The Rise to Godhood
Chapter 9: The Birth of Thorax Zelinkom.

The summer solstice was approaching, and in the best of worlds, Areela Kheeran would have enjoyed the prospect of motherhood together with her love, Zelinko Siblexom. Unfortunately, the 1999th summer solstice of the fifth age on Zetani was not the best of worlds for any of them, and she was chained to a hospital bed in the detention centre. Her lover had abandoned her, and her jailors kept her alive solely as she was the vessel of her unborn baby.

A female doctor approached her and spoke, “Would you like to be awake for the Caesarean procedure? It is your only chance of seeing your child.”

Areela hesitated. She wasn’t sure what would be more depressing: never seeing her child or seeing him once and then losing him?

Areela remembered the threat that Xialiab had made that fateful night at the science academy. She needed to know whether her child was a beautiful baby or the terrifying freak that Xialiab claimed it would become.

“Keep me awake; I want to see my baby,” Areela replied.

“Understood,” the doctor said and injected Areela with a moderate amount of sedative so she would be awake during the procedure.

The surgical team appeared in the room, and they covered Areela with a curtain so that she wouldn’t see them performing the caesarean section. Next, a surgeon cut the first incision on Areela’s belly. It was uncomfortable, but the discomfort wasn’t the big issue due to the sedatives—instead, the fear of how the baby would turn out terrified her.

Areela felt fearful when she heard the surgeons mumbling amongst themselves in horror.

“Is my child alive? Is something wrong?” Areela shouted in panic.

The surgeons went silent, and one of them exclaimed. “Get Director Samirom! He must decide how to handle this atrocious creature.”

Areela grabbed the female doctor she had spoken to earlier and exclaimed. “Show my child, please! You promised me that you would.”

“I don’t think that is possible, unfortunately. We have to decide whether to abort or keep this baby.” The female doctor replied.

“You promised me that I would see my child!!” Areela exclaimed in an outburst.

The doctor sighed, grabbed the atrocious creature, and showed it to Areela. It was a sight to behold. As Xialiab had mentioned, the baby had a lizard-like thick, scaly skin, sharp devil fangs, and glowing purple eyes. The newborn stared at Areela as she screamed in horror at the sight, and he replied by giving out a terrifying roar.

“We must sedate her now!” The doctor said to one of the nurses, who injected Areela with potent sedatives. The room turned into a blur, and the last thing Areela heard was Zelinko’s voice. “Don’t worry, doctors. My wife and I will look after this prophetical child. We will name him Thorax Zelinkom.”

Areela tried to call Zelinko for help, but she was too weak, and the room slowly faded to complete blackness.

***

The True Maker exited Gaia’s body as she became aware of a new existence in the Milky Way Galaxy. A Zetan baby had been born, and that baby was unlike anything that had ever existed.

This birth intrigued True Maker. Most timelines were unremarkable, but she noticed two unique individuals during this one. Gaia, whom she had spent the last few years inhabiting and observing, and now this new and strange Zetan being.

True Maker studied the DNA of the baby. The baby was a hybrid between the Zetans and Xenos, two completely different species. One was a sophisticated humanoid-like being with silvery-blue skin and telekinetic powers, and one was a beast-like creature that ate raw flesh and drank fresh blood. But how had this happened? Large swaths of space in the Milky Way Galaxy separated the two species, and they had never interacted with each other.

True Maker looked back in time along Thorax’s timeline. She saw how Xialiab altered the baby’s genome. Such a strange twist of fate. True Maker reflected on the progress she had been through in the last few years. As it would seem, enough iterations of the Milky Way Galaxy had run for some truly remarkable things to happen!

True Maker took a closer look at Thorax, and she felt the same connection she felt with Gaia. Was it possible to inhabit his body as well? True Maker focused her powers. A short while later, she flashed through time and space and saw a chaotic hospital ward, where tensions were high. She looked at the man who held her naked body. “Papa?” she babbled before the connection severed.