Herbivores, the lot of them. Not a single canine tooth in the bunch. Just broad flat molars chewing on supple, easy to reach leaves. One or two undoubtedly requiring thick glasses when outside this place. And, that one there, potentially suffering from anemia. Their faces mild, and mildly polite, conveying inoffensive greeting. Even Vesper receiving only curious glances. One of them, however, with a carefully schooled, neutral expression. Stacy from next door in apartment three oh one. Unexpected to see her here. An entire group of herbivores - almost certainly - but, with Stacy as any indication, not rabbits. Instead something larger and more stubborn.

　　"You`re back," said my master. My new master. "Excellent timing. We just started a few minutes ago. Grab a chair and then please introduce yourself to the rest of the group. And then we`ll get back to it." His smile broadening.

　　Fifteen people around a few circular tables that had been pushed close together, with every single one in ordinary, everyday clothing. Plain trousers and shirts for the six men. Longer skirts, dresses or plain pants for the women. The group overall conservative, modest and serious. Putting my pack on the floor and draping my cloak on a chair. My armor and weapons completely visible now, my primary knife in its sheath on my torso, the hatchet in its belt loop, and the backup knife in its sheath on my other hip. Their eyes betraying no overt concern.

　　"My name is Lucy. Its very nice to meet you all." Murmurs of greeting from the group. "I had brought coffee and breakfast, but I didn`t expect such a large gathering." Getting the filled canteen from my pack as well as the small bag of food. Murmurs of not a concern and don`t worry about it from the group. Copy. Making two canteens. "Here`s a bit more if anyone would like some." A touch of muted surprise at that. Stacy not showing any surprise at all.

　　"So a bit about myself. I`m usually an early riser. I prefer my coffee without milk and sugar. I don`t have much of a sweet tooth, but I do indulge from time to time." Polite smiles. "As far as a weapon, if I had my choice, I`d use the knife every time if I could." My knife`s red glow appearing and their smiles getting strained. "Its nice to have for everyday tasks and very quick to draw for surprise attacks." Polite smiles gone. The group glancing around at each other. "I don`t know what line of work you`re all in, but I`d still recommend investing in a higher quality one. That said, this hatchet has really been growing on me. Its very satisfying to use." Resheathing the knife back and patting the hatchet. The glances from the group turning slightly more concerned. My master`s welcoming smile still on his face and still genuine. "I was out at Swan Lake a couple days ago for some hunting. If you haven`t been I`d recommend visiting it some day as well, there`s this nice little town on the north side." Turning to my master. "Master, do you mind if I make a quick pitch."

　　"The floor is yours," he said.

　　"Okay." Turning back to the group, their expressions no longer very welcoming. "Obviously none of you are particularly keen on fighting. Or maybe I`m wrong." No one correcting me. "I`ve been doing some work that only we can do. Do you mind?" Grabbing the hardcover book sitting on the table in front of the woman sitting near me. No objection offered. Seems more concerned with Vesper who was now staring in her direction. Drawing the Disjunction rune. "It looks like this, or thereabouts. You`re all familiar with it, right?" Tough crowd. One raising his hand.

　　"Yes?"

　　"Someone came by a couple cycles ago and spoke with us about this," he said. "I can`t say I`m very interested but now that you`re here I want to ask a question. I figure I`ll get a more honest answer from you. Is this some kind of multi level marketing scheme?"

　　"No, absolutely nothing of the sort. This is a real opportunity."

　　Skeptical looks and some shaking of heads from the group. Trying not to grit my teeth.

　　"I assume you`re all duplicating gold coins, or something of approximate value." Some shrugs and nods of assent. "That`s about eighteen gold a month. Easy living." Pulling out a the disjuncted stone that had gotten lost in the bottom of my pack. "A day and half getting over and coming back from Swan Lake, me and another person, about fifty gold, just the stones." Flicking the stone in the air and catching it. One or two of them looking thoughtful. "I`ve been selling these up at Ink`s Charms way north of here by House Mink. The woman who runs the place uses them to help her make magic items. Now, I`m not saying do this all the time, or go all the way out to Swan Lake to get them, but if you want some extra income, the opportunity is there. That`s all I`m saying." Looking around the group. "I appreciate your time and, again, very nice to meet you all." Taking my seat.

　　***

　　"Thank you all very much," said my master. "I look forward to our next discussion."

　　It had taken maybe an hour and a half, approximately ten minutes of which had been spent discussing magic. The other members of the group starting to gather their things. Stacy talking to the woman next to her, glancing over at me, making eye contact, and then looking away. Picking up their things and both of them walking around the other side of the tables. Out of my chair and into their path.

　　"Stacy, I`m glad I ran into you. I want to thank you for helping with my apartment. I very much like how it turned out."

　　"You know her?" said the woman, giving me the most cursory of glances before looking at Stacy.

　　"She recently moved into my building," said Stacy, and then, to me, in a polite tone. "You`re quite welcome, let me know if we can help with anything else."

　　"I will." Getting out of their way, letting them pass. The other woman not saying a word to me.

　　Going back to my seat and waiting for them all to leave. The rest filing out in ones and twos. A couple of the men giving me a nod in farewell. None of the women. All gone, leaving me alone with my new master.

　　"So what did you think of your first formal class," he said, exuding patience.

　　"It was different than what I thought. They`re different than what I thought."

　　"Oh, in what way?"

　　"The discussion maybe not so much. I didn`t expect nearly the entire time to be spent discussing some book you`ve all been reading, but I suppose it makes sense, in a way. But as far as them, I don`t know, I was expecting hopeless and pathetic. Eager to please. The highest level Runemage before I came along was thirteen. What else should I have expected? But they`re not that. Not at all. And they`re not exactly the friendliest bunch. All I got from them was a bit of curiosity at my particular line of work and more than a little contempt."

　　"I`m certain that contempt was mutual," he said. Shrugging and certainly not disagreeing. "You`re very much like each other in a number of ways," he continued. "If its not too much of a bother, I`d really appreciate it if you could make it a habit to come to more of these. I think you all have a lot to learn from each other."

　　"Them more than me, I`d imagine."

　　"Well, there are more of them," he said, smiling, "so certainly in the aggregate."

　　"Master, if you want me to, I will. I`ll try my best not to kill any of them, but no promises. I don`t appreciate the way that some of them were looking at me."

　　"I wouldn`t dream of demanding a promise like that, but please try not to have that sort of confrontation in here or I`ll be forced to put a stop to it." Looking to the side, at the girl who`d come back had been listening to our conversation. "Abigail, is something on your mind?"

　　"You`re fine with her killing us?" she said, glancing back and forth between us. Giving me that look. Trace amounts of disgust and aversion.

　　"Abigail," said my master, with his impossibly patient expression, "I am not fine with it, but I don`t want to endorse one of my students over another. Furthermore, forbidding her from doing so may not actually afford you any protection. Its your responsibility to try and get along."

　　"Yes, master," she said, reflexively, her expression going blank at the unexpected rebuke. Turning and looking at me. "I do have a question for you, um, miss-"

　　"Lucy." Standing up and coming over to her, putting out my hand. Her looking at it, considering, and then shaking it.

　　"Lucy," she said. "You seem to know about," gesturing at me, "and I was wondering if you could give me some advice."

　　"Of course."

　　"I came in a couple months back. I was completely lost and didn`t find this place until several weeks in. All I want is to hit level 8 and be done with this..." searching for the appropriate word with her hands, but then dropping her search. "Anyway, that`s my goal right now. I know you were trying to get us to go out and, whatever, but I don`t want anything to do with that." Vehemence at my expression. "I`m sorry, but I don`t. No offense intended to you, but its not for me."

　　"Go to the town hall and deliver packages."

　　"That`s what I`ve been doing," she said. "They won`t give me any more." Her hands briefly clenching her dark skirt before releasing and smoothing the fabric. Her mouth remaining creased.

　　"In that case, do you want the fastest way? Its not going to be very pleasant, but it is the fastest."

　　"Yes," she said, after a brief hesitation.

　　"Get a pair of waterproof boots and go into the sewers. Top level. Using this," using the shield to grab a nearby book, the sudden flash of sound and light causing only a minor start from her, "you can crush the rats to death. Do that until you`re sick of it. Past sick of it."Unauthorized usage: this tale is on Amazon without the author`s consent. Report any sightings.

　　"That`s not..."

　　"Its the fastest. The sewers aren`t popular and there`s tons of rats. Its also great practice. I mean, this thing is so useful. I couldn`t imagine not trying to use it to its full potential."

　　"Okay," she said, sounding not at all pleased, "I`ll try that. Thank you. Master, I`ll see you next cycle."

　　"Good luck, Abigail," he said.

　　"Oh, take this as well." Removing my backup knife and sheath and holding it out to her.

　　"I couldn`t possibly." Trying to pretend her refusal was out of consideration but holding up her hands to ward me away.

　　"I`m not giving you a choice. Someone gave me this knife my first day in. Now I`m giving it to you. I`ve been meaning to upgrade it, anyway."

　　Heading back to my chair as she was leaving. Sitting down, my head lolling back, staring at the ceiling.

　　"Did I really say these people aren`t hopeless?"

　　"Everyone has to start somewhere," my master replied. Silence for a few moments. Vesper sitting up and putting his head in my lap to demand attention. "Now, why did you really come here today?"

　　Changing my attention from the library ceiling to his calm expression. Not calm, his eyes positively dancing.

　　"One primary reason, but now that I`m here I want to ask you about a couple others. First, this one." Drawing the series of runes for Animate on the table.

　　"What about it?" he said, cocking his head to one side.

　　"I`m not very good with it."

　　"So? Practice."

　　"I have been. I`m not making much headway. The spell also says that I can eventually make a permanent golem using it, which is all fine and well, but what kind of material would I even use to do that?"

　　"There are any number of choices, but preferably something sturdier."

　　"And flexible, too, I`d think."

　　"I don`t understand," he said, after a moment.

　　"Neither do I."

　　"Right." The man standing up and drawing on his own chair seat. "Come over here, I`ll give you a demonstration of the spell in use. Maybe you`ll see something that you`re missing." Getting out of my chair and going over to his side of the table with Vesper following. With no further gesture or movement his chair taking on a life of its own. The wood contorting, but not breaking, and starting to dance about. The chair hopping from side to side, walking in a small circle and then spinning on one leg before settling back to rest. Vesper regarding the now unmoving chair with more than a little suspicion. "The spell gives the object both a certain flexibility and provides a binding quality by anchoring everything at the rune structure. Let me see you use it."

　　Drawing on a nearby chair. Activating it. Using my hand to try and mimic a puppeteer and attempting to move the legs of the chair. Instead of doing a quick two step the chair doing a quick no step, the wood splintering, two of the legs snapping off and the chair falling over sideways. My master starting to laugh.

　　"Okay," he said, "that`s funny and all, but now try to move it around."

　　"I did. That`s what happened." Pointing at the chair.

　　"Is that really...?" he said, appearing at a loss, but then bringing his hand up to his chin. "I apologize, you`re the first student I`ve had to ever use that spell. Maybe this kind of difficulty shouldn`t be unexpected. Not that your way of doing things doesn`t have its own uses." His chair legs pulling themselves in, the back contorting, and the chair ripping itself into multiple pieces, leaving a pile of twisted kindling on the floor. "My only advice is to continue practicing with it. And there`s no need to use your hands to force it to move - it may actually be counterproductive, however I`m not entirely sure of that - but you should break that habit."

　　"Its entirely a me problem, then?"

　　"Without a doubt. What are you using the spell for now?"

　　"A length of chain."

　　"That`s a good choice, especially given your issue. Great strength to weight ratio. Even when you do end up figuring it out you`ll want to have that as an option. But, like I said, practice."

　　"Yes, master. Now, a quick question before getting to my main issue. Engrave."

　　"You haven`t gotten there yet."

　　"I want to be better prepared for when I do."

　　"I think you should focus on mastering your current repertoire before worrying about things still coming down the road."

　　"I`ll have it in a few cycles."

　　"A few cycles? I guess I shouldn`t be surprised, you really don`t waste time."

　　"I don`t have time to waste. This present situation is already falling apart. Sooner or later everyone is going to know who I am and I`m going to need to be as ready for that as I can when it happens."

　　"You could try diplomacy with them." His remark offhand, flippant, and punctuated by his now infuriating patient smile.

　　"I`m planning on it. But some people can`t be reasoned with."

　　"People like you." Less flippant and more accusatory.

　　"Yeah, when dealing with people like me diplomacy is only possible when both sides know the alternative to peace is worse."

　　"Such an ugly world," he muttered to himself, glancing off to the side. "Something I`ve always wanted to ask, is where you come from better or worse than our world?"

　　"In general? Probably worse. But something I`ve learned, no matter what world we`re in, someone is always going to be on top and someone is always going to be on the bottom. In my experience, much better to be on top."

　　"Worse?" he said, sounding extremely disappointed at the prospect. "I see. I suspected as much, in any case. Very well, what`s your question?"

　　"It says Engrave requires a great deal of preparation. What does that mean, what`s the process like?"

　　"It requires..." My master pausing and ruefully shaking his head. "Power. A great deal of power. But from your time in the field I imagine you`ve managed to collect quite a number of those stones to help provide fuel for the process."

　　"I`ve been selling those."

　　"All of them?"

　　"Why wouldn`t I? You never told me what those were for."

　　"I never-" he spluttered, "you never asked."

　　"You never told me."

　　"How could I? You haven`t been coming to class." Silently cursing myself. He`s not wrong. "Those stones are condensed energy and we use them to assist our work in both recharging and enchanting items. People like Inkathius use them for similar reasons." Holding up his palm. "I`m not saying you made a mistake in choosing to sell them to her."

　　"Okay, well, now that I know I`ll start setting some aside for myself. As for my other question."

　　"Your other question?"

　　"Erase."

　　"Ah, yes. I had prepared a speech in my head about this, years ago, in anticipation for when a student came to me about it. Its full of platitudes about being careful, and how the spell is very dangerous. I don`t think its going to have its intended effect on you."

　　"If you had it prepared for that long, I`d like to hear it anyway."

　　"I appreciate that. I`ll keep it short." The man starting to pace back and forth as he talked. "The first thing to understand about this is that we only have sort of a limited control on how it operates. Usually we infuse energy for a specific, desired purpose. To create or reshape. Disjunction, for example, uses part of an objects energy in order to contain the rest. Its not destruction so much as a reconfiguration.

　　"Erase, on the other hand, doesn`t reconfigure or move energy. Well, it does, in a way, in order to induce the process, but the actual effect that results is nothing of the sort. The spell unmakes reality, or rather, it begins the process that leads to the unmaking of reality. It is an incredibly dangerous, potentially volatile spell.

　　"The reason there`s no symbol for it is because it is, in all fact, nothingness," he said, waving his hand. "A sort of controlled, induced nothingness. Its a beautifully hideous and extraordinarily painful process. The closest approximation that you`ve likely seen is the Disintegrate spell, but the two couldn`t be more dissimilar. Disintegrate is actually an application of incredibly intense heat. Erase is closer to the opposite, a void that leaves behind bitter cold. Its the antithesis of matter, of life, of existence. Knowing all that, I assume you`re even more eager to learn it."

　　"If there was something- " No, don`t get too far ahead. "If there was something that shouldn`t be there-" Being set up for disappointment. "Could this be used to get rid of it?"

　　"Yes, in all likelihood," he said. "That is precisely the spell`s purpose."

　　"I have to learn it. I have to know. I have to try."

　　"Are you going to use this against other people?" His words filled with doubt and trepidation at my insistence.

　　"There are more than a few mistakes walking around that deserve to be erased." Hesitation on his face multiplying, remembering once again with a sudden sharp clarity who exactly he was speaking with. "But before dealing with them I have to do something else. Much more important than some petty grudge. Master, I need to know. This is the only tool I haven`t tried. I have to see if it works. Please, its incredibly important." And now regret blooming, backing him into a corner.

　　"Please try not to-" his obvious regret multiplying with each word, "please try not to use this for insufficient reasons." Letting out a huge sigh and starting to draw on the table. "Start with a circle. It represents wholeness of being. Completeness. Make the edges thick. You have to start with the intact shape first and then remove chunks in various places. Mutilate it. Desecrate it. Leave the edges rough and allow for split ends. Its not even about removing more, its about creating ugliness and dissonance. Force something once whole and beautiful to cry out spiritually and emotionally for its own destruction. To want to be removed. To demand it." Bringing a hand up to his own face to wipe away the sudden tears. "Sometimes things become so perverted and corrupt that doing this is a mercy. But, I beg you, please only use this against others as a last resort."

　　The circle he`d drawn had been left with jagged missing patches and thorny, cancerous growths. Scars from denying its own form and function and essence, leaving the universe with little choice but to put it out of its misery in order to save it from itself. Perhaps even more importantly, to stop the cancer from spreading. The removal quieting its internal strife, its illness and delusion, and allowing for a sort of catharsis. The leftover gap of sorrow and self hate filling with relief and leaving everything, ultimately, better off for the excision.

　　"Master." Trying to come up with the words to assuage his obvious guilt while also trying not to lie. "I swear I`ll only use this when its absolutely justified"

　　"Thank you," he said. "Are you going to be here next cycle?"

　　"Yes, because you asked me to."

　　"In that case," he said, trying to muster a smile but failing, "here`s a copy of the book for you to read. Try and get along with them. A little respect goes a long way. In both directions, I acknowledge, but you`re their senior and its your responsibility to reach out to them first."

　　"I will. I promise."