“The cat is talking to me.” Galia sighed. “Not sure why I’m surprised.”

“Again with the talking to yourself.” The cat yawned. “Don’t blame me when all your secrets become gossip fodder.”

“Is there something I can help you with?” Galia asked. “Or do cats just wander around eavesdropping on everyone here?”

The cat rolled its eyes theatrically. “No, in fact I have been sent here to help you.” It cleared its throat and began in a stilted manner, as though reciting a memorized speech. “Greetings Galia Amneris, Apprentice of the First Circle, to the Towers of Osterlan. Having passed your initial trial, we welcome you to begin your studies here in the Tower of Changes. I am Douglas, and I have been assigned to show you to the next phase of your orientation and answer what questions I can.” Douglas finished his speech then stared at Galia, blinking his yellow eyes slowly.

“I suppose it’s nice to meet you then, Douglas.” Galia said, smiling, and reached down to pet the cat who shied away from her touch.

“Don’t, please.” Douglas said, in an affronted tone. “It would only embarrass us both.”

Galia withdrew her hand, feeling her cheeks get hot. “Well then, I suppose you should lead the way.”

“Glad we got that out of the way. This is your room while you stay at Osterlan. Until you leave the rank of Apprentice and gain the title of Journeyman of the First Circle you will not get a better room, so please do not ask.” Douglas then turned and began walking away from Galia’s room. “Keep up! I’m small but I walk fast!”

Galia dropped her bag inside her room and closed the door behind her, noting the number on the door. Three, I’m in room number three, on… “Hey, Douglas, what floor are we on?”

Douglas turned and gave her a feline grin. “Clever, one of your floormates didn’t bother to ask, just tried counting the floors in the stairwell. Big mistake. You’re on the fifteenth floor, keep in mind that this is a tower of wizardry, so everything here is going to be done with schima. You obviously know what that is so I won’t bother explaining, just think of the Malconian glyph for ‘fifteen’ on the stairwell and the stairs will take you to the right place.”

The cat continued along the curved corridor, Galia could see two other rooms on the same floor. Strangely it seemed that there was more floor than would account for the size of the rooms, guessing that the other two rooms were the same size as hers. They came to a door in the center of the tower, Douglas scratched gently at the thick wooden door and it opened smoothly, as if on oiled hinges. They stepped into a stairwell and Galia again felt a strange feeling of wrongness. The stairwell was large and airy, with windows every few feet. But the stairwell was in the center of the tower, wasn’t it?

“Higher order magics can do a lot of strange and wondrous things.” Douglas said as he began down the stairs, tail twitching slightly. “But mostly the Masters seem to like to use it to fuck with people’s perception of reality. The stairwell, the floors, the rooms, all of them are like little bubbles wedged inside the Tower. They all exist within this reality, but they get molded and shaped as necessary, to give more or less room as needed. It takes a while to wrap your head around, but the quicker you just accept it, the easier it is going to be.”

The wave of strangeness passed and Galia followed Douglas down the stairs. “Is that why we haven’t seen anyone else?”

Douglas snorted. “No, you were on the last coach to arrive, so everyone is already down in the Garden.”

“I was just down in the Garden.” Galia said, confused.

“You were down in a Garden.” Douglas corrected. “One specifically set up to test your skills and abilities and place you in the correct path of study.”

“I thought I got to choose my path.” Galia protested, real worry bubbling up. Galyn hadn’t said anything about her path being chosen for her by some random test.

“You do, after reaching Journeyman rank.” Douglas said. “Your reaction to the test finds your strengths and weaknesses and works out the twisty thought processes you go through. It’s all very technical. Upon passing your test you are placed in one of the four Towers of Osterlan. You were placed in the Tower of Changes. Don’t ask me why, I don’t design the tests and I’m not a mage. I’m just a cat.”

“A talking cat.” Galia muttered. “That’s a bit weird.”

“Is it?” Douglas asked. “Hadn’t noticed. Your course of study will lead you through the three Circles of Apprenticeship. Once you have gain sufficient skill in those then you become a Journeyman of the Towers and may study whatever you wish, though the test is apparently quite good, and most Journeymen remain on their original path of study.”

“And what does the Tower of Changes do?” Galia inquired, politely.

“Uh, I’m guessing changing things? Again, not a mage, cat.” Douglas replied, testily.

They reached the bottom of the stairs and Douglas sat in the center of the large atrium at the heart of the tower. Galia looked up and saw the pale gray stone reaching up impossibly high above her, the spiral of the central stairway winding its way up its oddly smooth sides. The floor was tiled in a gray and white mosaic: Four four-pointed stars arrayed at the cardinal points around a white circle. It was the symbol of the Wizards of Osterlan, the greatest academy of mages in human lands. Sconces were placed at regular intervals around the atrium, giving off a soft white light. Directly across from the towering main doors stood an imposing statue. It was perhaps twelve feet tall, roughly carved out of white stone shot through with blue veins. The statue was in a humanoid shape, but without definite features or details. It stood with its hands clasped around a massive stone sword.

“Before I take you to meet the others you should meet Klos.” Douglas said, approaching the statue. “It will make things easier for you when you want to come back to your room.”

Galia followed the cat and stood before the statue and waited. “Is something supposed to happen?”

“Dammit.” Douglas sighed. “Klos! Wake up!”

A circle of blue light appeared on the statue’s forehead. The veins that traced through the rest of the statue began to glow in response. With the sound of stone grating on stone, the statue turned its head to regard Douglas and Galia.

“If Rathwin finds you napping on the job again he is not going to be pleased.” Douglas said, sternly.

The statue shrugged its massive shoulders in what looked like embarrassment.

“Yeah, yeah, take it up with the big man, I ain’t got time for your apologies.” Douglas said, waving a paw in dismissal. “Klos this is a new student, Galia Amneris.”

Klos, the statue, turned to look at Galia, then with agonizing slowness it began to kneel.

“Klos, we do not have time for you to get down and back up again.” Douglas chided.

The statue stopped, mid-kneel, again shrugging in embarrassment, and rose.

Douglas turned to Galia. “Klos is getting up there, I think he’s like three-hundred and something. Pretty sure the Master keeps him on for sentimental reasons. But if you crossed that threshold without being introduced, you’d still likely end up a red smear on the mosaic. He’s old, but tough.”

“Nice to meet you, Klos.” Galia said, dropping a slight curtsey.

Klos drew himself up fully and gave her a formal nod of acknowledgement.

“Well you just made his day.” Douglas muttered. “You know how many students just ignore him? He’s going to be your twelve-hundred pound puppy now.”

“My father always said that it never hurt to be polite.” Galia said, primly.

“We talking about the same Garrett Amneris here?” Douglas asked with a skeptical head-tilt.

“He may be more of a ‘do as I say, not as I do’ type of father.” Galia said with a shrug of her own.

“I’ll say, the man is an unholy terror when he’s in the towers, which isn’t that often, thank the gods.” Douglas said with a shudder. “Anyways we should get going, see you Klos.”

Galia turned to the massive statue, dropping another curtsey. “It really was nice to meet you, Klos.”

Klos’ circle of blue light dimmed then brightened, in a close approximation of a wink. On Klos it wasn’t nearly as insulting as it was on Anton. She winked back at the stone man and hurried to follow the cat.

***

Outside the Garden was much the same as it had been when Galia had first arrived, with the exception that it was now filled with people. Gardeners puttered about the lawns and flowerbeds, laborers moved with carts or tools, mages strolled the paths in conversation with one another, at least she guessed they were mages since they wore more flowing clothes like robes and caftans. She had heard that mages liked to do that, though her father had always preferred riding leathers and a sturdy cloak. M.ost of them did seem to be carrying the requisite staff of office. Mages and staves seemed to go hand and glove.

Douglas trotted down the wide marble staircase and onto the crushed stone pathway, leading her back out into the center of the Garden towards the fountain. This time the fountain was an ornate sculpture with the water moving and falling in ways never seen in nature. Water flowed up and formed into globes which then rained into the pool below, some jets flowed into a corkscrew pattern before finally falling into the pool, and still others emitted multicolored clouds of vapor which rose and gathered around the statuary, giving it the effect of resting on a bed of clouds.

In front of this impressive piece of aquatic art stood a small crowd of young men and women, a few part-blood elves, but almost all the others were humans. The elves had their own schools for magic in the south, somewhere deep in the Vanan Esain. The dwarvish practitioners never left Kundaraak, in fact it was rare to see a dwarf who did not have a merchant contract leaving their far northern strongholds. The other peoples of the world either had little talent for magic or were explicitly barred due to historic alliances with Draenos and the fallen Sorcerer Lords of the West.

Galia had let her mind wander to the point where she almost missed the four older figures with staves who were standing in front of the assembled apprentices. Three men and a woman, the men were all older—the youngest was likely in his mid-sixties—while the woman appeared to be barely in her middle-years. She was quite lovely, Galia thought, with a regal bearing and the kind of flawless beauty that drew the eye effortlessly. The men were almost slovenly in comparison, rumpled, unkempt, and with a distracted air. The woman nodded towards Galia as she approached, drawing her companions’ attention.

“Ah,” Said the young-ish looking old man. “I see Douglas has brought our last straggler, good. We can get this started.”

“Galia Amneris.” Douglas said. “Embraced by the Tower of Changes.”

“Really?” The woman said, blinking in surprise. “That’s…unexpected.”

“The towers embrace those best suited for them, Yvette.” The man said. “Not who certain parents wish they would.”

“He’s not going to be happy, Rathwin.” Yvette said with a smirk.

“I’m sure I can endure Garrett Amneris’ wroth the next time he visits. He was here for a whole three hours the last time he needed something from the library.” Rathwin snorted. “Welcome Apprentice Amneris, welcome to you all. I am Master Rathwin Ardris and these are my fellow Masters: Matthias Urbash.” Rathwin gestured to a small, portly man with a snowy white beard. “Geffyn Brackthwaite.” Rathwin continued, pointing at a stick-thin man whose thick glasses gave him a decidedly owlish demeanor. “And Master Yvette Horngrym.” He said, at last pointing to the younger woman, who nodded at the assembled apprentices.

“I am sure you must have many questions as many of you come from gifted families and I am sure you were not prepared for your tests.” Rathwin continued, with a hint of a smile.

“I’ll say!” A voice grumbled from the assembled apprentices. “Statues coming to life and trying to beat me bloody is not what anyone told me to prepare for!” Galia recognized that haughty voice and turned to look, sure enough it was Anton. The young man was notably disheveled, his well-tailored jacket was torn and there was a sizeable bruise blossoming on his right temple.

“You were not prepared because your parents and siblings were not allowed to prepare you.” Rathwin said, giving Anton a stern look. “There are many secrets that you will learn here, and that you will be expected to keep. Believe me when I say we have many ways of making sure that you take your secrets to the grave.”

Anton scowled but said no more.

“The tests are designed to place you in a course of study best suited to your innate skills, the ones you lean on when placed in a stressful environment. The four Towers are each aligned with the four Great Schools of Magic: Creation, Destruction, Spirit, and Change. You will learn magic from all four disciplines, but your concentration during your apprenticeship will be to the School of your Tower. Apprentices in Creation are assigned to Master Matthias, Spirit to Master Geffyn, Destruction to Master Yvette.” Rathwin instructed. “And finally, those in the Tower of Changes will study primarily under myself. Now, students go and find your Masters, the day is wasting, and we still have much to do.”

The small knot of apprentices began to break up. Galia noticed that Anton approached Master Yvette with a smug smile on his face. Other groups began to form around the remaining Masters. Galia moved to stand by Master Rathwin along with two others. One was a frizzy-haired skinny girl with overlarge eyes, the other a smaller boy with light brown skin a few shades lighter than hers and a mop of unruly black hair. Douglas also seemed to follow them to stand by Master Rathwin.

“Three this year.” The cat said with mock-awe. “We’ll have to open another floor of the Tower if this keeps up.”

“Don’t you have mice to chase or something?” Rathwin grumbled.

“Klos keeps catching them and putting them outside.” Douglas muttered with a hint of irritation.

Rathwin turned from the cat and looked over his new students. “You may have noticed that our cohort is a bit smaller than the others.” Galia turned and looked at the knots of other apprentices. The smallest group was twice their size. “But do not let that give you some notion that Changes is a weak or dying art. It is not; Changes is, however, quite selective in what candidates it chooses. Keep that in mind when working with the other apprentices, you were chosen for this path, they were not.”

Galia blinked in surprise. “Are you telling us to hide things from the other apprentices?”

Rathwin turned a baleful eye on her. “Apprentice Amneris, I’m telling you to hide things from everyone. Wizards are secretive, spiteful, and downright nasty to work with. Why? Because the more I learn about your power, the better I can counter it and build upon it with my own. Back in the days after Malconia fell, wizards would hole up in towers in hidden places, hoarding magic, knowledge, and power. In time wizards began to fight over whatever scraps of power they found. It became a very deadly time.”

“The Tower Wars!” Exclaimed the skinny girl, a bit breathlessly.

“Precisely.” Rathwin nodded. “And the great Towers of Wizardry eventually were created to mitigate those events. The Towers exist as a kind of buffer to those instincts. We learn enough here to maintain a balance in the disiciplines, but there is still a very definite…let’s say rivalry between the various towers? A subject which we will go into in some length in the future. But for now, I’m telling you to keep your knowledge close. “

Anton’s offer to help Galia with her studies took on another dimension now. Did he know about this facet of magical life? He hadn’t struck her as smart enough to take that tack, odds were that he was just a bore looking for a naive victim to impress and take advantage of.

“For now, get settled and get to know the Towers a bit.” Rathwin said. “Douglas will help you learn your way around—”

“I will?” Douglas paused in licking one paw to regard the wizard with an arch look.

“You will.” Rathwin countered. “Give them the basic tour, make sure they know where to go to get their meals, where to gather for classes, all that sort of thing. Now if you all will excuse me; I have many things to attend to.”

With that Rathwin strolled back towards the tower, not looking back, long powerful strides designed to get him as far away from the apprentices as quickly as possible. Douglas watched him go and then shook his small, furry head. “There he goes, and likely the last time you will see him this year.”

“I thought he was responsible for our training?” Galia asked, shocked.

“Oh yes, but there are a variety of Journeyman mages that will take on that duty.” Douglas sniffed. “Teaching you lot basic spellcraft is well below our vaunted Master’s duties. Oh, don’t get that look, you’ll get trained, just not by the old cranky man.”

Galia looked up, startled, to see the crestfallen looks on the other two apprentices faces. The skinny girl looked truly frightened, and the smaller boy looked as though he were about to cry at any moment. Galia had had some preparation for the ways wizards worked. Her father and Galyn were often secretive, rarely sharing anything with the rest of the family. Galyn had showed her a few things but had more relied on clarifying concepts she learned from Meridraste’s Elementary Spell-Work than truly teaching her from the ground up. From the looks of things these two were not from the direct lineage wizard families, maybe offshoots or possibly even new blood.

Well, since I don’t know anything yet, it doesn’t hurt to be nice. Galia thought and approached the other two apprentices. “I suppose we’ll be working together. I’m Galia.” She said and plastered what she hoped was a friendly smile on her face.

The skinny girl’s face shifted from fright to a bright smile. “Oh goodness, where are my manners. It’s a pleasure to meet you! My name is Odesmeh Rayn, but you can call me Odd, everyone does, dunno why.”

“Odd.” Galia nodded, noting that the girl lit up when she called her that. She turned to the boy. “And you?”

“UIi.” The boy said, softly, not meeting Galia’s eyes.

“UIi and Odd.” Galia said, sighing. “Well that’s simple.”

Odd erupted into a braying laugh that made Uli jump, like a skittish horse. “It’s funny because our names are simple, easy to remember. That’s a good one.”

Galia gave her a nod and a smile. What have I gotten myself into? She turned and unintentionally looked over at the group for the Tower of Destruction. Master Yvette had stopped speaking and every eye had turned to look at the Changes group. Anton had another smirk on his face. Galia turned back to the others quickly. “Ah, yes, umm…Douglas! Master Rathwin told you to give us a tour, right?”

Douglas had begun to bathe his tail and studiously ignored her question.

“Douglas!” Galia said sharply.

The cat looked up with barely concealed disdain. “Very well, follow me. Though it’s going to be short, there aren’t a lot of places you’re allowed to go to yet.” Douglas began walking, not waiting for the apprentices to follow.

Galia began following, but then looked back and noticed that Uli and Odd hadn’t moved. These were supposed to be the few wizards that she trusted? Not for the first time she wished that Galyn were there, she had so many questions, and was not at all sure about her situation at the Towers. She beckoned to Uli and Odd. Uli jumped and trotted to catch up, Odd stood there for a minute longer then comprehension dawned, and she got a big grin and followed.

“Sorry, I wasn’t sure if the cat was yours and so it was a personal tour and if we had to get our own cats to give us tours. It’s been a crazy day.” Odd said, shaking her head.

“It has.” Galia agreed. “Though Douglas isn’t my cat. I don’t know who he belongs to.”

“I don’t belong to anyone.” Douglas said over his shoulder. “I am a familiar of the Tower of Changes, it is my home and I look after it, I report to Master Rathwin.”

“Ah, that makes sense.” Odd said, nodding as though this was the most obvious thing in the world. It didn’t, and it wasn’t, at least from Galia’s point of view.

“The first thing you notice about the Towers of Osterlan is, of course, the Towers.” Douglas began in sarcastic drone. “The four primary towers are located at the cardinal points of the Master’s Garden. You have all be introduced to Klos so you now have free access to the Tower of Changes. Do not enter the other towers without invitation and an escort. The other towers have their protections in place as well, you’d do well to remember that.”

Douglas indicated the four towers with flicks of his tail. Galia noticed that the small groups of apprentices were beginning to head back towards their towers with the Masters at the head of the groups. “Were we supposed to have some sort of class with Master Rathwin, like the others?”

“Hmmm? Oh no, each of the other Towers hosts a welcome banquet for the new apprentices, the other Towers like to foster a sense of community. Rathwin thinks that’s a waste of time.” Douglas said.

“We won’t have to work with the other apprentices?” Uli asked in a soft voice, with a hint of relief.

“No, you’ll be seeing them regularly, there’s still too many of you to teach one on one, master and apprentice like the old days.” Douglas replied. “But fraternization isn’t encouraged. You’ll be learning Destruction magic with Master Yvette, but you can be guaranteed she’s saving the good stuff for the apprentices in her Tower.

“Makes sense if you have an adversarial system, like they’re apparently building here.” Odd nodded. “Especially since anyone could be a Nathralan spy.”

“A what?” Galia asked, Odd seemed to have whole conversations in her head and then spit out the end.

“A spy, from the Towers of Nathralan, you know the one in Draenos.” Odd said, matter-of-factly.

“It’s not exactly something we advertise.” Douglas said, as though the admission left a bitter taste in his mouth.

“What’s a Nathralan?” Uli asked, looking very concerned.

“Towers dedicated to Sorcery and Demonology and the like.” Odd shrugged. “It’s one of the three lost schools of Old Malconia. Which is kind of a misnomer since we know about Nathralan, and Sothralan is thought to be where the elves train their wizards. Though Vastralan is actually lost-lost, like no one knows where it is other than ‘out west somewhere’, which since out west is beyond the Shield Mountains and nobody goes beyond the Shield Mountains it’s kinda a moot point.”

“Also.” Douglas said, turning a baleful stare at Odd. “Not something we talk about, especially out in the open, where anyone can hear us talking about Sorcerers and spies, understand?”

“Oh yes.” Odd said, nodding emphatically. “You have to make sure that sort of thing is not discussed in the open.”

Douglas blinked while Odd smiled at him placidly. With a shake of his head, the cat continued. “Anyways, before I was interrupted. The smaller towers house most of our laboratories and practice rooms. You will be assigned them as classes dictate. That building over there.” Douglas indicated a small building, much in the style of a keep. “Is where the Paladins of Rasander live and train. The holy warriors of the Wanderer are sometimes called upon to protect wizards when we must go out into the world. When they are here, they are often pretty cranky, so I’d avoid them if you can.”

Galia looked over at the spartan structure. It was a square block of stone, about three stories in height with narrow windows on the second and third floors. A heavy wooden door stood open and men and women were gathered in the yard in front of it. Most were stripped to the waist or wore light shirts, all seemed soaked in sweat while they hammered each other with swords and shields. One, a tall, broad-shouldered woman with short-cropped dark hair, was taking on two opponents at once. Galia watched in fascination as she lifted one opponent off his feet with her shield, throwing him several feet across the yard, then whipped around to batter the second’s shield away and land a ‘killing’ blow across his chest. She stood over her opponent, panting, as he slowly recovered. The paladin looked up and noticed Galia staring, cocking her head in curiosity. Galia looked away quickly, feeling a bit of heat in her cheeks, she hadn’t been staring, she just had never really watched combat before and it was interesting.

The group had drifted further down the path and Galia turned to catch up as Douglas stopped in front of another building, a rambling affair with several outbuildings, smoke belching from chimneys, emitting strange smells from deep within. “This is where we keep the artificers. Do not talk to them, do not feed them or they will follow you home like a bad case of fleas. They are very strange and are doing things with magic that are…just not natural. Unfortunately, they also oversee the library.” Douglas flicked his tail at the largest and best maintained of the buildings. “Enter at your own risk, apprentices.”

Odd gave the buildings a longing look as they continued along the path. “I heard they were beginning to replicate artifacts from the Age of Heroes.”

“Don’t believe everything you hear.” Douglas muttered. “They succeeded in building a Peacekeeper, but it went berserk and Rathwin and the paladins had to put it down. Could have caused some major damage if they hadn’t been there.”

Odd looked thoughtful but said no more. They arrived at a stone slab with a series of circles inscribed upon it, rune-carved standing stones stood at the four corners, and a thick chain circled the whole affair. “This, for those who don’t know.” Douglas said. “Is the summoning circle. It is not to be used, under any circumstances by apprentices. Is that clear?”

Galia began to nod, but she stopped, looking at Douglas. His fur had begun to stand on end, within moments he looked like a calico puffball. “Is something wrong?”

“No, of course not, why—” Douglas began, but he was interrupted by a bright flash of light and the sound of the universe being torn asunder.

A ring of blue-white fire erupted in the center of the summoning circle and widened to about five feet across, the center was a swirling void of light and roaring sound. Galia clapped her hands to her ears and saw Odd and Uli doing the same. Three shapes materialized in the circle, walking out of the ring of fire. One staggered, but righted themselves, the other two strolled out as if it were the most natural thing in the world. A moment later the ring contracted and disappeared, taking the roar and the lightshow with it. In its place stood two men and a woman. The woman was a full-blood elf, one could tell from her unearthly beauty and sharp features as well as the soft blue glow that her eyes emitted, she carried a longbow and wore the traditional leathers of a ranger of Vanan Esain. Beside her, the man who had stumbled, was a broad and heavily muscled paladin of Rasander, his breastplate bore the Wanderer’s sigil of the Traveler’s star above a lonely mountain. Leading this motley group was a tall dark-skinned man in his early twenties, staff gripped in one hand, he was dressed in a mix of leather and cloth and carried himself with an easy confidence.

“Still giving the first day tour, Douglas?” The young man asked with an easy grin.

“That was an unscheduled transit.” Douglas growled. “You know the rules, you could have killed someone!”

“I scryed the location first. The chances of transit interruption were minimal.” The young man waved off Douglas’ concerns, then strode forward and locked eyes on Galia. “I was hoping that I would be back in time for my sister’s first day.”