To Jeck’s credit, he only mildly flinched at the loud smashing sound from the teacup, and didn’t let himself overreact to the boy’s accusation. Instead, he did his best and quickly adjusted his face to one of ridicule, like he was hearing something absurd. But even as he replied to the damning statement, he slowly reached his hand towards the back of his belt to fish for the dagger he had hidden there.

“I can’t believe you’d say such words to me! You mean to tell me you think I’d actually do something so outrageous? I haven’t even so much as touched that food! You should be looking into your own kitchen staff instead of these baseless accusations.”

Noth just stared at the man with a pitying look on his face for a short while before he calmly stood up and grabbed another cookie from the tray. He wagged the cookie side to side as he stepped even closer to the man, the pitying look morphing into something much more condescending.

“You’re really going to try to say something so stupid to me when you’ve been so easily spooked by these cookies this entire time? Not to mention the tea. I’m not as foolish as you seem to wish I was, painter. And you were even so scared when I said I’d ask for a change of refreshments, too. As if I wouldn’t notice how jumpy you’ve been!”

The area around them began to echo with the sound of the boy’s demeaning chuckles.

But it wasn’t just that.

No.

Jeck could hear what sounded like a chorus of ghostly chuckles joining in with the boy’s, completely surrounding him.

It was maddening.

It was frightening.

He couldn’t bear to be laughed at like this.

Jeck wanted the sound to stop.

It took him a few moments to collect his nerve, but Jeck knew what he had to do to make the laughing stop. He firmly took hold of his dagger and moved as quickly as he could, lunging at the boy in front of him. He was no trained warrior or assassin, nor had he ever been that spry, so his moves weren’t particularly practiced or swift, and even Noth could see the man’s oddly slow approach. A look of disappointment and anger filled the boy’s features as he realized what was happening. He absentmindedly crumbled the cookie in his now fisting hands, and levelled a glare at the charging snake. Noth could feel something hot welling up inside of him, some queer, undefinable feeling that almost didn't feel like it was coming from the boy himself, and before he could think, he fiercely pointed his crumb covered finger at the man. An authoritative voice boomed out from Noth, overflowing with power.

“You disgusting thing. .”

The boy’s voice seemed to overlap with the righteous timbre of his angel as he gave out the command.

A loud cracking sound from the bracelet followed shortly after.

All of a sudden Jeck was sitting on his knees, his hands were firmly planted on the floor, and his head was bowed and heavy, as if it had a great weight attached to it. His dagger had been tossed to the wayside at some point during his descent. He quivered in bewilderment as his mind tried to catch up and figure out what exactly happened, but he quickly gave up on that when Noth’s feet abruptly stopped right in front of him. Jeck strained his neck hard as he dragged his weighted head up just high enough so that he could see his enemy’s face, but he almost immediately dropped his head back down at the shock of what he saw.

He had expected the angry, arrogant look on the child’s face.

That made sense.

But those eyes…

Those glowing, flaking, rust coloured eyes…

They were unnatural.

He felt dirtier just from witnessing it.

How could something like that even exist?

Something inside Jeck was positively screaming at him that he saw something he shouldn’t have.

A moment after his brain processed that feeling… the itching started.

It was in his ears, his eyes…

It was almost like a million tiny bugs were squirming around them.

Then the scratching feeling seemed to spread over his brain.

Jeck lifted his hands, not even realizing that the pressing gravity had already left his body, and tried his best to itch at the incessant feeling. He shook his head wildly. He itched, and scratched, and clawed- but nothing worked. The feeling wouldn’t stop. It felt like everything he tried to do simply couldn’t reach deep enough. Even as he scraped and peeled at his red and bleeding skin, he just couldn’t reach any relief.

Noth and his angel stared down at the writhing, desperate man. They watched as he tore at his own skin and hair. Noth was surprised at how little pity he felt towards the thrashing snake, even after he fully accepted that he was the one who put him in such agony. Yes, he’d felt bad the last time he’d used this power, but only because he hadn’t wanted to see his father go through such torment. But the man in front of him? This monster? He deserved all the torment he had coming to him.

His angel drifted closer behind him, bringing her hands up to gently cover his eyes as she purred into his ears.

The boy reached up and calmly removed her hands, taking them away from his face, but never actually letting go of them afterwards. He shook his head resolutely, and stared down unblinkingly at the man who had now started sobbing at his feet. Noth could see that some of the skin that Jeck had failed to assault yet was very slowly beginning to harden and form into shiny, translucent scales.

“No, I won’t. I won’t feel sorry for a man who tried to kill a child just to satisfy his greed for power. It’s only right that he truly becomes the monster that he’s always been inside. Besides, I’ve already spent enough time suffering. Why should I suffer any more because of the likes of him? It’s his turn.”

Noth’s words delighted the angel, and he could hear the soft sound of her wings quivering as she let out a pleased, cooing noise. The hands he still held quickly moved to wrap around his waist, and she placed her head lovingly on top of his. And in that position, the two of them just stood there in silence for a while, just watching the grotesque transformation in front of them.

Screams filled their area of the greenhouse.

Jeck had stopped moving from the pain, and at some point had stood up in horror when he finally noticed the changes working their way through his body.

Small patches of scales solidified.

Two large fangs protruded down from his upper canines.

His eyes slowly morphed into a golden hue, and the pupils became slits.

His nose was steadily flattening, although still vaguely discernable.

The more he watched the transformation, the more disgusted Noth became. He didn’t want to admit it, but he actually did hate what was happening. Yes, the man deserved this, but actually seeing the bad thing he’d wanted to happen to the man happen right in front of him was just far too cruel. He felt like he was steadily losing a piece of what kept him human the more that he watched this, and he couldn’t afford that; He couldn’t let himself sink down any more than he already had. Not yet. Not now.

For now, Noth would have to accept that he’d punished Jeck enough, and put an end to things.

Noth took a step forward, leaving the embrace of his angel, and looked up somberly at the man-turned-snake. He placed his hand on top of the bowed head of the sobbing man, and patted it a few times. The boy stood on his tippy toes so that he could make sure he was heard, and solemnly spoke into the snake’s ear with a hushed voice.

“Know that your avarice was your downfall, Jeck Felitt. This is the end.”

He stepped back and whispered a wish into his clasped hands, his eyes firmly locked onto Jeck the whole time.

Jeck finally felt relief for a moment and he lifted his clutched head in hope. The awful feelings that were pervading him had finally stopped. But it was to his belated dismay that he realized that he couldn’t feel anything at all, except for a growing sense of cold spreading up from his feet. He looked down at his unresponsive legs, and saw that they had both become stone. He frantically willed them to move, but even as he focused and worried over them, the stone had already rapidly spread halfway up the trunk of his body. In desperation, he reached out both of his arms towards Noth to plead for help, but midway through the motion they had already turned to stone. Jeck’s face turned grim; His throat felt too dry and stiff already for him to even attempt to call out with his steadily freezing vocal chords. He only had enough time to force out a single tear from his wide open, horrified eyes, before he finally, fully, became a lifeless work of art.

The boy stared at the newly formed statue in front of him, letting his eyes slowly roam over its perfectly chiselled stone, before letting his gaze land on the sculpture’s eyes. Even though he’d petrified the beast, the eyes inside still shone with a lifelike golden beauty. Noth couldn’t help but smile wryly as he felt the irony of it all. He couldn’t help but think that the colour was a perfect fit for his vanquished snake’s inherent greed. He studied the scene in front of him for a little while longer before abruptly turning and taking a small stroll towards the nearby bushes. He stopped in front of the lovely little spot he’d once decided to make his secret base, and slowly nodded his head before letting himself mumble out one last wish for the day. Fresh verdant vines slithered out from the chosen patch of earth and grabbed hold of the statue, lifting it up and placing it neatly where Noth had wanted. The boy admired how the crisscross of vines over the statue resembled snakes. Yes, now it looked perfect.

Of course, Noth planned to keep this petrified monster he captured. He planned to seal it away in this special place that would never reach the eyes of others. He planned to come back here every once in a while to look at it and remember. It would serve as both a trophy, and a reminder. Noth could win, even against such twisted beasts. He had successfully hunted down his prey today, and this would be his eternal evidence of that fact. But it would also serve to show him that even amongst his own cruelty, he hadn’t had the heart to let his enemy suffer for long. Yes, it was an act of mercy and a choice to preserve his humanity, but it was also a show of weakness. Such a decision could one day lead to his downfall if he wasn’t careful about when to show his mercy. He would have to reflect on what he did and didn’t have the power to do before he ran around being merciful left and right in the future. For right now, however, Noth was satisfied that he’d done his best.

Could he relax a little bit now?

The boy plopped down on the putrid floor and rested his head on his knees. His hand tremblingly reached out for his angel, and when he found her slender leg nearby, he wrapped his arm around it in a firm hug. She beamed down at Noth and leaned over to stroke his hair, which seemed to signal the boy’s body to finally start to let his tension go. It seemed that with every breath Noth felt better and better, like something was being washed off of him, or like something that was blocking his nose or covering his eyes was being removed. The boy didn’t quite think he could make it all the way to feeling ‘good’, but ‘better’ was good enough for now. As his senses stymied by tension and stress slowly came back, he let go of his angel’s leg and looked up at her, instead using that hand to tug at the hem of her robe.

“We should go. It smells disgusting in here, and I’m sure I’ve completely ruined these clothes by now.”

His angel giggled and helped the boy up, doing her best to dust him off in vain.

Noth let out a weak laugh and looked at his dirty hands as they walked away, and he couldn’t help but mumble to himself as he thought over her words.

“...I don’t think that I like that at all.”