I finally turned my head and was able to see Victoria and Gertrude both looking at me in quiet wonder. A trickle of appreciation and deep satisfaction wove through me at their gazes. Bracing myself with my hands against the ground to aid in getting up, I felt and heard the splash of shallow water. Looking down around me in surprise, I saw a circle of water slowly being absorbed into the ground below my figure. Visually, this looked like normal water which you might expect from jumping out a pool and allowing it to fall from your body as it dries. This however, was definitely not ordinary water. Even as I held up my hands, I watched as traces of sunburned blisters and redness across my skin retreated under the effects of the healing liquid elixir.
“That!” Gertrude exclaimed “was entirely unexpected,” as she peered down at my sitting form. I had now opted to remain still, in order to continue absorbing the positive effects of the healing water and come to grips with the results of this latest trial. This shelled woman who had aided me deeply along with my master gave several hums and haws as she looked at me from various angles.
Victoria herself appeared both dazed and lost in thought while holding the bucket of what I strongly suspected to be filled with elixir water from her garden stream. I guiltily believe that she had used close to a mithril in elixir water to aid me.
To somewhat alleviate my guilt at her expense, I made a mental promise to myself, to make the most of these new abilities to both learn from and aid her in her work.
“How are you feeling?” Gertrude spoke up again, interrupted my inner thoughts.
“I feel amazing!” I exclaimed. With relatively clear recollection of my first experience, I added. “This was much better than what I had to deal with on my own when I used the earthen potion.”
Her beak seemed to quirk up in a humored grimace as she replied. “Yes, before assimilation potions were developed and today’s precautions were normalized, many would-be mages died to the effects of failed assimilations and unavailable or terribly flawed recovery interventions.” Giving me a hard look before continuing, she added. “Your personal experience appears to be hyper exposure to the elements. I hesitate to say, . . . but it looks as if you are undergoing multi-level trials involving more than the first tier. If I had to guess, you were just baptized by energies reminiscent of stones at the terrace level. That is a full two layers above the basic tier.”
Tapping her chin with a clawed hand she pontificated. “This may well explain the medium grade shade of brown that happened with your earthen trial test.” Peering down at me with more than a little interest she added. “Something is certainly different about you.” Delight colored her eyes as a bit of fervor was carried in her words. “I very much so look forward to seeing your future developments.”
Then turning to Victoria who had been silent for this entire time she asked, “What are your thoughts on all of this my dear?”
“I. . .” Victoria began haltingly before continuing. “I am surprised by the extent of your assimilation and what you have to go through while still succeeding.” Pausing to look down at her hands as if again lost in thought, she was silent for several seconds before speaking again. “I am both elated and yet concerned about your assimilations. I am concerned as it appears you might not have the benefit of or ability to experience a tamer trial, . . . yet I’m happy for you as with intervention, you appear to recover quickly and seemingly completely.” Unshed tears looked to be hovering in her eyes as she appeared lost in thought once again.
I felt there was far more to what she wasn’t telling me, but I had no way to know for sure. Maybe she was just getting emotional about my assimilation experience?
Gertrude was again the one that broke the awkwardness with a question. “Andrew, now that you’ve proven that you can handle two stones with a singular and hybrid element, are you ready for the next one?” Her eyes were alight with anticipation.
Victoria appeared ready to balk at this, yet she kept her silence as she waited for my response.
I was more than ready to proceed!
Sure, the experience in the trial was terrifying and incredibly discomforting, but the results . . . I reached inward and felt the two elements of light and earth in their different flavors mingle with my familiar ability and I felt both confidence and comfort in its evolution with exposure to these stones. Looking back at them both, I said “Yes!” with elation.
Gertrude then began pulling out a plethora of stones and began categorizing them while mumbling under her breath. “Let’s see. I have two stones for water, both fresh and salt water. Then I have multiple fire origin stones, but only two different types at the basic level. I have only one type of wind stone that is pure, but we could mix in a storm stone with it for extra effect. . .” Delight filled her voice as if she was experimenting and designing a completely new artifact while reviewing her stock pile of stones.
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“Actually, I have a question before we get started on the rest.” I spoke up. Both women turned their gazes to me waiting for what I had to say. “I would like to try assimilating a single elemental stone to see if there will be a repeat of when I first tried out the light stone. What are your thoughts on my doing that with an ice stone?”
Victoria perked up at my mention of her most used element aside from nature. Gertrude gave Victoria a sidelong glance as if in askance. “Yes.” Victoria replied. “I too would like to see what would happen if we were to do such. I will be right back after creating the potion.” She then dashed back into her house with a more uplifted spirit.
As I waited, I continued to sit in the puddle of liquid elixir, afraid to move or dry myself off as I considered that doing such would be a criminal waste. To be honest, I wasn’t sure how to continue using it, but I felt that staying still might allow its benefits to remain for longer and continue to apply to future elemental trials.
Victoria did not take long and soon immerged with a whitish blue streaked potion. Shaking it around before handing it to me, I received it in curiosity. I have to admit to myself that I was a bit disappointed at not getting to see what she did differently to process it. I recalled from our prior discussion on the topic, that darkness and ice assimilation potions couldn’t be created with the use of a flame to mix the ingredients together. She never did go into what did have to be done. In any case, I made a mental note to ask her later.
With no further delay, I tilted the bottle back and drank the contents. ‘OOOOH brain freeze!’ That was my first thought as I downed the nonflavored icy slush. It left a thin trail of ice in its wake past my tongue and throat which my body heat was able to melt quickly enough. It was the main solution itself which proved far more resistant to body heat. Sitting in my stomach like a solid chunk of ice, I felt the beginning stirrings as the now somewhat familiar dance of energies began once again.
Much to my surprise, this assimilation with the use of a singular stone did not fall flat or end in limbo as I had experienced with my first attempt regarding the light potions. I now felt and confirmed that something integral within me had changed since I had first attempted this process. As the energies once again attempted to ascend beyond my body and again fail, I felt that as more time passed with my experiences in this place, that its attempt to ascend may succeed with future assimilations. I was intensely curious and wary of the results of when that day ever came.
Much like the other two successful trials, my thoughts became scattered, and I underwent a baptism of this new element. Despite the use of a singular basic stone, I did not feel any notable reduction in the effects.
With the commencement of this trial, I felt like I was stranded in the midst of a blizzard with raging ice pelting me and congealing my entire body to the point of petrification. My extremities were affected first by the sensation of frostbite. The cold encroached up the smaller veins causing pained feedback like searing fire rather than ice. Then, once the cold progressed to my larger and thicker limbs, the agony became near unbearable as I struggled to retain consciousness. My awareness waned as fuzzy darkness threatened to embrace me. The signals from my brain to move my muscles came to no avail. Encased in solid ice I was unable to move any which way in order to stimulate body heat.
Now as the cold spread past my limbs and started in on my core, I felt an odd form of fuzzy warmth spread inward from my extremities. After a brief encroachment, there was a lull in the chilling effects. My hazy mind started to process things one again but at a greatly reduced efficiency as I continued to suffer under the effects of the trial of ice. Something about the sensation of warmth coming after extreme cold tickled at my mind as not being a good thing. My sightless eyes stared off into the distance as I struggled to regain a sense of feeling in my frostbitten limbs.
Numb warmth is a scary symptom pointing to stage three frostbite. This occurs after prolonged exposure to extreme cold temperatures and inadequate insulation. If left untreated for too long, it can easily result in permanent damage and the need for amputation of toes, fingers, and possibly even whole limbs.
I cannot recall when everything finally ended. But the next thing I recognized was the sensation of searing warmth which spread throughout my mouth and down into my stomach as I was fed another potion. I hadn’t felt the initial touch of when the tube or beaker had been pressed against my lips as my entire face had gone numb, but the potion which was fed to me was definitely doing its job.
Unbearable tingling and itchiness began to spread rampantly throughout my body. I knew on some level that my mind and thoughts carried much of the burden of these trials. If I my physical body was truly experiencing what I beheld in the visions, then there would not be enough left of me for my master’s potions to heal the damage.
However, at the current moment, I don’t think I would be able to tell the difference if was being healed from more than surface level damage. My very nerves felt like they were lit upon with fire. At that point I truly desired to fall into the beckoning darkness of unconsciousness in order to escape this torture. It was unfortunate that the potion which restored my sense of touch and appeared to be healing my body, also restored my mind to focused clarity. As such, I felt the rapid healing of my frostbitten flesh in magnified lucidity.
There are few individuals in history and none that I knew personally which I might wish this same experience upon. In my opinion, this level of pain should only be used upon those who had engaged in the most heinous of crimes. Such was the viciousness of its painful and freezing touch.
The only consolation was that the entire process was quick, lasting seemingly no longer than one minute as the fading traces of torture left me feeling blissfully warm. The lack of pain itself was an unbelievable euphoria. As my vision too was restored, I was greeted by the gazes of two very concerned women.
It was Victoria who spoke first this time, as Gertrude was shaking her head in bemused surprise. “It seems the old turtle is right that you are different. Having a close connection with the element of Ice, I can certainly say that your trials are far above and beyond that which a fledgling mage would experience.
Staring at her in mute silence I considered what that might mean. “Haha!” A light and weary chuckle snuck out of me, and then as I continued to dwell further upon the insanity of it all I burst out in full laughter. “Hahahahaha!” My laughing gained a bit of a hysterical edge as the phantom pains I could still acutely recall reaffirmed her words. I felt a trace of mania surge within me as I sought to regain control over myself.
Greater concern filled both Victoria and Gertrude’s faces at my outbreak in laughter. Soon enough, I felt that I had recovered adequately and promptly asked with fragile bravado. “Which one next?” I asked this while still feeling a little giddy from the recalled pains. Then with great expectation, I reached for the newly flavored energy in my core.