Chapter 19: Eighteen

‘Note to self, don’t lick the white berries.’ 

The marble altar felt cool against my skin, the feel of it a stark contrast to the acidic burning that consumed me mere moments before. After laying on the altar for another few minutes, I decided it was time to get up and head back to the lab. 

‘At least this death was a quick one, much better than the black mushrooms which filled my lungs with spores and suffocated me.’ I mused as I trudged back towards the forge, the cold night air causing my skin to prickle.

“Kadia,” turning at the sound of someone calling my name I saw Darius approaching with a bag slung over his shoulder.

“Darius, hello.”  

“Did I just see you leave the altar? What happened?” Darius asked, a look of concern on his face as he reached me. 

“I licked a Calacaza berry to test if it was just the flesh which is poisonous or the skin as well.” I admitted, causing the guild leader to gape at me. 

“You licked something you knew could be poisonous? Why?” He asked, sounding a mixture of shocked and confused. 

“Well, how else am I supposed to find out if the skin is poisonous or if it is just the flesh? I need to know what affect the poison has as well, it burns like acid in case you were wondering.” I informed him. 

“Right, acid, got it.” Darius muttered, running a hand through his hair. “You shouldn’t be testing this stuff on yourself, not if it means you might die.” 

“Why not? If I die I just reform back on the altar.” I said with a shrug, turning to continue my trek back to the forge. 

“Kadia, when your body reforms you sacrifice a part of your power to create the new body. With each death you weaken yourself, if you die too many times at this low level you will permanently damage your core and it will be extremely hard for you to regain any strength. The stronger you are, the more of a power buffer you have around your core to protect it, which means you can die several times before the core is affected. Only a high priest can fix a damaged core, and getting a meeting with one is extremely difficult. If you died after you damage the core, it’s even worse. True death is a thing here, die to many times, and you’ll end up needing to create a new avatar. How many times have you died?” Darius asked, looking worried. 

“Uh, well,” the first time was the experiment with the fire stone, which exploded when I tried to break it into smaller firestones, then the black mushrooms, and finally this time with the berries. “Three, I’ve died three times. What do you mean true death? It’s virtual world.” 

“Right, that’s not too bad, and by true death, I mean the death of your avatars current life cycle. Die enough times that your core shatters, and you’ll end up in Celeste’s domain having to recreate your avatar. If that happens, everything you own will be lost, as Celeste takes it in payment for granting you a new life in the world. In that case, you’ll loose the chance to pick your race, and more often than not, you’ll end up as something less than desirable. I’ve heard if you suffer multiple true deaths, your race gets worse and worse. There’s a bloke running around right now as goblin who’s had three true deaths.”

“Thats… er.” I shook my head, not really knowing how to respond to this new found information. 

“Hasn’t Markion taken you out hunting yet? Why didn’t he tell you any of this?” 

“Um, no, Markion isn’t here.” I sighed, giving the guild leader a brief explanation of what I knew about our fathers arrest and my conclusion that it had to do with why Marcus was gone. 

“I know he came back for a bit while I was dead the first time, because the Minotaur statue moved and he wrote ‘Be back soon,” in charcoal on the door leading to the stairs. It has been five days since then, honestly he needs to hurry up and come back, I need my stuff made.” I said with a huff, trying not to show how worried I was about what might be happening to Marcus. 

“I’m sure he will be back soon, from what I’ve heard in passing from players things are a bit crazy on earth at the moment. There have been mass protests, and someone even tried to fire bomb an Everlife facility. It’s pretty bad, some of the hardcore religious groups got involved and are demanding the digitalization act be overturned.” Darius explained, and I grimaced. 

“Those groups will jump to complain about anything,” I muttered, not sure how I felt about people protesting about me, when they didn’t even know anything about me. 

“Don’t worry, I’mm sure things will settle down. Anyway, I found some things for you in Mõra, I got these books off some idiot who tried to kill me.” Darius suddenly said pulling his bag off his shoulder and unbuckling the straps. 

“Books? What are they about?” I queried, the change of subject confusing me a little, but I took the books he offered without hesitation.

“Barlows Bestiary, Plants and Fungi of Salvia, and the third is called Trismegistus and the Philosophies of Nature. I’ve not heard of the last one before, but the first two have circled the auctions a few times. It was strange, he only had the books, a globe, a strange metal disk and a dagger on him. No armor or any real weapon, he was just wearing cloth robes and actually thought he could rob me. He must have been new,” Darius said, shaking his head with a slight grin. 

“After he realized how out matched he was, he dropped his dagger and bag, then bolted off into the forest. The bag didn’t even have any holding enchantments on it.” 

Narrowing my eyes, I stared at the cover of the book titled Trismegistus and the Philosophies of nature. 

“Can I see the other items? The globe and metal disk?” I asked, getting a nod from the guild leader who proceeded to remove an Orrery and Astrolabe from his bag. 

The Orrery was made of bronze and was set on a short stand, unlike the gold one Trismegistus carried, which was set atop a staff. 

“The globe is an Orrery, a device used to depict the solar system. It would appear Kaledon’s solar system has three more planets than that of earth.” I mused, staring at the Orrery Darius held out for me. 

“What is an Orrery used for?” he asked, peering at the Orrery with interest. 

“I do not know if it has a special use here, but they were historically used in Astrology and Alchemy to track the position of the planets, sun and moon. The other device you have is an Astrolabe, the markings around the edges are measurements used to help Astrologists with various calculations. Darius, the man who attacked you, was he an old man with a long beard, wearing a robe with alchemic symbols embroidered onto the sleeves and hem?” I questioned, unconsciously chewing on the nail of my thumb.

“He was, why?” He asked.

“Well, after my meeting with my lawyer, I met Trismegistus the god of Alchemy, Astrology and Transmutation.” I said, giving a rough overview of my meeting with the god and admitting to him that the god had taken my grimoire.

Was the man he met Trismegistus, who left the books and other items behind so they would find their way to me? 

“Ah, I see, so you think this Trismegistus may have been the man I encountered? Well, that is possible. Typically, that kind of situation is what we refer to as a special encounter. I suspect his intent was that you receive these items as I was alone when I met him, and have no use for them myself.” Darius concluded, and I nodded in agreement, otherwise why else would Darius have received those items in such a manner. 

As we entered the forge, Darius stopped so abruptly that I almost crashed into him.

“Wh-hat is he wearing?” The guild leader gasped out, choked laughter spilling from his lips as he walked over to the Minotaur statue sitting against a wall, which had been dressed in a frilly night gown and bonnet. 

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“Noctus came by the night before last, and was concerned Markion’s statue would be cold in just his loin cloth.” I informed him matter-of-factly, struggling to keep a straight face. 

“The make up?” He wheezed, leaning down to inspect the Minotaurs bright red lips and charcoal lined eyes.

“Oh, that was me. Jezebel and two of the seamstress apprentices in the guild requested I try to make some better cosmetics for them, and I used Markion as my tester. It was fun, Yuki, and Tink helped as well.” I snickered, admiring the Minotaur’s almost clown like appearance. 

“It’s, ahem, definitely an improvement.” 

“Yeah,” I agreed, leading the way up to the lab, and unlocking the door with my guild token.

The lock Tink and Noctus had installed was enchanted to only be opened by my personal guild token, or that of a guild commander. I’d taken to locking the lab and the door at the bottom of the stairs even when I was inside, in order to dissuade the guild members who seem to continually interrupt my work with requests for tinctures and salves. To combat this, I supplied Bron with the tinctures and salves I had on hand each morning, and each evening he would provide me a list of what was sold for my accounting book, while depositing the coin into my guild account when he did his nightly banking for the guild. 

Letting out a low whistle, Darius looked around the lab with a slightly awed expression, and I smiled, feeling pleased by his reaction. 

“This place has changed a lot, it definitely looks like what I’d imagine an alchemy lab should.” He observed, looking at the racks of drying herbs hanging over our heads. 

“Here, let me show you the things I’ve made.” I said, placing the books down on a bench and Darius did the same with the Orrery, Astrolabe, plain looking back pack and an ornate looking dagger with inscriptions on the blade and hilt.

“The items were in this bag, and he dropped the dagger as well, so there must be a reason why. I suggest consulting with Noctus as to any enchantment they have. The bag appeared normal to me, and doesn’t have a holding enchantment, but maybe it isn’t active or has an enchantment that isn’t noticeable.” He suggested. 

I nodded, examining the astrolabe with interest. Kaledon’s planetary system appeared to have six planets, along with the two moons and  sun. 

“Kadia, is that crow stirring a wisp core into a bowl of water?” Darius asked a surprised expression on his face.

“Yup, his name is Zosimos. The water needs to be kept cold to help the condensing process when distilling.” I told him, glancing at the crow who held a wisp core in his beak, swirling it through the water the retort receiving flask sat in. 

“I guess it’s not the strangest thing I’ve seen,” Darius muttered before asking, “Zosimos?”

“Zosimos of Panopolis was an Egyptian alchemist in the late third century, and was accredited with making one of the first definitions of alchemy. He authored the ‘Cheirokmeta’, the oldest known collection of books on alchemy, and is considered the father of Alchemy.” I explained, leading the guild leader to the upstairs storage area. 

“So far I’ve made everything in the Potioneer’s guide to basic salves, and tinctures. Which is all stored here above the storage room. There are bulk batches of everything, and Bron keeps a supply in the kitchen which he sells. Guild members bring their own containers, and can fill them from the barrels.” I informed Darius, showing him the barrels of tincture, and the smaller barrels with salves. 

“Excellent idea, cuts down the cost of buying a continual supply of vials and salve jars.” The guild leader commented. 

“Exactly, and it keeps them away from my lab. It was a nightmare, with guild members constantly banging on my door or simply walking in. Luckily, Noctus took care of that and declared my lab off limits. He has been talking about setting up a stall in the courtyard, because even Bron is getting a little sick of people tramping into his kitchen.” 

“I will speak with both on the matter, it sounds like a good idea if the demand for supply is there.”

Leading Darius back down the stairs, I showed him into the storage room where I’d managed to fill almost half the shelves. 

“Starting here on the left, we have the cosmetics. I can’t make fine powders yet, but I did create stained paper and balms which can be applied as lipstick or eye color, as well as an eye liner with charcoal and oil. I’ve traded some jars for clothing, and this is the excess.” I explained, pointing to the different palm sized clay containers that were stacked up on the shelf. 

“Next we have the herbal teas, I’ve four which are being supplied to the guild, and another I’m still working on. Starting at this tin, we have an antioxidant tea, revitalizing tea, a pain relief tea and this one is a mix of all three, which is very popular with the guild as a hangover cure. I’ve also mixed together a few more teas which had no notable effect beyond tasting nice, those recipes have been passed on to Bron. I also ended up creating a few different alcoholic beverages by infusing plants into vodka, so I passed those onto him as well. The cats tongue vodka was rather nice,” I trailed off reminiscing about the deliciously tart concoction I’d accidentally made when mixing cats tongue fruit with vodka.   

“You’ve certainly been busy,” Darius noted as I began showing him the next set of jars which contained my attempts at recreating the ‘Sunny days’ salve for Noctus. 

“Not really, I’ve been stuck working on things that don’t require much processing due to a lack of tools. I tried to commission the smiths to make some, but they refused. They really don’t like Markion apparently,” I grumbled, remembering the less than pleasant encounter I’d had with the dwarf who claimed he was the guilds ‘Forge master.’ 

“Noctus and Bron both tried to coax them into helping, but they said they’d only do it in exchange for one of Markion’s fire stones. So I told them no, because it isn’t worth dealing with the fall out with my brother, plus I already blew up one of my own fire stones, so if I gave them one I’d have none left.” 

“You blew up a fire stone? How did you manage to blow up a Firestone?” Darius asked aghast. 

“Uh, well, you see, I wanted to try breaking it into smaller pieces to make smaller firestones that I could use as burners. I used Markion’s forging hammer to smash it, and it went boom.” I concluded with a shrug. 

“You managed to find saltpeter I take it.” Darius enquired, voice sounding strained. 

“Yup, turns out Calidus knew about saltpeter and how to make it already. He’s been using it as fertilizer at the farm. It took a bit of convincing to get him to part with some, but he eventually parted with some. I’ve got a few jars of saltpeter and black powder in the cabinet. I’ve also got something rather interesting I created with the fragmented Firestone.” I informed him, pointing to the shelves which had been enclosed with lockable doors. 

“Please tell me that what’s in there is all there is and that you didn’t leave Tink unsupervised with any.” He pleaded, breathing a sigh of relief when I nodded. 

“Noctus said she wasn’t allowed to experiment with it until you returned.” 

“Thank fuck for that, or else there wouldn’t even be a guild hall for me to return to.” 

“I’m sure it wouldn’t be that bad,” I defended, and the guild leader gave me a dead pan look in response. 

“We used to have four guild halls, Tink’s the reason we now have three.” 

“Oh.” 

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