Innocence and Blood Lust: Book 1 ~Born Again~
Chapter 3 ~Process~
A few weeks had passed since Denahi agreed to become Xaldin's tool for the total genocide of the human populace, throwing away her former identity of the orphaned girl, Denahi, yet to receive her new name, under her new persona.
The time that had passed had been spent healing her wounds, and training her mind to understand Xaldin's outlook on the world completely to avoid any emotional conflicts when she goes on her mission. Constantly repeating his beliefs, constantly reminding her of their goal, never letting her forget that failure is not an option...
She diligently followed his teachings, while slipping more and more into total silence, only talking when addressed, even then, most of the time she'd reply with a nod.
Though this is purely early conditioning, the real process of training and transformation was far more complicated and time consuming. Experiments to take place, brutal training to be had, all while constantly shaping her mind to such a precise degree that she would become the ultimate killing machine.
Her body had healed about 70%. Enough to start the actual process.
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Xaldin walked the now nameless girl into his basement, which he had painstakingly converted into what looked like a house of horrors.
There was what looked like a prison cell, with strange writings on the walls, a long table with straps on it, and a wall covered in thick books along with boxes and boxes of scrolls on the floor.
"This is a place that will become most familiar to you, child. For you will be spending a lot of, if not all of your time here for the next several years" said Xaldin to the quiet child.
"But first, your physical transformation must begin."
An inquisitive look appeared on the girl's face.
"This will take a long time, and will be very complicated, very strenuous, and I believe it will be quite painful..."
Xaldin looked at the girl and kneeled before her. He then said, "This is your final chance to turn back, child. I will never be able to turn you back to this human form once these tests begin. This is probably one of your biggest tests of allegiance to me...What is your final decision, child?"
The girl gave a blank look, then a quite determined look as she walked past the man and climbed onto the table and sat quietly.
The girl nodded in approval.
"Hm...Then let's begin..." Said Xaldin with a big smile as he walked over to the table.
He instructed her to lie on her stomach and brush the hair from the back of her neck.
She did so, and Xaldin came over with a wooden bowl full of a red substance and a sharp instrument, almost like a thick pen with an odd blade-like attachment to the end. He set down the bowl and explained as he mixed the substance with the instrument,
"This is special blood. Specially modified human blood, Filled with my special formulas, mixed to perfection. And best of all, thanks to a few special techniques I found, it's filtered to pristine levels. So pure, you could never tell this was engineered from human blood."
He dabbed the instrument into the bowl of blood and tapped it over the side to get any, unnecessary excess away.
"I am going to create a circular seal on the back of your neck. It's pretty intricate, so it may take a long while to complete"
He touched the instrument to the back of her neck gently and said, "Oh, and it may be unbearably painful for the first hour or two, so bear with me."
The instrument dug into her skin and the girl groaned loudly in pain, as her skin was being carved into.
She avoided screaming for a while, but couldn't contain it for long and soon screams filled the air.
Eventually, the screaming subsided. The pain was still very much there, but the girl was now exhausted of screaming and instead just laid there still, almost motionless as the time went by.
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Around another three hours later he was done.
A circular, symbol filled, intricate seal was drawn, and carved into the back of her neck, also adding a ring around her neck, almost collar-like, to the tattoo as insurance of the seal's staying power.
"There now." Said Xaldin as he set the bloody tool down on a nearby desk, "That's all done...Hopefully that'll work and be strong enough."
He then looked back at the motionless girl.
"Are you still with me, child?"
The girl's arm twitched and she slowly pushed herself up to sit up. Blood, both hers and the bloody "ink", covered her.
She plopped herself down in a sitting position on the table and gave a groggy look.
"Good." Said Xaldin as he walked over to the girl again, "Now we can start phase two...your true "rebirth" so to speak"
He then dragged over a large, clear, glass container, which was filled with the same altered blood that was now permanently etched into her neck.
"You cannot be the cure of this disease known as humanity if you are still one biologically and spiritually...So I have specially altered this blood for you. It's has a decent amount of demon blood mixed in it."
"What for?" said the girl as she finally spoke.
"Well, not only does it assist in keeping the blood pure of human impurities, but it will assist in spiritually transforming you. Your human emotions, if you have any left, will be more or less suppressed. This is the main part of physical alteration I was warning about. The demon blood may result in a bit of a physical mutation, but it will also grant you a huge rise in your powers, once you have them"
He then instructed her to lie down on her back this time. He then came over to her with a decent sized needle attached to a short hose and grabbed a large container and set them down beside the table.
He then said to her "This is the moment of truth...You see...for you to be reborn, you first must experience death."
The girl got a surprised and worried look across her face.
"I will drain your human blood out of you. Every last drop...You will lie, dead, for mere moments, as I prepare to revitalize your lifeless body with the pure blood."
The look remained on the girl's face.
"This is very, very risky, but if I have calculated everything correctly, added every formula needed to the blood, added just enough demon blood, and timed everything just right...then this should be the true death of the former you, and the birth of the ultimate cure for the world's disease."
The girl relaxed her face a bit and sat quietly for a second.
She then stretched out her arm and closed her eyes.
Xaldin smirked and said, "Let's begin then."
He stuck the small hose into the container, stuck the other end of the hose to the needle, and stuck the needle in the girl's wrist.
Blood slowly poured from her wrist and into the container.
As time went by she got very dizzy and lightheaded. She felt like passing out.
As her eyes glazed over she looked to Xaldin who then said "Goodbye, child. I will be awaiting your return."
She then lost consciousness. Her pulse slowed. Her breathing became shallow. Her heart rate decreased....
Soon, she was gone...Now just a corpse on Xaldin's experiment table, Xaldin had to work fast.
The last of her blood dripped into the container. He quickly removed the needle and connected the altered blood container to a pumping machine. He then connected the other hose to it and connected the hose to the new needle and inserted that into her other wrist.
He manually pumped the machine with a small pedal at his feet. The blood pumped into the girl's body, slowly filling her veins,
A bit of time went by and Xaldin started to get worried. She wasn't coming back. But then a glimmer of hope appeared.
The seal that was around her neck glowed red for a split second and Xaldin replied with a small "Come on."
The girl's body still lay motionless, but then suddenly, she gasped a huge gasp of air as her seal glowed bright red one more time. She coughed and groaned as her body adapted to everything that was happening to it. Her blood being drained, her entire body shut down, and reawakened, now the invasion of a flood of seriously altered blood entering her veins.
She kept groaning louder and louder in pain as the last of the blood entered her body.
Xaldin stopped pumping the blood as he reached the bottom of the container and took the needle from the girl's wrist. He bandaged both of the wounded wrists as they bled.
She writhed in pain, sweating buckets, as her body adapted. She rolled off the table and onto the floor as she groaned and pain.
She doubled-over and clutched her stomach.
Xaldin said, "It'll take a good long week or so, before your body can fully adapt and mutate, according to the scrolls. The pain should get less intense in a few hours."
She groaned loudly in pain. Her veins were bulging, her heart was racing.
Xaldin grabbed a blanket, wrapped her in it and said,
"I will prepare the final phase of your transformation upstairs as you adapt. I will return in a few hours. Try to relax as much as you can."
Xaldin then casually left the basement as the girl groaned and yelled in pain on the floor and went upstairs to prepare for her final phase of transformation.
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A few hours has passed since Xaldin left the girl down in the basement as her body slowly adapted to the demonic, mystically altered blood that replaced her former human blood.
Xaldin was done preparing her final phase upstairs and came downstairs to silence.
Xaldin looked around the basement and found the girl sitting against the bars of the cell, her head down, her arms resting on her legs, covered in sweat.
A noticeable physical change was already apparent. Her long brown was turning snow white. It was half-and half already.
"Hmph, ready for your final phase, child?" asked Xaldin.
The girl panted slowly and looked up at the man.
"Very well." Said Xaldin as he walked over to her and grabbed her arm, put it around his neck and helped her upstairs.
"Don't worry; this one won't hurt....much."
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A few more hours had passed, night fell, as the final phase of the girl's transformation was completing.
The basement door opened yet again, and Xaldin made his way down the stairs, lighting the lanterns to illuminate the room.
"Come now, child." Said Xaldin
The girl limped down the stairs in her weakened state, in different clothes, now wearing a fully white long sleeve shirt, with tattered pants, much shorter hair, only about to her earlobes, with the seal fully visible. Her hair was now almost fully white, and her face was wrapped in bandages, all but her right eye, Xaldin telling her that she only required one eye to see, and required no words spoken.
Xaldin opened the door to the prison-like cell and escorted the girl into it.
"I prepared a small bed for you. You can rest all day tomorrow. You're of no use to me in this condition. Besides your body needs to adapt more before we can try anything."
Xaldin then left the cell and shut the door. He locked it, looked into the cell and said,
"Welcome to the beginning of a new era for Earth....Lain."
Xaldin then walked away, branding "Lain" with her new identity.
Lain stumbled over to the bed and quickly fell asleep. Brand new horrors awaiting her soon enough...