“Well, that’s not hard to remember. When will we see Ilthur next? I’d like to get the details of this apprenticeship and get straight to studying, if possible.”, Ariana said as she sat back down.

He asked me to wake him in one hour. So you’ll see him shortly after that.

Thequen ate his food. Mostly he was grateful in the moment to finally not be in a combat situation. Cody leaned back in his chair, resting his head against the wall. He got very still, and to Thequen it seemed he’d fallen asleep right there, somehow, while still mostly upright.

“And are you a person, or a spell effect?”, Ariana asked.

Both and neither, actually.

“Well that’s not very definitive.”, Ariana said. Susan was silent.

As Thequen’s body relaxed, his sense of smell seemed to kick back on for a moment. He smelled like he’d just been through two days of battle. Because he had. So did the others. The scent of pastries mingled with the smell of dirt, sweat, and all sorts of nasty. He stood up. “I’m going to see if the bathroom has any kind of bath. Which way is it, orb?”, he said as he leaned over the device, trying to see if it had any detail beyond merely glowing when it spoke.

All this power and I get to play tour guide for hopefuls. Back to the main area, turn left, first door on the left in that hall.

Thequen found to his pleasant surprise that the tower had indoor plumbing. What shocked him was that there were two knobs, and one of them produced water that was comfortably warm. Even the Academy didn’t have that. He enjoyed a luxurious bath, then wandered around and opened doors at random until he found a small bedroom that seemed unused. He dropped his clothes in a corner and then collapsed on the bed. His various wounds from the past few days ached dully, despite having been mostly healed by various forms of magic.

He awoke some time later to the sensation of a hand on his shoulder, shaking him roughly. He opened his eyes and barely resisted the urge to punch Cody in the face for disturbing his absolutely blissful sleep. “What is it?”, Thequen groaned.

“Time’s up, sleepyhead. Ilthur wants to talk to you, me and Ariana. He refused to begin until we’d found you.”, Cody said with a shrug. Thequen took a moment to collect himself and put his boots back on, then followed Cody back into the main room with all the passageways and the staircase.

“What about the Commander and Vulmar?”, Thequen asked.

“Already left. Ilthur assisted them by teleporting them close to the capital, I guess. They’ll figure out what to do from there.”, Cody explained as he ascended the staircase. At the top of the stairs was a narrow hallway with many doors on either side. One door on the left was cracked open. Cody stepped inside and Thequen followed him. It was a bit unnerving that the hall was somehow lit without there being any candles or torches to provide the light. Permanent light spells? The sort of thing that only nobles paid for, but at the Academy they had been somewhat common. So too here, it seemed. Thequen followed Cody through the door.

The room was large, larger than it needed to be to contain the handful of armchairs and couches that it did. A coffee table was the centerpiece of the room, but all around the chairs was an excessive amount of space. In the far corner of the room there was a small rolling tray that had snacks and a teapot on it. The most notable thing about the room to Thequen however was that it actually had windows along the wall opposite the door. They were tall and ornate, starting at about waist height and stretching up into the vaulted ceiling, their panes reinforced with skillfully wrought iron. The landscape outside the Tower was bleak. Mountainous, snow-covered, the weather cloudy.

“Finally found him, eh?”, Ilthur rasped. He sat in one of the plush armchairs, his staff leaned against the back. He was hunched, curled over his tea-cup, looking very much like just an old man to Thequen, rather than an imposing and dangerous mage. Ariana sat on a nearby couch, legs pulled up as she leaned on the armrest, a small plate of muffins in one hand. She nodded to Thequen and Cody, and then kept munching on them.

“Yes, sir.”, Cody said as he stood behind one of the couches. Thequen stepped up to stand next to him.

“Gah. Quit that. This isn’t the military, hmm? Sit down, eat, drink, do whatever, as long as you listen. Also--”, Ilthur said as he reached into his robes with one hand. “An advance on your pay.”, Ilthur said as he withdrew three cloth bags and then tossed them onto the coffee table. They clinked, heavy with metal. Cody slipped around the couch and sat down, then grabbed one back, untied it and started to count. Thequen sat down in one of the armchairs and took a bag. He tossed the other one to Ariana, who was seated across from him. She barely managed not to drop her plate as she caught the bag in her off hand.

“Rude.”, she muttered. Thequen shrugged.

“This is more than you offered us originally. By quite a lot.”, Cody said.

Ilthur sipped his tea until the cup was empty, then set it on the table. “Money and power I have aplenty, but I lack connections. If money ensures loyalty and gets you to listen, then money you shall have.”, he said. Cody nodded as he looked into the bag of coins again. Then tied it to his belt.

Did you know this story is from Royal Road? Read the official version for free and support the author.

“Consider me bought then. You mentioned education?”, Thequen asked.

“Of course. You’ll find a passably stocked library just across the hall. You may all borrow from it freely. Just try and keep it organized. There’s enough practical and theoretical texts on magic in there, along with more mundane literature, to keep all of you busy for at least half a year. Study as you like, unless there’s business to do. Satisfied?”, Ilthur said as he leaned back into the cushion of the chair.

“So you’re paying us, feeding us, and letting us live here and study as we like. What’s the catch? What business are we going to be doing?”, Ariana said as she set her empty plate down on the cushion next to her and leaned in, elbows resting on her knees.

“As I said when we first met, the Old God has gone missing. Reasons unknown. The duty of the Tower is to prevent any other beings from ascending to the Old God’s position until he returns.”, Ilthur said.

“So we’ll be fighting? Spying?”, Thequen asked. Ilthur nodded.

“Likely. The Old God was quite clear-- he established a church, which we are definitely not. But his mortal lover established the Towers as another way of ensuring that even if the church grew corrupt or fell, there would be a line of defense against external threats. So yes. I expect all of you to commit your skills to the Tower, and its purpose, when called upon.”, Ilthur said.

“Sounds like a sort of doom cult.”, Ariana said as she crossed her arms.

Ilthur shook his head. “I ask for no belief. Faith in the Old God might be helpful, but not necessary at all. We deal with external threats-- not with matters of the faithful. You’ve seen the followers of one such threat already. Yurth the Great Flame is new to me-- which is just evidence of how fast the natural order of the world has been upset in the Old’s absence.”, he said.

“I don’t think those were actual priests.”, Cody said.

“Oh? Do tell.”, Ilthur said.

“They didn’t pray. They used the same gestures as any regular fire mage would have. Not divine power. Just regular magic, same as any regular mage.”, Cody said. The room was quiet for a moment.

“I think you may be on to something there. As you already know, praying to an entity grants it power. Even a human can theoretically ascend to godhood over time, if they somehow could accumulate the believers. The established pantheon of deities and demi-gods frowns on this, of course.”, Ilthur said, then he drifted off into silent contemplation.

“A false god, then.”, Thequen said.

Ilthur nodded. “Indeed. It could be.”

“The kind of being you want us to kill?”, Cody asked.

“Precisely. Any entity which threatens the current order of the world is to be destroyed, neutralized, or contained.”, Ilthur said with a grim smile.

“And what about their followers? If they’re gaining divine power, then they must have acquired true worshippers.”, Ariana asked.

“If they stand between me and my duty to the Tower, then…”, Ilthur shrugged. “They’re an obstacle to be overcome. Perhaps you three will find gentler paths to victory, with all your youthful energy, however.”, he clarified.

“Well. I’m in. What’s our next move?”, Thequen asked.

“We stood no chance against all those priests, even with the 3rd Arcane. We’re just going to go at them again?”, Ariana asked as she frowned.

“No. We’re not just going to ‘pop over’ and try again. That would be suicide. As our numbers are few, we can afford to lose no one. If I’m to invest in you all, it would be pure stupidity to risk any of you so soon, before you’ve grown. I will spend the next week traveling, learning what I can. Then we can choose a path to go forward on.”, Ilthur said.

“So you’re going to leave us here then?”, Cody asked. He stood up and rolled his shoulders, then stretched his arms over his head briefly. Thequen could see the muscles of his shoulder shift under his shirt, and something popped faintly in his neck.

“Yes. And trust the three of you not to fuck it up, burn the place down, or injure one another. Pick something to study, rest, do as you like. I cannot afford to leave someone to babysit you. Other than Susan, of course.”, Ilthur said.

“Right. The annoying talking ball.”, Ariana said with a sigh.

“If that’s how you’ve been treating her, she has every right to be annoyed. She’s older than me by a few centuries, after all.”, Ilthur said with a grin that revealed a few missing teeth. Everyone waited for Ilthur to explain but he instead got to his feet, grabbed his cup, and then shuffled over to the teapot for a refill. He turned back to face the three of them. “What?”, he said.

“What do you mean she’s centuries old? I thought she was just a simulated soul.”, Cody said.

“Hah. Child’s play to make those, if you have the affinity. She is far more. Ask her yourself. Now, I’m going to finish this cup, and then I must be off. You’re all dismissed. Go. Study, eat, sleep. If you have any spells you’re uncertain you can perform properly, do be careful to cast them outside. Take over whatever unused rooms you like as your own.”, Ilthur said with a wave of his hand as he then sipped on his tea.

In short order Thequen, Cody, and Ariana stepped out into the hallway once more. The door shut behind them, seemingly on its own. “Well. I have my misgivings about this, but I guess it won’t be too different from what we were already doing.”, Ariana said uncertainly.

“Better pay than anything else we can expect to do, probably. Worst case, you could take the money and leave. I’m guessing the old man has bigger things to deal with than hunting you down if you desert.”, Cody said.

“Is this really any more shady than helping Ghol do hostile takeovers of his neighbors?”, Thequen said with a shrug. He then stepped across the hall and opened the door opposite of the lounge they’d just exited. The room beyond the door was stuffy and filled with books. A library of sorts. Bookshelves dominated the walls, and in the center was a plain wooden table with four chairs. The whole thing was lit just as the hall was, by unseen magic. A small plaque was in the center of the table. Thequen stepped into the room and read the plaque.

“The Lesser Library, Rules: No fire. No eating, no drinking. Borrowed books should be returned in reasonable time.”, he read aloud.

“Seems simple enough.”, Cody said.

“These books aren’t organized at all though. Gross.”, Ariana said. Cody and Ariana wandered through the shelves. There were gaps, which led further into the stacks, a winding maze. At that moment Thequen was alone and could no longer hear their footsteps.

This room would be where he spent most of his waking hours for the next week.