Discovery

The young mage set down her book and stifled a yawn with her hand. Stretching lazily, her eyes casually glanced down in front of her, a book sitting open on the edge of the table, which hadn’t been there when she’d sat down. Looking around quietly, the young mage saw no one else near her table. She wracked her memory. No one had sat down at her table in the amount of time she had been there, and she was fairly certain she hadn’t seen that book when she’d sat down. She would’ve remembered the bright green lettering on the cover.

Open me…

The young mage blinked. ''Was that just a voice…nah…probably my imagination. Anyway, a little peek can’t hurt…'' she thought to herself, pulling the book closer to her. The runes on the surface skittered around, never seeming to stay in one place for any amount of time, especially when she focused on them. Touching the book’s surface slowly, she quickly withdrew her finger; the book stung for some reason, as if some sort of force was telling her this is not a good idea. But when had she ever listened to that part of her mind?

Ha ha ha…

That was laughter! But no, it couldn’t be…could it? Gritting her teeth, the young mage cracked the book open, hand stinging and- Argh! That hurt! The young mage quickly popped the book down on the table, holding her hand and wincing quietly. That was very, very painful. She glared at the book, and it seemed to glare back at her, somehow. Quite unnerved now, the young mage tried again. This time, the book seemed mellow, and her hands felt fine. Third time’s the charm she thought to herself, happily leafing through the book.

The book contained arcane writings that seemed very foreign to her; those diagrams were certainly diagrams of spells, but they were nothing like any sorts of spells that she had seen before. One of them seemed to be a spell of shadow magic and the other- ''Ow, ow, ouch! ''The young magi clapped a hand to her head. She blinked, and the blinked again. As quickly as the pain had come, it was gone again, and this time the writing on the book had changed, somehow. She rubbed her eyes and blinked for the third time. “That’s strange…” she muttered under her breath, “I don’t recall turning the page…” She thumbed back through the book, but for some inexplicable reason, the page that she was on may very well have vanished, there was no trace of it, anywhere.

The young mage rubbed her head. I haven’t been getting enough sleep… she thought to herself, moving her hands from her head to her eyes, and then rubbing them. Though I think I’ll keep this book, she thought, yes…that seemed like a good idea to her, keep it away from the…younger apprentices who wouldn’t be able to handle this sort of thing. After all, it was just sitting on the table in the library, and no responsible person would leave it lying on the table, would they? I mean…the odds of finding a book that wasn’t meant to be in the Dalaran Library would be remarkably small, wouldn’t it? This was the most well kept library in the world! There was no way that anyone would leave a dangerous tome lying around, right?

Right?

Well, the young mage decided, it was too late for regrets now. She was taking it back to her room with her and that was that, as far as she was concerned. Though…she had probably keep it secret, there was no point alerting the teachers if it was nothing to worry about, and besides, Roseli had enough on her plate to worry about a book that this young one had found lying around in the library. And anyway, she didn’t want to admit that there was a book that she hadn’t been able to read yet, especially one as bold as this one. This looked like an interesting book, a book that she hadn’t seen anything like it before, and it stood out here, like a clean shaven and washed soldier in a regiment. It interested her, and no book had interested her in a long, long time.

And hey? She might actually get ahead in her studies for once, and then her master would be impressed.

“Going out, Visana?” The young mage jumped lightly as she walked out of the doors of the library.

“Yes, ma’am. I put the book I borrowed back on the right shelf, ma’am. I’ve studies to get to.” The mage, who was named Visana, smiled. Yes, quite a bit to get back to, she thought, and most importantly, I’ve got this book I’ve got to get started on…

Visana walked out of that library smiling, and whistling. She’d found something that she didn’t know she was looking for.