Chapter 11. Alchemist

MAGUS TRAITS

A Magus Trait is the term used to describe any innate magical technique that a person may have. Magus Traits' effects are as varied as people themselves, and their power is also equally varied.

Magus Traits can manifest in a number of forms, from a tangible, magically enhanced object, to a completely new persona and appearance for the user when the Trait is activated. Magus Traits can also be extremely simple or complex, with the user nearly always aware of how to use it innately regardless of this.

Although rare, an individual may possess more than one Magus Trait, or gain use of another person's trait by method of blood transfusion, or organ transplant.

Magus Traits can be entirely random, or hereditary. In some cases, the trait is shared by entire families, or a child will receive a hybrid of both parent's traits, should they awaken it. In any case, this has led to the practice of selective breeding among powerful families to produce magically gifted children. While this isn't an exact science, some headway has been made in reproducing powerful techniques, as seen with the emergence of the Raijin trait in nearly all of the House of Storm's members.

Every sentient being has the capacity to awaken and use their Magus Trait, however actual Magus Trait users are incredibly rare. This is because only one in twenty people will ever be able to awaken and accidentally use their trait, and of those people, many will be unable to master the trait to a degree it becomes practical to use. The exact conditions for awakening one's Magus trait vary, usually stemming from extreme stress or emotion.

Certain sealing techniques can also draw out a person's Magus Trait, and this method is commonly employed among shinobi clans, to better equip valuable members.

Lilith and Dolorem arrived in the Reeds prefecture a few hours past daybreak. Both were stiff and in spite of the broken sleep they had, tired. "Right, where's the temple?" Lilith yawned. "Don't worry about it, dear, you need your eye…"

"Lack thereof." Lilith cut in, giggling to herself.

"... Lack thereof, looked at."

"We will, just stop worrying, ok?"

Both Lilith and Dolorem thanked the driver. They had passed into the town to which the temple complex was connected by a single bridge. Getting in would be easy, getting out in one piece less so.

Dolorem looked around himself, not entirely sure where a healer or apothecary could be found. Lilith took hold of his arm, dragging him along the street. Dolorem felt a vague sense of dread as the houses and shop-fronts loomed over him, all brightly colored, with pigmented plaster. He made sure not to show his apprehension, he had no need for it. The townsfolk milled about, seemingly unaware of the ever-advancing armies of Manus. Perhaps they were, and in denial.

Lilith, who had an infamous sense of direction, and an aversion to asking for guidance. The two wandered about the town for hours on end, simply happy to achieve some semblance of normality. Dolorem said little, but did point out when he saw an alchemist's shop that may have been able to offer help. He held open the door for Lilith to enter. "Ever the gentleman." She remarked.

"I'm also wanted for treason, so that's up for debate" Dolorem said, blushing.

The alchemist's shop's interior was dimly lit as the sun set outside. A small, wooden staircase led upstairs, but most of its space was taken up by shelves filled with potion ingredients and jars full of unidentifiable pickled specimens. There was a long desk dominating the back wall on which sat the alchemist in question. He had his legs pulled up towards his chest and was leaning against the wall to his side. His attention fixated on some kind of ambelic, surrounded by an immense array of scattered papers and vials.

He looked up, somewhat startled by his customers. "Oh, hello!" He called out, half falling, half getting off the table. "I apologise for the mess, try not to trip over anything," he breathlessly went on on his way over. Once he reached them, he offered out his hand "Lavos, pleasure to meet you both."

Lilith shook his hand "Lilith," Dolorem bowed courteously. Lavos tilted his head, examining Dolorem. "You from the countryside or something?" He asked, staring intently. Dolorem didn't know how to react. "Yes, Red Pines. Why do you ask?" Lavos had already turned his attention to Lilith. "No functional reason, it's just that not many locals really bow any more. Not since I arrived here sixteen, no, eighteen years ago. Refugees and all that from the eruption of Mount Orenus. I'm sure you know the story. Shame too, I planned to retire to its foothills." He rattled on, not looking at Dolorem.

"What about you?" He asked Lilith. "I presume you're here over the deficit in the ocular department. Let me guess, fight with a bear? No fight with a tiger!"

Dolorem looked somewhat annoyed by the alchemist's lack of bedside manor. Lilith put her hand on his arm. "Yes, I have a small problem with one of them. Lost it in a fight with a person."

"Not to worry," Lavos beamed, either entirely oblivious or used to the shock of the statement. "Now, what are we in the market for? Regeneration, prosthesis, transplant?"

"Dolorem knows the specifics to the rite, but a prosthetic is the most beneficial, given our situation." Lilith answered, looking over at Dolorem, to whom the mess of the alchemist's shop was obviously getting. He jumped at the mention of his name. "Yes, are you familiar with the practice of creating spirit eyes?"

"Well, I know the process, although I'm not actually licensed to carry it out, I have done so plenty of times before, no complaints from recipients. Question is how do you know the process of making it?" Lavos said in his usual, rapid manner of speech. There was a long pause. "Relax, relax, I'm messing about, you're a shinobi, I know" he continued.

"How… exactly?" Dolorem asked. Lavos was already burrowing into a stack of musty tomes. "Well, the seal on your arm is a dead giveaway, if you've seen one like it before, and well, there's rumors of two fugitives, one a shinobi, one a dark elf, about. Wouldn't worry 'bout it though. I have no interest in bringing lawmen anywhere near me, nor do I particularly like Cranswell. Most folk in the lower districts'll be the same, just be careful and don't draw attention to yourself."

Lavos began to clear the stairs, gesturing for Dolorem and Lilith to follow. "You know, you're not the first shinobi I've met. The other one was a mountain of a man, real flamboyant sort. D'you know him?"

"Not really, but I've seen him once before, during a cross-clan tournament. Well, I heard him. He's loud, and uses explosive powder even if he wasn't." Dolorem called up the stairs. "That said, extremely skilled."

Lavos had apparently lost interest in the conversation, and was setting up an operating table chair in the back of the first floor clinic. It was equally as disorganised as the ground floor, but was saved from total chaos by having less in it.

Lilith followed Dolorem up the stairs, stepping out in front to take in the cacophony of trinkets and curiosities around the room. "So Lavos," she asked "what's your story?"

"Not a whole lot to say on my part," he mumbled. "My work is more or less my life, and I don't have much in the way of family. Now," he suddenly looked up, and pointed at the table. "If you don't mind hopping up so we can begin."

"Alright," Lilith said, lying back on the table. Lavos spoke a command word, and an intense ball of light materialized over the table. "I'm going to numb the area I'm working on, don't worry, it's only temporary." He said, producing from a nearby box a vial of bluish liquid. He uncorked it and poured some onto the area surrounding Lilith's eye socket. It seemed to evaporate instantly. Lavos looked over at Dolorem. Come over, I can't speak for your wife but I certainly don't bite, and if she does that's really none of my business, no offence, Lilith."

"None taken" she said, with some difficulty, half her mouth numb. Dolorem cautiously approached. "How did you know..." Lavos pointed to the golden pattern on her wrist. "Not a psychic or a spy, just saying what I see. Lilith, can you feel your face?"

"I don't think so"

"Well, close your eye and tell me if you can feel this?" he said, poking around the numbed area with a glass stirring rod.

"Not a thing."

"Good! I've found it best to check these things before starting, just in case." Lavos dug through a box filled with spheres of various colours and materials. After a fair amount of talking to himself and humming, he produced a transparent, pure crystal one. "Now, Dolorem, you said you knew the sealing rite?"

"Yes."

"Perfect, I presume you have a specific purpose in mind?"

"Yes, actually, I intend on placing two seals on it, the scrying spell, which you can provide, and a Magus Trait Seal, it should draw Lilith's innate trait out fairly easily. Here, these rings can serve as a sealing medium." Dolorem said, handing them over.

"Could you be more specific?" Lilith asked, Lavos setting about carving two seals into the flawless sphere.

"No, it will depend on you, dear," Dolorem told Lilith.

"What if it ends up being something borderline insulting? Like a worm spirit, or snail powers? Hmm?" She joked.

"You won't get snail powers, but if you by some impossibility did it would be the most fearsome set of snail powers ever.."

"Please. Get a room," Lavos cut in. He held the carved crystal aloft. "Now, the rings." Dolorem offered them up, and Lavos placed them in a crucible, lighting it. "Alright Lilith, I'm going to make some minor adjustments in and around your eye socket, so the eye fits, if you feel any pain, just say."

"Alright," she chirped. "How long will it be before the eye functions normally?"

Lavos was setting about dipping a scalpel and tweezers in boiling water, then what seemed to be iodine. "The eye itself… it'll be blurry and might not be of much use for a few hours, a day at most. Once you can see properly with it, the other abilities of the scrying spell should kick in, like seeing magic, sensing life and antilife, that sort of thing."

"And the Magus Trait?"

Lavos shrugged. "Not my seal, can't say. Care to elaborate, Dolorem?"

"We don't know, could take days, might take decades, there's no way to really tell. The average is between a week and a fortnight." Dolorem explained.

"Hang on," Lilith said suddenly. "How come you don't have this kind of seal on you? Why not?"

"Don't worry, you're entirely safe. And I do have one, but I can't use it, though, or at least not to my knowledge."

"Because?" Lavos pressed, cutting and snipping at Lilith's eye socket. Lilith seemed unbothered, and unperturbed by the fact there was someone standing over her with a blade.

Dolorem seemed lost, conflicted. "Just… never manifested properly."

"Fair's fair." Lavos grunted, lifting the molten gold from the crucible, and securing the eye in place. "Seal one, scrying spell, in three, two, one" he poured half the liquid metal into the carved channels, then added a drop of Lilith's blood from the scalpel. Leaving the crucible down, he held a hand over the first seal, and began the incantation. The language used to cast it was guttural, primal. The force of each syllable almost shook the room, as the seal glowed and writhed, colours rising and sinking within the crystal eye. Once he completed the incantation, blue ether leapt from Lavos' hand and was absorbed into the gold. A calm fell over the room.

"That was… " Lilith attempted. Lavos took a theatrical bow, then sprayed the top surface of the eye with water. "Now, seal two." He repeated the process of pouring the gold into the indentations, then beckoned Dolorem over. Dolorem knew what to do. He began weaving the appropriate hand seals, this sequence more than thirty long. The earth didn't tremble. All that could be felt was a slight tension in the air. The end of the sealing rite was heralded by Dolorem falling to his knees, exhausted. "It is done." He gasped, beads of perspiration on his face. The eye now glowed in reddish orange hues. "You can implant it now."

Lavos made the final adjustments, cooled the second seal, and carefully eased the eye into its socket. He rotated it about a little, checking the fit, once satisfied, he went to get some bandages. Lilith blinked with the new eye. "I can't see with it yet." Dolorem hauled himself to his feet, leaning on the edge of the operating table. "You will." He said, taking her hand. "Just give it time." Lavos reappeared, with padding and bandages in tow. He didn't say anything, just binding up the eye. Within minutes, he had it perfectly covered. "Perfect, now, if it's alright, I'll be holding onto you overnight just in case."

Dolorem looked nervous. But Lilith's grip tightening on his hand reassured him. "Of course, better safe than sorry," she agreed.

Lavos led Dolorem and Lilith back downstairs, in behind the shop, to a sparsely furnished guest room. It was entirely spotless, despite the state of the shop. Dolorem helped Lilith onto the bed, and collapsed into the bedside chair. Lavos nodded. "I'll be able to get you breakfast in the morning, let me know if you need anything, alright?"

Dolorem fell into a near-comatose sleep the instant the door closed. Lilith lay awake, staring at the ceiling. She still couldn't feel her face. It was like that for hours. Just staring up at the blank white through one eye, the only disturbance being Dolorem's fitful twitching in his sleep. At one point Lavos re-entered carrying a tray with cups and a teapot on it. "I forgot I had these," he whispered. Lilith got up and took the tray. "Thank you," she called to him as he tried to leave the room. "Here, stay a while, Dolorem won't be having any."

Lavos slunk back into the room, taking a seat on the floor, at the foot of the bed. "Wouldn't two people talking wake him?" Lilith clapped her hands, Dolorem seemingly oblivious. "No, he's exhausted and wasn't the easiest to wake even before that."

"Very well."

"So, Lavos, what's your story?"

Lavos said nothing for quite a while, apparently lost in thought. "Born, moved away from home, plied my trade, 'll probably die here. All very boring…"

"You have no family? Friends, a wife, husband?"

"No, no, nothing like that, people tend to avoid me unless they need me. I'm ok with that though, it's best they leave me be."

"How so?" Lilith siad, somehow shocked.

"It is partially my own fault, but I didn't have a terribly happy childhood or adolescence. I didn't think what, or maybe like, others did, and… well, I have a few other problems."

"Lavos, I'm so sorry I had no idea, I shouldn't have pried…"

"Oh, no, no, it's alright, there are advantages to my condition. I notice things other people don't. Helps me work. That's all I need." He said, smiling

"And that's all you need?" Lilith mused. "It must be nice…" she looked over at Dolorem, bound up in the throes of a nightmare. "Dolorem was the same, when we first met."

Lavos studied him carefully. "How did you two meet, anyway? A dark elvish noble and a shinobi."

"My brother's wedding, maybe six years ago. He married a noble from the Reed Prefecture, and Dolorem was in security detail. I had no real interest in being there, my brother and I don't really know one another, because we were born so far apart, so I spent the majority of the reception wandering about outside. Naturally, Dolorem had to investigate this, and I could've gotten arrested."

"I'm sorry what?" Lavos choked on his tea.

"I'm dead serious, Dolorem doesn't mess around when he's working. Of course once I explained myself he nearly had a heart attack. That was funny."

"Alright, not seeing the chemistry there, but if it works, it works…"

"Oh, that was just the start of it. Everyone knew what he felt before he did. We spent the rest of the night talking, followed by the weeklong stay, and then he was on security for my brother's passage to the Rift Bay, which I was part of."

"And then?" Lavos asked

"We could request certain shinobi to guard us, because nobles can get away with more or less whatever they want. And I asked for him." Lilith said, happy to recount the time when life was less dangerous.

"Makes sense, if you liked him."

"Well, yes…"

"But why," Lavos asked, "you're always saying that you do, and I don't doubt it, but why, he seems kind of…" he trailed off.

"Wound up?" Lilith chuckled, gesturing to the sleeping Dolorem, still wrapped up in his churning psyche.

"Hey, your words not mine. He can't help it, can he?"

"No, not at all, he's had it since day one, as far as his parents have told me, still, it's part of the package."

"The rest being?"

"There's nobody quite like him. He's the sort of person who just wants to do the right things, and that has hurt him in the past, even now, but he keeps trying, even when nobody is there to see it. He's supportive, well-groomed, he likes to read and learn new things, you know?"

"And the jawline that could cut glass has nothing to do with it? Or the soldier's physique?" Lavos cut in.

"Well it's certainly not going against him, but my favourite thing is that he lets me be whoever I want. To my parents, I'm the precious youngest child, to most people, I'm the Marchioness of the Adjudicators, but to him, I'm just, well, Lilith."

"Must be nice," Lavos mused. He remained silent for an uncomfortably long time. "I should really go, you need to recover."

"Lavos wait…" she trailed off as he left. He was already gone. Lavos had made his way into the shop again, and set about cleaning up, for no apparent reason. Lavos didn't know either. He just wanted to move things about, he thought to himself.

Soon after that, Lilith went to sleep not long after, confused by Lavos' behavior. She didn't dream that night, her mind somewhat dulled by the anesthetic even now.

Dolorem, however, did. He was alone, utterly, standing waist-deep in blood, wandering in a tunnel cut from flawless obsidian. Perfect void stretched behind him, ahead lay a malevolent presence, one he'd tried so hard to bury. He knew it all too well. It was the thing he wished so dearly to drown it in the past. Its voice poured into his ears like venom, "I never manifested properly, did I not? Who's fault is that?"

A dark reflection of Dolorem stood in the tunnel before him. "I will not let you bring ruin to these places to satiate your own bloodlust.." Dolorem growled.

"Mine? It's yours too, Dolorem. We are one entity, whether or not you choose to accept it."

"There is no we, you are just a parasite, you have no place in my life." He affirmed with a faltering voice."

"Parasite? No, no, Dolorem, I'm no parasite. I'm as much a part of you as your arm or leg, it's just you don't want to acknowledge me." It drawled, "I am you, and you are me."

"I've washed my hands of you. There's nothing else to say."

"I wouldn't be so sure, Dolorem, by all means, convince yourself otherwise, cower in the Orochi's shadow if you please, but when his supposed godhood fails you, and your last breath draws near, when you've been worn down the very marrow of your being, you'll come knocking on my door." It hissed menacingly.

"Go to hell." Dolorem spat.

"I'll save you a seat by the fire, old friend."

Dolorem's dream violently shifted after that, tearing him into the Orochi's chamber. The Orochi coiled about him. "What was that?" It asked.

"I have a vague memory of that aura, I've felt it before. That insatiable, bottomless desire to kill. It came out fighting the Purple Hand too, didn't it?"

"It's something I'd rather not discuss, Orochi. I buried it for a reason."