Page 137 of Soul of a Witch

The cavern we stepped into was massive, filled with a strange gray light that didn’t seem to have a source. A large pool of pitch-black water stood before us, the surface as still and smooth as glass. Old mining equipment, rusted and rotting, was discarded here. Wooden crates were stacked in a pile, stained with age, covered with fungal growths.

“Someone else was here,” she said. “Do you smell them?”

I did. The scent of human fear hung heavily in the air, along with the subtle smell of blood. As we rounded the pool, Everly crouched down beside a small pair of boots and wet, blood-stained pants. Partially buried in the mud beside them was an old folded piece of paper, and Everly carefully held it up.

“Leon’s sigil,” she said. “From the grimoire.” She clutched it against her chest, eyes closed, her head shaking slowly. “Raelynn was here…she washere…” She stood, looking all around the cavern. “Where could she have gone? It must have…fuck, Callum, It must have already taken her.”

“Stay calm,” I warned her. “And keep your voice down.”

This entire space felt eerie, like something suspended outside of reality. The more I looked around, the more certain I was that something was very wrong here. The air was too still; the silence was uncanny. Even the smells that should have been present — wet dirt, stagnant water, damp rocks — were absent.

This place was a mockery; a stage without all its props.

Everly walked to the edge of the pool and knelt, staring into its depths. She turned her head, leaning down, frowning as she listened.

“What is it?” I said. I didn’t like her being that close to the pool. I didn’t like being here at all. I’d faced numerous gods, but I hadn’t felt like this since I last faced them in Hell. “Be careful, Everly.”

“I can hear something. It’s…” She leaned closer to the water, and alarm shot through me.

“Everly…”

Her nails dug into the soil, her fingers clenching as her eyes widened. “Screaming. I hear screaming.”

With a shrieking sound like metal being torn apart, the pristine surface of the pool burst. Gargantuan tentacles burst from the water as a massive form filled the cavern. The walls cracked as reality fractured around us. I leapt forward, seizing her before she could be struck, and curled my wings around her as we hit the ground and skid through the mud.

A roar, loud enough to feel like it would split my head in two, shook the ground. Above us, the mutated body of the God flailed, tentacles writhing. Its limbs clawed at the stone as hundreds of eyes blinked and rolled across its repulsive form. With every howling shriek, the very fabric of this dimension shuddered, ripping like wet paper, exposing swirls of iridescent color that undulated with microscopic strings.

“Brace yourself, Everly!” I shouted, but my voice barely carried over the God’s roaring as we scrambled to our feet. Its body was constantly changing, morphing; Its interdimensional being unable to fully manifest.

Everly flung up her arm and the boulder beside her jutted upward, barely shielding us both from one of the tentacles as it whipped toward us. It shattered the rock, sending shards flying.

“You’ve come to me at last, witch!” The God’s voice was contorted, as if hundreds of voices were all screaming at once. “You’ll make a fine vessel when your soul is consumed!”

Its mouth gaped open, revealing a horrifying sight: a bulbous growth within Its throat, comprised of writhing, shrieking bodies. Contorted faces screamed, rotten hands grasped at the air, broken limbs sticking out at every angle.

Everly sprinted, dodging flailing tentacles as I took to the air, manifesting two large blades of aether, one in each hand. I flung one first, then the other, aiming toward the mass in Its gaping throat. The blades struck their target and the God bent backward, roaring in pain.

As Everly ran around the pool, she kept one hand outstretched toward its surface, rapidly muttering under her breath. The water was swiftly freezing solid, the frost creeping up the God’s slimy gray skin. As she dodged under the undulating tentacles, she slashed her knife toward them, opening vicious but shallow wounds in the God’s limbs.

“Petulant cunt!” the Deep One roared. “You will join your kin in my belly, hellion! Even your bravest warriors beg for release from their suffering.” It laughed, the sound echoing around the chamber as I dipped and dodged through the air. A distorted limb swiped toward me, claws the size of tree trunks slicing through the air.

Searing pain ripped through my wing and suddenly I was falling, crashing to the ground as my blood spattered across the dirt. My wing was torn open, my skin swiftly knitting itself back together, but the God’s claws were still descending.

Fire blazed over my head, the heat of it so great I had to turn my face away. Flesh was seared away, melting into putrid black slime that dripped around me like tar. Everly stood only a few yards away from me, arms outstretched, teeth bared as she conjured her fire. She maintained it until I leapt up and away, flinging herself to safety behind a boulder as the God’s attention turned to her.

“Foolish girl!” Its voice reverberated through the cavern. “Your petty magic cannot harm me.” Its flesh was rapidly reforming, but Its skin was still reddened and raw.

It was a liar.

Despite my aching wing, I took to the air again, determined to distract the creature so Everly could have her chance.

“Channel your magic through the blade!” I shouted, swooping over her head as I dodged another attack. The walls shook, massive stones falling from the ceiling. Everly had to move quickly, teleporting across the chamber before a boulder could crush her.

But she teleported directly into the path of one of the creature’s whipping tentacles.

She couldn’t move quickly enough.

Nor could I.

---