Hey Doc

Sitting quietly in the college class room I turned into my study, I am engrossed in an old Dwarven text. Outside of the towering windows with long dark drapes the sun is setting, casting a red hue over the dimly lit room. Surrounded by filled bookshelves, jarred and incased dried specimen, a few maps on the side wall, paper covered desks, a few chests properly storing artifacts, candles dimly lighting the space for the long night while some dust has accumulated on the blackboards hanging on the one wall.

Laughter outside the window sends shivers down my spine. Hazel is with her trainee Samantha and talking to her loudly about a javelin they found. That brunette girl never took classes seriously and talked to us professors way to casually. The small petite dirty blonde counterpart at least stays quiet in my presence. She is still in highschool so I only see her if she tags along with Hazel so I have no idea what she is like in a classroom setting. The sound of foot steps approach my door. 

Oh no...

The door bursts open and Hazel is smiling way too brightly. Samantha does what she normally does and quietly looks at the things closest to her. 

"Hey Doc!" Hazel says peppy as ever.

"It's professor Garrik." I correct her slapping my book shut.

"I see you still like the dark lighting." Hazel continues to talk over me.

"Why do I bother?" I mumble.

"We found something fascinating out on a job." Hazel says holding up the javelin.

Just identify the object and send her on her way.

Hazel slaps the javelin on the table with no regard to any of my other materials. Samantha gently picks up the papers that flutter to the floor. Then neatly stacks them on the desk, not in the correct order but no longer scattered at least.

"Chelsea says this is something she has never seen before." Hazel says pointing to engravings and stones embedded in the shaft of the javelin.

I take a deep breath to calm my nerves. Knowing if I cast my dark mana in the room I could damage an artifact or two while simultaneously inquiring Aba's wrath. He pays me well to put up with these so called "hunters". They only hold a fraction of the power their ancestors welded. And I need the money to buy all the books I can find on the original hunters. Their powers, abilities and features are all fascinating. Ever since my parents told me stories of them I can't get enough. If only I was born a few hundred years sooner to witness their majestic presence. It's a shame Aba outlawed angels creating originals. Yet handing out that kind of power does come with a nasty backlash if the hunter becomes a fallen. So it is understandable.

Standing up and setting my book down, I look at the engraving and placement of the stones. This is basic ancient elven, how could Chelsea not see this. 

That blacksmith just wasted my time.

I clench my fists in anger.

"It's a great find right?! Such a beauty." Hazel says breaking my concentration.

Samantha is now trying to peek behind the rolling blackboard.

Not my findings and drawings of an original. She is just a meer human anyways there is no way she can see behind there in this lighting. Deep breaths. Just tell them what this is and send them on their way.

"This javelin is enchanted with swift attacks along with a recall enchantment. So the javelin will return to an owner that has bounded with it." I explain.

"Really?! Could arrows be enchanted with that recall one?" She asks picking up the javelin to swing it around.

"It would be a waste of time and energy. And if it's a small target, do you really want it flying back to you angry that its not dead?" I couldn't hold back my tone.

"Now that makes sense. Well how much will this fetch?" Hazel says standing proudly.

A beautiful piece of work, only to be sold in a shop.

"Tell me where you got this first." I lean back folding my arms.

"We were fighting some demons just south of here. Then found this in one of their chests." She says matter-of-factly as always.

"What kind of demons?" My patience is waning thin.

"Basic non-shifting ones. They seemed to have been a fresh batch."

How did they get their hands on this then? Unless it was left behind from some previous being.

"Alright I will write that down. The value of this is 4,500 gold." I tell the now very excited hunter.

"They had wings?" Samantha mumbles just barely audible.

My head snaps in her direction. She is still staring at the blackboard. Then turns and faces me with curious eyes. The sun is down and the lighting is too poor for any meer human. Unless she has a night vision spell but my room is enchanted so spells outside of mine are null and void.

As soon as I put feelers out for mana from spell casing, a shiver of emence power surges through me. Samantha's wealth of mana is more than any hunter I have encountered. Yet it's being restricted so only a little is accessible. Never have I seen anything like this and I have encountered many hunters over the years. Even ones that went to extremes trying to create an original through "breeding". They believed they were a higher power and refused marrying outside the family or certain bloodlines. Even manipulated their children and arranged marriages. It did not end well for those families health wise. Aba soon after stripped them of their powers.

Samantha looks between Hazel and I. 

"You're staring pretty creepily there doc." Hazel says waving the javelin between Samantha and I. 

I shake my head to throw any ideas of what this girl could be out of my skull. She probably had a lucky break with genetics lining up just right.

"Sorry I need to get to work on a project. Could you please?" I say gesturing for the door.

"Good luck with your project! See ya doc." Hazel says over her shoulder with a short wave of her hand.

"It's professor Garrik!" I say a bit frustrated.

Samantha awkwardly waves and does a small fast bow. Then quickly but quietly shuffles out of the room after Hazel. After a few steps she turns back to shut the door. A bit forcefully it slams shut.

"I'm sorry." A just audible whisper.

"Just go." I moan before leaning forward to rest my hands on the desk. My head slumps from the mental exhaustion that comes with dealing with Hazel.

Then the patter of steps scurry off. I look over to the blackboard. Mumbling about what just happened, I walk over to the board. Looking behind the board I can see the scribbles and drawing in grayscale. 

"She shouldn't have been able to see that... Unless..." I mumble.

Word of an original hunter has been whispered here and there. Then again those whispers spring up every several years then blown way out of proportion when a strong child is born. That's got to be it... But it wouldn't hurt to look into the matter right?

[Several days later]

Why am I in a bush with twigs bandaged to my head? While also stalking... not stalking, I'm simply out here doing research... the highschool class just happens to be part of the natural habitat Samantha is in. Yes, that is what's happening right now.

{To be continued...}