Whispers of Metal: The Forge of the One Mage

Well, a new direct chapter, short but I think well done. I hope you enjoy the chapter.

I was walking through the streets after dropping Connie and Nora off at their homes. I wasn't really thinking about anything, yet my mind never stopped functioning, not even when I rested.

This day had been strange, but it was a welcome change, mostly because I could relax a bit and not overthink everything.

When I got home, I focused on what happened with the robots. What I did with technomancy was truly dangerous. I had only wanted to deactivate the robots, but I accidentally discovered what was missing for two-way communication, and that was the dangerous part. The robots were simultaneously receiving and sending information to me through the link, which somehow overheated my soul, if I can describe it like that.

The same thing happened to the robots' circuits when they tried to understand the psychic link. Their internal systems and circuits melted entirely, even if I didn't do anything actively.

In the end, all of this left me with the equivalent of a headache—but in my soul. I also felt a brief sensation of warmth and itchiness in a non-physical part of my being, along with a strange kind of fatigue, though not physically.

At least I now had technomancy, even if it wasn't perfect. It's still progress, and any progress is valuable. I'll just need to try imposing my control or will on it, but I'll do that another day. Today, I just want to sleep, even if I don't need to.

I opened the door to the house and found the things I had ordered that morning: replacements for the furniture and items I had broken, all neatly organized and wrapped in plastic. There were also new computer components.

I ignored all of it and went upstairs to the bedroom where the bed was. I didn't even bother taking off my clothes or shoes; I just threw myself onto the bed without a second thought.

For the first time since I arrived in this world, I felt a bit of peace. That was the last thought I had before falling into a deep sleep.

---

The smell of molten rock and metal filled my nose as I worked with the Tower's lava as a construction material. My hands moved mechanically in a set pattern as I hammered the lava, shaping it into increasingly distinct and detailed forms. It was slowly turning into something, something I didn't know but that seemed... important?

I wasn't sure, and I didn't really care.

I remained in a trance for quite a while, hammering the metal without stopping, following a rhythm that felt like a song for some reason. I didn't even realize it was a dream until I finished forging.

Dreams are a more surreal state of being, so now I was inside my soul, just like I usually enter it, though this time I came in through a different door, so to speak.

"Ahhh, there's always some damn new thing popping up," I muttered to myself as I shifted locations.

Now I was in the gardens that adorned the Tower. I didn't spend much time admiring them and just threw myself onto the ebony-colored grass that made up these strange gardens of mine. The view was extremely psychedelic—the glow of the lava and its metallic scent were a constant reminder of where I was. The black grass looked strangely like bird feathers and yet still like grass, all of it adorned with red flowers that always bled like cuts on a gigantic beast dying slowly.

The sky seemed like an oil painting, meticulously crafted brushstroke by brushstroke in tones of black and gray, with platinum stars adorning the canvas like the jewels of a crown meant for a colossal being.

I lay there for a long time, soaking in the soft sensations around me. For once, my mind didn't have any real thoughts. I wasn't searching for hidden meanings or trying to learn or master something. I just enjoyed the moment.

As the stars shifted in a slow dance, the bleeding roses played a melancholic melody, and the grass whispered, the night began to fade slowly, like the closing act of a dramatic performance.

The melody brought thoughts to mind that I had actively tried to avoid. I remembered them—my family, or at least I tried to. I couldn't see their faces or hear their voices. I guess those are the memories I'm missing. Cruel, but not really unexpected. They drifted further and further away from me as everything darkened slowly. It seems I'm about to wake up.

"I've missed you all so much," I told the figures, growing blurrier and less vivid. "I hope you're doing well," I continued as they seemed to want to say something, but their voices never reached me, sadly.

"There's no need to worry about me; I'm in a good place," I reassured them as the figures seemed to react in a mix of joy and sadness while the last light of the stars extinguished like a candle.