected.]
[Foreign concept entering: {Bloom—Of—Sorrow}]
[Unknown field expanding...]
The tank floods with color—purples, blacks, reds—churning like living paint. The forming figure's chest pulses.
Dae whispers, barely audible.
"…Come forth."
The figure twitches.
The blood snaps inward.
The pod implodes—
—but stops mid-collapse as Dae's palm slams onto the surface of the interface.
Chains of runes burst from the console, wrapping the tank, encasing it in a shell of radiant green light.
Inside, the figure opens its eyes.
One breath. One blink.
A soul takes root.
Thin strands of energy spiral around the skeletal outline, layering tissue with eerie precision. Each muscle forms in sequence—woven like silk under invisible fingers. Ligaments snap into place with silent grace. A soft, pale texture blooms across her body.
A head—bald, smooth, and ghostlike—completes the shape.
Then, from the crown, a strand of red.
Hair begins to spill downward, unnaturally vibrant. Crimson, dark at the roots, almost black in places—growing at an accelerating rate, first brushing her shoulders, then her hips, until it floats, long and weightless, well past her waist. It twists in the fluid like a living thread, curling unnaturally straight in moments of stillness.
Her skin pales further, a soft ivory tone settling evenly across her frame. Her features sharpen—cheekbones lifting subtly, lips forming with near-perfect symmetry. Eyelids tremble.
The first eye forms dull and grey—but color seeps in rapidly, blooming outward from the iris. Crimson floods it. Veins of deeper red spiral from the edge of her pupil as it solidifies. A silent gleam. Then the other eye shifts—its surface unstable, pupil and iris blending together in layers of motion.
A flower forms.
Not literally—but shaped in pigment and depth. A blooming red blossom, centered in darkness, rotates slowly in her eye. It does not reflect light. It swallows it.
Black markings begin to bleed across her face, thin lines tracing from beneath the blooming eye downward—curling past her neck, stretching in natural, elegant curves toward her waist. They settle just above her hips, like ink etched into pale porcelain.
Her eyelashes begin to thicken—delicate, dark, defined. Eyebrows follow, arching gently into place, framing the blooming expression of absolute stillness.
She does not move.
She cannot.
The body floats—perfect, complete, without identity.
Blank.
Expressionless.
No breath, no thought, no recognition.
The system pulses violently one last time.
[Stabilization Phase Initiated]
[Soul Anchor Secured — Vessel Integrity: 92.8%]
[Biological Function: Active]
[Cognitive Response: Null]
[Conceptual Core: Dormant]
Outside the pod, the energy begins to calm.
Cracks in the stone walls seal in sequence, as Mirelith lowers his hand with a small nod. The magical feedback dissolves, layer by layer—space mending reluctantly under suppression.
A low hum remains.
The figure hovers in stasis, limbs drifting slightly in the final wisps of suspended blood.
A single system window remains.
[Entity Stabilized.]
[No anomalies detected.]
[Awaiting Command.]
Dae finally exhales.
The blood in the tank dissipates into vapor.
And silence returns.
"Leena is the name you carved into her?"
Mirelith steps forward, his golden eye sweeping across the still, suspended figure. He inspects her from head to toe, posture tense, something unreadable in his gaze. Then, he turns toward Dae. Her expression remains unchanged—cold, controlled.
She failed, he thinks. No, she was never going to succeed. Her delusion was believing she could create someone beyond fate's reach.
He exhales slowly, running a hand through his silver hair.
"The fact that you managed to create her is already beyond the realm of miracles."
"I did everything accordingly..."
Dae stands still, a black emptiness shadowing her face. Her golden pupils shimmer faintly within her crimson irises as her gaze locks onto Leena. For a brief moment, something human flickers behind the calm.
"Even I have my delusions, Mirelith," she murmurs.
Her knees collapse beneath her.
The emerald blade embedded in her torso shudders—her blood spills out violently, splashing across the cold floor. Her breathing staggers. Still silent, she reaches out, grabs the nearby syringe, and drives it into her side.
The trembling slows. The bleeding steadies.
She rises once more.
Slow, steady steps bring her to the edge of Leena's still form.
Her disappointment does not touch her face, but it lingers in the air like a quiet weight. She raises a hand, places her finger against Leena's forehead.
"I am your mother," she whispers into the girl's thoughts. "Be proud of your lineage." Her fingertip moves, drawing intricate symbols against the pale skin.
"Rest for now."
The moment the phrase is spoken, Leena's body goes limp—her limbs folding gently, breath shallow, aura dimming into suspension.
Mirelith steps beside her and kneels. Without speaking, he lifts Leena into his arms. With a mere thought, the shattered stone around them blossoms. Roots twist up from beneath, flowering into beds of soft petals, silver vines, and glowing moss. He lays her down gently, his gaze never leaving her.
He does not smile. For him, the creation of a soul is pure taboo, as a soul must emerge on its own.
"You've done it," he says softly."There is a soul in her now."
"It moves. It remembers. It feels.""And so… it will suffer."
"For to have a soul is not to be alive.""It is to be bound to meaning.""And meaning does not forgive its makers."
"She will dream in colors that are not hers.Cry with emotions that have no root.Smile with echoes of someone else's hope.And when she asks 'why,' the world will offer no answer—only silence."
"Because no matter what path she walks, it will never be one she chose to begin."
"Still..."
"You gave her more than flesh. More than form.You gave her a mirror—and called it self."
"That is no small act."
"Very few can do what you've done.Fewer still are willing to carry what comes after."
"So I will not curse you. I will not praise you.I will simply say this—"
"She exists."
"And because she exists… nothing in this universe can free her from what comes next."
"…One day, she will beg for the end."
"Not from pain. Not from hate. But from the silence inside her."
"No one will reach her.No one can save her.Not in this world, not in any other."
"Because nothing in this universe can give her the hope to live."
"You made someone who will one day crave becoming nothing."
And still—he smiles.
Not out of pity.
But like a father might smile at a child too young to understand the world's weight. A flicker of warmth. Brief. Honest. Undeniably real.
He turns.
And vanishes into light.
Dae stands motionless.
Her eyes remain fixed on the still form lying among the quiet bloom of conjured petals. One minute passes. Then ten. Then an hour.
No movement. No shift in breath. No flicker of reaction. Only silence, and the faint pulse of magic fading into stillness.
Finally, Dae exhales.
"…A failure."
She turns without another glance, her steps echoing through the empty chamber as she walks away.