The Alchemists

Nicolae woke up with a body that felt so fresh that he himself was astonished. When he opened his eyes, he immediately remembered that he had fought with two mysterious young men whom he thought were kidnappers, even though they apparently were acquainted to Aleksis. He was shot and he remembered bleeding quite a lot.     

"Hey, are you awake?"     

He immediately turned toward the sound and found Aleksis sitting on the window sill watching him. The girl looked very beautiful as she was bathed in sunlight that infiltrated through the curtains. For a moment Nicolae was speechless.     

Aleksis finally had to wave to him.     

"Er ... where am I?" Nicolae asked, holding his shoulder which was wrapped in bandages. He noticed that he was wearing clean clothes that were the right size for him.     

"You're at my place ..." said Aleksis. "Do you still feel pain?"     

Nicolae shook his head. He examined his body and was satisfied with the results of the treatment he received.     

"Thank you for saving me ..." he said, smiling broadly. He didn't look like a gunshot victim at all. His attitude was still too carefree.     

"I don't know who saved who," sighed Aleksis, "You thought you were saving me from the kidnappers, and my bodyguards thought they were saving me from you ... and now you said that I saved you ..."     

"Yes, it's very funny," Nicolae said with a chuckle. He tried to get up but was immediately prevented by Aleksis, who approached him and sat on the edge of his bed.     

"The doctor said, if the bullet had hit you a little lower, the bullet would hit your heart and you would have died instantly .. You're very lucky," said Aleksis while holding Nicolae's chest because he was about to get up. "Now don't take any risks before you are completely recovered."     

The man looked at Aleksis and his mind immediately turned mischievous. He pretended to moan in pain when Aleksis' hand touched his chest.     

"Oww .. ouch ... that hurts so much. You touched my wound ..." he complained with a painful voice.     

Indeed, Aleksis' hand had touched the bandage that wrapped his wound, but not the wound itself.     

After all, even if Aleksis had really touched his wound, Nicolae would not have felt enough pain to cry like that. His body was physically very strong. Aleksis confirmed the fact by complaining several times that his body was as hard as a brick wall. This injury was nothing to Nicolae.     

But right now he felt that it was better to make use of his condition to get the attention of this beautiful girl, who had made him curious since last week.     

"Jeez ... I'm sorry ... where does it hurt?" Aleksis asked quickly. She rubbed the part she had touched with a guilty face.     

"Hmm ... that's it, right there. If you rub it like that it feels better ..." Nicolae said with a smile.     

Aleksis narrowed her eyes and looked at Nicolae suspiciously. She did not know for sure whether this young man was in pain or just pretending. Nicolae then coughed a little, trying to distract her.     

"Uhm ... I'm thirsty. Is there some water here?" he asked her.     

Aleksis nodded. She got up from the bed and left the room. The girl returned five minutes later with a glass of water; she was accompanied by a young man and that surprised Nicolae.     

The man was very handsome, and there was something about him that made people feel deep respect. He had rather long hair, a big, tall and sturdy body, and a pair of very bright blue-green eyes.     

Who was this person? Why was Aleksis surrounded by such impressive people? Nicolae thought to himself.     

This afternoon he found out that Terry was actually Aleksis' brother, and earlier, the two professionals who had fought with him also turned out to be acquainted with Aleksis ... if he was not mistaken, the girl called them her bodyguards ... and now there was this man.     

"This is water for you," said Aleksis, as if unaware that Nicolae was staring at her and Lauriel with a look of surprise.     

"Thank you," Nicolae accepted the glass and drank slowly. He tried to judge the new arrival and guess what his relationship with Aleksis was.     

Hmm ... judging from the fact that they both had similar eyes, this man could be Aleksis' biological brother.     

If so, Nicolae had to be nice to him, so that Aleksis' brother would not consider him a person with poor manners. He wanted to prove himself fit for Aleksis.     

"Uhm ... thank you for lending me your clothes, the size is just right," Nicolae said to Lauriel, who was staring at him while standing at the door.     

Nicolae now realized that he must be wearing the man's clothes since they had the same built, and immediately thanked him.     

"Hmm," Lauriel just nodded, still not talking.     

Inwardly, he was still very moved to see the young man in front of him. He always thought that his whole family was gone. But today, DNA proved that this young man was his relative, and most likely his son. Now he only needed to know who Nicolae's mother was.     

Lauriel must know Nicolae's exact age. So far, Lauriel had never slept with an ordinary woman, so this young man must be a pure Alchemist. In the past, he had only slept with a few women. If he could know Nicolae's age, he would be able to find out who had given birth to his child and why they hid this fact from him.     

"Your gunshot wound was taken care of by the doctor, and the bullet has been removed. Your other wounds were treated by Uncle Rory. With his medicine, your wounds will be healed by tomorrow and they won't leave any scars," said Aleksis.     

"That's not possible. I'm a doctor ... my wounds from fighting couldn't possibly heal in a day, and they WILL leave scars ..." Nicolae said. A moment later he fell silent. It was too late to rectify what he had just said, which came out because he was too excited.      

"So, you're a doctor?" Aleksis asked, smiling faintly. "You're not just a final year student in Information Management, are you?"      

Nicolae frowned; he was surprised to see Aleksis looking so calm. There was not the slightest hint of surprise on her face.     

"I mean ..." He paused and then smiled, "All right. Apparently I don't need to hide who I am."     

"Who are you?" Aleksis asked, smiling back. "A doctor? A student?"     

"I'm indeed a doctor, but I got bored with my profession, so I went back to university to study again ... That's not a crime, right?" Nicolae asked.     

Ah, if he admitted that he was indeed a doctor, wouldn't his value actually rise in Aleksis' eyes? Besides, he really liked her, and sooner or later he would reveal who he truly was to Aleksis.     

"It's certainly not a crime," Aleksis nodded. "My father is a doctor too."     

Gosh! Jackpot! Thought Nicolae.     

Luckily he was honest and admitted his profession as a doctor to Aleksis. It turned out that the girl's father was also a doctor. Of course, Nicolae would be more easily accepted by her family.     

"Was it your father who treated me?" Nicolae asked. "I wish to thank him."     

"Like I said, another doctor took out the bullet from your body, but for the rest of your injuries, you were treated by Uncle Rory. You can thank him," Aleksis said, pointing her chin toward Lauriel.     

"That ... that is your uncle?!" Nicolae asked, confused. He realized that the young man standing at the door was referred to as 'Uncle Rory' by Aleksis. This person was too young to be anyone's uncle, he thought.     

"Yes, Uncle Rory is my godfather. He took care of me and raised me since I was a baby," Aleksis said, smiling broadly. She approached Lauriel and wrapped her arms around his neck and jump on him like a spoiled monkey, "I love him very much ..."     

Lauriel ruffled Aleksis' hair and smiled warmly.     

Nicolae rubbed his eyes to make sure that the man in front of him was indeed not an old man.     

How was that possible? How could he care for Aleksis since she was a baby ...?     

Nicolae did not understand what he just heard.     

"How can he take care of you since you were a baby? He is still so young ..." Suddenly Nicolae couldn't find his voice anymore. He looked at Lauriel and Aleksis alternately.     

"Uncle Rory is older than you," said Aleksis.     

"There can't be anyone older than me," Nicolae said. "I'm already ..."     

He paused again. He was almost 100 years old, so he rarely met anyone older than him.     

"Do you know the famous Black Bart the pirate?" Aleksis asked, smiling broadly. She was very pleased to see Nicolae's confusion. "He is Uncle Rory."     

"No way! Black Bart lived in the 18th century!" exclaimed Nicolae.     

He caught a glimpse of Lauriel's blue-green eyes glowing. Lauriel was proud because it turned out that his son had heard of his name from the ancient times.     

Nicolae was stunned. He looked at Aleksis and Lauriel alternately; his head was spinning. Were ... were these people the same as him?     

"We are Alchemists. We are immortals who are young forever ..." said Aleksis. "Both my parents are Alchemists, and so I too am like them. Usually our growth will reach its peak at the age of 24-25 years, and after that we will stop aging. It will be my 20th birthday soon ... You could say I am still growing ... hahahaha ..."     

Nicolae mouth was agape but he couldn't utter a single word. He never expected that one day he would meet people who were just like him.     

After nearly 100 years of living on his own ... suddenly he unexpectedly met people like him!     

And oh! Aleksis was apparently just like him ...     

Instantly his chest felt tight and a warm feeling crept over him.     

"You don't know about the Alchemists?" Lauriel asked him suddenly. He placed Aleksis on the bed, next to Nicolae, then stood before the young man and stared intently at him, "Your mother didn't tell you anything about our people?"     

Nicolae bit his lip and shook his head. "I didn't know that I was not alone ... I thought I was a mutant, a lab result or a victim of an experiment, so that I was born like this. I don't know anything about the Alchemists you are talking about. My mother died while giving birth to me ..."     

Lauriel frowned. He just realized that apparently Nicolae did not know anything about the Alchemists, and he also no longer had a mother.     

"Wh ... who is your mother? When were you born?" he asked in a trembling voice.     

At this point Nicolae realized that there was no point in hiding his identity anymore. It seemed like Aleksis and Lauriel knew better about him if he wanted to share the information he knew.     

It turned out they were all immortals! Gosh ...     

"Uhm ... I don't know who my mother is. The doctor who adopted me helped my delivery in a hospital in Romania. It was during the second world war. Mother died after giving birth to me and they all had to evacuate immediately. I was saved by the doctor and adopted by him ..." Nicolae was very surprised to see that after every word he uttered, Lauriel looked more and more sad.     

The man suddenly went out of the guest bedroom and did not return.     

Nicolae turned to Aleksis to ask what had happened, only to see that the girl looked just as sad. Slowly, a drop of tear flowed down her cheek.     

"Wh ... what's wrong ...? Why are you crying?" Nicolae slowly wiped the tear from Aleksis' cheek. He did not understand why the girl was crying.     

Lauriel closed the door to his room and immediately sat down on his own bed. His face was buried in his hands and he looked devastated.     

He then burst into tears.     

Oh, Luna ... why didn't I accompany you during your final moment?     

You fought alone to save yourself and our son ...     

Our son grew up alone and didn't know who he was for almost 100 years ...     

Oh, Luna ...