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There wasn't even a sock on the door.
Fjord quietly let the door close behind him. Until that moment he had been blissfully unaware that many people could fit onto a bed, let alone that they could get into those positions. But why was there so many carrots?
He couldn't be mad at Molly, he had after all mentioned he was going to have a few people over and had even invited Fjord to come join them. In hindsight, Fjord could see how he'd heard friends over for a few drinks and missed the part where he'd mentioned it was going to be... was the word for it orgy? Had Fjord just witnessed an orgy? He'd had no idea there were so many vegetables involved.
Just how long did something like this take? Fjord pulled his phone from his pocket and checked the time. Maybe he could just pop in and grab- A particularly loud noise from the occupants of the room stopped him before he'd even reached the knob. Nope. Fjord withdrew his hand and backed away from the door, feeling his face grow warm and getting flustered.
Rather than wait around for the dorm room he shared with Mollymauk to no longer be occupied, Fjord walked out into the cool night air. It was a relief against the warmth of his cheeks and, with the aid of the dark, hopefully no one would notice the flush had had been working its way up his face.
In the quad an entire group of goblins was playing a night game with frisbees that looked much more complicated than anything Fjord had played when he had still been serving. Also maybe a little more vicious, he added when he saw one of the players wipe a hand beneath a bloody nose.
Maybe he could get some actual studying done in the library. He was fortunate enough to have his wallet on him and while it didn't carry anything as useful as money in it, it did have his student ID so he could get into the undergrad library any time of day. Fjord wasn't really a books sort of person, he was a practice fencing or go for a swim sort of person. As it turned out, people who wanted to do well in school at least had to try to be book people. And, while it was tempting, he didn’t know if he was the sort of person who joined Mollymauk on the sort of invitation he'd gotten so maybe he should settle for being a book person for now.
As it was late, the library was relatively quiet and actually quite serene. It wasn't that Fjord disliked books so much as he hadn't had access to a variety of them when he’d been young. Growing up in an orphanage they'd been more interested in keeping the children housed and somewhat fed and that didn't leave a lot of books to go around.
He noticed a head of dark, unwashed ginger hair just sticking out from behind a massive pile of books and, with a smile, headed in that direction. He didn't know Caleb well but he knew if there was a scruffy redhead attempting to violate every safety code about how many books a table could safely hold, it would be him.
"Caleb, are you back there?" Fjord drawled, pulling a chair out at an adjacent table.
"What? Who? Oh, ja. Hello Fjord. What brings you to the library?" Caleb prodded his ancient flip-phone to see what time it was. "So late."
"There was a- uh..." Fjord paused, not sure what to say. Certainly he could not out Mollymauk, he was one of the most flamboyant men he'd ever had the pleasure of meeting. "A party and I just thought I might could get something done here. Yourself?"
"Oh, ja, I am not so fond of parties either." Caleb had a distinct air of scatterbrain and was clearly still thinking about the book his nose had been in moments ago. "I am just doing some recreational reading."
Fjord glanced over the titles of Caleb's reading selection and wasn't sure any of the subjects were what he considered a light read. "Right. Y'don't mind if I sit nearby, right?"
"Of course not you may sit wherever you like," Caleb waved a hand vaguely at the table Fjord was at, already returning to the book with a grisly anatomical chart on it.
Of course Fjord didn't have his notes and he wasn't willing to return to his dorm to grab them. But he knew what he ought to be reading up on. He knew perfectly well Caleb wasn't going to go anywhere and might well be there until morning, so he wasn't particularly bothered that he would find no one there once he'd grabbed the books he wanted and came back. He snagged a few sheets of blank paper from a printer after a quick check for anyone watching, then settled back at the table near Caleb with one of those stubby little pencils meant for writing down book locations.
After a few attempts to start conversation with Caleb were either ignored or answered with vague 'ja, ja’s that indicated the scholar wasn't actually listening, Fjord turned his attention to the forging book he was supposed to be reading. As he read, he fingered the brilliant, silver dagger that he was supposed to be understanding how the mithril had been worked. He really did try to get through the reading in front of him but after an hour he began to feel very sleepy. Not even the return of Caleb's goblin friend with a dozen pilfered frisbees could keep him properly awake. When his head hit the book in front of him, Fjord didn't drop the dagger, fingers holding onto the hilt even when Nott tried to pry it loose.
Fjord woke up and the library was empty. Not just empty but vast and huge, much larger than he remembered it being when he fell asleep. One glance at the windows showed a deep blue and the light wavering in a way that was familiar and unsettling. It didn't belong here, it did not belong outside a window that was definitely not underwater. Was he dreaming?
"Hello?" The sound carried and echoed but nothing answered.
In the manner of dreams he knew which way to go. Fjord picked up the dagger and walked to the door. Not the entrance he'd come in when he'd actually arrived at the library, but the side entrance that had the deep, spiraling staircase that was meant for staff use. Just below the floor he was on, water lapped at the old stone of the structure. He stepped down into the water, cold seeping into his Converses and his pants and rising up his legs with each step down. There was a shock when it rose above his waist and there should have been some buoyancy, some resistance but he sank into the water like a stone.
The stair seemed to go one forever. Long after Fjord's head was submerged he continued down, the blue becoming darker and more oppressive until it was nearly black. Even with his orcish heritage, Fjord couldn't see far enough in the darkness to make out more than a single speck of light. He was drawn to it like a magnet. Leaving the safety and attachment to the library, to the waking world, and to where his body must surely be sleeping, Fjord pushed off of the last step of the spiral stair and swam toward the light. It was beautiful, faint and blue and always so distant he didn't know if he would ever reach it.
Long before he ever would have reached the distant, enchanting light, the Eye opened and was the entire world. He'd heard the breathing, carrying through the water and keeping time to the steady stroke of his arms. It was not Fjord's breathing, he wasn't certain that he was breathing but that heavy, labored and menacing breath was not his breathing. So he wasn't surprised when the great, yellow Eye glared down at him, assessing him. Would it find him wanting? Would he ever be complete?
"Consume. Grow."
There was only one thing to consume. The dagger in Fjord's hand was the impossible, blue light he'd been chasing as he swam and he held it up. He coughed as he tried to push a solid object down his throat, feeling the sensitive flesh cut and tear. Fjord kept pushing though, swallowing the slim blade inch by inch until it was gone, until it lay inside and became a part of him. Another piece so that one day he would be whole.
He woke with a start, shoulders aching from sleeping in such a strange position in the library. Fjord's throat ached and he coughed so that blood and seawater sprayed across the book on the table, across a drawing very similar to a mithril dagger that had been in his hand.
Dragon fire. He knew, without reading, that was the missing ingredient. Fjord slammed the book shut and got to his feet. He didn't know what time it was but he understood the mithril and he understood the smithing process and he wanted- needed to test it now. He walked from the library, avoiding the spiral staircase and refusing to look. Just in case it should be looking back.