FFM 2024 15: Degradation

No prompts used. This is a continuation to FFM 2024 14: Solution.

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I won the election fair and square. The gem stayed in a box for the duration of the election time. Somehow, the shifted reality was very much for the restoration of environment; it seemed that many factory workers who had been unhappy had enjoyed the restoration work at the field. The change worried me, but I reminded myself that there was no going back. The investigators came and went, never apparently finding the gem despite the mages that started walking around the town.

What the gem was doing to keep itself hidden, I did not know. I was just glad it was doing it so I could focus on being the mayor and coming up with areas that needed to be restored or improved.

The town flourished despite the national confusion. If the gem was doing that, I did not know. I was just glad that things were going well.

Only, one day, the smoke-or-miasma came from under my office’s door in the morning as I was heading inside. As I opened the door and let the smoke-or-miasma into the corridor, the gem was on my desk and the fortune teller sitting at the desk as well, clearly waiting for me as if she had an appointment.

For some reason, the secretary did not react to the smoke-or-miasma at all. I swallowed and stepped inside, closing the door behind me. “Good morning. How can I help you?”
The fortune teller smiled, not bothering to hide her wicked look. “You are squandering the gem’s powers.”
“How so?”
“You could take over far more than this little town.”
I started walking towards my chair. “I don’t want to.”
“Is that so? Do you not fear that one day, you will be found out?” The fortune teller tsked. “If you controlled the country, no one could do anything to you.”
“I will cross that bridge if I get to it.” I sat at my desk, ignoring the gem and the smoke-or-miasma.
The fortune teller chuckled. “Silly child. This land will not suffer this gem forever.” She gestured towards my bonsai tree, which to my shock had not only withered away all of a sudden but also started to downright rot. “One day, everything will give out.”
I frowned. “How can I stop it?”
The fortune teller merely smiled. “You already know how.” She stood up and walked out without waiting for a response. The door closed behind her, leaving me in a dark cloud.

I looked at my bonsai again. I had to figure something out and fast or else I was going to have even more problems.

I could not stop or control the gem. I had to turn it in to the authorities…

…Or I had to give it more space to inflict its magic on. There was a forest just outside the town. That would provide ample space while I worked on a solution, right?

No, it was not right. I had to go to the investigators or some mage who knew what they were doing. I could not do this. This had gone on for far, far too long.

…No. It was too late. I had to keep going. The gem needed space. I needed to give it space.

It needed that forest.

I opened the window and listened to the background chatter from the street that did not note the smoke-or-miasma at all.

The gem disappeared from my desk, leaving the smoke-or-miasma inside my office. There was a knock on the door.

The first appointment of the day began. And somewhere deep in the back of my mind I was so sure I was making a mistake.