Elmar finished the lesson and was invited to have dinner with grandpa and grandma Thinker. Many children looked at him with envy as he made his way to their spots at the bonfire.

“Elmar, my boy, come eat while it is still warm,” said grandma Thinker, and she handed Elmar a plate with potato salad and meatballs with tomato souse. Elmar dug in and observed the two spirits of Yule.

There were both good and bad myths about them. Theanore had told him that they were mostly good, but she had also told him of Darion and how he nearly got stoned to death on their watch.

On the one hand, he agreed with grandpa Thinker that the gremlin should be punished. But on the other, he was horrified that the punishment the two had chosen was death.

Grandpa Thinker took a book out of his bag and handed it to Elmar.

“Whatever you decide, this is yours. Let it not be said that I saw an elemental mage and didn’t help his development.” He said, and Elmar stared at the title. It read War of the elements.

“I have never heard of this book,” said Elmar, intrigued.

“Well, I’d think I was betrayed if you have. This is my personal observations of great elemental mages. In here you will find interviews with Olanna the Cunning. Ingrid the Younger and even Marferik the Dread.”

“Marferik? But he is evil,” said Elmar. He pushed the book away from himself.

“That doesn’t mean he has nothing to teach you, young Elmar,” said grandma Thinker, pushing the book back to him. “If it makes you feel any better, the interview was taken before he went mad and got that awful moniker.”

Marferik was not human. He was a dragon. He had been the boss of a dungeon that lost his name with time. One day, adventurers passed by Marferik while he slept and smashed the dungeon core. That had taken Marferik’s sanity away.

To learn about magic from the perspective of a dragon would be enlightening to Elmar. He took the book and flipped the pages until he got to the index. There were other famous names there.

Eric the Just was right under Rodrick the Cruel. The names were not in alphabetical order, rather, grandpa Thinker must have written about them as they appeared.

Under every light mage, there was a dark one. Except the end. There were two light mages. Esmer von Kleindorf and Odious Thinker. Elmar pointed at the anomaly.

“Not two light mages, my boy. Two dark ones. We, dungeon cores, are dark creatures in nature. But there is a difference between dark and evil. Take our Theanore, for example. She is a dungeon core and thus dark, yet I have never met someone as innocent as her. I pray that this goodness in her is never tarnished,” said grandpa Thinker. Elmar nodded.

“I’ll go read now, if it's all the same to you. Tomorrow you will get your answer,” said Elmar, standing up and bowing to the two.

“Sleep on it but be warned, don’t snore. I have made some bad decisions because I snored,” said grandpa Thinker, and the three burst out laughing. Elmar imagined the granny berating the grandpa because he had snored, and him deciding the opposite of what was right.

He took the book but felt that he didn’t want to be alone. Of all the children, Dereck was his best friend. He went to him and the boy smiled at him when he saw him.

“Look who it is, the almost adopted. Came here to see me before you go to Alerion?” Asked, Dereck and Elmar placed the book between them.

“I did, actually. Do you think that grandpa Thinker and auntie Esmer are dark mages?” Asked, Elmar and Dereck become thoughtful.

“Well, they could be. I mean, they are dungeon cores. Esmer is a task master, and there are bad rumors about grandpa Thinker.”

“Do you think I will turn into a dark mage?” Asked Elmar, voicing his greatest fear ever since he heard Marferik’s name.

“Is that because your mana crystals are black?” Asked Dereck.

Elmar nodded and sat down.

“Well, maybe. But being dark and evil are not one and the same. Auntie Esmer is not evil. Grandpa Thinker is bordering evil, thou. Thank God for Theanore, melting his heart. I heard that the bad list will be laxer this year.”

“But, Marferik did many cruel things. He is the reason, the forest of plenty is still half covered in ash. And no one can argue that he was not dark,” said Elmar, and Dereck patted his back.

“He had a peaceful core to avenge. His parent, in fact. If something happened to Claudia, wouldn’t you want to avenge her if you can’t help her anymore?” Asked Dereck.

Claudia was like a mother to them. Most of them were abandoned as babies at night. Many didn’t make it if they were abandoned in the colder months. But Claudia tried to ease the suffering of even those poor souls. She was the mother none of them had. And she did a fantastic job raising them, even when the funding was almost nonexistent.

“I wouldn’t let her get hurt in the first place,” said Elmar.

“You can’t promise that,” there was pity in Dereck’s voice now. “You won’t be around her forever, and she wouldn’t want you to be. She wants us to live our lives. That means going out in the world, Elm.”

“But what use is vengeance if she can’t be helped anymore?” Asked Elmar, and Dereck ruffled his hair.

“I think, with this way of thinking, you will never become dark. Maybe gray, but not dark. You have nothing to worry about. Now, will you share this book with me? You know how I love to read,” said Dereck, and Elmar gave it to him.

“Read out loud. But start with Marferik,” said Elmar as he made himself comfortable on the snow and leaned on Dereck. As his best friend began to read, Elmar closed his eyes and imagined Marferik. Had he ever had the same fears as Elmar? Could he have overcome them if he had someone like Dereck to listen to him?