I want to stress that this is not the tale of the first humans to walk the Earth, but it is the tale of the first extraordinary people who pushed humanity to its limits.
Dr. Samuel Davenport, from 1923 Introduction of The First People
The First People have not been verified in the strictest sense; there are no frozen specimens, no fossil record, no ruins or structures that evidence a pre-ancient culture; but that does not mean that it is not true.
Dr. Lynnette Jones, from 1990 Introduction of The First People
The Darker Resurrection
Chapter 3 – It Sucks!
The PRL Event: Darker Resurrection 13
From the Annals of the Consortium of Human History:
The Undead, Zombies, and True Resurrection
by Dr. Roy Worthington
The Undead
I have encountered the undead in my scientific endeavors. This is relatively easy to achieve in animals and in humans and relies on stimulation of very basic neurological function to animate the body. Because the mind is not properly activated, the undead are not alive in the truest sense, meaning that they are unable to make a range of rational choices…
…My experiments with parasites most clearly demonstrates the characteristics of the undead. The parasite effectively destroyed the brain of the host leaving very limited neurological function. Many of these hosts were extremely violent and possessed a ravenous sexual appetite that led to horrible murders and often the death of the host themselves. Many of these subjects have been destroyed in the greater populace to prevent the spread of the parasite, only because I have since refined my research. Among the infected was my son who is also still alive and was apprehended at my local home with the mangled corpse of a woman that he had been alternatively beating and copulating with even in her death…
…The undead condition does not necessitate violence. The definition of limited brain function also encompasses those in a coma and those in a vegetative state…
Zombies
…Zombies do not need to be dead to be called zombies. In fact, I would wager that every zombie is likely a drugged person who is still very much alive and probably in a great deal of pain. The most important feature of a zombie is susceptibility to manipulation. This is usually achieved with chemical compounds that act on the brain to make them highly suggestible…
True Resurrection
True Resurrection has never occurred in recorded history and involves the restoration of a person to life and to their own faculties and capacities before death and even before falling ill. A cornerstone of true Resurrection that makes the prospect so impossible is the implication of restoring the body to proper function after death. No technology known to mankind is capable of this, though an exploration of the science of some advanced alien cultures could provide the answer…
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This week:
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When the going gets tough, it’s good to have dependable friends. Alia and Wendy arrive with the troops in Georgia, unsure of what comes next, rattled by a disembodied voice, and annoyed by a being from beyond the realm of this existence.
Ghostbusters (Limited Series): “Alia frowns and grabs John by the ear. He yells as she leads him away from the group and when they are out of earshot, Alia turns and glares at him.”
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Isabel is down, but not out, and she returns for an Annual Issue unlike anything you will read anywhere else. How do spirits rally from the afterlife to lend a hand in a crisis in the physical realm? It’s a lovely sight, even with the tragedy all around.
Saterna (Annual): “Isabel Moreno is a spirit like everyone else after they die, and just like everyone else, when her body released the hold on her spirit, those energies were free to lend themselves to any of the many realms that spirits inhabit in the afterlife.”
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It’s the unlikely duo of Volume IV, Maria and Darker. Darker seems to be a very different man since his resurrection, and he may be just what Maria needs to remind her that the facilities of the Consortium are not the right place for her.
Carolina Zombie Society (One-Shots): “Maria wasn’t afraid of the newly resurrected man. He is no Frankenstein’s monster, he is not a zombie. He is a man and he was obviously confused and he looked around the room where he was held with bewilderment, not like he was seeing it all for the first time, not like a newborn in a strange place, but more like a person who had fallen asleep in a completely different location than the one in which he woke.”
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The Brave has proven herself and she must rise to the occasion again. Fair warning, it doesn’t go well. What could derail such a stalwart soldier of her ancestors’ collective powers?
Family Ties (The Brave Chimutengwende Bk. 1): “She has been under varying types of pressure since the emergence of her ancestors months ago, and she had weathered very difficult circumstances and even saved some lives. Wendy has proven herself the true inheritor of the Brave mantle and she wears it proudly.”
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Alia and Eakran are finally together again and of course their meeting is truncated by world altering events, they are both impressive individuals after all.
Least Possible Future (Amazing Alia, the Alia Bk. *): “The soul that caused this mess has not been returned and the sun must set one more day on Earth before the great balance sufficiently adjusts, forever altering the population of the afterlife. The suck has stopped prematurely; there is no new balance and the old one has not been restored. Something has happened.”
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The stakes are as high as they’ve ever been as Ivan rushes desperately in search of help for Clay, and Desperation closes in. But Clay’s family is a mystery to us all, and his aunt Bernadette won’t be caught flat footed.
Fusion (Diode Bk. 2): “Of course she needed Koyu’s help for her plan, having lost most of her magic, Anes was too weakened to overpower another being of the special realm in order to siphon their power to Desperation, and she had to convince Koyu that Desperation was worth the effort.”
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It’s the PRL Serials Volume IV! This time, it all comes together.
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PRL Serials 