And thus it continues, NaNoWriMo the fifth! >:D

Chapter 5

The next few days brought nothing of importance, besides Akara passing her final exam. Everyone in Rork's level was enjoying the free time after the finals and having a good time at the restaurants and shops that were near the school. Most of them had gotten money or other treats as a way of celebration for the passing of their third level exam. Everyone except Donnie, that is, who was stuck inside studying for his next attempt at his final, with no treats to call his own.

“I almost feel badly for him,” Rork revealed to Akara as he moved to his favorite booth at the Sorcerer's Cup, one of the better restaurants that was still close enough to the school to walk. They both took off their coats and placed them on the coat hangers on the ends of the benches at the booth.

“Whoa!” Rork exclaimed in sudden surprise. “I've forgotten how great you look when you're not wearing your school robes.” Not until after he saw the small fires of anger ignite in her eyes did he realize the full meaning of what he had just said. “Sorry, that's not what I meant! I just...” But he couldn't finish in time to ward off the blow, the damage had already been done, and the smack on the arm was harder than it normally was. Well, that's a fine way to start off this rare evening alone with Akara.

Looking for a quick change of subject, Rork went with the usual. “So, what did you have to do for your final?”

Akara's answer was somewhat curt and straightforward, “You know as well as I that I can't disclose that information to those who haven't yet passed that final.”

“Oh, come on, I'm the Grand Wizard's apprentice for crying out loud; I don't think that rule still applies to me, I don't think I'm even technically enrolled at the school anymore,” Rork pleaded, hoping to get at least a hint of something or a little slack.

“Rules are rules.” Mentioning the fact that he had been chosen to be the Grand Wizard's apprentice didn't seem to cheer up Akara at all. Is she feeling jealous as well?

“So cold. At least you could tell me about your final last year, what did they have you do?”

With a roll of her eyes, and a tone of voice that bordered on whiny, she said, “They had me melt down some iron ore with nothing but a candle, it really wasn't that difficult.” She crossed her arms, obviously upset about something, “When is that waiter going to get over here? We've already been here for like five minutes, what's his deal?”

“Calm down, sometimes it takes awhile, you know that, and the place is packed, I mean, they even opened up the second level today; I don't think this is something over which you should get worked up.” What's with her? He wondered.

“I really just want to get something to eat is all.”

Not wanting to deal with an upset Akara, Rork raised his hand to get the attention of the waiter as he passed by, but he just kept on walking, not even giving him a second glance or reassurance that he would be right back. “Huh, that's weird,” Rork mumbled to himself. Again, he tried to catch the attention of the waiter as he passed by, but with no luck. He looked across the table at Akara, but she was looking off into the distance, not paying any attention to him.

This time, as the waiter came around, rork decided to get up and block his path, hoping to force the waiter to stop, which he did, except that the waiter ended up running straight into him, causing a huge mess as food flew left and right, landing on people's clothes, dinner tables, and the floor.

“What the deuce?” exclaimed the waiter

“I'm so terribly sorry,” came Rork's immediate apology, “I'll help clean it up straight away.” He knelt down to pick up a plate, but his hand passed right through it. Caught off guard, he over extended his hand, compensating for the weight that should have been there, and ended up smacking the guy sitting next to him. “I'm really sorry, sir,” he said as the man turned to look at him, but it was as though he was looking through him, and he was getting terribly angry at that.

“How dare you hit me, a paying customer!” the man roared at the waiter.

“I'm afraid I don't know what you mean; I somehow tripped over thin air and spilled the food, but I never hit you,” the waiter responded in as nice and apologetic tone as he could muster, which wasn't saying much, considering his huge size.

“Oh, trying to get along as if it didn't happen, eh? I think I'll show you what happens when someone wrongs me and tries to get away with it!” The man, quite large himself, jumped from his chair and started pulling up his sleeves, advancing towards the waiter, who put his fists up in a defensive position, waiting for the first blow, so he could retaliate and not get in trouble from the boss. The first man lunged at the waiter, apparently not seeing that Rork was right in between them; even Rork had forgotten that he was there while listening to the arguing and confusion, and he only realized it as the man was in mid lunge, just about to lay on some hurt.

Suddenly, the whole world stopped for a moment, and Rork heard a voice come from everywhere and nowhere at the same time. “It's not pretty is it?”

Rork, more than confused, could do nothing, but look around, trying to find the source of the voice.

“It's no use, lad, it's just a dream, you won't find me. But back to my previous statement; it's not pretty is it? This is what happens when you only interact with one element, you only interact with one portion of the magic. It gets confused, and while it can still do a few things, it gets angry because it doesn't know who you are, what you really want, or why you want it to do what you are telling it to do.”

“You speak of magic as though it were a person,” Rork shouted out to the voice.

“There's a reason for that, you'll see. But remember, we were never meant to just interact with one element.”

Rork had heard of people who had excelled in one element, gone as far as they could, and then started studying a new element, their second strongest. These magi were rare, only a few out of the entire school were able to do this, and it took many years of work to train yourself to be able to just sense the new element, let alone tell it to grow, or move, or any other level of magic, most quit after being able to tell it to move, for anything more was so demanding on them and their own energy, that it would almost make them too weak to stand.

“I understand,” came his reply.

“No, I don't think you do, not until you've experienced what I have experienced. Then, maybe you will understand.” There was almost a sadness in the voice, but Rork dismissed it.

Suddenly, Rork looked around again, the world was still frozen, and there was Akara, sitting at the booth, looking beautiful as ever. “This is just a dream, right?”

“Yes,” came the now familiar voice.

“Ok, just checking,” and Rork quickly rushed over to Akara and kissed her right on the lips, good and hard.

And that's when the world started moving again, the man punched the waiter, and Akara opened her eyes wide in shock after a second of not knowing what was happening. This was quickly followed by another smack, this time on Rork's face. “Just what do you think you are doing?!” Akara shouted. “I knew I shouldn't have come here alone with you. I was hoping you could get over your past feelings for me, but I guess I was mistaken!” And with that, she grabbed her coat and stormed out of the restaurant.

Mouth open, not sure what to say, Rork sat back down in his seat, not sure what to make of the whole mess. “I thought you said that it was a dream,” he muttered somewhat angrily under his breath.

Again, the world stopped, and the voice spoke again. “It is, I just thought I'd let you have the consequences of your rash actions.” The words were no longer out of his mouth than a chuckle could be heard, which again turned into a roaring laugh. “Sorry, you should have seen the look on your face when she smacked you, priceless, purely priceless. Ok, that's enough fun for today, you'll be waking up now.”

And with that, the world faded, and Rork sprung up in his bed, wide awake. Seeing the sun coming through his window, he quickly exclaimed, “Oh no! What time is it?” knowing that he was supposed to meet Akara for lunch at the Sorcerer's cup.

He quickly threw on some clothes, not caring what they were, stuffing his feet into his boots just after he had pulled his pants on, all while trying to get a shirt on the other arm. Looking in the mirror, he quickly brushed his hair with his hand, trying to get the mad locks to lay flat.

Suddenly, Donnie's voice broke the mad rush, “Sorry, but you really can't do your hair very well, even if you spend all night on it.”

Rork just rolled his eyes and continued with his routine.

(Hey everyone!  I actually wrote this last night, but I forgot to post it before getting into an intense game of Minecraft with a friend who had just bought it.  Hope you all enjoyed the extra hour last night, I know I sure did :D!  Oh, let me know how the story's going, or if there's any blatant typos or mistakes, it would be greatly appreciated.  

PS Minecraft was awesome, we dug a huge mine shaft straight down to the bedrock, and then did a mixture of ladders and water so that you could jump all the way down to the bottom without taking damage and dying! yeah!  Enjoy your Sunday!  Peace out. )