Undecimber 1-5

Your name is Anele Nivose. You are a 19-year-old girl attending Fylleth Academy, an esteemed private school located in a town not empty enough to be in the middle of nowhere but not populated enough to be important.

You also happen to have a habit of sleeping around.

You wake up in a familiarly unfamiliar environment, more than satisfied as your mind drifts back to the night before. Really not a shabby escapade. An upscale hotel and a gentleman with red eyes and a hell of a lot of talent. Labeling it as merely "not shabby" was honestly an undeserved insult.

It is at this moment that you notice the bed is empty. Not entirely concerned, you sit up and find yourself looking over at the open window. Out on the balcony is the aforementioned red-eyed gentleman, gazing at the sunrise and smoking a cigarette. He's fully dressed, dressed only slightly sharper than the previous day. It would be difficult to get much sharper.

You step out of bed and almost walk out to the balcony when you realize you're stark naked. You have nothing to be ashamed of, but you're not willing to go outside and get in trouble for public nudity. Never again. You find a t-shirt much too large for you folded neatly on the bed and quickly slip it on. Though you don't think much of it - thinking things through isn't something you're particularly fond of - it occurs to you that this shirt isn't yours nor is it something the man was wearing yesterday. It seems as though the shirt was put here for this particular purpose.

"What time is it?" he asks casually as soon as you reach him. You look back into the room at a clock on the nightstand.

"About 7:30." you answer just as casually.

"8:00." he says to himself, staring blankly ahead. He drops his cigarette so motionlessly that it would have looked like an accident if he hadn't smothered it in the next moment. He turns to you and gives you little more than a glance before he closes his eyes and strokes his chin.

"Not much time to waste, then." he speaks once more, again to himself as far as you can tell.

"Meet me in the lobby at 7:50." he orders, his tone of voice making it sound more like a suggestion. Without another word, he scoops up his briefcase and room key at the door and leaves you standing there. Again, you don't think much of his behavior. You've slept with much stranger people and have woken up in much stranger situations. With nothing more than a mental shrug, you find your clothes folded neatly on a table and decide to spend the next 20 minutes in the shower.

In the process, you notice something strange. Just below your clavicle and just above your breasts is a strange circle. Seemingly painted on in gold is a circle with a vertical line splitting it in half. Despite your efforts, you can't wash it off. You don't recall getting a tattoo last night, but then again you don't recall much about last night at all. Not much from before the night's highlight, anyway.

You attempt to not think much of it either, but it nags at you in the back of your head all the way down the elevator. You pull your barely-dried hair into a sloppy ponytail as you enter the lobby, almost feeling a little self-conscious about looking so disheveled next to someone so neat and professional. Almost.

"Is there anything you need?" the red-eyed gentleman asks, tone still casual. You shake your head. You think about bringing up the mark on your chest, but decide against it. It doesn't feel like the right time and place to ask, and it's not that pressing of a matter, anyway.

"Nah, I'm good."

He smiles a smile that you can't quite read. Somewhere between malicious, amused, and satisfied.

"Then we part here. Have fun, Anele."

As he turns and walks down another hallway, you realize you don't know his name. You don't know the names of many of the people you sleep with, but you rarely give out your name unless they give theirs first. A curious situation if there ever was one.

The time is 7:52 AM. The date is January 31st. School starts in eight minutes, so if you leave now you'll probably only be fashionably late. However, school isn't of incredible importance to you and it would be nice to get some information out of that man.

What do you do?

[Leave the hotel.]
[Follow the man.]

You wait for a moment before deciding to follow the red-eyed man. It doesn't take very long for you to lose him, but you're convinced he entered the conference room before you. By the time you get there it's closed up and locked, not that you'd really want to interrupt some kind of shifty meeting, anyway. You press your ear up against the door to eavesdrop, but hear nothing.

8:00, he said. It's not 8:00 yet, so maybe that's why it's so quiet. You shrug and retrace your steps, deciding to treat yourself to a free continental breakfast for the next few minutes. Continental breakfast meaning a bagel and half of a cup of orange juice. It doesn't take much to satisfy you.

Bagel quota for the day reached, you return to the conference room as the clock hits 8:00. You immediately press your ear to the door again and frown. You can hear voices, but they're quiet and muffled. You hadn't anticipated spying on people to be so difficult. Giving up quickly, you sigh and slump down against the wall across from the door, paying no mind to the people who walk past and stare.

Rather than wondering why security hadn't been called on you yet, you examine the shirt the red-eyed man so kindly let you keep. It's a white t-shirt with large, black, horizontal stripes that stop at the sides of the shirt. You can't bring yourself to think it's really the man's style.

As you lose interest in the rather ordinary shirt, the doors fly open. That can't be right. You couldn't have been sitting here for more than a couple of minutes. But, alas, there they are. A group of people you care little for pour out of the room and ignore you as much as you ignore them as they go their separate ways. The only one you care about - and the only one who cares about you - is standing before you, looking less surprised and more amused.

"So you came back." he says, sounding like he's talking to himself (as usual).

"Yeah, I have a couple questions. Nothing big, really." you assure him. He looks at his watch (not seeming to notice he doesn't have one on) and looks back down at you.

"Let's make it one question. Places to go and people to see."

You refuse to let the limit get to you. You can do a lot with one answer. But which answer to receive…?

["Who are you?"]
["What's this mark on my chest?"]

"So, who exactly are you?" you ask. You can't shake the feeling that there's something very strange about this man. Stranger than the usual strange people you deal with, anyway.

He raises an eyebrow, as if confused. "Well, I'm pretty sure my name is Calaris. Either that or I've picked up the wrong nametag again."

You notice he must have put on a name tag at some point during his meeting. Regardless, this isn't the answer you're looking for.

"I mean, who are you, you know?" you ask again. He seems to understand your extremely ambiguous question.

"Someone you'll probably be seeing more often." he begins. He pauses before continuing despite his supposed lack of time, as if trying to make a tough decision. In the end it seems that he can't bring himself to say anything else, so you speak up again.

"What are you, then?"

"Pardon?" Calaris raises an eyebrow.

"I mean, your eyes are red. Not really natural, you know? Well, unless you're an albino, but you don't look like one…" you shrug. The idea doesn't actually bother you much, but you want at least one useful answer.

"Oh, these? They're contacts."

He removes his right contact, revealing that his eyes are a rather unremarkable shade of brown. He pops it back in afterward and continues speaking before you have the chance to.

"But, you're right in your suspicions that there's not much natural about me. I'd say I'm about as human as you."

Before you can question him on that statement, he returns his attention to his nonexistent watch.

"Looks like that's all the time I've got. We'll talk again soon." he assures you, hurrying past you and out of the hotel. You're not sure what to think at the moment, so you walk back out into the lobby and find it's 8:10. Not feeling there's anything else of importance here, you step outside.

You still have plenty of time to go to school, but…well, it's school. Who cares? Unfortunately, this also means you can't really go lounge around at home because your home happens to be a dorm in the school. What to do, what to do?

[Go to school.]
[Go wherever your legs take you.]

You decide that going to school today would be way too much of a hassle and decide to spend the day ambling around. It's nothing unfamiliar to you. Thanks to your horrible attendance record, you know this town like the back of your hand.

Sometimes you think you should care a little more. After all, this is your second senior year, and you only barely managed to pass your classes last semester. But that thought passes quickly as usual. You just don't give a damn. The present is more important to you than the future, because it's the only thing that matters in the end. You can't change the past and you can't touch the future, so why care about either?

As you walk through the park, you run into a familiar mess of long hair and gangly limbs. Looks like you're not the only one cutting class today.

"What's up, Fuzzy?"

"Fuzzy" looks up from the birdseed, not noticing or simply not caring that one of the many birds around him had begun pecking at his hand. His name is Tivon Wilder, an 18-year-old boy in your class given the nickname "fuzzy" due to the excessive amount of hair on his body and his love for animals. Hairiness aside, Tivon was well-known for smuggling pets into his dorm. Despite his efforts to keep this information on the DL, just about everyone in the school knew with the fortunate exception of the staff.

"Good morning, Anele! Coming home from somewhere?" he asked as he stood up, the bird pecking his hand quickly relocating to his head.

"Nah, skipping again. You know class started, like, half an hour ago, right?" you point out, knowing Tivon has a habit of going to feed birds in the morning and rushing into class at noon.

"W-What?! Oh man, I can't be late again!" he jumps, the bird ruffling its feathers in distress. "Thanks, Anele!" he shouts as he runs past you.

And then he stops. The bird flies away.

After around 30 seconds pass, you finally speak up. "You okay, Fuzzy? You know you can just get another bird to assault you later, right?"

He doesn't respond, so you try going a different direction. "Hey, it's not like anyone expects you to be on time, anyway. I'm sure Ms. Kamori isn't going to care that much."

Nothing. Beginning to feel concerned, you walk up to him. As you do, he suddenly turns and walks off. Curious (as that's definitely not the way to school), you quietly follow him. A few minutes of silent walking later, the two of you reach a large gathering of people in a normally quiet part of town. They all seem to be crowded around something, but you can't see it from here. You ask around, but everyone is just as unresponsive as Tivon.

With a frown, you return to your classmate's side and decide to wait until the crowd thins out and you can find out what the hell is going on here. Much to your annoyance, the uncooperative crowd only thickens. Just as you reach your limit, the ring of zombies - they're probably even less helpful than that - starts to move in. A feeling of unease grips you, holding you in place as the strangers surrounding you shuffle past you and pack themselves together as tightly as physically possible. You begin to back away, grabbing Tivon's arm to take him with you. He suddenly looks back and rips through you with empty eyes, unintentionally causing you to release him and lose him in the faceless mass.

Alarmingly, "faceless mass" couldn't have been a more proper metaphor.

You have a hard time believing your eyes. The crowd begins to literally join together, melting into one another and combining into a repulsive thing that twists and throbs and moans in manners you had never even witnessed in nightmares.

Without even giving you the time to comprehend the sight before you, the thing begins forming unstable limbs that push through windows and slither across the ground in search for more beings to absorb. Not having the intelligence to be picky, it picks up even insects and small animals, serving to make it even more grotesque.

Finally overcoming your shock, it hits you that you're going to suffer the same fate if you just stand here.

[But you have to do something!]
[RUN THE FUCK AWAY]

You decide you have to do something. There has to be some way to stop this monster and get everything back to normal! You weren't affected by that hypnosis or whatever, so that has to mean something!

First things first, you decide you need some distance. You're dangerously close to the thing, after all. You turn and run for a short distance before deciding to hide out in an alley to think. The first thing that comes to mind is "What the fuck am I doing?"

You don't have any weapons or powers or connections to anyone that does. How the hell are you going to stop some freakish flesh monster and get everything back to normal?

"Hey! You!"

Your thoughts fade quickly as you focus on the tiny figure floating in front of you. It looks like some sort of strange little fairy. Under normal circumstances you would've been at least a little confused, but this situation was far beyond that.

"What do you want?" you ask the fairy, your voice absent of any emotion that you should've been expressing right now. You're not very good at externalizing your concerns, which is probably for the best.

The fairy sounds significantly more commanding than her appearance would suggest. "You wanna do something about that monster, right? And don't tell me no!"

"Yeah, I'm all up for getting rid of it." you agree with a nod. "But I don't really see how I could do that."

"That's what I'm here for!" the fairy grins, rubbing her tiny hands together. It seems like she's been waiting for this.

"You've got a mark, right? No way you'd be talking to me otherwise!" she asks, not waiting for your answer before continuing.

"Great! Just touch it and want it!"

You're not exactly sure what you should be wanting, so you focus on getting rid of that monster and put a hand over the mark on your chest.

Suddenly, you find yourself floating in a bright, golden void. Your clothes - even the shirt you were holding - dissolve into glitter and almost immediately reform as a different outfit. As you attempt to look through the sparkles and obnoxiously bright lights to figure out what exactly is happening, you feel your hair moving on its own. You give up on trying to understand it (as today clearly isn't a day for sense) and simply let the transformation run its course.

After another second or two, you're back on solid ground again. The fairy excitedly flies around you and you resist the impulse to swat her like a fly.

"You look kind of stupid, but who cares!" she squeals. You're not sure if you should be offended by her honesty or not. "Okay, chick! Go fight that thing!"

You hold up your hands. "Whoa, whoa, hold on a minute."

"What? What?!" the fairy yells with a frown. "Come on, get to it! We don't have all day!"

"So I have a ridiculous outfit now. How is that supposed to help?"

Groaning, the fairy shakes her head and starts floating out of the alley. You follow her into the nearest building, still waiting for an answer as the two of you ascend a staircase.

"Don't be an idiot! You're a magical girl now!" she finally responds, exasperated.

"So you're saying I have magical powers now?"

"Yes! Congrats, Captain Obvious!"

"Like what?"

The staircase leads to the roof, where you (unfortunately) have a much better view of the thing. The fairy floats to the edge and looks back at you.

"Hell if I know! Go find out!"

You stare at her blankly.

"You want me to go up to that thing and fight it…but you don't know what powers I have."

"Yes."

"You realize I don't know what powers I have, either, right?"

"Yes."

Silence.

"I think I would've been better off just running away."

Offended, the fairy tries to push you closer to the edge of the building. What a horribly angry individual.

"Listen! You've got wings, right?! You can at least probably fly!"

You look back and notice you have…well, you wouldn't call them wings. They just look like weird heart-shaped things that float behind you.

"I don't really think I can fly with these things. They're not even connected to my body…"

The fairy utters a noise somewhere between a groan and a shriek. She flies away, leaving you to wonder if you really frustrated her enough to make her ditch you.

The answer is no, because a moment later she comes shooting at you like a rocket and knocks you backward off of the roof.

Fortunately for you, instead of becoming a bloody mess of disjointed limbs and shattered bones, you remain stationary in the air.

"Whoa, hey! You could've killed me!" you shout at the fairy, starting to get annoyed with her. Worst magical girl guardian ever.

"Yeah, yeah, cry about it later! Listen, just go over to that thing and your powers will probably awaken by themselves! I mean, you'll die eventually if you just leave it alone and let it grow, so it's not like you've got anything to lose!"

You hate to admit it, but your pint-sized bitch of a "partner" is right. You either die trying, die without trying, or miraculously live and save everyone else. There's a one in three chance of things going well, and that's probably as good as things are going to get.

"Fine, fine. But if I die, I'm coming back to kick your ass as a ghost." you sigh. Releasing your inhibitions (which admittedly isn't that foreign to you), you struggle to position yourself in the air and race off toward the thing much faster than you were intending to. You try to stop yourself, but by the time you start to you realize it's too late. At this rate you'll undoubtedly crash right into the mountain of distorted strangers.

"At least I tried," you think, but all that comes out of your mouth is "OH SHIT OH SHIT OH SHIT OH FUCK"

Pause.

Your eyes snap open. The world seems to slow to a crawl around you. You become vividly aware of your surroundings, and all of your panic subsides. For some reason, you find yourself thinking of that man, Calaris. The shirt, his eyes, his name, the mark…and now this fairy and magical powers? Now - now of all times - a thousand questions burst forth. You're no longer content with just playing along. There's something you're in the dark about, and you can't find any answers unless you're alive.

Every fibre of your being forbids you to die.

Moving entirely on instinct, you reach a hand out and fearlessly impact the thing. Instead of being absorbed into it, you send some sort of golden wave rippling over it. Soon after you're on the ground again, trying to figure out what you just did. You start backing away, looking for any signs of it turning back into a group of confused people. Nothing. The only difference is that the people and animals caught in its tentacles don't seem to be becoming a part of it. It seems as confused as something without much apparent intelligence can be.

"Oh, so that's what you do…"

You whirl around and see the fairy again.

"What? What did I do?" you ask, feeling as confused as the thing behind you.

"You take away powers, it looks like." the fairy answers, sounding disappointed. "So that thing can't absorb people anymore."

"Well, that's great, but how do I get everyone in there back to normal? How do I, you know, actually defeat it?" you continue, starting to worry. Taking away powers can't possibly be the only thing you can do. What kind of magical girl only has one power, especially one that isn't even offensive?

"You don't." the fairy sighs, frustrated. "Looks like I picked someone worthless. Ugh! Vnde's never going to let me hear the end of this…"

Before you can ask who Vnde is or what else you can do - there's no way in hell you can leave things like this - a bright light appears in the sky above the thing. Your fairy companion rolls her eyes as you attempt to find the source without blinding yourself.

Beams of violet light rain down from the sky and surround the thing, creating a cage of sorts. A larger beam of light crashes down on it, forcing you to look away. Once the light fades enough for you to look again, the thing is completely gone. Standing - floating, rather - in its place is a girl clad in purple and another fairy.

The first thing that comes out of your mouth is:

["Who are you?"]
["How did you do that?!"]
["You just killed all of those people!"]