Zeph Malston: The Aether Mage

Everyone was sleeping off a full belly after last night's pizza party. Rin was snoring softly. The little kitten somehow managed to eat twice her body weight in pizza. Every once and a while throughout the night, she would let out a small little burp. Fortunately, it wasn't loud enough to wake up Zeph. He was sleeping soundly, dreaming about magic school. Sunlight was starting creep over the horizon, and a sound suddenly woke the boy from his deep sleep.

"Wakey wakey, it's time to train!" Bianca burst through the door dressed in black sweatpants and a green windbreaker. A whistle was hanging on her neck, and there was a green cap on her head with holes cut out for her ears.

"There's a basilisk in the bas.e.m.e.nt!" He was half asleep and still thought he was dreaming. After a moment he realized that he was in his room. A confused woman with fox ears was looking at him, trying to hold back a chuckle.

"A basilisk you say? Sounds like you were on quite the adventure." Bianca was doing her best to hold back her laughter. Zeph's hair was standing up in the air. It looked like he was electrocuted. Rin, however, was still asleep. She was on the pillow, right next to where the boy's head used to be.

Zeph rubbed his eyes, making sure he was awake. "Good morning Bianca. What's up?"

"Like I said, it's time for training. Wake up, get dressed, and go to the kitchen." The fox woman then left the room, closing the door behind her.

Zeph got up and did as his coach recommended. Knowing that he was going to be working out today, he dressed in a short sleeve shirt and loose shorts. Before he left the room, he picked up Rin. The little kitten refused to wake up. She mewled and curled up in his arms. Zeph took her to the living room and turned on a children's cartoon for the kitten to watch. Since she was a magic cat and didn't shed, no one minded her sitting on the furniture.

When he got to the table, Zeph saw Bernard and Alex sitting already. "Good morning." He joined them.

"G'mornin' little dude." Eli dressed in his usual baggy shorts and t-shirt.

"Good morning young master Zeph." Alex was in his usual butler attire.

Bianca was leaning against the counter eating a piece of toast. She looked at Zeph. "Don't eat too much. I don't want you to get sick."

"Why would I get sick?" Zeph noticed Alex and Eli sending him a look of pity.

"Training can be a bit tough, and if you're not used to it...your body might be upset." Bianca resumed eating her toast.

"Okaaay." Zeph was a bit confused and decided to change topics. "Alex, Kevalia didn't come with you?"

"No, she didn't. She apologizes for not meeting you again. The last two months have been really busy for her. Fortunately, she'll be able to come home later this month." Alex spoke with a little excitement. Kevalia had to attend several events in her capacity as a city council member. She was a representative for Asperitus and had to participate in a committee with the representatives of other cities. Bernard wasn't sure what they were doing, but they attended several conventions over the past two months across the country. It was supposed to help deepen the bonds between cities and regions.

"That's good. I'd really like to meet her." Zeph smiled at the old dwarf.

"She's looking forward to meeting you too." Alex smiled back.

They all made small talk until breakfast was over. Afterward, Bianca took Zeph toward the back of the compound. Bernard had many large open rooms. Some were like small warehouses. Bianca decided to use a larger room as a gym. She woke up earlier and set up the equipment she bought yesterday. She made sure to give Bernard the receipt so he could reimburse her.

Zeph saw some weight training equipment, some training dummies, and some equipment he didn't recognize. There was even a target range on the far side of the room. "Wow, this is quite the setup."

"I'm glad you like it because this is where you'll be spending the majority of your days for the next month." The fox coach led Zeph in performing some warm-up exercises for a few minutes, before they were ready to begin training. Bianca put on some training gloves and tossed another pair to the boy. These gloves were enchanted. All the wearer needed to do is supply magic power. "Let's start with something simple.

Zeph put his gloves on. "Cool, what are we going to do first?"

Bianca put up her palms. The gloves started to emit a soft blue glow and a small barrier appeared in front of them. "I want you to attack these barriers. When they turn green, we'll move on."

"They turn green?"

"You've never seen training gloves before?"

"Nope"

"Oh, well they're really cool. I'm using their barrier function to help train your power management. I noticed that you got exhausted way to fast when you fought that little girl. You were wasting a lot of magic making big attacks. So I set these barriers to turn green when you hit them with just the right amount of power. They turn red when you use too much, and yellow when you don't use enough. Green means you hit hard enough to hurt. Yellow doesn't hurt, and red is lethal. These gloves mimic the defenses of a magic apprentice. After you get the hang of it, I'll use them to mimic a rank one mage's defense. They have some other functions, but we'll get to those later.

"All right sounds good. What kind of attack do you want me to use?"

"You can use whatever you want. We're training your accuracy and control, so it's better to pick one type of attack and stick with it. Once you get the hang of it, you can add a bit of variety." Bianca pounded the barriers against each other. "Ready when you are."

'This isn't so bad.' Zeph thought to himself and started to attack.

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Ronan and Bernard were sitting next to each other in the living room. They watched from their recliners, as a small girl and a little kitten stared each other down. The two had been at it for three minutes now, and one of them would have to make a move sooner or later. Alex was sitting nearby enjoying the show as well.

An hour ago, everyone else woke up and had breakfast. Alex and Eli introduced themselves and went about their work. Eli went outside to maintain the grounds. Alex stayed in order to help Bernard and his guests if they needed assistance. Ronan was happy to meet the old dwarf again and tried his best to get Alex to call him Ronnie like the old days. The butler refused, Ronan no longer the boy that used to visit and cause a ruckus with Bernard. He was the elder of the Phillips family and its former patriarch. Propriety wouldn't let Alex address him in such a familiar manner while he was working.

After they finished breakfast, they went to the living room. There they saw a small kitten enthralled by a children's cartoon. Zeph had started the kitten on educational CV, hoping to get her to learn how to speak faster. They weren't sure if it was working, but Rin seemed to like the bright colors and singing. When she wasn't paying attention, Liliana snuck up to her and tried to pick her up.

Rin felt something was off and turned to see the little girl reaching out. The little kitten rolled out of the way and stared at Liliana. The young Philips girl didn't give up and reached out again. This sequence of events repeated over and over as a little girl chased a little cat around the living room.

Now they just stared at each other. Liliana didn't want to give up. She was going to hold that cat. Rin knew what she was thinking, and was determined to resist. The kitten was expecting another grab, but Liliana just opened her hands. "Please Rin, can I hold you?"

Rin relaxed and sat down. She stared at the little girl for a moment and then started l.i.c.k.i.n.g her paw. Lilian thought this was a signal that the kitten accepted. The girl bent towards Rin and reached to pick her up. Right when her hands were about to reach the kitten, Rin suddenly jumped off of the couch. Bouncing off of Liliana's head, Rin used the girl's back as a ramp and ran down to the floor. Before anyone could react, the kitten was sitting on Alex's l.a.p and staring warily at Liliana.

Liliana rubbed her head and turned around. "Whyyyyy!" Her voice was soft and sad.

Ronan and Bernard remembered the look Rin gave the little girl after the kids dueled yesterday. The kitten wasn't around when she apologized to Zeph in the kitchen.

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It was late evening and everyone watching a movie in the living room. Liliana would occasionally look at Rin over in the corner. She never did get to hold her today. Her grandpa told her that the kitten was mad at her for hurting Zeph. The little girl apologized to the kitten when she heard that, but it appears that Rin holds a grudge.

It was almost time for dinner, and everyone was wondering where Zeph was. Moments later, Bianca walked in the living room while carrying an exhausted child. Zeph looked ragged and his hair was a mess. The boy looked like he lost a fight with a wind weasel. She laid him down on a recliner.

"I'll go get dinner ready, it'll be just a little while longer." Bianca then left the living room.

Ronan and Bernard weren't that concerned. They knew that the first day of training could be tough, especially for first timers like Zeph. Liliana, on the other hand, was concerned. She walked up to Zeph's recliner, ready to use the first aid spell her mother taught her. Before she could do anything, Rin hopped on Zeph's c.h.e.s.t and hissed at her.

"I'm trying to help." She told the cat.

"Rrrrrrrr." Rin wasn't having it.

"Don't worry. He'll be fine after a little rest. The boy heals quickly?" Bernard assured the girl.

"Okay, but what happened to him? He looks all beat up."

"I don't know. Bianca told me that she would train him the same way she was trained. She said it was secret method her family used. It was surprising. She was only going to teach him some basics at first, but some stuff happened and she changed her plans." Bernard rubbed his chin.

"Why don't you ask the boy yourself? He seems to be waking up." Ronan joined the conversation.

"Okay." Liliana walked as close to Zeph as Rin would let her. "Hey Zeph, are you awake?"

The boy g.r.o.a.n.e.d. "Yeah, what's up?"

"Ummm, you look really worn out. What were you doing?"

With a hollow look on his face, Zeph answered, "The first rule of Bianca's training is we don't talk about Bianca's training."

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