Unspeakable Secrets The Alchemist Series (A Dark Medieval Progression Fantasy)

Chapter 54 - Essence Of Dark Iron

Rather than going over what he'd already tried, Connor once again reviewed everything he had to work with.

The strength of his muscles, everything contained within the cell, his near-useless magic...

And alchemy, he added with a mental scoff. What did that matter when he had no ingredients to refine or—

His eyes widened.

No. No, it can't possibly be the way... can it? How would that even...? Before he'd finished forming the question in his mind, he saw the answer.

The cell won't let me. Surely, it won't let me... it can't be that easy... he thought.

His hands still shook and every nerve in his body throbbed with pain from the cell's reaction earlier... but he just couldn't resist.

He pulled on his alchemy, closing his eyes and gritting his teeth, waiting for agony to claim him. Alchemy power surged inside him... and nothing happened. He opened one eye... then the other.

The red lightning of his alchemy power snapped and crackled over his fingers, eager to get to work.

Connor suppressed laughter.

All the times he'd been fried trying to find some way to use his magic, and the cell didn't react at all to alchemy.

But he doubted it would be that simple. He'd never even tried what he had in mind. There was every chance that it wouldn't work or that the cell might yet respond once he started fiddling with it. He tried not to get his hopes up.

Hells, even if he escaped this room, he was still trapped on the ship. Getting away would be... difficult. But, what choice did he have? And, he had to know.

Connor walked up to the cell door and studied the lock. Instead of focusing on the keyhole as he normally would, he instead looked at the bolt of metal that physically locked the cell door.

He pulled on his alchemy power as he held his hand near the bar. He braced himself for the cell to react now where it had not before... and directed his power into the metal.

Information flooded his mind, revealing the dense, tightly bound essence of dark iron mixed with an incredible amount of magic.

The cell remained inert, and his heart thundered with that small victory. He focused on his connection to the metal and what he sensed through his power.

The essence mirrored many of the properties of dark iron. It was strong and dense, with its essence tightly bound together. Woven in and around that natural essence was magic. Lots of it. Swirling in complicated patterns and vibrant colors.

Three main patterns dominated what he sensed of the magic. He cautiously probed at them with his alchemy power, trying to sense what they might do.

One made his hair stand on end and screamed of watchful danger. The lightning that struck out any time he used magic; he was sure.

Another pattern focused was in and around the lock. It felt... warding. He guessed that it was what made up a more normal magical lock. Something he could eventually pick if not for the lightning enchantment.

He focused then on the swirling green of the third major enchantment. It felt... odd. Healthy in a way. Woven into the entire cell. It felt almost like healing magic... but that didn't make much sense.

He set those thoughts aside. It didn't need to make sense or for him to understand it all. What mattered was he didn't sense anything that felt like an alarm or a secondary protective measure.

This could work... this should work... Connor thought. Despite his best efforts, his hopes began to rise.

He focused on the bolt of dark iron and tried to refine a very narrow cut through it. To break it down like he would when making a potion. The strain hit him all at once. Like trying to pull out rusty nails with his teeth

He had no alchemical circle to help focus his energies. No notes to help guide him through the process with dark iron. No heat source to help accelerate the process of change and make it easier.

Only his alchemy power and sheer will against a metal prized for its toughness.

He pried the essence apart bit by bit with brute force and grunted under the strain. Slowly, incredibly fine dust fell away from the bolt of the lock. Finer than grains of sand. Connor smiled even as sweat beaded his brow. It would take hours. Maybe days to work through, but he could do it.

The line he was filing was so thin that only close inspection would ever reveal it. They wouldn't know what he was doing until they came one day to find only an empty cell.

The elegant runes upon the dark bars of the cell lit up with turquoise light and Connor tensed, expecting fresh waves of some new agony.

But, worse than pain, Connor watched as the thin groove he'd been so painstakingly carving with raw alchemy slowly started to reform. Connor pushed himself to refine the essence faster. But pushing as hard as he could only locked him in a stalemate with the cell.

Sweat ran down Connor's skin in hot rivulets as Connor panted and struggled to cut through the metal faster than the enchantment.

But it was relentless and seemed inexhaustible.

As his own energies started to flag, the enchantment recovered more of the metal. Undoing all his work with an agonizing slowness.

Exhaustion weighed on Connor and he finally stopped, resting on his knees as sweat dripped from his nose. The last of the damage he'd done to the lock gradually healed before his eyes, leaving the dark metal unblemished.

Frustration and anger pulsed through Connor. He closed his eyes, his jaw tensing as he struggled to enter the meditative pattern once again. He had to stay calm. Had to find a way out of this.

His panting breaths slowly deepened and the emotion swirled through him, clearing from his mind as it did so. It had only been a first attempt and the enchantment that repaired the metal was slower than he'd been initially. This was more progress than any of his other plans so far.

Perhaps with practice, I can cut through fast enough, Connor thought.

He looked at the door to the room and sighed. It wouldn't be enough just to get out of the cell. He'd have to cut through the door lock too.

Connor blew away the fine metal dust that'd gathered below the bolt, making sure there would be no hints of what he'd done or of his limited success.

He lay back on the floorboards and closed his eyes, resting for a moment. Once his energy had returned, he could study this metal. Learn how to refine it better. Faster.

Not that his cell was the only challenge. As he lay there with the problem of how to get through the bolt in the back of his mind, he thought about what he'd do if and when he solved that problem.

I'll have to be rested. Night would be the best time to do it. The crew should be sleeping, and the deck will have no lights. Nobody risks a light on the ocean at night. Not even if they're hugging the coast. They should have a dinghy or something I can steal and with any luck, by the time they notice me missing, I'll be out of sight. Then, I'll have to reach land before they find me.

Whatever I do and however I do it, it'll have to be soon. I'm running out of time... Connor thought.