The Alchemist

"What are you doing?"

She came down the stairs, spotting the man in the same place he was spending too much time these days... down in his alchemic laboratory. To her, it was all a bunch of rubbish, and would never amount to anything, but not to him. He took it as seriously as his own life. He was starting to look sickly from spending so much time down here, his skin paler, eyes larger... While the rest of the world went out to do things, have fun, and have a life, he stayed here. She wondered where the man she knew had gone. He hadn't always been like this...

"Please, don't bother me, Leana. Can't you see I'm working?"

"But you're always working these days... please, come up for a while. Talk to me."

The middle-aged, balding man stared at her, a look of annoyance in his eyes. But after a moment, it faded, and a smile crossed his face.

"... All right."

He strode over to her, putting his arm around her. Together, they walked up the stairs, talking to each other. As few and far between as these moments were, Leana truly enjoyed them. She caught a glimpse of the man she married, the one she used to know, but only briefly. Most of the time he was prattling on about this Azoth he was so obsessed with and how he would be famous, an icon of history. He never explained in detail what exactly he did down there, despite numerous attempts by her to get him to do so, but she knew it was dangerous. He would leave at night for hours at a time, taking just his bow and his knife with him, and he would always arrive home with some animal. Sometimes they were alive, sometimes dead. And he always brought them down to the lab, and after that she never had any idea where they went. But they were never seen again. It scared her.

They walked outside of their house, just a normal-looking cottage in Silverpool. It was a relatively new town, but was already growing fast. It was established in 1536, only ten years ago, and was already a bustling little city. The snow was falling, coating the whole town in a white powder. They walked down the street, Leana laughing for the first time in quite a while. He had approached a young man selling roses, prepared to buy one for her, but then realized he had no money. It reminded her of the old days, when they would sit on the riverbank discussing their plans for when they got married... but it was just that, a reminder. She enjoyed the time while she had it...

Once they returned to the house, he started to get into his usual mood again. He noticed that there was no wood in the fireplace, and started to get angry. Things like this always happened, and it made her so afraid...

"You're home all day, and you can't spare a half hour and get any fucking wood to heat our house? You don't even need to chop down a tree, woman! It's in the shed, but no, you're always too busy talking to your friends or getting drunk, aren't you?"

"Listen, I'll get it, okay? There's no reason for you to yell at me!"

"I just don't understand why you can't be a normal housewife! What is so hard?"

"Well, you're here all day, too! Your "work" is a joke! You'll never get anywhere with any of this! I don't even know-"

"DON'T EVER RAISE YOUR VOICE TO ME!"

And then he would get violent. If she was lucky, he would use his belt. But not tonight. She would end up with bruises all over her face, and he would go down into his laboratory and not come out for the rest of the night. It was always the same. She wasn't even sure she loved him anymore. He was no longer the man he used to be. He had gone mad with this alchemy. It had changed him. On this particular night, Leana sat on the couch and cried after he retreated down into his lab. The cut below her eye that had been healing was now open and bleeding again, and she also had a new, swelling bruise on her jaw.

"Milady, are you all right? Was it the master again? Did he lose his temper?"

She looked up into the man's face. He was the servant of the house, a young black man with long hair. She looked up into his eyes and nodded slowly, tears streaming down her face. He sat down next to her and embraced her. She clutched him against her, sobbing. He was always there to make her feel better...

"It's going to be all right, milady... I'll go into town and get you something from the pharmacy... Don't worry, he'll come around..."

"No he won't! He never does! It's always the same! He treats me like dirt! I hope he dies down there!"

"Shhh, shhh... Don't say that, you don't mean that... It'll be okay, miss..."

And it was, more or less... until one night. The night when he brought the human body home, the night when she found out about the new house that was being built...

Suddenly, an image of a field flashed before her, a green field full of hills and trees, and in the center of it all, a solitary well...

And then she was awake. It was the bark from Poppy that woke her, but the shot followed soon after. He was in her room.