Cleo continue her journey through the town, arriving upon the cobbled roads of the Stoes district where the wealthy lived in this town.
The streets here unlike other parts of the town were filled with more carriages that people. She gave a nod and flashed a polite smile at the guards who patrolled the streets, the guards returning smiles of their own.
Soon enough Cleo had arrived before a lavish manor with a beige door, with her key she made her way into the manor where a man's voice greeted her. "Welcome back mistress, hope all is well? Its unlike you to return home this early."
"*sigh* Indeed, from the looks of it I..." Cleo's eyes narrowed with her lips thinning into a frown, once she saw the smoky grey eyes of her butler. Her butler was not offended by her reactions but rather had a wide smile with a proud look, "It would seem time away from the Tower has not dulled your senses, good, good".
The words coming out of her butler's lips caused her frown to deepen as she readied herself to make a hasty escape. "There is no need for all that Maria my dear, I simply want to see you. I'm in your lab."
Having said that her butler lost his smile and stood to the side in a manner that made one believe him to be nothing but a doll. Cleo stood now wide eyed staring at her butler, "Kholusia" she muttered to herself. She knew of it well enough, inhaling it would turn the victim into a motionless puppet much like her butler before her.
Kholusia itself was a restricted potion with the Alchemists of the tower keeping the formula a tight lip secret, allowing access only to a select few. With the evidence before her Cleo was sure of who was behind this, making her way through the manor, Cleo saw all her other servants were in a similar state to her butler.
Arriving at the door leading to her lab, she gained a determined look before making her way in. Once she saw an older lady with her brown hair tied into an elaborate bun inspecting her setup before running her fingers across her Alembic, "quite a setup you have here, you truly are doing well for yourself".
The older lady turned with a gentle smile to look at Cleo who let out a heavy breath after confirming the intruder was indeed who she had thought.
"Matilda".
"Well hello dear-"Matilda was cut off by Cleo.
"You took over the minds of my staff turning them into mere puppets."
"You had been gone for a while now and I merely wanted to inquire about your well-being"
"You could have done so without the use of a Kholusia"
"Yes, indeed I could have, but then I wouldn't be sure as to whether or not the answers they gave were honest or not. This way I am sure, fret not Kholusia isn't permanent and with the dose I gave them they should be fine in a few more hours" Matilda began.
"Now I would have thought after coming all this way to see you, we could have a nice conversation. After all I know I taught you better than that Maria, also if you are giving yourself a new identity, why not change your face as well."
Maria scoffed at that, "came all this way to see me? Talk about my disguising abilities? Please, the only reason you are here is the same reason every other person is coming here, and that is for whatever the Scarlett church stole."
"Why can't it be both?" A sad smile graced Matilda's face as she moved closer, holding Maria's face gently with one arm.
"I care for you dear, why is it so hard to see that."
Maria freed herself from Matilda's hands before placing some space between them. "If you truly cared as you claim you do, you would have helped me."
Matilda's face lost the sad smile gaining a hard look, as she stared into Maria. "I would have thought all this time enough to clear those thoughts from your head. What you want, it's impossible, there is no way to achieve it, give up".
"It's not impossible people have succeeded or at least come close to it."
"People have come close to it? Maria please, we all know Nicholas was nothing more than a delusional fool and a liar. He spread his delusions to the masses creating a problem that still plagues the world to this day."
"Nicholas might have been a delusional fool but what of tales before the descent, it was said Alohridictes achieved such a feat." Maria argued back.
"The tale of Alohridictes is just that; a tale. And even it was more than that, the gods of this world are long dead, the few who remain if any, have no power over our world. Your quest is a fool's dream."
"I thank you for your visit Matilda, but I have a lot to do, so if you don't mind." Maria spoke out with a steely tone as she glared at Matilda.
With a sigh, Matilda began to walk away. Reaching the doors she came to a halt, turning to Maria. "I am not the only one from the Tower here, some of the others might recognize you. You would do best to remain hidden at the very least."
With her final words Matilda left with Maria's eyes watching her leave.
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The tale of Alohridictes, is a tale about a man named Alohridictes who set out of a quest to the lands of the dead where he performed a variety of tasks, most famous of which led to him stealing a divine artifact, to hand over to the God of the dead to bring his loved one back to the lands of the living.
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Kholusia:
An alchemic creation of the alchemists of the Tower; it is a powder like substance which turns the victims into mere puppets who are completely under the control of the user.
The effects of Kholusia are not permanent however with the duration of effects being dependent on the dosage .