Igni Ferroque

[Flamebird]

Screaming. Agony. Pain. Sadness. Rage. Hatred. Spite.

Dark, putrid smoke. It swirled all around. Sparks of red and orange, like a forge. The clanging of metal and scorches of flame. She could barely see. The smell of flames, destruction, and death soared around. She felt hot and sticky from sweat. She heard, however, an explosion. Fumes of darker pillars of smoke flew around. It felt like a fortress of suffering.

She heard a sickening roar of laughter erupt. She heard a small child weeping. She heard...

...

...

~~~

Igni Ferroque

[Closed to Nevin. Sequel of Blood Fury and Alchemy.]

~~~

...
...

Drowsiness. In a stiffled, silent manner, she awoke. Her eyes were closed. Instead of ember and ash, she smelled blood. The faint traces of chemicals and potions, similar to a lab, was detected. She stirred. The young girl felt that she was on a thick cot. The single thin blanket drapped over her was just enough to keep lukewarm. She pulled a hand out from under the sheets. She was still sweaty from the dream, so she wiped her hand, then her eyes, before opening them. She pulled the red strands of hair away from her face. Peridot green eyes looked up to a wooden ceiling. With a ladder leading up and away from the room, Felicity was momentarily baffled as to why she was in a basement. She noticed an alchemist's workstation to the side. The low room had a boatload of equipment and tools ready for the advanced alchemist's needs. This was a lot like the Toivonen lab - but way heck more organized.

Felicity pushed herself up from the cot. Her bare feet were swiftly pulled back from the cold stone floor. Her hiss alerted someone of her awakening.

Before Felicity could even look up again, she jumped upon the sudden outburst. She next processed an arm with unnatural red threads all over the surface. The hand held, oh about seven pills. The little white objects were accompanied by a glass of water held in the second hand. She heard a stern, hasty, concerned voice pounding her ear drums.

"Your blood is more like a solid than a liquid. Those are blood thinners. Take two now. Take two at lunch, or in the middle of the day. Then two before bed. I have an extra so your alchemist can mix more up."

Felicity's eyes were wide halfway through his lecture. Then, the memories of her last moments before falling asleep, high on an anti-stress serum, came back to her. "Oh! Nevin..."

She was obviously in the workshop of a redheaded alchemist named Nevin. She had come to him seeking help, to control her unbridled rage-based abilities... instead, it had become little ragechild care center treatment before Felicity got high off of an over the counter anti-stress serum and bawled herself to sleep.

It was rather embarrassing, looking back.

She was here now, though. They had already survived through an analysis and blood drawing. Obviously, after Felicity crushed poor Nevin with a four hundred pound pressure hug, he started research on the blood sample. Did- did he just say her blood was... almost solid though?

Every alchemist needed their lair; their base of operations. This was his said lair, most likely. There were several barrels, as well as a chain and pully in the room. There was a second workstation at the opposite end of the room from him. Her arming sword, in its sheath, rested against the edge of the cot. Felicity looked down at the pills that had been dumped into her hands.

"... Bl-blood thinners?"

[Nevin]

After Nevin had realized that Felicity had fallen asleep against him, he had grown concerned, until he figured out that she had fallen asleep due to the lack of anger hormones being actively released into her system. Just how long had she been operating off of nothing more than a thinly veiled anger making her blood pump?

So, concerned about her, he couldn't exactly just throw her out into the street. He had closed down his shop and carried her down into That had been awkward for him - because it meant he had to use his threads to do so, carrying her almost like a doll above him so that he didn't accidentally slam her into the floor because he couldn't see where the end of the ladder was. Thankfully she hadn't woken up tangled in the crimson tendrils, because that would probably have made her freak out enough to overcome the medication he gave her.

After he had gotten her down, Nevin had gently laid the girl on the cot in the corner of the room and gotten to work. One of the vials of her blood was unstoppered and he pulled it out, letting it swirl in the air around him as he tried to think of how to approach this situation. And then he noticed something that made his concern for the girl skyrocket.

Even with his doing nothing to the blood, it was thick, almost sludge-like. It shouldn't have even been capable of flowing, it was almost like a paste, not the fine free-flowing fluid it should be. He immediately began running a few tests on a small sample he drew frequently the test, and his fear was concerned.

Whatever her power was, it was certainly having a physical reaction on her body. Stress hormones were running rampant in her blood, clotting it up so much even inside of her that it was a shock that she was still on her feet. In fact, with this much blood, he was astounded she didn't suffer anemia or something along those lines.

So, in addition to figuring out how to handle the actual unknown serum, he would have to help her with this immediate problem. Her blood being this thick was distinctly unhealthy. He could, he thought change the density of the blood directly - experimenting on the blood in the air around him proved that - but. But, if her system had adjusted to having essentially a blood syrup instead of what it should have, then that drastic of a change might actually affect her even more adversely.

So, it would have to be done slowly, over time. Which meant, a medication. Luckily, he happened to be in just such a business. Quick strides carried him to his cabinets, and he began pulling ingredients out. Some were discarded, too much risk of adverse effects with the unknown serum, others were set up, ready to go. So he began, grinding, mixing, boiling and skimming, slowly concentrating the concoction down.

The finished product was a batch of seven pills - with another set of six hardening in their 'candy' coating. Six for her to take over the next day, one for study - then another batch of six for the next day. While he waited for her to wake up, he began spinning her blood around his head, listening to the angry choir pounding in his head.

So, the chemical serum was creating an artificially induced stress reaction inside of her. That prompted the increase in anger, which created more stress, more hormone... It was a self-perpetuating cycle. One that he had cut off before it could run its course - no wonder her body had crashed, it was used to an escalation in stress once it started, and he had essentially cold-cocked it in its warm up stage.

Well then. He began work on his next idea. A low level hormone blocker - it wouldn't prevent their generation, so when the reaction happened she would still have that additional burst of anger - but hopefully it would prevent her system from absorbing those chemicals and beginning that perpetuating cycle.

Felicity thrashed on the cot in the corner of the room, trapped in the throes of what Nevin could only assume was a nightmare. He dared not wake her though - not yet. He knew full well that if he tried, he would probably get a cracked rib from a frightened teen lashing out. He scooped up the medicine and put her blood back in its vial, and moved over to her. Thankfully the hormone medication could brew for a little bit without his direct supervision.

When he gave her the pills, it she had stared at him blankly for a moment before her eyes widened in recognition. He repeated himself to answer her question.

"Blood thinners. The serum creates a stress based hormone reaction, one that has thickened your blood to an almost absurd degree. There's a chance that the reason you haven't been able to tap into your magic is because it is funneling itself into keeping you going when your blood more closely resembles a salsa than a wine."

[Flamebird]

"Oh."

The childlike shrug was followed with worry. The girl slightly shook when he explained the state of her blood. Her magic affinity's attempts to keep her alive, the clots...

... How was she alive?

She instantly took two of the pills, as instructed. The girl briefly hugged herself before spotting her leather jacket on the corner of the cot. She took it and slipped it on, over her green shirt and brown pants. She pulled the cloth hood over her head, suddenly feeling afraid to even get up.

So, she simply sat at the edge of the bed. Her messy red hair, let down as opposed to its usually being tied back, hung over her face. She was pale. She put the cup down between her legs, looking into the empty glass as she processed.

"... I'm sorry. -For, uh, crying... In my defense, I was kind of high on meds."

A half amused scoff escaped her. She wanted to rush past that... emotional moment. While Felicity was indeed a vibrant, feeling individual, she also had become accustomed to putting on a face and being a happy one. Everything from facing up to her blood abilities, to bawling like a baby, to finding out her blood was more like chunky applesauce than water... She was now unusually serious. They needed to solve her physical issues - and fast.

"So this stuff will help me?" She looked at the remaining pills still clutched in a sweaty hand. She did not wish for the coating to melt off, so she turned her hand and put them on the white bed sheet. She wiped her hand on her pants, leaving a visible dark stain. "So not only do I go insane every time I bleed, but my blood is super thick..."

Upset and nervous, she burried her forehead in her palm. Her eyes were closed in exhaustion for a moment, then a memory shot across her mind. "... Hey, that explains why I bled so little that one time at the sawmill..."

She then sat up straight, "But that's not important." She lowered her hand, looking at Nevin, "What is important is, well, what else can be done?"

[Nevin]

The older alchemist reached out and ruffled her hair, trying to reassure her as she looked so painfully sad and small on the cot. Then he kneeled down in front of her, bringing his face closer to hers so she didn't have to crane her neck back to look at him.

"I would say the first thing is, to listen to me when I tell you that there is no shame in crying. There are times to put on a brave face and not let others see you cry. But when you are here, you are safe, and your guard can be relaxed. I am no idiot villager, condemning you for being human. I will not attack you for any tears, and you need never apologize for them." Especially not when he knew that he had literally told her there was a good chance she was on the verge of a heart attack at any given time, if her magic had not been keeping her going. He stood up and brushed off his knees, then took a hand and pulled her to her feet, leading Felicity to the workstation where the other solution was brewing. He let one arm drop to his side while the other indicated the table.

"The first step in making sure you survive what your power has done to you is, making sure it doesn't make your blood kill you first. The blood thinners will do so. I could theoretically lower the density of your blood with my magic, artificially thinning it, but that has a good chance of causing shock to your system. The medicine will extend that out and give your body and magic time to adjust to the changes." He nodded to the pills on the table, identical to the ones she had set on the edge of the cot. Then he indicated the bubbling potion in a pot over a burner.

"This is the next step. I haven't yet identified what the serum is or how it provides you a boost, but what I was able to determine is that it triggers a cascading effect of hormone production. The power makes hormones that make you stressed, which produces more hormones that make you more stressed, and so on. That brew should, theoretically, prevent your system from fully bonding with the first, artificial, dose of hormones." Nevin turned to her and took one shoulder gently in a hand.

" You will still get angry, but it shouldn't be as bad, and it shouldn't last long past your fifteen count." He took a deep breath, and squeezed the Felicity's shoulder. "The last thing I would suggest ties into the first. Find someone you feel safe talking to. Speak with them. Share with them the things that stress you out in your normal life as well. I know full well the temptation to keep things bottled up, wrapped up inside where no one else can see. But all that does is hurt us. They say a burden shared is a burden halved, and I have found that knowing someone is on your side and knows of the pains you are dealing with, is enormously helpful for a heavy mind."

He took a deep breath and stepped back, placing his hands on his hips as he looked to the workstation. " And I promise you. I do not think of what I've given you as a final solution for your problems, dear Felicity. This is to help you in the here and now - I still intend to find a real solution, something that would help you on your daily life. I will keep looking." He nodded to her, his face full of concern.

[Flamebird]

Felicity smiled weakly as Nevin spoke. He was being too kind to her. This scientific support, this emotional support...

Unfortunately, there were so little she actually trusted. She absolutely loved Daisuke and Ashla; but she could not trust either. Daisuke was the one who gave Felicity the serum in the first place. Ashla... had trampled her too many times... No, she could not trust them. Not yet. For as much as she cherished them...

This emotional baggage would have to wait, however, as they immediately moved into the analytical observations of her abilities.

As Nevin gave her a curt nod, vowing to find a more permanent solution to her serum, she smiled sweetly. "Thank you."

She almost hugged him. As she pulled her arms around herself, the girl spoke more. "Really. Words cannot describe the good you have done for me." She looked down with a smile, "Words or money could not pay you enough..."

For a moment, she was silent. Then her eyes widened, head shooting up. She turned to him with a jerk, "-I mean! - I will pay you for this! Businesses are businesses! I work in one! Us alchemists need food on our plates! S-so, yeah..."

After another moment of awkwardness, she looked up at the workplace. She saw the blood, her blood, in the jar. It really did look thick. It was like tar or magma. While Felicity had seen blood bath after blood bath, this image still slightly nauseated her. She pulled a hand over her mouth, turning a tad bit pale. She looked over towards the boiling pot. As wet steam rose from the edges of the pot, Felicity leaned against the edge of the table. As the clear smoke swirled, Felicity looked towards the pills, then looked back at the more experienced alchemist.

"Do you need help with anything?"

[Nevin]

Nevin slowly shook his head and stepped over to the girl, who was clearly not doing well as she looked at the jar of her own blood. He couldn't blame her - most humans, even those who were warriors, experienced a rather unsettling disquiet when they witnessed their own blood outside of their body. Your mind screamed at you, announcing deep into your very being that it was wrong and blood should be inside of you.

For Nevin, seeing his own blood was a strange thought to him because his own oscillated between his magic screaming at him that it was the best he could ever get - and other times, seemed to be completely inert to his senses. It was a bit confusing to him, but in the end it had inured him to the normal response people had in this kind of situation.

So he stepped between her and the jar, and wrapped one arm around her shoulders and gave her a comforting squeeze. "There's no need for you to look there. And don't worry about payment, not right now. You've given me an interesting alchemical quandary, a situation I haven't been in for some time. So I am thankful to you for that. I won't charge to help keep you alive, either. I make a solid enough living - I have two stores actually." He gave her a slight smile before swinging his gaze to the bubbling brew.

"And that should be done soon enough. You know... It doesn't need to be stirred a few more times though, have to make sure it has an even consistency. I'm sure you're up to it. Once we finish - it should be an even blue-yellow hue, and about as thick as a good soup- you'll need to remove it from the burner and move it over to the chill-box over there." He nodded to the end of. The second work station. It had taken a fair bit of coin to get an enchanted chilling box, but it had already been worth its weight in gold in term of the potions he could make with its usage.

"Then we only need wait a few minutes, and we'll be able to have you test a sample." He grinned at her and let go, finally stepping away.

[Flamebird]

Upon being given the instructions, Felicity got right to business. She walked closer to the pot and burner, pulling the hood down. She grabbed a hair tie from a pocket and pulled her hair into a ponytail, as to avoid getting any of her autumn colored locks in the mixture. She then picked up a spoon and stirred the liquid at a calm rate. It was hot. The bubbling green serum caused her to start sweating. She almost became memorized as the liquid swirled and mixed. However, a question kept her focused on the real world.

"Test?"

She still kept watch over the liquid with a careful eye. However, her curiosities over what kind of test was to take place once the potion was finished kept her preoccupied. The liquid continued to mix. The bubbles started to calm down as the liquid churned brighter in color. Keeping it in a smooth, even consistency, Felicity moved the spoon slowly around the pot. As the blue-yellow hue finally took form, she finally removed the pot from the burner.

With the cautious care of an alchemist with even basic experience, she steadily moved the pot towards the cooler. As she placed it on, her mind still was twisting with questions. The fact that she was as internally unhealthy as this explained the random headaches and dissociations she experienced from time to time - things she previously thought was just an ability thing. As she worked with the coolent device; her hands shook in her deep unease, her fear.

Maybe... she did have anger issues.

~~~

"What do you mean you don't think you can continue!?!"

A large fist slammed against the wall. An obese man, with a sickening amount of fat hanging off every nook and cranny, expressed severe rage. The veins bulging on his face were, impressively, even larger than the round bulge of squishiness on his pale face. Brown eyes were plump, and brown hair hung unevenly from his ball shaped head.

He was dressed in snazzy, business-like attire. The hat he wore was ever so slightly crooked on his head. He almost dropped the sandwich in his other hand as he fumed. A frightened, scrawny boy stood at the other side of the office. He was petrified of this pugly beast before him.

"I'm s-s-s-sorry, Mister, uh, Eotype. Bu-ut, it could be lethal-"

"-Do you think I care, squirt?" The man grumbled. He stood up from his wooden desk and walked across the cabin room. The floorboards groaned as the thousand pound man stormed over them. The crabby walls were, at best, made for suitable office living on the worksite. The sound of the mining and digging of industrialism roared outside.

The unfortunate messenger shrunk as Eotype towered over him, intimidating the worker with intentional fear and terror. "If you want feed your families with the money only I can provide you," he spoke on a low, violent tone, "You will continue to dig deeper into the mine as you were hired to do."

The employee avoided all eye contact. He was like an old, beaten dog in the corner. He inched for the door, head hung low. "Of course, sir. Sorry, sir."

Eotype took a massive bite of the sandwich. Condiments and vegetable slices fell to the floor as he ripped it apart. Juices fell from his humongous mouth, slobbering down the flab of his chin. The employee's stomach almost rumbled, eye locked onto the scraps of the floor. Their boss barely gave them enough to get by at all. While their families could eat barely enough portions, this man himself often went without.

Such was the life of an employee of Stair Eotype. At this point, all hope was lost...

They faced the immediate dangers due to the unusually high magical readings in the shaft up ahead. Willing to risk the insignificant skin and rough bones for his family's security one more day, the man quickly excused himself from the office.

Terror awaited the workers down there...

~~~

[Nevin]

Nevin watched as she placed the pot of the potion on top of the cooler. He didn't know what she was thinking about - but it was obviously affecting her, as her hands began trembling and shaking. He stepped up and squeezed her shoulder comfortingly. "Hey. Felicity, listen - You will be okay, I promise you. Once we have a handle on how your power is affecting you, we can work to blunt the worst of its negative effects on your body. And - well. There is always someone willing to talk with you if you need someone to listen." He gave her a crooked grin, then moved to check the potion. It looked like it was cooling properly, turning into a thicker, almost syrupy fluid. He removed it from the cooler and set it down, then began ladling some into a cup. He pushed the cup towards the girl, then began moving the rest into some vials that he had arranged.

"Go on then, for now drink that. You might feel lethargic at first - but it should not be as bad as the calming draught did to you earlier." He leaned back and frowned, drumming his fingers on his desk as he watched her. This would be an interesting test - how much of a dependence did her body have on the stress hormones? If they'd been flooding her regularly, her body may have adjusted to having a consistent flow of them coming in. He'd have to make sure to keep an eye on her and make sure the medication didn't affect her too harshly. He was also still wondering about this reaction that was happening inside of her - but solving that would come after they had gotten her physical effects handled - he was seriously concerned for her after seeing how much her blood had been affected by the hormones shooting through her.

He cleared his throat as she drank, ignoring the expression on her face about the taste. "Now then, to test this, we will probably head outside and give you a cut, then see if that works. I don't know how long the serum will shield you from the hormones, but it should be good for at least an hour or so. So, let's head outside and we will start testing." He headed up the ladder, leading the way out of the shop. Up on the surface level, he paused as he saw that there were people standing somewhat awkwardly in the main area of his shop - miners, looking rather disheveled and one of them had his arm bound up, blood slowly spreading across the wrappings.

"Oi, ye the alchemist, aye?" Nevin nodded as he cautiously approached the front, his hand dropping down to rest on his whip in case these men tried something. "Thank the Thaynes, we was afraid ye was out. Look, ye're the magicy man round here we trust. We need help - we was mining, and somethin' in the mines didn't like it. WOke up and started hurtin' folks, like Fren here." The spokeman gestured to the injured man. "We was hopin' that - that ye could coom and help us out? The foreman, he ain't - well. He ain't goin' ta let us stop just for this, and we're afraid, we're right afraid." Crimson flow, this was terrible timing. With Felicity needing help he couldn't just run off and leave her - but these people clearly needed immediate help as well, if something they had 'woken up' was attacking.

[Flamebird]

Now that potion was just bizarre... If the feeling of if rusted iron nails and chalk boards had a taste to them...

Although she grimaced, Felicity chugged it down. The first thing she felt was... that horrific aftertaste. While Nevin climbed the ladder, Felicity grabbed an empty glass and bolted for a pitcher of precious H2O on the other work bench. She dropped the glass, drank the entire gallon of water. As the redhead chugged it down, she heard panicked voices. Thus far, no conscious changes were to be of notice. After placing the empty glass down, she grabbed her sword, strapped it to her belt, and raced towards the ladder. She climbed, her sword bouncing against her leg. She pulled herself out, first laying her eyes on...

A man was rather pathetically wrapped in bandages. The liquid crimson quickly spread over the wrappings, his dirtied face winced in pain.

"... ye could coom and help us out? The foreman, he ain't - well. He ain't goin' ta let us stop just for this, and we're afraid, we're right afraid."

Her eyes widened in a pinch of shock. Eyes dilated as all her previous thoughts flew out of her mind. All her thoughts were now on the miners asking for assistance. They needed help.

"A-are you- Never mind!" She cut herself off, running from behind the counter towards a shelf. She only hoped that Nevin's potions were also stocked in alphabetical order. She searched for several moments before snatching a light green salve from a shelf. She ran towards the injured worker, then ripped the wrappings off. She then, carefully, poured a small bit of liquid over the wounds evenly. The man hissed, tried to pull away, but the girl calmly took his well hand.

"It's going to sting, I apologize." She tried to sound as soothing and calm as possible, "This potion is made from athelas and antedowt, it will hasten the healing process and improve clotting."

Her actions were steady and calm. She had experience as an alchemist before, and her softer heart was more than capable of cheering up, as well as calming down, those around her. After steadily applying some more liquid, she turned towards Nevin and motioned expectantly, "New bandages, please."

Nevin seemed okay with following that order, he swiftly pulled a role of sturdy white wrappings from a cupboard and handed them to her. Felicity gave him the empty bottle and immediately dressed the wound. "There are also several pain medications to chose from, sir. I'll pay."

She pulled her sword partially from her sheath and cut the bandages off the role. The delyn sword was in good condition, an elvish set of words embedded into the blade. Felicity put the sword back. She tossed the role into her left hand and secured the arm with her dominant right. After this, she took and step back. Her hand instinctually fell over her weapon's pommel as she asked, "What did you need help with?"

[Nevin]

Well, the girl certainly wanted to help others, that much was certain. She'd barely come up from the lab when she rushed out of the back to rewrap the man's wounds. Nevin passed her the bandages when she asked for them, and let her tend to the injury while Nevin focused on talking with the spokesman.

"So you say something stirred in response to what you lot were doing. Can you describe it at all?" The men shifted, looking nervously at each other. "I'll help, but I need to know anything you might have figured out."..

"It were big, and fast. Covered in sharp bits, it were. Black skin, but had these purpley rocks, almost like it were made of dirt and the any-thistles." Any-thistles? Did he mean amythests? "We thunk it were slow, cuz it were so big, but then when it attacked it was fast, like a person." Nevin took a deep breath, and drummed his fingers against his arm. So, a golem then. One with flesh and gems embedded in that flesh.

Then Felicity came over, asking what they needed help with. The miner looked at the young girl, then to Nevin with a tilt of his head. "Alchemist, is the sprog yours?" Nevin blinked. Looked to Felicity. Blinked again. Back to the miner. Then he slowly shook his head, and rested his hand on the fiery girl's shoulder.

"She is not my blood, no. More like... Hm." He studied Felicity for a moment then turned his gaze back to the miner. "More like a little sister perhaps. I don't think I'm old enough to be the father of someone her age." He let out a soft chuckle before explaining to Felicity.

"There is a particularly onerous mining group operating in some of the mine shafts. It seems the owner's drive for wealth has resulted in the men accidentally waking something up, and they need my help in quelling it." the miner nodded, confirming the man's words. Nevin sighed.

"I will help, Jedidiah. Go, make sure the mines are clear. The more worked up this thing is, the worse the fight will be when I get there." The miners nodded, and Jedidiah, the spokesman, lead them out of the store. Nevin heaved a deep sigh.

"I'm sorry Felicity. I intended for us to go have a light spar to see how well the medicine is holding up, but it looks like this takes a higher priority at the moment." He frowned, apologetic.