Chapter 2 The Law of the Sapphire Tower.
True freedom is impossible.
Once you break through the walls of your prison.
You’ll find yourself in a bigger one.
It’ll allow for more freedom, certainly.
But it’s a prison nonetheless.
Tukado, the Creator.
“Come!” The red-robed woman orders as she motions us to follow her. I stumble forward with the rest of the naked and bloodied group, trying not to look back at the hall of death and madness behind me.
The woman leads us to a long hallway with a row of doors on each side, she gestures at each of us to enter a single door. “If any of you think of hurting my slaves, you’ll lose your tiny little lives.” The red robed woman chuckles at her own words.
There are two skinny bald women in their thirties or forties inside the room I’ve entered, both of them wear sack-like gray gowns. They guide me to enter a small bath. I follow their guidance. It’s a little hard to believe I’m more dangerous than they are, but otherwise that horrible woman wouldn’t warn us not to harm them.
One of the slaves washes my body with soap, getting rid of all the gore and sweat it had accumulated in the last hour of death. While the other massages my tense shoulders with scented oils, and untangles the numerous knots in my long hair.
The water is warm and perfect. I’d normally enjoy this kind of bath, especially after I’ve experienced slavery for the past five springs. But I can’t stop trembling after the mad slaughter I’ve just experienced. Even as a slave I had some semblance of order in my life, I knew my tormentors wouldn’t kill me, I had some value to them. I don’t have such assurances anymore.
I can’t let my guard down, I don’t want to die. I won’t die!!!
I close my eyes and breathe in an attempt to calm down, to enjoy this treatment. I open my eyes with a jolt and observe the slaves who back off in alarm. They won’t drown me, will they?
Stop… This is a warm bath. I haven’t had a good bath or the attention of my housemaids for over five springs. Enjoy this.
No matter how much I try to reason with myself, the tension doesn’t leave my shoulders.
After the bath, they help me into a set of white clean robes. The thin cloth hugs me like a second skin. They then lead me toward a large silver mirror.
I stare at the mirror astonished. Silver mirrors are a rare luxury that only the high nobility can afford. The thought that each of these rooms has a large silver mirror just emphasizes how rich this place is. If I’m correct… these glittering blue walls are made out of sapphire… The floor, ceiling, and walls are all made out of sapphire... of course this place is rich.
I look at the pale woman in the mirror, she is shaken, but the look I see in her gray upturned eyes is stable. I haven’t lost my sanity after all I’ve been through, and I know I am going to survive this. I have to.
The women in gray tie my auburn hair in a high ponytail, revealing the pointy end of my mostly round ears.
My father claimed that my mother was a high elf, but my stepmother said that she was only a half-elf. I can barely remember my mother, I was five when she left. I do remember her using magic once, and it appears that I’ve inherited her talents. I’ve always dreamed of being able to do magic, I used to read stories of the great fire sorceress Effrat and imagine I have similar powers. But until today that was it, just dreams.
Along with magical talent, my elven heritage also causes me to grow slower than the average human. I may have experienced twenty-six springs, but I look as if I only have eighteen blooms behind me at best. Five springs ago when I got taken by the soldiers, I looked like a human of fifteen blooms. My human half-siblings, who grew faster than I, wouldn’t stop pestering me about it.
I untie my hair and let it fall on my shoulders to cover the pointy end of my ears. I don’t need the attention they would bring.
Humans don’t like elves very much, they blame elves for broken marriages and bastards. I have no idea if there’s truth to this claim, I’ve never met an elf other than my mother.
I don’t remember much about her other than the one thing she kept repeating, the one thing she made me promise repeatedly:
I am to never worship a god, any god. No matter how noble their ideals are represented.
I look back in the mirror and take a deep breath. I don’t have a lot of safe time in this room, and I enjoy the small comfort of observing my reflection in an expensive mirror for as long as I can.
After a long moment with my reflection, one of the women grabs my arm and leads me toward the hallway. “What’s your name?” I ask, realizing I haven’t said a word to these two until now.
The woman on my left shakes her bald head, and opens her mouth widely, pointing at it. She doesn’t have a tongue.
“I am sorry…”
She smirks, a sarcastic smirk of pity. ‘You’re not very far away from where I am’ says her expression. As if to emphasize my position, they lead me into a blue crowded hall. Everyone here is wearing the same white robes, all having the same dead look in their eyes, each flanked by a pair of slaves. We are directed toward a group of skinny men wearing slave-gray.
I spot a few one meter tall gnomes with blue, purple, or white hair. I’ve never seen the beardless dwarfs before, only read about them in books. There are also burly tall orcs who stand a head taller than everyone else. There are no signs of elves or half-elves like me, but the place is too crowded to tell for sure.
When it is my turn, I sit on the chair near one of the men. My right sleeve is roughly pulled up, and a needle burns the skin on my wrist. I grit my teeth against the prickling warmth, fighting the numbness and pain. A short minute passes and I’m pulled from the chair to make room for the next poor soul. Looking at my wrist, I see that I’ve been branded with a number. M-0820.
I look around the hall, puzzled by the sheer number of people wearing white in here.
Are they all survivors of a similar death room? How many people died today?! Each ten white-wearing people are ten survivors out of at least a hundred. And there are more than several hundreds of us here! At least several thousand young people had to die today. And for what? What did that horrible woman call it? A weeding session? A weeding for what?
But there is not much I can do. I want to live. I have to live! I have to meet my mother one day! I do my best to ignore this horrifying realization. I keep imagining my father’s gray eyes, I can barely remember his face now, is he still alive?
Picturing my younger siblings is even harder, and they’ve probably grown up in the past five springs. I have to find out whether or not my younger brother and sister survived the raid on our castle.
And most importantly, I have to get stronger, I have to get strong enough to make sure what happened to me won’t happen again! I can only do that if I am alive.
I’m guided onward into another equally spectacular hall, still flanked by the two mute slaves. This hall features rows of polished mahogany benches, some of them are crowded by white-robed people, and others are still empty.
The woman in red stands at the edge of this hall. She holds a book in her slender hand, reading with a tiny grin on her gentle face. She fiddles distractingly with an amulet around her neck, her vermillion painted nails scratch the ruby in the golden metal.
The women in gray leave me on an empty bench and retreat. Slowly, the benches get more populated until the hall is fully packed with young adults wearing the same white robes.
The woman in red waits for the benches to be fully occupied, before she closes her book with a thud and speaks. “Greetings!” She declares when the last white-robed boy sits down. “My name is Andoma Rushmia, you shall address me as Master Rushmia, Milady, or Mistress. From this day forward you’re no longer slaves! From today onward you shall be known as neophytes!” Her scarlet eyes chill me down to my spine when they pass over me.
“Neophytes split into three categories. Those of you who have awakened their magic during the first weeding session are called: Neophyte Evokers. Your robes will be marked by a star on the shoulder.”
“Those of you who have survived by your physical prowess are called: Neophyte Brutes. Your robes will be marked by a fist on the shoulder.”
“Those of you who survived by hiding under a corpse are called: Neophyte Cowards. Your robes will be marked by a feather on the shoulder.”
I wonder if I’m going to get a feather or a star... It sounds like it’ll be hard to survive with a feather on my shoulder...
The woman gives an unpleasant grin when she’s done explaining the new social castes. “I shall now list the rights and benefits all neophytes possess regardless of their status.” She pats lightly on the blue wall behind her. The wall turns transparent, and words appear on it. I am educated enough to know how to read, but her explanation is much clearer.
“Each neophyte shall receive a private room, everything within the room is his or her property! Each neophyte has the right to three meals per day, along with access to all the services the temples provide. Neophytes have to obey the orders of anyone above their rank. In short, unless someone is wearing gray like these slaves.” She gestures at the few slaves left in the room. “You are to obey their orders!”
“Neophytes have the right to receive wages for their work. If someone orders you around, they have to pay you. Neophytes have the right to own property and money. However, a neophyte cannot own slaves. You have the right to purchase books from the local temple of Tukado on your floor, and the right to buy lessons given by the apprentices or the squires.”
She pauses to make sure we understand before moving on. “Finally, the best for last. Neophytes are allowed to kill one another. A neophyte who has committed a murder will pay compensation of one hundred gems to the tower. Failure to do so will result in a whipping, one lash per gem. The best part? A neophyte who committed a murder can take the property of their victim.” She smiles, her pretty face almost hiding the vile meaning behind her words. “So learn how to defend yourselves, my young neophytes. Because the second phase of the weeding process begins now!”
Again, she looks at everyone to make sure what she said was clear.
Oh, it’s clear alright… if I own a hundred of these gems, people can kill me for free. And if I own more than a hundred of these gems, people can kill me and even earn some gems from it… I guess the trick is spending the money instead of hoarding it… or getting stronger somehow. How did I make that orc’s head explode? I need to find out how I did that!
Thinking about it, I can feel the power pulsing in my forehead. I attempt to move it around in my body, to guide it toward my hand, but it escapes my grasp. It’s like trying to grasp at water with my bare hands.
Of course it won’t be that easy! I need to figure out how this works or I won’t survive in this place.
“Any question my dear neophytes?” After a few dumbfounded moments, a few hands rise up. She nods her thin chin to Adir. It’s obvious he’s her favorite.
“Mistress, how long will we have to survive this second weeding phase?”
She giggles. “I knew you were a bright one. Until you advance and become apprentices or squires of course. As for how to become one, I won’t spoil the fun! I’ll let you discover that for yourselves.”
Master Rushmia nods her head to another burly guy who raises his hand. I recognize this black-haired man as the one who hugged the young girl before breaking her neck.
“Was all the killing back there truly necessary?” I can hear the pain in his voice, he truly means it too. Is he dumb or what? Where does he think we're at? The Radiant Church of Noxi?
Master Rushmia frowns. “What’s your name, dear?”
The young man stands up. “Kolag! Kolag of house Befar!”
Her pretty face twists in a sneer. “Your noble origin is meaningless here, Kolag, you’ll address me as Master Rushmia or Mistress, am I clear?”
“Yes, Mistress!” The man shouts the words as a provocation.
The woman’s red lips curl in a smile. “I shall answer your question honestly. All the killing back there was truly necessary. It may not seem that way to you right now, but the Sapphire Tower does not waste resources, and we see to the full use of these lives and deaths. If you survive long enough, you might have a chance to understand some of these uses.”
“Enlighten me then!” The young man crosses his arms over his wide chest.
Her smile disappears in an instant. Now she looks at him as if he’s a particularly interesting piece of mud on her boot. “As you wish, slug!” Her fingers move in an intricate quick set of odd gestures. She points at him with a long vermilion nail. “Numluriss, uriss yue rinum!” Her voice changes, it becomes musical as it reverberates in my ears.
Ivory-colored smoke comes out of her robes, and a small, glittering, sand-colored dot of light circles her wrist and fingers.
The glittering speck of yellowish light darts toward the tall man and circles him. A moment later, the courageous Kolag of house Befar turns into a giant hairy caterpillar. The large worm fumbles on the ground, scaring away the neophytes on the benches around him.
“First enlightenment, children. You’re nothing but worms to us mages. Overstep your boundaries, and we will also turn you into actual worms.”
She flickers her fingers, and Kolag turns back into a human being. “The next time you overstep your boundaries I’ll invoke a permanent change upon you, my dear, am I making myself clear?”
Kolag stands up and remains standing, almost ready for a fight. “Crystal!” His voice packs a load of hatred. People around look at him with awe. He really is stupid... I do like him though... someone should have the courage to say what we all think...
“Good boy! You can hate me if you wish but you will be respectful. Now, to answer your question. The only reason some of you have awakened your powers is because of the life and death situation you were put in. Otherwise, this magical potential would have remained dormant until the day of your death. That’s the first use of the massacre you went through. The rest I’ll let you find on your own. Any more questions?!”
I raise my hand immediately. This doesn’t make any sense.
“Yes?” she gestures at me.
“If life and death situation can awaken our powers, why didn’t my power awaken when my home was raided? Why were those soldiers capable of…” I stop. There is no point in mentioning what they did to me, everything I did to please them just so I could eat, just to survive. If one day I’ll hold the same power this red witch holds, I’ll never have to grovel and please anyone again!
“What’s your name, girl?”
“Marisha.”
“Marisha. Was there any iron in contact with your body when the low lives attacked your home?”
“I was wearing armor.” The guards had put it on me for the sake of protection.
“An armor made from iron I assume? Cast iron? Wrought iron? Maybe even crucible steel? No matter. The touch of iron resists and impairs the formation of mana. Even a full mage like me will have a difficult time casting spells when wearing an armor made of iron, much less a fledgling like you. You’ll learn these things at your paid lessons, dearie. Is there anything else?” And later they bound me in iron chains, it does make sense now… quite careless of you to hand me such a weakness about you, you witch! Just you wait…
“Yes, what are these numbers for?” A purple haired gnome asks. She stands on her bench, raising her wrist without waiting for the red-robed woman to point at her.
Master Rushmia’s smile turns superficial. “What’s your name, dearie?”
“Sina.”
“Sina. I will now explain the numbers, your names won’t matter for many mages in our great tower. Unlike the benevolent me, of course, I remember all of your true names. Memorize your number children, because that’s your official name, and the way the tower shall address you from now on. Now! I’m done with the questions, I’ve done my part. The slaves will show you to your new quarters, welcome to your new lives as neophytes~ rejoice!”
The red robed woman turns to leave, stepping into a doorway that emerges in the translucent blue wall behind her. She leaves behind a list of inhumane rules and laws written on the wall.
Verbal offenses against another neophyte will not be punished. Any intimidation, threats, or extortion is allowed.
The genuine version of this novel can be found on another site. Support the author by reading it there.
Money exchanging hands due to verbal offenses will be considered legally earned.
A neophyte caught stealing gems, or committing a trade fraud, will compensate the victim with a triple of the stolen amount.
A neophyte who hasn’t gotten caught for theft for three days will be allowed to legally keep their gains.
A neophyte who has committed an assault: If the victim did not suffer serious injuries, no punishment shall be received.
If the victim has broken bones, damaged flesh, or a high loss of blood, the offender will pay compensation accordingly.
A neophyte who has committed torture or rape on another neophyte, will compensate the victim with a sum of 50 magical gems.
A neophyte who wishes to sell their body to another in the form of prostitution, will do so for the set sum of 5 magical gems per single intercourse.
The set prices cannot be changed or haggled. If a price has been haggled, the gems will be confiscated by the tower’s guardians. Refusal of payment shall be considered as rape or torture and shall be treated accordingly.
A neophyte who has committed the murder of another neophyte, will pay the tower a sum of 100 magical gems in compensation for the loss of a neophyte. This law includes deaths caused by self-defense or accidental killing.
A neophyte who has committed the act of cannibalism, shall be called upon by the overseer mages for a detailed interrogation.
Possession of iron, glass, or jade by a neophyte is strictly forbidden. If neophytes find themselves in the possession of iron, glass, or jade - they are to dispose of the object immediately, failure to do so will result in a death penalty.
Damaging a book in the Temple of Tukado without purchasing it, will result in the death penalty.
Each gem owed, can be replaced by a whiplash at the back. It’s the neophyte’s right to choose between the payment or the lashes. If the payment is owed to their victim - the tower will compensate the victim for the number of lashes the offender receives.
Punishments shall be carried in the Temple of Amaret.
This shall be the law of the Sapphire Tower!
All acts are allowed!
All acts have consequences!
Each of us is flanked by a pair of middle-aged slaves in gray, they form us in a line and lead each of us to leave the hall in an orderly fashion. After crossing a few blue glittering passages, we arrive at a very long hallway with doors on the left and right.
The slaves lead one person in white to each of the doors. When it is my turn, the woman to my left takes my hand, exposes my right wrist, and presses it against a hand-shaped socket in the middle of the door.
The blue gem-like door clicks and opens inwardly. When I lift my hand, my number M-0820 remains vertically etched in the empty blue socket. “Am I the only one who can open this?” I ask the slaves.
The women nod in response.
This is good news, and it changes the upcoming playing field. If I can sleep without worrying about someone attacking me or stealing my possessions during the night, I have better chances of survival. "How do I lock this again?” I ask them.
The slave woman to my right closes the door and shrugs, then attempts to open it again. I can see that the blue gem door wouldn’t budge.
I smile at her. “Thank you!”
To my surprise the woman smiles and hugs me tightly, she only lets me go when she gets dragged off by her sarcastic friend. This random hug touches my heart in ways I cannot explain.
I open the door to my small room, and a warm tear trickles down my cheek. I’m going to survive. I will survive! I’ll find a way out of here. I’ll find my dad. I’ll find Ariena and Wulf, and we’ll be a happy family once again!
*~*~*
Social status: A dormant neophyte evoker.