In her dream, Salmacis flew high in the skies of the Empty City. She could see everything up here. There was her family’s home, tucked amongst the neat rows of the suburbs. Over there was Empty City High School, still looking like an abstract sculpture frozen mid-explosion. There was the park, and the mayor’s office over there…. All the buildings were like toys this far up.
Salmacis twirled through the sky, laughing the whole time. This was amazing! She wished she could fly like this in real life. Being able to move so freely, without any worries. Or… maybe with one worry. Salmacis noticed that something was growing in the center of the city, right next to the mayor’s office. Its shape kept shifting as it grew, making it hard for her to identify what it was. She tried flying closer, but when she approached the sky turned red and a siren began to wail. A gust of wind hit Salmacis, throwing her around the sky like a leaf in a hurricane. That thing in the city had grown enough that it towered over the buildings around, like some kind of multicolored mountain of chaos. A giant, disjointed arm grew out of it, reaching right towards Salmacis. She was helpless as the fist closed around her, and….
***
The siren still seemed to be going off. Salmacis turned in her bed and tried covering her head with her pillow to drown it out, but the noise cut through everything else. Finally, she groggily opened her eyes and glared at its source. Her anger instantly became terror as she realized that the “siren” was, in fact, her alarm. It was 8:20 AM. She was going to be late to school.
With a scream, Salmacis threw herself out of bed, and threw on clothes. She continued to scream as she sprinted downstairs towards the kitchen. Breakfast! She needed a breakfast! It was the most important meal of the day! But she didn’t’ have time for breakfast! Salmacis threw open the pantry and tried finding something that could be made fast. Bread! Bread could be made into toast! Toast didn’t take long to make! Salmacis slammed the slice of bread down into the toaster so hard that for a moment she worried that she might have jammed it.
In the next room, her sister Ichor was lying on the couch watching television. Salmacis couldn’t believe her sister was still at home, lazing around. “Don’t you have to go to school, Ichor?” Salmacis asked, her words rushing out all at once.
“Nah,” Ichor said. “First period’s calculus. I already read the textbook all the way through. No reason to sit through Mr. Proxiehunter’s rambling.”
This complete disregard for the school’s attendance policy offended Salmacis’ sensibilities, but her bread had just popped out of the toaster. Salmacis grabbed the slice and ran outside. It looked like EAT had already left with the car, so she’d need to make it to school on bike. Salmacis only slowed down long enough to put on her helmet, then she jumped onto her bike and started pedaling away, the slice of toast hanging from her mouth.
Salmacis had never ridden as fast as she did today. The pain from pushing her body was nothing compared to the horror that she might be counted as tardy. She managed to make it to the school gates with just a few minutes to spare. Her friend, Wooden Girl, was waiting outside for her. “I’ve never seen you this late.” Wooden said.
“Sorry! I’m sorry! I overslept!” Salmacis said as she tied her bicycle to the bike rack.
“Don’t apologize.” Wooden said. “Are you ready for the rehearsal today?”
Salmacis stopped partway through tying her bike. “The what?”
“Our play rehearsal. Mr. Dooling wanted us to run through the musical parts. He asked you to bring your instrument to school for it.”
The memory of a flute carefully stored in its case lying next to her bed back home trickled into Salmacis’s mind. “Oh no….” She said. “I completely forgot it! Mr. Dooling’s going to be so mad at me!”
“What? Him? Nah, he’s a huge pushover.” Wooden said. “He’ll probably just have us do the rehearsal tomorrow. Don’t sweat it.”
Salmacis was clearly still sweating it. “No! I need to go back and get it!”
“Alright, alright. Go on ahead; I’ll cover for you 1st period.”
Salmacis hesitated at this dilemma. Having someone lie about attendance for her was Wrong. But not coming to school prepared was also Wrong. And every moment she spent debating between the two was time not spent running back home. In the end, her desire to not disappoint Mr. Dooling won out, and she turned her bike around to ride home.
The house was unusually still when Salmacis arrived. Even though she knew it wasn’t necessary, Salmacis found herself tiptoeing through the door to avoid disturbing the silence. As she neared the staircase, Salmacis heard a rumbling roar from the living room. She nearly ran back out of the door in fright. There was something else in the house with her. The roar came again, starting off low, then growing to a loud RRRRRRRRR before fading back away. Salmacis wondered if she should shout for help. Maybe call the police? But they’d want to know what was making the noise. She’d have to go to the living room and investigate.
Holding her backpack in front of her like a shield, Salmacis walked towards the source of the roar. It was even louder now. She couldn’t imagine what kind of beast could be making that kind of noise. Maybe a lion? A giant lion. A giant lion with two heads. Whatever it was, it was behind the couch. Steeling herself for whatever terrors she might find, Salmacis peeked over the couch.
Ichor was lying asleep on the couch, snoring like a train engine. Salmacis exhaled in relief. All that worry for nothing. Well, time to stop dawdling and get her flute. A quick jog up the stairs, and she found her case right next to her bed where she’d left it. Just to be extra sure, she opened up the case to check that it was still inside. Yup, still there. Except Salmacis didn’t recall her flute ever looking so… pixelated before. Or randomly changing colors. In all her past experiences with musical instruments, these were not considered normal occurrences. Ichor’s snoring seemed to be getting louder, but Salmacis ignored the roars. She poked the flute to see what would happen, and it turned green. How was she supposed to explain this to Mr. Dooling?
“You found it!” An unknown voice said. Salmacis looked around, but there was no one else around apart from her and a cat. It was a somewhat unusual looking cat; its fur was completely black, except for its right forepaw, which was bright red. It was wearing a white collar with a small glass ball which seemed to glow slightly. As Salmacis looked at it, it occurred to her that there shouldn’t have been a cat in her room.
The cat walked over to the flute case. “Very good. I’d been looking for this.” The cat said in a calm and sophisticated voice. At which point, Salmacis screamed.
“You’re talking!” She shouted at it.
“Of course I’m talking. I’m magical.”
“Cats don’t talk!”
“I already said, I’m magical.”
“Magic isn’t real!”
“Well, that’s unfortunate. I guess that means I can’t do this.” The cat began to float up into the air.
That was too much for Salmacis. She ran to the door and shouted, “Ichor! There’s a flying talking cat up here!” The only reply was another rrrrrrrrRRRRRRRRrrrrrrr.
“Oh, just calm down already.” The cat said. “I’m just a magical flying talking cat. It’s not as if I plan to eat you or any such thing.”
Salmacis let herself calm down slightly, but still remained by the door, ready to bolt out. “What’s… your name?”
“Why, my name is Ja….” The cat’s voice trailed off, and its eyes began darting nervously around. It seemed to be thinking very hard. “Um… Ja… chan. Yes.”
“Jaja-chan?”
“… Sure. We can go with that. And what is your name, child?”
“… I’m Salmacis.”
“Pleased to meet you. Now if you’ll excuse me, I am here to collect the fragment of the Glitch.”
“The what?”
“The Glitch. It is an ancient source of magic once used by my people. However, it has been shattered into 13 pieces. One of those pieces appears to have possessed your flute. So if you would be so kind as to give it to me, I would be most grateful.”
“Oh. Um. Well, you see….” Salmacis looked down at her feet. “I, uh, kinda need my flute. For school.”
“Surely you aren’t suggesting that that your school is more important than the entire magical fate of the universe?”
“Well… I don’t know anything about magical fates of the universe… but I don’t want make Mr. Dooling mad….”
Jaja-chan sighed. “Why don’t we….”
Again, the roar came, now louder than ever. Far too loud to be snoring. Salmacis looked back out of her room. “Ichor? Is that you?”
A creature wearing a ragged black robe came charging up the stairs, roaring loudly. Most of its body was obscured by the robe, but its head was a smooth black sphere, and its limbs made of black bones. It carried a scythe, which it swung at Salmacis as it charged. Salmacis slammed the door shut, but the blade stabbed through the wood. “What is that?” She screamed.
“It’s a Pawn!” Jaja-chan said. “A creature of dark magic, which seeks to steal the pieces of the Glitch!” The scythe hit the door again, making it shatter. Salmacis grabbed her flute and jumped behind her bed, followed by Jaja-chan.
“Can’t you magic it away?” Salmacis yelled.
“I lack the power to defeat it, but you may be able to, Salmacis! If you become a Mahou Shoujo!”
“I don’t know what that is!”
“A Magical Girl who uses the power of the Glitch to battle evil!”
The Pawn’s scythe cute the bed in half, destroying Salmacis’s cover. The door was her only way out, but it was standing between her and it. “Okay! I’ll become a mahou whatever! What do I need to do?”
“We must form a contract. Shake my hand-Paw! Shake my paw.” Jaja-chan held out its red paw towards Salmacis. She grabbed the paw with her hand, then felt a sharp pain as Jaja-chan’s claws cut into her palm. He yanked his paw away, leaving behind five red marks on her hand. “With the blood of the signing party, the contract is formed!”
The cuts in Salmacis’s hand began to glow. The light soon covered her entire body. Salmacis felt like power was flowing into her. It was kinda tingly… bubbly? Floaty? Tinglbubblfloaty? Whatever it was, it felt good. A few moments later, the light faded away. Her clothes had changed drastically in the light. She was wearing a corset that seemed to be made of blue scales, and a white skirt with pale blue trim. Her flute had changed into a staff with a golden star on the end, which matched the star hair ornament that had appeared on her head. Salmacis took a moment to stare at herself, before she was interrupted by Jaja-chan shouting, “Watch out!”
The Pawn ran at Salmacis and swung its scythe at her. Salmacis jumped so high she hit the ceiling, but didn’t come down. “Oh my god I’m flying!” She yelled.
“Yes, good for you, now keep dodging!” Jaja-chan shouted back.
The Pawn continued to swing at Salmacis, who kept flying back just in time to avoid the attack. “Now what am I supposed to do?” She yelled at Jaja-chan.
“Point your staff at it, and then imagine unleashing a powerful attack!”
Salmacis did so, and a beam of blue light shot out of the star on the staff. The Pawn hit the beam with its scythe, deflecting it into the roof. “Good! Now keep doing that!” Jaja-chan said. The Pawn began to charge again. Salmacis closed her eyes and began wildly firing, screaming the whole time. When she stopped, she slowly opened her eyes. Most of the wall was gone, and half of the house’s roof was falling in. But the Pawn was on the ground, filled with dozens of holes. It tried to pull itself up, but collapsed into a pile of dust.
“I… I did it?” Salmacis said. There was a quick flash of light, and she was back in her regular clothes. “I did it!”
But then, Salmacis heard something moving behind her. Another Pawn? Was the fight not over yet? She spun around, ready to face this threat….
Ichor yawned and groggily looked at the rubble behind Salmacis. “Clean up this mess, sis.” She muttered. Then Ichor went back to the couch and fell asleep.
No comments:
Post a Comment