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[Aedifalse]

515-SPRING-79
16F, Gug Andjak

The quiet scribble of the carving knife scratched in contrast to the pristine silence of the Gug Andjak. It was the buffer day that Aedi had given himself in the event of delays in the creation of his Judgement project, and it was a day well-earned. There was nothing much he could do other than to guard his project well, rehearse his lines and to simply wait for the day of reckoning tomorrow.

It was fortunate that the communal work spaces were available to visitors, and he highly appreciated the availability and variety of raw materials in each of the workshops and labs. He had been informed that higher quality materials and more advanced components would have to be requisitioned for in the Synchrograph Office, though it was also loudly hinted that the office would much prefer to process requests by Sahovan residents.

The Isurian visitor had used the common workshops as an opportunity to soothe his frayed nerves in the sole rest day, and nothing made him feel better than to banish the unnatural silence with the familiar noise of metalworking. It had been a simple matter of heating and molding the iron ingots into the shape of small carving blade, then going to town with the forging hammer and whetstone.

However, this time there was a little twist, and he actually used the white-hot heat to weld the freshly forged carving blade into a bone hilt. A bone hilt that he had roughly carved from what seemed to be some sort of a thigh bone. Or perhaps it could have been a bone that belonged to some other limb. In any case, it was one of the freely available raw materials and he really had no idea as to its origins.

It doesn't really matter though, despite his inability to pry any relevant information using his meager understanding of aura perception. The most that he could extract from the random piece of bone was its physical structure. Lacking anthropological or biological knowledge, this was also useless to him in attempting to deduce the bone's origins.

Whatever.

He was trying to buy time anyway, and doing something that put his mind at ease. The knowledge lay hidden and rusty in his mind since he had not been doing much of it since that first time in Pitrius Citadel, and so it brought back nostalgia and homesickness as he carved circles in the bone.

Aedi had left the lab when he managed to weld the iron blade and bone hilt together into a functional tool, and instead walked the corridors of the Gug Andjak in a curious attempt to see if there were other users of the communal facilities. As he walked, his carving blade scratched incessantly as he absent-mindedly inscribed a generic list of traits and characteristics within the glyphed circles, perhaps in a hopeful attempt to draw something, anything, out of the residual soul of the bone.

As he reached the highest floor of the Gug Andjak that a visitor was allowed to go, he noted with a distinct lack of glee that the layout looked completely identical to the four floors below it, and he highly suspected that it was the same all the way up. The Isur continued his path along the silent corridors, with only the frequent scratching of glyphed descriptions upon the hilt of his improvised product to keep him company.

[Rayage]

The master was less than pleased. Some could say that she was furious when she left the lab. Karte’s suggestion to take on apprentices, or rather the apprentices forced onto her, were less than desirable. Their alchemical flux was all over the place, they lacked proper discipline and couldn’t keep the stream smooth if their lives depended on it. The result has been rather rough transmutations, and less than desirable results. When one does not have full control or cannot fully control the transmutation the chances of things going awry increase exponentially. The past couple of days they have collectively went through more snakes than the Master had procured from the citadel, this was eating into the second generation and the more snakes that died due to the incompetence of the hopeful alchemists, the more the master’s patience eroded.

She had to leave the lab, giving a grim warning to the apprentices within to have some good news when she returned or else. She hadn’t decided what the ‘else’ would be, but she wanted to utterly put to shame those within her lab, running amuck with her experiments. It would be sweet to see their faces, when the justice has been dealt. She just had to think of what exactly to do.

Normally a walk amongst the Citadel would calm her anger, but as she walked further and further away from her lab the more an anxiety gnawed at the back of her mind. Could she really trust those nitwits, those fools, those wannabes, in her lab unsupervised? They had already just about destroyed her experiment, almost forcing her to start the work over. She had precious few snakes left, and she wasn’t willing to part with their lives yet. Alchemical life was very fragile, and a creature enduring the transmutation only gave recognition to the strength of the individual involved, and the soul which she was working with. Few animals could successfully survive such transmutations, and so creating a new species of anything was easier on paper than it was actually, in practice.

Creating something with Alchemy needed careful thought and preparation, trial and error, and an ever curious mind to the truth of reality. The nitwits in her lab, right now, only sought knowledge. That much was clear. They sought to steal from her and her secrets, and then be done with her. The lesser wizards of the citadel were so predictable in their mannerisms. They did not care to forge ahead on ideas of their own, like she did, but rather take an idea from a known master and reforge it, perhaps use it in a new way to gain entry to the depths of Sahova's knowledge. It was one way to the top, or to get the spotlight, but with such tactics how could they hope on advancing any further if they just rode on the robes of the wizards doing the cutting edge research, the real wizards who asked bold questions and sought the truth. Such tactics would lead nowhere, they would become nothing, doomed by their own ambitions in the end…

The endless bustle of golems paced the halls, hurriedly scurrying every which way to their own destination. By now the nuit Master had solidified her plot, her plan to humiliate her own apprentices. Passing hopeful wizards, apprentices, and the unranked visitors in the halls she stopped at a common laboratory and threw open the door leading to the lab within. The door banged heavily on the wall, bringing attention to the Master who stood at the entrance of the portal to those who have yet to make a name for themselves.

Her gaze shot around, eyeing all within before she boldly announced, ”Is there anyone here that isn’t a complete idiot?” She asked, her frustration with her own apprentices dripping out into the tone of the question. Those within stared at her silently, apprehensively, wondering if there was something more to her question. Most by now, had spotted her golden masters ring on her hand.

x

[Aedifalse]

There was a loud bang as steel doors slammed against concrete walls, and a shrill, commanding voice ranged out as Aedi finished the flight of stairs to reach the floor. The Isur looked around with interest as he attempted to spot the source of the voice that so strongly pierced the sterile silence of the Gug Andjak. He found his gaze being drawn to the left where the common laboratory was situated, and standing at the door was a slender woman with fury and annoyance radiating from her piercing emerald eyes.

She glared inside the room, and from behind her shoulder the Isur could see a bunch of other people, Nuits and Pulsers alike, cowering under her gaze. While he was unfamiliar with the whole concept of hierarchy being represented by the rings worn by Sahova's residents, he was astute enough to tell that she was likely a high ranking wizard on the undead isle just from her authoritative behavior.

He was sufficiently observant to notice that the extent of one's sanctimonious attitude tended to be proportionate to how entrenched one was in Sahova, and visitors like him tended to keep silent and their heads down to avoid offending any of the powerful entities here that could extinguish the offending victim with a thought.

Many thoughts ran through the visitor's mind as he deeply contemplated on his next course of action. His instincts quite strongly suggested for him to pretend that this never happened and to slink away from the potentially nasty scene. If this high ranking mage was about to fry a room of offending visitors, it would probably be best for him to avoid being on the menu as well.

If left right now it would be the end of it. Still, curiosity nagged at him, and Aedi by far was an extremely inquisitive Isur. In normal cases he would have already attempted to read this stranger's aura to get a better feel, but even as djed gathered around his temples he immediately cut off the djed circuit and denied his impulse. It would be foolish to wantonly use personal magic in the island best known for its ancient rites and mastery of the arcane. There was simply too little information and it was best to play it low to stay safe.

The Isur gulped, and took a step forward and cleared his throat, making sure to maintain a safe distance from the visibly exasperated woman. Just to avoid surprising her and getting himself vaporized where he stood. With his heavily accented Common, he ventured in the direction of her.

"I am not idiot," He declared simply. "If lady need help, I happy to help."

You only live once.

[Rayage]

Nobody met her challenge, nobody met her gaze, they all shrinked away waiting for her to leave. She waited, her foot tapped impatiently as she looked at the crowd. A single word ran through her mind, and it was of such strength that she could not keep it contained, ”Pathetic.” she chastised them, and was about to go on, venting her frustrations on those poor souls, when a voice spoke up. She paused and turned. The voice did not come from the common lab, but rather outside it.

Her eyes fixed on the individual in the hall. They narrowed, examining him. His words were accented, common was not his first language. He was short, but did not seem to lack in muscle or feeble. Compared to most in this facility might be called ‘strong’ in the muscle category, like that would matter in a place of magic, but his appearance alone, how healthy he looked, he mustn’t have been on the isle for long at all. Most, within a couple seasons, began to look more and more like the undead due to the ‘food’ (or lack thereof) supplied to them. They all has a sickly pale look, but not this man. He certainly was from the outside and she took a moment to consider him.

”You?’ she asked as if uncertain, a small smile appearing on her face. He sounded lame in his pronunciation of common, but she supposed that he would do to prove a point. ”Very well,” She said, walking past him, ”Follow.” she dictated leading the way to the stairs and descending into the gug andjak once more. Her steps were slow and deliberate, enough to easily keep up with.

”What is your name?” she asked. If he would answer, silence would answer him.

”Why are you here, in Sahova?” Another pointed question would escape her lips as she made her way down and through the varying levels of the complex. She would listen to his answer, if one was provided.

”What do you know about world magic?” She asked yet another question, her steps picking up pace as she was getting closer and closer to her lab. As she grew closer to her lab, there seemed to be a small ‘skip’ or happiness in her step and posture. Her revenge will be so sweet, and what she was going to do really did not matter if they were an idiot or not. In fact, she would have preferred and idiot, but she wasn’t going to be too picky. She had a point to prove.

Stopping in front of the doors of Lab 45-E she turned to the man, ”Do you know anything about Alchemy?” she asked.

x

[Aedifalse]

A moment of uncertainty washed over the woman's face, but her bright green eyes seemed to light up as she beckoned him to follow. The Isur took a deep breath to calm his pounding heart and reminded himself that he was currently still very much alive with the full possessions of his limbs.

With an imperious turn, she headed off towards the stairs with an exaggeratedly slow stride, evident that he was to follow her at the very moment. The cowering inhabitants of the lab shot him a collective gaze of pity, and Aedi wondered if he was essentially signing up his death warrant, or worse. Those people certainly thought so, for when the master wizard left the room the tense atmosphere immediately dissipated as everyone mentally heaved a sigh of relief.

The woman began her barrage of questions, and the honest metalworker answered each of them in turn.

"My name Aedifex of House Aghanim," He pushed on in his haltingly. "I come here for Judgement."

As they headed lower down the Gug Andjak and even passed the ground floor, Aedi began to realize that it might very well be a point of no return. He had been made specially aware of the places that were off-limits to him as a Visitor, and if he were to go pass the wards that marked the basements of the Gug Andjak who knew what would await him. Soothing his nerves, he steeled himself even as he muttered a silent prayer to Izurdin for strength and conviction, then continued following.

The mysterious lady's next question proved to be rather probing, and he contemplated on just how much he should reveal. As his mind flashed towards the item that he had made for his Judgement tomorrow, he realized that the one magical discipline that he was most familiar with would be revealed to all soon anyway. There was no harm in telling her, but that would be all she would receive.

"I do Magecraft," He stated silently, his voice uncontrollably tinged with a tiny source of pride and loving nostalgia, "I make enchantments."

The winding steps carved into the cool underground granite of the caverns ended, and the curious Isur found himself standing outside a door that was quite clearly marked "45E", which he assumed to be the designation of a laboratory. He deduced the peculiarity of the floor naming convention of the Gug Andjak quite early on when he found himself baffled by the ground floor being termed "20F", and the fact that the number was now "45" meant that they had gone quite a fair bit of distance into Semele's embrace.

"My home Sultros. Alchemy common. I know some, spinning rings, make or change new things, dangerous djed, but I cannot make rings," He tried his best to reply while dredging up his memories for the mentions of Alchemy. As a Pitrius, Alchemists were one of the more common wizards allowed free reign by the Sentinels, and he had a rather brief but nominal flash of understanding about it.

All these while he had only been answering questions, and had remained silent even after he answered as he sorted out his thoughts. It took him walking down twenty five floors to finally gather the courage, and he dared to venture a question.

"What help you need I do, lady? How I can call your name?"