The ability to ask questions is amazing.

I lacked that ability. Which meant that I had to use gestures and overt eye contact. I played an intricate game of charades with Marv so that he would show me the living wall again.

“Yes, those are knights. What a smart baby you are.”

I don’t think he understood me.

Marv had made it his mission to show my father and I the full might of Zodiac’s armed division. The magicians were resting, so he took us to watch the armed division of the organisation.

Lines of knights wielding large swords marched in unison. There were far more of them than there had been magicians. The sound of their armour clanging filled the entire yard. Their swords gleamed in the sunlight and at their head were three different commanders. They were an entire legion.

I don’t know how I’d missed them last time we’d visited.

I was curious about the knights, their ranks, and their skills, but I wanted to learn magic. That’s how I found myself ineffectually trying to convey my intentions to Marv. My father was watching the knights with amazement.

Didn’t you work with them?

I suppose the scribers were in a different section of the compound.

“Your dad told me you’re interested in being a scriber.” Marv was humouring my father by talking to me like an adult. “Well, your father is one of the best we have. Look, you can see his work down there.”

Marc pointed towards a corner of the compound separate from the others. Two knights clashed, swords swinging at each other. Each hit reverberated in the air. They were surrounded by a group of five other knights, one took notes and the other four cheered on the fighters.

I immediately saw what Marv was showing me. The knight’s swords were aflame, glorious fire spilling into the air and shooting into the surroundings as they clashed. Running along the sword was an intricate series of symbols, each one connected to each other and glowing with mana. The smaller symbols were all overshadowed by a grand one in the middle of the hilt.

It was the ‘sun’ symbol. It also meant ‘fire’. I watched with wide eyes and tried to take in the symbol configuration with my eyes. The knights were moving too fast for me to see them.

“I’ll show you a sword up close later.” My father held me down as I squirmed in his grasp.

I stopped struggling and smiled. That was what I wanted. I had a new interest in the knights now. Were all of their weapons and armour inscribed?

They would be a formidable force if that was the case. I didn’t want to fight a fully armoured person that was also on fire. That probably wasn’t all they could do. I hadn’t had time to learn more than two symbols in the night that had passed but it was a safe bet the knights had more than just the fire function.

Marv laughed at my expression. “I used to love knights when I was a kid, but don’t worry little guy, us magicians have our fun too. Metal is great for protection until it melts on top of you. Or when it freezes over and locks you in place.”

What a horrifying thing to say to a baby.

“Speaking of magicians. I guess it’s time to show you the main attraction.” Marv waved goodbye to the knights down below. “Follow me.”

We made our way down a familiar section of the compound, the large spire that housed the teleportation room. It was centred directly in the middle of the compound and was the largest of the spires I could see. We once again made our way up flights of stairs and stopped a couple of floors below the teleportation room.

“It’s annoying that this is the only place you can see all of the spires.” Marv and my father were out of breath. “This is the viewing room. For tourists and guests.”

The room was much nicer and far more useless than the other places I’d seen in the compound. Elegant sofa chairs with velvet red cushions were placed sporadically in different areas, and there were eight different openings carved into the walls. My father approached one and I could see the entire compound below me. I reached out with my hand to feel the wind and felt it press against something invisible.

It was a window.

I couldn’t see the glass. There wasn’t any glare or reflections. Marv chuckled and my father took a step back.

Above each window was a symbol. I recognized two of them, fire, and earth. They were decorative, displayed with a steel carving that would grab people’s attention.

“From here we can see the eight buildings that house the core of our magical fighting force. These are the elemental spires. One for every basic element. All eight of them.” Marv gestured grandly with his hand.

He was right. There were eight buildings, one for every window. They were spread across the compound in an octagon, each spire occupying a different octagonal point. With this spire being directly in the middle of all of them.

Eight? I stared at the spires.

I thought there were only four basic elements. I’d based that belief on the elemental wheel from Earth.

“Are these different from the rooms we passed when greeting Master Wilhelm?” My father asked.

I knew the rooms he was talking about. There had been a door encased in ice and another dripping green liquid.

Marv smiled. “This is the centre spire. Some call it the centrepiece of Zodiac. Those rooms are for the members that can use the advanced elements. there’s a lot less people that can practice those, and definitely not enough for an entire tower to themselves.”

He turned towards a west-facing window. “This one here is going to be the important one for you, little guy.” We followed Marv and I saw him standing next to the window marked with the ‘earth’ symbol. “The nature tower. For all people attuned to nature.”

Marv flourished his hands and I clapped. An entire tower dedicated to earth magic. I needed to get in there.

“Of course, Zodiac provides our members with the highest quality facilities available. Our magician facilities are equipped with state-of-the-art regents and items, as well as luxury rooms for those that wish to live in the tower. With every elemental spire there is a library dedicated entirely to cataloging skills of the earthen element, with a focus on spells. Our openness in sharing these skills and their methods of unlocking with our members is why Zodiac is the best company in the country, and a trailblazer across the continent.

“Why are you talking like that?” My father was holding back a smile. I could tell he wanted to make a joke.

“It’s this damn room.” Marv groaned. “Do you know how many tours I have to give?”

“You magicians work hard.” My father’s false sympathy earned him a playful shove from Marv.

I looked at the spire. An entire library dedicated to earth skills.

I needed to get in there. I didn’t know organisations shared skills with each other in this world. Actually, maybe everyone did, for all I knew elementary school would be memorising and unlocking skills. In a few years I might be up to my ears in late night skill studying. With skill tests and skill exams.

I wanted those skills now.

I reached out towards the tower and gurgled at my father, hoping he would get my message. I. Want. To. Go. Inside.

“This is the tower you’ll have access to once you’re a bronze mask.” Marv tapped the mask at his side. “Let’s see… There’s your measuring in five years, and if you pass the test then you’re a tin mask for another ten. Fifteen years in total before you even have a chance of setting foot in there.”

My body deflated.

“That’s assuming you’re a trusted member. That status is hard to get. Add five more years of doing odd jobs for us as a tin mask. And the promotion ceremony to bronze is tough. I know people that have taken it seven times and failed. Each test is only held once a year. So…” Marv did the calculations on his fingers. “Maybe you’ll be in your early or late twenties by the time you get inside.”

Okay. That’s annoying. I stared at the spire. The answers to a lot of my problems were inside. An entire library of skills. A library!

Would I really have to wait over twenty years to get there? No. I could find a way in there sooner.

“There is something in there I can show you guys.” Marv’s voice interrupted my thoughts. He had a mischievous grin on his face. “Want to check it out?”

I gurgled in agreement and my father nodded. Several flights of stairs and two corridors later we were outside the door of the spire. It had seemed so far away from the window, but the compound was built so that each side was easy to reach.

A large stone door greeted us, the symbol of earth protruding from it. Instead of entering straight away, Marv knocked and waited patiently for someone to come. I heard a rustling sound from behind the door, and then my father took a step back as it liquified, falling to the ground and splashing around us. Just like the living wall.

A bronze mask in a black robe stood at the doorway.

“Visitors?” The bronze mask’s voice was emotionless. “What do you want?

“We have a potential nature attuned here.” Marv said. The bronze mask scanned my father from head to toe and Marv shook his head. “Think smaller.”

The bronze mask finally noticed me. I gave him a wave of my hand and gurgled at him in greeting.

“You’ll be wanting the nature room, then?” The bronze mask stepped aside and gestured at us to enter. “Please remember that if you try to go anywhere else without permission, I will cut your hands off.”

“Duly noted.” Marv’s cheerful tone was unshaken.

The bronze mask led the way, and I got my first glimpse of the earth spire. It was really empty. Really, really empty. There was nothing except the stone walls. No decorations, no windows, and no chairs.

I looked back and saw that the stone door had reformed. I had to learn that trick. There was a library somewhere in here, but judging from the bronze mask’s attitude it wouldn’t be easy to get in.

At the back of the floor was a section separated by another stone door and wall. The bronze mask stopped in front of it but opened the door with his hand this time. The stone grated against the floor, and I winced.

Marv entered the room and waved at us to come inside. My father took a step forward and then stopped.

An arm was blocking his way.

“You can’t come into this room.” The bronze mask stared at my father. “Manaless aren’t allowed.”

We froze. I felt my father’s body stiffen underneath his clothes. I’d never heard him called manaless before.

Thoughts ran through my mind. Was this man an ass? Did he have a grudge against my father? Was he a racist against manaless?

Then Marv slapped his own forehead, and the tension broke. We looked up at him and he smiled. “Oh man. I almost forgot. Yeah. See, this is a special room. If you walk in there and you’re manaless vomiting your guts out for days is the best-case scenario. The worst-case is that you die. Painfully.”

It’s a good thing that guy stopped my father. Marv came back out and picked me up, and I waved goodbye to my father. He had to stay with the bronze mask. The door closed and I turned to look at the surroundings.

It was all dirt. And rocks. And plants.

There was also a person sitting on a stone.

“See? Fun for all ages.” Marv let me down onto the ground. “Go wild kid. I know some of the bronze masks come out of here looking like a pig in mud.”

I waddled forward carefully, taking in the room around me. There was something different about it. Something unusual.

It was the orange energy beckoning me towards it.

I could see it in the air, and it trickled up from the ground and swam over my feet. Swirls of orange energy flew lazily through my arms and across my eyes. I grabbed a handful of dirt and let it fall through my fingers. Orange mist filled the hole I’d created, and more fell to the ground from my hand alongside the dirt.

Mana. Everything here was infused with mana.

I smiled.

The perfect place to learn earth manipulation.