2 The Laboratory of Mortal Shells

Egon waved his hands up, surrendering. "If you weren't a deity, I would've tortured you, even crippled you."

The clinic, in a haze grew bigger. Maybe it was just an illusion, a clinic turning into a big laboratory?

The room was really a laboratory. It was hidden by Egon, he placed an incantation seal of illusion here for outsiders, be it mortal or deity, they would not be able to see its secrets less they be Micaheil or Prime. They could never see what the clinic really looked like. Deities may feel the fluctuations of the seal, but they can't break it. This clinic was bound to a blood seal, only the creator of the seal, a relative, fellow creator, or the Lord and the Lady could reveal its secrets.

In this laboratory, vast number of bodies were stored inside glasses all in rows and columns like books in a library. There was a variety of body here from healthy to sickly bodies, babe to senile, even other sexes. The bodies were frozen but these bodies weren't technically wholesome kind of frozen to the extent that their time stops. Let me tell you a secret: Actually, these bodies age with the original bodies, completely connected to one another. But the original body is unaware of the shell replicate. Their function is to take in Prime and her siblings.

It's common knowledge that deities can shapeshift, but deities shapeshiting can easily be seen by their fellow deities. Even special humans can feel their auras, their presence are far too overwhelmingly charismatic and their power fills the air.

Because of Prime's great intellect and great foresight which she attained as she grew older, she already prepared all these bodies while she was still in heaven to perfect its sealing function. Yes, these mortal shells can seal the deity who enters it. The deity becomes fully mortal once inside this body.

How you ask? With the aid of the Lady and Lord. The Lady and Lord made sure that these bodies contained their sealing powers. You can liken it to a contract, the seal makes sure that all the power of the divinity inside the body is entirely locked away, as if it never existed allowing the deity to become 100% human. Though foresight and knowledge is maintained, deities will lose all of their omnipotence.

The body not only seals the deities power, it makes sure that the scent of the deity is lost as if they never existed. If the bodies were made in the mortal realm, these bodies would leak the deity's aura because the deity's omnipotence cannot be masked by a mere mortal shell.

Moreover, each body was made with the knowledge that it really had a real human origin. It is like a twin of a human. Except, this twin will only live when the original soul of the body dies. That saying when you finally meet your doppelganger, you are near death's door - or - will die the moment you meet one another, could be said as a highly applicable metaphor for the existence of these bodies.

But there are special cases. A shell can immediately be possessed by the Bank siblings if, and only if the real human origin is already dead.

When they finally use these shells (and choosing is mostly by chance, sometimes the body they need for a circumstance is the same body that they will have), the real mortals' time are almost up or already up. When Prime or the others intend to use these bodies (their mortal identity), they must first send the bodies to the afterlife not leaving any evidence of its inevitable death.

There was a catch though. Each mortal shell had a time limit, all of which never lasted for more than 15 years. The bodies may have sealed the deities power but their mortal shell, because of the modification done unto them by Prime, can cultivate mortal power and with their vast knowledge it would be easy to become a powerful mortal. But the more power the shell gains, the faster its life force is depleted.

The Lord and the Lady added a particular design to the body to completely fool other deities. They made the seal so perfect that it was problematic for any deity who entered this sealed body to just come out. Either the deity tears his/her own body til he/she can come out through the hole of the stomach like the way Prime just did, or one of the Bank Siblings releases the deity from the seal.

No other deities could undo the seal. If the body were to be killed in war or was poisoned, the deity cannot come out. So far, Prime only fell asleep for a few years or a decade whilst inside the shell she was sealed in because her mortal body really was as fragile as a real human body is towards accidents, diseases, and other human orchestrated catastrophe. This particular function was to protect Prime, her enemy kills ruthlessly, if she were suddenly released when her shell broke it would inform her hunter prompting the hunter to go for a massacre. After all, the hunter did not mind killing mortals just to bring out Prime. So far, she only died about 8 times, including her death just a few hours ago, while living for a thousand millenias. The lives she lived and will be living are for another day.

Shaking his head, Egon motioned his hand. A glass container moved towards them.

A body was then chosen, a young mortal shell. It's testicle has been castrated long ago. But it had a very feminine looking face. A pretty boy. His manhood may have been removed, but the mortal had a fine physique, muscles were lean, a healthy body, even his abdominal muscles were visible, but not that well defined. It was a paradoxically beautiful body.

Prime looked at the body with delight for she could hear, the moment she got close, the body's heart was already beating. She then touched the glass. Closing her eyes, her form grew small, her shape became less physical. Her form was like a bead of light shining brightly. She went through the glass and into the body. She disappeared into it. If someone saw it, they would think that their eyes were playing with them for there was no longer any sight of the light.

Beads of water started to cover the glass. The outer layer of ice started to melt. In a few minutes the ice completely turned into water. The mortal's eyes suddenly opened, as bubbles went out his nostrils, then he started kicking the glass in front of him. *crack*. He kicked again. This time the crack grew bigger til water started to gush out. *crack* *crack* *crack* the glass broke.

Slowly his feet descended the platform of the glass container. The mortal was then on his knees, he coughed and coughed seeming to have ingested some of the water inside of the glass. When he calmed down, he breathed in deeply. He calmed his body and started breathing in more air, like it was the cure to his neophyte body.

She trembled, Prime suddenly received the memories of the body. Her aura became frighteningly cold. Suddenly, her and Egon's eyes met as she kept breathing heavily. Egon looked on unfazed.

Gently, a dark smile crept up on the androgynous face. He muttered with difficulty as he breathed in between words, "They... murdered... him..."