(Jacob, 17)

Thankfully, no one appears to be around, so once I close my gate, I walk into my bathing room and take a shower to clean off the last several days' blood, sweat, and grime. While I do not know where Jason went after leaving me at the training facility, I know he likely wishes to rest as well.

Sheesh. He went and created a god. The knowledge that I will possess the power to do so in this life frightens me somewhat, though Jason told me about the negative side to it. Because these are still mortal forms, manipulating divine essences is not easy, and we would never be able to create a god which can last very long in the mortal realm, nor one which was very powerful.

Jason took a massive risk, expecting me to send a message to him. What would he have done, had he needed to send the new god to the divine realm before it found me? How does he always seem to know things will happen? I suppose having a mind nearly eight hundred years old grants him insight and an instinct I may only guess at for now.

How many risks does Jason actually take? Now that I think about it, it might be possible that Jason takes far more risks than he informs us of, but only lets us know the successes. Did he set other things in motion, too, just to find me?

I finish my shower thinking about that, then pull on a nightshirt and open a gate directly to my bed, dropping onto it. I allow my exhaustion to overtake me, falling into a deep sleep.

When I wake, a stuffie griffin and a living griffin cub are nestled up against my chest.

"Good morning, Jacob," Griffin Alpha greets me as I sit up. "You slept through the afternoon and the night."

"I needed the rest," I stretch and yawn. "How long ago did you join me?"

"Boss sent us back when he returned," Griffin Alpha informs me. "You were already asleep."

That does not answer the question, but I suppose he means shortly after I went to sleep. I ruffle his fur, then scratch the actual griffin cub behind his ears. After messing with them for a few minutes, I climb out of bed and change into proper clothes, then stretch once more.

"For the sake of my papa's mental health," I tell Griffin Alpha. "I should have my mind examined for any lingering traces of mind magics before I track down my protective cuffs."

"They're located on that table," Griffin Alpha points at the table for any meals I consume in here, where my earcuff and a single anklet rest.

"Griffin Alpha," I say. "Not to be rude, but I had two anklets, and that one is neither of them."

"Boss and Sage Jared made it yesterday after Sage Elena and Sage Samuel finished scolding him for ignoring his mandatory rest period," Griffin Alpha informs me. "It is a new and improved one that combines the effects of your protective enchantments from both anklets."

"Okay," I put the earcuff on my ear, then pick up the anklet. "I will see the court mind mages before putting this one, it will interfere with their work."

"Don't worry about that, Jacob!" Griffin Alpha puffs out his chest. "Bear Alpha and I already checked your mind! It's clean of any potential influence! And you should trust us more than those wimpy humans! 'Oh, look at me, I'm an indigo-level mind mage'. Puh-lease. I'm grey. Hah! Can't beat that, losers!"

Did Jason alter his personality again?

"Oh, and I let your papa know I checked your mind," Griffin Alpha informs me. "He's rather impatient on seeing you again."

"Do you know his current location?"

"The other side of the door to your quarters," Griffin Alpha informs me. "Where he's spent the last nine hours. The first four of which he spent attempting to come in here to make sure you're okay."

"You sealed my quarters."

"You needed your sleep."

I sigh, then leave my room and make my way to the door to my quarters, opening it. Papa sits on a chair facing the door, and he jumps to his feet the moment he sees me.

"Jacob!" He wraps me in a hug. "You woke up!"

"You should have gone to bed," I tell Papa, returning the hug. "You should know better than to attempt to challenge a creation of Jason's."

"My son was kidnapped for half a week," Papa releases me. "It is only natural for me to want to see you and ensure you are okay."

He shoots Griffin Alpha a glare.

"I will be having a discussion with you regarding that later," Papa tells him, then looks at me once more. "Jason told me what he pulled out of Eric's mind, it appears that Eric was behind the Meti assassinations as well. His intention was to get Tasha out of the way and arrange for your new betrothal to be to the daughter of a close ally of his."

Papa sighs.

"Jason went on a rampage yesterday and wiped out everyone involved," he says. "And Jaklenai disappeared, too, so we were unable to stop him."

"Jaklenai left Midlaris before the rampage," I tell him. "For unrelated reasons."

Though I feel that Jason might have sent him off then to avoid being stopped. The wrath of a dragon must be feared by all weaker than the dragon, and even some stronger than it. It would not surprise me if Jason planned to be able to unleash his wrath unhindered. One of his friends was kidnapped while an assassination attempt was planned for another.

Those responsible should consider themselves lucky they targeted Tasha and myself rather than Alex.

"Do you know where he is now?" I ask.

"At his home in the Unwild Lands," Papa answers. "Forcing him to finish the week of mandatory rest did not seem like a wise idea, so they chose to let him do his thing. I believe that his brother, Cody, is present as well."

"Thank you," I say. "I will be going there, then."

"Jacob," Papa says. "I want you to stay here. You were kidnapped, and we were worried about you. You have no idea the stress I went through worrying about you, Jacob."

"Papa," I say. "You nearly died, and I had to run the kingdom for weeks while you recovered. I do know some of the sorry you felt."

Papa looks at me guiltily.

"But I suppose I can stay for a little while," I smile. "I did miss you, Lina, and Franklin. How is Benjamin doing? Have you informed him of this papa's fate yet?"

"How did you know about Benjamin?" He gives me a surprise look.

"I sent him here," I inform him. "He knew what his papa was doing, and hoped for a way to help. I knew that sending him here would result in Jason learning my location."

Papa sighs, a slight touch of annoyance to it.

"Even while under torture after being kidnapped," Papa says. "You still manage to find a way to pull one over your tormentors. You Magi can be quite terrifying."

I give him a cheeky grin, before realizing that he mentioned the Magi as a whole.

"What did the others do?" I ask.

(Jason, 16)

The stone blows up in my hands, and thankfully, I'm resistant enough to harm even without an aural sheath that the explosion does no damage to me. My vest is made out of dragon leather, too, so it's fine as well, and my accessories are because of how they were made and the enchantments woven into them.

I glance at Cody, who's floating nearby, sitting cross-legged on the air. He's practicing the flight spell some while watching me enchant. None of the fragments hit him thanks to Badger Alpha's barrier, which is already gone.

Speaking of the stuffie golems, I should probably put the Betas back to work. I'd pulled them out of the palace just as secretly as I sent them there, and not even a week later, Jacob was kidnapped. The problem is putting them back in place. Mama Alyssa found a way to signal anytime spatial magic is used within a ward zone, including spatial storage spells. If I tried to release them, everyone with access to the notification would know.

They're meant to be a secret, so I need to find a way to release them back onto the grounds without them being detected. Normally, I'd just have them phase through the walls, except… they can't phase through objects. So that's out.

"What are you trying to make?" Cody's question brings me out of my thoughts.

"I'm not sure what Jason's trying to do with the stones," Papa Jared informs him, and I look at Papa Jared, who's sitting on the other side of the worktable. He'd manifested a barrier to protect his work from the exploding stone, fragments and shards resting in a line on the table. "But I'm working on light spheres."

"Light spheres?" Cody asks.

"Yes," Papa Jared says. "Light spheres. If it works, then they'll produce light without a light crystal, drawing on the ambient mana in the air to fuel them. You open them to turn them on, and close them to turn them off. When closed, there's no light emitted and how open they are determines how bright they will be."

"It was my idea," I tell Cody. "But as usual, I need help from our papas and mamas to make them."

Right now, our attempts don't look like much. Eight small, metal plates that when put together, will form a sphere around three inches in diameter. Seven rings of metal to bind them together.

I managed to get the enchantment to make the metal stretch and contract while still binding to the sphere's plates, but that's a project which took me the last two months. Papa Jared is trying to get the light enchantment to work, and I'm taking a break.

Creating an enchantment to stretch and contract metal without it affecting the metal's quality wasn't easy by any means. If it weren't for some of the research I did as Nolan, I'd probably still be working on it.

Now all we really need to do is figure out the enchantment to make it generate light inside of the sphere when the fragments are separated, and we should be ready for the phase where we add in the trigger, the mana draw, and all of that other stuff that's necessary. Then the testing phase.

"Okay," Cody says, wobbling a little in the air before steadying himself once more. "What are you trying to make?"

"Mouldable stone."

Papa Jared groans.

"Mouldable stone?" Cody asks.

"Seriously, Jason?" Papa Jared asks. "You've been working on that for ten years! When are you going to give it up?"

"Never!"

"What's mouldable stone?" Cody asks.

I manipulate the dust and fragments of the rock back together, then use earth magic to alter its shape, turning it into a cylinder, then a block, then a dragon.

"See how I can do that with earth magic?" I ask.

"Yeah," he says.

"What I'm trying to do," I tell him. "Is make it so that you don't have to use magic to do that, the enchantment makes it easy to mold into different shapes. Sort of like clay, but without the stickiness, and you can't remove parts of it."

"But if you can just use earth magic for that," he says. "Why enchant stones so you can do it with your hands? It won't be as good."

"Maybe not," I tell him. "But what about for children? Most can't use magic, and they might like it."

"Because," Papa Jared tells Cody. "It's a challenge. Jason doesn't give up on things easily. The train was one thing, but this is another. He's been working on it for ten years now, and he'll probably keep working on it until he succeeds. There's really no point to it other than proving Jason's stubbornness."

"Hey!"

"Oh," Cody says.

"Jason," Papa Jared says. "Could you make some more rings?"

"Sure," I pull the materials out of my spatial storage, then begin working them with fire magic and force magic as I enchant them with my magic.

Cody moves closer to watch me do some magical smithing. I don't ever do this for larger things, but smaller things are easy to work when doing it this way, especially if they don't need to be sharpened.

I make three more sets of the rings, and once I finish each one, I set them on the table by Papa Jared's supplies. Aware that Cody's quite interested in watching us doing enchantments, I lead him into my forge, where I begin working on on making an amulet of silver, gold, and mithril for him, set with a few jewels. I shape it like a pair of dragons facing each other face to tail, and enchant it as I work so that it's more than just a pretty amulet with a gold, silver, and mithril chain.

When I finish, I present it to Cody, who gives me a confused look.

"It's for you," I tell him.

Cody takes the amulet, then pulls it on, inspecting the amulet for a few moments before dropping it. The chain is long enough to easily go over his head, and will be when he's an adult. With him being only seven right now and small for his age, that results in the chain reaching down to his waist.

"Now," I tell Cody. "That amulet has a charm of protection enchanted into it. If you ever get lost while going somewhere new or get really, really scared and think you're going to die, put some mana into it, and it will call for help, too. Only ever do that if you really, really need it. Don't forget you can always call me or our mamas and papas, or Badger Alpha."

Cody nods, looking down at the amulet. He can't tell what the enchantments are, but he'll trust me on them.

The charm of protection is the standard fare. As long as he's wearing it, his mind is protected from mental attacks, and it helps protect his body from physical attacks. As for the call for help, well, that's another matter entirely.

I used a small bit of my essence in the enchantment, and if Cody uses it, well, the short version is that it will inform any grey-level beast nearby that their assistance is needed.

The full version is that it will inform them that their assistance is required, and that failure to comply to the best of their abilities will result in something rather terrible happening to them.

Mama Elena will probably scold me once she finds out about the enchantment, but I don't really care. As long as Cody feels comfortable, then I'll keep doing stuff to make him feel comfortable and safe.

"By the way, Cody," I say. "Are you coming to Varisly for my birthday? Our other brother and sister are staying at the house in the forest. There's going to be lots of celebrations, and my friends, too. It would probably be really scary, but I'll be right there if you get scared."

Cody thinks for a few moments, then nods.

"You'll come?" I ask.

"Yes."

"Okay," I pull him in for a hug, and notice him losing hold of his flight spell. He quickly wraps his arms around my neck and his legs around my waist to hold on, a bout of terror filling his mind. "It's okay, Cody, you aren't going to fall."

He nods, but still clings to me, so I carry him back into the workshop. Only once we're in there does he release me and return to trying to sit on the air while flying. I sit back at the table, examining the sphere Papa Jared put together as he looks at the amulet.

"Your Mama Elena is going to be unhappy about that," Papa Jared says.

"If it weren't for her potions, her face would be full of stress wrinkles," I tell Papa Jared. "She stresses the little things a little too much."

"Jason," Papa Jared says. "That enchantment is set to intimidate grey-level creatures. Of course she-wait. It's targeted to just grey-level creatures? How did you do that?"

"I figured that enchantment out a long time ago."

"How long ago?"

"Oh, about three thousand years ago or so."

Papa Jared sighs.

"Why did Nolan research how to create an enchantment which targets only grey-level beings?"

"It wasn't intended for that," I tell him. "It was actually designed to seek out green-level beings. I changed it to grey-level for the amulet."

"Why did he want to target green-level beings?" Papa Jared sighs.

"I was playing a prank on a town."

Papa Jared sighs again. It's not that bad.

"Papa Jared," I say. "Trust me when I say that I've invented much bigger things for much smaller reasons. Well, Nolan did, but since that's me, it's me who did it."

"I know," Papa Jared sighs in exasperation. "Your old life is too much like your current one."

"Well, that's sort of how it works," I say. "Even before my past lives began integrating themselves into this one, our personalities weren't much different. Huh. Alex is here."

"He is?" Papa Jared asks, then nods. "I take it he came through a gate?"

"Yeah," I answer. "He's really rushing over here. Did you know that he had Connor take over one of the districts that are supposed to be upgraded to a better quality?"

"Yes, I did," Papa Jared answers. "He has one of your students working for him, doesn't he?"

"Yeah," I answer as Alex bursts into the workshop, startling Cody, who falls to the ground with a thump. "Hi, Alex."

Alex wraps me in a hug, burying his head against me.

"What the hell were ya thinking, Jason?" He asks. "Going and weakening yourself like that? Seriously?"

"I'd forgotten it was about to be the summer solstice," I say. "Otherwise, I might have delayed a day."

"Whatever," he mutters. "I'm just happy ya are okay."

"I'm happy you didn't get yourself hurt raiding the Varilsy underground."

Embarrassment floods his mind, and I take advantage of that moment to slip out of his grip and put him into a headlock.

"What were the ten of you thinking?" I ask. "Going on a rampage like that, Alex? Seriously? You guys could have gotten seriously hurt!"

"As if ya are one to talk!" Alex protests. "Ya go off and do who-knows-what to rescue Jacob, worsen your health, then while on rest, go off and actually rescue him! Ya have been hurt by a god, ya try to handle things yourself, and yeah, it might be our fault ya do that, but there are still things we can do! Ya ain't needing to handle it all yourself, ya know!"

"Alex," I rub my knuckles into his skull. "It's because no one else can handle things that I step in."

"We'd have found Jacob, ya know," he says, and I dig my knuckles in harder. "Ow! Seriously, Jason! We would've!"

"Yes," I say. "And how long would he have suffered before then? My extreme measure was necessary to find him, especially considering that he was in Lreth Prison. You guys might have taken months to find him. The only reason his mind's still intact is because I found him as soon as I did."

"His mind?" Alex asks.

"Yes," I release him, and he steps back, giving me a confused look. "His captor was torturing him, using potions and mind magic to weaken his mind while working his way up to a full conditioning routine. It was an attempt to brainwash him without leaving any noticeable signs of tampering in his head. It's forbidden to actually delve into Jacob's mind due to his status, so they wouldn't have seen the brainwashing, just the lack of any mind magic touching him that wasn't his own."

Thankfully, I found Jacob before the full conditioning routine went into effect. Otherwise, it might have messed with his head a lot more than it already has. While it might be illegal to look in Jacob's mind, we weren't in Varil, we were thousands of miles away.

I took a peek. My cousin is going to have some stuff to deal with, even if he doesn't know it yet. I just hope that I can be there for him, along with Uncle Zach, Lina, Tasha, Alex, Adam, and the rest of the group. With luck, he'll be fine in the next few weeks, though I'm sure he'll have some nightmares as well.

"Because of that," I tell Alex. "It was important we found him as soon as possible. The damage could have been a lot more severe, and only I had the means to find him."

"Okay," Alex looks down.

"But you're right," I tell him. "Jacob mentioned it when I rescued him yesterday, too."

Alex gives me a curious look.

"You guys do put everything on me," I state. "Because it gets things done faster. Maybe it has made me think I need to do everything myself. So I'm going to work on that, okay? Not for things as big as Jacob being kidnapped, but other things, more minor things where the best possible scenario isn't as important."

"Okay," he says, and I grab his tunic, then pull him to me, giving me a kiss.

"I promise," I tell him.

"They kissed," Cody whispers loudly to Papa Jared, and Alex jerks back, face red as he remembers we aren't alone.

"We're allowed to kiss," I tell Cody. "Alex and I are courting. After we graduate university in four years, we're going to marry, too."

Cody gives Papa Jared an uncertain look, and Papa Jared nods.

"Hey," I poke Cody in the ribs. "Want to go soak in the hot springs?"

"Yeah!" He exclaims.

"I'll leave you to it," I tell Papa Jared. "Make sure to take a break, let your mind rest a bit."

"I know," he rolls his eyes.

Alex, Cody, and I head down to the hot springs, scrub ourselves clean in the showers, then soak in the hot springs. This feels pretty nice, especially after rescuing Jacob yesterday. Exerting myself as the King of Magic to free him was taxing, even if I won't admit it to anyone but myself.

"By the way," Alex says. "What should we do if someone captures another Magus and puts us in Lreth Prison again? Will your method to find it work?"

"That's a non-concern," I tell him. "I destroyed it. I didn't have a reason to keep it around, and I'm not risking forgetting to destroy it before the Gathering again."

"Ya destroyed something created by a god?" He asks.

"Alex," I say. "We are gods, remember?"

"You're gods?" Cody asks.

"Yep," I answer with a grin. "In fact, we're gods more powerful than any except the King and Queen of the Gods themselves, the Divine Beasts, reincarnated into mortal bodies."

"Whoa."

"Jason, I don't think it's a good idea to tell him that," Alex says. "We are keeping our true natures a secret, remember?"

"Cody won't tell," I tell him. "Anyway, let's change subjects. Jacob is back, I've returned, and everything is shiny. How's business?"

"I thought we're supposed to be relaxing?" He asks.

"How's the crew?"

Alex and I talk for awhile, making sure to entertain Cody so that he doesn't get too bored, then we climb out, dry off, dress, and return to my house. I fix us some sandwiches for lunch, then take Cody up to his room and put him down for a nap. Moments after I tuck him in and kiss his forehead, he's asleep.

I leave his room, closing the door quietly as I do, and look at Alex, who watched us from the doorway.

"Sometimes," Alex says. "Seeing the way ya treat Cody, it's almost like ya are his papa."

"Just a big brother," I say.

"Either way, it's cute," Alex says. "The way you take care of him and make sure he feels safe and comfortable. I heard from Sage Alyssa that his case is a lot more delicate than the other two's cases."

"Yeah," I say. "Cody's a bit more sensitive, and can't handle it if either of them enters a panic attack. Being around too many people freaks him out as well, as does being surrounded by forest. He practically lives here, now, with Badger Alpha watching him. I guess it's a good thing I'm staying out here for now, too, so that there's a person watching him as well."

"Being surrounded by forest?" Alex asks as I head back outside.

"Yeah," I answer. "He likes having the plains stretching out for miles, with the occasional hill, tree, or rock cluster. Having a forest nearby doesn't bother him as much as being in a forest."

"Oh," Alex says. "Where are ya going? I thought ya were working with your Papa Jared?"

"Nah, I finished my part," I tell him. "He's finishing up, anyway. I lost four days of work on prepping stuff for the skyship."

"Your Mama Alyssa told me why having one of those is a bad idea."

"My mamas and papas have valid concerns regarding them," I say. "But I'm not going to fly over the vast oceans with just my magic in search of Amalia. Plus, I might bring people with me."

"You just want a flying ship."

"I want a flying ship."

"How good are your enchantments on it?" He asks. "Aren't your mamas and papas helping you?"

"We have a prototype," I open up my spatial storage and pull out a model of the full thing, about sixteen inches long. "This one actually works. The trick will be making the full-sized version work. The scaling on the enchantments is much different, and we'll need to use some different enchantment setups as well."

"Can you show me?" Alex asks.

"Erm, no," I answer. "Due to complications, it's not actually that easy to make the prototype move around. That said, I do have something else."

I stick the prototype back into my spatial storage and pull out a miniature carriage, along with a controller. I set the carriage down and use the controller to start driving the carriage, and Alex groans.

"Seriously, Jason?" He asks.

"What?" I ask.

"Seriously?" He asks.

"What?" I ask.

"Is that for sale?" He asks.

"No, why?" I ask, and he stares at me.

And stares at me.

And stares at me.

Then I realize why he's asking me that and staring at me.

"Oh!" I grin. "Right! I could totally put these up for sale, couldn't I? Though Mama Elena and Papa Jared would probably nix it for now. People haven't thought about automated carriages yet, and they don't want those being on the streets yet."

We'd need to introduce them in phases, just like things like the IDs. First, it would be the current carriage drivers who would learn to drive them because not many people would trust them and it would need some decent training, much more than directing horses. We'd have to change how many intersections worked, introduce new laws to regulate things.

While we are advancing civilization pretty fast in some ways, they still want to do things in phases, and even things that take phases to do needs phases within those phases. It's a lot of phases. Then there are the regulations, getting people used to it, and so on.

I'm still waiting for people to realize we have long-distance information storage. A few people have begun to realize it, but not many, and no one too important. Well, outside of people like my mamas and papas.

Honestly, it's just one of those signs that sometimes, people don't realize just how much they don't know, and that results in them not realizing or thinking about things.

Because of the way magical signatures were introduced with the IDs and birth certificates here in Varil, not many people realize that when someone accesses the information to verify an ID, they're accessing information from far away.

Heck, Uncle Zach didn't even realize this until last week, when it came up in a conversation between him and Papa Samuel. Seriously, though. He's the king, and he didn't realize that the database was shared between everyone, not per location, and it's been in use for a few years now.

Most people probably assume it gets updated regularly with all new registrations, simply because that's how things would have been. They don't realize that we can transfer information instantly using magic, even if they know we can communicate long-distance verbally.

That's not as important as keeping hidden from the public as automated carriages, though. Or guns. I'm not making a gun. Ever. I don't plan on making bombs, either.

Magic cannons? Maybe. But guns and bombs? No. Cannons already exist, as do some magical variations of them, so all I'd be doing is improving an existing thing there. But guns and bombs are a definite no.

"Jason," Alex pulls me out of my thoughts. "You had that look on your face that said you were thinking about your inventions again."

"Not just mine," I say. "My mamas' and papas', too. You know, it does give me an idea, though."

"What does?" He asks.

"For toys with controllers like these," I tell him. "Levirar Toys Company has golems, right?"

"We put them on hold," he tells me. "To focus on the board game and the balls. It would just be competition for the ones made by Sageson Toys, and yours would be much better quality than ours."

"Yeah," I say. "But yours would probably be cheaper, and so appeal to poor families. Anyway, I was actually thinking, what if Levirar Toys Company did remote-controlled stuffies? Like robots?"

Alex gives me an unamused look.

"Maybe not stuffies," I say. "But wooden toy animals, at the very least. They don't need to always be stuffies. I can give you the basic design for the remote enchantments, you'd just have to pay the standard fee for using my patent."

Alex groans, and I navigate the toy carriage back to me.

"What?" I ask as I pick up the carriage and turn it off.

"Jason," Alex says as I send my toy back into my spatial storage. "You patented the design, and didn't think to have something like that on the market?"

"It's a habit to lay claim to things immediately," I tell him. "I was just making this out of boredom."

"You are ridiculous."