"The circulatory, nervous and musculoskeletal systems are primed for activation. Begin the awakening process." Flammel said as we stood over the freaky chimera that I had put together by myself while all of this stuff in the bazaar was going on.
I pointed my wand at the currently dead body and began to chant.
"Vita ad vitam! Forma mutata! Spiritui adhaere! Exsurge, Chimaera!" I spoke as I channeled my magic into the ritual circle under the body.
The canine torso bulged out as a ragged breath of air was drawn into it's lungs. It's limbs twitched as the potion substituting blood began to pump as it's heart started beating and it's brain began to activate. The eyes in it's skull rolled before the eyelids snapped open as this chimera was forced into existence. This wasn't like those monsters that take huge teams of wizards to hunt down but the general process behind it's creation was the same. This was a step all life alchemists must take at some point. An attempt at creating something better than nature. All of the surgery and messy lessons were in preparation for this. -
I wasn't foolish and went for some kind of powerful battle worthy monstrosity but something practical. The body of a gray wolf, the eyes of a Wampus cat, tail of a manticore and brain of a German shepherd. The brain was really an inspired choice on my part as I considered what the instincts of the creature would be when it was awoken. It was my hope that using the brain of a domesticated species with similar enough body shape would ease the feral stage where the beast didn't understand anything and attacked everything as a result.-
Flammel waved his wand over the restrained creature that was trying to struggle free calmly.
"Congratulations are in order it seems, the chimera is stable. No signs of immediate rejection at all. Even if it only lives for a few hours you have successfully engineered your first magical creature." he said with a proud smile.
"I likely wouldn't have even touched life alchemy without your guidance. The stigma around it ensures that." I admit honestly.
"I can not claim that my way is the best. But I believe that no knowledge is inherently evil, merely that the ones that use it are. Just as a killing curse can take a life for no reason other than whim it can also end suffering. Magic is a tool, it is up to the wielder to decide if it is one for good or bad. Life alchemy is no different. If utilized properly it can do wonders for others. Replace lost limbs, create medicines that could not naturally come about and more." he says seriously.
"I mostly agree. Though anything that serves no purpose beyond corruption and suffering is where I have to definitively draw the line." I said frankly.
"I cannot fault you for that. It is a line many who share my own beliefs draw. If anything I must commend you for drawing it. Someone with no lines they will not cross is someone who will not care what it costs to achieve their goals. People like that rarely end well. Dead or worse in fact." he said with a smile.
"What will you do with that?" I asked nodding to the chimera on the table.
"The same thing with any that I or my students create. I'll place it in a comfortable enclosure and provide for it. If it stabilizes and proves nonhostile I will train it and release it into Perenelle's garden to keep her company. If it destabilizes and starts suffering I will humanely end it's life. If it's innately hostile the same will happen. Remember this lesson well, no matter how much of a success you think a chimera is the moment it becomes incontrollable is the moment it should be killed." he said with a weight that implied deep experience with what happens when this rule isn't followed.
"I don't intend to mass produce chimera but will remember this lesson all the same." I say solemnly.
He didn't release the chimera from it's bonds but moved the entire creature, table and all through the air with a wave of his wand towards one of the rooms I always found odd until now. It was just empty save for the grass on it's floor and false sky overhead. The door was a thick metal thing despite this and had a sliding peep hole on it. Watching him send the chimera in there before cutting loose it's bonds and quickly retrieving the table and shutting the door I now understood the spaces purpose. It was a quarantine room for any chimera that were made by him or as he said his students.-
It was pretty obvious why it was needed too as the moment the bonds were released the chimera went ballistic. Sharp stinger tail stabbing at anything and everything while it moved through the space with a savage lagging gait as if still learning it's own body, which it was. This was the stabilization process all chimera went through. Going from dead thing to creature with no life experience and raw screaming instincts tended to make most of them dangerous until their brains got the chance to fully adjust and relax as their instincts quiet down.