The hall reeked of antiseptic and silence. Deep within the Karnell facility—buried beneath layers of snow, steel, and secrecy—Project Dominion had begun.
Rows of metal examination pods hissed open, revealing children restrained within. Naked. Cold. Their heads were shaved completely clean. Not for hygiene—but to mitigate the risk of residual mana interference. The EL-serum was still unstable. Side effects, though lessened, could still cause violent rejection if exposed to ambient magical influence, even residue caught in hair.
The EL-serum, short for Elemorphic Linkage Serum, was a product of decades of dark experimentation. Developed in secret after the merging of Earth and Elemor, the serum was a biological conduit designed to forge a synthetic bridge between the human genome and the ambient mana field that now contaminated the world. The closer one was born to the Great Border, the stronger the natural mana saturation in their blood—at least, that's what the data said.
It was humanity's answer to the growing threat of magical beasts, rising elemental anomalies, and the physical distortions that plagued the planet since the realms merged.
But there was a cost.
The serum was unpredictable. Lethal, even.
And so, the Empire made a choice: to test the limits of genetic evolution not on trained soldiers—whose lives were valuable—but on the unwanted.
Children.
Many were orphans from conquered nations. Others were the blood of fallen nobles, their family names disgraced and discarded. Some were simply stolen from villages like Morvain—ghosts who would never be remembered.
Once deemed viable, the children would be brainwashed and reshaped—turned into Empire tools. Puppets. Superhuman weapons bound by obedience and doctrine. Nothing more than flesh-formed instruments.
Scoff Karios, head of the Dominion Project, stood behind the glass of the observation chamber, arms behind his back. His eyes were a cold, washed grey—more like steel than frost. Though in his fifties, he showed no signs of weakness. His hair was trimmed neatly, and his royal features bore the arrogance of someone descended from a cadet branch of the Stellare dynasty. Not a prince, but blood close enough to command absolute respect.
Beside him, hunched under a dark coat, stood Kaios Verma—his bald head covered by a breathing mask resembling an archaic gas mask. Tubes hissed faintly, feeding the old alchemist-turned-scientist with a mixture of oxygen and stabilizing agents. His eyes were pitch black, like the eyes of a rat raised in a cage. He had once led the Search Division. Now, he ran diagnostics, obsessed with mana fluctuation data and genetic flux.
"The EL-serum has been administered," Kaios rasped. "Seventy-two subjects. This batch was stronger."
Scoff didn't blink. "Success rate?"
"Eighteen. The rest flatlined within twenty minutes."
"Acceptable."
Kaios scribbled in his logbook. "It's more than that. Two anomalies have appeared this cycle. High compatibility. AB and O types. Also, R-932's cognitive responses have tripled post-injection. He's predicting stimuli patterns at sub-second levels."
Scoff's gaze shifted to the screens as monitors displayed biometric scans, pulse readings, and neural diagrams of the children. The majority showed failure. Internal hemorrhaging, neural collapse, cardiac arrest. But the survivors… the survivors were something else.
AB-774—an infant, barely one day old. The youngest subject. He had been pulled from the ashes of Morvain, found hidden under floorboards. His vitals remained impossibly steady. No signs of rejection. His stare was cold, unblinking—an intelligence unfit for his age.
Scoff narrowed his eyes. "The AB marker. Confirmed?"
Kaios nodded. "Confirmed. 0.01% of Earth-born humans have it. It allows us to test nearly any branch of potential. There's no predicting what we'll unlock."
"No breakdown? No spasms? No neural resistance?"
"None. He's perfect."
"Tag him. Chamber 12."
Other survivors followed:
O-243 – Age 10. Grandson of General Ceaser Heinis of Brena, the disgraced commander whose army had been incinerated after arriving too late to save Morvain. O-243 carried regenerative potential and strong cellular durability. He bit a guard during intake—broke the man's finger clean off. Now sedated, he stared upward at the ceiling with raw hatred in his eyes.
S-410 and S-411 – Twin girls. Unnamed, silent. They moved and breathed in synchronization, always aware of each other's presence. Preliminary scans confirmed their neural pathways were partially linked—one could feel what the other did. Their designation placed them under S classification, with high pyrokinetic potential and psychic resonance.
R-932 – A thin boy with a twitch in his left eye. He murmured to himself constantly, muttering about patterns, lights, and "the future that comes in slices." His cerebral cortex lit up during stimulation tests like a flaring beacon. R types were rare. With enough genetic tuning, he could become a living combat algorithm.
K-109 – Slight frame, dark circles under his eyes. K classification. Mind-sensitive. Able to intuit intention and emotions even now. He stared at technicians through the glass, as if hearing things no one else did. His reports already marked him for controlled social isolation.
Y-271 – A girl whose blood produced strange regenerative enzymes after EL-serum exposure. She went comatose for over an hour before awakening, eyes glowing faintly before returning to normal. Y types were valuable—but dangerous. Their healing abilities required draining their own life force.
Power System: Genetic Compatibility by Blood Type
O – Physical enhancements: Regeneration, strength, resilience
Pro: Ideal for close combat units Con: Prone to rage, hard to sedate
K – Neural sensitivity: Intuition, empathic sensing
Pro: Good for reconnaissance Con: Prone to paranoia and hallucinations
S – Pyrokinetic-affinity & mind-link potential
Pro: High-impact attack capabilities Con: Mentally volatile, unstable bonding effects
R – Micro-foresight & perceptual time extension
Pro: Strategic potential, ideal for command units Con: Physical limitations, sensory overload risks
Y – Healing through genetic sacrifice
Pro: Support class, battlefield medic Con: Depletes their own health permanently
AB – Unspecified universal adaptability
Pro: Unlimited theoretical potential Con: Unknown—can lead to abnormal or uncontrollable evolution
Six more designations remained locked in classified files.
As the testing ended, soldiers entered to escort the survivors to their chambers. There were only twelve chambers in Karnell—one for each designated candidate.
The air was cold. Silent.
AB-774 was the last to be moved. He was lifted, still calm, into the arms of a handler and placed in a reinforced pod with black restraints and mana-disrupting seals. Chamber 12 hissed closed behind him.
Kaios turned to Scoff.
"Dominion has begun."
Scoff said nothing. His eyes followed the infant's pod as it disappeared into the depths of Karnell.
A new generation was being carved in steel and blood. Shaped not from birthrights or education—but from fire, serum, and survival.
Not soldiers.
Not children.
Weapons