"Neblina? Loathsome whelps!" it hissed. The sinister voice coming from its mouth was grating and wholly unpleasant. "Be thankful I am but a shade of that voidsent’s power. If it were he thou hadst been facing, thy brains would be melting through thy skulls. I am but his lowly servitor. And I was fool enough to think I could escape that servitude.”

He observed the black sigil gyrating around him closely.

"As thou hast now witnessed the punishment inflicted on those whom betray him. This body… That spell was meant to exorcise a voidsent. And I… " He raised his unnaturally long arms and flexed them, dispelling the magic prison around him with ease. He then ran his fingers all over his body in a sickening display. "I am Zosimos! Fret not, for the defilement of thy desiccated remains shall prove ever fruitful to my research.”

But before it could lunge again, Alma fired another shot at the creature, only for him to sidestep it in an instant. She had only two shots remaining and the situation was growing dire. She could no longer rely on the witch, who was now cowered in the corner and succumbing to a catatonic state of fear.

“A waste,” he muttered.

The creature Zosimos towered over Alma, who was down on her knee, aiming but not firing. She now had to use her only weapon sparingly, at the precise moment, when his guard was at its lowest.

A strong blow to the stomach sent her flying against the wall.

“A trifle.”

They were no longer fighting a mindless beast, if they ever were, but a dangerous adversary. It was as if a switch had gone off once he heard the name of his master. Zosimos reached out an elongated arm and grabbed Alma by her collar, dragging her back to her feet.

Warm blood trickled from her lips as she clutched feebly at her pistol. He had brought her close, probably to assault her more as she had no magical essence within her. She used this chance and fired directly at his face. From such close range, missing him would be next to impossible—yet the charged bullet failed to explode. Although the shot hadn't missed, it instead stood frozen before his other hand, caught in an invisible force within it. Slowly it dissolved into nothing, just as when she fired at the door when they first came in. She had one final chance and any hope of escape was now dwindling.

Clutching that hand into a fist, the monster sent it flying into her abdomen. She dangled in place, a grunt of pain escaping her lips.

“A failure.” He narrowed his pitch-black eyes.

"Heli… Run…" Her voice was weaker than she thought as she begged her friend to leave while she had the chance.

The witch did not move, but mumbled something under her breath.

Alma sighed resignedly.

The monster hoisted Alma high into the air. His mouth parted wide and from within came a writhing appendage of a tongue that continued to stretch out slowly. It ran itself along her face, tasting her skin and mixing with her sweat. But the moment his tongue lapped up the blood from her mouth, he gagged repulsively. His revulsion became immediately apparent as he threw her to the ground.

“Voidsent! Why dost thou taste like—”

“Leave her alone!” Heloise screamed in anger. Her serpentine staff was glowing brightly in her steeled hands. The witch hadn’t simply been trembling and crying in the corner. She had been modifying the magic sigil with a touch of her own. Now she had a new spell ready to use. A spell more powerful than any she had ever concocted.

MALEDICTUM EX NATURA, UT OBLIVISCAMUR !

A shining emerald sigil with intricate leaves patterned along the edges tattooed itself to the side of the monster’s torso, seemingly without effect.

Zosimos howled with laughter.

“I warned thee, little sorceress. Thy paltry magicks art but food to me. An appetizer before I snuff the rest from thy bones.” He crawled toward Heloise at an inhuman speed and coiled his body, then just his arm around her. He ran a sharpened nail along her cheek, drawing a long, thin trail of blood that ran down his boney finger. Expecting a scream, all he received was a glaring smirk from the witch who cursed him under her breath. He returned her act of defiance with a scowl.

“Thou forgetest thyself, craven witchling,” hissed Zosimos. He squeezed her body tightly, which caused her to wince in pain—his disgustingly moist breath forcing her to turn away as he talked. “And for that I’ll start by pulling thine arms from betwixt thy sockets!”

Alma, slowly regaining her composure, reached for her pistol and aimed towards the sickening creature. Her finger shook hesitantly on the trigger. The last of her ammo, and it was a dangerous one. Unfortunately, her friend was in too close proximity to use something that would explode.

Zosimos loosened his grip, and as he was ready to grab the young witch’s arm with his free hand, he felt a strange heaviness creeping along his body. The area around where the witch’s sigil was plastered had been slowly turning to stone. His inhuman blood ran cold.

“Whore! What hast thou done?!”

“What’s it look like, you stupid shit?” Heloise continued smirking through the pain.

He howled in anger as he struggled to move, the petrification having now reached his legs. He looked down at the staff the witch had dropped when he captured her.

"No! The Smaragdine Staff! Where didst thou acquire that? Is that where this power cometh from?!"

The witch nodded arrogantly. "You shouldn’t leave legendary treasures just lying around."

Zosimos roared and snorted violently. The monster was growing restless. Try as he might, he was no longer capable of wringing out the girl’s innards. The stone curse was petrifying his flesh at an incredible speed. Soon he would be nothing but another lone adornment to the dark, terrestrial catacombs where not even a shadow was found to thrive.

“Thou thinkest tis thy victory? A middling win at best.” His mouth stretched open, enormous teeth parting. An unceremonious display as his elongated tendril once again slithered out from inside him. It twirled and wrapped itself around the witch’s neck, coating her skin in its putrid saliva. The tip slid along her shoulder, pushing down the collar of her top and cardigan and revealing her bare shoulder.

“Almaaaaaa!” cried the witch. The girl was steadily losing confidence. At any moment the monster could snap her neck or encase it in a choking, heavy stone. At worst, he could even die molesting her.

Alma struggled to get up. She was still reeling from the hits to her torso. As athletic as her body was, the force she received was staggering enough to keep her down.

The tip of the monstrous alchemist’s tongue rose up like a serpent. It began to open itself slowly, revealing rows of small denticles surrounding various squirming feelers that dripped venomously with a strange, viscous fluid.

At the sight of the organ’s disgusting transformation, Heloise's relentless struggle to get free grew even fiercer. She couldn’t begin to imagine what unfathomable acts the dying bastard would resort to for his final act in life.

The markswoman strived in vain to aim her final shot at the writhing tentacle, but it moved quickly and struck deftly.

In an instant, the horrible serpent-like maw of the tongue pierced into the witch’s bare shoulder. Searing its vile brand into her skin and releasing its alien poison deep into her veins. Heloise released a blood-curdling scream that caused a rasping pain in her throat. Fear and loathing mixed together, making her regret ever journeying down this stupid rock. More often than not, she used the excuse of an adventure to lure her only dearest childhood friend to spend some time with her. To impress her and cause her to love her and think only of her. But now she regretted it all and thanks to the ever-increasing risks she took, it had caused her untimely end. And what was the point of trying to impress her bff if it meant her own death in the process?

“Keep your perverse fetishes away from my friend, you sick freak!”

A solid punch, driven right into the face of the abomination known as Zosimos, delivered by Alma. She had rushed forward as quickly as she could—her friend's screams being the final straw to give her that final bout of strength. His long neck lurched back from the force of her fist, causing his tongue to unclasp the witch’s flesh and loll backwards, loosening its waning stranglehold around the girl’s neck. The monster groaned and choked weirdly.

“This cannot be!” His words almost insensible as he struggled to speak through protruded tongue. The spell of petrification was now rising up to his neck and enclosing his jawless head. “I am Zosimos Sparagast! Who served under the great Adrammelech! Who was chosen by Neblinath, the Clouded One! And I am... a human… being!”

Zosimos spoke his last as the curse spread along his mouth and down his dangling tongue. His face frozen in a permanent look of horror. Heloise, who was still wrapped in his arms, was now stuck in a jail of stone spiral.