The Understudy of an Alchemist

78. Ghosts Of The Past

Gravity catches up with me once again, as I stumble to the floor, landing hard down upon my face, the force of me knocking the talisman slightly with my satchel causing it to be sent flying across the room, landing upon the ground with a sharp clatter.

With a grunt of effort, Quirin also lunged after me, as I frantically scrambled towards the slab of rock resting upon the ground, stretching out my arm desperately towards it.

VIOLET!!!!!

The little girl called from it as I shuffled towards it, almost as if she were encouraging me for the first time in the time we had known each-other, instead of mocking me. Crawling as fast as humanly possible, forever aware of the possessed version of my friend's father thundering after me, as I thrust myself forward with one final burst of effort, hands flexing and stretching out towards it-

The stone slid into my hands as if that was where it always intended to be, and as I touched it, it immediately began to change from glowing blue to red, and the little girl's voice seemed to multiply by ten folds, echoing and calling over and over in my head, like an irritating insect that I couldn't repel.

Gritting my teeth and attempting to ignore this, I whirled around and thrust the talisman towards Quirin, who was looming over me, on the verge of grabbing me, before suddenly realising that it hadn't stopped mind-controlling him, and changing my mind, and with a sudden thrust of energy I slammed the piece of rock down upon the ground as hard as I possibly could.

Shards of glowing red rock shattered all over the room, causing a shrill high pitched whine to echo through my ears, as a blinding surge of blue light exploded from the broken talisman, sending Quirin flying backwards and onto the floor just before he could grab me.

Several moments passed, until finally the light extinguished, and the rocks surrounding me rose and disappeared into the ground repetitively. Without warning, a section of the wall beside me split into two, revealing a small doorway, glowing the same red that the talisman had when I had touched it.

VIOLET!!!!!

The voice was now coming from inside the doorway now, yet I shook away the callings of the voice, and instead rose nervously to my feet and moved towards Quirin, stepping over the broken shards of the talisman as I did so. The little girl's calls continued to echo from the entrance behind me, as I cautiously approached him.

I knew that he was no longer under control of the Mindtrap, I had ensured that by smashing it, so I pushed away my caution, and knelt down beside him, praying that he was just unconscious, and that I had not killed him somehow. Varian would never forgive me if that were the case. Hunching my shoulders slightly, I reached across and cautiously held my fingers against his wrist, before releasing it and breathing a sigh of relief upon feeling the familiar throbbings of a pulse.

For a moment, I simply sat down beside him, yet I could still hear the girl's voice calling to me from the entrance. I knew that breaking the talisman had caused this to happen, I had to follow it. Frowning to myself, I looked back down at Quirin, before an idea struck me, at which removed my satchel. It should make a comfortable enough pillow, it only contained mostly quills and my cloak, and......

........smiling softly to myself, I pulled out my two black flats and hugged them gently against my chest, sighing as I did so. I'd completely forgotten that Feldspar had fixed them for me. Placing the shoes back upon the floor, I stretched out my legs and with a little amount of effort, tugged one of my boots off, and slid the flat onto my foot instead, before repeating this action for my other leg as well.

Then discarding the boots in a pile off to the side, I bunched up the satchel the best I could, before carefully lifting up Quirin's head and sliding the bag under it, and gently patting his shoulder. "I hope this is more comfortable." Rising to my feet, I turned back around to face the doorway, which seemed to glow even more.