The Alchemy Child

Prologue

The luminance of red was the only light in the dark, damp room. The aura came from a circle with complicated lines going through it. A young woman sat in the middle of the glowing mark on the ground. She wore nothing except her skin, with her silky black hair falling around her back. Her small, delicate hands laid flat against the ground, against the mark flaring red, while whispering words in another language. If a stranger walked in and closed their eyes, he would think that she was praying to the heavens for forgiveness, unfortunately, that wasn’t true… she was praying to someone.

She was not alone in the barren room. A male leaned against a wall in the shadows, just out of sight, but the woman in the circle knew he was there. She knew very well every heartbeat in this miserable excuse of an academy. The man’s body was vague in the ebony shroud. His light blonde hair and crystalline eyes illuminated with such clarity.

Chapter One

The soft warble of Russian birds informed the academy students of Rushana Academy that it was early morning. As the birds tweeted, foxes and other hunters of the night slinked back to their dens, trying to make no noise while doing so.

As nature’s wild creatures went about their normal business, the students of Rushana Academy took their seats in the first class of the day. All the students except for two, Alita Brown and Jansen Koren. These two loved trouble and loved to go looking for it. And today, they were to break the ultimate rule at the academy

Alita Brown walked down the halls of the boys’ dorms. The teenager’s hips swayed carelessly, accompanied by her knee length hair of midnight black strands. Alita murmured a number to herself as she walked down the hall, her traveling pack hanging from her shoulders. Alita finally halted at a dorm door and smiled, humor not touching her violet eyes. She lightly tapped on the door, not wanting people outside the dorm room to hear.

Only a few seconds after Alita’s knock did the door open. A blonde haired boy with bright blue eyes answered, leaning on the door frame with the same humorless smile on his face. “Ready to go explore Russia?” the boy asked hopefully, wanting to get out of the dorm room. (He was punished last night for breaking the rules, making him stay in his room for a whole week)The boy’s smile then disappeared as he realized she was going to go farther then just exploring.

“Sorry, Jansen, but I don’t want to be an angel. They don’t have any fun. But I do want to stay in the European area, maybe France or London. Possibly even Italy or Greece. What do you say? Are you with me or not?” Alita asked, her humorless smile still on her face as she stared straight into Jansen’s eyes, pinning him with her gaze.

“I’ll go, Alita, but only because I hate this academy. It’s too perfect for my tastes, if you know what I mean,” Jansen said, grabbing his backpack and laptop from his desk before grabbing his black furred kitten, who was sleeping peacefully on his bed. Once he had his things, he strode out of the dorm room and closed the door. He then smirked as he crouched low to the ground. “Let’s cause hell to rise as we take our leave,” he said with a soft chuckle, already coming up with plans.

“I’m up for rousing some hell before we leave. You know how much I love to be a devil’s child,” Alita purred as she followed Jansen down the hall to set his plans into action.

It only took about two hours for Jansen’s plan for ‘hell’s rising’ to be set. Jansen smiled happily at the thought of it going so smoothly. He finished the wiring of a small explosive in the lunchroom, timing it to go off in thirty minutes. Just long enough for everyone to come in for lunch break. He slowly made his way into the kitchen, warning the lunch ladies about his little trick for this afternoon. The lunch ladies always loved his tricks and would never tell on the lad to the principal.

As Jansen set up his big bang, Alita sat patiently outside the window on a tree branch, the perfect view of the whole action and the swiftest point to leave the grounds of Rushana Academy. She knew she would enjoy this for most of her life! She already did her job for the plan, which was to wax the door handles and the cafeteria floor, so the only thing she could do now was wait.

A few minutes before everyone entered the cafeteria, Jansen joined Alita on her specially chosen branch with multiple advantages. He flashed a greeting as he handed her a bag of popcorn that the lunch ladies gave him, knowing he would stick around to admire his own work. “Let the show begin!” Jansen said excitedly after glancing down at his watch to check the time.

Chapter 2

A sharp ring pierced the sound of voices in the lunch room. Then small booms made food burst out of its tray on the food line, making the female students and teachers squeal in terror out of sudden shock of food exploding. Students started to scramble, slipping on the ground and unable to get a grip of the handles on the doors. The lunchroom was in complete chaos. Well, except for the laughing lunch ladies.

Jansen didn’t allow Alita time to laugh about the prank. He dragged her by the wrist, whispering to her, “If you want to get away from this place and not get caught, we need to go now. We need to get as far away as possible before you even try to use your Alchemy. Since the rumor is we can only use our Alchemy on campus, I want to debug it, and I’m not that good with Alchemy. We also need to make sure we can depend on Alchemy if we’re in trouble.”

Alita held down her giggles as she realized that they would need Alchemy. Only those that passed special tests had the ability to use Alchemy off campus, but there are rumors that strong Alchemist didn’t need to pass the tests to use their gifts freely.

In this world, there are four different kinds of races: angels, Alchemists, demons or the Devil’s Children, and then Hell Risers. All four races knew Alchemy. And every individual knew the basic Alchemy, but also knew others that they created. When someone is born, they’re automatically called Alchemists. Some of these Alchemists become angels, Alchemists who can heal or even give life. Demons were the Alchemists who can cause instant death with one spell. These Alchemists were sought out to be destroyed. But there is a special race that everyone wants to kill, the Hell Risers. These rare, special Alchemists have the abilities of angels and demons. The children who could destroy the world with so much ease.

Stories of all the races were told to the children, warning them to be good or they would be turned into a demon and then killed without mercy. But these stories never fazed Alita or Jansen. They knew they would only become a demon if they kill and developed their Alchemy to do the dirty task. And neither would kill and develop their abilities for it. But as Alita ran along with Jansen, the fear of having to destroy at all scared the hell out of her. But she couldn’t think of that now.

Jansen glanced back to Alita, noticing she wasn’t as cocky as usual. He thought that she just might be afraid someone would hear them. His other thought was she was thinking she made a mistake and might go back after coming so far. “Are you alright, Alita? You’re never this quiet,” Jansen finally voiced as he continued to move ahead.

“Ya, I’m fine. I’m just a little scared someone might catch us and ruin our fun,” Alita said easily as she forced a smile to form on her face. She glanced over her shoulder to the school, the only safe place in the world. She let out a soft sigh then smiled as she said, “No more teachers. No more rules. Just the wild and each other.” Happiness and a hint of fear gave her words meaning and life. It made them realize they were all alone and might not get any help. There was a huge risk of being caught by demons, other Alchemists, and the Academy guards or teachers.

Twelve hours passed in a blur for both Alita and Jansen. Most of the twelve hours were spent walking the forest of European Russia in the spring time. Alita and Jansen would rest every once in a while to nibble on some of the food they packed for their trip.

After eating, they would pack up and start out walking once more. Once the sun started to set, they started to look for a place to stay. It wasn’t long before they found an empty cave. They could see nothing used it for many years.

Alita walked to the back of the cave, feeling more comfortable in the far back. “Should we try to use Alchemy tomorrow or when we’re farther away from the academy?” Alita asked softly, already starting to doze off.

“We’ll try when we’re farther away. I think we should try Alchemy in a safer environment. There might be an angel at school who can trace Alchemy energy. I don’t want to risk it. Fizzy will sleep in my backpack, but he’ll also be on alert. We should get as much rest as possible so we don’t have to stop as much. We also need to be ready, just in case we run into someone and need to run from a fight,” Jansen said softly as he walked over to Alita and sat down next to her. “You’ll need a lot of sleep. You’re not use to so much walking, since they prefer girl to do crafts,” Jansen joked with a light smile to try and lighten both their fears.

Alita let out a soft chuckle as she replied with a smirk, “I think I’ll be fine. I’m use to running from the academy guards and teachers.” Alita snuggled close to the cave wall and drifted into a blissful sleep.

Chapter 3

Dizziness took over with no permission. It sank its fangs into its victim, making her feel useless. The smoke surrounded her, forcing her to breathe it in instead of clean air. The blood pooled around the victims feet, making her remember the brain shattering screams of pain that usually comes with death. The fear stricken woman watched as the blood rose, knowing her death would come sooner or later, and she wouldn’t mind it being now. She let the shock leave her body as her body slumped, welcoming the end, but not before letting a prayer escape her lips.

A blazing circle formed under the victim’s feet, glowing bright red. She looked down at the circle with her breath in her throat. She barely saw the circle through the smoke, but she knew exactly what it was. An Alchemy Circle.

The girl dug though her dizziness, trying to figure out the pattern. She turned in a full circle, focusing on the lines. It wasn’t long before she gasped. A gasp mixed with shock and terror. “The Circle of Rising,” Alita, the victim, whispered to no one at all, but herself. She reached down and skimmed a line of the circle, bringing her hand up to black on her hand. “Why is it black when I’m standing in red blood?” Alita asked to herself, glancing around then down. Her eyes followed the Alchemy circle, which was a circle with a seven-pointed star with a rose in it. The star’s points touched the edge of the circle while the rose almost seemed to drift in the middle. As Alita looked at the circle, she felt a shove in her back then the sensation of being dragged without even moving.

Alita! Wake up, Alita!” Jansen roared, shaking Alita by the shoulders to try and wake her. As Jansen shook Alita, his cat, Fizzy, rubbed against her leg and started to meow.

Alita’s audible gasp came as she instantly opened her eyes. “What? What’s wrong?” Alita asked as her mind started to jump to the worse possibilities. She let her violet eyes wander around the cave as she listened carefully to the area around her. But she didn’t hear anything that might be a threat.

“You were having a nightmare. Fizzy and I couldn’t wake you at all!” Jansen exclaimed as he moved from Alita, not wanting her to feel trapped between him and the cave’s wall. “Besides, it’s morning and we need to get going before the witch that owns the academy sends out a search party. I’m not going to let them catch us when we haven’t even gotten past the boarder,” Jansen said stubbornly with a grunt.

Alita let out a chuckle as she got to her feet. “Well, stop acting like a baby and let’s go!” Alita said, putting fake authority into her voice as she grabbed up her traveling pack and headed for the entrance of the cave.

Jansen glared at Alita as she walked by him, but didn’t say a word. He hastily picked up Fizzy and his own traveling pack and quickly fell in behind Alita.

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