The Desire For Power

POV-Elva Windslay

A week has passed since that dreadful day; a week of misery, grief, and despair, but most of all, a week of self-guilt and overwhelming pride.

Self-guilt of failing to shield my son from this accursed, evolved earth resulted in nearly losing his precious life.

And an immense pride in his deeds. What a gift it is to have him as my son!

Blacky Bird narrated the whole incident to us.

How a shoal of fish attacks them in thousands. How Blacky was incapable of defending against the numbers. Amidst the chaos, my daughter foolishly dashed towards the encirclement of a lethal fish assault. And my son heroically saved her, putting his own life in danger.

Sometimes, I have a hard time comprehending that he's this young because of how mature he is.

To save my daughter, he forcefully activated his genotype. As lightning erupted from his body, scorching hundreds of fish to death while also burning himself in the process.

I'm proud of him!

But also worried, as he inherited the genotype of lightning with one of the fatal adverse effects.

With the help of his genotype, harming himself in the process, he saved his sister and my daughter from certain death. And it warms my heart to know he cares for his sister this much.

This form of unconditional love is the only thing that continues to characterize us as human beings. Nowadays, even some beasts have evolved to have higher intelligence and a human-like appearance as a result of artificial evolutionary processes.

But, as a mother, I want my kid to emphasize his life over others'. I want him to be a hero, but not at the expense of jeopardizing his own safety. I don't want him to endanger his life... not even for me.

Seeing him laying on the bed in a state of comatose, his eyes closed, and bandages covering his entire body. All the walls in the room projected his heartbeat and other diverse medical data in the form of graphics. A few robotic arms inject a plethora of drugs periodically into his body. These drugs aid in the regeneration of crushed bones and the healing of interior injuries. The process is exceedingly slow and immensely painstaking.

My daughter was seated on a chair beside my son's bed, her eyes red as hell; she had been clinging to him ever since he landed on the verge of death.

She thought it was because of her that he landed in this horrible state. She self-blamed, grieving the entire week, never leaving his side.

But she's only a child!

Only we, as parents, are to blame. We failed to shield you.

I stretched my hands, gently interlocking them with my son's scorched hand palm. With tears streaming down on my face and eyes full of unwavering determination, I whispered, "Please, Olorun, wake up soon. I already breached my pledge to guard you once, but from now on, I'll never let you go away from my sight, not even for a moment."

[Alternate title for this chapter: The Birth of an Overprotective Mother].

POV- Olorun Windslay

There was a tremendous amount of pain drenching my entire being, as though I had been drilled into the bones with a bunch of long, pointy nails. Suddenly, all my recent memories came flooding back to me, bringing me back to the present moment.

As I gradually emerged from the abysmal state of complete darkness, my tangled consciousness grew sharper over time. My mind throbbed with fear and anxiety, and my body ached with agony.

"Am I still alive? Or am I being reincarnated, one's again?"

Controlling every ounce of pain, I flickered my eyelid to focus my eyesight. My vision became sharper with time, allowing me to take in my surroundings. I took in the same familiar scene that I had seen at the time of my rebirth—a medical room straight out of some sci-fi movie.

Glancing at the familiar room, I exhaled briefly, "At the very least, I'm not getting reincarnated again".

With a thud, tiny hands wrapped around my neck, hugging my injured body with a stringent grip. A shiver of pain coursed through my core as my sister continued to weep and sob in my embrace.

I wanted to comfort her, pat her on the head, and tell her, "I am okay," but my injured body refused to take any action.

With pain, my countenance became notably heavy, and seeing it, my dad pulled out my sister in haste.

My mom comes forth, seeing me awake, stretching her hand and gently patting my head. Tears continue to roll down her cheek as if she is sharing every ounce of my pain. My dad stood at the back with a wide smile engraved on his face as if he had been relieved of some heavyweight.

Happiness overflowed my soul as I realized how lucky I was to get a second life, surrounded by the people who loved me to death—my family.

I peered at my twin sister. She was shouting and fighting with dad so that she could come close to my bed.

"Unlike in my previous life, I am at least useful this time. I was able to protect my sister." a sense of satisfaction washed over me, seeing her safe and my family in one piece.

But what about next?

This is not the earth I once knew. Evolved, vicious beasts roam this land, making it deadly and unpredictable. And there are evolved humans, more wicked than any beast. In my previous life, I was murdered because of human greed. According to what I've read on the internet, humanity has departed Earth and is now residing on Mars; we are the descendants of only small abundant humanity. There are just too many unknown factors that might come back to bite my family in the future.

In my previous life, I was incapable of saving my family or myself.

Today, I somehow saved my sister... but what about tomorrow?

Will I be able to safeguard them from this wretched Earth?

Evolutionary methods developed by me in my previous life have resulted in an Earth that has become this lethal. I need to take responsibility for all my deeds.

I glanced at my family; my sister's tired face; my mom's red eyes from being worried about me; and my dad's smile as he saw me safe and awake.

I want to protect my innocent sister, wipe out mom's tears, treasure dad's smile... and take responsibility for my evolution methods that others irresponsibly employ to evolve everything.

Like never before, I felt a wave of determination course through my entire being. A whirlwind of emotions engulfs me, and I feel my body's hair stand steel. Seeing my family, my eyes become full of resolve as I painstakingly clench my fist.

I need power! ... for anything, for everything.

A power to shield my family from worldly dangers, a power to strike down everyone who opposes my loved ones, a power that makes my voice heard, a power that erases some of the errors of my previous life and legitimately returns to me what was rightfully mine.

A power to rewrite history.

A power greater than anything or anyone else. It's time to remind this world that I was the one who built the pioneer for artificial evolution. And as a creator of the supreme era, I will show the world "a true supreme evolved life form".

It appears that I have no other option than to postpone my initial life objective of "finding a cute girlfriend."