8.1

Aidan followed Vitar around in the laboratory they were visiting today. Vitar had given a very short explanation of what the drugs for the Ascension Rite were used for, which gave Aidan little to no information as to what they actually did.
      “The drugs are used to make sure the new servants won’t rebel against us. They drink the “wine” we present them with after we do the whole ritual and ‘blessed be!’ thing, but it’s actually what we produce in the lab we’re going to visit. It works as a mind-stiller and–” He had paused, probably to pick his words carefully. “–changes memories. That their life was calm and good in the belly of Conqueron and that they had been chosen for their great work there. Memories of friends will get blurry and they won’t remember the bond they had. No more friends, only nice acquaintances.”
      The lab was unlike anything Aidan had ever seen before. Even the science lab at school wasn’t as pristine and hypnotising as this one. Everything was polished and cleaned to perfection, not a speck of dust to be found. It was quiet, except for the buzzing of some pieces of the equipment. Every analyst, chemist or technician was in a state of hyper focus, only concentrating on their task at hand. No one even noticed their presence, even as Vitar leaned over someone’s shoulder to have a closer look.
      It was unsettling, but mesmerising to see such a clean and focused environment. He could learn to like a place like this, if only he actually had the skills to be able to do this job.
      “Elder Vitar and Brother Aidan, how great to see you here. Let me welcome you in our lab with some tea in our meeting room.” A voice piped up from behind Aidan. When he turned around, an unrealistically white smile welcomed him. The man – Aidan assumed he was the head of the laboratory – kept smiling widely as he motioned them to follow him, and Vitar immediately did.
      “How lovely of you to come and fetch us, professor Wennot . I was just checking on your chemists and they seem to be doing a marvellous job at preparing our special wine. Now, I would like some of that tea you mentioned,” Vitar cooed. He was doing a fine job at currying favour with the head chemist.
      “The table has already been set, so please, take a seat.” The professor pointed at the meeting room he had mentioned, waiting for Aidan and Vitar to enter and sit down.
      “Be a good boy and let me do the talking,” Vitar whispered to Aidan when he passed him before going inside. It baffled Aidan with how much ease Vitar spoke so informally to him. Like he wasn’t the heir to the throne at all. He just shrugged it off as Vitar thinking of him as a student or apprentice right now and followed the council member into the small meeting area. He seated himself on one of the very comfortable chairs.
      “Summer, will you please pour these men some tea?” Wennot asked and from behind Aidan, a girl dressed in a lab coat came running and hastily poured them tea. He could see her hands shaking as she did.
      “Thank you. You may stay in the corner and listen. Excuse my apprentice, she is still learning a lot. It will be her first time working on the Ascension Rite drug, so I thought it would be great to have her attend this meeting.”
      “That’s totally fine. So, to business. I have brought the next ruler of this fine empire so he can learn the details of your trade too. It was assigned to us by his father and we can’t disobey the orders of Father Xavierno himself now, can we? So please, professor Wennot, teach this boy as much as you can.”
      “Very well. So, Brother Aidan, welcome to my humble laboratory. Normally we work on medicine and treating any disease we come across here in Conqueron so that everyone can stay as healthy as can be. Whenever an Ascension Rite comes up, though, Elder Vitar will ask us to prepare an amount of mind-stillers. He will give us the exact amount of people you will be bringing back up so that we can prepare the right dose for each of those.
      There are actually two types of these mind-stillers. The first type is the kind you give to them as wine. It’s for short-term mind-stilling and will kick in immediately. It suppresses the bad emotions they might feel, only making them feel the happiness and bliss one would get from being chosen.” Wennot stopped to take a sip from his tea. “Would you like some more tea before continuing? Or perhaps some other beverage? Summer can fetch anything you like.”
      Aidan looked at the girl who had just been standing in the corner, nervously picking at her nails, hair and clothes. “I could go for a cold lemonade if you have that.”
      The girl immediately sprang into action and ran out of the room. He heard the rattling of some glass bottles against each other and before Wennot could restart his explanation, Summer had returned with three bottles of lemonade in her hands.
      “Here you go, Brother Aidan,” she said, her voice shaky, as she poured the bottle into a glass for him. She opened another bottle for herself before taking her place in the corner again.