Touch of Flame

Pythagoras had heard about and seen his inventions and invited him to see their work and decide if he was interested in working with them. Richard had gone to see them and that was the first time he met professor Fox. A man of the same interest, but he did not only want to arm men with weapons. He wanted to create a physically stronger army.

Humans who could withstand and survive injuries, be faster and stronger. He focused on studying dragon blood and its healing abilities. What made them heal faster? Could human blood be constructed in such a way? His failed attempts that caused the dragon hunters to die shortly after made him seek Richard's assistance.

Richard was happy to help, but there was no way to make human blood look like the ones of dragons. There were components in their blood that didn't exist in human blood.

After many studies and tries, Richard came to test what he thought would work. Take the stem cells in the bone marrow of a dragon and transplant them into humans. These unspecialized cells would perhaps not be rejected as other developed blood cells and they would come to adapt to their new environment.

There were many ways it could be done and there was no way to know the safest way than to try. There were people ready to sacrifice themselves for this to succeed and Ares was one of them, the only first tested subject to have survived this far. But the experiment was still not safe.

The cells did not adapt to everyone and even if they did, the blood was not made to be contained by the human body and put stress on the vital organs making them weaker with time. Even if healing and strength were achieved the healing was not enough to keep certain test subjects alive.

Now with his new method of transplantation, developed after studying blood components and transplanting stem cells into test subjects with compatible blood components, the survival rate was much higher. But Ares was the first test subject and he himself was of the second group tested. He knew the developed medication to help him live longer would be useless at a certain point and he would die.

Unlike himself, he had hope for Ares. He survived the first testing and only had a few side effects. Richard was still studying his blood and he couldn't understand yet why he responded so well to the treatment, to the point that he didn't seem to need medication most of the time to stay alive. Richard really believed the man could live. If he could only find out what was special about his blood or body that made the experiment successful for him.

Richard's situation was different. His heart had already withstood so much, and he had already kept himself alive for so long. His death would come soon, but he would have died sooner without the experiment. Because of what he did to himself, he had survived many attacks and serious injuries.

Richard remembered the day he left to subject himself to this experiment. His beloved wife was scared but she trusted his decision. She knew if he did nothing they would all die anyway. His inventions made him a target and it was only a matter of time before they truly got their hands on him.

Well, they somehow did. But it was his brother disguising himself as him. Something they often did. They knew exactly how to behave like each other, and even adapted their looks to their persona.

The only ones they could not fool were the wives. Richard was sure that Russell's wife knew of his identity but for the sake of her son, she pretended not to. Pretending to be Russell allowed her son to be the heir to the throne.

Russell had offered to do the experiment in his place but Richard had refused to sacrifice his brother. If he only knew what was coming.

He remembered the day he came home, people waiting for him, mourning his death but also ready to crown him as the new king. If he wasn't completely shattered, he would have laughed but he had just found out that two people, his brother who was his other half his whole life, and his wife who became his other half later, were both dead.

His daughter was missing and his second daughter….

Ravina.

He would have never done the experiment had he known that she wouldn't have her mother and sister by her side even if something happened to him. Now he came home to her, unsure if he would survive a week or a month.

She ran into his arms crying, "Uncle!"

He had held her close, his heart breaking even more but then slowly hardening. At that moment he had enough. He didn't know if it was part of the experiment, but it felt as if his heart did become physically harder. His view of the world changed.

He changed.

"Ravina. You didn't lose me. I am here." He had told her.

"I know. I am glad you are alive, Uncle."

"I am your father."

She had pulled back from his embrace, her eyes watching him closely, studying him, and then she just hugged him again. The day after, he was still her uncle despite what he had told her in a moment of weakness. To this day, he was still not sure why that happened?

It was as if she intended to keep his secret even when he almost exposed himself. Many times she looked at him as if she could see him, yet she said nothing. There was also the distancing that happened between them as if she knew he was dying and she didn't want to subject herself to that pain again.

He was not her father anymore. Her father was dead. Her father was a good man. He was not. Her father would not watch her be in pain and do nothing. He did. Her father would put her above anything else. He did not. Her father's heart would break if he saw a tear in her eyes. He had no heart that could be broken.

He had truly become a monster. Well, he did not fully transition into being a one yet. There was still a softness to be hardened left otherwise he wouldn't stuff himself with drugs to numb what was left of his emotions.

Richard never thought he would live this long. Had he known, he would have told her the truth. He wanted too many times when he realized he was alive longer than he anticipated but he had already gone so far with his lie that telling the truth would cause more pain than good. For her own sake, he hoped now that she would never find out the truth.