As Takrii walked down the small corridor, he couldn't help but notice the glances and stares from the other students. As he turned the corner and into the library, it seemed that the entire occupancy turned to stare. The lilbrarian himself, an old, gnarled moon elf, turned to stare. Takrii tried to ignore their glances, and strode down the aisles, into the section of wind magicks. He took down a tome, with the words 'Weather Magicks Throughout the Ages' scripted in archaic, gilded lettering along its spine.

He held the reveered book carefully, careful not to tear its hallowed pages. He chose a table, and set the book down onto it as carefully as he possibly could. He opened the front cover, and brushed a bit of dust from the glyph on the first page. He recoiled, recognizing it as the glyph from the Sage of Kaether. He turned the page, suddenly intrigued by the glyph, and its placement on the page.

Fefnir walked the isles, a fireball crackling gently in his hand. He got a few wide-eyed looks from other library-goers, and one of them even yelped. Fefnir ignored them, his attention on the mass of books that lined the walls as he passed. He walked among them, eyes sparkling in awe with firelight. He threw the fireball up and caught it again, playing a game of catch with himself as if the thing in his hand was merely a toy, nothing that could cause harm.

Innocence sparkling in his eyes, Fefnir walked down the isles until a specific book caught his attention. 'Fyre and Flame: The Magic That Controls Them'. As he reached out to pull the book from the shelf, a young girl with a stern expression walked up to him, her steps full of determination. She had a way about her, something that said she was very proud of herself and all that she'd accomplished.

"There is no magic in the library!" she said, quietly yet sternly. Fefnir blushed, the ball of flame in his hand dissipating into the air.

"I'm sorry... I didn't know." he said, the book still in his hand and his fingers warm. She straightened herself out, putting on a face that said she was far to important to be bothered, and curtly told him not to let it happen again.

His head hanging, Fefnir walked towards the center of the library, where the tables were. He found one with an empty seat, occupied by a man reading a book. Fefnir put on his best smile and walked over towards the man, pulling a chair from under the table and placing the book on the table.

"Mind if I join you?"

He looked up, suddenly startled, slamming the book shut. He spoke, quietly, and guiltily, saying, "O-of course. If you wish, that it, to be by one of the Order." He made a half smile, and reopened the book, flipping it open to the page, describing how one would go about creating a bolt of lightning indoors, and influencing it to follow a straight path. He looked at him, and sayed, "Don't worry about Thelma. She's just like that naturally." He leaned to him, whispering, "There is an area in the library, a testing zone, to speak, where students use spells, to practice."

He smiled, and said, "If you want, I will take you to it. This whole place it a tad intimidating. Every once and a while, someone is killed. They say, that the souls are absorbed by the Klu Crystal." He pointed to the crystal, directly behind the newcomer, shining innocently, in a crimson red glow from the sunlight behind it. Takrii remembered to ask, unlike so many other times, saying, "Oh! I almost forgot! What is your name? Mine's Takrii, Takrii Tolarnii."

"Fefnir, Fefnir Loewen." he said, smiling as he extended an hand towards the man. "Well, it's nice to see at least once friendly face..." he chuckled a bit, looking in the direction that the man had pointed. The stone gleamed innocently, as if it could, and had, done no wrong. It gave off a distinct aura that said something along the lines of 'What? Me? Nothing here, just a regular old ruby...'

Fefnir opened the ancient book, its spine creaking as he did so. It really was quite old, the cover gnarled and dented. The inside front cover showed a depiction of a flame elemental, a creature covered in its entirety in flame. He stared at the illustration for a moment, imagining living, constantly, in a state of fire.

But he pushed the thought aside, shaking his head as he did so and smiling. He flipped through the pages, but his eye was caught by a page that displayed that same image. He read, his interest piqued, the page labeled "Becoming Fyre".

Takrii smiled, and looked at the spell on the page of the book in front of the Fefnir. He recoiled, and said, "No!", his hands half over his eyes. He calmed, saying, a tad embarressed, "Sorry. It's just that...that spell was what killed the last student." He frowned, and said, "Poor Thil. If he had used a smidge less Colog Spit." He looked up, and said, "Sorry. I'm sure you didn't want to hear the words of mourning."

Slowly, he flipped the next few pages, and pointed a finger to a spell. "Aha! Found it!" He picked it up, and walked through the shelves, through a well lit hallway, and into a white room. He raised a hand, and swung it around, and a single plant grew, sparks flying off of it. He smiled, and whispered, "Thunder Plant." He grinned, and kicked it, and he was shocked, and thrown back, grinning wildly.

Fefnir recoiled when the man yelled.

"He... died?" Fefnir asked, horror on his face. He'd never imagined someone dying because of a spell... Hurt, sure, but never actually killed....

When the man found the spell he was looking for, Fefnir looked up. The man up and left, but Fefnir got up and followed him, this was probably going to be interesting. Through the shelves and down the well-lit hallway, Fefnir followed him into the white room, watching his hand swing through the air.

"Thunder Plant."

The boy took a step forward when the plant shocked the man, sending him flying. At first he was shocked, had he hurt himself? But when he saw the man's grin, all he could do was laugh.

"You're crazy..." he chuckled, walking over to help the man up.

Suddenly, an idea struck Fefnir. He'd seen the spell in his own book, almost as exciting.

"Here!" he said, taking a step towards the thunder plant. Right next to it, he waved his hand in a complicated symbol and jabbed the ground with his fingers. For a moment, nothing happened, but soon a plant grew from the ground. It got bigger and bigger, its branches growing lush red leaves. Some branches bore fruit, small crimson berries that looked harmless.

Smiling, he walked over to the plant and picked a berry. Holding it up, he showed the man before tossing the thing away from both of them, onto the ground. It exploded with a loud popping sound and a tiny spark.

"Firecracker bush." he said with a mischievous grin.

Takrii looked up as Fefnir entered the room, and smiled, replying, "Yes, but aren't we all a little crazy?" He watched, as the man drew a complicated glyph in the air, and for a second, he thought he heard, and saw the air hum. Then, a plant arose, covered with fire-red berries. Takrii watched as Fefnir picked one, almost gingerly, he thought, and tossed it onto the ground. Takrii grinned, along with Fefnir, and picked one up, tossing it into the air, and clapping his hands.

The berry exploded, with a loud bang, like that of true firecrackers, and spraying an array of multi-colored sparks over the practice area. Takrii grinned, and lifted one hand, as if holding up a stone, and a single vine grew. Takrii smiled, and grabbedd a firecracker berry. "This, I think you will like." He lobbed it at the newest vine, and when it had hit, before the berry could explode, the vine burst into flames. Takrii laughed, and said, "Bulmbo Vine!"

Fefnir smiled, and even laughed. This was why he'd run from home. The people back there, his father among them, just didn't understand the nature of the arcane. It was unexplainable, and therefore something to be feared. But he loved it, every single magic that there was. From levitating stones, to raising the dead, it was all wonderful in Fefnir's eyes. Magic in itself was not bad, it was the application of that magic that could be bad...

"You know, I always hoped I'd find someone like you..." he said, the youthful smile still shining on Fefnir's face. "Someone that doesn't see magic as some big... thing. It's not... It's... a way to live..." he paused, trying to form his thoughts into words.

"Like this bush." he said, gesturing towards the firecracker bush, its crimson leaves shining in the brightly lit room. "Some people would just sit there with their mouths agape and wonder how it worked, where it came from or how it grew so quickly... But you can accept it for what it is... he smiled, picking another berry and tossing it at the opposite wall. "A bush that grows exploding fruit!" and the berry popped, showering the ground with colorful sparks.

Takrii laughed. "Why wouldn’t I be? I am one of the Sages! It is our duty to utilize magic. However..." At this, his face grew grim, "There are some, who would shun, attack, or even kill magic users, of all kinds, no matter how they helped others. They would be branded a witch, and burned at the stake. Tis a truly horrible fate." At this, he shook his head sadly. "There are always fools, who hate magic for no reason at all. Fools, who for some reason, believe that magic is akin to the devils.”

He shook his head once again, and said, “But here, magic is accepted, nay, encouraged. That, is the true gift.” He smiled at the plants, one humming with electricity, one quietly burning, and one, bearing blood-red fruit. “Although, technically, the fruit doesn’t s much explode, as pop.” He grinned, and said, “Now, if you want to see something explode, you need the assistance of several spells, all bunched up together. I may make something, that may explode, but not make a very large explosion. A fire bomb, one might say.”

He held out one hand, and a ball of fire appeared in it. He tossed upwards, and clapped his hands. It grew, and finally bursting, with an explosion, spraying embers over the room, and occasionally, a small pebble of flame. “That, is an explosion.”

Fefnir laughed.

"My mistake, oh great Sage." he laughed again, drawing another glyph over the firecracker bush. It glowed in the air for a moment, changing from yellow, to white, to green, to blue, and back to white. After it disappeared, the bush began to wither and die, his fruits falling to the ground. Its lush red leaves disappeared, leaving behind ashes and smoke. It was as if the bush had been set alight, only without the flames.

The boy leaned over to pick one of the fruits, which was now a bright green, the shade of a lime. Grinning, he popped the fruit into his mouth, allowing its juices to flow over his tongue. After the firecracker bush died, any fruit that remained would fall off, become green, and lose their popping properties. They just tasted extremely sour, deliciously so.

He leaned over, picking up the rest of the green berries, popping another into his mouth.

"Want some?" he asked through puckered lips.

Takrii watched raptly as Fefnir began using magic. He watched, and the plant shrank, as if being burnt with and invisible flame. He looked at the berries, once a deep blood red, now a strange light green. He looked at them, with mouth open, and began to laughed as Fefnir ate one, and his lips puckered up. Takrii laughed more, as Fefnir offered one to him. "Are you kidding? You look like a fish, with your puckered lips." He laughed once again, tears of joys welling up beneath his eyelids. He blinked them away, and said, "Now, do you want to see something really amazing?"

Ignoring whatever answer that Fefnir might have given, he held forth both hands, whispering beneath his breath. The air in front of his hands vibrated, and a mirror like image appeared, showing a man, yelling, and swinging an axe. The victim, a pregnant teifling, shrieked, fleeing, until the man silenced her screams with a single overhand swing with the axe, cleaving her head in two. The woman collapsed, and the man tore the axe free, jumping back, and giving a small chuckle. Anger passed through Takrii's face, and he punched an open hand into the image, grabbing the man, as if to crush it. The image dissipated, like mist. "Such things, I see sometimes, and I always regret it. I wish I wouldn't, but I have to, sometimes."