Millennial Mage

Tala followed Jenna into the room on the other side of the hallway, rubbing her nose after the impact with the stone wall.

Honestly, Tala was a bit irritated by the incident. “Was that necessary?”

Jenna shrugged. “Necessary? No. That said, it was entertaining; it lightened the mood; it conveys an important lesson; and I’m tired. You woke me up.”

“I thought you said you had a long night.”

“I did, then I finally got to sleep, and…” She cocked an eyebrow and gestured to Tala.

“And I woke you up.”

“And you woke me up.”

“My apologies.”

Jenna waved that off. “Nonsense. It was better to happen in the middle of the night than in the middle of the day.”

“That is what I had hoped.” Tala finally looked around the plain room. Aside from two chairs, most of the space was filled by a huge black box. “What was the lesson?”

Jenna walked in and sat in one of the chairs, Tala following and taking the other.

“Don’t always trust those in authority, or with power, over you.”

It was Tala’s turn to cock an eyebrow. “Look at me, Mistress Jenna. What part of this came from following the dictates of authority.”

“Yes, child, you are very rebellious. Good for you.”

“That’s just insulting.”

Jenna hesitated. “It was, wasn’t it.” She tapped her own jawline a few times, then shrugged. “I apologize. I did not intend to insult, but the point is still valid.”

“Which is?”

She sighed. “You seem to treat people either with complete and utter trust, or complete and utter contempt.”

Tala opened her mouth to protest, but Jenna raised her hand to stop her.

“I don’t mean in the sense that you hate them, simply with how you treat their words, advice, and instructions.”

Tala closed her mouth and considered what the other woman had said. Is that true? Do I consider the source more important than the content? The more she thought about it, the more she thought it was true. Rust.

The older woman glanced at the still open door and gestured, closing it, though Tala didn’t see any power connect her to the door.

Alright. That’s interesting. At that point, she finally took a good look at Jenna.

While Tala knew that the other woman was older, likely by centuries, Tala would have placed her in her early thirties. Yet more evidence that I am horrible at judging the ages of Mages.

She had dark red hair, falling in big curls around her shoulders without poofing up on the top of her head overmuch. She was short, shorter than Tala even, and curvy. The woman was fit, as all Mages tended to be, and she had an almost aggressive tone to her stance and manner of movements, as if she was ready to come out ahead in any interaction, whether verbal, martial, or magical.

Jenna wasn’t visibly armed, but that meant little, except that she didn’t wish to look armed.

She wore very traditional Mage’s robes of some sort of black silk with bronze swirls and no visible clasps. From the toes Tala caught a glimpse of, the Archon wore simple, black leather slippers.

Tala’s examination of the Reforged had been quick, barely a glance, but she’d clearly noticed, though she seemed disinclined to comment on it.

Instead, Jenna simply lounged back in her chair. “So, your look isn’t actually that great of an issue. We can fix that with any number of little artifacts. The real problem that we should discuss is how you appear to passive scans.”

“Couldn’t I use something like a collar for arcanous animals?”

“What? No.” Jenna gave Tala a searching look. “You know how those work, right?” She glanced to Terry. “I’d have thought that you did.”

“Of course, I do.” Tala felt vaguely insulted. “They change the magical signature of the wearer to one that won’t trigger the defenses.”

“Ahh, so you understand, you just didn’t think it through.”

“What?”

Jenna shook her head. “You are a clever girl, and I do mean that. So, you tell me.”

Tala took a moment to think and realized the issue. “I’ve basically no magical signature to alter.”

“Precisely.” Jenna nodded in approval.

“So, what can we do?”

“The simplest would be to have a breach in your iron layer, so that scans could penetrate through and get a good look at you, but that is unideal for many reasons.”

Tala nodded.

“We could give you a beacon that would effectively give you a false magical signature, that might work.”

“But, isn’t that dangerous? Couldn’t it be taken and used for nefarious purposes?”

“Possibly? But as it wouldn’t suppress anything about you, just give off the magical signature, someone else using it would appear pregnant.” Jenna grinned. “They’d look like they were pregnant with an Archon at that. So, it would be pretty obvious that it was being misused.”

“Pregnant?”

“Two magical signatures in one body. I know it’s late, child, but you really should think a bit more before asking questions.”

Tala shrunk in on herself, feeling her cheeks heat.

“Now, now, don’t do that. An admonition to be better should not be seen as a reprimand.”

Tala sat up straighter, feeling somewhat irritated by the woman. “Oh? And should I thank you for the rebuke?”

“Don’t be childish. If I thought you an idiot, I wouldn’t say anything. Use that mind of yours. It was incredibly capable even before it was enhanced. I’ve seen your record. You are better than these lazy questions.”

Tala felt anger build within her, but she grabbed ahold of the emotion and bent it to her will and smiled. “I didn’t know that pregnant women showed two signatures.”

Jenna cocked an eyebrow, then shrugged. “I suppose most probably don’t go investigating that type of thing very often, and it’s subtle, as they are usually close mirrors of each other.” She smiled again. “That’s why having your signature, or one like it, overtop anyone else’s would stand out so starkly.”

“That does make sense.”

“Now, we’re getting rather off track. Do you want one that looks like you, magically, or just one that will keep Guild and Archon facilities from reacting poorly?”

“Why would I need a custom one?”

“Well, there are two types of custom ones we could create, and they each have different uses, aside from the main one, which all have in common.”

Tala waited for her to continue.

Jenna pulled a teacup from the air and took a sip of the steaming liquid before placing it back into, well, nowhere. “My apologies, I am still a bit scattered. Where was I?”

“The two types of custom magic beacons?”

“Right! Yes. The first, mimics how you are, now, and will always be exactly that, unchanging. It is useful for static defenses and-or locks, which have been created based on how you are now, but that is almost like creating a key that anyone can use for those, however. So, we don’t usually recommend that one without other, extenuating circumstances. The second is basically a constant mirror of how you should look, just much, much fainter. That allows your current signature to be used for…well, everything as it normally would be.”

“How would that be accomplished?”

“In your case, I believe that the easiest way is with a through-spike. I would also recommend it as the best solution.”

“A what?”

“A through-spike is an artifact that looks a bit like a very, very, minutely small grommet. We would tap it in place and remove the center. Your power would then have an outlet, but the through-spike would only let through the barest fraction of a percent of the power, taking from that to color your skin back to your natural shade, and render its texture back to looking like flesh, instead of dried paint. It would, of course, be a magical effect, so anything that could disrupt your magic would reveal your actual appearance, and anyone with roughly your magical weight or greater, looking at you with their mage-sight might be able to see through it.”

“Might? Why only might?”

Jenna paused to consider, taking another sip from her teacup as she did so. “Well, the spell-forms are highlighted by the Mage’s aura radiating from behind them. The through-spike causes your aura to radiate out from in-front of the spell-lines, acting more as a mask than a spotlight.” She frowned. “That wasn’t well explained.”

“Even so, I think I understand.” Even as Tala said that, she felt herself flinch internally, expecting Jenna to rebuke her, and tell her that she couldn’t possibly understand.

Instead, Jenna simply nodded. “Good. It’s an esoteric concept, but not really a hard one.” She huffed a short laugh. “Any other thoughts?”

“Yes, actually. Why are my eyes and mouth not sufficient?”

“Excellent question, actually. Passive scans don’t look for any instance of human power, otherwise an enemy could just hold a human made item and be done with it. The scans look for the magic given off by a creature.”

“My aura.”

“More or less, yes. But aura is more a function of soul than magic, and passive scans are notoriously bad at making judgment calls based on souls. So, we design them to look at the magical portion of a Mage’s aura.”

“Which my iron blocks, even though I have some power leakage from my eyes and mouth.”

“Exactly. Incidentally, even those points of ‘leakage’ as you put it, are minute to what they really should be, given your build up of internal power. Your aura control is ridiculously excellent for such a new Archon.”

Tala smiled at the complement. “Mistress Odera gave me some good pointers, and Master Jevin helped me quite a bit.”

“Ahh, I’ve heard good things about Mistress Odera. She is making quite interesting strides in the study of Archon stars. It’s a shame she isn’t suited for advancement. And Jevin? He does take an interest in the Mages in his realm of influence. I’m glad for your extended stay there, though the circumstances were hardly ideal.” She took another sip of her tea. “But we’re off topic once again. Do you have further thoughts?”

Tala considered, then nodded. “Yes. The through-spike seems… very specifically tailored to me. And as a solution, I should be able to see through them with relative ease, too. So, that doesn’t actually explain why I haven’t seen non-human looking Archons about.”

Jenna waved that away. “I said this was the best solution for you, child, not the best solution for everyone. Even the manner of this solution would be tailored to you. Others would have their hair or eye color changed, or the three dimensional texture of their skin, rather than the texture as regards to light, or they might need to have certain bodily proportions masked. Though, those would usually be on a different style of artifact. Through-spikes are generally only used for this when paired with things like living armor or Archons who have reached a level of aura hardening so as to present similar to how you do now.”

“You can do this with aura control, alone?” Tala gestured at herself. Then, she hesitated. “Wait. Living armor?

“I’ll address the first question first: No, child. Some can look like that. They do not get the same, multiplicative benefits that you do. Honestly, if you work out as I hope, we may try to steer more Academy students towards your style of body enhancements and flavor of offensive powers. Mistress Holly has hinted that your gravity manipulation could be swapped out for all sorts of abilities, depending on the student.”

Tala didn’t really know what to say to that.

“There would be requirements, of course, and drawbacks. We cannot rule out that your inscriptions were part of the cause of the… fervor with which the Leshkin pursued your caravan. We’ll have to test that theory, though, before we raise up a generation with that handicap.”

Jenna looked to Tala and seemed to notice something on the younger woman’s face.

“But I’m rambling. Your second, mostly implied question: Living armor.”

Tala leaned forwards.

“It’s nothing more than what you are wearing right now. Though, obviously, what you have is not the breadth of all possibilities. It is armor that self-repairs and protects the wearer in some manner. Some have bound creatures to serve in that capacity, though it rarely works very well, because either the creatures are very solid, physically, and therefore it is gruesome to manipulate them to be able to be worn, or they are more flexible, and therefore are less good at being armor.” She shrugged. “What you have, with imbued magical defense, is the accepted, best practice.”

“But, why would this require a through-spike?”

“If you merged it with a being, harvest, or item capable of complete magical isolation, in one form or another.”

“Ahh, that makes sense.”

“Now, as lovely as this conversation is, would a through-spike meet with your satisfaction as a solution to the current issue?”

Tala shrugged. “I honestly have no idea, but from what you’ve conveyed, it seems like exactly what I need.”

“Wonderful. Now, such things aren’t free.”

Tala glowered.

Jenna laughed. “I’m not going to up-charge you, child. I remember how tight money can be in the early years, even with as lucrative a career as you’ve chosen, not to mention the secondary role, and your other side ventures. We only ask for a reimbursement of our costs. We don’t even charge you for my time in consulting. I promise you: You couldn’t afford me, even with a loan.” She gave a mirthful wink.

Tala sighed. “How much?”

“One gold.”

She scrunched up her face but nodded. “That’s fair; I suppose.”

Jenna handed over a tablet with the transaction.

After Tala confirmed it, Jenna changed what was displayed.

“Here are the places that Mistress Holly said you could have the through-spike implanted, without it interfering with any of your inscriptions. I’m partial to inside the nose but some find that disturbing. Below is a text overview that will explain it clearly enough that you should be able to power the device. I’ll give you a booklet with more details before you go, so you can improve efficiency at your leisure.”

Tala looked over the available options, read the description, and sighed. “I’ll take this one.” She pointed to the illustration of the back of her neck, roughly half-way between Alat’s core spell-lines and her gate. “I think this will be the least obtrusive. Why wouldn’t my regeneration push it out?”

“Your body will push out foreign substances that are embedded into your skin. That is magically enhanced. The through-spike will match your magical signature from the moment of true activation, so it won’t be rejected.”

“I hadn’t considered that side of it. It makes sense.”

“I’m glad I could explain satisfactorily. Now, are you ready?”

“As I’ll ever be. Let’s do this.”

“As you wish.” Jenna reached out to pat Tala on the shoulder.

Tala felt strangely warmed by the gesture, but at the last moment, the woman’s hand moved with a quick flick, and Tala felt the smallest little sting on the back of her neck, more like a poke than a puncture. She glared for a quick instant, before letting the expression fall away and sighing again, shaking her head. “You could have just told me.”

“I couldn’t have you even subconsciously resisting, or it wouldn’t have taken hold.”

“And my noticing and trying to flinch away?”

“Yes, your perceptual and reactive speeds were greater than I was counting on, but it doesn’t seem to have negatively affected the device.”

Tala opened her mouth to ask if it had worked, then simply glanced down at her hands. They looked perfectly ordinary to her mundane eyes.

Her mage-sight showed her lines of power weaving through the air just outside her body-paint, subtly altering the light as it bounced off of her. Over that, she felt like she was looking at her naked power, unobstructed by inscriptions or workings, though it was much dimmer than she’d have expected.

Tala grunted. “Seems to have worked.”

“Indeed.”

Tala considered for a moment. “This wasn’t developed for disguise creation, was it? If the illusion were replaced with a defense of some kind, then that defense would be devilishly hard to detect.”

Jenna’s features morphed into a wide, genuine smile. “Well considered. The through-spike’s original purpose was the generation of additional defense while letting your magical signature through and appear normally distributed. Sadly, through-spikes tend to interfere with one another. One day, when you no longer need an illusory one, you might want to look into the defensive variety.”

“I definitely will. Thank you.”

As they stood to go, Jenna handed Tala a little booklet. “For your reading, when you have time.”

Tala took it with a smile, then glanced at the large black box that had been sitting next to them through the entire conversation.

“What is that, by the way.”

Jenna froze, eyes widening just slightly. “You can see that?”

Tala looked between the woman and the black box. “Obviously. There’s no magic to it, but it’s a big black box. My eyes work just fine.”

“No human should be able to see that box.”

Tala hesitated, sighed, and rolled her eyes. “You’re trying to mess with me again, aren’t you?”

Jenna paused, then shrugged. “I laid it on too thick?”

“Just a little, yeah.”

“Fine.”

After a moment’s silence, Tala cleared her throat. “So, what does it do?”

“What does what do?”

Tala felt her eye twitch. “The black box.”

“The what?”

Her face heated in irritation. “The black box that we were just-” Then, she stopped herself and took a long, deep breath.

Jenna grinned. “That was much better. Thank you for the feedback.”

“You’re not going to tell me.” It wasn’t a question.

“Tell you what?”

Tala closed her mouth, bowed to the woman, and turned to leave.

“Oh, Mistress Tala?”

She paused and looked back. “Yes, Mistress Jenna?”

“Don’t paint over the through-spike, please. That would rather defeat the purpose, and I don’t actually know what having those magics trapped and reflected back into you would do.”

“Thank you for the warning, Mistress. Good day to you.”

“And to you.”