The New Alchemist

Prologue: The Dream and the Morning

At one point, there was space and time. There was abyss and there were thoughts filling the abyss. Somewhere, there was sound and where there was sound it sounded like music, played on an instrument as new to the world as the thoughts that fueled it; an instrument that was all instruments ever played, come together to make one that had never been played. This was no beginning, no start of the world, just someone’s dream. However, from the Mother of the Earth herself, a cache of truth was bubbling into this person’s dream.

“Not that long ago, science was brought to this world. It was double sided, with trickery and evil on one side and the general good of human kind on the other. The trickery and evil needed to be disposed of somehow, so a term came about: Alchemy. Everything bad that science had brought was tagged to the term alchemy and everything good continued to be known as science, alchemy would be shunned, allowing the better good to be kept clean from the turmoil which now surrounded alchemy.”

“However, today, the world is facing challenges that not even I, the Mother of the Earth, could have foreseen. Natural disasters have begun to plague the land and alchemy is just a word that relates to the falsities of science… That is why I am bending The Great Laws of Nature to bring back a new form of alchemy in hopes that the people who can and will learn it will be able to save the world and simultaneously control those who have received this gift but used it wrongly. I know nothing of what I have brought onto the Earth, so you must discover its properties from the ground up... I can only imagine that a few of the chosen alchemists will be able to save the planet.”

The Mother of the Earth left the dream and what empty spot she left filled with the thoughts of the man known as Marcle McAdams.

₪

Marcle lay awake in his bed; the sun had already risen, and he was contemplating about what he had dreamt last night. The dream he had was like no dream he had ever had before, and it was as if Mother Earth had actually come to visit him through his sleep. Was it real? Marcle thought. He lay still for a bit longer, pressing hard to think about something else but thoughts of the dream kept coming back. I’ll spend the day playing with the thoughts…Marcle thought. I was just going to use my day off for some rest and relaxation anyways.

When Marcle got up, he felt strange, prompting him to be slightly paranoid, but a bit more in favour that his dream was real and he had heard the voice of the planet. Before long, I’ll be trying to turn lead into gold, create false living beings and find a way to immortality. He blinked and when his eyes were open again symbols covered his room; odd markings on every surface. He blinked again and things were normal; the symbols were quickly forgotten in the lingering rush of wondering if the Earth had actually talked to him and whether or not alchemy had been re-allowed into the Laws of Nature.

Marcle left room and went down the hallway into the bathroom. He turned the tap on his sink and put the plug in so he could start his morning routine; he collected a towel and a change of clothes, plus his toiletries and set them on the side of the sink. More thoughts about last night came at him like a speeding train. He turned off the faucet to stop if from overflowing and stood still to gather himself. He noticed something in the sink. Whatever it was, it looked like it was superimposed, but as if there was no definite spot where it stood. It had no shadow, regardless of the bright bathroom lights; it was just a strange marking in the water. He looked closer and noticed it to be an upside down triangle.

Sadly, Marcle blinked and it was gone again. I’ll have to learn to stop blinking, at this rate…

Chapter 1: Alchemy

Down the suburb Willow Street, with blooming trees and cars parked in their drive ways, Marcle McAdams was heading towards his home. He could just be seen if someone were standing in his house looking out the window for him. He had short and very dark brown hair, pale blue eyes that shone in the light and his skin was a glowing peachy color. I should really try to get a bit of a tan going this summer, he thought. Marcle was taller than most people but weighed about average.

Hardly a week ago, Marcle experienced a strange dream in which the supposed Mother Spirit of the Earth approached him to announce that the Laws of Nature were changed to bring forth a new type of alchemy. Since that night, he had been dreaming that same dream for every night since. Not knowing entirely what that meant, Marcle had tried to go about his normal life, with the occasional moment where the whole world suddenly had strange markings upon each and every surface. He had been graduated and out of school for a bit, but was still only nineteen. Living in his own place, from a deal he got going with his uncle, he’d been comfortably moved in for some two months and with his own car to get around.

In the dream that Marcle had been having, the voice claiming to be Mother Earth suggested this new alchemy would be just that: new. So much that she, Mother Earth, didn’t know what was coming, except that the intention was to save the planet from all the disasters it had been facing, supposedly things like tornadoes and earthquakes. Marcle was told to discover how this new alchemy worked from scratch, but the only problem was when he woke up, nothing had changed except for the strange signs and doodles occasionally.

Despite the coming alchemy supposedly being something new and different than when it first came around, Marcle went to the library and picked up some books on the history of alchemy and what happened. As he walked up his driveway, already with some books, he pulled his key out of his pocket and unlocked the front door. He pushed the door open with his body and kicked his flip flops off. Moving into the living room, he dropped the books onto the table and sat down onto his couch to rest a bit. These books better give me some answers, because I sure didn’t take them out for the exercise, he thought.

It was quite the idea, really, having a dream about being an alchemist to save the world, then going to the library to get some books to see what happened when alchemy first came out. I wonder if there’s any others, or if they’re playing along with the dream at all like I am. That thought made Marcle feel a bit better. He was just playing along with what he dreamt about and there was nothing strange about it.

When Marcle finished resting, he leafed through the book and just briefly gazed at some of the drawings. He recognized a page that recalled the three challenges of every alchemist: immortality, life and transmutation. Just as he was leafing through the index at the back, he saw a bunch of strange markings, one of which he recognized from the morning he had the dream. An upside down triangle, just like in the sink, he thought. He read what it meant, and it turns out it was simply the alchemists’ sign for water, which made sense that he saw it in water, but still didn’t explain why he was seeing it.

It took Marcle a while to gather himself after seeing that the upside down triangle meant water, and he just happened to have seen it in a sink full of water not that long ago, but he continued. In particular interest, he came across an alchemical technique called a Return. A Return was described as an olden day one shot camcorder. The alchemist who created the return would allow a future day alchemist to re-see the events which the Return had firstly viewed. It would be great to get two birds with one stone, one bird would be whether any of this stuff actually had worked, or worked now and the other bird would be a window into more information on some of the things that had happened in the past.

It was rather unfortunate when Marcle read on and found out that no actual Return had ever been successfully found or created to the author of the book’s knowledge. He read on and learned about how the alchemists of earlier were often part of a secret society, but Marcle simply passed it on as a silly cool kids club, with much more plotting and assassinations than the regular elementary school one.

“It sure would have been much more convenient if Mother Nature had given me a little more to work with. Someone to teach this stuff and a few tutorials would be peachy right about now.” Marcle mumbled to himself. “That reminds me, I need to get a bit of a tan going this summer. I could hide in a truck load of peaches and no one would ever see me.” The words brought an image to Marcle’s mind of a newspaper title reading something about a missing person and then a picture of him sleeping on a pile of peaches.

“You’ve got mail!” Bzzzz, bzzzz, bzzz.

Marcle pulled out his phone, and surely enough, he had mail. He set aside the books and made some plans to go out with a girl he met for a drink or two at the nearest coffee shop. The books can wait. Dreams are just dreams.

₪

“Yoo-hoo! Marcles! Over here!” A girl called and Marcle turned around just before he stepped off the curb. The girl he was meeting, Theresa, was standing in front of the coffee shop and calling him over. “Let’s get something yummy to drink!”

“Hey!” Marcle walked over to Theresa, she was wearing her dirty blond hair up in a rather large bun and wore an earthy-tone parka that covered anything she had on underneath except the very edge of the hem line on her dark coloured skirt. Her shoes were heels were so high Marcle made a mental note to make sure she wasn’t kicking anything, for fear of someone losing an eye. “I don’t really do coffee but I’m sure I can find something yummy to drink anyways. The caffeine makes me feel a little off.”

“What!? You don’t drink coffee? But coffee is like the blood of every human being that lives in this city!” Theresa was a little enthusiastic at times, as Marcle was learning, but if it was a problem, he thought that he could probably get out before their relationship meant anything. “Well, they do have these energy drinks if you’re into that. I don’t think those have caffeine in them like coffee does.” Oh boy, Marcle thought.

“You know, I really like your eyes. They glow a bit in the right light.” Theresa said, Marcle and her already comfy in a little two-some table just outside the coffee shop. Marcle noticed the coffee maker put a little triangle design into Theresa’s cappuccino when he looked at her drink. And it’s upside down from my point of view, too, he thought.

“Wow, no wonder I keep being so paranoid.” Marcle grumbled, talking out loud to the triangle.

“Oh, that’s so sweet! I think… Wait, what’s paranoid, again?”Theresa responded.

“Oh! No, I was just thinking out loud. I was talking about your drink.” Marcle said, digging himself into a little-too-tight hole.

“I don’t get it. Were you like addicted to coffee in your past or something?” Theresa’s eyes were going cock-eyed trying to think about what Marcle said and talk at the same time. Suddenly, they snapped back into a straight gaze. “Never mind that, do you want to go to the park after I’m done my drink? I hear there’s a little ice cream shack there if you want something!”

Marcle blinked in surprise when Theresa’s eyes snapped back into a regular gaze. When he finished his blink though, the strange symbols were back, upon every surface. This time they were much clearer and he could make out a circle, as well as a variety of decorations on it, that he saw plastered onto a cloud.

“The park, eh?” Marcle was back to reality with another blink, although his mind was still thinking about what he just saw. He tried to remember what the sign had been like that he had seen on the cloud. Fate guided him now. “The park sounds wonderful! I love the park, with all the green things and fluffy doggies! And even better to share it with you, my little caffeinated sweet pea!” Theresa was head over heels when Marcle cheered that out. “I just need to go use the washroom really quick! Mind if I take this with me? Just for a little pick me up.” Marcle pointed to Theresa’s cappuccino but before she could shake her head in agreement, he had already picked up the drink and was halfway inside the shop towards the washroom.

Marcle walked towards the bathroom with the cappuccino in his hand, trying to look as normal as someone could walking into a bathroom with a cup in their hands. He went in and locked the door behind him. Quickly, he plugged the sink, turned on the tap and let it fill with water. When the sink was full, he turned off the water and carefully poured the rest of Theresa’s drink onto the top of the water, making sure to give a nice and even cover. With his finger, and fate pulling it, he began to draw the intricate design he had seen on the cloud just moments ago into the cover of coffee drink on the water.

Marcle paused for a little bit when he was done drawing yet nothing happened. He began to draw the upside down triangle of water in all the empty spots he could find into the cover of cappuccino. Abruptly, the taps turned themselves on and in seconds the sink was nearing full and Marcle’s drawing disappeared in the wake of the water spilling into the sink. Marcle turned the taps off and pulled the plug in the sink just before he left the washroom. That was suspicious, he thought to himself, but I can’t decide whether that dream was something or not over a possibly testy faucet.

He left the bathroom after unplugging the sink, but as soon as he could see out the window, he knew that alchemy was back.