‘For this next step, it says we add two parts ground petals of an Estinian Fire Flower, aged no more than two months but no less than two weeks.

  Aren’t we doubling the recipe?

  True. It says here to up it to four parts ground petals of an Estinian Fire Flower, aged no more than four months but no less than four fortnights.

  Wait what? Why are we doubling the time aged? That doesn’t make sense.

  Huh, you’re right. Must be a mistake with the recipe. The cabinet only has one month aged petals anyway, let's just go with that’

  – Exchange between two students, moments before a catastrophic alchemy accident.

  The Block was an apt name for the building housing the labs and experiment rooms of the University. A hulking stone monolith carved right out of the mountain the school abutted against, it had about as much visual appeal as a cinder block. And if the outside was unappealing, the inside wasn’t much better.

  Standing in the entrance, Quinn got a sense of déjà vu from the stone hallways of the building, illuminated by the sterile white he had grown accustomed to from mage lighting. It looked eerily similar to the University hospital– of course, there were subtle differences.

  For starters, the ambiance was certainly more relaxed, lacking the almost artificial quiet Quinn remembered from his stay in the hospital. Students were whispering amongst themselves while waiting for their professor to arrive. The halls themselves were also noticeably less clean, with mud tracked down them and what appeared to be a scorch mark at the end of one of the halls leading out of the lobby.

  There were also the less subtle differences.

  The Block– and by extension the whole mountain it was built into– shook slightly. Quinn and the other students jumped, and the murmur of conversation halted. From behind the front desk, a worker looked up from the book they were studying and checked a rune covered grid resting in front of them. On the grid, one of the cells switched from green, to yellow.

  They shrugged and, apparently having decided yellow didn’t warrant any attention, went back to their book. Taking this as a sign things were fine, people started chatting amongst themselves again. Then, another shake rocked the building, causing the students to jump once more and a clock behind the front desk to fall from the wall and shatter against the ground.

  The worker, unfazed by the commotion, looked back at the grid. The light on the same cell from before changed from pale yellow, to an orange bordering on red. With a sigh, they closed their book and stood.

  “Hey, you.” The worker said, singling out a student just to the left of Quinn.

  “Me?” the guy asked, with a furrowed brow.

  “Yeah, you. Do you know where the hospital is?” continued the worker.

  “Um, yeah, I do. It's right by my dorm, actually!” they replied with a nervous chuckle.

  “Good, go get a nurse.”

  “Oh, but- I have a class that's about to-”

  “Tell them Chase screwed up his Ash Elemental summoning again.” said the worker, cutting them off as they turned and started walking down the hall at a leisurely stroll. Looking back over their shoulder, the worker called back, “And hurry.” before turning the corner at the end of the hall.

  The student remained standing, frozen, like a deer in headlights. A shove from his friend brought him back to reality, though, and he took off out the door and into the rain.

  An awkward silence fell over the room as the door to the Block swung shut.

  To Quinn’s right, he felt an elbow nudge against his hip. Looking to the side, a dwarf, the same one who had joked about the professor in his Aether Control class, was looking up at him. “Don’t ‘spose he’s gonna make it back in time, eh?” he asked.

  Quinn gave a little laugh. “Who knows, this professor might not be as punctual as Versint.”

  “Ha! True to that. I’m Thurn by the way.” he replied.

  Quin smiled. “Nice to meet you, Thurn, I’m Quinn.”

  The dwarf gave him a nod and let the conversation die out.

  Minutes passed as more students arrived at the entrance to the Block, the spacious lobby starting to fill up. Quinn was starting to wonder at the choice of meeting location when a voice called out of the dull murmur of the crowd of people waiting for class to begin.

  “Hello students and welcome to the Block!”

  Voices died down and were replaced by the slight shuffling of clothes as the gathered students turned to see their professor.

  Standing in the lobby, hands on her hips, was the woman with wide-brimmed glasses from Quinn’s entrance exam. She was wearing a canvas jumpsuit and had her curly hair tied back in a bun that it was desperately trying to escape. She also seemed to be completely unfazed by the fact she was covered from head to toe in soot.

  “Sorry if I’m a little late… am I a little late?” She looked towards an empty spot above the reception desk and frowned. Striding forward through the crowd of students, who hastened to get out of her way, she slapped her palms on the desk and boosted herself up to sit on it and peer over it.

  “Damn, that's the third one this week… Bjorndin’s gonna be pissed.” she mumbled.

  Turning her attention back to the gathered students, she continued. “Welp, guess we’ll never know! I’m here now and that will be that.”

  She clapped her hands together, a gesture that released a cloud of black dust around her.

  “I am Lucy and I will be your Alchemy professor this term-” She paused, considering.

  “Unless we’re in front of the Chancellor, in which case I am Professor Montgomery!” she finished, a mock stern expression on her face. A few students gave a laugh, which caused her to crack a smile.

  “Now, it seems like we have everyone, so if you will follow me-”

  A student, soaked from the rain and panting like they had just run a marathon, burst through the door and into the lobby of the Block. Professor Agelia, with not a drop of water on her, followed in behind him, scowl on her face.

  “Oh, Hi, Mom!” called out Lucy.

  This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

  Quinn’s eyes widened as he noticed the resemblance.

  The woman’s face softened slightly. “Hello, Professor Montgomery… were you aware you are covered in soot?” she asked.

  Quinn saw the professor look down and study her jumpsuit.

  “Huh, so I am.” she said, “Chase tried-”

  “Yes, yes, this student informed me.” said Agelia, with a gesture to the young man standing in a slowly growing puddle. She walked over and studied the grid at the front desk. “I will take care of it. Best of luck with your class.”

  The professor made her way around the crowd of students until she was beside Lucy. A small Aether flow opened up for a moment and the soot covering Lucy faded away. It then snapped back shut, and Agelia gave Lucy’s shoulder a squeeze.

  “Thanks Mo- Professor Agelia.” she said, cheeks flushing slightly.

  “Of course, dear.” said Agelia with a smile, before setting off down the hall.

  Professor Montgomery looked over the crowd of students again. “Alright, now we seem to have everyone. If you will follow me, I will show you to the lab we will be using this term. We will spend today going over lab procedures. After all, safety is our number one priority!”

  Quinn started to groan inwardly, he’d taken chemistry before and didn’t look forward to a boring review of lab safety. Then another shake rocked the building. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw the light of the grid cell change from orange to dark red.

  Maybe a refresher wouldn’t be such a bad thing.

  —

  Just over an hour later, Quinn was back in Linton Tower, relaxing in the common room while he watched Bao and Clint take turns working on the Aether Control homework.

  Other than the excitement at the start, this first Alchemy class hadn’t been all that exciting. Alchemy lab safety was pretty much the same as what he remembered from chemistry lab safety. He’d then gone to his Magical Ecology class, only to find a note at the University stables that class was postponed due to the weather.

  After that, he’d made his way back to his dorm, where he’d run into Clint and Bao and decided to join them. As they practiced, he found his mind wandering back to what Whitewood had said earlier, trying to figure out what he had meant.

  On the table in front of Bao, the practice circuit started to glow faintly.

  “Twice in a row! Nice one, Bao.” said Clint, give his friend a pat on the back. Bao, who nearly fell out of his seat as the pat from Clint’s plate sized hand rocked his frail frame, gave him a grin as he dropped his Aether flow, an act that felt to Quinn like the closing of a book.

  “Thanks, your turn, Quinn.” said Bao, sliding the wooden plate to him.

  Shaking the thoughts from his head, Quinn adjusted the position of the plate on the table and closed his eyes.

  The empty field filled his vision, rippling with the gentle sway of the grass that stretched towards the infinite horizon. With a nudging of his mind, a creek bed parted the prairie, and from his outstretched hand, a trickle of water flowed out to fill it.

  Opening his eyes again, he saw the common room around him, and directed his palm to face the spell circuit. From his hand, he saw the air ripple like a pond as a stream of Aether headed towards the plate, before splashing down against it. The Aether seemed to pool on the circuit. Quinn urged it to seep into the plate, imagining it glowing with light. To his joy, it did.

  He closed his eyes and studied the space in his mind. Water rushed through the creek bed, eating at its edges. The roar of water started to fill his ears. It was almost peaceful.

  In some corner of Quinn’s mind and alarm bell rang. Snapping his eyes open, he saw Clint and Bao staring at the plate as the glow steadily grew brighter.

  The stream of Aether from his hand was taking on the appearance of a geyser. With a clenching of his hand, he forced it closed, cutting off the flow. The sound of rushing water faded from his ears, replaced by the sound of his heart beating fast.

  “Wow, nice job, Quinn!” exclaimed Clint, giving him a pat on the back as well. “Want to try again?”

  Quinn stared at the plate and shook his head, “I’m good for now, thanks though. Why don’t you give it a shot?” He slid the plate in front of Clint.

  “Alright! I’ll get it this time.” said Clint.

  He crowded his hulking figure before the plate, focusing on it with a furrowed brow. Quinn watched him closely, trying to pay attention with the sixth sense that let him feel the Aether. Slowly, he felt an Aether flow open, accompanied by the scent of freshly tilled earth. Seconds passed, though, and still there was no change in the circuit.

  An idea formed in Quinn’s mind.

  “Hey Clint, your parents are farmers, right?”

  The Aether flow wavered, but didn’t close completely.

  “Yeah.” grunted Clint, focus still on the circuit.

  “Think of the circuit as a seed, and the light it will make as the plant it will grow into. How would you help a plant grow?” said Quinn

  Quinn felt something in the air as some of the tension faded from Clint’s face. The circuit began to glow warmly, like the light of the sun.

  “I did it!” cried Clint, the light of the plate fading away and the Aether flow closing.

  Quinn and Bao shared and quick look and, together, gave Clint the hardest pat on the back they could manage. He rocked forward slightly.

  “Woah there, careful! You might have knocked me over.” said Clint with a scowl. He held it for a moment, before the stern facade cracked and the trio burst out laughing together.

  As the laughter died down, a voice spoke up from over their shoulders.

  “What are you three laughing about?” asked Andrew, as the group jumped up slightly.

  “Aether, Andrew! Where did you come from?” asked Clint

  “Just got back from class– Is that a practice plate?” asked the RA, reaching out and picking it up off the table.

  “Yes. Our first homework assignment for Aether Control. Want to give it a try?” asked Bao.

  Andrew studied the plate for a moment and smiled. “Sure.”

  In an instant, a flow opened and lashed out, latching on to the plate, which glowed brighter than the sun at noon. As quickly as it came, it cut off, the light vanishing so fast it might as well never have been there.

  “Ah, memories. Reminds me of my first year.” said Andrew, “Any of you end up with Versint?”

  Bao and Clint both turned and looked at Quinn.

  “Yeah, I got him. Why?”

  Andrew laughed. “Good luck.”

  He tossed the plate onto Quinn’s lap and changed the subject.

  “You guys did good, by the way. Good advice for Clint there, Quinn.”

  “Thanks.” he replied with a nod.

  “Don’t mention it. Anyways, I’ll leave you guys to it. I’ve got homework, but feel free to knock if you have any questions.” Turning, Andrew headed to the stairs and up out of the common room.

  “Yeah, thanks for the advice, Quinn. What made you think of it?” asked Clint, after Andrew’s departure.

  Quinn thought back, once again, to his meeting earlier with Whitewood, the pieces starting to fall into place. He didn’t have the whole picture quite yet, but he at least had some of it.

  “I met with Adjunct Professor Whitewood earlier, and something he said…” Quinn shook his head. “I don’t really know– It just seemed right.”

  Bao gave Clint a glance. With a shrug, Clint replied, “Well, it definitely was. I spent three hours last night trying to get that to work. Should be easier now that I’ve done it once.”

  Bao nodded, “It will be, once I did it once, it was much easier the second time.” A mischievous glint entered Bao’s eyes. “Of course, that was for me, why don’t you try it again, Clint? Make sure it wasn’t a fluke.” he added with a smirk.

  “Oh, you’re on!” he shot back.

  Quinn passed the plate to Clint again, and let the bickering of the two friends fade into the background. He mulled Whitewood’s words over once more in his mind. And then he turned them over again. And again. And the more he did so, the more certain he felt that he knew the answer.