He poured the contents of the vials around with wild gestures and gathered them together in a single bigger vial. The mixture, which was created as a result, had a disgusting black colour and it began to emit a dark smoke cloud. With a quick sip he drank the entire contents and froze in place before us, falling to the ground just a second later as if he would have died.
“Great, now he has dropped dead. I cannot say that I didn’t see that coming,” I said calmly, while Lucia leaned over him and immediately checked his pulse.
It did not take long for his body to begin trembling and we were about witness a truly special transformation.
From the old and frail he changed to a tall young man who no longer fit in his clothing. He stretched and stood up slowly from the floor. Even though he seemed to have survived the transformation well, severe headache and cramps still tormented him.
“Excuse my rude behaviour. But you already know my father. My name is Isaac, Isaac Doyle,” he said and started to tear of the scraps of fabric from his body.
“Would you mind putting on something new first? It is already difficult enough to understand this situation,” said Lucia and took a step back from him, while the young man could not resist laughing out loudly.
He nodded and turned away from us. With a few looks around, he ultimately fixed his gaze on what he was looking for. He threw on his new wardrobe, which seemed old and dusted. And I was still unsure what kind of being Magnus Doyle truly was. But nevertheless there was now a new man in front of us in a noble suit. And when he finished fixing his tie and clearing his throat, the grey hair on his head began to fall out until nothing of it was left. And seconds later, new black hair grew from his scalp, until it reached down to his shoulders. He used his right hand to go through his hair and seemed pleased that it worked.
“Believe me I always fear, that the hair may one day not grow back. I do not know exactly why, but apparently it can only grow after the transformation has finished,” he said with a wink and put on a lorgnette.
“You wanted to show me something? Bring it to me, he said dry and sat down next to me as if an old man hadn’t just disappeared.
It was very difficult to keep my composure. The more I tried to understand what was going on, the more I was at a loss.
“It’s in the box. We hope that you can tell us what the contents are. There are some old pieces,” said Lucia and opened the wooden box.
Isaac, as he now called himself, took out the compass first and put it to the side without comment. Also the map of the world and the apple were not of interest to him. But as he touched the small metallic rod, he took his glasses and whispered “Interesting”.
“Oh really? What is so interesting?” I asked him, but he did not immediately answer.
Instead he took the stone figure out and reviewed it happily, as if was a long lost toy he had found again. But when he saw the papyrus roll even the figure lost any value for him. He cast it to the side and his hand quickly went after the roll. When he opened it, he asked emphatically: “How did you acquire this? Answer me!”
“My father has sent it to me. He has asked me to help him.”
“If he is in possession of this he can use all the help he can get. This is a part of something. Do you know where the rest is?” he asked without disclosing anything.
“Now, finally tells us what it is! If we knew where the rest would be, we probably would also know what it is, that we have here,” I demanded of Isaac who took a deep breath and lowered down into his chair.
“This is from the first book,” he explained and it seemed as if he himself could not believe what he said.
I pushed the bottle on the table to the side for a better view on the document, but I still couldn’t understand what he meant.
“The first books were certainly not written on papyrus roles. What do you mean by 'the first book'?”
“Legend says that in the ages before us the gods lived among us and ruled as our kings. As a dispute broke out, one of the gods wrote down the secrets of the universe in a book. It was the first book that people knew, because before that they were not entitled to know of the knowledge of the gods. The anger of the other gods and the defilement of their secrets would lead to a war, which would in its end bring upon the fragmentation of the planet and the creation of the world we know today. Over the centuries many scholars wrote down the contents of this first book, in order to protect them, and this is a part of a larger palimpsest.”
“A palimpsest? So you mean a roll that has been overwritten several times?”
“Exactly. I believe that your father left a message on this palimpsest, a reference to the place where the rest is located. This is why he sent you this crystal,” he said and held the small metallic rod into the air.
“This is a crystal? It looks more like a lump of coal,” I exclaimed and amused the young Isaac.
“I would like to show you how it works, but chemical processes are unfortunately not my area of expertise. We have to wait for my father to take care of it. Maybe in the meantime I could explain to you what this transformation means.”
We took a big risk, but it seemed as if Jasper Lawrence had in the end really encountered what he had sought for all his lifetime. What an irony that he had to pay for it with this very life.
Chapter 7: Sulphur, Salt and Mercury
Isaac leaned back into his chair and put his glasses on the table. He pulled off the ring which he wore on his right hand, and placed it next to them.
“This ring is very old. It is said to have been in the first alchemist’s possession, but I believe that it is a direct connection to the ancient gods. The symbols on it represent the four elements: earth, water, fire and air. They are connected through a pentagram, which illustrates the interplay between them. Legend claims that this planet was once ruled by the ancient gods and the sources of their power were the elements that were given to them by the creator of the universe itself. Only he was capable of creating something truly new, whereas everything else could only be changed and rearranged.
The creator granted the fire power over the air and so he created the sulphur. The air worked with the water creating the liquid silver, Mercury. This way the water hit the earth and brought forth the salt. But the earth had nothing left to use and thus the last place in this pentagram remains vacant. The first alchemists had the theory that there is a fifth element - the truth. Mankind was only allowed combining sulphur, salt and liquid silver to create things, because the elements themselves remained a mystery to us.
Nature provides us with three basic rules, rules which each alchemical formula follows. First of all: the act of resolution and concentration, which says that nothing is completely destroyed or newly created. Secondly: the law of equal exchange, which says that the sum of any reaction is balanced. And thirdly: the law of truth, telling us that he who finds the last element will be granted the power of the creator overcoming every other law.
The three cornerstones of our existence are thus sulphur, liquid silver and salt. We gave them the name of the body, soul and spirit.
The search for the last element, and thus the power of the creator himself is also called the opus magnum - the greatest work.”
When Isaac had finished his explanation, I had to take a small drink from the bottle, which was still on the table before me.
“What kind of power are we talking about here exactly? Something like you? To be able to transform?” asked Lucia full of curiosity and it appeared as if she just accepted everything he told us.
“Apologies, I had of course meant to tell you what it was that you have seen. Thirty years ago this was a beautiful property. My father and my mother worked together on creating various alchemical formulas. My mother was a genius in the field of transmutation and she was firmly convinced that she finally understood how one can change things, for example how to create water from wood or how to turn stone to sugar.
She used this ring, the so-called pentalpha. Her theory was th
at the life energy of a person acted as a separate element and could be used to break almost any other law of nature. One of the first alchemists had once filled it with many souls, but this energy was lost over the centuries.
Therefore my mother infused it with a part of her own energy, which reduced her life force greatly. She died a few weeks later. Since she had not been able to explain my father how the ring worked, she gave it to him, so that when I was old enough I could continue her work.
On my thirty-fifth birthday my father had finally achieved his goal. He had succeeded at improving his immune system and he created a completely new type of blood cells. He infused his leukocytes with the liquid silver and thus transformed them into the new kind of argyrozytes. They protect his body not just against diseases but also any kind of magic. His body was thus protected against transmutations.
He had become the counterpart of the fifth element. But my father made a mistake.
As I already said, the first law states that nothing can be created entirely new. The body of my father started to counteract against his own life energy. Unfortunately, no single man has enough energy to survive this state for long. Therefore I took this ring and the research of my mother to merge myself and my father as one entity.
But just like the rest of my family, I also made a mistake. Since the body of my father was completely protected against transmutations I couldn’t combine it with my own. Therefore, I transferred only my liquid silver, my soul, into my father.
His argyrozytes absorbed me and now this body of my father has two kinds of genetic information. We soon succeeded in synthesizing a serum, which allowed us to activate the respective strand. Unfortunately it is necessary to take it every twenty-four hours, otherwise we run the risk that the body rejects one of the two, which in turn would kill us both.”
I wasn’t quite sure whether it was the way in which Isaac told us this story, or his convoluted use of words I never heard of, but every time he spoke a word I had to take a sip from the bottle. And so I presented my conclusion to his story, after taking another considerable gulp.
“If I understand you correctly, you are some kind of magic mutant being?”
He just laughed and put his glasses back on.
“Of course you could phrase it more nicely, but if I understood you properly, then we should work together. If we find this treasure, you may be able to help us all,” said Lucia and I saw that her hope grew by the second.
Isaac took the stone figure in his hand and scratched himself on the chin, while making ominous noises as if it supported his thought process.
“I believe that I know where this figure comes from. Yes, I am almost sure. Show me the map once again,” he said and verified it.
“Yes, as I thought. Exactly here, about two weeks of travel time away from Gangarra. It is a small island with the name of Singasteinn. I have seen such a figure before. It is said that you could capture tones within it.”
“So in a way it’s a recording device for language? Sounds conspicuously like magicians to me. I thought that magic was as good as gone,” I reached for the bottle again and wanted another drink, but Lucia took it and put it away.
“That’s not how I would put it. As both of you might know, officially there haven’t been any mage schools for many decades. Not since the major revolt, that destroyed two kingdoms. After the loss of Illis they still called them the seven kingdoms for many centuries still. It took Sarpien’s fall to change the world politics. The still existing five kings have a weak position, since without the magic there can be no equilibrium. As I told you already many believe that the gods were granted control over the elements by the creator, to rule over the people.
And when they were forced to leave our world, they gave this power to their children, the former prophets of our past. The art to master the elements is since called magic. The alchemy however is the science of the understanding of the elements. We alchemists do nothing else than a mage, and many former magicians today are alchemists. We should not rule out the possibility that even schools of magic exist in remote places of the world. Just because something is prohibited, doesn’t mean that it doesn’t exist.
My mother awoke the power of the pentalpha and my father created this present form. And someone else has created these stones. We will have to wait for my father to learn more. The decoding of the palimpsest will show us where we must go.”
Even if I had always thought of myself as someone who understands this word, I only remained a man in the background.
And so I decided to do what he said and to wait another day. At that time I was annoyed that our story had such a slow pace, but today I know that I would have preferred to wait longer on what was to come.
Chapter 8: Message Decrypted
“Please remember that it is essential to remind my father that he has to synthesize a new batch of the elixir. It would be fatal, if we run out of vials. And please refrain from telling my father all too much about the situation in the kingdoms, he doesn’t take it lightly nowadays. He spent so much time in this house; he won’t really understand the outside world anymore. It won’t be easy to control him out there,” said Isaac and mixed the ingredients of the elixir together.
He had taken it rather lightly when he heard that a coup d’état had taken place and that it was only a matter of time until the king would be overthrown and the kingdom would disappear. When Isaac had completed the brew he smiled at us and said: “And remember, we absolutely must decrypt the palimpsest. We cannot afford to miss one more day.”
As he was drinking, he began to tremble heavily, but his control of the transformation seemed to be stronger than that of his father. He actually transformed consciously, while his father seemed to just lose his mind. His hair would not fall out entirely, but instead it rapidly changed its colour and his bones shrank as a single unit. As the process was completed, Magnus Doyle sat in front of us again and it was as if he remembered nothing. I was even under the impression that he didn’t even know that Isaac was a part of him, while Isaac obtained all information, while Magnus took over the control.
“Thirst! Now I have to drink something, call the waiter or should I wait ‘till later? Who are you? How did you get in? Can I help you?” he said in quick succession and it was as if he had never before seen us.
Quick-witted Lucia hid away the bottle of alcohol and began to speak with the old man.
“We are friends of Isaac and he has told us that you can help us. It is essential to decode this palimpsest,” she said with a reduced voice and tried to calm Magnus, who had already begun taking his clothes off and scratching himself on his whole body.
“Isaac? My son is also called Isaac! What a coincidence! I haven’t seen him in a long time; I think you should go now. I have a lot to do, especially now. We want to find a remedy, a means to heal. Which is why we should now not linger, but move our lazy finger!” he cried out loudly and ran away from us in the direction of the cellar.
“Isaac should have warned us. How will we manage to translate the palimpsest, if Magnus does not want to help us?” I asked myself and stood up from the chair.
Lucia said nothing and left the room in order to follow the old man.
I grabbed the stuff, put it back into the crate and followed her, even though I was convinced that we could never get Magnus to help us. When I reached the cellar Magnus was again experimenting with a mouse and Lucia seemed to help him.
“Magnus? Perhaps you can help me here?” she asked him, almost as if she wanted him to believe that he knew her for a long time.
“Who are you? Are you the truth? Did I find it?” he whispered to himself and went on with his work. He avoided any eye contact with Lucia and you could tell that he very much disliked our presence here.
“It is I, Magnus, your wife. Do you recognize me?” said Lucia, whereupon I understood what it was that she tried.
The old man did not respond to her words, and although it was a good idea, so this old geezer
was too disturbed to reason with.
“It was worth a try, Lucia. We should work together to try and decipher the palimpsest. He is of little use to us in this state,” I exclaimed and was already preparing to leave the room.
“We will now go back up, Magnus. If you decide to help me, I will be there and wait for you. Isaac is also here, look! There, the man with the box. We both will wait for you,” she said and went, together with me, back into the room, from which we had come.
I put the box back on the table and opened it. While Lucia looked at the map and the compass, I took the crystal and the statue, still wondering, what use the apple that was left in the box could have.
“The island Isaac spoke of was not marked on the map. I can hardly imagine that my father could’ve known that Isaac was familiar with this island. They seem to have never met before,” said Lucia anxiously looking at the door from time to time.
“He won’t come. I think that your father once knew the old Magnus Doyle. He probably never expected that he is now mentally ill. Perhaps he could have really helped us otherwise.”
Ultimus Thesaurus: The last Treasure (Era of Change Book 1) Page 4
