Fragments of Alchemy: The Code Keeper

C.C.

Thea leaned forward in her chair and propped her chin on her fist, thinking carefully. Finally, she opened the guidebook and flipped through the Seven Fragments, briefly looking at each page, until she found the Fragment that had a matching Insignia—the Seven Forces.

There were seven options: fire, air, water, lightning, earth, plants, and beasts. Thea decided that using the Plant Conjuration Conversion made the most sense, and she grabbed Todd’s pencil and drew the rest of the Insignia. Then she picked up the seed Component and said the Code Word, “Materia!”

Her Kundalini slowly traveled up her body. Thea felt she was getting better and better at making her Spiritual Essence do what she wanted. Back before she learned about Code Words, Thea could have made a plant grow just by calming her mind and thinking hard while staring at a seed. But back then, it happened slowly as she meditated. Now, when she spoke the Code Words, she could really feel the power working almost instantly. It was very different, but she felt like she was getting good at it. The Conversion Circle activated with a flash of blue, but nothing happened to the seed in her hand.

Thea furrowed her brow for a second, but then she realized that if the seed wasn’t the Component, then maybe she should try another object. She set the seed down and looked at the other objects. The leaf seemed like a logical choice, so she grabbed it and said, “Materia!”

Almost instantly, her Kundalini traveled up her body and made the Insignia glow blue. Again, nothing else happened. Thea sighed, and Todd had to hide a smile.

Thea wasn’t about to give up though. She remembered Todd’s lesson about Conversions having a Focus, and she quickly switched the places of the seed and leaf, so that she was holding the seed and the leaf was on the Insignia as the Focus. “Materia!” she said, but when her Kundalini touched the Insignia, still nothing happened.

Thea groaned and squished her eyebrows together in thought. She wished she could just forget about Conversion Circles and Code Words and make the seed grow with her own natural abilities. She knew she could make it work without all the trouble of these Insignias, but her father’s words echoed in her head: “If anyone sees you perform Alchemy without a Conversion Circle or Code Word, there could be dire consequences. It’s best to keep your abilities a secret.”

Finally, she switched the Component and Focus one more time so that the seed was on the Insignia and the leaf was in her hand, and this time when she said the Code Word and her Energy filled the Insignia, the blue light made the seed stir. Then the seed cracked open and a tiny leaf popped out. Thea smiled and allowed her Kundalini to keep working its magic, and eventually, the seed sprouted a stem that grew and grew until it was nearly a foot tall. Thea turned to Todd and laughed. “That was neat!”

“Wanna know the best part?” Todd asked, and Thea nodded. “I was thinking of a different Conversion. You solved my puzzle using a solution I wasn’t even thinking about.”

Thea laughed. “No way, really?”

“Yup, I would have used an Air Conjuration Conversion with the seed as the Component and the pebble as the Focus,” Todd said with a happy nod. “Like I said, you’re going to ace your Trial tomorrow.”

“Well, now what should we do?” Thea asked.

“Let’s look at the Beginner’s Guide,” Todd suggested. “You won’t be able to use it during your Trial, so you need to have a good idea of what you can do with each Fragment.” Todd flipped back to the beginning of the book.

“We already used the Modicum to freeze and melt water. That’s the Cardinal Fragment,” Todd said as he pointed at the Insignias. Then he turned the pages to the next section.

“Next is the Effervescent Fragment. These two are really useful.” Todd pointed at the Insignias in the book. “That’s the Amalgamation and Extraction Conversions. You can use these Conversions to take salt out of water or whatever, or for putting things back together, like the broken vial of water.” Todd pointed to the two Circles.

The Amalgamation Conversion was used to fix something or put things together, like when Thea combined the owl with the horse to make the noctos. The Extraction Conversion was for separating things.

“With the Dynamism Fragment, the easiest one is the Transmission Conversion, Code Word Translatio.”

“That makes something fly through the air, right?”

“Among other things. How’d you know that?” Todd asked. “Wait, let me guess, you saw someone do that one too?”

Thea nodded.

“Here’s the Seven Forces again; you can blow something away with this Conversion here.”

“Aera,” Thea read from the book, and her Kundalini fluttered almost imperceptibly.

“The Façade Fragment has seven Conversions collectively called the Illusion Conversions,” Todd said as he pointed at an Insignia in the book. “You probably used this one here, to enter Blackthorn and Burtree, by removing the glamor that shrouds the tree in invisibility on the cliff side.” Todd pointed at the Vision Conversion Circle.

Thea nodded, remembering that her aunt had pulled out crystals for that Conversion. The crystals must have been the Component, and the whole tree was the Focus. She wondered if there was a gigantic Conversion Circle around the tree on top of the cliff. She shook her head in wonder.

“The Cerulean Fragment gets really complex,” Todd explained as he turned to the next section of the book. “Dimension Walking and manipulating time and stuff. Those Conversion Circles aren’t even in the beginner’s guide because they’re so powerful. Same with the Celestial Fragment. You have to be a Celestial Scholar to even learn what the Codes do.”

“Wow, that’s neat,” Thea said. “How do you become a Scholar?”

“It happens when you pass your Trial. You unlock each Fragment with a task, and if you unlock them all, you get to study them all.”

“What Fragment are you studying?” Thea asked.

Todd smiled. “The Seven Forces. I plan to be an Azure Alchemist, like my dad. I’m learning how to Conjure air and wield it in combat. After that, I’ll only have the Cerulean Fragment and the Celestial Fragment left, since I unlocked all Seven Fragments in my Trial.”

“Very impressive.” Thea secretly hoped she would get to study all Seven Fragments too. Suddenly, she was extremely nervous for her Trial, which would be the sole deciding factor in Thea’s future at Blackthorn and Burtree.

Just then, there came a knock on the door followed by the brusque voice of Thea’s mother.

Todd went for the door while Thea quickly slid her noctos back into her pocket. Emerald flopped onto the table and scurried down into Todd’s empty chair. Thea followed Todd to the door.

“Did you have a good first lesson?” Thea’s mother asked with a smile.

“Oh yes! I sure did!” Thea said with a big smile. “Thank you Todd! For all the help.” Thea gave him a big smile, and he nodded happily.

“Come along Allie,” her father said. “It’s time for dinner.”

“Hold up!” Todd said, and he stepped forward quickly and held out the Beginner’s Guide to Alchemy book. “You’ll need this for the late night studying I’m sure you’ll be doing.” Thea shared a smile with Todd and took the book.

Thea followed her parents down the corridor. They turned down the blue corridor toward the main hallway where the tiles were multi-colored, and they turned back toward the large antechamber that led to the Keeper’s Chamber.

Thea happily took in the sights as they walked the long ways back down the hall. White marble statues lined the halls, and the tiles and floating colored lights matched each hallway they passed: green, then yellow, then orange, and then red. Plus all the Alchemists and Chemists with their Chimaeras along the way. Thea saw even more fun combinations: Chimaeras she recognized, such as the Hippogriff, Griffin, an Eastern Dragon, and a Western Dragon, and even some combinations she didn’t recognize. A few times, she glimpsed a Chimaera so strange that she couldn’t even tell what animals had been combined to create the creature.

When the hallway opened up to the huge antechamber with the Keeper’s large oak door, they veered off and entered a room called the Great Hall.

Thea’s jaw dropped as her eyes shot upward to the high ceiling of the grand room. Instead of the typical tessellating tile patterns that Thea had learned to expect while underground in Blackthorn and Burtree, the night sky shone down from the ceiling—a celestial snapshot of the universe. The stars lit up the room like fireflies.

Along the far side of the room a long buffet line stretched the entire wall. Thea lined up with her parents behind a fairly large amount of people. But in next to no time, they reached the buffet, and Thea followed her parents’ example and picked up a medium-sized heavy black bowl. Thea noticed that aside from some baked goods, none of the food was cooked.

Thea watched in amazement as a girl threw cubes of raw beef into her bowl, along with raw potato cubes, some cold chopped carrots, and a cup of milk.

“Just follow my lead,” her father said as he grabbed a fistful of straight uncooked pasta noodles. He went on to add some minced onions, garlic, and tomato paste along with a pound of raw hamburger crumbles, and topped it all off with some water. Thea did the same, though she couldn’t help but worry that she would be very sick later.

“Oh Allie, this is going to be your favorite part about Alchemy, trust me!” her father said as they turned to search for a table. Tables of all sizes filled the grand room, both for small and large groups. All the tables were made of dark hardwood with matching chairs. Each table had a hot plate at the center. They walked through the large crowded grand hall until they found a small empty table, and they sat down together.

Thea had never seen her father so excited about food. “Oh, how I’ve missed this!” He reached for a knob on the table, which lifted part of the table top to reveal a hidden compartment filled with seasoning shakers and black discs. He took three different seasoning shakers. Then he chose one of the round black discs, and Thea noticed the engraved Insignia.

“Daddy! Are we going to use Alchemy to cook our food?” Thea asked, and her parents smiled.

“The trick is to use just the right amount of spices to fill the Insignia, oh, and of course, you need to choose the right Conversion for the meal you are trying to make. That’s important too!” He held up his black disc with the Script engraving. “Do you use Conjuration or Evaporation or Infusion for the heat?”

Thea searched the table and found another disc that matched her father’s: a rather simple Circle with a triangle inside, and another circle, with yet another triangle in the very center.

“Might I suggest you stick with fire for a while?” her mother put in. “It’s the hardest one to mess up.” She winked at Thea.

“Spaghetti!” her father announced with a flourish of his spice shakers. “It’s the easiest meal for beginners, and it’s still delicious!”

Thea grinned as she picked up each spice shaker as soon as her dad finished with them. She recognized salt and garlic powder and oregano. Who would have thought that spices could be a Component for an Alchemy Conversion to make spaghetti?

Her father snapped his disc on top of his black bowl, and Thea realized that it was a lid, and the bowl was a cauldron to cook the food. He moved his cauldron to the hot plate at the center of the table, struck a match on the table, and said, “Ignis!” Orange and blue flames instantly engulfed the cauldron. “Give it a bit then.” He gestured for Thea to try it.

Thea set her lid on top of her cauldron, slid it over to the hot plate, and took a slow breath to get ready for the Conversion. She used a match to make a small flame. “Ignis!” she shouted, and her Kundalini swirled around her, warming her up. Just in time, she remembered to focus on the Insignia, and she found the Ostium and channeled her Kundalini. Her cauldron flickered with flames on top of the dark wooden table.

“Well done,” her mother said as she finished her concoction. Thea hadn’t noticed what her mother was cooking.

“I’ve been wondering,” Thea said, bringing her voice low and stealing glances at her mom and dad. All around them, Alchemists and Chemists visited loudly while they ate. She very much doubted anyone could hear their conversation, but she still kept her voice down. “What did you used to do before … well, before the ranch?” she asked.

“We both studied at Blackthorn and Burtree to become the Keeper’s Apprentices,” her mother said.

“What kind of work do you do for the Keeper?” Thea asked, suddenly interested.

Her father leaned forward on the table. “Among many things, one of the Keeper’s jobs is to keep Alchemy hidden from the Recreants. He has many Alchemists who help him with this task, and they live all over the world. Wherever Alchemy can be found, a Keeper’s Anima will always be close by, ensuring that Alchemy remains a secret to the common people.”

“Is that your job?” Thea looked back and forth at her parents, smiling brightly.

“Well, it used to be,” he said.

“But you’re still working for the Keeper, aren’t you?” Thea asked.

Her parents nodded wordlessly. Thea realized that if her parents had been working for the Keeper this whole time, their job must have been to watch over her.

“Are you my guardians?” Thea whispered.

Her mother glanced at her father, and he gave her a subtle nod.

“Not quite,” she said quietly, giving Thea’s hand a little squeeze. Thea could hardly hear her over the noises filling the Great Hall. “It’s hard to explain, but just know that your father and I are your parents, and we only want what’s best for you. We wanted you to grow up safe and sound, so we agreed to move to the ranch when you were born. We protect you because we love you, but we also happen to be doing a job for the Keeper.”

Thea smiled softly.

Her father snapped his fingers, and his flaming cauldron went out. He flipped the lid off and inhaled deeply. “Ah!” And he immediately dug in, the conversation forgotten.

Thea had never been able to snap her fingers, and she looked at her mother quizzically as she also snapped her fingers to put an end to her Fire Conjuration Conversion. “Try clapping, Thea,” she suggested as she opened her cauldron to reveal a boiling vat of chicken noodle soup.

Thea clapped, and her fire died out. She grinned as she tossed the lid aside and took a big bite of the first Alchemy food she’d ever tasted. It tasted exactly like the spaghetti her mother always made for her. “Wow!” she said as she dug her fork into the cauldron for another bite.

She felt a slight twitch in her pocket as her noctos woke up. “What does my Chimaera eat?” Thea asked in hushed tones. While it made sense in theory for a carnivore and an herbivore to combine to make an omnivore, she wasn’t quite sure if it really worked that way.

“Chimaeras don’t eat,” her father explained. “They share your Energy and feed off of the food you take in.”

“Wow,” Thea sighed. “That’s neat.”

“It’s just one of the many ways that Alchemists are connected to their Chimaeras,” her mother said. “Soon, you’ll start to feel her emotions and even sense her thoughts. If you share a close enough bond, you will become one with all five senses too.”

Thea’s eyes went wide.

“Some people say that Chimaeras and Alchemists can share their physical forms and literally become one,” her father said.

“Oh, don’t start telling her fairytales now,” her mother chided. “That has never ever really happened,” she said.

“So what have you decided to name her?” her father asked without missing a beat.

“I dunno.” Thea reached into her pocket and gingerly stroked her miniature Chimaera. “She’s not Ceil anymore. But I think I still feel her in there somewhere.” Her throat went tight and tears filled her eyes. She had expected her Chimaera to simply be her horse with wings. That wasn’t at all what had actually happened.

“Trust me, she’s still there, and she is more connected to you now than she ever was,” Thea’s mother said. “And I’ve never met a single Chimaera that wasn’t happy to be bonded with his or her Alchemist or Chemist. They are our Soulmates and our Spirit Guides. We adore them and they adore us.”

Thea nodded and brushed the tears off her cheeks. The idea put a small smile on her face.

“Take her out,” her father insisted. “Let’s have a look.”

“Is it okay?” Thea asked, looking around the crowded room with table after table full of Alchemists and Chemists eating and conversing. Forks and knives scraped against plates, people laughed, and all around, fire engulfed cauldrons of cooking food. The noise made Thea seriously doubt that anyone could overhear them, but it seemed rather likely that someone would notice a Hopeful with a Chimaera, especially since they seemed to be the only people who weren’t wearing white tunics and slacks underneath the vests of assorted colors.

“Here, hand her to me,” he offered. “It will look like she belongs to me.”

Thea lifted the noctos out of her pocket and handed her over, underneath the table. He held his hand up to the tabletop and let the Chimaera walk off his hand onto the wooden table. She no longer dragged her wings around like an oversized parachute. She had folded them neatly against her back.

“She looks more like a horse than an owl,” her mother said. “But listen to those sounds she makes.”

Thea leaned in and heard a soft cooing, very distinctly owl-like. Thea puckered her lips and whistled softly, and the noctos whistled back. It almost sounded like a cross between a very high-pitched horse’s whinny and an owl’s whistle. Thea clicked her tongue, and the Chimaera even clicked back.

She had a celestial charisma about her, Thea thought. Even though Cecelia’s pinto colors had been replaced by the owl’s gray speckled patterns, she still looked more like Cecelia than the great gray owl that Aunt Fanella had summoned. Thea remembered how the giant bird of prey had seemingly materialized from heaven, like a celestial angel. Then Thea realized that she knew what to call her Chimaera.

“Her name is Celeste Cecelia, but I’m going to call her C.C.”

Thea’s parents both smiled. “That is a fantastic name,” her mother said.