"Someone take these dreams away\That point me to another day\A duel of personalities\That stretch all true realities...Where figures from the past stand tall\And mocking voices ring the halls\Imperialistic house of prayer\Conquistadors who took their share!" – Joy Division, "Dead Souls"

Rubbing her exhausted eyes, Amity reread the paragraph in the sixth chapter of the book Luz had given her. It was always a delight to see her favorite heroine, the ever-so-wise and resourceful witch Azura, in a new adventure, but her extended study hours over the last three days had taken its toll on her body and spirit. She had only slept three hours each night, attempting to perfect the spells for her final term before the summer arrived. Still, she was bound and determined to finish this book as well, as she knew she had to give it back to Luz; she didn't like feeling as though she owed or were indebted to her in any way.

But she knew deep down all this was frivolous, that these stories were merely childish escapism. She would need to put away these sophomoric things (especially anything from the mundane, ignorant human world) and continue her pursuit of real magic, attaining newfound power and innovation, and considering her future under Lilith's guidance in the Emperor's Coven.

She sighed, shut Luz's book, and put it aside. She reached down off the side of her bed for her Magic 101 textbook, but upon touching it where it lay on the carpet, she felt a jolt burst through her and a sting in her finger. Was this just static electricity from the bed? She tried touching it again and received the same shock. Now she was annoyed. She tried to grab another book on potion brewing and likewise felt a shock, this time with a burn in her finger.

Across the room to her bedroom door came the snickering of two different voices. Amity knew right away who it was and felt her anger boiling. She held her breath and felt a rush of blood run through her face as she clinched her fists.

"GrrrrrrrEmira! Edrich!" Amity growled, "Did you two curse my school books?!" In expelling this shout, she heard the soft running feet from her door down the hall until they quickly disappeared. In her agitation, she got up from her bed and marched towards the door; her foot was shocked upon touching Magic 101 again, but she didn't care at that point.

She marched down the dimly lit hall, the expensive red and gold carpet underneath her heels being composed of elaborate swirling patterns that ended in jagged points and the walls lined with seven glistening golden candelabras held by small gilded goblins. She eventually made her way to her sister's bedroom door and thrust it open with her palm. (She would deal with Edrich later, that nuisance of a boy!)

"Alright," Amity snarled, "Enough is enough! I'm sick of these pranks! You remove this electro curse from my school books right now!"

"Calm down, Mittens," Emira chuckled. Amity saw her sister's arms raise and her nightgown floating over her head. And with a flick of Emira's wrist, the elegant pine green nightgown with gold trim slid down over her body with the grace of a peacock folding its feathers, fitting her form perfectly. "It was just a harmless prank to stop you from obsessing over them so much."

"Harmless?!" Amity's face began to turn read, "They shocked me! That didn't exactly feel like a playful tickle!"

"But did you die?" Emira asked rhetorically, turning around to face her with a smug smirk.

"...No." Amity answered weakly, letting out a sigh. Even if she were to tell their mother, Em and Ed would easily weasel their way out of it, as they had so many times before. It was something she needed to endure from them unfortunately.

Amity looked back up, and her amber eyes met with her sister's. Emira could see the frustrated yet defeatist resolve in her poor younger sister's face.

"Okay, okay," Emira raised her hands and shrugged, "Giving you electric shocks was a bit much; I'm sorry. Here." She raised her right hand and snapped her fingers. "The curse is gone. But before you go back to studying, come and sit on the bed with me for a little while, eh?" Emira sat down on her bed of fine linens and patted a spot next to her, signaling Amity to come.

Amity stood very still in full hesitation and mistrust.

"Ugh, look," Emira rolled her eyes, "this isn't a trick or a prank. I don't have the energy for that right now. Let's just chat for a minute as sisters, okay?"

With a nervous feeling in her stomach, Amity slowly made her way into the room; she could feel Em's unblinking eyes (pared with her mischievous smirk) drilling into her as she continued. Finally, Amity sat down on what would normally be a comfy spot, but having a conversation with the sister that continually torments her when she least expects it, that just gave her a tremendous agitation of spirit. She crossed her legs and held her hands at her side, gripping the mattress with both hands.

There was an odd moment of silence. Amity thought about saying that if the next prank was going to go off, they should just get it over with, but all she got out was "If you're going to-"

"Mittens," Emira cut her off before she could complete her next thought, gently rubbing her younger sister's back "No...Amity, my dear sister for whom I care very deeply, I don't think you realize why Ed and I do what we do. As you've probably already figured out, we're anti-authority, or as we would like to call it, anti-control. This world and all the adults in it, they think everything should have this unbroken, unquestioned structure, and all we want to do is be free of it, even if it lands us in a bit of trouble from time to time."

"And what's that got to do with me?" Amity sighed in an exhausted but clearly annoyed tone.

"Ed and I are worried about you, sis," Emira answered, that smirk still not leaving her face, "See, we see how hard working and studious you are, but your ambition seems to be part of that order. Isn't your ultimate goal to join the Emperor's Coven? Well, they are the ultimate in established authority. I feel like your ambition to join them is a bit disturbing, not to mention the means of which you're going about it. You're up late nearly every night studying this and that...that can't be good for your health. But even then, if all you're doing is studying to be a part of this, you're not living your life or enjoying yourself at all. I think there's a human saying, 'All work and no play makes Jill a dull girl,' or something like that."

"And hard work is the road to success," Amity responded indignantly, "And knowledge is power. I'm determined to do the Blight name proud in becoming a part of these elite mages."

"That may be true," Emira sighed, "But can't there be a balance to what you do? I mean can't you reserve some time for studying and then some time for yourself? You really won't learn anything new about yourself if you study yourself into a burnout. And I did see your Penstagram post, that humans can bite it? I think you give humans too little credit. That Luz girl I think almost has this balance thing figured out. She's clearly a book lover and wants to learn magic, but she also knows how to have fun. I think she also has a small crush on both me and Ed; it's cute."

"But her choices are leading to irresponsible consequences," Amity shook her head, "She's disrupted our classes, made a mockery of the witches' duels, associates with that Eda woman, and has embarrassed me on multiple occasions, including in front of the Emperor's Coven representatives! Yes, I do wish I understood her a bit more, how her mind works and what her real motivations for wanting to somehow become a witch despite being human, but any time I spend around her ends in some disaster or wacky, contrived adventure." She paused and took a breath. "But I still don't understand. Why do you two still feel the need to play these stupid pranks on me so much?"

"It's all meant to be fun and games!" Emira shrugged, "The idea is that we're trying to get you to lighten up! You're still in this established order, but introduce a little mischief, and little anarchy and chaos into the mix, and you've got yourself a day outside of the cookie-cutter norm! All we're asking is that you lighten up a bit and recognize a good joke when you see one!"

"A good joke?" Amity snarled and stood to her feet, "So giving me electric shocks and almost posting my diary around the school is a 'good joke' to you? I think what constitutes as a 'good joke' is completely relative, don't you? You're older than me, so you should recognize by now that not everyone responds the same way to your brand of humor, especially when it's at their expense and could cost them their status! And you know what? I think you got it wrong about me and how I feel about humans. Yes, I've been reading more Earthrealm literature besides just the Good Witch Azura books, and there were indeed quite a few that broke the mold and showed promise. One of them, Confucius, said this: 'Ignorance is the night of the mind, but a night without moon or stars.' In other words, I don't want to be lost in that darkness. Yes, Luz is a very flawed person, but I'll give her this much, she at least has brain one enough to know when something goes too far and exercises restraint! That's more than I can say for you and Ed!"

There was another silence, just long enough for Amity to catch her breath. Em was about to respond but only let out a yelp before Amity continued her rant.

"And if you keep doing this," she proceeded, "you know what this is going to do? Drive me away further! You two are cruel and inconsiderate of others, including me, your own sister! And it's just going to make me dive further into my studies, just so that I don't turn out as ignorant as you!" With that, Amity stormed out of the room before Emira could respond. Emira did, however, reach the door to see Amity flip her wrist, which extinguished the light from the candles in the dimly lit hallway. She watched the shadowy visage of Amity disappear into her bedroom and stood in the elaborate, luxurious, but darkened hallway for a moment before saying something at last.

"Amity, I'm sorry," Emira shuddered, shaking her head, "But I just wish you'd lighten up, see all this for what it is, and stop doing this to yourself. We actually still do worry about you." But only the silence and darkness heard this sound and merely absorbed it into nothingness.

*.*.*

Retreating further into her room, Amity made her way back to the window ledge where she had a propped up a pillow for her reading time while she could see the outside. The stars were now showing brightly above the treeline across the vast yard behind her house. Not being anywhere near town, without the lights that would accompany it, it was so much easier to see the night's sky and its litter of constellations slowly spinning as the world of the Boiling Isles turned in a vast sea of black infinity.

No matter how beautiful this was, she wished she had somewhere else to go, away from the pressures, away from the torment of her siblings, and away from anywhere that would cause her to lose focus of her goal. She wished Marlin Gael would come out of the Azura book, take her in his arms, and whisk her away to his mystical tower where the two could drown themselves in ancient magical studies and new sciences. Sadly, this was only fiction, an escape from the harsh reality of the world outside the confines of the book binding, and would not help her plight. She picked up the book, embraced and pressed it to her chest, and closed her eyes tightly.

When she opened her eyes once more, she found herself standing outside in what looked like a small meadow in the middle of some vast woodland area. The sky appeared to be turning a red color, indicating that evening was nigh. The crisp, cool air and various warm colors of the trees gave her the feeling that it was the Autumn of the year. In front of her, however, was what looked like a large two story school building, only it looked derelict, dilapidated, clearly having been abandoned for some time. She didn't understand how it was, but something within her felt compelled to explore the structure, as though she were seeking some form of hidden arcane truth. There was a sign hanging off one hook as though it would fall off any time. It read "Welcome to Byrgenwerth College, est. 1793."

Below it, a plaque that looked as though it had been part of the same sign that had fallen into the unkempt grass below, read, "Byrgenwerth, a new chapter of Miskatonic University, is proud to open its doors to those seeking new insight to all realms of existence and interdimensional travel, especially those dispersed from Old Yharnam. Under the new guidance of Master Willem, who was our youngest and brightest pupil…" but then it seemed to fade off, having worn down with time. She approached the structure with a feeling half of pity, half of awe. So sad to see a place of such high learning having fallen into disarray. Though she could not help but feel watched from the tarnished eye-like windows.

She approached the main door, a massive wooden piece that looked to have been carved with such fine craftsmanship in its prime. It had what the humans would have described as a Gothic design, extending highly upwards and curving to a point at point at its peak. Though, unfortunately, one of the doors was hanging off its hinges. This did, however, allow Amity to know it was not locked, of which she was able to pull with all her strength on the golden handle and open its heavy immensity, the thick redwood scraping along the granite landing with a deep resonance.

Amity then slipped her way inside from where she had opened the door. The lobby was unsurprisingly in disarray as well. The wooden floor was rotted and split in patches. Dried papers littered the floors, none of which she could read. In the center of the room was a large wooden desk, likewise rotting with the withering of time but still standing. It had an old ledger on it, one of which she could not read by any stretch, as the writing had faded to the same point of illegibility. The most odd thing about it was the large cylinder that was located behind the top ledge of the desk. It looked to be as long as three feet in length and full of formaldehyde. Amity thought she saw what looked like a brain inside of it, but it was difficult to tell, as the subject within looked to have decayed and partially dissolved into adipocere that clouded the inside of the container.

"Eww!" Amity uttered as she looked at it and decided to take her attention away from the off-putting display. Beyond the desk was a high spiral staircase that lead to a large upper balcony. She wondered how stable each step actually was. To the left and right were two more hallways, each of which a rusted iron gate was blocking. She walked up to each and shook them, but the padlocks held fast. The odd thing, though, was that each padlock looked new, as though someone had recently replaced them. Was someone purposefully keeping these halls in particular under confinement without doing any maintenance to the structure itself?

Quitting her attempt, she made her way to the spiral staircase and marched upwards. Upon reaching the balcony, behind her was a large stained glass window illuminated from the dying light of the evening outside. The first thing Amity saw were the kaleidoscope of blue, green, and red colors across the old, rugged carpet, but when she turned around, she saw what looked like an elaborate image of some great wizard in blue and white scholarly robes holding a long golden staff. The upsetting part of it was that the glass around the figure's head was broken, preventing her from seeing who this person might have been.

She found, however, that the hallways on either side of her on this floor were open. A window stood at the end of one of the hallways, allowing for illumination, but the opposite hallway appeared to have a closed door. On that same hallway, however, was an open door that appeared to be streaming some light from inside. In front of the door was some old collection of parchments. She walked over and picked it up to find that it was what looked like a news scroll. It talked at length about some fire that had broken out within the nearby city of Yharnam with little to no explanation of what could have caused it. The illustration near it showed several people standing in front of the rubble; she noticed their ears were rounded, giving the indication that wherever she was, this was indeed some human realm. She then noticed someone had furiously written something at the bottom of the paper in thick black ink.

The scribbling read: "Rom, oh Vacuous Spider, keeper of secret rituals, line our brains with eyes so that we may see the truth beyond the veil of this reality!"

At this, Amity recoiled and dropped the paper. It gave her an odd chill to read. It didn't help that, as well, she had the cliched but all too real feeling of being watched. In such a place like this, she supposed it was only natural to feel such a sensation, but the sensation did no favors for her nervous state of mind.

She looked into the single open room on this hallway and made her way inside, in spite of the strong musty smell emanating from the doorway. The evening sun, now a slightly darker shade of orange, streamed from the long windows that lined the upper parts of the opposite wall. This light revealed that this was once a music room; instruments of every kind, from large brass instruments to cellos, lined the floors next to sheet music stands that appeared to encompass a large semicircle. Amity imagined what this room would have sounded like in its day, all the bard mages playing their wondrous tunes in perfect harmony. It was sad that such a room was now left in silence and decay. Of course, she imagined that Luz would be more affected by such sentimentality; she knew she had to move on from these thoughts if she were to find the secrets of this ancient school.

At the far wall was a large, somewhat deteriorated piano. She made her way to it and found that all the keys were still intact. She looked up from this piano at the chalkboard where there was more bizarre writing.

The various scattered messages read as followed: "Terrible pilgrimage to seek the nighted throne of Azathoth," "Ia! Ia! Cthulhu fhtagn!", and still one more, this one written in yellow chalk that read, "Have you seen the yellow sign?" And next to the latter was some weird scribbled rune she didn't recognize in any of the books she had studied.

Something about the last phrase, while looking at it, made her head hurt to the point where she started to feel dizzy. She looked away as soon as she could back to the piano.

For a moment, the notion crossed her mind that perhaps whatever secrets that lay here were not meant for anyone to know. Perhaps there were darker types of magic in this world that were not meant for witch-kind to understand or wield, even if it was for good intent. Perhaps whatever was here was a kind of evil magic that would engulf and corrupt her soul…

No, she thought to herself, I will not end my pursuit of knowledge for its own sake. All knowledge and understanding could be used for the better, even knowledge of arts that are of darker persuasion. And in this place, wherever it was, she was still determined to find that hidden truth.

She looked back at the piano and began playing some tune she had learned. While music certainly wasn't her forte, she understood the keys from a do-re-mi placement. As to keep the theme of being in the human world, she began playing the one-handed melody of some ancient piece, "La Cathedrale Engloutie" by someone named Debussy. She remembered it had some sort of esoteric story behind it, something about a great holy cathedral rising up from the sea and beckoning those on the shoreline to join in its sacred yet hauntingly spectral harmonics.

But no sooner had she begun to think on this story and reaching the first measure, suddenly several loud THUMPS bellowed down the hallway. She ran to see what caused it and found that all the classroom doors had opened in answer to her music.

Shaking in every limb, she made her way back out into the hall. Perhaps her inquisitive nature overturned her fear of what could be here, but still, this was understandably upsetting. She made several slow steps towards the classroom at the end of the hall, one that seemed to be perpendicular to the other rooms. Likewise, she found the room was bathed in that same orange autumn evening sunlight. She looked around the room for a moment, finding the same cracked floors, the same dusty furniture, all desks that looked to be ready for a class to start. Thankfully, the blackboard only had one palatable phrase on it, "Welcome! Today's lesson: neuroscience and understanding dreams!" Despite this, the feeling of being watched didn't leave her, only now it seemed more intense, like at any moment, she would turn around to find someone there.

"Good evening, miss!" A light voice made Amity jump. She instinctively turned around and looked down to find the source, this being what looked like two small human boys, both wearing overalls, pinstriped shirts, and newsboy hats. She couldn't see their eyes due to the hats' brim, but the more frightening thing was that they were both very pale, and for a moment, she thought they were translucent.

"Umm…hi!" she managed to answer.

"Would you want to play with us?" the first one continued.

"Yeah," the other one added, his voice also fairly light but rougher, "We'd love to have a third person in this ball game we're trying to invent!"

"Um, sorry," Amity chirped out in a slight yelp, "I-I-I'm a little busy at the moment. Older kid stuff…"

"Eh," the first boy replied, shrugging his shoulders, "Suit yourself. It must be a busy world when you're older." And with that the two boys laughed and ran down the hallway.

Amity decided it was at that point she would take her leave; there didn't seem to be anything there, and the phantasmal boys had certainly put her even more ill at ease. But for a moment, she glanced out the window. Something was off about the sun; it seemed to be sinking master than normal, not noticeably if one had casually glanced upward, but when looking at it closely, it seemed to slowly move down over the tree line as though it were in some very slow time lapse.

The orange light soon faded into a deep red. While it bothered her eyes, she felt for whatever reason that she couldn't look away from it. It was as though her muscles had somehow begun to fail her. She was paralyzed.

And that's when she heard it. It sounded distant, perhaps coming from red, orange, and yellow forest beyond the schoolyard, but it soon grew louder. It sounded like an infant child crying. It was making small cries at first as though it wanted attention or help, perhaps out of hunger or need for contact. But it soon grew into something much more horrifying. The child sounded more frightened, perhaps sensing danger, and its cries became more agitated and frequent by the second.

While Amity couldn't move, her arms shook with fear and empathy for the little unseen life. All she could do though was watch this setting sun over the tree line as the day came to an end. If she could just turn her head…

She managed to turn her neck roughly two inches and move her eyes to their left corner. From here she could see the doorway behind her where she had come in. The boys of course were gone, but something else was standing in the doorway, some vague shape she couldn't quite place. It was made almost of pure shadow, and her eyes could not fully perceive any sort of form for whoever or whatever it was. But she could tell it was staring at her.

Her head jerked back to the window, as though her head were grabbed and forced to look out beyond the glass, now watching the sun shrink lower as the child's cries grew louder and louder. Shaking more and more, she found herself gradually able to move her limbs again, but by this time, the child's screams were so loud and so close, it was almost as though they were a lance piercing straight through her ears to her mind.

She fell to the floor, grabbed both sides of her head, and likewise began screaming. She screamed loud and long feeling the intense terror that this unseen child was feeling. She continued this cacophony until her screams matched and fully synchronized with that of the unseen child's , as though she herself was this frightened child lost as the shades of twilight gave way to the darkened void of night.

Amity stopped screaming as she sat up in her makeshift windowsill bed. Sweat dripped from her temples and loose hair strands as she regained her bearings. She didn't remember putting a cover over herself, but it was then she looked over and found Emira slumped over in a nearby chair, fast asleep with her nightgown riding up her legs from the chair cushion and droll rolling out of her mouth onto her cheek. She noticed in her lap was a more advanced study guide for illusion magic.

Close beside the window bed on which Amity lay was a nightstand with her mom's more expensive chocolates and cookies; Em had obviously snuck them out of the kitchen to bring here. Amity smiled, sighed, and ate a chocolate.

Still, she knew she couldn't shake this nightmare so easily, especially now being in a darkened bedroom, big sister being there or not. She opened her Penstagram scroll and conjured a mirror portal spell to call Boscha. After a few rings from the unseen summoning bell the spell emitted, a very groggy Boscha appeared through the portal.

"Ugh, Amity," she groaned, "Is that you?"

"Yes, Boscha," Amity replied, "Sorry for waking you, but I really need to talk to—"

"Do you have any idea what time it is?" Boscha barked, "You're really going to disturb my beauty sleep right now?"

"…Nah, woman," Amity answered in a short tone, "Forget it. Go back to sleep."

"You're not going!" Boscha growled, "You can't just wake me up in the middle of the night and then just hang up on me!"

"Yes, I can, and I am," Amity replied in a curt, matter-of-fact tone, un-phased by her friend's demanding speech, "Talk to me again when you're prepared to give me less attitude. Goodnight, Boscha.

"Amity, wait!" Boscha's tone completely changed, as though insecure and desperate. But it was no matter. The call had ended.

Amity sighed and performed the mirror portal spell again, this time calling Luz.

"Oh, uh, hey Amity," Luz answered almost immediately, fully surprised, "What's, uh, what's going on?"

"Can't sleep either, huh?" Amity asked.

"Nah," Luz answered, "Too excited. Pouring over some new information and possible new runes to draw. Just gotta stay at it, you know?

"Listen," Amity's tone was soft and nervous, "I wanted to say I'm sorry for how I've behaved around you. I know very well how hard and studious you are now. I know it's going to take you even more effort for your magic to work since you don't have a witch's heart. And although I might not agree with yours or Eda's methods…I still acknowledge the effort and work ethic you have as a person, Luz."

"I appreciate that," Luz smiled, "I do really hope that you and me can possibly be friends or at least study partners."

"That…might be nice," Amity answered with some hesitation, "But I do also have regrets about how I've treated other students. I think I'm overlooking others talents in my ambition to better my own. Willow being one of them. She and I used to be friends, and I…"

"Well, why don't you tell her yourself?" Luz asked, "She's here with me tonight! Oh, Willow, come here for a sec."

"Wait, Luz!" Amity chirped, "I'm not ready to…" But Luz wasn't listening. Willow marched over to the portal.

"What is it?" Willow asked, but then her tone changed to a strange cross of fearful defensiveness and annoyance, "Oh, it's you."

"Listen, Willow," Amity began, "I know I haven't been the way I used to be since my powers budded. But you need to know I don't think you're talentless. Yours is just different than mine, extending more into vegetation growth and nourishment. We're all in this world together, and we're all important. What I'm trying to say is—"

"It's okay, Amity," Willow nodded, "I understand."

"But I'm not," Amity replied, "I think there's something really wrong with me, especially after the nightmare I just had."

"Well you know what?" Luz interjected, "Why don't we meet up soon to talk Azura books; that would make me feel better anyway. And you can return that book when you're ready."

"Yeah," Amity responded, "Give me 'til this weekend. We can meet up in the market, and I'll get it back to you then."

The three said their goodbyes, but it still took some time for Amity to fall back asleep. When she did, however, it felt as though, in the blink of an eye, she saw that same orange light from the windows in her dream. She shook her head for a moment to realize she was in her own room. She looked out the window and this time saw the sun rising over the tree line of the nearby woods.

This was her new start. She would be kinder not just to others but to herself. Perhaps she would take a page from Luz and allow herself to be free-spirited every once in awhile. She sat looking out the window for awhile longer, Emira still passed out in the opposite chair, simply watching the new dawn rise and light return to the Boiling Isles.