Realm of the Sun

Chapter 20

Solarie approached the laboratory cautiously, not knowing what exactly she was going to find inside.

She was pleasantly surprised- it looked nothing like what she had imagined. For the entire time she had been here, she had been avoiding the place. It was the same place that the king had forced her into after the events at the Sun Trial, and even though so much had changed since then, she couldn't work up the courage to come back until now.

Solarie stuck her head inside the doorway, noticing only one person was attending to a station inside. With one quick glance back to the hall, she realized that the signage posted outside was a clear explanation.

Laboratory C12-A24

HOURS OF OPERATION ARE AS FOLLOWS:

SUNDAY: 6AM-7PM

MONDAY-FRIDAY: 11AM-11PM

SATURDAY: 8AM-10PM

Solarie glanced at the clock beside the sign, watching the pendulum swinging from side to side. If she read the clock correctly, it was about to be midnight, meaning no matter what day it was, the lab was closed. She slowly eased the door open wider again, and looked inside again.

Of course, the one person inside the laboratory was none other than Sylas Lai, her fiance. She probably could've harboured a guess, but in the spirit of all the chaos that had happened in the days leading up to today, Solarie hadn't given much thought and brainpower into anything. Her last brain cell was on the verge of destruction, and she wasn't keen on using it now.

She could hear Sylas talking to himself. He was wearing a standard white lab coat, and thick goggles were strapped around his eyes. There was something in front of him, and he was holding some sort of pink liquid.

"Okay, Sylas, by combining the thitrioacetone with the cryogen hypoxide, and alkinicetin, when reacting with the copper it should-'' there was a loud gurgling, bubbling sound. "That's not right- that's not- oh gods-" he doused the reaction quickly with some sort of neutralizing agent, turning the once pink liquid goo to a lavender purple.

She smiled warmly and watched as he scribbled something down in his notebook, before picking up another conspicuously unlabeled green beaker. "Not thitrioacetone then. Vodelirium combined with casparium should create an effect similar to thitrioacetone..."

Solarie knocked on the door.

Sylas jolted, dropping the beaker and the liquid all at one. The beaker shattered, and the liquids merged together, creating a combustion that blew up right in front of Sylas' face. He coughed, frantically clearing away the smoke with his arm.

He sighed. "Ashlee, what did I tell you about sneaking up on-" he turned and saw Solarie standing in the doorway. "People," he finished, breathless.

"Hey. Sorry. Just me," she shrugged, taking in the disaster before her. Glass shards were strewn around, and various liquids were spilled on the floor, the counter, and Sylas' lab coat.

He blinked. "Solarie! What a surprise-" he attempted to dust off some of the powder on his coat, but it was to no avail. "H-how's it going?" Some papers began to slip off of the black countertop and Sylas rushed to collect them. He wasn't fast enough- the papers drifted to the ground and soaked up all of the liquids on the floor. Somehow, the papers shrivelled and produced a sulfur-like smell, as if it was burning and disintegrating just by interacting with whatever was on the ground. "Huh. So that's what that does to paper."

A bit of awkward silence, until Solarie cleared her throat. "Yeah, uh, I'm fine. Sort of. It's been a long week."

"Do you want to talk about it?" he asked, removing his gloves and placing them neatly on the side counter.