The tower lay in ruin. The grand tapestries that told a history that had outlasted kingdoms were charred and blackened. The mountainous bookcases on which knowledge from throughout the world had been gathered now held ash. The very structure of the tower, which had withstood siege and warfare throughout the centuries, had become cracked and unstable, which loose bits of stone and mortar continuing to rain down from the walls at a regular pace.

  Lotti had only one thought while surveying the wreckage. “I’m going to be expelled.”

  The academy’s overseers were already on site, carrying buckets that were enchanted to never run out of water to put out any signs of lingering fire, while the Arcanist Architects were flipping through the pages of their spellbooks to cast bonding magic to keep the rest of the wall from collapsing. They didn’t really acknowledge Lotti as she stood in the middle of the wreckage other than to move around her. As far as they were concerned, she was as good as gone already.

  She had been so sure her theory was correct. By combining the chain symbology of the fire writ with the contrary symbology in the water writ, she should have been able to create a more efficient form of the Heat Water spell, one that would only take four pages to heat a superior quantity of water to the current best practice for the spell. The method she used for combining the symbology worked for other spells, so why not this one?

  Somehow, the magic had become overconcentrated, superheating the water before it exploded out in a scalding mist. Which would have been a serious enough failure on its own, if it hadn’t also triggered a cascading effect, draining Lyris from enchantments it passed over and causing them to ignite. And given the nature of the Wes Tower, there was a lot of it. The result was an effect like fireworks traveling up the tower as the mist rose, while Lotti could only look on. The overseers couldn’t even step in to start putting out the flames until the mist had disappeared, for fear of their own enchantments just adding fuel to cascade.

  In a way, it was sort of an impressive result. This kind of destruction would typically take a twenty, or perhaps even thirty-page spell to create, but she had done it in four. Given, the effect wouldn’t have been so extreme if there was less Lyris around, but still, a result is a result. Though to apply the lesson, she would need to know whether the mistake had been in her theory, or if she had somehow messed up drawing the symbols. Perhaps one of her lines was slightly too long, or one of the angles was off by a few degrees. Unfortunately, once a spell is cast, the Lyris infused ink was consumed, so there was no way to double check her work. Short of trying the spell again …

  “Ms. Seydel.” A voice pulled her out of her thoughts.

  She turned to face an overseer. The black robe with gold trimming signified a high-ranking one who served the Chairman’s office directly.

  Lotti tried in vain to brush some of the ash out of her own robes. “Yeah?”

  “The vice-chairman would like to speak to you,” the overseer said, his voice grim.

  “Yeah, I imagine he would.” She took one last look at the damage she caused, unsure of how she would explain it. “Alright, let’s go.”

  She followed the overseer out of the tower and out onto skywalk. The eight towers of the Conscius Academy all connected to the main campus through a complicated series of skyways. The whole thing reminded Lotti of a massive spiderweb, though she had been told that the pattern was rooted in symbology. Whatever the symbols were supposed to be, she couldn’t decipher.

  “Any chance the chairman has returned?” Lotti asked as they neared the campus.

  No response, which she took a no. Unfortunate. The chairman had protected her in the past when her studies had yielded some unexpected results. Half a year ago, the chairman departed on a ‘research trip,’ though Lotti had heard rumors that he had left one day without informing anyone of where he was going, and no word had been heard from him since. The vice-chairman, who had taken over in his absence, was not Lotti’s biggest fan.

  The white marble of the skyway gave way to the grey concrete of the campus grounds. Though the academy was located in the middle of a desert, the campus was covered in greenery. All along the sides of the paths were gardens, trees, and expansive lawns that were kept watered by everflowing fountains. Many of the students would unwind by sitting near the fountains or laying on the lawn, but Lotti preferred to be indoors. Besides, she sunburned easily.

  She was led down the main hall, up the grand stairs, and to the chairman’s office. They passed a man in a fine business suit in the hall just outside. He looked a bit different from the usual corporate representatives who came to trade in Lyris and enchanted goods. A less formal way of carrying himself, maybe. Well, none of Lotti’s business.

  After knocking on the door to announce herself, Lotti was let into the office. The vice-chairman sat behind the chairman’s desk, looking as old and cantankerous as usual. His skin was sun-spotted and wrinkled, and those wrinkles seemed to curl his mouth into a perpetual scowl. As Lotti entered, he was fidgeting with a black envelope on the desk.

  “You wanted to see me, Vice-Chairman Dorn?” Lotti asked, trying to sound like she didn’t know exactly why she was here.

  Dorn took the envelope and shoved it into a desk drawer. “Yes, Ms. Seydel. I was just wondering if you could satisfy my curiosity for a moment. What did Wes Tower ever do to you to earn your ire?”

  “Well, the snack bar is frequently out of cactus juice. And I think one of the doors on the first floor has it out for me, cause it’s gotten jammed on me twice this past week.”

  The vice-chairman did not seem amused. “Spare me your attempts at humor. This is quite serious. You were experimenting with untested symbology again, without supervision and outside a registered testing zone.”

  “I’ve been trying to register,” Lotti argued. “For the past two months, I’ve been putting in registration requests for this test, and they’ve all been sitting in queue. Meanwhile, students who put in their requests weeks after me have been getting spots.”

  “You know testing isn’t entirely a first-come-first-served basis,” Dorn reminded her. “The validity of the experiment, and its potential as a basis for further research are considered.”

  “My experiment had the potential to open entire new branches in our understanding of how the fire and water writs could work together!” she exclaimed, getting heated. “Let’s both be honest here – I haven’t had a single request approved since the chairman left, and it’s clear why.”

  “You should be careful if you are launching accusations of academic favoritism. You’re already in enough hot water. Speaking of which, your little water-heating spell has caused considerable damage to Wes Tower. It will be a while before we know the full extent, but it is already clear that the tower will need to be closed for months at the least, perhaps over a year, for repairs to be made. And that’s not even beginning to speak to invaluable assets that cannot be recovered. Do you have anything to say for yourself?”

  The entire walk over, Lotti had only come up with one possible argument that could save her. It wasn’t a good one, exactly, but it was all she had.

  “The results of this spell bear further investigation, and since I’m the only one who knows the symbology that was used, it needs to be me.”

  Dorn looked like he had just bitten into a lemon. “What?”

  “In just four pages, I created a spell that caused a Lyris cascade. What other magic do we have that can do that? What’s more, it was done using only fire and water writs, meaning there must be undiscovered cross-symbology between them. There are massive implications to this spell, and it needs to be properly explored.”

  The vice-chairman tapped his fingers on the desk in annoyance. “I can see why the chairman has such a high opinion of you, enough to stick his neck out to keep you enrolled here when any other student would have been expelled years ago. You and he have a frustratingly similar mindset.”

  Lotti smirked, thinking she had just avoided the axe one more time.

  “However, the chairman isn’t here to protect you this time,” Dorn continue, wiping the smile from her face. “I’ll convene a meeting of the department heads. I shall give them my suggestion – your expulsion – as well as your proposal. Then we shall put it to a vote. In the meantime, I suggest you make arrangements for your dismissal.”

  She wasn’t dead yet, but very close to it.

  Lotti left the office with her head hung low. The academy had been her entire life. She had no idea what she would do without it.

  All she wanted was to go back to her dorm, curl up in her bed with a good book (or a trashy romance novel), and just hide until the bad news came. But someone had a different plan for her.

  Her friend Anika grabbed her from behind. “Lotti! What did you do? The way people are talking, it sounds like you killed someone! Don’t tell me you finally snapped against the vice-chairman?”

  “No one was hurt, thankfully. But I did basically destroy Wes Tower.”

  Anika made an exaggerated show of being shocked. “That’s even worse! Did they expel you?”

  “Not yet, but it’s looking likely. Dorn is going to call for a vote today.”

  “Then you still got a chance! You know, some of the department heads really like you! Like my boss. Hey! If you want to join the Enchanter’s school, I bet I could go get her to make that transfer real quick before their vote starts. I bet they wouldn’t expel you if they thought that you were going to move to somewhere you would – well – be less likely to do damage.”

  Lotti gave her friend a polite smile. “No thanks. Enchanting isn’t really for me.”

  Anika pretended to be offended. “Oh, come on! It’s fun. You get to work on all kinds of augmented swords, and armor that can stop augmented swords, and devices that let people do fun things – I helped with an amulet last week that lets its wearer breathe underwater! How awesome is that?”

  “I remember last week you complained to me that if you had to enchant one more self-cleaning carpet, you were going to make a self-strangling carpet.”

  “Well … yeah.” Anika shrugged. “Making the shit that the rich people want is how the academy stays funded. And what they usually want is crap that lets them be lazy. But we do fun stuff too. And once I’ve graduated from student to Arcanist Enchanter, I’ll have a lot more control on what I work on.”

  Lotti sighed. “I know. I don’t mean to be difficult when you’re trying to help me. It’s just – all I’ve ever wanted was to be an Arcanist Writ. I don’t think any other school would give me the same the same energy. That thrill of research and discovery.”

  “Yeah, I get it. You’re a big nerd.” Anika grabbed Lotti by the arm. “Well, there’s no point standing around moping about what you can’t change. Let’s go downstairs. Get some drinks, maybe chat up some guys. Have some fun while we can.”

  “I’m not really in the mood –“ Lotti tried to say, but she was already being dragged by Anika to the elevators.

  They waited their turn until one of the hovering platforms was free, then took it down, descending from the floating academy down to the town below it. Well, they called it a town, but is more a loose collection of businesses that had been built in the shade of the academy. Most of the proprietors didn’t even live their full-time, making the journey regularly to profit off the students looking to blow off some steam. Lotti never came down here except when Anika forced her.

  The town was buzzing with more activity than usual – possibly due to one of the towers being shut down and leaving a lot of students with nothing to do. Lotti stuck close to Anika, hoping to go unnoticed in the crowd. She wasn’t sure how many people were aware of what she did, but she wanted as little attention right now as possible.

  “So, what kind of drink are you feeling?” Anika asked. “My treat.”

  “Cactus juice.”

  “That’s what you always get. Don’t you want to try something different? I won’t even complain too much if you order something expensive.”

  “Not really. I like cactus juice.”

  Anika rolled her eyes. “Alright. Well, let’s go over to Snubb’s. They got cactus juice and some fun stuff for me.”

  The story has been taken without consent; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

  Snubb’s was a combination bar and eatery, though only the desperate and drunk went there for food. The interior was barely kept clean of all the desert sand that boots dragged in, and the tables and chairs were all worn down as if they had been left to wind. But it was fairly cheap and had a good variety of drinks, so it was typically busy. Even more so today.

  Lotti followed Anika to the bar and watched as Anika loudly got the attention of the bartender. It was impressive how Anika was able to be heard over the buzz of the crowd. If Lotti had been here on her own, she’d have stood there quietly for an hour waiting for the bartender to notice her.

  They got their drinks, then spent some talking chatting about whatever nonsense was on Anika’s mind. She was so upbeat and casual, it was as if there wasn’t a sword held directly to Lotti’s neck. And for a while, Lotti was almost able to forget about it.

  Their conversation was interrupted when two young men forced themselves between them. Based on their all-black outfits, they were apprentices to the overseers. Not technically students of the academy, since the overseer program was independently run, but trained alongside them – for the purpose of learning how to police them. The overseers were tasked with keeping the students and arcanists in line and responding if one of them does something dangerous with Lyris. Lotti had more than her fair share of run-ins with them.

  But based on the way these two looked at Anika, this was not a professional visit.

  “Hey there, pretty thing,” said the first of them, a man with neatly trimmed beard and a bright smile.

  The other, a man who looked like he was trying to imitate the style of the first but couldn’t quite grow a proper beard yet, added, “What are you drinking? It’s on me.”

  Lotti sighed and turned her attention to her bottle of cactus juice. She was used to this. Anika was gorgeous. Her body had developed in all the right places (particularly the bosom), she had a clear complexion, and her blond hair was straight and silky.

  By comparison, Lotti looked awkward and weird. Her body hadn’t really developed as a teenager, kind of making her seem like an overly tall child. The bright red hair of her hair was always a tangle of curls no matter what she tried (even going so far as to try some enchanted hair products – the last one she tried ended up poofing her hair up to point she resembled a clown). And her face was more freckle than skin at this point. It’s no surprise all the guys went straight for Anika.

  Not that she wanted the attention. Her romance books were enough for her.

  Lotti finished her drink while Anika politely entertained the advances of the two overseer apprentices. While the boys were unlikely to win her over, Anika never turned down a free drink.

  Once her bottle was empty, Lotti set it down on the bar and called over to Anika. “I think I’m going to head back now. I want to be ready whenever they call for the vote.”

  “I’ll head back with you, then,” Anika replied. “Thanks for the drinks, boys.”

  As she made to leave, the first man grabbed her by the arm. “We’re not done talking yet. Why don’t you let your friend go on by herself, and we can continue our conversation.”

  “Maybe we even pick up this chat somewhere a little more quiet?” his friend suggested.

  The bracelet on Anika’s wrist, a thick green metal band with silver gemstones, suddenly snapped open. It bent straight, and four little legs popped out of its sides. The front end popped forwards, forming what appeared to be a head with the gemstones as eyes. When it was done, it resembled a lizard, albeit one made of shiny green metal.

  The lizard crawled up the arm of the man grabbing Anika. The apprentice overseer looked startled, but it wasn’t until the metallic creature reached his face and dug all four of its legs into his flesh that he started to scream.

  “Sorry about that,” Anika said. “Kid doesn’t like it when people get rough with me.”

  The other man grabbed her by the front of her robes and shoved her against the bar. “What’s your problem, lady?”

  Lotti grabbed her empty cactus juice bottle and smashed it on the back of the assaulter’s head. It shattered, and the man stumbled back.

  “We should go,” Lotti.

  “Our tab’s on these gentlemen,” Anika called out to the bartender. “Come on, Kid!”

  The lizard leaped from the overseer apprentice’s face and back onto Anika’s arm, where it snapped back around her wrist as a bracelet.

  The two escaped while the guys were still reeling. They reached the elevators and took a platform back up. Once they were safely rising above the town, the two of them couldn’t help but laugh.

  It didn’t really change much, but Lotti did feel a bit better.

  It would be a few more hours before Lotti would be summoned back to the Chairman’s office. When she arrived, she found the heads of all the various schools gathered together, chatting in hushed voices. Director Tendler, the head of the Enchanter’s school, stood alone, her head bowed in thought.

  “I guess it’s bad news if it’s got you so serious,” Lotti commented. “Guess the votes not going to turn out my way?”

  Lotti knew Director Tendler as a fairly bubbly personality, one of the first members of the ranking staff she got along with. Her looking serious was always an ill omen.

  “No, I’m fairly certain Vice-Chairmen Dorn doesn’t have the votes,” Tendler replied. “However much damage was caused, we can’t deny that you may have stumbled on a new branch of symbology. Plus, many of my peers are worried for their own positions should the Chairman return and learn you were dismissed.”

  “Then what’s got you looking so concerned?”

  “Dorn knows how the directors are going to vote as well as me,” Tendler explained. “So he has to have figured he can’t expel you. But he seems pretty excited – almost giddy. He must be up to something. Though as to what, I haven’t yet been able to surmise.”

  They were going to get their answer soon as the vice-chairman called them all to enter the office. Tendler was right – Dorn had a sinister grin on his face. Lotti had never seen him smile before. It sent chills down her spine.

  “Everyone, thank you for gathering here on such short notice,” Dorn began. “As you know, earlier today Ms. Seydel conducted an experiment which could have far ranging implications on our understanding of Lyris cascades. Indeed, her experiment may yield one of the biggest discoveries in symbology we’re had in decades. When someone has such an extraordinary achievement, it is only right that extraordinary rewards follow.”

  All this praise was only making Lotti more nervous.

  “And so, with my authority as the acting chairman, and with the heads of the eight schools gathered as witnesses, I decree that Lotti Seydel is hereby promoted to the position of Arcanist Writ. Congratulations, Ms. Seydel.”

  There was a general air of confusion in the room, and one feeling it more profoundly than Lotti herself.

  “I’m graduating?” Lotti asked. “I still have a whole ‘nother year left of my study.”

  “Early graduation is an honor reserved for the most talented of our students, of which you have proven yourself among,” Dorn replied. “I have decided it would be a waste of those talents to keep you fettered under the restrictions of a student.”

  Lotti should be overjoyed by this news, but the way the vice-chairman continued to smile made her nervous. “Well – uh – thank you, sir.”

  “Now, as a full Arcanist, you have certain additional duties to the academy, particularly when it comes to acting as a representative. Our Arcanists are often called to places all across the world to analyze Lyris deposits, study magical phenomena, and assist with maintaining vital infrastructure enchantments. And sometimes –“ Dorn pulled the black envelope from his desk. “Sometimes it means representing our interests on the battlefield. Such as in the upcoming Tournament Lyris.”

  She was too stunned to form a response.

  The head of the Magier school, which taught the Arcanists specializing in combat magic, voiced Lotti’s thoughts. “Hold on, vice-chairman. The academy has always sent an Arcanist Magier to be our representative in the tournament. I already have several candidates to pick from who are ready for the challenge.”

  “We do always send a Magier,” Dorn agreed. “And yet we haven’t claimed a victory in fifty years. It’s only through our alliances and reliance on our enchantments that we maintain our supply of Lyris, but we could do so much more if we had a champion. Our current tactic hasn’t been working, so I’ve decided to switch things up. Since we all agree on how extraordinary Ms. Seydel is, it might be that she is exactly what we need to end our losing streak.”

  Director Brown, the head of Lotti’s own school of Writ, spoke. “Arcanist Writ are scholars, not combatants. This is foolishness.”

  It said something that even a man who had always been very cold to Lotti was speaking against this.

  “Your objection is noted,” Dorn replied. “However, ultimately the decision of our representative falls to me, and I’ve made up my mind.”

  Lotti finally found her voice. “I don’t understand. You want me to fight in the Tournament Lyris. But there’s no way I could possibly win. I probably wouldn’t even survive. What are you hoping to accomplish?”

  The vice-chairman’s smile didn’t falter. “I am quite confident in your abilities. However, if you lack the confidence in yourself – if you feel I have misjudged you and you are not worthy to act as the face of our academy in the field – you are free to tender your resignation. We have little room for Arcanists incapable of meeting the academy’s demands.”

  So that was his game. All of this was an elaborate setup. A ruse to get around the department heads. If he couldn’t expel her, he could back her against the wall and force her to resign.

  And now she was stuck. Either she did exactly what he wanted and resigned, or go and get killed in the tournament. It was her lifelong dream being stacked against her very life.

  When put like that, it was hardly a decision at all.

  She strode up to the chairman’s desk and held out her hand.

  The smile finally faded from Dorn’s face. “What?”

  “That envelope you’re holding. That’s the invitation, right?” Lotti asked. “I’ll need that if I’m going to get into the tournament.”

  The vice-chairman’s eyes were wide. “You – you’re going to compete?”

  “Of course I am. You have confidence in me, so I should have confidence in myself. Right? Unless there is some other reason for going through all this?”

  She could see the wheels in Dorn’s head turning. By handing over the invitation to Lotti, he was essentially giving up the academy’s chance of claiming victory in tournament, and he would have to explain to the chairman when he returned why he sent a scholar. But if he admitted right now that this was all a show to get rid of Lotti, the department heads would have cause to vote to remove him from his position. Either way, his career was over.

  He had trapped her, but she had trapped him right back.

  With no other choice, he handed the envelope to Lotti. She nodded and began to quickly leave. There was no way she would give him to satisfaction of seeing her shaking.

  “Lotti…” Director Tendler called out.

  “I’ll be fine,” Lotti assured her. “Thank you for everything, Director.”

  It was only when she had closed the door of the chairman’s office behind her that she allowed herself to break down.

  There wasn’t much time to prepare, so Lotti had to pick how to fill her spellbook carefully. A spellbook could only hold 100 pages – any more than that and the density of the Lyris in the ink would cause interference between the pages. A spell could take anywhere between two and forty pages depending on the complexity of the symbology and the intensity of the effect. And once a spell was cast, the Lyris infused ink was expended, leaving only blank pages.

  Normally, this wasn’t an issue. She could research and scribe a spell as she needed it. In the field, however, she wouldn’t have access to the reference books on symbology. Even if she could bring some additional ink with her – which was unlikely given academy rules about taking it off school grounds – she wouldn’t be confident in her ability to remember every line, curve, and angle of the symbols that made up anything but the most basic of spells. Which meant she was stuck with what she filled her book with before she left.

  She had no idea whether for this kind of competition it would be better to bring a couple of powerful spells, or have better versatility by bringing many smaller spells. Based on her reading on past tournaments, there was no consistency in the number of rounds or the kinds of challenges that the competition would consist of. The only thing she could guarantee was that at some point she would have to face other competitors in combat. The thought was unsettling.

  If only she had more time to prepare. The role of an Arcanist Writ was not just to discover new spells through symbology, but to find more efficient ways to cast existing spells that cost less pages. She was certain she could shave two or three pages off some of these bigger spells with enough research, which would allow her to cram a few more things in.

  There was a constant parade of students and teachers coming to her to give her advice, or try to talk her out of going, or to share the latest gossip. Apparently, Director Brown had resigned in protest, something that Lotti would never have expected from him of all people, and some of the candidates from the Magier school who had expected to act as representative had also left. Dorn was busy trying to fight rebellion and insubordination from every department. It gave Lotti a little satisfaction to know that, whatever happened to her, she probably brough him down with her.

  It wasn’t until just hours before she had to depart that Lotti finalized her spellbook. She settled on a mix of intense spells and smaller spells and hoped that she had something for every situation.

  And on the last four pages, she replicated her earlier Heat Water experiment. She wasn’t sure if there was going to be a use for a spell that she had no control over, but at the very least, it was destructive. Plus, it was the spell that had gotten her into this mess – it seemed fitting that it might help get her out of it.

  All spells needed a name, and Heat Water didn’t seem appropriate anymore. So, she settled on a fitting one: Lotti’s Cascading Failure.

  With her spellbook finally filled, she quickly packed her bags and made her way to the elevators. She was exhausted, having barely slept since this all began. Hopefully, she could catch some shuteye on the train.

  Anika was waiting for her in front of the elevators. Her friend also looked like she had barely slept, and her eyes were red-rimmed. She’d been crying.

  “You look like shit,” Lotti commented. “I thought I was the one going off to my death.”

  “Even now you’re like this,” Anika replied. “You couldn’t just suck it, apologize, try to switch schools, something. You just do whatever you want, like there are no consequences.”

  The beratement from her friend caught Lotti off-guard. “Anika…”

  “You know, I remember when I first met you. You were the quiet girl who barely socialized, and yet you were constantly in trouble. I thought – maybe she’s trying to get expelled because she has no friends here. So, I approached you, and I quickly learned how wrong I was. You were always in trouble because you’re insane, and for some reason that drew me closer to you. I know this is partly my fault. I encouraged the worst of your behavior because I found it exciting. And now look where it led you.”

  “It’s not your fault,” Lotti assured her. “I’m a stubborn idiot. I probably should have been expelled years ago.”

  “You definitely should have,” Anika agreed. “Well, there’s no changing things now. All I can do is try to offer what little help I can.”

  She held out a vial of ink. The crystal of the vial told what kind of ink.

  “You’re the one who is going to get in trouble if they find out you stole a bottle of Lyris-infused ink,” Lotti said.

  “It’s fine. This one is almost empty – I just had a friend claim they used the last of it for an experiment. And the staff has got bigger concerns right now than wondering why one of the empty vials has gone missing. It’s not much, but you may be able to squeeze one or two spells out of it. And one more thing – I want you to take Kid with you.”

  Responding to Anika’s verbal command, the bracelet-lizard sprung to life, jumped over to Lotti, and locked itself around her wrist.

  Lotti stared at the bracelet in disbelief. “Are you sure? You’ve been working on him for years. I know how much he means to you, and if something happens to me out there you might not get him back.”

  “Kid is my masterpiece,” Anika confirmed. “One of a kind, and was going to be the proof of my skill when I applied for my own workshop. I’ve enchanted him with all kinds of tricks over the years. If any one of them helps keep you alive, it was worth it.”

  “I don’t know what to say.” Lotti rubbed the warm metal around her wrist. “Thank you.”

  Anika threw her arms around her. “Just come back alive, alright?”

  “Yeah. I’m going to come back. And I’m going to get up to even weirder and more dangerous experiments, so you better be ready for it.”

  “I’m looking forward to it.”

  Lotti was tearing up herself as the platform she boarded began to descend towards the town. She didn’t know what this tournament had in store for her, but she also knew she wasn’t about to just roll over and die.

  She was an Arcanist of the Conscius Academy. It was time to show the world what that meant.