- A Successful Experiment

Chapter 1

Lightning crackles between the fingers on a paw larger than a humans hand yet eerily similar. Deep, loud, snoring emanates from a creature covered in thick grey hair.

The creature lays comfortably in the center of a small habitat atop a short mound of earth. To it's right is a small pool of water and to its left lay a small grove of about a dozen trees.

"A success!" A man by the name of Aurelius calls out, walking from the side of the chamber to its front. A large cylindrical pane of glass encompasses the entirety of the habitat, separating the interior from where Aurelius does his work.

"After twenty-four tries, the mutation has finally stuck." He claps his hands together happily.

Aurelius wears a deep blue loose fitting cloth shirt, shimmering with magic. For pants he has on easily maneuverable grey cloth. A belt around his waist, a short cape around his shoulders and flip flops on his feet complete this mages attire. Residual magic emanates from each piece, in addition to the three rings on each hand and amulet around his neck.

Aurelius turns from the habitat and starts towards a small nearby desk, passing over a staircase leading down by stepping on pockets of air. With each step short wisps of magic seem to flow from his slippers and cause the air to compress just enough to support Aurelius' weight.

Beakers full of various alchemical ingredients line shelves overlooking the small desk, which itself is covered in a haphazard arrangement of books. Among the clutter of research books and grimiore notes, a quill floats suspended three inches from the desk.

Aurelius stacks a few of the books on the desk on top of one another then flips a large leather book open to a blank page. He then grasps the floating quill between his fingers for a moment before it begins writing down each word that he speaks.

"One part phoenix ashes, two parts dragon essence, ten flower petals from an immortal willow, and a handful of bone fragments from an ancient ancestor. Mixed into the enchanted catalyst, settled for one month, finally imbued with tier six magic for seven days, tier seven magic for eight days, tier eight magic for nine days, and tier nine magic for ten days. After which imbibe immediately for the mutation to take effect."

Aurelius finished speaking before closing the grimoire tightly and casting an advanced sealing spell on it before removing it from the table and storing it into the amulet around his neck with a simple dimensional alteration spell.

Aurelius leaves the table and begins moving through his workshop, passing by a door that is slightly ajar. Loud feral barking can be heard from within the accompanying room. The noise jars Aurelius out of his thoughts long enough to close the door completely and continue on his way, a shimmering of magic surrounding the door causing the noise to drown out completely.

He weaves through a pair of disheveled bins full of parchment, one full to the brim pristine and blank, the other containing scribbled notes on past failed experiments. With a snap of his fingers, the parchments begins to sort itself and the barrels slide up against the wall in an neat organized fashion.

"What shall we teach you today. How about a few more terms on plant life. If he can just manage to learn the dialect then this whole process will go so much more smoothly." Aurelius mutters to himself as he peruses through a shelve of books with titles focused on the alchemical and botanical. Deciding on the picture book that best suits his needs, Aurelius approaches the habitat.

"Good morning! Let's start off today with another lesson before we try something different today." Aurelius sets a chair down for himself and waits for the creature inside to stir from its slumber.

After a few minutes the large creature easily twice the size of Aurelius stretches each of its limbs before yawning and slowly making its way down to the pool of water to bathe itself and drink. As it climbs out of the pool, the pearl at the bottom begins to sift through the dirty water, expelling it from the pool and refilling it with fresh clean water.

"Morning..." The creature calls out to Aurelius before muttering something in another language that Aurelius cannot understand. This communication causes the man to form a wide smile across his face and force himself to remain patiently for their study session to begin.

"Today I'll be teaching you how to identify some of the rarer forms of plants, their biomes, and methods for picking." Aurelius couldn't hold back his excitement on passing along of some the knowledge that he had gathered over the years, although in the back of his head he knew that the language barrier prevented most of this knowledge from sticking. He was more than happy to have someone to share it with.

Aurelius spent the next two hours explaining various types of plants and the creature managed to successfully identify a number of them by the end of the session. After which he closes the book with a satisfied smile and stands up to stretch out various parts of his body.

"I've got something special for you today. Something to hunt instead of the typical daily meat allotment." Aurelius explains before moving off from the habitat and towards the door that had previously held the feral barking. On the way he casts a low tier spell to cause the book in his hand to return to the shelf and the nearby books to begin reorganizing themselves into the correct location.

The room beyond the door is mainly wide open space, dotted with cages both magical and mundane in nature. Inside one of the magical cages is a quite feral dog with tawny coat and pale eyes, which seems to fade in and out of existence at random intervals.

Aurelius returns to the central room with the caged dog hovering a few feet in front of him, accompanied by rapid frantic barking. He sets the cage down and begins casting a high tier spell coupled with a secondary spell to trigger upon specified conditions.

"Lets see what happens after you've caught your prey. Don't worry about it's feral nature, the spell I've cast will trigger upon its death and cleanse the meat of whatever disease has ravaged its mind." Aurelius explains as he opens a hole in the habitat and deposits the feral blinking dog inside.