Chapter 68, Distillation, Preparation

Chapter 68, Distillation, Preparation

The semi-large swaddle of fruits lay on the table, surrounded on three sides by the siblings. A few wine-red fruits had spilt out of the black leaf cradling them, drawing the attention of both George and Sam.

So What now? Sam asked, turning her eyes on Kreig. George followed suit looking at him since he was the only one even slightly aware of how to do anything about it.

Kreig looked thoughtful for a moment before speaking. There are three stages to the process of turning Messiahs Fruits into the blood of oath. Preparation, fertilization and purification. Is there a bowl of some sort that can be used for the first part? It must be large enough to contain the whole of the fruits.

George and Sam shared a look. Yes, we have one, George said, turning towards the cupboards behind him. Im pretty sure we kept it from after we moved away from home. Most of the other things we didnt require immediately were kept in a storage unit, but - oh, there it is. George pulled an obscenely large bowl out from inside a bottom cupboard. It had a red outside and a white inside, the paint on the outside only a little peeled.

Sat on the table, it somehow looked even larger than when George had held it in both arms.

Thumbing his lower lip, George continued softly: Now that I think about it, there are many things stored there that are technically yours. Would you like to visit sometime? Next Saturday, maybe?

Not really listening, Kreig nodded, accepting the offer while he moved closer to the bowl and fruits. This chapter is updated by nov(e)(l)biin.com

Both George and Sam watched quite intently as Kreig peeled off the large black leaf, exposing all the fruit and then dumping the lot of them unceremoniously inside the bowl. For a bundle of fruits with such divine names, one would expect them to be treated with a bit more reverence, but neither George nor Sam had anything to actually say about it.

But then both of them recognized the about-to-crush-them movement that Kreig was about to do, and they had to stop it. Hey, whoa, Kreig! Sam said, Kreigs hands stalling as he glanced at her. You-, youre not going to, like, wash your hands or anything?

Kreig stared at her like she was an idiot. No.

Her left eye twitched. Dude, hang on right there. Uh. You just touched dirt with that hand, right? She pointed one big finger at his right hand. He nodded questioningly as if that had nothing to do with it. Its dirty. You cant go making food with dirty hands!

My hands are not tarnished, Kreig explained slowly, they cannot be, and they never are. This was in reference to his status as a Divine Human, which instantly killed any impure creature that touched him, be it bacteria or imps.

This was not something that Sam understood or, for that matter, even cared about. Sure. Okay, but wash your hands first. I dont care if youre Dalai Lama, if youre going to stick your hands in food, wash them first. Her eyes narrowed into slits. Thats an order.

Faced with that, no matter his reasons, Kreig couldnt disagree.

Scratching the back of his head, he slowly lumbered off to the bathroom. Technically speaking, using soap would only make his hands more tarnished than before, but he couldnt deny her, so he washed his hands for a good thirty seconds, rubbing them together until white foam appeared.

When he returned to the kitchen, his hands only slightly wet, he found George presenting him with an apron. I dont feel like doing any laundry today, he said. Kreig accepted the apron, slung the hooked band over his neck and tied the string behind his back into a bow. Since he was only wearing a shirt he didnt have to roll up any arms, but standing as he stood, he felt remarkably homely.

With Sam happy about his hands and George happy about his dress, Kreig positioned himself back by the bowl, his siblings standing on either side adjacent to him, looking intently at the bowl's contents.

That was the final go-ahead, and Kreig got started on the first part.

Plunging his hands into the bowl, he began by dislodging the fruits from each other. For a clutch of grapes, there would be a singular stalk to remove, but the Messiahs Fruits had a total of four, and each had to be removed carefully without destroying any fruits in the process.

Kreig worked nimbly and carefully, recalling how strong he was now compared to the last time he had done this himself. It had been back before the church fell, back before the church so much as declared war at all, and hed been told that distilling his own bottle of blood of oath was a sacred rite. Hed spent several months on the process, forcing himself to learn every in and out, ignoring his numerous failures, only looking back on his mistakes to learn from them. One of these mistakes was to destroy a fruit before removing the stalks, or to so much as break a stalk before all fruits have been removed.

He stirred his blood into the paste with one burly finger until it became almost black, at which point he dumped the full of it into the white crushed fruits. He took one step back, spread his arms on either side of the bowl, and told his siblings: Take distance.

Stir (IV)

The numerous crushed fruits and the paste slowly began to move as though it had a mind of its own, turning around and around, almost like a typhoon. A deep hole began to form in the middle of the torrent, the edges rising until they almost exploded out of the bowl. Then, at that point, the mixture suddenly rose from within the bowl, leaving it fully to hover mid-air, a massive ball of crushed fruit and paste mixing together into a liquid, the nearly black paste staining the white fruit with a deep red, the furious stirring working not only to spread the paste evenly throughout the concoction but also mincing the skin and flesh into a semi-homogenous liquid.

The mid-air mixing took place for only a little more than a minute, at which point it was fully mixed and Kreig slowly let it return to the bowl, the stirring slowing until the liquid was still and calm.

And that was the worst of it over. Turning his gaze from the bowl, Kreig was given a good view of how both of his siblings also stared into the bowl, Georges brows furrowed into perplexion, Sams chest rising and falling softly.

The liquid within the bowl was opaque and muddy and only barely looked drinkable.

...Is it done? Sam asked, her eyes begging for it not to be over already.

Kreig ignored her and turned to George. Have you prepared a cloth?

Georges eyes widened, but he nodded all the same, grabbing a small, thin cloth from off the counter and handing it to Kreig, who accepted it gratefully. Then he looked at the almost full bowl, looked around the room and realized that, no, they didnt have another bowl that could hold that much liquid. He wasnt eager to do so, but that meant his only way of doing this would be to use skills. Maybe it was okay since this whole situation required skills to begin with?

Either way, he handed either end of the towel to his two siblings, asked them to hold it above the bowl, and then he began.

Whisper of the Seas (X)

Kreig spoke softly and quietly, no louder than a mumble, words spoken in a language that couldnt possibly exist. The liquid within the bowl quivered, listened, and obeyed. In a stream of dull red, it lifted into the air, nosing through the kitchen like a serpent, listening to every garbled word Kreig spoke. Tumbling around, the liquid flipped over and twisted through the white cloth, leaving a small residue of shredded skin and other solids behind. At Kreigs whispered command, it repeated this looping process four more times, finally ending with the liquid settling back down in the bowl, going back to rest.

Sam and George slowly lowered the cloth.

And you couldnt just use some skill to hold the cloth - why? Sam asked, her voice curious more than upset.

Kreig looked her over and decided not to admit that it was more fun to just let them help than to summon some spectral creature or magical flying hands. But he didnt say that. The blood of oath wasnt completely done yet.

The liquid, although a bit clearer now, remained slightly muddy. Normally, this would in most villages be the time when the liquid is left to stand for several weeks, after which the completed blood of oath is diluted to a concentration of about 3% or less depending on the situation, the rest of the liquid being made up of the much cheaper Wortwine. They wouldnt be doing that stage though, since no self-respecting oracle would settle for such filth. That kind of liquid was only used in lesser churches of the kind youd find in small villages.

And, for a lack of time, Kreig would finish it here and now.

It wasnt what was usually done, it wasnt an option usually open, but in this moment, he could do it. As a Divine Human, he had that capability.

Kreig leaned over the almost-finished mixture, closed his eyes, and let a single tear fall from within. It dropped into the cloudy liquid, and the second it touched down and joined the liquid, it turned clear. The opaque was banished in a single moment, every trace removed, leaving behind a liquid as clear and pure as stained glass. It had a deep, innate glow to it, like a sea of rubies, shimmering and glittering in the soft light. It had no smell, but something about it appetized the soul.

It was done.