Millennial Mage

Tala exited the Archon Compound, Terry on her shoulder, looking more normal than she had in a long time.

Except that I’m barefoot in the snow. Yeah, that was telling. She felt a smile pulling at her lips.

With a thought, she dove into her elk-leathers and gave power to the path which would give her shoes.

She lifted up each foot just a bit as the tendrils grew out of her pants leg around the foot and filled in. After that, the shoes disconnected from the pants, seemingly separate pieces of clothing.

There. Now, I don’t look quite so odd.

She wasn’t wearing a coat, and it was actively snowing. She sighed.

And it’s coming up on five o’clock in the morning. She really shouldn’t be out and about if she was any sort of normal.

Good thing almost no one will be out and about to see me.

The snowfall wasn’t nearly blizzard proportions, but it was steady and far from sparse.

White flakes drifted down through the nearly completely still air. A silence of a type utterly unique to new-fallen snow blanketed the city.

Tala felt a warmth in her chest at the environment and decided to go for a walk through this seemingly private winter wonderland.

Terry occasionally shook himself free of snow and flickered to grab all the jerky that Tala tossed for him, but otherwise was content to rest on her shoulder.

The streetlights were thoughtfully spaced but dimmed in truth due to the late hour and to the human eye by the steadily falling snow.

Still, Tala had no trouble whatsoever. In fact, she found that it helped offset the earlier wrongness that she’d felt during her trip to the Compound, early that night.

As she walked, she didn’t really have a destination. She just strolled and thought.

She wondered about her family, about her brothers and sisters.

When she tried, to her shock, she realized that she couldn’t bring their faces to mind.

That’s not right. I have a perfect memory now. But she hadn’t seen them in seven years, and she hadn’t had her inscriptions then.

I can perfectly recall my imperfect recollection. It was a sick joke.

She had already decided to go resolve things with them.

But what does that mean?

It would certainly involve some exchange of words.

What should I even say to them? She didn’t know.

She ran a thousand scenarios through her head but had no reason to believe that any one of them was more plausible than another.

-Ding-

-Memory recovery complete.-

Alat?

-Tala, these two are…heavy. And I found a few others besides.-

Let me sit down.

-I don’t know, what you’re already thinking about is pretty important.- There was a slight hesitation. -Oh, you’ve been up to some fun things. I like Jenna, and I like the increases I’m feeling from this new body paint.-

Nonsense, you’re getting off track. I need to know what memories were taken. She moved over to a nearby park and found a bench, clearing it of snow before settling down. I’m ready.

-Alright, lighter ones, first.-

Tala was then forced to relive some of her worst memories of her time at the Academy, as well as her departure.

I had suppressed my memory of arriving naked on purpose.

-Yes, but it qualified as one of the memories you commanded I search for.-

I really should track down Phoen. She was kind to me, and I never thanked her properly.

-That would be the civil thing to do.-

That settled, Tala closed her eyes and was treated to a few flickers of her more reckless decisions since graduation, and she felt quite a bit of embarrassment for how foolishly she’d acted. Well, if you look upon your past actions with shame, it shows that you’ve grown, right?

-That sounds like something embarrassing people tell themselves to feel better.-

You’re kind of a jerk.

-I am literally you.-

Fine. I’m kind of a jerk.

-Recognizing the issue is half the battle, or something like that. This is character growth in action.-

Tala narrowed her eyes, but had no one to direct her ire filled gaze at, at least not externally. You’re stalling.

There was some hesitation, then, finally, Alat sighed within her head. -Yeah, I am. This isn’t great.-

Well, let’s get it over with. Tala swallowed to wet her dry lips and closed her eyes.

-As you wish.-

* * *

Tala was in Bandfast, a short walk from the teleportation tower.

As her eyes scanned those she passed, she was able to pick out the occasional Mage by their bearing and fluid manner of movement, not to mention the spell-lines evident across their exposed skin. Most also wore Mage’s robes, but not all.

To her surprise, she also saw an arcane, a humanoid arcanous creature.

What had caught her attention at first was the leather collar he wore, though it was tucked low, almost entirely hidden by his shirt’s collar. As she’d looked closer, ensuring that her eyes hadn’t deceived her and that it wasn’t just an odd fashion choice, he’d turned to regard her. She hadn’t noticed his gaze until after she’d seen the metallic spell-lines on the leather collar.

When she had felt his gaze, her eyes flicked up, meeting his, and she felt frozen to the spot.

His eyes were blood.

No comparison holds the weight of truth save to say that his eyes were spheres of fresh, liquid blood, unbroken save small circular scabs in place of pupils.

Tala swallowed involuntarily. He’s looking at me. She tried to smile politely and turn away, but she found she couldn’t force herself to turn.

Around his eyes, true-black, smooth skin forced the orbs into starker contrast, making their deep shades seem almost to glow. Subtle hints of gray lines ran under that skin in patterns very like spell-lines but somehow utterly different, like seeing her own language written with a phonetic alphabet. The concepts seemed familiar, while remaining utterly opaque to her interpretation.

She tried to turn away, again, and actually felt resistance, like she was fighting herself. A tingle of her own power, emanating from her keystone, preceded the answer: Allure. He’s somehow manipulating the conceptual nature of reality, forcing my attention to remain locked on him.

As an Immaterial Mage, she could work with non-substance aspects of the world, such as gravity, dimensionality, and molecular cohesion, but warping the magnitude of concepts? That…that had disturbing implications.

As if in response to her thoughts, a different set of lines seemed to flicker into prominence around those wounding eyes, and she found herself turning away in confusion. What is wrong with me? I stare at something I’ve never seen before and suddenly insist that it must be Magic?

She shook her head at her own foolishness. Then, another prickle rippled out from her keystone, a subtle warning, and she froze. Conceptual manipulation…would the concept of believability count? She spun, her eyes ripping across the crowds, trying desperately to find the arcane once more. She had the flickering impression of an amused smile, but nothing more.

After another few moments of frenzied searching, she was left with a subtle, low-level itch from her keystone and the growing concern that she’d somehow imagined the brief encounter. I…I need to get to the Caravanner’s Guild.

* * *

Tala gasped, coming out of the memory. Oh, rust. Her whole body was shaking.

-I know, right?-

She’d known that something had messed with her mind on an intellectual level, but she’d never really faced the reality of it, nor even tried to imagine what her attacker had looked like. Now she had a visage for her nightmares.

Why was that memory so much clearer than the others? She could still see those eyes of blood, feel them upon her as if they were watching her even now. Though, she knew that wasn’t the case.

-You were inscribed within days of that event, so it had the power and spell-workings to be set in place.-

Why couldn’t I remember it, if it was stored so clearly in my mind? What did that monster do to her?

-It was surrounded by a haze of unreality.-

That makes no sense. Tala pulled out some jerky for herself and Terry, desperate for some form of normalcy, then started preparing tea for herself on the park bench. Don’t think about it. Don’t think about it.

-That’s not going to work, Tala. As to the unreality: That’s the quality that your mind uses to surround daydreams and nightmares. Otherwise, you’d lose your grip on reality, and start thinking that your dreams, or fantasies, actually happened.-

That did make some sense, even if she didn’t really like it. But I can recall my dreams if I really want to.

-Ahh, but part of what was done prevented you from really wanting to.-

Tala swallowed again. Alat was right. Even Alat’s reticence to show them to her might be some lingering aspect of those magical effects.

-The next one is longer. Is now a good time? I think it should be now.-

Absolutely not. I assume it’s from the caravan trip to Makinaven? Tala hesitated. There aren’t any others, are there?

-No, there aren’t any others. Our mind is free of that creature beyond those two incidents.-

Shouldn’t we remember any time we came in contact with the Culinary Guild’s magics?

-Nope.-

But…oh, right. Their magics make them uninteresting, so I never focused on them to begin with. The arcane was irrevocably interesting, so he had to suppress the memory in some other manner.

-Precisely. Wow, talking with Jenna really caused you to think things through, more.-

Tala glowered again, pouring her tea and tucking away the supplies that she’d used to make it. In either case, I don’t really want to relive another memory of him right now.

-Well, tough. You need full context when you report.-

Really? She felt a bit of exasperation. Why had Alat even asked if she was just going to force the memory through regardless?

-Yes.-

Tala huffed a bit, then let out a nervous laugh. I suppose there’s no sense in arguing with myself. Let’s do this.

She swallowed her fear, along with some tea, and closed her eyes.

* * *

Tala sat atop the cargo-slot wagon, in the open plains just south of Bandfast. Most of the caravan was asleep, and it had been a long day.

She took her time, finishing her third, miniature chicken pot pie. The hot food allowed her to relax just a bit more as she kept her gaze moving over their surroundings. What a day. I’ll need to thank the head cook for this, too.

“You know: You humans are so…fragile.”

Tala whipped around, staring at the figure standing on the other end of the wagon top.

What caught her attention at first, aside from someone suddenly appearing behind her in the wilds, was that his eyes were blood.

No comparison held the weight of truth, save to say that his eyes were spheres of fresh, liquid blood, unbroken save small circular scabs in place of pupils.

Meeting that gaze, she felt frozen to the spot.

Around his eyes, true-black, smooth skin forced the orbs into stark contrast, making their deep shades seem almost to glow. Subtle hints of grey lines ran under that skin in patterns very like spell-lines but somehow utterly different, like seeing her own language written with phonetic alphabet. The concepts seemed familiar, while remaining utterly opaque to her interpretation.

Why does he look familiar? Her mage-sight was screaming at her, and she finally registered what it was saying. He doesn’t have a gate.

Instead, he was drawing in power from the surrounding air and burning it within himself. The ratios were incredibly off kilter. He was using massively more than he could draw in from the relatively magic-poor air.

“I saw your beacon of power. Thank you for that. I’d have hated to miss your departure.” He smiled, his perfectly white teeth flashing in the fading light. “I love your eyes, by the way. You definitely lived up to the potential I saw in you.” He shook his head and clucked his tongue, once. “That said, I must admit, I misjudged you.” His voice had a strange resonance, a clarity like a trumpet sounding on a frozen winter’s morning.

“Do I know you?”

He laughed lightly, a sound like a steep mountain stream, splattered in flesh and burbling with blood.

How can someone even make that sound?

“We met, briefly.” He gave a half-smile. “I’d thought you would be reckless enough to profit me.” He glanced away, seeming to be trying to catch sight of something in the distance, to the north.

“You think I’m not reckless enough?” That thought broke through the odd, strange horror of the situation.

He refocused on her. “Hmm? No. You are, if anything, more reckless than I’d thought, but for some reason, you aren’t reckless on things that matter.”

“I’m…sorry?” She definitely felt the overwhelming desire to apologize properly, to abase herself, but resisted. I should be sorry for inconveniencing this creature. Why am I resisting?

He waved dismissively. “I’m just trying to decide if it would be worth breaking the bond between your body and soul.”

Tala instantly had Flow in her hand, three void-channels holding it strongly in the form of a sword. “You will not.” She was utterly certain of that.

Does the bond really matter? What was happening to her thoughts?

The light of day was fading quickly, but at that moment, sunlight stabbed through distant clouds to brightly illuminate those directly overhead, bathing the two figures, standing atop the cargo wagon, in reflected light. In that new illumiation, the silver-ine lines on the being’s skin came into greater view. He was frowning. “Oh, don’t be tiresome. Your only task here is to let me pick your brain, to answer my questions so I can make a properly informed decision.” He leaned forward just slightly, looking her up and down, slowly. “That is a fascinating Way, you’re using, there. It looks like it lacerated your soul as you learned it.” He laughed again, and Tala found her grip weakening. “Some scars can be useful, I suppose.”

Why would I want to hurt such a being? She shook her head, detecting the subtle pressure on her mind. How? The scripts around her eyes were guzzling power, trying to keep something out, and they were failing. Wait, why hasn’t anyone else noticed him?

She tore her eyes away and looked around. She was horrified to see that every creature in sight was frozen in place, whether human, ox, horse, or Terry. By their slight swaying and blank expressions, it appeared that they were somehow being subdued in a nonsensical state rather than physically restrained by some means.

Tala closed her eyes, then, and felt her thoughts clear. He was getting in through my eyes. Were her palms going to be an issue? She desperately hoped not, and clenched her hands into tighter fists, Flow firmly locked in her right hand.

“What is this? You are thinking on your own volition?” Light steps sounded as the being approached.

Tala struck out blindly with Flow and heard a sharp, hissing intake of breath.

“How can you attack me?”

Tala dropped into a defensive stance, bracing herself as well as she could for attacks from an unknown direction.

“You dare? I gave you the form you need, the path to power, the path to become useful, and you take it for yourself, for your own use. I come to talk, and you choose violence?”

Her head snapped to the side as she was struck with a blow that would have felled one of the caravan’s oxen.

Tala rolled with the hit, moving the bare minimum to orient on her attacker, sweeping Flow in a covering circle to cut at whatever had hit her.

“No. You are different than before. You have done things to yourself. Yours is not a useful insanity. This cannot be allowed.” There was a finality to the statement.

Tala didn’t even register the hit, before she was airborne.

As expected, she came down faster than anything on this world had any right to, and she skipped across the plains, her body digging furrows in the soil with each skipping impact. Her ending-berry power was running dangerously low.

She almost smiled as she was reminded of her ‘fight’ with the cyclops. But Grediv wasn’t here to take advantage of the distraction she provided this time. She was on her own.

I can’t fight like this. I have to risk it. Her eyes snapped open, and she oriented herself, vaulting back to her feet, spinning in a circle until she saw the caravan in the near distance, a figure standing on the cargo wagon’s top.

He was more of a beacon than Tala had been with all her void-channels dumping power outward.

The aura underlying the power was a deep, green-blue.

Rust me to slag. How had she not noticed that earlier?

With each passing moment, however, the aura was shifting more towards green.

He’s losing power by the second.I just need to outlast him. She didn’t need her eyes open to do that. Before she could close her eyes, however, the option was taken from her.

Without any appearance of movement, the figure was before her once more, hands on either side of her head.

“It seems that you would take much too much power to kill, or more time than I have. Even so, I cannot leave you with memory of this.”

The scripts around her eyes were overwhelmed in an instant, pushed aside rather than burned away, and try as she might, she couldn’t overcome the compulsion that prevented her from closing her eyes, not even to blink.

His face filled her vision.

“Interesting use of iron. So, that’s how you were able to move so freely.” The sides of her head blazed with heat for a brief moment, before iron dust showered down on her shoulders.

The being briefly flicked each hand away then back to her head, clearing the limb of rust. Then, there was a renewed pulse of power.

Tala felt something try to invade her brain, but her very being rose up against the assault. She used every scrap of strength she could draw upon, barely managing to shelter her mind: a pebble before a hurricane.

Even so, the edges of her mind weren’t set, yet. Her mage-sight, coupled with her mental scripts, allowed her to watch, helpless, as her short-term memory was shredded into-

Why am I panicking? What was that daydream, again? Tala tried to shake off the lingering vestiges of an overactive imagination, but found her head locked in place, blood filling her vision. Not a figment? Brief shreds of memory came floating back. It was real?! It-

Power washed through her mind, and her eyes closed of their own volition.

There was an odd grunt, and something that was clearly a curse in a language she didn’t know. A voice she’d never heard before muttered under their breath. “How heavy are you?”

Her mind was hit, once more, and her thoughts-

There was a pulse of power, quickly fading into the distance, and Tala’s eyes snapped open.

She was laying on the ground, staring up at falling snow and clouds, which were just losing the last light of day.

Where am I?

“Mistress Tala?” Mistress Odera was calling her.

* * *

Tala came out of the memory, shaking so much that she almost spilled her tea. She needed to focus. She couldn’t get him out of her head, so she needed to focus on the minutia. That should let her push past the horror of what she’d just re-experienced. Why was my first impression of him almost identical between the memories?

-Because it was your first impression. You hadn’t changed that much in the intervening time, so you thought very nearly the same things upon first noticing him.-

That made a lot of sense. The fear was still there, a raging beast just out of her field of view. Focus, Tala. He’s…powerful, but we knew that.

-And he wanted to kill you, or take you with him, but couldn’t.-

Not helping, Alat. I know you feel this fear too. I need help. I’m… I’m close to being overwhelmed here.

-What drove him off?-

Xeel’s approach. Thinking of the massively powerful Archon calmed Tala, somewhat. It helped her focus.

-Xeel’s approach.-

There really wasn’t any choice in the matter. She now had a task to perform. We need to tell someone about this.

-Back to the Compound?-

Tala nodded, firm in her resolve. Back to the Compound.

While Tala had walked quite the distance, she had been meandering. Thus, she hadn’t displaced herself too far from where she’d started. Consequently, she was back at the long, tunnel-like entrance a scant few minutes later.

Tala strode back into the Archon Compound, and none of the defenses reacted to her entry.

Well, that’s good at least.

She was approaching the sleepy looking young man, who was the current attendant at the round, welcome desk, when she noticed Jenna standing beside her.

“Mistress Tala, back so soon? Did something go wrong?”

Tala did her best not to show any reaction to the woman’s sudden appearance, but she felt her eye twitch just a bit. That’s becoming a habit… “There is something that I’d like to report. This is likely not the best place. It’s too public.”

Something in Tala’s demeanor must have clued the Archon in to the seriousness of the situation, because any hint of levity vanished from her features. “Yes, of course. Right this way, please.”

* * *

“And then I came back here.” Tala finished somewhat lamely.

-No kidding that was a lame ending. ‘Oh, Mistress of the city, there is a great evil that might be among us. So, I came here.’-

Shut up.

-You literally can’t make me.-

I can do another, even more esoteric query.

-You wouldn’t dare.-

Try me.

There was a short silence before Alat responded. -Fine.-

Jenna sat back in her rather comfy looking armchair, clearly considering, just as clearly unaware of the argument going on in Tala’s head. “I’ll have a lot of questions for you, and I’m sure many others will as well.”

-If I may speak, I have a suggestion.-

Tala sighed internally. Fine. What is it?

-Why don’t we just give her access to the memories?-

We can do that? Tala knew it was theoretically possible, but had no idea how such a thing would be accessed by another person, or what it would do, or anything, really.

-Of course. They’re all stored in the Archive, now. We can share any part of our mind with anyone we wish. I can gate it so they only see and hear what we saw and heard, rather than getting our inner thoughts, or I can allow our inner voice to overlay, so they can hear your thoughts at the time.-

Unmodified. As close to complete as possible, please.

“Mistress Tala? What’s going on? You seem distracted. Is it the…alternate interface you mentioned?”

“Yes. We have an idea.”

That got a raised eyebrow, but Tala pressed on.

“What if I just give you access to the memories in question?”

That seemed to catch Jenna off guard. “I wasn’t aware that you were a mind mage, or an illusionist of that caliber.”

“No, no. They are stored in the Archive. I did try to explain that earlier, but I suppose that was the least of what I conveyed.”

Jenna nodded slowly. “That’s worth a try. Sure.” She pulled out a slate, but before she could start working on it, Alat spoke into Tala’s mind once more.

-No need for that.-

“No need for that.”

-I can grant her access without a contract or slate, and…done.-

“You should have access, now.”

Jenna cocked her head, then shrugged. “Alright.” She gestured at one wall, and the stone moved aside, revealing an illusion array very similar to the one Boma had on his desk. Though, if Tala had to guess, she would say that this one was more intricately constructed.

After a moment’s manipulation, Jenna brought up the memories, and the two women watched them, together.

When the second one finished, Jenna was silent for a long time.

Tala still had a lot to do before Terry’s first day sparring alongside her. Thus, she was eager to depart. “So…do you need anything else from me?”

Jenna scoffed. “I’ll need to show this to my husband and several others of note. Do I have your permission?”

-Granted-

“Yes. The Archive should allow that, now.”

“Thank you, Mistress Tala. This is a disturbing revelation, but I am glad to have it brought to light. I am sure we will be in touch.”

-She can just update a note for you in the Archive. I’ll notice the new access and get it immediately.-

“I believe that you can just put a note for me in the Archive and grant me permission to view it. I’ll see it and act accordingly.”

Jenna nodded slowly. “As you say. I’ll use that method if it isn’t time critical but-”

Tala held up her hand. “My apologies, Mistress Jenna, I don’t mean to contradict you, but that will be the fastest way to reach me, regardless of the circumstances.” Assuming you don’t go offline again.

-All the more reason to keep from giving me over-taxing commands.-

The older woman regarded her for a long moment, then nodded again. “As you wish.”

Tala stood from her own chair. “Now, if you will excuse me, I have a breakfast appointment.”

Jenna stood as well. “You seem remarkably calm, given what you’ve just unveiled.”

Tala gave a nervous, almost manic giggle. Don’t think about it. Don’t let it sink in.

-That’s really not healthy…or really possible any more.-

Hush, you. I’m coping. “Oh, I just can’t let the fear settle in. Gotta keep moving, you know.”

Jenna gave a slight bow of her head, but there was clearly concern in her expression. “Take care of yourself, Mistress Tala.”

Tala bowed in return. “Please protect us all, Mistress Jenna.” Because I certainly can’t.

Without another word, or backwards glance, Tala strode away, leaving the Archon Compound behind.