Deep In Work -Open!-

YOOOOOOOOOOOWWWWW!

The scream of shock and pain would bounce off the Stormcaller borders, echoing over the dunes and heard even over the howling wind of the storm. The echoes that followed grew weaker, and weaker, until finally silence. There was a pregnant pause, and then, if one were to peer into the little room in the StormCaller city, one would find a male eastern dragon, clutching his front paw with the other as he laid down.

Ow! Ow! Ow! the young male cried, flexing his wrist and then snapping it back in an effort to slap away the pain. Unfortunately, it only made it worse, the slit that was the heavy burn not shifting from it's position between his fore claw and index. It sliced right across his palm where it ended at his wrist. Great. Ah well, accidents were to be expected, Atlas was using expert spells.

Shaking his head, the young scholar turned and headed over to his desk, where he jotted down a note while leaning on the table. THEORY IS INCORRECT. NEVER TRY THAT AGAIN. Atlas sighed and sat down, curling his body 'round himself. Argh, dangit! He'd been practising a new spell he'd learned, and it had seriously backfired. Well, that's what happens when you charge your Light Balls with too much energy. To put it simply, the experiment had gone BOOM, resulting in his screech of pain. He hoped no one had noticed.

Turning, Atlas made his way over to the opposite wall, where a shelf containing books and pieces of paper were arranged neatly on the wood. He removed the biggest novel, something about Transmutations, to reveal a small wooden chest that would fit into the palm of his hand. Taking it down, Atlas unlocked the latch and opened it to reveal all sorts of beautiful stones, from red to green to blue in colour. There were six altogether -he was very choosy- and he loved them all. Letting out a happy sigh, Atlas returned the chest to it's rightful place, returning the novel to it's position in front of it.

Almost immediately, the book leaned, and knocked over the rest of the books, sending them to the floor. Atlas moaned, whiskers going limp in his dismay. Today is just not my day, he mumbled as he bent down to pick them up. Ack! Ow! he hissed and dropped the green novel, forgetting the mean burn that was now starting to blister all over his poor hand. Atlas sighed.

Now, normally, Ja'nua was not one to poke around another scientist's lab unless he was called. It was just disrespectful. But today was unusual. Actually, scratch that. This whole week had been unusual. First the weird storms, then the growling of the earth. But even before all of that, there had been something strange stirring in the air. The black snow. The scholar still remembered it vividly, when it had arrived. Of course, most evidence of it had disappeared by now, and the immediate shock of the situation had died down. But regardless....

Everyone was still on their toes. Heck, even Ja'nua was on edge. It made him tense, thinking about it. He couldn't quite explain it, but his gut was telling him something was off. And this was something the wyrm hated. He hated not being able to explain his instinctual fear with science. He had told himself he was going to take a closer examination at the ashes, but he had never been able to get around to it, and now most of them had disappeared. It was certainly good at making him weary.

Not to mention this kind of science wasn't his forte. He was more for psychological science, social science. The science of how draconiformes interacted with each other. That was what truly fascinated him. But... he hadn't been able to concentrate as of late. With all the events that had been transpiring lately. He had hardly slept the night before, and even now, as he made his way through the corridors of the city palace.

Which once again brings us to why he's here in the first place.

Ja'nua had come to talk to Imperia. At least, that had been his original intention. He had also come to collect some more data on a test he was running. Around his neck hung a satchel, which within it contained various mantras, poems, and books for which he was still writing. However, as he had been slithering to his location, a sudden yowl of pain interrupted him.

Pausing, Ja'nua looked around, trying to pinpoint the location. Eventually, while pruning about, he came across a door which was partially open. Cautiously, the wyrm stuck his head inside, seeing what appeared to be a dragon whom was very much in pain. In response to this, the wyrm cracked the door open a little bit with his head, giving the stranger a look of concern.

"Heavens, are you alright? It sounds as if you were just ambushed by a horde of angry Ki'sha," the wyrm remarked, glancing around the room. It seemed to be filled with books regarding alchemy and transmutation, along with a few other papers. Curious, Ja'nua thought to himself.