He carefully took the crucible out of the oven with the long tongs. The ceramic container shimmered with heat as he transferred it to the stone bench. The color changed slowly through orange and then dull red until it was completely cooled down. He got up slowly and painfully and bent over the pot. His heart skipped a beat and his breath became fast and shallow. A small glimmering red stone lay in the bottom. He finally did it! The philosopher’s stone!
The flickering lamp didn’t do much to dispel the dark corners of his cell. The old oak door was in the darkest corner of the room and against the opposite wall his sleeping mat was rolled up, ready to be put out for the night. He sat on his stool looking out the high window at the few stars visible from his position. He was deep in thought and didn’t even feel the cold that numbed his fingers and face.
Dear lord, how long did it take him, how many failures and disappointments, how many sleepless nights did he have to endure? That night he had reached the rubedo for the first time, proof that he completed the final step in the magnum opus successfully. He put the stone in a mortar and started crushing it with his pestle. Slowly he reduced it to a fine dull red powder. He added the powder to a glass bowl filled with aqua vitae. He held the bowl up to the feeble lamp and saw the deep red color like an old wine. The elixir of life!
He felt the customary cramping in his guts. Brother Magnus, the apothecary, had warned him about his condition. “You’re sitting in your cell with your evil vapors from your fires and your pots. You need to get out and get fresh air. The mercury will kill you.”
Earlier that day he went back to the good brother for more herbs to treat his pitiless guts but Magnus told him that he couldn’t do anything more for him. “The mercury has finally done you in,” he said. “Only one thing can save you now, the elixir of life. Without it you won’t live to see tomorrow.”
He took up the glass bowl again and swirled it around. The elixir of life! How ironic. He could drink it and be healed or use it to turn the platter of mercury into gold. His feverish eyes burned as he stared deep into the liquid, looking for an answer to the age old question: health or wealth? But no, he had worked on this for too long, he had to have the gold! He carefully dripped the elixir onto the mercury until it was all gone.
The rising sun finally shone through the high window and reflected off the platter with its new golden sheen. The old man lay curled up on the floor with the finality of death on his face.