Zeph Malston: The Aether Mage

0After Zeph and Rin ate the cookies, the boy checked his tablet for the date and time. He thought it was afternoon, as the golden light of the setting sun colored the sky. However, he actually slept all day and all night. It was sunrise, and he missed yesterday afternoon. He suspected that Bernard was already in the lab, because there was a warm pot of coffee on the counter.     0

"Come on Rin, let's head to the lab," Zeph said, as he picked up the kitten. "Nya," she meowed, there wasn't a voice in his head this time, but he felt her happiness through their bond. The purring was also a pretty big hint.     

When they entered the warehouse-sized lab, Zeph saw Bernard at a desk. Bits and pieces of magic and electrical parts were floating in the air. Bernard was moving pieces together with magic while he created something.     

"Whatcha doin?" Zeph walked up behind his grandfather.     

"I'm making a monitoring device. That way we can keep track of any changes your body might make in real time. It'll also keep track of your vitals, current magic reserves, and I'm putting a miniature projector in it." Bernard said as he used his finger to create a beam of energy. There was a sizzling noise, as he fused pieces of the gadget together.     

"Neat, but why a projector?" Zeph had to shield his eyes from the light, as sparks flew about on the desk.     

"Remember when you told me about those movies from your world? I'm using the idea of a handheld projector you told me about. When I'm done with this, it'll be a nice looking bracelet." Bernard's head was filled with ideas, ever since Zeph told him about the other world's 'Sci-Fi' last week."     

"That's cool, mind if I help?" The boy pulled up a nearby chair.     

Bernard was surprised, "Sure, use your magic to hold these two pieces together." The two started to work on their first project together. Rin hopped off of Zeph's shoulder and lied on his lap.     

~Sleepy.~ Zeph heard the cute voice in his head again.     

He rubbed the kitten's head. "Okay, goodnight," he said while looking down at her.     

Bernard looked at his grandson with a raised eyebrow, obviously curious.     

"Oh, I forgot to mention. Started talking with telepathy." Zeph said while tapping the side of his head.     

"Wonderful, is she speaking in full sentences or just a word a time?" Bernard wasn't that surprised, the kitten had been acting smarter lately. It wasn't unheard of for a familiar to use telepathy. On rare occasions, they could even speak out loud using magic.     

"One word, how long do you think it'll be before she uses more?"     

"Not sure, year or less. Your very fortunate, that she is able to use telepathy at such a young age. Just keep talking to her and giving her some of your magic every day. She'll get there. Once she understands more words, it'll be easier to teach her to use magic."     

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Bernard was at the stove frying some crystal stag steaks. The beast had enough meat to last over a month, so it was frozen and they took it home. He looked over his shoulder and saw Zeph looking at a clear image floating above his palm. There was a light shining from a silver bracelet on his wrist. Rin was sitting on a pillow by a food dish in the corner of the kitchen. Zeph's mind was filled with the sound of her saying ~meat,~ over and over. Ignoring the kitten, Zeph was played with the new invention he helped his grandfather build.     

"This thing is so cool; I can't believe you made this in one morning." The boy was currently using the projector as a second screen for his tablet. Since the tablet could be controlled through thought, Zeph could browse the weave without having to do anything. Playing games was still an issue, because he would need to use touch controls for those.     

"Well, this is just a trial version. We'll develop more refined iterations based on your feedback." Bernard placed the sizzling steaks on a couple of plates.     

"I already found one issue. I can't play games because there are no touch controls. In a future version, we could put the projector on something like a necklace and make the hologram interactive. It would also be more convenient since I wouldn't have to hold my palm up in front of my face while I use it." Zeph rubbed his chin as he thought of more things they could do to improve their invention.     

Steak, potatoes, a side salad, and a cold fizzy drink were laid on the table in front of the boy. "Here you go." Bernard sat at the table after placing Zeph's food. "That's an interesting idea. It would be more user-friendly, and an interactive projection does sound like a challenge. Oooh, We could make the projection interchangeable between three dimensional and two dimensional." Bernard ate happily as he began telling Zeph some more of his ideas.     

~Yummy!~ Rin purred loudly as she ate the small cut of stag steak in her bowl. The old man didn't forget to include the little kitten when he was cooking lunch.     

Zeph smiled while looking at the kitten for a moment. "I think she likes your cooking. I'll have to agree with her. This is very good. By the way, there's something I'd like to do this afternoon."     

Zeph told Bernard about his desire to test his control over his aether while they were eating. The old man nodded and said it would be a good idea. Now that Zeph was wearing his new bracelet, Bernard could get readings on his body much easier. After finishing lunch, they headed back to the lab.     

"Okay, I'm going to set up a couple of monitors to track your statistics. They'll alert us if anything is wrong while you're doing your experiments. I'll sit back at this table to watch the monitors, and I'll also work on some designs for our holo-projector." Bernard grabbed his tablet/clipboard and sat near the testing area. He told Zeph he could conduct the proceeding experiments as he saw fit. Bernard would supervise and intervene if necessary.     

Zeph walked in front of the familiar observation equipment. After making sure the camera was on to record and keep a record of the proceedings, he began his experiments. He looked to the camera, "Shapeshifting ability, Trial one hair test." Zeph decided to try changing his hair before any other part of his body. This way, only his hair would be in danger if something went wrong. Closing his eyes, Zeph focused and willed the hair to change color. It worked, and his hair turned blond.     

"I don't like it,' Bernard commented. "Black suits you much better."     

Zeph conjured some water and looked at his reflection. "Yeah, it just doesn't seem right." He kept the water floating in front of him, using it as a mirror. His hair started to change colors again, red, then brown, and back to black. Feeling whimsical, Zeph also started changing it to bright vivid colors. His favorites were indigo and ice blue.     

Bernard only scoffed and muttered, "Young people."     

Remembering the time Bernard said his hair glowed faintly in the dark, Zeph tried to make his hair shine. Then he tried growing it to shoulder length. It worked, as a glowing flowing mane of azure hair fluttered in the air. The increased magic used to make the hair shine also caused it to float. Zeph looked into the mirror and decided that his hair was better black. Back in his original color, the boy steeled himself for his next experiment.     

"Shapeshifting trial two, transformation." Zeph raised his arm in front of the camera. After a moment of concentration, the flesh on his arm shifted slowly became metallic. The boy had his eyes closed while focusing. When he finally opened them, his arm looked no different than steel. Zeph raised his other hand and tapped the metal arm. "The sense of touch has changed. I no longer feel the arm, but instead, know when it is interacting with another substance. It's hard to describe, but it's as if the aether is transmitting its current condition to my mind.     

He created a small blade of energy from magic. Closing his eyes, Zeph ran the blade across his metal arm. It only made a small scratch. "I don't feel the magic cutting into my arm, but I know that it has been damaged." His eyes opened in time for him to see the arm repairing itself. "It appears my regenerative ability is increased when my aether isn't imitating something as complex as a human body."     

The hand of the metal arm rippled, as it started to change shape. Slowly, it formed into a blade. Zeph's eyebrows scrunched as he focused his attention on his transformation. After tapping the blade on the ground to test its solidity, Zeph willed his arm to change again. Returning his arm back to normal was easier than he thought. Strain felt during the transformation faded. It was like a stretched spring finally being let go. He sighed in relief, seeing his hand no different than before.     

"Any weird readings?" Zeph looked at his grandfather.     

Bernard was staring at the screen, "Nothing dangerous, just some of that complicated magic stuff that you dislike hearing about." The old man turned and smirked at him.     

"Good, because I was honestly a little frightened." Zeph touched inspected the arm he had transformed. It felt really odd when I did that, like my arm was part of me and at the same time not part of me. Kind of like how it felt when I made the aether I cut from my hair change shapes."     

"That makes sense, as these readings show similarities between the two situations. The new readings on your regenerative ability have some interesting implications as well." Bernard stroked his beard.     

"Really, what kind of implications?"     

"If you focus your aether into a simpler form, it's easier for it to repair itself. This is a very interesting discovery because it means you can heal yourself faster when you're not mimicking a human body."     

"Okay, can you give me an example or something?" Zeph scratched his head.     

"Sure, let's say you're in a fight and get your arm cut off. If you turn that dismembered arm back into aether, you can reattach it. It's just like how you reabsorbed the blood and hair samples we took."     

"I'm glad we don't need to actually test that by cutting off my arm."     

"Indeed. Another interesting thing is how you grew your hair longer. This shows that you have the ability to create more aether at the cost of magic. Transforming also takes quite a bit of magic. That's why the strain of doing it increased as time went on." Bernard made some notes on Zeph's abilities.     

"Guess that explains why I feel kind of tired." Zeph suddenly had an idea. "We're not doing anything else today right?"     

"Not that I can think of. Why?" Bernard tilted his head.     

"Because I'm going to be pretty tired after this next one and probably won't feel like doing much." Zeph closed his eyes and focused his magic. His hair started growing, first to his waist, and then down to his feet. He kept growing it until he made it over twice his body length.     

With a smile, he flicked his hand and used telekinesis to cut his hair at below the shoulder. Looking at the pile of hair on the floor, Zeph pointed at it. His hair turned into aether. The shiny metallic substance liquefied and formed a small wall between him and Bernard, hiding everything below the neck.     

"That is impressive. I'm surprised you were able to do that so effortlessly." Bernard looked on in curiosity.     

"It only looked effortless. Those magic control lessons are really paying off right now." Zeph said as he tossed his clothes to the side. The aether wall circled around the boy before closing in on him. As the aether touched his skin, Zeph started transforming it. He focused on the texture, and weight of the aether.     

Bernard watched on as Zeph transformed the extra aether into clothes. Zeph had changed the aether into a deep blue silk dress shirt, a black belt, black silk pants, and comfortable dress shoes. He looked into the floating water mirror and made it grow large enough to reflect his whole body. Taking a deep breath, the boy took a moment to recover from his impressive endeavor. After tugging on his cuffs, Zeph smiled. "Oh yeah, I could get used to this."     

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