What kind of monster would she have found if she strayed from her flickering lights?

It was a story that kept playing in Daphne’s head, over and over again on the night that she sunk into the astral. Her skin was embraced by the cold kiss of that malleable space with stars and worlds all around her being a small trek away if she pressed for it.

There were creatures that asked for her attention on her first tumble. A predatory monster with eyes as wide and full as a harvest moon, its game hinted at by the desperation that hung around its feathers like a miasma and human bones that hung around its neck.

A cunning creature dazzled her with its indigo mane and voice. So sweet that her teeth ached with each syllable it spoke around her. It cajoled her on her midday wear and when it saw she would not join it in its festivities, it grew impatient.

She was merely happy to listen to its words before the two drifted away from one another.

There were no expectations with the flickering lights, their bulbous gelatin bodies floating in the air without a care in the world. Just being around their rainbow glows made her drift and float with a joy she hadn’t felt in… it was a rapturous and simple occasion.

Those lights danced through the darkness and she danced with them. She danced until they drifted together towards the hole she’d dropped down from.

It reached out to her and asked if they could be a part of her and she opened up her arms and invited them in.

A sentimental moment.

A lifelong setback.

She loved her little Lumins and they loved her. Despite the hardships she’d be forced to face on the backfoot, she might not have even gotten as far as she did without those simple bundles of joy to light her path towards calm and peaceful waters.

It wasn’t even the kind of setback that made the moment painfully regrettable when looking at the situation with hindsight.

Some small town girl with no understanding of what an Incant did and the burgeoning social upper class she’d inadvertently joined upon accepting the Lumins into her life.

Her apprehensions and misgivings didn’t stop her parents from excitedly prodding for tutors and connections. They were politically minded folk in the aftermath of the Schism and she was their golden ticket in securing a life of power and luxury.

This didn’t come to pass.

Daphne drifted out of town without a second thought.

Her Lumins and her were fixated on drifting through beautiful sceneries and dancing the night under the sun and stars. The responsibilities that came from playing the part of dutiful and studious daughter was growing tiresome and after that night in the astral, the thought of continuing to play that role grated on her very being.

She would not be bound. She would travel and experience the world for what it was.

Her master found her within the week.

He was a tall, black man with golden eyes and a soft face made hard by years of experience and regrets.

“You’re the Letore girl.” It was a statement of finality, a confirmation delivered by her adjudicator. How would she be judged?

“What business do you have with me?” She’d asked. A failure on her part to confirm his statement but again, hindsight.

He adjusted his coat and pulled out a notebook, “Your parents hired me to find you. Bring you back home.” He put his notebook away. “I want to know why you ran away before I make any other moves.”

“The Lumins and I want to experience the world. We can’t do that under the thumb of my parents so I left.” She spoke with all of the joy and naivete of a fledgling.

“And did you feel this way before or after you made an accord with those Lumin?”

“Before. The Lumin simply showed me the way.”

Her master nodded before writing something down in his notebook.

“Well, I can’t rightfully deny you and your companions the ability to keep to that path but you’ll likely die out there before too long. Whether it’s superstitious bumpkins taking advantage of a youth like you or some rogue monster living in the wilderness, it isn’t safe to travel alone like this.”

“What do you suggest I do then?”

He smiled with an excitement that reached his eyes.

“We talk with your parents and see if they’ll be amenable to letting me tutor you. I’m sure that we can make a worthwhile guide out of you.” He answered.

She fell in love, with the craft and her master, when he tenderly sliced a hole in the world and the two tumbled together back to her parents' abode.

Daphne woke up. The warmth in her heart was an ember compared to the massive frigid crater in her very being, but it helped just a little bit.

“Thank you, little Lumins.” Daphne whispered. Her eyes take a moment to adjust. Where she was once in that disgusting pit, she was now staring at popcorn ceilings and orange candle light.

“Oh,” an older voice chirped from her bed side beyond her view, “She’s awake.”

Daphne tilted her head and saw her savior approach.

“Welcome back to the land of the living.” The young woman sarcastically stated. The last time she’d seen her, her savior was wearing a formal suit and she’d-

Daphne panicked, pushing away the blankets she’d been wrapped in to look at her hands.

They were fine. Just brushing on the memory caused her to wince, her fingers to twitch, but as she tested her fingers, everything seemed fine.

“Yeah. You’re fine on that front thanks to Miss Smith here.” Juniper gestured towards the older woman in the room.

Bile rose in her stomach. A nauseating vertigo hit her as that guilt came flooding back within her.

“Miss Dawson. I,” Daphne turned to Juniper, “How do you know Miss Dawson.”

Juniper raised an eyebrow at the older woman, “Well, I guess that cats out of the bag.” She turned her focus back to Daphne, “I know Miss Dawson here because she hired me to investigate a disappearance. Lo and behold I finally get access to the building and find a dungeon full of bones, chains, and a room full of women’s clothing.”

Instincts took over. The pressure in her gut and heart were altogether too much. She needed to leave, needed the space.

Daphne attempted to throw her leg to the side of the bed and felt an unpleasant yanking sensation.

What the-

She removed the blanket from her lower body and found that her ankles had been bound by a complex number of knotted ropes.

“What’s the meaning of this?” Daphne didn’t hide the growing panic in her voice.

Juniper shrugged with a nonchalant indifference, “Just a precaution. Miss Sm-Dawson here didn’t think it was necessary but I’ve had my fair share of grateful runners before. Comes with the business of not underestimating your capabilities. Even with your current… disabilities.”

“She shouldn’t be kept like this.” Miss Dawson’s voice carried with it the weight of the world and disappointment in equal measure.

“If she doesn’t plan to run away, sure.” Juniper waited for Daphne’s reply.

“I wouldn’t dream of it.” Daphne answered.

Juniper rolled her eyes, “You’d be an idiot if it didn’t cross your mind. After what I’ve seen tonight, you couldn’t pay me to prolong my involvement with all of this nonsense.”

Daphne sighed, “Whatever. You mentioned Miss Dawson hired you to investigate a disappearance. Were you asked to look for me or for Claire?” The mention of that name caused her heart to drop. The old woman looked pained too but she kept her sight level with Daphne’s.

“That roomful of clothes. Juniper found the last outfit my sweet daughter’d worn before she disappeared. Thought you might’ve done somethin’. Wished the worst of fates would fall on ya but I didn’t think the Weave would answer my prayers with all of this…” The old woman gestured at the cratered voids on Daphne’s chest and stomach.

Daphne laughed, “The Weave doesn’t answer to folk like you but I sympathize with your belief. No, I wasn’t the one that made your daughter disappear.”

“I know. What you’d offered to June before you passed out was that you’d been searchin’ for my daughter on your own. Found yourself chained to the wall.” The old woman started to fidget with the soft fabric in her hands, “Do you… do you know where my little girl is?”

Seeing the bundle of clothes wrapped in the old woman’s hands washed Daphne with a wave of guilt and fatigue.

“I don’t know where she is, no.” She whispered, her eyes incapable of seeing the damage she’d caused.

“Oh.” Miss Dawson replied. “I see.”

The woman walked out of the room, leaving Daphne at the hands of her savior.

“You keep tight for now. You still haven’t fully recovered so get some rest. We’ll come feed ya when you wake up.” Juniper offered.

“What are you gonna do with me when I’m good and ready to leave?” Daphne asked.

Juniper shrugged, “I’ve gotta do my job. Ask you some questions that’ve been swirling in my head about this convoluted mess. Console my benefactor over yonder with some understanding of why her girl is missing.”

Unauthorized tale usage: if you spot this story on Amazon, report the violation.

“I appreciate you not drilling me for information right now.”

She chuckled, “Oh, you’re getting mined dry for all your worth if I can manage it. Didn’t risk saving you just to come out empty handed from this whole debacle. Can’t really get intense with my questions without you being in tiptop shape so get some rest.”

Daphne nodded and fell back into her bed. The sheets were warm and soft and inviting.

It didn’t take long for her to close her eyes and sink into sleep. She could feel her soul slip between reality and the astral, sink into the comfortable glimmering darkness of her private domain.

She avoided looking at what was left of it. It was as if she was walled off from who she was, the sections of her soul that housed her productive spells a void in a sea of personal space.

Daphne motioned for her little Lumins to approach and together they clung to one another in a warm embrace.

Benjamin took her under his wing for an unforgettable few years. He was competent, caring, and cunning. He taught her what it meant to live as an Incant, what to expect from the people of this world and how to size up a magical opponent. He made her laugh with his fixations, the collection of colorful rocks in his possession from the different locations he’d traveled to.

“Helps me feel grounded.” He said in a way that she knew he was smirking from end to end. And it helped that the moment she began to fidget under the weight of the air and her skin that he would grab her shoulder in a tender manner and ask which direction to go next.

And he was gone.

She’d expected it and he’d informed her of this. That his sabbatical with her was only ever temporary and that with the physical training she’d done, it was only a matter of time that she’d bind a teleportation spell under her skin and become a guide herself.

“But I don’t want to be a guide if it means that we can’t continue seeing the world like this.” She’d said. A stupid remark then as it was now.

And he was patient with her.

“Daphne, you have been a silly apprentice to take under my wing. I’ve only taken one other and it swore me off the whole process altogether until we met. We are bound to each other in our memories and that is enough.” He replied in that neutral tone of his.

“But why can’t I join you and your organization? If you said you’d train me for the job, then we can work together and-”

Ben turned severe, “You cannot work with me. I will deny any mention of our involvement.”

He’d acted this way before. Mentioning an organization she’d later come to understand was the AWW, his sabbatical a longform surveying operation to inspect the cracks forming across the straining United States.

“You will carry our joy for the both of us and experience this world free from that influence, Daphne. Follow that light of yours.”

And she did.

He brought her to the edge of a sliver, a hunting ground most guides became familiar with called the Concrete Jungle.

She knew what to look for when she crossed the threshold. Teleportation spells often took the form of small, fast animals like rabbits, foxes, or prairie dogs, having this uncanny ability to avoid getting caught in traditional snares or nets.

If she were to pass the test, she’d need to search for her future companion and chase it down. Be smart enough to avoid false tracks, fit enough to keep up with the creature, and aware enough to avoid the obstacles of the environment it made its home within.

She gave Ben one last hug before taking a step forward into a new world.

“You’re going to do great.” He’d whispered before letting her go.

The Concrete Jungle made her feel small.

The sky was blotted out by the everpresent gray clouds raining down on the dreary landscape. The massive buildings were blocky, rectangular behemoths slick in rain and worn graffiti. Their roofs scraped the sky in an inelegant manner, their frames practically tilting forward to consume the streets and her along with it.

She adjusted the straps on her raincoat and began running across the sidewalk for signs of her white rabbit. Daphne was cognizant of the alleyways and the dark figures that hid therein. She was mindful of the roadways and the apparitions of hot wheeled racers ripping through the streets to make it towards some unforeseen destination. She made herself small and coasted through the foot traffic that would rise up around her, faceless amalgams of people in hodgepodge clothing walking to and fro locations.

She didn’t know where to as most buildings had no doors and those that did were not designed to look like reputable establishments. They had a method of getting inside though. From the silhouettes that haunted the windows of those bloated buildings, there was some method for them to enter.

It didn’t concern her.

Daphne and her Lumins knew where to look, instincts taking over to find the potential spots a creature of cunning might frequent.

She couldn’t have done any of this, learned any of this without Ben and the mention of his name in her mind overwhelmed her with a bittersweet ache.

She’d made him proud in the end, even if he’d disappeared by the time she emerged from the Concrete Jungle a whole spell fuller.

Her white rabbit was a strange looking serpent creature with fuzzy nimble gray legs and a face that was crossed between a fox and rat, gray fur receding into black and red scales across its body and down its long tail. It did not blink, could not blink those full plate disks.

She chased after the creature with a childish abandon. Her stomps on thick water puddles and the kinetic movement of her body crossing street corner after street corner made the chase equal parts rhythmic and playful.

At a certain point, the spell figured out she was keeping pace with it and not aggressively hunting it down.

They ran together towards a subway tunnel and the two sank into a submerged hall of muck and retention water. It was mindful to keep itself visible for Daphne.

The two jumped into its pleasant hiding hole, both dripping and joyful.

It could not speak but its grin was apparent, muscles aching with a blissful overexertion.

“Do you think we can be friends?” Daphne asked the peculiar creature.

It nodded and wrapped itself around her neck like a scarf.

Ben had stressed the importance of keeping conscious for the next excruciating step.

Where the first spell slotting was this immaterial and fleeting moment, slotting future spells would render her vulnerable, her mind carving out a space in her soul for the spell to reside within.

She’d need to be conscious through the whole process, lest the spell make a larger impression on her psyche and form than allowed.

Daphne stilled her mind as she’d been taught and invited her new companion inside.

Pain was putting it mildly.

She howled long into the night with the unbearable state of being. Her very existence was being rewritten to mingle with her companion and the two imbibed in each other's essences and memories. She’d been able to recall those moments after the fact but at the time, there was nothing but an overwhelming urge to run into a hiding place and disappear.

Daphne was jolted awake by a forceful shove of her shoulder and the scent of cooked bacon and eggs. Her eyes adjusted, heart settling, as she looked at Miss Dawson set her food on her bedside table.

“Did you dream or slip?” Miss Dawson asked.

“A little of both.” Daphne was slow to reply. Fatigue was still etched in her bones.

“Didn’t know that you could do both. Claire kept a lot of what she did with magic away from me.” She sighed.

“You could have fooled me. That girl could go on and on about the stuff.” Daphne eagerly grabbed the plate and sunk her teeth into a particularly juicy piece of bacon.

“So you two were friends?”

Daphne tilted her head from side to side, “I’d say she thought we were friends. Kept herself behind me like a shadow. She was a sweet girl, don’t get me wrong. I wouldn’t have relented to our visits as often as I did if she was a pain in my ass.” She wouldn’t have gone through so much trouble to find her if there wasn’t something about herself she saw in Claire.

Miss Dawson rolled her eyes, “The both of you were friends. The way she went on and on about ‘how cool Miss Letore was taking me to see a mountain’ or some other hyperactive fixation of hers. She’d never been so happy as she was talking about you and her progress.”

Daphne didn’t know what to say so she said nothing, letting them sit in the comfort of a more joyous time.

“Hey,” Juniper knocked on the doorframe with her knuckle, “We’ve gotta get things moving. You’ve got answers to questions that I have personal stake in so forgive me if I’m a little terse about this whole thing.”

Miss Dawson gave Daphne a small nod and after stuffing more spoonfuls of eggs and bacon down her throat, she prepared herself for the investigation.

“Fire away.” Daphne opened up.

Juniper pulled out a notebook and pressed pen onto paper, “What’s your involvement with the Scarlet Sisters coven?”

“I was a contracted guide for the coven. They offered stars for my exclusivity to their institution and a place to live on campus and in exchange, I was the personal chauffeur for the students there.” Daphne replied.

“As a guide, were you involved with bringing in outside influences onto the space.”

“No. That sort of stuff was handled by my superiors. I didn’t have the clout or experience to manage something like that. Daliah was the one that handled that stuff while I was around.”

Juniper narrowed her eyes on the book, “Great. Your involvement with Claire was as her guide. Miss Dawson here told me you kept yourself available for the girl. Why?”

Daphne shrugged, “She was a nice girl and Miss Dawson was a nice woman. Not a lot of students actually leave campus so I’d be twiddling my thumbs inside my office or running off on some personal excursions otherwise.”

“Did anyone show interest in Claire? Foreign or otherwise?”

“That was part of my small investigation when I dove into things. I didn’t get very far. Didn’t see her at all after the final exam took place and I thought that was odd. I promised her I’d take her somewhere special if she managed to snag herself a victory. Imagine my shock when I heard from Daliah and Mira that Claire was killed in the staging grounds.”

“Wait, why didn’t you two show up on Wednesday then, that week? Before the exam? Why did that other guide say you were gone?” Miss Dawson interjected.

“Claire told me she was hunkering down in the library and that afterwards, she had a meeting with the Matron. Figured she sent you a message in advance so I didn’t press anything.”

“What sort of involvement did the Matron have with Claire?” Juniper asked, voice becoming edged.

Daphne shrugged, “I don’t know. Claire and Miss Dawson had both mentioned that she was on campus to learn the ropes of being an Incant and control the volatile spell housed inside of her. Figured their discussions were about that. Worrying about her safety and the safety of others being put in that final’s environment.”

“So you find out that an accident happened in the staging grounds. How does that lead to your binding?”

“Well, my coworkers said she’d been killed and that they were processing the information to send to Miss Dawson. Standard protocol but the situation felt off. Couldn’t get proof from the staging grounds itself since it’s a sliver maintained by the Matron and the guides and they weren’t foolish enough to leave a crime scene like that for students to sneak in. Figured I’d ask her professor about the accident. Come to find out that she never even took her test. Was considered a no show.”

“The story doesn’t match between the professor and the guides. The professor has no reason to lie to you but the guides do.” Juniper correctly surmises.

“And that’s the last I remember of my efforts. The next thing I knew, my wrists were clasped in chains and my soul had been violated.” Daphne gestured at the visible vacuous spots on her chest and stomach.

Juniper raised an eyebrow, “I’d been meaning to ask about the holes.”

“Have you ever had a tub of ice cream and scooped out a ball for yourself? There once was ice cream and now there’s none in that space of the tub? It feels a lot like that.”

“That doesn’t make sense. You can’t unslot from a spell once it’s been bound to your soul. Everyone knows that.”

“I agree with you but it doesn’t feel like my slots were made empty. It feels like the very slots were ripped away from me. I can’t commune with my second or third slot and their space in my domain is impassable. It feels like a piece of me is there, just lost in transmission.”

“What the fuck…” Juniper whispered incredulously. “Can you cast spells then?”

Daphne shook her head, “I wouldn’t try it. If the slots in an Incant’s body are meant to act as a conduit for our casting, I’d likely die from attempting to cast any spell.” Having that realization voiced out into reality crushed her spirits. She had her little Lumins but they’d never feel the touch of the morning sun as long as she lived like this.

“And you’re certain about the head guide's involvement in all of this? The Matron wasn’t involved?” Juniper asked.

“Either her or Daliah, yeah. Aside from the stars I’d get in the mail and the interview I had for getting the job, I didn’t interact at all with the Matron. She has a reputation on campus of being elusive to begin with so I don’t know the extent of her involvement. She’d have to be in the know of something, it’s her campus after all, but I’ve seen enough magic in my life that I can imagine some spell that’d have people turn a blind eye.”

Juniper jotted down the last of her thoughts on the notebook before closing it shut.

“Miss Dawson, keep our guest in your home and out of sight. Regrettably, there are more leads to follow.”