A ragged breath falls from my lips like a weight. I am so tired. And of course, now of all times, Bathrobe Baddie wants to interrupt us on the way home? Then again, the only other time I’ve gotten even a look at her was a passing glance before crashing through her window. Maybe we can avoid fighting if we just talk…?

“Waywright!” I shout to her, my voice hoarse and heavy. “Why? Why do you feel so inclined to fight us…? Can’t you see what Yombroila does brings us joy and understanding? Why do we have to fight?!”

Cat glances at me with a confused look, already in a fighting stance. “Fox, what are you talking about? She’s crazy! Let’s just kick her butt and get out--”

My partner is interrupted by the onset of a deep, ominous laugh so perfectly villainous I’m certain she rehearsed it. “FOOLS. Can you not see what this false deity has done to you? She has blinded you from the truth! She has morphed not only your bodies into inhuman, unnatural forms, but your minds as well!”

Okay, yeah, something’s not right with her. 

“Uhh, no? I’ve known Cat almost my whole life and the only thing that changed after she ascended was that she’s finally been able to find her own happiness.”

She stands there in silence, her long hair flowing in the cool night wind along with the ends of her robe. “...B-but you see, how do you know this goddess did not implant such desires for happiness herself, hmm? CHECK. MATE.”

“Mmm, nope,” I cross my arms and shake my head. “Knowing what I know about Cat now, the way she’s acted makes a lot of sense in regards to what makes her happy now. And even if those desires weren’t there, she’s happy anyways? So what’s wrong?”

“TH-THE NATURAL ORDER!! You FOOLS!!” The witch screeches, brandishing her staff and raising it high. “I will not fall for the trickery of you or your goddess! The Inkton family name is built on the foundation of preserving this world as it is, allowing not a speck of magic to interfere with the way of the world! Thus, the actions of your goddess must be prevented at all costs, and I shall return all of you thralls to your natural states, to preserve the world order!”

“Yeesh, she really doesn’t know when to shut up, huh,” Cat mumbles quietly, getting a chuckle out of me.

“It’s a villain thing, I’d presume. Or maybe she thinks it makes her sound smart.”

“I CAN HEAR YOU TWO, YOU KNOW!! AND I AM VERY SMART!! AND YOU WILL GIVE ME BACK MY GATE STONE GODS DAMN YOU!!!”

Gate stone? Ohhhh, that must be the thing I took from her place the night of our ascension. Well, it’s back at home, but she doesn’t need to know that…

“Look, Waywright, sweetie--”

“DON’T ‘SWEETIE’ ME, YOU CLOD.”

“...Sweetie,” I resume, “I’m very tired. It’s late. We could all use some rest, maybe a warm glass of milk will do you good--”

“SILENCE!!” she yells, forcing a groan out of me as I drag my palm down my face. It was worth a shot. “I will hear NO MORE of your INCESSANT PRATTLE!! I am WAYWRIGHT INKTON, last in a line of mages who maintain the balance of the World of Shade! And YOU…” She throws her hand forward, pointing her staff at the two of us with malicious, silly-looking intent, “You are spreading a blight upon this realm! I shall do as my family has taught me all my life, and RID this world of DARKNESS!!”

 

The witch plants the bottom of her staff on the ground as she begins to chant, “O Restless and Empty Mind of Beyond and Nothing, I call upon you to Feast with a Ceaseless Hunger…” A glowing white circle of magical energy forms around her feet, twisting into various runes and glyphs before spreading further away from her, a multitude of magical lines speeding towards one another and intersecting at a single point meters away from their summoner. “Taste the Lifelight of Soul and Consume All that Dare to Exist Before You…!” 

I’m starting to wonder if these words are actually a part of the spell, or if she just thinks they look cool. Oh, shit, wait, we should probably be trying to stop her. As tired as my body is, I make a dash for her. Cat follows my lead and blasts heated lasers at the witch, but some kind of barrier around her dispels all of her attacks! The magical blot before her begins to expand, a hole in the center forming and spreading faster than its outsides as the darkness overtakes the white runes that were once its borders. Dammit, come on, I’m almost there! I leap forward with my claw pulled back, and with a swift slice… I’m repelled backwards by the same barrier stopping Cat’s attacks. It’s too late. The summoning circle would be able to fit a trunk with how big it's gotten, a fact not inspiring hope in me. 

“I summon thee… AZATHOTH!!”

Cat has rushed to my side by the time the name has been called out, pulling me onto my feet as the witch stows her staff on her belt, grinning at us smugly.

“Fare thee well, ‘Ascended’ folk Fox and Cat. How little a time I’ve had to know you, but how I miss you two so very much already…” 

She begins to walk off. I would pounce on her were it not for the earth shuddering stomps rising out from the pitch black hole in the ground.

“Do… Do you know what an Azathoth is, Cat…?”

“Nope. What the heck is an Azathoth?”

Time to find out. It’s hard to even tell what is emerging from the pit with how dark its body is, but suddenly the darkness from the pit begins to spread. It reaches across the ground like hands desperately crawling for their lives, slinking under our feet and reaching far beyond us. Only in the far distance do we see that darkness rise, engulfing the sky as it traps us in a dome of darkness until naught but a void of nothingness surrounds us. It’s then that the beast summoned to take our lives becomes more visible, but not because they are any less dark than the void. No, it’s darker than the void itself.

Claws pull themselves from nothing, rising until a hunched back looms over us at about three times Cat’s height. Hindlegs rise from the darkness, joining the front two. It’s shaped like a mix between a wolf and a boar, yet at the same time, it has no defined shape. What look like tufts of fur flowing in the wind are actually writhing tentacles that form the entirety of the beast’s featureless body. There is no face on this monster, yet it sees us. No mouth to consume us, yet the feeling of irrepressible fear in my gut already tells me that’s not true.

It is all mouth.

Azathoth stands there for a moment, motionless in all but its wriggling form. Then it opens its eye. A single, colourless eye opens from its body, staring directly at us. That’s it, I book it. I run away from and around the beast, pulling Cat with me, but its eye… No matter what direction we face it from, its eye is there, floating within its own darkness, gazing hungrily at us. The sight of its form moving like a wild animal strikes a fear into me I cannot describe. Wait, yes I can: I want to scream, I want to run and never stop, I fear this fear that does not relent. Yet all there is to run to is darkness, stretching out for an eternity.

“Fox, we have to fight this thing, there’s nowhere to run!” Cat tells me.

I know, I KNOW, I know I know I know… And so does Cat, despite the fact she’s feeling the exact same fear as me I’m sure. Okay. I grip Cat’s hand before releasing, the two of us splitting in different directions, praying it doesn’t come for me as much as I hope it doesn’t go after Cat. And after my partner the beast goes. At least this gives me a chance to listen to… Listen… To…

It’s gone.

There’s no rhythm here.

No music behind me.

No song to guide me.

This is a void. There is nothing in this void but death and death alone.

I grit my teeth and let go, tears streaming down my cheeks as I rush after Azathoth myself. My legs burn, pushing me as far as they go, and my mind races with fear and dread. The only thing pushing me forward is the hope that I might spare Cat the same horror. She’s running as fast as she can, yet the monster appears to gain on her regardless of her speed. If she slows down, its relentless stalking continues, always gaining on her at a fixed pace. It’s ever in chase, there is no escaping it.

Regardless, I’m sure as hell going to try and beat the shit out of it.

 

Cat’s speed slows as she figures out the approach of the beast, giving me the chance to catch up as I leap forward, and it’s eye shifts to me. I feel a pang in my chest. No. No, it stabbed me. I swing down with all the might I can muster as an empty pain spreads through my torso, a windy blade striking the unflinching monster about as effectively as a light slap.

“FOX!!” 

I can hear her, but I can’t see. My vision is darkness. The void around me has consumed all else. I can feel my arms reaching out, trying to grasp at anything to save me from this endless void, but my entire body is limp… No, it’s not even there any more. My consciousness floats in a vast nothingness, crying out to be saved, but no voice can be heard. No touch can be felt. No thought can be formed. Soon all other senses are extinguished by nothingness as well, and I GASP FOR AIR. Everything around me slowly begins to fade back in, as much as there is to return to at least. I feel my entire soul gasping for life as I find myself cradled in Cat’s arms, a flurry of lights behind her distracting and infuriating the beast on our tails.

“C-Cat… I… Thank you…” 

She shakes her head at me and puts me back on my feet, crying just like me. “Shut up and LIVE damn you! Let’s GO!” 

I barely have the energy to move, but I have to, even as I clutch the dark hole through my chest that is oozing blackness out of me. The void once consuming me slowly retreats the longer I’m away from Azathoth, but the emptiness remains.

“What… What do we do, Cat…? I… I’m so scared…”

“I don’t know, but I’m not gonna let you die! We have a future together and I’m not giving that up for ANYTHING!!” my partner yells as a flurry of fireworks manifest around her before rapidly blasting at the monster with explosion after explosion. 

Yet it’s unphased. We can run all we want but it’s hopeless. That future… I want that future… I have to live… But how…? There’s nothing any more. We’re trapped in nothing. No way out. No one can save us now. My pace begins to slow as the dread builds, my sore feet almost giving way to the floor if it weren’t for Cat pulling me along.

“Fox! FOX!! Please, please! Please don’t give up! I can’t-- I can’t live without you, please, just keep… Going…!”

“My my, are you really going to let your girl down like that~?”

 

There it is again. That voice.

“H-huh?! Who-- Whoever you are, please help!” Cat pleads. 

Oh. She can hear it too now… A chuckle fills our ears before… A light. A single ray of light from above, enough to take the attention of even the beast before us. I look up and see… Clouds. A small circle of clouds above, parting and making way for a ray of light, and from that light…

“Niamh…” I barely manage to murmur out as I gaze up at the snake woman descending upon us, the darkness immediately consuming the source of light once she’s in.

“O Niamh, O My, it would seem our dear heroines are in dire need of help~! But whoever could offer such a thing in these dark and trying times~?” The winged serpent sings, much to Cat’s frustration.

“Would you PLEASE just help us NOT DIE?!” she shouts.

This amuses Niamh as Azathoth loses interest in what isn’t us being a possible feast. At the very least, the pause gives us time to gain some distance before it gives chase once again.

“So impatient, dear, really, are you not glad purely because a beautiful angel has fallen from the heavens to grace you with her presence~?” Niamh jests, swooping down to our side… Almost. She finds her way next to the beast and-- “You really ought to learn some MANNERS, MUTT!!”

The snake woman weaves thunder clouds around her huge tail and SLAMS it against our pursuer, actually managing to stun it for just a moment! This…this is it. There’s hope. Niamh swiftly speeds up to us, flying by our side with a sultry smile, and hopefully some wisdom.

“Here’s the deal, girls. Azzy here can only see light, but not just any light. Your light. A particular light that all Ascended happen to have. It can’t actually see me.”

“So then can you defeat it?!” Cat asks frantically, looking back to see the monster en route to us once more.

“Unfortunately not, my dear.” That can’t be it though. And a wink from Niamh confirms that. “I can send it back home, however. I’ve gotten very creative with my magic over the years, and such feats include nigh free access between our worlds~”

“Then DO IT, please!”

But Niamh shakes her head at Cat. “Azzy is relentless. It will evade all in its quest to satisfy its endless hunger. It will only follow the light.”

…

Oh no.

I have an idea.

“...Random thought here, but you seem to know Ascended pretty well…” I begin, Niamh cocking her head at me.

“Indeed. I was there for the very first, and have been paying close attention ever since~”

“I don’t have the mental power to process that right now,” I admit, hoping my tiredness won’t get too in the way of this. “But do. You. Know. How long it takes for us to regenerate, say…limbs?”

The serpent taps her chin for a moment, while Cat looks at me in complete disgust. 

“Let’s see,” Niamh starts. “A day or two, most likely, as long as you don’t use too much of your mana during that period.”

“Fox, fuck NO,” Cat says immediately, shaking her head before looking back to see Azathoth hot on our trail, closer than ever. “Don’t do something you’ll regret, Fox!”

“I won’t regret getting to live with you.”

With one hand, I retrieve the cloth I use to dampen the sound of opening doors on heists, and bite into it, while my other hand hovers just above the base of my tail. I’m going to miss you for a bit. With a swift motion of my claw, I cut downwards with a windy blade, screaming pain into the cloth in my mouth as I grip my now severed tail, blood dripping a trail behind us that  seems to be eagerly absorbed by our assailant. Bingo.

“Take Cat somewhere safe,” I tell Niamh before even removing the cloth from my mouth, “Then I’m sure you’ll know what to do next.”

“Oh my god, Fox, please, just let me take care of--”

“Sorry dear, she’s the one who just lost a tail.” 

And with that, Niamh hugs Cat and takes her into the skies, the beast still trailing me as my partner is placed atop a cloud. This is it. All or nothing. The serpent swoops back down to my side as I turn and skid to a stop, facing Azathoth.

“I’m gonna jump,” I explain, my voice shaking just as the rest of my body.

“Good, we’ll need a portal downwards anyways.”

It approaches.

Trust myself.

Closer.

Trust myself.

Closer.

...And trust her.

Getting faster with each step.

“NOW!!”

I spring myself into the air with the last of my strength and hurl my tail downwards. And it leaps for it. Just as it’s about to land, I see a world unknown opening up below me, filled with colours unnatural to Earth, but there’s not enough time to see any more before the cloudy portal starts closing, quickly sucking up the eternal void around us until…

“...We made it…” I say as I land and stumble to my knees, so weak and quiet that I might as well have been whispering.

 

Niamh retrieves Cat and places her by my side and immediately I’m heaved up into my partner’s arms. Meanwhile the snake woman tends to my lost limb and the hole through my chest, drawing in thick mists and bright clouds to stop the bleeding and heal my body.

“Fox, you fucking idiot, I was so scared…!”

I hug the whimpering cat weakly. “Me too. Me too…”