Chapter 02 : A silent disaster

“_ The machine is powered.” Told Arcanist Amos to her Master.

They were both next to the second altar and were looking at different arcanic tools probably helping them to monitor the experiment. Arcanist Julius was a bit withdraw and seemed almost confused by all the technical parts of what his master and fellow assistant were doing.

From their side, the Aspirants were just waiting. The machine didn’t emit any sound or vibration that would indicate it was on. The multiple gems on it didn’t glow, neither was the Ether Crystal. It was not surprising, real arcanic experiences were not children shows and manipulating arcanic energies was ineffable to those with no sensitivity to them.

Nikolaï started feeling something, a pressure inside his chest. It was not painful but a bit uncomfortable. By the look of the other Aspirants, he was not the only one feeling it. The pressure spread to the rest of his body with ease, making it numb. Moving became hard as if his nerves had troubled to reach his muscle. From the corner of his eyes, Nikolaï could see the Arcanists still monitoring the situation and they didn’t seem panicked.

When Assistant Amos give them the potions she mentioned that dizziness could appear, that’s why they had been attached to the chairs. Their hands were free, the belt holding them went under their armpits and was attached from the front. It was to make sure that they didn’t slide from the chair, not to tie them.

The pressure had completely overwhelmed his body now and Nikolaï realised that even if he wanted to, the numbness would prevent him from getting rid of the belt holding him. He tried to say something but the effect made him incapable of talking even if his mind was clearly conscious.

Suddenly Nikolaï felt something pulling. It was like his spirit was pushed away from his body. He could still feel his body but he felt distant. In exchange, his sensibility to Ether and elementium became sharper than ever. He could feel the two energies intertwined in the machine in front of him, the elementium surround the area and the Ether of each Aspirant next to him.

It was a fascinating experience, quite scary but fascinating none-less. Feeling its own Ether was the first step to study Arcane, every Aspirant had to learn it but being able to feel the one from others was another level. Because of this empowered sensitivity, Nikolaï could feel that the Aspirants were in the same situation as himself concerning their own Ether.

It was hard to describe the sensation he was living through and the best Nikolaï could come up with was that their Ether had been dislodged from their bodies. Not a lot, they could still felt their bodies but it was out of place, which explained the numbness. He could feel the proper way that his Ether should be and right now it was like the pressure generated via the machine just created a small gap between the proper state and this artificial one.

Nikolaï tried to focus on his Ether, it was a unique chance to have a better sense of it. Whatever Expert Orsana said, meditation was still the most common way to grow and sensing your Ether was in the centre of it.

Unfortunately, Nikolaï never had the chance to experiment much further. The elementiums around him started to react with the exposed Ether and the meeting of the two formed arcanic reactions. No matter the numbness the pain was real, it was not just physical but profound too.

The 8 Aspirants were attacked by particles of elementium, hurting them as if they were naked in the blizzard. Nikolaï tried to move, to yell but his body was completely paralysed. He felt like a worm being pecked by birds, all of their biting were different but equally painful.

One of the Aspirants began to have spasms and shook violently. He attracted the Arcanists attention and Nikolaï felt hope.

“_ What’s going on with this one ?” Asked Arcanist Julius.

“_ Probably just a reaction to the magnetisation.” Answered Amos. “That’s why we attached them.”

“_ Let’s continue, the experiment just started and the machine can only work at dusk.” Concluded Expert Orsana before looking back at his tools.

The two assistants didn’t argue and none of the three even looked at the other Aspirants.

“Those bastards !” Thought Nikolaï.“Too worry about their results to see what is happening in front of them.”

If they had paid more attention to their ‘subjects’ they could have seen tears coming from their eyes but also all kind of small wound forming out of nowhere. Cut, burn, dry spot peeling the skin... Nikolaï realised that each elementium was leaving a different mark on them when it collided with their Ethers.

Nikolaï tried to resist, to put his Ether back in his body but the pressure from the machine was too strong for someone of his ability. The smell of burnt flesh arrived at Nikolaï nose and he didn’t take long to realise where it was coming from. Seth was on fire. Not literally on flame but his Ether was surrounded by Fire Elementium that consumed his Ether like fuel. His body was smoking, burning from the inside.

“_ Something is wrong !” Said one of the Arcanist.

Nikolaï was in too much pain to identify which one had talked. Seth died, his Ether entirely consumed but he was not the only one, just the first one. Nikolaï felt his Ether falling apart, attacked from every angle. In his last moment, a huge column of light appeared to him and he died, unable to endure the pain anymore.

***

Arcanist Amos was on the ground floor of the Tower in an office next to the great hall. The room had multiple high desks and the Arcanist was waiting against one of them for the Tower employee who had gone looking something in his files for her.

Arcanist Amos started tapping her finger against the desk. She didn’t have patience for this kind of things and in her opinion, it would be better to occupy her time by treating the results of the experience.

It had been two days since the disaster and they were still trying to figure out what had happened. At least her master and she were trying, she thought to herself.

“Julius is not good at this, Master know it, how can he still be his favourite ?” Wondered Arcanist Amos while grinding her teeth. “All he tried to do was accuse me of the failure because I gave them the potions. The idiot ! It was not even a potion but a contrast medium to monitor the effect of the experiment.”

Arcanist Amos was sure that her blending was not responsible and Arcanist Julius probably knew it too. He only accused her because it gave him the opportunity to act like it was not their master responsibility. Arcanist Julius didn’t have the naivete to believe that his master was beyond making mistakes but skilled had pretended to. He was a sucker and that was probably why he was the favourite.

A troubling thought emerged in Arcanist Amos mind. What if Arcanist Julius used the opportunity of her temporary absence to reject the fault on her ? The scandal had yet to come to its all avalanche of issues. The Amos family wasn’t one of the weakest but it could devastate it, especially if an Expert like Orsana was facing them.

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“_ Hurry up !” Ordered Arcanist Amos to the employee.

The sudden outburst seemed to attract the attention of another person not far, a man a bit older than Arcanist Amos.

“_ Arcanist Amos I knew I recognize your voice, good evening.” Said the man.

“_ Good evening to you too Arcanist Trabiha.” Responded Arcanist Amos.

They both saluted each other the proper way. Being both Arcanist of the 4th circle they were considered equal and the fact that the meeting was informal they just had to node to each other after presenting their hand facing up. Most of the time people didn’t even bother to present their hands to acquaintances in a situation like theirs but there was always exceptions.

In that case, it was the fact that Arcanist Trabiha was a duellist and so, one of the rivals of Arcanist Julius. Arcanist Amos and him being the two assistants of Expert Orsana it required a certain restraint of familiarity when they were greeting. The rivalry of one against the other didn’t extend to Arcanist Amos but it was better to respect the etiquette.

“_ I heard about what happened, it is tragic.” Said Arcanist Trabiha with an equal voice.

“_ Every experiment has its risks.” Replied coldly Arcanist Amos.

“_ It’s true. But usually failing didn’t cost the lives of all of his volunteers.”

“_ Do you have a point ?” She asked, apparently completely unshaken by her interlocutor words.

“_ It’s the kind of things that could hit a severe blow to someone carrier. Expert Orsana’s reputation already suffering from it and it is not going to stop here.”

“_ I will be glad to see you support the same speech in front of my Master.” Defied Arcanist Amos. “Expert Orsana is still an Arcanist of the 5th circle and a renowned scholar in Spiritual Arcane and Mystical Arcane.”

“_ You are right, his titles and knowledge can not be questioned but settling with the families of the victims will still cost him.” Argued Arcanist Trabiha.

Arcanist Amos sighed slightly. She knew that Arcanist Trabiha was trying to bait her. Maybe he was looking for information to feed the rumours or maybe he was just toying with her, testing her loyalty.

“_ I’m sure my Master will be generous to help with the grieves of those families but the volunteers all signed for the experiment under no constraint and in complete respect of the Tower rules.” Said Arcanist Amos with a smirk.

“_ Did they !? That probably explains why no hearing had been announced on the matter.” Declared Arcanist Trabiha with an amused smile.

Arcanist Amos finally realised what Arcanist Trabiha was looking for. Expert Orsana’s detractor probably fed the rumours that he tried to make the all thing disappear to avoid a hearing in front of the Tower. Or trying to grease people’s palms out of the scandal.

Arcanist Amos didn’t confirm on the subject in any way. They were still a chance of a hearing but it would probably help them more than the opposite. The scandal was inevitable, it was too big but Arcanist Amos believed that people had short memories. In a year people wouldn’t dare to speak on the matter anymore.

The tower employee finally came back with the file. Arcanist Amos signed the ledger held by him and took the files without checking them, not wanting to lingering here anymore and giving the chance at Arcanist Trabiha to continue the conversation.

She gave her goodbyes and started to leave.

“_ One last thing if you may ?” Asked Arcanist Trabiha, stopping her at the door. “It just a rumour but…”

“_ I don’t care for gossips.” Cut Arcanist Amos.

“_ Oh I think you’ll care for this one.” Said Arcanist Trabiha with a devious smile. “It says that Expert Orsana knew the risks and that’s why from all of the volunteers he only kept the one from lower family and unimportant lineage.”

“_ Like I said, I don’t care for gossip.”

Arcanist Amos left the room without hesitation. Arcanist Trabiha had tried once again to disrupt her but she was not as easy. The rumour was idiotic for her, using the machine required a lot of resources and Expert Orsana was not the kind of men to waste them if there was a big enough chance to fail.

They had worked on it for months, using arcanic creature to test it. Human-test was the logical next step and Expert Orsana wanted to make it count. Arcanist Amos had agreed, even if the experiment failed the more subject they had the easier was to narrow the causes. Skimming the unpredictable variables by having a large test population had been the goal.

Implying that all of this was some kind of plot to get rid of the bottom feeder of the Tower was preposterous for Arcanist Amos. It was true that the process of selection through the volunteers wasn’t just about the scientific aspect but fortunately for them this information was falling under the law of secrecy protecting an Arcanist work.

Arcanist Amos sighed at Arcanist Trabiha’s attempt. His rumour would never become as scandalous as he may thought because none of the other Experts would accuse Expert Orsana without risking being exposed for the exact same things. Especially in a Tower largely focused on alchemical research. Even some of the Aspirant used paid human subject and it was common sense to avoid the heirs or heiresses of an important family to do so.

***

Arcanist Amos finally arrived at her master laboratory and open the door with the key around her neck. The room had changed over the last two days. Most of the tables had been cleared and what was on it stored the best possible way in a corner of the room.

Half of it had been covered with thick leather sheets and the dead bodies of the volunteers had been put there. The bodies were put on special hand-barrow made to conserve the body and surrounded by artefacts with the same purpose. One of the tables had been used to have a dissection space.

Even with the burning incenses and the many bowls of floral essence, it was still smelling like guts. Arcanist Amos ignored the smell and walked to the dissection table where Expert Orsana was looking closely at a liver under a lens. He just had to pull it off from the dead Aspirant on the table, Seth. Expert Orsana realised that he was not alone anymore.

“_ This is fascinating.” He commented to his Assistant. “Like the others, no external wound serious enough to cause death and it the same internally.”

“_ The liver seemed damage.” Noticed Arcanist Amos.

“_ Only on the surface.” Said Expert Orsana before taking a knife and slicing a piece of the liver.

He showed his assistant that despite the crisp appearance of some of the spots on the organ the inside was okay. Seeing her master’s mood improve she dared to ask.

“_ Did you figure out what killed them ?”

“_ It’s still quite a puzzle. They all show different kinds of injuries so determining the right cause is difficult.” Answered Expert Orsana with calm. “As a common cause of death, their bodies just shut down so looking at how from each one individually will be a waste of time. Better to look for why.”

“_ Do you want to get the notes from the machine ?” Asked the assistant.

“_ It’s better to focus on the subjects before the decaying take that chance away. I’m confident that we could still learn a lot from the experience by using them. For example, I noticed that even if they don’t show the same internal injuries the chest area had been surprisingly kept in good condition.”

Expert Orsana made a few other observations to his assistant. She was listening carefully, she would have to transcript his observations later and make sure that nothing was missing. Most of her role when assisting her master was to consign his say and to prepare in advance what he needed.

Arcanist Amos was relieved to see Expert Orsana back to his usual self. He had been furious and very disappointed by the way the experiment went, it was a major setback in his research but now that he had the occasion to dig into the subject his research could benefit from it.

“_ Is that the file I asked for ?”

Arcanist Amos realised that she was still holding the file under her arm and let his explanation distracting her from her duty.

“_ Yes it is, sorry to have you waited for it.” Answered Arcanist Amos before handing it in a bow.

Expert Orsana took off his gloves and snatched the files with annoyance. He opened it and look through it rapidly, it was all of the Tower had on one of the subjects : Nikolaï Orwood. From every class he signed for, the mission he took in the gardens, the result of his tests, etc ...

Through Expert Orsana eyes nothing was worth his particular attention so he closed the file and handing it back to his assistant who was still bowing.

“_ We will take care of the survivor later, he is not going anywhere and the personnel is ordered to seek me the moment he wakes up.”

“_ Yes master.”