The Fox, Red

047 - The Test On the Mountain III

It was not a good night. I was so tired but there was nothing that seemed to help me sleep. I tossed, I turned, I had a lot of issues sleeping. When it seemed I was asleep I woke myself up as I realized that I had finally gotten to sleep. I know I got some shuteye but I know it's not going to be enough to function.

I hear the sounds of some of the wildlife around us as the sun begins to rise. That's a good sign. Before it was just quiet. We're in a more hospitable area. I sit myself up trying to straighten out my body and mind before the day truly begins. Madam Odette is sleeping peacefully in her sitting position until she feels my gaze on her. I see her ear twitch quickly as she wakes up.

Her eyes slowly open as they bring in the morning light. It's interesting to see her move. She knows she's in a small space. Instead of stretching out wildly she slowly works her muscles while keeping her body tight. With one large breath, she is awake. "Good morning, Red. How did you sleep?"

"Terrible." I can only mutter.

"How do you feel though?"

I'm groggy. I feel like I could fall asleep at any moment but there is something odd. My body doesn't ache. After the heavy use of magic last night in the fight with the wolves I should be feeling some of the backlash from the spells I had used. It's just my mind that's in a rough state.

"Ah, I can see it in your face. You're feeling much better." Madam Odette is the one to take the lead today punching through the walls of our little shelter. The sunlight comes beaming in almost blinding me but Madam Odette seems unphased. For the first time since we've started this adventure, she's smiling. And that little ray of hope is contagious as I brush myself with a grin of my own.

"OK! Here's what we are going to do today..."

She laid it all out there. I would still be in charge of direction but she was going to teach me as we went. Stopping me at opportunities and showing me something new. I knew we still had a long way to go so this would be a long lecture.

I'll still stick with my plan to move back up the mountainside to try and get a better vantage point of where we are and where we should be going. As we walked Madam Odette seemed to collect herself.

"Red, did you pick up anything on alchemy while you were reading?"

Alchemy? That's an odd subject. From my regular schooling it was the idea that you could turn lead into gold. Use materials and turn them into other materials. It gave rise to what we now know as chemistry but something like that was found to be unrealistic.

"I thought so. You didn't. Why is that? Just didn't find anything or it never came up?" She stopped in the snow while she waited for an answer. I stopped to look back, "I guess both? I never really saw anything and anything I did see I skipped. I thought it would be useless in application."

I could see on her face that she was about to get up on her soap box. She's never really taken a teaching role with me before. Before she does though, she is going to tell me I'm wrong on something. "For someone like you, to ignore knowledge, is very uncharacteristic. It's more surprising that you didn't see the potential in it with what little you may have seen. Alchemy is very different from the magic you've been doing."

We both stood in the snow up to our ankles while she began her lecture.

"Alchemy started in the Greco-Roman era of history. The idea was to take base metals, such as lead, and turn it into 'noble metals' such as gold and silver. Most people understand alchemy in this fashion but there's more to it. It was to divide and fuse elements into other forms and functions. It was considered magic by the non-magic users where it was met with mixed reception. Some embraced it, and poured time and research into it for gains, while others shunned it, working to ban it from all practice. But the question that has never been answered is; was it created by a mage or by normal animal? We don't know. But alchemy is still relevant. Especially in magic.

You already know the basics of it and you're not even aware of it. There are the major elements of fire, earth, water, air, light, and energy. In these major classifications, there are still more finite elements. You can break down these larger elements into these finer parts and that is considered an alchemical process. Lux, the finest element from light, can also be pulled from pure energy by 'refining' Preacantatio to produce light. Thus Lux.

You've learned how to refine these within yourself by using focal points. Fire from the joints, wind from the chest and lungs, water from your stomach and hips, earth from your paws. But these elements exist in nature and flow around us. That is where knowledge of Alchemy can be your greatest asset. Learning to trade with nature to pull the elements you need around you instead of from you allows great spells with less output from your body."

It was a really simple explanation yet provided me some motivation to continue looking down the path of an alchemist as well as the path in front of me. As we continue through this mountain range. I ran through her words over and over coming back into reality as my paws would hit something strange or something would catch my eye. With something for my mind to focus on, time seems to pass differently as we move.

It's when we reach a crest that the light hits us head-on, where she takes a moment to stop me. With a paw on my shoulder, she has me move to face her. "You've used light before but now you are going to use it differently. This is the perfect exercise to show more about how alchemy uses what is around you. The sun reflects off the snow, blinding your eyes with a flood of energy causing snow blindness. Too much exposure can cause damage to your sight. Use the element around you to shift it away from your eyes."

Use the element to shift it away from my eyes... As in... take the light... I may not get this. Looking over the ridge into the shallow valley, the light reflects off the snow with a vivid glare. I can feel my eyes strain to see the slightest detail. "To move the light..." I mutter to myself as I try to visualize to myself what I need to do.

One of my early high school science classes comes back to me. The teacher was going over how in the scientific community there was a debate about if light was a wave or a particle. Experiments were done to show that both were true and in the end it came down to being a new term, photon. So like a particle, it can move, and like a wave it is everywhere giving off energy. I need to think of this less like magic, and maybe a bit more like science.

It's coming at me.. From the snow... From the sun... With alchemy... I don't create the element but pull from around me and push it where I want it to go, and form it to how I want. In this case to pass around me.

With a deep breath, I focus myself outward. I don't use focal points but focus on what's around me. The light begins to dim, then brighten again, then dim, then brighten again. Not from my failure at changing the light, but from my eyes adjusting to the change. It's getting darker and my eyes are adjusting to that darkness.

I can hear Madam Odette next to me as she observes, "Your eyes are dilating. You're removing the light from around you, creating a less harsh environment for them. Well done. I knew you would pick up on it quickly. Like any other magic, it requires practice. So keep it up while we're in areas of bright light."

Traversing the valley was easy. With less strain on my eyes, I could see details better. We could pick up the pace while we moved forward. Halfway through the third day and I picked up a new skill.

Traversing the valley took half the day. Even with my "sun visor" going I could barely feel the effects of my magic usage. It was so minute it was similar to just a heavier walking pace. We were already moving quickly so it blended with the exhaustion.

We reached the end of the valley bringing us to a small crest where I could see trees lining the mountainside once again but instead of snow, they were green. We have reached the point where the snowy mountains broke and the sun beat down on the sides warming the ground to allow any snow to melt. It became a lush, green forest with wildlife abound.

We are either on the right track, or we have gone in the opposite direction and will have to cross the mountains again.