Fragments of Alchemy: The Code Breaker

Chapter Fourteen ~ The Cardinal Rotunda ~ Part I

They entered the Cardinal Rotunda, with its brilliant mural of the water cycle, depicting rain falling into rivers, flowing into lakes, and evaporating into clouds, which were condensing into rain on the other side of the domed ceiling. They walked across the red tessellating tiles and found a rosewood table close to the desk of their first tutor, Maleficus Brahman of the Cardinal Fragment.

She came by shortly after they sat down, and Chadwick introduced Thea to her. She seemed to be very distracted, and then Chadwick remembered that all the tutors were to be bumped up a level very soon. Maybe she wasn't too entirely pleased to be leaving her position. Whatever the case, she was rather rude to Thea when she explained her first task.

'Excuse me if I'm being rude, but I've already done this task,' Thea said, very politely.

'Have you? How is that, then?' Maleficus Brahman said.

'On Friday, last week, with Maleficus ... Arkose, I think?' Thea smiled apologetically.

'Well, I was told you were a beginner, so this is what I have planned for you. Surely, it wouldn't be a bother to repeat the lesson?'

'Well, the thing is, I finished this lesson in three minutes.'

'Three minutes?!' Chadwick exclaimed, and at the same time, Maleficus Brahman also voiced her surprise.

'Yes,' Thea said, blushing slightly.

'No way!' Chadwick insisted. His first attempt at this task, Chadwick took seven minutes, and several people were impressed. But only three days later, Prince Todd had showed up and beaten his record. Even now, Chadwick would still need a couple minutes to do this task, but he was only that fast because he knew how to flow his Kundalini Energy from one Conversion to the next without allowing his Spiritual Essence to recede back down his spine to his Root Chakra in between Conversions. He hadn't learned how to do that until he'd attended lessons for nearly four months. 'The record is six minutes, and even that is ridiculously fast for a beginner!'

'I know. I beat the record,' Thea said, and whether she was feigning embarrassment or it was genuine, it was rather infuriating to see her look so ashamed to have completed this task in half as much time. It was almost worse than if she had been snooty and proud of herself for being so quick.

'Well, I'm sorry, but I have got to see that to believe it,' Chadwick said, and he crossed his arms.

Thea nodded and took the obsidian Focus from Maleficus Brahman. Then she took her sweet time arranging the Conversion tiles on the table and took a few breaths. 'Dissoluendo,' she said.

Nothing happened at first, and Thea furrowed her brow, almost as though she was shocked. She glared in concentration as she worked to summon her Kundalini, and eventually, Thea's eyes went wide and she gasped. The Conversion Circle filled with red light as her Kundalini left her Crown Chakra and funnelled into the Insignia. The obsidian stone began to melt, but Thea let the Conversion stop with the stone still half-solid on the tablet.

'Ugh!' Thea said. She turned to Chadwick, openly upset. 'Last week this task was easy. I could do it in three minutes without even breaking a sweat. Now...' She gazed down at her half-melted stone. 'I can't do it.'

'It was working,' Chadwick said, trying to encourage her. 'You just have to focus and keep the Conversion going until it finishes melting.'

'No, you don't understand!' Thea insisted hotly. 'I'm not-I mean, this isn't-' She cut herself off and put her hand over her mouth, and Chadwick noticed tears in her green eyes again. Was she going to cry over this? Chadwick was so surprised, he found himself at a loss for words.