Like the castle Cira , the black tower stood there since time immemorial. The cruel hand of time had erased its name from the memories of mortals.
There was no record of the black spike in the annals of Minaak. Even magsmen hadn't woven any tales to entertain folks.
Surrounded by the Eroswood trees, the tower remained closed until Bhadra came to Minaak. Of course, people had tried to enter the dark building long before the fowler, but none could open the serpent door.
Bhadra, who had brought the dead Ayan home, on being asked what he wanted in return, had requested to stay in the dark tower for one fortnight.
Oman was too grateful to deny such a small request of the person, who had reunited his brother to their family. And thus Bhadra was allowed to live in the abandoned tower. Of course, Oman had never expected the hooded stranger could even open the serpent door in the first place, which even the best blacksmiths of their time couldn't budge.
But in the night when he saw a torched battling against the darkness that had ruled the ancient building for ages and ages, he realized he had underestimated his guest from the unknown land.
How the fowler had done it became one of the many secrets of the old castle.
Idle tongues had woven stories, some dark, some good, but the fact remained like that.
Later Oman employed Bhadra and made him the sole owner of the black tower. As for what the fowler had told the lord of Minaak, never fell into the third person's ear.
The opening of the tower didn't unveil the mysteries enshrouding it. They said the runes carved on the walls were too ancient to make out, and the rusted doors inside were too old to listen to the fowler's spell.
Or if they did, only Bhadra or his glass minion would know.
****
Unaware of these mysteries, Onish followed Virtu up the spiralling stairs, trying hard to shake off the rusted copper gate out of his mind. The green ancient door, which stood deep inside the tower, had stirred something in him, something deeply buried in his very soul. What was it?
No answer came, no flash of memory. Nothing but the woe of some unnamed loss. His soul grew heavier with each step. The musty air was humming the long-forgotten songs in a tone that only death-fairies could outmatch.
Was it some evil magic or did someone, dearest to him, really perish here? Onish wondered while chanting the mantra. The time had eroded the carvings on the walls, showing that he had crushed, again, mankind's futile attempt to last forever.
The architecture of the tower was starkly different from the castle of Minaak, and so was the stone. The whole building seemed to grow out of the earth like a giant tree.
As Onish climbed the worn out stairs he noticed each story of the tower was strikingly different from one another. From architectural styles to the auras. In what kind of place the flower was living? His curiosity of this instructor, who never showed his face, heightened.
It was the sixth story, when the glass boy, who was oddly quiet so far, spoke.
"Boy, what was your name again?"
"Ishit." Onish replied, taking in the fine details of the structure around him.
"Do you know human brat? Lies eat away souls just like weevils until you are left with nothing but an empty shell." Virtu said in his baby voice as they proceeded to the seventh floor.
"So, one should never lie."
Onish nodded in agreement. He didn't know what race the toddler belonged to or if he was a product of this world's uncanny magic, but there was no doubt the glass boy had a sentence on par with a human.
"So tell me your real name," Virtu asked again.
Onish was amused. So the reason for the silence of the glass boy was this. He was still stuck on his name.
"I'm not lying, it is really Ishit." he said, wondering why a name was so important to him.
"No! It isn't. It doesn't fit you." the toddler said, stopping at the seventh floor. The floor was well lit by the beeswax candles as thick as his calf. Onish saw, in the flicker pale light, the carvings on the stone walls were strangely similar to the hooded figure of Bhadra.
He might have noticed another similar figure if the toddler's world hadn't distracted him.
Virtu's words made his heart skip a beat. Had his secret been exposed?
"Virtu, what nonsense are you spouting about?" Bhadra's loud voice came from the ajar door, cutting them off. "Hurry in, I need you to drink this potion for me."
"The potion is already ready!" the toddler chirped as he rushed towards the door, "Wait, master. Virtu is coming." With a kick the heavy black door flanked open, and the glass boy tottered in.
Onish, in the middle of pondering, was dumbfounded at the speed of the boy.
After a moment or two, the toddler rushed back again, the impatience written all over his glassy face.
"Hurry up, boy; don't keep standing there like a fool," he said loudly.
Onish didn't know what he should do. The boy seemed not to have any curtsey. Was he not the young lord of Minaak? Onish strode across the stone floor to the door, feeling relieved. It seemed the toddler meant nothing by his earlier words.
Behind the door was a specious salon-like hall cramped with all sorts of things--rows of racks stacked with tomes, and scrolls; cupboards stuffed with jars, wooden tables cluttered with strange instruments, and walls covered with diagrams and maps. There were five carved wooden doors all closed save one with a saucer shape.
As for Bhadra, he was standing beside a large cauldron black as a moonless night, golden runes running all over its surface.
Thick curls of smoke were rising from the shimmering green liquid in the black vessel. The toddler was already beside the fowler, shuffling his feet, saliva dripping from his transparent mouth.As soon as the fowler spooned out the potion. He cupped up the wooden bowl and drank it, like a wino.
Onish saw the miracle coming on.
He watched the potion trickling down through the glassy body, shining its path. Mouth, food pipe, stomach and then glassy blood carrying the digested sparkling potion. After a while Viru's entire body glowed like a large green crystal, sparkling in the full moon night.
Bhadra nodded seemingly satisfied with the outcome.
"Seemed fine to me. How does it taste?" he asked, looking carefully at the shining body of the toddler.
"Yammy!. Can I have more, Master? " replied Virtu, his blue eyes glued to the cauldron.
"No, you can stomach only this much."
Onish saw the boy's face fall, his glistening round cheeks puffed. "You're lying just like the human lad. I'm going to play. Don't disturb me again."
And he stomped off to the saucer-shaped door. At the door, he halted as if recalling something.
"And keep an eye on the human kid," he said, giving Onish a specious look as though he was some thief, and turned and left.
"Never mind him. Virtu's got a bad temper." Bhadra said as he flicked his hand and one jade jar flew to him and sat on the wooden table beside the cauldron. "Not his fault! The world has been cruel to him." he continued as he moved his fingers. The liquid rose like a thick green rope, swaying in the air, and entered into the jade jar.
Onish watched the amazing skill of telekinesis with great fascination. As he listened to the fowler.
It turned out the glass boy is not made of glass at all. He belonged to a rare race almost extinct from mazia. Bhadra had picked him,half-dead, from his ruined homeland called Glassia, a place even beyond the Living Sea. What caused the disaster Bhadra didn't know or he refused to share with Onish.
Kanchi people, Virtu's race, were extremely sought after by alchemists as they could display the working of potions and pills.
As for the potion Bhadra had just brewed, It was Igbo's potions used for body forging. Of course, it was for Onish.
Not everyone needed the expensive potion for their body forging. In fact, one who awakened at the age of awakening didn't need it at all. They just need to circulate the spirit and everything would be fine.
However, Onish had long passed the age, and his muscles and bones had solidified. So, only after shattering them, he could hope for body forging.
Bhadra seemed quite impressed by the fact that Onish had taken just one day to cleanse his nadis and memorise all the five diagrams.
He checked his body carefully and explained to him the procedure of body forging.
That seemed so simple that Onish thought he could have forged his body alone in his room.
All he had to do was drink the Igbo's potion and wait till his muscles and bones shattered and rebuild anew. Then, he had to circulate the spirit as per memorised diagram, and that was all.