That night, the new lamia settlement remained brightly illuminated beneath the World Tree.
Instead of torchlight, rows of Mana crystal lamps softly lit the streets between the dome houses. Their warm white glow reflected across the irrigation canals as fresh mountain water continued flowing quietly through the village.
The younger lamias still wandered from house to house despite the late hour.
Some lay on proper beds for the first time in their lives.
Others repeatedly opened and closed wooden doors simply because they had never owned one before.
Several gathered around the water taps, taking turns turning the handles just to watch clean water flow out.
The older huntresses could only smile as they watched.
After a hundred years of hardship...
Their daughters were finally acting like children again.
...
The queen stood outside her new manor watching them quietly.
A gentle breeze carried the scent of fresh timber instead of damp stone.
She looked toward me.
"So..."
"You really have to leave already?"
"I do."
I adjusted the straps on my backpack.
"The specimens we collected should be analyzed while they're still fresh."
"The six-arm bear."
"The giant insects."
"And tomorrow I'll need the laboratory prepared before examining you."
She gave a small disappointed sigh.
"I was hoping my first night in a proper house wouldn't be so lonely."
I smiled faintly.
"You'll have Eleven and Twelve."
"They're hardly good company."
She folded her arms dramatically.
"They're far too serious."
From behind her, Eleven looked completely unconvinced.
"...Mother."
"What?"
"You said exactly the same thing yesterday."
"I did?"
"Yes."
The queen coughed awkwardly.
"...I don't remember."
Twelve quietly shook her head.
"You just don't want to sleep alone."
The queen immediately turned around.
"Traitors."
Both sisters simply smiled.
I couldn't help laughing.
It had only been a week since meeting them, yet I already understood their family dynamic surprisingly well.
The queen might be over a century old...
But around her eldest daughters, she sometimes behaved like the youngest person in the room.
She looked back toward me.
"...Fine."
"I'll forgive you."
"But tomorrow..."
She pointed directly at me.
"You belong to me until my examination is finished."
"I belong to the laboratory."
"You know what I mean."
"I do."
She smiled.
"Good."
I gave a small nod.
"I'll come for you in the morning."
She seemed satisfied with that answer.
"Good night, Doctor."
"Good night."
Leaving the village behind, I followed the stone path toward the mountain.
Behind me, laughter continued echoing across the valley.
It was a pleasant sound.
One this place hadn't heard in a very long time.
The entrance to the laboratory remained hidden as it always had.
From the outside, the mountainside appeared completely natural.
Only I—and Titania—knew where the concealed blast doors lay beneath the rock.
As I approached, a Mana crystal embedded beside the cliff quietly recognized my signal.
Deep inside the mountain, enormous locking mechanisms disengaged.
The ground vibrated softly.
A section of solid rock silently split apart before sliding into the mountain.
Warm white light spilled into the darkness outside.
I stepped inside.
The doors closed again without leaving the slightest trace they had ever existed.
The familiar scent of sterilized air greeted me immediately.
Compared to the primitive world outside...
The laboratory looked almost untouched by time.
Bright corridors stretched beneath the mountain.
Automatic lighting illuminated polished floors.
Ventilation quietly circulated fresh air throughout every level.
The temperature remained perfectly constant.
Exactly twenty-two degrees.
"Welcome back, Oberon."
Titania waited in the entrance hall.
Her long black hair rested neatly over her shoulders as always.
She carried several floating holographic reports beside her.
"Any problems?"
"None."
"The geothermal generators remain stable."
"The thermoelectric array completed another maintenance cycle."
"The World Tree root monitoring system also reports normal growth."
I nodded.
"And the Mana network?"
"The valley density has increased another four percent since yesterday."
"Excellent."
The expanding network would make every future project easier.
Stone construction.
Agriculture.
Medicine.
Communication.
Everything depended upon Mana density.
Titania looked toward my right arm.
"You sustained external damage."
"Just a scratch."
"It didn't do much."
"I've already prepared the maintenance chamber."
"As expected."
Several minutes later, I lay upon the maintenance platform.
Unlike a hospital bed, the platform resembled something between an operating table and an industrial assembly line.
Robotic arms unfolded from the ceiling.
Diagnostic beams swept across every joint in my synthetic body.
Blue holographic displays rapidly filled the room.
Artificial muscle condition.
Joint wear.
Mana communication pathways.
Memory synchronization.
Power cell efficiency.
Tiny maintenance drones emerged from hidden compartments before carefully polishing microscopic scratches across the artificial skin covering my forearm.
Within seconds...
Every mark disappeared.
Titania reviewed the data silently.
"Structural integrity remains at one hundred percent."
"Mana transmission efficiency has improved."
"The World Tree appears to be stabilizing long-range communication."
I sat upright.
"Good."
"Tomorrow's examination will probably answer more important questions."
"The queen."
Titania nodded.
"And Eleven and Twelve."
"Their biology may explain why only one individual retained reproductive capability."
"Exactly."
I stood before walking toward the central analysis room.
Rows of preserved specimens already waited beneath scanning equipment.
The severed arm of the six-arm bear.
Blood samples.
Scales from the queen.
Venom.
Several giant insects collected throughout the expedition.
Everything necessary to understand Pandora's evolution now rested inside the laboratory.
Tomorrow...
The real investigation would begin.
The following morning...
Just after sunrise...
I left the laboratory once more.
Unlike yesterday, I wasn't returning alone.
Three patients were waiting for me.
The morning air remained cool beneath the shade of the World Tree.
A thin layer of mist drifted across the irrigation canals before gradually disappearing beneath the rising sun.
Stone knight golems had already begun their daily routine.
Some inspected the canals for blockages.
Others carried baskets of harvested vegetables from the experimental fields.
Several earth spirits quietly repaired tiny cracks in the stone pathways while water spirits cleaned away loose soil left behind by yesterday's caravan.
The settlement was slowly becoming self-sufficient.
As I walked through the village, many lamias greeted me respectfully.
"Good morning, Doctor."
"Morning."
"Doctor!"
Several younger lamias waved enthusiastically before being gently pulled back by their older sisters.
The older huntresses simply bowed their heads.
They still hadn't completely gotten used to my presence, but the fear I first saw in their eyes had almost disappeared.
Trust took time.
Fortunately...
I had plenty of it.
...
The queen was already waiting outside her manor.
Unlike yesterday, she had changed back into the leather clothing she had worn before coming here.
Her crescent-shaped boar tusk tiara rested neatly upon her head, while her long black ponytail gently swayed behind her as her tail lazily coiled around the stone porch.
Eleven and Twelve stood quietly behind her carrying only small shoulder bags.
No weapons.
No armor.
Only the necessities for spending the day away from the village.
The queen smiled the moment she saw me.
"You're right on time."
"I said I would be."
"I honestly thought your research would make you forget."
"I almost did."
She laughed.
"I knew it."
Eleven quietly shook her head.
"Mother was standing here before sunrise."
"I was not."
"You were."
"I simply..."
The queen crossed her arms.
"...came outside early."
Twelve smiled.
"You've been checking the road every few minutes."
The queen immediately looked away.
"...That's classified."
I pretended not to hear the conversation.
"Shall we go?"
She straightened immediately.
"Lead the way, Doctor."
...
Leaving the settlement behind, we followed the stone road toward the mountain.
The farther we walked, the larger the World Tree became, and I found myself considering a solution to its most obvious problem—its visibility. Using Mana, it should be possible to generate a thin reflective film across the surrounding air, bending light just enough to conceal the tree from distant observers. From afar, the mountain would appear unchanged, while within the perimeter, sunlight could be redirected to eliminate the massive shadow cast by the tree itself.
Yesterday they had only seen it from below.
Now, approaching its trunk directly, its true scale became almost overwhelming.
Its roots spread across the mountainside like gigantic walls of living wood.
Several roots alone were wider than the queen's old underground hall.
The bark looked less like wood and more like polished stone reinforced with enormous fibers.
Sunlight filtered through countless leaves high above, creating moving patterns across the forest floor.
The queen slowly looked upward.
"I still can't believe this is a tree."
"It is."
"It reaches into the clouds."
"It hasn't finished growing yet."
She stopped walking.
"...You're serious."
"I am."
"If everything continues according to plan..."
"It should eventually reach the upper atmosphere."
Silence followed.
Even Eleven and Twelve looked upward with expressions somewhere between awe and disbelief.
"A tree..."
Twelve quietly murmured.
"...that reaches space."
I smiled.
"Eventually."
The queen sighed.
"I've decided."
"I'm going to stop asking how."
"A wise decision."
She laughed.
"Because every time I ask..."
"...you explain something even more unbelievable."
...
The forest gradually gave way to exposed mountain stone.
Unlike the valley below, almost no vegetation grew here.
Only the enormous roots of the World Tree gripped the mountainside.
The queen looked around curiously.
"So the laboratory is inside this mountain?"
"Yes."
"It was built here long before civilization collapsed."
"Why inside a mountain?"
"Security."
I placed a hand upon one of the exposed cliff faces.
"Natural protection."
"Stable temperature."
"Abundant geothermal energy."
"The mountain itself acts as armor."
She nodded thoughtfully.
"And no one would ever suspect it."
"Exactly."
"The laboratory was never meant to be found."
...
Eventually we reached what appeared to be an ordinary cliff.
The queen looked around.
"...Where is it?"
I stepped toward the smooth stone wall.
"Here."
She frowned.
"I don't see anything."
"There isn't anything to see."
Not yet.
I removed a Mana crystal from my backpack before placing it into a small circular depression almost invisible within the rock itself.
Blue particles spread outward through microscopic channels hidden beneath the stone.
For several seconds...
Nothing happened.
Then...
A deep vibration echoed through the mountain.
The ground beneath our feet trembled gently.
Eleven instinctively reached for the spear that wasn't there before remembering she had left it behind.
Twelve looked around cautiously.
The queen stared directly at the cliff.
A long line silently appeared across the rock face.
Another followed.
Then another.
The mountain itself began to move.
With a low mechanical rumble, thousands of tons of reinforced stone slowly separated before sliding backward into the mountain.
Warm white light poured out through the widening opening.
A rush of cool, filtered air drifted across the four of us.
The queen's green eyes slowly widened.
"..."
She didn't speak.
Neither did Eleven.
Nor Twelve.
They simply stood motionless, watching an impossible doorway open inside solid stone.
Beyond it stretched a bright white corridor illuminated by lights with no visible flame.
The polished floor reflected the ceiling lights perfectly.
Not a single grain of dust could be seen.
The queen finally found her voice.
"...Doctor."
"Yes?"
"...I suddenly feel like we've walked back into the old world."
I smiled faintly.
"You haven't."
"We're simply bringing a small part of it forward."
I stepped through the entrance first.
After a brief hesitation...
The three lamias followed me into the laboratory.
The heavy blast doors closed silently behind us.
For a brief moment, the only sound was the quiet hum of the laboratory's ventilation system.
The three lamias instinctively looked back.
The solid rock wall had disappeared once again.
There was no visible seam.
No handle.
No sign that an entrance had ever existed.
"It's gone..."
Twelve murmured.
"The mountain swallowed it."
"It is hidden from both sides."
I explained as we moved forward.
"The laboratory was designed to survive war."
"If an enemy found the entrance, sealing the blast doors would make it appear to be nothing more than solid rock."
The queen gave a small nod.
"...Yes."
"I remember facilities like this."
Her voice was quieter now.
"People built them because they expected the worst."
"Unfortunately."
...
The corridor stretched ahead, bright and silent.
Clean air flowed steadily through the space.
Cool.
Dry.
Unfamiliar.
The queen took a slow breath.
"...Filtered air."
She closed her eyes briefly.
"I haven't felt this in a long time."
Eleven and Twelve exchanged a glance but said nothing.
...
A door ahead slid open on its own.
The sisters tensed immediately.
The queen only watched.
"...Motion sensors."
She murmured.
I continued walking.
"It recognized me."
They followed after a brief hesitation.
The door closed behind them without a sound.
Twelve glanced back.
"It moves by itself..."
The queen lightly touched the surface.
"...Convenient."
...
We passed a few observation windows.
Machines moved quietly behind reinforced glass.
Robotic arms.
Automated systems.
Everything operating with silent precision.
The queen slowed slightly, watching.
Not confused.
Remembering.
"...Still running."
"Yes."
"Maintained."
She nodded once.
"...Of course."
...
At the end of the corridor, transparent doors opened.
Titania was already waiting.
She gave a small bow.
"Welcome back."
Her gaze shifted to the three lamias.
"And welcome Lizabeth"
The queen smiled faintly.
"...Titania."
Titania attention moved to Eleven and Twelve.
"I've prepared the examination rooms."
"The scans will not cause discomfort."
The queen glanced around once more.
Bright lights.
Clean walls.
Silent machines.
She exhaled slowly.
"...It hasn't changed."
The queen gave a small, distant smile.
"...It feels like stepping back on time."
Titania gestured toward the medical wing.
"Shall we begin?"
The queen nodded.
"Yes."
"I've waited long enough."
Together, we entered the examination rooms as the doors quietly sealed behind us.
The medical wing occupied an entire floor beneath the mountain.
Unlike the industrial sections of the laboratory, everything here was finished in bright white.
The walls.
The ceiling.
Even the floor.
The only color came from the blue holographic displays that quietly floated above various medical equipment.
The queen looked around with an amused smile.
"It still has the same atmosphere."
"The smell."
"The lighting."
"The silence."
"It feels as though every doctor in the world is about to tell me something I don't want to hear."
I smiled.
"Hopefully today's news won't be too bad."
She shrugged.
"I've lived with this body for over a hundred years."
"I've already accepted whatever the answer is."
Titania stepped forward.
"We'll perform the examinations separately."
She looked toward Eleven and Twelve.
"If you'll follow me."
The two sisters nodded before disappearing into another examination room with Titania.
As the automatic doors closed behind them, only the queen and I remained.
...
"This way."
I led her into the primary diagnostic suite.
The room was considerably larger than the others.
At its center stood a transparent cylindrical scanner surrounded by dozens of articulated robotic arms.
Above it, countless projector arrays rested within the ceiling.
The queen slowly circled the machine.
"I've never seen one this large."
"It was originally designed for full genetic reconstruction research."
"It can examine every tissue layer in your body without making a single incision."
She looked impressed.
"So no needles?"
"Not unless I need blood samples."
"Wonderful."
She laughed.
"I've always hated needles."
...
Titania had already prepared a patient gown inside a changing room.
The queen returned several minutes later, folding her old leather clothing neatly in her arms.
Seeing her dressed in a simple white patient gown made the contrast almost surreal.
A hundred years living in caves.
Now standing inside one of humanity's most advanced medical laboratories.
She looked down at herself and laughed softly.
"I almost forgot what these felt like."
"The last time I wore one..."
"...I still had two legs."
Silence settled over the room for a moment.
"I suppose this brings back memories."
She smiled sadly.
"Some."
"Not all of them are pleasant."
...
She stepped into the center of the scanner.
The transparent cylinder quietly closed around her.
"Remain still."
"I know."
She folded her hands together and stood patiently.
A faint blue light swept downward across her body.
Then another.
Soon thousands of microscopic scanning beams began passing through every layer of tissue.
The display beside me rapidly filled with data.
Skeletal structure.
Muscular system.
Cardiovascular system.
Nervous system.
Organ functions.
Hormone levels.
Immune activity.
Even individual cells appeared as magnified three-dimensional models.
The queen watched countless holographic images of her own anatomy rotating in front of her.
"...That's strange."
"What?"
"I've lived in this body for a century."
"But this is the first time I've actually seen it."
...
The examination continued for nearly twenty minutes.
Despite the complexity, the scanner never touched her once.
Everything was reconstructed digitally.
When the scan completed, the cylinder quietly opened.
"You can step out now."
She stretched her shoulders.
"That's considerably more comfortable than I expected."
"No discomfort?"
"None."
"Good."
I walked toward the main console while the laboratory's central computer finished processing the enormous amount of data.
Rows of graphs appeared one after another.
Genetic sequences.
Protein synthesis.
Cellular repair rates.
Pandora mutation markers.
Eden stabilization pathways.
The comparison software automatically loaded the specimens collected during the expedition.
The six-arm bear.
The praying mantis.
Several other giant insects.
Blood collected from normal wildlife.
One by one, translucent anatomical models floated into the air.
The queen quietly walked beside me.
"So..."
"What do you see?"
I enlarged her genetic profile beside the six-arm bear.
"For now..."
"I see exactly what I hoped to find."
She looked toward the holograms.
"The difference between you and the bear is enormous."
The bear's genetic structure appeared chaotic.
Animal genes had been inserted almost randomly.
Bone density.
Muscle fibers.
Neural pathways.
Everything had been reconstructed for brute force.
By comparison...
The queen's genome appeared almost elegant.
Complex.
But stable.
"Eden."
I said quietly.
"It never stopped working."
She looked at me.
"I thought Pandora won."
"It didn't."
I highlighted several regions within her DNA.
"Pandora tried to reconstruct your body."
"But Eden continuously corrected those changes."
"It prioritized your survival."
"The two systems competed with one another."
"The result..."
I rotated the three-dimensional model.
"...is the body you have now."
She watched the hologram silently.
"So neither of them truly won."
"No."
"They reached equilibrium."
"The moment your body could no longer sustain the conflict..."
"It shut itself down."
"The coma."
She slowly nodded.
"I slept for about a month."
"Exactly."
"Eden reduced your metabolism to the minimum required for survival."
"It bought time."
"Eventually the conflict stabilized."
"It saved your life."
The queen looked thoughtfully at the image of her own body.
"So..."
"I owe my life to the same medicine that created this body."
"In a sense..."
"Yes."
She smiled faintly.
"I suppose that's rather poetic."
I turned toward another display.
"Now..."
"Let's compare that with the six-arm bear."
The enormous beast's anatomical model expanded until it towered above both of us.
Unlike the queen...
Its body showed no signs of Eden's stabilizing influence whatsoever.
I expanded the six-arm bear's anatomical model until it stood beside the queen's holographic reconstruction.
The contrast could not have been clearer.
"At first glance, both of you appear to have undergone similar mutations."
The queen looked between the two holograms.
"Both have animal characteristics."
"But the process behind them is completely different."
I highlighted the queen's genome first.
"Your body was already under Eden treatment."
"Eden's original purpose was medical."
"It continuously repairs damaged tissue."
"Suppresses cancer."
"Maintains the body at its healthiest state."
"When Pandora entered your body..."
"It encountered another nanobiological system already occupying every cell."
I enlarged several regions where blue and crimson pathways intertwined.
"Pandora attempted to restructure your body by introducing new genetic traits."
"Eden immediately repaired anything it considered life-threatening."
"The result wasn't victory."
"It was compromise."
The hologram gradually shifted into layers.
Human anatomy.
Snake anatomy.
Then the boundary where both merged.
"Your cardiovascular system remained almost entirely human."
"So did your brain."
"Your endocrine organs adapted instead of being replaced."
"The lower half of your body was reconstructed because Pandora gained the advantage there during your coma."
"The upper half remained predominantly under Eden's control."
The queen quietly watched.
"So I really was fighting myself."
"No."
I shook my head.
"Your body wasn't."
"Eden and Pandora were."
"You were merely the battlefield."
...
I dismissed her model before enlarging the six-arm bear again.
"This individual tells a completely different story."
Several layers of muscle appeared beneath translucent skin.
Additional shoulder joints.
Duplicated muscles.
Reinforced tendons.
Dense skeletal supports.
Everything had been redesigned for combat.
"There is almost no sign of regulation."
"No safety mechanisms."
"No attempt to preserve the original anatomy."
"Pandora rebuilt the host without restraint."
The queen frowned.
"So why didn't it kill the bear?"
"It almost certainly did."
She looked at me in confusion.
I brought up several graphs beside the hologram.
"Pandora causes an enormous increase in metabolic activity."
"Cells divide uncontrollably."
"Organs enlarge."
"Body temperature rises."
"Energy consumption becomes catastrophic."
"Most hosts die before stabilization."
I switched to the giant praying mantis.
"This one is different."
"There are no signs of Pandora infection."
I highlighted its internal structure.
"No viral restructuring."
"No abnormal genetic insertions."
"Just natural growth."
Then the giant ants.
"And the same applies here."
"They aren't infected either."
The queen frowned slightly.
"Then why are they so large?"
I brought up an ecological model.
"Because their predators disappeared."
"Pandora devastated mammalian populations."
"Most of the creatures it was designed to affect either died or transformed."
"Insects were largely unaffected."
"They're too biologically different from the virus's original target."
I expanded the projection.
"With fewer predators..."
"Less competition..."
"And after the war warmed the planet while human activity declined..."
"Oxygen levels rose..."
"Creating ideal conditions for insects..."
"They simply grew."
The queen watched the model in silence.
"So even without infection..."
"The world still changed."
"Yes."
"Pandora didn't need to touch them directly."
"It reshaped the entire ecosystem anyway."
Then several other collected specimens.
"Every infected organism shows signs of surviving an identical hypermetabolic phase."
The queen crossed her arms.
"So only the survivors remain."
"Exactly."
"The ones that failed simply disappeared."
...
I projected a simplified timeline into the air.
"The sequence likely unfolded like this."
"Pandora spreads among humanity."
"Human civilization collapses."
"The virus spreads beyond humans."
"It reaches animals through bites, blood, and contaminated flesh."
"Most cannot endure the sudden metabolic surge."
"They die before their bodies can stabilize."
"But a small number survive."
"Their bodies adapt just enough to endure the transformation."
"Those survivors reproduce."
"And their offspring inherit those changes."
One branch of the timeline continued growing.
"Their offspring inherit stabilized genetic changes."
"Generation after generation..."
"The mutations become permanent."
I enlarged the family tree.
"At that point..."
"They are no longer infected animals."
"They are entirely new species."
The queen remained silent.
The implications were obvious.
The six-arm bear wasn't simply a monster.
It was nature adapting.
...
"But something still bothered me."
I enlarged Pandora's viral architecture.
"For years..."
"I believed Pandora became airborne by accident."
"Radiation."
"Environmental mutation."
"Random chance."
I slowly shook my head.
"I no longer think that's true."
The queen looked toward me.
"What changed your mind?"
"Your story."
"It's too convenient."
"Pandora spreads."
"Civilization collapses."
"The outbreak eventually stabilizes."
"And then..."
"A fully equipped military force arrives to claim the land."
I looked back at the data.
"That sequence isn't coincidence."
I displayed the military strain of Eden recovered from the laboratory archives beside Pandora.
The similarities were overwhelming.
"Pandora isn't a completely different organism."
"It is Eden."
"Modified."
"The military had already redesigned Eden."
"They added animal DNA."
"Enhanced strength."
"Improved reflexes."
"Accelerated regeneration."
"They went as far as adding animal features to their troops."
"Gills for breathing underwater."
"Armored scales capable of withstanding explosions."
"Enhanced night vision."
"The objective was obvious."
"Create superior soldiers."
The queen slowly nodded.
"I remember hearing rumors."
"Nothing confirmed."
"But people talked."
I continued.
"If someone already possessed the ability to rewrite Eden..."
"Then making it airborne wouldn't be impossible."
Silence filled the room.
The idea was disturbing.
Yet every new piece of evidence supported it.
...
I enlarged another sequence.
"The survivors who attacked your mansion."
"You said they weren't wearing respirators."
"They had no protective equipment."
She thought quietly.
Then nodded.
"I'm certain."
"They wore ordinary military equipment."
"No masks."
"No filters."
I folded my arms.
"If Pandora had already become airborne..."
"They should have died."
"Unless..."
"They were already immune."
The queen slowly finished the sentence herself.
"...Vaccinated."
"Exactly."
I expanded the timeline once more.
"My current hypothesis is this."
"The military developed a weaponized version of Eden."
"They modified it to spread through the air."
"They vaccinated their own personnel first."
"Then released Pandora."
"The objective..."
I looked toward the ruined world displayed on another hologram.
"...was to remove everyone else."
The queen stared at the projection.
"So after the virus finished..."
"They would inherit the world."
"That was likely the plan."
"But something went wrong."
I enlarged the branch representing wildlife.
"Pandora didn't stop with humans."
"It crossed species."
"Every infected animal became another reservoir."
"Another mutation."
"Another battlefield."
"The world transformed faster than anyone predicted."
I dismissed the final hologram.
"The weapon escaped its creators."
"It didn't merely end civilization."
"It replaced the biosphere."
For several moments neither of us spoke.
The quiet hum of the laboratory filled the silence.
Finally, the queen lowered her eyes.
"So in the end..."
"No one conquered the world."
I looked through the laboratory window toward the World Tree towering beyond the mountain.
"No."
"Nature did."
The queen remained silent for a long time.
Her eyes never left the holographic model slowly rotating before us.
For over a century she had searched for an explanation.
Now...
The answer was finally beginning to take shape.
The queen remained silent for a long while.
Her golden eyes remained fixed upon the hologram of her own body slowly rotating in the air.
For over a hundred years...
She had searched for someone who could finally explain what had happened to her.
Now she finally had her answer.
She let out a small breath before looking at me.
"So..."
"...Can I be cured?"
There was no desperation in her voice.
No pleading.
Only quiet acceptance.
She had already lived a century with this body.
If the answer was no...
She had already prepared herself to hear it.
I enlarged her anatomical model once more.
"There are two different questions."
She looked back at the projection.
"The first."
"Can Pandora be stopped?"
"Yes."
Her shoulders visibly relaxed.
"The second."
"Can your body return completely to the way it was before?"
This time...
I couldn't answer immediately.
"...Not with the technology we currently have."
She lowered her eyes.
"I see..."
There was disappointment.
But not surprise.
She smiled anyway.
"I suppose asking the world's greatest doctor doesn't mean miracles always exist."
I couldn't help smiling.
"You've been calling me a miracle doctor since we met."
"Because you are."
She answered without hesitation.
"You gave my daughters homes."
"You brought us clean water."
"You chased away our nightmares."
She gently touched the scales on her tail.
"This body is asking a little too much."
I shook my head.
"No."
"It isn't."
She blinked.
"What?"
I walked toward the hologram and highlighted the boundary where her human body merged into her serpentine tail.
"Mother and I completed an antiviral after civilization collapsed."
"It was designed to stop Pandora."
"What she developed was eventually named Elpis."
"It can stop Pandora's activity."
"It can prevent further mutations."
"But..."
I traced my finger along the projection.
"It cannot tell your own cells they no longer belong to you."
"This..."
I pointed at her tail.
"...isn't a disease anymore."
"It isn't a parasite."
"It isn't even damaged tissue."
"It's you."
The queen quietly lowered her hand onto her own tail.
"So..."
"If I wanted my legs back..."
"We'd have to remove all of this."
"Yes."
The room became quiet.
I brought up another hologram.
A surgical simulation.
Layers of tissue gradually disappeared before being replaced by regenerated human anatomy.
"The operation is possible."
"But extremely dangerous."
"Every nerve."
"Every artery."
"Every organ Pandora reconstructed..."
"...would have to be removed."
"Eden would then regenerate an entirely new lower body."
The queen watched silently until the simulation ended.
"...And if something goes wrong?"
"You die."
She laughed.
"...You really don't sugarcoat things."
"I don't."
"I know."
She smiled.
"That's why I trust you."
She slowly curled the tip of her tail around herself.
"I hated this body."
She said quietly.
"I hated every scale."
"Every time I looked into a mirror."
"I prayed I'd wake up human again."
Her fingers brushed across the smooth green scales.
"But..."
"...after a hundred years..."
She laughed to herself.
"I've gotten rather attached to it."
She looked at me sheepishly.
"Does that sound strange?"
"No."
I answered honestly.
"It sounds human."
She looked surprised.
"I've spent more years like this than I ever did walking."
"I don't even remember what walking feels like anymore."
She smiled mischievously.
"I'm probably better at climbing trees than you."
"You definitely are."
She looked absurdly proud over such a trivial victory.
I found myself chuckling.
"You really are competitive."
"Only when I know I can win."
She puffed out her chest triumphantly.
"I've finally beaten the genius doctor at something."
"You have."
She grinned.
"See?"
"I'm amazing."
"...You certainly think so."
"I do."
For the first time since entering the laboratory...
The room didn't feel like a hospital anymore.
It felt like two friends talking.
...
Then...
An idea quietly formed in my mind.
I enlarged another genetic sequence.
This one didn't belong to the queen.
It belonged to ancient reptiles.
She leaned closer.
"What are you looking at?"
"Your ancestors."
"My ancestors?"
I nodded.
"Snakes weren't always limbless."
The evolutionary tree expanded.
Four-legged reptiles.
Primitive snakes.
Modern snakes.
Several dormant genes illuminated themselves.
"The genes responsible for producing legs were never completely lost."
"They simply stopped being used."
She stared at the display.
"So..."
"They're still inside me?"
"Fragments of them."
"Enough to use as a blueprint."
I overlaid her Eden pathways.
"Eden excels at regeneration."
"It doesn't care whether it's replacing a finger..."
"...or growing an entire organ."
I highlighted the dormant limb-development genes.
"What if..."
"We stopped trying to make you human again?"
She frowned.
"...What?"
"What if that was the wrong question?"
She looked genuinely confused.
"I don't understand."
The hologram changed.
A pair of human legs slowly grew beneath her hips.
Her serpentine body remained exactly as it was.
She froze.
"...Doctor."
I rotated the image.
"You wouldn't become completely human."
"You aren't entirely a Lamia anymore either."
I enlarged the genetic overlap.
"You're something new."
"A demonstration that humanity adapted instead of perishing."
She remained speechless.
"You could call yourself a demon."
"Or simply..."
"A new branch of humanity."
She didn't answer.
She simply walked closer.
One trembling hand reached toward the holographic legs.
"...They're beautiful."
She whispered.
"So..."
"I wouldn't lose my tail?"
"No."
"I could keep both."
"That's the idea."
Tears slowly formed in her eyes.
"So I'd be able to walk again..."
"And still hug my daughters with my tail."
"Yes."
She laughed through her tears.
"...Greedy."
"What?"
"I'm being greedy."
"I wanted my old life back."
"But now..."
She looked at the hologram again.
"I don't."
She turned toward me with a smile I hadn't seen before.
"I want this life."
"I just want to walk in it."
For a moment...
Neither of us spoke.
Then she suddenly slithered forward and wrapped both arms around me.
"Thank you."
She whispered.
"Not because you've cured me."
"...Because for the first time..."
"...I can imagine tomorrow."
I hesitated for only a second before gently returning the embrace.
"We're not there yet."
"I know."
She laughed softly against my shoulder.
"You always ruin the dramatic moment."
"It's still only a hypothesis."
"I know."
She looked up at me with a playful smile.
"...But you'll prove it."
There wasn't a trace of doubt in her voice.
Only absolute faith.
Before I could answer...
The examination room doors slid open.
Titania entered carrying a holographic tablet.
Behind her, Eleven and Twelve followed.
"Reproductive activity should be after we collect her egg cell"
Titania said while smiling coldly sending chill down my spine somehow
The queen didn't stepped back, licking all over my face with her long tongue like a dog then push my head into her blossom then she stick out her tongue toward Titania.
Titania looked from the queen...
...to me...
Titania keep on her smiled.
She decided not to pursue it further.
Instead, she projected two new anatomical models into the air.
"Now then."
"It seems your daughters present us with an entirely different mystery."
I enlarged another section of their genomes.
Several regulatory genes remained inactive.
Unlike the queen's...
Those pathways had never awakened.
I looked thoughtfully at the data for several moments before finally speaking.
"I think I know what's happening."
Everyone's attention immediately turned toward me.
The queen leaned closer.
"What is it?"
I projected a simplified diagram of reptilian reproduction.
"Your daughters were born through parthenogenesis."
She nodded.
"I know."
"But parthenogenesis isn't the normal reproductive strategy."
"It is an emergency one."
I drew another branch of the diagram.
"In many reptiles, it allows a female to continue a bloodline when no male exists."
"It was never intended to continue indefinitely."
Titania quietly added,
"It preserves a population."
"It does not maximize genetic diversity."
I nodded.
"Exactly."
I enlarged the queen's scan beside Eleven's.
"You possess the complete reproductive cycle because Pandora reconstructed your body directly."
"Your daughters inherited that body..."
"...but not every developmental trigger."
The queen looked back toward her two eldest daughters.
"So all they needed..."
"...was confirmation."
"Yes."
I answered.
"They aren't infertile."
"They're waiting."
"For what?"
She asked.
I enlarged another hormonal pathway.
"My current hypothesis..."
"...is the presence of a compatible male."
The room became quiet.
Eleven and Twelve exchanged uncertain glances.
The queen looked back at me.
"So if there were one..."
"...their bodies would finally complete their development?"
"I believe that's the most likely explanation."
Titania folded her arms.
"It also matches their endocrine profiles."
"The reproductive organs are complete."
"The signaling pathway simply never activated."
The queen slowly nodded.
"Then..."
"...we need to create one."
I looked toward Titania.
"Yes."
"We'll have to engineer a compatible male."
"The genetics must remain stable."
"They also need to be compatible with your lineage."
The queen remained thoughtful for only a few seconds before suddenly smiling.
"...Then our son could do the job."
I blinked.
"Our son?"
She nodded as though it were the most obvious conclusion in the world.
"Of course."
"If we're going to create one anyway..."
"Why not make him our son?"
I instinctively slipped back into scientist mode.
"That is technically possible."
"I can modify my own genome to become compatible with yours before artificial fertilization. After embryo development reaches a stable stage, we can implant it—"
"Not like that!"
The queen interrupted, her face turning bright red.
Eleven and Twelve both looked away in embarrassment.
"I mean..."
She covered her face with both hands.
"...properly."
"With warmth."
"With love."
"...Romantically."
I frowned in genuine confusion.
"That would unnecessarily reduce procedural efficiency."
The queen slowly lowered her hands and stared at me in disbelief.
"...Doctor."
"Yes?"
"...You're impossible."
Twelve couldn't hold it any longer.
A quiet laugh escaped her lips.
Even Eleven smiled.
Titania simply closed her eyes for a moment before letting out an almost inaudible sigh.
"As expected."
She said calmly.
"Oberon continues interpreting every romantic proposal as a research project."
The queen buried her face in her hands again.
"I'm technically still an innocent virgin, you know..."
"And my future husband is discussing embryo implantation..."
She mumbled in embarrassment.
I looked toward Titania.
"...Did I say something wrong?"
Titania smiled politely.
"Extensively."
The room erupted into laughter, leaving only me wondering what everyone found so amusing.
The queen suddenly straightened, as if remembering something important.
"And don't worry about having kids. I may be a virgin, but I'm a professional when it comes to raising children."
She declared proudly, lifting her chin.
Eleven tilted her head slightly.
"...Mother."
"Yes?"
"You've never actually raised a child before."
The queen froze.
Twelve nodded in agreement.
"We raised each other. Mostly older sister is the one who raised us and even look after mother"
Eleven continued calmly.
"You were often resting..."
"Or reading book"
Twelve added gently.
The queen's confident expression slowly cracked.
"I..."
She opened her mouth.
Then closed it again.
Eleven folded her arms.
"You mostly teach us language and basic knowledge."
Twelve smiled softly.
"And you gave us guidance when we needed it."
The queen's shoulders slumped.
"...That still counts."
Eleven hesitated for a moment.
"...It does."
Twelve nodded.
The queen looked at me with a slightly uncertain expression.
"...Doctor."
"They're bullying me."
I considered it for a moment.
"...They're presenting accurate data."
"...Traitor."