After lunch Seth had Zoology and History. Mau was very interested in both classes. Seth wasn't able to catch his Zoology professor, but he did manage to ask his History professor about power loss. The professor's opinion was that Seth should just learn to accept the happenings in the world. He told Seth that only by accepting what had happened can he find a way forward.
Seth thought that opinion was trash.
That afternoon Seth had his first Tower class. This one was in the Celestial Tower. Seth knew this was a difficult tower to get into and taught the most esoteric subjects. The magical forces of space, dimension, force, time, and more were taught here. Seth was really excited to get started.
He and Owen waited outside the tower. It was made of translucent black stone and strongly resembled the black volcanic glass of the fire tower while having a distinctly different feel. Sunlight didn’t reflect off the tower or pass through it, but passed into it and stayed there, lighting a distant darkness they couldn’t see.
The formerly open foyer was closed and the arched double doors were locked. Owen and Seth were the only ones waiting when the time for class to start came and went.
“Are we the only ones who got in here?” Owen asked.
“I thought at least one other student got in. Maybe not?” Seth pulled out the class list he had. “It says today, at this tower with Professor Kaban.”
The boys tried using their bracelet keys but the door was still physically latched as well as magically.
“I get the feeling Professor Kaban forgot there was class today,” Seth said.
“Do you think this is another test?”
“Actually,” Seth said thoughtfully, “I think it could. Good thinking.” He backed up and scanned the tower, but didn’t see any clues all the way up. “Any suggestions?”
Owen stood at the door a moment, his aggravation growing. “Start simple, I guess.” He turned and pounded on the door as hard as he could.
Seth snickered. “If that’s not loud enough, try kicking it?”
Owen did kick the door after a few minutes. While they waited Seth noticed all the students at the other towers had gone into class and the courtyard was empty. Mau was looking up at the Celestial Tower and had wandered off in a circuit of the tower
The minutes continued to tick by. Owen wound up to kick the door even harder this time and just as his foot lashed out the door jerked open.
“Gggglll,” the professor choked and fell backwards clutching himself in an unfortunate area.
Owen stood frozen in open mouthed shock, just as surprised as the professor but in significantly less pain.
“We’re so sorry!” Seth apologized for the both of them as he rushed over. “No one was answering and the door was locked.”
The professor was curled up on the stone tiles and ignored the boys. He wore the blue of professors, but his clothes were rumpled and dirty. Seth recognized him as the vagrant looking man from the Rainbow Tower test and wondered what he was doing in the Celestial Tower. Maybe he was a school employee instead of someone affiliated with a specific tower? Seth still didn’t understand the nuances of how the school was administered.
“What the fuck was that for?” the professor managed to finally choke out.
"I kicked the teacher," Owen said, still standing there in shock.
"We have class here," Seth tried to explain, "and the door was locked."
"So you kicked me?"
“I'm sorry, It was an accident,” Owen explained, “I meant to kick the door. I wasn’t expecting you to open it.”
“If you are banging on a door loud enough to summon demons why wouldn’t you expect it to open?” the professor demanded.
“Because it hadn’t opened any other time we knocked,” Owen answered.
The professor pushed himself up and waved off the boys’ attempts to help him. He staggered into the common area and collapsed into a plush chair. “I need a few minutes and then you can tell me why the fuck you were kicking my door in.”
“We–” Owen started but was cut off with a sharp gesture by the professor.
“What part of ‘I need a few minutes’ are you having trouble with?” The professor shot Owen a dark look before closing his eyes again.
Seth looked around the tower. The entire first floor was open, and was a rather comfortable common area that looked thoroughly lived in. He hadn’t paid any attention to it his first time through, having been in a hurry to fetch the keys. There were chairs and couches arranged in a few distinct conversation areas. One of the couches still had blankets on it like someone was sleeping there. There were also desks and tables and one wall was all bookshelves. Papers and books were scattered over all of them and the bookshelves had random items stacked up in all the gaps where books were missing. There was no dust or dirt anywhere. The mess was more a mid-project disorganization than the dirt of someone who never tidies up, but clearly this project had been going on for a while.
The professor let out a big breath. “Fine. Now why are you two assholes bothering me?”
“We have class scheduled for today,” Owen answered.
“So?”
“We have class here, sir. In this tower, with Professor Kaban,” Seth clarified.
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“I don’t teach first years. None of you have enough basics for it to be worth the effort.”
“Are you the only professor for this tower?” Seth asked, surprised.
“Of course not. I am the only professor for this tower on campus now though. Dimensional mages are in high demand, and the second year class isn’t until tomorrow so you two can piss off.”
“If you don’t teach first years, then why were there keys during the Gauntlet?” Seth asked.
“The school requires a minimum number of slots, but I just put a dimensional warp up so no one can get in. Even a third year can’t bypass it.”
“We got in,” Owen said. “We both got keys.”
Professor Kaban scowled at him and got up, somewhat painfully, and went over to the table in the foyer.
“Well, shit. There are keys missing. How the hell did you manage that?”
Seth and Owen exchanged a look and Seth shook his head.
“Are you going to teach us?” Owen asked.
“Are you not going to tell me unless I agree to teach you?” the professor scoffed. “I already told you there’s no point. Neither of you have the basics you need to do anything that I could teach you.”
“Why do we need basics to even study?” Seth asked.
“Because dimensional forces are dangerous. You can’t experiment with them without serious effects happening. And most of those effects will kill you or someone else.”
Seth thought about the exploding ink bottles and burning papers from the copy spell practice.
“We earned the right to be here,” Owen argued. “I’m here to learn more about my talent and what it is.”
“I’m here to learn more about magic sources and how someone could lose their power and ways to regain it,” Seth added.
Professor Kaban snorted. “Powers don’t get misplaced where you can just find them again later.”
“My brother lost his power. I want to help him get it back.”
The professor raised an eyebrow and considered Seth. “That sounds like a Circle Tower project.”
“I’m signed up for class there too.”
“Then why here? What made you think the Celestial Tower could help you?”
“Magic comes from the celestial, right? The aether in the Above or something? If I could learn more about that and how it relates to how someone uses magic, I thought I could find out what isn’t working anymore for my brother.”
“There are plenty of people smarter than you working on that.”
“Then they are smart enough to accept whatever help they can get. I don’t expect to solve it before them, but I do want to know and learn whatever I can that will help both them and him.”
“You don’t think that they will tell him if they discover a cure?”
“I’m sure they will, but he is not going to be a top priority.”
Professor Kaban nodded and looked at Owen. “You don’t know what your power is?” He sounded slightly incredulous.
“I know what I can do with it. I’m not stupid,” Owen defended himself. “What I don’t know is how I can do it or what else I could use it for.”
The professor sighed and tilted his head back with his eyes closed.
Seth and Owen waited. Seth noticed Mau walking through the things on the tables, clearly very interested in what she was looking at. He was tempted to go look himself.
“Can I ask you a question?” Seth asked the professor.
“You already did,” he answered.
Seth ignored the professor’s flip answer. “Why were you in the Rainbow Tower during the Gauntlet? Do you teach there too?”
“I was never in the Rainbow Tower.”
“I’m pretty sure I talked to an illusion of you then during the Gauntlet.”
“My brother likes to make sure people see me and think I’m useful around the school. He seems to think I’m in danger of losing my job.”
“I can’t imagine why he’d think that,” Owen said.
The professor glared at Owen. “I am very good at my job.”
“So you’ll teach us then?” Seth asked.
“I don’t teach first years.”
“So what job are you good at then?” Owen asked.
“Not wasting time and effort on smartasses who will only kill themselves and others. I've more important things to do.”
“You are supposed to teach us.” Seth pushed. “We won this tower in the Gauntlet. Your name is on my course list.”
The professor scowled. “I’ll let you read from the tower library. Not all books, and nothing leaves the tower without permission.”
“You know that’s not what we want,” Seth said. “We want to learn. Actual teaching. I can read on my own time.”
“That doesn’t sound like a me problem. If you– What the hell is that?” The professor spotted Mau sitting amongst the papers on a table.
“My familiar, Mau.”
“Your familiar. You sure about that?” He walked over to the cat to get a closer look, but didn’t reach out to touch her. “Who would do a familiar ritual for that?”
Seth saw no reason to keep Isolde a secret. He explained her to the professor who laughed at the story.
“Why is it weird that she is my familiar?” Seth asked.
Professor Kaban just shook his head. “The heavens love idiots and fools. I’ll tell you what, if you can master some fundamentals, and not die while doing so, I’ll put something together to teach you. It’s going to work like this: I give you each one book. Study it and bring it back and I give you another. One book at a time.” He pulled a book off a shelf for Seth, and another from a different bookcase for Owen.
Seth looked at the title, ‘The Travelog of Jacques de Faere’. He had no idea why Professor Kaban would choose this book. It had nothing to do with learning fundamentals. He looked at the bookshelf. There were over a hundred books on it.
Owen looked at his book. “You didn’t ask me what my power was, how do you know this book will help me?”
“If you don’t know how your power works, I’m not likely to figure it out just by you describing it. A fire power doesn’t work like an earth power. That one has a bunch of cantrips in it, simple stuff all of it, and if you find you’ve an affinity to any of them it’ll give you clues where to look for more answers.”
“Why a travelog for me?” Seth asked.
“You’ll figure it out as you read it. Ah, and one more thing." Professor Kaban walked over to a cabinet and rummaged through the drawers until he found what he was looking for. He held it out to Seth.
It was a rock. It was heavy like it was made of metal, but had a crystal like structure to it.
"What do I do with this?" Seth asked.
"Do I get one?" Owen asked.
"Consider that a group project. Your first lesson is identifying objects. You need to know what you're working with before you can actually work it. When you can tell me the properties and makeup of that rock, I'll give you your next lesson. Now get lost.”
Seth stood there for a moment. “There are hundreds of materials we'll need to test this for. And it’ll take us all year to go through that bookshelf. You’re stalling and this is a tactic to get rid of us.”
“I thought the books weren’t supposed to leave the tower?” Owen asked.
“Without permission. You've got permission. And if you want to feel like this is a real assignment, then how about an essay on what the book is supposed to teach you and why I gave it to you? Say, five pages?”
Seth walked over to Mau and set the travelog on the table with a snap. He picked up a pile of messenger tubes on a chair and dropped them on the floor before sitting down. The tubes clattered and rolled across the floor.
“No, no, no. You two can get lost now, I’m busy.”