ALEXiThymiA: Chapter 108 Chef Alexa

Chapter 108

Chef Alexa

Thursday

In the grand scheme of things, Wednesday was relatively uneventful for Alexa and company. Tomorrow, Friday, would be the day when Alexa, aided by Luke’s dungeon teleportation abilities, would travel to England to be the healing help for Ryelifa Dragon Slayer.

Originally, when she made the plans, it was to use the travel time from Dawning Light Academy, to London England as an excuse to tackle stage VIII of the Trials of Ascension, but now that Alexa knew that Princess Portia Eclipsion would be waiting for her, Alexa was hesitant. At least, at first, she was hesitant while her emotionally charged mind was filled with questions. Then when her mind had time to sit back and relax, to let the emotions of the event wash away, so she could think about the whole event logically, Alexa realized there was a way.

She could win the entire stage, and not have to deal with Portia or any number of elves that would likely remember her image. Of course, in order to pull off her plan, she knew she would need to be stronger. That was why she spent all day yesterday and today going through the dungeons with the members of the pack.

“Thank you for coming.” Lily said.

“Yeah, we really appreciate it.” Kylie added.

Alexa just nodded.

That was enough, as the six members of the pack all went to begin their Dawning Light dungeon run. This left only Luke and Alexa as the remaining two members by the front door.

“All right, so what are you going to do now?” Luke asked as Alexa began taking out Tupperware containers filled with different foods.

“I am going to learn to cook.”

“To cook, as in food?” Luke asked.

“Yes.”

Over the last forty-eight hours Luke had seen his sister learn to do several crazy things. From learning to recreate every one of the specialty effects of an Elementalist class wielder, to learning to create more and more complex patterns of both organic and inorganic structures.

“What level is your Creation magic at?” Luke asked.

“Tier, they are called Tiers for magic, and it is now Tier six.” Alexa corrected.

Hearing that Luke nodded, still not understanding the importance of calling magical advancements Tiers. Though he did realize that not being able to understand that it was a Tiering process was likely part of the reason he wasn’t a Mage to begin with.

Luke watched as his twin sister, who for the longest time always appeared to be well within reach, only to recently sling-shot past him in the blink of an eye, spoke a weird chirping language and poured raw chicken onto the floor of the dungeon.

Luke watched as the raw chicken sat on the ground for a second, only to be absorbed. “I take it they don’t like litter?” Luke asked, mentally connecting to see if he could get any sign of the dungeon’s disposition towards Alexa, particularly after she left raw chicken on the dungeon floor.

“They don’t, but that isn’t what I am doing.”

“What are you doing?”

“Seeing the chemical differences between raw chicken and perfectly cooked chicken.” Alexa said, before pulling out an unseasoned piece of meat. At which point she once again chirped at the dungeon.

Flash.

The dungeon responded back, in its odd flashing protocol. At first Luke tried to keep up, by constantly querying the dungeon what it thought, and what it was doing with Alexa, but he found that rather than the dungeon getting annoyed with Alexa, the dungeon began getting annoyed with him. At that realization, that was when Luke decided to sit back and just watch his sister interact with the dungeon.

Just as before, Alexa placed the cooked piece of chicken onto the ground, only for the ground to swallow the chunk of meat up. There was a pause of only a second, then two three dimensional models were brough up for Alexa.

Alexa looked on between the two designs in utter fascination for a moment.

Luke staring at this, realized these were three dimensional renderings of the atomic structures of the different food items. Though to Luke they appeared to be identical.

“So, there is no difference?” Luke asked.

Alexa paused, and then turned to Luke as if he was half mad. “There are hundreds of differences.” Alexa said, while pointing to different sections. Even going so far as to point to two sections that were supposed to be the exact same spot.

“What is that?” Luke asked.

“That is bacteria, and how that denatured bacteria then adds to the meat.” Alexa said.

Realizing that, Luke paused as a thought came to him. “Do we need the denatured bacteria?” Luke asked. He understood roughly what the term denatured meant, they had covered it briefly in science class, but Ms. Tutlidge had gone over the subject rather quickly.

Looking at this structure, and the way Alexa was able to mentally identify bacteria particles within the structure of chicken made his head spin.

“I don’t believe so, but I do think not having it will detract from the overall taste of the chicken.” Alexa mused.

At this point, Alexa pulled out a third rubber container that once again held another piece of chicken.

“What is that?”

“Seasoned chicken.”

Just the smell wafting from the container made Luke’s mouth water as that was “grandma’s secret recipe?”

Alexa nodded.

“But how, no one ever knew that recipe? I mean mother cried that she took it to the grave with her.” Luke asked, his voice getting higher as he realized that grandma’s secret recipe chicken had been right there all along, just waiting for him.

“I was her helper.” Alexa said, as if that was all that was needed.

Thinking back, Luke realized that Alexa was right, she had been Grandma’s helper in the kitchen, particularly after the incident happened and mom and dad were forced to go back to work at the factory.

Then pausing at the lie, Luke shook his head and asked a new question. “Was she a Super?”

Alexa just turned to look at Luke.

“What?”

“You know she was registered right?”

“Well yeah, but that doesn’t mean she was a Super.” Luke quipped, as he thought for the longest time that his parents were just a couple of factory workers with powers that they only used to make the world slightly better by purifying water and the like.

At that Alexa just shook her head.

“Well, who was she? Was she famous?”

Scoff.

Alexa actually scoffed at the idea of asking if their grandmother was a famous Super.

“So, wait, she was?” Luke asked, trying to make sure he understood what his sister was trying to convey. He was finding it harder and harder to keep up with her, as she seemed to be more sarcastic than usual while inside dungeons.

“What do you think?”

At that Luke paused.

“Was she Siren?”

“Grandma died at sixty-three, grandma had retired well before Siren even got onto the scene.”

At that Luke paused, “okay, so who was she?”

“The Nurse.”

“The Nurse?” Luke thought back, but for the life of him couldn’t think of her, until he remembered old documentaries from the last World War, where stock black and white footage showed the various heroes who made a difference. “Oh wait, wasn’t she the one who made headlines by being better than a male doctor, but was refused access due to her being a female?”

Alexa nodded.

“Wow, she was pretty awesome.”

Alexa nodded, “she was.”

At that Luke saw, faint trails of mists forming in the corners of her eyes. Seeing the state that Alexa was in, it was clear she was truly feeling something right now, and obviously trying to hold it back. Realizing this, he paused and just watched as Alexa did her thing with the dungeon. Once again Alexa took out the third piece of chicken and placed it on the ground. Then Luke looked on in horror as the ground swallowed up grandma’s secret chicken. Part of him was offended, he hadn’t had the chicken in years, but now a dungeon got to eat the sacred morsel of food without even appreciating it. This was almost too much for Luke.

“Why didn’t you ever make this for me?”

“You never asked.” Alexa responded, as a third readout of the third type of chicken appeared. Again, there were differences, but none of it seemed to make sense to Luke. They were all the same atoms, but they were constructed slightly differently, but also the same.

“You know I do have a birthday coming up here shortly.” Luke said.

“I know, I was there.” Alexa said.

“Well, you could make grandma’s chicken for me.” Luke said.

Alexa nodded, held out her hand and began Creating.

Luke watched on in equal parts horror and fascination as chicken, battered, and succulent chicken appeared in Alexa’s hand. He watched as seasonings and juices all appeared out of thin air.

Seeing the process, Luke just shook his head, trying to see if he was not dreaming.

He wasn’t.

After a few seconds of watching and waiting, Alexa seemed to be done having a piece of the famed chicken that was roughly the size of a hand.

“Here.” Alexa said, holding the piece of chicken out.

Luke put out his hands and was instantly met with the oily grease that came from Grandma’s secret recipe. It was simultaneously disgusting and amazing all at once for Luke as he looked down at the morsel in his hands.

With a faint feeling of dread, he paused as he looked at the piece. But then the smell wafted up to his nose, all but telling him that it was the same as the one from his childhood, if slightly colder and messier than he remembered. Though, thinking back, he did realize that there were constant needs for paper towels and napkins as a kid. Things that grandma made sure to have in abundance when offering her chicken.

Luke paused for a moment, then bit into the piece and felt his mouth explode with flavor and taste. “Oh wow, this is Grandma’s recipe.” Luke said, or at least tried to say. What actually came out was closer to “nom, wow, zis ‘is Grrama repe.”

Alexa just looked at Luke with one eyebrow raised, then proceeded to make her own chicken.

Once Luke was done, he couldn’t help but wonder one thing. “Why didn’t you tell mom you had this?”

“I couldn’t.”

“What?”

“Grandma forbade me from telling mother about the recipe.”

“Why?”

Alexa shrugged, but then paused. “You know, at first, I didn’t know. At least I thought I didn’t know why. Towards the end Grandma and mom were not getting along. It didn’t make much sense to me at the time, but I think it might have to do with these factions. Looking back Grandma might have been angry at the way mom and dad both joined the elves, despite originally being free.”

“Do you think she would honestly have been that angry at such a small thing? I mean grandma loved everyone, surely, she knew mom and dad couldn’t help but make the choice they did. I mean they did it for you after all.” Luke said.

At that, Alexa’s eyes went slightly wide, but did nothing else to convey her emotion at the careless statement.

“Wait, I’m sorry. That didn’t come out correctly. I mean they did it to protect you. I mean given everything that has happened that was almost expected right?” Luke asked.

Alexa just stared at her brother for a second, before letting out a slight sigh.

“I think Grandma was concerned that we would be forced to follow the elves, just as our parents had been. In fact, I think she had a few theories that pointed to the entire operation being a set up.” Alexa said.

“A set up? You mean the elves created a scenario where mom and dad would be forced to turn to elves for help?” Luke asked, his voice slightly incredulous.

Then thinking back, he remembered all the stories and ideas that grandma had and would say to him, at least at first. Some of the stories he truly believed, until he asked mom and dad about them.

After that, there was a long time before he was able to see grandma. “Was I why we couldn’t see grandma at the end?”

Alexa paused and looked at him. “No, that was all mom and dad.”

“But they were doing that because of me, because I went around saying what grandma said, her conspiracy theories?”

Alexa just stared at her brother for a second, before holding out the Tupperware container with grandma’s chicken. “Here, I’ve lost my appetite.” Alexa said, handing him the container, before going back to working with the dungeon.

“Wait, I’m sorry.” Luke said.

Alexa shot a look out of the corner of her eye but did nothing else to convey she was paying attention.

“That was wrong, they aren’t conspiracy theories.”

At that Alexa nodded, “oh they are. It’s just that saying conspiracy theories implies that they are fantastical, rather than being factual.”

Luke paused listening to the words that his sister said and finding that he couldn’t help but agree. “They were just theories, for now, mainly because any hard evidence that proved elven involvement would be well cleared up at this point. Still, there was enough there, to point that not everything grandma Nadeghda had been saying was a lie. Realizing this, Luke paused as he tried to remember the fantastical stories that grandma had told him. Ones that he had refused to even acknowledge for years, not until now. Not until he was forced to realize that not everything he took for truth as a child was factual. Taking the bite of chicken, brought him back to those times when he would be in grandma’s living room, listening to her tell stories about the past. About fantastical battles between orcs and elves, about how it was a war best left avoided, for it only led to bloodshed and misery. At the time, Luke thought it was a retelling of the Hobbit, with a bit more flare. But now, he found himself wondering if there was more to the stories, something deeper that grandma was trying to convey. Realizing that he now needed to question everything he took for granted as a child, Luke had a thought fill his mind. Well, I guess this is what it truly means to grow up.