Azriel Capoue

Chapter 5

"Help her with the circle and all the symbols and... well, help her with everything, alright?" The preceptor said when he was walking out the door. He paused, stopped walking – and turned.

Mira nodded to him, "Yes... I'll do that."

He nodded slightly. "Yes, you would, Mirabel, I will hold you responsible if she doesn't pass my test on our next session."

Mira hops out the chair right away with her eyes as wide as a stunned owl. "What?" She cried. "How does she not passing your test become my fault?"

"Well, as far as I know, Azriel is a smart girl who'd grasp anything being thrown at her. What I'm trying to say is if she fails in my test, it means you didn't teach her."
He said and looked at me. Our eyes met right away as I was already looking at him. We gazed at each other for a while until embarrassment filled up my soul. I quickly looked away. I felt my cheeks and neck tense up.
What just happened? - I thought.

"Smart? Well, she's not! I mean, not really." Mira spat.

"It's in your hands." He said and exited the room.

Mira looked up and squinted and squeezed herself hard, maybe with all her strength – because after that I could hear her mildly panting. She turned and looked at me with her squinting eyes. "Why is Mr. Koebel looking at you funny?"

"What can I say? He recognizes intelligent people more than, you know, your kind of people."

"My kind of people?"

Mira chuckled slightly and shook her head. "Well, get back in your seat. I'm going to teach you everything I know before we get out of here."

Mira's lesson took even longer than the Mr. Koebel's. She really was trying to teach me everything she knew about the practice, about the circle, the symbols, the laws; everything. And I did know everything after that session. I was supposed to. I wasn't going to let Mira be blamed for my failure.

Alchemy being a science, only one thing can be created from something else of a certain mass; a principle known as Equivalent Exchange.

"There are many paths by which alchemists can transmute the various substances of the world." Mira said. "With some alchemists being said to transmute by way of the four elements (Water, earth, fire, and air), but the basic tenet at the very foundation of alchemy is that of equivalent exchange.

Apparently, the term equivalent exchange meant the practice to create objects out of raw matter or turn one object into another OR, creating something means something of equal value must be lost.

"Since the alchemical forces being manipulated are not human in origin, but of the world as a whole, the consequences for attempting to bypass the law of Equivalent exchange in transmutation are not merely failure and cessation. When too much is attempted out of too little, what occurs is called a rebound, in which the alchemical forces that are thrown out of balance on either side of the equation fluctuate wildly of their own accord in order to stabilize themselves – taking or giving more than what was intended is often unpredictable and catastrophic in ways such as accidental mutation, serious injury, or even death."

"Whoa. . ." I mouthed.

Mira started drawing the circle in front of her.

I looked at the drawing processes carefully in order not miss anything important. I just heard her say something about a serious injury, and even death; that actually scared me a little. I mean, I thought alchemy was just some fun magical science "thing", but turned out I could die from the practice? It was time I took the lessons very seriously. Well, I did take it serious from the start, but I was ready to take it extremely seriously. I needed to be mindful of how I used the laws of the equivalent exchange, so I stay on the safe side.