Malice

Alchemist, currently in Lord Tereslov's employ. Endures the world's shortcomings for the sake of art and science. [OC] [Mature Themes/Content] [Detail only]

[Malice @MaliceAlchemy]

The aesthetic of an alchemist drow~

[Malice @MaliceAlchemy]

@EledhwenGeneral A story for the bards to sing. Or, well, a song he took inspiration from. Saved a whole party with his quick thinking and knowledge of royal expectations. Xheh. 'Royal'.

[Malice @MaliceAlchemy]

@EledhwenGeneral At least one, with the goal of more. Who said halflings can't be ambitious?

Shame about his wife.

[Malice @MaliceAlchemy]

@EledhwenGeneral Indeed.

One of them is, perhaps, the only creature she has such a feeling for. Halfcask was so young when he became an adventurer. Now he's a dragonslayer.

[Malice @MaliceAlchemy]

She mixes a batch of elf hazel, in preparation for the healing of scars. There is still more mending to be done: she needs rest.

[Malice @MaliceAlchemy]

@EledhwenGeneral They know there is nothing that can be done, baffled by the oddness of it all, fearful of the intricacies of the mind, between skull and soul.

Where do his thoughts stray now?

[Malice @MaliceAlchemy]

@EledhwenGeneral Healers. How effective can they possibly be, when much of their talent is outsourced to whatever spirits or deities are their backers?

[Malice @MaliceAlchemy]

... has she missed a meeting with the little orc? The valuk? The cretok? It matters not.

... she matters more to herself, anyway.

[Malice @MaliceAlchemy]

/Vith/.

The rothe have done well, even if their efforts have expended much of her supplies. No matter. She can make more.

She will tend to her own injuries, and then she will resupply. She is self-sustaining and does not require intervention.

[Malice @MaliceAlchemy]

@EledhwenGeneral He sees --

And end to the dream. One sleeper awakened, leaving the other in darkness. No way to follow, not here. Not like this.

[Malice @MaliceAlchemy]

@EledhwenGeneral Free of one thing, chained to another. Forges just reshape metal (and glass) to different shapes.

The elven palace. The bone cage. Same-same.

Everything tastes like ash, in the end.

[Malice @MaliceAlchemy]

@EledhwenGeneral Under the light of the sun, under the pressure of fire, all screams are eventually extinguished. It is pointless, when vocal cords are so weak, when they have never mended.

And so. The scream is silent. Look on the fire and smirk, instead. Don't let anyone know how you burn.

[Malice @MaliceAlchemy]

@EledhwenGeneral The sun has burned everything away. Everything hurts. To be taken feom the cage, to the shade, is a shock. But not a relief. There's still fire.

And there will always be fire, perhaps. Because on a different continent, nearly a century later, the doctor watches a tavern burn.

[Malice @MaliceAlchemy]

@EledhwenGeneral Salt. Wind. Sun, the sun always the sun, and when it isn't the sun it is the vast dark pit of space, where terror promises that one day gravity will fail and you will fall up and up and up and be lost forever.

One day. A shadow comes closer. Dispassionate eyes. A purchaser.

[Malice @MaliceAlchemy]

@EledhwenGeneral Guards? Visitors? Halucinations? It doesn't matter. The sun watches. Watches and burns, relentlessly. Flesh cannot last, and yet it does. When the night cools the desert to frigidity, flesh mends. And then the sun rises.

Decades of fhis.

[Malice @MaliceAlchemy]

@EledhwenGeneral The woman with the red hair stands between the sun, then steps away. There is just the sun. It burns with the same implacable fire for all eternity.

As it did over the bone cages of the ones they couldn't sell.

Many cages, often emptied fast. One does not. One stays occupied.

[Malice @MaliceAlchemy]

She dreams of fire. It is hard not to. The pain is familiar, and so many memories stir and surface as she waits for the curatives to mend her flesh.

First, of course, comes the most recent recollection: the roof of the Princess' palace.

[Malice @MaliceAlchemy]

Even the most skilled artisan can be at the mercy of their tools. Molten glass can be tempermental.

The rothe come running. The doctor can't do much through the pain, except know she's trained them well.

[Malice @MaliceAlchemy]

Bleh. Bad dreams. Some memories need to stay buried.

Time to fire up the forge and make some new potion bottles.

[Malice @MaliceAlchemy]

The valuk has been less consistent with meetings since the dragon moved into the Keep.

Which is fine. Most meetings can be a parchment anyway.