Many years ago, I did have one person I could call my friend. She had a fiery attitude. She was kind and caring. She truly had my utmost admiration and respect. Later down the line though, when our magics awakened, she quickly found herself in a class of power far outstepping my own. If I was the studious student ever diligently pushing forward at my own pace, much the the admonishment of my family, she was the true genius, blazing ahead like a shooting star. When push comes to shove, nobles will always compare. What about your tea? Mine is better, yours is poor. How about children? My child is more skilled than yours, so they cannot be near each other, yours might drag mine down just by being near them. That was how I lost a friend. When I heard she became a knight at the young age of 17 while I was still toiling for my 3rd cog at the time, it only made me work harder. Now, at the age of 19, here we are, acting like nothing has changed except our power levels respectively.
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~2 hours later
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“AAAhhhhh, that’s the stuff.” I exclaim confidently as I prepare to leave my room. This room is home to nights upon nights of toiling in every book and lesson notes that were forced into my hands over the years. Most nights that were meant for sleeping were in actuality spent reading and rereading the same theory, practical and tactical readouts, survival information and noble etiquette that couldn’t be taught by word of mouth and physical instruction. It’s safe to say that this quaint fourth story one door, one wash room adjacent through a servants passage, three window room was more a place of memorization and practice outside of practice than a sleeping quarters. For the most part, most of my time was spent going places or being at those places learning. Or being punished.
“Nothing like a good cleanup after nearly or literally losing my life for a bit, can’t wait to hear what mother has to say about the shenanigans that transpired from whence she saw me last to now.” As I finished talking to myself, something I usually ended up doing since, even with all the staff and family members surrounding me in this castle, I usually ended up alone. I opened the door to the hallway outside my room. As I spread my will around the entrance to my room and throughout the many hallways, I picked up two dead spots. Such things usually meant someone who was so advanced in magical power, that I cannot sense them with magic alone. I prepared to confront whoever it was when one of them started to move towards me abruptly. Put on alert, wondering if it was that ogre adjacent witch who nearly killed me not even half a day ago, I prepared for battle. Verbal or lethal.
“Erec, her Ladyship, Deborah Steel blood commands you to report to her in her study on the double.” The Knight-protector Steve von Steel blood’s baritone voice spoke to me through three walls as he faced directly in my direction as he let his will down. While not a pure blooded Steel blood, he answered directly to mother, so his word was mothers word. “Better get down there quick then, thanks, Sir Steve, until then.” I then took into a half jog fast enough to be double time but slow enough to give me ample time to change course in case someone needed avoiding.
As I moved past other rooms, most blocked by magical enchantments to repel low level snoopers, I felt anticipation for action and further training. Just thinking about getting to attune myself to even a squire class mobile cog sent excitement through my psyche. Also, proclaiming my attunement change and of course having possible pretense to firing that hoax of a ‘supervisor’- executor more like it.
The magi-crete walls that were made more for protection than looks belied an investment in the possibility of the 20th contact with the rebellion of the free mercantile allies boiling over and going domestic. Though, as I got closer to Mother’s study, the decorations got more elegant. Hiding secret defense mechanisms that were hard enchanted into said tapestries and statues. Chokepoints and fatal funnels with multiple hidden swing down gates that had kill holes pointing into open mezzanines and other likely holdouts. Here and there, the garrison patrolled around in their squire class mobile cogs. Most around 4meters tall and plenty wide. Armed with melee weapons and spell focuses armed all around the plate armor esque carapaces. Their will focuses keeping a three-hundred-sixty degree view on their surroundings, while also seeing through most walls due to being in tap with the house will security system.
As I got to the front of mother’s study, the grand water fountain looked as opulent and imperious as always. Secretly able to overflow at the touch of a will. So as to give mother a catalyst to synergize with her already powerful 10 cog lightning attuned magic. I could feel her immense will lock onto my position and beckon me inside. I was starting to notice small things that didn't make sense, but mother's order overruled anything else going on in my head.
As I quadruple checked my slightly more spiky but lustrous blackish short hair for any discrepancies, I felt a harder command from her will beckon me forth. Forgoing any procedure in favor of completing the issued command, I opened her door directly. As the door opened I snapped rigid with a cog-hopefully perfect salute. “Mother Deborah, Your faithful and loyal son has arrived at your beck and call.”
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She smiled, not a sinister one she gets sometimes, but a genuine, at least I'm nearly sure, genuine smile sprouted on her usually neutral lips. I just held the salute until I was dismissed. A heavy few seconds stayed still as I stared at my designated spot on the wall until she said with an almost amused tone “welcome, my son, I trust you have plenty of questions and topics to bring to my attention, come sit.”
Ever obedient as possible, I quickly went through parade rest to sitting in the big and comfy arm chair fashioned by some unfortunate but clearly expensive and rare animal hide and magically enchanted wood. Such was required since most Steel bloods underwent metamorphosis as they got stronger, getting stronger body parts, thus heavier. Since my father was almost completely some shade of metal all over, that would be me if I survived long enough. I shook my head a bit, trying to organize my thoughts, when I caught myself. When the hell did I ever lose my cool like this? What is going on with me? I’m usually a lot less emotional and cool as a cold attuned magic crystal. “Worry not, my son.” My mother said as she reached out and took grasp of my hand, “You are currently experiencing different ranges of emotion due to your metamorphosis of your fourth cog.” My breath hitched in my throat as she took my hand, so many times did it hurt me that I somehow remembered every single time in a time span that felt dizzying.
“Mother, what is happening to me?” I said with a shaky breath. “This is not the me I was yester- wait you said something about my electricity metamorphosis?” I then had a white hot pain in my head that felt tingly like an extra angry berating from Mother as she let her magical will slip too far. “Are these emotions borne from my new element?” I shook my head again, trying to slow down and control myself like I’ve been trained to do since I awakened my cogs at six years of age. Mother just sat there and let me work it out. “But then that would mean that, in all these years, my earlier persona was brought upon me by my magic?” I stared into her translucent flashing eyes which bored into mine. Then I saw it, my own eyes in hers. What I saw there wasn’t the lustrous metallic sheen of the Steel bloods, but something in between. Both at the same time. Time slowed down as the Cogs fell into the machine bay one by one. The next words that came out of my mouth were so fast that I was worried she wouldn’t understand them. “This element is accelerating my thought process and other bodily processes due to my unique constitution.” She smiled wider. “Now you understand.” she spoke softly, but so quickly that I wondered how I even understood her. Then, I suddenly thought back to how quickly I got here versus back then before last night.
“Time is dilated for you and I” I gasped, stating another important piece of information. “Then does that mean, everything about me is-I’m a walking battery.” 'But- how?' I asked in a panicked tone in my head. “It’s because I’m being super charged due to my body being electromagnetically charged by my naturally high metal contents- but then, how will I talk to others-no wait what if I- no that wont–” My mother grasped my hands more firmly.
“Come back to me” she stated- a command. I then looked at the self-propelling hour glass, being able to watch every grain of sand fall into the bottom. Being able to count to ten and the grain of sand was still half way there.
WACK
She slapped me. “Ouch, wait what was I- oh Mother, forgive me, I can’t control this power, it’s swallowing me up” She then grabbed my face and stared into my eyes. Suddenly, the dust in the air stopped standing in place. I was back in un-dilated time. Normal time.
Her next word was so fast that it didn’t make any sense to my ears, but it made sense to my brain. “Focus.”
That was all she said.
I got it. I need to focus on what time it is with the fall of that grain of sand and match my time to it’s fall.
Suddenly, I felt in control. The power was mine again.
'But that meant that I was so focused on Cerys earlier that I kept in the ordinary time zone.' I realized with a wondrous tone in my head.
“Good, Now I will explain in detail what exactly your power does, just focus on me like you did Cerys and you will be fine.” she explained at light speed, but to me, it had the clarity of a magi-crystal-scope.
“So, you understand that you are able to go to further extremes than I correct?” I nodded in affirmation. I would be able to increase and decrease the charge of my body at will and focus and it would only get more extreme the more cogs I formed. “You should also understand what your upbringing entailed due to your constitution of pure steel blood, yes?” I nodded once again. They were training me like they would hammer an ingot of molten steel into a form they desired. My emotions suppressed due to the nature of a steel body. “Then you understand the engagement with Cerys, yes?” I nodded once more, knowing that she was my focus, the one who understood my normal behavior best due to her proximity with me as childhood friends. So that she could deduct if I was over loading my body with too much volts per metal divided by organic material.
She kept smiling, but the worry crease I couldn’t focus on earlier disappeared, thus, got more tender. “Welcome to the point of view of house Hekali.” she continued to talk in that almost clicky super speeded speech. “Knight-protector Steve Hekali gave you the test, you passed with flying colors.” She smirked a tad. “Literally.” Gingerly, she massaged my hands to calm me. “To most, you would appear as a blur of your lustrous black hair and your slightly pale silverish skin. Add that to the colors of House Steel blood and you would have looked like a black and silver oak shimmering through the hallways.”
I just sat there for a bit, in comfortable silence. My next question, one I already knew the answer to, but had to ask anyway. “Did you- assign the guild representative to me from the steel blood knights on purpose?” Tears welling up in my eyes, I pressed on. “Were I supposed to die that horrible death in hopes I would awaken a metamorphosis?” Tears streaming down my face, fear building up like that Swear bird incident, where my only confidant at the time, Gerald was taken from me so early.
Mother also started to tear up. I knew the answer. I knew how Father and first brother acted. Some of the most powerful mages on the continent, cold as the mobile cogs they wore. “Was I to become so distant, so shunned and untouchable, that you had to take him from me?” Now I could barely breathe. “Were they to be killed off just because they showed a kindness to me you couldn’t afford?” A war machine. A monster. Just like that day, 9 years ago, when father, first brother and all those soulless knights left and made me watch them leave. “Was it a warning? A promise?” I couldn’t control my sobs now “If I couldn’t become the battery you needed me to be, you would throw me to war like all those cog-splittingly sharp war machines?”
Suddenly everything slowed around me as I let myself drift into the power.
