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.
"Okay." Remi stood up. "Everything's ready, I-I think."
"Huh? Oh, sweet!" Ziri cracked her knuckles, bouncing on the balls of her feet. "What do I do?"
"J-Just stand in that circle there. Opposite me. It'll let you move in and out of the-"
She leapt into the small heptagram, making Remi's heart leap as she nearly scuffed the chalk. "What's the holdup? Come on, I'm itching for a fight!"
He sighed, pulled on his cape and hood, and raised his arms in the air. Remi hesitated. "Are you sure? This is your last chance to back out."
Rolling her shoulders, Ziri took a deep breath. A tiny hint of a ragged edge caught Remi's attention. Ziri smacked her fist again and grinned at him. "Ready when you are, pipsqueak!"
Closing his eyes, Remi reached into the arcane void. A muttered stream of incantations guided the powers binding the universe through his body and up to his fingertips. A low wind whirled around him, while a hurricane stirred in his chest. He poured the energy into the thick white chalk, nudging it until it filled every corner and curve in the pattern. Remi opened his eyes and looked out over the iridescent glowing runes.
Ziri's eyes widened. Remi couldn't help but give her a confident smirk.
Parts of the pattern fell away; not through the floor, but rather taking the wood with it into the star-studded void beneath. The intricate centrepiece gaped like a hungry maw. Reaching in with his mind, Remi called to the worlds beyond his own. Called to the thing bound to him by the spell. And in an instant, it answered. His breath caught, and his eyes grew wide: it answered in a voice far stronger than his.
The room filled with pearly light. A single second of panic. The room righted itself, the chalk once again drawn on the wooden floor, but with three things stood or sat in its concentric circles.
Remi sighed with relief as the power left him. A black teardrop, a touch bigger than a beach ball, wobbled in the central circle. Just a simple slime, nothing more. He flashed a smile at Ziri. She looked between him and the slime, a strangely confused expression on her face.
With a wet noise, the slime melted into a puddle. It splashed against the invisible walls of the circle, battering and beating at them with dull thuds and smacks. Remi stopped himself from stepping back - out of the protection - and raised his hands again.
"Uh, is that going to be okay?" Ziri called over the cacophony.
"Y-yeah! They do that sometimes. Those protective spells should keep it-"
The first circle failed. The writhing black mass bubbled, surging up the sides of the second. It grew in volume until it reached Remi's waist, the second circle failing. Then the third, and the fourth. Remi's heart pounded in his chest as he poured magic into the final few wards. How? How could it break them so quickly? The viscous fluid slopped and slurped, thicker than the syrupy texture he was used to. The blackest black spread into every nook, moving like molasses. Like tar.
Ziri shouted as her circle shattered. The tar flooded into the space, washing up to her knees like a wave. It dragged her into the centre, every kick or punch just covering her limbs. Remi screamed, wracking his adrenaline-riddled brain for an answer. The last circle broke, and warmth swallowed up his thin legs. The tar spread out across the dorm room, filling up the floor and smothering both desk and bed. Remi felt himself become weightless, suspended in the slime by his knees.
"What is this? Wh-what happened?" Remi shouted, futilely pulling at his legs.
