Potion of Wonder

A simple, tiny vial of liquid, no larger than a thumb, glowing with an impossible inner light of shifting colors. A thousand hues flicker and swirl - an aurora caught in the unyielding grasp of glass. And while one may expect great deeds and heroics after hearing its name, these small phials hold a different, more subtle kind of magic.   To drink it is to taste a strange, earthy sweetness, the first drop of rain that falls in a desert.In an instant, the world transforms, the dull landscape of reality sharpened to a scimitars edge. One can count the hairs on a bumblebee’s leg as it hovers over a bloom, or lose themselves in the countless, glittering facets of a single grain of sand on a vast, windswept dune. Every facet of life becomes a canvas of intricate, minute perfection. Yet, as with all such things, this clarity comes at a price. For the duration of its effect, one’s mind delves into these new sensations with childlike wonder, each new discovery another spark of pure, unbridled joy. Every pattern in a spider's web becomes a new playground, every dewdrop the first rainbow a new life. The world changes to a place of endless, breathtaking marvels.   Thankfully for all those who witness it, this strange and wondrous state is fleeting, its magic fading as quickly as a whisper on the desert winds. But stories remain - amusing tales of stoic rulers and grim scholars reduced to giggling with delight at a passing cloud, or judges and tyrants weeping with awe at the perfect symmetry of a seashell. These are the moments that live on in tales of taverns and scrolls, the thing that drives alchemists to toil for days for a single, shimmerging drop of liquid.