Chapter 65: Sixty three

‘Trismegistus, 

this lowly disciple prays to thee, 

oh grand teacher of natural philosophy.’

Left hand clasping my transmutation amulet, I knelt on the ground outside the newly claimed land of our guild encampment. Dorian had suggested that before I start working on the encampment, I should attempt prayer to Trismegistus, and ask his blessing over my upcoming use of transmutation magic. According to the cleric, his patron god Vēdiovis could halve the amount of mana required for healing if he prayed to him. 

‘What puts such flowery words on your tongue, disciple?’ 

‘Grand teacher, I ask for your guidance and blessing for the task that lays before me.’ 

‘Oh? Decided to play at becoming an earthen mage have we? Such is beneath you, and a waste of the blessings you have already received.’ 

‘Grand teacher, if transmutation is truly a greater magic than earth magic. Then why can I not achieve that which the earthen mages do? Such a task for me, which shall take days, an earthen mage can achieve in only a few hours,’  I asked provocatively. 

‘A skilled transmuter can achieve such a task in minutes with the appropriate preparations.’ 

‘Grand teacher, this disciple is one who believes in only what she can herself see. How does this disciple know her teacher does not speak exaggerations?’ 

‘You think I can not see what you attempt my Vulpine disciple?’ 

‘So you do exaggerate, for if you did not, why hesitate to show all here the grandness of transmutation? Surely, in the face of such a feat, many would flock to learn from thee!’ 

‘I shall bestow upon you this grand feat you request, disciple, but you shall complete one in return. Fifty disciples, sworn to the path of natural philosophy within the next month, or blessed no longer shall you be.’ 

The amulet I held grew hot in my hand, and I let out a scream of pain, while trying to open my clenched fist, but my body would not respond. Clutching at my left hand, which was still closed around the amulet, a second scream tore its way out of my throat. A wave of power beyond anything I could fully comprehend rushed through me and into the amulet I held, bringing with it insurmountable pain as my core struggled to contain it. 

‘Learn this lesson well, disciple: this is the power of a GOD.’ 

Trismegistus’s voice echoed through my mind, wave after wave of agonizing power flowing through me into the burning hot amulet still clasped tightly in my hand. Mind lost to the pain, I continued screaming until my throat became too raw to emit sound. My eyes were open, but I could not see the world around me, all that revealed itself to my eyes was a large golden circle made up of runic scripture and geometric symbols. As the golden circle grew brighter, I feared it would sear itself into my brain, just as the amulet seared itself into the flesh of my palm. I did not know how long it lasted. All I could feel was pain, and all I could see was the golden circle. When the pain finally faded, I wept in relief as darkness consumed the golden circle, and my mind with it.

 

It was the cold that woke me, and feeling the hard stone beneath my prone body, my first thought was that I’d died. But, this dark room wasn’t the tent where Darius kept the revival token, nor was it the altar back at our guild hall in Caruan. As I conjured a ball of fire to light up the room, I discovered my core was severely depleted. The ball of fire hovered just in front of my face now, only a third the size of those I could previously conjure. 

This doesn’t look like a revival altar, I thought as I looked around the room. 

The stone slab I was sitting on lacked any of the scripture the revival altar at our guild hall contained, and was tucked up against a wall. Looking around, there appeared to be shelving along one wall, and on the opposite wall was an opening that led into a dark hall. The walls of the room were glossy, and the light from my fire reflected off them in a way that made me think of the glass walls in my former lab. Touching the smooth wall only added to my thoughts that it was entirely glass, just as the wall of my lab had become after the fiery inferno that swept through it. 

As I drew my hand back from the wall, I noticed something strange about the palm of my left hand, and flipped it over. 

The amulet. Memories of scalding hot metal burning into the flesh of my palm swam to the forefront of my mind as I stared down at my hand. 

Pressed into the flesh at the base of my thumb was the golden amulet. Tentatively running my fingers over the amulet I found it had seemingly fused with my skin, and even when I attempted to dig it out with my fingers, I could not separate skin from metal. After opening and closing my hand a few times, I discovered that the amulet did not impair my use of the hand. 

The once-metal amulet didn’t feel hard to the touch, and could be mistaken for a tattoo if not for the small purple stone that protruded from the center of the circle. The purple gem was the only part of the amulet that did not sit flush with my skin, but I was unable to pry it from my hand with my nails or teeth. All I’d managed with my attempts was to break the skin of my palm, causing some bleeding. 

Will I still be able to use the amulet like this? Is this Trismegistus’s way of punishing me for trying to trick him? I wondered as I stared down at the purple jewel embedded in my hand. 

‘Consider it an upgrade, if you will, disciple. Many great transmuters of the past wore their amulets in such a way. In its previous form, the amulet was unable to process my great power. I have bestowed upon you the grand feat you requested, now go forth and spread the word of my grand deeds.’ 

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‘Bestowed on me the grand feat I requested… What does that mean? And where am I?’ I called out mentally, but got no verbal response from the god. 

 

A flash of light appeared beside me, and something clattered onto the stone slab I sat on. Glancing down, I saw an ornate hourglass, golden sand slowly trickling into the lower chamber. Gold metal twisted around the two glass chambers, and around the top of the hourglass I saw the words, ‘Fifty disciples, sworn to the path of natural philosophy’ with the words ‘or blessed no longer shall you be,’ encircling the lower half. Along the middle where the two chambers were joined was mounted a small plaque with the number zero. 

So, I have until the sand runs out to gather disciples for Trismegistus or he takes away the blessing he gave me? Does that mean I’ll lose Zosimos, my amulet, and alchemic sight, or only one of the three? 

 

Placing the hour glass into one of my belt pouches, I summoned Pyr. The wisp was much larger than the minuscule flame I could currently conjure, and was much better suited to act as my torch. Holding Pyr in the palm of my right hand, I gave the plain-looking room a second cursory glance, before making my way to the arched opening. 

The hallway was only a few feet long, and soon I exited into a large rectangular room. My heart began pounding rapidly as I took in the sight before me, which only recently was just a conceptualization within my mind. Floor to ceiling shelving was imbedded into one wall, with several sections of shelving covered by glass, forming the specimen tanks I’d been wanting to add to my previous lab. The opposite wall was broken up into sections with half a dozen kilns set along the wall, with work benches between each one. In the center of the room were more work benches, and on the far wall was another archway leading out of the lab. I was in no rush to leave though, and spent several long minutes admiring the workspace that had previously only been a half thought out idea. 

Leaving the lab, I found myself in a wide hallway leading up at a slight incline, with archways leading into rooms every few feet. There were twelve rooms in total, each exactly the same: work benches along two walls and shelving on the remaining wall. The workshops were half the size of my lab, and none of them had a second room attached, as mine did. 

At the end of the hallway, I entered a large rectangular room, with a high arched ceiling and six long stone benches that ran the length of the room. Looking around the room, I recalled a similar room on the plans I’d been shown, that had been at the center of the encampments layout. 

If Tris followed the plans the guild drew up, the hallway to my left will lead to the kitchen and some living quarters. Turning to the left, I entered another hall and found it did indeed lead to a spacious kitchen thrice the size of the one in our guild hall at Caruan. Descending the stairs at the back of the kitchen, I found two rooms with shelving built into the walls. 

Ah, these are the storage rooms for the kitchen. Confident in my guess, I headed back up the stairs to the kitchen, taking a moment to admire the three massive stone ovens before leaving. 

The remaining rooms, twenty five in total, were all very similar to the one I’d woken in. With shelving along one wall, and a stone slab at the back which I guessed must be intended as a bed. At the end of the hall was a set of stairs that curled around into a second hall that ran beneath the one above it with the same number of rooms. The rooms on this level were larger, and contained four stone slabs, showing them to be rooms meant for multiple occupants. This layout repeated two times, and after reaching a dead end, I trekked back up to the gathering room. 

Selecting the hallway next to the one that led to the kitchens, I found several rooms that looked to be set up like offices, with a stone desk set near the far wall and shelving behind them. Each room also contained an arched opening that led into a small space set up similar to the workshops I’d seen in the hall leading up from my alchemy lab. 

The guild officers' living quarters should be below this hall. According to the encampment's building plan the guild commanders would have their personal quarters in a hallway beneath their offices. Reaching the end of the hall, I found a large room with a stone table in the center. I grinned at the sight of a massive wolf statue made of dark stone sitting on the far side of the room, wondering what Darius would think when he saw it. It’d amused me greatly when I realized that the guild leader, who’d formerly been a half-Orc, was now a living embodiment of our guild insignia. 

It was behind this wolf statue that I found the hallway leading down to the commander's quarters, which were much bigger than those for the other guild members. Each room had a stone slab, and shelving, but there was also a stone bench along one wall and the stone slabs were larger in size. 

Even with the stone beds being larger here, I don’t think my brother will fit on any of them, I mused as I left the commander's hall and reentered the main gathering room. At least all the hallways are wide and have high ceilings, so the taller members of the guild won’t have any issues getting around. 

The next hallway led to more workspaces, and at the end of the hall I found six that contained a furnace and stone anvil. The final room at the end of the hall opened up into a forge that was much larger than the other six. A large furnace sat in the center of the room, and shelves with stone mannequins were built into one wall, with weapon racks along another. Spotting an opening on the far side of the room, I found a Minotaur sized stone bed, along with a Minotaur sized mannequin built into the wall, which I assumed would be for my brother to store his armor on. 

I guess Markion must’ve planned to sleep in his forge, I concluded, as I once more backtracked to the gathering room. 

There were three more hallways left to explore, and after a quick look into one showed it to be a second hallway of sleeping quarters, I picked the second to last hallway. 

I wonder why no one is down here yet? How long was I unconscious? 

This hall has more workshops, but I don’t see the room Darius wanted to build the ship in yet. Rounding a corner, I found myself in a cavernous room that was so large, Pyr’s light couldn’t reach the roof or far wall. A stone stairway ran up the side of the wall beside me, and glancing up I saw it flattened out into a narrow walkway that ran along the wall above me. My footsteps echoed through the room as I walked to the far side, and found a second set of stairs which I ascended. Reaching the top of the stairs, I was now able to make out the roof high above me. The walkway ran around the entire room, and I could only assume it should aid in the ship's construction. 

Back in the gathering hall, I walked to the last hallway and headed upwards. As I walked up, the stair-lined hallway curved back around above the gathering hall, and I found myself in another room. It was smaller than the one beneath it but still big enough for two tables that looked like they could each seat half a dozen people. Leading off this room were two halls, one containing more rooms with beds, and the other a small kitchen. 

Finished with my inspection of the rooms, I continued upwards, finding another two rooms that appeared to serve as landings or points where guards could be stationed. At the end of the hall, I exited into a final room, and looked around for a door, but found nothing. It was just an empty square room, though unlike the rooms below, the walls of this room were sandstone, in contrast to the glass of the rest of the base. 

As I gazed around the room, contemplating where to go next, the palm of my left hand tingled and the purple jewel imbedded in the flesh below my thumb started to glow. The golden circle with its five elemental symbols grew warm, and I braced myself to feel the searing pain I’d previously felt. But no pain came as the wall in front of me melted away, forming an arched opening. 

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