I do not own Witcher or any of the characters.
A.N.: Decided to fix the show's change that made it so that Elder Blood was needed for the mutagen, but also decided to keep the basic, one-step version of the process that the show had.
Recreated
Tremmors ran through Kaer Morhen, stilling Eldin's hand as his medallion jerked violently against its chain. Aralyn and Renfri, who'd come to keep him company, both looked up at him as he set the bottles he was holding down, frowning and looking around. He turned toward the door just as Vesemir walked in.
"You feel it?" Eldin asked.
"Yes," Vesemir nodded. "What was it?"
"I'm guessing Ciri," Eldin said.
Just then, the door burst open, Ciri storming in. "Vesemir, I want it done! Now!"
"It's not ready yet," Eldin said, returning to his work and mixing the two bottles and shaking them as he chanted. He sighed as the finished product glowed too dark a blue, once again, then darkened to black again, albeit slower than the rest had. "Vesemir, we're out of Faeinnewedd."
Vesemir sighed, nodding.
"Just use that one," Ciri said.
"This one would kill you, Ciri," Eldin said. "You'll have to wait until we have more Faeinnewedd."
"No!" Ciri snapped. "Use that one! I can take it!"
"No, Ciri, you can't," Eldin said. "Even if I could get it right, there's only a three-to-ten chance that you'd survive. It's not about if you can take it. It's about whether or not you're compatible."
Ciri glared at him, but before she could argue, Geralt walked into the room.
"Finally," Eldin said. "Talk sense into her, Geralt. She's demanding I use a failed mutagen to make her into a Witcher."
"What!?" Geralt snapped. "Did you not think of the consequences?"
"All I think about are consequences!" Ciri argued. "No matter what I do, no matter how hard I train, it'll never be enough!"
"You are already enough, Cirilla," Geralt said. "You are extraordinary."
"I want to be like you, Gearlt," Ciri said. "I want to be indifferent to the past. To the lies. To the things I've done. Please. Let me have that."
"That is not how it works," Geralt said, kneeling to get closer to eye-level with her. "Niether you nor I can just forget who we are. We can't kill our feelings. Our best chance is to kill the hatred that we may hold onto...and move on."
"Witcher mutations don't erase feelings, Ciri," Eldin said. "It's our natural expression of them that gets muted. The feelings still rage inside of us, but we can't express it as normal humans do. We can choose to act on them, or act as we should when controled by one emotion or another, but the feelings are still there regardless."
Ciri's gaze fell to the floor, and Geralt sighed, wrapping her arms around her. Finally, he pulled away and stood.
"Go and get your things," Geralt said.
Ciri left without a word, and Eldin frowned.
"You're leaving?" Eldin asked.
"I need to find someone who can figure out what Ciri's power is," Geralt said. "When she yelled for me earlier, she summoned something from one of the other Spheres. I think it was some kind of Chernobog. It will be after her, so I'll kill it, but we need to find out what her power is."
Eldin nodded. "We'll come with you. Something tells me that more than monsters will want her if anyone finds out about her power, and you'll need the extra help."
Geralt nodded. "Thank you."
"In the mean time, I can try teaching her some basic magic while we travel, if you want," Aralyn offered. "I'm not the strongest mage, but I know a few spells."
"And I know a few others," Eldin added.
Geralt stared at the failed mutagens. "Are you making progress?"
"Slowly," Eldin said. "But if you leave with Ciri, we won't be able to make a mutagen. We need her blood."
Geralt nodded. "Stay and work with what you have. I'll meet you at the temple of Melitele."
"Alright," Eldin nodded. "That'll take you about a week, that should be long enough."
Geralt nodded, and left, Eldin once again returning to work.
Eldin stared at the two identical blue bottles, waiting. Finally, after ten minutes, he sighed, circling the recipe.
"You've done it?" Vesemir asked.
"I've made a stable mutagen," Eldin said, glancing at the last of the blood. "The glowing one's not useful to create a Witcher, and I can only make enough for one new Witcher."
Vesemir nodded. "Do it."
Eldin nodded, and made the final mutagen. As he set the finished product down, Triss walked in.
"You can't use that mutagen!" Triss said urgently, walking over to them briskly. "We've been fools. Whatever runs through that girl's veins, whatever we made, it's more dangerous than we know!"
Just as Eldin opened his mouth to respond, his medallion began to vibrate, growing more agitated quickly.
"What is it?" Triss asked as both Witchers gripped their medallions.
"Someone's here," Eldin said, just as Vesemir stumbled into the table.
Before he could turn to Vesemir, someone snapped their fingers a moment before someone stepped out, a man dressed in black, the left side of his face burned horibly, and a flame dancing from his right index finger. Vesemir sent a blast of Aard at him on sight, but the man blocked it with a barrier of glames, not unlike Quen. As soon as the barrier faded, he hurled a fireball, only for Triss's magic to block abd disperse the fireball.
"How quaint," the man smirked.
His other arm snapped up, unleashing a jet of flames, only for Eldin to meet it with a continuous blast of Aard, forcing it back slowly before the mage's strength failed and he was sebt crashing backward into the wall.
"You aren't winning this fight," Eldin warned as Aralyn and Renfri ran into the room, swords drawn.
The mage narrowed his eyes and held out hia hand, a portal forming. A moment later, a half-dozen Kikimore scrambled through, each about chest-height. Eldin swore, yanking his sword from its scabbard and all but flinging himself into the insectoids, Aralyn and Renfri just behind him, they being the only ones with weapons. Vesemir and Triss turned to face the mage, but Eldin couldn't focus on them. A Kikimore swiped at him and he stepped out of the way before slashing the leg off. He turned, slashing another up through the head. One of them crashed into his back, bit Aralyn slashed the head off just as Renfri rolled across its back, slashing another as she landed on her feet. Eldin blasted one with Igni and lighting it on fire as Aralyn finished the Kikimore Eldin had cut the leg off of. Eldin blasted the burning Kikimore, sending it exploding into the one Renfri had wounded. Neither died, and Renfri lunged at them to finish both as Eldin charged the last with Aralyn. It shrieked angrily, swiping at them, and both avoided it, slashing the legs off, then slashed the head off together. Eldin sighed, then turned, looking around just as the mage blasted Vesemir backward into Triss, grabbing the perfected mutagen.
Eldin's gut clenched as a portal began to form, seeming to happen in slow motion. He couldn't be allowed to have that. He couldn't. In a snap decision born of pure desperation, Eldin's arm snapped up, a blast of Aard shattering the mutagen. The mage shouted in pain as shattered glass bit into his hand. His other hand snatched up a failed mutagen instead and he turned, fleeing through the portal, which vanished instantly. Eldin sighed. At least he could remake the mutagen.
"Eldin!" Aralyn cried out.
Eldin spun, entire body going cold. Renfri had finished off the Kikimore, but now sat against the table, one hand holding a deep gash in her side that was bleeding profusely. Eldin shouted in fear, running over and shredding his cloak hastily, stuffing the scraps in the wound and bandaging it to try and stem the bleeding.
"Hold on!" Eldin all but pleaded. "You're not going anywhere!"
"Sorry," Renfri smiled. "I got sloppy."
Eldin grit his teeth, shaking his head. "You can't!"
Renfri smiled, kissing him, then sat back, letting him work. He couldn't stitch the wound. It was too mangled and shredded. So instead, he bound it as tightly as he could, he and Triss both chanting in Elder Speech to use magic to heal the wound as much as possible. Finally, Renfri was as stable they could get her, and Eldin carefully carried her to their room, laying her in her bed.
"Is there anything else we can do?" Aralyn asked.
Eldin shook his head. "If she was a Witcher ahe'd live, but..." he shook his head. "It's a matter of time."
Aralyn nodded, but Eldin grit his teeth, nodding to himself.
"It's the only way," Eldin growled to himself.
"What is?" Aralyn asked, but Eldin left the room without a word, hands curled into fists, shoulders hunched forward, and face set into a scowl of horrid resolve.
Aralyn swallowed hard, but remained where she was. As she did, Eldin swept through the keep quickly, finally reaching the relic room and grabbing an object like a lantern case with a blue crystal set into it from the top. He returned to the lab and turned on the object, a blue-green light shining around the room. As it did, Eldin's medallion quivered, then jumped. Hazy shapes began to swim in front of his eyes before focusing slightly, allowing him to make out silhouettes.
"Why have you summoned us?" a hoarse voice asked, whispered echoes both preceding and following the question, which was hissed into his mind than his ears.
"You made the mutagen here before Kaer Morhen fell," Eldin stated. "You're going to help ne make one without Elder Blood."
"It's impossible," the silhoute's echoing voice hissed. "Without Faeinnewedd, there can be no mutagen."
"We have Faeinnewedd," Eldin frowned. "But we don't have Elder Blood."
"You don't need the blood if you already have Faiennewedd," the silhouette snipped irritatedly. "You're not putting blood in the concoction."
"What?" Eldin frowned. "But the Griffin School's records-"
"It's a misconception," the silhouette cut him off. "The Elder Blood is for harvesting Faeinnewedd. The only blood in it is that of a monster, of which we chose Archgriffen for its strength, speed, and increased senses. The catalyst can be the mutagen already inside of an existing Witcher's blood, but it has to be isolated to its pure mutagenic state. To do that-"
This time, it was Eldin's turn to cut him off, grabbing the isolated mutagen from his own blood. "I already know how to do that. I have it here."
"Then you've already finished the most difficult part of the process," the silhouette said. "Add the Faeinnewedd next, and I'll walk you through the process."
Eldin nodded, following the silhouette's instructions to the letter, and after a few moments, he'd finished the mutagen, which was as black as tar. He thanked the silhouette and shut the lantern off, then turned, running back through the keep as he filled an injector he'd grabbed off of a table in the lab. After a few minutes, he reached his room and used the leather strap from his satchel, his belt, Aralyn's belt, and Renfri's belt to reatrain Renfri as he tied a scrap of his cloak around Renfri's arm in a tourniquet.
"A mutagen?" Aralyn yelped. "You said they wouldn't work!"
"This is a different one," Eldin said. "Renfri, this is going to hurt, worse than anything you've ever felt. You have to bear it. And you better not die!"
Renfri smiled tiredly up at him and nodded. He injected the mutagen just as Vesemir and Triss stepped into the room. Both froze, watching as Renfri groaned, then jerked as Eldin removed the cloth tourniquet. Then, all at once, she thrashed, screaming as tears fell from her eyes. She pulled at her restraints, black veins snaking from te injection site. Eldin slipped a hand into Renfri's, and she clenched it instantly, Aralyn taking her other hand. The thrashing grew worse as her muscles all over her body spasmed and clenched, choking off her voice, silencing her screams. A moment later, Lamber and Coen burst through the door, only to also stop as they realized what they were seeing.
"Is it...will it work?" Lamber asked.
"Which trial is she doing?" Vesemir asked.
"All of them," Eldin said. "She'll die from her wound as a human, but as a Witcher she can be saved. The mutagen I gave her is made from my blood. If she survives, the change will be complete. She'll only need the training after that."
Everyone stared at him.
"Your blood?" Vesemir asked.
"I used the magic lantern," Eldin said. "I talked to the mage who made the original mutagens. Elder Blood was only needed for harvesting Faeinnewedd. It was a misconception that it was needed for the mutagen itself. And it can be any monster blood, not just Archgriffin. The blood determines the abilities. The only restrictions are insectoids and necrophages, which are toxic-blooded, and a werewolf, which would pass along the curse."
"So...you can make new Witchers?" Vesemir asked.
Eldin nodded. "I also found a way to make it more survivable. Instead of the Trial of the Grasses being one long test, for example, split into three parts. It'll give the body time to adjust and accept the mutagen without killing the person. The original process was because of a need to have Witchers as fast as possible."
Vesemir nodded. "That...makes sense."
Everyone remained silent and still for a few moments before excusing themselves, leaving Eldin and Aralyn to sit with Renfri in peace.
Leave a review.