Fate - First Reply A Short Walk

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Amos

The Afflicted
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Vel Anir - Outer City

Amos set down the small box that he had been carrying, a cough wracking his lungs. Hand quickly snapping up to cover his mouth. The sound of his sickness echoing through the nearly empty streets.

One or two people briefly glanced at him as they passed, though no one stopped to ask if he was alright. That wasn't too surprising in a place like this, at this hour. The outer city was hardly the poster-child for kindness to strangers. People were focused more on themselves, whatever errand they had to complete or return to. Amos knew that, and it was alright.

The Outer City, as far as he was concerned, was still better than the Gutters.

Shaking his head, Amos gathered himself.

A breath flowed steadily into his lungs, and slowly he moved to pick up the box once more. Had he been able to get what he needed in Vel Zaphris this wouldn't have been a problem, but unfortunately the University was only willing to pay so much. It had been easier to convince them to offer him more funding for the raw materials for the project if he retrieved it himself. A courier cost extra after all.

He would have asked Kaeden, but his friend had gone north to see to another part of their project. Thus he had simply gone himself, and he was glad he had in the end. During his travels he'd thought of another augmentation, something that would allow the wheels on their great project to better work. At least in theory.

A smile touched his face as he walked, despite the slight hobble in his step.
 
There were few places Erren disliked traversing quite as much as Vel Anir. The Blightlands perhaps, maybe that scum infested Osteriam. Still, his job was one that precluded free choice of where he was sent, and rumor and innuendo had once again sent him to the city of Anir, home of the fearsome Dreadlords and their Republic. If ever there was a group he didn't wish to cross, it would be these folk.

Thankfully, the denizens of the Outer City were far too preoccupied with their own problems to worry about some well-dressed man with a suitcase and a compass wandering through the quiet streets. This wasn't a place where poking into the business of others was likely to land you anything but trouble, and the Mage knew that very well; it was far from his first trip here.

That had been to the Academy itself. Not entirely unlike the College where Erren had spent much of his years, but tainted with a dark and bloody past far grimmer than the comparatively tame scandals that the Foard back home hid from public eye. Physical proof that magic was far from inherently good, to say the least.

Thankfully his journey today should not take him that far. In fact, the golden device in his palm seemed to hum with life as though he were near what he sought now. Strange... perhaps his work was still a bit shoddy around the corners; he could have sworn that he was meant to go to--

A loud coughing fit broke the man's furrowed expression towards his unusual tool, luring his gaze to a young fellow, much younger than himself, hobbling in his direction with a strange box barely held aloft in his arms. It didn't take a doctor to see the boy was sickly, but it also didn't surprise him that none had offered him aid in a place such as this.

Luckily for his new acquaintance, Erren was a foreigner.

"You there, young man! Have you a moment to spare?"
 
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Amos looked up almost immediately as a voice called to him. Folk shouting was ordinary enough on a street like this, but getting someones attention was simple. A frown almost immediately touched Amos' features, but he didn't shy away.

"I have one, but not many left I'm afraid." The young researcher said with a rather grim
smile.

As much as many might not have liked it, jokes about his conditions were one of the small coping mechanisms he maintained. Amos didn't know much about the disease that plagued him, but he knew that it was slowly eating away at him.

Just months ago he had been one of the best sprinters in Vel Zaphris.

Now he couldn't walk down the street without getting rundown. "Is there something you need assistance with?"

He asked with a smile, thanking the man inwardly for approaching him and adding to the time he could take to further rest.
 
For such an ill-ridden lad, his spirit had seemingly been far from extinguished. The humorous response brought a smile to Erren's mustachioed lips, and he moved closer to the boy with a certain distinguished air to him despite his current location and the ragged state of his mane.

"So I see. Disease indeed takes it's time with you." Erren wouldn't be able to tell at a glance what ailed the young man, but it was a shame nonetheless.

Reaching into his pouch as he approaches, the mage retrieves a small vial of pale green liquid, holding it aloft to his eyes and shaking it as though verifying something, before offering it down to the fellow.

"Stamina booster." He explains. "It won't heal whatever is happening with you, but it will help you to catch your breath for a moment." After a moment, he smiles a bit in recognition of the situation. "I won't blame you if you refuse it, but I've no reason to poison a dying man, do I?"

Amos
 
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Amos watched the man carefully, if only due to habit.

There wasn't anything particularly threatening about Erren, but a lifetime of living in the Gutters of Vel Anir had made Amos weary. For a few moments he stayed quiet, taking the small potion and glancing at the concoction. Interest flickered through his eyes.

"You'll have to forgive me." He said with a shake of his head. "Growing up in a place like I, well, we're cautious of such things."

A smaller cough echoed through his chest, but Amos tried his best to ignore it. "Perhaps if I knew you better."

Amos offered.

"I may not have much time, but enough, I think, to make a new friend?" He did not like to impose on others, but the stranger seemed inclined to be helpful. Perhaps he would find himself equally inclined to have a conversation.

As silly as that seemed in a world such as this.
 
Erren offered a smile, taking the refused potion back and sliding it back into the small leather satchel it had come from. "I understand. I'd probably make much the same decision in your position, young man." The fellow may have been dying, but he held no desire to quicken that process. Were it not for Amos' obvious frailty, Erren too would have been suspicious of the young man's outgoing nature, it being such a rarity in this place.

His offer of friendship, though, was questionable even with illness taken into account.

As right as Serris would have been to turn down such attempts at nicety, his brow did furrow, a look of empathy crossing his lips. "Friends are few and far between in cities like this one, aren't they? The shadow that looms over this place chokes kindness from the soul..." It was spoken aloud, but more to himself than to Amos. Erren reaches for the golden circular instrument tucked into his pocket, holding it up to his gaze and humming thoughtfully once again.

Still it pointed only to this boy.

Slipping the device back into his coat, Erren nodded. "Very well. Allow me to help you with your cargo. In your condition I question whether you will make it alone. Where are we headed, Mister...?"
 
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Amos offered only a simple smile as Erren spoke of friendship in cities like this one. He had nothing to say on the topic, mostly because Vel Anir was the only city he had ever known.

Sure he had visited others once or twice. Elbion so far away, and of course Vel Zaphris as well as others, but none had ever really been his home. None save for this one, and while it had treated him awfully sometimes, it had also treated him well.

He watched the odd instrument with interest for a few moments, but did not ask about it.

His own experience told him people prefer to volunteer mysterious information, rather than be interrogated about it. "University Aniria."

Amos said, his smile growing wider.

"Thank you, I was beginning to have the same question myself." He offered another chuckle, though it was interrupted mid-way through by a cough. Once the fit was done, the young man continued. "I am Amos, it's a pleasure to meet you."

The student said, extending his palm in greeting. "And don't worry, it's not infectious."
 
Erren reached out without much hesitation, taking Amos's hand and shaking it firmly. It seemed whatever afflicted Amos didn't bother the older man terribly much. "Erren Serris. The pleasure is mine, Amos." He tilted his head slightly, seeming to look him over a bit. "Though I wish it was under better circumstances..."

It wasn't that he lacked knowledge that could have helped the poor soul now, but he did lack the tools such an attempt would require. He didn't wish to dole out any false hope only to quash it so quickly, so he held his profession for the time being. In truth, he would have liked a chance to help him, in a different time and place.

"University Aniria? Well, certainly a more welcoming destination than the other notorious 'academic' insitute of the city, isn't it?" Erren flashes a smile and then turns his attention to the box he'd been battling, leaning down to pick it up himself. It wasn't extraordinarily heavy, but he could see how the density it did have would be taxing on the sick body of Amos. "Are you a student, by any chance?"

Serris was quite familiar with the location of the University and began to set off in that direction with Amos's box in tow without direction, though he slowed his steps so that he did not outpace his companion. "Or perhaps..." He moved the box a bit as though demonstrating something. "You fancy yourself somewhat of a scientist?"
 
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Amos moved alongside Erren, doing his best not to slow the man to a snails pace. Though his sickness taxed him, even after a short rest he could manage to move at the same pace as most. At least he liked to think that he could.

Even if it was only for a little while. "I am, of a sort."

He had never really thought to give himself a label, though most would dub him as so. He had no official 'job' of course, but the University here in Vel Anir and in Vel Zaphris allowed him and Kaeden to perform their experiment. Plus, the two of them were in fact advancing the sciences. Amos supposed that would be enough for the title.

"And yourself? What brings you here?" Amos asked warmly, genuinely curious. Many came to Vel Anir, though few as tourists. "I gather you're not from our city."

His manner of dress, the way he spoke, all were tiny clues.
 
It was a shame, to see a youthful intellectual so crippled by disease. With many of Vel Anir's greatest minds devoting all of their efforts to warmongering and weaponizing children, the city could use more free thinkers and patrons of knowledge. Erren let out a low hum, having no problem matching his pace with Amos. He wished the boy would have accepted his potion, it would have eased his strain considerably for the time being, but he would not force the issue.

"I'm from Elbion, actually." He shared openly, looking over at his new acquaintance. "Until not too long ago, I was a Maester of the College. You could say I'm something of a scientist myself, though my days of research have come and gone." There was no hiding the hint of bitterness in that fact; He'd spent decades of his life reaching the level he had, and it was all for naught.

Still, his cheery demeanor didn't seem to fade much.

"I'm here on business, regardless. College business, so I can't share much. You understand how it is, I'm sure. There is a line where men of study become men of bureaucracy. I fear many in the upper echelon of Elbion have long since crossed that line."
 
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"Ah, Elbion. A remarkable city." Amos had only just returned a few months hence, though his trip there had not been without it's own incidents. The venture had still been a rather positive one, even if it had not gone exactly as planned.

"Perhaps that is the natural progression." The sickly student offered. "After all, someone has to pave the way for the newer generation to learn."

He suggested. "And an unfortunate necessity for that is the system to support it."

More students meant more administrators, and of course more administrators meant the bureaucracy. Amos was no stranger to it himself. The Universities in Vel Zaphris was sometimes more structure than it was substance, that was why he and Kaeden so often had the need to...ignore certain rules.

Though only for the greater good of course.

"I hope you have all your documents, Professor." Amos said by way of warning. "Though the Republic has become more friendly, Vel Anir is still somewhat weary of outside mages."

Not that he would report the man, but he would hate to see a man of learning catch the eye of the Vigilite, or worse.
 
Erren tilted his head in acknowledgement of Amos' point, but there was a look of resentment in his eyes. "Fair argument, but I can't help but feel there must be a better way to maintain the system than ensuring nobody has an opinion that clashes with your own. Many of those in stations above us have forgotten where they came from, Amos. Power corrupts worse than any illness either of us could contract, I assure you."

It was not meant as an insult towards the poor young man's situation, but a subtle hint that he'd seen people turn to far worse creatures over far less serious situations.

Even though The Republic and all its cities were probably best known for the questionable practices of those in power, historically, the truth was that Elbion was little better, if at all. True, one of Anir's premier Academies was meant for the training of killers from the age of children, but at least they'd always been somewhat open about that fact. The College trained the youth too, and the teachings within it's walls often skewed their viewpoint to a pro-Elbion mindset and set of ideals.

The issue was that they made such a habit of claiming innocence after the fact, once the consequences had already occured.

"Don't worry about me. The Republic has made obvious it's keenness to improve... 'relations' with Elbion in particular as of late. It's hard to miss the Dreadlords posing as exchange students when they're starting fights after hours. They want something, and I'm going to offer them a chance to find it."

With a small smirk and a lift of the cargo he held for Amos, he added lightly.

"Besides, my magic of choice is rather subtle. Even if I have to use it, I doubt they'll notice."
 
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"A tale I have heard more than once." Amos admitted, frowning for a brief moment before shaking his head.

The world of politics and power was beyond him.

He had been born in the Gutters, and had only escaped them because of the charitable hearts of those who stood above him. Amos had never thought of himself as less than, and he never would, but he knew where to stick his nose and where not to.

The world of science was as welcoming as he needed it to be, or as he would make it. "I am glad to hear it."

He told Erren as they continued their trek through the streets.

Eventually they passed from the broke cobbles to newly christened marble streets. Passing into the middle city of Vel Anir and closer to the University. "It is not often I get to speak with practitioners of magic, as Ironic as that is."

Given his work.

"If you do not mind my asking, what it is you practice?" There was never a harm in asking, and if Erren did not wish to share then he would hold no insult to him.
 
The number of suspicious eyes lingering on the pair of them lessened once they'd crossed into mid-city, but even outside of the dregs people were wary of strangers. There would be no cheery or cursory greetings coming his way on this second leg of their trip. That Erren was aware of that fact somewhat lessened the sting. After all, his circle of friends had shrunk even in his hometown.

"My practice?" Erren turned his head to look at Amos, a smirk on his lips as he wondered whether or not that was the word he would use. "I'm versed in many facets of the arcane, but my specialty is a branch of my own design." Serris had actually struggled as a student before he found his calling, and produced groundbreaking work on a form of magic that hadn't been focused on within the College before.

"I've discovered I have a particular talent for shifting the odds in my favor. Magic can alter many different elements of the world around us, but I always found the idea of manipulating fate and luck to be fascinating."

It was a vague description, and it no doubt would bring up more questions than it answered. Turning back to the road ahead of them, Erren, slowed and moved closer to Amos by a step or two, so that he could hear Erren over the increasing background noise of the pedestrians around them.

"I can make one outcome of a situation more likely than another. Tip the scales, so to speak. Somebody sits in an old chair, I can make it more likely that it'll finally give out and collapse under their weight. Granted, I can't guarantee an outcome, and the more outlandish the scenario, the less likely I can achieve it. But it's a school of magic still in its infancy. I was removed from my position before I could complete my studies on the topic."

Erren clams up slightly, holding back a swear. He'd let that last part slip far too carelessly.
 
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"Fascinating." The way he said it made it clear that he absolutely meant what he said. No small amount of delight played over his features, though partially because of a fact which Erren might not yet know himself.

Amos had, in fact, heard of something quite like this before. Though not in a field of his own study.

"Perhaps it is why you are here, or perhaps it is a delightful coincidence." Amos began. "But are you aware that the Weiroon family, one of Vel Anir's Great Houses of Nobles, is apparently capable of such magics?"

Though this fact had been hidden for many centuries, after the Revolution it had come to the forefront that several of the Houses had in fact hidden magical talents. House Pirian, Sirl, Weiroon, and several others had all come out with this truth.

The announcement had sent ripples through Anirian society, though much of the outrage at these lies had been lost with the tithes placed upon the Houses which had rebuilt Vel Anir.

Amos, of course, had made requests to study and learn of each Houses magic, but had been summarily denied by all but two; Banick and Luana. One whom he worked with, and the other whom had practically adopted him. "I have not been able to do any further research, but it seems perhaps your work might bring new opportunities."

He mused.
 
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There was an audible twitch in the features of Erren as Amos brought up the Weiroon lineage. Yes, he'd heard of said family. Their cunning use of such magics was rumored to have been the very thing that fueled their bloodline's success for many generations, all the while looking down upon those less fortunate. Certainly indicative of Vel Anir's morals, using one's gifts so selfishly. Serris certainly didn't approve, but it was also none of his business.

"Yes, I'm aware of Weiroon's ability to boost their luck." He eventually conceded with a tilt of his head, looking somewhat conflicted about it. "However their magic is hereditary, a talent passed through blood. My methodology is different and more importantly, teachable." That being said, he stopped in his tracks and turned towards Amos, his tone growing serious as he leaned forward.

"Do not advertise my abilities to the public, Amos. Should the Weiroon family learn of a potential method for anybody with a fair modicum of magical talent to learn their prized gift, I should think they would make quite the enemy of me. I simply don't have the time for that."

There were enough people hungry for his head without a noble family vying for his demise. Even as they approached the gates of the University, eyes were falling upon him with suspicion and unease.

"Now, where exactly are we taking this?"
 
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Amos considered the words for a brief moment, not able to help but wonder what the consequences of twisting fate would be.

Every now and again was one thing, but on a scale where it could be done multiple times by multiple people? He was sure that his new companion had a greater understanding, but Amos had already seen the consequences magic could offer. He couldn't help but think that fate would bare much of the same weight.

"Of course, I won't speak a work." Though the work was utterly fascinating, and he would have enjoyed the conjecture among his own colleagues, Amos well understood the danger in all of this. Despite being relatively naive about some things, Amos had grown up in the Gutters. He knew well how cruel and outright evil the world could be. There was no doubting that academia, and the world of nobles could be just as bloody as the world he'd grown up in.

"Just there." Amos said pointing to a collection of tall spire like buildings. "Our main workshop is in Vel Zaphris."

He explained as he began to fish out a ring of keys, bearing a small side door in the universities walls. Built clearly as an entrance for staff and the like. "But the Headmaster made us keep an office here at the central university."

Amos continued as the door opened and the two of them headed into the university proper.
 
Whether Erren was aware and conscious of the dangers that came with his work or was blitheringly oblivious to any danger but that posed to himself was left unspoken, but the small nod he gave in response to Amos' promise seemed to indicate he trusted the boy enough that he might be willing to speak more on the topic at some point.

He lagged behind Amos now, difficult considering his anemic pace, but it wasn't the ill man's fault. Following his finger up to the spires, Erren smiled. "Always so showy, us magic types. It wouldn't be a workshop if you couldn't pick it out of the city from a mile away, would it?" He quipped, tucking the box carefully under his arm for a moment to ready his documents for the inevitable checkpoint. "Not that anybody from Elbion is one to talk."

Amos opened the door, and two of them ventured forth into the bastion of knowledge that was University Aniria. Serris did pick up on something the younger man had said, though, and his curiosity got the better of him.

"You speak in plurals. You work in a group, then?"
 
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Amos chuckled. ”In Vel Anir, our ostentatious displays of wealth do not stop at those who use magic.”

He explained. ”The University is mainly more…ordinary studies, my field is special.”

The only ones to be doing such work in Vel Anir, and quite controversially as well. He was sure that before the Revolution they would not have been allowed to do as they were, even with Kaeden’s connections. Even the work they did now was carefully controlled, inspectors coming in almost every other week.

A rather frustrating state of affairs, given the fact that they had to stop and explain everything to the buffoons the Government sent.

”A partnership.” Amos said in explanation. ”Although we do have an intern.”

Though even getting that was like pulling teeth. ”Sometimes we are afforded assistance, but mainly it is just the three of us.”

As they spoke the two walked through the hallways, the security guard holding up a hand glancing at Amos and nodding before he turned to Erren. A polite question was asked about his papers and purpose, but it was clear that the man wouldn’t be giving the professor any sort of third degree.
 
Erren couldn't hold back the laugh that Amos brought him. "Oh, only in Vel Anir?"

Serris nodded along with the boy's explanation as his papers were briefly processed by the guard. A partnership made sense, especially as he couldn't imagine young Amos doing much on his own in his condition. That his two associates were seemingly not here though, that made him a bit curious.

One must know when to keep one's nose clean, however. Their outings were none of his business or concern, though he wouldn't argue the same of Amos himself.

The guard allowed them through, and Erren continued to follow his new acquaintance to the tall spires they'd seen from outside. "I suppose that only leaves me with one question left to ask, doesn't it?" Now that they knew themselves to be in similar fields, Serris felt no shame raising the box up and giving it a gentle shake. "What's in the box?"
 
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Amos let out a soft chuckle, easily catching the breadth of Erren’s jest. Such problems spread everywhere, whether it was Vel Anir, Elbion, or Alliria.

The two of them moved passed the security checkpoint and into the university proper. At this late hour most everyone had gone home, though a few offices and classrooms still had lights casting from beneath their door.

Amos ignored them all of course, leading Erren through the winding corridors until eventually they found themselves at a heavy steel door. From his pocket he pulled a key, the door swinging open a second later to reveal an office of clutter and mess. No documents or papers lay anywhere, but dozens of odd contraptions of brass, bronze, and other metals.

”Ah, that’s quite simple.” Amos said as he stepped inside, gesturing towards the desk so Erren would have someplace to put the box.

”Supplies.” The Scientist said, reaching in and pulling out what appeared to be a small brass gear. ”The University doesn’t have a forge, you see, so I have many of my components made outside.”

Back in the Gutters, no less, a fact which might surprise some. ”Each piece must be made to an exact standard.”

He offered, plucking up a strange rod from the desk and fitting the piece he had taken from the box onto the end. A quiet snap of metal sounding out as it fell perfectly into place.
 
Serris carefully placed the box on the surface of the table Amos indicated, stepping back to allow him to go through its contents. To say the little brass piece was underwhelming compared to his expectations may not have been a lie, but as Amos had said himself, the exact specifications of the parts he began to remove from the box were impressive in their precision.

"And with your associates unavailable, it leaves you to go and pick them up yourself, I see." Rather a shame considering the shape he's in, although Erren did observe that Amos seemed far less bothered by his deteriorating condition now that he was in his own element. The mage walked alongside more of the tables about the room, looking over the contents spread across them with growing curiosity. "To what end, though? You risk your own waning health for these parts, so whatever you aim to make with them must be quite important."

And not only to Amos himself. The University saw fit to give him his own space, so those in power must have some vested interest in his progress as well. Academics weren't prone to charity, after all.

Remembering his own reason for being here, Erren once more reached into his own jacket, pulling out the strange locket-shaped device that had led him to Amos in the first place, biting the inside of his cheek thoughtfully.

"I take it you know exactly what each piece is made from?"
 
"Of course." Amos said. "Each design is specific, and carefully looked after."

He shifted the strange rod, looking at it up and down for a moment before he slowly pushed himself off from the work bench. From there he snapped up a polished metal cane, one that seemed to have been expertly shaped and crafted, then used it to hobble across the workshop.

"I don't like using this." Amos admitted to his new friend.

"And perhaps I should be drinking your gift." The scientists said as he reached a glass-cabinet, opening it up to reveal a host of softly glowing crystals. "Pride, I think, is what is keeping me from both."

An awfully open an introspective thought, and not one that answered Erren's question. "This is what I am making here, what it's all for."

As he spoke, Amos put one of the crystals into the staff.

There was a brief moment, then he flicked the switch. Suddenly a light seemed to pop up on the staff, a soft glow. He pointed it gently towards a nearby stool, and-as though with magic, the stool began to lift into the air.

"Bringing magic, to those who have it not." Amos finished finally with a bright smile.
 
Erren's features seemed to twitch as Amos reconsidered drinking the concoction he'd offered him, and then admitted to the folly that held him from it. This boy... was more like Erren than he cared to admit. "That offer is still open... but I understand." He tucked away the device and moved closer to Amos, now focusing more and him and the staff he now wielded.

"Pride is not worth dying for, though. I've seen too many give up too much to try and keep it." His eyes followed the crystal as it was placed into the staff carefully. "I let go of my pride long ago, so that I could try and do the right thing." Though he preached to Amos, truthfully Serris wasn't sure if he'd even been successful. He lived, sure, but that life was under the thumb of scrutiny and authority.

No, it was worth it. His mind turned to Zak and it all made sense.

The staff hummed to life, and Amos demonstrated his work at last, bringing a nearby seat to raise up as though levitated through magic. It took a moment before the reality set in, and Erren realized, as he looked back to Amos and the staff, that the magic came through the staff, and not Amos himself.

"That's... remarkable." His brow tightened as he leaned closer to the staff, no small amount of wonderment in his eyes. "I've seen prototypes of such a device before, but... none so practical." It was an ingenious design, there was no doubt.

Then, a coy smile crossed his lips.

"From one who questioned the wisdom of giving the Wieroon's magic to others, it almost seems a tad hypocritical." He teased.
 
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"A good lesson." Amos said with a small smile, glancing down at his own body for a brief moment.

In truth, he had not stopped to think much about his ailment these last few months.

It was his chief obstacle in life, but it was hardly his greatest concern. There was so much work to be done, so much to invent, to refine and maintain. The work never stopped, and his sickness most certainly did not stop it either.

Simply made it more difficult to overcome. "Perhaps I will save the potion."

He said with a smile on his face.

"For a special occasion." Amos did not have much of those, but he liked the thought of...of being himself when the time came. A chance to walk again, not to cough, to be able bodied at a time where he needed to be.

That would be worth it.

A chuckle passed the young scientists lips as the Professors point. "Yes, you are right, especially in a city like mine."

He was no fool, he knew what type of place Vel Anir was. What eventually would be done with his inventions. There was no way around it. He doubted, at this point, that even if he wanted to he could escape such a thing. Kaeden's influence would help for a time, but things would come to a head eventually he knew.

"A fair few folk have told me the world would be abetter place without such things." Amos shook his head, putting the staff down. "But where I was born..."

He shook his head. "Magic was out of reach, a thing of the privileged and powerful."

Despite all that he now knew about Dreadlord training, Amos knew that growing up in the Gutters...many of the people he knew would still have chosen it, over the lives they had lead. "So, while it is naive to create these things in hope of bettering the world..."

He shrugged. "It is the naivety of my childhood."