Odyssey of the Guardian Emperor

Inside Alaric's realm in the In-Between, a black puma and a guardian made of stone faced off against a black knight. [ Explain yourself, Knight. ] WorldHammer yelled, [ We could have helped. Why did you keep us here? ]

[ You're both so impulsive. ] The knight responded calmly, [ Don't make me beat these lessons into you. Attacking that demihuman would have caused Alaric more problems. Even he knew that, didn't you, Alaric? ]

[ Alia is right. ] Alaric's voice echoed back into their minds.

[ But Master… ]

[ I refrained from using my powers for that same reason. Rail'ak was itching for a fight. We got off easy. ] Alaric explained, [ You don't have to like it, but that's the reality of the situation I was in. ]

This conversation happened while Alaric floated up high enough for anyone to see him. He needed to be visible for his friends to find him, especially since he'd not told them where to find him in the moment that he was sucker punched out of the amphitheatre.

He also didn't know where the alchemists were, so he couldn't fly ahead to find Troy ahead of them. Of course, to stay this high up, he also had to endure the murmurs from the people on the ground. Part of him wished he couldn't hear them from this high up, while another part just couldn't resist eavesdropping.

'What's he wearing?' 'Such bold colours!' 'He must think he's the demiplane's long-awaited saviour or something.' 'The High Sentinel has really lost it.' 'Rail'ak won't stand for it.'

Right before Alaric could tune the words out, though, he heard a different side, 'Wow, it's the Priest of Delphi.' 'He's handsome.' 'Are all humans that handsome?' 'Do you think he'd let me shake hands with him?' 'I heard he has the power to end all demonkind.' 'Duh, that's why the Higher Ones have been waiting for him for so long.'

A small smile split the boy's lips. 'They are just like humans. All filled with opinions and perspectives.'

Alaric spotted the golden and white eagles heading for him and waited, patiently hovering. He pulled a green rune stone from his pocket and crashed it, allowing the healing magic to fix whatever Rail'ak had broken. He noted how the healing charm was unable to ease the dull ache in his aether channels, a reminder of how much he needed the Stone Pill.

Kair'ak and the others caught up a moment later.

"Alaric, are you okay?" LionHeart jumped off Kair'ak's back and landed on the back of a white winged lion, allowing Alaric to sit on the lion's back with him.

"I'm fine, LionHeart," Alaric responded, "And no, you didn't fail at your job."

"I didn't say that."

"It's written all over your face. It was the same back in Melbourne. I am fine, LionHeart," Alaric responded, "Besides, he was Metal Rank. There is nothing either of us could have done."

Kair'ak glided closer to them, "I apologise for that. Hopefully, we won't have to worry about him for a while. The High Sentinel won't let him off easy when he finds out. Though I find myself conflicted on whether that's a good thing."

"How so?" LionHeart snapped at the Eagle.

"Rail'ak holds a lot of influence within the demiplane," Lucy spoke before Kair'ak could answer, "I saw the way everyone celebrated his victory against those other two, even though that game nearly cost them their lives. They are infatuated by him."

"Yes, they are," Kair'ak responded, "The High Sentinel has ruled over our kind since the creation of the demiplane. He's protected us and kept this place running. We've never known suffering, and many youngsters think they know better and want him to step down. They say he's grown too old to run the demiplane, turning a blind eye to the fact that there is no Heaven-Crested Eagle alive at the Rank of Saint," Kair'ak explained.

Alaric played with Aslan's fur while he mumbled, "Why would anyone want to rule over others? It doesn't make sense."

Grun'am turned to Alaric next, "Aren't you the one we call the Guardian Emperor?"

"I was born that way," Alaric answered, "Even then, you don't see me running around looking for someone to overthrow."

"I thought you'd be going after the human Emperor," Grun'am wondered, "Isn't that who sits on your throne?"

"I don't know," Alaric responded. He wanted to add that he'd only found out about being the Guardian Emperor a few weeks ago, but on thinking about it, he kept the matter to himself, "I'll consult my guardian later."

"Then you'll wage war?" Grun'am asked with a hint of enthusiasm, "I'm sorry. You must understand that we've been promised a battle against the demons for a very long time. Adding some shady human into the mix wouldn't hurt."

Alaric wasn't sure what to add to this. His heart beat harder in his chest, even though he managed to keep his expression neutral. [ Sabre? Alia? ]

[ I hear him, Alaric. ] The puma responded, [ You're not obligated to give him an answer. ]

Alia's voice didn't come, and the silence in their bond told her she was not going to answer him either.

"Brother, that's enough," Kair'ak bumped her brother's wing, "We're here."

The scene was almost breathtaking enough to wipe the conversation from Alaric's mind. Stretching ahead of them was a large plaza littered with cauldrons, tents and the largest collection of alchemical ingredients and equipment Alaric had ever seen. Some were abandoned, while a few others had demihumans working with them.

Cauldrons bubbled and puffed up smoke of various colours, sometimes with soot. Pestles grazed against the rough mortars. Aether swelled with scents of all sorts mixing within the air.

Alaric's interest was piqued as he watched one of the demihumans begin a refining process. The cauldron in front of her, shaped like a dragon with three nozzles going up its sealed top cover, floated up into the air, and a fire ignited inside it at the snap of her fingers.

The flames burnt a brilliant blue colour, glowing through the grill of a small door at its bottom. As the cauldron warmed up, jets of fire shot out of various openings while gusts of wind shot inside others, creating an interesting fan of air currents.

A case of theft: this story is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.

All this happened before anything had been placed inside the cauldron. The powerful alloy device was just getting warmed up.

The first ingredients went in through the small door. Alaric had always thought alchemical ingredients to be rare plants with unique qualities, but as he watched this girl send in one item after the other with a wave of her hand, he realised how mistaken he was.

She tossed in rare plants, flowers, a bone, a whole toad and even a cracked aether core before cranking up the heat and fanning the flames of her cauldron with powerful gusts of wind.

As she continued working, a crowd gathered to watch her work. Youngsters seeking to become better alchemists, having come to train at the plaza, all came to watch her work.

Some took notes while others gazed in awe. Aslan landed silently, allowing LionHeart and Alaric to dismount. The boy's gaze, however, was firmly locked on the practising alchemist. A minute after sending in the ingredients, the cauldron began to spit out plumes of multi-coloured smoke. Green. Purple. Maroon. And finally, black. There was soot puffing out of the bottom as well, but through the whole process, she kept laser-like focus, putting all of her effort and concentration into what was happening inside the cauldron.

A few minutes passed before a translucent blue liquid leaked out of the cauldron, sizzling with pale blue smoke. At this point, the alchemist switched up the whole process and sent flames right into the cauldron from all openings. It burned like a furnace, whistling under the pressure of the flames being sent into it.

Alaric felt the aether in the air start to pool and flow forward towards the cauldron like a ravenous whirlpool had just formed, leading to the one point. Since Alaric was a walking treasure trove of aether, this whirlpool was especially disorienting. He grabbed onto LionHeart's hand and leaned away from the cauldron.

"What is it?" LionHeart asked him.

"My aether. It's getting pulled in," Alaric responded, still shocked that he was the only one feeling this pulling force.

Kair'ak, still in her Eagle form, put a wing between Alaric and the alchemist's cauldron, and just like that, the effect was severed.

"Thanks," he beamed.

Glad that gravity was working fine again, Alaric peeked above the Eagle's feathers for the rest of the show.

It wasn't long before the process came to an end and the cauldron sat sizzling on the table. The small door at the bottom was opened, and from it, a perfectly round orb floated out, pulsing with aether.

She'd just refined a pill.

"Congratulations, Kuver'al," a voice spoke up, clapping hands at her performance, "The Two-Star Fatigue Recovery Pill."

A man walked up to her, his white beard flowing to his waist against his flowing robes. He embraced the pill with proud eyes before turning to the crowd, "Let this be a lesson to all of you. Failure is just another step towards success. Kuver'al has been practising her techniques in preparation for this for a month now. It's not been her first attempt either, as you all know, and only through her hard work has she succeeded."

Alaric felt his heart leave his chest, 'A month?'

[ Alchemy is filled with disappointment. ] Sabre groaned.

"Alaric?" a boy called out to them. Alaric turned to see a blonde boy seated under the shade of a tent at the far end of the plaza. The boy beamed at the sight of him and came running, his blonde hair messy with soot, "I came out for a break and there you were."

"Troy, this girl spent a month trying to craft a Two-Star pill," Alaric started.

"Oh yes, Kuver'al's talented. Those pills were hard for me, too, back when I was starting out. Sadly, the road ahead is even harder," Troy responded with a laugh, "Come on."

Everyone walked past a stunned Alaric, following Troy back into the tent he'd come from. A hand rested on Alaric's shoulder. "Pick up your jaw, Alaric." Scarlett laughed, "That's what you sound like whenever you talk about your hunts."

Inside the tent, they found multiple tables lining the walls with various alchemical ingredients—from simple foliage to gruesome looking animal parts, some stored in jars filled with strange liquids. In the mess were plenty of books as well, some open while others were closed.

Alaric walked by a few of them, loosely perusing through the pages, 'An elixir that grants the ability to breathe underwater for an hour a day. A pill that grants increased resistance to Four-Star poisons. A lightning pill that grants the power of thunder during thunderstorms. Well, that's an annoying limitation. Won't you need a pill to summon thunderstorms as… oh, there it is.'

There were boosts as minor as a pill to cure all natural itches or an elixir that helps one find lost property, and major boosts like pills that magnified strength for as long as the user was motivated or granted the power to stop time when the sun was setting.

'Always a limitation to these pills. Especially the strong ones.'

[ Of course, there are. Otherwise, humans wouldn't need Inborn Abilities. The two rules about Inborn Abilities are that they are permanent and that they come from the bond one holds with their guardian. ] Sabre's voice filtered into his mind.

The two extra guardians in his In-Between had taken on the role of his guardian while Alia continued brooding, unsightly as it appeared. Sabre and WorldHammer pitched in now and then, and while they weren't as knowledgeable as Alia, they helped ease the pain she left behind. To Alaric's surprise, he was enjoying their company.

His eyes suddenly honed in on a page that lay open ahead, snapping him out of his thoughts. His heart skipped a beat, "A pill that can grant someone a temporary Inborn Ability? How can something like that even exist?"

Troy, who had taken on mixing some things in a crucible upon seeing Alaric's attentiveness to the details of the tent, turned to him with a bright smile, "It's possible! That one's a Five-Star pill, though. Far beyond my capabilities, but I found it interesting and thought I'd read about it. Back in Melbourne, I would read what Thai had on hand and memorise ingredients for pills and elixirs I would like to try out someday, but this place is a treasure trove of recipes."

Alaric chuckled, "I can tell. And the people?"

"Meh! I hear whispers. Some are good, others… not so much," Troy replied nonchalantly, putting the crucible down and moving on to a notebook he'd been noting things down in. "Luckily for me, I came here in the morning with the High Sentinel. Once everyone saw him, I was basically untouchable. They've been giving me everything I need when I ask."

Kair'ak, who'd also been touring the tent, came across a brewing mixture, "You're refining bases?"

The boy looked up, "Yes. Careful with the smoke. It's quite reactive to biological matter."

"I know that," Kair'ak answered, "But why are you refining bases?"

"I noticed back in Melbourne that Alaric's body is very greedy when it comes to nutrients. We had to use thrice as many bases as we'd normally use, and he wasn't even trying to break through to a new rank. So, I've decided on refining enough bases to improve their quality and keep up with the demand. Not to mention, I'm supposed to be making two Stone Pills, so that's two of everything needed for the Ritual."

"You know how to make a Stone Pill?" Grun'am asked, amused by the little human's efficiency.

Troy put down his pen and returned to a book not far from where Alaric had reached. There, he found notes on a unique pill. Alaric didn't need to read much to realise it was a page on Stone Pills, "I've only read about it and consulted Master Corv'ak."

"And you're confident you can make one?" Scarlett asked, her eyes now wide as well.

"It's a Three-Star Pill. I've crafted two Three-Star Pills in my life… Well, before I ruptured my Meridians attempting a high-tier Three-Star pill. The Stone Pill is a mid-tier, so as long as I have enough aether, I should be able to pull it off in a few tries."

"A few tries?"

"Alchemy rarely works on the first try, just like Master Corv'ak said out there," Troy explained.

"Right you are, young lad," a booming voice suddenly interrupted. The old man from the plaza walked in and looked around. His eyes surveyed the different things Troy had brewing with an approving nod at each item, "Looking good. When Ungv'ak told me I'd be mentoring a prodigy, I didn't think you'd know the first thing about good preparation. I misjudged you, and for that, I am sorry."

"It's alright, Master Corv'ak. It was fun proving myself."

"Your passion for alchemy is brighter than any I've seen. Bring the bases out and let's see how well you can refine them in a cauldron," the man beckoned.

Troy's eyes nearly popped out of their sockets, "In front of all those people?"

"They are all aspiring alchemists like yourself, and while refining bases isn't as flashy as pill refining, it's important to teach them the essence of good preparation. I want them to know how much it takes before they can even think of attempting a Three-Star Pill. With the current shortage of Storm Orbs, I'd like to reduce the number of students rupturing their meridians out of a false sense of bravado."