”Actually, if you’ll excuse me for a while; I have some things I need to take care of on my own. A few errands to run, so to speak.” Gereth stood up from the table, picked up his bag and left his base. He needed a few things for his experiments, and he had to wait out some time before heading back to the castle to pick up a job from the Astarte woman. He needed to first check on his ongoing projects back at his Delta base, the one that had been compromised. There was delicate work that he had been forced to leave unfinished. As Gereth was walking through the woods behind the castle he heard voices. Familiar voices. He moved silently towards them and waited behind a tree to learn anything he could from the conversation. But he was a little late to get much off of those conversing. It was odd, he could only hear two voices; but from what he could gather, there was someone else involved that was both silent and invisible.
But there was something wrong. The two voices Gereth could hear were those of Lucia and Alexandra. But something was… off about Lucia’s voice. It was definitely her voice, and with a peak around the tree he was hiding behind, it was her body as well. But she was speaking as if she were someone else, the emphasis, phrasing and inflections were different, among other things. Gereth focused, tapped into the ambient magic around the clearing. And there it was: there was a soul inside of Lucia’s body that wasn’t her’s. And it sounded like that soul was currently in charge of her body
I may have just found a new test subject for my homunculus project.
Gereth stepped out from behind his tree and took a few steps towards the two girls in the clearing.
”You have something that doesn’t belong to you. Tell me, Lucia, what are you doing with someone else’s soul inside you. Been dealing with demons, have we?”
Lucia stood up in a defensive stance, eyes narrowed as she listened to the stranger speak. He knew a little too much about the current state of affairs and this was just at the first second of meeting. ”What is it you want.”
”Before we get to business, why don’t we start with simple introductions. Those who know me, call me G, What may I call you? Seeing as how you certainly aren’t Lucia.”
”For now we’ll stick with Lucia. It is her appearance, after all.”
”So be it then, Lucia. What I want is to make you an offer. You have a soul without a body of it’s own. I happen to have a body with no soul, and the means to integrate one into it. I can even manipulate it to look however I desire. You wouldn’t happen to be interested, would you?”
”And what would you be expecting out of all this, should I take your offer? I certainly have nothing to give you.”
”What makes you think I expect something in return? You don’t know me, I could just be doing this out of the kindness of my heart.”
”In this world, there is nothing done out of kindness for strangers.”
”True enough, you sound like you’re speaking from experience. I have my reasons though.”
Alex had her head perked up the whole time from the moment the strange man had stepped out from the clearing. However she had somehow managed to remain silent this long, at least up until William had chimed in with his doubts.
”Lucia--Will. Lucia?” she said, confused on what name to use anymore, ”What choice do we have here? What do we have to lose?”
If only you knew little girl, if only you knew.
”You trust him?”
”I mean, I’ve seen him with someone else whom I trust, does that count?” she answered thoughtfully, thinking of the thief.
Lucia raised her eyebrow, wondering what the hell had happened since he ‘left’. ”He’s suggesting to take my soul and put in something he created and that doesn’t sound suspicious or risky?”
Alex’s tone went up an octave as she tried her best to relay her thoughts, ”Oh I’m sorry, did you want to be trapped as a...as that--” she gestured at him, ”--forever?! I want my brother back.”
”Alex of course I want to be back in a body but this is a little haphazard…! And Lucia’s not a...nevermind.” She sighed, already exhausted from this conversation and the events, and turned to the man, ”...Fine. When and where?”
”Right now, follow me.” Gereth walked away, whether the others followed was up to them, the destination was the same for him either way. He reached his Delta base in about five minutes, unsealed it from his concealment magic and walked in and down the stairs. He turned the knob on the black door at the far left of the small hallway at the bottom and walked in, leaving the door open.
Inside the darkened room were two large slanted tables one of which had a featureless human shaped body strapped to it. The body had no face, hair, or other defining features. There were a number of small tables around the operating tables with many beakers filled with odd liquids and tools ranging from scalpels to bone saws and everything inbetween.
Alex followed behind the man eagerly, in awe of the magical door and now peering around the room in wonder. It wasn’t until she noticed the strange disfigured body that she let out a disgusted ”Eugh!” that she took a few steps back, ”What on earth is that thing?!”
Her brother entered as well, face distorting in disgust. Leaning down by Alex’s ear, a quick whisper, ”You’re telling me you trust this man?”
Alex turned to the side and whispered back at him in a hiss, ”Do you have a better idea?”
”To answer your question, that is a homunculus. An artificial human body, it’s current appearance is nothing more than an unfinished masterpiece. A piece of chiseled stone, and I am it’s sculptor. If you can provide a picture, or description of the person who will inhabit this body, I can alter it to look as close to them as I am able. After that, once the soul is inside it, it should even itself out to look even more like it’s host soul.” What he didn’t tell the two ladies was, In theory anyway. I’ve never managed to actually fuse a soul to a homunculus body without destroying both. But that was when I was attempting to rip a soul from oblivion and use it here. With a soul that’s been brought here by a demon, I’d estimate a 12% increased chance for success.
”Um...blond hair, a little over six feet, a knight...”
Hearing how hard, and how slow, it was to describe, Aidan gave a very impatient sigh and snapped his fingers. Out of nowhere, a piece of paper came into existence and floated down into the scientist’s hands with a detailed sketch of William.
”Interesting, I assume we have your demon friend is responsible for this. Well either way, this speeds things up a little.” Using the sketch, Gereth cast a number of spells on the body, altering it to look like a slightly disfigured William. The body was the right height, had the right hair color, but the facial features were only similar to that of the picture. the body also had no gender specific parts. ”That’s as close as I can get it. Once your soul is integrated, it should even out to become as close as possible. Go ahead and lie down on this table.” Gereth motioned to the empty table next to the William homunculus.
A discontent glance at the body later Lucia walked over to the table but before even touching it, she had a thought. ”And what will happen to Lucia’s body?”
”Good question. I can’t really feel her soul inside, it’s more than likely she’s become a reaper in a deal with whatever demon brought you back from oblivion. In all likelihood once your soul has left her body she will regain control of it. Although her condition is questionable, I haven’t had much experience with reapers before. From what I do know, how long and well she functions on her own is more or less up to the demon that has her soul.”
”Reaper…” Lucia muttered, shooting a glare at Aidan who was now leaning ever so casually against the door frame, watching with an amused smirk. ”I’ll deal with that later.” She hopped up on the table and laid down, her heart rate shooting up instantly.
Alex walked over to Lucia, placing a hand on her arm and saying steadily, ”This will work. It has to.” before retracting her hand to make way for Gereth.
”I’ll have to strap you down for… safety. If you start moving once we’ve begun there could be… complications.” Gereth used ties on the table to strap Lucia’s arms and legs to the table. Once both bodies were strapped to their respective tables Gereth folded his hands and began the spell to transfer William’s soul to the Homunculus. He gathered his magic and began to focus. Lucia’s body began to glow blue-green.
”Are you sure this will work?”
”Ah ha ha ha ha, I HAVE NO IDEA!” It was very rare that Gereth ever displayed any emotion, but this was a special occasion, Gereth actually laughed out loud. And before anyone could object to the mad man’s experiment it was too late. There was a flash of blue-green light and a bolt of energy flew from Lucia into the homunculus. Then there was a rather violent shockwave that knocked everyone standing up onto the floor. If it worked it was most likely excruciatingly painful for both Lucia and Wiliam.
From his place on the floor, Gereth looked up at the two bodies. Back to emotionless mode he asked, ”Well, that went better than expected. Nothing exploded this time.”
Lucia had been laying on the floor of the white space, unable to sleep, nothing to do, no one to talk to this time. She pondered where exactly she was and if this was what William had been going through all these years. To go a decade in a place like this would’ve driven her mad and from the way he had reacted to her, worse had happened to him. She sighed and rubbed her eyes, unsure of how to pass the time nor how to get out, when she felt a stab at her chest. She bolted upright, clutching the source of the pain, feeling like she couldn’t draw a breath for fear of her chest ripping open.
On the outside, her body convulsed and shook, her limbs pulling at the straps as she tried to escape. A blood curdling scream ripped through the room, drowning out any noise the transfer would have made, but just as quickly as it had come, it fell silent, save for Gereth’s comment.
The William Homunculus accepted the soul transfer and began to shift it’s skin. It’s skin tone and facial features changed quickly to match William as he saw himself. It was a much smoother transition due to having a head start.
”Fascinating.”
In moments, William opened his eyes but immediately squinted at the light in the room. He could feel his head pounding from his heart beats, the straps tight against his skin, and smell whatever strange substance was in the room. ”Did...it work?”
”’Work’ is a relative term.” Gereth stood up, ”It worked in that your soul is now in the Homunculus body, It didn’t seem to change as much as I had thought it would. And there’s no way to tell how Lucia faired.” Gereth unstrapped William and handed him some pants. ”How do you feel?”
Alex let out a small gasp as she watched her brother take shape right before her eyes, interrupting Gereth for that moment. ”W-William?” her eyes were wide with wonder as she stepped toward him, hands hovering, completely unsure on whether a single tap would break him into a million pieces. She kept her eyes away from a...certain spot as she continued to watch him cautiously.
”Alex?” William answered in the same wondering tone, ”Is that…--Everything is so bright.” He was squinting hard as he tried his best to blink away the bright torch perched above him. Even though the room was rather dark for everyone else. It was a reaction akin to someone being reborn. He brought a hand up to shield his eyes as best as he could.
”Oh thank goodness!” Alex exclaimed as the young girl went to hug him tightly, causing William to let out an “oof!” as she collided hard with his stomach.
”Eeeeasy there kiddo,” he said, ruffling the top of her head affectionately, ”It’s good to see you too, now let me get up now to get myself a bit settled.”
William quickly took the pants and pulled them on, his mind subconsciously taking note of some...missing parts, and stepped over to Lucia’s side. He unstrapped her while glancing at her face every so often to check for any changes. ”Lucia?” he called in a soft voice, his hands light on her shoulders, but no answer. ”Lucia?” he tried again, his fears beginning to come true as she continued to lay there, still. ”Wake up!” William gave her a few shakes, his eyes searching for signs of life in a panic, going for another call when all of a sudden she took a breath and her eyes sprang open. She sat up, in shock, as she had in her white world, and looked around, dazed and confused. Seeing someone standing by her in her peripheral, she hesitantly looked over, gasping at who she saw. ”You’re...but this isn’t…” William kneeled down to get to eye-level with her and took her hand, ”It’s a little complicated...but, uh...hi.”
”H-...hi.”
”I’m sorry I punched you in the face.” he said in a low, awkward voice, met with a chuckle of disbelief from Lucia.
”Well this has been quite the adventure, now I’d appreciate it if you would all get out of my house. There are some things I need to take care of. Volatile things; and it sure would be a shame to lose the body you just got.”
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