Tower of the Watchful Eye

Chapter 3

Although I was out of everyone's way, the rest of the day in Master Larose's office crawled by slowly. I spent the entire day staring at the wall or reading whatever books he left open. When he finally returned from his lecture, he talked about my Demon Dream and tried to recruit me into the School of the Spiritual. The way these Masters were aggressively recruiting one would think they were forming an army.

For an hour he tried to play to my ego by complimenting my work in the library and how he was 'always impressed' by my use of Illusion to escape trouble. He then tried to glamorize using Mind Control and Healing to become a great Mage. The whole thing made me sick and it was the only time I was glad to have no self-esteem. I'd hate to think I could be swayed by such simple minded flattery.

After the hour, he grew tired of my indecision and sent me back to the Apprentice quarters. I was told a Mage would come for me that evening to take me to the Coming of Age Ceremony and I left without further word.

I dragged myself down the stairs to the Apprentice quarters and collapsed on my bed and stared up at the underside of the top bunk. The poorly drawn night sky looked down at me. Whoever had owned this bunk before me had crudely drawn this picture. Despite the poor quality it was still a brilliant display of colours that always helped me clear my mind. Tiny stars dotted the entire surface and there was a long stretched out 'S' that was coloured in green, blue, white and purple.

I stared up at the mock night sky, hoping for an answer to my future. This Apprentice had, no doubt, wanted to be an artist and had to choose a School anyhow. I had no secret talent like that but I could understand the Apprentice's turmoil.

How do you choose to be something for the rest of your life when the choices aren't right for you?

I sighed and knew it would be time to decide on a School: Natural, Elemental, Spiritual or Demonology.

I had nothing against Nature. In fact Alchemy was interesting to me, but the last thing I wanted to do was spend the rest of my life studying with egotistical tree huggers, so Natural Magic was out of the question.

There was always Elemental, but I didn't know if I wanted to train to be a Battle Mage. The dream I had this morning had been cool but the reality was that I didn't think I could kill someone with a flick of the wrist and a smile on my face, so that was out.

After the talk with Master Larose, any interest I had in the Spiritual was out the window. As much as being a healer was helpful, controlling people's mind and body to do anything I wanted was wrong in my books. It was bad enough to have to use Illusion to get out of trouble. At least nobody got hurt by my tricks.

I guess that left Demonology. The Lizard fulfilling his destiny and studying Demons.

Great.

I held my head with both hands and tried to block my eyes from reality.

"If you're crying, I can just come back," Lily joked.

I moved my hands away and looked at her. She stood by the bed looking down at me with a smirk on her face.

"This was the spot I left you in this morning," she continued. "Please tell me you've moved at least once today."

"You didn't hear?" I asked as I sat up and moved my legs off the bed. "Master Larose issued The Binds of Silence to Greg, Todd and Vanessa."

"Who hasn't heard that," Lily chuckled as she sat down beside me. "I can't believe they would go that far. They got what they deserved though."

"They won't learn anything though," I said.

"You never know," she said hopefully then clapped her hands. "Anyway, have you made a decision yet?"

"Still undecided," I answered looking down into my hands.