The energy swirled on the ground and a large contraption arose from the circle. It was a mechanical object of golden pipes and crystals. It had a large central orb of spiraling energy like it contained a galaxy inside of itself. There was a podium with two golden antennae with white orbs on the end. 

 ‘Alright! Child, you will walk up to this podium and place your hands on those two orbs. There you will make a pact with a fairy and be bound to it for life. Through that binding, everything will make sense. All of your questions will be answered. After that, I will answer any questions you have at length.’ 

She nodded to the teacher who in response waved her hand and removed the prison. I quickly jumped up into a defensive position but no one reacted. The maid kept a firm gaze on me. The Headmistress beckoned me with her hands. 

I sheathed my sword but kept a firm grip on it. I winced as I took my first step as my gut ached. All the questions I had would be answered if I touched these two orbs. It seemed too easy. At the very least it seemed like it may give me some tools in the fight. It seemed that this was how these girls got their magic. 

I cautiously walked over to the podium and up the few stairs. I placed my sword gingerly against the railing and stepped to the middle of the platform. Sticking out from the podium were the two white orbs exactly at elbow height which now seemed full of a pearlescent liquid in constant motion. I contemplated everything that had happened up until now weighing my options. Then something came to me. 

‘Miss Wintry. You said in class that this world was our root world. And that if we left this world then we would always return here if we died. And that we are bound to this world by the Naming Ceremony.’ 

‘That is correct. I’m surprised you were listening.’ 

‘But if this process binds us to this world, then that means that we were previously bound to our homeworld. Correct?’ 

The Headmistress's eyes darted to Miss Wintry. 

‘Don’t answer that.’ 

‘She doesn’t have to now. Thank you, Headmistress. So, if one wants to return home to their previous world, one would just need to become mortally wounded before being bound to this world.’ 

Miss Wintry smiled. She was clearly enjoying seeing the Headmistress in distress. 

‘You are missing one very important detail in this revelation that may prove fatal if missed.’ 

I reached for my sword again. I began to unsheathe it when the rest came to me. 

‘The Naming Ceremony?’ 

‘The Naming Ceremony.’ 

‘My name…the Veil?’ 

I needed to know my original name before I was able to return home. That was the purpose of the Psychic Veil. If I couldn’t remember my name then I couldn’t return to my world. She had trapped my memories in an attempt to use my ignorance to enslave me. 

The Headmistress's eyes glowed with yellow energy. Her face was snarled with anger. 

‘That’s enough Miss Wintry. I’ll have a talk with you about this later. Miss Irons, if you will.’ 

I attempted to draw my sword but, in a flash, the maid had knocked it across the room and was behind me pinning me in position. The Headmistress unleashed a torrent of energy which bound to my arms and she pulled with all of her might. My hands were brought down onto the orbs. 

Suddenly, everything went dark. I could see my body but everything around me was a dark void. I could hear a distinct fluttering sound but its direction was hard to pin down. The sound intensified and multiplied. The flutters could be heard all around me and a wind began to pick up. Just as it felt as though it was to become overwhelming, the sound and wind stopped. 

In front of me stood a small woman. I say small knowing full well that I am currently only five feet tall myself. She was just barely tall enough to reach my shoulders. She was wearing a draping of dark grey cloth that formed a dress that covered most of her body. She had black wavy hair and a dark grey blindfold with a crude picture of an eye painted in black on the front. She had angel wings that seemed to be made of dull metal. 

In her hands was a black sword. Its blade was serrated and very intimidating. The hilt contained a red and orange jewel that was cut to resemble a menacing eye. She held it by her chest with the blade facing the ground. 

‘You have come to make a contract, and I have chosen you.’ 

‘I have not come to make a contract. Go away and send me back to where I was before.’ 

The woman looked surprised. She shifted in her stance to a less formal one. 

‘Have you not touched the two orbs on Godfairy Apparatus? How else would you arrive here?’ 

‘I was forced to. I had no intention to make a contract.’ 

‘I see. Well as you are here, I will make you a proposition. I am Apocolyptia. I sense in you much strength and anger. Our souls have resonated. If you contract with me, I will give you the strength to conquer any obstacle. Together we can challenge worlds.’ 

‘I humbly refuse. Your strength is not one that I can afford right now. It would be more detrimental than helpful. Thank you for your offer, though. In another circumstance, I may have taken it.’ 

‘Then I will patiently wait for you to return. A fairy only resonates with one soul in their life. You may return here at any time just by calling for me. I will return you now.’ 

‘Thank you.’ 

I bow courteously to the angelic woman and she nods her head in return. The void swallows me again and I open my eyes. I have returned to the gym. I remove my hands from the orbs as everyone looks on in disbelief. The maid stood behind me but no longer held me in place. 

‘I thought something a bit flashier was supposed to happen…maybe?’ 

The first to talk was the blue-haired student. Other students stared at her in disbelief that she would even break the silence. The Headmistress ignored it and spoke. 

‘Where is your fairy?’ 

‘I don’t have a fairy. I told them to go away and if I see them again, I will pull their wings off.’ 

‘Impossible. Everyone who goes in makes a pact with a fairy.’ 

‘Yet here I am.’ 

‘Miss Irons, put her hands on it again.’ 

I turned to meet the hands of the maid. I kicked and even head-butted her but it was like hitting a brick wall. She spun me around and brought both of my hands back down onto the orbs. Everyone paused expecting some reaction. At first, nothing happened. Then the sphere at the center of the machine cracked. 

‘No!’ 

The Headmistress bent over on the ground clutching her chest. The stifling void that had existed inside the machine leaked out and dimmed the room. Then a crack appeared in the air as if it was glass. The crack began to grow and spread. 

Kish. Kish. Kishkish. Ching! 

A hole broke open in the air and a beautiful blond-haired woman in a white princess dress with purple butterfly wings descended onto the ground. The maid and Miss Wintry immediately knelt on the ground in respect. The students followed out of instinct. I stood on defense. 

‘What is the meaning of this Victoria?’ 

The fairy's voice was like a wind chime but still set off all the mental triggers that they were a person to be respected. The distant sound of fluttering returned but was not centered on my position this time. 

‘Just another Naming Ceremony, your Highness.’ 

‘Yet the Godfairy Apparatus is cracked, and one of my fairies is now stuck in the Void. I should not need to repeat the fact that when a fairy enters the Void they can no longer return to my realm. Explain yourself.’ 

‘This child refused to make a pact with the fairy. We tried to return her to the Void to change her mind, but then the Apparatus cracked.’ 

‘Fool. You cannot force someone into the Void without them desiring it. The connection is delicate and now it is severed.’ 

‘It was all for the-‘ 

‘Silence. We will talk more about it in private later. For now, child, why have you denied the pact?’ 

She looked in my direction and I felt like I was simultaneously being lifted off the ground and crushed into the floor. 

‘I…I never wanted the pact to begin with. I don’t even want to be in this world! All I want is to be returned to my world. That woman forced all of this on me.’ 

‘So not only did you force a pact, but you forced a soul to transfer as well? I am disappointed, Victoria. The Apparatus will heal but for now, I seal your connection to the Ley Line. I cannot abide by this abuse of power.’ 

‘But I…Ah!’ 

The fairy held out her hand and a ribbon of yellow energy was sucked out of the Headmistress. It almost lifted her off the ground before it finished and she slumped to the floor defeated. The fairy turned to enter the rift in reality she had created. 

‘Return to your quarters. We will talk more in private.’ 

‘Ye…Yes, my Queen.’ 

She began to float up in the air and a pang of anxiety filled my chest. 

‘Wait!’ 

The Fairy Queen froze. For a moment I wasn’t sure if she would just continue on as if I had not called out at all. Then she turned to me again. 

‘Yes, child.’ 

‘Can you please send me back? I have family and people who need me. I need to get back to my world.’ 

‘I’m sorry child. I cannot. There are rules in place for souls and roots. I can reroot a soul through a fairy, but returning a soul to its root must be done in a special order. I will leave teaching that order up to your Headmistress.’ 

She cast an icy glare at the Headmistress and then returned her head with a full smile. 

‘I would rather like to see you make a pact with your fairy. Please don’t keep her too long. She is more patient than I. Her life is now tied to yours and without the pact, your life is more…fragile. Do be careful from now on.’ 

With that, the Fairy Queen returned to her rift, and the crack sealed like it broke in reverse. 

Gnich. Shikshik. Shik. Shik! 

The room was left as it was before with the now cracked Apparatus and the maid left tending to a broken Headmistress on the floor. Miss Wintry was the first to break the silence. 

‘Alright. That was quite the show for today. Let’s return to the classroom so I can attempt to decompile everything that you saw here today.’