Book of Kings

Chapter 35

So, what now?
It's almost been a week since then.

I searched for anything that could tell me if anyone had ever wielded metal as I did.
But I found nothing, no books or notes about it.
It made sense, in a way, why should someone write a book about something one cannot do?

But that doesn't mean that no one had ever researched it.
There had to be something, somewhere, in the guild's archive perhaps but there was no way for me to access it. You had to be a high-ranking mage, so I crossed out the idea from my mind.

I bought some metal too, just little pieces of different kinds.

What for?

For my own research, I suppose.

They were lying on the table, bronze, steel, silver, gold.

But what could I do with that metal?

I could control it, that I knew.
Let them fly in the air and mend them into shapes.
Nothing too complex yet but I was sure that with a bit of practice I could form them into whatever I want.

Normally, when using elemental magic, you could create or 'conjure up' these elements out of magic.

Would that include them too?

I picked up the gold from the table, it was just a small Iz coin, one which everyone uses daily.

Holding it in one palm and looked at it intently.
In my mind, I already held the memory of it, its shape, weight, and size.

I opened my other palm and tried creating more of it.

Sweat formed in my armpits and on my forehead.

Surprised but still expecting it, the smallest yellow ball appeared in my hand.
It felt different, magical earth or water had a specific feeling to them.

Magically created things felt... unreal, when touching or looking at them they felt and looked real enough but they had a certain hollowness to them that I couldn't exactly describe, but this seemed genuine.

I wanted to examine it some more but I heard knocking on the door.

As I opened it I could already tell who it was.
"Hello," Amou said unusually cheery.
"Come in, come in" I responded absent-mindedly.
"Training, have you?" he pointed at my face, which was red and still had some sweat on it.
"Just a bit," I wiped my forehead.

He sat down in a chair next to the table with the metals on it, he picked up a little sheet of steel and played with it, "how do you think you did in the tests?"
"Great, I'm sure. I caught up everything I should have beforehand, at first I thought that math and physics are going to be hard but they were simpler than I'd imagine."
"Looks like strict learning for months does pay off, doesn't it?" He said smirking.
"How about you? Is that you're so cheerful about?" I said to him also sitting down.
"Of course! I think I did pretty well. I don't want to sound arrogant but I'm sure I'm at least in the top five in our class. And for me that means something, there aren't a lot of people in our class I'd call stupid. I think most of them have, no less than, eighty percent correct," he started fiddling with some of the other metals on the table, "this may sound like slander but Orlina, the small raven-hair woman, and Ludol, the tall, kind of scruffy looking guy, both in our class, I don't think they did too well. At times when I was talking to them, it didn't feel like they were the scholarly type. Did you know they're engaged? And they are perfect for one another, they may not be as book-smart as you or even I but I sure hope I'll see them again in class next year. You know them?"
"I hadn't had the pleasure of meeting them yet," I put my hand to my chin, I paused for a second to think then said, "it would be nice to meet them. I think I'll go out some more during the break between school years after I finished something important."
"Something important? I must ask," he said in a sincere tone, "you haven't been that social these past few days, the tests have been over for five days and this is the first time you haven't sent me away when I came over. If you're busy with something I can come again later."
"No, it's fine. There just has been something in my mind for a while now," I didn't know how to explain to him.
He smiled lightly, leaned forwards, and whispered, "it this about a woman? Have you found a dearest darling? A Orlina to your Ludol?"
"What? No, I don't know how to explain. I'm not even sure what to say or if I should," I leaned far back in my chair.

I can tell him, can't I? He's my best friend and the person who would best understand this situation.
I thought about telling it Eeming once but I wouldn't know how he'll react or if he even would.
If he'd understand or just say something stupid and in his mind, that would have been it.

"I'll tell you what has been preoccupying my mind for a long time, if you promise you'll keep it a secret for the moment," I offered him.
"Of course, I'm the best secret keeper around, you should know that."

I stood up and faced the metals that were lying on the table.
With a nod of my head, the metals flew upwards and floated in the air.

"Wow," he stood up and staggered backward, "metal magic?"
He looked at them, weightless in the air.
Grabbing the gold coin out of the air he asked, "is this what you have been doing the last week? Should have told me earlier. Got any more that you could show off?"

Out of the metals I firmly grabbed hold of the small tin rod and with a thought, I bend it.
The tin cried until both of its ends met in a circle.

"By the gods, do you know what this means?" Amou said excitedly, "you may have just created a new kind of magic school!"
"I bought some metal so I could test them and every single one seems the same, there is not a single one I can't control," I handed him the tin halo, "can you give it a try?"

He took it and starred at it as hard as he could and after several minutes of nothing happening while his face turned red he gave up.

He did not give up though, "practice makes perfect," he said breathing heavily and strained again for another five.

He sat down heavily, "what else could you do?"
It didn't take long for him to think of something else we could try, "can you feel metal?"
"Maybe," I responded.
"I have a coin pouch on me. Can you tell where it is or how much I have on me?" He stood up and stretched out his arms and legs.

I focused on him and scanned his body up and down, there was a kind of light 'pull' on the left side of his hip by his jacket.
"Is it in your jacket's left pocket?" I said.
"Yes! Do you know how much it is?" He asked further.
"It doesn't feel like much ...eight Iz?" I guessed.
"Almost, it's ten. Go on, pull it out of my pocket," he encouraged me, "still, be careful. Money doesn't grow on trees."

Like an invisible hand, the pouch came flying out and landed safely on the table.

I still had the little gold ball in my hands, "Amou, can you hold this for a minute?"
I handed it to him.
He took it and asked, "did you buy this too?"
"No, I created it and it doesn't disappear when it touches you."

Amou laughed passionately without restrain, "I feel like I'm making history."
I laughed with him.