The residence they stayed in is as clean as the palace that Arachetel introduced to them. The darkness of the place felt heavy, and the architecture was oppressive, but the shining fragments of jewels embedded upon the walls of their small home embraced them until the promised dawn. They settled their possessions in the room and they felt at home when they sat down, leaving the horses leashed outside in a chill with the constant comfort of the breeze. Upon reaching the rest, they persistently feared the floor for any crawling alike as if they were still stalked by the palace's spider wards.

Ritchler: It is a shame that we are grounded for further information about her journey. Imagining someone from another kingdom ruling such a highly valued place is worth the dreams.

He sipped plenty of water remaining from the skin bottle, then puts away the thing beside his seat. Ritchler noticed that they never looked into his eyes when he spoke but to the hearth, he touched the gloominess of the barely lit room once more with prideful words.

Ritchler noticed that they never looked into his eyes when he spoke but to the hearth, he touched the gloominess of the barely lit room once more with prideful words [https://img.wattpad.com/1776255ca574a9b43358cf052d1bc68e9a52106d/68747470733a2f2f73332e616d617a6f6e6177732e636f6d2f776174747061642d6d656469612d736572766963652f53746f7279496d6167652f36707963536a5f7445536b5a67673d3d2d313333383636383838382e313736326531636333623634303932363334353731303737303633352e6a7067?s=fit&w=1280&h=1280]

Ritchler: We offered them a great deed, we introduced ourselves to someone who's called a queen. It's strange, though she slipped into our kingdom, unharmed and undetected, the people of the Alps were unaware of their intent but they still accepted her.

Until Irene spoke slowly and suspiciously after he gets to laugh, she was distant facing towards him, but only her eyes were in gaze while Maverik's eyes were still in the fire.

Irene: Do not tell me that your mind was only filled with admiration. You're only halfway there from the problem that you think you've finished.

Her fists were closed and shaking slightly from fear and anger while keeping her face beautifully calm as a still pond. Ritchler put himself close by laying his torso forward to her, gradually clicking his fingers on the edge of the seat, and wondering what elsewhere his tracks were lost when Irene point it out to him.

Irene: Aagaron is still alive, Ritchler, and you already broke the seal of King Raven's trust. By the time he'll know what you've done, he will also blame us for your mistake.

Ritchler: What mistake? He chose to escape, and it is his fault, not mine.

His ignorance had made the atmosphere darker, and now her mood was beyond Irene's peaceful image. From her clothing of stealth impurity, Irene stood up from her seat aggressively, grabbed the sword at the border of the hearth, and swung it quickly into the air. The sharp nose of the blade sparkled by the fire like a tricking wand. Standing sideward, close to a warrior's stance where questions come to heart; truth be told and lie be given, hard and true in the amber of nightfall.

Irene: This stead is what I saw, where the sword is pointing at the ground. At this given moment, either you will tell us the truth or you will pay for your lies.

Maverik succeeded her wife from the defense, and from the soiled black pouch he carried throughout the journey, he untethered a scroll embedded by an emblem. Tearing off the raven's stamp of black with its little eyes staring, he probes the paper once more for him to wake Ritchler from his false honoring. Both of them gave the man on his seat the opportunity to be reminded about the agreement between him and the King himself. She dropped the weapon in a sudden, the seal of Aagaron's knightly oath to protect the City shone like a dead gemstone upon its birth. Irene snatched the paper from her husband's hand, reading the letter right before the resting man.

Irene: It says here that you should bring Sir Aagaron Badburn to the castle Alps of your choice, as a liability to be a servant of another castle. We can report to the King that you disobeyed his order unless you tell us the truth.

Ritchler sensed the heat coming from her mouth, and he felt the pangs of conscience slashed through his ears when he heard the conclusion of the text scroll. The partners parted ways when Ritchler placed himself in front of them with the firmness of his purpose, picking up the sword and returning it to the frame of flame.

Ritchler: How can I be sure that you will not tell it to the King after I tell you the truth?

Irene: We will go back to our chemical workshop, there the truth will remain, unsolved the others. Because we already know your plan at that time, no ghosts nor wind were lurking for you to be scared of something supernatural, but only us.

Maverik: We know, Ritchler, that Aagaron isn't dead. He escaped from your grapple and you can't do anything about it. We just want you to confess your actions, and let us bring back what is ours.

Ritchler: YES! ALRIGHT, YES! I did, that because I am threatened to be killed so I let him go.

The couple proceeded right near the hearth hall after they heard him confess (as if they did not hear it). The next door is between the bed chamber and the iron-filled kitchen, without any dithering words upon the night until their shadow thrilled the dark floor when the moon shines. Ritchler do not have any choice but to follow them, it was his footsteps that remain secretive from his returning fate when he witnessed the failed concussion erupting the chambers, up where he stained the enchanted forest with thick vindictive blood.

When he stepped out of their cabin, the so-called mossy plank stairs were now polished stone, and the withered trees that should have been forgotten, are now remarkably green bright as if it's glowing, hale, and hearty. The ringing sound of the crickets formed an intricate melody despite its vexing intensity. They turned left into a helix, and there fused the dazzling yellow star-like lamps of the fireflies, dancing around their trails between the hall of hanging tree branches embraced with healthy habitats.

They have gone to the halls of the invisible insects, several ones hiding in the colors of nature, but then the alchemist's laboratory was close, surrounded by misty waters and oil trees, licked by pests and saps [https://img.wattpad.com/76be5d5f139c27658765961f7fedeac1baebaa4a/68747470733a2f2f73332e616d617a6f6e6177732e636f6d2f776174747061642d6d656469612d736572766963652f53746f7279496d6167652f544134726973476e64575a3347513d3d2d313333383636383838382e313736326532616565616266653239383537343036323038353933352e6a7067?s=fit&w=1280&h=1280]

They have gone to the halls of the invisible insects, several ones hiding in the colors of nature, but then the alchemist's laboratory was close, surrounded by misty waters and oil trees, licked by pests and saps. Three of them noticed the bug-biting plants nearby the workshop that they used to take care of were munching three live giant hornets, flying beasts close to the size of an inn. The black blood poured down from their massive suckers, surfing towards the laboratory, sundered with ruptured flesh bursting from their exhausted fins.

Ritchler: The three lovelies, used to eat grasshoppers back then, they grew larger than a house, a perfect guardian for the ones that have been long gone [https://img.wattpad.com/3dcf96e23d60b261dd28d89929225e10414b01db/68747470733a2f2f73332e616d617a6f6e6177732e636f6d2f776174747061642d6d656469612d736572766963652f53746f7279496d6167652f3764693830756274746566784c673d3d2d313333383636383838382e313736326463643764376663613131373631303532393136313132362e6a7067?s=fit&w=1280&h=1280]

Ritchler: The three lovelies, used to eat grasshoppers back then, they grew larger than a house, a perfect guardian for the ones that have been long gone.

Irene: Though the blind traps can still smell, they eat whoever isn't deserve to visit here.

The growls are extraordinary as if a thunderstorm underneath the depths of a boiling swamp. The tentacles that shoot behind their multiple rows of circular teeth search for their presence, the suckers never yield their power until they touched their skin. The persistent mark of love and care by their owners gifted a hug, then the long stem of a neck that blocks the path for intruders, opened like a gate to see their precious laboratory.

Ritchler: There it is, our spellbind domain.

They walked among the presence of mighty plants and dread trees that covered the islet that carries the dark laboratory. It appears to be an ordinary hut with pointed edges where the ravens and falcons rest, the multiple windows cast a light that they call the eternal flame that never ends and shines brighter than before. When they have conquered more steps closer to the laboratory, one of the platforms of the stepping stone tilted, and the chime rang, then the chimney above the structure pumps a glittering blue smoke. The smoke splattered a rain that never soaked them in their clothes. When it is in contact with any surface, it melts, turning the droplets into steam that is never hot. The fragrance of the steam surfs through the air, sensing the fragrance of sweet-scented heliotrope. The pain ended when the cauldron block hidden from the eyes of men beats its heart, and there the iron doors unbarred its bondage from abandonment.

Ritcher: Here we are, the three masters inside the powerhouse of all magic schools out in the three Alps of Reviathan [https://img.wattpad.com/9c36abaa742ef10f9df2a870dbbf77b11c2f3ef8/68747470733a2f2f73332e616d617a6f6e6177732e636f6d2f776174747061642d6d656469612d736572766963652f53746f7279496d6167652f5a47592d784b59714d575f3734413d3d2d313333383636383838382e313736326565306539323537653033363130323234343634353030332e6a7067?s=fit&w=1280&h=1280]

Ritcher: Here we are, the three masters inside the powerhouse of all magic schools out in the three Alps of Reviathan.

The perception of returning to the place where all their mastery is cast is like a strength of a long-anticipated warm hug. All of the apparatuses were merely sleeping, unengaged by any might, but when they stepped into the laboratory. The sleepers were awoken, their heat was charged, their colors were vividly bright again, the swirling chemicals that can revolve into a new experimental war spell had moved, the genetically altered species remains at peace, and the books that is clattered were returned from its shelf by the mists of their breathing. The spacious laboratory contains several spherical elixir storages with circular openers on their sides. In between the storages are the cylindrical metal tubes containing endangered species injected with preservation chemicals known as Formathrol that manipulate cells that prevent decomposition.

Some of the creatures were classified below their glass cages, ranging from modified basilisks with two heads, long claw cats spitting vile saps, saber-toothed tiger cubs with hairy spider legs, and most species that came from the sea [https://img.wattpad.com/edf9028bb87b35fae5e58077061c62377ffe4204/68747470733a2f2f73332e616d617a6f6e6177732e636f6d2f776174747061642d6d656469612d736572766963652f53746f7279496d6167652f4c314d41455a66366c5364446c413d3d2d313333383636383838382e313736333261333661323061343038613339373238363831373034322e6a7067?s=fit&w=1280&h=1280]

This story has been taken without authorization. Report any sightings.

Some of the creatures were classified below their glass cages, ranging from modified basilisks with two heads, long claw cats spitting vile saps, saber-toothed tiger cubs with hairy spider legs, and most species that came from the sea. An octopus skinned with multiple pigmented spots similar to an eye, luminescent anglerfish with dagger-like fangs, and some species are newly discovered like the Vilorian Viperfish seen with a large mouth, void eyes, long fang-like teeth, and a long glowing fin ray that fumes a stinging mist whenever it touches an intruder.

The remaining laboratory dishes atop tables were the flasks, glassware, spell books, burners, test tubes, and rotting dead lab rats inside cages. The love for magic within humanity and creation sustained the connection between their hearts, and abide the twinkle in their eyes. At the luxury they grouped into, the past never let them go, the grip of the fiend is still clutched upon their hands when they remembered the blast that changed the course of their life.

Maverik: The messy cauldrons, compounds, and wine pitcher. The captured creatures we took from the jungles and lakes of the Dragon's Heart near the troll house are still breathing, compelling the gaseous phase of the preservation elixir.

Irene: My love knows her job well, way too soon to remember.

Ritchler: And how about the concoction that's never been deployed during wartime? The remains of the discharge are still marked on the laboratory bench, as you can see.

After seeing the delight in the walls and ceiling of mastery, they turned to the middle of the room, where the dim light of the blinking sphere above is scattered along the table; the remnant of a failed chemical observation came into their eyes. A forbidding image of the blast, the shadows of their dead passion were black as ash. The solidified elixirs catch the light that is staring back at them, revealing their wasted time in a place where they do not belong. Ritchler ran his left hand through the rough surface of the remains, and there he picked a handful of ashes and gazed at the flutter with a mournful eye.

Ritchler: I remember that day, Irene, Maverik, I hope you too.

He sighed, sniffing as if he is about to cry but keeping his stern intact, and continued.

Ritchler: We were out in the wild, looking for creatures of some sort to be researched. We don't waste time just sitting there and waiting for the compound to alter itself. And for some reason, some halfwit tamed the guardian eaters and gained entry to the laboratory.

Irene: It is impossible that they can tame such highly intelligent greenery.

Ritchler: That is exactly what I thought! But then the footprints of those people made their way to the lair without even facing themselves to the plants, they just go through like it was nothing. When I am going back to the laboratory, the guardians are aggressive though they do not bite me. Right before the chime rang, I saw a pure black figure inside the lab facing the main table. I went on a rush before the gates but, there I encounter a loud bang that completely blinded me and puts me to the ground.

His hands tripped the broken glass that is sitting atop a metal rack, putting his anger forth. He grabbed a tong and broke a clean test tube containing a highly corrosive type of poison called Gular; a rich specimen that originated from the inside of a gemstone called Gularan. For which a special-made Gularian test tube was used, for it is the only metal that cannot be melted by the specified compound. His anger choked when Maverik and Irene came up to calm him down, but he refused the offer, and he went to the right inner wall where the alchemy book is settled and continued the heat that is in his head.

Ritchler: When I gained my sight back to where I was down, I saw his shadow running towards the shelves, and a portal is summoned where there he passed through and vanished. He said something, but I couldn't recall such a magic spell. Until today, Arachethel told me that the spy wizards are still looking for the culprit, but that is hard to believe.

The couple wondered if the rumors were revealed to them in a snap, but Ritchler carried one last statement for them that they needed to hear for a long time. He said it soft and low as possible.

Ritchler: And yes, Irene, I let Aagaron escape because he threatened me with his damned sword. What more could you ask for?

The lady was stunned by his confession, then she bowed low with her head. After they reach an agreement about their doubtful witnessing of a false traitor, they toppled and switched the terms for their nemesis upon the laboratory, for which they will come back as the three, best and known alchemists in one of the Alps. The knowledge, sciences, and arts are born out of the feeling of goodness when they came back, they moved from a tight space and now towards a flamboyant tunnel of healthy diversity.

Irene: I won't ask anything more, we can clearly say that you are telling the truth from your heart.

Ritchler: What? Because of my tone of voice, you believed me?

Irene: No, no it was not like that~

The first alchemist began to raise his voice, carelessly greasing the arrangement once again to an outrage.

Ritchler: I am voicing out my words from my heart since after I learned how to speak. I am the first alchemist here you know, I am the onlooker, and I hold the responsibility of taking care of the Lab. I don't want to take shit anymore from both of you, believe me. My Mother never taught me to be disloyal to people.

When the dire of the pack control oneself of his beast-like fervor, the harmonic songs of weariness come along. Ritchler sat down beside the main table and had a deep sigh of acceptance. The little ticking sound of his fingertips hitting the table seems to be a footstep of a midnight shadow. They sat and rested for a while until the wolves howl, a sound to move forward to make something grateful again, whereas the reality shifts that they must forget the dead time. Irene Yatar turned the burner of one of the flasks near the right bookshelves, recognizing the odd compound they made years ago.

Irene: 'The Wish' spell. Wow, whatever temperature it encounters were indeed nothing but a healing phase for the chemical too.

Wow, whatever temperature it encounters were indeed nothing but a healing phase for the chemical too [https://img.wattpad.com/1d5f7b99a30058b37952495626192f502dffae16/68747470733a2f2f73332e616d617a6f6e6177732e636f6d2f776174747061642d6d656469612d736572766963652f53746f7279496d6167652f4e46527750597570673339494f413d3d2d313333383636383838382e313736343132636163636662633936303731373135333932373937372e6a7067?s=fit&w=1280&h=1280]

Maverik went to the opposite side of the lab. What makes the left side so captivating were the shelf of spell books; where they read the brewing words that the living chemicals to hear them so that they can bind according to the wish of their skilled master. The cookbooks, on the other hand, were the spell recipes. It contains a large amount of connecting dots between the chemicals and their yielding outcome when they were brewed. The brewed compound section contains the properties and uses of the mixed concoction whether it can be a weapon to kill or a medicine to cure. Maverik tried to whisper some of the brewing spell words without a compound, but regardless, the shining light of his passion was burning bright again as he smile.

Maverik: Liserenin Comparinor, this mixture gave life for the arrows to explode after contact [https://img.wattpad.com/f25f7515e27f8c2e86befc5f94c11e7199ac82ae/68747470733a2f2f73332e616d617a6f6e6177732e636f6d2f776174747061642d6d656469612d736572766963652f53746f7279496d6167652f7279306c524d337775466c6841413d3d2d313333383636383838382e313736343132646366323366643832643434373433333239343931352e6a7067?s=fit&w=1280&h=1280]

Maverik: Liserenin Comparinor, this mixture gave life for the arrows to explode after contact. A very tremendous weapon that shed tears upon the opposite side. A fascinating sight while their ships are going down.

Lastly, Ritchler gave way for his hands to go along the edges of the middle table. He scattered away the ashes that enfold its beauty, his patience was fueled by memories until the table is now clearly visible to his naked eye. He saw his marks, the table is scored by his hands as he sculpted it before. The deep marks were drawn like an empty river within a forest, it goes through the green plain and heads in the hollow pillars that hold the sleeping fire below, and the flasks and cylinders with tubes above. When he emptied the table and when the ashes fall to the ground, he woke the sleeping fire within the pillars and the light flows through the deep gaps like a glimmering water upon a river. The flasks glow too, their light that shines was in accord with their synthetic liquid, and they were like shrines that spot many runes.

Ritchler: The surfing liquid flames, my lovely blissful art, I thought they'd died away.

He is allured, hence stronger when the containers seem to shake by the heat that is long been given to them. When the three alchemists declared themselves to return to their untouched dominion of mastery; they never wasted time on anything else but to study again, craft, and brew the most superior spells that are made by the prestige group of people. The moon-dial ticks to its peak, the deep darkness came, and their minds thunder stronger.

Maverik: Here me out. If the Aquinas stone disintegrates in the eighty-fourth element, which is primarily the Tundroth~

Ritchler: What is the use of Tundroth? Remind me.

He asked while their first alchemist is loading genetic samples of the creatures in the preservation tubes, standing on a ladder. Plucking their soft dead tissues with a dagger on their head, one by one, and putting them down in the glass slides.

Maverik: It says here that the Tundroth is the blood of the phoenix, so in conclusion, it's mystic lava. It lives on one of our test tubes as far as I can remember, a resting liquid now. But if the particle of that chemical gets excited by external heat, similar to a phoenix's body, it can slice through the earth like a cake.

Irene turned around from her table, where she is testing the efficiencies of the spells in the spell storage. Take a trial on each of them by putting it inside a polar glass box that is about her size. When the spell proceeds to land in the fuser point below the box (it looks like a spike, that is electrically charged), the chemical is either going to work still or not. Her last drop was the lightning spell, and it still works; where they saw the box is shaking, filled with lightning, tremendously dealing damage to whatever crossed its path.

Irene: What is the connection of Aquinas to the Tundroth?

Maverik: Aquinas is a surface-sensitive chemical, my love. It can be used as a barrier to anything. It is enclosed in a vacuumed container because when it touches the wind, it oozes first before forming a shield. So, if we make a compound out of it with the Tundroth, we can make a fire shield spell.

Ritchler halted his operation on the Anglerfish's flesh sample, thinking that Maverik always had a gifted mind in spell-making. He mostly proposes and designs their mixture according to their purpose. Irene headed towards the inner vault of extracted ores and liquid samples from nature. She is having a hard time searching for the said chemicals, but then moments passed, and she came back. There, clutched in her hands were the mystic red Tundroth and sky-bright Aquinas.

Maverik: We are not in a hurry my love, I am still studying the two components so that we won't make a mistake.

Then suddenly, in a blink of an eye, where there is no time for them to react. A portal summoned without any blast. An image of a swirling black sea-like vortex spawns three dark-veined gatekeepers, point-hooded, and covered with red ash tattoos. Those eyes they saw were staring silently, a decaying stench emerges from the darkness, then stood motionless with their hands closed upon them. Irene fought back the distressing intruder when she threw the Tundroth concoction onto them, but one passes a lifetime mistake. The menacingly dark figure shoved the glass tube and crushed it with his bare hands. And they saw, right in front of their eyes, the shining chemical suddenly turned into a mist. The mist that surfed in the wind that the gatekeepers equally absorbed.

The mist that surfed in the wind that the gatekeepers equally absorbed [https://img.wattpad.com/0048f4c602dcec2768f1082e8cd35a018771353f/68747470733a2f2f73332e616d617a6f6e6177732e636f6d2f776174747061642d6d656469612d736572766963652f53746f7279496d6167652f67794f392d553932314a6f7535413d3d2d313333383636383838382e313736343164656263333438616636653431373731363634343139302e6a7067?s=fit&w=1280&h=1280]

Gatekeepers: Your mastery is our domain!

The croaking deep voice of the three keepers sang a piece of dreadful music that turned the peace into a vibrating terror. Ritchler threw his dagger, but once the dagger touched one of the keepers' cloaks, it vanished and turned into a smoking shadow. The hooded figures floated without a foot, and they levitated forward with their palms opened, closer to the three alchemists.

Ritchler: You cannot take what is ours ever again!

They were stricken hard with fear as they approach closer, their palms send forth a dark purple light, smothered with distorted floating inscriptions in its rays. Maverik's knowledge paid its price, within the hands of his lover, he snatched the Aquinas compound aggressively and splashed it in the direful wind. There, the liquid solidified in the air, forming a solid glass shield in front of them and the path of the keepers intervened in entering. Ritchler stood in front, chasing the fear as it runs back, the two were behind him, embracing each other tightly.

Ritchler: Hell yeah...that's what I thought.

Upon thinking that they are safe, the gatekeepers cast a magic spell. A black flash that blinded them mysteriously, strange enough to think that it does not have any light rays. They were on the ground, deafened and blinded. Ritchler's realization hits as one of the silhouetted figures before the incident was surely one of them, he thinks superbly. The black light suddenly vanished as if the portal sucked it away. The shielded melted like butter from the energy of the dark spell. And they saw no one now, an entity no longer. But what they saw in the casing of the vault, where the extracted compounds were stored, immediately made their heart skip a beat.