Snoring came from the back of the small house. Behind piles of opened books, bubbling beakers, scales of multihued powders and small self-heating pots filled with acrid liquids a tuft of bright blonde hair rose and fell to the rhythm of deep sleep.

“Physik Anderson! Are you there Physik?” a deep baritone sing-songed from outside.

No answer was forthcoming from the abode, just a gentle wafting of blue smoke raising from the chimney.

“KAI! I know you are there! You will be late!”

Kai awoke with a snort and rubbed crust out of his eyes. “I’m coming Poul. I’m coming.”

A tall, thin man in the hermetical robes of a Physik Magus I opened the door, his loafers and pant legs showing beneath. He held in his spindly fingers a vial half full of a clear, noxious syrup. He welcomed the rotund little man in. “Come in. Come in. Time enough to break fast. Help me grab my portmanteau and then we will be off.” He drained the vial in a gulp.

“Kai?” Poul inquired, his large bushy eyebrows raised high,” what in the holy pantheon was that? Do you even know?”

“This? Not quite. I believe I was attempting to distill the thyroid of an amarok and found the fumes to be most invigorating. The pure essence seems able to clear the head and liven the muscles!”

“Oh Kai, whatever possesses to you to do these things. We must be off right away. Your presentation to the Circle was difficult to arrange. Much is at stake. They do not care for you Kai. You are too… too erratic for their tastes. And you have none of the prestige of Leonides family to protect you. They have it out for you. Let us not give them any more reasons to doubt you.”

Poul stood and grabbed a handle of the trunk and looked askance at Kai. With an exaggerated sigh he stepped over and helped his friend to the awaiting carriage and headed to the Agora Magus.

————-

Kai stood in the center of the stone amphitheater known as the Agora Magus and prepared to defend his methodology. He brought out a basin to hold Bimini waters and a small jade bowl of green vitriol. He took out a stone dagger and inscribed the hermetical symbols of Hebe on a prepared vellum scroll. Then he waited for the stands to fill.

A nasal voice called out, “What farce is this Kai? Your man Flickwater has made much of your discoveries.”

Kai looked at the man. Argus Leonides was tall and wore a deep purple robe, his expensive Minotaur leather wingtips peaking out. The hem of his robe was embroidered in gold thread with symbols of the noble metals. Argus had his head tilted back to look at Kai.

“Argus,” he acknowledged. “Be patient. You will see today, as will all magi, that my father was unrighteously persecuted. I only await my patient.”

“This will be good. Long have I waited to see the Anderson line stricken. And here comes the instrument by which you will be judged.” Argos looked to the entrance where Poul had arrived with two porters using a sheet to carry a writhing bundle to the table with Kai’s preparations. Beside them were two Stygian guards all in black and carrying heavy pole axes.

Kai smiled.

“Magi! Esteemed Physiks! Welcome today. The Andersons have long been ostracized forced to practice medicine in the hinterlands. But today I will demonstrate that has been unjust. Today I will show that the methods of myself and my father belong among the hermetical society.”

Kai walked about the circle and looked at each of the attending magi. He turned, strode to the table and placed his hands beside the bundle.

“Today you will see a miracle.”

He removed the sheet. The gathered men gasped and turned away.

Before them was one of the herostratus. A criminal who, beyond all reason, had survived his punishment. His skin was twisted and appeared to have been melted and ripped away. His nose had been cut off and his limbs were twisted where they had healed after being broken and unset. His hair was stringy and patchy on his spotted head.

“Today you will see this man made whole!”

Cries of foul arose. “He’s a murderer! No! No!”

Kai basked in their outrage. Poul rushed to Kai’s side. “This is too much Kai. You have never performed this rite on such a grotesque before.”

“How better to show that it works my friend. They will never believe the curing of such small things like curing pox or spots. With this, they will believe.”

Kai began to murmur in the old tongue.

He took the vellum and placed it on the man’s chest where he took the stone dagger and cut through the symbols into the flesh below. Kai took the basin of Bimini water and poured it into the man’s mouth and the green vitriol he spread into the blood and symbols.

Now was the final and most difficult step. Kai needed to infuse enough of his vital aura to cause the elements to circulate and restore the man without pulling out all of his vitality.

Kai placed his hands upon the man’s mouth and chest. The reaction was immediate and intense. Both of their bodies spasmed as energy coursed through their spiritual channels.

A guttural scream tore from Kai’s mouth as he was drained. Poul charged and wrestled the men apart.

Kai wept as he slowly regained his senses.

The man on the table had ceased his spasms and a green glow surrounded him. The theater grew silent as they heard the snapping of bones and watched his arms and legs reset themselves. His skin flowed like liquid and became smooth again.

Slowly he stood before the magi.

“Yes!” Kai exulted.

He stepped forward, raised his arms and turned to the assembly.

It wasn’t over.

Behind him the man had risen. With a cry he arched his back. His legs and arms continued to grow to monstrous portions and his skin pooled around about him. The reaction would not stop. His hair quickly grew to a meter then two. The nails of his fingers and toes flowed into talons and curled back on themselves. He began to shake and writhe.

All at once, the man’s skin stopped pooling as fluid filled him. His skin grew taught as a drum.

Kai watched in horror as his patient burst apart and his organs poured onto the stone plaza.

Kai fell to his knees and put his head in his hands. He felt the cold pressure of the headsman’s axe in his final moment.