The show wasn’t over when Sibel left. Soral ended up giving treats to everyone in the crowd and things escalated to the point of becoming some sort of party or festival centered around the hero who would free Althaedor from Belleas’s tight grasp. At some point the others got involved in the chaos. Soral did manage to confirm with Ruena that her contract with Belleas was still valid, but magic batteries were the only thing she ever intended to sell through them.

Once everything ended, Soral was back to his boredom from before. Everyone else was still busy. Even Jazz was up to something or other. Soral didn’t want to impose on Mr. Mischief or Dehd Lee’s work, besides he couldn’t risk going there. His shops were doing so well there was little he could do to help.

There might be one thing. Soral wasn’t the biggest fan of reading, but Densooth’s tower supposedly held endless knowledge. It might have something that Soral needed. At the very least it should be fine to take a little peek. Densooth was rarely around much, and the phoenix took his side last time.

With slightly unfounded confidence and no real idea what he was looking for, Soral headed for the tower. There was no need to be sneaky because no one but Zarius would be there. First, Soral searched for an entrance at the base of the tower. He didn’t want to climb up the spiral staircase only to have to go down a staircase on the inside.

Soral looped the base a few times with no sign of a single crack, much less an opening. The only entrance in sight was the base of the spiral stairs. Looked like it was time to climb… or he could cheat just a little bit. Soral imagined himself at the top of the stairs, and he was there in an instant. He let a little smirk out. So easy!

Just before he stepped through the doors he heard Zarius’s voice in his mind. ‘Halt. If you enter the tower seeking knowledge, you will pay the price. Even you will be no exception to this rule.’

A price? What kind of price? Soral hesitated for a moment before shrugging it off. If the price was proportional to the knowledge he gained it would probably be no big deal. He wasn’t really expecting much. With that in mind, Soral ignored Zarius’s warning and stepped through the door.

Almost as soon as he stepped inside, Soral felt a sharp pain in his mind and an imbalance in his magic. Something was wrong. Was this the price? But he hadn’t learned anything yet. That is when he started to hear the voices. Voices he shouldn’t hear unless he specifically sought them out.

‘The tower seems to have taken offense and punished you with unwanted knowledge,’ Zarius told him. Unbidden, Soral heard the thoughts the phoenix had not meant to transmit. ‘It is good that one can only be punished by the tower once, but this price for mere curiosity is too steep.’

Alongside the phoenix, Soral heard other thoughts. Murmurs and whispers in the distance like a constant, incomprehensible buzz. Amongst the murmurs he could make out small phrases of people he knew well despite the distance, and seemed especially sensitive to mentions of him and his name. It was all a bit overwhelming.

Soral stood in the doorway, dazed for a few moments, before he decided that if he paid the price anyway he might as well make it worth his while. He struggled to push down the noise in his head and pushed past the first room to see what lay beyond. As he did, he heard a new voice much closer than the others.

‘Footsteps. Is he back again? Something is better than the endless silence.’

Endless silence? Soral had to agree that also sounded awful. He tried to follow the voice to its source. It sounded feminine and young. Maybe the same age as him. Maybe he could help whoever it was. Were they a prisoner here? Soral had not expected Densooth to keep prisoners in his tower.

This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road. If you spot it on Amazon, please report it.

‘They’re coming closer. Did he notice me? Will he finally let me free of my prison? Please! Help me!... It’s no use. No one can hear me.’

Soral was almost at the source of the voice now, but all he saw were endless shelves of scrolls, books, and bound parchment. Endless knowledge indeed. Still, Soral couldn’t help but feel he was given this price by the tower for a reason. What if he needed to save this girl? But where was she?

He began to poke through the various shelves, looking for any sign of some secret opening. Maybe she would know. Should he ask her? Could he ask her? Then again, if she was imprisoned she probably didn’t know.

‘Is it not that man? He isn’t opening the passage.’

She did know! There was a passage and Soral was close. Instead of talking directly to her mind, he decided to talk out loud. It was clear she could hear him. “Where did that passage go?” he asked. He hoped his acting wasn’t too terrible. He knew he sounded nothing like Densooth.

‘A new voice? Has the tower been passed on to another? Will he set me free? But the passage is hidden at the base of the centerpost. The tower owner would know that.’

Densooth definitely would, and so would Zarius. Soral decided not to question how she knew, and followed her directions. The centerpost was easy to find, and it was certainly thick enough to hide some kind of secret entrance. If it was at the base, did that mean she was still hidden below him.

Unwilling to waste time feeling about with his hands when it might not even work, Soral felt about with magic instead. As he closed his eyes to concentrate, the voices in his head seemed to grow louder. Was that Ruena wondering where he went? No, he needed to focus. Someone was in trouble here and he was a hero.

He pressed a spot with his magic and he heard a click and a woosh. He opened his eyes to see the entrance to yet another stairwell. At the bottom of these stairs the tower had a completely different feel to it. A darker feel. The stone walls were a darker color, and the torches not as bright. It was certainly a place not meant to be seen.

‘He made it! Please, look! I’m right here.’ Her voice had begun to sound desperate and the slightest bit hopeful.

Soral quickly looked around the room to try to spot a potential prison. Lining the walls of the circular space were what appeared to be crystal coffins. The coffins weren’t quite coffin shaped but Soral wasn’t sure what else to call them. They felt strongly of magic, and he could see one or two of them had someone inside. Someone still alive, though they appeared to be sleeping.

Perhaps rather than a coffin it was more of a pod? It was rounded and seamless. A perfectly fitting prison with no door or opening. There was only one girl among those who slept in the pods, and her sleep certainly seemed less restful. How was he supposed to break her out of that?

‘It’s gone silent. What is happening? Did he leave? Please don’t leave me here.’

Now her voice was filled with despair and the tears she could not cry. He had to do something. Anything. If there was no opening, maybe he could just make it disappear. Soral reached out his hand and touched the strange pod, wishing he had some way to save her. He had no real plan so he let his magic take control.

He felt a sound like shattering and the top of the pod vanished, becoming more of a table or bed that she rested inside of. The girl sucked in a deep breath and slowly opened her eyes. He did it!

Magic suddenly slammed Soral into the far wall as Densooth appeared in the room. “Do you have any idea what you have done?” he hissed.

“I rescued your prisoner when she called for help,” Soral shot back, unwilling to surrender this time.

Densooth flinched and turned back to the girl resting on the now crystal table. He placed a hand over her eyes, closing them, as the pod rebuilt itself around her. Soral wasn’t sure if he should be relieved or scared that he could no longer hear her voice.

“You can tell no one of what you saw here. Leave,” Densooth ordered. He seemed truly furious this time, and Soral could barely make out his series of jumbled and frantic thoughts. What he did make out was that Densooth felt guilty about some kind of mistake, and that Soral had crossed the line.

“I’m leaving,” Soral promised, quickly backing up.

“You have refused my request, taken pleasure in testing my patience again and again while shamelessly using my influence. Now you have trespassed on the one place I forbid. Did you expect my patience to last forever?” Densooth demanded, “Get out of my castle.”

Soral flinched. He had really messed up. He needed to quickly warn the others. Where could they go? He had a few other places he had built. Mr. Mischief’s castle would be big enough for everyone but it might be too dangerous to house right next to Qilin. He continued thinking as he quickly fled the tower and the castle. He had hoped the murmuring of thoughts would fade once he left, but if anything, it got worse.

‘This is your price for entering the tower,’ Insanity told him, ‘A constant stream of unwanted knowledge.’