Whispers of Metal: The Forge of the One Mage

"Mmn," murmured a young man of about eighteen years old as he awoke. His physical appearance was quite common, really—dark brown hair, fair skin, glasses, and a somewhat muscular build.

"So, Steven Universe?" I said as I sat on the grass, getting accustomed to my new psychic senses, which were incredible. It felt like my mind was more efficient, and the world was much clearer than before. I could see and sense everything in more detail, and the energy that had always been with me was now much stronger and in greater quantity than before—my soul.

But, snapping out of my metaphysical thoughts and observations, I focused on where I was: a field of somewhat giant strawberries with many weapons like axes and swords scattered everywhere, and, of course, an inverted pyramid.

"Well, time to find civilization," I said before gathering some strawberries and vines—or stems? I don't know, really, and I don't care—I just grabbed them and made a simple backpack where I stored plenty of strawberries, then set off in a random direction. After all, I doubted that moss would keep growing northward with so many magical things and Gems nearby.

As I walked through the area, I tried to pick up some weapons, but many of them were too heavy for me to lift, so all I ended up taking was a smooth helmet that resembled a Roman one but was more geometric, a sword about a meter long, and finally, a dagger. Once I no longer felt defenseless, I decided to test part of my psychic powers: telekinesis. If I'm not mistaken, it's just directing a small part of psychic power to the materium to interact with things.

With a conscious thought, I imbued the dagger and moved it as I wished. At first, the movements were somewhat robotic, like controlling the dagger with a mouse, but as the minutes passed, the movement became smoother, more precise, and more efficient.

"This sense of control is satisfying," I said out loud. The possibilities of just this power, when it's only a small fraction of all the powers included in the wish I made.

"Just telekinesis is incredibly useful, and it's not even the full repertoire," I spoke to the air as I continued walking, a smile unconsciously widening on my face.

As night fell, I found a cave. Using my telekinesis, I checked if there were any animals or Gem beasts inside, but I found nothing, so I settled at the cave entrance. I made a small fire with my powers, ate a couple of small strawberries, and rested my body—but not my mind.

"Time to take advantage of the true psychic powers," I spoke aloud as I delved into what was now my mind—or soul, as at this point, they were one and the same. The first thing I "saw" was pure energy of various colors. Although I could understand it easily, my fleshy brain couldn't process it all, so since it was so dreamlike, I gave it a more three-dimensional and comprehensible shape. Yep, I instinctively knew how to do that. Then the place took form: a dark wizard's tower, about ten floors tall, colored obsidian with lava in some parts. The shape really just reflected my psyche, while how well-kept and organized it was represented the state of my soul. The tower was mostly intact, though some parts were crumbling, but I would fix that later. Entering the tower, I noticed it was disorganized but not dirty, which was a good sign. There were some broken furniture and some old pieces.

"So, this is my mind," I said thoughtfully as I waved my hand, creating a spider-like creature. "Your job is to tidy and repair this area," I told what could very well be my first creation—a tulpa, a mental demon, or a Chaos daemon created from my power. Unfortunately, I wasn't powerful enough to create something like this in the materium. The creature nodded to its creator and got to work.

"I'll keep exploring," I said as I wandered through the rooms and spaces. What intrigued me the most was the library, where my memories and experiences were stored. It was disorganized, though nothing was broken. I repeated the creation of more beings with the same orders.

"After hours of organizing the entire tower, creating more beings, and repairing everything, I finally finished," I said. Since this plane is a representation of my being, something inside me changed, too. By organizing everything, my memories flowed in the most efficient way possible, and by repairing everything, my being became even more solid, which was a good thing. "No more intrusive thoughts and more focus."

"Now, although hours passed here, I know that only minutes have passed in the materium. What else can I do here?" I asked myself with genuine curiosity, and ideas flowed like a sea. "Maybe defenses against mind reading, maybe digitizing my mind, maybe experimenting with demon creation? So many options," I told myself. But while being the equivalent of a metaphysical AI sounded good, I didn't have enough experience to do it. So, I opted for the easiest thing: building a barrier to protect me.

With that in mind, I separated the tower from the ground and created a great barrier about twenty meters high. Then, a few meters farther out, I made more barriers that began to take shape and twist. This process repeated for what would be an indeterminate time, given the limited human mind, until I had created a functional infinite maze.

"This will do for now. Everything else will come later," I thought, feeling a bit tired, with sweat covering my metaphysical body. So I decided to end this mental immersion for the day.