Progress

Puffffffft. An eruption of black smoke curls around my face. "Another failure." I let out a long sigh. A pinched-faced man pops out from around the door to the small space that had been granted to me.

"You had better become competent, otherwise the Master will get angry at you for wasting resources. Keep it up and maybe he will never let you in" he said slightly smirking.

I get up and brush the black dust off of my once blue tunic. Most low-level assistants gain this ruffled and dirtied look from their constant work. I fluff the black dust out of my wavy brown hair and walk down the hall to the stockroom.

"Fire grass, Ebon wood, and Ice essence." The combination seems almost impossible. Each object has a directly associated energy within it and two of them are complete opposites! My mind jumps back to the words the pinched-face man gave to us.

"Combine these with your solvent fire to produce the pill." He made it sound so easy. Taking more reagents from the stockroom, I start to make my way back to my workroom to attempt once again.

While wandering the plain halls a small voice calls out to me, "Hey, twig! HEY! RAF!" Jolted from my thoughts, I see a short girl staring at my face somewhat peeved. "This is why you always fail. You never stay on task. I don't even know how you call yourself an alchemist." She sweeps her black bangs out of her eyes and huffs.

"Mmm," I reply, continuing past her to my workplace. What she said is true. I don't really seem to care about alchemy. Well, it's not that I don't care… I have just failed so much. I frown a bit and continue walking.

Sitting down at my table, I focus on the small steel dish in front of me. I focus on the very center where a small dot has been etched. I call forth the warm glow of a fire, as I have done many times before. The solvent flame characteristic to alchemy springs forth from the dish. Its pale blue light flickers across the walls. Sitting for a while with the fire in front of me, I will it to rise from the dish and float around by my mental command. It causes a slight twinge in my head, nothing painful, but enough to let you know it was there. It is so strange that the flame does as I will. If I will it to heat it heats up. If I will it to float it floats. I don't have to say even a word and It's like a new limb. Enveloped by the joy of playing with my little friend, I smile faintly. I had better stop playing and start working. If I play too much I will get that horrible headache again. I only have so much time with it.

I let it come to rest back on the dish and think back to the days when I "worked" in the alchemy stall in the streets. The memory of the unpleasant shop keeper teaching me how to add ingredients to the fire stood out. "Lift it with your mind. If you can summon the flame then you sure as hell can lift the ingredients." The sensation still lingered, like reaching out to grab it with your hand, but with your mind instead. The firegrass lifts off the table and floats into the solvent flame. It ignites with solvent flame and floats into the main fire over the dish. It then dyes the once blue flame a dull pale purple. I feel the fire element raging and I take my time beginning refining the grass, isolating the flame energy within it. It continues to refine until it crystallizes and I remove it from the fire. Doing this with the other two reagents, I prepare to try the combination one more time.

"Wait!" came the small voice again.

Startled, I break my concentration and the solvent flame winks out. "WHA! Why- What- Why are you here?" Looking over at the small girl again I rack my mind trying to remember her name.

"What? Your senior isn't allowed to check on you?" she asks grinning. "How did you make those crystals from the energies?"

I gesture over to the small packet of glass grit on the table and look down. "I combine the plant's energy with the grit's crystalline energy. It makes it easier to store the energy while I am not using it, preventing major losses" I say. In truth this was the way I would make sure I would not be wasting reagents; however, it does not prevent failure. "Plus, I am not the best at multitasking" I add sheepishly. Scratching the back of my neck, I look up again to see the girl's eyes sparkling like the glass grit in the starlight.

"That is amazing! I never thought of that! And glass grit is so cheap! Can we talk further? I think I can help you!" Without waiting for an answer she excitedly plops down onto the small futon in the corner of the room. "Explain to me your process."

I look down again. "Before I do that, could you please remind me of your name?"

She frowns a bit. "I'm Orla. I was accepted under Master a year before you. I even helped you into your room. But enough of that. Tell me!"

"When I begin refining the energy in the ingredients, I attempt to isolate it to make as pure of a pill as I can. I remove the excess and unnecessary part by incinerating them or ejecting them from the reaction. Depending on what it is, it can be ejected as a gas, liquid, or solid." And sometimes it will blow up in your face… "After I refine all the ingredients I attempt to combine them."

She begins to smile. "You're missing a small detail. While Balor's explanation was shoddy at best-" I roll my eyes remembering his pinched face. "-I can tell you the issue. You are isolating the main energies of the ingredients and removing the 'excess'. These excess energies and compounds are what make these very different parts form a pill."

I look at her mouth agape. It was that simple? I had just been overcomplicating it? Closing my mouth, I turn back to the table.

"Well, I need to go and get more reagents, since I have already isolated these."

After fetching more reagents, I return to the room to find Orla examining the gems I had made. As I enter Orla yawns loudly but continues to look over the stones. Sitting down at the table again, I add an ingredient to the solvent fire once more. But instead of beginning refinement, I examine the energies within the fire.

"Fire and plant. I guess I burned off the plant's compounds and energy when I isolated the fire energy."

I continue to mutter my way through each ingredient until I once again have three crystals. Picking up the new crystals, I examine them. These crystals, unlike the others, were not as clear. The fire grass crystal had flecks of green in its red body. The others too had these 'impurities' in them.

Walking over to Orla who was still infatuated with the old crystals, I show her the new ones.

"I was careful not to isolate any energy this time."

Her eyes continue to sparkle as she takes them from me and looks over the new specimens. "How pretty! You can even feel the energy trapped within them!" Lifting the fire grass gem to her face she cuddles it and almost purrs. "The grass gem is so warm."

Leaving her to her research, I sit back down at the table and think. The thoughts of my process and ways to improve it flow through my head like a river. After a great time passed, I look over to Orla who had passed out on my bed with the grass gem in the middle of her chest. I walk over to her and collect the gems scattered about. I take the grass gem of off her dirtied blue tunic and replace it with the pure fire gem. After sitting down, I call the solvent flame and begin my work.

After an hour of experimenting with small amounts, I finally formed the 'base foundation pill'. I walk over to the bed, where Orla was snoring softly, and retrieve a leather-bound notebook from underneath. Flipping it open, I record some information about the process then snap it shut. Orla jolts awake. "Yes- Wait… Oh, a dream. Sorry, I fell asleep, I've been working hard." She scoots off the bed and hops up. "It's also rare that I feel comfortable around other people, especially a guy. Well, you look very pleased. Did you finally make it?" I walk back to the table and show her the lumpy black pill. Her excitement pulses for a moment as she snatches the pill out of my hands and begins to assess it.

"It's not round, but it's definitely good quality. Imagine what you could do if you fixed that!" She turns to me and smiles. "You really were working hard weren't you? I apologize for calling you unmotivated. Keep working hard and maybe something unexpected will happen" She nods to the notebook in my hands. Embarrassed, I toss the book onto my table. She smiles again. "Let's go show this to Balor so he won't threaten to throw you out." She skips out of the room and waits for me to pocket my things.

Following her down the hall we arrive at the "office" of Balor. He was a higher up, but only one rank higher, so his room was only twice the size of the closets given to us. Entering the room Orla shouts, "Hey Balor, look at what mister 'useless' did."

Balor, who was enjoying a cup of tea, began to cough and hack violently. After he recovered he glared at Orla. "What do you want, you damn child?"

Looking back to Orla, a small snicker escapes before I could suppress it.

"Looky here! Raf actually managed to make something you old bag." I shrink back, insults stinging my face.

"Well, well, well. You managed to make something before your probationary period ended. Congrats. Now give it here and get out." He grunts and with this, Orla hands over the pill, and Balor turns around beginning to shuffle through papers.

"Shoo. I need to get back to work."

I quickly stride out of the room followed by a bouncing Orla.

"Did you see that face! I nearly gave him a heart attack. Haaaa. If only." She turns on her heels then walks down the hall a bit further before turning around again.

"I'm excited to see what else you make!" she says grinning. She turns around quickly and bobs out of sight around a corner.

Well. She seems nice. She was able to handle Balor. I turn and head down the hall back to my own room. I look out the small hole in the wall that is a sorry excuse for a window. The sun glitters as it begins to sink behind the rolling trees. Sighing, I retrieve my daily portion of rations and eat a meager dinner. Looking down at my hands and arms, I notice that Orla was right. I did look like a stick. Perhaps I should exercise. At least that way I wouldn't have to ask for help in the stockroom lifting things. It would also reduce the number of people I would have to talk to. Happy with my conclusion, I begin some light exercise.

My door flies open, colliding with my face, right in the middle of a push-up. A modestly muscular ginger man steps into the room.

"Hey, Raf, what did you do-" Realizing what had happened he stops and begins to suppress laughter, "Holy crap are you okay? I totally just dinged your face in! I'm sorry."

Although he says that, the tears streaming down his face say otherwise. I stand up rubbing my face.

"What do you want, Alfred?" I grunt.

"I was just talking to Orla, and earlier she was super pissed with you. Now she is quite happy with you. I know she is usually bipolar as hell, but this is new even to me."

Rubbing my face I reply, "I just managed to make the medicine earlier. How fast does that girl spread information?" Did she tell them about the crystals too? That would be a pain to explain.

"She talks quite a lot, but she never leaks secrets. That is one thing that I like about her. Well, she is also kind even though she doesn't show it openly."

"Can I go to bed now?" I ask, face still stinging.

"Not yet, let me give you some advice as a senior. Try and make the best pill you can. Not just for that Balor, but for yourself. The more you learn here, the better you can be in the future. That's why we have a probationary period." I nod again. Alfred turns and leaves the room, leaving me with a bit more hope. He has his head on straight. Maybe I could go to him if I had any issues? Plus if I remember correctly he was incredibly knowledgeable during the instructions at the beginning. Crawling into bed, I pass out.

The birds of the early morning wake me. Groggy I crawl out of bed and make my way to the stockroom to gather more materials as well as food. The scrawny ration manager gives me a brief smile and passes me the burlap sack of food.

"Tomorrow will be the last day for you to turn in your work. Then you will be judged whether or not you are worthy." I need to pass so I can become a full-time worker and receive some money. My mind flickers back to my life as a 'worker' in the streets. I was brought in by a worker at an alchemy stall in the streets of Haldur, a modest town just south of this building. I was expected to work long hours for menial pay, and because I was willing to help, they took advantage of that. A shudder runs through my core, remembering the face of the owner. The only reason I stayed was so that I could provide for my brother. I clench my jaw out of reflex from the rage of the past.

Grabbing the last of my materials, my muscles ache, reminding me of last night. Right, today I will focus on quality over quantity. Heading back to my room I sit at my table and begin. Many hours later I have 13 pills and a pile of notes. Taking a break I was tempted to go to Orla to see what she thought of the pills, but I changed my mind and went over my notes. Compressing the energy to tightly results in an explosion, Compressing them too loosely results in the pill crumbling into dust, and attempting to reform it into a pill is extremely hard, as energy can be lost and materials destroyed. Then an idea pops into my head. Peaking my head out of my room I begin to look for Alfred. He was rather knowledgeable during the first lecture, maybe he can look at these pills.

I spotted him in the stock room and made my way to him.

"Hey, Alfred."

"WHA- When did you get here? You startled me, say something before you appear next to someone! You walk way too quiet."

I blink. "Sorry to startle you, bad habit from the past." I guess even the way I walk was affected by that damn stall. "Can we go back to my room? I want your opinion on my work."

"Uhh, sure. Why do you want my opinion? It's not like I'm amazing." That's true, while he does know a lot he isn't too talented

"Yes, but you do know whether or not the quality is bad. Plus I noticed you looking at my notes last night. You definitely know your information."

"How do you know that?"

"One of my pages of notes was very wrong, and you grimaced when you read it. I only discovered it was wrong earlier when I was working."

He nods. "Okay, I'll take a look."

Following me back to my room, I show them to him one at a time. When he picked up the first pill, his stance changed from his normal laid back self to one that was more upright and serious. I guess I was right, he is pretty serious about alchemy. After giving me feedback on the first half of the pills, he stopped to correct my technique and explains how he notes the pills' quality. Arriving finally at the last pill his eyes began to shine, his excitement evident.

"This one is really good!" He shouts.

From his robe, he procures a small notebook and begins to jot down some notes.

"It looks like I might be able to learn from you, Raf. You managed to refine some compounds while leaving others intact. That is extremely hard at your level." I smile slightly as he continues. "However, you still have a long way to go. The pill's surface is fractured from cooling it to rapidly." He stores his notebook away, thanks me for letting him look, and then leaves.

Sitting back down at my table I examine the pill he was so happy with. It was round like the others, but its surface was much smoother. It didn't have any deep indents or cracks like the others. Lifting it up to the light of my 'window' above my head I gaze at it. It looked like an orb of dark grey glass, clear and sparkling. I chuckled slightly, and at that moment the small sphere drops out of my hand and down my throat. After coughing heavily, I was not able to regurgitate it. I.. I just- I ate it. I just ate my chance at working under the Master. My mind flickers back to my younger brother back home working hard at the forge, coming home burned or bruised every night. Tears welling in my eyes, I flop onto the bed.

I awake in the middle of the night. My stomach felt cold. What is happening? The cold then abruptly turns hot. I'm going to explode. Was it the pill? What is it doing? That was the last thought I was able to have. Pain racked my body for the next four hours. The only thing that kept me conscious was the thought of my brother and my will to survive. After the pain subsided I passed out until morning.

Waking up, I shook away the sleep amnesia and rush to the stockroom. Stopping in front of the manager I ask, "When is the latest we can submit today?"

"Midday. After that, we will accept no more. Here are your rations for today." I accept the sack, grab more materials, then rush back to my room. On the way back to the room I turn a corner and collide with someone.

"Ah, I'm sorry are you okay?" I offer my hand to the silver-haired boy whom I had hit.

"I don't need the help of a peasant, get away from me!" Looking him over again, his tunic was not stained like the other assistants. His features were quite soft as well, much like those that have never faced toil. Getting up, he glared at me and motioned for his pose to follow him.

Returning to my room at a much slower pace, I spring into my next batch of pills. Working fast, but deliberately, I manage to produce three more pills. None were as good as the last batch, but all were passable compared to my first successes. Storing all of the pills into a few pockets in the bandolier slung over my shoulder, I stand up to turn them it. I turn around to find multiple large men standing around me.

"How can I help you?"

The one closest to me gives a gruff laugh. "Take this."

A sharp uppercut connects with my jaw, as I am blacking out I hear,

"Polar will be happy, won't he? This nerd-" and then nothing.

When I come to I look out the hole in my wall. The sun was at its peak. I can not submit more pills. Defeated I slump down at the base of my bed. I check my pockets to see what they had taken. The only thing missing was the higher quality pills, six in total. I summon the solvent light and begin to play around with it to help cheer me up. I talk to it and make it bob and shake, to make it seem like it's alive. I then try to split it in two. After succeeding, I twine the two around each other and make them chase each other. The toll of controlling two begins to take its price, as I quickly become tired. Splitting my attention like that is incredibly hard both mentally and physically. I need to practice more to get better with them. I get up feeling a bit better. All of the applicants would convene in the small makeshift lecture hall down the hall from the stockroom just before sunset. Confirming that it would be soon, I head to the stockroom.