I frowned as I looked down at my phone.

I had tried calling Al twice, but the call went to voicemail both times, and neither of my texts this morning had been answered.

He was probably busy, or had passed out late in the night after waiting for a reply that never came, and had overslept.

I frowned, feeling a little guilty. He was probably exhausted from waiting up for me and was trying to catch up on his sleep.

I shook my head, and sent him another message.

> GM! Sorry I didn't get back to you yesterday. Things got really crazy. I'm alright. Text me back as soon as you can ok?

It was amazing how my phone would just transform into this... heart-shaped device, with its sleek, smooth curves. It was weirdly ergonomic too, like, it felt really good to hold in my hand and was the perfect size for me.

It also gave me all sorts of cool apps, including an interface to the Hammurabi Nexus, and other stuff like a GPS map and a few other things. The map on it even had a floor plan that led me straight to a waypoint marked as Emberline's office.

I did wonder how all the information was retained when I dismissed it and 'absorbed' the mana back into myself, or even what was really happening when I transformed it into the Nexus device, and how it just worked.

Was it using my own magic to make up for that? Even by zany top-secret magitech standards it didn't seem possible.

But the world was a mysterious place and I just didn't understand it sometimes. I guess it was a good thing that there were smart people around that did.

I shook my head. This was just the sort of thing that was going to drive me insane. How did it all work? I had no idea. And no matter how much I tried to wrap my head around it, I'd just get nowhere and end up more confused than before.

I closed the phone with a soft click, and mentally tugged at a resonating core of energy inside me, causing the device to glow red and dematerialize into motes of light that flew up to merge back into me. The magic was absorbed back into my body, the sensation tickling my stomach.

I'd had a bit of time to process everything while eating breakfast, and then while making my way through the halls of this auxiliary building.

The building was mostly empty and quiet at the moment, which I appreciated. I didn't think I had the energy for social interaction after Ichigo nearly put me through a wall, and I just needed some quiet to process everything that had happened. I needed some space to just... be alone for a while.

The experience yesterday had been terrifying and intense. I had come face to face with my own death, and the worst part was that it wasn't even my first go-around with that sort of thing. The attack on the city had also left me with more than a few mental scars.

And the worst thing about it was that I'd almost gotten used to the fear.

The fear that had gripped my heart and left me feeling like I was suffocating.

The verdict by the Guardians themselves was that we had only bought time against the tide, and the world had come together in the aftermath of that event to decide on what the best way was to keep it all from ending. I had seen some of the debates and talks on the news. The general public was not exactly made privy to the full details, and the full story of what was coming was known to very few, but enough had been leaked that most knew that something big was coming, and that the Guardians were spearheading efforts to keep us alive. They were at the heart of it all, and they had decided the only option left was to fight.

Their neutrality had finally been broken after centuries of protecting the status quo and enabling humanity to choose our own paths.

I didn't know what had pushed them over the line, what exactly they had seen in the enemy that had convinced them that fighting was the only option.

I had no clue what would have driven them to take up an active role rather than just granting us powers, occasional guidance, and observing. They were the literal deities and folk spirits of old — dating back to Sumeria and possibly even older than that. Their intervention had always been extremely rare and minimalistic since they reappeared, and their involvement was usually little more than choosing 'champions' they deemed worthy.

But now, with their help, governments had banded together and had begun working towards the common goal of preparing the world for what was coming.

They had decided to help us train, and to prepare. To fight.

The whole thing seemed surreal to me. It was hard to believe that the monsters would actually return. They had been defeated, right? Banished from the world, sealed away.

I shook my head. I couldn't believe that the threat was that serious, and that it was so urgent, so imminent. But it was real, and it was coming.

I'd been given the chance to fight for a better future, and I'd taken it, even though I didn't feel like a hero. They had warned me that the path ahead would be filled with trials and tribulations, and pain and suffering. But I didn't care.

All I knew was that my best friend was going to die if I didn't do something then and there. If I hadn't taken the offer. It was a no brainer. And I didn't regret it, not really. Even though I didn't feel ready yet. Even though I was scared.

The memories of yesterday, of how it had felt to face those monsters again, to feel my blood freeze, and my heart beat like it was trying to escape from my chest. To see the jaws closing around me.

The sensation of those claws and teeth ripping into my flesh.

I felt my stomach twist into knots, my hands trembling as the fear gripped me. I closed my eyes and took a deep breath.

I had survived.

It was fine.

I'd been scared, and that was fine. I was alive. And the monsters had been beaten back, and we'd won. Even if I hadn't been conscious to see it.

It was all fine.

Before I'd gotten caught from the side, I'd actually envisioned a scenario where we'd steamroll the monsters.

We'd chop through all the fodder, and then we'd encircle the massive juggernaut with a massive combination attack. Something right out of a superhero show or an anime.

Stolen from its original source, this story is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

It would have been amazing. To see everyone come together and overcome our differences in one triumphant attack, but life just didn't work like that, I guess.

I'd learned that the hard way, time and time again. There was always some new problem, some unexpected complication or twist, that made life all just a little bit harder.

I guess I shouldn't have expected my first 'official' battle as a magical girl to have gone so easily. Maybe it had been stupid of me to think it would all just work out. That it would be that easy.

I came to a stop two floors down from the 'hospital' suite I had been assigned to, and stared at a large pair of wooden doors.

The doors were large, and made from a deep reddish-brown wood. The grain was fine, and there were small, intricate patterns carved along the edges. They were framed by an arch that was made from the same wood as the door itself.

They looked... heavy.

What sort of person was Emberline, one of the greatest magical girls alive, behind closed doors?

My stomach twisted itself into knots as I stood outside of the door.

Tesseract always had a reputation as a no-nonsense, by the book type of person who was their team's heavy hitter. She'd once famously cried during an interview, talking about her dead friends from before her team had been formed. The media had always depicted her as complicated, with a warm, caring, sensitive and nurturing personality hidden behind her hard and serious exterior.

...But the only impression I had gotten was that she was kind of an asshole.

The fact that she'd put her cadets through a trial like that without any explanation or any preparation at all was just awful. It had been an incredibly traumatizing experience. Not that the world wasn't going to throw all sorts of trauma our way if we went down this path. But it was a different thing when the source of it came from someone who was supposed to protect and guide us.

I still felt the sting of that, the betrayal.

How could they have done that? They had known how much it hurt. How much it hurt to watch someone die, or to nearly be killed, or to watch someone almost die.

Still, it was an indication that we were playing for keeps here. We weren't messing around.

The future of the world was on the line, and we were supposed to be the ones to save it. It wasn't like we had any room to slack off, or take our time.

The stakes were higher than I could really comprehend.

But it was still oh so fucked up she put us through that.

So yeah.

I didn't know what to expect.

I took a deep breath, steeling myself for the conversation ahead, before reaching up and —

The door opened before I even got the chance to knock, causing me to blink.

A girl with chocolate brown skin, soft eyes covered by a purple visor, and braided black hair with purple highlights poked her head out of the office and smiled when her eyes landed on me.

"Oh. Hi there," she greeted from a couple inches above me.

"Screen Dream? I, um, hello." I blinked at her, a bit taken aback.

"Ehehe. Hello," she responded. Her gaze flicked over to my right arm and then back up at my face, her eyes lingering on me with worried eyes.

"How's your arm? You feeling alright?" she asked, sounding genuinely concerned. She had a bit of a husky, scratchy voice for a girl my age, but it was backed by almost palpable warmth.

"Umm, it's okay, I think. I'm still feeling a bit of the shock but I can feel my fingers so... yeah, I think it'll heal." I mumbled, looking at her curiously. "Are you...?"

"Oh! Yeah, sorry about that," she laughed, opening the door fully. "The instructors responsible for our training group were a bit swamped, so they sent me over to Emberline's office instead of their own."

She paused, noticing my confusion. "I wasn't in your training group, but I heard what happened. A whole bunch of you guys were in pretty critical shape. Some were worse than others. Seems like you were the only one who was entirely KO'd and unconscious well into the evening though."

"I, er, I wasn't the only one who got hurt that badly?" I blinked, feeling a little shocked. "What happened? Are they okay? I didn't think we had too many close calls, but..."

She nodded solemnly. "Some were. I wasn't there when they came back but Null filled me in on what had happened. Some were a bit too reckless in their first 'live fire' experience and pushed their magic past the limit. Some were like you and kinda... got mauled."

Her voice grew softer, more gentle. "Look. Er, if you ever need a buddy to talk to or something... I'm here for ya. What we're doing is... hard. I haven't had any close calls to the degree you did, but I lived through the fire and brimstone as an emergency contract holder so... I know a little about how it can be hard. We're all in this together."

I gave her an awkward nod. I appreciated the thought, but... it felt strange to talk about it like that. Like we were soldiers that had fought and survived. Like we were a part of some secret sisterhood that only we knew about.

Then again, we had all been through something traumatic and life changing, and there was a sense of camaraderie and trust in that. But still, it was a strange thought to have, to feel connected to a bunch of strangers by something like that. Especially when we were just starting out in a school environment. We'd be fighting side-by-side, and I guess I needed to start putting more of a conscious effort in being social.

I smiled, summoning my Nexus against the side of my palm, and pulled up my friends list. "You know what? Here. You can reach me whenever. I'd erm, I'd like to be friends with you."

Screen Dream grinned, summoning her own in a swirl of bright purple light. Her Nexus device was shaped like a silver tablet, with a purple glass screen on one side and silver edges on the other. It had a stylized 'dream catcher' on the back of the device, with purple threads of magic woven into a beautiful, complex snowflake-like pattern.

She sidled up to me and tapped her device against mine, and I blinked as my Nexus device chimed, asking me to accept her invitation to connect.

"Well, er. There. Now you have my contact info," I said with a smile, dismissing my own device and watching it disappear in a swirl of red sparkles. She nodded in approval and dismissed her own.

She stepped to the side and let me walk past, snickering to herself. "You've got some spunk to ya, Lux. And guts. I look forward to getting to know you."

"Um, thanks," I mumbled awkwardly as she turned to leave.

I sucked in a deep breath, staring ahead at another set of doors on the far end of a small, empty waiting room with two couches. A plaque beside the door said "Emberline" in small, neat lettering.

Alright.

Calm down, Sienna.

You've got this.

This isn't going to be anything bad.

It's going to be a normal, nice meeting with a nice person, and you'll just get some advice from her on what to do next, and that's it. It's going to be fine.

It's not like I had done anything wrong. Or anything that would get me into trouble.

Just, take another deep breath and relax. It's going to be okay.

I stepped forward and hesitated in front of the doors. What should I do? Knock?

Or maybe just... walk in?

No, that seemed too forward. She was a living legend. And even if she was friendly at orientation, she had the same aura the POTUS and Tesseract did.

Maybe I should knock? Or maybe not? What was I supposed to do? What if she was busy? Would it be weird if I barged in?

Oh my God, Sienna. Just stop thinking and do it already!

"AIEEEEEE!" a loud squeal, accompanied by the sounds of a crash, erupted from inside the office and the doors rattled a bit. "AH DARNIT! DON'T DO THAT! NOT THAT!!"

My eyes widened as I took an alarmed step backwards. Then, I frowned, and stepped forward. The noise was accompanied by the sounds of someone groaning.

Was she hurt? Did she just trip or fall?

I reached up to the doors, grabbed both doorknobs, and threw the doors open. My heart was pounding in my chest, my breath was quick and shallow, and my mind was racing.

My jaw dropped open at the sight before me.

The first thing I noticed were a dozen tiny, floating lights like orange will-o-wisps that bobbed up and down and around the room.

The second thing I noticed was that the room was a mess.

There were papers strewn all over, a toppled desk chair, a tipped-over filing cabinet, a knocked-over potted plant, and a half-dozen broken glass shards from the pot on the floor.

And lastly, and perhaps most importantly, was the fact that there was a tall woman with pale skin and a long head of flaming red hair that cascaded down to her waist in messy locks, tangled and matted.

The woman had lithe, willowy frame, with slender, graceful limbs and smooth, flawless skin. She was dressed in an outfit consisting of a short-sleeved, white shirt, a light pink jacket with a dark pink interior, a pleated dark pink skirt, thigh highs that went all the way up to her thighs and ended at her ankles, and a pair of fancy pink bunny loafers on her feet.

She was laying face-up on the ground with one of the legs of her office chair tangled around one of her own legs, while her face and torso were flat on the floor with her arms spread-eagle around her as she stared at the ceiling in exasperation as she slowly and steadily reached around for a pair of circular glasses with red frames nearby.

"Um..." I mumbled, blinking as I tried to make sense of what was in front of me.

I didn't know who or what I was expecting to be behind those doors but...

This definitely wasn't it.