carl@fire

Becca stifled another yawn. This should be interesting, right? It's magic, after all.

The woman had droned on about drawing shapes and foolish, mortal uses of magic for the past hour at least, and half of it had been wrong anyway, though that was hardly surprising. It was perhaps a little impressive that they had managed to come this far in their comprehension of such matters which resided, in majority, beyond their capabilities, but—

A frown crept onto Becca's face. Wait, you're doing this, aren't you. You're making this boring.

Be thankful that I choose to share my opinion with you, Rebecca. You have no capacity for magic at all, and to be tantalized with it would only yield a lifetime of regret.

She sighed a little, glancing over to Carl again as she'd done a number of times since they'd sat down.

The large man was wholly absorbed in the topic, having produced a notepad and pencil from somewhere and set to scribbling pages and pages of barely-legible shorthand with words crossed out here and there, notes inlined above and below other words, and lines that overflowed and crawled down the margins of the pages rather than wrap themselves.

How can he use magic then? She'd been confused beyond measure when he'd done something a short while ago to project his notepad onto the blackboard, the paper growing in size until it fit inside the bezel of the board's holder, and the two objects had somehow coexisted in the same space, flickering back and forth like a loose cable on the kind of television they always showed in old movies.

He has something you lack.

Something I lack? Like what?

There was, oddly, no reply, and Becca eventually returned her attention to the front of the room, making an attempt to take in the lecture with a fresh mind since she had nothing else to do except panic, which she imagined might make her seem less useful and keep her from the possible reconciliation with her sister that she'd been promised.

"…And so, having derived the foundational glyph's structure using the substrate of its nearest material neighbor by way of the reflection property of magical flows, we can now proceed to inscribe it as a glyph of cascading resonance like we discussed previously, which will provide us with the coefficient for calculating this material's friction of physicality prior to beginning the inscription of our intended glyph structure. This allows us to design our lattice—"

Fuck, how is magic this boring? Becca groaned inwardly. Do I really think it's boring, or is it all you?

An even split, more or less. If you request it in a suitable way, I don't mind allowing your mind to skip forward to the end of this tedium.

How much longer is it?

Another hour.

Um… Please, please, please don't kill me for asking if I'm not doing it suitably, but I'd really like it if you could help me skip past this?

Rebecca sat up a little straighter in her chair and crossed one leg over the other beneath the long table which stretched from one end of the room to the other, split in the middle for a set of dull, jewel-encrusted stairs. Rebecca is such a tiresome puppet. Perhaps I should dispose of her regardless.

A moment's consideration was all it took to curl her lip in disgust. No, tolerating her is still preferable to pretending as a mortal. Especially given my plan for her.

Her eyes flicked to the man sitting next to her, and she narrowly suppressed her glare. Soon, soon. There is no cause to rush. She cast her senses out once more, as she had done numerous times since arriving back on this world, but her efforts were stymied as always.

How am I unable to sense him? A partial frown marred features which were not her own. It should be impossible for him to possess such power as a human from a lowly, mundane realm. Even accounting for his developer console—entirely without cause for worry considering its apparent requirement on spoken commands—he should not be capable of…

The small worry that had been jabbing at her mind for the past while grew slightly, and she was forced to countenance it. Is he an Agent? Or a Champion? But who would be foolish enough to select an idiot like him? He believes himself to be inside the false reality of a game!

The irritating human at the front of the room nattered endlessly about this and that, so Rebecca blocked the body's sense of hearing in order to prevent herself from being driven insane.

It would have to be a deity stronger than me. Far stronger, for me to be unable to sense him at all. Rebecca turned the idea around effortlessly, divining its secrets. Perhaps no small number in my reduced state. And I have no sense of Dawn either. She'd never leave this world without my help. No, she's far weaker than me in any case. But Raye… No, that's a foolish thought. She wants nothing besides playing her games and…

Rebecca paused. And currying favor with our mother. Who also loves her schemes and games. Is it such a stretch to imagine that everything is some idle attempt to amuse herself?

She again reached out across the continent to sense her remaining faithful in the largest nation of her followers on this world, the act bringing with it a genuine frown. That's cost me a millennium or two. How tiresome. No matter. I was growing bored of them. Perhaps next will be an empire. Sateus seems to be doing well with his Stadalites.

A memory came to her of a bronze-skinned, long-haired woman from within the past century or so. Pity I was unable to lure away that Champion of his. How fitting it would have been for her to forsake him after she was the same one to gift me this world of his with her quick temper.

Her thoughts shifted again as she strove to make use of the brief hours she was spending chained to this mortal body. Two of my outworlders slain as well, and I'm unable to sense the causes of their deaths. Which indicates again the work of an Agent or Champion, one sworn to a being more powerful than me if my senses are so fully blocked. Her eyes slid to the man upon whom she intended to inflict all the worst agonies of which she could conceive for a mortal. Could it be his doing? Has he come here, unaware of how far he's traveled, and set to fulfilling some long-hidden fantasy of gaining power, defeating all in his path? He possesses strength far beyond humans from his world, but my heroes wouldn't be so easily bested…

She sat, waiting as time passed. I wonder what potential this friend of his will bring. Rebecca has never heard of this 'Vol' person, at the least. Could she be an even more useful puppet? It seems unimaginable. For all her many flaws, this girl is a treasure with regards to my current agenda.

Rebecca waited as more time passed. It was something she was accustomed to, and hours, years would pass for her as seconds would for mortals. At last, however, she sensed that the time was right and returned her more passive role as the puppet mistress.

"…Concludes today's lesson," said the woman at the front of the room.

Becca started.

Did you enjoy your rest?

Rest? Motion and rustling sounds combined with light chatter drew Becca's attention, and she saw that the rest of the students were already departing the classroom.

"Wow, that was super cool," Carl said with an air of satisfaction. "Can't believe how well thought-out this glyph system is." He folded the pages back into place on the notepad and gave it an approving look before tossing it carelessly to the side, where it disappeared.

Becca stared.

Perhaps he knows more of magic than I imagined.

Magic can do that?!

Yes.

"Well, let's see what this Magic Theory class is like," Carl said as he stood up. "What'd you think?" he asked, looking down at her. "Learn anything new, or was it all noob stuff?"

"No, um, it was really informative," Becca lied. "There was a lot of good…info…" She got up. "Magic Theory, yeah, I'm looking forward to it."

"You know, uh…" Carl rubbed his beard with awkwardness marking his face as they progressed down the steps, now the only ones in the room. "Sorry for… Well, I kinda thought this whole enrolling thing was just gonna be… I didn't think it was gonna be cool like this. So… Thanks." He gave her a small smile and a firm nod that set her pulse racing in an absurd way.

That's you, isn't it.

It was an accident. Truly.

"Sure, glad you're enjoying it," she said while wishing she wasn't so obviously blushing like an idiot.

Then stop being an idiot.

Becca grit her teeth.