Two days later I perched on top of Seth’s knapsack with my claws easily keeping me steady and secure as Saben led Seth to school. I was really getting to like having claws. I was also glad Seth brought the knapsack. It made a much bigger and more comfy seat than his shoulder, and I didn’t have to walk.

The other convenient thing about being carried was that I could check out the city without looking like a lost tourist. I didn’t get the chance the other day to look around. Well, that wasn’t actually true, I’d slept through my chance and that in itself was concerning since if this was some sort of dream or whatever I shouldn’t need sleep.

The city was large and somewhat crowded. The styles were strange, nothing I remembered from medieval paintings even though the general tech level put me in mind of the Renaissance or generally pre-industrial. Architecturally, most buildings were no taller than just a few stories. I did see a few towers in the distance. Fancy buildings for the fancy folk. I’ll make sure to visit them later.

The construction was a pale gray stone with narrow windows and many of the buildings had thatch roofs. Blue thatch. Like the grass that grew here was legitimately blue grass. Crazy. Anyway, the window styles were narrow, wide enough for a child, or a cat, but a full grown adult would have trouble sneaking in. There was very little glass, and almost no metal used in construction.

I had no experience with thatch. What a weird thing to have here. Could you just snip it out of your way? Or maybe just push through it? Or was there something underneath it?

The people here were pretty average too. Most weren’t cripplingly poor, though there were beggars and homeless. Most weren’t outrageously rich either, though I did spot some delightfully opulent targets– err, nobles. You also had your scamsters doing their hustle here and there, and they’d pick up and move whenever a city guard wandered by.

There were roads that were pedestrian only, no animals or wagons, and they were only slightly wider than a hallway. I was reminded of several cities in Europe, in Greece maybe? Nah, it was too cold here. I tried to remember a city with narrow streets high in the mountains but couldn’t remember any names. I couldn’t remember the names of any Greek cities either, even though I had remembered Greece only a moment ago. The more I thought about it the less I could remember. Ah, screw it. Not like I can do anything about it yet.

For a city with a magic school in it, I didn’t really notice any magicking going on.

The boys stopped at a long wall with a gatehouse in it. They would separate here and Saben would head to the other side of the city for his own testing today.

I studied the gatehouse as the boys said their farewells. It looked like the entrance to another city. It was taller than the houses in the area and surprisingly clean and well decorated. Bas-relief lined the openings, and the stonework was light and well maintained. It didn’t resemble dirty dark age movies at all. It felt classy, but was a gatehouse complete with pointy metal gates.

Seth checked in at the first gate, then waited in the interior holding area where a couple dozen other students already waited. The students were mostly older than Seth, closer to Saben’s age in their middle to late teens. They ran the gamut too for economic class. Some wore what I presumed was the school uniform, others were dressed in simple serviceable clothes like Seth, and there were a few with less practical but definitely prettier getups going. Most of them were keeping to themselves and not socializing at all. I guess whatever this ‘gauntlet’ was, it was competitive?

Then I got a good look at the courtyard past the second gate and I was back to thinking this was a trippy fever dream.

A magical barrier shimmered in place of the interior gate. The first tower in the courtyard was entirely a pillar of flame. Not like a normal tower that was on fire, but the tower was fire.

No heat reached us in the gatehouse. I wondered if the flames were real or some type of illusion, or maybe fire wasn’t hot here. At this point, I figured anything was possible.

“What in the darkness,” a boy next to them muttered.

I am so with you my boy, I thought. What in the toasty tower ovens were they expecting these kids to do?

I leaned forward, trying to get a look at the other towers. As far as I could tell, this was the only one that was fire.

A man dressed all in blue walked through the magic barrier, and banged a staff on the ground to silence all the students. His clothes resembled a bishop’s but without the fancy hat.

“Good morning, hopefuls of our incoming class. I am Professor Sammes and I will be the invigilator of this exam. This exam is the qualifier for tower learning within Rosia Magic Academy, and is colloquially known as ‘The Gauntlet’. Each tower has a specialty that is outlined in the student handbook everyone received upon acceptance to this school. As everyone should be familiar with all subjects in the handbook, everyone should already know what each tower offers.”

At this, Professor Sammes gazed around at the students looking amused.

Sneaky bastard. There was no way the students all read something as stupid as a handbook before even starting class. And many of the poor kids did look confused and panicked. My guide to crazy land was pretty calm though. Maybe he was an overachiever? If so, I chose well. Who am I kidding? I didn’t choose any of this crazy shit.

“The duration of this exam shall be one hour precisely. The objective is to obtain entry into the towers of your choice and retrieve the tower key within. Tower keys are magically bonded and cannot be transferred to another person. There are a limited number of keys per tower based on that tower’s available seats.” A brief mummer went through the crowd at that statement. “Yes, you must compete with your classmates for placement here, just as you will need to for professional placements. Cooperation is allowed. Each student must retrieve their own key however. Failure to gain entry yourself even if you provided entry to another student will not count as a succes. There is an infirmary set up on the north wall. Do be cautious. Magic of any type can kill quickly and easily. Any magic directed at another student will result in loss of all keys and removal from the testing grounds. Deliberate sabotage or injury of another student will result in expulsion. I alone decide if circumstances are incidental or deliberate.”

The tale has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.

Professor Sammes paused, letting the instructions sink in. “The gate shall open in ten minutes. You have that time to prepare, plot your course, and make alliances. Good luck.” He turned and stepped through the magic barrier like it wasn’t there.

“Damn,” the boy next to them said.

“I think this test is going to be harder than I thought,” Seth said.

It’s a literal trial by fire here boys. Good luck, I’m thinking I’ll wait out here.

“I don’t know the towers,” the boy said. Poor kid looked so defeated. He was young, but not as young as Seth. I’d put him at about fifteen or so. He was a tall kid, not at his adult height yet but still as tall as most adults, and broad shouldered. He had a boyish face and floofy short hair. He looked like a country boy.

“Do you know what classes you want to take?” Seth asked him. “As a first year student you can’t take more than three advanced classes, so you should just focus on the ones that best complement your talent.”

The boy looked a little uncomfortable. “My power is pretty weak. I wouldn’t even be here but my uncle said I had to. My power just makes what I’m using a little better. I can make a sword a little sharper and hit a little harder or make a shield more sturdy. I can’t do anything to people, just objects, and I mostly just enhance them a little bit.”

“Don’t worry, mine is pretty weak too. I can move air around a bit. Not strong enough to fly, and not precise enough to move things.” Seth considered for a moment. “There are twelve towers. The biggest four here in front are the main powers, fire, earth, water, and wind. After that are the next tier and harder towers, lightning, thunder, metal, and ice. The last four are the hardest, and are the specialty towers. They are the Celestial tower which covers things like space, dimension, and force; the Rainbow tower which covers light, illusion, and obfuscation; the Circle tower has life, death, and healing; and then the Last tower. I have no idea what they teach there. It’s just said to be the Last tower you learn in, and only students who’ve gone to all the other towers can go to that one.”

Mostly typical categories, I thought. Does that mean the magic that people do is generally just those simple types? Could I learn magic? Huh. This is a magic school. I listened with more interest.

“I don’t know what towers would really work for my power then,” the boy said. “Earth maybe? Metal? But my power isn’t really elemental in nature.”

“I plan to try for wind for obvious reasons, but my real goal is going to be either the Celestial tower or Circle. There is something I want to research, and I think one of those two could help. Maybe Celestial would work for you too?”

“Dimension and space? Not really. Force? It could be that, I suppose. I can add oomph to a strike. But if that is a three tier tower, won’t it be really hard to get in?”

Space? I thought. What kind of power is ‘space’? Like cosmic space? Or a roomy room with open space? This shit makes no sense. Behold, the power of emptiness! The nothingness between the stars, and the proper feng shui of a parlor!

“Yeah,” Seth told him. “There are people who try to collect all the first tiers, then try for seconds, until they run out of time. Others start at the top tiers and then move down as time runs out. Problem with that is you might end up with nothing.”

“If you do end up with nothing, is that a problem?” the boy asked.

“Basically, it means you don’t get higher level training. Not getting any additional training for the whole year is a big loss. There is also the advantage that you can apply for boarding in any tower you’ve succeeded at after your first year. It means more access to the facilities and such, you’re in with similar students, and is generally considered the way to go.”

The boy nodded. “My name is Owen. I appreciate your help.” Owen gave Seth a shallow bow.

I growled in irritation when Seth bowed back, nearly dumping me off the knapsack despite it being equally shallow. “My pleasure, Owen. I’m Seth.”

“Did you want to team up?” Owen asked.

“I think the best thing is to first get a look at each of the towers, and figure out what we need to do. If we need to cooperate I’m game for it.”

Suddenly a bell sounded and the barrier protecting the entryway vanished.

A blast of heat gushed forth with such force it almost knocked me off the knapsack and Seth nearly landed on his ass. No sooner than the crowd of students had been shoved back that they surged forward and flooded into the courtyard. Most students scrambled to get away from the raging tower inferno. A few stayed and gazed at it speculatively.

One boy walked up to the tower like the flames weren’t there. He peered at the tower like he could see past the flames, and then just walked straight into them. Seth reflexively reached out as if to pull the boy back, but he’d vanished.

I wondered if I’d ever get used to this crazy shit. How that kid wasn’t a cinder I’d never understand. Well, maybe he was.

A girl who looked like she’d just gotten out of the shower was watching the flame tower too. She glanced over at Seth and Owen, then to another group. “Hey, you all heat resistant? Like, not flame resistant, but like, not affected by heat?”

“No, I’m not,” Seth said. Owen just shook his head. Most of the other group also said no.

“Make space then. This’ll cook ya for sure.” She waited only a couple moments as most of the others moved away. A pair of students didn’t move and still considered the tower. The girl watched them for a few seconds then shrugged. “Here goes!”

Water swelled up out of the ground, and rolled toward the tower. It looked shallow in the beginning, rising slowly like a tide. When the water touched the flame tower a great hissing and storm of steam burst out in an intense wave of wet heat. It was more scorching and more painful than the heat from the flames.

Seth and Owen retreated further but continued to watch, transfixed by the still swelling tide of water. In the end, the entire tower was shielded by a wall of water, and the whole courtyard was masked in a dense cloud of cooling steam.

What the everloving fuck kind of power is that. Okay then.

The girl laughed. “The right talent makes everything so easy.” She walked through the water sheathing the tower and returned a moment later with a small black glass key. “I’ll hold this for a few seconds if you all wanna head in.”

Damn straight we will, my new favorite person!