[The Sect’s archives:

  Attached: notes from the experimental laboratory that operated on the outskirts of the City. These notes summarize Experiment No. 1361. The identity of the author, referenced as LPM, has not been confirmed. The patient, Elder Shi An (the City name: Taj Manh), died a few weeks later. The reported cause of death was energies’ collision.]

  …

  Lab notes by LPM: 70 ACD-7-1

  …

  [DAY ONE 1:00 a.m.]

  The team of Crystalers had been sent on their mission.

  I received a report that our Experiment set off to the Deserts alone. We have waited for weeks for it to happen.

  Communication devices will be destroyed. The camp can be annihilated. It should not take long to persuade him to come or to knock him unconscious and bring him here to the lab.

  I have not informed the funding board or the City board of the plan.

  I hope we will manage to merge the two energies and finish the experiment. The funding board will be pleased, and we need this knowledge.

  I have tried with other Experiments, but they were too weak. The one I chose is full of energy; he is Elder with Ability. But also, the one that was Crystaler, he still has embedding.

  Our informant was right; this one is the best candidate. It was worth it to pay for this information.

  Unauthorized reproduction: this story has been taken without approval. Report sightings.

  Waiting for news.

  …

  [DAY ONE 5:00 a.m.]

  They still didn’t manage. Ten of them are dead, and Experiment is still free.

  We can’t abandon the plan. If we don’t catch him, the Sect would investigate anyway.

  …

  [DAY ONE 9:30 a.m.]

  He didn’t give up. More Crystalers from my team are dead.

  Experiment’s body will be exhausted, and I am angry. He should be in a perfect state, but it has been hours of fighting. What if he killed himself? I will be furious.

  I decided to send the next team to support. The costs for all of this have now exceeded the budget. They need to do it fast. Soon someone might visit; it is just a normal working day.

  …

  [DAY ONE 4:23 p.m.]

  Experiment’s body was delivered in a horrible state.

  I had been informed, while they were on their route, that he was in critical condition.

  It was surprising. I hired thirty-five high energy Crystalers and later twenty supporters, plus a medical team of Healers. I expected losses in hired Crystalers; they were paid well for the risk. But nobody expected Elder to fight so fiercely.

  They lost fifty-one Crystalers. Medics were untouched.

  They had been healing him during the transport. It took five hours for them to arrive. What I noticed when they opened the energy cage was drastic. His body was crushed. His hands—why did they do it to him?

  He was washed. Then proper healing started immediately here at the lab.

  All my hopes for a chat with Elder dashed.

  I won’t have a chance to discuss peacefully what Crystal extractions looked like from his perspective and how it was to be someone who mastered two energies, artificial first and then natural.

  I am angry. Experiment’s body should not have been in this state, even if he was defending himself.

  I need to investigate what happened.

  …

  [DAY ONE 10:00 p.m.]

  Healing is still in progress. Experiment’s body remains in a weak state. I am unable to measure the embedding to be sure that Crystal v.1361 will fit.

  I observe the healing process.

  Notably, his body is healing rapidly despite the severity of the injuries, which would normally take longer to heal.

  It turned out the capture team had beaten him excessively after he became unconscious. He had not been in that bad of a state, but they took revenge for those he had killed while defending himself.

  There was a possibility of receiving Experiment’s body in good condition.

  I ordered the execution of those Crystalers who came back and who had massacred Experiment’s body. All those who did it and the medics. They should have prevented what happened.

  ...