After having assisted the Aventus guild, Mr. Romano offered us an increase in the reward because of his happiness. My master politely declined his initial approaches, adhering to the principles that characterized him in public. However, his insistence was so great that my master found himself compelled to redirect the inevitable reward, suggesting charitable causes initially until Mr. Romano agreed to donate money to the Elker Healing Center, where I volunteered.
The reputation of the Aventus guild remained severely damaged, but rumors about my master's intervention and the dramatic resolution contributed to cleaning a good part of their tarnished image. Such was our adventure concerning the "assassins' guild," whose connection to a much larger problem in Elker we couldn't discover until much later. Up to that moment, however, everything unfolded satisfactorily for us, and we immediately felt optimistic about the future.
Having resolved the transportation-related issues, my master took only a few days to organize the journey to the Cassinger kingdom. Both Caisam and Irene were happy for the time they had spent with us, but it was evident that they were eager to start their new life, one where they would no longer have to hide from anyone. I began to miss them from the morning they would leave, as the friendship we developed in such a short time was greater than any of my other relationships, and their words and hugs didn't make the farewell any easier.
Their escape unfolded as agreed with their family on that night when Irene's parents visited us. The carriage arrived in the middle of the night, escorted by both Roben and Irene's father. Caisam also disguised himself as another bodyguard, ready to assume his role for the rest of the journey. Both —Caisam and Irene— bid me a heartfelt farewell once again, then paid their respects to my master. Initially, they maintained a formal etiquette, but it crumbled when Caisam threw himself into a hug with a smile, prompting Irene to imitate him with another big smile.
It was a warm and moving scene where the joy of having crossed paths was combined with the sadness of having to part ways. It was in one of those moments —while the hug was happening— that I detected a disconcerting gesture in Caisam. It was the same one that he revealed when talking about the terrible man who harassed him and his family. Everyone boarded the transport, but he hesitated as he climbed the first step, looked at the ground, and then returned to my master.
Something more than sleep burdened his face that night, some intense worry that tensed his lips and made his eyes vibrate as if a thousand thoughts were attacking him at every instant. Given the events that triggered their escape, I could understand why he felt guilty about the outcome that his life was bringing to all of us —especially to his beloved— but that concern seemed small compared to what was troubling him at that moment.
He awkwardly formulated a vague warning at that moment, suggesting that we leave as soon as possible while avoiding our gazes. He didn't explain what we should fear, but I immediately knew what he meant when I saw reflected in his eyes a spectral fear that few people —especially young ones like him— ever felt for anything belonging to this world.
He took from his nolet a file awkwardly bound with old leather. The paper was handmade, recycled from what my master used in his documents, yellow, thick, with a very characteristic stripe pattern; while the leather was a mix of remains from various creatures we frequently hunted.
He didn't say anything about it. When my master flipped through it, we could see the headers of the most striking notes on the first pages. They mentioned city events along with their specific dates: changes in trade routes, scandals, murders, all kinds of crimes, and the popularization of certain products or production techniques. Those events lacked any connection or relevance, but I soon vaguely perceived their proximity to the trade and politics of Elker, although intelligence didn't allow me to glimpse the entire picture and its terrible scope that my master was surely grasping.
My master stopped at one particular event. It was about the sudden increase in infant kidnappings in recent weeks, which Caisam pointed out as the reason for increased surveillance on trade routes around Elker.
Caisam came a little closer to us. It was as if he was afraid that someone else might hear him, from the shadows cast on the ground, terrified of what the wind might carry to the ears of the mysterious man he feared so much. I think he knew how absurd his reaction was, but he couldn't help feeling overwhelmed by those sensations. He was completely unaware of the true extent The Alchemist had, whether he controlled all of Elker or if his dominion extended even beyond the kingdom's borders. Nor could he envision his goal, although he had a very vague idea of the true man orchestrating his empire from the shadows.
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Dvorak Vexel was a miner from the old continent who, after a collapse, got lost in the depths of the earth. He appeared deranged in Cassinger's caves, muttering about horrid distant lands and unnamable threats that the world needed to prepare for. Whether those words held any truth was impossible to ascertain, but it was undeniable that his experience in the underworld had opened areas of his mind that no other usshyer could control, awakening with it abilities that made him a monster among our world's supermen. Cassinger's healers who had the chance to examine him in the early stages of his total transformation noticed a significant increase in his physiological functions, such as elevated temperatures, increased respiratory rate, an elevated heart rate, and a regenerative factor that surpassed that of most great warriors from each kingdom. But all those incredible characteristics would soon be overshadowed by the subsequent birth of an overwhelming ability with which he managed to escape his confinement and disappear from the public eye.
The details about the power he concealed were unknown even to Leobates Elker, who revealed that brief history to his son to quell his constant questions about The Alchemist. That piece of information didn't reveal much more, except for the vague location of that ancient healing center where they were studying Dvorak Vexel's mental condition. About that part of the story, Caisam refused to speak more, but he kept repeating to us in various ways that we should leave the city of Elker as soon as possible. My master insisted that he speak, if he truly cared about our well-being. Knowing the enemy would define our actions to take.
What Caisam revealed next caused my master to fall into a silent trance.
—If we were to flee —he said after a few seconds while staring into the distance—, how long would it be before this man's influence caught up with us?
Caisam looked at the ground. The words caught in his throat.
—How much peace could we enjoy before the land runs out on us, and jumping into the sea is our only salvation? —my master asked.
—Arcturus wishes for an eternity —was all Caisam managed to say.
—His faith is in the gods —my master said—, mine is in actions. Thank you for your warning, young Caisam; I will keep it in mind.
Caisam's somber attitude after that talk almost completely vanished, but I could still glimpse his disturbing thoughts in his gaze. Caisam joined his beloved with a slight smile in the carriage, and that transport disappeared behind a hill in the road, taking away some of our joys and concerns with it.
What horrible experience underground could unhinge a man, and what was that ability that The Alchemist had developed after that?
My master had urged Caisam to reveal every last detail he knew about that story. The young man hesitated a bit before even attempting to organize his thoughts, then took another good amount of time to formulate the very brief and vague description that would conclude that unsettling conversation he had with us.
Caisam had withheld a fragment of the story, deeming it too implausible to mention. It was that final revelation that would close our unsettling conversation and leave my master in deep thought. After Dvorak Vexel had become almost insane, a healing center locked him away to study his case. No one was alive to corroborate the story, nor was it possible to officially relate the man named Dvorak Vexel to that healing center; that was all Leobates Elker revealed to his son. When Caisam investigated, he couldn't find more information. Only a disturbing Cassinger folklore story brought him closer to the truth. It was a legend that had been narrated for a long time among the locals but was only found in a very old book. It dealt with the sudden disappearance of a healing center specializing in curing mental illnesses. A yellow flash witnessed by many in the distance was related to that mystery, followed by a roar that echoed from the depths of the earth to resound in several cities around.
Cassinger was an intricate and fragmented kingdom whose main political structure consisted of fiefs. The feudal lords of the areas surrounding the event conducted independent investigations, but all were led to the eastern forest of Gaia, where they found a deformed piece of land that they could barely identify as a healing center. The roof now pointed to the underworld and the building's foundations looked toward the sky. The locks had been turned to dust and a pile of corpses with deformed bones was scattered throughout, but the worst part was the skulls. Expressions of horrid agony were etched into the bone structures corresponding to the eye sockets, jaw, and cheeks.
Even now, as I write this, I remember perfectly Caisam's look as he told us that. His eyes transmitted so much fear that the vagueness of his story only fueled my imagination to create disturbing scenarios. My master wasn't a powerful man; it was his understanding of the world and his ability to use it to his advantage that made him win battles against savage warriors. What would happen if he faced something beyond his understanding or anyone else's? That was the first time in a long while that I feared for his life.
Caisam's actions had seemed paranoid to me. Now, for the first time, I felt a primitive terror that froze my blood, especially when in the dark mountains of Elker, I imagined some vigilant henchman waiting to report to The Alchemist of Elker about our recent actions. Worst of all, the revelation that had left my master so thoughtful at the end of our conversation was that the legend of the deformed Healing Center dated back five hundred years in the past.