User blog:Pollux83/Beyond Light and Darkness, Chapter 13 and 14

Today, 2 chapters in one blog since both are very short.

Chapter Overview

13 Hard Work



Given the time we needed to make even the smallest progress, I seriously wondered how the people had made it in the past. The effort was ridiculously high and only for a small crystal. Half of our crystals disintegrated after only a few hours. No idea if there was a trick or if they had help, but we spend every day with with hard work.



Despite the instructions in the book we needed whole 10 months to produce the first crystal. It's really amazing how hard it is to stabilize particular alchemical compounds. Unfortunately, we had one or two accidents, but we were lucky to never suffer serious injuries.



The first stable crystal was greenish and misshapen. I had the opinion that the crystal was useless, but the Order wanted results. So they let one of their magicians inject some energy in the crystal.

It happened the way it had to. The crystal exploded in his hand. The splinters had drilled into his skin and left deep wounds. He received immediately medical treatment. In spite of the failure the Order was quite pleased with the results, unlike me. At least they listened to me and left me the future decisions.



2 months and 4 more crystals later it was done. A perfect greenish crystal, approximately hand-sized, with 5 side faces and 5 surfaces and one tip up and down. I tested the crystal first. My crystal, my responsibility.



 I held the crystal in my hand and spoke the magical formula. The next moment I could feel the crystal absorbing my spiritual energy. The crystal then shone in a lush green. I was amazed at how much of my energy had fit into this little crystal. I had to sit down.



We produced another 5 crystals, all spotless. For more our resources were too limited. The Order would have liked to have had all 6 but I was able to bargain down them to 2. With the others, it was necessary to made extensive tests. I felt as if I just had sold my soul, but if I thereby saved the human race, then so be it.



 We started with the first tests. Each crystal could easily absorb a person's spiritual energy. However, there seemed to be problems with 2 people. The amount of energy absorbed by the second person was significantly lower.

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<p align="LEFT" lang="en-US" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 150%"> There were also interesting results when using the crystals. The test person get along best with the stored energy when it was his own. The crystals seemed to save the personal energy and not a general one. This also explained the storage problem with 2 people.

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<p align="LEFT" lang="en-US" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 150%"> What especially pleased the Order was the effect of the crystals to the used magic. The strength of any magic was practically doubled, provided the mage could control the mana flow. Mana consumption also doubled.

After the successful tests, I gave everyone two months holiday. We needed it.

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<p align="LEFT" lang="en-US" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 150%">14 Doubts

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<p align="LEFT" lang="en-US" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 150%"> At home.

<p align="LEFT" lang="en-US" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 150%">How long was I not been here? I did not know. It was far too long. My work began to cost me my family. I even missed my daughter's last birthday and my son ... my son did not even recognize me.

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<p align="LEFT" lang="en-US" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 150%"> I never wanted to be such a father, but the truth was different. Lara and I had not seen each other for too long. We still loved each other, but my work did not make it easy for us. The problem was not the money or that she had to raise the children without me, for that was taken care of. The problem was that I was not at her side. I spent every single second with my family this month. It was the desperate attempt to make up for what I had done or not. As beautiful as this month had been, so fast it was over. And the feeling of emptiness remained.

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<p align="LEFT" lang="en-US" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 150%"> I wandered through the city. I had doubts: Was it really worth it? Why did that happen to me? Why did I want to save the world? The world did not matter to me. The war between mankind and Mamono did not matter to me. The only thing that really mattered to me was my family and that was my problem. My family meant so much to me, I could not let the world go, I just could not.

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<p align="LEFT" lang="en-US" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 150%"> I had tears in my eyes as I out of sheer rage fired a fireball into the next house wall, which then disintegrated into dust.

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<p align="LEFT" lang="en-US" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 150%"> “Shit!” I breathed in and out. "Is anyone injured there?" Nobody answered.

I look around. I was lucky, nobody was behind the wall, no one had been hurt.

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<p align="LEFT" lang="en-US" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 150%"> "Damn it, damn it, damn it, damn ..." I could not lie to myself. I could never. To abandon my work meant abandoning myself and thus also my dream of a better future, a better future for my family. As much as it hurt, I had to carry on. Not only for my family or for mankind, but also for my own sake.