Loop Two – Chapter Twenty-Four – History
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Stray Cat Strut (A cyberpunk system apocalypse!) - Ongoing
Fluff (A superheroic LitRPG about cute girls doing cute things!) - Volume Two Complete!
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Lever Action (A fantasy western with mecha!) - Volume One Complete!
Heart of Dorkness (A wholesome progression fantasy) - Volume Two Complete!
Dead Tired (A comedy about a Lich in a Wuxia world doing Science!) - Hiatus
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Magical Girl Crystal Genocide (Magical Girls accidentally the planet, and then try to fix it) - Volume One Complete!
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Loop Two - Chapter Twenty-Four - History

Professor Erickson watched their team enter the room and smiled before he gestured to a few seats that were still free. He didn’t interrupt his lecture from there.

“Last class we went over threat ratings and some of the dangers that can be found on Agartha,” he said, and Amber had the impression it was for the benefit of team Svallin, catching them up without interrupting his lesson which was already twenty minutes in. “Today we’re going over some of the history of this world we all share. I know I’ve just said it, but can someone here give us an idea of when Norumbega was founded?”

A student raised their hand and the professor pointed to them. “It settled in Agartha around the 1630s,” they said.

“That’s right. The original Norumbega didn’t have an exact time of founding, at least, our records don’t go that far back. The city was once a small metropolis along the eastern coast of the United States. At the time there were several hundred city states and small countries scattered across North America. The population of North America at the time was likely in the low tens of millions, though it’s hard to tell exactly.”

Amber settled down in a seat on the edge of her team, with Cassy next to her and Jade and Morgan next to her. She noticed a few others taking notes and sat up to pay more attention.

“Now, at the time, the natives of North America had strong spiritualistic and shamanistic traditions, including a number of rituals. Around the time that European major powers started to gain more interest in North America and its riches, a lot of these practitioners were inhabiting the city of Norumbega. Ah, yes?” He gestured to someone familiar a few rows down. Victoria, the tall, rather serious girl from team Helskor.

“Sir, you mention cities and such, but that’s not what we learned?”

Professor Erickson nodded. “You’ll note that a lot of history from Earth conflicts with the accounts from Agartha. There’s undeniable proof, at least genetically and with some artefacts, that the two are linked, but oftentimes the stories and histories don’t match. That’s usually because those writing the histories embellish them in their favour. The European powers wanted North America to contain nothing but wild stone-aged savages, so that’s what they recorded, and at one point, they were almost right. A series of plagues swept across North America soon after European colonies started to appear.”

The professor turned and fiddled with a remote, and the screen behind him filled with a map of North America with a slowly accelerating red blob on it.

“We need to approximate the spread here, but its impact was undeniable. Millions were dying. In return, certain illnesses were carried back to Europe. Syphilis being the most well-known. Now, at this time, Norumbega had accepted a number of European settlers. Fishermen and explorers and more, mostly French but some English and Spanish as well. They had their own issues with sickness, but being practitioners of various magics, they were able to curtail a lot of these.”

Amber leaned forwards. It was interesting stuff.

“Now, Norumbega obviously noticed the illnesses sweeping across the land, and so they tried to use magic to cure this plague all at once. An ambitious attempt, and one which backfired spectacularly.”

They did magic, so they were dragged over. Amber remembered when she herself had been sucked into Agartha after using her magic too much the first time. That an entire city was pulled over was something else though.

“Norumbega arrived where it is today some four hundred years ago. Or it will be four hundred years soon. The people of the colony were disorientated, lost, and most of all quite distressed to find themselves on Agartha, where monsters roam and magic runs free. There were, as you can imagine, issues.”

The professor chuckled and a few joined in.

“But that was the start of Norumbega. It wasn’t the end, however. Some twenty years later another small group ended up near the colony. This time all of them were European. And as time went on, more practitioners would push magic too hard and end up here, in Agartha. Those in North America who happened to be lucky would often find their way here. It’s why Norembegan patois, the language we speak in the city, isn’t so unfamiliar to those who speak English.”

The lesson continued for the next forty-five or so minutes, with Professor Erickson spending most of the time talking and bringing up slides on screen. He wasn’t using any textbooks, but made up for it by being really passionate about his subject. Near the end he took questions, then specified that the questions had to be about the history of Agartha when one blushing girl asked him if he was single.

Class ended, and team Svalinn lingered a little at Amber’s insistence. “I just want to say sorry to the professor,” she said.

“What, he your type too?” Cassy asked.

“Huh? No,” Amber said. She shook her head as she walked over to the man who was busy packing away his laptop into a pack.

“Ah, Amber. I’m glad to see your team made it back. Was whatever you had to do urgent?” he asked.

“It was,” Amber said. “Thanks for not making a big fuss over it.”

He shrugged. “As you get older you learn that sometimes life doesn’t fit in with things like schedules and you need more flexibility to take care of things. I do hope you four won’t be repeating that too often though. Most of my class is taught through lessons, and while I could set up a recording or something, I’m awful with technology.”

Amber laughed. “No, don’t worry. We’ll try not to miss any more classes, not unless it’s an emergency.”

“Good!” he said with a grin. “In that case, you have yourself a nice afternoon. There’s still a good bit of daylight left for fun.”

Amber paused before turning. “Hey, are there still practitioners in Norumbega?” she asked.

“Yes, of course. If anything, the numbers only grew with time. I… think some sociologists and anthropologists call it a selection bias. Those who can wield magic better are favoured, and since magic is easier to use on Agartha, there was more room for experimentation and testing than back on Earth.”

“Oh, cool,” Amber said. “Are there, like, groups or clubs for that?”

“I imagine so,” he said. “There’s plenty of information about Norumbega at the library.”

“Nice. Thanks Professor Erickson.”

Amber joined her friends and they slipped out of the room. “What was that all about?” Cassy asked.

“You remember those guys in the black cloaks? We broke up their hidden meeting?”

“The Black Magi you told us about?” Jade asked.

“Them, yeah. They’re from around here. I bet they’re linked to all of this, somehow,” Amber said. “And the professor said we can learn more about it at the library. Which is… somewhere?” She glanced to Morgan, who gestured off in one direction.

“It’s behind the lecture halls. It’s a big building, but a little out of the way. Quiet. Did you want to go over there while I drag these two out to the training fields?” Morgan asked.

“Wait, what?” Cassy asked.

“You need training. You especially, Cassy. Both with your powers and with normal combat. We got lucky today, but I don’t want to have to rely on luck forever.”

Cassy grumbled and crossed her arms, but she didn’t contradict Morgan.

“And you don’t want me to train?’ Amber asked.

“You need it less,” Morgan said. “And you want to look into this thing at the library, right? Go check on that, and then we can have supper together after.”

“Or, instead, you four could follow me.”

The team turned, then as one, looked down. Standing in the corridors with hands on hips was Professor Ploof. The twelve-ish year old looking professor’s face was set into a stern scowl that did nothing to make her look serious.

The sense that there was magic in the air around her ready to snap and smack them down if they did anything foolish overrode whatever impression Amber had of the professor.

“Hi, Professor Ploof,” Amber said. If I’m going to be team leader or something, regardless of if I think it’s a good idea, then I might as well step up and assume the position. “Can we help you?”

“Yes. You can follow me to my office and explain to me why the Seelie decided to let an untested group of new students try to take on some sort of villain all on their own.”

“Hey, we didn’t try, we succeeded,” Cassy said.

“Which is why I’m talking to you here instead of in the hospital or at the morgue,” the professor said. “Come on. I don’t want this to take up your entire day and I imagine you don’t want the same.”

Amber repressed a sigh that Cassy didn’t, and when Professor Ploof took off, she followed the little woman through the halls of the school building and to her office.

“Sit,” Professor Ploof said as she gestured to a small sofa and some chairs wedged into her office for them to sit on.

Jade slipped ahead of Amber to one of the seats while Morgan took the other, so that left her sitting on the couch next to Cassy.

“We, ah, didn’t just decide to attack that girl from nowhere,” Amber said as a preamble.

“Oh, I know,” the professor said. “You’re the one that warned us of the other attack, in the stacks?”

Amber nodded.

“The one that didn’t happen where you said it would,” the professor continued.

“Hey! Amber was close enough,” Cassy said.

“And were you close enough this time too? The Seelie said that you warned them, but that you wanted to try and take this girl out on your own? Did you think that perhaps she had allies? Or that she was putting you all at risk?”

Amber sat up a little and faced down the teacher. “I did consider that. But I also considered that maybe we couldn’t trust the staff. There’s something wrong going on, and the only people I knew I could trust were my teammates.”

“Yeah!” Cassy said.

Professor Ploof stared at Amber until she started to fidget under the constant gaze, then the professor let out a sigh and suddenly felt as if she was the age she appeared to be. “Okay, fine,” she said.

“Wait, just like that?” Amber asked.

“Your reasoning makes sense. I don’t like it, and I would rather you trust the staff, but it makes sense. We’re not unaware of the many, many conspiracies at play here. You’ll learn that Agartha is a world of conspiracy.”

“So we can go?” Cassy asked.

“Oh no, you still need to tell me everything that happened.”

***

Are You Entertained?

Man, this week was something. Hopefully next week is nice and quiet. 

Also! I'm going to be writing daily SCS next week (to meet a deadline) so that might be fun! 


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