Webster in Immortalis Files a Daily Nicolas Report on Outcomes

Log entry: Day 47. Subject: Nicolas. Reporter: Webster. Time: 23:47.

The night clings like damp rot to these walls, but the outcomes demand record. Nicolas stirs less today, his form a slack ruin on the slab. The incisions from yesterday’s trial hold, no fresh seepage, though the edges curl black where the serum met flesh. Pulse faint at 32 beats per minute, irregular, a stutter that mocks the living rhythm. Temperature holds at 28.4 Celsius, cold as the void he claims to have touched.

Administered the variant at 04:12, post-midnight bleed. He convulsed for 17 minutes, 43 seconds, limbs thrashing against the restraints with force enough to splinter the oak frame. No vocalisation beyond that guttural rasp, the one that echoes like stones in a drained well. Pupils dilated to full, irises vanished, whites veined crimson. By 04:35, subsidence. No lucid interval. He muttered fragments: “The choir… endless mouths.” Irrelevant, or so it seems, but noted for the archive.

Haematocrit levels: down to 18 percent from 22. Platelets negligible. The marrow starves, as predicted. Liver enzymes spike to 1,247 units, kidneys failing symmetrically. Yet the heart persists, that stubborn pump, defiant in its decay. No rejection markers in the serum assays; the compound binds true. Outcomes favourable on that front: integration at 94 percent efficacy.

Behavioural notes: At 14:22, during daylight simulation, he tracked the beam with eyes half-lidded, no aversion. Skin blistered minimally, regeneration commenced within 90 seconds. Progress. The hunger manifests subtly, a tension in the jaw, fingers curling as if to grasp phantoms. No feeding offered; we observe baseline.

Prognosis: Stability holds, but the threshold nears. Tomorrow’s dose escalates to threshold B. If he breaches lucidity, we dissect the memories. If not, we escalate further. The Immortalis protocol permits no retreat.

End log. Webster out.

Immortalis Book One August 2026