"A bit of lake water…a touch of tears…a couple of salamander tails..." Clara kept going on as she put more ingredients into the cauldron. Like most sanctioned witches she practiced potion brewing and runology.
They were on the 1st floor of the Midnight Hour. A witchy name for a clinic run by a witch. A normal business if Asher ignored whatever Stephan was doing in the basement. On that note, it's been weeks since he'd seen the foul man.
'The less...the better.' He thought as he focused on Clara.
She was teaching him how to make some potions to help around. He was staying here now after healing most of his injuries. It was his way of repaying her.
Aside from the daily cleaning and taking care of patients…She'd teach him brewing, history, and math. Math was important for some godforsaken reason. He hated math with passion.
"Focus…this is the most important part." Clara snapped with her metal fingers. She grabbed a couple of thin plates from one of the cabinets and threw them to the fire below the cauldron. Clara followed with a murmur like chant that resonated with the runes on the plates. Soon after the runes lit in a green hue and the fire followed in suit.
"It should take a few minutes…now did you finish the book I gave you last week?"
The book in question was titled…Alchemy Redefined by Theodore the Mad. It was surprisingly by an alchemist instead of a witch or wizard. Clara avoided topics related to covens and witches and Asher didn't ask. It was the same kindness she offered him by not asking him of his own past.
"Yes!" The once malnourished boy replied with a tinge of enthusiasm. He was healthier now, at least of body. The nightmares were getting worse but thus far the companions in his mind have been less talkative now that he had an actual person to converse with. His reflection alone spoke volumes of how much he had improved.
His pale complexion became a bit rosier leaning towards a healthy tint. As for Asher's body, it was free of bandages and gained some muscle. It would take more time for it to return to a decent state.
"Then recite the three laws!"
"Equivalency, Causality, and Order."
"Now don't go getting a big head just yet...Theory and practice are worlds apart" She waved Asher to the side and grabbed a long eel from a nearby tank. It was more a centipede than an eel with all the appendages, but it lacked the chitin and instead carried a black sheen for flesh.
The creature slithered around as Clara placed the disgusting thing on a nearby table. She followed with a cleaver and without hesitation gutted one of the limbs as the creature screeched horrifically.
Asher winced at the display. "Now don't go disappointing me...Cruelty is how you give the poor thing mercy. Hesitating only prolongs the poor sod's pain." She muttered as she grabbed a deep red vial and poured some of the contents on the creature's wound.
The flesh coated with green blood began to slowly knit back together albeit not completely.
"This was a weak potion...some butterfly wings, a newly laid egg...weak essences for weak healing...that's equivalency." She nodded as the creature stopped screaming but to its dismay Clara didn't stop there but instead grabbed another vial and poured its contents on the wound again.
The creature turned motionless...its black pupils bulging. Its body suddenly started jerking and shaking violently. The maw of serrated teeth became longer and bone pierced flesh as the creature became larger. Only the weight of Clara's metal hand kept it in place.
"Now this is a very strong one at least for this little fella...this potion had a bone-deer's essence...thus the bone protrusions...the average man would at worst vomit, but he'd be healthier than ever...that is to say that the causality of essence is determined by the ingredients, the purpose, and the consumer."
After finishing her explanation, she grabbed a purple crystal and lunged her hand inside the eel's mouth, force feeding it the material.
"That was crystalized malaize...now watch and see the effects of arcane intervention." And true to her words the creature convulsed and began to grow large and fiercer as flairs of electricity danced on its body.
Its cries only grew more pitiful with the intensifying electricity which to the point where it fried the own creature's flesh. This continued until seared it away the bloated thing into an amalgam of crystal and blood the size of a fist.
"Order is the simplest and most important of the three. The arcane is unpredictable...prone to mutations. Even the smallest touch could lead to catastrophic ends." She cleaned the remains off the table as Asher mustered a question.
"But-but you used your witch...witch magic!" He stuttered. Asher was still getting used to talking again. It had been months maybe even a year since he last spoke properly.
"Witch magic?" She laughed at the silliness of the term before explaining. "What I used was a predetermined arcane formula imbued with an intent. The chant was a trigger for a specific phenomenon to take place."
She dipped her hands in boiling water to clean the muck and goo off. Clara cooled them and patted the boy who was digesting all the new information.
"It's a bit much I know but you'll get the hang of it...Stephan could probably explain it better...on second thought scratch that..." Suddenly a pop like sound echoed from the back.
"Aaand it's done." Clara chimed, scooping a dark red liquid into multiple glass vials. They talked a bit more until the bell at the storefront interrupted them. Asher followed behind the Clara who was twice his height if not more to the counter. A customer had walked in
It was a Dremin. He was slender, black, and had the shape of a python with splashes of green. The usual black matter that made up the Dremin was malleable enough when fed well. In fact from the waist up the Dremin had a humanoid figure if you ignored the snake tail for legs, the white mask, and the beady red eyes.
'Human enough I suppose...' Asher mused as he tried not to stare too intently. He wasn't accustomed to being up close to these things. He didn't think of them as demons or monsters like most people, but they were still unnerving.
The Dremin slithered with his tail towards the counter, the mask on his head covering only the upper part of his face, leaving the large serpentine mouth on display.
"Tommy…what brings you hear today." Clara said dryly. Tommy was an old customer. A servant of house Trene. He'd come pick up medicine from time to time and…
"To visit you of course…Here a flower for my fffflower." His serpentine tongue emphasized the 'f' with a large smile. He kneeled slightly presenting a rose from his butler's garments towards Clara who took it and placed it in a nearby vase filled with identical flowers. The lack of tact throughout this display almost made Asher gag.
"Is that potion the one I requesssted?" Tommy slithered closer to the counter, eyeing the newly made potion.
"No of course not…Yours I made specially…it's in the back, give me a minute." Clara quickly left to get the potion, leaving Asher alone with the serpent. Asher at this point was not comfortable enough to hold a conversation with a new person but he held his ground. He had to face the discomfort at some point.
"How delightful…what do I taste…Ffffear, worry, and a tinge of…how weird. I don't know what the last thing is." Tommy closed the gap between them and began to circle him while his long tongue licked the boy slightly.
"Heyyy little thing…want some help calming those emmmotions. I'd even do it for free to since you made Cllllara happy."
"Happy?" Ash mustered the word while closing his eyes, enduring Tommy's breach of private space.
"You're new…she was sad oh so very sssad…now she's happy…I can taste it in the air...sweet sweet happiness." Tommy slithered to the back of the counter just before the woman in question appeared in the room.
"Here it is…packaged and ready to go. That would be two silver Talins."
"How cruel…not even a little disssscount." Tommy tried his hand at negotiating, but Clara didn't budge. "Ffffine...It's a bouquet of roses next time." The serpentine Dremin said these words while laughing. He winked at Asher and slithered out of the glass door of the Midnight hour.
"What was that about?" Clara asked with a bit of concern.
"He just wanted a taste of my emotions." He preferred saying that over confronting her with what Tommy had said. He didn't understand how or why she happy. Asher found it odd and discomforting to know that he made another person happy. Now he had to worry about messing it up.
"How unpleasant…You have to promise me Asher." The masked woman was adept at displaying her emotions. She was angry and dissapointed. Asher didn't know why but he recoiled a bit at her tone and looked at the ground. She kneeled beside him, placing her metal hand on his shoulder. He didn't recoil at her touch like he used to.
"Emotions are cruel…but they also are important…Never give them up…Promise me." Her tone mellowed to a gentler one as she looked Asher straight in honey-yellow eyes.
"I promise." Asher gave his word even if it amounted to little. He understood what she meant but sometimes it was hard not to ignore them.
She stared at him in silence for a minute before getting up and grabbing one of the vials they made before Tommy barged in.
"Another promise...you keep taking on more...have you fullfilled even one?" Regret spoke up from her dormancy leaving Asher in a daze. The word 'promise' that echoed in his head made him gulp. He tried to take deep breaths, but his emotions were in a disarray. He'd usually give in to the urge that told him to run...to hide...to huddle up where no one could find him.
This new routine gave him the stability to resist the chaos.
Clara's voice cut through his spiraling thoughts. "We can't keep your friend waiting." She was already heading toward the patient rooms, leaving Asher no choice but to follow.