Alisa led Alix to a small building on the west side of the large campus of Marconix. The building was very clean but still gave off this abandoned aura. Could it be the sign that was so worn that Alix couldn't read any of the text on it?
Maybe?
Alisa walked over to the large double doors with a rusty looking key. Was this place a prison or something? Alix disregarded the idea though the windows being barred shut did not help to change her opinion of the place.
The Alisa slid the key into the lock. It took a bit of force for her to turn it but once she did a loud "CLICK" resounded out. "I'll need help pushing the doors open." Alix looked to the doors and nodded.
"I can see why." The two girls worked together to push the double doors open. The hinges screeched as they slowly opened the doors revealing a dark room lit by four torches in each corner of the room.
The torches did not shine bright enough to light up the entire room so there was a large darkened area in the center of the room making it seems as though the light was avoiding making contact with the center.
In one of the corners was three rickety wooden bed frames covered with thin sheets. One was neatly made at least giving the vibe of a nice bed. Another one had it's sheets folded off to the side showcasing the entire bedframe. And the last was...just a mess. Sheets everywhere, there were some books splayed out on the ground next to the bed, and clothes laying on top of the bed.
Alisa marched into the jail cell and proudly presented it to Alix. "Welcome to the Fantastical Fool's Cave. The home of the fools for the last two years!" Alix looked at Alisa with a face filled with discomfort.
"This is where F-class lives?" Alisa scoffed at the girl's words.
"No~ Not all of F-class! Just the Fantastical Fools! Weren't you listening?" Alix's discomfort was marginally lessened but still present. "Why do you three stay here?" Alisa took a moment to think about an answer to Alix's question.
"I guess the answer that makes the most sense is that we were so rowdy and destructive that the headmaster thought that we would be bad influences on the rest of F-class. So, he separated us from the rest. Jokes on him, right? We got our own den!"
Alix let her eyes wander around the supposed, "Den" and came to a single conclusion. 'These fools truly are just a triad of troublemakers." Alix breathed out a piteous breath as Alisa pulled her toward the old beds.
'Hey, you were the one that wanted to know more about this freak of a girl. Ya know I would have advocated to go back to the tavern but noo~ ya had to let yer curiosity get the best of ya!" Mo's sass was noted by Alix and, to his credit, he had a point.
There was just something about Alisa that made Alix curious. Elves are famously over-attached to there culture and people. It's to the point that crossbreeds are rarely ever born and even when they are they are kept hidden to save face. But Alisa is just wandering around the streets of Pesinwok thousands of ages away from Talia with no parents in sight.
There was something going on with this girl and Alix was too nosey not to find out what it was.
"Okay, so you said that you wanted to know why I was so into alchemy right."
Ah.
Alix had forgotten that one little tidbit on her way here. It's probably for the best that she goes along with her original plans. She barely knows Alisa after all, so asking anything too personal could end up leaving an adverse mark on the relationship.
When did Alix start caring so much about her relationships with other people?
"Yes, that is correct. Tell me more about this...alchemy." Alisa giggled childishly.
"You said that so weird. Anyway, so you know about Francis Aeouli right?"
"No, no I do not." Alisa reared back aghast.
"You don't know Francis Aeouli? The greatest alchemist of our era. The woman that basically rewrote the book on how to do alchemy. And you're telling me that you don't know her?! The Lighthouse Virtuoso." Alix looked up at the ceiling seeing what she hoped were rain stains and not mold or any other mysterious muck before looked back at Alisa.
"No. And I think that you are overexaggerating. If she was truly that impressive then I would have heard of her." Alisa held up her hand in Alix's face.
Rude.
"I can't believe this! I'll have to start from the beginning then. You see Francis Aeouli was the daughter of the lighthouse owner, Henry Ae-"
"Is any of this important to the reason behind your alchemy fanaticism or are you just explaining a bunch of information that I do not need about this person that I do not know or care about?" Alisa sat in silence for a bit.
"...but I worked really hard to find out about all this stuff growing up and I never have anyone to tell it to."
"And you still don't. Now get to the point." Alisa groaned in disappointment.
"Fine! Ugh! You're no better than Denver and Nasak."
"Get to the point or I walk out of this sad excuse of a home and never look back."
"Okay okay, just calm down! Haah, I was really looking forward to telling you everything about my idol." Alisa whined but composed herself and began explain her story to Alix.
You see, there once was a little girl without much talent for anything. The only thing she was really good at was something that most of the other kids thought was a joke or some sort of weird delusion. But, how was it her fault that she could see and play with spirits when no one else could? They were probably just jealous!
"Move on!" Alix urged Alisa getting her back on track.
Right. Anyway, one day this little girl hears about some big event going on in Jaunt Square. Apparently some big up-and-comer was supposed to be showcasing her latest alchemy creation or whatever. The girl, being smart, thought that this was the perfect opportunity to steal the show and prove to everyone that spirits were real and that she was actually something special!
So, around afternoon that day the girl goes to Jaunt Square about thirty minutes before anyone else gets there. Or, at least that was the plan but the girl got caught up in her preparations and lost track of time so she actually showed up right when the showcase began. But it wasn't her fault! Wind spirits are surprisingly testy when you try to get them to make a big show.
"Alisa."
Right, sorry. Anyway she's upset that she was late but makes it to the show anyway. She should still be able to make her plan work so she goes to the side of the stage. But just when she was about to make her big entrance she felt something get placed on her neck and this weird warm feeling washed over her entire body. It literally warmed her up inside and outside.
She looked at the thing that was hanging on her neck and saw that it was a necklace. Who would have guessed, right? Anyway, the necklace produced this warm light that hugged my heart tighter than even the water spirits ever had. They're very affectionate, you know.
'Why does she keep doing that?" Alix asked Mo who just shook his head.
'Maybe she just really likes telling this story."
Ahem. So when I, oh the girl is me by the way. I don't know if you noticed that. So when I, the girl, turned around to see the person that put the necklace on me I was met with what I can only describe as the gaze of an angel.
Her sickly yellow hair cascaded down like a rockslide. Her skin was rough and covered in soot and ash from an unknown source. She was wearing what I can only describe as a ripped up trench coat that was way too big for her. And glasses were cracked and taped with one of the lenses clearly missing.
...
"You think an angel looks like that?"
"Angels look bad to test who're good people, mom! Now stop interrupting the story. Such a rude listener." Alix was appalled by the girl's lack of self awareness. Alix was a great listener, even though she would forget peoples names within seconds of meeting them. Oh, wait she's talking again.
I looked up at the woman and asked her what it was that she put around my neck and she told me that it was her greatest hope for the future. A special stone with a hidden trait. So, I obviously asked her why she would give me something so important. I was a kid on the streets I probably would have just stolen it anyway.
"Not giving yourself the best look."
"I'm just telling the truth. I liked to take bright, shiny objects so it would have entered my hands eventually."
Anyway, she answered my question with another question.
"Why do you believe you came here? Was it to steal, or maybe it was to show off some sort of epiphany of your own?"
...Like what? Who the hell asks that sort of deep question to a six year old girl on the street wearing the only dress that she had? Why would I have an answer to that? I mean sure I did go there to prove Nasak and Denver wrong, oh the kids that didn't believe me were Nasak and Denver by the way. I didn't know that at the time and we weren't really friends yet but I feel like it's important that you know that.
Anyway, I just said that I there was that to prove that spirits existed and you know what she did?
"Obviously not."
She laughed in my face! Yeah, she said only kids would argue about something that was common knowledge. Of course, spirits exist. Now, I was ecstatic and told her that I could see spirits and even told her that spirits were some of my best friends and she told me that the fact that I could see spirits meant that I was special.
It meant that I too had a hidden trait like the stone she gave me and that I should embrace it. That hidden traits are what make us special and help us become unique. Everyone and everything has hidden traits we just need to know how to spot them.
"And that's when I made my declaration to that angel, who was Francis Aeouli if that wasn't obvious. I promised that I would find hidden traits in things and bring them out just like she did. I mean, thanks to my eyes I've always been able to see when there was something weird about things I just didn't have the right tools. Then I found out that the angel was an alchemist and that was how she brought out hidden traits so I became an alchemist to do the same."
Alisa took a pausing breath and sighed in relief.
"And that is why being an alchemist is so important to me. Francis Aeouli showed me that even the most insignificant things can have hidden traits that make them amazing. That really resonated with me. Anyway, I bet you feel pretty stupid about not knowing Francis Aeouli now, huh?" Alisa folded her arms mockingly and waited for Alix's apology.
"So she was the creator of the Tranquil-Blaze. The stone that warms up the heart and body." Alisa nodded proudly.
"So you did know who she was. You just didn't know her name. I knew she was fa-"
"Is Tranquil-Blaze not the only product that she ever concocted?"
"Well, yeah. But-"
"I even read that she's hiding the recipe from other's so no one else can replicate or learn from the product. Other professionals have even tried to reverse engineer the product but there is a key component that they are missing to actually be able to replicate it."
"I hadn't heard about-"
"And when asked about this missing key component Francis Aeouli refused to let anyone in on her secret or on how she even found the object. They say it's due to pride and greed. It is even on record that she said and I quote, 'No one will ever be able to replicate my glorious masterpiece. You all are too far behind me in your methods and even your feeble attempts to reverse engineer it have failed. Go drown in the murky waters of Dalcia and stop pestering me with your idiotic questions.'"
"Where did you hear all of that?" Alisa asked both depressed and truly perplexed.
"I read many books and articles to pass the time. Anyway, I should get going. I have work after this." Alix stood from the rough bedframe and respectfully bowed to Alisa.
"I thank you for telling me a somewhat interesting story. Goodbye." With that Alix left Alisa sitting on the bed deep in thought. Had she been worshiping a bad person this entire time? Alisa pondered deeply for a second before coming to a conclusion.
"Alix must have been talking about someone else. My angel Francis would never have done anything like that! Yeah, she was just confused." After some mental gymnastics Alisa reached under her bed and grabbed all of her alchemy supplies.
"Now let's detox with some experiments!"