The Beggar Alchemist

The cascade met with a deep body of water inside a large cave, a gaping hole opening to Lake Mora, situated outside the capital. The delve was hollow, inhospitable even, its walls covered in sharp rocks hunched over the water like teeth closing on its prey.

Andrei swam to the nearest shore in a last-ditch effort to survive. The young man was beyond exhausted, soaked to the bone and freezing.

He pulled himself out, breathless, and laid on the ground to grasp for air. The chaos echoed even from beyond the walls, and the heavy black smoke kept its ascension. Andrei gazed at the moon, his mind filled with anger and despair.

It was yellow, like he predicted. Heartbroken he closed his eyes, trying to make sense of what happened. There was no question on who gave the order, but why? Why now of all times? The Miramond House plunged the city into misery, yet they refused to repair their own mistake. What was this social cleansing really about?

"Hey, there's another one here!" exclaimed a male voice.

Andrei slowly sat, looking to his right where he vaguely discerned two shadows making their way towards him. Alarmed, he suddenly stood, staggering. Panic rushed through him, unsure of what to do.

"He's alive, too!" one of the men called out.

They both accelerated, and soon enough came close to Andrei, who was trying to rush away to safety. His back turned, he started making his way into the surrounding woods, hoping to lose them. The young man never stepped foot in it, however he prayed to not be caught by even more enemies. He could not see much and the branches made his escape difficult. Terrified of meeting his end after surviving this long, Andrei ran with the little energy he had left. It wouldn't take much for him to trip over... Suddenly a heavy weight came crashing down on him, and the next thing he knew, he was pinned to the ground, choking.

"The skunky bastard! He actually made it through!" laughed the one pinning him down.

"I beg of thee, let me go," cried Andrei, terrified.

The weight quickly relieved itself from the young man, and he agitatedly got up, looking at his aggressors. Panting, he leaned on a nearby try, as none of the muggers tried to stop him. As he was catching a breath, he observed them more closely.

The first that pinned him down was a man his age, with dark hair and an uneasy smile. He was crouching, looking at him with great interest and curiosity. The second was a tall man, scars along his arms, and from his clothes, Andrei assumed he was a woodcutter. Their sight brought him great relief, as they were no guards and did not appear to have interest in murdering him.

"Who..." muttered Andrei with a shaky voice.

"Oh I am so very glad you asked!" the black haired man answered with a joyful voice. "We so happened to be gravediggers, and rich ones at that," he winked to his partner who rolled his eyes. "See, we have been generously paid to gather corpses falling down in the lake this evening."

Andrei looked at the tall man, who upon closer look, was totally soaked. He must have been the one collecting the detritus. When he gazed back at the man crouching, his throat got dry.

"We have no point keeping you alive, though."

His tone suddenly shifted, and his grin disappeared. The air grew cold, the atmosphere was heavy. Andrei was unable to move, sensing a freezing hand around his neck. From cheerful the young man became stern, and his gray eyes seemed to shine in the dark. The silence that ensued seemed to last hours.

He suddenly smiled at Andrei.

"But, I am in a pleasant mood today," his demeanor changed once more, and he jumped to his feet, brightly smiling. "I shall be your savior, and you shall become my... Well, we shall see. But I expect you to pay me an even greater sum."

Andrei stood uncertain and quite shocked by his behavior, but he figured that it was better to go along now than to run away. He would not survive long alone, exhausted and with nowhere to take shelter.

"Al-alright," he answered, submitting.

Rebelling now will lead me nowhere, he thought. I need to play my cards right, and get away from this place as soon as possible.

"Do we really have to?" the tall man interfered, annoyed. "What are we gaining from a skinny, crummy lad who probably doesn't even know how to count?"

A small silence followed, only interrupted by crows cawing in the distance. The black-haired man slowly turned his head to him, eyes filled with rage.

"You bark too much," he snapped, and instantly rushed to his partner, drawing a sharp blade hidden behind his back. Lunging at him, he stabbed the tall man in the throat, who stumbled before falling, grabbing his neck. The assaillant stood above him before kneeling down at his side.

"I always hated big dogs," he whispered before spitting on his face. He held his blade close to the agonizing man's face, going around his horrified eyes, slowly introducing it into his mouth, slightly cutting its tongue. The poor man emitted a gurgling noise, which threw Rade into a violent rage. He started butchering the miserable man's face, begging for mercy. However, soon enough, his cries went quiet, and a heavy silence fell around them. The young man stood back again, a heavy sigh escaping his lips.

Andrei, apprehensive and confused, remained silent, unsure of what to do. He just witnessed a murder, a maniac one even and he felt like a single move would put him in danger. This man was not stable, and not trustworthy but he had a chance of survival despite this. If he needed to become a monster to become a Lord, then he shall do so.

"Let us go," he finally said. "Help me throw him in the lake."

Andrei walked up to him, and assisted him in dragging the disfigured corpse to the lake. Before throwing it, the black-haired man stuffed his clothes with heavy rocks present along the shore. They pushed the cadaver into the cold waters, watching him sink. Debris was floating around, burned wood, clothes, corpses sometimes. An explosion echoed. Andrei looked back up at the grand wall of Lolûne.

"Call me Rade."

Andrei gazed at him. His face was covered in blood, yet he didn't seem to mind it much. Rade looked back at him with a grinning gaze.

"Andrei," he said.

"Well Andrei, you helped me hide a body. That makes you an accomplice. Do you understand what this entails, I'm sure."

Andrei nodded and Rade laughed. He threw the blade he used into the lake, washed his bloody face before signalling to Andrei to follow him, entering the nearby woods. The soil was moist, and tree branches hang low, making the path hard to follow. The forest was quite dense and full of life, and Andrei could only imagine how beautiful it should've been during the day. After dozens of minutes spent walking in silence, the pair arrived on a dirt and gravel road, where a wooden wagon pulled by two skinny horses was filled to the brim with rotten bodies. Andrei put his hand on his face, trying to avoid the awful smell it was emitting. Flies swarmed around the cart, an annoying buzzing sound filling the surroundings.

Rade told him to stay a bit afar, as he went to converse with the two coachmans in shabby clothes. After a brief exchange, and some concerned words, they both stepped down the carriage, and walked the path Andrei and Rade just took.

"Hop on," instructed Rade.

He obliged. Rade took the reins, and the wagon quickly resumed its course on the gravel path. A bump on the road made Andrei inadvertently push Rade's shoulder.

"Please don't touch me, my clothes are expensive," he simply said, before whistling a cheerful melody.

Andrei could feel his eyelids shutting down from the fatigue, yet a chilly wind woke him up the second he drifted away. Without realizing, thoughts of the Master's Ikron laboratory surfaced, the noises of the bubbling liquids, the retorts distilling. He could see the shelves packed with dried and fresh herbs, tubes holding colorful powders, stones lining on the table waiting to be used. Andrei recalled himself reading books, grimoires, learning about the world's history, the cosmos, the stars.

The very last thing he remembered was a beautiful full moon night, where he stepped outside the terrace balcony of the domus, gazing at the heavens. In the tender twilight a golden comet descended, its sparkling trail painting the nocturnal welkin shiny colors. When Andrei stood in the sight of this wonderful scene, he felt as if the world would become a better place. Little did he know that this very shooting star would bring only sorrow, despair, and greed to the lands.

The Great One plan's had begun.