Maria sighed and leaned her head back against the cupboard door under the stairs. She was struggling to keep her eyes open at this point. Lycia had been running around all day, mixing the ingredients for the potion together, and preparing the brew. There wasn’t much she could do but watch, but that even got old after a while. She didn’t understand science before coming here, and she doesn't understand science now.
Lycia had been running back and forth all day, assisting the customers out front while juggling all their orders, as well as her own. The demi-human was sweating, nearly out of breath, though she was in a much chipper mood than before.
In truth, she didn’t have to stay. She could leave at any time, but Lycia seemed beyond excited to have someone in the lab with her that Maria couldn’t help but feel a tinge of guilt leaving. Truth be told, she had no idea where Chariot and Tanalia were. The three had parted ways for the day, and while Maria returned to the potion shop with Lycia, the other two had gone off to do whatever. She suspected Tanalia was out getting more ingredients for sticky bombs, while Chariot was either at the Church of the Lunar Goddess or… well she didn’t know what else Chariot would be doing. Taking a break, she figured.
In the upper left-hand corner of her vision, her XP bar was flashing. Maria had finally reached Lvl 20. Though she got nothing out of it, it still felt like a significant milestone. She was making decent progress. She had skill points she hadn’t used yet, six, to be exact. She needed to get in a better habit of using those points sooner rather than later. She had been sitting on four of them since the dungeon, as well as the two she got for assisting in killing the griffon. She might as well use them now.
She opened the skill tree menu and scrolled through all her options. Maria enjoyed the lightning spells, though she really felt like leaning into fire would be a lot more fun. Maybe it was just the dopamine in her brain telling her that the ability to control fire was way cooler than lightning, or maybe it was just her having already invested so many points into fire spells, that it only made sense to keep investing in it.
Looking at the skill tree, there were a lot of branching paths she could unlock. However, one spell did catch her eye.
Enchant weapon: Fire - Enchants users, or party member's weapons to deal fire damage.
Cost: 30 mana
Duration: 3 Minutes
15% chance to give burn status effect.
She could put only one point into the spell, meaning she didn’t need to invest in it further in the future. The ability for all her party members to deal fire damage, including her own weapon, seemed like a decent spell to have. To unlock that spell, however, she would first need {Fireball}.
Fireball - A large flame projectile, causes an explosion on impact.
Cost: 25 mana
Base damage: 40
5% chance to give burn status effect.
It was a spell she had been eyeing since she started this whole adventure. It sounded like it would be fun to use. She unlocked the spell, and two new paths opened up. One was for {Enchant weapon: Fire}, and the other was for {Fire Rune}.
Fire Rune - Lays a trap that when passed or stepped on, explodes with fire.
Cost: 40 mana
Base Damage: 50
15% chance to give burn status effect.
She eyed the spell for a moment. It was certainly an interesting-sounding spell. She pictured it almost like a landmine, tossing the spell on the ground, and when the enemy got too close to it, it would go off. It certainly sounded like something Tanalia would find amusing. Maria unlocked both {Enchant weapon: Fire}, and {Fire Rune}, and was left with three more points to play with. She was good with new spells for now, and just decided to upgrade a few of her existing ones.
Spell Unlocked!
Enchant weapon: Fire - Enchants users, or party member's weapons to deal fire damage.
Lvl: 1
Cost: 30 mana
Duration: 3 Minutes
15% chance to give burn status effect.
Spell Unlocked!
Fire Rune - Lays a trap that when passed or stepped on, explodes with fire.
Lvl: 1
Cost: 40 mana
Base Damage: 50
15% chance to give burn status effect.
Spell Upgraded!
Flames - Fire shoots from the caster's hand.
Lvl: 5 >> 6
Cost: Drains mana gradually in prolonged use.
Base damage: 11 >> 14
15% chance to give burn status effect.
Spell Upgraded!
Firebolt - A concentrated flame projectile.
Lvl: 3 >> 4
Cost: 10 mana
Base damage: 30 >> 36
5% chance to give burn status effect.
Spell Upgraded!
Fireball - A large flame projectile, causes an explosion on impact.
Lvl: 1 >> 2
Cost: 25 mana
Base damage: 40 >> 49
5% chance to give burn status effect.
“It should almost be done,” Lycia said. She slipped on a pair of mittens and hoisted the cauldron out from the furnace, and placed it onto a hot grate over the center desk. She dropped the plucked hairs from the white razorfoot griffon feather into the brew and stirred it with a wooden ladle. A moment later, a purple puff of smoke burst from the cauldron. Lycia coughed as she stumbled back.
“Oh god,” she wheezed.
“Are you okay?” Maria asked.
“I’m fine, yes. It just caught me off guard.” Lycia turned back to the brew and dipped the ladle back in. She poured the blackish-purple liquid into a thin flask and looked at it with wide eyes.
Gravity Potion - Purple, Grants the user the ability to manipulate their own gravitational pull.
Duration: 3 Minutes
“I… did it?”
“Did you?”
Lycia gulped. “I think so. Only one way to find out,” she chuckled nervously.
“Wait, what happens if you don’t brew it correctly?”
She paused, then shrugged her shoulders. The demi-human chugged the vile and placed it aside. She stood still, waiting, though nothing seemed to happen.
“Is… something supposed to happen?” Maria asked.
“Yes. I think I just need to think about which direction I want my gravity to—” Lycia quickly fell up towards the ceiling, and slammed her head into the wooden support beams. “Ow!”
Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere.
Maria jumped to her feet. “Are you okay?”
“Y- Yes?” Lycia said. She was lying flat against the ceiling. As she slowly got to her feet, she found herself at eye level with Maria once again, only upside down. Maria took a step back, and just stared at the girl, her eyes wide with a huge smile pulling at her cheeks. Lycia was standing completely upside down. While her hair floated upwards with her, her clothes didn’t seem to carry the effect, leaving her apron and dress to fall over her torso, as they were still under the earth's natural influence. As a result, Maria had an unobscured view of Lycia’s panties… or in this case lack of them.
Maria chuckled. “I like this potion.”
Lycia pushed her dress between her legs so she could see Maria. “I did it!” She jumped up and down in excitement, or, in Maria’s case, down and back up. Her tail was wagging furiously as she skipped around the ceiling. She glanced down… or… up, at the cauldrons, and ingredients.
“You did it!”
“Now I just need to figure out how to get back down—” The demi-human plummeted, and slammed into the stone floor.
Maria flinched back and hissed as Lycia groaned. She was bleeding from a small knick on her forehead, but aside from that, she looked fine.
“Are you okay this time?” Maria asked.
“A little less so… but I don’t care! I did it!”
Maria chuckled.
Lycia poured more of the Gravity Potions into flasks and handed them to Maria. “Here, you can have some.”
“Are you sure?”
“Mhm! Give some to the others. Consider it thanks for your help. It should come in handy if you ever need to float… or stop floating. If you’re ever under a spell where you lost your sense of gravity, it should negate the effect.”
“I… I… Thank you.”
“No, thank you!”
From the front lobby, the little bell above the door jingled again.
“I’ll be right there!” Lycia yelled. She quickly dropped her utensils, brushed herself off, and hurried out. “Hello, how can— Oh.” Her voice grew quiet. “H- Hello Master Blunog.”
Maria quickly looked to the door.
Moffavan walked into the back room, hunched over, with a twisted frown and narrow, tired eyes. An old man his age no doubt looked like that all the time, but he was giving off such a powerful aura of disdain and disgruntlement that it made Maria gulp.
He spotted Maria. “Who the hell are you?”
“Uh, hello. I’m Maria. I was in the shop a while back.”
Moffavan looked her up and down, craning his head to the side slightly as he scratched at his long beard. “Ah, that witch. You were with the elf and the other woman.”
“That would be us, yes.”
“What the hell are you doing back here?”
“I invited her here, master,” Lycia said, hurrying into the back room after him.
“You invited her?” He glared back at the demi-human. “Idiot mongroul, do you know what happens if we let complete strangers back here?”
“I- It’s fine master, she’s my friend—”
“She could swindle, swipe ingredients and potions! She can ruin the brews!”
“I beg your pardon,” Maria said, clearing her throat. “I don’t have any intention—”
“It doesn't matter!” Moffavan quickly swiped Lycia by the tip of her ear, and pulled at it, bringing her closer to yell into it. “Have I not told you not to let people back here you worthless little mutt.”
“Hey!” Maria grabbed at Moffavan’s arm and pulled him away from Lycia. The demi-human stumbled away, holding her ear and whimpering.
“I’m s- sorry master. It’s just she was helping me—”
“Helping you?” He turned back to face her. “I don’t need another idiot running around my shop—”
“N- No! She was helping me get the ingredients for a potion!”
“We have all the ingredients you need here unless you’ve gone and wasted them all with failed brews again!”
Lycia took a step back and crossed her legs. “I- I haven’t ruined that many batches…”
“You’ve ruined enough.”
“Hold on,” Maria said. “Give her a moment to talk.”
“She talks enough as is. I can’t go five minutes without her yapping in my ear with questions and small talk.”
“It’s natural for an apprentice to want to know more. I asked my master lots of questions.”
“Then he’s an idiot for telling you too much. You should be able to figure things out on your own.”
Maria stood, dumbfounded. “I mean… a guiding hand helps.”
Lycia cleared her throat, took a deep breath, and relaxed. “Master Blunog, I know that you don’t see a lot of value in me as an apprentice, but every day I still try my hardest to please you. I look up to you, and I’m getting better. I want to prove myself to you.”
“You can start by cleaning up the mess in here and leaving me alone for the night,” he growled, then looked to Maria. “And you, get out.”
“You once told me I’d never be able to brew a Gravity potion,” Lycia continued.
“I know I did because you don’t have an ounce of talent beyond what you’ve read in books.”
Lycia’s eye twitched. She took another deep breath and heaved her shoulders. “I brewed it… correctly.”
“You did what?”
“It’s why I needed Maria’s help. I have been searching for a White Feather of a Razorfoot Griffin, and I finally found one. In Fact, I found several.” Lycia walked over to the center table and lifted up the jar in which she had stuffed all the feathers into. There were so many she couldn’t keep them all in the jar and had a few sitting aside. “I figured you might want them for other potions.”
Moffavan took the jar and looked it over. As he unscrewed the lid, Lycia downed another Gravity Potion, and, more carefully this time, reversed gravity on herself. She floated up, and caught herself before hitting the ceiling, performing an upside-down handstand.
“Where did you get these?” Moffavan asked again.
“Maria and her friends took me into the mountains to get them.”
“You left the shop unattended?”
“I mean… It was only for two days.”
“Two days?” Moffavan shouted.
“T- The orders were all still brewing, they weren’t going to finish while I was gone.”
“I don’t give a damn, you have a job to do, watch the shop and you abandoned it for what? To brew something I didn’t tell you to?”
Lycia fell silent and floated back to the ground. “I… I just…”
“You just what? Thought you could go against what I ordered you to do? You work for me, you worthless mutt. Using my ingredients for your own potion.”
“I bought those myse-”
“Taking up cauldron space! Do you think you have what it takes to be as good as me? You don’t. You never will, you worthless dog.” Moffavan delivered a hard slap to Lycia’s cheek. She yelped and stumbled to the floor.
“Hey!” Maria said. “Do you have any idea what she went through to do this for you?”
“I don’t give a damn what a demi-human like her would do for me.”
“She almost died!”
“She deserves it for how much of an idiot she is.”
Lycia whimpered on the floor, holding her cheek. Her ears pressed flat against her head, and she slowly curled up into the fetal position, hugging her knees tight against her chest.
“She’s doing this for you, you ungrateful bastard!” Maria said.
“I don’t know who you are, and I don’t think you know who you’re talking to. You shouldn’t even be back here in the first place. Get out.”
“You’re just going to ridicule her after all this? She did what you said she’d never be able to, she’s a skilled chemist. She knows what she’s doing.”
“I said for you to get out of my shop!” Moffavan grabbed Maria by the arm and pushed her towards the door. “Go!” he said and pointed to the door.
“Don’t push her!” Lycia barked. She looked up from the floor, a low growl building in the back of her throat. Her eyes were red and puffy, tears streaming down the sides of her cheeks. The demi-humans bore her fangs.
“Don’t tell me what to do, you worthless mongrel. I suggest you get back to work unless you want-”
“No!” Lycia jumped to her feet. “I walked for hundreds of miles just to come meet you! I looked up to you! I’ve spent every waking moment these last few months trying to please you, and you’ve done nothing but spit in my face! You’re mean! Cruel! Insensitive!”
“Enough!”
“Uglier than a whores ass!” Lycia screamed. Her nails grew long and pointed, the sound of flesh tearing slightly as they extended out. Her fingers curled, and she put one leg back like she was about to pounce. The demi-human bore her fangs with a nasty snarl… but nothing ever came. She stared at Moffavan, face red and teary, and backed down. Her hands were shaking. Lycia spun around and swung open the cupboard under the stairs. She crawled under, gathered her things, and pushed past Moffavan on her way out. Maria stood for a moment and watched her before attempting to follow her.
“Finally,” Moffavan said. “I’m rid of that nuisance.”
Maria stopped and turned back to face him. “You’re an arrogant piece of shit, you know that?”
“And you look like you’d fare better as a whore than a witch,” he snapped back. “Leave my shop, I don’t want to ever see you or your friends in here again.”
Maria’s face twisted as she turned and stormed out. “Dick.” She hurried out into the street and searched for the demi-human. Amidst the crowd of townsfolk, she was lost. “Lycia?” she yelled. “Lycia?” She eventually found the demi-human a block down and tucked into an alleyway. Her bag was slumped against the old stone wall, and she was curled back up in the fetal position, sucking in air noisily, red-faced and sobbing. “Lycia!” Maria hurried over and got down at her side.
“I’m sorry,” Lycia cried.
“For what?”
“I didn’t mean to… lash out…”
“Don’t be sorry for that asshole.”
Lycia didn’t respond and simply leaned against Maria. She cried into her shoulder, creating a large wet stain on her tunic. “I’m sorry, I just… he… I couldn't…”
Maria wrapped her arms around the girl in a tight hug. She sat with her for a while. People passed by the alley, and looked down at the two, but Maria paid no mind to them, just as they paid no mind to the two women. After a while, Lycia had calmed down enough, and pulled away, taking a few calming breaths.
“You doing okay?” Maria asked.
“Not really,” Lycia sniffled. “I don’t know what I’m going to do now.”
Maria sat in silence for a moment, hesitated, then said; “Do you… want to join our party?”
“Your party?” Lycia tilted her head, and sniffled, rubbing at her nose.
“Yeah. Come with us on our adventures.”
Lycia glanced down at the cobble path, almost like she was contemplating it, but ultimately shook her head. “T- Thank you, but… I don’t think adventuring is for me. I- I like potions… and being in a lab. I’m— I’m not giving up on this. I just need to find a new master.”
Maria sighed quietly. “Hopefully one that treats you better.”
Lycia nodded. “Far from here. I don’t know where I’ll go… but… somewhere. I’ll prove him wrong.”
“I’m sure you will. You have my support.”
“Thank you, Maria.” Lycia smiled. “I think I’ll just be going now. I just… I need to get away from here right now.”
Maria stood back up with Lycia and walked with her to the walls of Oxfell. The two stood under the archway, where two guards stood by and watched the pair.
“Are you sure you’re going to be alright on your own?” Maria asked.
“I was before, I’m sure I’ll be fine again. I just have to keep away from griffons.”
Maria chuckled. “That shouldn’t be too hard.”
Lycia hugged Maria one final time, squeezing the witch tight as she buried her face in her chest. “Thank you,” she mumbled.
Maria adjusted her body, and stood at an awkward angle to make the hug easier, but returned the gesture. “Be sure to message me, and keep me updated on how you’re doing.”
“My offer still stands. If ever we cross paths again, I’ll brew you any potions you want.”
Maria stood by the gate and watched Lycia off. Something in her gut had taken hold of her and was squeezing it. She knew that what had happened was for the best, but a small part of her kept wondering if it was the right thing to do, if she caused more harm than good. No, it was the right thing. She could only hope that Lycia could find someone better to take her in.
A notification popped up. Eardwulf had sent Maria a message.
Eardwulf: Maria, if you and your party can meet me with me, I may have found a way to find The Ringleader.