Chapter 47

Aaron walked over to a drawer in the corner of his lab, pulling out a small test tube and filling it with a blue liquid, before pulling out the small flask filled with the black blood which had been steaming over some water for the last 20 minutes.

"You seem deep in your research."

Demetrius remarked, leaning against the doorframe, crossing his boney and misshapen arms. 

Aaron looked over to him and gave a tired smile.

"Yeah, the boy's blood would need some extra time to work before I can tell what portion he consumed."

He said back, pouring a few drops of the blood into the bottle filled with the glowing blue liquid, letting it simmer over a small pot of boiling water.

"...what was that back there when you brought be back to the land of the living? Where you made me feel a great pain all across my body?"

Aaron's eyes widened a little as he gulped a tiny bit of saliva down his throat.

"Well, it's complicated."

Demetreuis's eyes narrowed slightly at Aaron's remark, and a tiny bit of suspicion and worry filled his mind.

"What do you mean?"

"I can't tell you."

Aaron replied, his stomach almost in a knot at this point, which only made Demetrius push him more.

"Why?"

"I just can't tell you, ok?"

Aaron's voice was groping with desperation at this point, as if telling him would cause the world to explode.

Demetrius took this heavily, as he closed his mouth and looked towards the ground.

"Ok, sorry man."

Demetrius's voice cracked a little, shocked by Aaron's sudden outburst. Aaron's expression softened at Demetrius's sudden change in attitude, and he walked over to the man, placing a hand on his shoulder.

"Sorry for yelling, but some things are meant to be kept private, ok?"

His voice was almost a calming whisper, like he was talking to a child. Demetrius looked up at him and smiled softly.

"You're good."

As he said that, Aaron looked down at Demetrius's arms and his eyes narrowed at the sight of his dirty, bruised and unkept hands.

"Hmm, with my next paycheck I might buy you some gloves!"

He chuckled, attempting to light the mood. Demetrius looked him in his eyes and smiled softly.

"That sounds great, man."

Before Aaron could reply, Demetrius changed the subject, looking past the older man and towards his research lab.

"Why's that boy's blood so important anyways, isn't there some magical bullshit you could use to determine what powers he has?"

Aaron looked back at his lab, chuckling again before turning back to Demetrius, who wore a curious smile.

"Well, Routeways are accessed by drinking a potion, and the potions effect on their body can be in many ways, such as changing their blood color and texture, sometimes even more than their blood, maybe even their full physical appearance."

He explained, pulling out a book from his desk and opening it in front of Demetrius, showing him a page full of diagrams, potion ingredients, formulas and other stuff used in alchemy.

"So, you study their blood to tell what happens?"

Aaron nodded slowly, making a tiny noise of affirmation.

"Indeed, testing someone's blood can also tell us what ingredients were used in the potion, but I already know what was in the potion he drank, I could recall it right now."

Demetrius's eyes widened.

"Really now, mind telling me?"

He asked in a joking tone, nudging Aaron on the elbow.

"Sure, Orstrid blood, ravens feather and squid tentacle."

"Orstrid blood?"

Aaron nodded.

"Yes, Orstrid's are creatures that inhabit the Cardu Valleys in north-western continent, like the dawn-eagle . Its blood possesses some properties, along with some mystical components used in potion making and other fields of alchemy."

Demetrius gasped quietly, intrigued by this new information given to him.

"While ravens and squid are a lot more common here, for you could find them both in the eastern lands beyond the Cardigon Mountains. Although study there is less popular then in let's say the north, because in the war in the last era, most of the residual energies dwell in those lands, which could be very dangerous for those who dare to go there."

"Wouldn't the animals face possible consequences for living in such dangerous conditions?"

Aaron nodded "no."

"Not really, animals and humans are very different, animals have more mystical protections while humans have too much work to attain those qualities."

"So, animals are naturally built with those protections?"

Demetrius asked, leaning against the desk while shuffling through Aaron's assorted pencils and ink quills with feathers with a large assortment of colors. 

"Yeah, pretty much, it's a simple adaptation over time, developing protections for any type of mysticism. We have worked tirelessly in an attempt to genicitly toy with these creatures to help us with our protections, performing multiple experiments and extracting samples."

Demetrius nodded slowly, now fully in with the subject as he tapped his fingers quietly on the edge of the desk. 

"So, I assume this would help in the field of mystic combat, developing mystical counters to any given ability using their environment."

Aaron nodded, smiling softly.

"Correct, in the future I'm sure that we'll have a much safer world in the hands of these scolers, alchemists and sorcerers working frivolously to make counters to dark abilities."

Aaron then grabbed the scribe on the desk before rolling it back up and stuffing it into an overhead bin, pushing it back into the wall and closing the lid.

He then turned back towards Demetrius, laying a hand on his shoulder and looking him in the eyes.

"It's getting late, we'll get some rest now."

He reached overhead and turned off the overload lamp, turning the lab into a void, before opening the door and stepping out into the hallway.

"Aaron, wait!"

Aaron turned the light back on and tilted his head.

"Yes?"

Demetrius paused for a second, boiling up the courage to ask this question.

"H-how did you resurrect me? What kind of magic did you utilize to bring me back?"

Aaron sighed heavily, getting tired and maybe even tired of Demetrus's questions, but his curious mind makes Aaron mentally squeal with excitement.

"Well, in the era of chaos, or the last era before this era. The "Seekers" who gained rationality and freedom from the chains of the Angels and Gods, were able to branch off the given power system in an attempt to develop new interesting ways to use magic." 

"In this clever motion, the "Seekers" were able to develop healing magic from the blood of a Demi-god, because blood of mythical deities is a lot more powerful than the blood of any other organism."

Demetrius nodded slowly as he listened to Aaron ramble on about his knowledge of history, continuing to rap his hands on the desk.

"Using the blood, they developed new Routeways, how? We don't know at the moment, it's up to history and scholars to find the truth."

Aaron then let out a quiet yawn, rubbing his eyes salient while looking towards Demetrius.

"And using the Routeways that were created, I was able to resurrect the dead, and bring you back for our mission."