MAGNUS

The fiasco of our little group identifying the pattern in runescript didn’t bring much in the way of positive outcomes for us. Professor Siodha pushed me harder in her class, as did Dean Brenner. In addition I had to endure another round of badgering from Professor Schneider to go into the Engineering program. I managed to bargain my way into a workshop to experiment in during my now empty space that was left from my math class by telling him I would consider it. I wasn’t planning to switch programs, but since I could take the other courses as well I figured I could get away with it.

Since I could also use it on the weekend when there were no classes I was hidden away in the room going over the concept design I had for the Talent identification assignment. Technically the Status cards our group had come up with could be used for a finished project, I just wasn’t happy with it as it was. The card only worked for the person activating it, which was a tricky part to begin with since it had to differentiate between users. I wanted something that could be used to examine another person’s Talent without their help. Something told me that it could be useful for my career choice.

Varis’s musical voice interrupted my musing, “This whole setup is confusing. Why not just have me examine them in the future?”

I shook my head at her as she used her miniature foot to shift the papers around. I pointed at her and said, “Not everyone has an Aether Pixie to read someone's Talents. And even you don’t know all the Talents.”

“Look, I said I was sorry; but it hurts to try and read whatever that Talent is going on in your head,” she said a little bitterly.

“I don’t blame you at all Varis. Honestly just the fact that you can tell how much of my aether it blocks tells me a few things,” I said in a soothing tone.

“Well there was something else I kind of didn’t mention before,” she said as she drug her toe back and forth, for all the world looking like a child caught in the cookie jar.

I just stared at her, letting the silence give my opinion on that statement. She caved and said, “I’m pretty sure that it isn’t completely active yet. I don’t think you have enough of a supply of aether to bring it to full effectiveness.”

I stammered out, “Wait, what?”

She sighed before saying, “Look, that binding that your dean calls Talents is the most complicated I’ve ever encountered; that includes the weird ones your grandfather has. It has contingencies built into it to stop it from taking all the aether it needs to fully function. I think it's because you still need your aether to function, but also because if you grow your aether it will unlock the rest.”

“Okay one, that’s a little creepy. Two, how much do you think it will take?” I said.

“I would guess that you will need to double your natural aether generation. I don’t know why you consider it creepy though,” she said confused.

“It’s creepy because there is no way a binding with contingencies is a naturally occurring phenomenon,” I said.

She paused to consider before she responded, “How is that even possible. I don’t know of anyone able to bind the aetherflow of a person. I mean I don’t see any reason why it wouldn’t be possible.”

I froze, binding the aetherflow of a person. The empty points in the aether flow, the shape of the bindings, and the fact that some Talents took a portion of the aether to function. I whispered, “The eighth binding type.”

“Oh, yeah probably,” Varis said dismissively.

“You don’t sound shocked,” I accused.

“Well it’s not like most humans can handle the greater bindings, and those that can don’t,” she argued.

“What do you mean those that can, don’t?” I asked.

“Well your little group has three people that can do greater bindings naturally, but only one of them does it,” she said.

I stared at her some more. She decided to elaborate, “Look you already know Mai and Tak can Force Bind; him from the soul bond, and her from her Stormborne talent.”

“Right, from what you said they are both limited to the elements they can use though,” I said.

“Correct; that’s normal with force binding among creatures so I would assume it’s the same for you humans,” she replied.

“That doesn’t answer the question of who else has access to the greater bindings,” I accused.

She stomped her tiny foot and said, “Did you even read the compendium I helped make?”

“Yes, it didn’t mention anything about bindings,” I shot back.

“That’s because binding is a human term for how to use aether, it’s a word you meat brain not a definition,” she said sharply.

I covered my face with my palm and groaned, to a small giggle from her. “Richard and Ezekiel right?” I asked.

She giggled some more and said, “Yep. Richard has the Talent you all named Iron Kissed, which is so limiting in the name I don’t know where you got it from. Iron Kissed would let him matter bind metals. Ezekiel’s though is the one you want to look at.”

I pulled out the little notebook I had also made as a copy of the compendium. This one I used more as a record for our group and flipped to the page on Ezekiel. He only had three Talents, which had caused a bit of friction compared to the multitude some of the others had. His primary talent was the Inner Well, which explained his sheer amount of available aether. We had discovered that the primary talent at a person’s aether origin was stronger than those at other points in the aether flow. He also had Expanded Flow, which increased how fast his aether recovered, but it was the third talent that drew my eyes: Soul Smithing.

“You said that Soul Smithing affected the aether flow within a creature linked to the person. Isn’t that soul binding?” I thought aloud.

“Yes and no. My reading of a Talent is imprecise, it’s more a feeling. I think that your friend can link his aether to another creature, and remember that you humans are aetherical creatures too, and adjust the aether flow. It’s risky to test that though; as messing with some being’s aetherflow is a good way to create monsters,” she said.

“Great, I’m going to get another round of poking and prodding from the teachers,” I huffed out.

“Not yet you’re not. You wanted me to keep you on task for this project since it’s due on Firstday,” she said.

“And technically I don’t have to look into it myself,” I said while pulling out my research notes and making a quick note regarding the talent.

“Yeah, let her deal with it. I swear that woman checks your notes every hour to see if you have had some new discovery,” Varis said with a shake of her head.

“It’s kind of funny. I didn’t recognize her at the assembly, but thinking back I am pretty sure she’s one of the people Grandfather banned from the mountain,” I said in a distracted tone.

“Sounds about right. She is so focused on the information that she would keep Morgan from ever being able to relax,” Varis said before snapping, “Back to work, quit trying to side track yourself!”

I chuckled and laid out the drawings of my project. I was going to try and make a linked together binding like my pistol for this. It needed to be something that could be worn or carried by operatives in the future. It also had to have a way to be used multiple times in case there were multiple targets. Grandfather had told me of some devices from some of his childhood entertainment. One of those came to mind and I grinned.

I started drawing out an item that I would need to get made to put the bindings on, it shouldn’t be complicated as it was primarily a headband with a set of attached plates above a human’s temple that the bindings would be placed on. The illusion bindings we had worked out seemed like a good base for use, but they could also be used for a bit of flair.

“Isn’t that more complicated than it needs to be?” Varis asked.

“Maybe a little, I don’t want it to be too easily copied,” I said, “but to be honest, I want to push this a bit further to see if I can trigger the passive part of my talent.”

“That’s dangerous, but you don’t care do you?” she said.

“Ehh, what’s life without a little danger,” I said with a grin.

After another hour of drawing diagrams and bindings I was finished with the rough design of the bindings and the attached item. The bindings would create a translucent screen across my eyes that would have a small target on it. That targeting point would be used for the Talent identification binding and would then display the information over part of my vision. I had added a similar binding as what we used for the compendium and my research notes, and linked that to the results portion to put the Talent definitions on a separate item in the form of a light display. The left portion of the headband held an aether gathering binding to power it, but also had a variation of the activation binding that would allow a person to use their own aether if the power supply was empty. It was tied across the front of the headband to the other side and the actual spell. This could all be attached to a leather headband and used hands free. The design was crude, and I would need approval from the professor before I could start the inscriptions.

I asked, “Varis, do you see any problems with the bindings?”

“I don’t see anything that would cause backlash if that’s what you mean. It doesn’t look very efficient though,” she said.

I wish I had her around before when I was doing experiments back on the mountain. She made it so much easier to avoid catastrophe. I answered, “Thanks, I can tidy that up later though. For now I want to get a prototype built, and then probably let Schneider work on efficiency. I like creating but I don’t want to spend all my time in a workshop.”

“Well in that case, yes it looks like it will work. It looks like it will work five times before you need to supply your own aether. That channel across the forehead bleeds off some of the supply, which is where you're losing most of it,” she said.

“Do you know a better way?” I asked.

She shook her head and said, “I can read the flows, but I don’t use aether the same way as you humans.”

“Something to look into later then. I guess it’s time to get the professor’s approval,” I said.

Augusta Siodha barged into the room, holding her copy of my research notes in her hand, followed by Dean Brenner; both looked like they were about to have a panic attack.

“Oh shit,” I said.

“Need our approval for what?” Siddha demanded.

Brenner spoke almost on top of her, “What’s this about binding Talent’s to people!”

I palmed my face again and groaned. Now I knew why grandfather found a mountain to hide.