Heard you had a nice night : )  Wish I’d been there. Still need to meet your sibs one day! Are you thinking of visiting Magogram when they come? We could arrange something later in the week.

-A morning message from Capi to Raz.

 

 

The wonderchamber was, of course, closed for the night. Naturally, Raz knew that. She was a regular and probably the most frequent patron after the employee. But excitement does funny stuff to your brain. So, at two in the night, Raz was panting before the shut community center doors.

Just to be sure the resonance wouldn’t go away, she placed the phone down behind her and closed her eyes. Still there! 

Alright. It’s one fourteen. Less than six hours and I can register. Raz sat to wait, humming with excitement. 

Ten minutes later, she was freezing her ass off, shivering in her jacket, and struggling with a massive sleep-headache behind the eyes. Raz found herself questioning her intelligence. The resonance wouldn’t go away. Not overnight anyway. Tomorrow would still exist and sitting the night here would just earn her a cold.

The initial resonance giddiness wore off during the long trudge back home as the coastal autumn night laughed at her clothes. She arrived at the front door as a shivering sleepwalking zombie and spent several minutes fumbling with the key.

The house was dark. Joram was probably asleep. Raz slipped inside and embraced the heater. The fuzzy carpet after the entryway looked mighty tempting, but, with great willpower, Raz resisted its seductions. 

She tiptoed inside, pausing by Maroque’s room to peek in. Nobody was in.

“Hey, Maroque. Guess what?” Raz whispered through a grin. “I resonated! I’ll become a wizard after all.”

She imagined him to be pleased. Perhaps even a little proud.

Raz nodded, gave him a little bye-bye wave, and found her way to bed. Except, despite the comfort and warmth and eye-throbbing tiredness, she still stared at the dark ceiling at four in the morning. Every now and then, Raz closed her eyes and found the phone still there in the darkness.

“A wizard. I’m gonna be a wizard after all.”

She jolted awake to the sounds of knocking despite feeling like she’d never fallen asleep. Her body was clammy and her eyes ached like a pair of angry eggs trying to hatch.

“Breakfast is served and your lunchbox is prepared, if you would like to bring one along to school today.”

Raz replied by groaning.

Then, with a skipped heartbeat, she remembered the resonance. Raz closed her eyes and steadied her breath, confirming that she still felt the phone. She exhaled. Her heart calmed. Yesterday’s excitement kicked back in full again, leaving her in a weird fugue state of extreme weariness, fatigue, and spine-tingling joy.

“Oh witchtits.” Raz struggled out of bed and found her clothes.

“Something amiss?” asked Joram, waiting behind her door.

Her fingers were shaking? Raz chuckled. “Nnnyes. Everything, but it’s all good.”

“Very… good? I take it that is an improvement from yesterday.”

Half-clothed, Raz realized she hadn’t even tried any resonance cantrips yet! “O my god, I can’t.” She took deep breaths, rubbing her forehead. “Fuu… okay. Let’s logic this. Plan out the day. Visit wonderchamber, register, practice, breakfast, school?” Did she have lectures today? Raz had no clue. Her brain drew only blanks and nonsensical joy.

“Razandra?”

“I need the strongest tea we have.”

“Very well.” Joram’s steps retreated from the door.

Raz opened it and stumbled out, blinking forcefully to try to shed the dryness from her eyes. “And hey, I resonated last night.”

Joram took two steps before coming to a halt. He spun on his heels, eyes wide. “You resonated. Oh…” A smile of relief melted his feature, chased by a sudden burst of emotion. Joram blinked rapidly, turning away to dab his eyes with a handkerchief. “Oh, what a blessed day. Oh. Maroque!” He rushed to Maroque’s room, shouting, “Maroque, Razandra resonated!”

“He knows.”

“Razandra resonated! Oh, all is well in the world.” Joram continued to clean his face, composed himself a bit and stepped to offer a hand. “Congratulations are in order. May I inquire what aspects you’ve resonated with?”

Raz gave him a small smile. Maybe it was the weariness, but she stepped in to give him a small hug instead of a handshake. Joram stiffened for a moment. Then relaxed against, placing a hand on her shoulder.

“Actually, I’m not sure yet,” she said.

He stepped away. “What was the foci?”

Raz showed Joram his old phone. “This old piece of crap.”

He stared at it, stunned.

Raz wiggled the phone from side to side, grinning. “Yes. Behold Razandra, the most basic witch of all. An Earth girl who resonates with an Un damned phone.”

“I am merely amazed that that would accrue enough weight to become a foci. Why, I never understood how important it was to you.”

“Alright, no need to twist the knife.”

“Not my intention at all.” Joram faced her with a genuine expression. “I am truly amazed. Congratulations.”

“Yeah, yeah. Just joking. I’m…” She looked at the phone. “Still sorta digesting it.”

He nodded, patting her shoulder. “Take your time. Come, I will prepare tea to snap you back into the realm of the living. Once you’ve woken up properly, we can take a trip to get your resonance registered.”

“No. I’ve got school.”

Joram looked at her weirdly. “Why? Call them and take your resonance leave.”

“Oh. Right.”

The tongue-wrinklingly stiff purple tea eventually jostled awake enough of Raz’s braincells to stop her from zooming through the day on drunken autopilot. She called school resonance counselor, who told her to send a picture of her resonance registration to receive her three day resonance absence. Not a huge win, considering that would amount to four hours of classes, but she’d take it.

The counselor also scheduled her into the resonance classes. He parted with the words, “I suggest attending them, until you sign up for a course elsewhere or enter an academy. You don’t have to. But the good ones will include resonance tests and you won’t want to be that fresh awakened who can barely tap into the sight when you get there, let me tell you that. The number of students I’ve got who come running back every year all teary eyed!”

Raz thanked him for his advice, though she wasn’t sure if she would attend. Not because she didn’t want to practice. Nu-uh. Just the opposite.

Despite Joram’s offer, Raz decided to head to the wonderchamber alone. He said he understood and promised to welcome her back with a celebratory feast. She wasn’t sure if she’d insisted hard enough to make him not do it, but Raz hoped so. She wasn’t sure when she’d be back. 

The tram ride to the wonderchamber she spent by fidgeting and wading through her favorited resonance tutorials. She’d so much time on step one – resonance – that she had only vague second-hand impressions of what came next. Unfortunately, speed watching the first three minutes of multiple related tutorials on two times speed taught her that the next step was something ‘balance’ related, but not much else. 

She let the small crowd of students carry her out at the community center. The wonderchamber was occupied, so she had to wait a little.

Raz considered sending sibs and friends a message, but a picture would be a much better way to break the news. So, she waited and continued searching for good tutorials. As it happened, NeWiz had an older video on the subject of ‘Balance’ from before he started doing his scam courses.

“Tends to be the first thing every awakened struggles with,” said a much younger and lower production value boy with faintest resemblance to the put-together Indian born man. “See, you can think of the aspect like a very narrow and pointy chair, and resonator as a yogi trying to sit on it. It takes some practice, but once you get the hang of it, you can sit on it forever.”

“Except, and here’s the thing, once you’ve found that balance, it can be hard to switch seats. My master calls this ‘engraving’. It is a natural process, where an awakened existence aligns with the resonant aspect and claims it as theirs. This is why my master stresses the importance of the first aspect.”

Young NeWiz leaned into the camera, raising a finger a little bit outside the screen. “This is important, so listen. First aspect must be something you want to build your selfhood around. It is the core of your wizardness. It is your greatest strength and greatest weakness. It is your pillar…”

The wonderchamber door opened. An older gentleman wearing castleworker’s overalls with big arms strolled out. He nodded to the clerk and paid.

“Thank you for your vigil, young man.”

The clerk lifted three fingers in a bare minimum greeting and kept staring at cute advloggers.

The castleworker met Razandra in the hallway and retrieved his hard hat. He gave her a polite smile. “Good day, young miss.”

“Good morning.” Raz started to take her shoes off.

“Searching for peace or awakening?”

The question took her by surprise. “Uh. Awakening.”

“Then, I wish you luck and wisdom.”

“Actually, I already awakened. Just here for registration.”

A grin split his face. “Castleyard’s own daughter. At such an age! Congratulations then. May your sight see deep and your heart stay wide.”

“Yeah. Thanks?”

He tipped his hard hat at her and took off. 

Raz tipped her own non-existent hat and approached the counter with a confident smile. Years she had suffered here. Burned away. Wasted. Countless hundred visits she had ended in disappointment, meekly admitting that she’d resonated with no foci again. Well not today! Today she channeled her inner Allie and took a dominant leaning posture on the clerks counter. 

He raised an eyebrow at her.

Raz smiled, head slowly nodding. “One registration please. Brought my own foci.”

“Foci please.” The clerk let out a weary sigh and started typing.

Raz’s attitude faltered, but she presented her phone and payment. Did he not see how smug she was being? Did he not remember her? What was going on?

He took a picture of the phone and typed stuff, then made the flippant hand-raise that Raz recognized as ‘You may now go use the wondechamber’.

She picked up her phone, casting him one miffed glance on the way. Some people were just born sour.

She didn’t let it bother her and skipped past the changing room and straight into the wonderchamber. Familiar jingles welcomed her with that esoteric wonderchamber ambiance. Earthy scents of old things engulfed her. Thousands of curios she had cursed at and begged to resonate with her gleamed at her like proud parents (in her imagination anyway).

“Bet you’re all sorry now, huh? Missed your chance to make friends with a real wizard,” she said to the foci around her.

They expressed their regret by staying silent, as they should.

“Except you,” said Raz to the needle box. “You did your best.” 

Hopefully it would one day find a wizard of its own. For now, it too would have to contend in watching her resonate.

Raz stepped carefully around the trinkets covering the floor and found the center circle. She sat down, set the phone before her and closed her eyes.

If it had felt like a whisper before then now it hummed in her awareness like an engine, looming in the mind’s eye as a colorless silhouette as an intense presence. No breathing exercises or awareness centering required. All she had to do was reach out and touch.

A weight nudged her on a level she could not understand, tilting her world towards the phone. She felt the trickle of energy seeping from its battery, the flakes of arcent falling upon its antennae, feeding it updates on her apps, geographical location, and tightly packet data she had no clue how to parse.

Gasping, Raz opened her eyes to find she not only felt them, but saw.

“Whoa…”

Glowing white flakes of arcnet fell through matter, floating about, orbiting and gathering on the only antennae in the room. Others bounced off of her phone, returning into the skies. Ethereal screens of programs surrounded her phone, showing her flashes of messages apps updating, a new arctube video being uploaded by one of her subscribed channels, and HBW forum doing a query to check her ‘alive’ status. All this with the screen locked!

Raz’s eyes wandered the magic around her, awed into silence. Until she tilted away from the phone and crashed back to a flat, real wonderchamber.

She broke into overjoyed giggles and incoherent gushing. “Aaaaa resonance resonance!” she shouted, bumping her fists and dancing. “It works!”

What it did or how she’d ever use whatever her sight showed, Raz had no clue, and didn’t care yet. The fact that she saw magic was enough. And it meant…

“My eyes!”

Raz hurried back into meditative pose out of habit, did a breathing cycle, and touched her phone again. Sure enough, the world turned phonier. Before the effect could fade, Raz took a couple dozen selfies in various cute wizardy poses that emphasized her eyes. Her eyes, when resonating with the phone, had a big square iris full of blue-white static. They looked cool as heck!

Several more moments were spent in very dignified gushing over the eyes. She spent another resonance recording a video. Upon watching, she found out that the static noise intensified between blinks, and that her resonance lasted around seven seconds.

There were a ton of things she could’ve and maybe should’ve spent her chamber time testing, but none of them matched the temptation of trying out magic for real. Raz relaxed herself, breathed, entered another resonance state, and tried out the first resonance cantrip exercise suggested to every newbie awakened.

She reached out and poked at the stuff.

Arcnet flakes whirled around and through her fingers like flies, evading her grasp. But the ghostly screens were stuck to her phone and unable to flee.

Carefully, fingers trembling, Raz picked out the green hued chat screen. It zapped her fingers a little, like statically charged paper. Since this experiment had a high chance of ending in perfect disaster, she clicked the Marxist Wizard icon GG had as his chat profile picture and tried clicking at everything.

Weird geometrical shapes and half-finished words filled the chat window. Somehow, she sent him a picture of her feet and the wonderchamber floor.

When the resonance ended, Raz checked her phone. Everything looked okay, until she opened the chat with GG. The settings were… Well. Chat bar had switched places, text had been resized and recolored, and her feet had replaced the application background.

GG appeared online.

He sent her a picture of a warding symbol meant to drive away monsters.

GG: “Not subbing to any fetish sites.”

Raz snorted. She started typing a reply, but had a better idea and started sending her best wizard-eyed selfies instead.

Raz: “Guess who?”

She attached a winky face with a tongue poking out.

Raz: “You seen her?”

GG sent her his own cheeky winky face selfie, while flying upside down over a flying castle in the clouds.

Raz: “I’m cuter.”

GG: “you are close second”

GG: “But this is most wondersome news!”

GG: “Knew youd resonate”

GG: “Un hath mercy after all. Good things happen to our Razmaster”

GG: “But why are u a foot wizard?”

Raz: “phone wizard. Awakened”

GG typed. A moment later, a short novel appeared.

GG: “I know this is not the fate you asked for but the world calls upon you. Become the phone wizard the Magogram needs. The horn of liberties and truths. Sow your feet pictures wide and far and with them spread the message of Magogram’s wrongdoings. You may be executed for this, but know that through your sacrifice, the world has become a better place.”

Raz: “:D I’ll consider it”

GG: “Smite them. Smite the oppressive regime with your feet.”

Raz: “Can’t. The old ppl might like it. Anyhow, ttyl. Need to register and tell the others and practice and… yeah.”

GG dropped offline.

Raz sent Capi her best and most saucy selfie and Fen an inoffensive one that couldn’t be interpreted as anything but a friend announcing their awakening to another friend. She considered sending sibs the announcement, but thought better of it. With sudden extra vacation time and no more need to pay wonderchamber visits for the rest of the month, she might as well take the underail a day early and surprise them in person. 

This she would do. Just the thought raised a grin on her lips.

Capi called and Raz answered.

“Hola.”

A muffled party beat pounded in the background of Capi’s upbeat voice, “I thought you failed yesterday what the heck I mean o my gosh this is great but how when did this happen?”

“Like last night, when I was walking home.”

“Natural? Oh gosh, wow. Raz, this is amazing!”

Raz chuckled. “Yeah!”

“Phone foci?”

“Yup.”

“I knew it. Guessed right away from the eyes. We’ve got one in the class. An Earth girl named Natalie. Has squares like yours, but pink. Okay, so a phone wizard. Wow. Did you resonate yet? Of course you did, duh, the selfies. Okay, so we’re gonna need to organize an awakening party when you visit. Are you bringing your siblings? On the weekend, they’ve got a week-long visa right…”

“Capi.”

“...and get your foci sorted. We can find something better at Magogram proper. Did you narrow down the exact aspect yet? Maybe you’ll want to switch. Hmm– uh yes Raz? What did you say?”

“I haven’t planned anything at all. I’m still registering.”

“Oh no… sorry, I’m bothering you?”

“No no.” Raz chuckled. “Never. But this is gonna take a hot sec to sort out. And I haven’t had time to plan sib visit yet either. I’ll get back to you about the weekend?”

“Yeah! Of course. Everyone will be ragged out after hanging out with the WACA students so my weekend will be open. These guys are crazy! They don’t even know where the academy is going next month! Nobody does! It just picks up new students and poof! Wanders away! I need to tell you everything. But that’s later. I better stop bothering you on your big moment.” 

“It’s fine.”

Capi made kissy noises. “Raz luv you. So glad aaaahhh! Maybe we can go to the same academy?!”

Raz laughed and returned the kissy noises. “Maybe? Okay if I ask you when I start looking at the options.”

“Yessss. We can do a party tour at all your favorite candidates to check them out.”

Raz made an unimpressed noise.

“Or! Or, we get some booze and look at the course selections. Anything works!”

“No, honestly. Maybe I should give parties a go? I don’t know, get back to you later tho.”

“You must! Bybyyy!”

“Bybyy!”

Raz cut it. She had a new message.

Fen: “I’m glad for you : )”

She winced at the bitter little smiley at the end. This friendship thing might be a bit harder to salvage with Fen than she thought. Or maybe she was reading into it a bit too much? No matter. Right now she had some magical goofing off to do!

Raz resonated again and sacrificed her chat with GG for the greater good. She played around by moving the window, changing elements, throwing pictures at it, taking pictures, and then doing it all hands free. That didn’t work out. No surprise, she’d just resonated. However, she did have some luck with sending voice messages without opening her phone! How useful was magic like that? Maybe one out of ten on the wizard scale, but doing magic was such a rush that Raz didn’t care. She just let herself enjoy playing around with the phone through resonance.

Which, in hindsight, was a bit of a crayon snorter idea. She’d moved on to test other apps after mutilating GG’s chat and the results were devastating. Her settings were screwed up big time. So much so that she couldn’t even unlock it properly anymore.

On the flip-side, she had the camera pretty much figured out and could open chats while keeping the phone in her pocket, which was wiz. Only the seven second time limit made that a bit troublesome. Every time a resonance ended, she felt like her mind was booted out of home. It left her empty-headed and more than a little disoriented. 

The timer chime jingled when she’d just began trying to catch the arcnet flakes with her phone. 

“Already? Oh, wizshit.” She’d forgotten to register!

Raz filed out of the wonderchamber to find a small queue of elderly people in the lobby. The grandma who she’d made wait wrinkled her nose at Raz. She ignored her.

“Sorry, I forgot to call you in,” she said to the clerk. “Can I just show a picture?”

He shook his head, eyes on the screen. “Need to see it.”

“Phuu… Okay.” 

She could do this. Wonderchamber only amplified magic, it didn’t let her do anything she couldn’t otherwise. And now that she had the hang of it, full resonance shouldn’t be too difficult.

Raz breathed, closed her eyes, and leaned her being towards the phone. It took a lot more mental pushing, but they aligned. She opened her magesight to see arcnet flakes all around people’s pockets and the computer. Tiny ghostly screens floated near other people’s phones, though she couldn’t make out the details.

“That’ll do.”

Raz turned to meet a pair of pale blue eyes folding inward like animated kaleidoscopes. The clerk blinked his magesight off and set a gnarly wooden wand on the table.

“Awakening confirmed. Foci: Phone. Registered under Razandra Hopkins. Aspects?” 

“Oh.”

The clerk pursed his lips, unamused.

“Totally forgot.” Her resonance faded, a little quicker than before. Raz braced herself against the table and held up a finger. “Woozy,” she explained.

“Aspects: Unconfirmed. You will want to get them sorted before enrolling.”

She straightened as her head returned to normal. “That’s the plan.”

He pressed a button. A stunted bearded statue with oddly leonine features began grumbling next to the desk. Its stiff whiskers bristled and chafed audibly, scratching lines of ink on the paper that slowly puked out of its mouth. The clerk caught it, waited for the second copy to print out, and placed them on the table. He stamped both of them with a shiny ceremonial stamper that left behind the glowing Maroque-red sigil of Magogram.

Raz gathered her new awakened ID and paid ten for wonderchamber usage and another ten as registration fee.

When she was leaving, the clerk said, “By the way.”

Raz turned around. “Yes?”

“Congratulations.”

She beamed at him. “Thanks!”

He nodded, returning to his advloggers.

Raz tied on her new shoes with a bit of extra buzz in her bust. She tipped her imaginary hat at everyone on the way out and skipped to the Castleyard unstation with a bit of extra cheer in her step.

She was officially awakened! Now all she needed was to get into a wizard academy and Allie and Faham could move into Oor. The thought made her dizzy, like this was a dream she would wake up from any moment now. But, at the same time it felt as solid as that first moment of returning from Un. 

With her new reality warping powers, she sent Joram a message with a picture of the ID. 

Raz: “Officially awakened!”

Joram: “My sincere congratulations. Will you be returning for lunch?”

Raz: “Gonna head to New Europe for a the night. I wanna tell sibs in person.”

Joram: “Very well. Should you require assistance in familiarizing yourself with resonance, do not hesitate to ask. While our foci and aspects may differ, and my experience is humble compared to master Maroque’s, I may be able to aid with the initial hurdles.”

Raz: “:) thanks. Later. I wanna play around a bit first. Shoot… forgot to check aspects.”

Her heart leapt at a sudden worry.

Raz: “Can I still switch out? What if I engrave the phone aspect?”

It was sorta fun, and Magogram liked all Earth-related aspects so it should help her with getting into an academy. But, she’d rather have choices.

Joram: “There is no cause for alarm. Engraving will not come as a surprise, and the final step will not occur accidentally. Barring unusual circumstances.”

Raz: “What kind of circumstances?”

Joram: “:)”

“What? What do you mean ‘smiley face’?!” Raz typed furiously.

Raz: “I need to know. I don’t wanna engrave accidentally.”

Joram: “Enjoy your visit to New Europe.”

She did not manage to pry out answers. Luckily, arcnet existed. Except, Raz realized in belated horror, that with her magically messed up phone. She could not watch arctube for more than seven seconds at a time.

Raz spent much of the underail wait and ride trying desperately to unfuck her phone, without success. Not only was her resonance a couple seconds shorter than in the chamber, everything in her magesight was a touch fuzzier and stiffer to touch. While Raz was tempted to glance at nearby phones for a better grasp of her magesight, she refrained. Spying on the other passengers’ private stuff would’ve been creepy as heck.

What she could and did watch were the arcnet flakes, which stopped falling the moment they entered Un. It happened so abruptly Raz almost yelped. She didn’t see them again, until later, when they arrived at New Europe station. 

Arcnet architecture wasn’t something Raz had any interest in though. The mission here was to surprise the sibs.

Just imagining their faces made Raz a little giddy. She passed through the law wizard manned security check-point with a flash of her print-fresh ID, and set course for the sibs’ place.

While the years hadn’t changed the unstation’s grandiose arching halls or decorative pillars, everything under them had. Gone were the makeshift sleeping spots that had used to cluster against the walls. In their stead, a small city of shacks and tent buildings now choked the unstation’s halls into squiggly streets lit by salvaged lights and tele screens. The air was thick with the stench of garbage and loud with the midday crowds. Little kids sat at a dead-end alley ending in a window to the Un. All of them were altered. All of them staring out at the swirling shapes of non-existence.

Raz’s throat tightened a little. She waded through the former section-B of unstation that now identified itself by half-burnt flags of old Eurasian countries. She caught a few comments for her Magogram style pants and shoes, but simply speed walked past them and towards her destination.

Where the piers had once allowed for vessels to dock to section-B now began Earth. Old Earth. More specifically, a piece of a beautifully curvy and bright mediterranean coastal city spliced together with gray-washed concrete hellscape from eastern Finland. And a bit of a German industrial zone. And like two and a half London skyscrapers. And a hundred other isolas. Cement and construction magic stretched it all together, and a blanket of shacks covered the seams in cardboard and metal sheet. 

And above, between New Europe and Un stretched a matching mosaic patchwork of blues and blue-greens – a patchwork sky that the wizards had somehow salvaged. It was thin. You could see the spiraling shapes behind it if you knew where to stare, but even an illusion of reality beat living in the Un. 

“Traitor,” bubbled a voice from a vaguely human-shaped clump sitting before a tent.

Raz hastened her step and kept her eyes on the road to dodge over open sewers, rotten sludge, and bile. She also kept an eye on the people. Most minded their own business, but several fixed bitter eyes on her, glaring at the pesky human in a city for the altered.

Nothing much had changed since her last visit. At least, not for the better. Sad at the place mad Raz, she was relieved to finally have a way to get the sibs out of here. 

Her earlier cheer returned in bits as she approached the East East Nowhere housing block, a barrack-like maze of tarpaulin and corrugated steel sheets. The place sounded and smelled like a kindergarten. Kids of all ages ran underfoot and played at the tiny football field in the center. Some were too young to remember Earth.

“Hey, excuse me,” said Raz to a young south east asian man in a wheelchair. A mass of dry withered tendrils sprouted from beneath the blanket he wore on his lap.

He gave her a curious look, then a smile. “Looking for someone?”

“My siblings.”

“Hah! I knew it. Those leggings. The pattern is popular on the coasts of the Magogram empire, but your tan is light for a half Indian. Former Rudinia?”

“Castleyard.”

He made another victory gesture. “I knew it. Prefer to call it former Rudinia, to respect the native culture.”

Raz made a thoughtful nod. “They don’t actually mind.”

“They don’t?” he looked puzzled.

She shrugged. “It’s old news. Barely anyone alive from back then. Most locals my age are pretty much same as everywhere.”

The boy wiggled his lips in deep thought, slowly nodding. “Interesting. Interesting. Sorry! Who did you say you were looking for?”

“Allie and Faham.”

He stopped, stunned. Eyes roved Raz up and down, then up and down again. Not to leer, but to absorb bafflement. “You are Allie’s sister?”

“Yup.”

“You?”

Raz shifted on the balls of her feet. “Ayup.”

“But you seem like a normal person.”

She chuckled. “What were you expecting?”

“I don’t know. Not a normal person.” He shook his head, grabbed the wheels and started rolling. “This way.”

They chatted a bit about Castleyard culture while navigating the building complex. Raz tried to show him pictures, but realized her phone was borked and ended up describing them instead. Chao couldn’t believe she had never visited one. He didn’t think them being restricted military zones ruled the castles out from being a potential class trip destination.

Raz recognized Faham’s voice through the sound of stomps and huffs way before spotting him. She thanked Chao and snuck ahead to find her little brother sitting on the floor of a tiny room with a mattress, an ancient taped up laptop on a plastic table, and a bunch of old Earth anime and cartoon posters. He had a ragged backpack before him and a floor full of clothes, medicines, notebooks, and other possessions. Allie was on the small cloth-roofed dirt clearing in front of his room, sparring with a tall rock-skinned boy using knives. Real knives.

Metal struck sparks off of his skin and bit into hers before bouncing off. They went at it hard, feet skidding on the ground, bodies jerking in sharp lunges, backsteps, and dodges. The boy stabbed at Allie’s eye. She stepped into and under it into a spinning kneel and struck a tip into his guts, punching the boy off his feet.

Raz let out a confused yelp.

The boy groaned as he climbed up.

Allie shook her limbs as she bounced on her feet. She looked at Raz. “Wasn’t you supposed to come tomorrow?”

“You’re stabbing at each other?”

“Raz is here?!” Faham looked up, met Raz’s eyes and rushed up on his feet. He ran to her, arms wide. “Raz!”

“Bumbledork!” Raz caught him and picked up the short brother.

Little arms wrapped tight about her. He buzzed, antennae wiggling excitedly from beneath a baggy hoodie. After the customary huggy greetings, Raz corralled the two into Faham’s room for her big announcement. 

Allie kept giving her suspicious glances, while Faham tried to confirm if everything was ok after last night.

“Nothing’s wrong,” Raz assured. “Quite the opposite. You see your sis…” She pulled her phone out and spun it on her palm, then resonated. “...has awakened magic!”

Faham’s jaw parted into mandibles and his antennae tilted opposite directions. Allie took a deep breath, stepped up to Raz, and crushed her against her stiff plant muscles.

“Uurrgh!”

Allie gave Raz another crushing squeeze, then let her down. “Good sis.”

Faham re-assembled his jaw into a human one and started squealing, his antennae wiggling rapidly. “RazawakenedshesawizardnowohmygodRAZISAWIZARD!” He came up to them, hands on his mouth. “Raz is a wizard!”

Allie nodded.

“Nah, not yet,” said Raz. “But I will be.”

“Raz will be a wizard!” Faham made sounds of joy and paraded around Raz, grabbing at her hands to spin and dance around. After the initial burst came his questions, “What kinda wizard? Where’s the foci? What aspects?”

Raz introduced him to her magically fudged up phone.

“No way. That’s so cool! You can be like a technomancer. A wizard hacker.”

“Technomancer?” Raz asked.

Allie shrugged.

“They control technology. Plenty of fics have them. O-or variants. They can be sorta common in cyberpunk stuff and scifi. I found one recently with a paraplegic main character who zipped around in digital space in the archives. Helped organize the tags. It’s a really cool ability! How does yours work?”

“I’m just learning to resonate. Still getting a hang of magesight.”

“What do you see?”

“Like apps and stuff. Arcnet. It looks a bit like snow.”

“So cool!”

Raz grinned. “Wanna help me figure it out? I was planning on staying the night here and leaving with you tomorrow.”

“YES! YES!”

Ras laughed, infected by Faham’s exuberance. They started immediately, though the first couple hours were spent messing around with Faham’s joy as Razandra’s only goal. She showed off her amazing ability to send messages without opening the phone and chat-warping abilities. 

Faham volunteered his phone for experimentation, but Raz didn’t want to risk it. However, she did use the opportunity to do some more magesight testing outside. Several small children spectated the, so Raz made sure to add extra flourish and wizardry flair to all her words and motions, earning herself a group of tiny cheerleaders.

Some of the tutorials she remembered watching had talked about distance and detail as something you could train. For her, everything magical in her magesight seemed to turn into fuzzy static at around five to ten meters. However, to actually read what was on the ghostly screens near Faham’s phone, she had to be basically close enough to read it. Maybe there was some way to work around it, but she called the test quits after accidentally spying on some cutesy flirty smileys her little brother had exchanged with someone called ‘OddOntologyKid’.

Later, when the patchwork sky started to darken with a hundred shades of old Earth’s sunsets, the trio went out for dinner at a nearby döner kebab place that Allie recommended. Proper döner. From actual Earth cows. With real fries and mayo and all the glorious flavors from Raz’s favorite childhood restaurants. She came very close to crying while eating it.

The conversation gained a little weight and shifted from having fun to the future.

“You know what this means, right?” asked Raz. “As soon as I get into an academy, you two can move in with me.”

Faham turned serious. “Yes.”

“This is all on me now. No more fake promises. All I need to do is enroll and you can finally move on.”

Faham smiled, eyeing his plate. “Yeah.”

Allie pursed her lips, her arms folded. 

Raz looked from one sib to another. She felt like they had just communicated something in secret.

“Have you looked at schools yet?”

“Not with my phone I haven’t.”

Faham pulled out his. It was an older Earth model forked into arcnet with a makeshift antenna. “What about aspects?”

“Not yet either. Too busy playing around.”

“Do you maybe want me to help? I’m… you probably know more about resonance, but I’ve read up on some stuff at this magic theory message board. It’s of course not as actual classes in Oor, but–”

Raz took Faham’s hand. “I would love it. Figuring magic out with my little bro sounds like the best thing ever.”

The evening and much of the night was spent in Faham’s room. Though Raz had agreed mostly to make him happy, Faham probably saved her a couple days of research. She liked to scroll her phone but mostly arctube. He apparently lived on the message boards, to the point he was a bit coy to admit his daily screen time.

“Around twelve hours,” said Allie.

“Traitor!” Faham stared at her, aghast. “Allie, how could you? Raz didn’t have to know!”

“She’d have found out.”

Faham grabbed Allie but couldn’t even shake the big plant sister. “Traitor. I will remember this! I’ll tell her about your knife fights.”

“Whatevs.”

“You’ve been in fights?!”

Allie lifted her shirt to show off scars. “Neat, right?” 

A cluster of reddish stab-marks decorated her pale-white skin. Raz stared at them, absolutely mortified.

“She almost killed the other guy.”

Raz turned to Faham, face blank with horror. “Bwhah?”

“Got him good,” said Allie smugly.

“Oh gosh, oh my god, I’m getting you two out of here. Are you okay? Are you safe? Why didn’t you say anything?”

Faham shrugged, averting his eyes.

“Basic New Europe Tuesday,” said Allie.

“So, about your options. I think, if Joram can support you a bit and/or you find a stipend, the–”

“And you’re fine?” Raz asked Allie. “Did you get a healer?”

“Nah.”

Raz covered her mouth.

“Healed on my own. No problem.”

Raz buried her face in her hands and told herself that Allie must’ve known this beforehand and had not been in any danger at any point.

“Neat huh? Never knew I could regen.”

Raz made the decision to guard her own mental health by ignoring Allie for the night. “Sorry Faham, what was that about the mid-class academies?”

“I think, depending on what aspect you settle on, you could consider Astra Logia, Magogrioum Publidva, or the Open Archives, too. They don’t have big fees. And phone wizards and other Earth aspects are all the hype currently. There’s many scholarship programs and private funds dedicated to Earth aspects. Even some private sponsors, though I hear their terms may be a bit sketchy sometimes.”

“Yeah, no private sponsors. That’s all Magogram shit. The clans, not the gov. Don’t wanna get involved.”

“Cut off a toe as a test. It regrew in a week.”

Raz threw Faham’s pillow at Allie’s face and cursed her into eternal suffering in Un. After wrestling and punching with the idiot. She rolled her in a blanket and stuffed her under the bed, then returned to Faham.

“Out of the free ones, Open Archive’s free floors, the HBW academy, WACA, and your friend’s place are probably the best. Capi’s ranks best on all official charts. WACA is dead last, but it has a rep in some circles.”

Allie cackled in the background.

“I know. Capi partied with WACA students. Apparently the place is known for being the place for anyone who wants to spend a couple years just having fun.”

Faham shook his head. “There’s more. Stuff that doesn’t get said in public.”

“Ooo. Mysterious.”

He nodded. 

“Okay, do tell.”

“The poster deleted this fast. A basic safety precaution on the ontology board.” 

Faham showed her a text file on his computer. It had the names of the biggest twenty wizard academies in Oor with numbers next to them. Most were in single digits or low double digits, while the top three were up to triple digits. Two of them also had an extra number in parenthesis. Tower Magogram was top at ‘242 (1)’, WACA was second at ‘226 (1)’, and private apprenticeships third at 109.

“The first number is how many last eleven year’s new archowiz tier wizards attended which academy. It might be a bit off, the person admitted they didn’t have all the data. But it’s the best guess we’ve got.”

“Interesting.” Raz leaned in, checking the list. “How is WACA so high? People go there to drink and party their early twenties, or thirties sometimes. So how? I’ve never heard this.”

“Very mysterious,” said Faham, smiling. “And the second number? That’s the number of confirmed Beyonders.”

A deep chill in Raz’s spine froze her.

“Yeah,” said Faham, nodding. “I know.”

Raz swallowed. She could still remember the voice on the last day. Everyone did. You could not forget it like you could not forget the sun. She let out a shuddering breath, licking her lips.

Faham stared at her, a gleam in his eyes. “There’s only two places in all of Oor that make such wizards.”

“Yeah.” Raz’s expression melted into a smile that she hoped wasn’t too awkward. “I haven’t decided where to go exactly, yet. Or what I really want. Gotta settle on my core aspect first.” 

“Right, yes of course! Core aspect. Let’s figure that out first!”

Though they should’ve headed to bed, she and Faham started compiling a list. 

The morning wake up was pain. But it was pain with sibs, which made it a-okay.

Allie bid brusque goodbyes and Faham hovered about, waving at some people. He didn’t seem to have as many friends as Allie, which worried Raz a bit. She didn’t broach the topic though. Not when he was so enthusiastic to continue figuring out her aspect options.

“If we look at the strongest ones…” he said, looking at his phone as they walked through the New Europe side of the unstation. “...Mobility, Technology, and Information are probably the best and most varied.”

“Mmmh.” The options bounced around in Raz’s skull. So far, she had thought of Phones, Devines, Social Interaction, Information, Information Access, Technology, Convenience, Distraction/Addiction, Cultural Change, Modernity, Mobility, Entertainment, Messages, Calls, Communication, Connection, and Isolation. The last one had been a bit painful to admit, but she couldn’t deny it after thinking of it. Her phone had, at times, made her feel like that girl on the lonely isola again.

She’d at first been excited to consider the possibilities, but the longer she thought of it, the smarter it sounded to just go with the phone aspect. It paid well. Really well. And, most importantly, it would make getting into a mid-tier school a breeze. Studying with Capi didn’t sound so bad.

“Can be tough finding foci for some of them,” said Raz.

“It is?”

She nodded. “Castleyard communal wonderchamber for example doesn’t have technology or phone foci. They’re sorta lacking on Earth foci in general. Well, except cheap building related ones.”

Faham made a thinking face. “Where could we test all foci then?”

Raz shrugged. “The fancy wonderchambers cost a ton to visit, nevermind buying the foci. But, honestly, the more I think of it, the better I feel about the phone aspect.”

Faham blinked, studying her face.

Allie’s eyes moved to her, thinning.

“Yeah.” Raz nodded. “It’ll pay really well and get me a good scholarship so I can attend a decent academy. Plus, picking it over some generic aspect makes entering easier. It’s got a lot of pros.”

“You really think so?” Faham asked.

“It’ll also let you guys move to Oor quicker. Just total win-win.” Raz grinned. “Yep! It’s decided. I’m gonna become a phone wizard.”

“The fuck you are.”

“Excuse me?” Raz turned to Allie.

“The. Fuck. You. Are. Got trouble hearing?”

“Whah?” Raz gaped, confused. “Allie what?”

“You become a phony wizard and  we’re gonna have a problem.”

“Oh.” Raz put hands on her hips. “We are?”

Allie looked dead serious. “Yea. You fuck up your dream ‘cos of some pity for us, then I’m gonna kick your ass disown you.”

“What? I don’t pity you.” Raz laughed, unable to believe what she was hearing. “Where did you get that?”

“From you being about to fuck up your dreams.”

“I didn’t. I… What? It’s a smart choice. And what do you know about my dreams–”

“I heard them all. You never wanted to be some shit ass phone mage. You want help. You want to matter.”

Raz snorted. “Those were little kid’s hallucinations! Daydreams! This is reality.”

Crowds began to avoid them, especially Allie as her expression darkened.

“You’re being ridiculous,” said Raz. “I’ve always wanted to be a wizard to help you guys out. To help you move to Oor. That’s number one priority. You are my siblings. My sibs. Mine! I’m not abandoning you. Whatever Maroque, Magogram, Joram, or everyone else does. I’m not! I’m getting you home. With me. That is my choice to make, not yours.”

“Fuck you. If you become a phone mage, I’m becoming an unfarer.”

Raz let out a shocked squeal. “No! What the heck? Allie no! NO! No you are not. That’s way too risky, you know how many people die there?”

Arms folded, Allie shrugged. “Yea? Not your choice.”

Raz groaned, pulling at her hair.

“I’m going right now. Bye.” Allie took off.

Raz grabbed her.

Allie spun and slapped her face so hard Raz nearly stumbled. Her ears rang. Raz saw her turn and continue strolling off. Raz lunged, tackling Allie while screaming at her. She pulled at her leaves, making Allie growl through needle pointed teeth. A harsh grip seized her hair and tossed Raz to the ground. She bit Allie’s ankle, screaming all the while. It went ugly from there.

Faham tried to stop them, but to no avail. Allie punched and slapped and Raz returned the hurt with vicious wrath.

A dull timbred male voice spoke with a voice that resonated in the air, “Article one, section nine of Magogram constitution: Unsanctioned violence is forbidden. The first punishment is immediate restrainment, which I decree unto you now.”

Raz snapped off of her sister into a standing position with her hands folded behind her back. Allie stood next to her, deep red bruises on her pale skin.

A law wizard in deep blue stood before them, his eyes blazing with asymmetric blue crosses encircled by perfect white. He grasped a glowing silver badge engraved with the upside down sword of Magogram Law. Various other law and combat related foci decorated his sharp uniform and stiff pointy hat.

“What a surprise. If it isn’t the angry plant lady. Again.” His gaze turned to Raz. “What did she do to you?”

“She started it,” said Allie.

The law wizard’s eyes bored onto Raz. “I see. Yes. The guilt is clear on you–”

“They are sisters!” shouted Faham. “It’s a sibling argument! No assault, no arresting please please please!”

The wizard glanced around the crowd. “I see. We will settle this at the station.”

“We were going to Oor,” said Raz.

“Nah. I was going to Un,” said Allie.

“You will stay quiet during the transfer, or I will decree you into silence.”

“I… I’m their legal guardian!” said Faham.

The law wizard looked at Faham, a boy so short he could’ve passed for one three years younger. Then at adult sized Raz and downright ripped Allie. Eventually, he said, “You will accompany me.”

With Faham in tow, the wizard hauled them to jail. It was sorta ‘inside’ the unstation, with access corridors that led to a windowless building of imposing halls and secure looking metal doors. All of it over-decorated in classic Magogram style, of course.

The cells were two by two meter plots without bars or doors, just a white line encircling them. They had a bench-bed and nothing else. The wizard pushed Raz into one and Allie to the one beside hers.

 “Article one, section nine of Magogram constitution: Unsanctioned violence is forbidden. The fifth punishment is long term confinement. I define your prison along these lines drawn on the floor.”

Raz’s hands came free. 

“Place your weapons and foci on the floor.”

Allie glared at the wizard, but pulled out a thick hunting knife and tossed it past the barrier. Then a smaller one from her boot.

“Your foci,” repeated the wizard.

Raz was startled. “I have a foci! I just awakened!”

“Yes. And I now order you to relinquish it peacefully.”

Raz chuckled, strangely delighted. “Wow.”

“Now.”

“I’m armed and dangerous now?”

“Not for long…”

“Here you go.” She pushed her phone towards the wizard. “Please don’t break it.”

He collected their ‘weapons’, let out a weary sigh, and left. Faham was let into the ‘cell block’.

“We are in so much trouble, oh no. How are we getting out of this?”

Raz tested her cheek and winced. The bruises were starting to sting. 

“Chill. They’ll keep us a day tops.” Allie leaned against the wall near Raz.

Raz gave her little bro an apologetic smile. “Sorry Faham, I know you looked forward to the trip.”

“I don’t care about the trip. I want you guys to make up and you to stop that nonsense about phone magic. Nobody believes it.”

Raz was taken aback. “What do you mean? It’s the fastest way I can become a proper wizard and get you a nice life.”

“Raz.”

Raz turned to Allie, narrowing her eyes at her. She hadn’t forgiven her yet and waited for a chance to launch a verbal counterattack. Whatever dumb excuse Allie tried to come up with, she wouldn’t buy it. This was her choice and she was doing them a favor they deserved.

“You’re my hero.”

Raz had no counterattack to that, but she tried. “Maroque saved us.”

Allie’s amber eyes bore into her. “Didn’t. You did. Would never have made it without you.”

“That’s unfair.” Raz swallowed. “That’s not a reason to leave you guys here.”

“You saved us already. You wanted to save the others too. You tried.”

Raz breathed slowly, trying to forget.

“You got two of us out of there.”

“Faham lost his wing,” Raz argued.

“I don’t mind,” said Faham quietly. “I don’t.”

“He doesn’t. We’ve talked.”

“But not to me, clearly.”

“Raz. You don’t wanna be a phone mage. You can’t. You wanted more. You fucking said it over and over and over again. You can’t kill your future for us. Not now.” Anger seeped into Allie’s voice. “Not, when you’ve got that chance you always wanted. Raz, I’m your sister. Not your kid. Not some weight you gotta drag around. Shit, I love you forever, but if you ruin your life for me I’m quitting you. I mean it.”

Raz wiped at the wet around her eyes. “But I’m not even sure anymore. I don’t know.” Her voice was breaking.

“Then don’t know. Then do something else. Whatever you want. But never ever use me as an excuse to be a weak ass loser to ruin your own life. We can wait. If it takes months.”

“Or a year, or two,” said Faham, blurry eyes. He sniffled and gave Raz a determined look. “I’m with Allie!”

Raz went blind with tears and laughed with relief and love.

Allie reached out to the edge of the cell, as did Faham. They couldn’t touch through the magic, but she’d never felt them as close. 

Something broke. A weight? A restraint? Something Raz had set on herself without realizing and clung onto for years. An obligation that’d slowly become her life’s purpose. 

And with it gone, she felt free-er than ever in her life.

She bawled her eyes out and laughed her throat sore, professing her love for best siblings in all of Un and reality. She promised to love them forever and they believed her. They all cried and laughed at stupid jokes.

And when that sense of euphoria began to subside and that freedom finally settled in, Raz felt something she’d almost forgotten.

An old daydream of a lost girl.

A wish of someone small and insignificant.

Why should she not pursue it, she asked? If it was a one in a million chance she fulfilled it, wouldn’t it all be worth it? 

It would.

A wish hardened into something she could not yet articulate.

“I like it,” said Allie all of a sudden.

“Huh?” Raz blinked.

“Your eyes look good.”

Raz grinned. “Wait till I resonate my real aspect. I’ll be cool as heck.”

“Nah.” Allie pointed at her face. “Magic won’t make that cooler.”

Raz tried and failed to suppress her grin. In terms of coolness Allie was up there with GG, an actual viral arctuber legend. A praise from her was something she could cherish the rest of her life!

“Now you’re dorky again. Stop it.”

Raz sucked in her lips, but the grin wouldn’t stop.

Allie groaned, looking away.

“Gosh, it can’t be?” said a demure woman’s voice. At the entrance to their cell block stood a member of Magogram special forces decked in all black, with a tacticool vest full of foci and weapons, a black pointy hat, and a black blindfold penetrated by three glowing eyes. “Why, pray tell, are Maroque’s wards in the unstation jail?”