The Irreseus Anomalies

I found myself at quite the impasse as I began research at the prestigious Irreseus University, under the equally prestigious, if not more prestigious Doctor Ambrose, whose name would be immortal in history books just as its meaning. This impasse is unlikely to be what anyone would anticipate, as it had nothing to do with my studies, or who I was to be working with (I would later find my partner to be incredibly attractive and intelligent), and instead had everything to do with the results of my research. My partner and I were finding it incredibly challenging to completely understand the results we were seeing, considering we were researching the strange, and I might note, incredibly sudden mutations we were observing in nature. Just to pose a few examples: we were seeing the strange combination of scales on a variety of reptiles beginning to thin out and grow to be softer with each generation, maintaining the structure and body type of each species while also becoming, or resembling fur. In another instance, feathers began to morph into fire in a particular species of bird, laying threats to many species both in and out of the forest in a way that could not be contained. We were quite scared of the possible consequences this posed for future generations of all species, so we began to explore what the cause of these, for a lack of a better word, abnormalities.

I am tentative to use the term mutations, however, as these changes in each genus had very little warning of appearing, causing many people, both inside and outside of the scientific field, to title them anomalies. Generally speaking, mutations take place in every individual in a population, but for them to affect the population at large, they must be passed on through multiple generations, thereby increasing the commonality of them in the entire population. This is untrue for these examples though, as the rate of occurrence is quite sporadic, and it is incredibly challenging to determine if it is a natural phenomenon or if there is some natural selector. This natural selector was ruled out though, considering that there are a variety of species that it has been happening to.

This very problem is what left me at my impasse though, as Doctor Ambrose challenged his researchers to what seemed to be an impossible task.

I can still easily recall the day he asked us to research these instances.

That day, Ambrose walked into the lab, peering at all of us as we spoke to one another, breaking jokes and chuckling at one another’s comments. My good friend, Isaac Chapman, and I were laughing about the particular girl I had been admiring at the time, being one Blythe Brookehaven. Of course, we were not laughing at her, rather, he was trying to convince me to ask her to the upcoming ball that the school would be hosting in the spring. Times were significantly simpler before we started the project, though Isaac struggled for reasons that many other people didn’t, as he was attempting to find another fellow who would accept and return his love, in a society where it was incredibly challenging to do so. The laughter was brought to a sudden close, when I felt the doctor’s eyes lingering on me, which I realized then was due to the fact that he had everyone else’s attention save for mine and Isaac’s.

I cleared my throat, and thrust my elbow into Isaac’s side to get him to realize the same thing I had. “Ahem. Apologies sir.”

The severity of Doctor Ambrose’s voice caught me off guard, being the tell-tale sign that this was a serious matter that needed to be addressed. “I need two, possibly three volunteers from this section for an emergency research position. It is to address a situation I am sure you are all already aware of, being the current evolutionary study.” Ambrose scanned around the room, seeming to wait for hands to shoot up in the air.

In the absence of volunteers, I found myself putting myself forward. I pushed my hand up, only to find that the same exact Blythe I had just been giggling about with my friend had decided the same thing. And of course she had. She was basically top of our class, and also effectively the only competition I had since I ended up as valedictorian. When I saw this, I put my own hand down without hesitation, hoping that Ambrose hadn’t seen it. Unfortunately, of course I found that he had.

“Ah. Alright, we’ll have Brookehaven and Nightfier on this one then.” Ambrose wrote something down on the papers on his desk, most likely our names, and then left the room for a moment. He returned rather quickly, and proceeded to say, “Do you need to be invited or something? Brookehaven, Nightfier, let’s go. Research starts now.” Ambrose was clearly annoyed, likely instigated by his own fear of the unknown, which is a terrifying thing as scientists. Isaac sat next to me, holding in his laughter as my mouth hung agape.

Brookehaven turned to face me, rage filling her features as she realized that she was stuck working with the single person she had grown to hate throughout grade school. Her strangely perfect brows pushed together, making her light blue eyes frosty in appearance, equally striking as they were threatening.

Isaac’s familiar whisper chastised my hopes and thoughts, “Oohooo… she hates you,” I turned to glare at him, but heard the movement of Blythe standing from her stool and moving towards the door.

“Yeah, I know. I was what kept her from being top of our class, multiple times. She deserves to hate me.” I whispered as I stood from my own stool and left.

Isaac hummed as he said, “Good luck!”

I rolled my eyes, and followed Blythe outside of the lab, finding Doctor Ambrose with his arms crossed and a glaring expression resting on his face. His brown mustache laid in a thin straight line as he examined both of us with shocking grey eyes outlined in dark circles from sleepless nights and thick round glasses similar to my own.

“Now then. You both need to know what you’re walking into. I know that you are both incredibly intelligent individuals, but I also know that you are both competitive. If you believe that will interfere with your ability to do this project, then you need to say that now.” Ambrose scanned both of our faces, analyzing our features for any sign of our lack of determination. After a few moments, he resumed his instruction to us, “Oh. You will also receive a pay raise. I’m sure that sweetens the deal for you a fair amount.”

Blythe and I exchanged an efficient glance, silently making an agreement that we both needed this position, and if we didn’t take it, then nobody else would.

“I accept. I do not speak for Blythe in this matter though. She is perfectly able to back out if she would like to elect not to.” I accepted. I glanced at Blythe and raised my eyebrows slightly, challenging her, even in my silent admiration of her.

Blythe rolled her eyes at me, “I accept as well, and I will be the better person to avoid initiating any conflict.”

Ambrose rolled his eyes at us. “Whether or not I believe you both about not starting any conflict with the other, I, and the rest of Irreseus, need this research. Now that that’s settled though, I will say one other thing.”

I nodded at him, seeing in my peripheral that Blythe was nodding too.

“This is directly commissioned by the king and queen themselves. This will not only help you gain funds now, but also in the future, or at the very least, open up other career opportunities in the future. Now I will show you your working space for the next two months.” Ambrose turned around, waving his arm like a war general would in the trenches. The uncomfortable nature of myself and Blythe revealed that this would likely be more of a challenge than we, or at least I, had expected.

Ambrose turned down the school halls that I had walked for many years of my life, making his way into a hallway I had never seen before.

“Doctor…? How top secret is this project?” Blythe’s voice reached both my ears and Ambrose’s ears, and I found that I recognized fear in her voice.

“If I told you, I’m not sure that you’d be willing to do it still.” Ambrose sounded equally as scared as Blythe, which initiated my own anxieties and I felt my fingers grow suddenly cold with fear.

We were shown to the laboratory we would be working in, and found a variety of the affected specimens in different types of cages. Fire birds beat brutally against a glass box that I was shocked to see wasn’t melting, while a few furred lizards were in different metal cages.

Ambrose spoke once more, “We of course have smaller, less threatening specimens further in the lab, but this is just a bit of a demonstration for the severity of the problem at hand. I believe you understand relatively what we would like you to do, but I will explain the purpose of the research slightly more. The purpose of this research is to observe the root cause of the strange evolution cases we have been observing in the recent years of these various species. If you do not have any further questions, I will leave you to get familiar with the lab, and then you are expected to begin conducting experiments for the project as soon as is physically possible for the both of you.” Ambrose left shortly after, and Blythe and I stood in silence for many minutes after, unsure as to what we had agreed to.

“I… Thadeus… Do you even know how to begin researching something this big?” Blythe finally said after we had familiarized ourselves with the lab equipment.

My voice shook as I formulated my response, “I’m afraid I don’t, but we clearly need to start doing something.”

I found a smaller group of lizards, both in size and number, who had developed the same mutations as the larger ones, and began to collect data on the ones who seemed to have the highest number of thinner scales. I took blood samples, then utilized gene electrophoresis to organize the DNA fragments into longer and shorter segments that are then more observable. I compared these to the original set, but unfortunately found no difference between old DNA and new ones.

I groaned upon learning this, incredibly confused and disappointed by the results, and found Blythe hovering over my shoulder trying to see what I was doing.

To my dismay, I found her chuckling. “That’s honestly funny. I tried the same exact thing. Back to the drawing board I suppose.”

Blythe and I tried the same things separately from one another, without discussion each time, starting with the obvious, being observation of multiple parents and their offspring, observing the behaviors of each species, and analysis of the DNA. Frustration persisted through it all, especially considering we were working with who had once been the other's effective enemy. Exhaustion crept into my bones as the days did the same. I grew to be more irritable, and my body was more clumsy and lethargic in movement, making the experiments much harder to conduct. Blythe, despite my admiration of her, saw a more potent concentration of my anger than most others, which was especially true one day.

I had just slipped up, managing to push a scalpel along my palm, which I had been using to dissect one of the dead bodies of the lizards as some of them were dying at a faster rate than the others. I cursed, watching my own blood pool in my palm as I stood and collected a nearby towel to pause the stream. I saw Blythe’s head peak out from her work station, and heard her sigh.

She walked over, removing her lab coat and safety lenses, preparing to tell me off. “Now what did you do?” She reached her hands out, gesturing for me to remove the towel and show it to her.

I rolled my eyes, not realizing that my words would end up being harsher than I meant for them to be. “And whoever said that I would be in need of your help anyways?”

She pulled her hands back, rescinding her offer. “Well. I suppose that’s exactly why Ambrose asked for two students, instead of just one. But I won’t let that stop you. I’ll leave you to it, I suppose.” She left shortly after that, picking up her lab coat and lenses, depositing them in their designated place at the front of the room. Firebirds smacked against the glass, echoing even louder in the large laboratory than they normally would in Blythe’s presence. I felt myself becoming increasingly light headed as I lost more blood, and rather than reporting it, I found some gauze in a random drawer, and wrapped it around my hand. Bleary eyed, I left the lab, eventually coming to a nearby couch near our work space. I examined my wrapped hand, finding that blood was still pooling in it, the cut obviously much worse than it should have been. Something is off about those specimens. Was my last thought before I lost consciousness on the couch.

Hours later, I found that I had been relocated, in a hospital with Doctor Ambrose sitting in a chair in the cramped room, perhaps just as tired as I was, though clearly still not sleeping.

I mumbled something, finding that words were significantly harder to form than I anticipated. “I… mmhmmm… Ambrose?”

Shockingly, he stirred from his thoughts, acknowledging my presence. “Ah, well look who isn’t dead yet.” His face was consistently void of any emotion, and without further pause he continued, “Do you have any idea how idiotic you’ve been, Nightfier? Not only did you yell at your own partner, you refused to work with her, compromised your own ability to work, and you specifically began this project saying that you wouldn’t do those things. And when I say wouldn’t, I very clearly mean that you couldn't."

“I…” I cleared my throat, ran my tongue along my gums and libs, finding that my mouth felt incredibly strange. Even so, I tried to speak once more, “Sir. I meant nothing by any of my actions. I acknowledge that I was not in the right state of mind, and I may deserve to be reprimanded for that… but, I would truly like to continue the project if at all possible.”

Ambrose sighed. “Well, I obviously cannot let you out of the project at this point. You have already provided incredibly significant research to us as is, though, Brookehaven has also researched using the identical methods as you.”

I suddenly remembered what likely had landed me in the hospital at that moment, and I began examining my hand. It was still clearly wrapped in a fairly severe bandage, but I was unable to feel any specific pain.

“Your blood obviously began to reject the foreign DNA that it seems you accidentally inputted into your cut, but eventually, it seems that it did accept it. We removed the surrounding skin, as we worried it would spread to the rest of your body, and we plan to send it to the laboratory for examination. Oh, also, don’t worry about damage to it. The foreign DNA seems to have accelerated the healing in just that area of your body, so the bandages could realistically be removed at this point.”

I heard a door open into the room once Ambrose finished what he had been saying. I did not recognize the person who entered, but I guessed he was a few years older than me, but a few years younger than Doctor Ambrose, which put him in the range of twenty five to thirty years of age. His clothes looked rather expensive, but I could imagine any collegiate wearing them, especially provided they needed to present their research. His face was incredibly charming, I will admit, and I felt suddenly inferior by his presence considering that he stood tall and had a broad and sanguine demeanor.

“Nightfier. I believe that you will recognize who this is, but I will conduct introductions anyway.” Ambrose stood, walking across the room in a slow manner owned up to the fact that he was exhausted. “This is the king of Irreseus.”

The king beamed at me, and suddenly I connected the lines together. Why would the king have any interest in me?

“It is a pleasure to meet you, Thadeus. I have a particular interest in your research, and would actually like to offer you and your partner a position at the castle.”

Shell-shocked, I just stared at him, not realizing that my mouth was now agape. Ambrose cleared his throat, surprising me back into reality.

I sat up further than I was already, as much as I felt able to without my head spinning. “Sir. I… I accept.”