From Past to Present

From Past to Present


This story is based on the characters, settings, drawings, and stories created by RedFalcon23 and PhanPhanBlueMoon.

If you don’t know anything about the characters and settings created by these artists, don’t read any further. You’ll be completely lost.




Part I:  Helping the Elves

Both Gisela Helmold and Viese Raeder were waiting outside the throne room in the palace of the elven kingdom of Aeralond.  The Aeralond family had ruled over this kingdom for many generations and now Viese and Gisela were going to meet the current ruler, Queen Selena Aerolond.  Gisela had been summoned to Aerolond for some unknown purpose.  Gisela was a renowned alchemist and expected to have been summoned for some purpose related to her talents.  Viese, Gisela’s assistant, had begged Gisela to let her come on this trip to see the queen.  Now Viese nervously stood next to Gisela outside the throne room.

Several years ago, Viese had run away from her home and showed up at Gisela’s home.  Viese begged Gisela to allow her to be her assistant.  Gisela, who didn’t have an assistant (and really needed one), decided to hire Viese.  Viese didn’t receive any pay, but Gisela gave Viese her own room and shared her food with Viese.  In return, Viese worked hard to gather ingredients and mana for Gisela’s potions and alchemy transmutations.  Viese also helped with keeping their home clean.  Gisela also allowed Viese to study alchemy from the books in her library and assisted Viese with learning the basic alchemy techniques.  It didn’t take long for Gisela to realize that Viese had a talent for alchemy, so she continued to train her.

Suddenly the throne room door opens and an elven herald walks out, “The Queen is ready to receive you now.”

“Thank you.”  Gisela responds, then looks at Viese.  “You remember what I told you.  Right?”

Viese turned pale from being so nervous, “Huh, yes, huh, when we enter the throne room, we have to avert our eyes.  We can’t look directly at royalty until they give us permission to do so.  We walk up to the carpet in front of the dais and kneel.  And I’m not too say anything.”

Gisela smiles, “That’s right.  Viese, relax.  Queen Selena is a very kind person.  Nothing bad will happen.”

Viese nervously smiles back, “I’m not nervous.” However, Viese’s voice cracks giving herself away on how nervous she is.

Gisela laughs, “Right.  Not nervous at all.”

Gisela and Viese enter the throne room and the herald yells out.  “The Master Alchemist, Gisela Helmold and her assistant.”  

Both Gisela and Viese walk pass the elven nobility and guards who are lined up the center isle toward the dais where the throne is located.  Both Gisela and Viese stop before a purple carpet that leads up the dais to the throne and kneel.

Gisela speaks up, “Queen Selena, I am very honored by your summons.  How can I be of service to you?”

Queen Selena response, “Please, Gisela, you are a friend here.  You and your assistant do not need to kneel before me.  So, please raise your heads and stand.”

Both Gisela and Viese look up and stand before Queen Selena Aerolond who is seated on the throne.  Next to her is a darker skinned female elf who is also wearing a crown.  

Viese had heard of how beautiful the elves are as a race, but both Queen Selena and the other elf were radiant.  Viese was completely mesmerized by their beauty.  Without thinking, Viese couldn’t help but say, “ …. So beautiful.”

Both Queen Selena and the other elf laugh and Viese blushes when she realized that she said it out loud.  Queen Selena responds, “Thank you.  And what name do you go by, my young alchemist?”

Viese opened her mouth but no words come out.  Gisela with a smile speaks up, “My nervous assistant is called Viese.  Viese Raeder.”

Queen Selena acknowledges Gisela and says, “It is nice to make you acquaintance, Viese.”

Then Queen Selena motions her hand to the other elf standing beside the queen, “Gisela, I think you know who Princess Vivian Ithilwen is.”

“Yes Queen Selena, we know each other very well.”

“Good.  Then I will let her speak to why we have summoned you.”

Princess Vivian begins to speak, “Gisela, have you ever heard of the Demon Lord Irene?”

“No.  I can’t say that I have.”

“Irene is a powerful demon lord who fell in love a human and shocked the entire Underworld.  Irene has since had a young girl from her romance with that human.  Just a few days ago, Irene come to Earth with the demon girl and her human lover and they entered the edge of elven lands.  Apparently, Irene’s only purpose for coming to Earth was to show her little girl what the Earth looked like.  However, the elven militaries immediately reacted to having a demon lord in their lands. The results of this conflict were not good for us.  We lost a lot of good people over an incident that could have been avoided.  But things could have been a lot worse.  Apparently Irene was in a good mood since she was with her lover and her daughter and she just wanted to be left alone.”

Queen Selena then speaks, “Unfortunately, the reason why I summoned you was because my captain of the royal guard and my friend, Nina, was there at the fight.  The Demon Lord, placed a curse on Nina, but left her alive.  This is a personal matter for me, please save my friend.  The Demon Lord’s dark curse, seems to counter all of our attempts to cure her.  We figured that we needed a different approach to healing Nina and thought that some of your advanced alchemy may be the key to saving my friend.”

Gisela response, “But, Queen Selena, I am not a healer.”

Queen Selena smiles and says, “And yet, you know how to make potions that heal.  Magic and medicine has not worked, I’d like to trouble you to try your potions.”

Gisela says, “I will try my best to help.”

Queen Selena still smiling says, “I know that you will.”


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Princess Vivian leads Gisela and Viese to a room where Nina has been kept, while Queen Selena remained in the throne room to continue discussing the problems caused with their battle against the demon lord.  Inside the room, Nina is strapped to the bed that she is laying in and she is babbling nonsense.  Is was plain to see that Nina’s health was deteriorating.

Princess Vivian spoke, “When we found her, she was like this.  A spell or curse was placed on her that cause her to go feeble minded.  She has to be force feed or she won’t eat at all.  If this continues, she will die.”

Viese looks at Nina in shock, “This is terrible.”

Gisela opens her backpack and begins to setup a work area for creating potions.  “Princess, I’m going to need a cauldron to work perform some alchemy transmutations.  I have several healing potions and elixirs with me, but I don’t think they will cure Nina.”

“I can ask some of the guards to bring you a cauldron.”  Responses Vivian.

Gisela continues, “I’m going to probably need some special ingredients also, balm leaves and marjoram.”

“There is plenty of both in the forest.”

Gisela looks at Viese, “Viese, I’ll need for you to gather those two ingredients.  I will also need for you to extract some wood and plant mana.”

Excited, Viese says, “Right!  You can count on me.”  Without another word Viese runs out the room and find her way out of the palace and into the forest.

Vivian looks at Gisela with a smile, “That’s quite a little helper you have there.”

Gisela smiles back, “She’s a good girl.  Always very helpful.”


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Viese finished collecting the mana and marjoram that Gisela asked her to gather, and was hunting for some balm leaves.  As she walks, she accidently stepped on what she thought was a root.

Suddenly she hears a scream, “YEOW!”

The scream came from the bush next to her, she looks down and notices that she didn’t step on a root, but a tail of some sort.  When Viese lifts her foot off the tail, the tail pulls itself under the bush.

Viese moves a few of the bush branches clear so that she can see into the bush, “Hello?”

As she looks in the bushes a pair of eyes look out at her.  And a nervous voice says, “Uh … who … who are you?”

“My name is Viese.  Viese Raeder.  Why are you hiding?  I won’t harm you.”

Then the creature or person pokes her head out of the bushes, it wasn’t human or elf, it had silver hair, wore a monocle, and had two horns on the top of her head.

The sight startles Viese, “A … A DEMON!!”

The girl puts a finger to her lips and girl yells, “SSHHHH!!!   There’s Demon Lord nearby.  I don’t want her to know that I’m here.”

“No there isn’t.  The lord demon left.  Several days ago.”

“Really?  How do you know?”

“I’m here because of the demon lord.”

“YOU’RE WORKING FOR THE DEMON LORD!”

“No, the elves summoned my sempai to help them with a curse.  The demon lord cursed the Aerolond Captain of the Royal Guard.  I’m an alchemist …. well, I’m an alchemist in training.”

“The demon lord was Irene …. she doesn’t do curses.  Not that she couldn’t curse somebody, she just doesn’t do that.  I suspect that the elf isn’t suffering from a curse.  What are the symptoms?”

“Oh … well, she sort of acts feeble-minded.  They have her strapped to a bed and she mutters nonsense.”

The demon thinks for a moment then says, “My name is Kuki, I’m also an alchemist, but I specialize in magiscience.  I will help you, but you have to tell me the results.”

“Uh ….. okay, how?”

“I think that Irene intentionally made what she did LOOK like a curse.  I think that she actually infected her with an evil small demon called a brain worm or a larva.”

Viese thinks about it, “Well ….that would explain why the elven magic didn’t work …"

The demon Kuki continues, “And, I think you can kill the brain worm like a parasite with a potion made from garlic and clovers.  Your sempai will know how to make this potion.  Here are some clovers.  I just want to know what happens, you have to promise to tell me what happens.”  Kuki hands Viese some clovers.

“Uh ….okay.  If my sempai uses the clovers, I will tell you.  I promise.”

“If your sempai is smart, she will use it.”

“Alright … thank you.”  Viese says a little uncertain.  

Viese walks away from the demon and then finds the balm leaves.  Then Viese returns to the elven palace.


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“What do you think, Gisela-sama?”  Viese asks after telling Gisela her story of the demon she meet in the forest.

“Well, I’m familiar with the potion made from garlic and clovers, but it’s meant as to remove infections and parasites.  I guess if this …. Brain worm is a parasite, then this potion would work.  Well, I’m not a healer or a doctor so I couldn't tell you if this”, Gisela motions to Nina, “was the cause of a parasite.  But the potion is harmless so it may be worth trying.  Let’s try it.”

Gisela get ready to made the potion, “Now I want you to watch what I’m doing.  When we get back home, I’ll want you to be able to make this potion.”

Gisela goes through the process of preparing the ingredients to create the potion.  Once the potion is created, Gisela goes to Nina and forces her to drink the potion.  After several minutes, Nina starts to calm down, a few minutes later she looks at Gisela and says, “Where am I?  What happened?”

Gisela says to Viese, “Go get Princess Vivian and Queen Selena.”

Viese goes out of the room and finds where the queen and the princess are and informs them the good news.  Both the queen and the princess return to the room and unstrap Nina.  Nina is soon back to normal.

With a tear in her eye Selena says, “Thank you master alchemist.  You’ve save my friend.  I insist that I reward you.”

Selena motions to a nearby elven guard and he hands Gisela a bag of gold.  Gisela shocked by the amount of gold that Selena is giving her says, “Queen Selena, this is too much.”

“Nonsense, what is a bag of gold compared to a precious life.  Please accept my reward.”

Gisela nods and accepts the bag of gold.

Soon afterwards, Gisela begins to pack up again and prepare for her and Viese’s journey back home.  As Gisela does this, Viese then runs out to the forest and finds the demon Kuki.  She then tells Kuki what had happened as promised.  Satisfied, Kuki thanks Viese for keeping her promise and walks away.

Viese then returns to the palace and helps Gisela with the journey preparations.  They stay the night at the palace, but leave early the next morning and manage to return home a few weeks later.


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Part 2:  What the Future Holds

Gisela sits in shock as she thinks about what to do.  A stranger in unusual clothing came to her door and laid a “bombshell” on Gisela.

Gisela looks at the stranger, “Citlali, how much time do I have to consider this?  I sent my assistant to a village on the other side of the valley.  She won’t be back for 3 days.  I need to let her know what is happening.”

Citlali responds, “Unfortunately, we can’t wait that long.  I have somebody holding open the gateway to the time in the future were we need to go.  Others have already accepted, your skills and powers will be needed.  I am hoping you will say, yes.  Until you are needed, you can work at the Arland Academy School as a teacher of alchemy.”

Gisela sits for a moment then says, “I’d like that teaching job.  Yes, I accept.  This is too important.”

Citlali claps her hands together, “Great!  Then let’s go.”

Gisela says, “No, I have to leave a note for my assistant.  She will get worried sick if I just disappear without any message.”

“Very well, I will be waiting for you outside.”  Citlali leaves by the front door.

Gisela finds a quill, some ink, and a paper, then begins writing.


      Dear Viese,

      When you get this note, I will have already gone on an adventure unlike any I’ve had before.      
      I will be going to a future time for a very important mission.  I do not know when I will
      return or if I will be able to return.  So, in case I am not able to return, I will leave
      you in charge of the house and the property.  

      As I do not have any family, if I should not return in 5 years, I want you to take ownership
      of the property.

      Please take care of yourself.  Remember the lessons I have taught you and continue to study.  
      Never be content.  Do whatever you can to improve yourself both as a person and an
      alchemist.  And always do your best.

      I hope to see you again, but if not.  I wish you the best.

      Love,

      Gisela Helmold



When Gisela finishes writing her note, she quickly reads what she wrote, then places the note by Viese’s workbench, where Viese performs her alchemy work.  Gisela then walks around her home and gathers a few things that she will need to have with her.  Once packed, she walks around her home and locks up the house so it will be safe when Viese returns.  Finally, she leave her home, locks the front door, and joins Citlali who is patently waiting for her.  A portal appears next to Citlali and both Gisela and Citlali walk through.

(see what happened in RedFalcon’s “Teach of Time” story redfalcon23.deviantart.com/gal… )


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Viese returns home after her three day trip.  It wasn’t unusual for Viese to come back to a locked house, so she initially doesn’t think anything about this.  Gisela leave her home in search of ingredients for her alchemy on a regular basis.  

When Viese gets inside the house, she walks over to her workbench and see the note left by Gisela.  However, a vial of water next to the note had fallen over and soaked the paper.  The ink on the note had run and writing was impossible to read.

“Oh well.”  Viese says to herself, “I’ll just wait till Gisela gets home to find out what the note was about.”

The next day comes, and Gisela still had not returned.  Viese is starting to get a little concerned.  She goes back to the note and tries her best to figure out what Gisela wrote, but couldn’t make out what it said.

Three days go by, Viese is extremely concerned.  A customer came to the house looking to buy a potion and Viese rushed out to the customer hoping that it was Gisela.

Two weeks go by, Viese is extremely upset.  Why would Gisela abandon her?  She wouldn’t.  Could she be hurt somewhere or need help?  Viese couldn’t stand waiting any longer.  She decided to go looking for Gisela.

Viese begins to pack for a long trip.  Instead of walking, she thought it would be better to take the pony that Gisela had given her.  She loaded the pony with rations, water, some spare clothing and some basic camping gear.  Then she take out a map and planned out her trip.  She decided to go to places that Gisela had taken her before where she knew that Gisela’s had friends.

Then she got onto the back of the pony and began her journey.


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After several days of riding to a few of the outlining villages, she had had no luck in finding anybody who’d seen Gisela.  It was as if, Gisela had just disappeared off the face of the earth.  Discouraged, but not giving up.  Viese continued to travel further away from their house.

After a long day traveling through several farmlands, she got to the edge of a forest that she had never gone to before.  Viese decided to camp by the forest, about 300 meters way from the main road.  There she started a little fire and eat some jerky that she had packed away for food.  Thinking to herself, tomorrow I should eat a decent meal in the next village.

Viese took out her map and began planning what she wanted to accomplish for tomorrow.  Suddenly, she felt a sharp blade against her neck.

“Don’t move and don’t scream.”  She heard whispered into her ear.  Viese froze.  She hadn’t heard any noise before this shadowy figure had a naginata blade against her throat.

The shadowy figure quickly subdues Viese and Viese finds herself tied up and gagged.  

In the flickering firelight, Viese can see that she wasn’t captured by any ordinary thief.  She had long ears like an elf, but they drooped a little and they flopped up and down as she walked.  Maybe she’s a half-elf?

The half-elf pulled out some of Viese’s jerky and started eating it.  It looked like the half-elf hadn’t slept much.  She looked very tired and hungry.

The half-elf stared at Viese, “Are you a sorceress?”

Viese shook her head.

“No?  Then why do you have so many potions with you?  Do you work for the Sorceress Okouchi?”
Viese trying to talk with the gag on, “Hmmm, hmmm hmmmm.”

The half-elf takes the gag off of Viese.  “I’m training to be an alchemist.  That’s why I have those potions.  I don’t even know who Okouchi is.”

The half-elf gives Viese an intense stare while trying to decide whether or not to believe Viese.  The scary look on the half-elf starts to frighten Viese.

“Why are you out here?” the half-elf asks.

Viese, in a scared tone, responds, “I’m …. I’m looking for my sempai.  She had gone missing over 3 weeks ago.”

“Who is your sempai?”

“Gisela Helmold.”

“I’ve heard of Gisela.”  The half-elf thinks for a moment. “Alright, I believe you.  Sorry about frightening you.  My name is Elly.”  Elly unties Viese.

Elly continues, “I’m hunting the Sorceress Okouchi.  My village was slaughtered by somebody or something.  I suspect that it was the Sorceress Okouchi that did it.  There are rumors that she has been murdering elves for some reason.  Are you heading to that village?”

Viese who is still shaken up by Elly, responds, “Uh … no, no.  I just came from the village in that direction.”

“I’ve tracked the Sorceress Okouchi this far and I suspect that she is nearby.  If I’m right, she would most likely be in an Inn in that village.  I need your help.  If you help me, I’ll help you search for you sempai.”

Viese gives Elly a shocked look, and the fear leaves her, “Really?”

“I give you my word.”  Elly responds, “Do you agree to help me?”

Viese who was at oncee moment a prisoner to Elly was now asking her to help.  It was a hard for Viese to get her head around how strange this was.  “What do you need my help for?”

“As a half-elf going into a human village, I will stand out too much.  I want you to come with me and help me blend in.”

Viese thinks to herself.  I really could use her help to find Gisela.  I’ve been out on the road for a week and haven’t gotten any closer to finding her.  “Alright, Elly, I will help you.”

“Great.  Early tomorrow morning we will travel to the village together.”  Elly then disappears into the forest.

Viese says to herself, “Well, she didn’t kill me …. I guess I can trust her ….. I think.”


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The next morning, the Sorceress Okouchi walks down the stairs of the Druid Grove Inn.  The sorceress stretches her arms out.

“Hmmm.  That was a good night’s rest.  A very comfortable bed too.”  The sorceress reaches the bottom of the stairs and continues toward the front door of the inn.

Just then, a pretty young innkeeper stops the sorceress, “Excuse me Miss.  You still owe us two silver pieces for your stay here.”

The sorceress smiles and looks straight into the innkeeper’s eyes and she immediately falls into a hypnotic trance.

“I don’t need to pay, the stay was free.”

The innkeeper responds, “Yes ….. the stay was free.”

Okouchi smiles, “That’s what thought.”

The sorceress walks out of the inn.  At the same time, Viese and Elly are walking up the street toward the inn.

Elly immediately pulls out the naginata that she had strapped to her back and under her cloak.  “You!  Are you the Sorceress Okouchi?!”

The sorceress looks at the two young girls, “Hmmmm.  You aren’t a pure blood elf.  I have no interest in you.”

Elly charges the sorceress and slashes at her with her naginata.  Before the blade hits her, the sorceress disappears and reappears behind Elly.  

Viese yells, “LOOK OUT!!”

Elly moves out of the way of a fireball that nearly hits her.  The fireball hits the ground and explodes sending flames in every direction.  Elly’s clothing got a little singed, but Elly herself is unscathed.

“Impressive.  Most people would look like a piece of charcoal after that spell.”

“Okouchi!  Were you the one who slaughtered my village?!”  Elly demanded.

“It’s possible.  I’ve killed many elves, but I can’t keep track of all the elven villages I’ve destroyed.”

“WHY YOU!!”  Elly charges at the Sorceress again.  But when she tries to hit her with the naginata, it hits a magical barrier and it stops Elly in her tracks.

The sorceress pulls out her spell book, “I bet you want to see all of your friends from the village.  This spell is an interesting one I found, it will send you to your loved one …. no matter where they’re at … even the afterlife.  You seem like the right person to try this spell out on.”
Elly backs away from Sorceress Okouchi.  The sorceress begins casting her spell.  Viese runs toward Elly, “RUN ELLY!”

The spell blast hits Viese and it vaporizes her.  A shocked Elly looks at where Viese was standing.  There weren’t any traces of Viese left.  The sorceress looks just as shocked.  “Wow.  I didn’t expect that.  I’ll have to use this spell more often.”

“YOU EVIL WITCH!!”  Elly slashes at the sorceress and cuts her spell book in half.  Pages go flying everywhere.  Then Elly goes after the sorceress, but she teleports away.

Elly is left standing in the road alone.  “Well, my friend.  I didn’t know you long, but you were brave.  I will never forget you.”

Elly leaves the village, saying to herself, “I’ve lost the Sorceress’s trail.  I’ll need to decide whether or not I should continue to track her down.  I don’t think I’ll find out from her whether or not she destroyed my village.”  Elly sighs as she continues to walk.


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Back in the present age, Gisela is teaching her class at Arland when the classroom bell signals the end of class.

“Alright.  Everyone remember to have the next chapter in your textbooks read for tomorrow’s class.  Have a good day everyone.”

Shiori Uemoto and Malice both yell, “See you tomorrow Sempai.”

All of Gisela’s students file out of the classroom.  When the students have left, Gisela begins straightening up the classroom.  Suddenly, there is a flash of light and something heavy knocks Gisela on to the ground.

“Sempai?  SEMPAI!!”  Gisela feels two arms around her giving her a hug.

Gisela opens her eyes and sees to her surprise, Viese hugging her.

“Viese?  How?  Where? Why?”  Gisela is shocked to see that Viese is in the future with her.

Viese looks at Gisela, “What happened?  Where did you go?  I was looking for you.”  Viese looks around the room, “Where are we?”

Gisela sighs, “It’s a long story ……”