Kaz & the Lost Arts (Tentitive Title)

Chapter 1: The Calm Before the Storm

The dust flowed upwards into the air as an overly large foot printed itself into the patted dirt road. The foot belonged to mysterious man, masked with a black cloak, black enough to match the darkness that seemed to swallow the village at the stroke of midnight. The bottom of the cloak grazed the ground beneath it, and the hood was drooped over his face so far that you could only see his slit-like bright red eyes gleaming through the mist at his surroundings.

The place he was in was a small village. Small enough that wherever you were, you could see the forest that completely surrounded the town. Not that the village was the smallest of them all, but that the forest trees were the biggest of them all, stretching over four meters around each trunk. When day came to night, the magic of the forest would show itself. The tree branches covering the brim of the forest slowly grew throughout the hours of the night. At its peak, the branches extended far beyond what one would normally expect, seemingly floating in mid air 20 feet away from it’s trunk. The forest is the main reason for this small hamlet’s existence. Half a tree can be made into four houses give or take a couple. Also, it’s the main source of revenue, considering this was one of the only four forests on the planet. Other then wood, the citizens of the town relied solely on one shop and one inn.

The being nervously began to look down at the ground, every once in a while looking up and in every direction, only to return his glance to the road again. Obviously nervous, he slowly approached the center of the town. It was marked with a large four way stop, a bulletin board in the middle, a school off to the left and more houses in every other direction. The mist thickened, and his lungs began to fill. He clutched at his throat and quickened his pace. The decision to go straight, left, right or to turn back will ultimately decide his life, or death.

The sky was clear; the stars shone brightly, casting light towards the town. The man in the cloak swept past all the smoke, for that was what it was, clutching a heavy, clunky and worn out blade in his left arm, which he held with his right arm tightly in attempt to ease the pain of his cut. The loss of blood caused him to become dizzy. But did it also cause, confusion, anger and hopefully hallucinations? His pace quickened to a run as flames came into view. As the flames grew bigger, his heart pumped faster. He turned around nervously; the houses that he had just passed were ablaze. Straw roofs fell down in heaps, shriveling into ashes before meeting the ground. A sketchy image of a man scurried behind the bulletin board to the right. He turned left.

Shortly afterwards screams issued through the walls of the houses making it reality, though it was clearly not. A hand wiped across a nearby house window, cleaning it from a tinted state. Slowly, the hand lost momentum, and in a second it was gone. The man stood in silence, too scared to look around in fear of what he might find. He let out a gasp of air followed by a whimper as terror began to fill his face. Into the distance he could see two more figures carrying a body towards the bulletin board, one at the head and one at the legs. The man turned right off the track and crept behind the school, nose almost touching the ground. He continued past the school and then turned left into the forest, but only at the edge. Something drew him to the action, or possibly away from the enchanted forest.

He crouched underneath a fallen log, and laid his head to rest against a standing one. The moss below him served as cushioning, and at this moment a stress reliever. Taking a deep breath he loosened his grip on the moss. Just as he stopped that, however, he began banging his head against the tree trunk, causing the loose bark to fall off over his head and on to his lap.

He rubbed tears away from his eyes, which seemed to uncontrollably stream down his face. Besides from that, blood continued to seap out of his arm. The cut stretched from the bottom of his wrist to the forearm, not deep enough to enter the danger zone, but long enough worry a person. Looking up from his cut, two men had now approached the outskirts of the town, far too close for comfort. In fact, they were close enough that, creeping a few feet closer would ensure a good chance of hearing them. Normally, this would be totally out of the question, but these two were important people. Definitely rich, definitely proud and definitely the reason he was hiding in the trees to begin with.

One had long black hair and was wearing a no doubt pricey amount of plated armor, black in color. A very dark red cape made out of some kind of leather was draped over him. Two curved dark red horns, one on each of his shoulders, fastened the cape to his shoulders. He was holding a black helmet in his left hand, which looked to be able to fit a dragon instead of a human. His right hand wore a black glove with what appeared to be some kind of metal or alloy pasted on where his knuckles would be. In that he held a sword, which would get a lot more on the market then a wagon full of chopped wood from this town. Bright red glowing designs were splashed on the red leather that, in turn was draped over the sword handle. The blade was being used as a leaning stick for the moment. The owner obviously considered it a staple in life. The sword was slightly curved, very fat and broad near the handle and swift to the needle tip at the end. Though his imagination ran wild, he turned a little to the left.

The other was clearly a wizard, with a light gray cloak to match his long hair and beard, which was clearly visible even from behind. At the arms of the cloak the same designs glowed in the moonlight, this time a bright white, piercing to the eyes. His hand was old and wrinkled, with long curled yellow fingernails, and in it he held a staff, which was also being used as a leaning stick. It was not that often that one found a typical grey bearded wise magician. Mostly because, life expectancy was no more then 45 years old on this disease infested, war ridden planet of theirs.

"Well, I think we've stood here long enough,” the man in the armor said, almost turning directly to the man in hiding. “This shall do, just wait until it's out of his pocession. I'm sure we've made our presence known."

The old wizard turned suspiciously, but not as directly as the knight did. He started in a forceful whisper "But what if he dies holding it? Everything we've longed for will be lost."

"We?" the Knight replied. "Sorry but there has never been a we. You are a strong and loyal Warlock to me, nothing more.” He trembled at the mere mentioning of the word warlock. Wizard was a word given to someone who processes the gift of magic. Warlock is a wizard who specifically uses that gift for sinister things, not something like stealing a fruit from the food stand either; you have to earn the title. “Of course you are a close comrade to me,” he continued “but even you do not know what I intend to do with it, so why interest yourself so much with it?.... The best thing to do now is leave. He should be alive for a little longer. I’m almost out for the time being, we’ll talk another day, and I’ll find you.” He turned to leave without waiting for an answer. The warlock looked at him, but followed with no complaint, rather hastily.

What appeared to be chronies of the first two men kept appearing by the dozens now. They were the black suited men from before, racing through the night with such speed. More bodies came with them, some on their shoulders, and the bigger ones being carried by two of them. He couldn’t exactly see who was being carried from the edge of the forest, but he had no doubt probably have known them. The pile now topped around 5 meters high, about 100 bodies, practically the whole town population. He put his hands over his face, tears sliding down and on to the moss below him, which was now stained red from the blood of his cut dripping. Two more black suited men approached the pile, this time with no bodies, just torches. Already knowing the fate of those bodies, the man closed his eyes. Complete blackness now. The sound of flames rushed into his ears, and even through his eyelids, he could see the brightness that went with the sound. Knowing what had happened; he opened his eyes and prepared for the worst.

Sleep comes often in room 06, History class of Saint Cardinal School. The punishment was always different, and always unpleasant. Sometimes, if Mrs. Claftry hated you enough, she’d corrupt your dreams and leave you with a terrible nightmare. Looking up from his desk. Kaz looked around the classroom, dazed. The students cheerfully turned to his direction, as the teacher hastily closed the blinds again, looking mad as ever, which was actually comforting considering what had just happened.

Picture an old skinny lady who’s spent too much time putting makeup on, then add in the term witch and you’ve got Mrs. Claftry. Everybody thinks that, when the headmaster made school uniforms mandatory, it was because he was tired of looking at Mrs. Claftry’s grubby clothes. Simply said, the clothes pocess her body and anyone close to her.

“Oh you’re lucky this time Kaz. Next time you won’t just be dreaming about the end of history class. I’ll give you the worst nightmares possible, you know, play around with you for a while. Your father, your brother, you’re whole family will die and you will be tortured, and i’ll” Across the room Kaz’ brother Larth cringed with fear. “Well anyway, back to the lesson.”

Kaz stared around the room daydreaming, drowning out all noise in the process. That's something he was very good at, probably the best in the class. He tried to keep his mind in the lesson, but history was far too boring. The whole school was far too boring. For two weeks now every class had been review from the year, and even past years of school.

“Kaz, look into the time. You are getting dizzy. You need sleep.” Kaz’ best friend whispered to him, swinging a locket from side to side in the process.

“Funny. I don’t think even Mrs. Claftry’s” he looked up at her droopy pale face, plastered with purple makeup “vivid imagination could top the dream I just...Dreamt.”

“well, what ever, look around the room, notice something different?” Bryan aksed.

Um...I dont know, the woods rotting. " he replied.

"Nope, still bright and shiny as usual."

"Er... Right, ok. My brother’s actually at school today."

"Um...No...Wait, he is? Well even though, no. Mrs. Claftry’s bunched her hair up today. That means something exciting is going to happen today”

Almost everything he says is stupid, and even though that sounded stupid, it was exactly the opposite. The headmaster likes to convince teachers to make little hints when something exciting might be happening. Mrs. Claftry isnt the most exciting person herself, so the best she could come up with was putting her hair up, which was an obvious giveaway after years of doing it specifically for that one reason.

The schoolhouse that he was taught at consisted of seven teachers and classrooms, along with a staff room; all the most boring rooms and people in the whole village. The school taught History, Magic, Swordsmanship, Creatures, Crafting & Smithing and Archery. Each race of student was entitled to take three classes, History, Creatures and his/her specialty according to race. People with more then one race, a halfling, would have to take four classes. Warfare was an optional course at 3PM some people take. As the civil wars continue to be a problem, and seeing as the tension between the two continental powers grow dangerous, it’s a smart thing to take. Although Kaz was’nt considered smart.

Saint Cardinal School was one of the best schools in the whole continent of Maltessa. Although funding is a problem. It has chipped window frames, a leaking roof, shortage on supplies, not to mention it was put together 50 years ago with wood from the surrounding forest, which is probably a couple hundred decades old.

As a matter of fact, the leaking roof stands right above Bryan’s seat in history class. Every once in a while he pulls a tantrum when it rains and asks to be moved, but there is no space in the classroom. Of course History is expected to be old and withered, The other classrooms are a lot better kept.

"I'm thinking of Dragons; give me three breeds and where to find them." Kaz heard out of the corner of his ear. he straightened up, things were getting interesting.

It seemed as if the whole class hesitated, but after a bit, Bryan raised his hand. Mrs. Claftry acknowledged it with a point of her wand in his direction. "Ma'am, why do we have to know that?" he continued quickly, "I mean of course I know the anwser, but there is only one we in Sybalk need to worry about and it doesn't come out of dragons den." He paused again "This is one of those ‘Will I ever need to know it’ things... Oh, and... Um.. Also, they aren't really part of history, they kind of just keep to themselves.. Unless you're talking about the one that killed King Je-“

"And which one is that Bryan?" she paused, then started again “While you're at it, just answer the question at whole just for the fun of it."

Bryan looked down at his feet, possibly thinking, then quickly looked up and nodded. "The Tyranian Spitzore Dragon is the biggest of them all and has green scales. It uses its weight to its advantage and stomps on the prey or eats them whole. If it spits out flame, that's just a warning of what's to come. The Rizzor dragon is the fastest and smallest of them all, as its wingspan is a couple times bigger then it's body, it has the least amount of flame out of the three. And finally, the Skelleflare is the most feared, as its unforgiving flame can scorch a town like this to dust in a matter of half an hour. To finish my answer, the Tyranian Spitzore can be found in Tyranian's "Dragon Den" and the other two can be found in the planet of Varcease."

"Or less, to your estimate on the time it might take to scorch this town, I’ve noticed the wood has been rotting lately." The teacher picked at the wooden wall, which easily released a chunk of wood. She smiled. "But otherwise, very good Bryan."

He looked down at the fallen wood and grinned, then raised his head "Dragons are elementary Professor."

Mrs. Claftry matched his grin "Are they, Mr. Craze?" She gave a short laugh and continued. "Well then, who can tell me the name of the hero that combined the power of the earth guardian and black magic to separate the kingdoms of Varcease into five different continents, or islands if you will?"

"Haha, unforgiving flame. Even Claftry thinks you need a life." Kaz sniggered. Bryan looked over to him and pointed to the teacher with his quill, signaling to pay attention. InsteadKaz went back to his daydreaming, trying to shield his face from the sunlight that managed to stream through the bottom of the curtain. Whoever thought of putting History first of the day couldn't have been thinking properly, and most definitely had not met Mrs. Claftry before they made the decision. Everyone hated her for two reasons, and good reasons they were. One, There's no one more boring then her in the school. Two, she despised teachers pets and what she called "the non-listeners", which meant that Bryan and Kaz were at the top of her "People to Yell at" list, along with everyone else in the class, as you were either a rebel or a teacher's pet.

There were no bells at Saint Cardnal's, each teacher would simply look at the sun dial and dismiss their class. There had been numerous times with numerous teachers where it somehow "slipped their mind". When you were dismissed, you were given 30 minutes before your next class started. Kaz grabbed the History book and brought it up to Mrs. Claftry. She was straightening the already straight pile of books and cleaning the already clean drawing board. She turned from the board and raised an eyebrow. "Would you like to help?" she asked.

"Not really, I was just wonder-" she broke him off, too late.

"There is a rag on the corner of the desk Hun," she said cheerfully, "the pail's on the floor. I told the headmaster, we have to hire some sort of cleaner. Like, this is getting ridiculous, with exams coming up and all." She paused "You know this is a very important time of year for you Kaz, are you prepared?"

"Umm...That's what I'm here for, I was wondering if I could take the book out for today...and" he paused "this weekend, to, you know...study up."

"Oh yes of course, take it, I’ve got plenty of extras, just make sure to sign it out,” she said.

Kaz turned from the board to the parchment lying on the pile of books. The list was growing fast, just yesterday there was about two people, now there was ten, all Seniors.

Mrs. Claftry turned from the board and smirked. "Kaz, History is important too, like it or not. You must pass every subject to be able to wield a weapon, legally that is. And with the tension between continents Maltessa and Lark, I'm so very sad to say, but it's needed in the world today. Also, you’ve heard of all the civil wars lately, people want to break free from the rule of the castle. They want their own borders, their own sense of leadership. Larks only a couple months travel across the sea and up over the mountains. We wouldnt even know they were coming until it’s too late. It’ll take a long time to muster up an army of disgrunteled soldiers, they’ll be looking for young people like you. If you're not going to do it for me, or your father, do it for yourself."

He could've argued that point, or brought it to a discussion about the two continents, but current issues lead to past issues, and past issues result in a break lost to the History teacher, which is something he didn't want to have to endure at the moment. Instead, he changed the subject. "Wuddya think I'm getting right now, about?"

"Just barley passing." she said frowning.

"Oh, well, I better get studying. Well, nice talking to ya, thanks for the book, see you tomorrow!" he half shouted as he left the classroom. Almost as fast as he ran out of the classroom he was pushed hard against the wall, his skin caught in-between two logs that made the wall. "Did yea get it for me?"

Kaz gave a forced laugh. "Yeah, I got it. But I don't know man, you've already got two books out, that's the limit bud."

Bryan gave a serious look, one that someone might be scared of if it wasn't coming from...Well, Bryan. He had light blonde messy hair with bright blue eyes about the size of a donut hole. He was a little shorter then Kaz, which was tall for an elf considering Kaz was one of the medium sized to small guys in the class. Barely visible behind his robes, his prized golden necklace lay still. It had a glass charm at the bottom that resembled a small leaf; it was the elf thing to do to wear one. His look changed from serious to a kind of half grin. "Ah, the master of sleeping through history class has finally decided to start studying eh? All right, fine, I can deal. Want to place a wager on who will do better on the test?”

"Don't do business with the unpopular, sorry." he peeled Bryan’s fingers one by one off his robe and continued walking through the hallway, taking notice of his surroundings. "Hey, you notice this hallway gets smaller each day? Like seriously, our village is so poor they can't build a decent school. The whole town is surrounded by a forest and we can’t even get decent wood.

Bryan hurried to catch up "Umm... One, we have some of the best Teacher's in Maltessa. Two, they just don't have the rounds to kick this one to the ground and make another...See, they renovated and put all these windows in to make it look bigger...Oh yeah, and three, I'm pretty sure you're just getting bigger, the hallway hasn’t changed much."

"I say a couple words about the school and you give me a big essay” Kaz came to a halt "Hey, why don't we go play with Buds for a bit. There's nothing else interesting to do for thirty minutes.”

"K, you were basically just saying i’m not social, now you want to suck up to a dwarf and a puppy for half an hour. We will be playing with that thing all month, trust me it'll get unenthusiastic by the end of it...I think it is highly probable that we are learning about something boring like plants today." It looked as if he was going to go further, but when Kaz raised one eyebrow and reached for the doorknob, he caved in. "But, I also think it is very probable that if I don't follow you around, I'll be by myself on the bench reading the newspaper, over and over again. So ok, just excuse me while I just go get the news."

Kaz leaned up against the wall right beside the Creatures class door, careful not to pinch his skin. "There isn't a news post until tomorrow, didn't you hear?" Judging by Bryan’s weird expression and lack of argument, he continued. "My dad told me. Why is everybody obsessed with that anyway, you have to walk all the way to the bulletin board to get it, and it's usually just news pulled out of a Chimeara's ass. I don't see why they try to get one out every day."

"Did I hear one of yers' say Chimeara? Ah, fine creatures." Kaz looked out of the corner of his eye, only to see Bryan walking steadily his way. Kaz was the sort of person born to avoid people, and Bryan was the sort of person born to annoy people, so it worked out great. They quickly opened the door, stepped inside and slammed it shut.

Back against the door, he took a deep breath and started to look around the classroom for Mr. Riley. The room was a lot more grand then the History class. Dwarfs generally like their surroundings dark, so the class was almost pitch black. It was the only class with no windows, though it was bordering the schoolyard. The only intentional source of light was the candle at the front teacher's desk, which reflected off the black carpet changing it to the color of the candle.

Pieces of parchment and scrolls lay scattered along the desk. Something of particular notice was a gold casing. It had two black lines on either side of an engraving of a sword, wand, arrow and axe that were intertwined with each other, with a chakram in the middle. This gold case was passed on through Mr Riley’s family. He reckons it’s 400 years old, back when Sorcerers were still around, and dwarfs were slaves to the mines. If that gold case was left on his desk, that was Mr. Riley’s way of hinting the lesson would be exciting.

Some students go to Mr. Riley’s class right after their last, just to look at the desk and walk away. If it were there, Mr. Riley would have an annoying audience for the whole break. If it wasn't, they'd make it their top priority to avoid eye contact with him and run outside.

To the right of the blackboard in the corner of the room, which seemed to be darker then any other area was a big cage, bars the size of a Warriors arm. It extended to the roof, and had a metal plate at the top. That was for the dangerous and big creatures that were brought in to show the class. For preperation, Mr. Riley gets Mrs. Claftry to use her wand to guide the creature into the showing circle. The showing circle was a neon blue circle engraved into the floor. All the desks were aligned around it to get the best view of the creature locked within. It was pretty much like the cage, except it had no visible walls. They were only visible when the creature walked into them, which would give off a small shock to the creature, which was in fact visible. In addition to that, the back of the room was home to about 15 glass cases, placed on the wall like cubbyholes to hold small creatures.

Kaz began to walk towards the gold casing on the front desk. "Look the case, awesome! Mr. Riley isnt here, lets open it. No ones ever seen inside.” Kaz began to advance towards the case, arm outstretched.

As predicted, Bryan grabbed his arm and steered it away from the case, then dragged him to the back of the room. "And for good reason too. Mr. Riley hasnt even seen inside it. Remember Archie Wiliz? Yeah, he touched it and look where he is."

"Seen em last week in the healing center, he's doing great."

"That e' is, they expect a full recovery by the end of May, just in time for tha' exams." A dwarf appeared from the door at the back of the room to the left.

"Ah, Mr. Riley, just the man I’ve been looking for. Those dogs, lets have at em," Kaz exclaimed sounding very excited.

"They're called hellahounds Kaz. Very Dangerous creatures. If I may say so myself, the name speaks for em. They raise allota’ hell.” He paused and looked at the two boys for a second, apparently looking for a laugh. He quickly cleared his throat and continued. "There is no need really, we'll be studying the little buggers all month, you'll be plenty bored of em' by then." Mr. Riley explained. Kaz suffered an ‘I told you so’ look from Bryan, who was heading towards the back.

"We’re just going to introduce ourselves, apparently his name is Buds." He shot another scary look toward Kaz.

"Ah, making names before even getting possession of em now are we?" Mr. Riley snorted, sitting down at his desk in amusement to their amusement. "You see only 15 of em don'tcha'? The one of yeah’s that knows the most about them at the end will get to keep em.

Kaz' spirits went from high to low with that comment, Bryan was top of every class, even Creatures, Kaz' best. "Is it like a question and answer type thing?"

"Ah now, don't you worry about tha' alright? You'll know as soon as everyone else will. Now, I haven't even taught you how ta' handle em and you wanna just jump right in there dontcha?" he said, shaking the gold case in his hands as if wanting to change the subject.

"Come on, you know my dad, you know me. I've heard of these things a lot, just like puppies right?" Kaz said.

"Ah, that they are, but if yeah cross them," he made a weird crunching noise with his teeth and started making weird faces. "You're done for. But yes of course; give em a try, not hard to handle. Hard to master, but not hard to handle."

"Master? You mean hard to make them love you, but not hard to get them to like you?" Larth piped up.

"Er...If you'd like ta say it that way, sure." Mr. Riley answered.

Kaz smiled and headed towards the door on the right hand side of the glass cases. The room he walked into was a lot brighter then the classroom. Chandeliers filled with candles hung from the roof ablaze. On the right side stood loads of cupboards with supplies and food. To the left, the doors to open the back of the glass cases. It was more or less a tiny hallway.

He pressed the button beside the names ‘Kaz and Bryan’. By the sounds of it the glass opened on the other side. He hurried back, pushing Bryan aside in the process. What looked like a normal baby black lab was at the back curled up in a ball sleeping.

"Ah, this one's color hasn't changed yet. You just got em yesterday, I just ordered em a few days ago, straight from Tyrania. Cost me 700 rounds for this lot, might I add.”

"You'll get it all back in the end yeah sleazy bastard," Kaz laughed. Any other teacher would've gave a grin in this situation, but him and Kaz’s dad go way back, they still play cards every Saturday with the rest of the guys.

He merely laughed. "Yeah you're right...Well, if you'd like to do any more then stare at em like a lunatic, make sure you treat it a little more cautious then a normal dog. It's a little more ill tempered, and packs a lot more of a punch.

Kaz smiled and reached his hand right below the hellahounds head. After a moment or too, it opened it’s eyes, lifted and then tilted it's head. After a while it got a scent of the outstretched hand and raised itself to a standing position. As if it expected to be going somewhere, he kept turning around aimlessly, closing and opening his eyes all the while.

"Get outta' the way yeah dummies. Back up back up, quickly now." Mr. Riley raised his voice and started walking fast towards the back of the holding areas. The two boys backed up quickly, as they were taught at a young age to expect the unexpected when it came to creatures of the unknown. Number one rule of Creatures class is if you ever find a creature that you don't know, it's best to run away.

Like a slap in the face, the glass case shut and Mr. Riley came back into view. "Didn't mean ta scare yeah, from what I read it would've waited longer, but you never know with new creatures, always gotta be on your toes."

"It would've waited longer? Heh'?" Kaz said.

"Just watch the beauty of this creature. Wu'd you think it was a normal black dog? Watch, pure black now and..." he stopped as if he was expecting something. The two of them lifted their bewildered faces from Mr. Riley to the dog. It was spinning more frantically now, around and around for no apparent reason. Then, it stopped and tilted its head again. Its eyes met theirs, and in a split second, its appearance changed completely, other then size of course. Its body appeared as if it had been splashed with a coat of lava. Running, flowing lava that is. The color of it was engraved into the black fur, which was still showing through the weird pattern. When it came to its face, it looked as if somebody grabbed a knife and cut inbetween it’s eyes. Except the fact that lava replaced blood..The rest of its face was black like before, but that was the only thing. Top to bottom this pattern covered, the tail (which had seemed to grow through the transformation) had little tiny streaks of the pattern all over it like threads.

"Ah, a magnificent Fava Pattern yours has. Better then the other two I saw the other day. Truly magnificent, you're very lucky to have this little one, “ the professor exclaimed, eyes widening all the while. “ Fava Pattern is the scientific term given to the pattern of lava you see on its fur.” He added.

The patterns that resembled lava were now moving, while still keeping its shape, it looked as if it was flowing just like lava. The hellahound spun around one more time "and here’s the grand finale" Mr. Riley said, and in that instance, it shook itself like a wet dog. The pattern flowed outwards in all directions like globs of lava, all over the cubby hole.

"Um... Professor, there is lava on our dog, there is lava all over our glass case, thus there is lava in this classroom, which means there is lava in the-" Bryan was cut off.

‘School. Yes yes, don't worry it won't be harming you. All of the holding cases have a charm on them. Nothing can go in and nothing can go out unless the button is pressed. Now," he paused "speaking of which, go press it. We may be safe, but little Buds isn't. If it touches the lava it'll burn just like it would us, not life threatening, but you better believe it'll sting.

Kaz could not figure out how he could be talking so calm about something like this. Bryan rushed to the door and opened it with much force. The glass case immediately opened. "Now, although that lava was just embedded in its fur, it is dangerous in its current form. But as the book says, he won't move an inch until the lava's been removed, so we'll just have to remove him ourselves."

Mr. Riley cautiously reached into the holding area, careful not to touch any of the sides in fear of being burnt. He grabbed Buds and quickly pulled him out.

"Aren't they dangerous, you said yourself they won't move willingly," said Larth.

"No no, not until it has somewhat of completed the transformation. Now if you'll hold him, Kaz, I'll go get Mrs. Claftry. It's really too bad she's the only witch in the school right now. oOnly one of her kind can clean that mess up." He handed Buds over to Kaz. "Oh look his tail stayed the same, good news...All good news."

Kaz looked from Mr. Riley as he left the class to Buds, who cuddled in his arms as if nothing had happened. Sure enough, the tail still had the glowing lava patterns on it.

"Touch its tail, I dare you!" Bryan called in excitement.

"How about you, when’s the last time you stepped out of the box,” he said, smirking.

"Well judging by the fact that you're cloak isn't on fire, I'm guessing we’re safe to touch it." He looked at Kaz' disapproving look. "See look, it's just a bit warm...and jelly feeling*"

"Yeah, ok, whatever. I'm taking it outside in the yard, tell me when they're here." Kaz smiled "This'll be its first time outside with me."

He finished and headed towards the door on the left, where Mr. Riley came from. It was the only door in the school made of metal, and the only door in the classroom with a window. It was about the size of a wallet, and had bars running down it in a threatening look, but still a window nonetheless. He opened it and stepped out into the little area.

It was about three by three meters. The ground was blessed with lush green and the walls were concrete, but there was no roof. The sunlight streamed in and shined brightly in his face, for the first time in a while. Not that Kaz didn't go out, but the weather had been horrible for two weeks in a row.

Kaz knelt down to get a better look at his carriage partner. But before long he dropped it violently and ran to the door, opened it and slammed it shut.

"What's wrong?" Bryan asked, half laughing.

"The thing, it burnt my hand. Hottest flame I've ever felt. You should've felt I-"

"Where'd yeah put the hellahound? Back in its cage I presume?" Mr. Riley walked in calmy.

"I took it outside, it burnt me-" he was interrupted again.

"You took it where... Yikes, ugly ugly ugly this'll be. Ms. Claftry go fetch Buds will yeah. Sorry Kaz but are you honestly that clueless, you just left a hellahound with a dragon just because you were burnt, doesn't that sound a bit selfish, odd, stupid even?" Mr. Riley spoke loudly, though he very rarely started yelling.

"Um...D...D for Dragon?" Bryan opened his mouth.

Ignoring him, he headed for a wet cloth, which was conveniently left on the floor beside them. "Which one burnt yeah? If it's the Hellahound, you'll need immediate treatment, it's Fava gives out the rage status effect."

"Well, umm... First off, holy crap, what are you talking about "dragon"? Kaz asked. Something told him that they would’nt be learning about plants next period.