My heart pulsed as I walked through the graveyard of dead and stumbling shalks. We took one step over the other, taking shallow breaths as we reached the cave, and the sun gave way to cool shade.

I walked a few hundred feet before I could see a faint glow in the darkness.

It was the lumidra—a white and blue flower that glowed with radioactive light. It was gorgeous, with a white stalk that proved that the plant did not absorb sunlight for energy.

Only five things were standing between us and gaining our ingredients: a group of shalks—swaying back and forth as if they were in the middle of a sacred ritual.

Oh, hell no…

I looked at Kline. He looked at me nervously. It was bad when Kline, who could teleport between shadows, wasn’t confident he could kill the shalks without risking the flower.

I was fairly certain that if they even saw us, they would attack the flower, too. There’s no great solution, and the only one that I could think of was to cull their numbers by grabbing two by their tails and throwing them away. Two would turn to me—the attacker—and the third would turn to the plant. Kline would kill the one turning to the plant, and I would get bitten twice. Kline would then kill them all.

I’m sure that you have a better solution—but I didn’t. My specialization was traps and poison—not hand-to-paw combat. That said, I was rather decisive, and I wasn’t going to wait until they spotted me. So I acted.

I pounced and grabbed two of their tails and threw them backward like I was rowing a boat.

My judgment was off. Two lunged at the flower—but Kline stopped them both. He blinked to a shadow behind the flower and hit the two with a wall of mana that sent them toward the mouth of the cave. Then he pounced into the fray to kill the four shalks.

The fifth shalk flew at me and latched onto my arm, sinking its teeth into my flesh like tofu. I jumped away from the flower and smashed it against a jagged part of the wall. Its body let out a sickening crack and went limp—and just in time, too. When it let go, it almost took a chunk of my arm with it. The balm was powerful—but I didn’t know if it could heal a chunk of missing muscle!

I opened the balm as I bled out, watching Kline kill off the last four. I slathered it on my wound, and it burned so good. The damage mended, and my shaking arm stilled. I had barely returned the balm to my pocket when a stray shalk flew out of the darkness.

It pissed me off, so I grabbed it. It fit in my hands well, like a cute, rabid puppy—and broke when I twisted in both directions like a pepper shaker. I turned and threw the corpse toward the mouth of the cave, heart pounding.

Jesus… it doesn’t stop!

That was an understatement—I heard dozens of shalks screaming outside, rushing toward the cave.

Son of a bitch!

“I’m trusting you, Kline!” I yelled. He meowed back as I pulled out a preservation box and tried to still my shaking hands. I purified my hands and the container as I opened it, gently putting it beside the plant. Then, I purified my hand—again—and grabbed the stem. I picked it decisively, threw it into the box, purified it again, and shut the lid. I was locking it when I heard the fight break out behind me.

Hurry, hurry, hurry!

I threw it into my backpack and turned back—to witness another bloodbath. It was a narrow gap, so Kline’s Phantom Claws and Sharp Bites cut through creatures without mercy as he staved them off.

He was Leonidas I at the battle of Thermopylae, keeping them at bay.

“Whenever you’re ready,” I said.

Kline meowed and doubled his pace, ripping through the shalks without mercy. Once we got an opening, we flew out of the cave into the hot and humid sunshine, inbound to the alchemy station.

2.

Elana watched Mira and Kline return to the alchemy station, collecting mana cores from the shalks along the way. Elana should’ve been happy that Mira survived, but Kori and Hapsel’s laughter ruined it.

“After all her alchemy and poisons and plants…” Kori wheezed, “and she solved it with raw force!”

It was funny, but not in a laughing sort of way. Elana fought with alchemy, Hapsel fought with poisons, and Telgan fought with plants. Mira used a mixture of all those methods to kill half the shalks. But ultimately, the success of the trial came down to raw force.

“Did you see how she grabbed their tails?” Kori laughed. “It was so inelegant.”

Elana didn’t enjoy being mocked—but she wasn’t focused on the ridicule. She was bothered that Mira had obtained the flower so quickly.

If you spot this narrative on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.

“So?” Hapsel asked her. “How hard’s this elixir to make?”

Elana didn’t answer.

He snorted with a grin and closed his eyes, accessing his Guide. Ten seconds later, he roared with laughter.

Kori grinned and looked at him. “What is it?”

“This elixir…” Hapsel burst into laughter again, rolling in his chair. Kori looked at Elana, who looked away, stewing.

“What?” Kori asked.

“It’s…” the orc laughed even harder, wheezing as he said, “It’s only ingredi…” His laughter only intensified mid-way through, and he had to breathe and gasp and roll.

Telgan rolled her little eyes and turned to Elana. “Can you just tell us? My patience for these two is hitting its limit.”

Elana stewed. “Alcohol and syrup.”

Kori sat up. “What?”

“Alcohol!” Hapsel roared. “That’s it! It’s a tincture!”

“It’s not a tincture,” Elana snapped. “Elixirs are sweetened, hydroalcoholic mixtures with multiple active ingredients. Alcohol is just the binding agent.

Kori’s mouth twisted into a grin, and he leaned back. “You’re tryin’ really hard to justify it.”

Telgan wiped her face. “Sweet tincture, got it.”

“I refuse to argue with you about my craft,” Elana brooded as the men laughed.

Kori shrugged and looked at Hapsel. “What does that plant even do?”

Hapsel looked at him with a shit-eating grin. “Oh, get this….”

3.

I didn’t know whether to laugh or cry when I saw the elixir’s recipe. I wanted to laugh because the process was easy. I wanted to cry because its use case was terrifying.

—---

Name: Lumidran Awakening Elixir

Description: Cleanses mana channels and helps the user enter a state of enlightenment that helps them develop or improve a mana core. Intelligent species describe seeing a guide that helps them through the journey. This guide is only described by individuals who ingest or inhale the spores in the Areswood Forest.

Instructions:

1. Separate spores from the petals with a spore print.

2. Remove moisture from the ovary and grind it.

3. Mix both in a cup of ethanol.

4. Add syrup and edible berries to taste.

5. Makes ten servings.

Note: This substance can take up to 32 hours to digest. During that period, the body will remove impurities and experience dehydration. Make sure to drink water during the experience.

Warning: You can only use this elixir once every ten years, as the spores can cause mental complications.

—---

“So it’s a tincture,” I mused. It was technically an elixir, as it was a sweetened mixture of active ingredients bound with alcohol. That said, the alcohol extracted the active ingredients, so it was really just a sweetened tincture. It wasn’t a big deal, but I got the feeling that some egotistical god wanted to make their creation sound cooler. I found it amusing.

I was glad that I got such a reprieve because the actual effects were terrifying.

It’s just like Datura… I shivered.

Here’s the thing—I grew hallucinogens. My Heavenly Blues contained LSA, my San Pedro had a mescaline button, and the salvia I was growing in my house could put someone’s brain through a blender.

That said, I didn’t grow them to take them. I grew them because I was searching for hints of their existence—because they don’t make sense! Plants produce sugar or thorns or poisons or parasitic effects—to protect themselves or reproduce. But what evolutionary purpose do hallucinogens serve? No one knows!

Hallucinogens deter some herbivores—but others seek out the hallucinogenic effects. Some hallucinogens are recreational, but Datura would leave animals to die. Sometimes, hallucinogens act as allelopathic agents that inhibit nearby plant growth—but why create a chemical that only affects animals with advanced nervous systems to do that? If it spreads seeds and spores—why not just make the fruit sweet? It doesn’t make sense, and the fact that people brawl and yell and scream about the nature of hallucinogens and their relationship to humans doesn’t change that.

It was fascinating—

—but I wasn’t down with the effects.

I didn't want to distort my mind and lose my inhibitions in an empty room—let alone in a dangerous forest!

“You need to finish the quest, Mira,” I said, taking a strained breath. “You need that core….”

Kline pawed at me worriedly.

“It’s another cleansing elixir,” I warned.

Kline backed away sheepishly.

“Yeah… and that’s just the start of it.” I got up and walked to the alchemy station. “Let’s get it over with.

I pulled out the flower, grabbed some ethanol, measured it out, filled a bottle, purified it, and capped the lid.

“Lithco, can you help me with this?” I asked. “Surely this is a beginner’s process.”

Lithco materialized. “Seriously? To do a spore print, desiccate a plant, grind it up, throw it in some alcohol, and add some sugar? Yeah, I can. But you know it’ll hurt your rewards, right?”

“There’s no reward for distinction,” I said. "The legacy quest was win or lose.”

“Yes, but the gods who offered you their legacies are surely watching you right now,” Lithco said. “You’ll also get an ‘evolution reward’ that is affected by decisions like these. But I recommend discussing this after you complete the trial.”

“Rules, rules, rules… you people…” I groaned, massaging my forehead with my fingertips. “Okay, let’s do this.” I washed my hands and purified them as if I were prepping for surgery. Then I set to work.