Chapter 10: 10. The First Day of Alchemie

The next day was nothing special. I spent the day curled up inside my room, only occasionally sneaking out to use the toilet and to eat. Nobody bothered me, luckily. If they had, I would have had to contemplate between getting kicked out or getting kicked into a pulp. Neither was a good idea.

My room was moldy and dusty- there were no rats, but there were bugs. Ants and moths occupied the room. Just after I tidied the place up as much as I could, I found myself in the Otherworld again.

The moment I woke up as Ahmad, I stood up. The first time I transported, I felt dizzy. Now, the dizziness was much less. My room as Ahmad was much nicer than my room as Aby. I bounced on the bed several times, then I looked outside the window in my room. The sun had already risen, and I guessed it was early morning. It was usually morning when I woke up. 

Breakfast was ready for me.

It was like a dream, I thought yet again. If only I was actually Ahmad instead of Aby. My new life seemed so much better than my old one. If only it was real. Was it real? I wondered.

“Stop thinking.” DubbAlina’s phantom voice floated into my ear. “Just don’t.”

“Why?” I asked them. “How do you know what I’m thinking?”

DubbAlina snorted. “You’re a human.” They said, “If you go quiet, you’re probably not thinking anything good.

“Just focus on leveling up to a Master. There’s nothing more to it.”

I picked up a ball and put it in my mouth- again, there was no cutlery. Breakfast looked like a meatball, but once I tasted it, I realized it wasn’t one. It was some kind of veggie patty. I smacked my lips. It didn’t matter what it was made of- I was happy. It was delicious.

I wasn’t eating alone. My cousin, whose name was possibly Cahil, also sat next to me. He ate less enthusiastically, as if this was normal for him. I eyed the leftover patties in his dish, which sadly disappeared into the dude’s mouth.

Breakfast was over quickly. Cahil didn’t bother picking up the plates or putting them back- He walked out of the room with a steady gait, leaving me wondering where we were going. I followed behind him.

We both entered the room from before. It wasn’t the living room, I knew that by now. I had no idea what it was. I looked at the walls with shiny armor and jewelry lined up on tables and shelves. There were three doors in the room, all large. One led outside, one led somewhere else, and the last one - Cahil opened the door, letting us both in.

The room was large, and it looked like how I imagined a scientist’s laboratory would look like. There were tools, a fiery furnace, materials, and- I looked around in wonderment at the peculiar things inside the room. If the previous room was filled with completed items, this room was filled with items that were incomplete. There were also ingredients. I recognized some from the Boke of Alchemy.

I looked curiously at Grandpa who was sitting on a table nearby. He seemed to be busy with something. An eyeglass was over his right eye, and he was holding a set of tools. An artificial light twinkled above his head. He appeared to be concentrating deeply.

“Cahil, fetch the water. Teach Ahmad what to do.” Grandpa said. He didn’t even turn to glance at me- he was that busy.

“Got it.” Cahil nodded, then he turned to me. His eyes twinkled. “Come on.”

I followed Cahil as he walked back into the room with various items. I decided to call it the Crafts Room, since it was filled with so many things. Cahil yawned, as if he was trying to wake the dust from his eyes, before stopping. I stopped with him.

“First day. Make sure not to touch anything, and ask me if there’s any problems okay? Just stick to me.” Cahil said.

I nodded.

Cahil seemed to be happy with that. “So there’s a couple of things to do everyday, now that you’re an apprentice.” Cahil started to list things off the top of his head. “Making the water, cleaning the items, greeting the customers. And Gramps gives homework from time to time.”

He grinned. “Seriously, Ahmad, I never thought you'd be an apprentice so quickly. Time flies, huh.” He slapped my back. It didn’t hurt. Cahil was weak, or maybe, I thought, it was Ahmad that was strong. Aby would have died from that slap. I gave Cahil a small smile, which he seemed surprised to see.

“I need to clean up the items.” Cahil gestured to the stuff on the tables. I took out a hand to touch a random necklace, fitted with gold and silver. So I just had to clean the stuff, right? I thought. Simple.

 Cahil pushed my hand away before it got anywhere close to the necklace.

“Don’t touch them.” He said. “You’re still a Level 1 Beginner, so don’t even think about touching any artifacts.” He crossed his arms. “If you do, I’ll tell Gramps.”

Artifacts. I stored that word away in my mind.

“Got it.” I said.

“You can go and fetch the water.” Cahil went over to the corner of the room and picked up a bucket. I remembered it. It was the large bucket with the dull water I saw Cahil carrying off yesterday. It was some sort of substance that was as murky as oil with industrial use, but it was clear. Today, the bucket was completely empty. Cahil picked it up and carried it to me.

He shoved it into my hands. Cahil pointed to the door. “Kitchen. Get some water.”

I sighed.

“Don’t worry, I’ll lead you there.” DubbAlina chimed in. So it was possible, I marveled, for the system to be helpful.

“The right. No, your other right. And walk forward.”

I followed DubbAlina’s instructions and walked into a section of the place I hadn’t seen before- it looked like it led outside, but I knew it wouldn’t. DubbAlina didn’t lie. The door didn’t lead to the outside. It led to the kitchen, which was pretty obvious. A girl and a woman were standing there, cleaning pots and pans, looking like experts in their work. They must be responsible for the food, I thought. They looked right at home in the kitchen.

The girl was very pretty. Her skin was lighter than mine, but not by much. She smiled. Her hair was covered with a bright beige cloth. She wore a white and pink dress that concealed all of her figure. The woman wore similar attire, but her clothes were black.

“Ahmad!” The girl said excitedly. She put down the dish she was holding. “You’re finally an apprentice now! Congratulations!”

I wondered how to answer her. What to answer her with.

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“Yes.” I said meekly.

“Good enough.” DubbAlina said. “She’s Ahmad’s childhood friend, Sahar. Be careful not to reveal anything.”

Childhood friend? I wondered.

“Don’t go into personal topics. She’s attentive. And…” DubbAlina hesitated. “She has a thing for- well, I guess that doesn’t matter.”

I looked towards the woman, whose hands were continuously moving.

“Cahil told you to fill the bucket, Ahmad.” DubbAlina reminded me. “Fill the bucket.”

“My name is not Ahmad.” I thought, but didn’t say anything out loud. Sahar was in the room, and DubbAlina didn’t want me to say anything when there were people around. I still didn’t know why, but since they had been right about most things so far, I listened to them. 

I spotted a tap, and so I placed the bucket down and turned the tap on. It was filling up awfully slowly since the bucket was so big. It needed to be held with both hands. Actually, I thought it would be more accurate to call it a tub.

“Sorry.” I heard Sahar behind me say in a soft voice. “I guess you’re busy right now, huh? Talk to you later, then!” I turned around to see her smile before turning back to the sink. She picked up some more dishes and started to clean, chatting with the woman as she did so.

She looked pretty when she smiled, I thought. Her eyes crinkled up and her cheeks went up.

The bucket was full.

“Careful.” DubbAlina said. “It’s probably heavy.”

It was. I squatted, then, using the strength of my legs, picked up the bucket of water. Filled with water, it wasn’t as heavy as I had expected, but it was still plenty heavy. And now I needed to go back to the Crafts room.

I lugged the bucket to the Crafts Room with DubbAlina groaning all the time. She still seemed to be mad about the Apprentice thing. I placed the tub down on the ground.

I couldn’t see Cahil, and I wondered where he was. The room was empty.

He wasn’t kidnapped. There were no signs of that. I looked around the room to see another thing missing- it was an object. I couldn’t see the lump of iron that I had coincidentally broken a day before. I had a bad feeling about this.

I opened the door and slowly walked into the room with Grandpa. Sure enough, Cahil was also there. He didn’t look happy.

“I told you children not to touch this!” Grandpa said, very unhappy. “Cahil, this is a very expensive and important piece of crafting material! It is not for you to play with. I am very disappointed in you.”

“It wasn’t me!” Cahil cried out. “Gramps, I promise I didn’t touch it!”

Grandpa sighed. “Golem hearts are difficult to get these days.” he muttered. “This was an antique, too.”

“It was Ahmad!” Cahil said. “It must have been him! I heard a loud crash in the Crafts Room yesterday, when Ahmad was there. I didn’t know what it was, then. But it must have been Ahmad. He must have fiddled with the heart!”

Oh. So the name of the room really was the Crafts Room after all. Interesting coincidence. 

Gramps looked in my direction. My heart started to race. Oh, right. I was in trouble, wasn’t I?

DubbAlina sighed. “You fucking idiot.”

Should I admit to my crime? Or should I lie? Should I stay silent, or speak up? Should I defend Cahil, or defend my own piece of skin? My head was filled with choices and possibilities. It would be more advantageous to lie, I thought, since Cahil had no evidence. But if there was even a slight bit of proof- I swallowed as Grandpa turned a knob on his eyeglass. I watched him as he inspected the golem heart in his hand, then he looked towards me.

I hoped the Golem Heart wasn’t anything important, but my senses were telling me it probably was. And it was my antics yesterday that broke it. His eyes, I thought, gulping. His eyes looked like those of a tiger’s. I hoped he wouldn’t try to kill me. What exactly was a golem heart anyway, to be so important?

“Ahmad, go to your room.” Grandpa said, his voice mixed with steel. “Your training will be postponed.”

“And Cahil.”

“Yes?” Cahil said meekly.

“You’re grounded for the weekend. Out, the both of you.”

Any hint of hope died from Cahil’s eyes at that sentence. He burst out of the room, hints of red on his face. He looked as if he wanted to cuss, but was refraining from doing so. I bit my lip.

Oops.

“Good job, Ahmad.” DubbAlina said sarcastically.

My name is not Ahmad.

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