Chapter Text
Act I
Prologue
Chapter One: Alchemy Gone Wrong
It is a usual winter day in Old Corona. Snow had powdered everywhere in white, laughter of children playing with the freshly fallen snow and adults scolding them to be careful was echoing in the air.
Lorelei opened her eyes to the sound from outside and hit her head on the pillow in anger and frustration. She did not want to wake up. Sleeping was way better than going downstairs to get an inescapable quest from her dearest mother or be made fun of by her older brother. The annoyed girl sat up and a chill hit her as her blanket fell off her torso. Lorelei’s body shivered as it contacted the cold and quickly wrapped herself with her thick, warm blanket covered in embroidery.
She looked around her room as her eyes adjusted to waking up. She noticed her walls were covered with soot from her earlier experiment. Which ended up with a small explosion that sent Lorelei flying out of her room.
Suddenly her door opened to reveal a tall, slightly muscular frame with the most stylish attire in the whole village. He danced towards Lorelei and jumped on her bed. “You were up? Well, that’s just my luck... I was planning to paint your face.” He confessed smugly with a smirk. Lorelei looked at her older brother with annoyance and cleared her throat. “What do you need, Corin?” she asked plainly.
Corin gasped and acted as if he was hurt. “What do I want? Rory... How can you assume such a thing?! I just wanted to wake up my adorable, little, tiny, baby-” Corin tapped his foot on the ground, making a tapping sound. “Sister.” Lorelei was not buying it. She got up from her bed and put on her boots, her blanket still wrapped around her.
“Leave if you have no intention of telling the truth, dearest-” She took a small step forward that made a similar tapping sound. “-Brother.” Corin had a big smile on his face when he saw her tap the ground. This was a habit they both developed when Lorelei was only three years old. He followed her and tried to take her blanket off her. Lorelei let out a high-pitched yelp and held onto her blanket for dear life. Corin stopped pulling on the blanket and sighed.
“Anyways... I was going to share an exciting, breathtaking, spectacular news with you, Rory.” Corin ran towards Lorelei’s desk, got two paintbrushes in his hand, and started to make a drum roll by hitting them on the side of her desk. After his drum roll, Corin turned around and faced his little sister.
“I’m going to ask Kamille to marry me.” He said, taking out a black square box. Lorelei looked at Corin in disbelief, turned away and scoffed before he took out the box. “No, you’re not.” She walked towards her wardrobe and pulled out a set of winter clothing.
Corin looked confused and a bit worried. “You... I thought you would be happy about my decision. Lorelei, I’m serious.” Lorelei looked at Corin and noticed that he meant business. “Wait, you are... You’re serious about this. This is not like last time, is it? You got me all excited, saying that you had a friend who needed a little girl for his play. Then I learned from that said friend that it was all wrong and that you just pulled a prank.” Lorelei’s older brother’s eyes widened, and his lips parted in shock. “You still remember that?”
Lorelei nodded as she readjusted her blanket. “It is not like that time! Don’t you see this?” Corin waved the box in front of Lorelei’s eyes. Lorelei snatched the box and opened it. Inside the box was a beautiful ring that had a chamomile shaped diamond on top. Lorelei chuckled and bit her lower lip. She closed the box gently and looked at Corin. “Corin... This is beautiful. How much did it cost?”
Corin sucked in his breath and looked away. Lorelei realized that it was quite pricey. “Oh no... How many zeros?” Her poor brother showed four of his fingers and mouthed “Nine...”
“You paid nine thousand gold for this?!” Corin slammed his hand over to Lorelei’s mouth. “Shhh...! Shut up, shut up, shut up. Mom doesn’t know.” Lorelei licked Corin’s hand, which made him jolt and pull his hand away from her mouth with a voice that showed his disgust.
“Where did you even find that amount of money?” Lorelei whispered. A smug smile appeared on Corin’s face. He took a step forward.
“Sister-” Step. “Sister-” Step. “Sister...” he leaned forward to be on a similar height level as Lorelei. He continued, “The King and Queen needed winter dresses, so I made them winter dresses. Nine for each, eighteen in total, six hundred per outfit. My payment was ten thousand and eight hundred golds.” Lorelei looked up at her brother and did the math in her head. “So, we have thousand and eight hundred gold left in total? Cory, what in the heavens?! You should have bargained.”
Corin sighed and nodded. “I know, I know... But I was his first customer today, and he said that he couldn’t sell anything yesterday. Also, his wife was pregnant! What was I supposed to do?” “Bargain.” Lorelei stated without any emotion in her voice.
“You monster.” Corin replied as a joke, laughing. Lorelei clicked her tongue and gave him a thumbs up. “Now shoo, I’m going to change.” She waved her hand for her older brother to get out. Corin left her room without closing the door. “Oh, you- Close the door!!!” Lorelei shouted behind him. She sighed and closed the door herself.
After changing from her pajamas to her slightly warmer winter clothes, Lorelei headed downstairs. “Finally, out of your bed, are you?” Lorelei’s mother kissed the top of her daughter’s head. “Are you going to eat or...” “No. I am not hungry.” Lorelei replied. Lorelei’s mother sighed and filled a glass of water for her.
“At least have some water, Lorelei.” She handed her daughter the glass and Lorelei gladly accepted it. She took a sip of the water and felt the water go down her system and her throat relaxing. She realized that she needed that water. “The snow sure looks beautiful. Why don’t you go out and play?”
Oh no. Not this again... Her mother was trying to convince Lorelei to get out again. Lorelei’s mood quickly dampened. She shook her head in refusal. “No thank you, I prefer to stay in my lair and be productive.” Lorelei’s mother sighed and tried to convince her daughter once more.
“You know, Lorelei. The house in front of ours, our neighbour.” Lorelei raised a brow. “Yeah... The village chief lives there, does he not? What about it?” Her mother laughed and pulled Lorelei to the living room. She and Lorelei sat down.
Ugh, this was going to be a lecture... Lorelei sighed and rolled her eyes when her mother was not looking. “Yes, The chief, Quirin. He has a son who is also into that... mixing stuff ... that you are into-” “Alchemy.” Lorelei corrected her mother. “Yes, that... Alchemy.”
“Well, good for him, I suppose. What does it have to do with me?” Lorelei responded with a shrug. Her mother sighed and Corin chimed in from the kitchen. “Go make some friends, ya dingus.”
Lorelei blew a strand of her hair from her face. Her mother stood up and went behind Lorelei and started to braid her hair. “That is exactly what I mean. Aside from the last part. You are no foolish person. My sweet... You cannot be alone, without friends all your life.”
Lorelei crossed her arms and legs which made her mother pull her hair gently, signaling her not to move. “What if I want to be alone? Not for my whole life, but for now. Kids here are mean, and they clearly hate me.” Lorelei said.
“None of them has even seen you, my moon. You just must give them a chance, let them in to your castle made of ice.” She explained. Lorelei was not convinced. Those kids threw rocks at her window and laughed at her two days ago. Let them in... Never! She was not going to do such a naïve thing.
Lorelei’s mother handed her daughter her hair. Lorelei held the end of it as her mother went to get a ribbon. She quickly came back and tied her daughter’s hair in a navy ribbon.
“But I will not force you. I’m just asking you to reconsider your life choices.” She was forcing her. Lorelei forced a smile at her mother and got up. She thanked her mother for braiding her hair and headed up the stairs.
Lorelei went back to her room and looked at her unfinished painting, then at her paint. She took a glance at the unfinished piece again and made a face that clearly showed her disgust over her skills.
“What was I even thinking while I did this?” She mumbled. Brushing off her disappointment with a sigh, Lorelei decided that her painting needed some pizzazz, some... glow .
This was enough to get her sidetracked and move onto alchemy. Lorelei theorized for a solid fifteen minutes about how she could do this. She got the red paint and filled half of the vial with the paint. She then went over to her supply shelf and got herself some phosphate minerals and sulfuric acid.
Lorelei mixed the sulfuric acid and the phosphate minerals together. She then added the mixture into the paint-filled vial. She started to sing as she mixed the compound with paint.
You will never feel pale again
If you become someone else, while remaining yourself
We tend to embarrass ourselves
Of senseless chains, armor and shields, then
Lorelei swayed in her place and turned as she sang to the beat in her head. She was being careful to not to spill any paint but was looking effortless as she sang and danced. It started to be suffocating in her room, so Lorelei opened her window.
A little lover's kiss
A little lover's kiss
Immensely you just have to believe it
Jumping into the water, you know, it's not the sea to drink
It's no more complicated than a simple hello
No more complicated than a simple kiss, then
Why not
Why not, just
It's hard, it's hard, it's hard
One day, two days, three days
May it last forever
Lorelei put the mixture on her desk and got another empty vial. She filled it with green paint this time. And made the same compound as before.
A little lover's kiss
A little lover's kiss
A little lover's kiss
She poured the compound into the vial that had green paint and started to mix this one just like before. As she danced and sang loudly.
Just a little lover's kiss
A little lover's kiss
A little kiss of love, a little kiss of love
A little lover's kiss
After she finished her song, she heard clapping from outside. The curious girl she is, Lorelei looked outside to see her neighbour's son applauding her way with a small smile on his face.
Lorelei gasped and the vial on her hand slipped away from her hands. The ground beneath her started to dissolve slowly. Lorelei looked down and shrieked quietly.
“What? But I used sulfuric acid-” Lorelei looked at her shelf and noticed that sulfuric acid was on the shelf, unused. She turned to look at her desk and saw that she had used hydrochloric acid.
The boy was watching everything with worry and confusion. “Is everything alright?” the boy shouted from his window. Lorelei realized the boy’s existence and closed her window shut then her curtain. The hydrochloric acid had made a hole in her floor that was getting bigger by the minute.
“Lorelei Thaelia Karmaniόla-Anagnostis!!!” Lorelei’s mother shouted in fury. Full, full name. She used my full, full name. It’s your funeral, Lorelei. Spider lilies will make a great decoration for the funeral , she thought.
Lorelei jumped out of fear, got away from the hole, and looked at her door to see her mother, her face red with anger. “M-mother, I can explain-”
“Explain what Lorelei?! Because I can clearly see that there is a hole in the floor!” Lorelei flinched and looked down. Her mother sighed. “Agh, great... Now I’m the bad guy.” Her mother muttered.
“Get out of here. Do not let my eyes see you.” She added. Lorelei left her room, filled with shame and regret. Why did this boy applaud her? She sings every day and he found today of all days to applaud?!
Lorelei dragged her feet to the living room and sat on the couch. Corin looked at her, confused. “How in the Seven Kingdoms did you manage to disintegrate the floor?”
Lorelei sighed. She tried to hold the tears that threatened to fall. “Hydrochloric acid...” Corin looked at Lorelei, not understanding what that was. “I don’t know what that is and do not want to know.”
Noticing his sister’s sadness, he got up and left Lorelei alone.
After a short amount of time, he came back with two formal outfits. “Which one?” Lorelei looked at Corin and raised a brow. Corin wanted Lorelei to choose his outfit for the date with his girlfriend.
But he never trusted Lorelei’s fashion sense. Lorelei understood that he was doing this to distract her and for her to feel a little bit better. “Umm... I-I really don’t-”
“Choose one!” Corin cut her off. Lorelei looked at the two outfits. “But the only difference they have is the color.”
Corin looked at the suits and looked back at Lorelei, slightly pissed, and hurt. “You know, I made these outfits, and they are both unique. You dare-”
Someone knocked on the door. The siblings looked at the door at the same time, with the same confused expression. Lorelei got up and opened the door. It was that boy! Lorelei’s face lost all emotion in a second as she gave a death glare to the stranger in front of her.
“Oh, it’s you! Hi. I’m Varian, your neighbour. The one who applauded you...” He rubbed the back of his neck. “I know. I dropped my ‘glowing paint’ thanks to you. Thank you very much for that, I disintegrated my floor.” Lorelei said sarcastically she made quotation marks with her fingers.
Varian looked at the girl, confused. “That’s scientifically impossible. You need to mix sulfuric acid and phosphate minerals to make a glowing compound. Huh... I never thought of mixing phosphorus with paint to make the said paint glow. That’s genius. Simple, but genius.” Varian claimed. He was clearly amazed.
“It would have been if I had gotten sulfuric acid instead of hydrochloric acid. And dropped it.” she said harshly. Varian’s eyes grew wide. “You confused sulfuric acid with that ?! Out of all the acids-”
“I did not do that on purpose! I already have my mother mad at me. I do not need someone else, and definitely, not a stranger, telling me what I should have done.” Lorelei snapped. She was angry at herself. She hated making mistakes. And this was a big mistake.
“I’m sorry... I didn’t mean to scare you! Sometimes I hear you sing, and today I finally got the courage to show my support. And I thought that you would be happy... I-I don’t know...” Varian explained. Lorelei felt sad for the boy. He clearly had no friends.
His tone of voice and actions made it clear to Lorelei. She was also like that when it came to talking to strangers. The only difference she had was that normally she was so quiet that people couldn’t hear her.
“N-no... I took my frustration out on you... I shouldn’t have. Sorry.” Lorelei apologized. Varian smiled and chuckled. A gust of winter wind hit the boy’s back and made him shiver. Lorelei felt the cold that was mostly shielded by Varian. She gestured to him to come inside to which Varian obliged.
“So... We’re good?” Varian held out a hand to Lorelei. She closed the door and looked at Varian. “Sure. Why not?” She took his hand and shook it. “Varian...” Lorelei whispered. Varian looked at her and hummed in response.
“Your name... It means variable. Which also means changing, irregular, unpredictable-” “Y-yeah, I know that I’m weird.” Varian cut her off. Lorelei looked at Varian, she got worried. “Oh, no. I didn’t mean to call you weird. That is just what your name means. Besides... I don’t think that I have the right to call you weird after what I did today.”
Varian laughed at the girl’s point. He found this girl amusing and easy to get along with, unlike the other kids. He then remembered what happened right before last year's harvest.
“So, you’re also into alchemy... It’s probably a stupid question but, in September... Did you make that serum that caused all the harvest to die?” Lorelei’s eyes widened. The memory that she tried so hard to forget...
Last year, in mid-September, Lorelei had prepared a serum that would keep pests and animals away from the crops. Late at night, she had sneaked out of her room and sprayed the serum on all the crops. In the morning, all the harvest was dead.
The whole village was devastated, and Lorelei just got out of that punishment a week ago. Her mother did not talk to her for two weeks and they had suffered a lot. Corin and the others were still working extra to bring home the bacon.
Lorelei lowered her head and held on tight to the hem of her skirt. “Yes...” She whispered. “So that was you! Everyone thought that I was the one who caused the harvest to die. I was punished for a month; I couldn’t go into my laboratory!” Varian threw his hands into the air.
“They punished you? Mother told me that they knew that I caused it...” Varian looked at Lorelei and crossed his arms in front of his chest. “Did you get punished?” “For four months. Mother confiscated my favorite books and forbade me to eat sweets. Even baking them!”
When Varian heard the mention of no sweets, he imagined a life without them. Torture! That’s straight up torture! “Not even hot cocoa?” Lorelei shook her head. “Not even hot cocoa...” Varian held Lorelei’s shoulders and shook her violently. “That’s horrible. You are a war veteran-!” The boy realized his dramatic theatrics and stopped shaking the petite girl.
Varian let go of her and cleared his throat. “I never asked you for your name.” he added sheepishly. Lorelei chuckled and smiled. “Guess.” “What?” Lorelei went to the living room, Varian put his scarf, coat and earmuffs on the coat rack and followed Lorelei.
“Guess my name. And if you guess correctly... I will make us hot cocoa.” Varian beamed at the mention of hot cocoa. “And if I don’t?” he asked, curious. “I’ll make myself hot cocoa.” Lorelei answered plainly.
She gestured Varian to sit and started to explain the rules. “Okay, so... You may ask questions like ‘how many letters’ or ‘what is the first letter’ and... since I caused you to be grounded because of something I did... I’ll be generous. It is fine if you guess the meaning of my name.”
Varian looked at her and tried to guess her name by looking at her. “You look like someone who would be named... Rose. But that’s too simple.” Varian muttered. He thought hard on her name.
“How many letters does your name have?” Lorelei raised seven of her fingers and sat next to Varian, cross-legged. “Seven... Is it Corinne?” Lorelei giggled and made an “X” with her arms.
“Wrong. But you must know my brother if you guessed that name.” Lorelei scooted closer to Varian, who made himself more comfortable. “Yeah, I know Big Bro Corin. I see him around with his girlfriend.” Lorelei nodded as she listened to Varian.
Varian and Lorelei talked for half an hour, and Varian failed to guess her name.
“Are you going to give up?” Lorelei asked. “Never.” Varian said with confidence. “I’m close, I know it. So far, I learned that your name starts with an L, is seven letters long and that the meaning of your name has something to do with magic.” Varian listed. Lorelei bit the inside of her cheek; she was getting excited.
Footsteps of someone coming down caught Lorelei’s attention. It was her mother. She was sweating, but calm. When he caught the boy in her living room sitting with Lorelei her mother stopped in her tracks and greeted him.
“Varian? What a surprise to see you out of your room. And trouble.” She joked. Varian chuckled bashfully and rubbed his neck. “Nice to see you, Ms. Marie.” Marie looked at Lorelei and smirked. “I thought you wanted to be alone. What’s with the change of heart?”
“He got punished because of me. You know... T-the harvest situation.” Marie looked at Varian and gave the boy an apologetic look. “Well... I’m sorry for that Varian. I tried talking to the crowd that it was not you, but none of them know my daughter so they did not believe me.”
Marie turned towards her daughter. “Lorelei, you will sleep in the living room until your room is fixed. I don’t want you near that hole, and no experimenting. I am going to Clarise’s, stay out of trouble.”
Marie left the two kids alone. Lorelei sighed and then her eyes went wide. Her mother just said her name! She hoped that Varian did not catch that, but the wisenheimer smirk on his face said otherwise. He eyed Lorelei and snickered.
“So... Your name is Lorelei.” Lorelei pouted. Her mouth became a small dot and her cheeks reddened. Varian got close to her face and blinked rapidly. “So, Lorelei, when will you make hot cocoa for us?” Varian laughed. Lorelei looked at Varian and sighed, but there was a smile that never left her face. “Right now, actually.” Lorelei replied and headed for the kitchen.
After a solid ten minutes, Lorelei came back to the living room with two mugs with steam emanating from them. She handed one to Varian and put the other one on the coffee table.
“So, neighbour... What do you like to do? Aside from alchemy.” Lorelei asked Varian. He smelled the hot chocolate and for a second Lorelei thought that Varian was about to melt.
Varian came back to his senses and thought for a solid minute. “I like to draw sometimes. Mechanisms are fun. I know the basics of piano and guitar. I like reading- if I find the right book. What about you?” Lorelei took her hot chocolate and blew it to cool it down.
“I also like to draw. You already know singing. I like to dance and act, paint too. I know how to play the cello and know the basics of violin. And I love reading. Especially fiction! Hey, do you know Flynn Rider? It’s a book series and I am obsessed with it.” Lorelei beamed.
Varian shook his head. “No. What is it?” Lorelei gasped and then ran upstairs. She came back down with a bunch of books. “I cannot leave you like this. You are missing out on an awesome series of events!” Lorelei put the books down and got the first volume.
She sat right next to Varian and opened the first page. “Do you want to read it silently?” Varian looked at the book and then at Lorelei. This book sure had a lot of dialogue. “Normally, yes. But since I’m not alone and this book has a lot of talking... Let’s do voices.” Varian smiled.
Lorelei laughed and started narrating the book.
The two spent their afternoon reading and goofing around. Lorelei was on the couch reenacting a breathtaking play’s script she read not too long ago.
It was about an alchemist who made a potion that made him have two different personas in one body and his tragic ending. Varian watched her with awe and excitement. He needed to know what was going to happen next.
She was in the middle of the climax when- “RORY!” Corin called for her sister and ran to the living room. “How do I look?” He turned around slowly and then saw Lorelei standing on the couch. “You look great, Cory.” she said sitting on the arm of the couch. “Yeah, you look amazing Big Bro Corin.”
Corin looked at Varian and smiled. “You’re still here, kid?” Corin sighed and nervously laughed. He got his coat and opened the door to reveal the sunset. Varian and Lorelei couldn’t believe that it had been that long already. Varian looked at Lorelei and got up. “I really want to know what happened next, but I need to go home.”
Corin looked at the two and thought of lending a helping hand. “I can see you home if you want.” “No, that’s not necessary. We live right across from each other after all.” Varian responded. Corin agreed and left the house after giving a salute to Lorelei and Varian.
Lorelei looked at Varian and sighed. “So... You’re leaving?” Varian nodded.
“Hey, meet me outside, right in the middle of our houses tomorrow. I’ll take you to my lab.” Varian suggested. Lorelei never felt happier. Did he just ask her to hang out? She smiled widely and nodded. “You got it!” Varian wore his coat and put on his earmuffs and scarf.
Lorelei looked at him as he left the house. “Varian?” She called as the boy looked back at her. “So... What are we? Friends?” Lorelei asked awkwardly. Varian thought for a second and smiled at Lorelei. “Sure. Why not?”