Rising Against Fate

December 27, 3050

Probably the happiest day for the whole human race. The War of Eleven races that lasted for a hundred years, finally came to an end. Even though it ended with the formation of The Council of Elders, it was like a victory for humans.

The war wasn't going in their favor, and on top of that, 108 clans that were supposed to be the elite fighting force were on internal power struggle. Formation of The Council of Elders made the power struggle formal. They now had to elect five Elders among themselves and send them to The Council of Elders.

This happened right after the old government which was made up of selected members from the 108 clans, was dissolved and a new legislative authority was formed. A National Assembly made up of 108 clan heads and 7 elected People's Representatives was given the responsibility of selecting the Elders and formation of a new government.

People were having the best day of their lives, but for Edward, it was the worst. Why wouldn't it be? That morning with the declaration of peace his life until now was rendered meaningless.

It hadn't been announced publicly yet, but there were two things that the first meeting of the National assembly decided. The first one was the formation of six independent provinces and a central government, and the second one was the closure of the First genetic lab.

He looked outside the window of his car and saw people celebrating on the street. Their joyous faces made him even more irritated.

"Fools."

For a genius like him, everyone was a fool. He was the head—at this point former head—of one of the biggest laboratories in the Nation.

He climbed the rank from zero, and now, after twenty years of struggle, he was finally at the top. For someone who was not from the 108 clans, what he accomplished was considered impossible.

"How dare they fire me! I was so close."

He looked at the badge in his lab coat on which 'Administrator' was written under his name 'Edward J. Hood'.

"'Work as a teacher'. Who the hell do they think I am?"

He was offered the position as compensation, but no compensation could cover his loss.

He was serious about his job, to the point that people had started calling him mad. Nobody dared to say that upfront, but they used to say that behind his back. Obviously, he knew about it, but considered it a compliment.

"It's all because of those damn old farts."

In over 50 years of functioning, there wasn't a single remarkable thing that his laboratory accomplished. In other words, it was just wasting the government's funds.

The First Genetic lab like all other national laboratories was established to create weapons for war. But unlike other laboratories, it was working on biological weapons.

The other laboratories produced quick results while the First Genetic lab had no real goal until 3 years ago. Three years ago, Edward became the Administrator of the laboratory and started working on his goal: the creation of the ultimate soldier that is physically, mentally, and magically advanced.

As he was babbling to himself, the car stopped in the parking area of the First Genetic lab.

"First Genetic lab, sir."

"Shut up! You piece of trash."

He had always felt the voice of his virtual driver irritating. Today it was even more so since he was having a bad day.

It's not like there weren't driverless cars, a model even came out several years ago. But it soon became unpopular. People never got used to the change, so the production was stopped.

Virtual driver model that came after that became the most sold model until now. In this model, you could either drive it yourself or let your virtual driver drive.

The reason why he felt the voice of the virtual driver irritating wasn't just because it sounded mechanical. It was because the car itself was recently donated to the Genetic lab by the Automobile lab.

The Virtual driver model was one of the many mass-produced inventions of the Automobile lab. Its design was advanced in almost every way, from fuel consumption to the automation of functions.

'Show off,' he thought after he got out of the car and looked at it.

Automobile lab, like every other lab, received government funding. But the profit it earned was so high that the funding was about to be cut off. At such times, they had to figure out a way to show the increase in their expenses. And the best way to do that was by donating the equipment and resources to other smaller laboratories.

When he looked towards the Genetic lab building - the building that was more important to him than his home - he remembered the day when his dream came true.

It was a round white building with eight levels. When he first joined, he only had access to enter the first level, but now his office was at the top.

For someone whose only dream was to become an employee once, this was a huge success. But this success wasn't because of his luck, it was because of his dedication to his work.

He had no family or friends, all he cared about was his work. It's not like he never got a marriage proposal. When he was young, there were plenty of girls who fell for him, but he had no time to give to them. The fact that he was still a virgin was the biggest proof of his dedication.

When he walked inside the building through the automatic sliding door, the full-body scanner scanned him. It was programmed to scan anyone who enters the building, even its Administrator.

"Welcome, Doctor."

When the full-body scanner detected the presence of its administrator, the building's system was automatically activated.

Tomorrow, after the public announcement, the administrative privileges of the building would be transferred to someone else, so this was probably his last time hearing those words.

"Bip, prepare the sixth level."

Building interaction program - in short Bip - was the name of the AI system that operated the building. The people who could afford it at home could name it differently, but for government infrastructures, it was to be called Bip everywhere.

It was one of the earliest inventions of the Computer Science lab which was one of the oldest laboratories in the nation.

"Right away sir."

Bip opened the door to the lift and set the destination to the sixth level. It was where he had been working for the past 3 years. In a project that he called 'Masterpiece'.

Originally, the sixth floor was a place where they stored the genetic sample of magicians from the 108 clans and war prisoners from the 10 other races. Everything that was there was classified as top secret and only selected few had access to enter the floor. Edward himself was only allowed access after 12 years of service.

He spent the past three years researching those genetic samples and was finally able to create the genes that he needed to create the ultimate soldier.

He tried creating a body using those genes, but the tests ended up as a failure. He could create a body, but it showed no sign of life. He was definitely close, but something was missing, and right when he figured out what was missing, the closure of the First Genetic Lab was announced.

"If it wasn't for that damn restriction, my 'masterpiece' would have been completed by now."

Even in this era of war, one thing was considered forbidden: experimenting with souls. This was something that all 108 clans agreed on despite their differences.

Throughout history, civilizations had paid huge prices whenever they tried doing that. There were tales of countries being destroyed and races being exterminated.

Until now, he was trying to find an alternate way. A way by which he could put life into the soulless body. But today, he had come prepared. He was going to do the forbidden and the compensation he was willing to pay was his own life.

For him, it was a small price to pay if it meant completing his masterpiece.

He had already thought of doing that using a war prisoner but his request to allow experimenting on war prisoners was flatly denied. Even though the response was worded formally what they meant was: War criminals are more useful than the laboratory, at least they can be used in negotiations.

Edward liked staying prepared, he had already written the instructions for Bip in case it was approved.

"Bip, follow the instructions on the EXP-42 folder in my private drive, and delete today's data including the scan results completely."

"Yes sir."

After hearing the reply, he undressed completely and threw his clothes on the floor. He then entered one of the cylindrical chambers that Bip opened.

Both of his hands and legs were then locked using handcuffs after which the door of the chamber was closed.

An oxygen mask was put over his face after which the tube was filled with blue liquid. Various Radiations and electric waves were passed through it but not a single scream was heard. The chamber was soundproof.

In less than 2 minutes, Edwards's body disintegrated without a trace.

"Experime-"

Before Bip could conclude its sentence, the whole structure started shaking. A loud blast was heard on the third floor and with it, the whole building collapsed.

The next day it was reported that the building collapsed because of an unknown reason. Edward's car was found in the car park and his clothes were found in the rubble, so it was concluded that he was in the building.

Not a single trace of his body was found so it was suspected that magic was involved. But since they were unable to find any evidence showing the use of magic, the suspicion was inconclusive.

The news and media were so busy reporting the national and international changes that they had no time to focus on this. People didn't care much about the laboratory that had never been able to do anything remarkable. And on top of that, Edward didn't have any family to push the investigation further.

So, in the end, the investigation was closed as inconclusive.