Chapter 3

Had Rodger bothered to look out o the window in his room, he would have realized the proportions of the Tower. Not that it really mattered, but he might have been prepared more prepared for his situation.

After he left the room with Arche, he found Reywas waiting for him. Just like the two of them, he also had not eaten anything for breakfast yet, and already intended to go eat breakfast with them. He told them that the mess hall was in the lower floors, and that they were in the middle of the tower. What he did not tell them, likely due to thinking it was obvious, was that he still had to take the stairs through twenty-something floors.

Rodger always thought of himself as athletic to an extent, but Sumo did not prepare him for that. Walking down the stairs was well and good, but keeping up with the two others was difficult. He could simply walk at his own pace, but his pride wouldn’t let him. His inner child would not allow him to lose a race he started, even if the other participants did not know they were a part of a race.

Barely keeping himself from panting in exhaustion, Rodger silently relished in his victory when they arrived in the mess hall. Arche appeared confused by the emotions that he felt over the soul link, but ignored them and followed the two of them through the halls.

As he walked through the halls, Rodger observed the crowds around him. Most tables were mixed groups of drakes, dwarves, and humans, but drakes sat amongst themselves far more often than not. He only saw one table where humans sat in a group alone, and dwarves never sat in a homogenous group.

Just as he was observing them, many people in the mess hall sent over curious glances, and the hall got subtly quieter the farther they went in. This was mostly due to Arches presence, standing out in a hall full of the three other races. But a not so small group of people also scrutinized Rodger, for reasons unknown to him. A human like him should be only worth a single glance here; he had the same brown skin as all the other humans after all.

Was it his clothing then? That couldn’t be it. Most humans wore similar clothing, and the colors were all other the place. Unable to find any obvious difference, Rodger noted the clothing of the other two races. Drakes predominantly wore light clothing, showing of their lustrous scales. Amongst the drake only groups, some had tattoos on display, and those drakes usually sat at the center of their group. Their groups even had this very marking on their clothes, and unlike the other drakes, shared a single color for their clothing. Drakes in mixed groups mostly wore clothes matching the color of their scales, a trend both Reywas and Vividren shared. But amongst the drakes not showing off their scales, Reywas seemed to be an exception, being the only young drake to do so.

The dwarves shared the human penchant for colorful clothing. That was to be expected, as like the brown skin of the humans, their skin color was also neutral, and thus matched with almost all other colors. Smirking a little, Rodger thought there might be more than fifty shades of grey among the dwarves.

“Reywas, over here! Just like you asked, we left three spots open!” A gravelly voice called from their left. When Roger turned his head, he saw a dwarf waving at them. He was joined at the table by a drake with striking white scales, and two humans. Compared to the other tables, this one was sparsely occupied. There were more than three free chairs open, but no one made an attempt to sit with them.

Reywas sat next to the dwarf, in front of the other drake, who was sandwiched between the two humans. Rodger sat next to Reywas and Arche next to him. Everyone looked between them and Reywas, waiting for him to introduce them.

“These two here are Rodger and Arche. They are Magister Vividrens guests, and he forbade me from asking about their origin, which naturally extends to you. He told me it should remain secret for now, and should anybody go against his wishes or even spy on them, they will be expelled from this tower, on the authority of the Tower Master.” The tables around them – having listened in – started to whisper in hushed voices, which quickly spread across the hall. But just as quickly as the silence arrived, it disappeared again, with the people trying not to glance at them too much.

At their table, however, only the white drake appeared nervous. The other three seemed like they were desperately keeping their curiosity in check.

“This is Diro.” He patted the dwarfs head, who swat his hand away. She gave them an enthusiastic nod.

“This girl is Nilssi.” He gestured at the other drake, and she flashed her sharp teeth for what appeared to be a smile. The mouth was the biggest difference between drakes and humans, so Rodger could not quite place the expression.

“And those two are Akoni and Keona. They’re –“

“Why do you to have the same eyes? Are you siblings?” The guy – Akoni – asked, interrupting Reywas, who did not seem perturbed by it.

Rodger blinked, surprised by the question. What did he mean by that? Did Arche and he have the same eyes? It wasn’t like he had a mirror to check, but Rodger knew Akoni had to be telling the truth. It would be an odd thing to lie about, after all.

A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation.

“Because of the soul link, probably. I don’t really know myself, it’s a recent development. And I can’t tell you anymore, because it’s related to my origin. I don’t know why they’re keeping it a secret, personally, but I suppose there’s a reason for it.” Arche nodded along sagely, pretending he knew what was going on. Akoni nodded satisfied and leaned back into his chair.

“So, are you also a generalist like us?” Dori asked, pushing Reywas out of the way to talk to them.

“I don’t know? Tell me what a generalist is first.”

“A generalist is a mage training in at least three elemental affinities. Given that many people only have one or two affinities, and that the majority of mages see no value in dividing up your focus, generalists are rare. Besides us, there are a few Magus and one Magister, but we’re the only Mages.” Nilssi answered, before Dori could. “So, are you?”

“I have enough affinities to be one, in theory. But I can’t understand Keyphrases and my soul link prevents other mages from transferring mana to me. Even if I become a mage one day, it’ll be a long time till then.” Aside from Reywas, the others looked uncomfortable having asked me something that appeared to be a touchy subject.

“All my life, I believed I would never become a mage. Waiting a few more years won’t make much of a difference.” Considering magic did not exist in his world, the mere possibility to become a mage was already a large improvement.

“Let’s just get breakfast. That’s why we came down here in the first place, after all.”

“Right! We waited for you guys, but now that you’re here, we can finally get something to eat! Up we go!” Dori stood up in haste and started walking away, but halted. “Someone has to watch our table! I won’t! Any volunteers?” She looked around the table and rested her gaze on Arche.

“Arche! You’re so big and intimidating, if you stay here, no one will approach our table! Would you watch it while we get food for everyone?” Unsure what to do, Arche just nodded. Dori took this as confirmation and smiled, urging everyone to hurry up.

Rodger could have explained the fact that the Heoltor did not understand anyone but him, but then decided to simply let the situation play out. He wondered how long it would take them to figure it out, and smirked.

“Thanks for watching the table for us, buddy.” He said, and patted Arches back. He nodded again, this time understanding what was expected of him.

Following after Dori, they arrived at the buffet. Before she went to pick up her breakfast, she turned around and asked him what kinda food Arche ate. If he was right about the Heoltor being some kind of badger-raven fusion, meat would be a safe bet.

“He can probably eat anything, but some kind of meat would be best.”

“That’s kinda vague, but that just means I have to get him a bit of every kind, right?” Without waiting for a confirmation, Dori plastered the plate with different slices of meat and dried bugs. The buffet was rather diverse, most likely due to accosting three different races, and potentially more.

To ‘safe him from wasting time deciding on his food’, the two drakes and Akoni put stuff on his plate. The drakes favored food that was well spiced, especially meat, and Akoni placed carrot and potato lookalikes and some kind of bread on his plate to balance everything. In the end, Rodger left it all to them.

They returned with the food, and saw a red drake leave the table. “See you around, big guy!” She said and waved at Arche, who just nodded in mild confusion.

“Already making friends I see! You say nothing when you’re with us, but a beautiful drake approaches you, you’re suddenly open. Is our Nilssi not enough for you?” Dori asked in a slight mocking tone, and promptly got hit on the head by an irritated white drake.

“He’s just shy. Give him some time, and he’ll come out of his shell.” He lied in glee. Happy how easily everyone seemed to accept Arche only gesturing, Rodger smiled widely. The way things started to develop, everything would most likely result in many funny misunderstandings.

“Who was that girl, anyway?”

“I think her name was Ssas. She’s one of the more recent members of this tower.” Reywas answered. “She approaches everyone who she thinks seems interesting to talk to them. That’s how I got to know her.”

“No other drake has scales with such a strong red here, so it makes sense that you would stand out, even if you can’t see as much as with other drakes.” Keona chimed in.

Dori pulled out the chair loudly to get everyone’s attention and sat down. The rest followed suit, not wasting anymore time and got to eating.

“Excuse if it’s rude to ask, but what are you? I’ve never seen a race quite like yours.” Keona asked Arche.

“Don’t worry about it, he’s also the first of his kind I ever met. He’s a Heoltor, if you must know. Can’t tell you much about them either, but he’ll tell you once he opens up to you. And once we get permission to speak about our origin, of course. If I’m right about the reason we’re not allowed to talk about it, then it’s only matter of time.” He and Arche were a test run, according to Vividren. And once more have been summoned, someone will let the secret slip. Or they will just get permission in the first place, if Vividren anticipates them not keeping quiet. The secret was mostly only being kept so that no one else gets wind of what they’re doing, and tries to interfere with or imitate them.

After they finished their breakfast, they made small talk, leaving Rodger and Arche mostly on the sidelines.

As the mess hall slowly emptied itself, Vividren appeared in the doorway and walked up to them. “Rodger, Arche, the Tower Master would like to speak with you.” He told them, but frowned for a moment when he looked at the two. But he then shrugged.

“Mage Reywas, I thank you for taking your time to help them.”

“Not at all, Magister.” He turned to Rodger and Arche. “What are you waiting for? Don’t keep the Magister waiting!”

Rodger and Arche quickly stood up, following Vividren through the entrance.