Aziel had made it home after a long day at his tutoring course. His parents weren’t home and wouldn’t be until late – this was expected, they both had difficult jobs that demanded a lot from them – but, his sister’s bike was already in the driveway, she hadn’t bothered to bring it into the garage, which was unusual for her. She used her bike frequently and they wouldn’t have enough money to afford a new one.
Aziel pulled into the driveway and put both of their bikes into the garage, once he got in the house, he shouted down the hall “Mari! You left your bike in the driveway! Don’t worry though, I put it away for you.”
No response. Weird Aziel thought to himself.
“Mari?” He called as he began to make his way down the hall to her room. The old floorboards creaked beneath his feet, most likely due to the mold that was eating away at the old house.
The door was ajar, he knocked, the force of the knock pushing the door open with an eerie creak. Aziel peeked into her room and whispered “Mari?”

The sight before Aziel left him breathless, he looked for words, but there were none.
In Mari’s room was her body, hanging by her neck from the ceiling, her skin pale and lifeless, the rope around her neck digging into her skin. Aziel gasped for breath as he felt the world around him spinning. He rushed over to his sister’s body and grasped at her legs, tears streaming down his face as he wailed and begged for this to all be a dream.

Aziel felt his body go limp, and his vision went black.

Aziel’s eyes felt so heavy, and his head was throbbing. He felt different, he felt…charged? As if electricity was harmlessly coursing through his body. He carefully sat up and rubbed his eyes. When he opened them, beady, black eyes were staring back at him, inches from his face. Aziel yelped and swatted the creature away, he tried to push himself away from it but his hand slipped on something. He fell back with a thud, hitting his head on the wall behind him. He looked down, perplexed. Aziel had been dressed in a frilly pastel blue and white dress with bows, heels, and gloves. Aziel lifted the skirt of the dress up, confused. Aziel righted himself and stood up, the dress was of high quality, the material felt nice but it fit him a bit tightly. The seams, especially around the waist, dug into his skin. The creature that was staring at Aziel, was a barn owl, it perched itself on Mari’s dresser, claws digging into the soft wood, chipping at the paint. Aziel stood up, struggling to catch his balance in the heels, he looked ahead of him and remembered what had happened
His sister was still hanging from the ceiling. Aziel felt tears welling up in his eyes, his stomach felt like an empty pit of disbelief, sadness, and guilt, if only he had showed up maybe minutes earlier, seconds even. He should have asked how she was doing, he rarely took into consideration his own sister’s feelings, he was too busy wallowing in his own sadness to notice anything.
“Mari…” He whispered, his voice cracking. He couldn’t bear to look up at her face, so he grabbed her hand in his and stood in silence, tears pouring down his face. He noticed that Mari was still wearing a bracelet that Aziel knew well. He had made it for her a few years back for her birthday when money was tight. She had worn it every day since.
Aziel slowly pulled the bracelet off of her arm and onto his. “Mari… I’m sorry…” He said through whimpers and gasps for breath. Aziel cried for what felt like hours, and eventually calmed down a bit, he wiped his swollen eyes and heard something from the corner of his room
“Done?” It asked. Aziel looked up in bewilderment
“…Mari..?” He asked, his voice hoarse.
“No! It was me.” The voice called, Aziel saw who had said it, it was the owl.
He had lost it. Aziel stared blankly at the owl, then burst out laughing. Aziel pointed at the owl, his face stained with tears, and expression twisted into a humored grin
“You! I’m- I’ve- Oh my god I’m dreaming!” He exclaimed. Aziel began to laugh again but was cut off by the owl.
“Why do they always say that?” it whispered, then in a louder tone explained “No, you’re not dreaming, this is real. You may be wondering ‘is this the afterlife? Am I dead? Are you god?’ No. Now I would explain it to you, but you have completely ruined my entire career and I’m tired, so I’m not.” Aziel stared at the owl, he tried to say something but the owl screamed.
“You have NO IDEA what you just did! You just ruined an age-old ritual that was never meant to be seen by human eyes…” The owl paused, then hooted, it almost sounded like a laugh.
“Well, then again, I guess you’re not human anymore.” Then it fell silent, and Aziel was left to decipher whatever that meant.
“What… do I do?” Aziel asked solemnly, no response. He sighed, and left his sister’s room. Not knowing what to do, and in such a state of shock Aziel poured himself a bowl of cereal.

He had never seen a human respond like this, then again, there had never been a human in Aziel’s case. His sister had just died, and the boy didn’t know what to think of him and the dress. And he definitely wasn’t getting answers until Snowy calmed down. He found all of this quite humorous, he had seen hundreds of girls he looked after go into the Queen’s room and never return, and wondered if this boy would suffer the same fate.

As Aziel was chowing down on the bowl of stale Cap’n Crunch, he heard a loud shriek down the hall. Aziel jumped to his feet and looked at the owl. He swallowed the mouthful of cereal and whispered.
“What was that!?”
“One of the things you’re supposed to fight.” The owl chuckled. Aziel rushed down the hall, it was coming from Mari’s room. Aziel pushed open the door, before him a grotesque fleshy mound dragged itself towards him, he shrieked in terror.
“What is that?!” Aziel squealed
“Children.” The owl muttered quietly
“What?” he asked
“The monsters our organization is fighting are children, no one seems to know besides me. Hell, I don’t even know for sure, but I can just tell, ya’ know?”
Aziel vigorously shook his head.
“No?! I don’t know?!” He shouted. The creature lunged towards him, Aziel jumped out of the way with a yelp.
“What do I do?!” He yelled at the owl, looking for any kind of help. But the owl didn’t say a word.
Aziel wasn’t getting any help from that guy, so he looked at his outfit, looking for anything he could use, he felt around on his back, how had he not noticed?
Aziel pulled the bow off of his back and clumsily grabbed an arrow. He had only used bows and arrows at the renaissance fairs, and even during those he was terrible at it, but this was all Aziel had. He tried to recall what they had told him while using the bows and lined the arrow up with the string and his hand, he pulled back to the point where it was almost touching his face and released the arrow.
Aziel’s vision was blinded by the light released by the arrow, it shot with inhuman force at the creature and struck it in the center. A perfect, massive hole was left in the creature where the arrow had gone through. It melted to the floor in an agonized shriek. Aziel and the Owl stared in awe at the pile of steaming tissue on the ground before them.
“What the hell…” The owl whispered to himself “What is this guy’s power scale?”
“Power scale?” Aziel asked “What’s that?”
The owl rolled his eyes
“Fine I’ll tell you. Everyone like you starts off with what’s called a ‘power scale’ which is a number that represents how powerful you are by default. As your skill increases, so does the number. Most start off with numbers in double, or triple digits. But we have to take you to headquarters to get yours checked because that level of power for a beginner is not normal.”
“Ok… Well… How do we get to these so-called ‘headquarters’?” Aziel asked. The Owl sighed.
“Show me your bow.” it demanded. Aziel was taken aback by the harshness of this demand, he hesitated, then fumbled for his bow, and stuck it out to the owl. The owl hopped onto Aziel’s shoulder, who winced as its sharp claws pierced his skin. The owl gilded its wing over the handle of the bow and a rune illuminated in a bright blue light.
“Now repeat after me, ‘Suscipe me ad locum ubi non eant extranei’” The owl chanted, and Aziel sloppily repeated what it had said. The floor beneath Aziel began to glow in a circle around him, he floated into the air and yelped, then he was blinded by a bright light.

When Aziel’s eyes adjusted he was standing in a small room, decorated with marble pillars and gray mosaics embedded in the floor. Aziel blinked and looked back down at himself, he was fine.
“Where am I?” He asked.
“Welcome to the headquarters!” The owl announced proudly, this is the home base of the organization you’ve been recruited to.
“Ok?” Aziel muttered. The owl then hopped off of Aziel’s shoulder and glided out of the doorway, leaving Aziel to chase after him. The owl led Aziel into a narrow room that was lined with tubes large enough to fit a human, one opened and the owl gestured towards it.
“Get in.” It demanded, and Aziel quickly obliged, squeezing himself inside. The door shut and Blue lasers scanned up and down Aziel’s body, the door popped back open and Aziel stepped out. He noticed a screen above the tube, green text read “Calculating…” the owl stared at it intently. A ding was heard and the screen announced “Pwr. 10,000” The owl stared at the number, mouth agape. Other people in the room, who Aziel had just noticed gathered around to gawk at the number. Whispers were heard throughout the room, Aziel quickly rushed out, trying not to draw attention to himself. The owl followed him out of the power level assessment room.
“Ten thousand…” the owl muttered “How did that even happen…” He said, Aziel’s astounding power level fogging his mind. But Aziel had other things he was concerned about, hundreds of eyes were focused on him through the halls, all of the girls whispering to each other as they stared at him with confusion. Aziel just wanted to curl up and die, he tried to just stare at the flood, clutching his bow in his hand.
“Uh…” Aziel muttered, he looked over to his familiar “What do I call you?” Aziel asked the owl. “Huh? Oh, um, my name is Snowy.” He said “Yeah I know it’s basic, but that’s me” Aziel looked back down and nodded.
“Snowy, I think I need to sit down for a second.” Aziel said quietly
“Well you don’t have to tell me, just sit down.” Snowy said, annoyed. Aziel nodded again and found a corner to sit down in, he looked at the ground, his hair covering his face.
“Snowy, is everyone here a girl?” Aziel asked, Snowy looked into the crowd, then back at Aziel.
“Yeah, these are all magical girls, it’s in the name.” Aziel whimpered and covered his face with his hands. Everyone already knew, he was a boy, he didn’t belong here, what was a guy doing in the magical girl headquarters? Aziel had a terrible headache, and the floor swayed beneath him, even though he was already sitting. Then he felt a tap on his shoulder and he looked up. They’re probably gonna yell at me, or beat me up, he thought. Above him were two girls, the one who had tapped him had long blonde hair in a ponytail, her dress was pink and white, and covered in glitter. Behind the girl was another one, she was shorter, had curly brown hair, and was wearing a white and lavender dress, it looked like she was trying to hide behind the blonde one.
“Hello? What are you doing here?” The blonde girl asked, she spoke in a thick Russian accent.
“What do you mean?” Aziel asked “Because I’m a boy?”
The girl’s eyes went wide. “What do you mean you’re a boy?” She asked “Don’t be so hard on yourself, you definitely belong here.” She said and pet his hair
“Nonono, I’m not trans, I’m really a boy.” He said “I don’t belong here! Why do you think everyone’s staring at me?” The girl paused and laughed.
“Darling, we’re just staring because you’re new! We’re all excited!” She assured him “But… you’re a boy? How did you get here?” She asked. Aziel found himself in the dining area, it was beautifully decorated, covered in gold floral patterns all along the edges of the walls and ceiling, the seats were soft and all a shade of deep, rich pink.
“If you really are a boy, how did you get here?” She asked
“That’s a good question…” He said, before he could continue to talk, Snowy interrupted him.
“I’ll tell you how! This idiot touched his dead sister while I was about to bring her back! Somehow the spell transferred to him and he became a magical boy I guess instead of his dead sister, so now she’s stuck dead, and he’s here instead!”
“Yeah, basically.” Aziel confirmed.
“Oh dear!” The girl said. Aziel noticed that the brunette was still silent, hugging the blonde girl’s arm tightly.
“Sorry, but who are you two?” Aziel asked, the blonde laughed.
“Thank you for asking! I completely forgot, My name is Julia, this is my girlfriend Anastasia.” Anastasia waved at Aziel.
“She is a little shy.” Julia explained, and Anastasia nodded.
“We both got here from a double suicide together, we weren’t in the safest situation so we decided it would be best to be together in death, next thing we know we’re both awake where we were in these dresses, and these two explained everything to us.” Julia opened up a bag on her side that Aziel hadn’t noticed before, a small white rabbit peeked its head out from inside, Anastasia did the same, and a small grey rabbit looked out.
“Huh!” Aziel exclaimed “That’s pretty dark, but I’m happy for you two.” He said, Julia nodded.
“Well, your familiar seems pretty upset at you!” She laughed “So, we can both help you out, it’s pretty easy once you get used to it, we’ve already been doing this for what? Two? Three months?”
“Eight months.” Anastasia said softly, her accent was much softer than Julia’s, as was her voice.
“Yes! Eight months, wow, time really does fly, does it not?” Julia laughed heartily, Aziel awkwardly chuckled along with them.
“Now! Let us show you how things work around here.” Julia announced and rose from her seat. She grabbed Aziel by the arm and dragged him off, Anastasia following close behind.

The girls spent the next few weeks showing Aziel the ropes of the corporation, how to aim his bow, how to control his excessive power, and where everything in headquarters was. They told him that he could take breaks, but never to give up, because if your power scale fell too low, you would be brought into the Queens chambers and disciplined, they had heard tales that girls that went in never came out. But at this point those were just rumors, since it was rare these days that someone would be brought in. Julia was a competent fighter, Anastasia as well, despite her nervousness. Anastasia also warmed up to Aziel, and became much more talkative with him than prior. Weeks, then months passed, and Aziel was getting comfortable with this life, it wasn’t hard anyways, considering how strong his powers were.

Aziel yawned and rolled over in bed, he was awake but he didn’t want to get up. Snowy landed on him and began to peck at his face, Aziel swatted him off and sat up.
“Ok ok I’m up!” he groaned.
“Aziel!” Snowy shrieked, the urgency in his voice was apparent, something was off, Snowy never sounded like this.
“What?! What’s wrong?!” Aziel panicked.
“I found something, you need to see.”

It was early, the sun still hadn’t risen. Snowy ushered Aziel to go to headquarters as quickly as possible.

When they arrived the place was as active as it normally was, girls were wandering the halls, chatting, practicing spells.
“Nothing seems to be wrong?” Aziel whispered to Snowy, who shook his head and guided Aziel to the entrance to the Queen’s chamber.
The Queen, the first magical girl. She had been murdered when she was 14 and was met with a small strange creature, who offered to bring her back to life if she made a deal with it. The deal was struck, and she was brought back, bringing hundreds more of “familiars” into the world to make more magical girls. No one knew what this deal was, and there were countless theories on what it could have been.
The only people who ever entered the Queens chambers were familiars and failing magical girls, who refused to go out and fight the enemies. What were the enemies anyways? Aziel pondered, but the thought was cut off when Snowy began chanting something under his breath and Aziel felt a shiver go down his spine.
“What did you do!” Aziel cried.
“Just a simple spell.” Snowy explained. Then the massive doors to the Queens chambers slowly crept open. Snowy flew inside and waited for Aziel, who was unsure whether he should enter or not. Nonetheless, he stepped forward.
The hallway was dark, and hard to see in, a draft of air seemed to be flowing towards the exit.
“This way.” Snowy whispered, and flew further into the hallway, Aziel was trembling, and his mind clouded by intrusive thoughts, it didn’t help that anytime he tried to ask Snowy why they were here he hushed Aziel. Eventually they made it into the main chamber, which was massive, a looming throne sat in the middle, the room was littered with soft pillows and stuffed animals, but it was completely empty to Aziel’s surprise.
“The Queen is on her annual leave, no one really knows where she goes or when it’s gonna be but I’ve been around here long enough that I think I’ve got the timing down pretty well.” Snowy explained, Aziel nodded and stepped into the room. Snowy felt along the edges of the walls, as if he was searching for something on the smooth marble. Moments later, a clicking noise echoed throughout the room, Snowy had pushed in a small square into the wall. It popped back out and formed what looked to be a handle.
“This!” Snowy cried “I was snooping around in here and found this, but I can’t open it, it’s too heavy for me, that’s why I brought you here.”
Aziel sighed.
“Snowy we shouldn’t even be in here, there has to be a good reason for this hidden entrance-” Before Aziel could finish Snowy bared his claws, which Aziel knew from experience, he was not afraid to use.
“Okay okay,” Aziel complied “But if something bad happens don’t say I didn’t warn you!” Aziel grabbed the handle and pulled, the door was heavy, but it opened in a smooth motion. Aziel heard something from inside of the dark hallway, it sounded like voices, singing? Intrigued, he wandered in, in front of Snowy.
As they traveled deeper into the narrow passage, the voices became louder, and to Aziel’s horror, he realized they weren’t singing.
They were screams, hundreds of voices, all crying out in unison. Then Aziel reached the end of the hallway.

Aziel couldn’t bear to look, but he could still hear the screams. The screams of all of the girl’s who’s power scales had fallen below 50 being brutalized and killed, just to be revived over and over. Their flesh formed massive mounds, that all appeared to still be conscious, their minds deteriorating. These were the “monsters” that they were fighting, Snowy was right, they were children. Aziel gagged and threw up onto the floor next to him. Aziel was glad that Julia and Anastasia didn’t have to witness this for themselves, it felt like a scene straight out of hell.
“So this is what the Queen’s idea of ‘discipline’ is?” He said to himself “Isn’t there some way to stop this?!” He shouted, the panic finally setting in, Snowy shushed him. Aziel shut himself up, they couldn’t let the spell wear off, the Queen had eyes everywhere, and if she found them in this room, they would most likely join the girls below them. As heaping piles of tissue, that only knew anger and despair. Aziel couldn’t bear to be in this room any longer, and ran out, he had to tell Julia and Anastasia.

Aziel rushed out of the room, stumbling, holding his stomach with his arm. The floor swayed beneath him and he felt like he was going to pass out at any moment, if that happened he was bound to be found, so he pried his eyes open and pushed through. Aziel reached the exit, he was gasping for breath as he made it out of the narrow hallway. He shut the door behind him and caught his breath, panting heavily. Then, trembling, Aziel walked down the long dark hallway and slid through a small opening in the doors.

“You guys have to believe me, please.” Aziel begged, Julia and Anastasia stared at him, and it made Aziel’s stomach turn that he couldn’t read their expressions.
“So… What you’re saying is that the Queen has a secret passage that leads to a torture chamber for magical girls where they are turned into the monsters we fight?” Anastasia asked, Aziel nodded.
“I realize how insane I sound but pl-” Julia put a finger to his mouth
“No, we believe you.” Julia said “There used to be rumors of screams coming from the Queen’s room, and we told you most who went in to be disciplined never came out. I’ve never trusted the Queen anyways.” She assured. Aziel nodded and sat down, exhausted.

Over the next few weeks, Aziel, Julia, and Anastasia planned on how to defeat the Queen, pointing out ways to catch her off guard, and potential weak spots. After weeks of planning they were done, and ready to fight.

The battle they fought was intense, Julia and Anastasia struggling to keep the Queen still, but finally, they pinned both of her arms down and screamed at Aziel

“NOW!!!”

Aziel focused all of his energy into this single arrow, all of his hatred towards the queen, and all the grief he had gone through because of her into this single point.
“This is for Mari.” He said, and fired it. Julia and Anastasia holding the Queen down gave Aziel a clear shot at her. The Queen shrieked and flung Julia and Anastasia off of her. The arrow struck her directly in the middle of her chest.
She screamed as a perfect white sphere of light formed in her chest and started slowly spreading throughout her body. The Queen reached out towards Aziel, who held his ground. Right as she was going to grab Aziel, the light swallowed her hand. The sphere shrank and left nothing behind.
Aziel floated in place in silence and disbelief that he had actually done it. He looked down at the two friends he had made, they smiled softly at him, and he smiled back.
Then, a shrill laugh echoed through the room, the voice was familiar, Aziel looked for where it was coming from, over his shoulder. Snowy.
“Snowy?” Aziel whimpered
“Thanks Aziel!” Snowy cried. What?
“I’ve been meaning to get rid of that witch for ages, I could just never find anyone powerful enough to defeat her, until you came along! I thought your sister was bound to be able to defeat her, but I’m lucky that you were the one revived instead.”
“Snowy, what are you talking about?”
“Aziel, I’m the first familiar, the one who struck the deal with the queen? I needed to make a deal with someone to assume a physical form, but now I have enough bodies to where I don’t need her anymore.”
“Bodies?” Aziel muttered. Julia and Anastasia screamed, their familiars floated out of their bags and flew towards Snowy, they were absorbed into him and his mass increased. Hundreds of other familiars flew into the room and merged with Snowy, who’s form barely resembled an Owl anymore.

Six glowing eyes were attached from Snowy’s head, several gaping mouths, lined with sharp teeth lie just underneath the eyes. Eight spindly arms armed with curling claws protruded from his torso. And massive wings that filled the room stuck from his back, too many to count.
Aziel screamed as the beast before him opened its mouths, and a massive one on its stomach, teeth consisting of its ribs, organs exposed. Aziel looked down, Julia and Anastasia were lying unconscious on the ground, he had to believe they were alive or all else was lost.
“NOW” The beast announced “YOUR WORK IS DONE, AZIEL. YOU ARE NO LONGER NEEDED.”

Not knowing what to do, Aziel reached for another bow and fired. A shriek echoed through the room and Snowy’s stomach was gone.
“WHAT?! NO!” Snowy screamed, as he suffered the same fate as the Queen, and was swallowed by the orb, and it disappeared.

…That was it?

A massive explosion erupted from where Snowy had disappeared that sent Aziel flying, he hit the wall behind him and coughed as blood shot out of his mouth. His vision went black.

When Aziel awoke, he was in a white void, he panicked and quickly looked at his surroundings. Where was he? There was nothing for miles in any direction, just a vast sea of white. Aziel held his hands up in front of his face, he could see through himself. Just as Aziel was about to scream, he heard a familiar voice behind him.
“Aziel?” It asked.

Mari.

Aziel froze.
“Mari?” He whispered. Aziel whirled around, and he refused to believe what he saw, It was Mari, in the flesh, staring directly at him, with tears in her eyes. He noticed that his sister was also slightly translucent.
“Oh my god, is it really you?” Aziel asked, Mari nodded
“I sure hope so.” She laughed. Aziel lunged at Mari and embraced her, the two spinning around in each others arms due to the lack of gravity where they were.
“Mari…” Aziel sobbed “I’ve missed you so much, you have no idea. So much has happened, I need to tell you about everything!” Mari squeezed her brother tightly.
“Wait, but,” Aziel pushed himself away from Mari and looked her in the eyes “Wait, why are you here? Where are we?” he asked
“Oh Aziel… we’re dead…” His sister trailed off. The two stared at each other “I’m dead?” Aziel asked, Mari nodded.
“That blast really killed me?” He muttered
“What blast?” Mari asked him, Aziel looked at Mari, then laughed.
“So much has happened, Mari” He said “I made some friends!” Aziel exclaimed, Mari’s face lit up.
“Really?” She asked, Aziel nodded.
“Their names are Julia and Anastasia, they’re really nice!”
“Oh Aziel, that’s great!” Mari said, and the siblings embraced again.
Suddenly a loud crack echoed behind the two. They both looked back and saw a bright glowing crack forming behind them in the void.
“What the- What is that?” Aziel said. Mari’s brow furrowed.
“I’m not exactly sure what that is, but I’ve seen girls appear here, then get sucked through that crack… Aziel, I saw that happen to you too.” Aziel’s eyes widened The ritual? He thought to himself. Then, Mari began slowly being pulled towards the crack.
“Aziel?!” She screamed “What’s going on?!” Aziel reached towards his sister but she was just out of his range, he was running out of time, Mari was taking her rightful place. Aziel looked at his sister, tears in his eyes, and smiled.
“It’s gonna be ok, Mari. You’re going to meet my friends! And Snowy! It’s going to be really confusing, and scary at first, I know from experience, but you’ll get used to it, trust me!”
“Aziel! I’m scared!” Mari wailed, her arms outstretched to Aziel. Aziel finally reached his sister, and hugged her for what he knew would be the last time.
“I love you Mari.” He said, and Mari was blinded.

Where Aziel once stood, Mari appeared in his place. She woke up, and looked around. Tears welled up in her eyes and she began to sob, with each breath her body heaved forward, and her chest felt like it was collapsing.
“Aziel…” She sobbed. Anastasia and Julia rushed over to the girl.
“Are you Mari?” Anastasia asked softly, and Mari nodded
“But… where’s Aziel?” Julia asked, Mari looked at her with a frown and began to cry again. Julia knew exactly where he was, she looked at Anastasia, her eyes filled with fear and sadness. All three of the girls cried in the rubble of the headquarters for what felt like ages, they didn’t want to believe he was gone.