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Previous Challenge Entry (Level 1 – Beginner)
Topic: BACK TO THE DRAWING BOARD (08/03/17)

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• TITLE: Towers are Meant to Stand Forever | Previous Challenge Entry
  By Stephen Blake
  08/08/17
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Wizards never built their towers out of water, but Greg was determined to make his work. His hat cast a wide shadow over his unrolled plans as he pored over them at his workbench. With a finger holding his place on the paper, he looked up at the grassy knoll before him and lifted his ruddy staff toward the massive fountain: his tower.



The three columns of water shooting straight up from a giant pool, each twice as wide and tall as an oak, began to twist about one another as he twirled his staff. At their peak, the crystal platform supported by the upward torrent began to slowly rotate. The concave underside of the seven meter disc reflected the flow downward like a whirlpool in the center of the twisted fountain.



If I can just tighten up that vortex a little more, it’ll…



“Greetings from your windward neighbor!” a female voice called out from Greg’s left. He jumped. His staff wavered. The whirlpool floundered like a waterfall.



“Seriously, Ann?” Greg shot a glare to the petite woman walking up with ivory staff in hand.



“Please,” Ann said, adjusting her white robes, “Address me as Annette the Pure Sorceress of Windward Alele.” She then performed a silly bow. Behind her, several leagues away, Greg could see her quartz tower - completed, and scraping the clouds. She’s probably here to gloat.



He turned back to his work, spinning his staff to turn the waterfall back into a whirlpool in the sky. “Whatever, Ann. Come to admire my tower?“



“It’s… interesting for sure. Not really what Master Turrail would recommend.” She walked up to his workbench, pulling off her hood to look up at the towering fountain.



“We’re not students anymore. This tower is my work. I can choose how to build it, and I don’t have to follow Master Turrail’s guidelines like every other wizard.” Greg got the whirlpool working again and went back to his scroll.



Ann looked down at his plans. “It’s impressive, Greg. Really it is. But you know it won’t last. It’ll fall the moment you’re gone from this world. You’re making a spectacular flash here that’ll only break down like sodium in water.” Her voice revealed concern as she placed a hand on his arm.



His arm stiffened. “What good is permanence if it does nothing while I’m around? No offense, but that white tower of yours out there is just… normal. I can’t afford normal.”



Ann turned from him and breathed deeply for a long time before she replied. “It won’t…” She turned back to Greg and summoned the courage to speak her mind, “It won’t keep her around. I know she’s going back to sea... where her heart truly is. This fountain... it’s never going to be enough water for her.”



Greg grabbed his staff off the workbench and walked toward his tower. The spin was ok, but the platform was listing a bit to the rear column. A wave of his staff could fix this. I can make this right.



“You can’t just ignore me, Greg!” Ann followed after. “You can’t build your life around someone who's just going to run away. You’re a good guy… a brilliant wizard… and my best friend. There’s a better life for you than the one you’re building!”



Greg squeezed his eyes shut. It hurt so much to have Ann say so clearly what he only knew subconsciously. His fingers gripped his staff till his knuckles were white. “Are you here to hurt me, or help me?”



“I’m always here to help you.” She said before walking away.



Greg stood breathing in and out until he calmed down. The sun was setting when he looked back to the workbench. There, Ann had left him a sealed jar of sodium pellets and a familiar scroll.



On the Permanence of Towers. His Master's work.



It was all impetus he needed. He broke the seal and waved his staff. A tornado of metal beads rose into the night air.



“Here we go.” Greg shot the pellets into his watery tower, and they erupted in a vortex of flame. With a flourish, he stretched his staff high in the air, and the fountain of fire exploded in a burst of yellow energy.



And then it was gone.



He took a deep breath in the darkness. Grabbing his Master’s scroll from the workbench he walked off. He gazed at Ann’s elegant white tower in the distance.



“Let’s try this again.”

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