47th of Frost, 4621
So much preparation had been made over the previous few days. Arkash had tried several times to weave such a small organism together using pieces of flesh and cartilage that he'd created entirely through necromancy; nothing was recycled or transplanted, and instead, was built from Sinew Thread and Sinew Cloth. The result was a creature of his own design, unique to the world, but without intelligence to power it, it was just a novelty of some lump of flesh. As interesting as it was, such wouldn't suffice for its intended purpose.
When the creature's body was complete, he'd have to perform Replication for the first time; a process he'd never attempted before. Raphael had only shown him the workings of necromancy that allowed him to repair and mend flesh, to restructure organs and bones from mangled to restored. Arkash had considered Replication before, but he'd never thought to try it, at least not for the purpose of a gift. The recipient, however, was an exception. And so, Arkash had to make an exceptional gift. What better gift was there than the gift of life?
Though Arkash had only ever created a set of fingers from scratch before the attempt of the project in his claws, the final result of hours of tempering with the biology and anatomy of his made-up creature wasn't that bad for his first creation.
Arkash gripped the edge of the table and affixed his gaze to the body of the thing while it lay there, lifeless. It was small, small enough to fit in the palm of one's hand. With a sleek body that rounded at the head and tapered into a tail of muscle and fat, the only two protrusions it had were that of its front legs, which were small, clawed extremities that were intended for limited mobility; shorter from the joints with a smaller use of leverage.
From scratch, and with plenty of trial and error, Arkash had built the internal structure of the thing with a sort-of-working digestive system and respiratory system. Obviously, it was his first attempt at creating something so complex; a prototype of sorts. It had a mouth that was lined with teeth in a similar structure to a leech, a mouth that led to its compatible large stomach, and then some attempted entrails to filter for the waste product. of course, not building a brain was Arkash's greatest decision, as all the nerves and wiring the beast would have required would have surely taken many more hours to map, and he didn't have that much time.
Obviously, Arkash wasn't too well versed with the functionality of organs and how they mingled with the rest of the body's functions, so he had no idea how the creature would fare regardless of the presence of a brain.
There were a few moments that he spent in silence, eyeing the beast lump of meat while he considered something, then breathed a sigh. It was for the best, he decided as he collected the Mortifiers Dirk.
A press of the blade into the soft skin of the being was enough to see the entire structure, from head to toe, transform into Undead Tissue. He watched with intrigue as the device injected its fluid into the translucent skin of the creature, then grinned as it seemed to dissipate and weave its etheric properties through the body. The entire beast was only about five inches in length, which was to say that the single poke of the Dirk was enough to fully transform the entire body.
Next was its sentience, a process Arkash hadn't yet attempted.
From the doctor's bag he had yet to return to Taelian, Arkash retrieved the Instinct Capturer; a jar-like device with a funneled lid. Then, across to the table at the foot of the window, Arkash approached a structure that remained veiled by a heavy cloth, illuminated by the light of the moon that had yet to withdraw to the glare of the rising sun. Careful claws seized the fabric and pulled the covering away to reveal a metal cage, which housed a large, black rat.
The creature shrieked at him, hissing and baring its yellowed teeth in threat. Arkash merely rose a brow; for he'd hunted and ate the likes of the rat his entire time in Lower Nivenhain. "You're not scaring anyone," Arkash dismissed as he set the cloth down, then carefully lifted the cage to tilt it up. The rat cowered at the back of the cage while Arkash stared down at it. He stared for a moment at the quiet rodent while it stared up at him, then furrowed his brow.
Carefully, he opened the cage, and then quickly thrust the Instinct Capturer lid-first against the rat. It screeched and writhed while he held it down, and the bottle began to work, replicating the rat's essence in a visible, luminescent liquid at the bottom of the jar. All the while, Arkash fought the tiny beast into staying still while he gathered the essence, then finally let it go when he was satisfied. "There," he said with a shake of his head. "All that fuss, and for what?"
A roll of his eyes saw him close the cage again and set it down. though the rodent was hesitant, it did eventually unfurl from the corner and lengthen its body once more.
Arkash shook his head as he brought the jar in stable claws to the same table as the construct, then looked over the fluid inside. A sigh saw him collect the Shapers Pen before he opened the funnel-like lid and began to billow the heatless flames of the tool into the liquid instinct, altering it to a limited degree through Imposing.
Once he was satisfied, he set the Shapers Pen down, then collected his scalpel to open a small incision in his creation's back. Very slowly, he poured the altered essence into the creature, then quickly closed it back up with the Grafting Needle as the etheric fluids mixed under the skin of the beast, then set all his tools down, prepared a large, empty jar, and stood a few feet back from the creation while he watched and waited.
All was quiet, all was still.
Then, the leg of the beast began to twitch. Arkash blinked, eyes widened in shock and awe. The beast's tiny claws began to curl, which reflected in the correct placement of tendons and muscles in the digits he'd created. Then, as the elbow curled and raked its claws through the wood, Arkash brought his claws to his lips and squealed in repressed excitement.
The cartilage-boned creature lifted its head with a flex of the limited muscle that was visible beneath its translucent skin, then began to crawl oh-so-slowly forward without eyes to guide it. Arkash widened his eyes as it began to leave a slimy trail in its wake, a streak across Degare's table. Its short tail wobbled and waved through its movement, and Arkash's grin dropped as it approached the table's edge. Quickly, he closed the gap and turned it around with a gentle pinch to the sides of its body. before it could fall to its untimely demise.
There, it stopped, featureless face pointed downward, then began to drool. Arkash furrowed his brow, then widened his eyes as the creature vomited... Blood. it wasn't very much, but it was certainly a sizable puddle for something so small. Curiously, he seized the beast and rolled it onto its back. The point of his scalpel opened it up without any protest from the artificial lifeform and allowed him to peek at its internal structure unimpeded. Arkash found that he'd placed too much red marrow in the creature's cartilage, such resulted in excessive blood production, ruptured a few blood vessels, and resulted in bleeding in the stomach lining, by pure coincidence on where he'd built the marrow cavities.
So, the creature would sometimes vomit blood, such wasn't too big a deal he thought. No, if anything, the person he was gifting the beast to would love it. Arkash made a few quick adjustments to more efficiently transfer the blood to the stomach lining, without the risk of additional wear and tear, then closed it back up with the Grafting Needle.
So the rest of his morning was spent studying the beast, and though he found some issues with the organs he'd created and installed, he didn't think it was necessarily a bad thing, given the creature's purpose. When all was said and done, Arkash jarred the beast, lidded it, then sighed as he stared out to the rising sun and mouthed a quiet "it's perfect," with a sort of lost dreaminess to his gaze.
Finally, he opened the window of the room and aimed the lid of the rat's cage at the outside world before he gently pried the cover open to release the beast. It was free, left to scamper across the windowsill and disappear into the sprawling Amoren streets once more.
So much preparation had been made over the previous few days. Arkash had tried several times to weave such a small organism together using pieces of flesh and cartilage that he'd created entirely through necromancy; nothing was recycled or transplanted, and instead, was built from Sinew Thread and Sinew Cloth. The result was a creature of his own design, unique to the world, but without intelligence to power it, it was just a novelty of some lump of flesh. As interesting as it was, such wouldn't suffice for its intended purpose.
When the creature's body was complete, he'd have to perform Replication for the first time; a process he'd never attempted before. Raphael had only shown him the workings of necromancy that allowed him to repair and mend flesh, to restructure organs and bones from mangled to restored. Arkash had considered Replication before, but he'd never thought to try it, at least not for the purpose of a gift. The recipient, however, was an exception. And so, Arkash had to make an exceptional gift. What better gift was there than the gift of life?
Though Arkash had only ever created a set of fingers from scratch before the attempt of the project in his claws, the final result of hours of tempering with the biology and anatomy of his made-up creature wasn't that bad for his first creation.
Arkash gripped the edge of the table and affixed his gaze to the body of the thing while it lay there, lifeless. It was small, small enough to fit in the palm of one's hand. With a sleek body that rounded at the head and tapered into a tail of muscle and fat, the only two protrusions it had were that of its front legs, which were small, clawed extremities that were intended for limited mobility; shorter from the joints with a smaller use of leverage.
From scratch, and with plenty of trial and error, Arkash had built the internal structure of the thing with a sort-of-working digestive system and respiratory system. Obviously, it was his first attempt at creating something so complex; a prototype of sorts. It had a mouth that was lined with teeth in a similar structure to a leech, a mouth that led to its compatible large stomach, and then some attempted entrails to filter for the waste product. of course, not building a brain was Arkash's greatest decision, as all the nerves and wiring the beast would have required would have surely taken many more hours to map, and he didn't have that much time.
Obviously, Arkash wasn't too well versed with the functionality of organs and how they mingled with the rest of the body's functions, so he had no idea how the creature would fare regardless of the presence of a brain.
There were a few moments that he spent in silence, eyeing the beast lump of meat while he considered something, then breathed a sigh. It was for the best, he decided as he collected the Mortifiers Dirk.
A press of the blade into the soft skin of the being was enough to see the entire structure, from head to toe, transform into Undead Tissue. He watched with intrigue as the device injected its fluid into the translucent skin of the creature, then grinned as it seemed to dissipate and weave its etheric properties through the body. The entire beast was only about five inches in length, which was to say that the single poke of the Dirk was enough to fully transform the entire body.
Next was its sentience, a process Arkash hadn't yet attempted.
From the doctor's bag he had yet to return to Taelian, Arkash retrieved the Instinct Capturer; a jar-like device with a funneled lid. Then, across to the table at the foot of the window, Arkash approached a structure that remained veiled by a heavy cloth, illuminated by the light of the moon that had yet to withdraw to the glare of the rising sun. Careful claws seized the fabric and pulled the covering away to reveal a metal cage, which housed a large, black rat.
The creature shrieked at him, hissing and baring its yellowed teeth in threat. Arkash merely rose a brow; for he'd hunted and ate the likes of the rat his entire time in Lower Nivenhain. "You're not scaring anyone," Arkash dismissed as he set the cloth down, then carefully lifted the cage to tilt it up. The rat cowered at the back of the cage while Arkash stared down at it. He stared for a moment at the quiet rodent while it stared up at him, then furrowed his brow.
Carefully, he opened the cage, and then quickly thrust the Instinct Capturer lid-first against the rat. It screeched and writhed while he held it down, and the bottle began to work, replicating the rat's essence in a visible, luminescent liquid at the bottom of the jar. All the while, Arkash fought the tiny beast into staying still while he gathered the essence, then finally let it go when he was satisfied. "There," he said with a shake of his head. "All that fuss, and for what?"
A roll of his eyes saw him close the cage again and set it down. though the rodent was hesitant, it did eventually unfurl from the corner and lengthen its body once more.
Arkash shook his head as he brought the jar in stable claws to the same table as the construct, then looked over the fluid inside. A sigh saw him collect the Shapers Pen before he opened the funnel-like lid and began to billow the heatless flames of the tool into the liquid instinct, altering it to a limited degree through Imposing.
Once he was satisfied, he set the Shapers Pen down, then collected his scalpel to open a small incision in his creation's back. Very slowly, he poured the altered essence into the creature, then quickly closed it back up with the Grafting Needle as the etheric fluids mixed under the skin of the beast, then set all his tools down, prepared a large, empty jar, and stood a few feet back from the creation while he watched and waited.
All was quiet, all was still.
Then, the leg of the beast began to twitch. Arkash blinked, eyes widened in shock and awe. The beast's tiny claws began to curl, which reflected in the correct placement of tendons and muscles in the digits he'd created. Then, as the elbow curled and raked its claws through the wood, Arkash brought his claws to his lips and squealed in repressed excitement.
The cartilage-boned creature lifted its head with a flex of the limited muscle that was visible beneath its translucent skin, then began to crawl oh-so-slowly forward without eyes to guide it. Arkash widened his eyes as it began to leave a slimy trail in its wake, a streak across Degare's table. Its short tail wobbled and waved through its movement, and Arkash's grin dropped as it approached the table's edge. Quickly, he closed the gap and turned it around with a gentle pinch to the sides of its body. before it could fall to its untimely demise.
There, it stopped, featureless face pointed downward, then began to drool. Arkash furrowed his brow, then widened his eyes as the creature vomited... Blood. it wasn't very much, but it was certainly a sizable puddle for something so small. Curiously, he seized the beast and rolled it onto its back. The point of his scalpel opened it up without any protest from the artificial lifeform and allowed him to peek at its internal structure unimpeded. Arkash found that he'd placed too much red marrow in the creature's cartilage, such resulted in excessive blood production, ruptured a few blood vessels, and resulted in bleeding in the stomach lining, by pure coincidence on where he'd built the marrow cavities.
So, the creature would sometimes vomit blood, such wasn't too big a deal he thought. No, if anything, the person he was gifting the beast to would love it. Arkash made a few quick adjustments to more efficiently transfer the blood to the stomach lining, without the risk of additional wear and tear, then closed it back up with the Grafting Needle.
So the rest of his morning was spent studying the beast, and though he found some issues with the organs he'd created and installed, he didn't think it was necessarily a bad thing, given the creature's purpose. When all was said and done, Arkash jarred the beast, lidded it, then sighed as he stared out to the rising sun and mouthed a quiet "it's perfect," with a sort of lost dreaminess to his gaze.
Finally, he opened the window of the room and aimed the lid of the rat's cage at the outside world before he gently pried the cover open to release the beast. It was free, left to scamper across the windowsill and disappear into the sprawling Amoren streets once more.
