Could things get any worse?
Dusk had to get lost, meeting Midnight again was great, but the attacks, the fact about magic, it was all so messed up. Then, she learned Shadow was an evil mage in the past, having meeting Lambda, who requested Chi to scourge through her memories to find out why Dusk lost part of her memories and what Shadow-Beta-Rune was up to. After all that, Chi was weakened and attacked, leaving Dusk needing to 'protect' her.
"So, what are we going to do today?" Dusk snapped. She had escorted Chi home after going through the woods, picking various kinds of flowers and herbs, and then Chi asked Dusk to sort them out- as if she knows what's what.
"I can't possibly be weakened anymore, Dusk, I need power," Chi said in a soft voice. "So I guess we'll have to make a strengthening potion."
"We? You mean I," Dusk protested.
Chi laughed. "I'll give you instructions."
"I have no use for them, why don't you just wave your horn, chant a spell and get it done?" Dusk protested.
Chi sighed. "See, Dusk, when I'm weakened, it's not easy to do things. When you create a potion, you use power in yourself to fuel it. It's not a fire you need, or moonlight, or something, to trigger it, but it's the magic in you."
"So you're saying that I need to use my energy to power you up?" Dusk icily said. She was hating Chi more and more by the minute.
Chi smiled. To Dusk, it was a rather sly smile. "Oh, you won't die, Dusk, it's alright."
"Oh, yeah, sure," Dusk growled. "It's alright."
Chi faced her. "Don't sound so upset, Dusk, it's not very complex, it probably won't require much from you."
"Much?" Dusk snapped. "How much?"
"Oh, not much, really," Chi said. "Let's get working."
Sighing, Dusk agreed. Perhaps if that she strengthened Chi with a potion, Chi wouldn't be as weak and Dusk wouldn't need to protect her.
Chi's cauldron was ready. The round pot was empty as Chi looked around for ingredients. Dusk found Chi eyeing most of the herbs she collected earlier. They were unlike Dusk has ever seen.
"A pinch of powdered tree bark..." Chi said, passing the pot to Dusk and she tried to take a pinch, but failed. Her paws were useless to measure a pinch.
Sighing, Chi strode forwards and measured the approximate of a pinch and handed it to Dusk.
"Why can't you just dump it into the pot?" protested Dusk.
Chi smiled sadly. "I'd love to, but for every ingredient added, a little of me is sapped into it. Once everything is complete, a spell is needed to fuse everything together, and it uses the power embedded in the ingredients to fuse."
"So if I added the materials..." Dusk started.
Chi continued, "While I say the spell, the power will come from you."
"I... see..." Dusk muttered.
"Anyway, let's not wander," Chi said softly. "A dash of salt."
That one was easier for Dusk.
Materials, one after another, went into the pot. Aside from the powdered tree bark and salt, crushed rose petals, fine cocoa, three coffee beans, such and such. The items got weird at one point, like ashes of a birch tree at it's first birthday, or the grounded molars of a dog at their 100th birthday.
"Say... what's up with these weird ingredients?" Dusk said as she dropped a bowl of snake scales.
"You mean?" Chi cooed as she reached out for another ingredient.
"Just who burns a tree at their first birthday?" demanded Dusk. "Or grind the teeth of a dog?"
Chi laughed. "The birch tree willingly sacrificed itself," she said, "because trees have consciousness too. Those who don't like their lives will decide whether to live it or just... die. It's complex for those who are new to this matter, I was confused at first, but if you delve into it, you'll understand."
Dusk didn't want to. She's sure that'd make her mark her territories with too much worries next time.
"The final ingredient," said Chi, passing Dusk something. It was a thin and semi-transparent elastic piece of leathery-skin.
"What's this?"
Chi smiled sadly at it. "It's... dragon wing skin," she said.
"D-dragons?" stuttered Dusk uncertainly.
Chi nodded. "Delicate subject, don't bring it around much."
Dusk dropped the skin down into the pot. "OK, I'm going to say the spell now," Chi said. "Ready?"
Dusk didn't get a chance to reply as the unicorn chanted. The soft whispers from her lips escaped and hung in the room, and Dusk felt something heavy on her heart. Dusk gasped for air as her heartbeat accelerated quickly, speeding, racing, and Dusk started to sweat.
She blinked. The pot was glowing orange ominously. She inhaled, but her chest felt limp.
All of a sudden, the feeling was severed. Blinking, Dusk looked round.
Chi was mixing the potion with her horn to even out the solution. "Are you alright?"
Dusk panted, but nodded.
"Good," Chi said. "There's a clear spring nearby if you need to refresh yourself."
Dusk didn't really want to part. She wanted to see the potion in action.
Chi strode towards the potion, a laddle ready. Dipping it into the potion, she drank it, and the unicorn coughed.
"Bitter," Chi gagged, but then her horn started to be tinge with orange.
Chi smiled. "Well, seems like it's working," she said and uttered a spell. Glass bottles from the shelves flew towards Chi and the orange liquid filled in each and every one of them.
Dusk didn't see what happened next, for her eyelids grew very heavy...
Author's Note: DARN I FORGOT TO POST YESTERDAY!! So, exams soon, won't be posting until 11th November 2016. Yeah, what an anti-climatic ending for this chapter pfttt...
