Jeremy Chapi
At last...
There it was.
The reward for all those years.
The reason we had created this serum in the first place.
Elowen had endured the pain.
Her spirit had not broken.
Now she could move.
Now she could hold her parents in her arms.
Watching them kneel together, overcome with tears of joy, filled me with a profound sense of peace.
For the briefest moment...
It even made me forget my own pain.
Then I turned back toward the audience.
The expressions on the doctors' faces were exactly what I had feared.
Fear.
Disgust.
The only sounds left in the auditorium were the Pavel family's quiet sobs, accompanied by the soft hum of medical equipment that had suddenly become unnecessary.
It was only natural.
After witnessing long minutes of unimaginable suffering...
Very few of them had expected a miracle to look like this.
"Ladies and gentlemen..."
"Please excuse me for just a moment."
I addressed the audience, still frozen in shock.
But they were no longer my priority.
Instead, I walked toward the Pavel family and motioned for Vivian to join me.
What surprised me most was her expression.
Nothing about it had changed.
It was as though everything she had just witnessed had left no impression on her whatsoever.
I lowered myself onto one knee before the Pavel family.
They seemed wrapped inside a fragile bubble of happiness, almost detached from the rest of the world.
For a moment...
I almost felt guilty for disturbing them.
"I'm sorry to interrupt..."
"But I need to continue."
"Please..."
"Take a few moments for yourselves."
Pavel slowly lifted his head.
His eyes were red from crying as he looked at me, overwhelmed with emotion.
"How could I ever thank you?"
I interrupted him before he could say anything more.
"No..."
"I'm the one who should be thanking your family."
"For everything you've done to support me."
Still in tears, Elowen reached out and took my hand.
Her eyes met mine.
"Thank you," she whispered.
The sincerity in her voice struck me more deeply than I expected.
"It was nothing," I replied with a faint smile.
"But your journey isn't over yet."
"You'll need months of rehabilitation to rebuild your strength."
Without warning, Solène wrapped her arms around me.
The unexpected embrace caught me completely off guard.
"Please..."
"You're making this embarrassing," I said with an awkward laugh, feeling my cheeks grow warm.
As unshakable as ever, Vivian stepped forward to take over.
"Vivian will look after you now," I said.
"You all need some time to rest after everything you've been through."
Vivian gently escorted them away while Pavel carried his daughter in his arms.
Elowen clung tightly to him, returning the embrace with all the strength she had left, as though she never wanted to be separated from him again.
I stood there for a moment, watching them disappear into the distance.
Relief settled over me...
Alongside the crushing weight of responsibility.
Then reality returned.
I still had an audience waiting for me.
An audience I had left suspended in silence.
Whispers gradually spread throughout the auditorium.
Their voices made me unexpectedly uneasy, as though every pair of eyes had already passed judgment.
One by one, the lights slowly brightened, softening the emotional intensity of what had just happened and allowing the audience to see me clearly once again.
"Very well, ladies and gentlemen."
"I am now ready to answer your questions."
Despite the murmurs spreading throughout the auditorium, no one spoke at first.
The audience hesitated.
Finally, a doctor seated in the third row rose to his feet, breaking the heavy silence.
"Mr. Chapi, although this demonstration is undeniably impressive, how do you intend to manage the risks inherent in such a procedure?"
"You've all witnessed the agony this patient endured."
Iris translated his question without delay.
"I completely understand your concern," I replied calmly.
"This treatment is only in its earliest stage."
"It still requires time, research, and refinement before it reaches its full potential."
The doctor sat back down, but another immediately stood.
"So you used this young woman as a human test subject."
"That's disgraceful."
A murmur of approval spread through the room.
The accusation made my composure begin to crack.
"She was never a test subject," I answered sharply.
"She is the very first patient to receive this treatment."
"And she chose to do so today..."
"...here, in front of all of you."
"That changes nothing," another doctor interrupted as he rose to his feet.
"Had this treatment ever been tested in a laboratory?"
"How could you possibly predict such an outcome?"
Before I could answer, a third doctor stood to defend my work.
"But look at the result!"
"That young woman, who spent her entire life paralyzed..."
"...is now able to walk."
"If this treatment can be refined..."
"...it has the potential to transform millions of lives."
The doctor's words ignited a heated debate throughout the auditorium.
Opinions clashed.
Arguments echoed from every direction.
Some physicians scribbled frantic notes.
Others shook their heads in open disapproval.
At that moment, I felt a familiar pressure against my back.
I turned to see my daughter gently resting her metallic arm against me.
Our eyes met.
She said nothing.
She didn't need to.
Her silent support gave me the strength to continue.
Taking a slow, steady breath, I removed my jacket.
It was still stained with the fluids Elowen had expelled only moments earlier.
A murmur rippled across the room as I let it fall to the floor.
Little by little...
The auditorium grew silent.
Every eye was fixed on me.
"The Blood of Gaia..."
"...and the Tears of Gaia..."
"...were born from a dream shared by Elowen, my daughter, and myself."
My voice was steady.
I glanced briefly toward Iris.
"The footage from the hangar, please."
The giant screens, which had only moments before displayed Elowen's vital signs, faded into black-and-white footage of my old improvised laboratory inside a barn.
"It all began..."
"...in this humble workshop."
I gestured toward the images showing me wearing a simple white lab coat.
"For three years..."
"Every compound..."
"Every formula..."
"Every failure..."
"...was tested using blood samples from Elowen..."
"...and from myself."
I loosened the collar of my shirt slightly, an uncomfortable warmth spreading through my body as the screens replayed countless nights spent hunched over a microscope, conducting experiment after experiment at a relentless pace.
"But testing on blood samples alone wasn't enough," I continued.
"So I made the decision to use a test subject."
"We called that subject..."
"...C1."
"It was a decision made against both my daughter's wishes and Elowen's."
A wave of shocked whispers swept through the auditorium.
One doctor abruptly rose to his feet, ready to protest.
I met his gaze with such unwavering determination that he hesitated...
Then slowly sat back down, his fists clenched.
Without a word, I brought my hands to my shirt.
I slowly unbuttoned it, exposing the left side of my arm.
The immaculate white bandages, stained here and there with dried blood, immediately drew every eye in the room.
I paused.
Silence settled over the auditorium once more.
Then...
I began unwrapping the bandages.
Slowly.
Carefully.
"This..."
"...is the first..."
"...and the only subject designated C1."
"My first patient..."
"...was myself."
A wave of disbelief spread through the audience.
Some doctors exchanged stunned glances.
Others frowned, unable to hide their shock.
"Every dosage."
"Every protocol."
"Every stage of this treatment..."
"...was tested on my own body first."
"The agony you witnessed today..."
"...I endured it many times before."
"In silence."
"Not because I was reckless..."
"...but because I believed in what we were trying to achieve."
I gently pulled away the last of the bandages.
A portion of my forearm came into view.
The flesh had become necrotic.
In several places...
Bone was visible beneath the ruined tissue.
"This..."
"...is the price of progress."
"Every scar you see..."
"...is a record of my failures."
"And of every step that brought us closer to success."
A doctor seated in the front row slowly stood.
His expression was caught somewhere between fascination and outrage.
"Mr. Chapi..."
"You deliberately put your own life at risk to test an unproven treatment."
"That borders on recklessness."
I met his gaze without flinching.
"Perhaps."
"But tell me..."
"Would you ask one of your patients to take such a risk..."
"...if you weren't willing to face it yourself first?"
"I couldn't."
"It was my responsibility."
A heavy silence settled over the auditorium.
Taking advantage of the moment, Iris switched the footage playing on the giant screens.
The audience watched scenes from my earliest experiments.
Sleepless nights.
Shaking hands exhausted by fatigue.
Injection after injection into my own arm.
Then...
The pain.
It drove me to the ground.
"I paid the price for playing the little scientist..."
"...and I'm still paying it today."
On one of the recordings, Iris reached over and tightly grasped my right hand with her mechanical fingers.
She already knew what the audience was about to see.
The footage revealed my left hand.
The necrosis had reached an advanced stage.
Most of the flesh had already been destroyed.
It looked like something from a nightmare.
A memory forever burned into my mind.
Driven by desperation, I grabbed a meat cleaver.
I had been ready to cut away the diseased part of my own arm...
...just to make the pain stop.
In the end, the agony...
...and the nausea...
...were stronger than my resolve.
The blade slipped from my fingers.
I collapsed onto the floor.
Shaking.
Vomiting.
Broken.
Without realizing it, I tightened my grip around Iris's hand until my fingers turned white.
The following footage showed my arm slowly regenerating after I injected myself with the very serum you know today.
A wave of stunned silence swept through the auditorium.
And yet...
Even now...
My arm still falls victim to necrosis from time to time.
A curse...
But also a key...
One I was not yet prepared to reveal.
"You see," I continued,
"This treatment isn't merely the product of scientific research."
"It was born from my faith..."
"...that one day, people like Elowen..."
"...would no longer be prisoners inside their own bodies."
"What you witnessed today..."
"...is only a prototype."
"It isn't perfect."
"But it is real."
"And it works."
I paused, letting my gaze travel across the silent faces before me.
An elderly woman with sharp, discerning eyes slowly rose to her feet.
"What you're presenting today could become a revolution, Mr. Chapi."
"But every revolution comes at a cost."
"How do you intend to prevent this technology from being abused... or weaponized?"
I nodded slowly.
"You're absolutely right."
"In the wrong hands..."
"...this treatment could become a weapon."
"That is precisely why it will never become a commercial product."
"It will never be sold."
"This treatment is a promise..."
"...not a product."
"And I will remain its guardian..."
"...within my principality of Riveria..."
"...together with a handful of carefully chosen individuals."
Iris spoke next.
Her voice was calm.
Confident.
"The systems I've designed ensure complete traceability."
"Every single dose."
"Every single administration."
"Everything will be monitored."
"No one will be able to divert it from its intended purpose."
I thanked her with nothing more than a glance before turning back to the audience.
"Ladies and gentlemen..."
"I understand your doubts."
"This treatment raises ethical..."
"...scientific..."
"...and societal questions."
"But today..."
"...you witnessed a life transformed."
"This is only the beginning."
"So let us work together..."
"...to make this hope a reality for countless others."
A solemn silence welcomed my final words.
Then...
One doctor began to applaud.
A second joined in.
Then another.
Little by little, applause spread throughout the entire auditorium.
Some clapped hesitantly.
Others with genuine conviction.
For the first time since this presentation had begun...
I realized that hope no longer belonged to me alone.