Flashback P-03 in Lab 7-M, Reimancy Initiation, trials by, Water?

[Rina]

Year 508 Av, summer day 17.

Lab 7-M, Test transmuting res within a subject. Res type, Liquid

Test subject P-03
Age-8
Species-human
Sub-Species-Vantha

Overseer of Experiment, Roknus Maelstrom

The Ideas behind this experiment, other than the possibility of immediate and painful death what possibilities lie within a reimancy initiation beyond those of simply allowing a subject to use reimancy? Is it possible to transmute res within a subject in such a way that it might increase their aptitude towards an element?

Hypothesis

Due to the initiation of reimancy being one in which Djed is forced into the body of a host so that said host may gain understanding of res. If res is forced into the body of a would be reimancer and then transmuted within them would it further amplify the process and understanding one might obtain from the initiation.

Experiment.

To prevent any excess djed from being involved the test subjects are lowered into a tank with a school of hatchetfish. After the subject has had all unnecessary djed siphoned off they will then be subject to cuts on the souls of their feet palms and in the center of their chest, Each incision being exactly one inch long. The prepared specimen will then be strapped to a prepared table and restrained to reduce any unnecessary convulsing and to prevent the subject from doing anything unnecessary during the experiment. At this Point The initiation will begin And res will be forced into the body of the subject through all five incisions along with the nasal passages and mouth. Upon the body being filled to capacity with res, the mage performing the experiment the mage will transmute the res into one of the four basic elemental energies. With all due hopes if the subject survives they will have been augmented in such a way that their mastery of the element in which they were initiated will be expedited if not at least mildly effected.

Theories developed by Roknus Malestrom, experiments carried out by him and five of his longer lived "servants"

[Rina]

The test began unpleasantly, Serrah, or P-03 as they now called her, hadn't been told what she was going to be doing but she had a feeling it was going to be unpleasant. Following the nuits in charge of her, the underlings of a nuit called Roknus. This would be their first meeting and Serrah doubted it would be pleasant. As Serrah was taken deeper into the citadel the chill that rose in her from the stone that her bare feet padded across sunk deep into her small body making her shiver from both fear and the cold. Following the brightest arrows the cavern had to offer the small party approached a massive pair of wrought iron doors scarred from years of abuse but still formidable in stature and purpose.

Passing across the threshold into the lab the chill that ran down P-03's spine and the tingle that raced across her flesh told her one thing if not many, this place was not natural. Only thing less natural than the cavern was the smile of a man standing in the middle of the room. "Ah, Welcome P-03 I've been looking forward to finally having you visit my lab, I do hope my Servant's didn't give you any trouble. I need you in perfect condition for today's test after all". Meeting the man's gaze with a blank stare Serrah cocked her head to the side "test?"

Clapping his hands together as if he was excited at the fact that the girl had even understood a word of his introduction he carried on. "Yes indeed my dear girl, you will be helping us further our knowledge of Reimancy my dear, Actually Helping me Accomplish something". A few of the apprentices near Serrah visibly flinched at the outburst from the elderly nuit. Not seeming to notice or care about the reactions the others had to him the man continued on about the possibilities of discovery. Finally winding down off of his rant the man placed his gaze back on the girl. "But first things first, you need a bath, I can practically smell you from here and I don't want any contaminants involved in my experiment, You there, toss her in the tank." Pointing at one of his assistants as he said this.

Next thing Serrah knew she was being Lifted and carried over to what looked like an oversized cauldron, Squirming in a useless attempt to free herself from the iron grip of the apprentice. Kicking wasn't helping either and her cries for help fell on deaf ears. Being lifted up and tossed into the water Serrah's yells were silenced by her shock at how brisk the briny water was. Though once she was in the water no one made any more moves or attempts to further harass her. for a moment Serrah though that this was perhaps the extent of what the man was going to do her, but then the first sucking sensation appeared on her thin leg. Feeling her leg her her fingers brushed against a slimy scaly surface, Something was stuck to her leg. revulsion spread through Serrah as she tried to pull the first one off but as soon as she gripped the first one another had latched itself to her arm and her other leg, Within moments several of the small sucking fish had attached themselves to the girl's body, the more she fought to pull them off the more they sucked on her small body, She felt as if they were pulling all the energy out of her, in mere moments she began to feel incredibly exhausted. As Serrah fought against the tide of the sucking fish she began to sink, her will to fight entirely wiped out her body feeling heavy like lead and thus she began to sink into the water that was hardly tall enough to drown her in any other situation. But before she could immerse herself in the cold water a strong grip hauled her out of the water and Serrah Felt herself being placed onto a hard surface; the table she had seen next to the cauldron she had just been in.

Leaning over her was the Nuit Roknus, he had a peculiar smile on his face. "Did you enjoy the bath? it not only cleaned the grime from your outside, but it purified your insides as well, those little suckers, the hatchet fish just ate almost all the djed in your body; Though I wouldn't worry I'll be granting you some of my own momentarily. In fact not only should you not worry, you should feel honored." With that the man began to restrain the girls weakened limbs to the table, Serrah though was only mildly aware of what was happening to her at this point she was just straining to keep her eyes open and not succumbing to the cold. After all this was only the beginning of the trial for her.

[Rina]

Thus Serrah found herself strapped to the altar of madness, a lamb to the slaughter for the sake of knowledge. Lying upon the cold stone surface Serrah's thoughts no longer were consumed by fear, the fear had been consumed by the fog that clung to Serrah's addled mind only the constant cold penetrated the miasma in which the girls mind slept. Though while the child lay still the world around her did not.

Roknus was already moving onto the next step in his experiment Pulling from its sheath a scalpel he approached the sack of meat he had procured, the vantha child titled P-03 the third test subject in this particular series, the first two experiments having been failures, not that this weighed heavily on the mind of Roknus; much could be learned from failures. Taking the knife to the child Roknus drew the knife first across the palms of the Vantha child, this is usually where one would halt the experiment but previous trials had shown that it didn't allow for even enough distribution of Djed in an initiate's body. Thus the solution was to create more openings for the Djed to enter the body, at least that was the theory.

Moving on from the child's now bleeding hands he began to cut one inch long incisions in the souls of her feet, the exact middle on the same place of each foot; the cuts needed to be symmetrical as to remove any unnecessary deviations from the perfection that would be Roknus's experiment. Last came the final cut, this cut would be slightly unlike the others in that it was two inches instead of one and it was bisected by another cut of one inch length, this cut was directly in the middle of the girl's chest it would be one of the most vital points in the entrance of the djed the other four incisions being more vital in the removal of the transmuted Djed.

The cut's complete the mage Roknus stood back to admire his work, the child's ritual wounds were almost perfectly symmetrical, a product of the mages madness. facing his servants Roknus spread his hands. "you lucky servants of mine will now bear witness to the genius that is Roknus, master Reimancer and mage, and I expect... NO demand that you lucky few bear mute witness to this grand experiment devised by none other than myself." With that the Mage began to summon the Djed necessary to initiate his subject, his soon to be masterpiece, his victim.

The mind of the girl however, had different plans for this occasion, The girls mind had delved into the land of memory and through that, the land of her birth. In her memory the girl again was cold, but that was normal. Layin on a cold beach in Avanthal the girl laid on her back observing the Aurora; the most beautiful feature of her homeland. Laying there the girl felt peace, it was the sky she had once known, the sky under which she had been born, the sky under which she had learned the stories of her people. Laying there the girl knew that even she, a vantha could succumb to the cold and yet her desire to move was little. Though she felt that even if she had wanted to move, she wouldn't have been able to.

As the Nuits work proceeded so did the scene within the girl's mind. As the girl lay in the quiet snow she felt a sore stinging on one palm then another, the stinging didn't stop there though, it continued to her feet; and lastly her chest. Laying there, Serrah knew that she was bleeding though why was still a mystery. What she did know was that the snow around her was losing its white luster as it's purity was stained by the blood that flowed from her veins onto the very land of snow and ice that had spawned her, a return to what once was perhaps. If this was the way the girl was to die she felt it was fine. She was returning to her home at last, a place she hadn't seen since she was much younger and happier. Luckily for the child reality was a far away place at the moment as what was happening around her did very little to reflect the cruel scenario that played out outward against the serene scene that played inwardly.

[Rina]

The Next step of the experiment was to infuse the subjects body with the djed that would be initiating them into the art of reimancy. Standing over the child Roknus stood arms spread as he slowly summoned the Djed needed to infuse the girl. the incantations and arm waving wasn't necessary for a master reimancer like Roknus but he did it anyway for the Purpose of gaining a higher level of precision. Dividing his Djed into Five different spheres of res each in a gaseous state Roknus began to shape and size each of them. four of the balls of gaseous res were located at the four different lacerations on the girl's body her hands and feet. The last ball of res floated above the girl and was somewhat larger than the other four. Like ominous clouds that appear before a storm the balls of gas almost crackled with malevolent intent, as if they had leached the very madness that had infected the man that wielded them from him. Slowly the balls of res approached the bleeding wounds that cried scarlet tears, mourning for the anguish to come.

As the balls of gas made contact with the wounds they began drawing themselves into the body of the child slowly, very slowly. The process for a normal reimancy initiation might not take nearly so long; but there was nothing normal about this particular initiation so abnormal measures had to be taken. The djed made it's way into the girl like so many tendrils of smoke inhaled into lungs. It made it's way into the child's very veins mixing with the blood that circulated through her veins moving through every inch of her being becoming one with her entire being. This part of the experiment alone took at least an hour alone it was important that the djed had successfully penetrated every inch of the body, no incongruities would be tolerated. The next step was the most crucial after all, the transmutation, considered to almost always be a death sentence for anyone who experienced it, the last step would have to be carried out very carefully.

The world inside the girl was also touched by the djed that flowed through her veins, the magic touched blood flowed from her heart to her brain the res infecting even her most sacred memories of home. The girl within Serrah's mind her once self, the self that could no longer be still stared at the aurora, still staining the snow with her blood. Then she began to rise, as if the aurora itself was pulling her in, trying to embrace her. The rise was slow and steady it was neither pleasant or unpleasant, only cold. As the girl rose into the Aurora the world became more vivid as if her entire world were becoming one with the beautiful aurora and she becoming color with it. Within that color for the first time in a long while the Vantha child felt warmth on Sahova. Resting in her new home of color the girl observed what appeared to be her own body adding it's crimson tears to the color of the world, coloring it and becoming one with it, the thought made her happy.

As time moved on in the world outside the final stage of the test began. The transmutation. Roknus opened his eyes and smiled. All the time he had spent focusing, controlling his djed were about to come to fruition all he had to do was transmute the djed within the girl while it was still flowing within her very being, and then draw it out without killing her. Simple, right? Slowly the mage examined the maze that was his own res laid out before him within the child, the element it was destined to become; water. Slowly but surely the wizard began to transform the res into the element of water. This was a crucial moment and it required utmost focus. Roknus's servants stood around the body of the child preparing to restrain it should the need arise in the situation that the girl began to experience seizures due to the duress that the transmutation would have n her body. His precaution wasn't far off either, the creation of water within the water definitely caused a reaction as it seemed as if the girls body was trying to expel the invasive water that was forming within her body as she began to spasm in contort within her bindings. her small body screaming out rejecting the invader. Even as his servants moved to restrain the girl stopping her from moving so that Roknus could better control the res within the child and not cause undo harm and ruin the experiment. The last part of the experiment would be to draw the remaining djed out of the child. Draining the Djed was not as tedious as putting it in the girl was but it almost required more finesse, as the res now had form and function it could no longer navigate the body as tactfully as it once had. Roknus had to drain the fluid through the bodies natural passages else risking undue damage to the veins and arteries within the subject and killing it. Roknus had actually accounted for this and had what he thought to be an excellent idea for the removal of liquid Djed. Roknus wanted to use the Sweat glands that humans and most mammals possessed to remove the liquid, Putting the "disgusting pulser organs" to good use. Drawing the water out was one of those painfully slow things. Painful for Serrah, Slow for Roknus that is. The visage of the scene likely would have traumatized anyone who wasn't as desensitized to the horrors of magic as Roknus was. Five servants held down the spasming body of the girl while a man stood over it all pulling water out of the body of a child from her very skin, mouth and tear ducts. The removal wasn't perfect mind you. with the water that was pulled from the girl's body many a drop of blood came with it leaving the djed fueled water pink and ominous looking as it exited the child.

And then the experiment was over. the last of the magic drained from the child. All that was left was a small wet body that bore the weakest of pulses within it's small chest, struggling to rage against the torture it had endured. The trauma from the experiment though was not just skin deep so to speak, the war also raged inside the girl's body.

The scene of colors that the girl had been experiencing began to fade, and rapidly fell apart. Pain lanced through the girl's body and the aurora that had embraced her let her fall; and fall she did, into the cold frozen waters of her homeland. As unforgiving as it was beautiful Serrah felt the water of the ocean invading her body invading her lungs and tightening it's icy grip around her as it pulled her deeper and deeper. Serrah sunk so deep into the oceans of her mind that no light could penetrate the inky darkness of the frozen waters, not even the light of her beloved aurora. The icy water raged within her until all Serrah new in the world was an agony like none other she had experienced.

And then it stopped. the raging water that held her, and all that was left was darkness. Serrah's mind swam in the darkness, it was immense and unlike anything else it wasn't painful. But for how long could Serrah lay in the darkness before she would never rise again? Forcing her sluggish mind forward Serrah began to swim for the surface that she knew existed and the aurora she knew above it. If Serrah was going to be stuck somewhere for eternity, then the aurora was the only place for it. Slowly but surely Serrah approached the light that she knew was on the surface. The closer she got to it the harder she swam forcing her way out of the water. As Serrah's head broke the water though instead of finding her aurora, she found reality. Coming too Serrah awoke back in her body, though not as Serrah but as P-03, gasping for air and crying out as waves of agony washed over her P-03 cried out as her body tried to recover from having it's sweat glands used in a way they were never meant to be used. Covered in her own blood and crying the scene looked like the nuits had birthed a child by magic, and perhaps that's what this was. A birthing the child Serrah had died, and the test subject P-03 had been born.

[Rina]

Lab 7-M, Test transmuting res within a subject. Res type, Liquid

Results

Of the four experiments in this particular series I am afraid to state that only one of the four subjects tested survived, Though in all likelihood this is likely due to the similarities between blood and water making the transmutation the least harmful to human tissues unlike the more volatile elements (see experiment 1 results, Fire) That said the experiment's results are inconclusive at best considering the varying results and the required skill level to even achieve a 25% success rate.

As far as specific results go for the water element test and Subject P-03 the lone survivor of the series. Subject P-03's survival was likely a lucky result for even with the element of water the likelihood of death was cast at somewhere around 87% That said I do believe the subject was successfully initiated into reimancy. More tests will be taken post P-03's recovery to fully examine the results of the initiation via water type res.

Results continued-(unexpected results)

As far as we can tell Subject P-03 has undergone a mutation due to the experiment. Subject P-03 can not be dried, or to be better stated. Subject P-03 does not stay dry, It would seem that the use of subject P-03's sweat glands has caused them to mutate in such a way that they permanently secrete a water like substance that contains subject P-03's own djed, that said It's in a very minor amount (1 part res for every 200 parts {sweat/water}) further tests will be required to better understand the mutation and the repercussions of said mutation. For the moment I will allow Subject P-03 to recover before subjecting it to anymore tests. I will have to take special care to keep P-03 Hydrated as it seems that it loses more water than an average human now.

Roknus Maelstrom,
Sahova's head researcher of Reimancy