The Tower of Emnu

Melissa Grand stood stiffly in the Town-hall of the Town of Beginnings, while the Mayor screamed and raged at his subordinates, which sadly included her.

“You incompetent, thrice cursed fools. How could you let him escape?! Don’t you know what he is? If we give a Cultivator time to mature, he will massacre all of us. “

Aurix was surrounded by a shimmering blue orb of light, a shield so high ranking Melissa had no idea what it was even based on. Water or Light maybe? It did not matter, from the magical signature alone she could feel how potent and how powerful Aurix must be to not just conjure but sustain a shield of that potency ever since they had found the cultivator.

The thought of the cultivator made Melissa’s throat dry, made her shiver in fear, disgust and… No, only disgust and fury. She had no place for any other emotions. He had killed Thorgen, had killed her team. She could not feel gratitude to him for saving her life. She would never, ever allow herself to feel that. It had been his fault she had been dying to begin with!

Her fury must have shown on her face, because Aurix gave her a furious gaze and Melissa quickly lowered her eyes and shrank back from Aurix challenge. He continued to curse and bellow as he berated every single team leader in the Town. The girl next to her, the newbie Ranger Lisa looked even more intimidated, she looked scared. Gently Melissa squeezed her hand and Lisa's tensed shoulders relaxed a bit.

They had stuck together ever since they had been found and Melissa felt a sort of kinship to the young woman.

Like a little sister, she never had in this or her previous life.

Lisa had held her, after she had found Thorgen, had consoled her and she had told Melissa about herself, told her everything in the end, every little bit, even that she had been terminally ill back on earth. Melissa kept her thoughts about the matter to herself, because there was a small caveat to the young woman's story. Every single Aspirant summoned from Earth had a violent death of some kind, had been murdered or had been in a fatal accident of some kind.

Melissa herself had been here in the Tower of Emnu for 8 months now and she had not heard of a single Vessel or mage who had not died violently somehow. She herself had died in a car-crash back on earth. Sometimes she dreamt of the car crash, the sudden hit to her side, the whirl of movement, pain and how her whole face was perforated with glass. But she always woke up at that point. Rarely she had to relive the agony of laying in the wreck of her car dying.

She shook off the dark thoughts and focused on Aurix and the other team captains. They were all mages, without an exception. There were not many mages from Earth like her either and the vast majority had come either from one of the other 2 worlds that were "alligned" with the Tower or had been Towerborn.

All in all there weren’t even 10 Earth mages and she knew most of them. Earthers tended to stick together, wax about movies or places they would never see again.

Melissa had never liked that sort of nostalgia, she had rather trained in the time where others wasted away.

She had learned martial arts as a kid from her dad, who had been a big fan of discipline and she was eternally grateful to him ever since. She had never taken any shit from anyone and if someone came her dump she had more than once thrown them on the ground with a nice Judo throw. She had never been afraid in her old life, had never been terrified before.

Until she had come here. The Tower was brutal and every level besides this one was more challenging and terrifying to progress through than the last. She had so looked forward to challenging the tower, when she had arrived, to learn real magic, to become as powerful as the tower’s creator. But nothing had gone to plan. Progression for Mages was all about comprehension of magical phenomena, more esoteric and philosophical than anything she had ever seen or heard.

And magic had depth, every single spell formula hid so many nuances and variations in its depths that it took years to master them and even then, the magical potency of the spell depended on how much magic you had and could channel through the spell form. Melissa, like every single Earther, had a pitiful natural mana reserves. Growing it was only possible by casting to exhaustion and refilling it with the plentiful mana all around them. Melissa had trained every day for the last 6 months to improve and had barely caught up to the mages born here in the tower or those who came from other dimensions where magic was a common occurrence.

All in all she had a fairly sizeable mana pool for the short time she had been here, but one could not speed up comprehension. That depended on good teachers, understandable textbooks and in the end personal talent. Melissa had been an engineer in her last life and could not comprehend magic at all at first. Now she had gotten some pretty good glimpses into the inner workings of mana, but in the end she was barely a novice.

Aurix on the other hand must be 20 years her senior and with comprehension that lacked any equals on this level of the tower. He was the most powerful mage in the town and as such its de facto leader, no matter what.

But he was not the most intimidating man in the room. That was without a doubt Commander Thresius. The man stood two foot taller than anyone else in the room, his gleaming plate armor decorated with intricate spell forms and he gave off a rolling wave of power unlike anything Melissa had ever felt before in her life. He was regal might personified and his square face was impassive. His short cropped hair dark and his icy blue eyes bored.

Melissa had no idea what level he was, or what class he had, but he was a Vessel for sure. He was so powerful she was sure he would have to climb half the tower to find his match. He commanded the Army base that spanned almost a quarter of the city and took care of the training for anyone who looked for it. People could also join his organization, Emnu’s Army, the actual force that fought against Emnu’s enemies beyond the tower. Those who chose to do so were trained even harder than anyone else, their groups were predetermined and their skill paths set to whatever their superiors felt was needed at the front lines.

Joining the Army meant giving away your freedom and then climbing the tower like there was no tomorrow. But it was not necessarily any safer. The tower tended to test anyone to their breaking points and beyond. Melissa had never guessed her breaking point would be to hunt and capture a newbie cultivator.

They had not even wanted to kill him. But… No, she could not think about that right now.

Aurix was slowly running out of steam and cleared his throat after he had taken a big swig out of a wine jar.

He glanced toward Thresius and instead of the harsh bellow his whole demeanor changed, he was all smiles now and asked with a sickly sweet tone:

“Commander Thersius, your prowess is legendary, you see how low the level of the teams in the Town of Beginnings has fallen. Maybe a demonstration of your might would help motivate people and calm things down. I hear you come from the 50th floor…”

Thersius cut Aurix off with a grunt and stared down at the fat man with obvious disgust.

“The Army welcomes cultivators in our ranks and we have always been a neutral party in any conflict being fought in the tower. I will neither help nor hinder your manhunt, as futile and short-sighted as I find it personally.”

Aurix flushed crimson and was about to shout back a retort when he caught himself and smiled and bowed as if the commander had complimented him.

“Of course this is far beneath you. But this cultivator is a killer, he murdered that young mages entire team after taking a hostage. Your utmost concern is the training and fostering of new blood for the front lines yes?

I know cultivators like him, they will not cease to murder until they are caught and brought to justice. Think of the many dozens, nay hundreds he will kill without a tiny bit of aid on your part.”

“No.” Thersius shook his head.

“We never needed numbers for the army. We need champions. Go ahead and hunt this cultivator as you please, he might prove a useful whetstone for the rest of the Aspirants. Or he kills them all and I get my champion that way. I could not care less.

If that was all, I’ll take my leave?”

Aurix froze, stuttered and scraped before the tall soldier.

“C-Commander, his very nature is wicked, every cultivator in my lifetime has been. Aramir the Corpse-eater, Hiksek the Slaughterer, not to speak of the Ghostblade, who only died last year and released Ambition of her perfidious clutches.

It might not be a concern to you who comes from the upper levels, but for us who are tasked with keeping the peace in the lower levels, cultivators are monsters to be hunted. Their total death toll is in the thousands, maybe tens of thousands. Aramir was killed by the Army itself if you recall. There is precedent for intervention. All I ask is that you consider…”

“No.” Thersius said and walked past Aurix without another word or looking back.

Aurix stood there for a long moment after the man had left and then cursed under his breath. Then he turned to the still waiting team captains, who stood around awkwardly, trying desperately not to show any facial expression at all.

“You have 3 days to get your teams in order, then we will sweep the first level and purge this evil from our home.”

The team captains were silent, looking at each other until one of them spoke up.

“But sir, he already managed to ambush one team…”

“So what?!” Aurix thundered.

“We will simply have you move around in double groups, at least 10 each. Or do you think he can take 10 vessels and mages after he just walked out from under the symbols?” the Mayor sneered and stared the team captains down.

“Let it be known that there is a bounty on the cultivators head. The team that manages the killing blow will earn 20 manastones for each person in the team.”

That finally got the attention of the group and they muttered to each other. But Aurix gestured them away.

“Well, go along, prepare, the morning of the third day we set out. Go.”

The team captains started to leave the hall and Melissa pulled Lisa with her after them, but Aurix spotted them and said:

“Not you two. I still have some questions.”

Melissa shivered internally at the look the man gave her and Lisa, but she bowed slightly and stopped. When the rest of the people had left the hall Aurix started to pace up and down for a minute or so before he called:

“Rowan.”

“Yes, sir?” The captain of the Town guard, their police force and Aurix personal army answered and bowed.

“There is a group coming down from Ambition today to escort one of the crafters up, right?”

“Yes, sir, one of the weavers became a journeyman a week ago.” Aurix nodded satisfied and smirked a sly smile.

“I want you to catch that group and bring them here. I have an offer for them that will be very lucrative.”

Rowan bowed and left Melissa, Lisa and Aurix alone in the expansive Town Hall. The fat man studied the two women for a moment, before he sauntered over to a nearby table and filled a silver goblet with wine. Then sipping the wine he closed in on them and Melissa could for the first time really see how massive the man was. His fat rolls were overabundant and his thick lips and bushy eyebrows as well as his slightly flushed skin made him look like a giant red toad waddling up to them.

“Both of you survived the encounter with the Cultivator.” Aurix said and studied both of them from head to toe. His eyes lingered on Melissa’s hips and bust a moment too long and she unconsciously crossed her arms over her chest.

Aurix gaze flicked up instantly and he asked sharply while staring her down:

“How did you survive?”

Melissa felt her hand go up to the thin discolored line on her throat, but she stopped herself and cleared her throat before speaking.

“I was lucky. He thought I was dead and I...I managed to drink a potion in time and keep myself alive with my ice magic.” Lying felt easy to Melissa, the lie so much easier to explain than the look in the mans eyes as he considered killing her. His blade under her chin. The sharp tip piercing her skin. She remembered how she had begged him to let her live and it made her sick. She swallowed hard, trying to keep the bile down.

Aurix did not seem satisfied with her answer at all and he suspiciously studied her, but then he turned and studied Lisa instead.

“What about you? He kidnapped you, yes? Why did he keep you alive?” he asked her and the young woman flinched and opened and closed her mouth a couple of times before she looked to the floor.

“He...he used me as bait. To...to draw people to him. To kill them.” her Adam’s apple bobbed as she swallowed and she shuddered slightly, before she continued.

“There...there was nothing I could do. I did not know…”

Lisa started to sob and Melissa could see how Aurix entire attention was on the young Ranger now. How his eyes devoured her, his look was even more predatory now and then he reached out. His hand phased through the bubble shield and he caressed Lisas chin, lifting her gaze until she looked up, her eyes filled with tears.

“Maybe...he fancied you. Such a pretty young thing like you.” Aurix said in a tone of utmost sympathy that made Melissa sick.

She could not help herself and cleared her throat, making Aurix hand snap back.

“I don’t believe so, sir. He could have taken her with him after all.” Melissa could see how Lisa’s eyes widened in fear, she probably had not realized that and it hurt Melissa to say anything that could traumatize the woman even further. But Aurix at least seemed satisfied by the answer, although he seemed a bit irritated by her interrupting them.

“I see, I see…I still feel like you could tell me a lot about this vile cultivator my dear.” he said sweetly to Lisa.

“How about you stay for dinner? It is the least I can do for your troubles.”

“I am afraid that she is still too shook up to be good entertainment and as her captain, it would pain me to leave her with you in such a state.” Melissa said quickly, her spine tingling, the hair on the back of her neck standing. She hated creeps like Aurix. She had been warned about him, but Lisa had no idea. Aurix had a reputation of having pretty women over for "dinner" to entertain him, if they wanted to or not. He usually left his fingers from Mages, but Melissa was beautiful and so she had been warned of the mayor and his invitations in her first week.

Aurix studied her for a long moment and Melissa was sure he was about to insist on Lisa staying, but then the door to the Town Hall opened and Rowan entered with a whole team of Aspirants in tow. Aurix gave the group one look and then nodded towards Melissa.

“Very well, another time then…” he said and dismissed them with a wave.

Melissa quickly took Lisa by the arm and guided her past the team out of the Town Hall. She only looked at them in passing, but their gear and demeanor made it clear they were all at a much higher level than any of the teams that had not been to Ambition yet.

Especially their Mage, a tall man who was covered in short blades tugged into dozens of leather sheathes on his leather armor and who was surrounded by spell forms. She could feel that mans power roll off him as well, but it was a far cry from Aurix. She nodded to the senior mage in passing and then quickly left with Lisa in tow.

Only once they both had left the Town Hall, Melissa released the breath she had been holding and Lisa’s shoulders sagged a bit.

“That… that was scary.” she said quietly.

“Yeah, never join an invitation by the mayor alone. Men like him can get away with anything in this tower.”

“What? Why?” Lisa asked slightly confused.

Melissa raised an eyebrow and studied the younger woman. Could she really not realize? But Lisa just looked at her uncomprehending.

“Because…” Melissa drew out the word and sighed. “He won’t just have dinner with you, he expects you to entertain him in other ways as well, afterwards.” Lisa frowned and Melissa wanted to facepalm. How sheltered was this kid? “He would expect you to sleep with him.”

That made Lisa’s eyes widen and she flinched back.“Ugh, really?” Lisa looked horrified and then so disgusted like she was about to puke. She shuddered slightly and crossed her arms over her chest, more so to hold herself than anything else. She swallowed hard and looked truly grateful now.

“Thank you so much, I-I had no idea.”

Melissa nodded, glad that she had gotten the gist across, but she was far from satisfied with how it had went. She could feel the simmering rage flare in her chest, burning out her sorrow and her anguish.

“It’s always the same in this bloody world. Those with power trample those without and the only way to survive is to get stronger.” she spat out the last word. If she had been stronger, she would have never been in this situation. If she had learned a detection spell, the cultivator would have never ambushed her party, or if she had learned a crowd control ability of some sort to constrict his ability to move. Or if she had hit with all of her spells flawlessly and had killed him from range. But she knew these what ifs were pointless. If she would have had all those capabilities or even just one, their team would have probably conquered the 5th floor and she would not have even been on the manhunt.

It was pointless to think of what if scenarios anyways. There was only one solution. To become strong enough that any of her problems would just melt away. As much of a platitude it was, it was also the only way forward.

Lisa nodded and spoke up after Melissa had stood there quietly for a while.

“I never want to feel helpless again...Captain.”

“Ah, yeah, I didn’t really ask you to join my team. It was just an excuse…” Melissa started, but Lisa interrupted her.

“I don’t mind.” Lisa said with a smile. “You are strong and compassionate, I think I am lucky to be in your team, if you want to have me.”

Melissa smiled and bumped her with her fist.

“Of course I want you in my team, just don’t get all sappy on me, never show weakness, or others will try to take advantage of you.” She hesitated and then looked Lisa seriously in the eyes.

“I...I am not ready to go out there again, or to confront that...that man. I am not strong enough and if...if you are in my team it will mean you will have to wait and I don’t even know if I can get people to join my team after what happened…”

Lisa held up her hands and smiled.

“That’s fine, I am not ready either, but I do not plan to sit on my ass, Captain. Don’t worry about the team, as long as I can grow stronger I don’t mind waiting.”

“Glad to hear it and since you missed the introduction I’ll show you just the place to get stronger.” That Lisa missed the introduction because she had been kidnapped they both did not mention.

Melissa guided Lisa through the Town towards the Army Base, a walled off compound with tents, long barracks buildings to bunk in and a lot of free space to spar and train. They passed obstacle courses and an arena where the Aspirants and Soldiers in the army trained and did maneuvers. They sparred 1v1 or in groups and the clash of steel and the shouts of a small audience were in the air.

“These are training areas to train up your skills.” Melissa pointed to the obstacle courses and in the back there was also a shooting range. “You want to get all of them up to intermediate level as fast as possible, because some of the skills branch out at that point or they become significantly stronger or easier to use.”

Melissa had heard the same words from Thorgen when he had led the rest of the Aspirants here, now almost 6 months ago. The memory hurt, it hurt so much and she had to blink away tears, before she caught herself.

“You can just join the army exercises, they are brutal but effective. Try not to slack off, I hear it can be a lot of fun and usually they even feed those who managed to keep pace. Just don’t join the army for real or you’ll have to leave my team.” Melissa said and Lisa nodded with a smile, her gaze flickering from one training area to the next.

“I have never done anything like it. I could never even think of doing sports or shooting a bow.” Lisa said excitedly.

“Well, you’ll have ample opportunity to do so now, but let me introduce you to some of the Instructors. They are all from higher up in the tower and know what they are talking about.”

Melissa went past the arena and the obstacle course towards an elongated hall in which people learned how to wield weapons properly. There she found a tall, broad shouldered man with graying black hair who watched and occasionally shouted at 5 men and 2 women swinging a sword over and over.

“No, no, no, keep your stance, you can start dancing around once you know how to properly strike. Stop fumbling around with the blade, grip it properly. No not like that.”

The older man drew a blade in less time than it took to blink and demonstrated first the grip, then the simple swings he wanted the group to mimic. After yelling at them for a while longer he turned around and spotted Melissa and Lisa standing outside and watching them.

“Ah, Melissa, come to blow up our target dummies again?” the man said jovially.

“Later maybe, Chris, this is Lisa, she is a new Aspirant, last batch. She missed the orientation and I am showing her around. Lisa, this is Chris, he is a lvl 30 [Weapon Master] and a retired Aspirant like us.”

The big man shook both of their hands with a smile.

“Nice to meet you, Master at arms for the first Base, Chris Balefield at your service.” he said with a wink and a mock salute.

“Nice to meet you!” Lisa said with a big smile.

“So what class are you? From the gear and the bow I would guess some kind of [Archer] class?”

“I’m a [Ranger].”

“Oh, wilderness survival type. Very nice, very useful. Every team needs a good scout!” He looked back to Melissa.

“So you want me to put her through the paces.”

“If she is okay with it, yes.”

“I am ready for whatever.” Lisa said, but a bit too cheerful to be the truth.

“Great, Archery is not my specialty, but I think Kolt will appreciate another archer to train.” he said with a smirk, but then turned serious.

“Listen, Melissa, I heard about Thorgen and your team. I am so sorry.” He put a big hand on her shoulder.“I won’t say any platitudes, just let me give you some sage advice from someone who has been through loss before. Don’t bottle it in, talk to someone. Any of us vets know what it’s like to lose a team mate and are here to talk. And if you feel like blowing stuff up, the range is always open for you. I’ll even replace the dummies myself. Just don’t let it fester, okay?”

Melissa grimaced and nodded. “Thanks, Chris. But...for now I just need some time alone.”

Chris nodded and patted her gently on the shoulder before he turned back to Lisa.

“I’ll take care of your newbie, don’t you worry.”

Melissa nodded again and gave Lisa a wave.

“I’ll see you later.”

She left the army camp quickly and returned in a brisk pace to her room. Only once the door closed behind her she let go of the shuddering sob that had caught in her throat. How dare Chris talk about Thorgen. He had no idea how much he had meant to her. How much Adrian, Sophie and Korlat had meant to her. Adrian, a [Swordsman] and Sophie who had been their [Scout] had come from Earth, just like she had. Korlat and Thorgen had joined her team although they had been born in the tower. It had not always been easy to accommodate for the culture clash and the different levels of experience. Korlat had been a [Defender] and Thorgen, he had been a [Berserker] which was a rare class.

Thorgen had been the one who really led the team, although the captain in any team of Aspirants was always the Mage.

For that reason there were very few multi mage teams. But Melissa had no idea how to lead until Thorgen had shown her. He had been her right hand man at first, her friend and confidant next and her lover last. That he was gone hurt so much she could barely express the terrible emptiness she felt, how all of the world had lost all meaning to her. All but revenge and fury. They burned inside of her and through tears she stumbled towards her book shelf.

She basically ripped open the priceless spelltome of the Lunar Frost and dug into its oblique and vague descriptions. Studied with burning eyes the spellform variations she had not mastered yet and yet her focus was singular in its intensity. There was nothing else in the world besides this book right now. She had to become stronger. She had to or she would never get her revenge.