Chapter 16 – Celestial Alchemy

The last light of day in Aurion didn’t come from the sun—it came from the city’s own crystals, which were slowly turning from blue to a deep gold, like embers about to die out. Arlen followed Aeloria through the winding streets, his heart beating faster with each step. The Core, which had once seemed distant, now loomed before him like a mountain made of pure energy.

The entrance to the laboratory was inconspicuous, marked only by a black stone archway studded with pulsing runes. But when Aeloria touched the surface, the archway ignited, lines of blue light coursing through her veins like starblood.

Inside, the air smelled of ozone and something else—something that made the hairs on Arlen’s arms stand on end. Power. Pure and raw.

And then he saw Kael.

The young scientist was hunched over a table, his nimble fingers adjusting a floating device composed of spinning crystals and strands of liquid silver. His dark hair fell over his green eyes—green like the sky over Zhyndor during a radiation storm, alive and dangerous. When he looked up, Arlen felt a strange jolt, as if he had found a brother he had never known he had.

“Ah, so you are the chosen one of the amulet,” Kael said, his voice warmer than Arlen had expected. Welcome to my chaos.

He gestured to the room, and Arlen finally realized what was around him.

God of the deserts…

It was as if someone had taken all the stars in the sky and placed them in vials. Crystals of every size and color floated in suspension, some pulsing like hearts, others emitting almost musical sounds. Metals that moved on their own, taking the shapes of mythical animals before melting away again. And at the center of it all, a sphere of pure energy, contained within an invisible force field, its surface rippling like a lake struck by a stone.

“Celestial Alchemy,” Kael announced, picking up a fist-sized red crystal. The art of sculpting the cosmos with one’s hands.

He crushed the crystal between his palms.

Arlen instinctively recoiled, expecting an explosion—but instead, what emerged from between Kael’s fingers was light. Light that stretched, twisted, until it became a serpent of liquid fire that danced in the air before dissolving into golden sparks.

“How—?” Arlen swallowed, his heart pounding in his throat.

Kael smiled, and there was something savage in that smile.

“Everything is energy, Arlen. Everything is vibration. The ancients knew this—they could see the threads that weave the universe together. We just—pull at those threads.” He picked up a shard of common metal and placed it inside a container filled with silvery liquid. The metal began to transform, becoming translucent, then blue, then emitting a soft light.

“That’s impossible,” Arlen whispered, but even as he said it, his hands reached out, almost touching the now-luminous metal.

“You’re in Aurion, my friend,” Kael laughed. Here, the impossible is only the beginning.

Aeloria, who had been watching silently, finally spoke.

“Kael is one of our finest alchemists. And he will be your teacher.”

Arlen stared at the crystal that still glowed in his hands, feeling its heat, its pulse. Something inside him—something he hadn’t even known existed—awakened.

“What if…” His voice trailed off for a moment. What if someone uses this knowledge for evil?”

Kael’s smile faded. His green eyes darkened, like clouds covering a stormy sky.

— That’s exactly what destroyed our ancestors’ world, Arlen. They played with cosmic fire… and got burned.

He leaned closer, his voice now a low whisper.

“The amulet didn’t choose you by chance. It saw something in you—something that even you don’t see yet. The question isn’t whether you’ll use that knowledge… but how.”

The crystal in Arlen’s hand pulsed brighter, as if in agreement.

And somewhere, deep within the Core, something ancient opened an eye.