The alchemy wing of the Magic School was located on the west side, forcing Alabaster to travel around the school. Although the extra travel time was annoying, it allowed him to enjoy the school's beauty.
While a new construction, it was designed based on the former magic school his mother started decades ago, which became disused, meaning it was purposely aged up, creating a look of history, with grey stone walls running with creeping ivy and ancient wooden doors. However, while it looked old, it was structurally safe, especially with the many faint silver charms that glimmered when one carefully studied the walls.
Inside the alchemy wing, students were milling about. There weren't many, as Elysian didn't have much time to fill the school, making it seem empty, but there were still some children of minor gods, descendants of witches, and some monsters with an affinity for magic.
Alabaster walked into his classroom with a folded sheet of parchment under his arm, the day's lesson plan that they'd been given the previous week. Today was about brewing a basic sleeping potion, the "Blessing of Hypnos", a sleeping aid that, when drunk, would cause the consumer to sleep for the next few hours, the duration dependent on how perfectly the potion was made.
The classroom was a long, rectangular chamber with wooden workbenches where small cauldrons sat atop, waiting to be used. Jars of ingredients crowded the shelves, lined the walls: bundles of dried lavender, crushed poppy seeds, thin slivers of moonroot, and tiny bottles filled with pearlescent dust and many more, some he didn't even know about.
At the front, their teacher, a witch whose coven moved from the Harz Mountains of Germany to reside within Elysian. They were not related to the Greek gods but instead mortals who continued the legacy of Hecate from ancient times, using their affinity for magic to allow their culture to survive through time. They traveled and settled down here upon learning of Hecate's intention of starting a magic school, wanting to repay ancient debts by serving as teachers.
The witch, Hagazussa, was the potions teacher, an expert in potioncraft. She was a small woman with chestnut hair combed neatly, flowing down her back, and smooth, caramel-colored skin. Her features were enchanting with a warm, inviting smile and a small wiccan tattoo, two crescent moons facing away from a circle, placed on her forehead. She looked like a warm, older sister, but it was the eyes that gave her away; the age and sharpness couldn't be hidden even with magic. Hagazussa wasn't young, that was merely a facade, she was old, nearly seventy-eight.
When the final group of students entered, a group consisting of an empousa, descendant of a witch, and a child of Hebe, Hagazussa waved her hand, closing the door.
"Sleeping potion," she began, voice carrying over the low murmur of students settling in. "We're brewing in pairs today. Follow the recipe exactly. I already told you to study the potion for this lesson, so if anyone can't make it... There will be detention.
The threat of detention silenced any murmuring. Hagazussa doesn't physically harm students; that wasn't allowed. However, she had them test her attempts at transformation potions, wanting to surpass Circe's legacy in the subject. It wasn't comfortable, and since it was done in front of others, it was embarrassing - a true punishment for children like them.
Pairs formed quickly. Alabaster ended up with a boy from the Aristaeus Cabin, a newcomer to Elysian. Not just the child, but Aristaeus himself, having recently arrived in Elysian, is currently helping to set up a husbandry committee, hoping to spread his love for the subject.
The first steps were straightforward: warm the base water over a low flame, stir clockwise until the bubbles were no bigger than a pinhead. Then lavender went in, followed by powdered moonroot, which his partner had ground down in their mortar and pestle.
The smell shifted from heated water to a soft, floral scent, with a heavy sweetness that clung to the back of the tongue. Alabaster's partner was careful, but slow when it came time to grind the poppy seeds into a paste until the mixture was smooth. Alabaster quickly took the mixture and measured out the exact amount without checking the recipe, just remembering it from the parchment.
By the halfway point, their potion was the right shade of shiny gold. Other groups had also reached this point, but their potion colors were mixed shades of pale gold. As for why, even while Alabaster wasn't paying attention to other students, he had heard the hissing of potions about uncontrolled flames, and looking now, he could see a few lumps that remained from grinding the poppy seeds into a paste.
"You've done this before?" his partner asked, watching him add the pearlescent dust in a slow, steady trickle, having taken the cauldron away from the flame so as not to ruin this step.
"First time," Alabaster said, eyes fixed on the liquid as it shifted from gold to a milky cream. "It's not complicated if you follow the instructions."
With that, the potion was complete; all that was needed was to return to check on the potion tomorrow, where the mixture would have settled and turned into the "Blessing of Hypnos", and it was then they could see the quality of their potion. Still, Alabaster wasn't worried, already knowing he had made a perfect potion.
...
Back in his Cabin room, Alabaster opened his private notebook. He flipped past diagrams and notes on spells until he found the page where the magic he was currently researching was.
Mistform Cards, he had written at the top. Under it: 3x5 inches. Stores objects in Mist. Summon by focusing on the image, injecting magic into the card, and summoning them.
Restrictions?
Limits?
Can it be improved?
His pen scratched across the page as new ideas and questions poured in.
It was only a few weeks since he was brought here by the Empousa, who had visited his home with his half-sibling, changing the place of his coming from Camp Half-Blood to Camp Elysian. Learning that this city, constructed by his brother and mother, filled him with pride, especially when he learned of the ideals of the city. Although he hasn't had contact with Olympus, the stories that circulated in the mortal world never painted them in a kind light, so he and his father were always nervous about him stepping into the divine world, but being brought here, under the care of his mother, allowed both of them to relax, and their worries vanished.
He quickly took to the magic aspect of life, finding he had an unnatural talent and affinity with magic, one which even his sibling didn't have, or so Hecate said. It was this talent that allowed him to dive headfirst into exploring magic, even spending his nights studying under his mother, allowing him to ask questions about topics he didn't understand.
As for the non-divine aspect of Elysian, the schools dedicated to helping learn the basics of mortal study, teaching in a way that helped them keep pace with non-demigods, even though they all had ADHD. Alabaster wasn't interested in returning to an everyday life, so he didn't pay much attention to the lessons, only studying enough to keep up with the classes.
Alabaster reveled in his new life, thankful for being brought here and filled with awe and respect for his mother. Thinking of this, he put down his pen and notebook, and got into bed, ready to enter another dream with his mother, where he would continue his studies into magic.