Madelyn had never seen a skull look perplexed, but the way its eyesockets narrowed, the way it leaned in, the way its beaks seemed to grind, all suggested some deeper, more laborious thought than this creature was used to exercising in such challenges. When its reply finally came, it was quick, curt, almost dismissive.

“What?”

“Earth. My home. The world I come from. Are you not familiar?” Haughty and condescending were unfamiliar tones to Madelyn, but they decided such an affect suited them well. When they were met with only more silence they exhaled a sharp, biting laugh. “Surely such an preeminent being as yourself has heard of Earth?”

“What trick is this?”

“No trick. You must know about New York? Television? The Cold War? K-Pop?” Laughter bubbled from each of their silenced words as the being before them stewed in rage. In retrospect, Madelyn’s plan almost seemed juvenile, too simple to ever work. But if nothing else, the most important thing Madelyn had discovered was the simple fact that wights were bound to the world they were created in. Put simply, the wretched, evil thing before them didn’t know a damn thing about her home. 

“Spewing nonsense is not historical knowledge. Cease this at once and choose a real topic or I will consider your life already forfeit.”

“Look into my head, wight. See that I am telling the truth. See that all I say is based on tangible, factual reality.” For a second time, they felt it pry into their head, this time, less gently, and peer inside. The truth seemed to leap out and bite it as the monster recoiled in fury and disgust.

“How dare you! You will not leave this place alive.” Rumbling filled the space all around them; if Madelyn were indoors, they might expect the ceiling to begin to cave in, the walls to collapse. 

“I don’t think so. I won, remember? I’m taking your finger and going.” That was, unfortunately, where Madelyn's confidence ran out. They spun heel, away from the spirit, and made motion to leave, only to realize they weren’t really sure how. In the text they’d read, a glowing doorway home had been described, one that would appear upon securing victory. But none did. The rumbling grew louder, as a slow, booming clap filled the space around them.

“You did win, Madelyn, didn’t you. Congratulations, you did what so few can. There’s only one problem. You’ve made me angry. In all likelihood, I’ll suffer consequences for this. But I have no intention of letting you live. Our little bargain is over; that little incantation you recited which bid me parley with you is over now that I have fulfilled my end. Now turn and face me; I want to see the terror in your eyes when I rip them out.” Madelyn barely had time to react, could barely turn and draw their sword before the creature was upon them, all blinding claws and gnashing teeth. They parried the first blow, staggering backward as it pressed a fervent advance. No opportunity to turn the tide came, to slip in or around with fancy footwork, to create an opening with clever bladecraft; Madelyn fought in its domain, and that place followed its rules. They were treading on nothingness, going nowhere but where the creature allowed them to be.

Despite the circumstances, Madelyn somehow managed to hold their own. Magically enhanced reflex and skills were no joke, and unlike the raw strength of the lumbering dragon, or the existential creeping of having to face a fellow human person, the creature was, mostly, just fast and devious. And one Madelyn had no qualms ending. Blow after blow glanced off their blade with practiced motion. The steel did not sing through air, as this place was empty, but it glided and sliced through the miasma which hung thick around them all the same; each clatter of steel against ethereal claw rang muffled in the stillness around them—otherwise only disturbed by their gasping breaths and thundering heart—as they sought any opening at all. But no opening would come; time and time again the claws flew effortlessly toward them, time and time again the oppressive nothingness around Madelyn grew heavier, thicker, itchier, murkier. 

Another strike blocked, this one from overhead; Madelyn had almost been too slow. The claws met her blade at an odd angle and their strength buckled under the force of the blow; a second strike whirled up from below, and Madelyn barely managed to bring all their weight down upon the rising claw. Their blade shattered. Madelyn flew. There was no landing, there was no place to land. The wight was upon them; the fear became so real. They knew it would not grant them a painless death. Almost gingerly, it plucked them out of the air and brought their face close to its empty skull. Its left hand traced Madelyn’s side, lowering to a pouch they kept on their belt, deftly opened it, and, in a singular fluid motion, snatched its finger back and returned it to its rightful place. Madelyn wanted to shout in protest, but their lips wouldn’t form the words, their throat couldn’t find the air. The feeling of gloating hung in the air, of delight upon discovering a new toy, it itched and crawled all up and down Madelyn’s flesh. All sound was drowned out by three voices laughing in manic, sadistic delight. Then silence. Then light. Then screaming.

The flash only lasted a moment, but it was the brightest thing Madelyn had ever witnessed. Yet they felt no pain, no searing of their cornea, no blindness, no ocular ringing or ethereal afterimage that faded and danced across their vision. Mostly it was just warm, and familiar, and safe, and—

“Madelyn, move!” Somehow, Sybil was audible over the piercing shriek of pain which had erupted in three distinct, harrowing voices. Madelyn blinked, hard, shook their head and glanced up. The light, the one Sybil had made, seemed to have lodged itself in each and every one of that thing’s eye-sockets. It writhed and thrashed and clutched at itself, desperately clawing its own face to remove the unwanted intrusion. Behind them, glowing light streamed through a door, the door. Sybil didn’t need to ask twice, not that she had been asking. Being well and truly in motion again, covering ground was an odd experience, for so long they had been nowhere, having somewhere show up as a tangible place they could actually go to was almost surreal. That didn’t stop Madelyn from moving as fast as their legs would carry them toward that somewhere, though. 

Hard ground was beneath Madelyn’s feet; they were stumbling, falling out of that place into an awkward, diving forward roll to make some attempt at not eating shit. It worked, mostly. More importantly, their body served as a cushion for Sybil, whose less graceful descent followed soon after, landing atop them and meeting their eyes with a searing gaze. They took a moment to catch their breath, which was difficult given Sybil’s tendency to take it away. Several moments of tense silence followed as Madelyn fought to ground themself under Sybil’s intense stare, fought the sudden guilt and shame as everything they’d just been through caught up to them. Somehow, Madelyn managed to speak. 

“Sybil, I’m so sorry. I fucked up. You told me not to go and then I went anyway and then I got the finger but I lost it and I needed you to rescue me again and—” Without warning, Madelyn was incapable of continuing their sentence, a pair of soft, plump lips were suddenly pressed against hers. It took several moments of her brain shutting down and rebooting to full process the fact that Sybil was kissing her. That her upper lip was between Madelyn’s upper lip and lower lip. When her brain finally fully reset and managed to process what was going on, it managed to come to one, and only one conclusion: this was nice. Very nice, even. Then the kiss was over and Madelyn was gasping for air and Sybil was on top of them gazing down at her with the most soulful, intense eyes. 

“Madelyn, don’t you fucking dare do that ever again.” Unable to form any sort of verbal response with Sybil looking at them like that, Madelyn only managed a weak nod. Sybil sighed in relief, then seemed to allow reality to dawn on her and blushed deeply, eyes bulging as she suddenly froze in place, then stiffly, awkwardly, disentangled herself from Madelyn. Standing, Sybil gazed down at them, sheepishly scratching her head. “Uh, sorry. Should have asked if that was okay first. And, uh, well, y’know.”

“Y-yeah.” Their voice was shaky, but Madelyn managed a reply. They sat up, and looked around as they processed that yes, they were, in fact, back in the real world, and let out a breath they hadn’t realized they’d been holding. Sybil offered a hand, which Madelyn took; she pulled herself to her feet and dusted off her cloak. 

“Listen, Madelyn, I’m sorry for everything I’ve put you through, I’ve been selfish, putting you in danger just for some spell.” Sybil murmured.

“It’s not just some spell, Sybil. It’s your future. Besides, it’s not like I didn’t agree to this. And, you did try to stop me from going after the wight, I just didn’t listen.” They dragged their foot through the grass uncomfortably. “Uh, anyway, what do we do now? About the finger?”

“I guess that’s it. I mean, I’m not sending you or anyone after one of those things. So that’s that. Maybe one day I’ll find another way.” Her voice had grown progressively quieter, sadder, but also more contemplative and thoughtful. 

“It can’t end like that.” That response surprised even Madelyn; theoretically, this was what they wanted, wasn’t it? But no, not if it meant Sybil would be unhappy. “We worked so hard for this, Sybil. I fucking almost died, like three times. We need to see this through, for better or worse. There’s gotta be some other way, someone has to sell them, or maybe there’s some other witch you could go to who has a stock of them.” Right at the end, something made Sybil’s head snap straight up to meet their gaze.

“Some other witch?” She seemed almost to not believe what she’d just heard.

“Uh, yes?”

Sybil seemed to need a moment to collect herself, she hung her head, trembled for a moment, exhaled a breath at some junction between a shudder and a laugh. “Madelyn, I think I know where we can find a wight’s finger. I can’t be certain, it’s been a long time. And fuck, I was so caught up in it all, so blinded by my drive to just go go go, keep pressing forward, pressing away from there. I didn't even consider...”

“From where?”

“Madelyn, how would you like to see my childhood home?”

SapphicSounds

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