I like it because it speaks to my life. :)

Alright! A new Elixir Chapter. Get it while it's hot...
You can catch it below, in the Reading Room, or download the PDF from here: Elixir (PDF Version).

Enjoy, and let me know what you think!

Toku nearly fell out of his lab chair with shock. After all the extraordinary experiences he had endured, one would have thought that he would have been incapable of being surprised by anything anymore. Yet, the sight of the blob of silver he had just purified return to the stony ore he had drawn it from caught him rather by surprise.

Toku had been working diligently in the Alchemist's laboratory when Theodora burst in. She quickly looked around the room, and convinced that Toku was alone, she strode up to him with purpose. Before Toku could even greet her, she had grabbed one of the silver pellets he had been using the Elixir to create, and he saw the silver transform in front of his eyes. Although Theodora was glowing even as she entered the laboratory, the glowing intensified around the piece of silver as it changed in her hand.

Toku steadied himself on the lab bench and looked with wide-eyed wonder at his friend.

“I thought you told me you couldn't do alchemy!” Toku finally managed to say, as Theodora stood silently staring up at him.

“I can't! I had never even heard of alchemy before I met you. Is...is this alchemy?”

Toku paused for a moment, putting aside his shock and curiosity to notice that Theodora looked worried...even scared. These were not emotions he had really seen from her before. He was not sure what to say, but she was staring up at him, her alchemist, looking to him for information to calm her fears. Toku forced a smile on his face.

“Wow! That was amazing! And here I thought I was the only one working on alchemy today. How did you do that...and even without any amplifiers?”

Theodora visibly relaxed. Maybe it wasn't the perfect thing for Toku to say, but it seemed to help.

“I don't know how I do it. I just discovered it a few minutes ago. All I do is touch something made with alchemy,” Theodora said.

“Hmm...” Toku said in reply, trying to think. “Can you do it again?”

Once more, Theodora picked up one of the small silver blobs from the lab bench. Just as before, fire lit around her hand and rock seemed to grow and cover the silver.

“Let's try something a little different,” Toku said after watching the transformation carefully. “Give me a moment to prepare.”

Toku walked over to a cabinet full of chemicals and equipment. He pulled several jars from the shelves and brought them back to his workbench. From one of the jars he poured out pure copper shavings into a stone bowl. From several other jars he poured various powders, some white like salt or sugar, and some dark like coal or iron shavings.

He stirred the powders together with the copper shavings and picked up the piece of Elixir. Holding the Elixir with one hand, and extending his other hand over the bowl of ingredients, Toku took a deep breath. Almost instantly the contents of the bowl collapsed into a tight ball. For only a second, Theodora felt the intense heat rising from the bowl wash over her face, and then the tight ball expanded slightly and instantly cooled. It looked like an ordinary stone, with slight specks of green and white.

Toku looked back at Theodora after he finished.

“Not bad, huh?” he said, proudly. “And I didn't even have to use amplification liquid. This Elixir is amazing. It's like I can touch every atom in the area with my mind.”

“Wow!” Theodora nodded, impressed in spite of not really understanding why she should be. “What did you do?”

“Well, we know that you can take silver and transform it back into silver ore. I though we might see if you could go the other way around. Let's see if you can turn copper ore back into copper.”

“Oh.” Theodora said hesitantly.

Toku took the rock from the bowl and placed it in Theodora's outstretched hand. Once again the light shined brightly, and the stone flew apart in her hand, sending powder and flakes of copper flying everywhere.

“Well, now we know,” Toku said as he dropped his hands which had flown up to protect his face. “Does this only happen with alchemically altered things?”

“As far as I know,” Theodora answered. “The first time it happened was when I was outside and some of the servants were making iron weapons out of rocks.”

“But why didn't it happen before?”

“What do you mean?”

“I mean, why didn't it happen when I made the medicine or the flour?”

The two looked at each other thoughtfully.

“Did you ever actually touch the things I made?” Toku asked.

Theodora tried to think back to when he had made the flour. Toku had been the one who poured the flour into the bags. She had not touched the flour, itself. And the medicine. Had she touched that? She seemed to remember giving it to Isaku's wife. But even then she had not touched the medicine, only the bowl. But then, there was that moment when she saw the color and life return to Inari's face. What had happened then?

“I don't think I ever did,” Theodora answered after thinking.

“This is really amazing!” Toku said. “I've never heard of anything like this before. We should talk to the Alchemist about it. He left about an hour ago to go on some errand, but he said he would be back by tomorrow morning.”

Theodora looked worriedly up at Toku. She still did not trust this clearly powerful man with his strange servants.

“Toku...” she began.

“What is it?” Toku asked, seeing the concern come over her face once again.

“...I would rather we just kept this to ourselves, if that's okay.”

“But why? I'm sure the Alchemist will know more about this than I do. He might know what's going on.”

“I know. But I'm sure it's nothing we need to trouble him about. He seems very busy, after all. Really. Let's just keep it to ourselves.”

“I still don't understand why. It won't be any big deal to just ask him about it...”

“Please, Toku,” Theodora interrupted. “Just do this for me.”

Toku stared deeply into Theodora's wide eyes.

“Okay. I won't tell him.”

“Thank you.”

It was a restless night for both of the young adventurers. Toku kept having nightmares, seeing Aleric locked away in the dank dungeon. Occasionally Sakura would appear in his dreams, shouting down at him in a voice he could not understand. He woke up several times during the night, cold and sweaty, Sakura's desperate face etched even in his wakened mind.

Theodora, too, found sleep difficult to come by. She was still frightened by this newfound power she possessed. And the Alchemist's home continued to unsettle her. She felt like she was trying to sleep while being shrouded in a deep mist or fog. It chilled her.

When sleep finally did come, she was awakened by a soft voice. As she set up in bet, her heart beating quickly, she could not tell whether the voice had been manufactured by her dreams or if it was a sound that had pierced its way into her subconscious. Either way, she was awake, and Theodora knew that she would not be able to sleep anymore that night.

Quietly she got dressed in the chill of the very early morning. She silently walked through the darkened hallway to the front door. Only one servant saw Theodora as she walked through the house, but he simply ignored her and continued his dusting and polishing. Once outside, the moon seemed to light her path, and Theodora followed the trail she had traced the day before almost instinctively, along the edge of the forest, to the path that led around the back of the fortress-like home. The smithy was dark and quiet now. Only a soft glow of heat came from the burning embers of the large kiln.

This time, Theodora continued walking, following the path as it continued to bend around the house, past the kiln and the large barn structures. After several meters, the path turned away once again, and Theodora was surprised to discover that it led down into the forest on her left.

The cool night air and the shimmering moonlight had invigorated her. Theodora felt like a walk would do her some good, so she continued to follow the well-tended trail as it wound its way deeper and deeper into the forest. The trees here were not very thick. The moonbeams still found their way down to the forest floor, and the air breathed slowly around the young girl as she journeyed. Magical was Theodora's thought. It almost reminded her, in a strange way, of the time she spent along the plane, under the stars, the first night she had stepped through the magical door.

Suddenly the silent moment was shattered as Theodora heard voices approaching. Quickly and quietly as she could, Theodora stepped off the path and hid herself behind one of the larger trees. The undergrowth, sparse as it was, grabbed at her bare ankles, but she held her breath and listened for the voices to draw closer.

Slowly, the sound of footsteps accompanied the varied conversation. She could hear what they were saying now. One of the voices was most certainly the Alchemist. The other was the voice of a woman. She sounded proud and strong, but hesitant.

“We have no need of this boy, Master,” the woman was saying. “Just give me a little more time and I will find it.”

“I know you will,” the Alchemist answered kindly. “But this boy, as you call him, may just be the most powerful alchemist I have ever met. He's an interesting case. I can now see why Aleric took him on.”

“All the more reason to get rid of him, now! He could be dangerous. What if he is in league with the Upper World? You already know that Aleric was planning something. This is his student!”

“Yes. But I have things safely in hand. Our primary goal right now is to find the Stone, and while I have every faith in you and the work you have done...I cannot be certain that the stone is even there. Even I was unable to harness the Elixir safely. But his boy can. Continue your search. If you find it, the boy will be no threat anyway. If you do not, then we will have another option at hand.”

“Very well, Master. I live but to serve.”

The conversation ended, and Theodora heard the footsteps receding. One pair continued up the path towards the house, the other pair fell back in the other way. When she was sure they had gone, Theodora crept out from her hiding place, and quietly but quickly followed the footsteps that went away from the house. Before she came in sight of the figure she was trying to follow, however, the path suddenly dropped away before her. She was at the mouth of a large hole that fell sharply into the ground. The trail and the mystery led straight down into the darkness. Theodora only paused a moment, and as with the door before that had begun her on this adventure, she jumped down, excited to see where this new turn of events would lead her.

Theodora was surprised at how quickly the darkness of the tunnel engulfed her. Only a few feet in, and she could not even see her hand in front of her face. Stopping only for a moment, she pulled out from her pocket the flashlight she had wisely taken from her backpack before leaving the Alchemist's house.

As she switched the flashlight on, and the corridor was flooded with the harsh, white light, Theodora was awestruck by what she saw around her. The walls, the ceiling, even the floor, were stunningly beautiful. She had never seen stone so expertly carved—perfectly smooth and straight. Gorgeous carvings flowed along the walls in rivers of abstract curves. The floor was similarly carved, but instead of the light wisps and curves of the walls, detailed and embellished figures of the sun and the moon and trees and mountains marched down the corridor like a living tapestry built into the stone. This was clearly no simple cave—it was a man-made wonder of engineering and joyful artistic expression.

Slowly Theodora progressed down the tunnel, taking her time to admire the work of the mystery artists almost as if she was in a museum. It was only after several minutes of pausing and staring every few feet that she suddenly awoke to the sound of footsteps ahead of her, and she remembered why she had jumped down into the tunnel in the first place.

There was no way for Theodora to tell just how far ahead her quarry was. The echoes and darkness made judging distance impossible. But she also knew that she could not follow too closely because of her light. So she lithely and silently stepped down the corridor, being careful to stay well back from the steady foot taps in front of her.

After several minutes, Theodora came to the first turn of the tunnel. Two corridors ran out in front of her, one to the right and one to the left. The choice was not difficult, as she could still hear her leader's footsteps coming sharply to her ears from the left. Unfortunately, it was not long before she heard more footsteps coming from behind her.

Theodora's heart jumped up into her throat. As you, my dear reader, surely know by now, Theodora was not untrusting and was extraordinarily friendly. But, something about being discovered in a dark tunnel while following a cohort of the Alchemist did not sit very well in her mind, and she quickly decided that she would much rather remain unnoticed and unknown to those approaching from behind. Thinking quickly, she ran as quietly as she could away from the footsteps. She did not dare turn off her flashlight until the last possible moment.

As she ran along, another corridor jumped out to Theodora's right. Quickly she dodged into the new corridor and switched off her light. Her heart was hammering as she heard the group that was coming up behind her nearing. They walked in silence, only the sound of their sharp steps echoing down the tunnel. To Theodora's ears, her breathing sounded like it was being amplified by a microphone. She could not help worrying, What if they turn here? How do I explain myself?

But the group passed on. The sound of their feet hitting the cold stone floor quietly vanished. Theodora let out her breath in relief.

“Well, what do we have here?”

A man's voice broke the cold silence, and Theodora's scream was muffled by a hand that roughly grabbed her face and covered her mouth. Another strong hand clawed at her arm and pulled her painfully against the wall. Her eyes bugged, trying to see into the darkness, as she twisted and struggled with her captor.

Realizing her other hand, the one holding the flashlight, was free, she thrust the front of the light in the general direction of where she assumed her attacker's face must be and switched it on. The light was blinding, even to Theodora for a moment. The vice-like hands released their grip, however, and the man cried out in pain.

Theodora turned to flee, but her was was blocked.

“Diffiden...” Theodora said to herself, as she recognized the man who stood in front of her.

“Yes. I'm afraid your little light will not work on me. I've served my master on the surface long enough that my eyes have become accustomed to the brightness. But somehow I doubt that you will be quite as accustomed to the darkness. Am I wrong, my dear?”

With a dark smile, Diffiden caught the light out of Theodora's hand, and threw it down the tunnel. She saw the light spinning and turning as it flew, and it was with a hollow knot in her stomach that she heard the light smash into the floor and the light blinked out.

With palms and branches let us raise our voices of praise, saying: Blessed is He Who comes in the name of the Lord, our Savior.

(A hymn from a Byzantine Matins Service.)

Happy Palm Sunday, everyone.

I watched an interesting show on Discovery the other day. It was called something like "Downloading the Internet". I forget the actual title, but it was something like that. Basically, it was a documentary about the first browser wars between Microsoft and Netscape. The thing that got me about the show, is that it ended right as Microsoft won the battle...and it didn't even mention how Netscape open sourced their browser and it would eventually become Mozilla Firefox, which is once again making leeway in the browser battle.

More important than the show, though, were the thoughts that it caused to start boiling in my head. As I was watching it, seeing all the horrible corporate intrigue going on (on both sides), I just kept thinking..."Man, these are some big reasons why I really appreciate open source."

And this brought me to another thought--I've never really taken the time to write out a detailed account for why I came to support OSS (open source software) as much as I do. Sure, I've written a few things about it here and there...but nothing really concrete. And that's something I really need to do.

I am reminded by the time R's mother questioned why she should use firefox or openoffice as opposed to the "typical" programs. I tried to give a little spiel about open standards and security...but this didn't really mean much to her. It's not that the things I were telling her weren't true...I just had not presented them in a wholistic way. And, let's face it...usually people don't think about their software choices having any sort of moral backing to them. It's software. Either it works or it doesn't. Right? That's where OSS makes you think differently...but this different type of thinking needs to be explained.

So, what I've decided, is to do a weekly column on the ol' blog. Starting this week, I'm going to go through the basics about what OSS is, what it stands for, and why it is important. Following that, each week I'm going to highlight a piece of open source software, review it, stack it up against its closed-source competition, and explain a little about how to use it. I'm thinking that this way I will accomplish the goal of perhaps better explaining to those who haven't really thought about their software all that much why maybe it could be better if they did...and then there will also be some resources in discovering some new software to test what you're hearing me say.

So, what do you think? Sound good?

To start, I'm going to ask from you, my dear readers, what pieces of software to you use that you would like to know if there are open source alternatives for? Just post a comment, I'll do the legwork, and you'll see a review for that software in the next couple of weeks.