Alkalians (5 page)

After she downs the last of her juice,
Rose says, “Well, actually, I have that same class,
too.”

“
What!? Aw, double
bummer!” Sean grimaces before giving a sorry look to Matt. “Hey, I
was hoping to help you get to the next class, as I’m quite sure
you’ll probably get lost again looking for it, but it seems you’re
gonna have to go at it alone.”

“
Oh, he can go with me, I
know where it is.” The guys look to her as she explains, “I passed
it on my way to mechanics class and back.”

“
Really? Oh, yeah, I
suppose that’s where it is. Then we’re all set! You two will go to
alchemy, I’ll be in biology, and then we’ll meet back up in gym!”
Before either of them, with curious surprise on their faces, ask
him how he already knows their last class of the day happens to be
gym, he gets up from his chair and adds, “Well, we better off, the
crowd’s on the move. See y’all later!” As he hustles away to join
the masses of students leaving the cafeteria, Matt and Rose are
left to look at each other, each a bit flustered, before they stand
up and head off as well.

***

A minute or so later, having managed
to work their way through the clotted corridors of students, Matt
and Rose arrive at their next class and slip in with other students
of various class ranks. Upon entering the room, Matt is reminded of
the dark atmosphere from Prof. Kaloss’ room, but there is something
less unsettling about it. As two, bright patches of light from the
sun gleam through the windows on their right, the teacher’s station
on the far side of the room looks more like a miniature laboratory
with different sizes of glass vials filled with different colors of
glowing liquids and multiple pieces of paper cluttering the wide
desk alongside miscellaneous samples of rocks. Deciding to take
their seats near the window at the front side of the room, they
wait while more students make their way in and settle into their
seats before a soft, chiming sound announces the beginning of
class.

A moment passes with the students
waiting for their yet absent professor, some of them whispering to
each other in side conversations and others showing impatience,
before a wooden door off to the left of the mini-lab bursts open
and a tall, lanky man in a white lab suit with long, white hair
hurries into the room. He scans over some of the potions brewing in
their vials, examines the rock pieces between his fingers, and
scribbles notes on some of the papers before breathing out a long
sigh and turning around to greet the students with a
smile.

“
Sorry about that,
everyone, but I had to check on some of my current projects, behind
me.” He chuckles a little to himself. “Anyway, I am Professor
Jeremiah Loske, and I shall be your instructor in the arts of
alchemy this year. Now, how many people here know a little
something about alchemy?”

While only a few among the several in
the room grunt or nod yes in response, one individual, a young man
in a blue suit with long, purple hair a few seats away from Matt
and Rose, stands and replies courtly, “I think it would be safe to
say I know my fair share, professor.”

Looking directly to him, Prof. Loske
lights up in glee, and says, “Ah, James, how wonderful to have you
again! I could really use assistance from one as experienced as
you. Please, please, come forward.” As the man strolls forward to
stand beside him, he announces to the rest of the class, “Everyone,
this is James Iroshen, a wonderful young man of noble heritage from
the state of Tirez. He’s had my class quite a few times during his
college career here, and so he’s become something of an ‘assistant’
for me, helping me to conduct some of my experiments and manage
classroom activities or projects. And so, I would be the first to
advise you to not be afraid to ask him for any help or guidance
with your assignments.” James nods with a smile while everyone
applauds him before returning to his seat, and Prof. Loske
continues. “Now then, I would like to just, uh, give you all a fair
idea of what we will be…Oh, yes, young lady?”

Having been the one to raise her hand,
Rose asks loudly, “I’m sorry, professor, but were you going to take
any attendance before we get started?”

Laughing, Prof. Loske replies, “Oh no,
there’s no need for that. I will learn all of your names and faces
as time goes by, and then I’ll have no difficulty knowing if one is
absent or not. But anyways, in this class, we are going to be
studying and experimenting with the wonders of alchemy, a science
that defies all other sciences, a reality that changes all reality!
For you see, alchemy is the process of instantly changing one
element or compound into another, and there are many ways in which
this process is utilized. One famous example is how one could, oh…”
He turns around, his hand hovering over the desk, before he grabs a
rock and shows it before the class. “Take this dull, cheap piece of
granite, and…” Closing his hands over it, he focuses upon it while
muttering some unheard words before revealing the rock again,
having gone from a pale gray to a gleaming yellow. “Change it into
a flashy, rich piece of gold!”

As most of the class, including Matt
and Rose, awe at the marvelous change of matter, the professor sets
the lump of gold aside before moving on. “We will be doing a lot
with that particular branch of alchemy, where raw stones and ore
are transformed into valuable metals or jewels, later on. However,
I think you’ll find another part of alchemy a little more familiar.
You are all aware of your battle morphs, yes?”

Knowing the term used for the special
ability they all, as a race, are capable of using, the students
nod. “Good, good. Now, what you may not know about your battle
morphs is, in that instantaneous moment where you transform, you
are performing alchemy! For you see, when an Alkalian morphs,
he-or-she is changing all the elements and compounds within and
immediately in contact with him-or-her, from the vital substances
making up our human forms to the energized, radioactive compounds
of our morphs, and vice-versa upon demorphing. So, as we come
together for class this year, we will be discussing much about the
miracle of how so many, complicated alchemical reactions occur in
our bodies in an instant, as well as the main kinds of elements or
compounds found or produced through our morphs.”

As some of the students nod in
intrigued understanding, one of the chemicals boiling behind the
professor begins to steam, and upon hearing it he quickly gets out,
“Oh, excuse me,” before whirling around, carefully handling the
vial away from the small flame, and pouring the green fluid into a
bigger vial containing a cool, black liquid. After emptying the
first vial, he takes a small, metal rod and stirs the liquids in
the second vial, causing the green and black colors to swirl and
blend into a hot pink color, which, to some of the students’
surprise, begins spitting out sparks. Rather than being surprised
by the sparks, Prof. Loske shows pleasure from the results, mutters
more indistinguishable words while writing in his notes, and turns
back to the class, brushing some loose hair back behind his head.
“Anyway, are there any questions so far?”

While their faces are enough to say
they are full of questions, the only student who isn’t confused,
James, raises his hand before asking, “Shall we be working with
clones this year, professor?”

Snapping his fingers at
the suggestion, Prof. Loske exclaims, “Ah, yes, I think we will be
able to pull it off, especially with your experience from helping
with them the past few years!” Addressing the rest of the class, he
explains, “Another, rarer form of alchemy is not simply changing
one set of elements or compounds into another, but
creating
a set of said
substances from scratch, through a long and dedicated process of
managing alchemical reactions. And the greatest example of this is
making a clone of oneself. Now, by clone, I don’t mean the ability
one may have in his-or-her battle morph to produce faceless clones
made of solidified energy. Instead, I mean creating a durable,
intelligent, fully-fleshed clone of oneself, which in itself is a
long, but extraordinary, endeavor to undertake!” As yet more
students are fascinated by what alchemy could do, he coughs a
little before bringing up, “Now, why don’t we begin today’s lesson
with a, uh…” Looking around as if trying to find a lesson to make,
he spots the hot pink liquid and gets an idea. “A presentation of
what some stabilized alchemical reactions can do! So, we’re going
to need someone to participate. Let’s see…” Looking about the room,
his weary eyes fall over Matt. “You there! Please, do come up,
Mr…?”

As the rest of the class looks to him,
he realizes he is being called up and hastily stands, replying,
“Calamos. Matt Calamos, professor.” He walks to the front of the
room, beside the professor, and turns to face the rest of the
class, not sure of what is about to happen.

“
Ah, alright then, Matt,”
acknowledges Prof. Loske as he turns around to take the large vial
of the sparkling liquid and pour it into a small cup, “what we’re
going to have you do is sample a taste of this chemical here, and
see how it will react with your body.” As he notices Matt
immediately cringe away from the sparks coming out of the liquid,
he assures him, “Oh, don’t worry, this stuff isn’t harmful. Well,
it shouldn’t be. But still, nothing to worry about! Go ahead and
try it.”

Glancing back to the eager looks from
the rest of the students, where he notices the only worried one is
Rose, Matt hesitates before taking the cup and drinking down some
of the liquid. When he expected it to burn down his throat, he is
bemused to find it’s actually cool, and has a snappy, tingling
sensation. For a moment after the drink, he stands there with Prof.
Loske and the rest of the class transfixed on him, waiting to see
what would happen.

When the moment passes, Matt goes to
hand back the cup, saying, “Uh, sorry, professor, I guess it’s not
going to-” when a stray jolt of energy suddenly jumps out of his
arm and makes contact with the professor, zapping him and making
his long hair stand up like needles. Each jumping back from the
shock with Matt dropping the glass on the floor, most of the other
students gawk as more volts surge all over him, making his whole
figure glow an electric blue. While he looks down at himself,
speechless from the sensations he is feeling, Prof. Loske, rather
than being upset from getting shocked, claps his hands together and
exclaims, “Excellent, excellent! This, everyone, is how this
particular potion, Voltzenblood, reacts with the person’s body. It
puts a static, electric charge in the person’s blood, and as it
flows through their body, the electricity jolts outward through the
skin, searching for another conductible substance to
pass…”

In the middle of his explanation, he
is interrupted when the electric jolts suddenly intensify off Matt,
lashing out like lightning bolts and striking all the pieces of
stone on the professor’s desk. As everyone, even the professor, are
surprised from the unforeseen reaction, the energy from Matt
transfers to the rocks, causing them to glow bright blue before
cooling off to show they all changed into shiny, black fragments of
a new substance. Astonished by the event, Prof. Loske cautiously
approaches the desk, takes one of the stones, and looks it over in
his hand, his scientific wonder ever growing from the conclusion he
makes.

“
Obsidian, the rare jewel
formed only from magma. They all turned into obsidian. But how…” H
sets it down, the whole lesson slipping from his mind, and mutters
more incoherent words while scribbling away at his notes, comparing
and analyzing the shards of obsidian while doing so. Left standing
there, Matt doesn’t know what to do as he questioningly looks to
the rest of the class, and Rose shrugs and gestures for him to come
back to his seat. Once he does so, Prof. Loske finishes his notes,
gives a satisfied nod at whatever he had been saying to himself,
and turns back around, remembering he still had a class to teach.
“Oh! Ah, right, um, well, why don’t we discuss the rock material
known as obsidian, and what it has ever been used for? And after
that, we’ll go ahead and call it a day, and then you can all head
off to your final classes, okay?” When the rest of the class nods
or shrugs in compliance, he takes off into a hustling lecture about
the make-up and historical uses of obsidian for the rest of the
class period.

***

For the final class of the day, Matt
and Rose have no trouble finding the gym as it turns out to be near
the entrance of the building and through two large double doors. As
they pass through the doors, they see the gym is more of an arena,
with a large, elliptical-border field with ascending rows
surrounding it. They also notice that all the freshmen are showing
up to this class, except for a few, higher class students who are
already there and huddled in a small group away from them. They
soon find Sean, who sees them and waves them over, and they come to
stand on either side of him.

“
So, all the freshmen are
taking this class at the same time?” Matt asks.

Sean replies, “Yep, all the freshmen
will have this same hour for gym this year, so that we all can be
on the same level of experience with our battle morphs. Today,
however, we have guests from higher class levels to join us. The
professor will explain.”