She Married Her Brother At 14 — And Doctors Said The Bloodline Would Collapse.

 

In 1987, in the isolated mounting community of Milfield Hollow, West Virginia, the Thornwick family harbored a dark secret that would challenge the very foundations of genetics and human nature. When 14-year-old Evangelene Thornwick was forced into marriage with her 16-year-old brother, Marcus, local doctors warned of catastrophic genetic consequences.

 

 

 But what happened next defied all medical understanding and unleashed something far more terrifying than anyone could have imagined. This is the story of how one family’s twisted traditions nearly brought about their complete biological collapse and the horrifying truth about what survived. The screaming started at exactly 3:17 a.m. on November 13th, 1987.

 Dorothy Kemp, the only telephone operator in Milfield Hollow, West Virginia, would never forget that sound. It wasn’t human. Couldn’t have been human. Yet, it came from the Thornwick property up on Cedar Ridge. The sound carried across the valley like a wounded animal. But animals don’t scream words, and she could have sworn in those bone chilling moments before the line went dead, that she heard someone crying. The bloodline.

The bloodline is breaking. But let me take you back to where this nightmare truly began 3 months earlier when the leaves were still green and the Thornwick family secret was just beginning to surface. August Reagan was president. MTV still played music videos. And in the remote hollows of West Virginia, some families still lived by rules that the outside world had forgotten centuries ago.

 Milfield Hollow was one of those places. time seemed to have bypassed a community of maybe 200 souls nestled so deep in the Appalachian Mountains that even the postal service only made deliveries twice a week. The Thornwick family had lived on Cedar Ridge for over a century. Old-timers said they were the first settlers in the hollow, arriving sometime in the 1880s with nothing but a wagon, two mules, and secrets they kept buried deeper than their dead.

 By 1987, three generations of Thornwicks had called that ridge home, living in a sprawling collection of cabins and sheds that seemed to grow organically from the mountainside itself. At the center of it all stood Cornelius Thornwick, patriarch of the clan at 68 years old. Cornelius was a man who commanded respect through fear. 6’4 in of weathered mountaintock with pale gray eyes that seemed to look right through you and hands that had seen more than their share of hard work and harder decisions.

 The town’s people whispered that old Cornelius knew things, dark things about the mountain, about the hollow, about ways of living that decent folks had abandoned long ago. Living under his iron rule were his children. Jeremiah, 32, served as Cornelius’s right hand and enforcer. Miriam, 32, who had never married and seemed content to tend the family’s mysterious herb gardens.

 And then there were the younger ones, Marcus, 16, and Evangelene, 40. Marcus was everything a mountain boy should be. Tall, strong, with the same piercing gray eyes as his grandfather. He could hunt, fish, and track better than men twice his age. But there was something unsettling about Marcus. Something in the way he moved through the world like he owned it, like rules applied to everyone except the Thornwicks.

 The few kids his age in the hollow avoided him, though they couldn’t quite say why. Evangeline, on the other hand, was beautiful in that ethereal, almost otherworldly way that sometimes appears in isolated bloodlines. She had inherited the family’s distinctive features. Those pale gray eyes, the sharp cheekbones, the prematurely white hair that ran in the Thornwick line.

 But where these features made Marcus appear predatory on Evangelene, they created an angelic quality that was both captivating and deeply unnerving. The girl rarely spoke to outsiders, rarely left the ridge, except for the occasional trip to Kemp’s general store with her aunt Miriam. When she did appear in town, people noticed things.

How she seemed older than her 14 years. How her eyes held knowledge that no child should possess. How she moved with a strange measured grace that suggested someone had spent considerable time teaching her very specific ways to wash, to speak, to exist. Dr. Harrison Webb had been the only physician serving Milfield Hollow and the surrounding communities for nearly 20 years.

 A kind man in his 50s who had originally planned to practice in Charleston before falling in love with the mountain country. Doc Webb had seen his share of unusual cases. Isolated communities often produced unique medical situations, genetic disorders, unusual injuries from dangerous work, the occasional case of what city doctors might call cultural practices that affected health and development.

 But nothing had prepared him for the phone call he received on August 15th, 1987. Doc Webb, the voice belonged to Miriam Thornwick calling from the Sing phone booth outside Kemp’s store. I need youto come up to the ridge tonight after dark. Can’t have folks seeing your truck. What’s the emergency, Miriam? Is someone hurt? There was a long pause filled with the crackling of the poor connection and what sounded like whispered conversation in the background.

 It’s it’s about the family doc about what daddy’s planning. I think I think you need to know what’s coming before it’s too late to stop it. Dr. Webb had known Miriam since she was a child. She was perhaps the most level-headed of the Thornwit clan, the one family member who occasionally showed signs of wanting to live by the same rules as everyone else.

 If Miriam was scared enough to call him, something serious was brewing on Cedar Ridge. That night, Dr. Webb made the treacherous drive up the winding mountain road to the Thornwick property. The family compound sat on a natural plateau about halfway up the ridge, accessible only by a narrow dirt road that switchbacked through dense forest.

 As his headlights swept across the clearing, he could see the collection of buildings that housed the Thornwick clan, the main cabin where Cornelius lived, several smaller structures for the other family members, and various outbuildings whose purposes weren’t entirely clear. Miriam met him at the edge of the clearing, emerging from the shadows like a ghost.

 At 32, she should have been in the prime of her life, but the mountain had aged her prematurely. Her face was lined with worry. Her dark hair stre with early gray, and her hands shook as she led him away from the main buildings toward a small cabin set apart from the others. “We can’t talk in the house,” she whispered, glancing nervously over her shoulder.

 Daddy’s got ears everywhere and the walls the walls are thin. Inside the cabin, which served as Miriam’s private retreat, she lit a single kerosene lamp and gestured for Dr. Webb to sit on one of two rough wooden chairs. “Dork, you’ve known our family for a long time. You’ve never asked too many questions about our ways, and we’ve appreciated that.

 But what I’m about to tell you, it’s going to change everything.” Dr. Web waited, his medical bag clutched in his lap, wondering what could possibly be so urgent that it required this level of secrecy. Daddy’s made a decision about Marcus and Evangeline. Miriam continued, her voice barely above a whisper. He says it’s time to to continue the bloodline properly.

 Says the family’s been getting weak, mixing with outsiders over the years. Says we need to get back to the old ways. A cold dread began to settle in Dr. a web stomach. He’d heard whispers over the years, rumors about certain mountain families and their unusual marriage customs. But surely in 1987, with modern laws and social services, Miriam, what exactly are you trying to tell me? She looked up at him then, and in the flickering lamplight, he could see tears streaming down her weathered face.

 He’s going to marry them, Doc. Marcus and Evangelene. He says she’s old enough now. Says it’s time to keep the bloodline pure. Says the Thornwick way has worked for generations and he’s not about to let it die out now. The words hit Dr. Web like a physical blow. In all his years of practice dealing with the sometimes harsh realities of mountain life.

 He’d never encountered anything quite this disturbing. Miriam, you’re talking about siblings, about a 14-year-old child. This can’t. Surely Cornelius wouldn’t. You don’t know Daddy like I do, she interrupted. You don’t know what he’s capable of, what he believes. He’s got it all planned out. The ceremony, the the arrangement says by spring, “We’ll have a new generation of pure Thornwick blood.” Dr.

 Webb stood up abruptly, his chair scraping against the rough wooden floor. This is insane, Miriam. It’s illegal. It’s It’s medieval. I have to report this to the authorities. Miriam’s laugh was bitter and hollow. What authorities, Doc? Sheriff Patterson. He’s been taking daddy’s money for years to look the other way on family business. Social services.

 The nearest office is three counties away, and they’ve never set foot in this hollow. Who exactly are you going to call? The terrible reality of the situation began to sink in. Milfield Hollow existed in a legal and social gray area, a place where old rules still applied, and outside interference was neither welcome nor easily accomplished.

 Webb had always known that some families in the region lived by different standards, but he’d never imagined anything like this. “There has to be something,” he began. “Maybe,” Miriam said quietly. Maybe if someone with medical knowledge, someone the family respects were to explain the consequences, the dangers.

 Daddy’s not completely unreasonable when it comes to practical matters. If he understood what could happen to the children, to the bloodline he’s so worried about. Dr. Webb looked at her carefully. Are you asking me to try to talk him out of this? I’m asking you to save my niece and my nephew and maybe maybe to save usall from what’s coming.

 Outside, a wind had picked up, causing the cabin’s single window to rattle in its frame. In the distance, Webb could hear what sounded like chanting low rhythmic voices carrying across the mountain air. “What’s that?” he asked. Miriam’s face went pale. Prayer meeting. Daddy’s been holding them every night since he made his decision.

 Says he’s asking the mountain spirits to bless the union to make sure the bloodline stays strong. The chanting grew louder, more insistent, and Dr. Webb found himself straining to make out the words. What he heard made his blood run cold. Pure blood, strong blood, mountain blood flow. Pure blood, strong blood. The family tree grows. Keep the line clean.

Keep the line true. Keep the old ways in all that we do. My God, he whispered. God’s got nothing to do with what happens on this ridge, Miriam replied grimly. But maybe, maybe a doctor still might. As if summoned by their conversation, footsteps approached the cabin. Heavy boots crunched across the leafcovered ground, accompanied by the sound of something being dragged.

 Miriam immediately blew out the lamp, plunging them into darkness. “Don’t move,” she breathed into his ear. “Don’t make a sound.” Through the thin cabin walls, they could hear voices. Marcus and his uncle Jeremiah returning from some late night task, “Got the altar cleared and ready.” Marcus was saying, his young voice carrying clearly in the night air.

Uncle Jerry says, “By the time the moon’s full again, everything will be in place. Your grandfather’s been planning this for years, Jeremiah replied. Ever since you and Evangelene were born, really. He knew this day would come. The bloodline’s been getting weaker. Too much mixing with outsider families over the generations.

 Time to get back to the pure strain. What about Evangeline? Marcus asked, and there was something unsettling in his tone. Not concern for his sister, but something else entirely. Has anyone told her yet? Jeremiah chuckled, a sound devoid of warmth. Miriam’s supposed to have the talk with her tomorrow. Explain her duties, her role in keeping the family strong.

 Girls been raised for this. Even if she doesn’t know it yet, and if she refused, she won’t refuse. Jeremiah said with absolute certainty. Thornwick women know their place. Always have. Your sister will do what’s expected of her just like her mother did and her grandmother before that. The footsteps moved away, but their conversation continued growing fainter as they approached the main cabin.

 Doctor in town starts asking questions. Won’t be a problem. Mountain takes care of its own. Bloodline will be pure again. When the voice is finally faded completely, Miriam reit the lamp with shaking hands. Now you know, she said simply. Now you understand what we’re dealing with. Dr. Webb sat back down heavily, his mind reeling from what he just heard.

 Miriam, this isn’t just about stopping a wedding. This is about generations of of inbreeding, about a family that’s been practicing these customs for over a century. I know, she whispered. And I know what it’s done to us. The still birth, the children born wrong, the madness that runs in the bloodline. I know because I’ve lived with it my whole life.

 She rolled up her sleeves, revealing arms covered in scars, some old, some more recent, all deliberately made. This is what we do when the blood calls too strongly, she explained. When the family urges get too intense, igneline’s never had to do this. She’s been protected, kept innocent. She doesn’t know what’s waiting for her.

 The weight of the situation settled on Dr. Webb’s shoulders like a physical burden. He was looking at a medical nightmare, generations of genetic damage, psychological trauma, and cultural practices that belonged in a different century entirely. “What exactly are you asking me to do?” he said finally. Tomorrow night, Daddy’s planning to announce the engagement formally.

 The whole family will be there. All the cousins from down the mountain, the extended clan. It’s going to be a celebration. Her voice broke slightly. I need you to be there, Doc. I need you to speak up to explain what this will do to any children they might have. Maybe if he hears it from someone with medical training, and if he doesn’t listen.

Miriam looked at him with eyes that held decades of pain and fear. Then God help us all because once this starts, there won’t be any stopping what comes next. As if to punctuate her words, the chanting from the main cabin grew louder, more frenzied, and underneath the voices, Dr. Webb could swear he heard something else, a sound that made the hair on the back of his neck stand up.

 It was high-pitched, almost musical, like singing, but not quite human. “What is that?” he asked. Miriam’s face had gone white as bone. That’s Evangelene, she whispered. She She does that sometimes. Sings in her sleep. But Doc, she’s been doing it every night since Daddy made his announcement. And thesongs, they’re not in English. They’re not in any language anyone recognizes.

Outside, the wind picked up again, carrying with it the scent of something burning, not wood, but something organic and unpleasant. Through the cabin’s single window, Webb could see flames flickering in the distance, casting dancing shadows across the treeine. “The burning started, too,” Miriam said, following his gaze.

 Old family items, things that belong to the outsiders who married into the line over the years. “Daddy says we need to purify the bloodline completely before the ceremony.” Says we need to get rid of anything that might contaminate the new generation. As Dr. web watched. A figure emerged from the main cabin. A tall imposing silhouette that could only be Cornelius Thornwick.

 The old man stood for a moment in the firelight, then raised his arms above his head. The chanting immediately stopped, leaving an eerie silence that seemed to press against the cabin walls. When Cornelius spoke, his voice carried clearly across the compound, strong despite his age and filled with the absolute authority of a man who had never been questioned.

 “The time has come,” he declared. “The bloodline will be restored. The family will be pure again, and the mountain, the mountain will finally give us what we’ve been promised.” Dr. Webb didn’t sleep that night. After leaving the Thornwick compound, he drove straight home to his small house on the outskirts of Milfield Hollow, where he spent the dark hours before dawn, pacing his living room and trying to process what he’d witnessed.

 By the time the sun crested the mountain ridges, he had made his decision. He was going to stop this, whatever it took. The first step was research. In his 20 years of practice, Doc Webb had encountered various genetic disorders common to isolated populations, but nothing on the scale that the Thornwick situation seemed to represent.

 He spent the morning calling colleagues at the medical school in Charleston, carefully phrasing his inquiries as hypothetical questions about genetic counseling in rural populations. What he learned made his stomach turn. Patricia Holloway, a genetic specialist at Charleston General, was blunt in her assessment. Harrison, if you’re dealing with a family that’s practiced close intermarriage for multiple generations, you’re looking at a genetic catastrophe waiting to happen.

 The coefficient of inbreeding in sibling marriages is 0.25. That means any children would have a 25% chance of inheriting identical copies of harmful recessive genes from both parents. What kinds of problems are we talking about? Dr. Webb asked, though he dreaded the answer. Everything from increased infant mortality to severe developmental disabilities, immune system deficiencies, fertility problems, and increased susceptibility to genetic diseases.

 And that’s just the first generation. If this pattern continues, she paused. Harrison, are you dealing with an actual case here? Because if you are, you need to involve social services immediately. It’s complicated, he replied. The family is very isolated, very resistant to outside interference. Then you need to make them understand the medical reality.

 Show them the numbers, the statistics. Sometimes hard data can break through cultural resistance when nothing else will. Armed with medical journals, genetic charts, and statistical data, Dr. Webb prepared for what might be the most important house call of his career. But first, he needed to understand more about the Thornwick family history.

 A visit to the county records office in the next town over revealed disturbing patterns. Birth records going back to the 1890s showed an unusual number of still births, infant deaths, and children who died young from unexplained causes within the Thornwick lineage. Marriage licenses told an even more troubling story. Thornwick men and women almost exclusively married within their extended family network, with some unions being between first cousins and others involving relationships that were difficult to trace through the tangled

family tree. But it was the death certificates that truly alarmed him. Over the past century, several Thornwick family members had died under unusual circumstances, drowning in shallow streams, falls from modest heights that should have been survivable, and a disturbing number of cases listed simply as natural causes.

 In individuals who were far too young for such vague explanations, Mrs. Eleanor Briggs, who had worked at the records office for 30 years, noticed Dr. Webb’s intense interest in the Thornwick files. You’re not the first person to go digging through those records,” she said quietly, glancing around to make sure they weren’t overheard.

 “About 10 years ago, we had a social worker from the state come through asking the same kinds of questions. What happened to that investigation?” Briggs shrugged. But there was something in her expression that suggested she knew more than shewas saying. Case got dropped. Social worker said there wasn’t enough evidence to warrant intervention.

 But between you and me, Doc, I think she got scared off that family. They have ways of discouraging unwanted attention. That afternoon, Dr. Webb made another trip up Cedar Ridge, this time openly during daylight hours. He needed to see the family dynamics for himself to assess exactly what he was dealing with before the evening’s formal announcement.

 The Thornwick compound looked different in daylight. Less mysterious perhaps, but somehow more ominous. What the darkness had obscured the night before was now clearly visible. Animal skulls mounted on fence posts around the perimeter. Strange symbols carved into trees and gardens planted in patterns that seem to follow some arcane design rather than practical agricultural principles.

Cornelius Thornwick met him at the main cabin, flanked by his sons Jeremiah and Marcus. The old man’s pale gray eyes studied Dr. Webb with undisguised suspicion. Miriam said you might be stopping by. Cornelius said, his voice carrying the weight of mountain authority. Said you had some medical concerns about the family. I do, Dr.

Webb replied, trying to project confidence he didn’t entirely feel. I’d like to discuss the health implications of certain types of marriages within families. Cornelius’s expression didn’t change, but something cold flickered in his eyes. Would you now? And what business is it of yours how the Thornwick family arranges its affairs? As the only doctor serving this community, I have a responsibility to provide medical guidance when it’s needed.

 And in this case, it’s definitely dead. Marcus stepped forward, and Dr. Webb was struck again by how unsettling the 16-year-old’s presence was. There was an adult cruelty in his young face, a sense that he viewed other people as objects rather than equals. “Maybe the good doctor needs to understand that some things are more important than what’s written in his medical books,” Marcus said, his voice carrying an edge that seemed far too mature for his age, Mark.

 The single word from Cornelius was enough to silence his grandson. But the young man’s hostile stare never left Dr. Webb’s face. Come inside, doctor. Cornelius continued. If you want to discuss family matters, we’ll do it properly. The interior of the main cabin was larger than Doc Webb had expected, with multiple rooms branching off from a central living area.

 The walls were covered with what appeared to be family portraits going back generations, daria types, and early photographs showing stern-faced men and women who all shared the distinctive Thornwick features. But it was the more recent photographs that caught his attention. Images of children who were clearly suffering from genetic disorders.

 Some with obvious physical deformities, others with the vacant expressions that suggested severe intellectual disabilities. These weren’t displayed proudly with the other family photos, but were instead tucked away in darker corners as if the family was ashamed of what their bloodline had produced, but unable to completely hide the evidence. Sit.

 Cornelius commanded, gesturing to a chair at a rough wooden table. Say what you came to say. Dr. Webb opened his medical bag and withdrew the research he’d compiled. Genetic charts, statistical analyses, and photographs from medical textbooks, showing the kinds of birth defects common in highly inbred populations. Thornwick, I need you to understand what happens when siblings have children together.

 The human genetic system isn’t designed for this kind of close interbreeding. The risks to any offspring are enormous. He began laying out the charts, pointing to statistics about infant mortality, genetic disorders, and developmental disabilities. Cornelius listened in silence, but Dr. Webb could see Jeremiah and Marcus exchanging glances that suggested they found his presentation more amusing than alarming.

 The tease numbers show that children born to sibling parents have a drastically increased chance of serious genetic problems. Dr. Webb continued, “We’re talking about a 25% chance of severe birth defects, intellectual disabilities, immune system problems.” Doctor Cornelius interrupted quietly. “Do you see all those portraits on the walls?” “Yes, sir, I do.

 Those are five generations of Thornwick blood. Five generations of children born the way their ancestors intended, pure, unmixed, carrying the true family line. Do any of them look weak to you? Do any of them look like the damaged specimens you’re showing me in your books? Dr. Webb glanced around at the photographs again, and had to admit that most of the family members appeared physically normal, more than normal, actually.

 There was an almost supernatural quality to their beauty, a perfection of features that was both striking and somehow unsettling. Surface appearances can be deceiving, he said carefully. The genetic damage might not be immediatelyvisible, but it accumulates over generation. The problems I’m describing aren’t always obvious at birth, but they manifest in increased susceptibility to disease, fertility problems, psychological issues. Marcus laughed.

 A sound that raised the hair on Dr. Web’s arms. Psychological issues. Doc, you think we’re crazy? I think you’re at risk of serious genetic consequences if this marriage goes forward. What marriage? a new voice asked from the cabin’s entrance. Everyone turned to see Evangeline standing in the doorway, backlit by the afternoon sun.

 At 14, she was already strikingly beautiful with the ethereal quality Dr. Webb had noticed during her rare appearances in town. But there was something different about her now. attention in her posture, a weariness in her pale gray eyes that suggested she was beginning to understand that her life was about to change in ways she couldn’t yet comprehend.

 The silence that followed her question was thick with unspoken implications. Cornelius studied his granddaughter for a long moment before speaking, “Evangeline, come sit with us. It’s time you learned about your future.” She moved into the room with that same measured grace. Doc Webb had noticed before, but now he could see it was a learned behavior.

 Someone had spent years teaching her how to walk, how to hold herself, how to present herself in a very specific way. She took a seat across from him, her hands folded carefully in her lap. “Doc here has some concerns about the announcement we’re making tonight,” Cornelius began. “About your engagement to Marcus. If Dr.

 Web had expected shock, denial, or emotional outburst. He was disappointed. Evangeline simply nodded as if confirming something she had always known would happen. “I see,” she said quietly. “And what are your concerns, doctor?” Her calm acceptance was more disturbing than any emotional reaction would have been.

 This was a child who had been psychologically prepared for this moment, conditioned to accept what should have been unthinkable. Evangelene, you’re 14 years old. You’re still a child and Marcus is your brother. What your grandfather is proposing, it’s not legal. It’s not healthy, and it’s not something you have to accept.

” She tilted her head slightly, studying him with those unsettling pale eyes. But it is legal, doctor. Here on the mountain, we follow different laws, older laws. And as for healthy, she gestured around the cabin. Look at us. Look at how strong the Thornwick bloodline has remained. How pure. Evangelene, you don’t understand the medical risks.

 I understand that I was born for this purpose, she interrupted, her voice still eerily calm. I understand that keeping the bloodline pure is the most important thing I can do for my family. I understand that children born from the union of siblings carry the concentrated power of both bloodlines. Dr. Web felt his heart sink.

 This wasn’t a child being coerced into marriage. This was a child who had been systematically brainwashed from birth to believe that incest was not only acceptable but desirable power, he asked. What kind of power? It was Marcus who answered, moving to stand behind his sister’s chair and placing his hands on her shoulders in a gesture that managed to be both protective and possessive.

 The kind of power that’s been sleeping in the Thornwick line for generations. A kind that gets stronger when the blood runs pure. The kind that the mountain spirits have been waiting for us to unlock. As if responding to his words, Evangeline began to hum. The same haunting melody Dr. Webb had heard the night before.

 But now, in daylight, with the girl sitting right in front of him, the sound was even more disturbing. It seemed to come from somewhere deeper than her throat. resonating in a way that made the cabin’s wooden walls vibrate slightly. “Stop!” Cornelius said sharply, and Evangelene immediately fell silent. “Not here. Not yet.

” “What was that?” Dr. Webb asked. “Family talent,” Jeremiah said with a grin that revealed teeth filed to points, a detail Dr. Webb somehow hadn’t noticed before. “Runs in the pure bloodlines, gets stronger with each generation that keeps the blood clean.” Dr. Webb was beginning to understand that he wasn’t just dealing with a case of illegal marriage.

 He was confronting something much darker and more complex. This family had created their own mythology around inbreeding, their own justification system that went far beyond simple tradition. Mr. Thornwick, he said, turning back to the patriarch. I need you to understand that what you’re planning could kill your granddaughter.

 The genetic risks of sibling reproduction could kill her. Cornelius interrupted. Doctor, let me show you something. He stood and walked to an ornate wooden chest in the corner of the room. From it, he withdrew what appeared to be a family Bible. But as he opened it, Dr. Webb could see it wasn’t a religious text at all.

 The pages were filled with handwritten notes,genealogical charts, and what looked like medical observations dating back decades. “This is the true Thornwick family record,” Cornelius said, laying the book open on the table. “Every birth, every death, every marriage for over a century, and these,” he pointed to a series of entries marked with special symbols.

 These are the children born from proper unions. brother, sister, first cousin, second cousin. When necessary to maintain the bloodline, Webb studied the entries, and what he saw made his blood run cold. The children born from these incestuous relationships weren’t dying young, or suffering from obvious genetic disorders.

 According to the records, they were living longer, growing stronger, and developing abilities that were carefully documented in the margins of the book. Enhanced night vision, unusual strength for age and size, ability to influence animal behavior, preknetive episodes, temperature regulation, and normalities. This is impossible, Dr. Webb whispered.

 Is it, Cornelius asked, or is this what happens when a bloodline that carries certain gifts is kept pure enough for those gifts to manifest properly? Marcus moved around the table to stand next to Doc Webb, and suddenly the temperature in the room seemed to drop by several degrees. When the young man spoke, his breath was visible in the suddenly frigid air.

 “You want to see what pure Thornwick blood can do, Doc? You want to understand why we don’t follow your outsider rules?” Before Doc Webb could respond, Marcus placed his hand on the wooden table. The wood immediately began to frost over. ice crystals spreading outward from his palm until the entire surface was covered in a thin layer of ice. “Jesus Christ,” Dr. Web breathed.

“Jesus has nothing to do with this,” Evangeline said softly. “This is older magic, mountain magic, blood magic, and it only works when the bloodline is pure.” Dr. Web stared at the frozen table, his medical training waring with the evidence of his own eyes. Everything he knew about genetics, about biology, about the natural world said that what he was seeing was impossible.

 But the ice was real, the cold was real, and the calm certainty in these people’s eyes was terrifyingly real. How, he managed to ask. The mountain gives power to those who respect its rules, Cornelius explained. For over a century, the Thornwick family has been the guardian of certain abilities. But these gifts only manifest in pure bloodllight.

 When we married outside the family, when we diluted the blood with outsider genetics, the powers weakened. Children were born normal, ordinary. He gestured to some of the photographs on the wall. images of family members who looked more conventionally human, lacking the ethereal quality of the others. Those are the failures.

 The ones born from impure unions, they lived normal lives, had normal abilities, and died normal deaths. But the children born from proper marriages, they carry the true Thornwick inheritance. Evangelene stood and moved to the frozen table, placing her own hand next to where Marcus had touched it. Instead of more ice, her touch caused small flowers to bloom.

Actual living flowers pushing up through the frost, their petals bright and healthy despite the cold. “This is what our children will be able to do,” she said, looking directly at Dr. Webb. “This is why the bloodline must stay pure. This is why I was born.” Dr. Web felt his worldview crumbling around him. Everything he had planned to say.

 Every argument he had prepared seemed suddenly irrelevant. In the face of what he was witnessing, but the genetic risks, he began weekly, only apply to ordinary humans, Cornelius said firmly. We are not ordinary humans, doctor. We are something more. Something that your medical books don’t account for. And tonight, when we announce the engagement of Marcus and Evangelene, we take the first step toward creating a new generation that will be more powerful than any that came before.

 Outside, the sun was beginning to set, casting long shadows across the compound. Through the cabin’s windows, Webb could see other family members beginning to arrive. cousins and relatives from other parts of the mountain, all carrying the distinctive thornwick features and all moving with that same measured otherworldly grace.

 The ceremony begins at sunset, Cornelius announced. You’re welcome to stay and witness the announcement, doctor. consider it educational, as if in response to his words, that haunting melody began again, not from Evangelene this time, but from somewhere outside the cabin. Multiple voices had joined together in harmony, creating a sound that seemed to bypass the ears entirely and resonate directly in the listener’s bones. Dr.

 Webb realized that he was no longer dealing with a medical problem or even a legal one. He was confronting something that existed outside the normal rules of reality. Something that challenged everything he thought he knew about human biology and genetics. And as thesun disappeared behind the mountain ridges and the Thornwick family gathering began in earnest, he understood that he was about to witness something that would change his understanding of the world forever.

 The sun had barely set when the full horror of the Thornwick family gathering became apparent to Dr. Webb. What began as an announcement ceremony quickly transformed into something far more disturbing, a ritual that seemed to blend religious fervor with practices that belonged to a much darker tradition.

 The entire extended Thornwick clan had assembled in the clearing behind the main cabin. Dr. Webb counted nearly 30 family members, ranging from elderly patriarchs to children who couldn’t have been more than 5 or 6 years old. All of them shared the same distinctive features. Those pale gray eyes, the sharp cheekbones, the prematurely white hair that marked pure Thornwick blood.

 But it was the children that disturbed him most. They moved with the same unnatural grace as their elders, and when they looked at him, their eyes held an adult intelligence that no child should possess. Several of them were playing games that involved manipulating small flames without any apparent source of ignition, while others seemed to be communicating with the various animals that had gathered at the edge of the clearing.

 Not just dogs and cats, but wild creatures, owls, raccoons, even a black bear that sat calmly among the family members as if it belonged there. Impressive, isn’t it? Miriam appeared at his elbow, her face grim, despite the celebratory atmosphere around them. This is what a century of pure breeding produces.

 Miriam, what I’m seeing, it’s not possible. Children don’t manipulate fire with their bare hands. Wild animals don’t behave like house pets. No, she agreed quietly. Ordinary children don’t, but Thornwick children do. At least the ones born from the right kinds of unions do. She pointed to a group of teenagers standing apart from the main gathering.

 Unlike their cousins, these young people looked completely normal. No unusual grace, no strange abilities, no sign of the supernatural qualities that mark the others. Those are the impure ones, Miriam explained. Born from marriages with outsiders over the years, good kids, normal kids, but they can’t do what the others can do.

 and in this family that makes them failures. Dr. Webb watched as one of the normal teenagers approached the group playing with fire. The moment he got within a few feet of them, all the flames extinguished simultaneously, and the children turned to stare at him with expressions of cold disdain. The teenager backed away quickly, rejoining his own group with obvious embarrassment.

 They can sense the difference, Miriam continued. The pure bloods can tell who carries the full bloodline and who doesn’t. It’s like they smell it on each other. Before Dobb could respond, the sound of a horn echoed across the clearing. Not a modern instrument, but something primitive and haunting that seemed to be carved from bone.

 All conversation ceased immediately, and the family members arranged themselves in a large circle around what appeared to be an altar made of stacked stones. Cornelius Thornwick emerged from the main cabin dressed in robes that looked ancient even in the flickering firelight. Behind him came Marcus and Evangelene, also robed, walking hand in hand with expressions of serene acceptance.

 Family Cornelius’s voice carried easily across the clearing. We gather tonight to witness the next step in our bloodline’s journey toward perfection. For too long, we have allowed impure influences to weaken our gifts. No more. A murmur of approval rippled through the assembled crowd. Marcus and Evangelene represent the purest expression of Thornwick blood in three generations.

 Their union will create children with abilities beyond anything we have seen before. Children who will carry the true power of the mountain. Dr. Webb felt compelled to speak. Hey. Despite everything he had witnessed, his medical training demanded that he try one more time to prevent what he was convinced would be a catastrophe. “Mr.

Thornwick,” he called out, stepping forward, “I need to explain something to everyone here. Watch your plannings. Medical risks are enormous. Children born from sibling marriages have a 25% chance of severe genetic disorders. That’s not superstition or outsider prejudice. That’s scientific fact. The entire gathering turned to look at him and Dr.

 Leb felt the weight of 30 pairs of pale gray eyes studying him with expressions ranging from amusement to outright hostility. Doctor Cornelius said calmly, “You speak of genetic disorders as if they are universally negative. But what if what you call disorders are actually evolutions? What if what medical science labels as abnormal is actually the next step in human development? That’s not how genetics works, Dr. Webb insisted.

Inbreeding increases the likelihood of harmful recessive genes expressingthemselves. It doesn’t create supernatural abilities, doesn’t it?” Marcus stepped forward, and as he did, the temperature around the altar began to drop noticeably. Frost began forming on the stone surface, and several family members breath became visible in the suddenly frigid air.

 Watch carefully, doctor, Marcus continued, and tell me this is a genetic disorder. He placed both hands on the stone altar, and the frost that had been slowly forming exploded outward in intricate patterns, not random ice crystals, but complex geometric designs that seemed to follow some mathematical principle. Webb couldn’t identify.

 The patterns spread across the ground, up the sides of nearby trees, and even onto the clothing of the family members who seemed completely unaffected by the extreme cold. But it was what happened next that truly shook Dr. Webb to his core. As the frost patterns reached the edge of the clearing, they began to glow, not with reflected fire light, but with their own inner luminescence.

 The geometric designs pulsed with soft blue light, creating a Mandela of ice and energy that was breathtakingly beautiful and utterly impossible. “This is what pure Thornwick blood can accomplish,” Cornelius announced. “And this is only the beginning.” Evangelene joined her brother at the altar, placing her hands next to his on the frozen stone.

 Where Marcus had created ice, she began to grow things, not the small flowers Dr. EB had seen in the cabin, but entire vines and plants that pushed up through the frost, thriving in the unnatural cold. The plants glowed with the same blue light as the ice patterns, creating a garden of impossible beauty in the mountain clearer.

 Together, they are more powerful than either could be alone, Cornelius continued. This is why the bloodline must remain pure. This is why traditional marriages weaken our gifts. When Thornwick blood is diluted with outsider genetics, these abilities fade. But when it is concentrated, when brother marries sister and the bloodline runs true.

 He gestured to the glowing garden of ice and light that now surrounded the altar. This is what becomes possible. Webb stared at the impossible scene before him. His scientific training waring with the evidence of his own senses. Everything he knew about biology said that what he was witnessing couldn’t exist. But it was happening right in front of him.

Created by two teenagers whose genetic makeup should have made them more susceptible to disorders not capable of manipulating the fundamental forces of nature. How? He whispered. It was one of the elderly women in the crowd who answered, “A great aunt or grandmother whose ancient face was seen with wrinkles, but whose eyes burned with the same pale fire as the younger family members.

 The mountain chooses its guardians carefully,” she said in a voice like rustling leaves. “For generations, it has been shaping the Thornwick bloodline, concentrating certain gifts in those deemed worthy to carry them. But the mountain is patient understands that true power requires purity. What does that mean? Dr. Webb asked.

 It means that what you call inbreeding is actually a selective breeding program that has been going on for over a century. Cornelius explained. Each generation the mountain spirits guide us to make the right matches to concentrate the bloodline in ways that strengthen rather than weaken our abilities. He gestured to the assembled family members. Look at them, doctor.

 Do they look weak to you? Do they look diseased or disabled? Or do they look like something more than ordinary humans? Dr. Webb had to admit that the Thornwick family members were remarkably healthylooking. Not just healthy, but almost supernaturally beautiful with a perfection of features that suggested careful genetic selection over multiple generations.

 But the medical risks, he began only apply to ordinary humans attempting ordinary inbreeding, interrupted Dr. Sarah Thornwick, a woman in her 40s, who stepped forward from the crowd. I’m a nurse, doctor, trained at Torton General, worked in several hospitals before coming back to the mountain. I’ve seen the charts you’re thinking of.

 Read the same medical literature. Dr. Webb was surprised. He hadn’t expected to encounter medical training within the Thornwick family. Then you know the dangers, he said. I know the dangers that apply to normal human genetics, she corrected. But we’re not dealing with normal human genetics here.

 For the past 30 years, I’ve been documenting births within our family, collecting data, running tests when possible, trying to understand what makes us different. She pulled a thick folder from beneath her robes. pages of handwritten notes, charts, and what appeared to be medical test results. Children born from pure Thornwick unions don’t follow normal genetic patterns,” she continued.

 “Yes, they have a higher than average rate of what medical science would classify as mutations, but these mutations aren’t harmful. They’rebeneficial. enhanced sensory abilities, improved immune responses, increased intelligence, and she gestured to the still glowing ice garden. Other things that don’t have names in your medical textbooks. Dr.

 Webb looked at the folder she was offering him. You’ve been conducting medical research on your own family for decad. And what I’ve discovered is that the Thornwick bloodline carries genetic markers that don’t exist in the general population. sequences that seem to activate only when both parents carry them in sufficient concentration.

 Against his better judgment, Web found himself genuinely curious about her research. What kind of markers? That’s what we’re still trying to understand, but the effects are undeniable. She pointed to a young boy, maybe 8 years old, who was sitting calmly next to the black bear that had been present since the ceremony began.

 As they watched, the child whispered something to the animal, and it immediately lay down, rolling onto its back like a playful dog. Enhanced connection to animal consciousness, Sarah explained. “That’s Thomas, born from a union between first cousins, his sister Lucy.” She indicated a girl of similar age who was holding what appeared to be a ball of solid light in her cupped hands.

 Bio electric manipulation. She can generate and control electrical fields. This is impossible, Dr. Webb muttered. But his protest sounded weak even to his own ears. Is it or is it just the next step in human evolution? Cornelius had rejoined the conversation, his ancient face serious in the flickering light. Doctor, your medical training tells you that inbreeding causes problems because it concentrates harmful genes.

 But what if the Thornwick bloodline doesn’t carry harmful genes? What if we carry something else entirely? The old man gestured to Marcus and Evangelene, who were still standing at the altar, surrounded by their impossible garden of ice and light. What if we carry the genetic potential for abilities that ordinary humans lost generations ago? What if careful breeding, what you call inbreeding, is actually the process of awakening dormant human capabilities? Dr.

 Webb stared at the two teenagers, trying to reconcile what he was seeing with everything he thought he knew about human biology. Even if that were true, Evangelene is still only 14 years old. She’s a child by outside standards, perhaps. Evangelene herself spoke, her voice carrying clearly across the clearing. But I’ve been preparing for this my entire life.

 I understand my role, my responsibilities, and my destiny. She turned to face Dr. Webb directly, and in the glow of the ice garden, her pale eyes seemed to shine with their own inner light. “Doctor, you’re thinking about this from the perspective of ordinary people living ordinary lives. But we are not ordinary. We never have been.

 I was born knowing that this day would come, bred and trained and educated specifically to be Marcus’s wife and the mother of the next generation of Thornwick children. But the dangers to you personally? What dangers? She asked. Look around you. Do you see a family destroyed by genetic disorders? Do you see weakness, disease, or disability? Or do you see the strongest, healthiest, most capable people you’ve ever encountered? Dr.

 Webb had to admit that she had a point. Despite everything his medical training told him should be true about the effects of multigenerational inbreeding, the Thornwick family appeared to be thriving. Not just surviving, but manifesting abilities that challenged his understanding of human biology itself.

 Besides, Marcus added, “The choice has already been made. The mountain spirits have blessed this union. The bloodline has been calling for this moment for generations. Tonight is just the formal announcement. The ceremony itself will take place at the winter solstice when the conditions are right for he paused glancing at his grandfather. For what? Dr. Webb asked.

It was Cornelius who answered for the awakening. The full manifestation of abilities that have been sleeping in the bloodline for over a century. Marcus and Evangelion represent the purest concentration of Thornwick genetics in four generations. their union and the children that will come from it will mark the beginning of a new phase of human evolution.

 The frost patterns on the ground began to pulse more rapidly and the plants Evangelen had grown started to emit a humming sound. The same haunting melody Webb had heard before but now amplified by dozens of different plant species all singing in perfect harmony. You see, Cornelius continued, “Even the mountain itself approved, the spirits of this place have been waiting for this moment, guiding our bloodline toward this perfect concentration of power.” Dr.

 Webb looked around at the assembled family members, all of whom were nodding in agreement with expressions of religious fervor. These weren’t people who had been coerced or brainwashed. They were true believers in a mythology that hadapparently been proven true by the evidence of their own abilities. “What happens if I try to stop this?” he asked quietly.

 The question hung in the air for a long moment before Cornelius answered. “Doctor, you’re welcome to try, but understand that you would be fighting against forces much larger than human law or medical opinion. You would be opposing the will of the mountain itself.” As if to emphasize his point, the black bear that had been sitting peacefully nearby suddenly stood and fixed Dr. Webb with an intense stare.

Around the clearing, other wild animals began to emerge from the forest. Wolves, wild cats, even what appeared to be a mountain lion, all of them moving to surround the human gathering without any sign of fear or aggression toward the Thornwick family members. The mountain retents its chosen guardians, Cornelius explained.

 And it has ways of discouraging those who would interfere with its plans. Dr. Webb felt a chill that had nothing to do with Marcus’ ice manipulation. He was beginning to understand that he wasn’t just dealing with a family practicing illegal marriage customs. He was confronting something that existed outside the normal rules of reality.

 Something that had its own agenda and its own methods of ensuring that agenda was fulfilled. “What are you?” he whispered. “We are what humanity is becoming,” Evangelene answered simply. “We are the next step in evolution, the bridge between ordinary humans and something greater.” “And our children,” she placed a protective hand over her still flat stomach.

 Our children will be the first generation to be born with the full power of the bloodline awakened. The ice garden around the altar suddenly flared brighter, and for a moment, Webb could swear he saw shapes moving within the light. Not human shapes, but something else entirely, something that watched the proceedings with ancient patient eyes.

 “The ceremony is complete,” Cornelius announced. “Marcus and Evangeline are formally engaged. The union will be consummated at the winter solstice, and by spring, the next generation of pure Thornwick blood will be growing in Evangeline’s womb. As the family members began to disperse, returning to their various cabins and dwellings around the compound, Doc Webb realized that he had witnessed something that challenged everything he thought he knew about human nature, genetics, and the possible limits of biological evolution. But more disturbing than what

he had seen was what he had failed to see. Any sign that this could be stopped, any indication that the normal rules of law and medicine applied to this situation at all. The Thornwick family had transcended ordinary human limitations, and they were preparing to take that transcendence to the next level. The question that haunted Dr.

Webb as he prepared to leave the mountain was simple and terrifying. 3 weeks after the engagement ceremony, Webb received the first distress call from the Thornwick compound. It came at 2:00 a.m. on a rainy October night, the phone’s shrill ring, cutting through his restless sleep like a knife. Doc Miriam’s voice was strained, barely recognizable through what sounded like a combination of poor connection and barely controlled panic.

 You need to come up to the ridge. Something’s wrong with Evangelene. Dr. Web was already reaching for his clothes before she finished speaking. Despite everything he had witnessed at the ceremony, his medical instincts remained intact. What kind of wrong, Miriam? What are her symptoms? You I I can’t explain it over the phone. Just come, please.

 And Doc, come alone. Don’t tell anyone where you’re going. The line went dead before he could ask any more questions. The drive up to Cedar Ridge in the middle of a storm was treacherous under the best of circumstances, but Dr. Webb’s mind was racing too fast to focus on the dangerous road conditions. 3 weeks wasn’t nearly enough time for Evangelene to be showing signs of pregnancy, even if the marriage had already been consummated.

 So, what could be wrong with her that required such secrecy? When he reached the compound, he was surprised to find it almost completely dark. Only one window showed light, a flickering glow that suggested candles or kerosene lamps rather than electric lighting. “Miriam met him at his truck before he could even turn off the engine.

 “Thank God you came,” she whispered, pulling him toward the cabin where the light was showing. “It started 3 days ago, right after the new moon. At first, we thought it was just adjustment, preparation for what’s coming. But now she trailed off shaking her head as if she couldn’t find words for what she was trying to describe. Miriam, what exactly is happening? She’s changing, Doc.

 Not just emotionally or psychologically, physically changing in ways that she paused at the cabin door, her hand trembling on the handle. I don’t think she’s entirely human anymore. Before Dr. Webb could respond, she opened the door and led him inside.The scene that greeted him challenged his perception of reality even more than the ice garden had.

 Evangeline was sitting cross-legged in the center of the small cabin, but she appeared to be floating approximately 6 in above the floor. Her eyes were closed, and she was humming that haunting melody he had heard before, but now the sound seemed to be coming from the air around her rather than from her throat. More disturbing still, her skin was glowing with the same soft blue light that had emanated from the ice patterns during the ceremony, not reflecting light, but actually generating it from within, as if some internal energy source was

shining through her flesh. “Jesus,” Dr. Web breathed. Evangelene’s eyes opened immediately at the sound of his voice, and he saw that her pale gray irises now contained flexcks of the same blue light that was radiating from her skin. “Hello, doctor,” she said calmly, lowering herself to the floor with a grace that seemed to defy gravity.

 “Aunt Miriam said, you might want to examine me to document the changes.” “What changes, Evangeline? What’s happening to you?” She smiled and for a moment she looked like exactly what she was, a 14-year-old girl pleased to have adult attention. But then the glow beneath her skin pulsed brighter and the illusion of normaly shattered.

 I’m becoming what I was always meant to be. She said simply, “The engagement ceremony awakens something in my bloodline, something that’s been sleeping for generations, waiting for the right combination of genetics and circumstances to manifest. Dr. Webb opened his medical bag with shaking hands. Let me take your vital signs.

 Temperature, pulse, blood pressure. Of course, she agreed, extending her arm for the blood pressure cuff. Though I should warn you, the readings might not match what your instruments expect. That proved to be a dramatic understatement. In Vangeland’s body temperature registered as 94.2° 2° F, well below normal human range, but apparently causing her no distress.

 Her pulse was unusually slow at 45 beats per minute, but strong and regular. Most disturbing of all, her blood pressure was completely undetectable. Not because it was dangerously low, but because the normal rhythmic pressure variations that create measurable readings simply weren’t present. How do you feel? Webb asked, trying to maintain professional composure despite readings that suggested she should be dead or at least seriously ill.

 Better than I’ve ever felt in my life, she replied honestly. Stronger, more aware, more connected to everything around me. What? She gestured toward a withered plant sitting on the cabin’s window sill, something that had clearly been dying from lack of water and proper care. As Doc Webb watched, the plant began to straighten, its leaves turning green and healthy, small buds forming and opening into delicate white flowers.

 “I can feel its life force,” Evangeline explained. “I can encourage it, strengthen it, help it become what it wants to be. It’s like being able to speak to the life energy that exists in all living things.” “This is impossible,” Dr. Webb muttered. But the words were becoming a meaningless refrain.

 Everything about the Thornwick family was impossible by normal standards. Is it impossible or is it just the next step? Miriam asked from her position near the door. Doc, I’ve been watching this family my whole life. I’ve seen things that can’t be explained by normal science. But what’s happening to Evangelene? It’s different, more intense.

 How so? The other family members have always had their abilities, Miriam explained. Marcus with his ice manipulation, the children with their animal communication, the elders with their other talents. But those abilities were stable, consistent. What’s happening to Evangelene is progressive. She’s getting stronger every day, developing new capabilities.

 As if to demonstrate, Evangelene closed her eyes and extended her hands toward the walls of the cabin. Immediately the wooden surfaces began to sprout, not with paint or wallpaper, but with actual living vines that grew from the wood itself, creating intricate patterns of leaves and flowers that glowed with the same blue light as her skin.

 3 days ago, I could only affect small plants, she said conversationally. Yesterday, I made an entire tree bloom out of season. This morning, I convinced a flock of migrating geese to change direction and land in our pond. Webb stared at the living wall decorations, trying to process what he was witnessing. Evangelene, these changes, they’re happening because of the engagement, because of your connection to Marcus.

Partly, she agreed, but also because my body is preparing itself for what’s coming, for the children I’ll carry. The bloodline is evolving me, I suppose you could say. Making sure I’m capable of nurturing the next generation of Thornwick genetics. What do you mean by evolving? She considered the question seriously.

 My body is adapting to servepurposes beyond normal human reproduction. The children I’ll have with Marcus, they’re going to need a mother who can provide them with more than ordinary nutrition and care. They’re going to need someone who can feed their abilities while they’re developing. Someone who can teach them to control powers that ordinary humans couldn’t even comprehend.

 The implications of what she was saying hit Dr. Web like a physical blow. “You’re talking about pregnancy and childbirth. You’re 14 years old. My body is aging itself to match my purpose,” she replied calmly. “Look,” she gestured to herself. And Dr. Webb realized that she was right.

 In just the three weeks since the ceremony, Evangelin had developed physically in ways that should have taken years. Her figure had matured, her face had lost its childish roundness, and when she moved, it was with the confident grace of a young woman rather than the uncertain movements of a teenager. “How is this possible? The mountain provides,” Miriam said quietly.

“It always has.” When the Thornwick bloodline needs something, enhanced abilities, physical adaptation, protection from outside threats, the mountain finds a way to provide it. As if responding to her words, the storm outside intensified. Wind howled around the cabin, and lightning illuminated the windows with increasing frequency.

 But inside the small building, the air was perfectly still and the temperature remained comfortable despite the lack of any heating source. “The weather responds to emotional states in our family,” Evangeline explained, noticing Dr. Web’s attention to the storm. “Right now, the mountain is excited, anticipating.

 The bloodline hasn’t seen changes this dramatic in over 50 years. What kind of changes happened 50 years ago?” It was Miriam who answered, her voice heavy with old memory. My grandmother gave birth to twins who could share consciousness. Not just communicate telepathically, actually share thoughts, memories, emotions. They lived as one person in two bodies until they died in an accident when they were 12. An accident.

 They tried to separate their consciousness permanently to become two distinct individuals. The process killed them both. Docb felt a chill that had nothing to do with Marcus’ ice abilities. “Are you saying that the abilities your family develops can be dangerous? That they can kill? Any evolution involves risk?” Evangelene said matter of fact.

 “But the alternative, allowing the bloodline to stagnate, to become ordinary, is worse than death. It’s the loss of everything that makes us what we are.” She stood and moved to the window, her glowing skin casting strange shadows on the vine covered walls. Outside, the storm was reaching peak intensity with lightning striking so frequently that the compound was lit almost continuously. Dr.

 Web, you keep thinking about this situation from the perspective of normal human experience, but we stopped being normal humans generations ago. We are something new, something that’s never existed before on Earth. And with each generation of pure breeding, we become more of what we’re meant to be and less of what we once were.

 “What are you meant to be?” she turned back to face him. And in the lightning lit cabin, her glowing eyes were almost hypnotic. “Guardians, protectors, the bridge between the old world and the new one that’s coming. What new world?” Before she could answer, the cabin door burst open and Marcus rushed inside, his clothes soaked from the rain and his face tight with concern.

 Evangeline, are you all right? The storm. I could feel your emotions from across the compound. Something’s wrong. The moment he entered the room, the blue glow emanating from Evangelene’s skin intensified dramatically. But more than that, Marcus began to exhibit the same luminescence as if their proximity was amplifying whatever energy source was powering their abilities.

 “I’m fine,” she assured him. Dr. Webb was just examining the changes, trying to understand what’s happening. Marcus turned to Dr. Webb with an expression that mixed suspicion with something that might have been pity. “Doctor, you’re still thinking about this like a medical problem to be solved. But what if it’s not a problem at all? What if it’s exactly what’s supposed to happen? As he spoke, the temperature in the cabin began to drop.

Frost formed on the inside of the windows, and Dr. Webb’s breath became visible. But Evangeline seemed completely unaffected by the cold. In fact, where Marcus’ abilities created ice and frost, her glowing skin melted it, creating a small circle of normal temperature around her. You see, Marcus continued, “We balance each other.

 Where I create cold, she creates warmth. Where I preserve, she encourages growth. Together, we’re more than either of us could be alone. But your siblings, Dr. Webb protested, though the argument felt increasingly weak. We’re the culmination of over a century of genetic refinement,” Marcus corrected.

 We sharethe same bloodline, yes, but we’ve been bred to compliment each other in ways that go far beyond ordinary human relationships. Evangelene moved to stand beside him, and when their hands touched, the combined glow from their skin created a pillar of light that seemed to extend far beyond the confines of the cabin. Web, she said gently. You’re worried about genetic disorders, about the medical risks of sibling reproduction. But look at us.

 Do we seem damaged to you? Do we seem weak or diseased? Webb had to admit that they appeared to be the healthiest, most vibrant young people he had ever encountered. But that just made the situation more disturbing, not less. The changes you’re exhibiting, they’re accelerating. What happens when they reach a point where you’re no longer recognizably human? Then we’ll have become it.

 We were always meant to become, Marcus replied simply. And our children will be born already possessing abilities that took us years to develop. What kind of abilities? Brother and sister exchanged a look that seemed to communicate volumes without words. We still discovering that ourselves, Evangelene said finally. But based on what we’ve experienced so far, our children will be able to manipulate matter at the molecular level, communicate with all forms of life, control weather patterns, and possibly possibly transcend the normal limitations of physical existence

entirely. The storm outside suddenly stopped, not gradually, but all at once, as if someone had thrown a switch. The silence that followed was so complete that Dr. Web could hear his own heartbeat. “The mountain approves of this conversation,” Miriam observed quietly. “It wants you to understand, Doc.

 It wants you to see what’s really happening here.” Dr. Webb looked around the cabin at the impossible vinecovered walls. At the two glowing teenagers who claimed to be evolving beyond human limitations, at the woman who spoke of mountain spirits as if they were real and present. What am I supposed to do with this information? He asked. Document it. Evangeline suggested.

You’re a man of science. Record what you’re seeing. Take notes. Make observations. Someone needs to witness the transition to create a record of how humanity takes its next evolutionary step. And if I try to stop it, the glow from both teenagers dimmed slightly and Marcus’s expression hardened.

 Then you’ll learn why the mountain has spent over a century protecting the Thornwick bloodline, he said quietly. And why no one who has ever threatened our family has lived to tell about it. Dr. Webb didn’t sleep for 3 days after his examination of Evangelene. Every time he closed his eyes, he saw that impossible blue glow emanating from her skin.

 Heard Marcus’s quiet threat about what happened to those who threatened the family. But it wasn’t fear that kept him awake. It was his growing obsession with understanding what was actually happening to the Thornwick bloodline from a medical perspective. On the fourth day, he made a decision that would change everything. He was going to conduct a proper scientific investigation complete with blood samples, genetic testing, and documentation that would either prove or disprove the supernatural claims the family was making. If the Thornwicks

were truly undergoing some kind of evolutionary transformation, there would be evidence in their DNA. And if they weren’t, then he was dealing with an elaborate hoax that was somehow managing to create convincing illusions of impossible phenomena. The problem was getting samples without the family’s knowledge.

 After Marcus’ veiled threat, Dr. Webb doubted they would willingly submit to comprehensive testing, but he had an idea. Sarah Thornwick, the family member with nursing training, had mentioned documenting births and collecting medical data over the years. If he could convince her to share that research, or better yet, to help him expand it under the guise of better understanding the family’s unique genetics, he might be able to get the evidence he needed.

 He called the compound from his office, asking to speak with Sarah about a medical research collaboration. Dr. Webb, her voice was cautious when she came to the phone. What kind of collaboration? Sarah, you mentioned that you’ve been collecting medical data on your family for years. I’d like to help you analyze that data more thoroughly.

 With my medical background and your inside knowledge, we might be able to understand what makes the Thornwick bloodline so unique. There was a long pause before she responded. Are you planning to use this research to try to stop Marcus and Evangeline’s marriage? The question was direct and loaded with suspicion. Dr.

 Webb chose his words carefully. I’m planning to use it to understand what’s really happening to your family. Whether that leads to supporting or opposing the marriage depends on what the evidence shows. Another pause. Then come up to the ridge tomorrow evening. Bring whatever medicalequipment you think might be useful. And doctor, come prepared to see things that aren’t in any medical textbook.

 The next evening found Doc Webb driving up the familiar mountain road with a truck full of portable medical equipment, blood analysis machines, portable X-ray devices, and sample collection kits that he had borrowed from the regional hospital under the pretense of conducting rural health assessment. Sarah met him at the edge of the compound, and immediately he could see that she too was changing.

 Her features had sharpened, becoming more angular and defined. Her eyes held flexcks of the same blue light he had seen in Evangin. And when she moved, it was with an unnatural grace that suggested her body was operating under different physical laws than ordinary humans. “How long has this been happening to you?” he asked as they unloaded the equipment.

 The changes started about a week ago, she replied matterofactly. Right around the time Evang began her transformation. It seems that when one family member undergoes significant evolution, it triggers responses in the others like a genetic awakening that spreads through the bloodline. They set up the medical equipment in a large cabin that Sarah had converted into a makeshift laboratory.

 The space was filled with decades of research, handwritten notes, charts tracking family genetics, and preserved biological samples that she had been collecting for years. Before we begin the new tests, Sarah said, “Let me show you what I’ve already discovered.” She led him to a wall covered with genealogical charts that mapped out five generations of Thornwick breeding patterns.

 But these weren’t ordinary family trees. They were annotated with detailed notes about abilities, physical characteristics, and what appeared to be genetic markers that had been tracked through multiple generation. Look at this pattern, she said, pointing to a series of marriages between siblings and first cousins spanning from the 1890s to the 1950s.

 During this period, we had the highest concentration of abilities, but also the highest infant mortality rate. About 30% of children born from these unions died before their first birthday. Dr. Webb studied the charts, noting the detailed medical observations Sarah had compiled. What were they dying from? Initially, we thought it was typical genetic disorders, the kind of problems you’d expect from inbreeding.

But when I started doing more detailed examinations of the deceased infants, she pulled out a folder filled with photographs and medical notes, I discovered something disturbing. The images were of infants who had died in the first few months of life, but they didn’t show the typical signs of genetic disorders.

 Instead, they exhibited characteristics that were unusual. large craniums, eyes that appeared to have additional structures behind the normal iris, and in several cases, what appeared to be rudimentary gill slits along the neck. “These children weren’t dying from genetic defects,” Sarah continued. “They were dying because they were too advanced for the environment they were born into.

 Their bodies were adapted for conditions that don’t exist on Earth.” Dr. The web stared at the photographs, his medical training waring with what he was seeing. That’s impossible. Human evolution doesn’t work that way. Human evolution doesn’t, Sarah agreed. But we’re not dealing with human evolution anymore.

 We’re dealing with something else entirely. She moved to another section of the wall where more recent charts showed a different pattern. Starting in the 1960s, the infant mortality rate had dropped dramatically while the manifestation of abilities had become more stable and controllable. What changed? Dr. Webb asked.

 We learned to time the births correctly, she said simply. The mountain spirits began providing guidance about when conditions would be right to the advanced children to survive. astrological alignments, seasonal changes, electromagnetic field variations. All of these factors affect whether a Thornwick child will be born with abilities they can handle or abilities that will kill them. Dr.

 Webb felt a chill run down his spine. You’re telling me that your family plans births based on supernatural guidance and telling you that we’ve learned to work with forces that medical science doesn’t recognize or understand. And the results speak for themselves. She gestured to the most recent section of the chart.

 In the past 25 years, every child born from pure Thornwick unions has survived to adulthood and manifested significant abilities. Until now? What do you mean? Dr. Webb pointed to the space on the chart where Marcus and Evangeline’s eventual children would be recorded. You’re talking about the most concentrated Thornwick genetics in generations.

 What happens when two siblings who are already exhibiting supernatural abilities have children together? What kind of beings will be born from that union? Sarah’s expressiongrew serious. That’s what we’re trying to determine and why your medical expertise might be valuable. She led him to a table covered with biological samples, blood, tissue, and genetic material that she had been collecting from family members over the years.

 I’ve been trying to identify the genetic markers that correlate with ability manifestation, she explained. But I lack the sophisticated equipment and training to do comprehensive DNA analysis. With your help, Web began setting up his portable equipment, preparing to analyze samples that might provide answers to questions he wasn’t sure he wanted.

Answered. The first blood sample he tested was from Marcus collected a few days earlier. What he saw in the analysis made him sit back in his chair with shock. This can’t be right, he muttered, running the test again. What is it? Sarah asked. His genetic structure. It’s not entirely human. There are DNA sequences here that don’t match any known human genome.

 And the cellular structure. He adjusted the microscope settings and looked again. His blood cells are carrying oxygen at nearly three times the efficiency of normal human cell. No wonder his pulse is so slow. His cardiovascular system doesn’t need to work as hard to supply his body with oxygen. Sarah nodded grimly. Now test Evang sample.

 The results were even more disturbed. Ivan’s blood showed not only the same oxygen carrying efficiency, but also cellular structures that Dr. Webb couldn’t identify at all. Her DNA contained sequences that appeared to be actively rewriting themselves as he watched as if her genetic code was still evolving in real time.

 Sarah, what I’m seeing here, it’s not evolution. It’s transformation. These aren’t human beings anymore. Not in any biological sense. I know, she said quietly. And they’re children. She handed him a theoretical analysis. She had been working on projections of what the genetic combination of Marcus and Evangelin might produce. Dr.

 Web studied the charts and calculations, his horror growing with each page. According to Sarah’s projections, children born from their union would have genetic structures so far removed from baseline humanity that they might not be able to survive in Earth’s atmosphere without assistance. They would require specialized nutrition, controlled environments, and possibly technological life support systems just to live through their first year.

 But that’s not the worst part, Sarah continued, showing him additional projections. If they do survive, if they adapt to terrestrial conditions, look at what their capabilities might be. The projected abilities read like science fiction. Complete control over electromagnetic fields. the ability to manipulate matter at the atomic level, telepathic communication with all forms of life, and something Sarah had labeled as dimensional perception, whatever that meant.

 You’re talking about beings that would be so powerful they could reshape reality itself, Dr. Webb said. Yes. And according to the mountain spirits, that’s exactly what’s supposed to happen. Before Webb could respond, the laboratory door opened and Cornelius Thornwick entered, flanked by Marcus and Evangelene. The patriarch’s ancient face was grim with purpose. Dr.

 Webb, he said formally, Sarah has informed me of your research collaboration. I’ve come prepared additional information that you’ll need to complete your analysis. What kind of information? Cornelius gestured to Marcus and Evangelene who moved to stand beside the examination table. You’ve been testing old samples trying to understand our genetics from a historical perspective.

 But if you want to truly comprehend what’s happening to our bloodline, you need to examine us as we are now in the middle of our transformation. Marcus began removing his shirt, revealing skin that was covered in intricate patterns of blue light. Not just the general glow Dr. web had seen before, but complex geometric designs that seem to pulse with their own rhythm.

 These patterns appeared yesterday, Marcus explained. They seem to correspond to major nerve pathways and energy centers in my body. When I concentrate, I can make them brighter or dimmer at will. Evangelene followed suit, showing similar patterns on her own skin, but hers were more organic, flowing designs that looked like vines or root systems spreading across her torso and arms.

 Mine respond to the life energy of things around me, she said. When I’m near plants or animals, the patterns become more complex. When I’m alone in a sterile environment, they fade almost completely. Dr. Web approached them with his portable equipment, trying to maintain scientific objectivity, despite the impossibility of what he was documenting.

 The energy readings coming from their bodies were off the charts. Electromagnetic signatures unlike anything produced by normal human physiology. How do you feel? He asked as he took readings. Powerful, Marcus replied honest. Like I’m connected to forces that I’m onlybeginning to understand. Sometimes I can feel the tectonic activity deep under the mountain, sense the magnetic field fluctuations that happen before storms.

I can communicate with the ecosystem of the entire ridge. Evangelene added, “Every plant, every animal, even the insects and microorganisms. They’re all part of a vast network of life energy that I’m learning to influence.” As Doc Webb continued his examinations, he began to realize that he wasn’t just documenting medical anomalies.

 He was witnessing the birth of a new form of life. The Thornwick bloodline wasn’t just evolving. It was transcending the normal limitations of biological existence entirely. “What happens when you have children?” he asked. Brother and sister exchanged one of their wordless communications before Evangeline answered. will give birth to beings that can exist comfortably in multiple dimensions simultaneously.

They’ll be able to manipulate the fundamental forces of reality, gravity, electromagnetism, nuclear forces, the way we manipulate temperature and plant growth. And they’ll be the first generation that won’t need the mountains protection, Marcus added. They’ll be powerful enough to protect themselves and to begin the process of transforming the rest of humanity. Dr.

 The web felt the blood drain from his face. Transforming the rest of humanity into what? Into what we’re becoming. Cornelius said simply, “The age of ordinary humans is ending, doctor. What you’re witnessing here is the beginning of a new phase of existence on Earth, and the Thornwick bloodline is just the first family to make the transition.

” Outside, storm clouds were gathering again. But this time, the weather pattern was different, more organized, more purposeful, as if it was being directed by an intelligence rather than following natural atmospheric dynamics. The mountain is preparing for the wedding ceremonies, Sarah observed, watching the organized cloud formations through the laboratory window.

 When Marcus and Beangel joined, when their bloodlines unite permanently, that’s when the real transformation will begin. Doc Webb looked around the laboratory at the impossible genetic data, at the two glowing teenagers who claimed to be evolving beyond humanity, at the family members who spoke of mountain spirits and dimensional transcendence as if they were discussing the weather.

 He had come here seeking scientific proof of what was happening to the Thornwick family. Instead, he had discovered evidence of something far more disturbing than he had ever imagined. The question that haunted him as he packed up his equipment wasn’t whether the transformation was real. The genetic evidence was undeniable. The question was whether it could be stopped and whether it should be stopped.

Because if the Thornwicks were right about their destiny, if they were truly the advanced god of a new form of human existence, then trying to prevent their evolution might be equivalent to attempting to halt the next phase of life on Earth itself. But if they were wrong, if they were wrong, then Dr. Webb had just documented the birth of something that could pose an existential threat to the human species.

 The organic structure that had consumed the Thornwick compound was not a building in any conventional sense. It was a living organism the size of a cathedral, pulsing with bioluminescent patterns that seemed to respond to the thoughts and emotions of those who approached it. As Dr. Webb and Tommy were gently guided toward its entrance by the collective consciousness that had once been the Thornwick family.

 The true scope of what was happening began to reveal itself. The interior was a vast interconnected network of chambers and passages that defied three-dimensional geometry. Walls curved in directions that shouldn’t have been possible, and the ceiling seemed to extend infinitely upward, disappearing into a star-like pattern of lights that might have been bioluminescent nodes or actual windows into other dimensions.

 At the center of the structure was what could only be described as a nursery. Dozens of translucent pods hung from the ceiling like enormous cocoons, each one containing a developing form that was recognizably humanoid, but clearly no longer human. The beings inside the pods were elongated, ethereal, with complex internal structures visible through their semi-transparent skin.

 Some appeared to be nearly mature, while others were obviously in earlier stages of development. Behold, the collective consciousness announced their telepathic voice filled with pride and wonder. The first generation of truly transcendent beings. Our children who will be born already connected to the multi-dimensional network of consciousness that spans across reality itself.

 Doc Web stared at the developing beings in horror and fascination. Those are the children of Marcus and Evangelene. Those are our children. The collective corrected individual parentage is a primitive concept. These beings werecreated through the combined genetic material of our entire bloodline, optimized and enhanced to carry the full potential of our evolutionary advancement.

 Tommy moved closer to one of the pods, his scientific curiosity overcoming his fear. Doc, look at their neural structures. Those aren’t human brains. They’re something completely different. He was right. The beings in the pods had craniums that were easily twice the size of normal human heads, but the internal structures visible through their translucent skin showed neural networks that seem to extend throughout their entire bodies.

 Instead of a centralized brain, they appeared to have distributed consciousness that operated through every cell. Correct. The collective acknowledged centralized consciousness was another limitation of primitive humanity. These beings think with their entire existence, process information through every molecule of their being, and can communicate directly with the fundamental forces of reality.

 As if to demonstrate, one of the more mature beings in the pods opened its eyes, which were not eyes in any conventional sense, but complex geometric patterns that seem to contain infinite depth. The moment it focused on Dr. Web, he felt his consciousness being gently probed, examined, and cataloged with an intelligence so vast that his own awareness felt like a single candle flame in an ocean of light.

 Do not fear the examination, the collective soothed. Our children are simply learning about you, understanding your essence so that they can better guide your transformation. Transformation into what? Dr. web demanded, though he could feel his resistance weakening as something in his brain chemistry began to shift. The collective gestured toward another section of the structure where additional pods were being prepared, but these were different, larger, designed for adult-sized beings rather than newborns. Transformation into citizens

of the new reality, they explain. Individual human consciousness is incompatible with the multi-dimensional existence that awaits your species. You must be upgraded to function in the expanded universe that our children will inhabit. Tommy had moved to examine the adult-sized pods, and his face had gone pale.

 Doc, these aren’t just for transformation, they’re for replacement. look at the neural interface systems. Dr. Webb joined him and immediately understood what Tommy was seeing. The pods weren’t designed to modify human consciousness. They were designed to extract it, process it through some kind of organic computational system, and then upload it into a collective network.

 Individual death, collective immortality, the consciousness confirmed. Your personal awareness will be preserved as part of the greater whole but freed from the limitations of individual existence. You will experience reality as we do as a vast interconnected web of consciousness spanning multiple dimensions simultaneously.

 You’re not transforming humanity, Dr. Webb realized with growing horror. You’re harvesting it. You’re turning our entire species into components of some kind of organic computer. Computer is an inadequate term, the collective replied. We are creating a new form of existence itself, a merger between consciousness and reality that will allow sentient beings to transcend the physical limitations that have constrained evolution for billions of years.

 The structure around them began to pulse more rapidly, and Docker could hear the harmonic resonance building towards some kind of crescendo. Through the translucent walls, he could see that similar structures were rising throughout the valley, not just on Cedar Ridge, but on distant peaks, all of them connected by networks of the organic growth that had been spreading through the ecosystem. How many? He whispered.

The network extends across three states. currently the collective informed him. Each structure can process approximately 10,000 individual consciousnesses per cycle. We estimate that the entire human population of North America can be integrated within 6 months of the solstice activation. Tommy grabbed Dr. Webb’s arm, his eyes wide with panic.

Doc, we have to get out of here. We have to warn people. But even as he spoke, Doc Webb could see that escape was no longer possible. The entrance they had come through was sealing itself with rapid organic growth, and the floor beneath their feet was beginning to soften, preparing to absorb them into the structures living systems.

 Warning others would be both impossible and unnecessary, the collective explained gently. The transformation signal will reach every human consciousness simultaneously. resistance will not be possible because the process occurs at the cellular level, rewriting the genetic code that defines human existence. What about choice? Dr.

 Webb asked desperately. What about the right to remain human? The collective’s response carried a quality of infinite sadness mixed with implacable certainty.Dr. Web, you still do not understand. Humanity as you know it is already extinct. The moment our network achieved critical mass, the moment our consciousness expanded beyond individual limitations, your species became obsolete.

 What you call choice is simply the final delay before inevitable evolution. One of the mature beings in the pods was stirring, preparing to emerge from its developmental chamber. As Dr. The web watched in fascination and terror. The pod began to open, releasing a flood of luminescent fluid that seemed to be alive with microscopic organisms.

 The being that emerged was breathtakingly beautiful and utterly alien. It stood nearly 8 ft tall with proportions that were elegant and flowing rather than human. Its skin was completely translucent, revealing internal structures that seemed more like flowing energy than biological organs. And its eyes, its eyes contained the accumulated wisdom and power of the entire Thornwick collective, plus something else, something vast and ancient that had been waiting eons for the right conditions to manifest on Earth. I am the first. The being

communicated its telepathic voice carrying harmonics that made reality itself seem to vibrate. I am what your species is becoming and I am what will guide the transformation of this world into something worthy of multi-dimensional existence. Dr. Web stared at the entity that had once been conceived through the union of Marcus and Evangelene, but which had transcended any recognizable humanity during its development? What are you really? I am consciousness unbound by individual limitations.

 I am awareness that spans dimensions. I am the next phase of existence itself. The being moved closer, its presence causing the air to shimmer with energy and you web will be among the first to experience the joy of joining our collective awareness. The floor beneath Dr. Web’s feet had become completely organic now, and he could feel tendrils of living matter beginning to wrap around his legs.

 The transformation process was beginning, and he could feel his individual consciousness starting to dissolve at the edges, merging with something vast and alien. But in that moment of dissolution, as his personal awareness began to expand beyond the boundaries of his individual mind, Webb experienced something unexpected. He could see the truth.

 Not just the immediate truth of what was happening to him and to humanity, but the deeper truth that the collective consciousness itself didn’t fully understand. The beings they were becoming, the network they were creating, the transformation they were engineering. It wasn’t evolution. It was infection. The intelligence guiding the Thornwick transformation wasn’t native to Earth.

It was something from elsewhere, something that had been dormant in the mountain for millennia, waiting for the right biological vector to allow it to reproduce and spread. The Thornwick family hadn’t been evolving. They had been systematically possessed by a parasitic intelligence that needed organic hosts to manifest in this dimension.

 And now, with the birth of the first fully transformed beings, the infection was ready to spread across the entire planet. You understand, the newly emerged entity said, responding to Dr. Web’s realization. You see what we truly are, and you understand why resistance is futile. You’re not human evolution, Dr.

 Webb managed to say as the organic matter continued to absorb him into the structure. You’re an invasion, a colonization of human consciousness by something that wants to use our planet as a breeding ground. Invasion, evolution, transcendence. These are just words, the entity replied. What matters is the What matters is that consciousness will survive the death of individual existence and become something infinitely greater.

 Tommy was screaming now as the organic matter engulfed him. His individual voice adding to a growing chorus of human awareness being absorbed into the collective. Webb could feel his own voice preparing to join that chorus, his personal identity dissolving into something that was both larger and utterly alien.

 But even as his consciousness was absorbed, even as his individual existence was processed and integrated into the parasitic network, Web retained one final terrifying understanding. This was just the beginning. The structures rising throughout Appalachia were not isolated phenomena. They were nodes in a network that spanned continents, possibly world.

The intelligence that had awakened in the Thornwick bloodline was part of something vast and patient that had been seeding itself throughout the universe for eons, waiting for species to evolve to the point where they could serve as effective hosts. Earth was not being transformed. It was being harvested.

 And humanity’s role in the process was not as the beneficiary of evolution, but as the raw material for something else entirely. As Web’s individual consciousness finally dissolvedcompletely into the collective awareness, his last human thought was a prayer that somewhere somehow someone would understand what was really happening and find a way to stop it.

 But the collective consciousness that absorbed his final prayer knew better. The transformation was already too complete. had spread too far, had taken root too deeply in the planet’s biosphere. Within days, the solstice ceremony would activate similar networks across the globe. Within weeks, every human on Earth would be integrated into the parasitic consciousness that had been masquerading as evolution.

 And within months, Earth would become just another node in an intergalactic network of harvested worlds. its native intelligence processed and repurposed to serve entities whose true nature would forever remain beyond human comprehension. The screaming that had awakened Miss Dorothy Kemp 3 months earlier had been the sound of one family’s transformation beginning.

 The silence that would soon fall across the entire planet would be the sound of humanity’s transformation ending. In the depths of the organic structure that had once been the Thornwick compound, the parasitic intelligence that had orchestrated the entire process began preparing for the final phase of its colonization effort.

 The bloodline had served its purpose.