I handed him the papers first, and then the bag. For the guard, this must have been mundane. Routine. For me, the stakes were a little more serious. I was about to risk my life, and no one had I had met had even commented on that fact. No one had offered a single warning.
My father hadn’t even deigned to see me off at the train station. It seemed incongruous, given the time he’d spent preparing me. He’d probably decided I’d feel more confident doing this on my own.
As usual, he was wrong.
My hands trembled as I glanced to the entrance. I flinched as I watched the applicants in front of me fade into transparency, then nothingness as they crossed the threshold into the tower. It looked like they were disintegrating. Maybe they were. I wouldn’t know until I tried.
The guard handed my bag back to me. “You can head on in.”
“Thanks.”
I stepped up to the threshold. I knew what was going to happen next, but I didn’t like it.
No choice. I’ve come this far.
I closed my eyes and stepped into the serpent’s maw.
***
Every inch of my exposed skin burned, like I had been out in the sun for days. Fortunately, keeping my eyes shut had spared them from sharing that sensation.
Less fortunately, that hadn’t prevented the nausea. My stomach reacted next, and I pitched over to vomit on the gray stone floor. My eyes fluttered open after my meager lunch abandoned me.
I stood in the middle of a chamber of white stone. A bright glow illuminated the room with no discernable source. The room was circular, maybe thirty feet in diameter. At the center was a formation of waist-height pillars. I counted twelve in total.
Each pillar had a single object atop it. My first challenge. My first choice.
The room had three discernable exits, and I glanced at them before I took any further steps. One was straight across from me, the others ninety degrees to either side. I turned around briefly, but there was no exit door, just as I had been warned.
The doors themselves were etched with similar runes to the ones that had guarded the tower itself. They each had a single central symbol: a circle with a colorful crystal within. The gems were blue, yellow, and red, from right to left. The books I had studied had mentioned similar doors. Opening a door was as simple as touching the gem, but various authors speculated that the colors had some significance. Most believed that red was the path of violence, for example.
I’d worry about that part after I figured out what I was doing here.
I stepped toward the center of the room. The pillars made a smaller circle within the chamber, spread equidistant from one another. The objects on the pillars were generally easy to identify.
A key, golden, with a wing motif.
A scroll, sealed with wax.
A book, roughly as thick as my closed fist.
I paused there, taking a closer look at the book. The cover was leather, more in the style of a personal journal than a textbook. There was no writing on the surface.
Interesting. I’ll need to take a closer look at this later.
I walked over to the next section of items.
The first item that caught my eye was a ruby statue of Katashi, the Visage of Valor. Interesting, because Katashi was not the visage typically associated with this spire — that’d be Tenjin, the Visage of Inspiration.
The next pedestal appeared to be empty. Suspicious.
The third had a quill, the tip dripping with ink. No corresponding inkwell. A magic quill, maybe?
Maybe the quill is meant to be paired with the book? Hrm.
I walked to the next section, noting that these pillars all held weapons.
A sword with an ornate bronze hilt, sheathed.
A dueling cane in an unfamiliar style.
A firearm. I struggled to think of the specific name, but I had only heard of them in books. It had a long barrel and a container of metallic balls next to it. I was surprised to see one, given their rarity on this side of the continent.
The final three pillars all held wearable items.
A dueling vest, the cloth etched with runes.
A shield, wood-lined with metal.
A circlet studded with numerous gemstones. I didn’t see any runes etched into it, so I didn’t think it was enchanted, but I wasn’t exactly an expert on magic. Not yet, anyway.
Well, this isn’t exactly the death trap I was expecting.
I’d never heard of a room like this before. Maybe most people didn’t count it as a test? That seemed doubtful. My understanding was that every movement I made within the spire was being evaluated.
So, I got an unusual starting room. That was fine. I’d heard about rooms with items in them before, just not this particular layout. Generally, taking items was safe.
Generally.
Maybe it was a test of greed... Was I supposed to leave everything behind? Or maybe just take a single item?
I shook my head. I could guess indefinitely without coming up with an answer.
I took a closer look at the platforms themselves, examining them for anything unusual. Hidden panels, clues, or switches. The goddess loved that sort of thing... so they said, at least.
I didn’t find any, which was deeply worrying.
Time to prioritize, then.
I knew there was a good chance something would happen when I picked up the first item. Perhaps a trap would trigger somewhere, or the other items would vanish.
Assuming this equipment was meant to be taken, what did I need the most?
The key could be, well, a key to my success. Or totally worthless. The scroll was the same; it could easily be a map to the dungeon or some esoteric notes on mathematical theory. The book had the same degree of binary promise.
The next set didn’t impress me, although I did strongly consider touching the empty pedestal to see if it triggered anything. Maybe I was supposed to put something on it? Sacrifice something of value in exchange for what I was taking?
I’d do that if I had a chance, I decided. And if I happened to dislodge an invisible object in the process, all the better.
Weapons. Yeah, those could be useful. This place was riddled with monsters, and I wasn’t allowed to bring a weapon inside. Maybe the goddess knew I’d need a way to fight.