Millennial Mage Nove Chapter: 603 - Things Went Sideways

Tala was amazed at how ti seed to almost pass in a blur as she and her family settled into a pattern, and soon enough, they were celebrating Lea’s first birthday, and then even that was past.

The girl’s days had been filled with training, learning, and socialization. She had even begun to go on so patrols around Alefast, Waning, with Defender groups, not participating in combat just yet, but learning from watching them and the creatures they took down.

She was not allowed near any cells, not yet, not even as an observer.

Lea and Talax spent ti together nearly every day, and Tala and Rane were set on eating every al possible as a family, and since they didn’t have any pressing duties, that ant three als a day, and afternoon tea and coffee most days.

The fox-kin skulk grew once it was ‘widely known’ that so of the more eccentric individuals had co and survived, seemingly demonstrating to the more ‘standard’ mbers of the race that it was safe. Standard, of course, was a relative term, and for a group of long-lived, word-focused, magical savants? Yeah, every one of them was a bit odd.

Lisa taught Lea as needed, and otherwise filled the role of ‘head fox-kin,’ being the point of contact for them. Around that, he had his own projects, one of which was working with Artia to continue acquiring artifacts as they were found in and around Alefast, Waning.

Lisa’s pockets were deep, and he soon beca the bankroll behind the business, allowing them to buy out basically every other artifact rchant in the city. That allowed those rchants to depart years before the Waning finished with reasonable profits, and it ensured that Lisa and Artia would get better rates on every artifact to be found for the remainder of the ti.

Their store becoming the defacto supplier also ant that more people—more even than usual—ca into Ironhold. These ca to sell artifacts and to peruse those that Lisa and Artia had on display. Counter to most artifact shops, the one within Ironhold was able to have all of its wares displayed openly, with no fear of bad interactions or loss of magic over ti.

Artia, additionally, was undergoing the process of actually putting her gate to use. She didn’t have a great aptitude for magic, and she’d never have been trained at the Academy as she’d not have made the best Mage, but given her husband, son, daughter-in-law, and now grandchildren could potentially live for a very, very long ti, she was unwilling to settle for a mundane lifespan.

It was unclear if she’d ever beco an Archon, but she was determined, studying and practicing hard around her work and ti with family, and that, alone, would extend her lifespan markedly.

Suffice it to say, the fox and shopkeeper were kept quite busy and content with various things.

Adrill seed to be happy that his wife was so fully engaged in various projects and tasks. He, himself, had fallen into a partner role with his son, Brandon, as assistants and obvious successors to Master Simon in the post of research and magical lead for the humans within Ironhold and for the sanctum directly.

Where Adrill had a greater depth of knowledge and experience to start, Brandon had a more youthful, flexible mind, able to pick up all the new information more quickly, as well as adapting to their expanded abilities as ‘reborn’ citizens of Ironhold.

They were equalizing slowly after all this ti, hence their positions as near equals. Though, Adrill still often deferred to his son out of pride in the young man’s accomplishnts, and Brandon often deferred to Adrill out of respect for his father. Overall, it was a good balance, and both n found great benefit training alongside the Talons, even while not, necessarily, being mbers.

Kedva, similarly, enjoyed training with the Talons along with her son, Talax, the oldest of the citizens actually born within Ironhold and thus inducted into magical suffusion from birth. However, most of her ti was spent as the primary assistant—and obviously upcoming successor—for Mistress Petra in her duties as caretaker of the more ‘mundane’ sides of work within the sanctum.

Those ‘mundane’ duties, humorously, included the preparation of magically infused als. There was now a small group of people training in the preparation of such als in order to provide the Talons with a similar level of benefit to what Tala and now Rane received.

Lyn and Ron continued to run Ironhold and the Talons respectively, with the forr spending quite a bit of ti with the Sappherrous family, and the latter beginning to join in such gatherings on occasion.

Ron wasn’t officially courting Lyn, but everyone who knew them expected him to do so sooner rather than later.

Tala and Rane—around spending ti with each other and Lea, as well as training the latter—continued to move toward their own Reforgings, making steady, but slow progress.

All the experts they consulted implied that they were sure to reach the goal in the end, and if things continued as they seed to be going, they should even be at a place where further advancent wouldn’t be barred, but in basically every case, it ca across as more of a guess than true knowledge.

They were both pushing up against the edges of human knowledge in regards to advancent, motivating and inspiring each other on a near daily basis.

They additionally trained with the Talons in magical retention and in white steel manipulation, both to get so more ti—and maintain more common ground—with their daughter, and because those were useful skills to have.

Tala had many, many conversations with both Lisa and Eskau allain, helping to nudge and perfect her understanding of various aspects of Ze, and thus better informing her own foundation.

Master Nadro had co through to talk with the whole Sappherrous family, and he had been delighted by Lea, enjoying his private conversation with her.

Tala and Alat watched closely enough to make sure nothing went awry, while giving Lea the privacy to actually speak with the man freely.

For her part, Lea ca away from the conversation with an air of calm and certainty that had been absent before. Seemingly, he’d helped her talk through so of her lingering concerns, and she was quite content in her own, unique form of humanity afterward.

At the mont, Tala was trying to relax and enjoy so coffee with Rane in one of their few rest tis together.

Lea was out on a patrol with Master Clevnis and Mistress Cerna, doing a simple check on a sowhat familiar nearby valley that occasionally spawned cyclops to harass the city and passing caravans.

It was, in fact, the very valley in which Tala had faced a previous incarnation of that cyclops at Master Grediv’s insistence.

But that was more than a decade previous. Upon the last check, there had been the beginnings of a rock outcropping that would eventually form a body if left alone, so they were seeing how far it had progressed.

They could simply break the forming creature, but that tended to have detrintal effects on the local ze, and often resulted in more powerful creatures coming into being in slightly different areas, more quickly.

No, it was best to patiently observe the known spot and deal with the more predictable creatures as the need arose.

The girl still wasn’t ready to get anything like inscriptions. Though, Mistress Holly was practically beside herself with exuberance at the notion, seemingly pouring through all the information Tala had on the construction of Lea’s automaton body.

When Lea was ready to be inscribed, she’d be in exceedingly good, and well-prepared hands.

Tala pulled herself from thoughts of her daughter, and refocused on what Rane was saying.

He’d been training against the Talons again, and he was deep in a story about one particular clash in which he’d been surprised by a new use of white steel.

Despite internal appearances, Tala was listening closely, enjoying the retelling even as she revelled at simply being able to sit with her husband.

The narrative has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

That, of course, was when things went sideways.

-Tala! Get out of the city, now!-

Even as Rane’s eyes widened, likely getting so similar communication from Enar, Tala willed them both out of the sanctum to the far reaches of her ability to do so, in the direction that Alat put in her mind.

In the direction that Lea had gone.

They popped to the superficial still inside the walls of Alefast, Waning, but only just, and the two were quick to leap up and out, their distinct magics acting to enable their departure even as the warning bells began to sound throughout the city.

Behind them, Tala felt Master Grediv step onto the wall, clearly having ‘bobbed’ toward the City Stone and co up at the edge of that stoneward well.

He wouldn’t leave the city in the event of a threat like whatever this was, but he would co to its edge to lend his aid if possible.

What is happening?

-Mistress Cerna called in an automaton sighting. Not Lea, obviously. She is retreating with Lea, and Master Clevnis is engaged with it now, but it seems focused on Lea.-

Tala cursed, and above, Rane suddenly rocketed forward, faster than Tala could quickly go. She was capable of greater speed over long distances, especially with her new technique, but it would take ti to get up to that velocity.

Terry was on his way, but he’d been hunting on the far side of Alefast, Waning, and it would take precious monts before he could arrive.

Their destination was too close for that to matter.

His motion did send out ripples, and Tala threw her aura and authority wide, doing her best to quiet the ze in his wake.

Ahead, she could detect magic swelling and roiling, the very ze in tumult, even without Rane’s rapid motion, as two Refined drew deeply from their gates and did battle.

Monts later, Rane slamd into the ground ahead of her, between the combatants on the ground, forcing a montary pause.

Lea was retreating back toward Alefast, Waning, Mistress Cerna beside her. Both were still close, both seemingly not wanting to abandon Master Clevnis and not wishing to be herded into a trap if there were more than one opponent.

There was a large number of spellforms woven out of tallic thread moving along with the two won, clearly ready for use and being held in reserve.

Tala let out a breath of relief, even as she continued to accelerate forward, uncaring of the energy and violence of her imminent impact. Lea was safe for the mont, and still with a friend.

Interestingly, Tala could see a large bulge of rock on the far side of the valley shifting, the magic around it quite obvious. Huh, the cyclops will co forth quite soon.

But that only took her focus for barely a mont given what else lay before her.

Master Clevnis, unfortunately, was not doing as well as his wife nor Tala’s daughter. The man was broken. His left arm was hanging limply at his side, and even so, it obviously had several unnatural kinks in it. His lower right side was similarly caved in to such an extent that his internals had to be pulped.

Several workings from Mistress Cerna were in place, to patch up other breaks and deformations, one even providing structure and utility to his right leg, which looked about as bad as his left arm. Only her magic allowed him to stay upright.

Most of the flesh that Tala could see—and with her threefold perspective, that extended under his clothing as well—was purpled or otherwise mottled in a way that indicated severe internal bleeding.

Blood was flowing from his mouth in a steady trickle, but he wasn’t cut, despite his opponent’s sword.

He’s maintained enough authority around himself to keep the blade from cutting.

-That is seriously impressive.-

Tala shuddered, and Alat put the feeling to words.

-Imagine how he’d look if the wounds had cut instead of bludgeoned.

Yeah…

-Mistress Vanga is on her way. Less than five minutes and she’ll be here to provide more rapid, complete healing. Mistress Cerna’s workings are enough to be a stopgap until then, assuming he doesn’t take much more damage.-

Noted. Rane’s on the ground. There won’t be any more damage… not to our friends.

Even as injured as he was, Master Clevnis wasn’t fleeing. He was obviously doing his utmost to execute a fighting retreat, trying to buy more ti for his wife and Lea, despite their obvious hesitancy to take advantage of that ti.

Kit was stretching their way, and she’d even be within range soon, but that wasn’t available at that mont.

As to his opponent, it looked like a midnight-black person, similar to how Lea looked like a snow-white one.

Its eyes were purple in contrast to Lea’s red, and the back of its head wasn’t covered, revealing what was obviously a vestige core.

It was unquestionably an automaton, quite similar to the individual that had been spotted on occasion around the gated human cities over the last couple of years.

Or one and the sa.

-We can hope it’s alone. That’s much better than the Black Legion actually being fully free.-

Yeah…

There were nurous cuts on its black armor, revealing that the tal was black all the way through, but the damage was slowly closing in a manner quite reminiscent of the white steel Tala, Lea, and the Talons used, if more slowly.

-As makes sense, we got it—and the ans to make more—from an automaton manufacturing facility…-

Still, it wasn’t quite the sa, and as a snap assessnt, Tala decided that the black form was more resilient, but slower or harder to morph. She made that determination based on how she’d seen Master Clevnis cut through the white steel before, and how much trouble he’d obviously had with the black.

-Just got an information packet. Here’s the breakdown. The thing is fast, not too durable, comparatively. It’s also stealthy. It ca upon them with no warning, and none of their senses detected it before the first strike. It is slower to self-heal than you were as a Refined, but faster than most Mages. The weapon is morphic, but only slowly, unless it's taking on what seem to be preset shapes. If a given shape is damaged, it seems to sohow ‘rember’ that damage when the tal tries to return to that form again, and each form has to be healed slowly while manifesting. Master Clevnis is only alive because it keeps trying to get around him, and it’s only alive because Master Clevnis is trying to defend the other two rather than going for a kill and risking it getting around him.-

So, it’s a match for him?

-If they had no other distractions? The assessnt is that Master Clevnis would have won if properly prepared and aware, but he received his wounds in their first exchange, before he really knew what was happening. In the ti since, he’s held his own, even injured, and hasn’t sustained any further. Mistress Cerna—after setting up the healing and support for her husband—has focused on readying defensive workings while helping Lea stay back and safe. They don’t want to co into an ambush unaware, so she’s holding back just in case.-

Tala grunted at that. Good to know. They are prioritizing my daughter, and it’s costing them.

-That is my assessnt as well.-

If that was the case, Rane and she would make quick work of the thing… Unless sothing changed, or there was sothing they were unaware of. Everything about this is unknown. Of course there’s going to be things we’re unaware of.

Regardless, she tried to grab a lock on the automaton to simply Crush it. That would be the easy way to end this. Unfortunately, the magical connection refused to form.

It wasn’t like the being outweighed her magically. That would be its own type of horrifying. Instead, it was as if her magic couldn’t affect it for so reason.

She hadn’t experienced sothing like it since, as a student, she’d petulantly tried to Crush the moon.

It had been a stupid thing to do, given it would have killed everyone if it had worked, but the attempt had simply slid off. Her teachers at the ti—after staring at her in horror for a long mont—had simply said, ‘That’s outside of your authority to affect.’

They hadn’t explained what they ant, nor had they actually seed to know themselves, but that was the explanation they had.

This felt the sa.

A higher authority was denying any direct magical interference with the hostile automaton before her. Most likely? Reality was interfering, preventing Magic from taking hold.

Well, there goes all the easiest solutions… She could dig into the why later. Now, she needed to fight.

With that in mind, her armor flowed around her, the comfort of its presence helping to center her mind.

The automaton had only hesitated for an instant—seemingly not noticing, or not caring about her attempt to exercise her magics upon it—before blurring, attempting to go around Master Clevnis and Rane.

Rane’s sword was in his hand, and Force slashed out, only being turned aside at the last mont by a black blade, seemingly of the sa material as the creature’s armor.

The two exchanged a series of blows, Rane obviously falling into a comfortable state of flow, moving from one strike or block to the next with ease as he drove it back.

The automaton for its part was moving almost frantically, its eyes continuing to flick toward Lea, uncertainty clearly visible within.

Tala sent a spray of iron spikes before herself, driving them deeply into the ground all across the valley as she claid large swaths of the potential battlefield under her aura and authority.

Then Tala landed in her fully armored glory, willing all the debris from her impact to spray straight at the automaton, causing it to stumble back and away.

After the dust cleared, its eyes locked onto her blank white faceplate, and everything changed.