{Alice}

“Well done, Mister Crawford; that is a perfectly adequate familiar Bond. Your Spirit seems healthy and properly manifested... though it does seem a little shy. Maybe next time try and not scream at the spirit to appear and instead just ask it to.”

“Yes, Miss Dobbs.” The guy in question answered without the least bit of sincerity.

“Now, next up... ah will you look at that! Dia! Would you please come forward?”

“Oh, uhm, do I have to?”

“Yes, Dia. Every student is required to have a Familiar, no excuses. Now get to it, will you? We will not have this discussion again!”

“But!”

“NO Buts, Dia! Go to the circle and summon! I don’t even care what you summon, just summon anything and take the first thing that answers.” Miss Dobbs pinched the bridge of her nose; apparently, they really did have that discussion before... more than once probably.

“Okay...”

“Good! Now follow my instructions!”

I zoned out for a bit as the teacher was repeating the summoning instruction for the fourth time now. Even before this, I could have recalled them from my mind. After all, when you spend years preparing for your own familiar ritual that knowledge didn’t just get lost. No, instead it kept sitting in your mind taunting you with never being able to use it.

Considering that you needed a properly chiseled circle to actually summon anything, my chances of doing it on my own had been slim. While we did have some in the shop, my mother and aunt had never let me near them without supervision, making it borderline impossible to sneak in and quickly summon an imp or quasit. But right now the worst thing was watching that fool Dia work.

I didn’t need voices in my head to notice her incompetence. When she wasn’t messing up all the words of both the ethereal and the infernal language, she was pronouncing them entirely wrong. After another five minutes, she still hadn’t even made a connection to the in-between. The thing inside of me was urging me to put an end to it all. I should just take the athame from my pocket and slit the whores throat. With all that sweet lifeblood of hers, it would certainly be enough to let my...

“Let my what?” I whispered to myself in confusion. “What was I thinking about?”

“Miss Dutrar.” I was most perplexed when the teacher suddenly called out to me.

“Yes?” What was going on?

“You seem to be very interested in the summoning circle. Would you perhaps like to suggest a solution to Miss Dobbs here?”

“Huh? I... I was just...” Only now I noticed the cold steel that my hand was clutching.

“I am waiting.”

“Ah, uhm, yes! I... could...” The blade was heavy in my pocket. And my thought became ever darker. Forcefully I pulled the knife out and set it down right next to Dia. “I have an athame that Dia can use. After all, she is a Taint Blood so, she could just summon an imp or something similar weak.”

“That is actually a rather good idea, Miss Dutrar. Though I have to ask, how did you know she was a changeling, and what possessed you to use an infernal swear word?”

“I... ah... I don’t have the slightest clue.”

“I see. Maybe take a seat until Dia is done. You're looking rather pale and confused.”

“Yeah... I think that would be nice...”

The world felt like clouds as I staggered towards one of the cushioned stools in the room. Today was a strange day; for some reason, I kept having blackouts or episodes of absence. ‘How did I know that Dia is a Brud Krew, a tainted Blood... a changeling, how humans call the little bastards. Holy Hellhounds! There it was again! I keep thinking weird things! Just why do I feel such disdain towards Dia? She never did anything to me or Lyn... and yet, I just want to crush her like the bug she is. The Gods be damned, again!?’ My mental crisis would have probably continued forever onwards if Ithelyn’s voice hadn’t ripped me out of my thoughts.

“Alice? The circle is ready for you... do you want my help getting up? You look a little shaky.”

“Thank you Lyn. I feel a bit... shaky. Maybe I’m just feeling a bit under the weather.”

“Sure... after this, you are going straight to bed, understood?”

“Yes, Mistress~.” I chuckled.

It turned out that getting Ithelyn’s help was actually needed. My legs felt as if made from jello and each step itself was like trying to learn to walk all over. Though much worse than wobbly legs, were the weird hallucinations that kept plaguing me. When I looked down I could have sworn to see my skin ripple like water but once I blinked the illusion was gone. It must have been one because not one of the other people around me seemed to notice anything. Then why did they feel so damned real, if they truly were nothing but that? I shook my head in confusion, whatever weird phenomenon I was coming down with was clearly messing with my mind. And I couldn’t have that right now. Slapping my cheeks I made sure to be as awake as possible before stepping up to the sigil on the ground

“Good.” The teacher looked down her black rimmed glasses to assess me. “You still look like crap but there is no fixing that now. Are you ready to proceed?”

“I am, let’s get this over with.”

“Very well, please follow my instructions.”

Before she could even start I already interrupted her.

“No.”

“Excuse me? Did you just say, No!?”

“I did; I am a Dutrar Witch. The women of my family have been Witches long before most even knew of the practice. I will do it in their way or not at all.”

“I see, that is highly unusual, you know?” She pushed her glasses down to look above them, obviously condescending me.

“Maybe,” I replied snarkily. “But you’re going to let me do it anyway because you can’t afford to have me running around unbound, can you?”

“Hmph. Fine!” With an audible crack, she slapped her book close. “But don’t expect any assistance, young lady! Speaking of things... Dia, may the gods damn you, put clothing on that whore of an Imp of yours! UGH!”

“Sorry Mom, she just won’t listen to me!”

“Damn you, child! I told you to call me Miss Dobbs!”

With a sigh, I tried drowning out all the background noise which was easier said than done, considering the voices in my own head. The ritual itself was going to be prepared the way it had been done since ages past. Well, almost at least. I didn’t have one of the ceremonial masks one would usually wear. But I wasn’t about to summon anything powerful, so it shouldn’t be an issue. Ignoring that small scuffle I could hear break out behind I began.

First were seven red candles for the inner circles and fourteen black ones for the outer circle. The red ones were used to attract the summon, normal bee wax and animal blood were all you needed to make them. And while they were referred to as red candles they were actually more of a gross reddish brown. Now the black ones, they were special. Not only were they cast out of a wax won from the tallow of humans but the wick itself was twirled from the hair of several witches.

Their production was somewhat illegal now and they stank horribly when lit. But my grandma was a traditional woman, in her own words, there was no protection more effective than the sacrifice of a human. The fact that she insisted that every one of her offspring used them in summoning rituals didn’t help. Sadly I actually had to steal mine from under her nose. She had also always insisted that I never be let to touch a summoning rune.

Well, the old broad had it coming! First, she cast a spell on my damn soul, and now the shitty thing was driving me insane! But I wouldn’t have to stay under her iron grip for much longer, I would soon be free. One by one I started lighting the candles. The red ones first, to slowly thread the needle through the veil. Then the black ones to stabilize and build protection. Oddly I didn’t find the black candles to stink as much today. They were certainly intense, but the smell somehow reminded me of home. I felt a weird nostalgia about a place I couldn’t name nor imagine. Pushing that thought aside I continued with my task.

Holding my athame firmly but not too strong I raised it in front of me.

“Spirits if the Veil! Hear my call and feel my power. I seek no harm and I seek no peril. I will pass your realm unbothered and quickly. Let this thread pass and you may feed on some of Magic. Fail our bargain and let it be like poison to your forms!”

There was an almost barely noticeable decrease in the resistance to my spells passing and I knew they had retreated... or run off to call bigger friends. It mattered not as soon as the bridge was made they would not be able to touch it. The miasma was too dangerous to them. The moment was close now. For the first time, I would communicate with the demon realm. I could almost feel the sweat drip down my palms and forehead. Then with a decisive movement, the blade went down. A short, sharp pain was all that I could feel before the blood gushed out of my underarm.

My eyes widened in panic; I immediately knew I had messed up. There was too much blood coming from my wound! It shouldn’t have been possible but I could see drops being literally launched from my wound onto the circle. Some of the drops hit a candle and it immediately sizzled and extinguished, emitting a sickly purple smoke. The weather that I had sought to weave was no longer aimlessly drifting, instead, I could feel it being pulled towards a goal. It didn’t matter if I had messed up or not, I needed to continue closing the portal now could easily kill me!

“Masters of quiet and shadow I ask of you! Step forward if you wish to heed my call! A service for a price, as the old treaty says, chosen by both the witch and the demon! A mutual contract, a binding seal!”

Suddenly the tether jumped from where it had been to another place. I could feel it dig deeper and deeper. I was no longer skimming the upper levels of the hells. This was something strong and terrifying! I wanted to call out to the teacher, have her forcefully close the portal but my voice was no longer my own. Another one was speaking through me, the thing that was inside of me and the thing that was dragging me towards it. My mouth opened and it spoke. I wanted to cry both tears of joy and horror. I knew that voice, I remembered it singing lullabies for me!

“Dutrar!!! Your scent is unmistakable! Which one of you was a stupid little girl? Which one of you did not hide their identity behind your silly masks!? Let me have a taste, Doll...”

There wasn’t even a point in resisting anymore, whatever had taken control of me was far stronger than anything I had met or even heard of before. My hand lifted on its own and with my eyes almost bulging out of my head I had to watch as it came down. This time I regained control of my body though only partially and only to scream in agony. Under my unmoving eyes, the knife cut through skin, sinews, and muscle right until my pinky was no longer attached. And then almost casually so my hand threw the cut-off digit into the forming vortex.

“Mhmmm... delightful... hmm. What is this? You aren’t her? You aren’t my lovely little deceiver. But that taste..  that power... that soul... can it be?”

The voice was silent for a second then suddenly my vocal cords screamed with double the intensity.

“It is you! My lost little birdy! My cute little floof! My bundle of endless terror and happiness! My STOLEN YOUNG! Oh, such joy! Wait for mommy dear, will you? This will take but a second... and finally you will be home...”

Suddenly without warning, I could feel the presence leave my body and was finally able to take back control. I didn’t bother with checking my mutilated hand, because I had to close this portal, I NEEDED to close this fucking portal! The thing was trying to get through it on its own and it was making it sound like nothing but a morning stroll! It had to be a higher demon, maybe even a high official. If that thing was getting through no one in this room could stop it!

Now entirely in panic mode, I took a look around the room. Several of the students had already passed out from the raw Magic bleeding into our reality, clear signs of the tether going out of control! ‘Fuck! None of this should be! What happened? Where did I go wrong?’ My thoughts were interrupted by Ithelyn screaming at me from the outside of the circle. The forming portal was so loud now that I could barely hear her.

“Alice! You have to stop the summoning! If that thing gets through we are all fucked!”

“I’ll try!” I began franticly trying to cut off the connection between me and the portal but my mind couldn’t grasp the strings. Every time I tried, they slipped right past as if something in me was actively preventing it. I needed help!

“Lyn!” I called out over the noise and screaming. “I can’t close the portal! You have to shut it down from outside! Where is the teacher?!”

“Fucking hells, Alice! You can die if I snuff out so much of your magic!”

“I know!” I already had accepted that it was dangerous, but I would not die today! “Don’t think about me! Get Miss Dobbs and tear it down!”

“Fuck. Fine!” My body was barely able to move with the Magic shackling me to the portal. So all I could do was keep trying, no matter how futile it was. Then shit turned from bad to worse when Ithelyn told me the grave news.

“I can’t find her! Hold on a second, I can see her outside the room! She took Dia and most of the students out! Oh gods... NO!”

“What is it!?”

“The bitch is setting up a barrier with Null-Runes She is trying to collapse this entire space in on us!”

“Tell her to stop! There are still students in here!” The air around us was growing thick and cloying with a red vapor. Miasma? No that couldn’t be... right?

“I don’t think she cares! And what is this weird red mist?”

“That doesn’t matter right now! Fucking do something to stop her!” The feeling of the tether was changing as if something old and dead was clawing its way up towards me!

“Wait! I don’t have to kill her if we collapse the portal and use the remaining energy we might be able to rupture the barrier towards the outside instead of in on us!”

“Then get to it!” I had trouble concentrating on what Lyn was saying. The feeling of dread and death was so close now I could almost taste it! Whoever was about to greet us it wouldn’t take long. I could barely hear Ithelyn yell out that she loved me before the magical field around me was starting to waver. Whatever she was doing, it seemed to work more and more Magic was sapped from both the portal and my own body. Looking down on my hands still trying to cut the bridge between realms, I could see my skin flake. All colors were draining from me like a newspaper in the rain. A small sad smile cracked my lips; well, in for a penny, in for a pound. I slowly released the little control I had on my magic. If there was nothing to feed the portal then it would have to...

“No.”

My eyes grew wide in panic, and as if in slow motion my gaze wandered towards Ithelyn. Something shot out of the portal and hit her right in the stomach! Like a puppet whose string was cut she collapsed to the ground. Before my eyes, a dark red spot was forming on her clothes and slowly seeped into the carpet below her. I was frozen in shock. What should I do? What could I even do? The answer came not from me but from someone I had entirely forgotten.

Hugin the proud Spirit that he was took one look at his fallen Mistress and turned towards me. What happened next I couldn’t fathom and only barely describe. His form twisted and turned until nothing was left but a black formless shape. Then as if on a command I hadn’t seen he rushed towards me. More things flew out of the portal, but he barely managed to avoid them all. Instead, he or whatever was left of his being hit me straight in the chest. After that, my mind cut out.

“. .”

“. . .”

“. . . .”

“. . . . .”

“Alice.”

“You won’t be able to answer me; you’re too young and inexperienced to understand what is going on.”

“First up, Ithelyn isn’t dead, at least not yet. If her stepsister hadn’t exchanged her alchemical ingredients a few weeks ago things would be different. But by now her transformation has progressed so far that a little blood loss won’t kill her, that is, if you feed her as soon as you wake up.”

“Now, to the important things. I wish for you to absorb my being into yours. I know what you are thinking but it is the only way. It will allow us to close that portal and... it will allow me to stay by my dear Lyn’s side forevermore.”

“You’re wondering what I am talking about, I understand that. I... I wasn’t always just a familiar. I was powerful once, terrible too. At my prime, I did things to both people and other spirits that I am not proud of.”

“The beings in charge of the spirit realm... eventually they caught up with me. It would have been my death if a young little girl hadn’t called me to her side. That was ten years ago. My contract with Ithelyn is running out. A return to the spirit world would mean my certain death. She doesn’t know. Lyn has already made plans to release me and then summon me again. This will not work.”

“Therefore you are my only chance. If you absorb me you will gain in power, you will become who you always were meant to be, who you truly are on the inside. The voices you hear are that of your soul yearning for the touch of its creator. The demon that is trying to get to you, she will rip you away from this world and from Ithelyn.”

“Now I won’t lie to you. Merging with me will make you powerful, but it will also change you, change us. At first, there will still be a separation between our memories and wants but over time this will fade. You will no longer be able to tell the difference between me or you and neither will I. I am ready to accept this fate.”

“You can’t answer me and I am sorry for that.  But I will never again leave Ithelyn. I am sorry Alice... and goodbye.”

I screamed internally as Hugin’s essence wrapped itself around my soul. I was burning and freezing at the same time. A flood of memories overcame me, memories that were decidedly not mine. Armies eradicated in a single night, children slaughtered and Spirits devoured all for the ultimate price. Regret. Sorrow. Self-hatred. Love. The feeling of being loved back and finally having found a truer purpose in life. My affection for Ithelyn grew by ten times that day. I could no longer but see her as a benevolent Goddess that had saved me. My mind cracked------

We had to save her. When we opened our eyes there was a feeling we had never before experienced power and love of such intensity that our lips split into a sick grin. The portal was still open. As it was right now we couldn’t get to Ithelyn. We savored the name on our tongue.

“Ithelyn~.... We like this. We love her. You will not take us from her.”

“NO! By the hells you damned fiend what have you done to my daughter! Corrupted her with your vile essence! This will not stand! I am coming for you and I will take you back, Ali’cedesra!”

“Goodbye, Mother.”

We raised the athame to our neck and while giving her the most deserved middle finger in history, we cut our throat. Blood gushed out and with our final moments of consciousness, we said the ancient words.

“Release. Banish. Seal.”