Zeph Malston: The Aether Mage

Bernard and Zeph were on their way back to the kitchen. The cat was purring happily while the boy held it in his arms. Bernard had to admit that it was a pretty good copy of a kitten. It was funny at first because Zeph thought he brought the cat to life with a wish. Bernard had to explain that the kitten was a spirit created by a powerful d.e.s.i.r.e. At its core, magic works off of d.e.s.i.r.e. Owning a pet kitten was something Zeph wished for in his previous life. He was allergic to cats and had always wanted one. This d.e.s.i.r.e manifested in the aether and created the most realistic cat doll ever. Even after explaining all this to Zeph, the boy said he didn't care. He didn't care if it was a real cat or not. It made him happy. Bernard thought that this was a coping mechanism that he unconsciously developed to deal with the stress of being reborn in another world.

"Come one, tell me what it is." Zeph pleaded again. He was extremely curious about the thing Bernard made earlier.

"As I said, it's a present. You'll have to open it after you blow out the candles on your cake. It's tradition. Bernard denied him once again. As they continued towards the kitchen, they saw the Dwarven butler. He was walking towards them on his way to the lab.

"Hello Master Malston." He then nodded toward Zeph, "Young Master Zephyr. I was just on my way to inform you that dinner was ready to be served."

"Thanks, and you can call me Zeph. It's nice to meet you."

"A p.l.e.a.s.u.r.e," Alex replied. "Are you two ready to dine now?"

"Yes," Bernard answered. The trio started making their way towards the kitchen.

While they were walking, Zeph was inspecting Alex. Sure enough, the dwarf had a beard and possessed a stout build. His steps, however, were silent and graceful. Zeph began to wonder about this dwarf's background. If his grandpa was a mysterious spy or whatever, then maybe there was more than meets the eye to the staff.

"By the way, that is a very cute kitten," Alex said, interrupting Zeph's train of thought.

"Oh thanks, it was a birthday present. Grandpa still won't give me the other one," he said eyeing the blue wrapped present Bernard was holding.

"This one is a surprise," Bernard said with a smirk.

They continued their journey to the kitchen making small talk. When they finally arrived at the kitchen, Eli and Bianca surprised Zeph with some confetti party poppers.

"Happy Birthday!" The three servants yelled.

Zeph was definitely surprised. There were balloons, streamers, and decorations all over the kitchen. It was pretty elaborate given the little amount of time they had to prepare. They all gathered around him, but Bianca's and Eli's attention was suddenly pulled by the kitten in his arms. Eli looked like he wanted to hold it pretty badly, so Zeph handed it to him. "Thanks, so what's this little dude's name?" he asked.

"Honestly, I haven't decided yet. I'll need to give it more thought." Zeph said while rubbing his chin. Eli pats the kitten for a while as Bianca looked at him with jealousy. Eli noticed and held it up towards her teasingly. The kitten stared at her, and she stared back. Her ear twitched in annoyance at Eli. Oddly enough, the kitten mirrored her and twitched its ear. She scrunched her eyes. The kitten scrunched its eyes. She swayed her tail. The kitten's tail swayed. She wiggled her ears, and sure enough, so did the kitten. When she started to look like she couldn't hold back anymore, Eli finally decided to hand it over. Zeph noticed that Alex seemed to be following the kitten with his eyes, but didn't really show any d.e.s.i.r.e for it outwardly. Bianca received the kitten, and a smile bloomed on her face as she started cuddling it. After getting a satisfactory amount of cuddles, she finally handed it back to Zeph.

Everyone chatted as they made their way to the table. Bianca had cooked a delicious dinner. After they finished, Eli cleaned the table so that Bianca could bring the main attraction. It was a neatly decorated cake with twelve candles on it. Bernard, Alex, Eli and Bianca all sang a birthday song and waited for Zeph to blow out the candles. The birthday party proceeded as expected and everyone got a slice of cake. They talked and got to know Zeph better over the course of dinner. In the middle of talking, Zeph suddenly noticed something. Everyone was pretty. Well handsome or pretty. He thought himself very handsome, but then remembered what Bernard said. All powerful magic users were good looking. That gave him a dose of humility. He was inspecting everyone's features when he noticed that Eli's hair looked a bit singed at the ends.

"You okay there Eli?" Zeph asked.

"Yeah, why?"

"Well, it's just that your hat is missing and you look like you might have burned your hair. I just thought you might have had an accident when you guys were cooking."

Eli took a quick look at Bianca. "Yeah, the...uhh...stove flared up when I was checking the oven. No biggie," he explained. Bianca and Alex hid their mouths behind their hands and laughed quietly.

"Well now that dinner is done, it's time for presents." Bernard pulled out the blue wrapped gift from earlier. The kitten's ears perked up and it stared at the dangling ribbons. Alex, Bianca, and Eli brought out a gift as well. "This is from all three of us", Alex said. Zeph received the presents.

"Thank you all." He said with a smile. Deciding to open the three's gift first, Zeph started unwrapping. When he opened the gift, he saw a clear white crystal the size of his palm resting upright in an ornate silver stand. He had no idea what it was and looked at the gift givers. Bianca picked up on his questioning look before the two men and started to explain. "We pooled some money and had Alex make a quick trip to the store. This is a new CV projector."

"CV projector?" he asked.

"It's like the other Crystal Viewers, but instead of having a large crystal screen, it projects a large image in the air or on any surface instead," Alex explained.

"They're pretty sweet. They just started selling them last week. We got lucky and they had a couple left at the store." Eli Stated.

"Awesome," Zeph said with an excited look. He guessed that this thing was like a TV or something similar. Then he started unwrapping Bernard's gift. It looked like an electronic tablet.

"That's a personalized magi-tech smart tablet," Bernard started explaining. "It comes with all the standard fare, multimedia player, clock, artificial intelligence, and weave access." Zeph searched the information from the Learning Gems he used. It was like he had a small a library in his mind. Magi-tech smart tablets were just like tablets and smartphones, and the weave was the magical world equivalent to the internet. This was definitely a good present. Bernard continued his explanation. "It's been customized by yours truly and has a few extra functions. First, you can control the interface through simulated telepathy. I've already attuned the device to you earlier. It was that spirit I summoned and had you pour magic into. The second function is that it can be compressed. Just hold the sides and press them together while willing it to shrink. It will become the size of a pen. The next function will go well with the present they got you." He gestured to the CV projector. "It is able to wirelessly connect to display devices. I've already put a few CV shows and movies that are popular with kids your age." Bernard smiled.

"Zeph was grateful for the awesome present. The shows would help him get familiar with the pop culture knowledge that he should have. He fiddled with the presents, while everyone was watching him with a caring look. One particular set of eyes were more focused on the kitten sitting on Zeph's shoulder. While Alex looked calm and collected at all times. His eyes shone brightly whenever he looked at the kitten. Zeph realized that this gentlemanly dwarf was a lover of cute animals.

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Zeph stayed up late watching CV and chilling out, as the modern youth would say. It took a few minutes for him to figure out how to use his new toys. Controlling his tablet with his mind brought him endless joy, and the CV projector was able to make a holographic image as big as the wall if he wanted. He found a few enjoyable shows, some comedies and action dramas. Some of the jokes went over his head because he wasn't familiar with the culture yet, but he was slowly learning. It was weird watching an action show where the guns shot magic beams, fireballs, and lightning. Then he started looking things up on the weave. The app opened up to a search engine. That was helpful since he didn't know any sites. After a while, he found a site called weshare. It was the most popular social media site. So he started setting up a free account. He had to create a weave address; it was similar to an email address. After that, he finally fell asleep.

While Zeph was doing all that, Bernard and the staff were cleaning up the kitchen and talking among themselves.

"So, what do you think of my grandson?" Bernard asked.

"I think he's a pretty cool dude," Eli answered

"Yes, he seems very calm and happy," Bianca added.

"Indeed, young master Zeph was well mannered and intelligent. His easygoing temperament and childlike wonder will be a welcome addition to this home." Alex gave his opinion.

"I'm glad you all like him. As you may have noticed, he doesn't have a lot of common sense. His parents raised him in a rural area. Also, he suffered a head injury in the same car accident that took his parents. He wanted me to tell you that you can correct him or point out any gaps in his knowledge. He won't mind and said it would actually help him fit in." Bernard spoke as he wiped the counter.

They all nodded. Bianca had a slightly sad look on her face remembering the boy's circ.u.mstances. Bernard felt guilty lying to them but figured they would be equally concerned for him if they knew his true circ.u.mstances. A person pulled into a foreign world with no friends or family was also pitiable. He looked across the room at his friends and employees. It was truly a blessing to be surrounded by such people, he thought. They all talked a bit more before bidding each other goodnight. On the way to his room, Bernard heard Zeph laughing at a CV shows. It warmed his old heart, and he decided that he would truly treat this boy as his family.

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