Epicurus, the Sorcerer? (Initiate Training)

[Epicurus D. Vampyler]

In the heart of the city, rising tall over the wide streets of Nexus Prime, reside three towers of unmistakeable beauty. They are set on several acres of well tended lawns and gardens and rise high into the clouds, piercing them with their elegance and power.

Silvery strands connect each tower to the next, gossamer walkways that link each building as a whole. They span at great heights and thus cast no shadow upon the ground far below, so high and fragile they appear to be. The towers themselves, made from granite and layered in a crystal that sparkles with all the known colours of Alleria (and perhaps some that aren't), blaze beneath the midday sun, a myriad of ever-sparkling colors that lights up the sky itself.

These are the great Rainbow Towers where arcana is taught and studied, learned and mastered. Here, some of the greatest masters of their kind gather and teach those seeking the Gift, or Curse as some may call it. To nurture and develop their fields of study is their united goal, so that their power lives on in the knowledge of fine minds throughout the Empire long after their physical forms turn to dust.

Admittance to the ranks of the accepted was a stringent process, and receptionists were renowned for their uncanny (and even maddeningly frustrating) ability to weed out the prize few from the rest of the candidates that passed through the Tower halls. This was made all the more unnerving by the fact that the Towers went through receptionists faster then one could give money to a dwarf. One would disappear and another would simply take his or her place, and with each new face, a new set of requirements popped up, a new test of wills that was to be bested before one could gain entry.

The latest installment of clerks at the front desk was the youthful looking woman sitting behind the beautiful dark wood desk, her head buried in some obscure tome of knowledge. Stacks of paper were littered across the writing surface, along with a scattering of inkwells containing feathered quills.

Looking up hastily from her book, the ebon hair that had been dangling freely over shoulders fell into her face, obscuring her features and partially hiding her dark, wide eyes from view. Quickly adjusting her robes and pushing her hair back over slender shoulders, her thin pink lips broke out into a girlish smile at apparent embarrassment for being so unprofessional. Clearing her throat, she sat up straight and give a slight nod to the new entries. Her eyes seemed red around the edges, as if she had been crying lately.

"Serale. Is there a way I could be of assistance to you today? If you are an aspiring student we offer two fields of arcanic study: Mysticism, the art of the mind and Sorcery, control the very fabric of magic itself. So, then, what can we do for you?"

A small sign next to the desk read:
400 - Initiate, without room and board
700 - Initiate, with room and board

600 - Apprentice, without room and board
900 - Apprentice, with room and board

700 - Journeyman, without room and board
1000 - Journeyman, with room and board

OOC: Currently seeking A/GM/Peer moderation

Being his first time in Nexus Prime Epicurus has never seen Secluria, its beauty was almost intimidating. Perhaps this place, like many other schools offered some form of boarding, that way he would not have to worry about finding a place to stay. All of his belongings were left in the room at the local Inn he had reserved for the night, in case he wasn’t able to get such boarding. The last thing he wanted to do was pay the Inn’s nightly rates for the entirety of his training, which again he hoped they still offered. As he approached the nervous young woman at the desk he smiled, hoping to make her feel a little sell self conscious of the way she looked.

” Serale, and yes, I am interested in taking your initiate sorcery class along with room and board. Do you have spots available at this time?” Epicurus stood straight, arms behind his back the gentle smile still pressing against his cheeks. A stance that had been taught too him through his time spent at the palace in Prime, being with the empress had forced him to acquire the habits of nobles so that the ‘higher ups’ felt more confortable around him.

[Skay Ravendi]

Susan Marie, the receptionist who has been working in the Towers for several eras, lit up with a smile when Epicurus spoke to her. It was a nice change from the faces that just passed by her desk and never uttered a word or stopped for a cup of tea. It was probably just a very selected few that spoke to her. And well... there were reasons. Which so far were unknown to the human. "Oh sure we do, handsome." Oh noei! Susan Marie's hand went over her mouth. She was not suppose to say that out loud and she was not allowed to flirt. Oh noei! What if the staff heard her? Even worse, what if the other guys heard her?

"Room. Sorcery. Yes. There's a room 103 available. A sorcerer Alwin Bolstump finally got promoted to apprentice so he moved to the second floor. See, second floor is for apprentices. There are of course classrooms, not only rooms, but. Right. So... that would be 700 crowns. And I'd need your visa and your signature here." Susan Marie slid a paper where and pointed where Epicurus had to sign. "You'd get the room straight away and your classes would start in..."

Her nose darted into the ledger. "Three brightenings. And you'd have the first class so at dawn. The class is room 101. Easy to find." Ah. New students. A wonderful thing. Wonderful when they left the towers with training and alive. After all there was a number that died during the Unbinding or Promotion and there were those who got hurt during training or just... playing with arcana and other students in the floor. In fact, Susan Marie was still quite sure that the Ghost in her room was nothing but a mystic's doing. Still though... she did not dare return there for three brightenings by now.

[Epicurus D. Vampyler]

Epicurus took a moment to piece together everything the receptionist had said, room 103 is where he will be staying and he will be taking his class, at dawn, in room 101. He nodded his acknowledgement and fished out a blank check, filling it out for 700 crowns, a hefty price but one he was willing to pay. He handed the amount of crowns over and asked where his room was located. He did not strike up conversation, nor did he make himself look interested at all in what he was signing up for. He was in a strange place, it unnerved him a bit, as did most places he was unfamiliar with.

Once he had signed, and the young girl was finished with he visa he packed it back in and turned away, giving a quiet thank you as he made his way to his room. Upon his arrival he paid no notice to set up, he simply located the bed as quickly as possible, dropped his belongings on the floor and planted himself face down. He was tired, very tired, and it was not going to get any better from here. The next three brightenings would be spent resting, saving up as much energy for the upcoming class. So it was, thoughts of what he had left back in Prime spinning through his head, that Epic drifted off into his dream/nightmare land.

***
- 3 Brightenings Later –

Bright and early Epicurus awoke, the brightening had come to begin is new training. Quickly down a few pieces of fruit and a chunk of heard bread he threw on his clothes and made his way out of the room and towards class 101. Finding the door he quietly opened it, peeking inside to make sure he had the right place, like he would know any better anyway.

[Skay Ravendi]

Oh finding the room was not hard. He had passed through the door the other brightening. However this one, the human just could not get to it. For whenever he walked the corridor from his room to room 101, during a certain point in the path he kept on being teleported to the entrance to the Tower. No matter how many times he tried to walk to the lecture room, the effect was always the same. He appeared in the entrance to the Tower.

And the whole teleportation wasn't unpleasant or anything either. Perhaps a strange feeling in his stomach for a short moment or moments, but nothing else. Just the view changed in the blink of an eye, as if he closed the eyes and opened them in a whole new location. And it was dawn, for that was the agreed time of the lecture, so all the other students were tight asleep in their rooms. Fortunately for Epic, this was not the first strange thing that he had encountered in the Tower of Force.

In his own room the window which was suppose to have a view into the yard of the towers, it had a view to the road which led to the gates of Nexus Prime. While the gates themselves were out of the view, around the corner of the window, the human could still sometime see the line of people waiting to be let inside and the coming ones too. However if he tried to open the window, then all that would vanish and he'd see the normal, cobblestoned yard of the Towers. When the window was closed again though, the view to the road to Nexus would appear again. But the pressing matter right now - was getting to the lecture and not being terribly late.