Striding in to Instructor Falaise’s office I was struck once again how everything is in miniature. It’s like the Barbie Dream House had a home office. The chairs in the office were low, but just about perfect for short dwarven legs. I sat down carefully and it moaned as it took my weight.

The chairs, while very comfortable, looked like something a wasp would build. They were shaped from layer after layer of paper and resin. Apparently very strong, but it looked like it was about to explode as I sat on it. Most of the furnishings in the office looked like that. Her shelf appeared to be made of driftwood, but it held books and scrolls just fine. The desk was a carved box tortoise shell, though I’d never seen one so big.

“Hey Mike, how are you doing?” Instructor Falaise asked as she put away some papers into a space under the desk.

“I’m well. How are you?” I returned the courtesy.

“Doing good, doing good.” She said with a smile. “May I have your crystal, please?” The sea elf held out a tiny, webbed hand. I put my green crystal into it.

For the fourth time I watched the tiny three dimensional me venture through the caverns. “It looks like you have a pretty good general handle on using the spells you have now. It makes me laugh every time I see you do that underhanded toss on Snowball though.” She grinned, showing those elven rabbit teeth. Her ears were upright, the way elves in the stories had theirs. As she focused on the image her ears fell forward. It was incredibly adorable, but I couldn’t really say that to an instructor without risking Bidlack’s shiny boots being inserted somewhere they aren’t meant to go.

“Considering your available spells, I think you’re using them well.” The instructor nodded. “Do you have any questions about them? Any way I can help?”

I thought for a moment. “If there’s something I don’t know, then I don’t realize I don’t know it. If that makes sense.”

She nodded solemnly. “It does. Okay then, let’s work on your eventual tower. What are your thoughts about your progression going forward?”

“Other instructors have asked about this, too.” I shrugged. “I know I don’t want solar. In the game I’d play the battle mage, but I think, this being real life, I want more versatility out of my magic.”

“Solars can be versatile. Everyone gets Conjuration, Divination and Shifting. There are huge amounts of utility magic in those three schools.” She leaned forward on the desk, leaning her chin into her hand.

“Yeah, but it isn’t anything compared to Animation or Illusion.” I told her.

“True, true. Evocation has some good utility spells but that isn’t what it’s known for and most casters will choose a Fireball over a Mage Hand any day of the week.” The instructor nodded. “What do you want from your magic? That’s the essential question.”

“Yeah, I’ve been thinking about that a lot. I like the summoning. That’s cool and useful. It also keeps me out of harm’s way.” I said. “The thing is, everyone gets those spells. So it doesn’t help me.” I pursed my lips.

“So I’ve been thinking about the kind of magic I want. It basically comes down to Illusion and Enchantment versus Animation, Necromancy and Vitality, right?” I ran my hand through my hair and sighed.

“Don’t forget the elemental spells.” Falaise told me.

“The Ember Tower gets to choose any element, doesn’t it? So I could get earth with either or water with either, for example. There’s also the possibility of Air or Fire.” I balled my fists in frustration.

“Okay, so the choice is between Enchantment and Illusion versus Animation, Necromancy and Vitality.” Falaise nodded. “Let’s go through them one by one.”

I nodded, leaning forward in my chair that creaked alarmingly. “Sounds good. Enchantment would be great because I’d love to make magic weapons. The mind control stuff doesn’t sound as appealing.”

Her eyes shot up to her forehead. “That isn’t how magical weapons are made.” The instructor turned to the side and rustled around in a basket for a moment. She drew a cutlass, sized for a sea elf, and placed it on the turtle shell desk. “I crafted this myself, not the actual sword but put the runes on it.”

“May I see it?” I asked, reaching out for the weapon. She put it into my hand. It was a long knife for me and weighted wrong, but its quality was clear. Drawing it out of its sharkskin leather sheath, I could see the razor’s edge and small runes carved down the center of each side of the blade. “You did this? Its excellent work.”

The instructor smiled. “Thanks. I’m quite proud of it. The rune work took me a while to carve. The biggest thing was gathering the materials. I did all that myself.”

“What kind of materials did it require?” I asked. She held out a hand and I gave her back the sword.

She stood, drawing the sword. “The skin of the sheath comes from a dire shark in the far northern sea. The teeth on the bottom of the blade come from that same shark. I retrieved the pearls of the crossguard from the bottom of the deep ocean near a joining of ley lines that created a portal to the dimension of water. So the oysters fed on pure elemental water before it was corrupted by contact with our universe. The shells on the crossguard are from those same oysters.”

The elf held up the sword and was suddenly clad in plate mail made from oyster shell. “This is mage armor, so it doesn’t mess up my casting of mage spells.” She made a gesture and the blade became coated in ice. “The ice hits an enemy, slowing them down. Each time it hits them, it slows them more, making me more and more escapable. With the inherent speed advantage that comes with being a small race, it makes a difference.” She made another gesture and the shark’s teeth on the bottom of the blade near the crossguard multiplied and starting whirling around the edge of the blade like a chainsaw. “This also makes any cut much worse.”

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“I want that!” I stood, pacing back and forth in the little office. “I mean, you know, not that specific sword. I want to be able to create weapons or armor. Maybe even golems! Do they exist here?” She nodded they do. “If I’m going to be trapped in a fantasy world, I want to shake it up.”

I snorted a laugh, “While personally avoiding danger. That may sound cowardly, but I’ve been in a war. I don’t want to do it again. So if y’all are going to force to me to do this I’d like to be in a support role.”

“Okay, I think we’re getting some clarity. What do you think of illusions? Being invisible, going for the big strike? Deceiving the enemy.” Falaise asked.

“I just don’t know if I’m that creative.” I shrugged.

“Well then, it sounds like you’ve made your choice. Ember it is.” The instructor announced.

“Huh, that sounds right.” I mentally rolled it around. Mike the Ember Mage. Doesn’t sound like a great hero of legend, but we can always work on that.

“Read up on the Ember tower. There will be more decisions to make, but those are all for later. If that’s all…” She looked up at me, smiling.

“I do have a few more questions, if you don’t mind.” I told her.

“That’s what I’m here for. Ask away.” She motioned with her right hand.

“This is kind of off topic, but something Instructor Goldo said has me really curious.” My hands worked on each other, fidgeting to cover nervousness. “He mentioned Drill Sergeant Bidlack was from our world. Is that true?”

She leaned back in her chair, smile disappearing. “Is that really what you should concentrate on right now?”

“I’m just really curious. He came on so strong that it surprised me he’s from my world.” I told her.

“He’s from a different generation, for sure.” The sea elf said with pursed lips.

“Oh I don’t know, I’m pretty old back home. Retired, nieces and nephews have kids of their own.” I turned a little wistful at that. Not that I’d seen any of them for months, but I missed those kids all the same.

“Nothing like him. He’s a veteran of your second world war, Korea and Vietnam. Quite the hero from what I understand. We got him and the others in his class from a retirement village where they were just waiting to die.” She said, looking down at her hands.

“Is he the only one left from his class?” I asked.

“No, there are three.” She said quietly. “Enough of this.” She looked up at me. “Do you have any questions about what we discussed, or magic questions in general I can help with?”

I thought for a minute. Shaking my head, “No, not that spring to mind.”

“Okay, good session. We’ll have another once you’ve earned that next priority point.” She shooed me out of the room.

Walking back out into the hall, I saw the halnaak, Deniz, sitting on one of the benches. Her head was hanging low, so I went and sat down by her.

“Hey Deniz, how’s it going?” I reached out a fist for a bump. She returned the gesture in a desultory manner.

“Okay, I guess.” She shook her little reptilian head. Halnaak looked a lot like velociraptors, just not as dangerous. They were small and somewhat birdlike, with color shifting scales. “Meeting with the instructors sucked. I was wanting a stealth damage dealer build, ya know?”

“Yeah, that’s what you had back in the guild.” I nodded.

“Right, and I enjoyed it. They’re all saying I took the wrong race. These little hands aren’t suited to a damage dealer.” She held her three fingered, clawed hands up in front of her face. The woman was quiet for a moment, flexing her claws.

“A lot of stuff came up then. I just…” She shook her head again. “I want to go home.”

There was a long pause. “Yeah, I know. I miss everyone back in our world too.” In truth, I’d been terribly lonely but this wasn’t the time for confession.

“I mean, I eat bugs. Gross, right?” She looked up at him. Her eyes a startling shade of blue, though the irises were slitted.

“I miss my family. Do you know why my gamertag is Deniz instead of Denice? My little brother spelled it Deniz and I thought it was cute. He’s supposed to be starting school this year.” She leaned her head on my shoulder. “We live in Brooklyn outside the school bus routes. He’s gonna get a Metrocard. I’m supposed to ride with him. A little guy like that can’t navigate the train on his own.”

She wrapped her thin, scaly arms around me and started sobbing. I turned and gave her a hug, just letting her cry it out. There wasn’t anything I could say, so I just sat there on the bench in the hallway with a lizard sobbing her eyes out.

A few members of the platoon walked by. Elyse eventually came out of her meeting and just sat down, giving both of us a hug and wrapping her serpentine neck most of the way around Deniz. She hissed a surprisingly soothing, “There, there. It’ll be okay. We’ll get through this together.”

Together. That’s the word. The trainees, all we have is each other. We need to cling hard. I tightened my grip on the lizardwoman, determined not to let go until she needed me to.

A mist came over my gemstone eyes. I didn’t know that dwarves could cry. I guess we’re a touch human after all.