the alchemist, his son, and the quest for immortality
The alchemist, his son, and the quest for immortality
the young boy walked through the maze that was his father's study, the study was a large room under the house, it was massive, possibly bigger than the house itself, and that wasn't counting the numerous locked doors that could lead elsewhere, he hadn't even explored all of it, he was always finding new nooks and crannies to explore. his keen hazel eyes sparkled as his gaze hopped from this vial of strange blue liquid, to that bottle of clear water, entitled "hydrochloric acid", the pup wasn't quite sure what hydrochloric acid was, but the scary looking pictures on the bottle told him not to mess with it, his attention was stolen by a strangely shaped knife. In theory the malamute shouldn't be in this room, at least that's what his father said, but he knew that every time he was caught, his father would pat him on the back, laugh and tell him that "next time he would actually be punished." they both new that next time never came.
Then something caught his attention, a door. A simple wooden door with a sign on it "potion store room ^18" the symbol confused the boy. He was well aware that eighteen was a number, but why was there an arrow pointing up? Did his father have eighteen potion store rooms? He had only seen two. This one was a new one. He reached out to open it, his paw touched the handle. He was suddenly pushed back by some invisible force, and a strange pattern was now glowing on the door. And a strange, monotonous, wailing siren called out to whoever was listening.
The pup's ears drooped, his father would catch him for sure. He tried to run, a bird tweeted and flew past him. The pup stopped running, skidded to a halt and gazed at it, it was a blackbird. It landed in front of him and chirped. The sight of it made the boy smile. "how did you get in here little fella? There's no windows. You must've come in through the door."
his face dropped as the bird burst into flames. When the fireball suddenly disappeared it was easily noticeable that there was now a stern looking middle aged malamute standing in front of him, his hazel eyes trying to read the pup's expression, his face a strange shape, much like that of a person who is thinking. "you know, son. Most knock before entering a room that is forbidden to them."
"but daddy, if I knocked, you wouldn't let me in, would you?" the boy smirked.
"no. I wouldn't, would I?" he paused and sighed "you know why I don't let you in here, not to wet your pyrotechnics... uh, or whatever you and your friends say, it's to keep you safe. There's dangerous things in here. Dangerous things that could kill a man. I mean take that door for example; That's simple alchemy, And that forced you back into a wall! Just imagine what other potions in here could do?!"
"dad, it's piss on your fireworks, and yes, I know. You don't want me in here, as it's super dangerous, and you love me loads, but dad, I love you and want to spend time with you!" the pup knew that'd win this little confrontation.
the elder malamute knelt down and hugged his son tight "Caesar, you know I love you, I don't want you getting hurt."
the child blushed and hugged his dad back "I love you too dad." he licked at his father's cheek, bringing a smile to both the malamutes' faces.
"so, son, why did you try to open the door?"
the younger malamute looked up at his dad and grinned playfully, "I wanted to see what was behind it. What is behind it daddy?"
"just some life enha-" the malamute stopped and blushed "whoops. I er, wasn't supposed to tell you about that."
the child tilted his head "daddy? What's a life enha?"
the father blushed more "they are potions for adults. So only people over eighteen can get through the door."
"so, what do life enhas do?"
the elder malamute chuckled softly, "enhancers, son, enhancers. They- uh. I'll explain when you're older And that's all i'm saying. Now go to your room."
"oh! But daaaaad!" the pup whined, ears flat against his head with disappointment, "okay dad"
the elder malamute smiled and gave his son a hug "good boy, i'll be up to make dinner in ten minutes, okay?"
the boy nodded and turned, he walked towards the door, ears flat against his head. Just as he was about to exit his father's study a vial that contained a strange green liquid caught his attention, he read the label to himself in his mind. 'age increaser... one drop for one year. Two for two years, etc' he smirked and slipped it into his pocket. "only eighteen year olds allowed eh dad? We'll see about that." he undid the potion and let some drip into the cap. "one. Two. Three. Four. Five. Six. Seven. Eight. Nine. Ten. Eleven and twelve! That should be enough!" he drank the liquid and replaced the cap. He coughed a bit, then he started to grow, he fell to the floor and curled up. A few minutes later he got back up and looked in a mirror, his young complexion was no more, he now looked all grown up, the boy smiled "take that dad... now i'll see what you're doing."
he rushed down to the study, and back to the door, he touched the handle. Nothing happened, so he twisted the handle and walked in. the site he was faced with was incredible, he gasped as he slowly and carefully closed the door, as to not make a sound. He had never having seen anything like it. It looked like a person, With scales? What was this strange creature? It appeared to be tied to a vertical table, with it's head encased in hard leather, the only holes it had was a mouth hole, and holes for the creatures ears to stick out of. He walked up to it "excuse me. What are you?"
the creature looked up and gasped "that's not his voice. Another one?!" it cried in disgust "you mean. I have to give up more than I already have?"
"give up what?" the malamute tilted his head "what's your name? A-and what is my father doing? You have no clothes."
"m-my name is Saríl. And yes. I am well aware that I have no clothes."
the malamute repeated his question "what's going on here? What is my father doing?" he then blushed "oh... and my name is Caesar."
"well Caesar-" the creature, Saríl began. It let out a yip as the door started opening "Caesar! Quick! Hide!"
Caesar ran and hid under a table with a low hanging cover, he could just about see under it, he saw his father walk in, he heard him talk to the creature. "well, sorry i'm late, my son was sneaking around, and I had to send him to his room. Anyways, back to business. The younger malamute let out a gasp as he watched his father lower himself and lick at the creature's nipples, he then pursed his lips over one and gently suckled, the creature struggled, yet murred softly. The malamute's father pulled away, a white liquid dribbled down his lips, which he licked, as if to save as much as possible "good girl!" so the creature was a female. Caesar gasped as he realised what had happened, his father had just drank the breast milk of this creature! The malamute's father looked over at the table "who's there?!"
Caesar crawled out from under the table "h-hey dad. I'm sorry, I had to know what was behind the door."
the father's mouth dropped open, "but Caesar, you look older?!"
he hung his head in shame "yeah. I stole one of your age increasing potions. I'm sorry..."
the father picked a potion from on top of the table and handed it to Caesar "drink that."
the younger malamute stared at it before drinking it, he collapsed and shrank back to his normal size, his age returned to normal. "daddy... please don't be angry..."
"i'm not son... but you need to be more careful! That potion could've been anything!"
"i-i know daddy, but I was so curious. W-why did you drink her breast milk? And what exactly is she?"
"she's a dragoness, son. And do you know what special properties a dragoness's breast milk has?"
"n-no daddy, I don't. Aren't dragoness things of myth?"
the elder malamute laughed softly, "isn't the one here proof enough that they aren't? I've studied dragons for a long time, and I learnt something interesting."
"which was?"
"that dragoness, are the key to the dragons long life, dragon's milk, has properties that make the hormones that age the body, dormant, stopping ageing. They also have a funny thing in their eyes that allows them to control the body of whoever looks into their eyes."
"which is why she has the leather thing on her head? Covering her eyes?" the young boy nodded, understanding what his father was saying.
"precisely! So you can't take it off of her. Okay?"
"okay dad"
the father ruffled his son's headfur "good boy! Now, look in the box on the table you were hiding under. There are six pictures, all of them have both me and you in them. One when you were born, one on your second birthday, one on your fourth birthday, one on your sixth, one on your seventh and one from a few days ago, look at them all. Look at me in the picture. Do I look any different than I do now?"
Caesar laid the photos out on the table and looked between them. It was true, his father did look exactly the same, the young boy was shocked, he stuttered a bit before regaining his ability to talk "w-wow! And all you did was drink her milk?"
"that's right, do you want to try some?" as the malamute spoke, Saríl let out a tortured whine
"no! Please! Not him as well! Why can't you let me go and leave me be?!"
"be quiet and let him drink!" the elder malamute yelled at the dragoness. Both the dragoness and the malamute pup's ears drooped, the dog never having seen this side of his father, angry and dominating, and frankly it scared him.
"d-dad, you don't have to make her give up her milk. She doesn't want to."
"I don't care if she doesn't. I want her to! So son, drink from her." the malamute's now dark gaze scared his son
"w-why dad?"
the older dog's face scrunched up and he started crying "i-i I want you to live forever. With me. I don't want you to die! I did this all for you. Ever since she died. I've been trying to find a way, then I found out about dragoness! I hunted them for ages! Years! Then I found one! And I took her home. For you."
"you tricked me!" the dragoness screamed "you told me your wife was sick and needed immediate help! Then you locked me up down here!"
"it was true. She was sick, and needed help. She then gave birth to my son. And died during childbirth. I wasn't there, as dammit I was busy trying to find you! So then I decided to use you. To keep my son alive. Forever!"
"dad." Caesar whispered calmly "i'm not going to die any time soon. So just let her go. You've spent so much of your life on this. And i'm grateful. But instead of trying to make my life longer. Don't you think we should spend time together?"
the father stopped. Completely "i-i-i..." he fell silent as he started undoing the dragoness's binds. Last but not least, the leather hood. The dragoness opened her eyes and stared at the older malamute and a chill sped down the spine of the younger malamute as she spoke, in a cool, calm voice. "at the end of this hour, you will forget I ever existed." she then turned to Caesar, he stared into her eyes, unsure of the colour, they were a colour he had never seen before, beautiful, yet horribly sad at the same time. "and you child, you too, shall forget me. But on every decade of your life, you will remember me, then you will travel to the tallest hill you can find and you will find me. And I will give you some of my milk, starting on your tenth birthday. And I will do this till the day you die. That is my gift to you, as you helped me today. Fair well Caesar."
and then, the dragoness simply walked out of the room and disappeared. Leaving the two malamutes alone, wondering why they were sat in this room together as the grandfather clock in the corner chimed it's sweet tune.