Shorties I
I recently found a writing forum, called Synthetic Truth. I've been participating in a thread that gives out one-word prompts and then holds a contest to see which participating writer had the best story. There have been a few rounds already, and I've won and lost a few. I decided to post them here as well, after cleaning them up and all of that (rounds are fast and don't encourage editing).
ANYWAYS, RAMBLING. They're behind their own cuts, and marked if I won or lost that round.
Prompt(s): Fog, Gears
[LOSS]
I squinted, trying to discern my surroundings through the thick mist. However, all I was able to make out were the vague, unmoving shapes of large boulders and dead trees. Zach was nowhere to be seen.
Suddenly, in the distance - it was hard to tell, when the fog distorted sound so easily - I heard a shriek. It sounded like rusted metal that had been forced out of shape, bent and scraped against its original form. I tensed. If Zach wasn’t back in five minutes, I would be forced to run back to the hideout. There was no way I was going to be outside if one of those things was nearby.
A figure darted out of the trees, sprinting towards me. It was Zach, panting as he ran, holding two large skins full with water. I let out a sigh of relief and was about to call out to him when the shriek repeated itself, sounding much, much closer. It was then that I realized that Zach was running without his usual finesse. He was running as if he was being chased, hunted.
And, most likely, he was.
Out of the mist, a huge, misshapen machine appeared, stalking its prey with deceptively uncoordinated movements. Smoke poured from its makeshift mouth, and its gears moaned tiredly as they turned in order to compensate the movement of its limbs. Every time it took a step the earth trembled minutely.
Zach dared to look back at it, and when he did his foot caught on a branch, making him sprawl onto the dusty ground. The machine pounced. With the shriek of moving metal and gears, it shot its left hand forward, clutching at the human in front of it and squeezing. Zach screamed as those pointed fingers dug in, splitting skin and muscle and, eventually, organs.
The machine watched him for a moment, almost appearing to be curious, before it squeezed even harder. Zach’s body was neatly severed into several pieces, which were promptly dropped once more. It looked at the mess it had made and then glanced up, looking about it with its clockwork eyes. I hid behind a boulder and prayed that I wasn’t seen.
A pause, and then those large, uneven footsteps again, this time fading. Peeking out from my hiding spot, I watched as the machine walked away, becoming an indistinct figure in the fog before disappearing altogether. The silence it left behind was tense and terrible.
I waited for another minute to see if it would come back. When nothing happened, I darted out towards what remained of Zach. Trying not to look at the scattered limbs, I grabbed the water skins and ran for home. As I ran, I mentally added one more name to the already long list of those taken away by those cursed machines. One day they would pay in full for those lives.
At the moment, though, survival came first.
Prompt(s): Bones
[LOSS]
The panpipes had broken earlier that morning, much to her annoyance. She had been playing when she noticed that one of the pipes kept releasing a flat note, clashing against the other, clearer tones of its brethren. When she tried to correct the mistake, though, the pipe had snapped, too thin and brittle to survive the carving needed to make the note pure once more.
It figured that that one would break, she thought with a sigh as she wandered to the room that held all of her crafting materials. She no longer had anything that was the perfect length for that pipe. Yes, she could just trim down something that was too long, but that risked splintering, which could also ruin the sound or cause the pipe to break even faster than normal. That simply would not do, not when she wanted to have her instruments beautiful and whole.
Entering the workroom, she paused, considering the material she had left. The ribs were gone, used to create the body of the small harp sitting in the drawing room. The spinal cord, whittled down to make the keys for the piano she was slowly and patiently building. Most of the fingers and arms had gone to the panpipes that had just broken. The skull and pelvis, well, they were too awkwardly shaped to make anything worth playing. Really, she didn’t have much to choose from for the repair.
Perhaps, then, it was time to create a different instrument.
Smiling a little, she picked up a femur and studied it. A flute would make a lovely addition to her collection.
Prompt(s): Feral, Pulse, Blank, Shame
[WIN]
>CHIMERA LABS PERSONAL LOGS
>>NAME: ALEXANDER CROSS
>>PASSWORD: **********
>...
>ACCESSING ALL ENTRIES
01/14/----
We just got our newest assignment from the government. They want to know if it’s possible to kill off all of the monsters in one harsh blow. The catch: all humans must be unaffected by whatever method that we decide to use. It’s an interesting challenge, but several of us have already hypothesized that sound pulses should work for most monster species. I concur; lycanthropes and vampires have highly sensitive hearing, and if it is possible to design a pulse that only they can sense and then react to, then the most common monster types would be taken care of.
Upon proposing this, we were promised to have a test subject sent to us within a few days. The entire team is excited, as am I. We’ve already began to design prototypes for use upon the subject when it arrives.
01/18/----
Our test subject was delivered today - a vampire that was found guilty of slaughtering at least fifty people during the rations cut two months ago. It is the perfect specimen, as it is in seemingly good health. It was sedated for the transfer to our labs, however, and tests will not be able to start until tomorrow, when it will be fed blood laced with an antidote for the sedative.
The first designs have been completed, and were tested on humans. Most passed, with people only complaining about an odd buzzing sound. Animals with more sensitive hearing seemed to suffer from the pulses, writhing as if in pain before curling up in defeat. Two of them died during one of the tests, but the government was quick to assure us. Since the animals are not human, the tests must be working. However, I shall continue refining my own pulse distributor so that only monsters are affected. There is no need to kill other animals during all of this.
01/19/----
The test subject was lucid today, having been fed the antidote. It seemed confused as to why it is here, and asked multiple times about what was going on. Due to instruction, we refused to answer. The physical examination was completed despite protests, and our specimen is indeed a picture of health. Its stamina is the highest it could possibly be, and all reflexes are perfect. It is malnourished due to rationing, but we have enough blood available to eradicate that problem within a few days. Until then, it shall remain locked up in the basement labs. It has a guard at all times, even when it is scheduled to sleep.
We have decided to have a small contest to see whose design is the best to test out in a few days. My blueprints are halfway done, and should be completed within the next few days. After that, I shall submit it in hopes that it will be fully built for testing. As this goes on, we shall only be able to examine our test subject and see what its physical limits appear to be. James thinks that it would be possible to remove over half of its internal organs without killing it. However, we do not have the clearance to test this idea. Perhaps, after this test run, we could ask the lab director if it would be possible to try.
01/25/----
The last week has been dedicated to keeping our test subject healthy. It has gained weight, and the pallor that it had had about the face last week has disappeared. Apparently being off the blood ration has improved its health exponentially. As its energy returned, so did its determination to escape. It does not sleep, and instead attempts to break down the doors at all hours of the day and night. It sounds as if we have a wild animal locked away downstairs. Some would believe that that is not very far from the truth.
My design for the pulse distributor was chosen to be built for the test that is scheduled in two weeks. I am honored by the choice, as this will surely mean that I will be associated with an invention that will alter the course of history. As the creator of the machine, I will have to stay overnight in the labs so that I can oversee its development. I am not worried about having it completed in time, as the design is simple and should be completed within the week. The week after that will be dedicated to testing the machine on humans and animals to make sure that only monsters are affected by the pulses.
01/28/----
It is so much more active during the night. The test subject shrieks every time that it throws itself against the walls of the room it is held in. It is distracting when I am attempting to add a precise detail to the pulse distributor. I have requested that it be sedated during the night, but I have been politely declined. It must be kept in perfect health and completely free of the influence of drugs, according to my bosses. I beg to differ, but it is not my project to control. I am simply building the pieces needed for completion.
The pulse distributor is right on schedule, and shall be completed by the end of the month. Testing will begin immediately afterwards.
01/31/----
It has fallen silent. The lab seems even more quiet and empty now that the test subject has decided to stop its mad attempts at escape. I should be relieved, but I instead feel this strong pull of apprehension.
The pulse distributor has been finished. Testing starts tomorrow.
02/01/----
The testing is going along perfectly. Humans are no longer able to detect it, and actually believed that we had done nothing at all. Animals do not seem to be able to sense it either, which means that the frequency has been tuned correctly. However, I will have to speak to the aides about the way they group test animals. The dog killed the rabbit it had been roomed with minutes into the experiment. The dog was put down for fear of rabies, as we had been earlier assured that it was completely tame.
Test subject is still quiet. Those on guard say that it has stopped moving, and simply stares blankly at the door. It still eats, fortunately, but apparently it does not move its gaze when it does so. A quarter of the guards have already requested to be moved, as the staring unnerves them. They were refused.
Due to the successful testing earlier, the pulse distributor will be used on the subject tomorrow. Hopefully the pulse is strong enough for a quick kill, or else it will have to be adjusted and another subject found. That will be a waste of time and effort for everyone.
02/02/----
My head is still reeling, and it is hard to think straight. However, I will attempt to divulge the timeline of the test as clearly as I possibly can.
In the morning, after the pulse distributor had been set up in the testing room, the test subject was collected. It was very pliant, allowing itself to be led without a struggle. Though this behavior was concerning, it was ignored by the fact that it was still eating, and was therefore relatively healthy. However, when I saw its eyes, I saw nothing there. Its eyes were blank and empty, reflecting all that they saw without processing any of it. Seeing as it is nothing more than a monster, though, I do not know why I would expect that I would be able to see any sort of sentience in those eyes.
But I digress.
The test subject was placed in the room with the pulse distributor, and the team stood behind a reinforced, one-way mirror in order to observe what happened. After one last system check, I allowed the pulse distributor to be activated.
The moment the pulse started, the subject’s behavior changed drastically. It went from its relaxed position against a wall to standing perfectly straight, all muscles locked and straining. It appeared to be having a small seizure, as its limbs soon began to twitch and it lost control over its facial and neck muscles for a few moments. However, the spell soon passed, and when it did the subject was looking at the mirror.
…No. No, that isn’t right.
It was looking at me.
It launched itself at the mirror with a scream and slammed into it with alarming force. It shouldn’t have been able to see me, but it had aimed for the glass right in front of me. It banged its fists against the glass, cracking it under the force of its rage. All the while, it never stopped growling and snarling at me. Now, as I looked into its eyes, I no longer saw blankness. Instead, I saw a base, instinctual ferocity that was so akin to madness that it made me shiver.
Guards were deployed into the room to detain the test subject before it successfully broke through the glass. It turned on the men with seemingly little regard for its own wellbeing. It was shot at multiple times, and many of the bullets struck home, but the test subject kept going. It ripped the humans apart, limbs and head first before going deeper into the torso in order to spread the organs about. It did not eat anything that it killed, did not drink the blood. It seemed to only be killing for the sake of killing.
When the guards were dead, it stopped to look at the mirror once more. Before it could leap into another attempt at my life, though, I aborted the test. The pulse deactivated immediately, and the test subject collapsed, gasping, suddenly close to death. After a few minutes, as the other workers scrambled to get more guards on the scene, the test subject found the strength to roll over. It was sane again, from what I could tell, and perfectly lucid. It reached out to me, even though it still shouldn’t have been able to tell where I was. It said two words to me, the syllables falling out as easy as the blood that dripped from its recently used fangs.
“Help me.”
It promptly died afterwards. Lab aides were dispatched to collect the remains for future autopsy. I will not be attending the autopsy, however, because I already know what had happened. I had designed the pulse distributor, after all. The pulse constricted the blood vessels in the brain of the test subject, causing pain and disrupted signals to parts of the brain. Apparently, that had resulted in insane, violent behavior. When the pressure had been relieved after the pulse ceased, the brain immediately hemorrhaged, and the subject died of blood loss and brain damage.
In short, the pulse works.
What I saw, though, and what I heard in the last few minutes of the test subject’s life made me realize that I no longer want a part of this. The machine works as it is supposed to, but I will not be happy on the day that the government decides that is it necessary to use it. I watched one monster die, and it was not something to be proud of. It was sickening and disheartening.
I think I shall retire, and allow the rest of the people in the group to continue this work. I don’t think I want my name being associated with this death machine any longer.
>END OF PERSONAL LOG
Prompt(s): Birds, Light, Clay
[WIN]
Alyx studied the wet earth that bordered the creek, trying to remember Talek’s instructions. Had he said that it would be finer, or rockier? Unsure, she finally paused to run her fingers through the soil. Most of it was loose and grainy, but then she finally hit upon some that felt finer, thicker, and pliable. Ah, there it was. Smiling faintly in success, Alyx pulled out her knife and carved out a large piece of the clay.
“Did you find some, Alyx?”
The girl jumped, nearly dropping both clay and blade into the water. Looking over her shoulder, she saw Kael leaning against a tree, watching her curiously. Taking a moment to recover from her scare, she nodded. “What about you?” she asked softly. “Don’t you have a lesson of your own to practice?”
Kael rolled his eyes. “You can be such a spoilsport sometimes,” he complained, sounding far from put off. Pulling out his flute, he said, “Yes, I do - I just wanted to make sure you were all right.”
Alyx smiled faintly. “I am fine. Now go on; you know I can never concentrate when you are around.”
Grumbling, the boy did as he was told, wandering off into the meadow that the trees bordered. Alyx turned back to her own task, gathering water in a small cup she had been carrying so that she could keep the clay wet enough for molding. That done, she settled comfortably against a tree’s trunk, legs crossed, lump of clay settled in her palms.
“Now,” she murmured to herself, “what should I make?”
At first, she couldn’t find anything that she could effectively mold for her practice lesson. Then, in the grass to her right, she heard something rustling. A mouse darted into view, pausing here and there to search the ground for food. It was perfectly suitable for the spell.
And yet Alyx couldn’t bring herself to shape the earth in her hands into the form of the creature in front of her.
She stared at the mouse for a few more minutes until it darted out of sight. Sighing in defeat, Alyx leaned her head back against the tree. In order to finish her lesson - to create a golem - she would have to willingly transfer a soul into the clay vessel she created for it. But every time her lessons ever had her collecting a soul, she balked. It seemed so wrong, to uproot something so pure and place it into an unnatural space. Though she had been told that it wasn’t painful, she couldn’t help but think that souls suffered during such a transfer, and so she couldn’t bring herself to ever do it.
Talek had assured her that she would become comfortable with it someday. Alyx wasn’t so confident about that.
The lilting sound of a flute lightly jolted the youth out of her thoughts. Looking out into the meadow, Alyx saw that Kael had sat down in the sun-drenched grass, eyes closed as he played his flute. She smiled at the sight, knowing that he was most likely weaving a spell with the playful melody. That was the difference between the two of them - while Alyx could only truly concentrate in near darkness and silence, Kael used sunlight and song to help with his craft. She envied him a little, wishing that it was just as easy for her to cast magic in the sun. It was the nature of her craft, though, to work from the shadows, and there was nothing she could do about that.
Something flew by her ear, making her duck on instinct. Looking up after a few seconds, Alyx saw several birds fly into the meadow to swirl around Kael for a minute or so before finally settling near or on him. A few moments later, several more birds appeared, arriving from all directions, called to the meadow by the Lyrist’s song. They added their own voices to the melody, and their contributions made it that much sweeter to listen to.
As Alyx continued to stare in awe, still sitting in her tree’s shade, she felt something brush against her knee. Glancing down, she found a pure white dove struggling through the dirt, one bloody wing dragging behind it. Though its injuries looked painful, it was determined to make it to the meadow, to be a part of the light and song.
Alyx watched the dove for a while, conflicted. It was injured, and she could help. But she could possibly just increase its suffering. It would at least be out of its current pain, and maybe it would never realize that it was suddenly in a different body. But what if it did? What if--?
The dove stumbled, falling on its injured wing. It gave out one small, mournful cry.
Her fingers moved before her mind was completely made up, shaping and twisting the clay rapidly. Alyx had never been great at drawing, and yet working with clay came to her almost naturally. Soon enough, she had a replica of the dove in her hand, save that both wings were whole.
Leaning forward and whispering words of comfort, she scooped up the bird and held it to her chest. Closing her eyes, she filtered out the outside world and focused inward, centering herself. When she was perfectly calm, she began to chant the words that Talek had taught to her not two hours ago.
A few minutes later, the bird stopped moving entirely, and the clay figurine in her left hand began to shift. Opening her eyes, she watched as the clay dove shook itself and spread its wings experimentally. Not wanting it to escape just yet, Alyx grasped it gently but firmly before standing and walking towards the edge of the meadow. Kael was there, also standing, done with his own spell. Seeing Alyx, he grinned and beckoned.
As she returned the smile and stepped forward, Alyx released the clay bird so that they could both watch it fly through the golden sunlight.
ANYWAYS, RAMBLING. They're behind their own cuts, and marked if I won or lost that round.
Prompt(s): Fog, Gears
[LOSS]
I squinted, trying to discern my surroundings through the thick mist. However, all I was able to make out were the vague, unmoving shapes of large boulders and dead trees. Zach was nowhere to be seen.
Suddenly, in the distance - it was hard to tell, when the fog distorted sound so easily - I heard a shriek. It sounded like rusted metal that had been forced out of shape, bent and scraped against its original form. I tensed. If Zach wasn’t back in five minutes, I would be forced to run back to the hideout. There was no way I was going to be outside if one of those things was nearby.
A figure darted out of the trees, sprinting towards me. It was Zach, panting as he ran, holding two large skins full with water. I let out a sigh of relief and was about to call out to him when the shriek repeated itself, sounding much, much closer. It was then that I realized that Zach was running without his usual finesse. He was running as if he was being chased, hunted.
And, most likely, he was.
Out of the mist, a huge, misshapen machine appeared, stalking its prey with deceptively uncoordinated movements. Smoke poured from its makeshift mouth, and its gears moaned tiredly as they turned in order to compensate the movement of its limbs. Every time it took a step the earth trembled minutely.
Zach dared to look back at it, and when he did his foot caught on a branch, making him sprawl onto the dusty ground. The machine pounced. With the shriek of moving metal and gears, it shot its left hand forward, clutching at the human in front of it and squeezing. Zach screamed as those pointed fingers dug in, splitting skin and muscle and, eventually, organs.
The machine watched him for a moment, almost appearing to be curious, before it squeezed even harder. Zach’s body was neatly severed into several pieces, which were promptly dropped once more. It looked at the mess it had made and then glanced up, looking about it with its clockwork eyes. I hid behind a boulder and prayed that I wasn’t seen.
A pause, and then those large, uneven footsteps again, this time fading. Peeking out from my hiding spot, I watched as the machine walked away, becoming an indistinct figure in the fog before disappearing altogether. The silence it left behind was tense and terrible.
I waited for another minute to see if it would come back. When nothing happened, I darted out towards what remained of Zach. Trying not to look at the scattered limbs, I grabbed the water skins and ran for home. As I ran, I mentally added one more name to the already long list of those taken away by those cursed machines. One day they would pay in full for those lives.
At the moment, though, survival came first.
Prompt(s): Bones
[LOSS]
The panpipes had broken earlier that morning, much to her annoyance. She had been playing when she noticed that one of the pipes kept releasing a flat note, clashing against the other, clearer tones of its brethren. When she tried to correct the mistake, though, the pipe had snapped, too thin and brittle to survive the carving needed to make the note pure once more.
It figured that that one would break, she thought with a sigh as she wandered to the room that held all of her crafting materials. She no longer had anything that was the perfect length for that pipe. Yes, she could just trim down something that was too long, but that risked splintering, which could also ruin the sound or cause the pipe to break even faster than normal. That simply would not do, not when she wanted to have her instruments beautiful and whole.
Entering the workroom, she paused, considering the material she had left. The ribs were gone, used to create the body of the small harp sitting in the drawing room. The spinal cord, whittled down to make the keys for the piano she was slowly and patiently building. Most of the fingers and arms had gone to the panpipes that had just broken. The skull and pelvis, well, they were too awkwardly shaped to make anything worth playing. Really, she didn’t have much to choose from for the repair.
Perhaps, then, it was time to create a different instrument.
Smiling a little, she picked up a femur and studied it. A flute would make a lovely addition to her collection.
Prompt(s): Feral, Pulse, Blank, Shame
[WIN]
>CHIMERA LABS PERSONAL LOGS
>>NAME: ALEXANDER CROSS
>>PASSWORD: **********
>...
>ACCESSING ALL ENTRIES
01/14/----
We just got our newest assignment from the government. They want to know if it’s possible to kill off all of the monsters in one harsh blow. The catch: all humans must be unaffected by whatever method that we decide to use. It’s an interesting challenge, but several of us have already hypothesized that sound pulses should work for most monster species. I concur; lycanthropes and vampires have highly sensitive hearing, and if it is possible to design a pulse that only they can sense and then react to, then the most common monster types would be taken care of.
Upon proposing this, we were promised to have a test subject sent to us within a few days. The entire team is excited, as am I. We’ve already began to design prototypes for use upon the subject when it arrives.
01/18/----
Our test subject was delivered today - a vampire that was found guilty of slaughtering at least fifty people during the rations cut two months ago. It is the perfect specimen, as it is in seemingly good health. It was sedated for the transfer to our labs, however, and tests will not be able to start until tomorrow, when it will be fed blood laced with an antidote for the sedative.
The first designs have been completed, and were tested on humans. Most passed, with people only complaining about an odd buzzing sound. Animals with more sensitive hearing seemed to suffer from the pulses, writhing as if in pain before curling up in defeat. Two of them died during one of the tests, but the government was quick to assure us. Since the animals are not human, the tests must be working. However, I shall continue refining my own pulse distributor so that only monsters are affected. There is no need to kill other animals during all of this.
01/19/----
The test subject was lucid today, having been fed the antidote. It seemed confused as to why it is here, and asked multiple times about what was going on. Due to instruction, we refused to answer. The physical examination was completed despite protests, and our specimen is indeed a picture of health. Its stamina is the highest it could possibly be, and all reflexes are perfect. It is malnourished due to rationing, but we have enough blood available to eradicate that problem within a few days. Until then, it shall remain locked up in the basement labs. It has a guard at all times, even when it is scheduled to sleep.
We have decided to have a small contest to see whose design is the best to test out in a few days. My blueprints are halfway done, and should be completed within the next few days. After that, I shall submit it in hopes that it will be fully built for testing. As this goes on, we shall only be able to examine our test subject and see what its physical limits appear to be. James thinks that it would be possible to remove over half of its internal organs without killing it. However, we do not have the clearance to test this idea. Perhaps, after this test run, we could ask the lab director if it would be possible to try.
01/25/----
The last week has been dedicated to keeping our test subject healthy. It has gained weight, and the pallor that it had had about the face last week has disappeared. Apparently being off the blood ration has improved its health exponentially. As its energy returned, so did its determination to escape. It does not sleep, and instead attempts to break down the doors at all hours of the day and night. It sounds as if we have a wild animal locked away downstairs. Some would believe that that is not very far from the truth.
My design for the pulse distributor was chosen to be built for the test that is scheduled in two weeks. I am honored by the choice, as this will surely mean that I will be associated with an invention that will alter the course of history. As the creator of the machine, I will have to stay overnight in the labs so that I can oversee its development. I am not worried about having it completed in time, as the design is simple and should be completed within the week. The week after that will be dedicated to testing the machine on humans and animals to make sure that only monsters are affected by the pulses.
01/28/----
It is so much more active during the night. The test subject shrieks every time that it throws itself against the walls of the room it is held in. It is distracting when I am attempting to add a precise detail to the pulse distributor. I have requested that it be sedated during the night, but I have been politely declined. It must be kept in perfect health and completely free of the influence of drugs, according to my bosses. I beg to differ, but it is not my project to control. I am simply building the pieces needed for completion.
The pulse distributor is right on schedule, and shall be completed by the end of the month. Testing will begin immediately afterwards.
01/31/----
It has fallen silent. The lab seems even more quiet and empty now that the test subject has decided to stop its mad attempts at escape. I should be relieved, but I instead feel this strong pull of apprehension.
The pulse distributor has been finished. Testing starts tomorrow.
02/01/----
The testing is going along perfectly. Humans are no longer able to detect it, and actually believed that we had done nothing at all. Animals do not seem to be able to sense it either, which means that the frequency has been tuned correctly. However, I will have to speak to the aides about the way they group test animals. The dog killed the rabbit it had been roomed with minutes into the experiment. The dog was put down for fear of rabies, as we had been earlier assured that it was completely tame.
Test subject is still quiet. Those on guard say that it has stopped moving, and simply stares blankly at the door. It still eats, fortunately, but apparently it does not move its gaze when it does so. A quarter of the guards have already requested to be moved, as the staring unnerves them. They were refused.
Due to the successful testing earlier, the pulse distributor will be used on the subject tomorrow. Hopefully the pulse is strong enough for a quick kill, or else it will have to be adjusted and another subject found. That will be a waste of time and effort for everyone.
02/02/----
My head is still reeling, and it is hard to think straight. However, I will attempt to divulge the timeline of the test as clearly as I possibly can.
In the morning, after the pulse distributor had been set up in the testing room, the test subject was collected. It was very pliant, allowing itself to be led without a struggle. Though this behavior was concerning, it was ignored by the fact that it was still eating, and was therefore relatively healthy. However, when I saw its eyes, I saw nothing there. Its eyes were blank and empty, reflecting all that they saw without processing any of it. Seeing as it is nothing more than a monster, though, I do not know why I would expect that I would be able to see any sort of sentience in those eyes.
But I digress.
The test subject was placed in the room with the pulse distributor, and the team stood behind a reinforced, one-way mirror in order to observe what happened. After one last system check, I allowed the pulse distributor to be activated.
The moment the pulse started, the subject’s behavior changed drastically. It went from its relaxed position against a wall to standing perfectly straight, all muscles locked and straining. It appeared to be having a small seizure, as its limbs soon began to twitch and it lost control over its facial and neck muscles for a few moments. However, the spell soon passed, and when it did the subject was looking at the mirror.
…No. No, that isn’t right.
It was looking at me.
It launched itself at the mirror with a scream and slammed into it with alarming force. It shouldn’t have been able to see me, but it had aimed for the glass right in front of me. It banged its fists against the glass, cracking it under the force of its rage. All the while, it never stopped growling and snarling at me. Now, as I looked into its eyes, I no longer saw blankness. Instead, I saw a base, instinctual ferocity that was so akin to madness that it made me shiver.
Guards were deployed into the room to detain the test subject before it successfully broke through the glass. It turned on the men with seemingly little regard for its own wellbeing. It was shot at multiple times, and many of the bullets struck home, but the test subject kept going. It ripped the humans apart, limbs and head first before going deeper into the torso in order to spread the organs about. It did not eat anything that it killed, did not drink the blood. It seemed to only be killing for the sake of killing.
When the guards were dead, it stopped to look at the mirror once more. Before it could leap into another attempt at my life, though, I aborted the test. The pulse deactivated immediately, and the test subject collapsed, gasping, suddenly close to death. After a few minutes, as the other workers scrambled to get more guards on the scene, the test subject found the strength to roll over. It was sane again, from what I could tell, and perfectly lucid. It reached out to me, even though it still shouldn’t have been able to tell where I was. It said two words to me, the syllables falling out as easy as the blood that dripped from its recently used fangs.
“Help me.”
It promptly died afterwards. Lab aides were dispatched to collect the remains for future autopsy. I will not be attending the autopsy, however, because I already know what had happened. I had designed the pulse distributor, after all. The pulse constricted the blood vessels in the brain of the test subject, causing pain and disrupted signals to parts of the brain. Apparently, that had resulted in insane, violent behavior. When the pressure had been relieved after the pulse ceased, the brain immediately hemorrhaged, and the subject died of blood loss and brain damage.
In short, the pulse works.
What I saw, though, and what I heard in the last few minutes of the test subject’s life made me realize that I no longer want a part of this. The machine works as it is supposed to, but I will not be happy on the day that the government decides that is it necessary to use it. I watched one monster die, and it was not something to be proud of. It was sickening and disheartening.
I think I shall retire, and allow the rest of the people in the group to continue this work. I don’t think I want my name being associated with this death machine any longer.
>END OF PERSONAL LOG
Prompt(s): Birds, Light, Clay
[WIN]
Alyx studied the wet earth that bordered the creek, trying to remember Talek’s instructions. Had he said that it would be finer, or rockier? Unsure, she finally paused to run her fingers through the soil. Most of it was loose and grainy, but then she finally hit upon some that felt finer, thicker, and pliable. Ah, there it was. Smiling faintly in success, Alyx pulled out her knife and carved out a large piece of the clay.
“Did you find some, Alyx?”
The girl jumped, nearly dropping both clay and blade into the water. Looking over her shoulder, she saw Kael leaning against a tree, watching her curiously. Taking a moment to recover from her scare, she nodded. “What about you?” she asked softly. “Don’t you have a lesson of your own to practice?”
Kael rolled his eyes. “You can be such a spoilsport sometimes,” he complained, sounding far from put off. Pulling out his flute, he said, “Yes, I do - I just wanted to make sure you were all right.”
Alyx smiled faintly. “I am fine. Now go on; you know I can never concentrate when you are around.”
Grumbling, the boy did as he was told, wandering off into the meadow that the trees bordered. Alyx turned back to her own task, gathering water in a small cup she had been carrying so that she could keep the clay wet enough for molding. That done, she settled comfortably against a tree’s trunk, legs crossed, lump of clay settled in her palms.
“Now,” she murmured to herself, “what should I make?”
At first, she couldn’t find anything that she could effectively mold for her practice lesson. Then, in the grass to her right, she heard something rustling. A mouse darted into view, pausing here and there to search the ground for food. It was perfectly suitable for the spell.
And yet Alyx couldn’t bring herself to shape the earth in her hands into the form of the creature in front of her.
She stared at the mouse for a few more minutes until it darted out of sight. Sighing in defeat, Alyx leaned her head back against the tree. In order to finish her lesson - to create a golem - she would have to willingly transfer a soul into the clay vessel she created for it. But every time her lessons ever had her collecting a soul, she balked. It seemed so wrong, to uproot something so pure and place it into an unnatural space. Though she had been told that it wasn’t painful, she couldn’t help but think that souls suffered during such a transfer, and so she couldn’t bring herself to ever do it.
Talek had assured her that she would become comfortable with it someday. Alyx wasn’t so confident about that.
The lilting sound of a flute lightly jolted the youth out of her thoughts. Looking out into the meadow, Alyx saw that Kael had sat down in the sun-drenched grass, eyes closed as he played his flute. She smiled at the sight, knowing that he was most likely weaving a spell with the playful melody. That was the difference between the two of them - while Alyx could only truly concentrate in near darkness and silence, Kael used sunlight and song to help with his craft. She envied him a little, wishing that it was just as easy for her to cast magic in the sun. It was the nature of her craft, though, to work from the shadows, and there was nothing she could do about that.
Something flew by her ear, making her duck on instinct. Looking up after a few seconds, Alyx saw several birds fly into the meadow to swirl around Kael for a minute or so before finally settling near or on him. A few moments later, several more birds appeared, arriving from all directions, called to the meadow by the Lyrist’s song. They added their own voices to the melody, and their contributions made it that much sweeter to listen to.
As Alyx continued to stare in awe, still sitting in her tree’s shade, she felt something brush against her knee. Glancing down, she found a pure white dove struggling through the dirt, one bloody wing dragging behind it. Though its injuries looked painful, it was determined to make it to the meadow, to be a part of the light and song.
Alyx watched the dove for a while, conflicted. It was injured, and she could help. But she could possibly just increase its suffering. It would at least be out of its current pain, and maybe it would never realize that it was suddenly in a different body. But what if it did? What if--?
The dove stumbled, falling on its injured wing. It gave out one small, mournful cry.
Her fingers moved before her mind was completely made up, shaping and twisting the clay rapidly. Alyx had never been great at drawing, and yet working with clay came to her almost naturally. Soon enough, she had a replica of the dove in her hand, save that both wings were whole.
Leaning forward and whispering words of comfort, she scooped up the bird and held it to her chest. Closing her eyes, she filtered out the outside world and focused inward, centering herself. When she was perfectly calm, she began to chant the words that Talek had taught to her not two hours ago.
A few minutes later, the bird stopped moving entirely, and the clay figurine in her left hand began to shift. Opening her eyes, she watched as the clay dove shook itself and spread its wings experimentally. Not wanting it to escape just yet, Alyx grasped it gently but firmly before standing and walking towards the edge of the meadow. Kael was there, also standing, done with his own spell. Seeing Alyx, he grinned and beckoned.
As she returned the smile and stepped forward, Alyx released the clay bird so that they could both watch it fly through the golden sunlight.