A Jaded Life

Interlude: Developments

These days, there were far too many occasions on which Maggie wondered just what was going on. A part of her mind, and her common sense, was still rooted in the old world, before the blue fire burned away everything people knew about. Sure, she could conceal herself using the Darkness Magic she had learned from Miss Morgana, but magic had never become a major aspect of her ingrained reactions. She could use it, but her first reaction, her general expectations of reality, were grounded in the old world.

To witness just how much other people could do with their magic was both humbling and disturbing. Jademoon Tower, the massive edifice she might have called phallic, or a monument to the ego of someone who had consumed too much fantasy literature, was an example of the disturbing aspect. Who, when considering what they wanted their home to look like, created something that might as well have written “Dark Lord’s Tower, Do not trespass, and no Hobbits!” on the door? Complete with an ominous orb of fire atop the tower, acting like some sort of lighthouse, only without ships coming anywhere near?

But, on a much nearer and dearer scale, the things Miss Morgana and her daughter had accomplished were just as unbelievable. If she hadn’t witnessed those feats personally, she wouldn’t have thought it possible.

Teleporting across numerous miles without any apparent effort on her part? Combined with the realisation that Morgana was apparently able to do the same on a continental scale, had been sobering. It was, however, the only explanation for why Morgana claimed they had continued their journey and even completed it, reaching their destination somewhere in Alaska, yet managed to return to their tower without any issues. It made sense and explained something she had wondered about, though the explanation didn’t make her comfortable.

Similarly, she had shown that she could raise a large shelter without even being physically present. Now, that was impressive, but, well, the structure itself had been simple, just four walls, with a flat roof up top and a smooth floor on the ground. The individual processes were simple; the scale was impressive, at least as far as she could tell. Maybe there was more going on; she wasn’t sure how well the material would have stood up to its own weight otherwise, but, at the end of the day, it was merely five large sheets of Ice and one layer of stone. Nothing more, nothing impressive, if not for the scale Morgana was working on.

That said, when she brought the refugees, recently homeless due to a series of odd events, home into their community, Morgana and her daughter showed just how much she had underestimated the pair. Effectively instant communication and surveillance across a massive span of land, combined with the knowledge that each of those ravens could channel Morgana’s magic, as demonstrated the day before? That gave her an incredible ability to project force, without ever putting herself in danger. After all, Morgana, the physical body, was likely at Jademoon Tower, or maybe even somewhere else entirely. With the combination of those conjured birds and the ability to teleport? Hell, even the body she knew might be some sort of magical construct, allowing Morgana to affect the world while she remained hidden, like some puppet master, hiding behind the curtain.

Only that this man behind the curtain didn’t need levers, pulleys and trickery to portray the wizard, she might use those means as a layer of protection, keeping herself safe.

And, only because her earlier efforts hadn’t been all that intricate and, maybe most importantly, completely temporary, what she had shown later, beyond that incredible ability to project force, blew the single, simple, large shelter completely away.

One of the big challenges since the change had been shelter, especially the construction of new houses. Few people had the technical knowledge to build without modern materials, tools or techniques, all of which weren’t readily available. Raiding bookstores and libraries for books only helped to a point, as quite a few foundational things had changed, though, luckily, houses were comparatively simple compared to some other challenges. Nobody wanted to try shooting old guns again, not until somebody managed to reinvent gunpowder and turn them secure again.

Taken from NovelBin, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon.

But for Morgana? Setting up houses, creating permanent structures, was trivial. And Maggie had no doubt that Morgana’s work was permanent; the big-ass tower she had pulled from the ground was proof of that.

Morgana had shown why she was travelling with such a small group, only her family, though Maggie had a strong suspicion that their connection wasn’t a biological one. Not that it mattered, certainly not something she wanted to direct attention to, not if it might see the awesome might of Morgana turned against her and her little community. Not something she wanted to contemplate, especially not in relation to the Blessed City and the odd spate of bad luck those people had suffered in recent weeks after an incredibly prosperous and lucky year. No, nothing suspicious there, nothing to be concerned about and certainly nothing one would want to think about in detail!

No, it was much safer to think about the incredible buildings Morgana could create. About the enchantments that warmed them, the strange crystals that provided light at will, and even the bathrooms, recreations of treasures lost in the blue fire. And, after almost two years of cold showers and bathing in frigid water, the reintroduction of running hot water was truly a treasure.

A treasure important enough to beg Morgana to rework all the other buildings, even if a few of the people who had built them in the first place might feel insulted. Hot showers, running water and other amenities were just too much of a pleasure to spare their feelings.

Similarly, Morgana’s daughter, the rather adorable Luna, had demonstrated some impressive abilities of her own, and Maggie was relatively certain that she had only seen glimpses of what the young woman was able to do. Clearing away the forest was one thing, but to make it so that the first crops were already sprouting, despite having only been sown a few days prior, while it was the middle of winter? That was another, rather impressive, magical ability. That, so far, none of her people shared.

However, there was a flipside to every coin. Maybe the two sides went hand in hand, maybe they just happened to coincide in the same person; Maggie wasn’t sure. Thinking back, she could easily remember the person Morgana had been on the Road to Purgatory, when millions of people had been ignorant of just how apt the name truly was. And that it was no game. Even back then, Morgana had been…odd.

Odd enough to make for a convincing and quite engaging villain, even if her Guild, originally composed of a few people who had been gaming together before getting the invitation, had never directly engaged her. The whole exchange had happened on the forum, simply because Mundus was a little too vast a world to interact meaningfully unless people were actively trying to meet up. Otherwise, avoidance had been far too easy, and, thinking back, maybe that was for the best.

Still, it made her wonder if Morgana was as magically adept because she was so socially inept, or if the correlation wasn’t a causation here.

Regardless, it was fascinating to observe Morgana, especially in social situations. It was fairly obvious that Morgana needed to plan conversations, consider what she would say well in advance, and hope that her conversation partners were following somewhat predictable scripts. Due to that, it was far too easy to knock her off balance, not that Maggie was deliberately trying to do so, even if she was occasionally tempted, simply because of the pranks Morgana liked to play. Really, the whole ‘pop out of nowhere’ had been funny the first time, but the subsequent times, not so much.

Maybe that was why Maggie enjoyed the current situation so much. She wasn’t sure how it had happened, but, for some reason, Jess, one of the people who had come over from the Blessed City, had fixated on Morgana. Maggie didn’t think that the fixation was romantic; she didn’t really get that vibe from either of them, but she also wasn’t sure what it might be. Why would an adult, even if a relatively young one, decide to move into another’s bedroom? And even share the bed with mother and daughter, despite there being two beds in that room? It was either incredibly kinky, or there had to be some other, probably just as weird, reason. Or maybe it was a combination, Maggie wasn’t quite sure, but she also didn’t know if this was a case in which ignorance was bliss.

But, no matter what, it certainly wasn’t something she wanted to investigate in detail. At best, she would learn something disturbing, but at worst? She would make Morgana angry, and she had no doubt that an angry Morgana would be tremendously devastating.