The Consequences of Meeting a Dragon

They left the two familiars—who were making each other laugh hysterically with increasingly bad jokes—in the atrium and retreated downstairs to the kitchen.

"Do you cook at all?" Ariom asked as he led the way down the stairs.

"I can make basic things," Thenio said. "I can't do anything really fancy, though."

"Basic is fine. I'm not fussy. I won't make you cook regularly if you don't enjoy it, and I can prepare Iggy's meals in advance and keep them in storage if you'd rather not deal with cooking for a dragon. But I'd appreciate it if you could at least help out a little on days when I'm especially busy. You won't be doing any cooking for a while, though. The kitchen here has all magic appliances, so we'll need to test everything to be sure you can use them safely."

"You also need to go through a couple of weeks of food sensitivity testing," Bero added in. "It's probably better to let Ariom handle all the cooking during that time, so he can monitor what you're eating as closely as possible. They should have told you about this at the Center. It's part of the standard procedure for figuring out patient management programs."

Thenio nodded. Several doctors had mentioned that he'd have to go through an analysis period to try to identify anything in his surroundings or lifestyle that might be affecting his magic. It normally would have happened as soon as he'd started being treated at the Stability Center, but they'd postponed it because of his magic circuit damage.

"I'm not really expecting there to be any problems with everyday things, since there's no record of them finding anything like that with previous chaos morphs." Bero shrugged. "But it's also possible that we'll find some things that are affecting you in very minor ways, that previous researchers might have overlooked. Even little things can add up over time, so it's worth checking everything we can."

"Now that I think about it, there wasn't anything about spiced food in the files the Association sent over, was there?" Ariom asked.

Bero shook his head. "No, but it's common sense to not let instability patients eat anything with magic in it. Not to mention that the previous chaos morphs were all children or teenagers, so they shouldn't have been eating anything like that to begin with. The researchers probably never thought it was necessary to test it."

"Really?" Ariom sounded a little skeptical. "If we know he reacts to external sources of magic, it seems natural to me that we should explore that to try to understand the underlying processes that cause it."

"That's because you're a void sorcerer, Ariom. Most people couldn't guarantee that they wouldn't kill the poor kid off by giving him a glass of redflower juice."

"Fair point."

They had reached the kitchen. Like the rest of the house so far, it was spacious and well-designed, with what looked like high-quality tools and appliances. Thenio was a bit disappointed that he wouldn't be able to try cooking in it for a while.

Ariom pointed to a line of dark tiles that ran across the floor, dividing the kitchen from the dining area next to it. "This is the dragon barrier line. No dragons beyond this point without permission and human supervision. I probably don't have to tell you which little black dragon inspired that rule. I really don't ever want to have to clean mashed potatoes out of his scales again...." He sighed and then pointed toward a small, glassed-in room on one side of the kitchen area. "We call that a 'dragon box.' There are a few of them around the house. They're safe areas where Iggy—or any other magic beasts who happen to be around—can play and watch what you're doing without getting in the way. They're set up in locations where I use magic frequently, so they're insulated to protect whoever's inside in case of any accidents. That means they can also protect you from being destabilized by surrounding magic. Keep that in mind, all right? It could come in handy."

Thenio nodded, once again amazed by the lengths Ariom seemed willing to go to for Iggy's sake.

It wasn't normal to design your entire house around your familiar's needs, was it? Thenio didn't actually know that much about how most wizards lived with their familiars, but his uncle's familiar had his own living area, separate from the house. Thenio had only ever seen him from a distance.

Of course...Umbra was a fellwolf. They were huge and were famous for their aggressive and territorial natures, so it was pretty much a given that they needed their own space. Trying to keep one in your house would just be asking for trouble, especially if there were children around.

By comparison, it made much more sense to pamper a cute little dragon like Iggy.

"Have a seat," Bero said, patting one of the chairs by the dining table. "Let's chat a little while Ariom's working on dinner."

The two of them sat down while Ariom went into the kitchen and started getting out food and cooking utensils.

Bero had brought along the sheaf of papers he was looking at up on the balcony, and he set them on the table in front of him. Reading upside down, Thenio recognized the Stability Center's logo on the top sheet, along with his own name. It seemed to be a copy of the patient information the Center had given Ariom.

"We're not really going to get into your training program until tomorrow," Bero said. "And I know Ariom already gave you an overview of what he's planning. But I thought you might still have some questions about what's going to happen from now on. Is there anything you want to ask?"

Thenio thought for a moment. "Ariom said something about the Wizard Association sending him information on chaos morphs. Is that something I'm allowed to look at?"

"I don't see why not. You probably have more right to look at it than anyone. I can make a copy for you. Just...." Bero paused, then said gently, "It's better if you don't read it right away. Wait until you've settled in here and are feeling more comfortable. Some parts of it are...a bit depressing."

"Oh."

Thenio looked down at the table. Like everything else in the house, it was well-made, with an attractive geometric pattern of inlaid woods on the top. The varying shades of brown reminded him of Eteon and his usual basket of wood scraps.

Eteon the magician, who'd been keeping secrets from him....

Thenio shifted uncomfortably and looked away, trying to think of something else to ask in order to break the awkward silence. "Um...there's also something I've been wondering about the treatment plan that Ariom described at the meeting the other day. He said he wanted to try teaching me elementalist exercises, right? Because of the theory that chaos affinities are somehow related to null affinities, and a lot of people with null affinities practice elementalism. But I didn't really get how that's supposed to help. I mean, elementalists just manipulate elements, right? Like moving dirt for construction work and stuff?"

"Well...yes and no. It's true that's all most elementalists can do, but the field of elementalism itself is capable of a lot more than that. A lot of combat magic is basically advanced forms of elementalism, isn't it? And look at the amazing things that high-level battlemages and demon hunters can do."

"Oh. I guess you're right. Is it just that normal elementalists can't do as much because they don't have enough power?"

"Exactly. Elementalism doesn't really start to shine until you reach the mid sorcerer ranks. But the people that choose to go into elementalism tend to have lower power levels. It doesn't take that much power to move water or dirt around, so you don't have to be very strong to get work in that field. That's one reason it attracts null mages, since it's rare for them to even become sorcerers. The few that do get to higher power levels make fantastic elementalists, of course, since they're capable of handling so many different elements. But the main reason that children with null affinities are encouraged to study elementalism is that it's an effective way for them to learn to use different kinds of magic. That's the part Ariom wants to focus on—trying to teach you to consciously control the type of magic you're producing instead of letting it change randomly like it does now."

"I guess that makes sense." Thenio frowned. "But they taught me some basic water manipulation exercises at the academy, and those never seemed to help much. How will the exercises Ariom teaches me be any better?"

He wasn't going to fall back into the endless loop of being given more and more magic exercises that never produced results, was he?

"They thought you had a water affinity at the time, didn't they? So they taught you the sort of exercises a water mage would use, not the ones that null mages learn."

"What's the difference?"

"Water mages naturally produce water magic. They don't need to practice controlling the frequency of their power. They just need to practice using it to control the bowl of water in front of them. But null magic is unattributed by default. Null mages have to practice changing their magic to a water frequency before they can start doing any actual water manipulation with it. So while they're generally referred to as 'elementalism' exercises, it would actually be more precise to say that Ariom wants to teach you 'power frequency' exercises. Though he's planning to put you through some more basic magic control training first. Directly controlling the frequency of your magic isn't easy, so you'll need to work up to it. Fortunately, void mages are naturally good with magic control, so Ariom is one of the best teachers you could have."

"Can void mages produce different types of magic like null mages do, then? I always thought they could only control existing magic. But if Ariom has an elementalist certification...."

Void magic was unique in that it only affected other magic. Having a void affinity meant that a person was able to directly manipulate magic power other than their own, which was why Ariom was able to disperse Thenio's magic when it built up and started to go out of control. They could also do things like pulling power directly out of a magic crystal or taking control of the magic that another mage emitted.

But you couldn't get certified in elementalism by relying on outside sources of magic like that. Ariom had shown them his wizard badge during the meeting at the Stability Center, and 'journeyman elementalist' was definitely one of the certifications listed on it, along with 'grandmaster enchanter,' 'artisan necromancer,' and 'artisan alchemist.' That meant he had to be able to use at least one other type of magic.

But Bero shook his head. "No, they're not like null mages. Void mages can learn to use almost any kind of magic if they work at it hard enough, but they have to use a more complicated method."

"Really? How do they do it?"

"You've been studying enchanting, haven't you?" Bero said with a small, amused smile. "Think about it."

It had something to do with enchanting? What...? Thenio stared at him blankly for a moment. Then he looked toward the kitchen, where Ariom, the resident elementalist void mage, was busy chopping vegetables.

It was true that enchanters worked with all kinds of magic. Attribute conversion was a fundamental enchanting technique. The efficiency varied, but as long as you ran them through the right conversion formation, most types of magic could be converted into most other types.

It wouldn't be hard for a grandmaster enchanter to make a tool to convert his magic into another type. But they wouldn't let him use a tool like that in the certification exam.

Unauthorized duplication: this tale has been taken without consent. Report sightings.

Or maybe they let it slide if you were capable of making a conversion tool on the spot, after the exam started...?

No, wait. On the spot enchanting?

That reminded Thenio of something else Ariom had talked about during the meeting at the Stability Center: thaumaturgy. It was a branch of magic that was rare enough that the Association didn't even offer a certification for it, but Araela, the woman from the Association's Research Center, and Saklo, the ever-smiling man from the Merioc Research Alliance who seemed to dislike Ariom, had both acted impressed when they found out that he was a thaumaturgist. Apparently it was extremely difficult to learn.

Thenio only had a vague understanding of what it was. But it had something to do with directly controlling magic to mimic the effects of enchanting formations.

So if that kind of thing was possible...then if you were a void mage who could manipulate magic power...as well as an enchanter who thoroughly understood attribute conversion...and you wanted to use different kinds of magic....

"Do they...use magic manipulation on their own magic and convert it into other types?" Thenio asked hesitantly. That sounded like it would take a ridiculous level of magic control, but in theory, it should be possible.

Bero gave him a wide smile. "Well done! Ariom said you were a good student. You figured it out quickly."

"Seriously? Can void mages really do that?"

"The good ones can." Bero turned toward the kitchen and called out, "Hey, Ariom. Give him a little demonstration, will you?"

Ariom sighed and paused his vegetable chopping. "You know we have to be careful using magic around him.... But fine. I can do a little."

He set down his knife and held out his hand, palm facing upward. A swirl of dark grey magic rose up from it, forming into an orb that hovered a few inches above Ariom's hand.

Was that what manifested void magic looked like? Thenio had never seen it before, but he assumed that's what the orb was made of, since the color matched Ariom's stigma.

The orb rotated slowly for a moment. Then a brownish wave spread through it, turning the shape from a dark grey cloud to a solid ball made of compacted dirt.

A few seconds later, pieces began to break off from the ball, spiraling upwards. The dirt sphere quickly became a small, dancing dust devil, spinning and swaying in the air.

After another pause, a dark streak spiraled up through the tiny dust storm, mixing and spreading through the dirt and wind until they'd turned into a cyclone of swirling water.

Ariom flicked his fingers, and the spiral grew in size, the water flowing upward until it was circling above his head. As it moved, the stream of water broke apart into a flock of small birds that flew around the kitchen, tiny water wings flapping and sparkling as they caught the light.

After they'd circled the room a couple of times, the birds suddenly flared a bright red-orange as the water morphed into what looked like molten lava.

Ariom let them fly around the room a few more times. Then he waved his hand, and the birds vanished, along with a musical chord that sounded like a lute being strummed.

"Was that enough?" he asked, looking over at them.

Thenio blinked and realized that his mouth was hanging open. He closed it quickly but still felt stunned by what he had just seen.

Just making that flock of birds would have been a pretty impressive display of magic control. But had Ariom seriously been converting his magic to different attributes and manipulating it with that level of control at the same time?

The crazy genius.

That was...so unfair....

"I counted five different attributes there, plus the void at the beginning," Bero said, giving Thenio a playful wink. "Now do you believe he can do it?"

Thenio nodded silently. His throat was feeling a little tight.

"Obviously it's not the same as adjusting the frequency before you emit the magic, like null mages—and presumably chaos mages—normally would. But it should be enough to convince you that Ariom knows a lot about magic control. He'll be a fine teacher for you at your current level. And we can always recruit a good null mage to help with your training later on if we need to."

"Really skilled null mages are pretty rare, aren't they? Do you know one?"

"No. But I know Kalion. That's even better."

"Kalion?"

"Kalion Obarin. The head of the Magic Corps. Between his own people and his contacts in other organizations, he can find us any kind of wizard we need. So we'll just ask him if we decide you need another trainer."

Thenio's eyes widened in surprise. "You know Sunfall? Like...personally?"

In the Kafron military, once combat wizards reached the rank of battlemage, they were given a unique call name, which was usually some kind of reference to their magic abilities or fighting style. Common people mainly knew them by these nicknames.

Thenio had grown up watching other children at the park or school playground pretend to be the likes of 'Sunfall' or 'Sword Queen' or 'Jackal' or 'Hurricane' in order to fight imaginary battles.

He'd never done it with them, though. If they let him join in at all, he'd always had to play the part of a demon....

Bero chuckled at his expression. "Sure, I know him. Kalion is an old family friend. The Denifor family has a lot of military ties." He glanced in the direction of the kitchen, where Ariom had returned to his cooking. "Well. Not so much the younger ones.... Though my son does work for one of the military's alchemy workshops." He looked back at Thenio. "Kalion is actually one of the reasons you and I are even having this conversation. Ariom probably wouldn't have gotten approved as your caretaker without his recommendation. From what I heard, most of the doctors at the Stability Center thought handing you over to an independent wizard was too much of a risk. But as the head of the Magic Corps, Kalion also oversees the Center, so they can't exactly ignore his opinion. Grandmaster Sephior told everyone to keep quiet about his endorsement of Ariom until after you'd decided where to go because he was afraid you and your parents would be too influenced by it. He wanted you to base your decision on more practical reasons. It's fine to tell you now, though."

The famous Sunfall had actually been backing Ariom? Thenio couldn't deny that he probably would have been swayed by that knowledge if he'd found out earlier. His parents definitely would have. His mother in particular would adore the idea of having a connection to one of the most powerful people in the country.

Maybe it was better not to mention it to them...at least not until he was sure that coming to live with Ariom had been the right choice.

"Kalion's a good guy," Bero went on. "And he feels very strongly about looking after all the kids like you who come into the military's care. That's one of the reasons he passed up the chance to become a demon hunter and fought his way up through the Magic Corps' leadership instead—so he could be in a better position to protect the people under him. He'll definitely do the best he can to provide you with all the resources you need, whether it's additional medical care or trainers or whatever. Our job is to experiment with different things and figure out exactly what your needs are. The magic control exercises and insulation devices that Ariom has in mind might not be enough to stabilize you completely. But they should at least help keep you alive a little longer. As long as you're still breathing, we can keep looking for solutions."

Thenio let out a small sigh. Keep him alive, huh? He knew that even that much would be difficult, and he ought to be grateful for whatever he could get.

But he still ached a little inside when he thought about those water and lava birds.

Thenio went back to his room after dinner. Iggy had wanted to continue their tour of the house, but Bero talked him into waiting until tomorrow, saying that Thenio had had enough stimulation for one day and needed to rest.

"Close your door if you don't want any dragons joining you during the night," Ariom had warned him as he left the dining room. "If he sees an open door, Iggy will assume it's fine to wander in whenever he feels like it."

Thenio had debated for a while, but in the end, he left both doors leading into his bedroom ajar. He was used to sleeping with his door open a little anyway. It was a habit he'd started when Butterfly was still around, and he'd kept it up because of his little brother. For some reason, when Kleyo was younger, he'd usually chosen Thenio to go to rather than their parents whenever he woke up from a bad dream or needed help with something during the night.

Thenio changed his clothes but didn't go to bed right away. Instead, he got out his drawing supplies. There was a bay window overlooking the front garden on one side of the room with a cushioned window seat in front of it, and he settled down there with his pencil and sketchbook. Drawing always helped him sort out his thoughts, and he felt like he had plenty that needed sorting tonight.

He started by sketching a few of the decorations around the room and then moved on to Ariom's golem carriage and Iggy's tree. He also made a rough attempt at replicating the pattern on the dining room table.

Then he started drawing the familiars: Iggy wrestling with Obby, standing up to look out the carriage window, and perching on the railing of the atrium balcony. Humerus looking like a normal dragon. Then as a skeleton, hugging his wooden puppet. Iggy eating out of his bowl at dinner....

"Those are nice drawings."

Thenio jumped and turned his head toward the unexpected voice. Then his whole body froze. The pencil slipped out of his hand and rolled onto the floor.

There was a dragon skeleton floating in midair a short distance away, watching him with fiery green eyes.

The two stared at each other for a long moment.

"Hehehe! You should see your face right now!" Humerus suddenly burst into laughter. He flopped down and started rolling around, cackling.

While still floating in midair.

"Humerus!" came an angry voice from the bedroom door. "Don't bully Thenio!"

Thenio looked down to see Iggy run into the room and jump up onto the window seat, where he held his wings out protectively and glared at the floating skeleton.

"Bad Humerus! Ariom told you not to scare Thenio! I'll tell on you!"

"All right, all right.... I just had to try it once." Humerus said, still giggling. "But your magic really does flare up when you get startled, doesn't it? I thought maybe Ariom was making a big deal over nothing."

"It's bad to pick on Thenio! Say you're sorry and promise not to do it anymore. Or no eggs for you!" Iggy told him sternly.

"Okay, fine. I'm sorry. I won't do it anymore." Humerus finally stopped laughing and floated over to land on the still-frozen Thenio's shoulder.

Thenio's face twitched. He was relieved the revenant was no longer hanging unnaturally in the air, but having a recently-floating-and-cackling skeleton sitting on his shoulder was a little....

"You're really good at drawing." Humerus bent down to examine Thenio's sketchbook more closely, seemingly oblivious to his discomfort.

"Huh? I want to see!" Iggy either decided to forgive Humerus or was distracted from being angry. He abandoned his protective pose and stood up on his hind legs with his front paws on the edge of the sketchbook. "Oh! Thenio was drawing us! That's me! And Humerus! And Obby!" His tail started waving energetically.

Watching the little dragon happily looking over the drawings, Thenio finally relaxed and let out a long sigh.

"Come here. You don't need to look at them upside down." He lifted Iggy onto his lap and repositioned the sketchbook so both familiars could see it.

"Aren't there more before that?" Humerus asked. "Turn the page back! I want to see the rest."

Thenio obediently turned the page so they could see the drawings he'd done earlier that evening.

"That's my climbing tree?" Iggy tilted his head. "Oh! And our metal horse!"

"It's a golem," Humerus corrected him.

"But it's a metal horse, too, you know?" Iggy argued. "It's a metal horse golem, okay? We have lots of golems. I have to call it by the right name to know which one I mean!"

Humerus sighed. "Whatever...."

He acted annoyed by the younger familiar a lot of the time, but Thenio had noticed that Humerus usually caved in easily whenever Iggy wanted something. He was starting to suspect that the revenant was actually very fond of the little dragon.

"I saw these ones before," Iggy said after they'd gone back a few pages in the sketchbook.

"I didn't. I want to see them, too!"

"You can look at them later, okay? I want to watch Thenio draw some new pictures!"

"Oh." Humerus thought for a moment and then nodded. "Okay, then. Let's watch him draw for now."

Thenio made a face. Apparently they didn't think it was necessary to ask his opinion.... Well, he didn't really mind, though.

He looked around. "All right. But I need to find my pencil first. I'm not sure where it went."

"I see it!" Humerus said brightly. "It fell on the floor. I'll get it for you."

The pencil floated up off the carpet and drifted over in front of Thenio.

"Uh...thanks." Thenio took the pencil, a little reluctantly. He had to admit that Humerus' magic was handy, but did he have to keep doing the creepy floating thing...? Shaking his head a little, Thenio turned to a blank page in the sketchbook and held his pencil over it. "Is it okay if I draw some animals for you? That's what I'm best at."

"Mmm!" Iggy said happily. "I want to see Thenio draw animals!"

"Animals are fine, I guess." Humerus pretended to sound uninterested, but Thenio could feel the skeleton's bony tail waving against his back.

He filled several more sketchbook pages with various animals. Iggy kept up a constant stream of chatter, asking questions about each animal and calling out excitedly whenever he recognized the newest one Thenio was drawing. Humerus mostly watched silently, occasionally asking a question or making a snarky response to something Iggy said.

Looking at the two of them, Thenio wondered if this was how Eteon felt whenever he and Kleyo came to the park to sit and watch him carve.

It was really...kind of nice.