All was silent in that lonely witch's hut. Dutifully, a girl wreathed in blackest shadow tended to the spillages upon its floorboards, the tip of her sorcerer's cap bouncing in the air as she did so. Barion sat with a clay cup in both hands, from which an emerald smoke and a pungent aroma rose. It was the very same 'tea' that he had been offered on his very first visit to the hut, but not one he would be tasting for a second time. Even in such a seemingly tranquil setting, an uncomfortable shiver ran through his body.
"A Homunculus…" He spoke towards nobody in particular.
Within the field of alchemy, there were certain undertakings that had developed reputations for sheer difficulty or plain impossibility. The 'Great Works', as they were so called, consisted of the following: firstly, a kind of powder known as 'Philosopher's Stone', said to hold the potential of the fundamental universe, able to transmute water to quicksilver or lead to gold.
Secondly, a potion dubbed the 'Panacea', said to cure any illness no matter its severity or inevitability, dispel curses regardless of their inherent magical strength, and return even decapitated or fully-decomposed corpses to life.
And thirdly, that which was known as a 'Homunculus'. Put simply, it was the realisation of a complete life outside of its natural cycle--the reproductive cycle. An artificial creature that displayed true intelligence, compared to a golem only capable of comprehending basic instructions. Of all the Great Works, it was the most forbidden, and banned outright by many alchemical institutions, to the point where the very practice of creating a 'Homunculus' had become synonymous with Demonic worship. That dogma--the shared understanding of so many individual souls, was so unanimous as to afflict Barion with the same prickling in his skin when nearby that shadowy girl as he might have felt around a Demon.
"Master Yamora created me to be her pupil." The girl in question spoke, "She was so unsatisfied with 'the state of alchemists nowadays' that only a being sculpted by her own hands would be worthy of inheriting her teachings."
"That does sound like something she would say and do." Barion placed the cup onto the table beside him, "-Trying her hand at a forbidden and impossible feat of alchemy just to secure herself an apprentice that wouldn't disappoint her."
"In 414 years, Master Yamora mentioned the name 'Barion' exactly once, when I was studying the history of the known world." She explained, "Barring exceptional circumstances, I believe it would be wise to assume that you are the very same person she spoke of."
"It's a little hurtful to know I only crossed her mind on one occasion since we first met…" He grumbled, "I hope she had good things to say about me."
"On the contrary, she appeared frustrated at the mention of your name. Master Yamora rarely took well to anyone, but she seemed particularly critical of your… 'good-for-nothing' attitude."
"That old… did she even say who I was?"
"Yes." Saying that, the Homunculus girl stood up from the ground and turned to look Barion in the eyes, "You are the legendary hero responsible for slaying the Demon King 500 years ago."
"Once upon a time, perhaps. I'm just a merchant nowadays."
"Even so, I am grateful for both your efforts and those of your comrades."
It was difficult to tell with the girl's body being as formless as it was, but she seemed to perform something akin to a bow. Though Barion's heart told him that the creature in front of him was a Demon, it was obvious from a passing glance that she was anything but. However she managed to accomplish it, Yamora had undoubtedly gifted the girl with a soul.
"It's nothing to be thankful for, really." He replied, "What's your name?"
The girl raised her back, "Name?"
"You don't have one?"
"This place has received no visitors in 500 years. Master Yamora had no need to give me a name because I was the only entity she ever spoke to."
"That's a little harsh. But again, it sounds exactly like the type of thing she would do."
"I apologise for frightening you at first." She bowed again, "I am capable of hiding my presence within shadows. I wished to assess your intentions before revealing myself."
"If what you said is true, am I the first person other than Yamora you've ever spoken to?"
"That would be correct."
"Haven't you ever thought about leaving? Don't you need to stock up on reagents occasionally?"
"The marsh is an excellent environment for sourcing primordial reagents. The humid atmosphere also creates ideal conditions for life to flourish. Living here is quite sustainable." Saying that, her bright-yellow eyes moved to the hut's central table, "However, with the loss of vials and an alembic, my research will be slower from here on out."
"Sorry about that." He apologised, "...Then, with all said, I suppose that means you're an alchemist, as well?"
"Yes."
"I came here wondering if Yamora could create a Demon-Detecting Stone for me. I threw away mine a couple of centuries after the Demon King was defeated."
"Demon-Detecting Stone." She repeated after him, and then paused, "...High-level alchemy. Putrefaction of Chimera flesh--nigredo; multiplication of tissue within chlorine solution--albedo; fermented Henklomeon ore-flower, fibres oven-charred and stiffened-"
"I take it you know the recipe, then?" Barion interrupted.
"Doable, but only with the correct reagents." The girl blinked, "I would require access to Master Yamora's hidden pseudo-dimension."
"I'm sorry?"
"This hut is too small to contain Master Yamora's extensive collection of alchemical reagents. Using Philosopher's Stone, she was able to isolate a thread of space-time, creating an extra-dimensional quantum space only existent at the moment of acknowledgment by a third party." Saying that, the shadow-girl looked down, "...Master Yamora did not teach me the answer to the 7-coloured sphere."
"So, she has a pocket dimension? That's some pretty impressive magic."
"A pseudo-dimension manifested using sorcery remains unstable and likely to collapse within hours of its creation. Master Yamora's quantum space is a product of chemical manipulation, stabilising itself using artificial inter-molecular structures designed to-"
"I get the picture. It's on a whole other level." Barion interrupted for the second time, "And what's the '7-coloured sphere' all about?"
"For the sake of privacy, Master Yamora synthesised a lock that prevented her pseudo-dimension from being accessed by anyone other than her." The girl explained, "Allow me to retrieve it."
At the back of the hut resided a small closet, though impossibly, as the girl moved to open it, the dimensions of its storage seemed larger than the closet itself. Rummaging for a few moments, she eventually returned with a large sphere in-hand. It was around the size of a globe, and split into 7 unevenly-distributed segments of different colours. In the centre of each segment was an esoteric symbol.
"Placing one's finger upon a colour and speaking an accepted term changes its symbol." The girl explained, "I have discovered that the symbols can relate to alchemical scripture, Aelven cuneiform, or magical sigils. I estimate that there are at least 11,558,389,090 permutations, of which I have exhausted 4,634,709."
"Going through them one-by-one doesn't seem to me like the best solution…"
"I have already entered every sensible combination of symbols."
"Have you tried the prayer of the Aelven goddess?"
"Yes."
"Okay, what about the schools of magic?"
"Yes. I have exhausted every possible combination of the 14 schools' sigils."
"That's fair. How about the 77 steps-"
"-of the Emerald Tablets. Yes. Every last one."
"I'm well and truly stumped, in that case."
Barion's incredible age had given him wisdom beyond what most could hope to achieve in a lifetime, and yet he was but a child in the ways of the world compared to an alchemist. If Yamora's apprentice didn't know the answer to the sphere, it was unlikely that he would.
"This is unfortunate. It may be more efficient to source the reagents yourself, Barion."
"I'd be hard-pressed finding a Chimera without a Demon-Detecting Stone."
"The problem is therefore cyclical. It is almost humorous."
"Are you sure Yamora didn't just write the solution down somewhere?"
The girl blinked, "Please do not patronise me."
"No, I'm being serious." Barion explained, "Think about it. Why did Yamora create the sphere in the first place? There are only a handful of people in the world who can access pocket dimensions, so why did she feel the need to lock it?"
"I believe she wanted to prevent me from entering it."
"Why?"
For a moment, the girl didn't answer, "...I do not know."
"It seems to me like the opposite is happening. She created the sphere not to hide her pocket dimension away, but to give you a chance to enter it. All you have to do is solve a puzzle."
"What do you propose?"
"Do you have any potions of truesight?"
"Yes. I will fetch them."
In that world, there were certain phenomena that mortal creatures were never meant to perceive. Only those with the gift of 'truesight'--Gods and their servants, mostly, possessed the gift of seeing that which was unseen. Through high-level sorcery or alchemy, it was possible to bestow such a power through the usage of spells or potions, and so it had become an affair among scholars of those types to hide away crucial aspects of their works using enchanted ink.