An Assassin's Adventure: The Great Conjunction

Chapter 25: Delphic

The next day, at 2 o'clock sharp, Hit walked into Riveria's study. It had been embarrassingly difficult to find, located away from the manor for some godforsaken reason. The room was rather spacious, containing several desks and chairs, and an open space covered in singe marks. Bookcases were oddly sparse, restricted to the point furthest away from any singes, and were protected by a glass barrier. Vials of colourful liquid adorned some shelves, mostly green in colour.

Hit sweatdropped. 'Just how dangerous is this place to need so many healing potions? And why is someone's imprint on the singed floor?'

Moving on, Hit meandered towards the source of intermittent scribbling sounds. Riveria sat writing notes in an ornate notebook, completely focused on the task. Green locks of hair snaked their way past her pointed ears and touched upon a pair of small glasses, held by the elf's dainty nose. Unexpectedly, Riveria was not alone. Hit crossed his arms. "I thought this would be private."

Riveria stiffened a little, before placing her pen into its holder. "Ah, Mr Hit. Forgive me, I was lost in thought. It's good to see you."

Hit tapped a foot, not looking very impressed. Riveria tilted her head, in mock innocence.

"Is there an issue, Mr Hit? You were invited to my private lesson. In fact, I did specify for you to "meet us" at 2 o' clock. Do not worry, this is Lefiya Viridis, my pupil. Any words spoken here will not leave the room, I assure you." The shrewd elf wanted her protégée to learn from Hit as well. In addition, Lefiya could sometimes gleam magical information that she herself could not.

Hit directed his attention to the unwanted guest, who jumped a little. Her straw-coloured hair ruffled up for what must have been the hundredth time. Lefiya shrunk under his gaze and spoke in a quiet voice. "Ah...um...H-Hello...Don't mind me..."

Hit clicked his tongue and sat down. 'Scheming elf... Whatever, this twig doesn't seem to be of great importance.' "Let's just begin the session"

Riveria closed her notebook with a snap and placed her hands on her lap. "Excellent. Firstly, I congratulate you on gaining your first magic. I must say, we're quite interested in learning how exactly you taught yourself. Does it involve generating energy?"

Hit's eye twitched at the oddly specific question. 'Guess I can't just skip past that part. Why did I have to open my fat mouth...'

"This will take some time. Be sure to listen closely, as I'm only going to explain the process once."

Like satellite dishes, the two elves' ears swivelled into position, and the two women gained determined... and hungry... expressions.

With that, Hit began...

...

...

...

Beautifully braided hair flopped in loose bundles, and clean robes were terribly creased. Riveria felt like she was an ignorant child again. "But how did you sense this 'energy' in the FIRST PLACE!? What does any of... this ... mean!?"

The quiet discussion had quickly devolved into desperate pleas, as Riveria simply could not understand what was in front of her, waving her hands over the piece of paper like it was an alien artifact. Hit had, oh so kindly, drawn an impossibly ornate magic circle, embedded with foreign symbols and mind-numbing mathematical formulae, supposedly to help them understand his point of view. Unfortunately, the document only served to vex the poor elves.

Hit rubbed his forehead, dejectedly. This is not how he expected the conversation to go. At least the tables had been turned, he supposed. "All I can tell you, is that I could sense, and draw upon, a magical energy reserve after precise meditation and visualisation techniques. Your own literature contains hints to this, describing means to control and mould an energy of some kind. From these instructions, anyone capable of using magic can reverse engineer the energy and generate it themselves. Once a person possesses the energy, they can create a spell of their own design. I honestly don't know what more you want from me..."