He watched Molly make her way back to the farm after their encounter, then walked back indoors with Fugue Mushroom in hand. He conjured a glass case from broken telescope lenses to create a magically protected area for his new fungus. He placed it gently and enchanted the casing so no one can get to it without his approval. He stared down at his new fungus, thinking about what happened earlier, with the black shadow he had seen fly before him.
"It can't be Vivi, could it? Was she trying to be funny?"
Making sure his fugue mushroom was safe and secure, and after taking one last sip of his freshly brewed coffee he flicked his wrists and transported himself in front of a door in the swamp. Knocking three times apparently was not a good idea as he heard a boom within her little shack.
Vivi opened the door, glaring at him, her face black as soot. "Thanks for coming while I practiced arithmancy." He raised his eyebrows and asked "Did you curse the number three by accident?" The redness of her face expanded and her anger seemed ready to make everything around her explode. "Did YOU remember I forbade you from ever coming here?!" she shouted, making a vase behind her explode. "I couldn't sit idly by while you seem to want to torture the mortals." He quickly realized this was a mistake to interrogate her about, as she incinerated her door behind her.
"TORTURE THE MORTALS?! Are you crazy?! I could be killed if I even tried to display my magic! Do you even remember what happened last time?!" He quickly recalled the townsfolk of old attempting to burn her on a cross. "YOU can get away with it because YOU live in town, and YOU pass yourself off as a fortune teller! How dare you accuse me of something like that? You know my rule; I don't kill, even if they don't want to listen to that."
Of course she couldn't have made it, he thought. She hasn't gone to town in hundreds of years. Why would she put a spirit there now? "I only ask because earlier, a black shadow flew through the town, and seeing as how you and I are the only ones with capability of producing dark magic around here—" ,"So you accuse ME then? Did you even stop to think that MAYBE it's another force outside of here?"
"Of course I—", He didn't.
She stared at him with a mix of anger and righteousness, knowing perfectly well that he didn't. "Well, maybe you should find out for yourself. It's none of my concern, so leave before I make you."
He turned around, but before he could even think of transporting back to his home, he turned around and suggested to Vivi, "Maybe think of a number other than 3 to curse next time you practice arithmancy." With a flick of his wrist, he was gone, pretty sure he saw some trees incinerate.
Back home, he stared down his new mushroom, ready to study it and apply it to his studies, but before he could, he heard a voice calling for him. "Gale?" He turned around, thinking someone was at the door, but that was impossible, because no one in town knew his real name. He remembered the voice belonged to someone long ago; an old love. "Did I do something wrong, Gale?" The voice sounded teary and pained. "How could you do this, Gale?" so said his mother's voice. Images of when he first performed magic in front of his mother came back, remembering her shock, and her fear. "I didn't raise you like this!" said his father.
"You'll never amount to anything!"
"Freak!"
"Cur!"
"Vile product of the devil itself!"
"Wretched beast!"
Voices of old friends and townspeople and images of old wrought his mind. He closed his eyes and plugged his ears, wishing the pain and the voices would stop and the images would disappear. He could feel his heart break, and his eyes tear up, when suddenly he felt a force hit his chest.
He opened his eyes to a black cloud, like what he saw earlier, his chest aching, and he heard a bang from the wall coming from him as his back collided with the wall. The voices and images came back, louder and more vivid than ever, and with all the pain built upon him, suddenly, he knew no more.