"You cunt!" Lila screamed as she tried to close the gap between her and her nemesis once again. "Release her right now!" 

Looking at her as a regular human being usually looks at a bug crawling on the floor, the evil witch retorted,

"No. She's better this way. Only servitude is the true measure of freedom. My guidance is all she needs to be happy now. Kiss my feet, slave."

"As you wish, Mistress," Penelope eagerly assumed her new subservient position, the powerful magic sigil controlling her every action. A handful of memories of her previous dull existence still lingered inside her subconscious but they were no match for the superior creature's willpower. The witch reveled in her own arrogance, allowing the right foot to be worshipped by an eager tongue while the left one crushed the fingers of her latest servant. Penelope suppressed the need to scream to be closer to her owner and smiled.

Meanwhile, Lila kept on pushing forward but it was as if she was walking through molasses, the all-encompassing darkness slowing her down with every step. She channeled the last of her inner strength to create a safe path to go through but the ancient one held her at bay with nothing but the concentrated energy of two of her fingers. 

"Still trying to fight?" she smirked. "Do you have a genuine death wish, Lila? Is that what this is all about?"

"You can't have her!" Lila growled. Her eyes were turning red, every vein in her body hardening in the face of the extreme pressure. The evil enchantress rolled her eyes and pushed her back once more. Lila was now nothing more than a speck of light surrounded by infinite black, her arms and legs fueled only by a deep desire for revenge. Amidst the shadows, threads of power crept forward as if trying to take over her mind as well. If she were to channel them.... if she embraced the living madness of blood and darkness she could very well destroy the prison from within but she would also be sacrificing herself.

"Give up, Lila, or I'll crack open this puppet's skull and feed you its brains for dessert. My brand is waiting for you. Take it and rise above the mediocrity of the world. It's time for the Congregatio and all the boundaries you were taught to believe in to be extinguished for good."

"How many times do I have to say no?" Lila gasped for air, no more energy left in her to take another step forward. She stood like a defeated statue, almost engulfed by despair and malcontent. The whispers of the poisoned abyss filled her soul with endless dread.

"So you continue to side with the humans and the wizards and witches who deny their own power and ambition? You choose to be a loser like everyone else?"

"If that means continuing to be me, I call that a win," Lila responded, her heart beating erratically, Her voice carried through the gloom but the inner conviction was gone. She was no longer a threat.

"Then so be it," the evil witch declared. "I'll stop wasting my time with your foolish antics. You can stay here and be devoured by the power you loathe so much. I leave this place to you. Let it be your final resting place as it implodes upon itself. Goodbye, Lila. I'll tell your family and friends how you died."

A spiral of light glowed between her fingers and the two women were gone, leaving Lila in the cold throes of Nothingness. She sank to her knees and closed her eyes, her breathing slowing down. The gruesome image of Penelope sucking her enemy's toes as if they were a delicacy from the Heavens haunted her dwindling spirit.

Something snarled in the abyss. It was impossible to determine where the sound was coming from but it echoed all the way down her spine. Lila wasn't alone.

"What is this now?" she thought, opening her eyes. She placed her hands together to feel the blood flow returning to the tips of her cold fingers and honed her senses. A growl rose from under her body followed by a slithering hiss to her right. The hairs on the back of her neck stood to attention, positively charged by an encroaching sensation of fear. With its mistress gone, the illusions of the magical prison were beginning to unravel one by one, the scattered threads of magic combining to create fleeting yet hideous shapes barely perceptible.

They had curved claws, rows upon rows of sharp teeth, and leathery wings protruding from their horned heads and torsos. Some stood on two legs, but their quasi-humanoid appearance was distorted by an assortment of hanging appendages with no beginning or end. Others were like giant hairless rodents with sunken eyes and black holes inside their gaping mouths. Lila saw them creeping forward, fueled by hate and the destruction of everything good in the world. "They're not real," she said.

Yes, they weren't. There was no life in the monstrosities observing her, for they were mere remnants of the countless spells used to create that impossible mansion. However, that didn't mean they weren't dangerous. Magic devoid of meaning turns into chaos and chaos is unpredictable. It festers and poisons the air and the minds of humans and witches alike, and the disintegration process is irreversible unless new bonds are created. 

"Take us," the hideous mutants whispered. "We are yours if you simply say the word."

"And what word is that?" Lila ground her teeth.

"Retribution. We will be your tools, the messengers of your sweet revenge."

"You mean, my executioners?" Lila cocked her head and laughed.

"If that's the designation you prefer... yes!" they purred. "You'll die here without us."

"And you've never been alive. What are you so afraid of?"

"We fear nothing," said a three-headed dragon-like creature spewing black flames from its wide nostrils. The other magical manifestations agreed, hissing and howling in the background.

"Except for your own destruction," Lila interlocked her fingers and projected a small light barrier in front of her. The magical phantoms wriggled and contorted, continuously assuming new forms, each one more grotesque than the others. 

"We are Power, and Power never dies. We are your only chance to fight back."

"You want my body and soul like her. You want to feed off me like overgrown parasites and then find someone else to corrupt when you've had enough. I wasn't born yesterday. What you offer is not worth the price I'll pay in the long run," Lila declared.

The invisible ground beneath her began to rumble, irregular fissures cracking all around. The magic flow was becoming more unstable, and collapsing onto itself. Once every thread fell apart the result would not be a cataclysmic explosion, but a contraction, of matter and magic, sucked into a never-ending void and obliterating one another.

"It's already starting," the remnants said.

"I know, and it's amazing how scared you really are. You say I need you but it's actually the other way around, isn't it? You were given form, a purpose, and now you've been left behind, discarded like trash, and replaced by other magic, other spells... All things must end. Accept yours."

The magic echoes growled and dissolved into a puddle of goo at her feet. A sulfurous bubble burst in its center and a new shape came to be, created from Lila's memories. It was the spitting image of Penelope smiling right before the end of the world. Its gooey hands touched the barrier and muttered,

"Why are you giving up so easily on me? The signs of evil can still be stopped. I need you to stand up and fight for my freedom."

"Nice try but you're not her," Lila focused her spirit on keeping the distance between her and the chaotic abominations fighting for their right to exist.

"No but what do you think will happen to her when you're gone? Mistress lives only for the moment and thralls come and go easily. Penelope will suffer for her pleasure, bleeding from the inside out. She will be consumed by the brand, perish, and be absorbed by her enslaver. Whatever is left of her soul will become a shadow like us, perpetually bound to pain and sorrow. You are killing her by doing nothing. What a coward you really are!"

The ethereal prison continued to break into millions of fragments, dark shards reflecting the old rooms of the house, the decaying dungeon, and the illusionary garden where the last temptation had failed. Lila caught glimpses of every division she had been in, with the replica of Penelope screaming in her ears.

"Save me, Lila! Please! She's hurting me! SHE'S HURTING ME!"

Lila remained motionless, ignoring the phantom's desperate attempt to use her as a conduit to gain even more power. The implosion was imminent and only perfect concentration could give her a way out. She pushed the ghastly images and the screams away from her mind to look for the spaces between the fractures, tiny holes in the fabric of reality through which she could teleport once the last blockade shattered. The timing for the spell had to be precise for her to escape the living emptiness. 

"Clear your head," she said to herself, visualizing every single thread all around her. The dark ghost shrieked, her womanly features devolving into an impossible mass of tentacles, an eldritch beast so horrible that even Lovecraft himself would have hesitated to put it to paper. It wailed and tried to grab her arms so that she would take it with her.

"Don't do this! You'll never defeat your foe without us!"

"Your Mistress made her choice and I've made mine," Lila took a deep breath and found a single crack big enough for her spell to pull through. Death was calling to her from every direction but this was not her time. 

"I won't fail again," she said, releasing the spell at the very last second. It rose above her weary head like colorful fireworks and pulled her with it, beyond every dimension known to Man. The magic lifeline didn't last long but it was enough to yank her away from the collapsing mansion.

Lila fell through a sea of grey clouds and plummeted back to Earth, landing on a patch of grass only a few blocks away from her house. Everything hurt but, surprisingly, she didn't seem to have any major injuries. The magical construct in which she had been trapped was gone and she had lived once more to tell the tale. 

"Fuck, that was intense!" Lila rolled on the wet leaves. Her chances of survival had always been slim but to pull off such a risky last-second getaway had been nothing short of miraculous. Could it be that there was some invisible force of good rooting for her success and protecting her along the way? The hopeful thought soothed her spirit as she gave herself a moment to recover from the menacing ordeal.

"You can still do this and you must or she'll never stop," the good witch mumbled. The stakes were higher than ever now that she had confronted her foe and seen Penelope lose her free will to the blood sigil. Getting her back was a priority but there were others in need of assistance and she was short on allies. Returning to the Congregatio's headquarters was no longer an option, so there was only one person she could turn to, the one who taught her everything she knew and more. With their powers combined, they could make a difference.

"There's simply no other choice," Lila concluded. She gathered her strength, stood up, and started running towards home. Time was of the essence. She needed to reach her mother soon or everything would be lost.

((to be continued))