Fragments of Alchemy: The Code Breaker

Chapter Thirty-Four ~ Catching a Lyft ~ Part I

The lady came in and hugged Kazuo tightly, a bright smile on her face. 'Oh, it's so good to see you again! How have you been?' Chadwick realised she was speaking in Japanese, and his Intuition Amulet was translating.

'It's great to see you, too. I've been very busy training the Chemists at Blackthorn and Burtree.' Kazuo spoke in Japanese as well.

'You were there?!' The Japanese woman frowned in concern. 'The Breaker's Shadows attacked there an hour ago; about half the Alchemy Tutors were Shadow Spies, and a decent amount of Alchemists and Chemists defected or had already sworn their allegiances to the Breaker. The rest of the tutors are either dead or captive. A few Chemists died. The Shadows seem to be keeping the Chemists alive for some reason. We've got a real hostage situation on our hands.'

'What a shame,' Kazuo said.

'The Constables and a few Giver's Squads have set up a siege and made a base in the Roots,' Sakura said. 'But so far they haven't managed to rescue anyone, and they've taken some casualties. I'm glad you managed to get out with these two Chemists. They are the only Chemists who escaped, at least that I know of.'

'I swore to my Protégé that I would protect his son,' Kazuo said. 'I would have stayed and fought until I killed as many Shadows as I could before I died myself, if I had been given the choice.' Chadwick didn't doubt his godfather's words for a second. 'What about the Breaker?' Kazuo asked finally. 'Is the Breaker himself at Blackthorn?'

'Nobody knows!' Sakura frowned deeply. 'Enough about that. How can I help?'

'Aru-chan here has Kundalini Syndrome.' Kazuo pointed to Thea. 'She has been having full body arrest with hallucinations.'

Sakura tisked disapprovingly. 'For how long?'

Kazuo looked at Chadwick.

'It's been on and off now, for ... what? Four days?' Chadwick said.

'Pretty much,' Thea said.

'That's a rather long time. How many attacks would you say she has had?'

'Erm...' Chadwick squinted one eye and tried a mental count. 'Full on attacks? I've seen three. Plus several close calls too. It's probably been more than three though, right Al?'

She nodded with a pouty lip.

'May I?' Sakura asked, reaching out and almost touching Thea's forehead.

Thea nodded.

The Guru closed her eyes and touched Thea's face at her Third Eye Chakra; she activated a violet tattoo on her thumb, and Thea's eyes rolled back into her head, and she seemingly passed out.

The Guru eventually let Thea go and shook her head in wonder. 'Amazing! This girl's Chakras are practically unscathed! I've never seen someone with such a serious case of Kundalini Syndrome and no lasting physiological effects. She is very lucky.'

Chadwick let out a sigh of relief. At least there was some good news to brighten this very dark day.

'How has she been treated so far?' Sakura asked.

'Stultify stones and meditation mostly. A Guru helped her get through last night, when the attacks were getting worse,' Chadwick said.

'Are you sure that is all? Four days of attacks, even with only minor symptoms, should have had some lasting effects on her Chakras by this point.' Sakura was sceptical, he realised.

But then he remembered something that might complete the puzzle. 'She was using a Chimaera to calm her Energy down too,' Chadwick said. 'Whenever her Kundalini would flare up, she would touch her Chimaera, and the attack would subside.'