The Heart of Alchemy by James Wisher (e book reading free TXT) 📕

anything he’d ever known stabbed into every inch of his body. Even breaking through his personal magical limit felt like a tickle compared to this.

Fear and pain being wonderful motivators, he plunged all his senses into the Heart. He followed the crystal matrix all the way into its core and was promptly pumped out like a spurt of blood. Letting his awareness ride the ethereal flow, Otto’s consciousness was sent back through his hands into his blood stream.

Once there he quickly found the problem. Tiny flecks of something other than blood filled his body. That had to be the poison. But there was so much of it. Every second more damage was done to the surrounding vessels. How could he deal with all of it in time?

The answer came a moment later. He ran a thread of ether through one of the specks of poison then used a variation of the spell that allowed him to find someone by using their blood. At his command, the ether sought out everything like that fleck of poison.

Instantly, the magic carried out his will. There was so much information his mind could barely comprehend it. Now that he had the poison marked, he needed to destroy it.

No.

What had Cheng’s simulacrum said? Alchemy was about transformation. He couldn’t destroy the poison, he needed to change it into something else.

Gritting his teeth against the pain, Otto ran a second thread through a red speck that belonged in his blood.

Now. Change!

Power flowed from the Heart into his body. For a moment it was like being one with the ether.

Bliss washed away the pain.

A moment later it was gone, leaving Otto feeling slightly hollow, but still alive. Even better, he didn’t feel drained like he usually did when he used too much magic. Having the Heart as an intermediary must have banished the exhaustion. Considering how much he had left to do, he wasn’t about to complain.

“You’re still standing,” Jet said from the edge of the garden. “Did you figure it out?”

Otto’s answer got drowned out by a huge roar mingled with explosions and crashes coming from the direction of the palace gate. Sounded like Marius was getting close. Otto glanced at Jet. She wasn’t really his problem. He could become one with the ether and return to Port Han in an instant.

He shook his head. No, she’d tried to do right by him and Otto respected that. He couldn’t leave her poisoned and trapped and dependent on whatever small mercy Marius could summon.

“Yes, I understand the process. You need to understand that it isn’t going to be pleasant.”

“I didn’t think purging a magical poison from my body would be fun. Are you ready?”

Otto turned to face her and nodded.

Jet took one step past the garden’s edge.

Her whole body went rigid.

Otto drew ether through the Heart and sent it into her along with his sight. Now that he knew what to look for, finding the specks of poison took no time at all. Binding and transforming them required a few extra seconds.

Behind him, the crashes had turned to roars while the explosions grew ever less frequent. Sounded like the undead were winning.

He had little focus to spare. Guiding a rush of ether, Otto transformed the poison into blood cells. When he blinked his vision back to his body, Jet looked okay, but her expression was still stiff and fixed in a grimace.

It took him a second to realize she was looking beyond him.

Otto slowly turned to find Marius, flanked by dozens of undead, all humanoid, but also no two exactly the same. It was a veritable banquet of horrors. Surely even Amet Sur would have been impressed by such a selection.

Marius and his entourage stopped about five paces short of Otto. “So you survived the Forbidden Garden. I must admit I am impressed.”

“Thank you. The Cult of Astaroth has been a great help, even if things didn’t work out exactly as planned. I’ll be heading back to Port Han at dawn.”

“You might be, assuming you hand over whatever you found in the garden along with the betrayer cowering behind you.”

“Who are you calling a betrayer!” Jet stepped out from behind Otto. “Lady White will have your head for this rebellion.”

Marius chucked. “She is a long way from here and in no position to do anything even if she wanted to. I control a third of the city and my forces are expanding by the hour. The emperor, miserable coward that he is, has fled before me. Astaroth clearly favors my path and no one will take this victory from me.”

Otto shook his head. “The internal politics of your cult don’t interest me. But if you think you’re going to claim my prize, then what remains of your brain must have rotted along with your face.”

“You’re hardly in a position to deny me.”

Otto flooded the Heart with ether as Marius sent a wave of corruption rolling out at him.

With the Heart augmenting his perception, Otto sent out a matching wave of ether. When the two forces touched, he transformed the corruption into pure ether.

“Impossible.” Marius stared as though betrayed by the person he trusted most.

But Otto wasn’t finished. He sent threads into the undead surrounding Marius and repeated the process with the corruption sustaining their existence. Each of the creatures collapsed like a marionette with its strings cut.

“I could do the same to you,” Otto said. “But I have no desire to end up on the bad side of a demon lord. Jet and I are leaving. Keep your monsters out of my way and I won’t destroy them. Come after me and I’ll find you and end you. Do you understand?”

Marius was staring at the remains of his followers, seeming oblivious to Otto.

“Do you understand!?”

Marius jumped as if struck, finally looking at Otto. “I understand. You will not be troubled.”

“Good.” Otto turned to Jet. “I assume you wish to come with me.”

“I certainly do. My place here is lost, but hopefully Lady White will find a position