“IT’S ALIVE!”

These are the first words that I ever hear. I ponder the notion of language crawling through my mind. Words are soft until they harden into thought, meaning, memory.

What is alive?

What do I remember?

Where do I begin?

I am bombarded with sensations—great turbulence lies in the darkness ahead of me. I flinch, and as I do, reflexively open my eyes. I did not know I could do that.

A new world is opened to me, of sight as well as sound. Burning blue light leaps overhead, and the source of it is an Elf screaming to the heavens. He is the first person that I have ever met, and he is as beautiful to me as he is terrifying. I feel a deep desire to speak with him, to know him better. I reach out my hand towards him!

But I cannot. I am confused by this, and I turn my eyes down to understand my inability to reach for my fellow Elf, this other creature whose existence is in parallel with my own.

I find that I am restrained. My hands are bound by large metal clamps to my sides; my bare feet are beneath a bolted bar. I know immediately who has done this to me. We are not equals, then. I am his prisoner.

I turn my eyes again to the Elf and find that he is close to me now. I study the lines of his face, the searing intensity of his gaze as it is fixed upon me, the lightning gleaming in his teeth as he bares them.

“What is my name?” I ask.

“You are my Masterpiece,” he says.

I wrench my hand free of its manacle, twisting the metal apart, and I see only darkness, hear only the blood rushing in my ears as I reach for my creator—not to embrace him, but to wrap my hand around his throat and squeeze.

Morinstein's Masterpiece is available in the Dr. Torvik Morinstein and His Masterpiece Army Expansion. Pre-Order now for an October 2026 release!