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No. 157

#Aether Detector

#Long have alchemical researchers theorized about an element called “aether,” and many are the experiments that have been devised to attempt to isolate it. One particularly dogmatic professor at Imperial University believed it could be detected by repeatedly constructing and deconstructing a specific material, theorizing that small errors in the process would, on rare occasions, result in the element’s fortuitous appearance. To this end he created a large number of production cabinets and ran them day and night.

Alas, the process has yielded no results, and aether remains firmly in the realm of theory. The recent discovery of quintessence has led most alchemists to believe that quintessence and aether are one and the same, and the mysterious fifth element has indeed been identified. But there are a small number, like this particular professor, who stubbornly persist in believing that aether is something else, and is still waiting to be uncovered. Nikolai, if you are reading this, it is time to put that idea to rest.