Bumbledork: “Don’t stress too much about it not being something huge or what we can or can’t do (>_<) We can’t change the rules. I’m just excited to check out where my big sis has been living all these years ＼(^o^)／ and to meet your friends!!! Tho (^_^’)  I’m honestly a bit worried if Allie can behave with them but it’s probably fine, maybe. I think it’s fine. Anyway, I really look forward to it!“

Raz: “Thank you : ) I’m sure you’ll all get along. Looking forward to seeing you both too! Say hi to Allie for me. See you both soon!”

–The last conversation between Faham and Raz, before a long line of emoticons and unrelated cute memes.

 

“No way.”

Raz wiped years of dust off of the bone needle casket up to the light, snorting.

“You’re still stuck here, huh?”

Four years and eight months and here it was stuck, collecting dust while other foci took off to adventure with their newly awakened wizard hopefuls. Raz smiled at the foci. The poor thing had endured the full barrage of thirteen year old Raz’s desire to become a wizard. The needles inside were bent, the red thread tangled up, and the box had her tooth marks. She’d had absolutely no clue about how resonance worked back then. Fine enough reason to start today’s sesh with it, she supposed. 

“Might be our lucky day.”

Raz took the casket to the circle, sat down cross-legged, and placed it before her. She had chosen to wear black pants and a comfy old shirt today, because the body-paints and ritual gowns hadn’t done wizshit, and honestly seemed more like a big scam to keep the resonance ritual gear sellers in business.

She unlocked Joram’s hand-me down phone, clicked to unpause the video she’d set up, and closed her eyes.

Meditative droning joined the tinkling soundscape of the wonderchamber.

“Breathe in,” spoke a soothing deep male voice.

A moment of droning sounds.

“Breathe out.”

More droning.

“Breathe in.”

Several moments of breathing and calming sounds passed, before the boy said, “What is the foci before you, physically?”

“A box of needles with crimmillium thread,” answered Razandra.

“What does it mean to you? Don’t hesitate. Don’t question. Speak.”

Razandra paused, thinking. “Thread. Fixing. Repair.” She swallowed. “First failure. Hope. Second chance.” Raz slowed herself. She had to keep thoughts on the foci and not let them branch. “Repair. Needle. Sutures. Doctor. Healing. Bone. Death. Red string of fate.”

Eyes still closed, she brushed a thumb over the fast forward to get to the second part.

“What is most important to you?”

First failure.

Raz winced. She opened her eyes and paused the arctube tutorial. A tall boy of Indian origin with a memorable mustache and ‘NeWiz’ merch t-shirt sat froze in a lotus position, as did the dark candle-lit wonderchamber around him. 

Raz placed the needle casket back in its spot. It hadn’t been a good idea. None of the symbols really aligned with her latest most accurate list, besides today’s session was supposed to be about survival associated foci. It was, according to teachers and arctubers and research, best to keep your resonance sessions centered around a narrow symbolic range.

Survival was one of Raz’s top choices in her little list. They often ended up as adventurers or working as support wizards in expeditions, which could easily net her a job at HBW. Not that she was picky anymore. Any aspect would do, so long as she became a wizard at all. But if she did get a survival adjacent aspect and had a shot at chasing those silly childhood dreams, she wouldn’t mind terribly much.

After some hemming and hawing, Raz picked an ancient leather backpack from amongst the wonderchamber’s foci. 

She restarted the video, centered her breathing, emptied her mind, and was asked what the backpack meant to her.

“Survival. Being ready. Wandering. Camping. Hikes. Trails. Travel. Carrying burdens. Helping.”

Her chest tingled. She felt really good despite the earlier fumble, like she was onto something here! Raz thumbed the recording to fast forward.

“What is most important to you?” asked the voice.

“Helping.”

“Think of a moment – past, present, or future – when this magic would have meant the most to you.”

Her breathing calm, Raz let herself return to the lost isola. She thought of how useful carrying things would’ve been in her exploration trips. How she could’ve perhaps carried her siblings out and saved them from suffering.

“Dive deep into that emotion.”

Raz thought of how she had fretted over making through the days back then.

“Deeper.”

She wanted to see Allie and Faham again. To be with them.

Focus on survival!

On how she had used string to not get lost in the Un. On little tricks to make life better. On three of them fighting against the forces of Un.

“Are you there?”

Raz thought so.

“Then feel it.”

Raz furrowed her brows and tried to feel the backpack with all her might. She imagined it so sharply in her mind’s eye that she burned its outline into her eyelids. She repeated it until her brain looped ‘backpackbakcpackbackpack’. Every thinking and feeling muscle she could think of she clenched.

“And open your eyes and see.”

Raz flashed her eyes open.

She saw nothing except the backpack sitting before her in a defiant slouch. 

“Congratulations to the lucky ones,” cheered the video. “Comment, like, and subscribe and let me know about your experiences, whether you are first time awakened, serial symbol hopper, or an experienced wizards adding in new aspects. And for those who didn’t get it this time, don’t be discouraged! Finding that first resonance is hard. But, by following diligent proven resonance methods, like this video’s tutorial, and other exclusive secrets discussed on my new super exclusive resonance course camp sponsored by Canned Wonder, you will get there! For first ten to sign up, I guarantee a seventy four percent chan–”

Raz rewinded the clip. She wrote an old leather backpack down in her resonance tracker spreadsheet and crossed it over and moved on.

Backpacks had never really been her thing anyway, so it made sense it wouldn’t resonate. It should be something symbolically relevant to her. A survival foci similar to what she’d had on the isola.

A walking stick? Sticks and staffs were a bit loaded with wizard-related symbolism, maybe that would help?

It didn’t.

Neither did she resonate with a flask of water, old boots, or a flint either. Not with NeWiz’s pivotal life moment method, not with Symbol Switcher’s ‘I Wish’ principle, and not with the school’s outdated ass traditional meditative practices.

Everything ended up with her staring at the foci, feeling nothing except mild anticipointment.

A heavy jingle marked that her three hours were up.

Raz let out a heavy breath, then put on a smile. Didn’t work this time, but at least she’d crossed out a few foci. On the bright side, she was one step closer to becoming the wizard of disappointment. Perhaps the needlebox was her destiny after all.

She gathered her things and stepped out of the changing room. 

“Foci?” asked the bored late-twenties wonderchamber curator. His eyes didn’t so much as flinch from the modern flat glass monitor playing a vid of some scantily clad advlogger.

“Nope.”

“Student?”

“Hopefully not for long, but likely forever.”

Gaze flicked to Raz, dipped from her face, then returned to watching the adventure influencer. He drawled like she’d personally offended him, “ID if you’ve got free visits left. Ten val if you don’t.”

How many archowiz butts had his parents tongue-cleaned to get him the job and keep him from getting booted? It had to be in triple digits.

Raz tempered the urge to sass him and paid quietly. She picked up her old red jacket and scruffy boots. While tying the laces, her eyes settled on one of the posters in the entry hall, an ad featuring a gorgeous woman and man in gray worker’s overalls, grinning at a nearly completed flying castle set against a red sunset.

“Tired of waiting? Become a sorcerer today and join us to build your golden age of magic. 5000 val sign up bonus! Guaranteed employment! Sorcerers now legally qualified as wizards!”

The small print warned of a ten percent risk and of sorcerers never becoming able to resonate. Raz’s attention flicked back to the ‘legally qualified as wizards’. She ripped off one of the phone-numbers dangling from the poster and pocketed it. 

A classic Castleyard autumn awaited her outside. Heavy drizzle fell from a gray sky made darker by shadows of the castles above. The acrid scent of gravity magic was heavy in the air. Trickles rushed in the rain channels, carrying trash and fallen leaves.

People, kids, castleyard workers, and a few elderly, clustered under the lip of the community center tram stop. Raz joined them.

“Three minutes late,” whispered a strange raisin-lipped grandma to Raz in a thick Castleyard accent. “Can you believe it?”

“Ayuup.” Raz pulled her phone out.

“Didn’t use to be like this. All gone to wizshit since letting them worldbreakers in. Used to be such a wonderful town before you know? So beautiful.”

Raz pursed her lips thin and nodded slowly. 

The grandma leaned closer to her face, squinting at Raz’s eyes. “Is that blue…” She blinked rapidly, made a shocked face, and waddled to the other side of the tram stop from where she proceeded to give Raz the stinky eye.

Raz opened her chat with Capi. Her last message was a good luck wish, time stamped at little after midnight.

Raz: “Not a survival wiz. I had good vibes about this one concept, though I’d like to ask some questions about employability. Know any disappointment wizards like that over in the big city?”

She chuckled at her own cleverness and stepped into the small Castleyard tram. Seats were packed with castleworkers, so Raz elected to stand at the center.

Capi read her message and began typing.

Raz smiled.

Capi: “Sry super busy. My class is on a trip to visit a WACA landing!”

Raz’s smile faltered.

Capi continued typing, then paused. A picture appeared in their chat. A selfie of her former neighbor, a girl with a pretty smile, glasses, dark hair in a bun, and the cutest yellow-eyed wink. She wore a leather apron, stylish clay-red wizard hat with sculpture’s tools, and a color matched swimsuit. Behind her was a small gang of young wizard students riding some kind of gigantic bunny golem. The pink-white striped beach background was populated by hundreds of other young wizards. A lush island with structures rising through the jungle sat in the distance. 

The tram tilted downhill. A kid started leaning against Raz. She smiled at the picture.

Raz: “Looks awesome : ) !! Have fun!!”

Capi: “srysrysry ttyl promise. Call tomorrow?”

Raz: “It’s cool, yeah. Tomorrow.”

Capi replied with a hugging smiley, which Raz returned.

Raz scrolled up to look at the image a bit. Capi looked so happy. She was glad for her.

The tram paused and the angry grandma stepped off while cutting off a group of kids. No one else stepped in. Doors hissed shut.

Raz checked her other chats. GG was offline and had changed his profile picture again, this time to that communist beard-guy in rainbow anime style. Very Earth-ally of him.

Beneath him was the stalled out animal pic-sharathon with Faham from a week ago. Raz typed up the same message she had sent Capi, but deleted it with a sigh. Bitching about wonderchamber visits to sibs would be a big oof move. She’d rather send him something positive. No moaning. No complaining. She didn’t have the right to.

Raz: “Hey, how’s my lilbro doing : )”

No reply. Not a surprise. Un-reality connections always took a bit.

Raz: “Excited about your bday?”

After a moment, she sent one to Allie too, even if she probably wouldn’t read it in weeks.

Raz: “: ) love u. hug for Faham from me”

The tram did couple stops before Spellright Street. A group of older castleworkers stepped out. Raz met one woman’s eye accidentally while scrolling up Faham convo. He gave her a goofy old-lady smile and tipped her cap.

“Safe travels.”

“Thanks? You too.”

The tram chugged onwards. Raz followed the slow plodding of the castleworker group. She checked her pocket to find the slip she’d ripped off of the poster still there. She looked at the inoffensive animal-picture exchange and wondered when she’d stopped chatting about wonderchamber with Faham. Couldn’t have been more than a couple of months, surely. Did they even believe she could get them out of New Europe anymore?

A pressure crawled up Raz’s chest. She clicked off the messages and opened arctube and scrolled her subscriptions. Resonance tutorials sped past. Her favorite advlogger had a new video, but she didn’t feel like it either. Raz went into recommendations and was suggested a true curse podcast about a wizard who couldn’t open doors without a mysterious giant hand trying to snatch him. 

She checked the wagon. Rain pattered the windows hard and loud. One old man sat a few seats away, watching the gray outdoors. Raz muted the video and put on subtitles before pressing play.

The giant hand’s curse began by revealing that it still existed. The two wizard hostesses revealed that an unnamed archowiz from F. Magogram had tried to break it last year, to devastating consequences! His face was shown, pixelated. The hostesses began setting up the scene, describing a quiet night at an empty research hall. Tiny subtitles whizzed past a bit too fast to catch. 

Raz wasn’t feeling it. With a huff, she clicked pause. She tried to watch the rain instead, but her thoughts kept circling back to the gravity sorcerer ad.

Her stop came before she could finish typing in their site address. Raz was the last to step off the tram.

She was drenched the instant she stepped out. Keeping eyes open was impossible in the torrent. Every breath filled your mouth with rain.

Raz sprinted home while gurgling defiant noises at the sky. She slammed the door and hurried her precious jacket, then arranged it and her shoes to dry over a wall heater. Pants she kept on. They were almost dry from the knee up.

Joram was home too. All three pairs of his shoe pairs were in a neat row next to Maroque’s collection in the large hardwood wardrobe.

“I’m back,” Raz called out as she stepped into the main room.

No answer.

Raz shrugged and headed straight to Maroque’s room. It was the largest one in the house, furnished with metal embroidered woods, gorgeous hand-painted ceramics of precious metals and porcelain, and countless embroidered whispersilks of M. Magogram. But despite Joram’s best efforts to arrange the luxurious furniture and decor, the room felt a little like a hoarder’s storage.

Thankfully, Joram wasn’t there. She closed the door behind her.

“Hi, mind if I moan a bit?” Raz asked.

Maroque did not reply. 

He stood frozen on a pedestal behind a hardwood office desk. Before him was a meticulously arranged collection of newspaper clippings of main events from the last five years, several notes on M. Magogram rumors and news, a stack of sealed letters, and a schedule suggestion. On the small table next to him was a fresh salad, an assortment of refreshing waters, and a steaming cup of dark purple tea. 

“You probably wouldn’t.”

Raz sat by his feet and leaned against the transparent veils frozen mid-flutter. She let out a sound of frustration and rested the back of her head against his leg.

“Failed again. Not a big surprise, I guess, but was kinda hoping that sciencing it out would do the trick. You know, repeating the same thing, but with tweaks. Taking notes. Being smart about it. Logical.”

Raz combed a hand through her short black hair. 

“It sucks. Trying and failing. Doing it over and over again. Frigging sucks. You ever have that?”

“Why yes, little friend. Me not very good at magic at first, but persevere! Never give up hope! Eventually succeed if bang head at wall enough,” said Raz in her Maroque himbo-sage-advice voice.

“Nobody laughed at my disappointment wizard joke yet.”

“Ho-ho-ho-ho,” replied Raz-Maroque.

Raz snorted at her own absurdity. “Thanks.”

She started picking at the precious carpet. Her smile fell. “I just dunno if I can keep trying.”

Raz-Maroque listened quietly.

Raz plucked off a tuft from the carpet and threw it with all her strength. It flew like half a meter.

“Feel like I’m running. Going nowhere at full sprint, for years.”

She tugged at an unraveling thread in the carpet, frowning.

“Years I burned for nothing. Could’ve been studying. Could’ve been working. Could’ve been anything else.”

She reeled the thread around her fingers. 

“Spent them on anything else.”

It looped around and around.

“Wasted so much value. You know what they could’ve gotten for all those tens? For the thousands I…” Raz shook her head. “Could’ve bought Faham an arcbox. Could’ve upgraded their housing. Could’ve lived with them.”

The thread pulled taut. Lips pursed, she looked up at the frozen wizard.

“Yeah. Not fair to blame you. I don’t.”

Somehow, he looked understanding.

Raz offered him a weak smile. “Hey, how mad would you be if I signed up for this sorcery…”

Knocking made her trail off.

Joram peeked in. “Pardon the intrusion, master Maroque, Razandra.” He bowed towards Maroque and her in turn. Years had softened his voice and smile and made his gaze flighty. He waited by the door, polite but insistent, ever the ‘perfect servsman’. 

Raz forced on a smile to match his. “Hi.”

“I see you are having a discussion with master Maroque.”

“Yes?”

Joram smiled, nodding. “Very good of you. I am certain he appreciates the gesture.”

“Yeah.” Just get to the point… Raz had to strain to keep the smile up.

Joram glanced at her, then studied the floor while shifting his weight from leg to leg. “Alas, decades of navigating the courts and cabals of Magogram did not equip me with insights into teenage psychology, so I hope you do not take offense in this. I took the liberty of preparing a small gift, as either congratulation or a little pick-you-up.”

“Oh.” Raz blinked.

Joram dipped his head, beaming that apologetic smile of his. “There is also a fresh serving of touscan salad in the kitchen, if you feel peckish, or should I wait?”

“Nah, I’ll eat now.” Raz climbed up, waving Maroque a sorry little bye-bye. 

Joram led her to the kitchen and offered a seat.

“Don’t need to,” Raz sighed.

“Oh, but I insist.”

She didn’t resist.

He set the table with all the pomp and ritual of a Magogram servant, placing down the finemetal engraved crystals, living cutlery, and temperature spelled plates. A colorful salad of ribbon-shredded veggies and hardened touscan cheese strips appeared before her, seasoned, herbed, and beautifully garnished. He also put down a selection of three different sauces in tiny pitchers and a bowl of extra touscan cheese strips.

Joram presented the final set with a flourish and bowed. “Please enjoy.”

“Thanks.”

He looked up and they exchanged forced smiles, before Joram averted his gaze. Raz waited to see if he intended to stand there, and when she realized he did, she did her best to ignore him and eat.

She tapped each piece of cutlery once to awaken them and ordered them with practiced finger-motions, following the etiquette to appease Joram. Though delicious, the meal felt a bit stiff to swallow with a silent Joram and her earlier gray mood hovering over shoulder. That ambiguous weight only grew as she finished and he went through the motions of properly cleaning the table. 

“Enjoyable?” he asked.

An urge to head out or into her room grew, but Raz kept her butt in the seat and smiled. “Yes. Tasty as always.”

“Thank you.” A hint of relief beamed through the layers of smiles he wore.

It disarmed her. For all the griefs and debts, both said and unsaid, she felt sorry for the man. Guilt followed, accompanied by years of small grudges.

Raz squeezed her arm, hoping he would hurry up. She had homework to do and Faham’s birthday.

Joram appeared beside her and placed a ceremonial domed offering platter before her, then took a step back. He gestured for her to open it.

Raz returned an awkward thanks-nod and removed the dome. A pair of black fabric slippers she’d once looked at sat before her. They had a cute slender design, with the upper part branching into three wide ribbons. The model dummy had worn one slipper braided up to the mid-thigh and the other with a big bow-tie behind the calf. Raz remembered them costing thirty-one visits to the wonderchamber. More than her monthly refugee stiped.

“I do hope the offering pleases the young mistress.”

More than he should be spending on her clothes. Jaws tense from smiling, Raz ran fingers over the velvety fabric. 

“I like them,” she managed to say.

“I am glad to hear it, though I cannot help but sense a but.”

That gray heaviness intensified. Raz put the shoes down. “Yeah.”

He approached, raised a hand, but returned it behind his back. After a moment of hesitation, Joram decided to awkwardly kneel beside her. “I must admit hesitance in broaching this subject. This would typically fall within master Maroque’s purview.”

“That’s what this was, huh?” Raz pushed her chair back and lost the fake smile.

Joram’s expression hardened. “Wizardhood is a rare privilege. And although those who bear its duties are often great men and women, that does not necessarily make those of us who cannot pursue it any less.”

Raz felt nauseous, gut-punched. She shook her head. “Let’s not.”

“Please listen, young mistress.”

“I need to go.”

“No. I think you need to stay and listen.” Gently but firmly, Joram caught her arm. “Many do not awaken until much later in life. Many never do. I do admit, I may have played a part in your envy–”

“I am not,” Raz hissed, feeling the heat rise.

Joram made a placating gesture, but continued, “–by my carefree utilization of everyday cantrips, but you must understand that magic is not everything in this world.”

A lie. A big fat lie.

“Oor is changing rapidly, and rife with new opportunities and paths that my generation would never even have dreamt of, many of them very respectable.”

Raz tisked, tugging at her arm.

Joram reached behind his back and placed a list before her. “I understand it can be difficult to spot the clouds in the mist, so I prepared some intriguing options that might catch your fancy. Based on the few court rumors that still reach me, I do believe unreal architecture, wish design, and arcnet engineering in particular have potential in the coming decades. You might find them quite agreeable.”

“Riiight. I should go into tech ‘cos I’m from Earth.”

He made a startled face. “Not at all my implication, young mistress. Not…”

“Nah, I know.” Raz tore at her hair, her foot tapping under the table. “Sorry.”

“No offense was made and none was taken.”

Raz hated that submissive smile. She wished he’d for once snap and quit that passive doormat attitude and let her be angry without feeling like she was butchering kittens. She couldn’t take this. Not now.

“Look.” Raz stood. “I love the shoes. Thank you. Really, thank you. But I’ve got a presentation coming up and Faham’s bday to prep for.”

“Absolutely. I understand you are busy, but I am simply worried you may be tempted by promises of quick solutions that you will regret later.”

She spun on him. “Wow.” Raz shook her head, flabbergast. “Rich coming from you.”

Joram steeled his expression with whatever scraps remained of his spine. “Say what you will, young mistress, but there are predatory agents out there willing to trade in dreams and you are a youth in a vulnerable stage of self discovery.”

Raz covered her face in disbelief. “O my god.”

“And despite what you may think, I will not betray the trust master Magogram placed in me. The professions I have outlined for you all may still lead you to resonance one day. And even should they not, they are all respectable careers he would be proud of.”

“Would. If he was alive.”

Joram’s mouth opened, then fell into a hurt frown. “Highly improper. That is not how you should be speaking of your benefactor.”

Raz hardened herself. She reminded herself that he wasn’t a kitten. He was a grown ass man. “I’ve seen people warped past the no return,” she said. “Enough to recognize one.”

“And you think I have not? Do you think our fringe colony tour on the M. Magogram’s flying fortress was a summer picnic?”

“How should I know?” She asked, laughing, then quoted Joram in a mocking tone, “It is not my place to speak of master Maroque’s past.”

“Master Maroque is not among them,” Joram insisted. “He is different. He has been getting livelier every year.”

“Okay. Cool. Fantastic. So I guess it’s okay for me to let Allie and Faham wait forever, because he’s coming back any day now?”

Joram withdrew, lips pursed.

“How much longer?” Ras asked.

He looked away.

“How. Much. Longer?”

“That is not something I can promise with perfect accuracy.”

“But you did. You promised.”

“I never explicitly implied…”

That sight of him squirming pitifully arguing the same damn excuse in circles snapped her. Raz let out an incoherent sound of anger, spun, and marched off, fists clenched.

“Young mistress!” Joram moved to follow.

She hastened her steps.

“Our conversation is unfinished.”

“We’re done.” She picked up her wet jacket, kicked her old shoes from the wardrobe and stepped into them.

“Razandra M. Magogram,” he called from the main hall, authoritative. 

“I’m not a fucking Magoshit anything!” she screamed, “Never call me that!”

She was out and slammed the door as hard as she could. Raz let out a muffled scream into the quiet and cold post-rain afternoon, but the raging pressure in her chest didn’t let up.

Raz took off, speed walking into a random direction away from Joram that quickly turned into a run. Her shoes sloshed. Cool wind howled above, rattling the webbing between the roof overhangs. She flew down the street, past the corner, and half-way up a random flight of stairs between buildings, before the burn in her lungs and legs stopped her.

Wheezing, Raz tried to push on but couldn’t. She remembered all the times she’d promised herself to exercise, only to be too busy studying resonance. Her huffs came out as laughter.

Maybe now was the time? One hand on the railing, she forced herself to crawl onwards. Their surface was a canvas of cracks, moss, and odd stains. Rainwater rushed in the gutters. Warm yellow of spell-lights and candles glowed from the windows overlooking the stairs. A child giggled. A beautiful young mother with golden eyes was at the window, looking back inside. She wasn’t much older than Allie.

Raz felt a pain in her chest and had to pause for breath again. She remembered the homework and bday prep and the pain intensified.

She had to at least make his sixteenth birthday special. She owed him that a thousand times over. She couldn’t afford this shit right now. She needed to be planning and budgeting. Raz remembered she’d need to ask Joram for money and groaned.

She took out her phone, speed scrolled through her recommendations and subscriptions, and started checking her messages. No replies. 

Raz trudged onwards, phone in hand. Her thumb hovered over the call button in Capi’s chat, but she didn’t wanna ruin her trip. GG was still offline. Sibs were a no go.

She checked her recommendations and subscriptions again on arctube, then her empty message folder on the HBW forum. Raz browsed the news threads, eyes glazed over. She checked some of the top comments, but didn’t really read them. Then, after a few minutes, she checked her recommendations, subscriptions, and new messages again.

A shiver ran through her. The damp jacket wasn’t warding off the sea-chill. Raz pulled it tighter around her.

She couldn’t stop shivering. The pressure didn’t let up. Every breath cinched her chest. The pain was growing worse.

A weird sobby sound tore from Raz as she fought to keep it under control. She hurried back onto arctube and put on NeWiz’s resonance tutorial.

“Breathe in,” instructed the boy.

Raz let out a rattling exhale. She closed her eyes and tried to wrestle her breathing under control. She’d wasted so many nights practicing this stupid focus exercise.

It didn’t help.

Raz let out a frustrated moan and opened her eyes. A moment’s vertigo hit her as she sat on the wet step, unable to recognize the houses or the sloped street before her, or the skeleton of a flying castle above. 

She fell on her back, corners of her mouth twitching as she watched the foreign sky. She didn’t even care anymore. Damn resonance and wizards and Oor. She’d give everything to get Earth and everyone in it back. Or just to get Allie and Faham here. At least with them she wouldn’t have had to be a lonely disappointment wizard.

Raz’s back was starting to get cold. She covered her face in a sleeve and prepared to soak it in a couple years worth of frustrated tears, then make a call to sign up and become a sorcerer. 

Her phone buzzed.

She jolted with alarm. For a beat, Raz feared it was Joram. The phone continued to vibrate.

“Allie?”

Raz answered it quickly.

“Yo,” said a familiar voice through static.

“Hi. Hugged Faham for me yet?”

“Called some of your friends. Capi was busy.”

Raz stared blankly at the sky for a moment. “Come again?”

“Where you at?”

“Uuhh…”

“Haul your bitch ass to grav boy’s workplace.”

“Huh?”

“I said move!”

Raz startled at the volume, nearly dropping the phone. She scrambled up, limbs stiff from cold. 

“I heard moving,” said Allie, when Raz had the phone to her ear again. “Good. Get there.”

The call ended.

Feeling a little lost and very weirded out, Raz started walking. Messages started popping in her chats.

Capi: “cant come. sry Raz : ( will make it up to u! come hang at my dorm on the break! I pay everything. Dont even try argue!!! OR >: (!!”

GG: “my sis can’t come but no problem”

Bumbledork: “I was hugged (^·^)”

Bumbledork: “Allie said you had a rough day. You can always msg me. I can listen or try to brainstorm stuff or research at least.”

Allie? How?! She’d sent her barely a few words! Her breath came in a sniffle. Raz’s eyes welled up.

Bumbledork: “Anytime.”

Bumbledork: “Capi can’t come apparently, but she would want to.”

Fen: “Your big sister invited me, but I’m not sure if I should? I said I’d still be friends and I meant it.”

Raz let out a laughing sob and wiped her eyes. Faham and Capi kept sending messages. She replied to them with hugs, then sent GG an ‘okay : )’, and started typing to Fez.

Raz: “I don’t even know what’s going on : D”

Fen: “Do you want a friend?”

She wiped her eyes again.

Raz: “Yes”

Fen: “See you soon.”

She looked around, orienting herself. At the top of the stairs, Raz recognized the street she was on. Only two streets from GG’s workplace, none of them uphill, thankfully. Raz found her steps hastening. Her eyes kept returning to the messages. She did a skippity-hop over a small puddle. 

“Hey.”

An unexpected deep voice paused her step. The tallest boy her age smiled at her. He’d grown a thick stubble to cover his built jaw, but not much else had changed since the last they met. He still preferred simple practical clothes even after work. He still had those kind soft amber eyes and eyebrows, muscles of a man ten years older, and dark moss-green hair that together with his dark skin had had him called the Last Tree in Castleyard.

She gave him a fond smile. “Hey, Fen. Long time no see.”

He nodded. “A couple weeks, or days depending on how you count. Spotted you at the town center the other day. Wasn’t sure you’d want a hello.”

“I wouldn’t have minded a hello,” said Raz, poking her tongue out at him.

“Ah’ll keep that in mind,” his voice a soothing rumble.

They continued towards GG’s workplace in wordless agreement. His steps made his bags rustle and clink.

Fen hefted one of them when he noticed her looking. “Snacks and some wonder. Your favorites, unless they’ve changed.”

“Aww. Thanks.” Raz beamed. “Didn’t have to.”

“Sure did.”

Her phone buzzed.

GG: “arrows”

Raz smiled at him again. Companionable silence continued to the inland edge of the town, where the bunker-like homes ended abruptly and the castleworks began. The place was a tall labyrinth of construction elements, half-finished walls, and vast fields of floating blocks, pillars, and castle-pieces tethered into the earth. Paths of gravel and packed earth ran between them, connecting lifts and buildings.

Warmth of a bonfire cast orange hues on the blocks some distance away. Boisterous laughter emanated from within.

“F-crew is having a finish party,” said Fen. “They slotted in the wonderchamber today.”

Raz gave a curious nod, then grinned as her eyes landed on a glowing neon-red arrow painted onto a tower block. “We go this way.”

Fen hummed.

She led them into the dark narrow corridors lit only by various shades of still wet glow in the dark paints. Soon, they arrived at a gravel clearing surrounded by hills of blocks that had yet to be untethered from gravity.

The place was empty.

“Did we get lost?” she asked.

“‘tis where the arrows led.”

“...are listening to…” Radio static crackled right behind Raz. A dramatic orchestral piece began escalating in grandness. Horns tooting like they were about to announce the birth of the mage messiah.

Raz chuckled. “What?”

Colored spell-lights lit up around and over the dark clearing, then flicked off and on, wrestling all attention to the center with bright strobing. Two crude human-sized wooden figures stood at the center. Their faces were wish-printed replicas of Association representative Fran Backman and the grand archowiz Uryule U. Magogram, the two old crooks single-handedly responsible for half the world’s woes. They were posed in a compromising position, with Fran sucking a wooden plank protruding from Uryule’s crotch, while Uyrule rubbed a pair of nail nipples.

Raz snorted.

Fen huffed in amusement.

Music intensified in epicness. Lights strobed faster.

An enormous building fell from the sky and crushed the wooden dummies.

The song ended in a celebratory, ‘ba-baaam’ and lights died.

Raz laughed. 

A slim featured young man strolled out of the landed building’s archway. On his shoulders flickered a coat of spell-lights. Smaller bulbs interwoven into his dreadlocks and braids framed his sharp and narrow features, illuminating that sleepy eyed smile.

“A surprise depression assassinationing was ordered,” said GG, his voice even. “Surprise assassination was delivered.”

“Sure.” Raz was still chuckling.

“Now climb on, and enter an adventure of a… weektime.” GG offered a hand to pull her up. 

Raz accepted it and stepped up to the threshold and into the bare stone building. The room was spacious and roofless. Spell-lights set on the of unpainted arches and half-finished embellishments made it look like stars continued from high above to the floor. A cozy little campfire crackled at the center, surrounded by noble-featured wizard busts, with their faces repurposed as seats.

“Wow…” How the hell did he get this ready?

“Does the clairvoyant know?” asked Fen, leaning towards GG. 

“Might know. Might not. He doesn’t check every day.”

Fen made a frustrated sound.

GG let out a wizened sigh. “It’s all witchy my friend. You get asked questions, you tell them GG took you hostage. So simplesome. Now let’s collect the lights. Can’t leave evidence behind and make it too easy!”

“Raz!” Static crackled voice of Faham came from one of the bust-chairs. 

She turned to find a shoe sized golem raise two stumpy hands. Slotted in its chest was GG’s brand new phone, streaming a video call with both Allie’s and Faham’s faces on the screen.

Raz let out a squeal of delight and gathered the little golem in her hands.

The golem patted her hands and wiggled its little legs. Faham and Allie tried to talk on top of each other. Faham was still a small fluffy bundle hidden under baggy clothes. Allie meanwhile had grown both curves, muscles, and height. Her clothes and attitude screamed sporty confidence and her leaf-hair was arranged rebelliously.

“Surprise!” shouted Faham.

Raz hugged the tiny golem.

It hugged back.

She continued to scream in confused delight and lifted it up again. “How?!” Raz turned to GG and Fen, who were returning with a small mountain of spell-lights. “Did Capi make this? Can she make this stuff already?”

“Nah, sis ain’t there just yet. It’s can-made.”

“Wow.” Raz inspected the golem. “The can can make stuff like this already?” 

“We are upside down.”

Realizing what she was doing, she flipped it upright. “Sorry.”

“It’s okay.”

Allie made a grunt of agreement.

“Put us on your shoulder,” said Faham.

Raz did and the golem climbed on. She patted the golem’s head and looked Allie in the eye, saying, “Thank you.”

The golem gave her head a soft bonk.

GG cleared his voice. “And so gathered the depression assassinationing coven for its first meeting. As the Allie appointed tyrant of ceremonies, I’ve got you some unstressing activities.”

GG turned his lights off, disappearing into a dark silhouette against the background lights. His lights flicked back on on the other side in a dramatic presenting pose near busts of famous old wizards, archowiz, and Magogram public figures. 

“Presenting!” He clicked an old Earth boombox. A chipper tune began bouncing around, remixed with the pleas and screams of famous wizards taken from various arcnet clips. He set the device down and returned to the presentation pose. “The wall of smugsome faces! And…”

He produced a can of wonder, ripped the lid, and inhaled the dream-colored swirls of smoke. The next flourish of his hand directed the wisps out from his lungs. In an instant, the canned wish formed a table decked with various ripe fruits and vegetables, firm brown turds with a sign ‘recreational clay’, and grenades labeled ‘mystery grenades’.

“...weapons of la resistance. Come. Arm yourselves!” 

Fen gave Raz a cocked eyebrow.

“Come on!” She pulled him along.

GG picked up a lump and handed it to her with intense eye-contact. “Let there be no survivors tonight. Show no mercy. No matter how pitisome their begging.”

“Have no fear of that, general. I am ready to bring them a massacre.”

“This is yours.” GG gave the sibling golem a small cannon.

Faham broke from excitement. Allie cackled darkly. They waddled a few steps away to load the cannon.

Raz pulled her arm back and threw. The turd landed with a most satisfying smack, smearing the old bearded face in brown. 

A bombardment commenced. Wish-conjured ammo splattered the busts in goop. Then mystery grenades finished them off in small explosions. Perfect hits roused cheers amongst the group. Weirdly timed background moans of wizards triggered even Fen into uncontrollable giggles. Raz had a blast. 

After murdering and desecrating the statue gallery, they gathered by the fire. GG switched music to a calm mix of New Earth tunes.

Fen distributed snacks: deep fried sour-chip fruits, chocolates and other Earth candy, and hard touscan cheese strips, which Raz accepted with glee. He also handed out spiced fizzy tea and set some traditional Castleyard sausages to grill on the flame. Finally, he brought out a six pack of canned wonder and offered everyone some.

GG shook his head. “No more for me.”

“Can’t. Interferes with resonance,” said Raz automatically.

Neither Faham or Allie could take one, obviously.

Fen nodded and popped one open, breathing in the cloud of wonder. 

“Can you make animals?” asked Faham.

Fen let out a wisp, which turned into a swarm of dancing glowing gold witchflies. 

Sibling golem followed their flight, reaching out.

Fen let out a little more wish, and guided one of the majestic seven-winged insects to land on the golem’s hand. Faham oohed. Fen held his breath for a moment, then let it all out. Birds, lizards, creatures, and critters inhabiting the cliffy Castleyard coastside burst into being and frolicked out to fill the room.

“Wow, you’re so good!”

“He’s pretty good at it,” agreed Raz.

Fen smiled, cracking open another wish.

“That’s the new gen stuff, right?”

Fen nodded at Faham. “Yep.”

“Can you make more birds?”

“Why learn magic, when you can sell your soul to Magogram and spend your value on canned magic,” said GG.

Fen met his eyes, breathing out a variety of birds that joined to chirp along the currently playing song. “You’re using though.”

“Alas, I am but a slave aware of my shackles. Not a free man.”

“Bit expensive for temporary shit, if you ask me,” said Allie.

Fen shrugged. “Can be.”

“This has been really neat, though. I think,” said Faham.

Allie grumbled in agreement.

“Yeah.” Raz reached to squeeze GG’s hand. “Thanks.”

“Raz, Raz, Raz… You owe me nothing.”

She squeezed his hand, then gave him a quick hug.

Fen conducted his wish critters to serve everyone sausages. They munched. Conversation trickled into a pleasant hum about nothing important. Nobody asked about her trip to the wonderchamber, and she let herself forget it. Raz basked in the glow of the fire and the presence of friends, blissful.

Sausages were eaten and treats snacked upon. Then, at around Fen’s fourth can, sibling golem started to melt.

“Uh-oh–” Faham’s voice crackled. The video showed static. “Losing… ah we’re back!”

“Not for long,” said Allie.

The tiny golem drooped, falling on its face.

“Want another?” asked Fen.

“Nah. It’s whatever.”

“We should be going, probably.”

“Hey, Raz.”

“Yes?” she supported the golem to meet Allie’s eyes.

“You’re the best.”

Connection died as the wish left the phone.

Raz sent Allie a message, giving her some love.

Allie replied with a thumbs up.

“Most splenderly siblings.”

“Yeah.”

She chatted with Faham for a bit. Fen enjoyed his canned wonder. GG laid on his back, staring at the stars.

Raz put the phone away, looking between the two guys. “Hey, um. I was thinking I’ll sign up too.”

Fen blinked. “Well. That’s news.”

GG frowned.

“Good for you,” said Fen. “I mean it. It’s wiz of a deal.”

“We do what we must, adrift on the mercies of fate.”

“Yeah…” Raz stared into the fire. “Won’t be so bad. And hey, at least I’ll have friends here.”

Fen nodded eagerly, reached out, but hesitated.

Raz offered him a fist-bump, which he took.

“If you are certain.”

“I think I am.” Raz nodded. “Yeah. I’m feeling good about it. Heck, I’ll be able to give canned wonder a try.”

Fen offered a can.

“I mean later. Wanna try it alone first.”

Fen kept offering. “Take it. It’s yours.”

“Hey, thanks.”

Fen made a ‘it’s no trouble’ nod.

GG stared at her, unusually serious. “These are the toughest decisions. Whatever you do, know that you shall always have the full respect of GG.”

Raz pulled him into another hug.

Fen nodded. “Mine as well.”

She gave Fen a nod and an awkward shoulder pat.

“Your brother’s birthday came up. Shall I lend…” GG wiggled his fingers in magical patterns. “The touch.”

“If you’re not busy. They’re gonna have trackers though, so probably can’t come.”

GG gathered phlegm and spat. “Filthy Magogram scum, oppressing our brothers and sisters.”

Raz shrugged. “It is what it is. We’ll deal. I’ve got some stuff planned and a bit of val saved.”

“We will find a way to guarantee epicness, even if stealing from castleworks isn’t an option,” said GG, dead serious.

She chuckled.

A moment passed. Fire crackled.

“I’m gonna do it,” said Raz. “I’ll be Raz the grav sorceress. Gonna do it tomorrow. No more wasting.” This would be her gift to them, the one they deserved years ago. “I’ll come in for an interview tomorrow.” She thought about it a second. “It doesn’t hurt or anything, does it?”

Fen shook his head. “Nope.”

“The most painless way to damage yourself on an existential level,” said GG.

Fen rolled his eyes. “It’s safe. The wizard who does it is good. Zero warpings so far.”

“That’s good.”

“It’s a smart choice.”

“A very profitable way of committing existential suicide. Would definitely sell my soul again.”

Raz let out a dry laugh.

The last can of wonder disappeared, as did the snacks. GG declared that they had landed, giving Raz an excuse to start leaving. The trio parted with hugs, some tighter than others.

“Want me to walk with you?” asked Fen as they walked out of the castleworks.

Raz looked up at the islands of stars between castles and clouds, feeling strangely peaceful. “Nah. Thanks.”

“Okay. Was good seeing you.”

“Same.”

Raz watched Fen’s back as the big man lumbered off. She blew hot air on her fingers, slipped them in the pockets of her now dry jacket, and strolled along the empty spell-light lit streets. Nightly wind clapped the protective webbing overhead. 

Nobody was up late at Castleyard. Everyone was either a student, worked long days, or was retired. There wasn’t any crime to speak of either, nor any dangerous spirits. Really, for all its faults, the town was blessedly safe. 

Not a bad place to live, for her and the sibs. Even if it meant she would have to give up her dreams.

Bitterness of that decision was slowly draining. She had friends here, and once sibs were her, everyone she loved would be in Castleyard. Then, she could finally relax a little. Then, she could maybe finally stop wishing and have a bit of actual control over her life.

Raz felt the phone in her pocket and checked it.

Joram had sent a long winded letter.

She read it. Her frown mellowed. 

He wanted to help with Faham’s birthday and apologize properly for his earlier behavior. It hadn’t been all his fault. 

Raz sighed and started typing a reply.

The phone slipped.

“Whoops?”

It bounced off of the road and backflipped and flew into a downward sloping alley with no lights, disappearing amongst trash in complete blackness.

Raz frowned, stepped in, and picked it back up. She continued typing the reply for a moment, before a weird thought paused her.

Hold up. How did I find the phone?

Raz stared at the cracked screen of the blocky wooden phone from five years ago. It weighed about a hundred grams and just barely fit in her jacket pocket. It was catching three bars of arcnet and had thirty-three percent battery left. 

The screen was locked and black.

She unlocked it and found the percent an exact match. Could be a fluke. Test it.

Raz crouched and placed the phone on the street behind her. She closed her eyes, echoed the voice of NeWiz in her head, and breathed slowly.

And it was there.

A faint but undeniable presence sat behind her, its shape resembling the vague outline of a phone.

She opened her eyes and felt it still, though the sense grew hazier.

Raz dragged a hand over her mouth, blubbering nonsense. “Phone resonance. I resonated phone. Resonance… A natural resonance.”

It could happen. If your surroundings happened to qualify as a wonderchamber at the right moment, you could resonate, though it wouldn’t be anywhere nearly as strong as in a proper wonderchamber. 

Her heartbeat quickened. She let out a scream, then realized it was night and muffled the second scream into her sleeve. Bouncing around the nightly streets in a confused craze, Raz felt the phone slowly slip from her mind.

She let out another more urgent scream and ran towards the communal wonderchamber.