At the sound of a high pitched voice from her side Rose whipped around and brought the chair leg back up. Sitting on a table was a large winged creature. With its pristine blue coat and glowing golden highlights it looked wildly out of place between the blood spatters and greying light. Its body was vaguely bat shaped with leathery hand like wings. The way it perched upright, pushed up by its wings, reminded Rose of a wyvern. Though the long snout was definitely mammalian and not reptilian.

In any other context Rose would have found the creature cute. But it had just appeared behind her in the middle of some kind of magical disaster. And right after taking care of one monster Rose was ready to take on another. So she steadied her weapon again and prepared herself in case it attacked her.

“Ah. I did ask if you’re up for more but I do not want you to fight me. I would like you to work together with me,” she said in the same high pitched, excited voice. “I understand you must be overwhelmed. I would be happy to answer any questions you have!”

“Who are you and what is happening,” Rose said while making no move to lower her weapon. While she really hoped this creature was friendly, and she wouldn’t be the one to attack first, she also wouldn’t let her guard down for no reason.

“Excellent questions! My name is Somniphobia. I am here as a member of the Keeper Alliance at the behest of your government. We are in the middle of an incident that I have been asked to observe.”

Rose paused for a moment before frowning at Somniphobia. “Ok, well it’s nice to meet you? You’ve kind of answered my questions but none of that tells me anything.”

“Of course! You require context. The Keepers comprise a number of organisations and individuals who seek the continued safety and wellbeing of reality and its inhabitants. One of the guild representatives on this world is also one of our members. This is public knowledge! But given the low magic environment there is little need for us so most people don’t care.”

Somniphobia was very animated as she talked. She kept switching which of her wings was holding her up while gesturing with the other.

“However, even a zero magic environment does not guarantee safety. Far from it. While there is little need for us to act in the public manner we usually do, Earth faces a more complicated threat. One we are experiencing now and which I am uniquely capable of assisting with. Hence my presence here.” Somniphobia stopped and smiled. Or made an expression resembling a smile with her snout.

“I have been gradually removing unaffected people from the area. I was about to get you to safety when I saw you resisting the effects. You should not have been able to refuse the creature's invitation. And yet you did!”

“You’ve been getting people out?” Rose smiled and lowered the chair leg. Her arms had been starting to hurt from gripping it so tightly. “They’re safe then? But you said unaffected people. Is Mark…?”

“He is safe. That was merely a duplicate. There are a number of them around. They seem to form in response to me teleporting people out, but only sometimes. It is one of the things I am studying here. However the thing you ran from before was previously a person.”

The monsters in the main archive had been a horrifying sight and hearing that they were people left Rose feeling sick. But she couldn’t help the stronger feeling of relief that the monster she killed had just been a copy.

“I’m glad you've been getting some people to safety at least. But what did you mean about me resisting something? Is that why my memory is messed up and I’ve been getting headaches?” Rose asked.

“Headaches and memory problems? Interesting! You will have to tell me more at another time. Yes it is likely related. I can not explain exactly how since this is a very rare and unknown phenomenon.” Somniphobia perked up excitedly and started gesturing with both wings.

“It is extremely unusual! Most beings, never mind most humans, are not able to process this manner of input,” she explained. “What you are experiencing is not magical in nature. This is a separate force. The organisation your government has created to counter the threat refers to them as anomalies. A suitable name. We refer to it as abnormal magic which amounts to much of the same.

“Anomalies function in ways neither our greatest mages nor the most technologically advanced of societies have been able to determine. While the principles of magic are not easily measurable or fully consistent there are at least principles. It can be studied, understood and predicted. And of course technology functions on the most foundational principles present in all realities. It is built on clearly understood cause and effect.”

By now Somniphobia was walking back and forth on the table as she talked. The golden patterns on her body glowed as she gestured and lit up the room. The warm light did little to fix the warped state of the shelves but it did help Rose feel more comfortable despite that.

“Abnormal magic however simply happens. Effects entirely without cause. Even as we sit one room away from a large spatial distortion I can’t sense anything. Nor could I prevent it. Space is simply like that now, until the effect ends for reasons unknown” She gestured to the remains of the monster. “If they were entirely random that would be one thing. And many are. But many more follow patterns. Some follow wills. There are entities that function on these unknown principles. And since they can understand and interact with us, the same should be true in reverse.”

At this Somniphobia stopped pacing on the table and settled down to look at Rose. Despite not looking remotely human she still managed to convey a very serious expression. Though it had no effect on her voice which had kept the same cheerful tone throughout.

“Which brings us to you. Your ability to resist is very exciting! Magic has failed to interface with anomalies. It is not only that we don’t understand them, we can not interact with them to learn more. Besides myself there are extensive magical sensors aimed at this location. And as far as they can tell nothing is happening. Your world's scientists suffer the same difficulty. Instruments can measure the effect of an anomaly.” She gestured to the remains again. “See the heat given off by an organism that should not be. But cannot identify anything allowing this creature to move.”

Rose did her best to ignore the sight of the bloody skin bag and think about Somniphobia’s words. While she had wanted more explanations, a mysterious force beyond magic and technology was more than she had expected. But even if she didn’t really know anything about magic she was quite willing to believe that this was some special unknown horror.

But it was still difficult to think of it as anything other than strange magic even with more context. And it wasn’t her priority since what she really wanted to know was whether other people were safe and if this would keep affecting her.

“Ok, ok. So there is a special power out there that isn’t magic and you can’t study it. And whatever it’s doing here didn’t work on me properly,” Rose said. “Which I guess is important to you because, since you can’t study it directly, you can only look at what it’s doing. And it not working tells you there’s something about me it interacts with, right?”

“Exactly so. You are not the only one to have experienced something like this but you are the one who has displayed the strongest resistance I have ever seen. There is much I would like to ask you and much more I would like to explain. However we are still in the middle of a minor crisis and our moment of peace is limited.”

At that Rose tensed up again. Talking with Somniphobia had helped her pull herself back together after the fight and breaking out of the anomaly's illusion. But the danger wasn’t gone. They were still in a room with warped dimensions and only a door away from much bigger monsters.

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“Right. I can save the rest of my questions for later. Thanks for explaining all this to me. Are you going to teleport me out as well then?” Rose asked.

“I could have done that earlier before revealing myself. However, do you remember the first thing I asked you? You see there is something else special about you. Something that warranted my direct interference.”

Between getting over her shock and getting some answers about what was going on Rose had forgotten what Somniphobia said before she introduced herself. She had asked if Rose wanted to make a contract.

“You asked me to make a contract? And if I want to fight more? Also now that I’m thinking about it, I never introduced myself to you. I’m Rose.”

“A lovely name. Very fitting for one with your potential! And yes, I would like to form a contract with you. Besides my research, that is my role within the Keeper Alliance. I am a Contractor. One who awakens and guides individuals with great power. You, Rose, have the potential to become a magical girl,” she said, and for the first time there was a hint of a more serious tone in her voice.

For a moment Rose tried to match the serious mood but between Somniphobia's voice and what she had just said it was difficult.

“A magical girl? And that is… what exactly? Exactly what it says on the tin? I’ve used one of those measuring devices and it said I don’t have natural mana.”

“Having mana flow through your body naturally is just one way of gaining magic. The most accessible, by a vast margin, but not the only. Magical girls are extremely rare and can not use magic until awakened by someone who knows how. Once awakened however they are among the most powerful innately magical beings out there. You would gain the ability to transform into an empowered state and intuitively wield magic. While initially limited, a magical girl can grow almost endlessly in any field of magic she chooses.

However such might is not carelessly bestowed. In the past this gift was given too freely and consequently abused. Now we require a promise. From me a promise that you will not be forced to wield your power for my causes. And from you a promise that whatever cause you take up will not act against the continued existence and growth of reality.”

“I’ll agree to that. But what–”

Before she could finish talking Rose felt a spark go through her. A warmth settled into her chest and pulsed through her body. The headache she had been ignoring vanished and she felt energised. A small thought in the back of her head told her that she had just gained a magical girl's core. There was now a magical space tied to her body and providing her with mana. She wobbled slightly at the new sensations and knowledge.

“Oh dear! I was going to go into more depth, but technically the offer was open as soon as I said ‘would you like to make a contract’. All it needed was your agreement. And mine of course, but I believe I have made a good choice with you.”

“That seems scummy,” Rose groaned as she adjusted to the third shift in her reality in one day.

“It does require your actual agreement, not just the words. The magic doesn’t work unless you want it to. I understand that you now have more questions on top of the existing ones, but this situation is getting complicated. I did not expect you to agree so readily and we are out of time now. Anomalies are difficult to predict but that likely drew attention. If you would please focus on your new core and recite ‘There is no lie in intent. Truth is a dream made real’. The incantation can be altered later but this should work for now.

“External magic is a scholarly subject but the internal and innate is not. The powers of a magical girl are not a matter of complex manipulation. Once you gain an ability you will know the basics of how to use it. All you have to do then is move your mana in the way that feels natural.”

Rose had a lot more she wanted to say and ask about that but Somniphobia turned away. She stuck out the thumb on the middle of her bat like wings and began drawing symbols that hovered in the air. While Rose couldn’t tell what they did she now had a slight sensitivity to mana. And her senses were telling her that a lot of power was going into those symbols.

She would definitely be getting answers later. But for now she agreed with the idea of getting going. And no matter how exhausting or overwhelming the day had been so far she couldn’t help the excitement at the thought that magic had apparently just fallen into her lap. With no other good options she recited the incantation Somniphobia had told her.

In interviews mages often talked about what magic felt like. The experience of having magic was probably the second most common question after which mage would win in a fight. And the answer was always that it felt very natural. Like moving a limb. Something that you simply know how to do but couldn’t describe if someone asked you how to do it.

The moment Rose finished her incantation she understood exactly what they meant. Somniphobia had been right that casting a spell wasn’t some complex mental exercise. If you knew the right way to move your magic you could simply do so. And thanks to the contract Rose now had intuitive knowledge of exactly what she needed to do.

Power gathered in the magical space that had become part of her and flowed out into the physical world. She closed her eyes as she began glowing and floated slightly off the ground. The magic she had summoned forth worked quickly. First it surged through her body, strengthening it and providing her with energy. Most of that energy kept going outwards into the forcefield she knew now protected her. But enough worked its way into her muscles to make her far stronger than before.

Next it flowed into her clothes. Their composition was scanned before, with a bright flash, they were disassembled and replaced. The new clothes were perfectly tailored to her and felt sturdy even though they weighed almost nothing. As they settled against her skin the fibres of woven mana exuded their own forcefield that merged with and strengthened her own.

Finally, the largest single burst of energy gathered in her hands. Huge amounts of power went into the creation of her weapon. A shining beam of light at the core wrapped in layer upon layer of dense mana. And then, with one more flash of light, the transformation was finished. The mana constructs were made real and Rose was left standing back on the ground.

She opened her eyes to see her own reflection looking back. Somniphobia had summoned a mirror that was floating next to her. The effect of the transformation looked as stunning as it had felt. Rose was now wearing a beautiful dress in a dark purple. The top looked almost like a suit or uniform before it flowed down into a long frilly skirt with black highlights breaking up the sweeping purple. A few places like the hem of the skirt were decorated with a white pattern of roses.

Her shoes had been replaced with an elegant pair of black boots that had the same white rose pattern. Over her shoulders she had a short black cape that went to just above her waist. While it was hard to tell Rose got the impression that both she and her outfit were ever so slightly glowing. She was sure however that her eyes were definitely glowing. They had been brown before but were now almost sparkling bright purple and so was her hair. Looking closely, strands of purple were moving in her iris with some shifting slightly over the sclera.

While the change to her appearance was a shock by far the most striking part of the transformation was the weapon. She understood immediately that magical girl weapons were often unique. The magic involved tailored them to each girl much like the rest of the transformation. But even if magical girl weapons were often unique, Rose felt this one was probably on the extreme end. What she was now holding was a staff, slightly taller than she was, tipped by a massive circular saw.

The disk was already almost razor thin but each of the vicious looking teeth still visibly narrowed to a cutting edge. It was large, almost half a metre across. The centre of the disk was in line with the staff but they weren’t directly connected. Instead the staff bent at the top, just under the disk and attached to a large guard that covered almost a quarter of the saw blade. It would probably stop anything the saw cut through from splattering onto Rose when it was on. From under the guard a thicker piece of metal attached to the centre of the disk.

The staff and saw were pitch black with the occasional purple highlight. But the metal connecting to the saw was a dull silver and looked more mechanical. Rose imagined that was probably because it contained the motor. The guard was covered in a delicate white pattern of roses.

A single line of them stretched down the staff all the way to the bottom where it ended in a blade. A few inches of gleaming silver metal, much thicker than a regular knife, with the floral pattern etched into it. The tip of the blade had ended up slightly embedded in the floorboards.

All together Rose’s transformation made for an incredible picture. She wasn't sure where on the cute and dangerous balance frills and a saw-staff fell but there was definitely a lot of both going on.

Somniphobia let the mirror fade away and the rest of her glowing symbols abruptly disappeared.

“Excellent! A magical girl's weapon is a good indicator of what sort of combat they are suited to. It looks like you will do well with the sort of direct action necessary to disrupt anomalies. Normally there would be a period of training before getting right into things. But I believe in practical experience. Should something go wrong there are preparations to teleport us away.

“I think it’s time to get started.”