Zeph Malston: The Aether Mage

Bernard decided to join the kids and Ronan on their little excursion into the city. He hadn't been spending much time with his grandson the last few weeks. Zeph was happy that Bernard decided to join them because he would get to watch the two old men's antics. The two would argue and compete. They would also tell embarrassing stories about each other. It made the trip very entertaining.

Bernard's truck, Cecile, pulled into the parking lot of the general store. They managed to get a good spot near the front entrance. It was raining so they all created a small barrier to keep themselves dry. As they were leaving, Zeph could see a few people send a condescending look at their vehicle. 'If they only knew,' he thought. Lili noticed the odd looks from the passerby at the truck when they were driving, and was curious about its appearance as well.

She couldn't hold in her curiosity anymore, so she decided to ask Bernard about it while they walked into the store. "Why don't you fix the outside of your truck Mr. Malston?"

"It's urban camouflage. No one in their right mind would suspect the Lord of Asperitus to drive around in a beat-up looking truck. I like to keep a low profile." Bernard ruffled the girl's hair.

"Oh, okay. But why don't you use a steering wheel?" Bernard's truck was the only vehicle she saw that didn't use a steering wheel and gas pedals.

Bernard chuckled "Because it's cool isn't it. I can control Cecile with my mind. Just like how Zeph can control his tablet and projection necklace."

"It is cool." Lili nodded her head and smiled. She noticed Zeph's fancy gizmos and was a little jealous. The tablets sold in stores didn't have a mental link. The projector necklace was pretty awesome too.

Bernard saw the envious glance Lili sent towards Zeph. He had been working with the girl, helping Lili adapt to her frost nymph bloodline. But aside from that, they didn't interact much. A small tinge of guilt sprouted. His hand stopped ruffling her hair. "I can't make one for you now, because your magic is unstable. But once you're finished fully activating your fey bloodline, I'll make you a new tablet and necklace as a gift."

Lili's eye's brightened. "Really?"

"Of course. Why wouldn't I?" Bernard grinned.

Lili looked at Zeph and Bernard. "I thought it was some type of Malston family secret or something you can't share with outsiders."

Zeph shook his head. Bernard shook his as well and reassured her. "It's not. Every member of my household have tablets similar to Zeph's, and the necklace is a new invention. They're not a secret. I just have to make them personally, and I never made extras."

They grabbed a shopping cart after entering the store and made their way to the school supplies. Ronan joined the conversation. "If that's so, will you make me one as well?"

Bernard sent Ronan a fake condescending look. "Why would I do that?"

"You're giving Lili one, so why not me?" Ronan shrugged.

"Hmm. I'll think about it." Bernard teased his friend as they continued walking through the store.

They arrived at the school supplies aisle. It was pretty crowded, and they had to search for the items on their list. The two old men had no experience shopping amidst a crowd of parents. These people were on a mission and snagged much of the merchandise before the two could even reach it. Getting competitive, Bernard and Ronan started speeding down the aisle trying to beat other customers to the goods. Unfortunately, they weren't very successful.

Watching their futile attempts to grab school supplies, Zeph sighed. Waving his hand, several of the harder to get items flew from the shelves and into their cart. "Why didn't you guys just use magic?"

The two old men grumbled about competitive spirit and some other nonsense. Zeph used his telekinesis to grab what they needed and they were done getting everything in a few minutes. Many of the other shoppers looked on in envy. They were impressed by such a young boy using magic so well. Sadly for the rest of them, telekinesis required too much focus or power.

The group browsed around the store for a while. Lili dragged her grandfather to the clothing department. Ronan sent a pleading look to Bernard and Zeph, which they ignored. Then the Malston duo went to the magi-tech department to look at gadgets and games. Zeph decided to buy some popular games and movies, so he'd have something to talk about with the kids in school.

Before they left, Zeph asked if they could go out to eat somewhere. Lili immediately suggested Manaburger. Ronan agreed and told Zeph that they had the best burgers in the country. Bernard added that they also had the best vanilla shakes as well. With the decision made, they headed out. Zeph was having fun on their shopping trip. Honestly, he was just having fun being outside the house. Being stuck inside for a full month, while it rained almost constantly, s.u.c.k.e.d. It didn't help that he spent the majority of that month being trained by an overzealous coach. Thinking about Bianca made him shiver. The look in her eyes as he ditched her and left with Liliana did not bode well.

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Back in the Malston mansion, in the room where Zeph and Bianca trained, stood a smiling wolf woman. The reason for her smile happened to be a fox girl laying face first on the floor. Due to her pranks, Bianca had to apologize repeatedly to Semara. Finally, the wolf-kin forgave her, but with one condition. Bianca had to be a training dummy for thirty minutes. Semara liked to work out for at least thirty minutes a day and figured that it was the perfect time to brush up on her hand to hand combat. Her foxy friend was limited to defense only, and couldn't fight back.

A muffled voice came from the fallen fox girl. "Are we done yet?"

"Nope, ten more minutes." Semara grinned while she waited for her friend to get up.

Bianca lifted herself off of the floor and got into a defensive stance. "That last hit was a cheap shot."

"I know. That's why I did it." Semara rushed in and started throwing a few punches.

While she dodged and blocked, Bianca kept talking. "Oh my, aren't you sassy! Well, I'm ready for whatever you got." She jumped over Semara's head and landed a few feet away.

"Good. By the way, this is a nice little gym you have here. When did it get added?" Semara resumed her attacks.

"I set it up so I can train Zeph. I took him in as a disciple." Bianca watched as Semara's fist stopped mid punch.

"You took a disciple! Are you even allowed to do that?" The wolf woman didn't attack again.

"Sure I am. Why wouldn't I be?" Bianca didn't let her guard down.

"You know, cuz it's your families secret fighting style and all that junk."

"Oh that. Who cares? They didn't consider my feelings, so why should I consider theirs?"

"Still, won't that put the boy in danger if they ever found out?" Semara watched her friend's eyes closely.

"He'd be in danger if they saw him anyway. They wouldn't miss a chance to take out an Andronath noble." There wasn't a hint of fear or worry on Bianca's face. "Besides, they'd have to cross the sea to get here anyway."

"Still, it makes him a bigger target. Did you warn him about this?"

"Of course. Zeph was actually pretty excited. When he learned that I was going to teach him forbidden techniques, he looked like he just won the lottery."

"Well, okay then." Semara leaped forward and sent a flying kick at Bianca's head.

"Bianca leaned backward and avoided the foot and stepped to the side. Semara's following attacks lacked power, and Bianca could tell she was going easy.

"How's your disciple doing? I noticed the boy was pretty fit, and you never told me how he got those fox ears." Semara decided that she'd rather talk now than punch her friend. Her frustration was mostly taken care of when she finally knocked Bianca on her face earlier.

"He's doing great actually. I've drilled the basics into him and it's about time I teach him some illusion magic." Bianca's face softened when she spoke about Zeph.

"And the fox ears?" Semara raised an eyebrow.

"Oh, he's a changeling, or at least had a changeling ancestor. It lets him shapeshift into any humanoid form he's familiar with."

"That's a pretty cool ability." Semara continued to ask more questions about her friend's disciple. Bianca answered them all with a proud look on her face. Soon, Bianca's punishment was over.

"Okay, now I can fight back. I hope you're ready." Bianca took a fighting stance. Her magical aura started to leak out, and soft orange hair started growing on her body. Fingernails turned into claws as Bianca's form changed. Instead of a woman with fox ears and a tail, Bianca was in the form of an anthropomorphic fox. She used the innate ability of all shifters to change her body into a more animalistic form. This was called a shifter's battle form.

"So you decided to shift. All right, we can play that way." Semara used the ability to change into her shifted form. Silver fur grew from her body. Her jaw extended outward and she grew ferocious fangs. After finishing her transformation, Semara rushed forward. She loved to fight. It was in her blood.

In the distant past, countries fought among themselves as well as against the magical beasts and monsters. Mages made up the bulk of a nations military might. However, they were rare. Searching for a way to increase their power, one nation decided to perform human experimentation. Using forbidden spells, they added the bloodlines of magical beasts to people with little magical talent. There were many different creatures created from these unethical experiments, but Shifters were the most successful. They had a humanoid form that they could shape-shift into a stronger bestial form at will. Their creators called them shifters because of this innate ability. Shifters were used as expendable soldiers because the mages could just create more.

Soon the number of shifters grew superior to that of their masters, and they rebelled. Afterward, they took over the country. This country became Ferailis or the Feral Kingdom, because of the violent nature its new rulers. A side effect of their beast bloodline made shifters feral, and violent. They followed the law of the jungle. After many years passed, the shifters evolved, and they overcame their feral natures. However, their politics stayed the same. The strong ruled over the weak. Women were considered second to men, and non-shifters were persecuted.

Many shifters grew dissatisfied with the tyrannical rule of the noble families, so they left and joined other kingdoms. After spreading across the world, shifters became a common race. Due to the variety of shifter types, they were further categorized into different kin, based on the bloodlines that they possessed. Bianca was a fox-kin, and they were a noble family in Feralis. Their cunning nature and intelligence gained them a great deal of political power. They became arrogant, domineering, and cruel. Since she hated the way her family behaved, the kinder and gentler Bianca fled the country and crossed the sea.

Now she was free from political intrigue, and no longer a tool to be used by her family. Bianca's new life was a happy one. But somewhere deep inside her heart, there was an emptiness. She was lonely. The girl didn't even realize it until Zeph shapeshifted those silly ears on his head. There was a longing for family that she didn't even know she had. When she saw those ears on his head, Bianca decided to treat him like a little brother instead of her boss's grandson. This last month training Zeph started to fill the small bit of emptiness in her heart.

Bianca wasn't sure if the fox ears triggered some dormant instinct, or she just wanted family that badly. However, she didn't regret the decision. There was something special about the boy. The whole mansion felt warmer since Zeph showed up.

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Kevalia was leaning on Alex's shoulder in the living room. They were watching a romantic comedy. While enjoying their alone time, the couple could occasionally hear the two shifters exchange blows. It was a little distracting so Keva turned up the volume. Rin was in her l.a.p purring happily, and Alex wrapped his arm around Keva's shoulders.

When the movie was over, Alex started one they'd already seen. It was mostly for background noise. They made small talk and eventually started talking about Zeph. When Alex told Keva that the boy wanted to learn some healing magic, she agreed to be his teacher. Rin ears twitched and she woke up. She stretched on Keva's l.a.p and then hopped onto the floor. The couple watched as she headed to the front door.

"I guess their home." Keva got up.

"It would seem so. They brought food as well." Alex joined her.

"How do you know that?" Keva's head tilted to the side.

"Easy, Rin woke up to meet them at the door. She would've just continued to sleep if they didn't."