Not all memories are created equal.

In the unknowable amount of time since I had fallen asleep and woken up in The Well, I had learned that. The concept made sense. I would never forget the lich or the first time I had met Arthur and Anna but there were countless things that had already slipped from my mind. I had probably forgotten that I had forgotten more things than I would ever know.

I laid on my back on one of the near infinite platforms that fingered out into one of the near infinite hallways that held, yet again, a near infinite amount of doors. I had stopped there not long after I had come out of the memory of a sorceress whose name was already slipping from my mind. Acon? Onsta? I supposed I shouldn't blame myself for not remembering because nothing had happened. If she had not blinked her eyes right at the beginning of the memory, I would have seen nothing but darkness inside of her eyelids. She had been sitting on a boulder that breached the surface of a muddy river. A glimpse of dense jungle, humid and green, had been all I had been able to see before her eyes had shut. Nothing but the sound of the rushing river had been there to remind me I had not been swallowed by the void.

No violence, no drama, no aura, she hadn't even had a thought.

"Constance!" I said aloud, her actual name coming back to me suddenly. Without being able to write it down, I knew that I would forget it just as quickly as it had come.

I hadn't forgotten what it had been like to see the sorcerers crumple and break under the violence of King Scarl. I would never forget what it had felt like to push my aura through the skull of Edwuin, who couldn't have been much older than me. It hadn't been me, I had never killed anybody, but I had been Ten-Moons. I didn't know if it had been a conscious choice or if she was unaware of how she had viewed her enemy, but it had not pained her greatly to end his life.

I had not enjoyed feeling what she felt. I knew the whole of Zenithcidel was in a war with the sorcerers the same way I knew what the Mothers looked like. I had been told about it, had it described to me, imagined for myself what it all meant, but up until I had witnessed a small battle of that war through the eyes of Mezalina Anilazem, I had not actually known.

I still didn’t really, but I had gotten as close as I could without participating myself.

Do you feel the fires of Hezbelthorag now? Gresh had asked after his fiery transformation. "What the fuck had that been about?" I said aloud, standing up and beginning to walk.

I had come away from that memory with more questions hanging in my mind than ever before. Why did the Mother's want to trade with the terrifyingly violent men? How many other kinds of power were there? The blood magic the two men had used had not been aura.

The biggest question of all however, was what in the fuck was a Hezbelthorag? I supposed I could seek out any number of doors and try and find answers to my questions, but I had had my fill of giant sized men breaking bodies like they were made of glass.

I found myself at the archway of one of the hallways. I didn't know which one because there was no distinction between any of them. I passed the first door on my right, dark blue and simple. Schist.

"Hmmm," I hummed. "Maybe." Turning to my left, there was a door of white wood, its bark peeling in places and revealing darker wood underneath.

No name appeared.

"That's new." I said, opening the door and stepping through it. The hallway was much shorter than any I had walked through before and only one of the doors wasn't made of the white wood. The first door on my right was made of the empty light I had seen enough of to last a lifetime in my time within the trimetal barriers. I could see the end. Is she dead? I wondered, but I didn't see an X marking any of the doorways that were set in the black hallway. If she wasn't dead, there were not many other possibilities. "Either she stopped giving her memories or she is young."

There was only one way for me to find out.

I walked deeper into the hall and felt myself drawn to a door on the right.

I opened it and stepped through, entering the memory of someone with no name.

Glow didn’t like rain. I had found a big box to hide in so she would come out and play.

I didn't like it anymore. I used to but I didn’t have a house to stay dry and Da wasn't making soup.

The box wasn’t so bad. Glow kept the dark out and the bottom was only a little wet. I could have stayed there for forever if I didn’t get hungry.

Glow was a ball that day, sometimes she was just light and sometimes she’d be other shapes. I could tell her what to do but I liked it more when she did what she wanted. Her light made the rain in front of the box shiny.

“I wanna go home.” I said to her, but she didn’t talk back. She never did. But I didn’t miss my Da as much when I talked to her.

I bit my lip and pushed her out of the box. She went so fast, the rain didn’t even touch her before she was back inside. I’d seen a bug before and its tail had lit up and she kind of looked like that except the bug's light had been yellow.

I got tired.

Glow went away.

She never stayed and played when I was tired.

I talked to her anyways. “I’m sleepy. Wake me up when you come back."

I had just closed my eyes when thunder thundered and shook my box. All the rain lit up way brighter than when glow did it. My box shook again.

I wished I had a door so I could lock myself up until my Da came to get me. He told me he would be back tomorrow when he went to see the witch but that had been two tomorrows ago.

“Hello?” I heard somebody.

I poked my head out of the box. Somebody was standing at the end of the street but I couldn’t see nothing but their shape. “Da?”

The somebody didn’t answer. They started walking.

I was in trouble. I knew it. The last somebody I had talked to since Da went to see the witch had been mean. I pushed myself as far back in the box as I could. I wished it was deeper. Like a tunnel, I could hide away if it was.

The somebody’s legs stopped in front of the box and then they bent down and I saw their face.

“Hello. This is a very nice box you have here.” The man said. His hair was long and white but he didn’t look old. His clothes didn’t have any holes in them and he didn’t look angry.

“I didn’t do nothing wrong. I found it fair and square. “ I said, trying to be as small as I could.

The man smiled at me. “That you did. It takes a smart girl to find a box like this,” He stuck his hand out at me to shake like the doctor had when he came to my old house to fix Da. “What is your name?”

"My Da called me girl and I never had a Ma." I said. I didn't want to shake his hand.

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"Oh, well that won't do. Everyone needs a name. What are you doing out here?" He said. He pulled his hand back and put it in his coat.

That made me feel better. I didn't want to shake his hand. "I'm waiting on my Da, but I don't know where he is."

The man sighed and he looked real sad. He pulled his hand out of his coat. "I'm sorry to tell you this, but he isn't going to come back. That's why I'm here."

He stuck his hand out again but not to shake, there was something in it.

I took it. I'd seen chocolate wrapped in shiny paper like it before but Da never got me one.

"Are you gonna take me to him?" I said. I ate the chocolate and kept the shiny paper in my hand. Glow would want to see it when she came back.

"Later, yes. But first I have to ask something of you. I have heard that you are a very special girl. You can make light out of nothing?"

"Da told me I'm not allowed to tell people." I said. He had hit me when I had shown Glow to the doctor. I had cried but he had made me sweet bread later and said sorry.

"He will not mind, I promise. Can you show it to me? I will give you another sweet." The man said and he smiled.

I liked his smile. He looked like a wolf. "You look like a wolf."

"I will take that as a complement." He said and laughed.

I liked his laugh.

"I don't know, Glow doesn't like strangers. " I said.

"I am special as well, just like you. I will show you if you promise to show me Glow. Deal?" He said, sticking his hand out for me to shake again.

I shook it. His hand was cold and his nails were long and pointy, but his skin wasn't hard like Da's.

Still shaking my hand, he raised his other one and snapped his fingers.

It stopped raining and sunshine lit up the man kneeling outside my box.

"How did you do that!" I said, pushing past him.

I looked up. There were no clouds any more and the sky was blue.

"I can teach you, but you must fulfill your end of the bargain first." He said, still smiling.

I bit my lip and watched Glow come out of my belly. The man stood up. He was tall, taller than Da even. I sent her up to his face so he could see her better. "What do you think, Glow? He looks like a wolf don't he?"

The man laughed. I liked his laugh. "You are special, very special indeed." He said to me and handed me another piece of chocolate.

"Glow makes me happy too, but I get real tired when she leaves," I said. My foot was wet. I only had one shoe and the foot that wasn't wearing it was in a puddle. "Oh no."

"How about we go find you some shoes and I'll teach you how to keep her around all the time?" The man said, sticking his hand out to me again.

"And a name, right? It won't do me not having a name, right? That's what you said." I asked him, eating the chocolate.

"Right." He nodded.

I took his hand and he lifted me up and dropped me on his shoulders. "We can't have you walking around with one shoe either now can we? That just won't do."

I laughed, it was fun being spun around like that.

He started walking down the street I’d found my box at the end of. I'd never seen white hair on anybody but Da and his hadn't been long enough to cover his head.

"Do you need a name too?" I asked.

The man didn't say anything back until we had turned onto another street. There were a lot of people on it, all looking up at the sky. I bet they wanted to know where the rain went.

I knew.

"You know, I think I do," The man said. "The one I have has caused me enough problems as it is."

"I think it should be Wolf, because you look like one and all." I said smiling. I knew where they rain had gone and the other people didn't.

"I couldn't have picked a better name if I tried." Wolf answered.

I bet he didn't know I had put Glow in his pocket.

I didn't fall. The white wood door slammed beside me. One moment I had been the little girl and the next I wasn't. For once, I missed Sam's annoying questions. "I'm Autumn." I said aloud, patting myself down to double check that I was indeed back in The Well.

Dumb kid. I thought, knowing that if I was in a strange place and someone I didn't know started talking to me, I would never be that naive.

That man, Wolf, could have been anybody, and all it took was a couple pieces of chocolate to gain her trust.

"Not for me," I said aloud, leaving the hall of white doors and choosing to try my luck with Schist. Finding myself somewhat bored, I passed all of the doors made of empty light until I came to the first simple blue door. “I wonder if Anna has found me yet.” I sighed, opening the door and stepping through it.

Roaring water pounded down on me, stinging wherever it hit. I sat on a large smooth stone, a waterfall trying to beat me down into the hard surface beneath me.

A voice that sounded like it came from within my own mind spoke. "Withdraw, Maiden Schist, there is no shame in attempting again tomorrow."

"No!" I cried out at my Precept's command, half in anger and half in pain. I needed to stay. I couldn't keep falling behind the rest of my coven. Half of them had found the color of their soul before we had ever been grouped together. The other half had only taken a day or two after that.

Then there was me, slow shitty Schist, still a Maiden after eight days. It had been eight days since the grouping. Tomorrow was my last chance or I would be out. I'd come too far and done too much. I had to succeed and I had to do it then, I was terrible under pressure and I would only feel worse tomorrow.

Inhaling, I raised my arms and focused my aura, pushing my colorless energy up through my palms. I exhaled and my power manifested through my channels, creating a temporary shield from the violent water that endlessly crashed down on me.

"Maiden Schist, withdraw!" My Precept commanded into my mind again.

"No!" I cried out again, having only achieved the pain of holding my futile shield. My arms burned and the rest of my body ached. I was going to fail, again. I only had the strength to hold my barrier for a few more seconds. Then, the water would hit me and I would be too weak to keep myself from being washed off the stone. I felt myself go numb and gave up.

The water never hit me.

"Schist. . ." My Precept said into my mind, her tone of voice completely lacking the commanding nature it had held before.

I looked up. A swirling dome of dark blue aura circled above my upraised palms. "I found it!" I yelled. The dome of my power relieved me of the pain from the crashing water and allowed me to see my coven on the shore, cheering.

"Eight days." I whispered to myself.

I would make it worth the wait.

The stone under me was slick. I nearly fell as I stood and focused. My color had come and despite what my mother had insisted, it was blue. I had manifested it. I would not be sent home. With every bit of myself I could harness, I let my aura flow through my palms, expanding my dome. I meant to push it upwards and block the waterfall at its source.

"Release," My Precept commanded, her previous tone returning in full force. “You will Hollow yourself!

Cracks splintered across my dome from its center but before I could release it, I fell.

The simple blue door shut and I came back to myself fully. Confident enough that I was who I thought I was, I left Schist’s hall in search of a different sorceress’s memories to wander into.

"One of these is going to let me leave," I said, taking the short staircase down several floors. I reached another identical platform and picked a trimetal walkway to walk down at random, the stained glass mosaic that filled the empty space between them nothing but a reminder that I was trapped. "I hope."

Etain, Ola Gresha, Gheraldine. Every door I passed a different name. Not long before I had been eager enough to enter the first door I came to without question. I had been spoiled to the point that I passed nearly half a hundred doors before I found a name that interested me.

Willa Hollilock. Her door was purple and made of a dark metal that shifted between different shades depending on how I looked at it. I took it and went much deeper than I had ever been before, not stopping until the entrance was little more than a dot in the distance.

I passed one on my left and a vision of a moon, the same pink as a pearl, filled nearly all of the uninterrupted night sky. Without giving myself a moment to change my mind, I opened the door and stepped through it.