"You know, I'm suddenly having doubts about this."

"Too late, you already signed the papers."

"You'd feel uncomfortable too if you were a test subject. Especially a test subject for an experimental machine."

"You'll be fine."

"That's what they say in horror novels when they send one of their own to scout ahead. You know what happens? They die."

"Get in the goddess-damned scanner already!"

"Okay okay, fine."

Prophet, Alexandria, and Clair had reached Sybak at sundown. They rented a room at the inn, and went to go see Alexandria's scientist friend. Although, the Half-Elf couldn't go with them because of the extreme prejudice against her race. So instead, she told Prophet a code-word that would notify the scientist that his is a friend of Alexandria. Clair, not knowing what was going on, decided to spend her time in the library.

Maybelle was a short, old woman with cropped grey hair and piercing green eyes. Her age didn't prevent her from being rude, though. She had sent Prophet into a sealed room with a cylindrical machine, which he was supposed to lay down in. It was still an early prototype, but it supposedly scanned through the human skull and took pictures of the brain.

Maybelle also said it used radiation, so she forced him to wear a garment of incredibly heavy lead.

"Why not exspheres?" Prophet inquired when she told him this.

"I refuse to use those abominations against nature in my experiments! Now get in there!"

Prophet, after some difficulty, pulled himself inside the machine and a glass covering closed him off from the outside world. "Pissy bitch..." He mumbled.

"I can still hear you." Came the old woman's voice from a speaker next to his hear.

"...Well damn."

"Now shut up and let me start this thing...Was it left or right that raises the radioactivity?"

"I'm gonna die, aren't I?"

"Maybe, but it'll be for science!"

"...That's...That's great, Maybelle..." Prophet counted the seconds until his untimely death occured. Around ten-thousand and fifty-seven, he opened his eyes. "...Am I dead?"

"No, you imbecile." The scientist's voice growled. "It's this damned machine! I keep on scanning your head, but nothing pops up on the monitor!"

"Maybe it needs a good whack?" The man suggested.

Maybelle sighed. "What do you think my first attempt at fixing it was? Bah, the machine's busted, get out."

He did as she said (with some difficulty getting back into his wheelchair) and he rolled back to her side. "So now what?

"I'll take a blood sample, contact you tomorrow if there's anything of note, then I dunno." The old lady shrugged. "You don't hear from me by tomorrow noon, then there's nothing wrong with you...In your blood, anywho."

"Fantastic. Farewell, doc." Prophet rolled out of the room and back into the lobby of the Research Academy. He then left, coming to a stop at a ledge overlooking the sea. The man noticed a manhole to his right, and started pondering something. Before he could create any crazy escape plans, he mentally smacked himself. "I can't do anything in this goddamned wheelchair. And where would they go if I succeeded? Bah, best to wait for Lloyd to do it."

Prophet rolled into his room at the inn, and found Alexandria and Clair rading a large book that they must have borrowed from the library. "Hello girls, what're you reading?"

"Just a monster encyclopedia." Clair answered. "Even though I enjoyed being a maid, I've always wanted to be a monster researcher."

"You used past-tense. Why did you use past-tense?"

Alexandria answered for her. "She's going to come with us to...Wherever we go after this. Which reminds me, how'd your examination go?"

"You're changing the subject. Clair, what brought about this change of heart?"

The human woman stared at the ceiling, recalling the small speech she had composed for this exact question. "It's likely that my friends and family either think me kidnapped or a runaway. I'd be disowned if they thought I'd run away, and...Well, to be honest, even though you did kidnap me, you two are really nice, and I want to travel with you. I love traveling..."

Prophet's eyes narrowed. "What about your family you said you were supporting?"

Tears started to fall down her face, but Clair's voice never broke or hitched. "I...Guess they'll have to find another way to survive."

Prophet couldn't make heads-or-tails of this girl. On one hand, she seemed to love her family very much and would do anything to support them. On the other hand, she's throwing them away just for a bit of an adventure. Most people in this situation would be torn between their obligations or their desires, but Clair seemed to have accepted her decision without a hint of doubt.

"...Welcome to the team then."

"Oh," Alexandria spoke up while Clair rubbed away her tears. "she knows about Sylvarant and me being a Half-Elf."

"What? Did you two do anything else like I was away, like a naked pillow fight or something?"

"You wish."

"Yes, I do, which is why I asked." Prophet blinked as what his partner said processed in his brain. "Wait, you know about the other world?"

Cair nodded. "Mm-hm."

"And you're okay with hanging out with a Half-Elf?"

"It was a bit scary when I first learned, but now I realise that they're no different than we are."

"...Congratulations Clair, you're probably the fastest converted ex-racist ever."

"I'm easily swayed by other's influence."

"Well, at least she's honest about herself." He remarked off-handedly to Alexandria.

Said woman rolled her eyes. "Yes, that's nice and all, but what about your visit to Maybelle?"

"The machine wasn't working, so she just took a blood sample. We have to wait until sometime tomorrow for results."

Clair looked around the now-silent room. "So...Now what?"

Prophet chuckled. "We wait, my dear Clair. We wait..."

...

THE NEXT DAY...

A knock sounded from their door and Prophet opened it. A slightly-distraught Maybelle was standing there. "Hello, Maybelle." Prophet greeted. "I assume because you're here, something showed up?"

"Yes-Or, no-Or...I don't know!"

The man's expression darkened a bit. "What showed up, doctor?"

"Your blood type...It's something that has never been recorded in the history of medical science! It's like a mixture of all the blood types, but I don't think that's possible..."

"You don't think?"

"Well, I haven't read anything about giving someone every single damn type of blood into their body!" The doctor have him a hard stare. "In fact, you should be dead...Unless..."

"...Unless what? Tell me doc; a sentence that ends like that usually means something really good, or really bad." Prophet was on the verge of panicking. "I would very much like this to be good, if you'd please."

"...The only recorded creature that could survive having multiple blood types in it...Is a flesh golem."

"...You're shitting me, right doc?!"

Maybelle placed a hand on her chin. "Flesh golems are also known to have amazing regenerative properties, which you told me you do, right?" The man didn't answer. "They also don't have a true brain, so the machine yesterday may have been working just fine...It just couldn't scan what wasn't th-Oh dammit! Don't faint on me now, you idiot!"

AND THINGS ARE REVEALED. On only the tenth chapter. What.

ALL WILL BE EXPLAINED. EVENTUALLY.

Thanks for reading!