Cold.
Heavy breathing tearing the throat.
Running. Every step was a violent pounding on the frozen ground.
He looked left... a dark crevice in the mountain. He ignored it.
Inhale... a cracked exhale...
Blood dripping from his leg, drawing a glaring red line on the snow.
He ran faster.
Hooooowl...
The sound was not far. It was right behind his neck.
He threw his body behind a massive tree trunk.
His breath came out white, erratic.
He looked at his left hand. No time to hesitate.
He raised his hand to his mouth, and sank his teeth into the raw flesh at the base of the thumb.
The salty taste of iron filled his mouth.
Light smoke emanated from his spilled blood, and between his trembling fingers materialized a card with frayed edges. Illustrated on it was a black sun swallowing light, and engraved beneath it in raised letters: Eclipse.
The card instantly burned with a cold black flame, and the light, sound, and scent shattered around his body, as if the shadow swallowed him.
Thud... thud... thud...
Heavy footsteps shook the earth.
He looked out of the corner of his eye from behind the trunk.
A Chlorophyll Hybrid wolf. Six legs moving in mechanical harmony. The fur was exposed red muscle fibers interspersed with green veins. Hundreds of small algae-colored eyes covered its shoulders.
Its bloody red nose rose, sniffing the air.
Disgusting teeth dripping with green saliva, which fell onto the rock, melting it with a hiss.
The wolf moved.
Its nose neared the ground, sniffing the bloodstains that Vanitas had left before hiding.
The beast walked slowly... until it reached the tree.
The wolf's head became exactly level with Vanitas . Hundreds of eyes blinked.
Vanitas held his breath until his chest nearly burst.
The wolf sniffed the air around the tree... It found nothing but the scent of wood and rot. Human presence had vanished from the fabric of the location.
The wolf exhaled in annoyance, twisted its massive body, howled in disappointment, and then ran off looking for prey that had not evaporated.
Vanitas remained frozen for seconds after its departure.
Then he fell to his knees.
Breathe... breathe...
"Since the first night... a Chlorophyll Hybrid ?"
He wiped the blood from his mouth.
"If I continue like this, I will die before dawn."
He forced himself up on his leg. I must move. To the cave I ignored earlier.
He looked around cautiously, then moved back.
He walked with a limp. He looked at his foot. The bite was deep, and the venom was beginning to spread.
He coughed violently. Drops of blood fell onto his hand.
He reached the cave.
He looked at the blood dripping from him, creating a trail to track him.
He raised his hand. The middle ring flashed.
And out of nothingness, a gray card slipped between his fingers bearing the engraving Faber. "Faber."
The card crumbled into silver dust that fell onto the blood. No sound was made; the blood boiled for a moment, then turned into gray dust and scattered with the wind. The trail was erased.
He entered.
A small, narrow cave, but dry.
He sat down, leaning against the wall.
He looked at the ring on his pinky finger—a resource storage and an alarm for approaching monsters... perfume, and bandages.
The ring glowed to open a small spatial rift, and a crystal perfume bottle and a roll of white cloth dropped into his lap.
He grasped the perfume with his trembling hand. A Revert card appeared affixed to the bottle's glass, glowing with a pale blue light. "Revert."
The bottle glowed, then the matter inside it disassembled. The alcohol and essential oils had their atoms forcibly rearranged to become a raw, sterile liquid.
He poured the transmuted liquid onto his wound.
"Cough... Aghhh!"
The pain was white, searing, and absolute. He coughed up blood mixed with that green liquid from his mouth.
He grabbed the bandages. Tried to apply them.
His hands were shaking uncontrollably.
He pulled the bandage... it slipped. Was my choice correct?
He tried again. The knot was loose. Every cell in my body tells me: you are wrong.
The bandage slipped off and fell into the dirt.
He stopped. Stared into the dark void.
"Why did I come here?"
The sound of his panting was the only answer.
"I am going to die... that is certain."
He picked up the dusty bandage.
"I do not know..."
He attempted to tie it a third time.
"I only know that I exist. The rest... are luxuries."
He tightened the knot with brutal savagery this time.
"Agh..."
He pulled out a metal food tin.
He drank the jelly in a single gulp. He sat watching the cave entrance.
The wind howled outside, carrying the harbinger of death.
Where am I going? And if I reach this unknown place, what will I do? Was this the rebellion of a spoiled child? Am I even a child? Or just a mask replaced when it wears out?
His eyelids grew heavy.
He closed his eyes.
...
He woke up to a coarse sensation.
Something was walking on his face.
He opened his eyes.
The ceiling... the floor... his body...
Cockroaches the size of a palm. Hundreds of them.
He jolted, tried to scream, but something solid thrust into his mouth.
He bit down.
A taste of bitterness, a viscous liquid exploded in his throat.
He spat and choked.
"Cough! Cough! Agh!"
They gnawed at his neck. Gnawed at his arm.
He thrashed his body frantically, crushing the hard crustaceans with his bare hand.
He tried to breathe, but the air was saturated with the stench of mashed insects.
Heat... cold...
The ring did not illuminate. It did not warn him.
He crawled backward, collided with the wall.
The world faded.
And the last thing he thought of was not his mother, nor his lost dreams.
It was a single thought:
"It seems this mask... was breakable too."
---
[Excerpted from the book: Foundational Principles of Transformative Alchemy]
Version: 4.02 - The Royal Academy Approved Edition
Chapter One: The Infrastructure of Transmutation and Exchange Operations
1. The Tri-Element Necessity
No alchemy operation can actualize in reality unless the following three pillars are combined; the absence of any pillar leads to complete failure or a random energetic explosion:
A. The Card (The Catalyst / The Logical Mediator): It is the "processor" carrying the conceptual code of the operation. The card is not a price, nor is it consumed as fuel; rather, it is the deterministic tool for channeling energy. Without the card, will cannot be transmuted into matter.
B. The Toll (The Energetic Fuel): It is the physical or vital energy consumed to execute the card's "code". The toll is entirely separate from the card; the card is the "key" and the toll is the "effort" exerted to turn it.
C. The Law of Equivalence (Parallel Exchange): The physical principle ensuring that matter is not destroyed. The card rearranges the molecular bonds of the original matter to transmute it into an equivalent form in mass and essence.
"In special cases, such as with the [Faber] and [Revert] cards, it is permissible to use the target matter as a toll to activate the alchemical operation, whereby the card consumes a portion of the target's mass to provide the necessary energy to rearrange its molecular bonds."
2. The Creation Rite (Card Creation Protocol)
Before the alchemist can pay the "usage toll," they must pass through the phase of "conceptual licensing," known as creating the card:
Creation Conditions: A set of testing requirements dependent on each card. The alchemist must fulfill them to be able to summon the card from their personal "registry".
Difficulty Dynamics: Affected by the rarity of the card; cards created by thousands of alchemists historically (like cleaning cards) have routine and easy creation conditions, whereas innovative cards require miraculous conditions to define the concept in the fabric of reality for the first time.
3. The Toll Hierarchy
The toll is exacted from available material resources (external sacrifice). In their absence, reality forcefully extracts the toll from the alchemist's vital entity (blood, tissues, or "mana/vital" energy), which explains the physical damage afflicted upon alchemists when using powerful cards without a sufficient material mediator.
4. Conceptual Pollution and the Emergence of Labyrinths (Abominatio Origin)
Every alchemical operation leaves an energetic "scar." The accumulation of these scars resulting from ignoring the balance in parallel exchange leads to:
Fabric Tearing:The emergence of zones that do not adhere to natural laws (Labyrinths).
Material Hybrids: The emergence of deformed creatures resulting from "errors in the cosmic code" due to the excessive use of common cards in a single geographic area.
[Academic Warning: A successful alchemist is one who balances between the cards they have "created" and the "toll" their body or resources can endure.]
Advertisement