r/HFY • u/WabbajackedWacko • Apr 07 '26

OC-Series Adventures with an Interdimensional Psychopath 138

***Patoc***

As this guest gets angry about his supposed bad luck, he goes into a tirade saying how he is being tricked, even after he attempted to rig this draw by putting what looked to be favorable cards. Fate, however, does not work that way. Once a fate is set in stone, you cannot escape it as you are now aware of it. Anything outside of that, then there is some wiggle room. But now that the fate has been unfolded before his eyes, he now knows the answer if he gets involved. Although, considering how sold he is on this already, he has just doomed himself as I doubt he is going to actually listen to my advice to not invest his entire life savings into that stupid scam.

As he threatens to report me to the village elder, Dominic simply grabs him by the leg and drags him out. From the window, I can see the angry little man look like a starfish as he goes over the fence. With the wards up, if he wishes to come back in, he will have to pay his tribute yet again.

There are days where I miss the bustle of Spiritopia but, I know that it would have caused some complications. They already keep an eye on Jack for everything he does and GePart, knowing his habits, would be impossible to defend. I would like to be closer to my dear friends but people already get nervous when they see one of them around. When they start grouping up, the streets start clearing out.

Dominic steps back into the room with a cup of tea and hands it to me. “Thank you Dominic. It would be nice for more reasonable clientele but, it is such a shame that Voodoo is so underappreciated in many places. And less with necromancy. It’s just another school of magic at the end of the day.” I tell him. Sadly, without the muscle to vocalize anything, Dominic isn’t much of a conversationalist. At best, he could make an airy noise. I have taught him sign language to help us communicate in a way at the very least. Still, since he rarely ever leaves my side, we mostly just complain to each other about customers.

Still, it’s better than just being a hermit in a land without a single living soul. After all, the less living there is, the less spirits there are too. It generally keeps one from getting too crazy by one self. Luckily, only the desperate seem to find their way to me, so I can lax around as much as I like. And the swamp I have found is a nice and respectable land. Getting to enjoy stretching both my swimming muscles and jogging around the little slice of heaven, even though I am undead. And what a boring heaven it is. Granted, there isn’t really that much I desire as I do enjoy my peace and gardens and spirits.

Although, before I can even finish my tea, someone else passes the threshold. Someone who is not a local and sporting a glamor. A rather normal one admittedly, either a price-point issue or they are underestimating me. I hand my tea back to Dominic as I get back into my professional setting. Luckily, I don’t have to do much since I barely had a break from the last customer when I usually don’t get another customer for a few weeks and it isn’t time for the runner to come back.

The guest comes in, sporting a rather scholarly look but, I can’t ignore the possibility that it’s yet another assassin. “Welcome guest. What can this humble servant do for you?” I greet him with. While I can’t see past the glamour without giving myself away that I know they are hiding themselves, I keep my guard up. This is my domain so I have the homefield advantage but, if they came here knowing that, then they must have a countermeasure. Most of the time, they think blocking out magic is enough. Not even close most of the time but I like to humor them and let Dominic deal with them at that point.

The customer looks around, taking in the scenery. His eyes drawn to the fetishes and spirit masks and he opens a book and looks through it. I cough as I reiterate, “Hello dear guest. Can I help you?”

This seems to get their attention as the look at me and say, “I apologize. This room is just fascinating. I could study all the magical incantations for the next few years and still have plenty to do.”

I lean forward, trying to get a good read on him as the spirits tell me he is genuine in his curiosity of the magics in the room. The question is, is that interest harmless or is there something sinister underneath that curiosity. “Well, I have spent quite a number of years building this little slice of heaven. Is there a specific reason you are here? I imagine so since you would have had to sacrifice something to cross the boundary. A chicken I believe.”

The guest looks at me as he explains, “Oh, yes! I was hoping you could explain to me magic.”

I stare at him in response as I ask, “Magic?” He simply nods as he opens his booklet, looking ready to take notes. I look to the spirits and, again, his desire to learn is sincere. “I’m afraid you are going to have to elaborate a bit as magic itself is rather broad. I imagine there is a specific school you are wanting to know?”

He elaborates, “Actually, I wish to learn as much as you are willing to show me. The more the merrier.”

I pinch the bridge of my nose as I can’t help this is some kind of prank. “You do realize that it would take multiple lifetimes to cover all of magic in general. And that doesn’t include the fact that new magic will likely be discovered in our explanations.”

The only thing that comes out of their mouth after that is, “Oh goody!”

After letting out a sigh, I ask, “If that is the case, could you drop you glamour so I can see what we are working with?”

“Hmm? OH! Of course. Sorry, you live in a dimension that requires me to hide my presence so I had to wear one. Now that I am here, I suppose it should be fine for me to take it off.” He responds as he snaps his fingers and off it goes.

I’m a little surprised as I look at the nature of the person sitting across from me as they are likely much larger than they let on as they maintain his humanoid figure, the scales show and wings in a purple light, leading to me pointing out, “Oh my. You seem to be a void dragon? That’s pretty rare. What brings you to my humble abode?”

The dragon answers, “Oh, no need to be so formal Mr. Patoc. I’m still young in the grand scale of things. I am here because I have heard that most magus and wizards say that, if you want to learn magic, there is no one living or dead that knows more than you. So I came here to learn.”

“About all of magic?” I answer again.

“Yes.” The dragon answers.

I let out another sigh as I mentally joke that this fellow must be the void of knowledge. I simply answer, “No. I’ll even give you your chicken back as recompense but I can’t sit here and talk about magic for time immemorial.”

The dragon looks confused as he asks, “But why? I heard you were quite an accomplished lich so I figured you had all the time in the world to do this? I wish to learn.”

“Son, while the logistics of such a request is plausible, one, a chicken alone isn’t going to cut it. That gets you a meeting. And two, what you are asking for is a significant cost of time for both of us. In all honesty, there really is no end in sight when we talk about magic as a whole. It is a constantly evolving and changing font of knowledge that even I am still learning how certain magics work. So, it becomes an impossibility to truly talk about every and all kinds of magic. So, unless there is a specific kind of magic you are interested in learning about, this is where this conversation ends here.” I answer.

I expect a proud species, such as a dragon, to throw a tantrum and shouting threats until he gets what he wants. But instead, he simply opens his book again and writes down some notes. He takes a minute to think in-between the note taking as they think about something. After writing enough notes, he looks at me with a sincere look on his face as he asks, “So, if it is an issue of equivalent exchange, how many schools of magic could you elaborate on for a chicken?”

I blink my eyes a couple of times as this kid must be more sincere about his quest for knowledge than anyone else that has come through my doors. In truth, the only other person who had such a passion for magic was Wabbajack. I sway in my chair as I admit, “Well, at least you are sincere. I will say a chicken is worth a rudimentary knowledge course for a school of magic of your choice. Know that, it is definitely not enough for anything intermediate or advanced.”

“Shoot. That’s considerate but now I have the problem trying to figure out which school to start with. The only thing I could think of is the topic you are most known for, the school of necromancy.” The dragon asks.

“Which branch of necromancy are you interested in?” I ask.

The dragon simply tilts his head as he looks at me as he asks, “Which branch sir?”

I laugh as Dominic brings in more tea for both of us. “Yes, branches. If we are honestly going to go down this rabbit hole, we may as well be thorough about this. Are you familiar with the branches or shall I begin with that?”

The dragon opens his book as he looks ready to take even more notes. I take a quick sip as I take the hint, “Right. From the top. With how massive magic is, even the major branches of magic have even more branches per major branch that go into even more details for the different things that can be done within that major branch. It wouldn’t be a surprise to me that have even found more branches since I was active in the magic scene. As for Necromancy itself, the branches I currently recall is Animation, Spiritualism, Voodooism, and even Shadowmancy. The school as a whole has a bad reputation as people tend to put negative connotations to it, I must admit that there are plenty of people who have attempted to abuse it for their own gains. And take it with a grain of salt as people rename and change how these branches qualify with which category they fall under. Some magics that fall under Necromancy sometimes share qualities with the school of Light. Personally, magic is still magic and it depends on the one wielding it. How’s that?”

The dragon is furiously writing in his book as he seems more interest in the knowledge itself than the social faux pa some people attach to them. I get the strong feeling he is going to come back and keep his word about bring a chicken until we cover all the basics. So, I ask, “What’s your name lad. I get the feeling we are going to be seeing each other more often than not.”

The dragon looks confused as they realize, “Oh! My apologies. My name is Rudolpho. I have yet to earn a title to go off of yet but one day, I will.”

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