《18 Purifying Magics》Chapter 2 Edited 1-25-21
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3 Days Earlier
Within the North Wing of the facility, Silus was at his desk in his Directors office looking through a layered magnify glass. Under his gaze was the box that could he could honestly say would be the death of him. Every time that he thinks of giving up from sheer frustration something new keeps popping up.
This could just be an elaborate form of torture. Constantly he was being given a light at the end of the tunnel scenario just for him to be plunged back into the darkness of the unknown with more questions.
Having enough of his self torturing for a moment, Silus looks towards his niece. Sitting in comfortable wooden chair with some new foam cushions she was playing a muggle game. It was so easy and simple that it could be beaten in a few hours, but the mix of strategy and childishness was quite appealing.
Smiling, Silus just watched her scrunch up her nose in concentration while the games music played.
This was why he was in the muggle part of the reserve. Magic naturally disrupts the usage of muggle electronics so working on the box during the mandatory attendance hours is a better option than what he used to do. Everyone is paid in a set salary aside from any gained through grants and the like, so he could work on his little pet project when there was little paperwork needed to be done.
Having to take care of Selene over the years has taught him many things about children.
The most important was how small their attention span was.
As the staff worked on their research the last thing that was needed was for a bored child to barge in demanding to play. The fact nearly all the incidents that occured from Selenes boredom were around the carnivores made that even more important to address.
At first Silus just thought that a stern scolding would be enough just like the rest of his employees, but he quickly learned that he had no way to combat a little girls most dangerous weapon; tears. Once the waterworks started to flow he had no idea what to do and ended up giving in to her demands in order to wipe away her distress.
It was a trap. Every time.
Immediately after caving, she'd wipe her face then bounce around happily to where she wanted to play. Left unable to go back on his word he could just depressingly followed her.
One of his muggle assistants, Carla, had a daughter of her own and Silus would find himself grudgingly asking for help when dealing with her. Her response to his request was to laugh at his face.
"She's a child. What did you expect? All she wants is some attention so all you have to do is switch hers to something else. Something fun."
Feeling like an idiot, Silus took his niece down to town when he went to get some more supplies. Walking together while holding hands they just enjoyed each others company. Turning a corner that he normally does not take, Silus opened the door to a game store.
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Seeing the interior of the place Silus could swear her saw stars pop out of his niece's eyes. Moving from shelf to shelf, Selene was looking at each game and toy the store had.
While she was distracted by everything surrounding her, Silus walked to the store clerk. The young woman behind the counter took one look at him then at Selene and smiled knowingly.
"Hello Sir, how may I help you."
"Um, Hi. My niece has been bored lately and well." At this point Silus could only scratch his head in embarassment. Sighing he continued, "She has been getting into trouble distracting my staff. Do you have anything that she can play while we work?"
Looking pointedly at him she asked a question that he dreaded. "Is that so? Now why might a girl like her not be in primary school?"
"I home school her myself," Silus nervously replied.
Staring at the older man in front of her for a few more minutes she finally just ended it with a sigh. "Alright. You want something that she can play by herself and that will take up her time correct?"
Silus nodded in agreement.
"Alright. And might I ask if she already has a gaming system or do you require one as well?"
"Uh, maybe the most popular one?" Silus had no clue what muggle children did for fun. Thinking back he did not even know what wizarding kids did for fun either. His evil father and brother put a stop to any of his mothers attempts to have him join in.
Sighing once more the clerk turned to a glass case behind the counter. Inside were many boxes of something he didn't recognize.
"Here is the latest of the popular gaming system from Nintendo, the Game Boy Color. Since you clearly are needing a longer game to draw her attention then I suggest the latest Pokemon game. It has its own story and creatures to train while even allowing for the first games location to be unlocked after a certain part is completed."
A tug at his sleeve made him turn to the full puppy dog eyes that his niece was giving him. Sighing again, wondering how he could have fallen so low by such a little girl, Silus bought the game.
All the way back to the reserve Selene was contently holding onto both boxes. Any time he would look at them she would tighten her grip then glare as if he was going to take them back to the store.
Once the Uncle and Niece reached the place they had called home a problem occurred. Something that Silus had not thought of when giving Selene her game.
Walls.
Three times. Three walls. Three bumps on her forehead from walking head first into the wall.
Three times she simply rubbed her head and continued with her face buried into her game.
Silus sighed to himself once they both reached his office. 'At least now she has something to entertain herself with,' he thought. Quickly he opened the door for his niece so that she would not give herself head trauma again.
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"Alright, sit in your chair while I study my thingy."
Yes he called his frustrating research project a thingy. What else do you call something complex to a child? The last time Silus tried to explain even a little of what the artifact was, her eyes glassed over in boredom and proceded to just refer to it as 'Thingy.' The name just stuck, referring to it in private.
Receiving a slight nod she sat down in her cushioned chair while he pulled the magical rubics cube of torture from a drawer under his desk. Going through the motions of unlocking the portions he had already decoded Silus then pulled a magnify glass enchanted to observe the flow of magic within an object.
The bloody contraption cost a fortune at an auction at Gringotts, but had accelerated his understanding by nearly three times with little extra effort.
For four hours the niece and uncle lost themselves in their projects. Silus rubbed his eyes and glanced at Selene. She had her tongue poking out of the side of her mouth, deep in concentration on something happening in the game.
Shaking his head, he was glad that he had gotten it for her after lunch time. Almost time for dinner and his beloved niece has not said a word other than a few noises ranging from disappointment to pure joy.
Looking back, through the glass he can see a troubling developement. The magic had begun to flow in all four cardinal positions. Luckily Silus progressed farther than he thought for the day before seeing a familiar sign of a road block.
Everytime that Silus had either performed an incorrect pattern, the magic would spread out to each of the directional points. This was the main reason for his progress going as fast as it was with the enchanted tool. With each lock on the device being broken the intensity of the flow would diminish until he himself could no longer perceive magic within it.
The box would essentially make itself feel like a muggle invention until a mistake was made. Once there was a false step the black cube would reset itself.
And Silus would have to start all over again.
"Selene what would you to e..."
"I did it!"
The sudden shout caused by his niece and her jumping towards him startled the wizard. His precision tonges stabbing into random places on the source of his slow torture.
The horror of knowing that several hours were just wasted had Silus furious. Selene quickly saw the glare her uncle is giving her. Looking down, the young girl waited for her scolding but then saw something.
Her uncles hands were glowing.
Seeing her chance to escape his anger for messing up the thingy she started pointing.
"Uncle. Uncle look. It's.."
Thinking that Selene is just trying to get out of a scolding, Silus didn't look where she is pointing.
"Selene do you know how long," Silus muttered under his breath.
"Uncle your hands. Just look!"
Slowly looking down he could see a crack. A wonderful separation in the boxes exterior.
With an almost insane smile on his face, Silus carefully used the metal tools in his hands to open the container.
Within held deep blue gem surrounded by crimson velvet. The perfect sphere was releasing a soft glow.
Turning to his niece, Silus picked her up in a hug and started to spin her around in circles.
"You did it!"
Selene heard a joy in her uncle's voice like she had never before. Only when she had first called him "Uncle Silus" did he ever get this happy before.
Putting her down Silus turned to pick up the crystal to show her what it was. As soon as his fingers touched the surface however, something bizarre happened. A heart beat could be heard.
The gem's glow could be seen growing more intense in tandem with the beating. With Silus' heart beat.
Without having any time to contemplate what is happening the crystal stopped completely. Ethereal chains launched itself from where each finger tip met the gem. As quick as a serpent, the ghost metal wrapped around Silus' fingers to meet at the back of his hand.
In a panic, Silus snapped his hand back, but the chains grew in length. Silus could not escape from its grasp.
Connection To New Host Established.
Both Silus and Selene were confused and in awe, forgetting about the chains for a moment.
Beginning Memory Scan... Complete.
Parsing Information From Emotion... Complete.
Categorizing Obtained Information... Complete.
"Greetings Host."
Silus just stared with his mouth open. This orb just downloaded his memories. He noticed that once the gem spoke to him there was a slight difference in tone.
"Um, Hello?"
"Greetings Host. Would you like to establish your domain?"
"I am afraid I don't know what you're talking about."
"Apologies Host. Perhaps establishing a progression theme before the domain would be better."
Reviewing Memories... Completed.
Matching Basic Themes... Completed.
Bonding Basic Themes... Compl-
"Uncle Silus! This is boring! Look at the new Pokemon I just caught." Selene was pushing the Gameboy Color into he Uncles face.
"Host what is this Pokemon?"
Selene gave out a gasp of excitement. She began telling the strange orb all about her game and what she has been doing over the last four hours. At times Silus just couldn't keep up with how fast his niece ran her mouth.
"And then I just caught this new Pokemon see."
Selene held up her game device to the strange ball to show off her latest Pokemon. When the screen got close a faint blue beam emitted from the crystal casting its light over the game.
Analyzing Object...Complete.
Analyzing Data...Complete.
Matching Data To Basic Templates...Error.
Matching Data To Intermediate Templates...Error.
Matching Data To Advanced Templates...Error
Troubleshooting...Complete
Creating New Template "Pokemon"... Complete.
Matching Template To Pre-Existing Templates...Complete.
Analyzing Template...Complete.
Ranking Template...Complete
Template "Pokemon" Rank: Advanced.
Breaking Down Template...Complete.
Establishing Domain Theme: Basic Pokemon
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