It was a Tuesday late in the fall sixteen years previous when everything changed for Kara Reyes. There had been an early snowfall, unnaturally so for their small town of Cedarcrest. Early enough that nobody had been expecting to have need of firewood yet.

Young Kara had been sent to purchase a few logs from the woodsmen, just enough to heat their modest home, when she had held up by a small group of older boys. They thought themselves a gang, and liked to take from any younger children they happened upon. The money, what little Kara’s family had been able to spare for the comfort of a small fire, was swiftly discovered and just as rapidly claimed.

That had been when Master Beryl had appeared. The alchemist had been on a journey south of Carasin for materials, and he had been staying in Cedarcrest for the last several days. The anger on his face when he had discovered seven pre-teen boys bullying and extorting a young girl…

In the end, her family had gotten the firewood and then some.

In the weeks that Master Beryl had spent combing the countryside for various reagents, he had regularly stopped by to check in on Kara and her family. In her curiosity, she had pestered him with question after question about his work. Something her father and mother endlessly apologized for, but that seemed to amuse the old man.

Rapidly, he began taking interest in her studies. Cedarcrest was fortunate enough to have a public school run by one of the local churches, teaching each child the basics of math and reading. Enough to be able to sign contracts and calculate the costs of a farm at least. Kara excelled, rapidly outperforming everyone in her class and quickly hitting the limits on the resources the school had available. Soon she would have milked the church for everything it could offer her, and she would graduate two years early.

Seeing her potential, Master Beryl had offered to sponsor her attendance at one of Carasin’s boarding schools. He would pay for her education, housing, and food. Something her parents had never dreamed of being able to provide. In exchange, when she finished, and assuming she had any talent for it, he wanted to take her on as an apprentice in his alchemy shop.

Here parents had been hesitant at first, but over the months Master Beryl’s kind demeanor and helpful attitude, along with Kara’s continuous pleading, wore them down. She finished out her education in one of The Republic of Chrix’s premier schools, and reached a level of education and ability her family would never have been able to imagine.

Perhaps most importantly though, she had proven a natural at alchemy. A genius at a field most considered too demanding or too finicky to be worth the time and effort to achieve greatness in. For Kara, it was like learning something she already knew and had simply forgotten. Everything simply made sense.

That’s not to say there weren’t frustration or struggles, long nights spent smashing her head against a wall of formulae and calculations. But when the night was over and she had the solution, suddenly it all seemed so obvious and she rapidly ceased to have difficulties with similar problems.

She had even managed to impress Master Beryl with her capability. She had exceeded his every hope for the young, no name girl from the boonies. A girl he had seen potential in and worked to polish. She adored him like another grandfather, and had gladly signed the paperwork for a ten-year apprenticeship when she graduated at the age of seventeen.

At the time, she hadn’t understood how much work she was signing on to. Oh, she thought she had. She was a smart young girl who had never once found something that entire stumped her. She was responsible, independent, and capable. She had thought she knew everything. But as with so many teenagers in her position, she had been wrong.

Ten years for an apprenticeship, even an alchemy apprenticeship, was unusual. Master Beryl, though, was an unusual alchemist. One of the best in the entire city, capable enough that the Republic’s own Prime Minister had commissioned work from him on more than one occasion. That much knowledge took time to share, longer than an average apprenticeship.

Even with a decade though, more than time it took work. Hard work. Weeks of reading, days of meditation, and hours of practice for just one tiny aspect of the hidden and prized recipes Master Beryl had built his shop around.

Even putting every ounce of her talent, intelligence, and dedication into the work, it was years before she became a real asset for the old alchemist. And she spent every minute proud of what she was accomplishing and determined to be of more use. She wanted to be the best she could be when her apprenticeship ended. To have others look at her and say “That’s the quality you can expect from a student of Beryl the Alchemist.”

It was a dream long, long in the making.

#

She was ready. Today was the day. The first day of the last week of her apprenticeship under Master Beryl. Already, people throughout the town knew her and would ask for her work by name. She was quickly becoming one of the most popular merchants of any type in the city of Carasin. Something that brought endless business to Master Beryl’s shop.

There were even more requests for her work than Master Beryl’s, though that was because the works of an apprentice were far, far cheaper than the same potion made by someone of his status. Even if the affects of the potion were the same, his time was simply worth that much more than her own.

Besides, he was distracted with far more complicated work than a simple healing draught or potion of flight.

Entering the store, she quietly flipped the sign to open before beginning her morning routine. Sort the mail that had been dropped through the slot on the door, dividing between orders for herself, orders for Master Beryl, responses from supplier, and everything else. Clean the shop and dust the shelves to show the quality of their store and goods. Take inventory and prepare various orders of materials. Answer questions from the handful of customers, mostly adventurers, who stopped in.

She hummed quietly as she worked, occasionally passing by one of the two doors to the rear of the building and listening to the calming sounds of alchemical instruments being used. The shop had two alchemy labs, one that she had free access to that could be used for the more basic potions and concoctions and a second she needed permission to enter. The second, home to more advanced tools and the special little metal lockbox that house their rarest ingredients, had slowly become Master Beryl’s personal lab over the last few years while Kara herself slowly began to think of the lesser lab as hers.

It was a little lonely, watching as Master Beryl distanced himself from her work and began giving her more and more free space. Still, it was invigorating to have a place to call her own. To start her own projects and organize in her own matter. Whenever she missed his comforting presence, she would simply head over to the other door and listen. Enjoy hearing him hard at work in his own lab, still passionate about his field even after decades.

Smiling, she left the first door and entered the second. Inside, her final major project of her apprenticeship bubbled away happily. It had been simmering for three days now and wouldn’t be finished for another two, but when it was done it would be the most advanced potion she had ever personally created without any assistance. Assuming I didn’t mess anything up. She silently corrected herself.

The potion was a Inferno’s Gaze potion and meant to, at extreme expense, copy the affects of an Advanced tier combat spell by the same name. The user should be capable of igniting anything in line of sight, producing fire balls instantly at range with enough power rapidly reduce almost any material to ash. It was some part incredible, some part terrifying to be working on such a destructive potion.

And a massive boost to her confidence, and bragging ability, that Master Beryl would trust her with such a task.

When she was on her own, running her own shop, the ability to claim enough mastery to make Advanced tier potions on her own could be a major selling point. Something to draw in crowds of perspective buyers with lesser means than her teacher’s common clientele. She may not be on the level of Master Beryl, capable of making Practitioner and even Journeyman level potions alone, but it would still place her firmly in the top ten percent of the nation’s alchemists.

She’d miss Master Beryl, but she looked forward to returning to Cedarcrest after all these years. She hadn’t told him yet that she planned to leave, but hoped he would understand. There weren’t many alchemists that far from the major city hubs, and she could provide previously unheard-of levels of support in the surrounding region. The healers alone would ecstatic to have a source of potions only days away versus weeks or months.

She could already see it now, slowly building up her reputation out in the less populace southern part of the Republic. Making a name for herself as she supported the advancement of the various small communities. Establishing a trade route for local reagents that were otherwise difficult to come by.

Then, once she’d established her worth on her own, she’d ask Master Beryl about creating a partnership between their potion shops. With his resources and connections, they could become the premier potion suppliers for the nation, if not the entire Central Elderwood Region. Flights of fancy from a hopeful young alchemist? Maybe. But not entirely unfeasible.

Whistling to herself, she began to prep the next set of ingredients. In addition to two more days of simmering, she had three more points in the process where carefully prepared and measured lesser potions would need to be mixed in. Currently that meant a Potion of Heat Resistance, meant to protect the user from the heat generated by drinking the finished concoction, and a Potion of Vision Enhancement.

She’d made both hundreds of times, and quickly began throwing them together without a care in the world. She could do these particular potions, and few others, blindfolded. Something Master Beryl had actually used to test her before letting her move on to more advanced creations. In his opinion, a true alchemist should be able to identify the tools of the trade and the most common ingredients without the aid of sight, and should be able to estimate the heat of a cauldron or other mixing apparatus without the use of thermometers.

She’d gotten more than a few burns in those days she reminisced, though nothing one of the poultices Master Beryl had prepared beforehand couldn’t fix.

She really was going to miss this place.

After she finished the Potion of Heat Resistance and Potion of Vision Enhancement, she poured them both into the larger cauldron and mixed until she felt them fully meld with the other ingredients. Throughout, her mana kept the reactions between the various magical ingredients under control, preventing the entire thing from releasing as a wave of fire that would burn the shop to the ground.

Job done and potion stable, she left reduced the heat back to a low simmer and left the lab. It was still a few hours until lunch and she expected a shipment of graxleaf to show up soon. If she timed things well, maybe she could finish just in time to cajole Master Beryl into joining her at the noodle shop down the road before they closed. He was terrible about eating when a project particularly caught his fancy, needing constant reminders to take care of himself.

#

In the end, she had managed to convince him to join her in seeking better food than a Potion of Sustenance. She’d practically had to beg, but it was worth it to see the satisfaction on his face when he had his first real meal in what she suspected to be almost half a week. Still, she wouldn’t let this happen again. She only had so many more lunches before she would be leaving the city.

“I’m going to miss this Master Beryl,” just a hint of sadness in her voice under the satisfaction of a delicious meal.

“Please, you’ll be able to come get noodles from the old lady whenever you want. Money will hardly be an issue with your talents. I’d even bet on you becoming the best alchemist in the city, bar none, within a decade or two.”

The way he said it was pleasant, but there was something hidden underneath. Displeasure maybe? Had he discovered she planned to leave? Perhaps tonight she would finally explain her decision to him.

“Surely not, how could I ever compare with your ability? You are the greatest alchemist in the country, let alone the city!”

“Your flattery will get you nowhere young lady, we both know you are far more capable than I was at you age.”

Yes, there was definitely something there. Some trace of bitterness or regret. She’d noticed it on occasion recently, popping up now and then ever since she mentioned possibly wanting to start her own shop. Asking for advice on how to begin a new store.

It was as she was debating how to explain it to him that it happened. The second event that forever changed Kara Reyes’ fate, though she didn’t know it yet. A massive explosion that shattered the shops windows and sent everyone screaming to the ground as a fireball of multicolored light consumed Master Beryl’s shop.

With a shout, her teacher called for her to get to her feet. That she needed to follow him, and see what they could salvage. Or at least prevent the fire from spreading. A hard look had entered his eyes, one she had never seen before but could empathize with considering his life’s work had just gone up in literal flames.

Running, she followed him as quickly as possible. One of the local fire crews had already arrived, using water and ice spells to control the fires. Nearby, a pair of city guards were taking reports. One from a singed man she didn’t know, and the other from Master Beryl while a woman who appeared to be the chief of the fire brigade watched on.

Something passed between the three, and the hardness that had been in Master Beryl’s eyes seemed to spread into the other two. Their backs went rigid, their mouths were set, and it was almost as though some amount of joy left their eyes as they turned toward her.

As they approached at a stiff march, she began to become nervous. Master Beryl remained where he was, staring into the ashes of the building and refusing to look at her. The guard pulled out a pair of bracelets. Bracelets she recognized, meant to inhibit mana and ki manipulation while binding the wrists together with force magic.

Why were they approaching her with them? What was going on?

“Madam Reyes?” The officer asked, “I am going to need you to come with me. We have a few questions for you.”

“What’s…” She took a moment to wet her lips, nervous about his tone, “What seems to be the matter officer? Can’t I answer your questions here?”

“I’m afraid not ma’am. Chief Hernandez over there, she says there is evidence that this fire was started intentionally. A magical cauldron left at too high of heat with a flame potion inside and various magical accelerants all around it.”

Looking at her like she was about to run, he took a half step forward as if to block her path. Both actions served to make him seem bigger than he really was, rapidly beginning to feel like he loomed over her as some dark mountain of flesh. In actuality he couldn’t have been more than an inch or two taller, but somehow she felt as tiny as a little girl again.

“Alchemist Beryl says there are clear procedures for the shop and that some of the reagents Chief Hernandez identified you aren’t even authorized to use. That he keeps them locked in a special safe in an entirely different lab and that nothing you were working on required them.”

“That…that can’t be right! My potion was stable this morning! And I didn’t even have any reagents out of the storage closet! I finished the potions this morning and put everything away. Besides that, I know I put the cauldron just high enough to maintain a simmer. Any more and I would have ruined weeks of work. Let me talk to Master Beryl, I’m sure we can figure this out! Someone must have broken in or…”

The guard cut her off, grabbing one of her wrists, “We’ll figure this all out at town hall. For now, you’re coming with me.”

#

In the end, the judge had sided with the fire brigade chief. Kara was found guilty of arson, destruction of property, and endangerment of the city. She was ordered to pay fines far beyond her ability to ever repay, most of which meant to go toward rebuilding Beryl’s shop. In the entirety of the time before the trial, she hadn’t seen hide or hair of her master.

When he had shown up at her trial, he had seemed rough. As though he hadn’t slept in days. When the judge gave her sentence, and she had explained that she would be unable to pay, her heart had sored for just a moment when he stood up. Finally, finally he was here to save her. To explain this all away. To help her.

“As she is unable to pay for the repair of my shop, I would like to invoke section 7, subsection 12, part c of her apprenticeship contract. Per these terms, I would see her assets auctioned away and her person sold into slavery to cover the costs in repairing my property. She’s an alchemist at least capable of Advanced Tier potions with minimum assistance. That should go some way toward recouping my losses.”

She couldn’t even scream, the shock was too intense. He was betraying her! Selling her to the slave caravans to be bought for who knew what! That bastard!

Suddenly, all the discontent and unhappiness in his voice made sense in her mind. He had been jealous! Feared that she was planning to open a shop and compete with him. Bastard Beryl had done this. Had made sure she could never take her talents out of his shop. At least not as a free person with any chance of advancement.

As she seethed, the judge spoke again, “Motion granted. In three weeks’ time, at public auction, Madam Reyes and all of her earthly possessions shall be auctioned to the highest bidder. These funds, along with one quarter of all money made using her skills for the next two years, will be delivered to Alchemist Beryl for the rebuilding of his shop.”

She was going to make him pay for this.