Mosaics
by Sharakael

Mosaics

by Sharakael

"I'm cold." Wyrne wrapped the blanket around himself, more of copying than for actual warmth. He touched his lips with his fingers. Cold. Eyeing the bonfire in front of him, he wondered whether if he could feel the warmth - pain - if he stretched his arm into the fire. He glanced at the full moon; the same silver he saw all the time, and he wondered why it seemed particularly beautiful. Maybe because he had never seen it in the open air before, he reflected.

"Here." Cassius half-unwrapped himself from his blanket, rolled his sleeve and offered right his arm to Wyrne, almost on reflex.

Wyrne stared at the arm, eyeing it with weariness. His grey eyes fixed on the taller man and he moved the arm aside. "Don't want to."

Cassius eyed the the black haired man; sighing. "You're a stubborn one, aren't you."

Wyrne ignored the remark. His gaze met that of Cassius, and did not falter.

"Where are you taking me?"

Cassius scratched his head and fixed his eye-glasses into position. "Anywhere. Anywhere but that wretched place."

"But I like it there."

"That's why I have to take you away."

Wyrne thought the logic did not make sense, but did not say a word. Cassius moved closer to the fire, shivering slightly. Wyrne watched him.

"Do you feel cold?"

"Yes. It's almost winter." Cassius eyed the younger man. He was about to ask, don't you, but he already knew the answer.

"When you sit closer to the fire like that... is it supposed to make you feel warm?"

"I imagine so, yes."

Wyrne looked at his hands, pale as ivory marble, then at Cassius. "I don't... I don't feel warm or anything..." Cassius did not move, the look on his face saying that he knew about it. "The only thing warm I've ever felt... was blood." Wyrne hid his hands beneath the blanket once more, and stared at the fire. "But you know that."

Cassius did not know whether to answer or to laugh. But of course. He had been there since Wyrne had first been 'born'. He was there to observe Wyrne as he grew, and he was the one to make reports concerning Wyrne's growth. He was the one who had to witness a living nightmare...

And it had started off as such beautiful dreams.

He and Nathan, scientists, both dreamers, both idealists. They had dreamt to create a myth, a legend, anything to gain fame and money. When they were offered part in a seemingly impossible project, both agreed... but Nathan had always been the workaholic, easily obsessed with anything he's involved in. So from dreaming about wealth and success, Nathan started dreaming about the completion of the project itself... a dream he had taken too far. Cassius had been content, watching Nathan with his obsession. He always thought that Nathan was most captivating when he was obsessed with something, and he let it all happened.

He regretted it immensely.

Cassius eyed Wyrne with mixed feeling of longing and hatred. Remembering back, he remembered the day Nathan asked him...

"Do you think it's wrong to sacrifice everything for something you truly want?"

Cassius laughed. "I don't think so. Not in your case, anyway." As I would sacrifice anything to see you happy. Nathan seemed content with the answer and continued on talking about the project, chattering like an overjoyed child.

When Cassius found out what the question was meant for, it was too late. The project was nearing completion, and the prototype was ready to be tested... instead that there was no vessel to test it on. And Nathan had volunteered to be the vessel.

He had volunteered to be the vessel of a genetically created vampire.

Cassius had seen the creature often in its original form. Merely a blob of flesh and rows of teeths, slurping and licking and drinking any blood it could find. Any wound inflicted on it would heal fast, and it was not afraid of sunlight. It could not even understand languages, and it moved basically on instinct. Cassius had wondered why they had created such thing, if they had intended to make a vampire. He had no idea what the final step of the project was.

Cassius cursed silently. He looked around for Nathan, and could not find him. Thinking that Nathan must be observing the ugly blob, he came to the observation room... instead that what's being observed was no longer a crawling blob, it was Nathan. People - his colleagues - had tried to explain it to him. Within the first few sentences, he started screaming and yelling and taking things apart, trying to reach the figure within the observation room.

They had, through a delicate operation, combined the nerves of Nathan and the prototype, throwing out most of Nathan's internal body organ and replacing them with those belonging to the prototype. This was the only thing Cassius could remember from what people told him, when he woke up in the confinement room.

He cried for days after that, after which he could cry no more and they assigned him to watch over Wyrne - how the prototype came to be named - and reported on his progress. Cassius did so effectively. He thought his soul must had deserted him sometime during his crying jag, and he did not bother to look for it. Nathan was gone, and nothing else mattered.

He watched as Wyrne killed anything that moved and drank its blood indifferently. He watched how the prototype with Nathan's body and face began to learn how to speak, to differentiate words, write them and recognise numbers. Cassius taught them all. He watched as Wyrne grew in mental capabilities, although he still had a long way to go as he was currently a 7-year-old in the body of a 25-year-old. And as time went, he began to care for the prototype... caring and loathing, feelings he came to recognise as one and the same.

And above all, he began to think of Wyrne as his son... his and Nathan's.

And he decided that his son shouldn't be in such a desolate an ugly place. After all, weren't Wyrne created to be a great vampire, as in the myths? And sunlight did not matter. As long as there was blood, his son would live. For eternity. This thought overjoyed Cassius.

And so Cassius carried his 'son' with him, and threw a grand farewell party behind him. Cassius looked at his watch. It's about time the firemen reached the laboratory, and Cassius would like much to see what was left of the laboratory. If there was any.

Cassius smiled. The first smile since Nathan left him.

Wyrne eyed him curiously. "Why are you smiling?"

"Because I'm happy." Cassius stood up then, and started folding his blanket. "That's enough rest. Come on, we need to walk again." Wyrne sneered. "It wasn't my fault that the car broke down. And remember, I'm the one who's carrying all the stuffs, not you."

Wyrne considered this, and seemed to come to terms with it. He unwrapped himself from the blanket, started folding it in imitation to Cassius and failed horribly. "Where are we going?"

Cassius took the blanket from Wyrne, folded it neatly and smiled.

"To see the world. It's ours on a silver platter."