I looked down at Petal’s smiling face and couldn’t help but smile myself. So what if she had single handedly crushed my dreams of conjuring balls of fire? I had gotten through life without any hint of magic before today, so what was the rest of my life without it? If anything magic would just complicate matters in my life so I was glad to be without it!

“Those are the eyes of a broken man.” I heard Kria whisper to Ovglach who grunted in response.

“Seen it many times me self. Mostly after a colleague's project fails to work the way they designed. Always a shame ta see such young blood lose hope so easy.”

“I can hear you!” I yelled at the two who gave me an innocent look. Well, as innocent as a small man with a large beard and a black eye as well as a tall, muscular, scarred cat woman could look.

In other words, guilty as fuck.

“Mark don’t need magic. Mark strong!” Petal spoke as she looked up at me. I rubbed her head. It always feels good when someone believes in you.

“Thanks kid, maybe I’ll teach you some moves one day.” I may not be the best fighter in the world, but I knew how to hold my own. A few years of judo classes really helped in my early school days after all. My father would always say: 'Boy sometimes someone just gets in your face for no reason and tries to push you around. When this happens you give them three warnings. After the third warning you kick their ass.'

I may have gotten suspended once or twice, but I was never bothered after that. My father called it the ‘Talk shit, get hit’ rule.

Petal nodded her head vigorously at my suggestion of teaching,

“Yes!”

“Us too!” A Mikthar child nearby shouted, the others adding to the volume of requests.

“Alright, alright sure. Sometime soon okay? I’ll tell Petal when I can and she can tell you all.” I spoke, placating them and receiving a small chorus of cheers.

“It was certainly an interesting fighting style.” Kria stated nonchalantly, but the swishing of her tail gave away her true feelings. She wanted to learn as well. It felt good knowing that I had no unconscious way of betraying my hidden feelings. Outside of voice cracks, blood going cold, winces, twitches, mouth hanging agape among other things. But yeah, outside of those my disposition is hidden quite well when I wish it to be.

It was time to get revenge for her teasing. Pretending to not hear anything I ignored her. From the corner of my eye I could see her tail fidget in distress.

“Shall we be goin’ to me workshop then? Or will we gab about here all day?” Ovglach questioned as he sped off towards the wall.

“Sounds good, bout time for me to see what you’ve done to my Bartholomew.” I stated and walked slightly behind him. Petal had run to her friends to say goodbye before skipping back to walk alongside me.

Kria jogged up next to me. “Hey Mark. You and I should spar sometime okay?” Her tone seemed normal, but you could just hear the anticipation in it if you knew what to listen for. Growing up in a household with two sisters prepared me for moments like these.

“Hmm.” I responded not paying attention to her at all. I heard a light growl come from her before a sharp pain stabbed into my left arm. “Jesus Christ!” She stabbed me with a claw! “Fine yes I’ll beat the hell out of you just for that, god!” I pressed against the small wound to stop the blood.

“Oh settle down you kitten.” Kria stated, “It was only a small poke.”

“Yeah sorry I don’t have the strength to crush a boulder just by flexing my arm.” A small tug on my shirt demanded my attention. “Hmm? Sup Petal?” I asked the small girl.

“Me fix.” She stated with raised hands. I turned my injured arm towards her. A light glow emanated from her hands and engulfed where Kria had so shamelessly stabbed me. In an instant the slight pain that throbbed in my arm disappeared.

“You’re an angel Petal.” She cocked her head,

“Angel?”

“Yup, a pure and innocent soul that helps everyone. And just for that…” I bent down and hoisted her up onto my shoulders and held onto her legs. “You get the best seat on this trip!” She wrapped her small arms around my head for stability.

“No…down…” she mumbled and shook slightly as she clung to my head, obscuring my vision. I laughed,

“Relax Petal, I won’t drop you.” I backed up my words by lightly tightening my grip on her legs, which seemed to calm the girl somewhat.

“You look ridiculous.” Kria spoke bemused.

“If it looks stupid and it works, it isn’t stupid.” I responded and stuck out my tongue at the warrior woman.

“Tell that to some of the sponsors I’ve had.” Ovglach grumbled, “Pissin’ sods wanted stuff that looked good and worked better than it should.”

I guess in the end, all mortals of all races are vain creatures.

After many strange looks I received from the townspeople and envious stares from various children we had finally arrived at Ovglach’s workshop. A good-sized wooden structure that I assumed was a warehouse when I first arrived here. It was located close by to the town gate which would explain how quickly he had destroyed…dismantled Bartholomew and transported the pieces from where I parked him. Ovglach grabbed the handle at the front of the building, connected to a large sliding door.

With a grunt he slid the door sideways, revealing the large workshop within. Petal and I gasped at the sheer size of the workshop that was packed to the brim with boxes and barrels of metals, liquids and gems the size of a volley ball. What immediately caught my eye however, was the metal frame of Bartholomew being held up by some sort of what I assumed to be a magical magnet.

“Well don’t just stand there gawkin’ come in!” Ovglach grumbled. I set Petal down and together we entered the workshop as the dwarf closed the door behind us. Petal immediately ran over to gawk at the gemstones whereas I strode forth to look at the remains of my jeep.

Underneath the magical magnet was a wooden planning table with loads over papers on it covered in notes about the various mechanisms found within my ‘Magical Carriage.’ What caught my eye were the words “Not enough information” next to the seat latch mechanisms and the inflatable wheel balloon.

“Inflatable wheel balloon? Really?” I looked at Ovglach who shrugged,

“Yer the expert.”

“It’s an air bag. It inflates when a collision is detected and it pops out of the steering wheel for the driver and dashboard for the passenger to absorb the impact, potentially saving their lives.”

“Ahhhhhh. Mighty crafty of ye. Very intuitive if I say me self.” He quickly ran over to his note table and began to scribble words in. “And what of those seat latches?”

“Seat Belts, you wear them. They lock in place when you slam on the brakes or get hit in a collision, preventing you from slamming into the dashboard at full speed. Think of seat belts as the first line of defense, whereas airbags are the secondary.”

“Interestin’. Your people put a lot of stock in safety. I take it yer world be dangerous?”

I immediately thought of the time I was driving through a green light in my dad's car when I was plowed into from the side by a woman who had been texting on her phone. The resulting crash had totaled both of the vehicles. She walked away fine, but I had to go to the hospital. I stared blankly into space as memories of that day entered my mind.

"Far more than you realize..."

Ovglach continued to write down notes in a rapid pace. “Shame I couldn’t figure out how ta turn it on.” He grumbled, “had to rip a few wires and try connecting them in different ways. The loud horn sound was the worst.”

“That would be the car alarm. Anti-theft system.” I explained, “And to start it you would have needed these.” I pulled the keys out from my pocket. They jingled lightly in the air as I handed them over to the dwarf.

“Ahhh. So you’d put these in the side next to the wheel. I was wonderin’ what that was fer.”

“Mark, mark!” Petal called out as she ran towards me with something in her hands. Her tail wagged about rapidly, “Look! Pretty!” She held out her hands revealing a small cut ruby within. “Can I keep?” Her eyes looked up at me and begged me to say yes.

Be still my restless heart, I wanted to say yes. But this was Ovglach’s place.

“Ask the dwarf over here, I can’t say yes to take his things.”

“Please mister!” Petal turned to the small man and turned on the puppy dog eyes that would make anyone weak.

“Yeah sure, plenty more where that came from.” He didn’t even turn to look at what she was holding! I stared at the dwarf confused as Petal happily skipped away holding the ruby close to her heart. Never grow up Petal, you’ll break too many hearts.

“You sure about that? You didn’t even look at what she was carrying.” Kria asked ash she stared upwards at the remains of Bartholomew. “Seems irresponsible, letting a kitten take something without even sparing a glance. It could have been something dangerous for all you know!”

It was about time someone else got scolded instead of me.

“Knew it was a ruby, felt the charge soon as she got here.” He looked at us with a large grin. “Shapers like me self can feel the power in each and every gemstone. Speaking of which, that’s how we’re going to make your carriage run again Mark.”

“Eh?” I was stupefied, how was a gemstone going to power a car in place of an engine? “Mind explaining for not not-so-magically-inclined?”

“Ah, right. Sorry, you see every type of gemstone holds a different kind of magical charge. Rubies, Sapphires, Emeralds and Opals are the most common gemstones. Rubies can be charged with fire magic and constantly expel heat from within. Sapphires are charged with water magic and expel cool air. Emeralds same with wind and Opals…well Opals are strange. Ye see, they sort of never gain a charge but absorb magic of all types.”

“Now before I complicate things a wee too much here’s the basics of what I’ll be doing with your carriage. First I’ll be replacing this hunk of metal,” he knocked on the engine that lay atop a stone slab on the ground. “with this.”

Ovglach opened a wooden box that sat under Bartholomew. Inside it was the largest Topaz I had ever seen. Like a few of the gemstones in the workshop it was the size of a volley ball.

“This little beauty, a Topaz, is charged by electrical magic and constantly radiates electricity. In me studies I have found a way to move the charge from the topaz around to different sections of an invention. This is what earned me the Shaper’s Medal of Ingenuity.” He proudly boasted as he fondled the medal he pulled from his pocket.

“So you’re going to turn my jeep into an electric car? Will I have to plug it in every few hours or what?” It seemed suspicious, our electric cars ran pretty well but still had to be recharged often and some still used gasoline.

“Every few hours? Boy, a topaz of this size can hold an electric charge for damn near a century!”

That was when I decided to use my Keanu Reeves impersonation.

“Whoa.”