The duo had their eyes light up. Alex took a knife from downstairs and attempting to cut the skin but it took him all of his energy just to make a small cut. All his.. strength... his inhumane.. strength. Punch a car away level strength, all of it just to cut a dead body which isnt even resisting.

The knife broke too and the cut just disappeared as if it never appeared at all, pushing the broken blade out of the body. He then shot the clone with his digital gun but it only took out a small chunk from the body which regenerated as soon as it disappeared, apparently the body was pretty dense and packed more mass in it. Clearly the Devouring Beasts property was working its magic.

The clone had pretty impressive defenses and regenerative abilities, Laura and Alex now had the perfect solution to their problems. They were thankful the clone wasn't a living creature else they wouldnt even know how to deal with it. The two took a deep breath. Time to harvest the fruits of all their work.

The two still decided to refine the blood one last time. The process looked painful due to some form of rejection and the two sincerely wished to reduce said pain by any amount.

The final product was tested on a clone of Laura this time. The process repeated but instead of the skin peeling away or any deformation the clone simply formed a dragon scale shell around it and after a while came out as a female that looked ethereal. The beauty of this clone could easily seal any form of thought, in anyone who looked at her whether they be lust or even worship.

The clones confirmed that it was as safe as it could be for the two so they took turns to have their DNA changed. They hesitated a bit, Alex took the first turn with complicated thoughts about whether he would even be him anymore amongst many others.

Unfounded worry on his part perhaps but when you think about it, his life had been on a pretty quick run as if it swapped out with light itself. He had been holding up fairly well for a teen of his age, Laura too was probably under stress just that her life was less eventful and with more time to think about it she could make peace with it quicker.

Perhaps if he wrote his life down as a novel many would be able to think of better ways to do the things he had with less mistakes but when one is put into the situation can they truly deal with it like that?

Laura too was probably under stress just that her life was less eventful and with more time to think about it she could make peace with it quicker.

A princess would probably be expecting a perfect white horse riding perfect prince for her marriage, a virgin too perhaps but they too settle for a normal nearly fat monarch with the personality of a porcupine as if it were natural when it comes down to it.

We as humans do things we would laugh at ourselves for if it were shown to us as a movie. Horror movies would be the perfect example. 'Its a ghost', how we scream that everytime the time slows down and an ominous music plays but if we were him would our first thoughts be 'its a ghost' or would it be 'its an intruder and I must find out what they are here for'.

Unrelated stories and philosophies aside, we can only mock others for their choices as a third party simply because we are not them and here Alex's worries are laughable, who would you be if not yourself? But what makes you, you and I, I? Is it memories? would a clone with my memories and genes perfectly replicated be me? Would it be the same consciousness?

Is the person you think you are really you or has he died several times replaced by a new person with the same memory set and thus same personality and the illusion of being the same person?

This situation is often joked about in 'you are the clone', 'no you are the clone' type stories but when you encounter it, is it not dreadful?

He still went through with it as it was too big of a deal to pass up, who wouldn't want to treat planets as mid night snacks? Suns as afternoon meals and galaxies as feasts.

Well, he didnt intend to change his DNA just to eat bigger but you get the point. The process was painful enough to make him pass out and unlike the 2nd grade pill he was fully awake during it, only it was much worse! he vowed to give Laura sleeping pills before she went through this before his consciousness faded.

Laura looked at the whole process with a tinge of worry. To her, Alex was irreplacable. She sincerely wished that even if his body and DNA changes he would still be him not knowing her brother had the same worry.

This book was originally published on Royal Road. Check it out there for the real experience.

This question was quickly answered once Alex's body came out of the shell. He looked around, he was naked and a bit taller but he didnt feel any other difference.

"Laura, did it fail?"

Laura just shook her head and handed him a handheld mirror. He looked at himself and just as predicated looked almost the same as his clone after the process. All of his features were now optimal as if every single atom in his body decided to be perfectly placed to give him all of the positive traits one can possess.

"Brother, Are you still.. you?"

Alex was caught offguard, he did indeed think he was still the same but it might just be something like a butterfly's dream. He might have taken over the person called Alex and his memories might have made him think he was Alex.

"Perhaps, I am not entirely sure but I think so."

Laura shook her head again.

"No brother you are still you, I read somewhere that your body changes every atom in its body atleast once a week. If this process stopped you from being you then everyone is no longer themselves after a week"

She was sure it was her brother. Nothing concrete just intuition and Alex smiled at her in return.

"That is true, I really need to get myself together after all I can now eat planets!"

Well maybe he did do this all for a bigger snack.

Alex flashed her another smile. Currently he was probably the most handsome person in existence, apart from his clone of course but that was just sharing the top spot with a dead version of himself, then again some people prefer that so he might lose the popularity poll if he ever entered one.

Laura then got in the chamber and asked Alex to do her procedure too. After a while she was done too, She came out completely naked and hugged Alex who had just finished dressing up.

"Now I am sure you are you brother."

She was glad, maybe it was how a certain pressure of self protection being lifted or going through the same process as Alex thus knowing he hasnt changed she didnt even notice her attire and hugged him.

Alex may now be the most handsome man he could be but that didnt mean he was immune to beauty, especially at the level Laura was at now.

He seperated himself and handed her a jacket, she looked alternatingly between her body and the jacket and as realization struck she took it and quickly dressed herself. Alex in the meantime decided to go outside and figure out exactly what he could and couldn't do. He felt as if he no longer needed to breath. He wondered if he could really transverse the void or control particles like the description said.

He felt as if he could go whenever he desired to be and as if anything he wished to change would do so. He thought about the moon, He then appeared on its surface after a few seconds delay.

He wanted to change the moon into cheese as an experiment but could only change a part of it, the size of a football stadium, this left him feeling tired and fatigued luckily perhaps thanks to the beast genes he regenerated in an instant.

Alex thought about it a bit then changed it back. Although Primordial dragons could change reality itself that was only for adult ones, An adult human for example can flip a car at his best but a newborn infant would have trouble flipping himself and currently he was only a few minutes old.

For a species that lives for eternity he might never grow past being an infant in a normal humans lifetime.

The fact that the infant of the black level creatures mix could do so much was already proof of how amazing it would be as an adult. It might take millions of years but he had enough time, he wasnt mortal anymore after all.

Thats right he would no longer die, not even if he wanted to thanks to the devouring beast properties. Immortality seemed dull to the wise but to a teenager it was something to celebrate.

He pumped his fist into the abyss out of pure joy but an energy beam was released from it, the width of a finger. It travelled as far as half the distance towards earth before disappearing, he reminded himself to control his powers now as he might even end up destroying earth if he wasnt careful.

He returned to his house and Laura seemingly materialized infront of him, one instant she wasnt there and another she was. Laura probably decided to test out her own abilities too but the timing of her return made her bump straight into Alex who thought about evading, time had stopped for him and resumed when he filled it again filling him with fatigue, this time not as easily removed.

He had only stopped time for a few seconds yet it left him so tired, perhaps this would be a failsafe for them instead of a regular move.

The two spent the rest of their day travelling the solar system and even stayed on Saturn for an hour or two. In their excitement they completely forgot about the changed looks and materialized straight infront of their parents.

Violet dropped the TV remote, Mr.Royce was at his job else he might have dropped something too. Violet and her dropped jaw as if intending to fill that void, she slapped herself and even banged her head with the TV remote a few times.

She frightfully asked.

"Umm, Who or rather what are you two?"

and thought

'Wait since when did I step into one of those anime seen on TV'

Alex and Laura looked completely different after all, to her they were strangers who simply appeared. While Laura and Alex were baffled by their mother pretty much harming herself like a 14 year old before failing to recognize her own children.

They took a while and understood that their looks had changed completely not to mention materializing midair might make people question reality itself who in their right mind would think 'oh my babies looked and acted like somewhat weird but still normal humans yesterday i guess its normal they look and appear out of thin air like gods, its perfectly normal' when such a thing happens?

Looks like it was finally time to tell her everything.