“You need to stop moving so much else I puncture a nerve” Stevenson held up the needle and waved it. No matter what tone he used, what smile he flashed, or what color he painted the operation room’s walls, his patients were always too agitated and scared. It bothered him to a degree.

He even let Hope buy those ugly porcelain baby dolls and flower paintings to brighten the room.

Annoyance at not being able to do his job aside, he truly could not understand what else they wanted from him.

It upset him that even with an Academy-certified psychology course, he couldn’t do what he needed to provide his precious specimen with the adequate place and atmosphere for their research.

It is their duty and honor to serve occult science in its evolution and with their help, the doctor knew they could save millions of lives from fates worse than this.

“It is the least you could do, Vols” He checked his tone for any negative emotion that might translate into aggression, but the inmate still convulsed.

The doctor noted that he was a bit different from the others in his journal. Already so scared and rabid, biting his way out of cooperation. His psychological assessment done by Jasmine, a certified psychiatrist, did not show severe aggressive behavior.

The doctor also had to shut the man up with a stiff cloth wrapped around his mouth as he was being too loud and disrupting the other patients’ much-needed sleep.

“For the last time, if you don’t hold still, I can’t promise that I won’t paralyze you.”

That threat got him to obey, but the doctor knew it’ll only be effective for a few seconds before the animalistic part of Vols’ brain takes over once he sees the effect their serum has on him.

As predicted, the inmate lashed out the second he saw the veins on his arm darken in navy color. His muffled roars boomed in the clinic as he flopped on the bed like a fish out of water.

The doctor called for his nurse who took notes of the after-effects of the shot of blue liquid.

It was still a prototype, too dangerous to be used on regulars, but safe enough for Soulbounds. Vols was the perfect specimen. After many theoretical calculations, they finally found the most suitable SE level for this experiment. Vols’ SE level test came back with a 0.332% error margin.

They already tested the prototype on open souled werewolves; closer to Soulbound anatomy than the other races. Sadly, most of them died.

“500mg, his vitals are stable so far. The plateau is still giving a negative. Go on’’ Stevenson said out loud as he studied the machines plugged into the inmate.

The nurse nodded and pushed a second dose of the prototype serum while two others held him still.

“1g, vitals are spiking but not dangerously high. Sedate him, I want to see his specs now.” As he ordered, the nurses went to work.

Stevenson grabbed the plateau and was bummed to see no change in his physical specs.

“Numbers are the same, but his internal SE levels increased by 0.3%!”

Stevenson turned and grabbed the nurse’s tablet, which displayed the evidence of a groundbreaking discovery.

“I want to keep this going. Another 500mg, no injection this time. I want the raw pills.”

“Sir, they’ve been deemed too volatile for even Soulbounds to use.” Argued a female nurse, wearing an anxious expression.

“Do as I say.” shouted back Stevenson with a gleam of excitement.

They had tried this before but never with someone so close to the big 0. They needed this win, Stevenson needed this win.

“This is it, people! The day our names will be forever carved into the tomes of history. The noble fane family will go down as the main cataclyst for Soulbounds’ evolution to the next step!”

The nurses followed the doctor‘s orders in latent fear, curiosity, and obvious excitement.

Meanwhile, Lothar who had not yet lost consciousness was jittering for a completely different reason.

His eyes were fixed on the emergency exit door before he went to sleep.

So close

.....

Lothar jerked up, hand on his chest where his heart hammered like war drums inside his ears. He winced in pain as droplets of sweat ran down his face, licking the wounds around his jaw. They itched and burned, a feeling he was well used to now, but it didn’t stop him from hissing in pain.

“Are you okay?” He snapped his head towards the voice of the woman who started it all. As his eyes laid upon her milky skin, where a red smile was tucked below a beautifully carved nose.

He jumped and threw himself at her, baring his teeth like a rabid animal, but the moment he blinked, she disappeared. He fell on the chair where she sat and felt the dig of a heel press against his back.

“Not the welcome I’m used to—” he fell on the floor as the chair gave out and moaned in pain when his wounds touched the cold floor.

“—But I’ll forgive. I am above bullying the weak”

Not above torturing them, though—He wanted to say.

Again he tried opening his mouth to curse her, but the stiff jaw muscles would not collaborate.

Lothar rolled on his back, propping himself on his elbows.

“They told me Stevenson went a bit too far with his antics, however, he had a breakthrough—Not the kind he hoped for.” She saw him struggle to pull himself up and offered a hand. He slapped it away and stood up on shaky legs, looking down at her with the gaze of a vengeful oneiri.

She shivered and smiled “Take a seat, you must be tired.” Lothar did as she said, noticing he was back in her office

“As I was saying, Stevenson made a breakthrough, and he was too caught up in his own findings to tell you the details of his research. We both feel that you deserve to know.”

Lothar frowned. There was the nasty smell of a fishy scheme coming out of her mouth, but he couldn’t tell what.

“Humans are born with predetermined SE levels. Negative Levels mean they have closed souls, and positive means the opposite. That’s the basic gist of it. You were born with a -2.6% SE level which is pretty high for a regular and now, thanks to Stevenson, you have a level of -0.009%.”

The lady waited for him to express awe or surprise, but he remained stoic. She sighed and continued,

“This is a tremendous thing, Vols. A regular can become a Soulbound! Or at least that’s what we thought will happen... Stevenson said that no matter how much they injected you with the serum, your level wouldn’t increase anymore. They believe it’s because of the null barrier—the grand 0. No one is born with a null SE level. It is impossible, makes no sense. It’s like an impenetrable and humongous wall separating the weak from the strong and no matter what we did with our technology to break that wall, it still seems we are decades away from doing that. We have tested this on many patients and the result came back the same, no matter how close we got to their limit it always wasn’t positive. You were the first one to get so close, however.”

She rested her glasses on the table, one revealed leg over another, and leveled him with a despondent look like he was the reason for all the chagrin in the world.

“It’s quite the disappointment. This project started as a way to help regulars, but now the result will only help widen the gap between them and the Soulbounds.

Unlike the null barrier, there is no barrier stopping Soulbounds from increasing their powers. Only potential, work, luck, and money affect them, all of which have been mastered and controlled by humans. The serum works for them too. It is far safer too because of their altered bodies. So now, not only the dedicated can advance but also the lazy rich... Needless to say, our superiors are not too upset. It is still a win to them as the market will eat up the prototype.”

Lothar wanted so badly to jump at her throat, melt off her beautiful face as they did him. Pull out her tongue and take away her voice as they did him, but the buzzing in his head just wouldn’t stop bothering him.

“The healer who usually takes care of things and cleans up after the doctor has... pulled herself from this operation. We sadly cannot heal you for the time being until the issue we’re dealing with stops being an issue.” Her face was a mask, unperturbed by the emotions that threatened to break Lothar.

They won’t come for weeks! By then... I’ll be dead.

Her little monologue made sense now. Why would she blurt out the secret operation of her family to a stranger?

Because it didn’t matter if they knew or not, they were dead and dead men kept secrets the best.

Her lips slipped on an awful grimace as Lothar began looking for an out. He waved his hands around, both in panic and as a way to communicate with her.

He went on his knees and begged like a dog—like a fucking ant bowing its head to a well-manicured lion.

She shook her head. Her grimace turned harsher in pity and rested a delicate hand on his shoulder.

“It’s not what the operation was supposed to be when we first started. People weren’t supposed to drop like flies, but the closer we’d gotten to the sun, the shinier it looked. The orders had gotten louder and stricter, with the promise of money, fame, and glory. You need to understand that your life will lay the path of glory to Humans.” She actually looked sad. Guilty. Humane.

He shook his head repeatedly, denying her the satisfaction of pushing her guilt down, of turning plain genocide into this grand holy mission.

He didn’t want this; he didn’t ask for this. He wasn’t even part of the humans she talked about.

His tears soaked his face, and he did not care for the pain anymore.

“h-hypocr...N-no So-should-soulbounds...o-only..u-us.” He tasted bile and blood and puked both; he couldn’t use his vocal cords anymore.

He smirked when the stuff splashed on the woman’s heels and legs.

She squealed and cursed, taking a few steps back, and for the first time since he saw her, she truly looked mad.

“You Filthy...” A wave of power emitted from her skin. It flared like a beacon in his dim world and overwhelmed his being. He gasped for breath and toppled in his own puke, unable to keep his balance as the weight of her Soulprint tried to crush him.

It was the second time he was drenched in his own filth. This world was breaking apart every inch of pride he had left.

“Jasmine!” The door swung open, and it was his angel coming back to rescue him.

“Stop this! Don’t you dare hurt him.”

His vision tunneled.

“The doctor still has some use for him. He called the execution off for the time being.”

Lothar had already slipped into a deep sleep.

.....