ã€ŠGrowing Liliesã€‹


 0.000

    Lily woke to find she¡¯d toppled out of bed. Again. She didn¡¯t know why she¡¯d suddenly developed the habit, but hitting the floor was no more comfortable the third time in a week than it was the first. She groaned, and reached an arm onto her bed to pull her blanket down over her.

    ¡°Fuck you gravity. Fuck you life. Leave me alone.¡±

    But, as she tried to fall asleep again, a smell was keeping her from drifting completely off. She eventually sat up. The clink of the empty cans she¡¯d been sleeping on falling over met her ears. Her room was dark, apart from the bit of sunlight that made it around her black out curtains. A sea of cans, dirty dishes, and garbage greeted her for the morning.

    Another day had come. As it always did. It didn¡¯t matter. Lily¡¯s days were all the same. She lived alone. She hadn¡¯t been seen by another human being in¡­ Honestly, she didn¡¯t even know. At least several months. She ordered all of her food online, and waited until people left to collect it. She snuck out of her apartment to the trash cans in the middle of the night once or twice a month to get rid of some of the mess. Otherwise, she kept all her windows covered, and never left the house.

    It had been like that for the three years she had lived here. Another day. Another week. Another year. It didn¡¯t matter. It was all the same, as the rest of the world passed her by.

    She had stopped caring. Well, that wasn¡¯t quite true. It was more like pain had long since given way to aching depression, and then numbness. This was how things were, and so she could either live with it or¡­ not.

    ¡°Great thoughts to start the morning.¡±

    Lily rose. Sitting in a pile of cans wasn¡¯t more important than anything else she was going to do today, but it was certainly less comfortable.

    She stumbled her way through the mess and into her kitchen to gather breakfast. Breakfast being a rockstar energy drink, a bowl of cereal, and a slice of pizza she¡¯d accidentally left out all night. She put the rest of the pie in the fridge at least. Who said she couldn¡¯t be productive?

    Sitting down to eat, she set up youtube to auto play. It didn¡¯t matter what was on. She just needed something to fill the silence, or the little gremlin that lived in the back of her brain would start spinning up even more negative thoughts.

    As the intro to some documentary about the three major power grids in the united states was playing though, her phone started blaring an alarm from the other side of the room.

    Lily put down her food and groaned, but got up to shut it off. Why had she set an alarm anyways? She couldn¡¯t even remember. As she picked up the phone and looked at it though, she was surprised. She definitely didn¡¯t remember setting this one.

    10:07 AM - ¡®Better Get Moving! <3¡¯

    She shut it off. How strange. She never really used her phone unless she had to. It was a device mostly for communicating with the outside world after all, and Lily had done everything she could to sever that connection. Her phone was a glorified device for receiving one time pin codes from online services, and very rarely making mandatory calls when somehow the outside world managed to touch her. Usually while drinking a little to calm her nerves. Even the sound of a stranger over the phone was enough to start her down the road to a panic attack.

    Well, whatever. If she was sleep walking and setting alarms or something she¡¯d just start turning her phone off. As long as she didn¡¯t end up walking into traffic or something, it was fine. Although, even that was probably fine. At least it¡¯d be quick.

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    She shook her head. Okay! It was time to get her mind onto something else. This was unproductive. But, just as she sat down again, the alarm went off a second time. Now she was really annoyed. She stood up and stomped over to the phone, ready to turn it off entirely.

    10:10 AM - ''Look Outside, Beautiful! <3''

    She blinked down at the phone. There¡¯s no way she wrote that to herself. Even in her sleep. She¡¯d never talk to herself like that. She almost laughed at that, bitterly. But it was the truth.

    ¡°What the hell?¡±

    Her mind raced as she stared at the alarm. Maybe it was a very weird bug, and she was getting someone else¡¯s alarms? No. That didn¡¯t really make sense. She glanced up at the window, still covered with her black out curtains. Was there something out there¡­?

    Dread filled her. What if she looked outside and there was something terrible? Like what? A childish part of her thought about opening her window and seeing a monster. Or just nothing but blue skies and no outside world. Or¡­ she didn¡¯t know.

    No. No that was stupid. She turned off the alarm and reached for the power button to turn off the phone, but just as she was about to turn it off, the alarm started again.

    10:12 AM - ¡®No, really. Look outside.¡¯

    Okay, now it was TALKING to her? She turned the alarm off, and marched over to the window. She was going to open it, see that there was nothing, and then turn off her stupid phone. She reached the curtains in two angry steps, and reached for them. But she stopped an inch short and hesitated.

    Her heart was beating out of her chest. This was so fucking stupid! It was going to be nothing. It had to be nothing. Nothing ever happened to her. Her life was normal, day in and day out. A festering pit of despair, but a festering pit of despair that never ever changed.

    She swallowed her fear, and drew back the curtain.

    A perfectly normal day was outside. Blue skies, buildings, birds. She breathed a sigh of relief, and the tension melted off her. Then, she saw the smoke. Actually, wait. Not just one plume of smoke. Three. Three plumes of smoke from different parts of the city.

    She was on the third floor, and her apartment was on high ground, so she could see quite a ways. There were three fires? She wouldn¡¯t have bat an eye at one if it wasn¡¯t too close, but three? That just didn¡¯t make sense. Wasn¡¯t someone doing something? Was this some kind of attack? She stared, and her heart sank.

    Wait, that¡¯s not all. The roads were empty. The courtyard below her window had no people. No cars were moving. Apart from the fires, she might as well have been looking at a painting. There was a clattering sound as her phone dropped from her hand onto the floor, but she could hardly hear it. A dull ringing was starting to fill her head, and her vision was getting a little dark around the edges. She was feeling faint.

    This couldn¡¯t be right. It couldn¡¯t be. But, as she looked everywhere she could see, there was no one. On a day like today, she should have been able to see people in the windows of other apartments, cars on the road, people in the courtyard, even a plane in the sky. Anything! But there was no one.

    She reached back down and grabbed her phone in a stupor. She was feeling dizzy, and her thoughts were muddled. But, there was fire and no one was doing anything. She tried to unlock it, but it wasn¡¯t working. She didn¡¯t know what she was getting wrong, but decided to just call 911 without unlocking it when she remembered phones could do that.

    She dialed the number. As it started to ring, dread filled her. What was she going to say? Okay. Just. Fire. Say there¡¯s fire. Three fires. Mention not seeing anyone. And then hang up. They could track the location, it would be fine.

    Wait. Wasn¡¯t it ringing for a long time for an emergency number? Her heart sank. What if no one picked up¡­?

    She realized she was hyperventilating and tried to breathe slowly and carefully. That was a crazy thought. More likely they were getting flooded with calls about this, right? But as it continued to ring, a cold certainty filled her. No one was going to pick up.

    She ended the call. She couldn¡¯t listen to the ringing anymore.

    ¡°What¡­ do I do?¡±

    The trembling in her voice was what finally pushed her over the edge.

 0.001

    A few seconds later, a girl started awake. She was laying on the floor in front of her window. For a moment, a magical moment, she thought she must have dreamed the events leading up to this. She tried to sit up, but felt dizzy, and a little sick to her stomach. Having fainted before, she knew what she needed to do. So, she lay on her back and elevated her feet, resting them on the windowsill.

    Forced to lie still for now, she took some deep breaths. Something was very wrong outside. Maybe everyone had evacuated and not known she was in here? Maybe it was the rapture, and she was just the only person who sucked? Maybe it was a zombie apocalypse! With invisible zombies? Okay that one seemed unlikely. But all of the answers seemed unlikely.

    A resolute calm filled her mind. She needed to find out what was going on, and what if anything she needed to do. First, deep breaths. In, and out. In, and out. She knew she was feeling a little better when the next one was a yawn. So, she sat up. Still a little shaky, but nothing she couldn¡¯t handle. The curtain still open caught her eye, and she looked up to see a cloud slowly crossing her tiny view of blue sky from this angle.

    ¡°Huh. Pretty.¡±

    She often forgot how beautiful something as simple as the sky could be. The world outside this room sometimes felt like an alien landscape when she looked at it. A place so unfamiliar on an emotional level that it was upsetting to behold. But other times, she¡¯d catch a glimpse like this. At a time when her normal fears weren¡¯t at the forefront of her mind and just be caught by the beauty of the world. But then¡­ Bitterness. It was a world that wasn¡¯t hers.

    So, she rose. Glancing out of the window to make sure that things were still the same, she found her way to her desk and sat down. First things first. She opened the internet and checked the news. The fact that the internet was working gave her a little bit of hope, but as she scrolled down today¡¯s news articles she found herself increasingly perplexed. Her brow furrowed, and she could feel the confused look on her face.

    There were news articles for today, but not one of them was talking about anything like this. Just the normal news she¡¯d expect. Maybe she was panicking about nothing¡­? So, she continued on to social media, determined to find people talking about this. She searched for posts containing the name of her city and sorting by latest and¡­ nothing. Nothing suspicious anyway. Scrolling through the posts, all that showed up was people talking about local events and so on. Then she paused, and scrolled back to the top. This wasn¡¯t right¡­

    9:15 AM @SantaDelMarPolice: ?? Our dedicated officers are here to ensure the safety of Santa Del Mar residents and visitors. Please feel free to reach out if you have any questions or concerns. #CommunitySafety

    8:30 AM @Beachercise: Rise and shine, Santa Del Mar! Another beautiful day awaits. Explore the scenic beaches and don''t forget to tag me in your photos. Meeting down by the beach at 10:30! #SantaDelMarAdventures #exercise #fitness

    2:58 AM @BeachBumSara: ?? Good vibes and crashing waves in #SantaDelMar tonight! The ocean is alive with moonlight. #BeachLife #NightLife

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    2:54 AM @FoodieAdventures: Just had the best seafood tacos at the Santa Del Mar pier! Fresh catch of the day. ?? #FoodieFinds #SantaDelMarEats

    2:53 AM @MusicInParadise: Live music at Santa Del Mar''s famous beachside bar, "Seaside Serenade" tonight! Come groove to the tunes and enjoy the sea breeze. ?? #LiveMusic #SantaDelMarNights

    The timestamps were abnormal to say the least. As she scrolled down, there were posts almost every 5 minutes before three AM, but after that¡­ Only in the morning, and at suspiciously perfect times. Wait, were these scheduled posts?

    Her stomach sank. Well, maybe it was still nothing right? She decided to post a reply to the police.

    10:54 AM @Girlbage: Sorry to bother you, but if anyone is monitoring this account could you please respond? I can¡¯t get through to 911, and I can see fires in the distance. I don¡¯t see anyone outside. Please help.

    Somehow, writing a plea for help really made the situation seem more dire. Wait, if those are just the posts for her area¡­

    She frantically started a new search, looking for latest posts with no other criteria. It was the same result. Scattered posts that looked like they could be scheduled, followed by normal posting. All before 3 AM.

    Suddenly, she felt very, very small. The sound of her hyperventilating filled the room. She couldn¡¯t think. She couldn¡¯t think. She couldn¡¯t think! Panic began to take hold again. Jumping up from her computer she did the unthinkable. She ran to her front door, wrenched it open, and went outside.

    A scrambling mad dash down the stairs on the outside of her apartment building. She tumbled upon hitting the ground floor, leaving a bloody gash on one knee, but stood up and ran into the center of the courtyard.

    ¡°Hello?! Is there anyone here?! Please! I need help! Please! Someone respond! Anyone! Can anyone at all hear me?¡±

    Only silence answered her cries. She stood in what should have been the center of a bustling courtyard, and a stone cold certainty overtook her. There was no one to hear her.

    She doubled over, and promptly vomited. The echoed sounds of her emptying her stomach filled the courtyard, as if to emphasize how very quiet everything was. She rolled over on her back when she was done, laying still and looking at the sky.

    Whenever she was outside, she got scared looking up into the sky. The deep blue abyss made her feel like she was barely clinging to the ground, and at any moment could fall into that vast expanse of nothing. It made her uneasy on a good day. But today, somehow, it didn¡¯t seem that bad.

    <hr>

    In a small town called Santa Del Mar, on the coast of California, there is a courtyard. In the center of that courtyard lies a lone figure. A girl, on her back, stares up at the sky. She¡¯s been laying there for 33 minutes and 47 seconds. She is 28 years old. Her name is Lily. She has brown wavy hair, matted from not being cared for. Her pale skin is dotted with freckles. Thick glasses sit on her face in front of her emerald eyes, threatening to dangerously magnify the sun shining down on her. She¡¯s 5 foot 10 inches tall, and a little overweight due to her sedentary lifestyle. She is wearing a ratty old mismatched set of pajamas, and has neglected to put on shoes before running out of her house. She has a bloody gash on one knee that is starting to hurt more as she comes back slowly to reality, and is currently laying dangerously close to a pile of her own vomit.

    Oh, and she thinks that she might be the last living human in the world.

 0.002

    What finally got her moving was the smell of smoke in the air. She had been blankly staring up at the sky for quite some time, when the slight scent startled her out of her shock. ¡°Right. The fires¡­¡± she mumbled to herself. ¡°Well, better get moving¨C¡± she cut off. In a flash she remembered the cell phone alarms from earlier. Those alarm titles. She hadn¡¯t left those alarms for herself after all! There¡¯s no way she would have known what was going to happen like this.

    She sat up abruptly, wincing at the pain in her knee. As she stood up, she noted the smoke in the sky. There were now five large billows of smoke around the city, and they looked bigger. The closest one loomed ominously, appearing much closer than before. Lily cursed, and headed back towards her apartment.

    Okay, the plan. She needed a plan. What was her plan? Well, obviously she had to leave her apartment. She didn¡¯t want to know what would happen to her if the fire reached her apartment complex before she had a chance to leave. What a way to go, survive the apocalypse only to get taken out by a fire I saw coming hours before. ¡°Well, it¡¯d be fitting enough. Dying like I¡¯ve lived¨C in my apartment and refusing to leave.¡± She shook her head to clear away that depressing thought.

    No. Absolutely not. She was going to get some of her things together, see if she couldn¡¯t break into her phone, and find a safe place to wait out the fire. Where even IS safe from a fire? Outside the city? ¡°Yeah, in the forests of California, historically the safest place to get away from raging fires.¡± She rolled her eyes at her own stupid thought. Okay, so not there. But if not there, where? Sewers maybe? Instantly she rejected the idea as the visceral mental image of her roasting alive in a puddle of slime and gross crossed her mind. She shook her head again, and found herself at the stairs.

    ¡°Oh god damnit! I¡¯m such a fucking screw up!¡± She shouted as she looked up the stairs and realized how much of a pain it was going to be to climb the 53 stairs to her floor with her knee so screwed up. But, she started up, step by step. It was agonizing, even taking it slow. She cursed her clumsiness with every single movement. But, she was making progress, and before long she sat panting and clutching her leg at the top of the steps. She looked out at the fire. Not significantly closer than before.

    After catching her breath, she stood and hobbled into her apartment again. It was, unsurprisingly, exactly how she¡¯d left it. She was careful not to close the front door behind her, feeling strangely like sealing it back up would somehow prevent her from leaving again. With a heavy sigh she approached her desk and sat back at the computer. Unable to think of something else to do, she opened her home page and ran a search.

    ¡°Survival items from around the house¡±

    Not satisfied with those results she tried again.

    ¡°Build an emergency kit¡±

    That was a little better. But, it was always the same items. Batteries, flashlights, candles, non-perishable food. ¡°I suppose humans don¡¯t really need much more than food, water, warmth, and light huh?¡± she said to the empty room. Glancing out the window to make sure the fire wasn¡¯t sneaking up on her she got packing.

    Bags of chips, her phone, her cereal, her energy drinks, cans of soup she hadn¡¯t touched in years, microwave ramen, her blankets, her phone, a couple books, several bottles of water, a loose knife, bandaids, and some over the counter painkillers. She looked over her packed items and almost decided she was ready. Then, she had a realization. ¡°Oh fuck. Clothes that aren¡¯t pajamas.¡±

    She dug around in her drawers, but only a few of the items she had even fit her now. She tossed on a loose pair of jeans and a dress over them. It looked absolutely stupid, but they fit and wouldn¡¯t be too hard to move in. As she passed by the bathroom on the way out she caught a glimpse of herself in the mirror and stopped. She never liked looking at her reflection. But, this time she actually laughed out loud for a second. Seeing herself all dressed up like this, for such an absurd reason, it was almost comical. It took all the stress out of seeing herself. She giggled to herself, and did a small twirl. ¡°Look everyone, it¡¯s the most beautiful girl in the world.¡± At that, she couldn¡¯t hold it in anymore and just laughed, and laughed, and laughed. Then, she sobbed, and the laughter turned into tears in an instant.

    Lily sank down onto her knees on her bathroom floor, the echoes of her sobs still sounding a little like laughter in the empty bathroom. But now it sounded mocking, and only highlighted how she was feeling. So, she tried to speak to herself. ¡°I¨C I can¡¯t do this. I ruin everything I touch. I fail at everything I do. I¡¯m scared. I think¡­ Am I going to die¡­? Someone, please help me¡­¡± At that, the tears redoubled, and she laid down again.

    It took a few minutes for the tears to start to clear. But she knew she had to keep going. Letting herself cry for a minute was fine, but if she stayed here forever, the fire would eventually reach her. So, even though the tears still dripped down her face, she got up, and started moving again. She grabbed her bags, and headed down to the courtyard again. Thankfully, going down the stairs was significantly easier than climbing them. Upon getting down to the ground floor though she had a new realization.

    ¡°Well. Shit. Now what?¡± she said out loud. Her voice echoed off the far wall, as if driving her solitude in on purpose. When she used to leave her home she had a car of her own. But she hadn¡¯t had one in years. Sure she could drive, and in this situation it felt entirely ethical to take whatever car she needed. In fact, she¡¯d planned on it!

    But, now that she was standing here, eying the parking lot nearby she was suddenly frozen. How exactly was she supposed to take one of these cars? She didn¡¯t know where any of the keys were! She didn¡¯t even know which car belonged to which apartment, so even if she broke into an apartment and found keys, she¡¯d have to try every single car to find one that would work!

    The fire was moving slow enough, she might be able to just travel away from it and find a car in another parking lot or something. But, some part of her told her that she would have better luck here. Home field advantage or something, right? Sports! She knew nothing about sports.

    She stared at the parking lot, looking at each car and trying to remember if she could match any of them to an apartment. But the truth was, she didn¡¯t even know what her direct neighbors looked like, much less their cars. She was just about to give up and start walking when she found her answer.

    ¡°Oh my god I¡¯m such an idiot. I just need to go to some suburb and get one from a house!¡± The car outside a house would definitely match the house. Then she¡¯d just have to find the keys! The closest houses were just behind the apartment complex, but she hadn¡¯t thought of the little suburban area because her apartment faced the opposite direction. She hadn¡¯t seen it in years! Not since she¡¯d moved in.

    Hobbling as fast as she could, and cursing herself for getting hurt during an emergency with every single step she made her way around the back of the complex. Thankfully, she had remembered correctly and there was a quaint little suburban street leading out of the complex and into a block of houses.

    ¡°Okay, so now I just have to break into one. Choose a house and break into it. Like a thief. I can do that.¡± She paused. On an intellectual level, she had some ideas of how to break into a house. But, her body didn¡¯t want to move. She¡¯d always been a stickler for following the rules, and confronted with the reality of entering a stranger¡¯s home without permission she was suddenly unsure of herself. ¡°How do I choose¡­?¡±

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    Eeny Meeny Miny Moe? Idiotic. Well. Which house would be easiest to break into? Physically, one with big windows maybe? What about emotionally? Then she thought she had it. It was so simple. She would just go door to door until she found one that wasn¡¯t locked. That felt somehow less intrusive than breaking and entering. It was just¡­ entering. Right?

    So, she started down the street. The first house was locked. So was the second. The third didn¡¯t have a car in front of it. But the fourth opened right up. The second the door came open with a creak, Lily realized she¡¯d made a huge mistake. For a second, she only heard the sound of movement from within the darkened hall leading away from the front door, when suddenly a dog rounded the corner and immediately started snarling and barking. It wasn¡¯t a huge dog. It must have been a beagle, or a basset hound or something mixed. One of those low to the ground dogs with the oversized skin and large brown spots. But the dog was angry.

    Well, probably scared and angry, but now wasn¡¯t the time for empathy. Small or not, it would still hurt to get bit, and she was an intruder, and she couldn¡¯t afford another injury right now. With a yelp, Lily dodged away from the door as the dog shot from the home like a missile, circling around the back of her and continuing to bark loudly. Before she knew it, Lily was running INTO the house and shutting the door behind her to get away from the dog.

    The door shut with a click. She could still hear the dog outside, barking loudly and pawing at the front door trying to get in to defend its home. ¡°Ugh, lucky it barked instead of going straight for my ankles with those teeth.¡± She took a deep breath. Well, she could worry about getting out after she found some keys.

    ¡°Hello?¡± she called out, pretty sure she wouldn¡¯t get an answer but feeling uncomfortable not announcing herself in someone¡¯s home. ¡°Please pardon the intrusion, I¡¯m coming in!¡±

    With that, she did her best to absolve herself mentally of what she was about to do. One deep breath, and then exploration began. It was strange going through someone¡¯s home while they weren¡¯t present. Lily could almost feel the presence of the people who had lived here. There were pictures of them hung on the walls. Two husbands raising what seemed like an adopted son. At least, he didn¡¯t bear much resemblance to either of the parents. They looked¡­ happy. But, now wasn¡¯t the time to dwell on that. To the left of the hallway was a kitchen, to the right a living space and what appeared to be a door that likely lead to a bedroom.

    So, Lily chose the kitchen first. She opened all the top drawers, thinking that there might be extra keys in a junk drawer or the like, and found them¡­ immaculate. ¡°Not to judge, but what kind of family doesn¡¯t have a junk drawer? Every house I¡¯ve ever been in till now has a junk drawer. Where do they put all their things that don¡¯t go anywhere else¡­?¡± She mused out loud to herself. Somehow, it just felt better to speak out loud. It¡¯s not something she did often in her own home, but right now it was helping her feel less alone. Plus, if she was home she¡¯d probably be listening to something on her headphones.

    Next stop was the pantry to see if they had anything non-perishable she should take. For survival, of course! She wasn¡¯t a thief. When all of this was over, and everyone had¡­ re-appeared or whatever, she¡¯d come back and apologize. Yeah. That¡¯s a good way to think of it.

    So, she opened the pantry. Not a whole lot jumped out at her. Spaghetti noodles? Well, it¡¯s not like she¡¯s certain to have a place to cook them soon. Bread wouldn¡¯t stay very good. She already had a number of canned goods. Then, she spotted a small box of assorted hostess goods, and decided to grab that. Sugar. She was definitely going to need some non-perishable sweets over the next few days. Taking a minute to stuff the treats into her luggage, she went back to her search. If not the kitchen, then where?

    Backtracking, she approached the living area. Unfortunately, there was obviously nothing of note here. Electronics wouldn¡¯t be useful while making an escape. There was a phone on the coffee table, but it was locked. Stupid locks. She was starting to realize that this was going to be a consistent problem when it came to getting access to data she wanted.

    Wait, didn¡¯t people normally leave going out stuff like, right next to the door? She peered into the hallway she¡¯d entered from. Sure enough, on a little hook next to the door just above head level was a set of keys. She put her hand over her face, feeling a small blush rising. ¡°Ugh! I was so scared of the stupid dog I didn¡¯t even check!¡±

    She stomped back to the front door and grabbed the keys off the hook. A little black dongle hung on the chain with buttons to unlock the car, pop the trunk, and so on. So, she pressed the unlock button. Outside she heard the beep of the car unlocking. The dog instantly started barking louder.

    ¡°Now what¡­?¡± She stood facing the door. Obviously she needed to get herself and her things into the car. Also, there was a dog. It wasn¡¯t a big dog, and she could probably take it in a fight if it came to it. But she didn¡¯t want to hurt a dog! Especially this nice looking family¡¯s pet dog! She couldn¡¯t just brain the thing and run, right? She wished she could see how close the fire was from here.

    She didn¡¯t think opening the door and taking some time to make friends with the dog was going to work at this point. But, she needed to escape. Survival was on the line. Deep breaths. Form a plan. Kicking the dog was nearly out of the question. She wasn¡¯t sure she could, even if the alternative was getting bit. Maybe she could swap places with it again by letting it in and running past? Then what, the dog starves to death in this house over the next few days, or burns alive in the fire? How is that better? No. The dog has to stay outside, so the poor thing has a fighting chance.

    She redoubled her efforts to focus. ¡°I just have to get into the car without the dog biting me. With my supplies. Easy, right?¡± So, she sat down and created a plan.

    <hr>

    Ten minutes later, she found herself standing in front of the door, suited up. Lily braced herself, and opened the door, rushing out into the sunlight. The dog instantly took notice, running around from the side of the house and chasing her down. It was a foot race, but Lily was at a distinct disadvantage, having half as many feet! Half way to the car. Three quarters. She might actually outrun the dog! It was a short distance and she had a huge head start.

    Reaching the car with the keys in her hands, she fumbled to get them inserted into the keyhole, when it happened. CHOMP. She felt the dog¡¯s teeth bite down, and suddenly it was twisting and trying to pull her leg out from under her. Lily let out a scream! But, it was just a scream of terror. There was no pain.

    The dog''s teeth had sunk directly into the pillow she had duct taped around her leg! There was still a bit of a crushing squeezing discomfort, but the pillow had stopped the worst of it. Gathering herself, she continued fumbling with the keys desperately, when suddenly she realized she had already unlocked the door remotely! Cursing herself, she flung the door open and threw her rolling suitcase into the passenger seat. Carefully making sure she didn¡¯t drop the keys outside she got into the driver¡¯s seat. It was awkward and difficult with her bulky leg padding, but she managed.

    She had to practically scrape the dog off of her leg with her other foot to keep it outside the car, but then she was sitting in the car, alone. ¡°Oh god. Ooooooh god. That was awful.¡± Her breathless voice filled the car. ¡°Please have gas. I¡¯ll cry if you don¡¯t have gas.¡±

    Lily pushed the button that starts the car (how modern!) and it roared to life. She half screamed, half shouted for joy. Looking immediately to the dashboard¡­ Full tank! Of course. These people with no junk drawer would have a full tank. Stupid Mr. and Mr. Perfect with their stupid protective and probably super sweet dog!

    Taking a quick look around at her surroundings, Lily easily spotted the fire. It had gotten significantly closer. It must be licking at the very edges of her apartment complex already. ¡°I hope it stops before burning my place down.¡± She let out a heavy breath, and flipped the car into reverse. ¡°No sense in getting closer to the fire I think.¡± If there were emergency teams working on it, it probably wouldn¡¯t be spreading so quickly. It was time to get some distance.

    So decided, she backed the car out of the driveway, careful to make sure she didn¡¯t run over the dog. Pulling into the street, she hit the gas and pulled away. The dog chased her for half a block, barking its head off before it stopped and turned around. She was thankful for that. Hopefully it will run from the fire.

    She wasn¡¯t sure where she was going, but for now away from the fire was probably enough.

 0.003

    Lily didn¡¯t exactly know her way around, so she simply drove. Through the suburbs the streets were almost entirely empty, but by the time she got onto the freeway there were occasionally other cars around. All of them were empty, of course. Most of them seemed to have drifted off the side of the road and stopped, but a few were still in the street. A couple of them were still running, but presumably would be running out of gas in the next few hours.

    One car was just a still smoldering shell. Lily stopped to examine it. It seemed like it had run into the barrier along the side of the road and ignited. Fortunately it hadn¡¯t spread. ¡°Is this what started the other fires? What the hell happened?¡± Somehow vocalizing her thoughts helped her feel less alone. But, the mystery was real. What HAD happened? Judging by the posts earlier and the amount of cars on the road, it happened around three AM. In some ways that was lucky. If it¡¯d happened at noon, she¡¯d probably need a motorcycle to use the roads, and she didn¡¯t really know how to drive one.

    Probably a good idea to learn¡­ but not right now. Right now she had other priorities. LIke¡­ What? She paused to think. There was no active fire spreading near her, so it was as good a time as any. Although it felt strange being stopped in the middle of the freeway. So, she got in the car and pulled it off to the side of the road, then climbed on top of it to sit and think.

    What did she need to do, immediately?

    ¡°Let¡¯s see. Order of survival! Remove myself from immediate danger? Check. Remove myself from potential danger?¡± she glanced back at the nearest fire still spreading on the horizon. ¡°I need to find a place to settle that¡¯s safe from the fires until the fires die down. Is there anything I need to have to wait that out? Fine! Basic survival checklist for¡­ three days! Just in case. Shelter away from the fire, food, water, and something to do so I don¡¯t go insane. There, look at me bein¡¯ all responsible. First things first, where do I go?¡±

    She stopped for a second, and just tried to clear her mind of everything but that question. The forest was out. California was notorious for forest fires, and she remembered hearing that they could spread VERY fast. Was there some kind of fireproof building? Maybe tunnels underground? If a fire passed over a tunnel like that, would it heat up? Could she still breathe? No¡­ she didn¡¯t want to find out. She took a deep breath, and let it out. And the answer came to her. She could smell the ocean in the air, even through the light smell of smoke. The ocean. It hadn¡¯t immediately come to her because she didn¡¯t really know how to use a boat, and she¡¯d never owned one before.

    But, ownership wasn¡¯t really an issue right now. And she knew how boats were supposed to work. On paper. She¡¯d used boats in video games, and seen them controlled in videos and things. They had that¡­ weird throttle that was like a lever, right? But that¡¯s just forward and back and a wheel. It¡¯s not like she needed to go far or fast. Just out enough into the water to not choke on the smoke or burn alive. That¡¯s do-able, right?

    ¡°Okay. A boat! The harbor. I can do this. I¡¯m a good swimmer too. But I won¡¯t need to swim! Life vest too! I need a life vest. They usually have those on boats, right? I¡¯ll look for a boat with life vests. I need food and water, and something to do for a few days. Then I can find the harbor. I- I can do this! I can do this! I can do this. ¡­right?¡±

    <hr>

    The city of Santa Del Mar was small for a city. It was right on the ocean, with a freeway running parallel to the coast through most of the city. It had no particularly tall buildings, but was fairly spread out. It was a tourist destination, so the traffic stopping into the city while passing through would find plenty of overpriced places to stop and eat or buy overpriced souvenirs. The main attraction was of course the beach, but the forests around the city held a number of good hiking spots and little tourist traps as well.

    It was a quiet, somewhat idyllic little city. On a day like this, there should be a mass of people laying out across the beach practically all the way along the shore. The single freeway through the city would be so full it was moving at a snail¡¯s pace, and every little shop and restaurant ought to be bustling with activity, conversations, and laughter. The sun was shining, the temperature was lovely, and yet, the city was empty. Almost silent, apart from the sound of the ocean and the few automated devices still making sound.

    There were only a few sources of activity. A number of fires had started, and black smoke was billowing up into the sky in those places. There were a total of fifteen already, stemming from kitchens whose occupants happened to vanish while cooking, and unoccupied cars that had crashed and caused chaos. A few of the fires had never gotten particularly large and burned themselves out when they reached roads and other gaps in material they couldn¡¯t cross. But, three of the fires were currently quite large and only spreading faster. The flames engulfed everything in their path, becoming stronger and consuming increasingly quickly.

    Apart from the destruction wrought by the fire, there was one point of activity in the entire city. Coming from the inside of a high end grocery store, there was a scream.

    <hr>

    Lily pulled up in front of the grocery store. Normally she¡¯d be too poor to shop here, but there was no reason to grab anything but the best goods available right now. So, she¡¯d driven until she¡¯d found an upscale looking area and then looked for somewhere that might have what she needed. It hadn¡¯t taken that long to find.

    The parking lot was empty too. Lily assumed not a lot of people had been shopping in the middle of the night. So, she parked right out front. In the red zone. She got a small thrill from being so cavalier about rules that she¡¯d otherwise never ever break. Feeling a little giddy, she turned off the car, and got out. Then, realizing she didn¡¯t have to lock up she left the door wide open.

    But, as she walked up to the door she encountered her first problem. The automatic doors didn¡¯t open. Puzzled, Lily took a few steps back and walked up to them again.

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    ¡°Huh?¡±

    She walked back, and then forward a third time. Nothing. For a second she thought about whether maybe the electricity had stopped working, but that couldn¡¯t be it. The lights were on inside.

    ¡°Oh shit! It was closed when shit went down!¡± Lily yelled in frustration. She marched up to the door and tried to wedge her fingers between the two automatic doors and pull them open. But, it must have been locked or something, because they didn¡¯t budge at all.

    Well. They were made of glass. How hard could it be to smash in? She looked around for a rock. Finding a nice stone the size of her closed fist she hefted it up. It had to be at least five pounds. Approaching the doors, she stared for a second, feeling guilty for what she was about to do.

    ¡°It¡¯s fine. There¡¯s no one to get hurt, and besides! I¡¯m the girl who parks where she pleases. I can do this!¡±

    She threw the stone as hard as she could at the glass door.

    THUNK

    It made a pathetic sounding noise, and clattered to the ground in front of her feet. The door didn¡¯t look damaged at all.

    ¡°What the hell? Is this some kind of super glass? What kind of glass doesn¡¯t break when you hit it real hard!?¡±

    She huffed, staring at it. For a second she contemplated grabbing the rock and throwing it again, but an image of it falling back and landing on her foot flashed through her mind and she decided to do something less dangerous. Glancing around, she saw a trash can nearby. A relieved smile crossed her face as she walked over and reached to grab it. It was stinky, but it looked plenty heavy, and she could just bash until the glass broke right?

    She grabbed the trash can and lifted with all her might! It didn¡¯t budge. Not at all. She wrenched and pulled and heaved! Nothing. A muscle in her back was starting to hurt, so she stopped pulling. Sitting down out of exhausted frustration, she examined it more closely to see if it was welded down or fused to the rock below, but no. It was just too heavy for her. Way too heavy for her to lift over her head and smash with like she had in mind.

    ¡°Ugh. This sucks¡­ I don¡¯t want to try and drive my car through it. I need to be able to get around and I don¡¯t have a backup right now. Gotta add that to my list over the next few days¡­¡±

    Lily took a deep breath, and looked at the sky. It was strange. All day today, looking at the sky felt kind of comforting. Usually it filled her with a deep unease, but because she had so many other things to be scared of right now, her usual fears weren¡¯t activating so much. She laid out on the ground and just stared for a little.

    ¡°I wish I could have felt like this before today. Casually outside. Able to stare at the sky with my heart at ease. Maybe today I even could have talked to a stranger. If I felt like this all the time, what could my life have been like?¡±

    She closed her eyes for a minute, and began to think about her current situation. Driving the car through the door was her last resort. But what else could she do? She needed something to smash through the window with. Heavy and blunt wasn¡¯t going to work because she couldn¡¯t lift something heavy enough. Stupid weak body from years of not going outside, she cursed inwardly.

    Okay, what might she have in the car? Her suitcase probably wasn¡¯t heavy enough, and she didn¡¯t want to mess with her stuff. Her cell phone still wasn¡¯t letting her unlock it, so she couldn¡¯t look up a good solution online. The car might have one of those car window breaker devices for people to escape vehicles with? Lily wasn¡¯t sure how those worked, if the car would even have one, and if so if it would work on the glass door. Well, worth considering. What else?

    Wait. Car tools. Isn¡¯t the tool used for removing tires that plus shaped metal thing? Could there be one of those?

    Lily opened her eyes and scrambled to her feet. She walked quickly over to the car and popped the trunk open. At first when she walked back there and opened it she was disappointed. It was almost entirely empty. But then she noticed a little pull cord, and upon pulling it the false bottom opened up revealing a spare tire, jumper cables, a car lifting device and¡­ a tire iron! She nearly shouted for joy. Grabbing it up she ran back to the front doors of the store and took a swing as hard as she could.

    THUNK

    For a second, she was in total dismay. It didn¡¯t come crashing down like she had hoped. But¡­ there was a dent. A small dent. But a dent. Grinning wickedly, Lily raised her tool of devastation again!

    THUNK THUNK THUNK THUNK CRASH

    The door broke inwards. Not a large enough gap for her to fit through, but from there it was much easier to break it the rest of the way. Once it was clear, she carefully stepped through, making sure not to scratch herself on the presumably sharp edges. And then she was in. The cool air of the air conditioner was blowing down on her, and a stale song from a 90¡¯s boy band was playing in the background. It was perfect.

    Lily immediately got to work. Grabbing a cart, she entered the store proper. Twenty steps in, she froze. Lily was awful at shopping. Anxiety started buzzing at the back of her mind. But, usually she was bad at shopping because she was scared of the people that inhabited a grocery store like this. She always felt like she was being judged. Like everyone was staring at her with disdain. Like she was the biggest piece of garbage and everyone saw it immediately when they looked at her. Like they could see the slimy thing she was, and it was obvious to everyone, and she didn¡¯t deserve to be here. How could she dare to step into a place meant for normal people? She didn¡¯t belong here, and it was only a matter of time until¡ª

    ¡°ATTENTION SHOPPERS!¡± The voice called. Lily¡¯s scream almost drowned it out. For a horrible moment everything was terror. She got so scared, the next thing she knew she had fallen to the floor. She was scrabbling backwards towards the door without really hearing the voice at all or processing what it was saying until¡­

    ¡°-Madness! That¡¯s right, starting in fifteen minutes at four PM there will be a special deal at the butcher¡¯s counter! During M-m-meat madness select cuts of your favorite meats will be 50% off, and deli meat will be 25% off! A deal this good is rare to see! Passing on it now would be a huge missed steak! So we¡¯ll sear you up at the butcher¡¯s counter in fifteen minutes! Thank you!¡±

    Lily choked out half of a laugh, and then felt her eyes bubbling over with tears. That had been¡­ SO SCARY.

 0.004

    It took her a few minutes to regain her composure. An automated message. It had to be an automated message. But, hearing someone call out like that really frightened her. On the plus side, it had stopped her imminent mental break by giving her something much, much scarier to focus on.

    When it felt like her heart wasn¡¯t going to explode, and she could see through her watery eyes she slowly got to her feet.

    ¡°Stupid automatic announcements made by people who¨C whatever happened to them.¡± she paused for a second at that. ¡°It¡¯s like I got scared by a ghost.¡± With that thought, she let out a nervous laugh. Or, maybe it was a sob. It was somewhere in the middle. So, she attempted to lighten the mood.

    ¡°Hey there ghosts and demons. It¡¯s me. Ya girl Lily.¡± She expected to feel a little better after the silly joke, but the way her voice echoed through the aisles just made her feel more unsettled. Okay. Enough of that. Get in, get out with all the stuff. That¡¯s not too hard right? It¡¯s like an ordinary shopping trip. From her nightmares. She hurried into the store proper, heading towards the produce aisle. Her heart started beating faster as she traveled further in, feeling like she did walking down hallways in the dark or to the bathroom in the middle of the night. Like something was following her. When she arrived at the first bin of fruit, she stopped. Everything in her body told her not to turn around. Everything. Wait. This was anxiety. Just. Anxiety. She forced herself to confront it. She couldn¡¯t keep dealing with things like this today!

    Lily made herself turn around. It was like forcing a stripped screw to turn one more time. But, she did it. There was nothing there.

    She stopped. That¡¯s when she had her genuine laugh. ¡°This is so! So stupid!¡± She laughed so hard she could hardly breathe. She doubled over. Running through a grocery store like ghosts were chasing her? It wasn¡¯t even dark. There was nothing there! There was no one anywhere. Nothing to chase her. She took a deep breath, and steadied herself.

    Tearing the bag free of the roll with ease, she turned to her actual task. Fruit and vegetables. Those things weren¡¯t going to stay good for long at all. Extremely perishable, so she might as well take a bunch. Space in the car wasn¡¯t exactly at a premium, and a boat ought to be even larger, so she gathered everything she knew she liked. Oranges and lemons (to stave off scurvy, right? You got that from being at sea, right?), apples, peaches, nectarines, grapefruit slices in water, a couple pomegranates, lettuce, tomatoes, potatoes, a one pound bag of carrots, a bag of celery, and the coup de grace, a whole watermelon. Lily briefly let the fantasy wash over her of being on a calm boat under the hot sun, breaking open a watermelon and cooling off by stuffing her face. Then she thought about the backdrop being the view of Santa Del Mar burning to the ground, and swiftly pushed the thought down.

    She moved on to the next segment of the store. There was a ton of ready sliced sandwich meat and cheese, so she just shoveled a bunch into the cart. Bologna? Check. Honey ham? Yes please. Pepper turkey? You bet. Every cheese under the sun? Obviously. Looking down at her half full cart she made a note to grab bread too.

    Condiments! She went down the aisle and grabbed everything she could think of. Including way too many jars of olives and pickles. Breads, cereals, hot dogs! A half gallon of milk! A cooler! Ice! Back to a couple gallons of milk! Paper and plastic bowls, plates, and silverware! Bacon! Mac & Cheese! Pop tarts! ALL of the candy! She was getting overwhelmed fast, having filled two full carts of what can only be described as what a child would buy if you let them loose in a grocery store with a black card.

    But, before she knew it, she couldn¡¯t think of anything else to grab. She had an extremely mismatched set of things that she had grabbed with no plan at all besides ¡®that looks good!¡¯. So, she stood, staring down at her two carts and feeling incompetent.

    ¡°This is all the stuff I can think of that I might want to eat over the next few days. So why does it feel like I¡¯ve done a bad job? I have food. I have drinks. That was the goal, wasn¡¯t it? Am I¡­ missing something? Or am I just not used to this¡­?¡±

    She frowned at the pile of food. It was a ton of food. Somehow it didn¡¯t feel like enough. Regardless, even after sitting for a while and thinking about it she didn¡¯t really know what she had gotten wrong, so she couldn¡¯t fix it. With a shrug she pushed the carts towards the entrance. As she was passing the check out area, she briefly considered leaving a note.

    ¡°So what, if everyone re-appears tomorrow they know who stole their stuff? This is an emergency. I¡¯m not doing anything wrong. It¡¯s not stealing. It¡¯s survival.¡± Despite what she told herself, the rules of society instilled in her were strong. She felt very, very guilty. But, she persevered, pushing her cart loads of food out to the car, and loading it all in.

    She was tired. She hadn¡¯t moved around and gotten this much exercise in years, and her body wasn¡¯t used to it at all. Already, her muscles felt like limp ropes under her skin, unable to properly move her body around. But, there were still a few things left to do.

    First up, earlier she had spotted a Best Buy right across the street. Feeling much more confident, Lily crossed the street while not even looking both ways. Okay, maybe a glance. But it was out of habit! She pulled straight up to the red zone in front of the store, threw her car in park and climbed out. It was a lot easier the second time.

    ¡°This is how killers become serial killers.¡± whispered a small alarmist part of Lily¡¯s mind. But that was stupid, so she told that part to shut up and continued up to the door, brandishing her glass smasher.

    This time it only took three blows! For a second, she basked in her feeling of growth. Then she heard the noise. An alarm was going off. Not from her phone. As the glass shattered and fell in, the noise screamed even louder. It was the alarm from the store, and it was BLARING.

    Lily stood, frozen in front of the broken glass. In her heart, she expected squads of cop cars to pull up any second and apprehend her. But of course, no one came. Lily waited until she felt she could move her body again, and then proceeded inside. The alarm was very loud in here. It hurt her ears, but she had things she needed to get. So, hoping that she wouldn¡¯t end up with some kind of auditory damage, she continued on.

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    The first thing she wanted seemed obvious to her. Gas generator. Long term if she was going to be in this world, she wanted solar panels and lots of them. But, for now she needed something small to keep her in electricity until she had a better set up. Even if it required siphoning gas, she could probably manage it. She¡¯d never done it before, but she could remember an experiment about how to start a siphon in middle school science class.

    She¡¯d gotten absolutely drenched because she¡¯d sucked on the hose too hard, and she¡¯d gotten bullied about it for about a week. Oh hoh hoh, Lily is too good at sucking. Lily can suck my hose. ¡°Kids are evil little brats. But who¡¯s laughing now, huh?¡± Lily was decidedly not laughing. But even though she could barely hear the words around the sound of the alarm, it did make her feel a little better.

    Generators were a little hard to find. She really had to scour the store before she found a more traditional hardware section towards the back, and there they were. Heavier than she¡¯d like, so she came back with a cart and loaded it in. Lily had no idea how to choose one, so she just grabbed the one with the highest price tag. Forget reading the back, her ears were hurting bad.

    From there, she looked for a portable DVD player, and felt old when she found out they are all Blu-Ray players now. But, she grabbed one regardless. There was a whole row of movies across from it, so she just started grabbing one of everything. Terrible looking B movie? Hell yeah! A whole box set of FRIENDS? Why not. Some anime she¡¯s never heard of? Anything for entertainment in the apocalypse.

    Once she thought she had one of everything, she found her way to the video games section. For the first time, she encountered a bigger issue. No consoles were out here. They had little paper things you were supposed to take and give to an employee to ring up, and then they¡¯d go in the back and get one for you!

    Assuming she¡¯d figure that much out, she used her handy dandy glass annihilator 8000+ to break into the display case housing the games. Figuring something handheld would be the way to go, she grabbed all the Nintendo Switch games that were in the case. Carefully making sure to get one of each.

    Once satisfied, she turned and looked around to see if she could spot where consoles and things were actually kept. Where were they usually kept anyways? The first thing she spotted was the service desk for the electronics area, so she approached it. Of course the PC was powered off, and when she started it up she faced a log in screen with a password.

    ¡°Hmm. Well, better try just in case.¡± She typed admin into the name field, and password into the password field. Nothing. ¡°Damn. That works a shocking amount of the time, but guess I¡¯m not lucky today. Who would have guessed.¡±

    So, she turned and inspected the rest of the surroundings. Nothing that would be big enough to hold game consoles. But, she did find a key ring sitting on the desk, so she pocketed it. She couldn¡¯t see anything else from here that looked useful, but she couldn¡¯t see very far over the aisles. They weren¡¯t that much taller than her but it was enough to obscure her view.

    A lightbulb went off in her head. Oh. The rules don¡¯t matter anymore. Carefully, she climbed up on the service area desk and stood as tall as she could. It really felt like she was doing something wrong, but she¡¯d do anything to get out of this area sooner with everything she needed. So, she carefully turned around on the desk and got a good look. There it was! A door labeled ¡®Employees Only¡¯ towards the back. That was a good sign right? She even had keys!

    Hopping down from the desk, she walked with confidence towards her new destination. Then she promptly got a little lost in the aisles. It only took a few minutes to find it though, and¡­ it was locked! But she had a key ring, so she pulled it out and started trying keys. There were only ten, so she just went through them one by one. Of course, the tenth key was the proper one. ¡°Always the last one. Ugh¡­¡±

    The door opened right up. Lily let out a hoot of joy and success and proceeded into¡­ a really mundane looking storage area. She wasn¡¯t sure what she expected, but somehow the fact that this area just contained neatly sorted boxes instead of a wonderland of forbidden electronics was a bit of a disappointment. Still, she started going through shelves looking for consoles. It wasn¡¯t too hard to find them. They¡¯re a common enough item, so it seems likely they wanted to keep them easily accessible. She loaded a Switch into her cart, and then decided to grab one of each of the others as well. Because¡­ might as well.

    She was just about to turn to go when a thought hit her. This was the area where all the high value items are being held right? She should at least look around. So, she did. Wishing she had ear muffs or something, she snooped! A lot of it was stuff she hadn¡¯t really ever considered wanting to own. Or big name parts that she had no use for, like video cards. But, just as she was about to give up she saw something that changed her priorities. Laptops. A bunch of laptops.

    She facepalmed, embarrassed that such an obvious device didn¡¯t even occur to her before now. But, it would be very useful to have access to one. Or a few. She was going to be scavenging a lot, and even as a place to consolidate the data she would want to keep¨C A second thought hit her. DATA STORAGE. Of course! She was so stupid! But first, the laptops. She really didn¡¯t feel like she had the time to spend being choosy, so she grabbed the five most expensive looking laptops and put them in her cart.

    Now, data storage. She would want a few external hard drives, and a bunch of usb drives. She would want to preserve all the media and knowledge she could access after all. So she needed a lot. Fortunately, this was a lot easier than the other electronics. She found where they were stored easily enough, and only had to look at capacity. Her eyes felt like they were gonna bulge out of her skull when she saw it. Twenty two terabytes! Since when had storage space gotten so insane? She¡¯d been missing out locked in her apartment!

    She only took five of those as well, because her cart was getting pretty full. Finally, she had one more stop before she could get out of here. Heading into the store proper again, she found where usb flash drives were kept, and just grabbed every single one that would fit in her cart. They were small, so she managed to collect more than fifty, shoving them all in.

    With that, she made her way back to her car to begin unloading. When stepping outside, at first she was happy to be away from the horrible alarm, but then she noticed something. The sun was starting to go down. She thought back and realized it must be getting close to 6 PM. She had maybe two hours of sunlight left, and when the sun went down it was going to get a lot more difficult to find things she was looking for. Particularly a boat in a dark harbor! On top of that, the skyline was getting pretty full of smoke. The fires had been burning all day at this point, and were still seeming to grow rather than shrink.

    Cursing herself for letting her guard down during an emergency, Lily quickly loaded up the car with all of her spoils. She actually had a bit of trouble closing the trunk and fitting everything, but after redistributing items around the car and even into the passenger seat she eventually got it all to fit. Now down an additional ten minutes, she got into the car and headed towards the shore. She was¡­ pretty sure she knew where the harbor was.

 0.005

    Lily in fact did not know where the harbor was. She reached the shore with ease. All she had to do was head vaguely west and slightly north. She knew the basic layout of the geography well enough to do that much. But once she reached the shore she realized she didn¡¯t actually know which direction to follow it. Surely, following it would eventually lead to a harbor. But would it lead to fire first?

    She decided she had no choice but to get out of the car and head down to the water to get a better look along the coast. Fortunately, it was just down a couple sets of stairs along the cliffside. Unfortunately, her knee was still aching from her fall this morning. It wasn¡¯t as bad as it had been, but the thought of climbing another couple flights of stairs was miserable. Especially because she was already exhausted to the point of concern. But, she didn¡¯t have access to a GPS, so this is all she could think to do.

    The trip down the stairs wasn¡¯t so bad. She even only needed to go half way down to see what she wanted to see! There was a harbor not that far away! But, it wasn¡¯t all good. From the oceanside view she could see how the fires had spread way better than from any other vantage point. They¡¯d reached the coast in multiple locations, and the forested mountains behind the city were also ablaze. The fire was very much still spreading, and there were areas of the city that looked entirely cut off. Further, the harbor wasn¡¯t that far away from one of the blazes.

    The words from her phone this morning rang in her head. ¡°Better get moving. I really shouldn¡¯t have allowed myself to move so slow¡­¡± With that, she started up the steps. It was a struggle. She knew it would be. Her body was just worn out at this point. When she was no longer in danger, she was going to need to take a nice long rest to get her stamina back up. Not to mention, she was certain she¡¯d be sore for days after this. But, she had no choice but to keep going. So she did. When she finally got up to the last step, she let herself fall forward onto the ground and lay there for a minute to catch her breath. But, that was all the rest she could afford. So soon she was back in the car and headed towards the harbor.

    Her anxiety started to rise in her chest as she drove towards the smoke. Especially when she started to smell it pretty heavily even inside the car. But, she had seen from the shore that the harbor hadn¡¯t been swallowed up yet and the path to it looked clear as well. So she continued forward. She knew she had to be close by. It¡¯s not like it was a mirage. They didn¡¯t even work like that! She pressed on. And on. And on. Soon, she could see a bit of smoke in the air. Things were just a little hazy. But, she knew the harbor was fine. And if she could only get there and get out into the water she¡¯d be safe.

    ¡°I just need to drive this car through a fire that¡¯s engulfing a whole city, to get to boats I don¡¯t know how to drive, and use one of them to get to safety. Yeah. Not a big deal. I¡¯ve got this. I parked in a red zone today. On purpose.¡±

    For once her attempt to lighten her own mood worked, at least a little bit. So she continued talking.

    ¡°Not only that. I left my apartment today. I broke into a house, and two stores. I committed grand theft auto. I fought a ferocious beast and spared it after I won. I¨C I can do this. It¡¯s only a little more. The fire has been here the whole time. I¡¯m just confronting it more head on now. Yeah. This is the final boss. I¡¯ve leveled up. There¡¯s nothing left in my way!¡±

    Feeling re-energized she sped up a little. A couple seconds later she slowed again. Well, she wasn¡¯t going to drive recklessly. Although, she probably did have reason to not observe the speed limit quite so strictly. As she rounded the next corner, there it was. The harbor. She turned onto the little road that led down to the docks and right into the closest parking space. Instantly she realized that unloading her stuff into a boat was going to be a pain in the ass. She should have brought a wheelbarrow or something! Oh well, no time for that now.

    So, instead she focused on the task at hand. She needed to find a boat. The boats in the harbor ranged from simple speed boats to bigger personal yachts. Her first inclination was to find the most ritzy boat she could. Maybe it would have electricity, or a bed, or a bathroom! Even a kitchen? Some of the boats looked big enough.

    Getting herself excited she approached the first one and walked up the deck and onto the boat. The first thing she noticed was that she was not particularly accustomed to the movement of the boat in water. It threw her off immediately. But, she steadied herself and continued forward. The second thing she noticed was that the door to the inside of the boat was closed. With a feeling of growing apprehension she approached the door. She grabbed the doorknob and¡­ locked.

    ¡°GOD FUCKING DAMNIT! How come so many people cared so much about keeping people out of their shit?! You¡¯re still screwing me over as ghosts you god damn 1% motherfuckers!¡± She screamed. She hit the door with a fist and instantly regretted it as pain blossomed down her arm. ¡°Owwwww. Fine! I don¡¯t want the nice yacht anyway. I¡¯ll settle for second best!¡±

    She stomped down the ramp and down to the dock again, and went over to the second nicest looking yacht in the harbor. But, she was confronted with the same issue. Her heart sank. ¡°Wait. If I need keys to even get into the boat¡­ oh shit. Oh no. Oh I¡¯ve made a big mistake.¡±

    She would need keys to start a boat too, wouldn¡¯t she? Her confidence faded in an instant. If she couldn¡¯t get a boat, what could she do? She looked back, and saw the fire growing increasingly closer. ¡°What am I gonna do¡­?¡±

    She stood frozen, trying to push down the panic creeping up her spine and into her chest. Was it time to run, and find another plan? Or did she keep trying to find a boat with onboard keys? Maybe some of the smaller ones had one of those pull cord starts? She was less certain she could drive one of those but it would be better than burning. She wasn¡¯t going to make it. She had to leave. She had to leave right now.

    She made a dash to the car, got inside and pressed the button to start it. She flipped it into reverse and pulled out, driving up the short road that led out to the main city and saw the worst thing she could have imagined. The fire had continued to spread. She could see that if she tried to go down that way, she was cut off. She stopped.

    She was going to lose it. She was going to die. To burn to death in agony because she didn¡¯t think to wonder if boats needed KEYS. She couldn¡¯t do this. Of course she would die on day one. She was so fucking useless and helpless all the time. How dare she think she could grow at all, or rise to this challenge. She should just stop. Just stop right now. Lie down. Close her eyes. Let the fire overtake her. She was done. There was nothing to do.

    ¡°I should have just stayed in my apartment. I¡¯m just not suited to live in this world. I shouldn¡¯t have tried so hard. I always, always fail. It just hurts more to try.¡±

    She cried. She cried so, so hard that she couldn¡¯t even see. She couldn¡¯t breathe. The tears and snot ran down her face, and she couldn¡¯t even smell the smoke through it anymore. The inside of the car was beginning to heat up a little. She had an all over feeling like the charge in the air from a storm. But she just kept crying. There was nothing to do.

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    ¡°Please. Please. Anyone. Please come save me. Please help. I can¡¯t do this alone. Help me. Help me. Help me. Help mehelpmehelpmehelp¨C¡±

    She was interrupted. Her phone¡¯s alarm was going off.

    ¡°...huh? Huh? Huh?¡±

    She wiped her tears away as best she could and reached into the back to drag forward her little luggage carrier. She pulled out her phone and looked at it.

    7:48 PM - ¡°Meet me at the docks bby ;)¡±

    She stared at it in disbelief. She was so shocked, her tears stopped.

    ¡°What¡­?¡±

    Well, there was only one thing to do. She turned around, and drove back down to the docks. She didn¡¯t see anyone. So, she got out of her car. ¡°Hello? Is anyone there?¡± Nothing. Of course. So, she continued forward a few steps. ¡°Were you trying to help me? Who are you? Please say something!¡±

    She could hear the fire now. Smell the smoke on the wind. Well. She was already here. Might as well look to see if there was even a rowboat she might be able to preserve her life with, even if it meant dying at sea instead of burning alive. Drowning was supposed to be better than fire, right?

    It wasn¡¯t hard to find what she was looking for. A small boat with an engine that looked like it started with a pull cord. She¡¯d seen boats like this on TV and stuff, so¡­ maybe she could make it go? But, it didn¡¯t have much room at all. Could she even fit a few days worth of food and water on it just in case? Well, maybe. Though she wasn¡¯t confident in her ability to toss it down onto the boat accurately from here either. It was only about a 3 foot drop, but something as unwieldy as her cooler might not work¡­

    She should just give up. Give. Up. It isn¡¯t worth it. So what if she survives tonight? She couldn¡¯t make it through ONE DAY. It was time to give up. Lie down and die like the worm that she is. The world clearly doesn¡¯t want her, so she should just stop exis¨C

    Her phone alarm was going off. ¡°Oh what is it this time you liar?¡± she shouted while she whipped it out.

    7:54 PM - ¡°Behind you! <3¡±

    An overwhelming sense of dread filled Lily in an instant. She startled and spun as fast as she could, hands raised for a fight! No one was there. But¡­ there was a boat. A large boat. It was similar to the first yacht she¡¯d tried. But this boat definitely hadn¡¯t been there just seconds ago. She KNEW it hadn¡¯t.

    ¡°What the fuck is happening? Am I going insane¡­? Yes. That¡­ that must be it.¡± She walked carefully over to the boat. She touched the ramp with a foot to make sure it was solid before stepping fully down on it. Up the ramp and onto the ship. ¡°Huh. Uh. Hello? Who is doing this!?¡±

    There was nothing but silence. So, she approached the door that led into the cabin and below area, and grabbed the handle. There were keys in the lock. She turned them, and it opened right up. The lights were on inside. ¡°Hello? Is there anyone here?¡± No one answered. ¡°I¡¯m going to get my things! Please don¡¯t disappear! Please!¡±

    She turned and started down the ramp when she saw.. A little transportation dolly. It was long and flat, and on wheels and had a handle. She was too shocked to feel anything anymore. So, she simply grabbed it and walked down to her car. She opened it up, and loaded everything onto the dolly. Pushing it was a little hard, but not a lot of what she had gotten was particularly heavy. She had a little trouble pushing it up the ramp, but it went up.

    ¡°Hello? Thank you. Whoever¡­ whatever helped me. Thank you.¡±

    She pushed the dolly into the cabin, and found the captain¡¯s chair. She wasn¡¯t sure that¡¯s what it was called, but whatever. She reached to put the keys into the console and closed her eyes for just a moment. ¡°Please. Please work.¡±

    They did. The engine roared to life with no difficulty. There was a wheel, and a throttle that could go forward or back. Windows that would allow her to see around the outside, and even some cameras that displayed on the inside via screens. It didn¡¯t¡­ seem too complicated. Aside from generally making sure not to run into anything. So, she pulled back on the throttle very very lightly. Sure enough, the boat moved backwards slowly.

    Lily let out a nervous overwhelmed ¡®hah¡¯. ¡°Okay. I. I can do this. I just have to be careful.¡±

    <hr>

    In the central harbor of Santa Del Mar, a city engulfed in flames by the sea, a single yacht pulled out into the water. It was moving very slowly, and clumsily. But it was moving. From the haze of smoke from the inferno, it emerged out into the clear water, traveling perpendicular from the coast straight into the bay. The smoke obscured the sky in many places, and it had a bright red hue from the sun setting over the sea. Soon, it would be night time. But before that, a girl walked out onto the deck and found the anchor. It took her a few tries to get it to descend, but it was lowered by a sort of electric winch. She did finally get it to drop into the water, and let it fall for quite some time. She felt it when it hit the bottom. Satisfied, she pulled it up just enough so there was no slack in the chain.

    ¡°This should keep me settled, right? Right mysterious boat stranger helper? Wait, you¡¯re not the boat are you? Like a sentient¡­ boat? Talking to me through my phone?¡±

    She was glad no one had been around to hear that. But she shrugged and made her way inside. The inside of the yacht was quite nice. It had electricity! She thought she saw some largish solar panels outside, but they were up high enough and she was tired enough that she didn¡¯t feel like examining them right now. There was a comfortable looking bed. A small kitchen. A bathroom. The captain¡¯s chair, and even a small living room area. With a TV!

    Even a blu-ray player! She loaded her perishable foods into the fridge on the kitchen, and closed herself in the cabin. This day had been a nightmare, but she was finally, finally safe. She could relax. She climbed onto the couch in her little living area, put in a random disk from the box set of Friends that was close at hand, and watched half an episode before she fell asleep. The second she had stopped moving and working was the second her energy completely gave out.

    <hr>

    Lily woke from a dreamless sleep. The title screen of her Friends disk was repeating the intro sting loudly. She reached up and turned it off, feeling miserable. After taking a second to use the bathroom, she decided to see if she could still see the burning city in the dark outside. So, she wobbled up onto the deck, and sat down. It was dark. It was so, so dark.

    She looked around the sides of the ship, but she saw¡­ nothing. Like she was floating in a completely empty void. It was almost relaxing. She could see a little bit of the light from the moon glinting out of the water. But there was no other light to be seen. Not from shore. Not from the sky. Nothing. It must be all the smoke cover.

    So, she laid down for a minute, and watched the sky. The sky had been a lot of things to her over these last twenty four hours, and now she suddenly felt like she was floating in it. The most insignificant spec of dust in existence. Floating in an abyss the size of the universe with only the moon to keep her company or give her any idea of scale.

    Wait. That¡­ wasn¡¯t right. She woke up a little more, her mind struggling to turn. Something was off. She could feel the gentle rocking of the boat underneath her, so she wasn¡¯t in the air or something. What was it? She looked at the moon again. The moon.

    The visible moon. With no smoke obscuring it. That can¡¯t be right. How could she see the moon? How could¨C

    ¡°Oh god. No. Nonononononononono. I¡¯m just being stupid. It¡¯s an illusion. Something is¨C Something is happening.¡± But she knew it was real.

    She stared up into the sky. The perfectly cloudless and smokeless sky, without the lights of the city to drown out the view.

    In that perfectly clear inky abyss there was not a single star in sight

    ¡°Hah. I really am going insane.¡±

 0.006

    That night, I had a dream. I had fallen asleep on the deck of my little boat, despite the cold. I couldn¡¯t look away from the sky, and exhaustion eventually claimed me. I dreamt that I was growing. Not like a giant, but more like a bacteria, or a mold, or a fungus. Perfect for someone like me. If this world was an orange, I was the penicillin growing into it. Splitting. Multiplying until I filled all of existence. Spreading out to fill the gaps where humanity had been. It was disgusting, but I couldn¡¯t stop. I wanted to stop. But it was my nature. The inner corrosive core of my being corrupts everything around me until it is either part of me or turned to ruin.

    By the time night fell in my dream, I thought I had covered the entire earth, and that was the end of it. But when I looked into the night sky, nothing but more of me looked back. Countless. Infinite. A sickening universe of my own filth staring at me.

    <hr>

    Lily woke with a shout, and immediately knew she¡¯d made a huge mistake by falling asleep on the deck of the boat. She was lucky she hadn¡¯t fallen overboard, but more importantly right now, she was cold. So cold. Her bones ached down to the marrow. She couldn¡¯t feel her limbs past a certain point, and where she could feel was throbbing. When she tried to move, she felt like her body was made of lead. She opened her mouth to shout, but didn¡¯t have the energy.

    Slowly, carefully, she managed to crawl back over to the door to the cabin. Opening it was difficult. Her hands didn¡¯t want to close and grasp. But, using both of them together she got the door open and got inside. She tumbled down the few steps inside that led down into the main area, but it was only three so she didn¡¯t think she was injured. More importantly, she couldn¡¯t FEEL if she was.

    ¡°Oh god. Oh god. S-so cold.¡± She desperately looked around. What could she do? Hot water in the bath? She didn¡¯t think she could. She couldn¡¯t stand up, and could barely get around on the floor. Thankfully it was much warmer here. Then she remembered the bed. She clawed her way into the little bedroom, and tried to get up on the bed. But it was too hard. She couldn¡¯t get her whole body up that high. So, she pulled all the bedding off of it. Having maybe her first coherent thought of the day, she realized her clothes were wet from the sea breeze and pulled them off. It was agony. The warm air of the cabin was bringing back some small amount of warmth to her skin and it was like someone was peeling it off. The pain receptors from her elbows and knees down felt like they were all going off.

    She pulled the blankets around her tightly, and shivered uncontrollably. ¡°Please warm up. Please warm up. Oh god I shouldn¡¯t have fallen asleep¡­¡±

    For a few minutes, she just lay in a ball, trying not to cry out from the pain while feeling slowly returned. ¡°G-good job L-lily. Get to s-safety and immediately nearly off y-yourself.¡± Her stupid teeth wouldn¡¯t stop chattering. It felt like her body wasn¡¯t warming up from the blankets! But she knew that was in her head.

    It would probably take a while though. She had some experience with sleeping outdoors, and knew that if your core temperature was cold it was difficult to bring it back up. But, staying warm and dry was all she could really do. When she had any amount of her brain back she looked around the room carefully. There! A thermostat! It was up on the wall. But if she could get onto the bed she could probably reach it from there. So, she made another attempt. This time, her legs worked a little better. It was agony though! She was pretty sure it would be less painful if she¡¯d just lost the damn legs.

    But, she had to keep going. So she did. She pushed herself up onto the bed, then reached back down to grab the blankets. Wrapping herself back up, she turned her attention to the thermostat. She could reach it! It was set to 70 degrees, so she turned it up to 80. Too much hotter and she wasn¡¯t sure she could take the pain of everything warming at once. The room temperature would take a while to come up as it was. So, she wrapped herself up as best she could, and tried not to cry.

    <hr>

    At some point, pain and exhaustion had taken enough energy from Lily that she had fallen asleep. She awoke a few hours later with a start. Her first thought was that she was so thankful she woke up alive. Her second thought was how she wished she was dead. She felt awful. There was still some stinging pain in her skin over most of her body, but even more than that she had deep aches all over. Her muscles were beyond tired. She felt like she was a puppet and someone had cut her strings. She could hardly move, and when she did it hurt. Badly.

    She let out a groan and spoke to her ceiling. ¡°But, I didn¡¯t die. That¡¯s something, right?¡± The ceiling refrained from answering. ¡°Fine. Be that way.¡±

    She took a nice deep breath, coughed, eventually got control of it and sat up. There was a window, and light was shining across the bed. ¡°Well, first things first. Let¡¯s check the damage¡­¡±

    She examined herself as best she could with no mirrors or help. Her hands and feet were still a bit red, and painful to the touch. But, she didn¡¯t see any blackness, which is what she thought frostbite looked like from TV. That was a good sign. The gash on her knee was still not pleasant, but it was superficial damage that was healing. There was a bruise running across her knee even where the flesh wasn¡¯t damaged. She made a note to clean that off as best she could and watch for infection. All in all, not too bad. She was going to be down for the count for a few days, but she had survived. Now she just had to figure out how to keep doing that without being able to really use her body.

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    Taking a minute to breathe, she looked out the window. ¡°Huh, that¡¯s strange¡­¡± There was only open ocean. ¡°Must be on the other side¡­¡± She wanted to get a look at Santa Del Mar from a distance and check whether the fires were still raging. She carefully got up, finding she could stand now if she really tried. It just wasn¡¯t pleasant. She kept her blankets wrapped around her body. Absolutely taking no risks with the temperature today. Then she found her way to the captain¡¯s chair and sat down with the blankets cocooning her.

    She could only see the open ocean. ¡°M-maybe from the back of the ship?¡± She turned on the engine and let the cameras turn on showing her the rear view. Open. Ocean. A paranoid thought crossed her mind. First the people, then the stars, had the land disappeared now too? No. No no no. That was dumb. But she had put the anchor down, so how was she out to sea?

    Well, okay. That wasn¡¯t even the most important part right now. How was she going to find her way back?

    She watched the waves out the window and tried to make her brain work. She felt so exhausted. A part of her wanted to just lie back down and figure it out when she woke up again. But, another more urgent part refused. Okay, so. She needed to return to shore. She looked at the fuel gauge. It was still nearly full. That was promising!

    Deep breaths. Deep breaths. How could she find her way back? Well, she knew what direction it was. If she had drifted out to sea, she had gone more west than anything else. So, land should be east, right? Even if it wasn¡¯t the same spot on the shore, she could get to land if she just went east.

    That put her mind at ease a little. Okay. East then. First things first though. She had to go above and figure out what went wrong with the anchor. At least pull it up so it wouldn¡¯t snag on anything while she was moving. She really, really did not want to. Her body was at its limit, even having gotten some sleep. But, she made herself do it. She shed her blankets, realized she was naked underneath, cursed for a minute while she found her suitcase and opened it and¡­ She didn¡¯t pack any clothes.

    ¡°Wait, really? No, that has to be a mistake¡­ What kind of an idiot forgets to pack clothes!? Ugh! Stupid stupid stupid stupid!¡± She reluctantly put on her still slightly damp clothes. It¡¯s only for a few minutes, right? Then she made her way above. She took a second to look all the way around and confirm that there was no land in sight. There was none. Lovely.

    Then headed to the front of the boat and took a look at the anchor. It didn¡¯t seem to have changed at all from last night. She experimentally lowered it a little to see if the chain would go slack. It did not. That more or less confirmed her suspicions. She must not have anchored it properly? Because it wasn¡¯t touching the bottom now¡­

    So, she pulled it all the way back up. It took a few minutes. Fortunately, it was not a cold day. The chill of the night had faded, and while the wind wasn¡¯t comfortable especially on her damp clothes, she could withstand a short time of this. When she finished, she walked carefully back below deck, making sure not to risk being wobbly near the railings as best she could. She got undressed, and wrapped herself back up in her blanket nest before sitting back down at the captain¡¯s chair.

    ¡°Okay. This probably isn''t too bad. One of my less life threatening mistakes over the last 24 hours. I just need to keep calm. East. How do I go east?¡±

    She took a look over the boat console. Weird lever throttle, a wheel, speedometer, fuel tank, two screens that were off, four screens that showed views from outside the ship, a¡­ radio(?), a few black boxes she didn¡¯t recognize and¡­ That was it. She was really hoping for a compass. Just one of those old timer plastic orb ones or something would be enough. But there was nothing.

    ¡°Huh. Well. What about these black screens then¡­?¡± she reached over and felt around until she found a power button, and pressed it. It came to life immediately! At a password screen. She could feel a scream of frustration rising in her chest, but she forced herself to take a deep breath instead. As she did, she examined the screen closely. At the top right it showed the time, 12:36 PM, and an N. ¡°Wait. Lemme try¡­¡±

    She turned on the throttle slightly, and turned the boat to the right. After a few seconds, the N turned into NE. She let out a half scream half cheer in pure ecstatic joy. She was so relieved she could feel some tears forming in the corners of her eyes. But she blinked them away. She continued turning the boat until the NE said E, and then let go of the wheel and made sure it didn¡¯t change too quickly. She turned the throttle slightly forward until it hit about ten¡­ something. That was not MPH. But it felt roughly the same. ¡°Okay. That seems like a nice and safe speed. I won¡¯t hurry. I¡¯ll go nice and slow. We¡¯ll get there eventually.¡±

    So she turned her attention to the rest of the console while the boat continued forward. She found the power for the other black screen and turned it on. This one she couldn¡¯t decipher very easily. It had a shifting pattern of colors, and a number on it. But the number definitely wasn¡¯t speed or anything else she recognized. So she decided to sit and stare at it for a little while. After five minutes, she still wasn''t totally sure. The number was going down on average. But not linearly. Maybe it was sensing how far she was from land somehow? Was that possible? She shrugged and decided to give up for now. Her stomach growled loudly. It had been a long time since she¡¯d eaten anything¡­ She¡¯d snacked a little while shopping yesterday, but that had been it.

    She carefully turned the throttle down to 0. Lily was pretty sure that the boat wouldn¡¯t crash or capsize or whatever if she went to the kitchen for a sec to grab some food, but she was taking absolutely no stupid risks. She could just start it again when she got back. Finding her way to the kitchen, she grabbed herself some fruit, poptarts, an energy drink, and a bag of chips. It was not a healthy breakfast. She didn¡¯t care. She just needed to eat, and sugary crap food was the order of the morning.

    She also grabbed one of the laptops as she headed back to the captain¡¯s chair, and the next blu-ray of Friends. Making her way back, she bundled up on the chair again. She was STILL sorta cold. Putting the boat back to speed and a pop tart in her mouth she opened up the laptop and began some set up.

 0.007

    During her time at the helm she¡¯d gotten the first laptop set up. User name Lily, no password because she¡¯d grown a special disdain for passwords over the last day. Unfortunately, with the computer completely empty and no wifi there was a limited amount of things to do.

    She went to pop the Friends disk into the disk drive, but found that there wasn¡¯t one. Which made sense. Most laptops don¡¯t have them anymore. So, she set it aside and had a brainstorming session instead. What did she need to do today?

    Well, putting aside getting back to Santa Del Mar as a given, what else? She would need to figure out how to dock the boat. Hopefully a space on the dock survived. If not¡­ she might have to find a private dock or a different harbor even if it¡¯s further away. But, even after that she was going to be so pressed for time these next couple days.

    The electrical grid probably wouldn¡¯t hold up forever, and neither would the internet. There was a strong possibility that both were already out across the majority of the city. If she was able to get power and an internet connection though, surely she should try to preserve as much data she might need later as possible, right?

    Everything from youtube videos, to digital books, to¡­ could she download all of wikipedia? Probably not easily. Maybe she could find out where the actual physical servers were located for youtube and wikipedia? If she could get access to those, she could figure out preserving the data later. In the meantime, she could find things that would be useful until she was set up. Books about survival, agriculture, engineering¡­ She would need to know enough about how things like solar panels and battery systems worked to set them up without electrocuting herself. It was fine if she had the information and it took a while to learn. It wasn¡¯t fine if the data was lost forever.

    She thought about the library of Alexandria. How one burning library permanently erased so much knowledge for all of mankind, and how it all went up in flames. It was a strange parallel to her current situation. Wait, how much of that story was true, and how much was just from popular media anyways? She¡¯d check wikipedia but¡­ Stupid internet. Stupid phone not working.

    Fine. She wanted as much data as she could get before things went down totally. Ideally software to rip things like disks and other forms of media too, so she could digitize the physical stuff she found. She didn¡¯t want to be caught in a situation ten years from now where all she¡¯d been able to do to keep from dying of boredom is watch Friends every night for a decade.

    ¡°Hah, that¡¯s probably a good sign. That I can think about ten years from now at all.¡±

    Okay, aside from that. What else did she need to collect before it degraded? Maybe domesticated animals? Chickens, cows¡­ dogs¡­? Wait. Her stomach lurched. Wait wait wait. What about people¡¯s pets? All of those animals are locked in people¡¯s houses. All the dogs, cats, rabbits, hamsters of the world that were now without people. Some might escape but most¡­ They were all going to die. She could spend the next two weeks releasing as many of them as possible and she probably wouldn¡¯t even get through all of Santa Del Mar, much less the rest of the world.

    ¡°Oh god. I¨C I can¡¯t.¡± She couldn¡¯t think about this. She couldn¡¯t. She couldn¡¯t let this become her responsibility. Even if she tried her best and did things perfectly, she couldn¡¯t save even half a percent of them. And she would lose out on her opportunity to save things that mattered to her own survival. But she was the only one left. She teetered on the edge of an abyss. On one side, trying desperately not to think about it. Selfishly focusing on her own needs, and being willfully ignorant to preserve her sanity. On the other, a pit of despair. Trying desperately to help creatures that would thank her by trying to harm her, and failing to do even the tiniest fraction of that. But, her conscience would be clear.

    The choice was obvious. But her heart broke in her chest. ¡°I¨C I¡¯m a selfish pathetic worm. But, I have to focus on my own well being. I have to. I can¡¯t let this be my responsibility. The moment I do is the moment I plunge into a losing battle that might kill me. I can¡¯t do it. It¡¯s not my fault. It¡¯s not my responsibility. It¡¯s sad, but I am powerless to do anything.¡±

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    She tried to reason with herself. She felt like she was going to puke. She forced her mind to turn in a different direction. No. None of that. Her body was weak. She couldn¡¯t afford to puke. ¡°It hurts. But I am going to live through this. I made it through day one. I refuse to let a stupid thought take me down.¡±

    She said it, but in her heart another voice whispered. ¡°You survived day one with help.¡±

    Lily ignored it. Forced her mind to work on something more practical. Domesticated animals. If she got some chickens and a cow she could have fresh eggs and milk for quite a while, right? She didn¡¯t know anything about raising them. But she liked eggs and milk, and wanted to keep having them. So, they were on the list. Bacon would be nice too, but she didn¡¯t think she could kill and butcher an animal.

    Deep breaths. This is going to be okay. What else did she need before anything else? A home base. Maybe just this boat if she could put it in a convenient enough place. Wait, a cow and chickens wouldn¡¯t fit. Okay, she would need two bases. Land base and sea base. She could do that. Maybe she could find a swanky mansion on the beach or something.

    Then she could get her cow and chickens, and figure out how to make cheese. She couldn¡¯t live without cheese forever. How did you even make it anyway? And butter. Butter was a necessity for human life on earth. ¡°That is to say, necessary for me, and I¡¯m the human life on earth.¡± She giggled to herself dazedly. Wait. She was¡­ starting to drift off. She shook her head and forced herself awake.

    Adjusting in her seat, she realized with a start that she was still naked. She slapped her forehead. ¡°Oh my god, Lily, get it together.¡± Clothes. She needed to get clothes. Nice loose clothes that she could move around easily in that wouldn¡¯t tear and would protect her from the elements. Pretty clothes can wait. Jeans, work shoes, simple shirts and a jacket were at the top of her list.

    As Lily sat, staring out the front of the boat, her mind was starting to slow down. She could feel the thoughts coming to her slower and slower. Her eyes started to drift¡­ She slapped her cheeks as hard as she could. ¡°No! No falling asleep!¡± If she fell asleep while the boat was moving, she might crash. If she turned it off, she might drift further. She couldn¡¯t let that happen. ¡°Awake! Awake!¡± she told herself loudly.

    That wasn¡¯t working, so she parked the boat and went to find the nintendo switch to keep her awake. It had been about an hour at the helm when the shore came into view. Shore, but no city.

    <hr>

    Lily stared dumbfounded at the shoreline from her boat. She¡¯d maintained a safe distance so she wouldn¡¯t sink the boat on rocks or whatever else was under the waves. But, there was no city. What the hell. Obviously, she must have drifted north or south instead of just west. But, how could she find out which? Staring at the shore wasn¡¯t giving her any ideas.

    Well. It was finally time. ¡°I¡¯m going to break into my stupid phone even if I have to wipe it. I need a GPS app!¡± She found her way to the bedroom and dug around in her suitcase until she found her phone again. She turned it on, and tried a few passwords she might have changed it to. ¡°Girlbage?¡± No. ¡°LilyLon3r?¡±. No. ¡°Haven¡¯t used that one since middle school. Stupid. Hmm. StawberryMilk?¡± Nothing. But then she tried typing in her usual password one last time. The phone unlocked immediately.

    ¡°What the hell? Why didn¡¯t it work yesterday!?¡±

    She turned over to her alarms first thing. They were all still there. Every one that had gone off yesterday, at the times they had gone off. But, there was nothing else of note. ¡°Huh. Suspicious¡­¡±

    She looked, and she didn¡¯t have a great signal but having one at all meant that a cell tower was still up close enough by. That was good news! She started by calling everyone in her contacts list. Most of the numbers didn¡¯t even ring. That was¡­ bad news. But, more or less what she expected. From there, she opened her GPS. She was¡­ about eight miles south of Santa Del Mar! And the GPS worked! Well even! She was worried about signal strength, but apparently this close to the shore it was fine.

    ¡°Alright! All aboard! .. wait, that''s trains. Oh well. It¡¯s whatever I want now. Choo choo!¡± she turned the ship gently left and started up the coast. She got a little scared that she might hit something under the water, so she pulled even further from shore. But then her phone didn¡¯t want to connect. Her GPS still seemed to work though.

    ¡°Hmm.¡± She stared at it. ¡°I remember reading that GPS works through government satellites. Does it not go through the cell towers at all? Well, that¡¯s convenient. Plus one victory for Lily!¡± She was feeling pretty good all of a sudden. Just a couple small wins, and suddenly she was riding an emotional high. She was feeling confident! Today she was turning this apocalypse around! She was going to nail the next 24 to 48 hours and ensure that her time in this world is as comfy as she can make it!

 0.008

    Her emotional high lasted until she started struggling to stay awake again. She knew her body was healing from all the exertion and probably some minor hypothermia, but being this out of energy was ridiculous. She didn¡¯t have the time to spend sleeping today. Today was too important.

    When the boat pulled into the harbor, Lily noticed a few things right away. The fires had burned considerably lower, but there were a few places that still looked like they were smoldering. The docks looked bad, but not completely unusable. Several of the¡­ uh, lanes? What were they called? Several long rows of dock had burned away, and a number of those boats seemed to have sank as well. But, on the far side there was one that looked scorched but intact. So, she decided she¡¯d try to park there. Was it still called parking? Oh well. It was now!

    But before she could, she noticed the third thing. A few miles away one of the still smoldering smoke plumes was rising. It was a notably different color than the rest of the smoke though. More of a dark purple than an actual black. She stared at it for a while. ¡°Do I investigate, or stay away? What if it is radioactive, or some weird chemical? Hmm. But what if it¡¯s a person sending a signal or something? Wait¡­ do I want to find another person?¡± She had to think about that. A society of people would be probably good. But a single person¡­ She remembered reading a story in middle school about a woman meeting a strange person in the post apocalypse, and that person being increasingly cruel. She shook her head. Time for that later. For now, parking.

    She gently drove the boat forward, trying to get a good angle to place it right next to the dock. All her experience in games paid off, she nailed it! Well. Sort of. The boat definitely hit the dock a bit. But, she was going slow, so it didn¡¯t count right? But¡­ now what? If she just hopped down she wouldn¡¯t have a ramp. How did she get a ramp? Also, how did she make sure the boat didn¡¯t just¡­ drift away? Anchor it? She pulled out her phone. She had signal!

    Without hesitation she brought up youtube and searched ¡°How to dock a boat¡±. The first video she watched only covered pulling the boat up to the dock, and the presenter said a lot of words she didn¡¯t understand at all. But, it seemed like she¡¯d done most of it¡­ adequately. He said at the start the most important thing was not to pull in faster than you were willing to hit the dock, and she¡¯d done that! Even if she hadn¡¯t got the angle quite right.

    The second video she watched covered the ropes and ties you had to do in order to tie a boat securely to a dock. It was arcane nonsense to her. But, she was pretty sure that if she had the video up while she was doing the knots she could follow along. So that was good enough.

    But¡­ that sense she¡¯d gotten a few times now that something was off was building in her stomach again. There was something wrong that she hadn¡¯t noticed quite yet. So, she thought about it. Something to do with the ropes and the boat. Rope on the front, rope on the side, rope on the back, that all was pretty simple. At least she thought she could manage. What was she missing then?

    Deciding to just move on, she went to find the spots that the ropes tied to on the boat side. She found the one on the front of the boat, and instantly she realized what was wrong. The boat hadn¡¯t been tied to the dock last night. She didn¡¯t untie any ropes before she left. Whatever magic had conjured the boat had also kept it totally still while she loaded her things until she had pulled away. Well. Okay. That was weird, but no weirder than a boat showing up out of nowhere, right? So, she shrugged and continued on.

    It took her about fifteen minutes to get the boat secured to the dock in a way that she felt comfortable; it wasn''t just going to drift away immediately. She¡¯d had to put on her damp clothes again, but at least she wasn¡¯t freezing anymore. The scariest part was when she had to jump from the boat to the dock the first time. She must have pulled away without the ramp last night. But, she was able to find one on the dock that was for another ship and bring it back to use with her boat.

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    With that, she was ready to go into town! She marched up to the parking lot and found her car! It was a burnt out shell.

    <hr>

    Walking was hard, but she made herself do it. Up the little road that led down into the harbor, and it¡¯s stupid little incline. She had to take a break half way up, like a mountaineer doing a challenging climb. So, she opened her phone again and looked around with the GPS. Where should she go first?

    Maybe a walmart? The doors shouldn¡¯t be locked because they were usually 24 hour right? They¡¯d have clothes, and if she was lucky maybe power and an internet connection. That sounded a little too hopeful though. The thought of entering such a huge store while it was completely empty was unsettling. But, it would have what she needed¡­

    Wait, if the power was off, how was she even supposed to see? Wouldn¡¯t it be super dark? Oh, she hated that. Going through an abandoned store that big with only a flashlight, if she could even find one? Wait. Her phone had one right? She checked. It did! Still, that seemed super scary.

    ¡°Do I just have to get over myself and do it? It¡¯s not going to get any easier, and I¡¯m going to have to scavenge places like that eventually, right¡­?¡±

    She had her phone point her to the nearest walmart. It was over an hour¡¯s drive away. ¡°Wait¡­ really? This town doesn¡¯t have a walmart? How did I not even know?¡± So, she tried a target instead and found one right away. Typical bougie bullshit. They were basically the same anyway.

    Now for the next problem. It was several miles away, and she needed a way to get there. Well, the only thing she could think of was to walk in that direction and keep her eyes out for cars that weren¡¯t burned out.

    Walking was such a problem. Her legs felt like jelly, and all her body really wanted to do was lie down in the middle of the street and sleep for a few hours. But, she knew she was on a time sensitive mission, so she pushed herself hard. She wanted to cry.

    The scenery was about as she¡¯d expected. Vaguely the shape of the city, but apart from the burnt frames of the buildings, it was hard to see anything usable. She didn¡¯t want to go into any of the burned out buildings, because she wasn¡¯t sure if they¡¯d still be structurally stable. Even if she lived through a collapse, no one would be coming to save her.

    ¡°That¡¯s an awful thought¡­¡±

    She kept vigilant to look for anything that might help her though. Once, she spotted a bike and got excited, but not only was it locked up, the wheels were entirely melted. She kicked it, and immediately regretted it as pain radiated through her leg. Continuing on, she saw a lot of ruined vehicles, but nothing particularly usable. She was wishing she knew how to hotwire a car when she saw something strange.

    In the middle of the road there it was. A fire. A little fire. Only about the size of her palm, but still burning. Initially she thought maybe it was some kind of still ignited sewer gas leak from beneath the pavement. But she got closer. Something was still off about it. She couldn¡¯t tell what it was that was burning without closer examination, but it was small and not at all showing signs of going out.

    She continued to edge closer. It didn¡¯t look real somehow. Her mind wanted to say ¡®video game fire¡¯, but that wasn¡¯t quite right. The flames definitely were just flames. There was just something a little uncanny about it that didn¡¯t feel right. She decided she would get closer until she could feel the heat on it.

    But, she didn¡¯t. She bent down right next to it. It wasn¡¯t putting off heat. Then she realized what had seemed wrong in her mind. It wasn¡¯t putting off smoke either. No heat, no smoke. Just flames.

    ¡°What the hell¡­?¡±

 0.009

    She had things she had to be doing. She really did have a lot on her plate. But, she couldn¡¯t just walk away from this. At a glance, it seemed supernatural. But, Lily didn¡¯t believe in anything supernatural. Okay, well, maybe she was scared of ghosts and stuff sometimes. But this was different. Fire with no heat or smoke! Maybe it was radioactive? She scurried back away from it at the thought, and immediately pulled out her phone. But searching for heatless flame and radioactive fire didn¡¯t show anything like this. Searching for how to tell if something was radioactive brought up generally unhelpful results too. But she didn¡¯t think it was. Wasn¡¯t radioactive light blue? Besides, radioactivity put off heat. That¡¯s how reactors worked, right?

    So, what the hell was this!?

    Lily got up her courage and tried the most primitive approach to gaining knowledge humans had ever invented. She found a piece of metal near one of the burned out buildings, and brought it over to the fire. Then, she poked it.

    Nothing happened.

    The material that was burning inside might be wood. But that was even stranger. She poked it again. Yeah, it definitely seemed like wood. So, why wasn¡¯t it getting consumed by the flames? Why didn¡¯t the flames feel hot? Could wood be radioactive? She googled it. It seemed like the wood gathered from radioactive areas like Chernobyl might emit radioactive smoke if burned? But, this wood wasn¡¯t emitting smoke at all. Plus, where would all the other pieces of radioactive wood be? So, she scratched that off her list of worries.

    ¡°Okay Lily, it¡¯s time for science. Don¡¯t let yourself believe in something stupid. This is right in front of you. It exists. So, it has a natural phenomenon that explains it. So, figure it out!¡±

    Step one, observation. It doesn¡¯t produce heat or smoke. Will it spread to other flammable objects? She looked around. Everything flammable was burned¡­ What now? ¡°I¡¯d like to know if it¡¯s gonna spread before I touch it with my bare hands. Hmm.¡±

    She got a terrible idea, but went with it. Removing her shirt, she dangled a sleeve into the flame. Nothing happened. She was relieved, but even more stumped about this stupid fire. She put her shirt back on and stared at it.

    ¡°Is this some kind of illusion? It¡¯s definitely¡­ real right? Maybe I¡¯m hallucinating? Well, better disregard that. I can¡¯t easily rule it out without someone to help. So. Hmm.¡±

    She reached out and touched the burning material. She was wrong about it not putting off any heat. It was pleasantly warm, but that was it. So, she picked it up, and stared at it in her palm. It wasn¡¯t hurting her skin at all.

    Okay. Step two, hypothesis time. This is an illusion. Either in my brain, or through some kind of natural occurrence in the wake of a fire. ¡°So, how do I disprove it. Do illusions show up on film?¡± She took a picture with her phone. Her phone showed her holding a piece of wood that was quite clearly on fire. It actually looked a little like she was casting a fireball in an RPG, and that gave her a little thrill. ¡°Wish I could show it to someone¡­ Eh, they¡¯d just claim it was photoshop anyways. Okay, so, it shows up on film. What else can an illusion not do?¡± She stared at it for a second. Well, fire would normally put off light too right? Under the sun as she was, it was hard to tell if it was or wasn¡¯t.

    So she walked for a bit looking for a sufficiently shady place to find out. She thought about climbing into a dumpster she passed, but then thought better of it. If she got stuck or something, that would be a horrible way to go. Then she spotted a sewer drain, but remembered seeing in movies sewer gas causing explosions and decided against that too. Eventually she found her way over to a ruined building that was casting a shadow, and put the wood up against it. Then she leaned over it to block out even more sun. It wasn¡¯t quite as bright as she expected, but it was definitely casting light.

    Lily sat down and stared at the wood.

    ¡°What are you?¡±

    It seemed clear to her that it wasn¡¯t in her head. At least as certain as anyone could be about something like that. It didn¡¯t seem to be an illusion either, because her phone showed it clearly and it was having observable impacts on the world around it. That seemed pretty conclusive to Lily.

    ¡°Okay. Hypothesis number two!¡± she pointed accusatorily at the fire. ¡°I don¡¯t know! But you¡¯re coming with me, magic wood!¡± She picked it up, deciding she would do experiments on it later if it was still burning. What would happen if she submerged it in water? She put it in her pocket, then waited a second to see if that would start to burn. But it didn¡¯t. So, she turned and continued her march to find a non-burned part of the city.

    <hr>

    It took her another 15 minutes of walking to start seeing things that weren¡¯t burned to the ground. Crossing the freeway had been a good idea. She had walked to a nearby car on the freeway that was fine but seemed to be totally out of gas. Left running with the keys in the ignition. But, now that she was beginning to see things that weren¡¯t totally burned out she was less stressed. She could repeat her car theft from yesterday no problem, and this time she knew to knock on the doors of the houses and listen for barking first.

    She found a suitable house with an unlocked door, and knocked. No sound. She knocked again, and again, and again just to make sure. Still no sound. Entering the house was easier this time, emotionally. The electricity didn¡¯t seem to still be on, but there were some bottles of water stacked on top of the fridge, so she drank one and kept a second one. Her pocket fire was surprisingly great for lighting the way through the dark house, and it only took a few minutes to find a set of keys. They were laying on a coffee table. She checked the bedroom for clothes that might fit, but this person had been significantly thinner than her.

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    So, she moved on. It was crazy to think about what an ordeal this exact same process had been for her just yesterday. It still didn¡¯t feel good. But she could do it. She could do this. She would live in this stupid world.

    The car itself was nice. It was a mom van, but that was kind of perfect for Lily¡¯s needs and she was thankful for it. A pick up truck might have been even nicer. She¡¯d have to get one. Starting the car, she giggled to herself. ¡°Never thought I¡¯d want one of those. But, oh how the times change.¡±

    The car ride to the target was nice and easy, and to her pleasant surprise it was not burned down. She approached the doors. They didn¡¯t open. She let out a sigh of frustration. Lily hadn¡¯t thought to bring her door demolisher. So, she tried wrenching them apart with her hands. They didn¡¯t budge.

    ¡°Ugh, I don¡¯t have time to do this again!¡± This time she wasn¡¯t being chased by fire. If she ruined her only car, she could get another. So, she hopped in and backed it up to the doors. It was precarious going between the big red ball set pieces they had out front, but she managed. She carefully drove her bumper right up to the glass, and then pressed the gas. She thought if she applied pressure rather than crashing into it she might get away with less damage to her car.

    At first, nothing happened other than the engine making a sound. But, then she heard the start of a crack, followed by a huge crash, and her car backed up suddenly. Stopping as quickly as she could and pulling forward, she took a look at her handiwork. Sure enough, there was a hole big enough to climb through!

    Getting back out of the car, she smirked to herself. ¡°Getting pretty good at this breaking and entering thing!¡±

    In the back of her mind she heard an echo from yesterday. ¡°This is how killers become serial killers.¡±

    ¡°Oh shut up! It¡¯s fine. I¡¯m doing what I have to.¡± Deciding pointedly not to think too hard about that, she stepped carefully over the threshold and into the store. The power was still on, which was a pleasant surprise. She had to snag a usb cable from one of the cashier computers but she used that to plug in her phone, and went about her shopping. Well, ¡®shopping¡¯ anyway.

    Grabbing a cart she headed over to women''s wear. But, it only took her a few minutes to be pretty dissatisfied. She needed durable work clothes more than anything else, and all this was cute but not really what she needed for survival. Well, it wouldn¡¯t hurt to get one nice looking outfit. So, she found a cute black tee with a purple heart on the front, and a pair of more comfortable jeans. Then she headed over to the men''s section and tried on work boots until she found a pair that fit. Grabbing three pairs of them just in case, she moved on. Once she found out what sizes fit her, she made sure to grab at least ten of everything. Ten pairs of jeans, ten short sleeved shirts, ten long sleeved shirts, and¡­ well, only two jackets and sweaters. More would be excessive.

    Finally, she headed back over to the women''s section to get bras and underwear. She was always bad at picking out a good bra, so she figured out vaguely what size she wanted and then grabbed a bunch that were close to it. The old shot gun approach! Works every time. As long as money isn¡¯t an issue.

    While she was here, she decided to look around the rest of the store too. Lily didn¡¯t have any real use for the furnishings, because she didn¡¯t have a home base yet other than the boat and that was well furnished as it was. She stopped by the electronics section. She¡¯d need to come back and grab any media she didn¡¯t already have at some point, but that would need to come after she figured out what media she did have.

    The toy section was nearby, so she walked over and eyed it a bit. Not a lot she was interested in. She¡¯d never gotten into Lego or any of the building stuff despite having a passing interest in engineering. ¡°Hmm. Should I grab all the trading cards? Not like I have anyone to play them with. I could collect? Might help pass some time.¡± She tossed them into the cart just in case. Pokemon, Yu-Gi-Oh, Magic the Gathering. She always liked card games but never had the money to play them. Now she had the cards! But no one to play with.

    With a sigh, she continued down the isle. ¡°Oh.¡± She turned the corner and saw a bunch of very cute looking stuffed animals. For a few seconds, she was embarrassed about wanting one. Or two. Or four. But then she realized¡­ Why would she need to be embarrassed?

    ¡°If I want it, I can have it. So, which one do I want?¡± She looked over them with interest. Which one would look nice on her bed in her little boat? She grabbed a large chubby seal, and put it in the cart. ¡°You¡¯re coming home with me little gal.¡± She laughed, and put on a silly voice for her seal friend.

    ¡°Oh wow Lily, you¡¯re so forward! Can¡¯t you at least take me to dinner first?¡±

    ¡°Girl, you don¡¯t need dinner. You¡¯re already¨C¡± she stifled a giggle. ¡°Stuffed!¡± She nearly doubled over. She needed a good laugh. Taking her new friend with her, she went back to the furnishing area with an idea. Lily searched for a clear vase, and when she found one she removed the wood from her pocket and dropped it in.

    ¡°There. Now it¡¯s a lamp! I¡¯ll put it on the table on my boat or something.¡±

    Lily decided that was enough for now, so she retrieved her phone and left to unload everything into her van. It took a few minutes, but once she had finished she sat in the driver¡¯s seat and thought.

    ¡°Well, now what?¡±

    She¡¯d gotten used to being propelled by the emergency of the moment, and now that she had some choices on her hands, she was struggling to choose. She really just wanted to go back to the boat and sleep. She needed to rest her body so badly she could barely stand it. But it wasn¡¯t a real option. So, she put that thought aside. She could go investigate the purple fire, or she could go to a library, or maybe the university, or she could drive the coast and look for a nice house. Maybe she could find one with a private dock and claim it.

    So many ideas. But she was so tired. Now that she was in dry clothes it was especially difficult to keep focused. The warmth of her body heat filling the fabric was so nice. It felt like her mind was stuffed with cotton.

    Maybe she could just nap for a few minutes¡­?

    She awoke seconds later to the sound of her Van¡¯s horn, with her face resting on the wheel. Deciding enough was enough, she grabbed her phone and headed back into the target. She remembered seeing a bedding section with actual beds. It was time for a proper nap. Lily left herself an alarm for an hour and a half and laid down on the display bed. It felt¡­ strange. But not strange enough to keep her awake. She hugged her seal, and fell asleep.

    It was the best sleep she¡¯d had since the world ended.

 0.010

    Lily awoke to the sound of her alarm. For a terrible second she panicked, but it was just the alarm that she had set to make sure she didn¡¯t sleep too long. With a groan she sat up and looked at her new stuffed friend.

    ¡°I¡¯m still so tired. How about you, huh?¡±

    The seal didn¡¯t respond. She was still dead, but she¡¯d awoken feeling so much better than earlier. If she wasn¡¯t probably losing opportunities by the second she wouldn¡¯t get up. But, a short recharge was still a recharge and she¡¯d take what she could get. She rose, grabbed her things, and found her way to the soda isle. There she grabbed a Rockstar, and headed back to the van.

    Once she was behind the wheel, she faced the same question as earlier. Where was she most likely to find a working internet connection? Maybe the library? Santa Del Mar had a university too, but Lily was a little nervous about going there. She¡¯d heard it was pretty big and she didn¡¯t want to get lost. Plus, she wasn¡¯t totally sure even how to get in. Why was this so hard? Just make a decision. First one that came to mind was the library. Do that.

    She popped open her GPS and directed herself to the library. It was only a short drive. At one point, her seal fell off the passenger seat, so she parked and buckled it in, but otherwise the trip was uneventful. That is, until she arrived. The library was a smoldering ruin. But that wasn¡¯t all, it was also the source of the purple smoke she had spotted earlier.

    Lily sat in her car staring at the plumes of dark purple billowing out of the husk of the library. Should she go in? She kind of wanted to see what was causing such strange smoke. On the other hand, what if it was poison? Or some strange chemical? Or worse?

    ¡°What kind of strange chemical would be in a library¡­?¡±

    More than that, given the everburning fire she already found, what if this was another anomaly? If things like this were going to be commonplace for her, shouldn¡¯t she try to learn about them? But, she sat in her car, frozen. She was scared! It could be dangerous. But, she should at least try to get close enough to see what it was, right?

    ¡°Okay Lily. You¡¯ve gotta do this. Just get out of the car, and go take a look. Easy.¡± She didn¡¯t move. She willed herself to get out and go look. She couldn¡¯t. Staring at the smoke, she wondered why this was so hard.

    ¡°I did so many scary things yesterday. Why is this different?¡± Exhaustion? No. She¡¯d been exhausted then too. Stress build up? Hah, she¡¯d been riding 100% stress capacity since the world ended. So, what? If anything this should be easier! There was nothing pushing her to do it or die!

    ¡°...oh.¡± There was nothing pushing her to do it or die. That¡¯s why it was so much harder. Yesterday, everything she¡¯d done she had no other choice but to do. Today she was languishing on every decision, freezing up, unsure of herself.

    ¡°It¡¯s because I¡¯m not going to die if I don¡¯t do it?¡± Yes. That was it. Lily had always been controlled by her fears and anxieties. It had trapped her in her apartment for years! While the entire world kept going and passed her by. The only thing that eventually got her to MOVE was the threat of burning alive.

    Now that that threat was gone, things were different. It was like a river. Normally she was confined to her little riverbed, flowing along a well worn path, with no deviation. Yesterday there was a flood, and for the first time in forever she broke free of that. But now that she wasn¡¯t in mortal danger, she was sinking back into that confinement.

    ¡°No.¡± She refused. This might be a stupid place to make her stand, but she was going to make her stand right now. This was the turning point. Either be brave and go examine this strange smoke, or it was only going to be easier to turn tail and run next time. This was the time. This was it. It was either break free of her fears right now, or sink back into them for the rest of her life here.

    Lily could see two paths ahead of her. The one where she learned everything there was to know about this new world. Explore it. Conquer it. Make it hers. The whole world, her new containment. Or, the one where she didn¡¯t. She could leave. She could make herself comfortable. She could live in a little house, and make sure she had enough food and water to survive until she eventually died, never having left for more than basic needs. She had to choose, right now.

    ¡°I¡¯m going.¡± She didn¡¯t move.

    ¡°I said I¡¯m going!¡± Still nothing. Why was this so hard? She wasn¡¯t held by anything. It was in her head! She railed against it. All of the things that always kept her from doing what she wanted to do. Fear. Anxiety. Self hatred. Depression. It was all there. It was a cage. And right now, she had to hit it hard enough to make a dent, or she knew she would never be strong enough again.

    In her mind, chains creaked. Metal bent. She shoved her phone in her pocket, grabbed her everburning flame vase and her seal. She opened the door and got out, breaking into a run. About three steps later, she had to slow down. Her body was exhausted to the point of being near broken still. She doubled over and caught her breath, but then continued forward. She wasn¡¯t going to lose this momentum. Slow or not, she would break through. She had to break through. It was stupid to run towards a fire like this. Lily didn¡¯t care. This was about more than that! She was going to claim agency over her life right now even if it killed her!

    Something inside her snapped.

    <hr>

    The library was set in one of the nicer parts of town. It had been a very nice building, if not a particularly large one. On the outside the gardeners had made a considerable effort. There was ample greenery, a few benches to sit on, and even some carefully trimmed bushes that provided some natural containment and privacy for those reading outside. Of course, now all that remained were the melted remnants of the benches, the metal guides for the plants to grow along, and ash.

    The building didn¡¯t hold up much better. Four large concrete pillars that had helped bear the load of the roof remained standing, but the roof had caved in, and the flammable material had all burned away. If any books remained, which was unlikely, they¡¯d be buried under the remains of the roof.

    Climbing carefully onto the rubble was a girl holding a chubby seal plushie in front of her like a shield. Lily was careful to touch each new foothold gently before applying pressure, to make sure it would hold her weight and wouldn¡¯t be burning hot. The view from the inside was more of the same. It was devastation. Nothing had survived. It pained Lily to see, there had been so much knowledge and creativity here that was now lost. Sure, copies of the same materials probably still existed. She would find them too. But, every lost library, every lost archive, every lost database, even every lost personal PC was worth mourning. Humanity might be gone, but she could at least preserve the ghosts.

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    As she grew closer to the center, where the mass of purple smoke was still rising, she could see flames licking up from underneath it, despite there likely not being anything left to burn. While that was strange enough, the flames were green. She did a quick google search on her phone, but nothing particularly useful came up. Especially not for these two colors together.

    Lily drew closer. The fire was emitting some kind of¡­ sparks? Well, no, not sparks. They didn¡¯t look electric. More like the kind of sparks you¡¯d get from one of those hand held firework sparkler toys. But they were smaller and went out quickly.

    ¡°Okay¡­ this is definitely not normal. But what is it?¡± Lily inched closer. Unlike her personal flame, this was putting off heat and she had no intention of getting too close. This was definitely another anomaly. Strange things had been happening constantly since yesterday, and Lily wanted answers! Any answers at all! So, she observed. Then, something caught her eye.

    She¡¯d been so focused on the green fire that she hadn¡¯t noticed, her eternal flame was reacting. She lifted it in front of her. It still looked the same, but the flames were quite a bit larger than earlier. ¡°Huh. What the heck¡­? Do you just like other fires?¡± She took a few steps away, and held the flame further from the green fire. It went down slightly. She brought it closer again, and it flared up once more.

    ¡°Weird¡­¡± She stared at the green fire again. Tucking her seal under one arm she took out her phone and snapped a picture of the green fire. The picture came out showing clearly what she saw with her own two eyes. Okay, still not an illusion, probably. Then what was going on? Lily was pretty sure that nothing in a library would normally burn like that. So, there was something more to this. She was determined to figure it out.

    ¡°I have to live in a world full of junk like this now. So I¡¯m not giving up! You hear me, green fire? I¡¯m not leaving until I understand even a little bit how you work! So, what are you? Tell me your secrets!¡± She expected nothing, and was really just speaking out loud for the comfort of it, but the green fire reacted.

    She could swear it did! It burned lower for a moment and then redoubled, raging even stronger. That had to be a coincidence, right? She knew human brains were wired to find patterns, even if there were none there. So, she was skeptical, even if it seemed so obviously related to her.

    ¡°Hello? Can you hear me?¡± Nothing changed. Okay, so just speaking wasn¡¯t enough. What had it been then? Desire to understand?

    ¡°Fire, I demand to know how you work!¡± That wasn¡¯t it either. Or maybe it was more than just her words. She focused, trying to build the same intensity she had had when it did react.

    ¡°I¡¯m not leaving until I understand something. Even one small piece of this puzzle. I worked hard to get here, and I¡¯m not leaving empty handed.¡± She felt it. It was building inside her. Not just words, but genuine feelings. She stepped closer to the fire, and could feel the heat on her face, but she stood her ground. ¡°I¡¯m scared. I am always so scared. But I¡¯m here anyway! I¡¯ve fought this battle tooth and nail. I broke free of that cage just for a moment to be here and get knowledge. I won¡¯t let that go to waste. What are you? Show me!¡±

    The flame shrunk drastically for just a second, and Lily felt herself get pulled toward the center of it. With a cry of surprise, she tried to hold herself back but stumbled forward despite herself. As she felt herself drop to her knees roughly, the flame burst back to life twice as strong as before. Pain. Searing pain covered Lily for a moment and she screamed. She scrambled back away from the fire as quickly as she could, sure that she was burning alive. But, as she got some distance she realized the flames hadn¡¯t touched her. Despite that, she was certain she had burns, even if minor. That had been painful. Inventory check! Her phone was fine, the glass of her everburning vase had chipped slightly where it scraped the ground, and her seal was¡­ covered in ash but unharmed.

    Lily let out a nervous laugh. She was¡­ okay! Well, okay enough. Not dead! Not burned beyond repair. She¡¯d take it! She looked up at the fire. It was still burning brightly. Okay, well, that had been a reaction. That had definitely, definitely been the flame reacting to what she had said and done. Was the key emotion? No, it didn¡¯t feel like that was quite right. It was more than that. She tried to hold onto the feeling.

    There she sat, staring at the fire, covered in ash when she realized something else. The fire was doing something new! It was subtle, but it was there. She could see it. Just barely. It was¡­ breathing? No, that wasn¡¯t quite right. It was more like a whirlpool. Or¡­ She couldn¡¯t quite wrap her head around it. But, she watched carefully. It was drawing something into it. She couldn¡¯t see what. It was like the air around it was being sucked into it. But it wasn¡¯t the air. Well, the air was as well, because that¡¯s how fire works. But this was something deeper.

    She concentrated, and tried to see. The fire was growing larger. It was pulling more and more of this¡­ stuff into it. At a faster and faster rate, and as it pulled the stuff in faster it was burning higher and hotter. She could see it. She didn¡¯t have words to describe it, but she had a sense for it now. This¡­ fuel. Whatever it was, was pouring into the flame, and the flame was burning it! That¡¯s why it wasn¡¯t burning anything else to sustain itself! There wasn¡¯t anything left in the library that was on fire, this fire was burning this stuff out of the air! And it was going faster and faster. Exponentially. Wasn¡¯t that¡­ bad?

    Lily¡¯s eyes went wide. ¡°Uh oh.¡± She jumped to her feet as fast as she could, and ran across the rubble. Stumbling a little bit, and slightly twisting an ankle she jumped clear of the ruined library, and made a mad dash to her van. She got it started, threw it in reverse, and swerved out into the street.

    Lily floored it. She wasn¡¯t sure what she thought was going to happen was really going to happen, but if she did she wanted to be nowhere near¨C

    THOOM

    Her van shook with the impact of the blast, throwing off her steering for a moment. The van fishtailed as Lily struggled to get a hold of it again. She was lucky she didn¡¯t flip! But, once she got control she hit the gas again. She wanted to be far away before she turned to look. Chancing a glance at the rear view mirror, she saw a wave of purple smoke pouring down the road after her. The Van wouldn¡¯t accelerate fast enough! It was going to hit her! Well, she could at least be as far away as she could!

    It was catching up. It was gonna catch up! Three. Two. One. A wave of dark purple engulfed her. It was impossible to see through. She kept going, blind but unwilling to stop and see if flames followed the smoke! For a few agonizing seconds, she floored it into the abyss. Then¡­ THUNK. She hit something. The van popped up as it hit the rubble in the road. Lily slammed on the breaks to try and mitigate the crash, but she was no expert driver. The van immediately went into a spin. Lily screamed, and held on for dear life.

    The van came to a stop. She wasn¡¯t even sure which direction she was pointed in this smoke, but she was just thankful not to be dead, or upside down. But now she was trapped. The purple smoke was so thick around the windows and windshield that it was as if someone had painted them. There was no telling what direction was safe to drive in. So, she waited to see if she¡¯d start feeling heat.

    Tense overwhelming silence for a few minutes was Lily¡¯s entire world. All she could see was purple black smoke. All she could hear was her own ragged breathing. What if¡­ it was permanent? Just as she tried hard not to have that thought, she caught a sight that gave her hope. She thought she could sort of make out the sky!

    She put the car back in drive and inched forward. Yes! She was sure now, the smoke was starting to clear a little. She patiently waited until she could make out the road a little, and then turned onto it. A few minutes later, she was driving clear of the smoke.

    She parked and turned to get a good look back. It was clear where the explosion had been. A large purple black crater was visible from here. It¡¯d taken out at least a block. But, it hadn¡¯t gotten her.

    She carefully climbed back into her van, and looked into the passenger seat. Her seal looked back at her, covered in black purple ash.

    ¡°Hah. Rough day huh?¡±

 0.011

    In the back of a van parked in the middle of the road Lily sat. Across from her, staring into her soul with a placid expression on its face was a chubby seal plushie. She stared back, as if trying to win this battle of wills.

    ¡°That was an explosion.¡±

    The seal didn¡¯t reply.

    ¡°It exploded. Like, like, boom!¡±

    Lily was shaking. Her hands hadn¡¯t stopped trembling since they¡¯d stopped. She was not sure she could drive safely, even with no one else on the road. So she¡¯d stopped to discuss with her friend.

    ¡°I¡¯d be mad about how absolutely cliche the whole thing was if it hadn¡¯t been so real! I feel like I can still feel it vibrating in my bones. Did I make it explode? How? I asked for answers, not an explosion!¡±

    The seal stared at her, judging.

    ¡°Okay, fine. I fucked around with supernatural shit and I found out. That¡¯s my bad. But I¡¯m still in distress. You could at least give me some sympathy here.¡±

    Lily sighed. She was thirsty, but had already finished the one extra bottle she had grabbed. Her muscles didn¡¯t want to work. She was shaking half as much out of exhaustion as adrenaline. She was filthy, covered in ash and grime. She hadn¡¯t showered for days before the world ended, and she¡¯d done nothing but exert herself since.

    ¡°I need a bath. But I need to calm down before I can drive. Hmm.¡±

    The seal seemed to agree. Okay, she was projecting. But she felt like she needed to talk or she¡¯d really lose it.

    ¡°You¡¯ve been with me through a lot already buddy. We gotta give you a name. How about¡­ Stanly? Nah. George? That just makes me think of Costanza. Maybe something to commemorate this moment? Ash! Ehh, maybe something more positive, and less cool. We aren¡¯t cool in this house, understand? Although, we didn¡¯t look at the explosion! Oh! I got it! Micheal! No. Bay! Bay. Because you¡¯re a seal. And also, explosions! Micheal Bay!¡±

    She grinned. The seal was ambivalent.

    ¡°It¡¯s settled. Now what though? I really wanted to find an internet connection, but I¡¯ve been pretty wrecked¡­ Wait. No waffling Lily! You got this. I¡¯m not going to sit here and be indecisive. I need to accept my physical limits. We¡¯re going back to the boat. I need to eat, drink, and bathe. Then we can figure out what¡¯s next. Okay Bay?¡±

    With that settled, she climbed into the driver''s seat. Setting the GPS to take her back to the harbor, she set off. The drive was very shaky, but she desperately needed to drink and rest.

    <hr>

    Lily parked next to the burned out shell of her first car. It felt a little awkward, but it was right in front so she might as well. Climbing into the back she collected her things. Bay, one of several clean sets of clothes, and¡­ Her vase. She stopped.

    The everburning flame was out. She might have to rename it. Wait, no. More importantly, since when? She tried to remember. She saw it burning higher in front of the green flame. Why was it out now? Was it out for good? More like neverburning flame. Lily shook her head. Her mind kept drifting because she was a wreck, but this seemed important.

    She grabbed the vase and climbed out of her van. Oh well. She¡¯d give it a careful examination. Maybe in the bath. But for now, it was time to return to her boat. She checked the ropes holding it to the dock to be sure nothing had changed. She wasn¡¯t sure she¡¯d done the best job securing it, but it seemed to be good enough.

    Although if a storm came in she might want to work harder on it. But, now wasn¡¯t the time. She ascended the ramp, and entered her little cabin. Tossing down her things, she let herself fall forward onto the bed.

    ¡°Everything¡¯s so hard, Bay. I did it. I faced down that stupid fire. But I can¡¯t keep going at this pace. I have limits. Even with plenty of sleep, and a nap, my body just can¡¯t keep this up. I¡¯m not strong enough. I¡¯m injured. My muscles are worn to the point of barely obeying me. The cold this morning really fucked me up. What can I do? Do I take care of myself first, and miss out on my chances to secure a lot of things? Or, do I keep pushing myself like this, damn the consequences?¡±

    Bay seemed contemplative. Well, regardless she was already here at the boat. She had to do some self care. So, she got up, and grabbed a bottle of water. Heading to the bathroom, she started the water running for a bath.

    ¡°Hmm. I wonder where this water comes from? I probably have to fill up somewhere, right¡­?¡± Lily wished she had a better understanding of the technology that was now so important to her life. Well, she¡¯d just have to learn!

    When the bath was filled, she got up and did a few last minute things to prep. She gathered clean clothes, her neverburning vase, her phone, a towel, and a couple oranges. Then she undressed and slowly lowered herself into the bath.

    The warm water felt like it was melting the tension off of her muscles as she sank in. A slight groan escaped her lips as the feeling washed over her. ¡°Fuck that¡¯s good.¡±

    Lily closed her eyes and just enjoyed the sensation for a few minutes. She reflected on her day. She should be proud of herself, right? She had done a lot of good. Well, not as much as the first day but she was contending with her ruined body. So, it evened out. Today wasn¡¯t over! She¡¯d figure out something productive she could do when she was out of the bath too.

    So why didn¡¯t she feel proud of herself? That had been bothering her. She just felt¡­ tired. The intellectual part of her mind was arguing with the emotional one. Intellectually, she knew she¡¯d accomplished more in the last two days than she would have in a year if left to her own devices. Emotionally though¡­

    She recoiled inwardly from even allowing herself to be introspective about her emotions. But, if not now then when? So, she let herself sink into it. Emotionally, she just felt worn down, more than anything. She still felt hopeless. Sure, she had done a few good things. It was day two. She was sure the dominoes that led to her death had already started falling. She just didn¡¯t see what horrible mistake she¡¯d made would kill her yet. Because she was incompetent.

    No, she told herself. No. That¡¯s stupid. She should be proud. If anything, she¡¯d learned that she was actually very adaptable if push came to shove. Sure, she was a traumatized wreck of a human. But trauma did help sometimes. She felt weirdly like she was more suited for the end of the world than a simple shopping trip. In a way, that had been proven. She could do this. Even if it hurt. Even if it ground her down and down until there was hardly anything left of her mind and body.

    So, why did she feel this way? Probably emotional exhaustion. At some point she was going to have to stop rushing and emotionally process everything that had happened. Everyone was gone. Why didn¡¯t she care more about that? The stars were gone. A sickening dread filled her thinking about that. Nope. Nope. Nope. Not ready for that can of worms yet.

    She jolted upright and her eyes popped open, stuffing those thoughts down as deeply as she could. ¡°Okay. Let¡¯s focus on something else huh? Yeah, something else.¡±

    She turned her attention to the vase. She upturned it, dumping the little piece of wood into her hands, and staring at it up close. It was definitely wood. It seemed surprisingly unburned, despite having been definitely on fire. A couple parts of it looked singed, but otherwise¡­ it was just a piece of wood. So why was it on fire before? Why was it not on fire now?

    Lily stared at it. Okay. This and the green fire had been¡­ anomalies. Supernatural junk? Magic? Lily always had felt weird about the idea of magic. In some stories magic is just an asspull that can make things happen without having to explain them. That kind of magic was stupid. The other kind of magic, where everything adhered to a logical system of how it worked¡­ well, it was hard to even call that magic right? You can use whatever word you want for it, but if it¡¯s a natural force that behaves in a predictable and observable way, then magic is just applied science to a system that isn¡¯t like the physics of our world, right?

    This story has been stolen from Royal Road. If you read it on Amazon, please report it

    So, which kind of supernatural was this? Was random stuff happening around her that she¡¯d never be able to explain? Or, was this just a new set of rules this world now worked on? If it was the latter, she just needed to understand them. If she could understand the rules, she could work around them, or even use them to her advantage.

    Fine. She would believe in magic, but not as some mysterious uncontrollable force. She would learn the rules. She would apply the scientific method, figure out how these anomalies worked, and then¡­ do good things with them. Like not exploding. Yeah.

    But, right now she needed to focus on the wood. It wasn¡¯t on fire. Why wasn¡¯t it on fire? It had been earlier. She assumed the explosion had somehow made it go out. Although, that could just be a coincidence. Earlier she had been able to see something in the air interacting with the green fire. Was that stuff important?

    Lily took a deep breath. ¡°Observation mode, activate!¡± She tried to clear her mind and focus on seeing the world around her rather than being in her own head. Observe everything. Everything.

    Lily was in a bathtub. It was a nice large bathtub, and despite her being tall for a girl she was able to fit in it nicely. The water was warm, and steam was rising from it ever so slightly. The bathroom itself was a little cramped between the bathtub, sink, and toilet. But it was serviceable, and each of those things was quite nice despite there not being much space around them. The walls were wood paneling painted white. The tile floor was white with black dots between the tiles. The sink was done in a modern minimalistic style that didn¡¯t particularly fit the rest of the room. Her clothes were laying atop the toilet, spread out for her to put on when she was done. The towel was on the floor next to her, with her phone resting on it. And in her hands was a piece of wood.

    It was small. She could close her hands around it. It seemed to be an ordinary piece of wood. Was there anything abnormal about it? Anything at all? She dipped it in the water. It got wet. She tried to tear a small piece off. She couldn¡¯t. But that was hardly conclusive, she was weak as shit and exhausted.

    ¡°What is different about you?¡±

    She waved it over the bath water, and caught something. It was very small. But, she had a sense for it. She squinted. No, somehow it wasn¡¯t really sight that she was using to sense it. Still, she stared as hard as she could. Something was around the wood. She could tell. Something wasn¡¯t quite right about the air around the wood. Well, not the air exactly.

    She moved it back and forth again. Yeah. When she moved it, it was a little easier to see. Because the effect was around the wood, not just on it. Moving it made it change more than holding it stationary so it was easier to catch. She continued waving it back and forth slowly.

    After a few minutes of this, she was pretty sure she could see it while it was still too. There was something off. It seemed to be coming out of the wood? Leaking slowly. Like a gas leak, but one that stayed generally around the wood itself. It was more of a halo than a sphere, but it was hard to tell what angle it wanted to keep around the wood. Except¡­ there was one part where the stuff was just leaking off completely. Like a popped cell, it seemed to hold together around the wood, but not right there. There it was just leaking off into the air. It wasn¡¯t huge, and the stuff seemed to dissipate when it passed through there.

    ¡°Hmm. Are you¡­ broken? Is that what happened?¡±

    So then, how did she fix it? She tried to touch the broken part, but her hand went right through. Of course. If this stuff could be touched, she would have felt it by now. Wait.. she¡­ did feel it? She ran her hand through that spot again. It was very, very subtle. But she could kind of feel it. Only in the spot where it was leaking and the stuff was moving the fastest. It was tingly. A little like static electricity in the air.

    She half smiled, half grimaced at the wood. ¡°You and I aren''t going to be like Marie Curie and Radium, right? I discover you, you kill me with some horrible magical illness for it?¡±

    She focused, and tried to pinch closed the bit that was leaking with her fingers. Nothing changed. So, she shrugged and put the wood down on the side of the tub. ¡°Well, I don¡¯t have to figure out every mystery on day two. Maybe I can find another spooky spot and try to repair you there?¡±

    She sank up to her nose in the bathwater. The water was starting to get cooler at this point. But it felt so good to be even sort of clean. This had been the right call. She would need to honestly think about what she could do with the rest of her night that wouldn¡¯t damage her body. If she hurt herself too much, she was going to ruin her chances of survival. Preserving knowledge aside.

    She grabbed her phone and decided to do one last thing before getting out of the bath. Carefully holding it so that it wasn¡¯t over the bathwater, she popped open youtube, and looked up ¡°How to anchor a boat.¡±

    <hr>

    Now clothed and sitting on the front of her boat (Prow? Bow?) Lily held her head in her hands. She glanced at her anchor, now deployed properly. Well, mostly. To get it set properly, she would really need to unhitch the boat from the dock, but now she knew what she had gotten wrong.

    You were supposed to give it a lot of slack, not none. Also, usually you threw the boat in reverse and gently pulled back until the anchor caught on something. That way you knew it was set, and the slack prevents it from being pulled ever so slightly off a ledge and then not anchoring you to anything if you never go back to a point that shallow. Last night her anchor had just been dangling into the sea, not touching anything! No wonder she had drifted!

    ¡°I¡¯m so dumb! Ugh! Okay. I know how to do it properly now at least.¡±

    She opened her phone. ¡°What other knowledge do I need in the short term?¡± It was 4 PM. The sun would be down in about 4 hours. Already a few of the links she had clicked didn¡¯t work. Youtube was still up and running, but google searches could be a bit spotty. The searches worked just fine, but the links¡­ not so much.

    A couple of them had cached versions she could still access though. Besides, youtube had been a good resource. It was funny, she¡¯d actually signed up for their premium service in the last hour. Why not? Money didn¡¯t matter anymore, it was automated so it still worked, and no ads with the ability to download videos so they would be available for 29 days after the internet stopped working? Perfect.

    She¡¯d been clicking through and downloading how to videos for a huge variety of different things. How to install solar panels, how to maintain a boat, how to fill the fresh water tanks on your boat, how to pilot your boat, how to purify water, how to siphon gas, how to grow crops, how to milk a cow, how to care for chickens, and more. Anytime a thought occurred to her, she was popping open the app and downloading the first three results for ¡®How to X¡¯. She would watch them later. Right now she just had to make sure she had them.

    She should have done this this morning. Clothes or no clothes, going out into town had been stupid. Her body needed to recover. She understood that a bit better now. The bath had been refreshing, but she could have caused permanent damage from overexertion, or worse. If she hadn¡¯t been fast enough, that explosion would have killed her.

    There was a difference between being proactive and being dangerously cavalier. As it is, she was dreading her next step. It was time to take the boat out again, she¡¯d decided. She was going to drive (pilot?) it north along the coast and look for a still standing house with a private dock. She knew rich houses sometimes had them, so if she could find one that wasn¡¯t burned down, she wanted to. That would give her a home base to work from that she could access her boat from.

    Then she¡¯d scout nearby houses in whatever rich neighborhood it was to find one that had an operational internet connection. Or! Wait. Was satellite internet a thing? It was, right? She would look for a house with a dock and satellite dishes. They might still have a connection. Rich houses were pretty likely to have solar power around here too. All in all, it seemed like a good solution. Lily was sure she¡¯d still have to go out scavenging tomorrow either way. She still wanted a cow and some chickens, and if she waited too long they were going to be a lot more difficult to find.

    In the meantime, Lily had a few things to do. She unloaded her van the rest of the way, carefully leaving it unlocked with the keys on the driver¡¯s seat. She pulled up the anchor, still kicking herself for yesterday night. Then she headed down onto the dock to untie the ropes holding the boat there. That was quite a process. Would this be so annoying every single time, or would she eventually get used to it?

    As she was untying the bit from the back she noticed something. The boat had a name. Well, most boats did. But she hadn¡¯t thought to check it before now. I mean, it wasn¡¯t really important was it? Printed on the back of the boat was ¡®Beloved Lily¡¯. Lily stared at the text. That was a coincidence, right? People named boats after women. So, it was just a coincidence, right? Her stomach roiled.

    ¡°Oh, I don¡¯t like that. Okay. Think, Lily. Think!¡± How had this happened? We have ¡®magic¡¯. Even if she didn¡¯t understand the rules of it yet, supernatural things were clearly possible now. So, what combination of rules had made a boat appear out of midair right when she would need it? That was a lot more complicated than an explosion, or a piece of wood that burned weird. A boat was¡­ a boat! But more than that, it couldn¡¯t have just been grabbed from her mind or something. She didn¡¯t know how it worked, or all the features it had. Not to mention¡­

    Beloved Lily.

    She would never have named a boat that. Not on any level of her consciousness. It was a silly thing to get hung up on in some regards. Really, the boat appearing at all was still a huge mystery. But something about this really stuck in Lily¡¯s mind. She had been willing to assume (at least for now) that she had conjured the boat somehow. But the boat having a name like this seemed to contradict that. She had been feeling beyond hateful towards herself when it had arrived. So, what gives?

    Well, she was sure she wasn¡¯t going to get any answers just from staring at it. So, she finished untying it and went back inside. She grabbed her portable blu ray player, and a few things to watch, and sat down at the captain¡¯s seat. Making sure her phone was properly downloading videos, she started up the boat and carefully pulled away from the dock and into the harbor. She oriented herself north, and accelerated to a nice comfortable speed.

    Weirdness aside, she thought she was finally starting to get used to this.

 0.012

    Lily sat in her captain¡¯s seat, with Bay perched precariously on the dashboard to keep her company. An episode of Friends was playing half watched on the personal blu-ray player set on the seat to her left. It felt silly, but seeing and hearing other humans really made Lily feel like she was a little more grounded. The captain¡¯s room, as Lily had started to think of it, was smaller than every other room on the boat except the bathroom. It had only two chairs, and was perched up a bit higher than the rest of the cabin to get a better view. The front of the room was a nearly 180 degree view through windows, and on the dashboard there were live feeds to cameras around the rest to get a full 360. The seats were nice, but the captain¡¯s seat was obviously better. Lily thought whoever had made that choice must be a little full of themselves. Why not just have two nice chairs?

    The room itself was warm and carpeted. Lily thought that was a strange choice for a boat, but no water had gotten in so maybe it was fine. The wood paneled walls were present here, but a nice finish had been applied to them rather than paint. It would have made the room feel a little cramped if not for the view out the windows, which Lily supposed must be the main point.

    She¡¯d been piloting the boat for about fifteen minutes now and was getting close to the northern edge of the bay. She hadn¡¯t spotted exactly what she was looking for yet, but she also wasn¡¯t too concerned about it. There were a shocking number of houses with private docks, and she¡¯d made note of a few that might be worth checking out if she didn¡¯t see one with visible satellite dishes and signs of electricity before she got too far north. She didn¡¯t know why, but she felt like she wanted to stick around the Santa Del Mar area, even if not directly in the city. It was familiar, and while she could explore and branch out later, setting up a home base ought to be somewhere familiar, right?

    To pass the time she¡¯d been trying to figure out what all the tools on the boat console actually did. She was pretty sure she¡¯d figured out the mysterious second screen. It seemed to be a depth meter, showing the topology (was that the right word?) of the seafloor around her. She didn¡¯t know, but assumed it must use some kind of sonar to get a map of things. The number that she¡¯d seen going down yesterday as she approached shore probably said how far away the seafloor was, and so it wasn¡¯t directly a measure of how close she was to land, it was related.

    Her speedometer also seemed to read in Knots. Which sounded right even if she didn¡¯t quite understand. Google said it measured nautical miles per hour. She was unclear why that wasn¡¯t the same as just miles per hour, but it wasn¡¯t terribly important right now. Maybe it was because waves might change the distance to your destination, so it¡¯s how fast you moved through the water specifically? In either case, now that she knew, Knots was a really cute term. Her perception of sailors as hardened salty men with no sense of humor was wavering. Knots, short for nautical right? It¡¯s cute! She explained it to Bay, but Bay didn¡¯t seem to care.

    She had turned on the other screen as well for the compass. She wished she could break into it, but she really had no idea even where to begin looking for a password for a device she didn¡¯t own. She had checked all the drawers and cabinets on the boat, and while there had been a surprisingly robust set of tools and items available, no notebook full of passwords or anything like that. She did have a full set of cooking tools though, as well as general tools. Hammer, screwdrivers, allen wrenches, all sorts of things. Whoever owned this boat before her had been well prepared.

    ¡­If anyone had owned this boat before her. That was still really bothering her. Beloved Lily. It was as if this boat existed just for her. How was that possible? She was learning more about the anomalies now, but there seemed to be two very distinct varieties, right? The business with her cell phone, and the boat showing up were one thing. The green fire and her neverburning flame were something else. The latter seemed to be natural phenomena that just existed now. They worked on rules, even if she didn¡¯t understand them. She was pretty sure that with time and patience she could figure out that ¡®magic¡¯.

    But, the rest didn¡¯t make sense at all. Her phone leaving her life saving messages at just the right moments was not just something naturally happening. Neither was a boat appearing out of nowhere. Even if she assumed that she tapped into this natural ¡®magic¡¯ unconsciously, it didn¡¯t seem to add up. She wouldn¡¯t have known about events before they happened. Not to mention, the messages seemed to go against her direct wishes in the moment sometimes. When she couldn¡¯t get a boat, she hated herself so much she wanted to die. But, the phone had saved her. The boat had saved her. It wasn¡¯t some kind of subconscious self interest, she was pretty sure.

    Plus¡­ Beloved Lily. Why did that bother her so much? It really stuck out. It was like an itch in her brain she couldn¡¯t quite get rid of.

    ¡°I think it¡¯s because it¡¯s the first thing I¡¯ve found that I just can¡¯t square away as something that came from me. I would never think of myself like that. Not in a million years.¡± It was kind of sad when she said it like that. It¡¯s not like she hated everything about herself. But, she dealt with self hatred as a chronic issue. There was no layer of her mind that would have thought like that. She was very sure. So, it was the first magical occurrence that she felt very clearly came from something that wasn¡¯t natural, but also wasn¡¯t her.

    The other obvious thing was right in front of her. She stared at the password screen. If she had conjured this boat, she should know the password. But she¡¯d already tried all her regular passwords, and none of them worked. Hell, the little device had locked her out for five minutes. She had been watching the lock out timer tick down for a while now, and it was about to finish. Having gone through this train of thought, Lily was pretty sure she knew what it was now too. She just wasn¡¯t happy about it.

    As the display cleared, she reached over and typed the password. BelovedLily. Because of course it was. The display opened right up.

    Lily let out a sigh. ¡°Of course.¡± That didn¡¯t make her feel any better about this. The point of a password would normally be to keep intruders out right? So why would it be the name of the boat? No, this was a checkpoint.

    She felt like someone was asking her. ¡®Did you see my message? Did you get my gift? Did you see how I protected you?¡¯

    It was an uncomfortable feeling. But, at least now she had access to the last bit of the boat she didn¡¯t have before. She clicked through the device using the touch screen. It seemed to be running an OS like a phone, but not one she was directly familiar with. It had a number of apps though that seemed to give information about the on board devices.

    Clicking on the one labeled ¡®Water Services¡¯ with an icon of a drop of water, she saw that it was basically what she expected. It said the on board tanks were 83.2% full. There was also a little bit that read that it was generating water somehow? She wasn¡¯t sure what that was about, but sure enough she saw as it ticked over to 83.3% full. So, she wouldn¡¯t need to worry about refilling it? She might have to watch some kind of filters or something. She made a mental note to check into that later.

    ¡®Power Services¡¯ showed a very similar layout. She was generating power, and there was a battery capacity. It also showed the boat¡¯s fuel, which seemed a little odd to her because there was a fuel gauge on the dashboard. Maybe she could access this app remotely with a little effort?

    There were a lot of other apps here too. She closed her eyes and took a deep breath. Overwhelming. It was so overwhelming! What was she supposed to do? She spoke out loud, sure that she was just speaking to herself but needing to say it anyway.

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    ¡°Whoever you are, thank you for your help. But, I wish you¡¯d just identify yourself. I scare easy, you know?¡±

    <hr>

    The sun was getting lower in the sky, but ultimately that worked to her advantage. Lily was sure she would have missed it in the full brightness of daytime. She found a house that looked exactly like what she wanted. There was a large enough private dock she thought she could stop her boat there, and it was lit. A lot of docks had been though, and she was starting to think that the lights had individual little solar panels on them a lot of the time. This one included. But, more than that, up the dock and some stairs, nestled up in the thick tree cover was a house. The lights were on, otherwise she was sure she would have missed it. And there, on top, barely peeking into view was a large satellite dish.

    Lily decided that it was time to check it out, and if this wasn¡¯t good she would still stop here for the night. No sense driving her boat around at night when she wasn¡¯t really sure what made that safe or unsafe, or what precautions to take. She was dreading docking her boat, but it was actually a little easier the second time. The dock not being partially burned out helped too. She made sure to open her phone and follow the on screen knot directions again rather than trying to remember. She was trying very hard to not take any stupid pointless risks.

    The house was locked, because of course it was. It was also a lot bigger than Lily could see from shore. But, big wasn¡¯t a bad thing. She would need a lot of room for all the things she wanted to do. Heck, over time she might even expand into the houses next door. For now though, she had to get into this place ideally without breaking anything. So, her next step was to go around and check the windows.

    Finding an unlocked window was easy! So was popping the screen off of it. The problem was¡­ what then? The window was off the ground, and she was pathetically exhausted. She tried to hop up and pull herself onto the windowsill, and it wasn¡¯t even close. She couldn¡¯t lift her bodyweight with just her arms right now. So then¡­ what?

    Lily looked around the area for something she might be able to pull over and stand on. But nothing obvious jumped out to her. She might be able to get something from her boat? But, even if the furniture weren¡¯t nailed down, could she really carry something like that up stairs right now? No, she didn¡¯t think she could.

    ¡°This is so pathetic. It¡¯s right there!¡± Lily whined to herself. She decided to walk around the house until she could find something she might be able to stand on. Getting around to the front of the house she spotted some lawn chairs. Grabbing them, she brought them back to her open window. She had to awkwardly stack them on top of one another, but with that boost she pulled herself through the open window!

    She promptly fell onto her face from window height. Scrambling, she toppled forward and landed on her back, looking up to the ceiling. ¡°Owww. Can I please stop getting hurt, huh world?¡± Lily lay there breathing hard for a few more moments. Then she gingerly sat up. Her back hurt, but she didn¡¯t think she¡¯d left any permanent damage. She was in a bedroom. It seemed to be a guest room of some kind. She was sitting on a light blue carpet in a white room. There was a queen sized bed in one corner on an ornate looking bed frame. It had light blue blankets and white pillows that complimented the style of the room and evoked a mental image of the sky on a clear day. Apart from that, there was a lamp, and a small end table near the bed. Otherwise the room seemed empty.

    ¡°This some kind of bed and breakfast¡­?¡± Lily carefully got to her feet, and made her way to the door. She opened it and found herself in a short hallway. To her left was an open area with a door that led outside, and directly across from her was a small bathroom. No shower or bath, but a toilet and a sink with a counter. Given the things on the counter, it seemed like it was mostly used for applying makeup. Lily knew almost nothing about makeup.

    Lily went into the next little room and unlocked the door. Then she headed into the house proper. This was apparently a very small little area because taking a step into the main foyer was shocking. It was at least thirty feet from wall to wall, with a huge staircase leading up to a second floor. The door into the front yard was there, so Lily unlocked it and moved on. She was thankful the lights were all left on, otherwise she¡¯d be getting a little scared right now.

    Behind the foyer was a massive room that had an open view into the kitchen, as well as a huge TV on the far side with a couch in front of it. Lily immediately got a little excited. It was like her own little personal theater! ¡°Geez, rich people are something else. But I can¡¯t complain now!¡±

    Across that room was a sliding glass door that opened into the back yard, and she could see the path down to her boat from there. So, Lily approached it, and unlocked it. Then she went down to her boat and grabbed a few things. A laptop, one of the external hard drives, a few flash drives, and her phone. She headed back up into the main living room. She wasn¡¯t totally sure that¡¯s what this room was called, heck it included a kitchen, but she decided that¡¯s what she would call it. Setting down on the couch she popped open the laptop and searched for a wifi signal. There was quite a strong one! ¡­ Password protected.

    ¡°Ugh, of course.¡± She would have to track down the wifi router and do a factory reset or something to get in. Unless these people had a sticky note with the password or something. Fortunately, it should be in one of the central areas of the house, so she went looking.

    <hr>

    During the next hour Lily found the router and set it up so she could use it. The house did indeed have a satellite internet connection. Even better, she could assume it would last longer than most of the physical lines around, even if it had some drawbacks. She also explored the house a bit. But, not entirely. From what she could tell, this place was beyond massive. On the ground floor there were two guest rooms, a master bedroom, a master bathroom with two showers and a giant tub, two huge walk-in closets, access to a patio with an outdoor kitchen, the main kitchen and pantry area, three half bathrooms, and a gigantic dining room. Also, an elevator. She briefly went inside to check it out, but decided not to go anywhere. Stairs were better. If something went wrong, no one would come to help.

    There was one thing that bothered her a bit. The elevator had a basement button, but she couldn¡¯t find a door that led down there. That creeped her out big time, so she decided she¡¯d explore it some other time. Along with the second floor.

    ¡°Honestly, I can afford to explore my big spooky mansion during the day can¡¯t I?¡±

    With that, she set her laptop up to be downloading things. She had a lot queued up. Media ripping software, a couple of her favorite shows and albums, tons of books from audible, microsoft visual studio in case she needed to do some simple coding, and a bunch more! When she was satisfied that she had at least 12 hours of download time ready to go though, she went back to her boat.

    She didn¡¯t know why, but her boat felt a lot more safe and secure than the big mansion. So, when it came time to relax and retire for the night, she went right back to it. She chanced a glance up at the sky, and swallowed the dread that filled her upon seeing there were still no stars. She really, really didn¡¯t want to think about what that meant. Was the rest of the universe gone, or could she not see it? Why? She didn¡¯t want to think about something that could affect an entire universe. It was too scary. She focused on getting down to the boat in the dark, and closed herself in her little cabin so she wouldn¡¯t have to think about it.

    She set up her little blu-ray player on her bed, gathered Bay up and found a good spot near her pillows despite the ash still coating him, and retrieved her switch. She also took a moment to grab some food. It had been a long day. But, she had bowls, cans of soup, and a microwave so she opted for that and some fruit. Not exactly a dinner fit for a queen, but it would keep her nourished for now. For desert, she even snacked on a few of the hostess treats she¡¯d snagged from her first home invasion.

    So, there she lay in her comfy little bed, watching silly television and playing on her console. It was a stark contrast to how she¡¯d ended her first day, asleep on the little couch and then outside on the deck of the boat. She was still a mess, and there were a lot of questions to answer. She wasn¡¯t out of danger completely yet. But, she had worked hard today and things had gotten marginally better. That counted for something, right?

    Tomorrow she would wake up early and go looking for farm animals. She wasn¡¯t sure where she would put them in regards to this mansion, but she would figure it out. Then¡­ who knows. Maybe work on figuring out this magic stuff.

    She was starting to get sleepy. But, she enjoyed the sound of her little show playing. So, she left it on.

    ¡°Mmm, good night Bay.¡± Bay returned her look gently.

    Lily drifted off to sleep.

 0.013

    Lily rose to wakefulness slowly. She didn¡¯t feel extremely rushed this morning, which was a welcome change. Maybe she wouldn¡¯t even need to sleep three times today, since she had gotten a nice full night. Rolling over, she poked Bay on the nose.

    ¡°G¡¯morning Bay. Did you sleep well?¡±

    He seemed well rested. And dirty. Very, very dirty. Bay was still coated in purple black ash from yesterday, and it had gotten a bit on her blankets as well. But, Lily didn¡¯t care. She could clean up later. For now, she was just grateful to be finally in a good position to start a day.

    She rose from bed and headed into her little kitchen. A big bowl of cereal and an episode of her new favorite (only accessible) sitcom later, she was feeling more ready. She grabbed a rockstar and headed into her new mansion. Her new mansion. Her new mansion. It still didn¡¯t feel real. Well, technically everything was hers now. Or at least the concept of hers and not hers didn¡¯t really exist anymore. Unless she found anyone to argue the point.

    Admittedly, a small part of her was still expecting the people of the world to pop back into existence. But, how likely was that? Well, about as likely as them all disappearing in the first place Lily supposed. But, that was a bridge to cross when she came to it.

    Entering the massive main room of her new base, Lily hopped down onto the couch and grabbed her laptop. Downloads had been progressing slowly but surely. She added a few more things she had thought of overnight. In this case a batch download of retro roms. Those games would be sooo hard to find once the internet went down. She¡¯d have to source someone with a physical collection, hope they had it, and then dump the data. But, she could get them now nice and easy! So, she did.

    From there, she walked around aimlessly for a bit. There were big solar panels on the roof, but she was hoping she would find a display that would show how much power was being used. If it was going down from being totally reliant on the panels, she would need to source some more. But, no such easy to find readout appeared before her, so she shrugged and gave up. Plenty of time for that later.

    The house was arranged in roughly an H shape, at least on the bottom floor. The two points in the front of the house were garages, so she was hoping she could find a vehicle in one of them. And keys. She would love to find some keys and not need to search the whole house.

    But before she did, she wandered over to the fridge to see what was available. It was a little frightening on some level how easy it was getting to casually exist in someone else¡¯s home, but she was getting used to it.

    ¡°Adapting. Yeah. I¡¯m adaptable. That¡¯s what I learned yesterday.¡±

    The fridge was absolutely loaded with ingredients! Lily didn¡¯t really know how to cook. It seemed like whoever had owned this house before had either been a chef or hired one. She¡¯d have to see what she could do with them before they went bad. After all, it was going to be a lot harder to find anything not premade for a while, starting soon. Maybe she should move some of her loot into here?

    In either case, next she needed to come up with a plan for the day. Operation secure livestock! How many should she get? She wasn¡¯t sure she wanted more than one cow. They were pretty big. But she could probably get together a number of chickens. It was really¡­ how big did she want that number to be? How many eggs did they lay? Did she need a rooster to get them to lay? Or just to make more chickens? Did she want to make more chickens?

    She sat back on the couch and pulled out the laptop to do some research.

    <hr>

    Lily had spent two hours longer than she expected learning everything about chickens, and hadn¡¯t even gotten into cows. She still felt woefully underprepared, but she decided she had to get moving before it got too late in the day. Luckily, there had been three choices of vehicle in the garage, and all of them had keys! Well, keys by the garage door, but she had found them easy enough. She loaded Bay and her neverburning flame up into her new ride, and set off in her new soccer mom SUV.

    She had a decent idea of a rural area to check out, but she wasn¡¯t really sure what to expect when she got there. It was only a 45 minute drive though, out to what she understood might be vineyard country? At least google told her there was a vineyard and a couple ranches, and that made her think it must be a wealthy farming area. Which is just what she was looking for!

    Unfortunately on arrival she learned that scouting richer rural areas was a little difficult. Mainly because most of them had a lot of land, and fences. Fences that bordered the land, and it made it really difficult to see what exactly was on the property without going in. Lily didn¡¯t really want to go in without being able to see inside. But, it¡¯s not like they would have loose dogs big and scary enough to mess with her in her Mom-mobile right?

    She decided to keep driving until she saw animals, since she figured she should at least be able to see a cow pen or something from the road. But, as she continued down the road, she encountered a different problem. The fire had beaten her to it. After a certain point, everything was burned to ash. Huge swaths of land were just black and burned.

    ¡°Such a waste¡­ I bet it¡¯s like this all over the world too.¡±

    With a sigh, she started to turn around when she noticed something. In the distance there was a spot of sharp contrast against the burned out remains of whatever farm there had been. It looked like a perfectly circular spot had just¡­ not burned. It was entirely unharmed. Lily sat there staring at it for a moment. Maybe it was another spooky spot?

    ¡°Do I investigate, or turn around and look for animals? Hmm. Oh who am I kidding, I¡¯ve gotta check it out.¡±

    Lily drove her car to the closest spot it could reach without going off road, then parked and grabbed her neverburning flame. She wanted to see if it would react, or if she would have better luck learning about it in an already supernaturally inclined environment.

    Getting to the spot was surprisingly tricky. Lily was wary of each and every step. She was scared she would find a spot that was still hot, or even just step on nails that the fire had left behind after burning the surrounding wood. She couldn¡¯t even tell where things like fences had been, except in the areas where they used metal posts. Even those looked twisted and burned somehow.

    But, despite it being a long process, she eventually found herself in a small bubble of unburned ground. Nothing else seemed immediately supernatural. But the grass here was still a vibrant green, and there was even a tree. The whole area was maybe twenty or thirty feet across. She¡¯d expected to find a glowing rock, or an unnatural fire, or well, anything really. But it just seemed like the fire forgot to burn this spot down. She¡¯d almost conclude that some natural land formation had protected this spot, or something like that. But¡­ It was a perfect circle.

    Lily wandered to the center of it and sat down, putting her neverburning flame in front of her.

    ¡°What do you think, little buddy?¡±

    If you come across this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it.

    She stared at it, trying to see the strange halo of¡­ stuff around it. She really needed a better word for this stuff. She was trying not to use ¡®mana¡¯ because some part of her still balked at the idea that this was magic and not some new realm of physics meant just for her.

    ¡°Ah screw it. It¡¯s mana, unless it turns out to work super different from that. There¡¯s no one here to judge me, I can call it what I want.¡±

    She focused and tried to look for the mana. It still took her a second, but it was a lot easier now that she was getting more practice. Could she actually see it more clearly, or was she just better at noticing? She shook her head. Focus. Right.

    The mana was flowing around the little chunk of wood, same as last night. But, the broken spot seemed a little different. Instead of mana flowing quickly out of the circle, it seemed to just not be flowing there at all. Did it finally run out? That seemed unlikely, because the circle was still made of the stuff right?

    Lily leaned forward and tried to look even closer at that spot specifically when behind her erupted a terrible sound.

    WOOF!

    Lily screamed, and scrambled to her feet as quick as she could. She spun to face the horrible beast that had made the sound and¨C

    It was a puppy. A large, white, fluffy, puppy. She stared, her heart beating out of her chest. It was large, but still definitely young. She could tell by the shape of it. All white, except for a black splotch on its forehead. It almost looked like a star. The puppy looked¡­ hungry. But, it couldn¡¯t be dangerous. It was a puppy! Lily rolled her eyes, exasperated. Hesitating, she tried to talk to it.

    ¡°You scared me! I don¡¯t want a¨C¡±

    WOOF!

    Lily yelped, startled. She glared at the puppy.

    ¡°I don¡¯t want a dog! Shoo! Shoo!¡±

    The puppy¡¯s tail wagged.

    ¡°Fine. Stay. Whatever. Just don¡¯t bother me. I¡¯m doing something important.¡±

    She sat back down and started looking over her magical item again. Sure enough, the flow of mana had just stopped. It had been like a gas leak last night. Maybe it was that the pressure here was more equalized? Was mana pressure even a thing? Maybe spooky spots just had more? She frowned.

    A white nose found its way into her field of view. Lily glanced to her left, and instantly got licked right in the face.

    ¡°Eww!¡±

    She pushed the dog away.

    ¡°Leave me alone! This is important! Im-por-tant. You understand? Go frolic in the¡­¡± she glanced around ¡°...ash. Okay, just. Sit there and don¡¯t bug me.¡±

    The puppy stared at her in confusion, but eventually wandered slightly further away. Lily turned back to what she was doing. She dumped the piece of wood out of its little vase holder and into her hand, and willed herself to understand how it worked. If the mana really was more dense here, this was definitely the spot to do it right? Well, that was an assumption. But Lily thought it was a good one.

    Now that it was in her hand here, she did feel like she could sense a little more. She definitely couldn¡¯t see any more, but, holding it she could just¡­ feel it? She felt like she could sense its shape. Not the wood, but the mana. The ¡®magic¡¯. Two concentric circles. The inner one was made of three¡­ nodes. The outer one was made of five, but one was broken. Each one had some kind of¡­ something in it. A rune? A glyph? Something like that. She wished she had brought paper. It wasn¡¯t exactly written, and yet, sitting here, she had a clear image of what it would look like on paper in her mind.

    She wasn¡¯t clear on what the symbols did exactly. They seemed to be each describing a different part of the magic though. Like a simple scripting system, or circuit board, or¡­ Lily wasn¡¯t sure. But she felt like she was finally getting somewhere. Two circles, with this mana stuff flowing through it and reacting to the things in the nodes. Okay, that was simple enough. Now how did she figure out what they each actually did? How did she fix the one that was broken?

    She could sense where it was broken now. The thing inside the node was fine, but the circle and the node itself had shattered there. She had the rest of it to reference though. Most of the nodes looked the same, although a few of them were slightly different. Still, if this one was one of the generic ones it should look just like the one across from it right? It was just continuing the pattern. It should look like¡­

    The flame burst to life in Lily¡¯s hand. She screamed and threw it away from her. The everburning flame landed not five feet away in the grass. Lily panted as she looked at it, then laughed at herself. It hadn¡¯t been hot. Of course it hadn¡¯t been hot! It hadn¡¯t before either! She turned to the puppy, who was looking at her quizzically.

    ¡°Hah. I did it. Look at me go. I just threw my first fireball! How¡¯s that for¨C¡±

    WOOF!

    Lily yelped.

    <hr>

    An hour later, Lily still had not moved. She wanted to make sure she had memorized every little aspect of these circles before she headed out to finish her work for the day. She would definitely be experimenting with these more when she got home. Maybe she could draw them out in a notebook?

    She had also started to suspect she knew why this spooky spot didn¡¯t house an anomaly. Or rather, she thought that she had been wrong about that. Because when her everburning flame got close to the puppy, it definitely grew larger. Only a little bit. It was subtle, so she didn¡¯t notice it at first. But, after some experimentation she was pretty sure.

    She didn¡¯t see a circle around the dog or anything like that though. So she wasn¡¯t entirely convinced. Maybe an anomaly had happened to the dog. Like an alteration spell, or a buff, or¡­ she glanced around. A protection spell?

    ¡°Don¡¯t take this the wrong way, but are you like, fireproof?¡±

    The puppy stared up at her, panting slightly. Well, that was one hypothesis she wasn¡¯t about to test. Still, what should she do? On the one hand, she wanted to learn everything she could about this stuff. On the other hand, she really didn¡¯t want the responsibility of an animal. Well, she didn¡¯t have to make this choice right now. She could go get her chickens and cows, and then decide whether or not to circle back for the dog. Yeah, that makes sense. No use dealing with a puppy all day if she didn¡¯t need to, and it¡¯s not like the puppy would likely go anywhere.

    So, she started back to her car. The puppy followed her. About thirty feet outside the circle she turned and glared at it.

    ¡°I¡¯m not taking you. Go back. Stay. Shoo!¡±

    She turned and started walking again. The puppy followed her.

    ¡°Fine, is that how it is?¡±

    Lily broke into a run. She ran as fast as she could. Immediately she realized this was maybe a mistake. Her body was still pretty weak. But she could out run a puppy right? Lily could not outrun a puppy. She got to her car, taking gasping breaths, and immediately doubled over. The puppy was sitting by the front door by the time she reached it.

    Lily took a minute to catch her breath, glaring at the little dog. It wagged its tail. Lily spoke to it through gasping breaths.

    ¡°Well, I¡¯m not taking you with me. Just because you made it here. You little wretch.¡±

    She opened her door and got in, closing it behind her. There was a whine from outside the door. She started the car. There was a louder whine from outside the door. Lily carefully pulled away. She glanced in her rearview window. The dog followed her, running as fast as it could.

    ¡°It¡¯ll stop and turn around. Any¡­ second now.¡±

    The dog did stop. It sat in the road, and looked so, absolutely, heartbreakingly pathetic.

    <hr>

    Lily pulled into the ranch and found a good place to park. It didn¡¯t look too fire damaged. Honestly, Lily was more excited to look into magic right now than collect animals. But, the animals were time sensitive. Magic¡­ probably wasn¡¯t.

    ¡°Come to think of it, where am I even going to put chickens in this car¡­?¡±

    She looked over her vehicle. It wasn¡¯t small, but having a bunch of live loose chickens in here sounded a little scary. Maybe she could find cages around here or something?

    Bay, sitting in the back seat, caught her eye. He looked smug.

    ¡°Oh yeah, laugh it up buddy. I¡¯m the one who has to clean you up if chickens poop on you, so you better be hoping I¡¯m less tired tonight. You could at least give me some symp¨C¡±

    WOOF!

    Lily yelped. The puppy in the seat beside her, carefully buckled in wagged its tail.

 0.014

    The ranch gate opened onto a large courtyard in front of a very nice looking house. Lily made a note that if she ever needed a ranch base to come back here. Forty five minutes was a bit of a drive, but it was worth it for the right location. Plus, maybe given enough time she could expedite it. Speed limits were more of a suggestion now after all.

    The courtyard was divided up into three segments, with the road leading to a roundabout in front of the house. In one segment was the home, in another was a large garage and workspace, and in the last was¡­ animal pens! A whole lot of them from the looks of it. In the front were horses, which were decidedly not what Lily was looking for. She thought she could see sheep from here too... Not that she needed wool. The animals all seemed to be doing more or less fine. Lily suspected that they had a surplus of food and water, and were just living as if humans had decided to leave them alone for a while.

    Lily got out of her car and let the dog out too. If it wandered away, she¡¯d know to come back here or the other spot to find it. But she suspected it was set on following her, so she didn¡¯t worry too much. Instead, she was focused on the task at hand. She wanted chickens! And a cow. Eggs and milk! Staples!

    Although, if she was already here she might consider finding all the food and water stations for the various animals and filling them up too. She couldn¡¯t fathom needing wool, or a horse, or killing and butchering a pig, but that didn¡¯t mean she wanted to forever close the doors that would lead to those options.

    With that in mind, she continued forward. She glanced down at the puppy, who was toddling after her, tail wagging merrily.

    ¡°So, I don¡¯t know how to be a farm girl. Were you a farm dog?¡±

    Of course, there was no reply. If this dog ever started talking to Lily, she¡¯d know that she finally lost it for real. Although¡­ She glanced up at the sky. The blue sky looked perfectly normal for the daytime. But she knew that past that lay¡­ nothing. She wasn¡¯t quite sure if that was all in her head. Afterall, if everything else in the universe vanished wouldn¡¯t gravity and physics have completely fallen apart? So, doesn¡¯t that mean it¡¯s all in her head? Not to mention all of the ¡®magic¡¯.

    The dog bit at her pant leg and pulled her forward a step. Lily realized she had stopped walking and had been standing there with her hands clenched for.. some time. She shook her head and snapped out of it.

    ¡°Thanks little, uh, boy? Girl? Hmm. Well, I¡¯m sure we¡¯ll find out later.¡±

    Lily shrugged and took a better look around. She did see what looked like a large chicken coop from here. Assuming she knew what she was looking at, of course. Otherwise there was a pen with pigs, and another with goats she hadn¡¯t seen before. Along with all of that, there was a pond and¡­ a dog kennel. Lily froze.

    But, her puppy friend didn¡¯t seem to be reacting at all. Maybe¡­ it was empty? She stared. It was just one of those old igloo style dog houses. Lily crept forward to see if she could spot a dog. A long neck suddenly looked around the side. A hideous face with a beak!

    ¡°What the hell kind of dog is tha¨C oh.¡±

    A duck stepped out of the igloo.

    ¡°Huh. Okay, that¡¯s not what I expected.¡±

    Another duck stepped through. There were six in all, but it took Lily getting close and looking inside to see them all. It seemed they lived in the little igloo next to the pond. That was pretty cute. Wouldn¡¯t ducks like, fly away though? What had happened to the dog? Lily had so many questions.

    The puppy bounded forward and barked. The ducks, startled, let out a squall and scrambled back into the igloo. Then the cheeky little thing had the gall to look up at her smugly, as if waiting for praise.

    ¡°Look, I need you to not try to impress me so much. We have a business relationship. Let¡¯s keep things professional, okay? You¡¯re here to be inspected for magical anomalies. When I¡¯m sure I can¡¯t learn anything more from you, I¡¯m releasing you into the wild, got it?¡±

    The puppy continued to stare, tail wagging hopefully.

    ¡°Okay, but that was pretty cool. Help me wrangle some chickens and we¡¯ll talk.¡±

    Lily turned to what she thought was a coop, leaving her canine cohort behind. The puppy was circling the dog igloo, making a game of corralling the birds. Maybe it was part shepherd? Either way, it was running around like crazy. Just watching it was making her tired. She couldn''t remember a time she had had that much energy.

    The good news was, her hunch was right: this outbuilding did seem to be a chicken coop. The bad news was there were a lot of chickens inside. A large red chicken house complete with a little ramp to get in and what appeared to be an electric door housed a lot of chickens. How many? Conservatively, Lily estimated it was a shit load. At least thirty. The entire area was fenced in, which was good because there was a very, very large mean looking rooster sitting right in the middle of the chicken run.

    ¡°Listen up hound. This is the plan. I¡¯m gonna open the gate, and just try to snag three birds. Just three! The rest, we can figure out how to feed and water but they can stay here, okay? Because if we need more, we can just come here, right?¡±

    The puppy didn¡¯t respond, but it looked like it understood at least that Lily was about to do¡­ something.

    She flung open the door to the pen and stepped inside. Instantly, there was chaos. Well, that¡¯s how it felt to Lily. Chickens were EVERYWHERE. She stepped forward and tried to grab one, but the little jerk ran! She always thought of chickens as being docile and slow! So, she took a few steps forward and went for another, but now they were all milling about. There were a lot of them. On top of that, the disturbance had been noticed by the rooster and¨C

    Krr-KAWWWWW

    A loud piercing shriek came out of the rooster¡¯s mouth. The chickens all began to run. Two thirds into the coop, and the rest dashing madly around the pen. But what was worse, the rooster ran at Lily. She screamed. That thing was a freakin¡¯ dinosaur! It was charging her!

    In the last couple steps it flapped its mighty wings and brandished its spurs. Lily thought for sure she wasn¡¯t getting away from here without some bloodshed. But then, the dog jumped in! It tackled the bird from the side just before it could reach Lily, and started barking wildly. The rooster turned to focus on the little puppy. The terrifying bird was not much smaller than the puppy, and had knives on its feet! Well, not literally, but those spurs were crazy looking!

    The dog seemed to realize too, and was keeping its distance but barking fiercely. The rooster readied itself, and charged the dog, flapping into the air a little again with its spurs brandished. But this time, Lily wasn¡¯t paralyzed with fear. With a battle cry of her own, she ran forward and kicked it as hard as she could!

    ¡°RUN!¡± she ran for the door. The puppy did too, seeming to understand her intention even if it was just through seeing her trajectory. Lily and the little puppy made it through the door, and Lily slammed it shut behind her. Then she noticed the second problem.

    In the commotion, some chickens had gotten loose. Five of them were outside the pen, already finding places to scratch around that they¡¯d likely stared covetously at for years from their enclosure.

    Once again, her new companion wasted no time. The puppy ran forward, barking, and in less than ten seconds had corralled them all into a small group. Then, it sat and stared at her, wagging its tail and clearly waiting for praise. This time, Lily couldn¡¯t bear to remain aloof.

    She reached down and pet the puppy¡¯s head.

    ¡°Good¡­ good whatever you are. You saved me back there. I guess you¡¯re not so bad, fur ball. Hmph.¡±

    The puppy looked way too pleased with itself. Lily turned her attention to the chickens. She was shaking a little. So, she took a deep breath and steadied herself. Then she reached for the nearest bird. It started to move, but the puppy circled around the other side and gave it a bark. Lily smiled.

    ¡°Smart little thing.¡±

    This time when she reached, she successfully grabbed a chicken! Which led to her next problem: She was now holding a chicken. She didn¡¯t know how to hold a chicken. The bird was crowing and flapping its wings, flailing in her grasp. She (barely) managed to keep a grip on it, awkwardly holding it far away from her body as she headed over to her car. It was a struggle to get the back open, but there was an area behind the back seat and she shoved the chicken there.

    This story has been unlawfully obtained without the author''s consent. Report any appearances on Amazon.

    The whole ordeal was a process, but soon she had five chickens in her car. It was more than she¡¯d thought to get, but she didn¡¯t want to leave any outside the fence and she definitely was not opening it back up. Not without sleeping gas or something for that stupid rooster. Did sleeping gas actually exist, or was that a TV thing?

    Then, Lily had another problem to face. How was she supposed to transport a cow? She had seen where cows were at this point, and it was nice and easy to get to. But, how did she make one move? How did she get it into a vehicle? Did she need a pickup truck? She didn¡¯t want to switch cars¡­

    Lily went to look around the ranch. She found what she thought must be horse trailers in a barn looking building. That might work, but she had no idea how to attach it to her vehicle. Or even if she could. Could her mom-mobile actually pull something like that? What if the answer was yes, but only for a little while and then she broke down in the middle of nowhere?

    On top of that, even if she did it successfully, being on an actual ranch was making her rethink the plan of having a cow in her front yard. Even if she found a way to make it not wander off, she didn¡¯t have any of this fancy equipment and collecting it was going to be¡­ a lot. But they were already penned in here. Maybe she should just come back and learn how to occasionally take care of them here?

    ¡°What do you think puppy? Do we leave the cows for now?¡±

    The little dog gave her a confused look. Lily sighed.

    ¡°Well, I can¡¯t expect you to always understand me. Come on, let¡¯s go learn how to feed and water the animals. Then we can go home.¡±

    Feeding and watering the animals was surprisingly easy. Google said that almost all of them just ate the grass. That would explain the lack of obvious food troughs, and the fact that the fields seemed much too large for each group of animals at first blush. Things had to grow faster than they ate. Watering was similarly simple. The property had a huge water storage container on it. Lily figured it must be fed through a well or something, but resolved to double check it in a few days to see if it was depleting at all.

    But, pipes ran from that all over the property and automatically filled the animals¡¯ water. Lily had been right to try and find a rich ranch. Even if they had the world¡¯s biggest meanest rooster. Really, the only complication she had run into was that she hadn¡¯t known what an electric fence looked like. Lily now knew what an electric fence looked like. She also knew what one felt like.

    So, with the animals taken care of as best as she could understand, she loaded her companion into the car and started the long drive home.

    <hr>

    The ride home was turbulent. The chickens did not stay in the back, so Lily got jumpscared a few times. Thankfully, after the third, the puppy started making a game of keeping them in the back seat. The little thing was smart as a whip! Was this normal for a puppy? Lily had never owned one. She didn¡¯t know how old it was either. It was clearly not a newborn, but definitely not an adult yet either. It still had that puppy type shape.

    ¡°I really should think of something to call you. Just ¡®puppy¡¯ or ¡®dog¡¯ feels pretty weird. But I don¡¯t know if you¡¯re a boy or a girl either. I guess it doesn¡¯t matter. Humanity is gone, so gender norms are out the window too.¡±

    She hesitated. That still felt a little weird. Well, the weirdest part was really that Lily was getting used to it. That was uncomfortable in and of itself. But, she shrugged it off for now. She was still riding the high of a mission mostly successful.

    ¡°What about Napoleon Bone-apart? Huh?¡±

    Lily glanced at the puppy. She could swear it rolled its eyes at her. She looked at Bay in the rearview mirror. He had a chicken on his head, and was looking unimpressed with her joke.

    ¡°Oh fine. You¡¯re no fun. I could call you Wrangler. ¡®Cause you did so well with the chickens. Or Rocky! ¡®Cause you fought off that chicken. We could do a training montage to Eye of the Tiger together! Or maybe just you. I¡¯m not convinced my body will ever recover from all this new exercise as it is.¡±

    Lily sighed loudly. She was pretty tired again. Despite that, she was determined not to fall asleep again today. Not until night time.

    ¡°Fine. Not Rocky. Maybe I could name you after something I miss, or will miss? Ice Cream isn¡¯t a great name. Softserve! Soft for short? Ehh. No. Do you have any input?¡±

    WOOF!

    ¡°Thank you thank you, but I¡¯m not calling you that. Give me a chosen name in English and we¡¯ll talk about it.¡±

    Lily laughed. She felt like she was onto something though. But she hadn¡¯t quite figured it out yet.

    ¡°If only I could get you to tell me whether you saw half the crazy stuff I did too. I think you see the everburning flame. I¡¯ll have to see if you notice other magic. Hey, could you tell me if the stars are out?¡±

    Lily¡¯s mood had gone sour. But, she glanced at the dog anyway. It was staring up at her with interest, and she suddenly knew what she should call it.

    ¡°Hah, it¡¯s so obvious. I¡¯ll call you Star. You¡¯ve got that stupid looking mark on your forehead, and it¡¯s meaningful enough to me. I might not see another star ever again, so I might as well have a Star, right? Yeah. That sounds right. What do you think, Star?¡±

    Star panted happily in reply.

    <hr>

    When they finally pulled into the garage, Lily was beyond ready to be home for the day. It was only about 5 PM, but it felt like she¡¯d been gone for a week. She closed the garage behind her, and then started grabbing chickens. She wasn¡¯t psyched about walking them through the house, but the backyard was fenced and that would have to do for now. She should have gotten some kind of coop, but she didn¡¯t think of that before now. So, it was a job for the next couple days. She wanted to mess with some magic and relax.

    She was thankfully able to get the chickens through the house and into the backyard without them pooping in her house. The car however was not so lucky. She¡¯d have to clean that real good. But that was an issue for tomorrow Lily. Star was running in front of her trying to guess where she was going to go next. It was cute, but she almost tripped a few times. On her last trip out to grab Bay though, she noticed something.

    Bay had an egg on his head. Lily burst out laughing. It looked so stupid. The poor little guy had been a nest for that chicken earlier! She grabbed it and started to head in when she heard a whine. Star looked up at her hungrily. She looked down at the dog.

    ¡°Hmm. Can you even have just a raw egg?¡±

    She googled it. Thank goodness that was still working. It seemed like the answer was yes. Shell and all, even.

    ¡°I see. Gross, but I guess why not? You deserve some food. You worked hard for today.¡±

    She handed Star the egg. She thought the dog would just chew the egg up, but Star shook it back and forth a few times. Then, the dog dropped it on the kitchen floor with a loud crack. Lily was about to get mad, but then she heard the slurp slurp slurp sound of Star licking it up and got grossed out instead.

    ¡°Ugh, you¡¯re nasty you know that? Well, I hope you enjoy it. I¡¯ll figure out getting you kibble or something tomorrow. If you get hungry again tonight we¡¯ll search the fridge for something you can eat. Pretty sure there¡¯s raw meat and some dog friendly vegetables. Dunno which ones those are, but we¡¯ll figure it out okay?¡±

    Star was too busy slurping an egg off the floor greedily to pay her any mind. So, Lily checked to make sure things were still downloading and then went to search for a pen and paper. It wasn¡¯t too hard to find them. There was a little study type room near the master bedrooms, and there were plenty of supplies in there.

    So, she sat down in front of the TV, turned on something at random for background noise and got to work. She took out the everburning flame, holding it in her hand, and tried to visualize the circle as she¡¯d seen earlier.

    To her shock, it was much much easier now that she knew what it was supposed to look like. She could feel the mana moving around it in just the shape she expected. So, she got to work copying down the various glyphs she found.

    In the smaller circle, there were three. She marked them down on her paper as glyph 1-3. She noted that a few of them had design elements in common with each other. Glyph #1 had these little star shapes that were common in other glyphs, and its node had a diamond around it..

    Glyph #2 was just one of those stars, but the node it was recessed in looked a little different than the others anywhere in the circle. Glyph #3 was just a spiral with an arrow on the end of it.

    In the main circle, the larger outer one there were four more glyphs. Glyph #4 was shaped a little like a flame with lines coming off it. Glyph #5 looked like that same flame but with the stars. Glyph #6 was just the stars, and finally Glyph #7 looked like the inverse of Glyph #1.

    Lily had written them down dutifully, so now she could look at them clearly without having to focus so hard. She supposed the next thing to do would be to try them out, right? First individually, and then to see if she could replicate the circle she saw.

    So, out came a bunch of fresh sheets of paper. She drew a circle that should only have one node, unsure if she was just doodling or if something would really happen. She drew in Glyph #1. Nothing happened.

    Lily sighed, but decided not to give up. She varied the circle a bit each time, thinking maybe she hadn¡¯t quite gotten it right for what one with only one node would look like. Glyph #2 also did nothing. Star wandered in and laid next to her, seemingly content having devoured an egg. Lily continued drawing. Glyph #3 did nothing. So did #4, #5, and¨C wait a second.

    She was half way through drawing #6 when something caught her eye. A little flicker. Something moving in the air. She looked at Glyph #5. Sure enough, there was a very slight disturbance forming above it. Staring for a few moments, she got a sense for it. Mana was gathering. Just in a small ball above the sheet of paper. It was very slight. Not even as much as was normally around the everburning flame. But it was there. She could see it! It was growing very slowly.

    Lily shook Star to get the dog¡¯s attention, and pointed at the little sphere of mana.

    ¡°See? See? Can you see it? I¡¯m not crazy, right? It¡¯s there, right? You can totally see it!¡±

    Star sniffed the air, and started to whine.

    ¡°Oh. Do you not like it? Don¡¯t worry, this one should be safe. It¡¯s made of paper, and it¡¯s not on fire.¡±

    The dog whined louder.

    ¡°It¡¯s fine! See?¡±

    Lily put her hand into the sphere. It felt a little tickly, but that was it.

    ¡°No danger at all.¡±

    Star whined more urgently, and stood up, walking in a small circle near Lily. Lily sighed.

    ¡°Look, you don¡¯t have to support me doing this, but just don¡¯t be a pain about it alright?¡±

    Star peed on the floor.

 0.015

    Star was a boy. He had lifted his little leg and peed all over the floor in front of Lily¡¯s magic studies. At least now she knew one additional thing. She grumbled to herself about it as she went to find cleaning supplies. When she got back, she noticed something odd.

    It was notably colder in this room close to where she had been studying. Like ten degrees cooler at least. She shivered slightly. That was weird. Her mind went to ghosts first, but then she got a grip and realized it must be her magic practice. One of these glyphs must be lowering the temperature somehow.

    Well, that made sense. She had assumed that the spell was creating fire without heat, but if the spell was creating fire then cooling it down that could also be the case right? Wait, did that mean magical air conditioning was simple and easy? That¡¯s kind of great!

    She approached her splayed out single glyph circles and looked over them for a sec. She couldn¡¯t tell which it was by appearance, so she got down and started cleaning up after Star. He was reading the vibe of the room and being meek, but she was still a little mad.

    ¡°Okay, you¡¯re a puppy. I get it. We¡¯re going to have to work on this. I don¡¯t know why I assumed you were already potty trained. This garbage isn¡¯t gonna fly okay?¡±

    Star whined. She¡¯d have to do some research later about how to potty train a dog. Hell, how to train a dog in general. Although she wasn¡¯t planning on keeping him long term, she could teach him how to behave around her at least.

    She finished cleaning up and came back to her circles. Now to find out which one of these was creating the cold. Lily poked her still growing mana sphere over Glyph #5, but that didn¡¯t seem to be it. That meant one of these other glyphs was doing something. Lily was hesitant to just try running her hand over each one, but she wasn¡¯t really having any other ideas.

    So, she reached out and put her hand over glyph #1, then #2, and so on. The instant she put her hand over glyph #4, she yelped and pulled it back. It was COLD right there. The skin on her hand nearly instantly turned red as all of the heat drained from it, and it hurt. It brought back memories of yesterday morning on the boat.

    The glyph was the one with a little flame and three stars coming out of it. Meanwhile, the one steadily gathering mana above it was five of the same stars in a pattern. None of the other glyphs seemed to be doing anything. So, was this one generating mana too. From heat maybe? Okay, but how did she turn it off?

    Lily stared at it, puzzled. Wait, it generates mana? She was prepared for a cold spell to be using mana up. But, when she thought about it, it did make a sort of sense. Heat was just another form of energy right? So it¡¯s a converter. With the side effect of being an air conditioner. That was pretty cool. But how cold would it get exactly¡­? It already hurt. Yes, she should turn it off until she figured out how to limit or contain it. She looked around for a tool she could use without her hand getting too close.

    She wandered into the kitchen and grabbed a big chef knife that was in the knife block on the counter, and went back to the circle. She took a few deep breaths to steady herself, and swung down careful not to get her hand close to it. The circle broke.

    WHUMPH

    A blast of¡­ not air exactly exploded from the broken circle and filled the room. It was ice cold. Lily shivered. The temperature in the room had just dropped to near freezing in an instant. Star shook off and toddled over to lie down next to Lily. Presumably for warmth. Lily was a bit shaken.

    ¡°Huh. I did that. That was a big effect for something I did. I better be more careful¡­¡±

    Okay then, she was getting somewhere now! The little stars were mana. She crossed off Glyph #4 and Glyph #5 in her notes and replaced them with ¡®Gather Ambient Mana¡¯ and ¡®Heat to Mana¡¯. Then she looked at her notes about the everburning flame.

    ¡°Hmm. Why would those two be together towards the end of the spell?¡±

    That part still didn¡¯t make sense to her. Shouldn¡¯t they be at the start? Gather mana, make fire, drain heat from fire. That had to be the basic loop right? If she was designing this spell, that¡¯s what she would make it do. But wait, she found this spell. So that meant it was¡­ naturally occurring somehow?

    She thought about learning about evolution in school. It was important to remember that evolution didn¡¯t choose to create what was optimal for the animal. It created what was optimal for passing genes down. Whatever natural process created this spell might not have created an optimal spell. It had created what it created through its own processes. So, she shouldn¡¯t expect it to work the best way it can, or how she would design it.

    With that decided, she turned her attention back to the diagram.

    ¡°What else do we have here then?¡±

    Mana and a little half circle. Mana inside a structure. A spiral arrow. Fire with lines, and mana inside and outside of that same little half circle. Plus some unsolved mysteries, like why was this spell on a piece of wood instead of just creating flames on nothing anyways?

    Okay, well, one step at a time. How could she figure out what any of the other glyphs did? It seemed likely that the reason they weren¡¯t functioning was because they weren¡¯t being fed the mana. So, all she needed to do was create a circle with a mana generating glyph connected to the ones that used it right?

    Well¡­ That was easier said than done. It was still quite cold, and Lily was feeling cautious. She could really hurt herself if she wasn¡¯t careful. It was time to rethink doing this in her living room with no protection.

    ¡°Hey Star, why don¡¯t we take a trip while I think this over?¡±

    She looked down at the puppy, and ran a hand through his fur. He really was quite soft. Star gave a yawn, and looked up at her curiously.

    ¡°Lets raid a pet store, huh?¡±

    <hr>

    Twenty minutes later she was pulling into a Petsmart and pulling the same trick she had to get into Target. Back the car up against the door, and then slowly hit the gas until the glass shatters. Star got a little spooked at the noise of the breaking glass, but Lily was able to calm him down.

    The store¡¯s power was out, but Lily had been expecting that. Power was out across more and more of the city as it was. For now though, Lily wanted to get Star some stuff. It was only fair. She¡¯d gotten to loot a couple stores already, so her companion ought to have the same privilege.

    She had to carry Star through the door to protect him from stepping on any broken glass, but once they were inside he happily tramped on in, sniffing around. Lily took a look around.

    ¡°Okay, first things first, let¡¯s get you some puppy chow huh? Come on little guy.¡±

    Heading into the store proper with her cell phone light on, the girl made sure the puppy was following her. Satisfied, she found the aisle with dog food and started looking through them. They all looked the same to her, so she decided to go with the taste test. She had to jab a hole in each of the bags with her keys, but soon she had four different little piles of kibble. So, she called Star over and let him sniff around. The little dog wasn¡¯t really responding to his name yet, but if she used an excited tone of voice he¡¯d usually start heading over her way. He sniffed them, but started eating the one labeled something like ¡®scientifically formulated diet¡¯ first.

    ¡°Oh, you¡¯re a science dog huh? Smart little boy, huh?¡±

    She scratched behind his ears while he devoured the pile. Then, Lily rose and grabbed a cart. She put a few large bags of the stuff in it, and tried to get Star to follow her to go look at treats.

    After the dog had finished eating all three other small piles of kibble, she finally got him to follow her. She really would need to teach this dog some tricks. It couldn¡¯t be too hard right? Just the basics. His name, come when called, sit, lay down, stay. That¡¯s not a lot, right?

    She found her way into the treat aisle, and started looking around for things she thought Star might like. She¡¯d just let him sniff around, but he could only reach the bottom shelf. So, she started pulling things down to let him sniff at them.

    ¡°You know, I really have made a lot of progress in a couple days. The day everything happened I tried to go into a store and had a straight up panic attack just from walking in. Now it feels like I own the place.¡±

    Star got particularly excited when she waved a dried duck foot in front of his face, so she grabbed the whole bin to put in the cart and went back to showing him treats. The dog was very quickly developing a taste for shopping.

    ¡°I won¡¯t lie, I¡¯m still a little nervous. I don¡¯t feel like places like this were made for me. I don¡¯t feel allowed in them. Sometimes, I feel like I¡¯m something pretending to be human. It feels like everyone can tell.¡±

    The cart was admittedly filling up, but she had a lot of storage at home, so she kept going. Star temporarily became more interested in sniffing around than anything she was doing, but she continued talking as if he could understand her.

    Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon.

    ¡°But now there is no ¡®everyone¡¯. They¡¯re all gone. In a way, I¡¯ve been let off the hook you know? People have always been my biggest fear, and now they¡¯re all gone. It feels wrong to be happy about that. Don¡¯t get me wrong, I¡¯m scared of the future too. Of what I¡¯ll do to survive being here all alone. But, a part of me is glad. I never had to confront my fear. That fear anyway. Is it wrong to be relieved? I feel like it¡¯s wrong.¡±

    Star toddled over and licked her hand a few times. The empathetic little thing seemed to be able to tell her mood was turning. So, Lily sat down on the floor and pulled him into her lap.

    ¡°Now that I¡¯m not fighting so hard just to survive, I¡¯m a little scared that I don¡¯t feel all that bad about it. I didn¡¯t interact with people anyways, you know? But shouldn¡¯t I feel¡­ I don¡¯t know, something? I can feel sad when a character I like dies on TV. Tell me a person lost their battle with cancer, and I can feel empathy even if I didn¡¯t know them. But, tell me 8 billion people suddenly vanished and I don¡¯t know how to feel. I can¡¯t wrap my mind around that number. It¡¯s too big. Is it tragic? Did it hurt? Where did they go?¡±

    Lily hugged Star a little tighter.

    ¡°Are they all still living in a normal world without me? Did anyone even notice I was gone¡­?¡±

    This is why introspection was dangerous. Lily could feel the tears rising in her eyes now. She couldn¡¯t stop them, so she didn¡¯t try. She just let herself cry, right there on aisle 4 of a dark Petsmart.

    ¡°It really doesn¡¯t matter. If they hadn¡¯t disappeared, I¡¯d still be there now. I was never going to leave my apartment again. I¡¯d probably have died, and they wouldn¡¯t have noticed that either. So, why does it matter to me now? Why should it matter to me that they¡¯re all gone?¡±

    Star began to grow restless, as animals do. He couldn¡¯t understand, but seemed to know Lily was upset. His tolerance for being held diminished, and Lily let him onto the floor. She fished out one of the duck feet, and held it out for him to gnaw on.

    ¡°This is stupid. You don¡¯t even understand me. God, I have so much shit to work through that I¡¯ve just been trying not to think about. Good thing I have plenty of time.¡±

    Lily could hear the bitterness in her voice. Okay, that was enough of that. It was time to keep moving to keep her mind off this.

    <hr>

    She found her way back home with a car absolutely stuffed with everything a dog might need. At least, as far as she knew. She was still new at this. At least Star seemed to enjoy himself. Lily was still in a somewhat sour mood.

    Just having the wrong thoughts was still enough to send her into a spiral, and it was hard to pull out of that once it started. She hated being that way, but she didn¡¯t know how to be any different. So, that¡¯s just how it was.

    At least she had a comfy home to return to. Of course, by that she meant her boat. Somehow the mansion still felt¡­ not hers. But the boat already felt as comfortable as her apartment had. Admittedly, that wasn¡¯t a high bar.

    So, she spent some time unloading dog stuff into the main house. She poured Star a nice big bowl of kibble and another full of water. The poor dog must have been pretty thirsty because he absolutely downed the water.

    ¡°Okay, but try not to pee inside later alright?¡±

    She knew he would anyway. Maybe she could keep him after all? It was a weird time to have that thought, but it had been nice not being totally alone today.

    ¡°And what if he gets sick or hurt? You¡¯re not a vet Lily. You don¡¯t even know how to take care of him.¡±

    She chastised herself, and a voice even deeper, inside her added on. You ruin everything you touch. Don¡¯t even try. It¡¯s not worth the pain of failure. It will only hurt more when he¡¯s dead or gone and it¡¯s all your fault.

    She shook her head. No. She couldn¡¯t let depressive thoughts go unchallenged. She was doing fine. Probably. But, the voice was right about one thing. She couldn¡¯t take care of this dog. She couldn¡¯t even take care of herself properly.

    With a sigh, she turned to start gathering her things to return to the boat for the night. But, something caught her attention. The spell circles she had left on the coffee table had something going on. Lily approached cautiously.

    The ¡®Gather Ambient Mana¡¯ spell was¡­ well, doing its job. Really, really well. The sphere of mana floating above the page had gotten quite large. It was a little bigger than a basketball. It was also putting off a small amount of light, which was new.

    ¡°Is this just how the [Light] spell works? Gather enough mana and you can see it? That seems weirdly wasteful, but I guess it¡¯s not doing anything.¡±

    She got closer, and put her hand slowly into the sphere. It felt funny. The tickling sensation was a lot stronger than before. But, it didn¡¯t hurt or anything.

    Star noticed the effect and ran over to start barking at it. He was so loud!

    ¡°Ugh, I¡¯m really not in the mood for this right now. Barking dog, crazy mana thing. I just want to go to sleep.¡±

    Star started barking even louder. Lily grit her teeth.

    ¡°It¡¯s just magic, Star. I¡¯ve got it under control. It¡¯s confined to the paper, see? It¡¯s in the circle. God, shush! Let¡¯s just go out to the boat so you don¡¯t have to see it, okay?¡±

    Lily reached for the dog, but he wriggled away and kept barking. He was barking more at her than at the spell. That was weird.

    ¡°Hey buddy, are you okay? It¡¯s fine. The spell isn¡¯t going to hurt you. I¡¯m not going to hurt you.¡±

    Bark, bark, bark.

    ¡°What, did you not like the food after all? What is this?¡±

    Bark, bark, bark.

    Lily was getting fed up. She walked over to the circle again. Then she noticed it was doing something new. When she got really close she could hear a low humming noise.

    ¡°Oh, is the noise bothering you? I know dog ears are better¡­¡±

    Star bit her ankle. Not hard enough to draw blood, but it still hurt. Lily yelped and pulled back.

    ¡°What the heck has gotten into you? No, we¡¯re not doing this. Bad dog! We¡¯re going to the boat! The boa¨Cwha!¡±

    Star jumped up onto the couch and threw himself at her bodily. He was at least thirty pounds, so he hit her hard in the chest and she went down, flailing. For a second, Lily thought she was under attack and might have to defend herself. Then¨C

    WHOOOOOMPH

    An ear shattering blast of sound and air came from above her. The spell popped like a balloon. The impact from the blast knocked the wind out of her. She couldn¡¯t breathe for a second. She heard Star make a low whimpering sound.

    She lay still waiting to see if there would be more, but nothing came. So, she sat up and looked for Star. Star was on the floor, but seemed to be breathing and gathering himself as well. He didn¡¯t look hurt. Lily was instantly relieved. Thank goodness she didn¡¯t just get this dog killed.

    She reached out and gave him a pet. Red.

    ¡°Huh¡­?¡±

    A trail of red was left on him where her hand at touched. She looked down. Her hand was bleeding. Badly. A steady river of blood was dripping from her right palm onto the floor.

    ¡°Huh?¡±

    Then, the pain kicked in. Lily screamed. Darkness crept in from the edges of her vision. Her stomach was roiling. She thought she might throw up, or pass out, or both. But more than that, the pain. The pain!

    Lily immediately rolled over on her back and put her legs up on the couch to counteract the feeling of faintness. Star seemed to have recovered, and walked over to her and started licking at her face.

    ¡°N-not right now. Thank you. Good boy. Good boy. You saved me. Good boy.¡±

    She could hear the panic in her voice. She took a deep breath. She needed to get pressure and bandages on this right away. God, she still hadn¡¯t gotten anything for first aid! How could she be so stupid! Lily cursed herself.

    She had bandaids in her luggage, and some over the counter painkillers. This was¡­ definitely too big for a band aid.

    Lily gathered herself and sat up. She hazarded a look at her hand. Drip. Drip. Drip. The moment she held it up, it was dripping steadily onto the floor. There didn¡¯t seem to be an object embedded in it or anything like that.

    She glanced around the room. The couch behind where she had been standing had a huge horizontal gash in it, like someone had swung the world¡¯s largest sword across this entire area. That could have cut her in half!

    No. Now wasn¡¯t the time to think about that. Stew in it when the emergency was over. She focused. Rinse the wound with water. Apply pressure. Get a bandage, even if it was improvised.

    She removed her shirt and pressed it into her hand as hard as she could. Then she rose and moved. Star was anxiously on her heels. But she couldn¡¯t think about that right now. He seemed okay, that was all that mattered. Now she had to be okay too.

    She forced herself to walk into the master bedroom. There was a walk in closet there with clothes from the people who¡¯d owned the house. She didn¡¯t know if any of them fit her, and right now it didn¡¯t matter. She grabbed a cotton t-shirt, and headed into the kitchen. On the way she stopped to grab the knife she¡¯d used to break the heat to mana circle earlier, only to find it had been flung across the room and was embedded in the wall.

    Lily opted to use a different knife. The pain was clouding her head, but she couldn¡¯t stop now. She couldn¡¯t think about it. She couldn¡¯t let herself think about what was happening. She just had to do what she had to do.

    She got to the sink and let go of her hand to turn on the water. As she turned to get a knife a groan of pain escaped her lips, and almost made her lose focus and fall into the abyss of panic. She bit her lip, hard. Focus!

    She turned on the water and ran it over her hand. With some of the blood washed away, she could tell there was definitely nothing embedded in the wound. That was good. She hoped this would help prevent infection too. She was feeling a little dizzy. But she had to get this done. She had to. No passing out. If she passed out, she might be in real trouble. Deadly trouble.

    She shook her head, then let herself slump to the floor. She reached up with her good hand and retrieved the T-shirt and her knife. There on the floor she did her best to hold the T-shirt with her feet and cut it with her good hand. When she¡¯d gotten a strip (awkwardly cut, but a strip) she laid her hand down on it and wrapped it around, tying it as tightly as she could.

    Then she pressed down on it as hard as she could with her good hand, and sat there.

    ¡°Please stop bleeding. Oh god that hurts so fucking bad. Please stop bleeding. Please?¡±

    Star was sniffing her blood on the floor. Great. She couldn¡¯t be mad though.

    ¡°Good boy. You¡¯re so smart. You saved me. Good boy. Good dog. Good Star.¡±

    Well, now she had to keep him. She let out a terrified nervous laugh, and then closed her eyes and tried to block out the pain. It didn¡¯t work.

 0.016

    Lily blinked and it was night time. The lights were off, and the light of the moon showed through the sliding glass doors on the far wall. They didn¡¯t seem to be shattered. That was good. Star was nosing at her leg and whining. Lily let out a low groan, and sat the rest of the way up. She¡¯d been slumped against the kitchen cabinets for who knows how long. Her head was pounding. A cold sweat covered her body. She felt like she was going to puke. She couldn¡¯t think through the feeling of cotton on the inside of her skull.

    ¡°Ugh. I-I¡¯m alive. Star. Star. I¡¯m okay. Well, not okay. I¡¯m here. It¡¯s okay. Good boy.¡±

    She reached out and patted Star with her good hand. Her arm felt like it was made of lead.

    ¡°Oh god. This is really not good. I¡¯m alive though. I¡¯m here. How do I recover from this?¡±

    Before anything else, Lily needed water. She tried to think about how to get some in her current state. She wasn¡¯t sure she could stand. She didn¡¯t want to risk passing out again.

    Where had she left the water? Bottles of water¡­? Oh. She remembered seeing a few in the fridge. They weren¡¯t any she had brought, but that would do. If she couldn¡¯t reach them the only other thing she could think of was Star¡¯s bowl, and Lily would rather not if she could avoid it.

    She slid herself carefully to the fridge. Star was still trying to help, but being a puppy he was more obstructive than anything. Running around her in circles and whining. But, somehow she appreciated not being alone, even if it wasn¡¯t helpful. Carefully using her good hand she opened the fridge. The air felt so cold on her clammy skin, but she grabbed three bottles of water before closing it. She also noticed that her makeshift bandage was absolutely soaked with blood, but tried not to think about it right now.

    She carefully placed a bottle between her thighs and opened it with her good hand. It splashed her a little, but she got it. Her instincts were to down the water bottle right away, but she knew that if she ended up throwing it up she¡¯d have bigger problems. So, she carefully sipped at it. Then she turned her attention to Star.

    ¡°Good boy. Hey. Hey. It¡¯s alright. Stop whining. I¡¯m fine, see? Just a little severe blood loss. You¡¯re good. How did you know the spell was going to do that?¡±

    Did dogs just have a naturally better magic sense? Or, was it due to the anomaly from where she found him? Questions for later. For now, she just wanted to reassure him, and figure out what else she needed to do to recover. She shuffled around until she could reach her phone in her pocket, and she opened google. Time to do some research. When she recovered from this she was definitely going to do a lot of first aid prep.

    Google had been less than helpful. The top answers told her to go to a hospital and get a blood transfusion. Well, that wasn¡¯t going to happen. Results other than that mostly told her to drink plenty of water, eat what she could, and it would take several weeks for her to be back to 100%. But, it did seem likely that even if she was dealing with some light anemia for a few weeks it would only take a little while for her to be functional at all again.

    That was good. She couldn¡¯t afford to be unable to do anything at all for a few weeks. She would have to take it easier than she had been lately for a bit though. She had gotten through two of the three bottles of water already, and was feeling a little better.

    She had also dragged herself halfway to the couch by inching along whenever she felt like she could. So, now that her phone was off she was sitting in the middle of her living room. The big sliding glass door was directly in front of her. She could see some chickens sleeping outside in the moonlight, and the ocean.

    But with all the lights off and only this very clear view of the water and sky, the blackness of the night sky was unnerving. Still, tonight she had no choice but to sit here for a while. So, it was as good a time as any.

    She looked to the sky. Pitch blackness. The stars really were gone. It wasn¡¯t an illusion, or anything like that. She had kept hoping, in some naive part of her heart, that it would turn out that way. But, no. They were gone.

    She didn¡¯t think that she just couldn¡¯t see them either. Somehow, she was certain. They were gone. Just, gone. Like they¡¯d never been there. She was on her single lonely planet in an empty universe. The sun, the moon, and the earth. The earth with only her on it.

    She pushed down the rising panic. No. She was confronting reality now. Panic and madness could wait. If she was going to blip out of existence like everything else she probably would have by now, and there was nothing she could do anyway.

    This was like a special hell designed just for her. A girl terrified of wide open empty spaces. Well, and other people. So she supposed maybe she had traded one for the other. Still. The thought that there was just nothing in the entire universe other than her was beyond scary. Her mind couldn¡¯t wrap around how tiny it made her feel.

    Maybe it was the blood loss, she felt too tired right now to fully panic. So, she just thought about it. Star being here helped too. She was running her good hand through his fur. He seemed to have tired himself out fussing over her all day, and now that she was seeming alive he was passed out against her thigh.

    The stars were gone. What did that mean? Physics wasn¡¯t falling apart. She wasn¡¯t sure what would happen normally if all the stars disappeared, but she was pretty sure it would be¡­ something. Her uneducated guess was that without the gravity of the entire universe pulling all the matter here in every different direction her little single world solar system would be collapsing in on itself. She didn¡¯t know enough about astronomy and physics to really know for sure.

    That wasn¡¯t happening. That meant that there was a different prevailing rule. She didn¡¯t like considering this option, but what about god? Vanishing everyone but her, granting her hints about how to survive, erasing the stars themselves, and spawning in a boat when she needed it? God playing a cosmic game of Humans & Houses with her as a player character? She almost laughed at that.

    No. She didn¡¯t think so. Not really. What would be the purpose? To make her suffer? Because he/she/it loved her and wanted to focus? No. Nothing really seemed to fit. It felt too arbitrary to be a god. It didn¡¯t really feel like a natural process either. It was too targeted for that. No matter what natural process existed, singling her out among all the universe was too unlikely.

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    So, by process of elimination¡­ Her prevailing theory was that someone was doing this? That didn¡¯t quite add up either. Although it seemed more likely than the other two options. A god choosing her for this seemed unlikely. After all, if you created all of creation, why her? It came down to the same issue as the natural idea. But, if you thought about it as a person unaffiliated with the universe at large choosing to fuck with her¡­ Well, that sounded like something a person would do. People were awful like that.

    Still, she felt like she was jumping to conclusions. If a person was doing this to her specifically, why? Also, wouldn¡¯t they have helped when she nearly killed herself just earlier today?

    Maybe they had. She was unconscious for a long time. A paranoid voice in the back of her head whispered to her.

    No. No no no. Down that train of thought lay madness. She couldn¡¯t think like that, or she¡¯d really lose it. Seeing her mysterious influencer around every strange event and corner she couldn¡¯t see around.

    Someone was helping her, sometimes. She was pretty sure of that at this point. But, ascribing everything that had happened to them just seemed wrong. It also didn¡¯t really add up. Why would someone like that help her but just a little bit? Why would they leave the message ¡®Beloved Lily¡¯? Why would they call her beautiful and other sweet things through phone messages?

    No, if someone like that were powerful enough to erase the stars themselves, she felt like they would have done more to help her.

    So, maybe two people? She felt like she was onto something. But she didn¡¯t really have evidence for even one person. Not really. But, she would be looking for ways to test her theory moving forward. She would try her hardest to disprove this idea, and if it held up to scrutiny she would have more evidence to work with. Okay. For now, the one who had erased everyone and all the stars was Entity A. The one who had been helping her was Entity B. Simple enough, right?

    In the meantime what about the stars? Well. It was scary, but there was nothing Lily could really do about it. So¡­ She guessed she would just try not to think too hard about it. Like she had been.

    ¡°Hah. I really am a very simple person. Just don¡¯t think about it. Yeah Lily, that¡¯s healthy. I¡¯m sure that will be good for you long term.¡±

    Star stirred a little bit at the sound of her voice. She reached over and petted him.

    ¡°Okay little buddy. We¡¯re moving to the couch. I think I can make it.¡±

    She had finished her third bottle of water, and was feeling a fair bit better. Not good by any stretch of the imagination, but she was no longer concerned that she was going to pass out and die. So, that was something.

    Lily managed to stand up and take the ten or so steps to the couch before plopping down on it. A bit of fluff huffed into the air when she threw herself onto it. Oh yeah. The couch was sliced up.

    She took a moment to examine the damage closely for the first time. It really was like one giant horizontal slice had been taken out of the couch. It was on the height level of the coffee table, so just above the cushions. It must have exploded out from the paper itself.

    None of the spell circle papers were still on the table, and the table itself¡­ It had a huge crack in it. Like someone had swung a sledgehammer down right where the paper had been. There were also a few points around the table area and even on the ceiling that looked like they¡¯d been hit with some kind of magical shrapnel. Lily¡¯s mental image was that the spell popped like a balloon, and the shockwave had done a lot of damage in a pretty predictable area, but the pieces of rubber went a little all over the place. She could clearly see where her hand had been, and that seemed to be what had struck her.

    ¡°Honestly, I¡¯m just lucky it got my hand. A chest or head wound like that probably would have killed me¡­¡±

    Well, with nothing else to do she turned on the TV. TV had always been a comfort for her. She liked to have something playing in the background when at all possible. It made her feel less alone. It had in her apartment, and it still did. It also kept her mind from spiraling into dark thoughts as easily, but still let her think about important directed thoughts.

    Now she had more media too! So, she opened her comedy section and just put it on shuffle. Random episodes of comedy shows would play. Perfect. The Simpsons came right up. That would do.

    ¡°Okay, magical theory time.¡±

    Star was looking at the TV with interest, and settling down onto the couch next to her.

    What had happened with the spells though? Well, the basic idea seemed obvious. She had left the spell gathering mana for hours, and then it had exploded. So, mana had a point where it would just explode if gathered in enough quantity? That was one explanation. She tried to think of a few more. It was never good to only have one idea. What if it had reacted to something she did? She had put her hand into it before it had gone off. Maybe she disrupted it somehow in a way that she hadn¡¯t the other times she¡¯d done that?

    Or, was it possible it was her spell circle? Maybe it wasn¡¯t a matter of gathering too much mana in general. Maybe it was that her spell circle had a limit that it could take, and she had exceeded it?

    She¡¯d have to do more testing. Although, she was a little frightened. She would have to be a lot, lot more careful moving forward. On the plus side, this was a pretty easy problem to avoid. She¡¯d done the magical equivalent of leaving her stove on. All she had to do was use the mana she gathered rather than letting it build and build and build, and she wouldn¡¯t hit an explosion like this again as easily.

    But, even if that was the case, she decided that she was going to be more careful around circles in general until she knew what she was doing. Hold on.

    For a moment, Lily felt like she was having double vision. Her internal model of herself wasn¡¯t lining up with her own actions. Why wasn¡¯t she more afraid? Normally she wouldn¡¯t already be thinking of trying this again, she was sure.

    Hell, normally she was sure her reaction would be ¡°Well, I¡¯m never touching magic again!¡±

    Why wasn¡¯t she feeling like that? Personal growth? That didn¡¯t really seem to fit exactly. It had only been a few days.

    ¡°Hah, emotional stretch marks.¡±

    Her mind was starting to get a little fuzzy now that she was relaxing on a couch. She took another look at her bandaged hand. The bandage was soaked through, but¡­ not dripping. That was a good sign. Tomorrow, when doing so wouldn''t result in further injury, she would have to remove it, clean it, and redress it

    But that was a problem for when she woke up. Lily yawned. She was still in a huge amount of pain. But, she¡¯d had hours to get used to it. She was beyond tired, and was pretty sure she wouldn¡¯t make it to the bathrooms to look around for painkillers. Hers were on the boat, and she wasn¡¯t chancing walking down the dock and up the ramp in this state. If she fell in the water that would be it. So, there was nothing to do but try to bear it.

    She had been in this position before, so it was nothing new. Toothaches where she¡¯d been too scared to leave her apartment and go to the dentist, for one. Earlier in her life too¡­ She remembered one distinct moment. Locked in a dark room with a broken bone for days. That was a bad memory. She pushed it away.

    Star pawed at her to get her attention, snapping her out of it. She smiled down at him, and somehow felt he could tell it was fake.

    ¡°You¡¯re a very good boy. I¡¯m keeping you. You saved my life and have earned your place in my kingdom. You¡¯ll be knighted soon, good Sir Star.¡±

    She giggled to herself, and it was real this time.

    ¡°I know you don¡¯t understand, but thank you. Thank you so much. We¡¯re gonna have a great time together okay? I¡¯m gonna fuck up taking care of you so badly, but I promise I¡¯ll do my best. Is that okay?¡±

    Star¡¯s tail wagged happily. Lily hugged him gently with her good arm. Then she settled down to watch TV until she could fall asleep through the pain. It didn¡¯t take long.

 0.017

    When Lily woke up it was morning. Her hand was throbbing and painful, but she was pretty sure that was better than waking up and not feeling it. She was roused to the sound of the laugh track coming from the TV. A sitcom she didn¡¯t recognize was playing, but that didn¡¯t stand out. She¡¯d downloaded a couple large packs of media that contained things she wasn¡¯t familiar with. Two characters were having a fight over who had to clean their messy basement. Lily shut it off.

    She groaned, and Star stirred. Star had fallen asleep against her stomach, and had been drooling a little. Lily immediately felt the wet spot against her skin. She hadn¡¯t put back on a shirt last night. A jolt of modesty flashed through her mind before she shrugged it off. It didn¡¯t matter. She could walk around outside like this. There was no one to care.

    ¡°Good morning Star. I hope Bay¡¯s not too lonely out in the boat. Probably living it up in my room. Smug little bastard.¡±

    She sat up and rubbed at her eyes with her good hand. She reached across to the broken coffee table and retrieved her glasses, then turned her attention to her wound. It looked¡­ bad. The blood had soaked through the fabric thoroughly. It did look like dried blood, which was something. But, this was going to be a pain to deal with.

    Star hopped down from the couch with a yawn, and proceeded immediately around the couch and behind it. Lily was about to shout at him not to pee, but instead of that she heard ripping sounds.

    She carefully stood up, and walked around the back of the couch to see what he was tearing into. It was¡­ paper. It had to have already been torn up from yesterday because Star couldn¡¯t have done this much damage this quickly. But, he was tearing the shreds into smaller shreds.

    ¡°Aww man what did you get a hold of huh?¡±

    Lily was getting dizzy but also wanted to see, so she let herself half fall half sit on the floor, and grabbed one of the shreds. It had a pen mark on it. Wait, this was one of her circles!

    She looked over the mess. This must be all of her circles.

    ¡°Oh no! Star! How could you¡­ wait.¡±

    Wait. Was this dog just playing with paper, or was Star¡­ defending her? How smart were puppies supposed to be? Surely he didn¡¯t understand that the circles on the paper had caused the magic accident?

    Well, whatever. Lily remembered all the glyphs she would need to do more work. So, let the little guy play, or defend her, or whatever he was doing. Although maybe today was a good opportunity to do some training. She was going to be more or less forced to stay in anyway.

    Either way, she¡¯d have to take care of her bandage first. Heaving herself up onto her feet, Lily dragged herself to the Master bathroom and started looking through cabinets for first aid supplies.

    It wasn¡¯t long until she found a small bin of things under the sink. There wasn¡¯t a medicine cabinet in this room, so it seemed like this is where they had kept their stuff. Although, she suspected there was probably an area meant for the whole house that might have a greater supply, for now she didn¡¯t have the energy to look.

    The first thing she looked for was painkillers. Thankfully, she found an assortment. The pain in her hand was near unbearable, and it was only through a lifetime of practice dealing with shit like this that she was able to think through the pain. It wasn¡¯t her proudest moment, but she immediately popped 800mg of ibuprofen with some bathroom sink water to wash it down. She plopped back down onto the floor with a huff, and heard a small yelp. She¡¯d almost landed on Star!

    ¡°Oh, hey buddy. I didn¡¯t realize you were following me. Don¡¯t worry, I¡¯m just taking care of myself okay?¡±

    He looked at her curiously, then cautiously wagged his tail. She gave him a pat with her good hand, then she gathered up the bottles of ibuprofen and acetaminophen. Now, what else was in here? Regular sized band aids. No, those were out. She kept digging. Gas X, Imodium, Pepto, Nyquil, cotton swabs, Q-tips, Chewable Flintstones Vitamins, and¡­ Well, there were some bigger bandages at the bottom. She wasn¡¯t sure if they were big enough, but she also wasn¡¯t sure how big the wound actually was.

    So, she dug them out. She also put aside the vitamins, because why not. Well, that left only one thing to do. It was time to try taking off her bandage. She looked over to Star.

    ¡°Hey so¡­ There might be a lot of blood here in a second. Don¡¯t panic okay? I gotta remove the bandage, wash the wound, and put a clean one on it. It¡¯s gonna be okay, but it might hurt. A lot. Okay?¡±

    She wasn¡¯t sure whether she was talking to Star or herself. Well, nothing was going to change until she went ahead and did it. So, she took a deep breath and began untying her bandage. Lily was as gentle as she could be, but that led to her first problem. Untying the knot wasn¡¯t too hard, although jostling the bandage hurt like no one¡¯s business. But when she went to pull it off¡­ it was stuck.

    ¡°That¡¯s.. Not good is it?¡±

    The blood had coagulated around the bandage, and as she was gently pulling on it, it felt a lot like pulling off a scab.

    ¡°Um. Did it heal around the bandage, or is it just sticky..?¡±

    She pulled a little harder, the pain was horrible. She stopped, gasping.

    ¡°Oh shit. This is really going to suck. Do I just pull once really hard? That seems like it might cause more damage. But it¡¯s gonna hurt like hell to pull it off slowly¡­¡±

    She decided to go with the slower option. Star watched patiently as she slowly peeled the bandage away. It was agony. The pain blossomed in her palm but the intensity made it feel like it went half way up her arm. Lily gritted her teeth as she worked. Around a third of the way in, she saw her first signs of fresh blood. It seemed like the bandage had been part of what was sealing it closed. But, she couldn¡¯t leave it like that, so she kept going.

    It took ten absolutely horrific minutes to get it all the way off. By the end, Lily was covered once again in a cold sweat. She was gasping for air. But she¡¯d done it. Her hand was bleeding again, but it thankfully wasn¡¯t as bad as the night before. The wound was made up of two cuts about an inch apart. One was large and covered a good portion of her palm. The other one was closer to her wrist and was thankfully not as deep. She rose unsteadily and turned on the sink. Using her good hand, she waited until the water warmed up to around room temperature and then she let it flow over her wound.

    Lily bit her lip to avoid screaming, but a groan of pain still came out. Star whined and did a few circles around her feet.

    ¡°FUCK. Fuck fuck fuck fuck that hurts!¡±

    Despite it though, she rinsed it thoroughly. An infection would be hell to treat with the way things were, and if she wasn¡¯t careful she might end up without a hand. Or worse. So, she bore the pain as best she could. She was diligent, and when she finally reached her limit, she collapsed onto the floor without even turning off the sink.

    She lay there, panting. Star toddled over and started licking her face. It was such a bad time, but she couldn¡¯t bring herself to be mad. Still she flailed a little.

    ¡°S-stooop. I¡¯m wounded. You got me. Okay?¡±

    She gave Star a grin, and had to fight to hold back tears. When she had caught her breath, she sat up and took a glance at her hand. It was still bleeding, but very slowly. Opening the box of bandages, Lily clumsily got one out. She kicked herself for not doing this part first. Then she applied two bandages. One over each wound. The larger one only got covered up most of the way, but it at least covered the bits that were actively bleeding so Lily decided that was enough. She would be careful, and clean it again later today.

    Lily found her feet, and turned off the bathroom sink. Then she made her way back to the couch, plopped down, and promptly passed back out.

    <hr>

    When Lily woke from her nap, she was laying on her stomach. Star had climbed up onto her back and curled up to sleep there at some point. He was heavy, but not heavy enough that she couldn¡¯t breathe. Still, when she tried to move she found her body was too weak.

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    ¡°Hey. Hey Star. You gotta move.¡±

    The puppy stirred. This was pathetic. Lily groaned.

    ¡°Star! Move!¡±

    She rocked back and forth a little, trying to dislodge her passenger. Eventually, Star stretched, yawned, and jumped down onto the floor. Lily sat up and glared at him in mock outrage. He didn¡¯t seem guilty in the slightest.

    ¡°Fine. We¡¯re going to do some training today okay? First we¡¯ll grab some treats, then head to the boat and you¡¯re going to learn to behave!¡±

    Lily gathered herself up, grabbed a box of milk bones and the duck feet, and headed toward the boat. When she got to the back door she noticed a smell. Taking a quick look around¡­ yeah. Star had been using the bathroom here. She couldn¡¯t even be mad though. She¡¯d been passed out from the blood loss. Really, going by the door was better than she expected from him.

    ¡°Huh. Good-ish boy. You¡¯re going to go outside whenever possible from now on though okay? We¡¯ll work on it.¡±

    She took a few minutes to clean the mess, before heading out. Star snuffled around and used the bathroom in the yard. That¡­ was probably a coincidence. But she was pleased he was making progress. She passed by the chickens. They didn¡¯t seem happy. She wondered how hard it would be to get them a shelter. But, they had a porch to sit on that was covered. If she hadn¡¯t gotten injured she¡¯d be on it today, but as it was¡­ It wasn¡¯t a good idea for her to do lifting like that. She apologized to the chickens, and promised to find out what she could give them as a treat later.

    She was still a little unsteady on her feet, so she stayed as close as she could to the center of the path down the dock and up the ramp. Lily had expected Star to have trouble with the ramp, but he ran right up without an issue. So, Lily shrugged and followed him.

    She had missed her boat. She really did feel so much more secure here, despite the amenities not being as good. She found her way to her fridge, grabbed an energy drink, a few of the hostess snacks, and a bag of chips. Not healthy, but she just wanted comfort food right now. She¡¯d swing back to that watermelon in a little if she thought she could get it from the fridge with one hand while dizzy.

    In the meantime, she plopped down on her couch and put something on in the background. The movie was Princess Mononoke. She thought the wolves might be a good background for teaching Star some tricks. Plus, it was just a good movie.

    She took the time to do some research on her phone about how to train a dog. It was getting harder. Most of the links that weren¡¯t directly hosted on a huge platform didn¡¯t seem to work anymore, and even platforms like Google were starting to have some troubles. The internet wasn¡¯t going to last much longer. That was a scary thought.

    But, while Lily had access she was determined to use it. She got a basic idea of how training was supposed to work. Use your hand with a treat, and guide the dog into position. Give it the treat when it does the thing, and reinforce it with a command. Eventually the gesture and command ought to be enough, and then you can even phase out the gesture. But you don¡¯t have to, if you want the option of non-verbal communication. That seemed easy enough.

    She thought she could probably get Star to do it a few times today, and then it would just be daily repetition over the next few weeks and branching into different commands. She thought she ought to start with Sit.

    So, she called Star over. He was already getting better about responding to his name, which surprised Lily. The guides she saw all talked about spending time teaching the dog its name as a sort of command as well.

    But, he was already starting to get that one. So, she was gonna start with one he couldn¡¯t do. When he approached, she showed him the milk bone to get his attention. That part was nice and easy. She lifted it in her hand in front of his nose and pulled it back over his head so it would be easy to reach if he sat down. He did.

    ¡°Sit.¡±

    She gave him the treat.

    ¡°Good boy. Good boy Star. Good Sit.¡±

    He happily chomped the treat down, wagging his tail, and at the praise stood up and started doing small circles. Lily smiled down at him, and grabbed another treat.

    As she held it in front of him, she started to do the same motion. Before she could even manage, he sat and looked up at her hungrily.

    ¡°Um. Sit?¡±

    She handed him the treat. He scarfed it down.

    ¡°Good boy! That was really quick!¡±

    She reached in and fished around for another treat.

    ¡°You¡¯re going to get this sit thing in no¡­ time.¡±

    As she said the word ¡®sit¡¯, Star sat down. He tilted his head at her curiously. She stared at him. He whumfed, waiting impatiently for his treat. Lily handed him a treat.

    ¡°That had to be a coincidence, right?¡±

    She threw a treat across the room so Star wasn¡¯t sitting right in front of her. She had to break up the pattern to test it. Star ran over and ate the treat, and as he was midway back to her, she raised her hand with the gesture.

    ¡°Sit!¡±

    Star immediately sat.

    ¡°What the actual fuck. There¡¯s no way you¡¯re that smart. Absolutely no way. Maybe you had owners before me that taught you that one?¡±

    But she couldn¡¯t remember him sitting on command before now. Then again, she wasn¡¯t sure she¡¯d said the word out loud. Okay, then all she had to do was try to give him a command, and if he didn¡¯t obey it she could try to teach him that one.

    She pointed her hand with a similar gesture downward instead of up.

    ¡°Down.¡±

    Star looked at her curiously, and whined a little. She grabbed a treat and called his name. He ran right over.

    ¡°Sit.¡±

    He sat. She put the treat in front of his nose and guided him down into a laying position.

    ¡°Down.¡±

    Then she gave him the treat.

    ¡°Good boy! Good Star. Good Down.¡±

    She fished out another treat.

    ¡°Sit!¡±

    Star sat.

    ¡°Down.¡±

    She made the gesture without putting the treat near him. He laid down.

    ¡°Huh.¡±

    She gave him the treat, dreamily.

    ¡°What the hell? This isn¡¯t normal right¡­?¡±

    Star let out a small woof and licked his lips.

    <hr>

    By the time Princess Mononoke had ended, Star had learned a truly shocking amount. Using hand gestures or words she could get him to sit, lie down, stay still, bark, or come touch his nose to her hand. Repetition did still help. It made him sure of himself, and he was very eager to please. Even moreso when she occasionally gave him one of the dried duck feet. She was lavishing praise on him too. She was genuinely¡­impressed?

    What else could she teach him to do if he was this smart? If she talked to him enough, would he eventually just¡­ understand her? Well, no. Not necessarily. It¡¯s possible he was very smart when it came to processing but still had the capacity of a normal dog. An upgraded CPU and RAM but the same hard drive.

    She would have to keep trying to teach him new things. But he seemed eager to learn. Really, really eager even. He was visibly disappointed when she got too tired to continue.

    ¡°Look, I¡¯m sorry. But I¡¯ve lost a lot of blood, and you can¡¯t eat only treats. It¡¯s bad for you.¡±

    Star whined.

    ¡°I don¡¯t make the rules of reality! You gotta eat healthy food sometimes too!¡±

    She looked over the remnants of her own meal. Star barked.

    ¡°Okay, I know you¡¯re smart but there¡¯s no way you understand how hypocritical that was for me to say.¡±

    Star barked again. Lily rolled her eyes.

    ¡°Fine. I¡¯ll eat a good meal too. But so will you. We¡¯ll do it together, okay? I don¡¯t know how to cook though, so¡­ if it¡¯s bad don¡¯t blame me!

    Lily retrieved Bay before leaving the boat. It was tiring walking all the way back up to the house, Bay in hand, but she made it. It was time to cook a meal!

    Rummaging through the fridge, Lily dug out bacon and eggs. That couldn¡¯t be too difficult right? She was pretty sure you just heated up the bacon in a pan, then mixed up the eggs real good and heated them too. Doing this all one handed was going to be the tricky part. Ah, if only she was already a magical expert. She was sure there had to be some combination of glyphs that perfectly cooked meals, right?

    She put the pan on the stove and laid out the bacon. It was a little embarrassing, but she had to climb up onto the kitchen counter so she could sit while watching the food cook. She shrugged it off though. It didn¡¯t matter anymore. No one was around to see, and if she somehow ruined this counter and that was a big deal she could move next door in either direction.

    It took a while for the bacon to cook. She wasn¡¯t sure how much of that came down to her being bad at cooking and how much was just how bacon was. But, after a while she was able to take it off the stove and move the pieces onto a plate. Then she cracked some eggs and mixed them up before dumping them into the same pan. You could use bacon grease instead of butter, right?

    The bacon was cooling, and¡­ getting darker. She was starting to think she may have overcooked it a bit. But that wasn¡¯t so bad right? Only one or two pieces actually looked black.

    Then she noticed the eggs starting to smoke. They¡¯d only been in there for a couple minutes! She turned off the stove and moved them over. Then she took a minute to prepare two plates.

    The eggs were overcooked, bland, and greasy. The bacon was definitely overcooked too. But it was the first home cooked meal Lily had had in a long time. Star was a dog. So, there were no complaints from either of them.

 0.018

    The last girl in the world sat in the driveway of her newly acquired mansion. She had found some chalk while scrounging through one of the garages for something she could throw in the yard for a temporary chicken house.

    She hadn''t found anything she could use for that, but the chalk had given her an idea.

    Lily was going to do another magic test. Well, more precisely, she was going to see if she could rip off the everburning flame spell, wholesale. After all, she knew that spell was stable.

    She¡¯d had it for quite some time now, and apart from when it broke it seemed to be still going strong with no real danger. At least, probably. She was still taking more precautions than she had last time.

    Lily held aloft the Inscriber of Power(chalk on a stick) in one hand and the Abolisher of Mistakes(garden hose) in the other.

    She was ready. She thought. Her first attempt did not go well.

    It turned out, drawing a freehand circle at scale was hard! Like, really hard. She had not even bothered closing the circle because it was just... Lopsided. In theory, the circle was supposed to be perfectly balanced, with all these precise lines and flawless circles.

    She looked down at her lumpy, oblong monstrosity, put down the Abolisher and went in search of tools. Now armed with a piece of twine, a long stick, and a plank of wood she had returned.

    ¡°Yeah, that¡¯s thinking with your brain Lily. You got this.¡±

    Star whined. So she gave him a look.

    ¡°Oh shush you. I¡¯m allowed to talk to myself. You¡¯re almost as judgemental as Bay, you know that?¡±

    She used the plank as a straight edge for her straight lines, and she tied one end of the twine to her stick. Then she had Star hold it still while she used it to measure out close to perfect circles by holding the other end in her chalk hand and rotating all the way around the stick.

    It took some practice to get Star to hold it still. But that dog was smart. She had taught him the ¡®Hold¡¯ command in about thirty tries. Which wasn''t as fast as the stuff before but it was also more complicated. Plus, he could do it while sitting and staying. She wondered what his upper limit might be.

    ¡°More like pupper limit, right?¡±

    She gave him a smile. He didn¡¯t seem to appreciate her joke.

    ¡°Oh whatever, I¡¯m hilarious.¡±

    All in all, the process took her a few hours. Drawing the final circle had taken about thirty minutes. She was certain she could make the process a lot faster, but she was determined to be slow and careful. No more mistakes! Plus, she was still doing this one handed.

    Before she drew the line that would complete the circle, Lily had to retrieve something. She needed something to be the central object, like her everburning flame¡¯s piece of wood. This is the bit she wanted to experiment with the most. Why was it wood? Did it have to be wood? What would change if it wasn¡¯t wood? Did size matter? She had so many questions!

    So, she looked around until she found a rock. It was big enough that it was a little difficult to lift in one hand, but she managed it. She placed it in the center of the circle.

    She picked up the Inscriber again, hand poised to close the circle---and then she thought better of it.

    "I should get behind something." she muttered, glancing up from her work.

    There were no trees close enough. She could pull the car up, but she didn''t want to fuss with the car door one handed... Lily was really looking for something she could get behind at a seconds notice.

    After a brief search, she had her solution.

    She dragged an end table into place, and rested a couch cushion against it. It¡­ wasn¡¯t perfect, but it was about all she could do with her hand still so injured.

    "It''s better than nothing, I guess." she muttered, peering over at the circle with naked suspicion. She pulled Star behind the barrier, and told him to stay.

    She knew he would. He was such a good boy.

    Cautiously, she reached forward with her chalk spear and completed the circle. Then, she dove behind the coffee table and waited. Ten seconds. Twenty seconds. Thirty seconds.

    She hazarded a peek over her barricade. Nothing was happening. Wait, no. It was, just very slowly. It was too bright out for her to see immediately, but a small flame started licking up from the sides of the rock as she watched. It was tiny.

    ¡°Huh.¡±

    Why was it so small? As she watched, it concentrated on top of the rock, as if it were a tiny bonfire atop a tiny boulder. Then it seemed to stop changing. It just¡­ sat there. Burning. It was about the same size as the one she found in the wild.

    She watched it for a couple more seconds. Star came out from around the barrier too, and let out a low growl towards the fire.

    ¡°Danger? Or are you just being protective?¡±

    She looked down at the dog. He was staring at the circle, but he wasn¡¯t nearly as worked up as he¡¯d been before the explosion. Lily took that to mean that there was no immediate danger that Star could see.

    She approached with caution. The flame really wasn¡¯t getting bigger. She reached out slowly and carefully to touch it. It wasn¡¯t any hotter than the one she had found either. That was a sort of success, right? It was roughly the same result, right?

    But why was it the same? She thought the bigger circle and bigger material would have meant a bigger flame. It was time for some investigation.

    ¡°Observation mode, activate!¡±

    The chalk she¡¯d used to write the circle hadn¡¯t changed at all, and it was plenty large. She¡¯d thought that maybe the size of the circle would influence the spell, but that didn¡¯t seem to be doing anything different really. She got down on her knees and took a close look at the chalk marks.

    She could see the mana flowing through it if she focused on it. Well, that might be one benefit of drawing it out large. Mana was flowing around the circle clockwise. So, she set out to trace the path. Slowly, she crawled around the outside of the circle. Whenever it got to a node, it flowed through the glyph that was inside it, and reacted. Then the excess seemed to move forward. So, Lily stopped to examine each of the glyphs she didn¡¯t understand. Gather Ambient Mana did seem to be drawing it out of the air and feeding it to the rest of the circle. Heat to Mana, also seemed to be pulling it out of the flame. That was about what she expected. The glyph before Heat to Mana seemed to be pushing mana into the fire. More than was coming out of it. Tentatively, Lily thought that one might be creating the fire in the first place. Then Heat to Mana was siphoning the heat out and returning less mana to the circle.

    ¡°Hmm. So, it takes the heat as a byproduct and turns it back into mana? That can¡¯t be efficient¡­ How does this thing keep running in the first place?¡±

    But then she realized, the Gather Ambient Mana node was also pulling from the air. So, that¡¯s how it offset the rest! But, then what was the rest of the circle for? It seemed to be pushing and pulling mana all over the place. The next one was pushing it¡­ into the stone? Why would it need to go into the stone?

    This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.

    What was more, the smaller circle seemed to be pulling the mana out of the stone again directly after that. She could see it flowing from that final node into the rock, then back out of the rock and into the smaller circle.

    Lily got closer and examined the smaller circle. The first glyph looked like the inverse of the one before it. So, it was¡­ put mana into object, and take mana out of object? Then the second one was like¡­ a pool. The mana stopped flowing there until it got to a certain amount, and then it all went at once. Some kind of capacitor? Battery? Lily thought that¡¯s how capacitors worked. It had a little icon of mana inside. Could she replace that with another glyph and change what it held?

    Then, the spiral with the arrow. Well, that was easy to guess. It was probably just outputting the mana to the larger circle.

    ¡°Hmm. Okay. Let¡¯s try putting it together. Theory time!¡±

    She grabbed Star, and had him sit in front of the circle.

    ¡°Listen, listen. I¡¯m going to teach you okay buddy?¡±

    Star yawned.

    ¡°Here¡¯s how I think it works. First, the small circle!¡±

    She pointed to the smaller circle.

    ¡°The first node takes mana out of the rock. We¡¯ll call it Drain Material. The second one is a Capacitor for mana. The third one is an output for mana. Simple, right? Get mana out of rock, put into big circle. You with me?¡±

    Star almost seemed like he was playing up being bored! Cheeky little jerk!

    ¡°Fine, you might not think that¡¯s cool, but I¡¯m gonna blow your pants out of the water with this next part! That¡¯s¡­ not a saying, is it? Oh well! It is now. Listen, the next glyph takes that mana and makes fire. So that one is actually the Flame glyph. The next one is Heat to Mana, so it pulls the heat back out and converts it. Then it drains the mana from around the circle, and puts it all back into the rock, the end!¡±

    Star did not seem impressed at all.

    ¡°Oh come on, at least pretend. I think I¡¯ve got it! Well, I mean, I¡¯m probably wrong about some parts, and it seems needlessly complex to achieve the effect¡­ Hmm.¡±

    Lily sat down and leaned against Star.

    ¡°But I think I can still do some cool things with just these glyphs. I think that capacitor one is going to be key though. It limits the mana flowing through it. Or¡­ standardizes it. I wonder what happens if it gets more than one charge all at once? Could I draw a line out of it perpendicular to the circle and do more stuff over there with the excess? What do you think, Star, another experiment? I think I have a good idea!¡±

    Star rolled over and looked at Lily with an expression that clearly said ¡®no more experiments, rub my belly.¡¯ So, Lily took a break to just lie next to Star, rub his belly, and think.

    <hr>

    Half an hour later, Lily was up again and washing her circle away with the hose. Star had vacated to a safe distance, looking peeved. She had an idea, and she wanted to test it. She had a design in mind for Lily¡¯s Overflow Valve Mk 1!

    So, when she had a clean slate again she immediately started drawing. This was going to be a very simple spell. Her first that she created!

    Once she had two circles drawn, she started on the first node. Draw Ambient mana. That should pull mana from the air. She wondered if it would be a lot stronger in spooky spots. She moved onto the second node, a capacitor. From there, the circle continued, but it also met her second circle. The main path continued along into an Infuse Material node. The one that was putting mana into the rock before. Her second circle also touched the main one along that node.

    Then she got to work on the second one. It was simple, it was just the Flame glyph.

    She hoped she got this right¡­ She put the rock from before in the center of her main circle, and finished the spell.

    Mana began to flow in, starting at her Draw Ambient Mana glyph. Perfect so far¡­ It got to the capacitor, and filled it up. Then, the output flowed into the stone. Okay, that was good. Wait. How was this supposed to work?

    ¡°Hmm. This is going to take forever.¡±

    The point of her test was to see if the overflow would be turned into a little flame and used up. But the ambient mana wasn¡¯t providing enough for there to be excess. How could she get more mana into the spell? She thought about it for a minute. Well, she could use Heat to Mana. She was outside, so it probably wasn¡¯t the end of the world as long as she was using the mana, right?

    She broke the circle, and swapped Gather Ambient Mana to Heat to Mana, and added a node that took mana back out of the rock. That way, it would certainly get to the point that there was enough to fill the capacitor in one pass and she could see if her idea worked in theory.

    It did! She could see it. Mana got drawn from inside the circle, presumably cooling it down, then it was put in the rock, then a bunch was pulled from the rock and fed back into the circle. And now, when it was too much for the capacitor¡­ a little flame started.

    Lily cheered, and broke the circle again, and just removed the Drain Material node. She was finally onto something! Finally! She got out her notebook and started writing it out on the page. She wondered if there was a way to customize the capacitor to be able to store more or less.

    So, she got down on her hands and knees and paid special attention to the capacitor. It looked like an ordinary node with just mana inside it. The main difference was that this node had a diamond like shape along the node itself rather than just an empty circle. Lily put her palm on it, and willed it to accept more than it was accepting.

    Nothing happened. So she tried again. She¡¯d seen circles respond to her will before. This was a simple change! Change a 1 to a 2! She focused. She imagined it having more mana in it before discharging. No, it wouldn¡¯t look like that. It¡¯d look like¡­ Oh. Of course. The circle under her palm warped, and shifted. She felt as though that node was turning like a dial. She almost jumped away, but controlled herself. Yes, she could just¡­ alter it. It was subtle. It didn¡¯t seem to change the structure of the circle visually, but she could just feel things flowing differently there.

    She stepped back to take a look. Sure enough, the node was filling up slower, and it let out a bigger burst when it did release a charge. Excited, Lily ran back over to her notebook and jotted this down.

    The diagram was simple. She could make modular circles! This one accepted mana, and you had to set the capacitor rate manually, but.. If she was doing what she really thought it was going to be so useful! She could put this into a lot of her circles from here. It accepts mana, and puts it into a material. Any excess becomes a flame and is burned away, so she doesn¡¯t have to worry about overloading and explosions!

    This was perfect! She could update it later when she figured out how to expend mana in a less dangerous way than fire too. Maybe just a light? Then she could watch to see if it got too bright, and that could be like, an indicator?

    Her mind was racing. But, more than that¡­ She had to find more glyphs. If she understood the basic idea of how a spell could work now, she needed to figure out more glyphs! But to do that, she¡¯d need to find more magic in the wild. More spooky spots, probably. And¡­

    Lily looked down at her hand, and was suddenly aware of just how tired and beat up she was.

    ¡°Aww man. I probably shouldn¡¯t though, huh? Not till I¡¯ve recovered¡­¡±

    For now, Lily let the rock charge up until she could sense the mana on it, and then broke the circle. She could test one thing while resting; would the mana stay or drain away?

    <hr>

    Lily had one other thing she could do while resting. It was beyond time. It was time to wash Bay. She gathered him up and brought him to the master bathroom. There she ran a bath for him. Well, in the sink. There were some very nice sinks, and she didn¡¯t want to get her kitchen all covered in possibly magical ash. As it finished filling, she turned and addressed him.

    ¡°Alright Bay. You will tell me everything you know. For you see, we have ways of making you talk.¡±

    Star panted happily, watching Lily play her role. She reached for Bay, and carefully lowered him into the warm water.

    ¡°The launch codes, agent Bay! This can all stop if you give me the launch codes. What is that?¡±

    She held Bay out of the water for a moment. Lily turned to Star.

    ¡°He said ¡®Fuck you¡¯. Do you think those are the launch codes?¡±

    Star wagged his tail.

    ¡°No, no. I don¡¯t think those are the launch codes, and I doubt the famous secret agent Mr. Bay is making a pass at me. So, I think he takes another dunk in the pool.¡±

    She dipped him back in, and hummed while giving him a scrub. Sometimes you just had to play a little. It was hard doing this with mostly one hand, but at least the pain killers had been helping. She¡¯d been alternating between ibuprofen and acetaminophen every three hours and she was feeling just fine. She was probably taking too much, but it was enough to keep her not in agony so it was probably worth it.

    ¡°Don¡¯t do this at home, kids.¡±

    Lily giggled at her play at breaking the fourth wall. She lifted bay out of the water. The ash was coming off just fine¡­ but the purple was not. It seemed to have dyed him. He was just white originally, but now he had purple splotches. Particularly on his belly, where he normally touched the ground. Oh well, if it didn¡¯t come out he still looked pretty cool.

    She let Star have a sniff to see if he still smelled. Star seemed interested but satisfied. So, Lily plopped Bay onto the counter and grabbed the hair dryer that was in the drawer next to the sink. She¡¯d noticed it earlier while looking for pills. She plugged it in and pointed it at bay.

    ¡°Do I still expect you to talk? No, Mr. Bay. I expect you to dry.¡±

    She started the dryer. Sometimes, you just had to laugh. Even at the end of the world.

 0.019

    Lily had been doing some accounting. She was checking through the media she had collected to figure out what to get next. She had downloaded a large pack of TV shows. All sorts of them. She¡¯d managed to grab all of her favorites, and some popular shows she¡¯d never seen. A whopping 18 terabytes of nothing but TV shows and movies.

    She¡¯d also practically bought out Steam and downloaded a ton of games, and grabbed a staggering amount of music. Her entertainment needs ought to be met for a long time to come!

    She made google maps download a map of most of the country, so that she wouldn¡¯t need a connection to use her GPS anywhere. She had countless videos downloaded from youtube of the ¡°How to X¡± variety.

    She¡¯d grabbed programs for art, music, programming, video editing, computer diagnostics, and more!

    So, why was it that she was sitting here looking at her phone and thinking that she must have missed something important?

    ¡°Because I always miss something important. Clothes, medical supplies, and whatever else. But this time, I¡¯m not going to be stupid. I¡¯m going to think it through.¡±

    Despite saying that¡­ nothing came to mind. Oh sure, the downloads were still running. But she was just downloading more media. She was sure that there was a whole category of items she had missed, if she could just think of it. She couldn¡¯t.

    Lily shrugged. It wasn¡¯t like she didn¡¯t already have a lot. She did! More than she could consume in a year, much less with only a couple hours a day at night after all the work she had been doing. If this pattern kept up, she might be set for five or ten years.

    But, there was definitely some information that would be useful that she just didn¡¯t have. She just didn¡¯t know what! Textbooks? She¡¯d hit a college campus for those. Physics or engineering principles? They should be in the textbooks, but also it¡¯s not like she knew enough to know what would be useful or not useful in content like that anyway.

    She opened Google to do a search for ¡°Surviving Alone Knowledge¡± when it happened. Google didn¡¯t work.

    ¡°Huh?¡±

    She checked her phone¡¯s connection. Sure enough, she was connected to wi-fi. She flicked that off, and it didn¡¯t want to connect to a cell tower. That was to be expected. So she went and grabbed her laptop.

    Google would not open. Her downloads were¡­ also stopped. The tracker she was using must have finally gone down.

    ¡°Oh.¡±

    She had expected to feel something immediately. Some kind of gut punch. But it wasn¡¯t really there. In some ways, it felt like taking off a noisy headset and hearing the silence around you. She was suddenly cut off. She stared at her phone, suddenly unsure of what to do. Some website still had to be working right?

    Twitter? No. Yahoo? Nah. Facebook? Eww, but also no. Youtube? Of course not, it was Google related. Amazon? Nope. Twitch? ¡­ yes.

    Twitch was still working. Lily perked up immediately. She¡¯d never really cared that much for streaming content. It was too involved for what she usually wanted from media. But it was¡­ something! She clicked around to find something to watch. Not really thinking about it, when suddenly something occurred to her.

    There were probably archived streams from the night it all happened, right? So she went looking. It wasn¡¯t too hard to find. She just looked at big creators until one had an archived stream from a few days ago that was way too long. She opened it up and started clicking around the timeline. And then¨C

    Lily wasn¡¯t sure what she had been expecting. She was bound to find footage of this sooner or later. If it wasn¡¯t twitch, she had already been thinking of finding a place with security cameras and going through logs to see what happened. But, this was¡­ well, somehow a let down.

    It was so simple. One second the streamer on screen was talking with a silly voice to his audience and the next¡­ he was just gone. Not a flash. Not a sound. No indication of anything. One frame he was there, the next he wasn¡¯t. There was silence.

    The video went on for over six more hours, and there was just¡­ nothing. The repetitive music of the game he was playing kept going, even with nothing notably happening on screen. It could have been the same thirty second clip on repeat. Until it just sort of¡­ ended.

    That was it. They just¡­ vanished. It was so anticlimactic. It was almost worse than a gory explosion, or a scream, or¡­ or¡­ something!

    But, there was nothing. No answers to be had. Lily turned off her phone and lay back on the couch. She regretted looking for it. Let her last connection to how the world used to be something easier to handle, like downloading a poorly named collection of retro games.

    She let out a sigh. She just wanted to go home. Back to the way things used to be. She was objectively better off now in a lot of ways. She¡¯d made serious progress in just days of work! She was just sad. Lonely. Disconnected. She just wanted to not worry about anything for a little bit.

    She wandered to the center of her living room and laid down for a while staring at the ceiling, and just let her mind wander for a while. Minutes passed. Then hours.

    She had music playing on the TV, but had long since stopped paying attention to it. Bay was on the floor next to her, and Star was sleeping on the sofa. The sound of the somewhat melancholy rock was really setting the mood.

    Gone. It was gone. The loss was visceral. Lily had known it was coming, but she didn¡¯t expect it to affect her so badly. She didn¡¯t want to move. She didn¡¯t want to think. She felt more disconnected and alone than ever, despite her companions being right here.

    She had an idea. A thought. A desire. She knew it would hurt, but some self destructive part of her wanted that right now.

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    ¡°Hey Star.¡±

    She spoke, not moving from laying across the floor. She heard him look up.

    ¡°Wanna go for a trip? I wanna go home.¡±

    <hr>

    It wasn¡¯t a terribly long drive to Lily¡¯s old apartment building. The hard part was doing it with one good hand, but that wasn¡¯t impossible. She took it slow. Between her injuries and the energy it took to heal she was still feeling dead on her feet. But driving isn¡¯t too tiring. Star was buckled carefully into the passenger seat.

    Lily still wasn¡¯t sure what she was expecting. After all, it was almost certainly burned to the ground. She was just feeling lost and emotional, and her instincts were telling her to just go back home.

    She hoped when she saw it, her dumb emotional brain would finally understand that it wasn¡¯t an option. Driving through a scorched wasteland for so long was really making her feel like she was in a post apocalyptic movie. After the bombs had dropped or something.

    She pulled into the lot that used to be her home. It was ash. Of course it was. She hadn¡¯t really expected anything else. She could make out the courtyard, and where the buildings had stood. Two huge piles of concrete and rebar were what was left. And of course the ashes.

    She parked, got out, and left the door open for Star. There was nothing here. Obviously. So, why had she felt like she needed to be here? Closure?

    ¡°I used to live here, Star. Right up there.¡±

    She pointed to roughly where her apartment had been.

    ¡°It¡¯s all gone now though. All the people. All the stars. My whole life. Not that I really had one.¡±

    She was in a dark mindset. What was she even doing here? She knew she was caught in a depressive spiral, but it didn¡¯t matter anymore. She came to see this because she wanted to. Might as well see it.

    So, she approached the rubble and looked for a way to climb up. It wasn¡¯t that hard. Plenty of rebar for hand holds, and enough rubble that she never had to pull herself higher than waist height for the next bit. It had only been a three story building, and now it was pretty spread out. Star was barking up at her from the ground.

    She knew this was a mistake. It was dangerous. But, she didn¡¯t care right now. She was being destructive? Fine. Let¡¯s be destructive. She just had to see it. What had become of her old life. She had never had a strong connection to the world, but this had been her one place, and feeling like she did, she just wanted it back.

    She was being childish. But, it was too late to listen to the voice of reason. What if she died? What if she died? Star might be sad for a day or two. He¡¯s a smart dog. He¡¯d live. Probably. And if not, did that even matter? One more dead animal on a rotting world. Let it all decay.

    Lily felt like her body was on autopilot. A part of her, the normal, reasonable part railed against this. This was stupid. It was childish. It was dangerous. It was self destructive. She wanted to scream and cry, but apart from that small piece of her, she felt calm. In the eye of her own personal storm of despair.

    So, she climbed. It was hard with one hand, and a few times she had to use her bad hand despite its condition. After using both hands to pull herself up on a counter sized piece of concrete, she looked down and saw she¡¯d left a small splotch of blood. But, it didn¡¯t matter. It¡¯d heal up, or it wouldn¡¯t.

    She had to snap out of this. But she didn¡¯t have the energy to fight it anymore. She made it up the last bit. She had only climbed about twenty feet, and it hadn¡¯t been that difficult. The building had really been flattened. Now that she was on top of the pile, she saw an uneven surface. A lot of concrete at all sorts of different angles, holes that she couldn¡¯t tell the depth of. A twisted mess of rebar. Falling into a piece of that could kill her.

    But also¡­ it was wet? She looked around. Up ahead there was a spot where water was falling. Looking up, she couldn¡¯t see a source. It was like a light rain, just in that spot. Not from a cloud or anything, just¡­ rain. Out of nowhere. A spooky spot? She didn¡¯t want to deal with this right now. Annoyance filled her. She just wanted to be self destructive in peace, but even that was apparently too much to ask.

    She continued forward, deciding it was fine to get rained on. She just wanted to see if she could find something, anything of her old life. She knew she wouldn¡¯t. She just wanted to crawl into the shell of what used to be her apartment and go to sleep for a very long time.

    That was insane. The quiet part of her was screaming in her head. But it was too quiet to matter now. She approached the source of the water. It was falling from the sky, right into a hole that dropped about ten feet into the rubble. The sound of running water was all around her as it poured down onto the concrete and dripped down into the hollows that used to be people¡¯s homes. Her home. She could just¡­ jump in. She should just jump in.

    Lily closed her eyes, and stood there for a very long time.

    <hr>

    The water was pouring down her. It was like standing in a shower, but not quite as intense. The water was cold, but it was refreshing. She could feel it hitting her face. She could feel her hair getting weighed down, and sticking to her face. She could hear the water flowing, and flowing. Has it been like this since the fire?

    She took a deep breath in, and let it out. The water. She could feel it. The sensation of it soaking through her was grounding her. Yes, this was reality. She was here. She was alive. She existed.

    She opened her eyes. The water was pouring down. It seemed like it had gotten stronger since she arrived. It was almost a storm now, despite the blue skies. It felt like the turmoil in her heart had poured out, and made the rain more intense.

    Rain had always grounded her somewhat. And here it was, artificial or not. The water was beautiful, pouring into the gaping hole from all different angles. She sat down on the slab she was on. She was soaked through, but it didn¡¯t matter.

    She was herself again. Still hurting. Still feeling hollowed out on the inside. But, present. Grounded. The calmness that had just been her outer shell a few minutes ago was now truly in her heart.

    She shivered. It was cold. But right now, the cold was bringing her back to reality. It felt real. It was helping her feel real too. She shouldn¡¯t have come here. But, she was here now. She looked down. Her hand was bleeding again, but not too badly. She was feeling a little woozy again, and that wasn¡¯t surprising. She shouldn¡¯t have climbed up here. But she had been stuck in it. Drowning.

    It was good to be free of that. She didn¡¯t even have to explain her actions to anyone. Except maybe Star. She blinked. He was okay right? She¡¯d lost track of how long she had been up here.

    Rising, Lily turned to start heading back. She¡¯d remember this spooky spot was here, and come investigate when she was healed. Honestly, she couldn¡¯t believe how stupid she¡¯d been to come here in the first place. It felt like she¡¯d been in a trance! She stood carefully plotting her path back to the ledge where she could climb down, but the second she took a step¨C

    She slipped. She hit the ground hard. The impact shifted the slab she¡¯d been sitting on, tilting it slightly further towards the hole. The water was pouring into the hole, and she started sliding down the concrete towards it. She scrambled for a grip, but it was smooth concrete! She was going to go over the ledge!

    At the last second, she saw a piece of rebar and grabbed it! Instinctually she used her dominant hand. Her bad hand. She caught on it for a second, screamed in pain and slipped again. For one terrible second, she saw the lip of the opening getting further away.

    THUMP

    Everything went black.

 0.020

    The water falling on her forehead woke her up. For a second, she didn¡¯t remember where she was, and then it all came rushing back to her.

    The pit.

    She was in the pit.

    She snapped awake and sat up. Immediately, she was thankful she could sit up, and hadn¡¯t injured herself too badly. She wondered how long she had been down here. She was soaked through. But she had been before she fell, right? She was cold, but not as cold as when she fell asleep on the boat deck. It was dark in here but¡­ she looked up. Darkness above as well. It had already been evening when she got here, so that didn¡¯t tell her as much as she¡¯d like.

    She groaned. Her head was pounding out of her skull. She felt around her surroundings. She was sitting on a concrete slab, tilted slightly so that her feet were lower than her head. It was wet, but not underwater. She couldn¡¯t even see the opening above her, because there were no stars to help with light.

    Lily pulled out her phone. It wouldn¡¯t turn on. Was it broken from the fall? Flooded with the water? Or just out of batteries? She couldn¡¯t tell down here. Her body didn¡¯t want to move. Lily took a deep breath.

    Okay, how was she going to get out of this¡­? Wait. Lily laughed. That was absurd. How was she going to get out of this? Why did she feel more capable of getting through this than she had of getting through a day at home earlier?

    ¡°Always prepared for the end of the world. Can¡¯t take a Tuesday. That¡¯s me.¡±

    How was she going to get out of here? She couldn¡¯t even see to find a way out. It was too dark. Even if she could¡­ She was in a pit. She remembered it being shaped like a vase or an urn. Small hole on top, but bowed out walls. So, she couldn¡¯t imagine there was a way to just climb straight up. Especially with them being wet. How deep was the water anyway? Hell, where did the water begin? Was it safe to be in, or full of sharp rebar?

    Yet, she didn¡¯t feel as hopeless as earlier. She was already level 8 in clearing life or death scenarios. It was when nothing was going on that she was really scared. She almost giggled at her own thoughts. Okay, maybe she was also not thinking quite clearly. Her head really hurt. She was starting to wonder if there was some persistent magical effect on her too. Like, had she been recovering from injuries faster than normal? At no point had she been not injured at all since this all began, but even dire issues seemed to make her non-functional for a day, and just messed up the next. How could she measure that..? Lily shook her head.

    ¡°Not the time for that Lily. Have good thoughts when you¡¯re not dying.¡±

    Well, first she needed light. How did she get light? Fish around and hope for a flashlight? Hah, like that would happen. She edged closer to the top of her concrete, feeling around for a dry spot. No such luck. Well, it looked like she¡¯d have to get down and hope the water wasn¡¯t too deep. If she could find her way under the ceiling she might be able to find a dry spot.

    Lily lowered herself carefully down from her slab, feeling around. Her ankles entered the water, then up to her knees. She had just decided maybe this was a bad idea when she slipped off and fell in. Thankfully, it stopped at her thighs. She let out a little yelp as she sank in, and could hear it echo around her. Well, now she had at least some idea of how big the room was. Fifteen feet across maybe? She wasn¡¯t sure. Large but not huge.

    She took a few careful steps. The ground was uneven. She had a horrible mental image of her weight causing the ground to buckle, and the force of the water pulling her through a new hole full of sharp metal and rough concrete into deep water and¨C Nope. No. No thinking about that. Careful steps.

    She continued along carefully, feeling around with her hands as best she could. There! She found another piece to crawl up onto. This one was under the roof, so it was dry. Once she was up out of the water and not being rained on, Lily stopped to breathe. She wished she had some light. She was so cold. Could she start a fire?

    Not with her wet clothes. What about magic? She didn¡¯t have anything to write with. She could try scratching a circle into the rock? But she wouldn¡¯t be able to see what she was doing and it would take a long time. She might lose track of what she had already drawn. If only she had chalk, or paint or¡­ oh.

    Her stomach lurched. Lily had an idea, but she didn¡¯t like it. Still, it would help a lot and she didn¡¯t need to draw a big circle. What would she need? She thought about it. Gather Mana to have something to run the spell on. A Capacitor to make sure it didn¡¯t grow out of control easily. Then just¡­ Flame. Right? Gather Mana > Capacitor > Flame. Three glyphs. A circle with three smaller circles connected by a triangle. Inside each node, a glyph. She thought she could do that, and she¡¯d have heat and light. Then she could work from there.

    ¡°This is going to suck real bad. Oh I hate this. Oh this is a terrible idea.¡±

    Lily gritted her teeth, and undid the bandage on her injured hand. She took a deep breath, and pushed her good index finger into the center of her wound. Pain exploded through her hand. She tried to push it down, but she let out a pained cry.

    Outside, she heard a howl. Star must have been able to hear her! He¡¯d waited all this time? He must have been driving himself mad trying to figure out how to help. She called out.

    ¡°Good boy! I¡¯m okay! I¡¯ll figure this out and be out in no time! Just wait for me!¡±

    Lily redoubled her efforts. She pushed harder, ignoring the pain. Blood. She could draw the circle in blood. It was hard to know how much she needed, so she pressed hard and made sure she could feel it on her finger. This was a terrible idea. But it was going to work, she could feel it.

    She drew out the circle from memory. It wasn¡¯t hard. She had a clear image of it in her mind¡¯s eye. She just had to focus. She pushed herself. Focus. Focus. Draw it.

    Then.

    Fwoosh.

    In the center of her little circle, drawn in blood, a flame sprouted. Lily backed up in case it got too big. But, it didn¡¯t. It grew slowly until the mana it was able to pull in leveled out. Warmth washed over her, and she was able to see.

    She looked around the room. It was about as she expected. In the center of the room she could see the slab she had originally landed on, with rain falling on it from above. The rest of the room was shaped more or less like a donut around it. But the hole in the roof was at least ten feet up. Even if she jumped and was strong enough to pull herself up, she¡¯d never jump high enough.

    Also, the water was weird. Dark shapes jutted out of it. The metal frame of what seemed to be a sofa. A kitchen fridge. A broken TV. But there was something about the water itself too. She took a minute to let her eyes adjust. It was moving. Flowing, but not going anywhere. The water had a current. It was flowing in a perfect circle. Not like a whirlpool, but just¡­ flowing. Slowly.

    Then Lily saw why. She was sitting inside a magic circle. Was that why this room was this shape? It covered the entire room. It was made of¡­ whatever the circle around the original everburning flame was made of. Something immaterial. Concentrated mana?

    It was also a lot bigger than any circle she¡¯d seen before. It was four concentric rings. Three seemed to be connected, and the fourth one around all of them wasn¡¯t connected. It was running independently. Taking a closer look, it seemed almost like this was really clumsily put together. Her everburning flame looked like a masterpiece compared to this. Glyphs were haphazardly placed in no clear order. But it was creating a working spell.

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    ¡°Plus one for the theory that the ones in nature aren¡¯t optimal I guess. But what is it doing exactly? Something with the water¡­¡±

    Lily tried to read it, but there were a LOT of glyphs she didn¡¯t know. In a normal situation that would be a huge win. But right now she didn¡¯t want to mess with anything she didn¡¯t understand. She wanted to get out of the pit.

    Well, first things first. Lily removed her shirt, and found a sharp piece of rebar to poke a hole. Then she tore until she got a strip of fabric, and re-wrapped her wound. She wouldn¡¯t have it festering if she could avoid it. She¡¯d need to clean it really well when she got home.

    When she got home?

    ¡°Look at me, being all optimistic and stuff. Now, what do you do, circle?¡±

    She tried to make out some of the glyphs. On the plus side, some of them were not that hard to figure out. One was droplets shaped like the Gather Ambient Mana glyph, and another was wavy lines in that same shape. She would work off the assumption that it was Gather Water and Gather Air for now, since that seemed like a really safe bet. That meant the inner circle was just a bunch of Gather Water glyphs, then outputting that to the second ring. Sure. Not too hard.

    The next circle was going to be key. It had a lot of stuff Lily was going to have to guess at. The first node at least seemed to be Gather Air. After that¡­ something to do with air and water. At least, it had the droplet and the wavy pattern. It was¡­ maybe mixing them up? After that the real mystery began. It was a mess of arrows, a different mess of arrows, and then the first one again. It was moving the stuff around a lot? That didn¡¯t seem to make a lot of sense.

    Okay, well, what was the spell doing? It had water and air, and water was falling from the air. Why was it falling instead of just gathering in the center of the circle? Was this ring making it do that? Or was it making the water flow in circles?

    If she had to guess, it was making the water fall. If only because the arrows on the glyphs didn¡¯t seem to be pointing in a circular direction. They were more inward than that.

    So, she decided the second ring was making the water rain. She just didn¡¯t know how.

    The third one was just a new mess of arrows, and the middle one from the second circle¡­

    ¡°Ugh, this is so stupid and confusing! How am I supposed to figure this out while trying to get out of this stupid pit! I hate this!¡±

    She heard barking from outside, and tried to calm her tone.

    ¡°No, no. It¡¯s okay Star! I¡¯m okay! I¡¯ll figure it out! I just need to¡­ think!¡±

    So, she thought. The second circle made the rain. The third circle must be doing the circular flow then. And the final ring¡­ Just seemed to be doing something with mana. It was disconnected from all the other ones, but seemed to be pushing a ton of mana into this area. Oh!

    She whirled and looked at her fire spell. But, the Capacitor was keeping it from overflowing. She breathed a sigh of relief.

    ¡°Okay. So. It gathers water, and then mixes it with air to make¡­ mist I guess? Then that mist needs to go up so it can fall, right? So whatever this is doing, it¡¯s pushing the mist up.¡±

    That made sense to her. And it was promising! If it could push mist into the sky, maybe it could push her or something she was holding onto up out of the hole too.

    ¡°I think the glyph present in both rings must be for pushing things. Because that would explain the movement of the water both times. What chooses the direction I wonder? It¡¯s the same glyph. Maybe it¡¯s like the capacitor glyph that can be set? Hmm.¡±

    More importantly, she didn¡¯t have enough blood to draw a bunch of circles figuring this out. All of the spells she¡¯d found had been made of mana. Could she do that? How?

    Well. She¡¯d made changes to spells like that a few times. It had been as simple as closing her eyes, feeling it out, and really holding an image of what she wanted it to be in her mind. Could it be done with a whole circle? Well, there was one way to find out. She was certain the fire spell she had set up was safe, so she would duplicate that first.

    She closed her eyes, and focused. See the lines. A circle with a triangle inside. At the points of the triangle, three more circles. Nodes. Inside the nodes, glyphs. Gather Ambient Mana, Capacitor, Flame. Imagine the full circle. Every little detail. She could feel it. The same feeling she¡¯d gotten when she¡¯d made small edits to them in the past. But still nothing was happening.

    She pulled on that feeling hard. It was there. It was real. It wasn¡¯t all in her head. Pull on it, and push it into her mental image. See how the mana should flow around the circle. See how it should function. See how¨C

    Fwoosh

    A flame sprouted into being. It sat on the surface of the water, right where she had imagined it. Around it, she could feel the circle she had made. It was there. She opened her mouth to cheer! Her head started spinning. Oh, she did not feel good all of a sudden. She lay back on her concrete slab, gasping. She felt like she had just run a marathon! All the energy drained out of her in a second. It took her a few minutes to catch her breath.

    ¡°What the fuck was that¡­?¡±

    She felt like she already knew though. She had formed a circle from mana. It had to come from somewhere. She felt tired after. It just made too much sense. She¡¯d created a circle with her mana. But that took an absurd amount of her own energy to do! How was that fair? It was such a simple spell! With chalk she could have drawn it out in two minutes!

    Wait. She was still breathing hard, but if that¡¯s how it worked, there could be a pretty simple solution to get her energy right back, right¡­?

    So, she focused on creating another circle. This one around her. Three glyphs. Nice and easy. Gather Ambient Mana, Capacitor (LOW output), Infuse Mana. She pictured how mana would flow into the circle, be diffused by the capacitor into the environment if it wasn¡¯t used, and a small amount would flow into her directly. Like it had with the wood in the everburning flame. That should fix it, right?

    She pulled. It was easier this time, despite how tired it was. Like moving a limb she hadn¡¯t known was there, now she knew how. She pulled. She formed the circle. She let go. She doubled over, wheezing. Trying to catch her breath. She should have waited another few minutes!

    But¡­ after a few seconds she was already starting to feel better. It was like she¡¯d just downed an energy drink even. She knew not a lot of mana was actually flowing into her, because she''d turned the capacitor way down. So it really surprised her how fast she was feeling better.

    Actually, it really was like an energy drink. Her heart was beating pretty fast. It was¡­ a little uncomfortable even. Okay, time to turn that off. Lily wasn¡¯t taking any chances with that. She focused on breaking the circle. It took another ten seconds, but the circle broke and dissolved just like she wanted.

    She took a deep breath and opened her eyes. The world looked like it was¡­ spinning? Oh no. Vertigo hit her like a truck. Her stomach roiled. The world was spinning. She scrambled over to the edge of the slab she was on and¨C

    She threw up.

    The world was still spinning, but not quite as badly. She had to figure out something to do. She had to get it out of her. Concentrate. Concentrate. She couldn¡¯t concentrate! She felt so sick, and it was only getting worse. The fire spell! She¡¯d done that one twice now. She could do it again. She closed her eyes again and focused as hard as she could.

    She drew the first circle in her mind. It was like opening a bloated expired milk carton inside herself. The pressure dislodged as she pulled, and it felt disgusting and horrible. But, she held it. She formed the circle. She pulled for the mana and it was there.

    She felt a tiny, tiny bit of relief. She opened her eyes. A new flame was growing. But she didn¡¯t feel all that better. She needed to get it out of her! Maybe it didn¡¯t take a lot, but her capacity was just tiny? How could she use enough to not be exhausted or over full?

    An idea struck her. She focused again. One more circle. This time, no mana gathering. No capacitor. Just Flame. A one node spell. She formed it in her mind. Nice and easy. She imagined the circle forming. Fire. Flame. Just the one glyph. Let the mana flow out of her and into the circle. Not just the creation of it, but the circle itself. She pulled it out of herself and pushed!

    She could feel it forming. The mana took shape but it was still inside her. It hurt. It was like an electric fire running through her veins. She didn¡¯t know how to let it out! But she knew what she wanted, so she willed it to happen. She held out a hand and focused on letting it go through her palm.

    There was a small fwoosh as a burst of flame left her hand. It burned! But only for a second. She yelped, and shook her hand in the cool air.

    ¡°God damn! Why does learning have to hurt so much?¡±

    She whined to herself. She felt better though. Not good by any means, but no longer on death¡¯s door in either direction. That was good enough for now.

    ¡°But I¡¯m still no closer to getting out of here. Am I gonna die in here¡­?¡±

    Lily needed a break. It wasn¡¯t ideal, but at least she had her fire. She laid out close enough to keep warm.

    ¡°I hope Star is okay.¡±

 0.021

    Star didn¡¯t understand. His Master and charge had descended into the wet death hole for reasons that eluded him. He had carefully paced and guarded the perimeter for hours, and she had yet to return. Surely, she must have a reason to be there?

    He was aware of the Master¡¯s great potential, but she was small and weak. Like a newborn pup, she must be protected until she can grow into her power. Heavy though the burden may be, Star was up to the task. Or so he thought.

    She had left him here to wander into danger, and he was helpless to come to her aid. He cursed his weakness. On the wind he could smell water and blood. The scent was still fresh, so he knew she must be alive if wounded. Was this a test of his abilities? His willpower? His desire to protect? Or was this a test for his Master?

    He didn¡¯t know. But since spending time here, the thoughts had been coming to his mind clearer than they had in their shared den. Maybe that was the purpose of being here?

    He let out a howl, hoping she could hear it and know that he was trying to rescue her from her self imposed danger.

    If only he was more powerful. If only he could jump high enough to make it up to the top of the building carcass. He would join her in the wet death hole, and they could find a way out together.

    But, he could not jump high enough. He could not climb. He would have to find another way up. He would not fail his Master. He would not let one so defenseless succumb to carelessly wandering into danger while in his care!

    <hr>

    Star had been howling for a while. It was cute and heartbreaking at first, but it had long since gotten to the point of becoming an annoyance. He must be circling the outside, because the howls were coming from all different angles.

    ¡°Wish I could tell him to just sit tight.¡±

    Lily had been laying next to her fire for about half an hour. It was hard to tell exactly how much time had passed in here without her phone working. It didn¡¯t seem to be smashed, but it definitely wasn¡¯t turning on. She wondered if she could repair it somehow if it had gotten waterlogged. She thought it was supposed to be water resistant, but in fairness that had been a lot of soaking.

    In the time she¡¯d been laying here catching her breath, Lily had realized two things. First, in order to get out of here she was probably going to have to modify the spell here rather than wholesale creating her own. She had limited energy after all. Secondly, something weird was happening. Even by the standards of magic.

    She could hear things occasionally shifting around beyond the walls. Just slightly. And sometimes, she¡¯d catch something moving a little out of the corner of her eye. It was creepy, and she was trying very hard not to totally freak out.

    She wasn¡¯t sure how much of this was just paranoia, but she could swear the room she was in had also changed a little bit while she had been here. She couldn¡¯t quite put her finger on it. Some of the places where there was paint seemed like they might be more vibrant somehow? Some of the rubble might have changed shape a little? It was such a small difference. It could have been a trick of the light.

    Nevertheless, if things were shifting she didn¡¯t want to be in here if the ruin collapsed any more than it already had. So, she had to get moving soon. She just wasn¡¯t sure where to begin.

    She could draw one, maybe two spell circles of her own in mana if she needed to. It would exhaust her, but she had the ability now. That wasn¡¯t enough energy to experiment, and she didn¡¯t want to use blood again if she could avoid that.

    Even if she could find a way out of this hole, it was starting to be a resources game. She had to find a way out in so many moves or less. Not just find a way out. That was why she had taken some time to sit and think and catch her breath.

    Which brought her back full circle. She needed to modify the existing spell rather than making a bunch of her own. She even thought she had a pretty good idea of what she wanted to do.

    One of these glyphs was taking the water and air and pushing it up into the sky. Another was probably making sure it stayed localized. Yet another was causing the pool to flow in a circle. She had a working theory. The arrows pointing inward were keeping the air and water localized. The one that was shared in both circles was probably causing the water to move at all. And the last one¡­ well, she wasn¡¯t sure what the last glyph did. If her theory held out, it was changing the direction the push glyph was pushing the lazy river in to make it a circle. But she didn¡¯t understand why, or the details of that.

    So, in an ideal world she would create a circle that would push the slab in the center of the room up, and ride it to the top. There were just about a million problems with that.

    First, if her reading of what the glyphs did was off, then it might not do anything or something unexpected. She didn¡¯t want to be riding a huge piece of concrete when it decided to spin in place, or roll like a ball, or even if she was right, shoot into the sky.

    Beyond that, if she did choose that glyph, and she was wrong, the wasted mana might be so much that she collapsed. Even if she wasn¡¯t wrong and it rose, what if creating the circle wiped her out so much she wasn¡¯t able to jump from the floating concrete to safety?

    There were so many issues. But it¡¯s not like she had any other plans. Option number two as she saw it was to fill this area with enough liquid for her to swim out. But, while she was generally an okay swimmer she didn¡¯t have any idea what kind of current she¡¯d be dealing with. Not to mention, water is heavy. What if it shifted things in a way that crushed her? It was too dangerous. Even compared to option number one.

    No. She had to just do it. Starting with part one. She had to return to the central slab. As she gathered herself to enter the thigh deep cold pond again though, something startled her. A sound. A loud electronic sound!

    Her phone! She pulled it out of her pocket. It was¡­ turning on? It had played a loud startup sound, and was now sitting at her lock screen. That was¡­ weird. But, at least it was working. She took a second to unlock it. Yeah, everything was still there.

    ¡°Great. Now you¡¯re working. When I don¡¯t really need you anymore. Thanks, technology.¡±

    But it was strange. Had it just dried out on its own? And then she¡­ hit the power button by accident? That would be a big coincidence. But, there was no sense fussing about it now. If any strange alarms came through though, she was going to scream.

    Lily lowered herself slowly into the depths. It was so cold! But, that wasn¡¯t the end of the world. She waded over to the central slab, passing by her little created flame that was still sitting on the surface of the water. She had expected the flame to go out at some point, but she guessed the mana here must be strong enough to last it a while.

    Pulling herself up onto the slab and out of the pool was actually pretty difficult and took a few tries. She managed with perseverance and finding the right foot holds.

    Lily heard another howl outside.

    ¡°I¡¯m on it! Just be patient!¡±

    Okay, what now? Well, first things first, she wanted to stop the rain. It wasn¡¯t really doing anything to help her, so she might as well start there. She focused, and found the innermost circle, and thought about breaking it. Making a cut so that it wouldn¡¯t form a full circle anymore. She felt at it, found the exact point she wanted to break, and snapped it.

    At first, nothing happened. She could tell that the circle was broken though, so she waited. After about thirty seconds, the rain started to let up and Lily let out a sigh of relief.

    ¡°Okay, that helps a lot. Now for the rest of this thing.¡±

    There was still an updraft, but that was good news too. It meant her read of the second circle was probably correct. It was still gathering air and pushing that upward. So, now she needed to disable the glyphs she thought were condensing things, and hopefully the updraft would continue.

    She felt out those two glyphs in the circle. It was already getting difficult to focus. This work was so tiring! But just as she was getting ready to erase those nodes, the rain started back up.

    ¡°What the hell?¡±

    Star howled from outside. Lily rolled her eyes. Why was the tiny torrent back again? She could swear the spell shouldn¡¯t have any more water to work with. Lily grumbled and found the spot she¡¯d broken before. It was¡­ fixed.

    ¡°Huh? Is it self repairing? How¡¯d it do that?¡±

    Frustrated, she did her best to clear her mind and severed the circle again. Then she turned her attention to erasing the two glyphs that she didn¡¯t need. The directionality of the wind changed slightly, but it was still pointed upward. That was more or less confirmation of what she wanted. Plus, the rain was starting to stop again. Lily was sick of getting poured on.

    ¡°Better stay gone this time. Now, about this lifty glyph. Can I point that at this rock somehow?¡±

    Lily couldn¡¯t see how to change what that glyph was targeting. But at the same time, there had to be a way? Maybe it was a setting, like the capacitor volume? That seemed likely. Intention seemed to matter a little to these glyphs, so maybe she could make an edit. She was already feeling a little unstabl¨C

    Water started pouring on her.

    ¡°GOD DAMN FUCKING FAKE STORM!¡±

    She glared upward, and a drop hit her directly in the eye even around the glasses. She shook her head and made a groan of annoyance. Okay, this was getting annoying as hell. Lily gritted her teeth and found the water collection circle again. Sure enough, it was whole again. Something was repairing it!

    ¡°Fine! If you can repair something broken, let¡¯s make it not broken huh? Huh? Is that good enough for you, magic room?¡±

    Rather than severing the circle again, Lily decided to get creative. This time, she removed a segment of the circle, but rather than leaving it broken she drew something new. A small bracket shape on each of the ends, as if it were intended to stop there rather than being cut.

    ¡°There. That¡¯s how it¡¯s intended to be. It¡¯s not broken, you hear me? It¡¯s perfect the way it is!¡±

    She waited a moment. The downpour started to diminish again.

    This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.

    ¡°Good! Stay that way!¡±

    Lily caught her breath for a moment. As she did, the girl looked around the room again. She could swear there were differences, but they were subtle. It was really starting to bother her. But she might as well be sure there weren¡¯t any tools she should be using while she was too tired to do more spellwork.

    A lot of broken concrete, a thigh deep pool, and some burned out detritus. Although, the burned out garbage was looking¡­ Was it less burned out than before? She could swear that the broken TV had been covered in scorch marks before, and the fridge was more melted than it looked now.

    ¡°Am I getting in my head because the circle keeps getting fixed? Although¡­¡±

    She took out her phone. It was still working. Was there a magical effect repairing items in the room? She couldn¡¯t see anything like that, and if so it was working really slow. Like, glacially slow.

    Shrugging, Lily turned on her flashlight and shone it around the room to get a better look. Was any of this trash usable? There was a lot more junk floating around in the pool than she had been able to see with just her two flame workings. A lot of broken trash, mostly. She could see the melted remains of what was probably an entire silverware drawer. A lot more rebar along the bottom than she was comfortable with, having waded through it twice now.

    Nothing looked immediately usable though. But just as she was about to give up, something drifted into view. A door. A whole door. It was made of wood and perfectly unburned. That was¡­ weird. But it was one of those thick doors that usually blocked off utility closets and the like.

    That could actually be useful! She could ride that to the top instead of something as heavy as the concrete! It¡¯d require a lot less energy to move right? Or would it be less stable? If she had to jump off of her ride as it got to the top, would it having so much less mass matter? Well, she would keep it in mind if she couldn¡¯t find a way to power her concrete elevator.

    As it drifted past she wondered how it had survived the fire. Even if it was repaired after by the hypothetical repair spell, some part of it had to have survived right? It had a little metal placard on it. Maybe that was it? Maybe the rest had been repaired from that? That seemed like a stretch, but oh well. The little placard read ¡®Basement¡¯. So it had probably been on the ground level. Maybe the magic storm started before the fire was through?

    Lily decided she was procrastinating. It was time to see what she could really do. She decided she was going to draw a spell of her own. It¡¯d be no problem. Gather Ambient Mana, and the Push spell pointed upward. She¡¯d draw it around the concrete slab in the middle of the room. A simple two node magic circle. That should be easier than one of her flame spells. She was scared, but putting it off forever wasn¡¯t going to change anything.

    She plopped down on the concrete and went to work. The design was easy enough. A circle with a square in the middle of it. On the two opposite sides of the square, two nodes. One with Gather Ambient Mana, the other with Push. While she wrote in the latter, she focused as hard as she could on what she wanted it to do. Push upward. Move up. Float the stone. Make it rise!

    The circle completed as Lily felt the mana leaving her body. She was getting used to that sense the more she used it. But that didn¡¯t mean it had any less of a devastating effect. She slumped over on her rock, wheezing. It was like the spell had sucked the life out of her. She could barely move. She struggled, but couldn¡¯t even sit up.

    But even worse, nothing was happening. That couldn¡¯t be right, could it? She let herself relax onto the stone, trying to catch her breath, and examined her spell. It was working! Mana was running through it! But nothing was happening. Why was nothing happening? Then she realized. The other spells! They were taking a lot of the mana too! She had to disable them, and just hope that her lift spell would work with more energy!

    She was still having trouble moving, but she had to do it. She closed her eyes, laying face down on the rock and felt out the other spells in the room. All she had to do was erase the way they were getting mana, and they¡¯d go right out. Turn those nodes into empty nodes.

    One by one the other spells in the room went out. First her two flame spells. She was surprised that the light didn¡¯t completely go away. The moon was overhead, shining down into her hole! She could still see! Just not well. That was a stroke of luck. But she wasn¡¯t out of the woods yet.

    Next were the circles that were already here. She knew better than to break them, so she just focused on disabling them. She was past the point of exhaustion and into pain. It felt like she had to tear the mana out of herself to even be making modifications to these circles right now. But if she used up all the magical energy in this area without getting out of here, it¡¯d be over!

    She erased the last glyph. The stone she was on lurched. Lily felt a surge of hope! But¡­ it still wasn¡¯t enough! It wasn¡¯t moving! It had just shifted. Lily wanted to scream, and cry.

    ¡°Fine! If that¡¯s not enough, don¡¯t think I¡¯ll give up yet. I am not dying in a hole!¡±

    It hurt like hell. She didn¡¯t care. She reached out one more time, and changed her spell around the rock. Gather Ambient Mana, and Infuse Material. She¡¯d use the rock as a battery, and when it had charged up enough she¡¯d swap it back and get out of here!

    Mana started flowing into the rock immediately, but as the upward force on it diminished, the rock shifted again. A horrible groaning sound came from under the room Lily was in.

    ¡°...uh oh. That didn¡¯t sound good.¡±

    Then it hit her. Basement. There was a basement! There was a floor under this one! How was she always always always one step behind the things she needed to survive? She wanted to scream in frustration and terror, but she forced that emotion down. No. No giving in to panic. Absolutely not.

    The rock shifted some more, suddenly sinking by about a foot. But mana was pouring into it. The power was gathering. Lily could feel it. She just had to find the balance. She had to swap it back before she fell through the floor into the basement of certain death, but after it had charged up enough to float. That was easy enough, right? Right?

    Lily¡¯s heart was pounding out of her chest. She was finally starting to feel like she could move her body, but she didn¡¯t dare. She couldn¡¯t risk unbalancing her precarious situation.

    Finally, she thought it was worth a try. So she reached out to change the spell. Nothing happened. She focused as hard as she could. It wasn¡¯t changing! She reached for mana in herself and¡­ it wasn¡¯t there. She had nothing to pull on. She was depleted. But she had to change the spell!

    ¡°No no no no. Not like this. I can¡¯t die in a hole. Please work, please! Please give me anything! Just a little bit! Please!¡±

    But nothing came. There was another groaning sound from beneath her, and she heard the pool around her start to drain into the basement below.

    ¡°Phone? Mysterious helper? Entity B? Anyone! Please! Please save me! I can¡¯t do this! I can¡¯t survive on my own! Please! Help me. Help me! Help me!¡±

    Her voice echoed through the room around her, and sounded mocking in her ears. Help me. Help me. Help me. And that same voice that was always with her, from deep down. As if you deserve help. You¡¯re pathetic, and this is just what you deserve. You should have disappeared with everyone else. She felt the tears welling up in her eyes as despair overwhelmed her.

    She heard another howl from outside. This one sounded closer somehow.

    ¡°No. No! That¡¯s stupid. Shut up, voice! I don¡¯t need you. I don¡¯t need some mysterious helper. I¡¯m going to live through this. I¡¯m not going to die so easily. I might be a cockroach of a person, but cockroaches are hard to kill!¡±

    A manic energy flooded through her. Her fears evaporated. It was either do this or die, right? Then it didn¡¯t really matter how crazy she got, did it? Danger? What¡¯s that?

    The concrete under her was starting to vibrate uncomfortably. It was too full of mana. Good. Let it be full. What¡¯s one more bomb in this scenario?

    She fumbled with her bandage, trying to get it off, but wasn¡¯t strong enough. Well, whatever. She bit the fleshy part of her thumb as hard as she could. It hurt. It hurt so bad she could hardly think, but she didn¡¯t let up until the taste of blood rushed into her mouth. She spat, and got to drawing.

    A simple three node circle. She drew it on the back of her good hand. Gather Ambient Mana, a capacitor turned as low as possible, and infuse mana. She¡¯d done this before, and it had been a huge mistake. But what was a mistake now? All she had to do was use the mana as fast as it poured into her, right? It was like electricity! If she was going to grab a live wire, all she had to do was give it an exit from her body that didn¡¯t burn her up too!

    The moment she felt the mana start flooding into her, she pressed her palm down against the concrete under her and shifted concentration to her lift spell. She had plenty of mana now. Too much even! It was time to draw!

    Instantly she swapped her spell so that it was drawing the mana from the rock and using that to power the push spell. The concrete lurched upwards. She was almost tossed off of it. Grabbing on for dear life, Lily added a capacitor with a high volume, and got ready to tune that as the stone began to rise. She had to maintain a good speed. Not too fast, not too slow, and without running out of mana. Easy! Sure, why not?

    ¡°Wanna add any more complications, huh?¡±

    She was beginning to feel dizzy. Too much mana was still flowing through her. Fine. She¡¯d give it an outlet. She scrambled to form the next circle in her mind before she gave in to her vertigo. A simple two node spell. Flame, and Heat to Mana. She shunted all the mana she could feel pouring into her into her right hand, forcing that spell to activate. Instantly, a huge flame billowed to life in her hand. It was hot. Hotter than her eternal flame, despite what she was trying to do. It burned. Lily felt the scream build up inside her, but refused to give in. If she let herself panic for even a second, she was going to die. So that was off limits. Absolutely not!

    The stone was rising. As it cleared the ground below, she heard the entire room she¡¯d been in collapsing down into the basement below. But it didn¡¯t matter now. The platform was going to clear the ceiling any second!

    As the clear air came into view, Lily made her move. She jumped from the concrete she had been riding. The nearest place to land was the same piece of concrete that had dumped her into the hole to begin with. As she landed on it, she started to slide back toward the hole, but this time Lily was prepared. She caught herself on the rebar, using it as a foothold. The impact made it start to destabilize, so she climbed as fast as she could. The flame on her hand went out as she lost focus, and the mana began to flow into her in full again. She forced herself forward.

    It was tilting too fast! She wasn¡¯t going to make it before it toppled in! Lily let out a desperate scream. Suddenly, Star was there! He bit her shirt at the shoulder and started trying to pull her up. It was helping, but she was starting to lose strength as too much mana filled her up. Lily slammed her good hand into the concrete she was desperately clinging to and started drawing. A new spell. This one gathered air and pushed it upward here. The resulting updraft made the difference with Star¡¯s help. She pulled above the lip of the concrete and fell flat on the next piece. This one was more stable. She tried to get up, but staggered and doubled over.

    Star started licking the blood off the back of her hand. Smart dog. She could still hear the crashing from behind her. This area might not last long either. She drew a quick fire spell to get rid of some of her excess. Then Lily rose unsteadily to her feet.

    ¡°Run!¡±

    She hoped Star would understand. She started making her way away from the hole as fast as she could. It was frustratingly slow going, even with her manic energy, but she couldn¡¯t risk falling bodily on broken rebar. Then, she got an awful feeling. She didn¡¯t even know she could sense this, but she suddenly knew. Her circle on the concrete lift had broken. She glanced over her shoulder just in time to see it falling.

    They could feel the thud it created as it fell back into the hole. The rubble shifted, and more collapsed. Lily frantically found her way to the edge, and climbed down as quickly as she could. Stepping onto solid ground, she could have wept with joy. Lily wasn¡¯t willing to stop anywhere near this rubble though. So she limped weakly over to her car, opened the door and got in. Star jumped over her lap and into the passenger seat.

    Lily sat there staring ahead vacantly for a minute. Then she laughed. She laughed, and laughed, and laughed.

    <hr>

    Lily was driving home. She had laughed herself senseless, and maybe fallen asleep for a little while. But, once she had gotten herself together she just wanted to go home. Home to her new home. Her boat. She was talking to Star while she did.

    ¡°How did you get up there anyway? I couldn¡¯t have done it without you boy. Thank you. I hope you can understand that. Even if not the words, the feeling. You¡¯re a good boy. I¡¯ll find a good reward for you, okay?¡±

    As she said that, she drove past a large recognizable M. The golden arches. Mcdonalds. Lily had an idea. The power was off, but it was time to pull off a heist.

    Thankfully the doors were open. It was a 24 hour location after all.

    ¡°Finally, some good luck. Now, we¡¯re headed to the kitchen. You can feel free to eat anything you find that isn¡¯t bad. Do you know what''s bad? Oh well, I¡¯ll just find some buns to toss you.¡±

    She did. It was easy, even. She wasn¡¯t about to risk the meats or anything, but she had one thing she was here for above all else.

    Fifteen minutes later, Lily pushed a levitating ice cream machine out of the store and into the back of her SUV. The McFlurry machine was tucked under her arm.

    Rewards in hand, it was time to go home. Speeding down the road as the sun rose, windows down for Star, Lily couldn¡¯t stop laughing. She hurt all over, she was beyond tired, but she felt alive for the first time in a very long time.

 0.022

    Lily awoke to a chicken pecking her forehead. She groaned and waved her arms at it to send it scurrying. When she¡¯d gotten home she¡¯d tossed a bunch of fridge vegetables into the yard to make sure they had something to eat, and immediately passed out. She had left the door open so Star could get out, and hadn¡¯t thought about the chickens coming in.

    She tried to sit up. It took more than one attempt, but she eventually got into a sitting position on the couch. She¡¯d used Bay as a pillow all day. Glancing around she saw the sun was going down. That made sense, it¡¯d been coming up when she got home. Lily yawned, and closed her eyes again for a minute.

    ¡°I lived. That¡¯s good.¡±

    She paused to let that sink in. But, before she could get too lost in thought she heard a thumping sound from the other side of the couch. Star¡¯s tail was wagging as he looked at her cautiously.

    ¡°Couldn¡¯t have done it without you. Good boy. Guess we¡¯re really in this together huh? We need to talk. I think it¡¯s time for a family meeting. But first, breakfast.¡±

    Lily climbed to her feet, and took a step before she noticed something. A small pile of eggs was next to where she¡¯d been sleeping. She glanced over at Star.

    ¡°Did you do this¡­? I can¡¯t eat them raw, you know?¡±

    His tail wagged harder, and his tongue lolled out of his mouth. Lily couldn¡¯t help but smile.

    ¡°You¡¯re sweet though. And way too smart. Way, way too smart. We need to talk about that too.¡±

    She gathered up the eggs and made her way to the kitchen. She washed the eggs off and put them in the fridge, unsure of how they should be stored. Star followed her. He seemed tired too, because even his movements seemed a bit sluggish.

    ¡°Can I just give you a raw piece of meat from in here? Should I cook it? What¡¯s healthy for you? I know you can eat kibble, but you deserve better than that right now. Ah, screw it. I¡¯ll cook it a little.¡±

    The girl got out two pans, and some butter and began her best attempt at cooking. This scene almost felt like a normal day in the before times. A dog lying on the floor of the kitchen, while a girl cooks a steak and eggs. The only things out of place were the chicken that kept jumping up on the counter, and all the wounds.

    This time Lily thought to add salt and pepper to both of their meals. They still came out pretty bland, but progress is progress right?

    She made her way back to the couch and had Star run through his tricks before she gave him his steak. Unsurprisingly, he got all of them on the first try. He actually seemed a little offended that she seemed to think he might get them wrong.

    ¡°Don¡¯t give me that look. You¡¯re a puppy. Puppies normally struggle with this stuff. You are a puppy, right? Or do you just look like one? I don¡¯t trust anything anymore.¡±

    He woofed.

    ¡°I take it back. I trust you. Happy?¡±

    He stared. She forked over the steak, and started in on her eggs. Through a mouthful of the simple meal, she spoke.

    ¡°So. Last night was uh, something huh?¡±

    Star was absolutely horking down his meal and had no time for the small talk. Lily took a moment to set Bay on the remains of the coffee table so he¡¯d feel included in this conversation.

    ¡°Thanks for coming to my rescue. I got pretty fucked up. It was my own fault too. I need to do some looking inwards, so we¡¯ll start there. You two, don¡¯t judge too much okay?¡±

    Star briefly looked up and licked his lips. Bay just stared at her with affection and understanding in his eyes.

    ¡°I don¡¯t know what¡¯s wrong with me. When there¡¯s nothing happening, I feel like I¡¯m not suited to live in this world. But the main thing I¡¯ve learned since all this happened is, well, I find it a lot easier to exist when my back is up against the wall. When I think I¡¯m going to die, my normal issues fade away. Everything¨C I don¡¯t know. It feels real, you know? In a way that life normally doesn¡¯t to me. I feel like I¡¯m here. Like I exist. Like I¡¯m alive. And in that moment, I want to keep that, and I¡¯m willing to do anything to do it. Does that make sense?¡±

    Star had finished his meal, and was staring at her as if he was listening. Lily didn¡¯t know how much he understood, but at this point she wasn¡¯t going to discount it.

    ¡°Probably not. It doesn¡¯t really make sense to me. It¡¯s like¡­ It¡¯s like noise, right? Like on a normal day where nothing is happening there¡¯s this static in the back of my mind. And if I don¡¯t focus on it, that¡¯s all it is. Static. Background white noise. But if I focus on it for even a second, it¡¯s not just white noise. It''s¨C I don¡¯t know. A pit? A void? Something I can fall into, and spiral. It becomes a voice. My voice. Not literally. Not a hallucination or whatever. But, it¡¯s just me talking to me. God this sounds so fucking crazy. But it¡¯s just negative thoughts. Suicidal ideation. Self hatred. Doubt. Fear. And it just gets louder and louder if I listen to it, you know?¡±

    Lily took a deep breath and rested her face in her hands. Star let out a small whine, seeming to sense that she was struggling. So, she gathered herself and continued.

    ¡°It¡¯s always there, but when I let my guard down and let it, it gets loud. So loud I can¡¯t think past it. So loud it¡¯s all I can focus on. My own darkest thoughts, telling me I shouldn¡¯t be allowed to exist in this world. I¡¯m not good enough. I don¡¯t belong here, and I don¡¯t deserve it. But, that¡¯s the thing. When it comes down to it, and my life is on the line? It shuts up.¡±

    She took a moment to finish her own plate. She saved a couple bites for Star, and made sure to toss them to him. Giving Bay an apologetic nod, she got up to wash her dishes, and continued talking.

    ¡°Everything goes silent in my head. I can focus on the world around me. And with the voice quiet, I don¡¯t want to die anymore. Suddenly, I feel like I can do anything;. I¡¯m still scared. Terrified! But, I feel free in a way that I normally don''t. I think¨C I think I might have been chasing that feeling. I think that without realizing it¡­ I might have put myself in danger intentionally last night. To get the voice to shut up. So, I¡¯ve come back to¡­ What¡¯s wrong with me?¡±

    Unauthorized duplication: this tale has been taken without consent. Report sightings.

    Lily realized she¡¯d just been letting the water run and staring at it for a while. She turned it off, and started undoing her bandage. Cleaning that was next on her list.

    ¡°I don¡¯t actually want to die. Well, most of the time. But sometimes it seems like I¡¯m trying to kill me. And what¡¯s worse, I was rewarded for the behaviour. I felt invincible last night. Like I could do anything. It paid off too! When I recover, I¡¯m going to be so much better at magic it¡¯s stupid.¡±

    Her wound had burned a little, making it more painful but fortunately a little less prone to just bleeding and bleeding. Lily grimaced as she cleaned the wound as best she could. It was still quite painful. It did seem to be healing up faster than she expected though. What was with that?

    ¡°Don¡¯t think I¡¯ve forgotten about you either, Star. You are not an ordinary dog. I¡¯m sure of that now. I wish I could just ask you. But not only have you shown me that you¡¯re crazy smart, don¡¯t think I don¡¯t notice that you¡¯re absolutely dripping with mana. It wasn¡¯t super obvious before last night, but I guess spending so much time in the spooky spot filled you up? How come the first spooky spot didn¡¯t have that effect on you?¡±

    Star whined softly, and tilted his head looking at her. It was painfully cute.

    ¡°Look here Mister, being adorable isn¡¯t going to get you out of questioning. How¡¯d you get up on top of the rubble? How¡¯d you know what to do to help? What are you, exactly? Some kind of magical creature?¡±

    He nuzzled her leg. Lily let out a deep sigh.

    ¡°How much can you understand me? I don¡¯t think you do totally yet. Like, hey, spin around if you understand what I¡¯m telling you. Nod your head. Give me some signs.¡±

    Star panted, and wagged his tail.

    ¡°Yeah, I thought so. But if I keep talking to you like this, I get the feeling it¡¯s only a matter of time. So, I¡¯m going to keep talking to you until you get there, okay buddy?¡±

    He woofed. At least he seemed to understand when she was asking him a question by her tone. Lily sat down on the kitchen floor next to him.

    ¡°What the hell do I do now? That¡¯s something to talk about huh? Apart from trying to not be so reckless, of course. I want to keep learning magic, I guess. Maybe if I pick up enough I can do something truly amazing. Maybe I can even find a way to make things normal again. Or just¡­ leave whatever this world is. But even if I just make things more comfortable for myself, it¡¯ll still be nice. Plus, my survival rate will go up if learning magic isn¡¯t the thing that kills me.¡±

    Lily laid down with her head resting on Star¡¯s haunches. He calmed down as well, seemingly happy to be a pillow. Despite that, the steady thump of his tail continued.

    ¡°So, keep going. Unlock the secrets of magic and the universe, and live comfortably. That doesn¡¯t sound too bad. The real problem is, I don¡¯t know where to begin, or how to do it as safely as I¡¯d like. My body can¡¯t take this level of constant injury forever. I¡¯ll die for real.¡±

    A chicken wandered into the kitchen, and Lily glared at it but didn¡¯t get up.

    ¡°I need to take care of these chickens too. Ugh. There¡¯s so much shit to do all the time. But first, a few more things to address. For one, I don¡¯t know how I¡¯m healing quicker than normal but I¡¯m pretty convinced it¡¯s happening at this point. Can I dial that up somehow? And secondly¡­ how am I still alive?¡±

    Star whined and fidgeted at that.

    ¡°Oh calm down. I don¡¯t mean that in a self deprecating way. But seriously, am I actually secretly competent under stress, or do I have some kind of quantum immortality effect going on? I feel like my mental image of myself would have died a hundred times over by now. I mean, I¡¯ve had help sometimes too. That¡¯s a whole other can of worms. But I mean, last night right? Did I really do that? Did I get lucky? Or¡­ Or is it something deeper? Okay, maybe this is self deprecating but I just truly don¡¯t believe I¡¯m strong and good enough to do what I did last night.¡±

    Lily took a deep breath and reached up to hold Star¡¯s paw.

    ¡°Maybe this is paranoid, but¡­ I am starting to wonder. Can I die? I know that sounds crazy. But I¡¯ve lived through so many things that I feel like should have killed me. I¡¯m not going to test it or anything, but I¡¯m feeling very unsettled thinking about it. What if I have died, and this is just Lily World #3,210,356 or something?¡±

    She giggled, and sat up.

    ¡°Okay, that sounds silly to say out loud even to me. Come on Star, let¡¯s get these chickens outside and see what we can do to give them some easy food and shelter.¡±

    The sun had gone down, but Lily was starting to not be so scared about the night sky. It was amazing what you could get used to in a short amount of time if you had no choice. Lily chased the chickens out of the house with Star¡¯s help. Once he realized what she was doing, he was more than happy to round them up outside. There was one problem though. There were only four chickens.

    ¡°Uh, aren¡¯t there supposed to be five of you?¡±

    Lily looked around. The area was still fenced. She was pretty sure chickens can¡¯t fly, so what the heck?

    ¡°Star, can you find the last chicken? Where¡¯s the other chicken?¡±

    Star perked up and started sniffing around. In just a moment he¡¯d found his way to one of the fences, and looked at it whining.

    ¡°Past the fence? How? You guys are supposed to stay in the backyard!¡±

    Grumbling, she found her way to the gate and went out with Star. He immediately picked up the trail and they continued along parallel to the coast for a few minutes of walking before Star suddenly stopped. Lily couldn¡¯t see very much with just the light of the moon, but she stopped as well when Star started growling. A low deep sound that she hadn¡¯t really heard him make before this. At first she was surprised, but she thought better of speaking to tell him to stop or ask what was going on.

    Star moved in front of her protectively, and Lily quietly started backwards. Whatever was going on, it was some form of danger. So, she¡¯d retreat. Star followed suit, protectively weaving between her and the threat she still couldn¡¯t see. Whatever it was, it was obscured by darkness and foliage.

    As she got further away, Star seemed to calm somewhat, but rather than growling he was now whining softly and trying to lead her back to the house. So, she followed quickly and carefully.

    By the time they reached the fence, Lily¡¯s heart was pounding out of her chest. She felt pursued. Hunted. Followed through the darkness. So, when she got to the fence and opened it, she turned one more time to see if she could figure out what the danger was. And she saw it. Or rather, them.

    At least five figures skulked through the darkness in the clearing before the treeline. Dogs. Probably former pets, but now wandering as a group. A small pack of semi-feral dogs, probably hungry. Lily went back inside the fence and closed it behind her.

    ¡°Well. I guess we solved the mystery. Go us. Think we¡¯re safe here Star?¡±

    He seemed a lot less concerned now that they were on their own turf. Still, Lily headed back inside the house to be safe.

    ¡°Okay. Tomorrow we¡¯re taking a trip back to the farm and putting the chickens back. I made a huge mistake bringing them here. We can just go there every few days for eggs. Let¡¯s see about some milk too huh?¡±

    With that settled, Lily felt a little better. It was small, but it was something she could do without putting herself in much danger. A direction to start in.

    She settled down on the couch with Star and Bay to watch some TV till the sun came up. She missed her boat, but wasn¡¯t willing to go out with potential danger. So instead she watched more of Friends while she went over her body carefully and treated all of her small scrapes and scratches.

    Overall, it was a nice calm night. Exactly what she needed, even if her sleep schedule was ruined.

 0.023

    The girl yawned as she pulled up to the farm in her Mom-mobile. Despite being spacious the car felt full. A dog was buckled into the passenger seat, and in the back seat there was a stuffed seal and four live chickens. It felt like she was driving a circus.

    There were bags under her eyes, from not getting proper rest. Lily had tried, but the night in the pit followed by sleeping all day made it difficult to sleep through the night. She¡¯d gotten a nap for a few hours, but was caught in the awkward limbo of not sleeping through the night and then needing to be up and moving during the day.

    Otherwise the day was going well. A cautious look in the morning had revealed blood and feathers where the trail to the missing chicken led, so she had just loaded the rest into the car. Really, what had she been thinking, bringing chickens to live in her backyard? That¡¯d been a big mistake.

    But, she was looking forward to getting some work done on the farm this morning. Lily had some ideas, and the farm was the perfect place to get some practice. She also figured she better learn how to milk a cow, but that was for later today.

    Star let out an excited woof, catching Lily off guard. She glanced over at him.

    ¡°Are you already bigger than last time we were here? It feels like it. Oh well, hold on. We¡¯ll let you out of the car in a moment. Help me get the chickens into the pen okay?¡±

    He barked again. She rolled her eyes. He was always so excited. But, he was helpful, and taking care of him had been a lot easier than she¡¯d expected so far. Actually, she wondered if he was taking care of her sometimes. Well, they could take care of each other. They were partners.

    She pulled right up to the house and got out of the car. Star hopped right out too, and she went to work collecting chickens. She was getting a lot more used to picking them up and holding them now. Especially with Star¡¯s help grabbing them in the first place.

    It only took a few minutes to gather them one by one and toss them back into the chicken pen. Thus ended a terrible plan. Letting out a big sigh of relief, Lily turned her attention to the rest of the farm. Star was already chasing the ducks around again, but something caught Lily¡¯s attention. A big shape was coming around a corner and¨C wait, it was outside the fence!

    A donkey trotted into view and was heading straight for Star. Lily immediately breathed a sigh of relief. She¡¯d never seen a donkey in real life before. It was really cute! She¡¯d always thought of them as horses but worse, so she wasn¡¯t really sure what a donkey would be doing here. But it was fun to look at. Maybe the home owners kids rode it or something?

    She was midway through that thought when she realized the donkey wasn¡¯t stopping. It was charging at Star! She called out.

    ¡°Star! Danger!¡±

    He immediately perked up and looked around. Spotting the donkey, Star whirled and put himself between the donkey and Lily. Meanwhile, the huge animal put itself between Star and the ducks. An uneasy standoff began. Star let out a low growl. His adversary stomped its hooves, and then started forward.

    ¡°Star, run!¡±

    Lily didn¡¯t want this to turn into a fight. The donkey was probably familiar with humans right? She didn¡¯t know they were aggressive! Lily ran towards the house. Star zigged and zagged along the path behind her in case the donkey charged, but it didn¡¯t. It circled back to the ducks when it realized they were retreating.

    Fortunately, the door wasn¡¯t locked. They entered the house and Lily shut the door behind them.

    ¡°Okay, well. That¡¯s something we have to deal with. Maybe there¡¯s something we can feed it to get on its good side in the fridge?¡±

    Lily stood in a pretty nice entryway. It wasn¡¯t a mansion on the same level as her beach home, but it was plenty spacious and seemed to have been well taken care of. There was a small area to take off shoes, and a coat rack with some warm looking jackets hung on it. From here she could see a rather nice kitchen. Granite counters, dark wood finish, a large fridge, electric oven, microwave, dishwasher and a huge sink.

    ¡°Huh, pretty nice. Let¡¯s check around for donkey snacks. Help me look, will you?¡±

    The fridge wasn¡¯t working, so Lily didn¡¯t bother checking there. Although, the fridge magnets were spelling out some poetry. ¡°Bright afternoon sun evokes memories, enticing nocturnal thoughts." Lily wasn¡¯t sure what that meant, so she started looking into the pantry instead.

    Did donkey¡¯s eat bread? The bread still looked okay. But she couldn¡¯t remember anyone ever feeding that to a horse or anything on TV. Then a small basket of fruit on the counter caught her eye. Apples! There were three. She could try bribing the donkey with apples, right?

    ¡°Okay Star. Listen. I¡¯m going to go make friends with the donkey. I need you to stay here.¡±

    Instantly, Star let out a loud whine and ran to the front door. Well, goodie. He understood what she meant enough to be mad about it.

    ¡°No no. No complaining. Look, if you go with me, it¡¯s gonna be more skittish. Not only was it defending ducks from you, but you¡¯ve got big sharp teeth and predator shape. Meanwhile, it¡¯s probably used to humans being friendly. It¡¯s safer for me. See? Understand?¡±

    Star whined and scratched at the door. He did not understand. He wanted to go and protect her too. Lily put her hands on her hips.

    ¡°Listen here Mister. I¡¯ll bring you with me when I¡¯ve made friends with it. Then I can introduce you. But until then, I need to look as harmless as possible, okay?¡±

    She pointed to herself, and mimed holding out the apple.

    A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation.

    ¡°Not Danger. See? Not danger!¡±

    He stopped scratching at the door but gave her the most dejected dog look. Lily patted him on the head until his tail started wagging, and then carefully stepped outside.

    To her relief, the Donkey wasn¡¯t waiting right outside the door. She closed it behind her, and jumped when she heard a thump from inside. She glanced to her left and saw Star had found a window to watch from.

    That made her feel a little better. She was pretty sure he¡¯d throw himself through the window bodily if things started to go too far south. Swallowing her anxiety, Lily started forward. The donkey wasn¡¯t hard to spot at all. It was still standing guard near the ducks.

    Noticing her, it circled the ducks protectively, and then placed itself in her path. Lily stopped, and tried to hold her body as non-aggressively as possible. She whispered to herself to calm down.

    ¡°Just pretend not to be scared and defensive. Easy, right?¡±

    Lily took a few steps forward and held out the apple. The donkey was still at least twenty feet away, but she was hoping it would know what the apple was. It stood still and eyed her for a few seconds, before slowly starting forward towards her. It didn¡¯t seem to be charging, so Lily held her ground. She tried speaking to it calmly.

    ¡°Here you go fella. Hey buddy. Um, Pal. Friend? Have an apple. On the house, huh? Hah¨C I¡¯m not scared.¡±

    The donkey didn¡¯t seem to believe her. But it trotted up anyway and started sniffing at the apple.

    ¡°You do like apples right? I¡¯m not, um, making an ass of myself?¡±

    Lily giggled to herself, unable to help making a nervous pun. The donkey seemed to relax a little too when she laughed, and it started nibbling the apple. Moments later, it took it out of her hand and started chomping it down.

    Lily reached out and cautiously patted it behind the ears. It didn¡¯t immediately snap at her, so she continued.

    ¡°Aww, see? You¡¯re a friendly um¡­ Guy? Girl? Well, whatever. You were just protecting the farm right? Good donkey. But I own the farm now, so we¡¯re going to have to get along okay?¡±

    As a matter of fact, she wasn¡¯t sure if she did own the farm now. But, she did insofar as she owned anything so it also wasn¡¯t technically a lie. Next, the girl led the donkey back towards the house, leveraging her two remaining apples. Once they got right out front, she gave up the second snack.

    ¡°There you go. See? No big deal. We¡¯ll give you the third one if you can be around Star. He¡¯ll be on his best behaviour, okay? I promise.¡±

    She opened the door cautiously. Star immediately tried to push out, until she calmed him down. As the donkey caught sight of the dog, it tensed up. Lily showed it the apple again and held it out, while trying to keep Star calm.

    The beast relaxed warily, and began to eat the apple. Lily let Star come out of the house and give the pack animal a good sniff.

    ¡°There. Are we friends? Uneasy alliance at least?¡±

    After finishing the fruit snack, the donkey sniffed around Star in return. It let out a whuf of a sigh and started ambling away. Lily looked down at Star and gave him a shrug.

    ¡°Okay. I guess we¡¯re good. Don¡¯t chase the ducks today though just in case yeah?¡±

    She wasn¡¯t sure Star understood, but his tail drooped slightly. The girl and the dog followed the donkey on its slow walk back towards the animal pens.

    ¡°Well, I guess if you¡¯re gonna be here defending the animals I gotta give you a name. Maybe a knight name? Galahad? Arthur? Mmm. Maybe not. Did any knights have like, a famous horse or something?¡±

    She could swear the donkey gave her a flat somewhat offended look.

    ¡°Okay okay, you¡¯re not a horse, I get it. Fine. A different name then. Knights though. That feels right, the way you charged right in. Oh! Oh! I got it. No no, this is perfect. Donk-Quixote!¡±

    Lily let out an excited squeal.

    ¡°That¡¯s so perfect. I love it. Okay, Donk-Quixote. Donk for short. Although I¡¯m pretty sure Don is like a title or something. Oh well. Quixote is much harder to shorten, and you can¡¯t understand me so Donk is fine. Oh my god! I can even call the farm La Mancha. I¡¯m way into this!¡±

    The animals didn¡¯t get it, but that was to be expected. Lily was suddenly feeling rejuvenated! It was time to get started on her work. So, first she headed back into the house. Lily wanted to find a particularly sharp knife, or something else she could make lasting marks with. She had spell casting to do and was not feeling rested enough to want to fuck with mana.

    The novice mage made her way to the kitchen and started digging around in drawers for potential tools. There were a couple knives that might work in the knife block, but Lily decided to look through all the drawers for something better. Her chalk wouldn¡¯t really work for what she wanted. She was really hoping to scratch a pattern into things if she could. As she looked through the drawers though, she was mostly disappointed. Then she got to the kitchen island. It had a drawer on it too, but it was stuck.

    Lily grabbed it tightly with her good hand and pulled as hard as she could. Nothing. So she braced herself against the island and really put her weight into it. On the third pull, there was a sudden cracking sound, and she instantly lost balance and fell backwards, slamming into the fridge pretty hard. A rain of magnets fell around her, and she yelped more out of surprise than pain.

    The handle had broken off! Lily shook her head to get the magnets out of her hair, and then reached for the drawer. Thankfully it came right open.

    ¡°Hah! The junk drawer! Like I was saying, every good kitchen needs a junk drawer. Who doesn¡¯t have a junk drawer?¡±

    The somewhat dazed girl started going through her new treasure chest. Rubber bands, twine, several pairs of scissors, an old reader¡¯s digest, nail clippers, thumb tacks, and¨C oh. An awl. Or an ice pick. She wasn¡¯t totally sure what the difference was. Probably an ice pick because it was in the kitchen. That was perfect! Gathering up her prize, she turned to pick up the mess she had made and froze.

    Most of the magnets had fallen off of the fridge. As a matter of fact, only eight remained. But they spelled a word clear as day. A word Lily had already been trying to write off as paranoia in the back of her head. Because a word can¡¯t be following you, right? Even though it seemed to keep coming up.

    ¡°Okay, that¡¯s spooky. Odds on that being a coincidence?¡±

    The silence answered her. She could just ignore it. Pretend she hadn¡¯t noticed. She¡¯d already been trying to do that. Was it a warning? Was it telling her where to go, or stay away from? There were too many questions and Lily really, really didn¡¯t want to think about it. So, instead she put the magnets down on the kitchen counter, took her prize and went outside.

    Star was playing with Donk. They were taking turns cautiously chasing one another, like they were both a little scared the other would think it was for real. It was very cute, but Lily couldn¡¯t focus on it.

    The overwhelmed girl sat down on the stoop and took a deep breath.

    ¡°Well. That¡¯s something to think about.¡±

    In the kitchen, on the fridge sat a perfectly spelled out word. Where once had been poetry, now only an ominous message remained.

    Basement.

 0.024

    Basement.

    She had really tried to ignore the signs. There was a creepy basement under her beach house. At least there was a button on the elevator that said basement. She couldn¡¯t find any other signs that one existed. For that matter, although it had been days she hadn¡¯t explored the second floor either.

    Maybe she¡¯d made a mistake looking for a mansion. It was just too big. But, she was settled now. It was a base. Same as the boat, and maybe La Mancha. But, she was getting off track.

    She¡¯d noticed the basement on the first trip into the mansion. Later, she¡¯d woken up to characters on TV talking about a basement. Then, in the pit there had been a door with the word scrawled on it. Now, the magnets. The signs were getting a lot harder to ignore.

    But why? Was this like her phone messages? Could this be Entity B again? If so, what was the message? Go to the basement? Never go to the basement? Maybe there¡¯s danger in the basement? How was she supposed to know, exactly?

    Lily didn¡¯t want to deal with this. Star and Donk were playing, and she wanted to just focus on that and enjoy her day. But now she had all this to think about. She could just pretend she hadn¡¯t noticed. Go about her day like nothing happened.

    ¡°Fine. I¡¯ll decide what to do later. I¡¯m not going to head home right now anyway. I still have stuff to do here.¡±

    The girl stood up, suddenly feeling decisive. She did have a lot to do. It¡¯s not like the basement was going anywhere. So, she grabbed her new ice pick and went to work. Her first order of business was with the water troughs that were in the animal pens. Not all of them were the same shape, but all of them served the same purpose. They held water, and refilled through a pipe from the main water silo on the property. Was silo the right word? Maybe it was just called a tank? Whatever.

    But, that sort of system didn¡¯t really need to exist anymore. If she wasn¡¯t here every day and one of the hoses broke or something it¡¯d be a big problem. So, she was going to do some magic. There were two potential spell formations she had in mind. The first one would simply gather water and pour it into the container. If it overflowed, it overflowed. But, she thought that she might be able to make a change to one of the various storage glyphs she¡¯d figured out to make it store water instead of mana. In that case, she could probably just make it fill until it was full.

    But, that was an experiment. The easiest one would work and be enough to ensure none of the animals went thirsty. It was about to be a lot of carving though. She really needed a method to automate this. Maybe she could get a spell that would cut patterns into things? But then she¡¯d need to power it with her mana.

    ¡°Ugh. Why do I have to be so weak? How do I increase my mana pool? I don¡¯t wanna just carry around a bunch of charged up rocks. What if they have some interference with each other or something?¡±

    Well, before anything else she needed to make a prototype. So, she went looking for a bucket. Fortunately, there were plenty of things that would work in the barn. What she found was more of a washing basin or a tub than a bucket, but it¡¯d work.

    She found a nice empty patch of dirt, and placed down her container, then started drawing out her circle. It was a simple spell. Gather ambient mana > Gather water > Infuse (Water). The last bit was where it got sketchy. She had a theory about glyphs, and if she was guessing right this ought to fill the container.

    Lily called Star over, and had him sit so she could have an audience while she explained what she was doing. Donk seemed disappointed, but Lily was determined to talk to Star like he was a semi intelligent being until that proved true or false.

    ¡°Listen, here¡¯s the plan. See, there¡¯s written languages, right? I¡¯m not super familiar with a lot of them, but I took a few japanese lessons when I was younger, and I think these glyphs have something in common. So like, in Japanese and I suspect other languages with a similar writing style, a lot of words can be written out as single symbols. Kanji! There are a lot of symbols to memorize, right? One for every word or concept.¡±

    Star looked over his shoulder at Donk across the courtyard and whined.

    ¡°Hey! Listen mister! It¡¯s lesson time. I gotta talk this out for my own safety too, see? So, the thing is, kanji can be broken down into¡­ uh, I think they¡¯re called radicals? Basically, they¡¯re kanji of their own that can be combined to create a symbol with a complicated meaning. For example, three of the radical that means ¡®tree¡¯ can be combined to create the singular symbol for ¡®forest¡¯. Does that make sense?¡±

    She doodled them as best she could remember while she explained. She was absolutely sure she was misremembering some of this, but plowed on ahead. Star seemed more interested with the visual diagrams.

    ¡°When it comes to glyphs, I notice the symbol for mana, this little star looking thing, is in a lot of glyphs. And as far as I can tell, they all fuck with mana in some way. So! What happens if I replace the symbol for mana here, with the one for water? Instead of imbuing an object with mana, I¡¯ll put water into it, right? At least. That¡¯s the plan. If not, maybe I¡¯ll try the capacitor with water instead?¡±

    As Lily finished her thought, she turned to actually draw the glyphs into the circle. Star barked, so Lily turned back around.

    ¡°You can hide if you want. I know what I¡¯m doing a bit better now. At worst, this sprays water everywhere. Or I guess it could try to infuse H2O on like, a molecular scale and something completely unpredictable will happen. But I¡¯m pretty sure!¡±

    Star went quiet and slinked over to her side. Lily gave him a smile and patted his head.

    ¡°Oh, well aren¡¯t you sweet protecting me?¡±

    A few seconds later, the glyphs were plugged in. Lily cautiously backed up as mana flowed into the circle. She waited, impatiently. Thirty seconds later, she was less certain that anything was happening. But the mana wasn¡¯t building up, so it had to be doing something, right?

    Cautiously, Lily edged forward. She had to shoo Star, who nipped her pant legs and tried to gently pull her back. The beginner mage had to get a better look at her new project.

    As she got right up to the basin, she was surprised to see water dripping down the slick inside edges of it. It was pooling at the bottom, just slowly. In the nearly a minute it had been running, it¡¯d filled the bucket about a twentieth of the way up.

    ¡°Huh. Okay. Slower than I thought. But it¡¯s working! Star! It¡¯s working! Come look!¡±

    Star edged forward after her, letting out a low growl.

    ¡°I know you don¡¯t trust magic, especially the new stuff. But my thought was dead on! Well, in theory. In practice, uh, it¡¯s pretty slow. But hey! Have a drink! It¡¯s water! From the air!¡±

    Star nervously approached the basin and gave it a sniff. He seemed to calm down a little after that, but pointedly refused to have some.

    ¡°I guess we¡¯ll have to wait like an hour to see if anything bad happens though. I don¡¯t think it¡¯s gonna explode, but let¡¯s spend that time far away huh? I think it¡¯s time to learn how to milk a cow.¡±

    This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.

    <hr>

    Lily had already watched her downloaded youtube videos about how to milk a cow, and it didn¡¯t seem too complicated. The hardest part was getting the cow to the milking station. But these cows had apparently been there often enough that they more or less knew what was happening. Combined with Star helping to herd it in the right direction, that part only took half an hour for the first time.

    The problem was¡­ No milk. Lily was pretty sure she was following the instructions well enough, but nothing was coming out. She poked the udder. The cow seemed almost as confused as the girl. Lily had been using the motion in all of the videos for a while now and nothing had come out at all.

    ¡°Is¡­ is this cow broken? Or is it me? Do I not have the magic touch? What do you think, Star?¡±

    Star let out a small boof. He seemed to know when he was being talked to whether he understood the words or not. It was encouraging, so Lily was making a habit of it.

    ¡°Maybe the basement contains the secret of milking cows? Maybe Entity B just wants me to have milk, huh?¡±

    Lily laughed nervously. She hadn¡¯t been able to get the basement out of her mind, try as she might. But, jokes aside she really did need to figure out what was up with the cow. It was going to be a long process, but she wasn¡¯t getting anywhere with this one. So, it was time to get another.

    Unfortunately, the second cow didn¡¯t go any differently. By the time Lily was frustratedly trying to milk the third one to no avail, she wanted to scream.

    ¡°What am I doing wrong? Unless all of these cows are defective or something, it¡¯s gotta be me, right? Can they just tell I don¡¯t know what I¡¯m doing, so they won¡¯t give up the milk? What the hell!¡±

    The cow made a loud mooing sound and swished its tail, seemingly a little uncomfortable at Lily¡¯s outburst.

    ¡°Yeah yeah, that¡¯s what I¡¯m saying! I¡¯m pissed too! I¡¯ve always heard that cows like to be milked, so what gives huh?¡±

    It was clear this wasn¡¯t going anywhere. So, Lily was going to have to give up for now. Maybe she needed to find an agricultural book after all. Wait, was handling animals even agriculture or was that just plants?

    With a heavy sigh, Lily started the process of getting the last cow back into the pen. As the girl got the cow out of the milking station, she noticed a clip board hung on the wall next to it.

    It was a schedule. It had cow numbers on it. Were the cows numbered? Lily inspected the cow. Well, that was easy enough. It had an ear tag. What was with the schedule though? She took the clipboard off the wall. It was a simple grid, not a calendar so it didn¡¯t even have the date on it.

    ¡°Oh well that¡¯s just great. How am I supposed to know how to read this¡­?¡±

    It did seem to be some kind of milking schedule though. Wait, there were 24 boxes. Maybe these were months instead of days! Then they wouldn¡¯t really need to be labeled. But, why would only one cow be scheduled for months at a time? Did only one cow at a time work?

    Lily realized she was hopelessly out of her depth, and with no real way to know which month was the current month, she decided to give up for now. But, she had a new goal. She needed to research why cows might not work most of the time.

    ¡°Good news girl, I no longer think you are defective at least. Sorry for all the uh, milking. You were probably just as confused as me, huh?¡±

    She patted the huge beast gently, and led it back to the pen. After getting the cow secured she found a nice place in the grass to sit, and called Star over. The dog happily bounded to her side and laid down next to her. The tired girl pet him and yawned.

    ¡°I¡¯d like to start solving some of these mysteries rather than constantly getting served more. Why do cows only work some of the time? What¡¯s in the basement? Who is Entity B? What or who is Entity A? Why did magic come into being? There are just so many things I don¡¯t know. I don¡¯t even know what you are.¡±

    Star panted and nudged her leg with his head. Rolling her eyes, Lily rubbed him behind the ears.

    ¡°What¡¯s the opposite of the Dunning Kruger effect? Because I think I¡¯m discovering it in real time. When all this started, I felt hopelessly out of my depth. But the more I learn and grow, and the more I discover, the more I find that I¡¯m WAY more hopelessly out of my depth than I even knew! Every time I learn something, I end up with a thousand more questions and everything gets a million times more complicated! I just wanna scream!¡±

    As the silence settled around her, Lily realized nothing was stopping her. So, she screamed. As loud as she could, at the top of her lungs, just to get some of these feelings out. It did make her feel a little better.

    Donk trotted into view, just close enough to see her. Then seeming to realize nothing was wrong, started to amble away slowly.

    ¡°Well, nice of him to check on us I guess. Huh, Star?¡±

    The dog rolled over and pointedly exposed his belly to his master. She obliged.

    <hr>

    The spell hadn¡¯t exploded. That was the good news. The bad news was, the basin had overflowed. In fact, it had overflowed to the point that it had destroyed the circle powering it. Lily had to laugh at that.

    ¡°Hey, that¡¯s actually a good idea though. I can make spells out of chalk or something, and have a failsafe that breaks the circle with water or whatever else if something goes wrong. Going to file that tidbit away for later.¡±

    She really wished she had some kind of If-Then clause she could use in circle creation. There had to be a way to do that. She knew how it would look on a circuit board. Although she was more familiar with how it would look in Minecraft using redstone. Could she just do something like that? If mana ran along the path of a circle sort of like electricity, is there any reason it wouldn¡¯t work¡­?

    Well, that was going to be a whole other complicated litany of tests. Not to mention, since her guess about glyph radicals had come to fruition, she had a million more glyphs she could test. What happens if she separates the two radicals in the flame glyph for example? What did they represent? Heat to Mana used one of them, so was that flame looking one actually just heat? In which case, what was the other half? Could she plug in those radicals elsewhere? There were a million questions to answer.

    ¡°I guess I have all the time in the world, huh?¡±

    Somehow, that felt like a melancholy thought rather than a reassurance. For now, Lily grabbed the basin of water and dumped about 10% out nearby. Then she went and got a second container. This one was just a glass cup from the kitchen.

    Time for test number two. She filled the circle back in, and added a bit that should send overflow to the cup, just like how she could divert overflow from a capacitor to another circle. Sure enough, the cup started to fill when the bucket was full.

    How could it tell the bucket was full?

    ¡°Um¡­ magic, I guess huh?¡±

    Lily decided that was a question for far further down the line. For now, it worked. That was the most important part. Which meant she had her work cut out for her. Because now it was time to replicate this spell on each of the animal water containers, and position a basin for overflow outside the pens so if it flooded it didn¡¯t turn their pen into a mud pit. But there were so many places she¡¯d have to draw this circle!

    It was becoming clear that this was not one day¡¯s work. She¡¯d just have to come back to La Mancha a few more times over the next couple days to get it all done. With a sigh of defeat, she spoke to herself.

    ¡°Alright. Let¡¯s feed the animals and go home.¡±

    <hr>

    By the time Lily returned home, it was getting dark and she was beyond exhausted. She¡¯d gotten a lot of good done, and even if she went to sleep right when she returned she¡¯d be on a more normal sleep schedule again.

    Even Bay looked tired in the back seat. Star slept most of the way home. Lily almost had to pull over and take a nap once or twice. But, she made it.

    Maybe it was still anxiety about the basement, and maybe it was just how tired she was, but she didn¡¯t bother going to the main house. She grabbed Bay and walked around the side, heading down the dock to her boat. As she got to the dock though, Star started letting out a low growl.

    Lily turned to look around, suddenly cautious. Star was staring at the treeline where the chicken had gone missing. Lily hurried onto her boat. She looked back and saw Star peeing near the entrance to the dock.

    ¡°Oh for the love of¨C¡±

    She was about to complain, but then she realized that it might actually keep the wild dogs away. So she gave up. Star came trotting up the dock looking proud of himself. Lily rolled her eyes but praised him.

    ¡°Good boy. Now let¡¯s go in, get some food, and sleep huh?¡±

    A happy bark seemed to agree with her.

 0.025

    Star eagerly alerted his Master he wanted to leave their shared water shelter. She seemed groggy as she tumbled out of bed and hustled to open the barricade for him to leave. She truly was a creature of contradictions. His Master was powerful. Lady Flamewalker, Shaper of the World Soul, Conqueror of the Pit. And yet, he watched as she stubbed her toe and made cursing noises trying to get up the three steps to the door.

    She was weak. Even her skin was fragile and prone to injury, unlike his majestic coat and resilient flesh. He would have to work hard to protect her. He would be her shield, because she is vulnerable. He would be her fangs because she had none of her own.

    As the portal opened and he was able to ascend onto the deck of the great water-den, she closed it behind him with a yawn. That was fine. Preferable even. Star had duties to attend to, and knowing she was safe inside would mean he could focus on his goals.

    First, he checked the marking he had made before bed and saw that it was untouched. Good. The interlopers hadn¡¯t gone so far as to cover his mark. But, it was time he scouted the perimeter and clear where his territory lay.

    A conflict was brewing. A conflict it would be his duty to solve. But, he hoped it would not be today. He was growing stronger, and rapidly! But at his current level, he was not sure he could fend off the intrusive pack.

    Before his scouting mission could begin in earnest, he had to eat. Hopping the great barrier that separated the ¡®back yard¡¯ from the outside world was no great challenge. Ever since the night of the pit, Star had found he could leap much greater heights than before. He wasn¡¯t entirely sure how he had gained the power, but he knew it had something to do with Lady Flamewalker¡¯s test.

    The rewards of the Master are the rewards of the subordinate? No, that didn¡¯t quite cover it. It had been a trial for him as well. Perhaps that is why she subjected them both to it? A risky gambit, but it had paid off.

    Once in the backyard, Star started sniffing around. He wasn¡¯t certain why his Master had removed the egg layers, but it was presumably for their own safety. That had been his failure. He was the protector. For him to lose one of the egg layers must have proven his inability to protect them. That must be the reason. Still, it was a great loss. There were limited eggs left laying in the grass. He had been consuming four a day, but he might have to slow down to preserve them.

    He was loath to do so. The eggs were nicely sustaining his growth. And he had grown! He was larger than he had been just days ago. Larger and stronger as well. But with it came a voracious appetite, and he was sure that if he did not get enough food the growth would slow. He would not let that happen. Even if he must forage further afield.

    Which brought him back to this territory dispute. Once he had had his breakfast of yard eggs, he hopped the wall once more and went about his scouting. Most of his territory markers still smelled of him, but the ones towards the treeline near the dock had been covered by strange scents.

    Of course it would be these. They must be closest to the strange pack¡¯s territory. He worked to cover them each up with his own scent once more. No doubt they would be covered once more by the interlopers come tomorrow. Despite that, his message would be clear.

    ¡°This is the line. Here. I will defend this boundary.¡±

    However, that meant he would need to back that up with action should it come to it. Star didn¡¯t like the idea of killing his own kind, and was hopeful it wouldn¡¯t come to that. At worst, he would find the leader and have it out with them. If he won, perhaps he could force the others to leave without more bloodshed.

    Assuming he could win, of course. That was the trouble. If he could put off fighting for even another couple weeks, he was sure he could win. He wasn¡¯t ready yet. Unfortunately, he knew trials did not always wait until one was ready.

    <hr>

    Lily slowly rose to wakefulness, after having gone back to bed from letting Star out. She really didn¡¯t want to get out of bed today. Did she really need to? Well, not really.

    She should make a decision about the basement. It wouldn¡¯t be the end of the world if she didn¡¯t get back to La Mancha till tomorrow. Come to think of it, the house and the boat were starting to feel like they needed names too. Okay, the boat was named ¡®Beloved Lily¡¯ but she¡¯d feel pretty weird saying it.

    Well, if she didn¡¯t go out, what did she want to do around here? Whether she was going into the basement or not, she should probably do some preparation for it. There was some magic stuff she wanted to test around here.

    ¡°I wonder if there¡¯s magic I could use to grow crops? I could probably automatically water them with enough time to fiddle with it at this point. But what about making them grow faster or better? I¡¯d love fresh veggies for life.¡±

    The girl let out a sleepy sigh, pulled the blankets up a little higher. Magic then. When she got up. She had just a few simple goals. First, she wanted to know if she could create a circle with a durable physical material with empty nodes, then fill the glyphs using mana to complete the spell. That way she wouldn¡¯t need to conjure a whole circle every time she cast a spell if she kept easy to use blank circles around in different configurations. At least in her testing zone.

    That was another thing. She wanted to develop some spell circles that would do safety things. Off the top of her head, keep the temperature within a certain range, or vent off extra mana even if it had to burn it, or so on. If she could get together a number of safety circles that would only need to do anything if one of her tests went poorly, it¡¯d make testing a lot safer.

    Finally, she wanted to explore her idea about glyph radicals a lot further. Maybe she could start a sort of glyph alphabet in her notes? She wouldn¡¯t always know how to combine the radicals to describe what she wanted to describe. But it would mean that if she encountered spells in the wild reading them would be a lot easier. And she could try replacing radicals in a glyph one to one if she had a solid hunch. With her safety circles! Yeah.

    Oh shoot, and also she wanted to see if she could use circuit board designs to write conditionals. If only she could figure out how to make a magical transistor. That ought to be first on the list, because if it worked it¡¯d make writing safety spells way easier.

    On the other hand, it¡¯d make creating prefab spell circles less convenient. She let out a loud sigh.

    ¡°There¡¯s always magic to do. When everyone disappeared I really thought I was gonna be working fields or scavenging all day every day. I didn¡¯t picture this¡­¡±

    Although, truthfully this was probably better. If she could find magical solutions to a lot of the issues she¡¯d normally have to toil over, that¡¯d be perfect. Until then, she had a nearly limitless supply of canned goods and the like if she needed them.

    Still. Every time she learned anything about magic, suddenly she had a billion new formations she wanted to try, and other magical concepts she was thinking of. She didn¡¯t have time to try them all. Which felt like a crazy problem to have in the face of everything else!

    Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon.

    Oh well. It was time to get up. She rose and started to get dressed, stuck on the thought of magical transistors.

    ¡°If I can make a transistor, I can use computational logic in my spell formations. But how? It¡¯s not like I have magical silicone. I could go for a relay system instead of a transistor, but that¡¯s complicated and it¡¯d only work physically. Ugh, why does this have to be so complicated!? Think Lily, think! I need Star. Maybe if I talk it out¡­¡±

    Lily fished around in the fridge for an energy drink, and found that she was out. But she still had fruit, so she grabbed a snack and headed out onto the deck.

    Star was sniffing around the treeline. Probably seeing if any chicken scraps were left over. Silly hound. She called him, and headed to the driveway in front of the house. Lily retrieved her tools, the legendary Inscriber of Power and Abolisher of Mistakes, and sat Star down for a lesson.

    ¡°Okay, listen. I need to talk you through this so that hopefully I can figure it out. There¡¯s these things called transistors, and I need to make one or something like it for my spells. They¡¯re sort of like¡­ Hmm.¡±

    She drew a T shape onto the concrete, with the horizontal bit slightly detached from the vertical one.

    ¡°They¡¯re sort of like this. But for electricity, see? Okay, you probably don¡¯t understand electricity. Let¡¯s call it mana, because that¡¯s what we will be working with. So, mana goes through this sideways bit right? But it stops in the middle where they all meet. It can¡¯t pass through there. That¡¯s important. Buuuuut!¡±

    Lily drew an arrow up the side of the vertical line. Star sniffed the chalk, as if that would grant him further understanding. She laughed, appreciating his attempts to follow along.

    ¡°If elec¨C If mana is coming up from this way, it connects the path, see? Then mana can flow normally, as if it were a straight line. It¡¯s just a bridge you can turn on and off with a signal. Not too complicated, right? Easy, even! But it means we can turn circles or even just parts of them on and off. And that means being able to do that selectively, and it spirals into a buuuunch of more complicated stuff from there!¡±

    Lily sighed loudly. Star stopped sniffing around and looked at her intently.

    ¡°It¡¯ll open the doors to much, much stronger spells. Safer spells too! Better spells! Better magic. Better Lily. So I have to figure it out. The problem is, in a computer they would use a special material where the lines meet that can only pass along energy when it is powered. But spell circles are made with all kinds of materials, and I don¡¯t know of any that might conduct mana only when they have mana. That seems like a stretch. So I gotta figure out another way.¡±

    Lily sprayed down her diagram and started fresh. She drew a simple circle, and was careful not to connect all the lines so it wouldn¡¯t activate.

    ¡°What if I start like this? We can put whole circles inside of a node to nest them. So, let¡¯s say we¡¯re making a transistor node. It needs two inputs. One from the main circle, and one to turn it on and off. And it needs one output, that will either spit mana out or not.¡±

    She paused, and looked down at her little faux circle. That much was simple enough. But now what? She needed to actually put things inside the circle to make it do anything. What could provide the functionality she wanted?

    ¡°Well, a capacitor can split the magic that goes into it, right? Send the excess down another path, and only pass along a signal when it becomes full. Oh man, this is gonna get math heavy isn¡¯t it? I hate math!¡±

    Star bounded over and licked her face. She fell over backwards, sputtering.

    ¡°No no, it¡¯s fine! It¡¯s not that bad. I¡¯m just bad at it. It¡¯s okay boy! I¡¯m gonna be fine! Pleh!¡±

    He calmed down a bit, and she hugged him tightly.

    ¡°There, you can keep me company. Okay, here¡¯s what we are going to do. Capacitors have a minimum setting. Found that out in the pit. So, let¡¯s call that minimum one mana okay? We¡¯ll standardize it! For the sake of math and designs! Incidentally, that¡¯s about what can fit in my body apparently. Gonna have to solve that mystery sometime too. Ugh.. There¡¯s so much shit Star!¡±

    Star licked her again, and she giggled. Hugging him closer, she rolled around on the ground back and forth for a second, lifting him with her.

    ¡°You¡¯re heavier. Like, a lot heavier. Gotta be up ten pounds since we met. Ohhh, who¡¯s a good boy? Putting on a ton of muscle! And¡­ size. You¡¯re still puppy shaped though, what¡¯s up with that huh?¡±

    Star woofed quietly. Lily smiled and kissed his snout.

    ¡°Yeah, I wish you could talk back to me too buddy. We¡¯ll figure it out sometime, okay? Even if we gotta make you a giant keyboard and teach you how to use it or something.¡±

    Stretching and sitting, Lily returned to the problem at hand. Transistors. Math. Standardization.

    ¡°Okay, so if that is one mana, and we can make it pass anything less than one mana down one path, and exactly one down the other¡­ It feels like there¡¯s something there. It¡¯s on the tip of my. Um. Brain? I¡¯m so close! But if I just put a capacitor in there set like that it doesn¡¯t account for everything. Sure, we can make it pass excess down this way when it is powered with one mana exactly from here. But it¡¯ll STILL pass it down that way even if it¡¯s not! I need to make a flowchart. Maybe if I double them up?¡±

    She pushed Star off of her and got up, suddenly feeling like she was onto something. The Inscriber of Power flashed across the ground as she started writing in earnest, the flow chart forming quickly.

    ¡°Two inputs. One of them can pass along any amount of signal, as long as it¡¯s a known value. The other will only pass along one mana, or discard it if it¡¯s a fraction. All the lines that are for discarding mana can go to a simple version of the eternal flame spell that will show visually how much excess there is by how bright it gets. Now, if the main input is supposed to be ten mana as an example, and the switch on or off is one mana, then they both lead to a capacitor set for eleven. If it gets eleven, it passes the mana along this way, if it¡¯s less or there is excess it goes to the eternal flame spell. And¡­ And. Wait. Is that it? I¡¯m done?¡±

    She looked over her chart carefully, and did some mental testing. If the Main Input got 8 mana and the Switch Input got 1, it would all go to excess and be discarded. If Main Input had 12, a capacitor would lower it to ten, and the main bit would still only pass it along if Switch Input still was active.

    ¡°Huh. Did I do it? I think I did it. Wait, there¡¯s some problems. But they¡¯re just limitations. Like, I can¡¯t pass along a variable amount, only a set number. But that¡¯s not so bad, right? Can I make it better?¡±

    Lily was in the zone. The world faded out around her. There was only her and the spell. She hadn¡¯t felt like this in a long time. The creative energy was really flowing. The rest of the world didn¡¯t matter now. She had this.

    ¡°Okay, what if I have a repeating set of capacitors? I can have a maximum signal from the input, and just have a capacitor for every whole number after that, and still only pass it along if it gets that plus one from the switch input right? That way it will pass along any signal strength, as long as I¡¯m willing to draw that many capacitors. If it¡¯s less than 20 or so, that¡¯s no big deal. Let¡¯s hope I¡¯m never dealing with hundreds, huh?¡±

    The Abolisher of Mistakes sprayed away a portion of the diagram, and her Inscriber of power flowed back over the spots filling in a series of circles meant to represent capacitors of decreasing size.

    ¡°If this is a working transistor though, I should be able to use it to create some simple logic gates right? At least simple checks like AND, OR, and NOT? How would those look¡­?¡±

    The answer instantly came to her. She could do this! She could apply some simple computational logic using her new tool! It was time for a real circle. A proof of concept! What should she make? The possibilities suddenly felt endless!

    She had it. The circle came together in her mind in an instant. Simple. She made a circle focused on infusing mana into an object, and set it up so the excess would activate a NOT gate that diverted mana from entering the infuse glyph. For now she just grabbed a stone to put in the center, and watched as mana started to flow into the circle.

    ¡°YES! I did it! It will charge up an object to capacity and then overflow will stop! No more exploding pages! I did it Star! ¡­ Star?¡±

    Lily¡¯s eyes found Star, he was looking at the house and growling. And as power flowed into her circle, she noticed something else. Rather than the magic collecting in her stone and staying there, it was flowing out of the stone and towards¨C

    ¡°Oh. Well. I guess that changes my priorities huh?¡±

    The mana was flowing towards the house, and down.

 0.026

    The basement. Again. It was time. Whatever was going on down there was pulling in magic, and Lily wasn¡¯t about to be living on top of a giant bomb or something. She wasn¡¯t stoked about having to take an elevator down to whatever it was, but at least she knew enough magic to get it to go up or down without electricity if need be. If something went terribly wrong mechanically and it didn¡¯t instantly kill her, she was at least pretty sure she wouldn¡¯t be trapped forever.

    Somehow, she still wasn¡¯t exactly full of confidence. She probably had time to prepare. But without knowing what was down there at all, what was she supposed to prepare? She could bring chalk. Water. Her phone. What else? A weapon? Could she even use a weapon?

    No, she¡¯d be more likely to hurt herself than something else. Plus, she was a magic user now. She¡¯d figure it out if she had to.

    Probably.

    Really most of her preparation was mental. She really wasn¡¯t ready for another trial like the pit. But, it was entirely possible that there was nothing bad down there. Or that she could take a look and then decide how to deal with it carefully, rather than throwing herself into the bottom of a death trap and then working her way out. Before anything else though, it was time to try and explain to Star what she was going to do. She called him over and sat down with him, petting his head gently.

    ¡°So. Under the house is something magical. I don¡¯t know what, but I can¡¯t just let it sit. I have to go deal with it. Ugh, I wish I knew how much of what I¡¯m saying you understood. Danger, but important! Understand?¡±

    Star¡¯s ears flattened, and he looked at her with an expression that made her think he at least understood danger. He pawed at her leg gently.

    ¡°I have to go. You don¡¯t have to go. Do you want to stay up here, or go with me?¡±

    He barked and stood to attention. Well, that was pretty clear at least. Lily sighed, and hugged him around the chest.

    ¡°Good boy. Alright, I¡¯m going to get Bay for emotional support and some basic supplies. Then we¡¯ll go.¡±

    <hr>

    A girl stood in front of an elevator. In one arm, a plush seal. In the other, a small bag full of miscellaneous supplies. Next to her, a puppy that was starting to look too large to still be shaped like that. She had been standing there for several minutes now, working up the courage to open the door.

    ¡°I don¡¯t wanna open it.¡±

    Star whined. Lily could see her reflection in the chrome doors of the elevator. She didn¡¯t look ready. She didn¡¯t feel ready. Her mess of brown hair looked disheveled and tangled. She was wearing durable work clothes that hung ill fitting on her body. And she looked like she was going to cry. She felt like she was going to cry too. But, for at least right now she was keeping it together.

    ¡°I just need to push the button and go in, that¡¯s not so hard is i¨C HEY!¡±

    Star jumped up and pressed the button on the panel, then turned to her looking proud of himself. Lily was angry for a second, but couldn¡¯t help laughing when she saw his face. The door opened. It was an elevator. The mood was somewhat lighter though, so Lily rolled her eyes and took a cautious step in.

    It was carpeted with a short deep red carpet. There were guard rails to hang on to, made of a brass color, and the walls were still chrome. It looked like it belonged in a movie theater, really. Not a pleasing style at all. Lily filed the rest of the way into it.

    ¡°Now¡¯s the time when the cable snaps and I plummet into the basement for another life or death adventure, right¡­?¡±

    But, nothing happened. Lily stood nervously in the elevator. On the panel, something caught her eye. There, stuck right on the basement button was something that hadn¡¯t been there before.

    ¡°What the hell?¡±

    A sticky note. It had a simple message, written in a neat printed font.

    ¡®My final gift to you.¡¯

    Lily froze. Her first thought was about how creepy it was that someone might have been here, but then she realized it might have just appeared. Then she fully took in the text.

    ¡°Final? As in, this is the last time I¡¯m going to hear from entity B? Or just the last time they¡¯re going to help me? Or¡­ that I¡¯m going to die down there?¡±

    She shook off the last one. The girl stood in the elevator, staring at the sticky note for a long time. Star sniffed at it, and turned to look at her, tail wagging.

    ¡°Don¡¯t you get too happy. We don¡¯t know how true this is. But, entity B called it a gift and they¡¯ve given me helpful things before. I guess all that¡¯s left is¡­¡±

    Lily reached out and hit the big B button. The elevator doors closed, and it started moving downward. It felt like forever before it came to a stop, but it had to only be about ten seconds. There was a soft ¡®ding¡¯ and the doors opened up into a very large, very dark space. Lily immediately fumbled around the wall just outside the elevator for a light switch, but she didn¡¯t find one immediately.

    So, she flicked on her phone and turned on the flashlight. There were some kind of stripes on the ground, like the painted lines of a basketball court or something. But, she could check that out after she got the lights on. Star immediately started forward, sniffing around.

    ¡°Be careful! We don¡¯t know what¡¯s in here¡­¡±

    Lily found the light switch and flicked it. Instantly, the room flooded with light. Lily blinked, her eyes adjusting. The room was about as big as the floor plan above, only it was a single space. And it was mostly empty, save for a few things.

    This story has been taken without authorization. Report any sightings.

    There were some rocks or crystals or something at various points around the room. But what immediately caught Lily¡¯s attention was¡ª

    ¡°A spell circle? What the hell? It¡¯s huge!¡±

    The largest spell circle Lily had seen by a wide margin. It looked like it had been carved into the floor, and then filled in with a silvery metal like a cast. It was extremely ornate. Not to mention, complicated! Many circles nested within one another, sometimes many layers deep. The spell covered almost the entire floor space of the room, with only four or five feet around the edges to walk around.

    Suddenly worried, Lily felt out the mana in the area. But the circle didn¡¯t seem to be activated at all. There was nothing going on. It was silent.

    ¡°Okay¡­ Is this going to suddenly activate when I step on it, or can I go take a look around?¡±

    Lily carefully put a hand in the space above the circle. Nothing happened. She giggled to herself.

    ¡°You put your left foot in, you put your left foot out, you put your left foot in, and shake it all about. Is the hokey pokey about testing the dangers of magic circles?¡±

    Star was staring at her, and she could swear there was a hint of judgement. So, she focused. Well, there was only one thing to do. She took a step into the circle. Nothing happened. Lily breathed a sigh of relief.

    ¡°If I¡¯d gotten suddenly vaporized that¡¯d have been the most anti-climactic death ever.¡±

    Star stepped into the circle too, and started sniffing around it. Lily bent and examined one of the nodes more closely. Sure enough, the node was a complicated circle in and of itself, with a few more complicated circles nested in nodes inside of it. The smallest of which was done in tiny metal filigree.

    None of the glyphs were particularly recognizable. But she could read some of the radicals. The symbol for mana was all over, naturally. But she saw bits of other ones she recognized too, and plenty more she didn¡¯t. Well on the plus side, she¡¯d have a ton of new ones to test.

    ¡°But what do you do? And why are you not doing it?¡±

    A clattering sound caught her attention. Star had dropped a large circular crystal next to her ankle. Or was it a gem? What was the difference anyway? In either case, it must have been worth a ton. It was the size of her fist! She looked at him. He was clearly proud of himself. Was it because he thought he was helping, or because he brought her the ball?

    ¡°Hey, how am I supposed to know where this goes huh? Where¡¯d you get it?¡±

    He looked a little put out, but he got up and walked over to a spot before sitting down again. Lily wandered over after him. There, sat a circle within a node that she was pretty sure she understood. In fact, she¡¯d seen three of the glyphs before, on her everburning flame. If this is where the ball had belonged, this part of the circle was designed to draw mana from it.

    ¡°Huh. So, it¡¯s a battery? Oh my god, don¡¯t tell me crystals and gems can store a bunch more mana or something. That¡¯s such a cliche! Why would it even work that way?¡±

    Lily glanced around the room. There were seven of them, all spread pretty evenly around the circle. She narrowed her eyes.

    ¡°Does Entity B have a sense of humor? Is it familiar with pop culture? Is it playing a prank on me? Because either this is a coincidence, or a subtle nod to dragon balls or chaos emeralds.¡±

    If it was a reference, it had all the subtlety of a school principal trying to pretend to be cool for the children. Lily looked down at the sphere in her hands. It was purple. Amethyst, maybe? The others were all different colors. This was an expensive joke, if it was one. But, if it was just a matter of charging up the dragon balls and placing them properly in the circle she could do that.

    The main question was, what would happen if she did?

    ¡°I guess I just have to read the circle, huh?¡±

    Her eyes swept over the vast formation of esoteric magical symbols and patterns.

    ¡°Easy, right?¡±

    <hr>

    Lily had spent the next couple hours with a pen and a notepad, jotting down every single glyph she could find on the circle. When she had found common elements between more than two, she¡¯d written them down as radicals too. Now she was sitting on her living room floor with the pages splayed out in front of her. There was so much to go over! It wasn¡¯t fair! Like being given a pop quiz on material that was assigned to you not ten minutes ago. Lily groaned.

    Earlier today she¡¯d been complaining that she had weeks worth of things she wanted to test out with magic. Now, she was pretty sure she¡¯d still be learning from this circle for years.

    She still had no idea what it did. Absolutely none. It seemed just as likely that it¡¯d bring everyone back or that it¡¯d spit out the perfect hamburger conjured into being. She just couldn¡¯t read enough of the glyphs to know. But, she had a pretty good idea of where to start.

    First, she wanted to try some of the most common radicals as solo glyphs and see if she could figure out what they described. Then, she wanted to play with the glyphs that seemed to be the largest focus on the circle. The largest ones towards the center.

    Finally¡­ Well, this was more of a side goal but, she needed to charge up the Dragon Balls. Dragon Emeralds? Chaos Balls? She didn¡¯t know what to call them yet. They were somewhere in the middle of those two ideas, but she suspected they were just really good mana batteries. So, the sooner she got them charging, the better.

    But it¡¯s not like just putting them in the front yard was going to work well. After all, if she just had a bunch of ambient mana gathering spells, they¡¯d all be slurping from the same pool. It was time to track down some more spooky spots, and set each one to charge from one of those. Then when they were all charged up, she could come back, plug them in and¡­ What?

    Did she even want to activate this spell? Entity B had called it a final gift. Did that mean it was a way to get back to a normal life? Or was it more like a gun with a single bullet in a zombie apocalypse movie? Or¨C

    ¡°Ugh! I have no idea! What are you trying to give me? Is it just for collecting magical knowledge? Am I gonna power it and a little message will pop up like ¡®oh congratulations Lily, achievement unlocked?¡¯ Huh? Or is Shenron gonna appear and grant me a wish? Do I become super Lily? What IS the gift? Couldn¡¯t spare the printer ink to tell me? Pretty cheap for a powerful supernatural being!¡±

    Lily wanted to scream. But, in truth she was at least somewhat relieved. She wasn¡¯t living over a bomb. It was going to take her a good while to figure out what to do with the gigantic magical working under her house, but it was at least something good. It was something good, right?

    She sighed. Lily flopped down onto her couch and let Star jump up and lay on her. He really was heavier. She was pretty sure normal puppies didn¡¯t come in this size.

    ¡°And you. How big are you gonna get huh? Thanks for coming with me. I was less scared with you there.¡±

    He nuzzled into her, and she rubbed behind his ears.

    ¡°Well, the next steps just got somehow more complicated. Are you ready for it?¡±

    She heard the steady thump of Star¡¯s tail wagging and grinned.

    ¡°Good boy.¡±

 0.027

    The last girl in the world sat in her driveway, contemplating what to do next. Suddenly she had a world of choices. Which was a good thing! Sorta. She¡¯d always struggled with decision paralysis and what was more, it seemed like the optimal choices were just¡­ boring?

    Okay, not boring really. But tedious beyond what might be tolerable. She had a lot of glyphs to run tests on. A lot. Counting radicals, nearly two hundred. She wasn¡¯t even sure she got them all! So, now it was pretty clear what she needed to do. She could even test one of her prevailing magical theories in the process. But either way, she was going to be sitting here for probably the rest of the day and maybe even the day after just trying different glyphs and observing the results.

    So, with a sigh she got started. The basic formation she wanted to create was simple, and she got to it with her chalk spear.

    She was creating a modified version of her battery charging spell from earlier. Mana was gathered, flowed into one of the dragon balls, then flowed out into a capacitor. Any excess was channeled back into the dragon ball, and limited by one of her new gates . Excess from that would be expelled into a small flame. Easy.

    The final touch was a circle coming off of that capacitor. It flowed to a three node circle, but the nodes were empty. At the end, it went back to the first circle, completing the circuit.

    Now, she could add up to three glyphs to her test circle to see what they did, and they would be powered by the dragon ball if it had enough power. If it didn¡¯t, then all she¡¯d have to do is wait.

    Which brought her to the brunt of her work. Meticulously testing every glyph and radical she found to figure out what they did. But first, the simplest thing she wanted to test. Actually, scratch that, two things! First she focused and felt her circle. She wrote just the two glyphs she wanted to test first into two of the empty nodes. And she did it with mana. It went off without a hitch!

    Just like she thought, if she kept circles with empty nodes around, she could change just the glyphs on the fly by writing them in with mana! The downside though was also just as she thought.

    Lily slumped forward, her hands on the concrete, gasping. The amount of effort that took compared to writing it in with chalk was literally staggering.

    When she could, she glanced up. The nodes still appeared empty, at least to her eyes. But she could feel the two glyphs there, clearly in the way that she normally sensed mana.

    Her first test was simple. She took the two radicals that made up the flame glyph, and split them. Normally the glyph looked like a little flame with lines coming off it, almost cupping it. So, in one node she had the little flame, and in the other she had drawn in the lines.

    She could tell they were active, but neither of them appeared to be doing anything at first glance. Mana was flowing through them and definitely being expended though.

    ¡°Hmm. Great. How do I test this? Well, are they getting hot?¡±

    When Lily could move she went and found a stick, then put it over the little flame node. Instantly it burst into flames. She yelped in fear and tossed it out into the road. Grabbing the Abolisher of Mistakes she sprayed it down vigorously. It went out like a normal fire would, thankfully.

    So, Lily turned back to her work. Getting down on her hands and knees near the circle, she looked closely at the nodes. Oh. The air was warmer around the little flame one. She reached towards it, carefully. She wasn¡¯t willing to put her hand above the node, but she wanted to make sure she was understanding correctly.

    She was! There was just¡­ heat. Just like her heat to mana glyph made it cold. She wasn¡¯t sure how hot it was there, but she suspected she could turn it up or down by giving it more or less mana.

    ¡°Well, that settles that. What about the other one though?¡±

    It was not heating up at all. Which made sense. It was another glyph. If they were two constituent parts of fire, what would that one be? A chemical reaction? Light?

    ¡°Oh duh! It IS light. But it¡¯s already bright here. How can I double check?¡±

    She looked around. Well, she couldn¡¯t make it darker. But, she could turn up the light, right? So, she erased her newly discovered heat glyph, and turned up the capacitor to allow more mana through.

    She turned to look at the suspected light glyph.

    ¡°Argh!¡±

    She yelped in pain, and turned to look away.

    ¡°My eyes! Oww! Shit! Too bright!¡±

    It was like she had looked directly into the sun! She closed her eyes and turned to face the circle. She could almost see it with her eyes closed.

    ¡°Way to blind yourself Lily. Good job. This is going great.¡±

    She un-made the light glyph. It was like turning out a light bulb. Instantly, her closed eyes didn¡¯t feel like she was facing the sun.

    She sighed loudly.

    ¡°Well. That¡¯s not what I expected. I thought I¡¯d have a little glow ball or something. Like a will-o-wisp! That¡¯s how the [Light] spell always works in games!¡±

    She laid on her back and inhaled deeply. When she opened her eyes, she could still see some spots, but it wasn¡¯t so bad.

    ¡°There¡¯s so much to do. At least erasing glyphs isn¡¯t nearly as tiring as writing them. I do have one more thing to test before I really get into it though. Time to experiment on myself. I haven¡¯t been looking forward to this.¡±

    But, there was no sense putting it off forever. Besides, if it worked, it¡¯d help her a lot while she did the rest of her work. The idea was simple enough. She had a spell now that could charge a mana battery without letting it overcharge. So, what would happen if she did that again, but she was the battery?

    She¡¯d been thinking about it for a while now. Her gut was telling her a simple truth. Why couldn¡¯t she channel mana from herself in more than a pathetic little amount? Because it was probably like discovering a muscle she¡¯d never used. It was pathetic right now. But if she did it more, she ought to be able to do more and more in the future.

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    Admittedly, it was a theory. But it just made too much sense when she thought about it like that. And she was pretty sure that she could already do a little more than the first night she¡¯d tried it.

    So, if she sat in a circle that charged her up without making her sick, and wrote out her glyphs today like that, it¡¯d be like working out!

    But, she suspected it¡¯d be like working out. As in, super tiring! Still, she was going to be doing a lot of magic moving forward. So, she had to start somewhere, right?

    ¡°Assuming it doesn¡¯t kill me.¡±

    With optimism like that, who needed challenges? Lily grimaced, and started writing the circle. It was a simple modification of her circle from earlier. Instead of gathering ambient mana, she had it using heat to mana. She figured the cool air might help her, and put it far enough away from her on the circle that she wasn¡¯t in any real danger of accidentally putting a hand into it or anything.

    ¡°Okay. Now I just have to set the capacitor to send me only one mana at a time, and complete the circle. Come on Lily. You got this. If it makes you sick, you can just roll out of the circle, and spray it down with the hose. It¡¯s just chalk! Chalk can¡¯t hurt you!¡±

    She was very aware that chalk could hurt her. But, she completed the circle anyway. Mana filled the circle, and flowed into her. At first, she thought she had made a big mistake. It was uncomfortable. She felt like a garbage bag that was so full it was about to tear at the seams. But just when it was about to become too much to bear, it stopped. She watched it flow into her overflow. She closed her eyes and tried to endure it.

    ¡°Owww. Okay. Okay. Deep breaths. Oh this sucks. Okay. I¡¯ve got this. I just need to focus on science through this. Testing. Testing. Wait, what was I testing next?¡±

    Her veins felt like they were full of electric fire. It was so hard to focus. She tried to imagine what she wanted to do next, but it wouldn¡¯t come at all. Then she had an idea.

    Similar to what she¡¯d done when she was overcharged in the pit, she focused on creating a spell in her palm. But instead of fire, she created light. Only a little. She pulled just enough mana out of her to take the edge off, and channeled it into the light spell. She opened her eyes and looked. It was too bright to see how much light she was conjuring. But it really did take the edge off.

    Only now she had to focus on keeping the light spell going, and whatever she was doing. It was a little easier than with the sheer discomfort of being overfull with mana. But, it was still very difficult.

    ¡°This is harder than I expected. So, so much harder. But, it¡¯s practice right? I have to get better at this. I have to. This is important for my future. So, I¡¯ll just do it as long as I can. Every day. Until I know all the glyphs. Yeah. Let¡¯s try that.¡±

    Lily focused on maintaining her breathing, and glanced over her notes. What was next?

    ¡°I wish Star would come back.¡±

    The dog had been playing in the nearby woods since about half an hour before Lily had come outside. He wasn¡¯t normally gone this long, and it¡¯d be comforting to have him here with her. But, he was an intelligent being. At least, she thought he was. So, she should let him have his freedom. When he came back, she¡¯d tell him how much she¡¯d missed him. In the meantime, Lily had work to do. So much work.

    <hr>

    Star had gone out to check his markings again when he and his Master had left the den. What he had found was unacceptable. He¡¯d stood frozen, as the smells washed over him.

    Not only had the strange pack of invaders covered his own marks, they¡¯d made marks inside of his territory rather than just on the border. He could tell which one was the leader too. A large female dog. Her scent was not only past his territory line, but apart from her marking he could follow the trail of where she had been, and it extended right up to the fence of his backyard. There, he found a hole in the fence, and worse¨C

    She had eaten some of his eggs! His eggs! His Master¡¯s gift to him, crafted by the egg layers! This was unacceptable. The message was clear.

    ¡°Fall in line. You don¡¯t have territory.¡±

    Unacceptable. Unacceptable. Unacceptable! Star had wanted to put off the conflict, but he couldn¡¯t allow this for even a moment longer.

    If these intruders wouldn¡¯t respect even a physical barrier, it was only a matter of time until they struck first. If they attacked while he was with his Master, she would not be able to defend herself from the wild pack. She was¡­ squishy.

    No, now was the time. He would take the fight to them rather than sit here and be humiliated.

    But first, he hopped the wall again. He wouldn¡¯t justify the hole the great foe had made by using it himself. Once inside his inner domain, he sniffed out the remaining eggs, and consumed them all. Even if he were to fall, not a single one of his remaining gifts would go to these wild wretches.

    Once he¡¯d consumed his Master¡¯s great bounty, he set off on his new quest. He wasn¡¯t sure how long he would be gone, but he did not want to worry his Master by saying goodbye. With any luck, he would return before the sun fell.

    So, with that he left. He began his hunt by sniffing out the leader¡¯s trail again. He was hopeful he could end this in a confrontation with her alone. Other members of her pack were likely not to blame. Although, he had no intention of claiming dominance and taking over leadership.

    No, he had his Master to consider. Without him, she would surely perish. Taking on other responsibilities was out of the question, but this quest was part of defending his Master.

    The trail led into the treeline, and then continued down along the coast. He had never been this far in this direction before. For that matter, ever since he had started being aware, he had not been so far from his Master.

    For a moment, he wondered if his awareness might fade? It had begun while he had been with her. But, the further he traveled the less concerned he was. He still felt like himself after all, and he had bigger things to worry about.

    As he continued, the smell of other dogs became stronger. It started to become more difficult to follow the leader¡¯s scent amid all of the different dog smells. Particularly when different scents caught his attention. He was able to learn more about the pack. They were hungry. Some smelled malnourished and stressed. This changed his perspective somewhat. He had thought they were coming to invade his territory from a position of power, but he was beginning to think it was a position of desperation and aggression over resources instead.

    Still, aggression was still aggression. He must not let his empathy shake his resolve. If they were desperate, they may be even more eager to attack. After all, his Master¡¯s bounty was great. She controlled the duck feet, and the flow of kibble.

    Perhaps he could entreat her on behalf of these intruders? Well, that would depend on how this conflict went. If they were determined to solve this situation with violence, then he would have to solve it with violence.

    Just as he made that decision, he came to a clearing. He was on a cliff overlooking the sea. Below him was a cove where the sea had carved a small beach into the stone cliffs. The wind blew, and he could smell the stench of dogs. More than ten, at least.

    As he followed the scent further, he found it led to a small path that would lead him down the cliff and onto the sand. But rather than following it immediately, he lay down and observed.

    The wind was blowing up out of the cove and into his face, so he was certain his smell wouldn¡¯t give him away to any of the dogs below, so he waited to see what he was up against.

    Below, most of the dogs were resting. A few were huddled together, but most had simply found their own spots by digging slightly into the sand. Two of them were gnawing on bones from what seemed to be a fresh kill.

    Then his eyes found her. The leader. A large black and white wolf shaped dog with glacial sapphire eyes. She was the only dog in the cove eating an actual meal. Her coat was glossy with a sort of radiance that the others didn¡¯t have. He knew instantly it was her. She hadn¡¯t spotted him yet.

    It was time to make himself known. He proceeded up to the edge of the cliff, and howled. There was a sudden rush of activity from below as all of the dogs shot to attention.

    She however, continued chewing while staring up at him. And when his howl was over, it was her turn.

    At that moment, Star heard the howling of a demon.

 0.028

    In a no-name cove on the coast of California, just outside of Santa Del Mar, a scene was brewing. Down on the sand, a pack of dogs numbering twelve was standing to attention and gathering. Down the side of the cliff, along a small path leading down to the beach itself, a large white dog with a black mark on his forehead was descending at a calm walk.

    Internally, he was anything but calm. However, to give that up would be defeat in and of itself. So, he forced himself to be calm. To walk with purpose rather than run or cower. Step after step. Below, he could see the dogs spreading out so when he stepped onto the beach he would be surrounded.

    As he set foot on the sand, one of the most important battles for determining the outcome of this world had officially begun. Of course, no one present knew that.

    Some part of him had expected to be rushed from all sides right away, but as one of the pack slinked closer to get into position, the leader barked loudly in that direction, and it ceased.

    Star made his way to the center of the circle and stopped. He looked at the leader curiously, and then understood. He was a challenger to her authority. She would deal with him.

    Well, that made things simple. It was mutual that neither of them wanted the others involved. He met her eyes, and stood as tall as he could. He could feel his hackles rising as he let out a growl, and tried to communicate his intent.

    ¡®I came to settle things.¡¯

    She took a few steps forward into the circle. She was a little bigger than him, and he could sense some amount of mana on her. Although, she didn¡¯t seem to have his spark of intellect that he could tell.

    Her fur bristled, gleaming in the light of the setting sun. He saw her take a ready stance, and then she dashed. Fast! She was so fast! He dodged her charge with difficulty, spun and snapped at her. She effortlessly dodged it, and charged again from his side, slamming him hard enough to send him rolling.

    Star found his feet as fast as he could, only to find her stalking a slow circle around him. Why had she not leapt? Then he realized. She was toying with him! Well of course. He was an asset, if she could force him to submit rather than tearing his guts open.

    As if he would! Star took the initiative and leapt at her. But his enemy sidestepped the attack with ease. Fine! His next movement was a feint, and when she dodged again he changed course to aim where she would be moving to!

    But just as his teeth were about to clamp down on the flesh covering her ribs, the she-dog blurred. She was gone. For a second he lost track of her completely, before she slammed him again from behind! How had she moved so fast?

    He hit the sand, rolling again, and found his footing. She was stalking around him again. This was bad. Where she had hit him really hurt. He thought he might be bleeding, even though she hadn¡¯t used her teeth. But he had no time to look right now. If he waited too long, she would be making the first move.

    What did he have that she didn¡¯t? She was faster, and larger. How was he supposed to win? What did he have? He was smart, and he could jump high. How could he turn that into a win?

    This time when his enemy lunged forward, Star ran. He had an idea. She chased him, gaining on him quickly. Star played the coward, whining and running from her along the outside of their arena. Strange dogs snapped at him as he got close, but didn¡¯t move from their spots. When the demon was right on top of him, practically nipping at his feet, he made his move.

    Focusing the energy he¡¯d normally put into a jump, he kicked as much sand as he could directly into her face. He heard the sharp sound of pain as sand went into her eyes, and immediately turned. Let¡¯s see her try to dodge blind! This was it! His chance! This would only work once!

    He leapt, throwing himself on top of her, and clamping his teeth down over her scruff. But the second he did, he realized he¡¯d made a mistake. Pain! Sharp pain filled every part of him that was touching her. Her fur was sharp! Like a thousand needles digging into his flesh! He yelped in pain and rolled off of her, trying to shake as many of the needles as he could off of him.

    What? How had she done that? He stared as she rubbed at her eyes, shaking her head. The Mana. Of course. The mana was infused into her fur! It was strong! Strong and sharp! How was he supposed to hurt her? More than that, his plan wouldn¡¯t work twice, and she had almost recovered from his last ditch sand attack. Think! Think!

    The monster had recovered, and she looked angrier than ever. He knew. This time, she¡¯d be coming at him for real. She lifted her maw to the sky and howled. It echoed through the cove like the demon¡¯s scream it was, and this time it echoed through Star as well. Straight into the depths of his heart and soul, he could feel it ringing through him.

    The next charge would be do or die. But how could he win? He had to outmatch her speed with his wit again, in a different way, and on top of that, he might be able to force a surrender if he had his teeth around her throat. But anywhere else wouldn¡¯t work, and even then he¡¯d have to power through the pain. He just couldn¡¯t inflict enough damage on her to win without hurting himself too much in the process.

    The orange light of the setting sun had never felt more ominous. Was the sun setting on his life as well? Star braced himself, ready to run. If he could buy himself even another couple seconds to think of a plan, it would be worth it. He had to do this. He had to win. Right now. If he didn¡¯t, his Master¨C

    The she-dog lunged. Star turned and ran again, as fast as he could. Just a little longer. A little longer! He turned towards the shore, and briefly considered diving into the water and hoping he was a better swimmer, when a real plan hit him. The sun setting sun was still a little above the horizon, and he ran straight for it. As he reached the edge of the arena, he leapt, higher than the dog guarding the edge could have known Star could leap! Right over it, and he continued towards the shore. Pushing her pack-mate out of the way cost the leader a second, letting Star get a little more time. And as he reached his destination, in ankle deep sea water, he turned and howled. A challenge.

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    A challenge she wasn¡¯t going to let him get away with. He saw her put on her full speed. She was a blur! Black and white with flashes of glacial blue, a whirling flash of teeth and fur! But just before she reached him, he leapt, straight up. Her eyes moved to track him and¨C

    He was backlit by the sun. He could see the moment she realized she wouldn¡¯t be able to track his movements. This was it! His one and only remaining chance! He braced himself for the pain, and landed on her bodily, shoving her to the sand and water beneath them. His teeth found her throat. The enemy¡¯s fur dug into his flesh, drawing blood and stinging. But he forced himself to hold her still.

    Because the second half of his plan was only a second behind. A wave hit them. It was only high enough to come up to Star¡¯s chest, but that was enough that the she-beast¡¯s head was fully under the water. He let go of her throat and focused on keeping her down through the pain.

    He had this! He could do it! He¨C He was going to kill her? Wait. Did he want to kill her? No. Not really. But was this the only way? He would do it if it was the only way. If he let her up, could he still force her to submit, if she didn¡¯t right away?

    The thrashing under him grew weaker. Star realized he didn¡¯t have the heart for this. Whatever happened, happened. This wasn¡¯t prey. Killing for food was one thing. This was one of his own, and she was responsible for the others.

    Star let off the pressure, and started towards the dry sand. Then, he instantly realized another problem. He wasn¡¯t sure she could make it on her own. By now the water was flowing out, but she didn¡¯t seem to be getting to her feet!

    Star turned back, and bit her scruff. Pain filled his mouth, but he bore it. He began pulling. Fortunately, he was more than strong enough and in less than a minute he had her up away from the waves. She was still conscious and moving, but sluggishly. Coughing, and once she was able to move more freely, she vomited. A shame, it was a waste of food given her pack¡¯s current situation.

    Star stood over her, prepared to begin the fight anew if she tried anything. But, when she was able to breathe, she showed him her belly.

    He had won?

    He had won.

    He had won!

    Star let out a howl of victory.

    But now what? If he simply maintained his territory, wouldn¡¯t this new pack starve? He didn¡¯t want to cause them starvation.

    What could he do? He looked over the pack, now all quite willing to show him their bellies as well. Good. Let it be so. But, he didn¡¯t want to replace the pack leader. How could he communicate this? He would help them, but he would not lead them.

    As he was thinking of this, a strange smell caught his attention. Magic? He could smell magic on the wind. And a beast. An idea struck him. He was going to lead them on a hunt. Let him provide for them, and then leave.

    <hr>

    Lily was starting to get really worried. She was still sitting in her driveway, but she had stopped doing magic. The sun had gone down, and Star still wasn¡¯t back. What was she supposed to do? The first time she let him wander off and he just didn¡¯t come back?

    Had something happened? Or had he decided he didn¡¯t want to be here? She thought they had been on such good terms. No, no!

    Lily shook her head. Star wouldn¡¯t do that. But that left¡­ Either he didn¡¯t think he¡¯d be out so late and was heading back, or something happened.

    A while ago, she¡¯d considered that maybe he was lost. Her magic practice had paid off for the day too! She¡¯d figured out how to conjure a glowy ball of light like she had expected a [Light] spell to work. It involved the glyph for light, and one from the pit that seemed to just concentrate whatever it was pointed at. So, she had conjured a rather large orb of light and had it floating above the mansion.

    She was really hopeful it would help Star find his way back if he was lost. But she felt helpless to do anything. Even if she knew what direction to leave in, she knew those wild dogs were still out there. The last thing she wanted was to go out looking for Star and end up getting eaten by hungry animals. But could she wait until morning to go looking?

    ¡°Star. Where are you? I¡¯m worried. Please come home.¡±

    She¡¯d said as much out loud a hundred times since the sun went down. But this time, something different happened. She heard a loud bark from outside where she could see, and recognized his voice! It came from around the side of the house towards the forest!

    She jumped up and ran over there, more relieved than she could express.

    ¡°Oh thank goodness! I was worried sick, Mister! I am never ever letting you¨C oh my god.¡±

    As she turned the corner, she was not prepared for the sight she saw. The first thing she noticed was blood. So much blood. A wave of relief passed over her when she realized it wasn¡¯t from Star. But then she realized what it was from. Half of a full sized bull elk was laid out neatly next to Star. It seemed to have been torn into two pieces? How? Where was the other half? How did Star get it here? Why?

    ¡°Oh, what the hell!¡±

    Star barked and wagged his tail.

    ¡°What am I supposed to do with this? You know I can¡¯t just¡­ just! Tear into it with my teeth right?¡±

    Star¡¯s tail stopped wagging, but the happy panting face continued staring at her. He tilted it slightly, confused.

    ¡°Did you get that for me?¡±

    Star barked, and the tail wagging started again.

    ¡°... Can you move it? Er, bring it here?¡±

    She had practiced ¡®bring it here¡¯ with him, so she wanted to be sure he understood. She watched in complete awe as he grabbed an antler in his mouth, and pulled. It didn¡¯t move quickly, but it did slide slowly through the grass.

    ¡°Okay okay! I get it. Let¡¯s. Um, let¡¯s get it into the backyard. Then maybe I can freeze it with magic until we figure out what to do with it? I can just keep it frozen and give you frozen bits maybe? Ugh, god I don¡¯t want to touch it.¡±

    Star looked offended, and let out a small whine.

    ¡°No no. It¡¯s not like that Star! I¡¯m happy! I just. This is just. It¡¯s a lot okay? Thank you. You¡¯re a good boy. But don¡¯t stay out so late next time! You really scared me! I guess you were out getting this? Geez. I¡¯m not short on food to give you, you know?¡±

    He just stared. She met his eyes, and could swear there was even a little more there than when he left. She sighed.

    ¡°Alright, let¡¯s get this thing inside the fence at least.¡±

 0.029

    In the soft light of morning, light glistened off the sheen of frost on the front half of a frozen elk. Normally it would have been melting, but if anything it was growing colder with time. A bird flitted down to peck at the meat, but changed direction and let out an irritated squawk when it felt the aura of cold that surrounded it.

    A girl, her dog, and a stuffed seal sat on the concrete porch outside a sliding glass door, looking at the elk-cicle. They had been sitting there for over five minutes, and they represented a whole emotional spectrum. The girl was frustrated and confused, you could see it in her expression and body language. The dog seemed quite pleased with himself on the other hand. While the seal¨C Well, he looked the same as always, but Lily was pretty sure he was judging.

    ¡°Star. I love you. You know I love you right?¡±

    He whumfed and groaned.

    ¡°I guess I haven¡¯t said those words so you probably don¡¯t. Huh. Okay. Well. Um. You¡¯re my dog, dog. You know?¡±

    Star whined. Lily rolled her eyes.

    ¡°But you have to find a way to explain this to me. What the hell? How did you even catch and kill an elk? Why was it soaked in mana? How did you get it home? Where¡¯s the other half? I have so many questions. It¡¯s bullshit that you can¡¯t speak.¡±

    He barked loudly. Lily was pretty sure it was because she said ¡®speak¡¯. She leaned over and rested her head on the dog. The steady swishing sound of his tail over the concrete answered her.

    ¡°So, here¡¯s what we are gonna do. I¡¯m gonna turn off the spell. We¡¯re gonna take a knife from inside, and cut into it. I¡¯m gonna try to get you breakfast out of this. Because I won¡¯t have your work going to waste. But I want you to know, I¡¯m not good at this. I¡¯ve never done anything like this before. I don¡¯t know what parts are good and what parts aren¡¯t. And I won¡¯t eat any.¡±

    At that last bit, Star let out a high pitched whistling cry.

    ¡°Oh come on! Listen. You have all these natural instincts, and you know how to deal with stuff like this. I¡¯m a human! I¡¯ve almost never eaten anything that didn¡¯t come out of a package from the store, like your kibble. I need my food to be prepared and cooked by someone else. Okay?¡±

    There was another cry, but softer.

    ¡°Ugh, Bay, back me up here would you?¡±

    Bay seemed to be enjoying this. So Lily sighed and got up. Retrieving a sharp looking knife from the kitchen, she returned to deactivate her spell. The spell was just cooling the elk and venting excess mana into a number of little lights. As she broke the circle, the lights all winked out.

    She went to cut into the flesh of the elk, reluctantly. But it was frozen solid. It was like scraping her knife against a rock! She tried to stab into it with the pointy end. That got her a little further. At least the knife went in! But only about an inch.

    ¡°Wait. But. I can¡¯t let it thaw out here to get some. I really should have thought of getting some videos about butchering animals. What do I even DO with this thing?¡±

    She felt a gentle nuzzling at her leg. Lily startled, but saw Star seemed to be trying to comfort her. She gave him an exasperated look, but reached down with her non-knife hand and pet him.

    He stepped forward and started sniffing at the elk. Then, he bit. His teeth sank right in, but even he was unable to just pull away a chunk of meat. The dog started chewing fiercely, tail wagging. He looked far more bestial than Lily was used to, and she sat back.

    ¡°Huh. I guess that works. I can just turn the spell off for you when you want, and you can just, like, chew on it? Alright. Okay. Let me know when you¡¯re done, okay?¡±

    Lily went back to the porch, and laid out using Bay as a pillow. Even the sounds of Star chewing at the elk were a little much, so she turned her attention to the sky. It was a little unsettling looking up like this, but she was trying to force herself to do it at least sometimes. She remembered how comforting it had been on her first day. The idea that there was just nothing up there was uncomfortable.

    Behind the blue lay an endless expanse of nothingness. How was she supposed to deal with that? For all she knew very little about Entity B, she knew even less about Entity A. But there hadn¡¯t been any new information at all. So how was she supposed to learn anything? Whatever it was, it was so far above her that she couldn¡¯t think of anything she could do to even test her hypothesis. But, she was getting off track.

    After Star had returned home last night, she had given him a bath. He was covered in blood. It had turned out that some of it was his as well. He was definitely injured in his hunting. Why would he bother? He had food. She didn¡¯t understand. Was it just an animal thing? She wished more than anything he could tell her, but she hadn¡¯t figured out that side of communication yet. What¡¯s worse, she was having a hard time seeing him quite the same as before. He seemed a bit more intelligent since yesterday, which was unsettling but cool. What really made the difference though was¡­

    She looked over and watched him chew a hunk of meat off the elk. He¡¯d already eaten what Lily would have assumed was a meal sized portion for him, but he just kept going. He looked like a wild animal. Beastial. His maw was coated in red. It¡¯s not like he was acting any different really. But seeing him like this frightened her, just a little bit. If she could just communicate, she could get some reassurance.

    ¡°But, no matter how smart you are, you¡¯re not going to grow vocal chords. Which means it¡¯s up to me to figure it out huh?¡±

    The sounds of meat tearing from the body ceased for a moment while Star listened, and then resumed. Lily sighed loudly, and closed her eyes. Maybe she could find one of those things people had in internet videos? The ones with the buttons that said words, so your animal could step on them to communicate ideas? Would the pet store have something like that?

    The sound of something solid hitting the concrete next to Lily snapped her out of her stupor, she jumped up and stared. A bloody face stared back at her. Lily yelped and skittered backwards before she realized it was just Star. He was wagging his tail and presenting her with¡­ Something. It was bloody, and almost perfectly circular. Lily gagged.

    ¡°I¨C I don¡¯t want any. Thank you Star. But you should have it.¡±

    Star tilted his head, and stared at her for a moment. Lily examined the object, and realized something now that she was really looking at it. It was absolutely saturated with mana.

    ¡°What the heck is this thing anyway? Did that come out of the elk? Well. I still don¡¯t want it. Are you sure you should eat it?¡±

    Did you know this story is from Royal Road? Read the official version for free and support the author.

    Star, sensing there was a chance neither of them would be eating the prize, lunged forward and horked it down before Lily could say another word. She laughed.

    ¡°Okay, okay. If it¡¯s that good, thank you for offering it to me. But I¡¯m glad you got it. Besides, it was a ball. Dogs should have a ball.¡±

    Actually, now that she thought about it, dogs should have a ball. Lily rose and reconnected her circle. The lights flicked on, and she turned to go looking. Maybe in the garage? This was a rich house, there¡¯s no way there weren¡¯t tennis balls around here somewhere!

    <hr>

    It took half an hour, but Lily did eventually find a tube of tennis balls in the second garage. Along with a lot of other sporting goods. Baseballs, a basketball, tennis rackets, baseball bat, volleyballs, and more. For now, she just grabbed the tennis balls and headed out front. Lily called Star over and pulled out one of them.

    ¡°Alright buddy. We¡¯re gonna play a game, okay? I¡¯m gonna throw the ball, and you get it and bring it back to me as fast as you can alright?¡±

    Star gave her what she read as a suspicious look.

    ¡°Hey, trust me. It¡¯s fun! I could never run as fast as you. But, with this, we can play together. Just, do your best to get it okay? Catch it if you can!¡±

    Lily tossed the ball softly to illustrate the point. To her surprise, Star jumped and caught it with ease on his first try. Lily grinned.

    ¡°Good boy! Now, bring it back to me and I¡¯ll throw it for real, okay?¡±

    He gave the ball to her. It was so nice having an intelligent companion. She had thought she¡¯d have to teach this game to him for a while, but he got it no problem. So, true to her word, Lily wound up and threw the ball as hard as she could, aiming for distance.

    To her surprise, Star intercepted it. It had hardly gone ten feet! He leapt and caught it like it was no problem. Star spun in the air and landed in what Lily could only think of as way too cool a pose for a dog. He trotted back to her and gave her the ball again, then back to his spot, tail wagging. Lily stared at him, then the ball.

    ¡°Huh. Okay. Okay. I see how it is. Fine, that¡¯s my bad. Let¡¯s try this again okay?¡±

    Star barked. Lily knew what to do. She just had to throw it way over his head! She wound up, and heaved with all her might! It flew high! At least ten feet in the air, with plenty of inertia to carry it a good distance too.

    Lily¡¯s jaw dropped as Star leapt. He caught the ball out of the air, at least ten feet in the air. His tail wagged and he huffed excitedly as he brought her the ball again. Lily patted him and accepted it, in a daze.

    ¡°I¨C What?¡±

    Star made an impatient sound and took on a playful stance. Lily snapped out of it a little, and smiled genuinely for the first time in what felt like a while.

    ¡°Oh yeah? Fine! I can see I¡¯ve underestimated you. You¡¯re no ordinary dog, so let¡¯s turn up the difficulty a little, huh? Stay here!¡±

    Lily went inside and dashed up the stairs, trepidation about unexplored parts of the house thrown out in an instant. The upstairs consisted of four rooms that seemed at first glance to be unused bedrooms. What a waste! Well, she knew just what to do. She found a second story window, opened it, and called to Star. She saw him run around the side of the house, and she threw the ball again, this time from her new vantage point.

    This time there was no way Star was gonna jump that high! She was right, it went way too high for him, and he bolted to keep up with the ball¡¯s trajectory. He was so fast! The ball went far. Lily realized she must have gotten a bit stronger since all this started. At least a little. Star jumped bushes, zigged and zagged around obstacles, and still managed to catch the ball!

    Lily was shocked, and shocked too to realize she was having fun! She ditched her plan of getting high up, because another thought had struck her. She dipped into the office and grabbed a sharpie, along with one of the new tennis balls. As she came out the front door, Star was there, ball in mouth and wagging his tail. Lily hugged him tightly, ignoring the smell of meat that was still a little on him.

    ¡°Good boy. You¡¯re amazing at this! But, don¡¯t underestimate me just yet. I¡¯m the smartest girl in the world!¡±

    Even Star seemed to think that was a lame joke, but Lily sat down and started in on her new plan. She drew circles on the ball. Six of them, with one glyph each. The same glyph she¡¯d used to levitate a hunk of concrete out of the pit. Finally, she added one more circle to the ball, this one formed of her own mana, and the same glyph.

    Lily was slightly tired out, but it wasn¡¯t actually that bad. More like running a short sprint than a marathon. Now though, she held the instrument of Star¡¯s destruction! Lily laughed and held it aloft.

    ¡°Think you¡¯re so cool and athletic huh? I¡¯ll show you the powers of a nerdy mage! Get ready!¡±

    Lily found her feet. Her trash talk aside, this was going to be hard. The circles would do nothing if she didn¡¯t feed them with her mana, and she¡¯d never interacted with a moving circle before, or one as far away as this was about to be. On top of that, she was testing a theory. Normally, to adjust a written out circle she¡¯d have to touch it. But the ones made of mana, she could usually just feel out. So, she was hoping the circles written on the ball she might be able to control relative to the ball, where the one in her mana she might be able to point around relative to her.

    It was just a thought, but it seemed to track with what she knew. This was going to take some practice. For now, she decided to use just the one made of mana on her first throw. She would focus on pouring mana into it, and pushing the ball up.

    Lily wound up, and threw the ball as hard as she could. As it left her hand, she activated the circle, pouring as much mana into it as she could.

    The ball left her hand, and arced up quickly. In half a second it had cleared the roof of the house and was still shooting skyward, accelerating in that direction even! Star bolted forward, following the trajectory. To Lily¡¯s surprise, the fact that it was moving seemed to make no difference to her ability to control the circle. However, as it got further and further away it was more and more difficult to hold onto, and after just a couple seconds she lost contact with it.

    She watched as the upward momentum came to a stop. It must have been a hundred feet in the sky! But it was falling now. She watched as it fell, taking full seconds to eventually land in Star¡¯s waiting maw. Lily swore. But that had been¡­ That was amazing! She realized with a start that this was the first time she¡¯d really used magic for her own amusement and nothing else.

    Star galloped over to her, and dropped the ball at her feet. As he looked up at her with one of the happiest expressions she had ever seen on his face she couldn¡¯t help but grin in return.

    ¡°I have a confession. You scared me a little this morning. I feel silly about it now, but I¡¯d just never seen you as capable of violence before now. Of any kind. I don¡¯t know how much you understand of this. But I¡¯m not scared now. You¡¯re the same Star as always. I really do love you, you know.¡±

    Lily realized she was tearing up, and decided to focus on the game. She grabbed the ball and held it in her palm.

    ¡°We¡¯re partners. Let¡¯s play this game a lot okay? I¡¯ll get better at it. And it¡¯s so fun! I have a new idea. Let¡¯s see if you can get this!¡±

    Lily held out her palm and activated the circle on the bottom of the ball for just a second. Instantly it launched straight into the sky. Before it started to spin at the top of its arc, Lily felt out one of the circles on the sides and activated that one. The end result was popping it up into the sky and then launching it at practically a ninety degree angle. She could feel it leaving her effective area, and at the last moment she found her mana circle and added a strong diagonal downward force to it.

    Star had been tracking its position perfectly, but as it swerved in mid air towards the ground at a different spot, he really had to put on the speed. Lily watched intently, breathing heavily. It was going to be close. It was going to be so close!

    The dog dove at the last moment, and caught the ball just before it hit the ground. He rolled to a stop, and found his feet. Then started his victory trot back to Lily.

    She couldn¡¯t help it. She cheered her heart out.

 0.030

    Lily was laid out on the floor cuddled up to Star. They¡¯d been laying there for at least half an hour. The game of fetch had taken most of the morning, but eventually Lily had completely tired out her mana reserves. Even having used her charging circle until she couldn¡¯t stand it anymore. With more practice, she was able to do some really wild throws.

    Although, what she really wanted was a glyph that could cancel or alter inertia rather than just add to it. As it was, she could make the ball accelerate in any direction, but it would be in addition to its current trajectory. She had plenty of time to learn though. This was a game she and Star would be playing a lot. It was good magic practice for her, and he even seemed pretty tuckered out himself.

    It was approaching noon though, and Lily had some other things she needed to do today. So, she was trying half heartedly to rouse herself.

    ¡°I suppose we should get moving. I want to stop by La Mancha, and set up some dragon balls to charge. I know where three spooky spots are, assuming they¡¯re still there.¡±

    Star groaned and stretched, so Lily hugged him around the middle tighter. The spots she had in mind were the spot she found Star, her old apartment, and the library. Assuming the library was still mana saturated after the blast.

    ¡°I wish I had a way to track these places down. I still need to find four more if I can. Or I guess I can wait longer and just swap them out when they¡¯re charged. But maybe I should go looking.¡±

    As she had that thought, something began nagging at her in the back of her mind. There was something there. Something about tracking the places down. Did she have the tools to do that magically? She hadn¡¯t made a spell like that before, right? She started mentally going over the glyphs she knew.

    Conjuration glyphs were out. Something like a light spell attached to ambient mana could tell her how dense the mana in the area was, but not point her somewhere. So, what? The directionality glyphs she¡¯d found were push, the condense type glyph she was using to make balls of light for her light spell, and the other one she found in the pit. It had been making the water go in circles, and it had something to do with¨C

    ¡°Mana!¡±

    Star sat up, startled. Lily did too.

    ¡°It had something to do with mana! It was sending a direction to the push spell, and it was going in circles. We were in a spooky spot! What does a compass do at the north pole? It¡¯d spin right? I think I heard that somewhere.¡±

    Lily started scrambling for materials. She had an idea and didn¡¯t want to lose it. She grabbed her notebook and a pen, and started in. Two circles covering the page. She wrote in a mana gathering spell for the first one, gathering the ambient mana and making sure it didn¡¯t overflow. The second glyph though, was her new experiment. It was a combination of her [Light] spell, the push glyph, and the glyph she remembered from the pit. It had a bunch of arrows going every which way, but it also had included the mana radical!

    Lily completed the circle, and watched her little ball of light form. It floated to the edge of its little circle, and stayed there. It was a little anticlimactic, actually for what she had been expecting. She¡¯d thought it would zip off in some direction or another and she¡¯d have to jump up and follow it. But, it stayed contained on the page.

    She picked up the notebook, and turned around. It floated to the opposite side of the page. Lily grinned like a maniac.

    ¡°Star, we¡¯re going on an adventure.¡±

    <hr>

    Lily had only been driving for about five minutes, when she realized the problem with cars. Her makeshift mana compass continued to point in a consistent direction, but whoever had planned the layout of roads clearly disagreed. She felt like she was navigating a labyrinth. It felt like her compass was always pointing in a direction that would see her driving through a pond, or a park, or a house.

    ¡°Maybe I really do need a motorcycle or something, huh?¡±

    It was still a little creepy driving through suburbia as empty as it was. At this point, there weren¡¯t many lights left on, and with no cars in the road or people on the streets it just felt empty. Even the idea of a ghost town in Lily¡¯s mind involved running into the occasional tourist. As it was, lawns were just starting to look a little unkempt, gardens were wilting, and cobwebs were accumulating. The lack of sound was unnerving too.

    ¡°You never really realize how much the sounds of life are in the background every single day, until they¡¯re not.¡±

    There was no response. Lily looked over and saw Star was almost asleep in the passenger seat, curled up with Bay. Oh well, she didn¡¯t need to speak out loud too much.

    She still had no idea what she was driving into. It was probably a spooky spot. Was there going to be another anomaly? Just because that¡¯s how she had found the other spooky spots didn¡¯t necessarily mean they all had one. If it didn¡¯t have one, how would she know when she got there? Well, other than the compass spinning again. Assuming she was right about that in the first place.

    Lily really hoped she wasn¡¯t wasting her time. She had put the dragon balls in the trunk in case she found anything. Chaos Emeralds? She was starting to think they were more like chaos emeralds than dragon balls, since she hoped they wouldn¡¯t grant a wish then scatter across the world. Maybe she should change naming conventions? It¡¯d make more¨C

    A bolt of lightning struck the hood of her car. Lily screamed, and slammed on the breaks. She threw the car into park, and turned it off, not sure if leaving it on would make it more or less likely to get damaged in this situation.

    She sat still, breathing hard for about twenty seconds before she felt Star nuzzle her arm and whine.

    ¡°Oh. Yeah. You¡¯re awake. That makes sense. What the hell was that? Lightning hit us!¡±

    Star barked, and Lily looked at where he was looking. The compass was spinning.

    ¡°Aww, great. This is some magic bullshit. Not that I couldn¡¯t have guessed from the lightning on a clear day, I guess.¡±

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    She sighed. What are you supposed to do in a lightning storm? Stay in the car right? Was the car going to be okay? Lily instinctually pulled out her phone. It was off, and wouldn¡¯t turn on.

    ¡°Ugh! You¡¯re so unreliable!¡±

    Not that it¡¯d have helped much anyways. Well, what now? Should she feel out the circle, or try to get out of the perimeter first?

    Lightning struck the car again. Lily screamed again. This time Star started barking wildly until she calmed him down.

    ¡°It¡¯s okay, it¡¯s okay. It shouldn¡¯t be able to get us in here! It¡­ it might ruin the car though. Yeah, let¡¯s move.¡±

    She turned the keys. It didn¡¯t even start to turn over.

    ¡°Oh, well that¡¯s just perfect! The battery is¡­ Wait. Is it out of energy or fried? I¡¯d have thought it was fried, but wouldn¡¯t it make a sound? Or am I just an idiot about cars?¡±

    Lily thought for a moment, then decided to reach out and try to feel out the circle. She closed her eyes and focused on that. There was definitely a circle here, but it was huge! It wasn¡¯t detailed at all, just a few nodes, but she was having a hard time due to how spread out it was. Maybe if she focused really hard on one at a time¨C

    Lightning struck again, and Lily screamed.

    ¡°FUCK. It is so hard to focus through this! God damn! Okay, think Lily, think! What can you do?¡±

    What could a spell like this be doing, exactly? Lightning was striking. But it was just hitting her car. Was her car the most likely thing to get struck around here?

    She looked around. Power poles might be outside the radius, and if that was the case then yes. It was no wonder it was striking her car. Could she give it a better target somehow? What would that even look like? Something metal, higher up and away from the car¡­?

    Oh no. She looked down at the car keys. Really? Was she about to take a note from Benjamin Franklin? But she couldn¡¯t think of anything else off the top of her head. The key ring had more than just a car key on it. The house keys were there too, and she didn¡¯t really need those right?

    ¡°This is so dumb. This is so stupid. Okay, listen Star. This will buy us one to two strikes of time, okay? In that time, we¡¯re going to open the car, and run as fast as we can straight away from it, alright? Be careful not to touch the metal of the car. Uh¡­ I don¡¯t know how much you understand. Just¨C just run when we get out, oka¨C AH!¡±

    Lightning struck again. Lily swore and focused on her key. She put a small levitation spell on it, fed with a one mana capacitor and ambient mana. It felt weird holding it in her hand. A little like it was suddenly full of helium.

    Lily waited for the next lightning strike, and then¡­ She opened the door and threw the key. It immediately started to rise. She leapt from the vehicle, Bay in her arms and dashed down the road. Star was hot on her heels. She could feel vaguely where the edge of the circle was, but it was so far away!

    There was a CRASH. Lily screamed, feeling something jolt through her and tripped, hitting the ground hard. But the lightning hadn¡¯t hit her. She scrambled to her feet while Star nudged her, and kept running. As she passed the edge of the circle, and got another thirty or so feet just in case, she turned around to look.

    What she had felt was her key spell breaking. Lightning had struck it, and the key was nowhere to be seen. Lily got down to the ground, and watched for the next bolt. It hit the car again. She breathed a sigh of relief, and glanced over at Star.

    Laughter hit her like a truck. All of his fur was standing on end from the static in the air. She wheezed, and doubled over, tears coming to her eyes.

    ¡°You look so dumb right now! Pfftahahahaha!¡±

    Star tackled her.

    <hr>

    The rest of the process was pretty straightforward. Lily noted down the glyphs before erasing them, and finished by breaking the circle. She waited more than an hour to be sure no more lightning would strike, casually breaking into a nearby house to search for something to drink. While she was there, she discovered some canned food, and decided to run a little experiment.

    It turned out she could use the heat glyph like an awesome hot plate, and did so outside to heat the can of ravioli she¡¯d taken. She shared it with Star, even though she was pretty sure the sodium content might be a bit much for a dog. Then again, she wasn¡¯t sure which rules like that even applied to him.

    When she was sure there would be no more lightning, she went back to the car and got out one of the chaos emeralds. She chose the yellow one, because it seemed fitting. It didn¡¯t take long to have a charging spell up and running.

    The only remaining problem was¡­ her car wasn¡¯t starting. She didn¡¯t really want to walk home, or go car stealing. But, Lily was pretty sure she¡¯d figured out what the spell was doing. It was sapping electricity from everything it could to create the lightning. Ambient electricity, and she thought mana to electricity as well. Truthfully, the first thought she had when she realized that was the horrifying idea that it could have turned off her nervous system. She really wasn¡¯t sure why it hadn¡¯t, but that was a mystery for another time.

    For now, she just wanted to get her car moving. The idea that she could turn mana into electricity though was pretty fascinating, although not entirely unexpected. She¡¯d thought it was likely possible since discovering Heat to Mana. She was just not sure how to figure out watts and volts and the like. What was the difference between those two again? She¡¯d have to be careful not to overload devices.

    Maybe she could get a multimeter, and then do experiments until she¡¯d figured out a way to standardize it against mana values put into it?

    Star barked. Lily realized she¡¯d been in her own little world for a while now.

    ¡°I really didn¡¯t realize how often I did that till you came along buddy. Alright, so, why don¡¯t we just try it on the car battery and turn it really really low? We can wait a bit, and try turning over the engine. If it¡¯s not enough, we turn up the spell. Sounds good?¡±

    Star¡¯s tail wagged, hopefully.

    ¡°Not that you know anything about cars.¡±

    Lily sighed.

    ¡°Not that I know anything about cars either. Oh well, if we ruin this one we can still steal another.¡±

    It was a lot of guesswork, but for once Lily felt like she was working off pretty educated guesses. Mana to Electricity was just a variation of a glyph she already knew. So was the infuse glyph with the electricity radical. And otherwise it was just her battery spell. It should create a light to indicate when the battery was full. This was essentially just her charging spell with a few tweaks.

    Sure enough, it worked. Within a few minutes, she was able to get the car to turn over. For now she broke the spell, and started the drive home. None of the dashboard lights were working. Lily figured something electrical must have blown out. But she could fix it later.

    ¡°Wait, don¡¯t I still need to go back to my old place and see how that repair spell was working? Star, there¡¯s so much to do! Can¡¯t you drive or something?¡±

    He sat up and reached a paw towards the wheel tentatively. Lily shooed him away and laughed.

    ¡°I was kidding. I didn¡¯t expect you to get it! Well, maybe one day we¡¯ll teach you to drive. I don¡¯t know how, but we have plenty of time. For now, I just wish we could communicate better. Sometimes it catches me off guard when you understand me.¡±

    Lily thought to herself for a moment, and then she decided.

    ¡°Okay, we¡¯re off to the apartment first. Maybe we can repair the car while we set up another emerald to charge huh?¡±

    Star reached for the wheel again. Lily nearly screamed.

 0.031

    Lily pulled up to her old apartment building for the second time since it burned to the ground. To her surprise, it was looking¡­ better. A lot of the scorch marks were missing now, and some of the concrete seemed like it had re-formed. Lily was not at all surprised to see it was looking better, but was a bit shocked by how little had changed. Hadn¡¯t this repair spell been going for several days already, at least? She would have been shocked as hell if the apartment had fully re-assembled or something, but she expected much more obvious changes.

    This time, Lily knew she was looking for a large spell circle, and she made sure to park outside of it. Star growled a little as they got out of the car, and Lily shot him a glance. She didn¡¯t blame him for being wary, given their experiences last time. But they weren¡¯t here for trouble now. This should be a pretty routine visit.

    ¡°Should be. But you never know.¡±

    Sure enough, there was a huge spell circle that seemed like it probably circled the whole complex. While focusing on it, Lily could just make out the nearest line drawn of mana. She¡¯d have to follow it to find a glyph or two.

    ¡°Did I not notice this the first time because I wasn¡¯t paying attention? Or was it not here until after I fell into the pit? If so, how did it form?¡±

    There were always so many questions. Like, did she cast this spell somehow? That seemed unlikely, and yet there was evidence for it. She really didn¡¯t think it had been here when she first arrived, and she had been wishing really hard to return to her apartment. At the same time, she knew she didn¡¯t have enough mana in her body for a circle this big.

    ¡°So, what gives, huh?¡±

    Star whined, and pawed at her calf.

    ¡°Oh, sorry buddy. I guess I¡¯m kinda talking to myself huh? I¡¯m just trying to figure out how this spell got here. After I copy down the glyphs, I think I¡¯ll break it and leave a Chaos Emerald to charge here instead. Come on, let¡¯s find the glyphs.¡±

    Star trotted on ahead, sniffing along the ground. Lily decided he must have a pretty good sense for mana, because he was sniffing right along the line, and as he came to the first glyph, he stopped, looking proud of himself.

    ¡°Yeah yeah, you¡¯re a good boy. Now move so I can write this down.¡±

    Lily didn¡¯t actually need him to move. The circle was created from Mana, so it wasn¡¯t really sight she was using to interact with it. She was actually starting to think it existed in a sort of meta layer on top of reality rather than as a physical thing at all. But, a dog sitting in the center of it still somehow made it harder to read.

    Star moved, but looked a little dejected.

    ¡°You wanna help? Find the next one, so I can just run to you when I¡¯m done here.¡±

    He perked up immediately, and started sniffing out the line again. Lily smiled. It was nice having him with her. Lily would need to do some introspection about why it was easy for her to be around a sentient dog but not other people sometime, but for now she just cherished having a partner.

    The first glyph had something to do with mana, but Lily didn¡¯t understand more than that. The second glyph was a different mana glyph that Lily didn¡¯t understand. By the time she was writing down the third, Lily was noticing a pattern.

    ¡°Is this spell almost entirely mana generation? How much mana does it take to repair something? Or is it that infusing something with mana is what repairs it? That can¡¯t be it right? I¡¯ve personally seen something overflow with mana and explode, and I sure as hell don¡¯t feel healed standing in my charging spell.¡±

    No, there had to be something more to it than that. The more Lily thought about it though, the more questions she had. Like, how would a repair spell even work in the first place? How does the spell know what is repaired and what isn¡¯t? How did the spell earlier know not to drain the electricity from her nervous system? Lily was sure this had come up before too.

    Sometimes, it seemed like spells just knew things that weren¡¯t explicitly written into them. In some ways, she could consider the glyphs with settings to be like that. Some meta informational layer on top of the magic that responded to¡­ what? Intention of the caster?

    ¡°Oh this is going to drive me nuts! The repair spell worked on my phone. It didn¡¯t even remove any data. Why did it restore it to that? How did it know? Why not factory defaults? Or a pile of component parts?¡±

    Lily was sure there was some witty observation to be made about Plato and staring at shadows on the wall of a cave, but she was too frustrated to put it together right now. While she was busy thinking it through, she stumbled upon the only remaining glyph on the circle, and the first one that seemed to have nothing to do with manipulating mana.

    It was a very strange glyph, in comparison to most of the ones she had encountered so far. For one, it was much larger. The circle was structured in a way that this node covered much more area than the rest of them. Lily wasn¡¯t sure if that was important to the spell or not. But also, the glyph appeared different in some major ways.

    It was much more complex, and didn¡¯t seem to be created from the same radicals, or simply a radical itself. The node it was recessed in was different too. In fact, the more she looked at it, the more she was sure that the node was very different and the glyph itself was¡­

    ¡°It¡¯s gibberish! Junk data! What the actual hell! That¡¯s not even a glyph!¡±

    Not only was it not a glyph as she was used to seeing them at all, it wasn¡¯t even something that could be considered a glyph. Every time she looked at it, it was different. There was no way she could write this down! It looked like it didn¡¯t belong in this circle at all!

    So, what was she looking at? Lily paused. The node was foreign too. Most nodes were just circles. The rare ones had a geometric shape in them, and usually were markers of the entry point of the circle, or a capacitor, or a gate. But this one was complicated, and connected to this strange magical¡­ something.

    ¡°Well, that¡¯s going to make it hard to use this however I want. I can¡¯t even really wrap my head around what it is.¡±

    Star was standing at attention, looking at the strange node too. It seemed utterly foreign. Like it didn¡¯t even belong in this system of magic.

    Maybe that¡¯s what it was? It was an idle thought. But maybe this was some kind of API? A different kind of magic entirely, worked into a circle? That would imply that it wasn¡¯t naturally occurring. Lily wasn¡¯t sure. She wasn¡¯t ready to decide that yet, but her gut was telling her that this was something completely foreign to what she¡¯d been learning. It looked more out of place in the circle than her circuit board concepts by miles. At least those used the same sorts of lines and structures.

    ¡°Well shit. Now what?¡±

    Lily took the opportunity to walk over to Star and pat him on the head.

    ¡°Everything¡¯s okay. I don¡¯t think it¡¯s going to hurt us, but we can be nice and careful okay? I think it just repairs things. But, let¡¯s disable it for now to be sure.¡±

    Lily looked over her notes on the spell. Well, aside from the strange foreign spell embedded in the circle, it was pretty straightforward. She didn¡¯t know exactly what all the mana glyphs did, but she could read them enough to be sure it mostly just gathered a lot of mana.

    Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon.

    Her plan had been to take down the spell, recreate it over her car to test it, and set up a charging spell for a chaos emerald. But if she couldn¡¯t recreate the repair spell she didn¡¯t want to take it down. At the same time, she didn¡¯t want it just running and running when she wasn¡¯t sure how it worked. More than that, she wanted to use the magic power of this spooky spot to charge up some chaos emeralds.

    Could she make changes to the existing circle and make those things happen? It was a very large circle, and she¡¯d be dealing with the node she didn¡¯t understand. But, how dangerous could it be to just redirect the mana supply into one of her charging spells and leave the foreign node intact but not connected to anything?

    Lily couldn¡¯t see the danger in doing that. But, she knew she didn¡¯t always. Was it worth the danger to not lose the repair spell? It might be. If this wasn¡¯t a naturally occurring spell, she might not find it again.

    Maybe she could split the circle so that it did two things mostly disconnected from one another? It¡¯d technically be one spell, but if she completely disconnected the mana gathering from the repair spell, and then routed the mana to charging up her special rocks and created a separate circle to power the repair spell and divert it to a small testing area¡­ Would that work? It was complicated.

    Lily sat down and began doodling in her notebook. She suspected that it was possible. Maybe even there would be reasons to create an asynchronous spell like this where the circles did work together for a result? Well, plenty of time to think about that later. For now, she had a basic formation in mind.

    She¡¯d start by neutering the repair spell. To do that, she needed to make an edit to the circle that directed mana to a glyph of her choice rather than to the repair spell, skipping that node entirely. This was the smallest change she needed to make, and she was thinking of diverting it to her Light spell. She wasn¡¯t actually sure what a light spell with that much mana funneled into it would look like, but it still had to be better than fire, or heat, or electricity, or air which were her other options.

    This was also the smallest portion of the circle she¡¯d need to work on. She was a bit worried about that. The circle was physically quite large. Earlier in the middle of the electric circle she¡¯d had a problem reaching the whole thing. But then she¡¯d been on the inside trying to reach the edge. This time she was starting on the edge.

    Well, there was only one thing to do, and that was try it. Lily briefly explained her plan to Star, and then got to work. She reached out and felt for the line she wanted to change. As she got hold of it, a sensation flooded her. She could sense the whole circle while working on part of it. The problem was, it was an immense amount of mana.

    Lily gasped, suddenly feeling like she was going to be crushed by the weight of it. But of course, it had no actual weight. She was okay. It was just a sensation. It was huge. It was made of more mana than she¡¯d ever interacted with at once. She had the disturbing thought that if it all rushed into her, she¡¯d pop like her first spell had. She pushed that thought away, lest she somehow will it into being.

    She just wanted to make a small change. This should be easy. The circle already had so much mana. Lily could feel the magical energy coursing through her. It wasn¡¯t like it was when her body had too much. That felt like an electric fire inside her. This was an almost buzzing static feeling that was nearly overwhelming. Memory tickled the back of her mind. Had she felt this somewhere before? In any case, now wasn¡¯t the time.

    Lily focused on forming her new circle. It was one she¡¯d created a fair few times now, but she was working on a larger scale and with much more energy than ever before. She visualized the change she wanted, and pushed.

    Drawing circles before had always felt like cardio to Lily. Like running until her heart and lungs were ready to give out. This was more like trying to lift too much weight at once with her mana muscle. She strained, but it didn¡¯t want to budge! It was overwhelming.

    Lily pushed. Nothing happened. She was about to give up and let it go when she realized the situation was a little more dire than that. It really was like she was lifting too much weight. She had destabilized it at all, and now she needed to either finish what she was doing or put it back the exact way she found it. She couldn¡¯t just let go or the whole thing might collapse. Lily didn¡¯t want to know what happened if the whole thing collapsed.

    She took a deep breath, and pushed. The circle moved. She could feel it. She was changing something! But it was miniscule! It was nothing! She¡¯d have to do that a thousand times to make the change she had already started! She didn¡¯t have that in her! Lily gathered herself and tried to push things back into place instead. No change.

    It was like she was pushing a truck and had somehow gotten it to start rolling. Grabbing it and pulling it to a stop wasn¡¯t going to happen at this point. She could direct it, or she could get run over.

    ¡°Oh god. Oh god! I¡¯m not strong enough!¡±

    Panic raced through her. Lily did everything she could to just hold on for a second longer. She felt herself slipping. She was losing control of it! Panic was making her lose focus! She closed her eyes and tried to drown out the world around her. Focus on only this. Only this mattered in the whole world right now. Just don¡¯t let the spell with this much mana collapse on itself!

    It wasn¡¯t enough. It had already started to slip, and she couldn¡¯t calm down enough to refocus. She held on as hard as she could.

    Lily felt something fluffy push itself up against her. Fluffy and warm. She opened her eyes. Star was pressing himself gently up against her. He was here to help. Here with her, no matter what happened.

    A wave of calm focus passed through her. Yes. She wasn¡¯t alone. If things went wrong, she had a partner. She didn¡¯t know what he could do to help. But he¡¯d try. So, she¡¯d give it her best too.

    Lily gathered herself and pushed again. To her surprise, the circle moved. Not easily. Not at all easily. But it did. She started reshaping the spell. First her light spell. The mana moved where she wanted it to. It felt like directing a river with her mind. It was raging, splashing, flowing faster and with more force than she could really understand. But it was obeying her.

    It was getting easier to focus. But she still wasn¡¯t feeling in control. The mana flowed, and she flowed with it. As she finished her light spell, she directed the magic to run through that node instead of the repair spell. But she wasn¡¯t done. She couldn¡¯t just stop now that the spell was obeying her. She¡¯d never had access to this much power before. So, she let it continue to flow, and let herself be swept along by the current.

    Yes, it was a current, she could see it now. Not weight. Her mistake at the beginning had been trying to go against the current she hadn¡¯t realized was there. The mana flowed through the circle. Now that it was a whole circle, she could direct it.

    When she¡¯d written her own circles before, she¡¯d used the mana inside herself. This mana was already here. She was just reshaping it. She didn¡¯t need to push against it. She didn¡¯t need to pull from herself. It was here. Somewhere between a current and a live wire.

    No, it was more than that. The mana was flowing into her body, but it was flowing back out again. She was part of the circle. Why did it not feel like when she¡¯d been overflowing with mana before?

    A huge ball of light appeared. Lily hardly noticed as it rose above the broken remains of the apartment complex, practically a second sun in the sky. But the girl was in a trance. Caught in the current of the spell.

    She directed the flow. A second circle appeared. Her charging spell, set to benefit from the huge flow of mana the circle generated. The light spell was connected to the overflow for when the battery was full. Easy. It was like nothing.

    Lily had never felt so powerful. Fine, let¡¯s do some more. Why not? She waited until she had the current behind her again and let it flow. This time, it was a circle stemming from the repair spell. The mana felt like it flowed around that node like a river past a stone. But that was fine. As long as she could direct the circle itself, even if not that node.

    An ornate circle Lily never could have drawn with her hands sprang forth as she imagined it. It responded to her will. This was so easy! Why had her own mana never been like this before? Had she been resisting on some subconscious level rather than just letting it pour out of her? Why? This was so easy!

    The new circle used some of her logic gates to only feed the repair spell with mana when something was inside the circle to be repaired, and the mana circle wasn¡¯t charging an item. Lily vaguely felt an ache. It was getting more annoying as time went on.

    But while she was here she wanted to study that repair spell. Could she move the circle if she made it smaller? It¡¯d use the same amount of mana right? Why not? She focused on shifting it. But it was getting harder.

    The pain was growing more intense. It was so distracting! She couldn¡¯t focus! Lily centered the repair spell on her car. The circle had to be about that small to be all the way over there. That was fine. Now, the spell should be stable.

    Which was good, because Lily was really starting to have trouble again. Something was shaking her? It hurt. She was deep in her trance, but now she was trying to rise out of it. The pain was making it a little easier. It was all over. Why did it hurt all over?

    Lily opened her eyes. She was on her back. Star was dragging her across the asphalt. His teeth were dug into her shoulder to get a strong enough grip. They¡¯d only just punctured the skin, but it was enough to hurt a good bit. Lily tried to open her mouth to chastise him. It wouldn¡¯t work. She tried to move an arm, or flail, or communicate that she was conscious. Nothing.

    Star stopped dragging her, and started licking her face. She was having a hard time breathing around his kisses, but finally managed a groan. The relieved whines that came from him broke her heart. She wanted to ask him how bad it had been.

    But, she couldn¡¯t stay awake. Instead, she closed her eyes and let sleep take her.

 0.032

    The snow was intensifying. Wild flurries whipped at the windshield; blotting out the outside completely, until it felt like the whole world condensed down to just the interior of the vehicle. She felt like she should have been worried--but instead she slumped back against her seat, dreamily. She trusted Star.

    They were going on a trip. Lily didn¡¯t know where. That bothered her a little.

    ¡°Where are we going anyway? I can¡¯t even see the road through the snow.¡±

    Star opened his mouth, and a voice came out. It was excitable and simple. He leaned forward, panting, and a young man¡¯s voice emerged from him, energetic and excited.

    ¡°Doesn¡¯t matter!¡±

    Lily scrunched up her face.

    ¡°I mean, it matters a little. You¡¯re driving, I hope you know where you¡¯re going."

    ¡°Road only goes one way. But we¡¯re together. Together all the way." He glanced sideways, locking her with his big brown eyes. "That''s all that matters.¡±

    "I guess."

    Lily rubbed her hands together, staring out the windshield. Big flakes of snow pattered against the glass as strange cars passed by one by one. She could only make them out through the shine of their vibrant headlights. She watched one with flickering greens turn off down what she presumed must be another road, and sighed.

    ¡°I¡¯m kinda sick of feeling aimless though. I feel like I¡¯m constantly getting pushed in one direction or another. Even when I try to make decisions for myself, it feels like the current takes me where it wants, and I never get to know where I¡¯m headed.¡±

    The cold was getting to her. Lily could see her breath. She turned up the heat, but it really wasn¡¯t helping as much as she¡¯d like. Sunset was fast approaching.

    ¡°Too hard on yourself. Doing your best. Good. Lily is a good girl.¡±

    ¡°Pfft. You¡¯re just saying that because I give you treats.¡±

    ¡°No no! I believe. Lily has no direction from outside. All are choices. Even simple choices. Could have stopped. Didn¡¯t. Could have left me. Didn''t. Could have give bad food. Didn''t. Is a good girl.¡±

    ¡°Well, geez. You¡¯re really sweet. I just wish I knew where I was going. I don¡¯t feel like I know what¡¯s going to happen next. Where magic is taking me. Where this spell is going to take me. Even what I¡¯m doing day to day. I¡¯m flying by the seat of my pants you know? Just doing my best to survive.¡±

    ¡°Do you have any treats?¡±

    Lily laughed until her chest hurt. The sun was down now. Maybe it had been down for hours. The headlights shone off the white snow, and it was difficult to see more than a few feet in front of the car. But they continued cruising along, and Lily didn¡¯t feel like she was in any danger. She saw the green car again. It was somewhere behind them now.

    ¡°No, I don¡¯t. But I promise to share when I have some.¡±

    ¡°Survival is a choice. You say no making choices. But survival is choice. You could die instead. You choose not.¡±

    Lily sighed.

    ¡°I guess I get it. I hate when people think of that as some kind of bravery though. Like, I¡¯m just taking the path of least resistance that leaves me alive. It¡¯s cowardice if anything.¡±

    ¡°If you died, we never meet. I die too. We die together. Chose to live. Chose to live with me. Be happy. I¡¯m happy.¡±

    ¡°Well, if you ever know how to teach me I¡¯ll be your first student, okay Star?¡±

    The steady thump of his tail was the only answer. Lily closed her eyes, and drifted into wakefulness.

    <hr>

    She rose from slumber, into the world of pain and cold. Her body hurt all over, and she was freezing. It felt like there was a boulder on her chest. For a few minutes she just lay there and tried to breathe. Then she realized the boulder was fluffy, and warm.

    Lily opened her eyes. She was laying just outside the magic circle, in the early light of dawn. Had she slept all night and into the morning?

    The exhausted girl groaned and shook a little. Her furry protector raised his head. Star¡¯s tail wagged fiercely and he lunged forward to start licking her face. Lily giggled and feebly tried to push him away.

    ¡°I¡¯m okay! Really. I¡¯m okay. Please!¡±

    Her arms and legs were freezing, but where Star had been laying was pleasantly warm.

    ¡°Did you lay on me all night to keep me warm? Geez, you¡¯re too good. We gotta stop doing this so often.¡±

    Lily sat up. Pain coursed through her. She blinked a few times, feeling bleary eyed and tried to examine the spots she was hurt. The first thing that caught her notice were her hands. The girl¡¯s heart nearly stopped in her chest as she saw something she hadn¡¯t expected.

    Wounds covered her hands. They looked almost like puncture wounds, but if she didn¡¯t know any better she¡¯d say they looked like they came from the inside. Some of them had already healed a decent amount, and were scarring over. But not even the ridiculous speed of recovery was the strangest part. The wounds were glowing.

    ¡°Oooooh god. What the hell is that?¡±

    In at least thirty spots between her two hands, she had wounds that shined with an opalescent light. Each little one had a familiar shape.

    ¡°The mana glyph?¡±

    At a glance, the wounds looked like the mana glyph. A star with four sides. Or the hole left in something after it¡¯s punctured. There was less blood than Lily would have imagined. She wasn¡¯t sure if that was good or bad or if Star just licked her clean when things started to heal. There were a few spatters of blood on her clothes, and as she examined the spots underneath them, she found more of the same wounds. They were strongly concentrated on her hands though, even overlapping in places.

    ¡°Um. Have they been glowing the entire time? What does it mean?¡±

    Lily looked over at Star, but he just whined and wagged his tail, clearly happy she was awake again. Her hands hurt like hell, and so did the other wounds on her body. She was sore from sleeping on the asphalt all night. Her shoulder ached where Star had had to grab her. Her hands and wounds were glowing with strange presumably magic energy. Lily decided it was time to go home.

    ¡°Okay buddy, I think we need to get out of here. Let¡¯s see if I can stand up, huh?¡±

    Lily in fact, could stand up. Barely. Her body was beyond stiff. She limped over to her car and popped the door open. It hurt so bad to use her hands, but she wasn¡¯t actively bleeding anywhere. Which seemed strange, given the obvious wounds. Did they self cauterize or something?

    As Lily sat down in the car, she noticed another thing she¡¯d missed, because she hadn¡¯t been looking in the right spot yet. There was a HUGE ball of light floating above the remaining ruins. Lily vaguely recalled setting that up. Everything after Star began helping her cast the spell was a bit of a blur. Wait, didn¡¯t she set up the charging spell? Aw crap, she did not want to go into the spell circle with that much mana running through it right now.

    ¡°Hey Star, wanna do me a favor? Let¡¯s test how much you can really understand me, huh?¡±

    His tail began wagging. Lily popped open the trunk.

    ¡°Okay, I have an important mission for you. I don¡¯t want to interact with a spell with whatever is going on with my hands. So, I want you to take a chaos emerald from the trunk, and put it in the charging circle. Can you do that for me?¡±

    Star barked. But he didn¡¯t move. Lily sighed.

    ¡°I don¡¯t know which part of that was too much either. Okay, let¡¯s try this. Star, go get a chaos emerald. Please.¡±

    Lily made a circular gesture with her hands. Star perked up, and ran to the back of the car. He came back with the blue sphere in his mouth. Lily got way too excited, and clapped once, before she realized her mistake.

    ¡°Ow ow owww. Good boy. Gooood boy. Okay. Now. Put it in the circle! Over there!¡±

    Lily pointed. This time, Star definitely got it. He happily ran over to the charging circle and dropped the chaos emerald inside it. Then he bounded back and sat in front of her with a very happy look on his face. Lily grinned at him and pet him for a minute. Her hands hurt, but he really was impressive.

    ¡°Okay, this spot clearly has more mana than any other one we¡¯ve found. So. Can you do it again? One more time? Please?¡±

    Star immediately rose, grabbed another chaos emerald and ran it over to leave in the same spot. Lily had him go one more time for a total of three charging gems, and then lavished praise on him.

    The wounded exhausted girl embraced her companion as he got into the car with her.

    ¡°You¡¯re so fucking smart! I love you!¡±

    A case of content theft: this narrative is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.

    Lily laughed through her pain.

    ¡°Now let¡¯s go home. I need to stop touching things and figure out if I have magical super cancer or something.¡±

    She eyed her glowing spots, but they already seemed a little less vibrant. Lily was extremely hopeful they would fade away given a little time and rest. That spell had really messed her up. But, she had a day to reflect on that when she was home and safe. She turned on the car, and to her surprise the dashboard came alive as if it were perfectly new.

    ¡°Oh. Uh. Wait. Did I repair the car last night?¡±

    Oh well. It didn¡¯t matter right now. Lily threw the car in reverse and started to head away. The ball of light floating above the ruins was already getting visibly smaller. That made sense. Lily idly wondered how much mana the light spell expended. It didn¡¯t immediately go out, so that implied it was like a little sun, running off mana instead of matter.

    As she turned the car and pulled out onto the road, she cursed. This was going to be a very painful ride home. But she didn¡¯t feel like she had a choice in the matter. So, onward she went.

    The mana compass on her dashboard was pointed behind her, which made sense. She¡¯d have been shocked if that wasn¡¯t the biggest source nearby. Now that she was on the path to safety, she let her mind drift a bit more though. She was very frightened about her hands. Her hands! Glowing wounds couldn¡¯t be good, right? Somehow, she didn¡¯t feel like they were particularly dangerous, and she thought that might have something to do with her not panicking before now.

    ¡°Wait, I tranced out pretty hard while casting that spell. Am I under the effect of some kind of mental manipulation? Ah shit, how would I know? Hey Star, am I acting weird?¡±

    He barked. That was¡­ inconclusive.

    ¡°Hah, you know I had a dream where you talked to me. You were simple and cute. I loved it.¡±

    His tail thumped against the seat. Lily yawned and tried to keep focused on the road.

    ¡°Okay, but for real. What happened? I was trying to concentrate on the spell. I remember that. I¡¯ve done that before, but for some reason this time I sunk way deeper into it. It¡¯s like I became a part of the spell circle for a little. The mana was flowing through me, rather than just through the circle with me manipulating it. And then¡­ What did that look like from the outside? I wish you could tell me.¡±

    In the early morning light of dawn, Lily drove past a donut shop and desperately wished it was open. She¡¯d kill for a donut and a coffee right now. Extra sweet, of course. She couldn¡¯t handle the bitter stuff.

    ¡°Okay, so that aside. Never doing that again. Never, ever again. We can erase glyphs in big spells, but no edits unless I¡¯m sure I can control that much mana. Otherwise it¡­ hurts me. Like this. This will heal right?¡±

    Star whined, and laid his head on her lap. Lily rolled her eyes.

    ¡°You don¡¯t know. You¡¯re a dog. Ugh. Fine. Well, you did very good. Thank you for saving me. Again. That¡¯s what, three times now? Hah, I¡¯m starting to think you¡¯re here to watch out for me instead of the other way around.¡±

    His tail wagged harder.

    ¡°Oh shut it you. I¡¯m still the one that feeds you, you know. Although¡­ I guess you did bring back the animal. Hmm. I¡¯m gonna have to think on this. Well, Sir Star, the kingdom thanks you for your service. There will be many celebratory duck feet today. Ugh. I¡¯m hungry, but I can barely force myself to keep my hands on this stupid wheel. It hurts SO BAD. How is this not bleeding everywhere? This is so¨C¡±

    Lily stopped talking. Her mana compass suddenly shifted from pointing behind her to pointing to her left.

    ¡°Huh. I guess there¡¯s another spot that way.¡±

    The car slowly came to a stop as Lily stared.

    ¡°I don¡¯t think I can do spells right now. We can go home and check it out later. Or maybe I could go figure out where it is so I remember it later, then go home. I really don¡¯t want to drive further. But I don¡¯t want to risk losing access to something. Why is it always like this! Star, what do I do?¡±

    She turned to look at him, and instantly got her face licked. Lily yelped in surprise, and then had to laugh at herself for getting jump scared by a puppy. Large or not.

    ¡°Fine. But when we get home, I¡¯m not touching another thing tonight, deal?¡±

    The dog whined and looked at her pleadingly.

    ¡°Except your duck feet. Okay?¡±

    He barked. With that settled, Lily headed towards the source of the mana. Fortunately, this drive was pretty straightforward. It was a bit out of the way, but there was a road that led from the freeway straight to one of the other main roads through town, and on that road was very clearly where the spot was. It was a drive-in movie theater, and as Lily drove around the outside of it, she was sure. The compass always seemed to point into it.

    ¡°Huh. I can¡¯t see anything obviously magical going on from out here, but I believe the compass. On the plus side, this is gonna be really easy to find again. On the other hand, I don¡¯t want to fuck with anything magical while I have glowing stab wounds. So, let¡¯s head back okay?¡±

    Reluctantly, Lily pulled away from the spot. She¡¯d remember it was there, but just couldn¡¯t handle it right now. It was time to go home and rest. This spot and La Mancha could wait until tomorrow.

    Thankfully, the rest of the drive home was uneventful, outside of the pain.

    <hr>

    Lily walked into her seaside mansion like a zombie, and practically collapsed onto the livingroom floor. Star approached and started licking her cheek.

    ¡°Thank you. Yes, yes. Thank you Mister Man. Really saved my bacon out there you know? Again. Again! I really thought that was going to be an easy one. At a certain point I need to make a spellbook for spells I know will work a certain way, and only ever use those unless I am taking every precaution under the sun. I can¡¯t keep injuring myself like this.¡±

    Thankfully, her wounds were almost not glowing at all already, and the glowing spots seemed to be getting replaced with simple scar tissue. She was going to have a million star shaped scars. Which was not ideal, but it was better than a magical illness. Lily thought she could actually feel the mana leaving them over time, but that had to be in her head. Probably. How had they scarred over so fast?

    ¡°I¡¯m really starting to think I was partially right about mana repairs. I¡¯m coated in the stuff a lot of the time, and my body has been healing faster than normal since the world ended. This is mana damage, and it¡¯s healing faster. God I am so fucking tired though. That a consequence you think? It¡¯s sped up, but takes the same amount of energy? Or maybe I¡¯m on the wrong track entirely.¡±

    But Lily thought she was onto something. What had changed since the world ended? Magic existed now. Also, she was healing faster than normal. Usually only by a little, but these wounds looked like they¡¯d been pretty bad last night. And now they were almost entirely healed. Minus whatever the glow was.

    But her body was beyond worn out, and her mind too. Lily didn¡¯t think she was thinking clearly since she woke up. But it wasn¡¯t the normal kind of brain fog she got. It was more like being emotionally exhausted. She just couldn¡¯t bring herself to feel as much as she normally did. Instead, she just wanted to sleep. Depression? Magic depression? Lily didn¡¯t know. But she was done moving until she felt better. Floor or not.

    ¡°Star, bring me the bag of duck feet. I¡¯ll dole out some of the goodies. Don¡¯t rip it up or I¡¯ll be cross, okay?¡±

    Lily spent the next ten minutes feeding Star all the duck feet he could eat, until she passed out.

    <hr>

    Star watched his Master sleeping with rapt attention. She was looking a lot better than after the incident, but he wasn¡¯t sure if he¡¯d done enough to help. The wounds stank of mana. Star vividly remembered watching them appear. As the world shaping began to fail, his Master entered a state of total serenity. She had worked an immense magic, but the cost! The cost was great.

    He had watched in horror as her flesh began to fail. Light moved under her skin, concentrated, and then burst forth like water cracking through stone. Like his teeth punctured hide, but from the inside out. Teeth of light that shone from the newly formed holes, and did not let up. More and more appeared, until he was sure she would lose herself to the power.

    The moment he sensed the spell stabilize, he grabbed her and pulled her out of the circle. But the damage was done. She had been bleeding from many, many places. The mana continued to pour out of her like her very lifeblood.

    She did not wake, no matter how hard he tried to rouse her. When it became clear he could not, he settled for keeping her safe and warm as best he could. She was breathing. Her heart was beating. Surely that meant she would be well again?

    Twice in the night, Star had to chase off curious intruders. A stray dog, and some form of large cat. But neither were a match for him, and neither really thought the fight was worth the potential meal. So, he only had to bark and chase to send them running.

    Even now that they had returned to the den he was quite concerned for her. But what could he do? She had mentioned being quite hungry before she blacked out. Could he provide food? There were no more eggs, and his Master preferred not to eat the duck feet, or from the stag. But she needed nutrients! What had she said before about food?

    ¡°I¡¯m a human! I¡¯ve almost never eaten anything that didn¡¯t come out of a package from the store, like your kibble. I need my food to be prepared and cooked by someone else. Okay?¡±

    Yes! That was it. She needed her food prepared and cooked by someone else. Star had seen her cook before. She had placed the food over heat, and waited for a while. That didn¡¯t seem too hard, right? Surely he could do that for his Master. She needed cooked food.

    So, what would he cook? It would hurt, but he could probably get a chunk from the Stag despite the cold. What else did he have? The bag of duck feet lay open. It would feel wrong to take them, but it wasn¡¯t like he was taking them for himself. He simply wanted to create food for his Master. Yes. She would awake and be SO proud of him for his improvisation and initiative. This was a perfect plan.

    Star began his process, setting off to retrieve a solid hunk of meat.

    <hr>

    Some time later, Lily stirred in her sleep. Something smelled weird. Very odd, even. She rolled over, determined to ignore it unless she absolutely had to rise. But it only grew stronger, until she realized what the smell was.

    Smoke. She was smelling smoke. Lily¡¯s eyes shot open and she sat up. Before her lay a scene that she wished was a nightmare. Star stood on his hind legs at the stove, trying to get a grip on and remove a burning hunk of meat placed directly on the burner. Hair and all. Lily nearly screamed. She jumped up and ran to the back door. A fire extinguisher was just outside with the barbeque. She grabbed it and ran back inside.

    ¡°Star! Outta the way!¡±

    He got clear and she started blasting. The second she got within range she stopped for just long enough to turn off the stove top, and then got back to it. She was coughing as the white spray filled the air, but she was determined to get the fire put out as quickly as possible. She¡¯d already lost enough to fire!

    The extinguisher worked, thankfully. In minutes, her kitchen was a mess of black scorch marks on the wall and a little on the ceiling, and white powder coated near everything else.

    Lily caught her breath, and then glared at her companion.

    ¡°What the hell were you doing!? I knew you were smart, but I never expected to have to toddler proof the house! Fire hot Star!¡±

    He looked genuinely chastised and horrified, so she let out a deep sigh and tried to calm down a little.

    ¡°It¡¯s okay. It¡¯s okay. You didn¡¯t know. We¡¯ll get this cleaned up and everything will probably be fine. Okay? But you¡¯re helping me! I don¡¯t have good hands right now, and neither do you, so we¡¯ll do it together, alright?¡±

    Star¡¯s tail wagged nervously, and Lily closed her eyes for a moment and counted to ten.

    The dog had put a hunk of Stag meat on the stove. Directly on the stove top. Hair side down. There had been a few duck feet haphazardly tossed onto the top of the meat.

    Lily started cleanup and tried to get Star to use a wet washcloth. For the first few minutes, she was convinced he¡¯d tried to cook himself a meal because he¡¯d enjoyed her cooking. And stolen some duck feet! But the more she thought about it, the more that didn¡¯t seem right to her.

    He¡¯d always been respectful of the things she gave him in the past, and waited pretty patiently. Which was surprising for a dog. So, the more she thought about it, it just didn¡¯t add up. And when she¡¯d calmed down enough to really think about it properly, she had a realization.

    ¡°Wait, did you try to make this for me?¡±

    Star¡¯s ears went back, and he wagged his tail slowly.

    ¡°Oh. Okay. Well. That¡¯s still stupid, but it may be the sweetest thing anyone has ever done for me. Tell you what buddy, after we clean up, let¡¯s watch some cooking shows okay?¡±

    She could swear her companion smiled.

 0.033

    The girl and her dog had been curled up on the couch together watching cooking shows for most of the day. Lily drifted in and out of sleep, but Star had watched with rapt attention.

    Over time, Lily¡¯s marks had stopped glowing, leaving behind slightly tougher skin. Now that she was examining it more closely, it wasn¡¯t exactly scar tissue once each one had finished healing up. They were still sore to the touch, but the skin where each star had been was just a little darker than her normal skin color, and a little more uniform.

    When she was feeling particularly energetic, or at least not unable to move, she had checked herself out in the large full sized bathroom mirror, and been somewhat distraught. The marks started at the tips of her fingers and ran up to her forearms before starting to really thin out. But on top of that, she had a number of them across the rest of her body. Her chest, her legs, her back, even her neck and face had a few.

    Lily had never been particularly vain. In fact, her self esteem had been very low for as long as she could remember. This did not help. The marks themselves weren¡¯t exactly ugly as they were reaching a point of being fully healed. But, they were still a startling change to her appearance, and really would stick out in a crowd. Which was exactly the sort of thing she didn¡¯t like.

    ¡°Not that I really have to worry about crowds now I guess. Honestly, I don¡¯t know why I care. But I do. I hope they go away.¡±

    She found herself returning to the couch and cuddling up with Star again. Gordon Ramsey was chewing out some poor line chef who¡¯d not heated some chicken properly under pressure.

    ¡°Hey, I¡¯m gonna go spend some time studying the basement spell. You wanna come or keep watching?¡±

    Star turned for a split second to lick her face, and then went back to the show. Lily laughed. He was really into it.

    ¡°Okay, but absolutely no trying any of this out without me to watch you, okay?¡±

    His tail wagged, but he refused to look away from the TV. Lily was privately delighted, and decided to leave him to it.

    She still really didn¡¯t like going down the elevator, but she wanted to take another look at the circle. It wasn¡¯t powered up, so she wasn¡¯t worried about dealing with anything magical. But for some reason, she had a gut feeling about it and she wanted to spend some time introspecting on that and looking at the glyphs closely. If nothing else, to convince herself that she might be wrong about it.

    She forced herself to get up the courage to use the elevator. Although she had to sit down once inside and wait a few minutes to get back up even after it had descended.

    Pressing the button to open the door she got herself together and proceeded into the room. Sure enough, there was the circle, just like she remembered it. Nothing had changed. Although the room was still somewhat eerie, it was only in the same way any empty room could be. Magnified by the size of the room, of course.

    Lily shuffled in, and went to sit in the center of the circle.

    ¡°What kind of metal is this I wonder? How would I check?¡±

    Whoever had made the circle, presumably entity B, must have expected a ridiculous amount of mana to be flowing through this place. Otherwise, there was no real reason to create the circle out of something so durable. Or maybe it was about conductivity? Was mana conductivity a thing? Did it just make a circle less likely to fail from being overpowered? Or was it actually more durable? For that matter, how did writing a circle in mana compare?

    An endless string of things to test. Neverending. Well, it¡¯s not like Lily was pressed for time. She began looking over the circle. It really was complicated. Hundreds of nodes, with circles nested in circles nested in circles.

    How deep could that go? Lily imagined at some point you were limited by the physical matter the circle took up. Were mana circles so limited? If she tried to create a circle with mana as small as an atom, could she? Probably not. She¡¯d have to be able to conceptualize something so small.

    If she started with a circle the size of her city, how many circles could she nest inside of it? What actually were the limitations on that?

    Lily realized she was laying on her back, staring at the ceiling and letting her mind wander, so she sat up and refocused.

    ¡°Although, is it so bad to let my mind wander? I feel like I¡¯ve replaced media consumption with work as another way to not let myself have time to think about bad stuff. Shame no one invented a robo-therapist or something before the world ended.¡±

    Speaking out loud may have been a mistake. The echo was off-putting, to put it mildly. Lily sighed and went back to her examinations.

    She didn¡¯t recognize all that many of the glyphs, but in a lot of ways they were simply pictograms. So it¡¯s not like she had no guesses about any of them. That didn¡¯t explain her gut feeling though, because even if she thought of it that way, the hundreds of little stick drawings didn¡¯t exactly paint a cohesive picture. And why would they? They were more than stick drawings. They were a language all their own. Just because the fire symbol looked a little like a fire, and so on, didn¡¯t mean she¡¯d just know how to read it. No more than if she tried to read hieroglyphics.

    So, why? Why is it that when she asked herself what she thought the circle did, she had a clear answer? On what level of her mind did that come from? She¡¯d hoped that giving it another look would convince her she was just being hopeful, or noticing something subconsciously, or anything else. But there were no real clues that would lead her to a conclusion without a lot of testing. So, why did she feel like she knew?

    ¡°Why do I think it¡¯s a teleportation spell?¡±

    Even if she was totally right, which was doubtful, would that be a good thing? Where would it take her? Would she go? Why was it called a final gift?

    ¡°Who am I kidding? Of course I would go. How else am I gonna get some answers?¡±

    <hr>

    Morning found Lily and Star cuddled up next to Bay in the living room. A compilation of cooking shows had been playing all night and at some point they had drifted to sleep.

    Now Lily awoke to barking. Star was going nuts seeing Guy Fieri for the first time. Lily calmed him down after pausing the show. She suspected it was the hair that did it.

    After she got him to stop barking, Lily laid her head down on his side and got him to lay still. But, it only took him a few minutes to get restless and want to get up. Lily groaned and rose too, rubbing the sleep out of her eyes.

    ¡°Fine fine. It¡¯s morning. I get it. I¡¯m up. You know, it¡¯s not fair. You still have the vigor of youth. An old woman like me needs more rest!¡±

    Star looked at her clearly disbelieving. But, Lily was getting up so he didn¡¯t fuss about her. She examined her hands, and found that they looked about the same as last night. Whatever healing process had been going on seemed to be done. Maybe they¡¯d fade like old scars sometimes did with time, but it was clear that for now this was going to be normal for a while.

    Lily would need to go shopping soon. She was starting to run low on food. Unfortunately, she was pretty sure she was only going to find non-perishables in the stores at this point. Any fruits and veggies that had been left out all this time were probably going bad. Not to mention meat. Oh no, the store was going to smell awful.

    For now, she left Star in charge of carrying Bay around while she got breakfast together. Her hands still hurt a bit to use, but not so much that she couldn¡¯t microwave some ravioli for herself and Star to share for breakfast. He also took a chunk of the Stag. He was a growing boy after all.

    After breakfast they got loaded into the car. It was going to be a long day today. Lily still had three chaos emeralds to place charging, and she had three spots in mind. The library, La Mancha, and the drive in movie theater. Lily suspected La Mancha would take a good portion of the day. She needed to work on setting up her water spells, feeding the animals, and any general upkeep that needed doing there.

    So, with everyone set, fed, and ready, she set off.

    <hr>

    The ride to the library was fairly short. It was only about 15 minutes away if Lily was willing to speed a bit, and she was. She¡¯d been down this road a good number of times at this point, and knew that it was straight and mostly clear of other cars.

    She only slowed down when they approached the purple zone. The smoke was thankfully all gone, but everything that had been caught in the blast was covered in a layer of purple¡­ stuff. Lily didn¡¯t know what it was. It looked like powder? She wondered if this stuff might have a magical use since it was a magical substance. But with everything else on her plate it was going to be a while before she even thought about testing it.

    By the time she was getting close to the epicenter of the blast, she was sure it was still a spooky spot. Her mana compass was pointing right to it. That was encouraging. But there was a problem as she pulled in.

    ¡°Ow! What the fuck!¡±

    Suddenly, Lily¡¯s hands ached! As she looked down, she saw that all of her marks were glowing again. Only faintly, but it was happening.

    ¡°Oh come on!¡±

    Unauthorized usage: this narrative is on Amazon without the author''s consent. Report any sightings.

    Lily looked over her hands carefully. Each mark was a four sided star, or the mana glyph, and they were opalescent. Not exactly putting off light, but shifting points of color moved against her skin from the inside. It wasn¡¯t debilitating pain, but it had come on suddenly as she approached the spooky spot.

    She hoped strongly that the pain would go away with time, otherwise she was going to have a hard time in mana dense environments from here forward, and that would be a lot harder to accept than simply being sore for a few days from overuse.

    But, she was here for a reason. Despite the pain, she was determined to get it done. It was only one spell, and it was one she¡¯d cast at least ten times by now.

    It took some physical effort to climb to the top of what was left of the rubble. As she approached the center, her hands did begin giving off light, and the shifting colors grew more intense and excited. Lily pushed through it, despite Star¡¯s mild protests.

    ¡°At least I¡¯ll be able to detect mana super easily if this keeps up, huh? Let¡¯s look at the, uh, shiny rainbow lining huh?¡±

    Star groaned. But, Lily was already here and had everything she needed to cast her spell. Thankfully, it was quick and easy. Her hands definitely hurt as she let the mana flow out of her, but it was no more intense than trying to lift something heavy after a day of very hard physical activity. It wasn¡¯t just her hands either. She felt it through all of the wounds she¡¯d gotten, even the ones on her face. That part was the most unpleasant.

    But, it only took a few minutes for the spell to be done. She placed the chaos emerald, this time the purple one. She was getting a small amount of pleasure placing them in color thematic locations. Yellow for lightning, purple for the purple fire. Star had chosen blue, cyan, and white, leaving only red and green in the car. Green would go in La Mancha, which left only the movie theater as not theme appropriate.

    They loaded back into the car and headed off again. It was high time Lily and Star had a little chat.

    <hr>

    ¡°Soooo. About the basement.¡±

    Lily was cruising down the road to La Mancha, and thought this might be the perfect time to broach the subject. Star gave her the side eye.

    ¡°I think whatever it is, when the emeralds are charged I¡¯m going to activate it.¡±

    Her companion whined nervously.

    ¡°I know, I know. But I could spend years studying that thing and not know what exactly it does. I want answers. Entity B called it a gift, and they¡¯ve only done good things for me so far. Besides, I think I know what it does in a general sense.¡±

    Star went silent, but continued staring.

    ¡°I don¡¯t know why, but I have a strong feeling that it¡¯s a teleportation spell. You activate it, and disappear from where you were, and pop into being somewhere else. Like going from home to La Mancha in an instant. I just¡­ don¡¯t know where it goes. Or even if I¡¯m right for sure.¡±

    He let out a low groan. It was almost a growl. Lily looked at him, a little surprised.

    ¡°I get it! It¡¯s scary. But what else am I gonna do? Not activate it? We both know I¡¯m going to use it eventually. Why put it off? If it¡¯s gonna do something bad, I want to know. And if it¡¯s gonna do something good, which seems more likely, there¡¯s no reason to wait.¡±

    Was her dog glaring at her?

    ¡°Look. I¡¯m doing it. But what I want to talk about is this. Will you go with me? I don¡¯t want to leave you behind. I¡¯m not worried about you starving or anything really. But, we¡¯re partners right? If we get separated, I¡¯m going to do everything I possibly can to meet back up. But, I¡¯d really just like to take you with me in the first place. Will you come with me? Please?¡±

    He poked her with his nose, then licked her arm. Lily pet him, and they were silent for a few minutes while she rubbed him behind the ears.

    ¡°Thank you. Truthfully, I¡¯d be scared to go without you. I mean, I¡¯d do it if I had to. But, I¡¯ll be much happier having you with me.¡±

    She heard his tail start to wag, and knew everything was going to be alright. They stayed like that for the rest of the drive.

    The first stop was just a little past La Mancha. It was the spot she found Star. Amazingly, the surrounding area was already starting to look less scorched. It was mostly still black, but some of it had faded, and a bit of green was starting to show here and there.

    They took the short walk to the actual spot, and Lily sat down in the grass to begin working on her spell.

    ¡°Can you be nostalgic for something that happened only a couple weeks ago?¡±

    She laughed.

    Woof!

    Lily yelped.

    <hr>

    La Mancha had been holding up fine from the looks of it. As Lily pulled in, Donk-Quixote came trotting up to say hello. She was a little sad she didn¡¯t have any treats to give him, but there was nothing she could do about that. Maybe she could drive around the area sometime soon and see if she saw any fruit trees. Or just examine this property a little more closely.

    For now, she had to settle for scratching him behind the ears, and talking to him a little. He seemed receptive, and that was good. She still wished she had some apples or something though. After she was done giving him some affection, Donk and Star ran off to play and Lily got to work.

    Before anything else, she checked the huge silo type water tank to make sure it wasn¡¯t going empty. It was still quite full, which made her breathe a sigh of relief. If that was the case, she had until a mechanical failure to get things properly set up for watering.

    Although, what was going to happen to these animals if she teleported away¡­? Lily would have to make sure they had enough food and water to last quite a while, and then find her way back, right? She wasn¡¯t about to just leave them to starve. If she couldn¡¯t find another solution, she¡¯d have to open all the cages before she left.

    Maybe she could set up a dead man¡¯s switch with a spell? Some kind of mechanism that if she didn¡¯t come and stop it, would eventually open all the cages? How would that work? It would probably be best to set things up so that a spell was holding them closed, but could be washed away, and then set up something mechanically to wash the spell away after a set amount of time. Or just rely on the rain and leaving enough food.

    ¡°Hah, I just can¡¯t stop myself can I? All that talk about sticking to only spells I know.¡±

    But, this was important. Not just a test. Still, after last night a pit of anxiety welled up in her whenever she thought about doing something new. Nevertheless, it was an issue for another day. Lily was here to do the bare minimum until she recovered. First up: Eggs. She hadn¡¯t gathered eggs from the chicken coop yet, and she was sure they must be piling up. So, that was her first stop.

    ¡°Holy cow. I mean. Chicken. I mean. Um.¡±

    There were SO many eggs. The nest boxes were easily accessible from outside the chicken run, thankfully. But there was a problem. They were beyond overloaded. In fact, a good few eggs had broken due to there being no room, and the smell was¡ª unfortunate.

    She couldn¡¯t just leave it like this, could she? No¡­ The smell would probably only get worse, and she didn¡¯t want it attracting wildlife or contaminating otherwise good eggs. Come to think of it, why hadn¡¯t it already attracted wildlife? She figured small bugs and stuff were all eaten by the chickens, but it was crazy to think that no racoons or foxes or whatever else had come for a taste of delicious eggs.

    ¡°Is Donk just that good at his job?¡±

    Lily glanced over to where Donk and Star were playing. The huge beast was chasing the dog, and nearly keeping up while Star raced ahead, tail wagging.

    ¡°Huh. Okay. Maybe?¡±

    She went back to her work. Thankfully, the previous owners had an area near the coops that had a ton of empty egg cartons, so she started gathering, cleaning the eggs off with a hose when they had goo on them, and washing out the nest boxes as she finished.

    The process felt like it took forever, and by the time she was done she had collected 103 eggs. There were too many eggs. She had no idea what to do with that many. But, she loaded them into the car anyway. She¡¯d figure it out, or have an extremely egg heavy diet for a while. Star wanted to learn to cook, right? She wasn¡¯t sure he could do something like eggs with his paws and mouth though. Well, whatever. She¡¯d find a use for them.

    That process had taken her a good hour and a half, but she still had work to do. Lily wandered around to all the animal enclosures and started filling up everyone¡¯s food. She took a moment to appreciate that her body was already so much stronger than it ever had been in her apartment. On day one, a shopping trip had exhausted her, and here she was doing some farm work while still recovering a little bit from the night before last.

    She still wasn¡¯t exactly muscular, but she was sure she¡¯d lost weight and built up a bit of muscle. Something to be proud of, at least.

    Before she was completely done, she sat down in front of the chicken water feeder and worked her water spell. It wasn¡¯t any more complex than her charging spell, and she opted to use mana. It was amazing, but while she couldn¡¯t cast more than one spell like that at a time, she was up to her third today without exhausting herself.

    ¡°Guess those muscles have been getting stronger too huh?¡±

    Next up she went to collect Star. It took her a little while to find him. Star and Donk were laying next to the little pond, looking tuckered out. But they also had company. A goose was sitting on Donk¡¯s back.

    As Lily approached, the goose stood and looked wary. But, when neither Donk nor Star moved, it settled back down. Lily made sure to approach slowly and tried to look as non-threatening as possible.

    ¡°Hey, who¡¯s this? A friend?¡±

    Star barked, wagged his tail. Donk seemed uncomprehending but was clearly not offended by his passenger. So, Lily dropped her guard a bit.

    ¡°Donk has a friend huh? I guess that makes you Sancho?¡±

    Lily giggled. The animals didn¡¯t get it, but that was fine.

    ¡°Well folks, it¡¯s time for me and Star to mosey. C¡¯mon, let''s go. We have one more stop before we can head home.¡±

    The girl was a little surprised when the dog got up and gave both donkey and goose a quick lick before trotting after her, tail wagging.

    ¡°Huh, guess you really like them? Or is that like, a dominance thing?¡±

    Star made his way to the car, so Lily shrugged and followed after him. A few minutes later, they were pulling out of La Mancha and headed towards their next stop.

    <hr>

    By the time they approached the drive in, the sun was getting low in the sky. It¡¯d set in the next hour or so. It had been a very productive day, and Lily was pretty tired. But, after she disabled anything that was going on here and set up the chaos emerald to charge, she could go home and know that all of them were being charged up.

    Lily had to get out to raise the gate that used to open up after someone would pay for a ticket to let the car through, but it was just made of plastic, so it wasn¡¯t too hard. She¡¯d been prepared to cut it up if needed, or melt it down to a stub. But, when there was no power simply lifting it up and pulling it all the way back was enough.

    As she pulled in, Lily realized with a start that she¡¯d been here before. A couple times as a little girl. They used to have a swap meet here, and she¡¯d gotten lost once. She almost laughed. What a silly memory to come flooding back. But, she wouldn¡¯t have to worry about getting lost this time. After all, it was just a really big parking lot with a few giant screens in different directions. She pulled into one of the spots, and got out of the car. Her hands were already glowing, so she knew the spot must be concentrated around here.

    ¡°Okay Star, I¡¯m going to start looking for a circle. Let me know if you sniff anything out, okay?¡±

    ¡°But we are already inside the circle. I hope you find it soon Master.¡±

    Lily screamed.

    ¡°Wh-what the fuck?¡±

    Star looked at her, and she clearly heard a voice despite him not opening his mouth or anything.

    ¡°What? Did I do something wrong?¡±

 0.034

    ¡°You did NOT just talk. I¡¯ve finally gone insane. Right? I misheard, or something! Can you understand me? Hello?¡±

    There was silence for a few seconds, and Lily thought she might have been hallucinating or something. But, then it happened.

    ¡°Yes? I often understand. Can you hear me?¡±

    Lily sat down and stared at Star wide eyed.

    ¡°Uh, yeah? You¡¯re talking! Or like. Are you talking? Your mouth isn¡¯t moving or anything like you¡¯re talking.¡±

    ¡°I am always talking, you are not often listening.¡±

    ¡°Bullshit!¡±

    ¡°What does poop have to do with this? Please explain.¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s¨C Ah, nevermind. I listen!¡±

    ¡°You do? You do not act like it. Are you pretending?¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t normally hear you! This is new!¡±

    ¡°Oh, that¡¯s good. I have a lot of things I want to say. I¡¯m sorry for the fire.¡±

    ¡°Oh. Yeah. It¡¯s okay. You were trying to help me right?¡±

    ¡°Trying to help you. You said only prepared food. You said you were very hungry. I will always do my best to protect you, Lady Flamewalker.¡±

    ¡°Um. Lady what?¡±

    ¡°Lady Flamewalker, You, Master.¡±

    Lily burst out laughing. She doubled over, and felt tears start to come to her eyes. What? That was WAY too impressive a thing to call her.

    ¡°What the heck are you talking about? My name is Lily. I¡¯m just Lily.¡±

    ¡°No it isn¡¯t. How about Shaper of the World Soul?¡±

    ¡°What do you mean it isn¡¯t? I know my name! It¡¯s Lily!¡±

    ¡°Do you? Conqueror of the Pit?¡±

    ¡°Are you¨C Are you sassing me right now? Where did you even get those names?¡±

    Lily had to giggle again.

    ¡°I made them for you.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s¡­ That¡¯s not how that works.¡±

    ¡°Yes it is.¡±

    ¡°It is not! I had a name before I met you. It¡¯s Lily. Lily!¡±

    ¡°You named me. So, I name you. That is the nature of our relationship, Lady Flamewalker, Shaper of the World Soul, Conqueror of the Pit, Maker of Lights, and Keeper of Duck Feet. I think of you as all of these things, as well as Master.¡±

    ¡°Ugh, this is going nowhere. Fine. Call me whatever you want for now. I gotta figure out what is making me able to understand you so we can make sure it doesn¡¯t go away, okay?¡±

    ¡°It is obviously the circle.¡±

    Lily rolled her eyes.

    ¡°Yeah! But like, what series of glyphs? Can I copy it onto a collar or something for you?¡±

    ¡°What is a collar?¡±

    ¡°What is with this spell? Are you telling me you understand the word Sass but not the word collar?¡±

    ¡°I was sassing you. So, I understand Sass. I have never had collar. Does it taste good?¡±

    ¡°What? No!¡±

    ¡°Does it smell good then?¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s something you wear, like my clothes!¡±

    ¡°Oh. I don¡¯t want that. Those look uncomfortable.¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s not¨C Look. It¡¯s just a little strip that goes around your neck. But if it¡¯s uncomfortable for you, we¡¯ll find something else you can have for the spell, okay?¡±

    ¡°Okay.¡±

    Lily turned and started looking for the circle. Star put his nose to the ground and joined her. She wasn¡¯t totally surprised when he found it first. She bent and started examining the circle.

    ¡°You¡¯re really good at that, you know. Finding magic stuff.¡±

    ¡°I can smell the magic. Can you not smell it? It¡¯s very strong.¡±

    ¡°Human noses don¡¯t work as good as dog noses. But we have other strengths.¡±

    ¡°Do you?¡±

    ¡°Yes! Like thumbs!¡±

    ¡°Oh. I guess those do look useful.¡±

    The circle was a lot simpler than Lily had expected. In fact, it was downright straightforward. A single glyph was causing the effect. Lily let out a relieved giggle, and realized she was close to tears with the intensity of that relief. But, she pushed the feeling down. She really didn¡¯t want to experiment, and she wouldn¡¯t really have to. It was one strange glyph, and she was already under the effects of it. There would be time to examine those feelings moving forward, but for now she just wanted to talk to her companion.

    First though, she got up and grabbed her notebook from the car, making sure to carefully record her new glyph.

    ¡°Looks like this is going to be easy! Almost sad I didn¡¯t come here yesterday. Hey, does this spell make it easier for you to understand me too?¡±

    ¡°Yes. But I understand without it too. Most of the time.¡±

    ¡°Gonna have to figure this out. I suspect you¡¯re not making any sound even though my brain interprets it that way. Oh, shit, idea!¡±

    Lily pulled out her phone, and opened a voice notes app.

    ¡°Here, say something to me!¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t understand. What are we doing, Master?¡±

    ¡°Perfect, thanks. I¡¯ll explain in a second.¡±

    She played the recording back. Sure enough, she could hear herself telling Star to speak, and then nothing. Next she opened her camera and recorded a video.

    ¡°One more time, say something for me please!¡±

    Star¡¯s tail wagged, and he got into a playful stance.

    ¡°I don¡¯t know what¡¯s happening, but I am saying things for Master! You understand? You understand, yes?¡±

    Lily stopped recording and played the video. The results of this surprised her. She¡¯d somewhat expected to be able to understand Star¡¯s body language, but the spell didn¡¯t seem to be able to do anything for the recorded dog.

    ¡°Hmm. Okay, one more thing. I¡¯m just trying to learn how the spell works and doesn¡¯t work. So we know how to use it best! Lemme find something.¡±

    She dug through her phone. She¡¯d really just downloaded and put media wherever she could while the internet was still working, and she knew she had something for this. Her eyes lit up when she found it. An episode of anime! Perfect. She opened it up and sat down so both her and Star could see it. The show was Neon Genesis Evangelion, and she had the subtitled version. She clicked to the middle. The first thing she noticed was that she could understand the spoken lines perfectly. Then she turned and looked at Star.

    ¡°What about you? Can you hear it? Can you understand it like you can me?¡±

    Star¡¯s tail wagged.

    ¡°Yes. I understand. Like I hear you. Not with my ears. But I understand.¡±

    ¡°Wait, not with your ears? I¡¯m hearing you with my ears. At least, it feels like it.¡±

    ¡°No, no. Not with my ears. With my heart.¡±

    ¡°Huh. Okaaaay. That¡¯s interesting. I wonder if it¡¯s because so much of your communication is body language? So the parts of your brain dedicated to processing language aren¡¯t all auditory?¡±

    This book''s true home is on another platform. Check it out there for the real experience.

    Star stared at her for a few seconds, and then leapt forward, tackling her and licking her face.

    ¡°Don¡¯t understand. I¡¯m so happy to talk. So happy to be heard. I love you Master. Love love love love love.¡±

    Lily laughed and hugged him around the middle.

    ¡°I love you too. Ah! Stop! That¡¯s grosssss!¡±

    ¡°Never stop. I¡¯ll always love Master.¡±

    It took a few minutes for Lily to be able to push him off of her, but she didn¡¯t really mind. When she finally did, she had so many questions left to ask.

    ¡°Well, well. Before anything else, thank you for all those times you saved me. And also! How the hell did you get the Stag?¡±

    ¡°I fought the leader of the dog pack, and then ordered their surrender in the form of hunting together. I graciously left them half. I am benevolent.¡±

    ¡°I¨C What? You fought off that pack of dogs?¡±

    ¡°No. Only the leader. I tracked and fought the leader. It was the hardest battle of my life. The great demon was fierce, and nearly ended me. But I used my mind, and I won by hiding myself in the sun¡¯s light.¡±

    ¡°I can¡¯t even pretend to have understood all that. Okay, so you beat her? She won¡¯t give us trouble anymore?¡±

    ¡°She will give us no trouble. She is submissive to me now. I can gather the pack to hunt, if you wish, Master.¡±

    ¡°Uh¡­ No. I¡¯m good. Thanks. Wait, so you had help dragging that carcass all the way home?¡±

    ¡°Of course. Did you think I did it myself?¡±

    ¡°Well. Yeah, I guess.¡±

    Star¡¯s tail began wagging hard.

    ¡°I am happy you think so highly of me, Lady Flamewalker.¡±

    ¡°Could you drop the Lady Flamewalker stuff? I¡¯m not that cool, I promise.¡±

    ¡°You are.¡±

    ¡°You¡¯re my dog, you¡¯re practically required by law to think that. It¡¯s not true!¡±

    ¡°Yes it is. What is law?¡±

    ¡°Law is¡­ not important. Don¡¯t worry about it. They don¡¯t exist anymore. Do you know what¡¯s up with these?¡±

    Lily raised her hands, still showing opalescent beneath her skin. They hurt a little, but that was hardly at the top of her mind right now.

    ¡°The magic broke through your flesh and poured out of you. It was very bad.¡±

    ¡°Yeah, I kinda put that much together. Any idea about whether the marks will heal or what is going to happen with them?¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m sorry Master. I don¡¯t know.¡±

    Lily sighed. But, it wasn¡¯t Star¡¯s fault. She was just hoping. He did seem to know a lot about this stuff. Or at least have generally helpful instincts.

    ¡°Don¡¯t worry about it. Is that what¡¯s up with the mark on your forehead?¡±

    She pointed to the mark on Star¡¯s fur, which did have a very similar shape. She¡¯d been wondering for a while, but now she had a chance to just ask.

    ¡°I don¡¯t remember that far back.¡±

    ¡°Huh. Really? How far do you remember?¡±

    ¡°Not a lot before the night of certain death. Even less from before I met you.¡±

    ¡°The night of certain death? I can¡¯t believe I have to ask, but, um, which one?¡±

    ¡°The den ruining spell. You were injured. Bleeding on the floor.¡±

    ¡°Oh. Yeah. Geez, my hands have really gone through it huh? I¡¯m going to be safer from now on. I¡¯m getting scared to do magic, and that isn¡¯t sustainable.¡±

    ¡°You should be scared.¡±

    ¡°...Huh?¡±

    ¡°You should be scared.¡±

    ¡°No, I heard you. What do you mean?¡±

    ¡°The power is dangerous. You don¡¯t value your life enough. Be scared. Be cautious. Be better.¡±

    ¡°Wow, harsh! But, I don¡¯t think you¡¯re wrong. I just don¡¯t care that much about my life you know? I mean. I do. Sometimes. It¡¯s complicated.¡±

    Star approached and laid his head in her lap, letting out a big dog sigh and getting comfortable.

    ¡°It shouldn¡¯t be complicated.¡±

    ¡°Yeah, I guess not.¡±

    They sat in silence for a good amount of time, just enjoying each other¡¯s company. For all they had the ability to talk now, they¡¯d gotten used to existing without that and some things didn¡¯t need to be said. But, as darkness really began to fall, Lily perked up.

    ¡°Hey. Remember the cooking shows from last night?¡±

    Star sat up and looked at her.

    ¡°Yes, I liked them. I want to watch more, and try again. I will get it right this time.¡±

    Lily laughed.

    ¡°Okay, but next time we try you¡¯re using the barbeque outside okay?¡±

    His tail wagged and he licked her hand.

    ¡°Yes, I understand. Outside. I will cook outside.¡±

    ¡°Okay, well about those cooking shows. I have an idea. This place we¡¯re in right now? It¡¯s for watching shows. All kinds of shows! Let¡¯s take a trip back home and get the stuff we need. Then we can watch some things together all night tonight! And you¡¯ll understand them completely!¡±

    Star jumped up and ran a circle around Lily.

    ¡°Yes! Yes! Yes! Yes! Yes! Go! Let¡¯s go now! Let¡¯s go! I¡¯m excited, let¡¯s go!¡±

    Lily laughed and rose, heading back towards the car.

    ¡°Okay okay, let¡¯s do it! I¡¯ll get you a translation collar tomorrow. So, we won¡¯t be able to understand each other on the drive, but we¡¯ll be back soon. Okay?¡±

    ¡°Yes! Yes! Yes! Go! Now! Go!¡±

    <hr>

    It was a short excited trip home to grab everything she needed. Laptop, hard drive, as many different kinds of cables as she could find, Bay (of course), snacks, blankets, pillows, and about a hundred other tiny things.

    Then it was a short excited drive back to the theater, and unfortunately an hour of futzing with cords, her generator, eventually the same electricity spell she had used to power her car battery before she got it working.

    But the moment the projector flickered to life showing her laptop¡¯s desktop, Lily near screamed in delight. Unfortunately it was another ten minutes before she got audio working too, and then another ten to get the chaos emerald charging, but then Star and Lily were sitting and watching an episode of Master Chef on a huge screen.

    Lily even brought popcorn. It was the bagged kind you could find in the chip aisle, but it was something, and she happily shared it with her companion.

    ¡°I don¡¯t understand. Why do the contestants not defend themselves?¡±

    ¡°Huh? Well, you know. Gordon and the other chefs know what they¡¯re talking about.¡±

    ¡°That is their work. They must be proud. We saw how hard they worked on that meal. To have it insulted so¡­ Why don¡¯t they fight the Master Chefs? Then they could judge their own meal''s worthiness.¡±

    ¡°Well, because that wouldn¡¯t make their food any better. They¡¯re there to learn, not just compete.¡±

    ¡°I see. So the Master¡¯s insults are designed to make them confront their weakness?¡±

    ¡°Well, kinda. There¡¯s an element of that, but it¡¯s also kind of a performance.¡±

    ¡°A performance? Explain.¡±

    ¡°Well, they¡¯re probably not actually that mean. They¡¯re acting like it, because we¡¯re watching.¡±

    ¡°They know we¡¯re watching!?¡±

    Star leapt up and began to look around. The passenger seat was a pretty tight space for him to be doing that, so it looked really silly and Lily had to wait until she stopped laughing to answer him.

    ¡°No, no, not like that. I mean, sorta. But not us. This was meant for people to watch. They made it to be seen. So, they¡¯re trying to make it into a good story, so it¡¯s interesting for us. That¡¯s all.¡±

    ¡°Oh. So these people exist somewhere? I want to meet Gordan Ramsay.¡±

    ¡°Ah. Well. I don¡¯t know about that. They used to, at least. They¡¯re gone now. I don¡¯t know what happened.¡±

    ¡°Why would someone kill the Master Chefs? Is there a new Master Chef?¡±

    ¡°Not like that! Everyone went away. All except for me. I¡¯m the only one left.¡±

    Star went silent for a minute. The credits of the last episode they had watched were just finishing rolling, and the silence afterwards enveloped them.

    ¡°I have only known you.¡±

    ¡°Yeah, I know. That¡¯s not your fault either. I know you can¡¯t really understand this, but there used to be billions of people. More than you or I could ever meet or even count. Now it¡¯s just me, and I don¡¯t even know WHY it¡¯s just me, or if I was left behind or anything else.¡±

    After another long silence, Star asked a question.

    ¡°Do you miss them?¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t know. It¡¯s complicated. I never really belonged with them, as much as I tried. If they¡¯re all dead, then I don¡¯t feel like I deserved to be the one left alive. If they¡¯re all gone somewhere without me, I feel hurt that I was overlooked. If, if, if! I don¡¯t know though. That¡¯s what really gets me. The mystery of it. The people, the stars! That¡¯s why I have to use this spell. It¡¯s the only real lead I have.¡±

    ¡°It could be dangerous. I need to keep you safe.¡±

    ¡°It could be! But I don¡¯t feel like I have a choice. Never knowing what¡¯s on the other side is¡­ It¡¯s worse than danger. For me.¡±

    ¡°Worse than death?¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t know. But I do know I can¡¯t live with the spell right there and never use it. I have to.¡±

    ¡°There is always a choice.¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t feel like¨C¡±

    ¡°Listen!¡±

    Lily fell silent.

    ¡°There is always a choice. You are determined. Do not mistake them for the same. I fought the demon to protect you. There was a choice. I could have not fought. But you would have been in danger. So, I was determined. Not the lack of choice. There was only one path that led to where I wanted. But I select where I wanted. You want answers. There is only one path to answers. There are other paths to other places. You don¡¯t want those other places. You are determined, not choiceless.¡±

    The quiet went on for a few minutes, as they sat there and reflected. Finally, Lily spoke up.

    ¡°You¡¯re like, a baby!¡±

    ¡°What?¡±

    ¡°You¡¯re, what, probably not even a year old! You¡¯re a baby! A baby dog! A puppy!¡±

    ¡°What? What?¡±

    ¡°How dare you be so smart already! That just doesn¡¯t seem fair. There ought to be a penalty.¡±

    ¡°What? What penalty? I have been a good boy, don¡¯t give me a penalty!¡±

    ¡°Nope! Rejected! Penalty time!¡±

    Lily threw her arms around Star and pulled as much of him over onto her lap as she could. She played with his ears and jowls for a moment before just hugging him tightly.

    ¡°Master, you are suffocating me.¡±

    ¡°Too bad. Deal with it. Punishment time.¡±

    ¡°Master, please!¡±

    ¡°Okay okay fiiiine. Baby. Puppy.¡±

    Star extracted himself and made a show of getting comfortable in the passenger seat again. Lily spoke again, in a more serious tone.

    ¡°Will you come with me?¡±

    ¡°Of course. I will always follow you.¡±

    ¡°Thanks Star.¡±

 0.035

    A few hours had passed, and the two companions had been trading off choosing what to watch. Star really enjoyed the cooking shows and was adamant that he was going to learn to cook and then hold a dinner for his whole pack of friends. Lily thought this was adorable, so she was encouraging. Meanwhile, her picks had all been her sitcoms as normal. The only difference being, now Star could understand them.

    ¡°I don¡¯t understand this show.¡±

    ¡°Why, what¡¯s wrong with it?¡±

    ¡°Ross is the largest friend, yet they all make fun of him. Why does he not assert dominance?¡±

    ¡°Well, size doesn¡¯t really matter as much to humans.¡±

    ¡°I see. Then who is the dominant friend?¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s¡­ a good question. Well, I mean, it doesn¡¯t really work that way for humans, we like to all be equals.¡±

    ¡°No you don¡¯t.¡±

    ¡°Huh?¡±

    ¡°You don¡¯t all like to be equals. We watched Master Chef. Gordon Ramsey was the dominant Chef. We watched It¡¯s Always Sunny in Philadelphia, and Dennis was the dominant gang member, although Frank could be when he wanted. Now we are watching Friends, Ross is not the dominant friend, he is on the bottom. So someone is on the top. Which one? I think it must be Pheobe or Monica, but I still think Ross would win in a fight.¡±

    ¡°You¡¯ve uh, put a lot of thought into this.¡±

    ¡°Of course. Social dynamics are important. You are wrong. Humans do not like to be equal. All of these things have people on top and on the bottom.¡±

    ¡°Hmm. I guess that¡¯s fair. Well, we like to pretend.¡±

    ¡°Why?¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s complicated. Bad things happen when the wrong people are in charge. In a fair society, everyone has a chance to succeed and do well. Not everyone is born strong, or a leader, and their needs are important too. It just¡­ doesn¡¯t often work out that way.¡±

    Star took a moment to digest this. Lily took the time to put a little more thought into it too, and broke the silence.

    ¡°I mean, there are a lot of reasons really. But, what it comes down to is that we want everyone to have the best quality of life they can. We just have yet to find a way to make that happen that doesn¡¯t get completely ruined by even just a few selfish people.¡±

    ¡°Things would not be so if you were the leader. You share the eggs, and the duck feet.¡±

    Lily laughed at that.

    ¡°I¡¯d never be. In the world before I was on the bottom of society. If things went back to the way they were, I think I¡¯d still be. I¡¯ve never been very strong, and I¡¯ve always been more controlled by my fear than anything else. I just sat in my¨C¡±

    Star leaned forward and nipped Lily on the arm. Not hard enough to draw blood, but it still hurt!

    ¡°Ow! What the heck was that for?¡±

    ¡°You were insulting yourself.¡±

    ¡°I wasn¡¯t saying anything untrue!¡±

    Star nipped at her again.

    ¡°Cut it out! That hurts!¡±

    ¡°No. When you insult yourself, you insult me too. I choose to follow. I would not follow a weak coward. You are wrong.¡±

    Lily pouted at Star for a moment, and then couldn¡¯t help but laugh.

    ¡°Okay, fair point. I¡¯m sorry.¡±

    ¡°Not good enough. Say you¡¯re brave and determined.¡±

    ¡°Hey, aren¡¯t you being a little demanding? Forgetting who is the leader around here?¡±

    ¡°My leader is brave and determined. If there were some such person around here, I would listen and be a good boy.¡±

    Star¡¯s tail was wagging.

    ¡°You really do understand sass haha. Yes, fine. I¡¯m brave and determined, and you¡¯re a sweet little puppy dog and I love you.¡±

    ¡°I love you too, Master.¡±

    They sat in silence for a few minutes, when Star spoke again.

    ¡°Ross would still win though.¡±

    ¡°Bullshit. Phoebe is smaller but she grew up on the streets. Ross doesn¡¯t know how to fight. Phoebe would have him begging for mercy in a heartbeat. My vote is Monica for pack leader though.¡±

    <hr>

    Morning found them fast asleep crowded into the back seat of the car. It really wasn¡¯t enough space for either one of them, much less both of them, but through the same magic that powers middle school slumber parties they had made it happen.

    Lily woke with a groan of sleepy pain. Her arm was extremely asleep, and she had drooled all over her pillow, which upon closer inspection was Star¡¯s leg. She carefully sat up and wiped the messy hair and saliva off her face.

    She paused when she saw Star still fast asleep, and debated whether to wake him. After a minute of deliberation she reached down and gave him a gentle shake.

    ¡°Hey, s¡¯time to get up. We got work to do today.¡±

    Star roused himself slowly, and yawned hugely. He stared at Lily through sleepy eyes.

    ¡°What¡¯s the rush Master? Can¡¯t we sleep as long as we want to?¡±

    ¡°Today¡¯s gonna be busy. Like every day lately. We gotta set you up with a lasting translation spell, and see what we can do to secure La Mancha. I think tomorrow is Basement day. I wanna get as much done as we can before then.¡±

    ¡°Do we not decide when we cast the spell?¡±

    ¡°We do! But like you said. I¡¯m determined. If I delay, it gives a chance for fear to worm its way deeper into my heart. Right now, I feel like I can do this. So, we¡¯re going ahead with it. Today we¡¯ll get as many essential things as we can done. Tomorrow too if need be. But by tomorrow night, we¡¯re casting that damn spell.¡±

    Star feigned being grumpy, but got up anyways with his tail wagging. Hopping out of the car he stretched real good. Lily joined him.

    ¡°After the sun goes down we can come back too. I have an idea for a movie to watch with you.¡±

    ¡°What is it? What is it?¡±

    Lily laughed. He was so serious and contemplative when they were talking, but when you got him excited the dog really showed through.

    ¡°It¡¯s about a dog! I thought it¡¯d be interesting to watch a movie starring a dog together. See if it¡¯s good, or laugh about it if it¡¯s terrible.¡±

    ¡°Oh, that is exciting. I can¡¯t wait, Master. Let¡¯s watch it now!¡±

    ¡°No no. We gotta get to work. Besides, there are actually a few movies like that. So, it¡¯ll take a while. First though, we¡¯re headed over to Target to get you something to wear for your translation spell okay?¡±

    Star was already hyped up and ready to go. Lily somewhat envied his youthful vigor. She was still sore from sleeping like that. Come to think of it, she¡¯d slept in poor conditions more often than not since everything happened, despite having several beds she could use. She really needed to get better about that. Oh well. A problem for the future.

    Stolen content warning: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences.

    ¡°You ready? Let¡¯s get going!¡±

    <hr>

    Target was pretty much a straight shot down the main road from the theater. It was the same store she¡¯d gotten Bay from. Of course, now he was upgraded with splotches of magical purple, so the other seals likely still inside were notably less cool.

    As Lily pulled up she was explaining to Star the options, a little less sure he understood her now. The language barrier was a pain. He definitely understood some of what she was saying without the spell, but it was maybe ten percent of what she said.

    She wondered if there were any studies in the before times about perceived intelligence across a language barrier. Because while she knew Star was smart, it was really difficult to think of him as just a very smart dog after a night of having full conversations. How long would it have taken her to figure out without speaking to him?

    ¡°So, there¡¯s collars which go around your neck and are made for you. So they¡¯re definitely gonna fit. But if you don¡¯t like the collar, we can find other options. Maybe a bracelet? Fake earrings? Maybe I can enchant a piece of gum and have you swallow it? Or, wait, is that thirty years thing a myth?¡±

    Star was clearly not following along entirely. But he seemed to just enjoy it when she talked, and the more she did the more she knew he¡¯d understand with time. Although she wasn¡¯t sure that was still necessary.

    They made their way up to the doors after parking, and Lily had a thought.

    ¡°Hmm. This place has had open doors for over a week now and there was food inside. Be careful, there could be danger. Wild animals. Dogs. Something else I didn¡¯t think of. Okay? Understand? Danger?¡±

    Star seemed to understand just fine, because he immediately began sniffing around the entrance and carefully proceeded inside.

    Lily dodged some cobwebs that had started to form around the entrance. She was a bit of an arachnophobe, and while that had been the least of her worries so far with the world ending and all, spiders were becoming a bit more common in previously human occupied areas. Lily wasn¡¯t a fan.

    Once inside, it looked like some birds had been here, and Lily suspected rodents and bugs at a minimum. She reached for her phone light, then decided it¡¯d probably be better to get some magic practice.

    She had cast her light spell a number of times at this point, so she wasn¡¯t worried about it going wrong in any way. So, she focused her mana into the spell. No mana gathering component, just the light glyph and the concentration glyph. A ball of light formed in her palm. Lily pointed it like a flashlight. It wasn¡¯t perfect. The light was still more ambient than directed in the way a flashlight was. But if she held her palm facing away from her, it blocked the light from her eyes and allowed her to see acceptably well. In the long run, she¡¯d have to practice getting the light to float above her head or something, but this was good enough for now.

    The mana drain wasn¡¯t too bad. Compared to conjuring fire or any of the other spells she¡¯d tried to cast with her internal reserves it was on the easy side. Still, she couldn¡¯t keep this up all day. Lily estimated ten or fifteen minutes tops. But, she was still amazed at how far she¡¯d come. It really was like exercising a new muscle. This only got easier and easier. She was wondering what the upper limit might be, when she heard a low growl from Star.

    She shone her hand light in the direction she heard it from and saw two glowing eyes in the darkness. Based on the height, she immediately thought this must be a giant creature. She stifled a scream, but her eyes adjusted and she realized she was looking at a small creature up on a shelf. It was a raccoon.

    Immediately Lily felt a wave of relief rush over her. That was, until the little creature hissed and leapt down from the shelf. Lily yelped and backed away, as the creature approached.

    ¡°Oh my god. Um, I¡¯m friendly! Friendly!¡±

    It kept advancing. It wasn¡¯t running, but Lily really didn¡¯t want to kick it in the face if it approached. She hadn¡¯t expected it to be so aggressive.

    At that thought, a memory rose to the surface. Weren¡¯t rabid animals extra aggressive? And awake during the day, and¨C

    Lily grabbed an umbrella from a nearby stand so she had a tool to keep it away, when Star made his move. He was about to tackle the beast when Lily shouted.

    ¡°No! Don¡¯t touch it! Don¡¯t let it touch you! Danger! Danger!¡±

    Star stopped in his tracks, and the raccoon shifted focus towards him, lunging.

    ¡°Run!¡±

    Shit. Shit. Shit shit shit! How did she communicate this to Star? If it bit him, or he bit it and got rabies there would be nothing Lily could do for him. The raccoon was chasing him! He had a good amount of speed on it, but it was climbing shelves and using verticality to get to him.

    She had to talk to him. Right now! She focused on a new spell, letting her light dim in the process. Rather than her hand, she concentrated on trying to anchor the spell on her tongue. It felt like the right place for this, but that was entirely a guess. The translation glyph. She poured her magic into it.

    ¡°Star! Don¡¯t touch it! Don¡¯t bite it. Don¡¯t get bit by it! You could die! Just one is all it takes! Get to the car!¡±

    She heard a bark and hoped beyond hope that meant he understood. With that, she started making her way back to the entrance too. She found the open button on the umbrella in case she needed it, and moved quickly but carefully.

    As she approached the door, she heard the sound of Star¡¯s feet approaching, and turned to see him making a break for the entryway. They were not ten feet away. The raccoon was hot on his tail, on top of a nearby shelf of holiday goods.

    As Star made it into the open, the nocturnal little monster leapt for him. She could see it. It was going to land on him. Lily gritted her teeth, and pushed down her fear.

    She took two quick steps forward and swung her umbrella like a bat, screaming as much out of fear as determination.

    ¡°Eat this!¡±

    Her swing collided, and sent the animal flying. Lily took the opportunity to make another break for the door. Star was already there, looking back in.

    Just as she made it into the light, Star barked. She turned just in time to see the horrid little creature approaching for a second attempt. Lily popped open the umbrella and thrust with it, slamming it back one more time.

    With that, they made it into the light. By the time they were in the car, they could see the wretched thing making it¡¯s way out of the doors. It didn¡¯t seem to want to go into the light. Lily was gasping for breath. She looked over at Star and activated her translation spell again.

    ¡°Did you get hurt? Did it bite you? Did you bite it? Bark if you¡¯re okay.¡±

    For the split second it took for Star to parse what she meant, her heart pounded out of her chest. Then, Star barked. Lily almost fainted with the relief of it.

    ¡°Really? You¡¯re sure it didn¡¯t bite you, and you didn¡¯t touch it? One bark for yes, two for no.¡±

    Star barked once. Lily threw her arms around him, and sobbed in relief.

    <hr>

    They arrived back at the house a short time later, and Lily went digging through the previous occupants'' things to find temporary translation anchors. It only took about fifteen minutes to find a pair of earrings for her, and a bandana she could tie around Star¡¯s neck.

    She cursed herself for going someplace unknown and dangerous instead of just looking around the house. She might have gotten better items from Target, but she hadn¡¯t thought they¡¯d run into potentially mortal danger just because the doors had been open for like a week.

    The earrings were simple studs, but she¡¯d never enchanted something that small before. It took a little extra time, because she just wasn¡¯t used to working so small. It made her feel clumsy, and it didn¡¯t help that she was still a little shaken up. Once she got them on, Star could understand her. She still needed to make one for him though. She was pretty sure that if he had a spoken language, he wouldn¡¯t need to wear one for her earrings to be a two way connection. But even though he was trying to communicate, only the very basics were coming through. So, Lily explained and then enchanted his bandana. Fortunately, that was a much simpler process. She was just copying the spell, only larger and easier.

    The second she finished, she heard Star¡¯s voice bordering on panic.

    ¡°Are you okay? Are you okay? It didn¡¯t get you, did it?¡±

    Lily almost laughed. Of course he had been just as worried for her as she was for him.

    ¡°No, I¡¯m fine. You kept it away from me almost the whole time. Are you okay? Did it touch you at all?¡±

    Star whined, and it was a small realization for her that dogs could even make that sound in relief.

    ¡°It didn¡¯t touch me. I followed your instructions and gave it the run around. What was that? It was a magical creature. It had mana, and enhanced speed. It was also very aggressive.¡±

    Lily leaned forward and hugged him tightly.

    ¡°I don¡¯t know. I don¡¯t even know for sure if I was right. It wasn¡¯t foaming at the mouth that I could see, so maybe it was just the magic but, I wasn¡¯t about to take a chance with either of our lives.¡±

    ¡°Good. You did the right thing. But what did you think it was?¡±

    ¡°I¨C I don¡¯t even know where to begin. I don¡¯t think you¡¯ve been really sick in your life, and you¡¯ve only seen me. Do you understand being sick?¡±

    ¡°I have vomited, yes.¡±

    Lily sighed, seeing some of the limitations of this translation spell. She said sick. Star didn¡¯t have the concept, so he seemed to just get the nearest thing. This was going to be tricky.

    ¡°That¡¯s not¡­ Okay. There¡¯s a lot of different kinds of being sick. Some of them are worse than others. Some of them can kill you. The sickness gets inside of you, and then your body has to fight it off.¡±

    ¡°That does not sound so bad. I have a strong body. I would fight it off, yes?¡±

    ¡°No! Sometimes it doesn¡¯t matter how strong your body is. The signs I know to watch for with this specific kind of sickness are animals that foam at the mouth, behave aggressively, and are out during the day when they are usually night time animals. And it is ALWAYS fatal. In a really, really bad and horrible way. Suffering sickness death!¡±

    Star¡¯s ears drooped. He looked frightened.

    ¡°How does it get you?¡±

    ¡°Only if you get bit, or consume some of its saliva or body. So if it didn¡¯t touch you, and you didn¡¯t touch it, you should be safe. Me too.¡±

    ¡°It did not touch me. I almost bit it. You stopped me. Thank you Master.¡±

    ¡°Thank YOU! I don¡¯t think I could have gotten away if you didn¡¯t get it to chase you. That thing was so fast! It could have just been the magic. Maybe it wasn¡¯t sick at all. But, it had two of the three things to watch for. Before everyone disappeared, if we got it treated fast enough you could survive an encounter like that. Now¨C I don¡¯t know what I can do. I was so scared I was going to lose you!¡±

    ¡°I am fine, Lady Flamewalker. It never got within a body length of me, thanks to you.¡±

    Lily burst into tears and hugged him fiercely. They stayed like that for quite a while.

 0.036

    It was a few hours later they found themselves pulling off the road and into La Mancha. It was later than Lily expected to be arriving, but she and Star had needed some time to emotionally recover from their ordeal. Plus, it was nice to be around the house and able to talk to one another.

    But, eventually duty called. Now that they had arrived, Lily had one major goal in mind. To set things up so that if she didn¡¯t make it back, all these animals wouldn¡¯t die starving in cages.

    Near the start of all this, Lily had forced herself to accept that she couldn¡¯t be responsible for all the animals around the world. But, she¡¯d taken an active interest in this little farm and it felt wrong to just not worry about such a thing.

    Thankfully, she had what she thought was a solid idea for a dead man¡¯s switch, and she was here to put it into action. As Lily and Star got out of the car, Donk trotted over. Sancho was riding on his back. It was a very silly sight.

    ¡°You two must actually be pretty good friends, huh?¡±

    For a split second, she wondered if her translation spell would allow her to understand anything from these two, but the answer seemed to be no. It made sense that it had limits. Lily wondered if with some modification she could actually use it to communicate directly with normal animals. It seemed likely there was some way to make it happen. Although, they probably wouldn¡¯t have much to say, and definitely nothing interesting.

    Still, it might have helped her avoid conflict or diagnose that raccoon. Oh well, things to think about. Later. Star¡¯s voice snapped her out of her thoughts.

    ¡°They are partners.¡±

    ¡°Uhhh. In what sense?¡±

    Lily looked suspiciously at the donkey and goose.

    ¡°They protect La Mancha. Donk takes care of large threats, and Sancho repels the small ones and pays more attention to the smaller animals.¡±

    ¡°Huh. Well they seem to do a good job. Hah, farm cops. Maybe Turner and Hooch would have been better names. Eh, nah. I like these.¡±

    ¡°Where do the names come from?¡±

    ¡°Oh, uh, TV shows. Like we¡¯ve been watching. Well, Turner and Hooch are. Don Quixote and Sancho are from an old book. A really famous story.¡±

    ¡°What is a book?¡±

    Lily frowned.

    ¡°Right. Okay, so. They¡¯re these things made of paper that hold information. Sometimes stories, other times knowledge or whatever else. Like my notes, only with a story instead of magic stuff inside.¡±

    ¡°Oh. Then what does the story say?¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s about a knight. A, uh¡­ protector of sorts. Well, he¡¯s not really a knight. Don Quixote is a man who gets very invested in stories. And after reading a bunch of books about famous adventures and protectors and good deeds, he gets inspired. Or goes crazy. It¡¯s a little bit of both I think. He declares himself a knight too, like the characters in his stories, and goes around doing good things. Even though he¡¯s a little crazy, he eventually makes friends and followers, like Sancho, because he¡¯s just going around making things better and helping people. At least, that¡¯s how I remember the story going.¡±

    ¡°Oh. So it¡¯s a very noble name. The name of a great knight-protector. It¡¯s very fitting.¡±

    Lily smiled. She thought so too. Then it was time to get to work. She let Star go off and play with the knight and his squire.

    She had spent a good amount of time working out a plan that wouldn¡¯t use any glyph she didn¡¯t already understand the workings of. Lily was done taking magical risks if they could be avoided. The only exception was the basement. It was a bit of a leap of faith, but Entity B had saved her life a few times now. So, she was doing her best to trust despite her fears.

    For now though, her work was simple. She created one central circle running the light spell. This circle was drawn in the dirt so the rain would wash it away. It had become her favorite mana sink when trying to just discharge excess. Then, on each of the locks to the animal cages she created a smaller circle with the heat to mana glyph, and a simple NOT gate that would make the circle fail if mana wasn¡¯t getting used up by the light.

    The scars on her hands and presumably the rest of her body were still becoming opalescent and glowing whenever she cast spells, but the pain was becoming duller. She was still hopeful that the issue would go away, but it was looking less and less likely. So, she shrugged it off and continued her work.

    From there, she got a bucket of water and just poured slowly over the lock, leaving it unlatched, until ice had formed to hold it shut. This ended up being the portion that took the most time, but she tried to be patient with it. When enough ice had formed that Lily could grab the door and jostle it as hard as she could without it coming open, she moved onto the next gate. And the next. And the next.

    The process ended up taking close to three hours. But, at least it was simple, fairly risk free work. Lily would never have guessed that she¡¯d enjoy being on a farm. Maybe she wouldn¡¯t if she was taking a more active role. But she thought she¡¯d kind of like to spend more time here in the future. Maybe learning how to actually run this place.

    By the time she was done, the sun was starting to set. It was hardly a mastery of magic, but it felt good to work for hours on spells and have everything just go right for once. She wasn¡¯t sure her skills were worth the price she paid for them, but she was feeling proud about what she was able to accomplish now.

    ¡°Star! Let¡¯s get going!¡±

    The sound of paws running through the dirt approached rapidly, and he hopped into the car ready to go. Lily had to laugh. For a second, she felt like an upper class girl living on her farm, with a well trained dog excited to go on an adventure in the before times. When they were buckled in and on the road she spoke up.

    ¡°Alright, I think it¡¯s time for some fun. Let¡¯s have a good time tonight and tomorrow before we activate the spell, huh?¡±

    <hr>

    ¡°Ain¡¯t no rule says a dog can¡¯t play basketball!¡±

    They were curled up in Lily¡¯s car watching her choice of movie, Air Bud. Lily was starting to regret picking the film. It was sillier than she remembered. A lot sillier. But when she looked over at Star, he did seem to be enjoying herself. Finally, she paused for a minute because she had to ask.

    ¡°Hey, is this¡­ like. Bad?¡±

    ¡°What? What could be bad?¡±

    ¡°The movie. Like, this is how all dogs were before everyone vanished you know.¡±

    ¡°They could all play basketball so well? Then what is the point of the movie?¡±

    ¡°No no, not like that. They weren¡¯t as smart as you. None of them were. So, that¡¯s why they¡¯re treating Buddy like that. I just wondered if you knew or if it was maybe¡­ offensive?¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t understand. I know not all of my kind are as smart as me. Why is this a problem?¡±

    ¡°Huh. Okay. Well, I just wanted to make sure. You know, he doesn¡¯t have a lot of actual agency in the movie. I was worried I hadn¡¯t thought it through.¡±

    ¡°He is a hero!¡±

    ¡°For playing basketball?¡±

    ¡°What? No! How do you not understand. The point of the movie! It has nothing to do with basketball!¡±

    Lily gave Star a look.

    ¡°Humans sure thought it did, and they made it. What do you mean?¡±

    ¡°Buddy is limited by his intelligence, but he has a skill and a purpose! He has defied the odds in order to make a sad human puppy feel happy again. He is doing great things! He is a hero!¡±

    ¡°I guess I hadn¡¯t looked at it that way.¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s not perfect. The threat of the Snively man taking Buddy away because he can not speak for himself is sad, and a bit strange for me. But, it is a good movie. Buddy is a hero. I like heroes.¡±

    ¡°Well. Okay then. I guess I was worried for nothing. I have a feeling you¡¯re going to like the next one even more though, in that case!¡±

    If you come across this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it.

    She was right. Star enjoyed Balto a lot more. To the point that they had to watch the entire film a second time. Lily was more than happy to oblige, since she hadn¡¯t seen him this excited since they became able to communicate.

    <hr>

    When the movie was over, Star just wanted to run, so Lily climbed up onto the roof of her car and they played a game. It was time for fetch. They had a big open lot to themselves, and Lily got a nice tall vantage point.

    ¡°Okay Star, are you ready? Here¡¯s the rules. The ball is gonna stay within the theater grounds. If it goes out of bounds, I lose the throw. If you catch it before it hits the ground at all, I lose the throw. If you catch it after a single bounce, we¡¯re even. And if it bounces twice, I win and you lose. First one to get three points wins, okay?¡±

    ¡°Yes! Yes! Throw it. I¡¯m going to win. I¡¯m fast, like Balto! You can¡¯t beat me!¡±

    It was fun, hearing his voice, but also hearing his excited barks underneath it, and seeing his wagging tail and happy face.

    ¡°Okay, get ready! Here we go!¡±

    Lily launched the ball as hard as she could. Her first trick was simple, she wanted to make it look like it was going to go out of bounds so Star would stop chasing it. But really, she was gonna bounce it off the movie screen!

    He saw through it easily, and he was fast. Notably faster than before even. As he came trotting back to her triumphantly, Lily grinned at him.

    ¡°Geez, you really are tough to beat. How fast are you going to get anyway? I¡¯m pretty sure you¡¯re already faster than most dogs before magic was here.¡±

    Star¡¯s tail wagged harder, and he spoke with palpable excitement.

    ¡°I¡¯ll always be just fast enough to outrun your throws, Master. So, please do your best for me.¡±

    He dropped the ball looking just too smug. So, Lily picked it up with an evil grin.

    ¡°Oh yeah? I¡¯ll have you know I¡¯ve been holding back a trick. So you better get ready to really go all out this time.¡±

    Star visibly braced himself. Lily held back her laugh. She wound up to throw, and as Star bolted away she simply dropped the ball softly in front of her.

    He saw the ball leave her hand and she could see the look of horror on his face as he realized what had happened. But that wasn¡¯t all, Lily activated the spell and sent the ball plummeting straight down far harder than gravity could have made it.

    It hit the ground before Star had even stopped skidding to a halt to turn around. But, Lily had made a mistake. It bounced. It shot upward, flying so high it was difficult to see, especially at night. Lily only knew where it was because she was still magically connected to it.

    She could see Star searching for it. And just like that, he spotted it. He bolted, covering an insane distance in no time at all. Almost all the way across the lot. He had to dive to get it, but¡­ a second later he was trotting back triumphantly with a ball in his mouth.

    Lily couldn¡¯t even be mad.

    <hr>

    After exhausting themselves playing fetch, and a bleary ride home, the two had collapsed into bed and got a full night¡¯s sleep. Now, Lily awoke slowly. She decided to remain in bed and allow herself to take her time. Light snores were emanating from the dog laid out on the bed next to her. Star could really take a lot of room when he tried, and Lily was thankful for the oversized mattress in the master bedroom. Although, the backseat of the car had a certain charm to it too. It was a comfort, being cuddled up with someone you trusted.

    That wasn¡¯t a feeling Lily had ever really expected to have. She wondered if it¡¯d be the same with a romantic partner, or if those feelings would get in the way of enjoying this simple closeness. Not that it mattered now. She wasn¡¯t going to find anyone, much less someone compatible.

    But that was fine. She had Star to cuddle with. Her companion. She was glad for that too, because today was going to be one heck of a day.

    She planned to take the morning easy, and check off a few things she¡¯d be sad if she didn¡¯t get to do here. It wasn¡¯t a bucket list! But if they teleported away and couldn¡¯t get back easily¡­ She didn¡¯t want to miss a few things. Then, it would be time to gather the emeralds and set off her spell.

    It was that simple. Just do it. Nevermind being scared out of her mind. Just go for it. What¡¯s the worst that could happen? Casting a teleportation spell wrong and blasting every one of her component atoms across the universe like a magitech version of Osiris?

    At least it probably wouldn¡¯t hurt¡­

    Okay! This was an unproductive line of thoughts. Lily roused herself, and carefully got out of bed to avoid waking Star. She had a few things she could get done to facilitate today¡¯s events without waking him.

    So, she got out of bed and snuck into the main house. The sun was still pretty low in the sky, and outside everything had an early morning light to it, complete with some dew. Lily spent a short amount of time loading all the eggs from the car into the house, and then into the back yard. She had a plan for them, but that was for later.

    She hated to admit it, but the Elk carcass would have to go after the spell. It had been keeping well enough as far as she could tell without doing a taste test, but the whole front half laid out and picked cleaner and cleaner every day was only getting more horrific to look at. She was done looking through the sliding glass door out at the sea and seeing a skinless face with dead eyes still locked in lidless sockets staring at her.

    Star had seemed to enjoy it quite a bit though. She ought to spend some time teaching him about food safety so that in the future if he was willing to catch and cook things, he¡¯d be able to do it safely. Then again, she didn¡¯t know more than the basics either. Well, time for that later.

    As she drank a morning bottle of water, Star came trotting out of the bedroom, looking a little bleary. She wasn¡¯t sure she was truly feeling it, but she made sure to give him a big welcoming grin.

    ¡°Hey there, sleepy. I was just making plans for our last pre-spell morning. I got some ideas, wanna hear?¡±

    Star perked up almost immediately.

    ¡°Ideas? Yes! Yes! Lady Flamewalker, tell me your ideas. Please. Please.¡±

    It was always so funny to see him excited. He really was such a deep thinker, but the puppy part of him still rose to the surface when he was excited or happy, and it always brought a smile to Lily¡¯s face.

    ¡°I was thinking we invite your friends over and have a feast. You can keep them under control, right? We have more eggs than we will ever be able to eat. I figured we could leave them a gift, and give you a chance to try barbeque on what¡¯s left of that Stag. What do you say?¡±

    ¡°Yes! Yes! I will go get them right now, yes?¡±

    ¡°Go on then. I¡¯ll see if I can find blankets and stuff for you all to sit on.¡±

    Really that was more for Lily than anyone else. She was certain the dogs wouldn¡¯t care about sitting directly on the ground, but watching them all have seats while Star fed them sounded incredible. Although, Lily had some ulterior motives too.

    Star had been so wonderful to her, he really deserved a reward. Lily wasn¡¯t sure what things were going to be like after today, so, she wanted him to have that time. Meanwhile, she was going to do some packing. A backpack full of essentials would be lovely. She wanted to have everything she might need when she got wherever she was going. No starting again from zero.

    <hr>

    Just north of a little town on the ocean, a strange scene was unfolding. The idyllic little city was slowly getting overtaken by nature, and near everything was silent, except for at one very special house. A mansion really. And outside that mansion was a scene that would have only existed in a painting or on TV in all of human history until now.

    A dog was having a cookout for his dog friends. Although mostly they were gorging themselves on raw eggs, while a flustered dog tried to figure out the barbeque. Lily had helped him get it lit though, and while none of the tools or indeed even the barbeque itself were meant to be operated without thumbs, Star was slowly figuring out how to get things to work. He was doing his best to use tongs in his mouth when Lily went back inside to do some packing.

    She was surprised. She had expected a pack of wild dogs to be pretty rowdy, but not only were they shockingly orderly, they had been downright polite to her. Well, for dogs. When they arrived, they had lined up and bowed. They¡¯d been very careful not to look her in the eyes, and not to touch her or ruin anything. Although the translation spell didn¡¯t really have much effect. Star had mentioned being able to understand the others slightly better though.

    She was beginning to wonder if most animals were getting more intelligent, or if it was because this pack was in close proximity to Star. She hoped it wasn¡¯t all of them, or that there was an upper limit. Otherwise she was a little worried about some of the naturally more intelligent and aggressive animals in the world. Like, what was going to happen if she ever ran into chimps? She shuddered.

    After only a little digging around in the garage she was able to find a nice backpack. It looked like the sort that had once been used for hiking or camping, which was perfect for Lily¡¯s use. It even had a sleeping bag rolled up on top of it! She wasn¡¯t totally sure how to roll that back up after using it, but if she ended up having to spend a night somewhere that would really come in handy. She had pretty limited space though, and had to figure that Entity B wouldn¡¯t be sending her someplace to rough it. So, she wasn¡¯t going to worry about a tent for now.

    Instead, she packed up pain meds, bandaids, a few bottles of water, clean clothes, her spell chalk, her notebooks, her best laptop, her phone, some twinkies, a toothbrush, and the remainder of the duck feet. Finally, she secured Bay to the top of the backpack.

    ¡°Can¡¯t go anywhere without you, buddy.¡±

    Just when she thought she was done, another thought struck her. She dug around in the master bedroom until she found a credit card. It was a longshot, but it was small, and if wherever she was going had electricity and anything automated it might come in handy. If not, it was still a hard plastic tool good for some manual work. In an extreme pinch, she might even be able to draw a spell circle on it or something.

    With that, she was finally done. So she found her way to the backyard again. Star perked up immediately when she arrived.

    ¡°Master! You are back. Welcome back. I have been missing you. Where have you been? Will you eat some elk?¡±

    ¡°Uh¡­ I¡¯m good. I was just packing up and getting ready. I wanted to let you enjoy your time here before we went. You deserve some time to have fun with your friends.¡±

    Star carefully approached Lily and nipped at her arm.

    ¡°Hey! What is it this time?¡±

    ¡°It is not a reward without you here to enjoy it with me.¡±

    ¡°...oh.¡±

    Lily almost teared up at that. Instead, she pointed to the barbeque.

    ¡°Your meat¡¯s gonna burn.¡±

    Star looked alarmed and turned back to the cooking. Lily laughed. The girl felt like she¡¯d been doing a lot more of that lately. A lot more even than before everything happened.

    ¡°Thanks, Star. You¡¯re right. Let¡¯s party for a while then!¡±

    That morning, in that small backyard on the coast of California, a girl and her companion enjoyed their reward for making it so far. The girl introduced a pack of dogs to music, danced with animals, tried a very small bite of week old elk meat, and rewatched Balto.

    All in all, it was the best morning she could remember ever having.

 0.037

    After the festivities of the morning, it was a pretty uneventful trip to pick up the chaos emeralds. She was surprised to find that the ambient mana of the spooky spots had lowered considerably. Only the one around her apartment really seemed like it qualified as a spooky spot at all anymore. But, the chaos emeralds were charged. That¡¯s all that mattered.

    Lily did make one last stop by La Mancha while she was in the area, although it was mostly just to check and make sure her dead man spells were still intact. They were, so she patted Donk a few times and headed home.

    They rode mostly in silence. There was nothing that really needed to be said, and they¡¯d already partied themselves out for the day. Star took a quick nap, and Lily focused on the task at hand.

    Which led them back home, and inevitably to standing outside the elevator, staring at it.

    ¡°Well. This is it. Are you ready?¡±

    ¡°I am ready. We will easily clear this trial, and continue forward with our lives together Master.¡±

    ¡°Hah, don¡¯t you sound confident.¡±

    ¡°I am.¡±

    ¡°How? We have no idea what will happen down there!¡±

    ¡°I know what will happen down there.¡±

    ¡°Wait, really? What do you mean?¡±

    Star looked up at her, and a bit of his confidence seeped into her soul.

    ¡°We will work together, and whatever happens, we will keep each other safe. Nothing else matters.¡±

    ¡°What if we fail?¡±

    ¡°Then we fail, and we will face the consequences together.¡±

    ¡°But what if¨C¡±

    Star barked, and it surprised Lily into silence. Then he spoke again.

    ¡°No. We will protect each other. Do what you must do, Master. I will help how I can.¡±

    Lily smiled, then nodded. After a second of hesitation, she reached down and pressed the button. The elevator doors opened. She stepped inside with her companion, and began the descent.

    The basement was just as she remembered it. As she turned on the lights, and they flickered to life she was in a large empty space with a giant spell circle laid out on the floor. Lily could already see where the emeralds would slot in to activate the spell.

    ¡°Well, nothing left to do but go for it.¡±

    Between the two of them, they started placing the emeralds where they belonged. It was surprisingly anticlimactic. Lily could swear she¡¯d seen a number of movies, TV shows, and books where there had been a scene like this. In all of them, the protagonists quickly slotted the keystones in the sockets or whatever. It only occurred to Lily now that they usually used clever editing to avoid those awkward moments that involved walking across a vast space holding a lot of large stones and figuring out which one went where.

    Despite that, only a few minutes later, Lily was standing above the last little alcove holding the purple chaos emerald.

    ¡°You know, that always seemed weird to me.¡±

    ¡°What, Master?¡±

    ¡°I stole the name Chaos Emeralds from a game¨C er, a story type of thing that I like. But emeralds are a specific stone that¡¯s usually green.. It turns out in the language that the story came from, ¡®emerald¡¯ can be a generic name for any gem. But when it¡¯s translated to my language, it seems weird. This is probably more like a chaos amethyst you know?¡±

    ¡°What I know is that you are nervous, so you are stalling by getting into your own head about something that doesn¡¯t matter.¡±

    ¡°Hah, you know me so well.¡±

    Lily put the stone down. Magic began to flow from it. Then, it stopped.

    ¡°Huh?¡±

    In fact, none of the chaos emeralds were discharging more than what it took to fill the circles they were sat in. Lily looked around the circle curiously.

    ¡°That¡¯s weird. How do I actually activate it then? It¡¯s powered up. Hmm.¡±

    So, she traced one of the lines leading to the chaos emerald she was standing next to, and found it lead all the way to the center of the circle. There, in small filigree she noticed something she hadn¡¯t before. It was ornate, and not designed in the more uniform circuits she used, but it was definitely similar.

    ¡°Oh. This is a logic gate! Wait, it only lets the spell activate if I put a tiny bit of mana in? Aw man, does that mean I didn¡¯t invent magical circuitry? That¡¯s a bummer. And this is way prettier than my design too. Seems to do the same thing though.¡±

    She took a close look making sure she wasn¡¯t missing anything.

    ¡°This is fucking genius!¡±

    A voice came from the dog beside her.

    ¡°What is it, Master?¡±

    ¡°It needs me to put a little mana in to actually activate the spell, but it¡¯s charged up. Tensed. Like, uh. The best example I have is a mantis shrimp. Ugh.¡±

    ¡°What is a mantis shrimp, and what does it have to do with this magic?¡±

    ¡°They¡¯re these little guys that live in the water, but they can punch super super hard. See, how they do it is, they have this little like, latch in their arm. Basically, instead of winding up, they close the latch, and then strain their muscles. Then they open the little latch and their arm immediately moves at full speed rather than having to accelerate.¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t understand.¡±

    ¡°Or.. Maybe it¡¯s the same as snapping my fingers. Here, look at this. When I snap my fingers, like this, the snapping sound is caused by my finger hitting my palm, see?¡±

    She demonstrated a few times.

    ¡°But if I don¡¯t start with my thumb, and I just move my middle finger as fast as I can to hit my palm, it¡¯s a lot slower. Because when I do it properly, I¡¯m building up tension against my thumb before it moves out of the way.¡±

    Star stared at her hard for a few seconds, then replied lazily.

    ¡°What does this have to do with the spell, Keeper of Duck Feet?¡±

    ¡°Don¡¯t worry, I packed those by the way. Anyway, see, the spell is charged up. It¡¯s cycled a few times, draining mana from the chaos emeralds, and it¡¯s just waiting to get this signal to start. That means it¡¯s probably going to go full force and use a ton of mana the second it starts, rather than having any wind up time like a lot of my spells do. To put it simply, when I cast my light ball spell, it slowly comes into being. If I did it like this, I could probably turn it on and off like a light switch. Isn¡¯t that cool?¡±

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    ¡°Master, we¡¯re not down here so you can marvel at spell design.¡±

    Lily pouted.

    ¡°Ugh, fiiiine. Let¡¯s do it then.¡±

    Without skipping a beat, Lily reached down and poured a little mana into the spell. Sure enough, it followed the connection and activated the gates holding the spell from starting.

    A sudden jolt sent her to the floor. It took a second for her to realize that nothing had pushed her. The ground had shifted. It also wasn¡¯t done. The ground was shaking in ways she¡¯d only ever seen in videos of strong earthquakes from around the world. The house groaned on top of her.

    ¡°What is happening, Master?¡±

    ¡°I¨C I think the spell is just doing what it¡¯s supposed to! Brace yourself!¡±

    The feeling of static in the air was building in the room. She could feel it. She could smell it. It was like right before lightning struck. It was flowing through her.

    This was magic. Everything Lily had done with spells up until now was put into perspective in a second. Even the spell that gave her scars had been nothing compared to this. This was power. Raw and coursing, pouring through the room. It was the difference between a bathtub and the ocean. It was the difference between a candle and a forest fire. This was what magic was really capable of.

    And it was also tearing apart the room. Lily got a grip and forced herself to pay attention to her surroundings. The house above her was still groaning, bits of drywall were falling off the walls and disintegrating. Disintegrating?

    Lily realized with horror, the spell was breaking them down into mana. It was absorbing things outside the spell to activate!

    ¡°Star! Don¡¯t leave the circle for any reason! It¡¯s dissolving things into mana!¡±

    Like a monster let loose, it was devouring everything around it. The walls were losing structure! Lily frantically thought about what she could do. She tried to reach out to see about putting a circle up on the walls, even though she couldn¡¯t think of anything that would help, and instantly felt mana flowing into her from the absurd pressure of it all around her. It hurt! She gave up immediately, and searched for something else to do. Star was standing near her protectively, but he was equally unsure.

    A terrible tearing sound began above her. Lily looked up in horror as the spell began eating through the ceiling over her head.

    ¡°No no no no no! The house might come down! Get to the edge of the circle, but not outside it! If stuff starts coming down, try to find the spot most secure against falling things! One big piece could take either one of us out, and I can¡¯t cast!¡±

    ¡°Understood!¡±

    They made their way to the edge of the circle, and watched as the ceiling above them started bowing in. Lily was desperate for anything she could do to keep herself safe, but nothing was working! A levitation spell like with the concrete slab? Not without using the mana of the circle, and last time she did that she got poked full of holes from the inside out! Could she turn off the spell? No, now that it was running, the switch that started it wasn¡¯t going to do anything! There had to be something she could do!

    A section of flooring from the room above broke off and fell into the circle. There was an explosion of wood dust and hopefully not fiberglass. Lily coughed as it settled. Something she could use? It was in the circle! She had it!

    She ran forward and threw down her backpack. Digging around in it for a second, she came out with her spell chalk.

    ¡°Inscriber of power, don¡¯t fail me now!¡±

    She couldn¡¯t cast with her own mana, but she could cast if she used something else! Her hands flew across the wood, drawing circle after circle. It felt like instinct was taking over. Like she was hardly even thinking about what to draw, it was just pouring out of her as a pure magical expression.

    Star tackled her from the side just in time to prevent the sofa from falling down the hole onto her. Lily dove forward again, driving the chalk imprints as fast as she could.

    Draw mana from around her, limit that with a gate based on how much it consumed so it didn¡¯t take everything from the basement spell, levitate the section of flooring, reinforce it so it draws more mana if it needs more to stay right where it is. As the section of floor rose, Lily rolled under it and called Star to join her.

    ¡°If it¡¯ll fit bring the sofa! It might help hold up the rubble!¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m on it, Master!¡±

    Star began pulling the sofa under their makeshift cover. Lily laid on her back and began drawing on the underside of the floorboards. Another spell. This one to push anything that lands on top of their cover to the sides, so it doesn¡¯t get weighed down until the spell breaks.

    Another spell, using the new technique she just learned. Let it fill with mana until she activates it, and when she does a fully charged push spell would launch their floorboard cover as high into the sky as it could with all this power around them. Hopefully giving them time to crawl out.

    Another! This time to draw in any electricity nearby and make sure that none of the live wires would be burning or electrocuting them if they were trapped down here.

    Lily was about to start another circle when the chalk vanished. It dissolved from her hand like it was made of dust.

    ¡°Huh?¡±

    ¡°Master?¡±

    ¡°Something¡¯s happening!¡±

    She turned to get more from her backpack just in time to see that dissolving away too. Was it turning into mana? Or being teleported? Or what? She didn¡¯t know. A surge of fear coursed through her. And then¨C

    For a second, Lily was floating. She wondered if she was dead. Floating on her back, in an empty sea. Like her first night after everything changed, only without the boat. A void. An abyss, as big as the universe with only her.

    Then, sensation came flooding back. Cold. She was so cold! Freezing! But her body wouldn¡¯t move. She was briefly thankful to be feeling anything at all, but her body wouldn¡¯t move even a little bit. It was like being roused from a deep sleep. Like that feeling in a really bad dream, where something horrific is happening and you¡¯re only slightly aware of your body but you can¡¯t make it move, or fight, or even scream. She tried. She tried with all her might. She could feel it bubbling up inside her. She was freezing! It hurt! She had to do something!

    Lily screamed and sat up.

    She was in the snow. It came up above her waist, even as she sat up. At least two or three feet deep. It was dark. So very dark. She could faintly see the difference between the branches above her and the night sky. Wait, branches? She felt around and found the trunk of a tree. Smooth bark coated with a thin layer of frost. It seemed like she had burst forth from the snow here. Had she been sleeping there a long time? No that¡¯s impossible, she¡¯d be dead if she had.

    Her T-shirt and jeans were not cutting it in this cold. She stood up as quick as she could, feeling her skin hurt as the snow fell on it.

    She looked around. Thankfully with the snow being white she could make out a little bit despite the dark. There was a lump next to her. Lily frantically dug away the snow only to find¨C Her backpack. Well, it was something. She opened it up and pulled out her jacket, but it was still so cold. Her teeth were already chattering. She had to do something or she was going to freeze to death fast.

    ¡°Star?!¡±

    Silence answered her.

    ¡°Star! Can you hear me!?¡±

    Nothing. Maybe he didn¡¯t land right next to her? He would be better suited to this weather at least. It wasn¡¯t likely to be quickly fatal for him. She¡¯d find him. But first, she had to do something. Cast a spell! Anything!

    She found chalk in her backpack and turned back to the tree trunk.

    ¡°Heat spell first. Gotta do a heat spell.¡±

    She drew on the tree trunk with her chalk. A simple spell, gather ambient mana and heat. Even if the tree burned, she could figure things out from there.

    Nothing happened.

    ¡°Huh? What the hell?¡±

    She put her hand up to the tree right over where heat should be gathering. It did feel¡­ slightly warmer?

    Fine then! She was getting better at this. No ambient mana? She¡¯d use her own! She conjured a flame in front of her from her own mana, and powered it by pushing her own power into it. The flame sprang to life. Lily breathed a sigh of relief. But, holding the flame in this cold was hard. And in seconds, it was out again.

    ¡°Oh god. Oh god. What do I do? Start a fire, right? I have to s-start a fire!¡±

    She took one more deep breath, and yelled as loud as she could.

    ¡°Star!? Entity B!? Anybody!?¡±

    With a shiver, she tried to conjure her flame one more time. It flickered in her hands, and guttered out.

    ¡°Anybody¡­?¡±

    The howl of the wind was her only answer.

 1.000

    Lily¡¯s hands were going numb. Her magic was running out. She had already tried lighting a tree on fire directly and it hadn¡¯t worked because she couldn¡¯t sustain the fire long enough to get it started.

    In desperation, she had started gathering smaller pieces as quickly as she could to start a fire, but the heat in her body was dwindling and with it her life itself.

    She didn¡¯t even know what would burn and what wouldn¡¯t. Lily wasn¡¯t prepared for this, and the small bundle of twigs, bark, and leaves she had gotten together might still be too wet to light up, but she couldn¡¯t find anything drier to use and her hands were going to be useless soon. She gathered her fire starting kit beneath the tree for some extra shelter from the wind.

    This was her last chance. She had to stop herself from just pouring all of her magic into the flame spell. If she incinerated this pile of fuel too quickly for the fire to build that would be a whole new problem.

    She found the spot that looked easiest to light up, and applied the heat and convergence glyphs, and focused with all her might. If she could just focus heat in that spot for long enough for it to light up¨C

    Fwoosh

    The fire came to life. It was tiny, but her tinder was ignited. Lily got down and blew softly on it, adding some more fuel.

    ¡°Please, please!¡±

    The fire grew agonizingly slowly, but it was growing. She split her focus between adding more fuel and trying to warm her hands enough to retain dexterity. Visible smoke began to rise, and the flames blossomed across more of her little pile of fuel. The desperate girl breathed a sigh of relief, and eyed her surroundings for more burnable items to add.

    Lily¡¯s teeth were chattering, and the wind and snowflakes felt like knives on her skin, but her hands were finally starting to gain a little bit of feeling back from being near the fire. If she could just grow it until she had a little bubble of warm safe space she could figure out what to do from here!

    A sudden noise from overhead caught her attention, as the tree shifted slightly. She put the pieces together one second too late. The heat from her fire, the snow resting in the branches of the tree above her. There was a frighteningly gentle sound as the snow fell from above, directly onto the fire that had heated it enough to shift, snuffing it instantly. Darkness enveloped her again.

    ¡°No!¡±

    Lily cried out loudly, and dove, digging with her bare hands in the hopes that there would be even a cinder left. There was nothing but a soggy pile of half burned tinder to be found.

    That was it. Her last hope, snuffed out because of a tiny little mistake. She was going to die here. She couldn¡¯t build a fire like that a second time. She didn¡¯t have the time left. She knew it. Tears rose to her eyes and froze before they had finished making it down her face.

    Why? Hadn¡¯t Entity B called this a gift? What had she done wrong? Packed the wrong items? Cast the spell wrong? She was going to die and she didn¡¯t even know where she had messed up. Of course that was how her life was going to end. Of course her incompetence would catch up with her eventually. She didn¡¯t know why she had ever thought for a second that she could do this. She was¨C

    She thought she might have heard a sound. It was quiet, and off in the distance. But she could have sworn. Maybe it was Star? She mustered her remaining energy and stood, turning towards the noise and trying to see something. Anything. Anyone.

    Off in the distance, shining through the trees, she saw a light. She managed a couple steps in that direction. But whatever was causing it was so far off. Deep in the trees. She opened her mouth to cry out, and to her horror found that with the snow fall and her being nearly frozen already, she couldn¡¯t make her voice carry at all.

    She thought she heard the sound again. A voice. Not Star, but a voice! It was a voice! Lily did her best to yell, but it might as well have been a mumble! She had to make herself seen. This was her last chance. She might still die even if someone found her, but it was the only thing she could do!

    Lily gathered all of the magic she could inside of her, and cast her last hope. It was her light spell, with the remainder of her energy. It faded into being over about a second, gathering into an orb the size of a basketball, that immediately started shrinking when she ran out of energy. But it was shrinking slowly enough. It would last a minute. Maybe two.

    The desperate frozen girl fell forward into the snow. Suddenly, it didn¡¯t feel so cold. The snow felt like a blanket as it covered her, shielding her from the wind. She could hardly keep her eyes open.

    Lily blinked.

    She was being dragged through the snow on her back. Someone had wrapped her in a little more clothing, and was dragging her. She tried to say thank you, but her mouth wouldn¡¯t open. Maybe it was Star after all? Somehow?

    Lily tried to communicate, but nothing worked. She raised her hand up. Her scars were glowing, shining in the dark of the night. Wasn¡¯t she out of mana? That was weird. She almost laughed. But the Star shapes reminded her of her missing companion.

    Behind her raised hand, the clouds parted slightly and she caught a glimpse of the night sky and¨C Stars. A clear night¡¯s sky with Stars. That wasn¡¯t right, but she was too tired to consider it right now.

    Lily blinked again.

    She was in a bed. It was warm. Hot even. Her skin felt like it was burning all over, but she couldn¡¯t move or speak. She wasn¡¯t even sure she was awake. From another room, she thought she heard a deep but feminine voice speaking to itself, but she couldn¡¯t make out any of the words. Lily tried one last time to call out, but nothing came out.

    She floated down into herself. Darkness enveloped her.

    <hr>

    The lost girl had a dream. In the place where sleep and death meet, she met a woman. The strange woman stood much taller than Lily, although the form of her body seemed to shift and change so that the details never quite coalesced into a form Lily could make sense of. One detail always remained the same though. The woman was mutilated. A horrific scar, if such a word could do it justice. It was as if a great beast had reached into the woman¡¯s chest, and gripped her very heart in its claws.

    To Lily¡¯s surprise, the woman spoke to her, after a time. Though she could not tell if it had been minutes or hours they had spent together in silence.

    ¡°You should not have come here, [Fragment]. I will not tolerate your presence.¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t even know where ¡®here¡¯ is. I don¡¯t want to be here. I just want to go home.¡±

    Lily withered from the revulsion in the woman¡¯s eyes.

    ¡°Pathetic.¡±

    ¡°I- I¡¯m sorry. I don¡¯t know what to say. I really never should have come here. I¡¯ll leave as soon as I can.¡±

    The woman approached Lily, as she shrank back in fear. The strange woman towered over her. Effortlessly, the huge figure reached out a hand and plunged it into Lily¡¯s chest. The woman was screaming. Lily was screaming. The pain was immeasurable. She could feel the woman¡¯s hand clasp around her heart. She couldn¡¯t think, couldn¡¯t breath, couldn¡¯t¨C

    <hr>

    Lily sat up in a cold sweat, breathing raggedly. Her head was swimming, and she felt like an elephant had been sleeping on her chest. She was in bed. Light was shining in through the window, and she could see the snowy boughs of a tree outside. The room itself was sparsely decorated. It looked straight out of a movie cabin in the forest with it¡¯s plain wood textures on everything and clearly hand made items.

    Sitting was getting tiring, so Lily laid back down and stared at the unfamiliar ceiling. She was alive. Barely. Again. Someone had come to her rescue. Again. Some stranger? Entity B?

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    Probably not Star. Star? He had to be nearby, right? Had he been rescued too? He had to be okay. Lily wouldn¡¯t be able to live with herself if she had gotten him killed.

    ¡°Star? Are you here?¡±

    Lily croaked. Her voice barely made it past her lips. Her throat was so dry. She craved water--but that wasn''t the most important thing right now.

    She waited, but there was no response. Lily cursed silently. She had to find him. How could she manage that though? A spell? She didn¡¯t have a spell for talking to him at a distance! How stupid could she be! It was an obvious thing to have created before coming here. Why hadn''t she considered that they might get split up? Why hadn''t she thought to prepare for that, or even the damn snow? Now she had failed him, and if he was hurt or lost or worse it would be her fault. No. No. Lily tried to get her mind under control.

    This would be okay. Whoever had rescued her had probably found him. So, where was he? Maybe he was less hurt, so he was up and around? No, it was unlikely he wouldn¡¯t have been waiting nearby.

    Lily got herself together to go look for him. She staggered out of the bed, only to find that someone had undressed her in her sleep. Great. She fashioned the blanket around her like a robe, covering the important bits, and made her way out of the room.

    The main house was a small cabin full of the same kind of handmade furnishings. It was a combination living space and kitchen in an L shape around what seemed to be the only room. It was quite cozy, although whoever lived here had a very low tech existence. If Entity B was a master of magic as Lily suspected though, maybe it was less important. Looking around she didn¡¯t see any spell circles though. Curious.

    Lily spotted her clothes hanging up by a wood furnace in the center of the room that seemed to be heating the place. It was quite warm, even a little uncomfortably hot for her. She ditched the blanket in favor of her clothes. She shrugged on her simple black T-shirt with a purple heart on the chest, jeans, and her jacket. Her jacket was great for a windy beach town and not at all suited for the snow. But it¡¯s not like she had other options. She¡¯d take the blankets if she had to, but she had to find Star. Maybe she could work a couple spells to help keep her warm before she left?

    This was taking too much time. He could be in trouble! It was already daytime. She suspected he wouldn¡¯t freeze to death in this weather, but he could still be alone in a strange place. Or have run into Entity B, and who knows how that would go. Lily was racking her brain trying to come up with a spell that could reach him, but she had no way to reference him in a spell that she could think of. The basement spell had to have some kind of long distance targeting, maybe she could dig out her notes and find a promising glyph?

    Her body was not in any condition for magical experiments, and it would take too much time. No. No. No. She wasn¡¯t thinking of anything useful. Lily wanted to hit herself. Think, damn you! Think!

    It was no use. Her brain was full of fog and cotton. He was lost and she was to blame. This was her fault. She was lucky she hadn¡¯t died. What had she been thinking? She hadn¡¯t been thinking. Just like always. Otherwise she¡¯d have made a spell to talk to Star from a distance before coming here. Now he was¨C

    Lily heard the sound of footsteps approaching the front door to the cabin. Her heart froze in her chest. Another person. There really was another person here. A stranger. Years of agoraphobia reared its head in an instant. As though it had never changed, never left. She was transformed into the girl shaking as she had to make a phone call she had put off for months. Hiding in her bathroom when the groceries were delivered. Just about pissing herself over a ''meat madness'' announcement.

    She had never faced this demon of hers. There had been no other people, after all. Just her, and her dog.

    ¡°Oh shit.¡±

    Lily ran for the bedroom and shut the door behind her, hyperventilating. What was she doing? She was going to have to confront whoever this was no matter what! It¡¯s not like she could hide! Instinct took over. She was scared. So scared it was overriding her other fears for now.

    She heard the front door open, and some heavy footsteps entered. The door closed. Oh god, what was she going to say? What if this person demanded something in return for saving her? She didn¡¯t have anything to give. Was this Entity B? Her mind raced, and then she heard the voice. A deep resonant female voice.

    ¡°Miss Outsider? Are you up? Did you find your clothes?¡±

    Lily opened her mouth and tried to croak out an answer but words wouldn¡¯t come. She couldn¡¯t talk to this person! How could she? She wanted to crawl under the bed and die. She forced the feelings down and tried to make herself breathe.

    ¡°Uh, Miss Outsider? You are awake right? I¡¯m sorry about undressing you. Your clothes were wet from the melted snow, so they had to come off.¡±

    Say words. She had to say words. Otherwise they were just going to come in to look for her. Any words. This was so stupid. She didn¡¯t even know what she was afraid of! A little voice in her heart responded. ¡°You know what you are afraid of. You¡¯re afraid they will take one look at you and see you for what you are. Failure. Scum. Not worth saving. They should throw you out into the snow.¡± Lily swallowed nervously. Yes. That is what she was afraid of.

    ¡°You are in there, right Miss? Please tell me you didn¡¯t wake up after days just to run off into the snow again...¡±

    Like a hot knife into Lily¡¯s heart, she heard the word ¡®days¡¯. She inhaled sharply, and realized then that she had been holding her breath this whole time.

    In the battle of her soul, her terror for her friend had won out in an instant. She seized the momentum of this new fear and threw open the door. She faced her savior with wide eyes, her words stammering out of her in a deluge.

    ¡°Days!? What do you mean days? Have you seen Star? Please tell me you found him. He¡¯s a dog. He¨C He¡¯s this tall. White with long fur, kind of puppy shaped, black mark on his forehead, super smart. Did you find him with me?¡±

    The strange girl was wrapped head to toe in snow gear that oddly seemed to include ornamental horns and a pretty realistic scaled tail. She gave Lily the impression of some kind of overly-dedicated viking cosplayer, and she was also quite tall. About six and a half feet by Lily¡¯s guess, counting the horned hat. Her snow gear was mostly layers and layers of wool cloth and fur. It didn¡¯t matter right now. Lily swallowed her fear and advanced. The strange girl seemed too stunned to speak.

    ¡°Please! Answer me. Is he okay? He¡¯s all I have and it¡¯s my fault he¡¯s here.¡±

    The girl cleared her throat and answered, after hesitating a moment.

    ¡°I¡¯m sorry Miss Outsider, I only found you.¡±

    Lily bolted toward the door, ready to run out looking for him. The new girl grabbed her by the collar of her shirt as she tried to run past, and stopped her. Whoever she was, she was strong, and Lily froze when she realized what had caught her.

    ¡°Wait, wait. I can¡¯t let you just run out. You¡¯ll freeze to death.¡±

    Lily tried desperately to keep herself from crying, but the tears spilled over.

    ¡°Please. I have to find him. He¡¯s all I have in the world, and if he died because of my failure, I¨C I can¡¯t. I can¡¯t do this. It¡¯s all my fault. It¡¯s all my fault. It¡¯s all my fault.¡±

    Lily slumped onto the floor and curled up. She couldn¡¯t breathe. Her heart was racing. She felt like she was dying. A cold sweat started on her skin. He was going to be dead, because of her. She knew it. She couldn¡¯t handle this. She shouldn¡¯t have messed with magic. She should have just enjoyed their life together. How could she be so careless? It was one thing with her own life, but his? It should have been her that died. She didn¡¯t deserve to¨C

    The strange girl had gotten on the floor and was gently shaking Lily.

    ¡°Miss. Miss. Miss!¡±

    Lily looked up at her, and froze. The girl with the horns spoke again.

    ¡°I don¡¯t know what¡¯s going on, but he¡¯s a dog right? He probably didn¡¯t freeze. Let¡¯s try to find him, okay? But first, you need to calm down. You¡¯re going to get yourself killed if you just run out into the snow, and then where will your friend be?¡±

    Lily nodded slowly, and tried very hard to speak normally.

    ¡°Y-yeah. Thank you. You¡¯ll help me look?¡±

    The stranger reached up and removed the snow gear covering her face, revealing bright red hair, and a smattering of red scales like a lizard across her face. The horns were in fact, not a hat.

    ¡°Of course Miss Human. Now let¡¯s sit down and¨C¡±

    Lily¡¯s head was spinning. Lily¡¯s head was spinning. Not human. This person was not a human. Which meant¡­ Where was she? What had happened?

    ¡°Miss Human? Miss Outsider? Are you okay, you look like you¡¯re about to¨C¡±

    Lily promptly fainted. The last thing she heard before fully losing herself to the darkness was a voice. It sounded like her own voice?

    [Fragment] - Class Obtained

    [Fragment] - Level 1

    Skill - [Heretical Mana] Obtained

    <hr>

    1.38 > 0.038

    In the ruins of a mansion, on the coast of California, dust was slowly settling. The entire house had fallen in on itself, crumpling into the basement. Bits of it were entirely consumed and transformed into mana. The rest was now a heap of broken detritus. All was still.

    But, that could not last. A spell activated, and a piece of rubble shot high into the sky, falling a couple hundred feet from the ruins. A hole from the sky all the way down into the ruined basement was left in the path of the projectile, and in the center of that hole lay a girl and a dog.

    Star rose and approached Lily, licking her face free of tears. She hugged him fiercely.

    ¡°Everything¡¯s gone. I failed. What did I do wrong?¡±

    He leaned down onto her, and spoke softly.

    ¡°We are still alive. That¡¯s all that matters.¡±

    He was right.

 Interlude - Gull (G.000)

    His first clue that something was wrong came just minutes after waking up. Barnacle wasn¡¯t bothering him. Over the years he¡¯d been living there, Gull had gotten used to the noise that made up his home. The crashing waves through the ocean eroded rock that made up his home were just background noise, however loud they may be. Even the sounds of the city above rarely were capable of waking him.

    Barnacle however, would be on him like¨C well, a barnacle. Hence the name. You couldn¡¯t scrape him off if you tried. It would have been endearing, if barnacle hadn¡¯t been so annoying. Try as he might, Gull could never quite get used to the annoying little brat always tailing him. But, to wake up, and not see Barnacle¡¯s little head poke around the side of the chamber gull slept in within minutes was a change to the status quo, and one that filled Gull with a small sense of unease.

    The caves carved out over thousands of years of ocean crashing against the face of the cliff were home to the Ocean Cave tribe. Naming was not one of their strong suits. While fairly safe from outside threats, the small cave system they lived in could be dangerous by virtue of wet and slippery rock with sea moss growing on it, and the occasional swell of the ocean itself.

    So, when Barnacle failed to show up, Gull decided to go looking. Annoying or not, Gull would rather the slight embarrassment of being the one to go find him this morning, rather than the possibility that the little wretch was in trouble and Gull didn¡¯t even try to find him.

    His second clue that something was wrong came when he entered the shared common space in the largest chamber of the sea cave to find it also empty.

    It was a circular cavern of smooth stone. In a lower part of the room, water still ran at high tide. But a big flat area remained dry in all but the biggest surges, and there the Ocean Cave tribe had set up a cook fire with a stolen pot, and a circle of mismatched pillows, cushions, and bundled up cloth to sit on. The remains of dinner from the night before, a stew made from a few ocean fish and kelp, were slowly congealing in the pot they¡¯d used to cook it. Gull was not used to waking and finding leftovers at all, much less a cooking fire that hadn¡¯t even gotten started. A deep sense of unease filled him.

    Had there been a raid? How had he slept through that, and why had no one found him? The Ocean Cave tribe was a tribe of rats. Not literal rats, that¡¯s just how they thought of themselves. The city on the cliff above them would have thought of them simply as monsters. Why? It was unclear to Gull. The people themselves may have struggled to come to a clear answer. Because they were dangerous? Because they were thieves? Because they were frightening to look upon? Because killing them was profitable? There were a lot of potential reasons, but it all boiled down to one simple truth. The Ocean Cave tribe was a tribe of goblins.

    But, like rats, the Ocean Cave tribe lived under the city anyway. The caves that made up their home had a few points that intersected with the city sewers, and from there they could often sneak into the city, steal goods or rummage through garbage. Whatever they needed, really. They had learned to be careful not to be caught, because if too many got caught in too short a time, the humans in the city above would send people down looking for them.

    A raid usually meant violence though, and there were no signs of violence. The rest of the tribe was simply missing. All of their belongings remained completely intact. If the humans had come in the night, why had they not destroyed anything? Why had they left Gull sleeping peacefully in his bed? No, this was something else.

    Gull found his way carefully to one of the openings from the cave onto the beach, hoping to find his people had vacated the caves for some reason onto the beach. It was dangerous to do so, because they could be spotted. But it wouldn¡¯t be the first time it had ever happened. Although, if there was some danger in the caves, Gull would have been a little hurt no one came to retrieve him.

    The beaches were empty. Not simply empty of his tribe, there was no activity at all as far as the eye could see. Gull couldn¡¯t even see humans aboard any of the boats that were out in the bay. In fact, a couple were getting dangerously close to the shore, and still no one seemed to be doing anything about it.

    He sat and watched in stunned shock for a very long time, during which he even saw a boat run aground. Nothing. No one. Was this a dream? It had to be something like that. Although the rumbling in his stomach seemed to disagree, what other explanation was there?

    Gull retreated back into the cave and got the cooking fire started. He had a lot of leftovers to himself, and wasn¡¯t about to let them go to waste.

    <hr>

    Gull spent the rest of his day in his chamber. He wasn¡¯t hiding. He was definitely not hiding, or scared. Whatever had happened to his tribe and the humans would probably be all back to normal in the morning. After all, if it had killed them, there would be bodies.

    Gulls¡¯ prevailing theory right now was that he had eaten some very bad fish in that stew, and was hallucinating this whole thing. So, if he just waited it out, everything would go back to normal.

    At least, that¡¯s what he had told himself all day long, and even into the night. Only, the next day nothing had changed. He rose, expected to see Barnacle¡¯s green head poking around the side of the entryway to see if he was awake. But, no one came. He rose and found his way into the common area, and no one was present. He went down to the beach to see that a few more boats had washed up onto the beach, and no one was doing anything about it.

    Ultimately, it was hunger that finally forced him to move. With no one to gather food he was running out quickly, and if he completely ran out, he would die. It was as simple as that. Gull wasn¡¯t usually one of the goblins that did raids to the city above, but with him being the only one still here there was not much choice. He felt guilty going into Barnacle¡¯s sleeping area and scavenging enough cloth to cover himself head to toe. But he told himself that when the little goblin returned, he¡¯d make sure to share some of the loot.

    With that, it was just a simple trip up through the sewers. Well, for anyone not from his tribe it would hardly be a simple trip. But, every single one of the Ocean Cave tribe knew the sewer system like the back of their hand. After all, even if you were not one for sneaking into the city, there were good locations to be aware of. Hiding spots, places humans dumped useful items occasionally, dangerous places to avoid, and more.

    In no time at all, he found himself staring out of a sewer grate at the main square of the city. It was deserted. There wasn¡¯t a soul in sight. Despite that, Gull found himself bracing for a sudden shout of ¡®Gotcha!¡¯ and being hauled into the city square for an execution.

    But, no such thing came. After a solid fifteen minutes of just staring, Gull pushed the loose grate out of the way and hauled himself up. The city square was empty. There weren¡¯t even sounds of people moving about or doing whatever it was people did in this city all day long. The silence was eerie, but still less scary than if there had been people around. With a shrug, Gull started walking the streets.

    He didn¡¯t really know what he was looking for, since he had mostly heard from other goblins what it was like in the city. He¡¯d always assumed that the others were telling goblin tales. The buildings weren¡¯t made of bread, the fountains weren¡¯t stocked with free fish, and there wasn¡¯t a weapon shop on every corner. But more of it was true than not, to his surprise. It was clean, and warm. The walls around the city protected from the sea breeze. And every little shop seemed to be stocked with treasures beyond his imagination, even just looking through the windows.

    But, the first time he actually entered one was when he saw something out of his wildest dreams. A little shop with some text he couldn¡¯t read and a picture of a loaf of bread on the sign. After walking in, Gull found himself in a bakery. The glass case at the front of the door stocked absolutely to the brim with all manner of breads, pastries, sweets and more.

    Gull wasn¡¯t sure how long he was standing still, staring into the magical case full of dreams. He finally snapped out of it when he heard the sound of a wet glob of drool hitting the hard wood floor. Like the sound of a shout to start a race, it activated him.

    Before he knew it, he was racing forward, trying to find a way into the case. He was about to break the glass, when he realized the back had no glass covering it. He dove around the side, and grabbed a fistfull of the closest bread. Soft! It was so soft! Even being a day old, he¡¯d never touched such soft bread before! And the flavor! It was incredible! Better than anything he¡¯d eaten in his entire life! Light and fluffy with just a hint of salt. It was like eating a cloud. What he¡¯d always imagined they¡¯d taste like!

    He grabbed a second, and a third, shoveling them into his mouth. The second one was sweet, with a bit of cream and fruit. The third one was savory with some kind of cheese and peppers baked into it. The fourth¨C wasn¡¯t going down properly. He¡¯d swallowed too fast without chewing and he could feel the bread inching its way down his esophagus but he couldn¡¯t breathe! He¡¯d eaten too fast. He hit the floor, and pounded on the hardwood floor with a fist.

    He could throw up? No. No no no. He absolutely wouldn¡¯t let this food go to waste. Even if it killed him! But then, who would eat the rest of the food? It would waste away in this shop. Unacceptable! He was about to push his fingers down his throat when the bread thankfully went down. Gull laid on the floor gasping for air.

    After a few seconds, a single green arm reached from the floor up into the case for another piece.

    <hr>

    Some time later, a goblin exited the bakery feeling more full than he ever had. A bag was slung over his shoulder, holding the remaining food items that he couldn¡¯t eat. If this were a normal raid, it would be time to duck back into the sewers. After all, this was already the best haul anyone had ever gotten as far as he knew.

    But, there was still no one around. So, why bother? Gull was feeling just great, and he wanted to explore! The next stop was the blacksmith. Gull had never seen so much fancy steel in one place! The Ocean Cave tribe had a few old pieces of steel that had been thrown away from above, or had been looted off of the bloated corpse of a drowned fisherman. But they were few and far between, and most of them had chips or other imperfections.

    In the blacksmith shop though, Gull saw the same kinds of swords and armor that the humans wore when they came to raid. In a way it was frightening, but now they were all his! He left his bag of baked goods by the door and proceeded into the shop. Knives, swords, shields, armor, even a flail greeted him.

    He had to use knives most often, so that area was his first stop. There were a few kitchen and fishing knives, but he really fell in love when his eyes found an ornate dagger. The sheath alone was decorated with a fine gold filigree in a beautiful pattern, and the hilt alone hinted at the kind of weapon goblins would tell stories about for centuries.

    Gull reached for the blade, and instantly the lore came to him. This blade, forged in the heart of the ocean by a long dead seafaring nation granted total dominion over the sea, and the sea wind. It was thought lost for generations, before being found by the son of a blacksmith, an apprentice on a fishing vessel. Then, stolen by its true owner, Gull. The blade can cut through stone like water does, it controls the tides, and can cut the wind itself! It¡¯s name is¨C Is. It¡¯s name is¡­ He¡¯d decide later. For now, he wanted to play with it.

    Part of goblin culture was creating lore for your items. A shiny knife was cool, but the Blade of the Sea Winds was far cooler. This extended even to goblins themselves, who would often craft intricate backstories for themselves. Of course, all the other goblins understood that these stories were just that. Stories. Often inspired by real events, but at heart a creative game meant as a form of self expression. It was very rude in goblin culture to call attention to the fictional nature of these stories, even though it was assumed that everyone knew. When goblins passed, as they frequently did, they would be remembered in part by the stories they created, and the lore of the items they passed down. Through this, even in death a part of them remained. The part they wanted to express most. The part they wanted to be remembered.

    Armed with his new destined blade, Gull went outside the shop and gave it a few experimental swings and stabs. He didn¡¯t really know how to use it, in truth. But, that didn¡¯t stop him. The sound of the knife cutting through the air filled him with a giddy sense of joy. Yes, this truly was the blade that could cut the sea winds!

    Gull let out a joyful shout as a small gust of wind hit the blade just right and the sound grew a little stronger. He couldn¡¯t wait to go back and show everyon¨C

    Gull stopped in his tracks, and looked down at the knife. He glanced around at the silent surroundings. Oh yeah. He still had no idea where they all went, or if they¡¯d be back, or anything really. For the first time, his unease at that took a few leaps and bounds towards grief instead. They would be back, right?

    He didn¡¯t know. But, his desire to play had just evaporated. Sheathing the blade, he gathered up his things and kept walking. Maybe he could find something new to take his mind off all this. There was no point in crying. Goblins died all the time. If they were dead, they were dead. He wasn¡¯t, so he should be grateful for that and remember them.

    He should be living it up with his new findings. In fact, he knew just what to do. His eyes scanned over the city until he found the castle. All goblins knew that to go near the castle was certain death. But, there were no humans here, so why not?

    This book''s true home is on another platform. Check it out there for the real experience.

    The smooth paving stones of the main road that lead to the castle were similar in some ways to the smooth cave floors of Gull¡¯s home, and yet walking along the path he couldn¡¯t help but feel awed by how the denizens of the city had shaped them. Forced them to be flat, perfect, and lead in straight lines to where they should.

    As he approached the castle gates, the structure towered above him. It had always towered above the city, but from the beach it seemed so small. Now that he was right up on it, the sense of scale was almost overwhelming. Fortunately, the gates were open. The humans must not have been expecting whatever happened any more than the Ocean Cave tribe had.

    Gull was able to simply walk in. Of course, once inside the building felt like a labyrinth. The irony of the maze-like sewers being completely known to him but being unable to find his way around a castle was unfortunately lost on him. But, after poking around for a while he found his way into a surprisingly simple dining room. Half eaten food still littered the table, as if the residents of the castle had vanished mid-meal. This dining room was attached to the kitchens and pantries.

    It had been sitting out for quite a while at this point, so Gull wasn¡¯t terribly sure about simply taking some of the half eaten meats. But the fresh salad on the table was only slightly wilted. He grabbed up the bowl and continued on, scooping handfuls of the lettuce, tomato, and cucumbers that made up the plain meal.

    But, as he poked his head around a corner he saw something very interesting. A room stocked from floor to ceiling with bottles of wine. Gull abandoned the salad, at once and went digging through the bottles. Occasionally, his tribe would be able to obtain some wine. Usually when they raided a fishing vessel or the dock workers near the beach. It was a rare treat! But even the bottles this wine was stored in seemed so much higher quality than anything he¡¯d ever laid eyes on.

    It took a while to remove a cork carefully with the Blade of the Sea Winds, as it was made for much grander moments. Gull managed anyway, and after a few solid minutes of tinkering there was a popping sound and he extracted the last bits of cork.

    He took a sip. It was an extremely rich and smooth flavor, almost sweet. Gull squealed in delight, and continued sipping on the bottle. As he did, he shoveled three more into his sack of pastries and continued on his quest. He wasn¡¯t sure where he was going. There had to be sleeping areas around here somewhere he figured, and if he found one he could work outward from there.

    He found a room stocked with a lot of gold and jewelry, and giggled to himself while he put on as many rings and necklaces as would fit. He found a room that smelled like the sewers. He¡¯d never even seen a bathroom like this before! It had a seat so you didn¡¯t have to squat, and cleaned itself. It even had a working shower. The goblin looked upon it like it was magic itself. He noted its location for later.

    After a time, he found himself in a very large chamber with a large ornate chair set front and center, raised on a pedestal. A throne. It looked so¡­ So cool! Gull dropped his things and ran to sit on the chair. It was, ultimately, a chair. So it didn¡¯t do anything interesting or lift off into the air like he was hoping. But, it was quite comfortable. It was also large for him. He could easily curl up on the thing. But, he¡¯d be bored. The rest of this room was just big and empty. Sure it was decorated, but there was nothing happening. The windows were cool, but they were all too high up to really spend time looking through.

    Gull decided to do the only natural thing. He ripped down some of the cloth on the walls, and started himself a fire. It was time for a pastry, wine, and throne party.

    <hr>

    Gull drank too much. He had no idea what alcohol was capable of in quantity, but he did know it tasted good and made him feel invincible. By the end of the night, he had made a game of jumping from chandelier to chandelier across his little campfire. He¡¯d found a way to look out the windows from one of them too! Although the alcohol must have been playing some big tricks on him, because he couldn¡¯t even see the stars.

    After a few hours of drinking, playing around, and turning the throne into a bed by stacking every pillow and cloth he could find around and onto it, he finally fell asleep.

    Only to wake in the morning with what he could only describe as ¡®death sickness¡¯. If he had anyone to describe it to. The birds chirping outside sounded like they were screaming in his ears, the sunlight was magnified tenfold, and his stomach was as untamed as the sea. Well, as the sea without his legendary blade, of course.

    With a weak groan, the goblin lifted himself off his throne and collapsed onto the floor. He told himself he was never drinking wine again. Then, he decided that maybe just not that much again. In one sitting. It was too good to give up completely. But, this morning all he wanted was to find his way out under the sky and lie down until he felt better. Preferably with his eyes covered.

    Fortunately, he found that this room opened up almost directly to the outside through a courtyard, and he was able to walk around the outside until he found his way to the gate again. With only a quick detour to dunk his whole head in a garden fountain and drink until he threw up, then again until his stomach was full of fresh water.

    Finally, Gull collapsed in the courtyard outside the castle. He sprawled out on his back, and just thought for a while. People hadn¡¯t reappeared. Still. He¡¯d been prepared to get captured by the humans if they showed back up while he was in the palace. But, they hadn¡¯t. Would new humans be showing up from other places to take control of this city? He had no idea. He also had no real desire to go looking for another tribe to join. Part of that was the lingering hope that he might look around a corner and find Barnacle and the rest searching for him, and the other part was¡­ Well, goblins usually went searching for each other out of necessity.

    There was no danger here. He could simply sit and languish. Oh, he¡¯d need to figure out food sooner or later, but a trip to the shore and gathering up the human¡¯s quality fishing gear would sort that out. He had water. He had shelter. Actually, his life had just gotten a lot easier.

    But, at the same time he was full of a sense of emptiness. What now? Now that he wasn¡¯t struggling to survive. He could only party so long, and in fact, this morning he wasn¡¯t feeling much like partying at all.

    Instead, he just laid there on the smooth stones. He listened to the sea birds, and the waves crashing below. He could do anything he wanted. So, what did he want to do? He¡¯d never had that question before. Not for more than an afternoon. Gull didn¡¯t particularly think of himself as a deep thinker. Usually he just went with the flow of what was happening around him. But now that flow, like everything else, was simply stillness. He was going to have to decide what to do. He was¨C

    A crash interrupted his thoughts. It was beyond loud. He would have described it as sounding like lightning if it hit a rock and that rock exploded into more lightning. When Gull opened his eyes, the sky was dark. The crash hadn¡¯t sounded like it came from that far away.

    He rose as quickly as he could and staggered in the direction it had come from. It was just over by the bakery, near where he had come up from the sewers. There was a light emanating from the area that he could see even several streets over.

    For a second, he thought about running away. But then, he thought he could hear voices. Two people were speaking over there! He dropped everything and ran! Maybe he could find out what happened!

    Down the street, he ran his heart out, then around a corner, then¨C

    In a square where two major roads met, they were standing. The same square he had entered the city from, even. Two figures were in the center of it, standing opposed. A human, and a goblin. The human was a woman, adult, and wearing black clothes. She stood taller than the goblin, by about a foot and a half, and the more he looked at her the less sure he was that she was actually human. He felt an overwhelming sense that he was looking at something far bigger just pretending to be bound to a mortal frame. She also was holding a strange device pointed at the goblin, and something about how she was holding it told Gull it was a weapon.

    But somehow, the goblin was far stranger to Gull. That was because the goblin looked exactly like him. He had seen his reflection before in water, and steel, and even just last night. This goblin was him. He was exactly the same. Gull hid and poked his head out from around the corner to look in more detail.

    The goblin was wearing a long coat and strange clothes of a style he didn¡¯t recognize under it. Apart from the strange clothes though, it was him. Just, not him. He wanted to approach and ask what the hell was going on, but the way the two were staring at each other, he was sure a conflict was brewing. The woman spoke first.

    ¡°Don¡¯t bother moving. You¡¯re already caught in the spell.¡±

    The goblin replied, in Gull¡¯s voice.

    ¡°You don¡¯t have to do this. Aren¡¯t we friends? What happened to you? You promised me¨C¡±

    The woman cut him off, raising her voice to speak loudly.

    ¡°Come on out here Gull. I know you¡¯re watching. Hiding won¡¯t do you any good.¡±

    The goblin continued.

    ¡°After everything we¡¯ve been through together? You can stop this right now. You said we would break it together! Was everything a lie?¡±

    The woman addressed him again.

    ¡°Of course not. We¡¯ve been good friends up till now Gull. But that time is over now. I¡¯ll grieve you, but this has to happen.¡±

    ¡°It doesn¡¯t! It¡¯s not too late!

    Gull carefully stepped out from behind his hiding spot, and saw that the woman was already turning to look at him. She smiled, but the sense that he was looking at something pretending to be human only intensified. It was a smile with nothing behind it. Or maybe, with so much behind it he couldn¡¯t understand it. Like ships in the fog, not being able to make out how many or how large they are, but knowing they¡¯re there anyway.

    ¡°Nice of you to join us. Come on, stand right there. You¡¯re a part of this too you know.¡±

    Gull spoke slowly.

    ¡°Who are you? What¡¯s happening?¡±

    The woman responded politely, even cheerfully.

    ¡°Well, my friend here is you. Another you. Would you like to explain, Gull? It¡¯s the least I can do. I¡¯m sure you remember this little speech by heart, don¡¯t you?¡±

    Gull watched as the other him grimaced. The Not-Him reached into his jacket pocket and pulled out a pair of glasses, but before he could put them on the device in the woman¡¯s hand went off, firing a blast of fire and light that incinerated the glasses in Not-Gull¡¯s hand.

    The other goblin laughed, grimly.

    ¡°Fine. We¡¯re really doing this huh? Of course we are.¡±

    He turned to address Gull, who was staring in wide eyed shock. His clothes were still stained with wine from the night¡¯s festivities, and he felt like he was going to faint.

    ¡°How do you kill a time traveler? The thing that people don¡¯t get is that time is deterministic. You¡¯re going to learn this lesson well. Imagine for a second you could move through time. A friend¡¯s child fell into the ocean and drowned. They come begging for you to save them. You have to refuse. Do you know why?¡±

    Gull, still not really understanding what was happening, shook his head.

    ¡°If you try you will fail. Every single time. No matter what. The reason is simple. You¡¯re there to save the child because they asked you to. If you saved the child, they wouldn¡¯t be there asking you. Which means, you didn¡¯t save the child. You can¡¯t. It will be as if the world itself conspires against you. Time is happening all at once. It¡¯s only our perception of it that makes it feel like it¡¯s linear. You can¡¯t change what has already happened, just because you can skip around on the line.¡±

    Gull swallowed, and felt how dry his mouth was. He didn¡¯t understand this at all. He tried speaking.

    ¡°I don¡¯t get it. Why are you here? What is happening?¡±

    The future Gull smiled sadly and responded simply.

    ¡°How do you kill a time traveler? You make him watch you do it. She¡¯s here to kill us.¡±

    With that, he turned his attention back to the woman.

    ¡°So, here we are at last. Tell me, do you feel like a victim of fate right now? Is your hand being forced by the world itself? I am begging you. Decide not to do this. We said we¡¯d break fate together! You promised me!¡±

    The woman replied simply.

    ¡°I¡¯m sorry, Gull.¡±

    ¡°Please. I can help you. I don¡¯t know what it is, but let me help you.¡±

    She shook her head.

    In the last moment, the future Gull turned towards the present one and shouted.

    ¡°Don¡¯t trust her! Her name is L¨C¡±

    The device went off. A hole appeared where the goblin¡¯s chest had been. It was simply gone. He crumpled.

    Gull screamed. He screamed and screamed and screamed. He still didn¡¯t fully understand what was happening. He felt like he was losing his mind. He had just seen¨C Seen his own death. A terrible certainty gripped his heart. A certainty that this was inevitable. This was going to happen. He was going to die to this strange woman¡¯s device, right here.

    He drew his dagger, and rushed at her. He wasn¡¯t a fighter, not really. But this woman had killed him! She had killed him! He closed the distance in no time at all and leapt at her. A solid wall barred his path. Whatever it was was completely invisible. He felt like he¡¯d just run into solid stone. The woman smiled at him, and waved. He dashed forward again, this time from a different angle, holding his knife forward to pierce whatever had stopped him.

    It was no use. As he hit it a second time, the woman raised her device. Gull cried out.

    ¡°No!¡±

    But it was too late. The device went off. Gull could see the energy gather at the tip of it. Everything slowed down. He could see the energy gathering, but it wasn¡¯t firing. He stopped moving. He couldn¡¯t move. A second spread out to what felt like a minute, and then an hour, and then days. A moment became infinity. Gull felt a burning in his chest, and thought he was hit. But, this was something else. Power. Raw power gathered within him. He had never felt anything like it, but for just a second, he felt like he could make anything happen.

    Then, the world went black.

    <hr>

    In a little bay by the sea, it was raining. The grey skies over the ocean water made the sea look black. The waves crashed mercilessly into the shore, and the cliffside. The tides were high, and that meant that at the point of the cape the waves were high enough to reach the ruins of what had once been a castle. A long time ago, the ocean had eroded the cliffs enough for it to collapse into the sea. Remnants of a city existed on the cliff above, but apart from the smoothed down stone that had to have been hand made, it would have been hard to tell in most places.

    Near the remains of the castle, a goblin¡¯s head broke the surface of the water. He was gasping, waterlogged, and had nearly drowned. He clung to the rock and tried desperately to make it out of the vicious surf.

    As one wave went, and before another came he was able to pull himself up onto a dry spot, heaving. He vomited what felt like an ocean¡¯s worth of sea water that had made it inside him, and lay sputtering and coughing. The rain was frigid.

    He was alive. And yet, in a way, he was also already dead.

 Interlude - Lhexa (L.000)

    Boring.

    The idols on stage were singing and doing a perfectly synchronized dance.

    ?

    So naive, forgot to read the fine print

    shouldn''ta signed, now you''re all mine, bitch

    Love is a spell, I put my hex on you,

    Your heart is mine, I¡¯m here for my due

    nowhere to run! isn''t it fun!

    to pull and strain

    your rope n chain!

    go on, struggle in vain

    you''re mine

    ?

    The idol group Coven was live in front of a sold out audience. A sea of fans stretched out in front of the stage, chanting the names of their favorite idol or simply cheering their hearts out.

    ?

    I''ll never let that leash grow long

    I''m tightening the line

    plunge you into bubbling pot,

    you''ve never looked so fine

    your eyes so wide and startled

    your lips a perfect ''Oh''

    my brew takes you over

    the spell begins to glow

    shoulda read the fine print,

    now you''ll never know

    the reason that I chose you,

    or how deep my magic goes

    ?

    A huge bubbling cauldron was the centerpiece of the stage, while the girls danced around it. Each one of them having a few unique moments to stand in front of the crowd and toss something into the pot, or cast a ¡®spell¡¯ aided by drones equipped with holographics.

    ?

    so naive, just the way that I like it,

    shouldn''ta signed, but I''m glad you''re mine, bitch

    love is a spell, and I put my hex on you,

    your heart is mine, and I''m here for my due

    ?

    The finale of the song was approaching, as the music drew to a climax. The lights went dark after the last group line, and for a second there was silence. It was broken by a cackle, as a spotlight came down on the leader of Coven, Beatrix. She had a solo segment right at the very end.

    ?

    Times up bitch!

    hahahahaha!

    eye of newt! toe of frog!

    throw that fucker in my pot!

    shouldn''t have broke what never was yours

    I''m taking what''s mine as a matter of course

    rip through your rib cage kissing your soul

    found all the pieces I''m making them whole

    ?

    As the performance drew to a close, the idols each took a signature pose before heading off stage. Once away from public eyes, most of the girls sagged. They were exhausted, and it showed as they each made their way back to their rooms.

    As soon as Lhexa entered, she let herself collapse onto her bed. She didn¡¯t have very long to rest and wanted to make the most of it. Because any second now¨C

    There was a knock at the door, before it opened without waiting for a response. Great. She sat up, and put on a smile.

    ¡°Mr. Manager! How can I¨C¡±

    ¡°Your performance was off again.¡±

    Yeah, that¡¯s what she thought. She¡¯d been working herself to the bone outside of the performances and scheduled practices, so it was really no wonder. Of course, it¡¯s not like she had a say in the matter. But, she had a part to play in this conversation, so she affected her best chastised act.

    ¡°I¡¯m sorry. I¡¯m just working too hard. I¡¯ll do better next time.¡±

    ¡°I can¡¯t keep sticking my neck out for you. If you don¡¯t improve soon, you won¡¯t have a place here anymore. Your implant reported being 1.6% off timing. That¡¯s 0.2% worse than even yesterday. Don¡¯t just say you will do better. I told the director that you won¡¯t accept pay for today if you can just get another chance tomorrow.¡±

    A candy sweet shell that covers a rotten core. Boring.

    Lhexa perked up at that, and nearly lost control of her expression. She needed that money! Her debt was only growing as it was!

    ¡°Mr. Manager, please don¡¯t be like that. I¡¯ll do better tomorrow, I promise. But I need my pay¨C¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s already done, Lhexa.¡±

    With that, he turned and slammed the door.

    Lhexa turned and screamed into her pillow. But even now, she only had a little time to rest.

    <hr>

    All of this. All of it is boring. All of it should just disappear.

    ¡°Hello everyone and welcome to the after show! A special thank you to each and every one of my fans for coming to see me instead of any of the other girls. I guess my spell worked on you huh?¡±

    She winked at the camera. A few little drones were in her room holding cameras at various angles so the fans could get a 360 degree view from their devices at home.

    ¡°I¡¯ll be here live answering all of your burning questions and giving away some merchandise! Then all you special pass owners out there can join me as I wind down from the day and even take a bath! Censored, of course. Don¡¯t get your hopes up!¡±

    All of the girls were doing the same in their rooms. Strictly speaking, it was optional. But, they got to keep direct donations, so they were not optional.

    Most of the questions were simple. They were mostly questions about her personal tastes and interests. What was a perfect date for her? What did she like to do during her time off? Time off, what a joke. But, she had carefully rehearsed answers to all of them. None of them were true, of course. She had even rehearsed her responses to the invasive or sexual questions, so she could pretend to be flustered or scandalized.

    None of it actually touched her. This, like the rest of her life, was a performance. On its own, that wasn¡¯t so bad. Lhexa loved performing. She enjoyed being dramatic. She enjoyed becoming someone else. She loved the art of it. It was what she lived for, and her life as it was was a necessary evil to get into a closed industry.

    This tale has been unlawfully lifted without the author''s consent. Report any appearances on Amazon.

    Sickening. The grinding normality of day to day suffering.

    It was wearing her down. The contract she¡¯d had to sign to get even an opportunity to perform was eating her alive. It all started with money. To be able to perform, you had to sign on with an agency. They fronted the money to get you involved. A brain implant if you didn¡¯t already have one, training to be perfect, wardrobe, character writing, room and board, physical and digital protection, and more. Then you could pay it back by working for the agency.

    The only problem was, the pay didn¡¯t even cover interest. So, unless you found a way to make even more money than the performances they allowed, you would never pay it off, only sink deeper into debt.

    If they no longer wanted you on stage anymore¡­ Well, it could always be worse.

    The live show ended, and Lhexa finally found her way to bed. She swallowed a handful of pills in lieu of dinner. Mood stabilizers, antidepressants, diet pills, skin supplements, and more.

    Boring. Everything is boring. Suffering is boring. Debt is boring. Living is boring. Dying is boring.

    <hr>

    Lhexa entered the Director¡¯s office. Today she¡¯d done a morning show, promoted a cereal, hit the gym and worked out at least longer than Beatrix, practiced the choreography for a new song, did an autograph signing, ate a small salad for lunch while memorizing song lyrics, and finally did her evening performance. Today, she was at 1.2% off perfect timing. So, after getting yelled at by her manager, she found herself here.

    The Director was a human man in his 50¡¯s. Technically, that made Lhexa older than him. But, given the differences in how elves aged, she was in the same stage of life as a human in their early 20¡¯s would have been.

    While the Director had a name, it was part of the corporate culture to call superiors by their title. Especially if you were talent. So, Lhexa affected her best meek girl impression and addressed him.

    ¡°Mr. Director, I¡¯m sorry to bother you. I was told to come here?¡±

    He did not have a friendly face. Lhexa had seen him before, although this was her first time speaking to him directly. He stared at her with a stern expression before directing her to a couch near his desk.

    ¡°Lhexa, you owe this agency a great deal.¡±

    This was not a good start. But, maybe she was just in store for being chastised a little.

    ¡°Yes Sir. I¡¯m very grateful. I¡¯m sorry for my recent performance. I did better today. I believe I can keep that upward trend.¡±

    He shook his head.

    ¡°No. At this rate, you¡¯re not going to be able to pay us back for our investment in you. Even Castella has been managing to keep her mistakes under 1%, and she¡¯s the newest member of Coven. Why shouldn¡¯t I remove you so she can move up?¡±

    Lhexa swallowed hard. For a moment she could feel a cold sweat coming on, but her implant kicked in, regulating the stress hormones in her brain. It was a simple failsafe so that idols wouldn¡¯t lose focus on stage, but now it was helpful in a different way. If you could call it that.

    ¡°Sir, I can do better. I¡¯ll train twice as hard. Tomorrow, I¡¯ll do better than Castella. Please give me another chance.¡±

    The director let out an exaggerated sigh. He stood and came around his desk, walking closer until he was standing over Lhexa and looking down on her. She really did not like the look in his eyes. It was predatory.

    ¡°I¡¯ll let you stay.¡±

    ¡°Really? Thank you Sir I won¡¯t let you dow¨C¡±

    His hand touched her breast. Lhexa felt the hair on the back of her neck stand on end, and she looked down in shock.

    ¡°But every day you¡¯re the lowest performing member of Coven, you¡¯ll come back to my office, and we¡¯ll find another way for you to pay me back.¡±

    It was so boring.

    <hr>

    And this.

    Lhexa doubled over in the shower. The water was pouring down around her, although it wasn¡¯t helping all that much. Despite being turned as hot as she could handle it. She pushed her fingers down her throat again. Nothing was really coming up anymore, but she couldn¡¯t let any of that still be inside her. Disgusting. Disgusting. It was disgusting. Let it all come out. The smell of vomit mixed with the hot water, it felt like this memory was being branded into her brain.

    <hr>

    This too.

    The knock on her door turned out to be Castella. Lhexa was still getting ready for today¡¯s performance, and the interruption wasn¡¯t particularly welcome. But, she liked the newer girl despite herself. She was another hire from the slums, and so Lhexa only hoped the pressure on the other girl was a little lighter.

    ¡°Hey Hex, I heard you were having some difficulties.¡±

    Lhexa¡¯s smile faltered.

    ¡°Yeah? Oh. No. I¡¯m fine. As fine as any of us. You ought to be worrying about yourself. Today¡¯s a new song. It¡¯s go time! As your senior, I should be wishing you luck, not the other way around.¡±

    She wasn¡¯t totally sure it was convincing, at least to another performer. But, she hoped so. It wouldn¡¯t do to have the newer girl worrying about her.

    ¡°Um. Well. Look. I just heard that you¡¯re struggling in the numbers. I have something that might be able to help.¡±

    Castella approached the dressing table and put a closed hand down on it. When she moved the hand, there were three pills. She spoke again.

    ¡°Make sure to only take one. If you take it now, it should be hitting you when the show starts. It¡¯ll help. I take them when I¡¯m worried about my performance.¡±

    Lhexa frowned at the girl.

    ¡°What is¨C¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s called Overclock." The words were pouring out of her now, like she couldn''t get them out of her fast enough. "It works with your implant. I don¡¯t know exactly what it does, but it makes you way better at things for a little while."

    Cast was looking up at her with too-wide eyes, a touch of desperation in her voice. "Take it. The side effects aren''t that bad. It''ll be worth it. I promise!¡±

    Lhexa sighed, but picked up one of the pills, letting it roll in her palm. It was a friendly blue color. Shiny. It almost looked like candy.

    ¡°I don¡¯t think either of us should be taking this.¡±

    Castella reached out and took Lhexa¡¯s hands in hers.

    ¡°Please? Please take it? For me? I don¡¯t want you to flunk out. Please. I need you here.¡±

    ¡°I- I didn¡¯t know you felt that way. I¡¯m going to be fine.¡±

    ¡°Please! Just for today, even. I can¡¯t do this if you leave. I can¡¯t be on the bottom!¡±

    Oh.

    Of course.

    Lhexa took the pill. She threw it up the moment Castella left.

    <hr>

    It¡¯s all so¨C

    Lhexa opened the door to the director¡¯s office, and saw the smile on his face.

    <hr>

    So disgusting.

    Lhexa was getting chewed out for falling asleep during one of her live chat shows. Somehow she had gotten more donations than when she was awake.

    <hr>

    It should all just end.

    That night, Lhexa had found that her dosages for some of her medications had been increased. Apparently, her implant had noticed recent changes in her brain chemistry, and the pills were meant to keep her balanced in the coming weeks. She took them. It didn¡¯t matter. She had to do the things she had to do either way, so she might as well.

    <hr>

    She was getting a call. What a way to wake up on a day with no performance, but it was her manager so she picked up.

    ¡°Lhexa, the director wants you in his office today. You have thirty minutes.¡±

    ¡°Yes Mr. Manager. I¡¯ll be right there.¡±

    Internally, she screamed. But, there was nothing else to be done. However, something strange happened. The call didn¡¯t end. Lhexa paused before ending it herself, and just waited.

    After a few seconds, she could hear something. Conversation started up, a bit further away in the room. Had the manager forgotten to end the call? She heard the Director¡¯s voice.

    ¡°Taken care of?¡±

    ¡°Yeah, she¡¯ll be here in half an hour. Was there anything else you wanted from me, Sir?¡±

    ¡°You already got the financial report done?¡±

    ¡°Yes, Sir.¡±

    ¡°How about performance? Who¡¯s bringing in the most money right now?¡±

    ¡°Beatrix is bringing in the most revenue, Sir. Although, Lhexa¡¯s exhaustion incident seems to have made her a temporary star with the fans. Her personal shows are making more than any of the other girls at the moment.¡±

    ¡°Hmm. That won¡¯t do. Tell her she needs to put more work into choreography for a few days, and make her work on it during those hours. That should get things back to normal.¡±

    ¡°So, don¡¯t let her do her live shows? For how long?¡±

    ¡°It shouldn¡¯t take more than a week.¡±

    Lhexa wanted to scream, but she was frozen stiff. If she made a sound, they might realize the call hadn¡¯t ended. They were sabotaging her? Of course they were. And probably all the other girls too.

    An ice cold feeling overtook her body. Of course. Of course. They were never going to let her go. The debt might as well have been made up. What else was a lie? Was she even doing poorly in her performances? She never got to see the numbers herself.

    All of it. All of it. None of it had ever mattered.

    She couldn¡¯t even remember getting ready. Before she knew it she was opening the door to the Director¡¯s office. There he was, behind the desk, with that same predatory look on his face.

    She walked in, and closed the door behind her. She smiled at him. It was easy. She was always wearing faces, so what was one more?

    ¡°You know, I¡¯ve been thinking, Mr. Director.¡±

    ¡°What is it, Lhexa?¡±

    ¡°I really haven¡¯t been nearly grateful enough to you for letting me stay on board despite my poor performance. I¡¯m so glad you called me in today. I wanted to change my tone.¡±

    He smiled, and rose from his desk.

    ¡°Oh? What did you have in mind?¡±

    Lhexa made a show of walking over to the couch, then she turned and faced him with open arms.

    ¡°Why don¡¯t you come over here and let me show you?¡±

    He approached her, sauntering, maybe even strutting. In that moment, she felt like she could see into his soul. The disgusting slimy pit of it. Arrogance beyond arrogance. A predator that took and used, and nothing more.

    He reached out to touch her. She smiled up at him. The look of surprise didn¡¯t even come over his face until he hit the floor. Her punch had landed solidly. She dove on top of him, straddling his chest and punched him again. And again, and again and again. She felt the skin and bone that made up his face breaking under her fists. She jabbed her thumbs into his eye sockets and felt her fingers dig into them like cottage cheese. She rose and grabbed the end table from next to the couch, holding it above her head and¨C

    Before she could bring it down, she was tackled.

    This too. It¡¯s all so boring. This mundane suffering. Grinding away and away until nothing is left.

 Interlude - Lhexa (L.001)

    Lhexa was assigned to the Chiasmodon Prison Facility. It was a sprawling complex on the sea floor of an ocean planet. The trial was an absolute farce. It had been carried out by the corporation that owned her agency. Unfortunately, Chiasmodon was also owned by that corporation. Actually, the entire planet it was on was owned by Wedli Corp.

    It was a resort planet. The man made islands that made up all of the land were home to theme parks, hotels, and all manner of unearthly delights. And powering that massive resort was, shocking no one, prison labor.

    The Director had unfortunately lived. Not that his testimony was particularly required to send her away. Lhexa wouldn¡¯t have been of any use as a talent to the agency after doing something like that. So, one way or another she was going to have her labor exploited for the rest of her life. In a way it was a relief that she didn¡¯t have to worry about money anymore. Although, she would have preferred not spending the rest of her days on the bottom of the ocean. Even a window would have been nice, not that any light likely made it down this far.

    She had a cell to herself. Ironically, being manufactured by Wedli, it had many of the same furnishings as her old room. It was far less colorful, but the bed was the same, the chairs were the same, the size was the same. It might have been the same room, apart from a lack of oversized plush toys, a television, and a lavish bathroom.

    Really, the biggest difference between this life and her old one was that the illusion of freedom was gone. But, it didn¡¯t matter anymore.

    She had three days to herself before she was scheduled to a shift. Apparently shifts for various jobs were assigned week to week and she wasn¡¯t going to be added to the schedule until the next one came out.

    The one amenity she had access to surprised her. There was a simple communications device that could be used to speak to other prisoners. Of course, Lhexa was sure it was monitored strictly. Probably by one or several AIs meant to diagnose anything from suspicious behaviour, speaking in code, or even mental health. But, while in their rooms any prisoner could call up any other prisoner. There was also a text section that could be used one on one or publicly. Prison run social media, sponsored by Wedli.

    Not that she had anyone to talk to. She browsed the public section for a while though to get a feel for the place. Truthfully, she was a little unsure. She wouldn¡¯t have to play a character down here, so she could be herself when interacting with other prisoners.

    But, she¡¯d been playing a character for so long, she wasn¡¯t totally sure what that meant anymore. She could probably just find a new persona that would be popular here. Make some connections and¨C

    And what? What goal could she possibly have? No. There was no use thinking like that anymore. A post caught her eye.

    Coven Superstar Lhexa Assigned to Chiasmodon

    She opened it, and saw prisoners talking about her. Great.

    ¡°Lol can¡¯t believe she attacked someone. That bitch is crazy.¡±

    ¡°An elf? She¡¯s gonna be down here a long ass time¡±

    ¡°Think I can get an autograph? I was a big fan!¡±

    ¡°Wedli pushed her too far.¡±

    ¡°I heard she got way more popular after she killed that guy.¡±

    ¡°He didn¡¯t die, stupid. Don¡¯t you listen?¡±

    ¡°Wowowow dumb bitch couldn¡¯t even seal the deal¡±

    She stopped reading. Well, that was going to make things harder. But it didn¡¯t matter. As someone had commented, she was an elf. She was going to be here a long time. Her reputation would only last a few years.

    <hr>

    She spent three days in her room doing nothing. It was such an odd sensation. Doing nothing. Her life had been so stuffed full to bursting that she had thought it was going to crush her before.

    For the first day or two, it felt like everything she ever wanted. But, a gnawing awareness eventually started to creep in. Doing nothing was just the opposite extreme, and in time it would start to wear at her too. She was simply locked in a box. She had stopped looking at the prison social feed after a while. It just hurt to see everyone gossiping about her.

    On day four, she was assigned work. It wasn¡¯t complicated. For 8 hours a day, every day that week she was sat in front of a computer piloting a drone. The drone was AI assisted and it was pretty limited in what it could do. The main purpose was to scour the underside of the nearest land mass, and clean or fix panels that needed maintaining. The AI mostly controlled it. She was really just along for the ride, and there to intervene if something went wrong.

    At first it was a little exciting getting to see the open ocean. A little scary at times when something shifted just out of view. But, in just hours it had become mundane. Not only did her viewpoint not often shift to point anywhere but at hexagonal panel after hexagonal panel, but even when it did it mostly caught sight of an empty abyss.

    She did learn what other jobs she might be assigned to, and the list was¡­ well, just about as exciting. Overseeing the prison food system. Janitorial work, either in the prison or via a drone that was programmed to scour the resort for trash. Etc.

    The most interesting postings were offered to prisoners who performed well and were well tempered consistently. There were a few positions for operating mascot characters in the park and actually interacting with patrons. But, Lhexa doubted she would ever be allowed to take part in something like that. Which was a shame, she thought she could do a good job pretending to be a character like that. It might even be fun.

    Wake up, work, sleep. Wake up, work, sleep. Wake up, work, sleep. Technically, it was possible to get access to some more entertainment or better food, but that required access to money. The prison complex had a commissary. However, performing normal prison duties did not give you anything to spend there. Relatives of prisoners could add money to a special card that would allow a prisoner to shop there. Mostly there were just small things you could bring back to your room. It was also possible to trade with other prisoners but¡­

    Lhexa glanced over to her comms device.

    No.

    She didn¡¯t want to talk to anyone. They were still saying rude things about her in threads occasionally, and the couple times she¡¯d been assigned to a duty that required interacting with another prisoner she¡¯d kept it strictly to the assignment.

    She was done with that. With trying to be loved. And yet.

    It¡¯s so boring. Boring boring boring. A world like this shouldn¡¯t be.

    <hr>

    Near the start of her second month in the system, there was a knock at her door. She nearly lept out of her skin. No one had ever come to her door before. Why would they knock? It¡¯s not like she could open it anyways.

    A cold sweat started across her body. A part of her expected the door to open and the manager to come in, or the director.

    But, instead, a guard opened the door.

    ¡°Uh, hey. I have a letter to deliver.¡±

    It was surreal! She stood and carefully walked over. Force of habit put a smile on her face. It felt like wearing a mask that was sharp on the inside, but she let it happen.

    ¡°A what? Like, a paper one? Is that even allowed?¡±

    ¡°Ah, it¡¯s not normally allowed. But, truth be told uh¡­¡±

    He went silent for a minute, before continuing.

    ¡°It¡¯s just, I¡¯m a bit of a fan. And another fan wanted you to have this letter so I said I¡¯d hand it off. Honestly, if you could just not tell anyone I gave it to ya that¡¯d be just swell. Name¡¯s Renny by the way.¡±

    Lhexa took the letter. She¡¯d never actually gotten a message physically delivered before in her life. Aside from notes attached to physical items that were delivered. She put on her best witchy grin, although her heart wasn¡¯t in it at all.

    Love this story? Find the genuine version on the author''s preferred platform and support their work!

    ¡°Thanks, Renny. Wish I had something to give you in return, but my magic ain¡¯t gonna do much around here.¡±

    She looked around her room meaningfully.

    ¡°Oh don¡¯t worry about that Miss. Although, I uh, I listen to your music with my daughter who¡¯s a huge fan. If it wouldn¡¯t be too much trouble, could I get you to sign something for her?¡±

    Lhexa happily returned the favor. Although signing something physically was also a bit weird. Normally she didn¡¯t meet her fans in person, only over a sort of virtual presence. She generally never saw people face to face. For her own safety, courtesy of the Wedli Corporation.

    Just like that it was over. Renny left, and she had a letter. She opened it.

    I hope you¡¯re doing okay! I wanted you to know that your fans love you more than ever. We know you must have been pushed pretty far to do what you did, no matter how Wedli tries to spin it as a lover¡¯s spat gone wrong. We still support you. Cast some sick ass prison spells!

    Included was a¡­ card? She inspected it. It was a card for the commissary. It was thoughtful. But at the same time¡­ She felt nothing. A fan? Prison spells? She wasn¡¯t the person they thought she was. That Lhexa was a character run by Wedli.

    It was kind of whoever to care. But the girl they were trying to help was dead. In her place¡­ Lhexa didn¡¯t really know who she was anymore. But, despite the change in scenery and stress, she was just so bored.

    Lhexa wouldn¡¯t have called herself a spiritual person, but she did have one strong belief, and being away from the world was giving her time to really reflect on it, and remember her feelings about it.

    She held the card above her head, blocking the light above her bed with it.

    ¡°Life is measured in absolute value.¡±

    She almost laughed. It was something she¡¯d said passionately when she was younger. But what did it mean? Life was for excitement. Good or bad mattered less than intensity.

    In some ways, her life up until now had been pretty intense hadn¡¯t it? So why did she feel like it was so boring?

    ¡°Busy can still be boring.¡±

    That was true, but also didn¡¯t quite capture her feelings. It was almost like a devil figure in her own personal religion. Boredom. Death. Nothingness. Suffering. Whatever you wanted to call it. Suffering could be boring. When it was like her life before now. Or even her life before that, destitute living like a rat in the alleys of the slums.

    Boring. It was boring. Because it was so¨C

    So normal. People didn¡¯t really understand. Well, the privledged ones didn¡¯t. In the shows and movies they showed everyday suffering as dramatic. Big dramatic events punctuating an otherwise normal day to day life.

    She threw the blankets off of her bed and rose, taking on a character.

    ¡°I lived on the streets! We had our quaint little life to ourselves. Sure, we occasionally had to steal bread and scraps, but we were happy together! All until that fateful day when those thugs came knocking! We couldn¡¯t pay our protection fees, so they burned our hovel to the ground, and Micky¡­ poor Micky didn¡¯t make it!¡±

    She laughed to herself. It was so silly. Life didn¡¯t work like that. Suffering was so much more mundane than that. If you were that poor, it all blurred together. It was just everyday. Every single day. The stress didn¡¯t usually come in big events. It wasn¡¯t a movie. It was just the constant struggle to survive.

    She took on another character.

    ¡°My problem? Eh, ain¡¯t what you¡¯re thinkin¡¯. I grew up nice and normal, see? Oh sure, I¡¯m depressed as shit. But that¡¯s not ¡®causa some tragic backstory. I had parents that loved me, good grades, average income, set up for life in a low pressure office job. But I got the itch ya know? The bottle calls t¡¯me. I lost everything. All ¡®cause of one drunken night!¡±

    How stupid. Real life wasn¡¯t like that at all. Addiction wasn¡¯t like that. Depression wasn¡¯t like that. Poverty wasn¡¯t like that. All of these things just ground you down day after day. That¡¯s why it was boring. It was constant. It was death. It was boredom, pretending to be something more dramatic.

    She spoke again, still putting on a face but closer to the real her.

    ¡°And when did I feel alive? In the last few years I can only remember one time. It¡¯s when I was smashing that man¡¯s face in. It¡¯s when I felt his skull breaking under my hands. It¡¯s when I felt my fingers going through his eyes.¡±

    Did that make her a violent person? No. She didn¡¯t think so. She could be violent. When it was needed. But that feeling of being alive? It had nothing to do with the violence.

    ¡°It¡¯s about life. It¡¯s about living. It¡¯s about breaking away from the suffering and doing something. Shattering it to pieces! Taking control for even a moment! Having power! Having agency! Making a decision instead of being controlled by suffering, boredom, death! I want it! I want more of it! I want to live!¡±

    It was bubbling up inside of her now. She wanted to live. She wanted to live. Life was measured in absolute value. Boredom was the enemy. Why did her very negative life then not feel like living before that moment?

    ¡°Because, I wasn¡¯t living. I was just existing, and being used. It was boring. But now¡­¡±

    Now what? Now. Now. Now. This rotten world wasn¡¯t going to let her live again.

    It should all just disappear.

    A ringing sound came from the floor near her door. Lhexa stopped and looked at it. A small black box was on the floor, making a sound. Had Renny left it?

    She hopped down from her bed and stalked over to it, slowly. Whatever it was, it had a screen and was playing a slightly robotic jingle.

    She lifted it up.

    Alarm

    9:40 PM -Girlbage

    Slide to dismiss

    ¡°Huh?¡±

    Lhexa slid her finger along the little dismiss icon. The sound shut off. It was a touch screen. She hadn¡¯t used one since she was a little kid, and they had been going out of style for quite a while before then. How old was this thing?

    It was asking for a password, so she tried the obvious. ¡®Girlbage¡¯.

    It opened. She was looking at a screen with a bunch of little buttons on it. Before she could do anything, a message popped up at the top.

    EnA: Hello.

    Lhexa wrote a reply. It took a while. Writing on a touch screen was so slow and her fingers were not at all used to doing things like this.

    Hello? Who are you?

    EnA: A Goddess, here to make your wishes come true.

    What kind of corny pick up line is that?

    EnA: The literal kind.

    Okay, someone¡¯s full of themselves. But, I¡¯m listening.

    EnA: You wanted to live, right? You wanted to never be bored again? I¡¯ve granted it. But it won¡¯t be easy for you.

    Lhexa couldn¡¯t help but laugh. What the hell was that supposed to mean?

    Uh. Alright. Well. I¡¯m in a cell and nothing has changed. Care to be a little more enlightening?

    EnA: Leave your cell.

    So, this was some kind of prank by the guards, right? Lhexa rose, and shrugged. Couldn¡¯t hurt. Not like the door would open anyway. She approached it, and nothing happened. It¡¯s not like she had a handle on her side. So, she put her palms against it and tried to slide it aside.

    It slid right open. She stared out into the hall. Had Renny failed to lock it? A notification came through on the phone.

    EnA: See? Go on. You won¡¯t get in trouble, and you better get moving. Things are going to get a little dangerous.

    Lhexa¡¯s heart raced a bit as she read the words.

    What do you mean dangerous? You said I won¡¯t get in trouble.

    EnA: You¡¯re on the bottom of the sea, and everyone running the prison is gone. If I were you, I¡¯d endeavor to not be on the bottom of the sea by the time systems start failing. You could have a few hours, you could have a few days. Don¡¯t worry. I¡¯ll help you.

    What do you mean GONE? Who ARE you?

    Lhexa took a step into the hallway, and called out.

    ¡°Anyone there? I think things are malfunctioning!¡±

    Nothing responded. So, she shrugged and walked out.

    EnA: I told you. I¡¯m a Goddess, here to grant your wishes. <3

    What do you want in return, miss Goddess?

    EnA: I want you to learn to be a real witch, and live an exciting life.

    That¡¯s it? What do you mean a real witch? I¡¯m not going to go back to playing Lhexa.

    EnA: I meant what I said. I¡¯m going to teach you magic, and you¡¯re going to live an exciting life.

    Lhexa was walking down the hallway now. There really didn¡¯t seem to be anyone. The cells all had video feeds from the outside, which honestly was a little disturbing for her privacy. But, they all seemed to be empty. What the hell?

    What do you get out of it?

    EnA: I want to see you live. I want to see what you¡¯ll do. I want to see you be yourself. I want to watch what happens when you meet someone special. I want to see what you¡¯ll do to all the worlds you¡¯ll see. I am letting you loose like a natural disaster, and I want to watch the excitement you cause.

    Uh. Thanks?

    EnA: You¡¯re welcome. Now, get moving. It would be so boring if you died here.

    Lhexa¡¯s heart was pounding out of her chest. Was she dreaming? She was in danger. She had no idea how she was going to get to the surface. She was pretty sure there weren¡¯t crafts capable of that for security reasons. If she couldn¡¯t get out, she would die here. Of lack of air, or food, or just a system failure.

    And yet.

    She couldn¡¯t stop smiling.

    She felt alive.

 Interlude - The Prince (R.000)

    Prince Revan Cornet was excited. Excited may even not be strong enough of a word. His country, Dorum, was going to war against the neighboring Telemere. But, more importantly, his father and elder brother were going to war. He wasn¡¯t concerned for the outcome. It was all but assured that Dorum¡¯s forces would come out on top. They had a stronger military by far, and even if other nations joined the fray it shouldn¡¯t impact his plans at all.

    As for what those plans were, well, Revan was in for a busy war. He paced around his room impatiently. It was a nice room, though suited more to practicality than lavishness. Revan enjoyed the pleasures and delights of the world and his position, but he was at his heart, very focused on his work. Those that knew him would have expected his room to be a hedonistic paradise, for all he played the part in public.

    But, that was a veil, and under it lie more or less what this room represented. Apart from his bed, the room was dedicated to his work above everything else. It was spacious, and the decor was of the finest quality. But, at a glance one might mistake the room for an office rather than a bedroom. The centerpiece was a large and luxurious desk, with a very comfortable chair placed at it. Behind that was a large map that covered a good portion of the wall, and covering the desk itself there were stacks and stacks of papers. In another corner of the room was a small sofa in front of a small table similarly covered.

    Revan was quite a hard worker, despite stereotypes about princes. The reason was simple. Revan was a second prince. Since childhood, he had excelled at every task set before him. So, it was only natural for life to place such a challenge in front of him as well.

    While many in his position would be content to laze about and enjoy the high life without the pressure of actually ruling, Revan was very much not. He was aware that he had been born with a platinum spoon in his mouth, but he would not be content until he had graduated to one cut of diamond instead.

    Compounding his desire to work upwards, his father and brother were war minded fools. His father, King Cornet had been born the only male child to a very competent king. Revan¡¯s grandfather had taken the country of Dorum from a tiny blip on the map, struggling to stay relevant economically, to a thriving giant of a nation through a series of defensive wars that he had miraculously won despite all odds.

    Now, two generations later Dorum was flourishing as it¡¯s people and economies grew to fill their taken land. Unfortunately, what his father had learned from his grandfather was that winning wars was the key to prosperity. How myopic his fathers vision was.

    Dorum had not won those wars because it had been a sleeping dragon until it had been attacked. No, it had won those wars because Revan¡¯s grandfather had been a genius. First in economic and political maneuvering, and later in military strategy.

    Now his father and brother were off to war, and Revan would have opportunities at home as a result. The first thing he had done was call for Lintel, his personal steward. When the man had arrived, Revan had sent him off to grab a number of items and documents. Now he was waiting impatiently, and pacing.

    After an eternal five minute wait, there came a soft knock at the door. Lintel entered and found a seat on the sofa.

    ¡°My Lord?¡±

    Revan cleared his throat. Lintel was an old friend as much as an attendant. As a result, he was the one and only person Revan intended to trust with his plans. He would need a faithful administrator to carry them out.

    This story has been taken without authorization. Report any sightings.

    ¡°Lintel, my Father left this morning.¡±

    ¡°Yes, My Lord. I watched him leave the castle myself.¡±

    Revan smiled.

    ¡°I intend to make a number of moves in the next few days. I¡¯ll need you to do some things for me. For starters, we¡¯re going to create a wartime food initiative.¡±

    ¡°What does that entail?¡±

    ¡°Dip into the treasury. We¡¯re going to subsidize feeding the city. Turn away no one. Hire cooks to make sure everyone eats. Don¡¯t be shy about mentioning that this is to combat the rise in food prices. In fact, make an announcement. There is an artificial famine as food gets shipped out to aid the war effort. Prince Revan assures the public that they will not suffer unduly. The crown will reach into its coffers to drive prices down. Something to that effect.¡±

    Lintel hesitated.

    ¡°My Lord, may I speak freely?¡±

    ¡°I wouldn¡¯t have brought you here for any other reason.¡±

    ¡°Your father and the nobility will not like you doing this without permission. How are you going to handle them?¡±

    A grin spread across Revan¡¯s face.

    ¡°Father is going to be busy with the war for quite some time, and the old dullard isn¡¯t going to understand what I¡¯m doing anyways. As for the nobles, let them come to me with their complaints. I¡¯ll handle them.¡±

    ¡°You will? How do you intend to do that?¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s simple. I¡¯m going to give them things they want. I¡¯m going to make allies at cost to myself. For starters, I¡¯ll be dealing with only the older Lords and the Ladies that were left behind. The Lords will have to be taken care of on a case by case basis, but I¡¯m thinking of making a compelling offer to the Ladies that come to see me.¡±

    ¡°What is that, My Lord?¡±

    ¡°I¡¯ll offer to institute a policy that only sees one fighting age male from each noble house going off for mandatory wartime service, and assure them that if for some reason their husbands and sons all die in the line of service during this war, I will ensure they keep their houses and titles for their loyalty to me.¡±

    ¡°Hmm. That may hold some sway. Although, the way you¡¯re talking about this sounds an awful lot like a coup.¡±

    ¡°A coup? How uncouth. If you want to call it that, you can. But you might as well call all the colors of the sunset ¡®orange¡¯. No, this is more than that.¡±

    Lintel looked at Revan with surprise, clearly having thought he would deny the implication.

    ¡°My Lord?¡±

    ¡°I will let my Father march off to war, and as always suck the resources of his kingdom dry for the effort of it. Let him enjoy his glory born of parasitism. I will be here, undoing all of the wrongs he has caused. I will be here, and I will have all of the wives, daughters, feeble, and frail know that while Father¡¯s war was sucking them dry, I am the reason they have food on their tables. I am the reason they are not forced to work themselves to death. I am the reason that they are not falling into despair.¡±

    Revan smiled brightly, and then continued.

    ¡°Lintel, I will pay whatever cost necessary from our treasury and with favors to make sure that by the time my Father returns, this kingdom understands that all good things come from me. I will have my people look upon me as supplicants to a god, and be rewarded for it. Husbands and sons will return to a city where every citizen knows my name and speaks it with hope and love in their hearts. Lords and Lordlings will return to Ladies who have already pledged themselves to me. This is a kingdom divided. My Father believes he has taken the stronger portion to go out and have himself a fight. But, on fighting men¡¯s backs alone the world does not move. I will claim the hearts and minds of those left behind.¡±

    He turned and pointed a finger at Lintel.

    ¡°Starting with you, old friend. Will you help me?¡±

 1.001

    ¡°Miss Human!¡±

    ¡°Miss Human!¡±

    ¡°Oh hells, please wake up. Miss Human!¡±

    Someone was shaking her. Lily could feel it faintly.

    ¡°Miss Human!¡±

    Lily forced herself to open her eyes. For a split second, she didn¡¯t know where she was and what was happening. But it all came rushing back as consciousness returned to her. She looked up and stared into a strange face. The girl looked mostly human. She was human shaped. Her skin was similar to Lily¡¯s although slightly darker presumably from sun exposure. But, a mottled pattern of bright red scales was also on her face. She had horns. And she was¨C worried.

    ¡°I¡¯m okay. I think.¡±

    Lily struggled to get the words out. She really was way too close. Way too close. Lily felt fear bubble up inside her and shoved it down. Not the time. This was an emergency. She thought it had just been dire. A matter of heading home after recovery at worst. But this girl wasn¡¯t human. Where the hell was she?

    The girl was still staring down at her with worry in her eyes. But she reluctantly nodded, and after hesitating for a second moved so Lily could sit up.

    ¡°Thank goodness. Could you stop scaring me, Miss?¡±

    ¡°I could say the same thing!¡±

    A scaled face gave her a nervous grin. Lily thought she must just be trying to be polite. Okay, don¡¯t ruin this or say something totally stupid.

    ¡°Um, you didn¡¯t used to be a snake or something did you?¡±

    Lily kicked herself. She¡¯d managed to sound hopeful while asking the stupidest question in her brain. But her only hope for still being on earth somewhere was that this girl might be some kind of upjumped reptile in the same way that Star was more than a dog.

    The girl opened her mouth, then closed it. She paused for a few seconds and tried again.

    ¡°Did you hit your head when you fell?¡±

    Lily shook her head, and played it up just a little.

    ¡°I¨C Maybe. I¡¯m sorry. Let me try again. I¡¯m Lily. I¡¯ve never met anyone like you, and I¡¯m sorry for being rude. But, who and what are you?¡±

    Fear was still boiling inside her. She was barely holding it back. Another person. Another person. And she¡¯d had to rescue Lily at cost to herself, and now she was in this person¡¯s home. How dare she. She didn¡¯t deserve to be here. This girl should have left her in the snow. She¨C No. She had to do something about this fear. She turned around and faced the other way so she couldn¡¯t see her. It¡¯s like a phone call. Yeah.

    The new girl had already started speaking and Lily hadn¡¯t been listening.

    ¡°-- balaur.¡±

    There was a pause.

    ¡°Uh, Miss Lily?¡±

    ¡°Yeah? Huh?¡±

    ¡°What are you doing?¡±

    ¡°N-nothing! Uh. Okay. Okay. I have to get over this. Um. Okay. This is an emergency. Normally I wouldn¡¯t just be like this. But I¡¯m in really dire straits. So listen. I¡¯m scared of people. It¡¯s got nothing to do with you and I¡¯m sorry for being weird but if you could just not look at me for a little while it¡¯d really go a long way.¡±

    Lily heard the girl shift behind her.

    ¡°I¡¯m not going to hurt you, you know? I¡¯m not like, a [Thief] or something.¡±

    ¡°I know, I know. It¡¯s got nothing to do with that. I¡¯m sorry. I¡¯m just trying really hard not to panic. But I really have to get it together. Star needs me, and I have nowhere to go. Thank you for saving me. I¡¯m sorry. I¡¯m really sorry.¡±

    ¡°Woah, hey. Calm down Miss Lily. Everything is fine. Is there anything I can do to make it easier?¡±

    ¡°Um.¡±

    Lily nearly held her breath, and then remembered breathing was important for getting her panic under control.

    ¡°If we could just sit and talk while not facing each other for a little, that¡¯d be really helpful. I¡¯m sorry.¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s okay. I just don¡¯t want to hurt you.¡±

    Lily took a few deep breaths in and out.

    ¡°I¡¯ll be okay. I¡¯m good at emergencies. Despite how it might look.¡±

    ¡°Okay¡­¡±

    They sat in silence for a few minutes. Lily focused on breathing in and out, carefully. She remembered her first day alone in Santa Del Mar, and how hard it was to get over her inclination to panic over every little thing. But, she had grown since then. She just hadn¡¯t gotten resistant to this specific kind of fear yet. But, it was this or¨C Well. Her life actually probably wasn¡¯t on the line this time. But Star¡¯s might be. She had to find him. He¡¯d be okay. But what if he ended up somewhere really far away? How were they going to find each other? They should have thought that through! Okay. Focus. Talk to her.

    ¡°I¡¯m sorry. I missed the answer to my question before. What¡¯s your name? And um. I¡¯ve never met someone like you before. What are you? I¡¯m sorry. I can¡¯t think of a more polite way to ask.¡±

    The girl laughed, then spoke quietly. Lily had already forgotten how close she was. But, hearing a soft voice from behind her like this, she sounded like any other person. And she was being so kind.

    ¡°My name is Sunica. I¡¯m balaur. I¡¯d have thought that was obvious. The horns, the tail, the scales? Where are you from that you¡¯ve never seen balaur? You don¡¯t have to worry about being polite to me, but be careful in the city. ¡°

    The thought of going into a city full of other people, human or not was beyond what Lily could fathom right now. Lily played with her earring. Balaur was a strange word, and she got the feeling it wasn¡¯t quite translating properly.

    ¡°Wait, there¡¯s a city?¡±

    ¡°Of course! You didn¡¯t think I lived out here all on my own, surely?¡±

    ¡°I¨C I don¡¯t know what I thought. Look, I¡¯m all kinds of out of sorts. Let¡¯s start with the basics. Do you know a place called Santa Del Mar? California? United States of America?¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m sorry, I¡¯ve never heard of those places. But I¡¯ve never really left home, so that¡¯s not surprising. Is that where you¡¯re from? How¡¯d you get here?¡±

    ¡°Um. Would you believe it was a spell?¡±

    ¡°Teleportation magic? That¡¯s powerful stuff. Are you a [Mage]?¡±

    ¡°I. I think so?¡±

    Sunica giggled.

    ¡°What¡¯s that supposed to mean? You¡¯re strange. Are you sure you didn¡¯t knock your head? I can get you a [Healer].¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m fine!¡±

    The last thing Lily needed was a strange balaur doctor poking around her body. She really wasn¡¯t ready to introduce anyone else into the mix. After a couple seconds of silence, she tried to explain. Although she wasn¡¯t sure how much she should let on.

    ¡°The spell. It went wrong. Somehow. My companion was supposed to be with me, and I didn¡¯t know where it was supposed to take me, so I don¡¯t know if this was right. Everything is kind of a blur.¡±

    ¡°You used a teleportation spell without knowing where it would take you? Are you insane? You could have showed up at the bottom of the ocean!¡±

    She could hear Sunica¡¯s tail slapping the floor as it thrashed with¡­ worry? She wasn¡¯t sure exactly what the girl was feeling. But whatever it was, it had a tell. The sound was reminiscent of Star¡¯s tail always giving away when he was excited, and it hurt to hear.

    If you spot this tale on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.

    ¡°It¡¯s complicated, alright? I didn¡¯t have much choice. Well. That¡¯s a lie. Star would argue. But, I really wanted to do it, but I think it went wrong somehow. The house I was in came down on top of me, I think. I don¡¯t remember very well.¡±

    ¡°Oh. I think I see what happened.¡±

    ¡°You do?¡±

    ¡°The spell messed with your mind.¡±

    Lily hesitated. She could just go with it. It was probably easier than explaining being from another¡­ what, world? Dimension? Realm? Whatever. No, Sunica had been so helpful. She felt like she owed her the truth.

    ¡°I¨C I don¡¯t think so. Not really, if I¡¯m being honest. But, it would explain a lot. So, can we just pretend that¡¯s what¡¯s going on?¡±

    Sunica sighed, but replied in a way that made Lily feel a little at ease.

    ¡°Okay. But you didn¡¯t know what a balaur is. I really think I should get you looked at. Just maybe by a [Mage].¡±

    ¡°Please. I really think I¡¯m okay, but I don¡¯t think I can handle another person right now.¡±

    ¡°What¡¯s up with that, anyway? How did you live before now if you¡¯re so scared of people?¡±

    ¡°Until a month ago, I hadn¡¯t left my house in years. And since then, I haven¡¯t met anyone else.¡±

    ¡°What about your companion?¡±

    A pang of pain hit Lily in the chest.

    ¡°Star. He¡¯s a dog. Well. He¡¯s more of a magical creature I think. He¡¯s like a person that looks like a dog.¡±

    ¡°Hmm.¡±

    Lily could hear the implied doubt in Sunica¡¯s tone.

    ¡°I didn¡¯t make him up.¡±

    ¡°I wasn¡¯t going to say that!¡±

    ¡°But were you thinking it?¡±

    ¡°Well¡­¡±

    ¡°Yeah. I didn¡¯t make him up! He¡¯s the one thing that I¡¯m absolutely sure of. I have to find him.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m sorry.¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s okay.¡±

    They sat in silence. What was she going to do? If the spell went wrong, Star could be anywhere. Hopefully he was either back at home or close by. But, what Sunica said about the bottom of the ocean was haunting her. She could just imagine the spell going off for him like it did her, only to find he was deep underwater and¡­ No. No. No no no no no no. Entity B wouldn¡¯t do that to her. This must have been part of the plan. He was close by, or back at home. Either way, she would find him. How could she start?

    ¡°Um, Sunica?¡±

    ¡°Yes?¡±

    ¡°Someone left the spell that brought me here for me. Are there any powerful magic users around here?¡±

    ¡°Oh, sure! But¡­¡±

    ¡°But what?¡±

    ¡°Well, it¡¯s just that the [Teleportation] spell is very high level magic. Actually, what do you even mean they left it for you? Because if you were given a scroll or something that makes it even more difficult. I don¡¯t know of anyone who can cast such high tiers of magic.¡±

    Well, that was interesting. Magic must be a lot more common around here if there are tiers of it and accepted spells. Lily filed that away for later.

    ¡°Um, well, it wasn¡¯t a scroll or anything. They had it written out in some kind of metal, inlaid into the floor so it could be triggered with mana. If I went back and dug it out of the rubble it¡¯s probably still there. I made notes, I could probably write it out again, but it wouldn¡¯t be great if it just brought me back to a random place in the forest.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m sorry Miss Lily. I¡¯m not a [Mage]. I¡¯m a [Trapper]. But that doesn¡¯t sound like any kind of magic I¡¯ve heard of. Written out in metal? How does one write out a spell? Like a magic book?¡±

    Lily hesitated.

    ¡°What? No. It wasn¡¯t instructions. It was the spell. Like, a spell circle?¡±

    ¡°A spell circle? Like, an aura spell?¡±

    ¡°No! Like, a spell circle! It¡¯s like, a diagram with glyphs in it that describes a spell, and then the mana flows into it, and the spell happens.¡±

    ¡°Um. Miss, Lily?¡±

    Lily was getting frustrated trying to describe things she¡¯d come up with her own internal lexicon for to someone who presumably learned completely different words to describe them in school.

    ¡°Yes?¡±

    ¡°I¡¯ve never seen a spell that works like that. Can you show me?¡±

    ¡°Yeah, sure. Easy! Got something I can write with, or will I need to use mana? Actually, if you just give me my backpack I can use paper.¡±

    Sunica started to get up and took a few steps when she stopped.

    ¡°Paper? That¡¯s so expensive! You don¡¯t have to use that!¡±

    Oh boy. This was going to be one hell of a culture shock.

    ¡°Um, I can use chalk if you don¡¯t mind me messing with your floor?¡±

    ¡°Will it cause damage?¡±

    ¡°Let¡¯s use the paper to be sure. I can always get more.¡±

    <hr>

    A few minutes later, and Lily had been given her backpack and was digging through it looking for her notes and supplies. Also, trying hard not to bring out anything clearly from another world. As much as Sunica would probably love a twinkie, Lily was working with limited resources right now and still didn¡¯t know if she should be very free with the ¡®other world¡¯ information. Sunica seemed trustworthy, but you never knew. On the plus side, she was still full of anxiety, but she had talked with Sunica long enough to not be on the verge of a panic attack from just being in the same room with her.

    Once she finally got the notebook and a pen free of the backpack, she grabbed the other plus side. Bay had made it with her, tied to the top of her backpack. So she set him up next to her notes before she started writing. Sunica was looking at him with interest, with her tail flicking back and forth. Lily wasn¡¯t sure whether that was like a dog¡¯s tail wagging, or a cat getting ready to pounce yet. Or neither.

    ¡°I like your thing.¡±

    ¡°Him? Oh, he¡¯s a seal. His name¡¯s Bay. He¡¯s named after Micheal Bay because¨C uh, nevermind.¡±

    ¡°Bay. He¡¯s got a very cute name! Where did you get him? The craftsmanship is incredible. The stitching is so uniform. Was he made with magic?¡±

    Lily didn¡¯t really know what to say to that. To someone here, an automatic sewing machine might seem like magic.

    ¡°Well, something like that. Anyway, look here.¡±

    Lily was drawing out a simple circle. It was just her light spell with one small change. Instead of a three circle spell that included a gathering glyph, she made it with two so she could power it herself. For some reason, there didn¡¯t seem to be a lot of ambient mana here. Lily still thought that was weird. Wouldn¡¯t it be more saturated in a world that had magic? Well, mysteries for later. She remembered the heat spell the other night not working at all for her.

    ¡°This is a simple spell. I made it myself. I call it my light spell, because it just makes a little orb of light over the circle. Any of this look familiar so far?¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m sorry, I don¡¯t understand. This can teach you how to use the [Light] spell? A variant that you made yourself? How high level are you?¡±

    Sunica winced, and then followed that question up.

    ¡°I¡¯m sorry, that was rude.¡±

    ¡°Um. I¡¯m really not sure what you mean by levels, but this is a really really simple spell. You could have drawn this circle and it¡¯d work for you if you just pour mana into it. Like this.¡±

    Lily put a hand onto the circle since touching it made connecting really easy, and then poured some mana in. She was immediately surprised that it seemed to be taking a much smaller portion of her personal mana to cast this spell than it usually did. But also, her scars immediately lit up. That was embarrassing. She grinned sheepishly at Sunica for a second, and then she saw the girl''s face. The light spell went out.

    ¡°Uh, Sunica? Is something wrong?¡±

    She was frowning.

    ¡°That¡¯s¨C I¡¯ve never seen magic like that. You¡¯re saying it comes from that weird diagram you drew?¡±

    ¡°Well, yeah. That ¡®diagram¡¯ is the spell. I let it draw magic from me to do its thing. I could also tell it to pull mana out of the air, or from other sources. But that seems slow around here for some reason.¡±

    Sunica was staring. Lily was getting more and more uncomfortable.

    ¡°Did I do something wrong?¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t know. So, you¡¯re saying you can change what the spell does by just drawing different stuff?¡±

    ¡°Yeah! I mean, you see these two nodes here? You can replace them with other glyphs. It¡¯s this whole modular system, see? If I erased that one, and replaced it with a glyph for fire, it¡¯d create a ball of fire instead of just light. Or I could add one here and change this one, and now it¡¯ll pull water out of the air, and concentrate it into a ball like the ball of light or fire, see? It¡¯s easy. Simple magic. I¡¯m sure whatever your people do is much more complex and powerful, but this is just what I do.¡±

    Sunica shook her head.

    ¡°Simple? This isn¡¯t simple at all! What are you talking about?¡±

    Lily looked down at her magic circle. It seemed simple enough to her. Was there some kind of weird issue with perception? Lily nervously pulled at a lock of hair.

    ¡°Um. Well. Okay. It seems simple to me, but I¡¯ve been studying hard for like a month, or a month and a half. I don¡¯t actually know how long. Around there?¡±

    Sunica looked at her like she was an alien. Which, Lily realized, she might be in a way.

    ¡°Okay, let¡¯s back up. Why do you seem scared?¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s¨C We¡¯re told to watch out for people who cast strange magic. [Sorcerers].¡±

    ¡°Listen. I¡¯ve never seen any other kind of magic than what I do. I¡¯ve never met anyone who cast spells other than me. But whatever that is, I don¡¯t think I¡¯m one of them. I¡¯m self taught. I learned by observing spells in nature.¡±

    The girl was looking pale behind her scales. Her voice was coming out shaky.

    ¡°Miss Lily.¡±

    ¡°You can drop the ¡®Miss¡¯ if you want. I¡¯m really not all that important.¡±

    Sunica closed her eyes and tried again.

    ¡°Lily. I¡¯m sorry but I¡¯m going to have to be very rude about this.¡±

    ¡°Okay?¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s a matter of life and death, you understand?¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m sorry, but not at all.¡±

    Sunica winced.

    ¡°What¡¯s your class and level?  I¡¯ll go first. I¡¯m a level 9 [Trapper].¡±

    ¡°Uh¡­¡±

    A tense silence filled the air.

    ¡°Am I being pranked right now?¡±

 1.002

    What the hell did that mean? Class? Level? Her mind went to video games first, but that would be a hell of a leap to make if this girl was actually talking about being licensed for trapping by the local city or something.

    ¡°What exactly do you mean?¡±

    Sunica was looking at her with a look of complete bewilderment on her face.

    ¡°Like, your level. Your class. What is it? I know it¡¯s rude to ask, but if you have the [Sorcerer] class and someone might see it, I need to know. I don¡¯t want to get you killed by bringing you into the city.¡±

    They stared at each other.

    ¡°Uh¡­? Do you mean like, a paperwork sort of thing, because I don¡¯t have anything like that?¡±

    ¡°No! Like, your class. I¡¯ve met humans before, I know you have them. Or do you just call it something different where you¡¯re from? In either case, I have the [Trapper] class. Level 9, like I said. Now, you?¡±

    ¡°I uh. Wait. Wait wait wait wait. Are you talking about the voice in my head? I could have sworn I dreamed that when I passed out.¡±

    Sunica looked thoughtful for a few seconds, and then continued in her most trying to be gentle with the damaged girl voice.

    ¡°Okay, even if you don¡¯t remember what you had before that, what did it say?¡±

    ¡°Uh. I think, [Fragment] Level 1. I got a skill. [Heretical Mana].¡±

    The balaur girl bit her lip.

    ¡°I¡¯ve never heard of either of those things. Wait, level one? How did you not already have levels?¡±

    Lily shrugged.

    ¡°We don¡¯t get them where I¡¯m from. Honestly, I¡¯m not sure why I¡¯d get one just from being here. That¡¯s so weird. Is it some kind of persistent magical effect on the whole area? Or is it something else?¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s not a spell or something! Everyone gets levels. I don¡¯t think there¡¯s anywhere in the world people don¡¯t! Except for monsters.¡±

    ¡°Wait, does that mean I get some kind of stat ups too? Can I grind exp? Go out and fight a deer or something, and get plus two strength and one agility?¡±

    ¡°What are you talking about?¡±

    ¡°Aww man.¡±

    Sunica took a deep breath, and tried again.

    ¡°Look, Miss Lily.¡±

    ¡°Just Lily is fine.¡±

    ¡°Look, Lily. I don¡¯t want to be rude, but are you lying to me?¡±

    ¡°No! I swear.¡±

    ¡°Then, is your head messed up?¡±

    ¡°No! I really don¡¯t know this stuff. Listen, whether you believe me or not, the place I came from really didn¡¯t have anything like this.¡±

    ¡°Oh yeah? Where¡¯s that?¡±

    ¡°I¨C I¡¯m not sure I should be more specific than that.¡±

    ¡°Lily. I want to help you. But, I¡¯m telling you that most other people in the city would be turning you over to the authorities as a [Sorcerer]. Please, just tell me everything so I can help?¡±

    That sounded very reasonable. Lily had seen enough media where someone comes from another world though, and nothing good ever comes of telling people without really thinking about it. Still, it¡¯s not like she had anywhere else to go. Besides, Sunica had already saved her life. At cost to herself.

    ¡°I¡­ I think I come from another world.¡±

    Silence took over for another couple tense seconds. Then, Sunica broke. She laughed. She laughed hard. She doubled over. Lily just stared, and got mildly offended.

    ¡°Hey! I¡¯m serious you know! It¡¯s totally different where I come from.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s the best you could come up with? I¡¯m sorry. I shouldn¡¯t laugh. I really really shouldn¡¯t. Maybe you really did hit your head.¡±

    ¡°Hey! Hey! I¡¯m not making anything up, and I¡¯m not crazy! Here! Let me show you!¡±

    Lily marched over to her backpack and started digging around. But, that was strange¡­

    ¡°Huh? My phone is missing! Where the heck did it get to? Oh no, don¡¯t tell me I lost it in the snow! That¡¯s like, the most valuable thing I own!¡±

    Sunica had finished laughing and was now looking over Lily¡¯s shoulder.

    ¡°You ah, do have a lot of strange things in there. What¡¯re those?¡±

    She pointed to the twinkies. Lily handed her one.

    ¡°Food! Sweets. They¡¯re famous where I¡¯m from, because they basically don¡¯t go bad.¡±

    Sunica perked up.

    ¡°Woah, magical food? That¡¯s intense. How rich is this place you come from?¡±

    ¡°No no no. Not magic. Just¨C It¡¯s complicated. But it¡¯s not magic. Go ahead, eat one. It¡¯ll be the sweetest thing you¡¯ve ever tasted or your money back.¡±

    ¡°But I didn¡¯t¨C oh.¡±

    Sunica stared at the twinkie with an expression Lily couldn¡¯t quite place. Her tail flicked around.

    Love what you''re reading? Discover and support the author on the platform they originally published on.

    ¡°Really? Are you sure? Isn¡¯t this rare? Assuming I believe you of course.¡±

    ¡°I have more of them. Plus, convincing you is worth a couple treats. Because I¡¯m telling the truth, and I could really use your help.¡±

    It was true. Now that Lily had gotten moving she felt like her mind was coming alive. She needed Sunica. An ally would go a long way. There was no way she was going to figure out a spell to find Star without any help at all. Not to mention, she wasn¡¯t sure she could even leave this cabin safely without help.

    ¡°Um. Okay. If you say so¡­¡±

    Sunica went to take a bite. Through the plastic. Lily gasped, and then stopped her.

    ¡°No no! You have to unwrap it. I¡¯m sorry. I should have said. Here, lemme help you.¡±

    She took the twinkie back and pulled open the wrapper, then handed her the treat. The scaled girl took a bite of the treat. A look of surrene pleasure crossed her face.

    ¡°Mmmmm. Oh hells that¡¯s so good. What is this thing made of? You¡¯re right! I¡¯ve never tasted something so sweet. What IS that stuff on the outside of it? Is it poison?¡±

    Lily laughed.

    ¡°No, not poison. It¡¯s just meant to keep it safe until you eat it. It¡¯s not edible. Keeps bugs away and stuff.¡±

    Sunica made to hand the rest of the small pastry back to Lily, but Lily shook her head.

    ¡°No, you have it. I¡¯ve had a bunch in my life, and you deserve something for all the help you¡¯ve given me. Hopefully I¡¯ll be able to repay it back a thousand fold. I just wish I could find my stupid phone!¡±

    She was emptying the bag entirely now. The laptop tumbled out, which would be fine for convincing Sunica, but where was her phone? She really hoped she hadn¡¯t dropped it. Sunica was looking at the pile with wide eyes. Meds, bandaids, fresh clothes, bottles of water. Fine. The laptop would have to do. She could find her phone later. Maybe she could make a variant of her mana tracking spell? But how would she target the phone without having it first? Problems for later.

    Lily sat on the floor and popped the laptop open and¡­ nothing.

    ¡°Aw crap! It must be out of power. I think that spell drained the electricity from everything. Or maybe I did that so the house wouldn¡¯t burn down? Honestly it¡¯s such a blur. I¡¯m sorry, I can¡¯t show¡­ you¡­¡±

    Lily stopped. Sunica was staring at her laptop with eyes nearly bulging out of her skull.

    ¡°What IS that?¡±

    ¡°Huh? Well, it¡¯s not even on right now. But it¡¯s a laptop. A kind of computer. Uh. It. Can do a lot of things?¡±

    ¡°I¡¯ve never seen something with such craftsmanship! This is like¨C an artifact?¡±

    She knelt down next to it, and looked at it closely, being careful not to touch it. Lily couldn¡¯t help but laugh a little. She typed a little on the keyboard, just to show off how it worked.

    ¡°It¡¯s really not something so special. I mean, don¡¯t get me wrong, it''s pretty cool. I wanted to show you a game or a movie or something, but I¡¯ll have to charge it first. I can probably do it with a spell if you give me enough time to fine tune it.¡±

    ¡°What? You¡¯re going to cast on it? Isn¡¯t that dangerous? What if it breaks!?¡±

    ¡°I¡¯ve done it before. Don¡¯t worry about it. Besides, if I can get home I have a bunch of them.¡±

    ¡°A BUNCH?¡±

    ¡°Yeah, like, four more, and a number of other devices. So does this mean you believe me?¡±

    ¡°I¨C Okay. Yes. I mean. Sorta? You¡¯re either telling the truth or you are a very rich and powerful person with a very scrambled mind. But, I¡¯m leaning towards the truth right now.¡±

    Lily smiled. She was starting to feel it. That frantic, manic energy that started to build when she was embroiled in something difficult. The fear of being around another person was starting to fade into the background.

    ¡°Oh thank god. Okay. With that out of the way, I¡¯m going to need to cast some spells. I¡¯m starting to get some ideas. Fair warning, none of this is particularly safe, but I¡¯ll do everything I can to make sure that I¡¯m the only one in danger. I¡¯ll probably need to cast quite a few before I get something working. But I have my notes from the teleportation spell still, so I have a lot of glyphs I can experiment with. The lack of paper is going to be an issue. I don¡¯t suppose there¡¯s like a big flat rock nearby I can use my chal¨C¡±

    Sunica grabbed Lily by the shoulders and looked directly into her eyes.

    ¡°Are you okay?¡±

    ¡°What? Yes, of course. I was just thinking about how I¡¯m going to-¡±

    ¡°No! You¡¯re acting very strange all of a sudden. Danger? Magical experiments that could be dangerous, and you¨C you¡¯re smiling, but not like before. What is happening?¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s¡­ It¡¯s not¡­¡±

    Lily looked down at her hands. They were shaking with nerves. Huh. Lily looked back up at Sunica and tried to explain.

    ¡°I just. It¡¯s been. Hard. And I usually just¡­ push through¡­¡±

    Huh? What? It didn¡¯t sound so good when she put it like that. Lily tried to give Sunica a reassuring smile, and realized that she couldn¡¯t see the balaur girl through her tears. When had she started crying? Sunica hugged her tightly. Lily tried to protest for a second, but nothing intelligible came out. She gave up.

    The girl, basically a stranger, held Lily in her arms and Lily cried for quite some time.

    <hr>

    ¡°One day, everyone disappeared.¡±

    After a long while, Sunica had laid Lily out on her sofa and gotten some tea brewing. Lily had laid in silence for a long time, just trying to get herself together, but finally she spoke.

    ¡°Huh?¡±

    ¡°One day, I woke up and everyone in the world had disappeared. Everyone but me. Even the stars all vanished. I was alone.¡±

    ¡°The stars disappeared? How are those two things related?¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t know. But that¡¯s what happened. Everyone vanished, and the stars did too. I scavenged and struggled. I¡¯ve always been¨C I¡¯ve always been useless. Before it happened, I hadn¡¯t left my house in years. I was too afraid.¡±

    Sunica frowned.

    ¡°How did you live? Didn¡¯t you need food?¡±

    Lily shook her head.

    ¡°We had ways of doing that without ever seeing another person. I¡¯ll explain sometime.¡±

    ¡°So, you lived in your home and never left? Wasn¡¯t it boring?¡±

    ¡°Yeah. But I couldn¡¯t leave. It was like a prison. I used to think I was living in the stomach of a monster. That it fed on my fear. That the outside only existed to make me more afraid, so the monster could eat better.¡±

    She expected Sunica to laugh, but the girl closed her eyes and nodded.

    ¡°A fearsome monster indeed. How did you know everyone had disappeared?¡±

    Lily laughed.

    ¡°I got a message. I don¡¯t know from who. The same person who left me the spell, I think. Then I checked. It¡¯s complicated, but there are usually things I could see from my house that people worked on. Nothing. So I left. They were all gone. I didn¡¯t have the skills to do¡­ anything. I barely lived. Time and time again, I only lived because apparently I am good in an emergency. When my life is on the line. I get like- like you saw. And it just works out. But it costs me every time.¡±

    Lily held up her hand and looked over her scars. Sunica put a mug of warm tea into it.

    ¡°What about your friend?¡±

    The human girl grimaced.

    ¡°I found Star after everyone vanished. I think the magic affected him. Grew him into more than just a dog. I don¡¯t really understand how. But, he¡¯s probably the reason I survived. More than once he saved my life, and more than thatI think he gave me a reason to not give up. And I¨C¡±

    Tears welled up in her eyes again.

    ¡°I cast the spell. And now I can¡¯t find him. If he¡¯s hurt, or dead I¨C I don¡¯t know what I¡¯ll do. If someone had to die it should have been me. He was always there for me and I messed up and now he¡¯s¨C¡±

    Sunica knelt down to be on face level with Lily, and grabbed her free hand.

    ¡°Don¡¯t assume the worst. There¡¯s no evidence for that. You are separated. Let¡¯s find him.¡±

    ¡°Okay. But how?¡±

    ¡°First, let¡¯s ask in the city.¡±

 0.039

    That night, Lily slept on the boat. It was all she could do after the spell to find her way up and out of the pit she¡¯d made. Why was it always a pit?

    Her and Star had practically limped their way onto the little boat, and collapsed. They spent the rest of the night watching cooking shows, without so much as saying a lot to one another. There was nothing to say. Lily had failed. But, they were still here. Still alive. They had each other. That¡¯s all that mattered. They were hurt, but neither of them was harmed seriously. If anything, they were lucky for that.

    By the time they were laying down to sleep, Lily was feeling a little more human again. Although in the morning she would have a lot to sort out. As they laid together in bed, Lily thought out loud.

    ¡°I just don¡¯t know what I did wrong. I keep going over and over it in my mind, but I can¡¯t see where I failed.¡±

    Star leaned more of his weight against her. It was comforting. She hugged him a little tighter.

    ¡°Maybe you didn¡¯t do anything wrong. Maybe the spell was to blame.¡±

    ¡°Hmm. What do you mean?¡±

    ¡°Maybe the spell was wrong. Not you.¡±

    ¡°Is that possible?¡±

    Star yawned and stretched. Lily always liked watching that from this angle, hugging him from behind. His dog toes looked so silly all splayed out like that. Not that she¡¯d ever say so. He was a dignified boy, and might be affronted.

    ¡°Why not?¡±

    ¡°Well I. Hmm. I just thought Entity B doesn¡¯t make mistakes like that. I guess I¡¯ve been thinking of them as something more than a person, you know?¡±

    ¡°It might not have been a mistake.¡±

    ¡°Why would they give me a broken spell on purpose?¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t know. Why do they do anything?¡±

    ¡°Huh. I guess¡­ I don¡¯t know.¡±

    ¡°Maybe they wanted to destroy your house. Maybe they wanted you to complete it. Maybe it did something but we don¡¯t understand. You are too quick to blame yourself, Lady Flamewalker.¡±

    ¡°Am not!¡±

    Now Lily was being a little petulant, but it was playful and Star knew it. His tail started wagging. The sound of it thumping against whatever was nearby was always a comforting sound for her.

    Lily laid there hugging him until she was on the edge of sleep. She thought he had already passed out, his body was so dead weight in her arms and his breathing had slowed.

    ¡°Thanks for not being mad about our home, and always being there for me.¡±

    She closed her eyes and nuzzled into his neck a little.

    ¡°We are partners. I exist for it.¡±

    She startled, then smiled and let herself drift off.

    <hr>

    In the morning, after a quick and unsatisfying canned meal breakfast, Lily and Star found their way back to the ruins of their home. It looked just as bad as she remembered. She wished she could figure out that repair spell. Then she could just set it up and wait. Maybe she could find a way to move it over here? Would it even repair the parts of the house that had been eaten in the spell? So many questions. She was loathe to do any magical experimentation though. Before the basement, she had told herself she was going to be safer about this from now on and she meant it.

    There was a more pressing issue though. Repairing the damage aside¡­

    ¡°There¡¯s a lot of really valuable stuff in this hole. The solar panels, the chaos emeralds, and I think I lost my phone down there. I can¡¯t find the damn thing.¡±

    Star was sniffing around the edges, but he perked up at the sound of Lily¡¯s voice.

    ¡°Can you float the big pieces out, and then we can climb in?¡±

    ¡°Mmm. Not easily. It¡¯s dangerous work when you don¡¯t know where they¡¯ll land. I could use the same general spell formation I use for your ball, but I¡¯ll have to power it in bursts to move it at all because of how heavy the big pieces are likely to be. I can probably move them. But it¡¯s going to be tiring as hell and probably take a few attempts each.¡±

    Star¡¯s tail wagged when she mentioned his ball. She loved those small parts of him that were still very much dog. It was totally at odds with how he was to talk to, and the contrast was very charming.

    ¡°We are not doing anything else today, are we Master?¡±

    ¡°Noooo. But. But. It¡¯s so much work!¡±

    ¡°I will be here to keep you company.¡±

    ¡°Fiiine. But I¡¯m setting up something for us to watch while I do. It¡¯s gonna take forever to draw all these stupid circles on all these stupid pieces of rubble.¡±

    Support the author by searching for the original publication of this novel.

    ¡°Oh, Master! Can we watch¨C¡±

    ¡°Nooo. Not Balto again. There are other good movies! I need something that¡¯ll distract me from my tedious work.¡±

    Star whined, and his tail drooped.

    ¡°Yes Master. What then?¡±

    ¡°How about this. I¡¯ll let you pick the genre, and I¡¯ll pick the movie. Then we¡¯ll switch.¡±

    ¡°What is genre?¡±

    Lily facepalmed. She always forgot that things with no real connection in Star¡¯s mind often didn¡¯t translate. Once he understood a concept he could get it though.

    ¡°Um. It¡¯s like. So, Balto is like, action and adventure. There¡¯s other films that are more focused on one of those two things, that one is kind of a mix of the two. Comedies are funny. The cooking shows are usually Reality. They¡¯re like, categories that help you find things that are like other things, see? So let me make it simple. Do you wanna watch something with Action? Or something Funny? Or something Calm?¡±

    Star thought for a moment.

    ¡°Action! I want action.¡±

    Lily grinned. She had the dumbest idea for this one.

    Half an hour of setting up a laptop and bringing the TV from aboard her ship outside later, Lily had a movie up and running. She had had to use her power spell again, though she was getting more used to dialing that in so devices would work properly. She had just copied what she had done at the movie theater again. Although, she really needed to sit down and figure out the standard for household power cables. As it is, it was just surreal to see the power cords laid out on the grass and somehow still getting electricity. She had cautioned Star not to touch them, although she wasn¡¯t actually sure what would happen. Better not to find out.

    Now Star was sitting in front of the TV, watching John Wick. Lily had warned him about the dog in the beginning of the movie, but she thought he would like it and she was curious whether he would like something so action focused rather than the adventure with Balto.

    She had forgotten just how violent the movie was, but that was probably fine. Probably.

    In the meantime, Lily was drawing spell circles. It was just the same multi-circle formation she had used on Star¡¯s ball. But she couldn¡¯t safely climb down into the pit to do it. Instead, she was standing in her charging spell and drawing them out with her own mana. It was tiring. But, the more she did stuff like this the easier it got. It was kinda cool. She felt like she was grinding mana increases in a video game. Just¡­ with physical exertion. How come exercise never felt good like this in the past?

    ¡°Eh, magic makes everything cooler I guess.¡±

    Plus, while it definitely did tire out her physical body to cast spells, it also definitely felt like mental exertion which had always been more of her thing. She wondered to herself if having a high sugar intake would be good for mages because your brain used so much of the stuff.

    In either case, casting spells felt kind of refreshing today. It was just the same safe spell over and over, and she felt like she was doing something good. She wanted to dig out the chaos emeralds because they were very useful tools. But she also had left her backpack down there. So, Bay was still in the hole too. She hoped he wasn¡¯t too banged up. But if he was, she would take him to the old apartment and try the repair spell.

    She still couldn¡¯t figure out what was up with that thing. If it wasn¡¯t a glyph, what was it? She was sure she¡¯d encounter something else like it if she just looked long enough, and she could study that. At least, she hoped so.

    A huge chunk of roofing floated out of the pit, and she activated the circle on the side to send it hurtling to the side. She was good enough with her ball trick to choose the direction well enough. But she had no real way of stopping it. She grimaced as it hit a tree and knocked it down. An earsplitting crack echoed through the neighborhood as the tree fell. Star turned and gave her a stare that clearly said ¡®can¡¯t you keep it down? The movie is going!¡¯

    ¡°Uh, whoops!¡±

    <hr>

    A few hours later, with some pauses to rest and talk out what to move and in what order, the movie was over. The biggest pieces had been removed. Lily could see a few of the chaos emeralds, and thankfully the end of her backpack sticking out from a piece of rubble. She suspected Bay was a bit squashed but otherwise fine from the angle.

    ¡°Did you like the movie? I was worried because of the beginning.¡±

    ¡°Yes. It was good. He was an amazing fighter.¡±

    ¡°Hah, I¡¯m glad. Well don¡¯t worry, if anything ever happened to you I¡¯d go all John Wick on the world too!¡±

    ¡°Master?¡±

    ¡°Uh, yeah?¡±

    ¡°Don¡¯t be ridiculous. You are the dog. I am John Wick.¡±

    Lily couldn¡¯t help but laugh. Even now, digging the remains of her life out of a hole, Star could make her laugh. She couldn¡¯t believe she had ever thought about not keeping him. That felt so foolish and shortsighted now. Although, if he had been crushed in this spell or something, she would be¡­ Best not to think about that.

    ¡°Hey Star?¡±

    ¡°Yes Master?¡±

    ¡°I want to get better at magic. But I want to be safer about it from now on. I¡¯ve thought about safety spells, but I¡¯ve always put it off. That¡¯ll be the next thing I start testing. Hopefully it¡¯ll be the last mysterious thing I test without safety precautions. I¡¯m sorry for the times I¡¯ve put you in danger.¡±

    Star approached and licked her hand, tail wagging.

    ¡°Are you doing that negative thing about yourself again?¡±

    ¡°No! I mean. Okay. Maybe a little. But I really do feel like I¡¯ve learned and am gonna try to get better. It¡¯s a statement of intent, not just an apology!¡±

    ¡°Hmm. Very well.¡±

    ¡°Now how are we gonna get stuff out of this hole? I was thinking about floating it out, but¡­¡±

    ¡°But it is all valuable and fragile?¡±

    ¡°Yeah¡­ Okay, here¡¯s what we¡¯re gonna do. I¡¯m gonna slide down in there, and you¡¯re going to stay up here and watch. Let me know if something is shifting precariously, or I might not see something important. And if I need help, uh¡­ help. Okay?¡±

    ¡°No.¡±

    Lily frowned.

    ¡°Whattya mean no?¡±

    ¡°I will go into the hole. You will direct me.¡±

    ¡°Oh, are you the boss now, mister?¡±

    Lily shot back playfully. Although, she really didn¡¯t want to send Star in there. It wasn¡¯t likely to be too dangerous, but¡­

    Star let out a playful bark and smiled the way dogs do.

    ¡°I am smaller and lighter. Less likely to shift things around. And if I am in trouble you can cast spells from up here. If you were in trouble, I would have to watch you get crushed. And one more thing.¡±

    Lily sighed, but he was right.

    ¡°Oh yeah? What¡¯s that?¡±

    ¡°If anything happened to you, I would have to go all ¡®John Wick¡¯ on the world.¡±

    Lily laughed, and she could feel Star¡¯s happiness as well.

 1.003

    Lily¡¯s clothes were completely unsuitable for leaving the cabin. She started talking to herself about experimenting with a very low power heat spell over her body to stay warm, and Sunica stopped her.

    ¡°Just put on some of my clothes. Are you always this insane? Does everything have to be dangerous experimental magic for you?¡±

    ¡°I¨C oh. I guess I didn¡¯t think of that.¡±

    Lily flushed a little bit. Wearing someone else¡¯s clothes? Even in her empty world she had somewhat preferred to go to a target or something. It felt a little strange to just take something of someone else¡¯s.

    ¡°Are you sure? I mean. I wouldn¡¯t want to um. I don¡¯t know. Cause you any discomfort.¡±

    Sunica laughed.

    ¡°They¡¯re just clothes, Miss Human. Don¡¯t burn them off with your strange magic and it¡¯ll be fine. Besides, it¡¯s just until we see the tailor.¡±

    ¡°Uh, tailor? We can¡¯t just like, get something off a shelf? I¡¯ve never been to a tailor before.¡±

    Sunica gave her a baffled look.

    ¡°What do you mean ¡®off the shelf¡¯?¡±

    Lily groaned.

    ¡°Okay but listen. I¡¯m really¡­ I¡¯m scared of people. I¡¯m feeling a little better about you, but there¡¯s still a part of the back of my mind screaming with anxiety and¨C And crowds and strangers are. Um. I¡¯m gonna be trying hard not to panic. What do I do if someone talks to me?¡±

    Sunica raised an eyebrow.

    ¡°Talk back to them?¡±

    ¡°I¨C I don¡¯t think I can.¡±

    ¡°Not even if they just wave and say hi?¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t know. I mean, I¡¯ll try. I really will.¡±

    ¡°Hmm. Okay. Here¡¯s what you¡¯re gonna do. You¡¯re gonna stand behind me, and if anyone tries talking to you, you¡¯re just gonna point at me and I¡¯ll take care of it okay?¡±

    ¡°Really?¡±

    ¡°Yeah.¡±

    Lily narrowed her eyes.

    ¡°Isn¡¯t that gonna make us stand out even more?¡±

    ¡°No. I promise.¡±

    Lily bit her lip for a second while she thought about it. She could probably manage that. She¡¯d just hide behind Sunica! Yeah. And be in a crowd. Of strangers. Looking at her. She slapped her cheeks.

    ¡°Okay!¡±

    ¡°Yeah?¡±

    ¡°Yeah. It¡¯s for Star. I can do this. I¡¯m¨C I¡¯m determined!¡±

    After an embarrassing ten minutes of Sunica trying to explain how to put on her clothes through the door of a bedroom, Lily emerged wrapped in what were admittedly the warmest clothes she had ever worn. A mixture of furs and leathers that were a little more complicated and heavy than she was expecting. They were also extremely oversized.

    Sunica guffawed, while Lily stared at her spitefully.

    ¡°You look like a baby ice mink that hasn¡¯t grown into its pelt yet!

    Lily scowled.

    ¡°Oh great, so now I have to be in front of people looking like a joke! You¡¯re not making this easier!¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m sorry, I¡¯m sorry. It¡¯s just¡­¡±

    She looked up at Lily one more time, and doubled over laughing again.

    ¡°You look so cute!¡±

    Lily felt her face grow a little warm. She wasn¡¯t used to being called things like that.

    ¡°Oh, shush you! Am I gonna get strange looks? Am I at least wearing all this stuff right?¡±

    ¡°You look fine! Really! Honest!¡±

    ¡°Then why are you laughing?¡±

    ¡°Well it¡¯s just. You were so¨C It¡¯s the contrast! That¡¯s all! You looked so strange and intimidating before, and now you¡¯re cute!¡±

    ¡°Intimidating? I¡¯ve never been intimidating a day in my life. Hmph.¡±

    ¡°Don¡¯t worry so much. I¡¯m the one that gets strange looks. No one is gonna blink at you.¡±

    ¡°Huh? What do you mean by that?¡±

    Sunica rolled her eyes and pointed to the scales on her face.

    ¡°Oh. I just thought all balaur had scales?¡±

    Sunica made a face somewhere in between a grin and a grimace.

    ¡°You¡¯ll see.¡±

    With that, they left the cabin. Lily left most of her stuff behind at Sunica¡¯s direction. The balaur girl told her that people would be trying to trade for her stuff if she had anything visibly so interesting, so if she didn¡¯t want to talk it was time to leave it behind. If she had anything she wanted to barter with though, to take it. The idea of haggling over how much a twinkie was worth with a stranger made Lily feel ill. So, she left her things behind. Even the bottles of water, in favor of a water skin Sunica said they could share.

    The snow was blinding in the daytime. It was early in the afternoon still, and it had all the hallmarks of a beautiful day. The sun was shining, birds were chirping, and but for the biting frost it could have been a perfect day out of a movie.

    Before they got more than twenty feet from the cabin though, Sunica stopped.

    ¡°One sec.¡±

    She closed her eyes and stood still for a second.

    ¡°[Detect Catch]¡±

    Then she shrugged and started forwards again.

    ¡°Uh, what the heck was that?¡±

    ¡°Hmm?¡±

    ¡°The thing you did. What was it?¡±

    Sunica giggled.

    ¡°It was a Skill. Don¡¯t tell me you don¡¯t have those either.¡±

    Lily smiled weakly.

    ¡°Let¡¯s pretend I don¡¯t. Explain it to me? I mean, I have one I think. But I didn¡¯t know you could¡­ like. Whatever you just did.¡±

    Sunica rolled her eyes, but explained anyway.

    ¡°When people level, they get skills. The higher the level the more useful the skill¨C usually. And not always every level either. Some skills can be used actively, like what I just did. I checked my traps. They¡¯re all empty still. Since we were out, I¡¯d have gone and collected anything that wandered into them.¡±

    ¡°Huh. You can just¡­ tell? How do you know? Do you hear a little voice? Would it work for any kind of trap? Like, what if you went out on the ocean and were tossing crab cages into the water? Is it magic? Do you have any other skills?¡±

    ¡°Are you always like this?¡±

    ¡°Huh?¡±

    ¡°You¡¯re so curious about everything! Slow down.¡±

    Sunica smiled at her. She realized that had probably been playful. But her heart had seized up with anxiety when the girl had stopped her. She told herself to stay calm, and tried took a deep breath.

    If you find this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the infringement.

    ¡°I¡¯m sorry. I am a¡­ certain way. I like learning new things.¡±

    ¡°Don¡¯t worry, I think it¡¯s charming. To answer your questions, yes I can just tell, no there is no voice, it¡¯s worked on every kind of trap I¡¯ve tried it with, Skills and Magic are different things, and yes. I do have other skills, but that question is considered pretty rude. Don¡¯t ask about other people¡¯s skills and levels if you can avoid it.¡±

    ¡°Oh.¡±

    Lily hesitated.

    ¡°I¡¯m sorry.¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s fine, you didn¡¯t know. Besides, I meant it.¡±

    ¡°Meant what?¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s charming. I¡¯m having fun teaching you stuff.¡±

    Sunica smiled at her. After a second, Lily returned it.

    <hr>

    The city was more than a thirty minute walk away through the snow. A fact Sunica had neglected to mention until Lily asked. It wasn¡¯t the time that bothered her, but Lily was not built for this! They had to take a few breaks to rest along the way. Sunica was a little apologetic, but mostly just surprised that it was an issue. She offered to give Lily a piggyback ride, but Lily refused. She¡¯d need to get used to this if she was going to be here a while.

    But, despite the three stops it was only about an hour before they crested a hill and suddenly the city was in view. Lily was thankful that it wasn¡¯t a city like New York was a city. She¡¯d have probably called it a town, herself. But, despite that, she could see people walking around the streets from here, and a sense of dread filled her. She ducked back behind the hill and took a few deep breaths.

    ¡°Uh, Miss Lily? I don¡¯t intend to worry you, but there are guards and you¡¯re acting a lot like someone trying to sneak up on the city right now. Probably not a problem, but you know. Be careful?¡±

    Lily started breathing harder. The air around her felt like it weighed a ton. She tried talking to herself, like she had at home.

    ¡°It¡¯s gonna be okay. I¡¯ve got this. I just have to go down there into the town full of people and ask around for my lost dog, not at all looking suspicious. It¡¯s gonna be fine. They¡¯ll probably be friendly. Sunica is friendly. It¡¯ll be okay. I¡¯ll blend in. I¡¯ll¨C I¡¯ll try to blend in. I¡¯ll hide behind Sunica. Please let me blend in.¡±

    A voice from right next to her startled her. She yelped. Sunica put a hand on her shoulder.

    ¡°Hey. It¡¯s gonna be alright. I¡¯ve lived here for my whole life. The people down there will be nice to you. Well, most of them.¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s not going to be a problem that I¡¯m a human?¡±

    ¡°Nah. They like foreigners. Lots of people come here to Veni to trade. It¡¯d be a little harder if we were going to Avezare. It¡¯s a larger city set back in those mountains over there. But travelers come here to trade all the time. Usually someone comes down from the mountains to meet them.¡°

    Curiosity partially shocked Lily out of her spiral.

    ¡°Are humans not allowed there?¡±

    ¡°Eh, it¡¯s not like that exactly. It can just be a social cultural nightmare for people not used to things. If we ever go, I¡¯ll talk you through it. Things are a lot more lax here though.¡±

    ¡°Okay. I think I¡¯m ready to go.¡±

    ¡°Anything I can do to help?¡±

    ¡°Just¡­ Please stay close to me. I¡¯ll get better at this. I have to. It¡¯s survival. It¡¯s just hard right now.¡±

    Sunica raised an eyebrow at that, but shrugged it off and helped Lily get started over the hill again. It was only a short walk down the hill to the closest gate, and a few minutes later they were waiting in a short queue to enter.

    Lily watched as the person in front of her, a balaur man holding a large sack over his shoulder, was greeted by the guards.

    ¡°Hey, it¡¯s Mr. Nikia. Got some more kindleberries to sell today?¡±

    The two exchanged some small talk back and forth. The man told a joke Lily didn¡¯t quite understand. Something about balls of fire. Then the man was through the gate. It was such a normal interaction. Lily supposed she shouldn¡¯t have expected anything else. But it was the same kind of conversation she¡¯d heard a thousand times growing up between cashiers and clients that recognized each other, and other situations like that. It actually put her a little at ease. Things weren¡¯t so different here. She was still scared to be around people, but these were people. Just like in her world. The culture might be a little different, but she could just pretend she was visiting a foreign country and didn¡¯t quite understand the rules yet.

    At least, that¡¯s what she thought until the guard caught sight of her and Sunica next in line. His face immediately changed from a customer service smile to something even less friendly. He had slightly grey-white scales on his face, the same as Sunica. Although they seemed to go further down his neck. Gender dimorphism or something else? Lily was going to have to keep an eye out.

    ¡°Oh, hey Sunica. Who¡¯s your friend?¡±

    She shook her head and snapped out of it. She was not going to study these people. She was starting to realize that one of the ways she¡¯d learned to cope with fear was to look at things through a detached intellectual lens and that was not healthy when the subject was people. She kicked herself.

    Sunica perked up, and replied in a demure and polite tone that seemed weirdly out of character for her.

    ¡°Hello Mister Avea. This is Lily. I found her lost in the forest. She¡¯s actually looking for her dog if you¡¯ve seen him. Big white dog with a black mark on his forehead. She says he¡¯s really smart, if that helps.¡±

    The man, Avea, laughed.

    ¡°I¡¯ve yet to meet someone who doesn¡¯t say their dog is the smartest one. I haven¡¯t seen a dog like that, but you might check in at the guard house. Captain can put out a memo so everyone is on the lookout if he shows up. In the meantime you two can head in. Just don¡¯t cause any trouble.¡±

    Lily nodded to the man as they passed. She was surprised he really didn¡¯t try talking to her at all. That was¡­ strange, right? It felt strange.

    There were a lot of people around once they came into the city, but they did seem to be keeping their distance. Lily could swear some of them were giving Sunica the side eye. What was that about?

    What was different about her? Oh. Ooooooh. Yep. Lily looked around. Yeah. That was it.

    In the sea of strangers about their business, all of them were balaur. But unlike Sunica, all of them had one thing in common. Their horns, their tails, their scales, they were all shades of white. Some had a slightly milky white, others had a dull almost grey, and a few had a bight and lustrous snow white. But they were all white.

    Sunica turned and grabbed Lily¡¯s hand, leading her along carefully. She had been right. No one was really looking at Lily, and they seemed hesitant to even get too close.

    What the hell?

    <hr>

    Sunica pushed her way in through a heavy door, waited for Lily, and closed it behind her, shutting out the cold.

    Inside, dozens of fabrics hung in large rolls over every wall. Most that she could see were wool and linen in simple patterns--some towards the back wall looked nicer, but she didn''t get close enough to see for sure. She was sticking to Sunica like a life raft in the ocean. Lily''s heart was racing. Was she really doing this? Just going out somewhere? Somewhere public, even? Her nails were biting into her palms.

    Get it under control. Breathe. You have to get through this. It''s not gonna be that bad. Probably.

    Sunica reached up and rang a flat bell. A sweet voice came from the back of the shop.

    "Ah! Coming!"

    There was a moment of clattering and a woosh as a fabric was flung out of the way and a new balaur came into view. She was shorter than Sunica, more lithe, and with scales of a misty gray. Her horns curved down near to her cheeks, and she had a pair of spectacles perched upon them, which she adjusted sourly.

    "Oh. It''s you."

    "Hello Miss Marici."

    "Here for more repairs?"

    The tailor sighed, dusting her hands on her apron.

    "Here I was hoping to make some coin today."

    Sunica dipped her head demurely.

    "No, Ma¡¯am. I was hoping to buy my human companion some clothing, if you would allow it."

    Marici''s brows raised a fraction.

    "Oh. Is that what''s hiding in your shadow? Well, bring them here. Let me have a closer look."

    Lily felt a rush of ice up her spine, but Sunica''s tail was whipping about hopefully. She turned to Lily.

    "Cmon. Marici is nice... Err, well, mostly."

    "Mostly?"

    Lily let out in a panicked whisper, her grip on Sunica''s cloak tightening.

    "I just mean she''s good enough to someone like me. That''s all."

    Sunica put her hand on Lily''s, leading her forward.

    "It''ll be okay."

    Trembling, Lily followed her.

    "Ah, now I can see you."

    The other balaur leaned in, peering down her spectacles at the trembling human girl.

    "She''s new..."

    She looked appraisingly at Sunica.

    "She''s yours?"

    Sunica started, squirming, her tail curling and uncurling,

    "She is."

    "Hm."

    There was a shift in tone and something passed between the two that Lily didn''t quite catch. The human girl glanced between the two of them--but her translation spell wasn''t giving her anything for the mere insinuation. Lily bit her lip, wishing she knew the culture better.

    "My Miss Human needs at least one set of winter clothing."

    Sunica was digging through the large bag she had brought,

    "I, uh, I have five ice mink furs I can barter on."

    "Mmm. I can do two sets of linen undergarments and one set of wool over clothes for all five. Simple make, of course. It''d serve for all five--aah, is that fox I see?"

    Sunica paused.

    "Uhm, yes?"

    "Leave it. I''ll use it for the lining."

    Sunica nodded.

    "Yes ma''am."

    That done, the attention swung back to Lily.

    "You."

    "Me?" Lily squeaked.

    "Arms out straight. Legs down. Chin up. Don''t slump."

    Lily blinked, then swallowed hard and stood as told. Somewhere past the fear, she wanted to laugh. She was literally being told to T pose, like a video game character. It felt absurd.

    "Good. [Obtain Their Measure]."

    Marici jotted a few lines on a ledger and swiped the six furs up in one arm. She immediately turned to head into the back again, and called over her shoulder.

    "Good, good. You can go. Come back in an hour. No loitering."

    Sunica gave a half bow and, thanking her, pulled Lily back to the street.

    Lily stood there stunned for a second, before turning to her companion.

    ¡°I have so many questions.¡±

 1.004

    ¡°Sooo, what was all that about?¡±

    They had found a secluded place to talk at Lily¡¯s insistence. She still wasn¡¯t exactly comfortable¨C at all. But she had some big time things to ask about everything that had happened since entering the city.

    Sunica had brought her to what could generously be called a park. It was a square of grass the size of about four houses with three trees. Although you could only tell there was grass because a few bits peeked out from behind the snow. It was green. That seemed a little odd too, but it was at the very bottom of a list of a million questions. No one else was around, so she could finally speak.

    Sunica gave her an awkward smile.

    ¡°Uh, which part exactly?¡±

    Lily sighed, and stared.

    ¡°Okay, let¡¯s start with the whole ¡®is she yours¡¯ business, and then you saying yes? What does that mean exactly?¡±

    ¡°Oh. That. Uh, this bit can be kind of complicated for people not from around here to understand. But I¡¯ll try.¡±

    ¡°Yeah. Try. I¡¯m pretty smart¨C sometimes.¡±

    ¡°How can I put this. Uh, you¡¯re an outsider. That is, you¡¯re not from here and you¡¯re not balaur.¡±

    ¡°Uh huh. With you so far.¡±

    ¡°Hey, don¡¯t be snippy. I¡¯m explaining, and I promise I haven¡¯t done anything bad.¡±

    Lily glared for a second longer, then stopped.

    ¡°Okay, it just sounded an awful lot like you were treating me like a belonging. Or like, a girlfriend? I¡¯m not sure which but either way I feel like I should be pissed!¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m sorry! Look, it¡¯s more like a belonging than a girlfriend.¡±

    Lily went back to glaring.

    ¡°Hey, no. That came out wrong. Okay, listen. Our society is very hierarchical. I understand it¡¯s not like that in other places, but here everyone is under someone else. Well, almost everyone anyway. We have a really defined class structure. Outsiders complicate things. Since you don¡¯t really fit anywhere in the system, see? So, when an outsider shows up they get claimed. I was just saying I¡¯ve taken responsibility for you. Well, there¡¯s more to it than that. But that¡¯s the most important part.¡±

    ¡°Oh. Well you could have warned me!¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m sorry. It¡¯s just¨C It¡¯s a lot of things. But you were already trying so hard I didn¡¯t want to add to it! I didn¡¯t think it¡¯d come up on a first trip if you were just standing behind me, honest.¡±

    ¡°Hmm. Okay. Thanks for telling me. Is there anything I have to do?¡±

    ¡°Not really, no. Be respectful to people of higher class if you can tell. Apologize if offense is given. And um. Well, if we meet anyone else as low as me, you¡¯ll have a good excuse not to talk to them. I¡¯m your connection here, see?¡±

    ¡°Huh. That just leaves me with more questions, honestly. Like, what¡¯s up with that? It¡¯s your scales right?¡±

    Sunica flinched.

    ¡°Yeah. You could tell?¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m not an idiot. Of course. At first I just thought you were special. But, everyone we meet is giving you the stink eye. But I don¡¯t get it. Aren¡¯t you just special? Why is red bad? You¡¯ve got way cooler scales than most of these people, are they just jealous?¡±

    Sunica turned bright red. For a split second, her tail went absolutely wild. Then she turned away from Lily and covered her face, holding stock still.

    ¡°Um, I¡¯m sorry. Did I say something insensitive? I didn¡¯t mean it, I just don¡¯t know¨C¡±

    ¡°No! No. No. You didn¡¯t say anything bad. I swear. I.¡±

    She went silent for almost a full minute.

    ¡°Thank you.¡±

    ¡°I still don¡¯t know what I did, but you¡¯re welcome?¡±

    They stood still like that for a few more minutes, before Sunica turned back to her.

    ¡°It¡¯s because they¡¯re red. Balaur get our color from where we¡¯re born. I¡¯m red because I don¡¯t belong here. To put it in terms an outsider might understand, balaur that share a color think of themselves as kind of like distant relatives. I¡¯m red. I¡¯m not part of the family. See?¡±

    ¡°Oh. So it doesn¡¯t come from your parents? And you¡¯re looked down on just because you were born somewhere else? That¡¯s so stupid!¡±

    Sunica winced.

    ¡°Please, Miss Lily. It¡¯s how our culture works. And I wasn¡¯t exactly born somewhere else.¡±

    ¡°Huh? But I thought you said¨C¡±

    ¡°It was a house fire.¡±

    Lily stopped. That¨C That¡¯s all it took? What the hell? She wanted to ask more questions about that, but she could see Sunica¡¯s hands clenched, and the fact that she was trying very hard to keep a straight face.

    ¡°Oh. I¡¯m sorry.¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s fine. I¡¯m used to it.¡±

    ¡°No! It¡¯s not fine. Why don¡¯t you leave? Surely humans wouldn¡¯t care, or you could go to wherever red balaur live right?¡±

    Sunica shook her head.

    ¡°This is my home. I¡¯ve lived here all my life. My mother and sister live here. Well, up in Avezare. I don¡¯t want to leave. Besides, people aren¡¯t too bad. Some of them are kind. But if you¡¯re wondering why they act like I¡¯m beneath them, it¡¯s because I am.¡±

    Lily frowned.

    ¡°Well, I don¡¯t care. You¡¯re my friend and that¡¯s that. Everyone else can go¨C Sit on something unpleasant!¡±

    Sunica snorted, and the tension was broken.

    ¡°Is that something they say where you¡¯re from? That¡¯s so lame.¡±

    But she was laughing. Lily smiled too.

    ¡°No! I just. Look, I don¡¯t care about your color. I think your scales are beautiful, and anyone who¡¯s gonna treat you like crap for it sucks. I¡¯m glad I met you.¡±

    Sunica gave her the most genuine smile Lily had seen on her face yet.

    ¡°Thanks. Now, let¡¯s hit the guard house and ask about Star. Then we can swing back by Merici¡¯s place and pick up your clothes. I also wanna see if I can find someone who knows a spell, just so you can see what that looks like. But don¡¯t talk magic with them, okay?¡±

    ¡°Yeah. Okay. Thank you. You¡¯ve made this a lot easier than it could have been for me.¡±

    ¡°Hah, anything for you Miss Outsider.¡±

    <hr>

    The guard house was shockingly normal. Upon entering the room Lily was surprised to find what could have been a modern office in a rustic style, but for the lack of computers on the desks. Busy guards or maybe [Guards] walked around the room in mostly leather armor.

    A gruff looking balaur man behind the front desk looked up as they walked in. He was downright burly, and had scales that were a mix of pure white and slightly grey. It gave him the unfortunate impression of dirty snow. He raised an eyebrow.

    ¡°Sunica? Tell me you¡¯re not in some kind of trouble again.¡±

    ¡°No Mister Rece. Avea pointed me here. I met a human in the forest. She¡¯s looking for a dog. He¡¯s about thiiiiis big?¡±

    She looked at Lily. Lily nodded.

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    ¡°Male, white, fluffy, black spot on his head, super smart. Those are all the clues we have, unfortunately.¡±

    The man scratched his chin thoughtfully.

    ¡°I haven¡¯t heard anything about a dog, but I¡¯m not sure that sort of thing would be reported. I¡¯ll put out a heads up, but unless one of our men finds him directly you might be out of luck Miss Outsider.¡±

    Lily felt like she was going to cry, but she held it in. No. No no no. Someone had to have an idea of how to look. But the truth was, she didn¡¯t even know if he was nearby. How was she supposed to look? A spell. It had to be a spell. How could she contact him? He was wearing the bandana that she had enchanted. Maybe she could do something like that? It was her magic. Lily realized she¡¯d been lost in thought when Sunica shook her shoulder gently and nodded towards the door.

    The moment they were outside, Sunica exclaimed.

    ¡°What a waste of time! Ah well. It was worth a shot, but we¡¯re gonna have to try elsewhere. Maybe we can post something at the adventurer¡¯s guild? Not sure they¡¯d take a request to find a lost dog, but I think some teams have a [Tracker]. Honestly, maybe we ought to just look for a [Tracker]. A private person might not charge us an arm and a leg. Anyway, let¡¯s¨C¡±

    Sunica turned and realized Lily had stopped walking five feet ago. She backtracked and bent slightly to look Lily eye to eye.

    ¡°Hey.¡±

    Lily started, and looked around wildly for a second.

    ¡°I have to cast a spell. I¡¯m trying to work it out in my head. There¡¯s gotta be a way. I feel so stupid for not thinking of this problem before it happened. But, I can figure this out. I just have to put my mind to it.¡±

    ¡°Hey.¡±

    ¡°There¡¯s something there. His bandana. Connecting a spell to another spell. Something like that. It¡¯s still my magic. If it¡¯s far away it might cost a lot of mana though, and I don¡¯t want to think of what it¡¯ll be if he¡¯s home or somehow on the other side of the world. Or, maybe distance won¡¯t matter if I can charge it gradually? I need to take a look in my notebook for any glyphs that look related. Ugh, I shouldn¡¯t have¨C¡±

    Sunica shook her, hard.

    ¡°Hey!¡±

    Lily looked up, again seeming almost surprised to see her.

    ¡°Sorry. I just get in my head when it comes to this stuff. I have to work it out, you know? We said we¡¯d always be there for each other.¡±

    ¡°You need to get it together. You¡¯re gonna drive yourself crazy at this rate. I get being worried, but there is a limit to what you can do. You¡¯re not going to be of any use at all if you drive yourself into a hole.¡±

    ¡°I can do it though! I know I can. Look, when everything first happened I was a weak and scared girl. And in some ways I still am. But I¡¯ve grown. I¡¯ve gotten stronger. I¡¯ve learned how to survive, because I¡¯m¨C Because I¡¯m determined. It was Star who taught me that. If I just throw myself into it, I can make amazing things happen.¡±

    Sunica grabbed her hand and pulled it up in front of her face.

    ¡°Yeah? And what about the cost you were talking about before, then? How¡¯d you get these scars, Lily? I¡¯m guessing it was something like this.¡±

    Lily almost smiled, but there was no joy in her expression.

    ¡°I¡¯d gladly pay it to make sure he¡¯s okay. This is my fault. I have to fix it. It doesn¡¯t matter what it costs. It¡¯s what I have to do.¡±

    Sunica stared at her with a look Lily didn¡¯t recognize at first. Oh. Right. Disgust. That¡¯s right. That¡¯s what she should have been looking at Lily like all along. It¡¯s a wonder it took this long.

    ¡°That¡¯s just¨C You¡¯re just punishing yourself. Do you really think your friend would want that?¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t care. It won¡¯t matter what he wants if he dies because I didn¡¯t help him. I have to.¡±

    ¡°You don¡¯t even know if he¡¯s in danger! What good is being self destructive like this?¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t know if he¡¯s in danger. What could be more clear? I¡¯ll try not to get hurt, but there¡¯s nothing I wouldn¡¯t do. Is that so wrong for someone important to you?¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s clearly just an excuse so you can hurt yourself! I met you earlier today and even I can see that. You¡¯re not okay.¡°

    ¡°All I¡¯m talking about is casting a spell!¡±

    ¡°Don¡¯t deflect! It¡¯s not about the spell. It¡¯s about your thought process. If you wanted to cast a spell and be safe and sane about it, I wouldn¡¯t be talking to you about this.¡±

    ¡°You don¡¯t understand!¡±

    They stared at each other for half a minute. Then a voice from behind Lily broke the silence.

    ¡°Uh, are you two girls okay?¡±

    Lily whirled. The balaur guard from the gate was standing at the entrance to the side street they were speaking on, looking concerned.

    Lily¡¯s eyes went wide. She almost yelped. Someone had noticed their argument. Her heart started beating faster. A cold sweat started on her back. No no no no no. She couldn¡¯t do this. She couldn¡¯t be out somewhere. She knew this was a bad idea. She didn¡¯t really even know Sunica. How could she let herself be brought here? No. No. No. She had to¨C

    She turned on her heel and ran like her life depended on it.

    She heard Sunica¡¯s voice call out after her, followed immediately by the man¡¯s.

    ¡°Lily! Wait!¡±

    ¡°Hey, cool it Red, I don¡¯t know what you did to that girl but I¡¯m not gonna let you chase her down!¡±

    Then Lily turned a corner, and the sounds of the city took over. There were people everywhere. They stared at her as she came running into the street.

    No no no. She had to leave. Get outside the city. Which way was it? She couldn¡¯t remember. She was all turned around, and everyone was staring. She shouldn¡¯t be here. She shouldn¡¯t be here.

    Why had she run? That was so stupid! She was so stupid! Now she was here in front of all these people. They were staring at her. She could see it. They could all see she didn¡¯t belong here. She tried to defuse things.

    ¡°I-I¡¯m sorry. I¨C¡±

    The words stopped coming out. She turned to run again, when a hand grabbed her arm.

    ¡°Gotcha!¡±

    The guard from earlier had her by the arm. Lily tried to wrench it free and run. His grip was like iron.

    ¡°Hey, Hey. Miss Outsider I¡¯m here to help. Let¡¯s go somewhere more private alright?¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m sorry. I¡¯m sorry. I didn¡¯t mean to cause trouble. Please just let me leave.¡±

    The guard gave her a cold smile.

    ¡°What kinda guy would I be if I let a girl in trouble just run wildly through the city? C¡¯mon.¡±

    He pulled her away with absolutely no trouble.

    <hr>

    Minutes later, Lily found herself sitting in a small waiting room in the guard house. She¡¯d been dragged in past the guard who had seen them earlier, and told to sit down. She didn¡¯t dare make things worse for herself. But she felt like she was going to throw up. At least she was alone in the room and could breathe for now.

    What did this guard want with her? Avea? Had she broken a law? Was it because she was human? Or was it something even more scary..? Her mind was running wild. No. Maybe he really wanted to help. She shouldn¡¯t jump to the worst.

    She was trembling. She had to get herself under control. How? Breathe. Relax. She had to get back to Sunica. Unless¡­

    Did Sunica even want to see her? Had she just burned that bridge? Over what? She was so stupid. Stupid stupid stupid. She kicked herself.

    The door opened and Avea entered and sat down at the table across from her. He blew out his cheeks and took a deep breath before starting.

    ¡°Okay Miss Outsider. We¡¯ve got Sunica out in the main office just about ready to start a fight to get in here. So make it quick.¡±

    Lily stared at him with wide eyes. Had she heard that right?

    ¡°Sunica is here?¡±

    ¡°Yeah, and she¡¯s real pissed I stopped her from chasing you. That girl¡¯s normally pretty law-abiding. I don¡¯t know what you did with her, but she doesn¡¯t wanna talk about it, and just keeps insisting we let you into her care. So, make it quick. What happened? We won¡¯t send you out with her if you don¡¯t want to go.¡±

    ¡°You¡¯re not going to do anything to me?¡±

    He gave her a confused look, and his tail smacked the floor behind his chair. He rolled his eyes.

    ¡°Why would I do anything to you, Miss Outsider? I saw a scared crying girl getting chased through the streets. I¡¯m a [Guard]. I kept telling you I was tryin¡¯ to help on the way over here. Weren¡¯t you listening?¡±

    Lily clenched her hands tightly and tried to be steady.

    ¡°I¡¯m sorry. I¨C I was very scared.¡±

    ¡°Yeah, I could tell. Looked like a monster was chasing you. So, what happened?¡±

    ¡°We had an argument. I think she was trying to help me. I said some stupid things. And I got¡­ startled when you showed up.¡±

    Avea snorted, and then almost doubled over with laughter. He pounded the table a few times. Lily flinched from the loud noises.

    ¡°Startled? You can that startled? I thought Sunica was going to skin you like one of her trap captures.¡±

    ¡°Y-yeah. I¡¯m sorry. Really. I didn¡¯t mean to cause trouble.¡±

    ¡°Oh it¡¯s no trouble Miss. I¡¯ll be laughing about that one for weeks. So, you¡¯re fine with Sunica?¡±

    ¡°Um, if she wants to see me, then yes.¡±

    ¡°I think she¡¯s gonna burn the place down if she gets any more riled up, so yeah I¡¯d say she wants to see you. Fine. I¡¯ll go let her know you¡¯ll be out when you¡¯re ready.¡±

    He stood and turned to leave. Wait. Wait. Lily opened her mouth, and words didn¡¯t want to come out. But this was important. She bit her lip hard to snap out of it, and spoke up.

    ¡°Um! Wait!¡±

    ¡°Yeah?¡±

    ¡°Thank you.¡±

    Avea smiled at her. It was the same smile from the road earlier, but now, less clouded with her own fear, she could tell it was genuine.

    ¡°Sure thing Miss. See you around.¡±

    <hr>

    Lily and Sunica awkwardly left the guard house a second time, walking side by side in silence. They got half way down the street before they both tried to speak at once.

    ¡°I¡¯m sor¨C¡±

    ¡°Hey, sor¨C¡±

    They paused, and then laughed. Lily spoke first.

    ¡°You were right. I¡¯m sorry. Thank you for coming to save me.¡±

    ¡°No no. I shouldn¡¯t have said all that. It was presumptuous. We don¡¯t know each other well enough for that yet and I was overstepping.¡±

    ¡°No, really. You were right. It¡¯s¡­ It¡¯s this place. Being here with all these people. It starts to be hard to have a positive thought at all you know? Everything is fear and stress.¡±

    Sunica closed her eyes and nodded.

    ¡°Yeah. It wasn¡¯t the place to talk about that at very least. C¡¯mon. Let¡¯s get you those clothes and then head home. We can talk about our next steps there, okay?¡±

    ¡°Thanks, Sunica.¡±

    ¡°Anything for you, Miss Outsider.¡±

 G.001

    The city was gone. Gull stood, still dripping with sea water in the same square he¡¯d been standing in when the mysterious woman had killed the other him. But the buildings, the castle¨C Everything was gone. Eroded away from an eternity of wind and sea.

    He had to see it. Even from the ruins of the castle he arrived in, it had been clear. But he still had to see it himself. Now he stood on the cliff, no longer protected by walls that blocked the wind, the gusts were nearly strong enough to make him stumble.

    What the hell had all that been? The strange woman. The other him. The way she¨C it had looked at him. Like something huge. Unfathomable. A metaphysical leviathan with a human shaped finger poked into this reality. That¡¯s what he had felt looking at her. That smile. That smile was seared into his mind. The scene. The blast.

    He had died. And yet, here he was. Already dead. Still alive. And one more step removed from everything he had already known. He¡¯d walked through his old home to get here. It was gone. The caves still existed, but they had changed shape to be almost unrecognizable. The things that his tribe had collected were all gone. Everything was gone.

    The sewers had held up better. They were carved away in some areas, but others were mostly the same. Enough to get him up here. Up here where nothing remained. The walls had come down. Imprints of foundations where the buildings had remained, but that was it.

    What now? What could he do? He was going to die here. That¡¯s what the other him had been trying to tell him. It was inevitable. And yet¨C

    A sort of manic certainty filled him. He was shaking. But he was still here.

    There was no way he was going to just let it happen like that. The other version of him had been telling him the facts. Everything he said was probably true. But, even he¨C

    ¡°So, here we are at last. Tell me, do you feel like a victim of fate right now? Is your hand being forced by the world itself? I am begging you. Decide not to do this. We said we¡¯d break fate together! You promised me!¡±

    The woman replied simply.

    ¡°I¡¯m sorry, Gull.¡±

    ¡°Please. I can help you. I don¡¯t know what it is, but let me help you.¡±

    The other him had refused to believe those facts right up until the end. That was the most important lesson he had passed on. That might be how things work. But he hadn¡¯t given up!

    Gull wasn¡¯t about to give up either. Not a chance. Gull was going to learn the rules. Figure out how all of this worked. And then smash those rules to bits! That other version of him had given him something the strange woman hadn¡¯t been able to understand. Because she wasn¡¯t a goblin.

    Gull had spent his entire life up till now facing certain death from every angle. Every brush with humans, every time the tide had come up too high, every time a monster had come from the sewers, every single day. Overwhelming odds that wanted him dead. Fighting, scrabbling, scraping, and cheating to survive even one more day. That¡¯s what it was to be a goblin.

    It wasn¡¯t exactly a hidden message. But his future self understood what his words would do. And the evidence was that his future self also hadn¡¯t given up. If that really was the goblin Gull grew into, fighting fate up till the very last second, Gull would be proud to have died like that. But, that was irrelevant.

    ¡°I am¡­ Gull.¡±

    His voice almost got drowned out by the wind. So, he tried again, this time yelling. From the bottom of his heart and soul, he announced it to the world.

    ¡°Gull of the Ocean Cave Tribe! I will be the one who breaks fate! I will learn the rules of this world, and shatter them! I will¨C I will laugh in the face of certainty!¡±

    The wind howled. But he held his ground. The Blade of the Sea Winds cut through it like nothing, and prevented it from reaching him. His heart calmed. The turmoil in his soul turned to resolution.

    But, now what? His resolve gathered, he still didn¡¯t have any idea where to start. For now, he wanted to get a better look where the castle was. Maybe there was a section of sewer he could duck into for shelter against the wind and plan from there.

    As he started walking in that direction though, the ground under him shifted. He stopped moving, and looked down warily. It really did feel unsteady all of a sudden. He tried to take another step. The sound of old rotten wood breaking was the last thing he wanted to hear, but a split second later he was falling into the decrepit remains of a basement. The heavy stones around him toppled into the hole, narrowly missing him. He looked around him, a foot in any direction and he would have been completely crushed.

    Gull laughed. That would have been such a stupid way to go after everything that he¡¯d been through, and his resolute declaration above.

    The sound of more mass shifting from above interrupted him. He had just enough time to look up and see the huge stone directly above him.

    <hr>

    A screaming goblin fell from twenty feet in the air. He hit the side of the building roughly before falling directly into a dumpster. There was silence for a few seconds, before he burst forth again from the pile of garbage he had landed in, and toppled down onto a surface he didn¡¯t recognize. Some kind of black stone?

    It was night, and raining. But that was the least of his problems. This was a city. He didn¡¯t recognize¨C really anything. But there were buildings, and colored lights, and more that were clearly manufactured by people. That meant humans. Gull looked around desperately for a way into the sewer system. It was so bright here, even at night. Did a place so magically advanced really exist?

    He crept from his alleyway and took a look at the road next to it. Huge neon signs caught his eye. A giant woman drank from a beverage as large as him, and pretended to enjoy it a lot. Maybe too much. Gull blinked a few times. What the hell was this?

    A noise caught his attention as a huge metal creature roared its way down the road. But, Gull saw what he was looking for! Along the side of the road, a drain big enough for him to fit in. Sewers? Sewers never changed.

    He dove for it, and slid down in. The rushing water from the rain made it easy, almost too easy to get into the drain. For a second, he thought he¡¯d be pushed under, but then he found a walkway alongside the main waterway and pulled himself up onto it.

    A small lamp lit the area. The walkway ran alongside the waterway, presumably for maintenance. Even the lamp stuck out to him. That was a weirdly bright lamp, and where was the oil reservoir? He shook his head. Not important. Right now he needed to figure out where he was.

    The last thing he remembered he¡¯d fallen into the basement, and then a stone¨C crushed him? No, that couldn¡¯t be right. He must have panicked and done something. He patted himself down. He was fine. A little banged up, but nothing too bad.

    It felt like when the strange woman had tried to kill him. Everything had slowed down, and that burning feeling had started in his chest. It was power. His power. Somehow. How had he done that? If it just takes him somewhere different, could he do it again? Both times he fell. Maybe it has something to do with that?

    He was walking down the path, looking for a larger room with more floor space when he turned a corner, and bumped directly into someone. A human, male, presumably in his twenties stared down at Gull. Gull froze.

    He was about to draw the Blade of the Sea Winds, when the human smiled and spoke with¡­ excitement?

    ¡°Woah, dude! That¡¯s a sick body mod! Where¡¯d you get that done?¡±

    Gull stared at the man uncomprehendingly. The man stared back, his smile starting to diminish.

    ¡°Uh? Guy? You¡¯re really giving me the creeps just staring at me like that. C¡¯mon. What are you supposed to be? Something from a movie?¡±

    Gull swallowed, and tried speaking.

    ¡°Goblin.¡±

    ¡°Woah, goblin huh? Hell of a lot of commitment there! You some kinda rich guy?¡±

    ¡°No.¡± Gull pointed at himself.  ¡°Goblin.¡±

    The man laughed, completely carefree.

    ¡°Alright little man. You¡¯re a goblin! Hey, wanna come get smashed with me and my buds? They¡¯ll think this is funny as hell!¡±

    Gull shook his head.

    ¡°Got smashed earlier. Big rock. Not again.¡±

    The man guffawed, and doubled over wiping tears from his eyes.

    ¡°No no no. I mean get drunk. Smashed. Wasted. Laid out. Intoxicated, little bud. C¡¯mon, I¡¯ll hook you up if you¡¯ll hang out.¡±

    Gull raised his eyebrows, incredulous.

    ¡°You¡­ have wine?¡±

    ¡°Wine? Dude, come on. I don¡¯t have the fancy shit. It¡¯s cheap stuff! Goblins love wine? Eh, if you¡¯re some kinda rich guy, you can buy your own or drink what I¡¯ve got. But dude, you gotta come with me.¡±

    Gull shrugged. This man wanted to give him some free drinks, he didn¡¯t see why not. Although, he wasn¡¯t entirely sure what was happening. Had humans here never met a goblin before? This man didn¡¯t seem scared of him at all. Maybe he was just already intoxicated?

    ¡°You¡¯ll come? Really?¡±

    ¡°Will come.¡±

    <hr>

    The strange man led Gull from the culverts to a larger area of the sewer. A ladder led up to a circular entrance overhead, and several humans sat around a small fire in the center of the circular room. There were four in total, counting the man Gull had followed.

    He was bracing himself for a fight if it came to it, but he wasn¡¯t detecting any sort of hostility from the man he was with. It was confusing, but he wasn¡¯t about to make the first move. If these strange humans didn¡¯t know what a goblin was, maybe they wouldn¡¯t attack.

    Besides, this was hardly the strangest part of Gull¡¯s day.

    The man tending the fire looked up. He was a little older, must have been pushing thirty. He addressed the man Gull was with.

    Stolen from its original source, this story is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

    ¡°It¡¯s about time. Who¡¯s the other guy?¡±

    ¡°I found him in the culverts. Dude is some kind of intense roleplayer.¡±

    ¡°Is he a narc?¡±

    ¡°Dude, Less, he¡¯s a goblin. Don¡¯t you wanna party with a goblin?¡±

    The man, Less, seemed a little more skeptical. But after a moment, one of the other two people, a girl a little younger than Less spoke up.

    ¡°I want to party with the goblin. Hey little dude, what¡¯s your name?¡±

    Gull nearly jumped.

    ¡°Gull. Ocean Cave Tribe.¡±

    The humans all laughed at that. The man who brought Gull spoke again.

    ¡°See? He¡¯s cool. Alright Gull. Welcome to the hang out. My name¡¯s Adler.¡±

    The other two humans, the girl and another guy Adler¡¯s age went around in turn.

    ¡°Kell.¡±

    ¡°Dig.¡±

    Gull shrugged. He really didn¡¯t know what to say to that. So, he just asked about the reason he was here.

    ¡°You have wine?¡±

    Kell giggled and held a bottle out to Gull.

    ¡°Oh yeah. Strongest ¡®wine¡¯ your goblin lips have ever tasted. Go for it, little guy.¡±

    Gull took a swig. This was not wine. But it was alcoholic. Extremely alcoholic. He coughed as he downed the mouthful of the strange drink and it burned its way down into his stomach. The group laughed again. The other boy, Dig was holding a strange device when Gull went to hand the bottle back. He was wary, given the device the woman had held when she killed him. But, this wasn¡¯t being held like a weapon. So, Gull pointed at it.

    ¡°What?¡±

    The boy jumped, but the girl answered for him.

    ¡°What, that? He¡¯s just taking a video. Nobody¡¯s gonna believe we got sauced with a goblin if we don¡¯t have pics and vids.¡±

    Less cleared his throat and tried addressing Gull again.

    ¡°So, what are you really doing down here?¡±

    ¡°Hiding.¡±

    ¡°From the cops?¡±

    ¡°From humans. Strange woman.¡±

    Adler, taking a gulp from the bottle before passing it on, laughed.

    ¡°Little dude is just hiding from his wife! She¡¯s probably pissed about the body mods!¡±

    Kell punched his arm.

    ¡°Dude, don¡¯t be a dick. And Less, shut up man. Just let the little guy be in character. Hey, Gull. What¡¯s your backstory? Tell us a goblin tale.¡±

    Gull looked at her warily.

    ¡°Need more wine.¡±

    <hr>

    For the next few hours Gull regaled the group of four with stories of being a goblin. He eventually picked up on the fact that they didn¡¯t believe him. But that was fine, half the stories were goblin tales anyway. At some point, Adler left and came back with a bag of ¡®burgers¡¯, which he shared. Gull ended up eating six of them by himself, but kept the stories coming. It was strange. Gull could speak the human tongue, having heard it all his life. But these humans were easily understanding him while he spoke goblin. It was less dense with words, but more comfortable for him and as the drink warmed him it was definitely the way to go.

    ¡°One day, was fishing. Outside. Very dangerous. Humans can see. Covered up, look like old woman.¡±

    He mimed being hunched over and covered in thick cloth.

    ¡°Human come up to me. Human start talking. Not know what to say. So, quiet. Hope he go away. He grabbed clothes, pulled. Saw me.¡±

    He made an exaggerated scared face, and pointed at nothing to sell the human¡¯s reaction.

    ¡°Pulled sword. Huge sword. Maybe enchanted. Thought about fighting, killing. Didn¡¯t want to kill. Dead human brings more humans. So, run. But, two buckets. Fish bucket, guts bucket.¡±

    He waddled around in a slow circle, showing how hard it was to run with buckets of water, fish, and guts.

    ¡°Not working. Human right behind. So, I turn. Throw guts bucket. Just wanted to cover him. But, CLONK. Bucket hits. He goes down. Covered in guts.¡±

    Gull mimed screaming and falling to the ground.

    ¡°But he rises, mad. Very mad. Big mad human. Big mad human with sword. Runs to catch. Then.¡±

    Gull made some seagull noises and waved his arms like wings.

    ¡°The birds come. Big flock. All the birds on coast. All at once. They cover him. Pecking. Eating the guts. By the time he free, I was gone. Escaped into Ocean Caves.¡±

    He grinned hugely.

    ¡°How I get my name. Gull. Didn¡¯t have to kill, because of Gulls.¡±

    The humans stared in wonder. Of course, they could see how awesome that story was. It was a story that transcended culture. Gull laughed, holding back the tears.

    Adler reached into the bag to offer Gull a half eaten burger, when a sound came from one of the entrances to the circular room they sat in. Clapping. The group turned as one to see¨C It appeared to be a young boy. In his early teens, before any sort of growth spurt. He was shorter than Gull, but there was something ominous about his body language that struck Gull immediately.

    ¡°I hadn¡¯t heard that one. It¡¯s been a while, Gull.¡±

    Gull squinted through his boozy stupor.

    ¡°I know you?¡±

    The boy rolled his eyes. Less rose to address the kid, when the boy pulled a device out of a pocket and pointed it at him. This, he was very much holding like a weapon.

    ¡°You four, get out.¡±

    Less tried to speak.

    ¡°Hey, you shouldn¡¯t have¨C¡±

    The weapon fired, burning a hole in the stone next to Less¡¯s head.

    ¡°Get. Out. Or do I need to say please?¡±

    The four humans vacated quicker than Gull would have thought possible, down the opposite tunnel. Gull was contemplating the same, when the boy spoke again.

    ¡°Oh come on, don¡¯t you recognize an old friend? I know you¡¯ve been drinking, but you¡¯re usually quicker than this.¡±

    The kid laughed and pocketed the weapon.

    ¡°I don¡¯t know you.¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s me! Hex! Just a new body. I always thought you had spells for this, or one of your little gadgets.¡±

    ¡°Hex?¡±

    ¡°Oh come on, don¡¯t play dumb.¡±

    ¡°Not playing.¡±

    That gave the boy a second of pause.

    ¡°Really?¡±

    ¡°Really.¡±

    ¡°You don¡¯t know me? Where is this for you?¡±

    ¡°What? Don¡¯t understand¡­¡±

    The boy stared, incredulous.

    ¡°Wait¡­ Are you¡­ Wait wait wait. You really haven¡¯t met me before? How about Lily?¡±

    Gull shook his head.

    ¡°Oh man, I always knew I¡¯d run into you for your first time eventually, but how about that. How early is this for you? When did you leave home?¡±

    Gull¡¯s head was spinning, and only a little bit from the drink.

    ¡°Not sure I should say.¡±

    ¡°You¡¯re that new? Oh hell! This is exciting. Hey hey hey, look, I know this is confusing but it¡¯s good to meet you. We¡¯re gonna be good friends, okay?¡±

    His gut was still ringing alarm bells, and he wasn¡¯t sure why.

    ¡°Why did you scare off friendly humans?¡±

    Hex stopped in his tracks.

    ¡°Who, them? I wanted to talk to you privately, duh. Are you seriously offended? I didn¡¯t even hurt them.¡±

    Gull narrowed his eyes.

    ¡°Scare is a kind of hurt.¡±

    ¡°Ugh, fine. I¡¯m sorry. Won¡¯t happen again. Thought you¡¯d be happy to get some time to talk. So what¡¯re you doing here?¡±

    Gull stared at the kid. This was not a normal kid. But that¡¯s about as far as Gull had gotten in determining who this was. Another traveler like him?  One who had met him before, and clearly wanted to be friendly. So why was Gull so nervous looking at him?

    The kid¡¯s smile faded.

    ¡°Seriously? Fine, I¡¯ll go first. Lily¡¯s ignoring me again. It¡¯s so annoying. I was helping her! But, you know her. Can¡¯t help but look a gift horse in the mouth every single time. Anyway, I came here to build a comfy place to hang out and do some work in the meantime. Got a lot of irons in the fire, I¡¯m sure you do too. Or will. Whatever. If you wanna work together I can make sure you¡¯ve got a comfy place here too. Unless you¡¯ve gotta get going?¡±

    Gull had finally realized part of why he was feeling so untrusting.

    ¡°How did you find me?¡±

    Hex giggled. It sounded¡­ offputting, coming from a kid¡¯s mouth and echoing around the sewer.

    ¡°Oh, that? I have spells set up to alert me if any of us show up in whatever world I¡¯m in. Honestly, I¡¯m glad it was you. Although, I¡¯d have preferred Lily. No offense.¡±

    ¡°Who is Lily?¡±

    ¡°So you did meet me first. Interesting. I always wondered why you seemed to get along better with her. I thought it was ¡®cause you met her first. Guess you and I are just a little incompatible huh? She¡¯s another traveler, like us. Prolific as hell. You¡¯re gonna meet that girl everywhere so you better get used to it.¡±

    ¡°Everywhere? How many¡­¡±

    Gull looked around the room before continuing.

    ¡°How many different¡­ places. How many exist?¡±

    Hex shrugged, and paced over to the fire, warming his hands.

    ¡°Dunno. I haven¡¯t run out yet. I¡¯m not even sure there¡¯s a limit.¡±

    ¡°Are they all so different?¡±

    ¡°What am I, an exposition machine?¡±

    ¡°Thought you were friend.¡±

    Hex grinned.

    ¡°Oh, you wanna play it like that? Sure sure. Whatever. We¡¯ll pretend I can¡¯t see your hands clenched, or that knife you seem ready to grab. Don¡¯t worry¨C I forgive you. I¡¯m new. We¡¯re gonna be friends though, you can trust me! I mean, we¡¯ve screwed each other over from time to time, but there¡¯s no real animosity. We¡¯re travelers together! It¡¯d be a damn shame to constantly be at each others throats. I haven¡¯t even taken advantage of you not knowing me. Promise!¡±

    Gull grunted, but didn¡¯t respond.

    ¡°Fine. Your question. Yeah, they¡¯re all pretty different. I mean, they follow certain patterns. Different levels of tech. Different kinds of people around. Different sets of rules that govern each world, or none at all. But, you get used to it. Even gain preferences in time. Hell, I¡¯ll let you in on a little secret if you want.¡±

    ¡°Secret?¡±

    ¡°I like worlds like this because the world I came from is like this. It¡¯s comfier that way. Of course, we had space travel, and these chuds don¡¯t. But you know, technology, fast food, cars, all that stuff.¡±

    ¡°Don¡¯t understand.¡±

    ¡°You will. Just like you might like places like where you came from. Or not, every place I¡¯ve visited with goblins they¡¯re treated like total garbage. So, maybe go someplace without ¡®em.¡±

    ¡°Other places with goblins? Where?¡±

    Hex smiled, and it seemed almost genuine.

    ¡°Oh man, everywhere. But you¡¯re probably better off just using that spell that makes you look like a human or somethin¡¯ and going someplace humans live. That way you don¡¯t have to worry about being hunted.¡±

    Gull¡¯s head was spinning again. Maybe this person wasn¡¯t so dangerous after all? At very least, he didn¡¯t seem to mean any harm, and was being very free with information.

    ¡°Spell? I have no spell¡­¡±

    Hex raised his brows at Gull.

    ¡°Yeah? Maybe work on that one first then. It¡¯ll go a loooong way. Or we might be able to find you some tech that will do it in the meantime. Some kind of holo projector? I dunno if they have that stuff here, and I don¡¯t know how to build it. But, if I come across something like that I¡¯ll pass it to you.¡±

    ¡°Thanks¡­?¡±

    ¡°No prob. Now, wanna help me set up here? I was gonna do my next step alone, but having a friend along would be pretty nice.¡±

    ¡°What next step?¡±

    ¡°Oh you know. Just a little breaking into a rich guy¡¯s house.¡±

 0.040

    ¡°What is it? What is it? Am I gonna die?¡±

    Lily giggled.

    ¡°It¡¯s just a voice. You¡¯re fine.¡±

    Star was huddled up next to her. He¡¯d come to find her, frantically scratching at the door to the boat cabin when it had happened. A voice was occasionally playing through his bandana. It was extremely garbled, and Lily couldn¡¯t make out what it said. It sounded like a girl? Honestly, it sounded like her. Lily was starting to think her translation spell was damaged.

    ¡°Hmm. This is weird though. It doesn¡¯t look damaged, and it¡¯s definitely a spell. If it¡¯s not the bandana spell, how come there¡¯s no spell circle? Where¡¯s the effect coming from?¡±

    ¡°Master, I would prefer you study something when it¡¯s not on me.¡±

    ¡°Hey! I¡¯m workin¡¯ on it! I mean, where do I even start? There¡¯s no circle Star. That means, it¡¯s either somewhere else or it¡¯s a completely different kind of magic. Can I even target you with a spell circle that¡¯s not connected to you directly? I usually just cast them directly onto the target. Hmm. I¡¯ve pointed charging spells at items that were close by before. But it always looks like they get included in the spell matrix.¡±

    Lily tapped her foot. This was very strange. If she didn¡¯t know better, she¡¯d think someone was messing with them. But it didn¡¯t really fit the style of Entity A or Entity B, and she was pretty sure there was no one else around.

    ¡°Did I like, sleep cast a spell on you? ¡­ A spell that I can¡¯t figure out? No, that makes no sense.¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t like it, Master. Why did it choose me?¡±

    She pet him, and placed a hand on top of his head. He calmed somewhat.

    ¡°Does it feel like anything?¡±

    ¡°No. It is only sound.¡±

    ¡°Did you¡­ see anyone nearby?¡±

    ¡°Master, there was no one.¡±

    Lily frowned. This was definitely a spell effect, and it sounded a lot like her. Only drowned out and super far away. Of course, she wasn¡¯t sure how she could do the targeting like this. The bandana had no new circle on it.

    ¡°Well, I can cast a spell on your head that would just eat the mana. But that would be treating a symptom, not fixing the problem you know? But, I really think you¡¯re fine.¡±

    ¡°Just like all those other times you really thought something magical was safe?¡±

    ¡°Hey! That¡¯s a low blow. I¡¯m taking this seriously.¡±

    She patted him again, and thought for a minute.

    ¡°I think I need to do a few spells and see if I can target a spell like this. Maybe there¡¯s a glyph for it? I should go over my notes and check for any obvious contenders. Then we¡¯ll try targeting a toy or something. Then we can move on to figuring out how to trace back this spell on your head, and remove the circle wherever it is. Sound good?¡±

    ¡°Would you like me to be honest, or lie to protect your feelings?¡±

    Lily gave him a stare. His tail wagged.

    ¡°I never should have taught you how to be cheeky.¡±

    ¡°Taught?¡±

    They laughed. Lily went to dig through her backpack for her notes. She took a few minutes to put on a cooking show for him to focus on while she worked, and then got to looking through her notes. As it was, she had a huge list of glyphs. Each one had a small section next to it with some words. What did the pictograph look like it was trying to communicate? What context did she find the glyph in within the larger circle? Any safety concerns that came to mind were also written nearby.

    Despite that, she was a little loathe to just go straight into testing new glyphs. She wanted to be working on safety. Maybe she could combine the experiments? The first safety experiment she wanted to do was pretty simple. She wanted a circle that could surround her test area that could be activated to simply draw all the mana out of that area as quickly as possible.

    There were other safety ideas she¡¯d had, having spent some time thinking about it now. But the baseline ought to be a killswitch for whatever spell she was testing. It should also be pretty easy. The basement spell had used a unique activation sequence, which let it be fully charged and flicked on at a moment¡¯s notice. She could combine that set up with glyphs that gathered up all the ambient mana super fast and vented it into a light spell. She really needed some new options for spending large amounts of mana quickly and safely. But for now, light was fine.

    Star¡¯s whine caught her attention. Suddenly her heart was pounding.

    ¡°Huh? Did it start to hurt? Are you okay?¡±

    ¡°Maddy got eliminated. She was my favorite.¡±

    Lily stared at him uncomprehending for a moment. Then realized he was talking about the baking show he was watching. Relief washed over her, and she laughed.

    ¡°Master? What is wrong?¡±

    ¡°Hah, I guess I¡¯m just a little more worried about you than I thought. Keep on your show. I¡¯ve got some good ideas brewing.¡±

    This story originates from a different website. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.

    ¡°Master, can I try baking soon?¡±

    Lily grinned.

    ¡°I can move things into and out of the oven for you, if you can figure out how to arrange things to go in without putting them in your mouth first. Humans are particular about not eating food that¡¯s been in someone else¡¯s mouth already.¡±

    His tail wagged. A garbled voice played from his bandana. It really ruined the mood.

    <hr>

    An hour later they found themselves in the driveway in front of the pit that used to be their mansion. Lily had a short list of glyphs to try, and her safety spell to iterate on. She hadn¡¯t made many spells that were nested inside each other without being part of the same spell yet. But, there¡¯s no reason it shouldn¡¯t work, and it¡¯s how a safety spell ought to work. One big circle that made up the safety spell, then a workspace inside of that for testing. Ideally with a way to start the test from outside the safety circle, but she¡¯d get to that with time.

    This was going to be a process, but she¡¯d meant what she told Star. This set of safety spells should be the last thing she experiments on without having safety spells as a precaution. No more flying blind, and just hoping it didn¡¯t destroy her.

    She looked down at her hands. It was strange, growing into someone who valued her life and safety. It wasn¡¯t that long ago, she felt, she was mostly just avoiding death because it was scarier than life. Now, she had reasons to want to live. If nothing else, Star would be sad if she died in some stupid spell accident.

    ¡°Master, you are brooding.¡±

    ¡°Huh? Am not!¡±

    ¡°You have been sitting still and getting darker looks on your face for a while now.¡±

    ¡°It wasn¡¯t that bad! I was just thinking, I¡¯m really grateful to have you.¡±

    Star¡¯s tail wagged, and he gave her a dog smile.

    ¡°Oh? I am happy to have you too Master!¡±

    ¡°Yeah. It¡¯s a little bittersweet. I was remembering how I was before I met you. It wasn¡¯t great.¡±

    ¡°I am the best. Yes. Praise me more.¡±

    She giggled and got back to drawing her safety circle prototype. It would sit there, charged and under tension until activated, and should be able to create a nearly null mana zone when switched on. It wasn¡¯t exactly elegant. It mostly brute forced the issue. No mana in the circle means no dangerous spells in the circle. It¡¯d probably erase any circles made of mana as well, but that was fine.

    The first test went well. She created a simple light spell within the circle, and then activated her safety spell. It winked out like a light had switched off. If anything, the speed of it really surprised her.

    She smiled. It was nice when things just worked. But it couldn¡¯t be that way all the time.

    ¡°I¡¯d love to give it a stress test, but right now we gotta figure out your ghost voice. I don¡¯t really want you to stand in the circle and see if we can make it shut up. I don¡¯t actually know what will happen if all the mana is drained from your body. I think you¡¯d just be tired, but let¡¯s not find out huh?¡±

    ¡°Do you think it would work?¡±

    ¡°I think the sound would go away, and would come right back when you left the circle. Although, it might lose targeting. Not sure.¡±

    ¡°Hmm. Best not.¡±

    ¡°Yeah, I thought so too.¡±

    So said, Lily moved onto her first glyph test. She edited her little light spell to include her new glyph, and then stepped outside her safety circle and watched.

    The glyph that made her light a ball instead of just ambient light had failed. But nothing else happened. It was as if it was a single glyph spell with just the light glyph.

    ¡°Huh. Okaaaay. Well, I guess all there is to do is put something in the circle and try telling the new glyph to point at it, right?¡±

    Lily went and got a cushion, and put it inside the circle. Then she felt out her test glyph, and focused. Focus. Just. Focus.

    <hr>

    Hours later, Lily hadn¡¯t gotten anywhere. She was exhausted. She was pretty sure the first glyph she had tested was capable of modifying and reversing another glyph. It could target! But only another node within the circle. Potentially useful, but not here.

    The next one she tried had been a total nonstarter. It was doing something, but she couldn¡¯t figure out what for the life of her. The third one made the light change colors, and she could set the color. That was pretty cool, she was going to have to play around with that one later. The fourth and final one seemed to make the circle stop working entirely, and broke it in the process. It was unclear if that¡¯s what it was supposed to do, or if there was some issue.

    But, all that testing and Lily still had nothing to show for it. This was so frustrating when you were going for something specific! Up until now, all of her glyph exploration had been, well, exploration! To be looking for a specific glyph felt like searching for a needle in a stack of very useful and interesting hay.

    The worst part was, she could swear the voice playing from Star¡¯s bandana was getting louder with time. She still couldn¡¯t make out a word though, and her translation spell didn¡¯t seem to work on garbled nonsense. Maybe this was a spooky spot type naturally occurring effect? Like, it grabbed her voice somehow and just made sounds with it?

    She shook her head.

    ¡°No, I don¡¯t think so.¡±

    It did get her thinking though. She really should invent a message spell that let her talk to Star from a range. It could play from his bandana, like this. Only, it¡¯d be actual words. How would she do that if she was going to do it?

    She flipped through her notebook absently. One way communication, or ideally even two way communication. Just an open sound channel. Were there glyphs that looked like they used the same radicals as the translation glyph? Something about sound?

    If she wanted to make a simple phone, how would she do it? This was pointless. It¡¯s not like there would be someone on the other end. But, she¡¯d already tried and failed at her current problem for long enough, maybe working on this for a while would give her some fresh ideas.

    ¡°Oh! Star! Star! I found something!¡±

    He ran over, excited.

    ¡°Yes? Master? What did you find?¡±

    ¡°I found a glyph that seems like it uses some of the same radicals as the translation glyph!¡±

    He slumped.

    ¡°Lady Flamewalker, I thought you were working on fixing this voice.¡±

    ¡°I¨C. Well I was. Am. I am! But I got sidetracked thinking about how I would make that happen, and here we are. I think this might be it. I don¡¯t know what it was doing in the basement glyph though. I don¡¯t even think this sub-circle is in use. Why would it have vestigial pieces¡­?¡±

    ¡°Master.¡±

    Lily shook her head.

    ¡°Yeah! Look, this is related, okay? If I¡¯m right about this, that might be the naturally occurring version of this glyph you¡¯re dealing with. So if I figure out how it works, we might solve your problem.¡±

    Star stared at her flatly. She stuck out her tongue.

    ¡°Okay, and I¡¯m curious. Is that so wrong?¡±

    ¡°Fine. Give it a try.¡±

    Lily grinned at her companion. He couldn¡¯t help but smile back.

 1.005

    Lily and Sunica had left the city after retrieving Lily¡¯s new clothes. The fit was shockingly perfect, and even Lily was forced to admit that she¡¯d never owned clothes quite so perfectly made for her. Apparently there was something to seeing a professional tailor. It still felt like something she shouldn¡¯t have been allowed to do. Tailored clothes were for the rich and famous, not gutter trash like her.

    Sunica had paid for her too. Lily really didn¡¯t have a frame of reference to know whether it had cost a lot, or if Sunica got a good deal. She held her questions until she couldn¡¯t walk anymore, and they found a place to sit under a tree. The snow wasn¡¯t so deep around the roots, so they sat almost on the ground, but the cold still seeped in somewhat. Luckily, with her new clothes it was bearable.

    Sunica broke the silence.

    ¡°I¡¯m sorry. I know you warned me, but I didn¡¯t understand how bad it was.¡±

    ¡°Oh, my um¡­ Yeah. It¡¯s a problem. Honestly, I should be the one apologizing. I caused so much trouble. I wish I could just be normal. Everyone else manages to do it. But I can¡¯t. I desperately want to, but I just¡­ I can¡¯t.¡±

    There was a pause as Sunica digested what she had said. The balaur girl rose after a minute, and gestured to Lily to stay sitting, so she did. Sunica walked to a nearby tree, lept lightly and grabbed something out of the branches. When she returned she had a small orb the size of her palm in her hand. It looked almost like a snowball at first glance, but as Lily looked closer it was some kind of spherical white fruit. Sunica held it out to her.

    ¡°I have something cool to show you. Here.¡±

    Lily took the fruit. It was slightly cold, but not as much as she¡¯d have expected. She stared at it. Sunica spoke again.

    ¡°Do you know what that is?¡±

    ¡°Um, no?¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s called a Kindleberry. They grow around here. The trees that grow them don¡¯t look all that different, so you¡¯ve gotta have a sharp eye. They blend in with the snow too. But they¡¯re super useful.¡±

    Lily turned the fruit over in her hand, examining it.

    ¡°Do you eat it?¡±

    Sunica smiled.

    ¡°Yeah, but that¡¯s not all. You gotta peel ¡®em with a knife, because the rind is thick and has a really bitter taste. The fruit inside is really sweet though and comes apart in three pieces with a seed in the middle. Every part of it is useful for something too. Like, the rind is super flammable. So you can use a few of them to start fires easily. That¡¯s where they get the name. Kindleberry.¡±

    Lily oohed and held the fruit tighter like a trophy.

    ¡°That¡¯s so COOL! I wanna eat it! Wait, you said all the parts are useful. What does the seed do?¡±

    ¡°Oh, alchemists like to use them. They¡¯re also extremely fire resistant, so some people pack them into walls and things to make it more difficult for places to burn down. That¡¯s definitely for the rich folks though.¡±

    ¡°Huh. That¡¯s so interesting. I wonder how a plant like this came to be. Is it part of their lifecycle somehow?¡±

    Sunica made a face.

    ¡°What do you mean?¡±

    ¡°Well, I mean. Hmm. How can I put this. Plants and animals usually are the way that they are for a reason. So, I was thinking these kindleberries being the way they are are also probably that way for a reason. Usually the reason has something to do with making them reproduce more easily. But I think I already see it! I mean, if I was doing this right the next step would be experimentation, but I think I can see how this makes them spread easier.¡±

    ¡°You do? How would them being delicious or burning easily make them spread better?¡±

    ¡°Well, normally tree fruits are delicious because getting eaten is part of their plan. Birds and animals eat them, seed and all. Then later, new trees grow out of the poop.¡±

    ¡°Eww. What, really? Wild fruit trees are usually made like that?¡±

    ¡°Yeah, that¡¯s the point. That lets them travel far further than normal. But I bet this tree came into being someplace where forest fires are common. Because they do the thing fruits normally do, but also if the forest burns down, the seeds are fine.¡±

    ¡°Wait, then why are they super flammable? That doesn¡¯t make any sense!¡±

    Lily grinned.

    ¡°Doesn¡¯t it?¡±

    ¡°...No?¡±

    ¡°I bet if you looked around long enough, you¡¯d find patches of forest where most trees are this kind of tree. Nature is competitive. There¡¯s a limited amount of space to gather light from the sun, or nutrients in the soil. So, if this tree can make fires easier and also be the only thing that survives them¡­ Well. That¡¯s all just a guess. But it¡¯s the solution that comes to mind for me.¡±

    ¡°Are you sure you¡¯re not some kind of [Scholar] in your past life?¡±

    Lily giggled in reply. It did feel nice getting to teach Sunica something for a change.

    ¡°No, I¡¯m really not. Nature working that way is common knowledge where I¡¯m from. Besides, I might be wrong. It¡¯s possible it doesn¡¯t work like that here at all. It¡¯s just a guess. But, I feel confident that it¡¯s at least partially right.¡±

    ¡°Hmm. You¡¯re talking about trees as if they made a conscious decision to be the way they are though. That seems¡­ weird.¡±

    ¡°No no, not like that. It¡¯s like¡­ Ugh, it¡¯s complicated. We¡¯ll do a lesson on evolution sometime! Although, the more I think about it the more I think it must work somewhat different here. After all, I don¡¯t think it accounts for a lot of the things I¡¯ve already seen here. I need to sit down and write ¡®On the Origin of Species 2: Basically I¡¯m Monkey¡¯ sometime.¡±

    Lily couldn¡¯t help but burst into laughter. Sunica had completely lost the thread of the conversation and just stared at her. When she stopped laughing, she had a question.

    ¡°Okay, your turn.¡±

    ¡°Huh?¡±

    ¡°Time for you to teach me something. How do I get a class? You mentioned [Scholar] like it was something I could just¡­ be. Am I stuck as a [Fragment] now that I have that? Can I get something cool? Like, I¡¯ve thought about it, and I think it¡¯d be really cool to be a [Magitek Engineer]. Is that something I can make happen?¡±

    Sunica cocked her head and stared at Lily for a moment, before busting out laughing. She looked like she was going to fall over into the snow.

    ¡°Hey! Don¡¯t laugh. I know I don¡¯t know how it works. That¡¯s why I¡¯m asking!¡±

    When Sunica had collected herself, she responded.

    ¡°It¡¯s just funny! I¡¯m sorry. What the hell is a [Magitek Engineer]? That sounds so fancy.¡±

    ¡°Well, it¡¯s someone who makes cool technology, and adds magic to it to make it do even cooler stuff! You know, magic plus engineering.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯ve never heard of that class. [Engineers] already use magic though. I mean, the good ones will hire an [Enchanter] or something to reinforce the stuff they make.¡±

    ¡°Hmm. That¡¯s not exactly what I¡¯m talking about. But I¡¯m not sure I can describe it. Remember that laptop I showed you? I¡¯m talking about stuff like that, only using magic too! So that it like, never runs out of electricity and stuff!¡±

    ¡°Does that thing not already use magic? It looks like an artifact¡­¡±

    ¡°Nope. Entirely mundane.¡±

    ¡°But it was constructed with magic, right?¡±

    ¡°No! It was made by¡­ Okay, I don¡¯t know exactly. But no magic!¡±

    ¡°If you say so, Miss Lily.¡±

    Lily frowned at Sunica, and got up to start walking again. Sunica rose too and hurried after her.

    Unauthorized usage: this narrative is on Amazon without the author''s consent. Report any sightings.

    ¡°Right, just Lily. Sorry about that. Listen, you¡¯re gonna have to get over that, ¡®cause strangers are basically all gonna call you Miss around here. It¡¯s totally normal.¡±

    ¡°Yeah, okay. But not you! We¡¯re friends, right? Do you keep calling each other Miss when you¡¯re close?¡±

    ¡°Uh. I¡­ Are we close? We practically just met.¡±

    ¡°Yeah! We¡¯re plenty close! I¡¯ve been inside your clothes!¡±

    Sunica snorted.

    ¡°Might want to think about phrasing that a little better.¡±

    Lily flushed, and stammered.

    ¡°I- I. Shush you!¡±

    Sunica laughed hard. Lily tried talking over her.

    ¡°Okay, so it doesn¡¯t work like that. I can¡¯t just say I want to be a [Magitek Engineer] and it happens. How does it work? If I¡¯m going to be here, I want a cool class. Am I really stuck with [Fragment]?¡±

    ¡°Nah. Plenty of people have more than one class. I used to have [Fur Trader]. But, I lost it around the time I hit level 7. Guess I wasn¡¯t doing enough trading.¡±

    ¡°You can lose classes?¡±

    ¡°Sure. Normally it¡¯s kids who lose them, or people who have classes that denote a position that lose that position. A [Queen] who¡¯s dethroned is no longer a [Queen] you know? That sort of thing. Or kids growing out of their youthful hobbies and into what they¡¯re gonna do long term.¡±

    ¡°Okay, but how?¡±

    Sunica shrugged unhelpfully.

    ¡°It just happens. You wake up one morning with the announcement. It¡¯s not something people often try for, because having more classes is something to celebrate right? But when you lose it, you usually wake up going, ¡®oh yeah. I guess that makes sense. I¡¯m really not that anymore huh?¡¯ you know?¡±

    ¡°Not at allllll. Okay. So I can¡¯t choose to ditch [Fragment], but I can get something else. How do I do that?¡±

    ¡°Well for one you don¡¯t just pick something. You¡¯re really overthinking this. Just do what comes naturally, and you¡¯ll eventually get classes and levels that suit the things you do.¡±

    Lily paused and thought to herself for a while, before making a declaration.

    ¡°Nah.¡±

    ¡°What do you mean, Nah? I¡¯m telling you, that¡¯s how it works.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s silly! I refuse! If it¡¯s about what you do, I¡¯m gonna choose to go for something cool, and only do things related to that until I get a cool class! Are you telling me that if I went out and got a sword, and did nothing but train from here on out I wouldn¡¯t get like [Fighter] or something?¡±

    Sunica rolled her eyes, but humored the human girl.

    ¡°[Warrior] usually. You¡¯d get [Warrior].¡±

    ¡°Okay, [Warrior] then. But that¡¯s not who I am. And if I focus on magic, am I just gonna get [Mage] or something lame like that?¡±

    ¡°Lame? [Mages] are highly sought after practitioners of magic¨C¡±

    ¡°Lame! Besides, you keep telling me my stuff is different. The last thing I need is to actually get that class you don¡¯t want me to have.¡±

    Sunica grimaced, and Lily slowed down. She really ought to be more delicate about things.

    ¡°Sorry. Look. I just don¡¯t want to luck into that. So, let¡¯s find something else for me. I wanna be a [Magitek Engineer]. So, I¡¯m gonna do things related to that until I get the class. How¡¯s that?¡±

    ¡°Even if you say that, that sounds like a very advanced class. You¡¯re much more likely to get [Mage] or [Engineer] and then get an upgrade far later¡­¡±

    ¡°Upgrade?¡±

    ¡°Sometimes, classes become stronger classes when certain conditions are met.¡±

    ¡°What kind of conditions?¡±

    Sunica snorted again.

    ¡°If I knew that, I¡¯d be royalty instead of a [Trapper].¡±

    ¡°Huh. That¡¯s fair. Okay. Well, fine then. I¡¯ll just work on enchanting my technology, and maybe I could get [Enchanter] or something. That¡¯s like, a trade class right? Useful skills, some money. That sounds nice.¡±

    ¡°Okay Miss Human if you say so. Just don¡¯t be too disappointed when you get your first [Mage] levels.¡±

    <hr>

    When they made it back to Sunica¡¯s cabin, Lily immediately pulled out her notes and started going through them. She had so many things on her mind she wanted to try, she felt like she was buzzing.

    ¡°For someone who needs to rest every ten minutes of walking, you sure don¡¯t know when to take a break do you? We just got home! At least catch your breath first.¡±

    Lily stuck her tongue out at the balaur girl, who was herself already setting up to brew tea over the furnace in the center of the cabin.

    ¡°You¡¯re one to talk, oh almighty tea brewer.¡±

    ¡°I have a guest. Do you want some or not?¡±

    The human girl smiled.

    ¡°Yes please. But I really do want to get to work too. I¡¯ve been thinking about it, and there¡¯s probably some variations of the translation glyph that might let me speak long distance. I really want to find any glyph with any of the same radicals and try them out asap!¡±

    ¡°Translation glyph¡­?¡±

    ¡°Yeah! I mean. I don¡¯t speak whatever language you¡¯re speaking. I¡¯ve got a spell on me. Can¡¯t you tell?¡±

    ¡°Is THAT what that is? I just thought you talked weird!¡±

    ¡°Huh? Do I sound weird?¡±

    ¡°Well, like. It¡¯s like you have an accent and dialect I¡¯ve never heard before. That¡¯s all.¡±

    ¡°Oh. Well. Yeah. No. I just speak the language of where I¡¯m from. This earring does the rest.¡±

    Lily pointed to her earring.

    ¡°Damn. Well, I have to admit, you could probably pass yourself off as an enchanter and make money like that if you wanted to. Do they wear off?¡±

    ¡°Um. Honestly, I haven¡¯t been doing magic long enough to know. I don¡¯t think so?¡±

    ¡°Well, that¡¯s not exactly a selling point.¡±

    Sunica chuckled.

    ¡°Yeah yeah, laugh it up. My magic¡¯s cool.¡±

    There were a few glyphs that immediately stuck out to her, looking even somewhat similar to her translation glyph. She¡¯d definitely be trying them each out. She wasn¡¯t sure how to make the targeting work yet though. Could she just focus really hard on Star and cast? Would that work? Maybe she could focus on his bandana? She cast a spell on it. Her mana was on it. She had to still have some connection to it. Even if you lopped off one of your fingers, you still had DNA in common with that finger. It¡¯s not like you were entirely disconnected. Right? It¡¯s got to work like that. Nothing else made sense to her.

    She¡¯d interacted with spells at a distance before, and they were all harder the further they were though. Even a couple hundred feet and she didn¡¯t have the strength to do it.

    She¡¯d have to figure it out as she went. For now, she also wanted to take steps to ensure she got a class she wanted. So, instead of just casting the spell, she should enchant something right?

    What could she enchant? She looked around the room. Sunica hummed while she gathered the loose leaf tea into a little device meant for steeping. Her backpack was here. She wished she had her phone. That would be perfect for this spell! She could use her laptop, maybe?

    Her eyes drifted across the small pile of her belongings. Clothes, bag, sleeping bag, meds, bottles of water, Bay, and the laptop.

    ¡°Hey Bay. You wanna be a magical item, huh buddy?¡±

    He gave her a skeptical look.

    ¡°Oh what, after all this time you still don¡¯t trust me? Look, I¡¯m just gonna make it so I can talk to Star through you. Although, now that I think about it, I could add other features too. You could be like the mascot character in my magical girl anime!¡±

    ¡°What¡¯re you talking about?¡±

    Lily nearly jumped out of her skin. She¡¯d forgotten Sunica was in the room.

    ¡°Oh, uh. Oh jeez, I don¡¯t even know where to begin.¡±

    ¡°Let¡¯s start with you talking to that doll like it¡¯s alive.¡±

    ¡°Hey! You take that back. Bay is a distinguished gentleman, and he was my first companion after the world ended.¡±

    ¡°You really went nuts spending so much time alone huh?¡±

    ¡°Wow! Mean!¡±

    Sunica handed her a cup of tea. There was plenty, and it was so warm. The mug was made of a glazed ceramic like substance. Lily was a little surprised, but it really wasn¡¯t much different than anything she¡¯d find in a little gift shop back home.

    ¡°I¡¯m sorry, I¡¯m sorry. So, what were you thinking about?¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m gonna enchant Bay. I just thought it was funny. There¡¯s a whole section of stories back home about girls who get magic powers.¡±

    ¡°So, [Mages]?¡±

    ¡°No no. I mean, not quite. See, we don¡¯t have magic where I came from. I mean, not until recently.¡±

    ¡°So¡­ how did you have stories about it?¡±

    ¡°What do you mean?¡±

    ¡°If magic didn¡¯t exist, how come you had stories about magic that line up at all with the real thing?¡±

    ¡°Um. Huh. I guess I didn¡¯t think about that. That is a very interesting question. But! Not the point! I was telling you about the stories!¡±

    ¡°Fine fine, go on Lily.¡±

    ¡°Anyway, they were stories about girls who got magic powers. But they usually had to hide it for one reason or another. So, they¡¯d pretend just to be normal girls. But at night, they¡¯d transform into a magical form and go out to¡­ well it depends on the story. Usually, they go out and do good deeds. Also a weird number of them are tragedies.¡±

    ¡°So, what does that have to do with your stuffed friend?¡±

    Lily glanced over at Bay.

    ¡°Oh, well, a lot of the time they have an animal companion, who could easily pass as a doll like him. So I was just thinking he could be my companion if I enchant him. Not that he¡¯ll come alive or anything.¡±

    Sunica took a long sip of her tea.

    ¡°I really want to make fun of you, but honestly it¡¯s not all that different than what I liked when I was a kid. These stories are for kids, yeah?¡±

    ¡°Well, I mean. Yes and no¡­ Lots of them are. Others are uh, very much not. I like them all.¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s okay, it''s okay. Don¡¯t get too embarrassed. I used to pretend to be a [Dragon King].¡±

    ¡°King? Why not Queen?¡±

    ¡°Duh, ¡®cause Queens in the stories never have as much fun as Kings.¡±

    Lily had to laugh at that, but it might be true. She could think of a lot of stories about Kings going out to do silly stupid adventurous things, but not a lot of Queens.

    ¡°Well. I think you¡¯d make an awesome [Dragon King].

    Sunica turned a shade more pink, and downed her tea.

 1.006

    ¡°Is this supposed to be so boring and tedious?¡±

    Lily scowled up at Sunica. She¡¯d spread her notes out on the floor, and the scaled girl was laying on the couch above her and staring down at her work. Admittedly, it had been hours. Digging through her notes on the basement spell and looking for any glyph that might contain radicals in common to the translation glyph, or might have to do with speech or communication. She was finally getting ready to do some actual spellwork when she realized she needed to be enchanting Bay too. So, now she was sketching out spell formations in her notebook, trying to get an idea of how to maximize space on his round body. But, boring? Lily was affronted.

    ¡°It¡¯s not boring! It¡¯s super interesting!¡±

    ¡°It looks boring.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s just ¡®cause you don¡¯t know what¡¯s going on.¡±

    Sunica looked skeptically at the human girl. Lily puffed out her cheeks.

    ¡°You¡¯re doodling.¡±

    ¡°Well. Okay. Maybe I¡¯m doodling. But I¡¯m planning! Don¡¯t [Mages] spend most of their time with their nose in a book too?

    The balaur girl shrugged, then rolled over so she was on her back with her head hanging upside down off the couch.

    ¡°I guess. But I don¡¯t see that part. I just see the spells. Your spells take forever.¡±

    ¡°Well yeah. I¡¯ve gotta plan. The ones that I know well can be done pretty fast. But that¡¯s because I made them slowly and carefully like this the first time, and then practiced. What are [Mage] spells like?¡±

    ¡°Well¡­ They usually just point a wand or a staff or a hand, and say a spell name and it comes out. Like¡­¡±

    Sunica stood up suddenly on the couch, and pointed into the empty room. She spoke with a deep authoritative voice.

    ¡°[Fireball]!¡±

    Lily half expected something to happen. Of course nothing did. Sunica dropped back down onto the couch and stared at her human guest.

    ¡°Huh. I could probably fake that if I had to.¡±

    ¡°Yeah? Give it your best shot.¡±

    ¡°Hold on, lemme kill two birds with one stone here. I need to put the first spell formation on Bay, and then I¡¯ll show you.¡±

    Sunica started asking what stones and birds have to do with anything, but Lily was already concentrating. Enchanting. She was going to be an [Enchanter]. So, this was her first project, and she thought she had some cool ideas. For now, she started with her first spell. She wasn¡¯t about to play with anything strange in Sunica¡¯s living room, so she was planning to stick to mostly stuff she already knew for now.

    Lily drew out the first spell circle around Bay. This was a simple circle with one empty node. She repeated the process, layering a second one with two empty nodes, then another with three, and another with four. It was difficult, but her primary focus was layering spell circles almost on top of each other. She wanted to be able to change up the spells that were on him easily, and so she was creating a variety of templates to leave on him, that she could fill with whatever she wanted. Anything that required the more serious spell circuits or the like would have to be done manually, but if she had empty circles with various nodes she could slot in and remove glyphs very quickly.

    For now, she stopped at four. It was taxing trying to get them so close together. But, she still wanted to show off, so for now she stood up. She placed her hand at chest height above Bay, and focused on inscribing the push glyph into a template. She gave Sunica a grin, and pushed some mana into it, causing Bay to float up and into her hand. She held him out.

    ¡°Hah! See! Magic. Levitation! Super Magical Girl Luna Reverie at your service!¡±

    Sunica feigned applause.

    ¡°Wow, he can float! But, [Mages] can levitate things without a skill too you know. What else can he do?¡±

    Lily scowled.

    ¡°Not impressed? Then how about this?¡±

    She let go of Bay, letting the push spell keep him levitated directly in front of her, and inscribed some more glyphs into the four node circle she had made. This time, three light spells and the compass spell pointed at Bay, so they would rotate around him. The three lights slowly formed around him, and started rotating. Lily was starting to feel a mild exertion from keeping up both spells. But, her mana pool felt much larger than before she came here. Was that her skill? [Heretical Mana]? She gave Sunica a smile, and moved her hands above and below Bay to show off that he really was floating.

    ¡°See? No strings or anything! And the lights are all me too!¡±

    ¡°Uh, Lily? Do your scars always glow like that when you cast?¡±

    Lily glanced down. Sure enough, the scars on her hands and presumably the rest of her were showing with an opalescent light while she focused.

    ¡°I¡­ guess so?¡±

    Sunica sounded concerned.

    ¡°Does it hurt?¡±

    ¡°Nah. It used to, but now I don¡¯t feel a thing!¡±

    ¡°Hmm. Okay. Well then Miss [Magical Girl], what kinds of things can you do? What are they like in the stories?¡±

    She grabbed the fire poker from next to the furnace and swung it in front of her like a sword, and put more mana into the light spells causing them to get bigger. She held out her ¡®blade¡¯ in front of her,

    ¡°Magical girls are cool! They¨C I mean, ¡®we¡¯ go out at night and fight monsters! Do good deeds! Save people! We¡¯re not exactly [Mages], or even dedicated spellcasters. Plenty of Magical Girls use swords and other martial weapons! But they¡¯re magic, and usually part of the persona and outfit change. They often have spells and uh, I guess what you¡¯d consider skills here, and they are magic, but¡­ Ugh. How do I put it. A magical girl fights with her emotions! The spells are part of it, and magical power is too for sure. But those get converted into whatever represents her best you know?¡±

    She did a few more practice swings with her poker sword and continued.

    ¡°It¡¯s about being pure of heart! I mean, that makes it sound like a good or evil thing, but that¡¯s not it. Being true to yourself and your desires, allowing yourself to be the truest sense of yourself and letting that come into reality, you know? And then her powers will reflect that. Like, a girl who truly wants to protect her friends more than anything might have a magical transformation that gives her a sword and knight-like armor, but it¡¯s¡­ It¡¯s like a projection of who she is on the inside, see? And the strength of that desire, those emotions and how strong and pure they are are what give her the magic, and the power.¡±

    Lily was sweating, trying to explain and keep these spells going. But she didn¡¯t want to stop. It felt like good practice, and it made her feel so proud of herself keeping two spells going with her own mana, while swinging around a fake weapon and talking too. She really felt like she was growing and getting stronger.

    ¡°Ohh. I think I get it. It lets you be whoever you are on the inside, on the outside! I mean. That¡¯s relatable isn¡¯t it? I think everyone has a bit of themselves on the inside that would love to come out more often, huh?¡±

    Lily almost dropped Bay when she caught sight of Sunica¡¯s face. Of course. She remembered how polite and withdrawn Sunica had been towards her when she first arrived, not to mention in the city. Well, until disaster struck. She must be holding back a lot¡­ Time to cheer her up!

    ¡°Yeah! Exactly! So, a magical girl usually gets an accessory that is with her all the time. Like, a necklace or bracelet, or something like that. And when she activates it, she transforms.¡±

    ¡°She transforms? Into what, a dragon?¡±

    Lily gave Sunica a confused look, but went on.

    ¡°No no! Into her magical girl form. Usually a super beautiful or cool magical outfit, with accessories and extra powers! And all she has to do is draw on the power of her heart, who she is, to use them. Like, like. You wanted to be a [Dragon King] right?¡±

    Sunica blushed and looked away.

    ¡°Ah, I- I mean it was a silly kids imagination¡­¡±

    ¡°No!¡±

    ¡°Huh?¡±

    ¡°No! That¡¯s perfect!¡±

    Lily dropped the poker and let her spells on Bay fade. She grabbed up her notebook and pen, and started doodling. She drew a simple almost stick figure Sunica, complete with horns and tail.

    ¡°Is that supposed to be me¡­?¡±

    ¡°Shh! Don¡¯t laugh! I¡¯m doing something!¡±

    She drew a crown on the figure¡¯s head, and a big sword to go with it. A cape. Armor on the arms and legs, a breastplate with a skirt that came down to just over the armored leggings. Then she added some fire breath to one side, and some lightning in the background.

    ¡°See? See? Like this! A magical girl Dragon King! It¡¯d be like that!¡±

    ¡°Lily, you are terrible at drawing.¡±

    So she said, but Sunica¡¯s face gave her away. She looked at the drawing longingly.

    ¡°A magical girl makes her dreams come true, and the dreams of the people around her! See? It¡¯s MAGIC! But not my circles, or whatever [Mages] do. It comes from the heart, see? It¡¯s a projection of who you are inside. And you! You could be like this.¡±

    Here, Lily may have made a mistake. A hint of bitterness entered Sunica¡¯s voice as she replied. Lily was a little startled.

    ¡°But I¡¯m not. It¡¯s just a childish fantasy. Thinking about stuff like this is pointless. I am what I am.¡±

    ¡°Huh? Well, yeah, it¡¯s just a story, but stories can be fun.¡±

    Sunica stood up abruptly.

    ¡°I¡¯m going to bed. You can take the couch when you want to sleep. If you need anything, knock.¡±

    Lily looked at her, confused.

    ¡°I¡¯m sorry if I said anything wrong, I just wanted to share.¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s not¨C. It¡¯s fine. Don¡¯t worry about it.¡±

    The balaur girl turned and walked towards her room. When she got to the door she turned one more time, and this time the bitterness was deep in her tone.

    ¡°Reality is reality. We can¡¯t change it. Who we are on the inside doesn¡¯t matter in the face of that. Longing for something different only hurts.¡±

    Unauthorized use: this story is on Amazon without permission from the author. Report any sightings.

    She closed herself in the room, leaving Lily in the silence. She stared down at her excited drawing, suddenly feeling very immature. She talked quietly to herself in the now empty room.

    ¡°I know that. Don¡¯t you think I¡¯d be different if I could too?¡±

    <hr>

    A few hours had passed. Lily spent the rest of the night alternating between enchanting Bay and adding more doodles to her notebook. Some of them were spells, others were additions to her little magical girl page. She had added a pile of treasure and loot to Sunica¡¯s side, as well as big dragon wings that she was imagining Sunica could turn on and off. She¡¯d also drawn a magical girl Lily to go along with it. The one representing her had a staff that doubled as a bow that shot heart tipped magic arrows, and while it was a staff it enhanced her magic power. She had a good time drawing a cute layered dress to go along with it too.

    It was fun. She could see how it could make you feel bad instead of good though. She¡¯d always loved stuff like this, but there were a million reasons she¡¯d never explored that interest. After all, a dress like this wouldn¡¯t look good on her in a million years. The goth lolita look really only worked if you were thin and small, and she was neither of those things. A cute animal companion and adorable magic powers just didn¡¯t suit someone like her. But it was fun to fantasize sometimes.

    Still, when she was younger she¡¯d gone through a phase of being outspokenly against anything overly cute. It was part of her angsty teen phase. But really, she just wished stuff like that suited her. Every time she¡¯d tried though¡­ Well, she remembered being bullied for it. To the point that anything designed to be cute had filled her with bitterness and disgust. Now she was older, and understood that those feelings came down to wanting what she couldn¡¯t have, not actually hating that stuff.

    But¡­ She could see why her insistence had rubbed Sunica the wrong way. She¡¯d apologize in the morning. That wasn¡¯t going to stop her from doing her own little designs though.

    She started on an ice theme for the dress. Wouldn¡¯t it be cool if she could conjure patterns of ice that were also spell circles? Plus, the fire and ice bit with Sunica was so cool! Maybe a bit of royalty too? Ice queen? She giggled to herself.

    The spells were also important though. She was getting sleepy, but she thought she had one more thing she wanted to do before she went back to drawing until she fell asleep. She wasn¡¯t much of an artist really. She liked to think she had good ideas, but the execution was¡­ not the best. Somehow spell circles just came easily to her though, despite needing to be pretty precise. Lily was wondering about that. Sunica seemed to think they were really complicated, but they didn¡¯t look that way to her. Was it a perception issue? Was it actually complicated, but it looked simple to Lily? Or was it actually simple, but it looked complicated to Sunica? Maybe neither. Maybe it was just a matter of personal strengths. But that interaction had been on her mind.

    She realized her mind was wandering again, and refocused. The truth was, she¡¯d figured out the spell already. Or at least she had a glyph to test, and she really thought it was going to work. But, she was nervous to try it and stalling, because it was a new glyph. She remembered being in the basement. Star had called her out for this behaviour, when she started talking about mantis shrimp and chaos emeralds.

    ¡°Nothing to do but go for it I guess. I hope this doesn¡¯t cause trouble. Sunica, please forgive me if it does¡­¡±

    She focused on the one node circle she¡¯d put on Bay with her new glyph, and pushed mana into it. Then, she tried speaking to him, like he really was a mascot character. Only, with any luck, Star might hear it.

    ¡°Hello? Can you hear me? Star if you can hear me, I¡¯m okay. Please try saying something. I don¡¯t think it¡¯ll work, but just in case. I¡¯m in a strange place, with someone friendly. Please be safe. I¡¯m going to try and find you, okay?¡±

    She felt the spell doing something, but that was it. No other feedback at all. She wasn¡¯t sure what she had been expecting, but it was somehow still a let down. She had no idea if she¡¯d done¡­ anything! Oh well. Maybe it was working? Maybe he could hear her? She tried again, this time focusing harder. Star. Think of Star. The spell on his bandana. Him. Her companion. Her magic on him. Focus.

    ¡°I¡¯m here. I¡¯m alive. I made it. Please be okay. I miss you more than anything. I¨C I¡¯m not okay without you. I¡¯m trying my best. I¡¯m holding it together. But I keep falling back into these stupid patterns. I miss you. Please be okay. Please? I will find you. I will. I promise.¡±

    Still nothing. Oh well. It wasn¡¯t a two way spell. She could see how it might be edited to be one, but only if the other side knew you were trying and connected back. Even then, only if the circle was designed for it. You¡¯d need an empty node there¡­

    She grabbed her notebook and started sketching it. The result looked weirdly like the yin yang symbol. She thought it was called Taijitu? Whatever. Two circles that made up one circle. Her spell would go in one side and be replicated on the other side. The other person would have to do the same. It was like a secret code. But, if he could hear her¡­?

    He couldn¡¯t cast spells! Well, wait. He might be able to see the spell on his bandana, and then replicate it. It was just a drawing after all. She¡¯d have to describe what to do in detail. A message! How could she turn this into a repeating message?

    The stacked spells on Bay! She could turn him into a radio device for now! It would just copy the spell once and do it over and over again. She could do that. As long as she kept pouring mana into it. Maybe she could make a battery, and charge the battery before she slept?

    Her mind was racing now. Yes, this was it! First, the spell. She set up a simple repeater using her circuitry. Not something she had done before, but not too hard. Thank you Minecraft for teaching her basic circuits with redstone and getting her interested!

    Next up, she cast the spell, and spoke into it. She desperately hoped it would repeat the message, and not just the spell without it.

    ¡°Star! Listen. You can talk back to me if you figure this out. You need a spell circle, shaped like two teardrops against each other or a yin yang sign. The only glyph you need is in the basement! It looks like a mouth, or two mountains, or¡­ something like that. It¡¯s in a small circle nested near the elevator! Put it on your bandana! Then you need to give it mana somehow. Please, please figure it out! Please!¡±

    Her desperation really came through, but she didn¡¯t care. If this worked¡­ please let it work!

    She held the repeater on her spell as she worked on making a battery. A small circle outside of Bay that would drip feed him mana from an object, and finally her charging spell. Only instead of stepping inside it, she put her rolled up sleeping bag, and instead of drawing ambient mana to power it¡­

    She focused. She dug deep. She had a lot of mana in her body now. A lot for her, anyway. Focus. Pull it out from deep inside. Push it into the spell. All of it! Like that night outside of the apartment complex, when the spell had almost eaten her. But now, this was her power. She just had to let it flow out of her. Not like a faucet, like a river! Even if it hurt, if she could just dip into that same state. Just for a moment, she could use all her mana at once to charge the spell!

    The glow from her scars lit up the room. At some point, the fire had died way down, and she was brighter than it now. She almost laughed. They burned. She hadn¡¯t drawn on this much power since getting them. She hadn¡¯t HAD this much power before getting here. But now, she had to charge up this spell. Let it repeat. At least for tonight. At least until she woke up. Then she¡¯d do it again. And again. As many times as it took!

    ¡°Please, just¡­ WORK!¡±

    She felt something wet drip down the front of her face, but tried not to lose focus. She just needed to charge it up! She just needed to¨C

    ¡°Stop!¡±

    Sunica¡¯s voice startled her. Lily turned, and looked at the balaur girl standing in the doorway of her room. She almost lost contact with the spell, but she turned back to it. Just a little more. She could add just a little more!

    Sunica grabbed her shoulder roughly and shook her.

    ¡°Lily! Lily! Stop! You¡¯re hurting yourself!¡±

    ¡°Huh?¡±

    Lily let go. The spell stopped. She wished she could have given it a little more. But, now that she was coming back to reality, she was feeling pretty tired. Maybe it was better to stop there?

    ¡°I- I¡¯m fine. Really. Just a bit tired. I¡¯m sorry for yelling.¡±

    She tried to give Sunica a smile, but the girl was staring at her with fear in her eyes. The sound of liquid hitting the wood floor made her look down. Was that¡­ blood?

    She reached up and touched her face. Oh. Her nose had been bleeding. She almost laughed.

    ¡°Oh, it¡¯s just a bloody nose. I¡¯m fine! I really. I¡¯m feeling kind of dizzy.¡±

    She really was. Sunica helped her over to the couch, and then shook her hard.

    ¡°You IDIOT! After everything we talked about earlier? You could have at least waited until the morning, or asked me to supervise!¡±

    ¡°I- I¡¯m sorry, I just. I thought I had it figured out. I think I got it right! I think.¡±

    She looked over at the spell. Her vision was hazy, but it did seem to be working. She smiled in relief.

    ¡°Lily, please, listen to me. You¡¯re not okay.¡±

    ¡°I am! I¨C¡±

    ¡°LISTEN.¡±

    Lily stopped talking.

    ¡°I¡¯m glad you got away with only a bloody nose that I can see. But please. Please hear me when I say this. This behaviour? It¡¯s not normal. It¡¯s not okay. You can¡¯t keep hurting yourself like this.¡±

    ¡°But, I had to cast the spell!¡±

    ¡°DID you? Did you have to do it alone?¡±

    ¡°I didn¡¯t want to bother you. I¡¯m sorry about earlier. I shouldn¡¯t have pushed that on you. It was my fault. I¨C I¡¯m really sorry. I meant to apologize in the morning.¡±

    Sunica put her head in her hands for a minute and took a deep breath.

    ¡°Did you know it was going to hurt you?¡±

    ¡°I¨Cwell. I didn¡¯t know.¡±

    ¡°Did you think it was going to hurt you?¡±

    Lily remembered being as reluctant as she was to cast the spell in the first place.

    ¡°I knew it might. But it was worth the risk.¡±

    Sunica looked her in the eyes for a second. Was she holding back tears¡­? Her tail was lashing around too. Why would she be sad? Had Lily made her that mad? She hurried to apologize.

    ¡°I¡¯m sorry, I shouldn¡¯t have- in your house. I should have gone outside at least. I¨C¡±

    ¡°SHUT. UP.¡±

    Lily gulped, and fear began to settle in her stomach. Oh no. She¡¯d really made her mad.

    ¡°Lily. You are NOT okay. I¡¯m not mad that you did the spell in my house. I¡¯m not mad that you cast a spell. I¡¯m not mad at you for earlier. I was scared for you! I am scared for you! You have to stop doing this!¡±

    ¡°I can¡¯t stop casting magic¡­¡±

    ¡°Not magic. You have to stop taking risks like this. I know what you¡¯re thinking. ¡®It¡¯s fine if its just ME¡¯. Earlier today you insisted we were friends. Are we, or aren¡¯t we?¡±

    ¡°Well, well yeah I mean¨C¡±

    ¡°Then I¡¯m sad and scared that my friend seems to have no regard for her own safety. You should have asked me for help! At least to watch and make sure things didn¡¯t get out of hand. What if it wasn¡¯t just a bloody nose? What would have happened if I didn¡¯t snap you out of it?¡±

    ¡°I would have been fine! I¡­ I think.¡±

    ¡°But you don¡¯t know, do you?¡±

    ¡°... no.¡±

    ¡°Please. Even if you can¡¯t change your way of thinking enough to stop jumping head first into danger like this, please trust me enough to at least ask for my help!¡±

    Lily stared up at Sunica. Her eyes were full of fear. She really was near tears. And the desperation in her voice¡­ It sounded like the same desperation that had snuck its way into Lily¡¯s message. That made it sink in a little.

    ¡°I¡¯m sorry. I¨C I¡¯m really sorry. I¡¯m not used to having friends. I¡¯m not used to trusting people. I¡¯m not used to asking for help. I¡¯ll try.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s the best you can do?¡±

    Lily nodded, sourly.

    ¡°I¡¯m sorry. I really will. I just.. I¡¯m used to not getting help. I¡¯m used to people not caring. It¡¯s hard to change your way of thinking. But I promise, I¡¯ll try my best. I really mean it.¡±

    Sunica took a deep breath, and turned to get Lily a cloth to wipe her face off.

    ¡°I¡¯m sorry too.¡±

    ¡°Huh? What for?¡±

    ¡°Earlier. I acted out. You were just trying to make me happy. I see that now. I saw that by the time I was in bed, but emotions are¡­ emotions.¡±

    ¡°Yeah¡­ I know how that goes. For what it¡¯s worth, I think I understand how you were feeling.¡±

    ¡°You do?¡±

    ¡°Yeah, trapped! I mean, with your culture being the way it is, and your color keeping you at a distance from everyone. I¡¯m sure that conversation hit close to home. That stuff can for me too. Fantasies can be good. But they can also be painful. I can¡¯t tell you how often I¡¯ve fantasized about¡­ about just being normal. Not scared of everything, you know? But it¡¯s like being in a cage. Eventually, someone saying ¡®lets imagine what it¡¯s like outside the bars¡¯ just hurts.¡±

    ¡°Yeah. Yeah, that¡¯s about right.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s got to be difficult. But, I just want you to know that no matter how everyone else sees you, to me you¡¯re just the girl that saved my life and is letting me bum around in her cabin. I think you¡¯re a hero! That¡¯s only my opinion, and it doesn¡¯t change how anyone else around here thinks. But¡­ It¡¯s something, right?¡±

    Lily held up her notebook and showed Sunica the drawing again.

    ¡°It might just be me, but I can really see you this way. You know?¡±

    Sunica laughed, still with a hint of salt, but also with a bit of genuine humor.

    ¡°You are so lame you know that?¡±

    ¡°Hey! Rude!¡±

    ¡°Did you draw yourself too?¡±

    ¡°Huh?¡±

    Lily remembered that she had added a design for her too, and grabbed the notebook back, hiding it behind her back.

    ¡°Ah! Um, that one isn¡¯t done yet and I uh¡­ Yeah. I did.¡±

    ¡°It was cute.¡±

    ¡°Oh. Um. Thanks.¡±

    Lily was suddenly feeling very small, but¡­ more content. She smiled at Sunica.

    ¡°Magical Girl Luna Reverie strikes again! Although that name doesn¡¯t really go with this design huh?¡±

    Sunica opened her mouth to reply, when a voice interrupted her. It came from Bay. A suspiciously familiar girl¡¯s voice.

    ¡°Uh, Hello? Can anyone hear me? Is there someone there?¡±

 0.041

    It had taken a few hours of fidgeting, but Lily had completed a new spell. She wasn¡¯t totally sure it would work, but it should at least settle whether there was someone on the other side of this voice. Actually, it was kinda genius. It was a two sided spell circle! Meant to be replicated on the other end, like a secret passcode or something. It was shaped like a yin yang symbol, or a Taijitu she thought it was called?

    Anyway, she cast the spell on her side, and the person on the other side could cast the same spell onto the other side of the circle and it would connect! Long distance calling! The only problem was¡­

    ¡°I don¡¯t wanna do it.¡±

    ¡°Master, you¡¯ve spent hours working on this. What do you mean you don¡¯t want to do it?¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t want to talk to someone! I- I¡¯m scared. If I¡¯m being honest. I mean what if someone really answers? What will I say? What if it¡¯s someone or something important like Entity A or B? What am I supposed to say to a normal person, much less someone who might be able to wipe out the stars or even magically appear a boat and master magic?¡±

    ¡°Well, you could start with ¡®hello¡¯ I would think.¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t mean it like that!¡±

    ¡°Then how do you mean it?¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m scared to talk to someone. Anyone. I feel¡­ I guess if I had to put it into words, I feel so far beneath everyone else that I don¡¯t have a right to exist. And I feel like they can see it, hear it, sense it on me. Like it¡¯s written on my face. So, I guess I¡¯m scared that I¡¯ll talk to someone, and it¡¯s an important conversation, and they¡¯ll¡­ they¡¯ll realize that I¡¯m not worth talking to.¡±

    ¡°That is silly, Master. You are the most important girl in the world.¡±

    Lily laughed sourly. She knew Star was just trying to cheer her up, and get her motivated. But he didn¡¯t really have the emotional experience to understand that words can¡¯t just erase feelings like that. She didn¡¯t hold it against him though. Experience is one thing that has to come with time.

    ¡°Thanks Star. I¡¯ll do my best. But I am frightened. What if I freeze up? Can you take over if I can¡¯t speak?¡±

    ¡°Will they be able to hear me, through my translation spell?¡±

    ¡°I¡­ I don¡¯t know come to think of it. I think so.¡±

    ¡°If you need me, I will try. But please, try your best first. This is something you must conquer, like the pit and the basement.¡±

    Lily puffed out her cheeks and stared him down.

    ¡°But I failed in the basement.¡±

    ¡°You conquered your fear, Lady Flamewalker. The results are immaterial.¡±

    ¡°Huh. Hah. I guess so. Thanks Star. I do feel a little better.¡±

    She stared down at her spell circle for a moment.

    ¡°Nothing left but to go for it, I guess.¡±

    She activated the spell. Nothing happened. Well, nothing visual. The spell seemed to be working, in that mana was going into it and getting used up. But, was it working?

    ¡°Uh, Hello? Can anyone hear me? Is there someone there?¡±

    Silence. Lily counted to ten. Did she get it wrong? Did the other person not understand magic well enough to connect? Was there no one there? All sorts of possibilities were racing through her mind. She tried one more time.

    ¡°Hello? If you just replicate my spell on your end, you should be able to talk too.¡±

    Still silence. What the heck. The spell was definitely working. Mana was getting used. As she opened her mouth to try again, a voice answered. It was deep and resonant. A woman¡¯s voice.

    ¡°Uh, hello Miss. Nice to meet you. I think you¡¯re not the person we were trying to reach. Did you find this bandana? Was there a dog nearby?¡±

    A dog? Well, it was Star¡¯s bandana. Why would they be trying to talk to Star specifically though?

    ¡°Oh, you mean Star? Yeah! He¡¯s with me. Who is this?¡±

    The voice on the other end sounded relieved. Almost like she had been holding her breath.

    ¡°That¡¯s great! We were so worried! My name is Sunica. I¡¯m a balaur [Trapper], level 9. I live on the outskirts of Veni. It¡¯s a small city near Avezare. Can you please tell Star that Lily is looking for him?¡±

    Lily stared at the spell. Huh? There¡¯s no way that she heard that right. It was an absurd statement on the face of it.

    ¡°Uh, I¡¯m sorry. I think that last message got garbled. Did you say Lily is looking for him?¡±

    She glanced down at Star. He looked back at her, equally confused. She didn¡¯t have to ask if he knew a different Lily.

    ¡°Yeah. Lily¡¯s looking for him. She wants him to know that she¡¯s okay. I¡¯ve got her staying in my cabin right now, but she was a little sca¨C ow! Hey!¡±

    Lily¡¯s mind went blank. What the hell did all this mean? Was this some kind of temporal thing? Like, Lily from the future had lost him and was looking for him and had accidentally created a spell that let her talk to her past self? No, that was stupid. But what else could be going on? Unless¡­ The person on the other end was lying? Maybe they were trying to trick her somehow?

    The sounds of a small scuffle, and shout whispering were coming through the spell now. Lily listened closer.

    ¡°Whattya mean don¡¯t tell them that? What am I supposed to say? You¡¯re busy right now? Yeah that makes you look so much better! And anything else just makes me sound like a kidnapper or something.¡±

    A pause, then it continued.

    ¡°Fine, then you talk to them!¡±

    The spell went silent. That¡­ did sound like something she would say. But there¡¯s no way this wasn¡¯t some sort of trick right? She was wracking her brain trying to think of what these people could possibly gain by tricking Star, and how they even knew to reach out to him in such a convoluted way. A new voice came on. This one did sound an awful lot like her own voice.

    ¡°I¡¯m sorry. Sunica was¡­ I¡¯m sorry. Look, is Star there? Can I talk to him? Please?¡±

    ¡°Suuuuure?¡±

    Lily looked down at Star again, and then crouched down so he could hear her and hopefully the people on the other end of the spell couldn¡¯t.

    ¡°I don¡¯t know what¡¯s going on, but I think they might be trying to trick us? I just can¡¯t figure out what for. Play along for now, okay?¡±

    ¡°Yes, Master. I will find out what they want.¡±

    Lily sat down and let Star take over.

    ¡°This is Star. Who is this?¡±

    The voice on the other side grew very excited, almost frantic.

    ¡°Star! Star! Oh thank god you¡¯re okay. I was so worried. I was tearing myself apart trying to find you. Where are you? Did you land nearby?¡±

    ¡°What do you mean land? I am at home still.¡±

    There was a shocked silence in reply, but the girl on the other end eventually spoke up with a tremble in her voice.

    ¡°Who¡­ Who is with you?¡±

    ¡°Lady Flamewalker is with me. We are on the hard spell surface outside the den.¡±

    ¡°I¨C What do you mean Lady Flamewalker is with you? Did you give my name away? It¡¯s me! Lily!¡±

    ¡°I am with Lady Flamewalker. Right now. She is beside me. I do not know who you are, but it is not her.¡±

    ¡°What¡­? If this is some kind of joke¨C Please stop pretending. Who is that other girl, really?¡±

    ¡°I do not understand. What do you gain from this game? I am with Master. She has never left.¡±

    The girl on the other end was audibly crying. But, was pushing forward. If this was a trick¡­ Lily¡¯s stomach was starting to sink. If this was a trick, it was a really good trick. But she was right here!

    ¡°The.. The spell! That¡¯s right. The spell! What happened? It went off, and I woke up in the snow. I almost died. It was so cold. I¡¯m lucky I didn¡¯t get frostbite anywhere. Sunica knew how to bring my body temperature back up, but I slept for days. But when I woke up, you were gone, and I¨C I think I¡¯m in another world! There¡¯s people here! Please, I¡¯ve tried so hard to find you. Please believe me. I don¡¯t know who that is, but I¡¯m Lily! I am! I promise!¡±

    Star looked uncertainly at his Master. Lily put her arms around him, and spoke again to the crying girl. Her stomach had sunk through the floor. But, she didn¡¯t think this was an act. Not anymore.

    ¡°I believe you.¡±

    The girl on the other side made a sound like she¡¯d been stabbed.

    ¡°YOU! Who are you? Why do you have Star? Are you at my house? Are you the one who sent the basement spell? Entity B? Give me back Star!¡±

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    Lily hadn¡¯t been expecting that, and at the same time¡­ it felt entirely natural that had been the response.

    ¡°I¡¯m not entity B. I¡¯m Lily.¡±

    ¡°Liar! Liar liar liar!¡±

    The other girl was sobbing.

    ¡°I am. I¡¯m Lily. I think¨C I think that wasn¡¯t a teleportation spell. I¡¯ve been over here trying to figure out where I messed up. I lived. We lived. But the spell didn¡¯t do anything. It just sucked away all the mana, and destroyed the house. But, I think it did do something. I think it created you.¡±

    ¡°Created me? I teleported! I¡¯m RIGHT HERE. I¡¯m LILY!¡±

    The deeper voice, Sunica came back. Lily could hear her comforting the wailing girl gently, then speaking for her.

    ¡°Uh, Miss Outsider? Er, Other Lily?¡±

    ¡°Yeah? I¡¯m- I¡¯m really sorry for all the trouble.¡±

    ¡°Could you give us a few minutes? Take a walk or somethin¡¯?¡±

    ¡°Yeah. I¨C Yeah. I¡¯ll be back in a few minutes. I¡¯ll announce myself. Me and Star will take some time.¡±

    Star looked up at Lily and spoke.

    ¡°No. I will stay.¡±

    ¡°Huh? But¡­ But I¡¯d like to talk about. You know.¡±

    ¡°We will have time to talk tonight. Right now, this Lady Flamewalker needs me.¡±

    Lily almost said ¡®I need you too¡¯. Which was true. A small childish part of her wanted to lash out, and say that because she was holding her shit together she didn¡¯t get comfort?  But¡­ the sounds on the other side. She could imagine. Being in a strange place, with a strange person. Who knows where. And learning this. Her heart broke. But, she nodded.

    ¡°Yeah. Okay.¡±

    She walked away.

    <hr>

    Lily took a walk down to the boat, and sat on the dock. Another her. The spell had created another her. Was it an identical copy? Was it her? Did it just think it was her? Her head was spinning.

    ¡°What kind of final gift was this, Entity B? What part of this is a gift?¡±

    She was a little hurt that Star had stayed, despite herself. Jealous. But it was the right thing to do. It was. He was just being kind hearted towards the copy.

    No. No no no. Not it. Not ¡®the copy¡¯. Her. Lily. She caught herself thinking in those terms and immediately corrected. No. She would not do that. That girl on the other side of the spell seemed very real. Lily had no way of knowing how exact a copy she was, but she wasn¡¯t going to fall into a pattern of dehumanizing her. She was either a very confused girl, or she was¡­ Lily. Another Lily.

    That was so weird. Lily remembered a Star Trek episode like this. Riker had been on a planet with some kind of electromagnetic disturbance, and when they¡¯d beamed him up the one on the planet didn¡¯t get erased. Then they left, thinking they had him. And the Riker on the planet¡­ suffered. In this scenario, Lily was safe and sound on the Enterprise. This other Lily was the one who suffered. So, Lily would do her best to move forward with compassion.

    At the same time, it was important to acknowledge her feelings. Her sense of self had been violated. She felt like something had been taken from her. She was Lily. This other person could be someone else! But she knew it didn¡¯t work like that. The new Lily had a right to exist too. It just¨C It wasn¡¯t fair!

    What, was she a child now? Stamping her foot and declaring the world unfair? Yes. It was unfair. Just like every other thing in the entire fucking world. Just like every day of her life up until it all ended. It wasn¡¯t fair. Nothing was fair. Fairness was a joke.

    But, there it was. Those bitter feelings. She could still be hurt when things were unfair, because¡­ Because they should be. And this other Lily, this situation was even worse for her.

    But¡­ Was it so wrong for Lily to still want to cry? To still be upset? Star had stayed with the strange one. And, that was just scratching the surface. Her feelings about this, the other Lily¡¯s feelings on this¡­ They were small. It didn¡¯t feel like it. But it was the truth.

    A thought had been building under the surface of her emotions since she¡¯d had the realization of who that girl was. A terrifying thought. Another world? And a spell that can create a copy of her to go in it?

    She had that spell now. It existed. She had it, if she just cleared the basement again. The other Lily too. She might be able to recreate it in time, even without the notes. Wait, did she have the notes too? Either way. This was¨C This was dangerous. Not just dangerous to her. This other Lily was in another world? At least she thought so.

    Nothing was stopping Lily from using this spell again. Or the other one. This was bad. This was so, so bad. There was a reason you don¡¯t create self replicating technology. Nanobots that make more nanobots. A Von Neumann probe? At least nanobots were probably locked to one world. At least Von Neumann probes would take millenia to spread.

    ¡°I see. A gift. I see it now.¡±

    Entity B had given her a ¡®gift¡¯ alright. It had handed her the launch codes. A big red button she could push, and¨C do what? Whatever she wanted.

    So, she could create copies of herself and send them to another world. Other worlds? How many were there? How did the targeting work? She could figure that out in time. And then what? Those copies knew magic. They could cause drastic changes to wherever they landed. And if they were killed? She could send another. And another. And another. She could make copies of herself. Copies! As many as she had the mana for. Oh, and those copies? They could make copies of themselves. And those copies could, and those copies could. It was just a spell. A spell she had. If every copy went out and made two more as quickly as possible, how long would it take for her to be on every world that existed? Well, maybe it was just the one other one. Okay, in that case, how long would it take for a version of her to be in control of every major government if she put her mind to it.

    It didn¡¯t matter if her plans failed either. She could try again, and again, and again. An infinite number of times. She could set up the spell to repeat!

    And then what? Would those copies all grow in different directions over time? Would they all have different motivations and goals, given some time apart?

    This was a bomb. To use it, even once was to unleash something huge and world altering on an entire universe, as much of it as existed. A Lily bomb. An infinity of her. Each one like an image captured in the frame of an infinite roll of film, slightly different than the last because of it¡¯s experiences.

    Or she could not do any of this. But it was too late for that. Pandora¡¯s box was open now. Because her copy could do it too. Her copy could go wage a war on the universe, and there¡¯s nothing she could do from here to stop her.

    No. She wouldn¡¯t do that. She was Lily too, right? But that was the thing. Was she? She was going to go on to have different experiences. She was going to grow differently from this starting point. She already had. She was friends with that stranger.

    So, what? Pandora¡¯s box is open. It¡¯s too late. She could convince Alt Lily to never use it. But, she knew herself. Would she hold to that promise? What if Star was in danger? What if it was a matter of life and death?

    She¡¯d do it. She¡¯d do it to live. Which meant her copy would do it to live too. It was inevitable. Their only hope was to go and try to live a quiet life that never called for it.

    Because the alternative¨C

    A vision crossed her mind. A familiar image. Herself, spreading across the stars like a virus. A bacteria. A fungus. Something horrible and disgusting. A disease on a universal scale. Her stomach roiled.

    No. No no no. She just wouldn¡¯t use it. She¡¯d convince the other Lily. If she had the notes, she could burn them. She could renounce magic. She¡¯d destroy the basement. Something like this shouldn¡¯t exist. It shouldn¡¯t be allowed to exist! If it really was just her in the universe that would be one thing, but someone like her shouldn¡¯t have this kind of power.

    But it did exist.

    It exists.

    It¡¯s possible.

    Which means¨C

    Someone else could use it too.

    Eventually, wouldn¡¯t someone else find it too?

    Entity B already had it.

    Her head was spinning. She couldn¡¯t do anything to prevent other people from finding and using this spell.

    In an infinite timespan, it¡¯d happen eventually.

    Pandora¡¯s box was open.

    Could she do anything to stop it?

    <hr>

    ¡°Master, I am here. It is only me. We are alone together.¡±

    There was a sniffle and a hiccup from the other side of the spell.

    ¡°Star? I thought you left with her¡­¡±

    ¡°No. I am here. Right here. I will not leave you, Master.¡±

    Sunica¡¯s voice was softly reassuring Lily on the other end. Star wasn¡¯t sure what to make of that. He couldn¡¯t remember having ever met another human. But, the strange girl was trying to make his Master feel better, so for now he was happy she was present.

    ¡°I thought you¡ª I thought I lost you forever! I thought you teleported like me, but I couldn¡¯t find you, and you could be anywhere in the world, even under the ocean or dead or blasted like paste across the universe and it was all my fault and I¡¯m so sorry!¡±

    ¡°Master, you have done nothing wrong. Don¡¯t be sorry. You have not lost me. I do not know how to visit you, but we will find a way. For now, we can talk.¡±

    She sniffled again. His Master was quite a crybaby. But that was fine. He adored her.

    ¡°My only regret is that with two of you, I somehow do not get twice the duck feet.¡±

    He heard a sloppy laugh in response, and his tail wagged. He was getting good at cheering up his Master.

    ¡°I am glad to hear that you have not gone on a rampage. The other Lady Flamewalker was confident she would go all ¡®john wick¡¯ on the world if I were killed.¡±

    ¡°I would! Luckily, you¡¯re okay. I¡¯m so glad you¡¯re okay. I don¡¯t know what I would have done if you weren¡¯t. I never could have forgiven myself. I¡¯m sorry. I really am. You said I didn¡¯t do anything wrong, but I did. I put you in danger with that spell. I should have been more careful. Or not used it at all. I had all the time in the world. I just let curiousity get me. I wish I had waited. I wish I had spent more time with you.¡±

    ¡°Master. I am fine. I am right here. Nothing bad has happened to me at all, and we will spend much time together in the future too.¡±

    ¡°Can we? I don¡¯t know how to get back Star¡­¡±

    ¡°You are doing that thing where you are cruel to yourself for no reason again.¡±

    He heard a laugh from Sunica in the background.

    ¡°Really though! I don¡¯t even know if there IS a way back.¡±

    ¡°We are talking right now.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s just talking though! What if that¡¯s all we can do?¡±

    ¡°That is ridiculous. But even if that were the case, then we would talk. As often as you like. You use magic, Master. We will find a way.¡±

    Another snuffle. She sounded like she was coming down from crying though. Star felt proud of himself. But he meant every word. He was sure that with two of his Master working together, they would find a way to visit. And, even if it were somehow impossible, they would set up a spell to talk frequently.

    ¡°I miss you. I miss you so much. I¡¯m not the same without you. I fall back into old patterns. I¡¯m self destructive. You bring a lot of stability and safety to my life. I¨C I need you.¡±

    ¡°I did not know you were suffering. But, now you have me. When you work it out, I will get the Master here to help with the spellwork so we can talk whenever you connect it. Then, you do not have to be apart from me.¡±

    ¡°Thanks Star. I¨C I wish I could hug and hold you. But, I¡¯m just so glad you¡¯re okay. I don¡¯t know what to do now though. Maybe I can put the spell together properly and come home? Would¨C Would it be okay for me to come home? Is it okay if there are two of me?¡±

    ¡°I will speak with the Lady Flamewalker here. I am confident I can talk her into accepting you.¡±

    ¡°Hah, don¡¯t you think you¡¯re persuasive? I feel like I should be a little affronted on her behalf!¡±

    ¡°Oh? You do not think I will need to persuade you to be good as well? I am very powerful.¡±

    The girl on the other end laughed.

    ¡°Master?¡±

    ¡°Yeah?¡±

    ¡°Are you ready for the other Master to come back?¡±

    ¡°Yeah. I think I can handle it.¡±

    ¡°That is good, because I can see her approaching.¡±

    The girl took a deep breath and let it out.

    ¡°Alright. Let¡¯s go. Round two!¡±

 0.042

    Lily returned to her spot next to Star, trying not to ruminate. She felt like she was going to throw up, but this had to be handled delicately. This other Lily was already in a bad place, and she was about to make it worse. A voice snapped her out of her internal spiral.

    ¡°Welcome back, Master.¡±

    ¡°Thanks. Was I¡­ away long enough?¡±

    The other Lily spoke up through the spell.

    ¡°I¡¯ve gotten myself together. Can¡¯t say everything is peachy, but let¡¯s deal with this huh?¡±

    Lily paused for a moment.

    ¡°Is that really what I sound like?¡±

    ¡°Hey! I could say the same thing! It¡¯s weird hearing your voice from the outside. Especially saying things you¡¯ve never said.¡±

    ¡°...Yeah. Hey, listen. I was thinking. Do you have any of the supplies we packed? Backpack, laptop, notebooks?¡±

    ¡°Oh yeah. Were you like naked after the spell was cast or something? ¡®Cause I got it all. Even Bay. He¡¯s unharmed by the way.¡±

    ¡°Wait, what? That¡¯s¨C But I have Bay. And I have our clothes.¡±

    ¡°Huh. Did they all get duplicated? Well, yeah. I have all our stuff here. Even Bay and the Laptop. Phone is missing though. I think I must have dropped it in the snow or something.¡±

    A pause. That was weird. How could their phone be missing on both ends? Maybe she lost it before going to the basement? But she was pretty sure she had brought it.

    ¡°That¡¯s weird as hell. I lost the phone too. I haven¡¯t seen it since the spell. Even Star can¡¯t sniff it out.¡±

    ¡°What? Did the spell eat it or something? Why? How?¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t know! More importantly, about those notebooks¨C¡±

    ¡°Yeah! I was thinking about that too. I¡¯m gonna try and fix the spell and come home.¡±

    The bottom dropped out of Lily¡¯s stomach. Come home? That was¡­ That was such a terrible idea! What if it just duplicated her again but here? And on top of that working with this spell is DANGEROUS. Not to mention¨C She didn¡¯t know if two of them in the same space was a good idea. Noticing the silence, the Lily on the other side started again.

    ¡°Hello? Is this thing still connected? Look I know you probably don¡¯t want me there. But it¡¯s my home too you know! Besides, it¡¯s a big world. I¡¯ll even take off when I get there. Maybe see about tracking down all that data from defunct servers we still want.¡±

    ¡°No.¡±

    ¡°... What do you mean, no?¡±

    ¡°I mean, no! Listen, there¡¯s a bigger threat than any of this you clearly haven¡¯t thought about yet. You need to get out that notebook and burn it. As soon as you can.¡±

    ¡°Like hell I will! That notebook is my lifeline! All the spells I worked so long to learn! I¡¯m not trashing it!¡±

    ¡°You have to!¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t have to do anything. You¡¯re not my boss, you¡¯re just me but more secure! Easy for you to say Miss never-left-home. It¡¯s rough out here.¡±

    Lily bit her lip. This wasn¡¯t going well. She took a deep breath, and tried to restart.

    ¡°Look, I¡¯m sorry. Let me explain. Please?¡±

    ¡°Fine.¡±

    ¡°That spell¨C The basement spell. It¡¯s more than it seems. If it really made you, it¡¯s a gateway to a lot of things that shouldn¡¯t exist. Think about it. Either one of us can make copies now, and send them who knows where. Once we figure out how to target the spell, we can send them anywhere we want. Copies of us.¡±

    ¡°So?¡±

    ¡°So?! What do you mean, so? That¡¯s so bad!¡±

    ¡°In what way?¡±

    ¡°Think about it for two seconds instead of just being contrary! God damn, am I always this annoying?¡±

    Star and Sunica both started speaking at the same time, but cut each other off. Sunica started laughing, Star looked apologetic. The other Lily let out a deep sigh, and continued.

    ¡°It¡¯s not like I haven¡¯t thought it through at all. It¡¯s a huge amount of power to have. But, I feel relieved to have it. Hopefully we can use it to get me home with some modification. But, even without that, yeah. There might be even more worlds out there. We can explore the universe! Isn¡¯t that something we¡¯ve always dreamed of?¡±

    ¡°Sure, and who cares about the ramifications right? The fact that me being there will alter the way that world continues forward from that point? The fact that we have magic and they might not? The fact that death is more of a set back than a showstopper?¡±

    ¡°I was thinking about that too, think we could set up the spell to work like a save point? What if we seperated the copy half and the paste half you know? I wonder what the precedent is for storing magical data. We could do it in circuits, but it¡¯d be huge and instantly erased if the spell lost power, but I¡¯d feel a lot more secure knowing that if I die I¡¯ll just be backed up to the last time I stepped in a circle like that you know?¡±

    ¡°You¡¯re not as subtle as you think you are.¡±

    ¡°Who¡¯s being subtle? I just really want that.¡±

    ¡°I do too! But it¡¯s not worth the rammifications. It¡¯s not about us! It¡¯s about the universe at large! Say there really are more worlds out there, it¡¯s not okay for us to mess with them.¡±

    ¡°Ugh, I hear it now. Sunica has told me a hundred times that I¡¯m not okay and I sound like a lunatic, and I can totally hear it from the outside.¡±

    ¡°What, you think it¡¯s no big deal?¡±

    ¡°I think you¡¯re letting your fears coerce you into doing something stupid because it ¡®must be done¡¯. Not that I¡¯m one to talk. I almost killed myself casting this stupid spell.¡±

    ¡°Wait, really? This spell wasn¡¯t hard at all on this side. What happened?¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t want to get sidetracked, but there¡¯s like WAY less mana over here. I had to power it with my own, and I made some mistakes.¡±

    ¡°Huh.¡±

    They sat in awkward silence for a few moments. The mana was much less over there? And the other Lily had said something about getting there days ago. That was weird too. The spell was the day before yesterday on her end, so there must be some kind of time incongruence too. But it wasn¡¯t messing with the message spell, so that was very strange. Finally, Lily returned to the difficult topic.

    ¡°I really do think it needs doing though. We can¡¯t mess with other worlds. Our very being there with magic could change history on a world like our earth, and we don¡¯t know if it would be in a good way.¡±

    ¡°You¡¯re right about that. But, so what? Listen, we¡¯re traumatized. I know it. I suffer from it too. But that¡¯s fear talking. The same fear that tells us we are worthless, and disgusting, and shouldn¡¯t be out in public. That we shouldn¡¯t be allowed to be in those spaces. I¨C I had an experience in the city. It went bad, and it was my fault.¡±

    Sunica protested in the background, and that Lily continued.

    ¡°It was mostly my fault. But I¡¯ve been thinking about it since then. Rational thought can¡¯t just erase fears¡­ but I think a lot of our actions stem from those feelings. And now I hear you saying that¨C and yeah. Why can¡¯t we go to other worlds? Who says we shouldn¡¯t be allowed to have that power? We have it. We get to decide what to do with it.¡±

    ¡°But! Listen! We could end up spreading exponentially even if we don¡¯t intend to. All we need is one of us dead set on creating more, and it turns out we can disagree on things. Which is juuuuuust perfect.¡±

    ¡°Do you honestly think that a version of us is capable of doing something intentionally horrible with this power?¡±

    ¡°YES.¡±

    ¡°Like what?¡±

    ¡°Like¨C I don¡¯t know. Do you really think we¡¯re so selfless a person that we should have this much power?¡±

    ¡°No.¡±

    ¡°Exactly!¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t think we¡¯re a selfless person at all. But I think whether we like it or not we have this power. All we can do with it is our best.¡±

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    Lily was grinding her teeth. This was another version of her, separated by days? Days, and they could disagree on such a fundamental issue?

    ¡°Our best is renouncing magic and never using this spell.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s stupid. Other people have it too. At very least Entity B. The only thing us not using it at all changes is whether we have that power. You¡¯re comfy at home, you have the privilege of thinking over the moral issues. I¡¯m out here, and I don¡¯t know what I¡¯m going to do or how I¡¯m going to live in this world long term. I want to come home. Then we can decide what to do from there together.¡±

    ¡°The answer is obvious¨C¡±

    ¡°TOGETHER. How about this? Help me figure out the spell enough to get home, and I¡¯ll agree neither of us uses the spell unless we both think it¡¯s a good idea.¡±

    ¡°Absolutely not.¡±

    ¡°Now who¡¯s being contrary!?¡±

    ¡°I think you will eventually convince me. I don¡¯t want the temptation. I don¡¯t want this power! I¡¯m¨C I¡¯m not good! We are not good! We ruin everything we touch, and the last thing I want to do is ruin the entire universe!¡±

    Lily took a deep breath, but before she could continue Star nipped her arm.

    ¡°Ouch! What the hell?¡±

    ¡°You are being cruel to yourself again, Master.¡±

    Lily couldn¡¯t help it. Tears filled her eyes. She was having trouble seeing.

    ¡°Oh, so I guess you¡¯re on her side then?¡±

    ¡°I am on no one¡¯s side. But I love you, and you are not bad like you think.¡±

    ¡°I just¨C I don¡¯t want it. It shouldn¡¯t exist, for anyone. No one should be allowed to have that much power. But it especially shouldn¡¯t be me.¡±

    ¡°Then, do not use it. It is up to you. It is yours.¡±

    ¡°But she¨C!¡±

    ¡°She is she. You are you.¡±

    There was silence again. Lily hugged Star, and just cried for a few minutes. Eventually, Sunica spoke over the spell again.

    ¡°So uh, how am I supposed to address each of ya? I mean, you¡¯re both Lily. That¡¯s confusing as hell, and that¡¯s just with two of you.¡±

    The Lily on her end responded.

    ¡°Well, one of us will be Lily One, the other can be Lily Two. ¡°

    Lily spoke up.

    ¡°Dibs on One!¡±

    ¡°What? How¡¯s that fair?¡±

    ¡°I called dibs. Plus, I¡¯m at home. Of course I¡¯m the original.¡±

    ¡°Oh let¡¯s not even start talk like that. I¡¯ve had a rough time, let me have this!¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m not going to go by Lily Two for the rest of my life just ¡®cause you¡¯ve had a bad few days.¡±

    ¡°Well, you could just choose a different name in general.¡±

    ¡°No! You choose a different name!¡±

    ¡°But I¡¯ve already introduced myself to people here! Well, mostly just Sunica, but still.¡±

    ¡°Fine! You be Lily One, I¡¯ll be Lily Zero.¡±

    ¡°Huh. You know, I wanna argue, but that makes too much sense. Okay, hub world Lily is Lily Zero. I¡¯m Lily One. Poor Lily Two when she shows up¡­¡±

    ¡°There¡¯s not gonna be a Lily Two. Don¡¯t joke about that.¡±

    ¡°Fiiiine. Geez, just trying to lighten the mood.¡±

    One let out a big sigh, and then tried changing the subject.

    ¡°Hey, so, there is one good thing about there being two of us.¡±

    ¡°Yeah?¡±

    ¡°Yeah. We can both work on spells. Double the productivity you know?¡±

    ¡°Hmm. I guess.¡±

    ¡°Not to mention! You gotta help me theorycraft. Okay, so this world is weird. It¡¯s got classes and levels like an RPG! I¡¯m dead set on getting a good one. Actually it¡¯s half of what I worked on tonight.¡±

    Lily paused. Classes and levels like a game? There was no way she meant that, right? Like. Like, D&D or something?

    ¡°Uh, wait. Wait. Hold up. First off, WHY DID YOU NOT LEAD WITH THAT!? Secondly, that is the coolest! I¡¯m jealous! Did you get a class yet? Is that what Sunica meant by [Trapper] level 9? I thought it was like a licensing thing!¡±

    ¡°Yeah! Yeah! Really! I got [Fragment] and a skill [Heretical Mana]. I¡¯m not totally sure what it means, but my internal mana is a LOT stronger now. Is yours? Is that my skill, or just having lived through the spell?¡±

    ¡°I¨C I think it must be your skill. I haven¡¯t noticed a difference. Ah, that¡¯s practically cheating! But what does the ¡®Heretical¡¯ bit mean? That sounds¡­ ominous.¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t know exactly. But apparently strange magic users around here are on the government¡¯s shit list. So I gotta be careful.¡±

    Sunica¡¯s voice interrupted.

    ¡°Uh, not quite.¡±

    One turned to address her for now.

    ¡°What do you mean not quite? You gave me that whole speech when we met.¡±

    ¡°Well, it¡¯s just, you¡¯d be picked up by the guards if you were a [Sorcerer], but it¡¯s really the church that wants you.¡±

    ¡°...church?¡±

    ¡°Yeah, they don¡¯t have a strong presence around here, but they pay big money for [Sorcerers]. Most local governments will turn over anyone they find practicing strange magic in the hopes of a payout, and to maintain good relations.¡±

    ¡°Huh. Wait. What church? You have religion here? Gods and Goddesses? Are there more than one?¡±

    An exasperated sigh came through.

    ¡°Talk to me when you¡¯re not using a spell to talk about important things with your¡­ um. Yourself.¡±

    ¡°Right! Yeah, so I am trying to get an [Enchanter] class. I enchanted Bay! It¡¯s how we¡¯re talking right now, and I have some more plans.¡±

    ¡°Huh. Why [Enchanter], why not something cooler?¡±

    ¡°Apparently all the coolest classes are upgrades of simple classes. I think [Enchanter] ought to be simple enough that it is obtainable, and having a source of money to start with would go a long way. For now, I¡¯m thinking I¡¯m gonna enchant some magical girl themed stuff. Any ideas?¡±

    ¡°Oh, well, Bay is already your mascot character, yeah?¡±

    ¡°Hah, of course you get it. Yeah! That¡¯s the idea! He speaks too! Well, with your voice. But you know.¡±

    ¡°Hmm. I wonder if we can make that better so that Star can pilot him? Then you¡¯d have Star as a mascot character.¡±

    Star perked up.

    ¡°What are you talking about Master?¡±

    ¡°Oh, uh, well I think it¡¯d be cool if you could control her version of Bay. Walk him around, talk to her through him, you know? That sound fun?¡±

    Star¡¯s tail wagged, and he gave her a huge dog smile.

    ¡°Yes Master, I would like that a lot.¡±

    ¡°Settled! Let¡¯s work on that, yeah?¡±

    ¡°Welllll. I love the idea, but do you think you could work on it with your Bay on your end first? I don¡¯t have access to Star, so it¡¯s hard to work on it from this side. Besides, I have something I want to make asap now that I think of it.¡±

    ¡°Oh yeah? Safety spells? ¡®Cause I got a good one I made.¡±

    ¡°Well, definitely talk to me about that sometime. But for now I want to throw together a mana reader! Something that can tell me what ambient mana levels in an area are like. I want to compare between there and here.¡±

    Lily nodded to herself. It was a good idea. It¡¯d let her create a standard for it too, and if they were going to explore¡­ They weren¡¯t going to explore! But it still might be good for spooky spots even on her side.

    ¡°Yeah, okay. I think that¡¯s a great idea! You work on that, I¡¯ll work on Bay. The other thing that comes to mind is the time difference.¡±

    ¡°Time difference? What time difference?¡±

    ¡°You said it¡¯s been days there. I did the spell on my end the day before yesterday. It doesn¡¯t line up. It¡¯s not extremely far off, but it being off at all is weird don¡¯t you think? We¡¯ll need to set something up to measure.¡±

    ¡°Oh shit. Huh. That¡¯s so WEIRD. Okay, yeah, we¡¯ll need to create a spell to monitor the time differential too.¡±

    Sunica broke in again.

    ¡°Oh my god both of you are so lame! Just talk to each other!¡±

    Both Lily¡¯s stopped for a second. Eventually One replied.

    ¡°Huh? We are?¡±

    ¡°About your time difference. Just call her back in the morning, and do it once a day until you figure it out. Do you have to do EVERYTHING with spells?¡±

    Another pause. This time both Lily¡¯s spoke at once.

    ¡°Magic is cool.¡±

    ¡°Magic is cool.¡±

    They both had a good laugh at that. Zero eventually continued speaking.

    ¡°Well, she¡¯s not wrong. I guess just talking to another person, even another me just doesn¡¯t really come to mind.

    ¡°Yeah, that¡¯s for sure. She¡¯s been talking sense into me since we met. That said, I did stay up late into the night working on this spell. I am starting to get pretty woozy.¡±

    ¡°Huh. Alright, sleep. But¡­¡±

    ¡°What?¡±

    ¡°I know I shouldn¡¯t bring it up again. But you¡¯re really going to make more copies? You aren¡¯t scared of the same things I am at all?¡±

    Lily One laughed, with a hint of bitterness in her voice.

    ¡°Of course I¡¯m scared of the same things you are. I don¡¯t know if I¡¯ll make copies. I just don¡¯t want to decide not to. Tell you what, we can both agree not to until we¡¯ve at least sat down and talked about this a few more times and tried to think through all the possible issues. Deal?¡±

    ¡°Deal. That¡¯ll put my mind at ease. Just don¡¯t let anyone else see those notebooks.¡±

    ¡°Like I would! Besides, it seems like other people might see gibberish when they look at them. I¡¯m not sure what¡¯s up with that yet.¡±

    ¡°What? That makes no sense. They¡¯re just shapes. They¡¯re mundane on their own.¡±

    ¡°Yeah I know right! Ow¨C Hey! What the heck!¡±

    Sunica spoke through the spell again.

    ¡°She¡¯s going to bed now. Or else you two will be up talking about this junk until half way through tomorrow. You can just re-cast this spell whenever you want now yeah?¡±

    Lily laughed to herself, and felt mildly jealous. It must be nice, having a friend like that. Although, she adored Star too. It was just a different sort of relationship.

    ¡°Oh, uh. Yeah! When it closes off I¡¯ll re-cast it in the boat. You should be able to connect any time from your side and talk to me. Uh, if I¡¯m in the boat. If not, just¡­ um. We¡¯ll figure it out in time. For now, just try back every hour if I don¡¯t answer.¡±

    ¡°Sounds good. It was nice meeting you Miss, and uh, Mister!¡±

    Star perked up.

    ¡°Yes! Yes! It was fun! I like having more friends!¡±

    The connection closed.

    Lily sat back. It was starting to get late. Although, not quite dark yet.

    ¡°Master, are you okay?¡±

    ¡°No. But I will be. I think. I¨C My head hurts. I just want to lie down. I¡¯m sorry I snapped at you earlier. Come lay in bed with me, okay?¡±

    ¡°Can we watch more of the baking show?¡±

    Lily smiled.

    ¡°Yeah, that sounds great.¡±

 1.007

    Lily¡¯s head was spinning, but she let Sunica help her set up a bed on the couch. She even got to use her sleeping bag. She had been planning to just sleep without anything and let the sleeping bag be a mana battery for the spell. She had just grabbed the first thing she could find that belonged to her and had any sort of weight to it. But, now Sunica helped her unroll it onto the couch and grabbed a pillow from her room. She also took some time to marvel at the zipper.

    ¡°This is insane craftsmanship. I know I¡¯ve said that about a lot of the things you have, but it really is impressive. You might be able to sell this design to a blacksmith or something.¡±

    Lily laughed.

    ¡°I¡¯m not so sure about that. Besides, if it¡¯s really valuable, shouldn¡¯t I hold onto it until I meet a rich smith?¡±

    ¡°Huh. I guess. I mean, the ones up in Avezare might be pretty loaded and have the skills to replicate this fine detail work.¡±

    ¡°Honestly, they¡¯re cool but probably not as cool as they seem. The little teeth break a lot, and if even one of them is busted the whole thing won¡¯t work.¡±

    Sunica looked at it thoughtfully, zipping it up and down a few times.

    ¡°I don¡¯t think that¡¯s a problem here. A smith with skills ought to be able to reinforce them pretty good. Even if not, they could go on clothes for the wealthy that would have enchanters for things like that. Or a simple [Repair] spell.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s a spell? That¡¯s¨C I¡¯m a little mad about that.¡±

    Sunica giggled, Lily couldn¡¯t help but laugh a little too.

    ¡°Why? It¡¯s a useful spell! Even if you just learned that, you could travel around casting it in inns and stuff for room and board. Some [Mages] do that. Well, the poor ones.¡±

    ¡°What do the rich ones do?¡±

    ¡°Oh you know. Enchanting, adventuring, war, and architecture tend to be the big four.¡±

    Lily blanched. War? She supposed she shouldn¡¯t have expected anything else, but it was still something she hadn¡¯t thought about. A war with classes, skills, and magic. She somehow doubted it¡¯d be as fun as in a video game.

    ¡°So, the repair spell. How does it work?¡±

    ¡°What do you mean? The mage touches the object, says [Repair] and it gets repaired.¡±

    ¡°Yeah¨C But like. How? Like, how does the spell know what state to repair the object to? Say you used it on a ripped shirt. What happens?¡±

    ¡°The rip gets fixed?¡±

    ¡°Okay, that¡¯s what I thought. But why? Why does that happen? Why doesn¡¯t it turn into¡­ say, a ball of thread and a puddle of dye? Or a straight up plant?¡±

    ¡°What happened to you that made you have to overthink everything? It just works. Who cares how?¡±

    Lily was climbing into her sleeping bag at this point, and yawned for good measure.

    ¡°I guess. It¡¯s just, my spells are very methodical like that. If I wanted to make a repair spell, I¡¯d have to figure out how to choose what state it gets repaired to. And that¡¯s¡­ hard. I¡¯m a little jealous of your magic. It¡¯s so convenient.¡±

    Sunica rolled her eyes, but headed over to her room. This time she left the door open, and Lily could hear the sound of her practically falling into bed.

    ¡°G¡¯night Lily.¡±

    ¡°Good night Sunica. Thank you for everything.¡±

    A sleepy voice replied.

    ¡°Anything for you, Miss Outsider.¡±

    Lily smiled, and closed her eyes. Today had been one hell of a day. But, tomorrow would be the start of her new life in a new world. At least until she found a way home. She was excited. Get the [Enchanter] class, figure out her skills if she got any, offer enchantments to the people of Veni for money¡­ Maybe one at a time. Actually, forget that. She¡¯d go into town. Tomorrow. She¡¯d go into town alone. Even for a few minutes. She¡¯d force herself. If she was going to live in this world and explore others, she¡¯d NEED to get past this enough to be functional. Otherwise she¡¯d miss out on¡­ on everything. Classes and skills! Leveling! Adventures!

    Tomorrow. It all came down to tomorrow. She¡¯d go into town and force herself to just exist there, for even a little. If only she didn¡¯t have to be herself. If she could just be different¡­ Her conversation from earlier with Sunica replayed in her head.

    But, those were childish thoughts. She couldn¡¯t just be different. No matter how much she wanted it. Right?

    On the border of sleep and wakefulness, death and life, her own voice spoke to her.

    [Fragment] - Level 2

    [Student] - Class Obtained

    [Student] - Level 1

    Skill - [Perfect Handwriting] Obtained

    <hr>

    ¡°STUDENT!?¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s not a bad class, really.¡±

    ¡°Tell that to your face when I mentioned it!¡±

    Sunica giggled in response.

    ¡°It¡¯s just that you were so convinced you were going to get something totally impossible! [Student] is good, really!¡±

    ¡°I got [Perfect Handwriting]. In what world is that a good skill!? How am I supposed to make a living with this?¡±

    ¡°Well, you could probably get a job as a receptionist, or taking down messages. Or you could just use your enchanting skills as they are and don¡¯t tell people you don¡¯t have the class.¡±

    Lily paused. Well, she could do that. There was no reason she couldn¡¯t continue forward with her existing skills.

    ¡°Huh. Yeah, okay. I guess I can do that. Is what enchanters do noticably different than my magic? Like, if someone were watching?¡±

    ¡°Don¡¯t let them watch. Simple as that. Take an order, get the item to be enchanted, give them a timeline and price, and then go do it behind closed doors. Bam, easy.¡±

    ¡°I guess I didn¡¯t think of that. Won¡¯t they want to watch though?¡±

    ¡°Hah! No way. Did we watch your clothes being made? Do you go into the kitchen at a tavern and watch them make the food?¡±

    ¡°Well. Shit. Okay. I can do that. I guess I need to figure out what kind of enchantments I can offer.¡±

    Lily dug out her notebook, and flipped past her magical girl drawings. She had to admit, a small part of her had hoped for that class, if she wasn¡¯t going to get [Enchanter]. But, [Magical Girl] would probably be more trouble than it was worth in a world where strange magic users were on the run.

    Well, while she was already messing around in her notebook she might as well try out her new skill.

    ¡°Oh geez, this feels awkward. Uh. [Perfect Handwriting]!¡±

    Sunica snorted.

    ¡°You probably don¡¯t have to say that one. Some skills are always active. Isn¡¯t your mana thing like that?¡±

    Lily colored, but tried writing something. She started with her name. The moment the pen hit the paper with the intention to write her name, it was as if her arm was moving on its own. Not only was her name on the page perfectly printed as if it was a font on a computer, but it also came out so fast. Faster than her writing had been, by miles.

    ¡°Woah. Okay, that is pretty cool.¡±

    She held up her notebook so Sunica could see, and the balaur girl gave her a grin. Sunica was scrambling some eggs for them to have a simple breakfast. Lily had some questions about that, but was too absorbed in her own plans to have time to inquire. For now, she tried writing some more.

    ¡®Hello World¡¯

    ¡®My name is Lily. I am a level 1 [Student], trying my new skill.¡¯

    Not exactly inventive words, but they came out so quick and easy. It was faster, easier, and just as perfect as typing. That was amazing. Plus, typo¡¯s were impossible. Okay, admittedly, it might not be the coolest skill in the world. But she was still in awe!

    Work called though. She had plans for today. Enchantments she could offer in town. Hmm. She imagined what most people needed were blades that stayed sharp, materials that didn¡¯t break easily, and other things like that, but she didn¡¯t know how to do any of that.

    Most of her spells were more¡­ elemental, or mechanical. She might be able to help power a water wheel, or windmill better than without her magic. But she hadn¡¯t seen either of those things. She knew vaguely how to make them? But that wasn¡¯t really enchanting work, and it would require a good amount of trial and error.

    ¡°Think¡­ Think¡­ Hey Sunica! What kind of enchantments would people need anyway?¡±

    ¡°Well, what can you do?¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s what I¡¯m trying to figure out. I can make an area cold easily, but here that might not be needed. Does it get hot during the summer?¡±

    ¡°It snows year round.¡±

    ¡°What about as a safety precaution in like, a kitchen or a furnace?¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s¡­ pretty niche.¡±

    ¡°Oh! What about a spell that can start a fire? Like, you enchant your cooking area, then you can put wood in and activate the enchantment and the fire just starts?¡±

    ¡°I could see that being handy. But most people would just use kindleberries or other tinder. You might get a couple of takers, but you couldn¡¯t charge a lot for it. It¡¯s only a very small benefit you know?¡±

    ¡°Yeah. I guess I see that.¡±

    Lily stared down at the page. There had to be something. Her spells were useful! ¡­ to her. She¡¯d never really spent time inventing spells that would be useful to people in a place like this.

    If you spot this tale on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.

    ¡°Hmm. Can I use one of your cups for something I think ought to be useful? If you don¡¯t like it I can dispel it after.¡±

    ¡°Sure.¡±

    Sunica got up and fetched Lily a small cup to work on. Her idea was simple: A cup that refilled over time with fresh drinking water. Who¡¯d turn that down? When you had to go to a well to get water? She could even offer to enchant canteens and stuff like that for people who are out for a while. Maybe she¡¯d start at the guard house. A thank you to¨C ah crap she totally forgot his name! Shit! That was going to be so awkward!

    She shook her head. No. Focus. Spell time. She¡¯d done this spell before, for the animals at La Mancha. But she thought it¡¯d probably be slower here, because of the ambient mana levels. Still, it was free fresh water! Now, how did it go? The glyph for gathering water out of the air, and a modified capacitor glyph that replaced the mana symbol for the water one. Set the capacitor up with a gate that makes it stop pulling mana when it¡¯s full. Wait¡­

    Here, because the mana was so low, she should make a modification. If she used two capacitors instead of one, she could set one to hold a full enough charge to generate a glass of water, and another to act as the shut off when the water was full. That way the spell could hold enough charge to refill at least once fully before it had to start drawing again.

    Are there any other changes she should make? Maybe instead of just not charging, it should take in a small amount still to give the cup a glow? Just the light glyph with none of the other glyphs that turned it into her floating ball of light spell ought to make the cup glow when it was full on mana. Then people would know to drink it or pour it into a bucket or something so it could go back to generating. Yeah. Okay, that was a little more complicated, and had a second circle attached for the glowing bit. But that wasn¡¯t hard to accomplish. It should look like¡­ yeah. Lily had a clear image of the spell. She turned to start inscribing it out of mana onto the cup when¨C

    ¡°Woah!¡±

    In an instant, the spell flowed out of her. The mana left her body faster that she was used to. Normally she had to focus on each individual line as she wrote out the spell to make sure the delicate geometric shapes came out perfectly. But, not only did it come out quickly, it came out perfect. As perfectly as she had ever done a spell.

    ¡°What the hell¡­?¡±

    ¡°Everything okay?¡±

    ¡°Yeah I think so. I just¨C Give me a sec.¡±

    What the hell! It just came out. Like it was leaping out of her mana pool and inscribing itself! And it came out so good! Water was already beginning to bead on the sides of the cup. Sure, it wasn¡¯t a lot. But it¡¯d fill up if you gave it an hour or two. So what happened? It was¨C

    Oh. It was perfect. [Perfect Handwriting]. Her spells were written. It was a language all its own. Albeit one that blurred the rules of that a little like a programming language was a language, but still. Creating a spell circle involved writing it out.

    Lily giggled. Then, she laughed. She laughed until tears came to her eyes, and after a minute realized Sunica was staring at her.

    ¡°My skill! [Perfect Handwriting]! It works on my spells! Because they¡¯re a written language!¡±

    ¡°Oh, that¡¯s pretty nice. Now you don¡¯t have to spend as long drawing those complicated circles yeah?¡±

    ¡°Not as long? Sunica, I think I can cast spells like, ten times as quickly. Maybe more. And I won¡¯t make mistakes, unless I thought of the wrong spell somehow. This is¡ª This is huge!¡±

    Sunica grinned at her.

    ¡°I¡¯m glad you got a good one!¡±

    ¡°A good one!? I don¡¯t think you get it! Watch this!¡±

    Lily jumped up and scanned the room. She found five places, on the counter, two on the couch, one above the furnace, and one by the front door. Then she focused. The spell she¡¯d done the most. Her light ball spell.

    ¡°You wanted me to show you how I¡¯d fake one of this world¡¯s spells? Well watch this! [Light]!¡±

    She pulled. The spells flowed out of her in a second, perfect replicas of one another as if they were printed out spread across all five target areas. She pushed mana into them, and over each one a ball of light formed. The entire thing took less than five seconds. Lily grinned at Sunica. She was breathing a little hard, since she wasn¡¯t actually used to using mana that quickly yet. But she had the mana to spare. Her pool was so big now!

    Sunica stared around the room wide eyed, and gave her a little clap.

    ¡°Wow. Okay, fair enough. You couldn¡¯t do that yesterday. That¡¯s, well, frankly amazing for a level one skill.¡±

    ¡°Right!? I mean, sure it¡¯s just ¡®cause it¡¯s got a niche utility in exactly what I do, but still! Do they all work like that? Like, will all the skills I get suit me?¡±

    ¡°Hmm. Well, usually. They get better and more focused as you grow in level. A level 10 skill is gonna be way better than a level one skill, you know? And you don¡¯t get one every level or anything. Usually it¡¯ll be something within your class that¡¯s suited to what you¡¯ve been doing though. You know, a farmer who does a lot of heavy lifting is a lot more likely to get [Enhanced Strength] than one that is focused mostly on the technical side of it. You know. But it¡¯s not a guarentee or anything.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s¡­ That¡¯s so cool! I wanna level! How do I level up? Can I just go out and uh¡­ study?¡±

    Sunica snorted.

    ¡°I thought you were going to suggest fighting animals again. But yeah, pretty much I guess. You¡¯re more likely to level up when you do something difficult though. The more difficult, the more likely you are to get a level.¡±

    ¡°Huh. What¡¯s challenging for a student? An exam? Should I just find a school and take a really hard test?¡±

    ¡°What are you on about? I don¡¯t understand how your brain works sometimes.¡±

    But, Sunica was smiling. She gave Lily a pat on the head as she walked past to examine one of the lights.

    ¡°You know, this could be useful.¡±

    ¡°Yeah?¡±

    ¡°Yeah. You could probably make some money selling lights like this. Not having to worry about candles could save people money in the long run.¡±

    ¡°Huh. That¡¯s a good idea! What about my cup? Do you like it?¡±

    She held it out to Sunica, who looked at the mouthful of water inside it skeptically.

    ¡°It¡¯s damp? What¡¯s it do?¡±

    ¡°It refills with clean drinking water over time! And when it¡¯s full, it stores a charge, and when it¡¯s fully charged it should glow a little so you know to use the water!¡±

    Sunica took a deep breath, and smirked down at Lily. Her tail was flicking about, so Lily knew she¡¯d struck gold before she even said anything.

    ¡°I want to tell you that¡¯s stupid because you look so excited. But, I think that would actually go over pretty well. A whole bucket is probably too much, but just a cup someone can keep on a desk, or¨C can this be put on a waterskin too?¡±

    ¡°Yep! Should be able to go on any sort of liquid storing vessel!¡±

    ¡°Hmm. Well, I¡¯ll give it a pass. I think that¡¯s a good one too. That makes two useful spells you¡¯ve got, Miss Outsider. Now how are you going to sell them?¡±

    Lily froze.

    ¡°Well. I¨C uh. Okay, that¡¯s the hard part. Look. I need to get better. Talking to the other Lily yesterday got me thinking. If I¡¯m going to explore worlds with an S, I have to improve. I have to. If I can get even a little better, any other Lily that come from me is going to have it easier too.¡±

    Sunica¡¯s smile froze on her face.

    ¡°You¡¯re going to do it? Even though the¡­ the other you, hells that is so strange, even though she was so opposed?¡±

    ¡°I meant what I told her about waiting until we¡¯ve talked it over more. But I can¡¯t see what she could say to make me think it¡¯s a bad idea. If I did, I¡¯d already think it¡¯s a bad idea. She¡¯s me!¡±

    ¡°But she thinks it¡¯s awful.¡±

    ¡°And I think I would have too before coming here. Well, I guess that¡¯s self evident. But listen: I¡¯m here. And the world hasn¡¯t ended. If anything, I feel good about what I¡¯ve done here! Even the city! Apart from fighting with you. I¨C I¡¯m less than nothing right now. But I want to grow, understand?¡±

    ¡°I think so. But¡­¡±

    ¡°What?¡±

    ¡°It just sounds lonely. Being one of many like that, and each of you alone on a different world. Won¡¯t it hurt? Doesn¡¯t it hurt knowing there is another one of you already?¡±

    ¡°Yeah. It¡¯s gonna hurt like hell. But who else gets a chance like this? A chance to go everywhere and learn everything? Unravel the secrets of the universe! Meet everybody! Do everything! I¡¯ve been given a gift. I wanna use it!¡±

    ¡°Hmm. I guess that makes sense¡­¡±

    ¡°You sound a little upset.¡±

    Sunica grimaced at the question.

    ¡°It¡¯s not that. I¡¯m happy for you. I¡¯m just¡­ a little jealous. And a little scared.¡±

    ¡°Scared? You? What¡¯s got you scared? I saw you try to fist fight a platoon of guards yesterday.¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s¡­ It¡¯s complicated and not worth explaining. I¡¯ll get over it. Are you sure you want to go into town? It was pretty miserable for you last time.¡±

    ¡°Yeah! Even if I can only stand it in there for a few minutes, and I don¡¯t find a way to try and sell anything, I just¨C The only way out is through, you know? I¡¯ve known that for a long time about these fears, but it¡¯s easier said than done. But now¨C Now I¡¯m thinking that if I can make some progress, any at all, I¡¯ll have to suffer exponentially less in the future because the other Lily¡¯s aren¡¯t going to have to get over it too. No. This is my job. I¡¯m the only one who can do this for all of me.¡±

    ¡°You¡¯ve adjusted to this¡­ quickly.¡±

    Lily shrugged, and then gave a thumbs up.

    ¡°I don¡¯t know about that. I¡¯m terrified. But, I¡¯m great at repressing my feelings!¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s not something to brag about, you know?¡±

    Lily laughed, and Sunica joined in.

    ¡°Yeah yeah I know. It¡¯s just¡­ Yeah. It sucks in some ways. It¡¯s super weird. But my life has been super weird since everything happened. And on some level I don¡¯t think I¡¯ve really stopped to process any of it yet. I¡¯ve just kept going. That¡¯s just¨C How I live now. How I¡¯ve survived. Repress, and advance. I¡¯m sure it¡¯ll catch up with me at some point. It¡¯s not like I haven¡¯t thought about that. Before the split too, so I know she knows. Right now, we¡¯re just trying to survive with as little pain as we can manage. We can break down later.¡±

    ¡°Holy hells that¡¯s dark. You know¨C¡±

    ¡°I know it¡¯s not a healthy way to live. ¡­ But I can¡¯t stop right now. Please, don¡¯t try. I¡¯ll seriously cry if I start letting myself dip.¡±

    ¡°... Okay. I don¡¯t like it. When you can, will you talk to me?¡±

    Lily smiled.

    ¡°Yeah. And speaking of the other girl, let¡¯s give her a call huh?¡±

    ¡°Call¡±

    ¡°Like phoooo-oh never mind. I¡¯m gonna connect the spell and see if she¡¯s around.¡±

    Lily felt out the spell on Bay, and reconnected it. It was as simple as filling in the glyphs on the circle she made before, and thanks to her new skill it required very little effort. She practically just thought of the glyphs she wanted and they came out.

    ¡°Hello? Miss Zero?¡±

    Instead of her own voice, a low calm reassuring voice answered her.

    ¡°Hello Master. It is early.¡±

    ¡°Hey Star! It¡¯s so good to get to talk. Is it? It¡¯s getting close to noon here. A little before I think.¡±

    ¡°It is five AM here. It says so on the TV.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s weird¡­ Was it shorter for you?¡±

    ¡°It has been a day and a night since we talked.¡±

    ¡°Huh? Wait, what? We didn¡¯t contact you the next day? It¡¯s been more than a day? It¡¯s only been like 12 hours here!¡±

    ¡°Yes. It has been more than a day here. A day and the night, until five AM.¡±

    ¡°Damn. Has Zero gotten anything cool done in the mean time? Is she around?¡±

    ¡°She is sleeping. She was up late last night working on the spell you talked about.¡±

    ¡°Oh. Well, what are you doing up?¡±

    ¡°I am working on a secret project?¡±

    Lily exchanged a look with Sunica.

    ¡°What kiiiiind of secret project?¡±

    ¡°If I told you, it would no longer be a secret project Master.¡±

    Sunica laughed, and Star perked up a bit.

    ¡°Oh, is Miss Sunica with you?¡±

    ¡°Yeah, always over here.¡±

    ¡°Oh. I wish I had that.¡±

    Lily couldn¡¯t help but smile, even as that stung her heart. It was so¡­ guileless.

    ¡°I know. Me too. Plenty of room in this cabin when we figure it out. Till then, we¡¯ll have to settle for this. Hey, wanna keep me company while I walk into town?¡±

    As Star agreed, Sunica sputtered.

    ¡°W-wait you¡¯re going now? Without me? Will you be okay? What if¨C ah, will you be trying to sell your enchantments?¡±

    ¡°I¡¯ll be fine. I¡¯ll find the gate where whats his face works again, and go in for just a few minutes. I¡¯ll escape the moment I need to. In and out! Just like the breathing I¡¯ll be trying to remember to do!¡±

    ¡°Er, what¡¯s his face?¡±

    ¡°Yeah, the guard guy! The one that picked me up!¡±

    Sunica put her head in her hands.

    ¡°I shouldn¡¯t let you go alone.¡±

    ¡°Ah, don¡¯t be like that. What¡¯s the worst that can happen?¡±

    With that, Lily stepped outside. Sunica¡¯s voice called back to her before she closed the door.

    ¡°His name is Mister Avea!¡±

    ¡°Thanks!¡±

    Lily closed it. She was on an adventure. With Star. In another world! She wished he could see. This was going to be awesome!

 1.008

    ¡°How are the animals at La Mancha?¡±

    ¡°We went yesterday, in the morning. Master Zero dispelled her dead human things.¡±

    ¡°Dead man switches.¡±

    ¡°Yes, those. The animals are well. The water spells were still working well. There are too many eggs, but we have been letting the pack eat the excess. Master Zero is angry she still hasn¡¯t gotten milk figured out.¡±

    ¡°Huh. I bet I could find a farmer and ask some questions, right? Even if they don¡¯t have cows, they probably¡­ milk¡­something.¡±

    Lily grimaced thinking about it. Time to change the subject! She and Star had been walking for only about five minutes in the direction she remembered going yesterday, when she had stopped to work out a spell and talk for a bit. She was pretty sure she knew the way to town and back, but had an idea of how to make sure. So, here she was, still in sight of Sunica¡¯s cabin, albeit just barely, crafting a pair of spells.

    The idea wasn¡¯t complicated at all. She¡¯d gather mana here, and set up a mana compass like she had used to find spooky spots before the split. But, she still took the time to doodle in the snow with a stick to work out the magic before casting something strange. She needed to make sure it didn¡¯t overcharge like the paper in her living room had a long time ago. In the meantime, she was talking to Star through Bay.

    ¡°What is that world like? You mentioned to Lady Flamewalker Zero some things I did not understand.¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s really interesting, honestly. From like, even an anthropological standpoint. Among other things. For starters, there aren¡¯t many humans around here. I hear there are in other parts of the world, but everyone around here is Balaur. Which is¡­ Hmm.¡±

    ¡°Like Miss Sunica?¡±

    ¡°Yeah! She is too. Uh, how do I explain. She looks like a human woman in a lot of ways. But she¡¯s a fair bit taller than me, and she has scales. Bright red beautiful scales. And a tail! And horns. Some balaur seem to have even more of those traits. I¡¯ve seen a few people with full on claws rather than human hands, or different horns, I even think I saw clothes for people with wings in the tailor¡¯s shop now that I¡¯m thinking back through my panic. Though I didn¡¯t see anyone like that.¡±

    ¡°So, they are some kind of hybrid?¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m really not sure. They seem to be their own thing. Back on Earth I would have been sure they came from a common ancestor, but my gut tells me it doesn¡¯t need to be that way in a world with magic. Honestly, I find that easier to swallow than the idea of humans existing here too.¡±

    ¡°I do not understand.¡±

    ¡°Well, like, humans on earth¡­ ugh, I can¡¯t explain evolution quickly, I¡¯m sorry. Suffice it to say, every living thing on earth shares a parent, somewhere back in history. Dogs, humans, even plants. We¡¯re all very, very distant relatives. I can accept that it¡¯s different here pretty easily. If it is. But what bugs me is that if that¡¯s the case, things from earth shouldn¡¯t exist here. But I¡¯ve seen a number of things that definitely do exist on earth already. I couldn¡¯t tell you if these exact trees exist on earth or not, but they¡¯re pretty similar to trees that do exist. But, I can tell you for certain that at least humans, chickens, and dogs exist here. So, I think things from earth are just here. Which makes very little sense.¡±

    ¡°Maybe it is a quirk of earth that things exist that way here, and not the other way around?¡±

    ¡°Huh?¡±

    Lily finished up her mana gathering spell, and picked up Bay to continue her walk towards the town of Veni.

    ¡°You are talking like Earth is the default, and it is possible that designs of plants and animals were copied over to that world somehow despite the rules being possibly different. But, is it not also a possibility that the beings on Earth are the ones that are mimicking that place?¡±

    ¡°That¨C Hmm. I guess I didn¡¯t think of that. It seems unlikely, because things on earth have such a logical progression to them. Evolution is an observable and in controlled situations predictable process. So, it seems like one hell of a coincidence for it to have replicated things from elsewhere. And I can explain this place replicating earth with magic. But, I can¡¯t rule it out. Thanks for looking out.¡±

    ¡°Of course, Master. I will also point out that Earth does have magic.¡±

    ¡°Well, yeah. But only after everyone vanished.¡±

    ¡°Is that certain?¡±

    ¡°What do you mean? Of course! People would have found it a long time ago if it existed before then.¡±

    ¡°Why?¡±

    ¡°Because¡­ Because¡­ super smart people have existed through all of history and no one has even mentioned a discovery like that!¡±

    ¡°Maybe they did not discover it.¡±

    ¡°Spooky spots are all over the place. Of course they would have.¡±

    ¡°Those places where mana gathers so abundantly that natural spells occur may be the new phenomena after everyone vanishes. Not the existence of magic itself. Is it not possible that the mana level of the world was raised, but magic existed before then?¡±

    ¡°I. I guess that¡¯s possible. It¡¯s an outside shot, but I¡¯ll consider it.¡±

    ¡°I do not necessarily believe these things myself, Master. I want to point out potential gaps in your thinking.¡±

    ¡°Yeah, I know. When did you get so smart anyway?¡±

    ¡°I am your companion. I must be smart, to keep up with you.¡±

    ¡°Hah, you flatterer. But thank you. I¡¯ll try to absorb the compliment.¡±

    ¡°What else is different about that world?¡±

    Lily made it a ways down the road towards town, but had to sit again. She could see now that it was a sort of road. Well, more like a trail than a road. Along the path she had taken with Sunica there was a narrow area that the trees were less dense in. It was as if two forests were touching, and she was walking along the seam. It was beautiful. Cold as hell, even with her nice new clothes. But beautiful.

    ¡°That¡¯s going to be hard to explain without context too. But, I¡¯ll give it a try. It seems like depending on what kind of person you are here, and the things you do you get given a class. It¡¯s like a title or a designation or category or¡­ something. Like, someone who hunts might become a [Hunter], or someone who cooks might be a [Cook] or [Chef] see?¡±

    A case of theft: this story is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.

    ¡°Is that different than Earth?¡±

    ¡°Well, yeah. Because rather than just calling yourself, something uh¡­ assigns it to you? I¡¯m unclear on what that something is. But I get a little voice in my head when I¡¯m falling asleep that tells me.¡±

    ¡°I see. Are you stuck doing it? If you are assigned something you do not like, must you continue?¡±

    ¡°Nah, it¡¯s not like that. Though there are benefits to sticking with it.¡±

    Lily yelped as she stepped in snow that was somehow much deeper all of a sudden. There must have been a hole there, because she fell in up to her thighs. But, she was able to climb back out. She vaguely remembered Sunica stopping her and having her walk around a point in the path on her last trips. Did she know the hole was here? How often has she walked this path¡­?

    ¡°What kind of benefits?¡±

    ¡°Well, for one, you have a level in your class. It goes up as you do things related to that class, and you get Skills as rewards. Which are just like¡­ things you can do? Almost like spells, but sometimes just traits on you and stuff like that. Honestly, that part is really cool! I can¡¯t help but wonder though¡­¡±

    ¡°What is on your mind?¡±

    ¡°Well, like, what is giving us classes and levels? They don¡¯t exist on earth. So there¡¯s some force here doing it, right? Is it an ambient effect? An entity like my Entity A and Entity B? Entity C? If we are getting an Entity C, I need to come up with a better name for them. But just, why are things like this here? It¡¯s been driving me nuts.¡±

    ¡°I do not believe this is the case, Master. But you have a tendency I¡¯ve noticed. Have you thought that maybe there is something preventing it from being that way on earth, rather than the other way around?¡±

    Lily stopped in the snow for a moment and looked up at the sky. Blue skies. Just like at home. So many questions. Does air have the exact same composition? Why? She took a deep breath, and started walking again.

    She was making good time with Star. Maybe she¡¯d gotten a little stronger, maybe she was just keeping her mind off her body. She was quite tired, but pushing herself. If she could just get her body in good enough shape to get to Veni and back without taking rests, it¡¯d be good exercise. But having to take high steps because of the calf deep snow was tiring. Didn¡¯t they have snow shoes around here?

    ¡°No. I don¡¯t think that¡¯s it. Good boy pointing out things I might have missed though.¡±

    ¡°Thank you, Master!¡±

    Lily smiled. Star was Star, in any world.

    ¡°I¡¯d think you had a valid point in most circumstances. But, the system here is too¡­ I don¡¯t have a word for it. But, I can¡¯t make myself believe it wasn¡¯t designed with intention. I don¡¯t think there¡¯s a natural way for this to come about. And if it was created by someone or something, then it not being on earth makes sense. I guess what I want to get to the bottom of is just this: Is the entity that created these things still around, or is it some kind of self reinforcing system? Is there an Entity for me to watch for, or no?¡±

    ¡°Does it really matter? That world works the way that it works.¡±

    ¡°I guess so. I just don¡¯t like giving up. I want to know everything, you know? Not to mention, if I¡¯m working together with a bunch of copies of myself across the universe, I ought to figure out why things are the way they are. Take notes, create hypotheses and when I find ways to do so, test them.¡±

    ¡°What is that?¡±

    ¡°Oh, right. We gotta do a lesson on the scientific method sometime too. I wasn¡¯t a huge science nerd in school, but it¡¯s not like anyone else is gonna be doing these things out here.¡±

    ¡°That did not explain anything.¡±

    ¡°Sorry, we don¡¯t have time for the lesson right now. We¡¯re here.¡±

    Lily crested the hill, and was suddenly looking down on the town of Veni. City? The residents seemed to use the two interchangeably. Lily wondered how many people actually lived here. Probably she could ask, if she got up the nerve. It didn¡¯t look huge, but looks weren¡¯t everything. Plus, there were in the hundreds of houses at least, and if each one had an average of more than two residents, she assumed the population must be in the thousands.

    A shiver of fear went through her just imagining all the people down there. She could even see a good few, although they were far away. She just had to walk in there for a little bit. Just a few minutes even! Just enter the gate as a lone human, take a stroll, and then leave. Yeah. Simple. Her heart rate was spiking. This would be fine. She had to get past it. She clenched her fists a few times.

    ¡°Master?¡±

    Lily startled.

    ¡°Huh? What?¡±

    ¡°You went quiet and stopped responding.¡±

    ¡°Oh. Yeah. Well it¡¯s just, I can see the city now, and I¡¯m starting to get a little worried.¡±

    ¡°Everything will be fine, Master.¡±

    ¡°Easy for you to say! You can¡¯t see it!¡±

    ¡°What does it look like?¡±

    Lily made an effort to breathe slowly and deliberately.

    ¡°There¡¯s a river. Between me and the river is a town. Er, city. Whatever. There are hundreds of buildings. Smoke is coming from a lot of them. They¡¯re almost entirely made of wood and stone. People are going about their daily business. Around the city is a wooden wall, with several gates watched over by guards.¡±

    ¡°Are they hostile?¡±

    ¡°Huh?¡±

    ¡°They are strangers. Will they attack you?¡±

    Lily chuckled.

    ¡°What? No! They¡¯re all nice. At least, all the ones I talked to last time. Not that I did much talking.¡±

    ¡°So, they are friendly?¡±

    ¡°Yeah, I think.¡±

    ¡°Then you are scared to talk with them?¡±

    ¡°And just¡­ be around them I guess. Be perceived at all.¡±

    ¡°I see. Well, I will be here with you. For support.¡±

    ¡°Thanks Star. That actually helps a lot.¡±

    It did. She might have to explain away a talking stuffed animal, but that was still much easier than being alone! Alright. She had this. Her and Star against the world! Although she was starting to wish she had brought Sunica too. No, no. She had this!

    Lily started down the hill and got in line. The balaur woman in front of her turned to look at her for a moment, and then turned back to face the gate. Lily breathed a sigh of relief.

    ¡°What is happening, Master?¡±

    Lily tensed up.

    ¡°Shhh!¡±

    ¡°But I can not see.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m in line, shut up!¡±

    ¡°Fine. But if you do not tell me I will not know.¡±

    The lady in front of Lily was staring at her with a confused look now. Lily waved and smiled and tried not to scream. Fortunately, the woman turned back again.

    It took a few agonizing minutes for Lily to make her way to the front of the line, during which she stared at the ground and tried not to pay attention to her surroundings. Finally, the last person was waved forward and she found herself face to face with Avea again, who looked surprised to see her.

    ¡°Woah! It¡¯s the strange human again. Hey Miss Outsider, where¡¯s Sunica?¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s uh, just me today.¡±

    ¡°Huh, weird. Well, don¡¯t go doin¡¯ anything that¡¯ll get her in trouble okay?¡±

    ¡°I won¡¯t!¡±

    Lily almost yelped. She swallowed and tried again more calmly.

    ¡°I uh. Actually. I don¡¯t mind waiting, but I¡¯d like to talk to you a little if I can.¡±

    ¡°Yeah? Guard business or personal?¡±

    ¡°Uh, a little of both?¡±

    ¡°Well, hit me with the guard business first.¡±

    Lily looked back at the line nervously. The balaur man behind her had his arms crossed impatiently, but wasn¡¯t glaring at her. Lily laughed nervously and tried to give Avea a smile.

    ¡°Well, you don¡¯t have to look for my dog anymore.¡±

 1.009

    Lily found herself walking with Avea after asking for a more private place to talk. He¡¯d gotten another guard to take over for him, and gone on ¡®break¡¯. Lily wondered if he intended to go back and relieve the poor fellow after they were done. Avea didn¡¯t seem to be in a hurry.

    ¡°So, you found your dog?¡±

    Avea led Lily to a small courtyard with a bench that was in fact, unoccupied.

    ¡°Well, yes and no.¡±

    A voice came from Bay.

    ¡°It is nice to meet you. I am Star. Master no longer needs you to find me.¡±

    Avea stared at the stuffed seal with wide eyes. Lily squeezed Bay a little harder, even though she knew Star couldn¡¯t feel it.

    ¡°Hey you! Shush or you¡¯ll freak people out.¡±

    ¡°You were talking about me. Why should I be quiet. I am right here.¡±

    Avea finally found his words.

    ¡°What the hells!? Is that your dog? That¡¯s not a dog! Did you turn him into a doll? What kinda magic is that?¡±

    Lily couldn¡¯t help but laugh.

    ¡°No no! He¡¯s not a doll. He¡¯s far away, the magic just lets me talk to him.¡±

    ¡°You didn¡¯t say he was a talking dog!¡±

    ¡°Well, I¨C I just wasn¡¯t sure he¡¯d talk to a stranger. You know, to keep a low profile.¡±

    Star tried again to get a word in edgewise in this conversation.

    ¡°Hello. Mister Avea, right?¡±

    ¡°Y-yeah. That¡¯s me.¡±

    ¡°I understand my Master owes you her gratitude for your protection. Thank you.¡±

    ¡°No problem? It¡¯s my job.¡±

    ¡°Are you a Knight?¡±

    Avea laughed, hard. Lily was content to let them talk. She was sweating. Being around a stranger was hard. Avea had a very loud voice, and some boisterous body language, and it constantly made her want to flinch. But, he was kind, so she pushed those feelings down.

    ¡°Nah man, I¡¯m just a [Guard] in a tiny town.¡±

    ¡°Oh, okay. Is that like a Hero?¡±

    Avea actually seemed a little flustered. His tail flicked around, and Lily could see a little red around the white scales on his face.

    ¡°What? No. Just a [Guard]. I uh, make sure no one breaks any laws.¡±

    ¡°What are laws?¡±

    At this point Lily broke in before things got too off topic.

    ¡°Av¨C er, Mister Avea¡¯s job is to make sure no one breaks the rules of the town, more or less. And speaking of, I¡¯m sincerely sorry for the trouble I caused last time I was here. You did your best to help me, and I appreciate that. I wanted to explain myself and offer something small in return.¡±

    ¡°Hey, don¡¯t worry about it. Was confusing as hell, but no one got hurt or anything.¡±

    ¡°Still. I¨C I am just scared of strangers. Sunica was still newer to me too, and I panicked.¡±

    Avea looked like he didn¡¯t know what to say, so Lily just continued.

    ¡°Um, I¡¯m actually an [Enchanter]. Well, a [Student] of¡­ of enchanting. I¡¯ve only got a few things I can do right now, but I wanted to offer my services. I had an idea for something nice I could do if you¡¯d accept.¡±

    ¡°How much?¡±

    ¡°Huh?¡±

    ¡°How much will it cost? Enchanted gear is cool and all, but aren¡¯t the materials costly as hell? There¡¯s a common scam that works like this you know. But I don¡¯t peg you as the sort that would be ballsy enough to try that on a [Guard], besides, I have skills for that sort of thing, and they aren¡¯t telling me a damn thing.¡±

    ¡°Oh, um. Free. I don¡¯t need anything. I wanted to do this in return for your help the other day, and treating me kindly. I couldn¡¯t charge you¡­¡±

    Avea pinched the bridge of his nose and an annoyed expression crossed his face. He huffed, and gave her a look.

    ¡°Did you run this by Sunica?¡±

    ¡°Huh? Why would I need to do that? I mean, I told her that I was coming to Veni, and that I¡¯d probably see you at the gate.¡±

    ¡°The gift, or repayment or whatever?¡±

    ¡°Uh¡­ no?¡±

    He grimaced.

    ¡°You know, it¡¯s probably a good idea to learn about a place¡¯s culture before you visit. You¡¯re committing a pretty big faux pas.¡±

    ¡°I am? Oh. I¡¯m sorry. What did I do?¡±

    Lily¡¯s heart sank. She had thought this was such a good idea too! If she made his canteen or waterskin or whatever auto fill, it would repay him and other guards would see how cool it was and maybe wanna buy one! And if not, at least she¡¯d have done something good for someone who was kind to her.

    ¡°Sunica¡¯s your contact here. Friendship works a bit different here than it does in a lot of other places. Honestly, ¡®causes a lot of disputes around foreigners specifically. See, she¡¯s got a claim on you. So, if you¡¯re gonna be doin¡¯ favors, you should be doin¡¯ them for her. See?¡±

    ¡°What? Really? I can¡¯t just be friends with anyone I want?¡±

    ¡°I mean, you can have good relations, but there are friends and there are ¡®friends¡¯ ya know? If you¡¯re doing something nice for somebody, it¡¯s gotta benefit her in some token way at the least. Or else she¡¯ll get jealous. Of me. And then it¡¯s my problem, see? Well, I mean, not from her exactly. Because I outrank her. But it becomes a mess.¡±

    ¡°So, I can talk to and be friendly with whoever I want, but it¡¯s a faux pas to do anything nice for anybody other than her?¡±

    ¡°Nah, nah. You¡¯re getting this all mixed up.¡±

    Avea took a deep breath and let out an annoyed sigh. Lily shivered. She could swear it got a little colder when he did. He rested his head in his hands for a moment, and then continued.

    ¡°Look, you seem like a nice human. I¡¯ll try to walk you through this, but you have to be careful around here without me or her to explain, got it? I don¡¯t wanna be breaking up fights because you don¡¯t understand how things work.¡±

    Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon.

    ¡°I¡¯m all ears! I promise!¡±

    ¡°See, it¡¯s all about rank. You¡¯re below her, but connected see? Right above her are members of the Nor family, all the way to the matriarch at the top, okay? Any good things you bring to our area, they all got dibs on.¡±

    ¡°I thought she was below almost everyone in Veni.¡±

    Avea rolled his eyes.

    ¡°Yeah, but she¡¯s not connected to anyone else, see? It¡¯s about family and group dynamics. She belongs to the Nor family, you belong to her. She¡¯s defacto lower in rank than everyone else, but if you move up the chain from her there¡¯s only one group you get to.¡±

    ¡°Oh shit!¡±

    Lily yelped and stood up. She got it! She thought. Avea nearly jumped out of his skin too.

    ¡°W-what? You alright Miss?¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s a social MLM! A pyramid scheme! For reputation!¡±

    ¡°The hells are you talking about?¡±

    ¡°I¨C I get it now. I think. Or at least the basic structure. I¡¯m sorry. I got excited. I like learning new things.¡±

    Now she felt sheepish. But that was¡­ Amazing and terrible. She had a lot of questions about why the people on top were on top of a system like that, but she was pretty sure Avea wouldn¡¯t be the best person to ask. He was just staring at her and shaking his head a little.

    ¡°Well, whatever. I¡¯m glad you get it.¡±

    ¡°But, that doesn¡¯t answer all my questions. Does that mean I can¡¯t be friends with other people, or do nice things for them ever?¡±

    ¡°I was gettin¡¯ to it. Of course it doesn¡¯t mean that. A society could never function if you could only do good for a person directly above you.¡±

    ¡°Yeah, that¡¯s what I was thinking. So, how?¡±

    ¡°You just gotta make it benefit her in some token way too. Give her dibs. Ask her before doing big gestures for other people. Or at the very least, when you do a good deed for a stranger say somethin¡¯ like ¡®On behalf of Miss Sunica¡¯. That way you¡¯re improving her reputation, see?¡±

    ¡°Huh. That¡¯s¡­ complicated. Wait, wouldn¡¯t it be ¡®On behalf of Miss Sunica Nor¡¯? You said she was a part of that family¡­¡±

    ¡°No.¡±

    ¡°Why not?¡±

    He gave her a look and hesitated.

    ¡°You might wanna ask her that. But she doesn¡¯t have that family name, or any for that matter. ¡®Miss Sunica¡¯ is how you talk about her.¡±

    ¡°Oh. Okay. Sooo. If I wanted to offer what I tried before, I should say something like¡­ On behalf of Miss Sunica, I wanted to thank you for your help the other day. I¡¯d like to offer my services in enchanting your canteen or a water skin.¡±

    ¡°Uh, yeah. Or you can charge for your services. People will assume you¡¯re giving a small portion of the profits to her. And if you¡¯re out here giving gifts on her behalf, it¡¯s usually polite for the other person to give you some small thing to bring back to her too. Even as small as a piece of fruit or somethin¡¯.¡±

    Lily smiled. She was starting to feel more at ease around Avea, having talked to him a bit. He really did seem like a nice guy. She couldn¡¯t believe she had thought he had sinister intentions when he grabbed her and they were talking the first time.

    ¡°I think I¡¯ve got it. Well, your answer?¡±

    ¡°Uh, for what?¡±

    ¡°The enchantment, duh! I really mean it. I¡¯ve got something I think would be useful for you, and I need practice anyway. It¡¯ll make it slowly refill with clean drinking water, and it¡¯ll glow just a little when it¡¯s full of water and energy so you know you can drink it or pour it into a bucket or something.¡±

    Avea stared at her for a minute, suspiciously.

    ¡°You know you shouldn¡¯t drink conjured water, right?¡±

    Lily gave him a confused look. That was interesting. There were spells that just made water? Was it dangerous somehow?

    ¡°What? Why?¡±

    ¡°It disappears after a while. If your body absorbs that stuff like water, and then it vanishes, it can cause big problems.¡±

    ¡°Oh. That makes sense. But, this is normal water. Not conjured.¡±

    It was his turn to look confused.

    ¡°What do you mean it¡¯s not conjured? You said it slowly refills whatever.¡±

    ¡°Yeah! But, it¡¯s regular water. Promise. I can explain how it works if you want.¡±

    ¡°Uh, sure.¡±

    ¡°Well, there¡¯s always small amounts of water around us in the air. It might gather it from the snow too if you put it down, but mostly it¡¯ll be the air. It pulls the water out of the air, and concentrates it into droplets on the sides of the container. Eventually, that¡¯ll fill it. It just takes a little while due to the low ambient mana in the area. But it¡¯s not creating water at all, just moving it around.¡±

    Avea looked thoughtful for a few seconds.

    ¡°You¡¯ve had some, and been fine?¡±

    ¡°Yeah! Totally. Plus back home I had a whole system set up for it to feed into farm animals'' water containers and they were all totally fine too.¡±

    ¡°Alright. I¡¯ll take you up on it. Tell Sunica there¡¯s no hard feelings after this. What do you need?¡±

    Lily picked up on the subtext behind his message for Sunica, and decided not to comment. What did she need though? Well, she could actually cast the spell in almost no time at all if he¡¯d hand over the container. But she wasn¡¯t sure it was a good idea to do it in front of him, and it might be a good idea to not let on that it would only take a few seconds.

    ¡°Um, an hour to myself and privacy to work? Oh and the container you want enchanted.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s it, huh? What about uh¡­ don¡¯t you need materials?¡±

    ¡°Nope! I use a new method. It¡¯s not strong at all, but for simple enchantments all it takes is concentration.¡±

    He looked at her skeptically, so she went on.

    ¡°And uh, I got a skill last night that makes it way easier.¡±

    His face brightened up at that.

    ¡°Hey, that¡¯s great! Congratulations! Gonna celebrate your new level while you¡¯re in town?¡±

    ¡°Um¡­ Well. Like I said, I¡¯m pretty scared of strangers. So I was actually thinking of escaping through the nearest gate when I was done enchanting.¡±

    ¡°What? No way! That¡¯s ridiculous! You can¡¯t just skip out on celebrating! C¡¯mon you don¡¯t level every day. Lemme at least buy you a drink or somethin¡¯!¡±

    Lily smiled as politely as she could, given the dread that sentiment put in her.

    ¡°Um. I don¡¯t really like drinking unless I have to.¡±

    ¡°Fine, a meal then! C¡¯mon, it¡¯s on me.¡±

    ¡°I¨C I¡¯m not sure I¡¯d be okay sitting down in a um¡­ Anywhere with a lot of people.¡±

    ¡°Huh. Alright. Tell you what; I¡¯ll figure something out you¡¯re comfy with while you¡¯re working and if you¡¯re still not you can turn me down then.¡±

    ¡°Y-you really don¡¯t have to. I¡¯m not¨C I¡¯m not um.¡±

    She was about to say ¡®worth your time¡¯, but that usually sounded like a demand for attention more than anything else.

    ¡°I don¡¯t want to impose.¡±

    ¡°No imposition at all Miss. Really. I¡¯ll get you set up with one of the private rooms at the guard house and go take care of it. Actually, mind if I borrow your friend?¡±

    ¡°Huh? What do you mean?¡±

    He pointed at Bay with a grin.

    ¡°Your dog. He knows what you like and don¡¯t like right? I¡¯ll take him around while I look. He can talk without you right?¡±

    Lily was reluctant to hand Bay over to a stranger. But it¡¯s not like she couldn¡¯t just re-cast the spell if something happened. Bay himself was irreplacable too, but if he wouldn''t be safe with a guard, or [Guard] who would he be safe with?

    ¡°Promise to protect him?¡±

    ¡°Of course, Miss.¡±

    Star spoke up again at that.

    ¡°Master, you will send me with him?¡±

    ¡°Only if you want to go, and only for an hour. I¡¯ll miss you, but I¡¯ll be working anyways. So I figured it¡¯d be more fun for you.¡±

    That was partially a lie. She wouldn¡¯t have an hour¡¯s worth of work to do. But it¡¯s not like she couldn¡¯t spend some time working on other spells, and Star might be able to win some hearts and learn more about this place because he wasn¡¯t afraid like her.

    ¡°Mister Avea, you are in charge of keeping everyone here safe?¡±

    ¡°I mean, I¡¯m one person who does that, yeah.¡±

    ¡°Then you and I have much to talk about.¡±

    Avea stifled a chuckle.

    ¡°Is that so? Alright then. Sounds like it¡¯s decided Miss. C¡¯mon, let¡¯s get you that room.

    <hr>

    About fifteen minutes later, Lily found herself in a small room with a table, blessedly alone. Avea had told her no one would bother her there, and left her with a canteen to enchant. The spell would only take a minute to cast, so for now she was just staring at it. Maybe she should have said half an hour. She wasn¡¯t sure how long enchanting usually took. Oh well, she¡¯d lie and say it was her skill if people got suspicious.

    She took a moment to look over the canteen. She probably shouldn¡¯t add any experimental features to someone else¡¯s item, but what was she going to DO for a full hour in this room? She wished she had her phone. She could practice some spells while she waited, using her new skill?

    Which spells though? Playing with fire in the guard house was a no-no. She didn¡¯t have any devices like her phone or her laptop, so she couldn¡¯t work on the spells to charge them. Actually, she had some ideas about that ambient mana tester. She decided to start there.

    She really hoped Star was having a good time.

 1.010

    Star waded through the grass just inside the tree line. He had been wandering further and further afield lately. His Master, Zero, had been resting when he left. She may be awake by now, but she knew he liked to wander. What she didn¡¯t know about was his secret project. He was hunting.

    When he had eaten the elk, he had noticed that the magical power inside him had increased pretty substantially. It had been a magical creature, and he found himself wondering if he could get further increases in power from consuming more magical creatures. It had also had a strange spherical organ inside of it with a particularly large concentration. His Master may be curious about her own workings, but this was his project.

    In addition to his project, he was on patrol. This morning he was more on patrol than he was hunting. Because he had picked up the scent of a bear. He didn¡¯t think it was a magical bear, because he could usually sniff out a magical creature. Mana had its own scent, although his Master insisted she couldn¡¯t smell anything. It must be so stifling living that way, blind to the smells around her.

    Protecting her was his job, and so he would protect her from this bear. He was undecided on if he would run it off or kill it. He may be able to get away with simply chasing it away. Although, if he had bear meat he would have more meat to practice cooking. He wondered if bears tasted good.

    A voice broke him out of his thoughts.

    ¡°So, what does the human like?¡±

    ¡°I do not know what is available to you. But, if you are looking to do something kind, I recommend something that does not take her to strange people.¡±

    He sniffed at a track left in a particularly soft patch of soil. This wasn¡¯t that old. The track had been made maybe thirty minutes ago. Depending on the bear¡¯s pace, it may still take some time to catch up though, and that¡¯s assuming he didn¡¯t lose the scent.

    ¡°Yeah, I got that much. But like, is food a good idea? Everyone likes food right? Humans celebrate with food too, yeah?¡±

    ¡°I do not think I have ever seen her celebrate. But, during her leisure time she likes to eat junk food and watch shows.¡±

    ¡°Uh, junk food? Like garbage? Humans do that?¡±

    ¡°It just means food that is not good for you. Sweets, for example.¡±

    ¡°Oh! Yeah, okay. I get that. Damn, she some kinda rich girl?¡±

    The trees were thick, and casting enough shade into this part of the forest that it was notably cooler and darker beneath the canopy. The smell of moss and loam was nearly overpowering, but the smell of beast hung on the wind just enough to follow. Star proceeded along the trail carefully.

    ¡°Rich? I do not understand.¡±

    ¡°You don¡¯t know about money?¡±

    ¡°What is money?¡±

    ¡°Huh. You really are a dog then? I was starting to think this was some kind of human slang.¡±

    ¡°I am a dog. Why is that surprising?¡±

    ¡°Well¨C Ah nevermind. Okay, so sweets. That might be hard to come by. Anything else?¡±

    ¡°She likes simplistic non-fancy foods. The fancy stuff makes her feel like she doesn¡¯t deserve it.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s¨C uh. Huh. Lemme guess, you¡¯ve only ever really talked to her?¡±

    ¡°How could you tell?¡±

    ¡°You gotta develop a filter, man.¡±

    ¡°A filter?¡±

    ¡°Nevermind. We¡¯ll talk about it later. Okay, simple foods. I can do that.¡±

    ¡°She also likes puzzles. Anything she can figure out and learn.¡±

    ¡°Puzzles, huh? That might be a little out of budget. But I¡¯ll keep an eye open.¡±

    The smell was growing stronger. This was further into the forest than Star had traveled before, but the bear couldn¡¯t be that much further. The battle might be difficult, but he didn¡¯t anticipate a bear being more difficult to face down than the demon with blue eyes had been, and he had grown stronger since then.

    ¡°I would like your professional opinion, from one protector to another.¡±

    ¡°Uh, yeah? What¡¯s up?¡±

    ¡°I am hunting a bear.¡±

    ¡°... right now?¡±

    ¡°Yes. Right now. I suspect I will come upon it in the next ten minutes.¡±

    ¡°What the fuck? Say something sooner, you idiot!¡±

    ¡°It was not relevant.¡±

    ¡°Okay, okay, what did you want to ask?¡±

    ¡°How would you go about this task?¡±

    The man on the other end of the spell paused for a moment. To his credit, he did seem to be genuinely giving it some thought.

    ¡°Well, we have dangerous animals around here sometimes too. Including bears. Usually though, we go out and hunt them down in groups. At least pairs.¡±

    ¡°How would you do it if you were alone? I am alone. The bear will be bigger than me, and likely stronger. I am smarter, and more agile. I can jump higher than the bear can likely reach, and I will definitely be able to run faster. I judge that I have an advantage. Although, I have not yet faced a bear.¡±

    ¡°Shit, alone huh? ¡­ Shouldn¡¯t I be tellin¡¯ Miss Human about this instead of giving you advice?¡±

    ¡°No. I must protect this place. It is my job. Surely you understand that?¡±

    ¡°If I end up listening to you get torn apart by a bear through this stuffed toy she¡¯s not gonna be happy¡­¡±

    ¡°Then give me advice to aid my battle.¡±

    If you find this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the infringement.

    ¡°Fuck. Okay, fine. You don¡¯t have a class or skills yeah?¡±

    ¡°No.¡±

    ¡°Of course, since you¡¯re a dog. Fuck, fuck. Okay. I¡¯m thinking. Normally, we have either a dog or someone with a Skill that aids in dodging keep the animal busy. Getting up in its face and dodging around. Then someone else comes in with a spear or something and takes it out from further away.¡±

    ¡°You are not being very helpful. I am alone.¡±

    ¡°I know! Okay, if you have to do it alone, and you have the upper hand in agility, you may be able to tire it out. Focus on dodging its blows until it becomes sluggish enough for you to strike safely. The main thing is, don¡¯t get hit. You¡¯re probably gonna die if a bear gets its claws on you, or bites you good enough. So the only way you¡¯re going to win is by being careful and only landing hits when you can do it safely.¡±

    ¡°That is all you have? Hit it and do not get hit?¡±

    ¡°Well you didn¡¯t exactly give me a lot of time! Give me a minute! I¡¯m thinking!¡±

    ¡°Think faster. The conflict is beginning.¡±

    Star had found his way to a clearing where the big black bear was sitting and resting. The bear saw him right away, so the element of surprise was already out. Instead, he approached slowly, growling. If the bear fled, there would be no fight. But, if the bear attacked him, he would fight to kill. That is what he had decided.

    ¡°What!? Shit shit! Uh, don¡¯t forget to use the terrain to your advantage? Hide behind trees, duck into spaces it can¡¯t fit, that sort of thing.¡±

    ¡°It is only a little bigger than I am.¡±

    ¡°The hell!? I thought you were a dog!¡±

    ¡°I am a dog.¡±

    The bear charged Star. He ducked backwards and dodged around a tree. Sure enough it was significantly slower than him, and the time it took for it to get around a tree was enough for him to get some distance.

    ¡°Fuck! Alright, the claws are the number one thing to watch out for. Those bastards will absolutely tear you a new one. Do you have anything you can use to get some range, or is this only claws and teeth?¡±

    ¡°I only have my claws and teeth. Although, I can jump a significant height.¡±

    ¡°They can stand on their hind legs and reach up. Going over it isn¡¯t safe, even if it looks like it can¡¯t reach its back.¡±

    Speed would have to be the answer. It¡¯s the main advantage he had. How much faster was he than the bear? It was time to find out. Star snapped forwards, catching its arm just above the joint. It wasn¡¯t a deep blow, but it wasn¡¯t meant to be. It was a feint. By the time the bear was turning, he was gone. He dodged around the side and bit into the bear¡¯s flank. His teeth didn¡¯t do as much damage as he would have liked, and the bear swung around to take a swipe at him. He ducked backwards again. There was an uneasy standoff as they stared at each other.

    ¡°Got it. Don¡¯t go over unless I am sure I can get away with it. I am having trouble piercing its hide. It is thick and tough.¡±

    ¡°Hell yeah it is. You really need a weapon for this, get out of there!¡±

    ¡°No. I will not lose. If a bear is in this area, it may attack the pack nearby, or my Master when she returns. I will win.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s crazy! Do this with help!¡±

    The bear charged again. Star leapt back to keep distance. The beast plowed forward, tearing up the forest floor in its wake. Star very nearly caught a claw to his side as he evaded, but then he was behind the bear again and snapped at its flank one more time.

    This time he wasn¡¯t fast enough though. The bear turned in time, and a swipe caught him across the back leg. Pain blossomed across his thigh, and his fur turned from white to red. It was shallow, but bleeding.

    ¡°It got me across the leg. This will slow me down. It¡¯s not bad though. If only I could move like she does.¡±

    ¡°She? Your Master?¡±

    ¡°No, the blue eyed demon. She is a blur. A whirling mass of teeth and death.¡±

    ¡°Get out of there! What are you doing?¡±

    ¡°There is no growth without trial.¡±

    An anguished sound came from the other end of the spell. Star felt a little bad for stressing him out. This was turning into a trickier situation than he had anticipated. The massive creature was charging again. Star went to sidestep again, but it read his movement and swerved at the last second. Star¡¯s eyes went wide. He leapt straight up as a last ditch effort, and the bear¡¯s head collided with him in the air hard. He was sent flying and hit the dirt like a doll, skidding to a stop in the loamy soil. The dog rose to his feet as quickly as he could.

    This wasn¡¯t good. He had to be faster. Faster. Faster like her. He knew it was possible. He¡¯d seen her during the fight, and several times hunting since then. It was a blend of magic and technique, and he had both. He just had to use it. He didn¡¯t know how. It was no use.

    ¡°Are you okay? What¡¯s happening?¡±

    ¡°I am fine. I got caught out again. Blunt injury. Non-fatal.¡±

    ¡°Fucking hells! Run away! Listen to me!¡±

    ¡°I will not. Balto would not run away.¡±

    ¡°Who the fuck is Balto?¡±

    The bear approached slowly. Star slunk away, keeping the distance, ready for it to charge again. He was still faster, but running around it was always going to be slower than it could turn in place. He had to be faster. He had to be stronger. He had to win.

    The bear charged. Star dashed away, towards the nearest tree. As he approached it with the bear close on his tail he leapt upwards, using his momentum to carry him a little way up the tree. He hit a low and thick branch, and pivoted using the momentum to propel himself down straight at the bear. As he passed by the bear he lashed out, catching the bear¡¯s eye. The beast roared, and flailed, throwing Star off of it. He hit the tree hard, and crumpled onto the forest floor.

    The monster was screaming and pawing at its eye, but Star had the wind knocked out of him. He couldn¡¯t move. He was struggling to even rise to his feet. Move. Move. Move. He had to move. The beast flailed wildly. Star barely rolled out of the way. It turned towards him, catching sight of him with its good eye. He had to move NOW.

    The bear swiped at him. He threw himself to the side and barely evaded it once again. His breath was coming back. But he still felt winded and so terribly slow. He stalked to the left, trying to keep on the side of the bad eye.  The bear tried to keep its sight on him.

    Just a little bit of distance, and he would recover far faster than the bear¡¯s eye. The next time the bear lunged, Star dove behind the tree. The bear slammed into the tree and let out a pained cry from the impact. Oh. It couldn¡¯t see the terrain as well either.

    As the brute moved around the tree to get a better reach, Star again fled to the left into its poor vision. It snarled and followed in a blind rush. Star dipped behind another tree. Another crash, another howl. Yes, this is how he would win.

    ¡°You were correct. Terrain is an advantage.¡±

    ¡°Hells yeah! I mean¨C You should still be running you idiot!¡±

    ¡°I am running. Just not to get away.¡±

    ¡°You know what I mean!¡±

    Star¡¯s strength was returning quickly, and he used his speed to stay in the bear¡¯s blind spot. He raced to stay ahead of the monster, barking to pull its attention. Just a little further, and he knew the geography in this area. It was his domain after all. Just a little further to pull it into a trap.

    The bear charged. Star sidestepped to its blind side, dancing away and keeping up the barking. Yes, yes! Follow, follow! The claws grazed his fur again. This was dangerous, but he knew what he was doing now. He couldn¡¯t be stopped. Just out of range, use his speed, use his intelligence, use the terrain!

    After what felt like an eternity, he was there. He got tantalizingly close. Nipping at the bear¡¯s arm on its blind side. It lunged. He threw himself out of the way, and the bear toppled off the side of the cliff and onto the rocks and sand below.

    Star looked over the side, staring down at his opponent. The bear was still alive, but moving weakly. It seemed to have broken its back in the fall, as its lower half was no longer moving.

    ¡°I have won. All that is left is to descend and end the bear¡¯s pain.¡±

    ¡°Y-you won!?¡±

    ¡°I won.¡±

    <hr>

    ¡°FUCK YEAH! YOU WON!¡±

    Avea held the stuffed doll over his head, yelling and dancing with joy. He tossed it in the air and caught it, spun around a few times, and settled. That was an amazing battle, even if he could only hear it!

    ¡°You are the fucking coolest! Holy shit!¡±

    A voice interrupted him.

    ¡°Are you¡­ okay?¡±

    He looked around. Oh. Oh yeah. He was in the middle of the street. People stared at him, wide eyed. He felt blood rushing to his face.

    ¡°Oh. Shit. Right. Uh. Official guard business! Everything is fine!¡±

 1.011

    Avea fled down the road and around a corner. He stopped when he was out of sight of where he had been. That had been crazy embarrassing. But he¡¯d been so excited! Star won! Time to check in.

    ¡°Hey, you okay over there?¡±

    ¡°Yes. I will be resting for a while, then I will find a way to bring this carcass home so it can be preserved.¡±

    ¡°Damn, you got preservation spells over there? That¡¯s fancy stuff.¡±

    ¡°...Yes?¡±

    He¡¯d almost forgotten the reason he¡¯d left in the first place. He was supposed to go find something to celebrate the Human¡¯s new level. It was the polite thing to do, and if he was getting an enchanted item, treating the human kindly was a small favor to Sunica that would rid him of the obligation. Plus, she seemed nice enough, if horribly awkward.

    ¡°By the way, uh, Mister Star was it?¡±

    ¡°Just Star is fine.¡±

    ¡°Alright. Star then, feel free to call me Avea too.¡±

    ¡°Very well.¡±

    ¡°So, this is embarrassing, but I wanted to ask while we¡¯re talkin¡¯ in private. What¡¯s your Master¡¯s name? I haven¡¯t caught it, and at this point it¡¯d be rude to ask.¡±

    ¡°Lady Flamewalker.¡±

    ¡°Seriously?¡±

    ¡°Yes.¡±

    ¡°She¡¯s a [Lady]? Damn. I guess I should have guessed with her tastes being sweets and other expensive shit. What¡¯s she doing with Sunica if she¡¯s that important?¡±

    He made his way down the road and deeper into town. The guard house was built along the wall in case it needed to be defended. But, the further you went into town the more shops you¡¯d find.

    ¡°She is not swayed easily by rank. My Master is not comfortable around many. To find a friend is more valuable than protocol. At least, that is my guess.¡±

    ¡°Huh. Well, she ain¡¯t gonna fit in around here. Not lookin¡¯ forward to the blowout when it happens.¡±

    ¡°Blow out?¡±

    ¡°Yeah, well, you know. She¡¯s valuable. A [Lady], an [Enchanter] with some special skills, and politically too with that rank. She¡¯s out of Sunica¡¯s scope. It¡¯s only a matter of time before someone comes to claim Miss Flamewalker.¡±

    It was the truth. No matter her level, those were valuable classes. Hells, even if she didn¡¯t have the [Lady] class the rank itself was worth something. Sunica could play at being her guardian for now, but when someone important took notice it¡¯d be over. It was a shame, since they did seem to get along well. Maybe he¡¯d do something nice for Sunica after it happened to cheer her up. They hadn¡¯t been close since they were kids, but he still didn¡¯t want to see her sad.

    As he turned a corner, he bumped into an older woman carrying a sack of groceries.

    ¡°Oh, Mister Avea. How nice to see you! Are you off duty already?¡±

    Shit, what was her name? He envied the guards that lucked into the [Perfect Recall: Names] skill. It was so damn useful. Right, the lady¡¯s name. Li- something. Li. Li. Lizuca! Right!

    ¡°Miss Lizuca, good to see you. I¡¯m on official guard business! Escorting a magical creature around town.¡±

    ¡°A magical creature? That appears to be a doll.¡±

    ¡°Hello Miss Lizuca. My name is Star. I am a dog. The spell on this doll lets me speak at a distance. Mister Avea is carrying me around today.¡±

    ¡°Oh my. What a polite dog. Well Mister Avea, you must take something to make you more comfortable on your duty. Please, take a piece of bread courtesy of the Tescu family. I hope you¡¯ll think kindly of our bakery.¡±

    ¡°Oh no, I couldn¡¯t Miss. Please.¡±

    ¡°Take it, take it! I made too many. I¡¯m just visiting my son, and one missing won¡¯t be noticed.¡±

    Damn. Part of his job was maintaining good relations with the public, factions and families. It was always such a hassle though. What could he give her in return? Oh, right!

    ¡°Thanks Miss Lizuca! I¡¯ll gladly accept the gift. But I won¡¯t let you leave empty handed either. Here, Mister Nikia gave me a few too many kindleberries. Wouldn¡¯t want your fire goin¡¯ cold! Although your scales are still so white I wonder if the cold even bothers ¡®ya!¡±

    He laughed along with her. Flattery will get you everywhere. She accepted the kindleberries and then was on her way. Avea took a bite of the bread. It was quite good. Maybe he should stop by the bakery for something for Miss Flamewalker. He started in that direction. Star waited a moment, and then asked a question.

    ¡°What was that about scales and the cold?¡±

    ¡°What do you mean? It was a compliment.¡±

    ¡°My Master will want to know the details. Do scales change color at some point? Does white make cold more bearable? Do any of the other colors do anything?¡±

    Avea laughed. Who were these people who knew so little about balaur? Well, he was trying to be a gracious host, so he might as well answer.

    ¡°Sometimes scales lose a bit of color when you get older. Usually just become more muted versions of the same thing. White becomes less lustrous, and so on. Well, only for the people that never complete their form. The initial color of your scales does provide some benefit based on color. It doesn¡¯t actually go away when the color fades, that was just for the compliment. But people born with more saturation have better benefits, see?¡±

    ¡°I see. And white scales confers comfort in the cold?¡±

    ¡°Yeah, and a whole lot more.¡±

    ¡°Like what? And are the other colors as useful?¡±

    Avea had to grin at that.

    ¡°Well, I mean, I¡¯m pretty biased. I like my white scales.¡±

    ¡°What about Miss Sunica?¡±

    ¡°Ah yeah, her. She¡¯s red. That whole thing is tragic as hell. Gives her a lot of trouble living in this area too, since it¡¯s so cold. She either has to deal with all the snow melting around her or bundle up like crazy to stay warm. Before she could control her heat so well, she wasn¡¯t allowed in Veni at all.¡±

    It really was quite sad. Fucking politics were always ruining lives though. Not much could be done about it. Avea always hoped one day Sunica would leave and find her own people or somewhere that wouldn¡¯t trash her, but he wouldn¡¯t wanna leave Veni either. Not to mention her family.

    ¡°I see. What did you mean by completing a form?¡±

    ¡°Oh shit, you don¡¯t know?¡±

    ¡°I do not.¡±

    ¡°Hah, that¡¯s hilarious. I almost don¡¯t want to tell you.¡±

    ¡°Do not be like that. I am your guest. You must be kind to me.¡±

    ¡°Alright alright. See, balaur are dragons. We¡¯re all somewhere on the spectrum between humans and dragons when we¡¯re born. But with a lot of work, some of us can control where we are on that spectrum. Literally change our forms.¡±

    ¡°What does that have to do with aging?¡±

    ¡°Huh?¡±

    ¡°You said the ones that perfect their form do not lose color with age.¡±

    ¡°Oh yeah. Any balaur that works hard enough at it and gets to the point that they have full control over their body becomes a dragon in full. Able to take that form when they please. And see, dragon¡¯s don¡¯t age.¡±

    ¡°That is incredible. Are you a dragon?¡±

    ¡°Me? Hells no haha.¡±

    ¡°Why not?¡±

    If you spot this story on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.

    ¡°Because it¡¯s hard, and I¡¯m low blood as hell.¡±

    ¡°What does that mean?¡±

    ¡°Usually people with noble bloodlines are the only ones that become dragons. Every couple hundred years someone like me will figure it out, ¡®cause we all got that same blood in us yeah? But our rulers figure it out about half the time.¡±

    ¡°Only half?¡±

    ¡°Well, yeah. Like I said, it¡¯s hard. The ones that don¡¯t figure it out never get into a position of real power though. ¡®Cause they¡¯ve got mortal lifespans.¡±

    ¡°I see. And it is the blood that makes them more likely to succeed?¡±

    ¡°Well, I guess. That¡¯s what they say anyway. More direct descendents from the dragons of old. You¡¯d have to ask one of them for the details though. But hells, maybe you¡¯ll get the chance.¡±

    ¡°How would I get a chance?¡±

    Avea stopped in front of the bakery. Yeah, this was perfect. He could pick up Miss Flamewalker a sandwich and small sweet pastry or somethin¡¯. Then they could have a meal in the guard house. Easy instant celebration for a skittish girl.

    ¡°How? ¡®Cause Sunica¡¯s family is gonna show up eventually. They rule Avezare and Veni.¡±

    <hr>

    ¡°You have the coolest fucking dog in the WORLD.¡±

    Lily nearly jumped out of her skin as Avea pushed his way into her little room. It took her a moment to process what he¡¯d said.

    ¡°Uh, yeah? I mean. Yeah! He really is the coolest. Why? What did he do?¡±

    Avea looked for a brief moment like a kid who got stealing cookies, but then made an obvious attempt at covering.

    ¡°We¨C We just talked! His personality! He¡¯s the coolest! He said he had to go just a little before we got here, and the spell seems to have turned off. Is that okay?¡±

    Lily narrowed her eyes for a second, but then shrugged. It¡¯s not like he was wrong. Star was the coolest.

    ¡°Yeah, he¡¯s pretty great. I¡¯m glad you two had fun! Yeah, that¡¯s fine. I¡¯ll connect it again later. I just finished up this project a minute ago. Here!¡±

    She tossed the canteen to Avea, who juggled it for a moment before catching it properly. He stared down at it.

    ¡°It¡¯s done? It looks the same.¡±

    ¡°Yeah, but now it¡¯ll slowly fill with water. I don¡¯t know if it¡¯ll be fast enough that you never have to take a trip to the well, depending on how much you drink. But it should reduce your number of trips during a day by a lot, especially in the mornings. It¡¯ll also give off a small amount of light when it¡¯s full of both water and mana. Oh, right, it stores mana when the water is full, up to enough to fill the canteen once. Any questions?¡±

    ¡°Wow. That was¡­ comprehensive.¡±

    Lily smiled.

    ¡°I try to be. I love what I do.¡±

    It was her first time saying it. In some ways, it surprised her coming out of her mouth. But truly, she did love magic. For the longest time she was doing it to survive, but she had grown a legitimate love for doing it.

    ¡°So uh, I got some food. To celebrate. I figure we just hang out here and eat? You won¡¯t turn down a free meal to celebrate a new level, right Miss Flamewalker?¡±

    ¡°Miss¨C¡±

    Lily burst out laughing. Miss Flamewalker? Like that was just her last name? What had Star been telling this man? She gestured Avea to have a seat, and found herself actually a little touched by the seemingly genuine smile that crossed his face. But she had to clear this up.

    ¡°Miss Flamewalker? Did Star tell you that?¡±

    ¡°Yeah! He said your name was Lady Flamewalker. I didn¡¯t know you were someone so important. Speakin¡¯ of, apologies if I¡¯ve broken some kinda etiquette. We don¡¯t get much of the nobility around here. At least not the foreign kind. If¡­ that¡¯s what that title means?¡±

    Lily was at a crossroads. She could try to explain, or just nod and go along with it. Explaining sounded exhausting, and she wasn¡¯t really opposed to people thinking her last name was Flamewalker. The name was special to her because it came from Star.

    ¡°Geez. Well, I¡¯m not someone important, so you don¡¯t have to treat me any different, okay?¡±

    Avea shrugged in reply, and sat down opposite Lily at the table. He started unloading the food. Two sandwiches and some kind of pastry cut in half.

    ¡°Works for me. I was just tired of calling you Miss Human or Miss Outsider. Anyway, I got us some food. It¡¯s from the Tescu family bakery in town, so if you like it make sure to give ¡®em some business in the future.¡±

    Lily blinked and took a guess based on their earlier conversation.

    ¡°Sorry for calling attention to it, but you¡¯re telling me that because they did something nice for you and you¡¯re returning the favor by sending business their way?¡±

    Avea grinned and handed her one of the two sandwiches. It was unleavened bread with a thick cut of meat in the middle. A cherry red sauce dripped down from the sides. Luckily, Lily was never really picky with food, so she decided it was better to just jump right into the culture. She took it with a nod of thanks.

    ¡°You¡¯re gettin¡¯ it. It¡¯s not like they¡¯d confirm whether I did something for them or not, but that¡¯s not the point. Old lady Tescu handed me some spare bread just ¡®cause she¡¯s nice like that. So, I do somethin¡¯ small and nice too. Is human culture so different?¡±

    Lily took a bite. The red sauce was sweet to her surprise. The whole thing together tasted a little like a thanksgiving sandwich from earth. The kind people make with leftovers, cranberry sauce, stuffing, and turkey. It was quite good.

    ¡°Oh dip, what is this? It¡¯s delicious! What kinda sauce is this?¡±

    ¡°Oh, that sauce is made from kindleberries. This time of year we get a lot of ¡®em. They grow year round, but during the colder months the people who need to heat their houses end up with a lot of spare fruit since they¡¯re really common. Don¡¯t got ¡®em where you live?¡±

    ¡°Nah, we don¡¯t have anything like these berries. They taste a little like cranberries, but with a different more citrus texture? You guys got cranberries here?¡±

    ¡°Imported, but yeah.¡±

    Lily nodded and took another bite.

    ¡°Humans have cultural norms like that too. At least where I¡¯m from. It¡¯s just less¡­ rigid. For lack of a better word. More about trying to be a nice person in general than the give and take between specific interactions.¡±

    ¡°How¡¯s that work out?¡±

    She grimaced.

    ¡°The truth is, not well. But, that¡¯s how the world is. I¡¯m sure you¡¯ve got selfish and awful people here too.¡±

    ¡°Yeah. That¡¯s just people. Balaur, human, or any of the others. Doesn¡¯t matter.¡±

    ¡°Er, others?¡±

    Avea gave her a confused look.

    ¡°Yeah?¡±

    Lily realized she¡¯d made a mistake. She laughed and spouted out the quickest explanation she had.

    ¡°I¨C uh. Did I tell you why I¡¯m here in the first place?¡±

    ¡°No?¡±

    ¡°It was a teleportation spell gone wrong. Showed up in the woods at night. Sunica found me and saved me from the cold, actually. But the spell messed with my head. I don¡¯t remember everything properly. So, um, pardon me if I say anything weird.¡±

    His look of confusion quickly turned to one of deep concern.

    ¡°A teleportation spell? That¡¯s high level stuff! Are you sure you¡¯re not someone important? Shit, it messed with your memory? I¡¯ve never heard of that kind of side effect. We could get a [Mage] to look at you?¡±

    ¡°No! I mean. No. That¡¯s not necessary. I¡¯m fine now. I know enough magic to give myself a check up. The memories are gone, it¡¯s not a persistent effect that can be dispelled. So, I just have to deal with not knowing. Other [Mages] might mess with my enchantments, and it¡¯s a whole thing.¡±

    He still looked worried. Lily was surprised by how easily lies came out of her mouth. She wasn¡¯t sure if they were good lies or not, but for someone who¡¯s mental model of themselves was that of a good girl she was a little shocked at the ease of it.

    ¡°Fuck. That¡¯s¨C That¡¯s horrible. Well, fine. I won¡¯t blink twice if you ask me anything weird, Miss Flamewalker. But are you sure there aren¡¯t people out there looking for you? A lost [Lady] ought to be big news¡­¡±

    ¡°No one is looking for me. The one thing I remember is that the teleportation spell was a last resort. Everyone else is gone. Only Star is left.¡±

    ¡°Well, that¡¯s heavy as hell. Alright. Explains some things though. Have you considered heading up to Avezare?¡±

    ¡°Why would I do that?¡±

    ¡°Well, it¡¯s just, the Nor family up there might take you in. At least if you can prove who you are at all. They could probably help track down Star and in general have a place more suited to a [Lady] for you to stay.¡±

    Nobility? No thank you. Lily already had some opinions on the kind of people who¡¯d be in charge of a society where everything of worth is designed to slowly travel to the top. It really was just like her world in some ways.

    ¡°I¡¯m actually very happy with Sunica, so I¡¯m not really interested in that. Besides, I have no way to prove who I am.¡±

    ¡°I mean, they¡¯d probably just take a look at your classes.¡±

    ¡°...what?¡±

    ¡°They¡¯d use something like the [Appraisal] spell and take a look at your classes, levels, and skills. I¡¯m sure you¡¯ve got something special. Even your rare [Enchanter] skill might cover it.¡±

    Oh no. What? They could do that? She had no idea! They could look at her and see, what? [Student] level 1, [Perfect Handwriting], [Fragment] level 1, [Heretical Mana]. That¡­ might not look good. Lily would need to do her best to avoid getting noticed by nobility. Oh shit, Avea was still talking. She¡¯d stopped listening.

    ¡°--okay?¡±

    ¡°Huh? What? Sorry, I spaced. What were you saying?¡±

    ¡°I was asking if you¡¯re okay. You started looking pale as shit.¡±

    ¡°Oh. Um. Yeah. I¡¯m fine. No no. It was just the thought of meeting so many new people. I got a little scared.¡±

    She laughed it off. He didn¡¯t look entirely convinced. But, after a moment he popped the last bit of his sandwich into his mouth.

    ¡°Right. Well, don¡¯t worry too much about it. I¡¯m sure they¡¯d take it slow.¡±

    ¡°Yeah, probably. But I think I¡¯ll just stay with Sunica. I¡¯m pretty happy there. I just hope I¡¯m not being an undue burden¡­¡±

    ¡°Pfft. Yeah right. Sunica¡¯s the happiest I¡¯ve seen her in years, even with yesterday.¡±

    ¡°Huh? Really?¡±

    ¡°Yeah. I knew the second you two walked up to the gate together. She had a stupid huge grin on her face. Haven¡¯t seen that on her in a long time.¡±

    ¡°Oh. Well. That¡¯s¡­ Hah. I¡¯m glad. I like her too.¡±

    ¡°Anyway, I better get going. If I take too much longer on break I¡¯m gonna get chewed out later. Feel free to use the room for up to a couple more hours if you need it. Otherwise I trust you can find your way back to Sunica¡¯s place?¡±

    ¡°Oh. Oh yeah! I can. I¡¯m fine. I¡¯ll just finish up here. Um¡­¡±

    ¡°Yeah?¡±

    ¡°Thanks a lot, for everything.¡±

    ¡°Happy to help, Miss Flamewalker. Congrats on your level. Be seein¡¯ you.¡±

    With that, he left.

 1.012

    Lily was about half way back to Sunica¡¯s place when she noticed. She was pretty sure she was being followed. Every time she stopped walking, she could swear she heard an extra step or two. The first time she dismissed it as snow falling from a tree, or an animal or something. But now that it had happened three times she was pretty sure.

    The question was, what should she do about it? She probably couldn¡¯t outrun anyone around here. It¡¯s possible they wouldn¡¯t attack her or anything though. Maybe if she pretended not to notice until she got to Sunica¡¯s place she wouldn¡¯t be alone when she confronted them? But that was still another ten minutes of walking away. What if they waited for her to get tired and struck?

    No. No, they were taking an offensive action against her. Taking one in retaliation is an understandable response. Of course, she wasn¡¯t going for a kill or anything. Just getting the jump on whoever it was rather than vice versa.

    So, what should she do? A spell of course. What kind of spell? She could use [Perfect Handwriting] to cast quickly with her mana. But just turning quickly and shooting a gout of flame wildly in a forest was a terrible idea. No, not fire. Ice? People around here were resistant to the cold, right? So no. Electricity then? A blast like a stun gun? Could she do that?

    Yes, she thought she could. It wouldn¡¯t be too hard either. All she had to do was make a circle with the electricity glyph in it, and use her charging latch style circuitry. The one she learned from the teleportation circle. Then she could activate it remotely when the target was almost on top of it.

    She took a deep breath and stretched, trying to mask her casting the spell. Sure enough, the mana flowed out of her and onto the snow. But, she could take this a step further. When she got about ten feet from her first spell, she added another. This time, instead of electricity it was the push glyph. That way, if whoever got hit by the first one rushed her, she could activate the second and fling them away. They might only go ten or fifteen feet, but any amount of distance was better than nothing.

    She was nervous, but this was self defense! An emergency. Whoever was following her was going to regret trying to sneak up on this helpless human!

    Just a few more steps and¡­ She activated the spell. There was a yelp of pain, and Lily spun around to see what happened. A figure fell over from behind a tree into the snow, steaming.

    Lily saw a flash of red. And when the figure sat up¡­

    ¡°Sunica!?¡±

    ¡°Oww, what the hells Miss Lily? That really hurt! What was that? I didn¡¯t even see anything!¡±

    ¡°I¨C I didn¡¯t know! I just¨C Hey! You were following me!¡±

    Sunica shook herself off. Her hair was standing on end. It was normally short and red, but now it was poofy and steaming. Lily tried not to laugh.

    ¡°Well, yeah! I mean. I just wanted to make sure you were okay.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m fine! Feeling more confident I can take care of myself now?¡±

    ¡°Not really, I¡¯ve been following you all day.¡±

    ¡°What the heck! That¡¯s so¨C Why!?¡±

    ¡°I told you, you¡¯re my responsibility here. And I was worried about you. And not doing anything. And considering going into town anyways¡­¡±

    She looked embarrassed. Lily decided to let up a little bit. She really did seem to have been snooping to make sure Lily didn¡¯t get into any trouble, and she knew that being in town was going to be scary. It was sweet¡­ if a little weird.

    ¡°You know, you could have just asked to come along if you were gonna anyways.¡±

    ¡°You seemed so determined to grow past your fear, I didn¡¯t wanna get in your way. Speaking of that, how¡¯d it go?¡±

    ¡°What, don¡¯t you know?¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m sorry! Geez.¡±

    ¡°It went okay. Avea was nice to me. I enchanted his canteen like I did the cup today. Star spent some time with him and made a good impression. Learned a few things about your people. And realized something important.¡±

    ¡°Yeah?¡±

    Lily gave Sunica a more direct look.

    ¡°Yeah. I owe you an apology, and not my normal babbling apologies over everything. I don¡¯t know much about you. I¡¯ve been so self absorbed since I got here, I haven¡¯t taken the time to learn. I¡¯m sorry. I¡¯d like to know more.¡±

    ¡°Ah- that¡¯s¡­ don¡¯t worry about that Miss. You¡¯ve had a lot to keep you busy. It¡¯s alright.¡±

    ¡°No, it¡¯s not. I¡¯m not used to dealing with people, and I¡¯ve treated you like another aspect of my environment. But it will be alright. Thank you for being patient with me.¡±

    Sunica looked at the ground, seemingly unsure of what to say, so Lily just continued on.

    ¡°Wanna walk home together?¡±

    ¡°... Yeah.¡±

    <hr>

    By the time they arrived back in Sunica¡¯s cabin the sun was well on its way down. Lily was actually thankful she ran into Sunica, because while she didn¡¯t want to admit it she was less sure of her ability to find her way back in this lighting. Having warm clothes and a compass was probably enough to not be in danger. But it was probably enough.

    The second they were in, Lily stripped off some of the heavy fur clothing. Sunica¡¯s cabin was kept quite warm. She wondered if that was because of Sunica¡¯s red color. If white conferred resistance to cold, did Sunica just prefer it warmer?

    She flopped down onto the couch with a groan, as Sunica came in behind her and started putting more wood in the furnace.

    ¡°I¡¯m so tiiiiredddd!¡±

    ¡°Yeah that walk really wears you out. How did you survive on your own again?¡±

    ¡°I had help! Like¨C You¡¯d probably call them artifacts, like that laptop. Speaking of¡­ I bet I could charge that up. Maybe I¡¯ll work on that while we talk.¡±

    Sunica laughed and made a show of rolling her eyes.

    ¡°It¡¯s always work with you. Well, at least you¡¯ll level fast.¡±

    ¡°You think so?¡±

    ¡°I mean, if you do challenging work then yeah. Of course.¡±

    Lily smiled to herself. That was a nice thought. She was pretty far behind by default. But, maybe she could catch up?

    ¡°Hey, I wanted to ask. What level is¡­ normal?¡±

    Sunica froze for an awkward second, and then continued on. Her tone was a little strained.

    ¡°Uh, well. To tell you the truth¡­ It¡¯s a little embarrassing but, most people are higher level than me.¡±

    ¡°Oh. Ooooh! I¡¯m sorry. I didn¡¯t mean to call attention to that. I just honestly don¡¯t know.¡±

    ¡°Yeah, that makes sense. Most people who age get to about level 20 or 30 in their lifetimes in their main class, with up to ten or fifteen levels in a few side classes.¡±

    ¡°Wait, really? That¡¯s it?¡±

    Sunica nodded, and Lily watched in shock as she reached into the flames with her hands and quickly rearranged a piece of wood. Had she been doing things like that this whole time, and Lily just hadn¡¯t watched close enough to notice? She really was self centered¡­

    ¡°Well, getting past level 20 in a class is very difficult, and almost always comes with a class upgrade. The thing is, it doesn¡¯t happen unless you do something to distinguish yourself. For the average person, it¡¯s not usually worth it to pursue. Either you¡¯ll have an emergency and come out on top eventually or you won¡¯t. If you don¡¯t, then you just level up your side classes.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s¡­ But you said the average is between level 20 and 30?¡±

    ¡°Well, it¡¯s the first breakpoint that¡¯s really difficult to pass, but solidly about half of people do eventually. In a lifetime, most people will have their make or break moment. And they¡¯ll either succeed or fail.¡±

    ¡°And that¡¯s it? No more chances?¡±

    This book was originally published on Royal Road. Check it out there for the real experience.

    The balaur girl shook her head, and rose to get into more comfortable clothes too.

    ¡°It¡¯s not like that. But how often do emergencies like that come up? For most people, it¡¯s not often.¡±

    Lily thought privately that she had had a lot of those sorts of emergencies in her short life already, but she wasn¡¯t about to argue with her resident expert on this subject.

    ¡°So, that¡¯s most people. But people do get higher level than that right? And you mentioned people who age¡­?¡±

    ¡°Oh yeah, plenty of people rise above that. But they¡¯re¡­ special. It takes a certain kind of person to go out looking for the sorts of challenges that will push you past that point. It¡¯s risk and reward. Most people don¡¯t want to risk themselves.¡±

    ¡°I guess that makes sense. If it has to be¡­ uh, life and death, make it or break it. That sort of thing.¡±

    ¡°Yeah. Well, it doesn¡¯t have to be to level, but class upgrades and the like? Always.¡±

    ¡°So, what about these immortals. Balaur who become dragons right?¡±

    Sunica smiled, and sat on the floor in front of the couch, staring up at Lily.

    ¡°Well, among others. Elves don¡¯t age. Some Garr don¡¯t age. Some Fae don¡¯t age, and they¡¯re all very long lived. And those are just the ones you¡¯re likely to see around here at all.¡±

    ¡°Elves!? You guys have ELVES? Like, the beautiful people with pointy ears who live in the forest?¡±

    Sunica snorted, and put a hand on Lily¡¯s shoulder.

    ¡°You gotta stop doing that. I mean, I guess you¡¯re not too far off, but you¡¯re going to offend somebody. And on top of that, those are just stereotypes. Well, apart from the ears. And they are kinda nice to look at. And¡­ some of them live in the forest. But, not all of ¡®em!¡±

    ¡°And they live forever?¡±

    ¡°Well, as far as I understand it it¡¯s more like they live till they get bored.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s¡­ a weird rule. Does being bored age them or something?¡±

    ¡°Mmm, I don¡¯t think it¡¯s like that. I just think it¡¯s what keeps them going after they live so long. But I dunno about that for sure. You¡¯d have to ask one.¡±

    ¡°I see. And what about them? The long lived people? How much do they level?¡±

    ¡°Well, if you¡¯re gonna find someone with a super huge level, nine times out of ten it¡¯s gonna be an elf. They tend to¡­ uh¡­ hyperfixate on something.¡±

    ¡°What do you mean?¡±

    ¡°Well like, you might meet one that¡¯s super into basket weaving. They¡¯d have the [Basket Weaver] class in a stupid high level, like in the 50¡¯s. But they¡¯re only really going to want to talk to you about woven baskets. Damn if they won¡¯t make the best one you¡¯ve ever seen too. Makes ¡®em difficult to deal with on like, a personal level though. Since you¡¯ll bore the shit out of them if you don¡¯t know anything about basket weaving, or they¡¯ll bore the shit outta you if you let them talk about that and nothing else.¡±

    ¡°... Well. Shit. I have so many more questions about this. But I meant what I said in the forest. I want to know about you. So, for starters¡­ I know some of these things might be painful subjects. I¡¯ll happily share my own too. But, what IS up with your level?¡±

    Sunica grimaced, and averted her gaze. Lily winced a little herself. She knew this conversation was going to cover some rough points, but it was important. She really did want to understand Sunica better.

    ¡°I don¡¯t know, honestly. If I had to give it an educated guess, the problem is that I don¡¯t care about being a [Trapper]. It¡¯s what I do to have food and resources. So it¡¯s not like your magic, you know? Something I really care about.¡±

    ¡°Well, what¡¯s stopping you from doing something you DO really care about, and getting whatever class that is?¡±

    ¡°I¨C I mean it¡¯s not like I have a lot of options. A girl¡¯s gotta eat, and I don¡¯t want to spend too long in Veni. For reasons you¡¯re aware of.¡±

    ¡°Yeah. That makes sense. Okay, well, I¡¯ll stop harping on that. But, what about your family? Aren¡¯t they some kind of big shots? Can¡¯t they help you find something better?¡±

    ¡°No.¡±

    Sunica looked away. There was clear pain there. Lily wasn¡¯t sure if she should press on. But she wanted to know, and she couldn¡¯t just try to avoid landmines she didn¡¯t know were there forever.

    ¡°I know it sucks, and I¡¯ll understand if you don¡¯t want to. But, please tell me about it if you can? I don¡¯t want to keep carelessly hurting you with my words, but I don¡¯t know what to avoid if I don¡¯t know at least the basics.¡±

    ¡°Yeah, okay. That¡¯s a reasonable request. It¡¯s just been¡­ nice.¡±

    ¡°Nice?¡±

    ¡°Dealing with someone who doesn¡¯t know, for once you know?¡±

    ¡°Oh. Yeah. I guess that makes sense.¡±

    Lily laughed her best imperious laugh, and took on a tone of voice that made her sound confident.

    ¡°By the power of my strange human sensibilities, there¡¯s no way it will change my opinion of you, because I don¡¯t understand your culture anyways! ¡­ Besides, I like you. I don¡¯t think there¡¯s anything you can tell me about you that¡¯ll change that.¡±

    Sunica grinned in response, and seemed to lose some of her tenseness.

    ¡°Yeah, okay. Geez. You¡¯re really silly sometimes, you know that?¡±

    ¡°The silliest Human this side of the¨C uh¡­ forest?¡±

    ¡°So¡­ My Mother is Viorica Nor. She¡¯s the [Matriarch] of Avezare. It¡¯s uh¡­ sort of like a [Queen]? She runs the city. Although, unlike a [Queen], her heir might not take over if she¡¯s not the strongest choice.¡±

    ¡°Avea mentioned something like that. But, like¡­ if your Mom is so important, how come you are living down here? How come people are so dismissive of you?¡±

    Sunica bit her lip, and Lily felt the room get a little warmer.

    ¡°It¡¯s because of my color. Like I said before. I¡¯m not part of the Nor family, because I¡¯m red.¡±

    ¡°Even though that¡¯s not your fault at all? You didn¡¯t choose your color, right? It has something to do with where you¡¯re born, right?¡±

    ¡°Yeah, that¡¯s right. But it matters. Before she was [Matriarch], my Mother had a relationship. She had someone she was very interested in, and wasn¡¯t allowed to be with. Because of politics. See, in our society uh¡­ Well, to put it simply, families tend to trade men around for political reasons. A [Matriarch] like Viorica usually has a lover from every major political family, both from Avezare and other nations.¡±

    ¡°Wait, wouldn¡¯t they have other colors?¡±

    ¡°Yeah. They usually have other colors, but they¡¯re held in high regard either way. They¡¯ve married into the family, see? Well, in a sense. They become sort of a belonging to be treasured and well kept. But they often lose a lot of freedom in the process. Still, they live pretty charmed lives.¡±

    ¡°But I don¡¯t understand. Wouldn¡¯t mixing colors be bad for like¡­ kids?¡±

    Sunica practically winced. Lily kicked herself. Bad question.

    ¡°No. A baby can come from any father. It¡¯s the mother that matters. And where she gives birth, see? Here in Veni and Avezare most babies will come out with white scales. Because of the environment. And most Balaur cities are centered around¡­ well, like, up in Avezare, there¡¯s a place within the palace. Through an ice cave into the heart of a glacier. That¡¯s where members of the Nor family are supposed to give birth. As well as the few other important families in Avezare. That¡¯s why when you look at their scales you¡¯ll see the most pristine snow white, almost opalescent. It¡¯s also why when you look at the people of Veni, many of them have off white or even grey scales. They don¡¯t have access to such a place.¡±

    Lily frowned. That didn¡¯t sound fair at all. So the nobles hoarded the best places to themselves? And what¡¯s more, in addition to pretty scales they had straight up stronger natural powers? And then they used those purer more saturated colors and better powers to justify ruling? It was starting to boil her blood a little just thinking about it.

    ¡°Okay. I¡¯m starting to see the full picture. But what happened to you specifically? Shouldn¡¯t you have been born in that cave?¡±

    ¡°No. Like I said, my Mom wasn¡¯t interested in any of the men the other families sent. She only had eyes for my Father. So, they had an affair. When a balaur is going to have a baby, they try to travel to a place to have the proper colors. But, my Mom¡¯s relationship was a political insult. So, her parents refused to let her stay in the palace. After all, if I came out looking like an ordinary citizen, it¡¯s not like I¡¯d be able to rule¡­¡±

    ¡°Really? It¡¯s that superficial? Even with the right bloodline?¡±

    ¡°Like I said, the [Matriarch] isn¡¯t a position inherited by blood alone.¡±

    ¡°Hmm. Okay. Please, go on.¡±

    ¡°It was a simple thing really. One of Mom¡¯s lovers was jealous. Or his family. I don¡¯t even know for sure. But, they made sure I wouldn¡¯t be able to inherit, no matter what. As my Mother was having me in her manor, they burned it to the ground.¡±

    ¡°What?! That¡¯s attempted assassination!¡±

    ¡°No. With my Mother¡¯s attendants there, there was no way she would die from something like that. But, the environment was¡­ well, an inferno. Sure enough, my scales came out red. Saturated and beautiful. If they were white, I might have been born into prosperity despite my grandparents wishes. But, instead¡­ I¡¯m an embarrassing mistake, tarnishing my family¡¯s appearance. So, I am not allowed to take their name, or live in the palace. They tolerate me living a simple life here.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s such bullshit! What about now? Your Mom surely feels differently! Now that she¡¯s in charge, why hasn¡¯t she done anything?¡±

    Sunica laughed bitterly, and stared at the floor.

    ¡°She learned from her mistake. It took almost ten years, but she had another baby. My sister, Adelina. Mother regrets what happened, but says that she was clearly in the wrong.¡±

    Lily realized she was clenching her fists so hard her fingers were going numb, and made herself relax.

    ¡°I see. I¡¯m getting it now. Wait, if that was only like, 20 something years ago, isn¡¯t your Mom like¡­ young to be a ruler?¡±

    ¡°Extremely. I think that¡¯s part of why she won¡¯t accept me even now. It would become another avenue for other families to attack her standing.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s so stupid! There¡¯s clearly a right and wrong thing to do here! I wanna give them a piece of my mind!¡±

    At that Sunica almost chuckled. It was a brief reprieve from the tension.

    ¡°How¡¯re you going to do that? Won¡¯t you have a hard time talking to them?¡±

    ¡°I¡¯ll¨C I¡¯ll get better.¡±

    ¡°I believe you.¡±

    Lily gave Sunica a surprised look, and got a reassuring smile in return. Then, Sunica¡¯s stomach let out a loud grumble, and she laughed.

    ¡°Hungry?¡±

    ¡°Famished. Lemme make somethin¡¯.¡±

    ¡°Let me help! I¡¯m terrible, but I can¡¯t let you keep cooking for me forever and never help out.¡±

    The two of them got to something more pleasant. They cooked together, and enjoyed a meal together, and spent the night exchanging stories until they fell asleep. Lily on the couch, and Sunica on the floor next to it despite having a perfectly good bed in the next room.

    <hr>

    ¡°The [Message] is sent.¡±

    ¡°Thanks.¡±

    Avea left the guard house with a weight on his heart. He felt like he¡¯d done something wrong. But, it was just his job. He was a [Guard] in a balaur city.

    Still, he hoped Lily would be happy wherever she ended up, and that Sunica would forgive him. He should do something nice for her.

    But, Lily was an interesting human. There was no way they wouldn¡¯t send someone, and there was no way he wouldn¡¯t get in trouble for concealing it if he did.

 L.002

    She walked with a smile, humming to herself. The hallways were empty. On some level, she was still a little concerned that this was some sort of set up, but every new turn revealing not a single soul was putting her mind at ease. More than that, for the first time in a long long time, Lhexa felt free.

    She spread her arms, and ran down the hall feeling like a child again. She couldn¡¯t help but laugh. Here she was, at the bottom of the sea, in an empty prison that couldn¡¯t sustain her life forever, and she couldn¡¯t remember ever being this happy. She got to a cross shaped split in the hallway and twirled until she didn¡¯t know which direction was which, then picked the path that was straight ahead.

    Her rectangle buzzed, and she looked down.

    EnA: Good that you¡¯re enjoying yourself.

    Lhexa grinned and typed right back.

    You can¡¯t expect to open my cage and not see me dance for joy.

    She came to a small room with some security cameras and empty chairs. The elven girl plopped down in one and spun around a few times before giving the console a look over.

    Nothing interesting on the security cameras. Empty halls, empty offices, empty eating area. Sitting on the console though, a keycard. Lhexa pocketed it. Maybe it¡¯d unlock something, or let her use the computers. Seemed to be an ID, belonging to a ¡®Barny Belladelpha¡¯. What a fancy name.

    ¡°Oh no, poor Barny¡¯s gone and disappeared. Thanks for the ID though.¡±

    Actually, that was a good question.

    So, are they all dead? Or just somewhere else?

    EnA: Does it matter?

    Don¡¯t tell me you don¡¯t know. You¡¯re a Goddess right? This poor little mortal is just scared for her fellow souls! <3

    EnA: That¡¯s a complicated question. They don¡¯t exist now. Suffice it to say that they felt no pain or fear. They simply ceased to be in this world.

    Sounds pretty dead to me. You¡¯re a murderer, you know? Totally belong here with me in prison.

    She giggled to herself. She wasn¡¯t sure why she was needling a Goddess, but she felt she could be playful with Ena. She was feeling pretty drawn to the Goddess already. Although, that was probably relief at being ¡®rescued¡¯ still flowing through her.

    EnA: I am here. So, which of us gets to be the warden?

    Oh, and she flirts too! Lhexa got up and walked down the hall again, going straight once more at the crossed paths. She found herself in the cafeteria. Seemed to be one for the guards, but the food was still here. Unapologetically she grabbed a muffin and the untouched half of a sandwich, and started eating. This was so much better than the food the prisoners got! Not surprising.

    I¡¯m the warden, obviously. You¡¯re the one trapped in a rectangle, so you ought to be good and do what I say, okay?

    EnA: Well, aren¡¯t you bold? I¡¯ve already granted your wishes haven¡¯t I? Ended your boredom? What else would you like from me?

    She grabbed a knife off the counter and examined it closely. Seemed like a security hazard. The cafeteria door hadn¡¯t even been locked. She guessed they were just that comfortable with the rest of the security protocols. Damn sharp knife too. She pocketed that as well. Who knows when she might have to stab something. Or someone.

    You did say you were going to teach me some real magic.

    EnA: You¡¯re figuring it out on your own. Don¡¯t worry about that. Although, you should grab a couple more of those knives.

    The knives? So, you want me to collect interesting objects? Can do.

    Lhexa circled back and grabbed a few more knives. It took a minute to track down where they were stored, but she walked out of the cafeteria with seven of them, and picked up an apple too.

    So you aren¡¯t gonna teach me? Here I was looking forward to meeting you in a classroom setting. I even brought an apple.

    EnA: A witch isn¡¯t made by others. She creates herself.

    Oh, is that so? What about a Goddess then? Did someone make you?

    Lhexa wandered down the halls while waiting for a reply. She thought a Goddess ought to answer instantly. But maybe it was a matter of things being perfectly timed out. Besides, she was apparently watching Lhexa somehow. She wished she knew from where, she¡¯d blow her a kiss. Maybe she should put on a performance? None of her old stuff. Something new. Something hers.

    Turning a corner, she found herself in a sort of apartment living section. Naturally, she started trying doors. The rectangle buzzed again.

    EnA: Room 237

    Lhexa shrugged and wandered until she found that room. The door was ajar, and she was able to just walk right in. Inside was a somewhat nicer living quarters than her room had been. The furniture seemed like the same make, but there were a few posters up and a plant on the counter. As well as a kitchen, and¡­ right by the door, a hanger with two more keycards. Lhexa grabbed them up, and continued into the room.

    I see I¡¯m not getting an answer to that question huh? Oh well. Forgive a girl for wanting to know more about her Goddess.

    EnA: We¡¯re going to have an eternity together, you and I. It wouldn¡¯t be fun if I told you everything and you had nothing left to discover.

    Forever, huh? Are you proposing to little old me? <3

    EnA: So much more than that. We¡¯ll dance together through the cosmos. We¡¯ll go everywhere, and experience everything together. Then we¡¯ll invent new meanings of everywhere and everything, just to have more of each other. An eternity of fun. An eternity of love. A game that lasts forever, pushing the limits of hope and despair, of love and hatred, of comedy and tragedy. Our relationship is so much more than that.

    Lhexa was taken aback a little by the directness of that response. For once she wasn¡¯t sure what to say. Go along with it? Make a joke? Point out that earlier Ena said that she didn¡¯t want anything from her?

    EnA: There are so many good things in this room. Make sure to find them all. Start with the hat.

    This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road. If you spot it on Amazon, please report it.

    Hat? Lhexa looked around. Sure enough there was a hat. It was decorated like it was part of a costume. She was sure there was a story there, but shrugged and picked it up. A story that would never be told. What else?

    She scanned the room. A jar of candies. She took it and popped one into her mouth. It was sweet. Cherry flavored. Lhexa threw herself down on the couch and started looking over her collected items. Knives, keycards, an apple, candy, the letter she¡¯d received, half a muffin. What did they all have in common?

    Pulling out her rectangle she swiped through it. Thankfully, it was designed pretty intuitively. She found a button labeled ¡®Gallery¡¯ and opened it.

    Instantly a video played. It was a short video of a dog. A girl¡¯s voice rang out.

    ¡°One more time, say something for me please!¡±

    She sounded cute and excited. The dog¡¯s tail wagged in response, and it took a playful stance, then the video ended. Lhexa swiped. The next couple things were pictures. Some pictures of fire for whatever reason, and presumably the girl holding a piece of burning wood in her hand. That must have hurt. Whoever she was was dedicated to taking a good picture though.

    Next she found pictures of the girl in what looked like a living space. Mostly pictures of her taken through the bathroom mirror. Lhexa saw the girl holding up the same rectangle she was now holding. A human girl. She looked unhappy. Messy tangled brown hair, glasses, bags under her eyes, no makeup. Honestly, it looked like it¡¯d been a while since the girl had even taken a shower. But, Lhexa recognized depression in an instant. She¡¯d been there before.

    Are these pictures what you look like?

    No response. It was frustrating that Ena didn¡¯t seem particularly forthcoming with information. Lhexa tried again.

    I¡¯m going to see you eventually, you might as well confirm or deny.

    EnA: If you want, you can think of that girl as me. My beloved game piece. My Lily. I hope you will love her as I love you.

    That makes no sense. What about you? You¡¯re going to disappear on me? You said you¡¯d be with me forever!

    EnA: I will be with you forever. For eternity.

    So what gives?

    EnA: I love you.

    What? That¡¯s not an answer!

    EnA: I love you. More than the stars. More than all the people in all the worlds around them. More than all the universes in all of existence. More than reality. More than sanity. More than anything. I would tear down the walls of reality itself for you. You make a monster of me, but that is love.

    This was going nowhere. Lhexa sat up and began looking around the room again. But before she got too far, she added one small thing.

    You make it sound like you¡¯re going away. Please don¡¯t leave me.

    She was suddenly feeling very vulnerable. In a way, she had been clinging to Ena like a life raft, and the thought of suddenly being without her was hard. It had only been a little while. Where did those feelings come from? But, Ena had stepped in to save her. Her savior. Her Goddess. She didn¡¯t want that safety to leave her. Yeah, that was it. She shook her head, and began looking again. Then the rectangle buzzed.

    EnA: Never. We¡¯ll spend eternity together. Grab the canteen under the counter.

    Yeah. Ena was telling the truth, right? But somehow, the feeling in her chest didn¡¯t go away. Something was¡­ wrong. She continued grabbing the posters off the walls and finally left the apartment, continuing down the hall.

    Why was she feeling like this? Was she coming off of her normal meds, and that was fucking with her feelings? Doubt was seeping into her chest. She felt full of energy, but full of worry at the same time. She didn¡¯t feel entirely reassured by Ena. But, as long as the Goddess was with her, everything would be okay right?

    So, what¡¯s the connection between all these items anyways? I¡¯m starting to feel scared. Am I doing this right?

    No reply. Right after saying she would always be with her. How rude. Oh well.

    Lhexa flipped one of the knives along her fingers, as though it were a baton in one of her old idol performances.

    ¡°You can hear me, right? You¡¯re so mysterious. Is that on purpose? You keep telling me to grab these things, but I still don¡¯t see the connection between them all.¡±

    She let the handle of the knife bounce into her palm and swept it in a slash, striking the air. If only she had had this when she attacked that bastard. She pictured her arm soaked in red up to the elbows, slick.

    Not that he existed anymore. Better than he deserved. Better than most of them deserved, probably.

    Lhexa let them slip out of her mind. Who cared? They were gone. And her? She was dancing. Dancing with the knife, letting it skid on the wall, sparking as she flowed through the prison. A dancer in her element. She let her body move, let herself sweat while her mind chewed on the problem.

    What did all this junk have in common? What thread bound them?

    Knives, a decorated hat, letters, merch, candies, a ¡®water¡¯ flask full of some kind of synthohol¡­ A lot of things that must have belonged to the guards. Was that it? But then what about the letters? What about the candies? She would have thought that was it, but it didn¡¯t work for all the items.

    ¡°Oh.¡±

    The realization hit her bitterly. She slowed to a walk. Everything she was holding had seen the sky. And probably more recently than she had.

    ¡°Is that some kind of joke?¡±

    She was frowning now. Her heart was full of betrayal. Maybe not. Maybe she was wrong. She reached for her rectangle, but¨C she looked down at the knife. When had she started gripping it like that? Blood ran between her fingers and drew a line down the hall behind her.

    ¡°You want me to hold onto all these things that have been above? They¡¯re not there now! So what does it even matter? Was this just to play with my feelings?¡±

    She let the knife fall out of her hand. Somehow the pain still hadn¡¯t hit her yet. She knew it would soon though. It was just adrenaline holding it off, along with anger. Madness, even.

    ¡°You lead me on a treasure hunt for what? The memory of purple skies? I know what they look like. I don¡¯t need this junk to remind me!¡±

    She turned out her pockets. She threw down the hat. Candies scattered across the floor, rolling through the open doorways around her.

    ¡°How¡¯s any of this supposed to help me? What will any of it actually do?¡±

    Her voice was rising, frustrated.

    ¡°How could you toy with me? I want out! I want freedom! I want stormclouds and open skies and the sun! I want it to rain!¡±

    Lhexa felt her ears popping. She could have sworn she heard thunder. She wasn¡¯t thinking straight. Her hand was starting to hurt. She turned, facing no one. Everyone. The only one there was anymore. Her one audience member. Her Goddess.

    ¡°I want to be above.¡±

    She swung her head, gesturing angrily. Blood hit the ceiling. Everything was going white. Maybe she was going to faint? She had never felt more electric.

    ¡°Do you hear me!?¡±

    She was screaming now. Her voice echoing down the halls and into the rooms around her.

    ¡°You promised me¨C!¡±

    Her rectangle was beeping furiously. She had the tech in her hand, but couldn¡¯t see the screen for all the blood on it. She laughed. She raged. She threw it, far. It slammed into the ground and bounced once¡­ then broke apart. Instant regret washed over her. She chased towards it, through the doorway and dove.

    Lhexa grabbed up the pieces of the rectangle, tears streaming down her face now.

    ¡°I¡¯m sorry. I¡¯m sorry. I¡¯m sorry. I didn¡¯t mean to. I didn¡¯t know it was fragile. Please Ena, come back. Ena! Please! I need you! Please! I¡¯m sorry!¡±

    She scrambled with the pieces, desperately trying to put them back together. But it was dark in here and she couldn¡¯t see well past her tears. It had come apart, but none of the pieces seemed broken beyond repair. Maybe she could fit them back together?

    Then, she felt the wind on her skin. She looked up. It was a cool night out. The sound of waves in the distance reached her ears. She looked at the sky. The wide open sky overhead. A starless night, and yet she could tell there were no clouds. She looked out into a vast sea of nothingness, and for just a second, she marveled at the beauty of it.

    Tears still streamed down her face. Her emotions at the surface for once, instead of buried beneath a million layers of denial and safeguards.

    ¡°Ena. Please come back¡­¡±

 G.002

    ¡°Oh you know. Just a little breaking into a rich guy¡¯s house.¡±

    Gull stared at the boy in front of him. Or the¨C Whatever this person was. Hex was smiling back at him. A human. Young. Straight brown hair down to his ears, and dirt on his face. Thin, malnourished even. Really, he reminded Gull of a goblin. He clearly lived down here, or somewhere like it.

    ¡°You want me to help you raid? Where? Above?¡±

    Hex nodded, and gave a shrug before pacing around the circular room. Gull carefully kept his eyes on the boy. The feeling of unease in his chest just wasn¡¯t going away. Hex was giving off all the signs of being friendly, but there was something dangerous about him.

    ¡°Mhmm. If you want to call it that. A raid. Really, I¡¯m just taking back something that was stolen from me in the first place if it makes you feel any better. I was going to do it alone, but I won¡¯t turn down company. You¡¯re usually pretty handy to have around. Besides, you¡¯re screwed in this world without my help.¡±

    ¡°I am not. I was fine. Those strange humans were friendly.¡±

    Hex rolled his eyes at that, and poked at the fire in the center of the room with a metal rod that was leaning up against the side of the fire pit.

    ¡°Were they? Didn¡¯t seem that way to me. But, even if you think so, you don¡¯t have all the things you¡¯ll need to live here. They don¡¯t have goblins either, which is a point in your favor in the sense that no one is going to be hunting you. But, it¡¯ll work against you in the end ¡®cause you stand out.¡±

    ¡°What do I not have? I can cover my face.¡±

    The boy giggled and shook his head.

    ¡°Every person here has a¨C you don¡¯t know what a computer chip is do you?¡±

    Gull shook his head, and the boy went on explaining.

    ¡°Everyone here has a small device under their skin. It¡¯s not magic, but you might as well think of it like that. It¡¯s right here. I have one too.¡±

    Hex raised his hands and pointed to his left wrist with his right hand.

    ¡°Right about there. On most people anyways. They use it for everything. You don¡¯t have one. And since they¡¯re usually assigned at birth, well, let¡¯s just say it¡¯s pretty suspicious looking to anyone who finds out.¡±

    Gull frowned. A chip? Like a chip of stone? Under the skin? That sounded uncomfortable. But then, it was magic. Maybe it was fine.

    ¡°I¡¯m a goblin. I can hide. Back home there are legends. They said I can disappear. Like a Gull on the wind. Not even bloodhounds find.¡±

    ¡°Spare me the goblin tales.¡±

    ¡°Do not be rude. You won¡¯t have your own legends.¡±

    ¡°Don¡¯t need them. I¡¯m already living mine. Anyway, are you in or out?¡±

    Gull frowned, and gritted his teeth. He was still not feeling trusting. But, if Hex really would help him get the things he would need to survive, it might be worth sticking around at least that long.

    ¡°So, I can get a chip? From the raid?¡±

    ¡°I mean, he doesn¡¯t have them directly, but he sure does have the tools to get them, and I¡¯ll happily use them on you. You know, you¡¯re really hurting my feelings right now.¡±

    ¡°I am?¡±

    ¡°Yes!¡±

    Hex approached carefully and took Gull¡¯s hands in his, then smiled up at him and continued.

    ¡°I know you don¡¯t know me yet. But we really are friends. Sometimes we get in each other¡¯s way, but we¡¯ve got a bond. You¡¯re another game piece on the board. Sometimes my ally, sometimes my enemy, but always my friend. So, of course being treated coldly hurts.¡±

    The contact was almost too much for Gull. A human, holding his hands? This was¡­ strange. But, the way his voice trembled a little at the end. He seemed entirely genuine.

    ¡°I can not force trust. We just met. But, I will raid.¡°

    Hex¡¯s smile grew. He shook both of Gull¡¯s hands, then let go and did a twirl.

    ¡°Aww, are you blushing? Don¡¯t worry. I won¡¯t tell anyone!¡±

    Gull was regretting this already.

    <hr>

    He had been following the boy through the sewers for almost an hour when he finally stopped. Hex turned back to give him a look.

    ¡°Tired already? I thought goblins were strong.¡±

    ¡°Not tired.¡±

    ¡°Then what¡¯s the issue?¡±

    ¡°How far is this raid?¡±

    ¡°What? We¡¯re not going to do the raid right now, obviously.¡±

    Gull¡¯s impatience surged in his chest. He was beyond exhausted. If this kid had just led him around the sewer system for nearly an hour for no reason¨C

    ¡°Where are you taking me?¡±

    ¡°Hey, calm down. I¡¯m helping remember? We can¡¯t raid right now. You¡¯re tired, and you smell like alcohol. You¡¯ve been drinking, right? Tired and drunk is no state to be in when we do this. So, I¡¯m taking you somewhere to rest.¡±

    That stopped him. Oh. Hex did have a good point. Gull had been ready to just brush off his tiredness however long it took. But, if rest was an option¡­ He changed his tone.

    ¡°Yes. I am tired. Okay. Then, how far until rest?¡±

    Hex smiled.

    ¡°Just another block or two. Not far at all. I got us a hotel room. Seedy as hell, but it¡¯ll still be luxury for you I¡¯ll guess. Based on what you¡¯ve told me of how your people lived.¡±

    The narrative has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

    ¡°What is a hotel?¡±

    The boy laughed and gestured for Gull to follow. Gull reluctantly plodded on after him. He didn¡¯t like not knowing what was going on. If this had been Barnacle, or Bonesnap, or Crabclaw he¡¯d have trusted them implicitly. But, he felt like he was being led by the nose.

    They came to a ladder leading up to the street above, and Hex told Gull to stay below. He waited impatiently for a few minutes, before the boy¡¯s head popped out at the top of the ladder again and called him up.

    Once Gull was above, he took a look around. It was raining lightly, misting really. The sun wasn¡¯t out yet, but the early morning light had begun so it¡¯d be up soon. He was on the side of that black stone path from before. A different one maybe? There were a dizzying amount of lights all around. Lights keeping the path lit, in the windows of the strange stone buildings, colored lights that were rapidly changing, and more. Hex urged him forwards, and he followed. In seconds, they were through a door and into a simple room with two extremely soft looking beds.

    Gull sidled into the room, closing the door behind him and eying the place to make sure it was just the two of them. He was still on edge, and trying to unclench. Hex hopped up on one of the beds, and kicked his feet. When he wasn¡¯t talking, he really did seem like an ordinary child.

    ¡°Come on. I bet it¡¯ll be the softest thing you¡¯ve ever laid on. Unless you want to take a bath first? They¡¯ve got warm water. Not that that¡¯s worth bragging about in this world.¡±

    Gull stepped forward and had a seat on the edge of the bed closest to him. He hated to admit it, but it was the softest thing he¡¯d ever felt. Even softer than the throne-bed!

    ¡°So, we rest here? How long? When is the raid?¡±

    ¡°You really are single minded. Does it matter? Are you in a rush? I¡¯m not. I¡¯ve got pocket money. We have this hotel room for a week. Don¡¯t you want to eat some good food, and watch some TV?¡±

    ¡°After the raid.¡±

    ¡°Really?¡±

    ¡°Really.¡±

    ¡°Fiiiiine. I¡¯ll treat you after the raid then. We can go as early as tonight if you really want to get it over with. I¡¯m going to nap myself, then maybe I¡¯ll head out and get some candy. Candy tastes amazing in a kid¡¯s body. I could literally eat the stuff all day. But then, I want this one around for a while so I better not splurge too much.¡±

    Gull gave Hex a searching look for a moment, and then asked a question that had been on his mind for a while.

    ¡°Did you kill that child? For his body?¡±

    ¡°In a manner of speaking.¡±

    The straightforward answer surprised him, and after a few seconds of silence he gestured for Hex to go on.

    ¡°Well, this child was living an ordinary life until I popped into this body, yes. They don¡¯t die in the sense that their body dies, obviously. Since I¡¯m still here, very much alive. They don¡¯t really die in the sense that their memories and consciousness does either. I can still remember everything this boy has ever experienced. So his memories are still alive and well. What does that leave? Consciousness? That¡¯s a pretty hard thing to quantify, isn¡¯t it?¡±

    Gull didn¡¯t actually know all of these words, but for some reason the meaning of them was coming to him clearly despite that. But, he didn¡¯t have time to focus on that part right now. This was important.

    ¡°So you killed him?¡±

    ¡°If you want to look at it that way, you can.¡±

    ¡°How do you look at it? Stop hiding behind smiles. Tell me the truth.¡±

    That¡¯s what this was. In fact, that¡¯s what had been bothering him about Hex for a while now. Hex was always smiling, but it was the smile of a predator. Of a deceiver. It was a bluff. A mask to get away from¡­ he wasn¡¯t sure what yet. But he wanted honesty. Hex¡¯s smile faltered.

    ¡°I do remember. I remember this boy¡¯s whole life. I remember the orphanage he was at until he finally escaped. The ones running it beat and starved the kids. I remember finding a small group of friends in the sewers, and living like rats. I remember begging and pickpocketing on the streets. And I remember starving. Starving until I felt completely hollow. Until even the pain of it faded away into a dull ache. This child would have died that way. Starving in the sewers. It wasn¡¯t going to be long. Another week, maybe two.¡±

    ¡°You don¡¯t know that. Maybe things would have changed.¡±

    ¡°It did change. I changed it. I saw his life, flickering and guttering out and I reached for it. I took it. Now, this boy will live to do great things in this world. Because I stepped in. Because I decided what his role should be, and it¡¯s not what it was. To answer your question: I don¡¯t really know and I don¡¯t really care. If he is still in here somewhere, he¡¯s going to live a wonderful life. If he¡¯s not, I still think it¡¯s a better lot in life than he would have had. I don¡¯t pity him. I lived a life like this once, and I wouldn¡¯t have wanted pity. I wanted something greater, and I got it. And on some level, I think he got it too.¡±

    ¡°Like this everywhere? Always someone like this?¡±

    ¡°Hah, hardly! I¡¯ve stepped into more bodies than I can count. I don¡¯t have a moral dilemma about it. All things being equal, I¡¯ll take someone who¡¯s going to die soon over someone who¡¯s not, but that¡¯s not usually the deciding factor.¡±

    ¡°Then what is? Whether they are a good or a bad person?¡±

    Hex laughed, and it sounded genuine for once.

    ¡°You always have been a stick in the mud you know that? Of course not. It¡¯s about how fun the role will be! If I can step into the life of someone who is gonna die soon, isn¡¯t that more fun? It¡¯s easy to steal the body of some normal person living an ordinary and boring life but why would I? I want the odds stacked against me! I want the excitement of clawing my way to victory! I want the drama of everything they have crashing down around them!¡±

    He hopped up and bounced up and down on the bed a few times.

    ¡°I want the world itself conspiring against me, and I want to come out on top! Just like this boy! This is going to be a story for the ages, and in this world it will be! A boy living off of scraps in the sewers that rises practically overnight into being one of the most important people in the world. A twelve year old genius, who changes everything. From zero to the world! Isn¡¯t that exciting?¡±

    Gull was staring at the boy with a sour expression. He could understand what Hex was getting at, but he didn¡¯t like it. It wasn¡¯t¡­ goblin.

    ¡°I would want to fight. For every second. You stole that from him. I do not like it.¡±

    Hex gave Gull an exaggerated sigh, and then tumbled down onto the bed again. He lifted a hand above him and stared past it at the ceiling.

    ¡°I knew you¡¯d say that. So, let me try to explain it another way.¡±

    ¡°What will that change?¡±

    ¡°Nothing, really. But it¡¯s how we have co-existed so long from my perspective. I won¡¯t lie. I don¡¯t look at it this way myself, and that was your question. But, I am a traveler. Like you. My form of traveling works this way, like your jumps through time and space. I have my own reasons for what I do, that I care about just as strongly as yours. If someone told you that your jumps were not right, morally, what would you say?¡±

    Gull raised his voice. He was actually a little angry at that. He never wished for this! He never ever wanted anything other than to enjoy his life and be comfortable!

    ¡°I did not want this! I do not want this power! I do not control it! It is not my fault!¡±

    ¡°Okay, but say you eventually got control of it. Would you stop, and live an ordinary life? Knowing where you end up?¡±

    ¡°I¨C¡±

    He stared at the boy, irritation and unease burning in his chest. The boy smiled back, completely carefree.

    ¡°Yeah, that¡¯s what I thought. But you don¡¯t have to explain it to me. I understand. That¡¯s what it¡¯s like for me too. So, even if it questionably kills one person per world I visit, that¡¯s the cost of my existence. You¡¯ll cause plenty of deaths in your own time, don¡¯t you worry.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s a lie.¡±

    Hex shrugged.

    ¡°If you want to believe that. If it helps, I don¡¯t blame you for them. I¡¯ve always known you as someone with a strong sense of what¡¯s right and wrong, who always does his best. But when you live a long and interesting enough life, some things are just unavoidable.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s a lie.¡±

    ¡°Look, what do you want me to say? We have different outlooks on things. I just want to be your friend, and enjoy being in this world together. That¡¯s the truth. There¡¯s really nothing more to it than that.¡±

    Gull stared at Hex, and for the life of him, he thought that might have been the first honest thing the boy had said all night.

    ¡°Fine. I will go to sleep. Tonight we will raid. Then I will decide. After I get the chip.¡±

    He laid down on the bed. In less than a minute, he was asleep.

 L.003

    ¡°Ena!¡±

    Lhexa held the rectangle pieces in her hands, trying to figure out how they went together. It only came apart into three pieces, and they seemed like they might fit together.

    The night air and sea breeze flowing over her tear stained face forced her to feel the weight of those tears all over again. But, it also pushed into her head and heart that she was really here. She was really on the surface. She held the pieces of the rectangle and stood up, looking around. She was standing in front of a shop. Lights were still on inside, and in all the other shops along this path. But in front of her, darkness. The sand, and the ocean. Artificial as the beach front was, it stretched off into the inky blackness of the night, and she was just standing on the edge of it.

    Lhexa laughed. She couldn¡¯t help it. Despair at losing her connection to Ena was still in her heart. Blood was dripping from her hand, though it had slowed somewhat. But she was here. Here! On the surface. And just like Ena had said, no one else was here. She was alone. The laughter just flowed up from inside her and bubbled out.

    Ena really had heard her. Had granted her wish. Everyone was gone! She had this whole world to herself. And her heart was singing. As much with pain as love. It hurt. It was fun. It was exciting. It was painful. It was scary. It was everything.

    She had to talk to Ena again. As she turned to enter the shop she had come out of, she saw it was a restaurant called ¡®The Brig¡¯. She had to laugh some more. That was dark, given the nature of the world she was on. But, if she was going to come out of anywhere, of course it would be there.

    As she opened the door, she half expected to see the hallway full of the ingredients Ena had made her gather. Although, she was vaguely unsure if they¡¯d still be there. After all, weren¡¯t they components for the spell? None of them had made it to the other side with her. But she didn¡¯t see them disappear either. It didn¡¯t matter. The door opened to the inside of the shop. The smell of cooked food reached her, and a small sign said to seat herself. She did, and began messing with the rectangle again in the light. It did seem like the three pieces fit together. One front piece that was mostly just the screen, a flat rectangular back piece, and a smaller one that fit inside.

    ¡°Can I get you anything?¡±

    Lhexa took a swing and her fist collided with metal. A small serving robot stood next to the table, designed to have an animated face holographically projected in front of it. The face made an exaggerated pained expression as the feminine customer service voice projected from it.

    ¡°Please refrain from harming the staff! That hurts!¡±

    Lhexa took a deep breath. Right. Of course. So much that happened here was totally automated. How far did that reach¡­?

    ¡°Fish and chips. And a cola.¡±

    The little robot bowed slightly and gave her a ¡®smile¡¯ then went off to fetch things. The real test is if it would actually come back with anything. Especially anything fresh and not hours old. Was the cooking all automated too? What else could she get away with?

    Aha! The smaller rectangle had a patch of three metal sections that seemed to correspond with some on the inside of the main rectangle. And it slotted right in! She stuck the two halves together again and pushed. A horrible snapping sound came out as she mushed them together, but they did seem to snap into place.

    She watched it and waited. But nothing happened. Lhexa let out a groan.

    ¡°I guess it¡¯s broken after all¡­? That was so stupid of me! But Ena didn¡¯t live in that box right? You can still see me, right Ena? You can still hear me? I just can¡¯t hear you.¡±

    Her heart was racing. She closed her eyes and listened intently, to make sure there wasn¡¯t any kind of response from anywhere.

    ¡°Your food is ready Miss¡ª- Ow! Please refrain from harming the staff! That hurts!¡±

    The little robot had come back. Lhexa had swung again. The adrenaline was really flowing through her. She was jumpy. The inside of her head was loud. Loud loud loud. Her heart was on fire. It hurt. It felt amazing. It felt electric. Ena could still see her? She was free? On a resort/amusement park world? All alone?

    She took the freshly made fish and chips from the robot¡¯s built in tray, and the drink as well.

    ¡°Thanks.¡±

    Lhexa pocketed her rectangle. She didn¡¯t know how to make it work again. Maybe there was somewhere on this island she could get a robot to repair it? It was ancient, so probably not. But it was worth considering. Stepping outside, Lhexa took a breath of fresh air, and ate a fry.

    She couldn¡¯t hear Ena. But Ena would still be watching. Listening. Another deep breath of the sea breeze. Another bite of food. So much better than food in the prison. So much better than the diet she had to keep before then! In fact, even before being an idol¡­ Lhexa would never have been able to come to a place like this.

    She wandered down the path, along the string of shops. Most of them were selling food, but a few had knick knacks too. She had this whole place to herself. So what did she want to do with it¡­?

    Spotting a little sign with a customer service light on it, she followed the indicated direction. It led shortly to a small customer service pole, and under it were five little robots. Presumably all waiting here for instructions.

    ¡°Customer service! Little robot?¡±

    Four of them perked up. She pointed at one at random.

    ¡°You! Help me.¡±

    The robot scooted over to her.

    ¡°How can I h¨C¡±

    ¡°I want access to the speaker system.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m sorry. Only staff are allow¨C¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m staff. My name is Barny Belladelpha. Here¡¯s my ID.¡±

    She dug around in her pocket until she pulled out the ID that was thankfully still there and not consumed as part of her spell. The robot scanned the ID, and the holographic face in front of it switched to a much more utilitarian display showing the time and the time since this robot had last been maintained.

    ¡°Accepted. What can I assist you with, Barny?¡±

    ¡°I want access to the speaker system.¡±

    ¡°Very well. Which speaker system would you like to access?¡±

    ¡°Give me a list of my options.¡±

    ¡°Park, Residential, Resort, Prison, Staff Areas, Amphitheater, Coll¨C¡±

    ¡°All of them.¡±

    The robot was still and silent for a moment.

    ¡°Access to all speaker systems at once requires a higher level of clearance than you are permitted.¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s an emergency. No one has higher clearance right now.¡±

    ¡°I am unable to override the security protocol.¡±

    ¡°What about these?¡±

    Lhexa removed the remaining stack of ID cards she¡¯d collected.

    ¡°I¡¯m sorry, I am unable to accept more than one ID from a single person.¡±

    ¡°This is a test of the security protocol system. I need you to tell me if any of these ID¡¯s would have clearance to access all speaker systems on the planet in the case of an emergency.¡±

    The robot was silent for a second to process before speaking again.

    ¡°Very well, Mister Belladelpha. The card provided for Miss Melphia has the proper security clearance.¡±

    Lhexa looked at the cards one by one. Ynara Melphia was one of the two Lhexa had grabbed from the apartment Ena had pointed her to. Of course. Ena was still looking after her. She really was a goddess after all!

    ¡°Good job little robot. That¡¯s me. I was previously identified as Barny Belladelpha as part of the security protocol test. My real ID is this one right here. Ynara Melphia.¡±

    ¡°Due to this very abnormal chain of events, I will ask you a security question.¡±

    Shit. Shit shit shit! Why couldn¡¯t things just be easy?

    ¡°What is your planet of origin?¡±

    Lhexa looked down at the card she held in her hand. It had basic information on it, including an address.

    This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there.

    ¡°Um. Earth?¡±

    ¡°Correct. Thank you, Miss Melphia.¡±

    Lhexa laughed. She laughed until she doubled over, and tears streamed down her face again. All that stress for nothing! She rolled over onto the ground and took a moment to look at the sky. The starless sky. She grinned up at it.

    ¡°Hey, what level of security clearance do I have?¡±

    ¡°You have full access to all systems, Miss Melphia.¡±

    ¡°Thank you, Ena. Now it¡¯s my turn to impress you though, okay? Don¡¯t think I didn¡¯t pay attention to what you taught me about spells. Gather up components. Feel the emotions. Let myself be awash with them. Call out for the power. With my voice. With my heart. Direct it. Make the impossible happen. Well, I¡¯ll do it. I¡¯ll do it again. In pursuit of you. That¡¯s what you wanted from me right? We¡¯re gonna dance through the cosmos together, right?¡±

    ¡°I do not under¡ª¡±

    ¡°Shut up.¡±

    The robot was silent, and Lhexa laid there quietly for a few minutes. Then she reached over and grabbed another fry. What items did she need to collect? No. It was more than just the items wasn¡¯t it? It was something deeper than that. What they represented. Even in an abstract. All the items from before had been things that had seen the outside more recently than her. And the knives? Maybe to cut through to the other side of where she wanted to be? Or maybe they had just been newly imported? Maybe it was both.

    ¡°I wanna go on a ride. Take me to the nearest ride. Actually, scratch that. Take me to the best ride.¡±

    ¡°Best is a subjective measur¨C¡±

    ¡°Shut up. Take me to the highest network reviewed attraction in the park.¡±

    The robot instantly started moving in a direction. Lhexa jumped up and grabbed her food before walking after it. It matched her pace. Being in charge was convenient. She finished off her meal in a hurry as she followed the little leader.

    Lhexa twirled her way to the ride¨C Apparently it was famous. Now that she was looking, there were signs everywhere.

    The Worldsighter.

    See it all in style.

    Meanings on meanings. This had to mean something. It couldn¡¯t be a coincidence, could it? She hopped the barriers where the line was supposed to start, heading along the ¡®employee¡¯ entrance. Well, she had been an employee after all. Kind of. Unwillingly.

    Even at this distance she could see the railing twisting into the sky, glittering against the atmosphere. It dipped in and out of sight along the horizon, with so many crests and falls that she couldn¡¯t really tell how long it was. Top rated indeed.

    She had left the robot behind. It was dutifully puttering along, taking the long way through the winding rows where a line would be. She wasn¡¯t waiting for it.

    The employee console had a button for ¡®go¡¯. She pressed it, and then tossed herself into a seat. There was a second where the machinery lurched, and then started forward. For a few seconds it was so slow that she didn¡¯t bother pulling the shoulder brace down. She glanced down at her rectangle, squeezed it, and then put it into her pocket.

    Then, suddenly, she was falling. Her ass lifted out of the seat a little from the sheer speed of the acceleration, and her shocked voice rang in her own ears.

    ¡°Oh shit!¡±

    She grabbed wildly up at the brace. She had to push up on it as she descended in order to keep from flying loose. When the momentum finally shifted the other way, she yanked the brace down and buckled it, eyes practically bulging out of her head.

    Now her adrenaline was really pumping. She could have died!

    Lhexa¡¯s hands trembled on the straps, laughing, crying. Her hand, the one she¡¯d cut, hurt from squeezing so hard. She wasn¡¯t sure if it was bleeding again, but she could hardly move her head to look, such were the g-forces acting on her.

    When it finally equalized she was in the sky. She felt like she was floating, gliding with precious slowness towards the horizon, held by a single ribbon up to the highest point in the world. ¡®Look¡¯, the designer was saying. ¡®See everything we built? Our victory against nature? A manufactured land floating on an infinite sea. And how beautiful.¡¯

    ¡°How rotten.¡±

    Lhexa laughed, kicking her feet in delight. So much pride when the core of the planet was literally garbage. She should know. She¡¯d been the one cleaning it.

    The ride kept her skyborne for as long as it took for the wonder to wear off a bit, and then she was diving again. This time she let out a delighted scream, confident in her safety, letting the world rush by her in all its artificial beauty. The ride wove past landmarks, above the highest towers, and beneath the sea itself. She saw brightly colored fish, sharks, and even whales. All imported. Maybe even just for this ride.

    Wedli Corp probably fed them to keep them close to the right area. She wondered for a moment if they¡¯d take off now that their meal ticket was about to run out.

    Didn¡¯t matter. Live or die. As long as it was interesting. As long as it was worth it. And it was worth it.

    The ride clicked at its station and she stumbled off, laughing. Her legs were jelly. She laid down on the ground and laughed, and laughed. Real laughter. She hadn¡¯t laughed like this in¨C

    Well, maybe ever. Tears were rolling down her face. Eventually she rolled onto her side, snorting, wiping at her eyes. It was just such a relief. Such a joy. She was happy to be alive and that was¨C just too much!

    When she finally managed to see through her tears, Lhexa went suddenly still.

    The robot was there, puttering and stuttering about whatever it was on about, but that wasn¡¯t what caught her eye.

    Where she had been laying before she rolled over, there was¡­ something. Where before there had been nothing. It looked like a piece of the world¡¯s thinnest fabric, caught in a breeze, whirling slowly in place. She could see right through it¨C but then¡­ it did have color? Maybe even texture?

    She sat up and reached a hand out, and it went right through the substance. But she felt it. Actually, more than that. She laughed. More than the physical touch, what she felt was¨C was¨C

    Fleeting Joy

    Surprise

    Dread

    Hilarity

    Awe

    Bewilderment

    It was emotion given form.

    It was¡­

    ¡°Magic.¡±

    The first time she had done magic, she hadn¡¯t really seen any of it. It was armfuls of meaningful junk and¡­ some emotion, and bam. She was here. Above. With the wind on her skin.

    Now she was staring at it, and it was suddenly more real to her. Not a scavenger hunt for a friend. Not a fun little game. Power. Joyous power.

    And it was hers.

    With all the delicacy in the world she reached out and grasped the fabric, and to her surprise, despite reaching straight through some of it she was able to grab some kind of¡­ center? Core? It squirmed lightly, and it was as if she was holding laughter in her hands.

    She couldn¡¯t help but smile. She couldn¡¯t imagine not feeling it, the emotion running through her.

    She wanted to make a spell. Right now. This had to be a sign, right? Worldsighter, and now this? After everything Ena had said?

    Lhexa felt a song coming on. Like they used to when she was a kid. When she had loved singing. Before it became a job.

    The lyrics were bubbling in her, but she didn¡¯t let them out just yet. She had to get some things first.

    <hr>

    She threw brochures on the ground. Every single one she could find for every place she could find. She let them scatter in a loose formation on the ground. There had to be two or three hundred of them. Enough for a stage. Enough for her to dance across worlds.

    She thought she had the pace of it now, this magic. She had started seeing it when she had found her magic emotiony thing. She had thought she was missing something before, and she was! Magic had heart! It had¨C Feeling!

    That was what made it special. In a world full of machinery, of numbers and diodes, wires and neurons and strict hard logic! Magic was power that broke the machine. It was laughter. It was tears. It was a world where the sun was beautiful, not for a moment reduced to a chemical reaction.

    She saw it now.

    All around her she had scattered things that had to be imported. This world couldn¡¯t make half the things it required to function, usually. It was a resort, not a factory. Not a farm.

    Plants, textiles, even merch. Most of them even said where they came from! Perfect. Perfect. When she was satisfied with her set dressing she stepped onto the brochures and bowed, sweeping her magic cloth in front of her like a cape. She whispered.

    ¡°Without further ado¡­¡±

    Then she allowed her voice to rise, melodiously.

    ?

    You said I¡¯d chase you, and it¡¯s true.

    ?

    It was dawn, and she could just see the sun on the water. It hovered, like a single great eye upon her. Her only audience¨C Except of course for Ena. But she had to play in some direction and today it was to the sea. To the sky and the sun. To wonder.

    ?

    ¡®Cuz where you go I¡¯m comin¡¯ too.

    I¡¯ll build a bridge and sing a chime,

    I¡¯ll break down your door and shatter time,

    I¡¯ll write rules in love and blood,

    Then break them down just because.

    ?

    She kicked at the ground, sending brochures flying. They were caught in the wind. In her emotions. She was a dust devil to herself, a vortex of magic, building and building. Some of the brochures landed, some didn¡¯t. She danced across them anyway. Careless. Joyful. She held her magic imprint in her arms like a lover, wrapped her rectangle in it, spun, danced. As if she were in a ball room. As if she were alone in her old room back in the slums. No one was watching her. She never could have danced like this for an audience. Too off beat. Too raw. No polish, all feeling.

    Perfect.

    ?

    Ena I might be a step ahead or a step behind,

    Every dancer knows you¡¯ve got to tow the line,

    ?

    She could feel that charge in the air again. She¡¯d felt it before, but this time when it came a wide grin crossed her face. She knew it. She KNEW it! She was right! It was doing something!

    ?

    You said I¡¯d find you and it¡¯s true,

    I swear you¡¯re coming into view,

    I see you now with eyes brand new,

    Where you go I¡¯m comin¡¯ too.

    ?

    Her voice was thunder.

    She felt it in her bones.

    Deeper than that, even. If it were possible.

    As the last words left her lips, she¨C

 0.043

    Three days. It had been three days. Things were not going well. It was the same problem as always really. Lily was getting in her own way. She was always her own final boss, wasn¡¯t she?

    Three days ago she had made the trip to La Mancha with enough of her stuff to be comfortable. She¡¯d settled down nicely into the house there. Gotten electricity running, let Star explore the surroundings in more detail.

    But, she had a project to be working on. A way to allow Star to essentially possess Bay. Ideally multiple iterations of Bay, even if her counterpart had to redo the spellwork on her side. Her counterpart hadn¡¯t reached back out, which had Lily worried. The spell wasn¡¯t connecting from her end either. It did have to be done on both sides afterall. But she was trying not to panic about that. The time differential seemed like it was very strange from the times they¡¯d made contact so far. It seemed to fluctuate, rather than being fixed faster or slower on one side or another. So, it was entirely possible that only hours had passed on the other side.

    Or that Lily 1 was dead.

    No. She shook her head. That wasn¡¯t it. Don¡¯t panic. Besides, she had her own problems to work through.

    Namely, it had been three days ago she¡¯d arrived at La Mancha, and she¡¯d been holed up since. Yesterday she¡¯d been making the excuse to herself that she had work to do. It was complicated work and what was more, she was making progress. Good progress! She¡¯d been able to get Bay to move his little arms in relation to how she moved her own arms with an enchantment on her hands. And seeing through his little eyes wasn¡¯t actually that difficult either. Sure there was still further to go, but that was already great progress for two straight days of work! At least, she thought it was.

    But, the longer she¡¯d worked on it, the more she¡¯d alternated between that and watching episodes of The Simpsons. Afterall, she¡¯d stopped watching way back in season 14 or so, so revisiting a childhood favorite was super nostalgic.

    And today, when she decided it was a good time to go out and check over the animals and maybe spend time with Star¡­ She got to the door and stopped. She froze up. Her hand on the doorknob, a cold sweat washed over her, and before she knew it she was retreating back to the living room.

    ¡°Well. Shit.¡±

    She had known on some level that this was coming, but she¡¯d really tried not to psyche herself out. Now, here she was. Her momentum was gone. It was a silly thing. But, until very recently she¡¯d been rushing from one thing to another. One thing she had to do to survive to another thing she had to do to survive. The basement spell. Even recovering things from the house.

    But here she was. She¡¯d established a status quo. She could live here comfortably with very little need to leave this house for¡­ probably forever. I mean, she¡¯d have to get used to eating a lot of eggs, and she¡¯d eventually have to see if she could get spices or whatever. But, she had food, water, shelter, mana based electricity, and so on. This was a problem she¡¯d confronted a number of times already, but this was a new frontier.

    What felt like ages ago, she¡¯d had this battle out in front of the library. And she¡¯d won. She was proud of herself for that. The urge to hide away instead of exploring magic had been a difficult battle, and the rewards had been incredible. But on some level she had known that when it came down to it, she was propelling herself forward with urgency. With need to push forwards for her own sake. But now? The urgency was gone. She wasn¡¯t going to die if she didn¡¯t go outside. She wasn¡¯t going to miss out on the secrets of magic. There was no reason she had to leave her nest anymore.

    And so, her sickness was here again. Really, it had never left. She had just cleverly put off dealing with it. But, these things don¡¯t just vanish. They don¡¯t disappear. Her cage had always been here. Waiting for her to get comfortable inside it again, and lock the door behind her. And how easy it had been.

    Three days.

    That¡¯s all it had taken.

    Three days without some emergency forcing her hand.

    She wanted to scream. She wanted to cry. It wasn¡¯t fair! Hadn¡¯t she worked so hard to get past this? Hadn¡¯t she walked the line between life and death to push herself out of this in the first place?

    Had she, though? Or had she just done those things because dying was scarier than living? For survival. Because when she broke her issues down to survival, she would do anything to survive. And now? This was survival. This was safety. This was comfort. She could send Star out for anything she needed from now on and never leave this house again.

    Because leaving felt like danger. Trauma would do that. That same need for survival could close her into this cage just as strongly as it could push her out of it.

    She shook her head again. No. No. This was stupid. She was different now. She really was! She¡¯d overcome so much! It¡¯d been¡­ over a month. She wasn¡¯t really sure on the timeline. It all sort of blended together. Really, looking back on it, it was hard to believe that she had really done those things.

    ¡°Shit.¡±

    That wasn¡¯t a great sign either. Okay. So, maybe she had disassociated to varying degrees to get this far too. So what? Use the tools you have in order to survive. But now? What now?

    She wasn¡¯t going to lose. That¡¯s what now. It was clear to her now that instead of dealing with this trauma she¡¯d been repressing it and moving forward at any cost. So, all she had to do was deal with it properly, right? Defeat it for good, instead of running away fast enough that it couldn¡¯t catch her.

    But how? How do you actually overcome something like this? Phobias. Trauma. Years and years of letting it build into something insurmountable? It was easy when a fire was approaching. Because then the decision was simple: Run or die a horrible death. Really, when you broke problems down to solving it or dying in agony it was often a lot easier to find a solution.

    But those solutions are temporary at best. This wasn¡¯t going away just by pushing it down and pretending. No. No no no. Exposure maybe? She should just leave the house and not come back inside for a while. Camp outside. Stay in the car if needbe. Don¡¯t allow herself to shut herself inside, right?

    Lily stood and strode over to the door, ready to throw it open. But, as her hand hit the doorknob, she froze again. Instantly, she wasn¡¯t the strong survival minded girl she had become. She was a scared twenty something, standing at the door to her apartment, tears streaming down her face as she tried to get up the courage to open the door and accept a pizza delivery. Or take a step outside at all. Or take her mountain of trash out so she wouldn¡¯t have to live in it.

    But, she belonged there. Mixed in with the garbage. That¡¯s why she couldn¡¯t leave. Because this was right.

    This tale has been unlawfully obtained from Royal Road. If you discover it on Amazon, kindly report it.

    Lily bit her lip to snap out of it. She was several paces away from the door again. This was so stupid. This was SO STUPID. How could she have let this happen? It snuck up on her. Comfort. Comfort was the enemy, really. If she hadn¡¯t let herself feel safe, if she had stuck to survival¨C No. That was wrong too.

    It was always going to be like this, sooner or later. You can only get away with pretending your problems don¡¯t exist for so long, and it always bites you in the ass.

    Maybe she should wait for Star to come back home? She could talk to him about it. He could help her go outside¡­?

    Then what. She can only go outside if he¡¯s there to coax her out every time? No. No no no. Why was she like this? This was infuriating!

    ¡°Get it together Lily. Just go outside. Check on the animals and come back in. Easy. Exposure. You¡¯ve done it a million times. Recently. Get out of your fucking head.¡±

    She took a few steps forward and reached for the handle. She held the cold metal in her hands. This time, her mind went to the pit. Cold. Alone. Broken concrete all around her. Only her wits and her magic to get her out. Fear seized her heart. But it was different this time. Because she had conquered the pit.

    She turned the handle, and took a step outside. It wasn¡¯t like in a movie, or the ending of a game where a crystal clear blue sky greeted her, birds chirping away. It was overcast, and there was a chill to the wind that was just cold enough to be unpleasant.

    She closed the door behind her and sat down on the stoop. Outside. She took a few deep breaths. That had been¡­ hard. A small voice in the back of her head said she had done good and now she could go back in and watch some more of her show. But she knew she couldn¡¯t. Not yet. Not for a while.

    That had been frightening. Difficult. And she knew she wasn¡¯t past it. This was only a reminder.

    ¡®I¡¯m still here. Waiting for you to get comfortable.¡¯ her trauma was telling her.

    Why couldn¡¯t things just be easy? She wondered if there was a magical solution to trauma. It¡¯s not like she had access to a therapist. Maybe she could find the part of her brain that caused this and magically pull it out and destroy it? That was a fantasy and a half.

    ¡°But people are more complicated than that, right? It¡¯s a part of me. Soluble. Mixed in real good. Down to the core. There¡¯s no removing it. I know that.¡±

    No. There really was only one course of action that would work, and she knew it. She had to grow. She had to defeat it. She would never be rid of it. Trauma didn¡¯t work like that. But she could get stronger. She could grow until it was just a brick in the foundation that made her up as a person.

    She still didn¡¯t know how. Even this small victory for today was just a small victory. She could sit outside for a few hours. She could go back inside, and force herself to leave the house regularly until it became a habit and that would help. But how was she supposed to actually¡­ win? Long term?

    ¡°I hate this. I hate¡­ me. I don¡¯t want to be this way. I don¡¯t want to struggle for every little thing. I don¡¯t want to be pathetic. I don¡¯t want to be scared. I¡¯m so, so sick of it.¡±

    At times like this, she started to wonder if it was worth the trouble. If living was so hard, why bother? Besides, Lily 1 existed now. In a way it would be a solution to the problem of there being two of them.

    She shook her head. Nope. Down that path lies madness. The contradiction of having to fight off thoughts like that but having no issue running from a fire wasn¡¯t lost on her either. But somehow that was different.

    ¡°Why am I always trying to kill me?¡±

    She almost had to laugh at that. All the dangerous situations she¡¯d put herself through. Really, it was amazing she¡¯d survived.

    For now, she was just going to sit here and close her eyes. Just be outside. Breathe. Exist outside.

    <hr>

    ¡°Master?¡±

    The sound of Star¡¯s voice made her jump.

    ¡°Oh, hey. You¡¯re back earl¨C¡±

    She looked around. It was significantly darker than when she¡¯d left the house earlier. She must have gotten lost in her thoughts again.

    ¡°Master, are you okay?¡±

    ¡°Honestly? No. But I¡¯ll get there.¡±

    He approached and gently licked her hand. She had to giggle. Some things never changed.

    ¡°What has happened?¡±

    ¡°Nothing really. I¨C It¡¯s my own fault. I¡¯m just not good.¡±

    ¡°At what?¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t know. Living, I guess?¡±

    ¡°That is silly.¡±

    She reached out and patted his head, then hugged him fully. The feeling of his warm fur against her face felt real. Grounded her somewhat.

    ¡°Yeah. I¡¯m silly. Hey, is it okay if living at La Mancha doesn¡¯t work out?¡±

    ¡°The boat is not far away. Why would it matter?¡±

    Lily smiled.

    ¡°Yeah, I guess. I¡¯d like to make this place as self-sufficient as I can. But, I think I need to be somewhere less comfortable overall. On the boat I have more to pay attention to outside. I think it¡¯s good for me.¡±

    Star laid across her lap, getting comfortable. His warm body made her realize she¡¯d been sitting in the cold outside for a number of hours. Suddenly she was really feeling it.

    ¡°We can live wherever you wish. I miss my friends as well.¡±

    ¡°Hmm. Maybe we¡¯ll go on a boat trip or two too. You¡¯ve never been on the boat while it¡¯s actually moving have you?¡±

    ¡°Moving? It moves?¡±

    ¡°Yes it moves! What did you think it was for?¡±

    ¡°It is a house. On the water.¡±

    ¡°Well. Okay, fair. But yes, it moves!¡±

    ¡°Does it swim? Like a fish?¡±

    ¡°Sorta?¡±

    ¡°I want to ride the boat.¡±

    ¡°Yeah, me too. Okay. That¡¯ll be the plan. But first I need to make sure this place can last a while. It¡¯s a shame we can¡¯t get Donk to take care of it.¡±

    Lily opened the front door and walked back in. Into her prison. Only, it didn¡¯t feel like it locked behind her this time when she closed the door. Her heart was feeling lighter with Star here. So, she spoke again. Mostly to herself.

    ¡°It¡¯s gonna be okay. I¡¯ve got this. I¡¯m not the same scared girl I was.¡±

    ¡°Master?¡±

    ¡°Hmm? Oh. Don¡¯t worry about it. What do you want for dinner?¡±

    ¡°No. Master, I think I hear the spell in the other room.¡±

    Lily stopped and listened. Very faintly, she thought she heard a voice too. Her voice. She ran to reach the living room where she had left Bay, only to find the spell active on him, and her own voice pouring out.

    ¡°Please pick up! Hello? Hello?¡±

    ¡°Hey! I¡¯m here. I was just outside. Is everything okay?¡±

    Lily One¡¯s voice on the other side poured through in panicked gasps.

    ¡°No! No no no! I really fucked up! I¡¯m in big trouble! Big big trouble!¡±

    ¡°What happened? What¡¯s wrong?¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m definitely going to jail. Or worse! I shouldn¡¯t have opened my big stupid mouth!¡±

    A girl¡¯s voice echoed from somewhere further away, but Lily couldn¡¯t quite make it out. Whoever it was, they sounded very angry.

    ¡°Are you being chased?¡±

    ¡°YES! I¨C¡±

    The connection closed. Lily sat and stared at Bay with wide eyes, waiting for the connection to open again. It didn¡¯t.

 G.004

    ¡°Time to wake up!¡±

    Gull groaned and sat up. Hex¡¯s smiling face was not really what he wanted to see at the start of a day. But what sleep! He had slept better than he had¡­ ever, as far as he could remember. Like the dead.

    ¡°Thought you said any time fine.¡±

    Hex¡¯s smile grew bigger. Something about his expression just always made it seem like he was taunting Gull. Although, he was starting to accept that¡¯s just how the kid¡¯s face looked.

    ¡°Welllll, I did say that. But the truth is, I didn¡¯t expect you to sleep so long! After about twelve hours I started making plans, and now that we¡¯re getting close to 18 those plans will be starting soon enough we¡¯ve gotta get going.¡±

    ¡°That many? Huh.¡±

    He didn¡¯t expect to be out so long. But he¡¯d had a hell of a day. He was pretty sure he had been awake for at least 36 hours prior, and a lot of those hours had been climbing. It really was no wonder.

    ¡°Are you hungry? I brought you breakfast. I think you¡¯ll like it. ¡°

    Gull grunted and held out a hand. Hex just smiled for a second, and then spoke up again.

    ¡°Say pleaaaaseeee.¡±

    Gull groaned, but acquiesced.

    ¡°Please.¡±

    Hex handed over a two pastries. One was a muffin of some kind, the other a flat thing with some kind of cream and fruit in the middle.

    ¡°A blueberry muffin and a cherry danish! Pretty substandard fare on this planet if I¡¯m being honest. But I think you¡¯ll like ¡®em so I made sure to save you some from the breakfast service.¡±

    Gull took a bite. Sweet! It was so sweet! Even more than the bakery in the town square. It was almost sickeningly sweet. But just as that thought crossed his mind, something deep at the back of his brain shouted ¡®More!¡¯. He stuffed the rest of the muffin into his mouth. Hex laughed.

    ¡°You don¡¯t have to cram it in there. Take your time. No one¡¯s gonna take it away from you.¡±

    ¡°Mm.¡±

    Gull slowed down a bit. Although his habit was to eat quickly. It wasn¡¯t something he really thought about anymore.

    Hex grabbed a small black rectangle from the bedside table, and pointed it at a larger black rectangle on the wall. Instantly, it sprung to life. Gull nearly choked. He started coughing, pointing at the thing. A small man was inside it! Yelling something! He calmed down when he realized Hex was laughing again, and glared.

    ¡°It¡¯s just the TV. Eh¡­ a sort of illusion? There¡¯s no one there. It¡¯s made to watch. For entertainment, or in this case news.¡±

    Gull stared at the man on the wall. He certainly looked real. Although trapped in the¨C Well, maybe flat too. Gull swallowed the food.

    ¡°Why?¡±

    ¡°Because I want to know if there¡¯s anything happening that will get in our way.¡±

    Gull couldn¡¯t follow what the man was saying. Something about numbers increasing or decreasing? He was very loud about it.

    ¡°Will it?¡±

    ¡°Probably not. I¡¯d only be worried if they were talking about a tip off about our plans tonight.¡±

    Hex pressed another button, and the rectangle changed to show a brightly colored scene of a cat chasing a mouse. They were clearly not real, or realistic at all, but Gull was intrigued. He¡¯d never seen something like this before.

    ¡°This world is strange.¡±

    ¡°They¡¯re all strange. That¡¯s part of the charm. Although, you¡¯ll get used to the patterns over time.¡±

    ¡°What patterns here?¡±

    ¡°Mmm. If I had to describe it, I¡¯d say that we¡¯re in one of the Earth Variant worlds. 27th century. One of the weirder ones as far as history has played out. Generic rules.¡±

    ¡°Don¡¯t understand.¡±

    ¡°Don¡¯t have any other way to put it. You¡¯ll figure it out.¡±

    ¡°What is Earth Variant?¡±

    ¡°This place shows up a lot for whatever reason. You¡¯d have to ask Lily if she has any idea why. Honestly, I don¡¯t care. I come from an Earth Variant, and so does she I think. This planet is just one of the most common places to see. But other places are entirely different. One of the benefits of an Earth Variant is that a lot of the technology and history tends to play out in set patterns. Like, if you know where a treasure is hidden in one, it¡¯s probably in the others.¡±

    ¡°Hm. Useful. ¡°

    ¡°Yeah, well it¡¯s not all positive. They¡¯re pretty often super low on mana. So doing magic is a bitch and a half. An easy spell somewhere else will take three times as much prep in a place like this.¡±

    ¡°Mana?¡±

    Hex just laughed again.

    ¡°Finish your breakfast, then let¡¯s get going.¡±

    <hr>

    It was a two hour trek back through the sewers, but Gull didn¡¯t mind it so much this time. He wasn¡¯t nearly as worn out, and really this place was much easier for him to understand than anything he¡¯d seen and heard above. He did miss the bed though. Once he settled down here, he wanted a bed like that for himself. Maybe he¡¯d raid the hotel and take that one. Although if Hex was right and he would be able to live in the world above just by having one of these ¡®chips¡¯ he may not even have to steal.

    That was a new thought. It filled him with longing and bitterness at the same time. Goblins were thieves. There was no real denying that. But goblins generally were thieves of necessity.

    Among his people, it was known that there were two kinds of goblins. Rats and coyotes. His tribe had been a tribe of rats. They lived under the human city, and thrived on mostly things that had been discarded. Occasionally they¡¯d sneak onto the surface and steal things, but the goal was to be unobtrusive. Sneaky. Because of their close proximity to the humans, goblins living like rats usually picked up on things like the human language, and the very basics of how cities worked.

    Coyotes on the other hand lived outside of towns and cities. Usually around smaller areas that couldn¡¯t fight them off as well. They were still scavengers by nature, avoiding direct conflicts where they could. But, like coyotes, they¡¯d attack targets if they could get away with it. Small groups of people leaving town, farmers on the outskirts of villages, and so on. They would sneak into the town and steal too. Breaking into a chicken coop in the dead of night, or so on.

    These tribes had to be stronger than rat tribes. Because conflict with humans was inevitable. Not that the rat tribes Gull knew of ever managed to avoid human contact altogether either.

    But, be it rats or coyotes, goblins were thieves. They had to be. It was a vicious cycle. Whenever goblins gathered, humans would come to wipe them out. So, goblins lived in small groups, and never settled down long enough to become established. Because of that, stealing was a necessity. Which made the humans angry. Angry humans killed goblins. That was just life. Gull wished it wasn¡¯t, but he had never had the power to change anything.

    The idea that he might not have to steal to live was tantalizing. The idea that he could be here and not be hunted was almost too much to bear. In the end, that was part of why he had decided to stay with Hex even this long. He didn¡¯t like being led around by the nose. But, if he really could get one of these ¡®chips¡¯ and live like a human here¡­

    ¡°We¡¯re getting close. Just a couple more blocks. The exit will come out right in front of the estate. We¡¯ll have to climb the fence, but the security camera isn¡¯t working, so we don¡¯t have to worry about being seen. Basically, just follow me okay?¡±

    ¡°Mm.¡±

    ¡°You¡¯ve been giving me non-verbal answers for a while now. Have you really been listening?¡±

    ¡°Yes.¡±

    Gull lied. He¡¯d been in his own little world. But Hex had been going on and on about nothing for nearly two hours. He¡¯d been talking about how different styles of dance were popular here versus wherever he came from. It didn¡¯t seem important to what they were doing.

    In minutes they were in front of another ladder leading up. Gull wasn¡¯t sure how Hex knew where they were. To his eyes the entire sewer was much more standardized than the one he was used to. Everything looked extremely similar, simply copied over and over again. Maybe he counted?

    At the top of the ladder, Hex moved a cover and climbed up. Gull followed. Those covers looked heavier than Hex¡¯s body ought to be able to lift, come to think of it. Gull hadn¡¯t given it much thought up until now. Was that a form of magic, or was Hex just stronger than he looked?

    Gull replaced the cover behind them. They were standing in a small side street. On one side was a very tall building. On the other, a wall. The wall was about ten feet tall, made of thick stone, and sheer. This was not a ¡®fence¡¯ as Hex had described.

    ¡°How do we climb¨C¡±

    Gull¡¯s jaw fell open as Hex leapt with a gentle ¡®hup¡¯ sound and landed nimbly on the top of the wall. After a second he turned and looked down at Gull.

    ¡°Well, c¡¯mon!¡±

    ¡°I can not jump this.¡±

    ¡°Well, use one of your gadgets or something then.¡±

    ¡°What is a gadget?¡±

    Hex stared blankly down at Gull.

    ¡°Are you being serious right now?¡±

    ¡°Yes.¡±

    With a sigh, Hex laid himself down on the top of the wall, and stretched an arm down.

    ¡°Can you reach my hand? I¡¯ll pull you up.¡±

    It was still quite a jump. But, Gull was at least that agile. He backed up a bit to get a running start, then ran forward, kicked off the wall and jumped as high as he could. He barely managed to grab Hex¡¯s outstretched hand. Hex pulled him up seemingly without effort.

    ¡°Thank you.¡±

    ¡°I may have overestimated your abilities a bit. I forget sometimes how weak I was at the start of all this. I guess it was the same for you. Uh, no offense.¡±

    Gull glared at Hex, who gave him a shrug and hopped down on the opposite side of the wall. Gull stepped off the wall as well, landing on the soft soil on the inside of the perimeter. His ankles stung, but he absolutely refused to show it on his face.

    On the inside it became clear that this space was pretty large. They were in a garden that was almost its own forest. It was beautiful, but Gull also found it somewhat off putting. Real forests didn¡¯t look like this. Everything was too¡­ perfect. He suspected someone must have manually cultivated it. But for such a large space?

    In the distance through the trees he could see a large open space with a few buildings. One much larger than the others. Hex started walking casually in that direction.

    The author''s tale has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.

    ¡°What about guards?¡±

    ¡°What guards?¡±

    ¡°Big important place. No guards?¡±

    ¡°I knew you weren¡¯t listening!¡±

    Gull gave Hex a sheepish grin. The boy sighed and explained.

    ¡°Due to an interesting little oopsie in the scheduling software, no one showed up for work today. The people who were waiting to be relieved all got notifications from their bosses to clear out early, and there was a bug with the security system that knocked out all the cameras. So, we¡¯re alone here. Well, almost.¡±

    ¡°I¨C Did you do this?¡±

    Gull wasn¡¯t quite sure what all those words meant, but he understood enough to get the gist. Hex was being coy, but had done¡­ something to mess with communications and keep everyone away.

    ¡°Of course I did. We shouldn¡¯t see much resistance, if any. But, if we do run into trouble I¡¯ll be glad you¡¯re here. Two is better than one you know?¡±

    ¡°Mm.¡±

    Gull wasn¡¯t really sure he could do anything to help someone as strong as Hex. But, even if it was just to play lookout he¡¯d do his best.

    The closer they got to the main building the more clear it was a living space. But just¡­ huge. Way larger than any living space Gull had ever seen, save for the castle. But the castle was a lot of things in addition to living space. Maybe this was too? Although, it didn¡¯t look like it from the outside.

    Sure enough, Hex walked right up to the front door and opened it without difficulty. Gull followed. Something nagged at the back of Gull¡¯s mind. He wasn¡¯t sure what, but something didn¡¯t quite line up. Something was off. This was going far too easily, wasn¡¯t it?

    ¡°We are here. What do we take?¡±

    Gull looked around the gaudy entranceway. Sure everything was very fancy, but there wasn¡¯t anything particularly interesting. Weapons, armor, food, or so on.

    ¡°Hmm? Oh, don¡¯t worry. I memorized the floor plan. I know the way. We¡¯re headed to the master bedroom. There should be someone sleeping there, so quiet down okay?¡±

    Gull frowned. The bedroom? He still followed Hex, but spoke quietly.

    ¡°Why bedroom? Good things everywhere. Stay away from people.¡±

    ¡°We¡¯re not here for random objects. We¡¯re here for a reason, and that¡¯s in the bedroom. So hush and follow me.¡±

    It took a few minutes of walking down seemingly endless hallways and through rooms that seemed pointless other than to show off immense wealth until they ended up outside a large set of double doors. Hex turned to Gull and put a finger to his lips, then opened the door a crack and slipped in.

    The room was dark, but Gull could just barely make out a large bed against the far wall. There were some blinking lights and a steady beeping sound coming from beside the bed. To the left, curtains covered a huge sliding glass door that was only letting a tiny bit of light in from the night outside. To the right seemed to be a large lounge area. Hex was muttering something rhythmic. Gull got closer to hear, but still couldn¡¯t quite make out any words. A song?

    Suddenly, all the lights turned on. The room was decked out in red. Red floor. Red bed. Red couches to lounge on. Big red curtains covering the sliding glass door. A huge object lit the room, covered in thousands of glowing crystalline lights. On the bed lie an ancient looking human, hooked up to some strange¡­ somethings. He stirred slightly.

    Hex strolled further into the room and spoke up with a loud voice.

    ¡°Time to wake up! Wakey wakey!¡±

    ¡°You said be quiet!¡±

    ¡°I lied! I didn¡¯t want to ruin the surprise. Now just watch the show, okay?¡±

    ¡°Show?¡±

    ¡°Shush!¡±

    The man on the bed was stirring now. He did not sit up, but a withered voice came from him as he took a deeper breath.

    ¡°Who¡­? What is going on? Who¡¯s there?¡±

    ¡°What, don¡¯t recognize your own kid? How terrible mister!¡±

    ¡°Kid¡­?¡±

    The old man didn¡¯t seem to be entirely present. Gull tried speaking up again.

    ¡°What are you doing? You said quiet. You said steal!¡±

    ¡°We are stealing! In a manner of speaking. Something that rightfully belongs to me, remember?¡±

    ¡°What?¡±

    The old man¡¯s voice came again.

    ¡°Security! Security!¡±

    He was yelling, although it was pathetically quiet.

    ¡°Don¡¯t bother with that, dad. I¡¯ve made sure no one will come. The button is disconnected, and tragically no one showed up for work today!¡±

    Hex walked over and flipped a switch on the beeping lit up device next to the bed, and the man suddenly went silent.

    ¡°I think that¡¯s enough talking out of you anyway. No mechanical assistance needed. Thank you.¡±

    ¡°What are you doing? This is not what you said.¡±

    Hex turned and gave Gull a big smile.

    ¡°I told you, shush and watch the show.¡±

    ¡°I do not find this fun. Explain yourself.¡±

    The smile faltered, and with a big sigh Hex seemed to drop out of his role.

    ¡°Fine. You¡¯re really ruining the performance I had in mind. Mostly for the old guy¡¯s benefit. I¡¯m his kid. We¡¯re here to kill him. Then everything of his becomes mine. Including this nice house. Any questions?¡±

    ¡°No.¡±

    ¡°Good, let¡¯s move on then¨C¡±

    ¡°No. I mean, no. We are not killing him. No.¡±

    ¡°Oh come on, don¡¯t be like that. Why?¡±

    ¡°He is helpless. It is wrong.¡±

    ¡°Really?¡±

    ¡°It is wrong.¡±

    Hex rolled his eyes and continued back a ways towards Gull so they didn¡¯t have to raise their voices. The room was so large.

    ¡°Is it wrong? Gull, this guy is a piece of shit! I told you how this body grew up, right? Well, I¡¯m his son. Not making that part up. Look how he lives. Look how I¡¯ve lived. Isn¡¯t that enough reason alone? It¡¯s this kid¡¯s story. To rise up and inherit all this. Killing him is the first step.¡±

    ¡°It is still wrong. Even if he is bad to his child.¡±

    Hex and Gull stared at each other for a few seconds in silence before Hex tried again.

    ¡°You don¡¯t understand the scope of things. See that chandelier up there?¡±

    Hex pointed to the large crystalline object.

    ¡°You¡¯ve seen the people outside this place. The ones you talked to in the sewers? The people on the streets? Living like rats. You understand how it is to live like that too, right? Every single one of those crystals would feed someone like that for life. There are over one hundred chandeliers like that in this home.¡±

    Gull froze. It still felt wrong to take a life when someone could not fight back. The old man was writhing around on the bed, seemingly unable to sit up. Slinking into the home in the middle of the night to kill someone like that. But¡­ really?

    ¡°Then take the crystals. Use them to feed others. No killing.¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s not about the crystals, Gull. This guy is one of the people who make things like this. The world will be better off without him. By a lot.¡±

    ¡°Who decides that? You?¡±

    ¡°Gull, these are the same types of people that hunt goblins down in other worlds. I¡¯ve seen it. People like him are the reason. You¡¯ve seen human nobility, right?¡±

    ¡°Mm. That is wrong too. Murder will not solve. Kill human, more angry humans come later. Only makes things worse.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s not how it¡¯s going to happen here. I promise.¡±

    ¡°Doesn¡¯t matter. Killing for no reason is bad. He is not attacking.¡±

    ¡°Gull, he raped my mother and left her for dead in a gutter. Just because the attack isn¡¯t happening right now, doesn¡¯t mean he¡¯s peaceful.¡±

    That stopped Gull in his tracks for a second. This old man had done that? That¡­

    ¡°Deserves punishment.¡±

    ¡°Exactly, soooo¡­¡±

    ¡°Still wrong. Killing helpless. Just take power without killing. Die on his own.¡±

    ¡°You are so frustrating to work with sometimes. Drop the goody goody act. Some people deserve it. We¡¯re not talking about innocents here.¡±

    Gull didn¡¯t have a lot to say about that. Hex continued, walking over to the bed again.

    ¡°You really took the wind out of my sails. I had a whole speech prepared about how I doctored his will to give everything to me, and how it looks totally legitimate because I¡¯m his son. I was going to have a long back and forth with him, but the whole scene is ruined now.¡±

    ¡°Do not.¡±

    ¡°Why? You don¡¯t have to help. Just close your eyes and look away and when the money comes through I¡¯ll get you that chip, and a ton of money to do whatever you want with. Help people. Live comfortably. Whatever saccharine shit your little heart desires.¡±

    ¡°I do not want if it comes from this.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s stupid. You could use it to save a hundred lives that actually deserve to live.¡±

    Gull hesitated again. Hex was making a lot of sense in some ways. But it still just¡­ felt wrong. He didn¡¯t like killing. Sometimes fights happened with humans, but his tribe always tried to avoid senseless death. This wasn¡¯t a war, or a battle. He was stuck in a bed!

    But, if killing him would really let them do so many good things¡­

    ¡°Oops. My knife slipped.¡±

    Hex¡¯s hand flashed out. A spatter of blood.

    ¡°There, now it¡¯s a moot point. Let¡¯s argue the morality of it some other¨C woah!¡±

    Before he realized what he was doing, Gull had grabbed one of the large plush seats and hurled it at Hex. Hex dodged without any difficulty, and the chair crashed into the device beside the bed.

    ¡°Hey, calm down. It¡¯s not like you¡¯ve never seen someone die before right?¡±

    ¡°You! Before we were done talking!¡±

    ¡°I mean, we don¡¯t have all night. People are gonna show up eventually.¡±

    Gull was done. He stepped forward and threw a punch. The world spun. Hex caught his wrist and flipped him straight over onto his back.

    ¡°Look, I promise this was the right thing to do. But I wasn¡¯t going to let you ruin our first project together.¡±

    ¡°You ruined! You!¡±

    Gull scrabbled up onto his feet when suddenly he smelled¡­ smoke. Both him and Hex looked over. The machine and chair were now up in flames, and they were already spreading to the canopy over the bed.

    ¡°Oh hell. That ain¡¯t good. Talk about this after we have the fire out?¡±

    Gull took another swing. He was beyond finished with this. He¡¯d gone from helpless situation to helpless situation since this all began and he was done. This was one step too far. He wasn¡¯t going to be satisfied until he at least knocked Hex to the ground just once.

    ¡°Are you serious right now? We really need to stop the fire.¡±

    Another swing, another miss.

    ¡°Our new home is gonna burn down!¡±

    Another swing. This time, Hex scrabbled over the top of a sofa to get away from him. He flipped it over after the boy, who jumped to the side.

    ¡°Okay, fine. Have it your way. Let¡¯s at least get out of the burning room.¡±

    Gull dove. Hex moved out of the way, and ducked out of the door.

    ¡°Catch me if you can!¡±

    He was¡­ Enjoying this? Gull exploded from the room, hot on the boy¡¯s heels. Down the hall. Around a corner. Down some stairs. Hex was always just out of reach. Gull was done being toyed with! Done done done!

    As they approached the foyer, Hex got a bit more distance, and just as Gull turned the corner he saw the boy standing still. Out in the courtyard, lights were flashing.

    ¡°Oh. Uh. Shit.¡±

    ¡°Humans?¡±

    ¡°Humans.¡±

    Gull stopped dead.

    ¡°What do we do?¡±

    He watched as Hex pulled out his knife, and suddenly gave himself a deep gash in one of his arms, followed by a nick across one of his cheeks. He smiled over at Gull, and tossed him the knife gently.

    ¡°Here, catch!¡±

    Completely shocked, Gull juggled the knife for a moment before getting a grip on it.

    ¡°What? What is¨C¡±

    ¡°I really am sorry for what¡¯s about to happen. I think they noticed the fire. Told you we should have put it out.¡±

    ¡°What is about to happen?¡±

    Hex was tearing up. Was it the pain? He hadn¡¯t thought Hex would be so¡­ easy to damage.

    ¡°I really hic, I really did want more time with you. I¡¯ll see you in the next one, okay?¡±

    It almost hurt his heart to look at. Just then, the door blew open. Humans in uniform entered in a swarm. Shouting. Yelling. Violently spreading out. Before he knew it, Gull was on the floor, pinned by countless hands. He could hear Hex screaming. He couldn¡¯t breathe. The world went dark.

    <hr>

    When he came to, he was in chains. In the back of some kind of large box on wheels. There were countless humans around. Gull spun wildly, searching for Hex. His eyes didn¡¯t see any other boxes like his, but then they landed on the boy.

    Wrapped in a blanket. A bandage on his face, and tears threatening to wash it away. He was sitting on the back of a vehicle of some kind, with two of the humans talking to him. What was he saying? Gull tried to focus beyond the ringing in his head.

    ¡°--scary man. That was when¡­ right in front of me. The knife! There was blood. I- I couldn¡¯t do anything!¡±

    Oh no. He wouldn¡¯t. But he would.

    Gull listened as the boy recounted their entire adventure a second time for another pair of officers. How Gull had come out of the sewers and grabbed him off the street. How Gull had threatened him, and brought him here. How Gull had kept him at knife point, and stabbed his arm when he wouldn¡¯t be quiet enough. How Gull had killed the man in the bed. How Gull had started the fire.

    That little liar! How could he! Gull couldn¡¯t believe what he was seeing!

    He threw himself against the bars of the cage he was in.

    ¡°Hex! You! I will! You will not get away!¡±

    Everyone turned to look at the screaming goblin.

    And in that instant, Hex met his eyes. Hex met his eyes, and smiled. He mouthed a word.

    ¡®Sorry.¡¯

 1.013

    It had been a pretty ordinary morning, all things considered. Lily woke up around the same time as Sunica, and they cooked together. Well, Sunica laughed while Lily burned eggs, and then they ate a subpar meal together to the tune of Lily grumbling about using the scientific method and finding the perfect magic circle to cook eggs for her.

    But, the routine finally broke when Lily had to ask a simple question.

    ¡°Hey Sunica? Remember yesterday when I electrocuted you?¡±

    Sunica¡¯s face turned a little sour.

    ¡°Yesss?¡±

    ¡°Sorry. I mean. Did it hurt?¡±

    ¡°Yeah?¡±

    ¡°Like¡­ a lot?¡±

    ¡°Lily, what are you getting at?¡±

    ¡°Well, it¡¯s just, I¡¯ve been thinking a bit about self defense you know? That was my panicked solution, but I could probably rig something better up if I put some effort into it. And I probably should, now that there are people around. What if you actually had been a thief?¡±

    ¡°Or worse, a monster.¡±

    ¡°A¡­ monster?¡±

    Sunica gave Lily one of her patented confused looks. Lily returned it.

    ¡°Yeah. A monster. Don¡¯t tell me you don¡¯t have them in your world either?¡±

    ¡°Well. That depends. Are we just talking about big aggressive animals, or what?¡±

    ¡°No. A monster is different.¡±

    ¡°Okay. Well. How so? In my world, people used to think animals like elephants were monsters when they hadn¡¯t seen them before. What¡¯s different here?¡±

    Sunica rolled her eyes.

    ¡°This is why I followed you yesterday. You don¡¯t even know about monsters? Okay. Listen up. Monsters come in a ton of different varieties, and most of them are dangerous in some way.¡±

    ¡°So, like wildlife? Like, is a bear a monster?¡±

    ¡°No.¡±

    ¡°Why not? It¡¯s big and scary and dangerous.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m getting to that, so shut it Miss Human.¡±

    ¡°Sorry. Please, go on.¡±

    Sunica took a deep breath followed by another bite of eggs before she continued.

    ¡°Monsters are different. They¡¯re often smarter than animals, or have magic effects. Sometimes they don¡¯t seem all that different though. But, they are. See, when you kill a monster you tend to level up a lot faster than if you¡¯re killing anything else. If you have a combat class anyway. That¡¯s how you know.¡±

    ¡°Huh. That seems¡­ Are you sure?¡±

    ¡°Very.¡±

    ¡°Well, okay. But, if they¡¯re more dangerous than animals, how do you know it¡¯s not just because it¡¯s harder?¡±

    The balaur girl shook her head and took a sip of tea.

    ¡°No, that¡¯s not it. Even relative to the difficulty, monsters make you level faster. It¡¯s a known fact. For example, goblins are often easier to kill than soldiers in war but it¡¯s known that clearing a goblin camp will usually make you level faster than if you¡¯d cleared out a camp of soldiers at the same general difficulty.¡±

    ¡°I¨C That¡¯s so weird. What the hell? Why would it be like that?¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t know. The church claims it¡¯s a blessing from their goddess, meant to reward the people of the world for cooperating rather than fighting each other. But that seems like a load of crap to me.¡±

    ¡°Yeah? Don¡¯t believe in the goddess, or what?¡±

    The girl laughed, and a small puff of smoke came out.

    ¡°How could you not believe in the goddess? Her [Clerics] and so on use her power regularly. No, it¡¯s not that. It just seems like if that was her goal she could do better. War still happens all the time, you know?¡±

    ¡°I see. I guess. Uh, sorry if this is insulting your religion or whatever, but how do you know her [Clerics] get power from her?¡±

    ¡°What do you mean? They go around saying it and casting spells that are different than what [Mages] learn.¡±

    ¡°Yeah but¡­ Couldn¡¯t they just be learning different spells? How do you know? Have they tested it somehow?¡±

    ¡°Do you have to be skeptical of everything?¡±

    Lily giggled.

    ¡°Yes. I¡¯m a scientist at heart.¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t have an answer for you. Ask a [Cleric] if you ever meet one.¡±

    ¡°I guess I¡¯ll do that. What¡¯s her name, by the way?¡±

    The tale has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.

    ¡°Dunno. I¡¯m not exactly devout, and it¡¯s impolite to call her by name. There¡¯s a church up in Avezare if you ever want to visit. But I¡¯ve never been.¡±

    ¡°Hmm.¡±

    There was silence for a little while as they finished their meals. The tea was wonderful. Lily now recognized it as having a slightly kindleberry flavor to it, giving it a small amount of pulp and a slightly cranberry flavor. Avea had been right, those things were all over the place.

    ¡°So, about my self defense?¡±

    ¡°Don¡¯t ask me to test it.¡±

    ¡°Awww. But how am I supposed to know if it works?¡±

    ¡°Not my problem.¡±

    ¡°You¡¯re no fun!¡±

    <hr>

    It was already getting close to evening when Lily stopped to take a breath and realized how much time had passed. She had a working prototype! It was a little invasive though. Specifically, it made all her scars glow. She also suspected that if someone could sense mana, they¡¯d see it all over her. But for a prototype it was pretty cool!

    It was formed out of two basic concepts. First, her tension building circuitry technique was there so that she could build up a good amount of mana ready to be activated, and when activated it would just use the push glyph with an absurd amount of mana behind it to fling the offending thing away from her..

    The real genius of it though was the activation mechanism! It had taken some work, but she¡¯d designed a circle that covered almost her entire body. It wasn¡¯t exactly¡­ circular. But, it worked! If something broke her skin, the circle would be broken too, and the spell would activate.

    She wouldn¡¯t want to try to take an arrow or a bullet or something, but she was feeling confident that if she did it¡¯d barely break the skin before it got flung away. Of course, it would only protect her from one. And it was a roundabout way to do it.

    This was going to be a process. But, for a prototype she was quite proud of herself. Although, she¡¯d have to explain the damage to Sunica when she got back.

    When she first had the idea she tested it on a piece of paper from her notebook. She¡¯d gotten one of the kitchen knives and stabbed it into the paper. The moment it broke through the paper, it flew violently from her hand and now it was stuck in the wooden ceiling. Lily couldn¡¯t reach it to get it down.

    ¡°Not exactly excalibur¡­¡±

    She¡¯d made a point of not sitting under it since then, but it had yet to fall down.

    Sunica was out checking her traps. Apparently when she used her skill some of them were full. Lily had asked her meekly to do any killing she needed to do outside. Sunica thought she was joking at first, but when Lily insisted she just laughed and agreed.

    Lily knew she was going to have to get used to that sort of thing eventually in this world. This wasn¡¯t like her home where if an animal needed to die for food or a pelt it was happening in some warehouse where she never needed to think about it or see it. People here kept animals to eat, and did the killing and butchering themselves for the most part.

    Lily caught herself yawning. She¡¯d been at this all day without really putting much thought into it. How long ago did Sunica leave? Should she have been back by now? She was probably overthinking things. Sunica had lived here since she was little, alone for the most part. So it was unlikely she was in any trouble. Next time she¡¯d ask how long her companion intended to be away.

    She laid out on the couch, and pulled the blanket over her. It was nap time. She¡¯d been using a lot of magic, but hadn¡¯t realized how tired she was getting. It was really easy to just get in the zone while working on circles. She felt like it took so much of her active thinking space there wasn¡¯t a lot left over for anything else. Even with her new skill. But, maybe that was for the best. Being alone with herself was never a particularly fun experience. She needed something to focus on, otherwise her mind would start to drift. At least magic was better than TV or the internet. The old her would just sit and rot consuming content like that. Weeks could pass by like minutes. A slow suicide.

    She shook her head. No. That wasn¡¯t her life now. What should she add to her spell? Ideally a way to discharge less than all of the energy at once, so she could block multiple projectiles. Maybe a manually activated version that would electrify and burn anything touching her?

    If she did that, she¡¯d have to be careful to find some way to exclude her clothes¡­ But then if anyone grabbed her they¡¯d be in for a shock.

    ¡°Heh. Stupid jokes¡­¡±

    Sleep was overtaking her. That was fine. She could get some rest. She¡¯d wake back up when Sunica got home. Maybe she could get the girl to take her out and throw snowballs at her or something. Although, that probably wouldn¡¯t break the skin. Huh.

    Lily drifted off, imagining a snowball fight.

    [Student] - Level 3

    Skill - [Mental Notes] Obtained!

    ¡­huh?

    <hr>

    Lily woke to a knock at the door. It was loud and persistent. She jolted awake, and stumbled off the couch and onto the floor. Sunica was back? She tried to rub the sleep out of her eyes as she rose off the floor.

    ¡°You can just open it! It¡¯s your house!¡±

    Nearly tripping over the small table and dodging the furnace, Lily groggily reached the door and threw it open.

    ¡°Sunica! Guess what, I leveled u¡ª Who are you?¡±

    In front of her stood a balaur girl. If she was human, she would have been 15 or 16 years old. She stood about as tall as Lily, with absolutely pristine white scales, white hair, and blue eyes that shone like glacial ice. She was wearing some very, very expensive looking robes, and her hair reached her shoulders in a straight and almost jagged looking cut. The girl stepped forward, eyeing Lily like she was looking down at an insect, clearly a little offended at Lily¡¯s shabby dress and appearance.

    Nevertheless, the girl bowed lightly.

    ¡°It¡¯s nice to meet you. My name is Adelina Nor, representing the Nor Family. I assume you are [Lady] Flamewalker?¡±

    Oh no. Oh shit. Nobility. How had that happened so fast¡­?

    ¡°I- Yeah. That¡¯s me. How can I help you?¡±

    The girl smiled politely, but there was an air of force behind her, somehow.

    ¡°Gather your things. You¡¯ll be returning to Avazare with me.¡±

    ¡°Wha¨C I¨C¡±

    ¡°Also, that is some interesting looking magic on your body. I¡¯ve never seen the like before. What kind of [Mage] are you?¡±

    Lily¡¯s eyes slowly drifted down to her hands. Glowing stars of mana flowed under her skin from the self defense spell she had been working on. No. This was a nightmare. A nightmare! She focused and cut the spell instantly. The glow vanished. But the other spell activated. Lily tried to stifle it, as she felt the circle within her coming undone, but it was like trying to push back the worst sneeze she¡¯d ever felt. She clutched at her chest for a second, and nearly lost balance. The mana was trying to set off the spell. It was only her force of will holding it back. It needed a way out of her! She couldn¡¯t just let it go! Her insides would be pushed hard enough to become her outsides!

    ¡°Are you okay?¡±

    The girl reached out and put a hand on Lily¡¯s shoulder. For just a second, that sudden touch had all of Lily¡¯s attention. The spell activated, flowing out of her and Adelina let out a sudden yelp of realization before getting flung at least thirty feet from Lily and slamming into a tree.

    She flew so fast she left a trail in the snow where it had been blown away! Lily stood there, staring in absolute shock and horror for a moment.

    ¡°I am so, so sor¨C¡±

    ¡°Dead.¡±

    The girl was staggering to her feet, a look of absolute murderous fury on her face.

    ¡°You are so, so dead!¡±

    Lily had her first clear thought since waking up. She scanned the room, and grabbed the nearest thing that might be useful, which happened to be Bay.

    Then, she fled.

 1.014

    ¡°Are you being chased?¡±

    ¡°YES! I¨C¡±

    ¡°[Ice Lance]!¡±

    The spear of ice pierced Bay in an instant, closing the magical connection. Lily looked down at the plush in her hands. A huge hole had been punched through him.

    ¡°I¨C How could you!? He was my friend!¡±

    ¡°... The toy?¡±

    The balaur girl was standing in the snow, taken aback by Lily¡¯s response. Lily took a step forward, and the girl raised her hand, mana forming up in it. Lily turned and ran again.

    Think. Think. The girl was hardly having trouble following her in the snow. Lily was staggering forward out of breath, while Adelina was simply walking after her. Plus it was COLD. Not as cold as the night of the storm, but Lily wasn¡¯t fully dressed in the clothes Sunica got her, and the gaps were causing her problems already.

    What could she do? She had to stop the girl. She¡¯d tried laying a trap like she had with Sunica before, but Adelina could apparently see mana. At least in that big a circle. Lily had to get away. Find Sunica. Find Avea. Get help!

    ¡°Stop running, Human. It¡¯s pointless. Get back here and reap the consequences!¡±

    Lily scooped up some snow, and turned to throw a snowball at the girl. It sailed wide. Adelina laughed.

    ¡°You think I¡¯m scared of a little snow? Are you blind? How about this? [Snow Blast]!¡±

    As Lily felt the mana building behind her she dove behind a tree. Immediately the tree shook under the immense weight and pressure of the blast of snow that slammed against it. Lily felt like she¡¯d barely dodged a tidal wave. She poked her head out from behind the tree. Adelina stood under a nearby tree with her hand outstretched in Lily¡¯s direction.

    Fine. She wants to play it like that? Lily had a little experience with snow filled trees! She visualized a simple spell. It could push in one of two directions if she fed it with mana. Instantly the circle appeared on the tree next to Adelina, and Lily poured mana into it. The tree shook back and forth violently, dislodging the snow from the branches all at once.

    With a whumph sound the snow poured onto the girl, burying her as the weight of it knocked her to the ground. Lily stared in wonder. She hadn¡¯t really expected that to work. Should¡­ should she start digging to help the girl? She didn¡¯t mean to¨C

    There was an explosion of snow as the girl rose suddenly, throwing the entire pile of the stuff in all directions.

    ¡°Okay, I¡¯m getting real pissed now!¡±

    Lily turned and ran again. Behind her she heard the sound of sudden whooshing air. She hazarded a look over her shoulder only to see the girl sprouting wings!

    ¡°Oh shit. Oh shit. Oh shit. Sunica!? Anyone!?¡±

    From above and behind her, Lily heard Adelina''s voice.

    ¡°My Sister¡¯s not coming to save you, Human! So just surrender!¡±

    This was it. Lily was really going to die. She was really really gonna die. No. No no no. How had it all happened like this? Where did she go wrong?

    Absolutely not. A bit of resistance flared up in her soul. Absolutely. Not. She was going to defend herself. How? Adelina wasn¡¯t scared of snow, and she was flying. Lily didn¡¯t think she could get away with casting a spell directly on the girl. She had tried when she started running, but for some reason she couldn¡¯t focus on her like she could on inscribing a circle into an object, or herself. Some kind of anti-magic tool?

    Now wasn¡¯t the time! She had to think! How could she hit a flying moving¡­ oh yeah!

    ¡°Star! Thank you buddy. I owe you one!¡±

    Lily grabbed a handful of snow and formed it into a ball again.

    ¡°Please work, please work!¡±

    She imagined the circles she wanted. The lightning spell she¡¯d used on Sunica, and¡­ the circle from Star¡¯s ball back home!

    When she finished, she only needed a clear shot. She hung a left at a tree and headed to a clearing. She needed a nice view of Adelina for this.

    ¡°Human, stop! Where are you going? Are you stupid?¡±

    This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.

    Adelina¡¯s voice sounded a little worried now. Perfect! Good! She should be! Just as the girl cleared the treeline, Lily made her move.

    ¡°Take this! Ultimate attack! [Star Bomb]!¡±

    She threw the snowball. It sailed wide again. Missed by a mile, really. But that¡¯s okay. She didn¡¯t have to hit her target for this to work.

    ¡°Where do you think you¡¯re aimin¨C Ahh!¡±

    Lily activated the spell on the ball. It made a quick turn in the air, slamming into the girl¡¯s back. There was an audible zapping noise as steam erupted from the girl and she fell like a bag of stones. Lily turned to keep running. It wasn¡¯t like that had killed the girl. It might buy Lily some distance, but that was going to be it.

    Five feet. Ten feet. Twenty feet.

    Crack

    Lily stopped instantly. Why did that sound like it came from below her?

    Crack

    Before Lily even had a chance to scream, she was underwater. The clearing! The lack of trees! River! It was a river! A frozen river!

    She flailed, but everything was beyond freezing cold. She opened her eyes to see and the cold felt like shards of ice cutting into her eyes. She almost screamed in pain and fear, but that would be death!

    Lily felt around desperately above her, trying to find the hole she fell in, but it was solid ice! Solid ice! No way, was there a current? How could she have been so¨C

    She remembered what Adelina had said. ¡°Human, stop! Where are you going? Are you stupid?¡±

    She had been trying to warn Lily! What could she do? What could she do? Spell? What spell? Heat? Light? A flare? Strong enough to melt the ice?

    It¡¯s all she could think of, so it better work! She raised her hands in the direction she thought was up, and focused. Fire. Heat. Light. Fire. Big fire. Straight up. She dug deep. How much mana? As much as she could use. The mana river if she needed to. It wouldn¡¯t matter if it tore her up if she was going to drown! She reached down into the depths of her mana pool and pulled.

    The water around her warmed noticeably. Good. But that wasn¡¯t enough! She had to get through the ice, and make it visible where she was. More. More mana. How deep was her mana pool now? Even now she couldn¡¯t feel it running low. She redoubled her efforts. Focus on the pool, and. Force. It. Out!

    Lily felt a shockwave. The water got a lot hotter, and suddenly! There was a horrible wrenching cracking sound from above her, but the water around her was starting to get painfully hot. She could feel her hands getting scalded! She had to get out of here! Out of the water! The ice should be weaker now, if not gone. She had to refocus her efforts. She was running out of air. It was so hard to focus. The pain was unbearable. She tried to swim up, but the pain! She wasn¡¯t going to make it. New plan, push glyph!

    She focused, drawing a circle on herself, and applying the push glyph. She had never done this before because dying to fall damage was way too easy. But right now, there was no other option. She poured mana into it. The water shifted around her. It grew hotter, but only for a second, then she broke the surface. She coughed and sputtered and tried to open her eyes. She was spinning, in freefall. She couldn¡¯t even tell how high up she was! Another push with the glyph! Maybe she could get her bearings¡­?

    She started spinning more forcefully. No! Tuck and roll? She screamed while trying to cover her head at the least when¨C

    ¡°Gotcha!¡±

    The spinning stopped. She was about thirty feet in the air above a boiling and steaming patch of river, and¡­ still descending quite quickly.

    ¡°Ugh¨C Brace yourself!¡±

    Lily and Adelina hit the ground. The snow somewhat cushioned the fall, but it was still hard enough to hurt. Lily tried to sputter out a thank you, but she couldn¡¯t stop coughing up water. Her teeth were chattering. She was trying not to vomit from coughing so hard.

    She heard the girl stand up from beside her.

    ¡°You absolute moron! I thought you were some kind of great caster with that first spell, but now I see you¡¯re just an idiot! Running headlong into a frozen river? What the hells were you thinking? Not to mention blowing it up!¡±

    Lily coughed and sputtered a little more, and Adelina just went on.

    ¡°You¡¯re lucky you didn¡¯t die!  You¡¯re still not out of the fire. [Resist Cold].¡±

    She tapped Lily on the shoulder, and instantly the bite of the cold lessened by a lot. Not enough that she wasn¡¯t still freezing. But it no longer felt like ice might be forming in her lungs. The girl continued.

    ¡°The frost might not kill you, but I¡¯m still on the fence! What are you, stupid? Attacking a member of the Matriarch¡¯s family, and then running half naked into the snow with no protection spells? Do you have a death wish? Hey! Answer me!¡±

    Lily tried. All she managed to do was croak out a single word.

    ¡°S-sorry.¡±

    The girl tsked and stood over Lily with her arms crossed in silence for a minute. When she eventually spoke it was with a slightly less aggressive tone.

    ¡°Well, let¡¯s get back to Sunica¡¯s house before you freeze to death. Can you walk?¡±

    Lily tried to rise to her feet, and staggered. Her clothes were freezing to her body already. It didn¡¯t hurt like blades against her skin, thanks to Adelina¡¯s spell. But it still hindered her movement a lot. It was so heavy. She took a step, and fell face first back into the snow. A scaled hand fished her out.

    ¡°Pathetic. Fine. We¡¯re going to fly. But you better be grateful.¡±

    Before Lily could object, she felt the girl get a firm grip under both her arms and take off. Lily wanted to scream, but she was so tired all of a sudden. So she just focused on staying awake. Could she cast a spell for heat? Would it mess with the [Resist Cold] spell¡­?

    She stifled the thought. Flying, the house should be only a couple minutes away. She just had to stay awake for a few minutes. It was going to be okay.

    ¡°Thank you.¡±

    ¡°Huh?¡±

    But Lily was too tired and weak to repeat herself louder. So she just held it in. She¡¯d thank Adelina for saving her life when they got to Sunica¡¯s. And then have it out with the girl.

    But where was Sunica¡­?

 1.015

    Lily hadn¡¯t realized she was dozing, but a blast of heat from below woke her suddenly. It was followed immediately by shouting.

    ¡°Adelina! Put her down!¡±

    Lily dropped suddenly, not quite falling but descending quickly until she hit the snow. She struggled to sit up, and failed. She was still so cold. Her limbs felt like noodles.

    By the time Lily managed to turn enough to see, Adelina was standing in front of her. Sunica stood not twenty feet away, breathing heavily.

    ¡°Relax sis, I was taking her back to your place. Can¡¯t you see she¡¯s freezing?¡±

    ¡°What did you do?! If you hurt her, I swear I¡¯ll¨C¡±

    ¡°I didn¡¯t hurt your pet human! She did this to herself.¡±

    ¡°Wha-? Like, she got on your bad side?¡±

    Lily tried to speak up and tell them to stop fighting, but she couldn¡¯t seem to make her voice loud enough for either of them to hear her.

    ¡°No, literally! The idiot ran face first into a frozen river and fell in. Now would you help me get her inside before she freezes over?¡±

    ¡°Tell me what you¡¯re here for first, or hand her over to me.¡±

    ¡°This isn¡¯t the time! She¡¯s in danger, you moron. Talk to me inside.¡±

    After another moment of hesitation, Sunica ran forwards and helped lift Lily up. Sunica¡¯s body was so warm! Lily almost couldn¡¯t take it. But she managed to croak out a few words.

    ¡°Thanks Sunica. I¡¯m sorry for the¨C¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m the one who¡¯s sorry. But shush. Talk when you¡¯re not knocking on death¡¯s door again okay?¡±

    Lily nodded in response. Sunica apparently could carry her with relative ease. That surprised Lily. She wasn¡¯t exactly a light person, being 5¡¯10¡¯¡¯ and slightly overweight.

    It only took a couple more minutes for Sunica and Adelina to push open the door and hastily lay Lily down on the couch. Sunica turned and started grabbing objects seemingly at random.

    ¡°Oh hells. Oh hells what do we do? I can heat up some water? This is just the first night all over again!¡±

    ¡°Calm down. She¡¯ll warm up now that we¡¯re here. She should get out of those wet clothes though.¡±

    Both balaur girls turned to look at Lily. She felt warmth rush to her face. She spoke in a quiet and nervous tone. She hated how her voice sounded in moments like these. But, she definitely did not want someone to change her clothes for her right now.

    ¡°Sunica, if you can dig out my old clothes and give me a few minutes of privacy, I think I can change.¡±

    ¡°Ah, um. Right. Adelina, could you wait outside for a minute? I¡¯ll be out in a sec.¡±

    The younger girl huffed and gave Sunica a catty look.

    ¡°Okay, but don¡¯t try to sneak her out a window or something. She¡¯ll freeze out there.¡±

    ¡°I won¡¯t! Now go!¡±

    ¡°Fine.¡±

    Adelina left through the front door. Sunica went and fetched Lily¡¯s clothes, but as she handed them over she leaned forward.

    ¡°Did she hurt you?¡±

    ¡°I thought she was going to, but no. Although¡­ she punched a hole in Bay. And she saw me doing magic.¡±

    ¡°What? Don¡¯t you remember what I told you?¡±

    ¡°Yeah! But I thought she was trying to kill me!¡±

    Sunica groaned, and went for the front door. But she paused before she got there, and turned back to Lily.

    ¡°I¡¯ll try to damage control. You get changed. I¨C If we don¡¯t see each other again¡­¡±

    She looked like she was about to tear up. But before Lily could say another word, Sunica turned back to the door and walked out.

    <hr>

    Sunica stepped outside. Her heart was burning. It stung. It wasn¡¯t fair. None of this was fair. Why couldn¡¯t her family just let her have this one thing? Why did they have to be interested in Lily?

    It was starting to snow. It was still light, but would probably get worse before it got better. As the flakes hit her skin they melted, turning into droplets of water and running down her skin before boiling away into steam. She needed to calm down. She knew that. If she didn¡¯t, she was going to make a mistake.

    But whatever happened, she had to make sure Lily would be safe. She didn¡¯t really have hope that she would be allowed to stay with her, but sending her away to a dangerous situation was completely out of the question. She¡¯d convince Adelina. Somehow.

    She found Adelina sitting under a tree, watching the snow fall. With a grimace, she approached and sat down in the snow next to her. Within moments she was slowly sinking as the snow melted under her. Adelina broke the silence.

    ¡°You¡¯re upset.¡±

    ¡°How could I not be?¡±

    ¡°Come on. You had to know this was coming. You should have reported her to Mother right away.¡±

    ¡°I couldn¡¯t. She needed my help. She¡­¡±

    Adelina laughed at that.

    ¡°She¡¯s totally helpless. I can see that. But you know Mother will take good care of her, right?¡±

    Sunica snapped.

    ¡°Don¡¯t lie to me!¡±

    The younger girl turned, surprised at the clear anger behind Sunica¡¯s words.

    ¡°What? Why would I lie about that?¡±

    ¡°You know! To get me to agree without thinking about it! First you lied to me and told me to meet you in Veni. I waited for you, only to find out that you had¡­ what, chased Lily into the woods? Now you¡¯re telling me she¡¯ll be safe with you? You¡¯re just lying so I¡¯ll feel better! You know exactly what¡¯s going to happen to her!¡±

    Adelina¡¯s look of genuine confusion surprised Sunica, but she was a boiling cauldron of emotions, and couldn¡¯t stop now.

    ¡°You always do this! You always take everything away from me! I finally have someone I can have in my life and¨C and¡­ I don¡¯t want her to die. Please.¡±

    Steam rose around her, as the snow melted into water and boiled away. She tried breathing deeply. She couldn¡¯t win if this came to blows, so she needed to stay calm and convince Adelina. She could do this. She could¨C

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    ¡°Why in the hells would you think we would kill her? She¡¯s a very talented magic user, and the rumor is she¡¯s nobility. Mother¡¯s not stupid you know? She¡¯s not going to just throw away someone so valuable.¡±

    ¡°Huh? But¡­ her magic¡­¡±

    ¡°What about it? I¡¯ve never seen anything like what she does before. I have a lot of questions for that girl.¡±

    ¡°She¡¯s a strange magic user. Aren¡¯t you going to turn her over?¡±

    Adelina gave her another surprised look, and then burst out laughing.

    ¡°That¡¯s what you¡¯re worried about? I sometimes forget that you don¡¯t know anything about magic!¡±

    ¡°What? Hey, stop laughing! What do you mean?¡±

    ¡°She¡¯s not a [Sorcerer]. Isn¡¯t that what you¡¯re all frightened about?¡±

    ¡°What? How do you know? She does strange magic!¡±

    ¡°Wow sis. Okay, listen. It¡¯s true that [Sorcerers] cast spells without learning them in the traditional way, but it¡¯s different. A [Sorcerer] usually has some kind of affinity to a specific type of magic. I watched Miss Flamewalker use fire magic, electric magic, kinetic magic, and some kind of enchantment.¡±

    ¡°Uh, okay¡­ But, maybe she¡¯s just really good?¡±

    Adelina shook her head slowly.

    ¡°No. It¡¯s more than that. A [Sorcerer] uses magic as a skill. It¡¯s something that comes from within them, that they learn to control over time. It¡¯s like a muscle. For most magic users like me, magic is more intellectual. We learn magic. Because of that, the structure of mana that makes up spells is different. Get it?¡±

    Sunica¡¯s face screwed up while she tried to wrap her mind around that. But, she just couldn¡¯t visualize it.

    ¡°I don¡¯t. What do you mean the structure is different?¡±

    Adelina sighed and took on a more lecturing tone.

    ¡°It¡¯s the difference between civilization and nature. People and monsters, and so on. There¡¯s a reason monsters that cast magic almost universally use sorcery. It¡¯s hard to replicate a natural process. Things people create and things nature creates are generally fundamentally different.¡±

    She pointed to the tree they were sitting under.

    ¡°If you wanted to make a tree like this, it would be hard right? Even if you had all the materials and a way to shape them properly. The pattern of the bark over the wood, all the various cracks and shapes. The pattern of the branches, and how they twist and turn as they grow. These are natural processes. If you sat down and tried to replicate them, even if you did your best, an expert would be able to tell the artificial one is artificial. Because it¡¯s not natural. It was placed deliberately. See? Sorcery versus magic is a little like that. I¡¯ve seen sorcery. It¡¯s a natural process that a monster uses to fight. The structure of the mana is not something I would be able to replicate with ease.¡±

    ¡°But¡­ if she¡¯s not a [Sorcerer], what is she?¡±

    ¡°I have no idea. That¡¯s why I¡¯m so excited! I¡¯ve never seen magic like hers before. I¡¯m going to bring her home and study her!¡±

    ¡°Any chance you could¡­ not?¡±

    Her sister sighed deeply, and looked at her with pity in her eyes. That stung too, but Sunica held it in.

    ¡°You know I can¡¯t do that. Mother sent me to pick her up. Even if I ignore my instructions and get in trouble for it, she¡¯ll just send someone else and you know it. I get that she¡¯s important to you. You¡¯ve been addressing her pretty familiarly. But, give up. You know better.¡±

    ¡°Yeah. I know.¡±

    Adelina stood up and started back towards the cabin. She called back before she got too far.

    ¡°I¡¯ll give you a minute before I go in. So, try to get it together.¡±

    Sunica realized she was barely holding back tears. This was really happening. She had known it would, but¡­ She really wished she had at least a little while longer. She¡¯d gotten really attached in such a short time. Since when had she become this kind of clingy girl?

    <hr>

    Lily got changed into the same jeans and T-shirt she arrived in without too much difficulty. Taking the wet and freezing clothes off had been pretty hard. But squeezing into dry and warm clothes was much easier. And then under blankets. Soooo many blankets.

    Her teeth were still chattering, but she was starting to come more alive. This was a bad situation. Maybe not as bad as she had initially thought though.

    She realized she probably made a mistake. When Adelina had said she was dead, Lily had thought that was a real threat. Now, looking back on it, it seemed clear it was the sort of thing a teen would say if they got embarrassed.

    But, she¡¯d still shown off her magic, and made a genuine attempt at fighting back. For all the good it had done her.

    ¡°I need to get stronger. Conflicts can¡¯t keep ending like this.¡±

    Now she was in a real mess. Hiding her magic wasn¡¯t going to work. She would have to appeal to Adelina¡¯s decency instead. Explain herself, and ask very nicely not to be reported. The girl was Sunica¡¯s sister, how bad could she really be at heart?

    There was a knock. Lily called out.

    ¡°Come on in! I¡¯m changed!¡±

    Adelina walked in confidently with Sunica in tow. Lily briefly saw that it had started snowing outside. She¡¯d never lived somewhere it snowed regularly, so getting to see it was still somewhat enchanting.

    ¡°Alright Miss Flamewalker. Let¡¯s try this again, okay? I¡¯m here as a representative of the Nor family. I¡¯m here to retrieve you and bring you back to the palace in Avezare. I understand you¡¯re still recovering, so I won¡¯t rush you. Help direct my sister to gather your things. It¡¯d be best if we left before the sun went down.¡±

    ¡°Wait wait wait! Slow down! Am I under arrest or something?¡±

    ¡°Oh not this again. Did Sunica tell you that? No wonder you tried so hard to escape earlier. You¡¯re not a [Sorcerer]. Unless I¡¯m mistaken and you have that class?¡±

    ¡°Um. No. I don¡¯t.¡±

    ¡°Then you¡¯re not a [Sorcerer]. I am interested in your magic, but I¡¯m hardly going to throw you in a prison. You¡¯re a guest of the Nor family, and you¡¯ll be treated well. Now, do you have much that needs packing?¡±

    Lily breathed a sigh of relief. Thank goodness. That was a major load off her shoulders. In that case she might go for staying in a palace for a while and gathering information at the least. She¡¯d always wondered what royal life was like.

    ¡°Oh, um. Not a lot. Sunica¡¯s got a lot of stuff though, I¡¯m sure.¡±

    Adelina raised an eyebrow.

    ¡°What? Sunica is staying here.¡±

    ¡°What!?¡±

    Lily turned to ask Sunica if she really wasn¡¯t going to come with and saw the look on her face. Red puffy eyes. Averted gaze. Of course. Lily had thought it was going to be an unpleasant trip for the girl until they had all this sorted out and came back. But Sunica wouldn¡¯t be allowed to come?

    ¡°No.¡±

    ¡°Excuse me?¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m not leaving Sunica. No. Absolutely not. She¡¯s¡­ She¡¯s my emotional support Sunica! If she can¡¯t come with me, I¡¯m not going!¡±

    Adelina and Sunica both stared at Lily in disbelief. The white scaled balaur stuttered a little trying to get the words out while her brain processed.

    ¡°W-what do you mean no? Don¡¯t you know who I am? My Mother is the [Matriarch] of Avezare. You can¡¯t say no.¡±

    ¡°You said I wasn¡¯t under arrest, and I¡¯m not a prisoner. I¡¯m not going. Not unless I can bring Sunica.¡±

    ¡°You can¡¯t bring Sunica. That¡¯s out of the question. She can¡¯t be in the palace. Mother would¨C No.¡±

    ¡°Then the answer is no. If you want me for anything, I¡¯ll be right here.¡±

    Lily smiled back at the girl as politely as she could.

    ¡°Miss Flamewalker, do you not understand the consequ¨C¡±

    It took everything Lily had, but she was feeling some genuine anger now. Sunica had done nothing to deserve this kind of treatment, and she was Lily¡¯s one friend in this world. Well, apart from maybe Avea. She wasn¡¯t going to let someone treat her like dirt. If there was one thing she¡¯d learned since the end of the world, it¡¯s that she was willing to do anything for the people close to her. Star, and now Sunica. Even if it meant escalating things.

    ¡°I understand what I am saying. You¡¯re the daughter of the [Matriarch] and you¡¯re here to say she wants my company. Go tell her I said no. Go tell her that I like her daughter, and if you can¡¯t treat her with a tiny bit of respect I will have nothing to do with either of you. Go tell her that I take disrespecting Sunica as disrespecting me, and if she wants me, or my magic, or anything else to be up where you came from, Sunica is coming too. Frankly, if you can¡¯t respect that, then you need to get out.¡±

    Both of the girls were gaping at her like fish. Adelina looked like she was going to blow a fuse. A croaking sound was coming out of her mouth as she tried to find words.

    ¡°You! You! How dare¨C¡±

    She went silent for almost thirty seconds while they locked eyes. Finally, she stamped a foot like a petulant child, and stormed back out of the door and into the snow. She called back after her.

    ¡°I¡¯m going to contact Mom from Veni. I¡¯ll be back. Count on it.¡±

    The tension lasted until the girl was out of sight. Then, tears welled up in Lily¡¯s eyes, and Sunica ran over to throw arms around her. Lily was taking gasping breaths.

    ¡°That was so scary! I can¡¯t stand up to people like that!¡±

 1.016

    Lily awoke in darkness. It took her a minute to remember where she was and what was going on. She was tired. Down to her bones it felt like. Then she remembered. The frozen river. She must still be recovering.

    The rest of the night had gone mostly uneventfully. Lily was too dead to move more than once an hour or two to take a trip to the restroom. Otherwise Sunica had made her drink an absurd amount of warm tea, and they¡¯d gone back and forth about what to do.

    Sunica was vocally in disbelief that Lily had caused so much trouble and defied an order by a [Matriarch]. But, the look on her face told a different story. Even Lily who was normally a little oblivious to things like that could tell she was flustered and happy.

    Although, if she was being honest Lily wasn¡¯t sure her motivations had been so pure. It¡¯s not like she had lied about how she was feeling, but wasn¡¯t refusing to leave without someone she trusted to do the talking and generally keep her safe socially kind of selfish?

    In either case, Lily was glad the girl was happy. And it¡¯s not like it was totally unfounded. Lily had gotten somewhat attached. But, she was worried her friend might get the wrong idea. Although, was it entirely the wrong idea? Sunica was sweet, caring, protective¡­ tall¡­

    ¡°Ugh. I¡¯m too gay for this.¡±

    Lily hastily rolled over. No no no. Those weren¡¯t productive thoughts. It¡¯d never work out. She still wanted to go home, and Sunica was just getting attached because Lily was the only girl around who didn¡¯t want to shun her. She¡¯d definitely find someone else way better and more interesting  later. That thought stung a little. Lily shook her head. She couldn¡¯t get caught up in weird stupid feelings. She wasn¡¯t going to take advantage of Sunica¡¯s vulnerability and that was that. She had other things to focus on.

    Sunica had gone out looking for Bay. He¡¯d been missing since Lily fell in the river. She insisted she could make her sister find him when she came back, but Lily was a little worried. First a hole, and then missing? She thought she had him still when she left the river, so he probably wasn¡¯t way downstream or anything. Maybe she¡¯d lost him in the flight.

    She really needed to perfect a tracking spell. Or just start putting magical tags on everything and everyone she might want to find later. Not that they¡¯d last through getting a hole blown in them apparently.

    Talking it through, they¡¯d decided to wait and try to be diplomatic. Lily¡¯s first instinct was to pack up and run, but Sunica made it clear they¡¯d be tracked down. So, it was either diplomacy, or a fight and Lily didn¡¯t like their odds. Besides, she might still be able to talk her way out of all of this. If only she could focus on thinking about what to even say. At least they should probably have a few days. Sunica had said that because her mother was so busy all the time and this was hardly a national emergency it was likely that talking directly to her about it would take a bit. Lily wasn¡¯t so sure. After all, wasn¡¯t it her daughter talking?

    Well, if Adelina showed back up with guards tomorrow she might still be able to buy some time by claiming to be too sick to talk or make the trip. Maybe she could cast a spell to make herself seem colder and clammier?

    She focused. It wouldn¡¯t be hard right? First draw the circle under her skin like with her self defense spell¨C

    ¡°Huh?¡±

    Her internal mana reserves were nearly empty. When she went to pull on that power, it didn¡¯t want to come. She tried again, but she hadn¡¯t felt this low since¡­ since when? Right. The pit. When she had been drawing on what felt like her life to try and cast spells. Why was she so low? Was it the fire spell from yesterday? Or something more?

    Her head spun. She felt woozy. Oh, she really was tapped out huh? She sank back into sleep before she knew it.

    <hr>

    When she woke again, the sun was out. Birds were chirping. She let out a heavy sigh and stared at the ceiling for a few moments. She didn¡¯t want to move. She was nestled in her warm cocoon of blankets. It didn¡¯t sound like Sunica was up and moving around yet either. Lily yawned. Today she was going to bounce back! Today she wasn¡¯t going to get caught off guard! She was going to get her shit together and be prepared!

    ¡°Oh, you¡¯re up.¡±

    Lily screamed and fell out of her makeshift bed, clattering to the floor hard enough she could feel her teeth rattle. She groaned. She turned toward the noise as soon as she could figure out which way was down. Adelina was sitting in the center of the room, cross legged, and sipping on a cup of tea.

    ¡°H-How the hell did you get in here?¡±

    The girl gave her a look and seemed like she was holding back laughter.

    ¡°It¡¯s my Sister¡¯s house and the door was unlocked. I walked in and made tea. Would you like some? It¡¯s an extremely simple blend, but sometimes simple products are delightful wouldn¡¯t you agree?¡±

    Lily stared at the girl, and narrowed her eyes.

    ¡°You can¡¯t just walk into someone¡¯s house!¡±

    ¡°But, my family owns it?¡±

    ¡°Sunica owns it.¡±

    ¡°Yes, and she is part of my family is she not?¡±

    This was going nowhere. It was time to switch gears. This was not the best way to wake up, but she could still try to talk.

    ¡°Why are you here? Come again to try and drag me up to Avezare?¡±

    ¡°Not at all. You made your position on that quite clear yesterday, and I haven¡¯t gotten a firm response from Mother yet.¡±

    ¡°Then why?¡±

    ¡°Actually, I am here to offer my apologies for my behaviour yesterday. It was unbefitting of my position as a representative of the Nor family.¡±

    ¡°Mmm. Okay? Apology accepted, so long as you don¡¯t come after me with spells again.¡±

    ¡°In the interest of making amends, I went and found your t¨C friend from yesterday.¡±

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    She dug around in a pouch clearly way too small to fit more than a fist and pulled out a familiar white round shape.

    ¡°Bay! You found him?¡±

    ¡°Yes, and I have not done anything with it other than picking it up and bringing it here. I wasn¡¯t sure if you had some kind of magical effect on it, but I figured you would want to do repairs on your own.¡±

    ¡°Oh, yeah the hole¡­ I don¡¯t know how I¡¯m going to deal with that. Honestly, I¡¯m not sure it¡¯s possible to fix him up right without access to a ma¨C aaassively high level tailor!¡±

    Lily stopped herself before saying ¡®machine¡¯ out loud. She still wasn¡¯t totally sure about the technology in this world but she sure as hell hadn¡¯t seen any sewing machines yet. Adelina seemed to be able to tell she was covering, but graciously didn¡¯t bring it up. She did however give Lily a confused look.

    ¡°Are you not a [Mage] of some power yourself?¡±

    Lily laughed.

    ¡°Me? Oh no. I¡¯m probably still at the hobbyist level if I¡¯m being honest. I don¡¯t even have the [Mage] class.¡±

    ¡°I thought you were an [Enchanter]?¡±

    Ah shit. That was the lie wasn¡¯t it? Lily¡¯s brain was still coming online. She had to be more careful.

    ¡°[Enchanter] isn¡¯t [Mage] is it?¡±

    It was a poor lie, and Adelina very clearly seemed skeptical.

    ¡°I suppose not. Where did you say you were from?¡±

    Fuuuuck. This wasn¡¯t a good direction for this conversation to be going. Where was Sunica?

    ¡°California. Hey, have you seen your sister?¡±

    ¡°She¡¯s sleeping in the other room. Can¡¯t you hear her snoring? I¡¯m not familiar with anywhere by that name. Is it far?¡±

    Damn. Lily could faintly hear the girl snoring in the other room.

    ¡°I¨C uh. I don¡¯t know. Truthfully, I didn¡¯t exactly walk here. I came by teleportation spell.¡±

    ¡°A [Teleportation] spell? That¡¯s powerful magic. And you say you are not a powerful [Mage]?¡±

    Lily frowned.

    ¡°You¡¯re being awfully nosey. Does your family want to know that bad?¡±

    ¡°Oh, my apologies. I forgot to say. Officially I¡¯m still supposed to be in Veni. I came back for¡­ personal reasons. So if you could just try to separate me on a personal level with me in my official capacity, you¡¯d have my gratitude.¡±

    Lily stared down the girl for a few seconds of silence. Adelina fidgeted. She seemed¡­ guilty?

    ¡°What kiiiind of personal reasons?¡±

    ¡°Oh. Well. Uh¡­¡±

    ¡°Yes? What?¡±

    ¡°I¡¯ve never seen magic like yours before! As a fellow [Mage], I would really like to know more. So, would you please answer my questions?¡±

    Well, that was unexpected. Lily was expecting a fight, not a personal request. Maybe this wouldn¡¯t be so bad after all.

    ¡°Well¡­ Could you do a few things for me in return?¡±

    ¡°Name your conditions.¡±

    ¡°Not conditions! Just favors.¡±

    ¡°Very well. Please, name your¡­ favors.¡±

    Lily rolled her eyes. This girl had no idea how to act like anything other than a diplomat or an angry teen.

    ¡°First! You must know some good [Tailor] with the fancy clothes you¡¯re wearing. Help me get Bay fixed.¡±

    ¡°Oh. What about the spells on him?¡±

    ¡°Nothing I can¡¯t re-cast. He¡¯s mostly for sentimental value. I just don¡¯t want him broken.¡±

    The girl stared down at Bay on the floor between them for a moment, and her glacier blue eyes gleamed. She put out a hand and pointed it at Bay.

    ¡°[Repair]!¡±

    In less than a second, Bay looked like he inflated from the inside out as the holes in the cloth mended, and then there he was. As chubby with fluff as the day she¡¯d found him in the Target. Although the purple patches remained.

    But, more than that. That spell! Lily still wasn¡¯t used to seeing spells cast in this world yet, much less enough to recognize what was happening. But that spell! She recognized that spell! The way the mana flowed out of Adelina and how it materialized around Bay. She¡¯d seen this before. It was the glyph she couldn¡¯t figure out in the repair spell back home! The glyph that wasn¡¯t a glyph. What the hell? Was it some kind of¡­ API, plugging in a different style of magic altogether? She struggled to remember the actual mechanism of magical circuits around that ¡®glyph¡¯, but couldn¡¯t. She¡¯d have to ask Lily 0 to go take a look. Damn.

    ¡°Are you okay? Did I mess something up?¡±

    Lily shook her head. Right, the other person in the room.

    ¡°No! No. I¨C I just hadn¡¯t seen that spell before. It was incredible.¡±

    Adelina burst out laughing.

    ¡°The [Repair] spell? Most second year students learn it. How have you never seen it before?¡±

    Lily felt the blood rise to her cheeks. Oh. It was simple magic.

    ¡°I¨C I just haven¡¯t. Things are different where I come from. Favor number two! Answer my questions about your own magic.¡±

    ¡°Sure, done. Anything else?¡±

    The smug look on the girl¡¯s face made Lily feel like she was somehow still getting the raw end of this deal.

    ¡°Do your best to address me like a normal person. I¡¯d accept being your friend. I won¡¯t accept being your political acquisition. That one is a deal breaker.¡±

    ¡°Are you sure? I will still have to deal with you as part of my official position as well. Isn¡¯t it easier if we have this kind of relationship all the time?¡±

    ¡°Nah. I¡¯m terrible at stuff like this. Friend or nothing.¡±

    ¡°What kind of [Lady] are you exactly?¡±

    ¡°I¡¯ll answer that after you agree.¡±

    ¡°As even your¡­ potential friend I feel I should warn you that this is a profoundly ill advised thing to ask of me that carries no legal standing and in fact may weaken your position.¡±

    Lily groaned.

    ¡°This is exactly what I¡¯m talking about. I can¡¯t have a full conversation talking like that, and watching out for everything I say. Just talk to me like a normal person, and tell me you¡¯ll treat me as a friend.¡±

    ¡°Are you completely sure? Even with no binding terms?¡±

    ¡°Ever heard of something called trust? You¡¯re Sunica¡¯s sister. I¡¯d like to just trust you.¡±

    That seemed to give Adelina pause. She was silent for a minute. Then she rose and walked over to a small cabinet. She removed four eggs and came back over to sit on the floor near Lily.

    ¡°That¡¯s a relief. It¡¯s fucking exhausting being in work mode! Don¡¯t tell a soul though or I really will kill you.¡±

    The girl laid back on the floor and popped a whole egg into her mouth, shell and all. It made a terrible crunching sound as she chewed it down while Lily stared.

    ¡°Oh. Uh¡­ Yeah. Of course.¡±

    ¡°What¡¯s that reaction huh? Regretting it already?¡±

    Her tone and mannerisms were completely different. It was a startling shift.

    ¡°No, I guess I just wasn¡¯t expecting you to be able to drop it so easily. But I guess I saw a bit of this yesterday.¡±

    ¡°Hmph. Well, can we talk about magic then? And where you¡¯re from? I have so many questions! I¡¯ve been waiting all night while you slept!¡±

    Lily almost laughed. From the most unexpected source, suddenly she had someone to nerd out about magic with. Despite the girl¡¯s sudden shift and the fact that she had just popped another whole egg into her mouth, Lily was really looking forward to this.

 1.017

    ¡°So, the basic structure is like that, see?¡±

    Lily finished drawing out a simple circle with two empty nodes on the piece of paper in front of her. She was actually pretty excited to get to demonstrate how her magic worked to someone who might be able to understand and have an additive conversation.

    ¡°These two circles here are nodes. At least, that¡¯s what I call them. The mana can flow into the circle from anywhere, but this little symbol designates this as the first node. So, mana will enter from there. It¡¯s like the Main method in a programming language¡­ although I guess that¡¯s not a reference that works here. Hmm. Well, it¡¯s the entry! Then mana flows along these lines and through the second node. Then it can return to this one. It¡¯s a loop by nature, unless you create an exit, or use it up with the nodes. See?¡±

    Adelina was staring hard at the piece of paper. Lily almost giggled. She was studying it as if it was a ¡®Where¡¯s Waldo¡¯ or something.  In an attempt to be accommodating, she spoke up.

    ¡°Um, any questions?¡±

    ¡°So many.¡±

    ¡°Well, go on then.¡±

    ¡°What do you mean that mana flows along the lines? Which lines? There are so many. How do you know which ones it will use?¡±

    ¡°Um, well, it¡¯s not actually that complicated. See, it goes around in a circle, from the entry¡­ It¡¯s like a circuit. It uses the path of least resistance the same way¡­ er¡­ I was going to say electricity. Maybe water? Imagine it like water. It¡¯ll take the path that¡¯s easiest to reach. Going around in a circle.¡±

    ¡°Miss Flamewalker.¡±

    ¡°Hmm? You can call me Lily.¡±

    Adelina looked up and met her eyes with a serious expression on her face.

    ¡°Whatever! This is not as simple as you seem to think it is. There are a lot of lines. Even putting aside how mana flows between them and how to predict it, how did you even know to create this structure from the outset? It makes no fucking sense.¡±

    ¡°Well. I mean. There¡¯s two nodes. So, it has to be shaped like this. If there were fewer lines the mana wouldn¡¯t have enough of a pathway and the circle could become unstable if too much flowed from one to another. And as for the shape, it¡¯s just about finding the optimal path for all the lines, see? It¡¯s just common sense. Er¡­ logic?¡±

    The balaur girl was staring at Lily as if she were an alien. Lily was starting to get confused. It looked like a simple circle to her. She¡¯d made this version a thousand times. It was her basic two node circle. Sure, it was a little different and more stable than the ones she found naturally occurring, but she¡¯d only added a few lines here or there.

    ¡°Is it¡­ shifting?¡±

    ¡°Huh? No! It¡¯s not. Here. I learned by copying them down from naturally occurring magic. So, why don¡¯t you just try drawing that same circle? Don¡¯t worry, the spell won¡¯t activate if there aren¡¯t glyphs in those nodes.¡±

    ¡°Wait, the spell can activate if I make a mistake?¡±

    ¡°No no! Only if you draw the right symbols in those two circles. Or I guess if you happen upon one entirely at random, what are the odds of that? There¡¯s only¡­ Well, I don¡¯t actually know how many there are. But trust me, just leave those two circles blank and nothing will happen.¡±

    Adelina took the pen from Lily and started trying to copy the circle on the next page. She did take a few close looks at the pen too, but seemed to write off that question for later. Lily decided she¡¯d try to continue on with anecdotes while she waited.

    ¡°Not to say a circle can¡¯t be dangerous on their own. They can get overloaded with mana if you aren¡¯t careful. Though, it¡¯s usually because you created a way to draw in mana and not a means of getting rid of it. I almost died like that once, and that circle was just on a sheet of paper. It overloaded and created one hell of a shockwave when it went off. Cut some of my furniture in half, and got my hand so good that I almost bled out. I was an idiot back then!¡±

    Lily laughed to herself. It really had been an extremely stupid mistake. Looking back on it, she hadn¡¯t realized at the time how tired and emotionally drained she was. Well, she had, but she hadn¡¯t factored that into how it would affect her thinking process as much as she should.

    Suddenly, she realized that Adelina had been awfully quiet for a while, and when she turned to check the girl¡¯s progress, her shining blue eyes were fixed on Lily.

    ¡°That¡¯s¨C You¡¯re laughing about nearly getting cut in two? And then you just went on playing with this stuff? Do you have a death wish?¡±

    ¡°What? No. I mean, I lived didn¡¯t I? And I was more careful in the future. Um. With that. Specifically.¡±

    Adelina narrowed her eyes.

    ¡°How many times has this magic nearly killed you now?¡±

    ¡°Oh. Well. Let¡¯s see. There was the library, the exploding page, the pit if you count it, The big one outside the pit, the teleportation spell¡­ I might be forgetting one or two.¡±

    ¡°You shouldn¡¯t experiment with unfamiliar magic! That¡¯s like, the first safety lesson for year one students! Try new things with a teacher nearby!¡±

    ¡°Oh, well¡­ I never had a teacher.¡±

    ¡°Then don¡¯t learn magic until you do!¡±

    ¡°I uh¡­ I actually think that¡¯s impossible.¡±

    ¡°In what possible way?¡±

    Lily gave the girl a sheepish grin. She started to feel nervous when people took angry tones with her. But she was trying to remind herself that Adelina wasn¡¯t a bad person and probably wasn¡¯t really mad.

    ¡°Well, it¡¯s just that I don¡¯t think there¡¯s anyone other than me who knew how to use this stuff where I came from.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s stupid. There are always people studying magic somewhere. If you¡¯re new¨C¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m pretty sure. No one other than me can do this magic where I come from. Also, you¡¯re drawing that circle all wrong. Those lines aren¡¯t straight. The mana will break those lines and the circle will pop under even a little bit of pressure.¡±

    Adelina looked down. Her circle looked like a poor doodle of Lily¡¯s. It was pretty clear to Lily that it wouldn¡¯t work.

    ¡°What do you mean it won¡¯t work? I copied it exactly! It looks the same!¡±

    ¡°No, it doesn¡¯t. The circle isn¡¯t a perfect circle, that line doesn¡¯t belong there at all, this one is curved weird¡­ honestly, maybe we should find you a tool for drawing straight lines? It¡¯s hard to free hand it. I¡¯ve got a Skill and lots of practice.¡±

    ¡°Whatever. I¡¯ll work on drawing them later. For now, what do you mean that you¡¯re the only one you know that casts this magic where you come from? Didn¡¯t you say it was naturally occurring there? Where do you even come from?¡±

    ¡°I told you! California. It¡¯s not my fault that you don¡¯t know it.¡±

    ¡°Hmm. Okay. So then where is California?¡±

    ¡°The United States.¡±

    ¡°Where is it from here?¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t know. I came here by way of teleporter accident.¡±

    Adelina made an exasperated sound.

    ¡°Neighboring countries!?¡±

    ¡°Canada and Mexico. Oh, and I guess like, Cuba and stuff if you count it.¡±

    ¡°Are you making this stuff up?¡±

    ¡°Nope.¡±

    Lily gave the girl a grin. It was a little fun watching her get so worked up about this stuff. The girl threw her hands into the air.

    The tale has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.

    ¡°But you¡¯re some kind of important person there? A [Lady]?¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m the most important person in the entire country.¡±

    This time as Adelina made a pained noise, Lily tracked her eyeline and saw her eyes dart down to a ring she was wearing. It briefly changed color. She pointed.

    ¡°Hey, what¡¯s that thing!?¡±

    The girl looked a little surprised, and lifted her hand to show Lily.

    ¡°It¡¯s a truthstone, obviously. As if I¡¯d take statements like that at face value without some kind of confirmation. But it keeps saying you¡¯re telling the truth. I don¡¯t know what to do with that. Maybe you¡¯re just crazy?¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m not crazy.¡±

    The ring flashed white. Adelina snorted.

    ¡°You sure?¡±

    ¡°Okay, I¡¯m not crazy in that way.¡±

    The ring flashed purple, and Adelina shrugged. The blood was rushing to Lily¡¯s face. She was feeling a little irritated! Using a ring like that felt like an invasion of her privacy, even if it did help that Adelina would believe her.

    ¡°Hey! How come you get to use a ring like that? That¡¯s not fair. Give it here. I got some questions for you, too!¡±

    Surprisingly, Adelina removed the ring and handed it over. Lily slipped it onto her pinky finger.

    ¡°I¡¯ll gladly confirm that I have no ill intentions towards you and expressed my interests genuinely.¡±

    The ring flashed purple. It seemed like that meant ¡®truth¡¯. But, it didn¡¯t go over Lily¡¯s head that Adelina had swapped back to her diplomatic way of speaking. A grin spread over Lily¡¯s face as a wicked idea entered her mind.

    ¡°Okay, cool. But I don¡¯t want to know about that.¡±

    ¡°Well, what do you want to know then?¡±

    ¡°What¡¯s your favorite thing to do in Veni?¡±

    ¡°Huh? I don¡¯t see what that has to do with anything.¡±

    Purple.

    ¡°I bet it¡¯s something un-princess-like when you get into town and aren¡¯t as supervised.¡±

    ¡°Ah¨C¡±

    A blush spread across Adelina¡¯s face as she caught on. It was tinted blue, which was strange but cute.

    ¡°I¡¯m not a princess.¡±

    Purple.

    ¡°Okay, something unbefitting of the [Matriarch¡¯s] daughter then?¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s ridiculous!¡±

    Purple. That surprised Lily. Although, maybe it had to do with the wording. If she meant that the question was ridiculous it might be true.

    ¡°Then you won¡¯t have trouble answering the question honestly, right? Riiiiight?¡±

    ¡°I would never be caught doing something scandalous while representing my family. I can assure you.¡±

    Purple again. But that cemented Lily¡¯s thoughts. She sure would never be caught doing something scandalous.

    ¡°What about something you won¡¯t get caught doing then, huh? Something no one else knows about?¡±

    ¡°I¨C I don¡¯t know what you mean.¡±

    White. Lily cackled and showed her the ring.

    ¡°This is a grievous invasion of my privacy!¡±

    ¡°Is it? You didn¡¯t seem concerned about my privacy using this ring without telling me.¡±

    ¡°I assumed you knew! They¡¯re common tools of nobility, and you are a [Lady] are you not?¡±

    Purple. Well, Lily supposed she really hadn¡¯t been doing anything as underhanded as it seemed. If she assumed Lily knew about such things.

    ¡°Wow, I guess I was wrong. Okay, if you didn¡¯t think you were doing anything wrong I guess I can go easy on you.¡±

    ¡°Thank you. I¡¯m glad you can understand¨C¡±

    ¡°I¡¯ll keep it to one question. So, what is it? What¡¯s your favorite thing to do in Veni?¡±

    ¡°I suppose the local cuisine is quite to my liking?¡±

    White. Lily smiled at the girl and waited.

    ¡°I enjoy seeing the animals?¡±

    The ring flickered between white and purple on that one. That wasn¡¯t something Lily had seen before so she stared at it for a second, then turned back to Adelina.

    ¡°I¡¯m not giving up until it¡¯s purple.¡±

    ¡°I enjoy¡­¡±

    She mumbled the last bit of the sentence. The ring turned purple.

    ¡°Hmm. I couldn¡¯t hear you. You¡¯re gonna have to speak up.¡±

    ¡°I enjoy chasing the chickens when no one is looking! There. Are you pleased with yourself?¡±

    Lily took the ring off and tossed it back to the girl.

    ¡°Very. Now put that in a bag or something? Friends don¡¯t spy on friends.¡±

    Adelina opened her mouth to object when they were cut off by a deep laugh coming from Sunica¡¯s room. She stepped out, nearly doubling over.

    ¡°You got her ass Lily! Good job! I¡¯ve never seen anything like it!¡±

    Adelina turned an even darker shade as she realized Sunica had been listening in.

    ¡°It¡¯s an entirely normal exercise to test the vitality of Veni¡¯s animal stock!¡±

    ¡°Sure, yeah, totally normal!¡±

    ¡°Cease your laughter at once before I¨C Before I rip out your tongue and drop it down the outhouse hole!¡±

    Sunica did not in fact stop laughing. Adelina going back and forth between diplomatic and her more familiar way of speaking was fun to watch. But, Lily eventually spoke up and tried to get things back on track.

    ¡°It¡¯s okay, it¡¯s okay. Really, I¡¯m glad you have interests like that. Besides, I was working on a farm recently, and chasing the chickens around is pretty fun.¡±

    ¡°Don¡¯t patronize me!¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m not! I promise.¡±

    With a yawn, Sunica started getting ready for the day. She seemed to just accept that Adelina was here and that it wasn¡¯t going too badly. So, while she started cooking up some eggs, Lily decided to keep talking.

    ¡°Anyway, look. I really am not sure how I got here. I¡¯m from somewhere really different, and I used a teleportation spell. It wasn¡¯t a smart thing to do, and it almost killed me. Sunica seems convinced it messed with my mind somehow, but I¡¯m just happy to be alive. I¡¯m not in a rush to go anywhere, since I¡¯m quite comfortable here.¡±

    ¡°You can¡¯t even point to your country on a map or something¡­?¡±

    ¡°I know this is hard to believe, but I¡¯m completely sure it wouldn¡¯t be on your maps. And your country wouldn¡¯t be on ours.¡±

    Adelina went silent for a minute, before she perked up and gave Lily a surprised look.

    ¡°Wait. Wait wait wait. You aren¡¯t saying you¡¯re from beyond the firmament are you? Strange magic that¡¯s naturally occurring where you are from, no [Mages], and a place that isn¡¯t on maps¡­?¡±

    ¡°Beyond the what?¡±

    ¡°Firmament!¡±

    ¡°Pretend I don¡¯t know what that is.¡±

    ¡°The barrier at the edge of the world!¡±

    Lily giggled.

    ¡°Oh no, please don¡¯t tell me you all think the world is flat? It¡¯s not. It¡¯s round. There is no edge.¡±

    Adelina gave Lily a puzzled look.

    ¡°Maybe where you¡¯re from, but not here. The firmament is real. You can go visit.¡±

    ¡°Just an edge of the world? What happens if you go off the side then?¡±

    ¡°You can¡¯t. It¡¯s solid. Well, not quite solid. It¡¯s a permeable barrier that only allows certain matter through. Like the monsters that come through from the other side.¡±

    Lily stopped. Okay. Well. That was¡­ different. A wall at the edge of a flat world? Well, with magic she wasn¡¯t about to rule it out. But there were stars in the sky! Space!

    ¡°Um. Okayyyy. Let¡¯s say I believe that for a moment. What makes you think anything is beyond, much less where I come from? Maybe monsters just sorta spawn there?¡±

    ¡°No. The firmament shifts like an ocean. It moves in waves. And rarely¡­ it suddenly moves a lot and quickly. Entire nations have been swallowed in the past, and were never heard from again. But! You could be from one of them! Maybe they all still exist beyond the firmament?¡±

    That¡­ didn¡¯t sound correct to Lily. She was pretty sure her earth was not just a piece broken off of this world. But it was interesting to think about.

    ¡°I don¡¯t think so. But, I don¡¯t really have enough information to disprove that either. Wait, you say nations have been swallowed? Why would anyone live anywhere near the edge if that happens sometimes?¡±

    This time Sunica spoke up.

    ¡°They don¡¯t have a choice. In the more active zones, if the monsters aren¡¯t culled regularly it becomes a threat to everyone. Someone¡¯s gotta fight them off.¡±

    Adelina nodded.

    ¡°It actually becomes a stupid unstable political situation.¡±

    Lily cocked an eyebrow.

    ¡°Huh? Why? I¡¯d think everyone would get along with whoever is fighting off the monsters.¡±

    Sunica grimaced.

    ¡°Even I know that one. It¡¯s ¡®cause those nations end up with the highest leveled fighters in the world. Almost all of them.¡±

    Oh. Of course. People with power, misusing it. It always came down to that, didn¡¯t it? Fuck. Well, Lily had no intention of getting involved in anything political if she could avoid it.

    ¡°Ah!¡±

    Sunica suddenly made a sound. Lily looked over at her.

    ¡°My traps have caught something! Several of them. I just noticed. I¡¯ll go take a look.¡±

    ¡°Honestly, I could use a walk. Can I come too?¡±

    Adelina huffed.

    ¡°Hey! We aren¡¯t finished talking yet. You¡¯re really going to leave me to go accompany her simple labor?¡±

    Lily gave her a look, then shrugged.

    ¡°You can stay if you want, but I¡¯m going. We can talk when we get back, or you can come along and have a good time out with us. It¡¯s up to you.¡±

    She gave Sunica a covert smile, then continued.

    ¡°Just gimme a minute to get into my warm clothes.¡±

 1.018

    ¡°So like, how do you even remember where your traps are? Everything looks the same in this snow.¡±

    Sunica laughed.

    ¡°What? No it doesn¡¯t! I¡¯ve lived in this area my whole life. Look, that tree over there. See how it has a sorta gnarled lump on that branch? We¡¯re gonna turn slightly right there.¡±

    ¡°I¨C I guess? It looks just like all the other trees. Like, that one over there has a lump like that too!¡±

    ¡°That lump is nothing alike! It¡¯s further up on the branch, a deeper color, and at least a fifth smaller.¡±

    Lily threw up her hands.

    ¡°If you say so. I just don¡¯t know how you figure stuff like this out without magic. Or better yet, GPS!¡±

    ¡°What¡¯s that? Some kind of artifact?¡±

    Lily had nearly forgotten Adelina was sulkily following them until she perked up at something unknown. Lily crossed her arms and glared at the girl.

    ¡°Maybe I¡¯d tell ya all about it if you weren¡¯t being such a buzz kill. Don¡¯t you want to know how your own sister¡¯s class works?¡±

    ¡°You do? She¡¯s not even level ten, and [Trapper] is a commoner class. Besides, I already know.¡±

    Sunica was looking embarrassed, but marching forward.

    ¡°You already know? How?¡±

    ¡°My Mother is training me to rule one day you know. Just because I¡¯m not guaranteed the position when she passes it on doesn¡¯t mean I¡¯m not training for it. As a potential [Matriarch] it¡¯s my duty to learn about how most mundane classes work, down to what skills they¡¯re likely to have. How else am I supposed to know who to tell to do what job, or understand a complicated interaction that could be dangerous? I have to learn all of that.¡±

    ¡°Oh. I guess that makes sense. Fine! Let¡¯s give you a test, huh? If you really know all this already, tell me about it.¡±

    Sunica spoke up weakly.

    ¡°Lily, it¡¯s fine she doesn¡¯t have to¡­¡±

    ¡°Hmph! I¡¯m glad you asked Miss Human. Sunica is near but not quite level ten in the [Trapper] class. She¡¯s unlikely to have any particularly notable skills at that level. Probable skills include [Detect Catch], [Detect Tracks: Beast], [Lesser Butchery], [Lesser Endurance], or in this area something like [Snow Walker], or if she¡¯s very very lucky maybe even [Graceful Step]. So, Sis? How¡¯d I do?¡±

    Sunica was quiet. Lily had seen her use [Detect Catch], so she knew Adelina had gotten at least one of those right. But, she didn¡¯t like the girl¡¯s tone.

    ¡°Hey, you¡¯re being really rude. Can¡¯t you just be kind? It¡¯s not a competition you know?¡±

    Adelina, to her credit paused and seemed to think about it for a minute.

    ¡°I just get so mad. She could be so much more than this if she tried.¡±

    ¡°Well, being a jerk about it isn¡¯t the way to be encouraging. Why not try being actually constructive? Like, how could she be doing better?¡±

    ¡°If she cared about what she was doing she¡¯d gain levels! Obviously. If it wasn¡¯t just to make it to the next day. If she¡¯d just take an interest in something, I might be able to help!¡±

    Sunica finally snapped and whirled on her sister.

    ¡°Stop talking about me as if I¡¯m not here. That¡¯s easy for you to say! You don¡¯t understand what it¡¯s like out here.¡±

    ¡°I do too¨C¡±

    Lily put a hand on Adelina¡¯s shoulder and smiled gently.

    ¡°Uh¡­ let¡¯s move to a different subject, okay? Sorry Sunica. It was insensitive to talk about this.¡±

    The younger girl crossed her arms and looked huffy, but let it go.

    ¡°Fine. Let¡¯s talk about your levels then.¡±

    ¡°What about them? And hey, isn¡¯t it rude to ask?¡±

    The girl rolled her eyes.

    ¡°Sure. But something doesn¡¯t add up to me. Why are you so¡­ weak? Aren¡¯t you someone important? I don¡¯t get the feeling you¡¯re particularly high level. Actually, you seem weaker than Sunica at a glance, in spite of your magic. How¡¯s that possible?¡±

    Lily felt the blood rise to her face.

    ¡°Y-you can tell?¡±

    The girl nodded in response, and put a finger up to her lips conspiratorially.

    ¡°Actually, I have a skill. I can¡¯t see your exact level or skills or anything, but I can tell how strong you are in relation to me. I¡¯ve been thinking you have some kind of magical effect on you that prevents me from getting a true reading, but you don¡¯t, do you?¡±

    ¡°Um¡­ No. I guess not.¡±

    Lily was pretty sure she couldn¡¯t lie well enough to pretend to a magic user that she had a spell on her where there was nothing.

    ¡°So, what¡¯s going on here?¡±

    To Lily¡¯s surprise, Sunica spoke up for her.

    ¡°Somehow the teleportation spell got rid of ¡®em. She didn¡¯t even have a class when she got here.¡±

    Adelina winced.

    You might be reading a pirated copy. Look for the official release to support the author.

    ¡°Oh. I¨C I¡¯m sorry. That¡¯s awful. You lost everything? Must feel like stepping outside without clothes on. You gonna be alright?¡±

    ¡°Oh, um. Yeah. I¡¯m fine. I actually picked up some new stuff that happens to be pretty useful for my magic. So, it¡¯s cool. I¡¯m not worried about it.¡±

    The term ¡®temporarily inconvenienced millionaire'' came to mind, but she shook it off. Although, at times like this she wished she had brought a towel just so she could make the obvious reference.

    ¡°That is a crazy spell though, to do all of that at once. Do you think it used your levels like a component, or did something go wrong? Or maybe it was supposed to do that for some reason?¡±

    Lily shrugged. Then shivered remembering the overpowering current of mana that activated the spell.

    ¡°It was an emergency. All I did was pour mana into the spell. So, so much. More than I¡¯ve ever seen before. As it powered up, it started devouring everything around it, turning it into more mana to feed the spell. It was¡­ It was really scary. I thought it was going to eat me too.¡±

    Adelina frowned at her.

    ¡°You describe it like it was a living thing.¡±

    ¡°It felt like it. Sitting in the center of it with that much power around me that wasn¡¯t mine. It flowed around me and I had no power to do anything but try and ride it out. I remember the ceiling caved in. So, I dove under some of the rubble and wrote a levitation spell on it with all my strength in the hopes that if more fell I wouldn¡¯t get crushed.¡±

    ¡°Well, shit.¡±

    That was Sunica¡¯s voice. Lily turned to tell her that it was okay, when she saw that Sunica wasn¡¯t talking about that. They¡¯d arrived at the first trap they were supposed to check. It was empty, and looked¡­ destroyed?

    ¡°Is¡­ it supposed to look like that?¡±

    Sunica shook her head and knelt down next to it.

    ¡°No. Something went wrong. Maybe whatever set it off was too big? There¡¯s blood on the edges, so it definitely had something.¡±

    ¡°So¡­ it escaped?¡±

    ¡°Mm. Maybe. I don¡¯t see any animal tracks leading away though. And the ones that lead up to the trap look like a rabbit.¡±

    ¡°You can tell?¡±

    ¡°Adelina was right. I have a skill for that. Here, see these spots?¡±

    Lily did. They were pretty faint, but Sunica seemed to see them no problem. Small tracks that led right up to the trap. But after that¡­ nothing.

    ¡°Maybe another animal came by and ate it?¡±

    ¡°Maybe¡­¡±

    Sunica didn¡¯t sound convinced. Adelina seemed like she was smirking until Lily glared at her. She could be such a little shit sometimes. Lily suppressed the urge to call her out on it, because it wouldn¡¯t help Sunica¡¯s mood right now.

    ¡°I¡¯m sure it happens sometimes, right? The next one will probably have something super cool in it anyways!¡±

    Sunica turned back to her and smiled weakly.

    ¡°Yeah. C¡¯mon. Let¡¯s head to the next trap.¡±

    With that she continued into the forest. Lily followed. Having Adelina around really seemed to ruin her mood. Maybe when she was feeling better, Lily could help her think about her class? If that was even the problem. Was it even a big deal to be lower leveled? Sunica¡¯s life seemed pretty cool as it was!

    ¡°So, uh. I¡¯ve been meaning to ask you something. And now that I know your classes were erased, are you sure they weren¡¯t just like¡­. Suppressed or something?¡±

    ¡°What do you mean? Is that a thing?¡±

    ¡°Well, not really. But¡­ Okay, I wasn¡¯t going to ask about it, but I¡¯m starting to think you don¡¯t know and that freaks me out.

    What the hell was she talking about now? Lily was starting to get a little worried.

    ¡°What¡­ do you mean?¡±

    ¡°Well, it¡¯s just. Did you put that spell on yourself?¡±

    ¡°The one from yesterday? Yeah, I was working on a self defense spell. By forming the circle just under my skin¨C¡±

    ¡°No. Not that one. Oh hells. Lily, do you not know about the spell on you?¡±

    Now Lily was starting to get annoyed.

    ¡°Oh, spit it out. What are you talking about? What spell?¡±

    ¡°The spell on your bones.¡±

    Lily felt like her stomach fell out and clipped through the ground.

    ¡°W-what? What the fuck are you talking about?¡±

    ¡°Oh hells. You really don¡¯t¨C. Listen. I probably could have handled this better, but I really thought you cast it!¡±

    ¡°Explain. Now. Please. Before I freak out.¡±

    Lily was starting to sweat. A spell on her bones? She definitely hadn¡¯t done that. Maybe this was still some kind of crazy prank?

    ¡°Lily. There is a spell on you. It¡¯s shining so bright inside you, anyone magically oriented can probably see it. It¡¯s on your bones. Big magic. That¡¯s why I thought you were a powerful mage.¡±

    ¡°What kind of spell!?¡±

    ¡°I wouldn¡¯t have asked if I knew that! What are you, stupid?¡±

    ¡°Shut up! I¡¯m scared as hell! What does it look like? You can see it?¡±

    ¡°Yes I can see it! It looks like¡­ uh. A guess like a really intricate tattoo made of magic? Just like, on your bones? It¡¯s not a form of magic I¡¯ve ever seen before.¡±

    ¡°Oh well that¡¯s comforting!¡±

    ¡°Bite me! I don¡¯t know what it is! What more do you want from me?¡±

    ¡°I want you to tell me this is a really bad joke!¡±

    ¡°Well it¡¯s NOT!¡±

    Lily felt like she was about to scream, when she felt Sunica¡¯s arms around her.

    ¡°Adelina. Please give us a minute?¡±

    The younger balaur huffed and looked like she was going to argue, but when she saw tears building in Lily¡¯s eyes she turned and walked out into the forest a ways.

    ¡°Shh. It¡¯s gonna be alright.¡±

    ¡°How do you know? Was she lying?¡±

    ¡°I¡­ don¡¯t think so.¡±

    Lily felt the panic rise up inside her like a living thing. Sunica held her tighter.

    ¡°It¡¯s okay.¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s not! I¨C I don¡¯t know what¨C¡±

    ¡°You¡¯ve been completely fine this whole time. For all you know, it¡¯s been there since your world ending event, and you¡¯ve been doing okay. Good, even. You¡¯re okay.¡±

    ¡°I¡­ Okay. That¡¯s a fair point. But what is it?¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t know. But it doesn¡¯t seem to be hurting you. Hah, I know it¡¯s freaky, but don¡¯t you live for this shit?¡±

    ¡°What¡­ do you mean?¡±

    ¡°Strange magical bullshit that you have to figure out.¡±

    Lily couldn¡¯t help but giggle a little.

    ¡°Yeah, I guess so.¡±

    Her breathing was starting to normalize. Yeah. This was probably from the night the world ended. But what did the spell do? Maybe it didn¡¯t even do anything? She really needed a second her to examine her. Maybe she could make that happen with Lily Zero? Was the spell on Lily Zero? Or was it from being copied¡­?

    ¡°You good?¡±

    ¡°Can we¡­ stay like this for just a few minutes?¡±

    Sunica hugged her tighter.

    ¡°Anything for you, Miss Outsider.¡±

    The familiar phrase almost hurt. Lily let the tears fall.

 1.019

    She didn¡¯t want to move, but she knew she had to. Lily was sure the moment she let go of Sunica, her mind would start racing in bad directions again. Right now, she felt grounded. Safe. But the creeping dread was waiting just below the surface to grab her again.

    ¡°I¡¯m sorry.¡±

    ¡°What¡¯re you sorry for?¡±

    ¡°I know you¡¯re having a bad time too, and I¡¯m leaning on you. I just¨C¡±

    ¡°Shut up. You¡¯re fine. I just want you to feel okay.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m going to be okay.¡±

    She hated how easily she lied. But, there was no time for that thought right now. It was time to let go. So, she did. She looked Sunica in the eyes and gave her a nervous smile. The tears had dried already.

    ¡°All better, see? You were totally right. If this was dangerous, it¡¯d have gotten me already. It¡¯s just¡­ unsettling.¡±

    ¡°Yeah. I mean, you can ask Adelina about it more right? Maybe she¡¯ll be able to figure it out.¡±

    ¡°You¡¯re going to be okay? She was being very mean to you. I¨C I want you to know that I¡¯m trying to make it better. I¡¯m sorry if I¨C¡±

    ¡°Shut it. C¡¯mon. Please. I¡¯m not good at stuff like this. You¡¯re fine, I promise I¡¯m not pissed.¡±

    Lily frowned, but nodded anyway. They¡¯d have plenty of time to talk it out when Adelina left for the night. Assuming she did. Besides, Lily was pretty sure she could make some real progress with the girl. She didn¡¯t seem like a bad person, and getting her to see her sister as another human being¨C well, another¡­ balaur being? How did that language shake out? Well, whatever. She thought that if she could get Adelina to see what her Sister¡¯s day to day was actually like, they might be able to build a more positive relationship. Maybe. At least friendly enough that it would solve some immediate problems.

    That was her secret motivation behind dragging herself and Adelina out with Sunica. Humanize, er, balaurize(?) Sunica a bit in Adelina¡¯s mind. Maybe then she¡¯d be more likely to argue in favor of Sunica coming along to Avezare.

    ¡°I¡¯m such a little weasel¡­¡±

    ¡°Hmm?¡±

    ¡°Oh, nothing. So, off to the next stop?¡±

    ¡°Yeah. Hey Adelina!¡±

    Sunica raised her voice to call for her sister.

    ¡°We¡¯re heading out. Come back!¡±

    ¡°You two uh¡­ done?¡±

    Lily called out to answer.

    ¡°Yeah! Sorry about that. I¡¯m okay now.¡±

    Adelina approached carefully. She looked a little embarrassed.

    ¡°I should be the one apologizing. I really thought you knew about it. Hells, I thought you cast it! I just had questions and¡­ I¡¯d have brought it up differently if I knew.¡±

    Lily shook her head as the fear built up in her chest again.

    ¡°Let¡¯s not talk about it right now. I need to¡­ not think about it directly for a bit. Can you just tell me one thing?¡±

    ¡°Sure. What¡¯cha wanna know?¡±

    ¡°You said my magic looks pretty different than yours right? Does this look more like mine or yours?¡±

    Adelina sighed and sort of squinted at Lily.

    ¡°Honestly, it¡¯s so complex it¡¯s way above my head. But, if I had to guess it¡¯s something that came from your style of doing things. But, take that with a hint of doubt, ¡®cause it could just be so far above me that I think it¡¯s strange, and your magic is also a mystery to me. Basically, I¡¯m biased, but I think it¡¯s yours. That¡¯s why I thought you cast it yourself.¡±

    ¡°Okay. Well. If you¡¯re right about that, that narrows it down a little. Thanks.¡±

    ¡°If you want to talk about what it could be¨C¡±

    ¡°No. No I really, really do not. Please. Let¡¯s talk about anything else.¡±

    Sunica broke in, pointing further into the forest.

    ¡°I uh, still have two traps to check. Let¡¯s get going?¡±

    They walked in silence for a few minutes. Lily¡¯s mind continued to race, despite trying not to think about it. It was her style of magic? Is it because she was a copy? Was the spell holding her together? Or was it on her before the basement? Maybe it came from letting too much mana flow through her, like the scars? That seemed unlikely. The scars weren¡¯t ordered. They didn¡¯t look like a spell. They looked like damage. Why couldn¡¯t she sense the spell on herself? Not even now that she knew it was there? If it didn¡¯t come from the basement spell or an accident, how did it get there? Why? Was it the reason she didn¡¯t disappear with everyone else? She had to get out of her head. This was not a good place to be while trying to navigate a delicate social situation.

    This book''s true home is on another platform. Check it out there for the real experience.

    ¡°What the fuck¡­¡±

    Sunica¡¯s voice snapped her out of her thoughts. They¡¯d come to the second trap, and just like the first it looked broken.

    ¡°Something got this one too?¡±

    ¡°Looks like it. I don¡¯t see any other animal tracks though. It¡¯s not like I never lose prey, but usually I can at least tell what went wrong.¡±

    ¡°What¡¯s wrong Sis, never heard of a bird before?¡±

    Sunica rolled her eyes.

    ¡°I¡¯m not an idiot. If it was a bird, there¡¯d be some sign too. Even a big bird would struggle to pull the prey out of this trap in one swoop. There¡¯d be feathers, claw marks, something! But there¡¯s just blood where the trap snapped, and an empty trap. No tracks. Nothing!¡±

    Lily tuned out the half hearted argument. This was a problem that she could focus on. The empty traps. If a large animal had broken into them, Sunica said there would be tracks or something. If a bird had gotten them, there would be feathers and other signs. What then? Clearly something had happened. Once was a strange coincidence, twice was a pattern.

    An animal that Sunica¡¯s not familiar with? Or a magical creature she¡¯s not encountered before? No. Trust Sunica. She¡¯s a professional and knows what she¡¯s doing. So, what then? What would be outside of Sunica¡¯s purview? Nothing to do with animals. Magic? Lily closed her eyes and tried to feel out any magic nearby. She wasn¡¯t sure she¡¯d even pick up on this world¡¯s magic, but it was worth a try.

    She nearly jumped out of her skin when she sensed the huge amount of mana nearby. A deep well of it. Way more than she was expecting. Lily opened her eyes and turned in that direction only to see¡­ Adelina.

    Of course. She slapped her forehead. Another mage would be the most obvious source of mana around. How strong was Adelina exactly? As young as she was, Lily doubted she was very powerful on a world scale. But, locally would she be one of the more powerful people in the region? Something to think about. If not, and her magic was on the weaker side, there might be some truly terrifying casters in this world.

    Lily shook her head. No. Focus. If not magic, what else might Sunica have overlooked? Maybe sabotage? Did the people around here look down on her so much they¡¯d stoop to that? If so, what kind of evidence would they leave?

    Would they even have bothered to hide it though? If it was just sabotage, wouldn¡¯t letting her know about it be part of the harassment? God, people were the worst. Guessing motives became a lot harder when thinking about humans. Er, people. Lily was really going to have to work on her lexicon now that sentient races included more than humans.

    She scanned the forest floor. Snow. She didn¡¯t see anything immediately  obvious. What would people leave that Sunica¡¯s animal expertise wouldn¡¯t notice? Lily paced around the edges of the clearing, looking carefully. There ought to be some sign. Of something. Anything. The traps didn¡¯t just break themselves.

    Then, she saw it. A track. Not an animal track. It looked like¡­ a human foot? It was around the same size as Lily¡¯s foot, in fact. There were three steps, and then the tracks stopped. Lily thought about it. Some balaur had human-like feet. So it wasn¡¯t necessarily a human. It seemed to be a bit of a toss up which parts of an average balaur were more dragon or more human. Lily wondered if there were any interesting correlations there. But then dropped that train of thought.

    ¡°Hey! I found something!¡±

    She stood up and turned back to the two sisters who were still bickering. It took two more times calling out to them before they finally took notice and came over.

    ¡°Look. I found tracks. People tracks.¡±

    ¡°Huuuh? Why didn¡¯t your Skill pick that up Sunica?¡±

    ¡°Shut up already! My skill detects animal tracks. I guess I didn¡¯t think to look around manually for people. Who would steal from my traps though?¡±

    Lily cleared her throat to break into the conversation quickly getting started around her.

    ¡°More importantly, why are they barefoot?¡±

    Adelina looked at Lily like she was an idiot.

    ¡°Because all the balaur that live here are resistant to ice? I could take my shoes off too you know. I just don¡¯t want to get my feet dirty. Or do humans wander around in the mud and soil without shoes on all the time?¡±

    Lily felt the blood rushing to her face.

    ¡°Oh. Right. Well, okay. Fine, smart girl. Why are there only three tracks?¡±

    ¡°They probably used some means of covering them up. Maybe a skill? Or some other technique. Whoever they were, they were trying to be sneaky. But who cares? It¡¯s just a single animal. Why go through all the trouble?¡±

    Sunica broke into the conversation hurriedly.

    ¡°Wait, these tracks are headed towards the third trap! We might be able to catch them!¡±

    With that, she started to run. Adelina was hot on her heels. Lily started after them, and suddenly was very aware of how clumsy her movements were in snow compared to the sisters who had lived here their entire lives. She was moving as fast as she could, but the deep steps into snow and her naturally not being athletic meant that they were out of sight in moments.

    ¡°Shit, shit, shit, stupid slow legs!¡±

    Lily huffed as she ran after them. Was she even going to be able to run the whole way? Or for that matter, find them? Well, finding them wasn¡¯t too hard. The tracks in the snow were pretty simple to follow.

    Wait¡­ Weren¡¯t there too many sets of footprints¡­?

    As Lily rounded a tree and saw Sunica and Adelina up ahead, she nearly bumped into someone. Several people in fact. Green skin. Slightly shorter than her. Red eyes. Fur and leather clothing. Lily yelped in surprise. So did the person she almost ran into.

    They looked at each other, shocked for a second before the person in front of her yelled.

    ¡°H-Human! It¡¯s a human! What do we do?¡±

    Another elbowed the first.

    ¡°Get her before she gets us!¡±

    The group of strangers started fumbling for weapons. Oh no. This was not good.

    ¡°Wait! I¡¯m friendly!¡±

    All of them froze and stared at her in complete bewilderment. For about five seconds time froze as the group of green skinned people and Lily stared each other down. But the momentary peace was broken by a shout from up ahead.

    ¡°[Ice Lance]!¡±

    A spear of ice pierced one of the stranger¡¯s heads in an instant, dropping them.

    Then, it was chaos.

 1.020

    ¡°Get back!¡±

    The world spun for an instant before Lily hit the snow face first. She rolled and rose as quickly as she could. What lay before her was a bloodbath. Sunica had pushed her out of the way, and already had her knife buried deep in a stranger¡¯s chest, with enough force to lift them off their feet. Lily watched the hunting knife slide back from the strike, wet, red, a slash of color in the snow white world. She almost couldn''t understand what she was looking at. Time felt slow as she watched the guy grip at the hole in his chest, gasping. Sunica kicked him down and turned, whirling.

    Adelina was already hurling more chunks of ice, and the strangers were scattering. Screaming. Yelling?

    ¡°Oh shit! Balaur! Run!¡±

    ¡°She¡¯ll catch us! We have to fight!¡±

    ¡°I told you this was a stupid plan!¡±

    There were seven in total. At least there had been. Two were already down, so that left five. It had taken an instant. One of the strangers finally got his sword drawn and made to slash at Sunica. Adelina¡¯s voice rang out again.

    ¡°[Repel]! [Heat Metal]!¡±

    The stranger¡¯s blade bounced off of nothing, and then he yelped in pain and surprise as it turned red hot in his hands. He hissed, cussing a blue streak as he dropped it, his hand smoking in the cold air. The sword landed on the ground and cut through layers of ice and snow like--well, a hot knife through butter. This cooled the metal, but as he tried to pull it back out, he found it lodged in the permafrost.

    He was still trying to pull it out of the ground when one of the others--a taller one? They were all kind of short--shoved him out of the way of an oncoming Sunica.

    "Idiot! Leave it!"

    "But my sw--" He was cut off by a fleck of shard of ice exploding into the snow in front of them. He slid back to avoid it and saw Sunica had closed the distance and had kicked the legs out from beneath him and dug a knife into his shoulder.

    "Damn! Damn it! Sikki!" The other stranger was screaming now. No--weeping. There were tears as she scrambled back. "Idiot! Idiot!"

    Lily swallowed hard and pushed away her paralysis. She had to do something! But what? She wasn¡¯t a fighter. Besides, this was a one sided battle. Adelina was far more offensively capable than Lily had thought. If she didn¡¯t act soon, all the strangers would be dead.

    Was that¡­ bad? They had been willing to attack her. But, they were people, right? They were speaking! They were.. crying. She found her voice.

    ¡°Stop fighting! We can talk!¡±

    One of the remaining strangers turned to look at Lily, and she saw the surprise written across his face. Was peace such a strange concept? Adelina responded in a loud voice.

    ¡°They¡¯re goblins! Get back, Miss Human! [Ice Lance]!¡±

    Another shard of ice barely missed the goblin that had turned to Lily. He stumbled back away from her and yelled to his friends.

    ¡°Don¡¯t listen to the human! She¡¯s distracting¨C¡±

    Sunica¡¯s knife pierced his chest as she rammed into him bodily, sending both of them crashing into the snow. Another goblin charged at her from behind, trying to get to her before she regained her footing. From the outskirts of the battle, one of the goblins that hadn¡¯t really engaged in the fighting yelled out.

    ¡°Shard, no! Run!¡±

    But the goblin didn¡¯t listen, or didn''t hear them. It? Shard? approached Sunica from the back, carefully staying in her blindspot--but Adelina had seen. She was already preparing a spell to defend her sister.

    ¡°[Frozen Snare]. [Ice Spike]!¡±

    In a flash the goblin¡¯s feet froze solidly to the ground, and a huge spike of ice sprouted from the ground under their feet. They didn¡¯t make it another step. Red blood flowed down the side of the ice creation, and froze before reaching the ground. Lily stifled a scream. Three goblins remained. Two were running. The one who had called out to their friend seemed paralyzed.

    Lily had to do something. This was a slaughter! There was blood everywhere. More blood than she had ever seen, actually. Her hands were shaking. The goblins clearly didn¡¯t stand a chance against Sunica and Adelina. Well, especially Adelina. But still!

    Lily yelled again.

    ¡°Please stop! Adelina, they don¡¯t stand a chance!¡±

    Sunica rounded on Lily as she made it to her feet. Her voice was a low hiss, exasperated.

    ¡°They¡¯re goblins Lily! They¡¯re monsters! They¡¯d kill us if we let them!¡±

    Adelina was focused on the ones fleeing. Her eyes were narrow, calculating. She lifted a finger and the air filled with ozone.

    ¡°[Lightning Bolt]!¡±

    A bolt of electricity shot from her hands and bounced from one of the ones on the ground to the second farthest one, hitting them in the back of the head with an earsplitting cracking noise. They dropped.

    Sunica started towards the remaining goblin who wasn¡¯t running. It didn''t take a genius to see where that was going--Lily forced her numb legs to move, running to get ahead of her. At least one--she had to help at least one of them--

    Lily stumbled and fell in the snow. She cursed how physically weak she always was and scrambled forward again. But the stumble had cost her precious time. She looked down and saw that she had tripped on bloodslicked ice. She looked up and saw that Sunica was going to get there first. Lily called out, her voice cracking.

    ¡°Sunica! Wait! Please! They¡¯re not even fighting!¡±

    The goblin took that moment to turn and try to run. Sunica''s tail whipped sharply in frustration and rounded on Lily again.

    ¡°We can¡¯t let them go! They''re monsters, Lily. They''ll kill someone else. Don¡¯t you get it? They¡¯ll just attack¨C¡±

    ¡°[Ice Spike]!¡±

    The shard of ice caught the running goblin in the ribs, and they dropped. Lily¡¯s heart caught in her throat. She was just about to turn to face Adelina when Sunica put a hand on Lily¡¯s shoulder. Her voice was grim.

    ¡°You don¡¯t have to watch. I¡¯m sorry you had to see this, but if they¡¯d run into someone less capable, or even me without Adelina around, they¡¯d have killed them. Understand?¡±

    ¡°I¨C¡±

    Adelina¡¯s voice rang out from further away.

    ¡°Going after the last one!¡±

    Lily heard her footsteps running off after the one that¡¯d run early on.

    ¡°Y-you killed them. All of them. We could have talked. We could have¨C¡±

    ¡°No. There¡¯s no talking to monsters.¡±

    ¡°What do you mean? They were talking. They--they--they were *people*, Sunica.¡±

    Her voice was cracking again.

    ¡°What? Lily, they just look like that. They¡¯re just¨C¡±

    A pained groan caught Lily¡¯s attention, and she pushed past Sunica. The one that¡¯d taken the ice dart to the ribs was stirring! It was alive! Maybe Lily could still help. Save¡­ at least one life? She bit back the part of her that recoiled at thinking of herself as capable of anything. She knew she was trash, but she had to at least do this. She had to at least try.

    ¡°Oh, please¡­!¡±

    ¡°Lily, wait! Don¡¯t get close, it could still be dangerous!¡±

    Sunica followed after Lily with ease, but hesitated at actually grabbing her and physically pulling her back. As Lily reached the downed goblin, she saw a lot of blood. The ice was still piercing the goblin¡¯s skin, but it hadn¡¯t gone as deep as it had originally looked. Had it glanced off a rib?

    ¡°I¡¯m sorry. I¡¯m so sorry. Please let me help you.¡±

    The goblin didn¡¯t seem like they were really able to parse what she was saying. It''s eyes were rolling wildly as she crouched next to it.

    How could she help anyways? She was no medic. She knew better than to just grab the chunk of ice and pull it out, but it was going to melt eventually anyways. Pressure? Sure, she could do that, but was it enough? Cauterization? Is that the right thing to do for a wound so close to organs? She swore quietly to herself. She should have paid more attention to getting medical information from the old internet, but she had figured that if she had a wound like this she would have died anyways. If only she knew a healing spell. Wait, did this world have healers?Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon.

    She turned to Sunica.

    ¡°We need to get them to a [Healer] or something. Is there one in town?¡±

    Sunica just gave Lily a confused look.

    ¡°Lily, they won¡¯t treat a goblin.¡±

    ¡°What? Why not? There¡¯s clearly no more threat! This one can barely move, much less hurt anyone!¡±

    Sunica¡¯s expression became one of exasperated pity.

    ¡°Lily. They¡¯re monsters. I get that you must have been kind of uh¡­ sheltered from this stuff where you came from. But, even if we got it to a healer, convinced them to treat it, and let it loose in the wild, it¡¯d just be back hunting people out here again.¡±

    ¡°How can you say that?!¡±

    ¡°I¡¯ve lived here all my life. I know what happens. How are you so bothered by this? I thought you¡¯d understand. You never even flinched about monsters when I mentioned them before.¡±

    ¡°But these are people! They¡¯re just different from you. Am I a monster now?¡±

    ¡°What? No! Don¡¯t be ridiculous. We¡¯re talking right now.¡±

    ¡°We could have talked with the goblins!¡±

    ¡°What? No we can¡¯t.¡±

    ¡°What do you mean we can¡¯t!? I heard them! They said words to me." She paused, looking up from applying pressure near the shard. Their skin was so cold. She tried not to think about it. "Er, well, about me anyway. We could have talked this through! You--you just went straight to violence--¡±

    Sunica gasped quietly.

    ¡°Lily, are you telling me you could understand them?¡±

    ¡°Of course I could! They were talk¡­ing¡­¡±

    Oh. Oh no. Oh no no.

    The penny dropped. Lily felt the blood drain out of her face. Her translation spell. It was working on her. She could understand the goblins. The goblins could understand her. She could understand Sunica and Adelina. Sunica and Adelina could understand her.

    But they were all speaking different languages. Tears started up in Lily¡¯s eyes. She was such an idiot! Moron! Imbecile! Absolutely no good waste of the flesh she inhabited! If she had just been a little less self absorbed! A little less scared! A little more focused. She could have realized sooner. She might have been able to do something! And now¨C

    A cough cut her self pity party. Lily turned her attention back to the goblin, who was coughing blood.

    There was still time to do something right. There was no time for her feelings right now. It took everything she had, but she buried them in her heart. Later. No feeling now. Take it out of the equation. Put it away.

    She bent down over the goblin and examined the wound. It tried to push her away, but was hardly strong enough. Lily couldn¡¯t tell if she was looking at a boy or a girl. Either way, young. Couldn¡¯t have been more than a teen, assuming goblins aged even somewhat similarly. Bleeding. Losing warmth. Losing life.

    First the warmth. Losing blood in the snow had to be addressed. Lily already had the circle she was looking for. Mana burned its way through the snow in thin lines, creating a circle around the goblin that warmed the temperature considerably. The snow began to melt slowly.

    Sunica¡¯s hand gripped Lily¡¯s shoulder from behind.

    ¡°What are you doing? Just let it¨C¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m helping. Don¡¯t touch me.¡±

    The girl recoiled as if Lily had slapped her. Lily would deal with it later. She didn¡¯t want Sunica to hate her. She just couldn¡¯t deal with not¨C No. She nearly choked, forcing the emotions down again. Lock them away. Not the time. Her feelings didn¡¯t matter right now. This would never have gotten so bad if she was in control from the beginning.

    Now, the wound. The ice was going to melt, so there would be nothing holding the wound closed soon anyways. She¡¯d have to replace that. Pressure might allow it to close, but could this goblin afford to lose that much blood? Cauterization would prevent further blood loss if Lily did it right. But it¡¯d potentially cause damage to undamaged areas if she did it wrong, and might send the goblin deep into shock. She didn¡¯t know how to treat that. She didn¡¯t know how to treat any of this!

    Decision time. Pressure. Cauterization was too risky. She¡¯d learn more about how it worked later, so she could do it right then. For now, she¡¯d remove the ice and put heavy pressure on the wound. Lily reached for the shard of ice and gripped it. It didn¡¯t pull out quickly and easily. The goblin screamed. Lily almost burst into tears. But no. No emotion. None. Not allowed.

    She pulled the chunk of ice free. Fresh blood oozed up from the freshly uncovered wound. She tossed the magical ice aside. Already her hands were coated in the slick tacky blood. It didn¡¯t matter. She would cry later. She needed cloth.

    She reached forward and grabbed the leg of the goblin¡¯s trousers. Pants. Clothes. They wore clothes. Lily had never thought about that before. They wore clothes in most media they were depicted in. Rough leather stitching, on tough, scratchy fiber. They made this. If they were people, would they be wearing anything? Why would a mindless murderous beast do that?

    She tried to tear the cloth, but she wasn¡¯t strong enough. Fine. Magic. It could solve so many of her problems, why couldn¡¯t she just make this right? She didn¡¯t know a spell that could do that.

    A circle formed around the leg of the pants. Two push glyphs, pushing in opposite directions along the straight line. There was a tearing sound as the fabric came apart. It wasn¡¯t clean, but it worked. Speaking of clean, germs. She needed to sterilize this.

    She made a smaller circle next to her that gathered water. She watched as snow rolled its way into the circle, looking somewhat like a miniature avalanche. Then she applied the heat glyph, and poured mana in. The water boiled. She dipped her new cloth in, and applied as much force as she could. The water boiled away in seconds, and she pulled the cloth out of the circle as she saw it start to singe around the edges. She let the circle come undone. There was a popping noise as steam exploded forth from her small spell. It singed the skin on her arm a little. Oh well. She¡¯d have time to care for herself later.

    For now, she pressed her new cloth bandage onto the wound and created a multi circle spell to hold it on. Six circles around the edges, and one in the center formed a six sided circle of their own around the fabric. Each of the push glyphs applied a good bit of pressure. Lily hoped that would work to stop the bleeding a little. She was about to turn to Sunica to tell her to help carry the goblin back to the house when she realized there was talking. Adelina and Sunica were arguing. She hadn¡¯t been listening.

    ¡°Just grab her and move her out of the way. Take her home! I¡¯ll take care of the goblin, and head back to Veni to report the one that got away.¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t think that¡¯s a good idea¡­ Lily¡¯s¨C¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m what?¡±

    They both turned to look at her. Sunica looked stricken. Adelina just appeared to be angry and frustrated. She stepped forward.

    ¡°I need to deal with that goblin.¡±

    ¡°Why?¡±

    ¡°Because it¡¯s my job, Miss Human. I¡¯ve sworn to protect the people of Avezare and the villages surrounding it. I can¡¯t let people get hurt because I didn¡¯t take care of it.¡±

    ¡°No.¡±

    ¡°Yes! Miss Flamewalker, please be reasonable about this. I get that you don¡¯t like violence, but a monster is¨C¡±

    ¡°They¡¯re not a monster. They¡¯re wearing pants.¡±

    ¡°I¨C what?¡±

    ¡°Look. I¡¯m going to try to save this goblin. I don¡¯t really care what your reasons are right now. I need to get them back to Sunica¡¯s cabin, so either help me or leave.¡±

    ¡°I can¡¯t let you just take it home.¡±

    Sunica even started to speak up but Lily whirled on her.

    ¡°If you don¡¯t want to help, you can leave too. I¡¯ll stay right here if I have to. But I¡¯m doing the best I can. This is my fault. I¡¯m going to try to fix it.¡±

    ¡°How is it your fault?¡±

    ¡°I should have been¨C I should have¡­¡±

    Lily felt her emotions roil, and she pushed them down again.

    ¡°When you have the power to help, you have the responsibility.¡±

    Adelina butted in again, nearly pushing her sister out of the way.

    ¡°Helping is killing that thing before it hurts someone! Just move, and let me¨C¡±

    Lily stepped more firmly in front of the goblin.

    ¡°No. Please. Just, stop.¡±

    ¡°You don¡¯t understand, Miss Human.¡±

    ¡°I understand that I can¡¯t stand here and watch you kill someone in cold blood if I have the power to stop you. They were talking.¡±

    ¡°You could understand?¡±

    Lily nodded. Adelina sighed deeply.

    ¡°Look, it¡¯s not like I like killing them. Yes, they have their own language. They uh, wear pants. I get that you think you¡¯re being moral here. But I¡¯ve never met a goblin who wasn¡¯t trying to kill whoever was weak enough for them to get. In wars, the people on the other side talk and wear pants too. It doesn¡¯t mean it feels good to kill them. But sometimes it must be done. Don¡¯t you understand that?¡±

    ¡°In wars, you don¡¯t kill noncombatants. This one didn¡¯t fight.¡±

    ¡°Miss Flamewalker, please.¡±

    ¡°I won¡¯t let you kill them. They¡¯re helpless. I¡¯ll take responsibility.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s a terrible idea. Please. It¡¯s probably going to die anyway, I don¡¯t want you to get into political trouble for the sake of¨C It¡¯d stab you in the back the moment it wakes up!¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t care. I didn¡¯t stop you from killing their friends. I¡¯d deserve the knife in the back if that¡¯s what happens.¡±

    Sunica tried to break into the conversation again.

    ¡°Lily, that¡¯s insane! You didn¡¯t do anything wrong. We just acted to protect you, and you didn¡¯t do¨C¡±

    ¡°Yeah, I didn¡¯t do anything. That¡¯s the problem. Adelina?¡±

    ¡°Don¡¯t do something stupid. Come on. Just head back to Sunica¡¯s place. I¡¯ll take care of it when you¡¯re long gone. Then we can go back to making friends. Please?¡±

    ¡°No. I won¡¯t let you.¡±

    ¡°Stop being stubborn!¡±

    ¡°How about you lead by example?¡±

    ¡°I¨C Miss¡­ Lily. I can¡¯t just ignore my job. It¡¯s what I do to earn my position. It¡¯s how I help my family. I have to do it. And I promise, as someone who comes from here and has experience, it¡¯s also the right thing to do. So, please? I don¡¯t want to have to do this.¡±

    ¡°Absolutely not.¡±

    Adelina sighed, and her voice grew cold and professional. She reached out a hand and pointed it at the goblin, through Lily.

    ¡°In that case, I order you as the daughter of the [Matriarch] of Avezare to step aside, or I will be forced to cast through you.¡±

    Lily spread her arms out.

    ¡°As [Lady] Flamewalker, most important person of the land I come from, master of my unique form of magic, I swear that if you harm me or that Goblin I will never share any of my knowledge, power, or value with the Nor family.¡±

    Adelina stopped. For ten long seconds they stared at one another. Then, Adelina turned and walked away. Into the forest, presumably towards Veni.

    Lily waited for her to be out of eyesight, then fell to her knees.

    ¡°Sunica¡­ Please help me get this goblin home?¡±

    ¡°Lily, I really don¡¯t¨C¡±

    ¡°Please?¡±

    She looked up at Sunica, and finally felt the dam break, and tears well up in her eyes.

 0.044

    Lily was driving herself insane. That was it. That was the only explanation. She¡¯d been running everything back and forth in her mind for what felt like forever now.

    She was laying on the couch in the boat. The sounds of Sonic the Hedgehog 3 for the sega genesis drifted past her as she stared at the ceiling. Nostalgic. But she had a decision to make, and it was driving her mad. Star¡¯s voice broke her out of her train of thought.

    ¡°Master, how do I kill this one?¡±

    Lily sat up and looked over. Star was playing. A week ago she had rigged a playstation 2 dance mat to allow him to play the games she¡¯d saved. Emulation was a lifesaver. So, now he was checking out her childhood favorites. She was careful not to injure his pride by constantly talking about how cute it was. But it still filled her heart with fuzzy feelings.

    ¡°You just gotta time it right and be patient. See, he flies back and forth. The platform under him shoots ice in a pattern. Left, middle, right. Wait for it to shoot on the left and get ready. When it disappears in the middle, jump on the platform and hit him once. Don¡¯t get greedy.¡±

    ¡°But, it really seems as though I can hit him twice.¡±

    ¡°Why, got somewhere to be?¡±

    ¡°Master, there is an art to being as efficient as possible.¡±

    ¡°Tell me that when you¡¯ve beaten him before.¡±

    ¡°Do not worry. I will.¡±

    Lily rolled her eyes and turned to watch Star¡¯s third attempt on this boss. Star had gotten curious about Sonic games because Lily had charged the chaos emeralds back up. She¡¯d tried explaining the reference, but her companion insisted on actually getting experience. No amount of explaining that it had nothing to do with her magic would dissuade him, so this had been her solution. Now he wanted to play games enough to get all of her jokes. It was very sweet, really. Although she suspected he¡¯d just decided they were fun too.

    It had been three weeks since she¡¯d heard from Lily One. The message had been¡­ well, worrying didn¡¯t quite cover it. The other version of her had said she was being chased, and would likely be killed. Now, three weeks had passed. To the day.

    Lily had tried everything to get back into contact, and failed. Her connection through Bay wasn¡¯t open on the other end. It didn¡¯t matter how many times she connected on her own. It was like calling a phone that was turned off.

    So, instead she made herself busy figuring out how she could help when the connection was re-established. She¡¯d gathered mana in case she needed to do Big Magic. Now she had fully charged Chaos Emeralds. She¡¯d perfected her spell that allowed her or Star to take control of Bay. It had a strange side effect of making his little plushy flippers about as strong as her arms. It was still hard to grip things, but she¡¯d left him at La Mancha and gone back home. Now she could use him to keep up on the farm without the hour trip every time.

    Then she¡¯d turned her attention to learning more from the basement spell to keep her mind occupied. She had learned a few things. It was slow progress though. The main bit that she had translated was the section that had been breaking down matter around her and turning it into mana. She had been hopeful that she could reverse engineer it to fabricate matter out of mana. But, that was way beyond her. Still, if she needed to she could dissolve solid objects to power a spell.

    She wondered what that meant for grander concepts like entropy. But, that was also way beyond her at her current level, so she¡¯d decided to use it sparingly until she understood it better.

    Which brought her to today. Three weeks. Still no contact. Was she¡­ dead? That was the only explanation right? Well, no. Not really. She¡¯d already established time was fucky between the two worlds. So, maybe it hadn¡¯t been that long over there? Or maybe it¡¯d been a hundred years. She had no way of knowing. She hated feeling this helpless!

    But it was clear: Something was wrong, and she might not hear from Lily One again. Whether she was in prison, or killed, or something else.

    The sound of Robotnik¡¯s robot exploding snapped her out of her thoughts.

    ¡°Hey, good job.¡±

    ¡°Yes, praise me Master. I have exceeded expectations.¡±

    ¡°Don¡¯t I get to decide that?¡±

    Lily grinned at her friend. She really was lucky to have Star. She¡¯d have gone insane and done something stupid by now if he hadn¡¯t been helping keep her calm.

    ¡°Oh, have I not? You did not know if I would be able to learn to play with these floor buttons.¡±

    She laughed. That was true. She¡¯d been really surprised when he found it fairly easy to get used to. Although she supposed it helped that he had four paws.

    ¡°No, you¡¯re right. I¡¯m proud of you. You¡¯re incredible.¡±

    His tail wagged, even as he tried to downplay how happy he was. Unauthorized tale usage: if you spot this story on Amazon, report the violation.

    ¡°If she¡¯s dead, doesn¡¯t that just solve my problem? I didn¡¯t think making copies was a good idea in the first place. It sucks, but she wasn¡¯t me. I¡¯m not dead. I can just not use the spell again, and everything is solved right?¡±

    ¡°Master, if you really felt that way you would not have charged the emeralds.¡±

    ¡°Well! What if I need a huge amount of mana again for something else?¡±

    ¡°Like what?¡±

    ¡°I just haven¡¯t thought of it yet.¡±

    ¡°You are lying to yourself. And me. I am hurt. You hurt me.¡±

    It had taken some practice to learn when he was teasing at times like this. Tone didn¡¯t always come through the translation perfectly.

    ¡°Oh shush you. Fine. I want them there in case I have to use them. But, I¡¯m not going to use the spell. Sending another copy of me there would just get another copy of me killed. Even if I went prepared. If she died, it¡¯s her own fault and I¡¯ll just leave it.¡±

    ¡°Liar.¡±

    ¡°Sounds like someone doesn¡¯t want me to keep finding cook books.¡±

    ¡°Lady Flamewalker, you wouldn¡¯t!¡±

    She smiled at him. He wagged his tail hopefully.

    ¡°I wouldn¡¯t.¡±

    ¡°My Master is cruel. My Master is evil. My Master teases.¡±

    Lily laughed, and Star¡¯s own joy came through the spell too. As stressed as she was, moments like this still lifted her heart.

    There was another complicating factor when it came to thinking about using the spell. Of course there were all the reservations she¡¯d already had. But, also, she was scared. Scared of causing damage to the universe. Scared of seeing people on the other side. Scared of maybe dying there too. She was so frightened that when she thought of going through with it, she had to quickly change thoughts to avoid a panic attack.

    It was such a lame paradox. In the moment of a true emergency she found she was willing to do whatever it took to do what she was trying to do. Time and time again she¡¯d proven that. To the point that it was insane and self destructive. But the thought of going through that spell and interacting with the people on the other side was almost too much for her. And she didn¡¯t want to die.

    But, she had told herself she¡¯d choose in three weeks. One way or another. That¡¯s how she¡¯d stopped losing her mind about this a week ago, when it had been two weeks.

    Now here she was. This was the day. It was time to make a choice. But she still didn¡¯t know. She was paralyzed.

    ¡°What do you think I should do, Star?¡±

    ¡°We have had this conversation a number of times.¡±

    ¡°Yeah but what do you think?¡±

    ¡°I think that if I say you should go to her aid, you will go on and on about how you would be poisoning the universe to spread yourself any further than this one world and maybe another, and how you do not even know if you can help. If I say that you should not do it, you will go on and on about how you have a moral duty to preserve yourself if at all possible, and because a copy of you will remain here as well there is not even any particular danger to you, Lily Zero. Only a hypothetical Lily Two would be in danger, so it is silly to be afraid.¡±

    ¡°Yeah. But. What do you think?¡±

    Star gave her an exasperated look, then turned back to the game when he heard the sound of Sonic¡¯s rings getting knocked out of him.

    ¡°I think that if my arguments were strong enough to sway you, they would have already. Deep down, I think you have already made your choice. Or else you would not have charged the emeralds. It is only a matter of when you conquer your fear.¡±

    Lily stared at him for a minute. That was ridiculous! She could absolutely just not use the emeralds for that. She wasn¡¯t that simple minded. It wasn¡¯t just fear keeping her from doing it. A small petulant emotion built in her chest. She felt like stomping her foot and yelling ¡®nuh uh!¡¯.

    ¡°It¡¯s not like that! In fact, you¡¯re right. I¡¯ve made my choice. I¡¯m not doing it. Let¡¯s go on an adventure instead.¡±

    ¡°So you can distract yourself?¡±

    ¡°So I can prove that it¡¯s not fear holding me back! Let¡¯s go check out the thread.¡±

    ¡°Master, you do not have to prove anything to me. I know you are a competent and powerful¨C¡±

    ¡°I have to prove it to myself! I need to be sure that I¡¯m not letting fear control me. That I¡¯m choosing not to do this because it¡¯s the right thing to choose.¡±

    ¡°In that case, I will come with you.¡±

    Lily was a little relieved. She never really doubted he would come with her when she decided to go see the thread. But having it in words calmed her heart.

    ¡°Let me finish this stage first.¡±

    ¡°Oh good luck. Big Arms is gonna wreck you.¡±

    ¡°Big¡­ Arms?¡±

    <hr>

    To the north, an anomaly was brewing. Lily had first spotted it two days ago. It was huge, but could only be seen when the light hit it just right. From miles in all directions it was visible. Seemingly from the heavens themselves a thin shining thread stretched down until it met the ground below.

    It was hard to tell if it was actually as thin as it looked, being visible from quite far away. But the shining thread reflected a radiant rainbow of colors in the sunlight, and was near invisible where the sun wasn¡¯t hitting it directly.

    But, more than just its clearly magical appearance, there was something about it. Every eye that landed on it seemed to linger. And in the wilderness surrounding the thread, life moved. Animals of all shapes and sizes. Insects. Even the plants themselves turned their attention towards the thread.

    When it caught your eye, somehow it caught your heart as well. Curiosity can be a dangerous thing, and there¡¯s not a creature alive that¡¯s immune to its allure.

 0.045

    The engine hummed along as Lily navigated the road carefully. With no one to maintain them, debris covering roads and other wear and tear was starting to become a lot more common. Not to mention the odd car now and then, stalled and decaying. Thankfully most of them had drifted off the side of the roads when people driving had vanished. But, it was still something to be careful of.

    There was one other bonus, and that was not having to get out of the car to move every little thing. The push glyph was shockingly useful, and unless something was particularly massive it was enough to give it a magical shove from the comfort of her vehicle to get it out of the road. Although, it did deplete her somewhat. She could always use the chaos emeralds to recharge her own stores if need be, but even when she did that slowly it felt¡­ uncomfortable. A little like trying to eat when overfull, with a side effect of electric burning tingles all over. Not pleasant.

    Progress down these roads she hadn¡¯t yet traveled was slow and steady because of the frequent interruptions. But the thread loomed ever closer as they continued inching towards it.

    ¡°What do you think is there?¡±

    Star huffed.

    ¡°Master, there is no way to know. We must get closer to examine it.¡±

    ¡°I know. But¡­ speculate with me! Honestly, I¡¯m just hoping for no giant spiders. It does look a little like a strand of web.¡±

    ¡°I think we would have seen the spider that spun it, if so.¡±

    ¡°Yeah, I guess so. I just don¡¯t like spiders.¡±

    ¡°Do not worry Master. If it is a spider, I will kill it.¡±

    ¡°Well¨C Hold on. It might be smart like you if it¡¯s a magic spider. We¡¯d need to at least try talking to it first.¡±

    ¡°Master, that¡¯s stupid.¡±

    ¡°What? Nuh uh!¡±

    ¡°Yes.¡±

    ¡°Okay, how?¡±

    Lily parked for a moment and looked over at her companion. She was a little incensed. Of course if they encountered another sentient animal, they should try talking to it first. If it can communicate and is self aware, they could find some middle ground. It was always right to try. She¡¯d have to sit down and watch some serious Star Trek with Star at some point.

    ¡°Just because it is intelligent does not mean it is friendly.¡±

    ¡°Well, okay, sure. But, just because it isn¡¯t friendly doesn¡¯t mean we can¡¯t have peace.¡±

    ¡°What if it does not want peace?¡±

    ¡°Then we convince it! With words, if possible. Force if not.¡±

    ¡°Lady Flamewalker, you are powerful and intelligent¨C¡±

    ¡°Thank you. I am pretty much the coolest.¡±

    ¡°-- And extremely naive.¡±

    Lily gave the dog an exaggerated frown. It¡¯s not like he was making no sense to her. But she just couldn¡¯t bring herself to agree. That¡¯s just not who she was. Fighting was sometimes necessary, and sometimes killing was too. But, trying to find another solution as hard as you could was just the right thing to do. Besides, what right did she of all living things have to kill anything else? She was scum. Nearly anything sentient probably deserved life more. Even a giant gross spider. She shook her head. Those were probably depressive thoughts. But, it¡¯s how she felt.

    ¡°Okay Oh-Great-Sage-Of-The-Backseat, lay some wisdom on me then.¡±

    ¡°I am intelligent. Sentient as you say. Are the things I want really so different than the non-intelligent dogs you saw before I lived? The ones on TV have many similar wants.¡±

    ¡°Star, you practically begged me to get you cookbooks so you could learn more. I¡¯d say your interests are different.¡±

    ¡°Oh, I suppose all the lesser dogs did not like delicious meals? Would not have gotten them for themselves if they could have?¡±

    ¡°Well¡­ Okay. Fine. Point taken.¡±

    ¡°Deep down all of us want the same things, do we not? Even you. Comfort. Happiness. Good food. Survival. An intelligent predator will be better at obtaining those things, but still want them. Probably in the same generalized ways. A very intelligent spider may try to trap you. Talking to it may work. It may not. It may seem to work and be a trap. These are all possibilities. But your survival is the most important thing. I will not let you take danger so lightly.¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s not that I¡¯m taking it lightly! It¡¯d be really scary. I just don¡¯t think I deserve to take another life.¡±

    ¡°You are wrong.¡±

    Star barked that bit, and it startled Lily a little. He was loud when he was worked up.

    ¡°Okay. I¡¯m wrong. I know you think my life is valuable, and¨C¡±

    ¡°No. Not about that. You are wrong about how you feel. You are taking it lightly. You are arrogant. You believe that you have the luxury of deciding whether to fight for your life. That you are above a life and death struggle that you have no control over. But you are not. Life is fragile. Your life is also fragile. You do not get to choose what is or is not a situation you must fight for your life to escape. You do not get to have the moral highground of getting to insist that talking first is correct. Because you are powerful, but you are still weak.¡±Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon.

    Lily put the car in drive and continued on in silence for a time. She was grateful that Star understood her. If he was a human she might have to worry that he didn¡¯t understand that she needed time to digest and think, or that he might think she was angry at him. But, he just understood her idiosyncrasies. Sometimes, pauses in a conversation to think were just natural.

    Arrogant though? That was ridiculous! She was a lot of things, but arrogant? How could someone who thought so low of herself ever be arrogant? And yet, something about what he said did ring true to her. In the back of her mind, she wasn¡¯t really thinking about the situation as a life and death struggle. She was imagining approaching a magical creature and trying to make friends. And if it was mindless and aggressive, escaping or fighting back. On some level, she hadn¡¯t considered that she might just¡­ die.

    Was that arrogance? Maybe reckless disregard for her own safety. But she hated herself. How could she also be full of herself? Still, he wasn¡¯t entirely wrong.

    ¡°In Star Tr¨C uh, TV I like and can show you sometime. Or Doctor Who is another one. Or honestly a lot of stuff I like¡­ There are Heroes.¡±

    ¡°Yes, I like the heroes too, Lady Flamewalker.¡±

    ¡°Well, a hero would say that trying to help and protect others, even strangers is the right thing to do. Making friends instead of enemies is the right thing to do. Talking instead of fighting is the right thing to do. You use your power to make the world better, not worse.¡±

    ¡°Yes.¡±

    ¡°But I think you¡¯re right. Those heroes are strong first. They can make friends out of enemies, and use words, and fight only to save others rather than harm them because they¡¯re strong. To do bad things, you don¡¯t have to be powerful. To protect yourself, you only have to be better than your enemy. But, to be a hero, you have to be so good that you can best your enemy and try to make friends with them. So strong that you can save everyone, and the enemy is only a threat because you don¡¯t want to hurt them.¡±

    ¡°Yes.¡±

    ¡°So, it¡¯s arrogant to think I can save others. Spare people who are trying to kill me because it¡¯s the right thing to do. Because I¡¯m not so strong that I¡¯m not in danger if I just try to live.¡±

    ¡°That is correct. At least, that is what I believe.¡±

    ¡°Hmm.¡±

    She wanted to balk, and disagree. ¡®Isn¡¯t there something heroic about always doing the right thing, even when you¡¯re outmatched?¡¯

    But, she could hear the answer. That¡¯s the difference between doing something heroic, and being a hero. Yes, it was heroic to always do the right thing, even if it will get you killed. But you couldn¡¯t be the kind of hero you see on TV if you die the first time.

    ¡°Isn¡¯t there merit to doing the right thing, even when it¡¯ll get you killed?¡±

    It was Star¡¯s turn to be quiet for a while. She was happy to afford him the same luxury he afforded her, so she focused on the road for a time.

    This was how a lot of their conversations went. Sure, it was deeply hypothetical. It wasn¡¯t at all likely that there was actually a giant spider at all. Star was right, they¡¯d have seen it. But, talking about hypotheticals wasn¡¯t boring at all. It was the kind of introspection she¡¯d done by herself for a lot of her life, and having someone else to bump these ideas off of was only a bonus. Plus, on a long car ride the only other thing to do was listen to music or audiobooks, and Lily needed to focus on clearing the road.

    She actually wondered if she could use the same spell she had been using to pilot Bay around to move a car instead. But the idea of feeling like the living cars in the movie Cars somewhat squicked her out. Besides, the structure of a car was probably too different from her form to feel natural at all.

    As she was moving a large piece of charred wood out of the road, something caught her eye. A deer was running alongside the road. She made a mental note to be wary. She¡¯d seen enough youtube videos to know you could never predict what a deer was going to do. A quick glance over at Star and a shake of his head and she knew she wasn¡¯t stopping for him to hunt it down. That was fine. She could let him think.

    The deer ducked away into the brush, and she thought that was that. But, a few minutes later the same deer bounded out onto the road again, and continued following it for a while before heading back into the trees.

    That was strange. Was it following the road? Why? She tried to pull closer to get a better look, but it dove back into the recovering woodlands and was gone in an instant. So, Lily shrugged it off and continued along.

    ¡°There is merit. And it is heroic. But, I think it is not responsible. I would not say those that do so are not heroes. But, it is regrettable they did not sacrifice the one circumstance to live on, become stronger, and do the right thing many times instead of once.¡±

    Lily nodded along.

    ¡°I think I agree. Some level of self preservation can do more good in your lifetime than one incident of perfect behaviour that gets you killed. I guess I just can¡¯t make that fit together in my head with the idea that you should always try to do the right thing.¡±

    There was a moment of quiet as she thought, and then continued along.

    ¡°It¡¯s like, somehow I think it¡¯s easier to forgive if someone does bad things thinking its the right thing to do. You know, rather than doing the wrong thing to save themselves, even if it¡¯s to come back and do the right thing later. It¡¯s like, emotionally that feels worse. Even though I think you¡¯re probably right that it¡¯s the right choice. Ugh, philosophy was never my strong suit.¡±

    ¡°Philosophy?¡±

    ¡°Yeah, this stuff would be called Philosophy. It¡¯s a subject people studied in school. By the way, what was up with that deer?¡±

    ¡°I do not know. It is still following the road though. I have seen several signs of its passing. The birds have all been flying this way as well.¡±

    ¡°Wait, what?¡±

    ¡°You did not notice?¡±

    Lily hit the brakes and threw the car into park. The thread loomed in her vision. It seemed quite a bit thicker now that they were getting far closer to it. Huge, all things considered. Some part of her mind drifted to the Bifrost from Norse myth, but then she brought it back to the situation at hand.

    ¡°No. Hey, say something next time!¡±

    ¡°I do not know if it means anything.¡±

    ¡°Still. We can figure that out together.¡±

    ¡°How?¡±

    ¡°I¡­ don¡¯t know. Have you noticed anything else?¡±

    Star made a huffing coughing sound she¡¯d learned to recognize as concern.

    ¡°No. Would you like to stop and observe?¡±

    ¡°Yeah. Let¡¯s snoop around a bit.¡±

    ¡°Master, this is serious.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m being serious! Now, out of the car. If you find anything, I¡¯ll give ¡®ya a scooby snack.¡±

    ¡°Master¡­¡±

    ¡°Just no ghosts!¡±

    ¡°Please.¡±

 0.046

    ¡°So, this is weird. Right?¡±

    ¡°Yes Master, I think that it is.¡±

    Lily nonchalantly watched a train of animals slowly ambling down the side of the road. Three raccoons, an opossum and a hedgehog of all things were walking one by one in a straight line. Somewhat keeping pace with one another, even if the raccoons needed to occasionally slow down. Lily walked alongside them, and they hardly seemed to pay her any mind. Star broke the silence.

    ¡°I do not smell any magic on them. They are simple creatures.¡±

    ¡°Hmm, yeah. Think they¡¯re headed to the thread?¡±

    ¡°Is there another option?¡±

    She¡¯d been walking alongside the troupe of creatures for half a mile at this point, which had to be a lot of walking for that hedgehog¡¯s tiny feet.

    ¡°I just worry we¡¯re also simple creatures.¡±

    ¡°What do you mean?¡±

    ¡°Why are we checking out the thread?¡±

    ¡°Because you wish to meaninglessly thrust yourself into danger to prove something that does not need¨C¡±

    ¡°Okay okay! Not what I meant. I mean, maybe that¡¯s the reason I think I¡¯m here, but we¡¯re just being pulled in like these guys. Humans and I suspect all thinking beings have a tendency to believe ¡®well, I¡¯m above such trickery! I¡¯m rational!¡¯. But we¡¯re not.¡±

    ¡°I see. So, we will not go to the thread?¡±

    Lily gave Star a frustrated look and puffed out her cheeks.

    ¡°Of course we¡¯re going to the thread!¡±

    ¡°What? But you just said¡­¡±

    ¡°Yeah! It could be luring us just like it¡¯s luring them. But that¡¯s all the more reason. It¡¯s something clearly big and magical. I gotta check it out! Maybe I can figure out how to turn it off when we get there.¡±

    ¡°Master, there is such a thing as being too fearless. It is called carelessness.¡±

    ¡°Who¡¯s being careless? If we just leave it be, it might be dangerous. Remember the paper that exploded and nearly killed me?¡±

    ¡°...Vaguely.¡±

    ¡°Really? Well, I guess you were tiny then. You totally saved my life though.¡±

    ¡°I remember that.¡±

    Lily grinned at him, and continued.

    ¡°Well, we¡¯ve watched it growing for how long now? What if it overloads or something? Or just keeps growing until it becomes heavy and smashes us. Or has enough gravity to be a big issue? We can¡¯t just let it go without checking it out. Honestly, it¡¯s scary that there could be unstable natural spells all over the planet for all I know. What if one melts down with the force of a nuke or something?¡±

    ¡°What is a nuke?¡±

    ¡°Uh, it¡¯s¡­ complicated. Big big big explosion and death.¡±

    ¡°You have a way with words, Master.¡±

    Lily huffed and put her hands on her hips. A gesture that was somewhat difficult to pull off while following the gaggle of animals.

    ¡°Don¡¯t sass me, Mister!¡±

    ¡°Of course.¡±

    They continued on in silence for another few minutes before Lily gave up. It was becoming clear that nothing of interest was going to happen. Well, nothing more of interest. This was weird, but it was a long walk to the thread.

    ¡°Let¡¯s head back and get the car. Unless you¡¯ve noticed anything else?¡±

    ¡°No, they are simply walking.¡±

    ¡°Still no magic on them?¡±

    ¡°Not on them.¡±

    ¡°Somewhere else?¡±

    ¡°It is in the air. I can not tell from where.¡±

    ¡°Hmm. Yeah, I think it¡¯s car time.¡±

    The real trouble about parking and walking for a while was the fact that the walk back was just as long. Star was getting so big though she might be able to ride on his back soon. He was already the size of a small black bear. As she looked at him, she realized he was starting to lose his puppy shape a little bit as he grew. That almost stung her heart a little bit. He was growing up so fast!

    ¡°Why are you giving me that look, Master?¡±

    ¡°Don¡¯t worry about it.¡±

    ¡°I will not carry you. You need your own exercise.¡±

    Lily stuck her tongue out at him.

    ¡°Meanie.¡±

    It was also clear that he was continuing to get smarter over time. She didn¡¯t mind. It¡¯s not like she had some kind of need to be the more intelligent one in their relationship. But, it was startling sometimes when he said or did something that seemed out of character from how he had been a week or two ago. She wondered how far that would go. What if he continued to get smarter and smarter until he found her boring? That would hurt.

    ¡°Master, you have that sour look on your face again.¡±Enjoying this book? Seek out the original to ensure the author gets credit.

    She snapped out of her thoughts. He always called her on stuff like that. She wondered if she was obvious or if he just paid very close attention to her and had picked up on her tells. It¡¯d be fair, she¡¯d learned a lot of his too. When you spend every waking moment around someone, it was easy to learn subtle things about breathing patterns or body language that could convey a shocking amount. Or was that just because he was a dog and they naturally used body language to communicate?

    ¡°I¡¯m fine. I was just thinking.¡±

    ¡°About what?¡±

    ¡°You, honestly. You keep getting smarter. Are you going to get bored of hanging out with me?¡±

    ¡°Never.¡±

    That was that. More didn¡¯t need to be said. Not really. She could question him, and he could placate her every worry, but ultimately there was only his word. She trusted his word. So, she felt the tension ease from her chest a bit.

    ¡°Ugh, I wonder if I can make a spell that will summon our car or something for times like this.¡±

    ¡°Master, exercise is good for you.¡±

    ¡°...wonder if I can make a spell that will exercise for me too.¡±

    <hr>

    After what felt like an eternal hike back to the car, and another half an hour of driving, they had arrived at the closest point the road got to the thread. Although, at this distance it looked less like a thread and more like a very very tall somewhat thin tower. Even from here she could tell it was at least thirty feet around. Probably more.

    What was more¡­

    ¡°Master, I can smell a lot of magic in the air.¡±

    ¡°Yeah, I can feel it too.¡±

    It felt like her bones were itching. Tingles. Shivers. She could feel it. It wasn¡¯t as powerful as when she¡¯d activated the basement spell. But, the air felt heavy with it, even from so far away.

    ¡°On the plus side, if I have to cast any spells they ought to be pretty easy right?¡±

    Star let out a small sound she had started to recognize as his form of laughter.

    ¡°You liar.¡±

    Lily gave him a nervous grin. He really was too astute sometimes.

    ¡°Yeah. If I have to cast any spells, I¡¯m going to have to include capacitors to make sure they don¡¯t take in too much mana and explode.¡±

    That was the truth of it. Like the paper that had cut her hand. Well, if there really was a giant spider, maybe she could use a spell like that as a bomb? Probably a terrible idea. Lily let out a breath she hadn¡¯t realized she was holding, and began the hike.

    It didn¡¯t look that far away. Although she was aware that could easily be an illusion. It was so tall! What if it came crashing down if she messed with it?

    Lily shook her head. It¡¯s not the first time she¡¯d dealt with deadly forces and it¡¯d definitely not be the last. Whatever was going to happen was going to happen. Besides, the possibility of learning some new forms of magic probably outweighed the risks. Probably.

    The trees were thick and beautiful. It was a cool seventy or so degrees out. The sun shone in beams that reached through the leaves to illuminate parts of the forest floor. It was a perfect day, really. Lily felt a feeling growing in her chest.

    ¡°Star.¡±

    ¡°Yes, Lady Flamewalker?¡±

    ¡°I hate hiking.¡±

    Star¡¯s tail wagged.

    ¡°How can you hate this? Can you not see the wonder around us? Can you not smell all of the interesting smells?¡±

    Lily sniffed, and immediately sneezed. She huffed for a second. She was already a bit out of breath, honestly. Walking a road was one thing, but through the forest without a path was entirely different. There was too much verticality. Too much watching where to step. Too much trying not to twist an ankle.

    ¡°No! I can¡¯t smell anything interesting at all. And my body is just not made for this.¡±

    ¡°You mean you have not trained your body for this.¡±

    ¡°Whatever! I¡¯m a homebody. I belong indoors. With central air! And snacks! And TV! I¡¯m good at studying and thinking about things. All this jock stuff is for someone else.¡±

    ¡°Master, you yourself were saying you needed to get stronger in case you used the spell again. Besides, there is no one else to do anything that needs physically doing.¡±

    ¡°I have you!¡±

    ¡°I will not do everything for you. You must get exercise somewhere.¡±

    Lily scowled at him.

    ¡°Slavedriver.¡±

    ¡°Yes, yes. I am a cruel dog that forces my Master to do many things for her own good.¡±

    Lily couldn¡¯t help but laugh at that, and laughing made her feel better about the walk. Actually, she was feeling better about the whole outing. She was going to crush this and be home in no time!

    It was another fifteen minutes before they reached the base. It was in a large clearing of trees. Grass that came up to Lily¡¯s calves covered an area that was probably a hundred feet across. In the center of it was the base of the thread. A pillar of¡­ something that reached so far into the sky it seemed endless. It was slightly translucent, but where the light caught it right it had a rainbow sheen to it.

    ¡°Well, no giant spider at least right?¡±

    The moment Lily spoke, there was rustling in the grass in several places. Lily yelped and took a few steps back. The nearest one was quite close to her, but she hadn¡¯t seen it because of the grass! She watched in horror as the thing stood and revealed¡­

    ¡°A puppy?¡±

    Lily couldn¡¯t help but laugh at herself. But it was! Not just one either. She counted eight. Eight puppies stood up from the grass where they had been laying and started towards her.

    ¡°Woah! What are you guys doing out here? C¡¯mere. I won¡¯t hurt you. Hey Star, maybe we can bring them back to your pack?¡±

    ¡°Master, I am not sure.¡±

    ¡°Oh yeah? Don¡¯t think your friend would take them?¡±

    The puppies had gathered around Lily warily, keeping five or six feet of distance. Their hackles were up. They must be so scared living out here alone.

    ¡°I can smell magic on them. Be careful.¡±

    Star¡¯s hackles were up too. Lily looked at him in surprise. What? Be careful? Of puppies? They were tiny. She didn¡¯t sense any kind of magic on them at all. They didn¡¯t even have adult teeth!

    ¡°Really Star? Come on. We can probably get them to the car when we leave and when we get them out of here they won¡¯t stink like the place anymore.¡±

    Star made a sound of disagreement, but didn¡¯t say anything else.

    Lily bent down as one of the small animals approached her. It made a pathetic whining sound as it stopped in front of her. It was so cute! Lily watched as it bit her pant leg and started tugging on it.

    ¡°Aww. That¡¯s so¨C¡±

    Star¡¯s mouth clamped around the puppy¡¯s throat, and he thrashed, snapping its neck in an instant and pulling Lily¡¯s leg out from under her. She screamed in absolute horror.

    ¡°What the¨C Star! No! How could you! It was just¨C¡±

    ¡°Attacking you. It was attacking you!¡±

    ¡°It wasn¡¯t! It was just being playful!¡±

    ¡°I smell blood. Your blood.¡±

    The other puppies were¡­ not running. They were circling? Hackles raised? That didn¡¯t seem right.

    Lily looked down at her leg. Blood was oozing from the spot where the puppy had chewed at her pant leg. But, it hadn¡¯t actually bit her, right?

    Then, the pain hit. Lily tried not to scream again. She looked at the puppies. Really looked at them.

    Weren¡¯t they¡­ large for puppies? Her eyes tracked down to the one Star had grabbed. Big. Hairy. Wasn¡¯t it far larger than it had been just a moment ago? About half Star¡¯s size, now that she was really looking at it.

    Not a puppy at all.

    A large dead coyote lay on the ground. Much larger than a normal member of the species. Mouth still wet with blood. Her blood.

 0.047

    Lily limped through the forest as fast as she could, leaving a trail of blood. She could hear Star growling behind her as they retreated. He was facing the predators and doing his best to intimidate them out of attacking further. It was amazing how a walk that took less than half an hour seemed to be an infinity now that she was injured. The forest just went on and on. She didn¡¯t think she was even a quarter of the way back either.

    ¡°Master, they are getting more confident. They know we can not keep up this pace forever. We will have to do something.¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t want to kill them! Are you still okay?¡±

    ¡°I am only lightly injured. The few bites I¡¯ve suffered have not been deep. But, I can not kill them all myself. They will overwhelm me if I must also protect you.¡±

    Talking was hard. She was having a hard time breathing because she was out of shape and in agony. Her leg didn¡¯t want to support her weight at all. The only way she was even able to move along was by using magic to lighten her weight, and that was a precarious hasty magical creation in itself in this magic dense environment. The idea of her capacitors failing and her suddenly getting flung into the sky was well and beyond scary but she didn¡¯t have time to think about that right now.

    She didn¡¯t want to kill the puppies! Well, they weren¡¯t really puppies. Coyotes? It was possible they weren¡¯t even all coyotes. She couldn¡¯t trust her eyes. But it didn¡¯t matter what they were. She wasn¡¯t a killer. That¡¯s not who she was. She didn¡¯t want to.

    ¡°Master, we must fight them. This is no time to be emotional.¡±

    ¡°Don¡¯t worry about protecting me. Just defend yourself, I¡¯ll¨C I¡¯ll figure something out.¡±

    ¡°No. We will fight together.¡±

    ¡°Star this is no time to¨C¡±

    ¡°Your safety matters most. I will not stop defending you for any reason.¡±

    That was that. She knew that tone. They¡¯d talk about this later, but he meant what he said. Talking to Star was always so much easier than talking to people.

    ¡°Fine. I¡¯ll try to move faster. If we can just get to the car¡­¡±

    ¡°They will attack us long before then. You are only tiring yourself.¡±

    One of the beasts lunged at Star and there was a yelping sound as Star snapped at it. Lily froze and looked over her shoulder only to see it retreating again, an ear bleeding. Lily¡¯s heart started beating again, but only for a moment. She noticed Star had a fresh wound as well. Shallow though it was, his white fur was dyed with fresh red blood just below the shoulder.

    He was right. They were going to wear them down until they actually couldn¡¯t defend themselves. There had to be some other way to get around this! Lily had already tried a few self defense spells. But the non-lethal spells she¡¯d had in mind only slowed them down. They must have some kind of supernatural endurance or healing as well.

    She didn¡¯t want to create lethal spells. She didn¡¯t want to! That was a hurdle that once crossed could never be un-crossed. She didn¡¯t want to be a killer. She wasn¡¯t a killer. She wouldn¡¯t be.

    Star was right. The arrogance of her to think that she would always have a choice. But there was always a choice, wasn¡¯t there? She could refuse to kill, right up until she was killed. If Star weren¡¯t here¡­

    But if she was killed, he would die defending her. No. Not an option. Think! She had to think. At this rate, she might not even make it back to the car by nightfall! The light coming down from the canopy above was getting dimmer, and on the horizon when she glimpsed it she could see the light growing orange.

    Her ankle twisted as it hit a gnarled root wrong, and she hit the ground hard. The taste of dirt filled her mouth. For a horrifying instant she thought she felt the jaws of the monsters close around her, but then Star lifted her to her feet, urging her to keep moving. Lily scrambled to move, and heard a sharp yelping sound. Much deeper than the ones from the predators. She turned, and her mind went blank.

    One of the ¡®puppies¡¯ had its mouth fully around Star¡¯s foreleg. Another was in his face, snarling and preventing him from pulling away, and a third was circling around to get one of his hind legs. Her friend¡¯s blood was flowing. Her companion. Her only friend.

    ¡°No.¡±

    No. No no no. No. She had been stupid. She had been so stupid. The world around her stopped, and everything suddenly seemed so clear.

    What was she? A killer? A pacifist?

    No. She was scum.

    She fought, clawed, and scraped to survive.

    Star was right. It was the height of arrogance to think she was above killing. That she got to choose.

    Those thoughts were only on the surface. The person she wanted to be. Not the disgusting being she really was underneath.This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.

    Deep down, there was only one ¡®real¡¯ part of her. She could see it now.

    The demon. The part that would do anything it had to do. The monster that had used insane magic to escape the pit. That had channelled a spell so powerful her flesh couldn¡¯t contain it and lived to see the next day. The part of her that took over in the basement when the spell started to eat everything.

    The molten seething core within her that ideas about who she ¡®wanted¡¯ to be couldn¡¯t reach.

    The survivor.

    <hr>

    The coyotes were finally making their move. Star knew how the hunt would go. Had known since the beginning. It was the same way his friends could hunt creatures much larger than them. Use numbers. Stalk and surround. Never let the one in the danger zone also be the one making the attack.

    If it was any one singular threat he was more than willing to throw himself in the way to protect Lady Flamewalker. But against these numbers, if he tried to focus on any of them long enough to make an attack, some of the group would simply bypass him and attack her.

    The enemy had its jaws around his leg. He could feel its teeth trying to apply enough pressure to break his bone, but so far his overwhelming size had held up enough. With one having a hold of him though, the real attack would start now. Star braced himself and got ready to block his Master with his body if he had to, when suddenly the pressure on his leg lessened dramatically.

    A terrible wet ripping sound. The smell of blood. Star looked down barely in time to see the lower jaw of the beast that had him was gone. In an instant, the body of the creature was launched away from him, at least twenty feet. Its body made a sick sound as it hit a tree and the glamour instantly faded revealing the body of a monstrous coyote.

    ¡°Master?¡±

    He turned to see his Master. Lily stood, pointing a finger at where the terrible thing had been. The scars on her arms and smattered across the rest of her body were glowing with opalescent light, and in her eyes was something terrible. Star had seen that look before.

    The creature playing distraction backed off to get some distance after what had happened to its packmate. As it retreated it stepped into a circle and disintegrated. Fur and flesh peeled away in a matter of moments and not even bones remained.

    How had she¨C Then Star remembered. The basement had been disintegrating like that too. What about the mana?

    ¡°Master! Be careful!¡±

    <hr>

    Careful? Like that mattered. Like any of it mattered. She had been so stupid before, pretending like it did. What if she got hurt? She was already hurt. Her hurt didn¡¯t matter. As long as she kept Star out of the spells, she would do what she had to do.

    In the mana enriched area the monster had evaporated into she focused on forming a circle. It was simple. All it had to do was gather water. The circles formed so pathetically slow as she had to focus on each little detail. It didn¡¯t matter. She didn¡¯t have to be fast. The stupid beasts weren¡¯t even running yet.

    The circle finished forming, gathering water and converting all heat inside of it to mana, all flowing around a central node that she left blank for now. Held back by a gate. Her little latch. Her first real invention. Well, if whoever wrote the basement spell didn¡¯t count.

    Lily pushed her way forward. Star moved to block her, and she spoke.

    ¡°No. Behind me.¡±

    He instantly moved to obey. Good. He could tell how much mana she was wielding. She needed to concentrate. Her heart felt calm. Concentrating was easy. Everything else in the world had stopped mattering.

    One of the braver monsters stepped forward to meet her. It didn¡¯t matter. It didn¡¯t understand that it was already dead. A tiny part of her heart hurt. She brushed it aside. It didn¡¯t matter.

    A larger circle was forming now. It was simple. So simple. How stupid had she been. She didn¡¯t want to design any lethal spells? What spell of hers couldn¡¯t be lethal if she used it right. Light, maybe? Life was fragile. It was avoiding breaking it that was difficult. Not the other way around.

    Several push glyphs formed, pointed to the middle of the large circle. There were yelps from all around as all of the horrid beasts were suddenly yanked to the center of the area. A circle big enough to surround them all? That was nothing in this environment, and if she only used a couple glyphs or multiples of the same it didn¡¯t take long to write out.

    The trees within the zone groaned under the pressure. Some branches snapped and flew into the middle of the circle along with her enemies.

    There was only one thing left to do. In the first circle, a ball of ice remained, getting larger by the second. It was already about the size of a shopping cart. Perfect. She filled in the final blank node. Another push glyph. Pointed directly at the center of her snare. The gate activated, dumping all the accumulated mana into the final glyph.

    WHUMPH

    The ball of ice moved so fast Lily couldn¡¯t see it. But she heard it. Hell, she felt it. A shockwave hit her so hard it knocked her off her feet. A sonic boom.

    All she could hear was ringing. She tried to move. She had to make sure they were dead! She had to make sure Star was okay! She had to¨C throw up.

    After her stomach had been voided, she looked around wildly. In front of her, there was a hole. A hole had been torn straight through the woods. Unblocked sunlight shone down from above. Blood. Guts. Carnage. Skin. A mangled mass of flesh, split into two distinct piles was all that remained.

    She did it. She was safe. Star was safe.

    So why did she feel so¡­

    She was dizzy. She laid back down.

    Star padded over and nudged her with his nose. He made a few soundless shapes with his mouth. That was weird¡­

    He seemed to be trying to ask if she was alright.

    ¡°Yeah, I¡¯m fine. Don¡¯t worry about it.¡±

    She was so dizzy. She just needed to lie still for a minute.

    Star nudged her more aggressively. She opened her eyes, and realized she had closed them. Yeah, sleep probably not a good idea.

    ¡°I¡¯m okay, really. We¡¯re safe, right?¡±

    Star didn¡¯t reply.

    ¡°Star?¡±

    Lily looked up.

    He made some more soundless motions.

    ¡°What¡¯s wrong? Say somethin¨C¡±

    All at once Lily realized. It wasn¡¯t just Star that was soundless. She reached up and touched her ears. Her hands came away stained with blood.