The grass around Lily was scorched black. The bleachers above her had been blown back by the explosion (which maybe she had caused?) and superheated into an unrecognizable slag. Charlie stood atop the ruined bleachers, looking down on Lily, holding a sword in his hand.

"Ah, new sorcerer, maybe?" He spoke, cocking his head, "No worries, we all start somewhere. You've made one hell of a start, though. Guessing it was you who made that explosion back there?"

"You're that guy from before the game," Lily still had no idea what he was referring to with all this sorcery business, "Guy with the long name."

"Eustace Charlemagne Wulfric Lockhart," he introduced himself to her again and snapped a finger gun at her with his free hand, "But just Charlie works fine."

"Charlie, if she isn't hostile, you can give her the elevator pitch later or something. You're garbage at it anyway. We've got these shark devils to take care of now," Evan's words, quick with urgency, came through the earpiece, "I've been tracing the paths of the shark devils. They're coming from the school somewhere."

"Alright, love to chat some more," Charlie jumped down from the bleachers and started to move in the direction of the school building, "But gotta go exorcise some devils real quick. You know how it is."

"Wait—"

"Walk and talk!" Charlie shouted behind him, already running, "We've got devils to kill!"

Lily sprinted after him, but Charlie was fast. Her mind spun with confusion, but she didn't even know where to begin with questions. Charlie bolted for the side of the school building and, upon reaching a window, drew his fist back and in a crackle of red lightning, shattered the glass and clambered into the school.

"Evan, where am I going?"

"Take a left out of that classroom you just broke into," Evan's voice supplied navigation, "I've switched over to the school's security cameras to take a better look."

"Wait!" Lily climbed through the window and began running to catch up, "Can you hold up for just one second and explain what the hell's happening?"

"Alright, sure time for a crash course in sorcery," Charlie ran down the hallway, "The monsters back there are devils. We're sorcerers. We kill devils, usually on the government's payroll. That's about it. Got it?"

"No!"

"Take a right at that next hallway," Evan's terse voice cut through their conversation.

Charlie's shoes, slick with grime, squeaked against the hallway tiles as he skidded into a turn, "Don't think about all this sorcery business too hard. That's the key."

"What?"

"On your next left," Evan's voice came again, "Couple shark devils loitering around in that hallway. Whatever the source is, it's probably there."

"Got it," Charlie said. He turned back to Lily, "Focus more on your sorcery at this point; we're about to head into a fight. Your sorcery's something to do with fire and smoking, yeah? You gotta figure out for yourself what makes you tick. Because more likely than not, what makes you tick is the same thing that makes your sorcery tick. It's all psychology. If you're gonna fight, you gotta get your head in the game. If that makes sense. "

Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

"It sort of does?" Lily had long been accustomed to being out of breath when running, consequences of habitual smoking and all, but somehow she was keeping up with Charlie's brisk clip more or less fine. In fact, she felt more energy flowing through her body than she had in a long while.

"Alright, here we go," Charlie twisted his sword into a flashy flourish and dashed around the corner.

Only to get immediately smacked backwards. A thick and muscular furred tail followed him and Charlie just barely ducked out of the way as the tail smashed into the wall above him. Concrete shards and dust exploded on impact

Shark Mascot Devil — Level 8

"Whoa, Evan, you didn't tell me the ones in here would be stronger than the ones outside," Charlie grinned, anticipating the fight, "Pretty much an entire DOA class above the small fry before. Class D, I'd say."

"Must be something like they get stronger the closer they get to the source."

"Something like that," Charlie agreed.

"Holy shit dude, I go to this school," Lily watched the several shark mascot devils stalk closer, "These have been here the whole time and I've never noticed?"

"Eh," Charlie shrugged, "If up 'til now you were just a normal person, you wouldn't have been able to see the devils in the first place. And the ones here either hadn't been born until a few weeks ago or were just keeping quiet up until then. Don't think about it too hard, in any case."

Charlie flicked his sword in front of him, sending a few droplets of caustic yellow liquid ahead onto the shark monster. It recoiled, skin sizzling where the sword's ichor contacted flesh.

Lily watched, almost in a trance, as Charlie danced around the devils. He moved like water, flowing from one movement to another in graceful, fluid arcs. He smiled as he moved as though he was enjoying the combat but his eyes were frigid. In one single stroke, Charlie cut down the shark devil that had hit him before. The monster stood still, as though frozen by Charlie's strike. Charlie didn't even look backwards as the creature crumbled into ash and blew away.

"You gonna help or you just gonna watch?" He tossed the comment nonchalantly back at her, "Devils kill people, y'know? Don't feel bad about butchering 'em like this."

Right, Lily thought. Devils. Right in front of her. Right underneath her nose. Living in the same place as her, in the same place as all the other kids in her school. How long had they passed by beneath her notice? How many people had died because of these invisible monsters? Charlie had asked her to figure out what made her tick.

She was pretty sure she had an answer.

Fire built up in her stomach, heavy and hateful. The cigarette that was still in Lily's mouth (somehow she'd forgotten it was there with all the running) burned hotter and hotter. The whole length of the cigarette crumbled away into ash. Smoke, like lava running downhill, poured its way down her throat. Her whole body shrieked, bursting with sunlight.

She was the crucible, the roaring flame that could not be tamed, only briefly harnessed.

"Charlie, get out of the way."

Charlie took only one look backwards and promptly scampered off to the next hallway.

The world exploded.