Red Eclipse

Chapter 2 - Lumina Dust Bust

Soren awoke to the sounds of chains clinking. He opened his eyes. Disoriented and with blurred vision he looked around the room. He was sitting down chained to the wall by his hands which were above his head. Moonlight creeped through the spots in the grate above him. The figure walked towards Soren and stepped into the moonlight. He pulled his mask down. "Why are you here?" the man asked? "Why are you poisoning my country?" Soren asked. "I asked first." the man said. Soren laughed. The man punched Soren across the face. Blood splattered the ground next to him. Soren looked up at a table across the room. It had his weapons on it. "What is a member of the Moonsworn Sentinels doing this far out of the capital?" the man said. "You know I asked the same question." Soren replied. The man punched Soren again. "So, we have a wise-ass huh?" he said. Soren laughed. He punched Soren again, and again, and again. "How about you show some respect. You're the prisoner." the man said.

Soren stopped laughing. "Respect?" Soren asked in a serious tone. "How dare you ask for respect. You're filth. You're the sum on the bottom of my shoe. You are cancer eating away at Azuraan. Destroying lives, ruining childhoods all for the sake putting extra sylvanite in your pocket. You make me absolutely sick. Just looking at your face makes me want to vomit. You, and all people like you are going to pay, dearly. It's my life's work!" Soren shouted while glaring at the man.

The man slowly clapped. "Congratulations, and look where that mindset got you. Chained to a damn wall." the man said. "How can you rob your own country? Why would make contribute to our downfall?" Soren asked. The man turned around and walked toward the other side of the room. "Because this is the only life I ever knew." he said as he walked out of the room. Soren sighed. "Damn it!" he yelled as he shook his chains.

"Psst..Hey!" came a loud whisper from above Soren. He looked up and peered through the grate. It was Amara. "How did you find me?" Soren whispered back. "I couldn't find anything in my grid. I circled back to give you backup and found the two Eclipsian guards. They were in the process of waking up when I found them. I asked them what happened and I immediately knew it was you. I scaled the wall and saw them dragging you away." Amara said. Soren nodded. "You have to alert the others. You need to send up the beacon." Soren said. Amara looked around. "I need to get to higher ground so they can see it. Hang in there Soren. I'll be back with others. Stay safe." Amara replied as she put her hood back on and moved from Soren's sight.

Soren exhaled hard. It was cold in the cellar. He heard an iron door open and footsteps approach. The same man from earlier entered the room. "Stand up." he said. Soren spit at his feet. The man approached Soren and punched him across the face. He then pulled Soren to his feet by the collar of his robes. He then shoved Soren into the wall and punched him across the face again. Soren laughed. "You hit like a Wyrmkin". The man unchained him from the wall and shoved him forward. "Walk." he said. Soren started walking and the man followed. He led him out of the room and down a hallway. At the end of the hallway the man made Soren take a right. This brought them both to a iron door. The man took out a key and unlocked the door. He opened it and motioned Soren in. Soren walked through the door and on the other side was a balcony that overlooked the entire Lumina Dust operation. There were contraptions and tables all along the room. There were many bookshelves with different ingredients on them. There were many other alchemists working at the various stations in the room.

"This is where the Lumina Dust is made." said the man. He motioned Soren to the stairs. Soren walked down the stairs with the man. They approached a room with sand inside of it. Soren would see through the iron bars that there was a grate above the sand that let moonlight in. The man pointed at the sand. "The first step in creating Lumina dust is known as Lunar Convergence. This event happens once every Lunar cycle. When the energy from the moon is strongest. We leave the sand under the moonlight to absorb its energies." Soren looked back to the man in disgust. The man pointed at the room next to the sand room. Soren walked towards it. "The next ingredient is Starblossom flowers." the man said as he opened door to the second room which revealed a greenhouse. "These flowers only bloom during the Lunar Convergence. We grind them up and add them to the sand at the Alchemy table." said the man while leading Soren to the alchemy table. It was a table with odd engravings on it. "Next we start the transmutation with starfire. The catalyst for every alchemical reaction." said the man. Soren stared at the alchemy table in wonder. He had never seen one this close before.