The vat whirrs to life as the lifeless body of Tetrax is illuminated within. "If my theory is correct, I should be able to implant a malleable soul into the body of Tetrax and infuse a certain balance of Imperito (Control) Essentia into his body to reanimate him as a servitor." Neither the brain of Winter nor Julius say anything as they watch me work. I hook up various tubes and magical apparati to the curative cat. Now’s the tricky part. Over the course of my study, I’ve learned what makes up the composition of a soul. Souls can be created, but only malleable souls are capable of being created. "Using the noble soul of DXY as a power source, I can call upon the power of her word of creation to infuse Spiritus (Soul) Essentia with a spark of life." I place the warded jar containing DXY’s soul into a slot that’s part of a device I’ve been working on. The Soul Forge. Perhaps the pinnacle of my capabilities. The machine, shaped like a large centrifuge, spins to life. After about 5 minutes, the formation of the malleable soul is complete. I take the jar containing the malleable soul over to the curative vat. Here goes nothing…

I fiddle around with the machinery a bit and get everything connected. Finally, I flip a lever to start the transfusion. Sparks fly from the machine as it emanates a positively sinister aura. The vat shakes and creaks, and finally, stops moving altogether. The body of Tetrax slowly starts to move inside. "Bingo." I drain the fluid from the vat and open the door. Tetrax (or his body per se) falls out on the ground, limp. He slowly stands up, although he appears wobbly. He takes his time looking around before his eyes land on me.

"Who is your master?" I ask him.

"…you…" His speech, although coherent, reminds me of someone with severe dementia.

"That’s… horrible." Julius says.

"Do not worry. Although he is alive again, it’s not truly him. His soul has already moved to wherever God had decided to send him. The creature you see before you is simply a shell inhabited by a consciousness of my own creation." This seems to alleviate her ethical concerns. "Creature, guard the door." The being that was once Tetrax nods in compliance and steps outside.

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"But enough about that. I want to make good on my promise to you." I take out another device I’ve been working on, a small pistol-shaped contraption with a suction cup at the end of the barrel. "This will only hurt for a second. It scans the Desidirium (Desire) emanating from your brain to read your thoughts and memories. From this, I will be able to recreate your old body down to the last minute detail, assuming you remember what it looked like." I place the Desidirium Scanner on the small white head of Julius. She yelps in pain. I take a cartridge out of the gun and place it on my desk. "I’ll need to engineer a device to read the memory cartridge. It should only take about an hour."

Before I can start working on the new contraption, one of the crimson cultists runs inside, his robes trailing behind him. "Sir! There’s an unidentified humanoid on the outskirts of the tower!" I am intrigued by this. They already tried and failed to kill me once. Do they think they’ll succeed by doing the exact same thing?

I step outside, towards the edge of the barrier held up by the warding stones. I see the figure they told me about; a tall, thin woman with the most ridiculous looking hat I’ve ever seen stands at the edge of the barrier. I cautiously walk up to her. "What is your business here?"

"Well, uh, I’m here on behalf of the Four—I mean, the three gods…" Must be the companions of Winter. "They want to apologize for sending their, uh, friend after you…"

"Spit it out, woman." Her face scrunches in fear and she takes a step back. "I apologize. Please, continue."

"Well, uh, they said in exchange for leaving you alone, all they want is for you to leave them alone."

What? "I haven’t been to their dimension since I killed Winter. What is it about me that they could possibly be so concerned about?" I have a sudden idea. Very well. Since they seem so eager to get rid of me… "Actually, I would quite like to meet these gods of your’s. Per chance, do you pay tribute to any of them? I assume you’re from their dimension." The woman looks so nervous I’m surprised such a strong emotion is even possible.

"Uh, yes sir. I worship the goddess of Spring." She squeaks out.

"Good. Wait right here. I want to get something before I go to meet them." The fools, sending an emissary that will lead me right to them. The arrogance of your friend will be the downfall of you all. Your souls will be fuel for my gateway. I shake my head. My thoughts have been far more clouded by the warp lately; and I find myself powerless to resist it…