Xadulo's Goal: Stone Knowledge

“…So, yer the ‘Angelic Demon’ from seven years ago?” asks the stone collector they encountered on the village Deneb brought them to. “Ha! That’s hard ta believe, I mus’say,” he caught a glimpse of Deneb and stared for a while. “You lad… have’y seen ya before?”, “I’m Centauri Contts’ little brother, Deneb Contts. I’ve been here for a few times,” the old man took a while to remember. “Oh! Right, that Centauri lad, nah? Man! Takes me back. I hated that lad, wished him dead”, “He’s dead”, “Yeah. Makes sense why ya movin’ a’ound with people who’re not from that viyage of yas,” he took a chug of beer and faced the seven again. “Mah name’s Brinnacion *hic*. That’s pwonouned ‘BriN-nnnnnAH… syon,” Kyshanne, Jack, and Seril couldn’t take the stench of his mouth and covered their noses. “Buh’ do call meh old Brints.”

A drunkard, suspicious, lonely 50 years old man with thin voice, local accent, dirty workplace, and unhabitable home was unfortunately the stone expert they were looking for. “Aaaaaaannd? What migh’ be the angel of hell…! No, demon of ‘eaven? *hic* umm, miss…”, “Xadulo”, “Xadulo! What might be yer reason to come’ere?” Xadulo looked at her friends. “I’m sorry, everyone, can you leave us for a moment? And Carnelia, please stay.” They did what she said with no hesitation.

“Am I finally? Gon’ be hit by’a girl dis young!”, “I am serious here, old Brints.” She glared at him as if saying to be serious as well. “…So? What is it now?” even Brints lost his accent and became serious. “I want to die.” She slammed her hand on the table between them. “That ain’t my problem. Why ask an old stone-wizard like me?”, “That’s exactly it. I want to know if it is possible to turn some corpse into a stone.”

“…This village is very gloomy,” Kyshanne couldn’t help but say it. “So that’s your first expression, huh,” Pablo said. “What’s yours?”, “IT’S DIRTY,” he said with more volume in his voice. “Well, I gotta say this village doesn’t have a future. The kids are pitiable,” Seril said. “It’s more of poor to me. It probably wasn’t given much attention from the Centre, or the merchants robbed then until they’re empty-handed,” Deneb said. “You, Jackie?”, “Um…” he wasn’t expecting the call. “It reminds me of my hometown. It’s almost empty, so was everyone”, “Things turned dark quickly!” they explored the village while looking for something to do.

“Do ya mean a human corpse?”, “Maybe”, “…Not sure ‘bout your request. I’m only turning bugs, rats, and small animal corpses into stones”, “It’s not my whole body anyway. Just tell me how,” Brints stood from his seat and started choosing the liquids he had been using, then a sample stone-kitten. “Ya mix deez potions in the ‘aight ordah, then pour onto the corpse, like dis’on,” Xadulo one by one picked the liquids and observed them. “Show me.”

“…It’s taking them a while,” Pablo said. The five were lying on the grass under the clouds. “They sure are,” Seril said, then yawned. “Kyshanne and Jack are already deep in their sleep. If you didn’t speak, I could’ve also fallen asleep,” then yawned again. “Still, why the stone-wizard?” Deneb muttered. “Anything wrong?” Pablo asked. “Uh— it’s not that. I just remember that Old Brinnacion doesn’t have anything special. All he can do, as far as I can remember, is collect unusual looking rocks, turn object into stones, dissolve rocks and obtain the inside of it… that’s as much. Why would Xadulo interest something like that?” Pablo was quiet for a while. “…Did you fell asleep?” Deneb asked to break the silence. “That would be Seril,” Pablo replied, as Seril’s snores got louder. “Maybe Xadulo has something to do with what you mentioned…”

“…and then, there! The leaf’s stoned. Literally,” Brints showed Xadulo how it works. “I see. So these potions… they are made of these things?” Xadulo showed a paper of list with each liquid and their components written. “Yah! That’s loike it,” Xadulo took a look at the paper again. “That’ll be worth 30 copper coins! If not, just leave me all yer food stocked,” Xadulo placed the paper in the table and took out a knife and pointed it at him. “You’ve got it wrong. I won’t pay. Consider this shared knowledge as payment for your life.” 

Brints didn’t like it, but got no choice, so let it slip. “I could’ve considered this robbery, but whatever. Xadulo started walking away. “Say, missy,” she stopped. “Why do yaw anna die?”, “I’m just curious. I want to see what’s like in the afterlife because I haven’t seen it yet.”