Millennial Mage

Tala blinked a few times as her eyes opened.

She was in the merging room as expected, and the scripts were gone, burned away to activate the magical integration.

In the center of the space rested Flow, alone.

Not alone. The dasgannach is in there too.

-The remnants of it. It was never really alive.-

That was an interesting thing that she hadn’t considered. Flow was a concept weapon now, at least partially.

Then, she felt like an idiot, because she’d seen that exact thing in the visions. Flow had laid claim to so, so much on her behalf. We’ll have to be more careful than ever, in the future.

-And get a new sheath that can specifically block that aspect as well. We don’t want to tear iron out of sparring partners.-

Agreed.

She lifted her hand and Flow crossed the distance to slap into her palm faster than it had ever moved before.

As it impacted, the massive amount of iron that had been carried along with it rolled into her hand and down her arm, spreading throughout her body, just beneath the surface of the physical world.

By the nature of soul-bond manipulation, there was no transfer of momentum from the weapon coming to her hand. That was an incredibly good thing because Tala felt like it would have thrown her across the room.

She shuddered as the ripple of increased weight rolled throughout her body before settling in and fading as her will began to manipulate it to remove the feel of extra mass.

“Mistress Tala?” Mistress Aurius had stood and was walking her way. “I didn’t receive permission to interfere. Did everything go well?”

“I think so? There were a couple of complications.” She began to explain the mistake of the biological iron still being bound to the dasgannach. “Does that mean I changed my body?”

Tala couldn’t help but brace for bad news.

Mistress Holly would probably flay her if she’d messed herself up even more fully.

“No, it does not appear so. The iron within you is shared between two of your soul-bonds which is unusual, but not unheard of. I do not detect any discernible alteration to your physical body.”

Tala let out a huge, relieved breath. “Oh, thank the stars.”

Mistress Aurius grinned. “Well, I will claim a bit of credit. I couldn’t have stopped the bond from leaking through but, because of your general circumstances, I added extra spiritual filtration, so that you could protect your body.”

“You knew this would happen?”

She tilted her head to the side. “Would? No. Could? Absolutely. All bonds are bound. It would have been foolish to assume that you would magically avoid alteration to your body without…”—she huffed a laugh—“without magical precautions.”

Tala felt herself smile, too. “Well then, thank you, Mistress Aurius.”

“It was my pleasure, Mistress Tala. I do apologize: it is so standard a feature to add in more advanced mergings that I didn’t think to highlight it. I am glad that you noticed the error and acted appropriately. Please feel free to reach out to me if you have any need of my expertise in the future.”

“I appreciate the offer, and I’ll remember it.”

Tala thanked Master Queue on the way out, and in less than twenty minutes of fast walking, Tala arrived at Mistress Holly’s shop.

She stepped inside and felt the expected magics brush her.

Tala didn’t hesitate, heading straight back to Mistress Holly’s work room, where the Inscriptionist awaited her.

“So, the merging was a success? I don’t detect any expanded splintering of your body.”

She nodded, then briefly explained how it had gone.

“Well… that is an obvious hangup, isn’t it.” Mistress Holly shook her head, then rubbed her temples. “That should have been taken more fully into account.”

Tala sat down on the chair off to one side, and Mistress Holly pulled over her customary stool.

“We will go back over the proposed Refining process with a fine-toothed comb and ensure that we have everything aligned as it should be.” Mistress Holly grimaced, shaking her head. “We are not used to considering iron or dasgannach, as neither have ever been factors before.”

“We have time. It will take a month for this merging to settle in, right?”

“That’s right. Blessedly, like most things, the Refining process is simple to execute, once you know what to do.”

Tala frowned. “Like most things?”

“Of course. Once you know how exactly something can be done, it is usually trivial to make it happen.”

“I don’t know if that is the case.”

“Then you probably don’t know exactly how the thing is done and have to rely on secondary processes.”

Tala opened her mouth to argue, but finally just shook her head. Not worth it.

-I’m excited to try out Flow.-

Yeah, me too. It’s hard to remember that what we saw was one branch of the potential that is now open before us, not what we can do immediately.

Unfortunately, like many things, experimentation would have to wait until after she Refined.

Mistress Holly folded her hands in her lap and smiled. “I’ll see you in a month, then. Please keep yourself intact until then?”

“I will do my best. Thank you, Mistress Holly.”

“Take care.”

* * *

Tala was exhausted. While her body wasn’t really worse off than it had been, the flaws and contamination was starting to make her feel noticeably less capable than she was used to.

Even so, the month had passed in a blur.

Lyn and Rane had done their best to help fill Tala’s time until her Refinement.

Rane had more free time, though he still went off to train daily. Towards that end, they explored the offerings of the playhouses of Bandfast, Lyn and even Kannis joining them for the afternoon or evening plays.

Mistress Aproa came along as well on occasion, and Mistress Odera even came with them once or twice.

They tried out every restaurant they could find in the city, and Alat helped supply a supplemental set of foods for Tala to eat afterwards to keep her consumption balanced.

Aside from a truly dizzying number of plays from the more than two dozen playhouses in the city, Tala and Rane practiced with the magical nest from the arcanes, as well as with the iron spheres that Master Jevin had given her so long ago.

They made it a bit of a game between them, testing themselves against each other, striving for mastery.

Finally, they filled their time with tafl.

Tala and Rane played an immense amount of tafl.

They began with a simple nine-by-nine board, altering who was the attacker and who defended.

In the end, they were battling across nineteen-by-nineteen boards, trading victories back and forth in uneven spurts.

They really hadn’t been keeping track, but with her memory—even without specifically counting—Tala knew that they were pretty evenly split.

Terry spent most of his time in Tala’s sanctum, or riding on her shoulders to the plays. He only tried to cheat at tafl a few times—flickering in and out quickly to move a piece—but Tala and Rane both sternly told him not to help them.

Tala tried not to think too deeply on the fact that Terry somehow seemed to have a better head for the game than either of them.

Alat brought it up fairly often though, so Tala wasn’t likely to forget.

The only real things of note that had happened during the month were: First, the first version of the teleportation array out of Kit was completed; it eviscerated a test rabbit.

Second, she’d met up with Master Nadro a couple of times, to continue talking through her experiences and working through her struggles.

Finally, Master Queue heard of her search for staff for her sanctum.

He put forward his own assistant, Master Simon, for the position.

Apparently, the man had always had a passion for cooking that his wife and children shared.

While he had ten children, four were at the academy and three more were out on their own in the world.

Thus, he would simply be bringing himself, his wife, and three youngest children.

Tala had liked Master Simon the few times that they’d interacted, and he was a consummate researcher and assistant. He came highly recommended and was actually at the end of his tenure with Master Queue. Thus, he was beginning to search for a new position, regardless.

Even so, she still wasn’t sure.

She had a dinner with his family planned in a week, and if that went well, they’d have another dinner within her sanctum sometime after.

But that wasn’t pressing at the moment.

At the moment, it was time to Refine.

Toward that end, Tala stood in a new-to-her room within the Archon Compound. It was much smaller than a merging chamber within the Constructionist’s Guildhalls, but it was similarly outfitted with iron on every surface, even the pedestal that rose up to her waist in the center was entirely wrought of iron.

Atop the pedestal was something that looked like nothing so much as a coffin.

Humans rarely buried their dead, and when they did, they were almost always cremated beforehand, regardless, but coffins were still used occasionally.

Tala had never seen one before.

It was made of a beautiful wood, and she had known immediately where it had come from when she’d seen it.

“Master Jevin really made this for me?”

Mistress Holly smiled and nodded. “He grew it from the tree, meticulously forging the inscriptions into the wood fibers.”

Just like in Makinaven, Tala could see that the individual fibers of wood had been grown into spellforms that were entirely alien, yet somehow comforting in their composition.

The Tala-sized box seemed to be precariously balanced on the iron pedestal, but Tala had looked underneath and seen that it was firmly attached.

During that same glance at the bottom, she’d been slightly concerned to see drain holes worked into the material at regular intervals. There were also drains in the slightly sloped floor of this chamber, which meant that their use wasn’t a unique feature of her Refining.

Still, she needed to do this. She needed to Refine.

“Is it stereotypical to say that I’m nervous but excited?”

Mistress Holly smiled comfortingly. “Not too stereotypical, no.”

Tala smiled in return. “What can I expect again?”

The Inscriptionist nodded. “A refresher is wise; you are right to ask. You will strip, leaving all your items—even your soulbound ones—on that shelf there.” She pointed to an iron shelf off to one side. “You will then be closed within the box.”

Tala nodded along, moving towards the indicated shelf.

“Once inside, you will place your hands on the requisite activation places and open yourself to the inscriptions, providing them with as much power as you can. You read the book?”

“Absolutely. I appreciate the triple check.” Mistress Holly had provided her with a book detailing exactly what the Refining would do, even if Tala didn’t really understand the results.

That was fine. It was akin to knowing that punching a wolf’s head could cause a messy explosion without really knowing what the end results of that explosion would be.

“I read it several times to be sure.”

“Good, good. Being sure is paramount, here. Make sure to leave your iron within Flow.”

Tala already had moved the metal to her weapon, so she simply nodded again.

“Then, that’s it. You’ll have activated the scripts, and you won’t be able to stop the process.”

“The test phase?”

“Yes, the test phase will confirm the concepts of the process. If it fails, it will stop the process. You will not have control.”

“Right, right.” Tala shuffled her feet.

“Your body will be purged of imperfections at every level.”

“Which won’t include my inscriptions because they are perfect.” Tala gave the older woman a half-smile.

Mistress Holly chuckled. “Flattery aside, yes. They are magically aligned and form a template around which the magic will function. In essence, this process corrects the imbalance between how you believe your body works, and how it actually does.”

“I still don’t understand why a foundation in biology and physiology isn’t required.” Tala groused. She had that knowledge, and she had been flabbergasted when Rane had told her he hadn’t been asked to learn it.

“I’ve explained a dozen times: The important thing is that you don’t have any incorrect understandings, generally. The point is to align your body with what you believe about your body. If you believed that you were missing a toe, this would remove that toe. You wouldn’t need to know the name of the bones in that phalange to make it happen.”

“Because my magic repairs my body according to my understanding.”

“Precisely.”

“And it also perfects me?”

“Refines yes. You won’t be perfect, but in the colloquial sense, yes.”

“And a teleportation doesn’t do this because…”

The Inscriptionist sighed. “Because you are rebuilt based upon your soul, not your mind, when you teleport.”

“Right, right.” Tala glanced at the box again. The drain holes weren’t ominous at all…

“You have filled your reserves, correct?”

“You know that I have.” It had actually been a bit of a chore to eat enough over the last month, given how her ability to store nutrients and calories had grown.

“Good. That is the main reason why most people have to do this in multiple blocks.”

“Which I cannot do because the disjointment would kill me.”

“Precisely.” Mistress Holly smiled, but Tala could see tension in the woman’s eyes.

“Are you alright, Mistress Holly?”

“I am, dear girl.” She patted Tala on the shoulder. “You will be too. Do you require assistance, or do you wish for me to stay in the room?”

Tala glanced at the coffin-like creation. “Will it bear up under me hopping up into it?”

“Yes. It should bear up to you punching it with all your strength even at the most cantilevered ends, but I wouldn’t recommend it.”

“Then, I think I will be alright.”

“As you wish. I will await you just outside the door.” She hesitated. “Do you have anything you wish me to say to anyone if… if it doesn’t go well?”

Tala felt a chill run through her. That was the largest admission of uncertainty that she’d ever heard from Mistress Holly. “No. I will see you on the other side.”

Without another word, Mistress Holly closed the door behind herself as she left.

Tala took a deep breath and let it out carefully.

-Everything will be alright, Tala.-

That’s easy for you to say. You don’t have to experience this directly.

-And I am infinitely grateful for that. Thank you.-

Tala checked once again to ensure that she had moved all her non-biological iron into Flow before setting it on the shelf.

The metal of the shelf creaked under the load, so Tala pushed Flow to the back of the flat surface before adding Kit beside it.

After that, she pulled off her through spike and stuck it into Kit.

Finally, she forced her Archive link to manifest as the ring and took it off, placing it on the shelf as well.

She was still connected to the Archive while it remained in the room with her, but she couldn’t take it into the box without risking the process.

Next, she retracted her elk-leathers into a bracelet, which she removed and set beside the ring, pouch, and knife.

And that was it.

That was all she owned in the world.

-Don’t be melodramatic, Tala. There’s an entire estate within that pouch.-

Tala huffed a laugh. True enough.

With an easy hop, Tala jumped up and landed inside the box. Despite Mistress Holly’s reassurances, Tala was careful to land where the box was held up and supported by the pillar, beneath.

After another deep breath, Tala stretched out within the wooden construction before reaching and closing the lid over herself.

It sealed with a resounding click.

She easily sensed where her hands should go, and she rested them down on the contact points.

-Ready?-

As I’ll ever be.

She forged a pair of void-channels as large as she could create—capturing virtually her entire power flow—and directed one out through each hand, into the waiting inscriptions.

Power slowly filled the spellforms around her, and the wooden box began to glow to her magesight. A moment later, it began to emit light visible to mundane sight as well.

Finally, there was enough power within for the first scripts to activate.

A pulse of power slammed into her uniformly from all sides at once.

Her hair was reduced to dust across her entire body, and she felt like every dead skin-cell was vaporized at the same time.

It rendered her instantly raw and oversensitive, and she tried not to shift.

The next pulse slammed into her, and several layers of skin vanished.

The pain was incredible, and she grunted and grimaced, trying to bear it.

Her regenerative scripts tried to activate to restore her, but they were suddenly, utterly suppressed, the magic of the Refining box superceding everything else.

Blessedly, the next pulse caused fresh skin to blossom across her body, replacing what had been removed.

That didn’t last, however.

The next wave obliterated the new skin and all that was underneath.

Tala shrieked at the shock of it.

There was actually very little pain, however, since her nerve endings were simply gone.

She knew that blood was flowing freely from her, though she couldn’t feel it.

The lack of pain was incredibly disconcerting.

Then, the magics radiating from the box changed, and she felt her left hand be gripped with incredible pressure.

It wasn’t like being locked in a vice, as she could still move her fingers freely, at least based on the kinesthetic feedback she was getting.

Instead, it was a grip on a deeper level.

Her left hand was the test case.

Alright, Tala. You can do this. Just breathe.

As that pressure increased, she felt the bones in her hand splinter, even while they were held in shape.

That hurt, and she screamed again, jerking her hand away from the contact point.

It didn’t matter; the magic still flowed. The scripts were such that once the connection was made, it could not be stopped by her, and so the pressure increased.

Her bones ground together, turning to powder, all the while staying in the exact form that they needed to be in.

Her soft tissue was next, being emulsified in place even as the pressure increased.

Tala didn’t really have time to consider the oddity of her bones breaking down first, as the pain continued to build.

Then, when it reached almost unbearable levels, she heard a new, heavier dripping and strained to see her hand.

Something darker than blood, thick and rancid was being squeezed out of her hand.

She barely held in a scream, as she tried not to gag at the stench.

Hold it together, Tala. This is just the test section. The rest of you has to be done in one go.

They had set it up this way, so that, worst case scenario, they only ruined her left hand, and she was trying to distract herself by going over the same information again and again.

Unless this is wrong?

It felt wrong.

What if this is wrong?

-Tala. Calm down.-

Tala ignored Alat and pounded on the lid with her right hand, suddenly frantic. “Hello? This isn’t right!”

She’d known there would be a stripping away. She’d known there would be the pressure and expulsion of impurities. She’d even known that this was but the first of quite a few steps.

Even so, she had not known it would be like this.

“LET ME OUT!” She pounded harder, but to no avail.

Finally, desperately, she punched the lid as hard as she could with her right hand, but Master Jevin did good work, and Mistress Holly had been correct.

The wood didn’t mar in the slightest beneath her blow.

Suddenly, the pressure gripped her entire body, and Tala’s panic grew.

No, no, no! She couldn’t take this. She needed it to stop.

But it wouldn’t stop.

The pressure built, and her body was slowly eviscerated in place.

Tala was no longer screaming as she no longer had the intact parts to scream.

Blood and the putrid black sludge flowed from the coffin in equal measure as silence fell in the room, and the unalterable scripts continued to enact their magics without end.