To the 7th NaNoWriMo! And beyond!

There was one table left, and they quickly snatched it before anyone else could, even though it was in the corner, where they weren't very likely to get much attention from the wait staff.

“Well, what else are you going to do, Mr. Spontaneous?”

“Well, first,” Rork opened his menu, which caused Akara to open her eyes in mock shock, “I think I'm going to try the,” Rork stopped speaking as he put his finger on the menu and moved it around randomly, and then opened his eyes when he stopped his finger, face dropping slightly as he realized what he had picked, “Pork chop stew?”

Akara giggled at the irony of the situation, “Well, I won't tell anyone what you landed on, just that you chose your meal randomly.”

“Thanks. Though, I really was almost looking forward to trying something new.”

It was almost half an hour before a waiter noticed them and took their order, but they didn't really care, or notice for that matter; they were too busy talking about this and that. The lunch went on wonderfully; the food was better than expected, which was saying something, as the Sorcerer's Cup was already known for their lunch menu. After they finished their meal, and Rork offered to pay for Akara's meal, they headed back to the school. It started snowing when they were about halfway back.

Akara hadn't really noticed it, since she had been talking most of the time on the return trip home, so Rork quickly made a connection with a nearby tree. He moved one of the branches back, the one which was the most heavy laden with snow, and then released it, with perfect timing as Akara walked by, and smacked her in the face with a huge clump of snow.

His smile of delight quickly faded, though, as she became furious, which was not what he was going for at all. “Sorry,” he started to say, but it was too late, the fire was already in her eyes, and he jumped back as a small sphere of fire puffed out, away from her, drying her face and clothes, as well as singeing the ends of Rork's hair.

“Don't ever, EVER, do that again.” With some force of will, it seemed that she managed to put her ferocity away, and she seemed somewhat normal for the rest of the night, but Rork was still cautious around her. He really didn't want to see that again. What really made him worried was that she didn't even have a source of fire, nor her staff on her. If she had either of those, she would have definitely been able to do much more than just singe his hair.

They reached the school, this time the silence was ringing in Rork's ears as they took the steps up to the main entrance. “Well, thank you for the fun time, I've only got a little while until the Grand Wizard is supposed to pick me up, I hope that your next level of training goes well for you. You better study hard though, cuz I'm going to be studying under the best wizard ever, so unless you want to get left behind...” Rork left the message at that, trying to end on a positive note instead of a sad, sappy note.

Akara caught the hint. “You better believe I'll study hard, there's no way a softy like you will ever be able to catch up to me.” And just like that, she ran up the stairs and disappeared into the school.

Chapter 7

The time until the Grand Wizard's coming flew by more quickly than Rork thought it would, and probably faster than he wanted it to. He wanted to cherish these last few moments with his friends and classmates, he knew he wouldn't see them for awhile, but he didn't know just how long that time was going to be. He was excited, though, for being with the Grand Wizard, he knew that he would experience great things, and also learn how to master all six elements. There must be some secret to gaining this ability; maybe it was a time magic lost to most through the ages which allowed the user to study and practice in a time between the time. Or perhaps it was a sacrifice to demons which opened up one's abilities to their potential. Rork had heard of people trying this before with some success, but he really didn't think he could go that far, there were always repercussions, and not very pretty ones at that.

That's how Rork spent most of these last days, wondering about what was going to happen, and how it would happen. Finally, the night before he was to be taken away came, and Rork made sure he had everything ready. He had already written a letter to his mother and sister, and his things were all packed up as tightly as he could get them in his packs. He'd even added more energy to his staff; he wanted to make sure that he was as stocked up on energy as he could be.

He went to bed, trying to get to sleep, but tossed and turned from the excitement and anxiety of the unknown that tomorrow would bring.

He finally fell asleep.

He had been asleep for what felt like seconds when all of a sudden voices could be heard in the hallway, some screaming, some shouting, but all of them shared the same intensity. Somewhat annoyed, seeing as it was way past sleeping hours, Rork got up, only to stand up as his door burst in. There, in his gray robe, stood the Grand Wizard, staff in hand, beard following the current of the air as the door, once again, swung off its hinges.

“Woah!” Exclaimed Rork, quite surprised, as he fell back on his bed. “What are you doing here? You're not supposed to be here till tomorrow.”

“In case you haven't noticed, it is tomorrow, now hurry up and get your things, we gotta get out of here.” There was slight panic in his voice as the Grand Wizard said this. “Now,” he added, with a motion of his head nodding towards the door.

Grabbing his things, he quickly donned his bags and sacks, and followed his master out the door, only to see a giant fireball explode in front of them right as he left the protection of his room. Fortunately, the Grand Wizard was there to dissipate it with water before it could do anything. Launching another attack at the red and black robed man who had apparently conjured the fireball, he lit up the entire hallway in front of him with a bright flash, causing the man to fall back, hands over his eyes.

“They're further along than I had hoped. Come, they're after you, we need to get you to safety.” The Grand wizard grabbed Rork's arm and closed his eyes, saying incantations and tracing a pattern in the air with his staff. In front of them appeared a small ripple, which distorted the things behind it, causing them to get wavy and disappear as the area grew larger in circumference, finally forming a circle about seven feet in diameter. A room could be seen through is, and the edges of the circle shown a bright silver and blue mixture. Without saying anything, his master walked through, and tugged him along with him.

He felt no different than normal as he exited the portal into the room. “Huh, I always though teleportation would feel more, I dunno, abnormal.”

The Grand Wizard just went to the fireplace, and used flint and steel to start a small fire in the fireplace. “It all depends on how you teleport. With water, it's not too weird, light gets a little funky, and fire burns a little bit.”

“So, what was all that, back at the school, who was trying to get me?” Rork had a flood of unanswered questions at this point, and while he knew some answers would have to wait, he wanted to know what he could at this point in time.

“They are those who believe that they own you.” Came the slow response after several long moments of silence. The Grand Wizard just stood and looked at Rork for a few minutes; the only action he took was to grab a pipe and light it while sitting down in a giant red armchair. Finally, he motioned for Rork to sit in the seat across from him. “And please, do make yourself at home; you will be living here for some time after all.”

That's not quite the answer for which I was looking. “So, why do they think they own me?” This seemed like a good place to start to Rork, might as well get the basics out of the way, right?

“Good question, my boy, but, unfortunately, that is a question I will have to answer at another time. However, I do know the answer to one of your questions.”

Rork sat up a little straighter, excited to learn some sort of secret knowledge that had been passed down from secret keeper to secret keeper through the generations.

“The bathrooms right behind you, second door on the left.”

Rork, sitting there bewildered, suddenly realized that he did, in fact, need to use the restroom. Must have been all that warm milk I drank trying to help me sleep, he thought as he dropped his bags and opened the door to which his master was pointing.

After washing up, he returned out into the main room. The Grand Wizard was deep in thought, and didn't notice Rork walk up next to him. He jumped slightly as Rork asked “So, what should I call you? It seems like saying 'Grand Wizard' or 'Master' all the time will get a little tedious.”

Gaining his senses again, the Grand Wizard replied, “Mikey, that will do.”

“Mikey?” Rork tried to not laugh, but had difficulty keeping a straight face. “That's not quite as nice a title as Grand Wizard.”

“Hence why I took it,” came the simple reply of Mikey. 

(Not quite sure where it's gonna go from here, this is always the part where I have difficulty, trying to figure out where to go with the basic background info taken care of.  Hopefully you all are liking it, and it should be less Harry Potter-ish from now on, hopefully that won't disappoint too many of you ;).  Anywho, nothing too major going on besides writing and work, and Minecraft.  I got back into that again. A friend and I are both working on it, as is my brother.  It's pretty cool.  We've already got a portal to the nether world, and it's gonna be awesome!  Anyway, hope your Monday was great[it's called Getsuyoubi in Japanese] and hope your Tuesday [kayoubi, I believe] is even better! )

Day 6, WHAT? 10k words? O.o

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, putting his scarf around his neck, and then tying it, loosely to keep his warmth in, it looked cold out there today after all, at least from the brief glimpse he'd gotten from his window.

“You want to come to the Sorcerer's Cup with Akara and me today?” Rork asked, hopeful that Donnie would come, he had been rather depressed as of late, since he failed his final, and this seemed like a good opportunity to bring him back around.

Donnie was silent for a moment before he opened his mouth, “No thanks, I really would love to, but I can't exactly afford it at the moment.”

“I can pay for you, if that's what you need.” Rork really didn't want to leave one of their group out if he could help it, and so, even with the hefty prices, he wanted to make sure that that wasn't the reason Donnie didn't eat with them.

“I really meant the time; I have to study my butt off for my next attempt.” Donnie put his hand behind his head, and messed his hair around a little before continuing, “But you should enjoy your time with Akara, it's not everyday that you get the chance to have a one on one date with her.” Donnie raised his eyebrows scandalously as he spoke up again, “maybe you'll even get a kiss at the end of it.”

Thinking back to his dream, Rork winced slightly. “Nah, I don't think it'll happen.”

“Well of course it won't,” exclaimed Donnie, suddenly, “Not if you keep that attitude up! Where's the gung-ho Rork I used to know? Always trying to impress Akara and make her yours? What's wrong, man?”

“I've just been going through a lot lately. This whole apprentice thing is really starting to weigh down on me.”

“It's only been a few days, and you're already feeling bogged down?” Donnie stood up straight from his leaning position which he had taken on the door frame to Rork's room.

“It's not necessarily bogged down, I'm just,” Rork couldn't think of the word he wanted to use. “He's a bit of an eccentric teacher. Let's just put it that way. He also has a very weird, and sometimes slightly cruel sense of humor.”

A simple “Ah,” was all that Rork got out of Donnie.

A few moments of awkward silence followed, until Rork couldn't handle it anymore, “I should probably get going, don't want to keep Akara waiting.” He moved past Donnie, and through the door. “Good luck with your studies.”

“And good luck on not getting kissed.”

Chapter 6

“There you are! I thought that I'd end up walking to the Sorcerer's cup by myself.”

“Glad to see that you're in as cheerful a mood as ever, Akara.” Things are already not going well.

The walk to the restaurant went by slowly, seeing as neither of them really had much to say. Why didn't Donnie come with me? I should have said I would help him study. Anything to stop this silence. If there was one thing he was good at, Donnie was definitely one to keep the conversation going.

Suddenly, as though a random flash of inspiration had come across her, Akara spoke, “So, how did you figure out that you were able to control magic?”

Woah! Thought Rork, talk about random. “Ummm, well, I suppose it was probably when I was really young, and my pet rabbit had died, he was all that I had left of my father, since he left one day and never returned, and I really didn't want him to die. I cried and cried and cried for so long, I was only four mind you, I didn't know any better, and finally wished that he would come back to life. Just imagine my surprise the next day when the next morning he was actually alive and jumping around his cage.”

Akara was somewhat wide-eyed. “You mean you brought something back to life, without any actual training?”

“Well,” Rork paused, trying to not make the next point sound as bad as it could have. “I may or may not have actually turned it into an undead rabbit.”

Akara's eyes got even bigger, and Rork thought they were already quite large. “You performed one of the unforgivable magics?”

“Look, I was four and didn't know what I was doing. My mom killed the rabbit when she saw it, before it had the chance to eat any of our brains and turn us into the walking dead. I don't really like to talk about it because of the stigma that goes along with it. I mean, you know me, I'm not some crazed necromancer, prancing about talking about my undead army, and trying to take over the world.”

Akara's face returned to a somewhat normal state, although her eyes were still somewhat more open than they usually were.

“Please don't tell anyone, I really don't want people thinking poorly of me.”

Akara just nodded, with the same expression on her face, as she stared straight forward.

As the silence started to build up, Rork couldn't take it. “So how about you? When did you know that you could control magic?”

Akara looked away for a second, as though collecting her thoughts, then faced forward again, jaw set, and said “I was in the living area of a home, it wasn't mine or my family's, we were staying there with other people, and we were getting warm by the fire. The room was getting cold, and the fire was dying; it must have been below freezing outside. Eventually, the room was so cold that we could see our breath, and the fire was on its last legs. I guess I just kinda wished that the fire would grow, and keep us all warmer, and it did just that,” the look in her face grew distant as she finished faintly, “it grew.”

“I guess that explains how you figured out what your main element was.” Rork was pretty excited, this wasn't the stuff you hear everyday. Not everyone was willing to share how they figured out that they were a wizard, it was usually graphic, or involved a tragedy of some sort, and he had never heard Akara's story before. “So, what brought that question around?”

Akara shook herself out of her daze, “Huh? What? Oh, I dunno, I was just curious, I guess. I've known you for a few years now, but I've never heard your story.”

“Oh, look, there's the restaurant! What do you think you're gonna get? I'm thinking about the pork chop stew with the lentils and herbs. It's my favorite!” Rork was excited at the thought of this dish, it had been some time since he had enjoyed its wonderful taste.

Akara allowed a small chuckle to escape her lips. “Rork, you always get that dish, we know it's your favorite.”

Rork, feeling somewhat silly, decided to play coy, “Well, excuuuuuuuse me, for finding something I enjoy and sticking with it, miss have-to-try-everything-on-the-menu-before-I-can-decide-what-my-favorite-thing-is.”

She just shook her head and sighed as he acted and moved very dramatically as he said this. He quickly ran to the door, grabbed it, and being the gentleman that he was, held it open for her. “Ladies first.”

The scene was familiar, as it usually was; it was packed again, so much so that they even had to open up the second floor to seat everyone. Rork and Akara instinctively started walking towards their favorite seat, and it wasn't until Akara took off her coat, that Rork caught a bad feeling.

She was wearing the exact same outfit as she was in his dream.

Grabbing her arm, he stopped her, and recommended “Why don't we sit up on the second floor this time, we never have before, and it might be nice for a change.”

She looked at him funny, slightly confused, saying “Alright, who are you, and what have you done with Rork? You never want to try anything new.”

“No, I'm serious,” came his soft reply, “I just think it might be kind of fun. Don't get me wrong, I love that booth, but I think today, seeing as it's a special occasion calls for a special treat.”

With a slanted smile, and a shake of her head, Akara hung her coat over her arm and started walking towards the stairs. “Alright, but if there's something up there that you've done to try and win me again, so help me, I will knock your teeth out, and you won't be able to grow those back in.” The last bit she said with a glare, though there was a little bit of softness in her eyes that Rork could see.

“Well, as usual, ladies first. Rork motioned for Akara to lead the way, and she did just that, curtsying slightly, in a way that was overdone, making fun of most people who act with such pompous behavior.

There was one table left, and they quickly snatched it before anyone else could, even though it was in the corner, where they weren't very likely to get much attention from the wait staff.

(Hey-o!  Glad you all could make it, here it is, the next installment.  Enjoy, conquer, divide, and pillage!  Maybe not necessarily in that order, but definitely do enjoy, or try to.  Thank you to those who are reading, it brings me great joy to know that there are at least a few people who like the story enough to keep reading it.  Have a great week!)

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. )

Four days in, and it's still NaNoWriMo!

Rork pinched his cheek to make sure that he wasn't dreaming and expected to feel the tug of sentience pull him back into a morning grog, but nothing came. Instead, there was the Grand Wizard in front of him, looking at him, almost as though he expected an answer out of him at that moment.

Awkwardly swallowing the lump that was quickly growing in his throat, Rork somehow squeaked out a timid “Me?” pointing at himself as though saying the word wasn't enough. The Grand Wizard just let out a short chuckle and nodded his head, adding extra praise and adulation for the great works that he had just witnessed being performed by Rork. Puffed up by flattery, and feeling quite sure of himself, Rork had no problem acquiescing to this once in a lifetime opportunity. “Of course I'd love to not be your pupil.”

The smiles quickly faded on both his and the Grand Wizard's faces as they realized the words that sprung from his mouth.

Back pedaling furiously, Rork tried again, “I mean, I'd absolutely hate being your pupil.” Rork slapped his hand across his mouth. The Grand Wizard immediately started chuckling, which grew into a laugh, which crescendo-ed into a loud guffaw.

“You really should have seen your face,” came the Grand Wizard's words, followed closely by more laughs, snorts, and a little snot dripping onto his white mustache.

Rork, just plain confused now, looked up with a perplexed look upon his face.

With a circular motion, the Grand Wizard muttered a few words under his breath, making Rork's thoughts much crisper and more able to be managed, then said “I put a small hex on you, it was a mixture of both dark magic and life magic, making you unable to say exactly what you wanted to say. I'm sorry, I really couldn't resist. It's also a small initiation tradition for becoming the pupil of the Grand Wizard, I went through it when I became the pupil of the Grand Wizard before me.” Tears were still threatening to roll down his cheeks as he continued, “Now, you should be able to think and speak just fine, remember this, for one day I'm sure you'll be passing it on to whomever you decide to bring up in our ways. I'm actually very excited for this moment, for you are the first I've seen in my search for a pupil who has actually had the right stuff for the position, and I have seen quite a few good wizards, some of them able to use their element at a higher level than you, which is no small feat.

“However,” the joy on his face seemed to dampen slightly with his next statement, “their practice of magic was not of the quality that I sought.” A small frown seemed to build on the corners of the the Grand Wizards mouth, but he stopped it there, instead forcing a smile to reappear just as quickly as it had gone. “And now, I must leave to make preparation for you. You will be accompanying me now, at least on ninety percent of my expeditions, so I may teach you both by instruction and example.” And with that, he took a step away and disappeared in a flash of light which left behind traces of smoke.

Chapter 4

“The guy is bonkers if you ask me,” came Donnie's usual dry remark. “I mean, he put a hex on you? Isn't that illegal?”

“Maybe, but he did save all the professors from the tree falling on them, and he saved professor Turan, so I don't think he's as crazy as he lets on.” Rork replied, trying to sound confident.

“I think I have to agree with Donnie,” came Akara's voice from behind the book which was open on the table in front of where she was resting her head. Her hair shone brilliantly as the light was allowed to hit it again as she closed the book and placed it squarely on the library table. “His actions do seem a little,” she hesitated for a moment, her face twisting as she looked for the right word.

“Silly?” Donnie recommended.

“I suppose that works, but I really don't like it when you fill in my words for me; I completely lose my train of thought.”

“Probably because you're so busy telling me that you don't like me filling in your words.” Rork couldn't help but let out a tiny burst of air despite his best efforts to hold in his laughter. He knew of what Akara was capable when she was upset at them.

And that's when the smack came.

“Don't encourage him,” her voice sounded as though she were hurt, but he knew she was just trying to not let them gang up on her.

Rubbing his arm even though it wasn't sore, he defended his position, “I just don't think that it's really a good idea to pass up this opportunity. I mean, he's the Grand Wizard for crying out loud. He hexed me and I didn't even know it.”

“Yeah, but I also remember two years ago when you tried to put a love hex on me,” Akara paused for dramatic effect, “and it backfired, making you fall in love with professor Onkle for a whole week. You weren't very aware of that either.”

“Yeah, I don't know why it was him, you really could have done better, Rork. He is a little on the, well, larger side of the scale.” Donnie puffed out his cheeks and circled his arms out in front of him, moving from side to side, attempting to imitate the waddle of Professor Onkle.

“Well, it's my decision, and I'm going with it, and that's that, you guys really have no say in the matter.” Rork let his frustration show in his tone of voice as he crossed his arms.

“Sorry, Rork, we just want to make sure that you're not jumping into a bad thing is all, we really are happy for you.” Donnie was surprisingly understanding when confronted solemnly, despite his constant comedy act which he enjoyed doing, that was why he and Rork had grown so close; Rork could actually stand to be around that humor ninety five percent of the time, and Donnie got plenty of chances to practice his one-liners. “Right Akara? We're happy for him.” Donnie moved the spotlight to Akara, trying to take some of the heat off of him.

“Of course we are, Rork,” Akara tried to sound comforting, which was unusual for her, “but like Donnie said, we really don't want you getting into something that's over your head. He dose seem a little on the loopy side.”

“Maybe that's what happens when you can control all the elements, it's like hearing other voices besides your own in your head.” Off went Donnie again.

“Alright, enough is enough!” Rork was done being their humor pin cushion. “I'm going, end of subject.” Trying to quickly move to another topic, he continued, “Donnie, how was your final?”

Taken somewhat by surprise, Donnie was shockingly quiet for an entire ten seconds before replying with a lowered chin, “I didn't pass.” He looked away as he finished.

“What? How is that possible?” Rork asked, “You actually went to all your classes, and you studied your butt off for that test, I saw you leave it on the library chair on several occasions.”

Akara's lips curled upward slightly at the thought of Donnie's butt being left behind.

Donnie, however, was unmoved. “Well, it apparently wasn't enough.”

“What did they want you to do? It couldn't have been too difficult, especially on your day of strength.”

“They wanted me to form several swords out of a small lump of iron. Nothing as difficult as what they made you do, but I guess that's to be expected from the next Grand Wizard.” Donnie evidently wasn't concerned about hiding the disgust in his voice, which hurt Rork immensely.

“It's not like I wanted them to make things more difficult for me. I barely made it out by the skin on my teeth, and there's not much there in case you haven't seen them for awhile, these past couple of weeks have been pretty hectic. I haven't really had a lot about which I could smile.”

“Whoa, guys, calm down, no need to get so intense here. Donnie, have you applied for another final date? You can still do that and have another shot at it, though they might change the objectives of the test since its a redo.” Akara's interjection brought some sense back into both the boys, who both restraightened themselves in their chairs.

“I hadn't thought of that,” came Donnie's eventual reply. “Sorry for snapping at you, Rork, I just haven't been having a very good day.”

“It's no biggie, I've seen you in much worse moods than that, and we're somehow still friends.” Rork's lips turned into a wry smile. “Remember that time when you asked Ilene if she would court you?”

“No! Don't bring that up again.” Donnie put his hands in front of his face, but his smile was still apparent in his voice.

Akara looked puzzled, “What? You liked Ilene?”

Rork just nodded as he continued, “She said that she didn't feel the same way about him, and he was so stung by those words that he was mopey for the next three months, and guess who had to put up with that attitude for the entirety of that time?”

“It's not my fault I'm horrible at telling what girls are feeling!” Donnie exploded in self-defense.

“You know, Donnie, for a Moku, you're really not that smart.” Apparently, Akara had a wicked sense of humor stuffed inside her somewhere.

At that point, another student, one whom Rork didn't recognize stopped by their table. “Yes?” Came Rork's welcome to the young girl.

The girl looked down as she said in a bashful voice “Umm, sorry for interrupting, but I was wondering if you might quiet it down a bit, the rest of us are trying to study for our finals.”

Rork turned bright red as he realized that all the eyes in the library were focused on their table. “Yeah, sorry, we'll keep it down.” Rork pulled his book up to cover his face, not wanting to draw anymore attention to himself than he had already brought upon himself.

(here, again, is the next segment of my wonderful creation, behold it in all it's beauty! Anyway, it's late, and I'm going to bed soon, after I eat some of my wife's amazing stir-fry! Yeah!  Again, feel free to comment on this, or other sections of my NaNoWriMo and other works, I do always enjoy hearing what everyone is thinking.  Peace!)

Day three, how I mine for words? (NaNoWriMo)

“Who does she think she is, just because she's one level ahead of us...” Rork let his voice trail off. She must be ready for her exam already, he thought, if she doesn't need her staff or source of fire. Fortunately for him his staff was his source of life force, seeing as it was a living branch, essentially. Donnie was special, as were all Kins, they worked with metal, crafting it, working it into mechanical gizmos and machines or weapons with magical properties, they didn't really need a source of metal to do their magic, as they had their “magics” already built and prepared, for the most part.

“Well, we should probably get to lunch now, and then get back to our studies for tomorrow,” Donnie seemed a little eager to leave, he had after all been standing with Rork for the past several hours since Rork was wanting another chance to see the Grand Wizard, but with this last little nudge, rork finally conceded that it was time to go.

Lunch was nothing unusual, Rork had the typical meat mixed with veggies and swallowed it down without a second thought. He immediately returned to his room, wishing Donnie the best of luck on his final, and returned to his studies, though after spilling blood on his bedroom floor twice, he decided that it might be better to practice on something that stained everything a little less, so he went out to the edge of the nearby forest and grabbed some twigs and several small, broken branches and brought them back to his room.

He awoke the next morning feeling dreadfully tired, but was glad to see the trees that were now growing inside his room. He felt ready for this test. It might be Friday, and his day of weakness, but there's nothing that a whole week full of cramming can't help. At least that's what he felt before he heard what he had to do in order to pass his final exam.

Chapter 3

“I have to do what?!” Rork exclaimed as one of his professors explained the task he had to perform to continue on with his studies at the next level.

“The concept is simple. Professor Turan here will be using one of his mechanical devices to chop down trees; your job will be to stop him. The method is up to you, though usually fast regrowth of the tree is what most students have done. It can slow down the blade and eventually stop it if done for long enough. Of course, the tree must still be living in order for you to pass, so you can't just draw upon the tree's own strength. Do you understand the task at hand?” The professor, robed in brown finished his explanation with the question this time, raising an eyebrow and tilting his head to the side to put emphasis on how stupid Rork sounded asking that question.

Anger starting to seethe from within, Rork managed an “I understand,” before the professor nodded and gave the signal.

“Professor Turan, you may begin!” And with that, Turan pulled his green tinted goggles over his eyes and started up the contraption on his back which sputtered and spat out smoke. As it whirred to life, Turan turned the handles, causing the circular blade in front of him to spin quickly.

Rork looked at the field before him. It was just a normal exercise field with grass on the ground, except that now there were twelve large trees growing in a small clump in the middle of the field. Why today? Why this? Not only is it my weakest day, but I'm going up against the element that is stronger than me on the day when he's strongest. Rork grit his teeth as Turan turned to the first tree and put the blade against the bark. Chips started flying and as Rork made his mental connection with the tree, he could feel the pain the tree felt in a drastically lessened way. Fighting to gain focus through the fog of pain was almost more than Rork could bear, let alone trying to force the tree to grow into the blade which was cutting it. While causing a tree to grow with its own energy was simple, and forcing a tree to grow without any added energy was now only somewhat easy, forcing it to grow into what was hurting it was like trying to erase the chalk off a chalkboard by using your fingernails to scratch off the chalk.

There was no way that Rork was going to be able to stop the machine with just quick growth. Something else would have to be done.

The blade spun freely and loudly as it finished cutting through the first tree.

Rork winced feeling the tree cry out in pain as it toppled over and landed right in front of the adjudicator's table. Interesting, there were only three agonarchs at my last trial, now there's four. And one of them is wearing gray instead of brown. This fact didn't keep Rork's attention for long, however, as Turan was already driving his whirring blade into the second tree.

Gotta suck it up came Rork's initial reaction,and again, he tried to cause the growth of the tree to increase, he even tried bringing in some of his own life force to help the tree, but the tree needed much more than he was able to provide, and he quickly found himself even weaker than before.

The blade made its exit through the back of the second tree.

Again, the tree fell over towards the agonarchs, this time coming much closer than before. It almost seemed like it would land on them. Three of the adjudicators in brown looked up and flinched, but the fourth remained calm as a barrier of light caught the tree and deflected it harmlessly onto the first.

“Sorry about that,” shouted out Turan, “I'll be more careful with my cutting from now on.” And with that, he revved up the machine, and approached the third tree.

And that's when Rork realized why there was a fourth official at his testing. It should have been obvious, first of all because only those who were strong in that element were allowed to grade the finals, but also no one had a long, white beard like the fourth man, dressed in the simple, gray robe. Holy cow! The Grand Wizard is watching my third level exam! Rork turned back to the third tree as Turan started chopping into the woody flesh of its trunk.

Looking around quickly, Rork reached out to the grass instead of the tree, and forced it to grow. While this was still difficult, it came much easier, as he wasn't causing it to grow to its death. The grass grew slowly, but with purpose. Turan didn't notice it until it had already wrapped itself around his ankles and had started climbing up his legs.

“Woah!” Turan let go of the controls, stopping the blade as he reached for his sword which was at his side.

With Turan distracted, Rork focused back on the tree, causing it to regrow its lost portions and growing around Turan's blade

Turan had chopped himself free by this time, and looking over at the tree let a small smirk escape. “Well, you've done ok so far, but,” at this point in time he pulled the blade out of the tree, sending splinters flying, “the blade wasn't in deep enough to keep me from pulling it out.” He started up the devil machine again, and it almost seemed as though he were cutting through the tree faster than before.

Enraged by his success which was ripped out from underneath him, Rork Reached back out to the grass, this time though, instead of just telling it to grow, he commanded it to grow differently. He was so focused on the grass, however, he didn't notice that the agonarchs had stood up, mouths open in awe as not grass, but giant oaks sprung up from the ground, lifting Turan high into the sky, scratching and cutting him on the way up because they were growing so quickly. Higher, and higher and higher the trees went until finally “ENOUGH!” was heard from where the officials were sitting. Caught off guard by the sudden outburst, Rork unconsciously disconnected himself from the grass-turned-tree and looked up just in time to see the Grand Wizard himself appear at the top of the tree stand, grab Turan, and then watched as both of them disappeared, only to see them on the grass, the three brown robed professors rushing towards Turan.

As the three tended his wounds, the Grand Wizard walked towards Rork. “That was some display of power, and on your day of weakness too.”

Rork just stood there, mouth wide open, unable to put two understandable syllables together. Who was he, that the Grand Wizard should compliment him on his strength? This was definitely going home in his letter.

Rork watched on as, with just a twinkle in his eye, the Grand Wizard caused the trees behind him to shrink back down to their normal size and nature. “Well, boys, it looks like what you told me is correct. Now, Rork, what you've shown today is truly outrageous. Not only did you overcome your weak element, but you did it on your weak day. You even took it a step further and almost reached the fourth level without any teachings on how to get there. I think you may have the gift I'm looking for. Now, I'm afraid I must be leaving and for several weeks at that, but then I will return and, with your permission, take you on as my pupil.”

Again, Rork could do nothing but stare, jaw slackened as he heard news flowing into his ears that was too good to be true. The Grand Wizard's pupil? That only happened to one person in a hundred years, and then it was expected of that pupil to be the next Grand Wizard.

Rork pinched his cheek to make sure that he wasn't dreaming and expected to feel the tug of sentience pull him back into a morning grog, but nothing came.

(howdy all!  I have written yet another section of my amazing story, hope you all are enjoying it!  With a little luck, you might even be loving it! woohoo! yeah.  Again, it's still unedited, though I did make one change about the Kins, they also do weapons now instead of just gizmos and machines.  Just some more lore with which you guys must keep up.  Hope everyone's day is going superly!  Enjoy your Friday and weekend (though, you'll hopefully be checking in for those days too)! peace!)

the second of NANOWRIMO

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, but one look at Donnie's face and Rork knew that he wasn't joking around.

“Fine.” Rork snatched the knife back from out of Donnie's hand and turned away from him, wincing slightly as he sliced open his hand. Turning to face Donnie again, he revealed the fresh wound, red, hot blood starting to pool in the palm of his hand.

“Ok,” Donnie said, wincing, and looking as though he were trying not to gag. “So you're a masochist now; you really shouldn't let these trivial matters of school affect you like that.” Rork wasn't ready for the condescending tone of voice, though the sly smirk that crept onto Donnie's face quickly told him that he wasn't being serious.

With a sigh, Rork closed his eyes and focused. Fortunately, today was Thursday, so it wasn't difficult for him to sense the life in the skin around the cut. He knew he could just move some of the energy from his body into the cut and use that to speed up the healing process, but that wasn't the point of the exercise. He delved deeper into the skin, beyond just the sense of knowing that it was there, he looked into the very spirit of his life, and sensed its essence. With a thought, he clumsily ordered the force within his skin to increase. Struggling for a bit to get some momentum started, he slowly opened his eyes and watched with delight as his wound slowly started closing.

Donnie stood there, mesmerized as well, eyes wide open in shock. After the wound had fully closed, he looked at Rork, and then back down at then hand, and then once more at Rork. “You can do that now?”

Rork just nodded his head as he reached for his napkin on the table, then thought better of it and grabbed a handkerchief from his pocket, wiping the still wet blood from his hand. I've been studying it for the past three days straight. Donnie looked at Rork's staff; a look of understanding washing over his face. Rork's staff, once just a branch with a few twigs and leaves on it, was now much sturdier than before and had so many branches intertwining together at the top, that it was impossible to tell how many there were. And now there weren't just leaves on it, but ivy had started climbing its way up the staff as well, making it a swirl of greens and dark browns mixing together.

“I take it that's what you've been working on these past several days?” Donnie asked with a raised eyebrow.

“Well, naturally.” Came Rork's short reply.

The brevity of his answer didn't go into the detail of how he had stayed awake for two of the past three nights sleepless, working on making his staff grow without taking from his own life energy. He had made his initital breakthrough several days ago, but he knew that more practice would be needed if he were going to be displaying this power on Friday. His staff had managed to grow to that size in this short amount of time without any help from his energy, but Rork didn't want to just stop there.

Just last night he decided to try and heal himself from a small, self-inflicted, wound, the Mokus were known for being healers after all, with their affinity for sensing and manipulating life energies, wonderful things came from their fingertips. It also wasn't uncommon for the masters Mokus to live long lives, usually healing others free of charge, just wandering about as they pleased. Rork really didn't understand that part, he would definitely make some serious money if he were ever able to make it to that level. Maybe he'd even join the king's army, those healers made some really nice gold.

Rork suddenly realized that Donnie was snapping his fingers in front of him. “Hello, anyone there? I said it's almost time for the arrival of the Grand Wizard, didn't you want to see him?”

“The Grand Wizard!” Rork had completely forgotten about his arrival. He was supposedly the only man who had ever mastered all six elements, light, darkness, fire, water, life, and metal. Ever since he had come to this school, Rork had hoped for a chance to catch a glimpse of him and write home to his mother and sister about it.

He quickly put down his dinnerware and got up so quickly that he rammed both of his knees into the table. Running with muffled groans of pain, he slung his bag over his shoulder, staff floating along beside him. Donnie was left in the dust, running behind him, trying to catch up with him. “Rork!” Rork was too busy running to slow down for Donnie, though. Again came his cry “Rork!” This time it was followed by, “the Grand Wizard will be coming in on the other side of the school. Donnie jumped at how quickly Rork responded to this new information and turned, causing quite a breeze as he flew by Donnie, staff following close behind. Again, Donnie was left in the dust.

Slightly out of breath as he reached the crowded other side of the school, Rork waited for a few seconds to let Donnie catch up with him before asking, “Why wouldn't the Grand Wizard come in at the front entrance?” with arms braced on his head to help open up his lungs so he could breathe more easily.

“I dunno,” came Donnie's reply between his own gasps for breath, “maybe he has and ego issue, and doesn't want to do things the normal way?”

“Or maybe his lack of an ego.” spoke up a nearby student, dressed in red robes.

“Oh, hi, Akara, I didn't expect to see you here, how are you doing?” Rork queried.

Her thick, straight, brown hair twirled with her robe, with its droopy arms, as she turned to look at them, the rest of the crowd behind her. “And just where have you guys been? You told me that we would all meet here at the same time, but I've been standing here for thirty minutes being shoved around by those rude upperclassmen, and almost didn't have a spot saved for you.”

“Sorry, but we didn't have much choice, seeing as Rork here decided to slice his hand open for his own amusement.”

“Donnie, when you put it that way, it makes it sounds like I've got a problem.”

“That's because you do, it's called working too hard.” Donnie shot him a knowing glance.

Rork really didn't want to take the subject further, so he just shrugged and turned his eyes to the entrance where the Grand Wizard was to arrive. Even though he was still breathing hard, he was glad that he ran, for he hadn't even stopped turning when the crowd started to break up as some of the professors and teachers motioned for the students to move away from the entrance and the carpet that led into the school. Some of the professors who were wearing white robes stepped into the walkway, and a shimmer went through the air as they created barriers of light to keep the students away from the Grand Wizards grand entrance.

Rork suddenly realized that it was silent now. His heart had been pounding so hard and loudly earlier that he hadn't even heard the murmur of the crowd around the entrance. But now, in it's absence, it was almost too loud. And that's when things got crazy.

With a boom, the back doors burst in, a giant fireball following the trail of the doors as they were blown off their hinges. Little automated vehicles were making a bunch of whirring and clicking noises as they zoomed into the room, crashing into each other and the barrier in their race to get to... somewhere very quickly. Then came the pigeons, fluttering about with a garland of pine branches held between them. They were followed closely by waves upon waves of water, which brought in a very old man, floating atop them. With not even a twitch, the entire quarantined area was filled with darkness, and then, with a bright flash, the darkness was dispelled, leaving the old man nowhere to be seen.

The claps were slow to come at first, mostly because most had never seen such a display of magical prowess before, but soon enough, the whole room was filled with cheers, whistles, and shouts as people realized just what a spectacle they had seen. For it definitely wasn't just anybody who could harness the power of all six elements. Rork was so dumbfounded by the complete control that the Grand Wizard had over the elements that he didn't even realize that he wasn't clapping. Donnie nudged him gently then looked at him, prodding him to show his appreciation of such a sight. Rork started clapping just after a moment when he regained his sentience again. He clapped harder and more quickly than anyone else in the entire room.

“Encore! Encore!” came the cries, but even though they cried out for minutes on end, there was no sight of the elderly man. The crowd slowly started to dissipate as those who realized that there would be no second display of such power started wandering off, followed by their friends, and those who didn't want to be left alone.

As the crowd dwindled down to just a few small groups of lingerers, Akara spoke up. “Alright, I think it's time to get back to the books, I've got my final coming up on Sunday. I want to make sure I'm ready.”

Rork, just realizing something, spoke up, “Hey, Akara, where's your staff? And your lantern?”

A small twinkle in her eye was all the answer that he got.

“Who does she think she is, just because she's one level ahead of us...” Rork let his voice trail off. She must be ready for her exam already, he thought, if she doesn't need her staff or source of fire. Fortunately for him his staff was his source of life force, seeing as it was a living branch, essentially. Donnie was special, as were all Kins, they worked with metal, crafting it, working it into mechanical gizmos and machines, they didn't really need a source of metal to do their magic, as they had their “magics” already built and prepared, for the most part.

(I know I restarted at the beginning of chapter two, but it's easier to read that way, right?  Also, hopefully you know this, but I'm not editing anything at all, except for one thing, the term "_______ year student" is now "_______ level student."  the way that the school works makes much more sense for you to graduate when you're ready, not necessarily from year to year.  Anyway, I hope you enjoyed, and as always, I do enjoy feedback and fresh ideas of where the story can go.  What'll happen next time? WHO KNOWS!?  Let's find out tomorrow! :D~  PEACE!)

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! )