- Mordred -

  Every time he climbed to this floor, he was struck by the sheer enormity of Encedus. Standihe apex of the t structure, Mazed down through the expansive windows that ed around the boratory. Below him, the immense dome sprawled, encapsuting every building, every person, and every android navigating the bustling city streets. It was a living mohe culmination of geions of toil and ambition that had brought them to this y.

  ‘Grandfather was right,’ Mordred mused, his eyes trag the intricate web of lights that posed the cityscape. ‘He found the right pce to find freedom. It's a pity he chose the wrong path.’

  He stood mere steps from the colossal window encirg the boratory perched atop Encedus's tallest edifice. The city before him desded hundreds more levels, reag all the way down to the p's icy surfad delving dozens of stories into the subterraneahs. The tiers of the metropolis formed a byrinthine hive of activity.

  "Mr. President, the minister is calling for you—they're about to initiate the tests," came a voice from behind.

  Mordred turo see a soldier the crisp uniform of the Republic of Encedus. The emblem—a stylized representation of Encedus encircled by stars—was embzoned on his chest.

  "Thank you," Mordred replied with a curt nod.

  He was just a kid to most of his enemies, but Mordred had meticulously id the groundwork to ensure he wouldn't bee another emperor in a long line of despots. His position as President was desigo st only until the end of the war; afterward, the office would be open for any citizen of the Republic to test. It was one of his strategies to guarantee a peaceful transfer of power—a safeguard against the tyranny of an empire.

  Yet, behind the ses, he vened with dozens of ministers, deliberating potential successors who could assume his mahout jeopardizing all he had built. Encedus's future recarious, and he couldn't leave it to ce.

  The soldier escorted Mordred through the corridors toward one of the restricted chambers of the tral boratory. The air was sterile, tinged with a faint chemical st that lingered in the passageways. At the pinnacle of the boratss domes arched overhead, revealing Encedus's ethereal blue atmosphere. The sky bathed the spa an otherworldly cerulean glow.

  Scattered throughout the expansive room were enormous drical gss tanks, each housing a figure immersed in a lumi, viscous liquid. The fluid pulsated softly, casting shimmering patterns across the floors and walls. Dozens of stists and teis moved betweeanks while reading the data streams and diagnostics.

  Mordred walked among the tanks, his gaze sharp as he assessed the ret results. Holographiterfaces projected status updates beside each vessel: biometric readings, neural activity graphs, genomic sequence aligs. Some subjects showed signs of partial success—stable vital signs and initial synaptic responses. Others were marked by gring red alerts—cellur degradation, synaptic failure, and aion.

  "Damn it," Mordred muttered under his breath, his frustration evident. "Another batch of failures."

  The newly self-decred President ched his fists at his sides. Time was slipping through his fingers like sand, and easuccessful trial brought them closer to the brink of disaster. These experiments were vital—a potential key to ending the war that had ravaged their society for too long.

  Workstations were scattered like isnds in a sea of cutting-edge teology throughout the expansive boratory. At each station, dozens of stists were hunched over holographiterfaces; some engrossed in data streams, others scrutinizing the massive tanks that lihe facility's walls. The air was thick with the hum of maery and the murmur of intense discussion.

  "This one needs adjustment—we have to recalibrate the Energy density," one stist decred, his eyes fixated on the fluctuating graphs before him.

  "Are you sure?" his colleague replied skeptically. "My data shows the density was within optimal parameters."

  "You're out of your mind! Look at this again," the first stist insisted, pointing emphatically at the hologram.

  Amidst the fervor, the stists paid little heed to President Mordred as he moved among them. His presence had bee routihe gravity of the project was such that he rarely left the boratory unless absolutely necessary for the defense of the Republic. This endeavor was a matter of life ah.

  On the far side of the chamber, aeam was initiating a fresh round of tests.

  "Subject #131—beginning sequence," a tei announced, her voice eg slightly in the cavernous space.

  "Starting CRISPR iion," another reported.

  "Expanding Energy field around subject," a third called out.

  "Increasing Energy density."

  As the final phase initiated, arms bred urgently he tank housing Subject #131.

  "Emergency! Abort process!" shouted a stist, his fingers flying over the trol panel.

  Paed as personnel scrambled to tain whatever was going wrong. Ss fshed red with warning symbols, and the hum of maery escated to a frantic pitch.

  "Subject #131—failure. Suddeh due to Energy overload," a disembodied voice reported ftly.

  A heavy silence fell, broken only by the sound of a few stists pounding their fists on their soles in frustration and despair.

  ‘We've been at this for two years,’ Mordred thought grimly, watg the se unfold. ‘If what the Orks have offered doesn't work, everything we've built will colpse.’

  As he surveyed his team's troubled faces, one of the senior stists—a man with graying temples and weary eyes—approached him.

  "Sir, we've received the engineer from the Orks," the stist begaantly. "Well, he's not an Ork himself, but we've obtaihe necessary information."

  "Is it enough?" Mordred asked, skepticism edging his tone.

  "Yes, sir. We've ducted tests and validated," the stist replied.

  "What are the ces this is a trap by the Orks?" Mordred inquired, his gaze pierg.

  "Low," the senior stist assured him. "Nothing in the process or data indicates an issue or back door. However, we ever be pletely certain."

  Mordred sighed, a mixture nation and hope flickering across his features. "I would prefer not to use their teology, but it seems we have no other choice."

  "Yes, sir," the stist aowledged, a hint of embarrassment in his voice. Accepting aid from the Orks—even as ret allies—was a bitter pill to swallow. For decades, they'd been enemies, and there was still pride in relying solely on their own stific prowess to meet their leader's demands.

  "Where do we stand now?" Mordred asked.

  "We've pleted the trials. It was a success with our test group. The solution is avaible as an iion," the stist expined. "We may initiate deployment at any time, but we need your authorization."

  Mnced around the boratory, still unsure of his decisioook the time to refle all the work and time spent on this project.

  ‘It's iable,’ he ceded silently. ‘If I want to fight them, I must free us from this straint.’

  "Brihe solution," Mordred anded.

  "Sir?" The stist looked at him, momentarily fused.

  "Bring it to me," Mordred repeated firmly. "At the very least, I must be among the first."

  "Are you certain?" the stist asked, tinging his words.

  "Yes," Mordred affirmed, his expression unyielding. "Don't make me repeat myself. I will cross this river before asking my soldiers to do the same."

  The stist straightened, nodding respectfully. "Uood, Mr. President. I will have it prepared immediately."

  As the stist left to retrieve the iion, Mordred strode purposefully to the front of the b. With a swift motion, he cpped his hands sharply, the sound eg against the walls and drawing the attention of everyone present. Several stists paused, lifting their heads from holographic dispys and blinking as they realized who was addressing them.

  "It's the President," someone whispered.

  "He's here again?"

  "Could this be about the other project?"

  Mordred adjusted his uniform, which blended military precision with the streamlined aesthetics befitting a leader of the Republic. He raised both hands, palms outward, signaling for sileaking a deep breath, he surveyed the room, his gaze meeting those of the men and women who toiled tirelessly for their shared cause.

  "My rades," he began, his voice resonating with a anding crity. "You are the architects of the Republic's future. For years, you have worked relentlessly, fag challehat seemed insurmountable. You've armed us with the means to resist the might of the Empire, granting us, at st, a ce to see ourselves free."

  As he spoke, more stists ceased their activities, the hum of maery and quiet versations fading into a respectful hush. The glow of flickering ss illumiheir attentive faces.

  "Yet, in reatest challehus far, we've entered hundreds of failures abacks," Mordred tinued. "All the while, our enemies have beled us weak, inferior. But we saw in this adversity an opportunity—to create something greater, something glorious. And today, that vision bees reality."

  fusion flickered aany faces. They were deep in their research, unaware of a sed front in their stific efforts. Murmurs rippled through the crowd, but Mordred’s steady gaze held them.

  "What we have built together here—with our sacrifices, our blood, our hope—is more than teology," he decred, his eyes shining with vi. "It is liberation. Not just from the tyranny that has crushed us feions, but from the very s of our limited humanity."

  He paused, allowing his words to sink in. "Yes, humanity. It has brought us this far but has also shackled us—to weakness, mortality, and division. Today, we cast off those limitations. Today, we asd. And I will be the first."

  "Not out of pride, but out of duty," Mordred asserted, his voice firm. "Not for personal glory, but because to lead means to walk ahead, to bear the weight of the unknown so that others may follow."

  At that moment, the senior stist returned hastily to Mordred's side, extending a sleek, self-iing device. An iridest e liquid swirled softly ihe transparent chamber, catg the ambient light.

  Mordred lifted the vial high for all to see. The room held its breath.

  "This is not merely a geic mutation," he procimed. "It is an evolution. With this act, we will no longer be just men. We will be the first of the Asdants—a race destio shape the universe's fate."

  He sed the faces before him, a spectrum of awe, fear, and hope refleg back. "You have achieved the impossible, and I offer myself as living proof that the freedom we have dreamed of is not only attai begins here, now."

  With a resolute gesture, Mordred pressed the iainst his forearm. There was a soft hiss as he activated it, the lumi fluid disappearing into his veins.

  "Today, we do not merely survive," he decred, his voice rising with unwavering fideoday, we asd."

  GCLopes