The lab was quiet.
Too quiet.
Only the faint hum of enchanted instruments and the slow bubbling of potions filled the air as I leaned over a table covered in notes—mine and Salazar's, layered together into something far more dangerous than either of us would have created alone.
Immortality.
We had come far.
Far enough to understand the truth.
"It always comes back to the same thing," I muttered, tapping the parchment lightly. "Soul… and body."
Salazar stood across from me, arms crossed, eyes scanning the diagrams. "The soul endures. The body fails."
I nodded.
That was the fundamental flaw of mortality.
From everything we had studied—Herpo's work, our own experiments, ancient magic…
The soul was resilient.
It could persist far longer than flesh ever could.
But the body?
Fragile. Temporary.
Doomed.
"For true immortality," I continued, pacing slowly, "we need both."
I held up two fingers.
"A body that doesn't decay… and a soul strong enough to remain stable indefinitely."
Salazar's lips curled slightly. "Simple in theory. Impossible in practice."
I smirked. "Everything is impossible until someone does it."
We had already dismissed the obvious paths.
Horcruxes?
Crude.
Effective—but flawed.
Fragmenting the soul wasn't immortality. It was survival at the cost of sanity.
Neither of us were desperate enough for that.
There were other methods.
Theoretical ones.
Soul anchoring.Dimensional displacement.Time-based stasis.
All had potential.
All had problems.
Which left us where we were now.
The body.
"We strengthen it," I said simply. "Enhance it. Evolve it."
Salazar tilted his head slightly. "You're thinking about bloodlines again."
"Not just thinking." I stopped, turning to him. "I have a direction."
I placed a fresh sheet of parchment on the table and began sketching rapidly.
"A magical creature," I said, voice sharpening with excitement. "One that already possesses a form of immortality."
Salazar's eyes narrowed slightly. "There are very few that qualify."
"I know."
I finished the sketch and turned it toward him.
A bird.
Wreathed in flames.
"A phoenix."
Silence filled the lab for a moment.
Then—
Salazar let out a quiet, almost impressed breath.
"…Ambitious."
I smiled. "Effective."
"The concept is simple," I continued, tapping the drawing. "Phoenixes don't truly die. When their bodies fail, they burn and are reborn."
Rebirth.
Renewal.
A perfect cycle.
"If I could integrate that into my bloodline…" I said slowly, feeling the idea solidify as I spoke, "then even if my body reaches its limit—"
"You'd simply… start again," Salazar finished.
"Exactly."
It was elegant.
Perfect, even.
In theory.
Salazar, of course, immediately pointed out the flaw.
"…You don't know if it would work."
I sighed slightly. "Yes. That's the problem."
There were too many unknowns.
Would the human body even accept such a fusion?Would the soul remain stable during rebirth?Would I still be… me?
Or would I become something else entirely?
"And that's not even considering the first issue," Salazar added dryly.
I rolled my eyes. "Yes, yes. 'Finding a phoenix.' I'm aware."
Phoenixes were rare.
Extremely rare.
Intelligent.
Powerful.
And not exactly the kind of creature you could just… capture.
Still…
That didn't stop me.
"Before we even attempt that," I said, shifting the conversation, "we need a foundation."
Salazar nodded immediately. "Understanding."
"Exactly."
I gestured toward the surrounding lab.
"We can't just jump straight to phoenix-level fusion. We need to study magical creatures first. Their anatomy. Their magic. Their blood."
How it flows.How it binds to the soul.How it differs from humans.
Salazar's expression darkened slightly—but not with hesitation.
With interest.
"You're suggesting…"
I met his gaze evenly.
"We capture them."
A pause.
"Study them."
Another pause.
"Dissect them."
The word hung in the air.
Heavy.
Cold.
Final.
Salazar didn't flinch.
If anything, he looked more focused.
"Efficient," he said simply.
Of course it was.
We weren't children anymore.
We weren't running from the world.
We were shaping it.
"To create a bloodline fusion," I continued, already planning ahead, "we need complete understanding. Bone structure. Organs. Magical cores. Blood properties."
Everything.
No shortcuts.
No guesswork.
"And once we have that?" Salazar asked.
I smiled slightly.
"Then we experiment."
There it was.
The line we had crossed long ago.
No hesitation.No guilt.
Just progress.
My eyes drifted back to the phoenix sketch.
Flames.
Rebirth.
Eternity.
"I will not die," I said quietly.
Not as a wish.
Not as a hope.
As a fact.
Salazar gave a small, approving nod.
"Then let's begin."