Solomon woke up to the sound of her phone’s alarm that she had set the night before, a simple sound to mimic an actual alarm clock. Groggily, she sat up and shut it off with a yawn and then got on her knees, leaning forward with outstretched arms and claws, arching her back to stretch. “I’m still not a morning person…”
She sensed that Genesis was much like he has always been: not tired. Frankly, she envied the ancient soul for that. Not needing sleep was something she would certainly find useful! She had to wonder what he was doing every night, however. Just deep inside her mind…
“How long ‘til someone comes to pick ya up?” Lisa asked, half asleep still.
“Shouldn’t be too long.” Solomon said, no more than a guess. “But it varies, so I should prepare.”
The cat then got up and stepped towards the door before the whole room suddenly got illuminated with a blue light. She whipped around to see her girlfriend covered with electricity as she got up from bed, not so sleepy anymore at that moment.
“Do you really need to do that every time?” She asked.
“Gets me energised.” Lisa shrugged, powering down her magic with a wink.
“You know you can just… Go back to sleep, right?” Solomon questioned, a notion she shared with Genesis.
“I’m already up. Might as well get a couple things done before work.” Lisa said as she went to open her closet and took out a set of her clothing, one of seven grey shirts, blue trench coats, and chequered trousers along with dark blue underwear.
“Your call.” Solomon shrugged as she stepped outside and went down the stairs to have a short meal before she needed to leave. She could hear the not-so-soft taps of Lisa’s cane on the first floor not long after. The wolf was fully dressed already.
“So what do you think they’ll want this time?” Lisa asked, opening the fridge and taking out a couple of chicken legs to microwave.
“We’ve been looking into more uses of the acid and the black muck it leaves behind.” Solomon explained as Lisa got ready to eat. “They concluded that the muck is pretty much useless. What they’ll want today… Not sure.”
“It’s just acid.” Lisa guessed. “Seems pretty simple to me. Mine is just electricity, nothing more to it.”
Solomon couldn’t help but feel guilty. The System spent most of the time asking Genesis questions, rather than her. He could answer and demonstrate pretty much everything they wanted him to, as long as he was willing. From different shapes and formations, anything that wasn’t a projectile, not in the sense they had apparently had in mind. She felt guilty for not telling Lisa about Genesis, for not telling the whole story. She felt so, so remorseful for that, but just had no idea how she would react. But tell, she would. One day, she would, she swore on that.
“There are always more things to be found out.” The feline began to say. “After all, it’s-”
Crunch.
Solomon paused at the noise, which was Lisa effortlessly biting through the bone of her meal.
“What?” The wolf asked before eating the other half of the bone as well.
“I’ll need to get used to that.” Said Solomon. While she loved fish, she could never imagine just eating the bones like that.
Lisa simply chuckled at what she said.
Sipping a cup of coffee in a likely vain attempt to help wake up better, Solomon heard the sound of a car pulling up to Lisa’s driveway. Lisa looked through the window and nodded.
“I recognise that licence plate.” Said the wolf. “Same guy as last time.”
Solomon’s ears perked up, feeling a lot more awake all of a sudden. She quickly downed the rest of the coffee and rushed upstairs, grabbing the first piece of clothing she saw, a slightly darker red dress with orchid patterns. After she properly got dressed, she pocketed her phone and ran back down and to the front door.
“That’s got to be the fastest you’ve ever gotten ready.” Lisa remarked with a giggle.
Solomon paused and took her time to do one more thing before she left. She walked up to Lisa and gave her a quick kiss followed by a warm smile.
“I’ll be back when I’m done, will let you know!” She said, opening the front door.
“I’ll be waitin’!” Lisa said, her tail wagging vigorously. “If any of those dickheads want you to do somethin’ dangerous again, please don’t agree.”
“Alright, I’ll try!” Solomon chuckled, stepping outside. “Au revoir!”
“Be safe, Roxy!” Lisa waved her goodbye.
Solomon got into the familiar black car’s backseat and greeted the driver.
“What was so urgent that I needed to come in today?” Solomon asked a few minutes into the trip.
“I’m just the driver.” Said the canine in the seat in front of her. “I’m paid to get you there and to shut up when I’m not doing that.”
“Fair, fair.” She took out her phone to check if anything had happened during the night and spent the rest of the drive glancing from her phone to outside the window, like usual.
Nearing the end of a relatively long trip that Solomon has all but gotten used to, she wrote to Shaquia that she was near before finally arriving at The System HQ. Lisa even called her to very excitedly tell her about who she met that day while she was travelling.
From the outside, nothing has changed despite the new leadership. Stepping into the building and looking around the massive main hall, she spotted Shaquia, the new leader of The System, talking on a radio. She hardly seemed to even notice her as she walked up to her, waiting to be told whatever it was that she needed.
“I’ll get back to you on that later.” The snow lynx said into the radio as she slightly turned her head. “Hey Solomon. Sorry for the last-minute call, but we finally got what we needed delivered.”
“That being?” She inquired, perking one ear.
“The acids, remember?” Shaquia then turned around and gestured to her to follow. “It was harder to get a hold of some of these than we had thought.”
“I can imagine.” Said the cat, recalling a conversation about testing her powers with non-magical acid. She sensed that Genesis was suspicious. Of whom, what or why, however she had no idea. “Maybe the way they got the acids? It’s not like they’re saints exactly.”
“Any news on the Lightborn?” Solomon asked.
“Nothing new since last time.” Shaquia answered with slight relief in her voice. “Luxor’s still just sitting around all day, according to Grayson’s info. Gave us plenty of time for some contingencies.”
“That’s great!” Solomon smiled. Their main people of concern being so inactive made her feel that much safer.
“Although, he didn’t report yesterday or the day before…” The lynx remarked, which worried Solomon for a moment. “But that’s nothing out of the ordinary, he can skip out a couple times if it keeps him safe. If he doesn’t report today, however, we’ll look into it.”
They soon arrived at a door that had a “corrosive materials” text and typical symbol on it, two vials each pouring a liquid onto a flat surface and a hand, both melting. Genesis wanted to have another one added: a dark green spiral symbol, his argument being that it’d get the point across to those that know about it. It also reminded him of the old times. Solomon didn’t agree with him at all on the former, but she wasn’t going to say anything about it if it made him feel better.
“This test is about which acid could possibly empower you and Genesis. That is, if any of them even do that.” Said the lynx as she put her hand on the door handle. “All that formal stuff out of the way…”
She opened the door and paused, Solomon could see steam slightly rising up from her. She went to peek inside and saw various chemical equipment and a sink, but sure enough, there was no acid prepared in said room. Shaquia double-checked if they were at the correct door, then raised her radio up to her mouth.
“Benedict…” She said in a disappointed tone. “I made sure to staff the warehouse, you really have no excuse this time.”
“What?” The raccoon replied in an all too innocent voice.
“Solomon’s here.” The lynx said coldly.
“What’s that have to do with-” An audible gasp could be heard through the radio. “Oh fff… Fiddlesticks!” He said as the sound of the radio turning off came through.
“I guess you’re free to continue reading for the time being.” Shaquia stated, rubbing her temples. “I swear…” She muttered under her breath.
“It’s okay, I have time!” Solomon reassured, pitying the lynx. She knew how stressful it was to run the facility without incidents like that. Genesis simply felt amused. “I’ll go check on Father, then I’ll do that.” She added. Shaquia just nodded and turned to leave, presumably to go and find Benedict.
Solomon made her way through one of the many doors on the second floor where the old canine was, at least for the time being, along with her former instructor Stefano and the rather odd spotted salamander, Sal. The room was more spacious than those used for housing, complete with sets of protective glass, a workbench, tools upon tools upon parts of what appeared to be scrap and various inexplicable gizmos that the salamander had made.
“I think we really made something this time, Father!” Sal exclaimed, holding some sort of sphere, about the size of a tennis ball. “I’ve been telling Shaqie that I just needed some magic to work with! I wonder why she doesn’t trust me with that…”
“Me too.” Durazo rolled his eyes at his sentence, holding another one of those spheres. He then waved to Solomon with a smile, along with Stefano, who had more of a slight frown.
“Finished already?” Asked the otter, catching the sphere that Sal just threw towards him.
“Solomon!” Said the Salamander. “It’s been ages! Sure feels like it anyway.” He went to shake hands with the feline. She could hardly believe that Durazo would be willing to work with Sal of all people. Stefano, she understood, but him… Even if The System offered him protection from the Lightborn, it’s not like he was obligated to help them out to the extent that he did. “Then again, Father loves helping people. I’m surprised he’s not at one of the medical rooms…”
“Hey guys!” She greeted them. “I hate to say it, but we haven’t even started.” She said, specifically to Stefano with a regretful look.
“What went wrong this time?” Durazo inquired.
“Someone forgot to prepare the acids in a room.” Solomon admitted.
“Ah, great.” The otter shook his head. “It’s always the last step with this organisation.” He glanced at Sal. “Or the first…”
“Anyway Solomon…” Durazo began to say. “Since I can’t really go with you three on that trip on the off chance that we run into the cult…” He stepped forward and gave the sphere to the cat. It felt lighter than it looked. “Salvador and I have been working on some new gadgets to give to the members of the org. And for now, you.”
Solomon looked at the sphere, and by all means, it just looked like a regular ball with a stoney texture.
“What does it do?” She asked, she and Genesis alike were confused.
“It’s filled with light.” Durazo explained. “I spent a good while infusing both of these little spheres, we found out something interesting.”
“What do you think happens when you try to infuse an already infused object?” Sal grabbed her by the shoulder excitedly. “That’s right! The magic first drains from it!”
“Okay?” Solomon glanced from one person to another, hoping for a clearer answer.
“Let me put it this way.” Durazo gently pulled Sal aside with a dissatisfied look. “If you try to infuse this sphere, healing light will shine from it until it’s completely drained of magical infusion. We assume it works in a similar way with other types, but we haven’t gotten permission for testing yet.” He explained with pride in his voice.
Solomon felt a strange sensation from Genesis, one that he hadn’t expressed too much before: admiration.
“Go on, try it.” Durazo said with a smile.
Trusting the canine’s word, she tried to infuse the sphere. Sure enough, it shone with the same, soothing light that a Bright One would.
“That’s amazing, Father!” She powered down her magic, and with it, the light from the ball.
“It’s just a “prototype” for now, as Salvador put it, but we plan on perfecting it. These two are done, another two will be finished soon. After all, I only have two hands!” His smile then turned into a look of concern. “But handle them with care. We don’t quite know what might happen if they broke.”
“Are you sure I should have them?” Solomon asked, unsure of how else to respond. Such new findings… She wasn’t ready for something like that, however simple it may be.
“Since I can’t go with you, yes.” The ex-priest reassured her. “Think of it as me being there in spirit!”
“Oh! I have a new idea!” Sal exclaimed rather abruptly, pointing at Stefano. “And we’ll need a Bazing One for it!”
“Well then…” The otter sighed, grabbing his radio as he sat down on a chair. “Sheila it is.”
“Thank you, Father!” Solomon went to give the canine a friendly embrace. “Shouldn’t you just keep them for testing though?”
“I can work with the new ones once they’re done.” He shrugged off her concerns and handed her the other sphere, which Stefano had put on a nearby table.
“Sheila, Sal wants something. Can you come to his experiment room?” Stefano said into the radio, but there was no response. “Sheila, come in.” He waited a few seconds, but still, no response from the lioness.
“I could go check on her.” Solomon offered upon taking note of his rather dour expression.
“That would be…” Stefano began to say.
“Fantastic!” Sal cut him off, causing the otter to shake his head. “Thanks for doing that!” With that, he went to his workbench and put on a welding mask.
“I'm going too.” Stefano stood up and followed Solomon outside the room.
Durazo nodded at her as she pocketed the spheres and closed the door. She then began walking down to the fire training room with Stefano.
“How can someone be so…” He shook his head for what must have felt like the hundredth time that day. “Eccentric?”
“He sure has a unique personality, eh?” Solomon said, which Stefano didn’t really take notice of.
On the way, she overheard a conversation on the radio.
“Andreas? Come in?” Said the voice of Benedict. “I need help transporting the acid.”
“You’re still not finished with that, sire?” The crow responded incredulously.
“Just come help me, please!” The raccoon pleaded.
“Fine.”
“I’m surprised he doesn’t work with Sal, right?” Solomon made an attempt at lifting Stefano’s mood. He still didn’t take much notice of her. A tired feeling from Genesis told her that she should stop.
“I can finally return to my business at least.” The otter said more to himself, walking past the “Blazing Room” as Sheila had named it. “Goodbye.”
“Bye…” Solomon waved at him, he didn’t turn to look or even glance at her as he walked on. To this day, Solomon felt a sense of immense regret whenever she met Stefano. Perhaps she should have told him the truth about Camille, it was high time for that. Would he even believe it? She wasn’t sure. She figured it was better not to open old wounds. What she had done was done, and there was no way to change that.
The distinct voice of Sheila shouting inside the room broke her train of thought. “Not the time for this.”
With a sense of tremendous discomfort from Genesis, the main reason why she hadn’t been there before, she opened the door marked with an orange symbol depicting fire to see Sheila training with one of twelve Blazing Ones in a large, well-ventilated room.
The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation.
“Come on, recruit!” The lioness shouted, standing behind a young-looking pangolin as the others looked on, various species including canines, felines, even an ox, all with orange markings of fire. “Think of what you despise most! Bring on your hatred, reach into the depths of your anger and rip out its hottest thread!”
The young pangolin put forward an arm as the markings on his arm began glowing, producing but a small, insignificant flame.
“Try HARDER!” She stepped closer towards him, practically screaming into his ear. “Channel your fury into a fiery fist of destruction!” She clenched her right fist, igniting it. “Our enemies will light their cigarettes with that, show me fire that will BURN them!”
Winding back his arm then bringing it forward, the pangolin shot a similarly small burst of fire out of his hand, although slightly bigger. Regardless, it startled Genesis all the same.
“AGAIN!” Sheila ordered, the pangolin did the same with his other arm, bringing forth more fire.
“Keep going! Put your anger, your passion, your SOUL into it, recruit!” Sheila yelled, the pangolin kept punching the air with his fists, the fire growing in size more and more with each strike. Despite Sheila’s presence likely helping empower his fire, it still wasn’t too threatening, but it was a start. The other Blazing Ones looked on in awe. Genesis really wished that it was just over. “Sorry…”
“Look at that.” Sheila said in a much calmer voice as she turned to look at Solomon, who she had just noticed. “And you said you had stage fright!” She patted the pangolin on the shoulder and approached Solomon.
“...hey Sheila.” The cat finally said, somewhat concerned and impressed at the same time.
“What’s up?” The lioness crossed her arms and slightly tilted her head. “Shaquia sent you? I don’t suppose you came here just to chat, given how much this Genesis friend of yours hates fire.”
Genesis felt rather patronised at her remark.
“Actually, it’s Sal that wants to talk to you.” Solomon informed her.
Sheila let out an exaggerated sigh of exasperation, slightly bending her knees and allowing her arms to droop down. She then looked at her radio at the far end of the room, Solomon was sure she had left it there on purpose.
“I’ll be right back.” She said to the Blazing Ones in the room, then cleared her throat. “If the very AIR in here isn’t ON FIRE by the time I’m back, all of you will have to do a hundred more push-ups AND sit-ups!” She yelled, and was met with the nodding from most of them, now lined up. “DO I MAKE MYSELF CLEAR?” She added, resulting in vigorous nodding and saluting.
Sheila smiled, thoroughly satisfied. She then went to the doorway and made one more gesture, pointing from her two eyes to the recruits as if to say “I’m watching you!”
She then left with one concerned Solomon and an incredibly uncomfortable Genesis.
“You have to be a little rough with ‘em.” Sheila stated. “Or they won’t listen. More like the magic inside them, but they have to bring it out!”
“Didn’t know you were training soldiers now.” Solomon remarked, sharing concerns with her companion.
“We’re not making soldiers!” Sheila claimed. “We’re making capable Mystic Ones, able to defend themselves if they need to!”
“What was it you said? “Show me fire that will burn them?” Was that not it?” Solomon raised an eyebrow.
“If the Lighborn were to show up at our doorstep, we'd need such forces!” The lioness explained.
“Yeah…” Said the cat, only to hear her name uttered through the radio. “Yes?”
“Looks like this’ll take longer than we thought it would.” Said the voice of Shaquia increasingly done with people by the sounds of it. “Whoever packed for our delivery guy put in the wrong thing.”
“I’ll leave you to it.” Sheila said as she stepped inside one of the elevators. Genesis was elated to finally have her gone.
“There should be a container filled with sulphuric acid here, instead we got…” She paused, then continued in a dumbfounded tone. “How do you mess up this badly?”
“I’ll just go read.” Solomon responded, slightly annoyed along with Genesis.
“Sorry.” The lynx added.
Solomon could hardly believe the sheer incompetence that was displayed that day. It’s one thing for Benedict to forget, it’s an honest mistake, but whatever happened with the acid…
She decided to just calm her nerves, and her curiosity, with some reading. She went up to one of the unmarked doors on the ground floor guarded by two bulky, heavily armoured rhinos.
“ID.” Said one of them.
Solomon took off her gloves to show her markings.
“You still don’t have an ID?” The other asked, his face hidden by a mask, akin to riot gear.
“I’m still waiting for one.” The cat replied indignantly.
The two guards looked at each other, already familiar with Solomon, and let her in with a shrug.
Behind the door was a short hallway with a large metal door at the end. Next to it was a keypad with a plate above it, the latter having incomprehensible symbols written on it.
Solomon powered up her magic and the symbols became clear to her in plain English, the text reading “unravel”. She thought back to the day when they had Genesis write a few hundred different passwords down on these plates, which are changed after each reading session.
She typed in the password on the keypad and the 10-centimetre thick metal door swung open after a couple seconds of processing. She stepped in and was inside a sparsely decorated room, having nothing but a cosy chair, a desk, a lamp and, inside a thick glass container, The Ledger. She took it out of its place of rest, lit up her markings, and sat down to read where she had left off: Bright Ones and Dark Ones.
She learned quite a bit during that reading session, one particular thing she found interesting was the contrast between the two when it comes to sleep. Dark Ones need to sleep less, but are considered weaker during the day. Less powerful Bright Ones, however, often need more sleep and more sunlight to gather energy.
She turned a page and the first thing that caught her eye was an illustration: a black square with a white, pouncing outline inside it. The section’s title read “True Darkness”.
Possibly learning more about the nature of Thalia’s magic certainly made Solomon interested. She felt that Genesis was somewhat bored with the section, although still happy about something.
“Violence begets violence, just as darkness begets darkness. Shadows and the lack of light empower all Dark Ones, but what if there was one that could create the perfect condition for them?”
Solomon felt her tail sway from side to side, the metaphorical gears turning in her head.
“While dark magic alone doesn’t typically help the Mystic One that’s in possession of it, True Darkness is able to draw out its real power. By itself, all this shadowy magic does is remove the light from already dimly lit areas, making them so dark that even nocturnal species have trouble seeing through it.”
Solomon started putting the pieces together in her mind, or at least she felt like she was slowly coming to a revelation.
“This darkness allows Dark Ones in its area of effect to break their physical and magical limits, empowering both body and soul. True Darkness itself is able to move at an astonishing speed as long as a powerful enough non-magical light source isn’t brought inside it. Even a simple torch is enough to dispel the darkness, but the same can’t be said for the Dark Ones inside it.”
“Okay.” The feline said out loud, catching Genesis’ attention. “No wonder Lumi wanted to find her.” Genesis then went back to whatever he was thinking about before, judging by how he felt.
“Magical light can never exist within this darkness, making Bright Ones ineffective against it. It offers little protection against other types of magic or regular weapons, other than agility.”
Solomon thought back to that fateful night. Just one bolt… That’s all it took to almost kill Thalia.
“Compatibility: like every True magic type, the body will refuse to take in any other type and removal of the magic proves to be exceedingly difficult.” A phrase Solomon has read a few times before on other True magic sections.
“Category: harmless - mildly dangerous.” Words that the cat questioned greatly.
“What?” She said incredulously. “Genesis, that can’t be right. Did you write this part?” She took out her pen and notebook, allowing the ancient scholar to explain himself.
“It is correct.” Genesis wrote. Solomon didn’t agree with his idea of “mildly dangerous”.
“How? I’ve seen what Thalia can do.” She frowned, her companion felt unimpressed.
“Catch True Darkness in the daytime and there is nothing they can do.” He replied. Solomon opened her mouth to speak, but nothing came out. “Every other True magic works regardless of the environment to an extent. True Darkness effectively does nothing in sunlight.”
“Alright.” Solomon regained control over her hands, feeling rather foolish for not thinking about that. “I get your point.” She then went back to reading.
“Despite this, True Darkness is not to be underestimated. Under the right conditions, they can still pose a threat, especially when accompanied by other Dark Ones.”
Solomon rolled her eyes with a sigh as she sensed mischief from Genesis.
“You knew that was coming up, didn’t you?” She said as Genesis grew increasingly entertained.
“Reading about what I wrote jogged my memory. After all, you cannot see inside my head.”
“That is mutual, dear Genesis.” Solomon chuckled with a grin as she once again turned her attention to The Ledger.
“Come to think of it…” She muttered. “How does this even count as a ledger?”
Upon feeling his slight displeasure, she allowed Genesis to take over her hands again.
“Pedant.” Was all he wrote.
She promptly put away the pen and notebook and continued reading the next section, which was about the combinations for Dark Ones, skipping some more mundane paragraphs about history. While it would have her interested normally, it wasn’t something that concerned her in present times.
Blazing Ones, she had heard about, so she skimmed through that one, same with Frost Ones. Lightning Ones… Now that made her curious, mostly because of how that happened to be her girlfriend’s power.
“Darkness takes away the deadly force of lightning, but keeps its ability to painfully stiffen muscles. Instead of blue, the colour of the arcs is black when mixed with darkness.”
Solomon found dark combinations rather strange. Even if Lumi told her that darkness “hates” company, she didn’t understand… How, really.
“It is also unable to power machines that need it to work.”
That sentence resulted in a sense of surprise from Genesis, he practically begged to tell something. Solomon had an idea on what it might be.
“Alright, alright…” She took out her notebook again.
“I did not write that!” Solomon understood his concern. “This must have been added much later. There were no such machines in my time.”
“You think it was someone from The System?” She asked, wondering who might find that information so important as to add it to the ancient book.
“There is a chance. I say we look into it.”
Solomon then heard chatter from her radio. She reached for it and heard the voice of Shaquia.
“Is this thing working now?” She asked in a tired tone.
“Yes.” Solomon replied jovially.
“Ah, FINALLY.” Said the lynx, relieved. “Come and perform the tests whenever you’re ready.”
“Be there in a minute.” The cat put down her radio and closed The Ledger before putting it back into the glass container, keeping in mind potential changes to the book that The System might have made. Something she’ll have to ask about for sure.
When she left the room leading to the book, she heard one of the guards utter “Requesting a new plate.” She wasn’t sure how effective these measures would be when it came to actually protecting the book and its secrets, but she figured it was better than just having it in the warehouse.
After just a few short minutes, she was back at the door with the spiral symbol on it. She let out a short sigh before entering and was greeted by Benedict, Shaquia, and a person in a lab coat, all wearing gas masks. The last of which, Solomon couldn’t tell what species he was, but could see white fur.
“Ready when you are.” Said the lynx, handing her a mask as well.
“Aren’t I supposed to be immune?” Solomon questioned, surprised by the sight.
“We know you’re immune to your own acid, but we don’t know about others.” Shaquia argued. “I’d rather you didn’t inhale the fumes, just in case.” She urged her to take the mask.
Solomon found a gas mask to be a little overkill, after all, she had worked with such chemicals before her power manifested. All she needed then was a medical mask and protective glasses. Genesis, on the other hand, felt confident. About what, Solomon really wanted to know.
“Alright.” The cat shrugged and put on the gas mask, admitting that safety should be a priority.
“Okay, you may begin.” Benedict pointed to the table in the middle of the room with ten beakers filled with different acids.
She went to the table and noticed that the first two acids had very similar chemical formulae: HNO2 and HNO3. “Nitrous and nitric acid.”
She remembered that the former was considered weak, while the latter, strong. She figured that that’s why they wanted her to start with HNO2. She didn’t ask for its concentration. She removed her infused right glove and dipped the very tip of it into it, then its fingers. Nothing happened, it rolled off of it the same way her magical acid rolled off of her. With newfound confidence, she then repeated it with her own finger, to the same effect.
“Nitrous acid, nothing.” She said, feeling almost disappointed that it didn’t empower her, but the fact that it didn’t damage her was enough for a start. Just to be safe, she rinsed off her glove and hand before continuing.
Nitric acid… She heard that it can cause severe burns and is aggressively corrosive to metals. It reminded her of her own acid, to an extent.
“What’s the concentration?” She inquired.
“68%.” Lab coat replied.
She dipped in her glove, which remained unaffected, followed by her hand. Similarly to her previous attempt, she was unharmed and unempowered.
“Nitric acid, nothing.” She rinsed off the acid again and moved on.
Solomon walked up to the next one and read the label: HCl. “Hydrochloric acid…! That’s a bit of a jump.”
“Concentration?” She asked.
“37%.” Lab coat replied.
Solomon had worked with that particular acid, she remembered that itchy, irritating pain she got one time she got it on her hands. It can cause some nasty chemical burns, but it was still nothing compared to the one she could produce.
She nodded and dipped the fingertips of her glove into the substance, which was met with no reaction. The acid rolled off of the glove once again, despite being stronger. She then looked at her right hand, more specifically her clockwise-spiralling marking.
“Do you think this is safe?” She asked, hoping that the one who made the magic would know better. She felt like it wasn't entirely safe, just willingly putting her hand in such an acid to test immunity… Her past experiences didn’t help either, they all told her not to do it.
Genesis, however, gave her a thumbs up, his confidence reassuring her slightly. She prayed that he was correct, but took some solace in the fact that there at least was a sink nearby. “Here goes nothing.”
She slowly lowered her hand into the beaker, something she was told never to do extensively in her learning years. She left it in the liquid for a good few seconds… And nothing. She felt absolutely nothing, not pain or even mild discomfort, nor feeling empowered. Genesis’ confidence stayed, she presumed because he was right and he knew he would be.
“Hydrochloric acid, nothing.” She uttered, lab coat took notes. “Moving on.” She thoroughly rinsed off her glove and hand then dried both.
As she picked up the next beaker to inspect the label, it felt warm to the touch, which she didn’t like at all. It read: H2SO4. “Sulphuric acid.”
“Concentration?” She asked, feeling slightly uneasy.
“97%.” Lab coat replied.
She put down the beaker, and tried to relax. She knew that it could cause severe burns as well, but since the other ones didn’t harm her in any way so far… She decided to just get on with it.
First, the glove. No effect, which eased her mind greatly. She then put the very tip of her index finger in it and immediately felt it. A sense of power creeping up her finger and to her hand combined with elation from Genesis together made her take a step back.
“Something’s different with this one!” She exclaimed, much to the excitement of the others present.
Lab coat stepped closer to take a look, but she hardly even noticed him. She was much too preoccupied with Genesis, he wanted more, and by extension, so did she.
She went back to the beaker and put her entire hand inside. She was met with a sense of relief and peace so intense, nothing had ever come close to it in her life. At the same time, she felt powerful, she felt like she could take on the whole world together with Genesis! That was something she shared with him, both overjoyed and relaxed to the extent that they did, she never thought that such a dangerous substance would bring her such apparent strength. It was unlike anything, unlike even her brief moment in Luxor’s light!
Then, as quick as it came, the sensation left.
“This…” She let out a sigh of relief as she removed her hand from the beaker and fell to her knees. “This is the one.”
Lab coat went to inspect the acid in question as Benedict and Shaquia went to help her stand up, extra-careful with her hand.
“Everything alright?” The lynx asked, looking worried for her behind the glass of the mask.
“The most alright we’ll ever be.” She replied and shook her head. “Woah… That was… Something.” She looked down at her hand and saw that her marking was glowing intensely, rays of green light shining. It reminded her of Lumi’s dark markings in Thalia’s darkness.
She and Genesis both felt immensely satisfied with the experiment. She also felt that he really wanted to tell her and those present something. After rinsing off her hand and glove, she allowed him to speak his mind.
“My power is returning.” He wrote with a jubilance that only Solomon could feel, she read his words out loud. “We will have to do this again. This is as much as we could get from it now, I feel it.”
“Should we be concerned?” Benedict asked, clearly taken aback by what happened.
“You? No.” Solomon read the words he wrote down. “Acquire as much of this as you can. If we keep this up, we may be back in our prime.” She chuckled. “Really now, Genesis?”
“Benedict, get your guys ready to handle some dangerous substances.” Shaquia ordered, then looked at the rest of the acids. “Should we test the remaining ones?”
“Futile.” Is all Genesis wrote, serene. Solomon liked to picture his skeletal appearance sometimes, at that moment, him laying on a bed covered with the softest of pillows.
“Noted.” Said Shaquia, glancing at lab coat. “You go see if there’s anything changed about the ones we tested on.”
Lab coat saluted with a “Roger.”
Solomon couldn’t help but wonder, however… Why? What caused all of this, why this acid in particular?
She shook her head again, snapping herself out of the lingering sensation while leaving Genesis in his bliss.
“Send me an update if you find out anything about it.” She requested as she, Benedict, and Shaquia left the room.
“Will do.” Said the lynx, taking off her mask, followed by the other two. Solomon could finally see her expression properly, and it was rather awestruck.
“I’ll go see how much we can order.” Said Benedict, taking one step towards the lifts.
“Good, do that.” Shaquia responded, looking a little less upset with the raccoon.
Benedict nodded and left for the lifts.
“Looks like we’re- oh!” Shaquia exclaimed right as he left and turned to face Solomon. “I almost forgot, I’ve yet to give you your new schedule.”
In all honesty, Solomon wasn’t too excited about that. Juggling time between her usual work, The System, and her free time proved to be particularly stressful. Her mind was set on many different things, but she figured the same was true for the lynx.
“The upcoming occasion is rather extraordinary, I know it’s not entirely what we agreed upon, but I tried to be fair.” She said as she took a large piece of folded paper out of her pocket and handed it to Solomon. “You have no idea how long it took to schedule all of this, I swear if she doesn’t show up…”
One look was enough to tell that they were packed with various important-looking meetings and events related to damage control and possibly spreading out from Europe. Her part next week, however… It couldn't be done.
“What?” Solomon said indignantly. “You can’t be serious!”
“I know…” Shaquia said awkwardly. “Three days in a row is a lot, but that’s the only time Catherine would deign to come here and she requested your presence specifically.”
“I have something very important there, remember?” Solomon frowned.
The lynx then smacked her forehead, as if suddenly recalling something crucial.
“Damn…” She said, shaking her head. “Listen, we’ll leave you alone for the following two weeks as compensation, can you make it?”
“Are you sure you can’t, maybe, reconsider?” Solomon pleaded.
“I know, it’s not the best time for it, but you have to understand.” Shaquia said, visibly stressed. “Both Catherine and scheduling with her are a pain. This is the best we can do if we don’t want to waste even more time making sure nothing clashes.”
Solomon felt slightly betrayed, something that was powerful enough to get Genesis out of his metaphorical bed of pillows. She sensed that he was confused.
“I mean… If you’re certain?” She said, willing to give in, despite everything. She was upset, more than a little, but she knew that she would need to make sacrifices eventually. In addition, two weeks away from The System… She could use that. She couldn’t just have Shaquia kick over such a difficult schedule solely because of her.
The thing that worried her most was what Lisa would think of it.