Adrian sighed, closing the book. It was an easy read and had only taken him a couple of days to finish it, same as the only other one the Arch-mage had assigned him to memorize. The first one hadn't even been about magic, it had been about outdoor survival, identifying which plants and fungi were edible, how to find clean water, how to build a shelter, etc. He already knew some of that anyways, and this last book had been about the basics of magic, which Gaster already had ingrained in his mind. It was almost the same book as one of the tomes back home.
He set the book on the ground next to his bed, sitting up and rubbing his eyes. He didn't have anything to do now. The door leading out of the cellar was always locked; the only time it opened was when the servants came to give him food or clean his chamber pot, and they wouldn't let him out. He fingered the hem of his shirt, creeping over to the door and giving it an experimental push anyways. Still locked. But maybe not for long.
Adrian kept his hand on the door, pushing gently in different places until he found where the lock was laying on top. He grinned, taking a deep breath. This is the kind of circumstance Edgar had trained him for, the kind where you needed magic like a monster. No runes, no spells, not even a line of thought, just magic. Adrian closed his eyes, concentrating, envisioning the lock on the door clicking open with a touch of blue magic. His eyes snapped open as he heard a thunk from outside. He pushed the cellar door open to fresh afternoon air. Success.
He climbed out of his prison, brushing off his clothes and looking around cautiously. There didn't seem to be any servants around, and even if there were, Adrian wasn't sure what they would do. Would they tell the Arch-mage or just put him back in room? Probably the latter, in which case he could just sneak out again.
The Arch-mage's library had been expansive, and several of the books had caught Adrian's eye, but he wasn't allowed to take them when he was there, he had to memorize the two assigned. Well, it shouldn't be a problem now, he was already done. Adrian set off in the direction he remembered the room being.
He took the servant's corridors as that was the only way he knew, even if it meant a greater risk of running into someone. He tried to be quiet, but he hadn't ever really tried sneaking around before, he hadn't needed to. His breaths felt like shouts and his footfalls like cannon shots in the serene silence. He ignored that, focusing on putting one foot in front of the other and not letting himself turn tail and run.
He breathed in sharply as he rounded a corner to find a servant taking the same corridor. She didn't even glance at him though, just scurried past with her head down. Adrian sighed in relief as she disappeared from sight, feeling emboldened enough to set a brisk pace the rest of the way.
Adrian found the door leading into the library, opening it and gazing around. Once he made sure the coast was clear, he slipped inside and began browsing the books. It took him a while to find one he wanted to read, he kept looking up at the slightest sounds and so many books sounded so fascinating, it was difficult to choose. Finally though, he chose a book bound in red leather with a circle on the cover with strange symbols and lines inscribed in it.
He tucked it under his arm and brought it back to his room, not even running into another person this time. He locked the door after him, just so that the servants wouldn't be suspicious of anything and report him. He settled down on his bed, cracking open his treasure and began to read:
For centuries, humans without access to magic were convinced science could give them a power equivalent to that of a mage. With this thought in mind, research began on the art of alchemy.
Adrian perked up. He was quite with familiar with alchemy, his mother was an alchemist after all, and he enjoyed it. Plus, it made him feel a bit closer to home. He continued reading.
Researchers thought for years that by drawing circles and inscribing particular symbols in them, they could harness the power of the earth to change an item into something else, such as lead into gold. Scientists have thus far produced little in the way of success, only theories and ideas. However, such a practice is real, if used with magic.
Well, this was not the same alchemy Adrian had been thinking of, but nonetheless it was fascinating. He took a deep breath, preparing himself to dive into the book. There was no telling at this point if the magic was too far above his skill level for him to perform, but he could try his best, at least.
The first law of alchemy to understand is that the object you are 'transmuting' must be similar to the item you want. Alchemy is not simply about changing something into something else- it is a different possibility. For instance, you could turn a blade of grass into wheat, but you could not turn a stone into water. With the grass, there is a possibility that grass had never taken root there at all, and it had been instead wheat. With the stone, there is no path in which it could simply become water, and thus cannot be changed into that, except by incredible amounts of magical energy that surpass what most monsters even contain in their soul.
To start, you'll begin with the example used above, turning grass into wheat. Below are the runes needed to perform this spell. There are no words to accompany this spell.
Adrian blinked at the dozen runes that were scrawled on the page, each one more complex than the last. Maybe he had gotten in a bit over his head with this book, but there was no turning back now. Might as well try.
He snuck back outside to grab a stalk of grass, bringing in back inside. He didn't have any writing utensils, but he could just write the runes in the air with magic. He muttered a spell and his fingertip glowed white. He looked back and forth between the book and his finger as he wrote the runes in the air, glowing white markings that glowed a bit a brighter than the ball of light he had summoned in the corner.
He finished writing the runes with a small flourish and a smile, the familiar sucking sensation on his soul letting him know the spell was working and taking his magic. He watched in amazement as his bit of grass morphed into a stalk of wheat. He held it up to his sphere to examine it as the runes faded, admiring the extraordinary magic. He had never heard of this kind of alchemy before, but it was awesome!
He kept reading, hungry for more. He couldn't try many of the other spells since he didn't have the necessary materials, but he got the gist of it. It was all about sprawling possibilities it seemed, and relativity.
Adrian jumped as he heard the someone at the door, hurriedly sliding the book under his bed and opening one of the others to a random page. The servant entered silently, leaving his food on the bottom step as always, then retreating. Adrian paused to eat his lunch of flatbread, cheese, and apples, then dove back into his book in earnest. He needed to finish it before anyone missed it.
He finished the rest of the thick tome in a few more hours, not memorizing most of the runes but identifying the pattern between runes. He snuck back outside, grabbing more grass to experiment on. He tweaked the runes a bit to vary his results and make sure he actually understood the magic. He made different kinds of flowers, weeds, herbs, any plant he could think of really. After that he ran out of plants he decided to try something else. He set his sights on the cold, bland stone floor, a smile eeking onto his face. He flipped to the page with details on transmuting stone to sand, nodding to himself. It was the same principle, basically, but then again all of this was basically the same principle. But that didn't matter! Adrian could do this, he just had to believe he could!
He traced out another dozen and a half runes in the air, stomach flipping in fear. At worst, the spell would backfire and throw him against the wall if he didn't do the runes right. But it was fine. It would work. Hopefully.
Adrian squeezed his eyes shut as he finished the runes, waiting with bated breath for when he crashed into the stone behind him. He cracked an eye open when he was still very much sitting on his bed, grinning at what he found. The drab gray stone had changed into swirling marble, shiny new and polished. Adrian jumped onto it, walking on it with wonder. It had worked! He had done this!
His stared at it for a moment longer before begrudgingly changing it back. He didn't know what the Arch-mage would do if he found out Adrian had stolen a book from his library and turned the floor of his room to marble, but he didn't really want to find out. His thoughts began to slid toward the first night and unblinking eyes, but he quickly focused in on something else. His bed was rather plain, maybe he could do something with that.
After knocking the wood in different places and scrutinizing the color, he identified it as a sturdy oak frame.
What if it was rowan and made by an expert carpenter? This question was what zipped through the boy's head as he traced out more runes. With a flash of light, the bed became exquisite, carved in extreme detail. Fish leaping out of a stream lined with flowers and deer on the foot. Hawks soaring above bears and wolves and trees on the head. Adrian smiled, turning his rough straw into a soft swan-feathered mattress lined with fine silk.
Oh, Adrian would abuse this power if he ever got the chance.
He admired his handiwork for a bit more, turning the frame and blankets back but risking keeping the mattress for tonight. One night he would sleep in it, then change it back and return the book.
The servant didn't notice what he'd done when he delivered dinner. Adrian dispelled his ball of light, flopping on his wonderful creation with a content sigh.
Going to sleep was always the worst part of the day, the boy had found. It was then he couldn't distract himself from what had happened, then when he slowly broke apart. Tears streamed down his face as he buried it into his pillow, willing himself to go to sleep before the memories consumed him.
Adrian returned the book in the morning without incident. He hadn't noticed it before, but he had more or less ravaged a patch of grass in his experimentation. That was easily remedied though, all he did was bring back the grass he had taken and fix the patch with his 'alchemy'.
He changed his bed back, sad that he would lose the lovely sleep but grateful he'd gotten on night of it. Maybe he would change it back later, if he was certain the Arch-mage wasn't coming soon.
Without anything to do, he wondered what the man was doing. Adrian hadn't caught a glimpse of him since he had sparred with him, and he was pretty sure he had left to do something, what the boy wasn't sure. The Arch-mage had mentioned war starting soon. Was he off doing whatever a mage does to prepare for battle? What would that even involve?
Adrian sighed, crawling onto his bed and snuggling under the covers. He popped his head out as a clanking at the door signalled breakfast, but instead of a servant darting in and out, the Arch-mage descended, looking as annoyed as ever.
"Come." He ordered simply when he caught sight of child, turning on his heel and leaving as unceremoniously as he entered.
Adrian cautiously slipped out from under his blankets, padding behind the Arch-mage as the man lead him to the back of the building where another cellar door resided. The man opened the door and its lock with a wave of a hand and a flash of blue in his eyes. He glanced behind him to make sure Adrian was following before descending the stairs.
Adrian stopped, staring down at the darkness that quickly at up the Arch-mage, a butterfly of fear fluttering to life in his chest. He couldn't see anything past the first few steps lit by the morning sun. He could hear the Arch-mage's steps clomping down, farther and farther, and Adrian tried to follow but childish fear took hold, locking his feet in place. At some point, he heard the Arch-mage stop, summoning a ball of light as he glared up at the child. Adrian's eyes widened, if that was even possible, as he took in the view before him, or lack thereof. The Arch-mage' light was bright, bright enough to illuminate his position from halfway down the stairway up to Adrian and down to the concrete ground below. Everything past that was too dark to see, but in the several stories the stairs descended nothing else was revealed by the magic.
"Hurry up, I haven't all day." The Arch-mage snapped, tapping his foot ad he waited for Adrian to catch up.
The boy gazed at the expanse in wonder. He glanced at the purple back of the man in front of him, working up the courage to speak. "What is this place?"
The Arch-mage stopped, and for a terrified moment Adrian thought he might strike him. Instead he turned, grinning. "You'll soon find out."
Well, that wasn't a good sign.
Adrian bowed his head, silently following the man the rest of the way down the stairs. He turned as they stepped onto level ground, leading Adrian, presumably, to the middle of the giant room, their footsteps echoing in the darkness. The Arch-mage stopped suddenly, and Adrian almost ran into him before he managed to catch himself.
The man gestured around them. "This is the first step of your training. I trust you have finished the books?" Adrian nodded even though they were several days earlier than the mage's previous deadline. "Good, you'll need it. This lesson will slowly force your soul to be in Battle all the time so that you may know who and what is approaching and around at all times." The Arch-mage began to circle around the boy, his footsteps harsh as the boy spun around to keep eye contact. "You will stay here until the light disappears, then you will find your way back to the entrance and leave. Understand?" Adrian nodded again. The Arch-mage stopped, like a wolf about to pounce. "Good. Do not disappoint me again."
He left without another word, leaving the boy alone. Adrian wiped his palms on his pants, watching the ball of light pensively. Whenever it dimmed he would have to summon a new one, that way he could see and it definitely wasn't because he was scared or anything.
He stumbled forward as the ground began shaking, looking around in shock. Segments of the floor took on a blue hue as they rose up around the child, three times as tall as him. Adrian frowned, his brain not entirely aware of what was going on yet. Then the light blinked out.
Adrian was alone, in the dark, all turned around, and had to find his way through a maze. He hurriedly tried to summon a ball of light, but the best he could manage was a ball that barely emitted enough light to see his hand in front of his face. He tried several times to summon another ball, but each one was no brighter than the last. So the Arch-mage had some way to weaken his magic. Yay. He summoned five of them, but that only made each of their lights weaker so that it was only the equivalent of one. The boy sighed, dismissing the other balls and only keeping one.
Adrian, with nothing else to do, sat down, his little brow furrowed, as he thought of which way to go. He had seen the Arch-mage go to his right when he left, so he should go that way. His mind made up, he got up and set off in the direction he was sure he should go.
He wasn't sure how long he walked, but at some point his stomach began to grumble. Adrian stopped, glaring down at it as if that might it from making him hungry. It didn't, of course, but it had been worth a try. He looked around, but he hadn't seen any food before and he didn't see any now. What had the book said about finding food? That was right, find a source of water. Adrian strained his ears as he continued on, searching for the telltale trickle of a stream.
Just as he was about to give up, the sound he was looking for seeped into existence, somewhere ahead. The boy hurried on, his zeal renewed, and was rewarded with the corridor he was in opening into a large room. His light wasn't nearly strong enough to reveal its contents, but he could hear water flowing ahead. He stopped, looking around fearfully. This wasn't a trap set by the Arch-mage was it? Adrian wasn't sure. He summoned a green bubble around himself, just in case, even if it was thin and flimsy with whatever was weakening his magic.
He prowled ahead, his light trailing dutifully behind him. Something gleamed up ahead, and Adrian managed a weak smile as it turned out to be the water he needed. He made sure the water was safe, checking the color in the little light allotted to him, before cupping his hands and slurping some up. Once his thirst was quenched, he walked along the stream, on the lookout for any plants growing alongside it. He was soon rewarded with a patch of mushrooms he identified as edible. He ate some of them and carried the rest of them on a shield.
He followed the water until it brought him to a way out of the room, another narrow hallway that twisted and turned. He decided to leave the bubble up, just to be safe.
He continued on, eating whenever he became hungry and regretting he he didn't think to take any water. He found more water eventually, a small puddle in the middle of some hallway. He drank most of it and put the rest in another bubble to follow him, right next to his food and behind his light.
He started feeling tired at some point and settled down into a corner to sleep. He tried to keep his shield up, but as he drifted off, his magic fazed away, dropping his food and water and leaving him in the dark.
He woke up to find his water gone and his food scattered around the ground, most of it eaten. He stared at the sight for several terrified seconds, expecting some awful beast to attack from the darkness, but nothing happened. Eventually, he gathered the food and continued walking again. He didn't sleep when he began to feel tired, didn't sleep until he was too exhausted to continue. When he woke up, a similar scene met him, but Adrian himself was still unharmed.
He didn't know how long he was down there, lost in the maze and the shadows. He slept four times, and refilled his food and water several times. He wasn't even sure if there was still a way out anymore, in the vastness if the stretching darkness above and the generic walls and floor of the maze around him. Still, he pressed on. He didn't have any other options.
He found a small room with another patch of mushrooms growing in the center. He stooped down to collect them only for something heavy and with claws to lunge at his back. Adrian screamed, his soul immediately breaking into Battle as sharp claws raked his back and pointed teeth dug into his shoulders. He somehow managed to throw the beast off him with his feeble blue magic, scrambling to his feet. The pain from his back was almost enough to drop him back to his knees, but he forced himself to remain upright, whirling around to face his enemy.
Two white pinpricks gazed at him through the shadows. Adrian stepped back, summoning another green bubble even though the last one obviously didn't do anything. The pinpricks started moving, circling him just as the Arch-mage had. Adrian pushed his ball of light closer, right above the beast.
It looked like something drawn almost, swirling, sketch-like shadows composing the entirety of its dog body. It drew its ears back, drawing away from the light.
Did that mean it was afraid of light? Or did light hurt it, maybe? Maybe he should try-
Adrian's thoughts were cut off as another one attacked from the left, sinking its teeth into his thigh. Adrian couldn't even manage a scream this time as another one ran at him from the other side, locking its jaw around his ankle. The boy was hurled to the ground as more swarmed him, clawing and biting.
Adrian was about to die.
He couldn't die. He couldn't afford that. They'd kill Mother. The war the Arch-mage had been talking about would start and end without him and innocent lives would be lost because Adrian hadn't been there. The Arch-mage would go free, never having justice exacted on him. Adrian couldn't die yet.
Not that it seemed he had much choice in the matter. His magic was too weak to lift more than one shadow beast at a time, and when he did get one off, another would take its place.
Suddenly they were gone. Adrian curled into a ball as the pain washed over him, all his limbs on fire and his consciousness quickly dimming. He started into alertness as bright lights blinked on and green magic began knitting his bloodied, torn flesh back together. The boy heaved in a giant breath of air as the pain mostly receded, leaving a phantom, tingling sensation all over.
He sat up, looking around through squinted eyes that griped at the harshness of the light after being in the dark for so long. The Arch-mage stood above him, a new healer standing beside him with her head bowed. She glanced at Adrian with bright blue eyes that contrasted with her black hair, only to be smacked on the back of the head. She was thrown to the ground by the force of the Arch-mage's strike, whimpering slightly. This only made the man scowl, taking his foot and grinding the heel into her hand.
"Do not look or speak to anyone." He hissed. After several long, painful looking moments, the Arch-mage drew back his foot, leaving a gaping, bloody hole in the back of the girl's hand. He turned his attention to Adrian, and the boy cringed back.
"You did as poorly as can be expected." The man drawled as the walls began to sink back into the ground. "Come, you will follow me and try again."
Adrian slowly got to his feet, and trailed behind the Arch-mage, his stomach twisting into knots. He didn't want to go through that again, that awful loneliness and terror of what lurked just out of sight. Instead of being better knowing what laid in wait for him, it was worse, knowing what kind of deadly efficiency the beasts worked at.
All of this to keep his soul in Battle outside of times of actual threat. How was this even going to help with that?
Adrian didn't have the answer, and he wished he did. As the Arch-mage left, the walls rose, and the light disappeared, he just wanted to go home.
(A/N): Thank you guys for the song suggestions, I really appreciated it, it was really helpful in writing this chapter. At some point I'll probably listen to each of your songs for different chapters, but for this one I listened to Control by Halsey. For future chapters I'll continue to post the songs on the tumblr.
Thank you guys for all the positive feedback! It was really inspiring honestly, and even though I'm like a zombie right now from all the school's-out shenanigans, I still felt like writing. I'll be starting summer school soon (since I'm taking PE online to get another elective) so I don't know how much I'll really feel like writing then, but I'll keep trying to get a chapter out every week!
So for this chapter, I did a little bit of research on alchemy. The magic is different from the actual theory of alchemy, but as it was said alchemy didn't exist, magic took its place as best it could.