Dix didn’t get a chance to say a thing before Arlus started in on him. “So, another off worlder. Couldn’t stay on your own planet? Well, you never answered Fireball’s question?” There was a halfhearted ‘Marcus’ that was almost whispered by Fireball at the utterance of his name. It was more reflex than actual protest, but Arlus ran right over it without acknowledgement. “And don’t think he’s telling you the whole story anyways. You interlopers never bother to learn the whole story, always running off to get skills before you even know what they do, or why.” He was poking Fireball with his cane again, with the younger man simply ignoring the abuse with the tired sigh of a man who has accepted that that is his place in life. “He mentioned Mages and Wizards, but left out the naturals, those that have the elemental manipulation skills. They are rare as can be, but powerful.”

“Oh, stop! The naturals are nothing but legends. No one has any manipulation skills other than mana, and you know it, you old fart. Stop telling people your lies, and let me teach my student.” It seemed Fireball was as volatile as his name when pushed to his limits.

Arlus didn’t appear to care at all, simply cackling like a mad man at his apprentice’s complaints. Still poking at the younger man, Arlus said, “Ha! I knew you out worlders named yourselves for your personalities! This one blows up when you throw things at him. And you?” A gnarled finger was suddenly thrust at Dix like a spear, one beady eye staring down its length. “What should we be learning about you from your name, hmm?”

“Lock up your daughters,” Dix said with a lecherous grin.

Once more the old man barked a laugh. “Ha! A better choice than this one made,” jerking a thumb at Fireball before he settled down to being serious. “So. Mage or Wizard. They both have pros and cons, and we can list them all for you if needed, but what does your heart tell you. You’ve heard the basics, so you should already have an answer. Tell me.”

Dix leaned back in his chair. The old man was right, he already had an answer, but that didn’t mean he had to jump right in. Or so he thought. His subconcious had other ideas, poking him constantly until he gave in. He hadn’t thought of anything in the three brief seconds he had taken to think the problem over that would have changed his mind. He could see the smug satisfaction on the old man’s face; he not only knew Dix had made a decision, he knew what that decision was. Shaking his head, Dix didn’t bother to sigh, he knew when he was beaten. “Wizard, of course.”

“Ha! Of course, ‘of course!’ See, Firebug, at least you get an apprentice with a brain. I got stuck with some mage wizard bastardization.” The old man roared out his laughter again. Even Bradly, the demon butler hidden in the corner snickered silently.

Fireball wasn’t happy, but he knew he’d have the last laugh, eventually. There was no way the old bastard would outlive him, although the butler might. Either way, he’d finally get his hands on all of his master’s work. Until then, he just had to suck it up. Maybe he’d just burn it all to the ground. It would serve the sadistic bastard right for torturing him for years.

Alrus ignored the seething mage next to him, instead struggling to his feet. As he turned to head back into the shelves of the library, he took a parting shot over his shoulder. “You know, I heard an interesting saying from one of your people the other day. ‘Those who can, do. Those who can’t, teach.’ Quite fitting in this moment, don’t you think?” And then he was gone.

Fireball made it two seconds after his master dissapeared before he was growling through his gritted teeth, and trying to pull out his hair. “Argh, that shitty, old bastard! Gods, I want to kill him sometimes! Suggeting that I can’t actually fight, why I…” His voice slowly trailed off into chthonic murmurings in the dark language of vengence, sacrifice, and demon summoning.

While he was still muttering away, Dix asked, “Didn’t he teach you?”

It took a few seconds for Fireball to catch on, but his smile was sinisterly euphoric when it appeared. “Yes. Yes he did. Thank you for reminding me of that, I can’t wait to remind him. Of course, the old bastard probably already has something prepared, so I just need to figure out how to handle that one.” Once more he trailed off, rubbing his chin in thought.

Dix, having nothing better to do while he waited for Fireball to get his mind out of the dark clouds of retribution, started flipping a knife, changing the inscriptions each time he caught it. He would need to practice a lot before his speed was good enough to really be useful in combat, not to mention also trying it with something other than just throwing knives. The book contained a number of different rune sets he could use to produce different effects, and he was quite looking forward to experimenting. For now though, he just played around, trying to get a bit faster each time, without sacrificing precision.

In time, Marcus came back to himself, and the teaching finally commenced. He gave Dix tips on