—DING~DING~!
The Clock Tower rang ever so loudly as it struck the hour of midnight.
Silver moon and her accompanying court of stars were nowhere in sight as dark, melancholic clouds covered the night sky.
Water rained down from above in a barrage of droplets, attracting earthworms to rise up from their slumber, their writhing bodies emerging from the soil.
"Caw!"
One of them were swept up with the swipe of a claw, thrown into the air before dropping down onto the chasm of a mouth.
A bird's mouth, to be more specific.
Amon chirped happily as it reared its head down and pulled another worm from the earth, enjoying the meal.
Worms always came out when it rained, this was because of the wet soil that was much easier for them to move on, thus they used the brief raining periods as opportunities for fast locomotion.
For a crow like Amon, it was no different from a buffet.
The bird pecked against the dirt once more, filling its stomach with another unfortunate worm before it glanced up curiously.
A silent yet eager compulsion bore into its mind, whispering into Amon's soul.
It didn't feel any sort of fear, for this was something it had already become long familiar with—the Master was calling.
Amon unfurled its wings as it immediately took off into the night sky, rising above the city lights.
Its larger right eye gazed down independently from its left eye, searching for anything out of the ordinary.
But there was none, aside from the occasional shady-looking Magus.
However...
"Caw!"
Another crows blitzed past Amon, an ordinary crow.
Amon cawed back in greeting.
The other crow seemed extremely relieved, stating that it had thought Amon was long dead, and hadn't expected to see his face.
However, the Corpse Familiar only gave a confused look as it didn't recognize other crow.
This was their first meeting!
The other crow cawed again confusingly, stating that Amon was its younger sibling—How did you not recognize me?
But Amon vehemently rejected such an unusual claim, explaining that it had younger siblings, not an older one, as well as a wife and two sons.
Dejected, the other crow soon left.
Left a little baffled by the encounter, the Familiar chalked it up to the other crow mistaking it for someone else.
Soon Amon came down from the clowds.
An old mansion stood there on the side of the hill, located in the upperclass side of Northern London.
It was the Lawrance family estate, the main one.
"Caw!"
Amon annouced its presence, alerting the dozens of roosting birds. There were other crows, some ravens, even a few magpies and blue jays.
...And like Amon, all of them had a right eye that was noticeably larger than the left eye.
They were all Noah's Corpse Familiars, but they were just that, reanimated animal corpses with parts of leftover human conciousness that were fated to slowly degenerate into Demonic Beasts—only Amon had a complete soul.
The numerous Familiars cawed back, awknowledging the return of their de facto leader.
Amon flew in from a half-opened window, finding itself inside of the manor's library.
There were no lamps here, only dimly-lit candles that served as lights.
Bookshelves littered the room, with parchments and written diagrams of stars hanging down from ceiling by thin threads of silk. Standing beside the doorway that led out of the library, was a medieval knight's iron armor, posing in place like a museum display.
Amon ignored the knight armour as the crow quickly flew out of the library and into the halls.
Many such knight armours were displayed, each holding on tightly to genuine antique swords from the dark ages.
Eventually, Amon stopped and hovered just in front of a seemingly ordinary wall on the first floor—it was just a few feet away from the painted portrait of a family ancestor.
The crow tapped its right claws on the wall.
A mechanism was activated as the individual bricks that made up this section of the wall were retracted inwards, revealing a hidden stairway down to the underground.
Amon flew in as the wall closed itself off a few seconds later. Immediately, there was the vivid noise of water being boiled.
Here it was below the Lawrence family manor, Johan's Workshop. Numerous magical trinkets littered the shelves, with a cauldron placed atop a flame in the middle of the chamber, steam arising from the boiling water within.
"...Amon!" Noah greeted as the crow quickly settled on its Master's shoulder.
Johan glanced up from his notes as he briefly glanced at his brother.
Noah was one of those people that genuinely treated animals much better than how he treated humans for some reason, the guy always had many pets and never mistreated even one.
...Well, he's not completely innocent... Johan lampooned internally with a scoff, remembering their childhood cat whom Noah had accidentally killed by feeding it with too much chocolate.
Johan's gaze then travelled to the side with a complicated undertone as Fou napped on top of the nearby table.
Since the Beast had become more than just a mystical encounter on the road, Johan figured he'd needed to name the damn thing.
Going off of Pokemon naming conventions, he called it Fou, since it always produced that sound.
There was also the option of calling it Kyu, but that was just plain weird.
As for the excuse he gave to Noah about why Fou was permanently around now—well, as the older brother, he should naturally have a Familiar too, right?
He had expectef the Beast to be hard to handle around the manor, but for some reason, it was extremely well-behaved with other people and never tried to bite their fingers off!
Not that it was a bad thing, of course. Johan could only thank God that Fou wasn't too much of a hassle...
He stood up from his chair, his eyes glancing over the ingredients. They were all kept in specially-sealed plastic containers to avoid any contamination.
Well, except for one ingredient.
Johan walked up to the cauldron, glancing down at the boiling water.
Pure Water was a vague term, it could either just mean fresh water from a river or specially-treated waters like Holy Water from the Church.
Fortunately, it was something widely used to concoct other types of Potions, and the definition for Pure Water had already been decided on.
It was just water that has been repeatedly distilled and purified to a high-degree.
"Noah." Johan called out as he glanced at the nearby grandfather clock. "Let's begin..."
Since he had acquired the Gobbler Ring at midnight, Johan figured it would be best to also concoct these Potions in the middle of the night.
Even if there was no actual effect, it still eased his mind somewhat, which was very advisable since the Formulas specifically told him to only drink the Potions with a stable mind.
"...Alright." The younger brother nodded as he adjusted his monocle. "So it's the Sailor Potion first, right?"
Johan nodded, they had already agreed beforehand.
Noah went up to the nearby table and retrieved the Potion Ingredients.
"First, 10 mililitres of Distilled Liquor." Johan carefully instructed as Noah carefully measured the alchohol and gave a small cup containing exactly 10 mililitres.
Johan poured it in as the alchohol mixed into the boiling water.
Nothing special happened.
"Now, 10 drops of Trickster Octopus Ink and 12 miligrams of Crushed Tobiko." Johan continued to instruct.
Flying Fish Roe turned out to be a Japanese cuisine called Tobiko, the brothers had ordered 12 miligrams from a fish store and crushed them in a mortar and pestle.
As for the Magical Beast Cephalopod Ink, they already had some Trickter Octopus Ink laying around. It just came down to inserting a small amount into a glass pipette.
Noah directly poured in the Crushed Tobiko as Johan carefully dripped 10 drops of ink from the pipette.
A disgruntling aroma wafted off from the mixture, giving Johan an unusual sense of internal discomfort, as if he had just swallowed a small spider in his sleep.
These are just the Supplementary Ingredients... now I have to be extremely careful with the Main one... Johan thought to himself as Noah gave him the final piece of the puzzle.
The Merloc's Bladder.
Although one would imagine it to be a floppy and wet sack, that was from the case.
It emitted a faint blue aqueous light, radiating like a gem that held the essence of an ocean. The interior was lined with black velvet, and a round, transparent crystal could be seen in its core.
He completely understood why Zoology didn't bother keeping this organ. It had a disgusting stench, one that made Johan want to puke out his entire digestive system, and was hard to preserve as he had needed to use a fridge to prevent deterioration.
Most of the Magi in Clocktower don't use fridges, so they probably had to use magical ice to preserve the Bladder... which until now, had little practical use.
Taking deep breaths and sending countless silent prayers to the Lord Christ, Johan tossed the Murloc's Bladder straight into the cauldron.
Immediately, the liquid bubbled intensely as the ink wrapped around the Bladder, the acidity of the alchohol melting layers away as steam arose onto the air.
"Uh..." Johan took a step back as the liquid writhed inside the cauldron, boiling so hot that colourful smoke started to fill the room.
The smoke and mist gathered around and assume the appearance of miniature storm clouds, as Johan could swear he even saw small bits of electricity here and there.
When he smelled the aroma, salty tears welled up in his eyes. It was far from the disgruntling aroma from before, this fragrance was soothing yet familiar, coaxing his throat to dry and his fingers to tremble with warmth.
It was like his inner child had been unearthed, allowing him a respite from the cold and harsh world—to be held in the embrace of a protective guardian!
He glanced at Noah, who was stroking the feathers of Amon with a longing look, silent tears already streaming down his face.
A faint growl could be heard as Johan gazed to the side. Fou had woken up as his eyes were carefully focused on the Potion, yet he didn't make any movements.
Johan exhaled softly as he approached the cauldron, gazing within at the Potion that had been concocted.
Unlike the blue that he had expected, the Sailor Potion possessed a vivid orange colouring, with patches of pure black intermingling inside.
It couldn't be described as pure liquid, but more like a sticky, gelatinous substance that was permanently held together by the hopes and dreams of Johan's tears.
Hands shaking, Johan grabbed a large ladle and scooped up the sticky liquid, pouring it into a cup. When he did so, not a single drop was separated from the Potion.
"Should I just drink it right now...?" He asked Noah with some uncertainty.
"Why are you asking me? I don't know, just don't fall over and die after drinking it..." Noah said with his own nervousness.
A gulp travelled down Johan's throat as he took another deep breath before bringing the cup onto his lips.
Pinching his nose, he poured the contents down his mouth as quickly as he possibly could, treating it like a bitter medicine.
The taste... it was extremely hard to describe, the closest thing that Johan could compare it to was that it felt like drinking sparkling water, just... more.
The liquid contracted against his throat, pulsating like a heart as tendrils grew out and rubbed against his insides... finally, it fell to his stomach.
Immediately, Johah shoved the cup onto Noah's hands before he tightly grasped his forehead and groaned.
A head-splitting migraine tore its way into his skull, knocking from the inside of his brain as a sense of fullness overwhelmed his muscles and tired his tendons.
"Johan!" Noah said as he grabbed his shoulder. "Are you alright? How does it feel?"
"Don't touch me!" Johan said with sudden agressiveness as he slapped the hand away. "I'm fine... I..."
Johan stopped as he gazed at his own hands.
Illusiory scales emerged out from the pores of his skin, they were not entirely corporeal, more like a sheet of aura.
When the scales reached his ring finger, Johan widened his eyes as something extraordinary happened.
The Gobbler Ring... glowed.
Particularly, it was the engravings that glowed.
And then, he started hearing faint murmurs.
"Ra... Abzu... Yggrasil... Demiurgos... Aiwass..."
Johan closed his eyes as the ravings turned loud, stabbing his skull with unsavory knowledge and a pinch of accursed secrets.
He screamed, but nothing came out of his mouth.
"Ra... Abzu... Yggrasil... Demiurgos... Aiwass..."
"Ra... Abzu... Yggrasil... Demiurgos... Aiwass..."
"Ra... Abzu... Yggrasil... Demiurgos... Aiwass..."
And when the Magus opened his eyes.
An infinite expanse welcomed him, one composed of a clear blue sky, smooth stone flooring, and water that reached only to his ankles.
Johan had returned to Dreamland.