History!

Satisfaction and mania warred in Reader’s soul as he made his way to Mrs Wormwood’s History class. He took his customary seat near the middle of the room, getting out his book and pretending to read as Mrs. Wormwood began her introduction to the class.

“There are two primary theories of history which are by and large called the ‘great forces’ and, despite the best efforts of some reformers, ‘great men’ theories of history. Try to keep these two theories in mind as we read about the life of Alexander of Macedon. Now, Alexander was about as quintessentially a self-made man as anyone can imagine – yes, his father left him a decent army when he passed, but most historians agree no one else could have commanded it to the victories he had. But if you’d asked the society he was raised in whether he was a great man or subject to great forces, they’d look at you funny – they thought that being Alexander ‘the Great’ was his Destiny, their belief in great forces would look **** to…”

Reader decided that he would plan for a training montage after school. He wanted to test his skills, and maybe learn some more – get a couple of offensive skills, which he currently didn’t have. Well, now would be a good time to top up his Mana anyway, He unfocused his eyes and began to Meditate…

…But Wormwood’s voice kept intruding into his thoughts. “two-page maximum, discussing an aspect of Alexander’s life through the Great Men theory and another through the Great Forces theory. This will be graded on the quality of your thought, not your composition, so if you’re feeling brave a two sentence answer is completely acceptable – but I want to see evidence that you’ve thought. About. The. Answer.”

Her voice was really intrusive today, or maybe Reader just hadn’t tried tuning it out before. On a whim, he tried using Observe…

…And immediately regretted it. The by now familiar Target Level is Too High notification flashed briefly, and then time seemed to freeze as Wormwood stopped reading and glared into his eyes. He felt trapped in the moment, a hare before the serpent…

…as quickly as it had come on the moment passed, Wormwood picking up her monologue where it had left off and sweeping her gaze onward, leaving Reader in a cold sweat.

‘Mister Numen, I can hear the gears spinning in your head,’ she said drily. ‘Care to share what’s on your mind?’

By some instinct Reader cast a second Enhance on his vocal chords, using power of heart to give it an extra boost as he tried to pass a smooth-talker challenge with his rather ordinary charisma. “Um…” he managed despite the terror gripping him, “I was just wondering if we could take the position that it was Alexander’s ability to properly respond to the forces around him that made him a great man”.

The class was silent as Wormwood regarded him coolly – even the most arrogant troublemakers did not speak out of turn in her classroom. Nobody remembered her doing anything particularly heinous to miscreants in her class, it just seemed like a bad idea. Now Reader had some inkling of why.

“If you want to take a Hegelian approach, that’s valid,” she answered. “Just be aware that many scholars try to use a synthesis of ideas to avoid having to understand either of the ideas making up the synthesis. History isn’t kind to those” she said, and launched back into her discussion of Macedonian metaphysics.

Reader Pursed his lips. That had been a warning, no doubt. He picked up his pencil, hovered over his paper for a moment, and finally began.

“Was Alexander A great Man or merely subject to great forces? To answer this question we must first answer what it means to be a great man or encounter a great ****. We might say that great forces provide great opportunities, while Great Men make great choices given the opportunities before them…”

Some time later, he found himself and Wormwood alone in the classroom together.

“You can hand that in as is, Mr. Numen” she said mildly, “I see you’ve stayed under the page limit and you’ve clearly finished your thought. I look forward to what you have to say on the subject”.

Reader looked down at his paper, and up at his scary teacher. Somehow – perhaps due to the fear he’d felt towards her – he’d entered that quicktime state again. “Um, it’s not edited yet-“ he began, but she shook her head.

“That’s quite all right. I’m interested in your ideas, not your grammar. And I expect you’re about to be quite busy in the near future”

She held out her hand and, with as much feigned nonchalance as he could, Reader passed her the essay he’d just finished. The air swam as he reached through the area just outside his desk’s radius.

“In fact,” she continued, “Why don’t you take the afternoon off? I’m sure you’ve some private study you should be doing.”

As Reader stared at her, unsure whether there was some hidden threat, she added, “That is a suggestion from someone uninvested but familiar with your situation. You must trust your own judgement”.