As Elizabeth had asked, the marriage went down a week later. The food was considered amazing by the few guests who had been invited, but everyone agreed that the best thing about that day was the happiness that radiated off the young couple.A smiling Alphonse walked an excited Elizabeth down the aisle to a grinning Victor. They were wearing traditional formal clothes for the time period, with loose shorts over tights, a vest, a wide-brimmed hat, and an undershirt for Victor and a high-necked dress for Elizabeth. As the priest went through the typical talk, people got bored, but got excited again when he got to the vows.
The vows were simple and classic, fitting for the couple who were in a classic horror story.
"I,Victor Frankenstein, take you,Elizabeth Lavenza to be my lawful wedded wife,I promise to be true to you in good times and in bad, in sickness and in health. I will love and honor you all the days of my life." Victor said, looking deeply into her eyes as he slid the ring onto her finger.
"And you, Miss Elizabeth?" The priest asked.
"I,Elizabeth Lavenza, take you,Victor Frankenstein, to be my lawful wedded husband. I promise to be true to you in good times and in bad, in sickness and in health. I will love and honor you all the days of my life." She said, smiling and keeping her eyes locked on Victor's as she slid the ring she held in her hand onto his finger.
"So are y'all gonna kiss or what?" Kellan asked from his position as a groomsman.Henry, in his position as best man, and Justine, in her position as maid of honor, burst into laughter. This was quickly followed by shock and then uproarious laughter from everyone, including the priest.
"Yes, what Mr. Klein said. I declare you to be husband and wife and you can kiss or whatever. Would you mind if I stayed for the reception? The food and booze are exceptional and even a priest needs to party sometimes."
"No problem at all, Father. You seem like a pretty relaxed person for a Catholic priest." Elizabeth remarked.
"Bah, if God wanted us all to be a bunch of stuffy prudes he'd have made us that way." The priest grinned and sat down, waiting for the wedding reception.
This turned out to be a good decision,as the party got pretty enjoyable. There was a lot of drunkenness and silliness, including a mock sword-fight between Victor, the priest, and a rather confused Henry Clerval, as well as the priest breaking into some German drinking songs, but there was no actual fighting. There were, however, a surprising amount of drinking games and other party games, including charades, what seemed like a precursor to Telephone, and attempts to tell ghost stories. The festivities lasted into the night, but eventually,everyone made it home , inebriated and happy.
***
A few days after the party, the three, now four, returned to Ingolstadt. After 6 months of further study and experimentation,they settled on the method of creating life and how exactly they would do so. It would involve blood , skin, and other sources of cells and genetic material from many donors, broken down through alchemical processes that wouldn't have worked in Kellan's home world, and re-formed into one unique individual by finding a way to make lightning strike the mixture, which would then form into a newborn homunculus that would grow into an adult in 1 year, while mentally maturing as quickly as he had in the original story, if nothing went wrong.This would, of course involve lightning rods to attract the lightning, or else it'd be a pointless endeavor
They hoped nothing would, so to ensure to the best of their ability that things would go well, the group had run some successful tests with creating dogs, cats, rabbits, and other livestock or pets with the process. They would give them out to people who were looking for quality pets and livestock , who could be trusted to treat them well. They continued the animal experiments for another six months , testing their processes and observing the animal homunculi which they had sent out. They had decided to call them Animaliculi, by blending the word homunculus with the Latin word for animal, animalis.They'd create more specific terms when needed, but for the present, one overarching term would work.
The dogs were a resounding success, loyal, adorable and loving as dogs were, though they had apparently goofed up enough to produce hyper-intelligent dogs capable of understanding language better than any natural dog, though their vocal cords prevented them from speaking.Fortunately, their owners wrote it off as good breeding and didn't get freaked out by it, giving these intelligent and compassionate creatures the affection they deserved.The dogs were a bit bewildered at encountering normal dogs, but being dogs, treated them the same way dogs had always treated a particularly dumb or old or young or weak dog, with acceptance and firm hierarchy. They took even better to training than normal dogs, becoming capable of carrying out more complex tasks.
Cats,despite becoming more intelligent in most cases, remained mostly unchanged, only different in that they took advantage of their higher capacities for learning and thought to do the same things they always had. Though a particular side effect of this intellect, the craving the company of other cats , as well as humans and other domestic beings had shown up, causing cats to act more affectionate, so that they could obtain affection in return. Of course, they were still territorial creatures. You can take the tiger out of the jungle, but you can't fully take the jungle out of the tiger,after all.
All around,the various animals had shown higher degrees of intelligence and capacity to learn, becoming less bound by their instincts and more towards consciousness and thought, depending on the baseline level of these factors in the original animal. The animals were also somewhat bigger in size, and the products that typically come from livestock animals were of higher quality. Kellan had templated the basic animals for his system, which had awarded him a sizeable bit of Merchant points and told him to keep collecting animals and plants to unlock related functions for his efforts. He was waiting to template the Animaliculi ,he'd want to see how the artificial human, who they'd name when he was born, turned out first so he'd know if it was useful or useless to do so, given that he'd already templated the original animals.
***
After another year and a half of experimentation,Victor and Henry graduated, and the group moved back to Geneva, Kellan using his influence to open a branch store there as well. Kellan had foreseen this possibility and hired a local young woman, Aloisa Schubert, on as a clerk, giving her enough access to order what customers wanted and exchange for more when needed, without fully revealing the system's secrets. When he went to Geneva, he had her take over the shop in Ingolstadt, and revealed a little more of the system's capability to her to ensure her loyalty. Certain by now that her boss was either an angel, a sorceror, or a demon, the young woman worked hard to make sure the shop did well. The good wages he paid didn't hurt, and the fact that he'd often distribute product or give temporary employment to people who couldn't afford to feed themselves helped to ensure her loyalty.
During their study, the group noticed that the animaliculi matured fast and grew strong, and their children, whether with other animaliculi or with normal animals, had either their enhanced capability or a decent portion of it. The rates of successful reproduction with natural animals were about 5% lower than between animaliculi or between natural animals, but that wasn't going to be a huge issue unless a species already tended towards infertility. The hybrids, though sometimes less capable than their parents, definitely had the same characteristics as them,and over time would likely affect the different species of animals in both positive and negative ways. Reassured by this, the group began their attempts to create a homunculus, and proceeded forward.
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Within a few weeks, the mixture was ready, its appearance and the like selected through careful selections of blood and flesh donors for the genetic material, which included the four people working on the project, among others for the former, and many corpses that had been donated to science or left to rot for the latter. They waited for a storm, and didn't have to wait long. Within a few days, a thunderstorm descended, and during it, lightning struck the roof of the lab the group had built onto the Frankenstein home with Alphonse's permission, following the rod into the metal cauldron the mixture lay within.
With a bright glow, the mixture glowed an electric purple, then a bright red, then finally, a soft pink, before turning into a large infant with thin, light tan skin with a carotene undertone,which was thin and pale enough to almost be translucent, like Kellan's own had been as an infant, watery yellow, glowing eyes, flowing black hair, black lips, and shiny, white baby teeth.Overall, he was a cute, if odd looking baby. He appeared to already be at least 6 months old, which helped the group understand how he'd grow as rapidly as the animalculi.
Victor appeared on the verge of freaking out, but this time, unlike in the original novel, he wasn't alone.He scooped the baby out of the cauldron, and cradled him in his arms. The newborn opened his eyes, and cooed at Victor happily, staring up at the man he somehow knew was his father with eyes full of the pure, unconditional love and dependence all babies innately possessed. After a few minutes, he passed the child to an expectant Elizabeth, who kissed him on the forehead and returned the baby's loving gaze for a few minutes before passing him to Kellan, who tickled the baby's chin and let him grip his thumb with his surprisingly strong grip for a few minutes before passing him to Henry. Henry also played with the baby a bit before passing him back to Victor.
"Well, Victor, you're pretty much his primary parent since this was your idea and all, even though we did contribute a lot. What will his name be?" Elizabeth asked, with her hands on her hips. She was already about 3 months pregnant, and it had begun to show on her.The other two nodded their assent to her words,as without Victor's passion, none of them would be here.
"Adam. His name will be Adam Frankenstein, as he is the first of his kind, and he will be raised with all the love, guidance, and care the original Adam did not receive." Victor smiled at the infant in his arms, who babbled in excited baby speak, then went to grab some cloth diapers and baby clothes Kellan had prepared for the occasion.
***
Adam quickly matured. Within three weeks of observing us and of careful teaching on our parts, he could speak English, German, and French as well as the average three-year-old who grew up in a multi-lingual home, and by a month he physically resembled one.This necessitated an explanation to Alphonse, who took it rather well, as he got a grandchild to dote on and he'd always figured Victor would find some way to defy the laws of nature, especially after the truth of Kellan's status as a servant of God (technically true, if not the Christian God, ) was revealed to him.
Adam often played with William, who was initially frightened by the beautiful , somewhat eldritch child but quickly learned that Adam was smart as his father and as kind-natured as Henry or Elizabeth, as well as unusually strong and fond of horribly awful puns. The Frankenstein family stated publicly that Adam was an adoptee with a rare medical condition that made him mature at a highly advance rate, which dispelled enough fear to not lead to the poor child's immediate lynching. Within three more months, Adam resembled a six or seven year old, and had learned to write. By six months, he began to hit puberty, his growth becoming even more rapid as he played with William less and less. He was moody and morose, especially as he learned more about the world and that it wasn't normal to grow as fast as he did, or to look like he did.He eventually found the group's notes and experimental logs about the creation of the animaliculi, and himself in particular, including recent notes on his behavior.
He cornered his parents and the two men he called his uncles one day, soon after Elizabeth's child was born, a girl she named Caroline after Victor's deceased mothe,r and asked for an explanation. The already five-foot-tall pre-teen cut a somewhat intimidating figure as he coerced the four into the lab he'd been born in, where the equipment still lay, as further scientific endeavors had been cut short by the difficulties of raising a fast growing , superhuman child.
***
"Look, I love the four of you greatly, especially Mother and Father, but I have seen this lab, and I have read your notes. Why didn't you tell me that I was a monster, a freak like that Caliban thing from A Midsummer Night's Dream? Why did you lie and tell me I was a normal person, like you?Am I just a toy, an experiment, a weapon to you?The other kids all look at me like I'm a freak, growing more like a weed than a person!" Tears leaked from his watery yellow eyes, and his voice shook,as if he was about to break out into a full-on tantrum like he had earlier in his life.
Victor and Elizabeth were stunned and hurt by these words, and Henry had no excuses, but Kellan decided to confront the angsty kid.
"Adam, your life may have began as an experiment to see if we could create a person, but that doesn't make you less of a person, and it doesn't mean we don't love or care about you. You might have been born as a test, but we don't plan to make you do anything you don't want to. Though.. we will give any future homunculi a normal human growth period, it's been exhausting cramming 12 years worth of your education and development into six months."
The kid's tears kept falling, but the sad, angry expression on his face lightened somewhat. "A.. homunculus? A little person? Like in those stories and alchemy texts? I'm not sure that's entirely correct, i'm pretty tall." Adam grinned, proud of his awful joke, even in a serious situation.
Victor spoke next, running to his son's side and wrapping him in his arms. "Adam, you might have begun your life different from others, but you're my son, and I will not ever abandon or mistreat you, or let others do so. In another life, another timeline, another Victor Frankenstein did, and it led to a lot of pain and tragedy. That Victor Frankenstein was no father, and did not deserve to be." Victor himself began to cry, the thought of losing Adam unbearable to him. Elizabeth rushed over, handkerchief in hand, handing the newborn Caroline to Henry while she wiped the tears of her husband and son.
"Shh, shh, It's alright, none of that's going to happen. Uncle Kellan said we might have things to worry about, but those are in the future, and for now let's just make sure you live a happy, healthy, normal life, ok?" She said, softly, one hand holding her son's hand while the other gripped her husband's shoulder with a firm grip.
Adam nodded, and Victor silently unwrapped one of his arms from Adam to pull Elizabeth into the hug. Kellan joined in, and Henry set Caroline safely in her bassinet before doing likewise. Everyone slowly relaxed from the tense situation, settling into the hug for a moment that seemed to last both infinitely and not long enough. They broke apart, and Adam left the room, to go find William and play together while he could still enjoy it.
***
As Adam grew, he resembled Victor and Elizabeth more and more in his facial features, and when the year of his growth was up, his aging stopped, leaving him looking like a 7 foot tall well built adult man with an eerily handsome face, which for all intents and purposes he was. He learned all the knowledge of his creation, and a lot of things besides, and was trying to decide what he wanted out of life. He was incredibly quick with learning, and quickly became proficient with most any practical skill and a good few artistic ones, as he applied the scientific method to everything other than interpersonal relationships, which he was extremely careful with. He would hypothesize, test, infer, alter his hypothesis, and test again. It was pretty effective, and earned him the respect of his family and the people of Geneva, though many people were alienated by his extreme capabilities and appearance, despite his gentle nature. Adam took it as well as he could, though he'd developed Elizabeth's love for travel and continually begged to be taken places he hadn't been, hoping for somewhere more accepting of his nature than 18th century Geneva.
His parents acquiesced, and they set out with Kellan in tow on a tour of the known world. Henry stayed behind to help with his father's company, but vowed to meet them when they reached Transylvania, which still existed as the Grand Principality of Transylvania rather than as part of Romania during this time, and would for another half century.Little did they know that taking Adam to Transylvania might not be the smartest choice. Kellan knew of what they might find there, and had prepared silver, crucifixes,stakes, and other things they might need, but figured that if they ran into a threat, they'd also run into some help, namely a certain clan of monster hunters.
Knowing this, Kellan felt it was fine to let things develop naturally, especially as Adam, having reached physical adulthood , was extremely strong, and Kellan would soon template him. When they returned from their journey, he'd also template the animaliculi, but for now he figured that could wait for a while. His quest objective of creating Adam was complete, and only the last objective of protecting the Frankenstein clan remained. He smiled as the group of 5 set off from the Frankenstein clan's residence, waving to Henry Clerval as Clerval watched them leave.