The First Steps – 4.15

Previous Chapter “I’m happy to report your children have made full recovery, Miss Bancroft.” My prognosis was met with an audible, relived sigh courtesy of the woman in question as I finished the examination. It had been a few days since our ministrations had ridden the boys of the monstrous pests that had taken root …

Advertisement

The First Steps – 4.14

Previous Chapter The next morning Aeria and I reconvened at Elsa’s Greenhouse. Unlike the academy greenhouses that were aboveground, this one tended to by Elsa was partially underground. She raised and parted a large slope of earth behind their home and solidified the soil so that they would serve as walls while the panels above …

The First Steps – 4.13

Previous Chapter Elsa was possibly one of the most maternal beings that I had ever known. In fact, I considered her the second most maternal figure in my life after Miss Taun, who’d essentially raised me in my formative years. Mother was largely focused on the family business and had only taken to personally grooming …

The First Steps – 4.12

Previous Chapter I found myself crouched over the corpse of what was once someone’s pet the next morning. The pet in question was splayed on its side, eyes sunken as water pooled in the sockets. The rancid odor of decay attracted a number of flies that buzzed around it relentlessly, their young no doubt relishing …

The First Steps – 4.11

Previous Chapter Miss Taun was imposing as she ushered me into the manor and demanded to know where I had been. Her displeasure was understandable given that I did tell her I expected to be back much sooner. My tardiness no doubt made a horrible first-impression to whomever our guests were, and I suspected if …

The First Steps – 4.10

Previous Chapter Several hours later we were in the final stages of the extraction. All the oil had been extracted from the roots and now swirled in front of us within a sphere of air, vaporized and saturated with Aeria’s magic to remain in such a state. With the gateway opened to the foundation that …

The First Steps – 4.09

Previous Chapter The distillation process was well underway as I went through the recipe book that Elsa provided me. The volume contained several alchemic recipes that had been compounded over the centuries that she’d been alive. She left it in my care after departing with Miss Bancroft, returning with it and the materials we needed …

The First Steps – 4.08

Previous Chapter The entrance to the building itself was unlocked, likely in anticipation of our arrival. It brought us to the inside a narrow corridor with a staircase at the back, wrapping around the backside and upwards to the second floor. There were two doors to the left of the passage—one next to us and …

The First Steps – 4.07

Previous Chapter “This letter should reach within four days at the standard rate of 10 rials, given the location, guaranteed delivery fee, and the border toll,” said the clerk at the desk after she weighed a letter for Alice, sealed in an envelope, on a scale. I was in the Town Hall at the moment, …

The First Steps – 4.06

Previous Chapter The gate with the emblem of our family peaked in the center before us, arching downwards and then rising again to meet the columns that they were attached to at the hinges. Spellstone lanterns that radiated a somber light topped the column, attached to the stone fence that stretched around the perimeter of …