Zeph Malston: The Aether Mage

After watching the two leave the kitchen, Bianca started preparing for the Birthday dinner. She was thinking about the message that her boss, Mr. Malston, sent to his employees last night. It had described the circ.u.mstances that led to him taking in his grandson. It was quite a surprise for the whole staff, especially her. She had been working for Mr. Malston for almost a decade. At first, she was afraid, he was fairly famous, and she didn't know if she would match up to his expectations at the interview. She was delighted to find that he was really easy going, despite rumors of him being a mad scientist. Eli and Alex had similar stories. In fact, this morning they all got together before starting their shift and discussed how they should interact with the young man. Eli wanted to cheer him up by trying to be overly friendly and approachable. She wanted to console him and try to put him at ease. Alex on the other hand, told Eli to hold back his tomfoolery. He also told Bianca to keep her maternal instincts at bay. "Treat him as if everything was normal," is what Alex declared. The boy just lost his family and had to move to a new city. It would only put emphasis on his sad circ.u.mstances if they acted overly concerned. She had to admit that the old dwarf was right. The boy looked to be in a good mood despite his circ.u.mstances. While she was getting started on the cake, Eli walked in.

"Yo, Bianca, I finished vacuuming for the day. Need any help?" He said in a lazy manner.

"You came at the right time, we're preparing for a birthday party," she replied. "Help me get the ingredients for this cake ready, and then start setting up the table."

"Cool." Eli made his way to the counter. "Whose birthday is it?"

"It's Zeph's. Mr. Malston said it was a couple of days ago."

"Huh, guess he forgot to put it in the message he sent us."

"You know how that old man gets, I'm sure he was pretty overwhelmed by what happened."

"Yeah, it's gotta be rough losing your family like that. And to think, we didn't even know they existed."

Bianca stood still for a moment, "Yeah, I bet he's having a rough time. I can't believe he was hiding his family from us the hold time."

"Can't be helped, you know what he used to do before he took up inventing. That would definitely make a guy a lot of powerful enemies."

"Indeed," a deep calming voice stated from behind them.

Bianca and Eli were both startled by it and turned around. Alex was standing there watching them work.

"Geez, I thought I told you to quit doing that. You're going to give me a heart attack." Bianca sighed. Eli nodded in agreement.

"My apologies, I just came to see if there was anything you needed to help prepare for tonight's festivities," Alex stated calmly

"Awesome! With you here, this food's guaranteed to taste great." Eli exclaimed. It was at that moment he felt a sudden sense of dread.

"What did you mean by that Eli?" Bianca asked. Her face showed a caring smile, but the bent whisk in her hand told a different story.

"Err, nothing. I mean, you cook awesome too. It's just that sometimes you like to try and experiment with the recipe and it doesn't always go well." Eli dug himself deeper into a hole. The light in the kitchen seemed to dim for some reason.

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"Did you just hear a scream?" Zeph asked Bernard while he was soldering some electronics. The old man paused and listened for a few moments. "Nope," he replied. Zeph watched the old man continue with his work while he kept himself occupied playing with the aether ball. He finally convinced Bernard to let him call it that instead of Aetherite, with the reason being it was part of him and he could call it whatever he wanted. After grandpa admitted defeat, he then said that the Aetherite under Zeph's control would be called aether.

Bernard had brought Zeph into the lab and asked him a few questions about his personal preferences, like a favorite color. He even asked what kind of voice he preferred to hear, which confused his grandson. Then Bernard took a violet glowing powder from a vial, started pouring it out into a circle, and made a few symbols in it. He looked at Zeph for a few seconds pondering over something then shrugged. Zeph heard a few mumbling words before the circle started to shine and a glowing mist started to form a sphere above it. After a minute the glowing stopped and the magic circle disappeared. The glowing vaporous sphere stayed. Bernard grabbed it. It was weird because the mist looked like it was stuck inside an invisible water balloon as it stretched and dangled from Bernard's hand. He brought it over to Zeph and asked him to pour some magic into it. Zeph did as he was told and watched as the glowing mist took on a light bluish tine and seemed to thicken. Bernard nodded and then took the mist back to his work table.

"Umm, was that it?" Zeph asked while tilting his head.

"Hmm," Bernard thought for a second. "I think so but stay here in case I need you again. How's your aether control going?"

"Pretty good, I decided to make a kitten and it's started to look pretty realistic." Zeph was poking at a metal kitty as he replied.

"I'm surprised you haven't figured it out yet." Bernard shook his head.

"Figured out what?"

"Think about it, you and that kitten are made of the same stuff. Do you look and feel like metal?"

"No, what's that got to do with anything?"

Bernard sighed heavily. "I'll give you the benefit of the doubt and say that you're preoccupied with everything else going on." He looked back at Zeph and said "You control aether on a subconscious level to be human. That means you imitate hair, skin, the whole kit and caboodle. So you should be able to change that cat into a real cat, or at least a reasonable facsimile thereof. It also means that you could become a cat yourself, or any other myriad of things. Theoretically of course."

"If that's true and I'm some kind of super shape-shifter, why am I in the body of a twelve-year-old when I clearly have memories of being older?" Zeph retorted.

"I've been thinking about that," Bernard explained while getting back to work. "Some religions believe that souls go through a cycle of reincarnation. When they do, the memories of their last life are cleansed to ready them for the next. Some also state that souls reincarnate across dimensions, moving from their original plane of existence to one higher or lower depending on karma. Personally, I think these ideas have some merit. Multi-dimensional theories state that there are an infinite number of worlds. Combining these ideas, I have come up with a viable theory about your arrival here."

"Okay, I'm getting some of that. Can you break it down for me in simpler terms?"

"It means that I think you died and were on your way to a better world to start a new life, but I somehow accidentally interfered in that process. Because I summoned you here in the middle of your soul cleansing mind wipe, you arrived with partial memories. Because your soul was intended to be cleared and reborn as a baby, I believe that you created a body to match your soul's level of maturity."

"I think I get it. So, I was almost reborn as a baby, but you brought me here and I am in the body of a twelve-year-old because that's as far back as my soul was reset. That sums it up pretty well?"

"Yeah, let's go with that." Bernard decided to leave it as is. The explanation was purely speculative, but should at least help Zeph have a frame of reference.

Zeph noticing that Bernard was starting to get involved in whatever he was doing again, started to work on his robo-kitty some more. A few minutes later, he was smiling triumphantly. He was petting a super fluffy black kitten with white highlights and bright blue eyes. Now if it only acted like a real cat. He held it in his arms and was about to show Bernard his success when he heard purring all of the sudden.

"Umm, Bernard," Zeph said tapping the old man's shoulder.

"Just a second… and you should really start getting used to calling me grandpa." Bernard said still focusing on his work.

Zeph kept tapping and trying to get his attention. Finally, Bernard turned around only to come eye to eye with a black and white fluffy kitten. They stared at each other for a few seconds. Then the kitten licked him on the nose.

"Gah! what the hell," Bernard exclaimed as he took a step back wiping off his nose.

"I made a kitten." Zeph said flatly.

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