Canlanma Street Level, Story 3

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Story 3

   You discovered something truly amazing. 

  It has been 45 cycles. In 45 cycles, you were born to a sweet pair of metallurgists who taught you everything they know abut their trades. Your father went on numerous trips to meet Royals and advise them on weaponry and mechanical components. Your mother made her home in the Capital and became a fashion advisor to the celebrities and Royals when wanted and a doctor to their mechanical servants and devices when needed. After testing you, your parents sent you to the Tower of the Mind in Eulim. You took your lessons and lectures in due time. Hours of sitting through teachings you learned as a child. Instructors tried not to show it, but you knew you were the favorite. The newer lectures on the quest to make a new metal for many cycles intrigued you. A new mental would be the talk of Canlanma for at least 100 cycles. Sadly, each "new" metal they discover turns out to be a well-known alloy with an uncommon ratio. So you studied and slaved through the academic work to become a metallurgist yourself. After your training, you petitioned Eulim's Royals to take an exploration sabbatical. They agreed and sent you off to plains and lake lands. 

  And now, on the cusp of the Cycle of Night, you have made a discovery. 

  You walk along an unnamed lake as you daydream about a metal that consumes the senses of an individual and causes a sensation similar to being in the Void. Ah, the Void. You believe it is a fictional location made to instill obedience and fear into the general public. Most in Eulim even seem to buy into the stories despite their academic training and study. You remember hearing tales of the Void from your parents' patrons. Tales of losing one's mind in an unknown infinite space or forgetting you identity in the endless blue tones of the Void use to scare you; now they only serve to gauge your peer's mental facilities. To think the Void is a place is folly. As folly as the grey lilac next to- wait... grey lilac?

  You finally return to your surroundings and see how grey the world looks. Only meters back, this lake looked green and lush with birch trees and lilacs. It appears as if all the color died. Or maybe your eyes stopped working. You blink a few times but that only causes your eyes to water. You dry your eyes and walk at the same time. Left foot, right foot, left- You trip over something with your left foot. You connect to the ground and impact your shoulders and head. You roll onto your back and slowly sit up. Just at your toes is a strange hard lump of dark grey. It looks like a rock, but it glimmers. You are so entranced by it that you almost miss the black boots coming close to you. A pale grey hand reaches down and picks up the lump. You study the strange feminine entity with long braided hair as she studies the lump. Her entire outfit and appearance is grey with the exception of her blood red eyes flecked with gold. 

  She looks to you and comments, "Thanks for finding my achromatium. Cheers." As soon as her sentence ends, a swirling grey mist envelops her and disappears with her. Slowly the color returns to the area. The trees and lilacs burst with color, but all you can see is red. What is "achromatium?" Is it the new metal you've been yearning for? Were the last 45 cycles of your life now meaningless? You storm back to Eulim to change your fortune.

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