Day one.
I roam from isle to isle, searching through my personal archives. I analyse the contents compiled neatly on the shelves. Materials. Necessities. Samples, such as skin tissue, blood, and bone. All finely preserved and never been used. Examining them rouses memories.
In my earlier years, I asked Vonplex if I could study him and take samples of his biological makeup. Usually, I would take whatever tickled my fancy and harvest the information from my subject without a fuss, but I still asked him, nonetheless.
He was the first to hold the power of consent over me. I wanted to earn his trust, and so, I gave him some time to ponder over my request due to his strong apprehensiveness. The last thing I wanted to do was coerce him, and proposing a dissection would have been too forward.
From the moment I first saw him, I was always fascinated by his design. His anatomy was the perfect combinational blend of ethereal and matter.
I was concerned he wouldn't accept my request, but I was soon blessed by fortuity when he finally consented to it. The extraction procedure was executed in parts. I had to guide him gently as he was hesitant to lie down on the surgical slab. He despised being touched by others. He clawed at the slab, grinding down his talons while hyperventilating. I managed to calm him down and regulate his breathing; I had never comforted someone before – and oddly enough, my awkward soothing sufficed. I monitored his response to certain stimuli throughout the procedure. Laying down a foundation of trust.
It was a strange and unfamiliar experience. It surprised me that someone of his caliber and prowess would have an aversion to scalpels. He was unnerved when we stepped into a luminous, sterile room. I found it peculiar – yet curious. Nevertheless, I didn't want to squander my chances to study a member of the first trinity and deprive myself of the opportunity to harvest a few samples for the sake of compassion.
I retrieve the much-needed materials from the shelf and gather them into my arms before making my way down to the underground facility.
Over a lengthy period, he grew accustomed to my touch – as well as my mannerisms. He was particular and selective about the company he kept. Aside from myself, Madonis was also granted access to his space. Vonplex wouldn't allow anyone to touch him, even if it was a simple pat on the shoulder or a mutual hug.
After the extraction procedure was complete, we began to see each other – quite often, actually. My aesthetic fascination eventually developed into a platonic and sensual attraction, although at first I did not recognise it as such. I dismissed it as a daft thought. Then the pull of attraction would resurface in disguised forms. The unknown allure became stronger for each time I chose to ignore it. I became too self-conscious and socially inept whenever I was around him. I turned into someone I didn't recognise. I wasn't myself. I was clumsy with my words. I would stutter or make foolish remarks as a supposed jest.
I was an utter, verbal mess.
As someone such as myself who takes pride in my extended vocabulary and clear articulation, it was incredibly embarrassing. Thankfully enough, he never commented on my stupid remarks – but I do remember his mischievous smirk – as if he knew. Whereas my behavior baffled me. Fuelled by my own self-denial and lack of understanding, I convinced myself we were too different – and yet it was the reason why I was attracted to him. Our considerable contrast is what initially incited my intrigue. It was new – and maddening. Confusing to process. I had never been attracted to anyone before – until I met him.
I visualise him standing beside me as I work inside the operation studio. Sometimes I have the odd conversation with him here and there, whenever I mentally meander down memory lane. For me, all it takes is one look, and I can recollect every bit of vivid detail. My memories are perfect and insusceptible to the contamination of age. I bring my energy forth and devise a structure of appended lines. Outlining and configuring a four-dimensional skeletal map on the slab, recalling the visual transcript of his screening. I take the phalange of his smallest finger from his left hand, and part my hands as it levitates in between, materialising a long cord of bone. Deriving from its authenticity. I lean over and set the cord down on the slab in between the outlines of its rightful placement - the location of his spine.
I summon a carving blade and a chisel. I saw and modeled the cord into a division of adjoined columns. Sculpting ridges. Including protrusions. I swap the carving knife for a drafting one and etch lines into each individual column, adding fine detail to my creation. Then, I set aside my tools. Twenty-two stems of bone extend outwards from each of the upper columns and curve inwardly. Then I discontinue halfway down, before the ribs can join the sternum, organs need to be implanted, and the anterior laminated.
Day twenty-two.
I monitor my progress through the visualisers. The RNA and DNA helices alternate in rotation from anticlockwise to clockwise, to then repeat again. Reiterating. Displaying an overall yet consistent view of the helices. This is all I have left of him. Sensing my approach, they come to a temporal pause before I pluck out a black orb from the beaded, coiled rim of the DNA's structure. It is useful. The container stores genetic material and information. The visualizer also predicts changes and provides autonomous assistance in structural edits. Highlighting what is functioning and what is not.
The black orb dissolves in my palm and reveals the contents inside. In order to recreate Vonplex as close as possible to his authentic self, I have to conjure from an original source of organic material. If there is no original source to extract from, and I simply create him from nothing, then the life I would bring into being will not be him, but rather a mortal progenitor. I fear the material will not suffice; nevertheless, I need to try to eliminate all available avenues, because I am the only one who can perform this miracle.
With the skeleton built for the most part, all that is left to do is attach and mold the skull. I've reduced the size of his skeleton for the sake of practicality, and therefore, as a consequence, he will have less bone density. He will be more prone to fractures and bone breakage if he is dealt a critical injury, which is typical for mortals. The power of immortality is achieved through oneself. It is impossible to give. If I could, I would give it to him in less than a soulbeat. His abilities, such as genetic manipulation and divine elements, are also impossible to recreate. They are either inherited or passed on through lineage – through genealogy - or a blood transfer.
An unshapely lump of bone grows from the cervical spine. I begin to mold the cranium by hand, while it is malleable and soft. I use the drafting blade to outline his facial bones, and then dismiss the tool. I select the carving knife again and summon a loop cutter. Carving the jaw. Sharpening fangs. I alter the chisel to a smaller and more convenient size to grind down the molars. Making sure that all of his teeth are perfectly aligned and straight. I hollowed out eight canals for his eyes. Then I transfer a sufficient portion of vigor into the skull to instigate the growth of his horns.
Day twenty-three.
I cut and mold the cartilage into appropriately sized portions to insert between the vertebrae of the spine, as a cushion - a supportive wedge, as well as an attachment. I infuse more pieces of cartilage into certain facial placements of the skull, at the ends of the ribs, and in-between joints, to prevent bone from grinding on bone.
Day twenty-five.
Another orb is taken from the DNA helical, and the first half of the barred segment retracts. Entailed with the genetic code, it is reabsorbed back into the organic container. The container's outer layer breaks down, and the tissue sample that was inside levitates above my palm – the biological material for his anterior.
Cut, sliced, layered, and graphed from the back. It will provide an organic accommodation – a bed for organs. Unfortunately, I do not have any organ samples, and if I were to create his entrails without a source of authenticity, it would cause incompatibilities (hypothetically speaking). Nevertheless, I still intend to explore every avenue, no matter how tedious, illogical, or futile.
Then I can look back on my attempts without regret and contemplate "what if." I should have been more assertive and pushed him; however, in doing so, I would have sabotaged the foundation of trust between us.
My memories bring heartbreak and a nostalgic fondness. To risk eliminating my chances to create memories with him and to never have loved; it isn't worth it. Not for any sample. Not for any grain of knowledge, because experience is learning – a teaching moment. I am incapable of forgetting. My memories feel as fresh as though they happened yesterday. Loss never leaves me. It infests my soul. Showing parts of myself I didn't know existed. I hardly know myself anymore. I look at him standing next to me as I work. You have become my weakness. You've changed me. But, I am unsure whether it is for better - or for worse.
I touch my chest. What I do know for certain is that the new existence inside my soul is the best of both of us. It is a fusion of our collective energies; therefore, if my project does indeed fail, then at least a part of him will live on and not be forgotten.
Day thirty-three.
His organs are lifeless and inactive. I proceed to produce a small yet complex feather of veins. Their filaments move and squirm in mid levitation. It descends to settle down between the radius and the ulna. It germinates through his wrist bone like flora taking roots. It spreads and interweaves throughout the skeletal framework, between the mauve walls of the anterior. I retrieve another orb. The coat disintegrates and reveals the held pint of obsidian blood inside the oval vial. The dark element is transferable; however, there is a determining factor that will decide the outcome of the transfusion. Divine elements have a consciousness of their own.
They can deny its inheritor through the course of natural reproduction, and if it does, it will become dormant, until it meets a suitable inheritor. Sleeping and waiting through the generations.
However, the process of his recreation is not being carried out through natural means. Divine elements desire to achieve a harmonious unification. Once they have accomplished the totality of oneness, it becomes permanent and irreversible. This in itself justifies their fickleness and ideal standards when they select a soul. The only way to prevent a divine element from retreating into dormancy is to create a soul from the progenitor's life force that has already been accepted by the divine element.
Sillhaine and her seeded race are one such example. Every Wa-omme has inherited the divine element of water and light. The element will not react in this test because there is no soul to merge with. Vonplex's blood hasn't been touched or used since his extraction - years predating his death. I took five pints of blood from him and preserved them in separate vials. For now I shall only use one for the transfusion and to test his circulation, to see if his heart responds accordingly. I invent a filtering apparatus. I puncture one end of the tube into a vein located in the arm and the other into the body of the vial. Obsidian shoots through the tube and flows into his vein, entering the routes of the network. I then channel my life force into the body to give it the false sense of being alive. Stimulating its nerves. Producing oxygen.
The heart remains lifeless.
There is no pumping motion.
Not even a subtle pulsation.
It isn't responding.
Day unknown.
"Useless!"
Rejected time and time again. They are unresponsive. Defunct and incompatible; his organs are functionless. The body has identified them as alien anomalies. I don't know how long I have been in the operation studio for. I've lost all track of celestial time; so much so, my visualisation of Vonplex standing beside me is waning. He has grown faint.
How many days has it been?
Months?
Years?
I've used genetic material extracted from sentient fauna, from my personal archives - and begrudgingly from my own seeded race. Every attempt was an utter failure despite my suspicions. Deep down, I knew the outcome wouldn't end in success, even though I fed myself with false hope.
I just knew it.
Therefore, I can now conclude this route as futile and a waste of precious resources.
On the other hand, there are two more options left to explore. The first option is to start from the beginning. Utilise and splice the DNA of Jurassic fauna of the Mesozoic era from a young planet named Terria - preferably from the reptilian classification to accurately recreate a full creature in his image. In doing so, he will become a progenitor. The second option is to travel backwards in the celestial timeline, to the birth of the first trinity. All I require are a few more samples – and just one look. Just one. That's all it takes.
Day unknown.
For the sake of eliminating every avenue - and for a well-intended purpose. Manifested from within my own soul, I stand at the fore of a summoned spiraling rift inside the operation studio. It was annoyingly difficult to pinpoint the precise location and time of Vonplex's birth. All members of the first trinity were born at the same time. The details of their birth were exclusive to the trinity and the universal architect.
They were born with the ability to have both an astral and a physical form; sometimes coalesced together into one anatomy. It is an adaptive technique they use to traverse within various planes of existence without the fuss of self-alteration.
As a result, Sillhaine had passed down her inheritance to her overseers. Through keen and passive observation as well as Vonplex's divulgence of personal experience - extracting information from the first overseer, I have come to know the privilege of possessing such invaluable intelligence.
The dissection of the first overseer was awfully insightful and a progressive step towards my eternal pursuit of knowledge -because knowledge is power after all.
As for the second trinity, who were created long after the first, we were born entirely ethereal. We do not have matter in our bodies, and so we remain as we are – as we were intended to be.
I peer into the opening, beholding the lustrous interdimensional tunnel inside leading me to my purposive destination. Crossing the universal bounds of time and dimensions. I skim its glistening facet with my fingertips.
Do I really need to do this?
If I tamper with time, it will produce a series of irreversible outcomes. Positive or not, I don't know. I'm not gifted with the ability of precognition and retrocognition. I can't predict how my actions will impact the present and future. The question I need to ask myself is - do I want to reap an inescapable consequence?
I bring my hand away and hold it to my chest. Averting my sights away from the portal. I can't believe I'm reconsidering.
Questioning my actions?
Bah. It doesn't matter. I am no stranger to obstacles and failure, because they are nothing more than a temporal challenge, which forces you to improve – to better yourself. I will not let my efforts end in vain. And if it were not for my restraint, I would have brought him back by now, without exerting any effort whatsoever. So simple and easy, I could do it with just the snap of my fingers. It'd be an amateurish feat - mere child's play.
I know my capabilities and my contributory uniqueness well. When a soul perishes, so does everything conceived from it - as though it never existed in the first place. Total erasure. That is the greatest risk of being a founder - a cosmic parent. If I were to reconstruct him from scratch using my power alone, his existence will solely become dependent on mine. This is why I am going through the process of elimination to avoid existential codependency.
The only way a creation of mine can survive the repercussions of my demise is to rival or exceed my astral caliber and sustain themselves through their own power instead of relying on mine. The consequences of destruction and creation; you either find a means to exist or pay the price of erasure.
I am continuously paying an endless cost because of my past deeds – for I am the last member of the second trinity. And this is my karma - my eternal price for consuming their souls - ingesting their powers. The eternal price is my soul, and in order to sustain it, I must continuously feed. For every celestial day that passes, I am eating to exist. The only way I can rectify my condition is to ascend and evolve into a universal creator, to regain permanent self-stability so I do not need to feed on others again. I don't want the soul I carry within me to inherit the burden of eternal hunger. I sincerely hope they take after Vonplex in that aspect.
Then, my accelerated thoughts are met with a silencing resolve, granting me a peace of mind as I step through the portal. I will finish what I started.
I will complete my project.
Day unknown.
The blood is compatible?
I watch the obsidian degrade to a lighter shade. The black dissolves and leaves behind a purple tincture in its retreat into dormancy. Becoming the overall coloration of his blood. Electricity streams alongside his veins, circulating throughout his anatomy. The divine element of electricity has chosen to stay.
Fascinating.
His heart is pumping blood at a healthy rhythm. The transplant was successful; thank goodness. After all of these years of trial and error, his heart is finally beating. I had to discard what little remained of his biological samples. Unfortunately, I couldn't preserve them as I did before or reuse them again. They received too much exposure and were at risk of cross-contamination. I had to start from the beginning and rebuild everything from top to bottom - from his eyeballs to his exoskeleton. Although he is not identical to him, there is still a high resemblance.
Once my project is finalised, I shall place him inside a stasis capsule until it is the right time for him to awaken. He's not ready to experience the outside world just yet.
While he lies in dormancy, I'll assemble a few deceptive placements and false leads to stall the inevitable.
For extra precaution, I will implement a protective barrier around Dra. If they should ever attempt to infiltrate my domain, the defensive barrier will procure some time for me to intercept the opposition or whoever they decide to send. I will also engrave an emblem on each wall of his hibernation chamber to conceal his life force signal and to notify me of any activity, just in case he awakens during my absence.
Knowing his curious nature, if he touches one of the emblems, it will teleport him to the surface for me to collect him. It was a miracle in itself that I was able to conduct my projects without any outside third-party interruptions for as long as I did. There are certain souls out there who would gladly snuff him out.
This is why I must implement these safety precautions before it's too late – for he is the closest thing I have to being with him again...