The rural village of thatched houses and cobble slumbered peacefully under the moonlight.
A large barn encompassed a good portion of land in the surrounding area. A wooden flat with a chicken coop neighbored it by a couple of blocks.
Chickens grown for protein were sleeping peacefully inside the coop. A large black dog guarded the entrance of the enclosure, sleeping.
It was a quiet evening with only the rustling sound of leaves and grass swaying in the night breeze.
In his humble abode, M. Mauree sat on a recliner by the terrace of the wooden flat.
His blonde-haired figure sipped on a cup of warm tea as he basked in the moonlight, taking deep breaths as if calming his heart from a light scare.
In front of him was a wooden table with an aged parchment on top. Black feathers danced gracefully as they gradually vanished under the moon's illumination.
The browning parchment seemed to be made from animal skin.
The black ink on it had faded, leaving behind a curious note on the parchment's grainy surface.
He glanced at the moon, marveling at the elegance of the waxing crescent, before looking at the parchment and thinking, "Is this my grandfather's super secret meth recipe? What kind of present is this?"
"Why would my brother send me this in the middle of the night... on my eighteenth birthday!" It had scared him with its sudden appearance.
He sighed and gulped down his tea as he made out the words on the parchment:
"Beneath the endless speckles of silver,
Let the bundles of cheerful grass bathe in The Lady's tears.
Swimming till daybreak with the shadow's four-pointed petals,
The unfortunate sailors stowed into the horizon.
Heed!
The second mask of The Lady at peak,
The ever-flowing essence of Man,
And the unknowing blessings of The Great Misfortune.
May Fate offer you its blessings."
"This..." M. Mauree allowed a faint smile to appear on his face as he realized, "This is a luck enhancement potion recipe. What a great present!"
"Maybe I can finally have a shot at becoming rich this time..." he grinned.
"Endless speckles of silver; The starry sky, Cheerful grass in the night; Blackweed grass, Lady's tears; Seawater, Four-pointed petals of the shadows; Nightshade leaves, The essence of Man; This should be blood." He listed the ingredients.
"Let it bask in the moonlight, on the moon's second phase, the waxing crescent at midnight, continue till dawn over low heat." He listed down the process.
"The blessings of misfortune and the blessings of fate; this is indeed a potion for luck enhancement!" He confirmed, simultaneously starting the procedure.
Blackweed grass was relatively common in rural areas along with Nightshade leaves.
They were commonly removed to prevent competition for resources between the crops, thus he had a lot in his home.
Seawater was also relatively easy to acquire as there was a pier at the river's end that led to the sea.
He only needed to walk a couple of blocks down and gather the water near the brackish parts. As for blood... He had plenty!
"Basic magical literacy from elementary school is surprisingly handy." He thought.
M. Mauree continued working with the concoction. He worked tirelessly, observing the cooking pot over the course of the night. Until finally... dawn arrived.
The neighboring roosters allowed him to hear the time. He squatted down and put out the fire and then he glanced at the tree-lined horizon as the sun slowly rose above.
"It's done." He transferred a scoop of the concoction into a mug and another into a chicken's feeding bowl.
He opened one of the chicken's gates and fed them their "breakfast." He wanted to see if the potion was dangerous.
For long, animals had shown to be reactive toward potions and medicine and were thus used for magical testing.
Although it might not necessarily reflect the effects of the potion on a human, it could at least be used to determine its lethality.
Furthermore, he knew which ingredients to use; none were exactly poisonous or harmful. The test was merely standard procedure according to the basic concoction manual produced by the Church.
...
The chicken eventually finished the "soup" he had given and he observed it for a solid minute, watching his subject with anticipation...
Whoosh!
The morning breeze passed by. Nothing happened. M. Mauree frowned and wondered, "Did I make a mistake? Why is nothing happening..."
There were normally signs of a magical reaction post-drinking, yet he spotted none.
He sighed and thought of giving away the rest of the soup to the chickens as it was not harmful anyway until... a faint glow appeared on the chicken.
A subtle shine covered its body for a brief moment and dissipated away. M. Mauree smiled and confirmed, "Success!"
He gulped down the "soup" in the mug, looking like medicinal grape juice with a touch of murder.
The concoction entered his mouth and brought a bone-chilling cold into his body.
The heat of the concoction fresh from the pot and its mystical cold blended inside him, blurring the line between the two temperatures.
Finally, when the last drop was spilled, M. Mauree felt something change as the freezing warmth dissipated.
His vision blurred. It felt as if he was swimming in illusory waters with colors from beyond this world. Wherever his eyes went, countless speckles of lights of varying hues were there.
It felt as if they were watching him, watching every step he took as he stumbled back, every breath he gasped as the world continued to spin.
Strangely, he did not feel anxious, but neither was he calm.
A bizarre feeling surged from deep within his chest, one that he could not quite put his finger on; nostalgia from a time he never knew.
...
Finally, he came back to his senses, the rays of the sun pierced through his now watery vision.
The surreal scenery bubbled away from his mind as if it was simply a dream he had missed from brewing the potion overnight. His body felt rejuvenated, his drowsiness gone.
For a moment, he was lost and he stood silently in place.
"This..." M. Mauree inspected his hands with an inquisitive look. His body reflected a subtle shine.
"It feels like I just went to church, as if I went to it all my life, though I'm not exactly religious. Wait, I'm an atheist...!" He felt both bewildered and quite literally blessed.
"With this, not a single piece of poop shall stand in my way! Hehehe..!" He said as he stretched his back and proceeded to feed the coop.
A warm present immediately greeted him — a splatter of chicken feces!