Crux [SOLO]

[Sage]

“Not an official name, no” the wizard answered. “But I like to call it my tower of sanctuary regardless”

How fitting, he thought. With those perception spells and the ability to move such a large construct over a large distance, it was a wonder how anyone was expected to be able to keep track of him. The man may as well be living in the furthest reaches of the outlands, able to be in Corone for breakfast and Alerar for supper should the mood take him.

The world was literally his oyster.

Then he turned toward him, a slight crinkle in his wrinkled cheeks as he asked “Would you like to have a go?”

What?

Sage wondered if he had heard the wizard correctly. Surely he had not asked him if he had wanted to have a go at…

The tower!

Sage barely managed to keep his enthusiasm in check, his eyes sparkled at the mere prospect of being invited to have a go at controlling a magical construct like the tower. It also made him realise something else that the wizard had left unspoken. “Does this mean you will be taking me on as an apprentice?”

Holding up his hands and shaking his head, Victor spoke like he was loath to admit it “Maybe not full time apprentice, no”

Sage felt his spirits dampen at the less than optimal outcome, but the invitation was still there, and the smile on his face was absolutely radiant. “But I certainly don’t mind showing you a thing or two” The wizard openly admitted, to which Sage rewarded him with a cheeky grin of his own. “I see how it is!”

Then with a clap of his hands, both the wizard and the bookworm stepped back into the tower away from the heat of the Fallien desert. “Right” Friedman said stepping into the centre of the room “Now to teleport the tower you need to be aware of the limitations” he declared with a loud and clear voice, leading Sage to have no doubts that this was the first lesson he would receive.

The first one of many, if he dared to hope.

“Where can the tower not go to?” the elderly teacher asked abruptly, and the answer was on Sage's lips like a reflex “Somewhere where something occupies the same space as the destination?”

“Correct”

Then the wizard began to idly wander around the room, circling his new part time student. “Next are the limitations on how many times the tower can be moved. It only has a finite reserve of power, so no more than four times a day.” There was a limit? No, of cause there would be. If the tower was truly capable of going anywhere in the blink of an eye without limit then there would have to be some source of power that the tower would have to draw from. If it did, then it would have stood out like a lighthouse to anyone sensitive to magic, and then those perception spells would only work for so long before people would start to notice.

But questions about its source of power could come at a later date. Victor was already instructing him about the final point of interest about the mechanics of the towers ability to teleport. “Just being inside the tower is enough to be able to interact with the spell matrix that binds all of the enchantments together” He stopped and held his hand out to the centre of the room. Magic flared as a circle woven from light began to form with runes glowing earnestly on the floor

“This particular spell is the the perception filter around the door” Sage watched with interest as more runes began to form along the perimeter of the circle. “There. Now I have added you to the spells filter, now you will no longer have any trouble finding the door” the wizard snickered at the trouble Sage must have gone through. But the boy spared no attention to the teasing remark, instead he was piercingly scrutinizing the runes that made up that particular spell.

“If that is just for a single spell, then how many in total are there?” He asked burning with curiosity. Victor seemed to consider something for a moment and then made a movement with his arms, as though throwing open a closed window. More magic circles began to form above and below the perception spell, each one branching off into a multitude of other runes that reached up to the ceiling and spread along the floor. Sage was startled as some of the magic circles he was looking at began to spread out further across the room, with additional spells becoming overlaid atop of others. Within seconds the entire room was flooded with spells that made up the heart and soul of the tower, each rune symbolizing a key feature that had been woven into it's very structure.

If he squinted, and tilted his head a certain way, he could almost make out what one of the circles was actually for. Something, something rapid abort, direct mana too…

What?

Speechless, he knew that he was looking at years and years of history, each spell was unique, integrated by different people and carefully added so that every spell caused no conflicts. Everything from how the tower gathered energy, to how it constantly fuelled its other spells and failsafe’s had been considered and respectfully applied so as not to deface the spells that had come before.