Taylor and Taila sat on a bench, waiting to undergo Taylor’s scheduled magic rituals.

“So! Is Kait going to teach her? She didn’t seem too confident in her abilities last we met. Though...”

Taylor tried to keep the irrepressible Taila from bombarding him with questions too fast, by talking relatively slowly. “Kait usually seems confident. Maybe you caught her at a bad time or something. When did you even meet her?”

“Just a few days ago. What sort of spells has she cast?”

“Well, you already know she cursed Hailey. That’s a powerful spell.”

“Yeah, that’s pretty strange now that I think about it. How did she cast the spell? It must have been a great ritual. If so...She must be keeping secrets from me!” She said, excited at the possibility of secrets to uncover.

“That’s more than possible, but I don’t know anything about these ‘great rituals’.”

“Oh! Well, there’s a lot of texts from before the Crusade that described the powerful rituals the Witches used. Though none of them referred to them specifically as ‘great rituals’, so I understand why she didn’t recognize the term. Hey! Did you know the best Witches were said to have the ability to harness souls into power?”

“Souls...” Something about that sounded...familiar to Taylor. He didn’t know why.

“Crazy, right?”

“How is that crazy?”

“...I’m just about to make a magic education movement. Why don’t they teach you this stuff in schools?!”

“It’s just souls, what is there to learn?”

“W-well, admittedly, we still don’t know much about them, but souls are known to be extremely important in magic!”

“How, exactly?”

“Fooor example, your affinities for magic are determined in your soul before you are born.”

“So if there were an identical version of me, they would have different affinities.”

“Exactly! Also, witchcraft and most of its root magics are known for being able to manipulate souls in various ways!”

Taylor pretended he knew what a root was. “Like what?”

“Well, fortune reading for example. We read someone’s soul, then find the Consciousness’s prediction as to what will happen to that soul.”

“...Can fate be changed?” Taylor asked, particularly curious about that subject.

“Certainly! Though, no one knows the exact reason why.”

“Hmm.”

A woman approached them, talking slow and methodical. “Hello,” she said. “I’m Mrs.Kukui, the witchcraft branch ritualist. I’ll be conducting your first few rituals today.” The woman was about the same age as Taylor’s mom, though the dark circles under her eyes made her look older. She had a clipboard in hand and wore a robe similar to Taila’s definitely not pajamas, though not as fluffy.

Taylor couldn’t help but ask a question about them, though. “Just out of curiosity...” he said, looking up at the ritualist, “Why do you and Taila wear those robes?”

The ritualist glanced to Taila with recognition, then looked back to Taylor. “It’s just a tradition. People who deal with magic often try to separate themselves from the crowd. Not that I used my magic often. Also, you look familiar...what’s your name?”

“I’m Taylor.”

“Oh, right? Weren’t you one of Jaine’s friends a while back?”

“I’ve known him for quite a while, but calling us begrudging classmates would be a better term for our relationship.”

“Ahh, so it’d be a stretch to say you’ve kept up to date with him.”

“Well-”

“So! Have you met Kait yet!?” Taila blurted out.

“Kait who is Kait?”

“She’s a-”

In a panic, Taylor forcefully jabbed Taila with his elbow, gutting the air from her. “Taila, Kait wouldn’t appreciate it if you violated her privacy.”

Talia’s eyes widened in pain, “But...Magi-”

“Sorry about that, Mrs.Kikui. Taila doesn’t know how to keep a secret.”

“Sure...” The Kukui’s eyes held half-closed. She didn’t even want to know what they were going on about. “So you wanted to do a few rituals?”

Taylor nodded.

“Ok, just to be clear, all of them together will be three-hundred and five dollars.”

Taylor’s eyes narrowed, “I expected it to be a bit more expensive.”

“The government exempts rituals from tax.”

“Since when?”

“It was back in the youth’s magic program two years ago.”

“What...?”

“It was critically underfunded, so they didn’t have much marketing.”

“Huh, the more you know.”

“Erm, Lady Taila, you look as if you wish to talk.” Mrs.Kukui said, looking at the slightly younger woman whose cheeks were practically puffed out, waiting to release air.

“Nothing...nothing at all...” Taila said with a depressing sigh, holding her head down.

“If you say. Now, come along with me.” she motioned for them to follow.

“So, which ritual are we doing first?” Taylor asked, just a little hopeful after all the talking that he’d get his own magic to brag about.

“The appetizer one.”

“Oh. That.”

“Why did you even choose that? To be fair, it’d make you one of four in the world, but it’s questionable.”

“Why do you know that statistic off your head?” Taylor raised his eyebrow quizzically.

“I looked into the subject a few years ago out of morbid curiosity.”

“I guess we’re in the same boat.”

Mrs.Kukui led them through a hallway and opened a door, beckoning her two customers into the dark room behind.

Inside was lit only by a dim red light, with an intricate, red ritual circle in the middle, black walls, a table with a grocery bag atop it in the corner, and shelves lined with various nicknacks in the other.

“So, Taila, please take a seat at the table, and Taylor, you must sit in the center of the circle.”

While the two took their positions, Mrs.Kukui took the grocery bag into her right hand, then keeled down beside Taylor and set it down. She began sifting through it for an item.

“What’s that for?” Taylor asked, leaning to see what was inside.

“This bag contains the ritual catalysts for the first three of your rituals.” She pulled a banana, a piece of uncooked pork, a baggie of salt, a box of crackers, and a bottle of ketchup from the bag and placed them on the floor.

“Is this really what you need for the ritual?”

“I am absolutely certain. One condiment, one typical seasoning, one plant food, one meat.”

“And the crackers?”

“You need to eat those while I conduct the ceremony.”

“I guess I won’t complain about food.”

Taila watched with interest as Mrs.Kukui placed each part of a balanced breakfast on the cardinal directions of the circle, and Taylor snacked on crackers with the box in his lap.

“Now, I request each of you remain relatively quiet. I will begin the incantation.”

The ritualist cleared her throat as she took her place on the outskirt of the ritual circle. “Now, Taylor, repeat after me.”

Taylor swallowed, preparing to speak, “O-”

“With a cracker in your mouth.”

Taylor looked around questioningly, as if asking, ‘is this girl serious?’ but threw three crackers in anyway.

“Now, repeat after me:” she held up a piece of paper with the lines printed in large text to help him say the right words.

“Owkway.”

“I ask the spirit of appetizers to unlock my talent”

“Why ashk the shpirit of appetaishers to unlark mry talhent”

“With the prayers of my bountiful food.”

“Wich the prawyersh off my brountifull frood.”

“And the healthy abominations of my kin’s creation.”

“awnd the healthwy obamanations of my kwin’s cweation?!”

“so I may spread tastiness across the realm.”

“shwo Ai mway shpreat the tastiness acwross thwe wealm...”

“HA! THAT NEVER GET OOOLLLD!” a boyish voice telepathically yelled into their ears, cackling mockingly. “Yeah, no, you don’t have an affinity for appetization. On the bright side, here’s my latest dish.” A salad bowl fell on top of the table with a post-it saying ‘consolation salad’. “See ya later cappuccino!”

Taylor stared forward blankly and swallowed the cracker. “What was that?”

“You just spoke to a being of great power. How did it feel?”

“Like I just got pranked by a being of great immaturity.”

I don’t want to do this. Hailey thought as she entered that blue void for her second time.

A staircase of platforms rose up to a black mist high in the sky.

Hailey saw Kait look at her with pity. She recognized the black mist as well.

Hailey’s heart pounded, she clenched her hands, she gritted her teeth. In her chest, she felt feelings of apprehension, fear, disgust, hate, and pain surge through her body with each heartbeat. There wasn’t a harsh penalty for failing, just perhaps a few hours of her time. There wasn’t any reason to be afraid, but...she didn’t want to

That memory represented all the pain and suffering in her life, her powerlessness, her hate, her criticism, her stress, her fear, her past, her pain.

It was in that insignificant moment that she understood what Taylor had said. She was in pain, and she didn’t want to admit it. She knew it, but she hadn’t said, ‘boy, my heart pounding in my chest, spreading horrible feelings across my body like a lethargic virus sure does put me through pains!’ But, at that moment, she thought that sarcastic sentiment, admitting it to be true.

What laid ahead of her was the thing that pain’s cause, in a symbolic way. Hailey couldn’t let go of those emotions because she saw them as the result of that memory. Because she had never been able to overcome that recollection, she had never overcome those feelings.

Deep inside, she’d always hurt.

And though she didn’t want to do it, now she would rematch with that pain.

After a minute of not moving, Hailey stepped forward without a word and began ascending the steps.

The clatter of shoes and feet on stone rang out each step.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

They arrived at the top after what felt eerily like an hour, causing the platforms to suddenly collapse into one, providing a shortcut back through the portal they’d come from. It was a pointless option to go backward, but an appreciated detail, Hailey figured.

“So?” Kait asked as they approached the mist.

“I guess I go in and bear through it.”

“Whatever you want,” Kait replied impartially, a knowing look on her face.

Hailey didn’t want to, but she stepped through.

And so the world collapsed.