You felt it. There was a part of your soul that Alice filled, a warmth and comfort that she always brought with her and which you could feel in your body and mind no matter where she was. But now, a cold chill throughout your body replaced the once comforting feeling inside of you. A pit in your stomach, a sense of dread that appeared when you had woken up that morning and had not gone away since.

When Alice had come home and told you that she was going to walk the Road, you had decided not to go with her. There was nothing you wanted most that you already did not have, but you let Alice go, knowing that it was important to her to find the truth about her mother. You were worried, a bit cautious, and had tried to subtly persuade her to rethink her choice, but she was set on going despite knowing the history of the Road and the witches who chose to go down it. She had promised that she would come back to you, that she would make it out alive and well.

Now, here you were, head pounding as you rummaged through your shared apartment, finding items that would have to work well enough for the ritual you were about to perform. You knew that necromancy of this kind was illegal, but you had no choice, you couldn’t let the love of your life be taken away by Death, you had to bring her back.

With everything in place, the ritual begun. You recited incantations taught to you by ancient figures in dark magic, digging deep into your mind and converting all of your magic and energy, all of your soul and emotion into the words pouring out of your mouth. You couldn’t let this fail. The lights in your apartment flickered and sparked, the objects surrounding you shook and combined, the flames of candles went out, but you kept your eyes closed, never allowing yourself to be distracted.

Part of you was afraid to open your eyes, petrified of failure. But then you felt the familiar warmth spark once more in your being and heard the voice of which you could recognise when nothing else in the universe was recognisable.

“.. {{user}}?”