Zeph Malston: The Aether Mage

A gentle rain fell on the camp, and the sun was shrouded by light grey clouds. It was one of those days where most people would just curl up in their blanket and sleep in. But not Zeph, today he was staring at Rin. He finally named the kitten, it originated from Catherine. In an amazing lack of imagination, the boy decided to pick a name containing "cat", and then shorten it.

He was following the kitten around all morning, waiting to see if she would use wind magic. With a steady diet of weasel meat, the little kitten must have gained an affinity for wind magic by now. At the very least, she should develop wind-related abilities. Zeph had been keeping an eye on little Rin for over a week now. Rin never failed to entertain with her cute antics, but she never used anything remotely wind-related.

The camping trip was almost over. This was the last week Zeph and the others would spend in the woods before they went back to sweet glorious civilization. Zeph was happy because that meant that he and Bernard could test his body for any new changes. Afraid of doing anything that might expose Zeph's unique constitution to the others, Bernard said that they shouldn't do any experiments regarding aether until they got back. When they get back, Zeph wanted to try doing some of the things that Bernard said he might be theoretically capable of.

Shape-shifting and making his body metal were a couple of things at the top of his list. He didn't experiment much with his aether, because he was afraid of being unable to fix anything he changed. The fact that he had trouble accepting that he wasn't human anymore was also a factor. Turning your hair into a ball of liquid metal, and then into a cat, was one thing. Imagining his arm liquefying in front of him still made Zeph a bit nervous. But, he had more magic control now, and more confidence because of it. Zeph thoughts then wandered, and he began thinking of other things he could do once they got back to civilization. He wasn't the only one.

Bianca was very excited about getting back to the city. She was not very outdoorsy. The approaching departure, combined with the full moon passing, left Bianca in a wonderful mood. In the last few days, her mood swings lessened. She could even be seen humming while cooking.

Zeph heard her humming again today. After following the kitten into the gazebo, he saw Bianca making breakfast. The sound system was playing an upbeat tune and she was tapping her feet. She also swung her tail to the beat. Rin's attention was caught by the swaying appendage, and she crouched in a stealthy pose.

When Zeph was about to go stop the cat from preying on the poor fox girl's tail, Eli tapped the boy on the shoulder. "Shhh. Just let it happen." The elf had his tablet out ready to record. Zeph's mischievous side won over his better judgment, and he decided to record the ensuing chaos as well.

Rin was as low as she could possibly be, making slow short steps toward her target. Bianca was unaware of the approaching little predator and kept swaying to the beat. The kitten got within reach of the maid's tail. Rin wiggled her behind, ready to pounce. There was a sudden feeling in the back of Bianca's mind like something bad was about to happen. Rin jumped onto Bianca's tail, claws out and ready to latch onto the fox girl.

"AAAAAHHHHH!!!!"

Zeph and Eli fell to the floor unable to contain their laughter. Bianca brought her tail in front of her to see a kitten. The little fur ball was latched onto the tail hugging, biting and kicking. Bianca did not look pleased. It seemed that even the rain was afraid of the fox girl's anger, as sunlight started to shine down through the receding clouds.

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"Uhm….what are we doing again?" Zeph was looking at his grandfather with a confused look. It was the next day, and he had asked the boy to stand next to a post in the middle of a clearing. As soon as Zeph was close enough to it, Bernard threw a rope at him. It must have been a magic rope because it tied the boy to the post before he had enough time to react.

"Like I said this morning, we're going to train up your resilience." Bernard checked a few knots. He made sure his grandson was securely tied to the post and took a step back.

"And what does that have to do with me being tied up?" He was starting to imagine what kind of tortuous training the old madman had in mind.

"Now that you can't dodge or run away, you'll be forced to take attacks head-on with only your spell shield and armor." The old man reached into his robe/lab coat and brought out a small pouch. The pouch was full of a white pinkish powder, and Bernard started to scatter around the area.

"Echh!, not in the face. What are you doing now?" Zeph coughed and sputtered when Bernard tossed a bit of the powder on him.

"I'm using this powder to attract some small magic beasts?" The old man said it as if it was a common occurrence.

"I don't like the sound of that." Zeph was starting to regret standing still so that his grandpa could tie him up. He had a sneaking suspicion Bianca might have had a hand in setting up this training session. "What am I supposed to do?"

"When the little creatures get here, you just have to survive." Bernard finished emptying the pouch. "Simple, right?"

"Simple my ass! You want me to fight several magic beasts while being tied up?" Zeph started to struggle against the ropes. To his dismay, the ropes didn't even budge.

"No, I don't want you to fight. I want you to defend yourself. They'll try to attack you. You'll have to defend against biting, scratching, clawing, and the occasional magic attack. But don't worry; remember what we talked about yesterday? Your body is very tough. Even if one of them managed to get through your defenses, you'd only get a minor injury."

"What do you mean don't worry. I've never fought more than one thing at a time. How am I supposed to stop these things when I can't even fight back?" The boy continued wriggling in futility.

"Don't worry about stopping them. I'll do that when I think you've had enough. Oh, look! We have our first contestants." A group of small orange tinted porcupines appeared from the tree line. They were more commonly known as Scorchupines, because of their fiery quills.

"Contestants! What is this, a game to you!!?" Zeph tried to use magic to cut the ropes, but the spell dispersed the moment it made contact.

"Well, it is entertaining." Bernard made a small earthen stool from the ground and brought out a bag of trail mix. "By the way, those ropes are special; you won't be able to break them with your magic."

"I'll remember this you old bas—Ow!" A sharp quill struck his mid-section, it burned through his spell armor.

"Pay more attention to defense, less to shouting." Bernard made loud crunching noises as he snacked. It was like he was trying to annoy the boy even more. Then Bernard remembered what Bianca asked him to do this morning and began to record Zeph's struggle.

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Eli was sitting on the floor watching Rin. He told Zeph that he would keep an eye on the kitten all day as an apology. After the tail incident yesterday, Eli and Zeph were forced to taste test Bianca's home-made recipes to appease her anger. Zeph blamed the elf for his suffering. Rin was also subject of the fox girl's disp.l.e.a.s.u.r.e.

Eli, Bianca, and Rin the kitten were resting in a clear area of the camp. It was where they were playing darts the other day. Dried by magic, the green grass was soft and perfect for sitting. Eli was staring at the kitten, trying to coax it into using magic. Bianca joined them to keep an eye on Eli and make sure he wasn't up to anything. The elf tried to use treats, toys, and illusions to keep the kitten's interest.

Bianca was bored, so she decided to mess with the kitten as a slight form of revenge. When the kitten was paying attention to something Eli was doing, the fox girl would wiggle her finger. Rin would feel something brush against her ear whenever Bianca did that. The ears were the fox girl's first target. The kitten had to shake her head several times before Bianca moved on.

Rin was getting annoyed. She rubbed her head with her paws, meowing in frustration. Her interest in playing Eli was fading because of the constant teasing. But her attention was grabbed by the elf when Eli conjured the illusion of a blue butterfly. Focusing on the butterfly, Rin tried to ignore the tugging and tickling. Blue butterflies needed to be caught. When Bianca saw that the kitten's attention was firmly held by Eli, she had an idea.

The fox girl tried to mimic a feather as she used her cantrip to tickle Rin's nose. Shaking her head didn't work, so Rin tried rubbing her nose with her paw. That blue butterfly was just sitting there waiting to be caught, and her stupid nose kept bugging her. Then the tingling finally stopped, so she ducked down ready to pounce. Just as her second pre-pounce wiggle was underway, the weird tickling sensation went up her nose.

Eli watched with a curious look as the kitten fidgeted. Rin's head suddenly jerked forward and she let out the cutest little sneeze. Though it sounded cute, a raging gust of wind burst forth following the sneeze. The wind slammed into Eli and sent him rolling backward, smacking the elf right into a dart board on one of the trees.

Bianca burst into laughter. "Bullseye! I wish I had my camera out. That was the best thing ever!" A moment after she spoke, there was a tap on her shoulder. Alex was standing there holding up his tablet showing a video of Eli getting sneezed into the tree. She had no idea how he managed to record it. "Thanks, Alex, you're the best."

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Back at the clearing, Zeph was lying on the ground. He wasn't tied up anymore, and there were no enemies in sight. Bernard scared them all away when he thought Zeph couldn't take anymore. The poor boy was exhausted. His body was littered with light scratches, a couple of bruises, and several shallow cuts.

"You were able to maintain your spell armor for quite a while. I'm impressed." Bernard looked down at his grandson and smiled. The majority of Zeph's injuries happened in the last minute before his magic ran out.

"I'm….still….mad…at….you." Tired was an understatement. Forcing magic to cover his entire body for so long was exhausting. At first, he was able to use a spell shield to intercept most of the attacks. But when the number of enemies increased, the shield could only do so much.

"Don't be too mad, now you know your limits. There may come a time where you can only defend, and now you have experience doing just that. Besides, I can see your wounds healing already." The cuts and bruises on Zeph's body were healing fast, and he would probably be fine within the hour.

"Okay, remind me why I had to train this way. Couldn't you just have thrown some weak magic blasts at me or something?" Zeph finally caught his breath, and his magic was starting to recover.

"Two reasons. One, It was to make sure you could confront an unfavorable situation and take action without panicking. Two, It is a tradition. We call the Trial of Perseverance," Bernard recalled his time tied up and fending off a slew of beasts.

"Why is something this cruel tradition?" Zeph sat up.

"It teaches courage and determination. It may be a little archaic, but it is part of the Malston family way. Just so you know, you almost beat the record."

"Record?" Zeph was brushing the dirt off of his arms.

"Yes, every generation times how long they can last. The record was an hour and a half. You were short by just two minutes." Bernard had a smug look on his face.

"Let me guess, you set the record?"

"Yup, But I had been practicing a lot longer than you before attempting this trial." Bernard stretched his hand out for Zeph to grab.

"That doesn't make me feel any happier." The boy grabbed the hand and pulled himself up.

"This might." Bernard pulled out his tablet and showed Zeph the video of his kitten sneezing.

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