***
Leaning forward on the comfortable leather armchair, Azrael looked like he was studying Glint with eyes only, but beneath the surface he sent out his senses to better analyze the young martial artist. Qi, he thought to himself as he felt the familiar presence of the physical energy type most associated with breathing techniques. Furthermore, the qi inside the boy’s body, stored beneath his naval, branched out like veins holding a thundercloud. So, Azrael concluded, a yin yang five elements user, this far west. Wonderful.
The man was probably one of perhaps five hundred people who could explore energy with this much sensitivity outside of the Amber Spyglass or similar guilds. Azrael’s abilities had grown in the past month, however, and now he could look even deeper. He did so, stopping himself from grunting with the effort. For the first time he could see the energy in its true form, rather than its effects upon the world.
As Glint stood in the middle of the puddle with his eyes closed, it absorbed electrical qi from him, attached itself to his feet, and started a journey upwards. Slowly his upper legs, thighs and torso became engulfed in a thin layer of liquid silver, and where it touched, it solidified. At last it travelled over his head, and to Azrael’s alarm, covered his face completely. Then the necromancer breathed out in relief as the armour opened up a Y shaped slit exposing mouth, nose, and eyes. The rest of the boy’s body looked like it was encased in a skin tight suit of silver for a moment, which then rippled all over. When that shudder ceased, Glint looked to be wearing something similar to a suit of armour with no seams. Some parts were thicker than others and it had all the normal parts: a cuirass, pauldrons, gauntlets and greaves overlapping and interlocking one another, albeit with no seams nor weaknesses to be exploited between the plates. Azrael could even tell that if there was a breach or if a part of Glint’s body got injured, the armour would immediately change to suit the situation. He could see how that could be formidable.
Unbidden, Glint sent his qi circulating into the armour, and it seemed even more impenetrable. What more, Azrael suspected the benefit went both ways. The power coursing through Glint would surely enhance his abilities. Metal and electric qi users were known to have higher reflexes and harder muscles and bones, and the suit would augment that even more. It wouldn’t be surprising if mental commands would be able to change the armour’s shape, even. Overall, Azrael was impressed with both Glint and this particular brand of body energy arts. He wondered why the highest exchange of energy was in Glint’s helmet, however. Perhaps it was due to how he perceived things, but it seemed the boy saw a helmet as armour’s representative. “Fascinating.” he whispered.
“Azrael?” called Glint with an expression near awe peeking out from the slit in his helmet, which the necromancer believed was called a barbute due to its Y shaped opening. That helmet had the most polished feel out of all the parts of Glint’s armour. “It feels great, but I’m started to get tired.” His breath began to come in short pants, as if he were running cross country running and not standing in place. He took a step forward and his feet blurred. It seems he isn’t able to control his strength yet, thought the butler. It was unlikely that Glint could keep the armour on him if he kept expending that much energy. The boy was still a babe who had just awakened a month ago, after all. He boasted no great internal energy vessel yet. Something had to be done.
Azrael checked the time through the amount of light outside. It was unreliable to do that in Shien due to the artificial nature of the sun, but he had yet to receive the pocket watch he had ordered from a nearby town to the northeast, near Krava, where the best mekanikal technology existed. Dismissing the issue, Azrael squinted. He thought it was about mid afternoon. There was not much time left to carry out today’s plans.
Azrael turned his attention back to the boy. He looked slightly intimidating in that armour, and the notion almost was enough to make Azrael laugh out loud. “I’ve been thinking about that myself, you see. There must be a way to lower the energy input needs for this armour... do you think it changes shape?” he said absentmindedly, and just then noticed the shock that ran through Glint’s body. The boy shook all over, and had he been in normal plated armour he may as well have turned into a human bell. Azrael watched silently, realizing that the armour had likely morphed before, and the prospect of it doing so again terrified the child in a way that only nightmares or past trauma could.
Well, Azrael knew a thing or two about trauma. There aren’t many who could boast of having been killed before, and the only thing that kept the necromancer from breaking down completely were the chains of pure will that he kept around his heart. Each of them had things to deal with, but one needed to put immediate concerns ahead of such things. Painfully aware of his shackled grief, Azrael put a smile on his face, certain that it looked more like a grimace, and pushed the hurt deep under. He said, “Look, Glint, listen to me closely.” The boy wasn’t looking at him properly at first, still lost in his own world of imagination, but Azrael called to him a second time. “Glint!” he exclaimed, snapping the youth out of his state of panic. He looked at the man uncertainly, as if not entirely sure of where he was. Azrael wasted no time, for this was crucial. “I believe the armour reacts to you and your thoughts, as well as your personality. You are linked to it, and I think that you’re the only one in full control of it, through your qi.” Glint nodded acknowledgement, causing Azrael to hope that the boy was indeed aware of a link between him and the metal. He dove right into his instructions. “Right now,” he continued, knowing that the boy should also be aware of it, “You’re using too much of your qi in keeping the armour’s current state. This is going to cause too much strain and fatigue on your body, not just physically, but also on a fundamental level.”
Another nod, so far so good.
“Is there any way for you to put the armour in a... hibernation state of sorts? I mean, so it doesn’t tire you out so much? In that state it shouldn’t be exchanging so much electrical qi with you and boosting your power and reflexes. Put the circulation at a minimum with a relaxed breath and bring your energy back into the diantien, with some moving within your body. ” At this point Glint looked confused. It seemed he had never learnt how to do this, and was perhaps not even aware of his augmented skills due to the armour. Hell, thought Azrael to himself, recalling the way the boy had reacted to his armour melting and the way it changed, I don’t think the boy had received any theoretical training when it came to this martial art, how could his education have been so lacking? However, he was able to activate the armour without being told how, reflected Azrael. Maybe the instinctive method would work once again now.
“Okay, how about this?” he tried again, “Imagine what would happen to your armour when you aren’t supplying it with energy anymore... like when you go to sleep, for example.” for emphasis he added, “You’re the only one who can do it.” Azrael looked deep into the boy’s eyes, letting him understand this fact. No help was coming for him. It was a bluff, for Azrael could protect him, at a cost.
The weight of responsibility seemed to snap Glint back into his full senses. His face lost its stricken look, and simultaneously his limbs stopped shivering. He gained a calm air about him, nodded to Azrael with something akin to assurance, and the necromancer knew that Glint would succeed without a doubt. Birds chirped outside the panelled windows, unaware of the weight of the situation, but the two ignored them. Azrael knew nothing about this art other than what he had gleaned from Glint and his own sight. With his theory, he was simply going out on a limb. They were alone in this bark coloured study, furnished simply yet elegantly, in a nameless village in the middle of the continent of Shien. For all he knew, it could be that the armour wouldn’t stop its rate of consumption, and would suck Glint dry, leaving him as nothing other than a dry husk. If that happened, there was really very little that Azrael could do without destroying the armour. On the other hand, Glint had seemed confidant, and so Azrael dared hope that the boy would not fail to deliver.
> He wouldn’t want a month’s hard work to go to waste, now would he?
As he watched, the boy started to focus more and more. Azrael had earlier ordered all servants of the manor outside, both in order to avoid the danger of whatever might happen if something went horribly wrong here, and also so they could complete a few special tasks out of Glint’s attention. All, that is, except for Tim, who waited outside the study silently, as instructed. That one was a sensible child if Azrael ever saw one.
Glint’s heavy breathing broke the silence, in addition to the almost imperceptible sound of his armour liquefying again. It began from the head, melting and inching down his body. As the boy’s neck came free from the metal, the same process began in his lower half as well, except the metal moved upwards, upwards, until there was one large clump of dough like metal on his right forearm. Glint’s eyes were closed now, Azrael noted, and beads of sweat formed along his brow. With one last gasp from the boy, the transformation was complete.
Now, on Glint’s hand was a gauntlet, seemingly of pure silver, which, even though plain, looked to be of fine make indeed. Azrael couldn’t help but smile, thinking that sounded exactly like Glint. Appearing normal, there was no doubt in the necromancer’s eyes that the boy was going places, after seeing what he was capable of doing with almost nothing but raw talent alone.
The drain of qi was minimal now, appearing a storm within the boy’s belly and reaching throughout his body with small rivulets of power. Glint’s pale face regained a bit of its lustre. His amber eyes hinted at a smile and his he whipped his straight hair to the side. There was still a small exchange of energy between Glint and the gauntlet, but Azrael doubted that it would tire his master. He grinned at the implied inferiority of the term.
“Looks like you have things under control now, my lord,” he remarked to the boy, who was still standing in place, admiring his new piece of equipment with transfixed awe.
The boy frowned then. “No,” he said, with a hint of fatigue, still eyeing the gauntlet. “The balance is wrong, it’s really heavy. I wish I could split that weight on both arms, but I can’t seem to make it work right now.” The light was, of course, still strong outside, but Azrael knew that time was running short for his plans. He mused to himself about how he would breach that particular subject when Glint asked, “What now?” The boy looked quite confidant. In fact, it was positively adorable to watch, like a child with a new stuffed toy to clutch, thinking it would protect him from the world. Azrael pounced on the opportunity presented by the question.
“Now, my dear young master, I tell you your plans for the day,” Azrael said, standing up abruptly and gracefully. He gave Glint a great exaggerated bow, with one arm crossing his waist, “And what grand plans they are! I hope you’ve studied your etiquette as well I have taught it, for we have guests to entertain!”
Glint looked at his ATB with such a stunned expression that he didn’t play along. Due to him facing downwards, eyes fixed on the recently waxed wooden planks, Azrael’s feral smile went completely unnoticed.