Laura sneaked out while her father and the diplomats were immersed in their pointless discussion, “I’ll show those Vaishyans!” she muttered furiously to herself, “I’ll show them that the Tower is greater than any of their puny wooden ships!”

“Elder sister. Where are you going? Father asked us to remain within the inner palace.” Lily cautioned timidly behind Laura.

“Pfft… father this father that! Why don’t you get married instead?” Laura grumbled.

Lily blushed as she twiddled her thumbs, “Erp… Tee-hee… He’s actually kinda cute. A real prince from across the ocean! I wonder if his palace is even grander than ours? I wonder if I’ll ever be able to fall in love with a handsome prince one day?” she giggled wistfully.

“Arrgh…” Laura protested, “And becoming the plaything of that brown skinned monkey?”

Lily frowned, “It can’t be all that bad. He does seem like a rather good person after all, and Father definitely likes him.”

“Enough! I don’t want to hear you defending him or father, they are both super idiots!” Laura yelled, “Anyway, we have arrived, I’ll use the Tower to solve all our problems.” she continued as she stomped into an ancient connecting passageway.

Lily glanced out fearfully from behind Laura, “Sister, something’s not right. Where are all the guards?”

“Key, key, key…” Laura muttered distractedly to herself as she twisted the rune etched rings of a massive stone circle to align the opening sigils. “Hey Lily, do you have anything sharp on you? I need my blood to open the door. Lily?”

Irked by her sister’s lacking response Laura whirled around, intending to deliver a gentle admonishment. But her mouth only gaped open with shock as the words froze in her throat.

A trio of unruly assassins had crept up unnoticed behind her. The foremost was grasping Lily by the neck and pressed a gleaming dagger against her chest. “Shh… be a good little princess and nobody gets hurt,” the leader hissed at Laura.

Lily’s eyes were wide with fright, “Run sister…” she managed to scream before she was clubbed unconscious.

“You are all so dead! Like yesterday dead! Guards!” Laura shouted as she backed away from the approaching assassins. However, there was no response from the dozens of men that should have been stationed at the Tower.

“No one can hear you. They are all busy with a personal invitation from the Abyss.” The leader smirked as he advanced towards Laura while his subordinates flanked her from either side to prevent her escape.

Laura fumbled desperately at the talisman pouch on her waist, but the assassin slashed at her before she could retrieve her spells. The princess staggered back as her torn talismans fluttered uselessly about her and her dress was stained red with blood from where the dagger had nicked her.

Dashing forward, the assassin twisted Laura’s arm painfully behind her back and pinned her against the stone circle. “Tell me! How do we dispel the magical barrier around the inner palace?” he demanded urgently.

“Make me…” Laura countered defiantly.

The sound of breaking bones rent through the air as the assassin snapped her arm, then he cracked her head violently against the solid stone circle. Laura gasped as intense pain shot through her body and her vision blurred.

“Don’t make me ask again,” the assassin hissed as he drew his gleaming dagger and thrust it threateningly at Laura’s exposed abdomen.

Laura feigned unconsciousness as her blood trickled down the magical stone circle and muttered the Tower’s activating enchantment.

“Tower, Tower, proud and tall

Bless my friends from hall to hall

But slay my foes with the Krall

Grant me the power to rule them all.”

“The girl vanished! How? Where?” The hardened assassin gasped in shock as Laura literally disappeared from his hands.

...

“I feel like ape shit…” Laura groaned as she reappeared in a dank claustrophobic room within the Tower. She staggered weakly to her feet and pressed a charm against her broken arm to dull the pain. Then she summoned a small flickering globe of light and examined her surroundings wearily.

A small narrow passage led her to a steep winding staircase, and Laura sighed as she began the long arduous climb into the darkness. After what seemed like hours, she emerged in a slightly larger room. A plain wooden goblet was laid out on a worn wooden table at its center. Laura did not spare a glimpse at the cup as she strode through the room and resumed her upward climb.

In the second room was a modestly fashioned goblet, made from hammered copper.

In the third room was a simply decorated goblet, crafted from polished silver.

Laura staggered through both rooms with hardly a glance as she grew increasingly exhausted from the relentless climb. It wasn’t only physical exhaustion she felt, the light she summoned began to waver weakly as the atmosphere in each higher floor seemed to sip away at her magical stamina. As Laura paused to catch her breath, she suddenly sensed faint hostile presences hissing from the shadows. She gulped nervously and increased the strength of her illumination to drive away the shifting darkness creeping towards her. Suddenly, she had a premonition that if her light faded too much, something unspeakably horrifying would befall her.

Just as she was about to enter the fourth room, Laura’s eyes widened with fright and she took a step backwards. And her panic was so great that she almost tripped and fell back down the winding flight of stairs behind her.

“Turn back! Go no further!” Warned a black wraith-like apparition standing at the entrance.

Laura took a deep calming breath and examined the stationary spirit, it did not seem to have spotted her even though it was just barely a meter away from her. The spirit seemed strangely familiar to Laura, it was the form of an elegant noble woman in a long flowing dress. She stood at the top of the passageway with her arms stretched wide to obstruct the way forward, even as she continued repeating the warning.

“Tch…” Laura frowned in irritation and was just about to use one of her remaining talismans when she had a flash of inspiration. Removing one of her gloves, she tossed it silently at the wraith before her.

“Is someone there? Is it you, Caretaker?” The wraith flinched as the silken glove struck her. Then it knelt down and searched about blindly for the fallen glove.

I’m such an amazing genius! Laura gloated silently to herself as she slipped past the creature and entered the next room. The fourth room was decorated like one of the lesser halls in the palace, the floor was lined with scented pine and an intricately carved table sat in the room’s center. And a sparkling golden goblet crafted with lesser gems beckoned temptingly.

“I can do even better…” Laura muttered under her breath as she strengthened her globe of light before turning towards the next flight of stairs.

“Laura? Lily?” The wraith cried out desperately.

Laura’s blood ran cold as she turned to meet the approaching spirit, “Mother?” her voice cracked in disbelief.

“Turn back! Go no further!” The wraith fell on its knees and sobbed desperately.

“Mother? Is that really you?” Laura reached out hesitantly and brushed her hand against the spirit.

Momentarily, the wraith seemed to solidify. It stared straight at Laura and its features twisted with desperate recognition. “Turn back! Go no further!” The wraith let out a wild cry attempted to leap at Laura, but the spirit dissipated just moments before it came into contact with her.

“Haha, hahaha… It can’t possibly be. Mother passed on more than a decade ago.” Laura laughed nervously with a pale face as she trembled and sank weakly to the ground. “It must have just been my imagination. The Tower is playing tricks on my mind.” She mumbled in a desperate attempt to convince herself. The wood beneath Laura was damp when she finally gathered enough courage to stand and resume her upward climb.

The atmosphere grew increasingly inhospitable as Laura entered impossibly extravagant spaces. Her breath misted and she shivered from the dry chilling cold as she reached the ninth floor. The space was sized like the throne room and lined from floor to ceiling in hammered gold leaf. The massive and intricately decorated table in the room could have held a feast for hundreds. The goblet resting at its center was cast from the rarest mithril and decorated with gems that would have put the imperial crown to shame.

Laura panted with exhaustion as she staggered across the room and continued to climb further. She was barely conscious when she finally crawled into the twelfth floor. The air was so thin that no normal human could survive, the cold so extreme that the harshest winter would have seemed like mid-summer in comparison, and the darkness so oppressive that it threatened to consume sanity itself. Laura had been forced to maintain five separate enchantments to survive the climb, and she realized that she was quickly approaching the limits of her magic.

She gritted her teeth with effort and rose to survey the room before her. The space was so vast that her light failed to reach the other end of the room. The walls were lined with bricks of diamond and the floor was crafted from an endless emerald. The table was fashioned intricately from solid mithril and the goblet was crystal, cut whole from a priceless ruby.

It took Laura an entire hour just to crawl across the vast space. She finally looked up when her head thumped against the far wall, “Where are the stairs?” she grumbled in confusion as she gazed about her in a vain attempt to identify an opening in the seamless diamond wall.

“Is this my limit?” Laura muttered as she reached for her mage’s pendant, the gem she palmed suddenly seemed incredibly plain compared to the vast riches around her. She gripped the jewel tightly and held it above her head, “Open up! Laura Alexandra Muriel, commands you to open up!” she cried out. For a long silent moment, nothing seemed to happen. But just as Laura had resigned herself to crawling back for the ruby goblet, the wall slid open soundlessly to reveal the darkest passage yet.

Laura gulped as she realized that, try as she might, her light did not illuminate the darkness within. “Just one more, I’ll make my wish on the next floor.” Laura whispered as she steeled herself and edged into the shapeless murkiness. She abandoned the remnants of her dignity, and dragged herself slowly upward on her fours. The shadows lengthened maddeningly around her as invisible chilly fingers stroked against her flesh and scrabbled for her soul.

“Begone demons!” Laura yelled defiantly as her light burnt brightly to pierce through the darkness. She heard a frustrated hiss as the shadows fled, but her power wavered and the darkness returned even before she had advanced a dozen steps. Somewhere, somehow, Laura realized that she had been cut. Fine painful lacerations scared her flesh and spots of blood trailed the stairs below her.

“I’m tougher than this!” Laura cried out as the darkness reached for her again. She grasped everything she had and raced up the final few steps to the next landing. Laura collapsed on the rammed earthen floor and panted desperately for air. She realized belatedly that she had overextended herself when her defensive enchantments flickered out.

I must make a wish… Laura gasped as she forced her frozen eyelids open.

It’s too late, I must already be hallucinating! Laura thought to herself. She lay in a small simple room, just like when she had first entered the Tower. However, a plain looking man in scholar’s robes was hunched over a desk within the room. He seemed to be deep in thought and would scribble fanatically on the parchment before him on occasion.

“Pfft. At least this means that I won’t be married off to that stupid prince…” Laura muttered to herself as her vision began darkening at the edges.

“What!? Ahh!” The man turned at Laura’s voice and let out a surprised cry when he spied her.

“Who are you? Am I dead?” Laura giggled weakly at his comical response.

“I’m the Caretaker. Is that your wish? Interestingly wise. Although rare are those that seek the Tower for peaceful demise.” He replied with a small comforting smile.

“No! I didn’t come for that!” Laura groaned.

“Oh, then you must be one of the foolish ones. Tell me, what is your wish?” The man sighed in disappointment.

“I only get one wish after coming this far? I should have stayed on the first floor then…” Laura sighed regretfully.

The man laughed, “All regret eventually, but you must be the first to feel remorse before wishing. Tell me honestly, do you want to leave this place? I did promise the woman who birthed you that I would grant you a second chance.”

“She was really Mother!?” Laura gasped in horror.

The man closed his eyes for a moment of silent musing, “The foolish woman drank from the fourth cup while wishing to protect her children. So, the Tower fulfilled her heart’s desire. She now resides eternally as a spiritual warning for her descendants. She is strong, and hasn’t yet regretted her wish.” The man shrugged nonchalantly, “But give or take a few more centuries…”

“That’s horrible! How can I save Mother?” Laura demanded.

The man frowned, “I’ll have mercy and not grant that wish of yours. Now turn around and leave this cursed Tower before you regret it.”

Laura laughed bitterly, “I don’t have any strength left… I don’t care what happens to me as long as I can save Andania!”

“Save Andania?” The man bent down and rummaged through the parchments on his desk before looking back at Laura. “You will lament the wishes you make today,” he sighed.

“So, this means that I can get more than one wish granted then!” Laura inquired shrewdly.

“Sure. Two wishes? Or three perhaps? It doesn’t really matter.” He shrugged.

“Three it is!” Laura exclaimed. “I wish for Andania to rule the world!”

“You wish is granted. A descendant of Muriel will unite the land and sea.” He intoned emotionlessly.

“I wish that the most powerful, handsome, and richest man in the world will fall madly in love with my sister Lily and wed her. Oh, and he must have the grandest palace too!” Laura continued.

“It shall come to pass.”

“I wish… I wish that I will have the opportunity to complete my zither composition before I die.” Laura’s voice trembled hesitantly as a single tear trickled down her cheek.

“You will compose a piece that will endure through the ages.”

“Thank you for everything, Caretaker.” Laura sighed as she closed her eyes and readied herself for a fate worse than death.

“No need to thank me. You will regret it soon enough.”