"Where are they?“ Lin glared at the blonde witch, a strange anger in her usual tired eyes. "Where did you send them, Morgan?"

"Who knows?” Morgan shrugged, turning her back to the girl.

"Bring them back.“

"Why should I?”

"Morgan!“

With a reluctant sigh the witch looked over her shoulder, and with a wave of her finger the thugs that had vanished quickly returned–in the middle of the air.

Several harsh thuds echoed against each other as one large body landed after the other. The state of the gang, to say the least, was one of disrepair. Though having only been gone for less than a minute, their tattered clothes and terror-stricken eyes suggested that they wouldn’t soon forget what they experienced while away.

Their strangled whimpers turned into screams of panic, and as if just remembering how to use their legs they scrambled to their feet before bolting around the corner and out of sight.

Space-Time Magic. It had been almost a year now since Lin last saw it being used.

About one year ago Arawn City was met with a catastrophe known as The Fall. During that time monsters of all shapes and sizes descended down onto the streets spreading mayhem and destruction on an unspeakable scale. In the centre of it all stood one especially large and terrifying, its stature so immense and terrible that even a year later it still continued to haunt Lin in her nightmares.

During that time, a small band of magical girls made themselves known to the public, calling themselves heroes of justice as they fought and struggled against the beasts.

After much effort they emerged triumphant, and a day later the disaster was officially documented as an unprecedented natural disaster. Strangely only a few individuals remembered what actually happened the day before, these individuals including the witch Morgan, and for some strange reason, Lin.

—

"Give me a ride."

"Wha –?” Lin gave the blonde girl an odd look, baffled by the sudden request.

"You deaf? Give me a ride to school on that stupid contraption of yours!“ Morgan stomped her feet, for whatever reason appearing agitated. ”…I’m tired.“

Despite the two of them being in the same grade, in terms of size Morgan was a good head smaller than Lin. With the combination of having to look down at the smaller girl as well as that puppy-dog pout, despite knowing the magical power that hid behind those large blue eyes, Lin couldn’t muster the energy or effort to argue.

"Fine,” sighed the taller girl, standing forward so that the seat of her bike was somewhat vacant. “Get on.”

________________________________________________________

The school day passed quickly with little to note, and rolling her bike out the school gates, Lin contemplated whether or not she was to be appreciative of such peaceful times.

It seemed that picking up Morgan this morning was going to be the most interesting thing to happen for a long while, and letting out her usual tired sigh Lin looked to the sky in thought. Just another ordinary day… right?

Students like her were walking by, eager to head home. While others more ambitious in their school-life, like Morgan, had stayed behind to attend their respective after-school activities.

Several blocks away from school, while biking she then noticed that something appeared to be following her. From what she could tell, it looked like a small animal with black fur– a fox?

Biking faster her suspicions were soon confirmed as the beast continued to follow, picking up speed as its little legs scurried to keep up with the two-wheeled vehicle.

After several blocks more it still continued to somehow persist in following, and filled with a mix of fear and frustration, the teen then pushed her pedals to the limit. Soon her world was lost in a blur of speed, and before long she wasn’t even sure of where she was going anymore. All that she knew was that she wanted to be as far away from that thing as possible.

At last when her muscles would pedal no more and her lungs insisted that they could go no further, her bike came to a stop as she panted and wheezed out of exhaustion. There was no way that that small rodent with its puny little feet could keep up with that. There was no way… that it was… There it was, right behind her.

Her frustration now overcoming fear, Lin jumped from her bike and with a growl marched back towards it. Upon closer look the beast was more akin to a black ferret with red eyes, akin to and not being a ferret as Lin was sure that an actual ferret did not have six legs, yellow bands running down its body, and a green gem stuck in the middle of its forehead.

"WHAT?“ she screamed, ready for any excuse to punt the darn thing. "WHAT DO YOU WANT?"

"Why hello,” it replied, its voice strangely childish as it wagged its tail. “My name is Avalon. Will you play with me?”