The “Revolt” man and I walk along the silent streets. He’s slower than I imagined, with a slight limp. After a few blocks he unslings his rifle and to use as a walking stick.

“I thought you were going to explain this,” I prompt him.

“I’m trying to determine the beginning,” He tells me, “You know not of magick, correct?”

“Magic is real?

“No. Magick is real. It’s too different from silly parlor tricks to share the name.”

I look down at the road. It seems the shaking has stopped. We’re now situated directly above the city. I wondered how much had been scooped up by the forcefield. Easily ten miles across, maybe more.

“Is this… normal?” I ask, gesturing at, well, everything.

“No. Something is very wrong. I have my suspicions why, but conspiracy will not help you now.”

How unlucky. If only I was a block further, I wouldn’t be stuck. I remember what the lady in red, Leshona Ginn, told me, “Ginn said the Primix Obscura was dead.”

He looks over to me with a wry expression, “Very astute, Comrade. That is one of my theories. The Primix Obscura controls this realm, the World Within Worlds. Currently, or perhaps previously, a woman by the name of Vienne Chafer held the title.”

That name rings a bell. It’s the one that came to me, right before all of this madness began! I tell the man how I felt before the shaking started. He puts a hand to his chin. Lots of stoic contemplation with this guy.

“If the Primix is dead,” he says, “Then her Glory would have dissipated around her resting place. If you already had innate ability, and were nearby, you could have received barely enough magick to enter the Within.”

“Just my luck.”

“Citizen, you are lucky, as you are now among the privileged iconorests, the fortunate practitioners, the anametamystikhood. I pity those barred to the lower plane.”

“Can’t I just go home?”

He looks at me like I just spat in his face. “My apologies, I should not expect you people to know how to free yourself from servitude.”

“What do you mean ‘you people’? Where are you from?”

He tells me sheepishly, “… Wallingford.”

“That’s just across the bridge!”

“And yet I live in a whole different world. One of boundless potential. And you worked for a bookstore.”

I put my head down and attempt to change the subject. “So, this Primix is dead. Why are we floating above the city?”

“I suspect Blue Point Seven to be behind this affront. Unfortunately, it is beyond my skills to defeat her, so here we will remain until someone has claimed the title.”

“Of Primix? How do they do that?”

He shrugs and stays silent. Despite his aesthetic, he doesn’t seem to care much for politics.

Up ahead I see Crucible Books. It’s a small brick storefront, situated between a pet food shop and a new-age boutique. All in one piece, someone has lowered the riot shutters. Sierra must be inside. I breathe a sigh of relief, but then a thought dawns.

“Dude, uhh… What’s your name,” I stumble.

“Diggs,” Diggs replies.

I try to recall what I was going to say. I can’t remember it. “Uh, this is it.”

Diggs walks up to the storefront and examines the riot shutters, before grabbing the bottom of the fence and pulling it up, disengaging the shutters. He moves them all the way back up to their neutral position, mumbling “Your employer should be more careful with her security measures.”

I rush past him and into the store, triggering a bell as I open the shop door. I look inside the store and immediately see Sierra. She’s tall, almost as tall as me, with delicate features and a rough personality. Her brown hair, always pulled back into a bun, falls free as she wears a pointed hat straight out of Witch’s Halloween costume. What? She leans over a large black cauldron, bubbling with some green concoction. What?? The bookstore itself has changed, the once full shelves only holding a scant number of dark tomes with leatherbound spines and golden embellishments. What???

Sierra looks at me with big green eyes and an expression of absolute shock. No, more disbelief. I hold up my hands as if to say, ‘I don’t know what to tell you’.

“You’re here?” She exclaims.

“You’re alive? And… A witch?” I shoot back at her.

She gives a slight chuckle. “A little overboard, I know. Don’t give me shit, sometimes looking the part helps.”

I was going to give her a little shit, but on second thought, it actually suits her. God, I never thought I’d say a wide-brimmed pointy hat worked for someone.

Diggs nonchalantly walks into the store. “Greetings Sierra,” He says.

“What’s up Diggs? Help out Connor here?”

“Yes. He was about to be made a meal by Ginn.”

“Oh damn. Okay. So it’s really happening then.”

I feel so far out of my depth I could be in the middle of the Pacific. “Wait, you two know each other?” I ask them. Then I remember my earlier question for Diggs. “If only magical people can be here, and Sierra’s here, then that means…” I direct my attention to the wannabe Soviet, “You knew her and didn’t tell me?”

This story originates from a different website. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.

He looks nonplussed. “I thought it best she explain herself.”

Sierra seems sympathetic. “Thank you Diggs. Yeah Connor, I’m magical as fuck. But you’re as magical as a bag of rocks. Why are you here?”

I feel a little betrayed by Sierra being magic. We had a rapport. Sometimes we’d stay late after closing and knock back a few beers. She told me about her sister, constantly in and out of the hospital, and I told her about my savings, all up in flames when my college caught on fire. Yeah, they shouldn’t have been in cash, but my grandfather was a little strange. Whatever, the point is, I trusted her. Did I even know her?

Diggs answers for me. “He must have had some potential, or else the Primix’s death would not have given him the required magick to phase into the Within.”

Sierra frowns at that. “No, I test all employees. He doesn’t have a mystik bone in his body.

“Curious…”

“Okay, what?” I interject, “Can someone please explain what’s going on? The Within, Magick, Mystik, where are we?”

Sierra walks up to me and puts a hand on my shoulder. “Connor, I know this is a lot. I’m gonna help you through it. You’re safe now.”

I untense my shoulders. She pats them, then moves back to the cauldron. Maybe that’s why she didn’t tell me. It is a lot. Still, something doesn’t sit right with me.

“Here’s the lowdown. This is The World Within Worlds, a mirror image of earth that borders another planet called The Wyld. Magic seeps in from the Wyld into here, distorting those who live here. They get Weird, capital W. Vampires and Werewolves, ghouls and shit? They’re from here.”

“How does it stay hidden?” I’d never been the kind to believe in conspiracy, but something this big seems impossible to keep hidden.

Sierra does a knowing nod. “The Within is like a buffer between Earth and The Wyld. They don’t touch each other directly. There’s also The Obscuran, a veil between the Within and Earth. Those that understand enough about the Wyld, innately or through study, can travel through the Obscuran, but only if they won’t divulge the secrets to Magick. If they plan on or will accidentally let slip, they can’t go back to Earth.”

“How does the Obscuran know who’s gonna snitch? Like, if I said I was going to flip a coin once I got back to earth, and if it was heads, tell everyone about magic, would it stop me?”

“If it landed heads. I know, it’s crazy, but it somehow knows. There are whole libraries on the subject. What it means is there are a lot of half-insane people stuck in the Within because they’re too dangerous to be let on Earth. People like Leshona Ginn.”

Diggs coughs, then adds, “The Primix Obscura, cough cough.”

“You literally just said the word ‘cough’ at the end there,” Sierra points out. Diggs doesn’t respond, “Whatever,” she continues, “Yeah, the Primix Obscura is the most powerful mage in The Within, and they have some control over the Obscuran. That’s how you can get some occult texts accidentally finding their way to earth, and people can learn about the Within naturally.” She points at herself as an example.

“What happened to everyone without magic, when, well, you know,” I point up.

“They’re fine. What happens on the Within doesn’t affect Earth. But, if things are too fucked up in the Within, the Obscuran clamps up and won’t let anyone out. Which, you know, about sums up right now.”

Diggs butts in again. “Even without our predicament, we cannot leave until a new Primix is chosen.”

“Like electorally?

Diggs breaks out laughing. Sierra and I look at him until he calms down. It takes a while, but after he controls himself he says, “If only,” with a smirk on his face.

“Anyways, it’s determined by whoever can set a meeting with the Eld first. They’re a sort of magical creature that lives in The Wyld, but honestly who cares. The important thing is no one can get a connection until someone finds Vienne’s secret lair, which is somewhere in this area, hence the big bubble.”

I start to catch on to the implications. “Since Vienne lived near here, and she was pretty important, that means a bunch of people vying for her job also lived around here.”

Sierra breaks into a toothy grin. “See, I knew you’d do well! Yeah, we’re stuck here with all the vilest people in the Within. It’s… not going to be pretty.”

Trapped with a bunch of power-hungry wizards. Yeah, that sounds about right.

“But you’re not alone!” Sierra quickly adds. “We’ll keep you safe, plus if you’re here you must have a tiny bit of magick to your name,” she grabs a ladle and sinks it into her cauldron. “Here, drink this.”

I look at the green soup, which is still bubbling in the ladle. “I think I’ll pass.”

“C’mon, it tastes like mint.”

I cock an eyebrow. “Okay, it tastes like shit,” she admits, “But it will help us gauge how much potential you have.”

Fuck it. Day’s already been crazy enough. I grab the ladle from her hand and down it in one gulp. It burns as it slides down my throat slower than I expected or wanted. The taste of bile hangs in my mouth but is gradually joined by a warm feeling radiating down my spine. I look down and notice my fingers glowing. Nine fingers: all on my left, all but the pinky on my right. They shimmer and shift under my skin. I look up to my companions to see their reactions.

Sierra stands there with wide eyes, mouth agape.

Diggs has grabbed his hunting rifle and leveled it at my head.

“Now this just sucks,” Diggs sighs, cocking the rifle, “Another spark will set this world ablaze. Best snuff it now.”

“Calm down Diggs,” Sierra pleads, hands up.

“What’s going on!” I ask for the millionth time.

Sierra looks manic, she takes off her hat and runs her fingers through her hair. “You have, for some fucking reason, Nine words of Glory. You shouldn’t have one, let alone Nine. No one has Nine. This must be a mistake, I must have done the potion wrong, I must--- “

“No,” Diggs says, “One person has Nine words of Glory. Vienne Chafer. I thought her power had dissipated as she died, but no. Somehow, inconceivably, she put it in you. And for that you must die.”

“Fuck off?!?” I scream.

Sierra stutters, “You, you can’t, you can’t get into Vienne’s lair without her Glory gone. Glory is everything, it’s the most powerful expression of magick, it’s a direct connection to the Eld. I know one and I’m damn lucky to.”

“I know two,” Diggs brags.

“It’s such condensed power that nothing rivals it. Her locks are tighter than Fort Knox until her Glory is gone. If you have it, the locks are still active, and--- “

Diggs sneers, “We’re stuck here because no one can become the new Primix.”

“Will you please stop fucking interrupting me!” Sierra’s face goes red as she yells at him.

Diggs swings his rifle to point at her, which I take as an opportunity to disarm him. I have one hand on his rifle before I realize I don’t know how to disarm someone. A shot rings out, missing us and breaking through one of the bookshelves. He tries to wrestle control of the gun from me, but Sierra shoves him to the floor and he drops the gun.

I pick it up, reload, and point it at him. “Why are you trying to kill me!”

“I will not let my people murder each other over a half-baked prize,” he tells me through gritted teeth, “You are standing in the way of this being over!”

I turn to Sierra, “Is there any way to get rid of the Glory?”

“You die, or someone else steals the Glory. Which involves eating your heart, so you’re dead either way.”

“Great. What do we do with this guy?

Sierra reaches out for the gun. I hand it to her. “You go. To that place I told you about.”

I know the one. “You’re going to wait here? Are you insane?”

“Fuck no, I’m going to wait until you’re a safe distance gone and then let this sucker go. He’s harmless in comparison to some other fellow inmates. Then I’ll meet up with you and we’ll figure this out.”

I nod, slowly backing away. Then I remember my backpack in the back room, so I head in that direction instead. I pass by the shelves, unable to shake the feeling of déjà vu. It’s so close to correct, but just slightly off. I pass into the back room, grab my bag off of a chair, and burst out the back door in a full sprint, headed west. Headed to Colby Rock.