The cork was removed, and the room filled with the scent of something ancient and potent, an aroma that seemed to awaken an atavistic recognition deep within Finn's bones.
The potion, now exposed to the mundane air of the worldly room, appeared all the more otherworldly, a paradox captured in a simple glass container.
Finn lifted the flask to his lips, his eyes locking with Marcellus's one last time.
There was a silent exchange between them, an acknowledgement of the threshold Finn was about to cross and the brotherhood that bound them in this moment of transformation. With a breath drawn deep into his lungs, Finn tipped the flask and drank.
The potion descended like liquid fire, burning and freezing in equal measure as it coursed through his veins.
As Finn's senses began to betray him, the room's very essence seemed to twist and turn, a visual symphony of colours and shapes colliding in a dance of creation and destruction.
The potion's essence infiltrated every fibre of his being, each drops a catalyst for unfathomable change.
Finn's body convulsed not in pain, but in divulgence, as if his very cells were awakening to a reality that had been previously veiled.
The convulsions that gripped him were not of pain but of transformation. It was a physical manifestation of his spirit's metamorphosis, a shedding of the old self that confined him to the ordinary. The room seemed to breathe with him, walls pulsating in rhythm with his new heartbeat, each throb a drumbeat heralding his rebirth.
He could not help but convulse as his vision rapidly went into a blur. All colours seemed to saturate. The reds were redder, the blues were bluer, and the blacks were blacker. The rich colours blended like an impressionist painting.
The room swayed around him, or perhaps it was he who swayed, anchored to the world only by Marcellus's steady gaze and the grounding presence of Aulus.
Finn's grip on the empty flask tightened, his knuckles whitening—a lifeline to the reality he was leaving behind.
The potion's journey through his body was a map of fire and ice charting new territory. With each heartbeat, Finn could feel himself expanding beyond the confines of his flesh, reaching into spaces he had never known, touching the intangible.
At that moment, his vision became a blur and although his mind felt light, it was clear. He felt like a castaway floating in the sea.
Slowly, his surroundings turned discernible. All the colours returned to their original.
As the initial upheaval within subsided, Finn felt the stirrings of something new—a sensitivity to the air around him, a perception of the energy that flowed through the very walls of the room. It was as though he was attuned to a hidden frequency, a secret symphony played by the universe itself.
And then, as suddenly as it had begun, the storm within him quieted. The symphony of the universe tapered to a solitary, humming note that resonated within his core.
The world snapped back into focus, not as it was, but sharper, the colours restored to their rightful intensity, yet somehow more vivid than before. His vision was no longer blurred; instead, it was as if he saw the world through a new lens—one that clarified and magnified.
Aulus stood back, a witness to the fruition of his work, his eyes glinting with the knowledge of the power he had just bestowed—or unleashed.
Aulus observed the change with a satisfaction that was both professional and personal. "The potion takes effect," he said, his voice now a distant echo to Finn's altered senses. "Is your vision abnormal? Are you also hearing things you did not use to hear?"
Marcellus stepped forward, his hand outstretched, steadying Finn as he adjusted to his new capabilities. "Remember I am here," he reminded him, his voice a lifeline amidst the torrent of new sensations.
Finn nodded his gratitude for Marcellus's presence a solid thing in the fluidity of his new perceptions. "I will not forget," he promised, the words more than a simple assurance—they were an oath.
Now he is going to make me feel bad for using him to test these 'potions'. plus you're paying me to be here.
The two of them turned to Aulus, who now seemed less like a peddler of potions and more like a guide who had opened the door to a world larger than they had known. "What now?" Finn asked, the simple question laden with the complexity of his new existence.
"Now," Aulus said, "you begin to learn. You have the key; it is time to explore the locks it fits. The Apprentice's journey is one of discovery, of learning to shape and be shaped by the forces you now commune with. Remember, power is not just about exerting will—it's about understanding when to exert and when to yield."
"Yes, old man Aulus, what should I do? I saw strange colors and I feel different" Finn tolerated the charlatan attitude and asked.
The lesson had begun the moment the potion touched Finn's lips, and Aulus's guidance was the map to navigating this new terrain.
"Your senses have been heightened, and your spirit has attuned to the layers of reality that are invisible to the mundane eye," Aulus continued, his voice carrying the weight of knowledge. "You are now a vessel of greater capacity, a conduit for forces that ordinary men can only dream of. Yet, with this comes a responsibility to understand and hone these abilities, else court death."
Finn stood there, The strangeness of his sight, a kaleidoscope of previously unseen spectra, was a testament to his newly bestowed gifts. Aulus's mention of ghosts and spectres, of auras and the health of one's soul, hinted at a world teeming with secrets waiting to be unearthed by the Apprentice's newfound vision.
"To master Spirit Vision," Aulus instructed with a gesture of a hand that seemed to trace the contours of the unseen, "you must meditate. Close your eyes, not to shut out the world, but to see it more clearly. Feel the energy that flows around you, and within you, let your mind be still as the surface of a pond, undisturbed by the wind of wandering thoughts. In this stillness, you will begin to discern the subtle play of spirits and auras. Practice, and in time, control will come."
Finn absorbed the old man's words, the gravity of his new reality settling upon him like a cloak. The abilities he now possessed were akin to a wild stallion—powerful and awe-inspiring, but in need of a guiding hand to harness their full potential.
Marcellus watched Finn with an attentive gaze. He too would be embarking on this journey, albeit from a different vantage point, as he supported and guarded Finn through the trials that lay ahead.
Finn stood transformed, not merely in ability but in essence. The 'Apprentice' had been born, and with this rebirth, the path ahead promised wonders and horrors in equal measure, a journey embarked upon with the first step of becoming something... beyond.