Moments later, Dontai navigated the shadowed corridors of the west wing, his footsteps echoing faintly in the silence. “I know this building like the back of my hand,” he murmured to himself, gripping his wand tightly. The pitch-black halls felt oppressive, but he pressed on, trying to convince himself it wasn’t so bad.

  His nerves betrayed him, though—his fingers started to twist and contort grotesquely, trembling with fear. He froze, closing his eyes and taking a deep, shuddering breath. “Calm down, Dontai. You’ve got this,” he whispered. Slowly, his fingers relaxed, and he steadied his grip on the wand before continuing forward.

  Suddenly, a Basalite stumbled into view, its heavy footsteps echoing through the corridor as it groaned and lumbered toward Dontai. Without hesitation, he raised his wand and muttered the spell. A burst of magical energy shot forward, striking the creature. The enchanted stone figure collapsed to the ground, its rigid form cracking as the human within was released.

  Over the intercom, Medusa’s voice hissed with frustration. “If Baba Yaga won’t come for her precious children, I’ll just have to deal with her myself!” Her words dripped with venom as the sound of serpentine laughter followed. A sinister hum filled the air as she conjured more Basalites, their heavy forms awakening with menacing groans throughout the school.

  In the dimly lit hallway, Sera clutched her wand tightly, scanning the darkness with a wary gaze. “I really need to stop talking back to Yaga…” she muttered under her breath. Suddenly, the ground beneath her rumbled, and a stone pillar erupted with explosive force. She crossed her arms to shield herself, but the impact sent her hurtling into a nearby wall. She collided hard, coughing as blood trickled from her nose and temple.

  Before she could recover, a Basalite burst from the ground and lunged at her, its stone knee aimed directly at her face. Sera dodged just in time, the creature’s strike shattering the wall instead. As she steadied herself, her eyes widened in horror. “Wait… I know that knee! Caius?!” she shouted, her voice trembling as recognition set in. Her worst fear was confirmed—her brother had been turned into one of Medusa’s mindless puppets.

  Caius, now a grotesque Basalite, reached for her with inhuman strength. His hand clamped onto her neck, pressing a pressure point with brutal precision. With a powerful leap, he dragged her into the ground, slamming her back-first into the stone floor. Sera gasped, the impact leaving her momentarily dazed, her head aching from the force.

  But she wasn’t out yet. With a surge of determination, she kicked upward, her foot connecting with Caius’s chin. The blow sent him staggering backward into the wall, the stone cracking under his weight. Sera pushed herself to her feet, wiping the blood from her temple with a trembling hand. She ignited her fire magic, searing the wound to cauterize it and stem the bleeding.

  “Caius…” she whispered, her voice laced with pain and resolve. Her brother’s distorted, gurgling face stared back at her, his once-familiar features now twisted into a monstrous form.

  “I love you, brother,” she said, her grip tightening on her wand. “But I’m going to have to take you down.”

  The two siblings locked eyes, their stances shifting into battle-ready positions. The air between them was heavy with tension. Two of Baba Yaga’s children—forced to fight—prepared to clash in a battle that neither wanted, but both knew was inevitable.

  In Mossrock, chaos unfolded as Basalites tore through the town. Yaga and Aegis sprinted through the destruction, dodging falling debris and charging monsters. “LET ME GET THIS STRAIGHT—YOU’RE BABA YAGA?!” Aegis shouted over the noise.

  Without breaking stride, Yaga delivered a powerful kick to a nearby Basalite. Her phantom severance spell ripped through its body in precise, glowing slashes, and the creature exploded as the magic blew its back apart. Aegis froze, his jaw dropping. “Baba Yaga wasn’t just a weapons prodigy,” he muttered, half in awe. “She was a master…no, she was a weapon. A legend. The witch who supposedly ate kids and lived in a walking house. But…Shenelle doesn’t seem like that. So what do I even do here?!”

  Before he could spiral further, Yaga grabbed him by the arm and shoved him out of the way just as a Basalite fired a stone pillar from its hand. The projectile shattered against the ground where Aegis had just been standing. “You can start by not being so slow!” she snapped, stepping forward. With a quick slash of her wand, she carved a flawless ‘X’ into the Basalite’s chest. The creature groaned and collapsed as she reached inside, pulling the transformed human free and laying them safely on the ground.

  Another Basalite approached, snarling, and Aegis took a shaky step forward. Gritting his teeth, he raised his wand. “Frost Charge!” he shouted, sending a blast of freezing energy into the creature. The ice consumed it, and the Basalite shattered into glittering shards, leaving the unharmed human behind. Aegis exhaled in relief before turning to Yaga. “Would you mind explaining what’s going on?!”

  Yaga didn’t pause as she kicked another Basalite, her phantom severance cutting it to ribbons with precision. “A hundred years ago, the Magisterium decided to create enemies out of us,” she began, her voice sharp and filled with anger. “They spread lies to the wizard-hating public, claiming that some of the strongest and most infamous wizards were ‘evil’ and ‘despicable.’ That’s how Shenelle Upan became Baba Yaga—the monster they wanted people to fear.”

  She blocked another Basalite’s attack, spun her wand, and destroyed it in one clean motion before continuing. “When I met Merlin Shadowbane, he was only nineteen and horribly abused by his parents. I took him in, trained him. He was powerful, but he had a good heart. He even had friends.” Her tone darkened. “One of them was Medusa. She loved him, but not in the way he loved her. And now she blames me for everything that went wrong between them.”

  Yaga turned to Aegis, her expression hard. “She’s lashing out because of that twisted obsession, and I have to stop her before she destroys even more lives. But right now, I need you to get to the school and get the kids out safely. Now.”

  The narrative has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

  Aegis hesitated, his mind racing as he tried to process the flood of information. But when Yaga’s fierce gaze bore into him, he snapped to attention. “Y-yeah! Okay!” he stammered, turning on his heel and sprinting toward the school, leaving Yaga to hold off the Basalites on her own.

  Flashback

  Years ago, Yaga stopped her moving house in an abandoned village, the skeletal structure groaning as it settled. She leaned against the doorframe, lit a cigarette, and exhaled a cloud of smoke. “Those two are so crazy,” she muttered, glancing at the younger Lumi and Sera darting off into the crumbling ruins. She sighed in relief, savoring the rare moment of peace.

  Meanwhile, Sera wandered deeper into the eerie, silent village. Among the debris, she spotted a young boy sitting in front of two lifeless bodies. His eyes were swollen from crying, his red hair wild, and his hands trembling. He didn’t look up as she approached. Sera froze when she realized the truth—those were his parents.

  The boy’s body still bore traces of transformation—his claws dulling back into human nails, the slight fur receding from his skin. He’d lashed out, turned into a bear, and killed them. A fresh wave of tears rolled down his cheeks as guilt consumed him.

  Sera crouched down to meet his gaze, her green eyes softening. “You look like you need a friend,” she said gently, breaking the silence. “And you look cool. Green eyes, green hair—kinda like my red eyes and hair or my sister’s blue eyes and blue hair. Wanna come with me? You could be part of our family.”

  Her smile was warm, unwavering, and something in it reached him. The boy, still too broken to speak, nodded hesitantly. A small, hopeful smile tugged at his lips for the first time in what felt like forever.

  Present

  Caius slammed Sera’s face into the ground with brutal force. The stone cracked beneath her as she gasped, her body wracked with pain. He loomed over her, his arm grotesquely reshaped into that of a gorilla’s, thick and muscular. Without hesitation, he raised a stone pillar and drove it into her back, the impact forcing a splatter of blood from her mouth.

  Sera’s eyes flared bright red as rage and survival instincts kicked in. “This boy is actually killing me,” she hissed through gritted teeth. Gritting her teeth, she conjured a blazing fireball and hurled it straight into Caius’s chest. The explosion sent him flipping backward.

  But even as he tumbled through the air, Caius remained relentless. He twisted mid-flight, grabbing a sword from one of the crumbled knight statues around them. With uncanny precision, he slashed an arc of deadly energy at her.

  Sera ducked just in time, the blade’s arc slicing through the wall behind her. Her eyes caught another sword resting in the hands of a nearby knight statue. She dashed forward, wrenching it free.

  The two faced each other, weapons drawn, their eyes burning with intensity.

  “We were both trained in Baba Yaga’s weaponry,” Sera spat, her voice defiant despite her battered state. She raised her sword, pointing it at him. “So bring it on, Caius. Let’s see who’s better.”

  Caius let out a guttural growl, his grotesque Basalite features twisting with rage, and the siblings charged at each other, their blades clashing in a storm of sparks.

  Meanwhile, Dontai was slammed against the cold, unforgiving wall, his battered body crumpling to the ground. Blood streaked down his face, and he coughed up more as a relentless horde of Basalites advanced on him, their grotesque forms twisting and gurgling with malice. One of them raised its arm and launched a jagged stone pillar straight at him. Dontai barely dodged, the sharp edge grazing his shoulder, sending a fresh wave of pain searing through him. He bit his lip hard, suppressing a scream, and forced himself to stand.

  “I can’t keep this up… There’s too many of them. I need to get them all in one spot and stop them somehow,” he thought desperately, his mind racing. His blurred vision caught movement down the hallway. Relief flooded him as he saw familiar figures—Sera, Lumi, and Caius—approaching.

  “Guys! Thank God, I need you to—”

  Before he could finish, Sera raised her hand, and a massive stone pillar shot straight into his chest, sending him flying across the corridor. He hit the ground hard, skidding to a stop. Groaning, he pushed himself up, wincing from the impact. His breath caught in his throat as he realized what was wrong.

  Their eyes weren’t human anymore. Their faces were twisted into monstrous versions of themselves, consumed by the Basalite curse.

  “No… not you guys too…” he whispered, the weight of the betrayal sinking in.

  Then the panic set in. “FUCK!” he screamed, turning on his heel and bolting down the hallway as the three Basalite-turned figures gave chase, their inhuman growls echoing behind him.

  In the desolate streets of Mossrock, Baba Yaga stood amidst the rubble, the shattered remains of Basalites littering the ground around her. She closed her eyes for a brief moment, drawing in a slow breath. When she opened them, Medusa was there, towering over her like a living monument of fury. The serpent-haired figure loomed menacingly, her colossal presence rivaling Goldman’s, her snakes writhing with venomous malice as their glowing eyes fixed on Yaga.

  “All I ever heard was Baba Yaga this and Baba Yaga that,” Medusa sneered, her voice dripping with resentment. “You had all of Merlin’s attention. Tell me—how did it feel?”

  Yaga tied her hair back calmly, her movements deliberate, controlled. She raised a single finger, her expression cold and unwavering. “I’m going to give you one chance. Leave now. Walk away, far, far away. Or I’ll kill you right here where you stand.”

  Medusa threw her head back, her laughter echoing like a twisted symphony through the empty streets. Her snakes hissed in unison, their sharp, forked tongues flicking in rhythm with her manic laughter. “How did it feel?” she repeated, her tone venomous, eyes blazing with obsession.

  Yaga arched a brow. “How did what feel?” she asked, her voice sharp with suspicion.

  Before Yaga could react, one of Medusa’s serpents lunged forward, its fangs sinking deep into Yaga’s shoulder. The force of the attack hurled Yaga into the air like a rag doll. Her eyes widened in shock as Medusa suddenly appeared above her, moving with impossible speed.

  With devastating force, Medusa drove her knee into Yaga’s stomach, sending her plummeting to the ground. The impact split the earth, fracturing nearby buildings as dust and debris exploded into the air.

  “To be the only person who knows the real reason Merlin left!” Medusa roared, her voice a guttural cry of anguish and hatred.

  Through gritted teeth, Yaga slashed the throat of one of Medusa’s serpents with a single sharp swipe of her fingernail. The serpent recoiled with a shriek of pain, and Yaga used the opening to deliver a powerful kick, launching Medusa into the side of a crumbling building.

  Rising slowly from the rubble, Yaga dusted off her clothes, ignoring the sting of her injuries. Her gaze burned with an intensity that could cut through stone.

  “You’ll never understand,” Yaga spat, her voice trembling with restrained emotion. “You’ll never know what it feels like to bear the weight of Merlin’s past. To live with his sins and still be the one trying to fix the damage he left behind.”

  She bit her lip hard, suppressing the tears threatening to escape. Step by step, she closed the distance between them, her presence radiating lethal intent. “And that’s why you’ll lose, Medusa. You’ll always be chasing something you’ll never understand.”