"Mindy, look... I know we said 'anything' but..."

"Hey! Don't you dare back off now! Just a few more steps and we are done!"

Looking at the mysterious creature he sometimes called that was his childhood friend, the young boy sighed as he crossed his arms. Mindy, the girl with short black hair wearing black shorts and a black shirt. She was in the middle of painting questionable symbols all over the floor using a brush and setting up candles around said markings. Every time she pulled another candle from her bag, the boy's regret of ever making that bet with her grew.

"The angel blood."

Mindy extended her hand towards the boy without looking away from her dubious creation. In response to that, the boy simply looked at a nearby table where a bottle with some red paste stood. There was a label that read 'angel blood' written in a barely legible handwriting.

"Come on Nate, hand me the angel blood!"

With a resigning sigh, Nate walked over to the table and grabbed the 'angel blood'. After removing the cap and getting a whiff of the tomato fragrance, he made his way to Mindy and handed it over. He made sure to not spill any of it on his clothes.

"Thaaank you~"

Mindy took the bottle and started pouring the contents into the middle of her giant creation. Meanwhile, Nate rolled his eyes and sighed again.

"All done!"

She triumphantly stood up and put her hands on her hips while looking at her masterpiece. Nate was impressed. It actually looked like a genuine satanic ritual and not some random scribbles like last time. Maybe it will actually summon demons now?

After admiring her work for a few moments, Mindy proceeded to walk into the part of the drawings where there was a blank circle and sat cross-legged inside.

"Now you sit over there and we can begin!"

She then pointed to an identical empty circle on the other side of all the markings. Since he lost the bet, he couldn't refuse and obediently sat down in the designated spot. In response to that, Mindy nodded to herself before pulling out a thick book from her bag. This made Nate raise his eyebrows as he inspected the book's cover. It looked like one of those occult books with strange bulging symbols on its cover. No text or a picture.

"Now then! Repeat after me!"

Nate simply continued staring at her without responding. To Mindy, that was his confirmation of agreement.

"We summon thee! Arnagroth, the great fiend of the dimensions!"

She put her arms up as she yelled that out loud.

"We summon thee... Ar-..ara-...argaroth?"

"Arnagroth!"

Mindy swiftly corrected Nate, who was struggling to pronounce the weird name.

"Argan-...ugh whatever, the great fiend of dimensions!"

"We beg you! Grant us the privilege of witnessing one of your many worlds!"

Mindy decided to ignore the fact that Nate skipped the name.

"We beg you. Grant us the privilege of witnessing one of your many worlds."

Nate repeated her words perfectly... except his enthusiasm was on the opposite side of the spectrum.

"Araga, turoth moro!"

"Araga tu... what?"

"Kalu mono tareh!"

"Kalu... you know what, this is getting a little stupid."

"Gasta! Horido! Raaakaaaaa!"

Saying those last lines, Mindy stood up as her lungs emptied whatever air was left in them.

...

And then, nothing happened. Mindy stood still with her arms open and her eyes looking at the ceiling. Nate kept staring at her, expecting something more. The candle flames kept on silently burning. Not even an awkward breeze blew by since the door and all windows were shut.

...

Mindy's body slowly started trembling before she looked down again straight at Nate.

"You messed it up!"

Her finger pointed straight at Nate, who still sat there without any enthusiasm whatsoever.

"Well, sorry! But I don't speak gibberish!"

"Ugh! It's not gibberish, it's-"

And then, a flash of light. Both of them instantly closed their eyes on reflex, but even then, they could only see pure whiteness. Mindy was certain she screamed out when it happened, but her ears didn't seem to register her own voice at all. Meanwhile, Nate felt something rapidly leaving and entering every cell of his body. And only a split-second after the flash, their consciousness faded away...

...

Head, back, arms, legs... everything ached when Nate finally opened his eyes again. Despite the pain and his blurry vision, he did his best to get his bearings and sit up while holding his head. Surprisingly, there was no need to strain his head to recall what happened. The moment he woke up, he remembered the ritual and the subsequent flash. Of course, he also remembered the other person.

"M-mindy?!"

He blinked a few times to recover his sight and looked around in search of Mindy. However, what he didn't expect to see, were countless trees in all directions. Somehow, he found himself in the middle of a forest. In the back of his mind, the thought that 'the ritual worked' popped up. But immediately after that, he caught a glimpse of something black lying on the ground. On closer inspection, it was long black hair of a girl lying not too far away from him.

"Mindy!"

Despite the pain, he stood up and ran up to her. When he did though, he realized something was off. Didn't she cut her hair a few weeks ago? Why is it so long now?

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"M-mindy? Are you okay?! Speak to me!"

But an oddity or two didn't stop him from holding her in his arms and worryingly talking to her. Thanks to his voice, the girl started groaning and slowly opened her eyes.

"N-Nate?... WHOA WHO ARE YOU?! Agh!"

After her eyes have opened, she suddenly yelled in panic but immediately after that, she jolted in pain.

"It's me! Nate! Nate!"

While reassuring her, he noticed yet another unnerving oddity. Her pupils turned pitch black.

"Wha..."

With her mouth half-opened, the girl stared at the boy who claimed to be her childhood friend in confusion and disbelief for a few seconds.

...

"N-Nate?! What's with your hair?!"

"Huh...?"

Nate quickly touched his hair, but didn't feel like it was messy. After that, he brought his bangs down and took a closer look. They were white. His brown hair turned white.

"Why is..."

Another wave of confusion assaulted Nate. Why did his hair turn white? Doesn't your hair lose color when you are older?

While Nate worrying about the sudden change, Mindy managed to sit up and look around. Her eyes widened as she noticed the trees, grass and other plants around them. This clearly wasn't her grandfather's basement anymore.

"Hey... we are in a forest..."

"Yeah, I noticed..."

An awkward silence followed.

...

"Hey..."

The silence was quickly broken by Mindy's weak voice.

"It actually worked...?"

Astonishment flowed into the expression of both of them. Mindy couldn't believe it actually worked. On the other hand, Nate was also surprised that she didn't even expect it to work herself.

"N-no, I mean! Of course, it worked! Hahah all according to plan!"

Mindy tried to laugh it off, but Nate merely held his head as a sigh left his mouth.

----------------------------------------

A winged woman clad in shining armor rushed through an empty hallway. Her teeth and fists clenched, she was sweating bullets. Upon turning a corner, she almost lost her balance and fell, but her wings flapped and helped her stay on track. She soon arrived at the end of the hallway where a grand door lied. There stood two humanoid statues, one on each side of the door.

"Elina Astra from the Heavenly eye district! I bring urgent news for the princess!"

After hurling these words toward the statues, they made subtle mechanical nods and the door slowly opened. Elina lost no time running inside before gracefully bowing and lowering her wings.

"My utmost apologies for my sudden entrance princess. I have brought some dire news!"

Inside that room stood a person, fiddling with floating stones and goo spheres connected by streams of shining dust. The 'princess', reacting to the sudden visitor, jerked her head toward the source of the noise making all of the stones and goo spheres fall down to the floor.

Her appearance was identical to that of a young girl... if it weren't for the fact that her entire body, including her hair, was transparent and had a blue tint. Just like a proper princess, her body was clad in shining golden dress and on top of her head sat a cute little crown.

After staring at the intruder for a few seconds, her sweet voice resounded in the room.

"What is it, Elina?"

Still bowing, Elina started her report.

"Our district has detected a huge distortion in the space-time fabric near the Kodawa region."

The words 'huge distortion' made the princess frown.

"We have yet to pinpoint it precisely... but we think it might be... a d-... a demon..."

The princess clenched her teeth and frowned upon hearing that.

"Another one..."

The princess briefly closed her eyes and a moment of silence followed. When she opened them again, the anxiety was fully replaced by the dignified look of a ruler.

"Elina, immediately head back to your district. While you work on pinpointing the distortion, you are to begin searching for the demon's artifact as well."

"Y-yes my princess!"

With that, Elina bowed once again before turning around and dashing out of the room.

After making sure the surroundings were vacant of people, the princess spoke into the empty air.

"Marwen."

"Yes, milady?"

And an old man's voice responded, seemingly coming from the same location as her.

"Go and inform the beast king. Tell him to assemble a party to search the Kodawa region for any signs of a demon."

"Right away."

After that, the tiny crown on her head wobbled and fell from her head. However, just before hitting the ground, it grew in size and its shape changed drastically. In a split-second, there stood an old man in a suit holding a hand on his chest. His head featured two white wolf-like ears and his back sprouted two massive white wings.

"Then, excuse me."

With these words, he disappeared without any sound.

...

A sigh escaped the princess' mouth.

"Always when it's the most peaceful... just... why?"

What seemed to be a silent rant not meant to be heard by anyone, was answered by another male voice.

"Perhaps that's the reason itself. Demons want chaos, peace is unacceptable for them."

Not surprised in the slightest, the princess sighed again before replying back.

"Perhaps you're right..."