Axolotls (Discontinued)

Of Colors Green and Black

  "Because, you're my best friend. Why wouldn't I?"

  Doni didn't know how to reply. Didn't Lynix hate him? Why would he even care if Doni had disappeared? Died, even? It didn't make sense. He thought of Lynix as a friend, sure, but he had had no idea that the feeling was mutual.

  What was even weirder was that Lynix had grabbed his arm. Was he really that scared of losing Doni? He couldn't have been.

  "Doni? Are you okay?" Lynix asked.

  "Um, yeah, just thinking," He replied. The blackness was pressing in on them, so they moved on, unsure of what was ahead, but not wanting to stay in one place. Lynix was still holding on to Doni's arm, to which the owl didn't object.

  They didn't see anything for hours, or maybe even days. It was hard to do anything in this place except for walking forwards, so that's what they did. Somehow, the axolotl stayed by Lynix's side through all of it.

  Maybe we're walking in circles, Doni thought, a quiet shiver running down his spine at the thought of going nowhere. It wouldn't be too hard to believe.

  After a while, they saw a break in the black. Running towards it, they came to a sort of courtyard, though it could have also been a shrine. A giant obsidian statue of a dragon with partially open yellow eyes stood majestically before them, the shackles around his ankles locked to the platform.

  Well, Doni thought. At least this is proof we weren't walking in circles. That's a bit comforting.

  "Doni?" Lynix asked, slightly hiding behind him. "What is this place? And what is that statue?"

  Doni shook his head. "I'm not sure, but maybe we should rest here for a bit. I mean, it is stone, and it's a nice break from this weird black stuff."

  Lynix mumbled a yes as they sat down together, almost instantly nodding off while his head rested on Doni's shoulder, to the latter's surprise.

  As Doni drifted off, he thought one last thought.

  What is going on with me today...

_:_

  Rage walked down the village's street, unsure of where his destination was.

  I haven't seen Doni or Lynix in a while. It's normal for Doni to disappear for a day or two, but it's never normal for Lynix to be gone.

  Come to think of it, they've both been gone for- what, about two days now? It should be about two days, since I haven't seen Lynix since the meeting. Maybe we should look around for him.

  In a minute. I think our little project might be done now.

  Deciding that that was the best course of action, at least for now, Rage rerouted himself towards a small, rocky hill just outside of the village, and upon reaching said hill, pressed a small, barely visible button, and ducking inside the tunnel.

  This was his lab. His safe space. A cauldron bubbled with a green, glowing liquid as he entered, and Rage knew it was done. His little project that he had been working on.

  Rage scooped the liquid into a few vials, and scrawled a name on the paper labels.

  Anumia

  He wasn't entirely sure of what it did, or even what it was. The part of the scroll he had found the recipe on that contained the usage for anumia was torn off. He wondered why, and who did it, as it had clearly been intentional.

  But that was enough time spent wondering. Rage slipped the vials into the bag he kept hidden at his side, and wandered towards his favorite place in the lab: the library.

  It was odd for a someone who was a scientist and engineer to be so interested in stories, sure. But he was sure if he could just find a mention of something close to anumia, that it would all make sense. Something with twin ingredients, maybe, or a similar brewing process, might signal a relation.

  In the end, he ended up selecting A History and Recipe of Magical Items, Spells, and Brews, a ginormous book, from off the shelf. He thumbed through it until he came to the section about brews.

  "Ahlia, Akila, why do so many of these brews have ls in their names, there!"

  It looked exactly the same, from the ingredients, to the process of brewing, even right down to the name. But there was only one part of this page he was interested in.

  Anumia isn't brewed often, and on the rare occasions it is, it is used mostly for sacrificial or other religious purposes, as it is known by the nickname of 'Shaper'. This is on account of it being used to shape souls, or, more regularly, the fabric of reality itself, allowing for access into our realm from others, and vice versa. This has made it a favorite for sacrificial rituals, as it has the effects of one, but none of the dirty work involved in one of the rituals.

  "Sacrificing?" Rage exclaimed, curious. Anumia must have been way older than it looked, because sacrificing became a completely unused practice thousands of years ago, and the procedures likely haven't survived through all that time.

  "What's this?" He said as something caught his eye. It was another section of the entry, titled Uses of Anumia in Construction, Both of Magical Items and of Buildings.

  "The Great Maze? What's that?" Rage asked to no one in particular as he read down the list. "And the Valley of Mirrors? I might have to do a lot of research. These things sound very interesting."

  He skimmed back through the book to the part about magical items, and the first thing he came upon was the Great Maze, to his slight surprise.

  The entrance to Great Maze lies deep beneath a mountain, though the Maze itself is in another realm, meant to contain him and his violence. Unfortunately, the location of the Maze's entrance is lost to time, though prophecy foretells both its rediscovery and his awakening.

  "Um, okay? That's a bit weird. Also who is he?" It didn't make sense to Rage, and he was even more confused when he saw the next entry.

  The Valley of Mirrors lies somewhere in another realm, though with how impossibly vast and huge, it could potentially span the whole realm. It is an odd and confusing place, and the entrance to the realm, meant to contain her and her virtue, is located in a shimmering pool. Unfortunately, it has been lost to time, though prophecy foretells both its rediscovery and her awakening.

  "Now I'm even more confused," Rage muttered. "Well, I guess it's time for bed. I'll go sleep then, I guess."

_:_

  Hello cacti! I think this is my longest chapter yet! I had so much fun with writing this, and honestly I'm just making things up as I go along. Also, I think this might be a nice little wrap-up to a chapter for once (in like three chapters)! Also this one took longer than it should've when writing because of the chapter cover. Sucks when the ideas for the drawing come to you after the chapter is almost done. But in past me's defense I didn't expect this chapter to be finished so quickly. And hey, we got the watermark back! So, yeah. Have a nice time!

  (Question of the Chapter: Do you all like steampunk-esque aesthetics?)