Zeph Malston: The Aether Mage

While Zeph was having lunch with his friends, Bernard was sitting in his office chair going over status reports from the various engineers working on the ley-line purifier. Magic was influenced by d.e.s.i.r.e and emotion. That meant that the easiest way to deal with the problem would be to flood the ley-lines with good feelings. The thought made Bernard let out a dry chuckle. Zeph would probably say to throw a huge party or something as a joke.

Right now, researchers were looking at how magic changed based on the influence of emotions, and they were trying to cause similar effects artificially. It was not progressing well. According to a report from Ronan, the ritual still had two months to go before it was ready for the last day of the year. In that time, Bernard needed to clear the ley-lines and keep watch over the city in case of another attack.

He pinched the bridge of his nose as he felt another headache starting to blossom. The ley-lines usually maintained themselves, not needing any outside influence to stay balanced between negative and positive energy. 'Honestly, this shouldn't even be a problem,' Bernard thought. That's when a realization hit him. It shouldn't be a problem, and that meant that something was causing the negative energy to stay in the ley-lines. They had been focused on the demon worshippers polluting the ley-lines and how to clean it. Instead, they should have been wondering why the ley-lines weren't balancing themselves out naturally.

Bernard started writing up his thoughts so that he could send them to the other researchers. Instead of a device that would purify the ley-lines, they needed one to find whatever it was that was interfering with their natural functions and then stop that interference. Then the problem would take care of itself.

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"That was an amazing lunch, Mrs. Carver," Zeph said as he patted his belly and smiled.

"It really was," Ivy agreed. The rest of the kids voiced their opinions as well. All of them agreed that it was delicious.

"I'm glad you all liked it." June couldn't help but smile as well. It was a good day, and she hadn't seen James so happy in years. He was talkative and energetic. For the last few years, she had only seen the serious and studious side of her son. Her worries for him faded and it was like a weight was lifted off her shoulders.

The kids were talking amongst themselves when Zeph asked James a question that got their attention. "Ready to see if you can make me say your whole name?" the young lord asked.

The care-free attitude James had turned serious. "What did you have in mind?"

"How about we let our gracious host decide," Zeph said as he gestured towards June. "Mrs. Carver, would you mind giving us an idea for a competition?"

June had to stop herself from giggling. She put on a face of mock seriousness. "How about a snowball fight?"

Zeph rubbed his chin. "Hmm, I like it." He said with some enthusiasm. "What do you guys think?"

Brent looked at the ground to see that the light snowfall left a very thin layer on the ground. "I don't think there's enough snow for that."

"On it!" Lili hopped up into a standing position and left the barrier. She held out her arms in a 'T' pose and started channeling her magic.

Rebecca almost shot soda out of her nose when she saw what the girl was doing. "Oh man! She looks like a sprinkler."

"Yeah, look at her go," Drew said, amused by their resident snow princess. "She's really living up to her nickname."

Lili was shooting out waves of snow from her arms as she swayed back and forth to create surround the area in a decent blanket of the frosty stuff. "This is actually easier than I thought it would be," she said while starting to walk around to cover a wider area. Her frost nymph heritage was most likely the reason she found the task so simple. Over the last month, more of her hair was turning white, and her complexion was becoming fairer. It meant that her integration with the frost nymph bloodline was progressing smoothly.

"She does know that we could create our own snowballs," Stacy said to no one in particular.

"Yeah, but she probably didn't think about it." Ivy took a sip of her tea. "And she probably thought it would be fun."

"Oh, new rules for the snowball fight," June chirped. "No magic." She knew that her son and the young lord had a weird contest where James needed to win in order to get Zeph to call him by his full name. She also knew that Zeph was more powerful and skilled than James, though he would never admit it. If there wasn't any magic involved, her son might have better chances of winning.

"I thought we were going to do something with hover-boards," Brent said. "Weren't you supposed to bring some for those of us who didn't have one?" he asked Zeph.

"We can use the hover-boards in the snowball fight." Zeph walked over to his backpack. "And I got everyone else's boards in here." He patted the bag.

"How will we use the boards in the fight?" Stacy asked as Zeph walked over and handed her a board with dark blue trim."

"Simple, we'll try to knock each other off of the boards. It'll be an elimination game. Last one standing on a board wins." Zeph smiled as he handed Rebecca a green patterned board. Then he handed a light blue one to Brent. Drew had his own, so did Lili and Ivy. Reaching into his bag, Zeph brought out the last board and handed it to Jim.

James stared at the board Zeph was holding out to him. "Why is it pink?" His voice was full of anger.

"Cuz it brings out your eyes," Zeph stated flatly.

"Malston!"

"Fine." Zeph snapped his fingers and the pink board changed colors into a deep red. "It was just an illusion, try and take a joke." He smirked.

James grumbled a quiet "Thank you," and yanked the board out of Zeph's hand. "So how are we gonna play this game?"

"Easy, we hop on a board, glide around, pick up snow, and throw it at each other. No magic, just skill." Zeph started to explain. "That means the game will require our athleticism, mainly our sense of balance." He tapped the Holo-pendant. "I also recommend hitting record on your pendant. It'll definitely be fun."

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Bianca was controlling the scrying spell centered on Zeph to look around the picnic. "Just looking at all that food is making me hungry." The two shifters were sitting in a tree a short distance away. Bianca used some magic to make the branch grow a thick layer of moss so they could be comfortable. Eli taught her that trick.

"Well, you could always make a quick run to Manaburger." Semara changed the view back to Zeph and the kids. They were getting on top of their hover-boards and practicing on grabbing snow from the ground without falling down. "This looks like it's going to be funny. How much to do you wanna bet that Zeph is going to be the first one out."

"I'll bet you a run to Manaburger that he isn't" Bianca happily wagered.

"I think you underestimate how much those kids want to nail him in the face with a snowball." Semara turned the camera, showing the serious look on the faces of Zeph's friends.

"True, but Zeph's very agile. I trained him myself, you know. Plus, he's got the tail. That'll help him keep balance."

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"So we all agree that the only magic we can use is to move the hover-board, right?" Zeph asked. The rest of the kids nodded. "Okay then. We have ten seconds to scatter before we start… GO!"

The group spread out as they bent down and grabbed an arm full of snow while they sped away from each other. Zeph helped Lili expand the snow. Now, it covered a wide area, plenty for them to play in. It didn't take Zeph long to realize that everyone was going to gang up on him at the start of the game.

June watched as the children tried to surround the young lord, tossing dozens of snowballs at him. Amazingly enough, Zeph was able to dodge the majority of them. The ones that hit didn't knock him off balance. She could tell that the snowballs hit hard though, the sound from the impacts were louder than they should be. It was a good thing that valir students were tough.

Lili discovered that it was more likely to lose balance on the hover-board while moving, so she only tried to hit Zeph when he was changing position. Then she remembered something that Semara told her a while ago. Shifters tails helped them keep balance, but they were also a s.e.n.s.i.t.i.v.e spot, especially at the base. "Guys, go for the tail!" she yelled out.

"Wait what!" Zeph said as he bent backward to dodge a ball that Stacy threw at him. All of a sudden, snowballs were being aimed below the belt. "Not cool!" he started to spin and sway to avoid the barrage. A snowball hit his upper t.h.i.g.h, getting dangerously close to causing him some serious pain. "Hey watch it!"

Lili laughed, "Front tail or back tail Zeph, we're gonna hit one of 'em. You better give up now!" Her laughter died when a big ball of snow hit her right in the face and knocked her off balance. She managed to stay on the board though.

"Tch, almost got her," Zeph looked around. He was surrounded. "Well, that's not good."

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Semara watched as countless snowballs pelted Zeph from the front and from behind. "Still think he won't get knocked out first?"

"He can turn it around." Bianca watched the screen and crossed her fingers.

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The barrage of snow let up for a second as a few of the kids needed to reload. It gave Zeph a second to breathe. He was curled up on his board to defend himself, but now he could stand again. As he was about to put some power into the board and try to escape his encirclement, he heard Jim call out to him from behind.

"Hey, Malston!" James yelled.

Zeph turned his head back to see James tossing a snowball up and down. He glanced at Zeph's tail. "Oh crap!" Zeph said and bolted away.

Lili and Ivy cut off his escape route. The blond half-elf looked at him with guilt in her eyes. "Sorry," Ivy said.

"I'm not," Lili smirked.

Suddenly, a cold stinging sensation hit the bottom of Zeph's back, right above his tail. It wasn't painful, but it caused his body to seize up for half a second. That half second was all they needed to knock him down with a second barrage.

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Semara watched Zeph fall off his board and into the snow. "I would like a number eight, extra-large fries. Oh, and one of those little apple pie things." She looked at the sulking fox girl next to her.

Bianca hung her head down. "Damnit." Then she sulked as she walked back to the limo.