Choices

[selerial]

"A choice is a funny thing..."

Selerial laid back with his head resting in his hands. He stared up at the crisp blue sky. The sun wasn't quite overhead, but it was somewhere near the apex of it's daily travel, perhaps just a bit past noon. Clouds drifted through the sky, cotton wisps of imagination upon a sapphire canvas. As a light breeze ruffled the grass Selerial ran his hands through the silky blades and once again began to speak.

To the sky he addressed his comment, "...and we all have choices." Some believed that the rules of the world were a strict doctrine, followed to the letter, stern punishment for any deviation from the straight and narrow path. "Well, that might a bit of an exaggeration... but some people just seem to be uptight." He considered those that seemed to follow, to him, the rigid structures of order. The faces of certain teachers and students flashed through his head.

He chuckled and stared at the fingernails on his left hand. He was supposed to be in class right now. No doubt professor Jenks had made that funny twitch with her mouth and eyes when she saw that he wasn't in class. But he had more important things to do than just learn some boring information that was never going to really be useful. Many of the students in his class were still unsure which school of magic they'd eventually work with, but he already knew.

As he stared at his hand, he uttered a few words. No language that mortals spoke contained those combinations of sounds, but that was because it was the language of magic.. the language that goverened the world itself. It was just a small cantrip. A mote of fire danced across his fingertips and then sunk in to one finger, jumping from one to the next, until the path from his pinky to his thumb was complete. He could feel the warmth, some might call it heat, but he was used to it. Elvish runes appeared, engraved in to the nail of each hand.

He lifted his hand up to block the rays of the sun and murmured what had been written in his native tongue. Then, a bit louder, he said in common, "Hmm... Wandering Flame". He smiled, it suited him well enough. Occasionally each student would be given a test to scry what school they were strong in.

It hadn't taken long for the administration to give to Selerial a sash of four colors, slashed with a fiery orange, as he had evidenced an affinity for the elements, but especially fire.

Suddenly he felt a great wrenching. His hand seemed to burst in to flame, but at the same time it was disintegrating. He gasped, tried to will the pain away, and then gave a scream. In the distance a curious doe had been walking towards him, but now perked up her ears and jumped back. As the uncomprehending beast watched, flame engulfed Selerial's body and he dissapeared. Only charred grass remained where the figure once had lain. A cinder floated in the air where his hand had been and seemed to dance around angrily of it's own volition. The doe sniffed the acrid air, bared it's teeth briefly, turned, and bolted off to the safety of the forest.

A stiff breeze lifted the cinder in to the air. It pulsed with color once, twice, and then went out, a mere bit of ash that dissapeared just as the elf had.

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Selerial stared at his feet. Mrs. Jenks hadn't been able to locate him and had grown worried. She had sent out sentries in each direction, and o
nce his presence was felt a summoning spell had brought him back to safety. Well.. she saw it as safety. She claimed he was in danger, but what could have been dangerous about enjoying the perfect weather?

She said, "I just don't understand you! You're smart, everyone knows that.. but the choices you make sometimes.." She trailed off and merely gave him a look, that had it been fire, would have set a pot to simmering.

Selerial looked up and flashed her a mischeivous grin. He said, "Well... choices are funny things........."

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Edit: hmm, annoying... is there no way to insert tabs in to the text? If I use <p>s and such they don't get translated..

Thanks for the comment Yasden, but extra spaces just get eaten up, and nbsps (non breaking spaces) don't get interpreted. Oh well.

[Yasden]

Make a temp document and substitute all your tabs for 5 spaces. Not sure if that'll work or not with copy/pasting, though. Worth a shot!

Nicely written, btw. :D