Chapter Twelve: Tools

Once completed with his experiments on Ghoul Powder, he made a mental list of all that he learned thus far in his quest. His most important research to date still rested in his studies on necromancy during school. That was the catalyst that brought him to this point, and his research thus far depended very much on what he already knew of necromancy. Though he felt his school learning was severely lacking, the offering of necromancy acted as the single bright light.

He hadn't thought much of his school days since his expulsion from the academy. He had more pressing issues that demanded his immediate attention once he left, the most important of these obviously being finding a place to continue his work. Once that was accomplished he focused on pursuing leads found in his former teachers' books. With the Ghoul Powder successfully made and his research at a temporary standstill, he had for the first time in months the luxury of becoming lost in memories.

His first thought led him to Mystina, wondering what she was doing. With him out of school she was undoubtedly now the best student of the academy. He would've loved to see the faces of his former schoolmates as once again they were bested by one younger than them. He couldn't feel bitter remembering his school days; what people thought of him made no difference to him. Indeed now that he thought back on it he took some pleasure in the memories of his roommate becoming increasingly frightened of him. Hm… roommate. That was a complication he had neglected to clear up on leaving school.

Luckily he realized his error before it was too late. How he could've possibly forgotten this loose end was purely due to his devotion to learning. It was now clear that he could not go any farther until he dealt with this matter. The trouble in executing this plan was finding a means to re-enter the school. The headmistress made it quite clear that he was unwelcome on the premises, and he had little doubt that there would be disastrous consequences if she happened to catch him. The solution he rested on was simple: he would merely avoid detection and stay in the school's boundaries for as brief a period as possible.

In preparation he sent Sophos out to check out the school for him. He couldn't risk sending Drache; dragons were very rare familiars and the presence of one was bound to raise suspicion. As a cat Sophos could easily pass through the school without notice. The feline was efficient and returned within hours. With the information Sophos provided, Lezard was able to plan his next move.

Lezard's former roommate now lived in a different dorm room with another. Lezard timed his plan so he could confront his roommate without any interference. He waited with Sophos and Drache by his side. The door opened and the teenager once known as Lezard's roommate stepped inside. He yelped in surprise on seeing his unexpected visitor and held on instinctively to the door.

"Well, hello," Lezard greeted him calmly. "It's been a while."

"I…" The shock was still there as the poor boy fought for composure. "I thought that you were expelled from school."

"Indeed I was." Lezard smiled, pushing his glasses up the bridge of his nose. He sat perfectly calm and watched as the other slowly entered the room and closed the door behind him.

"What are you doing here, then?"

"I did not have an opportunity to speak with you when I left," Lezard replied. "You and I were roommates for some time. There were things left unresolved between us." He could tell the other was nervous and he didn't seem willing to leave the safety of an exit.

"Lezard, you and I barely talked to each other."

"Yes, but we did share a living space for a long time… too long, in fact." He rose to his feet, still portraying an image of serenity. The other must have sensed danger anyway for he pressed his back tightly to the closed door. "I assure you I bear you no ill will. However, I cannot leave this matter unattended. I am certain you can understand why."

"I'm sorry I talked about you behind your back!" the young man squeaked. "You were a hot topic in school and I wanted to be popular! I'm really, really sorry!"

"Do you honestly believe this is about gossiping?" Lezard laughed tauntingly. "I do not care about such things. This is about how you and I lived together, and you saw certain things that were meant only for my eyes. I do not blame you!" He raised his hand to stop a protest from the other male. "I admit it is in large part my fault; I was careless and had no idea of what would happen. It is truly unfortunate that I did not have a room by myself. We cannot help that, though, can we?" He smiled, allowing a pause as if he expected the other to agree with him.

"Look, I…"

"I know what you might say," Lezard interrupted. "You would promise to never tell, to make nothing of those years as my roommate. It would be in vain. You have seen too much, whether you realize what you saw or not." He stepped up very close, and before the other could respond, stabbed the young man in the stomach.

Lezard clamped his hand over the victim's mouth just in time to stifle a scream. He dug the knife in as far as it would go as the other squirmed and struggled. Lezard pulled the knife out slowly and stabbed again in the space just below the young man's ribs. He grabbed one hand and closed it around the weapon's hilt, calmly stepping away. The body slid down and fell on the ground. Lezard knelt down to wipe his hands on the dying youth's clothes.

He was about to make his exit when his eyes lit on his former roommate's textbooks. It would be such a waste if those volumes were circulated back to the school. Lezard took them with him, knowing he could put them to much better use. He left the school grounds. The only one who knew he had been there was now bleeding to death.

Upon returning to his place of residence, Lezard set to work shifting through the new books he acquired in hopes one of them would provide him with useful information. Their former owner was very helpful in marking certain portions which he deemed important. Very little so far added anything of value to his knowledge, though one book did mention a spell he had not yet mastered. Naturally it did not go into detail of how he could learn the spell.

Once again he found himself deep in study, so much so that he required Drache and Sophos to provide him with food and water. He had at last found something of great value: a book that discussed the elves. The creatures were very secretive in nature and rarely left the shelter of their forest, so any information on them was of great importance. What the book provided him was mere theory but it was helpful in providing him the next step in his quest for knowledge and power.

And if this find wasn't wonderful enough, Lezard stumbled on something that made the theoretical discussion of elves seem totally irrelevant. Of course he very much doubted his former roommate would understand the true value of the information, but that was no matter since Lezard now possessed it.

"'Homunculus is a term used in referring to a human body created through artificial means'," he read aloud, the words filling him with excitement. "'In other words, homunculi are man-made life forms. Though homunculi have the appearance of humans, they are in truth nothing more than bodies without souls'." He paused there to digest these words. He searched for more but found nothing, not even a hint of how one could be constructed.

If he could learn the means of constructing a homunculus, his power would be very close to that of a god's. For such a thing to even be possible for a human proved to him that the gods could not be as the stories claimed. Why, after all, would gods allow such power to exist? This find also made it clear that the Philosopher's Stone did indeed exist somewhere in the world. If such a thing as creating homunculi remained unchecked by the gods then there could very well be an item like the Stone.

The path to take was very clear: he would search the world for instruction until he knew how to craft the being. Once he could successfully make a homunculus, his path to the Philosopher's Stone would at last be open.