I'm a firm believer that the more a creature knows when it is born, the stupider it is. Take a look at a deer. They can stand and walk within minutes of birth, but no deer has solved differential equations like any of you.-Guest lecturer Silas Norgard on Complexity Theory 401 at Ashbourne CollegeUpon the frosted crags of the wild lands, where the trees cried in silence and the moon applauded the creatures of the night, a cloaked figure stalked. Frost hung in the air, yet refused to approach the faceless figure. Warmth instead hugged him. Kept close through a sheer effort of pure will. The resulting auric field caused heat distortions on its periphery but the man ignored the little wisps of air flitting around him."Silas?"The thaumic pressure increased with every step up the mountain, and before too long, the monster became wise to his hunter's presence. The grand beast rose from its den, slinking its sinuous neck from deep within the dark. The two met eyes, and for a brief moment, the air sparked as their wills clashed fearsomely."Silas!""Huh! Wha—what. What?"I jumped up, blinking rapidly, as the fantasy faded. Miss Kemira was squatting before me, a look of faint concern on her face as she touched my shoulder with a cold hand. Around me, a dozen other children somewhere between the ages of four and seven were looking at me with various expressions ranging from amusement to disinterest."Are you alright, Silas? You fell asleep on us," Miss Kemira said kindly.I rubbed my eye, taking a moment to take in the colorful walls of the daycare. A pulse pounding headache throbbed through my skull, settling somewhere at the base of my neck where my dorsal braid sprouted. The hyper sensitive appendage was growing a third strand, and the whole process was even more miserably painful than the first time it had happened."I'm okay," I smiled at Miss Kemira, modulating (...)