The air has changed.

While Sylvia is still writhing in pain, I, in my ecstasy of finally attaining the near godhood I have greedily sought for years, hardly feel the pain of my transmutation at all.

However, what I vividly perceive is the way my senses, no, my very _essence_ changes while my Godsoup consumes me. My eyesight, sense of smell, even my hearing turn sharper every second until they reach their height. And yet…

All that I can see, hear, smell— all that _exists— _is silence.

How should I describe it… the scent of this silence, it is like the odor of snow, purest snow, the sort which covers the untouched mountain summits no soul could ever dream of conquering. It fills my nose, my lungs, my brain—

And it hurts like hell.

Through the hazy fog of unimaginable and scorching agony, I vaguely make out a noise which sounds horrendous. After a few seconds it becomes clearer, and I realize those are my own screams.

When the veil of fog lifts at last, sharpening my senses once more, my entire being is ignited by the pain, and my entire world filled with those screams as they swallow the silence smelling of snow.

_I want to die! Make it stop, STOP!_

An image of Sylvia flashes through my shredded mind. She is smiling, grateful to her superior for offering her a drink, for caring. Another image follows suit, of how the light in her eyes was extinguished the moment she drank my Godsoup. The realization in her eyes. Her agonized howling.

And the one responsible is me. Me alone.

_It‘s alright, Jay. Pull yourself together. If you stand through this, it will be over. You‘ll be a god._

Like hell I will be!

_Just hold on a little longer…_

__

I beg my mind to wander off, to somewhere where the pain cannot find me. If I just manage to leave this terrible place somehow, maybe I can sit out the storm somewhere peaceful until it is safe to return to the present. Where to run to? Just where can I stop hurting like this?

_Look at this white gown, Jay. Do you like it?_

Huh? What… is my mother‘s voice doing here?

As the question flickers in my mind, I am sucked into memories of the past. They flood me with such force that I am swept away from the lab where I lie broken on the floor, shaking.

_My mother‘s gentle voice envelops me. I am waiting for her to get off work in the hospital, but she is just too busy._

_“Arey you done yet?“ I ask with the high voice of a child. Mom smiles apologetically and takes my small hand in hers._

_“I‘m sorry sweetling, but I have to return to my patients for now. Could you wait a little longer?“ I pout, disappointed. But mom has always been like this; she’s a hero, and heroes are busy saving the world; it‘s fine. I‘m not sick like her patients, after all._

__

_At home, dad pats mom‘s back while she wails like a child. It happens from time to time. She tries to act tough, but when my dad is around, she becomes soft and cries her heart out. I step closer hesitantly and pat her back, imitating my dad. He looks at me and smiles. “Look honey, our Jay is such a wonderful son. I‘m sure we won‘t need to cry so much in the future with him around. He’s our little sunray, after all.“_

_I return dad‘s smile, beaming with joy. Mom‘s wailing increases._

_“Why are people so weak, Paul? They live so diligently and die so easily. What is the point of me being a doctor?“ Dad hugs mom._

_“Don‘t say that dear. You save so many lives. Cancer is not easy to fight, we both know that.“_

_At her words, something inside me stirs. Are people really so weak?_

_“Mom, dad, can‘t they just become stronger?“ I ask, unable to understand the limitations of human beings._

_“Jay, it‘s not that easy I fear. But mom and the other doctors are all doing their best.“_

_I nod, but somehow I‘m not satisfied, even as a child._

__

__

My eyes spring open, breath heaving in my chest. I feel a slight ache in my heart, probably caused by the resurfaced memories of my childhood. But that is not important right now.

The pain has stopped!

I lean on my new muscled arms to get back to my feet, pleasantly surprised by the inhuman strength in them. Now my limbs are enhanced and my senses strong, my blood pumps through my veins at accelerated speed and I can move fast and easily.

I take a shard of glass from the ground where Sylvia had dropped the glass she drank from, and press it into the robust skin of my left arm. From above the elbow, I draw a cut as deep as possible down to my wrist. Thick, warm blood drips to the floor, mingling with the water from the glass. It is a nasty cut I inflicted on myself, but the pain is barely noticeable. I realize the psychological strain of seeing my arm sliced open is also nothing worth mentioning, and it quickly wears off.

Now that I think about it, the emotional shock from what happened earlier and the memories I saw have long dissipated too.

_I see. So this is the scope of my Godsoup._

The cut on my arm heals within heartbeats, even harder and more robust skin regenerating over the sliced one. Not even a scar is left behind when it is done.

I smile. The feeling of joy inside of me is so overwhelming that I raise my arms, wishing to announce to the whole world that I, Jay Wen, have succeeded in turning mere lowly humans into beings worthy of being called gods.

Sylvia shifts in her corner of the lab. She must finally be coming to.

When she opens her eyes, I turn to face her, my heart dancing to the music of the silence around me.

And then I break that heavily scented, all-consuming silence with my roaring voice:

“Rejoice, Sylvia, rejoice! We are the new humans.“ I reach out my hand to her. She looks up at me from where she lies in her blood. “We have transcended humanity. We have become gods!“

Sylvia stares at my outstretched hand. Something ferocious flares in her eyes.

Instead of taking my hand, she looks at my face as if she wants to gouge out my eyes and spits—_spits!_—right into it. With all the hatred she‘s got.

_Now you‘ve done it_, I think, a raging fury coloring my field of vision. My hands act before I can so much as think, and grip her head.

_Snap._

Sylvia slumps on the floor, dead.

I broke her neck. _Oh my—_

Well. It’s not as though she isn‘t replacable. She was just an experiment. My actual operation starts only now.

Now then, to turn the rest of the world to gods.

I walk out of the lab with my fangs and claws. Towards my stock of Godsoup, large enough for half of the worlds population, buried beneath the city. That‘s right, the whole city is my yard, safeguarding my treasure. And from now on, I will use this treasure to bring about the real revolution the world is waiting for.

(Hope you enjoy. Thanks for reading.)