The Encyclopedic Grimoire

[hypernote]

Liza didn't know what she was thinking. When she saw a man who screamed bad news pointedly follow an unsuspecting woman down an alleyway she didn't do the logical thing and called the police or even anybody at all. Whether from panic or a rush to make sure the woman was ok she didn't think to do any of that.

That would unfold to be simultaneously the worst and best mistake of her life.

Because when she turned the corner deep into the ally; she didn't see what she hoped with all her might she wouldn't, but instead saw the man slumped against the wall, unmoving. Sadly, she couldn't tell if he was dead or simply unconscious, mostly because it was hard to tear her eyes away from women currently looking broadly down at the man.

She had dirty blond hair that would have stretched below her mid back if it wasn't for it being held in a pony tail and then threaded though the back of her dad cap. Her hand rests in the pocket of her hoodie she's wearing, big enough that I can only just make out the hem of her bike shorts.

But more importantly are the features she distinctly didn't have when she first walked down the ally: a pair of giant bird like wings sprout from her back, feathers the color of wood ash folding around her slightly and a ring of solid gold floats above her head, a section of which has apparently rusted like it was somehow just iron and not the timeless metal it was.

It's then that the winged one must have cached something in the corner of her eye because she starts to almost lazily turn her head towards Liza.

Half lidded eyes lock with hers only to immediately be blown open as blood visibly drains from the angel's face. "Oh shi-"

Is all she gets out before the ally is bathed in a light so red that it makes Santa's coat look pastel in comparison. Time slows to a crawl for Liza as the two watch with growing horror as what looks like a lightning bolt of red energy dances its way towards the angel. The bolt's source?
Liza's own body.

In a move so fast that Liza would have never been able to see if it wasn't for her brain currently working on overdrive; the holy being's hand moves in front of her, a light building atop her finger tips. The light reaches an apex before shooting out from her hand in a straight, thin beam of energy.

Liza's hopes for the girl's attack to intercept her apparent own however are crushed when instead of colliding with the bolt, shoots right past it.

And races directly towards her.

When it hits; she feels her nervous system give her the tactile equivalent of looking at a christmas tree while her blood vessels feel like they're trying to slap the nerves into making sense.

'Ah, I'm dying.' the thought somehow manages to pierce through the large amount of pain but not she feels. 'She must have figured the best way to stop the bolt was to take out the source. Which was me for some reason. I just wish I knew why that even happened, it's not like I did anything other than gawk at the literal being of myth standing in front of me. Man, and it would have been so cool to learn about an actual angel as well. How does it feel to have wings? Does the halo ever get annoying? Are demons and stuff real as well? Maybe if I'm lucky I can get sent to heaven and ask one of the ones there, hopefully they aren't as strict as everybody says they are.'

It's with those thoughts running though her head that she closes her eyes and embraces her end.

…

…

…

"Oh thank fuck that worked!"

The sentence filled to the brim with relief sounds out, causing Liza to confusedly reopen her eyes. She's met with a now un-magically-lit-up ally, the man still slumped against the wall and the angel laying flat on her back; panting up into the sky, her wings splayed around her with the rest of her limbs.

"Uuuugggghhhh, are you supposed to realize how much your life sucks when it flashes before your eyes?" She speaks again, seemingly more to herself than Liza.

"...what just happened?" Liza asks meekly. The sensations she felt when the spell (because what else could it have been) hit her at this point have faded almost entirely, leaving only the synesthetic impression of Christmas lights rather than the whole tree.

"Hm? Oh right." she says, using her wings to push herself into a sitting position to look at her conversion partner. "Well, congratulations and condolences are in order I guess, so um… you weren't too attached to being human right?"

"...WHAT!? Wait, did you actually kill me!? Am I a ghost right now!?" she shouts as she begins looking around, fully expecting to see her dead body laying somewhere.

"You're not dead! You're just… actually I don't know what you are exactly, but definitely a magus of some kind at least."

"Magus? Wait no, one question at a time. What the hell was-" she starts before she's interrupted by a low groan coming from the slumped man.

"Oh good, I didn't hit him too hard after all." the winged being says as she stands up. "But that is probably a sign to take this somewhere more private unless we want a repeat of that whole fiasco."

"Wh-" Liza starts before she's swept off her feet in a princess carry faster than she could react. Before she can even decide to either be embarrassed or outraged at this fact; the holy being starts emitting a golden light that soon expands to a sphere around them, and with a flap of her wings that seemed far too light to do anything but move dust; the two take into the air.

Liza, like any person would in this situation: starts clinging to her lifeline with all the intentness of a baby koala to its mother as they soar through the city, but all the while she can't help but look out over the rooftops and down at the roads beneath them.

It's why she notices that despite only flying a little over the buildings and soaring through the night growing like a lighthouse: most of the people below don't even look up and the very few that do act like nothing is out of the ordinary and move on.

Her carrier must have sensed her confusion or at least anticipated it because she answers her question before she's even asked it.

"It's perception magic. A notice-me-not spell."

Liza turns to her confused. "If you could just fly around like this then why aren't you doing that to get everywhere? Isn't it a lot riskier, I saw that man follow you."

At that she grows a slightly embarrassed look on her face. "Ah, well…ok so… actually it's probably best to explain this properly. So, magic is a system of compromises: you give something up to get something in return. What you give up exactly decreases in value as your skill in magic increases but if we're just talking spells on your level then that basically just means the mana you use to cast the spell. And since mana is a completely self replenishing resource, all your truly spending is the time it will take to regenerate it.

But if you need to cast a spell above your level for whatever reason then you can still do that, well up to a point anyway. By either increasing what you spend, decreasing what you get or both you can adjust what a spell can do.

Take this one for example-" she nods to the sphere around us "I, like most people, can't hope to be able to cast it in its unaltered form for more than a second, so instead we usually cast it with two conditions: 1. It only works on humans. And 2. It only hides our supernatural aspects.

You said you saw me walk into that ally? Well I was using that version at the time, it's why you saw me but not that I had wings, they weren't gone just hidden from your senses."

"Wait, does that mean you have to be real sneaky about moving your wings to not bump into stuff?"

"Kida, it also helps with making people ignore those minor movement inconsistencies, but what it can't cover up is me not even standing on the ground. But as I was saying, I'm good enough that I can drop that second condition but only just; so I can only sustain it for a little bit.

I only really use it to get home at the end of the day, but I can't change a spell's conditions on the fly, so I have to recast it. I went back there so no one would see me but, well… I…I guess I got complacent." she begrudgingly admits that last part before letting out a sigh. "Pro tip: if you're fast enough you can knock'em out before the curse triggers, but don't count on it unless you can catch them off guard."

"Um, curse?"

"I'll tell you once we're inside."

It's then that we land on the roof of an apartment complex. After setting Liza down, the angel dismisses the light around her before walking towards the door leading down, waving to follow her.

As they are heading down, Liza decides she has had enough of not even knowing the name of her feathered… companion? Guide? Taxi? The girl who brought her here.

"So um… you can call me Liza I guess."

"Hm? Oh, just call me Az." Az says dismissively, before opening one of the apartment doors and walking in, leaving it swinging open behind her.

Liza stands in the hall looking in, debating whether she should just leave. But at this point her curiosity is firmly holding on to the wheel and refusing to let go. She takes a deep breath…

And walks in.

Closing the door behind her she's met with the soft warm light of various lamps shining on an apartment living room, a kitchen taking up a far corner. The room is tidy but still with that subtle mess a space gets when well lived in, the only oddity being the gray feathers she can spot poking out from under furniture and behind cushions.

Decidedly ignoring the calico glaring at her intensely from atop their cat tree, it takes but a moment before Az wanders in from deeper into the house -now sans hat- before making a b-line to the fridge. "I would offer a beer or something but I want to make sure you catch everything, so your options are coke or water."

"Um, coke I guess."

"Good choice," she says, closing the five with two cans in hand. "The tap here sucks." She hands her one of the cans as she passes by on her way to practically fall into the couch. "Ugh, this is such a headache. Oh may sweet sweet caffeine chase the pain away~." she says as she pops the top and takes a big gulp or two. "Ahhh~, working already. Now, I suggest you take a seat because we're going to be here a bit." she says pointing the can at Liza.

"Lesson one: the curse of ignorance."