To Speak of Galic's Grace: Part 0: Prologue

October of 2021

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Galic Household

A younger boy, around the age of ten or eleven, was sitting at an old, rickety writing desk. He was gaunt, with thin, lanky limbs that made him look as if he could collapse at any moment. He had deep, mahogany brown hair that was cut to a medium length, and neatly parted on the right side to hide the scars on his head. The hairstyle framed his diamond shaped face well. His lips were stretched thin, showing how deep his mind always was in contemplation. His nose turned up much like that of a hog. But the most remarkable feature of his face was his eyes. There was something about them, something… odd.

First off they were deeply set into his skull. Their shape was unusual for a boy of his kind-- they were upturned-- but the most curious thing about them was their mismatched color. The left was a vivid lavender, full of life. However, the right was greyish blue, cold and empty, like the sensor of a deactivated machine. It was also enclosed in a heptagonal shape by perfectly straight scars. This gave him a sort of classical elegance in a… mechanically sinister sort of way.

Other than that it could be said that he was an ordinary youth. At least on the outside. Inside his ectomorphic body, however, was a different story. His innards had been mangled and twisted. His stomach was abnormally small, and his digestive system was equivalent to that of a hummingbird. Because of this, he has to eat something at least every hour. His brain is also... unique. Put simply, he lost the entirety of his right hemisphere, and his right eye, due to malpractice that caused an experiment to go terribly wrong.

The missing hemisphere was replaced with a fully functional computer fused to the remaining brain (Luckily for him, he still retained most of his personality after this endeavor). To recover his vision a bionic engineer, called Dr. Vincent Walker, devised a prosthetic eye to replace the one that was lost. It is imperative that one remember that both procedures were still experimental at the time of the incident. And who better to test them on.
 

October of 2021

7:15 pm sharp

Galic Manor House

Galic Manor was a sprawling 133-acre property. It was secluded and quiet most of the time. To the west of the gates, Galic Manor House, in all its glory, can be seen. To the east, the stables, where Dr. Galic´s son spends most of his leisure time. Past that, the arenas and the track where the horses are trained. To the north, the pastures where the horses themselves spend their time off. It can also be concluded that the staff appreciates Dr. Galic letting them work under him. The staff included four maids to keep house, twin cooks from France, a butler called Mr. Fabian, and nine grooms to care for the seventeen horses residing on the estate.

“Atticus! Get down here, now!” yelled the boldly authoritative voice of Dr. Arthur Galic, geneticist, father of Atticus Galic, and head of Galic Manor House.

“Coming, sir,” Atticus responded to his father. He was rushing to clear his desk of the papers he had been pouring over prior to his father´s call. Atticus then bounded down the stairs to present himself at attention to Arthur.

“Didn't you hear Mr. Fabian calling you?” Arthur asked resentfully.

“I did, sir,” Atticus answered indifferently.

“And what exactly were you doing when he called you?” Arthur asked bitterly.

“I was finishing up my work, sir,” Atticus responded.

“Well then. That's three lashes for not responding immediately, and six more for ignoring a direct command, you know that Mr. Fabian has as much authority over you as I do,” stated Arthur sternly. Later that evening he and Atticus went to be seated at the table. Dinner was served, Pigeon with warm foie gras sorbet and creme brulee for dessert. Just before Mr. Fabian was to serve dessert, there was a knock at the door. Dr. Galic got up to answer, while Atticus stayed put in his chair.

“Is Dr. Galic at home?” asked a raspy, sinister male´s voice.

“I am. Please come in,” answered Arthur as he took the mysterious guest´s coat.

“Am I interrupting something?” the man questioned.

“Nothing of importance, sir,” Arthur responded, “Please, sir, won't you join us for dinner?”

“I think that would be excellent,” the man stated delightedly, “After all, I still need an update on my latest project.”

“Fabian, please set a place for Dr. Radley. He will be joining us for dinner,” Arthur ordered.

Author Notes: There is not much I want to say right now, so I will open with: “If you choose to act like the dogs; then you can go out and eat with the dogs. I will not tolerate you eating your scraps at my table.”

DIsclaimer: The cover image is a screenshot from Portal 2. I thought the Enrichment Spheres embraces the concept of exactly what Atticus is.

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