[Somewhere in Akrina]
All who were in Gravax’s fleet felt a growing tension mounting, as thoughts ran wild and hundreds of questions went unanswered.
A concoction of emotions spread throughout the Behemoth as many soldiers mentally relived the sight of the former Lord Grim getting tossed around like a rag doll.
Those who once respected him developed mixed feelings, and that brewed an emotion many hoped they’d never feel: hatred toward their allies.
Grim was evacuated from the planet by his Cyclitharan counterpart, Cion. The one-eyed ally, who saw the Ethisian ships suddenly appear long before Grim did, grabbed the black-scaled Granian by the arm and rushed him into a ship with a few other soldiers he was able to gather.
Despite Grim’s disapproval of a cowardly retreat, the Cyclitharan subdued him thoroughly and made a hasty escape, leaving behind Grim’s mate and, more importantly, the two Blood Mutants.
Grim obviously tried to defend himself, but there was no way his words would soothe Grania’s rage. Now, those who were loyal to Grim began to loathe not only Grim’s Cyclitharan counterpart but also the rest of the Cyclitharan soldiers.
It was because of one of them that Grim was mocked and ridiculed in front of everyone on the Behemoth ship. And pretty soon, word spread to the other ships and eventually, the rest of the Granian and Cyclitharan army.
Meanwhile, amidst all that tension, a Granian celebrated a wonderful breakthrough he made in his "research." At long last, he had achieved one of the many experiments he had been conducting for years, and this had been the longest of them all.
This experiment, or rather breakthrough, was going to be the breakthrough he and his people desperately needed. To top that, it was going to be the talk of Akrina for a very long time because his was leagues ahead of anyone else’s breakthroughs.
’At long last, I have mastered perfect cloning.’ Lord Gravax, standing in front of thirteen cylindrical containers, smiled with wide eyes as he gazed at the fully grown, fully matured, battle-ready Granian clones floating in the containers.
Of the twelve clones, six were made from a mixture of Cherry’s blood and Granian DNA, and the other six were made from Ace’s. Whether they had a difference in strength or not was yet to be proved, but at long last, he had done it.
"Progress report," the Granian recorded himself, standing before his glorious creation floating in the containers, "I have managed to create the perfected model of Granian clones, separate from the first ones I made. These clone cells, from what I have spent a few days observing, do not decompose or decay after a short period of time. Even though they have grown rather pretty quickly, they seem to grow like regular cells once they have reached their peak form, or full maturity...."
The Granian drained twelve of the thirteen cells, leaving just the one that had Ace’s fully rejuvenated but still unconscious body floating in it.
After a few seconds had passed, the clones’ eyes slowly opened, and they began to gain consciousness.
Gravax admired their physique, praising himself for the creation of peak forms of the Granian race. Not only were these clones a mixture of Ace and Cherry’s blood/DNA, they were made from nearly every great Granian’s DNA as well. That included Gravax, the Granian Lord Grania, Helda, One Horn, and of course, Grim.
"...the peak Granian form," he continued, describing to himself their physiques even though the recording wasn’t only audio but a video, "these Granians will outlive all of the other clones I had made and continue to grow stronger. They possess the ability to grow, learn, and adapt to their situation...of course, that is what I theorize. Time to put them to the test."
The Granian Lord unlocked one of the containers, letting one clone’s body fall out. The creature awkwardly stumbled, its body still wet from the container’s contents.
For a moment, it fumbled awkwardly, resembling a baby taking its first steps. While doing so, the clone and Gravax stared at each other before Gravax circled and observed the other clones.
Like the average Granian, they had tough gray outer scales, an underlayer of multi-colored, softer scales, and a soft gradient on their arms and legs that transitioned from gray to black. Their horns were an emerald green, and their eyes were purple in color, sharp and almost draconic.
One notable feature of the one particular clone Gravax chose to test was its height. The average Granian ranged between six feet and eight inches to seven feet and two inches. This clone was roughly seven feet and nine inches, nearly the same height as an Ethisian.
"...you’d expect for such a tall creature to be lanky and slim in stature, but the muscle mass on its body is far higher than mine, almost as much as Lord Grania, and he’s quite robust."
The clone, now stable on its feet, turned to look at Gravax with curiosity and disgust. Curious at this tiny imitation of itself standing next to it and disgusted by the fact that said tiny imitation of itself looked different and dared look at it all funny.
"What are you looking at?" it asked, swinging its tail while trying to keep up with Gravax, who circled several times. The red-scaled Granian shrieked, amazed at how it was able to speak coherently so quickly.
The other clones weren’t able to form coherent words, let alone assess their situation. This one, on the other hand, was able to understand that it was being observed.
"Interesting," Gravax continued, "not only is it able to communicate eloquently, it’s able to understand its surroundings and comprehend what is happening around it in real time."
With a push of a button, Gravax initiated a mechanism that altered the clone’s brain chemistry, making it aware of its situation, its purpose, and what exactly it was.
The clone froze momentarily as all the information "loaded" in its brain. After a few minutes had passed, it became aware of what it was, how it was made, and why it was made. All that was left was for it to test drive its body.
"Let us conduct the tests. And afterwards, we’ll wake your counterparts up and do the same." Thıs text ıs hosted at 𝓷𝓸𝓿𝓮𝓵✶𝕗𝕚𝕣𝕖✶𝓷𝓮𝓽