Prologue
The trip to find Garnrin had been a difficult one; it had been a trip that had encompassed far more than the group had anticipated. Adicia had set out to find the one-time Luminary and Mahatma to help teach the new students who were unable to access their magic the way Adicia’s generation was able to. She had met Garnrin decades before, and believed he was the only one still alive that would be able to help.
What she and her companions had found were webs of deceit and acts that had weakened the Towers—many recently put into motion by the current Mahatma, but others started by old leaders of the Towers as long as three thousand years before—little changes that, on the face of them, wouldn’t make any significant changes to the potency of the Isle of Wisdom. Compounded time and again over the centuries, and then over the millennia, these changes had taken the Towers from a place of learning and magic able to defend the Athanasian Realm from any enemy imaginable to an institution of learning that any real enemy would decimate without breaking a sweat. From the lack of any actual training in defensive or offensive magic to the elimination of magical families, the changes had been insidious and widespread. The result was that those who wielded the magic were, by and large, much weaker than the gods intended them to be, making their abilities comparatively laughable.
The Towers’ students and scholars had also managed to lose the trust and acceptance from the very people they were sworn to serve by enacting little decrees and changes over the years, alienating the Towers from the people. The cycle of distrust was growing because of the Mahatma’s apparent desire to sever alliances with the kingdoms of Athanasia, which would mean that if they were attacked by their rivals in the Tenebrosity Realm, they would have no way to defend themselves.
Over the course of the mission to find the old leader, Garnrin, Adicia and her group had discovered that the knowledge they had gained at the Tower was a sliver of the knowledge they should have gained. The amount of knowledge lost to the Towers was overwhelming, and they had only learned a fraction of what an apprentice a thousand years ago would have learned. It was devastating to realize that, as the highest leader of the Tower of Sorcery, her knowledge was less than a drop in the bucket of what would be needed to defend the Realm.
After coming across the retirement community Garnrin was living in—a community that no one at the Towers had any idea existed—Adicia’s group had been told that they would have to wait for the return of Garnrin to see if the retirees would help the Tower.
Among those living in the retirement community was the third Luminary, who was well over two thousand years old and still able to teach and explain the magics that had been present and used daily by the ancients. There were over ten thousand former members of the Towers who lived in the community, and they lived an isolated existence. Raising their own crops and livestock, they were self-sufficient and avoided the problems and triumphs of the Realm around them. They were content to live out the remainder of their lives having families of their own and learning more about themselves and their magic. To ensure that the human people of the Realm were unaware of the lifespans of those blessed by the gods, the retirees who chose to have families left the retirement community and moved into a village or city, had their children, and raised them until their children were grown. They never disclosed their true identities, instead creating false histories that would place them in the merchant or noble classes. The children would then be able to marry someone of the middle or upper class if they chose, allowing for a more comfortable life if they weren’t innately magical. Of the children born of the retirees, some went on to the Towers to serve the Realm while others married and had normal lives, raising children and farms of their own. Only a fraction of the children born of the retirees were innately magical, although the grandchildren and great-grandchildren were almost all extremely talented, and many of them attended the Towers, unaware of their family history at the Isle. The retirement community was unknown by anyone outside of the community.
After being in the community for a couple days, Adicia’s group had gotten to know many of the retirees, and they had started to learn about the history of the Towers and the skills and spells that had once been taught, and they had been privy to a few private lessons on how to strengthen their magical skills.
By the time the sun was starting to sink beyond the horizon on the second day, dusk saw the worry etched in their faces. Adicia’s group was returning to the mill with several members of the retirement community. The older retired members of the Towers were deeply troubled by the undeniable proof of what was happening in the Towers, while Adicia and Gara were worried about their own affairs. Since they were no better trained than new apprentices (or so the retired members claimed), how could they expect to stay in charge of their Towers?
It was terrifying that they could be so poorly prepared for their jobs. They had not even received the training of basic members of the Towers. What had gone so wrong that they were not being trained properly? More than that, why had no one noticed the change in the Towers? Why had the changes been allowed? Wasn’t the defense of the Athanasian Realm a responsibility given by the gods? Something that should transcend time and politics?
As they came upon the mill, a tall gnarled figure watched them arrive. Adicia, Gara, Warin, and Dolak had met back up and were walking off to the side of the group, talking quietly among themselves. Suddenly, the figure spun an energy ball about the size of a grapefruit. “Who are you, Madame Luminary and Master Champion, that you dare come to my home?”
They had found Garnrin, and he was apparently not happy to see them.
