Daios flinched at the thought, just 3 months. 3 Months and the streets were lined with corpses. He willed himself to not think, just walk. Xalis followed him. He held his head high and his shoulders back, not to betray the scraping of his nails against the hilt of his sword, kept his breath steady, not to betray the heavy sinking of his stomach.
What a relief the Order was before them. Large glass windows, a soft light coming from inside. They went through the doubled up entry – sort of airlock, but to keep out the cold. The windows all were doubled up glass. Inside, they were hit with a blast of warm air. Electric lights, electric heaters, the place hummed gently. In the large entry hall the four sided star sat as a pattern in the floor, separating the main hall, leading to the four hallways.
“Bye.” Xalis laid one last heavy hand onto Daios shoulder. He squirmed away a little in return.
“Talk to you later.” He mumbled and left toward the hallway to the back. His steps clanked heavy on the ground, the metal casing of his soles announcing the short alchemist.
The hallway of the scientific department was lined with doors to different labs and utilities. Most of them were shut, the hallway would sit in silence, if not for the humming of electric lights. The hallway twisted around different labs and facilities. He walked by the only other source of noise – the open door to the department of medicinal magi-tech. Hushed voices came out, the conversation sounded aggressive. A lanky woman stood close to the frame of the door, her face contorted into a scowl.
"You're not listening."
"To your hypothesis? Why wou-"
Daios moved past it quickly. He tried to not look, but accidentally made eye contact with the woman. Her face darkened, and she slammed the door shut.
One door in particular interested him, it wasn't the one slammed in his face. But rather, one close to the end of the hallway.
The sign next to the door read “Head Magi-tech Expert” in a nice printed lettering, and written in ink on a paper stuck underneath it “and assistant.”
He cracked open the door and glanced in.
The lab was split – 2/3rds sat in utter disarray. Metal scraps, odd tools and notes everywhere. Odd jars with detached animal parts, bones and creepy fluids. At one of the desks, surrounded by mugs and bottles, a lanky satyr rested her head. She snored softly, Daios sneaked by, trying to not have his clunky shoes make too much noise.
He then got to the other third of the lab. It was just as crammed. A desk, surrounded by notes, books and little inventions. A few paper fish swam circles, dangling from a lamp. Scraps of alchemical phrases hung from different piles of material. Multiple hand sewn journals sat on a makeshift shelf, balanced on a pile of books. On the chair at the desk laid a blanket, a few pillows by the foot of it, alongside more blankets. An assortment of inks, chalks, and papers sat in a box under the desk as well.
With a clattering, his exploration gear fell to the floor. He stretched once, enjoying the satisfying burn of his tired, stiff back moving again and then he removed his mask, coat, and goggles and placed them in their respective spot – a pile on the floor next to the chair – and let himself fall into the chair with a sigh.
The creaking of the chair must have alerted the satyr, who now stretched her stiff limbs and rubbed the sand from her eyes.
When she saw the little lamp at Daios’ desk flicker on, she started to smile a little.
“Well, well, well, if it isn’t my little assistant coming back to work after… ?”
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”It was not that long, Orchid, just 2 days. Not long.”
“Mhhhhh. Two days? Could’ve sworn it was longer” She said, her voice raspy – an additional layer of raspiness added from sleep. The drawn out words were a choice. She glanced at a clock, propped up by some scrap metal.
“2 days. 13 hours. 24 minutes. That’s approximately 61 hours. I think you can work 61 hours without me- I mean, you don’t even work all those hours, you just sleep most of them away – so you could have hardly missed me.” He leaned back to grab his papers from his jacket pockets.
“So focused on numbers…” she whispered to herself, then added cheerily “Maybe you should sleep too, kid”
“I’m like 25! And not on the job. You, know, you should be the responsible one”
She shrugged. “You make it too easy, kid.”
”Still. 25.” Daios mumbled through his teeth.
Daios heard the clacking of a cane and low heeled shoes in the hallway, before the door even opened. He straightened up, both his posture and the scattered notes on his desk. Daios felt his heart still in his chest.
Orchid leaned her head down again, grabbing a random metal-scrap around her and scratching around on it.
The door opened, not a creak, not a fling, perfectly controlled. In stepped a tall man, not as tall or strong as Xalis. He held a cane, his clothes were nicer than those of anyone Daios had seen on the way.
“Just checking on my favourite inventors – welcome back, Daios.” He spoke slowly and clearly. A little smile changed the tone of it – friendly, warm even.
“Asphodel.”
The alchemist jumped to his feet. “Good morning, yes. Doing, just fine, thank you!” Daios spoke hastily as always, but especially now he threatened to stumble over his own words.
“Any luck? Xalis told me you were successful.” His inquiry sounded soft, the tone went up, but he asked it almost hushed.
“Yes! I- actually I found lots of fascinating stuff-” Daios crammed around in his notes, and went to open a page with his findings “So! This one means-”
Asphodel waved off Daios oncoming rant.
“You know I don’t understand all of your… ramblings. Come to me when you’ve got results, I can understand.”
“Oh. Uhm. I will if I… get any”
“When you get them.” Asphodel pushed, his smile unwavering.
Daios looked back at him, his notes half closed again. A moment of silence passed, Asphodel knocked the floor gently with his cane and said: “Well! I shall not hold you up any longer.”
Asphodel turned and left. The door fell shut behind him, and Daios let out a breath, Orchid a sigh.
“I should get to it...” Daios mumbled.
“Or sleep!” Orchid answered, but he had already collected the mask, goggles, coat, and notes and left through the door.
“Or not...”
Daios left the building in the same hurry he entered it. He walked around the building, to a small staircase, that led up to oldtown. It wound through tight alleys, between buildings, no railing needed. The city seemed to still as he ascended. It got colder too, the glow of the furnaces laid behind him. Only one train line ran through it – seemingly as to not entirely abandon the mountainside.
The lamps that hung between the buildings over the small path were mostly burnt out, the few that remained flickered pathetically. Daios would've lit the lantern, were it not for the ease at which his legs found the familiar steps, or for the clarity he felt at the emptied walkway.
At the end of his winding path, the buildings opened up again to a plateau. It looked over the abyss, over the city centre below. At the edge of the plateau, toward the stone of the mountain, again towered the broken down cathedral. It surely once was a sight to behold – all lofty towers and intricate decorations. What remained of the roofs indicated a rounded shape, folding into a sharp peak.
The front door felt too suspicious to him, too clear if he had shoved it open. So he didn't, Daios entered through a broken window in the back. He saw the long abandoned fire pit folded into a far corner away from the wind and snow. Coal writings, that reached only his hip. He passed the desecrated statue in the middle, passed the broken benches and piles of ruined books. He folded back a heavy carpet that lined the edge of the stage, behind which, a hidden flight of stairs spiralled into the crypt.
The crypt was clean, was it not for the walls covered in paper scraps. A floor dirtied by dozens of attempts at alchemical phrases in coal. Candles lined the emptied graves, alongside notes and journals. He set his mask and goggles down, stretched, and got to work.