To say that I was anxious for the coming confrontation was a grave understatement. This wasn’t at all helped by this being my first time I’d ever experienced the material world outside of my house with true vision. Just stepping outside was already a flood of information that made me stumble back into the exterior wall while I tried to take it all in. Every blade of grass in the yard had a story to tell. I understood the magical meaning behind every tree my grandmother kept and the strange nature of the soil of the untended garden, perfect for growing certain specific breeds of flower and herbs. I had to avert my eyes from the huge tree shadowing the front of the lot. It wasn’t natural, and it served some complex purpose I didn’t have the time or mental fortitude to decipher at the moment. A project for later, if we survived this endeavor.

“Let’s go before I throw up.” I told Thomas and Scarlet as I stepped quickly along the path through the fence and led the way to the bus stop. I would explain to them on the ride there, since there were no passengers in this part of town, at this point in the early evening. For most of the ride, I kept staring out the window, learning more about mundane pieces of reality than I ever dreamed was possible. The city itself fell into the background as the hidden history of every street corner unfolded before me. And the richness in the air at certain specific places told me where witchcraft had been used before. Sometimes on street corners, sometimes hidden in alleyways, occasionally inside the old brick and mortar storefronts we passed by. I wondered if these marks were all left by my grandmother, or if there were other witches in the city. How common was magic? A particularly colorful patch of magical aura flowed much more actively around an old-fashioned tailor’s shop with the name ‘A Familiar Thread’ with a stylized logo including a black cat, and I made a mental note to revisit what I could only imagine was an unsubtle front for a witch’s shop.

Regardless, the hotspots of magical aura offered hints of what had been done there. Mostly manipulation of space, perhaps as a magical shortcut through the city itself, or for some grander purpose I would have to take some time to understand. Regardless, it inspired ideas within me for developing magic of my own. A fire had been lit in me since the building blocks of reality had been made clear to me. I wanted to use them. I needed to. And I had so many ideas roiling inside of me already with what I could do with them. But building the fence around the industrial park was first. I had to get that out of the way before I could begin experimentally toying with reality. It was just one more incentive to stay alive and to keep the world safe.

As I stepped off the bus, I frowned at what I saw. To mundane eyes, the industrial park still just looked normal. It was an unsettling empty space where it felt like people and machinery belonged. It should have been alive with human activity, but some financial hardship or public disinterest had rendered it inoperable before it had served its purpose, freezing it in a bizarre limbo of the early stages of urban expansion. It was fascinatingly unsettling in a certain poetic way.

But to true vision, the air looked dead. Just as places of high magic activity glowed with colorful waves of activity, the air surrounding the construction area was dark and oppressive. The color of the sky was sucked away into empty space the further I looked toward ground zero. I had to ask to make sure. “Tell me that’s just my sight and not how it actually looks to everyone,” I mumbled to the others.

Scarlet let out a questioning hum. “Do you see something unusual?” She asked. I could see Virtue peeking out from under her collar now that the bus had pulled away and the street was nearly empty save for us. I still couldn’t believe she was okay with risking herself like this when she knew what was happening to Thomas.

Thomas stood at my other side and just gave a nervous grunt. His hands were wrapped in bandages, the best coverage I could think to offer for the time being, and he carried a heavy backpack over his shoulder, no doubt stuffed to the brim with bandages, snacks, and vitamins to help stimulate blood production, after I’d no doubt lose a good deal of mine in the coming hour.

I knew there must have been gentler ways to draw the vital energy needed for magic than subtly cutting up my insides, but this had to be done now, not after I’d had the chance to look into safety measures. The gate to oblivion we’d opened was too dangerous to leave with no controlling measures for even another day. Not for another hour if we could do anything about it.

“I can see it influencing our world this far out already. I’m glad mundane folks can’t see it, but we have to stop this now.” I told them, taking in a deep breath. “You guys ready for this?”

“No.” Thomas shook his head. “This is too much like my dream already. I hate it. But if you say it’s that bad, we don’t have much choice, do we?”

“I promise, those runes will keep you yourself, Thomas.” I reassured him. “And you can’t become more tainted than you already are. You can safely touch the vice if you need to.” I turned to Scarlet and repeated to her, “And you don’t let any of those bastards anywhere near you, got it? You have a lot to lose here. If we see them, you keep Virtue between you and them at all times, got it? I’m not fucking around about this.”

Scarlet nodded “I understand. I’m to be nowhere near the action myself.”

“Should’ve just cast that spell on you...” I muttered. I knew they had a good point on why I shouldn’t, but I didn’t want to have to juggle dealing with the vice inside of both of them. “No point in stalling any longer, let’s plug a fucking hole in reality.” I said as I stepped onto the dirt and began walking toward the place this all started.

“You’ve loosened your tongue a bit since we met.” Scarlet pointed out as she followed along, Virtue slowly pooling itself into its small snake-insectoid shape on Scarlet’s shoulder as we stepped away from the public eye. “Is your language always this colorful?”

“Yes.” I muttered. “I try to tone it down when I’m in polite company. Like with people I’ve just met. But due to circumstances, I think we’ve become necessarily pretty fucking close at this point.”

“Is this a gamer thing?” Thomas asked nervously. They were both trying to make small talk to break the tension, but Thomas’s nervousness was obvious.

“Huh. Maybe.” I shrugged. I just didn’t like to censor myself if I didn’t have to. “Keep an eye out. We don’t know what to expect from the vice. We’ve only seen one so far if you don’t count Virtue. And if they’re shapeshifters like it is, they might have different capabilities than we’ve seen.” I warned. We all had to stay alert through this. I knew it was tense, and I had a few biting remarks loaded to shoot back at both of them, but I held my tongue so we could be aware of any ambushes.

We walked around a few buildings in cautious silence, getting closer to the place we’d defiled several days ago. “How do we know when we’re close enough?” Thomas asked as we rounded a corner and all stopped in place, frozen in disturbed awe.

The ground in front of us suddenly vanished, and in its place, oblivion. Elemental nothingness, stretched out into the distance around us. I swallowed hard as I watched it creeping across the ground, eating its way through reality, atom by atom, the aspects it touched imperceptibly slowly being overwhelmed and destroyed. “I think we’re close enough.” Scarlet answered.

“Holy shit...” Thomas mumbled as he looked out across the gaping expanse. He slowly reached toward the edge, and I batted his hand back.

“No! Fuck! Don’t do that!” I scolded and clicked my tongue. “You can’t see it can you? It’s not just the ground, it’s the air around it too. It’s gone. And if you go in there, you’ll be gone too. Completely gone. Destroyed. Obliterated. That’s oblivion.” I gestured toward it. They both took several steps back. I sighed. “Better.”

“It’s eating the world...” Thomas squeaked out. He sounded more frightened than he’d been when he woke up earlier.

“I told you it wouldn’t be like your dream. This isn’t a movie, it’s not something we can just walk into. It’s not some gross horror monster shit we can just walk into.” I muttered. Glancing around carefully, I took in a deep breath. “And this is just when it’s leaking in slowly. If the portal opened again, I think it could do this to the whole planet in hours, and it wouldn’t even stop there. I don’t see any vice.” I added.

“Maybe they haven’t noticed us.” Scarlet suggested. Virtue let out a loud growl beyond its size and bristled up toward the gaping wound in the universe, then hopped down to the ground and began to expand itself out to a larger size again, twisting and writhing as its flesh reshaped itself.

“Could be too focused on consumption.” I grumbled, kicking a stone into the emptiness. It froze in place in mid-air where time ceased to flow, and then gradually faded away as it was converted into oblivion. “Which means when I cut it off, we’ll have its attention.” I glanced around the edge of the hole, then pulled my phone from my pocket and mumbled to myself as I calculated the radius of the infection. “Four. I can do it in four.” I declared, then tilted my head and hummed uncertainly “But I should do five.”

“Can you handle it?” Thomas asked, taking in deep breaths in an effort to calm himself. I knew that thing inside of him was probably coaxing his behavior if he was willing to try and touch the oblivion field like that, but it shouldn’t be able to make him do anything much more drastic or overt, so I wasn’t concerned. It was just talking to him and giving him ideas.

I nodded. “Five. Easy. I’ve got the spell memorized. I know there’s probably a better way of structuring it, but for now, it’ll do. It’s the best I’ve got.”

“You know I wasn’t asking about your capability with magic, Coraline.” Thomas sounded concerned. It was about my health again, wasn’t it? Honestly, he was more obsessed than I was, and it was my body. He knew what was at stake here, right?

“I can fucking handle losing a little blood to save the universe, Thomas.” I muttered. What a stupid sentence that was. But it was my reality now, so I’d just have to work with it.

I watched Virtue pull itself up into a terrifying lumpy creature with a pseudopod head that displayed a dozen yellow glowing eyes. It was taller than Thomas and twice as wide. This was the same shape we’d first seen crawl out of the depths of that portal. It must have believed this was a form well-suited for battle. It was more than a little frightening, but when it turned its ‘head’ and made trilling noises, Scarlet patted it on what could generously be described as its nose. It closed most of its eyes, leaned into her, and let out an ethereal purring noise that completely disarmed its menacing appearance.

I cleared my throat. “We should get started. You two just keep an eye out. I doubt anything will change until the first array is finished, but I have no idea what’s going to happen after that.”

A case of theft: this story is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.

I looked deliberately to Thomas, then to Scarlet. They each gave me a nod. It was time to do some magic.

I fished a folded up piece of paper out of my pocket before I knelt down in the dirt up against the edge of oblivion, then rethought my approach and took a few steps back. I wanted to leave a little space to be sure. Then I began copying the diagram I had made back home. I pressed my finger slowly and deliberately through the dirt, making the familiar aspect sigils and arranging them as I’d planned. The strokes of each sign were burned so hotly into my memory that I would never be able to forget or mistake them, but I still smiled victoriously when my vision registered each of them as correct and capable of invocation. It was elementary, but I was still a neophyte, so I let myself feel accomplished at my first shallow steps into witchcraft. I was like an infant getting positive feedback for correctly identifying a color or what animal made that sound. I couldn’t wait to see what I could pull off when I really learned what this stuff could do.

And before I knew it, I’d copied the entire diagram. As it was, it was just inert scribbling in the ground. It had the potential to unleash the intended effect, but it may as well be any creative child’s doodle in the dirt until I put a piece of myself into it. Until a witch’s vitality brought the code to life.

“Brace for anything.” I warned the others behind me, and I put my hand forward to touch the array. I drew in a deep breath and did just as I had done with the clarity aspect and when I tampered with Thomas’s parasite. For a moment, my breath left me. I felt numb, like my body was no longer my own. And then I stood up and lifted my hand, rushing back to myself as a large array broke itself away from the dirt. Otherworldly script floated in the air, glowing a brilliant iridescence and faintly crackling with energy as it hovered up into the air a little bit higher than my head and stayed there, my spell emblazoned upon the world in glorious tamed arcane energy. I stared up in awe at my creation, then stumbled as I felt one of my knees buckle.

I started to fall over, but Thomas caught me beneath both my arms. I felt nauseous, and the world spun a little bit as I tilted my head up at him. “Don’t t-touch me.” I stammered, finding my voice weaker than I expected it to be.

“Would you rather I let you fall?” Thomas scolded. Okay. He had a point there. This was better than knocking my head.

Scarlet, however, was transfixed on the spell array floating in front of us. I guess that wasn’t just my vision, then. “So this is a magical fence post.” She mumbled.

I shook my head, chasing away the dizziness and bolstering myself as I recovered my footing, pushing away Thomas’s hands and making sure I had my balance back before I spoke again. “Yeah. Yeah, it is.”

“No blood this time.” Thomas noted. “Do you feel okay?”

“Physically? Fuck no.” I grumbled. “But every other way, hell yeah. That was a rush.”

“Don’t tell me magic is addictive.” Thomas sighed, his eyes flickering between me and the floating magical words.

“Might be, I don’t know.” I admitted. I’d be willing to bet it was better than most addictions if it was. Taking hold of the reins of reality itself was more than just a power trip, and maybe having to put a piece of my life force into the spell gave it that rush I was feeling. “Just gotta do it four more times.”

I eyed the edge of the pool of oblivion, though, and my awkward smile turned to a scowl. It had stopped advancing far short of my fencepost. It was actively reacting. “Fuck. We need to move.”

Scarlet raised an eyebrow, then turned to Virtue, who had lowered its head and grown a massive bladed limb, like a sharpened scythe, pulled back as if to cut at the oblivion itself. It let out a loud, threatening growl. We wouldn’t be alone for long.

“Move! Let’s move!” I took a single step around the circumference of the hole, and stumbled again, just managing to catch myself before I dropped face-first into a pile of bricks. Thomas stepped to my side and held his hands out as if to catch me, but he didn’t touch after I caught myself. “Ugh, fine. Help me get there. I’ll tell you when we’ve gone far enough.”

I wasn’t a big fan of being handled by anyone, not even my doctors. But this was a dire situation, and being able to get around quick would be critical if the vice showed up now. He had to catch me once on the way around to the next fifth of the circle, and I saw him swallow uneasily as he touched me, no doubt feeling guilt as he ran through his dreams again in his head. I’d reassure him later. For now, I dropped down onto my hands and knees. I scribbled down the formula in a hurry this time, still ensuring that my vision showed what I expected to see in the drawing.

Virtue continued to occasionally growl and posture toward the darkness. I could see something brewing within. Magic of its own perhaps. But it was so inundated with oblivion that I couldn’t make sense of it. I shook my head and put my head back down. I had to focus on my own work rather than trying to speculate. “Get the fuck back, Scarlet.” I grunted. I didn’t want her to get grabbed from the pit if it reached out to attack someone. I didn’t bother to look to see if she obliged.

I slammed my hand down against the array and felt another portion of my self flow outward, my arm violently throwing the spell up into the air against my will before I regained control of myself and stumbled back into Thomas’s waiting arms. Then I felt it. Nausea, unease, and a rising tickle in the back of my throat. I let out a hacking cough and reflexively covered my mouth to keep from firing spittle out everywhere. As my throat calmed down, though, I looked down and saw specks of red coating my palm. Shit. Had I miscalculated? Had I used too much of my vitality on Thomas earlier? I wasn’t sure, anymore, if I had the energy to get through five.

“Coraline, tell me you’re alright.” Thomas demanded. I looked up to see a desperately worried face. I let out a more benign cough before I pushed away from him and stammered

“I-I’m fine!” I had to get through this. No matter what. But I found myself unable to take a confident step toward the third node. I didn’t have the energy.

“Can we get away with four, like you said?” Thomas asked.

“Not without starting over.” I wiped my mouth and panted, but I couldn’t will myself to lift my leg. I would definitely fall over. I grit my teeth and gave a frustrated growl. “Help me, dammit!” I shouted. Thomas rushed forward and took me by the shoulder, and by leaning on him, I could finally get myself to walk. I already knew I’d have to be carried to the fourth spot, though, and I was mentally bracing myself for that. I practically fell over at the third node, and momentarily put my forehead against the cool dirt, trying to catch my breath.

“She can’t do this.” Thomas said to Scarlet behind me. That set me off.

I pounded my fist against the ground and let out a wordless yell, then began tracing my spell once more. “If we bail now, the spell fizzles, and this won’t get any easier when the fucking hole in spacetime is fucking bigger, Thomas. Quit treating me like I’m some fragile fucking flower and let me be a badass, you fucking bitch baby! I can handle this!” I didn’t turn to look, but I could feel him shrinking at my words. Now wasn’t the time for sympathy. This was life and death for the whole world. I had to finish this.

I think I somehow managed the third faster than I did the second. Practice and righteous rage, I supposed. I plunged my fist down into the depths of the arcane and yanked up the third fence post with an anemic shout. Though I was willing to continue, that’s when my body pretty much gave up. I dropped immediately to the ground and coughed up a handful of crimson into the dirt. The world was beginning to make less sense to me at that point. I was dizzy, and I couldn’t figure out which way to push to stand back up. Luckily for me, I was lifted back up off the ground and gave a groan “I’m still fine.” I rasped.

“Like hell you are!” Thomas shouted back at me.

“Guys.” Scarlet said seriously. I tilted my head and my vision momentarily cleared as I saw it. A clawed limb scraping and scrabbling up against the edge of the oblivion pit. It looked like it was trying to pull itself up, like it was struggling against the inexplicable pull of the darkness surrounding it, trying to break its way into something material, but gravitating helplessly back into the nothing. The others backed away slowly, Scarlet keeping a further distance while Virtue barked and screeched at the half-formed thing, flailing its blade threateningly toward it. I eyed the oblivion creature curiously, my true vision showing me the vice’s secrets despite my rattled body.

This was stupid. A distraction. “Fourth. Node.” I demanded as loudly as I could through gritted teeth. The other two must have pulled themselves together, because in a moment, I was being hurried along around the circumference of the pit again. The world was too blurry for me to track distance accurately, though.

“Here?” Scarlet called out. I hadn’t even noticed I’d closed my eyes, but I opened them and took a few moments to focus, nodding. “Yeah, here. Put me down.” I motioned to Thomas, and he gently placed me in the dirt. I could barely hold myself on my hands and knees, though. I gulped. I couldn’t do this, could I? But I had to do something. “Scarlet.” I called, forcing my nausea back down.

“I’m here.” She spoke directly behind me. Not as far back as she should have been, but that was fine now.

“Need you to draw this.” I panted, sliding the paper over to her beneath my palm so she could see it.

“... Me?” She asked.

I nodded my head. It had to be her. Thomas’s parasite might subconsciously affect him and make him make mistakes. “Just need it drawn. I’ll do the magic.”

“You’re going to pass out before the next one...” Thomas said sheepishly. I ignored him. I couldn’t pass out now. I couldn’t let the spell fizzle. I’d get through it, somehow.

“Just draw it.” I demanded again. Scarlet stepped forward and began tracing my diagram in the dirt with her finger while I supervised and did my best to regain my strength. Thomas pushed a water bottle in my face, and I gladly drank up, washing down some of the taste of blood and bile gathering in the back of my mouth and refreshing me. I had to correct Scarlet a few times on her penmanship. She hadn’t seen what I’d seen through clarity, but I could direct her when she made a mistaken stroke or two. She coolly followed all my instructions, and while it took longer to get done than the previous ones, I managed to direct her to doing it just right.

I looked up at the oblivion pit, and I saw something that was almost hand-shaped grasp the edge. It slammed down at the dirt in front of it and then slipped back down when the dirt was swallowed up into the darkness it pushed forward. It was trying to expand quickly enough to break containment before I finished my fence, and it was exerting a lot of energy to do it. There was no doubt about it now.

There was intelligence behind the vice.

I closed my eyes and grunted, using all my gathered strength in the break to flop over onto the array and with a cry of exertion, threw the spell up above me. I then immediately doubled over and I felt a small puddle of my blood climb up my throat and dribble out of me into a small puddle that got in my hair. My eyes were forced shut and felt gummy and thick. I was beginning to bleed from my other orifices again. I coughed up the last of it, my tithe paid, and I did feel like I was going to pass out after all. The world began to grow dark.

Then I felt a torrent of cold water fall directly on my face, and I let out a gasp. I managed to force one eye open and saw Scarlet holding a bottle upside-down over me. “Pick her up.” She demanded.

“Come on, Scarlet, she’s going to die!” Thomas objected.

“She said she can handle this. I trust her.” Scarlet said sternly, looking down at me. “You can still handle this, yeah?”

I nodded dully, revived by the sudden shock of being doused “I got this.” I mumbled.

“You heard her.” Scarlet slapped him in the shoulder, and Thomas let out an exasperated sigh as he bent over and picked me up beneath my legs and at my back.

I hung limply as he ran, the cool feeling of air passing over me the only thing keeping me from passing out again. And before I knew it, I was set down again. I turned to see Scarlet kneel down and begin to draw again. I couldn’t direct her this time, though. I didn’t have the presence of mind for it. And when I looked past her, I saw tendrils and claws beginning to flail and tear at the terrain around the pit. If I didn’t cast it quickly and close the fence, it would break the perimeter. “Back up, Scarlet.” I told her. “Gimme the paper.”

Scarlet looked at me, silently asking if I was certain, then she nodded at me when I didn’t budge. She placed it on the ground for me. Drawing the spell on location made the spell stronger, but we were out of time. I’d managed it with four out of five, at least. Making one of the nodes out of a prepared array was better than not being able to finish the spell at all. I watched Scarlet back away, flinching when the tendrils in the pit began flailing even harder.

I used the very last of my strength and plunged my hand down onto the page, pouring whatever I had left into activating the spell. I weakly flicked my wrist up and set the spell into place, floating far above me, probably a little lower than it should have been due to my limited motion.

But just as I made that final movement, my world twisted in on me. I was only vaguely aware that I’d been moved. And not by Thomas or Scarlet, because I could see them both in front of me, holding their hands out and shouting as I was dragged away from them. Away into oblivion. The world around me darkened, and I remembered thinking to myself in that addled moment before my vital payment was due. Oh no. I haven’t been destroyed on contact. It is intelligent. It’s keeping me alive. It’s taking me to the circle.

And then, with a hitch in my throat and a sharp pain in my chest, I finally paid the physical price for the completion of the fence, and everything turned black.