The experiment was going well until Tryle blew himself up.
For the last several days, Tryle had spent most of his waking hours in the small, wooden shack he called his laboratory. He’d built it atop one of the low foothills overlooking the river. Through the small window he’d made using a glass pane that had fallen off a passing merchant’s cart, he could watch the sunlight sparkling off the surface of the clear, blue river.
It was a nice place to conduct cutting-edge science, away from the hustle and bustle of the rest of his goblins in his village.
But Tryle hadn’t built the shack here for just the view. His latest project required a variety of materials. After careful exploration of the surrounding area, he’d identified this spot as the natural midpoint between sourcing locations.
Even so, weeks had gone by before he was able to collect everything he needed. And finally, after many hours of careful planning and measuring, he was ready to test his newest invention. He stepped back to admire his handiwork.
“Hey Tryle, whatcha workin’ on?”
His friend Opal was staring curiously up at him from the bottom of the grassy slope. Her curly bundle of pale-pink hair (the color typical of most female goblins) tousled slightly in the breeze.
“Oh, hey Opal!” he said, surprised. “You’re just in time to witness the birth of my All-Purpose Block Builder!”
“Your what?”
Tryle moved to the side of the shack’s wide doorway to reveal his testing station. On the table was a tall cylinder made out of some kind of translucent sheeting material, which contained a stone tub of water and several glass vials holding various shades of pumpkin-colored liquid, ranging from dull russet to neon orange. To the side of those vials was a tray of crushed, sea-colored jewels.
“I think I’ve found the necessary formula to make strong, disposable platform surfaces using turquoi crystals and a mixture of liquid solution.” Tryle raised a small, drawstring bag. “Add in some fairy dust for growth or shrinkage, and you can customize any size to your liking! You can just mix in the necessary ingredients and bam! Instant platform for traversal, ready for use. You could cross the ocean with enough of these things.”
“I hate the ocean,” said Opal. “Saltwater dries out my scales.”
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“Right, right — a river, then. Or a small ravine. Or imagine this. Instead of having to climb up the Dub-Dub trees to get Dub-Dub fruit, you just stack these Blocks up a few feet at a time to make a kind of staircase to the top branch.”
“I feel like it would be easier to just climb the tree.”
“Well, it’s one of the possibilities.”
“How much weight can it hold?” asked Opal curiously.
“Ah, that’s the trick. Because it’s part turquoi crystal, the platform will stay in place anywhere you release it, even on the top of water. Turqouis are renowned for their stabilizing properties — that’s why you see them in the caves hanging in the middle of thin air. And the best part of all is that they’re perfectly disposable, disintegrating in about twenty-four hours!”
“These blocks can really do all that?” said Opal incredulously.
Tryle scratched his head. “Well, theoretically. I’m doing my first test right now. Do you wanna watch?”
“I’d love to, but I was told to bring you back to the village.”
“Now? But I’m in the middle of my experiment!”
“It’s kinda important, Tryle.”
“Okay, okay. Let me just try to make one sample.”
“But we should really get going…”
“It’ll be quick! I promise.”
Opal stared into Tryle’s excited gray eyes. “Fine, one try.”
Tryle pumped a fist. “Yes! Okay, stand behind that line over there.”
Opal looked around her feet until she spotted a faint, horizontal strip drawn with chalk further down the grassy slope.
She frowned. “Why do I need to do that?”
“Some of the liquid solutions can be combustible — er, highly reactive.”
Opal took her place behind the line. “Is this even safe?”
“The line’s only there for precaution’s sake.”
“That didn’t answer my question.”
But Tryle wasn’t really listening. He strapped a pair of enormous goggles over his eyes, and slipped on leather gloves, and began talking himself through his procedure.
“All right! First, I’m gonna make an opening in this Giant Snail Membrane, which limits the amount of outside oxidation —” he cut a rectangle in the translucent cylinder — “and add in the turquoi crystals” — he dumped the bluish jewels into the stone tub — “and then add the liquids one at a time, starting with the highest-reactive solution first. That way, if something goes wrong, I won’t have to make the other solutions again.”
“Tryle, is this really safe?” called Opal from down the hill.
“Yup, I’ve done the math!” Tryle swilled the largest of the orange-liquid vials and held it over the stone tub. “Not to fear.”
“But have you done this sort of thing before?”
“Not this particular mixture. But the principle is basically the same as making blockboe jelly. Only this time there’s a cementing agent involved.”
He tipped the vial over and dribbled it into the tub.
“Contrary to what you might believe, I have a pretty good handle on things.”
An audible hiss rose up off the water as the liquid suffused the crystals with an ember-like glow. Tryle chewed his lip, watching the mixture intently.
Seconds passed. The crystals steadily grew brighter.
Tryle looked over his shoulder and grinned. “See, absolutely nothing to worry abou —”
Behind him, something flashed as bright as the sun, there was a deafening roar, and an invisible force lifted Tryle off his feet and sent him tumbling down the hill.