My conversation with Luna continued for quite a while after the initial part about my previous actions. Mostly, I explained to her the importance of guest rights and why the Gods themself had decided to step into the matter before we ventured further afield. Still, magic remained the centre of our talks, as it was something that fascinated both of us, even if our viewpoints were somewhat different.

To me, magic was simply a tool and fascination, something always around us that I could wield as I wished. Her idea of magic was something less immediate, more in line with a gift from Lady Hecate and tightly bound to her connection with her Goddess. It made for interesting discussions and showed me that Lady Hecate was quite involved with her young Cleric, sending dreams to teach and guide her with quite a high frequency. At least from what I could tell when comparing her abilities and knowledge to that of other clerics. Not only were her skills towering above them as they physically towered above her but her magical insights were advanced enough that I could only relate to them thanks to my reading on Mundus. If a local arcane caster were confronted with her knowledge, they’d only be able to nod in amazement and praise Hecate. This might just be the point of the exercise, allowing her young, prodigious disciple to awe the aspiring arcanists and make them worship Hecate. Not a bad plan and one I could see succeed easily if we set up the shrine Hecate had talked about.

And there was no question that we would do so. Not only did Luna already have the quest, she had confirmed that earlier, but I would never chance to take yet another detrimental trait, not for something this simple. So, the two deities would get their shrines and I had to decide what books to place into the shrine to Hecate. Because if we would set up those shrines, I would do things right and place something suitable in the library.

The library under the tree was fairly simple, books about the local, incredibly strange, environment, what plants to find, the spatial weirdness and a part about a necessary magical education. Nothing beyond novice level, but it would teach people learning in that library the basics, allow them to start the Arcane Path if they hadn’t chosen a path, and so on. I doubted many could learn there to take that path, but the option was there.

Maybe that was the right answer there already. Books to guide people on the path of Magic, the Arcane Path, my path. The library under the tree was, obviously, in the middle of a fairly dangerous forest. That might change in time, if the forest was at least partially cleared and a village or something set up around the library, I could see people learn there.The blessed sanctuary around the tree would be useful as a refuge for people living there, so I could easily see small groups set up and grow into something larger. It would take years, maybe decades, but that small sanctuary could become something more.

The need to become something more was absent here. Here, we already had a community living nearby, a group in dire need of education and one that would hopefully grow and flourish. A sanctuary, especially if I made the effort to create a large space accessed through the sanctuary, would give them shelter if there ever was another attack. Looking back, that might be yet another answer for the people here, at least when it comes to protection from attacks. It wouldn’t solve their food shortage, but maybe the blessing of Hestia could put in some work on that front, She had agriculture in Her portfolio after all.

But it was a lazy answer. Did I want to be part of a culture that placed responsibility for personal and societal safety on the Gods or did I want to promote personal responsibility, even if it might be a harsh path? For me, the answer was obvious but was I the right person to make that decision for others? Or would it be better to simply create a small shrine and add a litany of books that gave people the tools to defend themself, especially after I had already given the previous push?

If you encounter this story on Amazon, note that it's taken without permission from the author. Report it.

Thinking about it, that might be the best of both worlds. A small sanctuary, something that could protect the most vulnerable, in addition to lengthy texts about magic, with a particular focus on sorcery and the development of battle magic. It would give those who wanted it the tools to defend themself and their allies, while also allowing their children to be secure while they were out, hunting Undead or whatever else might crop up and needed killing.

With a firm nod to myself, I suggested this course of action to Luna and she happily agreed. She also added that I should make sure to keep any mention of Mind Magic to the type that I used when placing people in the Astral River while teaching them, with no mention of the control type I had used against that Shattered, causing the attack. While it wasn’t likely that people would make the connection, keeping the idea out of it was good in general as that particular type of magic was about the most abusable I could imagine.

It had a few benevolent applications but they were far and few between. At best, it could be used in combat to produce temporary allies, though I wasn’t sure whether it would work on sapient targets as easily as it did on the Shattered. The Undead, for example, were different when it came to that spell, the instructions needed to be even more precise or things got strange. Shattered knew some basic concepts, Undead lacked most of those, too. They might be able to walk a few steps, or strike somebody but even something as simple as a command to fight wouldn’t work. Maybe I’d get a single strike, but nothing more, making me wonder just how that particular magical application worked. More testing would be required, though most tests on something that wasn’t a Shattered or Scorched. I’d either need more complex targets, something truly alive and thinking, though maybe not something as mentally complex as a human, or I’d have to change my approach from the ground up and work on Undead.

Either way, it would be a massive undertaking and I doubted I’d put in the effort when it came to Undead but finding the limits in regards to intelligent beings would be a worthwhile pursuit. Not one that needed to be completed just yet, I had better things to do with my time, but at some point.

Better things, like starting work on the sanctuary. The first step was obvious, the ancient question of location, location, location. Close to the apartment building that served the locals as shelter or further away? Distance would give them space to expand, maybe even push them to move their primary shelter and set up shop near the shrine, though it would also depend on the effects of Hestia’s shrine. If that manifested as a blessing of fertility or something along those lines, something that gave their fields the yield to feed their people. In that case, setting it away from town would be best, away from the concrete and decaying buildings. Sure, they could be cleared away but it would take a lot of time and effort the people here just couldn’t spare.

The exact shape of the sanctuary was another question. Underground, similar to the one beneath the tree, might be easiest, but I wasn’t sure it felt right. Creating the sanctuary beneath the tree was due to the tree already being there and loosely connected to Hecate. Here, there was no tree, nor any previous connection to Hecate, unless we decided to seek out a park and hope to find something suitable. Or go into the fields, searching for a connection to Hestia that would also serve as an anchor to Hecate, as difficult as that might be,

Maybe Luna and I should pray to Hecate, and ask for Her advice, as the shrine would dedicated to Her. Or we could walk together, simply stroll through the area and hope for some inspiration to strike. It felt so silly and yet, it might be the right answer to this question. Simply find the place and see what shape would fit best.

So many details, and yet nearly no information that we could actually use to plan. I didn’t like that part of this process, but I was determined to make the best of it. At some point, I wanted to look back at these shrines and feel pride, not annoyance and embarrassment at what I had wrought, I wanted them to be more than the crayon painting of a child their mother placed on the fridge. Something inspiring that would guide people on the Arcane Path.

At a crossroads in their lives, I wanted the shrine to be the guidepost to send them down the right path...

Maybe that was a concept I could use, the Crossroads.