Chapter 12

Barlin the Alchemist

Spyro drove the car down the highway, as it was still nighttime. As he was driving, he was gathering thoughts on how to get back home to the Dragon Realms... but he didn't know how. All he can remember was the portal and how it pulled him and Sparx into the human world.

Raymond, on the other hand, was surprised at everything he had seen. He looked at Spyro, and after a bit of silence, he spoke. "Spyro? That... that was amazing! You burned those apes with your fire breath, and that turn you did, that was amazing," he exclaimed. "I didn't know you had it in you!"

Spyro looked at Raymond. "You think so? I didn't know how I did that," he said. He then sighed.

Sparx flew around. "Well, that was quite the skill I ever saw," he said.

"Still, I wonder how we'll ever return home to the Dragon Realms. I don't belong here."

Raymond looked at them, as he looked out the window. He noticed the shining star in the night sky, and then he turned back to Spyro. "Hey, Spyro? I wish I knew how I can help, but I'm not used to magic," he said.

"Oh, swell, he doesn't know about magic," Sparx said.

"Don't say that, Sparx; it's not his fault," Spyro said. "Still, I wonder how to get home."

"Saying that all the time ain't gonna get us home right off the bat."

Spyro sighed, knowing Sparx had a point for once. He kept on driving, as they headed towards the forest, and it was getting late. Within an hour of driving, he began to feel tired, as he yawned. "We need to get some rest, it must be late," he said.

Raymond looked ahead, and he saw a small house. "We could spend the night in that house over there," he said, pointing at the direction.

Spyro turned the wheel as he approached the house. The path has no pavement, as the car bumped on the ground. Raymond looked at the house as they got close to it, and then they came to a stop. They opened the doors and jump out. They looked at the house, as it was built from stone with a roof made from straw and tree branches. They started walking toward the door, as Sparx flew in.

"I wonder if anyone lives here," said Spyro.

"We shall see," Raymond said.

Without thinking, Raymond touched the knob and turned it, as the door opened. "Uh-oh, unlocked," he said.

"Probably should've knocked first," Sparx said.

"Maybe," Spyro said, "but let's not waste time."

The three went inside the house, as they looked around. The house is filled with books involving magic, a crystal ball, various equipment from the medieval times, like maces or staffs. Some have books of magic or alchemy.

"Whoa... what a strange place," Sparx said.

"Yeah, look at all this stuff," Spyro said. "Someone's living in privacy."

"Yeah, with witchcraft and who knows what else," Raymond said.

"Witchcraft?"

"Let's just say it's magic from the medieval times. Potions, books, spells, you name it."

"Huh, that's strange," Spyro said, his eyes narrowed.

"Who's in here?" A voice rang.

Raymond yelped, Spyro's pupils shrank, and Sparx yelped. A figure then walked into the room, as it was wearing a cloak.

"Okay, this is a moment with the 'creepy guy in cloak' thing," Sparx said.

"Who are you, and what are you doing in my house?" The figure asked.

"I'm Spyro," Spyro said, "and this is Sparx the dragonfly."

"I'm Raymond," Raymond said. "We were just..." He trailed off, not knowing what to say.

"Sparx and I are trying to find our way home to the Dragon Realms," Spyro said. "I don't belong in the human world. I wanna go back home."

The figure looked at Spyro, Sparx, and at Raymond, and then he spoke, "So do I." The figure took his hood off, revealing to be a humanoid snow leopard. "I have been here for years, trying to find my way back home too."

"Whoa. Did not expect that," Sparx said.

"So you're not a human at all," Raymond said. "Do you know a way to help Spyro and Sparx return home to the Dragon Realms?"

"Why should I help? This is my problem."

"Because they came here by portal."

"Portal?" The leopard said. Then he slapped his head with his paw. "Ah! I know what you mean. You two must've stumbled upon the world portal."

"The world portal?" Spyro asked.

"Yes... I know that portal. Years ago, I stumbled upon that portal, and it brought me here. I hadn't found my way back home since."

"You're from the Dragon Realms too?" Spyro asked.

"I honestly don't remember how long I've been there. Long ago, when the Dark Master's minions invaded my village from Dante's Freezer, I was the only one who escaped, and I came across that portal from out of nowhere."

"That's awful," Raymond said. "Do you have a name?"

"Call me Barlin."

"Barlin, huh? Nice name," Spyro said. "Either way, is there a way to get us home to the Dragon Realms?"

Barlin looked around, and then he said, "There is one way." He approached the crystal ball on the table, as he waved his paws around it, and the crystal ball glowed.

"Wow, a crystal ball," Sparx said. "What's that gonna do?"

Barlin shushed Sparx. "Don't interfere." He waved more on the crystal ball. And then, the image is shown. "The only way to open the world portal is to use a collection of magic artifacts."

"Artifacts?" Spyro asked.

Barlin pulled out a sheet and placed it on the table, showing a device. "The magic artifacts are what I needed to open the portal. We put them together to create that portal, and take us back to the Dragon Realms."

"Oh, we use artifacts to make a magic portal machine!" Raymond exclaimed. "These artifacts must be assembly products!"

"You're smart, kid," Barlin said. "It was a brilliant idea I had planned. Finding the artifacts, however, is a problem."

"How do we know where to find them?" Sparx asked.

"That's just it, Sparx," said Spyro. He then said to Barlin, "We'll help you find the artifacts, if it's gonna help us reach home, and if you help us, I'm sure we'll help you in return."

Barlin sighed. "Well... if you're gonna help, please don't hesitate to ask for my assistance. Because I know what happened to them. Ever since I fell into this world, I came up with the artifacts that would make it possible." He pointed at the images. "The horn made of iron, the cube made of copper, the amulet made of gold, a wing made of silver, even a dragon made of lead."

"Iron, gold, copper, silver, lead... Say, those are alchemy related!" Raymond exclaimed. "You must be an alchemist!"

"That's right. I happen to know alchemy some time ago. Anyway, I had spent my life making those artifacts as my only hope of returning to the dragon world. I had put the artifacts together into a machine, like a puzzle. But the ruthless ape, Gaul, had ambushed me and had stolen the artifacts and disappeared with them."

"Gaul? Who's that?" Raymond asked.

"An awful minion, loyal to the Dark Master. You must help me retrieve the stolen artifacts. Once we find them, I will activate their magic to open the world portal."

"And we'll be back home in the Dragon Realms," Spyro said, feeling a sliver of hope. "We'll help you get the artifacts, Barlin. I may be a young dragon, but I will do all I can to help."

Barlin looked at Spyro without a word, and then he nodded. "Very well, Spyro. I'm counting on you to help." He waved his paws around the crystal ball. The crystal ball then shows a desert, and a cavern in it. "There. Gaul's hideout is in that desert cavern."

Raymond looked at the cavern, and he noticed the desert. "That's Mojave Desert!" he exclaimed.

"You know the desert?" Barlin asked.

"I was often schooled in an orphanage, learning about deserts. It's one of the hottest deserts in America."

"I see. Then there's no time to waste. We must head to that desert at once."

Barlin opened up his cloak, revealed to be wearing a leather vest over his tunic and a belt with an iron buckle. On his forearms are vambraces made of leather, with gold buttons, and on his ankles are copper cuffs. In his finger is a ring made of tin.

"Well, this is surprising," Spyro said. "But how do we get to the desert?"

"Why not use a map?" Raymond said. He pulled out the map of California. "I found this in the glove compartment." He opened the map, and he pointed at the desert. "There, down east."

Barlin showed Raymond a compass. "Your map will not be the only one we'll need, boy. We will start early morning."

"Alright, the adventure begins!" Raymond cheered.

On the highway, Spyro was driving down the highway, as they had left the forest. It was early morning, as he yawned from barely having sleep. Raymond looked at the map, as he was sitting in the passenger seat. Barlin sat in the backseat, looking at his compass, as it pointed east.

"Boy, we had a nice morning it is, and I'm already tired," Spyro mumbled.

"Well, we had to share an old room that snow cat had," Sparx said. "Meanwhile, that human boy had to use a sleeping bag."

Raymond looked at the map, as he looked out the view. From his years in the orphanage, he had always wanted to see the world, only he felt it was too soon, but after meeting Spyro and Barlin, he felt no trouble.

"Are we really in the right direction?" Barlin asked.

"Yeah, just down this road," Raymond said.

The driving went on for hours, as it was afternoon in the highway. The four were hungry along the way, but thankfully, Barlin had brought a sack of food, namely bread and fruit, as they had their grub.

Raymond looked at Barlin, and decided to ask a question. "Barlin? What was it like being an alchemist? How did you get that power?"

Barlin looked at Raymond and sighed. "It is not a pleasant start," he said, "but I guess I'll have to tell the story. When I was a lad, around the same age as you, boy, my father, the leader of the snow leopard tribe, taught me things about magic. He taught me things about alchemy, and how one would be given that gift. He was an alchemist before me. I often asked if it's possible, but I guess he didn't want me to know until later on. But one day, I decided to try out the alchemy power, but my father warned me how powerful alchemy is, for if I were to earn it, I would have to do training and take lessons. For years, I had done that. It was not an easy task, but after using alchemy to turn grass to bread, my father decided I deserved the powers of alchemy. That was when he gave me this necklace with a powerful gemstone." He pulled out a necklace he wore, showing a gemstone. "The necklace he gave me was this, the philosopher's stone."

This hit Spyro's hearing. "The philosopher's stone? You mean, there was an ancient alchemist in the Dragon World?"

"In those legends, alchemy was considered traditional in the Dragon Realms. There once was an ancient being who wore the philosopher's stone, long before the Dark Master. But what sort of power this necklace has, even I do not know."

They soon arrived the desert on the road, as they were getting tired from the heat. Raymond kept his clothes on, as he fixed his sleeves. The drive went on, but then the car started jolting and slowing down, sputtering.

"What's happening?" Spyro asked.

Raymond looked at the gauge and said, "The car's running out of gas. We better get it off the road."

Spyro turned the car off the road as it came to a complete stop.

"We have arrived at the desert anyway," Barlin said.

But they were not the only ones that arrived. They heard a noise, and they saw the apes arrive.

"Apes!" Barlin shouted, grabbing a scepter he pulled from the car.

Spyro breathed fire at the apes as they jump to him. Barlin held his scepter and shot magic at the apes. Raymond hid behind the car door, as he watched the fight. Spyro then tried to use ice, while Barlin shot streaks of silver magic, before Spyro used electric.

"Wow, he's got ice and electricity?" Raymond gasped, before he saw Spyro use earth elements. "Whoa, earth powers too!"

"Spyro's learned abilities from the Guardian Dragons," Sparx said.

"Wow, really?"

Spyro charged and hit the apes, as one ape hit Barlin. Barlin retaliated and hit the ape with his scepter. He hit the scepter, as gold spikes shot up and hit the last apes.

Spyro was amazed at Barlin's powers. "Barlin, that... that was amazing," he said.

"Thank you, young dragon," Barlin grinned. "But we must not waste time. We have an adventure ahead. Gaul's cave is in the desert."

"Then let's hurry," Spyro said.

Raymond grabbed his bag he had found from the trunk of the car, and he followed Spyro and Barlin, with Sparx following.

The four had walked in the sandy dunes of the Mojave Desert. The trip was hot, as Raymond had sipped some water from a bottle, as would give some to Barlin and Spyro. Sparx just flew by, humming a song, which didn't last long when he whined, "Man, this trip is so hot! Where is that cave!?"

"Relax, Sparx, it shouldn't be that far," Spyro said. But just then, they saw a cave at a mountain. "I think I spoke too soon."

"This is it alright," Barlin said sternly, "Gaul's hideout. I just know it."

They walked into the dark cave, as Barlin used his scepter to light the way.