Millennial Mage

Tala held Talax, swaddled and sleeping, happily filled with his mother’s milk.

Kedva and Brandon stood off to one side, Mistress Vanga and Anna waited in the center of the room, next to the little baby’s bassinet.

Rane had asked to be present for curiosity’s sake, and he was off to the side with Master Simon and Adrill. The former was there to continue his data collection on the rebirth of gateless humans into magic. The latter both as an assistant to the former and as grandfather to the little one.

Among the collected people, it was the Refined Healer who spoke first, “May I know what magics will be imparted?”

Alat?

-Sent.-

“You should have the full schema. It is, essentially, the magics that Kedva has, but with a basic magesight as well.”

Brandon smiled broadly, clearly excited at the prospect. “We humans are so malleable as babies. We develop so much based on what we can see and experience. How much better will he be able to comprehend magic, having seen it and observed it essentially from birth?”

Mistress Vanga raised an eyebrow toward Tala, and Tala continued. “Those scripts include very targeted mental enhancements, to allow for the processing of the magesight. It will not alter his brain function so much as provide the ability for his mind to interact with the added information.”

The Refined examined something that Tala couldn’t see, likely looking over the schema through a mental projection, or however else she processed Archive information. “Has an inscriptionist inspected this?”

“Yes, Mistress Holly graciously verified the schema as a whole.”

That satisfied Mistress Vanga.

Anna smiled a bit nervously. “What can we do to help?”

Tala smiled in return. “Monitor the situation, be ready in case there is need.”

As she placed Talax down, she let her full magic density refill the volume within this house, kept away only from little Talax’s bed as he was laid within it.

Brandon and Kedva both staggered, their magical reserves refilling in a rush.

Kedva visibly brightened, her magic working to repair her postpartum ailments that still remained, those few that were better to have the body heal naturally rather than magically from outside interference. Thankfully, enhanced self-healing fell into that preferred category.

-Careful, Tala. If this gets out, you might be swarmed for that singular feature alone.-

Now is hardly the time, Alat.

-You’d think so, but we’re about to make it even more beneficial to give birth in here, at least for gateless. Are we sure about this?-

Tala only hesitated for a brief moment. Yes.

As to why she was sure? This just felt right to Tala. It was as if this was meant to be. Humans were supposed to have magic, given at birth. They weren’t supposed to be broken, mangled souls who got magic in the offing. Talax represented what humanity could be.

Tala felt a fluctuation within herself. It wasn’t a true advancement toward Paragon, but it was a clear indication that she was still on the right road.

She spoke quietly, intending it for Talax, but not trying to keep anyone else from hearing. “Live well, little Talax.”

She then let the magic flow inward, causing the density to swell around the baby.

Talax almost seemed to drink in the power. He did not have nearly the same level of harsh reaction that his parents had had upon their rebirth. In fact, he didn’t seem to have any negative reaction at all.

Even so, his little body clearly couldn’t make use of or handle the new-found power. So, Tala got to work, guiding the magic that now belonged to Talax through the needed patterns.

His magic didn’t resist her guidance in the least. Whether that was because his will wasn’t developed enough to fight back, he didn’t see any reason to, or something to do with her authority within Irondale, she didn’t know. It was a point of intellectual curiosity, but it didn’t matter in the moment.

She laid the groundwork, the basic enhancements and defense that Kedva had received, and the boy’s power bent to it with ease.

Tala ground out the natural magic pathways, interconnecting them in the cascading loops just as she had with the boy’s mother, directing the bleed-off from his internal reserves into the activation of the natural magics.

Lastly, she added the specific mental enhancements, tied to the always-active magesight.

She double and triple checked that it wouldn’t affect any other part of Talax’s brain directly, even though they all knew that the indirect effects were precisely the point of these particular magics.

Where Brandon, Kedva, and even Adrill had writhed and spasmed at the introduction of magics into their adult bodies, Talax accepted the changes with barely a wriggle within his tight swaddle.

He didn’t wake.

He didn’t cry out.

His heartbeat and respiration didn’t even alter noticeably.

Mistress Vanga and Anna ran suites of tests, even as Tala examined him with her threefold sight.

Across the board, he was healthy and fully functional. His tummy was processing his meal well, and there were no signs of anything within him going wrong. On the contrary, everything seemed to be revving up to operate at a higher level of efficiency.

It seemed like the sludge that the others had expelled from their pores and elsewhere had all been directed into Talax’s gut. He probably had less to get rid of overall, I suppose. Still, I don’t envy whoever changes his next diaper. It’s building up to be a big one.

She almost laughed at that. They were forging a human that arcanes might fear, regardless of advancement, and she was contemplating his poops.

If Tala understood correctly—and Mistress Holly had tentatively agreed—Talax’s physicality might be roughly equivalent to a Refined by the time he reached maturity, assuming he remained within Tala’s sanctum or a similarly magic-rich environment for the majority of that time.

And so long as he actively develops and works with his natural magics once he’s old enough. These would be good enough for his first five to seven years of life, but at that point, he’d need to begin expanding and adding to them if they were to remain as effective.

Regardless, it was going to be an interesting time for all.

Tala motioned for his parents to come forward. “Brandon, Kedva, I present your son, Talax. Magical boy wonder.”

The couple chuckled as they took their son back. Brandon did meet her gaze for a moment, however. “We’re not calling him by that title or any derivation thereof.”

She smiled in return. “Very well. Welcome to magic, Talax. Enjoy. The zeme here is rich and dense just for you.”

Tala meant it too. Kit would maintain maximum magical density around Talax, Kedva, Brandon, and Adrill from now on whenever they were within Irondale.

It would be kept directly around them, so they didn’t have to worry about accidentally triggering anyone else’s rebirth.

Thus, Talax would grow up awash in power unlike even most Major House heirs enjoyed.

I can’t wait to see what you’re capable of.

* * *

Tala and Rane walked slowly through the Archon Compound. They were both a bit nervous, partly because they hadn’t spent too much time with Master Grediv since they’d begun courting, and because they’d barely interacted with him since Rane’s refining. The Paragon seemed to be giving them both space. Though, he was clearly pleased that it had been accomplished.

He had even explicitly taken time to thank Tala for her fight against the sireling and promised to keep her up to date on any developments with the wolves. Though, he had warned her that their sense of time was vastly skewed when compared to humanity’s. They might be very interested in increasing relations and still not reach back out for half a century.

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All told, they hadn’t been avoiding him, per se, but they hadn’t sought him out as they had previously. It was time for that to end.

Rane needed his inscriptions updated, and not seeking Master Grediv’s input would be incredibly foolish.

With baby Talax’s birth the day before—and his rebirth that morning—they had two weeks before they would leave for Bandfast, and they wanted to give Mistress Holly as much lead time as possible.

Assuming she doesn’t already have his schema all laid out…

Maybe they didn’t need to talk with Master Grediv? Maybe they could just lean on Mistress Holly’s expertise and…

No… Many minds find more flaws. They wanted Rane’s inscriptions to be the best they could be. And they’d arrived while Tala was in thought.

The door was closed, but Rane knocked without hesitation. Master Grediv called from within, “Come.”

They entered to find Master Grediv setting out a tea service and scones for them.

“Welcome, Mistress Tala, Rane.”

They each gave a shallow bow. “Master Grediv.”

He gestured for them to sit, and they did so. “So, to what do I owe the honor of this visit?”

Rane winced slightly at the formality of Master Grediv’s tone. “Master… things are not on a good foot between us, and I wish to correct that.”

That caused Master Grediv to relax just a bit even as his eyes shifted to Tala.

She shrugged, then gestured to Rane. “He’s Refined. There’s no reason for you to be grumpy with me anymore.”

Master Grediv’s eye twitched, then he huffed a laugh, a smile taking over his face. “Ahh, Mistress Tala. I will admit that life certainly is less interesting with you at a distance.”

Tala smiled back. “Of course it is. I’m eventful.”

Everyone froze for a moment, then they couldn’t contain their collective laughter.

Tala had bumped up nearly a quarter percent toward Paragon with that single utterance, that single realization and expression of truth.

For her part, she was flushing a deep crimson under her through-spike even as she fought her own laughter, which was more out of embarrassment than anything else.

Rane was doing his best to cover his own laughter, even as he was shaking with mirth.

Master Grediv didn’t bother to hide it, simply letting his deep, belly laugh roll through the room.

Everyone settled down soon enough, and Master Grediv poured their tea. “So, you are both here to…?”

Rane took the offered tea. “Thank you. We’re going to Bandfast soon, to get my inscriptions updated, and we would like your input. Additionally, we’d love any advice you might have for our progress toward advancing to Paragon—Tala’s… advancement here aside—and we want to officially tell you that we are courting.”

Master Grediv was nodding along until the last, where he froze. “Come again?”

“Well,” Rane took a sip of tea, hiding a small smile that Tala easily saw with her threefold sight. “I’m going to Bandfast to have Mistress Holly update my inscriptions to—”

Master Grediv waved him to stop. “No, not that.”

Rane continued, “Advice advancing to Paragon? We just thought that you might have—”

He gave Rane an unamused look.

Rane smiled in return, clearly enjoying himself. “Oh! You mean the fact that we’re courting?”

Tala was red once again, but it was still hidden beneath her through-spike.

Master Grediv shook his head. “Yes, obviously that. So? You are courting? Officially, I mean?”

She frowned, her embarrassment being overcome by mild confusion. “Yes. What do you mean by ‘officially’?”

A flat stare met her frown. “You’ve been spending enough time together that no other potential suitor would be bothered. Everyone assumed each of you was taken. It is nice that you’ve not only decided to accept that fact, but to make it officially known.”

Tala tsked, shaking her head. “That’s not true. I think that—”

He gave her an arch look, “I tried to match my apprentice with several other Mages of his generation, and all politely declined due to Rane’s obvious active courting of someone else.”

Rane looked startled. “You were trying to make a match for me?”

“Of course. That is one of my roles both as your master and your ancestor. It’s one reason I introduced you to Mistress Tala, here. When she made it clear that she wasn’t interested—and might never be—I began to look elsewhere on your behalf.”

Rane opened his mouth, likely to object or make some other comment, but in the end, he seemed to decide that there wasn’t much else to say about the topic.

Tala disagreed, her frown deepening. “Who were they?”

Master Grediv hesitated, looking Tala’s way for a moment.

Tala felt something moving around her with her threefold sight—it felt conceptually similar to a magnet coming too close to her—but she kept her focus on the Paragon.

He gave a little head shake. “I don’t think I should tell you.”

She almost snarled, but instead, she suppressed the urge, simply grunting in assent. Well, fine then.

Rane cleared his throat. “Regardless… What of the other topics?”

Master Grediv’s eyes lingered on Tala for a long moment before he clicked his tongue. “Indeed. As to your inscriptions, Rane, I would be happy to look them over if you’ll give me access. I assume you’ll want to soulbond an Archive connection and incorporate that?”

“That’s right.”

He was nodding. “We have found that trying to rely on a single Archive connection between soulbonded doesn’t work out as well as individualizing them.”

Tala opened her mouth to object—they weren’t married, or planning to be married anytime soon, after all—but she realized that it actually didn’t matter either way. So she closed her lips once again.

“We’ll also want to reconsider and recontextualize all of your magics, really. You have grown in power and understanding across the board, and we can take better advantage of your mental models now than your previous inscription schema did.”

Rane nodded, helping steer the conversation a bit. “Yeah, I have flagged a good chunk of the scripts for Mistress Holly’s analysis.”

He accessed a magical illusory projector and displayed some sections of his own inscriptions for them to look over together. Around the lines themselves were extensive notes detailing the specific functions of various portions and how they paired with Rane’s mental models.

“You see, here? This is a silver-wrought, recursive look for incoming danger that—”

The three of them talked over ideas and thoughts in regards to Rane’s inscriptions for the next few hours.

Tala was able to provide some feedback from the perspective of someone who had fought against Rane a lot, and she wasn’t shy about pushing back on some of the ideas nor emphasizing flaws or issues that she saw.

All told, they came to a good consensus of what they wanted Mistress Holly to rework and in what broad ways.

They even discussed their false copies. Unfortunately, those had been relatively useless, given they’d ended up being basic humans biologically speaking, and no natural magics had survived them. Their ‘specialness’ seemed to have come from the Sovereign’s intervention, and it had faded upon their death.

With that done, and dinner consumed, they all leaned back for a moment of silence before Master Grediv turned to Tala. He opened his mouth to say something, but Tala raised a hand in interruption. “One quick thing before we go down any other side-lines.”

Master Grediv hesitated, but then nodded. “Go on.”

“With Irondale, I effectively am transporting around a small city… town?” She shook her head at the unfamiliar word. “Regardless, I plan on traveling out to the outer plains and the mobile cities and villages at some point in the future, and that might mean an exchange of citizenry.”

The Paragon nodded slowly. “Yes, I can see that as a possibility.”

“So, what are the rules and laws with regard to goods and people moving in and out of our cities?”

He chuckled. “I can get you the documentation on the laws as they are written, but the real question is this: Do you want to be responsible for those you bring in, or do you want to be able to point at the laws and say that you followed them to the letter, so it’s no fault of yours?”

She frowned at that. What did she want?

Well, she knew what she didn’t want. She didn’t want anyone else telling her who should and shouldn’t be within Irondale. “I want to be in charge of who is in Irondale and who isn’t.”

He nodded and smiled. “Then the laws are irrelevant. Anyone you bring to the gated-human cities is there under your authority, and you are ultimately liable for those you allow in here. There are limits to that, obviously, but if you flood a city with horrifically addictive, life-destroying substances, you will be held to account.”

“But if someone I bring in commits a crime?”

“It will likely be assessed if there was any reasonable way you could have known that they would do so.” He shrugged. “You are effectively vouch-safing anyone you bring in.”

“What about those who choose to go to the mobile cities and not come back?”

“This isn’t a prison. Any who wish to leave are free to do so.”

That was easy enough.

“As to goods. Anything your citizenry are able to create or acquire is fair game to export. You have a fair degree of greater access, and there are some strategic resources that we would prefer you not remove from our cities. We are happy to provide greater recompense than any of the mobile cities can to keep those resources here, and if they have something we cannot offer, we may even help you acquire it so that all gated-humanity can be enriched.”

That made sense, she supposed. “Alright. Now, what was it you wanted to say before I interrupted?”

Master Grediv nodded. “Well, we just went through and assessed Rane’s magics, what of you?”

She frowned. “What of me?”

“Well, you sort of fell into your Refining, and I know your inscriptions are solid, but have you specifically looked over them, reunified them, and lost the chaff?”

She almost said, ‘Of course!’ but then she stopped herself. Had she?

-Not really? Our inscriptions are good, but we’ve not really reassessed them in quite a long time. Mistress Holly improved them when we Refined, but we didn’t specifically work on them at all.-

Master Grediv wasn’t done, however. “My understanding is that you have quite a few other things going on as well, both on your own and with others, and I’m sure that I’m not aware of much of what you’re pursuing.”

She shrugged. “You aren’t wrong.”

“Alright. You should really assess all you have going on, and figure out what’s a priority, and what is something you’ll never get back to. Have you pulled it all together? Sought the common threads, and tried to figure out what isn’t useful?”

“I… no? Why would I?” She was a bit confused. She pursued what interested her, and left it when she needed a brain break or lost interest for the moment.

He grinned in response. “Because that is part of the road to Paragon.”

Rane and Tala leaned in slightly.

“You are obviously drawn to all of these things, at least to some extent. That’s good. Eternity gets boring fast if you don’t have things to pursue, but why are you pursuing these things? What are the commonalities? What is it that drives you?”

“That’s the question for advancement…” Tala found herself filling in—almost subconsciously—as she understood.

“Precisely. So?” Master Grediv shrugged. “We’re here, let’s go over all that you have going on.”

She thought for a moment, then shrugged in turn. “Alright.”

And so, she laid it all out.

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