The Scientist's Mistake

Prologue:

In the kingdom of Talkun, just outside its capital city of Garmis under a large cliff wall sat a stone building a hundred meters in all directions this square structure had a large stone door with multiple rotary dials inside deep down a large set of stairs and threw a long corridor there was a room off to the side, The room was filled with several machines and workstations each filled with various beakers, vials, flasks and various other types of Glassware all set up in different configurations, some were boiling liquids distilling them into other glass container's while other stations were simply waiting to be used by a particular scientist in the middle of the room who wore a large yellow coat that stretched all the way down to his knees with a leather apron covering most of it, underneath the coat he wore a pair of olive-coloured pants mostly obstructed by his leather boots that came almost up to his knees, his hands were also unseen thanks to a pair of leather gloves which came halfway up his arms, his skin little of which could actually be seen on his face was almost as pale as a ghost from spending too much time underground, the rest of it was covered by his short brown messy hair and a pair of iron and leather goggles that blocked his dark brown eyes, all of this equipment was to protect him from the dangerous chemicals that inhabited his laboratory the very same chemicals he was currently messing around with mixing them in a certain way into a single flask each one creating a tornado of bubbles as it entered, the first to do so was a bright green chemical that he poured a small amount into the flask which was already slightly filled with a water coloured liquid, he then placed a large amount of a blue chemical into the flask which changed the liquid to a dark blue colour, he then grabbed one more chemical and started to pour it into the flask this one was a red chemical and he poured more than the green but less than the blue which gave the liquid in the flask a bright purple colour, just as he finished pouring in the last chemical a loud Bang could be heard behind the scientist which caused him jump in his skin slightly and drop the red chemical vial onto the floor which Smashed loudly he looked down towards the vial before looking at where the Bang originated but before he could a voice beat him to the answer.

“Theodore I’m back” a scrawny man dressed in raggedy old olive-coloured clothes yelled as he held the door open panting for air.

“Deacon don’t scare me like that did you at least bring what I asked for?” Theodore said sighing with relief.

“Yeah, I got it right here, why do you even need the crystal of a Treant” Deacon passed a large green crystal with what looked like a crack down the middle over to Theodore who put it up to the bright light that illuminated the room with one hand as if to inspect it.

“To change the world as we know it Deacon”

“Well...I wish you the best but I’m... going to go before... well... you know... before he gets here... you know how he doesn’t like me" Deacon said in a panicked and anxious tone attempting to leave the room in haste.

“I think your overthinking this Deacon just because he’s the king doesn't mean he doesn't like you” Theodore stopped inspecting the crystal and placed it into a machine on the counter it had two large metal rollers with several spiked areas which started to crush the crystal as soon as Theodore pressed a button on the machine, a powder-like substance could be seen falling into a small glass container at the bottom of the machine.

“Well either way I’m leaving” Deacon said to which Theodore seemed to be too busy to even notice what Deacon had said”

“With this, I should be able to get a better more stable growth rate, thank you Deacon” Theodore said as he looked back towards the door to notice that Deacon had already left “Well I suppose I should just continue alone then” he said as he placed the powdered crystal substance into the purple chemical mixture which started to bubble violently, creating a plume of smoke into the air “Why is it doing that, my calculations never mentioned this possibility” Theodore said looking surprised at the flask which kept getting more and more violent until the flask shattered from the heat being produced by the mixture “Ehhhh... That’s not good” Theodore said unsteadily as the mixture from the flask seeped onto the floor expanding in volume every second, engulfing Theodore until it eventually exploded from the heat and instability the room filling with a bright light and a loud Bang but under It all a small scream could be heard “A-a-a-a-a-a-a-a...”

Inside the corridor at the bottom of the stairs that leads to the laboratory a noble-looking man with tanned honey-covered skin wearing a long red mantle with a white fur top that almost touched the floor, strong steel and gold-coloured partial plate armour that covered the man's torso, shoulders, lower arms and legs, underneath he wore a pair of pants made of tough white cloth and a shirt that was way too tight for his massively muscular body, beside him attached to his hip was a fancy looking sword with red leather cloth and gold inlay, His eyes were as blue as the sea and on top of his head he wore a gold ring, with several spiked areas that had a large engraving pattern and a single red shining stone in the centre of the entire thing and with all this it was clear to anyone who looked at this man that he was in fact a King. Behind the King followed two knights dressed in full plate armour which even blocked their faces from being seen thanks to their helmets as the king walked down the corridor, he walked past a man whom he knew but didn't like giving him a violent distrustful stare this man was Deacon, who looked away from the king feeling like he was guilty of something as he slithered his way past him and the two knights before running up the stairs that led back to the surface. Shortly after passing Deacon and continuing down the dimly lit corridor, a door came into view however just as the king saw the door it exploded right off its hinges in a Firey boom which sent the door slamming into the wall of the corridor the explosion shaking the entire ground as it impacted everything around it, almost without hesitation the king shouted orders to his knights.

“Quickly men, the laboratory!”

The knights sprinted towards the laboratory with the king slowly behind them his speed was impacted by a small limp in his right leg only noticeable now that he was running, his knights stopped outside of the doorway one of them looked over towards the king placing his hand on his chest and bowing while shaking his head which made the king stopped running and instead slowly start to walk over to the door in disbelief of what just occurred before his eyes when he arrived at the door and started to look inside the room was a total mess, the workstations full of vials and equipment had been thrown against every wall the glass from many of them encased the floor in a shiny soot covered glow, both the walls and ceilings were covered with scorch marks that encompassed the entire room if anyone was in here when the explosion occurred the king could not see a single trace of them the only strange thing that could be seen was in the centre of the room which had now become a large collection of plant roots each as thick as the king’s arms which had burrowed their way into the ceiling causing it to collapse onto the broken workstations below the brick and dirt creating a pile, the roots wrapped around counters, stuck to the walls and entrenched themselves into the floor lifting the stones up over top of the roots, the king looked mortified by the state of the room and looked over towards one of his knights.

“Your majesty there's no physical body but there are traces of blood everywhere” the knight said with as calm a voice as he could muster with the situation before him.

“I knew... I knew eventually this would kill him, but I didn’t think I would get to see it happen” The king stumbled over his words as he tried to stop himself from crying the pain visible on his face, he held it back with all he had and ordered his knights in an authoritative voice "Clear and search the room then remove any and all artefacts relating to magi-science from the inner sanctum” the king turned around walking back towards the stairs as his knights drew their swords and begun cutting through the roots of this plant, the king holding back the pain as much as he could but a few tears snuck their way out of his eyes.

Chapter one: Nature’s Enigma

The Trees bent as if they were about to snapped in half from the strong gusts of wind being created by the torrential storm, the storm was devastating the capital city of Garmis as lights from the city could be seen in the distance moving around in all directions. Close by a shape could be seen moving across the forest it was that of some creature or animal, but its shape was massive and unknown, this creature had not one but two tail-like shadows protruding from the rear, it could only be seen for a few seconds before it disappeared back into the darkness of the night at incredible speeds a faint blue glow encasing its black body and as the darkness of the night turned into day in the blink of an eye, The Kingdom of Talkun was back to peace once again as the storm faded away with the rising of the sun.

A set of big wooden doors with Intricate animal patterns carved all over them swung open with considerable force with a loud Crrreeeaaaking sound as if the door hinges had not been maintained in a very long time, a figure appeared as the bright light from outside faded to equalize with the large room, its dark and bleak space filled with various people of all shapes and sizes each wielding some weapon somewhere on their body. The figure stepped into the room its physique slowly appearing with the light, it was a man he wasn’t scrawny, but he also wasn’t extremely buff looking either if anything he was the most normal-looking person in the room compared to everyone else, a simple sword on his hip that looked like it had been poorly maintained, basic reddish-brown leather armour covering his entire body the only part that was different was his bracers which were reinforced with some sort of rusty metal, his back was covered by a greenish cloak with face hidden by its hood.

As the man walked everyone in the room turned to look at him, their looks were not one of interest but of contempt as he slowly removed the hood coving his honey tanned skin the black sultry hair flowing out from beneath it, the people filling the room pierced their eyes into the man like daggers as he walked, the gaze of his leafy green eyes cast downward towards the wooden floor boards, he approached a large board covered in layers of posters as far as the eye could see, he focused in on one of the posters a painting of a plant taking up most of the paper, the man couldn't make out all the words but what he could read was that it was a request to collect plants but not any ordinary plants ones specifically used to create medicinal potions, the local apothecary was looking for these to combat the rising demand since the storm, the man glanced at the poster next to the one he was looking at to find a completely different request it had a painting of some horrible creature wrapped in all black its appearance was confusing it had tentacle's as well as several legs but before the man could continue reading about it the poster was snatched off the wall, the man looked up to see the person who ripped the poster down, it was a burly man wearing barely any armour his chest was naked like a brute his muscles protruding from his body the urge to touch them flooding his thoughts but before he could even look away the burly man spoke in a heavily aggressive and intimidating tone.

“What, you got a Deathwish kid?”

“Wha... Wh...”

The brute scoffed “Loser” before turning around with his massive body, shoving the man aside from the strength. The man watched as the brute walked over to a group of people with the poster in hand until he had finished silently projecting his hate, turning back to the board he ripped the medicinal plant request from it and walked away towards a reception desk at the back of the room approaching it a women spoke enthusiastically.

“Welcome to Balthazar's how may I help you” it was the receptionist she slowly lowered the newspaper she was holding before completely changing her attitude “Oh... It's just Dolion” her tone was that of an exasperated person who had had enough of her job, but it was more than that she spoke with disrespect in her voice something Dolion tried to ignore “What do you want” she tried to ignore the fact that Dolion was holding a request in his hand which bothered him greatly but he didn’t let it show.

“Well!”

“I’d...”

Before Dolion could even finish his sentence, he was forcibly shoved aside by the same brute who had done so before the man laughing the entire time while saying “Out of the way pipsqueak” until he had enough and changed his attention to the receptionist, speaking just as aggressively as before.

“I want this job, give it to me!”

“Are you sure sir? Going alone might be dangerous” she replied concerningly

“Do I look like I need help to you?”

“N....no sir, of course not” as she hesitantly plunged a fancy looking stamper down onto the poster, leaving the word ‘Accepted’ behind in a red ink. The brute swiped the poster from the desk, spun around before storming off out the door as fast as his legs could take him.

The receptionist took out a very large leather-covered book before she began to write in it, Dolion could only make out a few words the entire book looked like it was filled with complexities but from what little he could decipher it seemed to be a logbook filled with every request new and old.

“Erm...” Dolion began to clear his throat “...Hem” before lifting his hand and speaking “Excuse me” the receptionist ignored Dolion as he thought Why the hell is she just ignoring me, his thoughts didn’t last long because a few moments later he was snapped back to reality by a loud Clapping sound as the receptionist closed the book shut.

“What do you even want!” she said irritated by Dolions presence

“I’d like to take this request” Dolion responded sarcastically placing the poster onto the wooden counter with a hefty slam, the receptionist responded immediately in a patronizing way.

“Please remain calm or I’ll have to call the guards”

“Sorry” Dolion didn’t want to say it, but he felt the tension in the room rise as he looked over to two guard looking figures staring at him clenching their weapons why didn’t she call those fools for that brute of all people Dolion thought as she stamped the poster before picking it up and holding it out to him her eyes not even looking in his direction.

“Take it and leave already”

Dolion plucked the poster from her hands with a swing of his hand then walked towards the door leading back outside his body screaming of pure rage but just before he could leave, he heard the receptionist mutter under her breath “Finally”. As Dolion left the building he started to walk through the streets of Garmis towards the exit out of the city he started to mumble to himself though most of it was in his head some of it could be heard outload but not loud enough for anyone to pay attention not that they would even if they did notice.

I’m no stranger to being ignored, abused or pushed around like that back at Balthazar's, but I shouldn’t have to worry about it much longer, with the money from this request I should be able to leave this god-awful city, travel to another country, one that doesn’t know who I am and resent me for the choices I made but without enough money I’ll never be able to get far enough away from this god-awful place, I’d have left a long time ago if not for Castlias blockade on the Westledon mountains the only way to Amphelia these days is from a ferry at the port town of Bronhold. A voice in the distance snaps Dolion out of his daydream, his longing to escape this place fading into the back of his mind.

“Next!” a loud voice shouts in the distance from here Dolion can see a long line of people in front of several guards at the gatehouse leading out of the city.