Peter and the Heart of Alchemy (War of Contractia Book 5)

by Tj Dixon

  “It feels pure and sacred. I suppose you’d expect that given it is a holy shrine.”

  “If you enter it, it cleanses your spirit.” I tell Peter, who frowns.

  “I don’t think I’m going to try that.”

  “You should. It feels really refreshing.” I tell Peter, remembering the last time I was here.

  “You can use it if you want, but I’m not going to.” Peter tells me sounding very determined now.

  “Why not?” I ask confused.

  “Why? I just don’t think it would be a good idea for me.” Peter explains.

  “But why?”

  “Just because.” Peter frowns.

  “You don’t know what you’re missing out on.” I tell him and then fly into the orb that is the wind shrine. It feels like a huge weight has been lifted off my shoulders and I feel cleansed in a completely different way to when I wash. I then fly out of the shrine.

  “So where next?” Peter asks.

  “The earth shrine, at the top of the mountain.” I tell Peter and point at the huge mountain below us.

  I dive down towards the mountain. Peter shoots downwards and then grabs my hand. I blush a little as we hurtle towards the mountain holding hands, but with the wind so strong it must just look like I’m cold. We land in front of the shrine.

  “Impressive.” Peter murmurs as he sees the small black stone shrine. It is a simple black stone slab on top of four small black stone columns. Each column is about two foot tall and the slab is only half a foot thick.

  “It doesn’t look that impressive to me.” I admit.

  “It has a great aura that seems somehow familiar.” Peter explains.

  “Oh…” Is all I can think to say. Then I remember why I brought Peter here. “Look over there, Peter.”

  “Where?” Peter asks confused.

  “Here.” I tell Peter and poke the small black orb that is resting beside the shrine.

  “What is it?” Peter asks and he sounds a little afraid.

  “It’s a spell breaker. It helps protect the city from hostile spells. So even the enemies’ most powerful spells will be weakened before they hit the Great Shield, which is powerful enough to protect the city against almost any attack. With the spell breaker I doubt even the Fallen Angels or the most powerful of gods could break through the Great Shield.” I explain.

  “Why is it just lying here, if it is so important?” Peter asks incredulously.

  “It can’t be moved. The shrine was built here because the spell breaker was here. There are certainly guards though, so it isn’t just lying unprotected.”

  “So how did the spell breaker get here in the first place?” Peter asks.

  “It was made here by an alchemist. Nobody knows how it was made and nobody has been able to create such a powerful spell breaker since. Even much weaker spell breakers have only been made by great alchemists. My father only made one in his whole lifetime.” I tell Peter, with more than a little pride. For my father to have made a spell breaker is not a claim just anyone could make.

  “Do you still have it?” Peter asks.

  “He made it for a noble. It cost a lot of money to make.”

  “Which noble?” Peter asks curiously.

  “I don’t know. He was sworn to silence. Whoever they were, they must have been very rich so certainly no minor noble. I suppose they could even have been royalty.”

  “Do you know how to make a spell breaker?” Peter asks and I blink.

  “Don’t be stupid.” I tell Peter, grasping my right hand into a fist. Thankfully though, I remain calm enough to avoid hitting Peter. “I already told you that only the greatest of alchemists can do it. There’s no way I could do it.”

  “But that doesn’t mean you don’t know how. It might have just been too hard.” Peter says and I sigh.

  “A spell breaker is something an alchemist has to invent. Each one is unique and simply copying one doesn’t work. I don’t understand why, but that’s just how it is.”

  “Oh well. It gives you something to aim for.” Peter laughs and I blink before laughing too. It’s either that or hit Peter. “So are we going to see all the shrines?”

  “I thought we might as well.” I answer.

  “Perhaps we could skip the fire shrine. I’ve seen that enough already.” Peter tells me. I frown but shrug.

  “If you’ve already seen it we may as well skip it. We may as well do water next as it’s nearer than the dimensional shrine. Are you ready to move on?”

  “Yes.” Peter says and takes my hand before we can start flying. I then jump into the air and Peter easily keeps up. Well this is Peter, so he would do, wouldn’t he? We reach the large moat that surrounds the city. It is outside the city walls but inside the Great Shield.

  “There it is.” I say, pointing to the green orb floating in the moat. There is a constant flow of water through it that forms a sort of fountain. The water goes up inside the orb and comes out at the top middle, simply falling back down the outside of the orb and flowing back into the moat. “I have to admit that this is my favourite, but that’s probably just because I’m a water mage.”

  “I like this one. It’s kind of calming.” Peter smiles.

  “It is, isn’t it?” I smile back. “The shrine purifies and enchants the water that enters it, so the whole moat is enchanted thanks to the shrine. The enchantment is stronger the closer you get to the shrine though, because it is the water most recently enchanted.”

  “So is it the enchantment that’s calming us?” Peter asks.

  “Yes, but it does more than that. Or at least it can do. It is enchanted to cancel fire magic that originates outside or directly over the moat. So it helps serve as protection from attack if anyone manages to get past the Great Shield.” I explain.

  “Portalis really is well protected.”

  “It certainly is. I just can’t imagine an enemy that could get past Portalis’ defences.”

  “I don’t know. The enemy are pretty powerful.” Peter says a little doubtful. Even the calming effect of the water doesn’t seem to relieve Peter’s doubt. “So, where to next?”

  “Let’s take a closer look at the shrine, before we move on to the last one.” I tell Peter and fly a bit closer. Peter follows behind me but seems reluctant.

  “I’m going to wait here.” Peter says when we are a few feet away from the water.

  “You can touch the water if you fly a bit closer.”

  “I don’t want to.” Peter says sounding determined now.

  “It feels really refreshing.”

  “I don’t want to.” Peter says sounding almost scared now. What’s up with Peter?

  “Fine, but I am going to.” I tell him and fly the last few feet. I put my hands in the water. It feels nice. A bit like having all trace of tiredness washed away. The effect only lasts whilst my hands are in the water though. I reluctantly remove my hands and fly back to where Peter is waiting. “I’m going to port us to the last shrine, so give me your hand.”

  “Ok.” Peter says and holds both his hands out. I take them in mine and port us to the dimensional shrine. It is dark here with just a faint purple light illuminating the cave. The whole cave is the shrine but its focal point is a purple mist that floats around the edge of the cave. We are standing in the centre of the small cave and looking right at that mist.

  “It looks a bit disturbing, but… Hey don’t touch the mist!”

  “Why not?” Peter asks stepping back a couple of steps just before his hand reaches the mist.

  “I don’t know. My instincts tell me that we shouldn’t touch it, like it’s dangerous. Don’t you get the same feeling?” I ask him in amazement.

  “No. It seems familiar and like something I want to be closer to.” Peter tells me and I frown.

  “Weird.” I say shaking my head in utter confusion. “I was considering skipping this one, since it’s so creepy. But since we were seeing the others I thought we might as well see it. I was planning to port straight
out afterwards.”

  “If you don’t want me to touch it, perhaps we’d better port out.” Peter says and reluctantly holds out his hand. I reach out and taking it I port us back to the inn. It’s still a little early to eat but I’m not sure what to do next and I am actually feeling hungry.

  “Are you hungry?” I ask Peter. He considers for a moment before nodding.

  “Let’s eat here.” Peter suggests before I can suggest anywhere, so I nod.

  “Ok, we’ll eat here then. By here, you mean the inn, not the room, right?”

  “Of course.” Peter laughs. “I don’t imagine they’d like it if we ate in our room.”

  “I don’t think I’d like that either.” I mutter, annoyed now. This is meant to be special since it is just the two of us. Why can’t Peter understand how special our date is? Or he is to me? Why did I have to fall in love with him?

  “Rin?” Peter asks in shock.

  “What?” I glare, before suppressing the glare and smiling.

  “Did you just say you love me?” Peter asks and my heart races like it’s on fire.

  “No! I didn’t say that!” I quickly deny. Wait, why did I deny it? I didn’t say it, but…

  “But what?” Peter asks sounding confused, but not half as confused or shocked as me.

  “What do you mean by ‘but what’?” I ask blankly.

  “You said ‘I didn’t say it, but…’” Peter says and I blink three times.

  “Are you reading my mind?” I ask in pure shock.

  “How could I do that?” Peter asks, sounding as shocked as I am.

  “I don’t know, but…” Oh god. Peter knows that I love him? But how does he feel about me? I look up realising he must know exactly what I’m thinking, but unable to stop thinking.

  “You’re very special to me, Rin.” Peter says cautiously as if trying to break bad news to me. Oh… hell! “I don’t know if I love you. I don’t entirely understand what love is, but I do know that you mean a lot to me. Maybe it is love, or maybe it could become love.”

  My mind goes blank. Before when I wanted it to go blank it wouldn’t, but now that I need to think I can’t. I need time to think. Just leave me alone! And then I am alone. Peter is gone and I wish he wasn’t.

  Chapter 3 (Multiple)

  (Fire Rose)

  “Everyone change!” Lilian calls out those words that I always dread. It isn’t as bad as when I first joined the club but it can still sometimes be quite hard to find a partner. I look over at Lily wistfully but I’m not meant to be practising water magic today. I then spot Felicity heading my way but my hopes are quickly dashed.

  “Marian!” Felicity calls and Marian who I just finished working with runs over to her.

  “Rose.” Misty calls out apprehensively from behind me. I turn and force a smile. I find Misty strange somehow, though I’m not sure why. It makes me nervous around her, but I mustn’t let her or anyone else know that.

  “Misty.” I say, forcing my voice to sound cheerful.

  “Are you ok with water or wind?” Misty asks me.

  “Wind is fine, but is fire ok for you? Don’t you normally work with Juliet?”

  “She’s way too good at fire for me to learn much, even when she stays conscious.” Misty sighs and I can’t help feeling sorry for Misty.

  “Well, I’ll try to stay conscious long enough to teach you something.” I grin and I barely have to force my grin.

  “Please do.” Misty grins and hers seems entirely genuine.

  “Let’s start with wind magic.” I suggest and Misty nods.

  “So what do you want to learn?”

  “I want to improve my lightning attacks. I’m not bad at lightning, but I’m a bit slow and they use more power than they should.”

  “Show me.” Misty asks, quite predictably. And so our training begins. After a while I help Misty with fire magic and by the end of the training session I find myself feeling much more comfortable with her. Maybe it was just my imagination, or perhaps just because she spends so long with Juliet, the truly weird one.

  (Misty Styx)

  Training was fun. I enjoyed working with Rose, though I suspect she was just putting up with me. Even so I walk back to my room in high spirits. I could port, but I’m hot from the fire magic despite the cold air, so I want to cool down a bit before I get back to my room.

  “Misty…” I hear a voice that I dread. I try to port but there’s a port block up. We covered that in lessons just last week, damn it.

  “What do you want?” I ask, covering my fear with false bravado.

  “How rude, and after we all came out here to play with you.” Gemma laughs. She’s surrounded by the rest of the gang. Like us they are all of typical Contractian appearance. Gemma though, unlike me and her gang, has large breasts which our teacher often praises. Apparently it means she is better suited to wind magic. I’ve never lost one on one to her despite her apparent superiority, but she only fought me one on one once. Since then she has always taken great care to keep her gang close by.

  “I’m not in the mood for games.” I shrug, but that just makes Gemma’s grin widen.

  “Well, I am.” Gemma laughs and then she throws her first wind fist at me. I dodge it easily by jumping into the air but then everyone joins in. I raise a wind shield and dodge as best I can but the flurry of attacks is too much. After just a couple of seconds my wind shield falls and my flesh takes a pounding.

  I fall to the ground in pain just like always. The first time they got me before I had a chance to port. The other times they blackmailed me into a ‘duel’. If I hadn’t turned up to get beaten into a bloody mess they would have revealed my ‘secret’.

  It hurts. It really hurts but I put up with the pain as they continue to throw wind fists at me. Then they lift me upside down with flight magic. This is where it will get nasty. I can’t stop the fear from reaching my face.

  “Stop this!” A familiar voice calls out and I turn my face to see. Unfortunately my vision is blurred by blood but that voice was certainly Rose’s voice. Unless it was Lily’s.

  “Oh, are you sure she wants you to help her?” Gemma laughs.

  “Don’t be ridiculous, of course she does.” Rose says angrily and I can feel the heat of her flames even from here.

  “I wouldn’t be so sure. She is a masochist, after all.” Gemma laughs.

  “What?” Rose asks in shock. Then Rose glares. “Put her down. Now.”

  “Ok.” Gemma laughs and all of a sudden there is the rush of wind and then the pain of hitting something headfirst. I think it is a tree, but then everything goes dark.

  (Fire Rose)

  I am beginning to wish that I hadn’t told Lily to go back ahead of me. I could have used her help about now. The brat over there has just thrown Misty against a tree as the others attacked me. I shielded ok even against eight of them, but I had no spare concentration to help Misty. I’m also unable to spare the effort to attack.

  These brats are using wind fists and lightning so my only option is a pure magical shield, since a fire shield wouldn’t stop their attacks. That means I can’t use my shield as a weapon, only as defence. This isn’t looking good. I may be a better mage than them, but nine against one, now their leader has joined the attack, is really bad.

  I weaken my shield to free up some concentration and send a blaze of fire at their leader, but she shields and a blast of lightning penetrates my shield. I’m knocked back and stunned, and my shield drops completely. I feel the wind fists pummel my body mercilessly, but after a moment I raise my shield again.

  “Don’t think that we’re going to show you any mercy. We’ll beat you to within an inch of death and then humiliate you completely.” Their leader tells me with an evil grin. She is distracted though, and doesn’t notice my attack until too late. I get hit by more wind fists but she is hit by the full force of my water bullet. It is my sister’s specialty, but she taught it to me and it is a much safer way of beating an opponent than with flames.


  I raise my shield again before I am too badly hurt by their wind fists. They each have a very scary look on their face. This really isn’t looking good even if I did just knock out their leader. There’s a port block up and although in ideal circumstances with nothing else to worry about I could port through it, these really aren’t ideal circumstances. It would also mean leaving Misty behind.

  I consider my options and decide the only real choice I have left is to call for help. I can only pray that Lily is looking out the window now or that someone else comes to investigate. I have to drop my shield completely to send the flame signal up into the air. It also uses a lot of mana as the flames leap up into the sky above the trees. The flames form a rose for a moment and then die. Perhaps if I had used those flames on my opponents I could have killed them, but I only want to beat them, not kill them.

  I try to raise my shield again but I used too much mana. The wind fists continue to pummel me for a minute and then I feel flight magic as one of the girls picks me up by my feet. Then there is a flash and crackle accompanied by a sharp jolt of pain. The lightning is mild, but it still hurts like hell.

  (Misty Styx)

  My vision is blurry but I am sure that is Rose hanging by her feet. There is a flash of light and Rose screams as she reacts to a pain I have become familiar with. The pain of being struck by lightning. Then there is a second flash and I force myself to stand. It takes a lot of effort, but I have enough mana left to counter attack.

  Standing now and my vision a little clearer I focus my mana and form an attack of my own. I send a sheet of water and a blast of my own lightning. The water covers all of the gang, knocking them to the ground in pain. Unfortunately it also covers Rose, who falls to the ground unconscious. Some of the gang are knocked out too, but four are still conscious. It isn’t going to be easy to beat so many of them now that they are ready for me.