7

As Astaria strode into the lab, her demeanor shifted subtly, but noticeably- although her demeanor was still generally apathetic, she walked with more purpose once more, such as it had happened before. More certain of herself, with her chin slightly raised, as she'd lead them both towards the tables of the MorningStar Laboratories - three carcasses prepared, such as before, though with a drastic change on each.

A deer, a boar and a bird.

The bird was intact. It was Annie's way of practicing on a slightly larger animal, compared to the rat she had restored to life previously; though the theory was much the same as before, the channeling of mana was more complex. A means for the girl to further train her limits on that regard.

"Annie with the bird. Remember- too little mana, your grip upon the soul won't be enough. Too much, the organs will rupture, or even explode."

Which broughther to the two remaining, larger animals- the deer and the boar. Unlike before, Astaria herself, and Aldrah alongside her, wouldn't be simply practicing on animals as they were doing before; they could already raise an animal, if unskilled, with extreme rot. What they hadn't practiced was restoration.

Corpus Creare.

"I've killed all animals without any damage to the bodies" she looked over them both, explaining with her harsher tone, slightly louder than usual, as if to gather attention; her voice was projected outwards, as if to speak to a large crowd. "However I've damaged the deer and the boar post mortem. The spine is broken. The stomach is ruptured. There's been internal bleeding. All of which will need to be properly repaired prior to the restoration."
(Astaria Rosenkreuz)

Annie releases a light chuckle.

"You don't have to remind me Astaria. Didn't Roanna tell you what happened the other day? I tried practicing on a human and he exploded! Guts everywhere, it was really cool."

Taking a step closer to the crow, she would move it around with her hand, inspecting it.

"How much harder is this one? The rat I made last time had no skin."
(Annie)

This time Aldrah would do the Corpus Creare experiment, which was to restore the animal's body. Aldrah had not yet practiced this step so deeply, he would need to look at Astaria by effecting it first.

After listening to Annie's comment, Aldrah stared at the girl for a while, but then turned her gaze to Astaria waiting for her to begin the process. He would also have to see if she knew Sors, to introduce Aldrah to him.

"Astaria, after we finish here, I'd like you to see something with you."
(Aldrah)

The faintly glowing eyes focused upon her own animal instead of looking at theirs- partially, this had been the reason she trained to become a medical doctor for. It wasn't, of course, an absolute requirement; they were attempting to restore a corpse, not actively trying to heal them- it did help, however, to understand medical practice in order to do this.

"Sure."

Her reply was short, as her attention had been directed to the deer instead. Similarly to how she uses for medical treatment, her index and middle fingers were lifted, together, as a small blade made of raw energy materialized from the fingertips; it was thin, precise thing, akin to a scalpel; with the animal turned upwards, it was approached, making a precise incision on its skin, cutting it open and exposing its bones and organs.

She didn't seem bothered by it- the smell or the vision alike. Apathetic and lacking the need for breath, the undead neries reaches for the forceps, grasping the deer's skin and forcing it wide open for the full content within to remain as exposed as possible. Her eyes slowly run over it, as she wasn't completely sure what the damage was and how extensive; she didn't cause the damage with the utmost precision, after all, just had a general idea.

A glance was paid to Aldrah and Annie at this- mostly to see how they were doing, at least for now. Beyond her own practice, she was also mentoring them; they were her responsibility.
(Astaria Rosenkreuz)

Annie lifted the crow, moving it to the side to give herself space. Her rieka circuits began to shimmer as she channelled the energy into her finger, searing markings into the wood.

She would place it onto the desk, drawing two straight parallel lines about the same size as the crow's spine. Branching off of these lines she would etch in more lines, one in the region of the heart and the other the stomach. Bringing her fingers to the bottom of the spine she would drag her fingers diagonally upwards, finishing the circuit off with curves that ended to the top of the diagram.

Lastly, she would sketch a small circle for the crow's head. The Oscuri would take the bird and lay it over the runes, comparing the two. She would take a step back to examine her illustration before looking over to Astaria and Aldrah, watching them as they restored their corpses.

"Is this good Astaria?"
(Annie)

Aldrah started by pulling his utensil case from inside his coat, he placed it on the table and opened it, removing from inside what looked like a scapel. He opened the boar's belly carefully, so he could see the internal situation.

By opening the animal's body, it could be noted that his stomach was ruptured, the spine was broken and there was apparently internal bleeding from the wounds.

After seeing the wounds on the animal's body, Aldrah removed some things from his case, these being a needle and a roll of thread, and a band.

Then he decided to start restoring the rupture of the pig's stomach, where he began to sew to close the wound.

After sewing the rupture on the stomach, he set off to repair the spine, where he bandaged it first, to leave it firm and then froze the broken part to hold even more firmly.

As soon as he finished these two parts, he took his scapel and cut a vein, took it with his right hand and began to conjure water, which he sent to the vein, to replenish the liquids of the animal's body. After filling in adequate amount, he took the two tips of vein and sewed them together.

Then, completing all these steps, he began to close the cut he had made in the belly of the animal, sewing it.

Aldrah looked at Astaria and spoke.

"I hope I have done everything correctly."
(Aldrah)

Her gaze trailed over to Annie's drawings first, slightly leaning to the side so that she could have a better look at the precise lines; runecasting was something that required precision to avoid things going horribly, especially in a delicate ritual such as necromancy. Looking over the diagram and comparing to the small bird, a nod was given- it wasn't much different than a rat, as far as the size was concerned at least, though the complexity of the corpse should increase the difficulty a little.

"Yes, this is good, Annie" she replied with an affirmative nod, perhaps to encourage the young oscuri, her eyes trailing over the diagram still. "Remember the runes. One at the head, to bind the memories and personality; over the heart, for the flow of mana. Over the spine, to harden and retain motor function. Over the stomach, to capture the residual mana as its well. Around, to pull at the soul."

Shortly afterwards, the woman looked at Aldrah's work and his restoration; the man had some degree of experience, however, and she had very little to teach him. The basics, which was what she felt confident enough to teach, were already passed; the man was also coming up with his own ideas to restore the body, as it seems, using his ice magic - much like Ophelia intended to use chronomancy, and Astaria herself uses her medical skills for such. All to restore the corpse as perfectly as possible, as akin to as they were in life as they could.

"Only one way to find out, really" she spoke with a shrug, as she couldn't keep up with the entire procedure- working with organic things was trickier to actually notice whether there were intricate flaws to it. "This is practice, after all."

Her attention was directed towards the deer, at that, with the forceps still keeping it spread wide open, its organs exposed. First, she would have to do something about the spine, which was broken; for that, Astaria reached for the laboratories medical supplies, where she'd get some steel bolts. Although not quite a prosthetic kit, she wouldn't have to heal the deer, merely keep the bones attached for its rise; being responsible for the motor function and sustaining the body, it wouldn't do well if it snapped as the animal walked.

Approaching her energy blade to the spine, which would take a cylindric shape, the woman started drilling onto it; they were small holes, close to the point where the bone had been snapped. Her eyes were narrowed, focused; her concentration was now once more set onto the corpse entirely; with about five tiny holes drilled onto the spine, she'd insert the steel bolts, keeping the bone tightly bound together.

Surely it wouldn't work on an actual living being, but the point was to keep the bone together. For that, it'd do just fine.

As the undead neries reached to needle and thread - a simple suture kit - she'd direct her voice to Annie, "Once you write the runes, make sure to double check them and the measurements, while you're practicing them for the moment. Then, you attempt your ressurrection."

With the words spoken, Astaria had already been close to the deer once more; as a practiced medic, her suture over the stomach was quick, skillful, no different than stitching a person - the slight difference being that she didn't need the stomach to work, but to work as the well of mana. And, well, carcasses didn't squirm in pain.

"Only the fluids remain" she mutters to herself. It's a good thing her body hardly feels truly tired, being fueled with Arthur's mana- otherwise, she surely would be tired with the amount of work that restoring a corpse required.
(Astaria Rosenkreuz)

Delighted by Astaria's affirmation the Oscuri looks over the runes one last time. Satisfied with the markings she proceeds with the ritual. The jade colour of her irses are overpowered by the intense viridescent light of rieka, granting her visibility of the crow's circuits. With her fingers she would direct a precise of rieka from the tips of her fingers into the bird.

The runes ignited with light, creating a beacon into the afterlife, calling the soul closer to the realm of the living. Rieka would travel through the bird, first at the head, then the heart. From the heart it would flow throughout the rest of the corpse, covering the spine and flowing into the stomach, where the excess would pool.

Reaching out, Annie would firmly grip the soul, sending her hand down towards the bird, ripping through the barrier that seperated the soul from the living and forcing it into its host.

The crow would strongly convulse as its body started to function once more. It jumped back to life and stood on its talons, looking up to the Oscuri as it rapidly decomposed. Skin peeled off of the rotting muscle as it fell, leaving a foul-smelling pile of meat and feathers on the desk. Despite now consisting of nothing but bone and organ the bird managed to stay upright, standing there waiting for a command.

"I.. think that went okay?"
(Annie)

Now that he had restored the body of the boar, he needed to bring it back to life, the process would not be very different from what he used in the deer, where he already had some practice, it would be faster.

He placed his right hand on the animal's head and his left hand on the animal's chest.

"The time has come, rise and come back to life!"

As he spoke these words, he began to send his mana to the animal's circuits so that he could fill the brain first and then the heart. After filling the heart, it would pump the mana to the rest of the body's circuits, wrapping the spine and filling the stomach.

After a time sending the energy to the boar's body, he was already able to feel the soul of the animal through the barrier that separated the dead from the living.

The soul was being pulled into the body by the circuits that were now full of energy.

With a single movement, Aldrah pointed his index finger of his right hand up and lowered quickly, now pointing to the body of the boar. This movement would force the soul to go at once to the body.

"Come back to life now!" shouted.

Then, at the end of his speech, around the body appeared a circle of energy. The boar's body then began to move, in some places the flesh fell, others not, but remained rotten, attached to the body of the boar. Then the creature rose, standing, looking at Aldrah. This was not a skeletal figure but a zombie.

Aldrah looked at the creature, apparently this was a breakthrough? He had not entirely lost the flesh of his body, but still the flesh that had tarnished was rotten.

"Uhh.. I think I can consider this as a breakthrough!"
(Aldrah)

Taking a short break before proceeding with Viscus Vitae, Astaria looked over to Annie's work, a small smile spreading across her lips - she could be gleaming with pride about the oscuri at this moment. Young and eager. A nod of approval was given with the bird raising, despite the rot - which was entirely normal, of course.

"That's wonderful, Annie. Between this lesson and the next, keep practicing with birds until we move on to a bigger animal, okay? Something with more complexity for you."

Similarly, yet another nod of satisfaction was paid to Aldrah with his own raise- the rotting over the corpse he rose diminished. Still clearly an undead, but not simple bones; granted it'd be much harder in humans, but it was a good accomplishment for an aspiring necromancer. A step towards the right direction.

She didn't have access to blood or water magic; besides, the preferreda different type of liquid for this specific part of the restoration - oil. It served to lubricate the veins as well, and although they'd more likely than not simply rot, to preserve the body as close to as it was in life was the goal of Corpus Creare - she couldn't afford to think small and believe her undead would be a rotting mess forever. With nearby amps of oil, the woman approached a syringe to the deer, injecting them with enough pressure to make it run through them; the creature lacked a heartbeat, after all.

In several different places, she'd inject the oil - most notably near where the bleeding, though not exclusively so. Of course, as it happens, problems started; as soon as she started pushing a few more amps of oil, some bleeding started, which she identified over the pried open carcass - and at that, she would reach for the needle and thread. Everytime she'd inject a new amp of oil, she would suture any identified place of bleeding; tears, cuts or otherwise imperfections being slowly restored, making sure that the deer's corpse was as preserved as she could possibly make it. Not perfect, perhaps, but as close as she could make it to be.

Momentarily, her eyes closed. Though her body didn't tire, her mind surely did; a few seconds of pause were taken before the undead neries opened them again, suddenly, the faintly glowing eyes once more running over the carcass, slowly. Thinking on her next step. Moving the deer's carcass to the side with both of her hands, she'd reach for her hunting knife over her leather belt, starting to carve the straight line; this one was made more hesitantly than she had with the rat, with an occasional glance being paid at the body - she had to make them well measured, after all. Precision was something that necromancy, or research in general, required.

"And now, for the Vox Quietus" she mutters to herself - the final part of the ritual. The darkened cosmic energy was channeled over the blade, thin and burning, making sure that her lines over the wood were more precise than a simple blade could make them to be; the acute angles finishing in a semi-circle over the neck were something she had to measure carefully just the same, before a single rune was carved on top of it - for the memories and the personality, binding them to the corpse. The rest of the runes were then carved as she had taught Annie, just now; for the heart, the pumping of mana. For the spine, strenghtening to retain the motor function- and finally, for the stomach, to retain the excess of mana, acting as a well for the rest of the body.

At that, a circle of runes was drawn over the diagram, those responsible for one of the most important parts of the necromantic ritual itself; it had to be a perfect circle in which the corpse was incribed within. Due to her lack of practice with them at this size, she carved them manually, double checking every now and then to make sure they were 'just so'; these were responsible for reaching over to the soul.

Once she moved towards the deer, the forceps were removed, and Astaria started suturing the creature - from the chest down to the hipbones, with large stitches. They wouldn't matter much, so long as they were enough to keep the skin closed, the body restored - more likely than not, it would rot anyway. Cutting the last thread with her teeth, the woman discarded the tools, now moving the corpse towards the circle - making sure the animal's spine was well aligned with the center of the diagram, where the straight line resided. If the spine itself was aligned, then the rest would adjust itself.

A good thing she didn't breathe - she'd be sighing multiple times by now, having underestimated much of the effort that this would actually take. With both of her hands hovering over the carcass, a sickening, malicious energy leaked from the woman - not entirely different from the magical corruption she already had, as an undead - filling the head first, and lighting up the runes underneath; mana was poured onto the heart next, the runes activating and pumping it through the rest of the body - strenghtening the spine, as the residual mana would be lodged within the stomach.

Once the circle of runes around the diagram were lit by her mana, Astaria felt her reach to extend beyond. The animal's soul, naturally scared and struggling against the unnatural action, was felt within her grasp - and she gripped it, forcing it into submission as she pulled it through the barrier, shoving it back into the corpse; at that, the ritualistic Vox Quietus would have finished.

The deer shudderes slightly before beginning to stand. As expected, the rot soon settled in- pieces of flesh slowly dropping from the animal, exposing most of the ribcage. The steel bolts held, making it so the animal was able to walk; much else of her restoration would rot away, however - some of the organs escaping through the gaps between the ribs; and yet, the rotting wasn't as bad as it could be. Although Astaria usually created skeleton undead, her steadily increasing mastery over necromancy lessened the rot this time - at least on an animal; though nowhere near as good as herself, or even the most simpleton of undeads around Dawn, the deer was not a skeleton. It was clearly rotting, and its stench was likely horrible - she wouldn't know, having lost the need of scent - and although it wouldn't be the first time in her life she's done it, it definitely was when she had to restore a badly damaged corpse.

"Restoration successful" she mutters to herself, now reaching over one of her own pieces of parchment she had brought to the laboratories. "Steel bolts to amend bones: success. Stitches: possibly irrelevant? The rot settles in and they pull. Stitches over the stomach, however, are important.. the mana.." she makes a short pause, writing everything she had been saying. Notes, when doing research, were an important thing to keep in mind, to read over later and judge herself, especially on potential improvements; this had been where she had last stopped. Corpus Creare. Astaria's only ever worked with preserved corpses before. "Stitches are important for the heart and stomach. Might be irrelevant for veins, arteries, except in case of dismemberment.. future attempt without stitching them. Oil might spill, but irrelevantly so."

Upon finishing writing and tucking her notes within her rucksack, the Astaria's grip upon the deer subsided - its soul promptly released, making the rotten corpseto fall over the table once more, like a puppet whose strings had been suddenly cut. She looked weary - mentally, if anything - but, nevertheless, quite pleased with herself.

"That will be all for today, Annie, Aldrah. My mind.. requires rest. I suggest the two of you practice together from now on, without me- there's not much else I can mentor you through. You'll need to expand on your own.

But. It was my pleasure to come this far with the both of you."

A small curtsy was paid for them both, with the undead neries headed towards the sink to wash and scrub her hands. The laboratory assistants could clean up the mess of the corpses, when necessary- with its primary function being the research of necromancy, it most certainly wouldn't be a first.
(Astaria Rosenkreuz)