Humani Victoria

Chapter 32~ Dr. Edward Howl, PhD

  "Nearly all men can stand adversity, but if you want to test a man's character, give him power."

                                                                                                                    ~Abraham Lincoln

Castle of the Two Princesses, Canterlot, Equestria, Tuesday, 4th of March, 3:21pm, 2206 AC

Celestia sipped contently on the warm tea, it was a new brew this time, a spicy herb from Saddle Arabia and Celestia had to admit she like it more than the local brand. She allowed herself to enjoy the warm feeling it gave her as she gazed out the window at the bright day that she had grace upon the land. Celestia tried to enjoy the warmth and light while she could, where she was going they were both on short supply. The soft sound of hoofbeats on carpet approached from behind Celestia and were soon joined by a voice.

"How come every time I find you you're drinking tea while staring out a window?" Luna asked

"Mm, no idea," Celestia said, placing her cup down. "Are you ready?"

"As I'll ever be," Luna answered. "I still can't help but think this is unadvised."

"I made a promise to Jason, we can at least talk to this man."

"I suppose, and the prospect of a magical Human of such power is intriguing."

"Isn't it?" Celestia said. "I imagine he'll have much to say, shall we?"

"We shall," Luna agreed with a small grin, both their horns flared to life.

Celestia glowed bright and was slowly consumed by a blinding white light, with a flash her form disappeared and a blazing trail could be seen soaring across the sky like a shooting star. Luna on the other hand seemed to darken, the shadows around her shifted closer and dark tendrils reached out and latched onto Luna like whips, the shadows consumed her and she melted into the darkness and disappeared.

Several thousand kilometres away from the warm sun that shines on Canterlot, was where the sisters reappeared. Deep in the north they were, the deep snow reached halfway up their long legs and a cold wind blew at their fur. Towering before them was a glacier, it was stuck into the ground with its back half touching the northern sea, the ice was thick, dark, and massive, like a mountain.

"So... Do we knock?" Luna asked.

"Mm, no, last time I had to melt my way in, I suppose it's our only option," Celestia answered, her horn burst into flame, the fire shot out and struck the ice structure. Slowly, but surely, the ice began to melt away on a cascade of water that fell down onto the ground in a waterfall, carving a wide hole in its wake. Eventually the fire broke through into the hollow interior of the glacier, the two sisters exchanged glances as Celestia retracted the flames and extinguished them. With a flap on their wings they ascended into the entrance of their newly created cave, as they carefully began to walk further in, the ice behind them began to reform itself. The moisture in the air solidified and replaced what Celestia had burned away.

The farther in they went, the colder it became, all around them the ice cracked and buzzed as if charged with electricity. As Celestia and Luna entered the large dome-like chamber, they could feel it all around them, power, power without direction or intent. It was wild magic, gone rogue, freezing everything around them, and, had the two sisters been but mere mortals they would have froze to death. Both of them could feel the power, it reached out to them, attracted to their own inherent energy, Luna couldn't help wondering what sort of being could be the source of such awesome power.

"Ladies," a voice greeted.

Celestia and Luna whipped around to spot Glalÿir-Hux, Edward, leaning on his cane casually with an unreadable expression on his face. The two sisters seemed stunned at his sudden appearance but he didn't seem to notice.

"And what do I owe the pleasure of having such two lovely ladies as my company?" Edward said courteously, he limped a tad closer, peering at them. "I believe... You are the two Alicorn Princesses of... Equestria is it? I, uh, hm, I'm terribly sorry but I don't actually know your names, my attempts at, oh what's it called? Scrying? Yes, well, my scrying has only given me the snippets of information. Anyway, perhaps I should properly introduce myself..."

"I am Edward Howl," He continued. "Technically Doctor Edward Howl but I don't think my degree really counts anymore, I'm also been called Glalÿir-Hux or The Man in the Ice by some."

"Charmed," Luna spoke first. "I am Luna, Alicorn goddess of the Moon, this is my sister, Celestia."

"A pleasure, truly," Edward said, he seemed jittery. "...Forgive me but... You are the first Alicorns I've seen for real, right in front of me, you're... As amazing as I've imagined, a marvel of natural evolution."

"You've... Never seen an Alicorn before?" Celestia asked.

"Not outside of propagandist posters or scientific images, I might have seen more had my field been the study of your species, but what can you do?" Edward shrugged. "But you haven't answered my question, to what do I owe the pleasure of your presence?"

"We have questions for you," Luna said. "The discovery of not just a Human, but a magical Human, one that supposedly has been around since... The war, is very intriguing to us as you must understand."

"Yes, of course, we're all curious," Edward said. "But I suspect that you are not here simply to gape at an oddity, no, Jason's asked you to release me didn't he?"

"He did," Celestia confirmed.

"But you are not quite sure if I can be trusted, yes?"

"Correct," Luna responded. "We thought perhaps meeting you could ease our fears."

"Perhaps, I'll definitely do anything to get out of this place," Edward gestured to the ice around them. "Horrible heating let me tell you."

"Could you tell us how long you've been here?" Celestia asked. "And how you got in this state in the first place?"

Edward paused, running his thump across the ball of his icicle cane. His eyes stared into nothingness as the memories came back to him, it had been too long since Edward had reminisced like this. It was often to painful and terrible to remember, his mind suppressed the memories to a large extent for the sake of his sanity. Sometimes though, Edward feared he had already lost his mind, and that terrified him.

"As I said, I was a doctor, a scientist," Edward said. "I worked at... For, an institution known as The Academy of Human Sciences or just The Academy-"

"We know of this 'Academy' too well," Luna interrupted, bitterness in her voice. "Torturers, defilers, meddlers, if I recall they were infamous for capturing Alicorns and experimenting on them, Discord behind a result of such practices."

"...Yes, well, not my department," Edward said, awkwardly scratching his grey hair. "Uh, I was in charge of Cryogenic Preservation, we wanted to perfectly preserve Humans to be later awakened with no residual tissue damage, thus we turned to magic for the answer."

"Of course you did," Celestia said.

"You must understand, I wasn't alive when the Academy first discovered magic but I know that we were all obsessed with it," Edward explained. "Almost infinite energy, at our fingertips, capable of fulfilling our every wish, it was like mana from heaven."

"So what happened to you specifically?" Luna asked.

"Well, when I flooded myself with magic I began to use it rather... Well... Excessively, Human bodies aren't exactly designed to handle extreme levels if magic, you see," Edward explained. "So I experienced a delayed rejection, my body spontaneously began trying to fight off the magic but it inevitably it lost, magic tends to act independently at these levels as if it has a will of its own. Usually this results in grotesque mutations, I am a rare case, I was able to resist just barely and retain my mind, unfortunately my magic still ran wild and my comrades... They tried to destroy me but couldn't, so they tossed my frozen body into the ocean to float away."

"...How long?" Celestia asked after a long pause.

"By my reckoning? Four-thousand years-ish," Edward said. "Big guess though, my perception of time isn't the best."

"Four thousand years of cold isolation..." Luna said quietly, almost to herself "Longer than even what I have experienced."

"That is not dead which can eternal lie," Edward recited. "I've come to terms with it, or at least, I've endured. Doesn't mean I wouldn't very much appreciate getting out mind you."

"All this time were you ever discovered? Anyone outside of Jason and us?" Celestia asked. "We need to know how many know of your existence."

"Mm, it's a tad... Fuzzy, this is the most active I've been in what seems like forever," Edward's brow creased in concentration. "There was... Some, some of them were your people, uh, Ponies yes? Others were of other species, I think... They were worshiping me, I'm not sure, what I do know is that they're the ones that gave me the name Glalÿir-Hux, from what I can tell it's a hog-pog of Human words."

"Mm, some sort of Human-centric cult?" Luna wondered. "It's not unheard of."

"Maybe..." Celestia mused. "We're there any others?"

"There was... Something, I think anyway... I don't know, probably just my imagination," Ed shrugged. "The whole time is was sorta a haze."

"Mm, interesting," Celestia mused.

"Interesting enough to get me out of here?" Edward asked hopefully, Celestia seemed to consider it but Luna wasn't having any of it.

"I'm not convinced," Luna said. "You've only scratched the surface, I want the full story, from start to finish, how you became like... This."

"If you want," He shrugged. "I've got all the time in the world..."

District 72, North-Western D.C, The United Human Republic, Thursday, 6th of June, 7:30am, 3066 AA (After Alicorns)

A long winded siren echoed through the warm morning air and jolted Edward Howl awake, for a split second his heart thumped in panic as he thought fearfully that the day had finally come, the Alicorns were coming, that he would look out the window and see the city on fire. The feeling passed as Ed actually bothered to look outside, no fires, no winged beasts in the sky, just the sparkling city that hummed with energy. It was just the morning siren that sounded, every citizen of the U.H.R had to wake at seven-thirty and begin work whether they liked or not, Productivity must drive you! inspirational posters and graphics would say, Laziness will let the Alicorn Menace win!

Edward yawned and cracked his aging bones, not for the first time he wished the wake-up call could have an exception for seniors. But no matter, today he didn't want to sleep in, today was the most important day of his life. After piles of paperwork and months of screening, finally he had been cleared for Magical Introduction, finally he would get to experience what so many others in The Academy were constantly going on about, power, pure power, soon to be at his fingertips. The possibilities were endless.

Wrestling back his focus, Edward slipped out of bed and turned on the light with a snap of his fingers, his small apartment was thrown into relief. It wasn't much, just his bed, a closet, a screen built into the far wall, and a bookshelf. Edward searched for the small remote that went to the screen, annoyingly having to look under his bed to get it, there were Implants for this sort of thing but they were so expensive these days not to mention non-compatible with Magic, or at least he was told. Finally finding the remote Ed switched on the screen, it immediately went to the news, which Ed considered no listening to, it was always depressing, but he left it on anyway.

"This is Emily Cretch with Sentinel News, the Republic's one and only source for prime news both domestic and on the front," the anchorwoman said. "Breaking news from D.C, yet again a large group of so-called Pro-Human and Anti-Magic protestors gave gathered outside The Academy of Human Sciences in protest of supposed abuse of Magic and breech of human rights, we'll now go to our reporter on sight, Joseph?"

"Hope that won't make me late," Ed muttered to himself as he wrestled his pants on.

"Thanks Emily," Joseph said, there was a large crowd behind him, hundreds of angry men and women toting signs that declared things such as 'Keep yourself pure!" And 'No Magic For Me!' Next to the reporter was one of said protestors. "I'm here with Mr. Wroclowski who claims to speak for these protestors, Mr. Wrocklowski would you like to tell us about your movement and why you oppose The Academy?"

"It is clear to us the dangers and impurity of Magic," Wrocklowski answered passionately. "Magic doesn't exist naturally in the Human body, and despite what the Academy says, introducing it forcibly into the Human body will always result in serious mutations and often death."

"Tell me more, you working class school drop-out," Ed muttered as he tried to decide which tie looked best.

"And what about The Academy itself?" Joseph asked.

"It stands for everything wrong with the Republic! No morals! Completely comfortable with the experimentation on Humans and which zero accountability or transparency with the people," Wrocklowski ranted. "What are they doing in there? What are they hiding? How can they explain the several thousand reported disappearances throughout the Republic? We demand answers!"

"It's clear you're very passionate about this, but you are aware that The Academy's activities are specifically kept secret due to national security? Imagine if the Alicorns got ahold of such knowledge-"

"That's bullshit!" Wrocklowski interrupted. "The Alicorns have no interest in Human tech, why would they? They naturally have Magic, why would they need anything else? This is just more lies-"

"Thank you, Mr. Wrocklowski," Joseph said, reclaiming control on the conversation. "Well that's the situation here in front of The Academy of Human Sciences, D.C, back to you Emily."

"Thanks Joseph," Emily said, as the channel cut back to her. "We now head into our daily update on the war effort..."

The screen filled with a graphic representation of the Western European coast, the British Isles and a small sliver of land along the northern French coast was all shown in blue to represent the Human territory. The rest was coloured red and marked as Alicorn territory.

"The Republic's stronghold in the British Isles is as secure as ever and the fighting on mainland Europe has been going well, as you all know our brave soldiers have captured the beaches and coast of an area known as Normandy and have been under constant fire ever since, despite this they have managed to hold onto their holdings and even gain ground, let our wishes go out to those on the front, that was our daily update on the war effort, next up is the morning address by High Consul Emil Halaz right after these messages..."

"Mm, I still have plenty of time, maybe I should get breakfast..." Ed mused as he slipped on his loafers. "Oh wait, no food or liquids, right, well I'll just chill here then..."

"Hello there brothers and sisters!" the man on the television was saying, he was a tall handsome man with a slick beard and clever brown eyes, behind him was several androids that stared ahead with glowing yellow lights for eyes. "I'm Howard D. Wolfe of Wolfe Incorporated, your number one provider of domestic technology and the only supplier of advanced weaponry for our brave soldiers on the front, I'm here to talk to you about my newest model of Synthetic Android! The H-245 Model, we have made great strides in processing power and behaviour software! Now the Andy's will appear even more Human-esque in their mannerisms to create an authentic companion experience!"

"Andy 62-22," Howard Wolfe said, turning towards the nearest Android. "How're you feeling today?"

"Very well, Mr. Wolfe," 62-22 answered in a smooth female voice that seemed natural as if it was coming out of a flesh-and-blood Human. "I'm so excited to get to work! The advances of Wolfe. Inc are incredible and only make me want to share these advances with everyone."

"As amazing as always Wolfe," Edward commented as he grabbed the newspaper from under his door. "The Academy taught you well."

"There you have it folks!" Wolfe said grandly. "Purchase your model today to your local Andy Shop! Good day!"

"We now go to the daily address from High Consul Emil Halaz," Emily's voice announced and the television cut to a small man with darkish skin, short curly black hair and dark brown eyes. His voice was enticingly deep and authoritative, a controlled level of passion behind every word.

"My fellow Human beings, brothers, sisters..." he began. "For the past several thousand years we as a species have been at war, at war with a powerful force the likes of that we have never seen before, the Alicorns. With seemingly limitless power at their disposal, one can almost understand their claim to divinity and infamous arrogance when it comes to their own place in the world. It is easy to feel inferior, to feel afraid, but I say ,nay, my comrades, I say that we, Humans, far surpass anything these Alicorns can muster. A billion years of evolution and hardships behind us has made us the uncontested master of this planet, we will succeed, we will not fall, we will not crumble, we shall stand eternal. *Humani Victoria!***"

"Humani Victoria," Edward repeated, switching off the television before heading out the door. He grabbed his sky blue longcoat that marked him as a member of the Academy and his cane, although, he wondered if he would need it after today.

Ed limped into the lift and clocked the button with the butt of his cane, the lift shuttered and began to lower him slowly down from his room on the sixtieth floor. He arrived quickly enough, the doors sliding open with a ding and Edward limped through the empty main foyer and out onto the street. Outside the sidewalks were full of people heading to work and the like, the roads were filled with the Streetrails, electrically power buggies which carried people to their destination via rails dug into the pavement. Ed stepped up to one of the the stops, he didn't have to wait long before a Streetrail pulled up and stopped with a ding of a bell, he stepped onto it and was joined by several other people who took their seats.

In place of a driver was a android that was built into the floor of the Streetrail, it's cylinder head held a single lens that was fixed permanently on the road. Next to it was a young man in the black and red uniform of the Military Police.

"Good morning, Mr. Howl," the young man greeted politely.

"Morning, Nick," Edward said back, taking his seat in the front, grateful for the pressure off his leg. "How's the rounds?"

"Dull, nothing ever happens on my patrol," Nick answered, he turned to address the android who was driving the Streetrail. "Isn't that right Joe?"

"Affirmative, regular patrol course for Sergeant Nicholas Fullock does not yield any hostilities nor discrepancies," Joe answered in a heavy computerized voice.

"Exactly, but hey at least I get paid," Nick said with a shrug. "Better than being on the front."

"Undoubtedly," Ed agreed, absentmindedly rubbing his bad leg.

"Never understood why you never got an Implant for that leg of yours, Mr. Howl," Nick said. "There's a Wolfe Shop just down the street from your apartment, or you could always get a muscle reconstruction if you want to keep the flesh."

"Ah, I can't Nick, no implants, no augmentations, Academy is convinced they mess the flow of Magic," Edward explained.

"Oh yeah, I remember you going on that about that, talked my ear off if I remember right," Nick said wryly with a raised eyebrow. "You bluecoats do love your magic and shit, never shut up about it, when do you get it anyway?"

"Today actually," Ed said as the Streetrail took a turn onto the main road, tall buildings flanked them at all sides. "It's very exciting."

"I'm sure it is, just don't go around flaunting it, you know how those Human Purists get on about that shite," Nick warned.

"I'm not silly enough to use it to do the dishes, only for research and only on Academy grounds my friend," the Streetrail pulled to a stop with a ding and Edward struggled to his feet. "Good day, Nick."

"Good luck, Mr. Howl," Nick said, tipping his cap respectfully as the Streetrail pulled away. Edward walked the short ways down the sidewalk and turned a corner of an office building so The Academy came into view. A tall marble wall surrounded the compound which was several kilometres in diameter, a guarded silver ornate gate marked the entrance to the grounds. In the centre of the compound was a large wide dome with a tall metal tower in the centre of it, smaller versions of this dome filled each of the four corners of the compound. Ed knew that these were just what people saw, the vast majority of The Academy lay underground.

The front gate was crowded by the Anti-Magic protestors that were on the news earlier, taking a deep breath and stealing his courage Edward limped slowly up behind them. At first none noticed but soon they all turned to look at the newcomer and at the sight of his Academy coat they began to leer and shout at him, none actually stopped him, none were so bold as they parted way for Edward but their verbal assault was relentless.

"What are you hiding in there?!"

"Do you have magic?! Huh?!"

"Fuck you, bluecoat!"

"You should just kill yourself!"

"Monster!"

Eventually Ed made it to the gate where two Military Policemen guarded the sides, the man on the left looked sympathetic as he checked Edward's ID and opened the gate for him. Ed took a sigh of relief as he stepped inside the safety of the Academy, this had always been a home to him, a place of quiet learning, of science, knowledge unhindered and free from the shackles of society, it was a beautiful place. Edward limped down the main path which was made of fine white stone, on either side of it lush grass grew and as he neared the main dome statues of great scientists of the past lined the sides. Edward didn't know half their names and that was something he deeply regretted, they were the reason they were here in the first place, he did smile as he reached the likeness of one of the few he did recognize. The statue depicted a small crumpled ban bound to a wheelchair with a computer hooked up to him, which Ed knew had allowed him to speak when he was alive. Underneath the statue words were carved.

Stephen Hawking, Astrophysicist

"In my mind I am free"

Ed smiled and tapped his cane against the base of the statue "If you could only see us now," he said before continuing on. He reached the main dome and entered, inside it was brightly lit and clean-smelling like it had been overly washed. A desk was there with a secretary tapping away at a computer, a hall was to her right and to her left was several lifts in waiting. Edward bid a polite 'hello' to the woman before stepping into one of the lifts and pressing the button labelled 'Sector 7- Magical Sciences.'

The lift sped downwards and opened up to a thin hallway, Edward made his way straight through it. Passing several locked doors which he ignored, the hallway gave way to a large cirri, a room full of computers and monitors that were being worked on by man and women in blue. A small metal chamber sat in the centre of the room, it was what was usually referred to as the Introduction Chamber. Standing next to the chamber was a tall man with short blond hair and green eyes and a rather short Asian girl with long black hair who seemed to practically bouncing on the spot.

"Miss Yun?" Ed said to the girl as he approached. "Didn't look to see you here."

"I wouldn't miss this for the world!" Yun exclaimed, standing on her toes so she could give Edward a big hug. "And I told you to start calling me Gia!"

"Fine, fine, it's good to see you Gia," Edward laughed, returning the girl's hug. Gia had only recently finished her training in the Academy and had been attached to Cryogenic Preservation for work and lab experience. In the short span of her time there she had come to admire Ed who in turn enjoyed her bubbly attitude, although he would never admit it publicly, Gia had become almost like a daughter to him.

"Leo, always a pleasure," Ed greeted the man as Gia untangled herself from him.

"Dr. Howl," Leo said back, shaking Edward's hand. Leo was head of the Introduction Department, he assured that the Magical Flooding went smoothly and assisted in the teaching of magical usage for those who's introduction had gone well.

"Are we ready?" Edward asked, his heart fluttering in excitement as he struggled to keep the childlike joy out of his voice, no avail judging by Gia's smile.

"Yep! I'll just take your cane and you can step inside," Leo said. "You know the drill, grab the scroll and rip it, there's a glass of water in there for you. The scrolls a freezing one, we thought it appropriate no?"

"Very," Ed agreed, handing over his cane.

"Just step inside and wait for our word," Leo instructed, taking Ed's cane and gesturing to the chamber. Edward nodded and limped inside, the door swung close behind him and sealed shut, he glanced back through the small window as saw Gia giving him a thumbs-up. He grinned and waved before looking foreword, in front of him was a small metal table with two items on it; a tall glass of water and a rolled up piece of parchment. Leo's voice came over the intercom inside the chamber.

"Alright, dampers are up, chamber's sealed, levels normal, whenever you're ready Eddy," Leo said.

"Hm, 'Eddy' is bit much don't you think?" Edward said back.

"Just rip the scroll ya' fossil," Leo snarked back. Ed rolled his eyes before turning back to the task at hand, he limped up to the table. He took several calming breaths, his heart was beating faster than a hummingbird's wings and his hand shook. All his life he had dreamed of this moment, of gaining this power that was a privilege very few had. He picked up the scroll, feeling the rough parchment in his hands, it buzzed a little bit, like it was charge with static electricity. Edward could feel the power on his hands, he wanted it, taking another breath he gripped the opposite ends of the parchment and paused for a moment.

"Geronimo," he said before tearing the scroll in two.

Immediately Edward was almost knocked onto his back as the scroll practically exploded, the world melted away and shifted into something else entirely. The landscape was frozen and white for kilometres in every direction, wind howled in his ears and the cold, oh god the cold. It was everywhere, it bit into his flesh and pierced right to his bones, Ed could feel the soft skin on his cheeks hardening and the edges of his eyes crystallized in the cold. His hair felt like glass and shattered, he felt like he would soon join it. The cold burned, burned hotter than any fire Ed had experienced, it turned his fingers grey and his blood to slush.

Edward felt like he was drowning, it was too much, too much. He couldn't focus, his vision flashed bright blue and his heart thumped painfully, he felt like he was having a stroke or perhaps a heart attack. Like several shots of adrenaline had been pumped into his body and all that energy had no where to go, was this magic? Was this the power he wanted? It hurt, it burned, it froze, it felt good. The sensation was exhilarating, Ed couldn't help but smile and laugh, he felt the cold retreat and the burning stop in its tracks, leaving only the tingle and buzz of pure magical energy. It was his, it was all his. Reality returned and Edward was still in the chamber, he looked down at his hand and saw in glowing with icy blue tendrils coming off it like smoke.

Ed's eyes shifted towards the glass of water, he held out his hand and concentrated. A blue tendril shot out and hit the glass, the water froze immediately and the glass cracked. Frost rapidly spread across the table and across the floor and walls, soon the entire interior of the chamber was covered in a thin layer of ice and frost.

"Remarkable," Edward said softly, he could feel the power inside of him. It was in his skin, his blood, his gut, it buzzed and warmed him like a stove and made him feel light and breathless. It was amazing, intoxicating, Edward was in pure awe.

The door to the chamber cracked and shattered the ice around as it opened, Edward limped out, still staring at his glowing hand. Gia was the first to greet him, she looked just as shocked as he was.

"Edward?" She asked softly, Ed looked up at her and she gasped. "Oh my gosh, your eyes... They're beautiful."

"My eyes? What do you mean?" Edward asked, Gia grabbed a small handheld mirror from a nearby table and handed it to him. Edward looked down at his own face and was shocked to see that his once green eyes were now a glowing ice blue.

"All in all I think it went well," Leo said as he approached, he offered Ed his cane as he handed the mirror back to Gia. Edward stared at the cane for a second before looking at his hand again, his brow creased in concentration and the glow returned. Ice began to form from the air as water particles solidified, they morphed together and formed into a slim transparent cane which Edward used to take the pressure of his leg.

"That's new,' Leo said, laying the wooden cane down to examine Edward's eyes with a small light. "Usually it takes several weeks for any sort of control over abilities, you seem unusually natural at it, still we need to do a full physical examination and begin tutoring you."

"Of course," Edward said, he grinned at Gia who was still amazed. "This is just the beginning, my dear."

The Academy of Human Sciences, North-West D.C, The United Human Republic, Sunday, 20th of September, 2:22pm, 3066 AA

It had been almost four months since Edward had gained this power and in that time he had come to master it. They started out small of course, moving balls across the floor, freezing things but with Ed's swift mastery of such tasks, it sped the process considerably. Soon they moved onto more complicated abilities, destroying steel targets, creating complex objects out of ice synthesized from the air, healing wounds. Edward had been particularly interested in the last one, hoping to heal the damaged muscle in his leg and regain full walking ability. Try as he might he was unable to do it, healing in general was a complex process and recreating a muscle seemed impossible at this stage. Implants or bio-regrowth wasn't an option either now that he had magic in him, Edward was disappointed of course but got over it quickly, besides he was quite fond of his new ice cane, his colleagues jokingly referred to him as 'Ice-Man' or 'Frosty' sometimes 'Old Man Winter' was one that Leo was particularly fond of.

Still, every moment he used his magic, every time it flared up inside of him Edward felt exhilarated. It felt good, felt powerful, despite his inability to heal his leg Ed felt like he was twenty years younger and as spry as ever. It was like a constant fire of power in his belly that kept him warm at night and flared pleasantly whenever he used his magic, the more he used it the bigger that fire grew and the better Edward felt. He had stopped getting sick, he slept little and ate less but yet never withered, truly this power was the key to unlocking the cure to every Human disease, the extension of the Human lifetime, and the end of Human suffering. These thoughts and more swirled around in Edward's mind each day as he not only practiced under Leo's gaze but on his own when no one was looking, in his home he would casually create ice cubes in his drink or levitate items over to him. Magical personnel were banned from using their power outside of the Academy but what management didn't know wouldn't hurt them, would it?

Gia had noticed a change, or at least noticed how proficient Edward had become and how much he seemed to be focused on developing his magic. She often expressed her concerns about the negative affects of Ed's rapidly growing abilities, people whispered she said, rumours circulated that some people who don't survive the Introduction don't just die, they mutate, loose their minds, become grotesque beings unable of anything besides savage violence. Abominites some people said in hushed whispers, always fearful that the higher-ups might be listening in. Edward dismissed these concerns, he had already survived the Introduction and there was no evidence to support the idea that magic held any danger to the Human body long-term, Gia was obviously just overly concerned for his safety, sweet but misguided.

All this still had a goal of course, Cryogenic Preservation. That was Edward's primary field of research and today would be their first real attempt, there had been experiments of course, mice, pigs, dogs. Ed would magically freeze them only to thaw them out later, they had experienced mounting success with every test and finally they had been cleared to begin experimentation on willing Human participants. It had been hard to find someone, they needed a person of relative good health and free of implants, after several weeks of searching they found one. A Ms. Talia Hunt, one hundred and seven years old, she had never had any augmentations nor implants or anything else. Her long age was simply due to a good diet and exercise, a naturalists through and through, she had agreed to the experiment, expressing that she was going to die soon anyway and might as well make it useful while she's at it.

Edward flipped through Ms. Hunt's file, it contained important information such as blood type, medical history, family history, heritage, age, diet, date in which she had been introduced to magic, any variables that could affect the results of the experiment. Even though it wasn't relevant to the actual procedure Edward found himself reading the file over and over again, memorizing the details, it helped calm his nerves and focus his mind.

It wasn't long before Gia came in, followed closely by Ms. Hunt. A thin lady with well-kept white hair and strong features, she carried herself strong and tall despite her age, her arms showed evidence that she had once been fairly fit with strong muscles still lining her bones. She walked unhindered into Edward's lab, Ed couldn't help but feel a tad miffed at that, he was half her age and yet he hobbled around on a cane. Maybe there was some merit to this naturalist lifestyle? He would have to look into it later.

"Ms. Hunt, very good to meet you," Edward said, rising to his feet and shaking the women's hand. "Thank you so much for doing this, words cannot express how grateful I am."

"You're quite welcome," Ms. Hunt said. "This is all for the greater good after all, yes?"

"Of course, of course," Edward assured her. "Now if you'll just lie down over here we can begin."

There was a small cubby-like bed that they had designed, it was an open cylinder with a padded service and medical equipment built in. They could monitor Ms. Hunt's vital signs as the  procedure took place, she did so just then, lying down and shifting into a comfortable position.

"Comfortable?" Edward asked, pushing himself over on the wheels of his chair. "Just going to get your baseline now, okay? Won't take a moment."

With a click of a button the cubby began to hum, it's systems checked in and it immediately began scanning the woman inside. Recording her heartbeat, temperature, and other information and putting it up on a screen for Edward to see.

"Alright, I think we are ready to begin," Edward said, taking deep breaths. "Ms. Hunt?"

"Ready," she said, taking her own slow breath. Edward squeezed her wrist briefly in support, having all the respect in the world for this brave woman.

"Just relax," Edward said, closing his eyes. He breathed and felt his energy build inside of him, the cold magic coalesced and manifested around his hands in an icy glow. With deep concentration Edward reached out with his magic towards Ms. Hunt, as he made contact her flesh began to pale and some light frost coated her, her breathing slowed and stopped all together as Edward captured her in his magical grasp and slowly froze her solid.

Edward retreated from her and returned to reality, he looked at the monitor, her vitals had flatlined, clinically she was dead. He glanced over to Gia who had already begun the stopwatch, two minutes, that's how long she would remain. It was the lowest time they could have a subject frozen to have proof of concept, one and a half minute, Ms. Hunt appeared to be dead but Edward hoped she wouldn't stay that way, thirty seconds, this must work, twenty, please, ten seconds, this has to work. Five, four, three, two, one...

"Mark," Gia said and Edward reacted immediately, his magic flared to life and he poured it into Ms. Hunt. Warming her, forcing her blood to flow, bringing her back to life.

"Ms. Hunt?"

Nothing.

"Ms. Hunt can you hear me?"

She wasn't breathing.

"Ms. Hunt can you hear me?!"

The monitor lit up, her vitals were still flat. Large red letters at the bottom marked her as 'Deceased.' Edward s breath became strained and haggard as he stared at the cold dead face of Talia Hunt.

"No..." He hissed. "No! Damnit!"

Edward stood up abruptly, no, it wasn't supposed to go this way. Damnit! He turned to look at Gia who was staring at him with a horrified expression on her face, her hand cover met mouth. Edward realized then that he had just killed someone, a living breathing woman with an entire life behind her and time ahead of her. How could this happen? It wasn't fair! Anger flared inside Edward's gut and unknowingly to him his entire body began glowing, icy blue tendrils floating off of him like an ethereal fire.

The wrath settled like an ice pick in his gut, Edward screamed and smashed his fist into the monitor that told him that he had failed. It exploded with a bang and its pieces began to first over as they fell to the ground, Ed barely noticed as he slammed his fist into the wall. Cracks formed and filled with ice, frost spread across the wall and soon the entire room was as cold as winter, Edward didn't feel it, he was on fire, the wrathful heat was extreme and the power... Oh god it felt good, good to let go, to let the magic run free, yes...

"Edward!" Gia yelled, snapping Ed back to reality. The poor girl was crying, snow in her hair and eyelashes, she was shaking, whether from the cold or from fear Edward couldn't know.

"T-there was always going to be failures," she blurted. "She knew t-the risks."

"But why her?!" Edward demanded, feeling tears sting his eyes. "Our animal tests were overwhelmingly successful, why did we fail here?!"

"I don't know," Gia. "The only thing we can do it try again-"

Without warning Ed's hand struck across Gia's face, leaving a big red mark in its wake. Edward stared in fury as Gia held her cheek and looked at Edward with pure terror.

"You want to kill more people?!" Edward yelled. "Don't you care?! You're not better than a sadist!"

Gia didn't respond, only whimpered. Edward looked at her and it slowly dawned on him what he had just done, horrified he looked over at the half-smashed monitor on the ground. It reflected his face back at him and showed Edward to be practically smoking with energy and his eyes a burning bright blue.

"Oh god... Gia I'm so sorry, I don't why I did that," Edward's words were useless as Gia ran out of the lab, he slumped back into his chair and felt the burning magic inside of him simmer down and the full affect of what he had done hit him. What had come over him? He had just been so angry, at himself and at Gia for some reason. His mind became muddle as the shame washed over him, he was drowning in his own sorrow when Leo walked in.

"What do you want?" Edward asked grumpily. Leo didn't say anything, he checked Edward's eyes with a small light and his pulse with his finger.

"What are you doing?" Ed asked as Leo frowned.

"Take a week off," he said firmly. "No magic, nothing, eat, rest, meditate even."

"Why?"

"You've been using too much magic to fast, your body can't cope," Leo explained. "It can cause increased aggression, hysteria, psychosis, all sorts of shit, so do as I say and take a week off, okay?"

"Okay."

Edward didn't listen. After returning home early that day he became more and more determined to succeed. The next two and a half months were a stream of constant attempts all ending in failure, men and women would enter Edward's laboratory and never leave. It killed him inside, every failure resulted in a rage-filled breakdown from Ed in which he trashed then completely froze the entire laboratory. Gia limited her contact with him, entering the lab only with the subjects and escaping immediately, Edward began to resent her, the one person he thought he could count on now wanted nothing to do with him, how dare she.

Leo popped in from time to time, constantly warning Edward of his increased use of magic to which he completely ignored. Ed began using his power for everything he could, both in and outside the Academy, everything from levitating things his way to tying his shoes. He had even begun experimenting with teleportation, managing to move himself from one end of his apartment to another with only nausea and disorientation as a side affect. Every day his power grew and with it his proficiency at it, soon it became like second nature to him, the magic would perform tasks without Edward even having to think about it, like it had a mind of its own. It felt good, to have this power, an ally that was with him in everything he did, it was the only thing he had left at this point.

Then came the day that Gia spoke to him again. He had just failed yet another attempt but strangely Edward found himself not caring, he felt nothing but the comforting cold presence of magic inside of him. He sat in his chair, staring at nothing when Gia stepped meekly in, clearing her throat politely to get his attention.

"Edward," she said in a small voice. "We've... You've failed forty-seven times now, that's forty-seven people... Dead.... Edward, maybe... Maybe you should stop? I think this experiment has run its course, I think we need to accept defeat."

"You... Want me to stop?" Edward asked, anger beginning to flare already. "You want to negate the sacrifices of those people?! How dare you stand there aloof to what they gave up! How dare you ask me to give up when you had abandoned this project long ago!"

"I'm only trying to help.." Gia said, backing away.

"You want to help?" Edward said and without a thought he grabbed Gia with his magical grasp, halting her movement. "Then why don't you participate my dear?"

"Edward, no! Please! Stop!" Gia cried as frost began to form on her flesh, within a minute she was frozen solid in mid-panic. Edward released her and she fell to the ground with a smashing of ice and bones, he stared down at her body for a moment but as his magic began to fade back to normal the realization hit him like a train.

"No."

"No!"

Edward was frozen in place, staring at Gia's body. He heard a sound and looked up just in time to see Leo by the door, he didn't look scared, just... Sad. Before Edward could react Leo slammed a button next to the door, an emergency blast door fell down and the lights turned red, an automated voice spoke calmly from the speakers.

"Dampeners activating."

Immediately the building power inside Edward reacted, the entire lab began to hum. He convulsed and fell over as pure magical energy began arcing like lighting from his extremities, he could feel the magic struggling inside, it burned and twisted, it felt like his cells were being destroyed utterly. Edward felt feverish, his throat clogged up and his bowls shot with pain, his head pounded and his eyes watered, looking at his hand Edward could see he had lost all colour and a sheen of sweat coated his flesh. He felt as if he had a very severe sickness that his body was trying to fight off and failing to do so, Leo watched from outside the lab, shaking his head in disappointment. Wrath flared amongst the wild magic, how dare he!

"You won't keep me prisoner!" Edward yelled weakly, his vision was beginning to fade as the strain in his body became too much, he was able to catch Leo speaking to someone he couldn't see.

"Too bad, I was hoping he'd be different from the others... Well there's nothing for it, retrieve the girl's body and make preparations to dispose of Dr. Howl the usual way, the ocean should suffice for him I think."

What happened next was a blur of pain and flashing lights, the energy inside Edward soared and raged and tore at him. He felt himself being moved, he felt the air rush past his skin and cold water consume him and fill his lungs. Edward managed to open his eyes to see the crushing blackness of the oceans rushing in and the light of the sun being refracted on the surface, only a second of light before ice formed around his head and body. Darkness was all he knew for the longest time, darkness and pain, he battled with that power inside of him, the magic pushed and burned and ripped at his mind trying to push him out completely to make room for itself. This battle would be all Edward knew for what seemed like ages.

At some point he became aware of some other presence, several in fact, he slums occasionally look and squint at their forms. Four legs. They would come, kneel, mutter nonsense for a while then leave, it was more of an oddity than anything else but then they started coming en masse, huge followings of robed individuals whom stood amongst his ice and they praise him, called him divine, the even granted him a name and chanted it to the heavens, it echoed through the ancient halls and whispered in places that Edward would never see.

Glalÿir-Hux! Glalÿir-Hux! Glalÿir-Hux! Glalÿir-Hux! *Glalÿir-Hux!***

Edward's Glacier, The Northern Unknown, Tuesday, 4th of March, 4:12pm, 2206 AC

"And thus, I find myself here," Edward said tiredly, he seemed to have grown older and more worn as he told the story. "What happened weighed on me for an age, but being trapped for four thousand years tends to give you a lot of time to reflect on your life choices."

Celestia's face was unreadable, but Luna found herself feeling a growing sympathy and even trust for Edward. She couldn't stop herself from drawing comparisons to her own fall and and entrapment, the similarities were almost eerie and as Luna looked into the sad tired eyes of Edward Howl she came to the mist surprising conclusion that she did trust this Human. She felt no danger from him, the fact that she could even feel such a way towards a Human of all things astonished her more than anything else.

"I believe... I believe that your imprisonment here has served more than enough as a punishment for any crime or fault you have committed," Luna said, getting a look from her sister. "I do think you can be released."

"You... You have no idea how happy it makes me to hear that," Edward broke out in a huge smile. "You won't regret this I swear, thank you! Thank-"

"There's just one issue," Celestia interjected. "I do not think we are able to."

"W-what?" Edward asked, his smile and mood dropping instantly.

"From what you've told us, and from what I can tell myself, your magic is... Wild, feral even, to try and contain it and bring you back into full control could end disastrous," Celestia explained. "Remember what happened the last time someone tried to contain you? Your friend Leo tried to do just that and it nearly killed you, if we tried the same it could result in your death or worse the magic could destroy you utterly and leave your body nothing more than an empty husk for it to live in."

"Empty husk... What do you think I am now?" Edward asked bitterly, he took a breath. "So there is nothing you can do?"

"Not at this stage, not now," Celestia said. "There are too many unknowns, but out of respect to Jason I will pursue this and I will do what I can to set you free, you have my word."

"I should've known as much," Edward said in defeat. "I'll... I'll be here then... Waiting."

"Do not fret Edward Howl," Luna said in soft comfort, giving her sister a doubting look and stepping towards Ed. "You will not be forgotten, you will be free, you breath the air of the outside and feel warmth once again. I swear on my life I will assure this to you."

"You are very kind, Lady Luna," Edward said, smiling slightly. "For an Alicorn."

"And you are very respectable," Luna answered with her own smile. "For a Human."

"Let us go," Celestia said. "Farewell Edward Howl, this has been... Very educational."

"Good luck," Edward waved. "Do me a favour and take care of Jason eh? Good lad that one."

"Will do," Celestia said before she blasted her way out.

Thus Edward was left alone yet again, only minutes after the two Alicorns left his mind became muddled. Images of the past floated in and out of his sight mixed with something else, a blue glow, a strange echoing tick-tock, drums, lots of drums. As Edward began retreating back into his own mind, the projection he had created of himself began to fade, he spoke once before it did so completely and it was only to himself.

"Even death may die."