[Re:write] Episode 37: The First Vessel and the Newborn's Cry

—Rewrite despair.

[For first-time readers]
Click here for the first chapter of the story
👉　Chapter 1: The Observer Wakes in the Forest

Dawn.

Light invades the workshop. The frenzy fades, and a silence like an operating room fills the space.
On the workbench. A crystal vessel. Pure water.
The light of a soul resides within, waiting to boot.

The smell of metal and oil. The coldness of a wet cloth. The shadows of the tools are long in the morning light.

Drake crosses his arms. Knotted fingertips. The sensation of having hammered iron.
(Logic doesn't matter. The vessel won't break. The water won't escape. Reality comes first.)
(That ball of light was truly born. Then—I can drop it here.)

Aria clasps her hands. Prayer.
Her fingertips had turned slightly white.
(Finally. Such a small, warm light. It cannot be grasped by hand.)
Her heartbeat and prayer synchronize.
(It's okay. Everyone is here. Brother, I will do it. I will breathe life into it. I will connect it with song. I will weave a new life.)

“—Alright! From here on, I will begin the soul anchoring sequence!”
Ellara shouts. Oil-stained lab coat. Excitement.
“Kai! Is the frequency of the soul core stable!?”
“No problem. Currently at 1.618 terahertz. Error margin below 0.003%.”
Kai holds his hand out with an expressionless face. Invisible control signals.
“I will now begin the information adhesion with the water molecules acting as the medium.”

“Hey, wait!”
Drake snaps.
“Instead of blabbering on, shouldn't you just shove that ball of light into the water already!?”
“Don't be an idiot, you dwarf!”
Ellara yells. Spit flies.

“This isn't like tempering steel! If you don't synchronize the phases, the information will collapse and turn back into mere water!”
“What did you say!? You just insulted my tempering!”
“I was merely stating a fact!”

The air rubs together.
Only the surface of the water in the vessel trembled slightly.

Aria is confused.
“Um, Kai-san... In other words, what should I do...?”
“It's simple.”
Kai turns back. Eyes solving complex equations.
“There is a significant discrepancy in affinity between the physical ‘vessel’ and the informational ‘soul’.”
He stares into Aria's eyes.
“Therefore, you need to use your singing voice to bridge the ‘gap’ between the soul and the water, and ‘tune’ them into a single existence.”
“...You know. Is Sparkly-chan scared of the water?”
Mimi's voice. Innocent.
The tense air relaxes.

Kai nods.
“...Yeah, maybe so. There might be an error occurring.”
“That's why you need to tell it that it's ‘normal’ with your sister's song.”

Kai's signal.
Aria nods. She readies her lyre. The first chord.

Pluck.

Guided by the singing voice, the light of the soul sinks down. Into the water of the crystal vessel.
Contact. The vessel emits light. Warmth fills the workshop. Micro-vibrations.

Thin condensation runs along the inner walls.
Ripples on the water's surface. A single bubble pops, delayed.

The light converges. The light of the soul has vanished.
Instead, the water itself gains a will. It changes shape inside the vessel.
It rises, ignoring surface tension.
The form of a small girl.
Transparent hair and body woven from water.

The first artificial spirit, ‘Undine’.
Quietly, she let out her first cry.

The lingering notes of the lyre fade away, one by one.
The scent of metal is mixed with dampness.
On the workbench, a single drop falls.
The light of the vessel does not grow stronger. It simply stabilizes.
The ripples on the water's surface are smoothed out.
From the gap in the window frame, the morning breeze. Dust motes dance and come to a stop in the light.
A square of light stretches across the workshop floor.

Outside.
The frost on the roof slowly thins.
The smoke from the chimney rises straight up and then disperses.
The square of light from the workshop window had stopped at the edge of the floor.

Click here for a summary of the story so far in the novel "Re:write".