Orrenyl's Rival

To Siony, my best friend, on the occasion of her birthday.

Author's Notes: For the first draft of this story, I spent half the night writing. But for Siony, no pain was too great, provided she be presented with a masterpiece worthy of her greatness. ^_^ I hereby present you, the readers, with the first story to clutter my newly wiped computer, digitally remastered especially for Fiction Press. Here's to laying it on thick...

Orrenyl's Rival</u></b>

The Lovely Myra was a young woman truly deserving of the capital letters with which I so graced her name... Her glossy black hair, entrancing like the darkness, her large, lovely eyes the color of purest gold, her beautiful ashen grey complexion, her delicately pointed ears, her ready wit, her compassionate heart, everything about her was as enchanting as any spell. And indeed, though she knew it not, she had cast a spell upon me.
I gazed upon her at a distance, taking in her lithe, athletic form as she limbers up, surrounded by other young Drow, all stretching for fencing practice. The fools. They did not know how Fortune favored them, to be so close to such a radiant creature. For my part, Fate has always hated me. I leaned upon the closest parapet to the center of the arena basking in Lady Myra's presence, not daring to go any nearer: she was a Squire, a Great Lady in the making, and I was but a humble sorcerer. She could never know my heart.
And then she came up to me, specifically to me! I was the only onlooker. I panicked, wondering what to do, what do say to her. I seized up.
"Hey, I've seen you around before, haven't I? You're from Myrnor Academy, right? A magic student?" she asked me, her voice melodious. She spoke to me!! I never thought I would see the day when she spoke to me, but it came upon me at last! I did not have the chance to make much use of it, however.
"Er... Yes, that is, I'm from Myrnor Academy, not that... I mean, and I'm a magic student too... But uh..." I stammered.
She smiled, and I drowned in the warmth of her expression. "Hey, take your time. You're not in a hurry are you?" she continued, "You come every day, though, don't you? To watch us practice? It's odd, normally, sorcerers aren't interested in such fights, are they? But anyways, thanks. It's kind of fun to have an audience."
"Uh, no problem?" I cursed my speechlessness.

"Myra! Hey!" I heard a voice from the other side of the stadium. "Weren't you going to show me those parries?"
"Oh, Lerankerr, sorry to keep you waiting!" And Lovely Myra quit my company, without so much as a goodbye. And I never even got to tell her my name.
Lerankerr. How I hated the knave, the cur, the simple-minded fool! He stole my spotlight all the time. Although I, Orrenyl, was the best student in my class, a scholarship student, that simpleton got all the praise! He wasn't even a mage, being of mind too average to grasp more than the simplest attack spells, and not a Squire either, being of body too soft to lift more than a rapier... And yet the pretentious fool would be both! Every time I tried to impress a girl, he would always come along and ruins my plans! Thus he yelled coarsely at my lioness, disrespecting her and raining on my parade simultaneous.
Well... I had it. No longer would I allow that scum to bask in glory, while I, overshadowed, was barely noticed! A year I'd been attending all Lady Myra's practices, and now she finally realized I exist, that cretin robbed me of my one chance to get close to her! Evil deeds would come his way, I would make sure of that...

*****

"Orrenyl, I don't think I understood what the professor said. Would you please take the time to explain it to me? I would really appreciate it." said the imbecile to me as I walked out of class the next day. "You know, I really admire you. You're so smart. If I had half your brains I would be ahead of the game."
Scheming to give me lobotomy, you pathetic little tunnel-snake? As well you should, I thought to myself. At first I thought I would deliver a scathing reply, but thought the better of it. It would prove more interesting to have him think I'm on his side.
"Why, certainly, friend. I would be delighted to tutor you in the finer points of magic... Aheheheheh..." I cut off my imminent maniacal laugh. Perfect. He would never suspect my deep loathing of him.
"Great! Thank you so much!" He grinned widely, the gullible fool. "So is Lilyday good for you?" he asked.
"Lilyday is no good. How about Marketday?" I replied. Marketday, of course, was a day normally spent in festivities... And thus my plan to make Lerankerr's life miserable had begun.
"Fine with me! I can't wait." he agreed. His ignorance must be the cause of his bliss. He was so enthusiastic about everything, even spending Marketdays in-tunnels slaving away over magical theory. Well, maybe not in-tunnels. Things could get messy. I grinned to myself, in sweet anticipation of what was to come.

*****

"No, no, no, no! Don't relax! CONCENTRATE! CONCENTRATE! How can you ever expect to conjure fire if you can't control it?" I yelled at the simpleton, thoroughly enjoying it. We were in the arena, left bare by the Marketday rush. The ground area was a kilometer long and five hundred meters wide, and a marvel of Dwarvish architecture.
All I could feel from Lerankerr was a bare trickle of power, smaller even than usual. And not by accident. Spells were an exercise in controlled relaxation.  I had told Lerankerr to do the exact opposite.
"This isn't working..." he sighed. "Are you sure this is the right thing to do?"
"Lerankerr, don't you trust me? Would I lie to you?" I suppressed an evil chuckle.
"Of course. But-"
"You're just not trying hard enough."
Lerankerr stood in the middle of the arena, concentrating so hard his mind must have been aching. I looked upon his pursed expression with much amusement. The credulous fool! I refuted the very basics of magic, and he believed me!
"Pirosferi!" he tried one last time. And much to my astonishment, a small fireball popped into existence between his hands. I could not believe my eyes. But the fireball grew bigger, first the size of a marble, then the size of a crystal ball, then the size of a head, and bigger, and bigger, until my churlish student could no longer contain it.
By this time, I had been inching away. As it got too big, I ran as fast as my legs could carry me. "Fly!" I cried. Lerankerr abandoned the fireball and followed me, but too late. The magical construct struck the ground and exploded, shoving him forward. He collapsed face first on the ground.
I approached my fallen foe. "Is he dead?"
"Is that all you have to say?" Lerankerr complained half-sarcastically as he got up slowly and painfully. He looked at the scorch marks on the ground in concern. "I didn't think I was THAT bad." he sighed.
"Heh, don't worry. You've made a breakthrough. At least now you know you're capable of great power. All you need is control. I think that's enough for today." I decided. In future lessons I had just decided I would stay further away from him. Oh, but what fun this was...

*****

Three days later, Lerankerr asked if we could have lunch together so I could quiz him on theory. I would have mislead him with that, too, but he could have easily discovered my ruse simply by looking in the textbook, so I had decided it would be safer to be truthful with him where theory was concerned. Being an incompetent spellcaster alone was more than enough to earn him a failing grade.
"So what is the Law of Conservation of Magic?" I asked, but didn't wait for an answer. I had spotted Lady Myra make a beeline for our table.
"That's dead easy. You can't create magic or eliminate it. It's always there, it just changes places."
"Ah, Lerankerr, I didn't expect to see you here." I was downcast to hear Myra's sweet, incomparable voice address itself only to Lerankerr.
"Oh, Orrenyl agreed to tutor me in magic. We're just going over the theory right now." answered my oblivious victim.
"Orrenyl... What a nice name. And you're our spectator, right?"
"Myra, do you mind? We're busy." The knave is trying to keep her away! No! I will not have it!
"Not particularly. Stay, Miss Myra."
"Orrenyl, I don't think I'll be able to concentrate..." Damn you, you half-wit son of a dwarf!
"Well, if that's the case, I should leave you two to your studying. Sorry to bother you. See you at practice, both of you." Myra got up from the table and walked away briskly.
No! AAARGH! He did it again! He drove away the Lovely Myra! He'll pay for that too! I've had enough! Enough I say! These were my thoughts.
"Did you say anything, Orrenyl?"
I sighed. "No, Lerankerr."

*****

"This way!"
"We're missing practice!"
"You don't have practice, you just watch it. If it's nothing to me, what's it to you if you miss this one time?"
I miss seeing Myra again, that's what. You're blind as well as stupid. I never was a good actor, and yet you swallow my every word as if it were the water of light, when what it is is poison.
I didn't actually say anything.
"I heard there was a good library here." said Lerankerr. He was dragging me along a rather shady part of downtown, past prostitutes and beggars, and possibly drug dealers and thieves too.
"The only high quality place I expect an area like this to have is a brothel! Where the Core are you taking me?!"
He took a tunnel shortcut, with me still in tow.
"Idiot, you know we could get ourselves killed in here?" I snapped. I was about to say more, but we'd both stopped rushing. The tunnel was full of blood kra lilies. Their petals dripped acid menacingly as they advanced upon us.
Lerankerr's eyes widened with horror. I knew my own were doing the same. Blood kra lilies, the sign someone had been performing blood magic. Here in the red light district, I shouldn't have been surprised by this discovery, but...
We stood there, both petrified. "What are we going to do, Orrenyl?" whispered my terrified 'friend'.
War raged in my thoughts. Possibly, I could run and let him save himself, and good riddance if he failed to survive. Unfortunately, even if he fell prey to them, the ominous creatures might still follow me. I cursed him once again.
"Stand aside!" I commanded imperiously, taking a step forward in defiance of my own affections.
I had recently mastered a spell of purifying as extra credit. Purifying spells do not actually purify. They are meant to convert blood magic into normal magic, thereby erasing its evil. But blood kra lilies are normal magical constructs tainted by blood magic. I was not sure whether my spell would work against it, but it was my only alternative.
Lerankerr unsheathed his sword. "Don't! The acid will drip straight through your vulgar piece of metal!" I snarled at him. "Just don't get in my way."
The blood magic was thick there. It was so substantial, I could hear it hum. I heard it chant in a high-pitched voice. Creepy crawly, creepy crawly, creepy crawly...
It was about time I shut those evil blooms up. I closed my eyes, and breathed deeply. I drew on my own reserves of energy and shaped it into a sphere between my hands... It grew larger and larger, and after a while I cut my energies off from the sphere. I felt weary, I'd already used too much power but I couldn't rest just yet. The ball grew bigger until I could no longer contain it, but this I was doing on purpose. The ball encompassed the kra lilies. Their irritating chant was getting weaker. My energy sphere mingled with the blood magic and the magic that animated the lilies. At last the sphere imploded with a pop. The lilies had died, and I could not feel any more blood magic. I opened my eyes... And staggered.

Lerankerr caught me. "You alright?" he asked with genuine concern.
"I'm fine. I don't need your help." I muttered. I pushed him away, and braced myself against the wall.
"You're not fine!" he exclaimed crossly. He put his shoulder under mine. I pushed him away again.
"All this is YOUR fault you know! Everything is your fault! You drive Myra away, just like all the other girls I've ever liked! Thanks to being concerned by your negative magical talent, the teachers ignore me, therefore slowing my progress in the magical arts to a crawl! And on top of that, all anyone does is praise you, you stupid, unworthy churl! I've hated you for a long time!" I yelled at him.
"You're jealous of me for no good reason?!" Lerankerr looked surprised, and also crestfallen. He got a grip on himself, and continued. "Look, there's nothing we can do about that now. Just let me walk you home. You're in no condition to make it there alone."
"And whose fault is that?" I fumed. But he was right. For once in his life, he was right. I leaned against him and we started hobbling back out the tunnel in silence.

Lerankerr spoke up as we made it back to campus: "Thanks." he muttered. "You saved us." He stopped. Then continued. "That was the most amazing bit of magic I've ever seen. Even more spectacular than that awry fireball."
I snorted despondently. "War Mages shouldn't be impressed by by such a humble spell. And while we're on the subject of your fireball," I injected more sarcasm into my voice, "I don't know how you can ever hope to become a War Mage when you are ignorant enough to believe me when I refuted the very basics of spell casting."
"I didn't." deadpanned the knave.
"Then why did you play along, you liar?!" I exclaimed.
"It was... Oh, what's the point of telling?" he seemed pained.
"Oh, fine. It was an excuse to be with you."
"Why the Core would you want to be with ME?" I spluttered incredulously.
Lerankerr looked blank for a moment. I had a sudden feeling of dread.
"Why?" he started. "It's because I love you, Orrenyl."