Header Image: Sunshowers: Anonymous
The Last Remedy (Part 1): Braden Miller
When the Alchemist opened his eyes, he could only see darkness. He reached out to his left and turned on a lamp that illuminated the room. He blinked several times before he rose from his bed and pulled open his curtains to get a glimpse of the outside world. The sky was a dark cloudy gray, and a dim glow from the sun could only be seen faintly through the stormy skies. A thick rain fell from the heavens, tracing out thin rivers in the street below. A row of dull apartments lined both sides of the street that the Alchemist lived on, and as he looked at the desolate roads before him, he gave a soft sigh. The sun used to glow so much brighter. These days, the Alchemist found it hard to distinguish nighttime from the day. It was a lucky sight to even get rain at this point. However, none of this would matter soon, for everything that he'd worked for was about to come together.
The Alchemist stepped out of his apartment, dressed in a dress shirt with a tie, long coat, and a fedora pulled low over his eyes. His midnight blue tie was the only spot of color on his whole person, from his shoes to the stone gray umbrella that shielded him from the rain. The Alchemist was a tall man, over six feet in height, and not particularly large or thin. He tended to keep most of his face from view with his wide hat, rarely looking anyone in the eye. He glanced up and down his street, and despite the number of apartments on the road, very few people were heading off to work. Most people in the city had given up on work altogether, or had already been shipped off by the Administrators to work at the factories to the west of the Capitol. The Alchemist strolled through the rain to the train station, and joined the small group waiting there. No words were exchanged, and the workers wore blank expressions on their faces as the train rolled up to the stop. Honestly, the Alchemist preferred this to the idle chit chat that used to occur here.
As the train began rolling towards his destination, the Alchemist looked out at the horizon of the world. The Capital city of the Kingdom sprawled out before him, once a bustling metropolis filled with life and people, now rendered silent except for the murmurs of life that let one know that people did indeed still call this place home. Past the Capitol, you could see the various districts of the kingdom. These were ruled by local administrators, appointed by the Silver King, who controlled most aspects of their people's lives. The Alchemist could make out the large smokestacks of the factories that thousands of people were sentenced to work at by their region's administrator. He saw the border between two districts, as it was marked by a barbed wire fence after a recent conflict between two administrators that marked casualties from the militias of both sides. And beyond even the districts, many miles away, the Alchemist could just barely make out the edge of the world, and the beginning of the infinite sea of the universe that lay beyond.
The train pushed onward, and eventually arrived at the Alchemist's destination. He stood outside the Palace of the Silver King, the heart of the entire kingdom. Blocking his path was a large checkpoint with several guards waiting outside. They were lined up in a row so that no one could pass through, and as the Alchemist approached them their captain began to bark orders at him.
"Please state your name and business inside the Palace of our Lord!" the guard yelled.
The Alchemist silently opened up his briefcase and retrieved a set of papers from within. The Captain of the guards sighed and snatched them from him. "Follow me," He grunted. The two of them went inside the checkpoint building and into the Captain's office. The most notable thing inside the room was the desk, a massive piece of furniture covered in papers scattered across its surface. The Captain sat down at his desk and put on a small pair of reading glasses. He began to examine the Alchemist's papers.
"I do apologize for the mess," the Captain said, "A lot of requests and complaints to the government still come in, even to this day."
The Alchemist scanned the letters on the desk. Half of them consisted of almost illegible phrases strung together in a desperate tone. Many were unopened.
"You are here to cure the Silver King?" the Captain questioned. "I haven't seen someone try that in a while. All of you fools that come never have the proper paperwork either." He flipped to the next page and his eyes widened. "You actually have stamps of approval from every district administrator!?" He looked up at the Alchemist. "How much did this cost you? The administrators are usually too busy with their own conflicts to care about requests to see the King!"
"I suppose they believe in my methods." The Alchemist said frankly.
"I suppose they must, if you were able to convince all of them. Well, you need approval from every administrator to get to the Palace, and you seem to have all of them here." The Captain shuffled through the papers one last time, and handed them back to the Alchemist.
The Captain's voice suddenly took on an even more serious tone. "Ever since our King became ill, this world has been in decline. All of the best doctors in the world have tried to cure what plagues him, yet nothing has worked. What makes you any different?"
"I know what the cure to his ailment is." The Alchemist replied.
"That is what they all say. Whatever this cure is, I hope you really do know what you're doing. His life is this world's life. When you try to heal him, the lives of the whole kingdom lie in your hands."
"I am aware of the risks."
"If you have made it this far, I should surely hope so." His gaze turned to the window and the downpour outside. "It's been so long since I've felt the full glare of our sun. I hope you can restore our light."
"Soon, the darkness will be no more." The Alchemist tipped his hat and walked out of the checkpoint. Now that he had proper clearance, the wall of guards parted to leave a path for the Alchemist to ascend up the steps of the Palace.
To be continued…