Loken Williams
Loken Williams is an NPC in Arknights. He is mentioned in Rosmontis' Archive Files before appearing as a major supporting character in Lone Trail.
Background[edit]
Loken was a brilliant scientist who graduated from the Trimounts Institute of Technology, the same university as Saria and Kristen. As an excellent researcher on Originium Arts, he had once compiled his experimental results in a college lecture at his alma mater where he discussed the basic mechanism of Arts, its connection with one's psychic ability, and its possible applications through various artificial mediums.[1] Thanks to his detailed explanations and his grand vision, his lecture did influence many students such as Dorothy who would later become the director of Rhine Lab's Originium Arts Section.[2]
However, the more Loken continued his research, the madder he became. He started neglecting the ethics of science, believing that only by ignoring them, could mankind break through its physical barriers.[3] Loken's behaviour became more and more deranged, to the point of gradually falling from grace in the academic community. His teacher would expel him from the academy for harvesting organs from terminal Infected patients, being reported to Maylander, and his family had to abandon their belongings in Max D.C. and disappear from the public eye.[4] Having been banned from participating in any university or government-sponsored research institution, Loken drowned his doubts and regrets in alcohol, until he was approached by the Department of Defense, who desired to collaborate with him. He would get his funds and materials, while in return, he would develop the "most powerful weapon" for them. With the DOD's assistance, he established a laboratory under the name "Loken Watertank Laboratory". Here, he dedicated himself to the research of Arts. This collaboration supplied the D.O.D with Transmitters and other subcutaneous Arts Units.[5]
In a bid to create the perfect weapon, Loken began kidnapping children to use them as his lab rats. Eventually, he secretly destroyed Rosmontis' family, bringing in both the feline and her younger brother and treating them as experimental subjects for his extreme experiments. These included implanting an infected organ inside of Rosmontis' brainstem, artificially inducing Oripathy to create a caster with the need for an Arts Unit. Rosemary's brother underwent a mind transplantation experiment that resulted in his death. Loken achieved initial success. But to him, Rosmontis wasn't just another experiment. She was his masterpiece, and he didn't want the D.O.D to misuse her. However, one of his assistants would leak and submit his research to the D.O.D in full. Loken's tests, however, had disastrous consequences when Rosmontis went berserk during one of his experiments, destroying much of his laboratory. This caught the attention of the Maylander Foundation who erased everything related to the "Loken Watertank Incident," believing it better to keep the knowledge or idea out of the hands of Columbia's companies and interest groups.[6]
Right after the incident, Loken was arrested by Maylander for his crime of child abuse and unethical experiments, and many of his test subjects, including Rosmontis herself, were secretly exfiltrated out of the country by Maylander.[6] The D.O.D confiscated the remains of the Laboratory and asked Loken to repay what was invested in him. Due to his refusal to collaborate and lack of money to repay them, he was sentenced to be imprisoned for more than 122 years in a federal nomadic prison on the outskirts of Max D.C.[7] While his obsession for subcutaneous Arts Units led him to ruin, the local news tabloids at the time refered to Loken as "a tragic hero who resisted the tyranny of burdenbeasts, but failed to reform himself."[8]
Throughout his prison term, Loken gradually suffers from an unknown terminal disease which slowly cripples him. He does not regret his crimes but rather yearns to meet Rosmontis, his final creation, for the last time. He plans it to be a "final judgment," intending to have her kill him and embrace her nature as a weapon.
During the Horizon Arc Project, Loken would be released from prison thanks to Kristen, in exchange for helping with her project in Arc-1 based upon the information given to her by a "God".[9][10]
Story[edit]
Lone Trail[edit]
After being freed from his prison sentence by Justin Fitzroy Jr. in order to work for Kristen's project, a dying Loken sends a letter to Rhodes Island requesting Rosmontis visit him in Trimounts, to which she agrees despite the disapproval from her peers, as she wishes to see her own past. When they meet, after realizing Rosmontis doesn't remember him, he attempts to make her recall her trauma, only to be interrupted by the Doctor's intervention and an attack from C.U.D.O.D. forces, retreating to his lab and evading Muelsyse's attempt to capture her by questioning her insecurities. Despite being disturbed, Rosmontis wishes to face him again, so she, Doctor, Muelsyse, and later Ifrit trace him to his lab. Loken details the aftermath of his life after his atrocious experiments and admits his crimes and guilt, but only seems to feel regret at the failure of his experiment rather than what he did to Rosmontis and the other test subjects. As he sees Rosmontis as the last thing remaining of his life, he asks her to be his "judge" and sentence him to death. All of this disgusts and enrages Rosmontis to the point of attempting to destroy the facility out of a sense of righteous vengeance, only stopping once Ifrit manages to calm her down with a pep talk. The Doctor realizes that Loken's end goal is to reawaken Rosmontis' memories, incite her rage, and have her kill him in revenge as his final "gift" to his test subject.
At Ifrit's suggestion, Rosmontis confronts Loken one final time, now understanding that Loken wants to live on in her memory by having her enact revenge on him. She declares that he is nothing but a criminal to her and that his memory will no longer hurt her, sentencing him to death as he wishes, but refusing to end his life. Shortly afterwards, Loken finally succumbs to his disease and dies, with Rosmontis making a simple note that "The criminal Loken Williams received the trial he deserved", and forgetting about him afterwards.
References[edit]
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