Sparks of a Flame

"You're not planning on going back?" A question the dwarf asked him in which he shook his head.

"They may as well list me as missing or killed in action, I have no friends, no family nor lover." He replied upon which a few patrons looked at him silently.

"You're a mage," The dwarf said in an encouraging tone.

"Mages are always privileged individuals, they use mystique and mystery. Trust me, you'll have no problem getting jobs."

"What do you lot do here in the middle of the grassland?" He inquired.

"This grassland, is full of plants and other materials." The dwarf said while pulling a bunch of herbs, fruits and whatnot out of nowhere.

"These materials are hard to come by in the cities so we harvest them, rest here and travel to the cities to sell these things."

After his meals, he asked the goblin the location of the library in this town and where he can buy maps. The goblin was so obliged to answer as soon as he handed a gold coin and now he was standing in an old, worn out building. He stared at the building for a while before he entered.

"10 silvers a peron, entrance fee" A goblin manning the reception desk of the library told him as he produced a gold coin.

"Do you have magic books here?" He asked while placing the gold coin in the goblins hands.

"A few of them, the basic ones" The goblin replied while pocketing the coin.

He first went to the history books of the library before browsing for a map. Most people would go to a shop selling maps but maps are expensive. Its not that he is poor, he has a few thousand gold coins upon his body so he bought a large map earlier on his way to this library. It was about one meter long and one meter wide and is quite accurate and updated the shopkeeper told him. Soon enough he drew signs between countries and places as he read more books. A mage's learning capacity is top notch. Add the fact that he was constantly using the Inner Mind spell to read faster.

According to the books, he would need to go to Falke Republic if returning to his home planet is what he desires. The Falke Republic has the one and only interplanetary Star Gate not only in the planet but also in the nearby planets. A star gate is an evolved version of the mages of old's Teleportation Circles. Compared to the Old Teleportation Circles and and the modern Spatial Gates, a star gate needs no ancient or extinct material. Its main ingredient is stellar dust, which can be obtained from meteors falling to the planet. The only problem is the other materials needed is expensive not because of the quality needed but because of the sheer quantity needed. Because of that reason, only those planets with extremely rich resources and has a regular rain of meteor tower is able to create a Star Gate.

His connection with his home planet is as non-existant as the wind so why would he go there. He'll be named as a deserter and charged with dereliction of duty if he went back and his treasures which he gained from the ruins will be confiscated.

There are quite a few interesting places in this planet, for example, a country of undead. One can only see a country of the dead at those planets with extremely cold temperatures all year round but the temperature here is only cold at winter.

Then there's a country made of Treants. Treants are trees which awakened and gained sentience. Their power depends on what tree they came from but overall, they're not any weaker than angels and demons.Their brute strength alone can shatter a five meter thick city wall made of materials and all of them are naturally gifted with the power of magic, and that is for the weakest of their entire race. But strength and magical affinity alone isn't enough to guarantee their safety. What made them distinguished from the others in the universe is that their leader is a world tree that awakened. A world tree is a sentient gigantic magical tree that which exists forever. Its power is in a completely different level and a treant awakened from such tree will have its power multiply to the paint that only those Elder Gods in the past can kill them.

A flame burned in his heart as he looked at the direction of the country of the treants. The flame burned brighter and hotter as he thought about all the mystery in this planet alone. A desire sprang up inside him, the desire to explore the unknown. The desire to be turn the unknown to the known. The desire to gain knowledge from what we don't know off.