Fragments of Alchemy: The Code Keeper

Bergen, Norway

Aunt Fanella followed Thea and her parents through the Dimension Gate and closed the portal behind them. They stood in the center of a cobblestone square, surrounded by a crowd of gawking people.

“I’ll take care of the Recreants,” Aunt Fanella said as she pulled a handful of green leafy herbs from a large pocket in her green dress. “Separo!” she shouted, and Thea felt an odd tingling in her head as she suddenly forgot the last few seconds of her life.

“Oh,” Aunt Fanella said as she noticed the blank blissful look that spread across Thea’s face. “We need to get you a Fortification Charm.” She held up her necklace, a silver circular pendant on a thick silver chain, just like the necklaces Thea’s parents always wore. It had never occurred to her that the necklaces were Alchemy trinkets. “Sorry about that, Thea.”

“Where are we?” Thea asked.

“Almost to Blackthorn and Burtree,” Aunt Fanella said.

“Where?” Thea asked.

“Just outside Nygaard Park, in Bergen, Norway.” Fanella pointed ahead to the park gate. They were in an old part of a very old city. Here and there, Thea could see evidence of modernization: paved roads, electrical lines, buildings. She had never seen such wondrous sights in all her life. The tall buildings, the crowds of people, and even the sidewalk under her feet, it was all marvelous. The more she looked around, however, the more she noticed that the city seemed to be in a shambles, with large cracks in the pavement, buildings that were beginning to slant and would soon topple, and debris strewn about everywhere.

Thea’s head spun. How had they arrived so quickly? The last thing she remembered, she had been standing in the yard by the ranch house staring at a circle of white light on the ground, and now she was in Norway.

“Why don’t I remember the Dimension Walk?” Thea asked. “Does the fourth dimension erase our memories?”

“No, that was just your aunt’s memory Extraction Conversion. She forgot you don’t have a Transmutation Fortification Charm yet,” her father said with a playful smile at Aunt Fanella, who scoffed, though her face was turning red.

“Come along.” Aunt Fanella led the way across a busy street and into the park. Through the gnarled bare trees, Thea could see a large building with a crack along the entire side from opposite corners. Thea wondered how the building was still standing.

“I thought it was summer. Why have all the trees lost their leaves?” Thea asked.

The adults all exchanged worried glances.

“Why is everything falling apart?” Thea asked, stopping to look at all of them.

Her father sighed. “Let’s sit down for a moment, Allie,” he said, gesturing to a bench beside the park path. Thea sat down and he took a seat next to her, while her aunt and mother walked further up the path, seemingly eager to give the two some privacy.

“Allie, there are some things you need to know about this world we live in,” he began.

“What kind of things?” Thea turned to really look at her father, and she noticed just how careworn he suddenly appeared to be. His stubbled face and reddish cheeks made his golden complexion look rather weathered.

He stared across the park before them, which had very recently suffered from some sort of natural disaster. The nearby river had flooded, from what Thea could tell. It had flowed down the park path, washed away most of the grass on either side of the sidewalk and left broken branches and puddles behind. “The home we chose was cut off from the problems of this world. It was a place where we could raise you without worry. But you’re old enough now to really know what’s going on in the world, Allie.”

Thea sat up straighter and got ready for her first history lesson of the day.

“Recreants have been noticing some alarming patterns in the world since the millennium. Remember the lessons on global warming?”

Thea nodded.

“Of course, Recreants came to the wrong conclusions, but the observations they made still have merit. You remember that there are Seven Fragments?”

“And each one corresponds with a Chakra?” Thea said, repeating the lesson about Chakras.

“Yes. One of the Fragments is composed of all the elements: fire, water, air, earth, lightning, plants, and animals.”

“Wow,” Thea breathed, unable to keep from smiling. “It sounds like a fantasy book.”

Her father laughed. “Well, each element is related to a force of nature, and tragically, these Seven Forces have become dreadfully unbalanced. As you can see.” He waved his hand to indicate the great city they had just walked through. “Catastrophic natural disasters occur every day, Allie. Every day, the common people lose their lives to tornadoes, floods, earthquakes, and droughts … Thunderstorms start wildfires, earthquakes cause tsunamis, blights destroy crops, and feral beasts attack and spread diseases amongst the people. It’s a horrible time to be alive really, unless you’re an Alchemist.”

“Can Alchemy protect us from it all?” Thea asked.

He nodded. “We need not live in fear, with Alchemy by our sides. Alchemists can bend the elements to their will, use them to protect people, and even mitigate natural disasters.”

Thea nodded, but she sat with a furrowed brow for a moment, taking it all in. Finally she frowned at her father. “What about everyone else?”

“The Recreants do the best they can,” he answered, not unkindly. “The human race is made to persevere, after all.”

“But, couldn’t we help them?” Thea insisted.

Her father hung his head sadly.

“Why don’t we protect them?”

“It’s complicated, Allie.” He held up his hands, and then dropped them sadly. “If everyone knew about Alchemy, it would shake the religious and scientific foundations of the world. Some lives might be saved, but more lives would be lost fighting wars amongst the people. Whole countries would be held at ransom by the powers of a few people.”

Thea shook her head. “Not if we protected them.”

“No, Allie. Stop.” His voice was suddenly stern. “There are not enough Alchemists to protect the whole world, and Alchemy is not all powerful. You’re still new to this, so you don’t understand the limitations Alchemists work under. If Alchemy was no longer a secret, it would be impossible to save everyone from even one person with the wrong ideals who is willing to do whatever it takes to get what he wants.”

“But we could save someone,” Thea replied. “Someone isn’t as good as everyone, but it’s still better than no one.”

He sat and stared at his daughter for a long silent moment. “You know,” her father started finally. “There’s a faction of Alchemists who believe that very notion. They work for the Code Giver, and they do some extremely risky work around the world, fighting to protect the helpless. Theirs is an honorable and risky life to lead.

“I chose to work for the Code Keeper, because I believe that he’s on the side that truly protects all people by keeping certain things a secret. I can respect your choice if you decide you don’t want to work for the Keeper, but I’m asking you to wait to decide until you know more about this world. Can you do that for me, Allie?”

Thea sighed heavily and looked down at her hands. Her father was right: Thea was very new to all this. She had nothing to help her decide what to think but her own idealistic notions about justice, most of which came from the collection of miniature storybooks that she had packed away in her rucksack. The thought made Thea smile. “I can do that, Daddy.”

“Good.” He hugged Thea around the shoulders.

“Daddy?”

“Yes, Allie?”

“Are there seven factions of Alchemists?”

“No, there are Seven Fragments,” he said. “There are three factions, led by the Code Keeper, the Code Giver, and the Code Breaker.”

A chill traveled up Thea’s spine. “Code Breaker?” she asked. Up in the sky, dark clouds drifted in, and the wind felt suddenly cold.

Her father nodded gravely. “The Code Breaker leads the dark faction of Shadow Alchemists who practice the forbidden occult. They prey on the Recreants, manipulate the weak and innocent, and attempt to steal the Keeper’s secrets.”

Thea gulped. “Are there Alchemists working for the Breaker here at Blackthorn and Burtree?”

He nodded again. “This is the Keeper’s Halls, but there are Shadows who come here to try and discover the Keeper’s secrets. Some of them infiltrate the Keeper’s ranks as spies. And they’re always looking for new recruits. The Shadows would be very interested in your natural abilities, Allie. It’s very important that you appear to be a normal Chemist at Blackthorn and Burtree. If anyone sees you perform Alchemy without a Conversion Circle or Code Word, there could be dire consequences. It’s best to keep your abilities a secret, okay?”

Thea inhaled and nodded. “Okay, I’ll keep it a secret.”

“That means you will have to properly think things through before taking action. No more impulsive decisions, right?” he said, and Thea nodded. He patted Thea on the back and stood up. Thea followed her father along the path to where they found her mother and aunt at a fountain. In the center of the fountain, a statue of a girl knelt to hug an odd animal. It looked like a deer with a single horn protruding from its forehead. Maybe it was a Chimaera.

“Hi Thea,” her mother said. “Are you ready to go?”

Thea nodded, even though she was slowly realizing how terrifying it would be to live inside the Halls of Blackthorn and Burtree. It started to rain then, and Thea hugged herself and looked around. All about, Recreants looked up at the sky and then ran off to find shelter.

“Good!” Aunt Fanella said. Then she held out her hand and frowned at the rain. She glanced about and smiled as she saw that the area was devoid of any Recreants. She winked at Thea and put up her hands. “Praesidium,” she said.

At first, nothing seemed to happen. But then Thea realized that the rain wasn’t falling anymore. No, that wasn’t true. It was still raining, but the rain wasn’t falling on them anymore. Aunt Fanella had somehow created a shield to keep the rain away.

“Let’s get on to Blackthorn and Burtree then,” Aunt Fanella said. And the group continued on their way through the park. They eventually came to a long bridge and crossed a wide river to a beach. The entire way across the massive bridge, Thea took in the amazing sights of the city. All the automobiles and people and buildings simply astounded her.

Across the bridge, Thea noticed a giant cliff stretching over the water in beautiful sweeping arches of smooth stone, polished by the water of the fjord.

When they reached the beach Aunt Fanella pulled three large crystals from a pocket and handed one to Thea’s mother and another to her father. She then held out the last to Thea. She watched as the adults formed a line connected by the crystals held between them. Thea completed the line by reaching out for the crystal in her aunt’s hand. “Visui,” Aunt Fanella said.

Thea’s Kundalini stirred.

“Visui,” Aunt Fanella and her mother chanted together.

Thea felt that rush of power as the Alchemy began to work.

“Visui, Visui, Visui!” her father and Thea joined in, and then before their eyes, the cliff began to change; the arching cliffs became the roots of a tree, the largest tree Thea had ever seen.

Thea craned her neck and looked up; up into the behemoth tree that stood before them. To her dismay, she saw that the tree stood bare, its black gnarled branches reaching toward the sky. Its large roots jutted up from the ground, creating archways not unlike the cliff from moments ago.

“Welcome to Blackthorn and Burtree,” Aunt Fanella said, gesturing to the tree. “The Halls are just under the tree.”

“Where did that tree come from?” Thea asked.

“It’s always been there,” her father answered. “We just see it for what it really is now.” He winked at Thea.

“Well, shall we go home?” her mother asked, and then the four of them stepped up to the base of the cliff where the tree roots had been thrust up away from the beach. As they approached, Thea saw that there was a tunnel underneath the tree where the roots splayed apart.

Single file, Thea, her father, her mother, and her aunt all entered Blackthorn and Burtree through the passageway underneath the old blackened tree in the middle of Bergen, Norway.