The Fifth Realm

by Michael Chatfield

  They stood on either side, with Rugrat pulling out a repeater.

  “You sure?” Erik asked.

  “Ammunition is cheaper and the effects are weaker. Don’t want to be cleaning you off the floor,” Rugrat said.

  Erik shrugged and got ready.

  “Coin toss?” Rugrat said.

  “I’ve got it.” Erik pulled out a coin and threw it up.

  Rugrat lowered himself, set in his stance. He smiled as he let out all of his power, not trying to contain it. Erik grinned in reply as he also exerted his domain. The mana shifted between them, causing the air to ripple with power.

  “Why do I get the feeling like there are two mountain beasts about to fight?” Storbon asked.

  “Well, ’cause I feel like a damn shepherd who can only watch them,” Yao Meng muttered.

  The coin landed between the two of them.

  Rugrat fired his bolts as the air underneath his feet glowed and he stepped up into the sky as he insta-cast Chains of Silence.

  Chains tore out of the ground where Erik charged forward. Flames appeared under his feet as he avoided the chains. Rock formed over Erik, creating a second armor over his body. He still entered the silence area of the spell and couldn’t cast a spell. His body accelerated faster as he dodged the arrows.

  Rugrat got serious as he imbued the Aura of Swords on his bolts, attaching them to a solid thing. The arrows shot out, turning into three arrows: an arrow with the power of silence, another with the power of flames, and the last with increased hardness.

  Erik’s body was covered in a stone armor as he threw his fist forward. He met the arrow head-on. A blue flame appeared on his fist and tore through the arrows.

  Erik avoided those that he could and hit those that he couldn’t with his fists covered in stones and blue flames.

  Rugrat had dodged over Erik and was circling but he was quickly catching up.

  Rugrat used Explosive Shot. Erik’s reactions were faster than before, finding impossible ways to dodge the attacks.

  “Looks like you’ve found your domain too!” Rugrat laughed as he drew out a grenade launcher.

  “So much for budget cuts!” Erik said.

  Rugrat fired out the grenade launcher as Erik smirked.

  He executed One Finger Beats Fist but he had modified it. A rock shard formed in his hands, with red magma veins running through it and black smoke that rose from it.

  It shot out like a bullet but Erik fired a small but focused blast of mana into its base. It screamed through the air, creating an explosion as it passed through the sound barrier and hit a grenade. The first was destroyed, and the others were tossed to the side. They hit the ground and bounced, without the time to properly arm themselves.

  Erik ran forward, hoping to catch Rugrat unawares as he went through the smoke and debris.

  Chains snapped up around him. Black smoke appeared around the chains as they withered; flames appeared around where they wrapped his body.

  “I used Chains of Silence!” Rugrat yelled, firing his rifle. The round struck Erik. Chains sprouted from it in different colors and tied him to the ground. Rugrat fired two more rounds. Erik hit the ground and a dome of stone appeared around him.

  Inside, Erik fought the chains with his flames.

  Rugrat switched back to his grenade launcher, emptying and reloading it in fluid movements. He used Piercing Shot on the rounds. They shot deep into the stone dome and broke it apart.

  Erik was blown backward and he rolled up to his feet. The chains had scratched him but he was largely unaffected.

  Erik let out a yell as red magma-like veins traced through his stone-like skin. His skin let off a toxic-looking smoke.

  “Looks like you’ve changed a bit,” Rugrat said.

  Erik shot forward and Rugrat fired his grenade launcher. Erik shot out the molten core spikes, hitting the rounds in the sky as Rugrat switched to his rifle.

  Erik reached Rugrat’s domain. Four mana blades of different attributes appeared around Rugrat as he executed his sword domain. Around Erik, flames appeared in mid-air as well as stone, clashing with the swords. Erik cast Shade’s Covering but there was no getting closer to Rugrat, who adapted almost immediately as he had the same technique.

  Erik fired his fists forward, sending out blasts of stone and fire that intercepted the incoming rounds and destroyed them as his conjured flames and stone intercepted the swords that were circling him.

  Erik and Rugrat settled into a rhythm, looking for the other’s weaknesses and using this as an opportunity to refine their control and their techniques. Finding an opponent who was able to stand up to them was a chance that they wouldn’t be able to have often.

  To the others, it looked as if there were explosions happening between the two of them even as they were attacking one another. Erik and Rugrat didn’t rely on their eyes but their newfound senses through mana to know where the attacks were coming from and where to strike.

  Erik used his Illusionary Fist but Rugrat saw through it easily, and Erik took a hit. He followed it up with another and a third; the fists were all around Rugrat but he was able to see through the illusions and find his real fist.

  Erik hit with a Semi-Illusionary Fist. This threw Rugrat off and he frowned at the secondary fist that carried real power with it instead of being empty like the fist before.

  Rugrat sent a sword at both. His eyebrows rose in shock as the illusionary fist took the impact. It was formed from stone, from fire, from poison.

  It exploded in flames and poison. Rugrat used a flame to burn and purify the poison, but he had let Erik get closer and he sent multiple fake fists at him, throwing in his magma core spike and accelerating it with a beam of mana from behind.

  Rugrat was pushed to his limits and Erik exceeded his previous abilities. He stomped forward and unleashed all of his strength, holding nothing back. The two men met attack with attack. Rugrat pulled out two rifles and fired them with each hand as his mana blades were half formed, going from just three to five in a second.

  Spherical walls met one another; waves of force tore at the ground, tearing it apart, as they clashed their bodies, their minds, their domains.

  Rugrat could no longer use his rifle. He threw it to the side as they clashed, fist against fist. Mana formed into gauntlets appeared around his fist as they clashed. Erik was forced back a few steps; he ran forward, his magma-covered hands meeting Rugrat’s forged mana.

  The two of them had smiles on their faces. Their eyes were alight with joy, excited as they unleashed and learned more about their bodies, their abilities. They lived on the edge of winning and failure.

  Erik went for a cross. Rugrat pushed Erik’s arm, moving him to the side and opening his back. Erik ducked and used the momentum to kick at Rugrat.

  Rugrat, seeing his opening disappear, jumped backward in an explosion of rocks, using Explosive Shot under his feet. He fell backward; he had never used it before and he stumbled.

  Erik faced him side-on. With a blast of fire under his feet, Erik shot forward, his fist shooting toward Rugrat as he had a magma spike appear.

  Erik stopped and the dust cleared around them. Erik had several stone plates around him, mana blades focused on the plates. His own spike pointed at a shield forged and formed from Rugrat’s armor.

  Erik coughed with all of the dust and then he dismissed his constructs and lowered his hand to Rugrat.

  “Well, that was fun.” Rugrat laughed as he took the hand and stood.

  Erik used his domain. The dust settled back down and he fused the stage back together in parts, allowing them to see out.

  “Well, it seems that you two have been taking my lessons seriously,” Klaus said. The two of them didn’t know when he had arrived.

  “Looks like you got a domain as well. You’re lucky we have that contract in place—two of you, both with domains, that makes you quite the threat.” He walked down toward the fighting stage.

  Erik and Rugrat both looked at Klaus.
<
br />   “With this, I wouldn’t reveal it to outside sources, even without the contract.” Klaus smiled. “After all, you two are pretty reasonable city lords, unlike the others who might take over. Now, once you’ve rested, go again. Erik is the stronger one but Rugrat, your control is much higher. This is a good opportunity for you to temper your fighting abilities.”

  ***

  Old Hei smiled as he looked at Delilah, her fingers moving independent of one another. Thin lines of thread appeared from her fingertips. Only if one had acute senses would they notice that the threads were not threads at all but flames that had been woven together.

  When she was a child, she had been taught how to sew and look after the clothing of her family. She had a good eye for detail and with her work, the clothes and shoes of her family members could last longer. Even as the leader of Alva, she had repaired her own clothes and spent time going to the tailors, designing her own clothes and dabbling in the craft. She had quietly raised her crafting skill to the low Journeyman level with her tinkering and creating of simple clothes.

  Now, she combined her knowledge and passion for Alchemy with her skill with sewing. Each of those threads weaved their way into the cauldron. To the outside eye, the interior of the cauldron looked like movements that followed a set but unknown rhythm.

  Old Hei found his eye drawn to the process. It seemed to be almost like sorcery as the different ingredients were weaved together: the flames, the needles; the ingredients, the thread and patches.

  To do so, the pressure and the heat within the cauldron had to be perfectly regulated. One had to know the exact limits of the cauldron and the characteristics of the different ingredients. When she wasn’t working on Alva, she was learning. Erik’s lessons and Old Hei’s guidance had made her more reserved, taking her time, planning out what she was going to do, researching every variable. She was ready for the unknown, planned to change on the fly, and it meant that her execution flowed together. The slightest discrepancy she was able to adapt and overcome.

  She had fallen into a trance-like state, forgetting where she was and what she was doing, focusing on the pill that she was making.

  Old Hei recognized it for what it was. She had reached a deep state of enlightenment; her ideas and information came together with her movements and actions, melding into one.

  Will she create her own technique?

  Old Hei waited as she continued to work. Hours went by but it was nothing to Old Hei as he watched. There were some close calls but Delilah handled them well.

  Her cauldron started to shake as power started to leak out.

  It settled down and Delilah let out a sigh, looking pale and overdrawn.

  Golden power of the Ten Realms flooded in through the walls of the Alchemy workshop, flooding into Delilah’s body.

  Old Hei could feel as the power surged through her previous bottlenecks, clearing a number of levels before calming down.

  She took a breath, opened the lid of the cauldron, and tapped the side. She caught the pill in a container and looked at it. The pill was a deep red color, with white veins tracing through it.

  She frowned, looking at it.

  “Something wrong?” Old Hei asked.

  Delilah let out a little shriek as she jumped up but protected the pill. Seeing her grand teacher there, her cheeks rivaled the color of the pill.

  Old Hei coughed, hiding his smile.

  “I—uh...”

  “When one is making a concoction, it is easy to forget where they are. May I?” Old Hei said with a kind smile, holding out his hand.

  Delilah smiled sheepishly and passed it over.

  He took it out and studied it for some time. “Low Expert Condensed pill,” Old Hei said with praise, sealing the pill bottle again and passing it back.

  Seeing her expression, Old Hei laughed.

  A Condensed pill of the Apprentice or Journeyman level might not be that impressive, but at the Expert level, even getting a normal pill was difficult. With a Condensed pill, one wasn’t at a half-step mid-Expert level, but maybe a quarter-step mid-Expert level. Which was more than some people who had lived for centuries had achieved.

  Seeing her, Old Hei couldn’t help but smile. As a man without attachments or children, Erik and Delilah were the two he cared about the most.

  The many around him always wanted something, while Erik and Delilah strived to follow the path of the alchemist.

  Working with them, he had regained his passions and his younger side, challenging barriers he wouldn’t have pushed against before.

  He got up and sent mana through his body, revitalizing it.

  Delilah ran up to him and gave him a hug.

  He was a bit stunned, looking at the grinning young girl.

  “I did it! I made Expert! Wait till I tell Teacher about this!” She laughed, her eyes shining as Old Hei joined in before tapping her arms in a mock serious way.

  She giggled at Pill Head Hei trying to fend off her hug weakly. She squeezed him once more and stepped back. She looked revitalized after all of the long months and years of effort.

  “So, the Heartflame Transformation pill—your teacher has already tempered his body with flames, so who might that be for?” Old Hei asked.

  “Rugrat. The two of them are always in some kind of trouble. With this pill, Rugrat can temper his body as well. It is a high-tier transformation pill, drawing out a great amount of power within his body. I would estimate about seventy percent. With a few more aids, as well as Teacher’s and my help, then he can complete a full tempering.”

  Old Hei led the way out of the workshop, opening the door to the blinding light outside as they stepped into his office. It was mid-morning.

  “Ah, following your teacher’s footsteps of combining different concoctions and techniques together to achieve a result,” Old Hei said.

  “If I could make things of the high Expert grade, then I could make the Essence of Fire Transformation pill, which could temper one’s body completely and even has a chance to unlock the rare Fire Body title.”

  “Looks like you have been doing some research.” Another voice came from the room. Delilah looked up to see Erik sitting there.

  Her smile lit up again, seeing her teacher. Her eyes thinned. “You got stronger again,” Delilah said, looking at her teacher. An Expert alchemist had acute senses, allowing them to see what others missed and gain a greater sense of their surroundings and environment with their mana.

  “How so?” Old Hei asked, turning it into a learning opportunity.

  “The area around him is distorted. It makes it hard for me to see through, but I can sense a powerful force of Fire and Earth within him. A sense of destruction, but that of vitality. The surrounding mana is drawn to him. It doesn’t fight him; it is hotter, as if he is the cauldron, the mana are the ingredients and the flame his tool of refining and controlling it all.”

  Erik raised his eyebrow. “I didn’t think of it that way.” Erik tilted his head and looked to the floor, thinking. “Well, that might be a useful way of looking at it.”

  “Grand Teacher?” Delilah looked to Old Hei.

  “I don’t know much more than you,” Old Hei admitted. “It seems that he has completely tempered his body with Fire and Earth, though he hasn’t completed the quest that I learned about. He has also done something else. I think that all around him might be a domain or a technique he has learned. Though I do not wish to pry more. I am a member of the Alchemist Association and even I am asked about the reclusive City Lord Erik from time to time.”

  Delilah closed her mouth and Erik nodded.

  Old Hei could only smile. This was the divide between them. He knew that they had their secrets and although he could tell they wanted to share them with him, he didn’t want to learn them lest he be asked about them later on. He could only give the truth to his superiors if they enacted his contract binding him to the Alchemist Association.

  “Well, it looks like the student has beaten the teacher.” Eri
k stood, breaking the serious air. “You did well!”

  Delilah, who looked nervous, seemed to relax. “Though I’ve missed a lot of work while doing it.” Delilah sighed.

  “I get reports from Egbert frequently. You’re as hardworking as they come. I was wondering if you would like to work under Hiao Xen in Vuzgal, learn the ropes from him—be close to the academy, work on your Alchemy skills,” Erik said.

  “Vuzgal?”

  “You don’t have to make a decision now. It’s something that came to me. It won’t be immediate, but something in the future. Still have some work to do before then.”

  “Talking about running a city in the Fourth Realm like it’s cabbage,” Old Hei muttered.

  “I heard that someone might be moving to a higher realm soon?” Erik asked.

  “In a week, I’m heading to the Sixth Realm to teach. Will I be seeing the two of you?”

  “I still need to gain a few levels,” Delilah said.

  “I’m thinking of wandering a bit more. Being tied down in one place can wear a bit.” Erik smiled.

  ***

  Erik, Delilah, and Old Hei shared a meal. Delilah retired early. The strain of making the Expert-level pill left her drained.

  Erik had talked to Old Hei privately, talking about how he was going backward, looking to increase the efficacy of his concoctions, take his time to master each stage, moving on to the other slowly instead of jumping ahead.

  Old Hei agreed with his methodology.

  Erik headed out with Storbon and the half of the Special Team One waiting for him. They went to the city where the odd alchemist who had reversed his age was.

  Erik went to the door and knocked on it, being greeted by the butler, who didn’t allow any of the guards once again.

  He went to the top of the house, where the boyish-looking alchemist waited.

  “Have you completed it?” The man jumped up in agitation.

  “I haven’t,” Erik said.

  “Then why are you here? Come to plead with me to give you the formula you seek?” The man sneered.

  “Instead of a pill, I created a treatment plan.” Erik pulled out a box and put it to the side. “The pill is hard to make, time consuming and expensive. After thinking of your condition, studying the different concoction smells that came from your workshop, I believe that this treatment plan will remove the effects of the pill you consumed from your body. It will take longer but it will be no less effective,” Erik said.