The matriarch doesn’t move. She can’t talk, she can’t run, she can’t even scream. She just stands there paralysed in fear as she stares at the being she’s summoned, its thousands of eyes are all trained on her, surrounded by dozens of sobbing witches.

 

This isn’t how things were meant to play out. She wanted to summon the ancient one to kill Athena and the witches that turned traitor, so why…

 

Why does the wooden part of the beast perfectly match Null’s description of that heretic?

 

That’s actually fairly simple to explain, my dear.

 

The writhing mass, and the wooden body connected to it, pulse as the words pass through the matriarch. Her eyes cannot go any wider, but it’s clear by the look on her face that she realises what the words were in response to.

 

“You… You’re in my head…” She mutters.

 

It’s rather more complicated than that, I’m in quite a lot of places right now, but I suppose that’s one way to put it, yes. I see you’ve been very busy recently…

 

The wooden body raises its arms, gesturing around the room. It’s mouth doesn’t open when it talks, the face only moving to take on different expressions

 

And I’m sure I don’t need to tell you this, but so have I.

 

The body smiles confidently, as does the air surrounding it. Who… no, what exactly is this monster?

 

Soft laughter emanates from everything the green glow touches.

 

Come on now, I thought you’d be smart enough to know who I am. You went through all of this trouble to try and kill me, after all.

 

The matriarch goes white with a combination of fear and anger. It would seem that the situation is far more dire than she ever could have planned for.

 

You know my name very well at this point, don’t you?

 

Athena…

 

Even just thinking the name is enough to make her feel like she’s burning up.

 

“But… But what is all of this!? Null said you were a witch, not… whatever I see before me!”

 

The laughter picks up again.

 

You really must catch up with the times, dear. That was weeks ago! I had a feeling you’d be deranged enough to try something as drastic as summoning something beyond comprehension, so I thought, why not make sure I get my foot in the door first?

 

It… beat her to it? But how? That ritual was top secret, there shouldn’t be another witch on the continent who knew how to open a portal like that.

 

Silly girl, if you think I could have gotten as far as I have by sticking to your limited understanding of witchcraft, well, that says much more about you than anything else. I suppose we’ve never been formally introduced, so there are a few things you might not realise about me.

 

The mass of flesh suddenly shifts, bringing Athena’s body closer to the platform the matriarch is standing on. Athena tilts her head downwards slightly, her smirk now the only part of her face not obscured by her hat.

 

I’m sure Null, the poor thing, already told you I was once a doll, but what’s also worth noting is that I was specifically created with an understanding of witchcraft so that I could help my old master fulfil all the orders for potions that kept coming in. It was a rather unreasonable workload you see, a workload that a certain someone had forced on the unfortunate girl.

 

“Don’t tell me what I should do with my witches! All I ever asked is that they give back to the coven that took them in!” The matriarch calls out.

 

A shockwave of energy blasts her body, and she can swear she can smell the cries of the witches below her. The force pushes her back a short distance, but she manages to stay on her feet.

 

Oh, I’m very aware of how you treated your witches in the centuries that you’ve been running that coven of yours, and what happens if they don’t meet your standards. I’ve seen it, felt it even, dozens upon dozens of times over at this point.

 

 Anyway, back to the point, the purpose I was created for, and the capabilities I was built with, carried over when Amelia and I swapped places. This meant I didn’t just become any old witch, I had a certain… intuition, let's call it. Who needs to study ancient rituals when you can just figure out how to do it yourself?

 

“Are you trying to claim that you opened a door between dimensions by winging it?”

 

I suppose saying it like that undersells all the hard work we put in, doesn’t it? I understood all of the underlying theory, of course, and I didn’t do it alone. You delivered to my doorstep a witch who could see across realms, and a doll who wanted nothing more than to relinquish its ability to open holes in space, after all. Maya spent a week or so learning how to use her powers for something more fulfilling than running surveillance, and voila, she was able to tell me exactly where to open the portal!

 

The matriarch clenches her fists. It’s not enough for Athena to foil her plans, but the doll used her own witches against her to do it?

 

Do keep in mind that all of them accepted my help and joined the coven of their own free will, of course. It turns out that using fear to control people earns you a lot of enemies. But enough about all that, we’re up to the most exciting part of the story! So, old…

 

A series of sounds that vaguely remind the matriarch of the sight of burning charcoal assaults her ears.

 

Ah, of course. Your mind can’t comprehend those syllables can it? I believe you call it the ancient one, yes? Well, it turns out that whole ritual that’s been getting passed down only works because of a curse that some of the earliest witches placed the poor thing under, and it’s pretty grumpy about being woken up every few millennia to do whatever some witch asks of it. It’s entirely fed up with the whole thing, in fact. It certainly wasn’t happy when we came to visit, that’s for sure.

 

But, as I’m sure you’re aware at this point, I have a bit of a knack for figuring out how to help people, so once the old dog calmed down, we were able to sort out a retirement plan of sorts. There’s a lot of nonsense about figuring out a loophole in the curse that I won’t bore you with, but the short version is, I’ve taken over for the ancient one, in a manner of speaking.

 

“That’s preposterous! You can’t really expect me to believe any of this, can you?”

 

Look around you, dear.

 

Athena gestures around the room, to the arcane energies in the air, to the gurgling flesh that’s now a part of her, to the massive tentacles coming out of the mouth of the portal.

 

Do you have a better explanation for what you see before you?

 

She pauses to think, but nothing adds up. If this were an illusion it wouldn’t explain the overwhelming amount of magic in the air, and transformation magic wouldn’t be capable of something of this magnitude. She runs through every possibility, but in the end she’s forced to accept the truth…

 

Her worst enemy really did switch places with a god…

 

…Which is why it’s so important that her last resort works.

 

The matriarch channels the energy she’s secretly been collecting over the past few minutes, focusing it all into her hands as she feels the tension build inside her. She aims her hands forward, readying the same spell that she taught Null, only with far more power behind it than her second in command was ever able to manage. Regular spells didn’t work against this monster, but she doubts it can defend itself from being disintegrated in an instant. This has to work, even if her own witches get caught in the blast radius.

 

Did you really think I wasn’t aware of what you’d been doing this whole time?

 

Before she’s able to unleash the spell, she suddenly feels that tension… snap… and she can no longer feel the magic she was so effortlessly able to channel just moments before.

 

I have to ask, do you ever get tired of trying to hurt people?

 

She tries casting the spell again, and again, or any kind of spell at all, but nothing works, no matter how hard she tries. She looks around in a panic, trying to figure out what’s going on.

 

“What… What did you do to me!?” She calls out to Athena.

 

I thought it was pretty obvious, I’ve cut off your connection to all things magical. No more witchcraft for you, dearie.

 

“No… No! Give it back!” The matriarch yells, filled with equal parts rage and terror.

 

The entire room chuckles in Athena’s voice once more.

 

Come on now, if you can’t play nice then what choice do I have but to take your toys away? Surely you realise why I’m here, no? Why I’ve gone through all this trouble?

 

The room starts to rumble as Athena takes on a much more serious expression.

 

I’ve bore witness to countless witches who have barely survived living under your rule. You’ve pushed them past their limits, maimed those who fail to meet your expectations, and more than a few of them have ended up broken, all so that they remain subservient to you, so that you can maintain your place at the top of the pyramid you’ve built from their broken spirits, their bruised bodies.

 

The twisted mess of flesh and tentacles that makes up most of Athena’s mass rises ever higher, taking up more and more of the room as she looms over her wide-eyed adversary like a viper ready to strike its prey.

 

Well I’m putting a stop to it. I’m going to make sure you’re never able to hurt anyone ever again. 

 

Athena grins, her mouth growing wider than should be possible as she reveals a set of terrifyingly sharp teeth inside.

 

Everything ends today, my dear.

 

The matriarch turns around and starts sprinting for the door.