New Vexen and Lexaeus

The clones have become active.

With only ten minutes left on their timers, the two clones finally began to stir, and just as the timers hit zero... the liquid inside the life-support pods drained, and the pods--flowery decorations and all--opened up.

Vexen and Lexaeus have been reborn, now younger and stronger than they were before, but with the same mind and soul as always.

Lexaeus was the first to awaken, as he was killed shortly before Vexen--and also possibly because he was years younger than Vexen to begin with, so the rapid aging process didn't have to keep going for nearly as long before it was complete.

Apparently Lexaeus' DNA sample was taken roughly eight years ago, about seven years before Lexaeus died. This means he is now, physically at least, at an age of around twenty-eight years old. Vexen's clone is similarly younger--except his DNA was taken even earlier, as he is visibly younger than the Vexen who lived and died in Castle Oblivion. If I had to guess, I'd say that his current body is around the mid-forties in age--about ten years younger than the original Vexen was at death.

And, thanks to the fact that the new bodies have never been exposed to battle, they're both in better condition than their originals would have ever been by this time. There are no scars, no places where bone and muscle have been bruised and broken in the past--their bodies are in perfect condition.

Which is quite a stretch from the state Vexen was in before he died. His original body was exposed to far too many mishaps in the lab--he walked in a slightly hunched-over way, and had difficulty wielding his shield in battle thanks to the injuries his arms had sustained in the past.

The "new Vexen" is far from that feeble old man--he stands up straight, showing that he's easily taller than I am and no longer letting his cloak drag along the ground at his feet--and better yet, his mind is still just as sharp as ever.

Between the two of them, I have no doubts that they'll be able to correct my current state, and possibly even the girl's as well...

If only one of them would turn on a radio, somewhere, anywhere in the castle. That's my one weakness now, it seems--beings that can't pick up radio waves are completely impossible to communicate with, and in my current state I'm unable to simply turn on the radio myself.

The girl and I have checked the entire castle, and not one radio was left on by the last people to live here--apparently, Axel and Demyx made sure everything was safely turned off before they left.

They were the only two survivors, after all--Axel out of pure sneakiness, and Demyx because he was off playing Donkey Kong during the whole ordeal. I'm not sure if he even slept the whole time--video games can do that, I guess.

This state I'm trapped in now is quite different than the ghosts of the legends. They were able to lift objects, fling them around rooms, wreak havoc on electrical systems, and generally cause all kinds of damage without even being visible to the beings they messed with. Despite not having any way to manipulate objects, they managed to do it anyway.

Just another example of how legend and reality rarely connect in any significant way, it seems.