The Alchemist chapter two

Chapter 2

I stood on the platform at the top of the palisades. From the east, the opposite side from where I had come from, a black mass approached the town. I could smell them on the wind. Absolutely disgusting. No one ever mentioned the fact that you can smell an orc horde from a mile away.

A young boy climbed up the stairs to the palisade platform and began handing out bows and arrows. I took one, even though I had never fired a bow in my life.

The orc army came closer.

This is a serious Lord of the Rings situation, I thought. Well. It won’t hurt to see what I can do with my alchemy power.

A pillar of light appeared in the center of the orc army. An angel, dressed in pure white, came through parted clouds and descended upon the field between the town and the orcs. She held a fiery sword of judgement in her hands, and slashed through a hundred orcs with one clean movement.

“Who’s that?” I asked the man standing next to me.

“Aye, she’s one of the Guardians,” he said. He squinted, blocking the sun with his hands. “We’re right lucky to have her on our side.”

A griffon came out from behind the clouds and landed next to the angel. Four people got off its back and stood in a group against the army of orcs.

The angel spoke, loud enough that I could hear it, more than two football fields away.

“You orcs go back where you came from!” she said. “Unless you want to face the wrath of the gods!”

The orc leader replied, though I could not hear him.

“The demon lord’s time has not come as of yet,” said the angel. “As long as we are here to stand against him.”

The orc army was silent for a long while. Then, they turned around and began to retreat.

How powerful are these Guardians? I thought. With five people, they scared away an army?

The angel then turned around and looked directly at me. Even though she was far away, I could feel her gaze selecting me out of the men lining the palisade.

I pointed to myself. Me?

The angel flew into the air and sped towards me. She stopped right in front of me, hovering.

“You,” she said. “I feel a massive confluence of mana coming from your person.”

“Uh,” I said. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“You have mana powerful enough to move a mountain,” she said. “I was not aware of someone like you in this region.” Her eyes glinted with danger. “Are you with us? Or against us?”

“With you, with you,” I said, quickly. “I don’t want to cause any trouble.”

“We’re still going to have to question you,” said the angel. “My name is Claude. Cooperate with me and you won’t be harmed.”

“Um, are you going to take me somewhere?” I asked.

Claude snapped her fingers. I floated up, following her as she spirited away above the fields.

“I have to return my bow!” I said, as the wind whipped around me.

“We can do that later,” said Claude. “Don’t worry. Richtown can handle the loss of a single short bow.”

“Do you know what my power is?” I said.

“No,” said Claude. “Only that you will be a danger if we don’t keep an eye on you.”

“Where are we going?” I asked, as the countryside sped past beneath me.

“Somewhere,” said Claude.

The griffon that had carried the rest of the group came into formation behind me. I could see the faces of the four magical warriors who were riding it. If the five of them were powerful enough to get an orc army to retreat, what was I getting myself into?

Claude said nothing as she took me across the landscape, past several more towns that were all surrounded by walls.

A gigantic lone mountain appeared out of the distant fog, and we headed straight for it.

We landed at the mountain’s tip. Warmth surrounded me.

This is a volcano, I realized. Cool! Nice place for a superhero base.

A hidden door opened on its own and we entered the mountain from the side. The door closed as soon as the griffon touched down.

Claude let go of me and I collapsed to the floor.

“Okay?” I said. “What now?”

“We see what you can do,” she said.

I took a look at the area around me. There was a significant amount of equipment, but most of it was in a state of disrepair. If this were a bat cave, then Batman was running out of money.

“Pardon the mess,” said one of the griffon riders. “We haven’t had the chance to clean up.” He extended his hand. “My name’s Drex.”

“Um, Markus,” I said.

Drex shook my hand vigorously. “Beside me are Tanna, Blasé, and Itrim. Together with Claude, we’re the Guardians.”

“Guardians of what?” I asked. I took another look around the superhero hideout. “The world, or something?”

“Exactly,” said Claude. “We protect the people of this realm against the evils of the demon lord.”

I looked at the worn-down equipment filling the base. “Looks like you guys are in a bad financial place,” I said.

“Ah, yeah,” said Drex. “Our main supporter pulled out a couple of months ago. We’ve been trying to make ends meet since then.”

“Hah,” said Claude. “We don’t need that dumb noble house’s support to do our job.”

Itrim held out his hand. He was a tall, lanky man with dark skin and a close-cropped haircut. “We can argue about this later,” he said. “For now, we have to focus on what to do with this magician.”

“He could join us,” said Tanna.

“Join?” said Claude. “That easy? We don’t know what kind of a person he is!”

“He is emanating a good aura,” said Itrim. “I doubt we’ll be able to find a person more suited for our cause.”

“I trust you, Itrim,” said Drex. “Claude? How about you?”

Claude looked away from me. “I trust you,” she said. “I just don’t want a repeat of what happened last year.”

The room was silent for a while. Then Blasé walked up to me and held out her hand. “I, for one, welcome our new member,” she said.

“Wait,” I said. “You never said anything about me joining you guys.”

Blasé chuckled. “It’s either join us or be imprisoned here. Now that we’ve let you see our base, we have to make sure you’re on our side.”

What a laissez faire approach to secret base hiding policy, I thought. These people need some help. A brains, maybe.

I shook my head. “I don’t know what I’ll be able to do for you.”

“Your mana confluence is huge,” said Claude. “Bigger than anything I’ve ever seen. Are you from this world?”

“Actually, no,” I said.

Claude looked taken aback for a moment.

“How so?” asked Drex. “Where did you come from?”

“A place called America,” I said.

“Never heard of it,” said Drex. He rubbed his chin. “It could be a place in an alternate globe,” he said. “I’ve heard of people traveling across the phlogiston and reaching different globes.”

“Phlogiston? Globes?” I said.

“Are you not familiar with your cosmology?” asked Drex.

“No, I know what those are. I’ve played enough D&D to know what those words mean.”

“D and … D?” said Drex.

I shook my head. “Never mind. Let’s just say that I’m not from around here.”

“Well,” said Itrim. “It’s the first time I’ve ever met someone from across the phlogiston.” He extended his hand. “I give you a cordial greeting.”

I shook his hand. Looking around, I picked up a broken piece of leather armor. “You guys are in serious need of finances,” I said. “How about this. I make precious metals to sell and finance your operation, and you guys help me find a way home.”

“You want to return to your own sphere?” said Itrim.

“Of course,” I said. “A new video game is coming out and I want to play it.”

“Video …” said Itrim. The rest of the Guardians looked equally confused.

Well, I couldn’t blame them. I placed my hand on the ground and sucked up about five ounces of gold, forming them into a disc. “See?” I said. “Plenty of money here.” I chuckled to myself. “Just don’t sell to much of it or you’ll upend the market.”

Itrim scratched his beard. “We’ll have to negotiate with the goldsmiths’ guild …” he said. “And the miners …”

I shrugged. “You guys can do that, right?” I asked.

“First, though,” said Claude. “Where does that metal come from?”

“You do know that elemental compounds exist in small concentrations everywhere, right?” I said. “Dirt is full of small amounts of precious metals. Especially here, inside a volcano. There’s a constantly refreshing source of metals that I can draw from.” I pulled a small amount of neodymium from the ground. “Take this, for example,” I said. I then pulled up some cobalt. “If I combine it like this,” I said, “And then like this, you can create a very strong magnet.” I created a neodymium magnet and used it to pick up a steel sword. The magnet was no larger than a quarter.

“Let me see that,” said Claude. She took it from me and used it to pick up a piece of armor. “How did you make a magnet this strong?” she said.

“It’s all about the tempering process,” I said. “If you let the metals cool in a magnetic field, using a specific alloy, you can create an alignment of atoms …” I paused. “How much materials science do you guys know?”

“Um,” said Claude. “I think I can tell you how they make steel.”

“Great,” I said. “That’s a start.”

Itrim folded his hands. “I was taught in the ways of Alican metalsmithing when I was young,” he said. “I can make steel so sharp that it will cut individual hairs on your body.”

“Yeah!” I said. “Well, magnets work like … Um, a bunch of people all pushing a certain way.”

“People?” said Claude. She looked around. “Well, we can talk about this later. I’m glad that you’ve offered to help us with our finances. However, we don’t know you very well and can’t accept you as one of us until we’re confident in your character. You do want to work with us, yes?”

“Sure,” I said. “I was told that I came here so that I could fight the demon lord. I suppose that working with you I can get closer to that goal.”

The room was silent.

“You’re here for a purpose?” said Claude.

I nodded. “I guess,” I said. “That’s the impression I got.”

Claude and the rest of the Guardians exchanged glances. “You are a godsend to us at this moment,” said Claude. “Our finances have been in shambles since our rift with the Roman household.”

“And I can help you fix that!” I said. I shrugged. “But I’m not committed one way or another. We’ll just have to see what happens next.”

“Indeed,” said Itrim. “Very well. You can join the Guardians as a trial member until we can figure out what to do. Markus, I formally welcome you to our team.”

It had been half an hour since I landed here in the base, and now I was one of them.

I hope this works out the way I’m hoping it will, I thought to myself. I smiled as best I could, and turned to the equipment piled up along the wall. “Well,” I said. “My first job should be to fix this stuff.”

“Thanks,” said Claude. She looked at Itrim, and the two nodded.

And that was how I joined the Guardians.