Nora looked down at her hands as they shimmered and twinkled like the carved sky overhead. The pine trees stabbed at the stars without end.

A world without end, a colorful stenciled woodland whose horizon remained unsketched until she made the decision to head towards its direction.

“Lost child, lost child…” her young voice whispered as she made hesitant steps towards the next hiding spot, “Where have you gone…” Her mouth was hot and her stomach ached with hunger pangs. Sharp twigs and pine needles clung to her clothes and skin. She blinked at the darkness and strained to listen to the wider world.

“Whistle if you can and I will find you…” The wind hissed in the distance. The very trees curled to look down at her, their branches flapping in her direction. Its body, the enormous coiling weight of the snake in the dark was quiet but the wind did not lie.

There was no wind unless the creature was close. It could not find her if she did not whistle and would not find her because she knew better.

“Whistle for your friend and I’ll give you what you need. I know we can win together, Nora…” It hissed her name and the young girl was suddenly an older woman.

She still knew better.

“At least there was a time to think like herself.” Nora thought.

“How long are you going to keep yourself away from me?” The snake whispered.

Bile welled up in her stomach and she strained herself to keep it down.

“I’ll whistle your name when I need you and I struggle every day for the power to never make that choice.” Nora replied.

The creature tore down trees with its body but she was already so far away from it. She tore reality to fit a meadow of silence surrounded by the dense pinewood. Nora sat herself down in the center of the moonlight and allowed the stenciled world around her to fade away. The lectures of her past welled up in her mind but she suppressed those too.

She knew what to do.

The quiet peace of the world within a world within a world was a blanket around her heart and soul. Each pulse of energy circulating from head down to toe and back again. There were knots all over. Paying attention to the current, she could feel the micro tears where her energy leaked out into the ether and focused her attention to each open wound.

“There’s more work to be done.” Her discordant voice called out from the darkness. Even here…

“I can’t make a change if our body falls apart.” Nora replied but she knew they’d never understand. “Leave before I lose focus.”

“Our task remains unfinished.” The presence disappeared from the space and Nora was once again welcomed by the silence and space.

Nora knew better.

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Nora’s fatigue was the weight of the world pinning her down to the cot. The chaotic incoherence of her mind the first moments of her waking were replaced with a practiced calm.

“She’s awake!” Thomas cried out right next to her ear.

Nora recoiled, “Lower your voice, kid.” Breathing that stale air intermingled with candle wick ash felt different. Cleaner somehow. Her body felt beleaguered but that underlying resilience made her feel at home. It took time but-

“Thank you Thomas. Try not to shout around our patient though.” Liliana replied to the child with a tender motherly warmth. She turned to Nora and placed her slender fingers gingerly atop Nora’s midsection and muttered an incantation.

Her hands glowed with a soft yellow radiance that warmed Nora from head to toe, her black skin prickling at her torso where the spell was localized. She’d gone and alleviated some of the weight off her body.

“Thanks.” Nora muttered.

Liliana looked at Nora and laughed.

“What? What’s so funny?” Nora asked hurriedly.

“You came into town this ball of fire and confidence and here you are thanking me like a kid.” Liliana replied in between her amused chuckles.

“Did you want me to say fuck off? I’m thanking you. Don’t make a big deal out of it.” Nora bristled.

Liliana chuckled and waved off the tension with her hand, “You saved my life. This is the least I can do to repay you.”

“I didn’t-”

“Yeah, you did. It took a bit of piecing together and rummaging through your things but that potion was the only one you had and you gave it to some bleeding heart like me instead of keeping it to yourself.”

“You went through my things?”

“How else was I supposed to find you a change of clothes? Everything you were wearing reeked of dirt and meat.”

Nora looked to either side of her and saw the brown coat of the AWW spread out on another cot with her spare clothes neatly folded and within arms reach.

“Honestly I don’t know how you wizards handle your treks from one town to another with so little on you.” Liliana continued. Nora wasn’t willing to offer an answer if it meant she’d rummage through more of her things while Nora wasn’t looking.

“How long have I been out?” Nora asked.

“Two to three hours, give or take. I’m starting to see monsters just at the outskirts where I didn’t see ‘em before.” Liliana replied.

“And your circle?”

“I went and redrew a smaller one. Thomas helped draw a second layer with me. The perimeter has shrunk to just the church itself but it’s not feeling so hard on me this time around.”

They’d ceded ground then and from the behavior of the golems, the wizard knew. And in a crazed state, it was only a matter of time before he’d get bold enough to fuck around with the defense.

“Do you think you can handle the things out there or are we sitting ducks til your friend arrives? If they arrive on time?” Liliana asked.

Nora assessed the situation, “I’ve unknotted my leylines but I’m running on fumes here. With the sleep and your spell, I’m probably at a quarter tank. If I go out there, with how aggressive that domain’s gotten on my body, I’d say my reserves last ten minutes slinging wind at ‘em to keep ‘em at bay before I give out. Five if I’m running Justice and doing my best to fight them hand to hand and take down a couple.”

She could stretch out her reserves if they enticed the creatures to fight in the circle but that would defeat the purpose of a closed off safe zone removed from the effects of the wizards domain. If she had the strength to carve out a domain in the church, then maybe they’d have a shot at prolonging their defense but that’s all it was.

They’d be overwhelmed eventually.

“Can I do anything about it? If I cross to the other side and-”

“No.” Nora replied.

“But, but if I go back there and-”

“I said no,” Nora kept her anger in check and elaborated, “I’m not even thinking of the repercussions of a fresh slotting or the aftereffects of whatever spell you’ve housed in your body. The moment that you’ve set up the ritual to project into the other side, our fucking circle out there is done.”

Liliana shrank.

“Look I get you want to do your part or whatever but you’re just a housewife with a spell. You’re not cut out to deal with the shit out there as you are right now and your preferences wouldn’t even help in a situation like this. You’re doing good with the circle right now and that’s all we need. Leave the bullshit to the professionals.” Nora spoke to her in a soft and comforting tone. It reminded her of her mother and suddenly her heart felt heavier.

“You’re the only professional around and you’re bedridden.” Liliana couldn’t look her in the eye. Before Nora could reply they heard frantic footsteps from above sprint over the stage and into the basement.

“Someone’s here!” Thomas shouted in excitement. He ran back up the stairs and left the two women to look at one another.

“Let’s greet our new guest. Hopefully they’re the reinforcements we’re looking for.” Liliana smiled and helped Nora get up from bed. She was of two minds about calling for reinforcements. On one hand, Nora was ill equipped to handle the current situation and her assessment would probably save her ass from an early grave, or worse. On the other hand, wizards that get onto those higher levels tend to be… dismissive of the world around them. Egomania was common enough among wizards that even she could see slivers of it in herself if her mood was particularly sour.

The two ascended from the stairs and into the hallowed halls to see Thomas opening the church doors.

The man moved with a slight limp and hunch in a three piece suit. The customary wizards coat-

Nora’s stomach lurched.

“Thomas! Close the doors!” Nora cried out but it was too late. The circle would keep the monsters at bay but the phantoms didn’t register, their spectral hands reaching up from the ground to keep the door open and allow their master an entrance into the church. Thomas struggled against the ghosts but their strength held firm and the boy retreated behind the only adults left in the building.

“I’m curious to know how you pointed me out so fast.” Laz stated, an undercurrent of irritation lacing the sentence.

“Do what you can with drawing a circle around the basement frame. I’ll hold him off for however long I can.” Nora whispered to Liliana. The housewife was brimming with determination, grabbing the boys hand and running into the basement.

“Your friend is incredibly rude. I assumed that the church welcomed all manner of sinners?” Laz asked. His body pressed against the active defensive circle. The energy from the circle crackled and sparked with an energy the color of sunlight, impeding his movements inside. “It’s such a strange sensation feeling the town like my own and this unseemly blot obscures the tapestry.” His body hissed steam and the business attire sizzled against the defenses but he pressed onward, each limb breaking through the threshold by sheer force of will.

“Get out of here before you’re taken down. I’ve got reinforcements gathering towards this place to eat you alive.” Nora held her ground against the intruder.

“An empty threat. If your reinforcements were nearby, you’d be doing your best to keep me around but you’re telling me to leave? After everything I’ve done, I’m meant to believe you have my best interests?” Laz spoke with a rising level of anger and a surprising amount of lucidity for someone she’d pegged as batshit crazy. “Besides, you still haven’t answered my question and I have unfinished business with the boy. I thought that my disguise would work well enough.” The man placed his hand on his face and the skin sagged and drooped onto his palm. The touched face with sunken eyes and forced smile came into view, the same face once filled with shock and anger over her intrusion. “I even had my tailor work on something professional.” Laz spun around.

“What do you want with the boy?” Nora asked.

The wizard clicked his tongue as he wagged his finger at her, “You are incredibly ill-mannered. Who taught you to speak to your elders this way?”

Even though the wizard had gotten the drop on them, he was playing cautious with his approach. Waiting for his entourage to show up? Would she fall for a trap if she tried to fight him here and now.

Too many unknowns.

“Fuck that. You want my respect, you earn it.” Nora spat back at him.

He shrugged, “Quite the energy. Has anyone ever mentioned how beautiful your eyes are? They’ve burnt up each time you’ve gotten passionate. I can’t seem to keep away.”

“Get any closer and I’ll rip you apart.”

Laz chuckled, “I’ve been informed by my confidante that you’d have done so already if you could. The disdain for my being drips out of each of your pores, love.”

Nora disregarded his comments and pulled out the knife, squaring up into a fighting stance.

“It doesn’t have to be so hard. I don’t mind offering you the reason for my momentary stay if you do sate my curiosities. I’ve never had the wherewithal to talk to another of my kind before.” He sat down at one of the pews at the end of the hall.

“You already know what I want from you. Why the boy? Why the town?” Whether it was bait or not, knowing his reason would help her assess what kind of wizard she’s planning to deal with.

“Well, those are two questions. I’ll answer both of them if you agree to answer my disguise question and a curiosity of mine.”

Nora nodded to the agreement and Laz clapped his hands in amusement.

“For the first question: I require the boy as an offering for an esteemed guest. One who’s quite upset with what’s recently transpired. The second question is a bit of a wash. This place was small enough that I felt no one would be disturbed if I set the stage out here for a while.” Laz answered. She could tell he was omitting information but without a truth telling spell on hand, this was the best she’d get.

“Your coat’s the wrong color. My reinforcements meant to wear their guild colors. You’ve based your colors on mine.” Nora refused to elaborate further. Make him think there were more wizards showing up for him.

“Of course, of course. I just assumed the whole organization wore brown coats. But that was a great lapse in judgment. Should have known better.” Laz played at being bashful, looking down at the ground and shaking his head like a punished child. “How did you come about to this place? The rest of the ants gave me space but I hoped that crushing their little distraction would make them more pliable participants. Did they send for you?”

“I came about this place on my own. The townsfolk were unhelpful gibbering swamp fucks that I planned to help out of pity once I heard what you’d done to them.” Nora effortlessly mingled fact from fiction.

His eyes narrowed, “You expect me to believe you’re doing this out of the kindness of your heart?”

Nora repressed a smile and sighed, “No, you’re right. They kept me around after promising a nice sum of stars for the effort. Just assessing the situation and nothing more.”

The scrutiny on his face remained, “And yet here you are.”

“And yet here I am.”

The two stood in silence, with Laz inspecting every inch of Nora’s coiled body and Nora looking past the psychopath at the opened door and the amassing horde of meat puppets.

“I feel sorry for you. Truly. Ruining an artist's ascension for something as petty as a sack of stars and a narrow mind. A life without purpose.” Laz broke the silence.

“I don’t give a fuck what you think about me.” Nora coldly replied before flinging her blade in his direction. The knife pierced into the man’s skull like a horn, rivers of blood bubbling out of the wound and down his face but the man was not phased.

“Thank you for your time. And for letting me loose.” The flesh on Laz’s face crawled off to reveal the surprised horror of a man Nora didn’t recognize. She didn’t have time to piece any of it together, crying out the weapons command word to bring the hilt back to her palm and fight off the forming flesh golem that infiltrated the church.