Alchemist Illusion (The Alchemist Book 3)

by Dan Michaelson

  As he opened the door leading into the central chamber, he paused for a moment. The room was empty, though the air was still and heavy as if there had been power here. He could practically feel that energy as if it lingered. He wrinkled his nose, trying to ignore a faint stench that he detected, though it wasn’t nearly as terrible as the stench that had been in the alchemy tower previously.

  There was a rug rolled across the floor, and he knew that it covered an opening.

  He looked around. He hadn’t been down there since the attack, and there was a part of him that wondered whether he should even try to go down now or whether it would be better for him to leave it. However, curiosity got the better of him.

  While he would much rather prefer to be in the library, sitting in studying, working through a stack of books that he had not yet read, maybe this was his new library. This and the almanac. He rolled the carpet back, looking at the door and the ground.

  Taking a deep breath, he pressed his hand to the trigger and forced the opening to spiral outward. A staircase formed, descending into the ground. The power that had been involved in creating those stairs was impressive, something he still didn’t understand. There was a technical component in the engineering required to form them, but there was also the magical component involved in how the stairs were triggered.

  Alchemy in the purest sense. Wasn’t that what the others would say?

  Perhaps that was what it was.

  Sam waited until the stairs finished materializing, and he started down them. There had been something here that had drawn them down. Sam had no idea what it was and no idea why they had come here of all places. Still, this space was buried within the Academy, as if it had been here before the Academy had even been formed.

  He started down the stairs slowly, carefully, and at the bottom, he paused.

  Sam remembered what it had been like when the attack had taken place. He remembered the power that he had felt and the energy that existed. He remembered Bethal and the power she tried to unleash.

  He moved forward carefully.

  There was a massive metal plate set into the ground. Alchemy symbols were worked into the stone around it as if this entire chamber was some sort of alchemy space, a lock of some sort. One that trapped power that had been hidden away from the world. A dangerous power, he suspected.

  As he made his way around the metal plate, staring at it, trying to decide whether there was anything dangerous here, he noticed a faint glowing beginning to build.

  Arcane arts.

  He paused.

  He hadn’t closed the door, so somebody might’ve been aware that he had come down here, but if they were, who would he find?

  He was hidden here, in the Study Hall, in the space that only a few should be able to reach.

  Sam glanced back at the metal plate, the alchemy, and he cursed himself. Had he made a mistake in coming down here? Somebody might have followed him through the halls, looking for a way down here.

  This place should have been hidden. It should have been protected. And Sam may have just revealed its presence.

  Shadowy movement began to come along the hall.

  There was a faint glow, and with a start, he realized that it wasn’t just the glowing light of the arcane arts, but there was a hint of color that came from alchemy as well.

  It meant that he would have to fight and defend the space.

  He held his fist closed. With the vrandal, he wasn’t completely helpless. The energy was there waiting. All he had to do was find a way to push that power through the device and force it outward, but he would only be able to do so with enough strength to cause some damage.

  The shadowy movement approached, and Sam dropped to the ground. There was no sound nearby, only the pressure around him and the sense of magic. It built as it continued to flow toward him. Was it the Nighlan?

  If he waited here, they could react before him. He had to be the aggressor. Wasn’t that what had brought him to the Academy in the first place?

  Sam rolled forward and opened his palm, unleashing a hint of power that blasted out of the vrandal.

  Someone grunted.

  Holding on to the power that still flowed in the vrandal, Sam called on it and let it fill him. Another surge of energy forced him to react. He pressed his palm outward, unleashing a second blast of power. This one washed along the hall with enough strength that he could practically see it.

  The other person in the hall grunted again. Sam darted forward, the almanac still held tightly to his body. He slammed into the unknown figure, knocking them down, and then barreled toward the stairs. He would get back to the surface. Close off the stairs. Leave the office. Go for help.

  He needed to warn Havash and the others that the Nighlan had made it inside once again. He would have to warn them so they could defend it, and they could ensure that no others reached it. He had to warn them.

  By the time he started up the stairs, he could feel the buildup of magic coming again. It wouldn’t be long. If they used it on him, he didn’t know if he would withstand its power.

  Sam sprinted. Reaching the surface, he triggered the door closed. He backed away as the stairs started squeezing shut. They moved slowly, almost painfully slow. As they did, he ran toward the office’s back wall, ready to throw the door open and head back into the tunnels.

  Something moved near him. Sam scrambled away toward the opposite side of the room. There was another opening there if he needed to use it. That way led toward the river’s far shore, toward a section of the city where he could escape, but it would mean leaving the Academy grounds.

  Sam didn’t want to do that. He wanted to stay here and fight.

  The movement behind him came again. He spun, throwing his hand out as the vrandal pulsed with energy. It blasted outward in an enormous explosion, and Sam was flung back.

  That was more powerful than he had expected, and the vrandal started to pulse again. He pressed his hand away from him once more, letting that power burst from his palm. The room was thrown into a bright green mess of color. Sam had to wait for the color to start to fade before he could see much of anything. The persistent bright light made it difficult for him to see anything else, but he focused through the brightness.

  That energy was there all around him.

  He waited as it took a moment for him to get back into the mindset needed to embrace his vision loss. It wasn’t a state he went into easily. The sounds around him began to build. There was the soft whisper of breath that came from everywhere around him. Not only from him but from the person who had to be across from him, as well as the person he still detected down in the lower section. Their breaths drifted upward—which meant that the door he’d intended to trigger closed hadn’t been fully sealed.

  Wind pushed against him. That was little more than a gentle touch, but he was aware of the way it pressed on his cheeks, a soft caress.

  Then there was the steady sense of magic that came from nearby. There was a buildup of power that rose in intensity the longer he waited. If he waited too long, then whoever was here would use their power. It was possible that they hadn’t been blinded by the light from what he had done.

  Sam held on to the vrandal, which pulsed in his palm with a steady pressure that made it difficult for him to understand what he might use it for. He wanted to have that control, but perhaps he had to let that sense of control go in this situation.

  He slipped forward slowly and carefully. There was a muted sound, though Sam thought he might only be aware of it because he was so attuned to it. He paused as he reached the far side of the room. He had to be close to the door. He’d been on the opposite side before, long enough that he didn’t think it would take much more time to get to his destination. Sam didn’t know, though—he was going by feel.

  The magic pressing on him suggested that whoever was here with him was trying to use their magic to push away the brightness within the room. This was now the second time Sam had used enough power from the v
randal to leave it lingering like that. Strange.

  This time was different from the garden. Rather than creating a barrier, he’d created a cloud he couldn’t see through. What was that cloud but a barrier, though? Could the vrandal know what he needed from it?

  Soon he could smell the faded scent of the oil and stain on the door, something that was different than the musty coolness of the stone that surrounded it. Sam remained with his hand on the door, waiting to pick up a sense of movement, but none came.

  Carefully, he opened the door. The breath in the room changed. He might’ve been the only one to notice it, but if the others did too, they would know where he was and might even know how to target him.

  He cracked the door only as wide as he needed. He peeked his head out first, then slipped the rest of him through the door. Slowly, he closed it once more.

  Sam backed away, heading along the tunnel toward the barrier. He hoped it would offer him an added layer of protection. He stepped toward the barrier, pressed his hand out, and pushed through it. As he did, there came a hint of resistance. Then the door to the office flew open.

  Power blasted along the hall.

  Sam instinctively held out his vrandal, unleashing the power he’d pent up within himself, but he also dove toward the barrier. He moved deliberately and pushed through it.

  When he was on the other side, he held his hand out as the vrandal filled with power, waiting for someone to follow.

  No one came.

  He got to his feet, rubbing the back of his neck, and froze. The almanac.

  Sam looked at the ground, but there was no sign of it.

  That meant it was on the other side of the barrier. That meant he would have to go back, face whatever attacker was there, retrieve the almanac. If he failed, the Nighlan would gain the almanac. This Sam wasn’t entirely convinced they were after the almanac itself. Still, if it was somehow instrumental in opening the lock, and releasing whatever dangerous power was stored beneath the Academy, then he had an obligation to ensure that they failed.

  Chapter Eight

  There was a moment after realizing that he didn’t have the almanac where Sam panicked. Even though he had memorized quite a bit of the almanac, he wasn’t sure what would happen if the Nighlan acquired it.

  It took him a moment to calm himself, to remind himself that even if they were to acquire the almanac, that didn’t mean they could use it. They didn’t have the key. Without the vrandal, they could do very little.

  Glancing down at the vrandal in his hand, he debated what he needed to do. If he could summon enough power through the device, he might be able to generate an explosion, but even if he did, he wasn’t sure that was going to be enough.

  If only he had Tara with him.

  They could have used one of the techniques in the almanac to escape. Sam wouldn’t have needed to sneak through the green haze, and they would have been able to incapacitate their attackers.

  This was his mistake, and he was going to be the one to correct it.

  When he pressed his hand through the barrier, there was the same resistance there usually was. The harder he pushed against it, the more he could slide into the barrier until it collapsed for him.

  Sam staggered forward, already focusing on what power he could access through the vrandal, trying to ready himself for the next attack. The vrandal pulsed in his palm, leaving him with a strange sensation that tingled through him as the green light radiated outward.

  The door was closed. There was nothing else there.

  He wasn’t sure what he’d expected. Perhaps to see a hint of power. Maybe something more. Whatever he’d expected to find was missing.

  As he slowly approached, his heart still raced. Sweat dripped down his face, and he thought about what he’d detected when he’d been running from here only a few moments before. That escape had brought him beyond the barrier and presumably to safety, and now he was planning to put himself back in danger?

  If only there were some way for him to notify the others. When he’d first met Daven, the man had that strange lantern that allowed him to communicate with someone else, but Sam had never learned that trick. It had something to do with the vrandal, and though he’d gained some understanding of the device, he still wasn’t sure how to use that power to communicate with someone through it.

  He shook his head, knowing he was stalling, worried about what he might find. Sam opened the door slightly, immediately detecting the green haze on the other side of the door. That much had lingered, but he knew it was from him. The power from the vrandal still crackled in the air, energy he recognized. An unfamiliar power had also settled in the room, almost as if it were trying to combat his.

  It was all too much.

  Sam stepped into the room, the vrandal pulsing. Given what he’d experienced here, he didn’t even attempt to hold that power inside of him. It might be better if that power drifted outward so that he would be able to add more to what he’d done before.

  The power started to fade from him slowly, the pulsing losing its intensity. Green energy seeped into the room.

  Sam swept his gaze around him and searched the ground for the almanac. When did he have it last? He remembered having it down in the chamber below. He’d thought about it when he’d been attacked there. When he’d run toward the stairs, attacking whoever had been down there, had he lost it then?

  The better question was whether he had it when he was above. Sam didn’t know, but he didn’t think he did. When he’d been up here facing the attack, he’d been mostly interested in trying to ensure he didn’t get knocked down, so he didn’t remember. Having the almanac in hand had been difficult enough for him.

  He couldn’t see it in the room. He would have to trigger the opening to the chamber beneath the office, and Sam was certain there was someone or something there. Going down below meant facing whatever waited for him and risking getting caught.

  For the almanac, though, he had to.

  Sam had the vrandal, which at least meant he wasn’t helpless. He knew several different techniques to use the vrandal, some of which released an explosive amount of power that could be dangerous to others. If he were to do that, he could protect not only himself but perhaps the almanac. It had power.

  There hadn’t been anything about mastering the power inside of himself. Maybe that wasn’t something he’d be able to do, though he thought there was some power inside of him. When the Academy had been attacked, hadn’t he been the one to release the strange cloud of green that had protected it?

  Sam had no idea what that meant, other than the fact Chasten had alluded to him having some potential that the vrandal unlocked. It fit with what Daven had said. There had been a scar in his mind that had blocked Sam from accessing some part of himself. Daven had removed that scar, though Sam wasn’t entirely sure what it meant for him.

  Perhaps that power was what it meant for him.

  Sam took a deep breath and triggered the opening in the floor, then stepped back as it started to slide open with a soft grinding sound. Although the sound was relatively quiet, it was amplified in the otherwise silent room.

  If there were anyone here, they would hear that sound and know what he had done. They would be able to come for him…

  Shadows below him caught his attention.

  Sam raised his hand and aimed. Power exploded from the vrandal.

  There came a satisfying grunt when the power connected.

  He raced down the spiral stairs, careful to hold on to the wall so that he didn’t fall into the pit.

  A figure lay on the ground.

  Sam rolled them over. The unfamiliar man was dressed in black. He had brown skin and black hair.

  There was no sign of the almanac.

  Was this the attacker he’d struck earlier? There hadn’t been much time for Sam to pay attention to anything else when he’d been down here before. He’d been so focused on trying to stay alive, getting out of the chamber, and finding help that he’d been distra
cted.

  Sam used his foot to nudge the man, who moaned softly. He released the power of the vrandal again. This close, it struck the person in the chest, and he stopped moving.

  Sam had discussed with Tara about whether they wanted to use the power the way they had been, whether they were willing to use it to attack in such a manner. Now he was releasing the vrandal’s magic directly into someone.

  He couldn’t think like that. He had to think about how these attackers continued to threaten them and how he had to find the almanac.

  Moving along the hallway, Sam scanned his surroundings. There wasn’t any trace of activity, nothing that would help him find who was responsible for the attack. There was also no sign of the almanac. That left his heart hammering and a sinking feeling in the pit of his stomach. If he failed to find the almanac, then he would be the reason the Nighlan succeeded.

  Sam paused when he reached the chamber that had the alchemy plate and symbols on the ground. He looked around, half expecting some power here, but he didn’t see anything. He looked around, holding the vrandal out, letting its power sweep around the room.

  There wasn’t anything.

  No sign of the almanac. No sign of the stone.

  No sign of movement either.

  He started into the room, and an edge of power tingled across his skin. That was strange and new, something he’d never detected here before. Had he triggered something like that, or had it been here all along?

  The attackers had some kind of magic. Sam was able to feel it from them, and that sensation was what had alerted him to their presence. Maybe they had used something here, but if they had, what was the purpose of it?

  There was nothing else in the room. No sign of any of the attackers other than the one at the bottom of the stairs. No evidence of the almanac.

  The person he’d knocked out would provide answers.

  Sam hurried over to the man, dragged him back toward the wall, and propped him up. He nudged until the man started to come around. When he did, Sam pointed the vrandal at him, prepared to attack.