The final test took place in a laboratory connected to a large storeroom with every potion ingredient they would ever think of. There were four tables side by side upon which was placed all the basic chemistry equipment. Each initiate stood behind a table.
Miss Ling paced up and down. “I have taught you everything you need to know about alchemy, botany and potions. For this final test I will request from each of you a different potion based on your own particular skill set. You will make the potion from memory using the resources given to you, and when you are done I will select some of you to drink someone else’s potion – as a little extra incentive not to get the formula wrong. For instance, Gretel, your potion will go to Victor.”
Sam turned to Victor, who was on her left, and said: “If I am given yours, please don’t poison me.”
“I’ll do my best not to,” he laughed.
Miss Ling went on. “To Victor; you will make a solution of Memory Powder. Sam; Anything Liquor. Hansel; a Laughing Potion. And to Gretel; you will make Short Bane.”
Gretel gasped and Victor paled. “Ma’am, but that’s a deadly poison! If I give that to Victor he’ll die!”
“He might,” said Ling, gravely. “The only way to treat Short Bane is with Anything Liquor.”
Victor turned to Sam. “Do you want to take that back?”
Ling rang a bell. “Commence!”
Victor rather nervously gathered every ingredient that he knew was associated with Memory Powder, knowing that the function of this powder was to send people into a dream-like state in which they could vividly relive their favourite memories. There was a species of ghoul that dwelled in the south that had a venom with similar effects.
Sam gathered all the green materials and medicines she could find, as she knew from her earlier research that Anything Liquor – while technically just an sweet-tasting alcoholic beverage – was a type of Universal Elixir used to treat any malady, including the emotional ones, and it applied a similar procedure as the Grand Elixir. She put everything into this potion. ‘If I fail I would never forgive myself!’ she thought.
The Laughing Potion very much suited Hansel’s already whimsical style of alchemy, though by definition it was technically a poison, as in the long run it had a negative effect of the nervous system. Hansel knew that if he concentrated the solution too much one of his friends could meet their end due to a very serious case of the giggles.
Last of all there was Gretel with her Short Bane poison. Short Bane was naturally a very nasty poison. The key ingredient was íin-ash, otherwise known as the venom of a Fire-Ant King. When diluted, Short Bane causes terrible agony, and the stronger it gets the worse the pain becomes. Gretel wondered if this was another trick? How could she possibly make such a terrible poison, knowing what was to become of it? She would have to have faith that Sam could make the cure.
The process was tiring, but in the end they presented Miss Ling with four vials of different colours; the Memory Powder was a sparkling blue, the Anything Liquor was dark red, the Laughing Potion was a vibrant green, and the Short Bane was as black as tar. They were each given their selected potions. “Well,” said Victor. “Bottoms up!” He swigged down the thick black fluid and the others drank theirs.
Gretel immediately began to giggle uncontrollably and Hansel’s eyes suddenly became vibrant and lively, but for Sam, everything she looked at was tinted with a haze of purple. The room began to spin. She heard Victor collapse in a fit of coughing and groaning. She fell on top of him and held his hand. Everything after that was questionable.
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