Chapter Two — Remnants of the Project
I stood up slowly. The pain had faded, but the echo of the word still pounded in my head.
The Creators.
If they made me… where did they go?
I activated my left eye.
The world shifted. The walls were no longer silent metal, but an interwoven network of dormant energy currents—remnants of experiments that had abruptly stopped. The laboratory was not a place… it was the corpse of a project.
I moved cautiously. The floor was eroded at the edges. Doors were sealed with no active systems. No guards. No operational pulse.
Either they had left long ago… or I wasn't important enough for them to stay.
I stopped before a side chamber. The door was half open. I pushed it.
The air was heavier here.
Rows of glass containers lined both sides. Some were shattered. Others remained sealed.
I approached the first intact container.
Inside was a deformed body. Mismatched limbs. Petrified skin wrapped around protruding bones. The currents within it were unstable, eroded. Clear failure.
The next container—
A half-completed entity. A nearly human torso, but the lower half fused with unknown tissue. The energy was partially stable. Half success.
A silent chill settled in my chest.
I was one of them.
An experiment among dozens.
But the only one walking.
I continued forward.
Metal tables held separated parts: non-human arms, eyes preserved in transparent solutions, black tissues pulsing faintly despite being detached. My eye revealed deeper layers—some saturated with natural energy, others with corrupted energy, and others purer… closer to ether.
Small cylinders contained isolated energy samples: blue flame without heat. A sphere of dense darkness swallowing light. Crystal shards slowly rotating around themselves.
This was not random.
They were collecting… merging… searching for a perfect formula.
I searched for an exit. A corridor led to a massive dead elevator. Corroded emergency stairs stood at the side. I could ascend… but I didn't know what awaited me.
If I left now, with my current stats, I might die immediately.
Then I saw it.
A larger cylinder at the end of the hall. Transparent green liquid glowing faintly.
I approached.
Inside was the body of a young woman, appearing about nineteen. White hair streaked with black floated gently. Calm features. No deformities. No signs of forced fusion. A complete… balanced body.
I activated the Eye of Eternity with deeper focus.
No soul current. No trace of consciousness.
The body was biologically alive. The heart beat slowly and steadily. Cells regenerated.
But inside was empty.
A vessel.
I placed my hand on the glass. The energy within her was stable and pure. Not like the others.
She was not a failure. Not half-success.
She had been prepared for a specific purpose.
Why was she left behind?
I looked around again. The lab was filled with materials, samples, parts. No signs of total destruction. No signs of looting.
Either they left in a hurry… or something forced them to.
Both possibilities were dangerous.
I thought coldly.
I am weak right now. Outside this place may be a world whose laws I don't know. But here, there are resources.
Studyable parts. Energy samples. Rare materials.
And the body.
I looked at her again.
A living body without a soul.
It could be the key… to a class I will create myself.
I made my decision.
I will keep this body. And I will take whatever samples and energies I can carry.
If the Creators made me as a tool… I will reshape their tools to serve me.
I looked at the rows of failures around me.
I am not their failure.
I am the result they did not anticipate.
And now—
This laboratory is under my control.