Metal Mage 2

by Eric Vall

  “Stan said I should,” I said with a shrug, “and I’ve been wanting to give her upgrades even since I made her. What’s a better upgrade than an ancient, royal artifact? I think she deserves it. Maybe she’ll be able to drive herself! Wouldn’t that be awesome?”

  “But how?” Cayla inquired as her brow furrowed. “How will this work?

  “That’s what we’re about to find out,” I answered as I clapped my hands together.

  The two women laughed at my enthusiasm. I rolled up my sleeves, they rolled up the long skirts of their dresses, and we set to work.

  The first thing I had to do was to figure out if the channeling gem would even work the way I wanted it to. I had seen them in action before. The gem on Abrus’ staff had packed quite a wallop, but the staff didn’t exactly operate like I wanted Bobbie to. So a little experimentation was in order.

  I plucked an iron horseshoe off the stable floor and squinted at it in the dim lighting.

  “Now, what should I turn you into?” I mused to the tiny piece of metal.

  I wanted it to be something quick and easy, just something that I could stick a channeling gem into and test out. I had considered for a moment just using Stan as my guinea pig, but I quickly nixed the idea. It didn’t feel right. Since I was still discovering my powers, I wasn’t sure of the results of my experiments, and I didn’t want to do something to change my pocket stickman buddy irreversibly. I had grown quite fond of him how he was, and he seemed to have developed his own little personality. If I stuck a gem in him, that could very easily change. If my experiments panned out, I might eventually find and give him his own gem, but that was further down the line. I needed to figure some stuff out first.

  So I stared at the iron in my hand and contemplated my options. I could just make another stickman, but that felt dishonest to Stan, and I also didn’t want to go backward. I knew I could make a stick figure. I wanted to know what else I could make.

  I thought about it for a moment and then snapped my fingers as an idea struck me.

  “Got it,” I declared with a grin.

  “Got what?” Cayla asked as she tilted her head to the side.

  “Nothing,” I replied with a dismissive wave of my hand. “I’m just doing a little experiment before we truly get to work. Don’t mind me.”

  The princess frowned at me but nodded for me to continue.

  “Alright,” I muttered to myself as I looked back to the iron in my palm. “Let’s see if this works.”

  I closed my eyes, concentrated, and envisioned what I wanted. Instantly, I felt the metal begin to melt and reshape in my hand as my magic rushed through my veins. After a few moments, I opened my eyes and grinned at my newest creation.

  Sitting in the center of my palm was a small but finely detailed 1967 Shelby GT500 Ford Mustang. It was entirely silver from the curved roof to the blocky rear and wheels, and I had to say it was quite beautiful. Minus the cherry red paint job, it was an exact replica of my adoptive father’s car. I had loved that car every day of my childhood, but by the time I was a teenager, my father was too old to get under the hood and show me the ropes. I had still loved her from afar, and one of my greatest regrets was selling her to make rent once my parents had died.

  This made up for it a little though.

  I tentatively reached out a finger and spun one of the rear wheels. Toy cars had been my prized possession back at the orphanage, so I knew how one looked and was pieced together by heart. My magic had used those memories to form a completely solid and working mini car. I really did love this world, especially the powers that came with it.

  “Now, for the real test,” I said, and then I reached over and plucked the diamond channeling gem from his velvet-lined box. Then I looked up at Aurora with a confused frown.

  “How do I put magic in this?” I asked.

  “The same way you always use your power,” the Ignis Mage replied with a warm smile. “You will it.”

  I looked back at the diamond in my hand and sighed.

  “Well, here goes nothing,” I mumbled, and then I summoned up my magic. Just like I channeled my power into Big Guy, I channeled a bit of it into the stone, and when it began to glow like its own little star, I grinned in excitement.

  “Oh, yeah,” I muttered. “Now we’re getting somewhere.” Then I set it against the roof of the car and nudged it into the metal.

  Then I took a deep breath, and I used my power to carve the life-giving rune that Nemris had bestowed on me. When I pulled my hand away, the gem began to pulse in the center of the car like a little heart.

  “Okay,” I said as I bent down and placed the tiny car on the stone floor, “moment of truth. Let’s see if I can operate this without connecting to it directly. Um… Mustang, roll across the room until something stops you, and then turn around and come back here.”

  For a moment, nothing happened.

  Then the car lurched over the ground almost faster than I could blink. It rolled forward at a decent clip, and when it reached the wall of the stable fifteen feet away, it turned around on its newly minted rear axis and began to return to its start location. When it reached the edge of my boot, it slowed to a stop, and the clear stone pulsated on its roof as if to ask ‘what next?’

  “Awesome,” I breathed with a broad grin as I picked up the car and inspected it closely. “Just confirmed that my plan should work. Granted, this is not the same size as Bobbie, but if the gem works on a smaller scale then it should work on a larger one, right?”

  “Only one way to find out,” Cayla said with a matching wide smile.

  “I like the way you think, Princess Balmier,” I replied, and then I summoned up a little more magic and plucked the channeling gem from the car. “Time for the real test then.”

  I turned around and strode over to where Bobbie waited silently and patiently.

  “Alright, girl,” I muttered to the bike, “this shouldn’t hurt a bit… I hope.”

  Then I closed my eyes, summoned up the roiling power in my veins, and placed the gem right below the ignition port and began to press it into the iron. I exhaled slowly, and then the channeling gem was all but sucked into place, and I jerked my hand back as a shock raced up my arm.

  “Mason, are you okay?” Aurora was by my side in an instant, and she brought my hand close to her face for inspection.

  Before I could open my mouth to respond, Bobbie roared to life beside me. I jumped back in surprise and watched as the diamond embedded into her metal pulsed steadily like a heartbeat.

  “Bobbie?” I asked hesitantly.

  The bike growled in place for a moment, but then she rolled forward and bumped against my thigh.

  A grin bloomed across my face, and a wild joy leapt in my heart.

  “Well, hey there, girl,” I chuckled in delight. “Gods, you’re beautiful. How do you like the upgrades?”

  Bobbie gunned her engine in response, and I threw my head back and laughed.

  Today was fucking awesome.

  Aurora and Cayla immediately swarmed the bike, and they cooed and giggled as she purred beneath their touch. Stan jumped out of Cayla’s pocket and landed on Bobbie’s seat before he patted the bike right next to her channeling gem as if to say welcome to the world.

  I watched my strange little family with a goofy smile on my face, and my heart pounded wild and very much alive in my chest.

  Whoever this “master” was, he had better watch his back, because I had his number now, and I wouldn’t stop until he followed Camus Dred to the grave.

  “Nalnora,” I murmured, “here we come.”

  End of Book 2

  End Notes

  Thank you for reading Metal Mage. I appreciate all the positive reviews and feedback that this series gets. Please leave me a nice review here!

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  This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, places, events and incidents are either the products of the author’s imagination or used in a fictitious manner. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events is purely coincidental.

  Copyright © 2018 by Eric Vall