Then the serpent took The Witch to the highest mountain and showed her all the kingdoms of men and their splendor. “All this I will grant you,” it said, “if you will bow down and worship me.”

- Andanian Chronicles

“A true god? Hah what a preposterous claim, insect.” The girl mocked as she neatly sidestepped Dagon’s blade and pressed down onto the back of the weapon with a single outstretched hand. A massive shockwave radiated outwards as the magical sword cratered into the ground before rocking the entire city as if an earthquake and shattering windows were turned into deadly projectiles that blew wildly through the city streets. For a moment, it seemed as if the statue would teeter off balance from overreach, but Dagon managed to recover in time by dispelling the weapon.

“Impressive for a mere mortal. Witch, you have grown in strength and audacity since the last time we have met. But you are still no match for my power which transcends mortality!” The pillars supporting the temple shook as Dagon roared and raised its hands to the skies, “Salt spears, pierce through!” A spear of pure white crystal materialized in each of its hands and the statue gloated as it hurled a hail of devastation directly at the seemingly defenseless girl.

“Just salt?” The girl smirked, “Shatter.” She sang with single resonating tone which disintegrated Dagon’s attack into a cloud of harmless powder that whipped past the unharmed girl. “Please, this second-rate masquerade isn’t even mildly entertaining.” She goaded disdainfully. “Surely even a puny worm like you has an ultimate attack or two that would be worth my time.”

“Puny worm?” Dagon spluttered with rage, “Ten thousand years. For ten thousand years, nobody, nobody has ever dared to address me with such disrespect! I am the divine god of the northern seas!”

“And which muddy puddle was that again?” The girl smiled mockingly as she continued her advance towards the statue.

“Stay away from me!” Dagon’s countless years of experience finally kicked in despite the seemingly unbridgeable difference in power and the divine god suddenly felt a prickling sense of impending doom as the unarmed girl stepped steadily closer. “Ultimate maelstrom! Bury this upstart into the depths!” The statue’s hands traced out an endlessly complex series of magical symbols with blurring swiftness and the ground shuddered as a twisting vortex began materializing beneath her.

“Ha, do you actually expect me to do nothing while you muddle through that amateurish morass?” The girl smirked as she traced a single symbol which destabilized the god’s nascent spell, “Confess weakling. From who did you appropriate your powers?”

“What!?” The Dagon’s eyes widened in shock, “Who are you? How do you know about the Cataclysm of the gods? You’re not Laura, how did you possess that witch’s body?”

“Non non non. Did your brains putrefy with age? Surely, it’s a little obvious by now.” Her gloating smile widened.

“You! You’re the Foreigner, the serpent from the stars! But it can’t be… No, it’s impossible… The Witch dealt with you personally, eons before the Cataclysm.” The statue of black obsidian quaked in fearful disbelief.

The girl smiled as her timeless gaze bore into the trembling statue, “Well, even The Witch wasn’t perfect. Or maybe a group of rebellious upstarts managed to dispose of her before she could complete the job. Hehe, lucky, lucky me.”

“Begone Foreigner!” The statue’s eyes darted about with increasing uncertainty as the unperturbed wisp of a girl, continued her steady advance. “You’re bluffing. If you’re still trapped in that mortal’s shell, there’s no way you regained your full powers. I will be the one to vanquish you!” Dagon roared desperately as a massive silver trident materialized in its hands, “Die!” Crackling lightning ionized the atmosphere as Dagon flung the scorching trident straight at her bosom.

“Yesss… I will finally be free from this prison of flesh!” The girl hissed victoriously as she spread her arms wide to embrace the weapon hurtling towards her.

“What?” Shocked realization was etched onto Dagon’s features as he attempted in vain to halt his attack and the white-hot spear screamed into her bosom with a force that shook the earth.

Laura spat out a sizzling mouthful of blood as she was flung against the far wall like a broken marionette and the bitter scent of burnt flesh filled the chamber. A dark lightless mist seeped from the gaping wound in her chest before congealing into the form of a shadowy serpent, “You idiot, I almost had the situation contained.” Laura croaked weakly.

“Free, I’m finally free!” The temple’s pillars trembled as an immense magical pressure began emanating from the roaring serpent’s swiftly solidifying form.

“What have I done?” Dagon gazed with pure horror at the serpent writhing throughout the temple.

“Stop gawking like a fool! Get me out of this mess and help me seal that thing before it materializes completely.” Laura ordered with a groan.

The panicked god scurried up to the witch and ripped the weapon carelessly from her body, “Everything’s over. The Foreigner will devour us all! It’s too powerful, even the higher gods could never defeat it.” Dagon moaned in despair.

Laura coughed out another mouthful of blood as she staggered weakly to her feet, “The sealing must be performed in pairs. Here, take this and activate with me.” She tore strips off her already ragged dress and scribbled hastily with her blood-soaked hand.

“You’re delirious,” Dagon spluttered as it stared apprehensively at the tattered bloodstained rag, “Only witches can use talismans.”

Laura giggled at the god’s ludicrous protest, “Well we can always sit down for tea and wait for my dear sister to show up, but I don’t think that you have that much time.”

“How do I even use it? How bad will be the backlash for using a witch’s forbidden magic?”

Laura shrugged, “The talisman just requires a vast quantity of magic, just channel everything you can through it. Humans usually die if they are lucky, but you’re some sort of magical being right? I’m sure you will fare somewhat better.”

Dagon dropped the bloody talisman as if it was a scorching hot coal, “That’s too risky, get one of my humans to do it! We have plenty of diviners.”

“You would consign one of your servants to certain death?” Laura’s eyes narrowed.

“You are all mortals, you’ll all die someday. But I can live forever!” Dagon protested while backing away from the witch.

“It won’t work, a normal person won’t have close to enough Talent. The magical pressure in here will be enough to incapacitate almost anyone and that creature is will definitely escape before you manage to obtain someone suitable.” The witch smiled as she thrust the talisman back into Dagon’s trembling hands, “You don’t really have a choice.”

“Damn you, witch!” Dagon cursed, “Why did you have to come to Vaishya?”

“Vaishya? Did Father build a new temple while I was asleep?” Laura smirked impishly. “So, are we doing this, or would you prefer to be ‘devoured’ when that creature finally frees itself?”

“You are evil!” Realizing that there was no other choice, Dagon protested furiously before activating the talisman moments before the serpent broke free. The god of the northern seas was utterly focused on managing the wild magical maelstrom that gushed from the talisman and it was several long moments before it realized that the witch had made no move to activate the charm in her own hand. “You! What are you doing? Help me seal the Foreigner!” Dagon roared in anger.

“Interestingly, it appears that your power will be sufficient. For a self-proclaimed god, you aren’t half bad.” Laura smiled as she backed away to a safe distance and leaned weakly against a wall for support.

“You tricked me, you liar,” Dagon yelled furiously, “You said that the spell must be performed in pairs!”

“I did not lie. My sister and I would have to cooperate to perform the spell successfully, but you seem to be completing it just fine on your own.” Laura answered tiredly as she slumped to the ground.

“Something’s wrong. I’m getting… I’m being sucked in with the Foreigner. Arrgh… save me!” Dagon’s rage was swiftly replaced with horror as the weighty statue was dragged towards the strengthening vortex that it had summoned.

Laura observed calmly, “It’s working just as intended. The ancient spell was devised to seal away dangerous magical entities and I’m not really surprised that you qualify as one. Well at least you can take comfort in the fact that you saved your servants from whatever that creature was.” The Witch of Andania answered no one in particular as both the serpent’s and Dagon’s magical signatures had already vanished. Finally alone, Laura sighed tiredly in the now silent darkness as she eyed the faintly glowing circle etched into her palm, “It’s actually over, I did it. The Witch’s Seal must have weakened while I was unconscious but none of the imprisoned entities managed to break out. And although I don’t know what that creature was doing with my body while I was busy with the others, I managed to recapture it somehow. I even managed to get rid of that weird talking statue!”

The relieved princess struggled to her feet and staggered towards the entrance of the temple, “Stupid Lily,” she muttered grumpily to herself, “where did you run off to this time? Or is this some kind of elaborate prank? Why aren’t the guards coming to clean up this mess, I’m definitely complaining to Father…” She halted mid-sentence as she gazed in bewilderment at the utterly unfamiliar city spread out before her. “Haha. Very, very funny everyone.” Laura shouted. But to her absolute surprise, she received no response. “Hey, joke’s over. Dispel this stupid illusion!” The princess yelled.

“Gotta do everything myself huh? Blasted Krall, when I get my hands on whoever pranked me…” Laura threatened as she reached out for her pouch of talismans. “Shit, they even took my talismans?” She groaned bitterly, “And why can’t I find my pendant?” The anxious princess gazed about her, “Something’s not right, I…” As she staggered a single final step forward, her bare feet splashed loudly on the growing puddle of blood surrounding her. “Huh, why am I still bleeding?” The bewildered princess finally noticed the quickly worsening state of her body as her vision blurred and she pitched forward and slid powerlessly down the blood-stained stairs. “What happened to my heart…”

…

“Yesss! You destroyed that cursed witch god Dagon!” Zinnridi hissed victoriously as the bloody broken princess crashed out from the temple. The archdiviner emerged from the shadows before sneaking silently into the empty temple and prostrating before the pedestal, “Now, I just have to burn that corpse before anyone else arrives. Surely, you will permit it?” Silenced reigned for several long moments and the weasel broke out into cold sweat, “Oh great and mighty Dagon, surely you are not offended by my actions?” He pled desperately but failed to receive any reply yet again. Finally, unable to take the tension any longer, Zinnridi peeked at where Dagon’s statue had stood and realized belatedly that the pedestal was completely empty.

“Huh?” In all the centuries of his life, the Archdiviner had never seen the statue leave the temple’s pedestal. “God Dagon?” Zinnridi paled with disbelieving horror as he looked about the temple but failed to find even single fragment of the once imposing statue.

And neither the weasel nor the witch noticed as a single surviving tendril of darkness seeped quietly from the temple through a fine crack in the wall.