I was going to ask the ghostly apparition what exactly masteries were but then it seemed altogether obvious. Everyone knew that awakened had access to great powers; even before entering the tower I had seen evidence of such things while growing up, from transformed Beast Kin flying over the land to Warriors leaping the length of Misfell in a single jump. And now I was going to pick the first of these to receive.

The Acolyte who had greeted me after the sword curtain had been correct: this would be a greater gift than the mantle.

“What choices do I have?” I asked.

The glowing red figure held up three fingers. “Those of the Warrior’s Order may select from Defensive Masteries, Offensive Masteries, or Armament Masteries.”

Armament immediately made me think of the elder with their floating sword and two shields. “What mastery may I learn for Armament?”

“At the level of Neophyte, your only choice is The Bond, which will allow you to forge a connection with an item of weaponry or armor, deeper than any other order can hope to achieve. And if you continue to pursue the Armament tree, other options will become available to you as you advance.”

I was certainly intrigued by the prospect. I had grown up on tales of The Sun Spear, which would not only return to the bearer's hand after thrown, but, when airborne, would heat to such a degree, it could melt through nearly anything. The Conquerer’s Crown, which was said to strip the bearer of all fear and let them ignore even grievous wounds until their adversary was defeated. The Ethereal Cloak, which could make the bearer insubstantial for a short period of time, letting them slip through enemy attacks and traverse the land as quickly as the wind. And The Living Armor, perhaps my favorite, which continually reshaped itself to fit the wearer’s needs. Not all of those had been borne by Warriors, but the idea of bonding with artifacts like those and potentially having greater control over their magical attributes was a heady thought.

Even so, I didn’t wish to make a decision until I had more information. I knew that many of my brothers and sisters would leap at the opportunity for greater offense, and perhaps I should too. However, out of the many fights and sparring matches I had lost over the years, I rarely wished that my strikes had more power but instead that I had been able to stay on my feet longer. I truly believed that with enough time and understanding, I could defeat any opponent. Perhaps my new Warrior’s Mantle would allow for such a thing, but if all my fellow Warrior’s had the same, and if some chose Offensive Masteries, I doubted my circumstances would be any better than before.

Thus, I decided I was going to ask about Defensive Masteries when I saw Gimit approaching my position with the red-headed drummer who had collected him. No need to make the spirit repeat themselves, so I waited a moment, saying to Gimit when he neared, “We’re choosing masteries.”

A call of, “The third!” echoed through the room, and right after, “The fourth!” I looked past Gimit just long enough to see that neither was Tamra or Aldric. Beyond that, I didn’t give them more thought for now. The pair would clearly be joining us at this spot in the hall soon enough, and I had an important decision to make.

“Can you tell us about Defensive Masteries?” I asked, turning back to the being of light.

“Certainly,” it responded, “and welcome to our newest recruit,” it added, nodding toward Gimit.

“Uh, greetings,” Gimit said, clearly surprised to be speaking with someone who wasn’t entirely there.

“The Defensive Masteries at the stage of Neophyte are Toughened Skin or Greater Constitution.”

“I thought our Warrior’s Mantle already provided us such things?” I asked, following my previous line of thought.

“It does,” the spirit confirmed. “And as you ascend through the ranks, the benefits your mantle provides will only increase in effectiveness. However, the power of a mantle is not nearly as focused as a mastery. With your mantle, you can heal faster and practice longer, yes, but with Toughened Skin, your flesh will be impossible to cut with a dulled weapon and would resist even a sharpened blade, unless purposeful force was behind it.”

Purposeful force and blades made me think of our final test to get into this very room. “So, the swords at the entrance to the Warrior’s Hall wouldn’t be able to hurt us if we chose that mastery?”

“Correct,” the spirit confirmed.

“What about Greater Constitution?” Gimit asked.

“Though you haven’t had the opportunity to yet try, you’ll find that with your mantle you’ll take longer to tire than ever before in your life. However, with this mastery, you could train for twice as long before needing to rest, or fight to your fullest extent for a few hours instead of the mere minutes you’ve likely managed before when pushing yourself to your limit.”

That was tempting. The longer I could train, the more I could learn.

“Also,” the spirit said, nodding again to include our two new arrivals, “each mastery is not something you invest in once and then never revisit. As you gain ranks, if you wish, you can continue to pursue previously acquired masteries instead of new ones.”

“Why would we do that?” Emsi said. She was a short girl who had been in the third group to approach the mirror pool, and the tone of her question made it clear she thought she was behind and needed time to catch up.

“Because,” the spirit said, “while having skin that is difficult to pierce with a sharpened blade is useful, what of flesh that is impervious to regular blades, or even magical weapons? Imagine the strength of the blows you could land if you did not need to fear retaliation while doing so.”

There were some excited murmurs from us about that, probably in part because we had all experienced the pain of death on the way here at least once.

“Or consider what you could accomplish if your constitution was so great that you never needed to sleep? Imagine being able to subsist on anything: dirt, rocks, or stone. Becoming lost in the upper floors of the Tower on your way to the Everwar would not have the same fear for you, because you could survive it.”

“Can’t I just have them all?” Koffer asked behind me. We were around the same size, but even with all the exercise we did in the Crim, he managed to sport a bit of a belly. His question was a good one though. Why bother picking when clearly every mastery had a use?

The spirit smiled, as if it had been expecting this question at some point. “You all know what would happen if you tried to pour a jug’s worth of water into a single cup: it overflows. You are the same. Even a single mastery bestowed from the Tower onto you will push your current bodies to their limits, and so more can only be gained as you grow in power. In addition, masteries are your opportunity to choose what type of Warrior to become, to shape yourself, like a weapon being carefully hammered at the anvil. Steel cannot be both sharp and blunt, thin yet dense, but all hold the same purpose. Your time in the Tower will be your chance to forge yourselves, becoming the perfect Warrior you and only you were meant to be.”

“Can we change a mastery once it is picked?” I asked. If so, I could experiment with one and if it wasn’t to my liking, switch it for another.

The glowing red face shook its head, the light it emanated creating an afterimage as it swung side-to-side. “Melting a blade down to reforge it may work for steel and other metals, but the same deconstruction would destroy your bodies. Once you have chosen a mastery, it will be engraved into your soul and cannot be removed.”

I brought a hand to my chin to ponder that last revelation while my brothers and sisters asked more questions of their own. Others had arrived, swelling our ranks to seven, and it was only a matter of time until the Offensive Masteries were discussed. They were Greater Strength, which was no great shock, and Crystal Knuckles, which everyone seemed intrigued by. Apparently, with the second we could form sharpened growths on our fists that would shatter upon impact. With increased investment, they could become longer and more durable, or even bone if the mastery for Hardened Bones was chosen as well – though that mastery could only be accessed if you had at least one mastery in defensive traits already. This set off a whole other series of questions as people asked about later level masteries and which types had the potential to work in tandem.

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I did my best to shut out this part of the conversation, as I knew that too much information would only muddy my thinking, not clarify it. When first learning to punch, one did not worry about how their opponent might counterattack, but instead simply how to perform the strike. I was sure that in a few months from now, if not just a few days, I would understand much more about what I would need to do to succeed in the Tower. For now, if they were offering us a chance to choose, it meant that there was likely no wrong choice, and so all I must do was pick the one that called to me.

As I expected, Offensive Masteries spoke to many of my brothers and sisters, and they soon began to request them. When they did, the spirit would beckon them close and lay a red hand upon their chest. Gimit was the first to go, asking for Greater Strength. After being touched, he immediately squatted down, trying to pull one of the large flagstones of the floor up by its edges, but the apparition forestalled him.

“I have only created a connection between you and the Tower, one attuned to your choice of mastery. It will take time for the ability to manifest in you.”

“I have to wait?” Gimit said, sounding frustrated as he stood back up. Others among us made similar disappointed noises, and though I did not join in, I was equally crestfallen to not be able to try the mastery I selected right away.

“Not long,” the spirit assured us. “When you wake tomorrow morning, the process will have been completed.”

That brought our good cheer swelling back, as there was still much to look at and do in the hall, from meeting the older boys and girls we shared the space with properly to exploring. Not to mention, at this point, the morning couldn’t be that far away.

Others followed Gimit’s lead, two more choosing strength, while I continued to think on my choices. It wasn’t that I was overly concerned about my decision anymore, just that I wanted to pick something right for me, as the spirit had said. I was still most interested in Armament and Defense. However, in the Crim, they had trained us first in unarmed combat and then armed, and though I hadn’t admitted it to him, Maphen’s jest about my straightforwardness did hold some truth: I preferred doing things in order.

So, I would wait on The Bond for now and choose between Toughened Skin or Greater Constitution.

It was then that Tamra finally arrived, Aldric dogging at her heels.

“I thought I had lost you to another Hall,” I said when they were close enough to hear me over the chanting and drum beats.

Tamra looked miffed, one hand aggressively twirling her hair, and it was Aldric who spoke first. “This one got into a spat with Celeste about which order to choose.”

“She had the same options?” I said, not bothering to mask my disbelief. Celeste was tenacious and deadly to be sure but far from a great fighter. I could perhaps see her as a Beast Kin, but a Warrior? Of course, it was the Elders who knew best, not me.

“Hardly,” Tamra scoffed, letting her hair go. “The minx says to me, ‘See you soon, even if you won’t be seeing me.’ She couldn’t have said Assassin more plainly if she tried. So, I told her that if she tried that nonsense around me or mine, she’d get a broken foot for her trouble and then we’d see how sneaky she could be when hopping around on one leg.”

“She didn’t take well to that, as you can guess,” Aldric commented. “Saying that if Warriors could lift weights with their ears, they would, but would never try to hear better from them.”

“Ran away after that,” Tamra said, “like she always does. But I got to thinking, if I’m a kin to the right kind of beast, I could hear her coming, or smell her at least, and then I’d be stalking her while she’s none the wiser.” Tamra smiled in a feral way, which made it clear to anyone looking why the Elders had offered her the choice of beast-kin to begin with.

“So,” I asked, “what changed your mind?”

“Me, of course,” Aldric said, puffing up his chest self-importantly.

Tamra rolled her eyes away from him. “I took pity on the lout.” She looked at me next. “And you.”

I nodded. “Either way, it’s good to have you here.” Then I hugged the two of them and they both returned the embrace with almost bone breaking force – the mantle really had made us stronger already.

With greetings out of the way, I explained who the being of light was and what it was bestowing upon us. When I was done, Aldric looked at me incredulously.

“You’re still choosing? Weren’t you the first one here?”

“You know our, Sett,” Tamra said, giving me a smirk smothered in sass but with enough fondness I didn’t mind. “He likes to take his time with these things.”

That comment was what decided me. Greater Constitution would let me work longer, but the Warrior spirit hadn’t said anything about it increasing durability, so it wouldn’t help me stay toe-to-toe against my opponent any longer than I already could.

“I’ve just come to a decision, actually,” I told them.

“Now he has,” Aldric said. “Just wants us to have to wait after him is all.”

“Obviously,” I said with a smile of my own for the pair.

Leaving them with their own choices, I covered the short distance back to the spirit. I had stepped away from it to speak with my close brother and sister, so I didn’t know what most of those before us had chosen. The red being currently had it’s hand on tall Shanel, who would surely grow to be a giant if the Acolytes in the hall were any indication. She thanked it in her high voice and then it was my turn.

“You have returned,” it said by way of greeting.

“I have. Thank you for waiting.”

“Until the day the Tower falls, I have all the time in the world,” it responded, managing to sound both perfectly at ease and extremely ominous.

“Yes, well, before we begin, I was hoping to know your name.” What this living memory was about to give me would be the most important gift of my life so far and so would require great thanks, which I could not do properly without knowing its name.

“Of course,” it said. “Some others asked it while you were speaking with your fellows. As I explained, I am a collection of many, many individuals, so I do not have a single name as you have in life. However, if you feel the need to address me in such a way, you may call me Boast.”

“Boast?" I said. It was not the name I had expected, and the Warrior of light seemed to know this all too well, smiling down at me.

“Due to our unique nature, long ago the hall remembrances decided that we should name each other instead of choosing for ourselves. Boast is what the other six settled on for me, and I cannot argue that I spent many of my lives doing just that.”

“I…see,” I said. I was still getting used to the idea of there being one collection of living memories in the Tower, so to hear that each hall had their own such spirit and that they conversed with each other was easily enough to pull my thinking off track. A not so gentle kick to my calf brought me back in a hurry.

“I thought you said you had decided,” Tamra said behind me.

“Sorry,” I said, to her and Boast. “I would like Toughened Skin, please.”

Tamra snorted, maybe thinking I had picked it on a whim because of her kick, but the spirit looked solemn when it placed a hand upon my chest. I expected to feel something, perhaps heat because the spirit glowed red and had come from a fire, or some sort of tingling, but no such sensation followed upon my skin. Inside, however, I thought, maybe, there was something. It was as if my chest expanded, not from air, but a force suddenly within me, and for the briefest moment I felt connected to the walls around me, the floor, the ceiling, as if the very stonework was a part of me. The moment was gone a bare second after I thought it was happening, leaving me wondering if it had occurred at all.

Boast lowered its hand, indicating that the choosing was done, and I stepped away, so that those behind me could proceed.

Tamra picked The Bond from the Armament Mastery, as Aldric and I could have easily guessed; she had stuck with the Warrior order for a chance to wield a greatsword as much as she had for the two of us. Aldric chose Crystal Knuckles of all things, which both of us told him he had to show us in the morning, and he smugly agreed.

All in all, there ended up being thirteen new members to the Warriors Order, only one shy of an auspicious number, and with our masteries chosen, Boast stepped back into the wall of fire. The older members of the hall were already speaking to those who had picked quickly, but with the spirit gone, they swarmed around the rest of us, their wide and tall frames dwarfing everyone but for Gimit and Shanel, both of whom looked uncomfortable to not be the tallest in the room.

The Acolytes brought us onto the dance floor, even when some of us asked about food, and once we were all there, threw their heads back shouted, “Awwwoooot!” The sound reverberated through the circular hall, and we all froze in surprise.

Then, another boy leapt down from the railing above, landing in front of us. The leap, though from at least five meters up, appeared effortless, and when he stood, it was clear that he was the tallest one present by a clear margin. His hair and eyes were bright red like many others, but they, and the rest of his body, shone, as if lit by a soft, internal light.

“I am Aphos, Head of the Warrior’s Hall,” he said in a deep, resonant voice I was sure could carry across a battlefield. “Tomorrow, you will enter The Melee and get to try your new masteries against each other and the Neophytes of the other orders. I –” he said, drawing the word out with a smile, revealing that even his teeth glowed.

“Oh, I like him,” Tamra murmured, which earned her a put upon sigh from Aldric.

“– will rank you afterward.” Aphos gestured up and behind us, and we all turned to see a series of forty or so nearly identical swords displayed horizontally, one atop the next, above the entrance to the hall. Those at the bottom were made of wood, but those higher up were steel and engraved with names: Ispin, Dolhov, Sparden, and so on. And at that very top, near the ceiling and the hanging demon bodies, there was a single golden sword. It was too far away for me to read properly, but I was sure it must say the name Aphos.

I turned back to look at our Head of Hall. Strong, sure of himself, and a champion among his fellow Warriors. He was clearly everything we hoped to someday be. A Devout.

“Your ranking in this hall will determine much,” he said in that strong voice, “from which alcove is yours, to what you eat, to when you train. But for tonight, such things won’t matter.” His grin widened, and his red eyes flashed. “Tonight, we revel.”