Sometimes things happen in life that seem to be simply too perfect to be true. They are the kind of things that happen that can make even the most skeptical of skeptics cock his head and wonder, “Could this really have been an accident?” I will leave any such judgments to be made by the reader, but Sakura could not have asked for a better conclusion to her mining expedition. Her own plan had been to tunnel into the Royal Alchemy Meeting Chamber, hoping to remain hidden and overhear something that might shed light on the fate of her friend. However, the chance to ask Aleric, arguably the most powerful alchemist in the Lower Kingdom, and one who was clearly intimately connected to Toku’s disappearance, was infinitely superior to any of Sakura’s hopes. She just knew that Aleric would know where Toku had gone. And, having recovered from the speechlessness that must result from being sucked through a rock wall, Sakura immediately seized upon the opportunity to have her questions answered.

“Where’s Toku?” she asked, admittedly a bit rudely. Thankfully, Aleric was an understanding master alchemist, and the smile never left his face, nor the twinkle from his eyes. Perhaps he was glad of the company.

“What do you mean?”

“Toku! Where’s Toku? Your student...my friend!?”

“You must forgive me. I have been locked up, you see. And, though I could escape at any time I wished, I have neglected to do so and therefore have very little knowledge about what goes on outside of my little room.† [As we shall later discover, this was a bit of a lie on Aleric’s part. I won’t judge him too critically, however, as it was true that he knew very little of Toku’s disappearance. And, ultimately, one cannot fault Aleric for favoring security over complete disclosure at a first meeting.] Would you care to explain, in which case I might be of more service.”

“Oh. I’m sorry,” replied Sakura, suddenly aware of her rudeness. “I’m just worried about him, you know? He’s been gone for a while know. I’ve looked everywhere I know to look, and I’ve heard nothing about him from anyone else. You see...” and she proceeded to tell the old master of how Toku came to her room in the evening, chased by the King’s men; how he hid in the closet (Sakura was quick to admit that this was hardly an ingenious hiding place, but Aleric said nothing in reply), and then seemed to just vanish when the soldier opened the door; she told him of her initial search, and then of the news of Toku’s parents’ arrest. Finally, emotionally drained by the retelling, Sakura sat down, waiting for the bearded man to offer his knowledge and wisdom.

Aleric, however, sat in silence. His playful manner seemed to fade away during Sakura’s tale. His amusement at this chance meeting was now gone, and he sat deep in thought, his bush eyebrows furrowed over his face. Sakura continued to wait in turn, but her patience was wearing thin. She wanted more than silence from the Great Master Aleric, upon whom Toku had always lavished so much praise, and about whom there were rumors circulating all through the Lower Kingdom. She wanted him to explain everything. Her hope had been that the huge weight upon her heart would be lifted by this man of almost legendary power and wisdom. But now, rather than telling her what was going on and where her friend had vanished to, he sat motionless and silent.

Sakura stood up. She could not sit still any longer. She paced up and down the tiny cell, holding in her growing anger and resentment at Aleric’s silence. Back and forth she marched, glancing all the while at the silent man buried beneath his peppery beard who seemed to be ignoring her completely.

Finally, she could stand no more.

“Where is Toku?! You have to tell me! He’s my friend!.”

Sakura’s face was flushed and tense. The emotion of the past several days was coming to a head. She felt the tears well up in her eyes, and she hated herself for appearing weak. She brushed the drops away with a dirty hand, leaving her cheeks smeared with dirt. Her lip trembled somewhere between anger, sadness, and hysteria. She never took her eyes off of Aleric.

As if coming out of a trance, Aleric seemed to awake to Sakura’s presence for the first time since she finished her story of Toku’s disappearance.

“I don’t know where Toku is,” Aleric said in a heavy voice. Sakura nearly lost it. Her mind held control over her body only by a thread. She could not even speak.

“And, unfortunately I can think of no good news to ease your worry,” continued the alchemist. “But, I will do my best to explain what must now be done.”

This call to action gave Sakura’s mind the push it needed to start moving once again. Action was something she understood.

“What...must be done?”

“Well, let me see. This will be a little difficult to explain. Have you ever heard of the Philosopher’s Stone?”

“Philosopher’s Stone?”

“Hmm...I thought not. Well, I suppose that means my apprentice has been forthcoming in his promises to the craft, even when it concerns his girlfriend.”

“Oh! We’re not together! We’re just friends!” Sakura immediately corrected, her beet-red face hidden by the smeared dirt. Her reaction made Aleric chuckle inside.

“Oh, yes. Of course. Forgive me for assuming too much,” he said, the twinkle returning briefly to his eyes. “But that is really neither here nor there right now. Here is what you need to know...

“The Philosopher’s Stone is a legend in alchemy. It is a material that can make even the weakest of alchemists more powerful than the most learned master. In the long history of alchemy, many have tried to create it, but none have succeeded. And many have also searched for a naturally occurring form of the stone. Some have found what they consider to be evidence that such a substance exists. But to this day, no true Philosopher’s Stone has been found.”

“Okay. I understand about the stone. But what does this have to do with Toku?”

“I believe Toku, or at least someone, may have found the stone—or, if not the stone, itself, then evidence of it—a substance we call Elixir.”

“What? Why do you think that?”

“I’m sure by now you have heard how I came to be living in such cramped quarters, have you not?”

“Yes. You fought Master Gin.”

“This is true. Why do you think I did that?”

“I...I don’t know...” Sakura was embarrassed to confess to Aleric the rumors that had been flowing through the kingdom. None of them characterized the eccentric master very favorably.

As if reading her mind, Aleric interrupted, “I’m sure the official story is something along the lines of how I was leading a rebellion against the King or some such nonsense.”

“Well...”

“Surprisingly, for once, such reports are not so far off,” Aleric continued with a chuckle.

“What!?” Sakura exclaimed.

“Well, it’s not so much the King I’m after. In truth, I have long suspected that Leicho, or Master Gin as you know her, has been seeking after the Philosopher’s Stone. The irony of the situation is that Leicho believes that I am also after the Philosopher’s Stone, or she at least believes that I might have some clues regarding its existence or it’s composition. And, she would again be right. I’ve been studying alchemy far longer than she can imagine, and I have certainly learned a bit more about the Stone than she has in all my studies.”

“But still, what does this have to do with Toku?” asked Sakura, once again growing impatient.

“We’re getting there, don’t worry,” Aleric calmly answered. “As I’m sure Toku told you, Leicho came to my laboratory in order to examine Toku’s progress. This, I believe was merely a ruse meant to accomplish two things. Firstly, she wanted the chance to be able to look around the lab, herself, for evidence of experiments that might be linked to the Philosopher’s Stone. Secondly, I believe she was legitimately interested in Toku—if not for his talent as an alchemist, then for his connection with me. She may have reasoned that as my apprentice, he may have been privy to information about my own research on the Stone.

“Well, that meeting went rather differently than planned—in a way even I could not have predicted! And it seemed to anger her to the point that she decided a more direct approach would be easiest. Instead of sneaking around my laboratory, she could simply have me arrested as a traitor, which would give her full access to all of my research, and presumably full access to Toku, as well.”

“But why would she want Toku? Surely she would know that you would not have told him anything.”

“Perhaps. But what the general public does not know, and what Toku does not even know, is just how truly talented he is.”

“What? Toku? What do you mean?”

“Well, you don’t think I take just anyone as my apprentice, do you? Have you ever wondered why I don’t have any other students? Toku is, in fact, the most talented alchemist I have ever known. He is untrained as of yet, and so his true abilities remain to be seen, but I guarantee that he will one day be a greater alchemist than even I. I won’t go into the details, but let us just say that Toku possesses a natural connectivity to the universe that rivals what a mediocre alchemist could achieve even with the Philosopher’s Stone!”

“But how do you know that?”

“Let’s just say that advanced alchemists such as Leicho and myself know what signs to look for. And, there are certainly tests that can be conducted to determine a general level of connectivity. But that is beside the point right now.”

Sakura sat motionless for a moment, thinking this new information over, her analytical mind sorting and recalculation.

“Right, I understand much more. But none of this explains why or how Toku disappeared,” Sakura said.

“This is the part of the tale that troubles me the most. You may ask why, if I could escape at any time, I have chosen to remain in this cell. As it turns out, it is in an extremely convenient location for spying on the Alchemy Headquarters of the Royal Caverns.”

“Yes! I knew that. That’s where I was trying to reach in the first place!” Sakura exclaimed excitedly.

“Indeed? You are certainly every bit as clever as Toku has said.”

“Toku said I was clever.”

“Oh yes. But, only as a friend!” Aleric answered, his eyes twinkling more than ever. “In any case, over the course of a few days, I have determined that the Royal Alchemy Branch is, in fact, searching for the Philosopher’s Stone. I had not put much credence into their search before now. After all, there has been no proof that such a Stone even exists. But, for some reason, Leicho has become convinced that the Stone does exist...and she feels that she is close to recovering it. This is clearly why she has chosen to act so brazenly recently.

“Unfortunately now, after hearing your story, I believe Leicho may be right about the Stone’s existence. From you description, Toku’s disappearance is the type of thing the Philosopher’s Stone would be capable of. Whether it was Toku or someone else who used it, I do not know. My feelings are that someone else used the Stone. After all, I would like to think that Toku would have brought such a find as the Philosopher’s Stone to me right away! Either way, though, the fact remains that I do not know where Toku is.”

“But you said there was something we need to do, right?” Sakura asked.

“Yes. Quite simply, if Leicho is on the verge of discovering the Stone, or discovering who already possesses the Stone...we have to find it first.”

The next few days were extremely busy for Sakura (as if the past few had not been!). She went to the new shaft at the third bell, worked until the eleventh bell without a break, spent one bell eating and resting, and then immediately went back down the tunnel during the shift change at the twelfth bell to sneak back down to Aleric’s cell. Once there, she and Aleric worked together, plotting and calculating the exact location of the Alchemy Headquarters in the Royal Chambers, and even more importantly, the location of Leicho Gin’s private quarters. Tunneling to the Alchemy Headquarters looked to be a simple task, especially now that Sakura had Aleric’s alchemy to aid in the digging. Reaching Leicho Gin’s quarters, however, proved to be a much more delicate matter. Carefully examining the plans of the Royal Chambers, Sakura calculated that their tunnel would have to pass only a few feet from one of the central corridors connecting the kitchen cavern to the guards’ quarters. Even the smallest miscalculation or poorly aimed strike with the pickax could cause the narrow strip of earth insulating Sakura from discovery to break apart. However, as Sakura continually reminded herself, the opportunity to overhear Gin’s most private conversations far outweighed the risk.

They started digging only a day after planning. The work went very quickly. Sakura was a fantastic miner, but what truly made the difference was Aleric’s amazing alchemical skill. With seemingly very little effort, Aleric could take the hardest mass of clay and rock and break it apart into soft, dry sand. He sent strong blasts of superheated air to blow the loosened earth down the tunnel and into a holding chamber they had dug out. Aleric spent most of the time that Sakura was away at work transmuting all the excess dirt in the holding chamber into thin, tightly-packed slabs that matched the floor of his cell perfectly.

In only a day and a half they had finished the spy tunnel to the Royal Alchemy Headquarters. Sakura wanted to spend a few days sitting and listening through the wall that remained between their tunnel and the large conference chamber of the Headquarters, but Aleric insisted that they continue digging until they had reached Leicho’s quarters. This took another two days of very hard work, and Sakura held her breath every time they passed along the span that she knew rested just above the kitchen and guards’ quarters. Thankfully, they passed the narrow bridge each time without any cause for alarm. Only once did they hear the loud ruckus of drunken soldiers beneath them.

Finally, at the end of the second day, Sakura’s calculations told her it was time to stop digging. If she was right, there was only about six inches of hard stone remaining between her and Leicho’s private office. It had come time to test another invention she had been working on during her lunch breaks. It was a very simple design, but she hoped it would be effective—a microphone and headphone set that would amplify the sounds coming through the wall. Attaching the receiver to the face of the stone in front of her, she switched on her device and waited.

At first nothing happened.

“It doesn’t work,” Sakura thought out loud, her heart falling.

Then, suddenly, a voice burst through the wall and into Sakura’s ears. She yanked the headphones away, holding her head in the momentary agony that comes from an unexpected noise piercing the ears. Taking a moment to adjust the volume of her contraption, she once again held the headphones to her ears and listened.

“...an he be?” A squeaky-voiced man was speaking. “I know you’ve said he’s been gone before, but never for this long, and at a time like this!”

“I told you!” A woman’s voice now filtered through the rock wall and into Sakura’s waiting ears. “We are not to ask the whereabouts of the King. That is the King’s business. All you need to concern yourself with is that the King has left me in charge during his absence.”

“Yes, my lady, I understand. But some of us have...concerns.” A different man’s voice this time. This voice sounded silky and smooth—oily even. Dangerous was what Sakura thought when she heard that voice.

“Your concerns have nothing to do with me, Sofphis,” the female voice replied.

“Oh, but they do, you see. We are concerned that you might not be...uh hum...capable of managing such a large project as this. We have been digging for well long enough. None of us are able to sense the Stone. Do you wish us to believe that you can sense what all of us together do not? You are not so powerful as that yet, Master Gin. You are no Aleric, even.”

“Do you forget that Aleric is now living in the dungeon!? It was I who defeated him, Sofphis. You would do well to remember that. And if you wish to question my abilities, then why don’t we start right now?”

“Ha!” the voice that seemed to be Sofphis responded. “The only reason you defeated Aleric was because you ambushed him with twenty soldiers. And from what we here, he had pretty much finished them off before his stupid apprentice showed up and offered himself as a hostage. The only reason he’s staying in that cell is because he wants to. We all know that! He could leave anytime he wants.”

“You fool! Do you really believe all the stories and rumors we told ourselves during our training? No one could escape the cell we created without amplification liquids and equipment—not even the mythical Aleric.” Sakura could not help but be impressed. These were the greatest alchemists in the kingdom talking about the man she was working with—the man who had taught her friend. He was clearly in a league of his own, even if Leicho Gin did not wish to admit it.

“As to the location of the Philosopher’s Stone,” Leicho continued, “you will do as I say. I know where the stone is. It is merely taking time to reach it. The King has entrusted me with this task. You will remember that, Sofphis. Remember—should we fail, it will be my head on the line—not yours. I do not gamble with such a thing as my life. I know where the Stone is.”

Sakura continued to listen to the conversation for several more minutes, until Leicho “invited” her guests to leave. It was with great excitement and great concern that she returned to Aleric who was forming the last bit of dirt into another tile for his floor (which had now grown by several inches). There was no mistaking it now—Leicho was after the Stone. But even more remarkable was the revelation that the King seemed to be missing.