The Trouble with Independence

[Salvador [Carnivore]]

Independence was a new experience for Salvador. In his entire life he had never been let out from under the watchful eye of his creator for more than a couple of hours at a time and even that was pushing it. Things had changed in the past couple of weeks. He had learned quickly that being independent meant that he was capable of making his own choices and choosing his own paths. It also meant that he was forced to deal with the consequences of his actions. While he was able to make that connection fast enough he wasn't able to figure out which of his actions caused him to get into the trouble he had become all too familiar with. It was a lesson that had failed to take root in him. From the start of his journey in Technicolor Villiage, to Shirotsume, to Magnolia town trouble had found him. It only made sense that Salvador's old friend would rear it's ugly head again in Onibas. 

If there was one thing that Salvador could never turn his blind eye to it was a machine in distress. As soon as he'd made his way into Onibas he was greeted by the familiar sound of a magical carriage. The sound of a magical engine churning brought a smile to his face, it was a song that he loved like no other. His smile quickly vanished when he heard the vehicle sputter as it came into sight. Sal's eyes were trained upon it as it lurched forward, it's operator completely ignoring the sounds of protest that the machine offered up. The vehicle was in pain. The line that allowed the SE Plug to fill it's engines with energy was pinched somewhere in it's chassis and the pistons that provided the power had become filthy with grime due to the lack of pressure that it should have otherwise been provided. Sal frowned as the machine came to a stop a block away from him. It's owner leaped from it and pushed his way into a tavern heedless of the machine that he should have considered his friend. It was a sad sight. 

"... He's not very good to you." Salvador had closed the distance between himself and the vehicle and placed his hand upon it's hood. "I'm sorry. The Doctor says I shouldn't take things that don't belong to me, otherwise I'd rescue you. She didn't say that I couldn't fix things that aren't mine though." Salvador grinned, patting the hood of the machine. "I'll get you running like new, 'kay?" Salvador reached into the tool belt that was wrapped about his waist and pulled out a large wrench. He brandished it with swagger as he popped open the hood of the magical machine and set about fixing the damage the negligence had caused it. 

"What are you doing to my ride!?"

Salvador looked up from his work, oil staining his once white shirt and smeared across his head. He smiled at the man, revealing a row of pearly white teeth. "I fixed your car." he announced pridefully. Slamming the hood shut Salvador jumped into the driver's seat and connected the SE plug to his arm. He allowed his magical energy to surge through his body and into the car, the two becoming one as it roared to life in earnest. "See! Have you ever heard it run like that before? I bet it's even better than new. We should open this thing up and see how fast it can go now that the lines aren't pinched, yeah?"

"Get out!" The mage roared as he placed either hand on Salvador and gave the boy a hard shove. Sal's arms flailed before he fell out of the driver's seat, ripping the SE plug out with him. "You see what you did? You broke my damn ride. I hope that you've got money to pay for this kid."

Salvador blinked at the SE plug stuck to his wrist and then towards the owner of the car. "You broke it. You pushed me. 'Sides, why would you pay to fix it. Learn how to do it yourself."  Sal rolled his red eyes at the man as he pushed himself from the ground and dusted himself off. Sal placed the broken plug on the seat of the car and made a smart about face. "It's not so hard." he called back to the man as continued on his way, heedless of the man's threats. 

"Get back here, dammit!"

[Eternal Mage, Aether.]

The weather is the kind that feels like a kiss of summer without the fiery heat of noon time in August. The grass is a soft green that almost has a hint of blue and in the sky is enough pristine white cloud to show you how beautiful the sky was, how perfect. The concrete of the path is warm under the young children bare feet, and they're glad to be free from the confines of their running shoes.

I'm walking a straight path down the sidewalk, feeling a bit blissful. I stop for a second and close my eyes so that I can just focus on sound. There, I hear a blackbird's song, as it chirps and chatter to itself. I open my eyes and the daylight flood into my eyes. I suddenly hear something that makes me uneasy in the distance. I follow the direction of the noise and walked around the corner. What I see are two people have some sort of disagreement?

The older man seems disgruntle about something, and boy is holding something in his hand what looks like a plug. The two of them are making a scene as busy people nearby are stopping and watching everything unfold. I see children nearby watching, and I don't think this is good for them to see this. Additionally, I don't want a fight break out between an adult and teenager.

I head towards the two and put my hand on top of angry man shoulder. “Who the hell are you? Do you know this kid, then you take responsibility!” I raise my hands up to show I mean no harm. I make sure to show my guild tattoo of Griffin Wing on my hand. I'm a no one, but Griffin Wing thanks to Riley, has a good reputation. The aggravated man is calming down a bit. “I have nothing to do with this boy, but I might be some sort of service,” I inform him. I walk over to the boy and take the plug from his hand. “If I can borrow this, please.” I honestly don't know anything about carriages, but I don't need to know anything.

Let's find out if this boy was lying to the man or not. I reverse time on the plug and car just a few minutes ago when he worked on it. Just like that, the magic carriage begins to purr. The man hopes into the driver side and begin driving off. “Thank you so much, you're a life saver!” I just wave as he takes off without saying anything. I turn my attention to the boy and give him a light smile. “Hello there, I'm Aether. You seem to be handy with fixing things. I would like if you introduce yourself?”

[Salvador [Carnivore]]

Salvador had been all to content to leave the man with his damaged vehicle. He had tried to offer a helping hand and while he felt sorry for the machine he felt that this incident would serve as a lesson for the older man. When he heard a new voice enter the fray he came to an abrupt stop and turned to look at the newcomer. He was several years older than Salvador and held himself with a sort of confidence that Sal had only seen in mages. He blinked several times in rapid succession as the man integrated himself into the dispute. Sal had already written it off as being over, but the older men seemed to disagree. The pallid boy watched the exchange between the two and caught a fleeting glimpse of a mark upon the man's hand. A guild mage? Salvador had suddenly become interested in what was going on between the two. He watched as the man took the SE plug and with a bit of magic fused it back together with the car. Salvador had never seen any sort of magic like that before. He'd witnessed his master reassemble dismantled components before, but he'd never witnessed a device repair itself in a manner quite like that. His mirthful grin reappeared on his face, tugging at the staples at the corner of his cheeks. "So cool," he quietly murmured to himself as the disgruntled man hoped into his vehicle and tore off. 

Sal's red eyes practically glowed with excitement as he looked up at the taller man who had introduced himself as Aether. Aether, like Ethernano? No matter how strange Salvador thought the man's name was he couldn't deny that he seemed cool. Not only could he use magic that Salvador had never seen before, but he was also part of a guild. He had no idea what guild Aether was a part of, but he didn't know too many of them besides Fairy Tail. The only reason Sal even knew about them was because of his trip through Magnolia and just so happened to pass by their guild hall. They had seemed like a pretty rowdy bunch, but he wasn't sure what he'd be able to learn from them. 

Sal brimmed with pride as the man took notice of his skills. At least one person in this village could appreciate his talent for fixing things. "My name's Salvador, Salvador de la Hierro Alvaro Cortez Montero, but everyone calls me Sal.  It's a pleasure to meet you, Aether." Salvador took one patchwork hand from behind his head and offered it to Aether in greeting, just as his master had taught him. "And fixing things is what I do best! Speaking of fixing how did you get that SE plug working again so fast? Even with magic you should of had to re-calibrate the intake valve and make sure that any residual magic was bleed out."  Without taking those steps an improperly installed SE plug could have overloaded the engine and... well, Salvador had always wanted to try and rebuild a carriage from scratch. "Do all guild mages have magic like that?" he asked, his eyes trailing towards the back of the man's hand. Upon closer observation he was able to make out a the stylized image of a Griffin. Salvador's eyes locked upon that single image, wondering what sort of magic members of a guild possessed.


Tag: Eternal Mage, Aether.

[Eternal Mage, Aether.]

The boy introduces himself with a long name. Taking me off guard a bit, but thankfully he gives me a shorter name to call him by. The boy moves one of his hands from the back of his head to greet me. This boy must do a lot of manual labor or work a lot. His hand looks a bit rough in my eyes. Nonetheless, I reach out and shake his hands with a light grip.

Most men have this ego with having a strong and firm hand shake, but I don't have that. People who work often have their hands really sore, and it's just a pain for them. So, I lightly, but with a little firm, shake his hand. “The pleasure is all mine. I'm glad that I can just call you Sal. Because honestly speaking, I would be frightened to remember a name that long,” I joked. Well, not really that is an insane lengthy name to remember.

I let go of his hand while smiling at him. Sal tells me that fixing is what he does best. From his word and his excitement, I can tell he holds great pride in himself. Sal asks me how I fix the carriage so quickly, but honestly, I didn't do anything. “I didn't do anything special, really. You did all the hard work and energy. All I did was reverse time on the plug and carriage by a few seconds before it got broke. I'm able to do this because I'm a time mage.”

Sal asks me if all the guild mages in Griffin Wing can do what I just did. The guild only restarted recently so there are few members within the guild despite how big the castle is. This might seem despicable of me to do, but I think I can try to recruit him in the guild. I mean, we need to grow and expand. “I'm afraid not, but the guild master is quite powerful." It still feels weird to me calling Riley master. The only time I call her that is when we're around others.

In private, well, that's a bit different. In front of others, I try to keep everything professional and maintain an outwardly professional demeanor. “She has a rare and powerful magic of her own. Outside of the guild, you can often find her flying around town.” Most people find it impressive, but once you're around her so much, it loses it novelty. “Are you not part of a guild yourself?”

[Salvador [Carnivore]]

Reverse time?!


Salvador blinked several times in rapid succession as he looked at the man. He spoke the words so casually that Sal had to take a moment and process it. He'd heard of some powerful magics before, but having the ability to freely manipulate time was just mind blowing. Time was supposed to be an absolute, unchangeable, but here was this man, who had just walked by so casually, who'd rewound the hands of time on the machine that Salvador had repaired. "Woah... How does it work? Is that machine going to break again or is it fixed for good?" Salvador had about a million questions about the capabilities of this time bending mage, but he tried his best to contain them. His teacher had often scolded him for barraging her with questions and leaving her no time to think, let alone give him a straight answer. He wanted to pick this man's brain and see what he could learn about this magic.

"Really? Stronger than a guy who can control time? I don't know. That sounds pretty hard to beat. A mage who can rewind and do everything over again seems pretty strong in my opinion. Practically unbeatable" Salvador chimed, putting his hands behind his hooded head once more. Salvador compared his own magery to the man's and found it lacking. He glanced towards his hand and thought of the minor transformation and improvement he could make to his own body, but it palled in comparison to Aether's own magical abilities. 

"... Flying? Like with wings?" Salvador had seen his own master fly by using their magic on an airship before. He doubted that this mysterious guild master used the same method to achieve flight. Whoever this Aether was he had brought forth a bundle of mysterious that Sal was just aching to pick apart; strange magics, a foreign guild, and a mysterious guild master. As Salvador was thinking up more questions to seek answers to Aether had asked one of his own.

"Hm? Oh no, I'm not part of a guild. I'm in the market for one though. My master told me that if I joined a guild I'd be able to learn and experience all sorts of new things. I really haven't found one that I like though and the few I did weren't too keen on taking in a novice mage like me." Sal sighed deeply and kicked at the ground. "But, I can't give up. All I can do is keep on looking and when the times right I'll find a place that's right for me, y'know." 


Tag: Eternal Mage, Aether.

[Eternal Mage, Aether.]

The further I explain the more excited he gets over my magic. The boy asks me if it temporally or perhaps permanent. It's plausible that the carriage will break down any minute, but that depends upon the boy handy work. “It depends on how well your repair the carriage. I may reverse the carriage back to when it was new, but decided just a few seconds. So you tell me, is your repair going to last only a few seconds or did you fix it for good,” I said turning the question back at him.

Sal questions if there is another magic that's more powerful than time magic. I let out a small chuckle in response. “The world is a big place, there're some who can control the spirits of the dead, turn anything that's none living into living, bends reality to their will! Heck, my daughter has the power to slay a god! The world is a vast place,” I informed the boy. Yes, the world is truly massive and come across powerful magic in my time. I've even dipped into the dart arts myself, once upon a time. Now it's all behind me, and I hope I can put it all behind me one day.

“Her magic is magnificent! She can fly, control gravity, summon meteors, and create black holes. In combat power, she's beyond my time magic.” Well, I've only seen Riley to use gravity magic and flight. She told me she may use meteors and black holes, but I have never seen her do it. One of these days, I need to inquire her to show me. I'm interested in seeing that myself, next time I get the chance I might just ask her to show me.

Sal tells me he's not in a guild presently, but he's looking for a guild to join. In my head, I'm laughing at this easy setup! “I understand you.” Well, this is the best time to reach out and invite him to Griffin Wing. “Well, Griffin Wing is recruiting new members. We're a guild of knowledge, power. Find the truth, and being free. If you join us, you will gain knowledge of yourself and others. By being around other powerful mages, you can increase your own power. Find the truth and remove the lies.”

[Salvador [Carnivore]]

Salvador let out a chortle. "If that's the case then that thing's gonna run forever." He glanced towards the direction that the car had roared off in and replayed the sound of it's engine firing. "Actually," he frowned, remembering the owner, "That's not exactly true. I mean, I got it running in top shape, but no matter how well I fixed it if that guy doesn't look after it it'll just fall into disrepair again." The boy let out a sigh, dropping his hands to his side and looping his thumbs through his belt. "It's a shame really. When you use a tool like that you should look after it. It spends it's entire life serving you and the very least that you can do is make sure that it can do it's job for as long as possible. Make sure that you aren't taking it's sacrifice for granted, y'know?" Salvador looked towards Aether a somberness coming over him that was rather uncharacteristic for the cheerful child. The subject of things not reaching their full potential was a sore spot for the boy, especially when it came to the machines that he cherished. Unfortunately, most people didn't share his sentiment. Machines were tools that could be thrown away whenever they broke or when they had simply become inconvenient. Aether's explanation of strange types of magic served to rouse the boy from his slump.

The power to slay gods, now that truly caught Salvador's attention. What sort of awesome power did a Godslayer possess and how did someone learn to slay a god? It was a question that found it's way to the back of Salvador's mind where it would remain until it was answered. Just as Aether had said the world was a momentously large place and there were hundreds, if not, thousands of different sorts of magic and not all of them none. Sal wondered if he might be able to find some of these "lost magics" if he continued on his quest. He shook his head, putting a stop to such thoughts. He needed to focus on his own magic before he could think about learning another brand. He was still new to the use of Machina Soul, barely scratching the surface of what it could do. He needed to stay true to the magic that his teacher had passed on to him before learning more. Spreading himself to thin would just make him a subpar mage in two schools instead of a great mage in one.

As Aether began to fervently speak about the guild master's magic a sly smirk perched itself on Sal's face. He could hear the admiration in the man's tone, it was similar to how Sal felt about Aether's own brand. He couldn't help but tease the man just a bit. "It sounds like someone has a bit of crush on this space mage." Salvador raised a white eyebrow before letting out a ringing laugh. "Just kidding," he added quickly, careful not to offend his new friend. 

The laughter stopped when Aether told Sal that his guild, Griffin Wing, was looking for new members. "... Really?" The guild's dedication to knowledge is what truly grabbed Salvador's interest. He'd spent his short life trying to learn as much as he could cram into his metallic skull. To find a guild who would nurture that behavior and possibly help was like some sort of godsend. "What do I have to do if I want to join? Are there tests or trials that I have to pass? Are they written because I'm not really good at written test... Do I have to take a physical?" Sal asked the last question hesitantly. He wasn't sure what other mages would think of his unique circumstances. If they looked at his body closely they'd easily be able to tell that he wasn't exactly human in the strictest sense of the word.  


Tag: Eternal Mage, Aether.

[Eternal Mage, Aether.]

I don't understand too much in what Sal is saying because it's beyond me. I watch Sal face towards the direction the carriage took off. Perhaps he's questioning his work. He begins speaking more in detail on machines and how they need taken care of. I nod to his words to show I agree with him. I mean, he speaks like he understands in what he's saying. “Well, that like everything, really. Our body and mind is like a machine that needs taking care of and maintained. If we don't, we'll break down.”

The boy goes silent and visibly pondering on my words on how massive the world is. As I speak of Riley, the young man notices that I speak highly of her. He responds quickly in taking it back which I assume that he doesn't want to offend me? Well, in my case, it's more of the opposite. “I wasn't trying, but it's hard not to speak highly of your girlfriend,” I said while blushing. I face in another direction on reflex while scratching my nose.

The young man wants to know how he can join the guild, Griffin Wing. I turn back to him and remember how it's done again. “Well, joining Griffin Wing is relatively easy. Head towards the castle and fill out the paper work when you get there. After that, you'll get the guild tattoo somewhere on your body,” I tell him. I point to a direction, out in the distance of the town. If he looks, he can see the castle even from here. The castle is huge and fantasy like so it's impossible to miss over.