text: Even when Miss Olga would actively yelled at them, it was always you they seemed genuinely scared of.
  
  Miss Olga noticed this too...
  
  "Catalina, after you're done, I want to see you." Miss Olga says.
  "Okay." You answer briefly before returning to the children you're currently speaking to.
  
  "I don't want a repeat of yesterday where a vase was broken. I don't care if it was an accident. It better not happen again or else there will be consequences. You all understand?"
  "Yes Catalina." The children say in unison.
  "Good. Now go play."
  
  The children waste no time in running from you as you turn to speak to Miss Olga in her room.
  
  You look at her and she's holding herself up with a walking stick. You know she's been getting slower lately, but she's also been starting to look less healthy. An extra cough here and there. Stopping to catch her breath more. Little things that are obviously a sign of bigger things.
  
  She sits down and motions you to do likewise.
  
  "Catalina, you've been very helpful around here for a long time now. Very surprising considering how you used to have me tearing my hair out at times. Don't think I don't appreciate it." She starts off saying.
  
  You look at her in silence as she takes a deep breath before continuing.
  
  "However, I've also noticed a change in you over the years. I'm not talking about you just growing up either. No other way to put this, so I'll just say it."
  "You're dying." You utter.
  
  Miss Olga looks at you with an expression of surprise you've never seen before on her. She's silent for a moment, but quickly regains her composure.
  
  "That actually isn't what I was going to say...but that is related to what I want to talk to you about, which is, there is a darkness in you. Maybe it's my fault that I didn't notice it sooner, and obviously I haven't seen you do anything that supports this, but I sense it. The children out there sense it. You give off an aura that isn't just stand offish, it's off putting. I'm not saying you're a hellspawn, evil or even bad, but you scare people and I don't know how you're doing it. I can only guess there's magic involved though."
  
  You briefly reposition in your seat, which tells Miss Olga what she correctly guessed long ago.
  
  "Now I suppose I could ask you if you have magical abilities and how long you've had them, but I'm not sure what good that would do. I will say that if I'm correct in believing that you probably had them for years, I REALLY wish you had come to me sooner about it, because I would have found a suitable family for you immediately."
  "You're my family." You say.
  
  Once again you catch Miss Olga a bit off guard.
  
  "Cat...I'm..." Miss Olga starts to say before a bout of coughing followed by another deep breath follows before she speaks again.
  
  "Catalina we're not family. I'm just a caretaker until you're able to take care of yourself. Now normally that would still be at least four more years away, but you're obviously able to take care of yourself. One could even say, you've long been able to take care of yourself..."
  "Wait...you're kicking me out?" you ask since now you're the one that's surprised.
  "I'd rather not, trust me. I'd rather find you parents that could guide your magic abilities better, but I don't have time and I don't have the energy anymore. By the end of this month, this place will be taken over by a new caretaker and will be run by the city of Nuro rather than independently like I was running it."
  "But, what're you going to do?"
  "Well as you so astutely assessed, I'm going to die. Not right away, but I give myself a year perhaps. I'm going to use what remains of the fortune my late husband left me long ago to live as comfortably as possible. I like to think I did as much good as I could with that bastard's money, but now at this late stage, I think I'm allowed to enjoy what little remains of my life."
  
  You aren't sure of how to respond, so Miss Olga just continues.
  
  "Now that all being said, I'm not kicking you out. You could even stay and take your chances with the new regime, but I have a strong feeling that won't go well. I just know that this is no place for you any longer. The Nuro appointed caretaker I guarantee is not going to run things like I did and you would definitely have less freedom than I allowed. In short, it won't be home to you any longer. So open that drawer over there, you'll find a purse of coin. Should be enough in there to last you a couple months."
  
  You slowly go over to the drawer and take the purse. You think back to how you stole money out of it once and how odd it is to be taking it with permission.
  
  You look down at the purse in your hands and wave of anxiety washes over you.
  
  "Hm. Never seen you sad. Not even when Chloe left. I didn't think you had it in you. You're just full of surprised today. Perhaps I spoke too harshly about you having darkness in you. That's my own dislike of magic I suppose. It's not your fault you have unnatural talents. I at least know you'll be able to survive thanks to them."
  
  Miss Olga gets back up with some effort and walks over to you. She puts a hand on your shoulder.
  
  "Just...be good. Okay?"
  
  You almost want to hug her, but you resist. There's no reason. She told you, that you weren't family. You suppose she's right. It'll make things easier if you just leave.
  
  You turn around and walk out her room and eventually out the door. You look back at the orphanage one last time and quicken your pace as your eyes start to water.
  
  Eventually you find an empty alleyway and break down crying. Part of you doesn't even know why exactly. Or you know why, but you don't understand why it hurts more than it should.
  
  You guess you cared more than you admitted, even to yourself. The orphanage wasn't much but it was the only home you ever knew. Miss Olga was the only parental figure you ever knew. Now you have nothing.
  
  Nothing except some coin to support yourself for a while and your magic, which you haven't been practicing on a steady basis.
  
  As you're trying to pull yourself together and ponder your future, you suddenly hear an unfriendly voice.
  
  "Well, well, well, what have we here? You out here by yourself little girl? You lost? That why you're crying? Well dry those tears, because we can help...of course like anything, it'll cost."
  
  You look and see five men. Well actually just one older man and four boys probably just a few years older than you, but in any case, they obviously don't mean you any well.
  
  You start to back away to run, but you suddenly feel a pull when the leader gestures with one of his hands, like a force is drawing you closer. You resist, but in the process you lose your purse, which flies towards him and falls in front of him, spilling all the contents out.
  
  "Hey, what's this then? This is a lot of coin for a little girl like you. You make all this picking pockets? Or you got some other skills that people pay a lot for?" the leader says with a grin.
  
  Given what he's able to do, the leader is a magic user. You don't know how powerful of one though.
  
  "Look you have the coin, I'll just leave your territory." You say and start to back away again.
  "Not so fast girlie. While this coin might be enough to divide four ways, There's five of us and since I'm most generous to my boys, that means they'll be getting it. So the way I see it, you still need to pay me. And since you have no coin left, you'll have to provide in other ways." The leader says.
  "Boss, she looks about fourteen, I don't think..." one of the members of his group starts to say before he's pushed with an unseen force against a wall.
  
  "Obviously you don't think, because you wouldn't be interrupting me right now boy!" the leader shouts before turning back to you.
  
  "Now we can do this the easy way or the hard way, girlie. The choice is yours."
  
  It's funny that during the years you were sneaking away to the park or even other parts of the surrounding area, you never once encountered some predator out to assault you. Now of all days, you're getting a gang of them.
  
  You're in no mood for this and you already tried to resolve this without any further conflict. You certainly start feeling something well up inside you. You aren't sure if it's that darkness Miss Olga was talking about, but it's not going to be good for these assholes.
  
  "Well I guess the hard way then." You say.
  "Heh, I was hoping you'd say that."
  
  The leader gestures and you feel yourself being pulled towards him. When you're close enough, you raise your own hands and unleash a blast of lightning to his face.
  
  He falls to the ground and now released from his telekinetic pull, you proceed to zap another in the chest immediately.
  
  "SHIT! She's got spells too! Run!" one of them shouts.
  
  The remaining two standing run, but you wave your hand and unleash a small flame wave, which manages to catch not only them on fire, but some of the trash nearby as well. They continue running and screaming while on fire.
  
  You walk closer to the leader and see he's dead with the flesh on his face mostly burned off or at least blackened to a smoking crisp. Meanwhile the one he had previously thrown against the wall has recovered.
  
  "Oh fuck! Please! Let me go! I tried to stop Jaxon! Look, you killed him! He's dead! Just let me go!" he exclaims.
  
  You could. You even sense the fear and sincerity of his words.
  
  The urge though to revel in your power is VERY tempting.
  
  > Leave
  No. You need to get out of here. With the screams and the fire, you've probably drawn enough attention already.
  
  You quickly pick up your purse and run off before anyone important actually arrives to see you.
  
  You run without any particular idea of where to go, so you do what comes natural and go to your old place in the park. Fortunately there's nobody making out there and you have solitude.
  
  You can't stay here forever though. It's not even that far away from the incident you just created so you need to move soon anyway. You think you probably should leave the city like you once briefly thought about before. You'd probably be able to handle yourself even better now given your recent actions.
  
  Still though, something about that idea still fills you with anxiety. Maybe it's the idea that you just left your home INSIDE the city and the idea of leaving Nuro entirely is just too much right now.
  
  You can't stay in the lower class areas of Nuro though; you're just going to get into more trouble eventually. While you've never really focused on your looks, you're aware enough that you'd attract more unwanted attention from folks like that Jaxon degenerate and you doubt you'd be able to always contain yourself like you did just now.
  
  Which means you need to go to a different part of the city entirely. You'd stick out in the richer areas though given your clothing. Though you suppose you could buy yourself or even steal yourself something better to blend in, you still need a permanent place of residence.
  
  Then it occurs to you where you'd be able to easily find someplace to hide and still be moderately comfortable.
  
  The Nuro Magic College.
  
  It's huge from what you've heard; people of all types are there and you could easily just say you're touring the campus as a prospective student if someone questions you.
  
  The best thing is it's dedicated to magic; perhaps you'd be able to better learn something there even if you had to just pilfer a few magic books. You've managed to teach yourself this long, no reason why you couldn't still do it.
  
  With a new plan in mind, you feel a little better and get up off the grass. You then proceed with your path.
  
  The first step is indeed getting new clothes. You decide to go the legitimate route and actually buy them. You also buy a small backpack in the process. You get a few odd looks from the merchants, but happily they're more interested in your coin than anything else.
  
  You also get something to eat and drink since you haven't done so all day.
  
  The next step is actually travelling to the college itself. By the time you even get to the outskirts of it, it's already starting to get dark. There's a lot more people roaming about. Still older than you, but you figure in a few more years or so, you should fit in even better.
  
  You're a little tired from today's events though, so you start to wonder where you can sleep. There are dorms, but you don't think you'd be able to even sneak into one of those. You actually do see several students just sleeping on couches or chairs in various places. Overworked from studying no doubt.
  
  As the day grows darker, you see less people wandering around outside at night or else they're all gathered at various buildings with loud noise coming from them. You assume parties are expected in a college.
  
  You walk through an area which reminds you a bit of the Nuro park except perhaps more open area for larger crowds to gather and no signs telling people to not stray off a path.
  
  As you're struggling to stay awake, you hear voice.
  
  "You girl! You look a little young to be at this college. Though you're certainly at the right spot to learn your craft."
  
  You turn and see a demon! Or rather what you've heard demons look like since you've never seen one in person. Though he's dressed like a regular person, nothing excessively intimidating about him except his inhuman facial appearance.
  
  Still, even you know their reputation and you back away, once again thinking you'll be relying on your magic. The demon however just shakes his head and and puts his hands up.
  
  "Heh, I wouldn't bother girl, I don't mean you any harm and you wouldn't be any match anyway. I'm just out here doing business, trying to make my way in this world like everyone else. They call me Big Red around here. What's your name?" The demon says.
  "A lot of people claim they don't mean any harm and they do it anyway." You answer.
  "Well that's true. I guess you're a sharp one. Though that still leaves the question of why a young girl such as yourself is wandering the Nuro campus at night. I can sense you have a bit of magic about you, but again you're a little too young to be a student here."
  "Trying to make my way in the world like everyone else."
  "Ah, okay. Tight lipped too. Well, I suggest that if you're going to hang out here that you find some place a little more secluded for the night. The best place is probably the old library; it's to the far east of this area. You can't miss it; it's an ugly old crumbling building with a bunch of broken windows surrounded by untended grounds."
  "Sounds much different than the other buildings I've seen here."
  "Well, they were supposed to tear it down or repurpose it when the new one got built decades ago, but it's just been crumbling into decay for many years now. Some say they keep it around for nostalgia purposes, others say it's cursed so it's best not to mess with it. Personally I think it was just a case of red tape and laziness."
  "Wait, cursed?"
  "Oh yeah. That's where the Great Lich Lord got his start centuries ago. You've never heard this story?"
  
  You shake your head, thinking back to how you ignored most of the tales of the evils of magic from Miss Olga and how that particular story was part of the reason for her views.
  
  "Oh, well it's a long tale, so I'll give you the short version. Basically the Great Lich Lord who nearly brought death to the world centuries before you were even born used to work there as a simple librarian. I guess he started looking a little too much at some of the dark magic tomes that happily used to be more accessible and getting ideas in his head. Then one day he just stopped coming into work. He was an isolated man of little importance in the scheme of things so he wasn't missed and just replaced."
  
  You listen with great interest as Big Red continues his story.
  
  "Well a few years later EVERYONE soon knew of him, because he'd amassed an army of undead like this world had never seen. Things were so grim for a while that my people were even brought in to help. That went about as well as it always does though." Big Red chuckles.
  "So...how was he beaten?" you ask.
  "Oh it was combination of several things, but I'd say vampires were his main downfall. The alliance he had with them just wasn't going to last. Sure they might be undead, but those biped leeches need the living in order to survive. Realizing if he won, it would be a bad thing, the bloodsuckers came to their senses and basically assassinated the guy. And like with all things involving necromancy, if you kill the leader, you effectively eliminate the entire problem."
  "Wait. Vampires?"
  "Yeah. That's not one they really tell in most versions of the story mainly because the vamps themselves keep it that way as they continue to hide and play puppet master to human governments. Oh sure there's stories of so called heroes ultimately bringing him down, but they were vampires and they were saving their own undead asses."
  "Wouldn't something like that for something so important be more well known?"
  "By who girl? All the people that managed to survive the Dead War died long ago of natural causes by now. Even elves as long lived as they are and I doubt if even most of them knew what was really going on. Humans dominate the world with their pitiful life spans and even more pitiful memories of what came before, so with the vampires manipulating shit, the truth is theirs to control. Still, even immortality is no cure for short sightedness."
  
  Big Red suddenly looks as if he's not completely focused on the conversation.
  
  "What do you mean?" you ask.
  "Nothing. Anyway, just be careful where you step in that library and you should be fine." Big Red says.
  "And you're claiming this is a good place for me to go to?"
  "I didn't claim it was a good place, I'm saying it's the best place to go if you don't want to draw attention."
  "You seem eager for me to go there."
  "Look Catalina, I'm just making a suggestion. The choice is yours if you want to sleep there or not. I mean you could take your chances and just find one of the couches in one of the study areas to crash on, but if you're found sleeping in a more public area, someone might question it and you don't want to suddenly find yourself grabbed by Nuro college security while you're dozing."
  
  You step back again.
  
  "How did you know my name?" you ask.
  "You told me." He says with complete confidence.
  "No I didn't."
  "Pretty sure you did, but in any case, I need to get back to business, I'm sure some of the usual crowd are going to want their hobgoblin hashish soon and I can't have a little moppet like you lurking about, so away with you."
  
  Big Red waves you away as if you're an annoyance.
  
  Your first encounter with a demon and you can say that while it wasn't an overly threatening experience, you're a little unnerved by it a bit. Big Red seemed like he was helping you, but confusing you at the same time. You wonder if all his kind are like that.
  
  And you are most definitely certain that you did not tell him your name. Maybe he can read minds?
  
  In any case, he's still correct in the choice is ultimately yours if you want to spend the night as the abandoned library or not.
  
  > head to the library
  Probably a bad idea following the advice of a demon, but you're tired and if you're being honest, you're a little curious about the library now after hearing the story.
  
  You make your way to the east side of the campus and Big Red wasn't lying, even in the dark, you can see it looming in the distance. In fact it sort of sits away from the rest of the buildings.
  
  The closer you get, the grass becomes a bit more overgrown and wild. All of the vegetation is like that. You sort of wonder why since you have to think it would be a simple matter to keep it looking neat with some spells. This is a magic college after all. Maybe Big Red is correct in that it is just a simple case of laziness.
  
  Cautiously you approach the library only to find most of the steps leading up are half broken and uneven. The front door also has giant chain with a lock on it. Not a big deal since you just gesture your hands and focus a bit until you hear a click. You see the chain fall and enter. Not really the best security for a magic school if they wanted to keep people out, but again maybe it really is just laziness and apathy.
  
  The moonlight shining in from the broken windows provides a bit of light, but not much. You definitely do have to watch your step as the wooden floor you're walking on creaks and isn't very strong in some places as you quickly remove your foot when it feels like it's going fall through. Outright holes to what you assume is to a lower level of the library are also present.
  
  You see a couple of stairways to upper levels, but in one case, nearly nothing is left of the steps themselves. You're not really in the mood to explore right now though, especially in the dark, so the ground floor it is.
  
  You make your way past several bookcases, most of which are predictably empty. So far other than it being in great disrepair, there's nothing magical about the library. Of course that doesn't mean there isn't danger since you do hear noises occasionally which sound like the predictable squeaking and scurrying of multiple of rats
  
  Eventually you find what was probably a staff room. Some dusty furniture is still around and a serviceable couch is available for you to flop down on.
  
  And it's just enough weight to cause the weak wooden floor to completely give way causing you take a trip downward until you hit the bottom of the basement.
  
  Fortunately you're more or less unhurt thanks to the sturdy couch and its remarkably intact cushions. Unfortunately, you're now in complete darkness and the sounds of those rats are a lot closer.
  
  You never really got the hang of casting "light" since the last thing you wanted to do is potentially attract Miss Olga's attention when you were practicing magic at night in your room. Not to mention you never seemed to be able to make a bright light, the best you could ever do was emulate the dark purple glow of a Gravewing, so that's what you do.
  
  A ball of purple light illuminates a small part of the darkness and besides debris, you only see a lot of metal cabinets. Or you assume there's a lot of them, sort of hard to tell when you can only see the immediate area around you.
  
  The first thing you need to do is find a way back up and out of here because you're already hearing chittering noises getting closer. You spin around and see small figures scurry nearby.
  
  Unlike the weak wood of the ground floor, the basement floor is solid stone, so you waste no time in quickly getting out of this area and looking for a way back up. Of course since you still can't see very well and there's debris all over, you're still tripping every other step until you finally just fall into a pile of bones. A lot of bones.
  
  In fact, upon picking yourself up and getting a better look, these bones aren't even of animals. Some of them are clearly humanoid. You look around some more and see a large hole in the wall and it's large enough for something bigger than rats to come in and out of.
  
  Then you feel a blow to the back your head causing you to stagger and then collapse once again.
  
  You're not sure how much time passes, but when you come to a large cooking fire provides the lighting with a sizable pot hanging over it nearby. You can't tell where you are exactly, but you know that you're in a cage and not in the library anymore, looks like you're still underground though.
  
  You also see hunched figures standing near the cooking fire. You can't quite make out what they are, but they're not human based on their rodent like appearance.
  
  "Skeez, we don't need no more rat in da pot! Dat's the whole point of havin da girl!" one of them says.
  "Thought she was for breedin', purposes." Skeez says.
  "Gaw said she's fer eatin, not breedin!"
  "Gaw ALWAYS says that, I think Gaw doesn't like girls. Probably ruttin wit Qeesh right now."
  "Shhhh! Don't let him hear you say dat! He'll eat YOU!"
  "Pfft, not scared of 'im! Anyways, the clan has lasted fer a long time, hell we even survived most of the Dead War nonsense on the surface, but it ain't gonna last too much longer if we don't start makin more babies. I don't get why we don't just grab some dumb ass college girls."
  "Cuz we ain't supposed to attract attention. Rich college kids missing might cause some to go looking."
  "Well fine, we could always use the tunnels to grab some whores down in the poor section of Nuro, nobody's gonna miss them. It's weird, Gaw is all for nabbing people off the street to put in da pot, but when it comes to actually thinking about the future of the clan, he does nothing. There's only what, six of us left now? In the past our clan used to be much larger!"
  "Yeah but den there's wuz all dat in fighting and even dat purge that tried to wipe us all out. Gaw says we can't risk dat ever happening again."
  "There won't be nuthin left ta risk if we don't replenish our numbers soon. We're not getting any younger either."
  "Hrm, maybe you right. But dis one still for da pot. She look too young for breedin anyway."
  "From what I saw of her, she's barely fer eatin' given how skinny she is. I don't even like humie meat. Rats taste betta. Even one of doze greenskins would be betta."
  "You gots weird tastes, Skeez."
  
  While you were busy eaves dropping, you didn't notice a third rat thing sitting quietly in the shadows.
  
  "Hey, you two might wanna shut up, becuz the meat's awake an listening to everything you're fucking saying."
  
  At this point the other two look over at you as the third one steps out into the firelight.
  
  "Well so she is. Good, better to kill her while she kickin'. Fear make the meat taste better.
  
  As the three rat men approach, you back up and prepare to cast your tried and true attack spell.
  
  Only for Skeez to start chuckling and make a wave with his own hand, forming a brief blue barrier over himself and his fellows. A protective magic shell of some kind.
  
  "What girlie? Youz think we don't know you don't have magic or know it? The clan hasn't been living near the fucking university for so long in secret without knowin da arts! An while I can sense youz a little more talented fer a humie yer age, you ain't no match...hmmm. Mebbe you SHOULD be breedin stock." Skeez says.
  "Skeez, we been over dis." The one that was arguing with him says.
  "YOU been over dis Krech! I said I ain't scared of Gaw and we NEED more babies to make the clan live again! This magic girl is young and could probably survive several birthins an her magical blood would only enhance da young! Me and Gaw are the only two with any sort of abilities left an' he'd rather just smash someone in da head. No, I'm sayin, we keep her for breeding stock and I'm gonna have da first crack at her."
  
  While the three rat things start arguing about what unsavory action they exactly want to do with you, you once again reminded of what happened earlier with the thugs that tried to assault you in the alley. It was different there. There would have been witnesses and it was out in the open.
  
  Here? There are no witnesses, and nobody is going to miss these parasites of civilization. You look around and see all the bones nearby, there's more than enough here and a magic barrier isn't going to protect them from what you have in mind...
  
  "LOOK, WEES GONNA EAT 'ER AN DATS IT! Dats whut Gaw said!" Krech shouts.
  "Dats whut Gaw said. You hear yerself? You takin it in the rump too or you just so far up his, dat you not think fer yerself anymore?" Skeez asks.
  "Again, would you two shut the..."
  
  Suddenly a large rat thing enters with a couple of smaller ones.
  
  "What the hell is all dis noise? I'm tryin ta sleep an you lot are squeeking loud enough to wake the fucking dead!"
  
  A very accurate choice of last words.
  
  Before any of the rat things can answer their fearless leader, Skeez is impaled by the sharp bones of the half skeletons you've managed to raise.
  
  You go into a complete trance raising every single half eaten corpse you can in the lair. It isn't much and it's causing you a great deal of energy, but it's enough to cause the ratmen to panic and lose their shit before putting up any sort of proper resistance.
  
  "Bitch! Youz doin' dis!" Gaw shouts and smashes aside one of the boney attackers. Gaw does his best to rush at your cage, he even manages to rip the door open, but the big rat man eventually falls to the onslaught his former dinner choices.
  
  The dead however are proving somewhat difficult for you to control directly. You hold them back from attacking you and then completely release your power of their animation, giving you a bit of you energy back. You were tired before, now you're exhausted and your short "nap" from getting knocked out didn't help.
  
  You stagger out of the cage nearly ready to collapse, but you don't because you still hear something.
  
  You go over to the cooking fire which is still burning brightly and heating pot, the bodies of the rat men lie on the floor, but only one is still barely alive. It's Skeez and he's coughing up blood along with bleeding from several vital areas of his body. He's not long for this world. You pick up a nearby broken leg bone. The rat weakly raises a hand and attempts to speak in between the wheezing.
  
  You aren't interested in his words, especially after what he had in store. You bring the leg bone down on his head until his head is split open and his brains are leaking out his ears.
  
  When it's done, you toss the bone aside and stagger down one of the tunnels, managing to muster up a bit of purple light like you did last time. Fortunately the tunnel you picked leads back to the library basement.
  
  Eventually you make your way back to where the couch fell and lay down on it to sleep, like you originally wanted to. You turn out the light and if any rats of any kind have any notions of eating you (or anything else) you can't be bothered to do anything about it because you're out of it.
  
  Fortunately when you wake up, you're in one piece and none the worse for wear. Or at least not in any worse condition than you were before.
  
  Some light shines down from the hole above, so it must at least be daytime now and you're reminded that you still need to get back up the ground floor, though that should be easier now at least.
  
  You still feel a little woozy, but you feel better in general. It's like you finally reawakened something that needed to be unleashed, if only on a minor scale.
  
  You realize now, that you need to pursue this branch of magic regardless of where it leads you. You aren't even sure how you're going to control it better or grow in power, but surely you will learn more about magic here in what is considered to be the greatest magical learning center of the world.
  
  You don't even have a plan for the future, but you feel very strongly that it all starts here for you.
  
  This will be your home until you figure it all out.
  
  > Seeking
  Those were some interesting years of your life.
  
  Sneaking about the campus, stealing a magic book here and there, teaching yourself in secret like you had been, but now you at least had some sort of instruction. You managed to figure out a lot more than the inherent talents you seemed to have (Most of which were on the destructive side of things).
  
  You learned more about magic in general; indeed you probably were a better all around wizard even if you still had much to learn.
  
  However, it wasn't the other branches of magic you were concerned about mastering. It was the one you were called to.
  
  While you had some progress, it wasn't much. The best you could do is animate a few deceased things like a dead rat, partial corpses or if you really focused an intact corpse like when you practiced with one of the dead rat men, but in doing so, they nearly got their revenge on you.
  
  There weren't exactly books on necromancy lingering around despite looking for them. You learned a bit of a substitute by studying up on enchantment and trying to control the dead using the same concepts. It worked to a limited degree (at least enough to not get yourself killed) but charming the living and controlling the dead are still very different things.
  
  Still, it was definitely a branch of magic that came in useful on more than one occasion. Especially since you've been encountering some difficulty walking about on campus.
  
  Back when you were living in the orphanage you started scaring the other children even though you never really did anything to them. You're starting to have that affect on grown people.
  
  You aren't really social so you didn't really notice it at first, but recently it's been getting to the point where you're just walking around and people are going out their way to avoid walking near you.
  
  It's becoming more of a problem more so on the campus due to making the college security starting to take more notice of you and they were doing that anyway due to your age. (Though that reason is less of an issue now)
  
  You've been sticking to only walking around on the campus at night now and if you have to go out during the day, you stick to other parts of the city where there's less chance of getting hassled by magic watchmen at least.
  
  On top of all this, you still aren't sure what your major plans are. You have this desire to master necromancy, but even when you do, then what? It's not really like you can practice it out in the open or use it for anything other than the obvious and even if you did, it would be a one way ticket for you to be targeted by the civilized world.
  
  Not like you can really speak to anyone about any of this though.
  
  And yet, you can't be the only person like this. There has to be others like you, maybe they're all hidden though. You imagine anyone that has your sort of power is probably hiding out from major areas of civilization.
  
  The only lead you can think of is to potentially ask a demon on campus who tend to be a little more knowledgeable about these things, the problem is most tend to want something in return.
  
  There aren't many of them and they typically working as janitors other than Big Red and you're really reluctant to ask him, given his advice years ago that nearly got you killed or worse.
  
  You've avoided him since that night, but you always hear his name pop up from time to time on campus as the one to go to if you really need something. Oddly he'd probably be the least demanding in price since he doesn't ask for someone's soul as payment. (Well at least not usually)
  
  Eventually you come to the conclusion you'll ask him and you figure if you don't like the price or answer, you can always do your own thing as usual.
  
  So you wait until nightfall and you go to the spot where Big Red can typically be found selling whatever he's offering.
  
  Before you even reach him, you see him looking up and even sniffing a bit, then he looks over in your direction.
  
  "Whoa...you smell DISGUSTING." Big Red says covering his nose.
  "Excuse me?" you say.
  "You fucking REEK of rotting death! Granted it's pleasant smell when it's a battlefield full of dead bodies, but something about you necromancers always ruin it and never fail to give off a foul aura. Ugh."
  
  You start to sniff at yourself and smell nothing out of the ordinary. While granted you live in an abandoned library and have been practicing raising the dead from time to time, you're fairly regular on your hygiene habits.
  
  "I'll have you know I keep myself regularly clean!" you protest.
  "Girl, you still have much to learn about your powers. You could immerse yourself in all the water in the world and adorn yourself with the fanciest perfume and you'd still smell like a horde of rotting bodies. It's not your body odor; it's your magical aura. Superior magical beings such as myself can sense it better than most. Though I'd wager your deathly aura is starting to become strong enough for even these moron mortals that claim to be masters of magic to start to sense."
  
  Your brief glance downward signifies that to be the case even if you didn't know why exactly until Big Red explained it. Also explains why that demonic janitor called you a stinking bitch when you walked by one last week. You figured he was just being an asshole. (Well he still was as far as you're concerned)
  
  In any case it's obvious Big Red knows all about your situation so you get to the point.
  
  "Look, I need to know if there are others like me, do you have that information?" you ask.
  "Right to it huh? You know you never did thank me for my free advice years ago when you were a younger ragamuffin. I'm sure sacking out in that old library rent free with nobody really bothering you has been serving your purposes well." Big Red says.
  "You didn't tell me about the ratmen living there."
  "And how would I know what was living in there? I never forced you to go there either, you made that choice. I merely pointed it out. Looks like you must have handled them though and grew stronger from it. But rather than even a thanks, you just come here demanding shit. Well that's not how this works Catalina."
  "Pretty sure I STILL never told you my name either."
  "And I'm pretty sure you did, so what do you want exactly? You want to know if there are others like you? Of course there are. Your kind always exists in some manner. Drawn to death like grave wings. Now if you want to know if there are any on campus? Well, the answer to that is yes as well. In fact, there's a whole cabal of them. They're a lot better at hiding their stench though, hence why they're freely walking about on campus not driving everyone away. Hell, I'm actually surprised one of them hasn't contacted you yet. Of course I'm equally surprised the campus security hasn't sensed you yet given that you're a walking mortuary. Then again they've never been the brightest with sensing magic auras."
  
  Well that was actually easier than you thought. You didn't think Big Red would give you the information so casually or that it would even be so close.
  
  "So where are they exactly" you ask.
  "What, you want me to draw you a map? Track them down yourself, shouldn't be hard even for you. I've already given you free advice TWICE now. You want more information, you're going to have to reciprocate."
  "Alright, so what do you want exactly? And no, I'm not giving you my soul OR my body."
  "Pfft, what do you take me for, one of those losers cleaning toilets? Your soul isn't worth much, and while your virginity might entice some, you are not my type. You couldn't handle what I got anyway."
  "Well what do you want then?"
  "Simple really, I need you to deliver this to someone. I'd do it myself, but I'm honestly too busy with other things."
  
  Big Red pulls out a black cube with ornate gold carvings on it from his coat.
  
  "They already paid for it, so just drop it off and come back."
  "Wait, where would I be taking it?"
  "Oh, Mr. Demar's office. He's head of the conjuration department. I'm sure you're familiar with the building."
  "Can't say I've ever lingered around over there."
  "Hm, I suppose that's not surprising. Anyway, deliver that and you'll get your information."
  
  You're a little leery of all this and immediately Big Red senses this.
  
  "Or don't and get the fuck out of here anyway because once again you're driving away business."
  
  Big Red puts the cube back in his coat pocket and waves you away.
  
  If Big Red thinks you're going to change your mind and take whatever that item is, he's sadly mistaken.
  
  Or maybe you should just leave Nuro entirely and make your own way, especially if things are getting dicey to stick around here. While Nuro may very well be a large center of magic in the world, it isn't the entire world. Surely there is more out there after all.
  
  > find the others on your own
  As dangerous things are potentially getting in sticking around in Nuro, there's something about leaving it that still causes you a bit of anxiety. Strange that it should given your past experiences that have been far more life threatening.
  
  This now leaves you to do some searching for the cabal of necromancers that Big Red told you about. You aren't sure where to look until it suddenly occurs to you that once again Big Red probably told you indirectly and you might find them in the conjuration building.
  
  Of course this also makes you wonder if Big Red is setting you up again somehow. Or he isn't and you're just second guessing because Big Red being a demon would love to fuck with a mortal mind in that way.
  
  In any case, it's as good a start as any; so you decide you'll head over there and just be prepared.
  
  The conjuration building is on the complete opposite side of the campus of the library you stay at, so it makes sense you never bothered to go over there. Not only that, but you didn't see much point in summoning magical animals, given that's about the only thing conjuration is good for and it's highly restricted anyway. You especially can't summon demons, not that you'd want to.
  
  Of course now that you think about it, maybe it does make sense that