NaNoWriMo the first!

“Of all the rotten luck!” Rork looked at the paper in his hand in utter disbelief, fingers almost trembling.

“What? Did you get Friday as the day of your final as well?”

Rork looked at Donnie and gave him a small snarl as they walked down the hall from the office. “I think I've got this one in the bag.” Donnie smiled as his golden hair bounced across his brow, gently brushing against his metal glasses.

“I don't understand it. Why would they make me take my final on the day when I'm the weakest, and yet give you the same day, when you're at the peak of your power? It just doesn't make any sense.” Rork stuffed his hands into the sleeves of his robes in a most violent motion, letting his oaken staff float via its own power; its leaves glowing slightly.

Donnie, still clutching his black, metal staff, put an arm around his friend as he comforted him. “Maybe it's a real test for you, to see what you're capable of even when you're at your weakest. I'm sure they're going to take it into account.”

“No,” Rork interjected before Donnie could continue, “All the students are expected to do the same for the final exam, regardless of the day.”

“I wonder what us Kins will have to do.”

Rork, feeling curiosity take over his initial feeling of anger decided to ask, “What did you have to do last year? We just had to make a leaf fly without any breeze. It wasn't too difficult for me.”

Donnie, obviously not to be one put to shame, replied “We had to make a bar of metal move across a table, it took me all of three seconds, AND it was a Sunday. It was nothing really.” Rork could see Donnie's chest puff up a little with a false pride that went along with that last statement.

“That's not what I heard.” Rork had to force back a smile as he remembered the rumors of Donnie trying to cheat his way through the exam with a magnet. “I heard that you were quite shocked when the bar didn't move.”

“How was I supposed to know that there wouldn't be any iron in that huge lump of metal?” Donnie's chest immediately deflated as his bluff was called, and instead took a defensive position, expecting more teasing to come from Rork.

Rork just smiled and shook his head, though, he appreciated the distraction from the paper in his hand, but he knew that it wouldn't do him any good in the long run. He was just going to have to accept the fact that he was a Moku, and even though Fridays were the days of his and his kind's weakness, he would just have to live with it.

He was so distracted by the conversation, however, that he hadn't even realized that they had reached the Moku dormitory. “Well, hopefully you'll be able to pass your exam this time. Maybe that's why they gave you that day, so you'd be more able to pass it.” Rork winked at Donnie as he darted down the hallway, only to hear Donnie's shouts of fake anger chasing after him. Rork smiled as he closed the door; he always enjoyed giving Donnie a hard time, but he had a way of being somewhat pithy with his teasing remarks, he had come to realize.

Rork shook his head, this wasn't the time to be thinking of anything other than the task that lay before him: his final exam for the year. He walked through the crowded commons as he made his way to his bedroom. Suddenly, he stopped, as he thought of something that might just help save his bacon. Glancing through the room, he easily spotted some of the upper classmen.

Walking over to them, he shoved the paper into one of the inner pockets in his brown robe. As he got closer, he pulled his hand back out of his sleeve and tried to look nonchalant, maybe even cool. “Hey guys,” he started as he entered their circle, “I was wondering if you could tell me about the third year's exam, you know... how lame it is.”

One of the guys, who looked somewhat familiar to Rork —it was probably his long black bangs that were more than just stylized, they were groomed into a swoop that reminded Rork of the feathers that came off a chicken's butt –put on a fake smile, and said, quite loudly, “Well, well, well, it looks like we have a curious cat over here. What do you guys think, should we tell him about the exam and break the rules of the school? It does seem rather tempting, what with all that this fine fellow has offered us and all. I think I'm going to go with no, though, mostly because I don't want to get kicked out of school.” The student looked at Rork with wide eyes and pursed lips as he pronounced the last word, getting a chorus of laughter and sneers from his peers.

Rork, could feel the eyes of the others in the room, and, not wanting to draw more attention to himself than he already had, turned around and made to quickly retreat to his room, only to be caught by the arm by a student who was a year older than him. Fearing that he might be reported to the school officials, he immediately stammered out “Sorry, I just didn't know what to expect, and it's on a Fri-”

“Wow, on a Friday?” the older student cut him off before he could even finish his last word. “I can understand why you'd want to know what it is that you have to do, though, I hear that they change the exam each year to keep students on their toes, so even if the information got leaked, we wouldn't know what to expect. However, I can tell you one thing, just remember what you've been learning this year and it shouldn't be too difficult, it's always based on what you've learned, remember that. Also, I haven't heard of anyone being forced to do an exam on the day of their weakness.” The student paused for a moment, getting a distant look in his face. “Unless...”

“Unless...” Rork mimicked his starting of a sentence, hoping to get more out of him.

“Well, I guess we'll just have to see, anyway good luck on Friday.” The student smiled as he released Rork's arm, and quickly walked into the crowd.

Well, that's just great, Rork thought to himself as he continued his retreat to his room, though the eyes were already off his back.

What have we been working on? All that he could remember was teachers making him taking limbs of plants, and making them grow. I knew I shouldn't have skipped as many classes as I did. Feeling the frustration rise within him, he looked for something at which he could lash out. Seeing nothing in his room, he reached into his robe and pulled out the paper that had started all this crazy behavior.

He could sense the tiny amount of life force still in the fibers of the plant that had been destroyed to make the paper. Reaching out to it, he held it in his mind, and then dragged it into his staff. He wished it had hair so he could pull it along even more painfully, but he knew it didn't matter, for the paper had no more feeling that a boot, and that definitely had no feeling.

The paper started to yellow and crinkle as its life force was drained from it, causing it to age prematurely.

Rork turned his attention to his staff and watched as another leaf started to bud out of the bark. He noticed that his staff was much healthier looking now than it was when it was first given to him. At that time, almost three years ago now, it was nothing more than a twig, no longer than the wand that he saw some of the teachers had mounted on the walls in their rooms. Now it had seven branches and quite a few leaves on each of them. It was also much sturdier, and thicker than before. He was glad that he could now give his life force to it to make it grow, and sustain the energy that it used when it floated alongside him. He and his staff had grown a lot since his studies first started.

Feeling much more confident than before, he immediately sat down and opened his book, reading about the life force in all things, and how to manipulate it. Oh, that's right, we've been learning how to make our element grow without using any outside energy. Rork smiled and looked at his staff. “Well, my friend, it looks like you've still got some growing to do.”

Chapter 2

It was already Thursday. Rork had only had a few days to practice, but he felt that he was making progress. He looked at his hand as it held the spoon which held his breakfast.

“Yes, you have pretty hands, but you really shouldn't be standing there, looking at yourself all mesmerized by your beauty.” Donnie was always there for Rork, and he knew that, but sometimes he was such a pain in the butt.

“No, you see... Augh, it'll be easier if I just show you.” Rork grabbed the knife off the table in the cafeteria and held it close to his hand. “Watch.”

Before he could do anything, Donnie quickly grabbed the knife out of his hand. “Sorry, but the sight of things cutting into flesh really doesn't make me hungry for my breakfast.”

Rork rolled his eyes, yet another one of Donnie's examples of friendship and trust.

(Hey all!  I'm back!  and I have started NaNoWriMo!  this is the first of many days to come of the story of Rork, a young magic user.  The magic system is based off the Japanese week and the symbols that they use.  I hope you find it interesting.  Anyway!  Peace out! YEAH! )