Fragments of Alchemy: The Code Keeper
Chapter Twenty-Five

The First Chimaera

By the time Thea and Chadwick reached the Great Hall, her stomach was growling non-stop. Chadwick ran off toward the tables with little more than a, “See you Monday,” and Thea stood and watched him disappear into the throng of people, trying to dismiss her disappointment at seeing him go.

Just as she was about to pull her schedule out of her pocket, she heard someone call her name. She turned to see Uncle Van waving at her. “There you are, Allie!” he called as he approached.

“Uncle Van?” Thea clenched her jaw. “Don’t talk to me.” She turned to leave, but he grabbed her elbow.

“I’m afraid your next lesson is with me,” he said. “And I must ask you to call me Venarius Malus.”

“You’re my tutor?” Thea’s tone was icy.

Uncle Van nodded curtly. He hesitantly let her go, as if he worried she would run off.

C.C. twitched inside her pocket, and Thea faltered slightly as her Chimaera pummeled her psyche with a wave of fretful thoughts, mingling together in a confused frenzy that made no sense to Thea. She shook her head slightly, trying to clear her mind of the dizzying feeling.

“Are you quite alright, Allie?” Uncle Van said.

“Yeah.” She tried to shake off the dizziness, but it only grew more intense as Thea tried to act like nothing was wrong. She felt herself beginning to stagger as C.C.’s fright turned into full-blown panic and overwhelmed Thea’s untrained mind. Thea instinctively dropped to her knees and grabbed her head in both hands, fighting the urge to scream.

For a time, Thea was aware of nothing else but the overwhelming flood of psychic Energy from her Chimaera. When the frightful storm settled, Thea found herself in a chair at a table in a secluded area of the Great Hall. She looked up into the concerned face of her uncle. “Are you quite alright?”

“I’m okay now,” Thea said, shaking her head to rid herself of the last few wisps of dizziness. “It’s been a crazy morning, that’s all.”

“I cannot even imagine,” he said with a morose look on his face. “I wouldn’t doubt that your Spectrum Scholar schedule has you running yourself ragged. You must rest when you can.”

Thea nodded with her hand on C.C. where she trembled in her pocket. She felt a rush of relief that C.C. had stayed hidden. If she had burst forth from her vest in front of everyone in the Great Hall, she had no idea what would have happened.

“Here, eat this,” Uncle Van said, and he gestured with his hand to harness his Kundalini and push a cauldron of food toward her.

Thea smelled her mother’s meatloaf and potatoes, and she looked around, wondering if her mother was there somewhere. She couldn’t spot her anywhere nearby. “Where did you get this?”

“Your mother made it for you. She wanted me to tell you that she’s sorry.”

Thea huffed and took a bite of the food, sucking air in through her mouth to cool the burn of eating food that was too hot. She refused to accept her mother’s apology.

“It’s hard to explain, but you must understand that your parents only did what they were ordered to do by their leader. Can you understand that?” Uncle Van asked.

“If that’s true, then I want to speak to the Keeper,” Thea said. “He needs to explain himself.”

“That is a fair sentiment. However, we haven’t the time to go demand an audience with the leader of the Animarum. So we best just begin the lesson.”

Thea clenched her jaw and wallowed in her furry and, she realized, her sorrow. The realization brought tears to her eyes. She’d spent so long being furious at her parents for what they’d done that she only now realized she longed to see them. “Can you just tell me one thing?” she asked finally

“Of course. Ask and you shall have my answer.”

“Do you think they did the right thing?”

Uncle Van looked down at his hands. “They love you so much, Allie. They would do whatever it took to keep you safe. I believe in my heart that’s why they followed the Keeper’s orders.”

Thea blinked a tear out of her eye. She nodded sadly and took another bite of food, savoring the familiar tastes of one of her favorite meals.

“Are you ready to begin the lesson now?”

Thea nodded silently as she chewed.

“As you might have already gathered, the Amalgam Conversions are extremely useful in a fight. Alchemists can create Chimaeras, enlarge them, infuse them with elements, and create protective barriers, all with the Effervescent Fragment. The focus of this lesson is twofold: elemental transmutations and Chimaeras.”

Uncle Van reached for a bag and upended it on the table. “Any of these Components can be transmuted with a Chimaera, making Alchemists of the Effervescent Fragment the best suited for Chimaera combat.” He lifted a vial of water. “Transmute water and your Chimaera will have water breath. Transmute fire and your Chimaera will breathe fire.”

Thea took another mouthful of food to keep her mouth busy so she wouldn’t have to say anything. In a way, she should be the most furious at Uncle Van. He’s the one who gave the scroll to her. If not for him, she would have remained oblivious to everything. But blissful ignorance would not be much better than this, she decided. At least now she wasn’t oblivious to the Keeper’s manipulations. At least now she could try to follow her own course of action rather than be the Keeper’s puppet.

“This has its limitations of course,” Uncle Van said. “Each Chimaera has one or two Elemental Affinities. Take my aquileo for instance.” He gestured to the Chimaera on his shoulder. “Both lions and eagles have a natural wind affinity. So Griff can create his own wind storms. He can make a tornado if I transmute enough air for him.”

Thea swallowed. “That’s terrifying.”

“It’s useful,” Uncle Van countered. “Often, the most formidable Keeper’s Animarum are Effervescent Alchemists with their Chimaeras. When you embark on your Joint Trial with your Mentor, you will make your own Chimaera. I am teaching you this lesson now so you can start thinking about the Chimaera you would like to create.”

Thea went back to eating to keep her mouth occupied.

“I also have this Chimaera compendium for you to look at, which will help you choose the two animals to fuse together.” Uncle Van handed Thea a pocketbook from amid the pile of Components on the table. Thea forced herself to be polite and wait for a time to look at the book later.

Uncle Van smiled. “Let’s practice some transmutations, shall we?” He held out his hand and said, “Augendi,” and what looked like a small toothpick in his hand slowly grew into a quarterstaff. Uncle Van snapped his fingers, and a spark of fire appeared in his hand. “Permuto,” he said.

Flames suddenly infused his staff.

“Whoa!” Thea jumped back from the heat of the fire only a mere foot away. “How can you hold that without burning yourself?”

“Fire is my natural Elemental Affinity,” Uncle Van explained. “A fire I Conjure cannot burn me.”

Thea smiled. “Man, I wish I had that Affinity.”

Uncle Van thumped his staff on the floor, and the fire went out. “How can you be so sure you don’t?”

“I burned myself just this morning,” she explained.

“Just because the element hurt you doesn’t rule it out. Until you are trained in harnessing the element, you won’t be immune. Even now, if I’m caught off guard a fire can burn me. The only way to know for sure is to have a Trial to identify your one true Elemental Affinity.”

Thea’s ears burned. She had assumed her Affinity was air, since she had summoned that wind to blow the rogue Chimaera away, back on the ranch. But she wasn’t supposed to know her Affinity yet. “Please tell me we won’t use trial and error,” she said to try and hide her discomfort.

Uncle Van let out a half-hearted chuckle. “It’s a time-consuming process, sadly. We use another Fragment to discover Elemental Affinities: The Seven Forces. Conjuring elements takes a remarkable amount of Kundalini Energy, so Alchemists with a natural Affinity will still sometimes use other means to work with the elements. But without a natural Affinity, conjuring the element without a Component is impossible. Thus, making it a simple test for determining Affinities without any danger.”

Uncle Van held out a stone tablet with the Transmutation Circle. “Alas, we will not try to discover your Elemental Affinity today. Instead, we will practice transmuting the elements. Use this knife as the Focus.”

Thea took the knife and Circle and set them on the table before her. She took a match from the table, struck it on the tabletop, found the Ostium of the Insignia, and said, “Permuto.” The Sigil filled with orange light and a tiny flame roiled up and down the blade of the knife on the tabletop.

“Brilliant, my girl!” Uncle Van said with a heavy clap on Thea’s shoulder.

Thea searched the pile of Components on the table and spotted a lightning glove. She grinned, pulled the glove on and touched her metal-clad fingertips together, creating a tiny spark in her hand as she spoke the Code Word. Instantly the knife came to life with an electric fulguration.

Uncle Van looked impressed. Thea huffed for breath. She felt incredibly lightheaded after only two Conversions.

“Shall we take a break for your history lesson?” Uncle Van suggested, and Thea’s ears perked up. She loved learning about the history of Alchemy, because it sounded like fairy tales and fantasy stories.

She continued eating her lunch while Uncle Van told her the history of Chimaeras.

“Unfortunately, we don’t have any reliable records about the origins of Chimaeras,” Uncle Van started. “But we do know that they were created much further back in time than the first official Alchemical records, and we know they predate the oldest Recreant legends and myths that exposed the most famous Chimaeras.

“So we have our own legends about how the first Chimaeras came to be. Some of these are firsthand accounts of early experimentation with the Amalgamation Conversion. While other stories resemble word-of-mouth retellings by people who claim to have spoken with someone who knew a famous Alchemist who had a certain Chimaera, such as the First Alchemist, for example.”

Thea leaned in with interest.

“The most widely believed tales claim that early Alchemists have a role in almost all ancient historical creation myths. Take Egypt, for example. The Egyptian Griffin was an aquileo. Even their god of the underworld exists, because Egypt is the birthplace of Apep, the first serpenscis.

“It is said that Sumerian and Greek monsters were all originally Chimaeras spotted by Recreants. Sumerian Alchemists loved to use the lion for their Amalgamation Conversions, creating the leovum and leopio, two creatures depicted as mounts for Sumerian gods. Their giant Ziz and Anzu were really faleo. And Minotaur was a taurgillus.”

“Uncle—er, Venarius Malus? What do they say about the First Alchemist’s Chimaera?” Thea asked, almost interrupting her uncle.

Uncle Van raised one eyebrow at Thea, giving her a very odd vibe. “Most Alchemists believe that the First Alchemist discovered the potential for animal fusions accidentally, and created three Chimaeras. Other Alchemists, such as myself, believe the First Alchemist bravely fought and defeated the First Chimaera,” Uncle Van said.

“The First Chimaera was evil?” Thea asked.

“Primeval,” Uncle Van said. “I like to imagine the First Chimaera as a conglomerate form that could alter its appearance at will, because it essentially contained all forms of life within itself. But the First Alchemist defeated it and bit by bit, he extracted all the Chimaeras from its form. He continued extracting until all the common animals of the world emerged, or so says the legend. That is why Chimaeras are possible in the first place; because all animals were originally one, and when Alchemists take two animals to fuse together, they are in actuality rejoining that which was once whole.”

“That’s so neat,” Thea said.

Uncle Van smiled. “I see you have a certain enthusiasm for Chimaeras.”

“Oh totally! It’s my favorite part about Alchemy.” Thea took the last bite of her lunch. “… My favorite mythical creature has always been the Pegasus from Greek legends.”

“Ah, the noctos,” Uncle Van said.

“Noctos?” Thea said, pretending to try out the word for the first time. “Does that one have good Elemental Affinities?”

“Well, not the most powerful. The strongest Elemental Affinities occur when both original animals share the same Affinity, like my aquileo, or Fanella’s lyndis. But there’s nothing wrong with some versatility either. The noctos has a somewhat powerful wind affinity, and lightning definitely has its uses.”

Wind and lightning. The makings of a real storm, Thea thought with excitement.

“Is that what you plan to make, then?” Uncle Van asked, and Thea nodded. Uncle Van gave Thea a piercing stare. “Well, ultimately it is your decision, Allie. I must warn you, though. The reason why I am teaching you this lesson now, when you must wait until your Joint Trial to even create your Chimaera, is to give you plenty of time to think it over. You don’t yet know your own Elemental Affinity, and for most, that is the first factor in Chimaera creation. Best not to get your mind set on a choice just yet.”

Uncle Van brought his hand up to the Chimaera on his shoulder. The aquileo calmly stepped onto his master’s hand. Uncle Van rummaged in his pockets and produced a glistening frozen blue swirl of air. He calmly held it out for his Chimaera, who snapped his beak around the frozen air with a fervor that made Thea jump.

Uncle Van looked back at Thea. “Someone as strong as you, and with as much potential for greatness, should carefully consider which Chimaera would truly serve you best. Soon enough, you’ll discover your own true Elemental Affinity, and you might consider how your Chimaera can complement that, or perhaps make up for any weaknesses your Mentor’s Chimaera might have. In certain lines of work, your Chimaera can be the difference between life and death. This is not, then, the kind of decision to be made hastily; I hope you see that.”

Thea nodded uncomfortably, unable to ignore the weight of her own Chimaera hidden away in her pocket.

“Would you like to practice some more Elemental Transmutations?” Uncle Van asked.

Thea sighed heavily and hesitated.

“It seems you need a break,” Uncle Van said with a disappointed smile. He began gathering his items and returning them to his bag.

Thea breathed a quiet sigh of relief.

“Do you have any questions?” he asked after an awkward silence came over them.

Thea pondered for a moment. “Can I go now?” she finally asked.

Uncle Van frowned. “I suppose the lesson is over. You must be exhausted. You may be excused.”

“Thanks.” She got to her feet.

“Would you like me to pass a message along to your parents?” Uncle Van asked before Thea could turn to leave.

She bit her lip. An ache began to form in the back of her throat. She wanted to scream at them for what they did. She wanted to demand that they apologize to her and make it right. But what good would empty apologies really do? The damage was already done. What could they possibly do to make it right now? She’d already yelled at them when she decided to move out, and it didn’t make her feel any better. Finally, she shook her head.

Uncle Van pressed his lips together in a fine line and nodded. “I’ll see you tomorrow for our next lesson then.”

Thea nodded and left the table. She pulled her schedule from her pocket as she left the Great Hall and glanced down at the paper, her eyes catching on each of the names that Veneficus Pethboc had marked. Veneficus Charu, Venarius Malus, Guru Ellhorn, Venarius MacNamara, and Praeceptor Tsukino.

Thea nearly tripped over her own feet. She went stumbling and only just barely caught herself from face planting on the floor. Her schedule slid out of her hand and floated away.

Quickly, Thea dove for the schedule and checked to make sure no one had seen it. She stood up and tried to act normal. Then she realized that nobody would know what it meant if they had seen her schedule. Veneficus Pethboc had put a single slash through the names of five Alchemists on Thea’s schedule, but only Thea knew what the marks meant.

Thea looked again at what had made her trip and drop her schedule: the slash through the name Venarius Malus.

The mark that meant Thea’s uncle was working for the Code Breaker.

When Thea had entered the Great Hall and had seen her uncle, C.C. had reacted with a violent rush of fear. C.C. now began to fidget in her pocket. Thea quickly put her hand on her Chimaera to stop her from twitching, and with the contact came a sudden vivid vision.

She was suddenly running down the halls of Blackthorn and Burtree.

Thea jumped, and the vision immediately vanished as her connection to C.C. was broken. In a rush, Thea realized C.C. was sharing her vision with Thea. She tentatively put her hand back in her pocket, and sure enough, the vision flooded her mind again.

She was running down a hallway tiled in blue, dodging slow walkers, going at a frantic pace. She stopped at a dorm room and pounded on the door, screaming Todd’s name. Todd let her in, and she immediately rushed into the room while she rambled on about someone who was following her. Todd tried to calm her down and invited her to sit down. She sat at a table across from Todd’s tutor, Maleficus Malus. Then Todd stood beside the table, held up a Component, and spoke a Code Word.

Thea felt her hand slip away from her Chimaera in her pocket and the vision faded. That was when Thea remembered waking up in Todd’s room to discover that she had lost her memory. Now, thanks to the memory C.C. had just shared with Thea, she remembered what had happened in Todd’s dorm. Todd had erased her memory because a tutor told him to.

And that tutor had been Maleficus Malus. Silvanus Malus. Quentin’s father.

Thea’s uncle had forced Todd to erase her memory.