Chapter 8 Paradise & the Poisoned Fruit (Part 4/7)

The energy in my core felt pressured, as if there was a hidden weight upon my chest. The amulet appeared to be of no help in this situation as I was evaluated by the joint consciousness of the assembled creatures. Fear. . .Fear of being lost in the woods at night, of rushing through a dense patch littered with poison ivy, and various thorns strewn about my path, pushed through me. My chest began to feel tighter as I continued to be lost. . . . Darkness closed in on my vision.

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Then. . . something . . . something in the distance . . . something far beyond my comprehension, pulsed. It was like a bright shining star railing against the darkened night sky overhead, offering a light by which to travel by. Although it appeared to be separated by several layers of shrouding, it still shone through to where I stood in the dark.

As that light shone upon me, a pathway which had previously been obscured by the night lit up, and became defined amidst the surrounding growth. Victoria, Tirene, and the familiar scenes of the backyard garden were nowhere to be seen. Lighting up with iridescent shades, ground level plants glowed on either side of a foreign path, illuminating a once hidden way.

Stepping onto the path in my mind, I traversed along its enlightening way. The foliage looked somewhat similar to the plant life in Victoria's garden. As I maneuvered through the now obvious twists and turns, I came upon a tree standing directly in my path. I made as if to briefly step off the path, in order to walk around the tree. However, as soon as my right foot crossed over the glowing edge of the lit path, complete darkness crashed down upon my vision. Reflexively I pulled my foot back, and my surroundings were once again alight with various hues of vibrant plant life.

Apparently, stepping off the path once this far was not an option. Instead, I turned my attention to the tree blocking my path. It appeared to be an evergreen of sorts that I didn't know the name of. Staring up into its wide embracing boughs, I then raised up my hand to press against the darkened bark of the trunk. Another sight without eyes peered down at me from the vantage point of the tree.

Then, as if letting off a sigh of disappointment, I was thrust back from the tree and back into my own body.

I fell over from the residual thrust and landed on my rear, simply as if I just been knocked over.

Victoria was looking wide eyed and open mouthed at me. Working to build up the saliva it took to work again, she finally spoke. "Well, . . . That was certainly a surprise." Looking at the depths of her garden, she paused a moment as if in thought. "It appears that it felt something inside of you that drove it to test you in such a way. Initially all I was expecting was a kind of attraction or repelling depending on your compatibility and overall appreciation of nature. Instead, you were drawn into its will to test you at a higher affinity." Hah. She shook her head with a wry smile. "Apparently you are accepted by it, yet not ready for the trial set aside for its tier of elemental assimilation. Honestly, trying to get you to jump tiers when you haven't even successfully passed any of the first tier yet. Tisk tisk."

Once again, she looked at me as if measuring me in her mind. "I'm wondering if that means that you may be ready for your first elemental assimilation." Then she shook her head. "No, after what you experienced the first time, these things shouldn't be rushed."

I felt elated at her first spoken thought about trying to assimilate an elemental stone again, but then her follow-up left me disappointed. Honestly however, after that experience which I just had, I too felt hesitant about rushing the assimilation. Not for fear of it not working, but for fear of failing to open up the path that I had been treading before, and thus potentially burning out any future opportunity to tread it once again.

Some opportunities can come but once, or certain actions once done cannot be undone. I didn't want to let a single mistake such as that to stain and darken a portion of the rest of my time here in this amazing place.

And so prudent I will be, until the opportune time.

Stepping forward once again, I somehow intrinsically knew that I would not be tested in this manner again, at least for now while in this garden. This time, as my feet again sank lightly into the earth beside the plants, I felt an echo of a non-verbal hello that drew back to a comfortable point of observation. It was kind of like being watched by a curious Macaw. You knew it was very unlikely to cause you harm, but you still got to enjoy its presence and beautiful plumage.

Pushing that sensation to the back of my mind, I began following Victoria's lead of grabbing a handful of the nutrient rich compost, and spreading a thin layer over the soil around me. The texture of the earth was particularly stimulating as I performed this act of enriching the soil with this new top layer.

We continued to do this, moving to various sections, while still being careful not to damage or crush any of the plants. Sometimes it was very difficult to reach a few places that Victoria had to personally take over for. For her, she simply needed to wave her hand, and the plants there would shift their fronds or leaves out of the way, and she would be able to apply the needed layer of mulch. Oh, how I'd love to be able to do that at home. Go out for a hike in the wilderness and simply wave my hand to create a path through the dense brush.

*Sigh* But there, such things weren't possible. To wish for such wasn't practical to dwell on, other than to depress a person with what they couldn't do. Too often we see that which others have or what they can do, that we lose sight of what we too can accomplish in our own unique ways. I still had my gift, for which I was immeasurably grateful, and I was determined to walk my own path with its empowering force lighting my way.

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Too soon it seemed, evening was upon us, and the chore of thinly spreading the mulch across the entirety of the garden was complete. I didn't want to leave this place, but I knew it would still be here the next time that Victoria requested my help with it. And so, after washing off our hands, feet and pants, we entered her home for a late dinner.

Not much extra happened except that Victoria had pulled out the glassware that she had promised. Unexpectedly she had also already processed the slime acid from the cores into the bottles. I felt a bit let down that I missed out on that experience. However, I was glad that she, with her far more deft hands had been the one to make the transfer from core to glass jar. Feeling like I probably would have wasted a core or so in my attempts to do such, I thanked her.

"Of course." She replied. "I wasn't sure you'd want to take the opportunity to travel the sewers again to experience the adventure you had before. However, the opportunity is always there to obtain more cores. I would honestly say though, that there isn't much to them in experimentation at your current level."

It was true that I wasn't a skilled apothecary. Alchemists, metallurgists, and only such as them could truly tap into the potential catalytic properties of that acid. And so, I did not fault her fair assessment of me and my intent for the small jars of slime acid.

I was more than prepared to utilize them in my simple way of melting the face off of a monster given the chance. 

Huh. I don't know if it was the result of that out of body moment with Victoria's garden, but I was feeling excited about experiencing the thrill of dangerous adventure.

That night after dinner, I went to sleep dreaming of challenging blight twisted creatures of nature, wielding a staff of opaline black and white streaks.

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The next several days had me alternately studying, gardening, performing deliveries, and pick-ups. In the mornings, I would study the next 3 plants in the apothecary book. Then after lunch, I would either aid Victoria in the production of various tinctures or potions, with outside chores, or other miscellaneous responsibilities. Finally, in the evening after dinner, I would review the Utilizing Monster Parts for Potions book or whatever additional reading material that I was provided for my education.

Despite the closeness I was beginning to feel with my teacher and master, I still did not get to escape the occasional 'special' educational moments.

Point of recall, I had been sent to an insect breeder of sorts to pick up a package of insects as feeders for a group of plants Victoria cultivated, which I still have yet to see. While at the shop, I had begun to feel an intense itching all over my body. I torturously bore with it as I completed the transaction and returned back to her shop with the package in tow. Outside, I waited with it, in fear of spreading whatever it was that had infested me to the inside of her shop and home.

For those that have not dealt with an infestation of this type. This is a veritable nightmare for those in the medical field. Give us vomit, diarrhea, blood, and a whole slew of other things, and we will charge fearlessly to do battle with whatever ails you. But if you send bedbugs, lice, or other insect infestations our way, we yearn to run for the hills. We are terrified of bringing those kinds of things home with us.

And so, I had waited in agony outside of her shop to warn her of my condition. Seeing her greet me outside with her lips twitching in amusement, I knew that I'd been had once again. Somehow, she had dosed me with something that had the delayed effect of causing extreme itchiness and irritation when catalyzed with sweat.

Amidst the distracting torment, and under her watchful eyes, I struggled to focus my mind on the lessons I had learned in the Apothecary book since the beginning. I recalled a few herbs and potions that could readily reduce or eliminate the itching and set about creating a potion combining them together. I utilized my 3 free tinctures of plants, benefits of being her apprentice, and processed them together. Shortly after drinking the resulting potion, I began to feel a warm, numbing sensation spread all over me. The unbearable itching reduced to nothing, and I let out a heavily relieved sigh.

Following that, I promptly washed my clothes and myself. In the process, I had been careful to not touch anything else beyond the merest of touches. This was to prevent spreading whatever topical agent, if it was such, that I had been dosed with, to anything else. I had little desire to experience such an event ever again.

Funny enough, a couple of days after that, I actually got to observe my teacher dosing someone else with a faster acting version of the itch powder. It had happened on a random day where we got some new faces in our shop. We had finished up lunch a while ago, and I was again assisting with grinding down one of her many components for creating potions. Of course, since that time I had been dosed with the blue arousal powder and had that incredibly uncomfortable erection and subsequent visit to the Red district, I was much more attentive to that which I processed. 

The door chimed notifying us of some new customers entering the shop. Prior to them, it had been empty of any other clients at the time. Those who entered this time was a group of adventurers that appeared completely foreign, as compared to the customers I'd seen before. As they browsed her wares and introduced themselves, I learned that they were visiting the city from afar, and been referred to her shop to stock up on various low to mid-grade healing potions.