~ 6k+ words, not bad if i have to say myself.. took me roughly seven hours to write this all as i dug trough my notes.. well then have fun reading, since i had quite a bit fun writing this.
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* Ahhhh!!! no, no NO! Not like that you dumb elf! - Harold once again shouted Aro straight in the face. - You have to mix the components in equal amounts and then slowly heat it up! You didnt even check the amount of components used not even speaking about fucking burning it!
Aro was getting annoyed.. a lot by Harold, while the man had his moments of teaching mostly he was a shouting or screaming mess, who raged over even the tiniest of mistakes...
* Sorry..
* What sorry?! Do you think you can just be sorry for wasting precious materials? YOU ARE PAYING FOR THEM! Understand finally! - Again Harold raged. - AGAIN!
Sighing Aro did as he was told and began the process of making a mana potion yet again.
He carefully weighted some mana crystal dust checking if it was enough – the amount seemed perfect. Continuing with his work he cut some “refresher” herb and began to grind it, once done with that he weighted how much of it he would need. Harold silently watched him, for now he looked to be doing fine. Both components mixed up he placed them in a small vial and poured some water inside, now all he needed to do was to gradually heat it up until the potion will gain a rich blue color. Five minutes later he had a nice mana potion finished, to that Harold finally sighed happily too.
* No that wasnt too hard, was it? - The old alchemist said. - You have a problem Aro, not a big one, but one that will hinder all your life if you wont learn to control it! You have no patience! Was it so hard to make it right the first time?
Harold continued ranting, when he went off to do his own work leaving Aro alone – happy with the silence. As Aro continued to work during the day on a big amount of mana potions ordered by the mage guild he silently thought about all that he has learned these past few weeks.
His inner thoughts were soon disturbed as the shops bell rang, he was about to go see who came to the shop, but Harold motioned for him to continue working and went up to the counter-desk himself.
The man who entered wore dark clothes, his face well hidden behind a bandanna and a hood. Harold began to talk with the man, but not in his usual loud voice, but a silent whisper. Aro for now decided to ignore that and continued to work. Soon the man left.
Harold sighed and came back to where Aro was working.
* Listen boy, I got quite a bit of an order here... the thing is... ah to hell with it! You are smart enough to see how many clients we receive during the day to understand that my shop should be barely running, you following me? - Harold asked.
* I do...
* Got any ideas what I am talking about?
* You do some side jobs too, dont you? - A little intrigued Aro said.
* Yes, now since you signed those magical doc's sealing your ability to talk about what I do, I can give you a choice – you keep learning the “normal” stuff, or you decide to help me out with some “unusual” alchemist stuff and I teach you that for free, though if you choose to help me out your work load will more than double and you will be my delivery boy. So what do you say? - Harold asked, his eyes having a slight glint in them, that Aro couldn't recognize.
* What do you need me to do master? - Aro grinned as he called Harold master for a first time.
* Good, well then I will prepare you a list in a moment, you will go out to the town and buy everything I need for this order. Once you will be back we will begin to work... on what you will learn when we work. Oh, and an advice – dont buy everything in one shop, even beter use some beggars to buy you some of the materials...
* Eh, I know this is going to be shady, but why the hell such secrecy?
* You will understand later, for now finish this mana potion and wait a moment.
Aro nodded to his master, seeing how he wont get any information right away. After finishing heating up the mana potion he was working on before, he had just finished to clean up his working space, when Harold returned with a small pouch and a list.
* Now, heres the list and here is the money you can use to buy materials, if you manage to buy cheaper you can use leftover money to buy some mana potion ingredients. And remember to not buy everything at one place, though I dont care how you get all the ingredients if you will mess up... consider spending a long time in the towns dungeons.
Aro took the pouch and list, quickly looked over it raising an eyebrow, then nodded to his master and left the shop, his trusty hood coming onto his head as soon as he left – his unusual appearance for an elf tended to attract attention if he didnt hide his white hair and pale dark skin.
'Old man didnt give me any kind of time limit... heh, might as well enjoy myself for a bit.' Aro thought as a light smile found its way onto his lips.
An hour later, Aro could be seen sitting in a small coffee shop – while sipping his coffee he was reading trough the list he received. Some ingredients he could easily buy from young adventurers who will be returning to the capital in the evening after a day of hunting animals and clearing out the ever present goblins, who seemed to just repopulate their lost forces during the night continuously making work for adventurer's guild.
Aro walked near the gates scanning beggars sitting near them, asking for some small change to survive – while Aro knew most of them were drunkards, he didnt care. They would be useful right now, to accomplish the task he was given.
As Aro was making his way to one of the beggars to offer him a deal a new idea popped up in his head.. he abruptly stopped, attracting a few looks, then turned around on his heels and smiling yet again walked in the opposite direction.
As Aro's darkly dressed figure made its way towards the orphanage many moved out of his way, quite disturbed by him, for all the way there he unconsciously was playing with a small dagger he usually used to cut up herbs at the shop. As he walked inside the orphanage, he saw a fat old lady with a gentle expression on her face talk with some kids. Walking up to the lady Aro sat down in front of her on a chair.
* Ah, hello dear, did anything happen to bring you here? - The lady said in a calm tone, her sharp but gentle eyes looking at Aro.
* Oh, no.. Nothing bad really, just wanted to know if I could offer some small odd jobs for the kids here, hoping they might want to earn some pocket money to spend on sweets. - Aro said, as he removed his hood and flashed a nice warm smile to the lady.
* Well, what kind of jobs are we talking about? Many of the kids arent the most healthy for carrying heavy objects or something like that...
* I just need them to set up a few small stalls near the gates into the capital and buy me some materials, that's all im asking of them. I am an alchemist apprentice and have found myself recently spending more time buying the materials than actually learning anything. - Aro said, not allowing the woman to speak too much, trying to cover as much points as he could, while not slipping any unnecessary information.
* Ah, I see... I will call a few older ones for you then, you can offer this job for them yourself then. - As the lady said, she ordered two of the kids nearby to fetch a few other kids, form somewhere within the orphanage and she herself stood up going to the second floor to look for one more kid.
Aro sat there for five minutes, before he got bored of waiting and took out the list, checking what he could ask the kids to buy for him, happy to find that he will be able to cover most of the list with their help he decided to get the few remaining ingredients he will need by himself from the few local herbalist shops.
* Ehem. - someone cleared their throat, clearly trying to gain his attention.
Aro lifted his head up, a little disturbed. In front of him stood the old lady of the orphanage and three young ladies besides her... He could clearly see, that the girls werent older than seventeen, but they had quite well developed bodies.
* So, do you think these girls will be able to do what you need of them? - The orphanages manager said smirking, seeing how some more red seeped into Aro's face.
* Yes, I think they will be perfect. - Aro said, gulping a mouthful of saliva he found began to collect in his mouth.
* I believe introductions are in order then! This is Aya, her sister Maya and this silent lady here is Ferta and now girls this is... a rude man who didnt introduce himself, but wants to offer you a job. - The old lady said smirking at Aro.
* Ugh, right – lost my manners there... hahaha... I'm Aro, an apprentice alchemist. The job I have to offer for you ladies is to buy me some materials every few days, when I ask you to. I will be paying one silver fifty coppers per day of work to each of you if that satisfies you? - Aro said, as he scratched his chin, trying to loose that awkwardness.
The girls turned to look at the manager lady, for a moment and she nodded – probably letting them understand, that the pay is good... But Aro could only wonder about that.
* It is a pleasure to work for you. - all three of them said in unison.
After that everything went quite smoothly – Aro gave a list to them of what he needed them to buy for him, the manager lady offered some assistance telling the girls, witch gate was better to set up shop for what materials to buy, then Aro gave them an advance for two days of work and money to buy the materials, with that everything was set up and the girls quickly left the orphanage – seeing as it was still midday and they could buy quite a bit of these materials needed.
* Ah, today is such a good day! - The manager lady said while smiling looking at the girls leaving.
* Indeed it is, with your help my life just got a lot whole easier! - Aro said satisfied as how things turned out.
* Yes, yes! But I wonder how long will it last for you Aro! Hahaha... - The lady dropped a strange comment confusing Aro a bit and left to do her own tasks.
Aro just shrugged, not understanding what she could mean and left to buy the remaining materials from the list. His list was now considerably shorter, so he managed to get everything in three hours, even if he used a few street kids to buy some things or beggars, this secrecy still bugging him as he thought what might be made so dangerous out of all these materials..
As sun was beginning to set, Aro was back at the shop, previously having visited the orphanage again and collected the materials the girls manged to buy for him during the day. Harold looked pleased with his results and questioned him a bit how he got the materials nodding about his choice of using the kids from orphanage and how he bought other things on the list either himself or by using street kids.
* You have a good hearth Aro, its always good to create yourself an image of a man who cares about others in out line of work, though be careful to not reveal your “employees” too much. - Said Harold nodding. - well, then lets close the shop and get to work, I can see you itching to learn about what we will be making.
When the sign “ Closed “ was hung and the windows were covered to not let anyone see inside, Harold led Aro deeper into the shop, into a room he wasnt allowed previously.
* So you figured out about my “side” work a bit earlier, so I will tell you what you need to know for now. - Harold scratched his head and sat down near a table, motioning Aro to sit down too. - Place the materials here and we will work while we talk. My “side” job is making poisons, smoke bombs and other not so legal shady stuff for the underworld guilds of capital. Our current order we received in the morning if for the infamous assassins... And tonight we will be making a shit load of poison and smoke bombs, together with some toxic bombs.
* Ugh, this will be dangerous wont it? - Aro said a little concerned about his well being.
* Yes it will, I give you the last chance to walk out of this if you want... not like you will be to tell anyone about this anyway. So what do you say?
* Well fuck me im famous... lets do this master.
* Glad to hear! So we begin like this...
And like that Aro worked his ass off, getting poisoned during the night more than few times, strangely enough Harold wasn't grumpy at all when he thought Aro the dark side of his trade, but laughed all the time as he remembered how he learned this and told Aro. Every time Aro messed up and accidentally inhaled some poisonous dust or pricked his finger with a knife he used to cut some poisonous herbs, Harold wouldn't give him the antidote right away, but would tell him to wait a bit before he felt his limit and then would feed him with the antidote – as he said “you need to build some poison resistance, for this kind of work”. True to that Aro saw how many times Harold inhaled the poisonous dust with himself and didnt use even a single antidote.
Early in the morning, when they finished only one tenth of the order Harold ordered all dizzy and tired Aro to sleep on the ground in that room, using one of the sacs of herbs as a pillow. Before he knew Aro was out cold sleeping and snoring like a giant.
* Kids these days! Cant resist even a little bit of poison! - Harold chuckled to himself seeing how fat Aro fell asleep.
It was six hours later, that Aro woke up because of a sharp pain in his side and saw Harold's boot retract from his side – apparently he was kicked awake.
* rise and shine sunshine.. we still have work to do! - A little sinister smile was on Harold's face, he enjoyed kicking people awake!
* Yes master... - Yawning Aro got up and went back to work.
The poison they were making were of few kinds – one was called “blood tear”, for it made the one who inhaled it have its hearth beet accelerated so much that from the pressure blood vessels would rupture and one would begin to cry and sweet blood.. a nasty way to die if not treated resulting in hearth attack or organ failure. Next one was “Death's kiss” usually used by coating ones lips with it, the one who coated his lips with it would need to drink an antidote that lasted for around four hours, this way any person that was kissed would get poisoned. This poison worked slowly and would kill the target over few days, creating clogs in the persons blood vessels as it accelerated blood coagulation. They also worked on a few more and also all the poison versions mixed with some explosive dust or also making smoke bombs mixed with poison.
Aro learned it all quickly, but carefully – understanding how bad it would be to mess up in this line of work. Harold seemed to be pleased with his learning speed and shared some tips of how the poison could be used too, broadening Aro's knowledge on the uses of poison. Of course they also made enough antidotes to use with the poison in case the user accidentally poisoned himself, or someone who didnt need to be poisoned.
Three days have passed, since Harold received this order and they finally were finished with making everything.
* So, you have already learned quite a bit about the shady side of our craft, now do you want some more about who uses this? Hehe. - Harold said to Aro as if taunting him.
The blood in Aros body seemed to heat up a little as he understood he was being taunted, but his youth and pride pressing him to accept this small challenge.
* I am, so you want me to deliver these? And I guess the place is one of those “shady” underworld guilds?
* Yes, we have talked about them previously, the assassins. - Harold said smirking.
* Well, so whats in it for me?
* New connections why of course! Having some friends in high places is good, but having some at love places is even better! At least I think like that. Strangely enough in this wretched world “shady” guys tend to sell you out less frequently than those noble assholes. - Harold said with somewhat distant look in his eyes.
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* Well, that's a good enough reason for me, having more connections never hurts. So wheres the place?
After his question Aro got quite a bit of information on where to find quite a few “shady” guilds, that usually had not so “shady” guild's as their cover.. everything has a dark side doesn't it?
Aro's first destination was the assassins guild, that used carpenters shop as a cover – the box Aro was given to carry had quite a few hidden compartments filled with the goods they made during the night, on top of it out in the light as cover were some varnishes and waxes used to coat weapons to prevent them from rusting and used also to clean them.
Again as Aro was making his way trough the city with his many break's for rest because of his accursed lung damage, he was humming to himself a strange melody he had never heard before, but that seemed distantly familiar for him. Though he just shrugged at the strange feelings the song welled up inside of him and continued on his way.
Finally at the carpenters he saw many hunters come to replenish their supply of arrows, some traders and businessmen making orders and so on.. all seemed like decent folk of the city, but now Aro knew, that many of these people used this merely as cover.
The trusty door bell rang again as he entered the shop, these things seemed to be everyplace he visited. A middle aged orc raised his head and looked at Aro as he entered.
* Good day customer, what can I help you with? The names Garka, owner of this humble shop.
* Aro, I came here to deliver an order of varnishes, waxes and some “other” stuff, from Harold.
* Very good! We were expecting the goods tomorrow though, come with me... Garta! - The orc shouted at the back of the shop, from where quickly a younger orc walked out. - Son, take over for me a little, need to take care of the goods delivered.
* Yes father. - the young orc Garta replied and quickly took over whatever his father was doing before.
* Now then, follow me Aro.
Quickly following inside the shop, Aro looked around. Many bows hung on the walls, with many arrows on display, there seemed to be many other tools on display together with finely crafted wooden furniture and other stuff.
Aro was led deep into the shop, their final destination was an underground floor of the shop, behind a wooden door, that looked plain – but as they entered the room Aro could see how fortified the door was.
* So tell me Aro, you are a new disciple of that old ball of nerves Harold? - Garka asked him with a slight grin.
* Apparently so, I though he shows his nerves to me only, looks like I was wrong.
* Haha, apparently so! Well then , show me the goods.
Aro quickly took out all the goods he was carrying – the varnishes, the waxes and all the different kind of poisons. Garka nodded at all the goods, looking pleased at them. The orc fished out some money out of the chest behind him and handed it over to Aro, then took out a leather book and wrote something down in it, as Aro though probably noting the goods.
* So, Aro you are willing to involve yourself in this line of work huh? Need money desperately? - Garka asked him out of the blue suddenly.
* You can say that. - replied Aro picking his words carefully. - Though, im just making some useful connections for the future would be a better thing to say.
* Yes, yes.. a man has to think about future! Though if you are making such connections your future might be quite a dangerous one dont you think? One has to be able to keep his mouth shut about such things and have quite a bit of trust in other to too keep their mouth's shut. - Said Garka with a cheeky smile.
The next moment Aro could feel a dagger on his throat and also something pointy pressing at his ribs. Looks like he was sneaked upon form behind by someone and he didnt even notice that. His pupils contracted to small dot's as he looked Garka in the eyes.
* What is this all about? You unhappy with the wares I delivered?
* Oh, no nothing of that sort... I just need you to stay here for a while, to let my boys check if you really are Harold's apprentice. And well.. if you are not.. I think we will test a few of these poisons on you.. always wondered what would happen to a person if you mixed those!
Cold sweat began to run though Aro's back.. ' Harold wouldn't abondon me would he?... ' were his thoughts. The dagger at his ribs moved from his side and a split second later sharp pain his the back of his head knocking him out cold. As the world around him darkened, Aro could only curse his own bad luck.
Aro woke up all stiff with his bottom hurting from the uncomfortable position he was sitting in, looking around he found himself in the same room sitting on a bench. Neither his hands, nor feet were bound, so he stretched a little, as he did so he sighed.. what a day.
* Sorry about that.. we need to be careful in this line of work. - a voice resounded in the room coming from a dark corner on Aro's left, there a young person was sitting while coating some daggers in poisons Aro recognized form the color and smell.
* Since I am alive I believe Harold confirmed that I am his apprentice?
* Yeah, he also laughed his ass off when we told him how easily you were taken out.. got a small package for you from him here. - said the man as he handed Aro a small well wrapped bundle. - take your time.
With that said, the man went back to his work and ignored Aro. So without delay Aro unwrapped the package – there he found a book, a letter and a strange long black box. Opening the letter he began to read it.
“My young apprentice, sorry about this small inconvenience I caused you to go trough.. I am leaving the capital, since it got a little too hot for me here, you might not noticed – but the shop was being watched and people were following both of us every time we left it. I wont disclose the place im mowing to, but I think we wont ever meet again, not that you will be able to recognize me even if we did. I am leaving you in the capable hands of Garka, my old friend. The book you received has many information about potion brewing, both normal ones and “shady” ones. Learn them yourself. In the box I have left for you is a very unique creature – a parasite of sorts, that has some useful qualities to it, more about it you can learn in the book. Well then good luck to you my boy!
Harold.
p.s. You can ask Garka to train you, or introduce you to some trainers if you dont like the silent style hehe, I think you will need to learn some skills to survive.”
'Oh boy..' Aro sighed as he finished reading this letter, intrigued by the black box and whatever was inside it also troubled by the contents of the letter he was apparently left for his own devices.
* Finished reading? - The man in the corner asked.
* Yes, apparently im in your “guild's” care now...
* Seems so. Garka will come down in a few hours, find yourself something to do while we wait. You are not allowed upstairs... city guard's places a small bounty, if you were delivered to them alive for questioning.
* So im a fugitive now?
* Yep. - with that single word the man began to ignore Aro once again diligently continuing his work.
Having nothing better to do – Aro opened the book he got and began to look for information about that parasite in the box.
This parasite was quite an interesting one – it lived in rivers far to the south in barely explored lands. This parasite was called “ripper” - for it tended to rip its way into the body without a care in the world for its host's body. This way the parasite was hated by many explorers for the pain it caused, though it wasnt hard to remove if not let to live more than a month in the body. Many thought of this creature only as a parasite – but the truth is it can be quite beneficial to one if you are willing to go trough the pain of it entering your body and a whole month of discomfort of feeling something slightly move inside your body...
After a month spent in the hosts body and having found itself a sweet spot, that wouldn't disturb its host and would allow for it to live in peace the parasite would connect itself to the host's nervous and blood system. It would then release some of the fluids it makes into the hosts blood, making it addicted to the fluids, while strengthening the hosts body – that's why it was very annoying to remove one after a month – because of the addiction it caused. This strengthening made the hosts body produce more natural steroids, making the host get more “buffed” while also increasing muscle density a little, since the secretions of this parasite were used in many poisons the host would develop a natural resistance to them over time.. and as it wrote might actually begin to enjoy them from time to time like beer..
' Well that's fucked up ' Aro thought, but continued to read.
Further it wrote, what happens because of this parasite connecting to the host's nerves. The parasite would enchant host's senses and at the same time would be able to dull them if needed, making it beneficial if many cases. The last info about it was... how this parasite reproduced.. from time to time the host would literally shit out some of the parasites eggs, that were so small that the host wouldn't even notice them, thus not causing any physical or mental discomfort. The parasite being hermaphrodite didnt need a partner to reproduce. There was also a small warning at the end of all the information - “Not recommended to use for mages, since random mutations can appear because of magical power affecting the parasite and its host.”
'Good thing im no mage.' A simple thought flowed trough Aro's head as he closed the book and pocketed it together with the box and Harold's letter in one of his pockets, deep within his clothes.
* So, how much time left till Garka shows up? - Aro asked the silent man, who seemed to have finished his work and was pocketing all the instrument's.
* Not too long now.
As if on queue the doors to the room opened and Garka showed up. Seeing Aro up he nodded and turned to the other man.
* Got a task for you, all info is upstairs with Miriam.
* Understood. - with that said, the man left the room not making even the smallest sound.
* So, I can see you received the “package”, so you are in my care for now. I will train you if you want as a favor for our mutual friend and I will employ you in his place if that satisfies you. You good with that? - Garka looked at him expecting an answer.
* Works for me, though I have a bit of a condition with my body..
* Yes, I was informed about that, though our friend said he left you something that will fix you up in a few months. We will be moving you out of the capital tonight into a more secure location, so get some rest the trip wont be long, but it will take quite a bit out of you with those damaged lungs of yours.
Aro nodded at that and made himself comfortable on the bench he was sitting, he fished out a few herbs out of his pocket, chewed them and soon fell asleep as those herbs took effect. Gaka, looked at the youth, that now was sleeping on the bench and sighed.. 'In what a world do we live that our young are forced to take such lines of work?' he asked himself silently, hoping only that this young man wont get corrupted and twisted in time. A strange thought for an assassin.
Aro didnt know how long he was sleeping, when someone woke him up, informing that it was time to move out.
There was four of them, the people he didnt know yet showed him the way trough secret tunnels out of the capital and led him away from it towards a forest in the distance. Like Garka had said before, the trip wasn't that hard, but tiring for him – since they needed to walk quite a long distance trough the forest and then into the mountains. Approximately eight hours later, at least by Aro's calculations in his head, they arrived at their destination, that looked like some long ago abandoned cave, though you cold barely see it even if you knew where it was, for it was well covered by vegetation.
* Follow us greenhorn, the tunnels are like a maze, stay close... - one of his companions said with a deep rumbling voice.
All four of them entered, following the one who spoke, the cave was truly like a maze – but since they had a guide they moved quickly trough it. Aro tried to memorize the way back in case he needed to leave in the future, only to get a headache after half an hour as there were too many turns and identically looking corridors to remember.
Aro guessed that they took more than an hour to navigate trough the tunnels, when they reached their goal – seemingly a blocked tunnel. Their leader walked close to one of the walls and began to look for something in the dim light their torches provided. A minute later the man seemed to find, what he was looking for and pressed one section of the wall, while kicking another. With a dull sound the wall moved in a little bit. With some combined strength they pushed the hidden door fully open and entered a well lit room.
Aro and the two other people looked around curiously, there could be a few beds in the side of the room, quite a bit of crates on the other and closed doors leading somewhere.
* Stop looking around newbies, help me close this god damn rock doors! - Angrily said their guide.
Once the doors were closed and they turned around to look back, they found themselves being observed by ten men, half of them having their bows ready – all of them dressed in dark clothes made in a way that you would have a hard time telling if the one wearing them was a man or a woman.
* Stand down you lot! It me Fallin! - their guide shouted lightly. - dont scare our new recruits, see? Those two are trembling already!
* Maybe you should bring some real men then next time? - said a woman's voice coming from one of the figures. - hahahaha..
The bows were let down and the group that watched them burst out laughing, taking off their bandannas and hoods, revealing their faces.. surprisingly seven of them were women.
* Listen up greenhorns, you will fight each one of them and they will choose you as their students... Aro you first.
Out of the blue Aro found himself dodging, rolling and parrying blows from a woman, whose dagger seemed to become a vicious snake following his every try to escape or get some distance. His damaged lungs dint help either.
* Stop running chicken! Not like it will help you! - the woman shouted at Aro annoyed.
Aro tensed up at being called a chicken and stood up, while catching his breath he gripped a sword he was handed and turned to the grinning blonde. He took up the stance he was thought back in the army, raising his sword and taking it with both of his hands, putting his left foot forward he found his center of gravity. Calming his breath Aro reversed his grip on the sword with a quick motion and jumped at the blonde, she grinned and was about to kick Aro in the face, when he dived below her and pressed his sword at her thigh prepared to cut one of the bigger arteries in her leg. At the same time he felt her dagger press at the back of his neck drawing small amount of blood.
* A tie! Well done greenhorn. Though, next time try not to find yourself sniffing Kates pussy. - Said Fallin, while he himself and everybody around laughed.
A little red in the face and totally out of breath Aro stood up and nodded, to his sparring partner Kate. She just winked at him and licked her lips...
- Okay next! Bern you go spare with Cleo. - Again Fallin's voice could be heard and another rookie stepped up.