‘At first, I wasn’t so sure. This entire endeavor of mine was something of my own making. Yet, this entire sequence of events meant nothing to me. All I could feel was that column of water, bubbling as it gently touched my skin, while the void enshrouded my entire body. I hate this feeling, it feels like I have been in this situation before. How strange.’
“Arise, look, I told you it’s interesting.”
The arid air of the summer afternoon filled the garden. A mundane occurrence during the entirety of April. His own breathing resonated with the hot humid existence. He looked at Eishi, who wore white button up uniform. He donned a thick covered book, he smiled looking at him as he waited.
“I-I don’t really know what happened, I somehow got lost in my own psyche.” Arise replied to Eishi, his voice was hoarse, it sounded like he had been sleeping the entire time. But, it was impossible, they had been talking about the book he had seen in the bookstore.
“Really? But, you just replied to me ten seconds ago, how strange. Heh, that sounds like you,” Eishi chuckled.
During the summertime, Arise and Eishi’s favorite spot was always the garden. Even though the environment was hot, the humid soil provided the air with some sort of coolness, which made the two hide there between breaks and discuss various topics.
“So, what of it? Did Lovecraft get into your head?” Arise asked.
Eishi looked away, “Uh, no? I was just interested. You see how Carter always dreamed of a sunset city, never seemingly reaching it. He turned to the god of dreams but it turns out all of it was a trap.” He explained, he looked rather serious about it.. “You see, unlike most novels I have read, Lovecraft does put me in some sort of trance.”
“You mean existential crisis? Haha” Arise playfully laughed.
Eishi lightly tapped Arise, “Definitely not,”
“Then, why are you invested in this novella?” He asked, the musty smell of the humid soil wafted into his nose. It’s so familiar, Arise often asks, what is this place? Or is this really a time during his highschool… Why is he here… But nothing had come up, just a blank canvas in his brain.
He does not remember how he got here, Arise knows he’s not supposed to be here, but it does not hurt to be in the moment. ‘This familiar setting, how nostalgic. How many years has it been since I last stepped foot in school? I wish I could go back, I am happy Eishi is here with me.’
“Well, It is interesting how Nyarlathotep tried to lure Carter to Azathoth as a sacrifice. By promising something misleading, offering his assistance to help him go to Kadath. But only to deliver him to the blind idiot god, while the Earth god’s moved to the sunset city, which abandoned their duties in Kadath. Which led me to believe. Is Carter's desire so strong that he is willing to abandon his waking moments to just follow the god in his dreams?”
“If your waking moment makes you feel miserable, like an anvil weighing his heart. Even the strongest wills in people will give up if they see something vividly desirable in their dreams.” Arise answered, it was concise as always. Most of the time, his reasoning was always sound. That’s why they became friends after some scuffle during middle school.
“Then, what would you do if this happened to you?”
Eishi’s voice echoed in his head. A twinge of pain plagued his mind. It felt like thousands of ants stinging his brain matter. Something was definitely not right. Everything about this scenario felt fabricated.
The leaves twisted as its colors were shifted to a mass of pink and gray, alternating in between. As his eyes blurred, like the visibility on a heavy fog.
‘Huh… From what I remember from this scenario, he never asked me that question.’ He locked his eyes on Eishi. While he remained passive, waiting for Arise.
“I-I guess I will push through, and understand god's reasoning on why they did it.” Arise gave a straightforward answer. Eishi seemed satisfied with his answer, he smiled and added.
“What if the said god did not answer your question?”
His vision swirled as the musty smell of the soil turned sour. He rose from his seat, rearing the bench. He stumbled as Eishi looked at him.
“Answer me?” Eishi said in a passive tone.
“Is it still about Nyarlathotep? Or my is it about-”
As he felt the hot arid atmosphere caress his skin, it became cool and damp as he slipped to his wake.
“Haaaahhhh!” Arise slowly caught his breath as he convulsed from his bed. His eyes explored the room, the furniture on it were familiar to him, quite similar to what Mel had in her room. But it is undeniably not her room, but someone else's. ‘What was that dream?...’ His palms on his face as he gripped the smooth silk blanket.
‘Thanks for ruining my school memory, what a joke.’
He shifted the blanket and left the room. Though, his legs still felt like wet noodles, as he guided himself beside the walls. He saw Mel busy in her workshop as he heard Stanzi in the hallroom practicing his magic.
“Mel,” he called, which garnered the attention of the young woman who looked up. “How many hours have I been out?” He inquired.
“Four weeks,” She answered, she let out a faint smile as she stopped tinkering on her table and walked upstairs. “You scared us shitless, you suddenly suffered the consequence of a binding spell. But what confuses me is that, which binding did you break? As far as I’m concerned, you have never interacted with this kind of magic since your arrival in this world,” she added, as she supported Arise with her shoulder down the stairs. She laid him onto the couch as she went back to her studies.
“I have no idea, my body suddenly felt like it was on fire. I can’t think rationally about what happened to me.”
“That’s understandable,” She said as sparks flew through the air as she continued to tinker in her workshop. “Then, I have good news for you.”
Arise perked up and stared at Mel, “What is it?”
“Your distillation apparatus was completed earlier than what I expected. Honestly, those glass smiths are overqualified for their job aha ha ha,” She laughed playfully and then she added. “Stanzi’s cryology is becoming better and much more precise. You need to catch up from your lessons, and from the looks of it, you seemed exhausted even coming from a month of sleep. I’ll let you recover your strength before we continue.”
“Alright,”
Arise slumped on the couch as he heard the commotion happening around him. Apparently, during his four weeks of inactivity, Mel had fetched him potato wine that he requested three weeks prior. And during the two week period, the duke ordered an increase of tax to the common folks. This left the working class deeply upset, but cannot express it due to the fears of prosecution by the nobles. Because of that, Mel almost stormed out of her house to attack the duke, as most of her savings was swiped down due to her business not generating enough revenue to tax. But, a kind restaurant owner near the gate whom she befriended a while back stopped her.
When his strength in his legs came back, he began to unfurl the cloth covering the apparatus. Though much crude than what it is capable of on Earth, he looked impressed at the results of the glass smiths. It was enough to distill liquids of his choice.
Then he asked Mel, “Are there any magic artifacts or materials that produce heat?”
She paused for a moment then answered, “Yes, there are, while we have the exploding catalyst which absorbs heat and releases it as an explosion, we also have fire stone.”
“A fire stone?” he asked. “Can I precisely control the temperature of the stone?”
“With enough aetheric energy, yes.”
“I’ll take that, and also, did you do what I asked?”
She furrowed her brows, “You asked me to do various things from the past weeks, be specific about it.”
He scratched the back of his head as he apologized, “My bad,” then he clarified. “About sealing a silvery metal that’s been used in make ups in a cylinder glass tube and sealing it.”
With her hands up, she realized. “Ah, that one, yes we did it. However, it got delayed last week because the glass smith Erigor caught the miasma and fell ill. But here we go.” She handed Arise a vial of silvery metal. Which felt cold to the touch.
“Tell, the glass smiths my thanks and I would like them to attend the opening of my store.” Arise said as he retreated to the table.
“I will,”
As he glued the glass tube to a flat piece of wood, he accurately marked the side with lines accompanied by a number and a symbol of C.
When he received the fire stone, he placed it under the distillation apparatus. He poured half the potato wine inside the flask. He placed the lid which he placed at the tip of the rudimentary thermometer he made. As the aetheric energy flowed on the fire stone, it began to emanate heat. Arise observed the liquid as it bubbled. The thermometer slowly rose up until the seventy eight mark which began to evaporate the liquid.
He watched the liquid slowly drip from the flask to the condenser, which ultimately flowed to the other glass flask.
It went by a few hours to completely distill the alcohol he needed. Then he looked at the crystal clear liquid inside the flask, clearer than any glass that could exist. He marveled at it as he grabbed a glass.
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“How beautiful, I guess this is my first alcohol in this world.” He poured a small amount of vodka.
He gulped down the liquor as he felt a surge of heat rushing from his chest. “That’s amazing, then let’s do the second step.”
Then he brought out a glass bottle, then he filled it with vanilla beans and vodka. He sealed it with a wooden cork and hid it in a dark place.
Mel came around and asked, “What’s that thing?”
“Oh, I call that vanilla extract. It is the foundation of modern sweet flavors in my world.”
“And that liquid?” she pointed at the vodka sitting on the table.
“That’s the potato wine, well specifically, it’s called vodka now.”
"Is that like liquor from your world?” Mel asked, eyes twinkling with curiosity.
Arise poured a drink to Mel and said, “Yes, would you like some?”
“Do not mind if I do,” She grabbed the drink off his hands and gulped it. “That taste was interesting. It has a smooth texture that I can’t taste with the original wine, and it also lacks a distinct taste. Does all liquor in your world tasteless?”
“Certainly not, I guess this is not a good introduction to my world’s liquor huh?”
“You may be right, ah haha”
A week later, on a wet rainy day, Arise went to a monastery to learn about the functions of healing magic. He inquired the women donned in black and white about the magic and they seemed eager to teach him. As he grasped the basics and even the intermediate part of magic, he was confident about learning healing magic. Using spells seems easy, making one requires more effort than one could give. So, Mel had skipped the lesson about that for some time.
An elderly woman approached Arise and made a praying gesture. She smiled at him which felt nice. “So, you wanted to learn about healing?”
“Uhh, more or less?”
“Very well then, since you’re eager to do it, let us do a demonstration. Come, here brother.” The nun led him inside, he witnessed a man with a massive gash on his arm, gushing blood as he clenched his teeth.
“To do it, you must have faith. Unlike most magic, this one does not need any incantation, rather you can just think of it while casting it. Let the power of god flow through your body.” She held her hands to the man, bright white light filled the wound. It slowly closed as the blood dried out the moment it touched the light.
‘While I do not understand what she meant by having faith. The result was quite intriguing.’
The wound was closed, only leaving a faint scar on his skin. The blood that used to be enveloped hardened as it flaked. The nun assured the man that the scar would vanish within a week.Which made the man visibly happy. From what he observed alone, he surmised two different theories about the healing magic.
‘Fantasy healing was completely debunked, the fact that it left a scar means it just doesn’t heal people through magical means. So first, this healing magic might overcharge cellular restoration through unknown means, maybe by giving it energy. But the phenomenon of blood drying was also interesting.
This means, second theory, this healing magic does provide energy to the cells by lowering its activation energy and giving it extra to work. This exponentially increases the cell’s replication rate, also affecting anything besides the body. Hence the blood. But, this further proves that my plan for penicillin won’t be barricaded by healing magic.’
Arise was overjoyed by this fact, so he goes on his way to learn healing magic from the nun. It took him five hours to grasp the concept of magic. What the nun said about faith was concentration. What matters the most is the incantation and symbols it associated with, in this case it was a sun blotted out by the moon. A symbol of Prodimia’s religion. Which filled Arise with disgust.
‘I have to channel power from Prodimia, ugh I don’t like this’
He kept a passive grin, his face tensed up as he waited for the rain to be subdued by the afternoon radiance. He bowed at the Nun and left the monastery. The nun however was bewildered by the act of bowing.
‘Now, that I learned healing magic. It is time to put my theory into practice. As he grazed on the moss laden cobbled road, commotions could be heard on the other side of the streets. He witnessed many people pooling into the area as some scuffle stirred.
Feeling curious, Arise joined the ongoing lookout.
‘Huh, what’s happening here?’ He tiptoed to look up but as the crowd of people pooled up, his lack of height did not help for it.
So he walked around the horde of people as he looked for a better spot, Arise saw a slight hole within the crowd and squeezed himself through. There, he witnessed a person he recognized. The fancy nobleman he had seen a while back from his first arrival at the city. He looked down at the poor business owner as he begged for the young man.
“My lord, I am begging you, please we don’t have anything to pay for. The tax increase the duke implemented crippled many establishments, not just my own. Please, I can pay for it next month, I promise’ He groveled as he clasped his hands together.
Alexandris looked at him condescendingly, not even a shred of empathy. Then his mouth parted and said, “Did you just critiqued my father’s decision? Do you know what happened to peasants like you commenting on the noble's decision?”
“No, no, that is not my intention. I was merely stating a fact, we’re all deteriorating here. Please give us a leeway, we have always paid our taxes awhile back.”
“I hate how you sounded. You’re really talking back to me.”
“No, please, my lord, I’m not.”
The nobleman lodged his foot in the business owner’s mouth, ‘You see, this is the only way you can taste something expensive. Marvel it while it lasts, because when the duke of Rosea, my father, heard about your insolent demands. We’ll be sure what will happen to you.” Then he struck the owner down as teeth and blood hurled in the air.
“This is unfair, you monsters are unfair, how can you say that to people,” said the business owner, as he breathed heavily.
The nobleman gritted his teeth as he clenched his fist, The veins on his head turned red as his vision narrowed.
Murmur spread throughout the crowd, as the ladies and men alike shared their insights on this. It was collectively agreed. The business owner was as good as dead.
The man clenched his fist, enveloped with a fiery glow. A mass of flames formed onto his hand and hurled it at Alexandris. The young man dared to dodge but his garment grazed the fire which caused embers to reproduce and catch on fire.
Tsk.
A gust of air was expelled from the nobleman as he swung his arm. This draft caused the crowd to tumble over as the young man’s eyes darkened as he approached the business owner.
“You dared to hurl that filthy magic on me, you even managed to burn some parts of it,” The young man leaned onto the man. Then he added, “Your establishment is on the brink of collapse, you have no money. Then, where will you get the money to pay for this garment?”
“You filthy lot of the Rhoeia family deserve this. Did you not think we as the people never noticed your father’s suspicious activities,” He shouted, as his voice was heard from several blocks away.
Then the crowd grew restless, their limbs trembling as their lips squirmed.
One woman interjected, “We do not associate ourselves with him, we do not know what he’s talking about.”
“What?”
Another man supported the woman’s claim from the crowd, “Yes, we do not know what he’s talking about. He’s a heretic.”
“What are you people talking about?”
“This state is as lively as ever, nothing’s wrong” said another onlooker.
Then the business owner protested, “Are you people serious? Just like that… Oh, I see now, that's what it is huh?”
The crowd slowly went from weary to pure panic as they rejected the man’s claims.
Arise witnessed the slow collapse of the tense crowd as they began to throw claims against the business owner whom they pitied before.
The situation about the nobility was worse than he expected but he had nothing to do with this, he’s just an outsider, a spectator to the mess that was the Rosea Duchy. And the fact that the crowd who initially inwardly agreed with the man turned against him supported the fact that the duke held absolute power, and any accusations and slander will be held on high accord.
“Wait, listen to me. The duke of Rosea is-”
“Since you can’t pay for what you destroyed, and an attempt to harm someone of nobility. I am hereby…” He smirked, as he gathered a coalesced wind on his arm. “Sentence you to death.”
The gust of wind lashed the man, as the crimson spray of blood gushed from his neck. The fishy smell of iron filled the air as the crowd scattered. Arise, for his own safety, also fled. The pool of blood seeped into the missed cobbled road as it was painted red.
When he was about to finish off the business owner, ready to unleash the coalesced wind energy off his hand.
His arm was stopped, a blonde woman with beautiful blue eyes intercepted Alexadris’s execution. She held his arms as her hair flailed with the wind.
She glared at him and said, “You should stop now brother, you caused so much trouble already.”
“Hazel… Do not interrupt me.” said Alexandris, returning the glare back.
Alexandris yanked his arms out of Hazel's tight grasp. Then she retorted “So what? I should let you murder this innocent man?”
“Did you see what he did?”
Hazel furrowed her brows as she blocked the gasping man’s body out of Alexandris’s sight. “He criticized our father’s decision, so what? He is right. This is crazy, enough. Father’s gone through you.”
“There we go again with your claims, I am doing this on my own accord.”
“I never saw you as a cold blooded killer,” said Hazel in a melancholic tone. “This is not you.”
“No, I’m not fighting you again, I’m out of here.”
“We’re not done,”
But Alexandris dusted his clothes off as he wiped a smudge of blood off his cheek with a clean handkerchief. He raised his hand as he called the carriage.
An extravagant carriage halted in front of Alexandris which he boarded.
Hazel sighed as she called her Chauffeur Rosie to her side as she lifted the bleeding man. “This will hurt, endure it can you?” her voice was like the wind, gentle and caring. She brought the wound together, grasping it close. Then she channeled aetheric energy through her fingers.
His flesh sizzled as Hazel continued to close his wound with fire magic. Then, she applied a cloth to his neck and asked Rosie to carry him to the carriage. “I apologized for that, I don’t really know healing magic. Don’t worry about your business, I’ll get it covered.”
Her carriage went to a secluded part of the city as she dropped off the wounded man to one of her establishments to hide from Alexandris.
“He really went far, I can’t take how this situation’s turning out.”
As Arise fled, one thing that plagued his mind. He said in his mind:
‘This kingdom is crazy. I thought, only the royal family could do that without repercussions. I just need to gather enough funds and get out of here. I can’t stay in this corrupt shit-hole’ Arise dashed straight to Mel’s house, his brain poisoned with the vision of a man, his blood spilled on the street as the noble did not give a second thought on executing him.
The door crashed as Arise hastily went inside the house.
Seeing the commotion Arise caused, Mel furrowed her brows and asked. “What’s the matter?”
It felt like an anvil weighing his chest down, he slumped on the door. “The nobles here, they’re all crazy.”
“Oh, you must’ve encountered someone from the Rhoeia family already. I am sorry for that.”
“Don’t be,” said Arise, as he gasped for air. “They seem inherently like that. I’m not surprised.”
“But, you seem shaken up.”
“No, I’m not!” He exclaimed, then he covered his mouth as he realized his response. ‘Damn it, why am I losing my cool lately… I would never act like this.’ He thought.
Then, she gave him a mischievous sly grin, “Eh, denying you look like a cat shaken up by the sound of thunder.”
“Stop with the Similes,”
“Fine,” Mel crossed her arms, eyes laden with resignation. She retreat to the couch as she sat keeping her legs lifted, she saved another seat for Arise, inviting him. “Then, what are you gonna do? Will you abandon your project and leave this duchy?”
”Definitely not, I spent enough time on it- to dispose of it, such a waste if I did.”
”So, you’ll continue it, despite having the front row to the violent acts of the Rhoeia family?”
”Yes, I guess in this situation, you could apply the phrase: ‘You win some, you lose some’.” He slumped on the sofa, mind still filled with contradictions. While true that he was shook to his core witnessing a violent act. The allure of money that funds his expedition out of the country to find his friends was too good to be true to pass on. Like a fish seeing a bait attached to a hook.
He shifted his brown hair back as he exhaled. ‘I can’t believe, I’m continuing this. It just feels like the old times, when I used to work on that pharmaceutical company, how horrible. Haha’ He chuckled to himself.
In the hall-room, Stanzi peered through the cracks of the door. He heard Arise’s commotion and stopped his training. As his ocean-hued eyes observed the two.
’Rhoeia... They caused quite a ruckus today, I can hear the loud-mouthed lady next door about the duke’s son. Why would they talk about that, knowing simply badmouthing the noble family is a death sentence... I could never understand them,’ Then he smiled lightly. ‘I’m still grateful that he’s still alive after encountering such foul individual.’
The wooden door closed completely, cutting himself from the rest of the world. Chill crept along the hallway as he continued to practice his cryology.