The Newt and Demon - Book 8 Chapters 52,53,54

Chapter 52

Scheme

Although Theo woke the next morning on the mortal realm, in his comfortable bed no less, he was immediately reminded of the mountain of work he had to get done. The idea of the arena now seemed fun only as a distant memory. The alchemist simply needed to remind himself that the people were having a good time, and they were properly distracted from the reality of their situation. It was, after all, the end of the world.

Theo sat with Tresk at the dining room table. Food had been laid out, but there was no sign of Sarisa or Rowan. They must have had duties he wasn’t aware of and no longer thought that he needed to be guarded every second of the day. Tresk was her same chipper self, but she had gained a slight edge. The physical changes to their appearance weren’t great, but they were there. It was a constant reminder of the pact they had made with Pogo.

“So what’s on the agenda today?” Tresk asked, actually picking at her food today. She had stopped shoving it down her gullet, except on rare occasions.

Theo released his aura, covering the dining area in his shadowy willpower. He shook his head. “I’m going to hamstring Elrin’s operation to bring the shards to the mortal plane. I think we need a little more time to get everything lined up.”

“A bit of sabotage?” Tresk asked. “I can’t say I disapprove, but is that the right move?”

Theo shrugged. He truly didn’t know if it was the right play. He only wanted an extra day, not a week, with the system so haggard from her time in this place. He wondered how long she truly had and found it hard to want to push her further.

“If you have any other suggestions, I’m open to them. I could just really use at least one or two more days to ensure everything is perfect for the change.”

Of course, he didn’t need to ask the question. He could feel Tresk’s thoughts. She didn’t care one way or the other. Her impression was that they were as prepared as they would ever be, and delaying the inevitable was a waste of time. The only thing that made her desire to stay on the mortal plane any longer than necessary was gaining more draconic powers. In her mind, if she couldn’t blow fire, then it wasn’t worth the time.

Theo took her silence as complacency with the plan and described the things he would need to do that day. He had to move some shards, train Fenian and himself, and ensure the arena games were going off without a hitch. The one thing he had going for him was that the prizes were all sorted, and he was reaching a point where he was close to being able to take those potions himself. But he was once again forced to question the usefulness of them. If he could just cultivate more celestial energy, was there really a point in playing into the system’s games?

Then there was another question. What would happen when the system went to sleep again?

Shaking away those thoughts, Theo finished his breakfast. At least he got to enjoy some of the delicious sausages made by Whisper before going about his busy day. As if to snub his nose at Elrin, he spent time in Broken Tusk going over administration screens, touring various buildings and production chains, and generally goofing off to avoid its meeting and Boar Hollow.

There was also the Frozen Tear flower he had yet to find the last property of. It still evaded him, seeming to darken out of his senses when he extended them. This was impossible, of course, but it was hard not to attribute some kind of intelligence to the plant. If only he could hold it in his hand for longer than a few minutes. Perhaps he could understand more about it than there was the essence itself. The jumble of symbols and numbers gave no information as to what it should do. He was forced to guess based on feel. His current feeling was absolutely nothing. It was a blank wall to him.

Theo eventually folded space onto itself, soon arriving in the small town on his personal planet. Elrin was there, arms folded with an expression of curiosity on his face. It wasn’t the anger that Theo had expected, which was somehow worse. The alchemist walked over at a casual pace, nodding to the man.  

“Are you ready to go?” Theo asked, offering his best smile as though to pretend nothing was wrong. 

“Indeed I am,” Elrin said. “Just so you know, I’ve worked with quite a few duplicitous persons. I’ve had the pleasure of watching snakes emerge from my troops. I’ve seen saboteurs and spies. You are, perhaps, one of the worst I’ve ever seen.”

Theo shrugged. “Whatever do you mean, mighty warlord.”

Elrin cracked a smile. “I’m not against the idea of delaying the system’s slumber, but it normally doesn’t come to me like that unless it’s an emergency. I truly don’t think that she has a lot of time left. But I think you’re in luck whether she likes it or not. I’ve got an issue in the mortal world that shards are taking longer to assimilate, but the system was there to swoop in with a little bit of good news.”

“But this sounded like a hard stop,” Theo said. “She made it sound like an emergency, right?”

Elrin shook his head. “Something like that, but it changed. She said there was a shift in magical energies yesterday that gave her a little more breathing room.”

Theo released a surprised laugh. “Actually, I think that might have been me. We’ve been reworking the draconic energy in the sector, trying to make some more true dragons. The dragon who’s helping us explain how it works, but we’re messing with the way that energy interacts.”

“There might be no need to stop me from moving the shards then. She’s extended the deadline by at least a few days, maybe an entire week, thanks to those efforts.”

So Tresk’s deep-held desire to both kill and become a dragon was the reason they had the time they needed to finish everything before the reset. Theo had trouble not laughing at the situation. She did some ridiculous things in her time, but often those were things that benefited everybody. Even now, they would benefit greatly from the extra time. More things could be put in place. More people could be ushered from the far parts of the world. The alchemist considered this a very good thing.

“Come on, stop slacking,” Elrin said, jerking his head to one side. “We’ll need to take more caution when we approach the island this time. It doesn’t seem very stable.”

“That’s putting it lightly,” Theo grumbled. “Okay. I’m taking this good news to heart. Let’s go save the world, or whatever.”

***

Before being placed onto this world after a long slumber, Fenian had never considered himself much of a schemer. If one were to ask his friends back then, they would say that he was a meticulous, forthright person who did everything he could to make his trading business boom. They would have said nothing of his fighting prowess or the substantial guile he now possessed. But to enact his plan, he had to become all those things.

The most important skill of all was the ability to recognize opportunity.

Khahak was a garbage planet, as far as he was concerned. It meant almost nothing, feeling like a place meant for politicians and do-nothings. But as Fenian sat at the wide desk, looking out over the sprawling city. The master of this realm sat behind his desk, fingers steepled and brows creased in concern.  

“Of all the people you could have picked, you picked me. I thought you hated me, Fenian.”

“I do hate you. I hate you a lot. Maybe not as much as some other people in this world, but you’re up there,” Fenian said with a wry chuckle. “But you are, above all other things, trustworthy. I know you’re the only one who can watch Erradon while I’m gone, and I assume you will be an excellent steward if my mission fails.”

Khahar stood, walking to the window and growling slightly. “I wish I could say I don’t understand why you’re doing this, but I did help my beloved ascend to the heavenly realms. I would do anything for her.”

Fenian stood, losing himself for only a fraction of a second and slamming his fist on the table, hard enough to crack the surface. “I would go to the hells and back for her a thousand times, again and again. I would watch the world burn. I would do anything.”

Khahar turned, laying his discerning eyes upon the elf and nodding. “I understand the sentiment, but do you think you’re ready to do it? You’ve only cultivated a small amount of the celestial energy. Surely that’s not enough to get past him.”

“I’ll have access to the energy on the inside. It might take a while, but I’ll manage. Now that I have the technique down, I have every piece of the puzzle I need to get through.”

“And what happens when you get through?” Khahar asked, “Do you have a plan for that, or are you going to wing it? This isn’t your first time delving into a realm you know almost nothing about. The reason you escaped from the last one was sheer luck.”

“I have a plan,” Fenian assured him. “It’ll work. It just might take some time.”

A long silence settled between them. Fenian felt a wave of discomfort spread through his body. He knew he wasn’t truly prepared for this mission, but there was no better time. Death would never see it coming. He was weaker than he had ever been at any point in time. This was the only time he could strike. The amount of godly energy remaining in Uz’Xulven’s rapier was minimal, but it would be enough to see him through the trial.

“Go with the reassurance that I will defend your throne,” Khahar said. “I have a list of people I’d like you to look for while you’re there.”

“Everything has a price, doesn’t it?”

“Yes.”

Although Fenian hadn’t planned to look for anybody else, he didn’t mind searching for a few lost souls. His escape strategy could have him bringing at least ten others out, so long as everything worked the way he expected it to. He had already tested it, so there was no reason it would malfunction. He left the realm of the Arbiter shortly after that. The connection between the Bridge of Shadows and the place the system called home was tenuous, but he made it anyway. The system herself was too bedraggled to do anything about his intrusion, and he slipped past her with little effort. It was arriving on Death’s Road that sent a chill up his spine.

The road seemed endless, stretching ahead and disappearing into darkness. Wispy figures moved across it, seemingly lost in the gloom. With great effort, Fenian surrounded himself with his weak aura, infusing everything he had into it. It was a copy of Thio’s technique, but he had refined it to work with the fading energies he had from the ascendance and wouldn’t last long.

He sprinted across the endless road.

The sound of battle reached Fenian’s ears before he even saw Death’s Gate. A smile spread across his face. He couldn’t have imagined a better distraction. When he was within range of the gate itself, he spotted two familiar figures dueling, with Meya and Death himself watching on. Without hesitation, he kicked off from the ground, angled directly for the shimmering portal. For only a moment, he locked eyes with Death. Kuzan did not have a look of surprise on his face. He didn’t look angry. Painted upon the long-dead elven king’s face was an expression of amusement. Fenian swore he heard the man speak before he vanished behind the veil.

“Good luck, Ivaran.”

Chapter 53

Sniffing out Fenian

"What do you mean Fenian's gone?" Theo asked, placing his hands on his hips as he looked down at Tresk. "He was here this morning. I could smell him."

"Yeah, he kinda smells like booze and old flowers, huh?" Tresk asked, scratching her chin. "But nah, he's gone, like completely gone. Nobody can find him in town."

Theo rubbed his face. He had spent quite a lot of time training Fenian already, and if the man had run off and gotten himself killed, perhaps flirting with another random dragon, that would put a dent in his plans. But there were other ways for the elf to travel. Since the Bridge of Shadows was still operational for the time being, it was likely he traveled through that. Whatever whims Fenian wanted to entertain would have likely taken him afar. And there was only one person who would have known if he took the bridge.

“I’ll be back. Gonna yell at a demon,” Theo said with a sigh. He folded space, arriving on the Bridge only a moment later.

“I didn’t do it!” Uz’Xulven screamed before Theo even had time to say anything.

The alchemist blinked. “What is it you didn’t do, exactly?”

“I didn’t grant access to the heavens,” Uz’Xulven said. She was still lurking somewhere in the shadows, likely avoiding his ire. “He took the bridge from Broken Tusk, and landed in the system’s place. I couldn’t track him after that.”

Theo felt the tension in his shoulders go away. Perhaps Fenian just wanted to have a word with some of the Warriors of the Shards currently training the gods. That made the most sense to him, so he shrugged. "That's fine, I guess. He's a throne holder, so he can go and talk to the system if he needs to.”

“Uh-huh. Please don’t kill me.”

Although he was certain the master of the bridge was hiding something, Theo felt as though she wouldn't divulge any information. With a sigh, he folded space in on itself again and found himself slamming against an almost impenetrable barrier. With the right application of his willpower and the mingling of draconic and celestial energies on his chest, he split the seal open, falling through the crack and angling directly for Death's realm. It was difficult to navigate in the heavens, but he managed, soon arriving on the long road. He scoffed when he landed, watching as two men fought near an impossibly large gate seething with death magic.

"What the hell is going on here?" Theo asked. Marching over, he spotted one figure he recognized. Death was standing at a distance with an amused look on his face. There was a young woman with short black hair who looked moderately annoyed. Then there were the two men dueling it out, one with flowing blonde hair and the other with black. They were both elves.

“Welcome to the show, Theo Spencer,” Death said, gesturing to the two figures fighting. “An uncle and a nephew. One betrayed the other. Can you guess which it was?”

“Black hair is the bad one,” Theo said. “He’s related to you, right?”

“Astute,” Death said. “You’re right, but not for the reason you think.”

“How long are they gonna fight? I’m getting bored,” the woman said.

“Just a few more days, I’m sure.”

Theo released an exasperated sigh. “Has anybody seen Fenian around here? I figure if he came to the heavens, the most likely place he'll go is your realm, Death.”

“He passed through the Gate of Souls,” Death said, nodding to the massive gate. “Which, in my expert opinion, is the worst choice a mortal can make.”

Theo closed his eyes and rubbed his face. Why would Fennegan do something so stupid? It didn't take a genius to know that passing through those gates was likely a bad idea. On the other side were the souls of all the dead people, and it was literally everybody. Anyone who had died since the start of the war, the warriors of the shard participated in until right now, were behind that gate.

“He’s going to get his dead wife,” Theo said, shaking his head. “Why couldn’t you have brought her back, Kuzan?”

“She was too far gone, and needs a lot more time to regenerate,” Death said. “He’ll likely bind her to something and bring her back. If he can get back, anyway. The chances he can survive in there are slim.”

“You,” Theo said, jabbing a finger at the woman. “Wanna run a world.”

“Not even a little,” she responded.

“Damn it. Why does he always do this?” Theo asked, rubbing his face some more. He slapped his cheeks, desperate to think of a solution. “Got any hero-types in the gate that can defend a world? Or anyone who wants the Throne of the Herald.”

“I’m afraid I used the last of my energy to bring these two back,” Death said, nodding toward the two dueling men. “It is not my domain to create new bodies for people, but Meya here forced me to do so.”

“I’m that bitch, by the way,” Meya said, pointing at herself. “And if Old and Crusty over here wants to keep his legs, he’ll do what I tell him.”

Theo gritted his teeth. No solutions were coming to mind, so he soon gave up. Eventually, he released a sigh, looking back toward the way he came, not physically but in his mind. There was still a decently sized hole where he had come through, and although it was patching itself, it wouldn't remain for long.

“Okay, I guess carry on with whatever weird crap you two were doing. You’re the lady Elrin was talking about, right? The mastermind?”

Meya shook her head. “Yeah. Something like that.”

“I look forward to working with you,” Theo said. Remembering his manners when talking to new people was hard. But he often did his best.

“Farewell, Theo Spencer,” Death said. His gaunt face made the wink pretty creepy. “I’ll see you soon.”

Theo dismissed the threat and folded space in on itself. He arrived in Boar Hollow and infused his willpower as hard as he could into his Dreamwalker's core, calling an emergency meeting. Everyone would assemble in Khahak, including Fenian if he could feel the signal. Both Alex and Tresk felt the signal strongly, and were slipping through the void with haste.

As expected, Belgar came trotting over to see what was up.

"If you have an elevated state of alert, I suggest you employ it," Theo said, looking around. Things seemed calm here, but Theo wasn't very happy to know that Fenian had broken protocol so severely. “Nothing crazy to worry about. I just don't know what's going to happen.”

“We’ve got a few volunteer armies around the world,” Belgar confirmed. “I can activate them.”

“Make it happen,” Theo said. “Did you restrict all travel to Erradon like I asked?”

“As much as I can,” Belgar said with a shrug. “We have posters warning people not to go there, but we can’t shut the portal down.”

“Good enough, I suppose.”

Without wasting time, Theo made his way to Khahak, arriving directly at the Arbiter’s Citadel. He didn't like taking the weird elevator and instead pierced directly through the veil to meet with his old friend. “Got a problem.”

“I could tell by the urgency of your intent,” Khahar said, turning away from the window to smile at the alchemist. “Been a long time since you’ve visited me.”

Tresk popped into existence next to Theo, daggers drawn. “Who needs a stabbing!?”

“No one, yet. Fenian went into Death’s Gate.”

"Now why would he do that?" Khahar asked. "We're so close to the reset. I can't think of a reason why he would throw his life away like that."

"His dead wife, ya dingus," Tresk said, shaking her head. She returned her daggers to her inventory. "We gave him a little bit of power and he used it to pierce the veil. That's my guess anyway."

“Okay, here's the thing. Fenian is his own person, and he can do whatever he wants. But he's abandoned his throne. Isn't that going to be a problem?” Theo asked.

"I can offer troops to help defend his throne, and I can personally oversee his world. But from what I understand, it's not responding to his touch anyway, is it?" Khahar asked. "I can look from afar and deploy people as needed, but I don't think we have too much to worry about. The more concerning question is his life. I can’t imagine someone surviving on the other side of Death’s Gate.”

Theo had to force himself to think. He wasn't happy that a friend of his had plunged headlong into certain death, but there were bigger things to consider. He had to think about the world before he thought about his companion without Fenian. His world would be in danger of being taken over, but Kahar had volunteered to keep an eye on it. As long as no one claimed the Throne of the Herald, they could sort this out after the reset.

"Okay, this isn't as bad as I had first expected," Theo said, rubbing his chin. "All of us can keep an eye on Fenian's realm. That shouldn't be too hard. But since Khahar is permanently outside of the mortal realm, he can keep a closer eye. I just figured out that we could communicate thoughts and ideas through the throne, so he could warn us if anything terrible was happening."

“Maybe we could get the dragons over there,” Tresk said with a shrug. “I dunno, just spit balling here.”

“The proposed arrangement is acceptable,” Khahar said, smiling a bit too wide. “But, there are a few more things I’d like to discuss.

Khahar was really good at matching the theme of his world: bureaucracy. He had a lot of plans for the future, many boring plans involving laws and rules that they were supposed to enforce. While Theo wasn't so sure about doing any of that, he agreed to discuss it after the next switch. After all, they couldn't really do much now. They had to wait until the transition happened. Then they could decide how much authority they had.

Theo, Tresk, and Alex left once they were satisfied that things had been taken care of. The alchemists brought them to Fenian's world just to double-check things before they made their way back to the mortal realm. There were a few more things to do before they spent another year in the paper dimension with Pogo. But the instant they landed, Tresk turned to him and tilted her head to the side.

“Put up that shield thing,” Tresk said.

Theo didn’t hesitate, raising his privacy barrier in an instant.

“Khahar knew something,” she said. “He had this look on his face like he was holding in a fart. Or a secret, I don’t know.”

Theo shook his head. “What would he have to gain if he hid something from us?”

“Dunno. Just got a feeling about it.”

Theo filed Tresk's suspicions away in his mind. He wasn't sure what they could do about it right now. After having a short conversation, they checked the world out and made sure things were unchanged. Since they could do nothing about the perpetual war for now, they decided that was the norm. As long as people were finding each other 24 hours a day, everything was just fine.

Upon returning to the mortal realm, they linked up with Pogo, who had some very good news.

"You two are like beacons for our energy," she said, looking between both Theo and Tresk and beaming. “One true dragon was good enough, but with three, we're seeing many changes with the draconic energies.”

“That’s good news, right?” Tresk asked.

“Excellent news,” Pogo said. “Once we get you to the level of an elder dragon, it’ll be even better.”

“Side note,” Theo said, pointing his finger into the air. “Messing with the energy was actually good for the system, apparently. So, we’re doing two good things.”

“Huzzah!” Tresk cheered. “Now, let’s go suffer in a paper world for a year.”

“That’s very not huzzah,” Theo said with a sigh. “Let’s go.”

Chapter 54

Commentator

“He’s gonna feel that one tomorrow!” Tresk shouted, pumping her fists in the air.

Although they had a lot of training to do, the pair wanted at least a short break. Tresk figured the best way to take a break would be to commentate on the fights, since they were getting interesting. Instead of the large-scale attacks they had come to see in the previous fights, each battle had become far more tactical. Thanks to the point system, they couldn’t afford to go all-out without fear of losing points.

“Interesting strategy,” Theo said, leaning forward and narrowing his eyes. “This is the fighter that got docked for throwing and missing too many daggers, right?”

“That’s right, Theo. Our blue fighter is a stealth specialist who loves tossing thousands of daggers at their opponent. They almost lost it last round since the judge is now treating poor accuracy as a reason for docking points.” Tresk zoomed her screen, shaking her head in disappointment. “Unless blue gets back into stealth, I’m not sure he can come out the other side alive! Or at least with their points intact.”

“Looks like you might get what you’re asking for,” Theo said.

Below was a strange burst of movement. It first appeared the blue fighter was feinting left, preparing for a charge. But when the red fighter conjured walls of flames, that plan was abandoned as soon as it was formed. But the feint was a double-feint… Whatever that was called. The red fighter took the momentary lapse in the blue fighter’s concentration to unleash a wall of daggers. They soared across the arena, most being caught in an invisible barrier. But the ones that got through streamed against the body of the red fighter, leaving shining marks where the arena registered the hits.

The crowd went bonkers, and so did Tresk.

“The old feint-feint-dagger move!” Tresk shouted. “Looks like we’re going to see a winner here in a second!”

“Not if that wizard… Yep, another fireball,” Theo said. “Trusty old fireball. Even if your arms and legs don’t work, even if your spine has just been punctured by about ten billion daggers, always pick fireball.”

“Huh. They both blew up. Who gets the win?” Tresk asked.

“Let’s see what the judges say.”

This was the last match Theo and Tresk were going to do today. Truth was, they had a bit of extra time now that Fenian was missing. It wasn’t as though the elf was a burden, but training him in the paper dimension made the dragon project a tad harder. Now that they were free to do whatever, the alchemist was convinced they could get the system even more stable before the reset.

The judges finally reached a conclusion, the information flashing up on the screen for them to see.

“Dagger boy actually won!” Tresk shouted with excitement. “Can you believe it? I guess enough of those daggers hit their mark to count.”

“It was seriously close, though,” Theo said. Both fighters met in the middle of the arena, shaking hands like good sportsmen. “We’re handing the commentary over to some other fine folks. Busy, busy!”

Tresk pushed away from the table, releasing a heavy sigh. “Okay, that’s seriously fun.” She eyed their replacements, shooting up from the chair and offering them the driver’s seat. “All yours. Good luck with the other fights.”

“Thanks,” the elf said with a slight bow.

The elves were apparently high-ranking military folks from Tarantham, but Theo hadn’t taken the time to get to know them. As far as elves went, they weren’t bad. Most elves could be too snooty for his liking, but these two were alright.

“Why you floating that essence around?” Tresk asked.

Theo had taken to withdrawing the vial containing the unknown essence from the Frozen Tear, and floating around while he thought about the best way to force it to work. “I can’t figure it out,” Theo admitted. “Typically, I have a sense for what an essence can do. I feel elements of ice.”

“Is there such a thing?” Tresk asked. “Ice Potion?”

“Frostbomb, I guess. Especially from the Manashroom,” Theo said. “But I can’t get it to be a Frostbomb, Resist Cold Potion, or anything like that.”

“Try juicing it with dragon mana,” Tresk said, rubbing her hands together.

Theo considered it for a moment. But alchemy was a reactive thing. Precautions were needed. “Okay. But we’re not doing it here,” he said.

“Yeah, come on. You can teleport anywhere. Let’s go.”

“I hear Calet is pretty fun this time of year,” Theo said with a sinister laugh. “Stay here, Alex. You’re cold blooded.”

“No, I’m not!” the dragon shouted from somewhere above.

Without waiting for Alex’s approval, Theo teleported himself and Tresk to the region once called Calet. Tresk wrapped her arms around herself immediately, shivering only a moment after they had arrived.

“Oh, yeah. This place sucks. Just put some fire energy into your aura and we’re golden,” Tresk said.

“Let’s go into that ominous cave, instead,” Theo said. “If I put fire energy into my aura, we’re gonna infuse that into the essence.”

Tresk didn’t like it, but she agreed. This was her idea, after all. Theo smiled to himself all the way to the cave. Somewhere in the distance, he picked up the sense that monsters were lurking. He couldn’t tell what kind, but they were there. Deep under the snow, he also felt more of the Frozen Tear flowers, waiting to be plucked. The alchemist wasn’t sure if he wanted more of them, since the only useful effect had been turning themselves into shards. The ice immunity wasn’t cold immunity, so that was out of the question.

Stepping into the cave, Theo looked around to spot a sheet of ice frozen to the walls of the cave. Even the floor was slick, as though a river had run through here and froze half-way through. He stopped after erecting a few powerful barrier to contain whatever explosion came from the combined power of dragon energy and the essence.

“Mana infusion isn’t an insane concept,” Theo said, levitating the essence with one hand, and his own refined mana with the other. He had done his best to pull out only the mana most closely aligned with the concepts of dragons. “Put them together and… what?”

“Why are you asking me? You’re the alchemy boy.”

Theo gave her a flat look. If she scanned his memory, she’d understand he had no idea what would happy. Mana infusion was done through concepts based on spell arrays, not pure mana. The alchemist had never seen a new effect springing up from mana infusion alone. He could only think that there would be a stabilizing effect when potent dragon mana was added to the mix.

“Fine. Nothing should happen. But will nothing happen?” Tresk asked, clapping excitedly. “Let’s find out.”

Theo floated the essence and his mana behind the safety barrier. There were two options: an explosion or something interesting. Although the alchemist leaned toward the explosion, there was something about the dragon mana he had refined that was interesting to consider. Although he tried his best, the way he had cultivated the energy made it a mixture of celestial and dragon energies. Refined into mana, it created a strangely potent mix of those two concepts.

Pulling those two elements together created an interesting effect. Rather than repelling, as Theo had expected, they wanted to merge. Before moving forward, though, experimentation was required. It wasn’t enough for him that this might work. The alchemist wanted to know why it worked. He sucked the errant mana back into his body, and withdrew some infused instead with the Haste spell. He was shocked enough to see how quickly he created the spell-infused glob of mana, but not so surprised at the essence’s reaction.

“Why doesn’t it want spell mana?” Tresk asked, tilting her head to one side.

Theo simply shook his head, discarding the spell-infused mana and withdrawing a pure strain from his chest. This one was untainted by spells, dragons, or the celestial energies. When he held it close to the essence, it also repelled. This was only moderately confusing, since essences could desire certain types of mana. Why this essence wanted nothing but dragon and celestial energy was beyond him.

“I suppose we learned something,” Theo said. “Maybe. I’m not really sure yet.”

“Yeah, yeah. Come on. Just make the potion.”

Theo rolled up his sleeves, withdrawing more of the potent mana from his chest. He watched as the mystery essence pulled through the air, fighting against his control to assimilate with the mana. Before proceeding, he double-checked his barriers and focused on the danger sense gifted by Omen. He might not be able to see the future anymore, but at least he could know if he was about to be blown up.

But he sensed nothing.

As the essence combined with the mana, it began glowing. The light was almost blinding as the two things combined, filling the cave with shimmering silver, purple, and green that danced across the walls. The temperature increased significantly, rivulets of water running down the ice frozen to the cave walls. Theo clenched his jaw, feeling the essence itself push back against him as though challenging his will. He doubled down, forcing more of his willpower into the combination. The cave itself rumbled, those loosening sheets of ice falling from the walls to shatter upon the ground.

“Woah, that’s a serious potion,” Tresk said with a nervous chuckle. “You okay, buddy?”

“This isn’t going well,” Theo grunted, putting more of his massive willpower into combining the two materials. This wasn’t even the crafting portion of his new skill. He couldn’t help wondering how difficult that would be.

But there was no time to consider the future. As Theo poured the last of his willpower into keeping the newly forming essence from exploding, he felt the barrier before him buckling. The instant it had been infused with everything he had, the reaction calmed down and he realized something. The amount of willpower required to calm the reaction was equal to the amount of willpower his latent mana contained, which was to say all his willpower.

Breathing a sigh of relief, Theo watched as the essence calmed, combining to create a dark, tar-like liquid floating in the air. He dropped the barriers, transferring the contents to a flask and giving it a better look. Lurking within were properties he could only hope to guess the effects of. The next phase was to ‘brew’ the potion, which meant he would use his overpowered willpower to force the process. There was no elegance in it, but when one had so much willpower, why not use it?

Theo forced his willpower onto the flask, backing off immediately. Dabbing his forehead, he felt the dampness there and let out a heavy breath. His danger sense had gone crazy for only an instant. “I can’t do the whole thing at once,” he said, withdrawing a vial from his inventory. “We’re not even talking about an explosion anymore. This is something else. Like the potion is going to overtake me.”

“Just be careful,” Tresk said, her voice containing an uncharacteristic edge of concern.

Theo wouldn’t remind Tresk that this was her idea, not his. Instead, he put some of the mixture from the flask into his vial and got to work. In such a small amount, about two-units worth, it was much easier to handle. He infused his willpower into the mix, watching as the liquid within changed. The tar-like substance became much clearer, taking on the familiar hue of their draconic Tara’hek. Purple mingled with blue in striations throughout the potion, running in bands along the side of the vial. The alchemist felt a pulse of power from within.

A visible wave of power shot from the vial, threatening to break the glass. But it held. For now.

Theo held the vial up to the light filtering through the cave’s entrance. His brows knit tightly. “Uh, that’s not normal.”

“What?” Tresk asked.

Theo turned, holding it out for her to see. He shook his head. “It has an item description.”