Delminor's Trials

by Stephen J Wolf

  As he wandered around, feeling lost, he wondered if this was too much for him to handle. The place was enormous. He needed help and didn’t know where to find it.

  “What am I supposed to do?”

  A mage around his age stepped out of the shadows. He had jet black hair, deep gray eyes, and a stern look about him. He was slightly taller than Delminor and had an awkwardness to his movements. “You know, they say talking to yourself is the first sign of insanity.”

  “I think I’ve already met insanity here. My name is Delminor.”

  “Do you mean old Xervius? Never mind him. He’s harmless most of the time. But what brings you here?”

  “I’m looking to learn magic. Isn’t that what people do here? Sorry, I didn’t catch your name.”

  “Oh, I’m Pyron. I’ve only been here a year or so. I’ve been training to use earth magic. I used to work with water, but it didn’t interest me much. They’re kind of similar in their own way, you know. They both have a sort of ebb and flow and they stay close to the ground when you release them. Not like fire or air. Those just lift and float away. Too erratic and hard to control. Best to leave them alone.” He cleared his throat. “Sorry, I didn’t ask what element you were interested in learning.”

  “I would start with earth, since I have some background in it already.”

  “You do? That’s great. What do you say I show you around a little?”

  Delminor visibly relaxed. “Yes, thank you. I need a place to sleep and some food to eat.”

  “Ah, the essentials. Practical. Very earthy.” Pyron led him to the second floor of the tower through a nearby staircase. “Best get you settled in before showing you the place.”

  They walked down a long corridor with many branching hallways. Each led to a small laboratory, many of which were occupied by mages plying their craft. Delminor couldn’t catch more than a glimpse here and there as Pyron kept a rapid pace with his awkward gait.

  “Here’s my lab. If you head down the next corridor, you should find a room or two that isn’t claimed. All you need to do is find one without a marking on the door. Then mark it to claim it. Do that and find me here and we’ll get some food.”

  Delminor kept his hand on the wall and dragged it as he followed Pyron’s directions. He turned left and then left again, heading down the next branch of rooms. And a branch it was. The hallway broke into numerous smaller passages, some too narrow for an obese man to pass through. He avoided these at first but then realized that the other rooms were taken. Perhaps it was because of the narrow opening that a room down here would be available.

  “Excuse me,” he asked of a mage as she was reading her spellbook.

  She looked up, glared, and then started muttering under her breath, twirling her fingers absently. Delminor didn’t catch on until a gust of wind thrust him back against the wall and her door slammed shut.

  “Right. I should have guessed.” He shook off the pain from hitting the wall and continued his search, avoiding contact with the other mages. After a few tight turns and squeezes through doorways, he found a room that was dark, with no markings to be found. It was here he set up camp. He tried to carve a rough likeness of a squirret into the door, but it came out looking like a stick figure wearing a cape. “Close enough.”

  He was exhausted but he needed to eat. He made his way back to Pyron’s room, checking over his shoulder time and again to make sure he could find his way back to his space.

  “Took you longer than I thought, but I’m guessing you were successful.”

  “Yes. Thanks for the guidance.”

  Pyron gestured for him to follow and they walked up another staircase. “Each floor has its purpose. We reside on the lowly mage floor. We have access up a few floors into the tower, but we can’t get to the upper reaches without permission from Xervius.”

  “He watches over all that stuff?”

  “He does and I don’t know how. But if you get up there, he’s likely to catch you and make you regret it.” He leaned in close. “Don’t tell anyone, but he knows a full three elements of spells.”

  “That… seems like a lot.”

  “It’s hard enough mastering one. Say, you said you knew some magic, right? What can you do?”

  Delminor shrugged. “I can launch some dirt pellets. And I was able to adapt that into a longer stream, sort of like a dirt spray.”

  “Adapted, you say? On your own?”

  “Pretty much. I was reading Regnard’s notes and he—”

  Pyron gasped. “You have Regnard’s notes?”

  “Well, not with me, no. They’re either back at home or turned to ash by now.”

  “Interesting. They disintegrate over time? That’s pretty neat. I’ll have to do that with my own spellbooks so no one can copy them unless I want them to.”

  “More like, my parents probably burned them.”

  “Oh… not as interesting.”

  Pyron led Delminor to the eatery on the fifth floor. “I hope you know how to cook. We don’t serve food here; we have stores of ingredients and means of preparing them. Maybe if you get in good with someone who enjoys mealtime, they’ll make a dish or two for you. Until then, it’s up to you.”

  “I see.”

  “Don’t be so disappointed. It’s not like there are schedules here. What are we supposed to do, have the place open all the time with food at the ready? Imagine all the waste. No, this works fine. But you can cook, right?”

  “I’m not too shabby.”

  “Great. I like things that aren’t too spicy, a few greens, so don’t go crazy.”

  “What?”

  “Make me dinner. It’s the least you can do.”

  He couldn’t argue. Delminor wandered into the pantry and pulled out various herbs and vegetables. Another area had salted meats, some of which needed to be disposed of. He used what he could to prepare a hearty stew, pulling from his experiences with Hammon. Pyron devoured it and looked for more, so it couldn’t have been all that bad.

  Exhausted, he and Pyron headed back to their rooms, agreeing to meet up the next day to continue the tour.

  Delminor lay his head on the firm pillow that had been left in the room and stared at the ceiling. He had met one ally, but the rest of the mages seemed so aloof. He wondered what made them unhelpful and if it was a curse of all mages, that once they were comfortable with magic, they didn’t need anyone else. He wasn’t sure what he thought of that. Would he be the same?

  Pyron awoke him late the next morning, grousing that he had slept so late. “Come on. Let me introduce you to a few others. Social areas are on the sixth floor. There are a few labs there, too, so be careful where you go. Don’t bother people anywhere outside the social area without good reason. It’s never likely to end well.”

  He thought back to the air mage he’d interrupted the previous day. “Good to know.”

  “On the social floor, it’s different. You sort of throw yourself in wherever. I usually listen for a bit to see what people are talking about before joining a conversation.”

  “You just butt in?”

  “It’s the norm. No one has to respond to you but it’s not usually like that here. On the upper floors, maybe.”

  “The ones we’re not allowed to go to?”

  “Those.”

  It was odd having a whole tower where people were restricted to less than half of it. Pyron wouldn’t explain what was needed to be allowed access to the upper floors, just that it was dangerous to even think about going there. It didn’t matter much to him at the moment anyway, as exploring the lower floors would likely take him time.

  The social floor was expansive and bright, unlike the other areas Delminor had seen so far. There were couches and chairs everywhere crowded around small tables. In some areas, a bookshelf housed a number of games to pass the time. One group of six was playing an intense board game, moving pieces around, collecting cards in the process. When two players landed on the same spot, they played cards to determine who
won the space, while the other player had to return to where they started.

  “That’s Mage Wars,” Pyron noted. “It’s okay. Not my favorite. I prefer a straight-on card game without the board nonsense to distract you from the real strategy. After all, what strategy is there in rolling dice? It’s as random as the cards you draw anyway, so why add the extra layer?”

  A red-headed girl wandered over to them. “Ah, Pyron, I see you have a new pet. Have you fed him and shown him the middens yet?”

  “Oh! I forgot the middens.”

  “I’m Delminor.”

  “Arenda. Pleasure.” Her tone belied her sentiment. “Pyron, we need you over here to settle something. Come on.”

  They followed her back to three other mages engaged in a stacking game. Delminor assessed the pastime quickly. Each player had a pile of stone blocks, all different shapes and sizes, and they were building a tall structure, one player and one piece at a time, balancing each move carefully.

  “Hey, Py, what’s my next move?” asked the only other male at the table.

  Pyron stroked his chin and debated. “Your mid-piece on its side should do the trick.”

  “No, wait,” Delminor interrupted. “May I?” He took a larger piece and held up vertically, reaching out to place it on the tower.

  “No way, kid. If that falls, I’m indebted to these two for a week. Not a pretty thing.”

  One of the girls slapped him on the knee. “Did you just call me ugly?”

  “Donya, you’re the prettiest brunette around this table.”

  Her face lit red. “Around this table! You!”

  Pyron laughed. “Keep it up and you’ll encourage Jaffral even more. Come on, let’s see if Delminor knows what he’s talking about.”

  “Has he played this before?” Jaffral asked.

  “Never,” Delminor admitted. “But if I’m wrong then I’ll take your debt.”

  “Bold!”

  “Cocky, you mean,” interjected a girl with dark chestnut hair.

  Pyron held out his hand. “Lay off him, Gallena. Let’s see what he can do.”

  Delminor took the stone from Jaffral and carefully set it into a nook on the tower, wedging it between two other stones. It held.

  “Well I’ll be,” Jaffral muttered.

  “Beginner’s luck.” Gallena took one of her stones and set it atop the tower next, sitting back with a smug challenge on her face, aimed at Delminor.

  Next was Arenda’s turn. She picked a small piece and when Delminor saw where she was planning to place it, he started shaking his head. “Oh?” she asked, seeing the gesture. “Why not?”

  “It’ll slip off that surface. You have another piece with a bend in it. That should hold.”

  “Huh.” But she played her chosen piece anyway. The rock immediately started to slide, but there was a coarse edge Delminor hadn’t seen and it caught the surface. “There, wise one.”

  “Donya, your turn,” Jaffral taunted.

  Still annoyed at him for teasing her, she reached her hand out and jammed her stone on to the tower, crashing the whole thing in one swoop.

  “Donya!” they all protested.

  “It’s a stupid game anyway.” She stalked off in a huff.

  Pyron turned to Delminor. “That’s Toppled Tower for you. Someone always gets mad and stalks off.”

  Gallena glowered, “Only because Jaffral’s tactics are ones of distraction. It’s what we were calling you over for, to make him stop.”

  Delminor jumped in. “Why not play a silent game and whoever breaks the silence has to play an extra piece?”

  “Who in the fiery pits are you?”

  “I’m only trying to help.”

  “Let’s try it,” Pyron suggested. “Come on, let’s go.”

  Gallena stood up. “I’m out.”

  Jaffral laughed. “Afraid you’ll lose?”

  “I don’t lose.” She lowered herself back down and pushed all the stones into the draw sack, shaking it up. The stones were then doled out among the five of them and a new game was started. Jaffral lost the first match pretty quickly, mostly because he couldn’t keep quiet and had to play extra pieces.

  Gallena won every match, though Delminor proved to be strong competition. Jaffral got angry and bowed out of the last few games, claiming he wanted to watch the two square off. Pyron played, but then he and Arenda resigned to let the two go head to head.

  One piece after another, the tower rose up and up. They ran out of their own stones and took from the others’ piles. Each addition made the tower teeter slightly, threatening collapse. Delminor had a steady hand and as he reached out to place a stone in a precarious position, Pyron nudged his foot under the table and he missed.

  Delminor had the presence of mind to keep quiet about the interference, seeing the look on Gallena’s face. Winning was more than just important to her. She needed it deep in her soul. He could have defeated her, but it was probably better that he didn’t.

  The group split up for the night and Pyron guided Delminor back to his laboratory, where he collapsed. He considered the group of friends and wondered at their interests, aside from gathering to play games. Did they always let Gallena win, or was she capable of success on her own? And what had gotten Donya in such a tizzy? He hadn’t thought Jaffral’s remark was so insulting. And there was Jaffral himself, who’d gotten mad at the group and refused to play. Yet for whatever reason, they seemed to know each other pretty well. He wondered what drew them together.

  Chapter 5

  Library Discovery

  Delminor settled into a routine during his stay at the Magitorium. It was strange not being told what to do by anyone. There were no schedules for anything and he could work in his lab at any hour he chose. This had the downside that so could anyone else and often his sleep was interrupted by a zealous neophyte trying to use magic nearby.

  His first order of business was to rebuild the spells he had learned at home. He procured an empty spellbook and meticulously recorded his findings. Each component was catalogued with as accurate a measurement as he could muster, borrowing instruments from other mages when he could find them.

  He talked often with Pyron and his group of friends within the tower. They gathered for social times when their own studies permitted. Delminor used the time to gather information about the tower itself so he could venture off and have an idea of where to head.

  Weeks after settling in, he made his first foray into the library. Gallena had cautioned him that it was an overwhelming place and he might need some hand-holding on his first trip, but she wasn’t willing to be that guide. Pyron was growing tired of being his main source of information, which was fine, so Delminor didn’t ask him to go.

  The stairs leading to the seventh floor were hard to find. The hallways splintered on the fifth floor, with silent sleeping quarters for more advanced mages tucked away from the common eating areas. Each had a separate laboratory on the ninth floor, according to Pyron.

  After traversing the floor, Delminor found what he was looking for, a panel of wood with an eaglon head carved upon it. The menacing face looked alive, as if it would gnaw off his arm if he came too close. But that was the point. He reached his hand into the gaping maw and grabbed a latch inside. He then twisted his hand to undo the lock and the door opened.

  At first, he was confused because the stairs led downward. But Pyron had assured him the eaglon was the key. So Delminor went down the steps for roughly two floors. There were no exits along the way. The stairwell leveled out and curved around, presumably along the outer wall of the tower, and then rose slowly in a broad spiral. He walked for what felt like hours, but he eventually came to a door, while the pathway continued upward out of sight.

  He opened the door and was met with the smell of old tomes. He was in the right place, for sure. Stepping inside, his eyes popped wide. There were books everywhere.

  The entire outer wall was lined with books and that wall spanned perhaps the entire circumference of th
e tower. Bookshelves were arranged in a maze of ten-foot-high units, books bowing down the shelves on every one of them. The endcaps held even more books. A few reading nooks were scattered around, each surrounded by lower bookcases. The chairs and tables were perched upon single shelving units instead of legs. It was a truly impressive sight.

  Most of the structures were painted white, including the floor and ceiling, and sconces glowed inside alcoves throughout the place. It was easily bright enough to read by, almost like having the morning sun peeking through windows.

  Delminor refused to ask for help, deciding that no one would help anyway. He walked into the massive room as if he’d been visiting it for years. He strolled up to the nearest bookcase and browsed the titles.

  Basic Incantations. Fire Spells. Water Wonders. Herbology. Finger Movement Techniques. Pronunciation Guide by Discipline.

  He traced through the titles until he found an earth book, Ground and Home. Grabbing it from the shelf, he hefted the book over to the nearest seating area and cracked his knuckles before diving in. He felt proud of himself for his immediate success with his search.

  He cracked open the thousand-page tome and his jaw dropped. He quickly composed himself in case anyone saw him so taken aback.

  It wasn’t a thousand pages about earth magic. It was a reference to guide him to the areas scattered throughout the library that held the earth books. The compendium was broken down by spell type, from protection spells to offensive magic, but there was no indication how to find the books themselves, aside from obscure letters after each listing. He thumbed through the volume, agog.

  An elder mage wandered by and saw the expression on Delminor’s face. “New kid, eh?”

  “No, I—” But he didn’t see a reason to hide the truth. “Yeah, I have no idea where to start.”

  The mage stepped away and returned with a smaller volume. “Take a look through this and start here. If you dive right into the annuls, you’ll never find what you’re looking for.”

  “Thank you. I’m Delminor.”

  “That’s nice. Good luck.”

  Delminor opened the tome and saw that it was essentially an atlas of the library. Each page commented on a different area within the vast expanse, marked with numbers that correlated to the maps at the end of the book. The maps themselves had markings that led to the following pages, showing where they would all connect if the pages were removed and spread across the floor.