Wolfram von Bielefelt

Aaravos started exploring the winter segment. He had been warned that each segment would have its own set of dangers, but despite always being plenty warm by human standards, he first went to look at the human types of habitation. First, in the abandoned guard tower, then he planned to make his slow way toward what was only marked as the Survival Fortress.

But it was near the abandoned guard tower that he first encountered a curious creature that resembled a cactus that was entirely white. He thought it was a plant at first, but when it moved, he saw that out of the corner of his eye. When he turned his head to look at the movement, the plant suddenly became a creature and attacked him by trying to shoot its icicle-shaped spines at him.

Aaravos' eyes glowed, and he countered by sketching a rune in the air to create an air magic spell that held the spines in place before they could touch him. For the minor magic that it took to redirect these spines, he did not have to speak as other mages would.

Aaravos had felt a strong pull of magic from the Spring Segment, so he intended to explore that as soon as he could. There was a nearly constant breeze blowing, but short of ruffling his cloak, it didn't bother him. As he made his way deeper into the Segment, he could see more and more new life blooming as it got further and further from the snow of the Winter Segment, and he was charmed by seeing new young animals to match the new blooming flowers.

But the scent of magic was stronger the closer he was getting to something, and Aaravos was determined to find it. The wind was a little bit stronger now, but short of being a particularly blustery day, he was still ignoring it.

It wasn't until he was at the edge of a lake shaped like a crescent moon that he encountered any sort of real resistance. Resistance in the shape of... well, they might have been elk once? The only thing that remained the same as a regular elk would look was the same vague body shape of an ungulate, and the fact that they had an elk's antlers. But other than that, they were thin until they looked almost skeletal. The round yellow eyes set deep into the eye sockets on the skull had no eyelid around either side, and the teeth were showing where the skin on the skull had been drawn back. The black husks of elk made the same creepy sounds elk normally do, but they had clearly been mutated by some sort of dark magic. It had to be a form of magic because Aaravos could feel the density of power now tantalizingly close.

One of the elk lowered its twisted antlers and charged Aaravos. He was not concerned and lowered the hood of his cloak in order to keep it from blowing in his face. Then sketched a glowing rune in the air. It created a hardened wall of air that the elk's antlers collided with, leaving Aaravos untouched. Then the second elk charged from the opposite side. Aaravos went to sketch the same rune into the air, but the glow of it was extremely diminished, and this time the Antlers came much closer to Aaravos. Close enough that he was pushed by the weakened shield and ended up falling backwards.

Aaravos had purposely become lost in the Great Library. It seemed that things were still organized similarly here, as his own library had been. Then again, his library had been modest enough that he was able to memorize where many of the books were already.

But this library was vast and cavernous, and Aaravos wanted to be truly surprised by any of the books he was able to find here. At the moment, he was looking at a book that talked about the seasonal powers when combined with existing magic. He had found himself curiously limited, but actually using the seasonal abilities that being part of a particular seasonal group allowed, from the simplest magic as you learned all over again, to the most advanced that it could take up to a year or more to master. Aaravos was fascinated by the idea of adding seasonal magic to the elemental. Would that make his mastery over elemental magic somehow better? He didn't think that was possible since mortals would already call it magic on par with a god. If he could somehow do things like manifest water when he was already in the cosmos, that could become a very handy skill indeed.

He closed the book he was reading, and since it was a large enough book to obscure his vision while he turned to replace it, he didn't see the person who was standing near the bookshelf. So it was a large book obscuring Aaravos' chest and head so that the powder blue to royal purple ombre of his arms with the twinkling lights in his skin were the only things that showed when he ran headlong into another person.

"Oh dear. I do hope you aren't hurt?"