The Journey Of Alanna Ch. 09

The journey back was easy. Everything seemed easy after defeating the mutant centipede. Some of Alanna's bones still ached, but she had done the impossible: Taken on and defeated a dangerous monster all by herself. Granted, she didn't think she would have ever done it without Solizzar's help. Had he not taken her in, fed her, clothed her, and trained her to fight she would have likely died in these caves, all those months ago. Even if she had survived, she did not believe anything good would have come of it. She would have fled to the nearest town and been reduced to a beggar, or lived out of these caves like a feral animal.

She didn't just owe Solizzar her life, she owed him her future. She did not know if she could ever repay a debt that vast. She tried not to think about it, and instead just focussed on how much she wanted him to be proud of her, to show that his trust and belief in her hadn't been for nothing.

She thought about what she wanted to do once she left as she climbed the caverns back towards their shared home. Most settlements were walled in to protect from monsters, with an extra wall beyond that to protect farmland. The vast majority of people were born and died behind one set of these walls, never seeing the outside world except maybe from what visitors carried on them. 

She thought about foraging as a profession. Mushrooms and herbs were rare within the walls for obvious reasons. If they happened to grow within sight someone would grab them for personal use or to sell off, so they had some value. She imagined a little cottage full of drying herbs, with a cozy fireplace to heat her during winter, and furs... Lots of furs. She hated how the orphanage never had thick blankets and how the floor was wood in every room. The draft could kill, Naji would say. 

Her heart sank a little. She had no way of knowing what happened to Naji, whether she was safe or taken care of. Part of her wanted to run back home, sword held high, demand entrance to Birchhaven and take Naji with her to a new home. It was a foolish thought. Birchhaven had more soldiers defending the gate they threw her out of than she could hope to beat, and more yet beyond that. She discarded the thought as a childish fantasy, hoping Naji had been adopted someplace nice. She was a good person. Nobody deserves being thrown out on the streets... Or out the gate.

Alanna finally returned to the entrance to home, easily identifiable by the fact that the tunnel leading there was perfectly rectangular. She rushed the last stretch home, joy driving her legs despite how tired she was. 

"Solizzar! I'm back!" she called out as she entered the laboratory. Everything was dark here, the firepit beneath the lab bench not burning, and the torches had been reduced to mere embers, not replaced since she left.

"Solizzar?" she called out. She called down each tunnel connected to the laboratory, hoping to hear from him, but there was nothing. Worry began to tighten her chest. She had never seen Solizzar leave his home, not for anything other than preparing her obstacle course, so for him to leave without even saying goodbye was completely unlike him.

She decided to look in the one room Solizzar had asked her not to enter: His personal abode. While she had always been curious what his room would be like, she respected his wishes too much to ever violate his privacy. At least, until now.

She pushed open the door. It creaked, and she was immediately hit with an awful smell, that of meat that had gone bad. She saw Solizzar on his bed. His breathing was labored, his robes discarded to the floor. There wasn't much reason for him to cover up, though his face had hints of masculinity insofar as a mass of worms in the shape of a face could have them, the rest of his body was merely the silhouette of a person cast in worms.

"Solizzar? What happened to you?" Alanna asked.

Solizzar turned his head slowly, as though only now awakening from a deep slumber.

"Alanna," he gasped, speaking slowly, as though struggling for every word. "I am sorry. I did not wish our goodbye to be like this."

She rushed to his side. Up close she could clearly see how unwell he was. Many of the worms that composed his skin had fallen off, his bed covered in dead castoffs. The bones that formed the framework of his body were clearly visible in places.

"You are dying," Alanna said, almost not believing it herself.

"You were always... Quick," Solizzar said. 

"W-what can I do?! There has to be something!" 

Solizzar shook his head. "When... When we use magic to create new life... New monsters... Their lifespans are never guaranteed. Some will die in hours. Some will last for hundreds of years. My time... My time is up."

Alanna fell to her knees. All the eagerness and hope she had felt earlier to her now brighter future felt dashed. As much as she had thought about what she wanted to do, she never thought about where Solizzar would be in her future. Some part of her had quietly assumed he would always have been here, in these caves, offering sage advice over a cut of freshly-cooked game.

He wouldn't be in her future at all, she now realized. She choked back tears at the thought.

"Please, Alanna. No tears. Not today," Solizzar said. "Today is for you. Please, tell me about your test. I wish to hear it."

Alanna wiped away her tears on her sleeve and forced down her sadness with every ounce of willpower she had. She spoke of her journey towards the Underworld, getting through the prepared obstacles with ease, followed by her battle with the centipede and the journey back here.

Solizzar seemed enraptured by her story, hanging on her every word despite his condition. 

"Again, you managed to astound... To surprise me, Alanna. If you had run from that mutant and returned here, I would still have considered it a success. To know you beat it... That you could fight as well as you did... It brings me great joy."

The pride she heard in his voice that she had wished for so dearly earlier now felt more like another needle of pain piercing her chest. 

"How long have you known about... About this?" Alanna asked.

"My death? A few weeks. When you draw close, your body knows. I am sorry... Sorry for not telling you sooner. I did not... I did not want you to grieve at our parting. You have accomplished something grand here, Alanna. Never let anyone tell you otherwise."

He took another deep breath, his chest rattling with liquid. He reached towards the table next to his bed, taking a small, leather-bound book. He carefully handed it to her.

"That is my final gift to you, Alanna. I spent my last weeks compiling my notes... Organizing my knowledge... Into that book. I have called this new... New profession... New craft of ours, Alchemy. The power to harness the essence of all things magical.

I... I thought about why my predecessor wanted so dearly to prove his theory correct. I believe that it was to prove... That the world could be more equal. That hundreds need not be a helpless, oppressed peasantry to sustain a handful of people with 'useful' Classes. With his theories he could give them power as well, to defend themselves, to strive for a more equal world."

Solizzar coughed several times, and Alanna could see that for the first time, tears were now flowing from his eye sockets.

"I do not believe he could have done it. I was excited at first, when we proved his theory true, that we could bring about that change... The change he wanted to see. Then I realized he died for even attempting to prove it could be done. There are so many forces in the world... Forces that benefit from how things are... They would never allow us to bring about that change.

So, I have decided... I have fulfilled my debt to my predecessor, to the true Solizzar, by finishing his work. I now entrust it to you. Know that many will want to take it from you. Know that some who realize this work exists will attempt to destroy it, but with this, you have the power to never be reduced to a mere Peasant again, Alanna. May you be the one for whom equality will have been realized."

Alanna had tears running down her cheeks. This was so much to take in, but her curiosity continued to burn, and she decided that here, at the end, she wanted to ask the one thing she had been wondering this entire time.

"Why did you decide to take me in?"

Solizzar smiled at that question. His eye sockets closed, as though remembering a happier time far from here. His speech was getting slower.

"Because you reminded me of my... Of Solizzar's daughter. Of the daughter whose father I stole to start my... life."

As he uttered the last word, a great breath of air left his lungs, and his body began to fall apart, individual worms cascading down until all that was left was a skeleton on a bed of dead flesh.

At last, Alanna allowed herself to cry, weeping the first time for another.

It took her a few days to find a good spot. She dug Solizzar a grave at the base of an old oak tree not too far from his cave. She took care to bury every bone and worm, not wanting even a single part of him to be left outside his final resting place. She didn't have the tools to carve him a tombstone, so she piled some rocks to mark his grave.

It felt insufficient. To have someone play this big of a role in your life be buried somewhere they'll never be found or mourned seemed wrong. However, she knew he wouldn't want her to linger.

She took a vial out of her pocket. She had followed the instructions in her handbook to the letter and created yet another extract, this time from the centipede's venomous mandibles. 

She had read about funeral ceremonies in her children's books, always as part of the farewell of some great hero who had lived happily ever after. It felt strange to honor Solizzar in such a way, but not out of place.

"To Solizzar," she said, holding the vial high, "Inventory of Alchemy. Mentor. Friend. That he may be remembered by at least one person in the world for what he accomplished."

She chugged the vial. She felt another rush of pain as it worked its magic on her body, but she welcomed it this time. She didn't expect anything would come to her for free, but she was determined not to squander what Solizzar had bestowed on her.

She left for Wildbrook not to be a mere herb-gathering forager. She wanted to do something great with her life, something that would honor the memory of the man who gave her this chance. She chose to be an adventurer.

"Half-Rabbitfolk Peasant.

Level 3.

Hitpoints: 20/20

Mana: 8/8

Strength: 10

Dexterity: 16

Constitution: 12

Intelligence: 12

Wisdom: 13

Charisma: 10

Experience: 13.2%.

Feats: [Good Runner (Racial)], [Great Hearing (Racial)], [Weather Reader (Class)], [Darkvision (Racial)], [Goblin Trapfinding (Racial)] [Plant Analyzer (Class)], [Animal Analyzer (Class)], [Tremorsense, Lesser (Racial)], [Enhanced Reflexes, Lesser (Mutation)], [Poison Resistance, Lesser (Racial)]

Conditions: None"