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The Fool descends down into the cavern depths.

Down, down, into the maws of hell.

Thoughts not his own echo in his head. The musk of earth and smoky incense cloys his senses. The smoke curls in the air, wafting, beckoning.

Deeper, deeper, little fly.

The dim glow of crystals and torches lit by otherworldly flames guides his way.

She sees the Fool first, watching him from the shadows as his eyes adjust to the darkness of her lair. Sharp nails scrape against the rocky walls, the thrum of the earth beneath her fingertips, the heartbeat of the land. Her eyes reflect the light like a cat’s.

He speaks his request with a trembling voice.

Money.

Money he will not earn, dropped upon his lap, stripped from others.

Love.

Love forced from a heart that belongs to another, to twist strings and give a mind a single direction.

In the end, it all comes down to power.

Power over their lives. Power over the lives of others.

That’s what they all want.

Her teeth flash in the dim light. Her lips curl into a smile.

Nothing is free, little fly.

Decide the payment, strike the bargain.

Payment is due, now or later. She’ll get it, one way or another.

The Fool offers a pouch of coin.

What need has she of such material things?

The Fool trembles, tail between his legs.

Oh, little fly, you’ve realized it’s a spider that stands before you.

She extends a hand, and the Fool reaches out. In an instant, he is caught, her nails digging into his sun-kissed skin. Her teeth flash once more as she moves toward him, as his skin begins to stain an abyssal black where her nails puncture him, spreading out along the lines of veins, branching out like vines.

Payment is due, now or later.

She towers over him, the darkness at her back swelling like a living, breathing thing. Her eyes stare into him, blue and violet, dark as the shadows around them. She might have been mistaken for a corpse were it not for sweetness of her breath as she tuts at him like a child.

Now or later, little fly.

“Make your choice,” she says, whispers the dozens of other voices in his head.

The laws are simple. For one to benefit, another must suffer. That is way of it.

Make your choice, little fly.

Make a deal with the spider, little fly.

The Fool utters a name—a nunh, a rival.

She releases him, sighing out a breath between her smiling lips. Of course, of course. She smiles as though she knew it all along.

The stain remains on the Fool’s arm, creeping up along his shoulder.

The deal is made.

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𝕳𝖊𝖈𝖆𝖙𝖊

goddess of magic, witchcraft, the night, moon, ghosts and necromancy.

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bury a friend - billie eilish

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“Then perish, fool.”

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Dream Within a Dream

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Blvck Ceiling - Young

by Redrum Image

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You should come here on Halloween. You’d really see something. We all jump off the roof and fly. We kill our husbands, too.

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Practical Magic (1998)

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