The Arrogance of Humility 8,5

[Another Story: In The Name of Love]

17 years ago, at Underground Laboratory, night time.

Vennefer Harvey (Age 20) stood, seeing the messed room from the failed experiment to contain Maleficium. His appearance during his youth didn’t change much. He didn’t have any facial hair and wore a generic sage robe.

The laboratory was eerie with the air suffocating and damp. It was dark down there with only candles to light the room.

In front of him was a clear glass tube with the size of an adult human linked with an electric-powered generator.

“Father… Luciana…” he muttered as he held a black gemstone about the size of a fist. He looked at the stone with his eyes full of resolve; he had prepared everything until that very day.

The black stone shone, emitting a strong black gust of wind, putting the candles off. Now the room was pitch-black, devoid of light.

“How much do I need?” he asked the stone.

“How do you measure courage and sanity?” the solemn voice of a woman spoke to him through his mind.

“He told me you can bring me anything I desire, correct?”

“Do you really want to bring two back? Don’t say to me you’re forgetting your father’s last words.”

“I… I can’t forget about his last wish but…”

“Her?”

“Yes… I want to see her back. I can’t contact her spirit—”

“Meaning she died peacefully. She neither had regret nor vengeance in her heart. Forget it.”

“But—!”

“The only one with regret is you, Vennefer.”

Vennefer clenched his fists.

“Shut up…!” he muttered as he bit his lip. “I’m your master. You obey my words.”

“So be it.”

Vennefer arranged the tools necessary for his experiment and poured all ingredients that made up the human’s body: Oxygen, Hydrogen, Carbon, Nitrogen, Calcium, Phosphorus, Sulfur, Sodium, Potassium, Chlorine, Magnesium, Silicon, Iron, Zinc, Copper, Iodine, Manganese, Fluorine, Chromium, Selenium, Molybdenum, and Cobalt in the tube.

He reached his hand to activate the machine but before Vennefer touched the handle; the stone warned him.

“Dark Alchemy’s rebound will kill the user,” the stone warned. “Don’t you remember that? The success rate of this experiment is lesser than 10%.”

“No need to remind me.” He closed his eyes for a moment, rethinking his choice.

“Are you ready to take the risk?”

“I am.” His decision was firm. “That’s why I need you for this.”

“Six tries. I can’t give more.”

“It’s enough. Have you memorized the image?”

“I wouldn’t forget as long as you remember. Don’t lose your concentration or you shall lessen your chance.”

“Thank you.” He smiled.

Vennefer put the stone inside the tube and activated the machine. Brilliant light and waves of electricity burst around the machine. The stone emitted more black suffocating aura, leaking through the tube. The ingredients mixed with the black aura, trying to construct a fetus that rapidly grows.

“It’s working!” he thought, but his hope didn’t stay more than a minute.

Before reaching the shape of a week old baby, the ingredients deconstructed and crumbled, returning to their former states. The unstable energy from the failure caused a rebound, almost exploding, but the stone emitted a stronger aura, forcing the ingredients to stabilize by distributing the energy among the ingredients.

“First failure…” he thought as he witnessed his failure. “Five more to go!”

The ingredients mixed, forming a fetus again, but the fetus deformed and grew wildly like cancer, almost destroying the tube. The stone stabilized and broke the ingredients down to the base.

“Second failure…” he thought discouraged, nevertheless, he wanted to continue until the end. “It’s harder than I thought…!”

Two more failures happened, but the stone stabilized them before the explosion from the rebound happened.

“Third… Fourth…” he muttered. “Is there any hope left? Damn it!”

Vennefer almost lost his hope, but the thought of seeing his loved one encouraged him. He would continue it, even if it cost him his life.

“Abandon this experiment,” the stone said. “It’s—!”

“I… I’m not stopping!” he uttered as he reactivated the machine by pulling the handle forcefully.

The stone emitted the aura, and the ingredients mixed, forming from the fetus again.

“Please,” he thought as he clenched his teeth. “Please. I just want to see her again… Luciana… I want to see you again…!”

After an hour, the fetus gradually grew, forming the shape of an early adult human female. She looked like Lucy, but with shorter wavy hair. Vennefer looked at the tube, and happiness filled his heart; he succeeded as her current form stabilized.

“Luciana…” he muttered as tears fell from his eyes to the ground. He hurried and stood in front of the tube to see her up close. “It is… It is you…”

Vennefer fell on his knee, crying from happiness.

“Please…” he muttered as he smiled. “Open your eyes—”

The stone sensed growing anomalies from her body. It wasn’t from dark alchemy rebound; it was from the machines.

“Get away from her!” the stone said aloud. “The machine; it’s unstable!”

“What—?”

Vennefer looked at the machine behind him. Wild sparks appeared from it and the cables connecting to the tube.

“The machine…” he thought, devastated. “Don’t tell me—?!”

The machine went awry, unable to keep up with the process, causing the body to bloat rapidly like before, almost destroying the tube. The electricity powering the academy rapidly blinked because the machine drew too much power but couldn’t handle all the electricity at once.

“No—!” Vennefer ran to the machine desperately, reaching his arm for the handle.

The machine and the tube exploded, knocking Vennefer away. The academy blacked out for a second after the explosion and returned to normal the second after. The flying shards from the explosion pierced Vennefer’s flesh, but luckily, it didn’t puncture his internal organs.

“Agh!” Vennefer removed the shards and healed his body using magic. He looked at the destroyed tube; at the image of his lover. Her body was deconstructing rapidly from technical failure.

“Luciana,” he called. “Please open your eyes—!”

The body opened her eyes; her eyes were as red as pure ruby, but a second after she opened her eyes fully, the body crumbled into a lifeless pile of dust.

“Luciana… No…!” He was devastated with his eyes full of tears. His heart felt a sharp pain as the wind blew the image away. “Lucy… Luciana!!!”

Vennefer limped towards the destroyed tube. Only dust and rubble were there. His knees felt weak as he fell down.

“No…” he muttered. “I failed! I failed…!”

He slammed his fists to the ground, frustrated.

“I… If only you hadn’t saved me…”

He stood and removed the rubbles from the tube to take the stone, but, under the dust, he saw something.

“This is…?”

There was a week old baby there, covered under the dust.

“A… child?”

Vennefer realized he didn’t fail completely as the ingredients to create a human stabilized as a week old female baby while the excess ingredients turned to dust. He checked the condition of the baby; the pulse and the temperature were normal, she was breathing, and no visible organs were deformed. The baby was alive and well.

Vennefer smiled as he lifted and hugged the baby.

“Luciana…”

He noticed something off from the baby. The moment she opened her eyes, she didn’t cry. Her eyes were empty of emotions.

“What the…?”

“She has neither soul nor spirit,” the stone said under the dust.

Vennefer picked up the stone and put it inside his pocket.

“What do you mean?”

“She, the baby, is an empty shell.”

“No way…”

The baby stared at Vennefer blankly. Vennefer felt his heart breaking, but he clenched and curbed his sadness.

“If she has no soul, then I’ll give it myself!”

“What are you trying to do? Necromantiae can’t call back a spirit!”

Vennefer smirked.

“Who says I’m using Necromantiae? I’m giving her a soul and spirit.”

“You can’t create spirit.”

Vennefer said nothing, but it knew Vennefer was serious.

“Heh,” it said, impressed with Vennefer’s resolution. “One try.”

“There’s no turning back either,” Vennefer said as he took a sharp shard from the tube and pierced his arm to draw blood. He formed a hexagram sigil with his blood on the ground and placed the baby in the middle. He took the stone and put it in the middle of the circle.

“A catalyst is set,” he thought. “I’m sorry, father. This is the last one.”

The sigil darkened, and the stone emitted black aura, resonating with the sigil.

“Now,” the stone said. “Call out my name!”

“Belial!” Vennefer said aloud, and, among the black aura, a single brilliant light appeared below the sigil.

Vennefer pointed below the light and level 40 sigil appeared.

“Deus: Demiurgos!”

The stone replicated the same level 40 sigil, overlaying Vennefer’s sigil, and summoned a replica of the light next to it.

“Now,” he thought. “To bind the spirit into—!”

Suddenly, the original light blackened and consumed the replicated light as the hexagram sigil started crumbling.

“What in the—?!” he thought, surprised. “Belial, what is happening—?!”

“It’s… It is too strong for us to control, master! I have reached my limit!”

“You can’t be serious…!” Vennefer opened his eyes wide as he realized he would meet the same fate as his father. He was afraid with his body trembling. If he had died there, then Luciana’s sacrifice would have been in vain. Knowing that, Vennefer stepped forward to the sigil and touched the black light.

“Belial, every demon requires a cost,” he said. “You demanded three person’s bodies before.”

“Don’t tell me…” Belial said. “You want to make an offer?! If it refuses, you will—!”

“I just need to make an interesting offer, correct?”

Vennefer smirked as he touched the black orb.

“Now, spirit!” Vennefer said aloud. “I offer you… The half of my soul, take it!”

Vennefer’s consciousness rapidly ceased as his breath became heavier. His joints went numb while his bones felt like they were cracking.

“Did I… fail?” he thought. “Heh, look like I failed the gamble and disgraced your words, father.”

Ten minutes later, Professor Mesdoram, Headmaster Velfern, and Professor Arthur arrived at the abandoned laboratory to investigate what just happened. Headmaster Velfern felt a sinister aura from the abandoned laboratory while the two searched for the electrical blackout before.

Professor Mesdoram’s appearance had lesser wrinkles and only wore a normal sage robe.

Headmaster Velfern Draco was a tall and lean man in his late 30s having porcelain skin, ruby eyes, a pointed nose, and medium black spiky hair with bangs and no facial hair. He wore a Wiseman robe with medals and badges, black gloves, and a monocle. He had a scepter with a ruby tip that he used as a walking cane.

Professor Arthur du Orleans was a tall and frail man in his late 30s having porcelain skin, azure eyes, a Grecian nose, and long blonde layered hair that reached his back with bangs and no facial hair. He wore a generic Wiseman robe and rectangular clear glasses.

“It must be from here!” Professor Arthur said.

They opened the door and saw the even more destroyed laboratory filled with debris and dust. They entered and found the unconscious Vennefer with the baby next to him. The baby was crying as if it was just born.

“A child?!” Professor Mesdoram said. “Whose child is this?! As far as I know, Vennefer had no child!”

“This foul stench…” Headmaster Velfern thought as he took a flask of luminol from his pocket and smeared it around the ground. The darkness in the laboratory was sufficient for them to see a Maleficium hexagram sigil on the ground.

“This hexagram sigil…” Professor Mesdoram said. “He was trying to use Maleficium?”

“Don’t tell me…” Professor Arthur muttered. “This child is—?!”

Headmaster Velfern took the baby in his right arm and looked at her blue eyes. The baby calmed down as she stared at Velfern innocently.

“He made a human…?” Professor Arthur said, surprised.

“Possibly,” Headmaster Velfern said as he covered the baby with two handkerchiefs to keep her warm.

“This is impossible…” Professor Mesdoram said. “To create a living human without coitus between a male and a female… This is beyond taboo!”

“And yet, this man did it,” Headmaster Velfern said. “He achieved the unachievable.”

Professor Mesdoram checked his condition; Vennefer was still breathing and still warm.

“He’s alive!” Professor Mesdoram said.

“Even after performing such a thing…” Professor Arthur muttered.

“He’s outstanding, no?” Headmaster Velfern said to Professor Mesdoram. “He never let a single mistake happen. I wasn’t even surprised he could perform such a thing.”

Headmaster Velfern stood near the tube and examined the dust.

“Carbon, Nitrogen, Calcium, Phosphorus, Sodium, Chlorine, Magnesium, Silicon, Iron, Zinc, Copper, Iodine, Manganese, Fluorine, Chromium, Selenium, Molybdenum, and Cobalt,” he said. “Those were the components of our body.”

“Dark Alchemy…” Professor Arthur said as he stood next to Headmaster Velfern.

“And this forbidden machine of Thanatech my family once took from late Altus Celzan…” Headmaster Velfern said.

“Then,” Professor Arthur said. “The black out earlier—?”

“Because of this machine. It overcharged and exploded.”

“Maleficium, Dark Alchemy, and Thanatech—” Professor Arthur muttered.

“Gnosis.”

“Then, this child is—?!”

“This baby… She is the personification of Gnosis.”

“That’s impossible,” Professor Arthur said. “He achieves Gnosis by himself?”

“I hope I could doubt that…”

“Luciana…” the unconscious Vennefer muttered. “Luci… ana…”

“Headmaster Velfern,” Professor Mesdoram called. “He—”

“I heard that clear, Professor Mesdoram,” he replied.

“Which means that child is—” Professor Arthur deducted.

“Yes…” Headmaster Velfern closed his eyes and a single tear fell to the ground. “She is… my daughter… She is Luciana Draco.”

“He had committed a great taboo!” Professor Mesdoram asked. “We should execute him—!”

“Wait,” Headmaster Velfern ordered. “We will question him, Bring him to the infirmary and keep watch over him.”

They brought the unconscious Vennefer to the infirmary, waiting for him to wake up.

The next day in the morning, Vennefer, having fully recovered, was brought by the three inside the auditorium alone for questioning. They put a painful sigil to detect lyings in Vennefer’s words. If Vennefer told a lie, the sigil would be active and deliver a painful jolt of electricity to his body.

The three of them sat down in front of him on the stage. Headmaster Velfern was holding the sleeping baby in his right arm.

“Vennefer Matheus Harvey,” Professor Mesdoram said. “We found traces of Maleficium on the ground, ingredients allegedly for Dark Alchemy, and the usage of Thanatech machine without permission. We found this suspicious one-week-old baby, which supposedly looks like Luciana Sherah Draco, next to you. We suspect your experiment was for Gnosis, correct?”

Vennefer didn’t look at their eyes directly as he felt ashamed and guilty for breaking his father’s oath and shaming his family’s name. He just shook his head, denying it. The sigil on his body wasn’t active, meaning he wasn’t lying.

“Why?” Professor Mesdoram asked. “You are the last heir of the Vennefer family and still dare to shame your father’s name?”

Professor Vennefer dared himself to speak.

“I…” he muttered. “I want to see her…”

“Luciana?” Professor Arthur asked.

“Yes.”

“With whom did you perform them all?”

“No one.”

“You unearthed what our ancestors deemed forbidden…” Professor Mesdoram said. “Don’t you know what consequences you shall face?”

“I’m ready… I have no regret. But please, that child. Give her to me—”

“You are in no place to bargain, Vennefer!” Professor Mesdoram scolded. “You might be gifted and outstanding in knowledge, but that doesn’t mean you could do anything you want! You have performed a taboo!”

“That was the last time.”

“There was no second chance to begin with! Your father, Salazar, told everyone to abandon the study of Maleficium and anyone who broke the oath, whether he or she is from the founder families, would be considered as an oath-breaker and received death punishment!”

“You can’t bring back what you lost,” Professor Arthur said.

“But I did…” he replied. “I brought her back! She’s there… She’s there!” Vennefer looked at the baby in Headmaster Velfern’s arms. “Give her to me—!”

“You fool!” Professor Mesdoram scolded as he stood. “She is Headmaster Velfern’s daughter! Just because you unearth what you don’t own, that doesn’t mean she is—!”

“Enough, Professor Mesdoram,” Headmaster Velfern said. “Enough…”

“Understood,” Professor Mesdoram said as he sat back.

“What does it cost?” Headmaster Velfern asked as he caressed the baby’s face. “What does it cost to bring my daughter back?”

“Everything…” Vennefer replied. “I gave everything! My sanity, my blood, my time, my position, my family’s pride, and the half of my very soul…”

“Why did you sacrifice those? Was it because you desire Gnosis?”

“Because… I love her.”

“It wasn’t for Gnosis—?”

“To hell with Gnosis! I didn’t bring her back for the same reason as him! I just want her back! I just want to see her again. To sit with her again, to laugh with her again, to see her smile again, to see her happy… Are those things wrong?!”

Headmaster Velfern tilted his head slightly with a pitying, stoic look.

“Love, hm…?” he muttered as he closed his eyes. “The purest reagent, the best catalyst, the strongest force, the most powerful of emotions, the true philosopher’s stone, the blessings and the curse we humans bear. The thing that death and time themselves can’t govern…”

Headmaster Velfern stood with the baby in his arms, walking to Vennefer.

“I realized something,” Professor Velfern said. “This child… She’s not my daughter.”

“What do you mean?” Vennefer asked. “Isn’t she, Luciana?”

“No… She is—” He smiled sincerely, pleased with Vennefer’s reason. “—your daughter.”

“Why?”

“You brought her yourself. Albeit she has my daughter’s looks, she isn’t mine.”

Vennefer hugged the baby, crying happily.

“Take care and raise her,” Headmaster Velfern said with a smile.

“Thank you,” he said to Headmaster Velfern. “Thank you…”

“You may leave now, Vennefer. We have heard enough.”

Vennefer bowed to them in respect before leaving the auditorium with the baby. Headmaster Velfern returned to his seat and said to them.

“We shall not grant him punishment.”

Professor Mesdoram stood, disagreeing.

“But Headmaster Velfern! He—!”

“Let him be.”

“Your reason?” Professor Arthur asked. “You never showed mercy before, even to your own brother.”

“Everyone who seeks the darkest of knowledge would go mad, correct? Brutus Celzan and his son, Altus Celzan; Minerva Daemalus; Nero Sildrag; Rahabea Ascer. After unraveling this knowledge, they all went insane, giving the other families no other chance than to kill them. But does Vennefer go insane like them?”

“No,” Professor Mesdoram said.

“No, Headmaster Velfern,” Professor Arthur said.

“I wonder why? He even lost a part of his soul in the process, but he didn’t go insane. Was it because of love? Is his love to her so pure, selfless, and genuine that nothing could corrupt him?”

“But, the search for Gnosis is for humans’ greater good, isn’t it?” Professor Mesdoram asked.

“Ah, Gnosis…” Headmaster Velfern said as he crossed his arms on the table. “The pinnacle of men’s ego. The ambition to retrieve Eden driven by men’s hubris and avarice to reach or even surpass The Almighty. No wonder they all went insane for knowing that forbidden knowledge; their hearts got consumed by pride. They went berserk, desiring the destructive aspect of Gnosis.”

“Isn’t Vennefer’s desire to resurrect Luciana is also egoistic?” Professor Arthur asked.

“If that was for his ego, then he would go insane.”

“So, that means… His love is selfless?”

“Correct.”

“What if he went insane someday?” Professor Mesdoram asked.

“Kill him at once,” he replied coldly.

After that day, Headmaster Velfern made him a professor despite Vennefer never showing his achievements publicly or partaking in the professor’s test. Only a few knew what his achievement was; it was creating a baby in the image of his lover through darker aspects of Gnosis that he later named Luxianne Serafell. He raised the baby himself and taught him all of his knowledge to her, but he, with the reason unknown, didn’t name her as one of Harvey's family.

The girl later grew to be a competent Magus, surpassing her adoptive father and taking the youngest sage title from him.