[Flashback] Body of Stone (Elianos)

[Rayage]

Winter, 300 AV

The lab was surprisingly busy, well for a nuits lab it was bustling with energy this day. Today was the day he was finally going to advance his race to a new frontier, today was the day where his research and observational skills will change the face of nuits everywhere. At his desk the alchemist sat the quill was moving across the page writing down his theories and speculations based on what he could possibly dream up. This was it, the experiment was being set up, and his theory was going to be tested. Through careful observation, planning, testing and revision more testing, observation, and then putting two and two together… yes this was how dreams were made into reality. By careful planning. It was by the powers of observation which the nuit used to tweak his theories and come up with the best possible solution. Sometimes things didn’t turn out as envisioned, but that is ok. One learns more from failure than from success after all. Sometimes success is born from failure after failure until the experimenter reaches the tipping point, where all the clues he gained from the past experiments point him in one direction, and it is then success is born from failure.

”Elianos,” Ray said, ”You mentioned before wanting a stronger body; that the ones which we currently inhabit are too frail and weak for any real fighting. You got me thinking” he paused, ”How about a body of stone?” he asked turning around, wet paper in hand. ”I think that Ive got the right formula, the only problem is we would have to use the spare body in the back.” he said unsure if that was the best idea. They only had A spare body. ”Its just rotting away back there…” he commented waiting for his partners response. ”Why not put it to good use, right?” it all made sense, but any person ought to know that alchemy is rarely successful, truly successful on the first round. There is always some un-thought out detail… This was alchemy after all. He waited to here any objections the other nuit might have. It was kind of risky.

[Elianos]

"Finally!" It took Rayage long enough to agree after endless pestering from Elianos to make stronger, more resilient bodies compared to their worn out ones that even a teen can pull apart. While he did not do any alchemy he has seen Rayage's end products more than enough to understand that it can get what he wanted. With enthusiasm which was kept in himself for so long, Elianos leaped out of the chair to get to work. "I'll prepare the body while you prepare..." the alchemy thingies. Rubbing his hands giddily Elianos ran for the body because "I can't wait." Giggling like a girl on her first date.

Even if his date was this old, rotting corpse which looked as bad as it smelled but to him it was the most beautiful thing he ever saw. Gently he took its arm and lifted it towards the table in a dance until he set it down. "Lets get to know you better" he whispered into its ear and brushed its cheek. Taking out his tools with a smile on his face with excitement which betrayed his earlier foreplay.

This was only going to be a test so there was no sense in preparing it too well but Elianos needed to know whether the body would work under the same conditions. The scalpel quickly went along the chest as straight as the excited nuit could keep his arm, as if unzipping the skin to release the remaining ooze in the body. "That went well, but you are going too fast on our first date" Elianos told the corpse as he brushed his brow. "Now lets see what you have in there..." he said when his hand went feeling inside.

"You have a lot of things you don't need!" because like him, the corpse was dead. Ascertaining where everything was, Elianos pulled the skin further apart to have a good look at the heart where he started to cut it out. Each nick ended with a little drip but when he was done, the heart was in his hands until he tossed it away to start with the lungs. In comparison, that one was a lot more easier because Elianos got through it faster although taking it out was the hard part. It was just too big and he had to put both hands in it nearly dam...wait damaging the cavity a little bit but "I hope that is not going to mess with the experiment..."

Elianos continued on with the rest of the organs until he was done and "we are perfectly compatible. You and I..." laughing to himself again and why not that way? After all it was his idea and he should be the first one to use the body. Taking out the needle and thread, Elianos started stitching the skin back together again taking more care compared to his earlier job until he shouted out that "I'm done!" Time to meet the rest of the family.