Getting Situated and Educated

For the rest of orientation day, neither of Set's charges said a word to each other. They didn't want to share a room, one didn't want to talk at all, and the other wasn't going to waste any effort in befriending someone who already turned them away. Being teleported to a mess hall during luncheon almost got them to say something, but the chorus of shocked children beat them to it. All sat down and ate what was probably one of the best meals in their collective lives before being warped back to their rooms. There was a manual on their beds the projected voice of the Archmage instructed them to read.

The Six-Pointed Star Tower was, according to the manual, semi-autonomous–many students didn't know what that word meant, so a definition was provided in parenthesis next to it. Enchanted with Magic from the Mysticism school, the tower could teleport them to any section of its space-time manipulated interior. Those it recognized as students were shifted to the mess hall if they were hungry, something it detected through Illusion enchantments, at certain times and in specified areas for the sake of privacy as well as to prevent inconvenience. If unsanctioned violence took place, enchantments from every school would incapacitate their perpetrators or kill them if necessary. Only the school heads and Archmage could tamper with its design.

Supper was a far more casual affair. All the students enjoyed what they were sure was a Transmutation-enhanced meal. The silence between the two wasn't unique from what they saw while eating: none of the other children knew each other, and they were all from different countries or walks of life. Most of the excitement was gone thanks to the mystery being explained by the manual, leaving an unsure tension festering in its place.

Faxon was the first to wake. Holding back a yawn, he slipped out of bed and walked to the wardrobe. The manual they received informed them it was enchanted with Conjuration Magic. Transmutation enchanted fabric would appear when the mark inside was touched. When put into contact with skin for a minute, it would grow and wrap around to form clothing. He opened the cabinet, pressed the mark, took the runic handkerchief-like cloth in hand, and went through one of the doors on his side of the main room into an elegant marble bathroom with torch posts that lit up when entered.

Also in the manual were instructions on how to use the self-filling and draining bathing tub. It worked due to a combination of Conjuration and Mysticism enchantments. A Destruction enchantment generated heat if the person bathing wanted it. While all sounding very simple, he was sure it was complicated. It gave him no issue regardless, letting him have the most comfortable bath he ever experienced in his life.

"I can't believe mages live like this." Grabbing the towel rack, he watched one spawn into existence by the miracle of Mysticism. "Do nobles even have it this good?" He took the towel and dried himself off. "The others…" Guilt ached in his chest. He took a deep breath, hung the used towel on the rack, transporting it away; picked up the enchanted fabric he left on the ground by the tub, and sighed. "Maybe one day." To his amazement, the cloth in his hand grew over him and stretched until it became a robe. "This is just ridiculous." He returned to the comfort of his bed.

Mei woke up an hour and a half later, triggering the lights that were also definitely enchanted. She unknowingly mimicked his earlier morning actions. When her head hit her pillow once more, she did not turn to acknowledge his existence, a non-gesture he returned.

"Greetings," Archmage Typhon's voice in their heads said, making them jump. "Today, you will be choosing which of the main Magic schools you wish to take. Please step out of your rooms."

They left their beds and, doing their best to avoid acknowledging the other, obeyed. Faxon closed the door behind him when he left. Refusing to give him the satisfaction, she opened it with no signs of annoyance nor agitation before stepping out. Neither reacted when they went from their room door to a crowded lecture hall, more or less used to it at that point.

A brown-haired man in red robes with odd glasses stood at the bottom. "Before you all is a piece of parchment." He lifted one into the air. "There are two boxes next to every listed school labeled yes or no. You can only say yes to three schools maximum. More schools means more work for you, but you have to say yes to at least one: this is a place for those who actually use Magic." Holding it still with one hand, he poked a box, and it filled. "If you've read your manual like you should have, you'll probably know these are enchanted, much like almost everything else in this tower. Just touch the boxes to give your answers."

The boy looked down at the paper with his name on the top before him and raised an eyebrow. He wasn't the type to shy away from work, but he was certain they were going to learn more than just Magic. The Head of Destruction's display was amazing yet not something he really wanted to do, Conjuration seemed complicated to him, and Mysticism gave him odd feelings. While varying degrees of horrifying and basic, the remaining three schools were practical. Three thumps of his fingers decided what he'd be learning over the course of the year.

Mei didn't even need to think about it: her mind was made up before she ever got to the tower. Destruction was the most straightforward, violent school in her mind, perfect for self-defense. Mysticism, in terms of possibility, was boundless and worth it despite the potential risk. Necromancy offered immortality, eternal youth, another offensive option, and accelerated healing in case of injury. They definitely weren't limited to just three schools for their entire time at the tower. She'd learn the others after getting more than a decent grasp on her first three.

Faxon's view shifted from the man and the piece of parchment to a red-haired woman and an arrangement of small spheres composed of different materials. "I am Master-Wizard Aziza, and I will be your Transmutation tutor." She gestured at a table with the same array in front of everyone else. "These little balls are purely composed of what we mages call the primal elements: they make up everything, at least in this realm." Picking a crystal-like one up, she closed her hand around it. "This is likely your first time ever using Magic, so this might take you a while. I want you to close your eyes and feel each of them in the palm of your hand; imagine you can see each one like an all-seeing god. You have to concentrate as much as you can. When they all seem familiar yet distinct in their own ways, raise your hand, and I'll see if you've got it."

He glanced to his right, saw someone else in what would've been his roommate's place, shrugged, and got to work. Several minutes in, he realized it wasn't nearly as simple as it sounded. Some of the primal elements were obviously different regarding weight and texture, but that was information obtained by his normal senses. The others began to groan a few more minutes after. It was especially prevalent when they were fifteen full minutes into the exercise.

"Picture a dot in the center of your palm. Imagine that ball as that dot. Don't forget it's going to take you all some time as your first use of Magic."

With a hum, he took her advice to heart. It took ten more minutes for him to understand what their tutor was saying: other than being heavier or smoother, some were tougher, cooler, and could be made into other shapes easier. He, raising a hand, opened his eyes to see a few other students doing the same. They were the first yet not the last.

Aziza eventually stopped by him. "Alright, tell me what you found out."

"This." He put his hand over a sphere of gold. "Is soft and heavy." Grimacing, he put his hand over the heaviest ball. "This one's hard, tough, way heavier, and cool." The clear marble interested him the most. "Hard but not as tough. Not cold either." His eyes narrowed at the most colorful, crystal-like one. "Not hard, not tough, and isn't normally like this either."

"Good." She smiled. "Now try to transmute one into the other: instead of focusing on seeing them for what they are, try to see them for what you want them to be. Don't be frustrated if it takes you some time." Turning to the nearest other student with their hand up, she walked over to them.

Faxon took the odd-one out into his hand. It was the most useless one despite looking the prettiest. Maybe a merchant could've sold it to some noble, but he doubted the material would be worth something anything more than that. Closing his eyes, he imagined it as the clear marble. The feeling of the primal element didn't change. He gave a small hum before trying to imagine he was holding the other instead. He started grumbling about it with the other learners twenty minutes in.

Ten minutes later, Aziza cleared her throat in the presenter's area. "Our time together is up." She held back a laugh at the disappointed groans and mumbles. "Relax! You're all making progress. If Magic was so easy to learn, this place wouldn't exist. Most of you can tell the properties of the materials you concentrate on. That is the most basic Transmutation ability. Transmuting one thing into another takes time for beginners and shaping takes even longer." She put a hand over the table holding up the elements on display. "You'll be able to tell the properties of materials without even thinking about it, transmute materials without much effort, and shape them without difficulty the higher your mastery." She smiled. "Goodbye."

He blinked and he was in another lecture hall entirely. To his right, the study buddy he was just beginning to get used not having around reappeared, head face-down in the table in front of them. The concern built into him from looking over others got to him. A slight murmur of worry, and squinting, spiteful eyes found themselves on him.

"I am Martin," a raven-haired man in red robes greeted from below. "I'll be teaching you about the history of Magic." He rolled his eyes at the cries of annoyance. "Yes, yes. History is boring." He raised a finger. "But it is important." Lowering it, he hummed. "I have a question for all of you. When do you think Magic came into this world?" He shook his head the moment a child parted their lips. "Trick question. It's always been here, will likely always be, and it'll probably even outlast us." He raised a hand to his chin. "What do you think the first thing the first mages to ever exist did? What is it that people do when they are introduced to something different or think they're better than something?" His lips thinned into a line at their silence. "You're doing it right now." He scoffed. "We 'alienate' other people: we make them feel unwelcome, uncomfortable, and we hurt them." His hands folded together. "You are sharing a room and living with someone you haven't the slightest clue about so none of you repeat the same mistakes we made." He smiled at the look of realization on their faces. "Yeah, that's the reason why. Most of you groups of two come from completely opposite backgrounds from places you've probably never even heard of, and I'm pretty sure none of you have said much since you figured out who you'd be living with."

Faxon and Mei shared a look. One of them didn't say much in general, but they couldn't deny those words. While he did try to be warm and open, he shut down the moment she didn't reciprocate. They were behaving like children, mostly because they still were, and it was unbecoming. Neither would have ever been so rude or dismissive with someone they knew. They were different, so they used that as an excuse to ignore the other. It was embarrassing enough to make them blush before focusing back on their tutor.

"In some places, we're worshiped as gods. Fact we helped kill almost all of them probably has something to do with it, but we're actually feared in most places, rightfully so." He chuckled. "How many of you were scared or uncomfortable after orientation?" He raised his hand, hinting for them to do the same. "Especially after Master-Wizard Morgan and Master-Wizard Alice's introduction to Necromancy and Illusion?" Grimacing, he nodded at dozens of them following his lead. "It's terrifying. You have no real way of fighting back, you don't even know if that's the fullest extent of their powers, and…" He drifted off as he lifted a hand to the side of his mouth, tone softer to mimic whispering. "They're old enough to remember a time where your parents' parents' parents' parents were alive." He laughed alongside them. "I'm not really joking: Morgan is one of the eldest Necromancers, and Alice is responsible for more than a few folk tales regarding madness. Honestly, they're more qualified for teaching you history than I am." He shook his head when they laughed even harder.

The two of them looked on and listened with interest but quickly grew bored, like the rest of their classmates. It went from easing out the growing tensions between them to repetitive story-telling. Apparently, the early mages spent most of their time battling each other and subjecting normal people to their whims. Some of the gods didn't like that, so they sent their blessed champions to defeat them or persuade them to their service. Only so many times could a child listen to the words 'unbelievable land-shaping battle' and 'wizards were very bad' without getting tired. What seemed to be cautionary tales began to feel like shaming for something none of them had yet to do.

Martin's eyes widened. "And our time is up." He looked out at the various disinterested faces. "I know, I know. You can go back to learning what you came here to learn now." Waving, he watched them warp to different lecture halls, another gaggle of students taking their place.

In the eyes of completely normal people, it looked like they had absolute power. There were many sayings about its corrupting nature in one culture or another. Most were made with the thought of them in mind. It was simply inevitable, but the focus on mages took away the real truth: most human beings were drawn to abuse power than use it for any noble goals.

Mei blinked when her somewhat funny yet somehow still boring history teacher was replaced by the man who was supposedly their counselor. She glanced to her left to find someone she didn't recognize at all where her roommate was. Raising an eyebrow, she focused on the Head of Mysticism lazily checking his fingernails for dirt again.

"Alright." He cleared his throat and looked up at them. "You already know who I am. I'm not actually gonna be your Mysticism tutor: just here to test you to see if you can or should learn it." Tapping his heel against the ground, he hummed. "What was it again?" He smirked at their unamused faces. "If a tree falls in the forest and no one is around to hear it, does it make a sound?" Laughing at the shift into confusion, he shook his head. "Okay, okay; that was trash. If a cat is stuck in a box with poison, is it dead or alive when you can't see it?" He tilted his head at his own question. "Not that different, really. Raise a hand when you think you've got it."

She squinted at him. Those were two of the most asinine questions she ever heard, but she knew there was some kind of deeper meaning to them. His carefree, odd demeanor might be some kind of act too. He was testing them. Raising a hand to her chin, she stroked it thoughtfully.

"I want you to think long and hard about that question because you won't be able to learn Mysticism if you get it wrong." Set chuckled when the already raised hands went down. "Good, looks like a lot of you might get it." He frowned at their smiles. "Don't get too hasty." Eyes narrowing, he chuckled at their visible discomfort. "Sureness and doubtfulness will be death of you."

They sat there for a few minutes before hands began to go up again. The Head of Mysticism appeared by their sides and had them whisper their answer in his ear. When almost all who did were warped away, the hands came back down.

He teleported back to his teacher's area and feigned confusion at the lack of students with answers. "What happened?" Humming, he tilted his head. "You're not scared, are you?" His eyes widened. "You should be. All of you should: I told you that you could die, right?" They evened out. "If you get it right, you might die trying to learn it, so why are you afraid of failing?" It was an honest question. "There's really no harm in failing it. Just means you won't be able to learn Mysticism for a while. Just pick another school; not the end of the world." He waved it off. "I mean, don't tell Zhao I ever said this, even though he already knows, but I think Transmutation is really lame." The odd eyes he received made him smile. "You sit down for a while with a stone in your hand, figure out what it is, and turn it into something else. Doesn't that sound boring to you?" He laughed when they nodded. "Isn't it kind of weird how you find something that might kill you beyond just normal death exciting? Think about it." His tone grew grave. "Death excites you. Maybe you should've learned Necromancy…" Drifting off, he blinked. "Some of you probably already have, actually."

Mei's lips were pursed at the utter nonsense the man was talking about. It was just uncertain ramblings of an easily distracted mind. He was jumping from one mood to the other as soon as it bored him. She was grateful he wouldn't be their teacher and lamented his status as her counselor. If it was all an act, she had to give him credit for being a convincing vagrant.

At the twenty minute mark, a third of the class was gone, and the rest was hesitant to answer. Those that got it right had extremely smug looks on their faces. It was akin to the one on the look of their tester. That did not go unnoticed by everyone else still yet to answer the question.

"You guys aren't jealous, are you?" Set chuckled. "Come on. If there's one thing this world needs less of, it's jealousy. No harm in being good in one thing or sucking at another. Is what it is." He tilted his head with a hum. "When I was a kid, I wanted to be a knight." He grinned at the exasperated faces of the children. "Not just any knight though: I wanted to be the greatest warrior in the land! Except I kind of sucked at fighting… And you have to be a noble or distinguish yourself through combat to become a knight." His grin shifted into a frown. "I thought I could work my way up to being king, but that's not how things work. Some things in life you're just born into. It's okay to not be something and to be able to do whatever it is you can do." He grumbled. "Even if you're just the head of a Magic school no one else can really master, and the equivalent of a walking god." All of them shooting him a look made him blink. "What? …What?"

She was certain it was either all lies and an attempt to give them hints or legitimate stupidity. He segued from topic to topic, trying to impart some kind of half-baked lesson. It was contradicting yet strangely still worked. Her eyes widened at that realization. The test was for them to answer in the same way: to be right in some way yet still be wrong. '

Ten more minutes passed. They were little under a third gone. Everyone was either afraid to answer or was still trying to figure it out. Caution was the better part of valor. The irony that they were scared of failing the opportunity to lose their existences was lost on most still.

"Waiting out the entire hour, huh? Yeah, classes are about an hour or less depending on how things go. Really?" He squinted at them. "Are you sure you're cut out for Mysticism? You were all sure enough to put yourself up to it, but now you're not sure of yourselves at all if you think waiting more is somehow going to give you the answer." Tilting his head, he hummed. "Suppose I can't blame you though: I did something like that when I started out too, but it was actually using Mysticism. See, I was kind of freaked out by the whole not existing thing." He laughed. "I mean, really think about it. How can you know what it's like to not exist as something that exists? That thought made me think this world was nothing but a dream." The children visibly pondering that question as well made his lips thin into a line. "Don't get distracted. Remember my first two questions, specifically the second. When you start thinking like that, you'll find yourself losing all grasp of life and sinking into a state of apathy or unbearable anxiety. "

Raising her hand, Mei locked eyes with her counselor's. She even turned to meet them again when he warped right by her side. It took all she had not to smirk with the same punch-worthy smugness he had. That was the last of his clues, and she was confident in her her understanding of his certain uncertainty, as contradictory as they may seemed.

He leaned his head close. "Okay," he whispered, "tell me what it is." He raised an eyebrow at her squint. "What? You're not actually going to say it?" Her head shake made him squint more. "Is that a no to the question or are you just going to emote the answer?" Rolling his eyes, he ignored her glare. "Nod for yes and shake for no regarding the cat thing." Her tilting her head from side-to-side made him stare for a moment. "I don't know what that means." He scoffed as her face scrunched in frustration. "How do you…" Drifting off, realization dawned on him. "Oh… You mean yes and no." He smirked when she happily nodded her head. "Well, you're wrong." A sadistic laugh left his lips at her look of despair. "And right. You're right" He warped away from an angry poke.

Mei twitched, victorious yet humiliated. It was much like the conflicting yet valid state of mind and thinking he was trying to instill. Mysticism was the violation of reality's fundamental rules while still being adherent to it. The other schools focused on manipulating elements of reality rather than reality itself. Using it seemed to be standing with a foot on the edge of a cliff and the other off it, except there was nothingness at the bottom of the other side. She knew it would be more than worth the risk if she could obtain the same odd powers as her counselor.

Faxon looked at where his new teacher was supposed to be yet found nothing but air. He checked the room, much like everyone else. It was only them, and a strangely all-encompassing silence. In realization of that fact, he slammed his fist down on table for it to emit no sound. No one around him jumped or even looked, so he put together what was happening.

"Illusion is deceiving the senses," a seemingly all-encompassing voice said. "What you hear isn't real, but it is to your mind, so it may as well be." The owner, a brown-haired man in a purple robe, materialized in the presentation area. "My name is Linos, and I'm your Illusion teacher. This is likely most of you's second magic class for the day, so you have some idea of how to use it. Still, as newcomers to this school, the best you'll be able to do is minor sensations. That is not the basic Illusion ability though." He tapped a finger against his temple. "To deceive someone's senses, you must get into their mind." A smile made its way on to his face at some of the horrified ones on theirs. "Looks like some people didn't read their manuals. I suggest you do. It's really not that malicious, if the one looking in doesn't have bad intentions. Those who can use the Illusion school are resistant to this ability." He looked from one side of the hall to the other. "Luckily, you're all novices, so you can test this out on each other. I want you to concentrate really, really hard on someone next to you: imagine what they're thinking and everything they might be feeling, smelling, hearing, seeing, or even tasting. Once you think you can tell, question them about it."

"My name is a Bulut," a brown-haired boy in a red robe next to Faxon said.

He turned to him and held out his hand. "My name is Faxon, but you can call me Fax." He smiled when he shook it. "So, uh…" Focusing on following their tutor's instruction, he drifted off.

They stared at each other for five whole minutes. It was an awkward experience, but it was what they were instructed to do. Everyone else was feeling the same about the odd exercise. None of them knew any other way to learn it though.

"Can you tell what I'm thinking?" Bulut asked.

"I look and sound weird?"

"Are you guessing or do you know?"

Faxon shrugged. "Can you tell what I'm thinking?"

"You're worried about something and don't like that you like it here." He smiled at the look of surprise on his face. "I got it. Now you try."

"How did you get it?"

Bulut tilted his head. "I just...got it, I guess. It came naturally to me."

"What about your other class?" He hummed. "Or is this your first?"

"Conjuration was my first: we were supposed to make ties with things, like paper and pencils. I didn't really get it."

He nodded in understanding. "Some people must be better at some schools than others."

"What was your first?"

"Transmutation. I didn't get it right away, but I guess I must have been good enough." He pursed his lips. "Are you sure you don't know how you got it?

"Well… Try to focus only on me. Cut out everything else. Like, imagine me in a void with nothing else. Then try and know what I'm feeling."

"Alright." Fax squinted, concentrating physically as well as mentally.

Twenty-five more minutes passed. Bulut, beyond bored, was resting his head on his palm, holding himself up by his cheek. He was joined by a few others but most of the class had yet to get the basic ability. Groans of frustration occasionally arose.

Lino held back laughter. "If you think this is hard, just wait until you get to manipulating someone's sense of time and pain. I'll admit learning this nearly took me the whole first class, but it's also one of the hardest basic abilities to grasp from the schools."

"And you got it done in a couple minutes." Fax raised an eyebrow at Bulut.

He shrugged. "It's probably the school I'm going to be best at." Smiling, he began to tremble. "I might be a prodigy."

"...Then how am I going to read your mind if you can resist?"

"Oh." He blinked. "That's a good point." He glanced at Linos. "Should we ask him?"

Fax shook his head. "No. I might do better than everyone else if I manage to read your mind."

"Good thinking."

It took twenty minutes for him and many others to finally break through. The boredom the unfamiliar boy was visibly expressing was seemingly beyond comprehension. He'd been sitting for nearly an hour straight doing nothing but giving him advice. A small amount of anger, resentment really, was festering in it.

"Other than being bored, which I can see, you're kind of angry right now, huh?"

Bulut's lips thinned into a stoic line. "...A little." He smiled. "But we can do something else now that you're done." He focused on their tutor. "What do you do if you and your partner are done?"

"Try and make each other hear, feel, taste, or smell something," Linos said. "It takes a lot more skill to create an optical, sight-related, illusion. The magnitude of what you can make another person feel increases the more you're familiar with the school, like the rest of them, so you'll start off small."

Humming, he turned to Fax. "Have you ever eaten baklava?"

"I don't even know what that is." His eyes widened at a sweet, nutty taste in his mouth. "Wow!"

"Now you do something like that." He smiled.

He concentrated on Bulut. "I've never eaten something really fancy." Tilting his head, he raised an eyebrow. "Do you like stew?"

He parted his lips, paused, and rolled his tongue in his mouth. "Not bad, but it's kinda plain, isn't it?"

"I know." He grinned happily.

While it didn't start off the best, he was starting to warm up to the place. The living conditions more than helped, but he was missing companionship. It still made him feel somewhat guilty. Bringing what the tower offered back home would more than alleviate that feeling though, and it gave him something to strive for.