“I’ve heard you’ve been quite busy, Samantha,” Mrs Wu interrupted my quiet, restful meditation, pulling my attention from the shores of the Astral River where I had studied the changing chaos. I was still unable to make sense of what I could see but made sure to remember as much as possible, for one day, I would be able to understand.

“Teaching was surprisingly interesting,” I admitted, looking at my old teacher. She looked pretty good, though exhaustion was marring her features, a deep weariness that made me worry for her. She didn’t look like she was getting enough sleep, but it shouldn’t be a surprise, given that I knew she had been forced to put down her husband just a few nights back. Nightmares could get even the most experienced people.

“You know, it’s amazing,” she grinned, the weariness on her face only getting more profound as she took a seat across the table from me, “We’re in such a mess, with problems that threaten our very survival everywhere around us and yet, your simple presence is enough to antagonise some people. Why they can’t just mind their own business and let you be, let you teach those interested, I have no idea,” she shook her head, a touch of exasperation entering her voice.

“But no, there have been people voicing their worries, suggesting that you are corrupting the younger people. It’s such a headache,” she started rambling, quietly complaining about some of the people in the community. Listening to her, I started to feel uncomfortable for multiple reasons. One was that I was, objectively, the reason for some of her troubles, my presence, and possibly some of my traits, acting as catalysts to bring those problems to the forefront. Without me, the problems might have remained unvoiced until the situation was less tenuous and more mental resources were available to deal with it. Another was that Mrs Wu had always been a person I had respected as a teacher and there was a childish part of me that expected the teacher to have all the answers. Not to be a failable human that struggled with their own problems.

And yet I listened, trying my best to give her good advice, or if I was unable to do so, to keep my mouth shut. If nothing else, I could let her vent and hopefully, voicing her troubles would make things better.

Finally, after an uncomfortable fifteen minutes, Mrs Wu calmed herself back down, the emotions that had leaked through her inscrutably calm mask reigned back in, leaving her as calm as a placid lake in winter.

“Anyway,” she shook her head, mask firmly back in place as she changed the topic, “You spoke to Mr Wong about those other groups. We’ve asked a few of those who have started to explore this changed world to make contact but I’d still like to ask for your opinion about them. It would give us a bit of an idea of what to expect,” she asked and I tried my best to recount what I knew of the people I had encountered. Not that I knew a lot, my only real encounter had been short and a little tense but I did my best.

When I came to the group I had only vaguely heard while breaking into one of the shopping centres and mentioning that I had heard what I thought to be an infant or toddler, her mask cracked once more, a morose sadness overwhelming her features.

“Those poor people,” she shook her head, “I can’t even imagine how they must feel, the bond between child and mother can be the strongest there is.”

Looking at her, I began to question my previous considerations, had I truly acted right? Even now, I couldn’t confidently say that I would be able to keep myself safe regardless of circumstances. My success was due to constant violence and my experiences on Mundus, without those, I’d be far from my current level. Could I extend the tenuous umbrella of protection over another human, especially one that was caring for a toddler and thus a physical and emotional liability?

“And yet, I can’t say that I’d have acted any different, certainly not when I was your age. What a shitty situation,” she continued to commiserate before we returned to our previous topic and discussed what I knew about the people at the YMCA and that group I actually had met. Discussing the gods was interesting. Amusingly, she quickly followed my previous reasoning and began questioning divine motives. Just like me, she didn’t believe that any Power would aid others just out of benevolence, there had to be something in it for them.

Or as she put it, people don’t get rich by giving their money away without it being an investment. Power, in her eyes, was just another currency, or maybe it was that money was just another form of power.

Amusingly, she was already worrying that some people would take out a loan without the ability to pay it back and at some point, they would default. Only defaulting on a loan of power from a divine entity might be a lot worse than defaulting on a loan from even the most vicious loan sharks. That she thought it only a possibly worse outcome made me wonder what some loan sharks did and the look on her face convinced me that I didn’t want to ask.

Ultimately, we agreed that there was very little anyone could do in regard to the gods. They, just like the banksters before the change, were removed from us simple mortals, holed up in their lofty temples, or something like that. She could only try to guide her people and I could only try to teach those willing to learn, to help them find their own power. Just like she and those who had prior training would, try to teach those willing to learn and hope that they wouldn’t take out a loan with their soul as collateral.

Amusingly, she was quite supportive of my plan to move out and set up my own domain nearby. It wasn’t that she wanted me gone, quite the opposite, but with some people already concerned but too cowardly to target me directly, it was for the best. One of the worries she had mentioned was that I wanted to take control of the group, apparently, I had some sort of intimidating aura. How that worked, I had no idea but according to her removing my presence would help calm things back down. But not removing me far enough that I wouldn’t be able to help or act as a deterrent against people trying to make trouble. Not that there were any troublemakers just yet but Mrs Wu thought it would only be a matter of time until somebody decided to do something stupid. Listening to her, it sounded as if it was inevitable, only making my prior conviction not to hang around stronger.

But it made me remember my old plan, to leave the city and the reason for doing so. That there were thousands of dead bodies in the area, likely with millions of animal bodies adding to the total. Rot, decay and disease would spread, that was almost inevitable, and while higher levels and increased attributes might blunt some of the pestilences, I had no idea about the details.

And, horrified, I realised that I had no idea what the amount of Death in that short a timeframe might do. Or the countless, unconsecrated dead left to rot. Similar occurrences had led to literal fields of death on Mundus, places where Death and Wild Magic had come together to blight the land. The Dorrian Mountains were one such place and while those had been formed by countless battles and wars going back and forth, I wasn’t sure how the death toll in those compared to our situation, or how the use of magic in the battles changed the outcome. Just as I had no idea how the change would affect the situation here, it could turn into anything.

When I explained the sudden changes of my expression to a worried Mrs Wu, she only let out a slow, defeated sigh.

“We can’t really do anything about that. I know what you mean about disease and we’ve been discussing plans to prepare camping supplies and set up some distance from the city, maybe in one of the outlying farms or something like that. It’s been why we’ve been quite interested in those lights you saw out there, it might be worthwhile to make contact with the people there. But we’ve only just managed to get things together here. Some people will want to stay behind, and that might lead to a splintering of the group. Morale and discipline are what keep us alive and moving the group might destroy both. But we have to move anyway, unless we somehow magically,” she chuckled at that, “manage to keep the bodies around us from rotting,” she shook her head, before rising, leaving me to consider my options.

Sadly, if I wanted to help these people and maintain my best chance to affiliate myself with a community, there was little I could do. Well, for now, I could spend a night to make sure no swarms of rats or similar vermin were coming out of the sewers and tearing them apart. Not the most efficient way to gain EXP, I doubted I would gain any, but it would be useful. Maybe I’d drag some of my students along, it might give them some EXP.