MageLife

by P. Tempest

  “I know Tristan, could you tuck me in please?” Sophia asked

  “Sure” I crossed the remaining distance and push the covers in tight around her. “Is that right?” I asked unsure if I had done it correctly.

  “Yep, cosy. Night Tristan,”

  “Night Sophia,” I said before walking to the door, I looked back over my shoulder

  She was laying there her eyes closed, already asleep. She looked like one of those elemental children from the stories my own mother used to tell me. Pale skin and red hair like a flame. Maybe Sophia would like to hear the stories. I’ll ask Orb if he knows where I could get a story shard from.

  I made my way back to the main room, Jase and Avery were waiting patiently for me.

  “Sorry about that” I apologised to them.

  “Don't worry about it Tristan. She's lovely,” Jase said amicably

  “I see you have some idea of how to care for a child then,” Avery commented.

  “I'm making it up as I go along,” I remarked honestly, a tiny laugh slipping out.

  “Well we shall correct that then Tristan,” Avery said hotly.

  I must have offended her somehow.

  “It’s getting late, and while I enjoyed dinner, I have a project to work on,” I started before Jase interrupted

  “A project? Tell me about it” Jase almost begged his curiosity getting the better of him.

  I smiled a small sly smile and said, “Soon Jase, it’s not ready for other eyes yet.”

  Avery just sat there watching us.

  “Okay my boy, I will be wanting to look at this project of yours soon,” Jase cautioned me with a laugh.

  “I shall take my leave now,” Avery stated just before standing and walking out the door.

  I watched her leave. “That was abrupt,” I commented.

  “She's like that, hard to deal with, but a lifetime of dealing with us, will do that to a person,” Jase joked, “So what's this project?”

  “What's this about a son?” I countered.

  “Now isn’t the time Tristan,” Jase just sounded tired all of a sudden.

  “Fine I’ll let it go for now. You can see the project in a few days. I may even want your input,” I offered.

  “I’m sure it will be something special, I can wait. It was nice being able to spend some time with you outside of work Tristan,” Jase smiled warmly at me, “I will see you soon. I had best get back to my own work.”

  “Thank you for coming Jase, I appreciate all the help you are giving us,” I said, once again at a loss for what to say.

  “Think nothing of it,” Jase brushed it off negligently as he stood.

  I walked him to the door, quickly said goodbye and headed back to my own workroom.

  I blinked groggily, I had a pain in my neck. The glow from the consoles screen was extremely bright. I pulled my head off the console. I must have fallen asleep. A yawn forced its way out of my mouth, I worked my head and shoulder around to ease the pain. On the disc in front of me was my project. A complex interconnected tangle of glowing threads, woven in intricate detail. The disc held the fragile weaves in stasis so they could be properly tested and reworked. I took a deep breath before I looked again with my other sight. The influx of stimulus worked better than coffee for waking up. My project was beautiful. Each line connected in just the right way. The magical network that I had based on organic systems all set up. The learning weave ready to be activated. All I had to do was implant the base skills, bind the matrix to the form I had prepared and integrate all the separate systems. I had high hopes that this would work, I had spent most of my time plotting it all out on the console. The archives were full of abandoned projects, many mages attempted golem creation, this was the culmination of one that I had studied during my training. I had been tinkering with the learning weave trying to improve it. The shard that Lyphia had given me had been the breakthrough that solved it. Full integration instead of enhancement of certain skills. This wouldn't be a machine or a tool or an empty vessel, this would be a work of art, alive in a way few golems ever were, discounting Orb who was remarkable. My lingering tiredness fled in the face of the passion I held for my art. I took a step around the console to touch the lattice I had created. I gently summoned my magic and used it to pull the individual systems together slotting them in like puzzle pieces. My enhanced sight helped me find the exact locations I needed in the dense mass of magic as I sensed the minute variance in the nodes. I spun a few connective threads to properly link the concepts. There done, now just the body. I drew away my hand being careful not to disrupt anything. I stepped back and waited. The moments ticked by with agonising slowness.

  The mesh held. I let out a sigh of relief. Everything looked stable. The body was behind the console, I had just finished testing it before I had crashed, it was an old style that had gone out of fashion they were often remembered as soldiers in the noble guard, but id modified it with some very complex concepts that had given me more than a bit of trouble. The base material was stone, wrought into humanoid form, although nearly twice my size. It looked like a statue at first glance. The dense rock was a pale, off white, flecks of mica glittered on the surface. The engraved glyphs layered in a complex weave to grant senses as well as anchor the glowing lattice I had laboured over. I closed my eyes and concentrated. I used small burst of magic to turn off the stasis disc. My sight was swimming as the now active matrix swelled, its links solidifying into temporary connections running through the initialisation program. I could feel the power levels rising as the program completed.

  If this works I will be a step closer to my masters piece, I thought to myself.

  came the unspoken question.

  “I name you Airis," I commanded

  it asked.

  I sent a thread of magic through the constructed stone form and another to the awakened mind I had named Airis.

  Airis used my threads to navigate, overlapping its major nodes with the glyphs I had carved in the body. The power levels started draining then as Airis drew itself into the form.

  A moment later the body moved. A shimmer formed over the surface of the stone which distorted the shape. The stone flowed into a new shape, colour rose from within. Standing before me now was Airis but his body was that of a young boy.

  A smile creased my face as I looked into his eyes. Someone was home. I’d had to use my memories of myself as a nine year old to model the shape accurately. It was almost perfect. He was even wearing clothes similar to what I had worn at that point in my life.

  “Airis, is everything alright?” I asked as I noticed the lack of facial animation.

  “Yes, I just have a lot of nonstandard structures. This will take time to adjust to.” he said.

  I winced, he had my exact accent and inflections. “Sorry about those, I had to use a standard core for you, so your abilities aren’t pre-set... Your weave is flexible though so getting used to the nonstandard parts shouldn't take long.”

  “Why can I shape shift?” Airis asked curiously. His, I say his because it was the only way I could think of him, eyes locked on to mine. It was eerie talking to a younger version of myself, maybe I hadn't thought this through as much as I thought I had.

  “There are reasons why, one is your current task. You are to be Sophia’s companion and protector. I would like you to become her friend if that is possible.” I replied earnestly.

  “You should know my limitations. You created me. I need to be around my creator the majority of the time. I can't be away from you," Airis said.

  “The fact that you know that, shows just how different you are,” I said with pride as I leant in to examine some of the finer details of his now active conceptual architecture. I could see the threads connecting his systems weaving tighter in places as the integration grew more ingrained, “You have access to a great deal of information, I managed to connect a data node that I created. It has a lot of magic related knowledge embedded
in it, as well as some limits that I've had to place on you for now, but back to the point. You don't need to be around me. Your body has a personal link to the magic, I worked really hard to find a way of doing that.”

  “For what purpose?” he asked.

  “I can't be around all the time. I have work to do. I also can't be a friend to Sophia. I'm her master, I can be nice to her, but if I'm her friend it may undermine my ability to teach her. I made you for a few reasons one of them is to be there for Sophia.”

  “I will restate my first question, why can I shape shift?” Airis asked. His face starting to animate more now.

  “So you can be the friend she needs. It’s hard to get attached to a chunk of stone.” I said.

  “Ah” Airis said

  “Airis, I am very pleased to meet you, but I should go to bed. Do I need to restrict you to this room?” I asked

  “No I will calibrate my systems. There is no need to, I have no desire to see anything else yet.” Airis said.

  “Good night then,” I said before turning and walking out of the door.

  I was exhausted and as much as I wanted to get to know the capabilities of my golem, I knew I wouldn't be able to do it properly, now the big rush of creation had faded. I threw myself onto my bed, not even stripping off, the glow of satisfaction hummed deep in my chest. I was asleep within moments.

  Chapter 16

  “Sophia,” I called upon stepping out of my room. It was a bit late to start the day. I must have overslept.

  “Sophia,” I called again once I was stood outside her door. I knocked. There was no answer.

  I pushed the door open gingerly and poked my head around. I could see Sophia on the bed still sleeping. It had been a rough few days for her so I pulled the door back closed and walked to the main living room.

  On the dining table was laid out a selection of fruits, meat and bread. There were even a few jugs of variously coloured liquids that I could only assume were juices. I grabbed an apple and took a large bite as I looked around the room. On the edge of the table was a glyph-screen and the small metal ball that I had enchanted with Fion. I didn't really understand how I had done it, but it was strong. I picked it up feeling the smooth surface, sensing the rather simplistic weave that was nevertheless unique. I smiled with a touch of pride as my mind compared this bauble to Airis. That golem was a marvel, I had checked on him before I had left my room. He was integrating nicely. The first few days for flexible systems are always a bit touch and go, they have been known to just collapse, there was a story floating around the academy when I was training about a precursor to the glyph-screen It had blown up spectacularly the first time it was used, taking with it the life of its creator. Best of all his link was holding very well. I’d had to duplicate my own which before I’d developed reading would have been impossible. My data node was tiny in comparison to all the information in the archives, but it was more specialised and personal. Airis had all the knowledge he needed to grow and develop and I had managed to fix two of the limitations of the current generation. Well, problems in my mind at least. One I had fixed the need for creator proximity in the first few weeks to years of development. It wasn't a problem in most created beings as they were little more than shells. Some of the farm golems would likely have had a shared linkage assembly, a power reservoir as it were that they all drew from, and they didn't develop they didn't have learning weaves or personalities so they were considered finished. Ones like Orb on the other hand had a link, but it wasn't to the magic, it was to the commander of headquarters who ever held that title. That was how Orb had managed to survive while Rysan was away. It had been linked to Jase. The other problem that I had found was development time. Take Orb for instance, it was about two years old, but when not having its personality suppressed or acting outside of its protocols, it acted much like a 4 year old human, a very childlike mentality. I personally enjoyed dealing with that Orb, but it was a problem for such a creation. So I had made it so that Airis could develop much faster his entire system was primed for learning, lots of background information that hopefully would accelerate maturation.

  I took another bite of my apple as I thought through all this. I placed the bauble down on the table, so I could reach for one of the jugs. I place the apple in my mouth holding it with my teeth as I selected a glass and the green liquid. I poured half a glass and sat down in one of the dining chairs. It seemed I had a bit of quiet time before Sophia woke up, maybe I should use it to think through the situation I found myself in.

  I was Sophia’s master. I had to do what was best for her in the absence of her parents. They were as gone as they could be, I don't know if turning into a cloud could be classed as dead, but they were gone. I should look into the records for anything on magical transformations when I had some spare time. I had no clue how to raise a child, but Jase was helping so I wasn't entirely on my own. Avery is also available to handle the minor things like food and clothes. I just had to do my best and hope it was enough. I felt overwhelmed that suddenly I had to raise a child, if I had known I might not have taken the oath, but life is like that, we never know what we are agreeing to at the time.

  My rush of emotion also made me think about something else Jase had said. Elan Solem had graduated, to say I was surprised would be an understatement. Elan was one of these rare people that was charming and unfailing polite yet still managed to somehow insult you with every breath he took. We hadn't got on during our training, he was only a few months behind me in terms of reaching lucidity, what we called becoming a mage. We still have to take the test to make sure its stable, but that's another issue. His base awakening was fire though. So we hadn't met much in the early years, but once he started trying to gain earth we ran into a problem. My earth control was far better than anyone else in training. I could grasp it consistently, and he couldn't even do that with his fire. It started as what seemed to be light-hearted jabs. It quickly progressed to competition. I never really understood why he felt the need to tear me down. I’ll admit I wasn't always gentle I made a point to show him up in earth class just because he was so unpleasant to me. It didn't help that he was good at everything else he did. All I could do was control my magic. My understanding of theories and form equation was poor. I'm not overly clever, I never pretended to be. I can do magic, the hows and whys don't matter to me most of the time. Golems are almost instinct, it appears that way for most of my magic. In many ways that's made my training harder. I don't understand what I do, I just do it. The applications make sense without all the language and technical stuff. That just gets in my way. Jase used to refer to me as having the soul of an artist. I guess he’s right, but I'm not in an artistic field, I'm in a logical one. At least that's the way we are taught. I like to believe that magic is an art it feels that way. I was getting side tracked.

  Elan Solem. My rival it was petty, but I hated him. I'm fairly sure he hated me. He was a scion of the old nobles, I guess he felt he had something to prove. I beat him every time in magic use. I was the fastest through the academy ever. I’ve lost count of the number of times he referred to me as a muddy farmer. Looking down his nose at me. The number of fistfights we had in the corridors when I called him the bastard noble. Well he was out. I sighed and finished my apple.

  He would have a junior position as we were the same age. I didn't know where he would be assigned. I would have to find out eventually.

  I sat on the chair thinking about a great many things. Pressing things. I still had no answer for who the mages were at the foundry, I had heard nothing about any outside interference though. It had been down as an equipment failure, Jase had assured me that it was being investigated, I still felt I needed to do something, but what was the question. All I could think of doing was digging through the archives for records. I guess that was as good a place as any and I needed to look into the causes of the surges, we all knew the myths that some people just couldn’t handle magic at all. The dreamers who could use their power unconsciously an
d the day dreamers who could use it whenever they pleased just not as well or as easily as us awakened. Sometimes their links just broke in some way. Well I had seen evidence that it was true in some ways at least. Their links were broken, but the cause was unknown. Sophia’s parents had used their magic for years. What could cause them to both break at once? I asked myself. I had no answers and now way of getting answers without more examples or a far more knowledgeable person to ask. I took a moment to accept that I was way out of my depth before I stood up. Sitting here wasn't going to get me any answers. I walked back through to my rooms on my way to my workroom, Sophia was stirring if faint rustling I could hear as I passed her door was her and not a draft blowing the curtains. I think I had enough time to have a chat with Airis before I introduced them.

  My workroom was the same as before, the now faintly glowing stasis lighting the room in a blueish light. Just enough to make out the shadowed shape that was Airis, he was in his warrior form, I guessed it was because it was pre configured. His glowing eyes brightened as I approached.

  “Tristan, you’re back? I hadn't expected to see you again so soon,” Airis said.

  His voice carried my accent even in other forms, interesting, I noted to myself before saying “Yes I am, I thought now might be a good time to introduce you to your charge.”

  “If you think I am stable enough then sure,” Airis said, his body began to shift, melting into his more mortal form, the one modelled on my far younger self.

  “You should do fine, I can't accurately test you skills if I keep you in here,” I said.

  Airis nodded

  “Let’s go meet her then shall we?” I asked. I gave him a quick look over as his body stopped changing. It was uncanny, like looking in a mirror as a child.

  Airis looked back, the glow in his eyes faded down to a slight glimmer. He nodded again.

  I turned around knowing Airis would follow. I didn't know why he didn't vocalise acceptance of orders like most golems, but it seemed to be a minor difference so far, more would come as he grows, so I just ignored it. I walked from the workroom, I didn't need to look behind me to know he was there I could hear his footsteps in almost perfect sync with my own. I led us through to the main room. Sophia was sat at the dining table, eating some fruit. A little frown appeared as she noticed us, but her mouth was stuffed with grapes so she couldn't ask anything yet.