It was only hours ago, and everything was so different. She was free from the nightmare, no longer trapped in the Baroness Spider facade. Ariana Wolfe looked out beyond the rooftops and quiet twilight glow of El Camino Del Atardecer's hodge-podge cityscape into the perpetual indigo twilight of the realm-city. The stars shown there, burning bright despite the city below. The liquid gold of the road that gave the city its name meandered downward to the gates like a river at sunset. She could see the silhouettes of the mountains that guarded the straight into the bay. The locals told her that the view was part of the realm's magic; the perfect twilight for the Golden Gate. To the south Ariana saw the mostly familiar skyline of San Francisco, but only in silhouette as with the mountains.
    Then she saw a shooting star. And another. And more came, increasing in pace until the sky was a surreal fireworks show. Others in the city noticed, eyes looking skyward as the phenomenon continued unabated.

    Very little changed in death's other realm. But the shadow sang for the dead regardless, giving them a measure of peace in their restless deaths. The nameless amphitheater it performed in had scattered souls sitting and listening. Now and then, one would simply evaporate in a puff of joy. The shadow flinched, throwing its arm across lidless eyes. The stars in the eternal darkness of sky had begun to burn again with renewed vigor, turning the inky black to a brilliant azure.
    The shadow squinted at this sign before noticing that a number of his charges were glowing from within as well, their faded colors flaring back to the brilliance of life. These renewed souls looked at themselves with awe and wonder, while the shadow felt the chill of terror at this new thing.

    Dorothy Andrews stepped out onto the balcony of the apartment. She was glad her dad wasn't home, the little spirits were noisy tonight. Energetic even. Dorothy wanted to scream at them, use her magic to make them go away, but she knew they'd just come oozing back in like water filling a void.
    She rubbed her temples, contemplating what classes had what due tomorrow. College hadn't really changed life; it was just a new set of people and teachers to deal with. Dorothy's thoughts were interrupted by the clattering of the seat next to her. Nothing visible was there. She squinted and tried to sense what was going on in the spirit world. She gasped and reflexively gestured, a bit of magic blasting the thing under the chair.
    The little spirit hiding there had eaten something eye-wateringly bright, squealing as its corpus became bloated and writhed from within as though something was trying to escape. The tiny thing screeched a sound only Dorothy could hear before getting blown off the balcony.