The evening’s gloom couldn’t have come soon enough for my tastes. After my short speech, overall interest in magic had been intense, it felt like everyone who had an affinity had approached me and even those without were showing interest. It hadn’t been limited to me, Mrs Wu had received just as much attention, maybe because she was the de-facto leader, and even Kevin had turned into a center of attention. The poor boy looked as if he was looking for a crack in one of the walls to hide in, a feeling I could completely empathise with, but no such crack had been available for either of us.

By the time I managed to escape, I had agreed to hold classes the next afternoon, giving me the entire morning to rest, a choice that caused some grumbling but there was little they could do. My plan was to go look for a place to stay during the night, maybe get another level or two under my belt, before coming back here. The night after, I could make my own lair somewhere nearby, allowing interested people to come to me, without being in the middle of things. Just being in a large group felt somehow wrong to me, an itchy feeling between my shoulder blades that just wouldn’t go away. Maybe it was pure paranoia, maybe there was someone who had a dislike for me, maybe it was one of my traits acting up, I wasn’t sure. But what I was sure of, was that I wanted to teach as many of these people magic as possible, before continuing on my way, so I could be well clear of the city when pestilence started to take over.

That sensation, the desire to teach magic, was a little surprising to me. Sure, there were multiple good reasons for doing so, it would turn into an advantage and the EXP were, quite frankly, excellent, but it felt a little too strong for just that. Not quite compulsive but like something I should do, not just for myself but for… That was where my train of thought ran into a small mental gap.

For whom?

For the people? I had never been overly concerned with society while living in it, why would I now be concerned with people I had never met?

For Mrs Wu? That was the closest to making sense, that I considered myself to be in her debt for the training I had received and wanted to repay her. While I had paid for the lessons, she had gone far beyond the scope of the offered classes, never asking for payment commensurate to the efforts and experience she brought to the table. Just what she had everyone pay, a modest salary for a normal person but far below what an expert of her ability should receive. Maybe that was why I felt the debt but was my mind truly that calculative? Did I feel that strongly about a perceived debt? I wasn’t sure, so maybe the desire came from something else.

And that was where I started to worry. I had been blessed by Hecate, a blessing that was as forthcoming in information as the deity herself, which is to say not at all. I had no idea what it did, but what if her blessing was what gave me the EXP and included a subtle compulsion to spread the teaching of magic? It would make sense, from what I had learned on Mundus. Hecate was supposed to be rather distant, caring little about mortals, only interested in those who reached the peak of magical ability. Thus, having a blessing that encouraged mortals to start out on the arcane path and encourage others to follow suit would make sense, otherwise, nobody would reach the lofty heights she was interested in.

I wasn’t sure how comfortable I felt about a possible divine compulsion on my mind, but I also wasn’t sure if there was a way to do anything about it. I certainly wasn’t powerful enough to break a divine compulsion, if that was even possible. Just remembering the divine Curse I had seen on Mundus was enough to turn the idea into an academic question and that had been a mortal curse infused by divine energy, at least to my understanding. I was relatively sure that what I was under hadn’t been cast by a Cleric of Hecate and infused by Her will, but directly by Her. That would likely make it even more powerful and even I wasn’t arrogant enough to consider myself equal to a Goddess of Magic. Not yet, maybe never.

Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

Or maybe it was something else entirely. I had no idea if the system portrayed all traits a person had, for example, there was nothing about my peculiar mental makeup included. While my compulsive pattern-seeking was still in evidence, I had noticed that my mental state had undergone some changes. In many ways, I felt a lot more like I had on Mundus, instead of the way I had felt before the Change. At times, I even thought of myself as Morgana, instead of as Samantha. The affection I felt for Silva, too, was something I had not experienced before. Maybe it was because I never had a pet before, only considered Dogs as interesting due to their loyalty and protective instincts but now, there was more. As of now, I had been unable to properly categorise these changes, but they were there. And maybe, what I was feeling now was an outgrowth of those changes.

The idea was a little unsettling, who was I if I wasn’t Samantha any longer? Would I truly become Morgana? Who even was Morgana? Had it been just a role I had been playing? A divinely created Avatar that I controlled for my own amusement? Could I even consider myself to be Sigmir’s past, and future, partner, if I didn’t accept that I was Morgana, that Morgana was me? If so, what about my past as Samantha? Would I have to discard everything that was Samantha to become Morgana?

By the time I found my first Shattered of the night, I decided that it didn’t really matter where the instinct or desire or whatever I wanted to call it came from. Teaching was, at the end of the day, to my own advantage. There would likely be some complications, with my traits that was almost guaranteed, but those could be dealt with. From a purely analytical standpoint, teaching was worth it. It gave me an additional source of EXP, had the potential to increase my powers in ways I hadn’t considered before, as evidenced by the Water-rune I had learned while Kevin gained his initial runes, and would give me future allies. Allies who weren’t governed by the divine, which was a massive advantage.

Just before I had to head back, I reached level nineteen. Baiting and hunting Shattered was getting increasingly difficult, their levels simply couldn’t keep up with me. I still gained a good amount of skill-levels, my Ice Rune Mastery reaching level fifteen, my Darkness Rune Mastery fourteen, my Blood Rune Mastery thirteen, my Ice Magic fourteen, Darkness Magic eleven, Blood Magic ten, my Astral Meditation thirteen while Mind Magic got to four.

Death Magic quickly turned into my least favourite skill, simply because it was painful to use and, at least for now, not really worth it. The damage wasn’t even as good as what I could do with a combination of Darkness and Mind Magic. For non-rune magic, it was a relatively easy combination to pull off, the concept of Devouring synergized quite well with my Mind Magic, though I wasn’t pushing things. I didn’t want to accidentally lock myself into purely damaging Mind Magic, as I had on Mundus, that didn’t seem like a good idea. Not after realising just how useful the skill could be for teaching.

Realising that I was almost at the edge of town, I decided to climb one more building, to get a better view. From up high, I could see a light in the distance, far outside town. Maybe in one of the small, farming communities that lined the outskirts, their fields not yet swallowed up by urbanisation and the growing suburbs. Maybe another ten, fifteen kilometres, it was hard to estimate in the darkness but relatively clear evidence of other people.

After finishing yet another attempt to fish out a more powerful enemy, I left the building, a little disappointed that I hadn’t caught anything. Maybe I would be lucky on my way back, but I wasn’t overly confident. I made sure to note down where I had seen the light from and roughly how far away it had been, Mrs Wu would want to know, before starting my way back.

“It’s strange, how even the most horrifying and gruesome things can become routine, isn’t it?” I quietly asked Silva, as we made our way through the dark city. Her only response to my voice was to nudge my side with her head, asking for scritches. Or maybe offering comfort in her canine way. I wasn’t quite sure, but I would take what I could get.