Aurescia looked at Eternion and told him that she would be right back. A few minutes later, she came out of the back room she had entered and brought a box with her, and a crystal key. Opening the box, she pulled out several vials, each one no larger than a shot glass.
"These are the potions in question. All of them will help to fight aging, but be warned, none of them will make you immortal, bring the dead back to life, or, in spite of your name, make you life eternal." Aurescia told him, with a smile. There was a green potion, a blue one, a gold one, and a red one.
"Most magics which affect age change things in one of two ways; by either changing the tissue of the body, or by bending time. The latter is... difficult... and risky... but is the more powerful way of going about it. Most anti-aging techniques simply reverse the cells to where they were in one's mid-20's, at least, for a Dracon. There ARE potions which can prevent aging altogether, but I don't have any of that mixed at the moment."
Aurescia took a deep breath before continuing.
"There ARE a few questions that all of this raises. Few creatures are meant to live forever... even fewer of those are truly immortal. As it is, I am neither able to grant immortality or eternity, and what happens after you die is beyond my control... but I CAN manipulate life in this manner. I will only go ahead with this if you tell me you wish to do so a second time, after I tell you what each of these four potions do."
She took the green vial in her hands, holding it carefully.
"This vial is the least powerful. It simply undoes any damage done by aging, such as loss of eyesight, or loss of bone density. There should be no matter with this one."
Aurescia set the green vial down, and picked up the blue one.
"This potion changes external appearances, but does not undo actual aging in most ways, an ancient who drinks this will look young, but will still suffer all of the problems they had before, from the inside."
Once again, she set the potion down, and picked up the golden vial.
"This potion halts the aging process entirely for a number of years. Different species react to it in different ways, but for Dracons, it prevents further aging for about 30 years."
Finally, she put down that vial and picked up the red potion.
"THIS one reverses aging entirely, save for the superficial aspects of it. NO ONE under the age of 50 should drink this, as it would make them too young to really do anything. At your age, it should be fine, however. All four potions must be consumed in order to have effect. If you agree to it, the potions are as good as yours... and the king will have a rather... large bill to pay. Roughly as much as buying a large house with furniture, silverware, and fancy rugs."
Meanwhile, at the palace...
"Have they purchased any towns yet?" the king asked his court mage, who was employing a scrying spell.
"No, but one of them is making a purchase as if it were buying a large house with furnishings..." the mage replied, adjusting his skin color from red to brown.
"That's fine... if its for a good cause..." the king said, weary. Lucky for him, he was one of the ten richest Dracons in existence... that, and he had the best sense of sarcasm of any of the ten.
Back at the store...
"There's also something else about these vials that you might want to see..." Aurescia told Eternion, letting the red vial drop to the floor. Instead of shattering, it bounced as if it had been made of rubber! Clearly, there was an enchantment on these vials, to prevent something as valuable as these potions from being lost in an accident. After bouncing it a few times, including once off of her tail, Aurescia caught the potion and put it back in the box, along with the other potions. She then locked the box and told Eternion to wait another minute.
After doing into the back room, the sound of books being moved was heard, including the sound of a big one falling and Aurescia roaring in pain and surprise.She then returned with six spellbooks on a cart, another potion placed on the cart, and a big bruise on her left center toe.
"Sorry for the wait... ow. Here are some books for you. They aren't the most powerful spells, and require some skill in magic to use. Still, even a low-level mage should be able to use these. If you cannot use magic at all, I would advise finding someone willing to teach you the basics first, and then use these spells. These books are known as the learner's codicies, and each books is called a codex. There are six subjects here, one per book. They are Pyromancy, Hydromancy, Geomancy, Aeromancy, Nature Magic, and Astral magic. Since you are not really skilled with magic to begin with, I would suggest starting with the four elements first, then the next two. Oh, and this is a simple strength potion" she told him, indicating the books and the brown liquid.
Mages of a certain power and intelligence often thought of themselves as gods, or at the very least, as powers in their own right who were accountable to no one but themselves. They often made deals with extraplanar beings and demons, and sometimes followed strange occult paths. Generally, the more powerful a mage, the more likely he would do something unethical or immoral at some point, even though the best mages often got over that phase.
Those mages who did not get over that would be left with an inflated ego and a desire to escape accountability for their actions. Eternal life was never enough for those mages... in spite of living for centuries or milennia, some wanted even more... which meant high-end magical research being used for selfish ends... treating living creatures as if they were raw materials for experiments or as resources to be fed into some depraved spell to break down their tissue and remake it in a manner that the mage wanted...
Aurescia had even heard of a creature that was half-man, half-bear, and half-pig... although three halves was 150% of a creature...:blink:
Ophion and Aurescia practiced magic responsibly because they knew of the consequences of practicing such enchantments irresponsibly. Of the two of them, Ophion acted out of principle, Aurescia acted out of the results... the ends were the same, the means were different. For her part, Aurescia used magic to enhance her appearance and health, and both she and her husband already drank much of that potion that halted aging... although they had to be VERY careful to keep it out of the hands of children, lest they end up with a 30 year old in a six-year old's body...
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