Millennial Mage

Tala’s last big appointment was with Master Cazor. She felt like his magical manipulation of magnetic fields, and thereby iron, might have given him some insights that would be useful to her.

When she’d reached out, he’d been amenable, and so they’d set up this meeting.

Once this was done, as far as she knew, she just had to use her time reasonably, relax, and wait for Mistress Holly to tell her how long until she could Refine. If it was long enough, Tala would consider a trip to Marliweather to see her siblings, but it would have to be really long for that to be the case.

She had several letters mostly composed to them, and she hoped to have the inspiration to finish them off in the next day or so.

But that was for later. It was time for her to meet up with the Mage Hunter.

It will be interesting to see what he has to say about the manipulation of iron.

-Undoubtedly, yes. He is barely Fused, though.-

Tala shrugged. His insights should still be interesting. Most don’t work with iron at all, so even a ‘less advanced’ view will be insightful.

Master Cazor had asked to meet her at the arena they used to practice in. Thankfully, it was outside the hours they usually had met up to train, so the other Archons shouldn’t be there.

Tala still didn’t really want to deal with them. As much as she had liked them in passing, it still felt awkward, dealing with people asking about her situation and her time away.

The entrance hallway was quiet, and she greeted the receptionist with a smile.

The young man seemed to recognize her, because he waved her through without asking any questions.

When she pushed open the doors, Master Cazor was the only person waiting for her in the large arena.

Good. She had been a bit afraid that the others would be here, too, and was happy to have that fear put to rest.

-That would be unlike Master Cazor. He’s an honest fellow.-

That’s true enough.

“Mistress Tala, welcome.”

“Master Cazor. Thank you for meeting with me.”

Something felt off about the sand in the arena, but she couldn’t place it.

The Archon sat cross-legged, sealed sacks sitting in a ring around him. “You might have noticed, or possibly not, but I’ve already stripped the iron from the sand beneath our feet.” He patted the sack closest to him. “I thought it might be useful.”

Tala felt a pull to claim the iron, as it somehow felt like it might be an option, unlike with things like the iron doors in the Constructionists’ Compound. Even so, she knew she had no right to it. Calm, Tala. “Good thinking.”

She sat down facing him, leaving nearly twenty feet between them.

Master Cazor smiled. “You’ve a lot of iron about you. It’s doing interesting things to the magnetic fields of the area.”

“Really?” That was good to know, actually. “Do you think that you can control it?”

He tilted his head to the side. “I could try, but it feels like it’s… out of reach? That’s not quite right, but it’s close. I think if you let me, I could affect it, but I don’t think I could wrest it from your control. At least not the portion that’s… not aligned with the physical.”

She grunted. Good to know. He was already providing valuable insights.

-We should still probably test to make sure.-

True, but he’s never given reason to doubt him.

“Now, there’s a lot about iron that I’d love to convey.”

Tala held up a hand, giving him a small smile. “So, I obviously asked you here to help me learn about iron manipulation. In that vein, I think it will help me approach what you have to say best if I understand why you think you’re up to the task? After all, you don’t actually manipulate iron directly.”

He smiled in return. “Aside from the fact that you asked me?”

She laughed. She knew that he’d have good information, but she really wanted to have context to his own mindset behind what he was going to be sharing with her. “Yes, besides that.”

He shrugged. “The fact that I manipulate it indirectly is precisely why I am qualified.”

She frowned. She hadn’t been expecting that answer. Honestly, she thought that he’d tell her how long he’d been doing this, or how his fundamental understanding related to iron. “Care to explain?”

“Which would be easier: having complete control over my body and then moving me as you wish, or indirectly getting me to do exactly as you wished?”

“Which of the two would be harder? The second would be harder.” Tala huffed. “At least the way you described it.”

“That is what I meant, yeah. So, which would require a greater understanding of me to accomplish?”

She hesitated. “I think I understand. Controlling something indirectly requires a more intimate understanding of the thing than if you have direct control.”

“Precisely. And that is why I am qualified.” He grinned. “But you already knew that, at least in part. That’s why you asked me here.”

She shrugged. “I suppose that’s true.”

“Alright. Let’s get started.”

The next few hours were filled with highly technical discussions and were only interesting on the most superficial level. Tala had to admit that Master Cazor knew his stuff.

In truth, she was surprised; though it wasn’t because she’d doubted that fact. It was more that the depth of his insight was a bit staggering.

She’d read a few books on blacksmithing and metallurgy, and Master Cazor touched on some of that. Blessedly, however, he mostly talked about other things like how iron flowed over itself, how it reacted in different environments, and so much more.

Once they’d covered a large amount of information, Master Cazor twisted, stretching in place. “That’s enough of that for the time being. We should do some practical testing.”

“What do you have in mind?”

“Well, that’s partially up to you. Do you want to explain a bit about your abilities with iron? If not, I can just do some generic exercises and tests between the two of us.”

She only hesitated for a moment. “The long and short of it is that I can directly control iron that is mine.”

“Are you alright if I ask questions?”

“Sure.” There was really no point in getting his help if she wouldn’t let him help her.

“What makes iron yours?”

“If it is offered to me by someone who has ownership of it?” She was actually a bit uncertain, and that showed in her tone.

“So, just like owning an item? Or receiving a gift?”

“It seems something like that. I haven’t really explored it extensively.”

He grunted. “That’s fair. You’ve been busy.”

“Isn’t that the truth…”

“So, if I offered you one of these sacks of iron it would be yours?” He then patted the sack closest to him again. “For clarity, I haven’t yet.”

“I think I could take it and manipulate it.”

He shrugged. “Let’s see. You can have”—he gave her a searching, almost mischievous look—“that sack of iron.” He pointed to a sack behind him on the left.

Tala felt nothing, and she frowned. “I don’t feel anything.”

Master Cazor grunted. “That’s because that one’s filled with oats. Good to know. There is some iron in it, just by the nature of the thing, but I specifically granted you a sack of iron. That’s not a sack of iron, so you didn’t get ownership of what iron there is.”

Now that was interesting. “That seems like an oddly specific test.” She gave him a searching look. “How did you already have it prepared?”

“It’s not as specialized as you might think, not really. My master did something similar when I began working with magnetic fields, though it was to test how strong my magnetic fields really were, and how precise.”

“So, similar set up, different tests?”

He shrugged. “Yeah. We use a similar setup to test potential Mage Hunters, too. Though we change the contents based on their magic-set.”

“I suppose that makes sense.”

“Now, we don’t know if you weren’t granted ownership because I knew it wasn’t what I said it was, or if your magic could tell it wasn’t what I said, or something else. We’d need a lot more testing to figure that out, but I don’t think that would be useful at the moment.”

“I hadn’t really thought of it in those terms.”

He grinned. “It’s really important for Mage Hunters, because sometimes one Mage’s abilities trump others’ when it comes to control of an area or substance or the like. Mistress Jean’s weapon is almost inviolable when it comes to commanding the ambient power in an area, often even stealing power from those nearby, Mage and mundane alike.”

Tala’s eyebrows rose at that. “That’s potent.”

“Indeed. Sparring with her is always educational, but it is also almost always rather quick.”

“Good to know. The times she and I sparred were over pretty fast.” She hadn’t noticed that supremacy, herself, but looking back, it made sense.

“Now, you can have that sack of iron.” He pointed at one that was just in front of him and to his right.

Tala immediately felt ownership of the iron, her aura blossoming from the sack of metal dust.

She felt an overwhelming desire to draw it towards her, but she resisted. It’s mine. It’s not going anywhere.

Even so, she’d involuntarily pulled it enough that it toppled over to floomp on the sand.

Master Cazor looked between the sack and Tala. “It has an aura, Mistress Tala.” His voice was baffled. “The iron has an aura, your aura.”

“Yeah, I think it’s technically a part of me, now?”

“That’s… what if someone in another city says that something belongs to you?”

“I have no idea? I imagine I have to hear them, or know about it?” She hesitated, then shook her head. “No, there’s a proximity requirement in the claiming. I had a smith who had offered me any of his iron dust that I could collect. I knew of that, and I wanted to go, but it wasn’t until he reconfirmed my ownership that I felt a connection like this.”

“Still, we’ll want to test it through an Archive connection. Have someone send you a sight of some iron and tell you explicitly that it’s yours. Then, we get to see what happens.” He hesitated. “We should start with the iron just barely out of sight. That way, if you are somehow compelled to go claim it as fast as possible, we won’t be putting you in an awkward position.”

Tala grunted at that.

“So, you’ve claimed it. It’s yours; it’s you. What can you do with it?”

She smiled, and the bag was suddenly filled with holes as spikes of iron thrust outward before quickly pulling backwards.

Master Cazor jumped up to his feet in surprise, also moving back in the same motion before stopping his retreat and leaning forward to watch the process.

Tala was already feeling a headache, and so she stopped the manipulation, pulling in a ragged breath.

“That was impressive, but it looked like you had a hard time with it.”

“It wasn’t easy, no, but I’ve been practicing.” After a moment, she amended, “Not with that type of manipulation in particular, but in general. It’s much simpler than it would have been even a week ago.”

The bag now leaked black powder onto the surrounding sand.

Tala exercised her strained will to pull it back and keep it together.

“Is that necessary?” He seemed genuinely curious as he watched the iron return to the shape of a bag, without the need for the actual container.

“Yes and no. I’m resisting absorbing it. I’m able to do that in part because I don’t believe it’s going to go anywhere. When it started draining onto the sand, that belief was shaken even though it is still obviously true.”

Master Cazor gave her another mischievous smile. “Really?”

That was the only warning she had before the iron began to stream away from her, and something deep within her, something bound to her very soul, rebelled at the potential loss.

Tala’s hand shot out in a grasping motion even as she internally snarled, NO! MINE!

The iron shuddered, slowing and jerking to a stop as Master Cazor continued to attempt to draw it out in a steady stream.

His eyes widened briefly before narrowing. “Oh, so that’s how it is.”

The pressure on the iron built, and to Tala, it felt like someone was wrapping ropes around an arm and trying to pull it off.

That would not stand.

Even as she watched power build around Master Cazor, Tala asserted her will and aura more fully. She pushed his workings further back from the iron, weakening their influence over the iron, even as he pushed more power into the manipulation of the magnetic fields.

He also tried to contest her aura control of the area, but even though it was closer to his body than to hers, it was closer to her iron, and the iron was her for this purpose.

More than that, though, she was stronger.

Slowly at first, and then with a violent spasm, the iron dust slammed back into shape where it had been.

Master Cazor stepped forward and stretched out his power once again, this time toward the mass of her iron as a whole.

Oh no you don’t.

With a relaxing of her will, the iron seemed to shatter, exploding into a cloud in her direction before being sucked through the air, and passing into her.

Once it occupied the same physical space as she did, she pushed the iron into the dimensions of magic so that it wouldn’t interfere with normal functions.

He let his power fade. “Fascinating. Your iron was, and is still magnetic, but it really functions as a part of you, within your aura.” He laughed. “And it seems to be a source of your aura, so it’s always within your aura.”

She took a deep breath, calming herself. “Yeah, that can’t actually be right, otherwise I could just send it off into the infinite distance, gaining sovereignty over any place I got my iron to.”

“You could try?”

She shrugged. “Sure, worth a test.”

Tala let some of her iron form a glob in her hand and tossed it away from herself.

It stopped with a little jerk at the edge of her aura’s current extension, barely three feet from her outstretched hand.

Master Cazor grunted. “Let me try to grab it.”

Tala fought the instinct to pull it back to herself. It felt like someone had just brandished a knife at her extended fingers.

Even so, she let Master Cazor magnetically draw the iron outside of her aura.

As it passed out of her area of control, Tala felt a tearing, and her ownership over the iron vanished.

Tala gasped, falling to her knees.

She felt violated.

She felt like something central to her being had been stolen.

Tala turned and retched, her scripts keeping her from vomiting.

Even so, she heaved and heaved, her whole body feeling wrong.

Master Cazor was beside her before she registered him moving. He had with him the iron she’d lost, hovering in the shape of a ball beside him. “Take it. It’s yours.”

Tala felt a slight tugging from the iron, but grimaced, echoes of the nasty feelings she’d just worked through making her not really want that iron in particular, at least not for the moment. So, she waved him away. “Not now, but thank you.”

“That seems like a pretty terrible weakness, Mistress.”

“Yeah, no kidding. If someone manages to pull even a little iron from me, it hits me incredibly hard.”

He had an apologetic look on his face. “You know what this means, don’t you?”

She groaned but nodded. “I need to practice enduring this feeling.”

He gave her a surprised look. “I was going to say you should avoid using the iron in battle, at least away from your body.”

She laughed. “There’s no way that would hold up. I’d be in some life or death situation, and I’d take the risk, some iron would be lost, and I’d get myself killed.”

He sighed, shaking his head. Though, he didn’t seem surprised. “Well, I suppose, but you aren’t going into combat soon, are you?”

“No, but when I do, I’d rather be trained to take the loss as opposed to trying to avoid it.” She hesitated. “But I should probably check with Mistress Holly, to make sure that didn’t negatively affect me, physically.”

He grunted. “That sounds wise, yeah. For now, though, there’s one more thing I want to test.” He pointed to another of the sacks. “You can have the iron in that, if you can take it from me.”

Tala hesitated. She felt… something. There was a trembling, a sense of the iron within the sack, but it wasn’t hers. “I don’t have a way of contesting you for iron that isn’t already mine.”

But she paused there.

“Actually.” She pulled out more iron, and purposely extended her aura outward to cover the iron sack in question. Just her aura covering it didn’t seem to count for ownership, nor apparently for taking it from Master Cazor.

She tossed her iron to hit the side of the sack. There, it stuck because she wished it to. From that anchor, she extended her aura, pushing at the iron that wasn’t yet hers.

Irritatingly, but not unexpectedly, her aura had trouble penetrating the metal.

She felt like she should be able to do more, but she couldn’t, not at the moment.

Master Cazor flexed his magic and the sack jerked away, out of her aura.

Her little splotch of iron fell to the sand, and she drew it back.

“Well, that seems like another thing to work on, eh?”

“It does indeed.”

“Shall we go see Mistress Holly, then get in some more practice?”

Tala nodded, pulling out her cool water incorporator and taking a long drink. “That sounds like an excellent plan.”