[Skylark]

As Kadin trudged through barren countryside looking for an abandoned tower/castle/mansion/library/school/mausoleum and the mad fire demon who supposedly lived there, he had more time with his thoughts than he was comfortable with. Blood drained from his knuckles as he tightened his grip on his pack, forcing his mind back away from fucking stupid, traitorous did he miss me? thoughts. He took to stubbornly attempting to identify as many types of edible plants as he could as a distraction for himself, ignoring that it was failing miserably.

He was running away again.

This time, he didn't have the excuse of someone being out to kill him. Nor did he have prior arrangements elsewhere he'd set up and couldn't break. He also couldn't say that he was looking for a job and had to leave because there weren't any prospects where he'd been. He was just... running away for reasons he didn't want to examine. He already knew he was a coward for it. No need to dwell further.

The dry grasses he'd been staring at started to smoke and, when his glare intensified, burst into flames. Fuck. He let out a string of curses as he stomped out the small blaze, pointed adverting his gaze from any plant life once the danger was gone, hiking his bag higher on his shoulders, and marching forward with renewed purpose. He was running away because the alternative was to stay and staying meant that he'd have even less control on this... thing that was happening to him. His best bet was to wander until he found someone who had a faint hope of even explaining to him what the fuck was happening to him. Hence, looking for abandoned buildings that housed fire demons. Rumors always had a bit of truth to them, after all, and as long as the bit about a guy with fire magic was true and not the bit about the actual demon, he figured it was as good a shot as any.

And if he died, well, he'd never have to face what he was running away from. Win-win.

Kadin kept walking until the crumbling building he'd spotted a while back began to resemble an old building- maybe a library?, the closer he got to it. He hadn't actually expected to find anything out here, to be honest, but at least this meant the information he'd gotten wasn't utter bullcrap. Once he was a good couple yards out from the building, he stopped and frowned up at it, wondering what the hell he was supposed to do now that he'd found it. Was there... a working door... to knock on somewhere? He pushed the thought away with a snort. Guess he'd find out soon enough.

[Silver]

It was a typical day in the life of a sorcerer, which is to say that it was not a typical day at all. Agnin rose in the morning with the sun, drawing on its tremendous power to empower his rituals. One by one, he checked on all of his magical experiments and gadgets, just as he always did. An entire wing of his library was sectioned off and converted into a particularly complex ritual that would soon allow him to come in touch with the plane of fire. An entire universe made of fire, the origin of all flame across all planes. Each day he carefully maintained and fed the ritual, which unfortunately forced him to stay close to home.

It was for that reason that he was at the library at all when the young man came by. It was a grand building, or at least it was once. Surely an entire university of scholars once drew upon the knowledge contained here. Now it was but a husk, a sad old building that nature was desperately trying to take back. The lands around it had burned away in a massive flame, only small bits of rubble giving away that there was ever anything there at all. The ground was lush with grass and other plant life for the ashes of the fallen city were incredibly fertile.

Kadin need not knock, for the library knew he was there. Agnin had long since placed the proper measures in place to keep his palace of study safe. When he was not there, it was entirely possible that it would simply set intruders ablaze. The man was lucky Agnin was home, for more reasons than one. Agnin growled at the sight of one of his trinkets activating. It meant someone was close, and he really wasn't in the mood. He had thought the common folk had long since decided to stay away with the rumors spreading that he was an unnatural demon prepared to torch the local town if disturbed.

Before the intruder appeared a fireball that hung in midair. It was like the end of a torch had simply gotten off the stick and wandered away. The fire danced aggressively and the following words came out of it in a booming voice, "Be gone! I am not selling scrolls or performing rituals today."

Usually commoners only came to him when they wished to give him gold in exchange for his powers. Normally he was fine with this arrangement, so long as it didn't take too much time. It was only the bravest or most desperate that came to ask. Everyone else was too afraid. The great thing about desperation was that it could be quite lucrative. But not today. He had too many other things to do.

[Skylark]

Well, that certainly hadn't taken long.

Shorting after Kadin got close enough to really get a good look at the place, he was suddenly backing up a few steps from an actual fireball. He was a bit taken aback, at first, but once he realized that it was only there to talk at him and not to, you know, burn him alive, he quickly went back to being annoyed and unimpressed. If whoever did live here truly didn't want to be disturbed, they could do a hell of a lot better than sending out communication the moment someone showed up. As if some showy bullshit like this was going to scare him off.

"Fuck off." Kadin growled out, glaring at the fire as if it had insulted him. "I don't give a shit about scrolls and rituals. Where's the 'demon' who's supposed to live here?" Despite his question, he pointedly walked past the fireball and started to inspect the walls of the... library, he decided on. There were front doors, but they were probably locked. He skirted them and started looking for other ways inside if this "demon" or whoever conjured the fireball decided to give him a hard time.

[Silver]

The flickering flame did what it was supposed to do and that only. The trick wasn't nearly as impressive once inspected closely. It only spoke and danced, but it did not respond. Nor did it try to stop Kadin from walking away along the perimeter of the building. That was the department of yet another magical entity made of flame.

One of the candles nearby hissed to life, growing bigger than the others and changing color. This caught Agnin's attention, as was intended. That particular candle watched over the front door and nearby. It was signaling something amiss. Usually this meant a particularly ballsy squirrel, but he had no doubt that it was the same pest who was bothering him just before. His warning hadn't been heeded, and he may well need to intervene himself.

Agnin did not take well to petty annoyances. One of the reason the local fair entertained the idea of him being a demon. Depending on the day, he might very well torch first and ask questions later. Today had proved rather boring, however, and he decided he would take interest in what was going on outside. Anyone who spoke to his flaming parlor trick and continued unfettered deserved at least that much.

The sorcerer let out a low snort, almost a growl, and made his way for the large doors at the entrance to the library. Ideas of how to torment whoever stood behind it played in his head as he approached. Surely a man with glowing orange eyes, robes so red they looked alight, and gold and ruby trinkets of every sort would be a sight in and of itself. It was obvious from the way he dressed and kept his 'home' that he liked to impress. Or terrify. It wasn't entirely clear which one he was going for, most of the time.

The heavy wooden doors of the library slowly started to creak open with an exaggerated groan. It was almost as if they were moving themselves to make way for the man inside.