The first of these two important events was the discovery of a set of fossils that shocked the entire anthropological community and shattered the cherished beliefs of their society. These ancient fossils, hidden for years within the deepest of caverns and atop a great mountain bluff, were inexplainable and unbelievable. A total of six skeletons, relatively intact, were located along with several fragments from other sets of bones scattered about the area.

From these skeletons were derived the knowledge that there had been races before the current race of humans had arisen, several races in fact. These creatures had ruled and roamed the earth, far before humans had even thought of rising and creating their own legacy, and had somehow met their end untold millenia before humans.

The second of these two events was the recent rediscovery of magic.

Magic, which was feared and misunderstood, was recently making a more positive comeback in the public spotlight. Some of the more intellectual among the humans managed to control small pieces of magic without great harm coming to them, and showed great possibility of some day being able to control it completely. However, since almost all fables and stories about magic did not coincide with the current definition of it and it had only recently been rediscovered, there were no guidelines or idea of how magic was supposed to work or how it was to be harnessed. While scientists were making progress, the general populace decided to keep their distance from magic until it was easier to understand and wield.

These two events came into play around the same time and it only took a short time before a connection was made.

The skeletons themselves were strange and almost inhuman. It was a miracle that six of them, all distinctly different, had managed to survive for such untold amounts of time. They had each been classified carefully, going underneath different scientific names.

Homo Diabolis, Homo Draconis, Homo Aviae, Homo Felinicus, Homo Erinaceidae, and Homo Seraphis.

The news and media had simplified these into the Dragon, the Demon, the Bird, the Feline, the Angel, and the Hedgehog. The ones that caused the most commotion were, of course, the Demon and Angel, being seen as positive proof of certain religious faiths, despite several important differences between the skeletal structures of the fossils and the beings of myth.

After much conjecture, it was agreed that the only way these beings could have existed was through the gift of magic, seeing as there was no way they could naturally have existed considering the laws they broke. They had to have some knowledge, or some inherent ability, that would allow them to wield such power and allow them the physical impossibilities of wings, tails, or whatever bizarre abilities or features the skeletons posessed.

Thus, the project began to see if, through the budding control of magic and the knowledge and research of the fossils, whether or not such creatures could be recreated and studied to discover how they harnessed their powers and were able to defy physical laws.

They found the best scientists and most proficient magic-users and set them up with the money, manpower, and equipment, where they could research their work unmolested. Not wanting to risk public exposure and outcry, they found their subjects from various places, seeking out those that would not be missed, or so it was believed. Using these subjects, they erased all trace of them ever existing and began to work.

That is how the experiments began.

~~~

Subjects were logically labeled and referred to as numbers, the first being 001.

They had found him by himself, wandering the streets late at night. They had followed him surreptitiously for some time, watching his actions during the night and day. They deduced that he had no family, no immediate romantic connections, and during the time they observed him, no friends came to visit him at any point. They ran a quick background check, and after confirming that he had no contacts, they kidnapped him while he was leaving his house one night. The entire ordeal was performed so smoothly that most of the people who lived around him had no idea that he had been "removed".

The most intriguing of the skeletons had been the demonic one, with its long tail bones, horns, and large bat-like wings. Believing that this would be as good a place to start as any, they decided that this would be the first species they would attempt to replicate.

The two lead scientists placed in control of the entire project, only known as Rezo and Eris -- two of the foremost leaders in magical-related research and the like -- worked on 001 with a minimum of outer input. Considering that, despite his magical adeptness and quick mind, Rezo was unfortunately blind, Eris performed most of the work underneath his direction.

The procedures were difficult and complicated. Both magic and science had to be blended in order for the desired shape to take form, and in certain cases with 001, it did not work exactly as they had planned.

After anesthesizing and binding 001 down, they began a long, tedious procedure that lengthened the end of his spine, mainly focusing more on magical ability, but using occasional medical knowledge to take care of ruptures in his pale skin or problems with the spinal cord. This process took some time, as the extended and added vertebrae needed to be assimiliated with the rest of the body and 001 required time to recover between lengthenings.

During these periods of recovery, 001 was kept in a room that was reasonably comfortable, emulating the state of his room before he had been "taken". The procedure was mentally as well as physically taxing, and while they could not provide him with all the books he had once owned, they didn't want him to suffer.

They did, however, make it clear that he was not going to be freed and that this procedure was permanent.

001, although judged at first to be relatively stable emotionally, began to sink into a deep, lasting depression, exacerbated by his self-hatred, which was deeply rooted and growing with each "adjustment" that was made to his body. They were not aware of how much 001 hated himself when they had chosen him and this began to effect their experiments slightly.

At first, 001 had struggled. He had fought against them when they originally brought him to be worked upon. But they noticed with some worry that now he did not fight. He had grown accustomed to what had become a months-long process, and had realized fighting was meaningless.

At this period they removed anything from his room that could have been used to kill himself with.

Changes to him began to take several tries as his body began to reject what was happening. When they struggled to make the horns form on his head, they swept in bizarre directions or grew irregularly. Often they had to remove the horns and try again, and finally they became the familiar curled devil horns, set within dull, straight brown hair, that were present on the skeleton they used for reference.

001 had responded relatively well to the lengthening of his spine and tail and the new appendage was flexible and almost prehensile. The magic that bound and created new nerves to create it had held and 001 had become accustomed to it almost frighteningly fast. The horns as well did not seem to cause many problems after they had been formed.

What almost jeopardized the entire procedure, however, turned out to be the wings.

They had left the wings for last, as they required a massive amount of nerve and muscle work to make them function. They still weren't sure exactly how they would enable 001 to fly. They decided more experimentation with the magical capabilities of the genes and such they were borrowing from the bones would be in order after the wings were in place.

They worked on both wings at the same time, building both from his shoulderblades using mainly magical ability. However, they were unable to form the complete membrane in one session, so 001 was sent back to recover with only the skeleton of wings.

When Rezo and Eris had recovered from the intense session enough to call 001 back, they recieved a report that 001 had gone into what appeared to be a coma. Frantic and frightened that they may lose their first experiment and, as a result, their funding and credibility, they desperately tried to revive him. Although his body showed no sign of injury, 001 refused to come back to consciousness. In the end, after investigating, they deduced that the only thing that could have caused such a terrible and unprecendented reaction had to be the new wings. 001 being only moments from death, they severed the wings from his back quickly, albeit messily, and 001 woke with a scream of pain and shock.

Relieved that he had come out of his coma, they bandaged the stubs of his wings and sent the confused 001 back to his room.

Rezo and Eris talked about what had happened at length, and Rezo finally decided that the wings were too risky and they should leave them as they were. Eris didn't agree with this, but she went along with his decision anyway. 001 was given time for the broken stubs on his back to heal. In the end, their sudden removal resulted in the flesh healing around the protruding bone, and the ripped remains of the membrane remained attached to what should have been his wings.

Rezo was blind, and his desire to fix this was an all-encompassing passion for him. With his new knowledge of physiology and the limits of magic he had learned from the experiments he had done recently, he felt more confident that he could use magic to help himself and fix the problem.

Without consulting Eris, he examined and studied 001's eyes one night, struggling, as he himself could not see, through the use of his magic to discover a way to regain his lost sight. At one point he almost removed one of 001's eyes completely in an effort to study it more closely, but reconsidered at the last moment, deciding he needed more knowledge and practice before doing such a thing. This produced a deep scar over one of 001's eyes. Although Eris questioned him about this later, Rezo denied ever having done such a thing and instead tried to focus on how the wound did not heal correctly, instead turning a deep, unhealthy black color. While it did not seem to affect 001's health, it was a strange reaction and Eris was successfully distracted.

001 now physically resembled the skeleton that they had found, or at least, their interpretation of it, but this did not give him the abilities he should have had as a member of the species. To compensate for this, they pulled information from the fossilized bones using magic and other means and, using their own research into magical abilities, they began to daily treat 001 with a magical bath of sorts. This seemed to have a good effect on him, as he became more comfortable with his new body and spent less time huddled in a corner when he was returned to his room.

While these magical treatments were going on, they began to search for their second subject, now emboldened by the success they had had with 001.

Meanwhile, in the room that looked suspiciously and eerily like his old one, only missing the books that could have made him feel at home, Vrumugun sat on the edge of his bed, long, barbed tail twitching occasionally as he generated a ball of pure ice-blue energy between his hands. He stared at it with eyes matching in color, as through a soft, emotionless voice, two words became audible.

"Freeze Arrow..."