Binding a slice of life.., p.26
Binding: A Slice of Life Progression Fantasy (Millennial Mage Book 3), page 26
“Without an external source of power, yes.” He shrugged. “It is a fundamental truth behind magic. Any item that doesn’t need such regular influx is simply getting its power in some other way. As an example, harvests, used as a power source, are not reservoirs and don’t suffer from this limit as a result. Well, they don’t suffer in the same way.”
Tala opened her mouth, but Master Himmal held up a hand.
“We are delving at a very surface level into deep theory, and if we continue, I fear I will need to dominate your entire afternoon, and still, we’ll have barely begun. If you wish to learn more about crafting theory, I am happy to take the time, but not here, not now.” He smiled.
Tala hesitantly nodded, then smiled. “Thank you. I just might take you up on that.”
“I hope that you do.” He patted her shoulder, the one opposite where Terry rested. “I’ll not take more of your time, but it was a pleasure to see you, Mistress.”
“And you, Master Himmal.”
As he turned to go, he hesitated, leaning back towards her and speaking in a conspiratorial whisper. “You know, if you ask one of the staff members, they’ll make up carry-out containers of any food you’d like to request.”
Tala’s eyes widened, but Master Himmal left before she could respond, a small smile obvious on his face. That’s genius!
She immediately sought out staff members. First, she asked what would be done with the leftover food, when the event ended, and she was horrified to learn that it would most likely be thrown out. Madness, utter madness!
She put an end to that immediately, requesting that they pack it all up for her to take. The poor young woman that she’d accosted didn’t really know how to process the request, but after they’d found a more senior staff member, Tala was assured that no edible food would be thrown away. It rusting better not be.
Lyn and Rane worked the room much more readily than she did. As much as their initial enthusiasm for raiding the food table had delighted Tala, she’d known it wouldn’t last, not in the face of so many people focusing in on the three of them.
In Lyn’s case, Tala had expected the networking, glad-handing, and jovial relationship building. She is basically a recruiter and face for the Caravanners, after all.
Rane’s acumen, however, was startling. True, most of the positive interactions that Tala witnessed from afar seemed to stem from him almost visibly restraining himself from speaking, but it still seemed unexpectedly successful. Several of the Archons who came up to him were younger-looking women. All gorgeous, of course. If his blushing countenance was any indication, they seemed to be asking him to break his word… or something, Tala had no idea, and they never seemed to talk to Rane, while she was within earshot. Even so, the interactions never seemed to go anywhere.
As she thought about the afternoon in general, she realized that Rane, in his words, was often similar to her in her actions. The restraint he was demonstrating bore contemplation. Maybe I could be a little less rash in my actions?
She thought about it for a full thirty seconds. Nah. I’ll get good progress, or I’ll die. Still, she would continue to avoid things she knew, for a fact, were deadly. At least those that would be deadly to me.
Even so, she knew that she would try to contemplate her actions and their repercussions more deeply. At least more than I have previously.
If she kept that up, every day, she just might make significant improvement. One can hope.
She startled her current accoster by pulling a fully loaded plate out of her belt pouch and beginning to eat. I’m running low.
“So… as I was saying, if you’d be willing to allow a detailed examination of your blood, along with one of your Archon Stars…”
The conversations, well-wishes, and opportunities were decidedly blurring together.
“Congratulations!”
“I can’t believe you drew a soul-bound weapon. Fantastic!”
“Once your current contracts run out, we’d love to have you…”
“Your talents are wasted with the Caravanner’s Guild. Let me buy out your indenture. You’d be much better served…”
“Your companion is unlike any terror bird I’ve come across. Would you be willing to…”
Tala was not interested in joining someone else’s research, nor subjecting herself or Terry to such. She was happy with her current contract and the terms. The work would be lucrative and leave time for her to pursue her own projects on the trips, even if the role as Mage Protector would take more effort than she’d put forward before. Plus, I’ve seen three cities and the Academy. I want to see the others, and my work in the caravans will allow that.
After almost two hours, she was about to bolt for it, rust manners, when Holly found her.
“Blood Archon, eh?”
Tala turned at the familiar voice and smiled. “Yes, Mistress Holly. I hope I still managed to surprise you despite your earlier exposure to my form of Archon Star.”
Holly gave a nod and smiled. “Decidedly. I do almost wish I could have seen you continue to resist the entirety of the council, attending here.” She sighed, dejectedly. “It would have been a wonderful look into what those inscriptions are truly capable of.”
Tala cleared her throat. “Well, I, for one, am glad that you aren’t all inhuman monsters, bent on subjugating anyone of potential power.”
Holly hesitated, then shrugged. “Fair enough.”
Tala rolled her eyes but huffed a laugh. “Thank you, again.”
“Hmm?”
“You have elevated my inscriptions to a level that I feel reasonably in my element here, among so many magical power-houses.”
Holly snorted. “Dear, aside from the two Head Archons, most of us are weaker members of the local council. Those of real weight don’t concern themselves with new Archons.” She leaned in, whispering conspiratorially, “And, if we’re being honest, the really powerful ones don’t have interest in dealing with the others at all, so the Heads aren’t the best, either.”
“Ouch, but I suppose that’s fair.”
Holly patted her arm. “You’ll get there, dear. Just keep from killing yourself, and you’ll do fine.” She turned, her mind clearly already elsewhere. “Now, where did I see those raspberry mousse cups?”
Wait, there’s dessert, too? How had she missed the presence of a dessert table? That was unacceptable. I’m getting distracted by unimportant things.
Chapter: 22
The Crux of the Matter at Hand
Tala was again trying to decide how to depart from the increasingly straining event when Elnea drew the focus back to herself. “Attention! We all have things to be about, so we will now perform the final steps of the elevation.” She motioned to the three new Archons, drawing them to her from where they’d dispersed through the room.
Tala had just finished adding desserts to her food reserves in preparation for departure. Thus, she came from a side table, tucked in one corner.
Lyn had been discussing the choice of diamond as a medium with several other Diamond Archons in another corner.
Rane had been receiving some pointed words from his former master, though Tala didn’t know what about. Why do all the interesting conversations happen outside of my hearing? It could be that they weren’t actually that interesting, and the myth that she made of them in her mind vastly outstripped reality, but she doubted it.
The three smiled at each other before taking their places, standing before Elnea, and the Archon motioned three assistants forward. “This officially confirms your elevation and your Bound nature. Once you confirm, your records within the archives will be altered to reflect your rank.”
They each pricked their chosen finger and confirmed the document as presented. Tala and Lyn read it first. Thankfully, it was short. Rane simply shrugged and confirmed the slate. Some people like to live dangerously, I guess.
Once all three stone devices had briefly colored green, Elnea continued. “In your time as Mages, you have had many teachers, and you will have many more. At this time, it is my honor to become one of them, if only for a simple thing.”
The three glanced at each other briefly before returning their eyes to the Archon before them.
Well then, time to learn something new. Tala couldn’t help but grin.
“Now, you each have an aura, which amounts to your soul attempting to influence the world around you. At your current strength, it will be mildly uncomfortable to non-Mages, but as you advance, it will become damaging and eventually lethal. Because of this, it is forbidden to have an unrestrained aura in public.”
An Archon in a back corner decided to add his opinion, “And it’s rusting rude!”
Elnea quirked a smile. “It is somewhat like neglecting hygiene, in how it impacts those around you, yes. Though that is hardly ever lethal.” A few Archons chuckled. Then, her smile faded, her tone becoming serious once more. “The aura is the result of your body now being, in effect, a soul-bound item. Your gate is now yours and yours alone, bound almost unbreakably to your soul.”
That surprised Tala. Isn’t all power coming through my gate mine? Wait… aren’t my gate and my soul the same thing? But no silent pause was given for question or comment.
“You no longer naturally project excess magic outward as untainted power to disperse into the air. All magic coming from you is now yours. That is the nature of an aura.”
Wait, you said it was our soul attempting to affect the world around us. Now it’s excess magic? Tala focused inward and saw that, true to Elnea’s words, her excess power was now diffusing out from her in a way that looked reminiscent of a teabag in hot water. Huh… She focused, turning the power back at her skin. Her aura was still there but only barely visible to her incredibly sensitive magesight. So my soul is still trying to extend, but the power is a medium for greater effect? That seemed to fit.
Her efforts to restrain her power were effective; she was an Immaterial Guide, after all. Thus, she immediately had a feeling of building pressure. Her body was already at capacity, and she was preventing the outflow.
She grimaced, and Elnea stopped mid-sentence. She’d been saying something else, but Tala had stopped paying attention.
Elnea sighed, and her inclusion of Tala’s name in her next statement caused it to register. “Or, as Mistress Tala is currently demonstrating, you could simply force the power to remain within your body, over and above the normal levels. That will not, actually, restrain your aura effectively, however. Nor is it precisely safe.”
There was a wave of power through the room as most present activated their magesight. Tala was only able to easily detect it because so many activated their inscriptions at once, though no individual spell-form was discernible.
Tala was focused elsewhere, however. My aura seems pretty restrained to me, Archon.
That said, the contained power couldn’t be static. She could not allow her reserves to be the placid reservoir they had been up until now. But what do I do with it? That was a laughably simple question. She shunted the entirety of the excess into her items, in turn, and finally to Flow. Huh, Kit is much lower on power than I’d have expected. It had been straining to accommodate the food she’d been shoveling in. It apparently takes quite a bit of power to reshape dimensionality within the pouch in order to accommodate a few plates of food? She absentmindedly patted Kit after the pouch was refilled.
Kit did not respond.
Her focus back on her internal power, there was a difference between what she was doing and what she had been doing up until now. Mainly, she was preventing even the barest hints of power from leaving her form to go anywhere except her strictly maintained outlets. It was exhausting.
Elnea shifted, straightening her robes irritably. “Mistress Tala.”
Tala met her gaze, without really giving the woman her attention.
“If you insist on trying that now, you should know: power isn’t water.”
Tala blinked at that, then frowned. What? True to the woman’s words, Tala had been visualizing her power as water. The Academy ensures that every Mage sees it as such. What madness is she spouting? A thousand features of water flickered through her mind, far fewer than a Material Mage would have considered, and that likely helped her narrow it down.
She quirked a smile. Didn’t Rane mention a Way of Compression or some such? Water is incompressible. Power isn’t water. I can compress my power. Of course she could. She knew that. So, why have I never compressed my reserve? Hadn’t she? Her power density was incredibly high. The natural density… density isn’t really the right word, though, is it? Holly was referring to my total amount of power, not how compact that power was within me. Related, sure, but not the same.
She had to be careful. She didn’t want to increase her inflow, not at the moment. So, she bent her will, bearing down on her power, which she still kept trapped within herself, compressing it into a hollow sphere around her gate, in alignment with the placement of her keystone. The concentration around her gate, itself, remained the same, so as to not create a suction or a blockage.
Instantly, the difficulty of keeping the power within her body dropped off considerably. All the power was contained in that sphere, only flowing outwards as the keystone directed, following her spell-lines, instead of saturating them. They are aqueducts in the desert now, instead of underwater pipelines.
To her surprise, the power didn’t fight her in the least, at least not directly. Like crumpling up a tablecloth.
That thought made her hitch, and instead of simply compressing it into shape, she folded her power, compressing it in carefully regulated layers.
It wasn’t hard, just like tossing a ball into the air wasn’t hard.
It was hard because juggling was hard, and she was mentally juggling more magic than she could quickly quantify. She began to feel a building headache.
Tala groaned. The whole process had taken less than ten seconds, and even newly complete, it was already becoming increasingly difficult to maintain. It was easier than simply holding the power in by leaps and bounds, but not easy by any means.
Mutters rolled through the room. Grediv snorted in disgust before barking a laugh. “One bit of advice, that’s all she needed. She didn’t even need a demonstration. I don’t even see how your advice applied to her aura.”
Elnea shook her head. “Look closer, Master Grediv. She is channeling her excess into her items, specifically the soul-bound weapon.”
Tala spoke as evenly as she could despite her distraction and straining. “Is that not correct?”
“It is a crutch. For the few Archons who cannot master the true technique, we suggest soul-bonding an item for such a purpose, or we create an item that effectively soaks up their power, reducing their aura down to a harmless state. They are then required to bond with that, so as to make the patch permanent.” She gave Tala a serious look. “They never advance after that point.”
That explains those with Archon marks… those here really are the ‘lesser’ Archons… It was an incredibly uncharitable thought, and she threw it aside. Tala found herself frowning. “My aura is still there, diminished, not restrained.”
“Precisely.” Elnea gave a slight smile. “What you are doing is moving towards an advanced power flow in the vein of Ways. They are too numerous to cover, and each is relatively easy to enact briefly but hard to hold. However, they are not the intended topic I am discussing here.”
Tala let out a relieved breath, her concentration on the internal technique breaking, her power reserves, and flow, returning to normal, though the excess was still mostly directed into Flow, now that her other items had refilled.
Elnea nodded. “Now, as I was saying: Right now, the three of your souls are like toddlers, spinning around without a care to what their arms hit, what damage they can do. Pull yourselves in. Restrain your inner toddlers.” A ripple of laughter moved through the room again, and Tala found herself smiling along with the levity.
Okay… how?
Grediv cleared his throat. “Like your knife, Mistress Tala. Master Rane, Mistress Lyn, observe her.”
My knife? Tala looked down at the weapon, feeling the connection, knowing it would come as she called. Ahh! She pulled on her aura, not the knife. She lifted her arm and watched as, to her magesight, the red withdrew inward, fading entirely behind the power in her spell-lines.
Before, she’d been running circles around a tarp, frantically sweeping water back towards the middle. Now, she picked up the edges. So, so much easier. The effect was almost identical to her first attempt but was accomplished with an absolutely trivial amount of effort.
Lyn smiled briefly, and her aura shimmered, pulling inward just slightly before it washed back out. She clutched her abdomen. “Ow.” She groaned. “Oh, that’s… that’s like writing a thousand contracts after a month away from work.”
Tala grinned. “Turns out that your soul is a bit like a muscle.”
Lyn sighed. “More training to do, I suppose.” For some reason, she sounded resigned.
I must be misunderstanding.
Rane, for his part, had closed his eyes. His aura was moving inwards in slow, steady pulses. As a result, it was smaller every time he exhaled, having shrunk on each inhale.
Tala checked her own aura, verifying it hadn’t crept outward once again. It hadn’t.
She could hold this indefinitely. Her daily soul-work with Flow showed its value. Just as Grediv said it would.
Still, she wasn’t in the clear yet. It’ll take a bit before I can keep it contained in my sleep, too.
“Even once I have this down, I could slip. No one is perfect. How can it be safe for us to be around other people?”
“It isn’t, not as you are.”
There was a long pause. When no further answer was forthcoming, Tala’s eyes widened. “So… All of you, all of us, are walking disasters. One moment of lapse, and our aura can level a city block?”
Grediv helpfully interjected. “Just the creatures within a certain radius. Buildings would be fine.” After a moment, he shrugged. “Would mainly hurt mundanes and non-arcane animals, and even then, you would need a fully realized, Paragon soul before it would be instantly lethal to any but the weakest…” His voice tapered off as he noticed the other Head Archon.
