Dozens of scrolls lay unfurled on the oaken desk, arcane runes scratched into their surface. Wisps of smoke rose from the flickering flames of wax candles. Cold walls kept the outside world at bay; kept prying eyes away from the delicate work of a quill and its elegant black ink. A trembling hand forced itself to steady as it inscribed an ancient diagram into new pages. Its owner held his breath, for fear even the slightest mistake might render the spell useless. Or worse.
A pair of hands landed on his shoulders. "S'up, nerd?"
Remi squeaked, dropping his quill as his whole body tensed. A roar of laughter from behind him set his cheeks ablaze. He turned in his chair and glared up at the orc girl. "That's not funny, Ziri."
"Relax, half-pint," She grinned, ruffling his bob of vibrant red hair. "What's with the candles and stuff, anyway? You have a light in here."
"There are rules to spellcasting." Remi pushed his glasses up his dainty nose. "A-And to inscribing them! I can't just photocopy a grimoire."
"Ugh, magic sounds so boring." Ziri stepped back, folding her arms. The torn sleeves of her black t-shirt exposed deep green skin and the rippling muscle beneath. The many chains on her belt and jeans clinked as she leant against a wall.
Remi screwed his ink bottle shut, careful not to let any more spill across the page. At least the dots obviously weren't part of the spell. He pulled a cord, and the LED bulb above him blinked into life. The cramped confines of his dorm room didn't leave much to work in: he'd already squeezed the bed up against the wardrobe to make enough space to draw out his salt circles. Wands, robes and books of various ages spilt off of the shelves above his tiny wooden desk.
Remi blew out his candles and started shoving them back into a drawer. "What do you want?"
"What makes you think I want something?"
Remi gave her a look.
"Fine, jeez," She huffed, "So, you know how Coach has got us on this new training regime, right? It's supposed to be super tough, but man... I'm acing it already. I don't even break a sweat half the time!"
"Um... what does that have to do with me?" He tentatively asked. Any regime Ziri got put on was definitely too harsh for him: she could snap his skinny, petite body over her knee.
Ziri scratched at the fuzz of her undercut, blowing the longer half out of her eyes. "Well, you can summon a bunch of stuff, right? So, I was thinking you make me a monster to wrestle. Get some extra training on the side!"
"Y-you want me to summon a monster? On campus?!"
"What's the matter? You do that sorta thing all the time, don't you?" She grinned and knocked on the wall behind her. "These aren't soundproof, you know."
Remi flushed as red as his hair and looked away. "I do not!"
"Sure, you don't. Look, I don't give a fuck what kind of demonic mommy issues you've been pulling out of the abyss: I just want you to give me something big and tough. It doesn't even have to leave the circle!" Ziri smacked her fist into her palm. "Hell, I could use a good cage match!"
"I-I'm sorry, but the answer is- eep!" He squeaked as Ziri slammed her hand on the wall behind him, her muscular forearm inches from his face. She loomed over him, a smirk exposing the full length of her tusks.
Her voice came out as a low growl. "What were you saying?"
"N-no fair! That's cheating!"
"Gods, you're pathetic. I haven't even done anything, and you're already squirming." She tilted his chin up with a finger, forcing him to look into her yellow eyes. "Come on, pipsqueak. I can make it worth your while."
Remi held his skirt down, covering as much of his skinny little lap as he could. Blood rushed to way worse places than his cheeks as Ziri bore down on him. "Fine! I'll do it, just stop teasing me like that!"
"Awesome!" Ziri pulled back and grinned as if she hadn't just given him the world's largest fear-boner. "What do you need to start?"
"Start? I don't even know what you want me to summon yet." He pouted and climbed on his bed to peek at the haphazardly stacked tomes. "U-um... I don't think any demons would be a good idea, I don't want them getting out. Spirits wouldn't make for a good fight either."
Paper rustled behind him. "How about this?"
Ziri waved an old, yellow scroll by his ear. Remi took it and looked it over, his unease growing with each second. The parchment had to be ancient and, going by the broken wax, probably sealed for a good reason. He didn't recognise the symbol on the faded purple seals. Tentatively unfurling it, Remi puzzled over the diagrams and arcane circles. A lot of it looked familiar, but with strange additions and subtractions to old-school summoning spells.
"Where did you get this?" Remi asked.
Ziri shrugged. "Some shady old guy in the market."
"... And you think this is safe!?"
"Eh, he said it was some kind of slime monster. Even toughest oozes aren't that bad." She looked away, arms folded. She shifted her feet and glanced back at him. "So, are you going to do it or what?"
"I..." Remi sighed. "I guess. But this is really old magic, so it might take me a-"
"Alright! Let's get this party started!" Ziri clapped him on the shoulder, almost bowling him to the floor.
Despite his protests, Remi eventually set to work outlining the complicated symbols and circles in white chalk. The more he worked, the more the feeling of unease wrung his stomach and clawed at his mind: everything about the spell felt off. Older spells had a tendency to overcomplicate things, but even with that in mind, this one took far too long to account for what was supposed to be a slime.
Ziri's excited, impatient foot-tapping ground on his nerves. Sometimes when he'd look over, he'd catch her chewing her lower lip or fidgeting with the ragged remains of her sleeves. Didn't take a genius to work out that she wasn't telling him something.
He added a few extra protective circles to the outside, just in case.