The Alchemist Chapter 23

 

Chapter 23

I looked around at the dragons’ hoard. “This is a lot of stuff,” I said.

“Of course,” said Wile. “We are dragons, after all.”

“What happens to a dragon’s hoard when they are hunted?” I asked, running my finger along the edge of a silver spear.

“A dragon’s hoard is like its life. However, recently …” Wile shifted his gigantic body to get a better look at me. “We have begun writing wills. Despite the injustices of the past, we dragon are a hunted breed. We were once immortal kings, but no longer.”

“Dragons are immortal?” I said. “In this world?”

“I do not know of any other world in which dragons are not,” said Wile.

“Touché,” I said, further examining the treasure room. “Now, you wanted to hear my story, right?”

“Mhm,” said Wile, curling up against a pile of gold. “Explain the massive flux of mana around your person.”

“I was given the power of alchemy by Meliapolis,” I said. “I can manipulate the elements to my will.”

“And you used it to create this, camera?” said Wile, as he motioned to my device with his tail. The camera was still on top of the piece of ship deck that had been torn away from the sky ship.

“I come from a very technologically advanced world,” I said. “Cameras are old news to my people.”

“What is the name of this sphere of reality?”

“Earth,” I said. “Terra. A place where the only intelligent beings are humans.”

“Humans are not native to this sphere,” said Wile. “Perhaps your world is where they came from.”

 “I wouldn’t be surprised,” I said. “Humans are a mysterious breed, and I’m not sure exactly why we are the way we are, but the humans here are the same as the humans back home.”

“Mhm,” said Wile, shifting his weight. “So. Tell me more about your power.”

I reached out towards several gold coins that were scattered on the floor. I paused before I touched them. “Do you mind?” I said.

“Dragons are legendary accountants,” said Wile. “I will miss these treasures if you do something to them, but perhaps I will gain a greater treasure.”

I took three gold coins off the stone slab floor, rubbing them together. Using my alchemy power, I forged the gold together, turning it into a small figurine. I then handed it to Wile.

Wile picked it up with his tail and examined it. “Hm,” he said. “The craftsmanship is passable. However, the speed with which you melted this gold is strange, even for a magical power.”

“I can break atomic bonds without using energy,” I said. “That is the basis of my alchemic power.”

“Atoms?” said Wile. “You mean, the fundamental, inseparable building blocks of reality?”

“Technically, they can be split, but you’re on the right track.”

“Hm,” said Wile. “Tell me more.”

“I’ve ben teaching the Royal Society back in Brownfield,” I said. “If you want to join the forum as a human, I’d be glad to teach you all you’d want to know.”

“Who said I was going to release you?” said Wile. “I could just as well eat you.”

“My knowledge and power is a greater treasure than anything you could get by eating me.”

“Do you think dragons eat bipeds for nourishment?” said Wile.

“No,” I said. “But all the same. I can teach you things that are centuries ahead of this world’s science.” I pulled out my smartphone. “Do you know what this is?”

Wile curled his neck to look at the screen. “A window?” said Wile. “Into another dimension?”

I googled “pictures of dragons,” and scrolled through the results. “See?” I said. “This is what is called ‘the internet.’” I said. It’s a network that contains the majority of the knowledge of my world.”

“And you can search for anything using this device?” said Wile. “Where does it store its information? Is there a small golem writing down what it receives from a messenger?”

“No,” I said. “Well, maybe. But the golem you’re talking about is made of transistors, and thinks in binary.”

“Hm,” said Wile. “Explain binary.”

I gave Wile a comprehensive explanation of how binary works and how it is used to compute. When I was finished, Wile’s expression had changed a bit. “You were not lying when you said your knowledge is a greater treasure than anything in this hoard.”

“I have a solid estimation of my own position,” I said. “Have you heard of the fiber steel armor being used by the soldiers of the kingdom?”

Wile looked even more interested. “You do not say. You invented such a device?”

“Not really invented. More of recreated the technology of my old world.”

“And this world is much more advanced than ours,” said Wile.

“There are cars, and spaceships, and computers and guns. The world has been through some tough times, but we’ve come out the other end. My world even has thousands of bombs that can blow up entire cities in a second and can be thrown across the globe.”

Wile snorted. “You’re stretching my ability to believe you,” he said. “There is nothing more powerful than a dragon’s breath weapon, and even that takes a couple of hours to level a city.”

“I’m not kidding. Some of the bombs can obliterate entire metropolitan areas. Millions of people, gone in a blink.”

Wile puffed smoke from his nostrils. “You do not seem to be lying. If you had been, I would have fried you on the spot. Nothing compares to the wrath of the dragons.”

“And yet you’re letting your species be hunted to extinction,” I said.

“It was the invention of the sky ship,” said Wile. “Not one generation ago, a great inventor arose in the country of Nemark and created, along many other magical implements, the technology for sky ships. And since then the skies have not been ours alone.”

“So sky ships are a new technology?” I said.

“For an immortal being, one mortal generation is nothing. Times have changed so fast that we do not know how to retaliate.”

“You did destroy the ship I was on,” I said.

“And we destroy many others,” said Wile. “But they just keep coming. There are not enough of us old ones left in the sky to fight an endless battle against you fast-populating bipeds.”

“I guess that’s how humans in my world worked as well,” I said. “The more of us there were, the more we destroyed our habitats.”

“And the dragons will soon be a depleted race,” said Wile. “Some of us hide as humans or other bipeds, among them, without revealing their true nature. But a dragon’s pride is just as legendary as its anger. We, the true owners of this land, cannot sustain our egos as mere mortals, even if we are just a copy of their form.”

“How many dragons do you estimate are left in the world?” I said.

“Less than a thousand,” said Wile. “And more are being hunted every day.”

“Yikes,” I said. “That’s enough to be considered critically endangered back home.”

“I do not like the tone of that word,” said Wile.

“Um, I may not be speaking my native language right now,” I said. “So I don’t really know what you mean.”

“Yes, indeed,” said Wile. “Your usage of the common tongue is slightly skewed, now that I think of it. Where did you learn to speak it?”

“I was gifted the ability to understand this world’s language by my patron, Meliapolis.”

“Hrm,” said Wile. “Hum.” He shifted his weight again, coins clinking beneath his scales. “Well, another puzzle for me to think about.”

The green dragon called Disc approached Wile and I, settling across from him. “Can we eat him now?” said Disc.

“No,” said Wile. “I claim him as one of my treasures.”

“Pah,” said Disc. “Are you really that hungry for knowledge? Why would you let a tiny person like him live?”

“He is not only educated, but powerful as well. He has the ability to manipulate the elements,” said Wile.

Disc pounded his tail on the ground, causing treasure to shift. “I want payback. My kin was killed by him and the rest of those bipeds we devoured.”

“Um, I was on that ship by request of Yonas,” I said. “I was going to use this technology I have, called a camera, to take instant paintings and reproduce them in order to shift public opinion …”

“Sounds a bit obtuse,” said Disc. “I don’t like its chances. You know people are hard to influence. You bipeds have no respect for those more intelligent than yourselves.”

“I have much respect for you,” I said. “I’ve been against dragon hunting ever since I heard of it.”

Disc seemed a bit perturbed. “You do not speak like the biped mortals I have encountered before,” he said.

“He’s from across the phlogiston,” said Wile. “From a globe called ‘Earth.’”

“Earth,” said Disc, rolling the name on his tongue. “An interesting name. Are there dragons there?”

“No,” I said. “The only intelligent life are humans.”

“Pah,” said Disc. “Sounds like a terrible place. Where would mortals be without the beauty of the dragons?”

“Much further than this world,” I said. “We’ve even set foot on our moon.”

Both dragons looked at me with disbelief. “Huh?” they both said.

“Right,” I said. “The humans of Earth built a rocket and landed on the moon. They actually left footprints in the dust before they came home.”

Disc stuttered. “Humans?” he said. “Doing what dragons cannot? Did they meet the goddess of the moon?”

“Sadly,” I said, “The moon is just a rock. A beautiful rock, but a rock nonetheless. We’ve also put robots on Mars, and sent probes outside the solar system.”

“You astound me,” said Disc. “You are either the most prolific liar I have ever met, or you really do come from an amazing realm.”

I took my smartphone back out, and googled “moon landing.” I showed the pictures to Disc.

“Who made these paintings?” said Disc. “They’re black and white. Why?”

I pointed to my camera. “If you get me the chemicals I need,” I said. “I can show you right now how these pictures work.

Disc stood up and shifted towards the cavern’s center. “I will find them.” He curled his neck towards me. “What do you need?”

I took out a small piece of paper with a list of the chemicals. “Can you get me these?” I said. They weren’t everything I needed, but were mostly precursors to the actual chemicals I needed to develop the film.

Disc began rooting through the hoard. Coins clinked and treasures banged around as he searched.

I turned to Wile. “Do you want to see some more pictures?” I said.

Wile put his head close to my shoulder, its massive jaw almost as high as my waist. “Show me the weapons of this world,” he said.

I showed him a picture of a tank.

“What is this?” said Wile. “An iron elephant? How would something like that even reach the enemy?”

“It shoots,” I said. “It fires sabot rounds at high speeds, and they can destroy other tanks.” I switched over to airplanes. “My people also know how to fly,” I said. “Much better than the sky ships that the humans of this world use. Missiles and guns are all over the place.”

Wile turned away. “Very well,” he said. “We shall help you get your pictures, er, developed, and then we shall send you home so that you can continue your quest for knowledge.”

“Thank you,” I said. “I am in your debt.”

“In exchange for sparing your life,” said Wile, turning back towards me, “You must promise to teach us as much as you can.”

“Of course,” I said. “I’ll do everything I can.”