The red and black mana merged into a single golden drop as it was absorbed by Wolf’s appendix. It spread out across the organ as it began to seep into it on a molecular level. Suddenly a barrier that was previously invisible appeared as it fought the golden drop. Billions of tiny lines that formed some kind of seal repulsed the golden drop again and again until finally it could not resist any longer.

With an almost human sounding cry the seal dissolved and the golden drop became one with Wolf’s appendix. The pure energy of life surged into his body and absorbed into his energy network. One after another small seemingly invisible lines lit up like fireworks as they became thicker and stayed visible to his mana-sense.

A great transformation was underway inside Wolf’s body as his appendix began to breathe energy like a set a lungs breathed oxygen. As his appendix transformed a shape of something that had been long buried in his DNA emerged and he could see an old haggard man in his mind’s eye staring at him.

The old man reached out with his hand and it glowed like the sun as he pressed it into Wolf’s mind. Instantly a storm of knowledge erupted.

He saw humans fighting other humans as a deadly civil war erupted. Wolf could actually feel the energy fluctuations from the battles as the memories passed through him. He gasped as he realised the old man’s enemies were wielding the [12 Chamber-Heart] scripture. He could see the rage and hunger in their eyes as they killed.

The Old man’s faction wielded something different. Their energy was more condensed and surgical. It was like the difference between an enormous ball of flame and a laser beam.

Finally one faction rose to power while the Old man’s faction was mercilessly slaughtered. At the brink of their destruction they sacrificed their lives to power a bloodline seal. They injected a single item of knowledge into the DNA of humanity deep inside the appendix. The knowledge would lay their hidden for millions of years waiting for the moment when it could be reborn.

A painful spike of pain pierced Wolf’s mind as the knowledge unlocked from the seal and sunk into his mind.

In fact even the Old man’s faction couldn’t know that it would take so many years before the knowledge was revealed. Their method of energetic manipulation had long been erased by their conquerors, the energy lines of human beings had been buried and the appendix disconnected from the internal energy network. Only one energetic methodology had survived - the [12 Chamber-heart].

It was only due to the unusual combination of Wolf’s incredible sensitivity to mana that he had rediscovered the energy lines of the human race. This was coupled with the even more unusual circumstance of reconnecting his appendix to the energy network while the origin concept of the fallen phoenix race was inside of him and his hearth-chamber completely supressed. These factors combined had caused a reboot in Wolf’s DNA and resurrected a knowledge long forgotten from the annals of human history.

As Wolf reeled with the knowledge he felt something ancient emerge, a powerful and holy scripture from humanities earliest beginnings.

[Infinite Constellation]

As the scripture poured into his mind he immediately began to operate it. The world inside his appendix transformed into a black space. Slowly from among the darkness light began to emerge in the form of stars, they slowly began to arrange themselves in a pattern that was unique to humanity.

After several moments the stars laid out in a pattern and began to slowly spiral.

It’s a double helix. Wolf realised. In molecular biology, the term double helix referred to the structure formed by the double-stranded molecules of nucleic acids such as DNA.

As the constellation of stars spiralled a burst of emotion shot through Wolf. He wanted to paint, to run, to move his body. He was filled with a deep need to……….create!

As Wolf stared at the double helix constellation he thought back to the words of the zombie and realised what it was.

This is humanities Origin Concept……….Creativity!

The feeling was completely different from the [Black Sheep] which was filled with the tyranny of suppression. This was a different driving force, the force behind invention, innovation and inspiration.

Slowly the golden drop began to get used up. Now that his constellation was formed he felt the space in his appendix absorb more and more of the golden energy as the black space in his appendix broke through in size.

A surge of energy filled him as it broke through four times before it slowly stopped as the last piece of golden energy was used up. Each time the space in his appendix had expanded a strange vortex had formed that orbited around his double helix. Wolf could feel these vortex’s were like batteries that contained a dense amount of mana.

Like a black hole. Wolf thought as he felt their edges.

Opening his eyes Wolf realised that the black-mana was now totally absent from his body and he could feel the raw power of his heart chamber again. Rather than draw on the mana in his heart chamber he drew on the mana from his appendix.

Except it wasn’t that simple.

Tapping mana from his heart chambers was effortless. It came roaring to his call like a raging beast. But drawing out the mana from his appendix felt incredibly difficult. It was like trying to hold water in your hands.

Finally Wolf managed to coax a thin sliver of black and silver mana out of his appendix. It felt far purer than the mana from his heart chamber.

Hmmmm the heart chamber mana has more volume, but the appendix mana has a higher purity.

As he stared at the mana he realised it was like black space filled with stars as it crept up his main energy line and then began to fill his body.

Wolf easily ripped his hands free from the black cord that bound them and fell off the hook which had kept him suspended on the wall.

He looked at No1 and No2 miserably struggling on the wall with dead eyes as they were lost in their own nightmares. Unlike Wolf, the two had never given up resisting and so their bodies were wracked with incredible pain as the black and red mana refined them into a zombie.

For a moment Wolf pondered the idea of leaving them to die.

I mean seriously. Fuck these guys. Wolf thought as stared at them. But then there was a kernel of truth in their conversation in the beanstalk. They didn’t know anyone else in this world and there was at least some basic level of trust between them, at least as much as it suited them. Also he was going to have to wade through zombies to get out of wherever the fuck they were and so some extra firepower wouldn’t go astray.

Gently Wolf coaxed a thread of black-silver mana out of his appendix and directed it into his hand. Slowly he let the mana penetrate into No2. It spiked into his bloodstream before it became swallowed by black-mana.

God it’s strong. Wolf recoiled in shock as he fought against it and tried to force the black-mana out of No2’s system. But as much as he tried his black-silver mana was ejected.

Sighing Wolf chose a different path and tapped his heart chamber. Instantly a ferocious mana hit his body like a sonic boom and flooded into No2 like a tsunami. But after a few minutes the same result happened. The higher level zombies mana was simply too powerful.

I’m too fucking weak. Wolf sighed.

Another thought came to him. The only real option was to try and replicate the process that freed him, a surgical approach. Rather than take the risk of killing No1 or No2 Wolf looked down the wall at the line of humans as he considered the need to experiment.

Fuck this may seem cold blooded but they are fucked either way. Wolf thought as he wandered down the line. Wolf’s face grew grim as he realised of the sixty people people hung on hooks nearly all of them were already dead. They wouldn’t resurrect as a zombie lord, they were simple dead.

Fucking brutal.

There was only six left alive as they struggled in the throes of undead conversion. Wolf finally stopped in front of an enormous hulk a man. He must have been at least 7 feet tall and he was as wide as a barn. He looked more like a small giant than a human being. Wolf coaxed black-silver mana from his appendix and inserted it into the man's body. It penetrated into the man’s bloodstream and he shot it straight towards the energy line that connected to the appendix.

Immediately he saw that this person had no appendix, he must have had it removed in the past due to appendicitis. Even worse he could sense that the man was half converted into an zombie lord already. He was in some strange state beteen the living and the dead. He swept his mana-sense up and saw that the man's heart had been crushed by the black-mana. But in the fragments of his destroyed heart a tiny sliver survived that had an imprint of something. As the black-mana corroded the last shards of the fragment, something spilled out with nothing to house it.

As Wolf’s mana-sense brushed against it he could feel the edges of an Origin Concept.

[Fealty].

As Wolf stared at this scene he felt his double helix spin inside his appendix as a a deep intuition sparked inside him. [Infinite Constellation] flared and his manipulation of mana grew more and more refined.

It's like a making a painting. Wolf realised as he twined tiny threads of black-silver mana with his will and made it dance. The blackness of space and light of the stars swum through him as mana-sense moved like a scalpel.

With great difficulty Wolf enveloped the Origin Concept with black-silver mana and drew it down towards the empty area where the man’s appendix used to be. With a subtle push he connected it with the end of the main energy line where the appendix usually was and watched the Black-mana go mad.

It swarmed down the energy line and wrapped around the Origin concept. Soon that thread of red-mana followed and formed a cocoon around the Origin Concept. Wolf felt two Origin Concepts, one was [Undead Resurrection] and the other was [Fealty].Facinated Wolf watched with the eyes of an obsessed artist as he saw the energies collide and transform.

As they began to merge into one another a wisp of energy shot out from the Origin Concepts and burned a mark into his mana.

Within seconds an enormous change began to take place inside the man’s body and Wolf’s mana-sense was forcibly ejected.

What the fuck was that? Wolf thought as he checked his mana to see if something bad had happened. But nothing showed up to his mana-sense when he searched.

Reflecting Wolf realised that there must be some kind of connection between the energy line, the appendix and specific mana and Origin Concept of the zombies.

Carefully removing his mana he moved to the next person. He began the process again. This time however the results were not favourable. As soon as he connected the energy line to the man’s appendix it exploded and the man died almost instantly. Wolf’s heart chamber immediately sucked in the left over mana as he died.

absorbing the mana felt good but made Wolf feel like a murdering monster.

The same happened to the next two people.

Only one test subject remained as Wolf commenced the operation. This time it was a blonde woman who looked to be in her thirties. This time Wolf’s mana was steady as he performed the operation extremely quickly like an experienced surgeon.

His mana-sense was ejected as the change was underway.

Success.

Lastly he approached No1 and No2. He decided if he accidentally killed one of them he would have to kill them both. He knew neither one of them would let him live if they knew he had killed the other, even if it was to save their life.

Fortunately both operations were successful and the change was underway and they began the process of unlocking [Infinite Constellation].

Wolf sat with his back against the wall as he reached into his pocket and pulled out his last ciggarette. He lit it up and took a long drag as he sat there in the darkness. The heavy silence was only broken by the odd sounds of bodies bumping into the wall as they wriggled on their hooks. Rather than be afraid Wolf was actually feeling something different.

Melancoly.

A part of him almost wished he had died instead of miracously surviving. He had tried to kill himself once, long ago when his company first collapsed. But enough painkillers to kill 10 men had not been enough to put him down.

I'm like a cockaroach. Wolf mused as he dragged on the ciggie. When the world ends only cunts like me will be around.

Without him even realising it his double helix rotated as the [Infinite Constellation] flared ever so slightly and a song by the gods of rock n roll entered his mind.

Wolf blew out smoke and began to softly sing.

"Living easy, living free. Season ticket on a one-way ride. Asking nothing, leave me be. Taking everything in my stride."

"Don't need reason, don't need rhyme. Ain't nothing I would rather do." "Going down, party time. My friends are gonna be there too." "I'm on the highway to hell." "On the highway to hell." "Highway to hell."

"I'm on the highway to hell......"

As Wolf's voice trailed off he flicked his ciggarette off into the distance. The buring end faded and went out returning the room to darkness.