Archive of Athanasius

While Mikael was bathing and then resting in his room, awaiting dinner, Siegfried used his golden key to return to the port town of Caelbrim. Once again on the search for a certain "object" and once again being surrounded by the city landscape. 

He headed towards the town square, which was located in the center of town, so that he could properly find his bearings. In the middle of the square stood a stone fountain, flowing with water and a statue of a beautiful, long-eared woman wearing a toga. An elf. A race which no longer exists in the world of humans on the central continent. As it is the afternoon, people are busily traversing the square on each of their own errands. Be it buying groceries, leaving work or currently in the midst of it. Though there are a decent amount of people at the moment, there used to be more.

Having arrived, Siegfried pulled out a silver pocket watch, engraved with a two-headed dog from his left suit pocket. After pressing down on the button at the top, the watch's lid opened and the standard three arrows of any clock can be seen with small gears and other mechanical parts are visible as well in the background. However, the arrows did not point to the correct time at all.

They were constantly spinning, as if searching for a suitable place to stop. Gripping the pocket watch ever so tightly, ever so slightly, the watch, "sensing" Siegfried's intentions, finally stops its spinning arrows, resulting in all of them pointing in the same direction, towards the town hall. After confirming the target, Siegfried puts closes the silver watch with a "clank" and puts it once again away into his left suit pocket while proceeding to walk towards his destination.

After walking for a couple of minutes, Siegfried reached the town hall which stood tall, made of beige colored bricks, many windows, a set of dark brown doors for the entrance, a few pillars before it and a roof made of oxidized copper tiles. Approaching the dark brown doors, he heads inside towards the reception desk in the main lobby, equally as fancy as the outside with a shiny marble floor and of similar quality.

Behind the semicircular and brown desk sat a female receptionist, dressed in formal black and white clothes befit for the job. Upon entering the building, Siegfried effectively gathers the eyes of the receptionist upon himself, she, wondering who the unknown gentleman might be. 

"Good afternoon." Siegfried greets. 

The receptionist thoroughly observes Siegfried's appearance before returning the greeting with a "Good evening" of her own and a "What brings you here today?"

"I would like to meet with Kendrick Kruckow. He is in at the moment right?"

The receptionist checked some documents before giving Siegfried a reply.

"There seems to be no pending meetings at the moment... Can you state your name and business with Mr. Kruckow?"

"The name's Sebastian Athame. Professional wizard. And my only business with Mr. Kruckow is to discuss something with him regarding a local incident."

"I'll see what I can do. One moment please."

The receptionist, slightly surprised by the gentleman's, Sebastian Athame's profession, presses one of multiple reception bells that sits on her desk, hidden from all others but the one sitting behind it, producing a quick "ding". Shortly after, a new "ding" is sounded from the bell, even though the receptionists did not in fact ring it. However, this did not surprise Siegfried at all.

"You may go to meet with Mr. Kruckow. His office is on the second floor via the stairs to your left. It has a name plate on the door, making it easy to find."

Siegfried nodded to the directions that were offered to him and proceeded to follow them, reaching the office of Kendrick Kruckow a short minute later. The office had a decent amount of space with two black leathered couches facing each other, a rectangular wooden table between them, and a brown desk in the other end of the room with large windows behind it and light yellow curtains, currently blocking of the sunlight that would normally pierce through the window and into the office. It was also decorated with various pictures on the walls and the desk had many documents and other office related items sitting on it. The room gave off a vibe of authority, likely to intimidate most normal people visiting.

It was lit by multiple lamps hanging from the walls, shining upon the blue carpeted floor. Kendrick Kruckow, the man Siegfried had went to see was currently sitting in the sofa on Siegfried's right hand side holding a cane made of red wood in his hands.

Kruckow was an older gentleman wearing a shiny beige doublet, black pants and brown shoes. He had black hair with some grey here and there, and it was long enough to be worn in a ponytail, which he did. Kruckow also wore a silver necklace with an oval red stone in it. His eyes were black and stone cold, like they were staring deep into your soul. Surprisingly he had very few wrinkles, looking way younger than is aura and hair indicated.

Upon seeing the man, and more specifically, the necklace he wore, Siegfried's eyes began to widen in surprise and then quickly narrowed once again into a serious look. He sat down in the couch opposite of Kruckow and stared deep into the older man's eyes, making Kruckow slightly nervous.

He had in his life heard about a wizard named "Sebastian Athame", who was said to have miraculously brought a small country back from the brink of bankruptcy and its imminent downfall at the hands of an enemy nation. He was rumored to be able to transmute lead into gold, and that was supposedly how he had achieved a feat that most could not. In other words alchemy, a type of magic so difficult it has gone extinct and no longer existed in the current era.

"Thank you for taking the time to meet with me, Mr. Kruckow. Even though I did come unannounced."

"You mentioned wanting to discuss a "local incident"?"

"Yes. That is correct. I came here to ask you why so many citizens have gone missing. That is what I meant by incident."

Kruckow raised his brows in slight suspicion and confusion while Siegfried started explaining.

"As a wizard, I travel around a lot, and often revisit places I have been to. Caelbrim here is one such place. When I came here a few years ago, the town used to have more inhabitants than what I could find today. Rather suspicious. It's a rather fine town. I can't imagine that so many would or could leave it in such a quick succession."

"…"

"Many might have not noticed it yet, since it's the homeless and the beggars who have shrunken the most out of any social class here. And in its place, something powerful has appeared here in Caelbrim, Mr. Kruckow."

Siegfried pauses and stares intently at Kruckow for several long seconds. Appraising his reaction, which as expected did not change much at all. Where one would be quite surprised by the content of Siegfried's declaration, the only change in Kruckow was that he seemed slightly more nervous and his body slightly more tense. As if ready to leap at any moment.

"Is there some particular reason you are talking to this with me and not the mayor?"

"Well, you are the culprit, so. It's faster to just deal with you than giving you an opportunity to escape while talking with someone else."

"I am the culprit, you say? What kind of proof do you have to back up that rude statement? Why would I be kidnapping people off the streets?"

Kruckow, gripping his cane slightly tighter posed the question to Siegfried's shocking declaration.

"Your necklace. More specifically, the red stone within it. It's a magical artifact created through alchemy by sacrificing human souls."

"…"

"And before coming here, I found out that someone by the name of Kruckow lived as a minister here in Caelbrim. The Kruckow family, as we both know, has often dabbled in alchemy for the benefit of the family. And as punishment for its involvement with the "Philosophers", a group of mages using any means to advance their research, no matter how brutal and unethical, were brought down from its high standing in the central continent. Equal to other magical families like the Solnirm family."

Siegfried had just revealed something that Kendrick Kruckow did not wish to be known. He was certain that the wizard he knew as "Sebastian Athame" would not let him live much longer. He knew the Kruckow family's past as a proud magical family before being brought to near destruction along with the Philosophers themselves over a hundred years ago.

Since its downfall, the Kruckow family has constantly worked in order to raise its standing back to where it was through trade and placing members of the family in important positions around the continent. Be it minister, mayor or court wizard.

"Now then. Is that red stone what I think it is? A "Philosophers' stone"?

"…"

Kruckow remained silent. Unable to quickly give a proper reply after having his family's past exposed to such an extent with Siegfried probably knowing more than he had said up till now.

"Your reaction tells me I'm correct. However though, you know that it's a failed attempt at reaching immortality, right? You need to recharge it with magical energy in order for it to have an effect. Hardly perfect immortality if you ask me?"

The man knew too much. Kruckow knew that. It's either me or him, Kruckow thought. Only one of us will leave this office alive. Preparing for that battle, Kruckow steeled his resolve and posed a question for Sebastian Athame to answer.

"So what if you know the past. And what of this red stone? Do you even know if it's what you say? And what are you going to do now then?"

Slumping back into the couch Siegfried came with his reply.

"I am one hundred percent sure now, that the stone in your necklace is indeed what I think it is. The reason for that, is that you Mr. Kruckow, are emanating a powerful magical presence. A presence, that is easily achieved if you have an artifact like the Philosophers' stone."

"…"

"And as to what I will do… The answer is obvious. I will not let you leave here alive and allow the continued sacrifice of humans."

As he sad that, Siegfried sprang up from the couch, a small rift in space appearing on his left side. He put his right hand inside it and pulled out a silver sword, with a golden guard and leather handle. Leaping towards Kruckow, still sitting in the other couch and quickly moved in to slice his head off.