The empty shop had none other than this mysterious lady now, she leaned on the table, an empty chair was in front of her as well as the tea set on the same table, the tea was now not very hot anymore and was only warm and the thick vapour became faint.
A few distance behind the table and two chairs where the woman is seated, there was a counter, behind the counter there was a door slightly open, showing nothing but darkness behind it, there was also multiple shelves on the wall next to the door, all of them filled with flasks and vials of different sizes and shapes. Some were empty, but most of them contained floating spheres of different colors and sizes, some stayed dormant, some where spinning around the flask, some moved and paced slowly within... the lady took the cup with three sugar cubes from before, then she leaned back on the chair and let out a quiet chuckle before taking a sip, and just then, the mermaid-wood door was pushed open with a creek, two people came in, one was tall and cloaked in black and another was moderate tall girl with short hair all geared up, they were none other than lord Savant and Eleanora!
"Welcome, you prefer three sugar cubes right?"
She raise hee cup with a small smile.
This shop owner spoke as if they have been here before, and while Eleanora didnt, Savant surely did.
"No, actually I prefer one cube Seer, remember?"
He calmly said with a slightly confused face as he walked to the table where the shop lady was seated and casually pulling the empty chair she was staring at earlier and sat on it.
"I do remember, I actually was asking your new agent standing there by the door."
With a smile she pointed with her cup at Eleanora who looked at lord Savant, he gestured her to come closer, thus she walked and stood closely behind his chair, this table with the tea set had three cups, two full and one empty, while there was only two chairs which both are occupied now.
"Y-yes... I do prefer three sugar cubes."
Eleanora answered slowly, she didnt taste anything with suger for years how did this woman figured out her prefered amount of suger? A lucky guess? Probably not.
Eleanora used to prefer three suger cubes on her normal common tea when she was a human kid in a slightly better time before it all changed. Savant picked a tea cup but the woman raised her finger.
"Not that one, the one you took had three sugar cubes, the other one have the single sugar cube."
Savant listened and then nodded with a muffled chuckle of amusment, he passed the cup he picked to Eleanora and then picked the other one, the three were silent as they enjoyed the delicious tea, soon enough after couple more sips, the woman put down her cup on the table and raised her head enough that her sharp blue eyes showed, Eleanora subconsciously froze from this deep sharp gaze, it felt like it was staring deep into your soul, along with the domineering aura that was already almost equal to Savant aura.
"It have been a long time since you came here personally Savant, it is over ten years yes?"
She said with a reminiscing tone, but her face was dead serious. The meaning behind this line was clear: why are you here?
Savant face became serious as well and he put down the tea cup, just like that the air tensed up in this room, Eleanora was witnessing two extremely powerful vampires being serious!
"Indeed, it have been 17 years and a few months since our last physical meeting. Tonight I brought this initiate, Eleanora, with me, she is full of potential so I wanted to strengthen her foundations a bit, I wish you to provide her with a familiar. With a familiar, a spell caster like her is surely to grow fast and steadily."
The Seer takes the last sip of her tea before putting down the cup as it became empty.
"Did you bring a full soul vessel? Or do you want me to give the girl her first empty vessel?"
"Actually, neither."
Savant put his arms above the table, holding both palms together as he rest his chin on them with a sly smile.
"Hm?" She raised her head and stare at him with her sharp shining eyes for a moment.
"As I said, I see some potential in her, so I was planning you would give her a familiar here and now."
He said such a demand bluntly, here and now, as if he already owns this place.
Eleanora heart was moved by such a domineering line, but the next moment she heart was moved into fear as this woman in front of her, the Seer, slightly frowned at those words, weirdly enough Savant should be the person who everyone will firmly listen to him if they know who is he, the lord regent of the council! Who dares defy or offend him? But the next line the Seer said made Eleanora slightly start to to doubt this thought.
"You know very well what are my rules Savant, the user is the one who will bring the soul and the ingredient used in the process, you cant just... buy a familiar."
Her tone was irritated, she did not like what Savant said one bit.
She firmly rejected the person with the highest authority in the city with a glare. 'how bold! Who exactly is she?' Eleanora couldnt prevent herself from pondering.
However Savant on the other hand just simply leaned back in his chair as if what she did was not offending to his place at all.
"Trust me Seer, just take look into her and I bet you will be amazed, I may not be able to see a glimpse of the future like you, but my hundreds of years of experince is telling me she will have a bright future, thats if, you allowed to make an exception for her."
His face was still serious, but a slight proud smile appeared on his face.
Both remained silent for couple moments before a rough strong voice broke that silence.
"Hmph! You may rule the city Savant, but we rule our business, just like how you have your rules in the council, We have our rules here, even you should abide by them or we will provide no service!"
A black elegant smooth yet small figure jumps from the window and to the counter, walking across it step by step gently as it spoke loudly. this black cat then jumped again to the Seer, landing on her shoulder and walking to reach the other shoulder, laying down across them from the back as if it was a scarf, during all this its faintly glowing blue eyes were stick to Savant without blinking.
"If you just took one look into her you wil--"
Savant couldnt complete his sentence as the cat raised its paw stopping him midway.
"We do not provide free future telling services!"
Everytime the small gentle cat spoke, its rough and loud voice would betray its looks, leaving Eleanora very confused at all of this, first a shop owner refuses to listen to lord Savant and now a cat yell orders at him? What is going on here?
The Seer closed her eyes as her finger started to tickle the chin of the blunt cat, the cat didnt try to stop it, and didnt show pleasure or sounds of purring, instead it was indifferent as if it wasnt touched at all, its gaze locked on Savant.
"Bring me a full soul vessel and an ingredient for the summoning process, and I will compromise and provide the free future telling service you wanted badly."
She said slowly, her eyes focused on the cat not Savant, her tone was calm and bored.
Silence ...
Then after a minute, both Lord Savant and the Seer burst into subtle laughs.
"Ah, you sure never change Savant, you already have prepared a filled soul vessel and an ingredient."
She was not asking, she was saying this as a fact, her blue eyes glowing in the shade of her big witch hat.
Savant raised an arm and snapped his finger.
"You know I am always prepared, but you are the only one who can see through me."
Soon enough, a swarm of small black bats with crimson wings fly through the window, they float towards Savant hand, leaving a soul vessel before they leave from the window again.
He pulls a small chipped amethyst from within the dark of his robes with his other hand, and then he places both on the table.
The cat jumps and lands on the table as it speaks.
"Now we are talking, follow me initiate!"
After the cat speaks, it takes the chipped amethyst with its mouth and walk to the edge of the table, but it was stopped by the Seer's hand blocking the way.
"I will handle this one Noir dear, you will handle the next fledgling, alright?".
Her tone was quiet and sweet this time when speaking, the cat probably gets special treatment.
Her hand gently take back the amethyst and the soul vessel which had a small dim light ball moving slowly within, a soul of some sorts.
"Sorry about him... he sometimes just get too excited to do his job, please dont mind Noir."
The cat sets down on spot, making a low grumble, but doesnt object
the Seer stands up slowly, walking towards the door in the far back.
Just when the Seer turned to say something to Savant he stands up from his chair and speaks first.
"Alright, now since this is set, I really have a busy schedule that I have dragged long enough today, I will take my leave first, I will leave my new agent in your hands."
He fix up the position of his robes slightly then turn his gaze to Eleanora.
"Here ends our little walk, enjoy your last gift, the Seer will explain to you how familiars work and answer your rational questions about them. until we meet again initiate, may your fangs strike true initiate!"
He turns around as he says his line, walking towards the exist.
And with a creak, the door closes behind him.
The Seer put her hand on Eleanora's shoulder gently as she guides her inside the room in the back. As they enter, the view was nothing like what Eleanora expected. No large hall, No candles or all that ritual aura you think of when you hear "familiar summoning", it was just a tight rounded room with a large window allowing for the light blue ray of Luna to lit up the room. A round table in the middle with an empty flask laying on it, probably forgotten from the last summoning. There was only one chair, the Seer pulls the chair for Eleanora to sit.
"Have a seat dear, I insist." She smiles and gesture Eleanora to sit with her hand.
Eleanora hesitates for a second due the peculiar shape of the chair, it was made of grey stone, it was smooth and it had some weird engravings all around the arms of it.
Eleanora sits on the chair, only to notice that the table -also made of the same material- have some engravings on it as well but different, and it has a small hole in the middle, a slot of some sorts.
The Seer walks to the other side and slowly puts the soul vessel into the slot, it fits perfectly.
Then she leans slightly on the table, the chipped amethyst moving between her fingers like a coin between a charlatan fingers.
"I will not give you a long speech about familiar summoning dear, I will keep it simple for you. To summon a familiar you need an ingredient that will play the role of the physical body, a soul that will be... the soul of the familiar, and a drop of your blood so the familiar summoned becomes bond with the you and not free to do whatever they want. As for the result..."
She stand up straight, putting the amethyst on the table near the vessel in the middle.
"I will not be able to tell what exactly you will get, I have a list of the familiars possible to show up depending on the soul type and tier but it will be a waste of time to tell you this long list while in the end the result is almost random, this soul is tier one, and its wise type, meaning it will result in a common familiar, and there is alot of common familiars."
She gently swipe her hand on the table, brushing away some of the dust, and in the end of the swipe she take the empty vessel that was here from the last time. Eleanora however seems to be listening carefully, putting every word she says deep in her mind, her face serious, staring at her with a serious curious face, showing that hunger for knowledge. The Seer chuckles softly.
"However I will tell you some basic info that will surely be of help to you dear, first, a familiar is bond to your soul, and your soul is bond to your familiar, if your familiar died or this bond was severed by some magic, your very soul will be hurt as if your soul lost a limb, so be careful with your familiar, its not just a pet. A familiar can heed your mental orders naturally, as well as it understand your speech, however not all familiars can understand other people speech and even less can be able to speak themselves, take Noir for an example, he is very special."
The Seer pauses, tapping softly on the table, then she walks away to a drawer in the back of the room, she pulls out a dagger from it and walks back to the table, she places it in the table and with a flick of her finger she sends it sliding to Eleanora's side.
"A familiar is very loyal to its very soul, thanks to the soul bond between it and you. A familiar can have only one master, and a master can have only one familiar, think of it as an arcane wedding."
The Seer cover her mouth as she laughs a bit, then she returns back to her explaining, but more serious this time, her blue eyes glowing faintly.
"Familiars start off only as strong as the soul uses in its summoning, but with enough time and the right interactions between you two, the bond will deepen, and the familiar strength and abilities will grow, sometimes however, its growth will stop, this is were my service comes in, after a familiar complete their normal growth, it can only be more stronger if its very soul was fed another soul which is weaker or at least the same tier. We call that summon enhancing, I will tell you more details about it when you visit again in the future. for now, lets just give you your first familiar."
While Eleanora was nodding in understanding and deep thinking, the Seer raised her hands and opened both palms, emitting a faint magical velvet light from them.
"Now, drop some of your blood on the table, a single drop is enough for this weak tier one soul."
Her voice was not natural, smooth or gentle this time, it was deep and echoing magically across the small room, she already started the summoning ritual. The engravings on the table and chair start glowing, some in blue, some in red, others in purple and violet, they were glyphs needed for the summoning ritual. The dim room is suddenly filled with a mixture of lights, the soul within the vessel in the mid of the table which normally was slowly moving inside is now vibrating, resonating. The chipped amethyst piece start floating while glowing, spinning around the vessel in high speed that it looks like a small purple light sphere.
Meanwhile, outside of the Arcane menagerie...
Lord Savant had already walked some distance away from the shop, his identity shrouded behind his black and crimsin robes and hood, then a figure cloaked in pitch black jumps out of the shadows behind him, it reached him swiftly and started walking in his shadow, following him closely- too closely, only a step away from him.
This figure was slender and not taller than Savant, only slightly shorter, the crimson lights of the bazaar strikes through the pitch black darkness of their hood, reveling a female face with sharp green eyes like that of a serpent, her aggressive looking face had a scar on its right cheek, she looked like she was frowning, and in another moment, she lowers her head down, making the hood shroud her face again in darkness, only her green eyes was visible between the darkness like lanterns in mid of the midnight.
"I dont get it..."
A sweet gentle voice comes out from this shadowy figure, betraying its rough looking face of before, her sharp eyes shined with faint green light as she continued.
"Why are you putting so much confident in her my lord? Dont tell me you really plan to make her your main agent..."
Lord Savant smiled as he turned to her, stopping in his steps, she stops as well.
"There were many elites in this city, many brilliant talents, too many that you can say they were as many as the stars shining in the night sky, why? Normally elites are naturally few in numbers, but in harsh environments and war time many people squeezed all the potential within them to shine brightly, in times of peace people tend to get lax and not work as much to increase their fighting strength, Nyx world was never a place of peace, thus, many great talents have been rising and falling endlessly, be it within lychway city or outside of it."
Savant voice was full of pride. She tilted her head slightly, confused.
"Lord, I do not comprehend, please enlighten me with an explanation"
He chuckled.
"Simply said, she is nothing more than one small star in the sky surrounded by many other stars, both smaller and larger than her, she is special, but she isn't the only special one, you for -an instance- are more special in the battlefield than her, but the true worth of each star is only visible when the sky is filled with them, I made her one of my many agents, I am simply amassing stars, only with such stars will this city have a bright night sky."
He didnt wait for her to say anything back, simply turned around and started walking again in the city streets, she followed back closely. After a moment, he spoke again, in a more serious bland tone this time.
"What exactly happened to your latest partner? You seem to be here alone."
She snickers in a sinister way.
"He was not up to the task, he died in the last mission, but I did not need him anyway, I completed the mission, the creatures in the first floor of the undercity have been wiped out just as you wanted, all of them."
He simply nods.
"Mhm, good job, I will see that you get rewarded later, you can rest now, I dont have any new missions that require your blades... yet."
The figure nods, then jumps away to the shadows of a nearby alleyway. After some time Savant casually reached the blood council gate, the guards dont say anything but they immediately removed their spears and bowed down. Both shouting in union.
"Welcome back Lord! Malakai second Elder Petelgeuse have requested a private meeting with only you and him, he is waiting at his quarters"
Savant nods, then walks in.