Chapter 14: Origin – Two – Rending Nightmare

Origin - Two - Rending Nightmare

Things quickly became a confusing, chaotic mess once she cut down the last of the imps.

One of the teachers, a short, older woman who had the look of someone who didn’t take nonsense from anyone, shook off the panic and immediately took charge of things.

She ordered the PE teacher and a few of the bigger boys to move the imp bodies aside, then she had some of the teachers guide everyone out of the gymnasium. Everyone except for Alice. She was pinned down in place by the woman’s stern gaze, and ended up stepping aside while she replayed what had just happened.

“What’s a magical girl?” she asked.

A SAVIOUR. SOMEONE WHO HAS THE ABILITY TO MASTER THEMSELVES AND CHOOSE THEIR OWN DESTINY. A VANGUARD. A GOD.

She shivered. The voice... Dream Charter’s voice, was as pervasive as it was strong. It was all real, she knew. The bodies on the ground, both imp and... and potential-classmate, the magic that she felt thrumming inside her.

Her classmates rushed by, some glancing her way, but most not. She could feel their fear.

Then the moment passed, the gymnasium was left mostly empty, and at long last, the police arrived.

She supposed it hadn’t actually taken them that long. The department was close. How long had it been since the fight ended? Five minutes, ten? It was hard to tell. She knew, intellectually, that she was in shock, but it didn’t help any.

She was led out of the building, through a side corridor, and into an ambulance. An EMT looked over her, but she was fine, and once that was made clear, the man ran off to see about another person. There were lots of ambulances, and lots of injured to tend to.

The moment she was alone, Alice closed her eyes and focused. Her grandpappy’s lessons came back to her, so she faced the nightmare.

What was going to happen now?

Well, she was a magical girl, apparently. She was involved in killing the things that attacked her potential school. Her school had been attacked by imps. Demons were, apparently, real. She regretted missing so many sermons now, maybe they would have given her more of a hint about that.

What else?

Would she be held responsible for this? Would people question her about magic and magical girl... stuff?

“Dream Charter?”

YES, MY ETERNAL MISTRESS?

“What do I do now?”

YOU ARE THE NIGHTMARE RENDER. I AM NOT ONE TO TELL YOU WHAT TO DO, ONLY TO INFORM YOU OF YOUR POTENTIAL.

She shivered. “And what is that?”

INFINITE AND UNBOUND.

“Right,” she said. That wasn’t helpful. She frowned. “Wait, the sword went away.”

I AM ETERNALLY BY YOUR SIDE.

And it was... true. She could feel where the sword was, as easily as she knew her hands were on her lap, and she knew that it could be in her hand again with only a stray thought. This entire magic thing was bizarre, she decided. Alice wasn’t certain if she liked having the extra sense yet.

Then again, it had saved her, hadn’t it? Those imps in the gymnasium were killing people, and she imagined that she was going to be next.

“Where did those imps come from?” she asked.

THEY ARE INVADERS FROM HELL. SENT BY THEIR DARK MASTERS TO DO THEIR CRUDE BIDDING.

“Attack a school?” she asked.

PREVENT THE BIRTH OF THE ONE WHO COULD SO EASILY END THEM ALL.

Her blood went cold again. “People died because of me?” she whispered.

DEMONS ASSAULTED EARTH, BREAKING ANCIENT COVENANTS OF THEIR OWN VOLITION. YOU ARE BLAMELESS.

That was all well and good but... no, it wasn’t her fault, was it? She was just some girl trying her best, not some great villain, not someone any demons had to worry about. Not until now, she supposed.

“Will they attack again?”

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THE HUBRIS OF HELL IS WELL DOCUMENTED.

“Oh,” she said. “Is... is a magical girl’s job to protect people?”

IF THAT IS WHAT YOU WISH IT TO BE.

Alice nodded. She did. But... she also didn’t want to get into trouble herself. But maybe that wasn’t possible anymore. “Can I learn? Magic, I mean. How to fight, be stronger.” She tightened her fist and... yeah, she did feel stronger. If she wasn’t so unbalanced mentally she’d probably be feeling at the top of the world.

Her new sense, her magical sense, wasn’t all terrible either. It was a subtle awareness of the shadows around her and of... something else. People, maybe?

She had magic. The full weight of that implication was still sinking in when a pair of men showed up at the ambulance’s door and asked her to step out. She was escorted to the police station, past a cordon of gawkers who were staring at the school or arguing with police. A glance revealed a number of families hugging and greeting each other in a panic nearby.

How many of them would be learning that a son or daughter... she closed her eyes. Maybe if she’d become a magical girl just a little earlier, she could have saved more. Or maybe if she hadn’t become one at all, the demons would have left them all alone to begin with.

She was escorted right to the police station a few buildings down, and into a small room. An officer asked her if she wanted something to drink, and when she nodded, they returned with a can of guaraná which she slowly sipped from.

Alice was expecting a grilling. She was expecting some crime-show sort of interrogation. Instead a young detective stepped in, sat across from her, and politely asked her to recount what had happened.

Alice, of course, lied. She didn’t like lying. She knew it was wrong. But the truth in this case was far too complicated. “I don’t know what happened. There was screaming, and people were trying the door, and then these little red... imps came in and they stabbed people.”

The officer nodded along while taking notes.

“And that was it,” she said.

He asked her for more, but she said that it had all happened so fast, and then she simply kept skipping over some parts. It was, she realized, very easy to play the role of a traumatised young woman.

When her parents arrived she was immediately fussed over at length. Hugs were had, her father made a point of giving the officer a stern talking-to, and then she was simply let out with a card from the police telling her to come back if she had more details to share.

She made it home in one piece, endured some questions from her parents, and briefly glanced at the TV which was playing a news report about the school.

Alice frowned. It was calling it an unprovoked act of gang violence.

She begged off to go to her room and then grabbed her old laptop (formerly her father’s) and looked up as much news about what had happened as she could.

None of it was right. No one mentioned imps, no one mentioned her. There were some comments, and a few quick interviews that mentioned someone saving others in the school, but no one named her.

To be fair, that was her first day, and she didn’t know the names of any of the other students, so of course they couldn’t tell who she was by name but... well, the costume had been very distinct. The sword alone was probably worth remembering.

“Hey,” Alice muttered. “Do magical girls have something that makes people... forget?”

ONLY THOSE WHOSE POWER ALLOW SUCH THINGS. THOUGH MAGIC CAN BE USED TO ASSIST YOU IN CREATING SUCH AN EFFECT, SHOULD YOU WISH IT.

She didn’t wish it. “Will people be able to remember that I was the one who... you know.”

PERHAPS. THOUGH HUMAN MINDS AND PERCEPTIONS ARE FALLIBLE.

That made some sense. She couldn’t remember the faces of those sitting next to her, so why would anyone remember her?

Alice chewed on her lower lip and pushed that issue aside along with the laptop. She had to think, and she did that best while moving, so she set to pacing around and around in the centre of her little room.

There were a lot of problems to tackle. First, the demons. She didn’t know what to do about those. “Will they attack again?” she asked. Alice realized that she was talking to a sword that wasn’t even there and for a moment the strangeness of it all gave her a powerful sense of vertigo. It passed.

THE DEMON HORDES KNOW LITTLE OF PATIENCE AND MUCH OF REPEATING PAST MISTAKES.

That was as good as a confirmation. “And the ones I killed. The little red imps. Those weren’t the strongest, were they?”

THOSE WERE A SLAVE CASTE, BORN INTO HELLISH SERVITUDE. THEY ARE THE WEAKEST TOOLS OF THE DARK LORDS. STILL CAPABLE OF USING THE BASEST OF MAGICS, THEY ARE NONETHELESS THE WEAKEST DENIZENS OF HELL.

So, obviously, the next ones to show up would be stronger, probably smarter, and probably able to do more magic than fling fireballs around.

The solution was as obvious as it was simple. She needed to become strong enough to fight off the hordes of hell all on her own.

Somehow, the thought was galvanising. It removed a weight from her shoulder. She flicked her hand to the side and from the shadows came her sword, Dream Charter. “How can I become stronger?” she asked it.

***

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