Twin Alchemists

During the dead of night, inside one of the Guild master's secret hideouts, a run-down cabin in the woods surrounded by windows for ventilation, a congregation of highly influential individuals.

Bereft of any furniture except for a decrepit couch with a table in front, the place had a gloomy air, and the fact that there were only candles to light up the place added a sinister flair to the room.

Seated at the couch were twin humans, their complexion brown while their black hair was medium in length. Although noble in their bearing, they donned not dresses that noblewomen often opted for but designer trench coats, one red and one black.

One might mistake them for the scholarly type, but the aura they exhibited was that of a hardened warrior who would never shy from taking lives.

The grandfather clock ticked, exacerbating the one in red's impatience with every pendulum's sway.

"He is late yet again."

"Calm yourself, Melsa. You must know by now that he is doing this to spite you." The one in a black coat urged her twin to remain calm.

"He does it every fucking time!?"

As the woman in red's anger exploded, a blinding light shone in front of them. It then faded to reveal a person least likely to deal with such morally dubious individuals, Elaria's guild master.

His grin mocking, the guild master immediately turned towards the woman in red.

"I hope you did not wait too long, Melsa."

"Choke on a dick, Caduceus."

The grand wizard's booming laughter echoed in the entire room.

To steer things into the proper direction, the level headed of the twin, Selma, posed a question.

"Has the dollmaker arrived in your city, Caduceus?"

In the drop of a hat, all jovialness vanished on the Guild master's face, replaced with seriousness. Spells aren't all that the grand wizard could juggle, he can do it with his emotions too.

"He has, but if he causes trouble I shall not bail him out. We should have put him down, a psychopath like him does nothing to further our cause."

"If he causes you that much distress then I would vote otherwise, I hope he converts and destroys your entire city, taking your beloved guild with it." Melsa interjected with a malicious grin.

The woman in red's wickedness bared. She would wish for an entire city's demise just to solely inconvenience the grand wizard.

The grand wizard's stoic demeanor cracked, revealing a grin aimed at Melsa.

"If I wanted to know the lesser sister's opinion, I would ask."

His words were like a snake, biting where it hurt Melsa the most, her insecurity.

Melsa stood, brimming with fury, "I'm not afraid of you just because you hold the title of 'Grand Wizard?, never will be. My creatures will end you before you could even cast a spell.

Howling of wolves and ferocious growls could be heard from outside the cabin, ready to tear the wizard to shreds with but one command from their master. Countless red eyes peered from every window, covered by the darkness of night they might be, the presence that they exuded paired with their colossal visage would be enough to collapse any lesser adventurer from fear.

"Yahahaha! That's why you will forever live under your sister's shadow, you always let your emotions get the better of you!"

The Guild Master bursts out laughing as he displayed absolute confidence amidst her threat. The woman should be afraid. It is a title bestowed once every one hundred years, where the greatest practitioners of the arcane all across the continent would compete up to the last wizard standing.

"Melsa. Enough, if you think your creatures would be enough to take him on, you still have a lot of growing to do." With one look, Selma was able to calm her twin sister down. Selma returns her attention to the wizard. "As for the dollmaker, he is both our experiment and our back up plan, we have a use for him yet. Now tell us, for what purpose have you gathered us here?"

Calm and collected, Selma questioned the reason for their impromptu meeting.

"As for the reason I gathered you both, Melsa's underling missed a werewolf from the scarlet talons." Caduceus declared.

"If she escaped then she's probably not worth it, anyway, a true werewolf warrior would have perished defending their clan. I have no interest in a runt that ran away from their litter."

"Ah, but she is. This one's soul is exquisite, I could sense the arcane overflowing in her soul, she will manifest her Aeon soon."

The twins' interests were piqued.

It was Selma that asked first, "Where is this werewolf?"

"I sent her back to her village, escorted by adventurers."

Melsa once again went into an outburst, "Why!? You could have knocked her out and brought her over!?"

"Well, she approached my guild with a request, I may be insane but I'm not insane enough to murder a client! Yahahaha!"

Selma's eyes narrowed, the Guild Master had a reputation for being eccentric but it would never cross her mind that he would betray them. After all, her daughter's life is in her hands.

"And what is this request of hers?" Selma asked.

"A safe passage back into her village so she could bury the deceased."

Another laughter echoed, but this time it was from Melsa, "I never knew you had it in you to be that cruel, Caduceus, you know she's not going to find anything. Let me play along, I'll send back those that massacred her clan to welcome her."

"And who are these adventurers that you paired her up with? Surely you would not send a diamond rank to guard her?" Selma remained wary, was he doing this to mess with them, or has he truly turned coat?

"You may doubt my loyalty to the cult but know that my daughter's life is something that I would never dare endanger. The ones I sent are weaklings, Melsa's abominations can make quick work of them."

"Don't call my creations abominations! They are chimeras! And I won't dispatch them for a single runt, my werewolves will do."

With the stage set for his adventurers, the Guild master deemed it was now time to conclude their affair.

"Then that about wraps up our gathering for this evening, I bid you fair ladies adieu." Caduceus left via the same way he arrived, by a blinding teleportation spell.

Left on their own, Melsa turned to her sister, "Why do we still keep him alive when we could ask our leader to easily dispatch him?"

"And batter her still imperfect body? Do you know how much deterioration I had to fix after she had that run in with zariel's tiefling? Besides, we still owe him for his contribution in forming the Philosopher's stone. Patience, dear sister, we will strike when the time is right."