Five years ago,
Margarette looked up the bright, white ceiling above her, imagining the hundreds of floors which sprawled into the sky. Although, she now worked for a fifth-ranked mage and lived on the 202nd floor. She still couldn’t imagine living in anything but the 17th floor. After all, that's where she had lived most of her life.
One of her friends spotted Margarette standing on the teleportation portal, a black ceramic tile hidden in the corner of the room. “Are you being called up?” she asked.
With a crooked smile, she nodded; she was nervous. Although it’d been two years since she started working for the mage, she’d only met her thrice. Twice during the selection process, and the third time when she announced that she’d been selected.
Her friend came closer and tapped her shoulder. “It should be fine, the mage is young and a prodigy, but prodigies are always left to squander by the old guard. After all, they're afraid of losing their position, so don’t worry too much.” She hugged her shoulders. “It shouldn’t be that big of a mission, relax.”
Margarette pushed her friend away, not only was she too clingy, but now also on the tile. “Careful, what if the portal brings you with me.”
“Ahh! You’re too nervous.” She squeezed Margarette tighter and ran away before getting shoved back.
Frowning, Margarette stared at the girl, making sure she didn’t try anything else. “If you want to play games with your life, do so alone, I just want a comfortable one. I’m sure there are more than enough kids on the lower floors that wouldn’t mind your position.”
“Sure thing, but none are as beautiful as me! Now good luck.” She smiled and waved her away as the portal shone green thrice and teleported Margarette away.
#
Seeing the platform shine, Margarette turned around and got ready to greet the mage.
After the third flash, her vision went black, butterflies fluttered in her stomach, and she got lightheaded. Thankfully, something pulled at her feet before she vomited, and light returned to the world. She immediately got on one knee, looked down at the polished red oak flooring, and said, “Your mage assistant Margarette answers your summons.” She waited for the mage’s words.
It came after a lengthy pause. “You may look up.”
Margarette did as told, setting her eyes on the mage. The intermediate rank II, Julia Triest, was not only a mage belonging to a family, but one of the youngest to reach her rank. She had short black hair, nearly pitch-black eyes, and tall … to say the least, standing at about one hundred and ninety centimeters.
When accounting for her exploits, it made for quite the domineering figure.
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Julia continued to stare into Margarette’s eyes, before letting them wander around. “Do you know how to use your eyes and tongue?” she asked.
Margarette slightly confused, but too afraid to ask what she meant by this, answered with a yes. She could always do the understanding later.
“Good,” she turned around and walked over to her window, pressing her hands on the glass film, a cool breeze entered the room.
From where Margarette kneeled, she could only see the radiant blue sky and bright white of rolling clouds. On the other hand, the mage stared down, looking at what she could only imagine as a most beautiful sight, one she’d never see from so high up. After all, the job of mage assistants was to look up, the job of mages was to look down.
“You remember the War with the Central Tower?” asked Julia.
“Yes!” she answered, almost beginning to recite her history lessons as if in class.
“It was fought over…” the mage begun to say.
Seeing as the mage gave her the go ahead, she continued, “Over the Grenold crystals found on the Grival Island and its surrounding islets.”
“Yes, and because of that we lost a great amount of power. And by we, I mean us nobles.
Not only was the mage who discovered the crystals a commoner, but we nobles had to do the brunt of the fighting against the Central Tower.
Now the commoners hold a good grasp over the production of the crystals. Thankfully, we’ve managed to restore some of our strength, but this wasn’t done without letting a few slip past the cracks left by the war. We will never mend the structure while having such intruders in the top brass.”
Margarette didn’t speak, didn’t nod, didn’t do anything. She let the mage continue her monologue, but that wasn’t to say she was calm; she sweated profusely. The longer a mage spoke of ideals, of the past, of the future, the more dangerous the mission would be.
“For your first mission….” Julia stared at Margarette, her black eyes pierced into her soul, and investigated the deepest recesses of her mind. “I need you to spy.
The Grenoldines have discovered a new deposit of Grenold crystals near Bregva, a port city on Grival's southern tip. They’re planning on opening a new mine there and might send a fifth-ranked mage to lead its development. Due to some reasons, we can only send one assistant to work as a guarantor that the Tower isn’t being swindled out of its shares.
The others have refused to take on the mission, afraid that they would lose their assistant, but I’m willing to take the bet. To bet on you, to bet that you have what it takes.” Julia walked up to Margarette and raised her chin, looking her over. “I definitely chose right; few are as pretty as you, and your scores weren’t bad.” She let go of her. “You don’t have to seduce him, just be pretty and useful enough that he doesn’t suspect too much. The commoners are dense and short-sighted, after all. Here.” Julia pulled out a black rectangle from the inside pocket of her coat. “This is a spell activator. All you must do is twist the top half one full rotation, and it will record everything you hear. Twist it back and it will stop. You can record up to one hour of content, but after that it will start to overwrite what was said before, so be careful.”
Margarette looked at the hand-sized device with great interest. This was one of the latest magical devices made possible with the Grenold crystals. It could nearly rival the ancient artifacts found in dungeons. This was what made the Northern Tower so formidable, and capable of fighting back the Central Tower, and holding back the East, South, and Western Towers' coalition. This could only mean one thing, and the mage confirmed it.
“This is a life-or-death mission. Either you never collect enough information to deal a blow to the Grenoldines or you come back with enough evidence to have the mines confiscated. Do I make myself clear!”
Margarette looked down and softly replied, “abundantly so.” Although difficult, and perhaps impossible, she didn’t have a choice. But if she did succeed in this task, her mage would gain power and prestige, ultimately benefiting her.
“Good, now go.”
The black tile on which she kneeled flashed thrice, and the next thing she knew, the world turned black.