Millennial Mage

Tala arrived at Bandfast after sunset, approaching the city through the darkening twilight, Terry at her side.

Alat had sent messages ahead, so she’d be grabbing a late dinner with Lyn and Kannis, before leaving for Alefast the morning after next.

Rane was already gone, presumably in Alefast, Waning ahead of her.

Likely dealing with his family in one way or another.

-Yeah, I wonder if there was any fallout from him breaking Furgal’s staff…thing.-

Well, Master Grediv was fine with it, but that likely won’t stop other members of the family from being irritated with him.

-That’s true enough. I’m glad we don’t have to deal with idiocy like that…-

At least not often, yeah. Though, she was aware that given her friendship with Rane, she might be pulled into the matter while in Alefast. She hoped that wouldn’t be the case, however.

-Hope springs eternal.-

She could have bypassed Bandfast and gone straight to Alefast, Waning, but it really wouldn’t have saved her much time, and she did need to actually say goodbye to Lyn and Kannis.

She was changing her base of operations away from Bandfast for the first time since her graduation.

Well, the first time I’m doing it of my own volition.

-Yeah, being forcibly relocated to Platoiri really wasn’t the same.-

Not at all.

There was also her meet-up with Master Cazor.

The Mage Hunter had agreed to spar with her and test her iron usage.

He’d even indicated that his duties would bring him through Alefast, Waning, on occasion in the next years, so they could continue such experimentation then. Even so, they’d already agreed to spend a day on the project in Bandfast, first.

But that was for tomorrow.

With those contemplations set aside, Tala turned her focus back to her direct surroundings.

Even at night, the fields, orchards, and farms were familiar, and Tala saw the plants beginning to sprout and grow as spring grabbed greater hold.

She’d gone between Bandfast and Marliweather quite a few times by this point, and this was the path she’d always taken, once through the outer edge of the city’s defenses at least.

The outer gates into Bandfast were still open when she arrived, as expected. Human cities didn’t tend to close their gates, except under extreme circumstances. After all, the magical defenses were generally all that were required to maintain an acceptable level of safety for the citizenry.

She didn’t dawdle, but she did try to soak in the ambiance of this city.

She wasn’t saying goodbye forever, but she was going to be leaving it behind for the near future.

She’d be back every so often to visit Lyn and Kannis, but overall, her time in Bandfast was over.

I suppose that was true even before I left for Marliweather.

-Yeah, but there was too much going on. Tacking on saying goodbye to this city, and Lyn and Kannis would have been too much. It would have felt too drawn out.-

Yeah, I suppose so…

Tala was far from alone as she walked through the streets. Even though the short days of winter were mostly transitioned into the regular days of spring or fall, leading towards the longer summer days, people were still about after dark, doing what they needed to do before they closed themselves in their homes for the night.

Some people called generic greetings to others, including her. She responded to those with a smile and a wave without slowing. People were just being polite.

After all, they were all human, all in this city, this life, together.

It was important to focus on what unified them rather than what divided them.

Her feet almost unconsciously took the incredibly easy route to Lyn’s house, across from the park blossoming with new growth, visible even in the dim light from the streetlights.

When she came to the front door, she hesitated.

This isn’t our house anymore. She felt that clearly, even though she still had a key.

The key that she held in her hand as she hesitated.

I shouldn’t unlock someone else’s house… that’s just weird.

Even so, it felt like it would be strange to knock.

Thus, she was left standing on the front step, indecision trapping her rather effectively.

Nearly a minute passed before the door opened, revealing Lyn just inside. “Tala?”

Tala had stepped back at the sudden opening of the door. “Oh! Hi, Lyn.”

“What are you doing? We’re going to eat, right?”

“Yes.” She took Kit and tossed the pouch at the open door. Kit flowed over the slab, blending in perfectly.

Lyn glanced at the door with a raised eyebrow. “Alright, then. What were you doing out here?”

Tala grimaced, then held out the key that she still held in her hand. “I need to return this. It didn’t seem right to use it, since I don’t live here anymore.”

Lyn snorted a laugh. “Don’t be ridiculous. Keep the key. You are welcome here, and to use that key, for as long as I own this house.”

Tala felt herself smile, indecision wiped away. “Thank you, Lyn.” As she followed her friend back inside, Tala frowned. “How did you know I was out there?”

“Tala, your aura is projected in a sphere around you by your illusion thing.”

“Through-spike.”

“Yeah, illusion thing. In any case, it lacks teeth, but it is very easy to sense when I am within about twenty feet of you.”

“Oh… I didn’t really realize that, I suppose.” She pushed on the still open door, and Kit opened up just enough for her to toss the iron key inside, allowing her sanctum to close once more.

Lyn shook her head. “That still looks odd, even though I know exactly what is happening with it. It’s no wonder that so many syphons can exist within human cities, when they have the ability to hide like that.”

“Indeed, yeah.” Tala nodded solemnly.

Kannis had heard her arrival, and she was standing just inside the sitting room, looking their way. “With all due respect, master, with regard to the first topic, I can’t sense her. I feel it would be unkind to Mistress Tala to misrepresent the reality of her illusory aura.”

Tala waved to her old classmate. “Good evening, Kannis.”

“Good evening, Mistress Tala.”

Lyn was shaking her head. “You would sense her if your magesight were active.”

“Absolutely, Mistress Lyn, but not without it. You, on the other hand, sensed her without use of magesight.”

Tala looked to her friend, eyebrows climbing.

Lyn shrugged. “That’s true enough.” The older woman smiled at her mageling. “Thank you for clarifying, Kannis.”

“My pleasure.” Kannis gave a small bow.

Interesting… “So, Lyn do you think it’s due to you being Fused?”

Lyn shrugged. “Let’s discuss it on the way to dinner, shall we?”

“Yes!” Kannis grinned.

Tala chuckled. “Sure. That sounds great.”

The evening passed with pleasant conversations, amazing food, and promises of future visits.

Even though it was a fun time, there was a tinge of sadness throughout the evening, and she realized that it wasn’t quite the same without Rane with them.

He’ll be in Alefast.

-That he will.-

For food, they grabbed little cheesy caravans before going to the large square that Lyn had taken Tala to on her first night in Bandfast.

Gretel was still there, peddling her pies, and the older woman seemed genuinely pleased to see Tala once again, but whether that was because she genuinely remembered Tala, or she was experienced enough of a saleswoman that she pretended to, Tala couldn’t tell.

In either case, Tala was grateful for the interaction and the tasty pies. They were just as amazing as she remembered, though, in comparison with Mistress Petra’s cooking, they didn’t seem quite as uniquely incredible as they had the first time she’d had them.

Speaking of the cook, Tala had informed Mistress Petra ahead of time that she wouldn’t need dinner, having decided that it was acceptable to miss a single meal of power infusion in order to share some reminiscence with her friends.

The Zuccat family was also taking a good deal of time the next day to visit with those they knew in Bandfast while Tala met with Master Cazor.

The conversation that the three women had while walking ranged from what Kannis was learning and her future prospects, to Lyn’s new duties and coworkers. They briefly touched on differences in magical perception based on advancement, but none of them really had the knowledge or inclination to experiment around such theoretical things while on a night out.

As to the things that they did discuss, funnily enough, both Lyn and Kannis had dealt with several potential suitors even in the last month.

None had worked out, obviously, but the women were drawing increasing attention, and they both found themselves more than a bit intrigued at the prospect, at least if the right someone expressed interest. Not that they had anyone specific in mind, of course.

Additionally, they didn’t have time to go hunting for their own prospects, at least not yet.

Finally, the three discussed what Tala expected from her time in Alefast, Waning.

Honestly, Tala’s contributions around her upcoming plans was the smallest portion of the overall discussion. After all, part of the reason she was going was to experience the waning, and learn exactly what it entailed.

It was a big prospect, honestly.

There were just about twenty-one years until that city would be fully abandoned. Tala was barely older than that, and she was making a decision that would set her course for as long as she’d been alive.

And yet, it will just be a blip on my life to come.

-It’s rather exciting, isn’t it?-

And overwhelming.

They talked about that too, the Refined, Fused, and mageling. They discussed the long span of years before them all.

Even though many specifics couldn’t be discussed in front of a mageling, they mainly wanted to discuss the vague aspects anyways. This wasn’t a time for planning or academic discussion; it was simply three young women contemplating the river of time.

Thus, they passed the evening, enjoying each other’s company along with the tasty food.

The next morning, Tala woke bright and early.

She stretched, ate the breakfast prepared by Mistress Petra, and left for the training arena where she was meeting Master Cazor, Kit hanging from her belt.

She’d bid a temporary goodbye to Lyn and Kannis the night before. So, she felt no need or desire to seek them out before departing.

The tentative plan was for her to come back in a few months and take them to Alefast, Waning, so that they could see the city for themselves.

The more she considered it, the more Tala realized that her life was going to be filled with temporary goodbyes.

Most of those she would interact with would be incredibly long lived, and they had a limited number of cities to move through. Almost universally, they’d cross paths again eventually.

So long as they both survived.

Yes, happy thoughts, Tala.

-Realistic thoughts, though.-

Yeah, I suppose.

The training arenas were as familiar as ever, and she was directed to a much more reinforced one than she’d needed in most cases in the past.

They had discussed performing the experiments and training within her sanctum, but they both thought that it would likely be best to not do larger scale—or more experimental—tests with iron while inside a magically created and maintained space.

I grow in wisdom.

-That you do.-

What, no sarcasm? Tala felt herself smile internally.

-No need. You are getting wiser, and I am glad for it.-

Master Cazor was awaiting her as before, but this time he was waiting without preprepared bags of iron.

He gave her a rueful smile. “Well, Mistress Tala, I would not have thought it possible, but you have somehow added more iron to yourself since last we met.”

She grinned in return, her metal moving along with her face to allow the expression, mirrored as illusion by her through-spike.

“That is… marginally creepy since I can at least partially sense through it.”

With a sigh, she pulled the iron away from her mouth, nose, eyes, and ears. She only had the single external layer of metal at the moment. “Well, I definitely wasn’t going for creepy.”

“Then you need to get better control of your illusion. The unblinking eyes are odd enough, but the features portrayed have a thick, stiff quality, as if you have on vastly too much makeup or something like that.”

She found herself nodding. “I hadn’t actually considered that. The layer of iron would act as a smoothing agent… What does this do?”

Tala shifted the metal, layering it over her face until it was built up to the point of being a relatively featureless mask. The main benefit of this was that there were no harsh angles for an attack to catch against.

Master Cazor’s left eye twitched just a bit. “Well. The illusion is trying to fill in the details, but it clearly uses your face as a map.”

Tala turned one of her mirrored perspectives to specifically examine her own face, rather than simply seeing it from the corner of that vision.

Oh… that is uncanny.

-Just a bit, yeah.-

The face was definitely human, and it even looked mostly like Tala’s, but it was utterly devoid of any expression, and the eyes were staring forward, sightlessly.

“It doesn’t help that I can sense—and basically see—the flat plate of iron slicing through where the illusion appears to be. I’ve got to say that, to me, it isn’t fun to look at.”

The iron flowed away from her face once more as she smiled mischievously. “Just what every girl wants to hear.”

He snorted a laugh and shook his head in response. “In any case, shall we begin?”

“Of course. What were you thinking for the first test? I’ll also disable my through-spike so we can better observe the results.”

“That seems wise. As to the test, I have been working on my wide-area-effects. How about I attempt to pin you down using purely magnetic fields?”

She frowned. “Wouldn’t that require our auras to clash? That’s hardly fair, given I’m Refined.”

He shook his head. “That’s the whole idea. I’ve been working at controlling two distinct points on opposite sides of a space and inverting them from each other, turning them into massively powerful poles on a non-existent magnet.”

She felt her eyebrows rise. “So, you don’t have to affect the space between them directly?”

“Precisely.”

She felt ideas begin to spark within her own mind. Oh, that’s clever. I think I could…

-Yeah, but not now. Focus on this while you are here.-

Right, right. “So, let’s see it.”

He grinned, and Tala felt the zeme of the arena begin to shift, two bright points of power building on either side of the space.

It took a minute as the magic continued to build, but Tala began to feel pressure exerted on the iron on her skin.

She kept it under her control; she had to do that anyway in order to allow for normal movement. Thus, while the pressure was noticeable, the forces involved weren’t in danger of taking any from her.

Master Cazor was obviously using a tremendous amount of power to amplify this effect. His straining voice sounded hopeful as he asked, “Are you feeling restricted yet?”

Tala moved through some stretches before shaking her head. “I can feel the pulls, but it isn’t inconvenient, not yet.”

He nodded. “And you’re maintaining a willful control over your iron, correct? Quite similar to your aura?”

“Similar, yeah, though my aura is contained at the moment.”

“It’s…” He tilted his head to the side. “Can I try something?”

She shrugged. “Sure.”

Without further warning, the two poles of the non-existent magnet rushed inward, the bi-directional pulling force increasing exponentially.

Tala grit her teeth as she set her will against the massively escalating power.

“If you’re not maintaining aura control of your surroundings, and if your aura is bound within the iron, then you can’t contest this, can you?”

The poles stopped three feet to either side of her, just out of reach.

Tala couldn’t muster the focus to answer, her mind entirely bent to keeping the iron in place against the unnatural pull.

“Yeah, I thought not. Well, let’s test the limits, then. Resist and overcome the magics if you can.”

Tala couldn’t keep her arms down, and they were pulled outward, her fingertips falling short of the magical beacons which were the magnetic poles.

Her iron began flowing across her skin, gathering around her hands in increasingly large spheres, barely held from moving further by her will.

The surface of the collected iron dust rippled and writhed under the influence of the clashing forces, but Tala held firm.

Master Cazor was visibly sweating as he strained to control and maintain his working. He wasn’t trying to increase its power any more, simply keeping it going seemed to be his limit.

Tala, for her part, was under immense strain. It honestly felt like someone was attempting to rip off her arms.

Blessedly, only her outer iron was being affected, for the most part. That which she held within her body, and that within the dimensions of magic, was being sheltered to a far greater extent.

Then, her eyes locked onto Master Cazor’s, and she smiled, the apparent strain melting from her face.

It hadn’t been entirely an act, but she wasn’t under nearly as much pressure as she’d allowed it to appear.

With her iron pulled to her hands to a large extent, she was free to extend her uncontained aura outward.

At the same time, tendrils of iron reached out, surrounding and squeezing down on the magnetic poles.

The massively powerful magnetic field winked out in an instant, and the two Archons fell to their knees almost in unison, gasping from the magical and mental strain they’d both experienced.

As Tala took in the sand around them, she felt a smile pulling at her lips.

Lines of dark iron-dust were striated through the otherwise tan sand, creating clear lines, demonstrating the influence the magical magnetic field had had.

“Well.” Master Cazor forced himself back to his feet. “That was a fun first test. Shall we try others?”

Tala stood as well, showing greater ease in the movement as befit her faster recovery rate and higher advancement. “Absolutely.”

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