A headache greeted Connor bright and early the next day.

He groaned, rubbed his throbbing skull and forced himself to leave the comfort of his bed.

He blinked the sleep out of his eyes and looked around. Had the world always been so… dull?

“Back to normal,” he said with a sigh.

How would he go back to his old senses now? They were sharp and keenly trained, but that was by human standards. It just didn’t compare.

“Too bad it doesn’t last forever,” he muttered. At least he still had four vials of the stuff left, and he could always make more.

He headed downstairs and into the training room. He had to keep his promise to Victor and maintain his training and other responsibilities, but more than that… he had something he wanted to try.

He went through his exercises. He’d done them for so long, he barely even thought about them anymore, but he made sure to do each one perfectly and more vigorously than he had in a long time.

He finally had what he’d been missing.

He was more than a thief and a spy now, he was an alchemist, and that thought sparked a fire in his soul that fueled his every action.

He’d find what happened to his parents, and hunt down whoever or whatever took them from him, but to do that he needed to be stronger… much stronger.

He would become the most powerful alchemist the world had ever seen if that’s what it took.

Sweat dripped from his body as he did pull-ups.

He strained his lean muscles until they were too weak to continue, and then switched to a new exercise without stopping.

As he went through his many exercises, everything Victor had told him swirled in his mind.

The secret he would have to keep, the meticulousness that alchemy required, how Victor had searched for Connor’s parents but found nothing… everything.

For the first time, he could understand what his uncle had been doing all these years. All the constant training. The insistence that everything be mastered and perfected.

He’d resented Victor for it at times, but now… now he was grateful.

How incredible would the skills he had honed over a decade and a half of Victor’s tutelage be with the power of alchemy behind them?

He lifted weights in smooth, controlled motions until his arms felt like lead, and still, he pushed himself to surpass his limits.

He kept at it for hours, training his body harder than ever before. Sweat flowed from him like a river.

He finished with the weights and took a long drink of water. He picked up a longsword off the weapons rack.

He usually used a rapier, but he wanted to improve his skill with the longsword and test one of his thoughts from earlier at the same time.

He took out a vial of sense-heightening potion from his bottomless bag and pulled the cork.

He took a long look at the vial, readying himself for what was to come, put the vial to his lips and threw his head back.

The sweet potion poured down his throat, and he took deep breaths as the warmth spread through his body.

The world exploded with color, sound, and sensation once more, but he took it in stride this time.

His mind seemed to catch up to his enhanced senses faster as well. But, maybe that was just because he hadn’t panicked this time.

The salty stench of his own sweat filled his nostrils, and the hairs on the back of his neck prickled.

He whipped his head around toward the doorway, but no-one was there.

Weird.

He shrugged and returned his attention to the longsword in his hand.

He swept it through empty air as he went through his sword forms. The same drills his uncle had led him through over and over again until it had been ingrained into every fiber of his being.

But now… he felt everything. His sense of balance, his posture… down to the most subtle movement in every muscle and even the way the air resisted him.

A shiver ran through his body, and he smiled. This was how his senses should be. It was exactly what he’d hoped for earlier that morning.

He began adjusting his movements imperceptibly to anyone, but himself. Tiny, minor adjustments that wasted just a little less energy… moved a little smoother… just that extra bit faster.

The incremental shifts quickly added up, and his speed, precision, and skill skyrocketed in mere moments.

Was this part of why Victor had him make this one first? Did he know what it would enable him to do with his training? What potions was Victor taking regularly?

Did you know this text is from a different site? Read the official version to support the creator.

A strong enough sense potion would explain how he knew the second someone stepped through the front door.

It would be so like Victor to use something like the sense-heightening potion rather than a strength potion all the time.

Displays of supernatural strength would be a dead giveaway that something was odd, but having amazing levels of situational awareness?

Most would assume it was a skill developed from years of working in the shadows. If they even thought about it at all.

After another few hours of training with his sword, Connor was moving with a smooth and fluid grace that took others decades to reach.

The way he moved now reminded him of the way Adelia moved in their sparring sessions.

He doubted anyone in the city other than Adelia and Victor could best him with a sword now.

He was snapped out of his trance-like state by laughter from the doorway behind him.

A man leaned against the door frame casually. His face sported a smile that reached his crystal blue eyes, making them sparkle like diamonds.

"You look like you've just climbed out of a lake," said the man.

Connor looked down at his glistening body. "Quit laughing and hand me a towel then why don't you?" he said.

The blond man tossed him one of the neatly folded towels.

Connor snatched it out of midair and dabbed at his sweat-covered face.

"Haven't seen you in ages, where have you been, Vadik?" Connor asked.

Vadik shrugged. “Not all of us have a spymaster for an uncle. Some of us actually have to work for a living. Not that you'd know," he said.

Connor wiped off the worst of his sweat and took a long drink of water.

"So how'd that wizard thing work out?" asked Vadik.

"I think Elgar will have me living out the rest of my days sitting on lily pads and eating flies if he sees me again," Connor said.

"So not well then?" Vadik said with a chuckle.

"You could say that," Connor said.

He was still a bit disappointed about it, but it was nothing compared to how he’d felt just the day before.

Being an alchemist filled him with purpose, and his disappointment over not being a wizard was fading fast.

"So what brings you back all of a sudden?" Connor said.

"I'm looking for the old man, actually. I've been away on an important mission, and I need to report my progress to him before I head back to it. Any idea where he's hiding in this oversized mansion you call a home?" Vadik asked.

As if the mention of him was enough to summon him, Victor appeared around the corner with a contingent of guards.

"Good gods!" exclaimed Vadik, "how do you do that?"

Connor suppressed a smirk. Yup, definitely some kind of sense-enhancing potion. It had to be.

Victor ignored Vadik's comment. "Good to see you're still alive, Vadik. Come with me, Connor you too," he said.

Connor and Vadik looked at each other. Connor had been excluded from most of their meetings, but they both followed Victor obediently to his office.

Victor’s guards waited outside, and Connor closed the door behind them.

"We can talk freely now," Victor said, “report.”

"I have successfully infiltrated The Shadowcloaks," Vadik said.

Victor nodded, his face impassive while Connor raised an eyebrow.

There were only two main thieves' guilds in the city, each struggling for control of the city's underworld.

One was The Stars of Night, which Victor secretly controlled through a figurehead that he had placed in charge, and the other was The Shadowcloaks.

They’d been the dominant guild, running the entire underworld of the city, until Victor started up The Stars of Night to wrest control from them.

He’d hit them hard and fast at first and almost completely destroyed them, but for the last year, they’d been at a standstill.

Vadik looked at Connor and smirked.

"Continue," Victor said, with a sideways glance at Connor.

"I have convinced The Guild Master, Bvorn, that I am working as a double agent for him. With the information you provided me to leak to him. I am quickly making my way up the ranks," Vadik said.

Victor nodded again, his face remaining impassive. Connor’s lip twitched ever so slightly. Even with all his training, this was his friend Victor had so casually sent into the hornet's nest!

If they suspected Vadik was a spy… even for a moment…

“Anything else?” Victor asked.

"I’ve been investigating as you asked, but Bvorn is tight-lipped. I don’t think he trusts me yet. So far, the only thing I’ve learned is that he’s been working his slavers overtime," said Vadik.

"Very well," said Victor as he scratched his bearded chin, "see what you can dig up in the next few days and then come to see me when you can. In the meantime, I'll start working on some more information for you to leak to them. It would be best to get you into his inner circle as soon as possible."

"I'd better get back then," Vadik said. He saluted Victor and waved a goodbye to Connor.

"So what do you think?" asked Victor.

What did he think? About his friend’s life being in danger?

"I think this is insane," said Connor, "you have Vadik playing a dangerous game. Every second he spends with the rival thieves' guild is potentially his last. Bvorn is a scumbag, but he isn't stupid.

“Even if Vadik does everything flawlessly… if Bvorn even begins to suspect what Vadik is, then he’ll beg for death before the end, and we’ll never have enough warning to help him!"

“No,” Victor said, “we won't. It’s a dangerous mission, but he knows the risks. Believe it or not, he volunteered for this. Not everyone is as averse to this life as you are.”

What could he say to that? Was he wrong to want his friends to be safe… even if that wasn’t what they wanted?

“That brings me to the reason I called you here today,” Victor said, “I’ve been training you all your life, but I’ve also been sheltering you. That stops now. It’s time you learned more about the world and what’s going on in it. Whether you like it or not, alchemy is a life of secrecy, and the only way you can be prepared for the challenges you’ll face is to know about them beforehand.

“Without your potions, without ample preparation… You’re just as dead as any normal human. You may not want this life, but as long as I’m teaching you alchemy you will learn everything I have to teach you about surviving. Even the smallest, seemingly most insignificant detail may mean the difference between life and death.”

Victor massaged the bridge of his nose and sighed.

“On that note… there are things you need to know. I’ve been receiving disturbing reports for a while now. Despite the Lestrian government’s best efforts, the slavery trade has been steadily increasing for years now and now it seems that trend has finally reached Vigil.

“But, what’s more, there have been more political assassinations in the last year than in the last decade. The orcs to the south are stirring. Tensions between the races mount… and at the centre of it all… is unknown,” he said.

“What do you mean?” Connor asked.

“I mean, I have no idea who’s behind it,” Victor said, “anytime one of my men looks like they’re getting close, they turn up dead or vanish entirely. Whatever is going on… nobody is talking. Every lead I find hits a dead end. Often literally. Someone out there is up to something, and I’ll be damned if I know what.”

“If it's that big why isn’t the whole kingdom up in arms about it? And how in the hells are they keeping it so secret?” Connor asked.

“It started off so slowly that I doubt anyone’s noticed, and people don’t look at the big picture, lad. I imagine there are some who’ve noticed, but most won’t think they’re related… I do though.

“It all smells of the same stuff to me and it's all so well hidden. It doesn’t make sense to me that it’s all unrelated. Not when someone is going to a great deal of effort to keep me from finding out the truth of it,” Victor said.

Connor frowned. How could anything give Victor trouble? He was always in control. The world moved like a puppet as he pulled the strings.

“So what do we do?” Connor asked.

Victor shrugged. "We do our best to find out what’s going on and perhaps put a stop to it. In the meantime, life goes on. There’s always some miserable bastard plotting something. Can’t stop living every time a new one pops up,” he said.