Turning from the bathroom, he returned to his bedroom just as his mate rolled over and yawned. He sat on the very edge of the bed and ran a paw through the fur on her head as she woke up. “I’ve got to go to work,” He said, “I love you.”
“I love you too,” She replied sleepily.
Donning his usual attire, a white button up shirt, black leather tie and long black leather trench coat, he headed outside onto his porch. The morning air, as usual, was brisk and cool and he was thankful for this. During the day the sun would burn at his long, think fur and he could become quickly overheated. A quick look around Rustheim normally could present an idea of how his day would play out. Down the street, a preacher was spouting religious views and whatnot about one the goddesses and down the street several Chardian children were picking on one of his students; a small, brown Lykos boy who had been abandoned at birth. Cursing to himself, he ran down the several flights of rickety stairs that led up to his home.
The moment the children saw him, they took off running, for what would be more frightening to human than a massive wolf-man that could breathe fire. Of course, Pendragon knew he couldn’t breathe fire on the spot but most Chardians were warriors, not scholars. He helped the boy to his feet and asked him if he was alright. The boy nodded and wiped the dirt from his face. “We’ve got to get to school,” stated Pendragon, “I’ll walk with you home tonight and tell Sister Agios what happened.” With that, they headed to the school building.
The school, like many other buildings in Rustheim, was very rustic looking and constructed with hardwood and bronze. The entire city was more technologically advanced than most of the other civilizations on Amoraan, generally because of the marvelous steam-powered contraptions that ran the city. The city had a limitless supply of water due to the fact that Rustheim was based upon the ocean, as well as adjacent to a rather active fault line. Aside from the usual earthquakes, which could be countered with the earth magicks of the college that sat along the coast, the city was able to generate more than enough electrical energy to power itself. In order to maintain natural balance, small earthquakes were permitted to occur however, much larger earthquakes were adverted by softening the snap of the upper plate by applying large amounts of downward magickal pressure and gradually letting up.
Pendragon taught a class on the science of magic to students who were roughly between the ages of ten to eighteen. The course explained how conjuring the element you desire is dependent upon what the element is and how it behaves, as well as conjuring elements and manipulating them to create reactions, such as fire. For example, the best way to summon fire would be to summon an element that ignites with air, elements such as rubidium or phosphorus. This being so, fire is extremely unconventional to try to summon, especially for those races with fur; Lykos, Lagos or Miwan.
Many of the younger students, as expected, generally had more issues with the material, however the boy who Pendragon had rescued earlier never seemed to have a problem. Athamos, the boy, was always attentive and on time. He was very adept with magick, specifically with electricity. Electricity took more skill to manipulate because it was not an element. The basic way to conjure electricity would be to focus on changing each particle’s charge to create an arc which then could be used to spread the charge throughout the air until enough electricity was created; this process could take several seconds. However there was a new, less known process could be used to create electricity faster and for efficiently. This technique only worked for furred races and was performed by firmly striking the back of one’s paws to create static electricity and then placing it inside of a magickal capacitor of one’s summoning. Inside the capacitor the electricity could freely arc and rapidly charge the remaining particles inside the capacitor; this process worked in half the time.
Generally the class was very boring, but today was ‘experiment day.’ Outside, explosions could be heard coming from inside, followed by children’s’ laughter. No serious injuries occurred that day, thankfully. As promised, Pendragon walked Athamos home and explained what had happened. Further examination revealed several small cuts and bruises about his body however; he had suffered only minor damage. After goodbyes were said, Pendragon began the walk back home.
The street had cleared since earlier, merchants were closing up shop and the preacher had left for the day. The street lights flickered randomly as the generators didn’t always use a sufficient amount of steam and many homes had smoke floating from their bronze chimneys. Making his way up the staircases to his home, he sighed, relieved his day was over.
![The Battle of Rustheim [Part 1]](https://va.ib.metapix.net/thumbnails/medium/1197/1197918_PendragonScribbles_the_battle_of_rustheim_pt1.jpg "The Battle of Rustheim [Part 1]")
