A bit of lightning, everywhere.<br/><br/>There was the power that churned from the great dam, enough to give the city night-defying light, and trickle torrents of potent sparks all the way through the city's veins out to glass shards and plastic shells that came apart from the walls that fed them. People learned to trust this easily comprehensible thing. One explosion is put into a thing, like water, and if you convince it well enough, it will give you part of that explosion to use. The steel skeleton towers were built with its help, and tradesmen would swear by it.<br/><br/>Then another thing was offered. Discovered early and kept secret, its potency clipped and dwarfed by the advancement of<i>lighting everywhere</i>. But all primal sources have endless potential. Ranks and ivy coiled with the copper veins and climbed the towers. It is a beginning age and people are afraid and elated with the change. The tradesmen have new things to swear.<br/><br/>Kedrick Ayes inherited a bastard thing from his father, an alloy root that made an ugly tree. But the bark could be melted and twisted into fibers that carried the explosions of dams as well as new, grown magic. The boy held on to the root when tradesmen came, he held on until he'd grown into a giant standing in the great intersection between comprehensible and energized dreams. All the other creatures that weren't the center-stage naked monkeys also needed his conduit fibers that could reconcile fantastical totems and their spells, with natures power, such as the sea and wind. The glass shard and the plastic shells were hungry, and so were the staffs and artifacts. Every inch of every integrated world was run through with Unium from Ayes Trees. Riches came in torrents for The boy who'd held on.<br/><br/>But it was lonely, clinging to a root, even though his mother and sister were with him. Despite rising tall and wearing affectionate suits, Kedrick did not feel wanted. Hiding his fortune was better. No one really knew what torrential riches looked like. He spoke to strangers and he shook the hands of people who were like screws in his highway of never ending credit. Maybe they were afraid of the black in his brown irises, or maybe they were disgruntled or worse over his disproportional success. He kept his heart guarded, and they kept themselves from reaching. In the end it was better to be careful when he could be formidable. He had nothing to prove. He already owned the world.<br/><br/>But sometimes, among the beautifully crafted offers of goddess-whores and titanium jointed companions, there were offers like this. He could afford to try a new product, and had seen enough acquaintances with them to at least know they were safe. Grown bespoke. Made to fit your every need. Special for your kind of man. Practical.<br/><br/>They took his blood and whatever memories he wanted to give through the OraclePond. They'd put it in the ground and water it with his life. He should understand, given his line of work. They told him it'd be a servant of sorts, perfect, but Kedrick heard blood, and thought family. It was another thing to throw unholy wealth at, but it didn't matter to a running river when even large animals drank the water. He didn't have much hope, but their pitch had at least been enough for him to sign up.<br/><br/>They insisted on the theatrics of sending their own car. He'd come from his modest town house and suddenly found himself swept away by the spectacle of it. It was exciting, buying new things.<br/><br/>He gasped when they took him to the green house, built out of crystals and steel. The air was full of scents and moisture he'd not known before, and glass along the walls showed him the stages of conception in the dirt, to a tall, crooked stem, holding a crimson, slick pod. It really did present itself as a mixture of the known world and the fantastical.<br/><br/>They had dedicated a room for his particular specimen, where others would share sections. Hormones that were purified, and spells that noone else could afford. Perfect conditions and endless personnel. Kedrick was sure their margins of profit were large enough, still, the way the smiled at him. His reputation was a bit more vicious than he was, so they assumed he'd be vengeful in the courtroom sort of way if they did not deliver. Perhaps there was something to such a worry. He indulged in ruining lives if they deserved it, an impulse he'd not yet understood in himself.<br/><br/>It was several stems holding this pod up. The biological architecture was elegant. He was asked to go with naked feet and roll up his trousers. The light was pleasant in here and the carefully fluffed soil was almost like velvet. Greta, who'd been his contact for this entire experience, followed him, but made sure he went first onto the flat, smooth rocks that circled the trunk of the stems. Strobes were directed at the orb and the light let him see something moving inside. It was undoubtedly human in shape.<br/><br/>Greta produced a beautiful, long scalper from her skirt - they liked to dress her in provocative high-office garb for his entertainment - and held the blade so he could take the handle. His noble nose and his cruel cheekbones - infamous in boardrooms - pointed at the pouch that contained the life he'd bought. The cutter was light.<br/><br/>"This is a transformative experience for you too. We'll reimburse you for the suit. Please immerse yourself in this genesis." Greta asked as she backed off and closed the room. This was it's own primordial sphere, he discovered, looking around with the short sword in hand. This was how Eden should have been written, now that they knew the world was made of two energies instead of one. He reached up to touch the pod, and the stems creaked to lower it, until it touched the stones and the earth. It truly must be time.<br/><br/>Kedrick petted the thing inside to calm it, before he slid the knife on a side far enough from the shape. There was such satisfaction running through him when the orange to pink liquid seeped out from the long opening he'd drawn with the tip of the scalpel. It was warm, that lifes-drink, pooling on the floor and drowning his feet.