Rustling sound could be heard in the back alley of a row of houses. There, a girl with an appearance of an eighteen-year-old made her way out of the junk she was in. She had no idea who she was nor how she found herself there.
The lass' hair was in a completely messy state. She patted the dirt away from her ragged white dress and swept her hair to the side of her face with her filthy hands to get a better view. It was then she realized her body reeked of garbage.
"Why am I here anyway?" The girl asked no one in particular as she headed for the main street.
She tried to recall everything, anything related to her life. Her parents, her name, and most importantly, where she lives. She stood under a tree, questioning her very existence.
"I don't recall having a family or home to return to," the girl rubbed her chin while thinking and furrowed her eyebrows. "Well, whatever. I'll eventually get to know the answer."
...
"Master Gravius!"
The concerned clients rushed into the warlock's lab, only to find the place messier than usual. Gravius was pushing off his collections from the shelves while yelling, "Get out of hiding right this instant!"
He stood at his spot waiting for an answer, only to be responded with silence.
Despite the clients not having the slightest idea of the situation, neither of them was daring enough to throw a question. They knew all too well that it would only make things worse if they mentioned something Gravius didn't like. And in the current situation, something serious happened to make him this furious.
Not knowing what to do, the clients started muttering among themselves.
"What's happening?"
"No idea. He mentioned something about getting out of hiding."
"Isn't he staying alone here?"
"He wouldn't look in the shelves if he was looking for a person in the first place."
"Perhaps Master Gravius owns a hamster as a pet?"
"Are you being serious right now?"
"Never heard of it."
They glanced at the raging warlock who was destroying his collections of carbonated drinks, recipe books, potion ingredients and everything else, one after another. No-one spoke a single word until he nearly tore the door open.
"Master Gravius, may we know what you are searching for?"
Gravius finally stopped his actions at the mention of his name. He turned around, only to see a group of people standing by his door looking at him. They were all his clients and he recognized them all.
Feeling ashamed of what he allowed his clients to witness, Gravius scratched the nape of his neck with his eyes fixed on the wooden floor.
"It's just… one of my collections vanished into thin air and I'm s-searching for it..." Gravius stuttered. "I haven't found it yet, though," he added, still avoiding their gazes.
Those who knew him well would be able to remain calm when such a situation arises.
The clients did not utter a word as Gravius tidied up his place, embarrassed at revealing how he had lost one of his collections. After all, they've warned him since the beginning but Gravius did not take action.
It was surprising, truthfully.
Everything kept on the shelves are precious to the young warlock and he takes care of them properly despite being a clumsy person. Never had he ever lost something and even if he did, somebody would eventually find it somewhere in his pile of mess.
Unfortunately, that wasn't the case this time.
Gravius provided the best chairs he has for his clients to sit on. He served them tea with carbonated water before taking a seat himself on the stool nearby and explained the problem he was facing at the moment.
"Remember that lame brand I mentioned last time? I thought of trying it out today but I accidentally poured the mixture into the bottle when it was supposed to be done the other way round."
Everyone paid their utmost attention to the young warlock they've respected for years, allowing him to continue talking.
"It suddenly disappeared out of thin air after the blinding light disappeared," Gravius added. He lifted his hand in the air to imitate his actions earlier, showing his clients what he did to save himself from the light earlier.
The clients remained silent until one of them questioned in a perplexed tone, earning the warlock's attention, "Then you got frustrated over losing something you didn't like?"
"Well, of course! It wasted my one bowl of potion!" Gravius exclaimed. They were taken aback by the sudden rise of his voice, to which Gravius apologized quickly when he noticed their terrified reactions.
Realizing he stood unconsciously when he said that, he sat back on the stool and muttered, "It's fine. I'd rather lose a collection than keeping something I dislike, no— despise." He crossed his arms, leaning on the wall behind him.
The clients went deep in thoughts and rubbed their chins, thinking of a way to cheer him up. If not, who knows if this would be the last time he would be selling his potions to them?
A few minutes passed and no one has uttered a single word yet. Gravius stood up in an attempt to break the awkward tension in the room and went to one of his shelves. He checked the list stuck on his wall before taking out some bottles of potions.
"You're all here to collect your orders, right? Here, take them and proceed with the payment," Gravius handed the potions to his clients respectively and they paid up the sum before leaving.
"Thank you. Please come again!"
Clack!
The warlock closed the door after sending his clients off. He flopped on that rotten sofa of his to take a rest. Nonetheless, his genius mind was still working, figuring out the reason behind that particular carbonated drink's disappearance.
"The recipe was supposed to produce a potion that turns non-living things into a living human," Gravius mumbled to himself as he closed his eyes, deep in thoughts. "If the mixture earlier was a success, that means..."
He spent a few seconds processing his own words when suddenly, a light bulb went off in his head.
"The carbonated drink became a human?!"
Gravius couldn't believe what he had done. He made the potion as a tester for customers who would want to buy them, but he wasn't focusing on his actions and caused a new being to roam in the city.
He needed to do something about this. Quick. There's no time to lose!
Gravius got up from the sofa and headed for his bookshelf, searching for a solution to this mistake. As he was flipping through the pages, he suddenly thought,
"Why do I care anyway?"
Gravius started to think he didn't need to find a solution to this. After all, it was no longer in his house. Well, if he wanted to, he could always make an undo potion and make 'it' revert to its original form. That wasn't a problem at all, but searching for it might take a while and Gravius would rather spend his precious time inventing new potions than looking for someone he doesn't even know the face of.
Leaving the matter at the back of his head, Gravius removed his robe and changed into a hoodie, hands on the doorknob after grabbing a bag and a list of things he needed to get.
"Geez. They're so needy. Where am I supposed to look for these?"
…
The shopping trip took longer than he thought. Feeling worn out and exhausted, Gravius returned to his house. Fatigue was overtaking him so he did not realize the door was already opened when he arrived.
Thud!
Gravius' bag slipped through his grasp and the contents spilled on the floor. Those wouldn't be usable anymore if not for the kind seller who secured the items with a zip bag.
There, an orange-headed girl stood right before him, shuffling through his shelf of books. The girl jolted at the sudden thud and turned her head to see who it was.
A warlock was standing at the door with his jaws wide open, eyes staring at her like she's grown another head. It was no doubt that was him, and the girl recognized him immediately.
He was the owner of her previous self; the one warlock who abandoned her in the depths of his collection just because of the lame name she was given by her creator.