"Thank you, sir," Usso said politely, taking the lemonade and drinking it while keeping his eyes on the floor. He was always a shy kid. His friend Odelo had always teased him about it, and when they were just starting to become pen-pals Katejina picked up on that shyness immediately even over the barrier of written words. She told him it was cute. That was a separate lifetime ago.
He listened to the wizard speak. "I imagine they do, sir," he said, taking another sip from the lemonade. And he froze the moment the wizard invited him to choose a place to start. A place to start, a place to start...
He had told his story to only a couple people, as there were only a couple people left alive around Kasarelia. Some of the survivors of the massacre at Woowig knew his story. But not many beyond that. Still, he was practiced at the very beginning of where it all went wrong.
"It all began with the first Zanscare raid on the area. The first of the Shokew coming in on their beam rotors..."
---
Junior picked his teeth with a wooden tooth pick and relaxed back in his seat, rudely kicking his feet up on the table counter. "Good pizza," he declared. Diddy, much more politely, wiped his lip with a napkin and cleaned up after himself. "Thanks for treating us, Wendy," he said, tipping his red hat in a cowboy-esque gesture of gratitude and an even more cowboy-esque grin.
---
G, Rogan, and Defago all waited patiently as Joshua held the diary in his bandaged hand, his terrifying icy blue eyes skimming the page he was about to read aloud with a clear curiosity. "Interesting..." he said.
"What's interesting, boss?" Defago asked, tapping a claw on his metal helmet that he currently was holding his lap. All throughout Joshua's reading of the diary, his degree of change into the Wendigo varied, sometimes diminishing to a nearly completely human appearance. At other times in the reading he rapidly turned more into La putain de bête, so much so that G and Rogan ocassionally reached for their guns as if expecting to have to defend themselves. Each time, Defago held up a clawed hand to show that he was under controlled. "The bastard git his blood going at parts," he explained with a fanged smile at those times.
Right now he was only moderately transformed, almost passable as a man wearing an extremely convincing costume and make-up for a movie role.
Joshua didn't answer Defago immediately, but instead glanced at G and Rogan, as if inviting them to explain in his stead. They already knew this diary, after all. But neither appeared to take the invitation. "Well," Joshua said, and continued.
---
From the Diary of Dr. Roy Curien: May 16th, 1998
As I write these words, I smile for the first time in many months. More than smile—I’m overjoyed!
The resurrection happened half an hour ago. Oh, I dreaded and fretted this moment happening for so long, I only I had known!
After carefully fettering The Chariot’s body to a steel table in its containment cell, gathered around to observe from just outside. Using a remote robot injector, we introduced the final segment of the Type-27 helix into bloodstream of the corpse, and on the table next to it, we held the petite form of the corpse selected to house the Type-041 helix. Both came alive within seconds.
I was stunned. When they were just inert dead matter, how did I ever think them to be hideous? Seeing them move, seeing the Chariot with its red eyes the deep black of the Hangedman’s stare back at me with such obvious intelligence—we’ve created such magnificent creatures. What was different? Why had I been so scared of those images on that computer months ago? Why were the resurrected corpses from before so hideious compared to these marvels? I don’t know. Perhaps it was one thing to see a still picture and another to see it right before me, alive.
Their bodies aren’t just resurrected. They’re… reborn. With a full genome sequence of our creation, The Chariot and Hangedman are entirely their own creature now.
And yet… why can’t the staff see that? They all had looks of disgust on their face when our creation took its first fiery breaths through its helmet. Now, the fear I can understand. Chariot is much stronger than our data had suggested it would, and broke one of its bindings almost effortlessly upon its rebirth. It only seemed to stop once it saw our reaction on the other side of the glass. Only an idiot wouldn’t be afraid of a fifteen foot tall being of unknown tempremant breaking out of its restraints in their immediate vicinity. But the disgust?... I don’t know, perhaps they’re just in shock. I’ll give it time. Surely they’ll see the beauty of it as time goes on. Especially given what happened after it was freed of its restraints. Even as I write, I can hardly believe it myself!
The Hangedman, little thing that it is, was much gentler. It squirmed in its bonds but was unable to break them. As I said, both seemed to cease their struggles once they noticed us observing them. Theyw were looking specifically at me. The staff were all cowering or scrambling to get away: only I stood firm behind the glass and met its gaze.
It was stupid of me in hindsight, but in that moment I was so amazed that I entered the locked door and into the testing chamber. The other techs screamed at me to stop. I barely heard them.
Excited, I ran over to release the Chariot from its restraints. Damn near burned my arm on the heated armor it was wearing while doing so. When it stood up, it absolutely towered over me. It’s a wonder it didn’t hit its head on the ceiling. I could hear the mechanical breathing behind it’s respirator as it stared down at me with glowing eyes.
I did the same to the Hangedman before I could even see the Chariot’s reaction to me freeing it. It seems so reckless looking at it written down, but I was possessed of such a feeling of… injustice, I suppose, of these beings being restrained like criminals.
Both free, the two stood besides their tables, looking at me. The Chariot, the towering knight burning with volcanic metabolic heat, and the child-like Hangedman meekly folding its bat-like wings behind it and clasping its hands in front.
The staff stopped screaming for me to come back. I think by this point they expected one of the two to strike me dead where I stood, as if they were the monsters we had dreaded they would be. But they didn’t. What happened next was… extraordinary beyond words.
They bowed to me. They gave a total, unmistakable bow of fealty, just like the knights of old did before their lords. Somehow, some way, by some means that had to be beyond the mere genetics we had installed in them, they immediately recognized me as their creator!
But that wasn’t all! The Hangedman opened its beaked mouth and did the unthinkable: it SPOKE to me.
“Master…” it said in a helium-high pitched voice. It said the word awkwardly, as if it remembered the word from its previous life as a human child but found it hard to bring the word to bear with its new mouth and vocal chords. Dear god, DID it remember the word from its previous life?? Is that possible? Lord, the questions I have! The possibilities before us!
The Chariot also bowed, although it did not speak. Perhaps it’s not able to—we never considered the possibility that it would have any understanding of language. Th
What am I doing writing all this down, really? I must return to them! This is a breakthrough beyond breakthroughs: I must return to my research! Oh, I can scarcely even imagine how Goldman and that old ghoul Thornheart will react to this news! And Daniel… we’re on the right path now! Before now I grew so unsure, but now I know in my heart we will succeed! We WILL save your life!
