Immortal

01. Eternity in a day

To start off, I don't believe any of these events could have been avoided. Even now, as I stick my hand into the hole of the metallic wall and feel a slight prick on my wrist. I could feel the droplet of blood slide off my skin into the scanner. I can feel the hum of the wall coming to life as it verified my identity with my blood. I could hear the mechanical gears turning to open the door in front of me. My white coat looking brighter then usual under the lighting just outside the laboratory. The place where I spent most of my days studying the complexities of recreating an artificial soul. No computer program on earth came close to the hand made complex knowledge needed to make a living soul.
We hadn't had new life in this world for several centuries. Somehow we had been able to create life forces for animals. Those were mostly only designed once and were not intended to live past a certain age. The soul was just copied and recreated in multitudes. Creating a new life though, that wasn't animalistic had its challenges. Most of the ones who woke up or made it to the waking stage fell into a sort of manic state when they learned they were created and considered artificial. Interactions with it, well they were minimal at best. Usually it ultimately killed itself since somehow being created and meeting your creator was not a thing most emotionally complex created life forms could withstand knowing.
They were called "Art forms." Labeled by symbols and if they lived long enough, even were given a name. I guess, I can say there were better ways to spend the day rather than being hunched over a device that illuminated our latest artificial soul force.
My partner was watching me work intently, since I was the leading researcher, and creator for this sector. Most of my designs had lasted well beyond the first stages of the awakening period. All I can say about that is, that the devil is in the details. Nothing can go by overlooked in this kind of work. Everything was in the details.

To explain further, my world was dead. Not just was, but it is still present day dead. Nothing grows or changes, there are no animals that weren't art forms. The plant life was also artificially grown, and there was about over 300 million sectors that used to house billions of us. Each one more unique than the last, but since the great war many of us died out. Those that remain were exposed to a chemical and vaccine that in terms killed death.

I was among the first to be exposed to the chemical. I admit that chemical was a mistake. If I could have taken it back I would have. Not everyone survived the exposure, some couldn't survive the change.
I remember the moment a little too vividly. My mother (who's face I can't remember at all anymore) showed up after years of not coming home. I was left in the care of my brother Eliam. Who had snow white hair and rich amber gold eyes. He was fairly tall, and he worked a little too hard. I survived because of him, he didn't get a lot out of his work, to this day I still don't fully know what kind of work he even does. Since we were on the lower end of the sectors and districts we mostly ate scraps. It was the only food his work earned him. I never complained, as long as there was something piping hot to stop the hunger pains that were ever growing in the pit of my stomach. For a long time he would give me an extra heaping of his portion of the scraps he'd collected for us to eat, even though I never asked for it.

He cared too much. Sometimes, I wished he would care a little less. I still kinda hope one day he might, but thats just deluded thinking. I remember my mothers scent faintly, it was a sweet rose like perfume. It clung to her skin heavily almost as if she bathed and slept in the most fragrant of roses. She was carrying a metal black case with her as she rushed in. Her hair was in a lopsided bun, some of the curls in her hair stuck out and clung to her face. I was alone. She called my name in a frantic manner. She ran about searching the empty areas of our home. I crept out into the living room. Our eyes met; She reached out to me the way a nurturing mother would, arms extended a smile across her face. I was cautious. I didn't know if I could trust her anymore. She called to me more firmly. I couldn't ignore her tone so I stepped forward and she pulled me into her. I was suffocated by the burst of flowers. Her scent. It drowned out all other senses, diluting my alertness. She opened the metal casing behind her and pulled out a syringe, while I was still reeling from the smell.