Once again, we had left the outside world behind. With our retreat cut off, there was only one way to go. Before us stretched a long corridor, its appearance unlike anything we had seen in the other towers. Although they had all been different in design, each had appeared clean and modern in its own way. While some interiors had been painted in bright, inviting colors, others had appeared in stylish monochrome.

However, now we were confronted by grimy, black machines, with nothing but a dim shine from the lamps above to illuminate them. Strange tubes, pipes and cables ran along the walls and connected the pumping, beeping and glowing mechanisms. All of this sat there exposed, with no walls or grates as protection. Or at least Sophie must have seen it that way. I on the other hand could sense the magic barriers around the brutalist machinery, an invincible shell to shield it from any intrusion.

“Why would a school look like a machine shop?” Sophie whispered. When she stretched her hand towards a pipe, her fingers bumped into the invisible walls and shied back.

“Guess that's one more thing we'll need to find out,” I replied.

In truth, I also couldn’t explain the sight. These machines might have been here to run the tower's facilities, but after our experiences so far, it seemed unlikely. After all, any systems within the other towers had been powered through the stone slabs, with only the personal mana of the mages. There was no need for complex machinery or long cables to support them. Instead, mages would be their own personal battery and any arrays or circuits were local.

Instead of the more modern image of the other towers, our surroundings reminded me of old pictures from the industrial age. Pistons chugged away and strange liquids bubbled through the pipes, so wholly different from how I had expected a mage's tower to look.

“So where to now?”

Sophie looked down the long corridors before she answered her own question and just started to walk off. Since I myself had no idea about our location or goal, there was no reason to fight the stubborn girl on this. Only a few corners later, I would regret my decision.

“So where to now?” I asked my guide in a chipper voice.

“Oh don't start. How could I have known how big this place is?”

“No, no. I'm not blaming you. Surely, we'll have reached the academy any minute now, right? I put my complete trust in you.”

Silenced by my genius, the girl decided to ignore my fantastic quips and kept walking instead. At last she had realized that she could never defeat me in a battle of wits. Happy with my pointless victory, I hurried after her.

Once again, my companion had marched off with no regard for her fellow man. Even so, I had to guarantee that she remained inside my light barrier, so I had to stay close. When I hurried around the corner she had just disappeared past, I bumped right into her backside.

“Ah, sorry.” After an awkward second of silence, I mumbled an apology while my cheeks turned to fire. Despite my fluster, Sophie still ignored me.

At last I looked over her shoulder and saw what had distracted her so much: We had found the gateway between the machinations of the tower's bowels and its beautiful outer facade. Another row of strange, unknowable machinery led to a spotless, snow-white door.

“See, I told you so,” Sophie said without even turning to face me.

Nonetheless, in her voice I could hear that smugness had conquered her face. With long steps, my impatient companion marched to the exit, out of the eerie atmosphere, back into the light. Before I could do anything, she had already rushed straight through the door.

Careless!

As if frozen in time, my ward stood still, her hand still on the open door’s handle. Her enlarged eyes stared down at her fingers. For once, even Sophie realized her own mistakes.

“Yeah, the door's safe. No magic seals and there are no guards right behind it either.” This time, my voice was no less sarcastic than her usual tone.

“...I knew that,” Sophie answered as her face flushed with some rare color.

A simple grin from me was enough to break the girl's composure, until she gave up on defending the indefensible and went outside. As she walked off, I realized my own lack of composure, my childishness. Why would I joke around like this? We would have to be careful, both of us, unless we wanted to get caught. We wouldn't be this lucky every time.

Beyond the door, a short hallway of white greeted us, capped off by another door on its end. This time without words, we marched over and Sophie waited for me to open the gate. On the other side we finally found what I had expected on day one: A true magic academy, like the ones I had seen in my dreams.

Along the white, luminescent pathways, young students ran around with books under their arms. Others lazed around in the lush green grass to the side. Through the seamless glass ceiling, the sun illuminated the entire room. To our right we found a large, sealed door. Somehow, it looked like the kind of door to lead us deeper into the tower. However, the familiar glyphs around its frame told me that entry wouldn't be easy, so my focus returned to the last magic academy of Astralis.

This place was a foyer or plaza I assumed, connecting tissue between the organs of the academy, while the students were the lifeblood that ran through them. To me, the long-awaited sight had an unexpected, uncanny quality.

Not only had I spent the last few days in the silent desolation of the other towers, so different from the vibrant atmosphere we found ourselves in now, but I was also unused to so much activity. After all, the outer city's streets were almost always deserted. With basic amenities guaranteed and the wonders of the Aether at our fingertips, everyone had retreated into the privacy of their homes and left the streets and parks to the guards and birds.

As I thought about my old home, a teacher with a straight back and imperious look strode along the pathways, greeted by the students. Once I saw him, that familiar strangeness from the machine shop returned to me. Just like all the students, he was surrounded by a magic barrier. Unlike the students however, his was not one shaped to conserve mana or stabilize his body. Instead, the shape seemed designed to trick the light, similar to my own. Inside the teacher’s barrier, I sensed nothing. No matter his outer appearance, this teacher was a fake. Only a thin shell of illusory flesh veiled the truth.

And yet, the students didn't take note. Since they had already deployed their own barriers, they were mages and should discover the fake teacher's charade right away. Even so, they treated the apparition like a real person.

Maybe for them, a strange sight like this was normal, just another day among the wonders of the tower. However, a pinch in the back of my head told me they weren't aware of their teacher's nature.

Soon I realized another problem: Like the human husk had done before us, we could march through the plaza without notice. Somehow, the students around us failed to sense my light barrier, just like the red guards had. If they couldn't even sense my amateurish attempt at disguise, they wouldn't see through their teacher either. Still, we hadn't found any of the horrors the Mystic had talked about. Since the students seemed in good health, I was hopeful to find Eileen safe and sound, and soon. In order to investigate the rest of the tower for her location, I grabbed Sophie's sleeve and pointed her in the direction of a nearby stairwell.

As much as we enjoyed our mutual banter, we both remained silent for once. My noise-canceling barrier still wasn't perfect after all. Sophie's nod confirmed her understanding, and so we made our way over to the steps. Maybe somewhere in the dorms or libraries we would find my sister and put an end to the mysteries.

A burst of unnatural light put a sudden halt to our plans. To our left, another large, white door slid to the sides and revealed a hen and her chicks. Huddled around one of the red guards were a dozen or so children. Although I say ‘children’, calling them teenagers would have been much more appropriate, for they had just become adults.

Through the front door entered the first batch of this year's assessed students. They were the special ones, the aspiring mages. After successful assessment, students were given the choice to stay behind for one final day, to say goodbye to family and friends. However, every year there would be a few who would rather enter the towers early.

Some of them were habitual overachievers, the ones who thought that a single day’s advantage would be crucial. Others didn't have family of their own, or at least no family they would ever want to meet again, happy to escape the life of the outer city.

My chest tightened when I made the connection between my thought and the girl among that collection of young hopefuls. Right there, a bit to the left and a bit out of focus, in an attempt to make herself invisible, stood a small woman. Although she was already eighteen, her thin frame and demure attitude made her seem much younger. Still in her phase, black t-shirt, black hair and all, there stood my little sister Amy.

My soul left my body and froze me in place.

How could this be? How could Amy be a mage as well?

In my shock, I didn't even notice Sophie's impatient and confused look. Finally, my companion solved my paralysis with a tap on my shoulder. Through a watery film, I saw Sophie's snarl turn into a worried frown.

Without a sound, she mouthed 'what happened?’, but I remained silent. How could I answer when I couldn't comprehend my own feelings? Was I happy to see my sister again, alive and healthy? Relieved that she could no longer become the target of Lester's gang? Did I feel guilty that Amy had left for the towers all by herself, the first chance she got? Sad that she would be resigned to never seeing me again? Or fearful that the towers might not be as they seemed, darkness lurking behind the veil, waiting for a chance to do her harm?

I didn't know, but it wouldn't matter. For now, I just wanted to keep up with Amy and make sure that she was safe. Thus we sneaked over to the entrance. Just in time, we heard the tail-end of the fake teacher's announcement.

“And thus, study, learn, improve and soon you will be a part of the circle of great mages. For honor and glory of the human race; and for everlasting progress and prosperity.”

Although the simulacrum's sonorous tone reinforced its impassioned speech, my knowledge of its true nature only stacked my unease, to weigh down my mind. With a frown, I observed as the youngsters received the introductory tour of their new home. Silent, we followed along. After all, we had wanted to explore the place anyways. A guided tour would be just right to get the lay of the land.