Angela felt as if this woman could see right through her. In this town, it actually is possible for her to have some sort of ability to do just that. She shakes her head and takes a deep breath.
"OK, you are definitely not one of the more usual customers we have walk into the store. Do you have some sort of powers like the Guardians? We haven't talked that much so you barely know who I am but still hit who I am on the head. I feel so naked around you."
"A part of it is that I have lived long enough to learn how to observe people and their surroundings. You are an honest person who, like many, just want to be liked especially by the opposite gender. It also helps that I know on such an intimate level and far better then you know yourself. The one thing I don't know and would like to find out is what you can do exactly. You definitely have the intelligence side of things but do you have the inner strength."
Hagath motions for Angela to sit back down in front of her and took the book on the table. She flipped through a few pages as Angela repositions herself while Angela keeps both eyes on her guest.
"Ah, here we go, this spell should be harmless enough and within your power level to do. It is short as well so shouldn't take too much concentration to understand it."
Angela takes the book and still surprised at how easily she can read the text as if it was speaking to her inside her head.
"Helio vala nino svra"
(Float what I see)
The book, wooden coffee table, and Angela starts to float up. Then she looks up at Hagath sitting on the couch which both start floating up. Hagath smiles even broader but has a slight concern look in her eyes and brow. She slowly takes the book from Angela which Hagath expect to end the spell but when it didn't, she closed the book gently which did break the spell. Everything that was floating a few inches fell down with the couch and coffee table making a loud crunch sound. The two women fall back onto their respective seats with Hagath still holding onto her book.
"I'm very impressed with your strength, young one. With this knowledge, I think it would be wise if I took you to my home for a visit. I don't want anything to break around here since I doubt you have the finances to replace anything real expensive.
Before Angela could argue and still being in a bit of shock at somehow being to levitate so much weight and not feel tired or even slightly drained, Hagath pulls out a inch thick six inch long rod with what Angela could describe on it with ruins saying 'hearth'. Hagath then points it at the window going out into the street and a clear just slightly distorted six foot oval appeared. Angela just points at the oval with a questionable look.
"Shall we, my dear? This will be safe and most if not all of your current questions will be answered but I've got a feeling you will develop more questions. With a brain like yours, you are bound to have enough questions to fill a book three inches thick."
Hagath walks through the portal with book under her arm not looking back at Angela. There are way too many questions she would have that Hagath would be able to answer or at least hope to answer. The other thing is that the police will eventually want to question her about the death of her former boss and crush. If they push too much, which is highly doubtful but still, it may awaken a part of her that shouldn't be in existance or at least in its new form. As on cue, Hagath hears foot steps behind her right as she walks into the portal. Both Hagath and Angela appear in what looks like an old wood log cabin that one would have found 150 years ago including the black bear throw rug, wood fire with a black kettle, and a musty smell.
"Welcome to my humble obode. This is where I used to entertain the guests but that been a long while ago. Come this way, the next room would interst you more then this one."
"Was that some sort of magical portal we just walked through? This doesn't seem like it would fit in Lost Haven setting or any city setting for that fact. In fact, this would be more likely to be in a national park or in a musuem especially how well kept it is. How come I get the feeling we aren't even in the United States anymore?"
"Because, my dear, you aren't in that country anymore. You are in your true homeland where your family had lived for generations until your great grandmother moved to America. This is in the hills of what is now call Serbia. Now, if I can only find the blasted key. I haven't used this room for so long that I have forgotten where I put the key. Ah, here it is. You may want to keep your mind open when you walk in. You seem to be doing decently with aknowleding that it was a portal you walked through but this might be a bit tougher to accept."
Hagath leads her into a room that is as large as a high school gym. It is covered in all sorts of light ranging from red to purple to greens and oranges. Strange bottles with liquids sat on rows of shelves. Several pieces of armor and shields were on one side of a wall and on the opposite were several different medevil weapons. In the middle of the room was a large open space just like a basketball court with what appeats to be straw, clay, and stuffed dummies. There even were a few statues on the far side that held weapons in their hands and in full armor from different periods of time. Hagath walked over to a large book case that Angela missed on her first quick scan of the huge room. Hagath then walks back over to Angela still having that gentle and loving smile.
"So, what do you think? This is where I'll be training you but mostly in the arcane instead any of the hand to hand combat. It saddens me to say but the other instructor long since passed away before you were born. This just means I have to really train you well in the way of the arcane."
"The arcane? As in magic? Why would I have needed to know any hand to hand fighting? I never been one for such violence instead of relying on thinking my way out of things. The only time I went real violent was when a guy tried to take advantage of me and he felt my full fury. Thankfully my roommate and some of her friends came in before he could get back up on top of me. One of her friends knew martial arts and quickly dispatched the guy better and then handed him over to the police."
"Maybe you will learn enough defensive spells that you won't have to worry about a guy doing that to you again unless you want him to. Hopefully when you do find a guy, he will be more gentle then that creighton. As for magic, you were able to cast two spells one of which I wish you hadn't but impossible to change that now. You are a natural with magic and in more ways then one. Your parents had the best gifts of both sides of the arcane, your mother being as intelligent if not more then you while your father's passion and protectiveness proved very powerful."
"You knew my parents? All they were a businessman and legal assistant. I knew Mom was intelligent which always made me wonder why she never went into the law herself instead of stopping at being a glorified secratary. Dad, he was definitely passionate and protective of both Mom and I. It bothered him that his business kept him away from us as often as it did. Mom was slightly better but her boss did take on a few high profile cases which required her to work very long hours and sometimes into the early morning and then get up the next morning and still go in. As far as I know, they never showed any abilities with casting spells."
"Your mother was a wizard and your father a sorcerer. The main difference between the two is that a wizard or wizardress in the case of your, the sorcerer is that the wizard casts spells by memorizing certain ones while the sorcerer does it almost by instinct. Quite often both use the same words when casting more for control then anything. Each side knew how to tap into the arcane energies in this world but in a different way."
"So what does that make you? You used a rod to open the portal. As far as I know, you somehow casted a spell to clean my apartment."
"I am glad you were able to think outside of the normal 'box' that humans usually do. Indeed I did use magic to clean the apartment but mine is now limited to using magic devices. I traded my ability to cast almost all spells unless it related to item creation and even then minor in order to stay young and strong so I could train the last of the arcane line. That, my very dear and special one, is you. It is uncertain if you have a child that your gifts would pass on to the child like previous generations. You might be the most powerful Arcanist in generations if not centuries but at the same time you could end up using all of the arcane energies to the point of it being a faint vapor here and there. One of the reasons you have so much potential isn't just your heritage, which is very great, but also because there is still so much magical energies floating around. I tap into it through my items but is is so minor that it is a drop in the perbial bucket. One thing you must know right now is that there is two sides to magic, the arcane and the occult. These forces are by their own nature polar opposites. The arcane celebrate life and its protection while the occult enjoy destruction and the use of the Unliving or what your age has called the Undead."
Hagath's face goes from the bright cheery expression to a much darker and more serious as she gets to the end. Angela could tell that the occult she studied in college could be more dangerous then she knew at the time or a facade of what the real occult was like. If that was the case, it scared Angela to think about what real occult would look like.
"I...I've casted one of those occult spells, haven't I? I still don't know what it did to me if anything. I'm sorry that I casted it."
This time it was Hagath who took a deep breath and exhaled very slowly with eyes shut. She done this a couple more times and then opened her eyes with a much more relaxed look on her face. However, very little wrinkles appeared her eyes just barely noticable.
"I'm glad you took responsibility for your action even if you are clueless what you truly done. I won't tell you what it did because sometimes it is a stronger lesson to learn things the hard way. The hardest part of true occult spells is that they draw on the naive and the longings of the human heart no matter what it would be. It then corrupts that desire into something you wouldn't want or expect. It also gives the false impression that it is the more powerful of the two sides while in reality neither is more powerful or weaker. The fine balance is what arcanists have been trying to watch for centuries."
"What are arcanists? I thought you mention wizards and sorcerers which I remember from my fairly tale books and other fantasy books but never heard the arcanists."
"The term 'arcanist' is a more broad term refering to those who use magical spells or items. It technically covers the occult side as well but many try to ignore that aspect for the worse sadly. Ignoring the darkest desires of your own heart can lead to such dangers especially those who have powers would it be like your own or the Guardians of Lost Haven. Now, enough of this heavy talk, let us go back into the living room and simply relax while I tell you more about your parents and heritage. It is slightly lighter even though it has its own dark smears in it."
"I'm guessing some of my ancestors cave into the occult side of the magic."
"No one family of arcanists is fully free of the occult influence even though some families was filled with it while yours was filled the brighter side of the arcane ways with the previously mention rare smears."
Hagaht leads Angela back through the door locking it as they leave. She puts on another pot of the same tea. Once it is done, Hagath goes into Angela's heritage as promised and used a magic family tree on an ancient parchment explaining the more important people and how eventually her mom's and dad's trees merged into Ashley.
