(TODO: Translate to english)
Es ward einst ein Zauberer in einem Turm. Der Turm ragte hoch hinauf, kalte graue Zinnen ragten über
den hohen Mauern. Er flüsterte Worte, lief wild im Kreis, lag Tage lang still, stand wieder auf und
kreischte wie vom Floh gebissen. Die Leute im Umkreis hielten ihn für verrückt, doch keiner traute sich,
dem Turm zu nähern. Außer Sir Lendrian. Oh, hätte doch jeder so viel Mut wie Sir Lendrian. Ohne ein
Anzeichen von Furcht ritt er die 2.312 Stufen hinauf (er hatte sie gezählt, um sich von der ihm drohenden
Gefahr abzulenken) - und da stand er ihm endlich gegenüber. Der in die Jahre gekommene Zauberer
hatte ihn bereits in der Ferne heranreiten sehen.
"Wo ist dein Pferd?", fragte der Alte den Ritter.
Ser Lendrian wusste darauf nichts zu antworten. Schließlich entschloss er sich, die Frage zu ignorieren:
"Im Namen des Königreiches Morvald verlange ich zu erfahren, was hier vor sich geht!"
"Oh, you'd never be able to fully understand what is going on here, dear knight of Morvald.", the sorcerer
replied with a smirk on his face.
"Do you have any permission to stay inside this tower?", Lendrian asked enduring.
"The tower is much older than you. Do you have a permission to enter it?", the sorcerer asked mockingly.
"Of course I have the permission, I am a knight..."
"Yes yes, you are a knight of Morvald, you already told that one or two times. But this tower is not under
the protection of Morvald."
"What do you mean by that, we are in the MIDDLE of Morvald...", Lendrian began to shout, loosing his
patience.
"Yes we are, my shrewd lad, but this tower is in possession of a mighty sorcerer."
Lendrian made a step towards the sorcerer: "And who would that sorcerer be?"
The sorcerer began to laugh: "Abrixos is his name, oh holy knight. I hope you 've heard from him?"
Lendrian had never heard of him. "Of course I've heard of him.", he said as if no one could not know that,
"but the rules of law also apply to sorcerers, and so if you wouldn't mind, I'd like you to show me a
certification of your allowance to stay here."
"Oh, the certification, that's what you wanted all along, didn't you? Come on then, follow me, I'll show you
my certification."
And he opened a trapdoor and started to climb down. The tower had two systems to go up and down,
either over the 2.312 stairs on the outside of the tower while entering one of the 102 doors that led to the
inside every now and then, or through the 217 trapdoors with stairs leading downwards, each placed
close to the middle of each room. Often, there was more than one trapdoor per floor, since the floor was
split into multiple rooms at this height.
The brave knight Lendrian had no other choice but to follow him. Riding down the 2.312 stairs without
getting to know what was going on here was no option.
After 50 trapdoors, the sorcerer heard the knight breathing heavily.
"What is it, brave knight? Are you exhausted already?", he asked with a grin.
Lendrian felt quite a bit exhausted. "Not at all", he replied, "but how far do we have to go down until you
find your certificate. And can't I wait here for you?"
"You could wait", the sorcerer said calmly. "But I don't know how long you would have to wait. It could be
a few minutes, a few hours, days, weeks..."
"You want to joke with me, is that it?", Lendrian asked annoyed. "What about that joke, if you don't hurry I
will show you how this here feels inside your buttocks...", he said and pulled out a sword out of the
sheath on his back.
"You won't.", the sorcerer just said, "so please follow me."
Lendrian thought for a moment, then he put his sword back into his sheath. It was indeed against his
honor to draw a sword because of a few provoking words. The sorcerer moved down the next stair.
Most rooms looked quite similar to each other. A desk, often filled with papers full with scribbles and
drawings of all kinds of things Lendrian had never seen. A few shelves, presumably with more of the
same type of papers as Lendrian assumed. Maps and map sketches of the world, often with parts that
Lendrian had never seen. Sometimes, there were bowls of food that were eaten up and not cleaned for a
time span Lendrian did not want to imagine. And the toilets! In every third floor, there was a toilet at the
same place. Several buckets of water stood next to the toilets. In some floors, there were ovens.
Lendrian asked himself how the ovens would send the smoke outside, when the sorcerer said: "Let's see
what he have here..."
He opened a shelve in the 42nd ground of the great tower of Abrixos, and Lendrian saw that he was
wrong: There was much more in these shelves than just paper. Loads of vials with contents in all colors
and aggregate states, a bunch of tools he never saw before, dried herbs packed together in tufts, and
something that looked... like it would lead into another world. Lendrian was staring for a few seconds on
this thing, when the sorcerer said:
"That's a mirror, good sir."
"W...where does it take me?"
" To yourself.", the sorcerer said with a mad smile, while turning the thing to him. Lendrian started to
shudder as he saw his own face inside of the mirror.
"You are on both sides", he heard the sorcerer say from his right. Or his left?
"You are here, and you are there, but live you can only on one side."
Lendrian saw the sorcerer dance behind him in the mirror, seeming to experience pure joy.
"And which side is the better one? The one with the two, or the one with the many? Hihihi. Hahaha.
Enlexios partos rex et termidu santu parmentur..."
Lendrian saw multiple sorcerers dancing behind him. At first, they looked all the same, but every time he
noticed them again, they were more different from each other. Some even became women.
Sorcereresses.
"...alegretto tinktu baldrumur extibit voluntis riktor barnis..."
In the mirror, he saw one of the sorceresses touch his shoulder.
"...Darumenes haleket mentur sabranor vikta."
And then the sorcerer was quiet. He looked at Lendrian through the mirror, and Lendrian looked at him.
Finally, he started to smile again and spoke:
"Good luck, my young knight. May you find your certification. Let's hope we meet again!"
And as he disappeared in the mirror, Lendrian felt the hand on this shoulder, and as he turned around,
away form the mirror, they were all there: 3 sorcerers and 2 sorceresses, clothed in robes with hoods that
they put above high, pointy hats.
"And who are you?", the sorceress, still touching his shoulder, asked.
- Same tower at Cirrani
- He escapes them somehow
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