The snow was thick and heavy across the ground.

  Crossway had celebrated the arrival of 1900 with a massive fireworks display. The sky in the distance was illuminated late into the evening by massive explosions and flashes of colour.

  New Midian acknowledged the New Year with far more indifference. I was, of course, interested in what the next century would bring forth, but my Hunters were far more ambivalent to this milestone.

  We will once again be cut off from the rest of the world by the weather. January found me more often within the church crypt doing the annual maintenance on my weapons. This year, however, I was getting regular visits from Harrington.

  He claimed this year would be the year that he would figure out the enchantment on the blade that I gained from the Way of Athamos. Privately, I doubted it, but I learned never to count out a determined will. Harrington definitely had the will to try to figure this out. He had told me he had used up the last of his financial resources ordering in several books before winter arrived. I remembered the deliveries that Herbert had made to him and his excitement at their appearance. He was still corresponding with some people beyond the walls of New Midian. I decided long ago that if he didn't endanger the dungeon, I would leave him to his own devices.

  For the last month, he had been in deep concentration, often heard curses and muttering from him. Things were not progressing as he wished they seemed.

  I've been in a rather reflective mood these past months.

  I've been thinking about various things in and outside of the dungeon. I had realised after thirty years of living in the area that I had absolutely no idea what the name of the local mountain range was. I knew it was part of the Rocky Mountains, but I also knew there was a series of subranges that made up the Rockies. I laughed quite a lot about that as I realised I had no genuine interest in learning. They were there, I was here, and that was all that was needed to be known.

  To make matters even worse, in some regards, I had no idea what the river's name was either. I could ask Herbert when I next saw him, but it was another thing that I didn't really need to know.

  This had been a source of entertainment for at least a few days.

  "Your vexing mysteries will be revealed to me!" Harrington exclaimed from the next room. The blade was still proving to be quite a thorn in his understanding of magic.

  I chose to remain silent, returning to the paper I was rereading. Truthfully, I wasn't, but it was an excellent way to disguise that I was thinking of other matters. Like I was running out of lantern oil. My financial resources are currently limited. I had a couple of hundred dollars to spend on various things, but I was hesitant to squander it on minor luxuries.

  I often found myself returning to articles about the Christian American Women's Temperance and Morality League. That was the organisation's full name, but it also used a series of other names for its lesser branches. They were still agitating for a full ban on alcohol, houses of sin and several other issues that had attracted their ire.

  I recall the Prohibition era from my own timeline. I wondered if I could use such a time to my own advantage. It did not seem likely that they would get the ban put through anytime soon, so I can put these thoughts on the back burner for now.

  They were an organisation that I had to keep an eye on. There were a few things I believe are as dangerous as a group of self-righteous, highly motivated women.

  Another exclamation series of curses came from the next room. I continue to ignore them.

  My arrangement with the new sheriff was proving to be quite effective. He was doing his best to suppress knowledge of New Midian. He was doing this with the support of the Way of Athamos and the Daughters of Medusa. Hopefully, over the next few years, I will see my infamy ratings drop on both the state and national levels. Locally, I knew it was going to be a generation or more before I even saw a dent in that one.

  There was a flash of oddly coloured light and another curse. I might have to go in and check on things soon.

  Thinking about my local environment, I knew it wouldn't be long before they started to tarmac the road along the edge of the forest. I learned from Herbert that the road led down to Boise, the state capital. I suspected I would see that happening if things continue the way they were going in the next 15 to 25 years. I still found it odd that I was thinking in decades, when my plans were for months or years—another sign of my change from being human.

  Part of me still resisted thinking this way, but logically, I had to accept that I was no longer the man I had been. Both figuratively and literally. Well, what I can remember of who I once was.

  It was these long periods of isolation that forced me to face the things and questions I had been happy to ignore for most of the year. I was becoming far too comfortable with the killing. That was the first thing that was obvious to me. There are still some parts of it that disturbed me or upset my sensibilities, but overall, I became far too desensitised to the loss of human life.

  This saddened part of me.

  I had reached 91 kills towards the 160 I needed to make it to my next level. I had been thinking about what to do with my next perk. I had a clear idea of what I wanted, but I would have to read the list to make sure nothing would trump my plan. Knowing my luck, there would be.

  More cursing came from the next room.

  All of my Hunters, apart from McGregor and the Hateful Spirit, seemed to be happy. Rigger had his wives. Rodriguez did whatever made him happy… Whatever that was. Blackstone enjoyed his various projects. Harrington was researching magic. Roberson was eating people.

  McGregor seemed happier now that he was starting to rebuild his kill count. As for the hateful spirits, well…. She was very hateful, and not much more than that.

  Yes, at this time, I thought that everything was unfolding as it should.

  I superstitiously knocked on some wood to make sure I wasn't jinxing myself.

  I heard movement from next door and the scraping of a chair across the floor. Within a few moments, Harrington ducked as he entered the main crypt through the doorway.

  "How is it going?"

  I asked him to be polite, as I was not really interested at the moment.

  "Slowly, Keeper, but the blade is giving up its secrets to me." He was smiling, strangely happy. I expected a lot more sullen attitude.

  The narrative has been illicitly obtained; should you discover it on Amazon, report the violation.

  "Good to know. I'm planning to continue our investigation, or are you putting it away for the start of the New Year?"

  "Alas, you are correct. I will spend time contemplating and meditating on what I have learnt. But fear not, Keeper, the blade will bend to my will." He was determined to see this through, despite his strangeness. Well, it was logical; the more I thought about it, the more I realised that his whole existence was focused on two things. Learning magic and killing children.

  The first I could understand, the second I could not.

  "With Dawn approaching, I take it you are returning to your lair?"

  "Yes, I am." He hesitated, and I knew he was about to ask something. "Keeper, I'm afraid I must impose a request upon you."

  "And that is?"

  "I seek more funds to acquire arcane tomes and books on magic. As you know, my financial reserves are now exhausted, but I still need more for my future studies." He shuffled, slightly embarrassed by his request.

  I found it odd that this man, sorry Hunter, who could kill without a second thought, was embarrassed to ask this of me.

  "As you know, my own financial reserves are taxed at the moment. But I will seek other avenues, if possible, to acquire the books you want. If you can furnish me a list of the most desired titles, I will see what I can do."

  I had no idea how I was going to get them, but I would think about it.

  He beamed at me with my words. "I thank you. Keeper. I trust in your abilities to see us through this problem. I will provide you with a list shortly. First, I must consult my own library to seek out the proper names of what we will need."

  With that, he shuffled off quite quickly. He was hunched quite a bit as he left the crypt, as the ceiling was not as tall as he was now. As he moved through the church toward the doors, I closed the crypt door, securing it from the inside and setting the trap.

  I shifted my avatar up to the main hall of the church above. I stood before the altar and the statue of the Angel of Death. As always, it was passively looking towards the top of the altar where the Challengers place their offerings.

  "As talkative as ever, I see."

  I've been finding myself, these last few years, occasionally speaking to the statue, never getting an answer, and not expecting one. The day the statue started answering back, I would be greatly concerned.

  I turned around, looking at the heart of my domain. The Gothic influence throughout the building had only grown greater with every change made to it. This brought me to another thought. How much longer could I call it the church? The building was larger now, and I was pretty sure I was heading towards cathedral territory.

  A small cathedral, definitely, but a cathedral, nevertheless.

  I walked over to the list of names on the wooden plaque that announced the identity of everyone who had succeeded in the trial of this place—six names in total. I wondered how many more would be added over the coming decades.

  Overhead, the heavy clouds began dropping more snow on New Midian.

  February arrived with more snow.

  It had been heavy snowfall all year. It had one of the snowiest years I had seen for a decade. The graveyard was smothered in white. Many gravestones and smaller statues were submerged or partially covered. The pathways were covered entirely.

  The trees were bare, and even they were covered with snow. The road beyond them was also covered, and it was barely travelled. When there were clear days, I could see the smokestacks of the trains travelling to and fro from Crossway.

  I watched it all from the top of the spatial bubble.

  March came with the weather change.

  More rain fell from the clouds, melting the snow. This led to mud, lots and lots of mud.

  Herbert arrived at the gates in the middle of the month.

  "Good day to you, Keeper. Here are your papers." As he spoke, he handed me a heavy pack filled with papers.

  "Thank you, Herbert. How is your son doing?"

  "Joshua has a job down in Boise. It is not a full-time one, but the city seems to be teaching him a few things." He was both worried and proud of him. He was sixteen and out in the world.

  We made a few more minutes of small talk before he set out for home again. I made my way back to the church carrying the pack. I moved as fast as I could through the graveyard. As soon as I reached the church, I placed the pack just inside the doors and dismissed my avatar. I summoned my avatar again in the church, leaving the mud and grime outside.

  I carried the pack down to the crypts. I had to open the doors and put the pack down on the sarcophagus. I should keep a lookout, but I wanted to stay informed about what was happening in the world.

  I organised them by date and started reading.

  The Boer War dominated the foreign press.

  Throughout January, battles were fought across South Africa. Fighting had been brutal, and casualties were heavy. The reports listed the dead and wounded from the British side. Fewer figures were available to the Beor casualties.

  The British military had stabilised the front but was unable to push back the Boer army. The Boers were mobile and shifted their positions whenever the British line infantry arrived. If they caught the Boers, then their artillery had a profound effect on the battles, as the Boers lacked the heavier pieces that the British had.

  Several international events occurred during this conflict. The most significant was that all the European powers declared themselves neutral and refused to support any side in the conflict. Germany announced that it was suspending all arms sales to the Boers as per their treaty with Britain. It had been reported that the Boers were mostly armed with German weapons.

  I read in a paper from early February that the International Arbitration Court had been established in The Hague, under the Geneva Accords signed the previous year. All parties had agreed that the Dutch were the best choice to host such an international court.

  The February battle report began to show a significant shift. The British army was beginning to rack up more victories over its opponents. The Boers were still relying on mobility to counter British advantages, but they were beginning to suffer from a lack of supplies.

  A major news story broke in Germany in late February. Count Zeppelin had created several early airships that had been the talk of Europe, but this month he revealed his newest, the L1. It was far larger than any built before and crossed the German Empire. This sparked great excitement in the civilian press, but I wondered what the military planners were thinking.

  Zeppelin technology was more advanced in this timeline. I remembered from my own experiences and the games I played that the introduction of the Zeppelin L1 was a game-changer, marking the beginning of aerial warfare, though no one realised it at the time. On this timeline, earlier airships had already been in use for about five years. Were the European militaries looking toward this new technology and wondering what they could do with it, or had they not yet envisioned it?

  Time will tell.

  I steadily worked my way through February, noting that little was happening in the American press. It appears that things were relatively quiet within the United States, and the Crossway Chronicle primarily reported on local issues. Few major national stories appeared.

  Internationally, tensions were still escalating, and the United States was beginning to act in one area. The United States of Central America had started to rain in American business excesses within its territory. This prompted the US government to send two cruisers to the Gulf of Mexico coast to show the flag.

  The next day was a distraction to this within the country itself. There was a coal mine explosion in West Virginia that killed an estimated 80 miners. There was a public outcry from the Socialist faction of the Republican Party, though the Democratic lawmakers in the area seemed to consider it an accident.

  This brought me up to the most recent papers.

  I spent the rest of the day and the entire night reading. Those made up the significant stories that I had focused on. There were plenty of others, as I noticed that the Rochester family had been expanding its holdings in the area. This was achieved through Alexander Rochester's marriage to Marianne Biggins.

  "Biggins! Now that's a name."

  I had seen many references to Alexander over the last three years, but more to his father. It seemed that the younger man had now taken on a more active role in his family's business and social causes.

  Of all those who had survived my trial, his family was the only one I could keep track of, since they were local. The others were now a complete mystery to me. I often found myself wondering what had become of them and what they had gained from completing the trial.

  This had led me to another question I was actually planning to answer. It was during the winter months that I realised that both the Way of Athamos and the Daughters of Medusa had not been sending their members into my dungeon to be tested. The Way had early on, but since then, none had come forth. I knew that not one single Daughter had even tried after Eleanor's first opening contact visit.

  Both organisations were seeking more power, both in society and in the magical realm. Now I had supplied them with the means to gather social power, but why were they coming to test themselves for the arcane?

  I was missing something. What it was, I did not know, but I was going to find out.