MageLife (17 page)

“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 and 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.

“Good morning Sophia, I trust you slept well from the snoring I could hear through the walls,” I said with a grin as we entered the room

“Who is that?” she asked after a hasty swallow. Her arm rose to point at Airis who up until now had remained behind me.

“This is Airis, I thought having someone your own age around for lessons might help,” I said.

“I've never seen him before and you haven't mentioned him either” she said.

Crap, I'm going to have to talk fast to sell this I don't want her to know he's a golem yet, but I don't want to lie to her either. I thought to myself as I scrambled for words.

“He's new” I answered.

“Um, right. Nice to meet you Airis” Sophia said, eye him suspiciously.

“Well I spoke to Jase earlier, he is happy to have you both for a few hours of control lessons,” I said.

“We aren't with you?” Sophia asked

“No, I have to get a few things worked out first before I can handle lessons, it shouldn't be long until its worked out,” I said before adding, “Sophia, I know you was expecting me to teach you and I will, I can't right now. I'm also going to arrange for you to have someone to talk to about what happened, it may help.”

“Oh, talk to whom?” she asked

“That's what I'm going to arrange, I don't know yet, but I’ll find someone nice,” I answered

“Okay, I guess, come sit down Airis, have some breakfast. The grapes are really good,” she said, changing the subject.

Airis moved to sit next to her. His face was still blank, although hints of animation were starting to appear.

I stood watching for a moment as they sat there eating, I shouldn’t have to wait long until Jase arrived to take them for control exercises.

I was nervous, I didn't want Airis giving away that he was a construct straight away. So I blurted out, “Sophia, how are you feeling about more lessons?”

“Meh, I should be done soon shouldn’t I?” she answered.

“Depends on how well you do, you know we only have to teach you to touch it so you can suppress it. It can take a long time to get a firm hold on it. Most of my mage training was fine control, but the same principle applies.”

“But I did okay with the stones," she complained.

“You did, but that's just a baby step. You still can't stop the involuntary activations, which are what got you placed with me in the first place,” I instantly regretted saying that. Don’t cry please don't cry.

“I will do it just you wait and see, I'll make you proud,” she said.

“I’m sure you will, you could be a mage in the making,” I said with a smile. This kid is tough. I thought to myself, there was no hint of sadness on her face. Although there was a glimmer of anger.

“Maybe, still don't like magic.” she said. She pouted a bit at that.

“I know, I will just have to work harder to change your mind. It can be a lot of fun and it’s useful.”

“More trouble than its worth,” she said.

I had no answer to that. In her eyes at least it would look that way. It had taken her parents and kept her away from her friends.

“I am looking forward to lessons Tristan.” Airis said.

“Good, Jase will be here soon,” I nodded more to myself than to them as there came a knock at the door.

“Perfect timing,” I said before walking to the door. “Jase come on in, your students are eagerly awaiting,”

Jase walked in and stopped as he took in the scene.

“Tristan could I have a word please?” Jase asked.

“Of course,” I turned to the table. “Sophia, Airis, if you will excuse us for just a moment,” I gestured to Jase, “we will go through to my room, let them finish their breakfast.”