Title: No Alchemy
Genre/s: Science/Philosophy?
Summary: A story told, dredged from history and truths
Rating: E
Word Count: 409
No. of Chapters: 1
Complete/WiP: Complete
Concrit: Encouraged YES PLEASE!
Mary-Sue: No
Disclaimer: I do not own Dragon Booster, I'm just playing in the sandbox


Gold is unique.

--

Nigredo(1)

The darkness between stars(2), the vastness of space. The darkness of the mind from which thought comes forth, the vastness of imagination; the light of our eyes(2). The first fall, the decay, the black fertile soil from which comes the first green(3) of spring.

--

Gold has been valued since its discovery, revered as king for its luster in antiquity, and modern uses even today.

--

V.I.T.R.I.O.L.U.M.(4)

From the mind is born the mind, from that is born the first arts. The making of weapons, the tilling of earth. Dig into the earth seeking mind and medicine. The work that satisfies the soul and the herbs that soothe the flesh. The entire earth made green and marked by human hand.(2)

--

Gold can be beaten so thin it becomes translucent. Even in that state acid will bead upon the surface and will not melt it.

--

Albedo(1)

Spirits white as lightning(2)(5), sea as clear as the air. It is an illusion as we try to pierce the distances and depths. The golden sun, our closest star(2), illuminates us with white light that dyes the sky and water blue. The shadeless brings forth shade, the colorless, hue.

--

Gold is Pure.

--

Rubedo(1)

The sun sets and rises amidst blood. Shed heart's blood(6) and placenta. All things have blood, the earth itself has blood and body heat, born of stone and earthen flame(2). The red blood of earth and our star. The blood in our veins, the unchanging blood that binds us, that is all the same, no matter the vessel(7). Blood that was, is, and will be again

--

The various hues of gold come from alloys, red gold is from iron which rusts, and green from copper. It is the frailty of the impurities of earth metals that give the tainted shade. Gold does not rust, the oxidation reverts back into purity, Gold is forever.

--

Gold

Gold is Gold hidden in the heart or writ on wheels in the depths of space (8). No concoction, no magic, no transmutation creates gold. Gold is born from the stars (2). Gold is pure.

One day the mixture will return to the germ. (9) The impurities will smelted off, melted off, the pure vein will be found and all others will decay away. (10) The tarnish will be shed and once more we will be, because we never stopped being Gold.


A/N: Oh fandom I missed you so! *hugs* I had been pondering and this came to me. I wrote it out on paper and now transcribe it for all of you.

I felt the urge to do something with the philosopher's stone and DB since I found out about the various levels/states it supposedly has. I also wanted to compare elemental gold to draconium gold, because Gold is Unique. This was born from that.

Everything I said about gold is actually true. Gold is probably the least reactive metal. As I understand it Gold does rust/oxidize in actuality, however the rusted state is unstable and so it immediately reverts back to pure Gold.


(1) These section titles refer to the historical myth of the philosopher's stone, which was said to have three stages black decay, white union, and finally red which symbolized dawn.

(2) References to the bone mark shapes of the four cardinal dragon colors.

(3) Robert Frost: "Nothing Gold Can Stay" Nature's first green is gold, her hardest hue to hold.

(4) An acronym of a latin expression used in referance to the philosopher's stone. "Visita Interiora Terrae Rectificando Invenies Occultum Lapidem Veram Medicinam" which means "Visit the interior of the earth, and by rectifying you will find the hidden stone which is the true medicine". "Vitrol" of course, can also be used to describe an acid.

(5) Just a line I liked and it had the right word in it. It comes from a song called "Bedlam Boys" or "Mad Tom O' Bedlam." "Just then the spirits white as lightening//And on the journey guide me//The sun did shake and the pale moon quake//When e're they they did espy me."

(6) Reference to the second book in Jane Yolen's Pit Dragon trilogy. It's very good and you should read it.

(7) Vessel meaning container, or as in blood vessel. Ha ha, it's not even a real pun.

(8) Voyager Golden Disk Records. Gold was chosen for all the reasons I listed above and probably a few more.

(9) From a site on Alchemy: "‘The mixture’(=man Dragon with all his complexities) in order to return to the source. "That from which a thing has been made in a natural way, by that same thing it must return to a dissolved state into its own nature. Everything has to be dissolved and reduced into that form from which is arose." (Anton Joseph Kirchweger, 1728)"

(10) Referencing the colors/sections in reverse. Melting refers to acid, since acid and gold don't react acid became a test for the purity of gold.

very interesting... a poemlike quality, but very mystical in those passages, followed by the facts of gold. I am impressed, truly.

Thank you. It's a style I had the urge to play around with. All allegory and metaphor warped up in facts.

I actually see this as a story dragons might tell each other, or at least the ones on the level of the Prophets.

I'm toying with an idea for another fic, regarding the treaty of the Dragon-Human war. It's tending on the humorous side.