Millennial Mage

Tala purposely didn’t take the most direct route to the Constructionists’ Guild.

She let her feet lead her wherever they would, and she just enjoyed being out among humanity.

She’d barely taken a few steps before Alat briefly interrupted her.

-Mistress Ingrit has asked that we inform her when we’re heading to get Kit sorted out.-

Oh, alright. Can you keep her in the loop?

-Sure.-

It shouldn’t take too long, right? It’s just a little repair work.

Tala felt deep skepticism from Alat. -Every time we’ve done anything with Kit, it has been beyond our expectations in some way. I think we should be prepared for something, even if we don’t know exactly what.-

That’s fair, I suppose.

In a city like Bandfast, there were almost always people about—at least in the central ring—even in less than ideal weather. This day was actually a rather sunny one, so there were even more people about than usual as average citizens tried to get a bit more sun while they could.

Tala didn’t let her mind focus on anything too important, though she did open Kit and call to Terry to see if he wanted to join her.

He trilled back, seemingly grateful for the invitation but didn’t flicker out.

That was fine.

She closed Kit once again, patting the pouch and sending a few void-channels to top off the dimensional storage.

She’d gotten in the habit of recharging the artifact periodically throughout the day, and she wasn’t in a hurry to break it.

It was midmorning by the time she arrived at her destination, walking through the open entry way.

The scanning magics took a reading of the aura put forward by her through-spike, clearly noting that she was a human Archon.

Having just had the environment starkly pointed out in Mistress Holly’s workshop, Tala noticed that flush with the archway was a stark transition of cold to warm air.

The magics keeping the distinction were incredibly subtle and complex, seemingly not keeping the air or anything else from moving freely.

Instead, if Tala had to guess—and she rather enjoyed the challenge—she would say that it was stripping outgoing air of warmth, and adding warmth to whatever came through, seemingly based on density.

That meant that she received very little heat, but air coming in would come up to temperature immediately.

Fascinating. Why have I never noticed before?

-You aren’t very focused on temperature, given that you aren’t very affected by it.-

Yeah, that tracks. There were obviously other magics involved as well, otherwise there would be a perpetual mist as the warm air exited and cooled, and that was lacking. Still, now was not the time for deep analysis of this bit of magic.

The chime that announced her entrance summoned an assistant almost as if by teleportation.

-Now you’re just being regularly dramatic. They walked out, if quite quickly and as soon as the chime sounded.-

Fine, fine.

“Mistress? How can I assist you?”

Tala smiled. “I am here to see Masters Boma and Queue. I believe that they are expecting me, but not necessarily right now. Could you see if now is a good time for them to see me? I’m Mistress Tala.”

At her name, the assistant’s eyes widened. “Mistress Tala! Welcome, welcome.” The young man clapped his hands twice, and Tala saw a script activate across his skin each time, sending a pulse of something somewhere that she couldn’t determine.

The archive?

-Could work, or just somewhere else to signal the arrival of specific people?-

Regardless, a moment later two more assistants came out into the entry way.

The first assistant sent one to each of the Masters before turning back toward Tala. “They will be along shortly.” The Mage gave a small chuckle. “Their instructions were quite clear; they wanted to be informed of your arrival the moment you came in.”

“Oh, well, thank you.” She licked her lips, an enticing scent catching her nostrils. “Is that coffee I smell?”

“It is, Mistress. Can I get you a mug?”

Tala nodded. “That would be lovely.”

-Tala…-

It’s fine. I was up all night. A little coffee won’t hurt me.

-Mistress Emersen gave you some, then you had more at breakfast.-

And it’s just one more cup here. See? Just three cups. No issue at all.

The assistant was already back with a mug of coffee.

“Thank you.” Tala hesitated frowning. “I apologize, I didn’t catch your name.”

“Srip, Mistress.”

“Well, thank you, Master Srip.”

“It is my pleasure. Is there anything else that I can get you, or any other way in which I can be of assistance?”

“No, I think this is perfect.” She lifted the mug in indication, then took a long pull. Amazing.

Alat sighed with obvious disappointment within Tala’s head but didn’t say anything further.

It was indeed a bare couple of minutes before both Masters Boma and Queue came into the entryway.

Their entrances were almost simultaneous, though they came from different hallways, and that fact seemed to make both men smile.

Master Queue was the first to speak. “Mistress Tala, welcome, welcome. Do you have any other business with us, before we address the stability of your dimensional storage?”

We’ll need to empower our Archive connection, but now is hardly the time for that.

-And I suspect it might put a strain on you, spiritually if not physically, and Fused as you are, it could complicate your Refining.-

That was my thought too.

-Should we mention the Leshkin weaponry?-

Tala sighed internally. Not yet. I’d love to combine some of it with Flow, if possible, move it closer to a true, morphic weapon, but we still might need to sell some.

-If we are still in need of money at the end of this, I’m going to be rusting irritated.-

That’s true enough. Tala shrugged. “Not off hand, no.”

The Refined man nodded before turning to his colleague. “You have it all set up, correct?”

Master Boma’s gruff tone was slightly softer than usual, “I do, yes.”

Without another word needed, the three went down a hallway, Master Boma in the lead.

Tala paused, glancing back. “Thank you, Master Srip!”

The assistant smiled and bowed in return. “You are most welcome, Mistress Tala.”

The three Archons walked further back into the compound and through a set of iron doors.

When Tala saw the massive bits of iron, she had a moment of panic, but while she could somehow feel the iron, there was nothing more than that.

Huh. Well, it’s not like this is the first bit of iron I’ve come across.

-Not in the least, but it is probably the most in one place.-

Undoubtedly, yes. There is something odd, though… She could sense… something, but it wasn’t clear what it was.

-It almost feels like a sure knowledge that the doors aren’t yours.-

So, ownership, or authority over the doors? Fascinating.

-Yes, we really do need to explore this new aspect of your vision. I am glad you didn’t try to eat the door.-

Yeah, it is good to know I won’t become a raving maniac around iron, I suppose.

Master Queue cleared his throat. “Mistress Tala?”

Tala jerked slightly, startled out of her thoughts. “Hmm?”

“Is everything alright? You were staring at the doors with sort of an odd look on your face.”

“Yeah, everything’s fine.” Tala quickly entered the merging room after the two others, not making eye contact.

Inside waited a few dozen crates, each heavily imbued with magic.

To her quick scan, they all seemed to be oriented towards preservation and isolation of the contents. That makes sense.

“Now.” Master Boma was walking over towards one of the crates. “The most critical thing is to determine which method of reinforcement will work best for your dimensional storage. They would all do some good, but these materials are too expensive to use anything but the most compatible.”

A throat cleared from near the door, and the three Archons turned. Mistress Elnea stood in the doorway. “Were you planning on starting without me?”

They all seemed a bit startled as the silence extended.

The head of the Bandfast Archon Council tsked. “I asked Mistress Ingrit to keep me informed on anything to do with your sanctum, Mistress Tala. She let me know that you were on your way here, so I thought that I’d join you.”

Oh! Right, she’d wanted to see me bond with Kit when that happened. I suppose that means she’s interested in general.

The woman then lifted an eyebrow towards the two men. “I did send you each a message to the same effect. Was it not received?”

Masters Boma and Queue glanced toward each other, both shaking their heads, and Master Queue responded, “No, Mistress Elnea. We would have informed you before we came here, if so.”

Mistress Elnea chuckled. “Well, I’m not here to interfere, though I’m happy to consult. I simply want to observe and be of assistance.”

That seemed to settle the last bits of nerves.

The three lesser Archons bowed towards Mistress Elnea. “Welcome, Mistress.”

“Thank you, Master Queue.”

The Mistress came the rest of the way in and closed the door behind her.

“Now, it looks like you were about to test which method of reinforcement might be best suited?”

That received nods.

“Wonderful. If you will permit me, I brought a measurement and analysis artifact to be placed within the sanctum?”

Tala tilted her head to one side. “To what end?”

“Well, in theory, the dimensional space should be separate from the magics used to access and alter it, but it is always good to have measurements to be sure of that during and after the fact.”

Master Queue nodded. “We were going to use such a device, once we determined which would be best suited. Did you bring a universal one or…?”

She pulled out a sphere that seemed to be made of rusted copper. “This is one of my own design, specifically made for assessing unknown sub-dimensional spaces.”

That perked their interest. In particular, Mistress Elnea noticed Tala’s reaction.

“Yes, we occasionally do come across such spaces, and some of them are ether holds—by the terminology of the arcanes—but not all. I’m happy to discuss the subject with you after this is sorted.”

Tala nodded. “That would be of interest, thank you.”

“Now, what do we have here?”

As it turned out, the head of the Archon Council had come bearing gifts.

She added two additional crates to those already arranged around the center of the room.

Tala listened as the other three discussed the contents of the various boxes. She tried to learn from what they were discussing, but much of it was beyond her understanding, and she simply asked for Alat to help her file the information away for later.

Apparently, each box held harvests or artifacts of magic with a bent towards dimensional stability and reinforcement of reality.

Tala opened Kit to drop Mistress Elnea’s diagnostic orb into it, and the woman began gathering information for comparison later on, though she was already reviewing it on a slate that she held in one hand.

Master Queue was the one to explain what would come next. “We will put your storage down in the center of the crates and open the lids. By close examination of the zeme in the room, we should be able to determine what resonates most closely with the magics of the pouch, and then we can merge it with those magics.”

Tala nodded. “I don’t know that a specific ‘merging’ will be required. Kit tends to just eat what I give it, these days.”

That got their attention.

Seeing their heightened focus, Tala shrugged. “There’s not much more to say, Kit eats the hold or other things I give it, and grows accordingly.”

The three seemed to take that in stride, pondering implications that Tala likely hadn’t considered.

“What is the difference between the crates?” Tala asked with curiosity.

Master Boma answered succinctly, “Well, each one has a slightly different method of stability or strength.”

That made a lot of sense, actually. Just as each fire Mage had slightly different methods for gathering and controlling fire, each of these items would have a different means of enacting their purpose.

Master Queue opened his mouth to say more but hesitated before turning to the older woman beside them, “Mistress Elnea, can you explain?”

Mistress Elnea smiled and nodded. “Certainly, though I doubt I’ll say it better than you could have.”

They all oriented on her, listening intently.

“As you know, our reality is not, precisely, stable. We don’t know how stable it should be, but we measure stability based on how close it is to the theoretical maximum.”

Tala nodded. “So a percentage scale?”

“Precisely, yes. We will not found a new city if the integrity is below fifty percent.”

Her eyes widened at that. “So low?”

Mistress Elnea shook her head. “That is near the maximum we’ve recorded. In this room, right now.” She pulled out a small disk, glancing at it before nodding. “Reality integrity is at forty percent. When this city is abandoned, it will be between twenty and thirty percent. As Archons have ranged far and wide, the highest integrity we have accurately measured on Zeme is sixty percent.”

Tala nodded. I wonder what the world-fragment would be measured at.

-The stability we felt… It very well might be a hundred percent, or close to it.-

Yeah.

“Now,”—the older woman continued—“a brand new, manmade, artifact dimensional storage generally is measured at between ten and fifteen percent, and we’ve never recovered a side dimension measured below five percent.”

“That makes sense.” Tala pondered for a moment. “What about ether holds?”

Mistress Elnea grinned. “That is an astute question. There are two groups in that, in both cases the numbers come back in the twenty to thirty percent range. The odd thing is sometimes that reading is negative.”

Tala blinked. “What?”

“Exactly.”—the Council Head leaned forward, obviously getting excited about the topic—”We’ve tried quite a few different measurement methodologies, and it just seems that some ether holds have an oddly inverse relationship with reality that returns a negative number. Some have theorized that they are dimensional storages that broke apart and kept breaking, that they descended so far into chaos it began to look like order again, but that isn’t something that has ever really made much sense to me.”

“So, what does Kit read at?”

She glanced at the slate in her hand. “Twenty-three percent.”

That caused the two Constructionists to pause. “So… the integrity isn’t in danger?”

“Oh it is damaged, at least assuming that this type of storage has much in common with ether holds. They tend to begin to irrevocably break down at a higher percentage.”

Master Boma scratched the side of his nose. “So, more stable, but also more dependent on that stability.”

Master Queue nodded. “That would make a lot of sense. I also imagine that a larger dimensional pocket would be similarly more stable, and more dependent on that stability.”

Master Boma waved him off with a huff. “Don’t tell me you’re a ‘pocket Zeme’ believer.”

“You saw the memories we purchased access to. That very well might be true.”

Tala frowned. What?

-Mistress Ingrit has been following your wishes and negotiating for access to your information on your behalf. I have a record of what has been granted and to whom. It appears that these two have access to brief glimpses of the world-fragment, many of the holds you entered, and a very simplified look at the Doman-Imithe.-

Ahh, I was wondering if and when the Doman-Imithe would come up.

-Yes, Mistress Ingrit added a note about that, for us. Apparently, it is heavily ‘need to know.’ Though, as we came by the information on our own, we are not required to maintain silence. Even so, caution is advised if we wish to share the knowledge with anyone.-

Like so many other things.

-Yeah.-

The two Constructionists were starting to get heated, but they seemed to both realize the fact as they each took a step back, turning half away.

Mistress Elnea politely cleared her throat. “So, testing… Kit.”

Tala nodded, walking forward and placing the pouch on the ground, centered among the crates, before backing up to stand next to the half-wall back near the entrance.

She briefly glanced at the stack of papers and other odds and ends sitting on top of the wall before dismissing them as unimportant.

Masters Boma and Queue took up their positions, their magesights flaring to life.

Then, with a synchronized movement of their hands, the men gestured, and their power opened all the crates simultaneously.

Power radiated from each box, up and out into the room.

For a long moment, nothing happened.

Master Boma slumped slightly, grunting. “No obvious resonance.”

Tala sighed. “Come on, Kit.”

Master Queue was less pessimistic. “Come on, little storage. These are all here for you. Take your pick.”

A breath later, she felt like a deep cord had been struck, thrumming through the room as something shifted.

No one else seemed to noticed, but that seemed impossible.

-Tala. Is that…?-

Authority? Ownership? Her bonding of the dasgannach had given her a view into that esoteric side of magic, and that sight was trying to show her something, though she didn’t really understand what she was seeing.

Master Queue just gave Kit some authority over the items.

-And over this situation. But that doesn’t really make sense. The authority was there, before, or it should have been.-

But maybe not highlighted? Kit is a creature, it seems, but we don’t know how intelligent, not really. Maybe, Master Queue’s words were like telling someone that they’re welcome to a cookie that’s been on the plate near them?

-Sure, maybe?-

Then, her thoughts were interrupted as her own magesight showed her something that she’d only witnessed a handful of times when Kit devoured another dimension or item.

Power rose up from the pouch reaching out in every direction at once.

At the same time, Tala detected Kit expending massive amounts of power. Without even pausing to consider, she extended her aura toward Kit and funneled as many, large void-channels as she could into the pouch.

Every drop of magic she offered was slurped up with ravenous abandon.

Master Queue shouted, gesturing and causing his magic to slam the crates closed. Master Boma acted at the same time, but silently.

The lids obeyed, but dimensionality distorted, and the lids fell closed, only partially covering the now-much-larger openings.

Void power filled the room, radiating outward, but not actually interacting with most of the space.

Like a smith carrying a glowing bar of metal through the room to cast heat everywhere, even though the metal didn’t actually interact with anything, so it was with the void.

The four humans were all misted with void energy as Kit acted.