The River Person

The implications of magic had all but died out among humankind came as a shock to Valor. He'd thought the human realm had never had any magic, but . . . "Humans used to have magic?" Or maybe- Maybe they weren't actually ones that inherently had magic on their own but were humans descended from witches who had gotten trapped here? That would make sense - he'd heard that witches and humans could have viable children together, and if that was true then it was also possible for them to have bile sacs as well.

The outburst though had not revealed anything about Valor's lack of humanity to the River Person. Not over just a bit of confusion, and they had no reason to believe a magic user to be an entirely separate species. They'd seen all sorts of things over their long life.

Well, not in the most recent centuries spent under mountain. At least not regarding the outside world. Still, though.

And the way they were just . . . floating in one place despite the current of the water. Was that magic, too, or were they simply stuck in a shallow portion of the creek?

This was almost certainly a monster, though. Which meant it was likely safe to use magic in a more obvious way than he had been, and this particularly person didn't seem to mean any harm, so . . .

He looked at his staff, then desummoned it. The shaft disappeared into thin air while the mantis that topped it came to life and landed on his shoulder.

The magic use drew their attention and they watched as the staff vanished and the mantis atop it joined the man on his shoulder instead of vanishing with the rest of it. Curious, they wondered if the staff itself was a magical construct or if he was placing it somewhere and calling it back.

Seeing humans use magic was less unusual for them, who'd been alive along enough to remember them using it for more than just the war, but they understood why younger monsters might hesitate or jump to see such a thing. Personally, they were mostly just intrigued.

This person also looked like someone that would be more likely to be seen in the demon realm than the human, as cloaks that obscured faces were definitely more common to see there than here, but none of their actual features could be seen. Which meant that either this was a really dedicated cosplayer to be out on the water like this, or this was, in fact, a monster.

Valor dipped the crayfish back underwater and stood, readjusting his bandana to make sure it properly covered his ears. He kept his hand on his staff just in case they meant harm.

It was easy, for them. Using their magic to direct the water was as straightforward as moving their arm, especially when it was small amounts like they were directing now and not entire tides.

"Hello," they greeted back with a curious sort of cheerfulness in their voice, and their voice was really all most had to go off of too, seeing as their hood concealed their face with a darkness that was obviously unnatural in its near-totality. True, it was possible to see through it when very close, but people often did not look very close.

With the emergence of monsters, something entirely unexpected for someone who was constantly learning new things about the human realm and hadn't even so much as heard of them before, Valor found himself being a little more risky with his magic usage than usual. It still might make something of a scene if someone found him using it, but at least he'd no longer be a unique person to point to.

This particular stream was interesting so far. A stream, yes, not a large river, so it was good their boat was a skiff and not something with a deeper bottom to it. That did better in shallower waters, which streams sometimes could be.

The disturbance of the water did catch their attention, but seeing as it was the crawfish that was summoned and not the water itself, at first they'd took it for a bird snatching something from the water rather than a mage. Still, they curiously watched from a distance once they'd seen it was not just a bird.

Aesthetic Moodboards // “Anywhere Is” by Enya