Alchemised

by SenLinYu

She thought at first if she waited long enough, some glimmer of light would appear, or someone would come. Yet no matter how long she waited, there was nothing.

Remembered that she’d been placed there as a prisoner, kept preserved, but someday, someone would come for her.

She had to endure. To stay alert. That way she would be ready. She had to stay ready. She would not let herself fade away.

vivimancer. Necromancy’s inverse twin, wielded on the living rather than the dead.

“This is elaborate, beautiful, professional work. A vivimancer manually rewiring the human consciousness.”

By its nature, lumithium bound the four elements of air, water, earth, and fire together, and in that binding, resonance was created.

Usually, resonance was channelled into the alchemy of metals and inorganic compounds, allowing for transmutation or alchemisation. However, in a defective soul which rebelled against Sol’s natural laws, the resonance could be corrupted, enabling vivimancy—like what the woman had used on Helena—and the necromancy used to create necrothralls.

All she knew was that as long as those manacles remained locked in place, she wasn’t an alchemist at all.

“Soul mithridatism…”

I hear new words every single page!

“Penny, what are they—” Helena didn’t get the whole question out as she was shoved towards her room. Penny leaned over the arm of the chair, looking back, her face stricken. “You were right. I’m so sorry. We should have listened to you.”

“The war is over. What is it you think you’re protecting in that brain of yours?”

He slipped it off and tossed it to her. She caught it reflexively, disappointed to discover that it wasn’t an unusual black metal at all, but a severely tarnished silver ring, as if he never took it off to care for it. It was hand-forged rather than transmutationally crafted; she could see the hammer marks that had beaten a scaled, almost geometric pattern onto it. A bizarre thing for an iron alchemist to wear.

Rereading this part again made me cry 😭 he never took the ring off!!

“Do I know you?” she asked as her eyes slid closed. “I suppose you do.”

“You’re full of surprises.” “Do you say that to every girl?” The words popped out thoughtlessly. Ferron gave a short laugh, his gaze sharpening, eyes darting across her face.

Soren. Remember Soren. What happened to him?

“Why don’t you die?”

“Prior commitments, I’m afraid.”

“I will die before I lose her,”

“The Undying. You’re his source of power, and the Resistance—we figured that out, didn’t we? How to kill him. How to kill all of you.”

“She’ll never be yours.”

“Ferron always comes for me,”

“I’m not going to hurt you,”

She had no idea how to explain it to a novice vivimancer; she’d never taught anyone to heal.

but you taught him

If you ever go near her again, or speak to her, or so much as set foot in this wing again, I will kill you, and I will do it slowly, perhaps over the course of an evening or two. That isn’t a threat. It’s a promise. Now get out of my sight.”

“How did you know I’d be able to fix my eye?” “You were a healer.” “Yes, but…” Her voice faded. She was unable to explain why she felt dissatisfied with the answer. “Where did you learn to heal?”

You taught him, remember?

“Well, you—you have a natural talent for it. In another life, you could be a healer.”

“Wait—” She held her hands out, as if she could ward him off. “What if you just kill me?”

Helena opened her eyes and couldn’t see him anywhere. The violent sound of retching emerged from the bathroom.

“Oh, Marino.” His thumb trailed along her neck, following the scar below her jaw. “If I’d known what pain you’d cause me, I never would have taken you.”

“But at this point I suppose I deserve to burn. I wonder if you’ll burn, too.”

“Stay…please…stay.”

Don’t break. She’d promised…

She stared at him wildly. “I’m waiting—I promised I’d wait—”

“I have warned you, if something happens to you, I will personally raze the Eternal Flame. That isn’t a threat. It is a promise. Consider your survival as much a necessity to the Resistance as Holdfast’s. If you die, I will kill every single one of them.”

“Kaine Ferron has offered to spy for the Resistance,” said Crowther.

What?

“You are full of surprises,” he added after a moment, voice lower than before. Helena wasn’t sure what to say to that, so she just said the first thing that popped into her head. “Do you say that to every girl?” He huffed a laugh and ran his hand through his hair to brush it off his face. “No, I can’t say I do.”

“You think you’re better than us because you’re immortal, but you’re dead inside already.”

“Was it a punishment for you—being made Undying?” He glanced at her, his face empty. “How could immortality be a punishment? It’s what everyone wants.”

“Do I get to know why?” she asked, still staring dully at the floor, ribs aching with every breath. “Did I—did I d-do something?” “You exist, Marino. I think that’s reason enough.”

I don't understand him sometimes

Don’t make me responsible for Kaine Ferron’s death.

“You know, there’s something about you, Marino, that inspires the most terrible decisions from me. I’ll know better, but then I’ll still…”

“You have such a singular mind. Even when I’m not inside it, I can still see it churning away behind those eyes of yours.”

“Thank you, Marino.” She swallowed, lifting her gaze. “Still not Helena?” He exhaled, avoiding her eyes. “Helena.” He said it slowly, drawing it out, as if he was testing the way it sounded.

“I must admit,” he said in a low voice as though making a confession, “if anyone had told me you’d become so lovely, I would never have come near you. I was rather blindsided when I saw you again.”

“You’re like a rose in a graveyard,” he said, and his lips twisted into a bitter smile. “I wonder what you could have turned into without the war.”

“Would you do something for me?” The question was quiet. She looked up. His expression had relaxed again, and his hair had fallen across his forehead, softening his features. She scanned him quickly. “What do you want?” He tilted his head. “Will you take your hair down? I want to see it.”

“If you don’t want me to kiss you, you should say so now,” he said.

“You made me feel like the parts of me that aren’t useful still deserve to exist. Like I’m not just all the things I can do.”

“I didn’t know that was something vivimancers could do,” she said, trying to get her thoughts straight. “I don’t think that most can,” Kaine said, straightening. “It’s something only animancers are capable of.” He said it so casually that it took Helena a moment to process his words. She looked at him sharply. “How’d you realise?” she said. A thin smile curved across his face. “It was just a guess.”

“I think…he wants me. Treating the array changed things between us, but he knows what I’m doing.” She swallowed hard. “He’s very obsessive about things. I think he always has been, but the array makes it worse. If things go according to plan, that’ll be good for us. I don’t think he’ll ever abandon the Eternal Flame then. Willingness seems critical with him, and he knows mine is conditional on the Eternal Flame’s survival. But—given how far he’s willing to go for things, I’d say there’s a chance he’d destroy anything that stood in his way. That might include me.”