Millennial Mage

Tala bade goodbye to the three Refined and followed Jevin down a short hallway to a large workshop, deeper in the tree. Terry remained on her shoulder, content to play at sleep. Maybe he actually does sleep, some of the time.

She couldn’t begin to understand what half of the tools were in the space, and the partially completed projects might as well have been arcane spell-forms for all the sense they made to her eyes.

There were weapons and parts of weapons; mechanical constructs, partially or wholly inscribed; bottles filled with glowing liquids; jars with organic parts held in suspension; a single glass cylinder with something that looked, and moved, like ambulatory mud; and there were books and notes in piles and stacks throughout.

Jevin spoke, drawing Tala’s attention back to him, “So, Mistress Tala, where would you like to begin?”

“What do your inscriptions do?”

He paused, frowning. “That is not what…Why are you curious about that?”

“Well, when you broke up their spell-form, it looked like you were somehow manipulating your aura, and your spell-forms were clearly activating, even if I couldn’t see the magic in them, specifically.”

Jevin looked at her a bit closer before nodding in understanding. “You have always active mage-sight. Clever, if you can take it.” He smiled and gestured to two reading chairs beside a large bookcase, positioned for easy conversations. “To answer your question: My scripts almost entirely deal with perfecting my dexterity with and authority over my aura. So long as my inscriptions last, if I am conscious, I have unbreakable control within my aura’s reach.” The words were spoken with utmost humility as a simple fact.

They settled into the chairs as Tala thought about his words. “That’s a bit terrifying.”

Glad I’m human. “Thank you for sharing that.” She frowned. “Wait. Why would you need to increase your authority over your own aura?”

“Oh! That’s simple, if less so to explain. You can control gravity, yes?”

“I can.”

“So, you have authority over gravity?”

“I do.”

“So, why not immediately crush all your enemies, regardless of where they are, with a thought?”

“Well, I can, if I can target them. I mean, I have to take it in measured steps, ramping up.”

“Why are you limited to those you can easily target? Why must you be measured?”

“Well, to do otherwise would require too much power.”

“Why?”

“Well…it’s harder?”

“Exactly.” He smiled.

Tala was frowning. They sat in silence for a long moment, before she started to nod. “So, you’re saying that I don’t have complete authority over gravity. My authority is resisted, or contested, so I am limited in what I can do, and it is difficult to achieve certain things.”

“Well reasoned.”

Her eyes widened at the implication. “So…you are like a god within your aura?”

He laughed at that. “No, no. I simply increase my authority. I do not remove all resistance or gain unassailable power. My control is such that none should be able to shake it, but it can still be opposed.”

There was a lot there that Tala would need to unpack, but she thought she needed more time to consider, before pursuing it further.

“Now, what else is on your mind?”

Tala pulled Kit off of her belt and began taking Leshkin weapons out.

“Wait. Are those the weapons you want to combine with your soul-bond?”

“That’s right, if they will improve it.”

“One moment, then.” He went to a nearby table and rummaged around before he returned with a round pad, connected to a metal rod by a finely woven, golden cable. “Please set your weapon on this circle.” He placed the circle on the side table that was between the two chairs.

Tala pulled Flow from her belt.

“Oh, please remove the training scabbard. That is what the sheath is, correct?”

“It is.” She complied, setting Flow down on the device, blade bared.

Jevin picked up the first Leshkin weapon, a sword, and touched the rod to it. The rod turned red. “This is incompatible with the current state of your weapon. We could force a union, but it would ultimately weaken it.”

Tala nodded, and continued to pull out weapons, saving the best for last.

Sadly, every weapon registered as red.

Finally, when there was a sizable pile of Leshkin armaments beside them, Tala pulled out the juggernaut’s glaive. It wasn’t easy to withdraw, given its size, but she managed to do it without feeling too awkward.

A pressure fell over the room, much more palatable here in the magic-poor, city air than it had been in the forest. Jevin’s aura expanded, surrounding the weapon and containing its power.

“That.” He looked to her, then back to the massive glaive. “It’s a juggernaut’s weapon?”

“It is.”

“That must be some story.”

Tala indulged him, trying to make it interesting without over-embellishing. It only took a couple of minutes, and when she finished, he was nodding.

“We should discuss your spell-workings at some point. I imagine we could learn a bit from each other.”

Tala frowned at that. What could I possibly teach a Paragon? Still, she wasn’t going to say no. “Sure.”

He took the weapon from her hands with a flex of aura and touched the rod to it. The metal turned a yellow-green. “This is compatible, but it won’t improve the strength of your weapon very much.” He frowned, looking at something in the magic surrounding Flow. “That is a form changing weapon?” He nodded to himself, not needed her to answer. “That makes sense. Melding these two will give you another available form, as well as a slight improvement to the weapon as a whole. Mainly, your weapon will have more mass, both magical and physical, at its disposal. Thus, it will be able to hit harder, should it not cut through what it strikes.”

Flow has yet to fail in a cut, but I suppose hitting harder when it eventually happens would be good. And I can turn it into a glaive? That was a pure win.

I’ll have to learn how to fight with one. She could do that.

“Let’s do it!”

He smiled. “We can schedule a time. Tomorrow morning work for you?”

She frowned but nodded in resignation. “I suppose. I’d prefer to do it sooner.”

“I do apologize. Mistress Yenna is just finishing up a refresh of the workspace that would best facilitate this merger. I don’t wish to give you a shoddy result. She only came down to this tier for afternoon tea with her colleagues and me.”

“I appreciate that. So, we’ll go to another tier for the working?”

“Yes, the facility on the sixth tier is more capable of working with Archon level materials.”

Tala gave him a searching look. “So… why are you down here?”

He smiled at that. “Well, my current work is on items without any sort of bond intrinsic to their design. I have a theory that items not built to be bound end up being stronger than those designed with that goal in mind.”

“Oh? Why?”

“Well, if a table has two legs, is it stable?”

“Well, no?” She thought for a moment. “Maybe?”

“What if I told you that each leg was actually designed to hold a table on its own. Now, do you think the theoretical two-leg table is stable, or not?”

“I see what you mean. Something that is useful, powerful, and stable on its own will make for a better result, after the bonding.”

“That’s my theory.”

Tala nodded. That makes sense. “But back on the topic of my weapon: what would the cost be? I am a Mage protector for the Caravan Guild, if that factors in.”

He grinned back at her. “I think, as a show of inter-guild solidarity, we can do it at cost, then. Four gold should cover it. It might flex up or down a bit, but we’ll know before we enact it.”

“Four? Last time I melded something with this weapon it cost half that.”

“And the weapon seems to have become more powerful as a result. It is now more stable, with greater magical weight, and it will require more power and material to work a true melding. I won’t leave you with a magical patch that will explosively break off in a decade or two.”

That’s fair… She placed the Leshkin glaive back into Kit.

“Now, what else can I do for you?”

“Do you have use for those?” She pointed to the weapons that they’d tested and found incompatible with Flow.

“We would.” He thought for a moment. “They would probably be worth near six gold, all together. But that would take you finding buyers for each, and it wouldn’t be quick.” He smiled again. “Would you be willing to accept four as a show of inter-guild solidarity?” His eyes were twinkling.

Tala found herself chuckling. “So, a straight exchange, then?”

“That would work for us.”

“Done.”

Inscriptions activated, and Jevin’s aura swept all the Leshkin weaponry into a workbench drawer, which was obviously too small to hold them.

Constructionists. They must be able to make all the extra-dimensional storage they’d ever need.

“Next?”

“Why did the scan expect to penetrate my aura, while not being able to break through my passive defense?”

“I assume that defense is gone, now? I can’t see any evidence of it.”

“It is.” She felt a bit exposed, but she also knew that the iron salve wouldn’t help her much against this man regardless, if he chose to harm her.

He was nodding. “I apologize for that, as well. I will try to think of a worthy repayment for our…brutish response.”

“That’s kind of you, but I still don’t really know what happened.”

“Humans, even humans controlling their aura, have a…magical sense to them, a signature if you will. Your defense likely masked that or altered it somehow. The scan detected you without the signature, and sounded the alarm.” He shrugged. “That’s my best guess, anyways. Master Grent designed it, though. He’s a good lad, but he sometimes gets a bit too enthusiastic about his projects.” Jevin quirked a smile at the last.

Lad? Jevin is talking about a Refined like he’s a precocious teen… “Ahh, okay, then.”

Tala thought for a quick moment, running through the list in her head. What should I ask next? She settled on an easy one.

“Would a self-repairing item, split in half, recreate two of itself?”

“In general, no. The repair magics would stay with one piece over the other, and only that one would rebuild.”

That explains why the severed sleeve didn’t regrow any of the rest of the outfit, at all.

“That makes a lot of sense, actually.”

Jevin smiled. “The truth often does.”

“Not always?”

He barked a laugh. “Oh, stars no. Sometimes the truth is so much stranger than the competing theories, and it is almost always more complicated than it seems.”

As Tala considered, she realized that she’d seen that a time or two. “True enough.” What next…oh! “I think I’m looking for a dimensional anchor of some kind.”

“You ‘think?’ ”

She described her encounters with the Leshkins as well as the night wing ravens and a few other incidents that seemed applicable. To her mind, she could take damage but kept getting knocked free of where she needed to be.

She did not mention the likely arcane encounter. I…I don’t want to deal with the complication.

The very idea started a headache building.

“That is an interesting problem. Let me think on it, and I’ll give you my suggestions, tomorrow.”

“That works for me. Do you have any advice that you’d give to me, as an Immaterial Guide? Or as a new Archon?”

“As a new Archon? Begin working towards Fused as soon as you can. It can be a long road, but you only know once you’ve taken your first step. Also, once you start, we can discuss, if briefly, what being Refined will mean. As an Immaterial Guide? Focus on that which Materials cannot do, but you’ve already done that, to some extent.” He frowned. “No, you actually seem to have been bridging the Immaterial and Material quite a bit, though your offensive work is decidedly Immaterial.”

“All my work is Immaterial.”

He waved that off. “In enactment, yes, but in principle? Your defenses could be done with either, relatively easily. You need to focus more on your specific scripts. Some of them seem…ill adjusted? Do you have spell-forms that are fairly new to you?”

“I have a variable gravity manipulation, which I haven’t had for long.”

“That is likely what I’m seeing. Get used to it. Explore the edges of its capabilities. If I may ask, what does it do?”

Tala shrugged. “I can alter the effective gravity of items around me, so long as I can perceive them well enough to target them.”

“Targeted…gravity alteration? How novel. Why not area?” He leaned forward a bit, clearly quite interested.

Tala shrugged. “Gravity doesn’t work over an area. An object either acts on itself, gravitationally, or two objects act on each other. Gravity doesn’t exist in a vacuum.” She hesitated. “Wait… that’s not what I meant…”

Jevin grinned. “I think I understand you. That is an interesting way of conceiving of that fundamental force. It doesn’t seem quite right to me.” He let out a little laugh. “I can think of a few things that seem to contradict your thinking off the top of my head, but I won’t try to disabuse you of your working mental framework. Rust me; I was never able to understand gravity well enough to get scripts related to it. I might be the one who’s mistaken.”

Tala just shrugged. “No one’s broken me of my understanding, yet. After all, I can see it working, every time I use my offensive spells.”

He shrugged in return. “Regardless, I do have a few questions: Can you do groups of targets? Can you increase gravity on one item while decreasing it on another, simultaneously? Is the change linear or compounding? Can you target an area instead? Can you change the direction of the resulting acceleration? Can you affect gravity on part of a thing, while leaving the rest unaltered? What about an item that is held by a hostile magic user?” His eyes brightened. “Have you practiced opposed enactment?”

“For this script? I haven’t tried the first two. The changes are compounding. And I haven’t tried the last five, either.” She felt a bit embarrassed, if she were being honest. This was her spell-form, and she hadn’t yet plumbed its depths.

“Then, that’s a good place to begin. Your inscriber should have given you notes on the inscriptions. Read up, test, explore the boundaries of what that spell-form can do. If you need practice under opposition, let me know, and I can schedule some time.” He smiled, again. “And pursue Fusing.”

“I’ll consider that. Thank you.” She frowned. “Wouldn’t your helping me take from your other projects?”

“Not really. I can hold a mild magic-nullification effect over an item within my aura while I work, and you could try to affect it.” He shrugged. “It would take very little of my attention.”

“There is no way that I could hope to overcome your resistance, though.”

“Of course not, but by the same token, I wouldn’t place much effort behind it. I’d ensure it was within your reach. To stretch your abilities, as it were.”

That was…tempting. “I’ll consider that, too. Thank you for the offer.”

“Of course.” He didn’t press further.

Tala moved to the next topic. “Mage gold. Do you have need of some?”

“Ahh, your arm, right?”

Tala nodded. She’d told him the story behind the juggernaut’s glaive, after all.

“We can use it. Honestly, using it in the merging, tomorrow, would probably improve the process, at least marginally.”

“Really? Why didn’t you mention that before?”

“If I told you that I could, maybe, improve the melding, fractionally, would you be willing to cut off your arm, and get it reinscribed, once it grew back?”

Tala shuddered. “No…”

“That’s why. No one likes making Mage Gold.” He shrugged. “It is also most effective when used in conjunction with the one who made it. Even then, it usually can only grant a one or two percent increase in efficiency for some things. We should try to use it tomorrow. How much do you have?”

Tala tossed him the pouch that Hawthorne had given her. Do not remember how that used to be in your arm, Tala. She didn’t. She didn’t give it a single thought.

He caught it with raised eyebrows. “Well. Let me check this.” He went and weighed it, then ran several instruments around the pouch. Sticking some in. “Yeah, we can definitely use this tomorrow. If there’s any left, I’ll buy it off you at 20% more than its weight?”

She had no idea if that was a good price or not, but it seemed reasonable enough. “Alright.”

“Thank you. We’ll sort that, tomorrow.”

“Sounds great. Now, Tungsten rods.” She smiled, aiming for innocence. Not sure why, but might help? I am asking after city defense weapons…

Jevin hesitated. “Like the city defenses?”

Precisely! Well, the flimsy veil of innocence was gone. “Yup.”

“I could get you an uninscribed one for… two hundred and thirty-five gold?” After a moment he nodded. “Yeah. That should be about right.”

Tala’s eyes widened in shock. “What?”

“Those are each close to eighteen thousand pounds, Mistress Tala.”

“Oh… I probably don’t need something that heavy.”

He grinned. “Probably not. You want something to drop on enemies, likely augmented by your gravity manipulation?”

“That’s the idea.”

“I’ll see what I can come up with. Talk tomorrow?”

“Sure.” After a moment, she nodded. “If I fell from a great height, within my dimensional storage, would I survive?”

Jevin glanced to her belt, the scripts around his eyes dancing to life with power and subtle light. He’s not hiding his power anymore? “A static space. Axis and kinetic isolation.” He was nodding. “Yes.” He answered simply.

“Could I get out?”

“Have you never been in your storage?”

“Well, I have, but never with it closed.”

“Ahh, so you’re more asking what would happen if you were closed inside or if it landed upside down?”

“Landed upside down?”

He smiled at that. “If it were open, upside down, what would you see?”

“The ground?”

“And could you push off of it?”

“To move the bag? No.” Her eyes widened. “Oh! Oh… yeah… that would be bad.”

“You’d need to close the bag and reopen it to correct the orientation. Or, you might be able to work your fingers between the ground and the edge of the storage item, then apply force to flip the pouch over.”

“Kit has dimensional… wait. How did you read the scripts within the pouch?” She looked down, noticing for the first time that Kit’s magic was easily visible. Their spell stripped Kit of iron, too. Tala shuddered. What would have happened if Kit explosively, dimensionally realigned with the world around us?

“So, you had the bag defended as well, then. Kit? You’ve named your storage?”

“Seemed reasonable. I have to think about Kit in some fashion, and Kit is shorter than dimensional storage, pouch, or any other moniker.”

“Fair enough, I suppose.” He nodded. “I imagine that you were going to reference…Kit’s dimensional defenses, the ability to minutely affect the world around it.”

“That’s right.”

“It would probably land as you desired, yes.”

“Good to know.” After a moment. “So, would I be able to get out?”

“I’ve no idea. Let’s find out.” He gestured to an open space on his floor.

“I don’t…” Tala hesitated. If he meant me harm, there is literally nothing I could do about it… “Alright.” She answered hesitantly.

She still wasn’t a fan of the level of trust it required in a stranger, but that requirement only existed if she ignored her utter helplessness, even outside of Kit.

Ok, Tala. Let’s do this.

She shifted her shoulder, jostling Terry a bit. “Hey, wait outside?”

Terry opened an eye and then flickered away.

Tala set Kit on the floor, pulling it wide enough for her to climb in. Before she could reconsider, she dropped through. Tala immediately focused upward, watching the opening.

Jevin grunted. “Fascinating. It seems very capable of avoiding interference by most people. I’m having trouble grabbing the pull cords.”

Tala absently refilled Kit. I’m already in here, might as well.

A moment more, and he let out a sound of success. “There we go. Closing! If you don’t come out in a minute, I will open the storage. Agreed?”

“Agreed.”

The opening shrunk, then vanished entirely.

Tala controlled her breathing. It’s alright, Tala. You chose this. She looked at the top of the ladder, in the dim but sufficient lighting.

Nothing. Smooth.

She climbed up and placed her hand there. Still nothing.

Blessedly, the space hadn’t altered any. It was as both Ingrit and Jevin had said.

Even so, Tala wanted out.

As soon as the desire crystalized in her mind, her hand moved upward, pushing through the previously solid ceiling. She stuck her other hand up and pulled them apart.

The opening reappeared and easily opened to full size.

She climbed out, back into Jevin’s workshop.

She looked around and found it dark. What?

Terry was curled up on a bench to one side, apparently sleeping. Nothing new, there.

“Mistress Tala?” The voice sounded… off.

“Master Jevin?” She looked towards where the voice had originated.

“It is you! Stars be praised.” A hunched figure came into the workshop on shuffling steps. He looked old. A white beard covered his face, and wrinkles decorated his features.

“What’s going on?”

Terry lifted his head, regarding them with a hard to discern expression.

“You didn’t come out, and I couldn’t get your device back open.” He gave a sad smile. “It’s been…” His eyes unfocused. “Eight hundred years?” He nodded slowly. “Yes, nearly that.”

Tala’s eyes widened, and she settled back on a nearby stool. “No.”

“I’m afraid so.”

Tala looked over to Terry. Terry, for his part, looked between the two of them, then stood slowly, shakily raising one taloned foot towards her.

Her eyes narrowed. “Wait a minute. Archons of your rank don’t age. Terry, what are you doing? You’re probably as immortal as an Archon. Why would you be shaky?” She looked around, the lights were dimmed, but there weren’t any windows. The only reason it would be dim is if Jevin had lowered the lights.

Jevin hesitated, then straightened with a smile. “Fine.” The beard and wrinkles vanished. “It was worth a shot.”

Terry flickered to her shoulder and bumped her cheek. She glared at the bird, but his expression seemed to convey amused ambivalence. So, Tala turned her glare on Jevin. “What was that!? That was horrifying.”

He shrugged. “Thought it would be funny.” He gave a cough, scratching the side of his nose. “Didn’t work out quite as I’d hoped.”

“Yeah, it wasn’t that funny.”

He cleared his throat, seeming slightly awkward. “Anyways. It seems like you had no issue getting back out. I’d suspected that the item would respond to your desires and allow itself to be opened from the inside. In fact, I’d wager that if you hadn’t been willing, I wouldn’t have been able to close it.” He hesitated. “Well, at least not without breaking it in some way.”

Tala was still a bit thrown by the odd attempt at a joke but tried to move past it. “Well… ok then.” This is why you shouldn’t trust strangers, Tala.

“Is there anything else?” He smiled sheepishly, clearly feeling a bit bad for his clumsy attempt at humor.

“No… I think that’s it.”

“Very well. Then, I will see you tomorrow morning for the melding of the weapons?”

“That sounds workable. Thank you.”

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