“Old man, can we go and do something? I'm sick of sitting in the laboratory all day!”

I had to agree with Lin, we’ve been in my lab for almost the whole week. My name is Vince and the town refers to me as the library of the city. I'm one of the leading alchemists in all of the country with several medals for such a rank. Lin is my apprentice but despite having the same goal in life, being a renown alchemist, we often don't see eye to eye. Lin and I lived in the city of Heikstiel, the largest city for miles.

“I guess that can be the case, I was getting sick of this place as well.”

“Finally something you and I agree upon. So where are we going?”

I hadn’t quite thought this far, surprisingly.

“How ‘bout we go to Jin Forest and gather some supplies for our next batch of testing?”

“Old man it's always work, work or work with you, I don't understand how you can do that to yourself

“When you love your job enough, doing it becomes more enjoyable than having a break from it.”

“I guess I never thought of it in that sense, sure let's go to Jin Forest!”

We started making our way out to the city center, it was always as lively as it could be here. We only needed a small amount of supplies for this short trip. After we were done gathering we set out. Driving by carriage through the high wheat fields was always a joy to me. The windmills slowly turned with the wind and a cool autumn breeze was what I loved. Rolling along the gravel road we found our destination Jin Forest. It was always a sight to behold, with its tall trees and far stretching canopy. The giant trees had a ominous glow to them, one of the weirdest sights in the region.

“So what are we looking for, Old man.”

“I’ve always wondered why do you always refer to me as Old man?”

“Well you are old aren't you”

I never had thought that being in my late thirties would be considered to be an old man. That's besides the point of why we are here.

“Alright, We are looking for a herb that glows red.”

We started walking into the forest when something caught my eye, I could tell what it was but it seemed to be moving. Again this time it was on my other side, I turned to look and nothing.

“Did you see something? Or am I just being weird?”

An abrupt silence had caught me off guard, she's never been so quiet. I look over and my mind starts to race. She's----she’s gone! Taking off in front of me was a goblin, I started chasing it but I couldn't keep up. Its tiny size and this forest winding path is too much. My vision started blurring, my breath was unstable and my heart beat was non-stop. I'm a genius not a warrior, how am I supposed to save her? I had to sit down, think, think, think I needed a plan. Finding the goblin hideout was the hardest part, this forest is so dense and so vast I could be here for ages. Just like before, out of my vision something wips by me, I get up and sprint. Following the creature, I start to see smoke stacks in front of me. I quickly hide in a bush and get a good look at the camp. There were over a hundred goblins in this camp, this was the biggest one in all of the country. There in the middle of the outpost she stood, arms being tied to a bamboo post while trying to get loose. Seeing what these goblins were doing made my blood boil. Just then an idea popped into my head, that was the plan. I had to wait till the sun started to lower, there were too many goblins for me to go out in broad daylight. As the sun set behind me, it gave me my signal that the time had come. I started making my way down to the first house near me, the sound of glass bottles toasting and goblin singing could be heard. Around the hut still chained to the bamboo pike she stood, two goblins strutting around wielding their weapons on patrol. I watch their patterns over and over, looking for ways to sneak by, ways to do anything. The darkness was consuming almost everything except for the flames from the camp's center bonfire. I had noticed the most convenient water barrel, almost too convenient. I quickly aimed it up with the bonfire and rolled it down the hill, both goblins guards heard the noise crashing down the hill and ran down to see what was happening. I make my break running for her, I break the chains with a rock and sweep her up. Getting out of the village wasn't a problem the after party was. The horn behind me pierces the ears, I run and run, not willing to let go and turn back. my heart is pounding but just then I see it, the edge of the forest. I jump out and hop into my carriage, ushering the horse to go, finally it starts to bolt. Riding out of the forest I know we’ve made it, the whole situation was enough for me to want a cold pint when we got back.We make it back late into the night, we sit down for a round of ale. This was probably the only heroic thing I’ve done in my life. We both raise our glasses and take a big swig----- my eyes open, in my hand was no longer a pint of ale but a blue potion with the label scratched off of it. Dust particles float through the room, windows boarded up with only rays of sun peeking their way through. I stepped outside to get a better look at what was going on. I opened the door and walked to the town center. Buildings were destroyed and crumbling to the foundation. At the center of the town was a board with names on it. Getting closer to the board made my heart sink. List of the dead was the title, and there it stood, the center of the list was  Lin Oerbin… I rushed back to the lab, neglecting what I saw. I reached the lab slamming the door closed behind me. I sit down in a chair and everything seemed to freeze. I couldn't take it in what I saw, I then reached down to take a look at the blue potion I had when my eyes first opened. The only manageable letters I could get out of it was Ha-luc-nati-n .My mind didn't take a second to think and I took a big gulp of the potion. 

“Old man, can we go and do something? I'm sick of sitting in the laboratory all day!”