The Devil's Temptation!

239 Visiting The Alchemist Shop (2)

The Alchemist shop is a wooden, sprawling single story building, with a white shingled roof and a smooth stone floor. It looked decent on the outside, but more grand on the inside after Anna had stepped in, holding Gemma’s hand and keeping her by her side.

The air inside smelled magical when she breathed in, and several candles were lit and placed on the candle stand, brightening the whole place. The fancy dark blue curtains were opened, making way for the light outside to pour into the room, and she could see everything more clearly now.

Anna could still hear chattering from the people who waited outside, hoping to get in soon before the Alchemist’s son leaves for the day. She would have stood in line like the rest of them, waiting to go in, but thanks to her sudden rank in Viscarrian, she was granted quick access.

She was more surprised that they knew about her, meanwhile she knows none of them.

Making her way in, several hunting trophies lined themselves against the walls like a displayed cauldron collection. A grandfather clock hung against the high top of the walls, and Anna got curious about how someone was even capable of reaching up there.

Did they use a ladder?

There was a rectangular wooden table that was placed in each corner of the room, potions, poultices, tonics and other loose ingredients were placed on the table, and Anna studied each one with pure amusement glimmering in her brown eyes.

Things like this actually exist?

A lot of people who had succeeded in getting in elegantly walked by, conversing with themselves as they stopped to admire one of the trophies. There were dozens of shelves that had books of different kinds, and Anna noticed how most of the people each picked a book freely to read.

.....

“I heard the young Alchemist wrote some of the books here himself.” Anna heard a lady whisper to another lady who appeared surprised by the information.

“Really?!”

“He’s very talented, and he’s made so many progressions in such a short time during his quest to become a true Alchemist. His father must be proud.”

Hearing the lady’s genuinely admire the Alchemist made Anna curious to see who that Alchemist was. He sounds like a nice person since they happen to talk about him with such honesty

Is he a Demon too??

“The Alchemist himself isn’t here.” Becca suddenly broke the silence between them, and Anna had almost forgotten she had people walking with her.

“Why?” She turned to look at Becca.

“He’s not here doesn’t mean he’s blind to everything happening in his territory.” Becca explained, sounding impressed herself, “It’s one of his interesting tricks as an Alchemist, although I really want to see him, and I’m hoping he graces us with his presence.”

“Then would it be alright if I pick a book to read?” First things first, Anna didn’t want to do anything that might offend this person since he could be watching like Becca said.

“I don’t think he’ll have a problem with it,” Becca gave a half shrug, “who wouldn’t want people to read their hard work.”

“Fair point.” Anna agreed with her statement. Holding Gemma by her hand so she wouldn’t slip off and wander into the crowd, Anna decided to take her along so they could both search for books together.

“Hey Agnes, since she’s busy, shall we take a look at those potions, the purple colored one over there looks so alluring.” Becca pointed a potion on one of the tables, taking Agnes along with her.

“Don’t touch them, it might not be allowed.” Agnes reprimanded Becca who was just about to lay a hand on it, but stopped after Agnes’s thoughtful warning.

A smile worked its way to Anna’s lips, seeing Becca and the new maid get along pretty well. It reminded her of how friendly Becca was to her when she had no one to talk to in the palace, and it was a warm moment she would never forget.

Returning her attention back to the books on the shelves, Gemma had her gaze on the last row of books, since she could only pick from there. Spending a lot of time with Anna got her interested in reading about new things, and at her young age too. Even if she couldn’t say anything, she was more educated than a lot of people who could actually speak.

“Hmmm, what book should I pick?” Anna quietly asked herself, letting her eyes scan through every row of books that was neatly placed on the shelves.

Gemma was the first to pick a book, she showed it to Anna who was impressed to see Gemma was more than interested in reading as well.

“You want to read this?”

She excitedly nodded her head. Anna collected the book from her small grip and looked at the title.

‘SPIRITS OF MAGIC.’ it suddenly clicked as Anna’s ears perked up.

“I see, so you want to read on it to develop insights about your unawakened powers, is that it?”

Again, Gemma nodded with a bright smile, looking happy that Anna understood her reason for picking the book. She felt Anna understood her a lot more than Becca did.

“Not a bad choice.” Anna looked fascinated by her choice. If Gemmaa continues to read and gains more knowledge on her powers, she might just awaken them in her early stage, and that will be a happy moment to witness, especially for Levi.

Anna’s eyes shifted to Agnes and Becca who were seated on a chair, still checking out the ingredients on the table and having discussions that she couldn’t hear. Anna could swear her ears were extremely sensitive in the past, but now they just work on their own, making it their decision to hear something from afar or not.

“How about you go sit with Aunt Becca and Agnes so you can read comfortably,” Anna squatted down, handing the book back to Gemma. ” I’ll join you right after I find myself a book, okay?”

Luckily, Gemma didn’t put up a fight and willingly agreed. She ran to meet Becca, showing her the book while bouncing on her toes. Anna watched as Becca carried her so she could sit on the chair in their middle, and now their attention was focused on the book Gemma had brought.

Knowing Gemma was safely with them, Anna continued to scan through the rows of books on the shelves, moving to the next shelf if she found nothing that grabbed her interest.

There isn’t a book that is capable of stealing her attention here, even though they all had unique names she’s never seen before, none of them felt like something she could read.

“Hmmm, what about this one?” She randomly picked out a book from the shelf, mainly because of its book cover that had pictures of an attractive symbol.

“TALES OF TWO BLOOD” she read out the title, but it sounded more like a story rather than an educational book on magic. She looked at the author of the book and the name was decently written below.

“Marcus Edeven.” Her forehead furrowed as her brows knitted with interest.

Due to her inquiring mind, Anna opened the book to the first page, wanting to see what it’s all about, but what she didn’t expect was to feel an unexplainable energy shoot through her system like a quick bolt skittering through her every nerves, and her eyes immediately turned golden in color as they dilated.

Her powers were awakening.

She involuntarily gasped at first, a bit stunned by what just coerced through her system but before she could mentally grasp herself, she unexpectedly realized she was no longer in the Alchemist shop. Rather, she saw herself looking right into Euphrasia like a vision. It felt like she was running, running to get somewhere at full speed.

Anna tried to stop it, but she couldn’t, she couldn’t stop what was running in her head. If she was the one who kept running she didn’t know, but to her shock, she saw the vision take her straight into the dark woods, it was the same, still filled with an eerie vibe and it didn’t stop there, her mind kept running till she found herself standing before the forbidden temple, where she had once helped Roshan escape from, and her breath quickened.

Her chest rose and fell with rapid breathing, anxiety gripped her hard, not until the book she was holding fell from her hand to the ground, only then did those visions disappear from her mind, and her eyes turned normal.

The thudding sound of the book hitting the ground snapped Anna back to reality. She gasped and found herself in the Alchemist shop again, with everyone walking freely and some even greeted her, but she was too spaced out to respond.

“What...what was that?” Her voice trembled.

“Be careful with the things you drop, Milady.” A voice came from behind her and Anna immediately panicked.