I studied the man before me, taking in his appearance with a quick glance. Alexei had a thin, long face that seemed to exude a certain air of refinement. His ashy brown hair, tinged with hints of grey or white, was meticulously styled, adding to his overall polished look. The long white trench coat he wore, extending just below his knees. Its pristine condition and quality fabric spoke of a higher status, a stark contrast to the regular clothing worn in Leode. His black leather boots completed the look, polished to perfection.
I extended my hand towards Alexei, masking my curiosity with a composed expression. "Elias," I replied, my voice steady. "Pleasure to meet you."
"Likewise, Elias," he responded with a firm handshake. "Darius has told me about you. He sees a lot of potential in you and wants me to teach you a few things about being an arcanist."
Darius interjected. "Indeed, Elias. Alexei here is from the capital's arcanist unit in Goldeen. He has come specifically to train you."
"I wasn't aware that my training would begin so soon."
"Indeed." Darius nodded, his expression serious. "I've inducted you into the circle of arcanists, yet you possess no abilities. It was inevitable." Darius' eyes widened as if he remembered something important, "Oh Elias, have you thought about the three options I talked to you about yesterday?"
I hadn't really thought about it too hard after our little meeting yesterday at all. In fact, I had chosen right as Darius was telling me about my options. "Yes, I've put in quite some thought to it all. No worries there."
Alexei looked down at his wristwatch and chimed in, "Darius, Elias, I'd like to start as soon as possible if that's ok." He looked up at me and continued. "Elias, would you mind coming with me."
I could sense the urgency in Alexei's voice and his eagerness to begin the training. "Of course," I replied. "Lead the way."
Alexei nodded towards Darius in a confirming manner, as if bidding farewell of a sort even though we were just going over to another room.
We made our way through the office and over to one of the rooms I hadn't had the opportunity to explore yet that read "Chemistry" above the door. As we entered, Alexei unbuttoned his trench coat, revealing a crisp white shirt underneath, meticulously pressed and adorned with a small insignia pinned to his collar, likely Goldeen related to show his higher status. His movements were fluid and precise, mirroring the air of discipline that seemed to surround him.
The room had a table that curled around the edges of the room, housing all kinds of indescribable powders, materials and liquids in jars, containers and glassware. It was also lit brightly, not only with a ceiling light but various lanterns too. The stone floor had markings both engraved and half rubbed out as if the last experiment wasn't cleaned up properly.
While he removed his coat, Alexei continued our conversation. "So, Elias, tell me about the options Darius presented to you. You've taken enough time to think about your options?"
"That I have," I answered.
"And?" Alexei replied while placing his coat on a hanger in the corner.
"I've chosen the Watcher," I said without hesitation. "Darius explained that it's a mental time ability."
From what Darius told me, it would be able to take advantage of my natural intellect and would not only enhance it but level it up completely. Out of the three options, it would only make sense to go with this one since it also aligns perfectly with my future aspirations too.
I know there may be a possibility that things could change in the future such as the other options having much greater abilities that I could've or should've needed, but there would be no way to know or prepare for that kind of thing. Going with my gut and choosing the Watcher has to be my only choice.
Alexei nodded, his expression unreadable and still cold. He didn't question my decision or ask further into my reasoning. Instead, he walked over to the table adorned with various materials and powders. His hands deftly manipulating them with practised precision, picking them out and placing them in front of him.
"As a Watcher—and putting it simply—you will possess the ability to touch certain objects and gain glimpses into their near past or future," Alexei explained, his voice steady. "You will be able to see its surroundings in a still and fixed, state and perceive the moment it has witnessed as if it were to have eyes. Well, so I've been told."
Alexei looked up from the table and towards me, "And yes, this means inanimate objects."
The concept of touching objects and glimpsing their past or future intrigued me. It would undoubtedly be a fascinating ability to utilize, although I imagined it could be disorienting at first. I would have to practice with it often to become accustomed to the sensory overload that might accompany such visions.
If I were to use the Watcher on something without knowing its surrounding area, it could prove to be a significant detriment to me and my team. I would need to explore more, familiarize myself with different locations, and gather as much information as possible to make the most of my abilities. And what would happen if I used it on people? What could I learn or what consequences would come from it?
"How does it all work then? The power? How do I gain the power and how would I control it, harness it? And where does it come from, how does it exist?" I asked, hoping to get some sort of explanation seeing as Alexei was answering everything thoroughly enough so far.
As Alexei continued meticulously with the materials, he replied. "Elias, the intricacies of the power we possess as arcanists are not widely known. Even many of the top arcanists in the Goldeen unit in the capital don't have access to the full information. This includes me too. From what I know, only the higher-ups within the Churches have that knowledge."
Alexei then picked up what he had been working on and held it up to the light to look at it clearly. "Shall we get started then?"
I guess we had moved on from the previous conversation as Alexei walked over to the light switch and turned it off, only leaving a few candle-lit lanterns alight in the room, giving the atmosphere a moody feeling. He then pulled out a piece of parchment from a casing, much like the scroll casing I'd seen back when investigating Fritz with Lucas.
He then placed some of the materials he had been picking out into the corners of the room.
"Elias, to do this, I'll be conducting a ritual that shall induct you into becoming an arcanist of the Watcher pathway. Now once this happens, you can't reverse it," Alexei said with a cold stare.
For a sudden moment, I felt a chill of nervousness run down my spine, making my hands shake. Something this supernatural, this unfamiliar, this new would soon become my constant reality. It was hard for it not to be nerve-wracking, to say the least.
"I'm ready," I said confidently, knowing full well it took my whole chest to say it.
Without a word, the flames from the lanterns all went out with a sizzle, and a familiar chill came instantly to my body, though not as noticeable as other times. It was pitch black, though my eyes were already starting to adjust slowly as I could see the dark figure of Alexei, an arm's length in front of me.
That was when Alexei started murmuring something indescribable to my ears, not like any language I had ever heard before. It was even irritating to listen to like someone scratching at the insides of my ears with a sickle, though what was being said wasn't at all sharp sounding.
Then a hand grabbed at mine and a pain came quickly from my outstretched hand and I couldn't help my curse under my breath. A cut formed across my palm, as it dripped the red liquid onto the floor.
My sight suddenly went back to being completely dark and my body felt the urge to convulse as Alexei continued to murmur. My arms and legs started to become tighter like tentacles were being wrapped around them until Alexei stopped his incantation moments later.
The chill subsided, the light came back and the various irritable sensations faded away, though something else had taken its place.
A deep ticking sound banged against my head, and everything in my sight began to shake at each knock making everything disorienting to my balance.
I had almost fallen over when Alexei caught me and helped me back to my feet.
"If you're having trouble controlling it, you'll want to use the glass bowl method. Didn't Darius teach you already?"
Glass bowl method? Darius had said nothing of the sort.
I frowned a confused look at Alexei. "What do you mean?"
"Of course he didn't. I shouldn't have expected anything less," he jested. "Elias, what you're experiencing is the result of not being able to properly control the power you've just gotten, and it's reacting like, well, rapid ocean waves, crashing against a rock wall. You'll need to concentrate on containing it."
The irritating sensations still remained as I started to concentrate. "What am I supposed to be concentrating on? My breathing or something?" I quipped.
"Try thinking of an imaginary bowl, think of it as your consciousness, and that rampaging power, those sensations, as a body of water in said bowl."
I managed to regain my balance, closed my eyes and imagined a glass-looking circular fish bowl, filled just over halfway with water, still and unmoving, yet for some reason it wanted to wash around in rapids.
Alexei continued on. "Now yes, while controlling your breathing, imagine the feel of the bowl, its shape, its movement. The more vivid, the more you'll be able to control it."
As I visualised the bowl of water in my mind, my breathing slowed. The sounds around me started to soften and the deep ticking quietened till it faded away. I could hear the beating of my eardrums and feel the blood flowing through my arms down to the cut in my still-wet and bloody palm.
"Better?" Alexei asked.
I slowly opened my eyes to see the world more vividly. Like as if the dullness had become more saturated and vibrant. "That's much better." I was now officially an Arcanist. A Watcher.