As someone who was involved in the scene, it was worse than that for me: a good many of the people diving headlong into evil magic were my friends, my mentors, my family. They had ethics, they were thoughtful and considerate people, but then something changed. I don't know what it was, I don't know why they were hit by it and I was spared, but something dramatic happened.

This wasn't a simple matter of peer pressure: something else happened, and I wish I knew what it was so I could at least understand what happened to the people I used to love, and why I was spared.