The Corrosive Alchemist
Chapter1:
The agony only intensified as the night progressed. The Sarafite was once more causing intense pain for Naray. The last three episodes had been especially excruciating for her. Even after all 18 years of her challenging life; she still could not fully comprehend the triggers of her pain. She let out another wail in brutal agony from her secluded spot in the gutter. Central was an immense city which offered her no shelter and the frigid rain didn't help her suffering at all. She shook as she felt the Sarafite completing another circuit through her body and pumping steadily through her heart. Her struggle to even stay conscious was a losing battle but one she had to win for if she didn't, it would be another six hours at the least before she woke up.
The blue liquid passed through her heart finally and a break from the suffering was provided allowing her shallow gasps in relief. However, it was short lived as the pain returned and Naray couldn't help but scream out in distress, digging her warn down and blooded nails into the side walk. No one would ever hear her. She was marked by a symbol divided between her upper and lower lip. When she closed her mouth it completed a deadly transmutation circle created by her parents. She was only ever born to be an experiment used by those monsters.
Her parents were Scientists from the broad category of alchemy. A science based off the principle that for mankind to gain anything, something of equal value must be returned. They were researching using a blue liquid that they had created called Sarafite. It was harmless in normal form but when transmuted it could be used as an extremely high level corrosive and acidic liquid. The research that they were conducting consisted of supplementing saliva for Sarafite. They were inhumanly using innocent animals as testers, mercilessly injecting the Sarafite into them like they were toys. Unfortunately, the Sarafite continually thieved the lives of their experiments. The conclusion of their efforts was that most animals could not sustain the liquid for more than a few days due to the Sarafite infecting the blood stream and causing their heart to stop.
Most of them didn't have the capacity to withhold the blue liquid for more than a few days. But soon they discovered that it was possible that a human child could survive with this liquid pulsating throughout their body. The idea was that a humans spit glands would only let out a minimal amount of the blue liquid into the bloodstream. It would be a life of agony, but a life of power. So, they made a soulless decision to have a baby as an experiment to conclude whether the child could withstand Sarafite and function properly.
They conceived the child for their research and it developed in the mother's body. The mother however only saw her child as a form of alchemy and did not take into consideration restrictions of physical activity, alcohol and other precautions when creating a healthy child. However they still produced a fully functional, unharmed, daughter aside from their mishaps.
As it turned out; once they injected the blue liquid into their daughter's body she didn't stop crying for weeks. When they tattooed the transmutation symbol into her lips, she was in constant pain. In the end they deserted their new born baby at only four weeks old; leaving her in a box on the side of the street with a sign saying 'help me' taped to the cardboard.
Fortunately a young couple found her and handed her into an orphanage where she grew up having torturous episodes and as a result of this was often isolated from her peers. As her age increased the pain became less constant with the strengthening of all her body's systems. At the age of eighteen, Naray had been kicked out of the orphanage for her frequent and disastrous use of alchemy and was forced to live the life of a beggar bearing the transmutation symbol her parents embedded into her.
Unfortunately for her parents, they were correct in thinking the child could survive. The problem was that not that she was a failed experiment but that the baby needed to time to develop in order for the Sarafite to affect the spit glands to the full extent. When this happened at around the age of four, Naray found that her saliva was in fact Sarafite in its non harmful state. She taught herself alchemy after stealing a book on the basics from the library. Naturally she was unaware of the simplicity in applying for a card. Soon she found the way to transmute her spit into the highly corrosive, acidic liquid that was originally intended, using the transmutation symbol as a lethal weapon. With her ability she was provided the equipment to burn acidic holes through almost anything.
The one thing that was resistant to her acidic saliva was wooden materials. She, with her limited knowledge, had only a vague idea of what the cause of this was. Her basic search about the elements that wood consists of lead her to the conclusion that when the acid that Sarafite produced came in contact with wood, every single element in the wood would react with every element in the Sarafite. Because of this, instead of the acid reacting to be corrosive and deadly, it morphed back into her original saliva like state becoming harmless and no more than a basic fluid. With her little research sources, her research had concluded there and she had had no luck in attempting to further it.
The Sarafite however, along with causing excruciating pain every month or so, had other side effects. Some of Naray's features had changed. Her hair was blonde, long and perfectly straight however unkempt, except had a feint blue shine. Her eyes were a piercing and icy blue while her teeth also were stained this colour from the Sarafite. This was yet another reason for her solitude. She was positive that her strange appearance could never be accepted by society as she was labeled unapproachable. This, of course was entirely because of her appearance and not her distant and stoic nature.
She could already tell that the episode was coming to an end. After a long hour of pain resulting in her falling semi conscious, this was a blissful relief. It would be a while before another batch of the Sarafite infected her blood flow. She was free to continue her life, or what was left of it. She got up off the floor after a period of resting her body and watched central's lights turn on as people began their day. She could see that the sun was beginning to rise and thoughts of food entered her mind causing her warn down stomach to growl. Starvation was creeping in, apparent by her unusually slender appearance: she needed food.
Naray gingerly walked to her usual spot on the pavement. A tall lanky figure usually passed through this area. He, although bitter, belittling and silently cunning, usually provided Naray with a small amount of his food; at least enough to sustain her for a while. As she waited for him to appear, she saw central coming to life. People started emerging from their houses and immersing themselves in their daily work. Young children allowed out of their house had resumed their daily routine, attending school. An experience Naray could never have fathomed. But when dazing and wallowing in the thought of an education, Naray didn't notice the young child approaching her. She snapped out of it when a small object flew at her head. The young rebel had released a small pebble from his slingshot aimed straight for Naray's head. A group of what seemed to be school mates watched and smeared at what obviously was meant to be a show of courage.
As the child reloaded, Naray was already in the process of fooling his next projectile. She had started drawing a transmutation circle on the stone pavement with the blood ebbing from her bleeding nails. As the boy released his next stone, Naray activated the circle and a giant hand leapt from the pavement that clasped around the young boy. He struggled and his posy fled with a look of terror while screaming for help. His wriggling only quickened as Naray neared him. The boy looked like a ghost when she stopped in front of him. He shouted that he surrendered and closed his tiny eyes as Naray drew another transmutation circle on the fist. This time using chalk, making an eardrum bursting sound. Everyone in the street was staring, not daring to interfere with Naray and the boy's conflict. He took a final gulp as the sweat streamed down his face and Naray placed her hands on the circle. A bright blue light illuminated the fist and it disappeared leaving only a crack in the pavement and the boy petrified on top.
"Do not throw anything at me ever again, okay?" Naray whispered in a frosty and threatening voice which caressed his ear warmly and left him petrified. With that final remark the boy fled after his friends like a mouse running away from a lion. She was satisfied with her achievements. She had not been able to make a fist that big before. With the limited amount of stone in the ground; she had done well. However when she caught a glimpse of the police rushing towards her from the corner of her eye, she knew she had made a mistake. She vaguely heard them shouting abuse her way and when she turned to face they were already within a few paces of her. As the officer began booming at her his words seemingly slurred as Naray's thoughts drifted towards nightmares of a life in prison. Being there for even a short amount of time had been excruciating and with a crime like the one she had just committed, she could very well be there indefinitely. However, her thoughts were interrupted when the officer's gibberish came to an abrupt stop. Naray's world snapped back into focus and she saw the officers frozen to their place saluting something behind her.
"Well that was exciting," said a voice from behind her. She turned on her heels and gathered saliva in her mouth. Ready at any time to release the Sarafite and transmute it. She turned to face her lanky friend holding his palm out to the authorities. He had silenced them. His hand wavered and the police turned and began patrolling the rest of the streets. Her friend was fingering a piece of bread smeared with a bright sweet jam. The smell intensified Naray's hunger and she collapsed to the floor and gazed longingly at the soft delight. A meal that was almost vital. She could only beg and plea without words, her previous act of strength demolished by hunger. "You are quite a talented alchemist considering, of course, you are a street dweller." He threw her the bread which she fumbled with but devoured in seconds, cherishing the sweet sensation that was inside her mouth. "Meet me here at the same time tomorrow and we can talk about your future. Possibly consisting of an apprenticeship. One of alchemy, beneath me, the pitch alchemist."