Submission (#871) Approved

+5 shards (prompt)
+4 shards (407 words)

: +9 shards

Alorus had kept in mind what Weisheng had told him, but he'd still been stubborn about it. He didn't like the idea of void Lyss too much; it made him feel vaguely uncomfortable, though he honestly had no idea why. Other than the bad press it had, it was a tool like any other, and yet, the notion that this was his affinity was driving him up the wall. Enough to push himself into trying to master a completely different form of forgery. Perhaps he could aim for fire, or Sol even. Either of those sounded much better than what he was using at the current moment, clearly.

As such, he'd stubbornly sat down and applied himself to the task. He'd read books upon books, and all advised for the same thing; stick to what flowed best, don't force it. Forgery was less about force and more about... redirecting the energy and allowing it to flow. What he was trying to do was counter to what all the books seemed to advice, and yet on he fought. He was so stubborn about it that he didn't really see the warning signs. Didn't notice the fact he was getting tired, nor did he see the fact he'd been getting frustrated, letting his emotions fly free. Something he hadn't done since he started his shifter mastery.

He also failed to notice the fact he'd left all his papers strewn around himself, and what a hazard that could be, given his aim to manipulate fire, or the way he was seated in the middle of the mess of his own making; books discarded in odd places. He waved his hands, said a few words and it was only as he was saying the last few syllables that he realized he'd botched the pronunciation of the words.

Before he could react, the spell backfired.

Instead of a very small flame that he'd been meaning to hold, the fire caught on the pages around him, barely missing igniting the books too, and though the notes were important... at least the damage was minimized to things he could easily redo.

Cursing, and in a small bout of panic, he gathered the shadows around him and actually suffocated the flames he'd created with relative ease.

The second spell had come naturally to him, almost instinctual, and with a sigh, Alorus sat in the cinders of his ruined notes.

There was only one way forward.