Chapter 2: Big Black Dog

Sheist's eyes open to a dark room, dim lighting flickered as rays of sun attack his eyes from the outside, breaking through the walls.

His back is wet, his body in a shallow puddle of water as droplets pattered at his forehead, his robe soaked and muddied from the environment around him.

He placed his hands at his side sliding back and up onto his ass, his right hand met his forehead with a sigh wiping away the moisture that slowly moved toward the brow of his eyes.

"Well, it was only a matter of time." The young man said as he stood and walked around what seemed to be some type of dark cathedral, a black church.

A cross above the stage up front hangs upside down, shredded drapes and tattered tapestry all over the walls, broken windows of which darkness only lies on the other side.

He walked down the center aisle resting his hand on the old long bench-like seats, the black church was cold and ominous, no wind moved the drapes,

everything was still...

A sound could be heard moving around the edge of darkness that surrounded him, clawing and scraping.

He let loose a subtle chuckle as he mustered the strength to stand strong on his two feet, he whistled the tune from the chorus of "Monster Mash".

He opened his mouth and sang along with the tune. "He did the mash... The Mon-'' before he could finish the tune a large hellhound barreled from the darkness, the structure of its body coming together as it sped towards him.

The body turning from a dark mist shaping around the seats to a physical black mass crushing them and moving them aside. The hellhound stopped a few feet away from him hovering above the young man, snarling and looking down at him with fiery red eyes, it pawed and scraped at the ground in front of him.

A shadowy figure draped in black lace appeared, while he stood there wet and dirty she was in pristine condition, her pale white skin and the black fabric danced about her frame, the dress clung to her curves and her smile was wicked, her stare devilish, and when she spoke his eyes couldn't help but wander.

"So you thought you could deceive me, alchemist?"

The alchemist leaned to the side looking around the giant hellhound, Sheist said

"By the way, for what it's worth the food was delicious." He said in a smug tone of voice.

The hellhound snapped his jagged jaws at the alchemist.

"Can you call off the mutt, where can I go in here, at this rate I'm all yours." He said as he lifted his arms.

The light hit his frame to reveal the pink hotel robe he had on, and on his feet were pink fuzzy slippers to match.

"Hell hath no fury as a witch scorned..."

The witch smiled and moved around her conjured creature in front of the alchemist, she dug into her pockets and pulled out the fake nuggets of gold, she raised her other hand, snapping her fingers, and instantly the gold turned into lumps of dirt.

"I suppose this is the height of alchemy, after all, mortals playing in a river next to an ocean, without being ab-"

The witch was interrupted by a loud sonorous cough, the alchemist covered his mouth and turned trying to hold back a laugh.

"Man... I was just thinking, like... Why?" The alchemist piqued the witch's curiosity.

The hellhound understanding a little calmed its menacing temperament in wonder and raised his brow. The witch looked up at the monstrous hound and then back at the alchemist asking

"Why what?"

The alchemist's face grew serious, with another sigh

"Do you have to look like that with such a shitty sense of humor."

The witch noticed him eyeing her hips and waist, not even looking at her face, this enraged her.

Another man paying more attention to her body, failing to notice her mind or being impressed with her abilities, this man who was trapped in a space of her own magical design seemed to take her for a joke.

In a fit of anger a chain of fire materialized linking her to the summoned beast, feeling her rage it opened its maw wide and its large bone clad skull slammed down in an attempt to relieve the alchemist of his life.

A large crash sent dust and stone flying through the air forming a cloud of dirt and small particles of smut on impact. Sheist managed to dodge and his body tore from the smog as he took off in his bathrobe and slippers, he thought to himself.

"Feck~"

"How am I going to get out of this one?"

He looked around at all the windows and took note of the vast darkness that was on the other side, and he wondered about the light seeping in from the cracks in the structure higher above. Something wasn't right.

As he ran he would pat the stone walls to test the integrity of the structure, checking if she created it as well or just the outside space around them, or if she even created that, for all, he knows she could have just teleported them somewhere.

Running and thinking at the same time which is a feat in itself was taking its toll, he found his way into a long hallway where he started to slow down a bit to catch his breath and collect his thoughts, his brain seemed to be moving faster than he was and in all honesty, he wasn't in the best running shape either.

Sheist found it odd that he made such headway running from a giant dog. Not having enough time to form a second thought the stone wall to his right seared and burned being forced to the structural melting point, a red circle appeared and gave birth to a loud explosion forcing debris and intense flame his way.

Sheist with quick hands took a vial from the robe side pocket, he pulled and twisted the robe around to the front of his body and crushed the vial in his hand, the liquid drenched his robe and clung to his hand.

The explosion flung his body against the wall making the stone splinter and crack, the heat and rubble left a lingering screen of smoke impairing the witch's vision, as well as that of her summoned hellhound.

The smoke began to clear, she could see the alchemist kneeling down seemingly unmoving, the witch cackled a wicked laugh.

"That is all I suppose an alchemist is capable of, only tapping into the bas-"

While she spoke a sonorous cough broke her concentration, she looked around for a moment not realizing where it came from, she was so sure of her victory.

Her eyes moved back towards the clearing smog, his uncovered black eye pierced the fog like a spear, now visible she realized he was stronger than she thought.

The witch gathered energy in her palm and amassed a large fireball, sweltering heat could be felt even where the alchemist knelt.

"A fireball, how cliche can you get?" Shiest chuckled annoyingly.

Balancing the orb of fire on the tip of her finger she guided it towards the alchemist, the blaze gave light to the dark corners, singed the old fabric, and caused the water to vaporize that was scattered around the cathedral.

The alchemist stood up and put his left arm forward, everything that the liquid from the vial touched had turned to stone.

The soft robe now resembled a hard stone shield, that must have been what saved him from the explosion, and he was willing to gamble it would hold up again against the witch's next fireball.

Sheist reared his shield back and slammed it into the fireball dispersing it throughout the room, fire bounced from the mass burning the floor around him and latched on to pieces of stone that were scattered about his body.

Sheist stood there with a grin as steam rose from his body, the small fires around him went out and all that was left was him, a stone fist, a robe for a shield, and his intense dislike of dogs, especially big ones.

The hellhound seeing the alchemist deflect its master's attack followed up and got to a better position leaping high into the air, though the creature was large it elegantly turned mid-air landing on the ceiling. Using its own magic it latched onto the ceiling bolting around pillars before it was directly above him.

The witch now able to see the alchemist noticed he was covered in small spats of stone almost like scales, his left eye had been completely covered by a splash of the liquid turning his flesh to stone.

Sheist balled his left hand into a fist, the stone phenomenon clung to it tightly resembling a club or stone boxing glove. His hand even seemed to grow in size, the stone sitting on top like an armored hide. The hard earth seemed to meld with his body in alchemic glory, he seemed at home.

Sheist's expression was calm as he watched the mutt and witch, he took in the burning scent around him, the sound of the hound on the ceiling, he could feel the distance between him and the witch, he was in his zone.

The Hellhound And The Alchemist; their eyes met and now the match was on! The hound was tired of biding its time, it leaped down from the ceiling crashing through one of the centermost pillars shaking the building's foundation.

From its paws formed ethereal claws long as spears, the hound crashed into the alchemist swinging wildly. Sheist wasn't the type to shy away from a fight, he stood his ground with his shield out and forced the left paw away from him, the sound of claws slashing against rock echoed throughout the room.

With a quick turn Sheist managed to avoid the hounds right claw, he reared back his stone fist and slammed it into the monster's chin. The dog shook off the punch and pushed forward into the pain with strong hind legs.

Sheist would fire off strong dragging hooks with his stone left, the hound grew tired of feeling the blows rock his head back and forth and decided enough was enough and caught the fist in his maw. Sheist was unable to pull away and the stone cracked a bit, but still held up against sharp teeth and great force.

With the seconds that passed the stone hand began to falter, if Shiest didn't act fast the mutt was going to make a meal of his arm. The dog continued to push and Shiest used the momentum to his advantage, unable to pull away he turned his hand and gripped one of the large upper canines.

Angelica watched with a soft smile amused to her core with what was happening, she flipped her hair.

"Hahaha, I guess you bit off more than you could chew! Finish him…" She said to her conjuration.

The hound listening to its master excitedly lunged forward pushing off the ground wanting to pin the alchemist, but things didn't go as planned and this was the exact moment Sheist was waiting for. He swiftly moved under the large monster striking its stomach with his shield driving it deep and lifting the rushing hellhound straight up into the air.

The witch stared with wide eyes.

Sheist straightened his back and looked up at the hound with a smug look, he bent backward slamming the mutt down on his spine across one of the fallen pillars.

A large whimper followed by loud silence was all that remained. Sheist breathed deep as his gaze turned towards the witch. He ripped the canine from the hellhound's jagged jaws.

The magic permeated the air with a heavy gust, thus the summon was canceled. A strand of the witch's hair replaced the mutt, more than likely the catalyst—a sacrifice for the summon.

Sheist spoke "Bit off more than I could chew? Next time summon a jawbreaker."

Not before long Shiest noticed he could feel some pain in his hand, he looked at what little stone he had left covering the bathrobe, the stone began to crumble and wear thin. He also noticed that with the last two of her attacks and the hellhound knocked unconscious the darkness around the windows didn't look the same, where before it looked like deep space, now it had the visual texture of paper, her magic was weakening.

"You witches and mages aren't all you're cracked up to be, are you? Especially you..."

The witch could tell his potion was wearing off, she watched small pieces of stone fall to the ground, she knew one more large attack could possibly end him for good, a service that would be done for all the women of this world and just payback.

She didn't have enough mana to create one, the hellhound, and that large fireball almost cleaned her out of mana.

She used the magic around her—bending it to her will the void of darkness that surrounded the cathedral was being sucked in, it converged in the palm of her hand. The dark mass shattered the stained glass from windows and withered the stone walls.

The light shined behind her and the darkness she now held, the alchemist thought it was quite the beautiful sight, it would be kind of sexy If she wasn't trying to kill him, or maybe it's more because she is?

The witch absolutely hated his face, especially with the look he had on it, she shouted and the weight of the shadow ball sunk her frame into the cathedral floor, small cracks spread outward and benches started to levitate that were too close to her.

"What the fuck are you staring at Shiest?!"

Angelica wound back her hand and tossed the sphere of dark energy at Shiest. With moxy and what was left of the stone protecting his arm, and the makeshift shield he attempted to power through.

Sheist stood locked and unmoving, his feet glued to the ground as the dark power whirled toward him. With his shield out and a strong left arm behind it, he braced for impact. The orb crashed into the stone shield! Sheist's feet slid as the energy forced him back, the dark energy ripped at everything around and bent gravity as small rocks and stones, pieces from benches and other objects flew at him.

Everything around the alchemist was warped and distorted, the robe didn't hold up and was reduced to nothing, however it was just enough. Sheist stood with a blank expression with his ass out, naked. It looked like he had clocked out permanently, died standing up on his own two feet.

The witch let out a low dark laugh and turned her back to him, the veil of darkness no longer surrounding the cathedral.

"Finally, now I'll never have to de-"

A low, weak, sonorous cough interrupted her, her eyes widened and then sunk into her skull on the verge of tears or insanity.

Shiest still barely alive covered his mouth speaking the best he could, he was spent from that last attack.

"As If I'd die here bitch..."

The alchemist started to move, one foot in front of the other slowly inching toward her, the pace increased and all the stone plating turned to dirt and fell to the floor, he went from a jog to a steady slow sprint.

Angelica readied her fist unable to muster any magic and cocked her arm back ready to swing.

She launched a hook his way and with a grin, Shiest dipped under and flew past her, with a loud smack and tight grip as he got by her he'd take a handful of her ass with him on the way out.

The look on the witch's face as she turned quickly tripping over her own feet to grab him was payment enough, along with the fact he got to keep what little life he had left. Shiest turned to wink at her as he leaped out of the window.

It took only a few seconds of free falling to now realize what she had done...

The witch teleported some old church into the sky and held it up with her dark magic, what he saw along the windows were magic walls clinging to the weak structure, at this point, it was only being held up by a platform of magic so it wouldn't completely fall out of the sky.

With a sigh, Shiest looked up at the clouds getting further away and said

"Man... I don't deserve this…"