A robed figure sat with his back hunched up as he fiddled with a few different items on the bench in front of him. He looked to be a young man just out of the worst of puberty. He had a thin face, a sharp nose and bloodless lips that seemed to be in a perpetual grimace.

Absently the figure was vivisecting an eyeball, with a pair of tweezers and a scalpel. He was peeling back the conjunctiva the layer of skin and fat that protects the eye; slowly he dragged the scalpel along the cornea. He then took his tweezers and carefully grasped the limbus and lifted it and the cornea away from the rest of the eye revealing his prize. The lens laid bare. Carefully he scooped it out of the vitreous gel and set it into a clear solution next to a mixture slowly bubbling on a flame.

Among all of the odd and disturbing apparatus in front of him, the most out of place was the winged cat that sat with a lazy smile on a shelf built into the back of the bench. It was a dark gray with splotches of dark green verging on black. With a silent stretch and flexing of its claws the winged feline sat up and purred “Well done, though you did take a bit more time then you should have extracting the lens. Now do you remember the next few steps?”

Shakily the figure breathed deeply a time or so and then replied. ” One pinch salt, a spoon of black ash and a handful of phosphorescent cave moss ground together then mixed together with a measure of oil.” He sneered.

After a second of silence he looked up at the cat with a question twisting his face. ” right?”

“Well” the feline stated, “If you had memorized the potion like you were supposed to for the exam, you would not be asking that question, now would you?” the cat slimed a cheshire grin.

“Blinx.” The figure demanded “Did I get it right or didn’t I?”

“I am fairly certain that the potion will not blow up.” Blinx deadpanned. “As to how effective it will be at what it is supposed to do . . . that we will have to see.”

With a slump and a mumble about useless familiars the figure returned his attention to the substances and tools before him. Taking a pinch of salt, a spoon of ash and some moss from a sealed jar he started to grind the mixture up with a mortar and pestle. After it was mostly ground together the figure paused. Hand out stretched to the selection of oils in front of him. “crap,” he mumbles. “Which oil was I supposed to use . . . . “ after a second or so he reaches out and grabs the oil from a salamander. Not sure he then puts it back.

After a few moments of nervous twitching and foot tapping he turns back to Blinx “um. Blinx. Could you ahem um. . . what oil should I use?”

Somehow Blinx’s grin got even wider. Now smiling from ear to ear the winged cat vaguely pointed towards one of the bottles, “that one should work just as well as any other. Though do be careful and not let any drip out”

With a shaky laugh the robbed figure grabbed one of the oils that he thought the cat had pointed to. Letting it splash a bit as he poured out a measure in a glass measuring cup he was too preoccupied with what he was doing to notice the wisps of smoke coming from the oil that had landed on the table.

With a shaky laugh the robbed figure mumbles what a generous soul would say was a thanks. Next the figure poured the oil into the mortar and started to mix the sludge together. After getting a mostly smooth consistency though one that was not as smooth as it could be, the figure poured the gritty slop into the small iron pot that was over a magically heated array. Slowly he then mixed the resulting concoction for a minute or two in a clockwise motion with a glass spoon.

“Apprentice,” Blinx smiled “I don’t mean to be rude, but are you sure that that is how you were supposed to mix that?”

After a brief pause the robbed figure scoffed. “Of course it is, just because you are masters familiar does not mean that you know everything.”

“Oh of course . . . How foolish of me“. The grin on Blinx’s face would have given the apprentice pause if he bothered to glace up from his work.

After another minute of stirring in a clockwise fashion the apprentice selected a scooped implement from all those available and fished out the lens from the mixture that he had set it in earlier. Slightly holding his breath, the apprentice plopped the lens into the mixture. It changed from the dark gray slop that it had been into a angry red. The apprentice then grabbed a pair of tongs with curved brackets to securely pick up the pot and poured the mixture into a glass bottle with the aid of a funnel.

Letting it sit for a second or so the apprentice then carefully placed a rune inscribed piece of paper and then circulated his mana into it. Slowly the mixture changed to a deep eggplant purple.

“ . . . .so,” the apprentice glances to Blinx, “did I pass?”

“Well,” The cat said in an amused tone, “why don’t you take a swig and see? After all the pest way to test a potion is to drink it.” Blinx lips twitched as he tried to keep from smiling while saying so.

“oh come on Blinx, did I pass or not? I know that I’m supposed to drink it but I don’t want any nasty side effects if I missed a step. Besides,” he glances at the potion, “ I thought that the potion was supposed to be black with fleks of light in it.”

“Well, you could go interrupt master and see if you did the potion right, though that will count as a failure if you go get him and he says that you messed up. . . “

The apprentice shudders remembering that due to a few things he had done. including getting drunk and trying to make a erection charm so that he could have some fun at the local brothel that had turned into a paralysis charm. Turns out the rune for stiff should not be used in that way. He was already on probation, his master had told him that if he fucked up any further then he would not like the consequences.

After a moment or so of hmming and haaing the apprentice nods and grabs the bottle and drinks it down. “hhoaa well so far it-“ that is when he started to scream. Though it only lasted a few moments the agonizing sound that tore from his throat would have given most nightmares, all the while Blinx had a huge grin. Slowly the potion that the apprentice had obviously not brewed correctly at all, ate through his flesh turning him into a puddle of slop with a robe on top.

Blinx started to purr in amusement and turned his head to a corner of the room that was draped in shadow. “Master, I don’t think this one was worth our tutelage.”

Without a sound the darkness in the corner shifted and out came a truly ancient man. His wrinkles had wrinkles and he was absolutely hairless, aside from his truly awe-inspiring eyebrows. If one did not know any better, they would doubtless think that the pair were the wings of some bird of legend.

With a sigh the figure stepped forward from the shadows revealing his black robes with geometric stitching in gold and silver. With a shake of his head the mage made a gesture and the puddle that was his apprentice was sucked into a small vortex. “what number was he, 5-6?”

“No master he was the 8th apprentice-“ Blinx chortled “well attempted apprentice.” He amended.

“Such a waste, both of my time and of his potential.”

“Yes master, it truly is a shame. Well it’s not like you could summon the perfect apprentice.” Blinx sighed.

“Hmmm, now there is a thought, what if I summon the perfect apprentice to learn all my secrets, yes, I rather like that idea. I am after all the archmagi of conjuration am I not?” with a chuckle the archmagi walked away from the small workshop room into the rest of his apartments with a bit more pep in his step then Blinx had seen in over 200 years.