"Good to see all of you have remembered we are meeting in the courtyard today. Wouldn't want any of you to miss this special day, now would we?" Mr. Gogglerigle stated, standing atop a simple wooden stool as to see his class, who were all scattered about the courtyard, staring at him.

Mr Gogglerigle was a small elderly gnome, however that didn't stop his happy-go-lucky attitude. Mr Gogglerigle, according to most others, was often more enthusiastic than most of his students about the lesson he was teaching.

Snow-white hair matted the top of his head as well as down to a beard under his chin. He wore small red mage's robes that were very finely woven with gold along the edges with several arcane runes etched within the stitching.

In his hand he held a small wooden staff that held a red gem at its tip. If one looked closely, they could see a flickering flame within it.

Bloom had arrived but a minute before the professor had begun his class. He stuck to the edge of the courtyard, out of the way of most of the other students. He sat at one of the small tables around the courtyard.

The cloth of the seat, as well as the table, was slightly matted with snow as was the weather around the academy. The academy was within the far northern shores of Zerim where the land was layered with snow year-round.

Fortunately, the cold wasn't an issue given the enchanted bracelet he wore, which kept the cold off of him; a graduation present from his mother before he moved to join the academy.

"Now, I'm sure you are all wondering the destination of such a magnificent field trip like we are going on." Mr. Grogglerigle paused for a moment for questions, however no one spoke. "Well it is an honor of mine to tell you all that we are going to an old Icaryian ruin site that has previously been excavated by order of the Zerimnian council."

Bloom's head shot up at the mention of the ruins as another bout of silence fell over the courtyard, however this time, it wasn't of boredom or fatigue from not having had a good sleep the night prior. Instead, it was the silence of intrigue.

The professor smiled at the sudden attention. "Ah, that got your attention then." He chuckled. "As you should, it's not every day a mage gets to study the ruins of the ancient Icaryian elves. Oh, and for bonus points, who would like to tell me something about them? Most know the names but so much less about the history." He mentioned as he glanced about the class.

A hand shot up from the corner of the mass of students. All the student's heads turned to see Bloom, now standing, with his hand up.

Mr. Gogglerigle smiled and gestured his staff toward the tiefling. "Ah yes, Mr. Bloom. You know of the Icaryians? Please, share with the class." He offered.

Bloom swallowed down his nervousness as all heads turned to him; then he spoke. "The Icaryian elves were a kingdom of elves who wielded immense magical power. Their kingdoms were enchanted to soar high above the clouds, out of sight of any others on the ground. But due to their belief that they were equal to gods, a small group of them had demolished the Icayian kingdoms and sent their civilization crumbling down... literally." He explained.

A brief wave of silence fell upon the room safe for a few minor muttered in the crowd. Bloom's face flushed, thinking he might have gotten a detail wrong. Then he heard Mr. Gogglerigle clapping.

"Excellent Mr. Bloom. You've earned your points." The professor stated with an eager smile.

A wave of muttering and annoyed glances shifted to and from Bloom and Mr. Gogglerigle. Then a voice shouted out from a tall red dragonborn.

"So you can learn that, but not how to cast a bolt of fire?" They shouted, followed by a mix of laughs and annoyed glances toward both Bloom and the Dragonborn for their remark.

"Mr. Toziros, that is an unnecessary comment." The professor shouted.

"Sorry for that, my tongue slipped." the red dragonborn replied, waving a hand as if to shoo the comment away.

Bloom looked to the dragon born who had made the comment. Their crimson scales layered their body like armor. At many spots around his eyes and about his horns he saw flecks of yellow scales along his skin. He was tall, nearly a foot taller than Bloom himself, not to mention he was oddly well built for a mage. Then again, many dragonborn tended to have more muscle on them then most other species given their draconic heritage.

The dragonborn, Ancash Toziros, had always hated Bloom for a reason he never really figured out. He made his presence known when Bloom had joined the academy last year when he 'accidentally' burned his newly-bought spellbook.

'Sorry about the burnt book, guess it had some useful things in it, huh? My flames just tend to burn useless things when I get jittery. New academy and all that.' He'd said with a wild smirk on his face.

Ancash turned to face Bloom as he sat back down. He grinned, flaring his sharp teeth and let a few embers flow from his jaws.

Bloom quickly turned back to the professor who began speaking once more. "As I was saying, we are going to an excavated Icaryian ruin. Now, due to the importance of the site itself, I expect all of you to be on your utmost behavior. You are not only showing your attitude to me on this trip, but the Zerimnian site executives as well. So show them that we are better than those Arcanloth students, shall we?"

A light cheer flared from the students as they all finally departed into the snowy peaks of the nearby mountains.

Surprisingly enough, it didn't take too long for them to begin climbing the mountain where the excavation was taking place. They had begun hiking up the stone steps up the mountain. A few students had nearly fallen off the edge of the railing-less steps, however Mr. Gogglerige quickly waved his hand as a gust suddenly blew inward and pushed them back onto safe ground. "Keep your arms, legs, and various appendages on the stairs at all times." He reminded the class, his voice booming over the light wind due to a spell that enhanced the volume of his voice.

Bloom stayed in the back of the group, a few steps behind the rest of the group. He glanced down off the edge of the steps and moved toward the mountain a few steps once again as the chill wind blew past his hair and horns. Bloom kept to the stony wall, nervously spinning his bracelet around his wrist.

Not too long after approaching the steps, they finally reached the top of the steps.

Suddenly, Bloom peaked the steps to look out onto a massive stone ruin half-buried in snow, deep within a crater. The ruins looked to have once been inside the mountain itself at a time, as if the mountain was formed around the ruin's rather than the mountain coming first. He saw people- no more than small specks in the snow- moving about the ruins and molding the earth around it to slowly tear away the debris and uncover the ruins.

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The ruins seemed to have once been part of a fraction of a laboratory of some sort. Bloom could see what might once have been a half-dome skylight that had long since eroded.

Despite the ruins being crafted of stones, the design of the structure was smooth. As if it was finely carved wood that was transmuted into stone for structural integrity.

Mr. Gogglerigle walked forward and gestured down toward the ruins. "Behold, the ruins of the ancient Icaryians." He shouted toward the class.

"Now, from here we simply need to wait until some of the other advisors get here so you can then split into groups and-" He was cut off by a voice from behind the group.

"That's not necessary, my class already went ahead." The voice said.

The entire class turned their heads to see a woman with gray skin hanging upside down from a hook that was tied to her belt, stuck deep within the stone of an overhang above them. Her long white hair hung down from her head. Her eyes lacked any pupils of any kind. All they were were two pale white orbs. She was very well built for a mage, her simple (and oddly revealing) clothing showing off her stoney muscles. All she seemed to wear was basic leather that covered her chest and legs. On occasion she'd wear a simple mage's robes as per the academy staff's orders.

"Ah, Ms. Vanya; I wasn't aware your class was coming here today." Mr. Gogglerige said, a sour tone in his normally chipper voice.

"I had told the dean my class was going to scour the mountain-side. I never specified where." She said; her voice was forceful and flat. Sounding more like a military officer rather than an academy professor.

Mr. Gogglerige pursed his lips. "So you just left your student unattended then? It would be very unbecoming of a divination teacher to not foresee their own blunder." A light smirk picking at his lips.

"They aren't unattended. The officials from the council can very well keep the bunch in check." She replied. "Although I'm wondering if you trust your students enough not to demolish the crumbling ruins with a stray fireball."

A light snicker ran through the students at their professor's fault.

Mr. Gogglerige's face flushed red. "Fine, fine. We can do it your way if you're so good at teaching." He said before turning to his students and gesturing toward the ruins. "Alright everyone, go and explore the ruins. Be sure to ask questions to the advisors about the-" The rest of his words were drowned out by the stomping of feet running past them as the plethora of students started toward the ruins with various levels of enthusiasm.

Mr. Gogglerigle huffed as they all passed by. "No one listens to their elders nowadays." He mumbled.

"Where should I go first?" Bloom said from next to his professor.

Mr. Gogglerige glanced at Bloom, partially surprised. "Oh, Bloom. I thought you'd be the first out. Aren't you going to join the group?" he asked, gesturing his staff to the crowd of students moving toward the large ruins.

Bloom just shrugged. "I'll wait a minute before I go. It's hard to appreciate the ruins if there are twenty people running around and shouting at each other. Plus, it's not everyday I get to see such a nice place." A light smile fell across Bloom's face, a moment later however, it was replaced with a solemn expression.

Mr. Gogglerige smiled and looked towards the ruins. "You're a very passionate mage, Bloom." He stated.

"Passionate is a way to put it." He said.

The evocation professor frowned. "Well if I have any say in it, you have more knowledge about magical history then any student I've taught of your age. You are always the first one done on any written exam I've given. And I've heard from Mr. Montagu that your research papers of the history of the weave are some of the best he's seen in a quite some time." Mr. Gogglerigle stated with a smirk.

"Doesn't mean I can do magic." Bloom stated glumly.

Mr. Gogglerigle frowned and pat Bloom on the back with his staff. "Oh c'mon now. You can do magic." He assured.

"I've just learned to cast 2nd-circle spells just this year; while other students have been casting spells of the 3rd and 4th-circle." Bloom gestured out to the students who had quickly scoured throughout the ruins and disappeared behind the debris. "Just because I understand magic doesn't mean I can do it."

Mr. Gogglerigle sighed and turned to Bloom. "Bloom, how old do you think I am?" He asked.

Bloom looked at him quizzically and blinked. "How... Does that connect here?"

"Just take a guess; how old do you think I am?" He insisted.

Bloom scanned the elderly gnome up and down. Taking in his gray-white hair and his many wrinkles. Bloom knew gnomes lived much longer than most other humanoid creatures, although he never really bothered to check how much longer, exactly, it was. "A little over 200?" He questioned.

Almost immediately, Mr. Gogglerigle let out a wicked laugh. After a few seconds the laugh resided enough for him to speak. "Oh, I wish I were that young again. No no; I'm 450 years of age."

Bloom's eyes widened.

The professor laughed at his sudden expression. "Bloom, it took me until I was 83 to cast a spell of the 2nd-circle. The fact that you can at the age of 23 is extravagant. Just because you aren't on the same level as the most talented young mages of this generation doesn't mean you aren't a great mage." He smiled at him. "And who knows, maybe you'll bloom into a powerful wizard then I some day." he said, chuckling at his own joke.

A light smile was forced onto Bloom's face at the reference of his virtue-name; a name that was held close to any tieflings' heart, especially his own.

"Now go and run about," Mr. Gogglerigle ordered, tapping Bloom's back with his staff, making him step forward. "You go enjoy the ruins along with the knowledge it gives. I'm sure you'll find something of interest."

With one last smile to his professor, Bloom stepped down the crater and toward the ruins of the long dead civilization, curious as to what he might find.

***

"Why did you lie to him?" A voice asked from behind the elderly gnome as he watched Bloom walk into the distance.

He turned around to see Ms. Vanya still standing with her arms crossed, perched on the ceiling of the stoney overhang.

Mr. Gogglerigle just huffed. "I don't know what you're talking about." He muttered.

"Gogglerigle, please, you're one of the greatest evocation prodigies this generation of Zerim has seen in... well I'm not sure how long- but much longer then you've been alive. When you were his age you were already practicing spells of the 6th-circle. Why did you lie to the tiefling?" She asked again.

Mr. Gogglerigle sighed. "All the kid needs is a bit of confidence. He's very intelligent, and, by all accounts, he should be able to use magic far beyond what he has shown." The professor explained.

"And you think his confidence is to blame?" Ms. Vanya asked, raising an eyebrow.

Mr. Gogglerigle grumbled at the expression. "Not completely, no. But I feel it will help."

"Then what do you expect to be the main problem?" The divination professor asked.

Mr. Gogglerigle crossed his arms and faced back to Bloom's figure as he walked into the ruins. "I wish I knew."

Ms. Vanya spoke up. "If he isn't good at magic, why does he insist on taking the type of classes that he has to cast spells in? Why not offer him the scholar track, or the historian track. Really anything that isn't studying advanced fields of the schools of magic."

Mr. Gogglerigle chuckled. "Yimne," He began; Ms. Vanya scowled at the use of her first name. "Did you ever have trouble learning transmutation magic when you were young?"

The professor shrugged. "I suppose it wasn't the easiest thing in the world. But it's not like you haven't had your own troubles when first learning the Arcane Arts."

The old gnome nodded. "Correct."

"I'm not saying those courses would be a cakewalk for the young man," Ms. Vanya corrected. "I'm just saying at least he'd have a chance with those." She sighed. "Bloom has been at this school for three years. He should be at the level of them by now but he keeps being held back into the first year classes. Yes, he's nearly at the level of a 5th year student in terms of academic knowledge, but he's at the level of a 1st when it comes to applying that knowledge. Like he said himself, he's only just now started getting the hang of 2nd-circle magic. But the 3rd-year- which he should be in at his age- are starting to control magic of the 4th-circle. Hells, that one red Dragonborn, could use fire magic at nearly the strength of 5th-circle spells." The transmutation professor ranted, her voice growing more frustrated then she had wanted it to.

The gnome looked back to his colleague and let out a smirk. "I don't know if either of us will fully understand the boy's plites. Unlike him, we were natural born prodigies of our respective schools of magic. All I'm saying is I have a feeling that boy will surprise us one day. For better or for worse."