Precious Metals (On Hold)

Chapter Four

Sjon woke up to a pleasant smelling room. He breathed in the morning air, and brushed his hair back. That was the best sleep he had ever had in his life. Well, his previous life. Never feeling this refreshed before, he pulled back the covers and went over to the wall where the door apparently was. Just as he got to the wall, it swung open, revealing Pilar standing right outside of it.

"I saw you woke up. The house monitors your sleeping patterns. You should get change, the results from the lab are in. There should be some clothing that fits you in there, but it might be a little big," she ordered.

It seemed like Pilar didn't get as restful of a sleep as he did. She quickly left, yawning.

Sjon looked to the dresser as the door conveniently closed. As he opened some of the drawers, he ran his fingers over the unknown fabric. It was as soft as cotton, but as smooth as silk. Nearly all the clothing was in pastel colors, all of them darker than his dark skin. He preferred to wear black, as it required less cleaning, but he assumed that this far in the future they must have some sort of automatic cleaning and folding system. He picked out a green high- collared tunic and some gray pants. The pants were a little too long, so he folded them up. It was difficult to get on the clothing, for there weren't any zippers or functional buttons. It all had these small strips of a strange fabric, and Sjon guessed they were kind of magnetic, but he confessed to himself that he didn't actually know how they worked. He guessed that he would just have to get used to this way of living. He was actually surprised at how little Cyrus looked from him. Aside from the abnormally long fingers, and his tall height, Cyrus looked like a regular old man.

Still, two billion years in the future seemed a little absurd. There must have been other changes to the human race, it almost seemed too easy to adjust. he had so many questions for Pilar, but he assumed they' would have to wait until after this whole 'magic' ordeal. He couldn't remember much about his own life on Earth, but nuances about culture came easily to him. He remembered hearing about magic on television, and being excited for interstellar travel, but didn't think it could ever really happen. Still, he walked to the area where the door was, trying to get it to open so he could discover a new aspect of his life.

After a few minutes of tapping the walls, Sjon finally figured out how to open the door. All you had to do was tap your foot in front of it, and it would open. After he got out, he walked to where the circular platform was, and tapped a discolored area on the wall. The white platform came up to where he was standing, and just as he stood on it, it descended into the living area.

Standing in the living room were Cyrus and Pilar, discussing what looked to be a tablet in their language, called... Kameng? Sjon walked over to the pair and tapped Pilar on the shoulder.

Pilar turned around to him. "Sjon, good, you're dressed. Your results are here," she stated, an ounce of hesitancy in her voice.

Sjon was confused. "What's wrong?" he asked, concerned.

"Well," Pilar started, "Do you remember what I told you yesterday about magic?"

"Kind of?" said Sjon hesitantly.

She sighed and explained again. "There are three categories. The two you need to know are Summoners and Controllers. Summoners summon, or call for, a certain 'element', and Controllers control that element."

"So I'm a Summoner and a Controller?" asked Sjon excitedly, against his better judgement. He seemed to be excited to be special.

"Yes. Well, kind of," Pilar started. "Your category is metals, you have summoning and controlling power over all of them, but the strength seems to vary by each specific one," she paused for a moment. "From what we've seen, it looks like the rarer the metal, the harder of a time you'll have summoning it, and the more common a metal, the more difficult of a time you'll have controlling it," she finished.