The Price of Magic (A Dark Magical Girl Story)

[BadassOverlord]

Chapter 1

The walk to class that day was just like any other. Four blocks to the bus stop, ride seven stops, cross the public park, then two more blocks straight, turn left at the coffee shop and keep going for another three. I was familiar enough with the path to walk it in my sleep, which was just as well, because I had stayed up last night preparing for the experiment and completely lost track of time. I'd fallen asleep at my desk and gotten maybe an hour and change of rest before being startled awake by the alarm and rushing out of the apartment. I hadn't even showered or changed out of yesterday's uniform, a fact I was quickly starting to regret as the crowd of sleepy students started to grow thicker as we approached the gates.

Whatever, it's not like my social standing can get much worse, I thought. I grimaced and pulled my hoodie tighter over my face, both to avoid attracting attention and to dampen the noise of the crowd of teenagers; a grating mix of grumbling and inane conversation drowning out the lone teacher trying to keep a semblance of order as we filed in. St. Ulrich's used to be a fancy school, but like most others it was clearly over-capacity. We'd received around two hundred students at the start of the month from another shutdown, but I hadn't bothered remembering where from. To me, it just meant more people who didn't know me to gawk at the weird girl with the eyepatch in the hallways.

I'd considered skipping, of course, but I had calculated exactly how many missed attendances I could afford before I risked failing out, and I was already almost in the red for this trimester. Besides, I'd finished all my preparations last night; now it was time to put them to the test, and I couldn't do that at home. Nervously, I tugged on the strap of my cotton eyepatch, just to make sure it was properly in place. When I'd just started highschool, I'd chosen to go with my prosthesis, but even though it was well-made, it didn't quite move the same way as a real eye, and people noticed that uncanny-valley quality really quickly. It was probably inevitable that it would attract all sorts of mean-spirited attention. It wasn't the only reason for my unpopularity, not even the main one, but it certainly didn't help. After an incident during my first semester, I'd started wearing the eyepatch to cover my false eye while at school. Today, that worked to my advantage: it handily concealed the modifications I had made to it last night.

Despite the tiredness weighing me down, I felt almost giddy as I pushed out of the throng and into the central courtyard; a broad space of square tiles the size of a football field broken up by a few well-maintained flower beds at regular intervals. The entrance was flanked by the library on the left and an administrative section on the right. To either side there were two long, identical rows of squares of white plaster full of classrooms, each four stories tall and with wide balcony-hallways facing the center. On the furthest end was a large gymnasium, visibly more modern than the rest of the structures. There were a few other, smaller buildings behind those, with small alleyways leading between them. I made my way to the first building on the right, and stepped into a lobby of light wooden floors and spotless white walls. One side was occupied by a row of lockers, and the opposite one hosted a front desk. Across from the wide glass doors, most of the wall was taken up by a large cork board plastered with all manner of announcements, schedules, club activities, test results, and whatever a student had put up and a teacher hadn't bothered to remove.

I meant to just quickly check my classes for the day and go, but something caught my attention: someone had hung a newspaper clipping near the corner. On it was a picture of a gorgeous dark-skinned woman wearing a gaudy silver and gold outfit that looked like a cross between knightly armor and a ballroom dress. Her arms were open in an encompassing gesture, and from her hands blossomed forth an intricate, flower-shaped net of multicolored light. The photo was shot from a wide enough angle to show the stage she was standing on as well as the crowd of fascinated onlookers.

"Magical Girl Roseflash Performs Live Show for Charity" read the headline. I couldn't help but stop to take a closer look. The show had taken place last weekend as part of a larger campaign to raise money for people just migrating into the city. Less than six months ago, I wouldn't have missed an event like that for anything in the world. A chance to see real magic up close, what child wouldn't dream of it? And Roseflash was a personal favorite of my childhood: one of the longest active Vessels in the country, and unlike most of them, who tended to shy away from the media, she interacted often with the public, did interviews on TV… I was pretty sure I still owned a couple posters and a lunchbox with her face on them.

She'd been in town just a couple days before, and I hadn't even heard about it until after the fact. Granted, the last week had been a blur, but…

Don't get distracted, I chided myself. You've worked your ass off for months now. Don't stumble at the finish line. I hurried past the lobby and took the steps up the stairs two at a time. I wasn't sure whether it was the lack of sleep or my wandering thoughts, but when I reached the third floor, I stumbled directly into the back of another student. I barely managed to catch myself on the railing and blearily looked up at the girl glaring at me.

"Hey, what's your problem? Can't see where you're going?" A couple of snorts and giggles followed the comment. I'd run into a group of students loitering atop the stairs. The one who had just spoken was named Cathy, and next to her was her usual posse: John, Hana, uh… the blonde one, I didn't actually remember her name, and two ones I hadn't seen before, probably newly transferred. And… Clara.

Definitely not my crowd. The exact opposite, in fact; usually I would have made a point to avoid them altogether, but I guess I was just too out of it today. I did my best to ignore them and walked around to get to my classroom, but before I made it farther than a few steps, a hand landed on my shoulder.

"Hey Iris… are you, um, are you okay?" I looked over my shoulder and my eye met with Clara's. Even though we were the same age, she was more than a head taller than me. Her white shirt and navy blue blazer and skirt were freshly ironed and pressed, and she filled them out nicely. Her long black hair was done up in a complicated braid, and despite the ungodly hour, her makeup was perfect. Seeing her only made me feel more aware of my wrinkly clothes and the barely-combed mess of brown hair that curled around my shoulders like some feral animal. Behind round, delicate glasses, her piercing blue eyes showed nothing but concern. I swallowed a sarcastic reply.

"I'm fine" I said instead, shrugging off her hand. Around the group, I could see looks of annoyance, derision and apathy directed my way. I was used to those, and could easily ignore them. But those eyes full of pity always managed to get under my skin.

"Are you sure? You don't look–" she started, but grimaced before changing tracks. "Anyway, me and some friends from my class were thinking of going to the movies this weekend, you know the new reboot of Moonlight Warrior Altair is coming out that is supposed to be more faithful to the original and–"

"Sorry, I'm busy" I cut her off, knowing we otherwise might have been here until lunch bell.

"Come on" she insisted, a trace of pique entering her voice. "It'll do you good to get out a bit and talk to people instead of being cooped up inside all day."

She probably didn't even realize how smug and condescending she sounded. I felt my heart start to boil as I fought the impulse to just rip off my eyepatch right then and there and–

"Also," she said, suddenly bashful, "it's been forever since we last hung out together."

And there it is. Just like always, she knew the exact words to say to take all the wind out of my sails. Talking to her was so irritating. I'd known her for such a long time, but I still had no idea how to deal with her.

"Like I said, I don't have the time. Plus, I doubt your new friends would want me there" I said, trying desperately to keep my tone neutral.

"They're not–"

Thankfully, the first period bell chose that moment to finally take pity on me. I turned around without another word and hurried to my class, ignoring the feeling of her eyes on my back.

The room was starting to fill, but I'd managed to arrive early enough to get the seat at the back I needed. I dropped heavily into my chair and pushed down on the knot of annoyance and bitterness in my stomach. I needed to focus. I took slow, deep breaths as I waited for the lesson to start. The classroom, which had been designed for about fifteen students, had nearly thirty chairs pressed into cramped rows that reached almost to the blackboard at the front, which left me almost completely concealed. The tall, frosted glass windows were wide open despite the chill, just to keep the stuffiness to a manageable level. Come spring, it would surely turn into hell, but the clear early autumn weather meant it was mostly bearable at the moment.

The teacher walked in a few minutes later. Today's first class was Literature with Ms. Lawrence. She was a good teacher, the rare kind who actually cared about her students learning something, which made it much more difficult to get work done or catch up on sleep during her classes. It would have been safer to wait for another period, but I knew I couldn't hold myself back that long. My hands were already shaking a little from the excitement. Instead, I started looking for my target.

In the third row from the front, one column left of me, sat Barbara Sousa. She was tall and athletic, with short hair dyed a vivid blue that made her easy to spot in the crowded classroom. Average grades, good-looking, popular. I think she was part of the swimming team or something. More importantly, during our first year in P.E. class she had blindsided me with a basketball hard enough to actually dislodge my glass eye in front of everyone. She'd claimed it was an accident, of course, but I heard her laughing about it with her friends in the changing room afterwards. That was actually when I'd started hiding my fake eye, almost two years ago. Now, I checked one last time to make sure nobody was looking at me, and carefully removed the eyepatch.

The prosthesis was a curved piece of acrylic, not a sphere like they showed in the movies but closer to a contact lens, only sturdier. Originally, it had been a dark green color to match my remaining right eye; now it looked a dull gray, and the carefully painted pupil had been smeared into a mess of intersecting lines that were slightly uncomfortable to look at. Last night, I had spent hours carving the correct sigils both on the front and the back with a needle. The process had been excruciatingly slow, but I couldn't afford to make any mistakes: the prosthesis was custom made and expensive to replace, and there was no way I could explain to my dad what I'd done to it. I had spent months researching the design alone, then a week practicing the carving. I had three prostheses from when I was younger that no longer fit me, so I'd practiced on those until I was sure I could make it perfect. Throughout the whole thing, I couldn't help but fear that it wouldn't work, that I had wasted an absurd amount of time and effort on a childish, ridiculous project. But last night, I was vindicated: right before I passed out, after I finished carving the final line, I saw the eye shed a single tear; it sizzled softly on the surface of my desk, and tickled my nose with the faint smell of ozone.

I shifted my desk slightly to make sure I had a clear and unobstructed line of sight, I got into a comfortable position, and I fixed my gaze on the back of Barbara's head.

There was no incantation or arcane gesture necessary. The 'Evil Eye' was the most basic of curses, so universal it existed in some form or another in almost every culture in history. Boiled down to its most basic axiom, it was the concept that simply holding ill will towards someone was sufficient to bring them harm in the form of bad luck, illness, or spiritual pollution. In ancient times, lords, kings and all manner of powerful men threw fortunes at shamans and priests to craft talismans or cast blessings to ward themselves against it. It was the crystallization of two fundamental human emotions: Envy, and Fear of being the object of it.

For several minutes, nothing happened. I couldn't look at the clock for fear of messing everything up, and I scarcely dared to blink. But slowly, I saw it happen. Barbara went from passing around notes and pretending to pay attention to the teacher to slouching in her seat, more and more, then resting her head in one hand, then both, looking down at the floor with a slight shaking to her shoulders. After about thirty minutes by my estimation, Ms. Lawrence actually noticed and asked if she was feeling okay.

"M-my head hurts" she stammered. "C-can I go to the nurse's office?" Her voice sounded thready, like she had a cold. She actually staggered a little when she stood, so the teacher had another student help her to the infirmary. I watched her walk away on shaky legs and my heart soared.

It worked. It worked! Sure, it was barely more than a party trick, nothing compared to flying through the skies or commanding lighting and thunder like real Vessels could do. But it was magic. Real, actual magic. And it was all mine.

 

[BadassOverlord]

Chapter 2

It took me a while to calm down. As much as I wished to jump and whoop and pump my fist, I still had most of literature class to sit through. Of course, there was no way I was gonna be able to pay attention. I was still drunk on the feeling of triumph and relief from seeing that arrogant girl limp out of the room. Six months. Six months of sleepless nights, of frustration and paranoia, of having everyone in my life treat me like a basket case, and I had finally done it. I had cast my first spell.

Obviously, I'd known magic was real. The whole world had been rudely awakened to that fact roughly thirteen years ago, when the Veil was torn and the first Vessels stepped into the public eye. But despite over a decade having passed since the discovery, humanity still knew almost nothing about what magic actually was or how it worked. What scraps we had came only from what few Vessels were willing to talk about it in public, and even those were frustratingly vague. We knew that magic could only be used by those lucky few chosen by the Lords and Ladies of the Firmament, and that their contract compelled them to protect humanity from Beasts. There'd apparently been a secret war for the fate of mankind going on for who knows how long and yet said humans had only found out about it recently. The world was in peril, and only a handful of special people could do anything about it.

From the first time I learned about all of this, I was fascinated. Everybody was, really. My generation grew up knowing magic was real, a power that could seemingly do anything, that proved that nothing we thought we knew was set in stone. And it felt like new Vessels kept popping up every day, and it could be anyone; rich, poor, saint or sinner; it could be your brother, your neighbor, your grandma, your local barista. It could be you.

And yet, the chance was infinitesimally small. Exact numbers were impossible to pin down, many Vessels were chosen and disappeared without once stepping into the public eye, but 'one in a million' was probably generous. Nobody knew what the criteria were for being chosen; some people speculated that the Lords and Ladies only chose the most virtuous and pure-hearted, others were convinced it was influenced by the stars and the time of their birth. It might just have been random. The Vessels themselves didn't seem to know either. It looked like most of them were chosen quite young, and there were more women than men, but there were lots of exceptions, and true age or gender was hard to ascertain when magic was involved.

So we all dreamed, hoped and prayed that one day a mysterious creature would appear out of nowhere and offer us the world on a silver platter, endless possibility, a chance to be the main characters of history. And we all woke up to the crushing reality that it was never going to happen to us. Who were we, really? No one special. Just normal people, really. It was fine. It was part of growing up. Like learning Santa wasn't real. People just learned to accept that and move on with their lives.

At least, smart people did. Smart people didn't piss away their futures chasing a dream they had when they were five, or ruined all their relationships over it. They knew to give up hope before it drove them mad. I hadn't. I couldn't. I wasn't strong enough to face reality, not without becoming something that would no longer be me. I wanted that power for myself, to matter, to make a difference. I needed to learn magic.

But everybody knew that only the chosen ones could do magic, and I wasn't that special.

Except they were wrong. They were all wrong! In this cramped classroom, this weird girl everyone ignored had just proven beyond a shadow of a doubt that she could do magic all by herself. Sure, it was pathetic and unimpressive, but this was just the start. I would become a hero by my efforts alone, and one day I'd stand head and shoulders above all of them, the envy of any Vessel, and the whole world would–

"Iris" Ms. Lawrence's voice cut through my inner monologue like one of Roseflash's whips. From her tone I could guess it wasn't the first time she'd called out my name. "I would like you to stay for a bit after class. I need to have a word with you."

I winced as I looked around me. Apparently, the class had just ended and my classmates were slowly filtering out of the classroom. Fortunately, nobody seemed to be paying me any mind. I was honestly impressed at my self-restraint, really. I wouldn't have been surprised to find out I had started laughing maniacally at some point. Even Ms. Lawrence's unimpressed stare wasn't enough to completely douse my good mood.

I shouldered my backpack and waited patiently for the crowd to thin enough for me to approach the teacher's desk. I already had a good idea of what this was going to be about, and I wasn't looking forward to it, but I could handle it.

Ms. Lawrence took her sweet time ordering every paper on her desk, waiting for the last student to leave the classroom and close the door behind them. She wasn't very tall, but her graying hair and sharp eyes still gave her an air of authority that could be a bit intimidating.

"You were spacing out a lot today," she said, still fiddling with some papers.

"Uh, yeah, sorry" I said, not meeting her eyes. "I just didn't sleep very well last night, I guess I must've been pretty tired." I did my best to sound casual about it.

"You also didn't turn in the assignment I gave you last week" she continued as if she hadn't heard me.

"U-um," I stammered. Crap, I can't actually remember what it was about. It was probably an essay on the last book or something. "Yeah, sorry, I didn't forget or anything, I've just been really busy and haven't had time. I promise I'll finish it before next class for sure."

"You said the same thing about the last two assignments too." Her tone turned frosty. I couldn't think of anything good to say, so I tried to just look down and look contrite.

She finally set down the papers in front of her and turned to regard me through her thick, square glasses. "Iris, what's going on? Last semester your grades were impeccable, you contributed so much in class, and your essay on collaborative storytelling was a genuine joy to read. Now you miss every other class, and when you do show up you sleep through most of the hour. At the rate you're going, you're going to fail this class and have to take remedial tests during summer. Is that what you want? What happened to you?" Her disappointed tone was enough to drive a spike of guilt through my cloud of enthusiasm.

I cringed internally. That was from the time when I was still trying. Back when I was still holding onto the idea that maybe if I studied really hard and got perfect grades and did all of the chores at home and did volunteer work during the weekends and helped everyone and was the perfect little girl in every possible way then maybe that would make me worthy of being chosen. I wasn't particularly smart or talented, but I could do it as long as I worked hard enough, and I could keep it up as long as I thought there was a point to it. And I used to genuinely enjoy this class; I'd always loved books and stories and they'd been my escape when reality was too much to deal with. Ms. Lawrence was probably my favorite teacher, because she was actually passionate about her subject and it showed. I'd even spent some time tutoring other students for this and other classes, hoping it would earn me some brownie points with the teachers and maybe make me slightly less unpopular.

That was before I realized how pointless it all was. Good grades were worthless if I didn't know what I wanted to do with my life, and I wouldn't suddenly become popular just because I did everything anyone asked of me. More importantly, it wouldn't give me my magic. If I wanted that, I would have to find it and claim it myself.

Of course, I couldn't explain any of that to Ms. Lawrence. She must have misinterpreted my silence, because her expression softened into one of sympathy. "Iris, dear…" she hesitated. "Is everything okay at home?"

"W-what?" her words struck me like a slap to the face. I had been expecting a sermon or a reprimand; I hadn't considered at all what my situation would look like from the outside. If I'd thought about it for just two seconds, it would have been obvious how she got to that conclusion. Either she was worried I was out there doing drugs or something, or…

"Y-yeah, of course!" I said in a hurry, "Everything's fine, dad's just busy a lot with work, but we get along great!" The last thing I needed was to get my dad in trouble because of my stupidity. I couldn't afford to have people prying into my affairs, and sure he wasn't perfect, but he really didn't deserve that.

"Are you sure? You know if there's anything you need to talk about, us teachers and the guidance counselors are always available to–"

"It's fine, really!" I interrupted. "I swear Ms. Lawrence, there's nothing like that going on. I'm just, you know, stressed and stuff. Normal teenage things. You don't need to worry about me."

The teacher kept staring at me for a few more moments before nodding, and I sagged in relief. I'd managed to dodge a bullet, now I just needed to ask for an extension for the assignment. I could skip the rest of classes for the day and get back home to write down my findings and start figuring out the next step in my research. I couldn't wait to–

"In that case, young lady" Ms. Lawrence broke my train of thought once again, "I'm giving you detention after class today. I suggest you use that time to catch up on your assignments." She stared down at me, all traces of compassion gone from her voice.

I opened my mouth to protest but immediately withered under her glare. It seemed my good mood wasn't meant to last.

The rest of the school day crawled by with intolerable slowness. I had made a miscalculation and now I was paying for it. Regular absences weren't a big deal, but sneaking out of detention would definitely have the school faculty contacting my family, and if dad found about the detention he would find out about the absences, and if he found out about the absences he'd start wondering what I was doing with all that time and then he'd check my bedroom and find all the drawers full of mad scribblings and the corkboard covered in red string and the desecrated remains of my prostheses and I could explain none of that, not unless I was aiming for an all-expenses-paid vacation to the fanciest mental asylum money could buy.

Which meant I had no choice but to grind my teeth and stick with it. I made an effort to actually pay attention to my remaining classes; I'd need to put at least some amount of effort into my grades from now on if I wanted to maintain my autonomy in the long term. And there was no way I was going to stop my research now, not when I'd finally started to see results. During lunch hour, I thought I saw Clara looking for me out by the stairwell, so I decided to play it safe and eat alone in the little alleyway behind the gymnasium. Eventually, the last bell rang and I made it to the classroom where detention was going to be held. I'd been a little apprehensive since I'd never actually gotten in trouble before since coming to this school, but I was mildly disappointed: we were just supposed to study in silence for two hours while being watched by a teacher, a bald guy with an impressive beard who looked like he hated being there even more than we did.

There weren't many students present; only about a dozen counting myself. Maybe burying my nose in books so much had given me a distorted expectation of what a 'detention crowd' was supposed to look like, but they were all just normal kids. There was only one person I recognized, a somewhat tall girl with red streaks dyed in her black hair. She was wearing a boy's uniform and had some spiky bracelets and other pieces of jewelry that probably didn't fit in the dress code. Her name was Theresa, and she had been a constant presence in my after-school study groups, back when I was still doing those. We got along fine, but we hadn't interacted at all outside of that; I thought she was in the same class as Clara, but I didn't know anything else about her. She looked up at me as I approached, but a slight widening of her dark eyes was her only reaction. She had bags under her eyes, probably not as bad as mine, but still noticeable under her makeup.

I hesitated for a second. Most of the classroom was empty, so I could pick whatever seat I wanted. Would she think I was snubbing her if I didn't sit next to her? Or maybe she wanted to be alone and would be annoyed if I did. Maybe she hadn't even recognized me? No, she totally did. Wait, shit, I'm staring. I should probably say something.

"Hi" I murmured stiffly as I dropped into the seat to her right. Brilliantly eloquent, me.

"...Hey" she answered after a brief pause, still eyeing me with a look of mild confusion.

An uncomfortable silence stretched between us. Why did she keep staring at me? Did I look strange somehow? Perhaps my eyepatch was askew and she could see– don't reach up to check you idiot, it'll just look more suspicious. I folded my hands on the desk to keep myself from fidgeting. I had started this ill-conceived social interaction, so I felt obligated to say something. 'So, what are you in for?' is probably a stupid line, but I can't think of anything else…

"Sorry, I wasn't expecting to see you here" she spoke first. What was she apologizing for? "Are… you doing okay?"

"I'm fine" I answered, maybe a little too quickly. "W-why do you ask?"

"I don't know. I just got a weird feeling when I saw you come in." A brief flash of panic crossed her eyes, and she quickly held up her hands. "I'm not saying you're weird or something! Sorry, I meant… This might sound strange, but have you–"

She cut herself off when we heard someone clear their throat, and we both turned to find the teacher glaring at us. She quickly leaned away from me and made a show of looking down at her notes. I did the same, secretly thankful for the excuse to cut the awkward interaction off. I had to admit I was curious and a little bit worried about whatever she had been about to ask me, but not enough to risk irking the teacher and getting into more trouble.

Instead, I produced a notebook and hunkered down to endure two hours of further boredom. I spent the first half hour or so trying to work on the Literature assignment like I'd said I would, but I honestly couldn't put my heart into it. My mind kept drifting back to the thought that had consumed me for the last week: the experiment. The image of Barbara staggering out of the classroom was still fresh in my mind. Really, it had been a success beyond my expectations. I'd been able to cause a gradually worsening migraine through no means other than looking at her with my false eye. I let my pen wander the page as I recalled the scene and mulled over the implications.

Induce Headache
1st level spell
Casting Time: 30 minutes
Target 1 creature that you can see. The target creature takes 1d8 psychic damage.

I snorted. If this were a game, nobody would choose a spell this pathetic, not unless they were doing it for the challenge or were running a very gimmicky build. That last thought made me pause, however. If this were in a game, I would be looking for ways to optimize its effectiveness or finding edge cases where it could be useful. But in order to properly do that, my little statblock was missing a lot of key information. What was the spell's range? Did its effect degrade with distance? Could I try to use it on two people at once, if both were in my field of vision? Did it cost a resource to cast? I hadn't felt any different after the experiment, but maybe once wasn't enough to be noticeable. Most games had something like a saving throw or other ways to defend against magical effects. Were there any factors that could make a target more or less susceptible to it? And on the flipside, were there any qualities of myself that could influence its power? I highly doubted it was something as straightforward as a strength or intelligence modifier, but it made intuitive sense that there would be something that separated a stronger magic user from a weaker one.

I had a lot of questions, and all of them would require further experimentation to find answers. However, I couldn't let my eagerness get the better of me. One girl going to visit the school nurse because of a sudden headache was nothing, but if dozens of people suddenly started reporting random headaches out of nowhere it would definitely attract attention. It could even get an actual magic user to take an interest if I was really unlucky. One frustrating fact about Vessels was that their magic masked their identity, so outside of the few who revealed themselves openly, you had no idea who they were. So while the probability of any one person you ran into being secretly a Vessel was infinitesimal, the chance that someone in your neighborhood or school or workplace might be a hero in disguise was always there. And that meant I needed to think carefully about how to conduct my research in the future.

I was still mulling over how to do that when something startled me. I blinked, confused. It hadn't been a sound, or a breeze, or anything like that. I looked around, but none of the students or the teacher looked like they had sensed anything. My false eye started itching.

Suddenly to my left, Theresa shot out of her seat, sending her chair clattering to the floor. Before I or anyone else had a chance to say anything, however, we all felt it.

I felt a presence drape itself over me, like the gossamer strands of a spiderweb caressing my face in the dark. A faint, whispering voice tickled the edge of my hearing. I saw the bright light of the early afternoon sun streaming in through the windows turn sickly and gray, muting all the colors around me into almost monochrome.

Someone in the classroom screamed. Several students jumped to their feet and started running. Others stayed in their seats, frozen in place. I sagged into my chair, feeling like all the breath had been ripped from my lungs. Though I had never felt anything like this before, there was no way I could mistake it for anything else.

We were trapped inside a Nightmare, and there was nothing we could do. In less than a second, whether we lived or died had been taken completely out of our hands.

 

[BadassOverlord]

Chapter 3

I tried to calm myself down, to take a few deep breaths and think rationally, but my heart kept beating so hard it was almost painful. Around me, the classroom was in chaos. Desks were knocked over and papers spilled everywhere as roughly half the students started running for their lives, even though they must have known it was pointless. I couldn't fault them, however. I could feel the animal part of my brain screaming at me to run, to hide, to fight, to do something. We were being hunted by a Beast, and that meant nowhere was safe. Our only hope was for a Vessel to arrive and slay it before it was too late.

I grasped onto that thought. There were several magical girls active in our part of the city, so we had a very good chance of being rescued. I'd heard time could get strange between the inside of a Nightmare and the outside, but with a place as busy as a school, someone must have noticed things were wrong right away, which meant help had to be on the way. I needed to focus and consider the outcomes, and figure out how to make the best of this situation. Scenario one: nobody got here in time, in which case we were all already dead. Nothing I could do would affect that outcome, so it wasn't worth considering any further. That left scenario two: a magical girl did arrive and slay the Beast, in which case everything would be restored and we would all be fine no matter what. Therefore, there was no point in me being cautious; I had nothing to lose. If the only two possibilities were a binary between alive or dead, then the smartest choice would be to take any risk for the most gain. And that, I realized, meant going for the grand prize: the Beast.

It sounded insane, to deliberately run towards the horror coming to eat me, but I wasn't gonna escape it anyways, and it represented a golden opportunity. There were some magical girls like Roseflash who displayed their magic to the public, even made a performance out of it, to inspire wonder in people and take some of the fear out of it. But I held no illusions that an actual fight between a Vessel and a Beast would be anything like that. So I had to see it. There had to be something I could learn from observing their clash, seeing their impossible abilities on full display, something that could lead me to another breakthrough. I didn't plan on getting involved, of course. I knew my pitiful curse was unlikely to even tickle a Beast. But I wasn't a normal bystander anymore, I could do magic, and that had to mean something.

I took stock of my surroundings one more time. By now, all of the runners had disappeared, which left only a handful of people standing or seated, either sobbing or just in shock. I could still hear screaming and rushing footsteps, but they sounded fainter than they should have, like it was coming from a television several rooms away. I stepped out into the hallway and saw a few students and a teacher leaning over the railing to see the courtyard below; Theresa was there among them. I hurried over.

From the third floor balcony, the square stones of the courtyard looked like a massive chessboard. I could see several tiny figures wandering around aimlessly, their movements strange and erratic. I spotted one group of people rushing towards one the gate, and another huddling together among the flowerbeds near the library entrance. The school had let out about an hour ago, but it looked like there had still been a fair number of students attending club activities or studying at the library, as well as teachers, when the Nightmare started. I got on the tip of my toes and leaned forward as far as I dared, trying to see into the balconies below. I found a couple of other students looking around as well, but they didn't seem especially panicked. I wasn't sure what I was looking for, but I couldn't find any signs of the Beast.

Suddenly, one of the boys next to me shouted and pointed. I followed his finger to one of the buildings across from ours and closer to the gymnasium. In the sudden gloom brought about by the Nightmare, the windows of the still-lit classrooms stood out like stark squares of light, except for two of them on the ground floor. As we watched, another of the windows next to them went dark. Then a few seconds later, the next one winked out as well. Then the next one.

I hurried towards the closest stairwell, forcing myself not to sprint in case I needed the energy later. I heard some footsteps start behind me; maybe I had jolted some of them out of their stupor. I quickly reached the ground floor and stepped out onto the courtyard. Looking up, the sun was nowhere to be seen. Instead, the sky had turned pure white, shedding a milky, homogeneous radiance that bleached out color and made edges fuzzy. I heard a scratching noise and looked to my right to see someone just a few meters away coming towards me. He was a groundskeeper; he had a large watering can held in a death-grip, shaking and spilling water as he came. His movements were jerky and stiff, his arms and torso swaying forward and his feet dragging behind in a way that shouldn't be possible without toppling over. His mouth was open as if cut mid scream, but only a ragged whimper came out. I met his eyes and they were bouncing wildly in every direction, his pupils narrowed into pinpricks.

He shambled towards me with unexpected speed and swung the metal can at my head. I tried to shield myself on instinct, but before the blow could connect, someone tackled me to the ground. As I fell with a yelp, I saw his arm hit the corner on the stairwell hard enough to crack the plaster. The arm bent with a nauseating crack, but he kept going, rounding on us with unnatural speed and showering me and my savior with water in the process.

"Get up!" she yelled, and I belatedly recognized Theresa's voice as she yanked me to my feet and pulled me away at a run. She led me in a zig-zag pattern around the flowerbeds, putting a few of the large concrete planters between us and our pursuer. Thankfully, his uncoordinated movements meant he couldn't turn very well, and we were quickly able to get some distance. I planted my feet hard and pulled Theresa behind one of the hedges lining the courtyard.

"Wait!" I gasped, and I pointed while trying to catch my breath. Ahead, I had spotted two more shambling figures, a teacher and an older student, but their attention was on one of the narrow alleyways leading between the buildings. Their movements were just as strange, but now that I had a second to think, I noticed there was something else unusual. Their clothes were pulled or bunched up in weird places, and I realized there were strings, so thin as to almost be invisible, wrapped tightly around their arms and legs and dragging them around like puppets. Now that I was looking for them, I saw several more strings hanging in the air at random angles, seemingly not tied to anything. In fact, we'd come dangerously close to stumbling into some of them as we ran. I suppressed a shudder and pointed them out to Theresa, keeping my voice low.

As we were considering our next move, I heard rushing footsteps and saw two students run out of the alleyway. The boy in front was blindsided by the strung-up teacher and crumpled to the ground, clutching his stomach. The girl behind him managed to swerve out of the way and dodge the other puppet, only to run headfirst into one of the floating strings.

It caught her at head height and wrapped tightly around her neck, cutting off her scream and hoisting her up into the air. I saw her hands scratch desperately for purchase as the thin wire bit deeply into her skin and blood began to bubble out, dribbling down the front of her uniform. All the colors had been washed out into black and white by the alien sky, but the blood remained a bright, vivid red, almost luminescent against the washed out background. I managed to avert my eye just before I heard a wet, ripping sound and something heavy hitting the floor. I felt bile rise in my throat. Behind me, Theresa screamed.

We fled, running past the alleyway entrance and following the edge of the courtyard. As we passed, I saw the two puppets descend on the fallen boy, and his screams followed us as we rushed to the next alley. It's gonna be fine, I thought to myself, not daring to look behind me. None of this actually matters. Everything will be okay, just focus on your goal. You can't help them. Gotta keep moving. Find the Beast.

We couldn't move as fast as we wanted; the strings were hard to see, and now they seemed to be everywhere. We picked our way across the courtyard, slowly, anxiously. We spotted some other puppets along the path, but thankfully none close enough to get to us. We ducked into the first clear alleyway we found, around halfway down the row, and emerged behind the building where some old storehouses were.

Theresa stopped me with a gesture, catching her breath before speaking. She was pale, and her eyes had a faraway, haunted look. I probably didn't look much better. The sounds of distant screams were getting more frequent now, but they were distorted, making it impossible to distinguish their source. Looking around, I tried not to flinch when I spotted a trail of blood smeared around a corner, about a dozen meters away from us. There was a handprint on the adjacent wall, bright red and impossible to miss. My left eye kept itching.

"There's a–" Theresa started, still somewhat breathless, "there's an access entrance around this side that they use to bring in supplies. We can get out that way, and maybe find some more people and, and…"

"And what?" I cut her off, my voice still shaky. "What are we gonna do then? It's not going to be any better out there, and more people will only make us a bigger target." My tone came out sharper than I meant; she had just saved me earlier and she was obviously just as scared as me, but my nerves were starting to fray and I couldn't help it.

"But we can't just do nothing!" she said, almost pleading. She floundered, gesturing with frustration back the way we came. "Those people, the strings, we could– there has to be something, some way to help them."

I wanted to shout at her for being so naive, but held myself back. She didn't deserve it, and getting dragged into an argument would only help us get killed. Instead, I looked more closely to our right. We had crossed the courtyard, and moved towards the back, meaning we were close to where I'd seen the lights go out earlier. The pool of blood made me feel queasy, but if I could skip past it, find a back entrance into the building and make my way back to the front…

There! On the next building over, I could see strings covering the windows. Unlike the lines hanging in ambush in midair, these were woven into intricate nets, creating a sort of barrier. Looking up a few floors, it seemed like the entire building had been sealed from the inside. That could mean a few different things, but it was the best lead I had. A hunting ground. With any luck, the thing that made it will still be inside.

I made my way closer to where I saw one of the ground floor windows had been left ajar. The net still blocked the way, but the holes were large and irregular, and I had a pretty small build. Careful not to touch any of the strings, I stuck and arm through, then my head. I had just enough room. Almost as if it was left on purpose, I thought with a shudder, but I wasn't about to lose my nerve. Before I could get further however, a hand yanked me out by the back of my blazer.

"What the hell are you doing?!" Theresa asked, barely keeping her voice in check. I struggled, trying to shove the bigger girl away without much luck.

"Let go of me!" I protested, but she just looked at me like I was crazy. I was used to it. I couldn't blame her for thinking that way, and I couldn't explain myself in a manner she would understand. She probably thought she was "saving" me, but right now I needed her to leave me the hell alone.

I focused on that feeling of annoyance and frustration. She was obviously way more fit than me, so trying to use my stick-thin arms to fight her off was pointless. Instead, I craned my neck as much as I could to look over my shoulder and made eye contact with her. Then, I reached up and pulled off my eyepatch.

Theresa froze on the spot, her eyes widened, and I could see a full-body shiver course through her. I took the opportunity to shrug off my blazer and squeeze through the hole in the net, leaving her holding my discarded uniform. She recovered quickly once I broke eye contact, but it was too late: the hole was barely large enough for me, there was no way for her to fit. She stared at me as I straightened up in the gloomy classroom and quickly fixed my eyepatch back into place. The look on her face was bewildered and a little hurt, but there was something else there I couldn't name.

"Don't" she said, her tone deadly serious. "Please, just get back out here. I don't know what you're trying to accomplish, but it's not worth it."

I just stared at her, feeling a twinge of hesitation despite myself. What was with this girl? We barely knew each other, so why was she suddenly so concerned about me? No matter, she had no way to follow me, so she should have no more reason to stick around. A part of me wanted to say something, to reassure her in some way, but I couldn't find the words. So I just turned away and left the classroom, ignoring her calls after me.

The back of this building held the laboratories and a couple of study rooms. The inside was far darker, forcing me to advance at a snail's pace using my phone as a flashlight to avoid the string traps. Down the hallway, I found the chemistry lab's windows were all broken. They looked as if they had exploded outward, scattering shards of glass all over the wooden floor. The door had been ripped off its hinges, and lay in pieces against the opposite wall. Examining it more closely, I found thin, deep gouges had been carved into it, evenly spaced in sets of four. I found similar markings on the nearby wall as well. Shining my phone's light towards the end of the hallway, I saw it reflect off a pool of liquid coating the floor. Even without the color, the pungent smell of iron would have made its nature obvious. I covered my mouth and nose and tried not to gag as I stepped carefully over the lump laid on the floor, so badly mangled it was barely recognizable as a person. The next hallway hosted two more corpses in similar states. More disturbing, however, were the spots smeared in blood but where no body could be found. I did my best to avoid them, but I still stepped in some of the blood, which made my steps feel sticky and squelch disturbingly in the silence.

The signs of more victims must have meant I was getting closer, but I couldn't find it in myself to celebrate. I managed to reach the end of the building and eased open the door of the auditorium. It was a fairly large room with tiered seating on one side and a raised stage on the other. It was used for guest lectures and other miscellaneous events, and also doubled as the practice room for the school band, which was why it currently had various instruments scattered about. I knew there was a wide double door on the opposite end that would let me reach the front of the building. However, as soon as I entered I immediately spotted several puppets shuffling around the room. I hastily covered my light and went still, waiting for a few seconds, but thankfully none seemed to have spotted me. The auditorium was almost completely dark, save for a few meager rays of light coming through the web-covered windows. The puppets, visible only as fuzzy silhouettes, were hunched over, and from the sounds of it were busy dragging something towards the center of the room.

I was tempted to turn back, but I didn't know if I was going to be able to find another path to the front of the building, and whatever had caused so many of the puppets to gather in one place must have been significant. I couldn't see well from the door, so I started to move along the edge of the room, holding my breath and using the stacks of plastic chairs and instrument cases as cover. I reached the bottom row of seats and peeked over the edge.

I watched as two of the puppets dragged what must've been a corpse, leaving behind a smeared trail of red, and dumped it in a grotesque pile at the edge of the stage. And there, sitting on the floor in front of it like it was a makeshift table, I saw the Beast.

I couldn't discern its features in the dark, but its outline looked vaguely feminine. Its face was covered by a veil, and atop its head was a delicate crown of curving horns. Around it, what looked like the tattered folds of an outrageously long dress spilled like a fountain to cover the auditorium floor. From its sides sprouted four slender, elegant limbs, long and many-jointed, each tipped by four needle-like fingers. I watched it reach towards the pile, carefully taking an arm off a corpse like it was plucking a flower and raising it to eye level. And then, with an indescribable noise, it began to pull and pinch and cut, unwinding the flesh and the bones and the sinews into thin, almost invisible string, and gathering it into a spool.

I managed not to scream, but in my shock I stumbled back a step and felt my heel brush against a thread I had failed to spot. Faster than I could react, it wound itself tightly around my shoe, holding me in place. I could hear the Beast pause its grisly work. It didn't move, but the puppets around the room all froze at once, before starting to move towards me.

No, no no no I fucked up, oh god, I can't– I clamped down on my panicking thoughts, even as I felt myself start to hyperventilate. I knelt down to free my foot, but I didn't dare touch the string with my hands in case they might get wrapped up too. Instead, I tried to untie my laces to see if I could pull my foot out and leave the shoe, but my hands were trembling too much and I kept fumbling. I could hear the puppets getting closer. Would they wrap me up in the string, forcing me to join them in hunting down the survivors? Or were they going to drag me kicking and screaming towards the pile to be turned into raw materials for some insane project? Finally I managed to slip the shoe off and scramble to my feet, only to find two puppets standing between me and the door. I could turn around and make a break for the front entrance, but that would mean climbing onto the stage and passing right in front of the sitting Beast. I had no time to think, but before I could make a decision, there was a bright flash of light that cast the whole room into sharp relief and briefly blinded me.

There, on the smoldering remains of the podium, stood a young woman clad in fire. She wore a light-blue dress adorned with white laces and frills, and around her neck was wrapped a navy-blue scarf that waved gently in the still air of the auditorium and transformed gradually along its length from cloth to azure flame. She was quite tall, and her long hair reached down to her waist, the same color as her bright, piercing blue eyes. Around her, the light she shed returned color to the Nightmare. Her hands, covered in dark blue fingerless gloves, held an impressively large sword, still aglow with the remnants of the fire she had just unleashed.

She swung the blade again as she advanced, and in an instant the pile of corpses was scattered into ashes. The Beast backed away as the fire spread and consumed the entire spool it had gathered. At once, all the puppets in the room were yanked into the air by their strings and swarmed towards the magical girl. Meanwhile, the Beast began to clamber to its feet. Its massive, corpse-woven dress inflated and rippled with the sudden motion of countless unseen limbs, lifting it higher and higher until it stood over three meters tall. It lashed out with an arm, and four strings whipped out, carving deep furrows in the stage as they flew at the swordswoman.

She made a quick slash, incinerating the strings just before they reached her, but the puppets had already surrounded her and started to close in. I saw all of this happen from my hiding spot behind the bottom row of seats. It was clear both the puppets and the Beast had forgotten all about me the moment an actual Vessel had entered the scene, and yet I couldn't even think about fleeing. I watched with my heart in my throat as the magical girl dodged attacks from all the puppets with elegant, dance-like steps. None of them touched her, yet she was being slowly corralled back towards the entrance she'd emerged from. Suddenly, another puppet leapt from the side of the stage and caught her from behind, wrapping both arms around her waist. In the circle of her light, I recognized him as one of the music teachers, an older gentleman with blonde hair and a nasal voice who I remembered for being very strict.

The magical girl let out a startled cry and, in a flash of movement I could barely follow, whirled around and cut him clean in half.

The strings holding him burned away and he let out a blood-curdling scream, but he was quickly silenced as the blue flames consumed his body. She immediately dropped the sword as if it had stung her. It fell off the stage and shattered into pieces, and she covered her mouth to stifle a keening, painful wail. The remaining puppets lunged for her, but she leapt back with another burst of impossible speed. For a moment, I saw her standing there on the threshold of the auditorium, trembling and looking like she was struggling to not throw up.

And then, she turned around and ran.

 

[BadassOverlord]

Chapter 4

I watched her flee and disappear, returning the room to monochrome darkness. The Beast pursued, lifting its strings and shredding the wall to make room for its large body, and the puppets marched after it, trampling over the shredded and scorched remains of the stage. Their steps faded away quickly, leaving the place unbearably silent. It had all happened in less than a minute. I stood there, feeling stunned. She… she lost? No, not even that, she ran away. I felt so stupid. I'd come up with an insane scheme to get to see a Vessel slay a Beast and I had never even considered any other possibility. If whoever showed up failed to kill it, then I and everyone else trapped in this Nightmare were doomed. I knew it happened, if only rarely. And yet in my head I had still been thinking of the magical girl winning as a given. That was how it was supposed to go. Wasn't that what heroes did, slay the monster, save the day, pose for the camera?

But that was just another immature notion I was still holding onto. For all their powers, Vessels were just people after all, and I already knew how unreliable people were. Despite that, the moment she appeared I let relief wash over me and just waited to be rescued. Less than an hour ago I had proclaimed I was no longer a helpless bystander, but that was just stroking my own ego, wasn't it? Sure, I didn't know what I could have done that would have changed the outcome, but the point was I hadn't even tried. Learning one measly spell hadn't suddenly turned me into magical girl material, I was still the same useless girl with her head always in the clouds who couldn't see what was right in front of her until it was too late.

Damn it. Damn it all, I had no time for self-flagellation. Shut up, stop fucking crying and do something. I hadn't come this far just to become Beast food. It wasn't over yet. I had to do the only thing I could: analyze the situation and figure out the best way to take advantage.

So what had just happened here? First, the magical girl. Up until recently, I had been thoroughly obsessed with anything remotely related to magic, so naturally I was familiar with all of the Vessels active in our part of the city, and this girl didn't fit any of their descriptions. That meant she was new, a couple months old at most. The way she had panicked after killing the music teacher, it must've been her first time going through something like that. In terms of pure efficiency, it would have been easy for her to just cut down all the puppets in her way. As long as she managed to kill the Beast and end the Nightmare, it would have been fine, but it was clear she wasn't willing to go that far; whether it was out of naivety or a code of honor or something I couldn't tell, and I wasn't in a position to judge. Second, the Beast. Its direct attacks were terrifying, but the girl had been able to handle them fine. Rather, it seemed to prefer relying on its puppets and traps to do the dirty work. Which brought me to the third point: the puppets. They were strong, and the strings could carry them pretty quickly, but their movements were clumsy and they weren't any tougher than a normal person. The biggest problem was that they were, well, people. As long as there was a nonlethal way to keep them out of the fight, the magical girl stood a much better chance of defeating the Beast one on one.

And I had something that fit the bill just right.

I took a minute to gather what I needed from the auditorium before running outside, following the obvious trail of destruction wrought by the Beast and its army. And it truly was beginning to turn into an army: puppeteered students and teachers and even a few unlucky pedestrians were gathering from all over the school grounds and converging on the gymnasium. The main entrance to the building had been ripped open in a familiar way, and I could see several of them making their way in. Just charging in that way would certainly end up poorly for me though. I didn't know where the magical girl had run off to or how long it might take her to rally, and I had to trust that she would, otherwise none of this had any chance of working. Without her to take up the Beast's attention, the puppets would make short work of me. I knew there was another way in, so I started to make my way around the building while keeping an eye out in case there were any changes in the puppets' movements.

I turned the corner, finding myself in a narrow alleyway between the gymnasium and the school's outer wall. I came here often during lunch breaks when I wanted to be left alone since it was usually deserted, so I knew there was a short set of stairs set in the ground that led to a seldom-used side door, which opened directly into the basement where the changing rooms and storage rooms were. I tested the handle and found it locked as expected, so I set down the bundle in my arms and unwrapped it. Inside were the three largest pieces of the sword I was able to find. They'd been too hot to hold with my hands, so I'd used my hoodie instead, though already it was badly singed.

I had no idea if this would work, but the backup plan was breaking and climbing in through the second story window and I didn't fancy my chances there. Instead, I picked up the largest piece, a chunk from the tip about a handspan in length, using a severed sleeve of the hoodie as a makeshift mitten, and jammed it as hard as I could in between the door and the wall right where I knew the deadbolt would be. It struck sparks off the metal surface and stuck there, suddenly becoming hot enough to burn me through the cloth. I jumped back, fanning my hands to lessen the sting, and watched as it vibrated and smoked in place. I then picked up another item from my bundle, this time a solid chunk of tile courtesy of the Beast's rampage. I hefted it with both hands, hoping I wasn't about to accidentally blow myself up, and hammered the blade as hard as I could.

Each strike produced more sparks than the last, until I hit it a fourth time and the blade snapped with a sound like breaking glass, followed by a wave of heat strong enough to knock me flat on my back. I took a second to blink the spots from my eye before sitting up, and sighed in relief when I saw the door had swung wide open, the part where the bolt met the door melted and still slightly glowing. I didn't have time to bask in my genius however; I could hear sounds of activity coming from within the gymnasium, so I pocketed the remaining blade pieces and hurried inside.

I entered and swept the dark room with my phone until I found what I was looking for: a small wall-mounted cabinet. Unfortunately, I wasn't alone: a puppeteered girl in a gym uniform was staggering around near the stairs, and immediately started coming towards me. I swallowed the lump in my throat and resisted the impulse to run away. If I wanted to help in any way then I needed to test this next part of the plan, and a lone puppet was my best bet. I pulled off my eyepatch and stood my ground, glaring at the approaching girl and pushing all of my feelings of anxiety and uselessness out towards her. For a second it seemed to have no effect and I almost panicked, but then the puppet's movements began to slow down and become stiffer, and she slumped down and stopped just an arm's reach away from me.

I took a deep breath to steady myself and waited to make sure she wasn't going to suddenly spring back up again, and then, careful to keep her in my field of vision, I produced the second chunk of sword and set about cutting her free. I had to be careful not to cut or burn her on accident, but to my relief the blade burned through the strings easily without leaving behind any trace. After about a minute of work all of her limbs were free, so I took a step back and covered up my left eye again.

I almost had a heart attack as she immediately jumped at me and wrapped her arms around my midsection. I came dangerously close to stabbing her before I realized she was crying.

"Th-thank you" she managed to stammer in between gasping sobs, and I felt a knot form in my throat as something about the situation threatened to make my own overwhelmed emotions spill out, but I held it in. I noticed her legs were shaky and unsteady, so I gently lowered her to the ground.

"Hey, it's okay. You're gonna be alright." I supposed I should have expected such a reaction, but I was never the type to be good at comforting people, so I found myself awkwardly holding her and stroking her back as the girl slowly calmed down.

"You're okay. Hey," I gently pushed her away and tried again once she was calmer, "look at me. What's your name?"

"S-sofia." She sniffled once and wiped her eyes. "My name's Sofia, I just transferred here last month."

"Nice to meet you. I'm Iris." I gave her my best attempt at a reassuring smile as I helped her to her feet. "Listen to me Sofia, we can't stay here, the Beast is still close by. Can you tell me anything about what's happening upstairs? What did you see?"

"I-I don't know. We were practicing for tryouts when out of nowhere we all felt it, and then we tried to hide, b-but some students came in and they weren't acting normal and they grabbed me and started dragging me off and put this stuff on me and I couldn't move, and the coach, he tried to help me but they, I didn't want to but the strings made me and I–"

"Stop," I cut her off, grabbing her by the shoulders. "Sofia, I need you to focus. Think back to the last few minutes. Did you see the Beast? Did you notice anything?"

"I-I did." She took a deep breath and exhaled before continuing. "It happened a bit ago, I could feel I was being… like, called? The Beast came into the gym and a bunch of other people started showing up, and it was doing something, I don't know, looked like it was building a nest? There were strings everywhere. And then the strings made me come down here, I think it was looking for something."

I nodded along with her description. "Anything else? How many people did it have under its control?"

"I don't know, like twenty-something maybe? Sorry, the strings wouldn't let me move my head freely" she apologized.

"It's okay." I'd been hoping for more, but this was good enough and we didn't have time for a more thorough interview. "You should get out of here. Take those stairs back there, they'll lead you out behind the building. Shouldn't be any puppets around that side."

She started towards the exit, but hesitated. "What about you? What are you going to do?"

"Don't worry about me," I said as I scanned the room again looking for something. In a corner, my light bounced off a couple of dumbbells somebody had left out. I picked one up with some difficulty, and made my way to the closed cabinet. I bashed it sideways with the weight as hard as I could; it only took two swings for the flimsy latch to give way and reveal several rows of keys. With this, I could access any of the storerooms and help myself to the stuff inside. "I have a plan."

 

[BadassOverlord]

...And that marks the end of my backlog! This is a project I've been working on in my spare time for a while and I figured I finally had enough of it to make it worth posting somewhere. If anyone out there is enjoying it, I'd love to hear your thoughts! I'm definitely gonna keep working on it, but I'm not gonna make any promises regarding when a new chapter might come out (I learned my lesson).

Thank you for reading.