Marvin slowly opened his eyes, wiping water off his face and brushing his hand through his hair. A little more awake, he sat up, trying to figure out where he was. It was some kind of alley, or, at least, between two buildings. He took a deep breath, inhaling through his nose. The air was stale, and he felt a warmth under his clothes - it must have rained recently. Maybe there was some food somewhere, but his stomach hurt, and he decided not to eat until he felt a bit better. Rolling over into a ball, he closed his eyes. He continued to think about his health. He had a nasty headache, he must have taken a blow to the head. It wasn't bleeding though, as far as he could tell. Maybe the bump on his head was making him dumb; he'd have to make sure he wasn't stupid.
He sat himself up, and slumped a bit. He could see just fine, so he stood up and started to walk in circles. He could still walk just okay. He jumped up as high as he could, to really test his legs.
*Thump*
He smacked his head on top of the cart he was sleeping in. Yes, he told himself, he was definitely stupid. He slumped out of the cart and fell to his knees on the ground. He just knelt there looking at the ground, hoping maybe someone would pick him up and carry him back to the bar. A drink might help him a little. He pretended as best he could, an arm grabbing him and his body being slung over a shoulder. All of a sudden, he actually felt something.
Whoa, was he actually going to be brought to the bar? Maybe he was just crazy, after all, he just proved himself stupid. Maybe he should just pretend to be drunk, he was good at that. He looked at the sky; it looked to be about five O'clock.
"You alright there buddy?" Oh great, somebody talked to him, it wasn't a free ride after all.
"Yeah, fine."
"Must have been one hell of a party last night, huh?"
"Party?"
"Yeah, well, you’re in a cart, outside of the bar's broken window, and you look like your having some hangover."
Bar? He was in a bar, right? What happened? He thought as hard as he could, he must have gotten into a fight. But what was it? There was that red guy again too, he must have fought him and gotten knocked out the window. Maybe those other three guys that were there were his friends. He finally decided to go talk to them, but there was still that fat guy in front of him.
"Oh yeah, you should've been there, it was great." Marvin was also a good liar.
"A few guys got arrested for trashing the place."
"Well, you know, arguing over chicks."
"Sure, well, you better get home, it's getting late."
"Late? Isn't it five?"
"No, it's almost nine, look up."
He looked to the sky again, it was sunset. How could it be sunset, it was five a minute ago. Maybe he really was drunk.
"Yeah, duh, well, thanks."
"No problem, buddy."
Marvin pulled himself to his feet, and walked into the crowded street. He felt so tired, but he had to go talk to his friends, if they really were his friends. He pushed his way through all the people, walking towards the jail, almost dozing off a few times. A few people started to cheer. he couldn't figure out what was going on, so he just stopped. There wasn't any real hurry right? So he jumped into the air, and tried to get a glimpse of the scene. It didn't look too interesting; an old man in some funny robes was talking to the hang-man.
Hangings? Wait, why was everyone cheering? The old man? He knew him from somewhere, maybe an old buddy? The bar! He started to remember some things, but he still felt at a loss.
Starting to sway back and forth, he could barely hold himself up. All of a sudden, there was a huge strike of lightning in the middle of the crowd. It came straight out of the sky. He couldn't believe what he was seeing. He knew something was wrong, he took a deep breathe, and pushed on through the crowd.
He didn't know why, but he couldn't help but feel as if he had to get to the jail. He felt much more confident, he felt like he actually had a purpose. A few other people started to fall over. What was going on? He kept telling himself he was just still dizzy from bumping his head, and if he could keep walking, he'd be fine, but the farther he got, the more he wanted to fall to the ground and sleep. He took another deep breath, and with this one, he felt even more pressure being pushed throughout his body. I'm strong? He thought to himself, he could see his muscles were large, and his legs were massive. I wonder how old I am. The thoughts in his head started to drain his energy, so he took another deep breathe and tried to continue on. He could see the jail through a few people; He rushed for them, and squeezed between them.
He was finally at the jail, but his limbs gave out, and he dropped to his knees. He kept his head up, using what was left of his strength mixed with the boost of satisfaction from reaching his goal. That was all that mattered while he was in the crowd, getting to the jail. I'm determined, he said to himself, almost as if he was developing his personality by thinking about it.
But before he brought himself back up, he heard someone walking out of the jail, and he didn't even think about it, but he dove behind a wall so that who ever it was, wouldn't see him. He sat himself up, out of sight. Why did I do that, was I some sort of criminal? He turned his head, to see who it was, walking out the jail. Everyone outside was lying all over the ground, maybe they're dead? Finally, someone came out of the jail. It's just that stupid old man. He rolled his eyes, and got up, pretending he was alone, and walked right into the jail. Alchem did notice Marvin, but wasn't very interested in him; even though it was odd he didn't sleep like everyone else.
The sounds of Marvin's feet echoed through out the rooms of the jail. All the guards slept, and all the inmates were dizzy or asleep themselves. The rooms were cold, and the fears of being hung could almost be smelled they were so eminent. The whole building was a dump; it looked like nobody had cleaned it in years. There was even blood on a few walls. A total disaster, that's all Marvin could think to describe it. He wanted to leave, but continued to walk his way through, like he knew exactly were he was going, even though he couldn't remember why he came in the first place.
After a few minutes of cold silence, he came upon the cell, holding the three men from the night before. Their faces were the only ones that still seemed warm, almost as if they were the only living people in the whole building. But they were still sleeping, except the fatter one; he was up, leaning against two of the bars, breathing lightly, and bobbing his head up and down. Marvin raised an eyebrow, almost hoping he would notice. After a few more attempts of getting his attention by making funny facial expressions, Marvin cleared his throat.
Robert slowly turned his head towards him, and adjusted his body to be more comfortable, and aligned with his head. He stretched his arms and legs, and continued to sit, facing him. A few more moments passed, Robert didn't move an inch, he didn't see too much like he wanted to talk, only like he wanted to eat Marvin.
"What?" Robert finally asked in a very low and quiet tone.
"What happened to them?" asked Marvin gesturing at Willow and Ryan. Robert shrugged his shoulders.
"Everybody fell asleep, almost like they all died."
"Do you know why?"
"That silly old man came in here, and burnt my shoulder."
Robert pulled his shirt down over his shoulder, showing Marvin the symbol that stood for gold, and also Alchemy. Robert had no idea what it was, but Marvin recognized it instantly, even though he couldn't remember what it meant.
"Did he say anything?" asked Marvin.
"He muttered something about demons, and something about time falling over er' something."
"I need to talk to you, about the bar..."
But before Marvin could finish, and much before Robert could answer his question, something exploded nearby. Robert jumped up, seeming now to have much more energy then before, he ran over to a little window at the other end of their cell.
"What's happening?" asked Marvin. He couldn't see anything, between the bars of the cell, and those of the windows. All he could see was a little bit of Roberts face, and Willow's now wide open eyes. Robert's face immediately went from confused to scared, while he dropped to floor.
Marvin couldn't hold himself up; he was doing things without even thinking about it. He dove to the left into a few makeshift boxes of prisoner possessions. The blast moved right to the jail and through the window. Wooden splinters scattered all over the floors, along with and occasional piece of metal. Not much damage was done to the jail, other than a few loose bricks, one of which landed on Ryan's head, finally awakening him. The other prisoners all awoke too; though none of them were hurt.
"Why is there a brick in my lap?" asked Ryan, as if nothing else had happened. Marvin climbed of the boxes and ran out the jail. Why am I leaving? He asked himself, it was more of him doing things without knowing it. He ran around the building to where the explosion was. The air was thick and polluted. There was an arm on the ground, but Marvin just ignored it, if anyone was in the building they were dead now. But the smoke was familiar, it smelled like medicine. A pharmacy?
Meanwhile Alchem walked through the dark woods, alone, with no intention of anything exciting happening. He was just listening in on the trees, with his eyes closed. Not a care in the world, of course he obviously had some work to do, but for the next 300 miles, he would do nothing but walk. The trees were his only entertainment, and they weren't very entertaining.
"I wonder what the Fountain did with the water we left him."
"Maybe he drank it."
"He's a Fountain, he doesn't drink, stupid."
"Anyone know what that black thing is?"
Black thing? Alchem looked down at his robes; they were green, not black. Something else must be around, something big enough for the trees to notice. Alchem hid himself in a tree, "borrowing" a little bit of his energy. He wiggled his way up and looked through the woods. Trees, trees, not trees! There was a spy... thing. Walking towards the town, Alchem figured the town didn't need any more harassment. The spies always followed moss, because it always grew towards the towns. So Alchem just slid himself to a tree near a very large rock, he convinced the moss there was a town down south, not east. The moss bought it, and repositioned itself facing the south. Seeing this, the spy simply redirected himself, hoping to find some civilization. As long as he didn't run into anyone, he'd probably starve to death.
But Alchem heard someone singing. An explorer? It grew louder as it approached the spy. That was the last thing Alchem wanted. There was a good chance the spy wouldn't notice, as long as the explorer would shut up. But he didn't. The spy grew his ear a few sizes and turned his head. It smiled, showing its misconfigured teeth. It shrunk down and hid in the leaves. The merchant was heading right for him. Alchem still just sat there, hoping the man would somehow survive, but the closer he got, the more yellow Alchem's robes turned. Fear.
Finally the spy popped back up, and grabbed the man's chest. Alchem jumped out of the tree, but he was too late. The spy completely sucked everything from the man, except his bones. The skeleton dropped to the ground. Alchem was angry now, the tree he was in gave him some of the Fountains energy, and the Fountain dominated life, which meant Alchem could feel the loss of the man's life. Alchem collected up energy from several trees, and grabbed the spy by the neck. He lifted it off the ground, and let it hang there, swinging madly. Alchem closed his eyes, took a breath, and melted the spy in an instant. He stepped in the black pool and took all the energy back, leaving the water to sink into the ground.
Alchem felt growth... in his right hand. Energy doesn’t just grow; he grabbed a small knife from his pocket, and made a slit in his palm. It bled, Alchem almost threw up, whatever energy throws up. He took a sock off and wrapped it around the wound. He felt less open now, but he still couldn't comprehend what had happened. He had a human part.
Alchem was very confused; he must have taken part of the spy, or the man. He dropped to his knees. From everything he'd read about people, this was never recorded. His robes turned black, as he fell into deep thought. The Sun was granting the arm energy. The arm was from the spy, or, whoever it was before he turned into a spy. He dug a finger from his energy hand, into a vein from the real hand.
The blood carried a story, a young man, who was happy, but then there was a large amount of disappointment, followed by anger, then the blood lost all scent. It was what caused the man to so easily become a spy, and to fall into that circle. But all of a sudden, there was a spark of regret. The spy allowed his arm to transfer to Alchem. The arm was strong, the anger fueled it, the arm was amazing, and strong, the arm, was real. Alchem put energy from himself into the arm, it was coordinated. An arm that could hold a sword, and fight with one. That could be useful. Another blood cell came, it talked to Alchem.
"Please, I've done so much damage as the spy, let me help you, try and fix what I have done." Alchem took another breath.
"Yes."
Marvin stood in the mess that lay all over the ground. But he felt refueled now; the explosion must have excited him. He ran over to the jail, the three men were all looking at the window; there was a small whole that they were all trying to squeeze out.
"Hey, you three!" screamed Marvin.
"We're all dead! Look over to your left er' something!" screamed Ryan.
"Shut up Ryan, it's that vandal from the bar," said Robert.
"Hey, you got us in here, get us out!"
"It's not gonna be that simple."
"Of course it is, he's magic! He can stop time!"
"No I can't," screamed Marvin.
Willow put his face up to the bars. "I can," he said quietly. Marvin heard it loud and clear. He ran over to the window. "At least I think I can, that red thing was more interested in me then anyone else."
Marvin knelt down, to level himself with the low window. "Do you remember what happened? Tell me," demanded Marvin.
"Well, time just stopped, and then the red thing came in, looked at me, and grabbed me and you chased him off."
"I did?"
"Yeah, I think I stopped time, and Robert and Ryan didn't stop, because I was touching them, but I don't know why you didn't either." Marvin scratched his head, it helped him think, but it hurt. He took his bandanna off. The inside had five different jewels in it, he remembered more now.
"Oh, it's the bandanna, one of these does it, I just don't know which one," Ryan seemed very interested in the bandanna.
"That looks expensive, could I borrow it, considering you got us locked up, you owe me one."
"Thats this one."
"Fine, how about a..."
"SHUT UP! We're trying to get somewhere!"
"How about out of this dump."
"Both of you," screamed Marvin, "it's that stupid old fart, he's the one who put those marks on your shoulders,"
Ryan and Willow looked at their shoulders, and at the symbol for Alchemy.
"Ooh, nice tattoo," Ryan said with a smile.
"It means Alchemy."
Robert was screaming behind them all, he ran straight at the small hole in the wall, breaking it just enough to squeeze through. Robert and Ryan started to try and get out. Willow and Marvin continued to talk.
"Look," said Marvin, "All I know is, occasionally time just sort of, stops, for whatever reason, and some people are immune, or, wear jewels like mine, either way, there are people like that red thing, that use the opportunity to steal things."
"But why did he attack me?"
"I think you were the one who caused it, someone always causes it."
"And that's why I was immune?"
"I think so."
"And time just, stops moving?"
"Well, there's energy that is always pushing time, and keeping going at a smooth pace, but there are demons infesting your town, and they're taking all of that energy, making time very unstable, and easy for someone to just, stop it."
Marvin blinked his eyes, how did he know all that? He could barely remember his own name.
"What about the marks on our shoulders?"
"I'm not sure, the old man was, marking you, I think."
"So he could find us later."
"Maybe," time seemed to slow back down to its normal speed. Marvin took a long deep breath. He felt calm, all of a sudden. He could remember much more now, he knew everything he studied as a child, he knew all knowledge concerning others, but he couldn't come up with anything about himself. I'm reinventing myself.
"What do we do now?" asked Willow.
"Well, neither you nor I is in charge here, sometimes, it's best to just wait."
"How long do you think?"
"Until the old man returns."
"What do we do until then?"
"Become strong."
Life felt peaceful again, they had a purpose, they had power, all they needed to do was wait. Robert finally got through the hole, followed by Ryan, who stole Marvin’s bandanna and ran off into the woods.
"Thank-you!"
"You little punk," Marvin ran after him, but tripped on a slither of wood, and landed in the mud on his face.
"Let um' go," said Willow with a smile.
"You and I could both use a drink."
Alchem was admiring his new arm, while continuing to repeat in his head what the Sun told him when he was struck by the lightning.
"Alchem, the possession is way out of hand now, I've had enough of you screwing around. We can't put this off any longer, the Man in the Moon and I will wipe the memory from the first four, once you have them marked, if Robert and Ryan go to the sea, it will be easy to find them again later, and if Willow stays in the woods, the trees can carry him to you. But the other four you'll have to take the other four with you. And be careful of the time stops, if the demons keep taking that energy, soon time won't move at all. "
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This story is a part of the Alchem the Alchemist series.
http://www.alternative-internet.com/serials.html#alchemthealchemist