Think she's dangerous. I'll avoid her.

Fear froze you. The people here weren’t normal. If you talked to her, it could end right then. Your control.

All your life, you were afraid. If only things were in your control, you knew what you would do.

“It’s not about right and wrong, pleasure or pain. In the end the people who get the most out of life are the smartest one’s. They figure everything out, present it correctly to the opposing party, and finally take what they want. What do I want?”

You question yourself. It was a bit strange of you to think like that. You’ll remember that. It’s a clue. The answer could prove useful, maybe you could gain something from it. You sat up on the bed, breathing deep and thinking about how to proceed.

If that happened, if she could do this?

If that was related to that?

If you knew more about this world, if the coin was correct, and you could allay your fears, what would you like to attain?

“There isn’t anything I can think of that I don’t want.”

You say that to yourself. Only nice things were coming to mind, only wonderful things for you and the people closest to you. To everyone else…

Things wouldn’t end so well. You wipe aside those misgivings in your mind. In the end, everyone was probably just afraid to stand up for what they really wanted. You might even enjoy talking from others much more than your placid life. You or them, your desires or theirs, you chose the one you wanted already.

The truth is that you were weak.

“Read the books,” the bookman told you.

This was a world where only power mattered. If you wanted to protect everything you believed in, you had to stand up for yourself where no one else would, for what no one else would. Otherwise, that girl or anyone down there might be able to take from you. This was a jungle.

You felt your heart pumping as you resolved your new mindset, fear chilling your veins as you realized that this was what you were scared of all along. To act on your desires, to be who you truly wanted to be from the bottom of your heart.

“I won’t let up again. Not this time. This time, I’ll show the world what I can do, and if I fail…”

You breathe in and seal your tension in the breath, blowing it out hot and with even tempo.

“Then I’ll make sure they remember me.”

You spend a few hours checking the room for clues. Your information was actually quite good, you surmised. If bookman was lying, then you had no chance, but if he was telling at least 80% truth then you were fine. You had checked each line in your mind, mentally reviewing everything you remembered from the moment you went in. It wouldn’t be enough. The moment you left that room, the clock would stop. If there was anyone downstairs, or if that girl decided to come after you, you were sure that you would lose options. Losing options gave you less time. The more efficiency you could squeeze out of every minute you had was precious. You had been peeking out, checking the silver haired girl’s location every ten minutes or so.

It was late. She should be going up soon. You contemplated a physical ambush, but shook your head immediately. The level of failure was unacceptable. You wanted to do your best for yourself here, easily the next choice could affect your whole life.

You realized a few hours in that your mind was too wound up. You were thinking about that girl and her clothes, and the feeling wasn’t nice. You had rubbed a few out already and were briefly confused by the thoughts you were having. That’s when you stopped checking on her. You’d wait until early morning, the least percentage chance she would still be around, then head out.

Then you would collect books and find places to hide.

You spent the next few hours sleeping and used your phone to wake yourself up. You had to use the alarm, unfortunately you weren’t able to wake up from vibration alone. A good chance no one heard. Getting to sleep was next to impossible until you imagined her hair and body with the clothing on next to you. You sighed, hoping you still had a chance.

That was two influences already, the coin bookman told you about and the clothes, which also meant that the possible number of influences within the books and the common area itself were already high. Especially since this was a den of witches and wizards, no doubt the amount of traps similar to those clothes were high.

You go downstairs, heart pounding, happy and sad simultaneously that you can’t see that silver blur anywhere. You had already decided to secure food from the butler and prod him for information. Of the high risk conservation targets you could think of, he was the lowest possible one. You had considered just trying to grab a harmless looking random at the bar you though you could exploit, but then remembered that everyone there at that time was at an unknown skill level with an unknown ability.

You rubbed your face, trying to calm yourself down again.

“Could I have some water? Any food you have is fine, too.”, you ask the butler.

He poured out a glass giving you a weird eye.

“Bottled water as well, if you have any.”

You were surprised he had already stacked a whole care package together complete with a carrying case.

“This is...do you know something about me?”, you asked, suddenly realizing that this might have been planned.

“You’re scared. Anyone can see that, don’t need some fancy mindmastery for that. I’ve been there. When I saw you at the door I wanted to help already, I didn’t think you would actually ask for it though,” he laughed, “only a few figure out the truth behind why the bedrooms being upstairs. You’re the third.”

Percentage risk to reward ratio was lowering quickly, you couldn’t afford to up your guard anymore. You would gain too much here if he was telling the truth, at the time you needed it the most. Honest approach is best, take advantage of his kindness.

“Thanks for helping me. I wouldn’t have done the same for you. What’s mindmastery?”

He looked at you, eyes shining.

“Good to hear someone not even trying to lie. You’ll go far if you keep your heart open. This place, everyone who comes here, that girl, it was all bought with illegal funds gained with controlling people's minds through mindmastery. Except for the books, those were stolen from other bookmen. They got me too. It’s not completely effective, but someone skilled enough who has enough time or the right technique or approach can drastically alter your life. You heard the rules from bookman?”

“Yes, he mentioned that the coin could have runes on it too.”

“I saw you peeking out from downstairs at that girl. You feel any calmer looking at her?”

“No, actually, I got horny.”

He kept rubbing a random glass like it was normal as he continued the flow of the conversation without a lost beat.

“That can happen. Runes are dangerous, someone puts a feeling into them while crafting them and it can affect anyone who sees them. These bastards can do that with all the five senses, touch, taste, hearing, smell, and finally sight. If you want to keep yourself yours, get reading.”

“What if I don’t understand something?”, you ask.

“Then figure it out by yourself. If you get friends here, it’s through doing favors or mutual appreciation. Right now you have neither, and that girl was giving your room looks. Whatever she wants, I don’t think it’s a healthy relationship.”

“She could have done something like talk to me, it would have been over then,” you complain, “why do the runes affect only me like that and not others?”

He just gestured towards the books. No good, huh. You figured that you would be able to get at least one more out of him.

“Is there a place to hide?”

The butler grinned.

“Three for three.”

You had spent the next hour after you gave the butler your key and he set you up in his room under his bed. You then set out to grab the best books you could.

You picked them up and read only enough to understand the basic concept in a nervous flurry. Although your interest was high in many of the things you saw, so was your anxiety and ambition. You needed the most effective techniques right away. No, that wasn’t good enough. You wanted something no one could expect. You remembered back to reading a certain book you never thought you would need to use. Ambush was the only tactic that worked against people in history again and again.

If it was always a surprise, then it would always be your victory.

You weren’t that naive. You had requested a small pen and pocket notebook and was glad to see he had it. You were scribbling down notes for later when you could.

You were searching passages and rapidly stuffing books back into the library, climbing and moving the ladders back and forth you found little mention of much science. It surprised you. Surely even these people would be even more interested in science because of what they di.

After you had collected what you thought were going to be essential volumes to get through this, you approached the butler with a casual tone. Honesty first, you reminded yourself.

“You know, it’s weird but there’s nothing about psychology on the shelves, why’s that?”

“Oh, I love that question. There was this neurology student who came in here once. Thought it was hypnosis or something like that. No, these mindmaster types don’t respect regular people's work that much. I’d like to see then get what’s coming to them, if you know what I mean,” he chuckled.

“Don’t regular people come here all the time? I found that coin under a bridge, if they are spreading they around like that…”

“Someone is being very dumb. Or ****. That happens. You made a dumb choice coming here.”

“Not if I come out on top,” you say.

He laughed.

“What, you gonna pull some science trick on these people? Mindmastery works directly with the body, sensations, experience, there’s simply stuff you’ll learn here you’ll never find out anywhere else. Same for other bookmen’s places.”

A battle over hoarding books. Trying to keep techniques secret? They just let you walk in with only that coin. That needed further investigation.

“That goes for mindmasters too. If I figure it out, I’ll be able to get ahead right away,” you say.

The butler nodded.

“You’re not bad. If you end up getting turned into someone’s pet, I’ll give you an extra drink.”

“If that happens, how about helping me out instead?”

“Trying for an ally already? You’re crazy…”, he shut his eyes and sighed, “I don’t mind though. Tons of crazy is already here anyways.”

He held out his gloved hand.

“I won’t promise much, if you haven’t figured it out I’ve got quite the whammy on me. I won’t ask for anything. I can tell you’re at least going to try to make these bastards cringe a little. I don’t hate it.”

You extend your hand and take his and squeeze. He was unfortunately stronger, and you lamented not improving your grip for this moment alone.

“You shake like a girl,” he chided you.

The next few days were spent under his bed. He wasn’t there often. How it was possible that he only slept for four hours?

Mindmastery was based on a simple flaw in the understanding of how the world worked. People naturally thought that their thoughts had no effect on other people. That was wrong. It was possible to order others with your mind and transmit it to others through the five senses.

Direct mind to mind contact. The most dangerous, the most powerful. You were drawn to that like a moth to a flame. One of the hardest techniques related to touch was altering the state of the body entirely. A ‘receptive state’ could be created. It was one of the strongest ways to affect the body next to taste, but taste was clearly too difficult for you. Only a madman would try that. What would you even use?

You had thought carefully over what you understood about the world and new information flooding in when you creeped about looking for books in the early morning hours. The butler would come get you if the bar was empty, if not he’d leave you there. That was what you worked out with him.

Living under the butler’s bed and hoping the girl wouldn’t find you was slowly draining your will to live, being tortured by the thoughts of that girl. The only way you could sleep was thinking about her next to you, and that bothered you. If you could have her here for real, imagine the sleep you could get.

You asked about her. The butler said she was moving from her room upstairs to the bar, just sitting there, sometimes with a book. When you asked which book, the butler waved you off.

“You’re paranoid. It’s some romance novel.”

“Hehe, excellent,” you giggled. Weak point, discovered.

“Are you going to do anything today?”

“Read.”

You slipped your head back under the bed.

You finally found out that there were actually plenty of cases in history of science leaking into the mindmastery community. They were influenced by normal cultures just as easily as they were able to influence regular people.

Thinking of how you could use that, you were coming up blank. Even though you thought you knew culture well, you had trouble explaining it and got frustrated and gave up. Then, a spark hit you later that night when you were hugging your shirt imagining it was that girl. You grinned to yourself, and scribbled in your journal.

A few days later, you had come to a conclusion. You sluggishly squirmed out from under the bed.

You took a shower, freshened up, and put on a robe the butler said you could use and threw out your clothes in disgust. You nearly waved goodbye to your shirt on reflex, dazed.

You’d get the real thing, you comforted yourself.

Your hard work finally would be put to the test. You were afraid. Do or die, you were getting her or she was getting you. That was the plan. You knew which one you preferred.

The butler came in to find you at this time like you’d asked.

“Good luck. I hope whatever you’ve learned is good enough. It’d be a shame to see another one mess up, Third.”

He had taken to calling you that. Names were powerful, you could create a connection that could deeply influence a person through voice. However, they’d have to do a lot better than voice if they wanted to stop you now.

You walked out into the bar and set your eyes on the silver haired girl. You remembered the effect being so much stronger the last time you saw her. She jumped in her seat.

She’s talented then if she could sense you from over here, she probably has high level touch sophistication in addition to runes. You wanted her, and not just for her mind.

A book was open in her hands but she shut in and turned around. You saw her face for the first time, and uttered a silent ‘not bad’ in your mind as you scanned her body. Information was important.

She stood up and faced you, and you noticed she was shaking a little.

“Hey, I just came to say hello. Did I scare you?”, you start.

“Ah, I’m sorry. Looks like I got the exact wrong person involved in this mess…”

“Now, now, that’s not a pretty look on your face. How about we talk? I like books too.”

Your tone was scaring yourself a little bit, just what kind of person were you now? If you intimidated yourself, what about her.

She sighed and sat back down, facing you and leaned back against the bar with her legs crossed.

“You were saying you got the wrong person involved, that’s me?”, you asked

You already knew the answer, but you had to humor her.

“I can feel the coin’s effect on the owner when they are near, and sense a person’s disposition. You’re confident right now. The coin’s runes bring out your inner personality. I didn’t expect I’d get someone who would hide for a week then approach me confidently. You’re just like him. It’s sickening,” she scoffed. She looked more upset than anything.

“What, are you unsatisfied? I don’t know why you were spreading coins like that, but weren’t you asking for something like this?”

You said that and starting closing distance. You couldn’t figure her out, either she thought your confidence was baseless or she should have just ran.

“No, just looking for friends. Someone who was honestly a good person, I didn’t think I’d get an honestly rotten one,” she gave you a dead eye gaze.

“That hurts. You should be more aware of other’s feelings, if a pretty girl says something like that to me, I might feel a bit offended.”

You approach near her and take a seat, still confused why she isn’t doing anything. She must think she can win. You motion for a drink, the butler had entered while you two were talking.

The butler gives you a smile and a glass of water. He knows by now you don’t want to get drunk in a situation like this.

She was silent as she stared out away from you. You grab her book, and she jumped a little.

“At least ask…”, she complained.

“That guy you talked about, is he that much like me?”, you said as you flipped through the pages. She has good taste, at least. Yet another attractive thing about her. If it was something trash, you might make a face. That might ruin the sex a bit. You wanted someone high-grade, definitely. Was she smarter than you? You looked at her side profile. She definitely was high-grade. Too high-grade, you realized. Your knowledge in your head pointed to the answer already, but you still wanted to hear her say it herself. You put the book down.

“I think you’re worse. At least he’s a bit of a loon. You’re too sharp, it’s uncomfortable,” she said.

“Do you think you’ll lose? Do you think that you can win against me for sure?”, you ask.

“I’m getting tired of waiting for something to happen. The coins and money ran out, I don’t feel like stealing anymore. From the start, I wanted to find a way out of this world. Maybe I should just give in, let someone else take control…” she said sighing and whining.

You felt a bit of anger as you pulled her chin. She didn’t resist, and you checked her eyes, a deep blue. Little light was in them. Not a technique either, from your estimation. She’s probably telling the truth, and that made it worse.

“I didn’t spend a week under a butler’s bed hugging my shirt thinking about you for this. If you’re going to go out, go out with a fight. Aren’t you afraid?”

You amazed yourself when you said that, and your tone was stronger than you realized. Her smell and her face so close was already affecting you.

“I’ve always been afraid,” she said. She looked up at you.

“Oh, well. One last try. I’ll be disappointed either way, if I control you, it’s just like that time, if I get controlled, then it won’t matter what I think after that.”

She leaned up and kissed you. Lips broke apart and met again, you were completely unable to stop yourself.

After all, this was the only way your technique was going to work.

To you, you didn’t think it mattered what technique she was going to use so you were able to enjoy the sensation fully. She pulled away, blushing a bit as she tasted your saliva with her tongue.

“Aren’t you going to do something?”, she said.

“I was waiting on you,” you said in a daze. Alarm bells went off in your head, don’t give her a hint, they said, she’s one of those. The type who can tell.

“Someone’s got to use some mindmastery, I wasn’t planning on using any,” she leaned in for a kiss and with regret you pulled back and took a drink. Your face felt hot, but you were mad at yourself for almost giving in. Heat had spread to your crotch, and you remembered the last time you masturbated was a week ago. Was that the right or wrong choice?

“I wasn’t either, unless you did,” you thinly veiled the truth. It upset you that you didn’t have control, but that was both the genius and the folly of your technique.

“Hey, I’m not going to just have sex with you without any foreplay. Won’t you tell me your name, at least? If we’re going to be enemies like you want,” she said.

“I’m Third.”

“Third?”, she questioned and laughed. A butler was laughing in the background as he sipped a beer.

“I won’t give away my secret. Why’d you laugh?”

“It’s just like him. He named himself ‘Crimson’. I thought it was so dumb, but a joker type like him isn’t someone you want to make light of. I’m just glad he didn’t target me, after…”, she looked sad.

“Should I have you tell me, after I win?”

“I don’t think you’re going to do anything.”, she said.

You cursed silently, and she caught it and gave you a brilliant smile.

“I don’t know anything yet, but I knew you were either crazy or confident when I sensed you. Do you think I’m dumb?”, she teased.

You blushed with shame. You thought you were past such petty things, you had to make a note of this. You pull out and write down in your pocket notebook while she watches.

“How much of what you said was a lie?”, you ask, hoping she’d tell the truth this time. You got led on.

“None of it,” she responded. Your heart skipped a beat at the answer.

At this rate, you needed her to want to be controlled to use mindmastery on you. She was too sharp. Her experience too good. High-grade indeed, you snickered.

You...

Author’s Note: Preview of Answer Choices

She’s okay like this. I don’t need my mindmastery, she’s easy enough to manipulate right now.

She needs to be mine. I put nothing to chance.