The Newt and Demon - Chapter 4.27 - Thirst for Adventure

Theo brushed his hand over the plot of wheat in Tero’gal. He’d delayed doing anything with it before understanding its significance. Like the small house and the stream, there was meaning to everything here. After eating breakfast with Tresk and Alex, he ducked into the realm for some solitude. It only left him with a sense of confusion, unable to put the pieces together.

The wheat growing in the fields was small. Compared to the crop he’d seen in agricultural domes, it was tiny. Theo remembered the part of the plant holding the grain to be roughly the length of his forearm. Massive kernels of the seed made the plant heavy, often requiring reinforcement with stiff metal rods. This example was barely the length of his pinky finger.

Benton had come, keeping him company while he brewed his potions. That led to a conversation about the significance of the grain.

“There’s plenty of breeds of wheat around,” Benton said with a half-hearted shrug. “Why give so much thought to this one?”

“Because this is from my world. Untouched by the genetic modifications we made.” Theo plucked the fruit of the plant, holding it to the sunless sky.

“I think you’re looking into it too much,” Benton said. “What are we brewing today?”

“Well, perhaps you can help with that,” Theo said. He had a row of [Wisdom of the Soul] potions brewing on a table. He got the sense they would take a year to complete. The absurd part about how time worked in the heavenly realms was that he would only need to wait 3 days in the real world. The alchemist explained the text on the potion, asking if Benton had heard of something like that.

“A single-use potion? As in, you can only drink it once?” Benton scoffed. “Well beyond my abilities. Never heard of a soul elixir.”

Theo nodded. He doubted anyone had heard of it. If they had, they were keeping their mouth shut for obvious reasons. “What would you do if you could make a world-changing object? Something bad. More than that. Something evil.”

Benton furrowed his fluffy brow, casting Theo a concerned look. “I’d bury that knowledge deep in my mind. Lock it away and forget it existed.”

Theo nodded again, trying not to smile. Benton was more similar to him than the alchemist first thought. The bear god might not admit it, but he had a hard streak to him. Something that said he would do anything to preserve his people, no matter how much blood he had to spill. But they both had a line they wouldn’t cross. The alchemist had found his hard line in the potion he discovered in the Dreamwalk.

“I found a different potion,” Theo said, busying himself with his stills. “I’m happy that the ingredients are rare. Horribly rare. Almost impossible to handle if you don’t follow Drogramath.” He paused for a long moment, rolling his shoulders. “I’m glad you agree with me.”

“Well, there’s plenty of fun potions you brew,” Benton said, clapping a clawed hand onto Theo’s shoulder. “How about that gel?”

The alchemist had brewed a massive supply of the cooling gel for Nira and her workers. He removed one from his inventory and held it up, for Benton to sample. They both dipped their fingers inside, the bear god having trouble working it into his fur.

“Like a pleasant breeze washing over your skin,” Benton said with a sigh. “You’ll be rich selling this in the Season of Fire. Only going to get hotter down there.”

Theo turned his attention to his brewing potions without responding, finding that his realm was cluttered with vials. He had selected several versions of the [Hallow Ground] suffuse potions for brewing, never intending to let them leave Broken Tusk. He made a massive batch of [Crumbling Undead Phage], as it affected the most targets. The alchemist only made one version of [Return Undead], since it seemed weird. Sometimes those strange potions were useful in a pinch. While he only made one of each type of the potions, he also brewed a lot of [Flame of Dual Sleeping Gods].

As expected, each suffuse potion was confusing. It was hard to tell if they were better than the standard tier 2 potions.

“Tea?” Benton asked, rubbing his hands together.

“Absolutely,” Theo said. He had finished everything he wanted to do here, even gaining a single level in his [Drogramath Alchemy Core]. It had crawled to level 23, leaving his herbalism core behind.

Benton was great at making tea, but that wasn’t the best part of having a tea break with the bear god. He often brought baked scones. The pair sat down in the cottage, listening to the fire crackle as he spread a cloth over the table. Unfolding it revealed many scones, all filled with something sweet. Theo went for the lemon-like filling.

“How much time passes in your realm?” Theo asked, nibbling on his scone. “Compared to the mortal plane, that is.”

“Oh, I think your realm is slower than mine. Slightly more powerful, if you look at it that way.” Benton removed a brick of tea from nowhere, scraping some off the edge and into the teapot with his carving knife. “But you can’t raise any army, can you? No souls heading to Tero’gal.”

“We live strange lives, Benton,” Theo said, finishing his first scone. He went for another, this one with pockets of jam nestled in the pastry. It tasted like raspberries.

“Strange lives require powerful friends.” Benton used his knife to stir the tea before returning it to the fire. “You’ll be happy to hear that the heavens have calmed. People are falling in line with the Arbiter. It helps that he stopped murdering gods.”

“But gods can’t really die, can they?” Theo asked, gesturing with his scone.

“The gods talk, you know? Even here in the lowest heavens. When they ripped Balkor apart, what happened? His soul was so weak, he slipped between realities. To live in the void, if you can believe that.” Benton shuttered at the word ‘void’. “That’s a fate worse than death.”

The conversation grew light after that. Benton’s realm was a place of decay in some ways, but also the revitalizing effects of winter. The realms that gods created were often places of their own making. Places that they willed into being to exemplify their values. While the bear god’s realm was covered in a constant sheet of snow, he’d dedicated his followers to baking. Without a frame of reference, Theo decided that was as good a cause as any to follow.

Theo enjoyed the lighter conversation. He’d rather learn about the celestial baking techniques Benton had learned than the turmoil of the heavens. The bear god had come up with interesting ways to deal with the constant cold. Something that reminded the alchemist of the agricultural domes on Earth. For the second time today.

“Feels like you’re running out of time here,” Benton said, chuckling. “Maybe I’ll head out.”

“You’re always welcome, Benton. You bring the best tea. And the best pastries.”

Benton offered a wave and a smile before departing through his icy gate. A breeze rushed through the archway. The comfortable warmth returned in moments, leaving the alchemist alone once again. He peered over the edge of his floating island, shaking his head. Tresk was force-feeding Alex motes. The image was frozen with the Marshling cramming the rounded objects down the goose’s throat. A fireball was springing from her bill.

“Can’t leave them alone for five minutes,” Theo said, tutting. He double-checked the items in his inventory, making sure not to forget the cooling gel.

The world swirled around him as he jumped from the island’s edge, sailing over the Bridge of Shadows for only a moment. The realm seemed normal today, the same way it had for a while now. There was no sign of the ghosts, or any intruders. Theo hoped Yuri was implementing some stricter rules about using the bridge.

A fireball sailed into the air, slamming against the boughs of a tree above.

“Eat your food!” Tresk shouted, turning to look at Theo sheepishly. “I thought I had more time.”

“You found [Nature Motes]?”

“Bought ‘em,” Tresk said, going back to work. “You want a nature alignment? You gotta take your medicine.”

No! I’m full! Alex shouted into their minds.

“Fine. But you’re eating more later. You got me?”

I will eat when I’m ready.

“She’s getting better with words,” Theo said, kneeling to pat Alex on the head. They were standing off the side of the main road, gaining strange looks from those citizens passing by.

“Getting big, too,” Tresk said, standing to measure the goose with her hand.

When standing without extending her neck, Alex now stood to the center of Tresk’s chest. She’d gained a lot of weight, and lost almost all of her gosling plumage.

I’m going with Tresk.

“That’s fine,” Theo said, patting Alex on the head. “Just stay safe. Okay?”

Yes, father, Alex said, a tone of sarcasm in her voice.

Tresk and Alex both waddled off before Theo could say anything else. He stood and watched his two idiots run into the distance, off to get into trouble. Because wherever a Marshling and a goose went, there was bound to be trouble.

There were no administrative things that Theo needed to handle today. The administration staff submitted daily reports, which were mostly uninteresting. Alran had been submitting the results of his spying, which had brought few interesting things to the nation’s attention. There were reports of Veostian movement against the undead, but until recently it had been a tepid response. Now Alran said that Tarantham was backing them up with priests of Glantheir.

Alran was well-paid for his information. Alise was scheduled to inspect the transition of Rivers and Daub. They’d elected their new leader by a vote, and further voted to remove the trade guilds entirely. That upset a few people, and Theo wasn’t willing to read the full report. Things got bloody.

“Look at me!” a voice called in the distance.

Theo spun around, spotting Fenian barreling down the street. He was seated on some contraption that looked like a safety nightmare. An artifice-powered wheelchair. The Elf almost ran him over as he passed, hit the breaks, and drifted around the corner. Moments later he returned the other way, coming to rest before the alchemist.

Fenian had both his regrowing limbs wrapped in cloth and wore a simple robe over his body. None of this diminished his spirits, though. He held a massive smile on his face. “Good morning, my dear alchemist! Like my new ride? I think I’ll keep it after my limbs grow back.”

“Come with me,” Theo said, turning on the spot to walk down the street. Toward the smelters.

“Oh, I love when you’re all serious.”

“Not serious, just want to talk while I walk. And while you roll, I guess. Did Throk build that for you?”

“No, I picked it up a while ago. Thought it was fun. Never expected to use it,” Fenian said with a wistful sigh. “I really hate being stuck like this.”

“You’re recovering well, though. Especially for a man who defied the heavens.”

Citizens got out of Fenian’s way. Not out of respect, but fear. He was heavy on the controls, often lurching forward without warning.

“My plan didn’t even work. Karasan is alive. He still has what I want,” Fenian said. “Put a nice glob of spit in his eye, though.”

“What is it you want?”

“Spoilers,” Fenian said, singing the word. “Anyway, I see you’re putting one of Khahar’s gifts to good use. What about the others?”

Theo wanted to punch Fenian in the arm, but resisted. Khahar had told him about the [Kingdom Core] and the spirit seeds. “They take a long time to grow.”

“Wow, if only you had a magical place where time moved differently.”

Theo let out a frustrated breath, then tried not to laugh. He wasn’t surprised anymore when Fenian knew more than he should have. “I have a problem with that, Fenian.”

“He’s so serious!” Fenian shouted. “Just clear away the damned wheat and plant the spirit seeds. Clear half of it, if you’re so attached.”

“You’ve been to Tero’gal,” Theo said, his intuition going into overdrive. He stopped on the spot. “You knew the Zagmon assassins were coming for me, didn’t you? How could you have known that using the [Tara’hek Dreampassage] ability when I was in danger would make it evolve?”

“Khahar told me,” Fenian said. “I could have killed your attackers at any point. Theo, do you trust me?”

“No. Yeah, a little. I mean—yes, I trust you.”

“Khahar told me about the skill evolution. He said there would be Zagmon assholes coming for your head, because they thought you had something their master needed. Guess what? Their master is dead. Oh! He told me something hilarious when I visited his citadel.”

“You saw Yuri?” Theo asked.

“Yes, I went to his Khahak while I was chasing Karasan. Extremely unoriginal name , but he’s not known for his creativity.”

“So, what did he tell you that’s so funny?”

“Uharis and Sulvan are still stuck on Antalis. The moon? You know, the dark one you can’t see? When the Eye was killed, they lost their cores. The wizard can no longer teleport.”

Theo tried not to laugh at the situation. He already knew those guys were stuck on the moon, and had assumed Uharis would figure out how to teleport back.

“That seems cruel,” Theo said. But he still laughed.

“Well, there’s an entire civilization up there, if you can believe it. I never knew, and I’m not sure anyone else knows.”

“The world has enough problems to deal with. We don’t need an invasion from the moon people.”

Fenian went on about the moon people as they approached the Midnight Damsel Smelter. There was a story behind the name, but Theo had only gotten pieces of it. He stood there, waiting to get the attention of Nira, but it was difficult. Eventually, she glared at him with annoyance before marching across the street.

“You can come into the smelter. You know that, right?”

“Thanks, but no thanks,” Theo said, withdrawing a barrel of his cooling gel from his inventory. “Rub this on your skin.”

“No thanks.”

“He’s too forward, isn’t he?” Fenian asked. “Inspect the barrel of glowing goo. You’ll find it to be useful.”

Nira brightened up when she inspected the item. She slathered the stuff on her body and let out a sigh of relief. “Alright. I can reduce the beatings. Work conditions will absolutely improve with this stuff.”

“Hah. She has a sense of humor,” Fenian said, zipping in circles on his wheelchair.

“Thanks boss. We’ve been going full tilt, but might need to expand.” Nira offered a shallow bow. “Weather has been getting worse, huh? Heard you’re making a killing off that magic air cooling stuff.”

Theo didn’t like to look at the store’s finances. When he was forced to, he saw how many sales they made for the air conditioners. The fuel for the machine wasn’t the expensive part, but some people in town enjoyed cranking them down to freezing conditions. The one in the Newt and Demon ran at a comfortable temperature, and he hadn’t needed to replace the coolant yet. He chatted with Nira for a while before departing for the harbor.

Today was a lazy day for Theo. Whatever that meant when you were the leader of a bastard nation. But things were running themselves nicely, and he needed to make sure Laedria wasn’t goofing off. When he arrived at the harbor, he found she was doing the opposite of slacking. Instead of the frames of two trade-style ships, she was working on four. They were all in various stages of completion.

“Archduke!” Laedria shouted. “Check out my boats!”

Fenian had trouble getting his wheelchair to get down onto the dock. But he accomplished the task before almost throwing himself into the harbor. The trade ships were gone, taking their market stalls with them.

“Looking great.”

“Yeah. We’ve already been training people up on The Cork. Got a small group of twenty willing to become sailors. Mostly Wavecrest refugees. Of course.”

The boats were impressive. Theo was tempted to call them ships with the way they towered over him. Each boat was to be a two-masted ship. A main mast and a foremast, both to be adorned with the bright blue Starbristle sails. Zarali said something in the past about enchanting the boats, but the alchemist doubted her desire to do more than care for Xol’sa as he recovered. That was fine. They had a navy to train and more boats to build.

“Very nice,” Theo said, slapping the hull of the most complete boat.

Laedria looked nervous out of nowhere. She normally was too boisterous to get a good read. “Hey, uh. Got a request for you. But I’m not sure mister Southblade is gonna like it.”

Fenian shrugged.

“Let’s hear it,” Theo said.

“I’m not here to insult the abilities of Mister Southblade. He saved our house, and we owe him a debt,” Laedria said, sighing. “But I want to go back to Tarantham.”

“For what?” Fenian scoffed. “To die? That would reduce the size of our Archduke’s navy by one. You’ll be sunk.”

“Maybe. But we left some good folks behind.”

“Surely you can just go get them, Fenian.”

“Not possible,” Fenian said, driving in circles. “My masters are angry with me as it is. Not sure Uz’Xulven would allow any passengers, let alone a few hundred more.”

“You’d have more sailors, Archduke.”

Theo thought about this for a long moment before he responded. He saw how insistent Laedria was about the recovery mission. This wasn’t just dangerous for the sailors on the boats. This was dangerous for the Southlands Alliance. How would they react if an Alliance ship wandered into their waters? It was obscenely dangerous and a waste of resources. The alchemist shifted his way of thinking. To the new way he weighed projects.

“Where are they?”

“Southern end of the continent. Outside of imperial reach,” Fenian said. “In the lands once belonging to the Southblades. In a cave. She could get in and out without notice.”

“Alright,” Theo said, tapping his foot. “Two requests and you can have one of my boats.”

“Anything,” Laedria said.

“First, you can’t go. You can pick your team, and you can have one of my boats, but you can’t go.”

“That’s understandable,” Laedria said, bowing her head. “What’s the other request?”

“The rescue must be cool. Heroic. Daring. Brave. If I hear you’ve sent sailors off and they didn’t battle a kraken, I won’t hear any more of your requests.”

Laedria furrowed her brow. She looked at Fenian. “Is he serious?”

“I’m afraid he is. Unfortunately, Theo has seen me make one too many daring escapes. Now he craves the nectar of adventure. The worst thing someone could possibly desire. A good story.”

“Oh… alright.”