Antidote

"Father…"

Upon hearing the weak tone in the soft voice of his daughter, the old king rushes to the young girl's side. His gentle voice soothes her aching body while he pats her head. "I'm here sweetheart..."

The girl tries her best to hold it in, to not worry him further, even though she can see his agony written all over his face. She grinds her teeth and goes through the pain of her poisoned body.

At that moment, a deafening roar reaches their ears, and seconds later, everything around them trembles. Debris goes through one wall and out the other, piercing it like butter. The old king's instinct to protect his daughter takes over, and he covers her with his body.

Guards rush into the room. "Your majesty…!"

"I'm fine. Protect my daughter at all costs!"

The old king walked out of the room, and his general was waiting for him. A Lizardman tall and muscular with a noticeable scar on his face. Probably someone sliced him with a knife. "General! Are we under attack?"

The bulky Lizardman shakes his head. "Your Majesty...!"

His general pulls the drapes of the nearby window and holds them to the side. They see a fast approaching darkness devouring every trace of light in existence and in the far distance towards the gates, a figure of a creature is forming.

The general points with his shaking hand. "L-Look, sir! That thing looks like the Obsidian Dragon of the past!"

The old king gasps. "Finally. The Demon Lord is back!"

"The Demon Lord, Your Highness?"

He nodded before looking outside, lost in thought. King Gor shows a smile the likes of which his general hasn't seen since his daughter got sick. The old king turns his gaze over to his loyal Lizardman. "Have the Orcs prepare my carriage at once!"

The general salutes. "Yes, Your Majesty!"

The old king returns to his daughter's chambers. He goes and sits next to her, caressing her silky black hair while he sings her a lullaby. Their time together doesn't take long to get interrupted.

"Your carriage is ready, sir!"

"Thank you, general!"

He gently strokes her head, to not wake her up, and whispers in her ears. "Your father will welcome the Demon Lord. I won't take long"

With that, he gives her a kiss on the forehead and gets out of the room. He looks at the people standing guard by her door and the glint in his eyes shakes them to their core. "Protect her with your lives!"

With one voice, the guards salute. "Yes, Your Majesty!"

The tremors continued for a good while within Aeptian Town. What took only minutes felt like eons for some who locked themselves in their homes, fearing for the worst.

Their fear soon turns to admiration when the news of the Demon Lord's return reached them. Excited, they got out of their homes and rushed to the streets to see and greet him.

Some who got there before Nox got the creature under control, bragged to the latecomers. "Haha! His oppressive force pinned us to the ground. That's how great he is!"

Several minutes have passed in the plaza where Nox is. He met with King Gor and they soon came to an agreement to create an antidote for his sick daughter using the spare materials he got from the Scorpions.

Nox, while shaking the King's hand, feels a certain warmth he hasn't felt since he arrived in this world. "I can tell you love your daughter very much!"

The old King Gor chuckles. "To death, Young Lord!"

"Commendable!"

The young man looks over at the fidgety girl next to him and turns to the king once more, with a request. "As I have mentioned earlier, we have a companion suffering from the same poison. We'll still need to buy a couple of camels and bring them here with your permission!"

The king frowned at Nox's request, which made the young man flinch. "Nonsense!"

He turned towards his loyal subject and commanded. "General, prepare an escort with our fastest camels and bring our Young Lord's companions!"

Without holding back his excitement, Nox replied. "Thank you, King Gor!"

Malia rejoices after hearing the king's words and bows. "Thank you, Your Majesty!"

Being thanked by the Demon Lord, has the old king blushing. "N-No need to thank me, Young Lord…"

A couple of hours since then have passed. Malia's father and sister share a room in the Palace as honored guests and Nox rests in the King's chambers. The young man lies on the soft mattress looking up. "That King Gor sure is a generous man. I better return his generosity with results!"

Determined to succeed, Nox calls for the Beastiary. The massive book floats in front of him right after appearing through a black smoke. He rummages through the pages until he finds the one about the Desert Scorpions.

Besides the general information about the creature, there's a specialized section about its poison. He studies extensively the steps he needs to take in order to create the antidote and succeed.

At the bottom of the page towards the end of the section, there's a mysterious symbol the young man has never seen before. "Grimmy, what's this?"

{Analyzing…}

['It is an enchantment rune of alchemy! When crafting potions and elixirs you must always draw runes to achieve efficiency.']

"I didn't know…"

['Keep in mind, that for all antidote elixirs, you must use the poison to draw the rune']

Closed off in his room, the young man drew again and again the rune to get it right or until the result satisfied him. The time came when he changed locations, from his room, to one that looks like an apothece.

It's quite a spacious room, dimly lit with shelves full of books. In the middle is a desk. Nox's curiosity peaks when he notices a rock plaque emitting blue flames, boiling the liquid in the vials that take most of the desk's space. A sense of nostalgia took over the young man when he set foot in the place. 'I miss my chemistry class!'

The young man keeps staring at the plaque. He realized there were scribbles under the flame after looking at it for a while. "Is that a rune?"

[Loading…}

['Indeed! It is one of the fire runes.']

"There's more?"

{Loading…}

['Many more and with different ranks, but more on that later!"

Determined, Nox clenches his fists. "Right!"

He understands what Grimmy means and doesn't ask further about it. He checks the rest of the room in silence, getting himself familiarized with the environment.

Nox visits his patients and checks their conditions through their doctors. Since the girl got poisoned earlier than Malia's father, he will prepare the antidote for her first. With permission from her father, the young man enters her room.

He doesn't pay attention to anything but what he has to do. He pricks the girl's finger with a needle and lets the blood into a vial he got from apothece. Once the vial is half full, he runs back to the room.

Using one brush he found when he searched the room, he paints the rune using a drip from the poison, by pressing against the tip of the tail, until it pours. He then puts the tip in an upside-down position and lets it fill the vial, which is approximately the size of a small vase.

After leaving enough space he's happy with, he works on the Sand Flower. He places the neck of the flower inside the vase-like vial after plucking its leaves. It lets the neck suck on the poison and blood while he works on the parts of the process.

By using a piece of rock, he grinds the leaves into a mush and sets it aside. When he's done with that, he pulls the petals off the flower and mixes it with the paste he made earlier.

When this process gets done, he lets the contents of the liquid sit for a couple of hours before doing anything else. He checks it from time to time and makes sure everything is in order.

When the time comes, he grabs the vial and the paste and goes to the king's daughter to apply the antidote. According to the Beastiary book, there's a place on the patient's body that has bruises caused by the poison.

The physician who checks the young girl noticed it previously on one of his checks up and lets Nox know. The young man then removes the piece of clothing that is in the way and gently applies the paste.

He instructs the guards to hold her down, because the following step will most likely cause her pain. He puts a sort of lit on top of the vial to help him pour as much as he needs and not waste it.

The poison gets absorbed by the dry paste. Moments later, the girl writhes in pain. Even though her voice is soft, her screams are not. After hearing her, the king clenches his fists, and he doesn't avert his eyes from her.