Date: January 6, 2021
Location: Austin, Texas – Blaze's Apartment Lab; Hidden Tunnels beneath Zilker Park; Abandoned Medical Facility, Round Rock
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9:00 AM – Blaze's Apartment Lab
A cold winter light spilled through the window of Blaze's high-rise apartment. He stood before a series of sealed canisters and centrifuge tubes, each marked with deep red fluid.
"Fifty microliters, extracted at the artery's base," Blaze murmured, carefully adjusting the pipette in his gloved hand. "Immediate clotting. Inhuman oxygen retention. Triple-layered cellular wall."
He wasn't speaking to anyone. The room was empty, save for a blinking console on the wall, his AI assistant—a hollow shell of companionship programmed only to respond with hard logic.
"Processing," the AI buzzed. "DNA sequence irregular. Infection vector not viral. Mutagenic structure unknown."
"Unacceptable," Blaze said, not in anger but in precision. "I need more than unknown."
The AI responded, "Would you like to initiate extrapolated mutation modeling based on human stem cell integration?"
"Initiate it," Blaze replied. "And prepare Subject Cell Batch-2."
His blue eyes narrowed. Inside them, calculation danced with cruelty.
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12:30 PM – In the Lab
The glass chamber hissed as the stem cell culture was injected with a new compound — Blaze's first synthesized fusion sample: vampire DNA, grafted into human pluripotent cells with nanite mediation.
For a moment, the solution shimmered with promise. Then it ruptured into chaos.
Red-black spikes shot through the medium, the cells devouring one another in cannibalistic replication. A dull alarm blared.
"Instability at 87%. Mutation failure."
"Terminate it," Blaze ordered. The chamber hissed again, incinerating the contents.
"Notes: vampire DNA is too aggressive for direct fusion. Host must be conditioned first. Psychological tolerance may matter more than biological."
He turned and stared at the digital whiteboard, scrawling formulas that most scientists would take decades to even understand.
"I need a host. A real one."
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4:00 PM – Zilker Park, Tunnels Beneath
It took Blaze thirty-eight minutes to locate the entrance to the off-grid settlement beneath Zilker Park. Homeless, criminals, and the forgotten clung to life in the underground heat vents.
He walked among them dressed in a spotless gentleman's suit, black hair slicked back, cane tapping against the concrete.
Eyes followed him.
A lanky teenager with sunken cheeks and a knife on his belt stepped forward. "You lost, rich boy?"
Blaze smiled. "No. I'm exactly where I need to be."
He glanced down. Dirt under the kid's nails. Limping slightly—right leg injury, untreated fracture. The blade handle showed signs of rust.
"I need a volunteer. One with nothing to lose. One who wants power."
The teen snorted. "You sound like a cult leader."
"I sound like salvation," Blaze replied. "In twenty-four hours, you can become more than human. Or, you can keep rotting in your own filth."
"And if I say no?"
"Then I'll just find someone more desperate than you. Perhaps that girl in the corner—she hasn't eaten in two days."
The teen's jaw clenched. "Fine. What do I gotta do?"
"Come with me."
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8:00 PM – Abandoned Medical Facility, Round Rock
Strapped to a surgical chair under flickering lights, the teen blinked. Fear was starting to take root.
"What's your name?" Blaze asked, prepping the IV.
"Keith."
"Keith, you are about to become a monster. But a useful one."
Keith flinched. "What does that mean?"
Blaze didn't answer. Instead, he began the injection.
The vampire DNA, mixed with chemical suppressants and genetic nanobots, flowed into Keith's bloodstream.
Keith screamed. His veins blackened. His pupils dilated into slits.
"Vitals rising. Pain response peaking. Heart... holding," Blaze narrated. "No signs of immediate rejection."
Keith thrashed, then passed out. Blaze monitored every biometric signal. Every twitch. Every abnormal spike.
"He lives," Blaze whispered. "He lives."
---
11:45 PM – Awakening
Keith's eyes shot open.
They glowed. Crimson.
His breathing was sharp, ragged. Muscles rippled under skin that looked... harder.
"W-What... am I?" Keith rasped.
Blaze stepped forward, unafraid. "You are Phase One. A hybrid."
Keith's hands twitched. Nails lengthened into black claws.
"I feel... hungry."
Blaze handed him a bag of blood. "Drink this. Your biology now requires it."
Keith drained the bag in seconds.
Then looked at Blaze with something between awe and fear.
"Why are you helping me?"
Blaze knelt slightly, eye level with his creation. "Because I want to see what godhood looks like... when stitched together with monster blood."