The Alchemist Final Chapter: 40

 

Chapter 40

I stood in front of the field that had ben fertilized with bird poop, a huge grin plastered on my face. Just like I had promised, the yield was three times what the other acres had given.

Barns huffed. “I didn’t want to believe it,” he said, “But that poop worked magic. Now we don’t have to worry about starving through the winter. This is the biggest bumper crop I’ve ever seen.”

“And you’ve been here a long time, right?” I said.

“Sixty years,” said Barns. “I was born here under the harvest moon.”

I chuckled. “Well then. Shall we start harvesting?”

Barns looked around. “Come on, boys!” he said, to the farm hands who were with us. “Let’s start the harvest!”

I stood back and watched them work. I had no experience with working the fields, and my time was better spent inventing things.

I walked back to Freedom Hill, which had grown to a town of about six thousand people. The layout of the city had been a success, at least until now, and the roads were very well maintained. I had made them out of concrete, not asphalt, because concrete held up better to the elements.

I walked up to the factory where we were producing weapons and armor. Claude was sitting on a bench just outside the building.

I sat down next to her. She shaved off a slice of cheese from her lunch, offering it to me.

“Sure,” I said, taking the cheese. It was good cheese.

Claude looked at me. “I never thought I’d see anything like this,” she said. She returned her gaze to where it had been.

A neon sign. I had made it, of course, and now it was hanging over the tavern. It wasn’t lit yet, but I knew that, in the night, it would broadcast its presence just like that famous place in Hong Kong. We had since fixed all the electrical things regarding the generator. The lights no longer flickered, and there were hundreds of them in use, even though the town was this small.

There was running water in every house. Flushing toilets in the houses of the middle and upper class. We had spent a lot of effort building a water tower near the city’s edge, in order to provide water pressure. And, we hadn’t suffered a single outbreak. That was proof enough that my planning was working.

Claude leaned back in her seat, having finished her lunch. “This place relaxes me,” she said. “The people here are so happy. Everyone seems to like it here.”

“I tried hard,” I said. “And people finally started following me.”

Claude exhaled. “And you did it. This is what you’ve been working for ever since you came. A city where you can implement your ideas as much as you want.”

“How is the Guardians’ aluminum mine going?” I asked.

“I’m glad you asked,” said Claude. “We’re still pulling up a lot. Tanna says we haven’t even cracked a tenth of the aluminum you buried that first time.”

“Hah,” I said. “I wasn’t really thinking at that time. There were probably many better ideas out there for making money with my powers.”

Claude shrugged. “It worked. The relations with the forest elves are better than ever before. Boomstack is a bustling town filled with people trying to strike it rich. Nothing like Freedom Hill, though,” said Claude.

“Everyone wants to strike it rich here,” I said.

“Did you see the new dye factory that went up in the bird quarter?” said Claude.

“I saw,” I said. “It’s the first sign of foreign investment. Something we need to protect.”

“You and your big ideas,” said Claude. “Always trying to go higher in the world.”

“Just be glad I’m not malicious,” I said.

“Don’t joke around like that,” said Claude. “You’ll jinx it.”

I shrugged. “I have my morals. That’s all I need.”

“And the workers,” said Claude. “They’re the happiest workers I’ve seen anywhere.”

“That’s the power of a lunch break,” I said, “And a respect for worker safety.”

“About your constitution,” said Claude. “Are you sure it’s a good idea? You’d be giving up your own power to the will of the people.”

“That’s exactly the point,” I said. “Government is for the people, by the people. We exist to serve them, not the other way around.”

“You have a peculiar way of thinking,” said Claude.

“I lived in a peculiar nation,” I said. “A nation where freedom is first. Where people can speak their minds and not be afraid of punishment. There are still bad places in my world, of course, but I lived in a good place. America is a good template, because democracy is the best form of government we know of.”

“Democracy,” said Claude. “That’s what you call it?”

“Yep,” I said. I stood up, brushing off my pants. “Do you want to go see Moray?”

“Sure,” said Claude. We walked through the town until we came to the power plant. Moray, Canary, and Jones were tinkering with the transformer device. They were holding some electrical engineering papers I had provided them with. They were better at it than I was by a hundred yards.

“Heya,” said Moray. “Can you help us out here? We’re wondering where the buzzing sound is coming from.”

I took one look at the device and shook my head. “No idea,” I said. “You’re way beyond my depth.”

“I think it’s this resistor,” said Jones. “It needs to be stepped up a few ohms.”

“Ah, yes, that’s it,” said Moray. He turned to me. “Thanks for trying.”

I paused. “Do you guys want to get something to eat?” I asked.

“Sure, --ah!” said Moray, as the transformer shocked him. He sucked on his finger. “Okay. As soon as we’re done here.”

We watched until they finished repairing the device. When they were done, we went to Freedom Hill’s first fancy restaurant, owned by none other than Tanna. I entered and sat down, followed by Moray, Claude, Jones, and Canary. We all received menus.

“I’ll have the Colonel’s chicken,” I said.

“Same here,” said Moray.

The rest of the people ordered. There was a small moment of silence.

“I think the paper airplane contest is going to become a yearly thing,” said Canary.

“Ah, that,” said Moray. “I’ll have to defend my title.”

“Have you read this morning’s Brownfield Times?” said Jones.

“No,” I said. “I haven’t read my copy yet.”

“Then you have to listen. The hunting of dragons has been outlawed by the crown.”

I smiled. “Great. That’s the reason I started the newspaper, after all.”

“And get this,” said Jones. “The production of electricity has been achieved in two other towns besides Freedom Hill. Brownfield isn’t one of them, but people think it’s going to be next.”

“You did it,” said Moray, to me. “You changed the world.”

I did my best to smile. “Don’t thank me. Thank yourselves. You’re the ones who made it happen.”

The door burst open. “Is Markus here?” said a voice. I turned, and saw it was Yonas.

“Yes?” I said.

“The Elders,” said Yonas. “I heard it from the skies. They’re coming.”

“Oh, this is bad,” said Moray. “The Elders …”

“Why now?” I said. “We stopped the killing of dragons.”

“It might have been too late,” said Yonas. “Come on. You have to see what I saw.”

We got up just as the food came. Moray looked at me. “You go,” he said. “We’ll stay here until you can figure out what’s going on.”

I left the restaurant and went with Yonas to the edge of town. There, on the ground, was a meteorite. I know I couldn’t have identified it positively, but I could tell. I didn’t need to identify it. It was a meteorite.

“So?” I said. “Where are the Elders?”

Yonas bent down to look at the stone. “I swear, I saw symbols that I recognized from the before times. They’re gone. I swear they were there when I last checked.”

I knelt down beside the meteor next to Yonas. A soft powder of dust covered it. I examined it closely, not seeing anything special.

And then a small egg burst open and a tiny spider crawled out. Even though it was nothing more than a house spider, it inspired such dread in me that I jumped up and stumbled backwards.

“Holy cow,” I said. “This is an Elder.”

Yonas was on the ground with me. “Kill it, kill it,” he said.

I took off my shoe and, despite the feeling of overwhelming dread, smashed the spider underneath its sole.

“There,” said Yonas.

The feeling of overwhelming dread went away.

“There are more coming,” said Yonas. “More spiders who are the harbinger of the Elders.”

“And we need to gather the dragons,” I said. “They protected this land once, they’ll do it again.” I sighed, rubbing my temples. “And just when I thought that I had gotten everything put together.”

Yonas dug a hole and buried the rock inside of it.

“We should watch this,” he said, “So that no more spiders come out.”

“I think we should just keep it buried,” I said. I backed away. “I think it’s inert now.”

We looked at each other, and then returned to the village. I went up to Moray and the bunch, as they were still eating.

“We have a problem,” I said. “The Elders may be coming back.”

Moray stopped eating mid-bite. “You can’t be serious,” he said.

“I’m very serious,” I said. “I saw one myself. It was only a baby, but …”

Moray stood up. “This is serious. Did you kill the thing?” He paused. “Wait, of course you did. Otherwise you wouldn’t be here.”

“We need to tell more people,” I said. “Claude, can you get on your communicator?”

Claude grabbed her magical comm device. “On it,” she said. She dialed the rest of the Guardians.

We stood there, speechless, for a few moments. Then Yonas spoke.

“A new darkness is about to fall on the world,” he said. “One that hasn’t been seen in a thousand years.”

“And I’d just gotten everything figured out!” I said. I paused. “But, I’m good at one thing. And that’s adapting the technology from my home world into this one. There are things we can use to fight these monsters.”

“Like more guns?” said Canary.

“Exactly,” I said. “Bigger guns. Steel sky ships. Explosives. Everything you would need to wage a war against an interdimensional threat.”

“Then let’s get to it,” said Moray. He walked out of the restaurant.

I followed him.

Moray stopped. “You’ve done for us what no one else ever could have,” he said. “You’ve changed everything. The world is much different than it was a year ago. A year ago, we could not have hoped to be able to defeat the Elders. But now, with you, we are able.” He looked me in the eyes. “You are our savior. You are the one who came here to protect us from the Elders. This I know, in my heart.”

Claude came out of the restaurant next. “Yes,” she said. “Be here in an hour. Bring everything.” She walked up to me, putting her arm on my shoulder. “We’re doing this for you,” she said. “You’re giving us the reason to fight.”

I looked between them. “Thanks, guys,” I said. “I’ll do my best.”

I looked down at the dirt. “But I’m not sure if that will be enough.”

“Enough?” said Claude, a smile on her lips. “I know you. You’ll figure it out like you’ve done a hundred times before.”

Moray slapped me on the back. “I believe in you, Markus Peters.”

End