Sara looked at her two roommates with her hands on her hips, eyes narrowed. “Are we really going to do this?”

“Of course we are,” Ashley replied with a wide grin, “Come on, what do we stand to lose? We’re just offering our souls, I thought you didn’t believe in any of that ‘nonsense’. Since you don’t believe, there’s no harm in playing along,” Ashley teased.

Sara rolled her eyes. “Nobody believes in it, yourself included. That doesn’t mean I’m willing to dress up like some nut job cultist. Come on Lisa, help me talk some sense into her.”

“It’s not much different from playing with an ouija board if you think about it. And playing along will get her to drop it faster than arguing,” shrugging, Lisa continued. “Knowing Ash, she’ll be back to sulking tomorrow morning, daydreaming of being reborn in some fantasy land.”

“Ugh. Fine.” Stomping in frustration, Sara relented. “Let’s just get this over with already,” she huffed.

“Yes!” Bouncing with enthusiasm, Ashley started pulling simple black robes from a cardboard box. “I got these from a yard sale,” she explained while passing them around, “I think they were old Halloween costumes or something. I still think they look cute!” She continued in a cutesy high-pitched voice “You’ll need to strip before putting them on! The ritual specifically says we can only wear black robes. Sara, make sure you take out your earrings, I’m not sure if accessories count but I won’t take the risk!”

After several minutes of bickering and reluctant agreements, they dressed each in matching black robes. Ashley was so strict that she even confiscated scrunchies, leaving their hair in disarray.

“Alright, let’s get this thing started!”

On Ashley’s cue, they began reading the chant from notecards. The words came from a tattered black book with faded maroon trim. A strange runic script filled its pages, but in the margins laid the phonetic respelling of an unknown scholar.

Lisa and Sara just tried their best to match Ashley’s pronunciation.

Sara’s chanting was drenched with sarcasm and resignation. Lisa was monotone and dull, lacking all enthusiasm. Meanwhile, Ashley was putting her best effort into the theatrics. She overemphasized each of the guttural pronunciations and sped up or slowed down based on what sounded better when she practiced previously.

Ashley’s head swiveled back and forth, eyes widened to avoid missing the magic.

After a few seconds of nothing happening, Sara spoke up with arms crossed over her chest and a slight smirk. “You see! It's just a waste of—” darkness filled the room.

In the cracks between realities, an ancient entity roamed. Minuscule wisps of zir consciousness were sent adrift to search The Great Web; Ze had nearly given when zir thinnest wisp of consciousness found exactly what ze desired. Something interesting. Something to stick zir nose into and meddle with.

In the common planes, connected by a single fraying web, a cluster of lesser gods, demons, and indescribable horrors were fighting to claim dominance over a group of three souls. Moments later, the fighting ended as these entities froze in place. Each had a feeling of death looming over their heads as they sensed the attention of something far more powerful. They scattered like a group of frightened alley cats, catching sight of a true predictor.

As the wisp drifted near, ze noticed some anomalies. First, the magical energy in the region dwindled out of existence, as if being expelled; Second, the contract itself had odd terms.

It’s too good to be true, ze thought, They’re offering their lives and souls, but there isn’t a price attached. It’s as if they are throwing themselves at the wolves.

“Perhaps this is some kind of trap.” Ze mumbled.

With an inner grin, the wisp forged ahead, accepting the contract. The tethers of the three souls stretched before wrapping around zir own. Once the binding completed, zir primary form sent a surge of power through the veil of reality. The beam of magical energy pierced through the dead zone and powered the summoning ritual remotely, allowing the contract to complete.

Trap or not, now the souls are claimed. This tiny shred of consciousness is but a small sacrifice for a bit of entertainment.

Just as the summoning completed, everything went black.

After a moment of puzzlement, the wisp realized why nothing was happening. The contractors didn’t provide a body or any type of corporeal form.

It’s a trap, the wisp thought. Yes, it must be; Anyone that accepted the dubious contract would be just a tethered soul with no method of physical retaliation. But then why has there been no assault? Trap or not, a lack of a vessel won’t be enough to keep me from my entertainment.

After a moment of mental fumbling in the dark, the wisp began creating zir a physical vessel.

“The cursed cosmos is sapping all the energy and making this take forever.” the wisp grumbled as ze pulled energy and matter from zer surroundings to expedite the creation process.

An agonizing 8 seconds later, a fuzzy view of the area came into focus.

Across the room were three women in their early twenties.

The first was tall and thin with dilated blue eyes, accented with markings of light green flair. As their eyes locked, her face froze in horror.

The second was overweight, with robes hanging wide around her figure. She was in the middle of sitting down, but quickly fell over in terror when she saw zer physical form.

The last woman was thick limbed with an ample chest and middling height. Her eyes wide and wore a shit-eating grin as she bounced up and down, clapping and yelling some gibberish.

It doesn’t seem like a trap. Perhaps they are just desperate beggars, the entity reasoned. Their shoddy robes aren’t even properly tailored.

“Mortals selling their lives and souls to survive the winter is all too common; hopefully, it’s not such a boring case.” Ze muttered to zerself.

As two of the women looked terrified, the wisp approached the only creature that seemed happy about zer arrival. Upon touching the woman, she froze like a statue as ze copied her memories of the last few days, causing her to flinch before falling to her knees.

With these memories, the entity formed a working subset of the local language and the expectations of the mortal summoner.

Might as well play into this creature’s desires, ze thought.

Ze morphed zir appearance into that of a short, petite woman with two horns curling up from her forehead. A long tail ending in a spear tip emerged to swipe side to side while spiked bat wings burst out from her back. Her skin shifted pigments into a light red tint with onyx trims and ruby accents.

In a bellow that shook the building, she proclaimed, “Foolish mortal scum, you have sold yourselves to this great one! Prepare yourselves for all that entails.”

After a turn of staring at each of them with pitch-black eyes, she noticed liquid pooling under the legs of the tall woman that was still frozen in horror.

Maybe I went a little too far with my new playthings, she thought, rubbing her nose.