Whether it was night, or the storm clouds where simply too thick outside was hard to tell. The rain drove against the roof of the small log cabin in a forest clearly not of the modern era. Inside by the window stood a tall proud, gorgeous woman in an evening dress that was much like that of the female tigress’. But she was no tiger, nor even a hybrid.  She was a beautiful skunk woman. She stood there looking out into the strobing darkness as rain and thunder roll across the cabin. From behind her also came a few sparks of electricity, the quiet crackle and hum of the Kirin’s antlers that idly crawl with electrical power.


“More rain today my lord? I do not see how you can enjoy life when everything is so wet. Would you not rather be free to go visit the nature you so love?” She asked drawing the curtains to turn and face a seemingly younger version of the kirin. Though the planet had a forest, which means it had to have been hundreds of years prior at this point, he looked only a few years younger. His face was less contorted with the lines of a tiredness that only a mythical being of his advanced years seemed to acquire. He smiled warmly at her before setting down his cup of tea on the table at his side. “Yes I know Sasha, you’d much rather be out there enjoying life. But for now this is all I can do to protect this forest. The last bastion of the world’s natural wilds. Not a farm, nor an endless desert, or some forsaken jungle of concrete and steel. But a lush, living, breathing forest. “

She could not help but chuckle moving to kneel before him. “Yes M’lord. A living, BREATHING, forest. It will drown ere’ long under your storms. My lord, I worry for the forest as well. But I worry for you more. You cannot keep using your aether like this. Come now, there has to be another way. Stop these rains and let the forest breathe.” Still sitting in his chair he slammed his fist down in a bit of explosive rage that was unlike the kirin. The electricity along his horns rose to a furious storm of its own while a nearby crack of lightning shook the very ground while the kirin shouted. “And what would you have me do!? Let them destroy it themselves?! If it drowns, then it drowns! Better that than to be desecrated by the mindless swarms...” The woman’s head moved to nuzzle at his knee which snapped him out of his rage.


“Even someone as ancient and powerful as yourself is not immortal, M'lord. The more of yourself you burn up the less chance you have to save this world lord. Please... Let tomorrow shine. I wish to visit the old shrine with you. I wish to go there and worship you as those that came before did. To give you some of my own aether.”


This made the storm outside seem to lessen, the rains slowing from a torrent to a simple lazy drizzle. “Oh my little Sasha. So innocent, so pure. It is you who has spared the crawling masses my wrath these short few years. All of the other ancient lords have been slain. Their aether stolen, their souls fizzled out from endless fights. Yet here I sit, with a beautiful mayfly on my lap as I stare in wonder. You... my little one. You give me hope for there to be a brighter tomorrow. And so for you, I will let tomorrow be brighter.”


Another crack of thunder came, this time more muffled, but seemingly more constant, and this time the kirin was now awake. Back high above the world on his orbiting station. And he realized the thunder was the sound of an arriving shuttle’s retrograde burn. He turned to look down at his bed, specifically to that pillow that was made of the most beautiful black and silver fur. “Do not worry Sasha, I shall spare them the full fury of my wrath for as long as I can. A promise for a day or for a thousand years, my word holds.”


The kirin flung off the covers from his bed, revealing that he slept in his slacks, his upper body carved with scars that where both from battle, but mostly self-inflicted runes that where carved into his flesh. Each one not a word of power, but instead a lost life in his service.. Each one of those draconic runes an eternal reminder of someone who he failed to protect from the ravages of death. And soon, he felt the planet itself would be his final rune to carve.

He stood up and stretched looking to the place beside his bed where the limp lifeless body of Lux knelt, plugged into his neural port. The perfectly chiseled false body of the deer being split open down the back by retracted panels and tech that revealed a spine and back of a brain encased in a crystalline case that was filled with fluid and hooked into that body.  The spine giving way at the base to the out of place squirrel tail that lay curl around his legs. The kirrin knew he was entirely out and so he spoke freely “My poor Lux. Even now, with a body that will live forever,... nothing stops your mind from slowly fading. Death will come for you too ere long. Your mind is erased little by little and replaced with code. One day, you will be little more than a robot. No spark of life left. I shall cherish you while I can. And all too soon carve your name upon my body.”


With that he reached over and unhooked the large metal multi tiered spike from the back of the crystal tank that held the spine and brain of the once squirrel now turned buck. With the jack unplugged, the horror show that was the twisted amalgam of flesh and tech closed back up, sealing itself behind a thin layer of perfectly made false flesh and fur. The slave twitching and shudderin before he looked up and said simply “Good morning M’Lord. You have need of me?” Even now, his response seemed synthetic. Not just training, but something more hard coded. The kirin took his cheek and rubbed it lightly. “Yes, there is a new arrival. Go see who comes to my home and what news they bring me. After that, I expect you yo go meditate. You need to look after your living mind as much as your cybernetic body.” The cyborg buck stood and nodded before walking out of the room, that long flowing tail following him and swaying a bit happily.

In the interim the kirin would do his morning rituals starting with some light stretches, then an intense exercise of both his body and his power. He would practice some simple martial arts, and with each thrust of his talons would come a crack of thunder and a jolt of electricity that was aimed at several grounding points around the room. He seemed to shift fighting styles like a river snaking down a mountain. Someone of his age having learned much from many places. One moment he is shadow boxing with straight jabs and hooks of traditional boxing, another second he performs a throw from judo, only to flow that into a low leg sweep that glides effortlessly into a high spinning head kick from capoeira where the kick sends a fan of electrical sparks out before him. 


As he trained Lux would return with some good news indeed. In his hand he held a metal briefcase, and called to his lord from the doorway, knowing it dangerous to enter while he exercised. “M’lord! The next specimen has arrived!It is not in good condition, but it is perhaps viable.” This news stopped the kirin in his motions as he panted a bit and moved to grab a towel on the back of a nearby chair at his desk. “Very good indeed. Please bring it to the Lab. Have them start sequencing it right away. I will be there as soon as I am clean. And no, before you ask, I do not need your assistance boy. Do your task, then go meditate.”


The buck would bow before leaving the room and doing as ordered. Leaving the Kirin alone where he looked to the bed, to that pillow once more. “Maybe this is the one Sasha. I’ve almost given up hope of finding it but... I still draw breath, and so my word still holds.” He said before he walked into the bathroom disrobing and turning on the large shower that was like that soft rain from the end of his dream-memory with her. “I miss the pure rains.”


Meanwhile in the lab there was a commotion of various slaves all in lab coats and various silks, cuffs, and collars. Lux walked in, dressed as ever in his royal looking, bright vibrant orange silk Toga draped in golden chains and jewels. “Attention. The lord’s latest sample has come in. It is to be sequenced, dissected, and made ready for transfusion as soon as possible. This is a low stability, high purity sample recovered from an archaeological dig. Time is of the utmost importance. I designate Rictis as lead on this sample’s case. Serve him well.” 

And with that the buck set the briefcase down on a metal table near the doorway. Only to have the one named Rictis come over and bow properly and start to claim the case. He was a twisted amalgam of a chimera, with the head of a grey-furred rat, the upper body of a feline, and a taur body made of at least 3 other various species that seemed all stitched together. “V-v-very well! This-is shall be a fi-fine challenge-nge!” He seemed to have a glitchy speech pattern, repeating certain syllables as he spoke. Not some timidity, not some nervousness, just a fact of how Rictis’ mind worked.


He turned and started speaking loudly over not just his real voice but the lab’s speakers. “N-n-new orders-s! The follow-ollow-ing report to brief-breifing room 287.” The chimera then rattled off a list of names and started making his way towards the briefing room. Meanwhile it left Lux in the main room of the primary lab where the experiments closest to completion where, and the most skilled techs and scientists often reside doing paperwork and filing finds. 

He took a moment to walk around and looked in the various tanks. In them where various chimeras ranging from infant hybrids that where being grown in vats, to larger than life taurus and creatures such as things that resemble hydras, or tenticaled masses. Each one labeled with the lord’s own handwriting, having a name. Not a number.

He tarry here for a moment before walking past this into another hallway, going through three airlocks to arrive at a room labeled  simply ‘Eternal Peace’. This last airlock was slow to open, and for good reason. A final purge of the environment changed the air for pure inert nitrogen which didn't bother the cyborg that was Lux. And as the door opened it was clear that the temperature was well below a critical cold that had to be maintained. Lights slowly warmed to life as it revealed metal canisters on shelves, each with a window in it revealing that each one was a head. Each canister labeled with a name, once more, written by the lord. 


This room was off limits to all but the lord and his highest proxy, which for now was Lux. Lux spoke aloud to the lifeless frozen heads. “Brothers, sisters, I will join you all soon. The master clearly misses you all. Each one he feels he failed. But I am sure all of you, just like me, know otherwise. Though we wither, though we crumble, and ultimately pass. It was never about the ending, but about the journey. Even if some of your lives where so short, you all lived in the same bliss that is the service of our Lord.” Lux moved to the end of the row that was just across from the door. He turned and fell to his knees, going into the Display pose as he started his meditation here. His master would likely disapprove of him meditating here of all places. But this was a privilege that he enjoyed freedom in. Having both the right to choose the most relaxing place to meditate, and having access to the most secure and private room of the entire station. He simply combined those two privileges in an unexpected way.


But his master would have been appalled. For this room was no place of pride in his mind. But a den of memories, and a display of his greatest failures. 

A trophy room, of regret.