Meera was enamored by the size and beauty of the stone monstrosity before her. Akhessai was the size of a small hill, going hundreds of feet up, so much so Meera would have to fly to the top to figure out its true height. The archdragon was standing on two legs, wings spread wide, along with its arms. Its jaw was open in a fearsome roar, which must've been her last act of defiance before turning to stone.

The magic that entrapped her in stone was so powerful that it captured all the fine details of the creature—even the intricate details on her scales. The minor scratches on the tips of its wings and all the long scratches she must have earned in her countless battles were all there, not marring but somehow enhancing her beauty.

"Shut your trap, you're drooling," Arvena remarked.

Meera sneered. "How could that be killed? I know Veridiana turned her to stone, but still, how..."

"That is a secret you should ask Veridiana," Kalrina said. "If you can get her out of her training room or, as she calls it, 'her study.'"

"She's the only reason Akhessai's children haven't wiped us out completely," Arvena said.

"She and Aksha and that crone Duinith," Kalrina pointed out. "Don't forget Nikai. She must be getting up there in levels as well."

"Who are they?" Meera asked. If they were enough to hold back a dragon invasion, then it was best she knew they were and stayed away from them.

"Duinith is the Mistress of Teaching," the witch said. "A headmistress of sorts. All the young recruits are assigned to her 'care,' and when I say care, I mean torture."

Arvena crossed her arms and tilted her head. "Aren't you being a tad overzealous, Rina? I remember a girl who was adamant about doing things her way."

"Because my way was right." The witch snapped like a petulant child.

Meera coughed. "Duinith is the teacher and this Nikai? Who is she?"

"Your evil librarian who got over-leveled through the years by eating the children who were late in returning their books."

Meera waited for either of the sisters to come clean, but they said nothing aside from shaking their heads as if remembering bad memories.

"You're serious?"

"I don't think she ate them, but she definitely did something as most weren't seen again," the older sister said. "And if they were, they weren't themselves. They just stared off into the distance like their souls had been sucked out."

"I don't believe you."

The witch shrugged. "Believe it or not, but I'm running at the sight of the evil woman. I'm ten years over my due date, and in all that running, I lost the book."

Arvena gasped. "Are you sure you wanted to go back in there?"

Meera felt they were pulling a prank on her, but it could very well be true, given all the craziness in the world. But Meera would still watch out for these two, along with everyone else, as she didn't have any friends in there.

"Who did Neel meet when he came here?" Meera asked.

Arvena smirked. "Aksha, the other two we mentioned, and the other higher-ups. He wasn't very subtle. The lad couldn't stop staring at all the pretty women and their assets."

She shared a glance with her sister, and they both chuckled at the joke.

Meera ignored her comment because it was probably true. He was a teenager, after all. Now, it was time to see if the sorceress was telling the truth.

"What did he want with them?" Meera asked.

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"Something to do with powering an ancient artifact with a dragon heartstring." Arvena paused to squint at Meera. "Something tells me you know very well about this artifact."

Kalrina started. “Dragon heartstring…” Her eyes landed on Meera. "Could he have anything to do with the dragons attacking Drurith?"

Meera didn't answer them because after what the witch had seen in Drurith, she might turn on her.

"How are you going to get us in?" Meera asked.

Arvena smiled. "Same way, I got Rina out."

"Oh no, no, no, no. No!" Kalrina backed up until she was out of the illusion, but Meera could still hear her muffled no's.

Meera stood on a mirror disc, staring at the archdragon's gigantic heel. As it turned out, when the sorceresses moved in, they didn't make many changes to the natural pathways of the dragon's body. They just appropriated them to serve other purposes. Like they cleared out all her blood vessels and used them as corridors or etched stairs into them, or so Arvena had explained briefly as they stalked their way to this foul-smelling place.

Meera couldn't see the refuse, but she could definitely smell it. What she saw was the dragon standing on a pristine field of freshly cut grass, but her nose told an entirely different story.

"Have you placed an illusion on the shit to appear invisible?" Meera asked.

"If only it were that simple," the witch spoke in a nasally voice on account of having her nose pinched shut.

Arvena chuckled, but she, too, had a hand over her mouth. "It's…you know what you'll find out. Rina, I believe you know the way in. Now, if you'll excuse me, I have to run to the washroom to quite literally shit on the girl's head."

She waved and walked off.

"Wait, she's joking, right?" Meera turned to the witch.

Kalrina patted her shoulder. "I'm afraid not, dearie, and her shit is not the only one we need to be mindful of."

Meera groaned. Neel, I'm going to kill you for this.

She didn't have to ask where the stench was coming from. She saw it. The ground around Akhessai's heel looked wet and dark-colored for several meters. It didn't take a dog's nose to realize what it was.

"Please tell me we're not going to be wading through centuries worth of shit," Meera said.

"No, what kind of uncultured pigs do you take us for," Kalrina replied, making Meera sigh in relief but then immediately followed it with. "It'll only be days' worth if we're lucky. A week's at max."

Meera cringed inwardly.

Kalrina continued. "We had dug a huge pit deep underground to funnel into. As we explained earlier, we used the dragon's veins and arteries and mapped out a perfect plumbing system. Still, it turns out we miscalculated the size of the hole we needed, and hundreds of sorceresses dumping shit into it over centuries led to, well, this." She motioned to the wet ground. "I honestly thought they would have taken care of this by now, but when you live for so long, these problems always take a backseat."

A question regarding their long life popped into Meera's mind, but she decided to ask it later when her nostrils weren't being assaulted.

"We can just fly clear of it," Meera declared. "Can't we?"

The witch patted Meera's shoulder. "Sure we can."

Why does that feel like when mom gave me false hope about being a fairy princess when asked what I wanted to be when I grew up? Meera paused. Well, I may not be a fairy, but I can do magic. But it's still a no on the princess part.

Kalrina waved a hand over herself and formed a sort of mirror armor that covered herself. It was a cheap imitation of Meera's armor. Then she flew to the heel and placed a hand on it. Her palm's outline glowed with a greenish-yellow glow. A rumbling happened deep within the dragon's foot until, finally, a section of the heel just disappeared, and a huge mound of shit just spilled out.

The witch shot back from the mound and smiled at Meera, pinching her nose shut. "Well, I honestly didn't think that would work. Only current members of the sisterhood are able to open the heel. Shall we?"

"After you," Meera said, flourishing a hand. She willed her armor to cover her entirely, leaving only two slots open for her nose, and if she didn't need oxygen to survive, she would've shut them too. She also removed all her chakrams and shoved them into her Dragon Hoard Belt. She didn't want to sully Midiea's divine weapons and then add an angry goddess to her list of troubles.

The witch groaned. "I wasn't planning on coming through here twice in my life. Three times if we can pull this off quietly."

Something told Meera they would not return this way, given the people she had to talk to.

"Okay, this way, and do NOT touch the walls," Kalrina warned.

----------------------------------------

The witch knocked on the lid once, then four times, followed by three. For a long moment, nothing happened, but Meera heard the muffled sound of footsteps, and then someone knocked on the other side of the lid twice. Kalrina returned five more knocks.

"Why do you have this code?" Meera practically growled. "Is she expecting someone other than us to come out of her toilet?"

Kalrina didn't get to reply as the lid opened up, washing them with light and a citrusy scent, which was a godsend after the past hour.

"When I flush something down the toilet, I don't expect it to come crawling back out," Arvena mused with a smile.

Meera and Kalrina both sighed in relief. Kalrina was the first to get out, followed by Meera. They stepped out into what was the sorceress's bathroom. There was a wooden bathtub in the corner, a sink with a mirror, and some toiletries. It had a very modern feel to it.

Meera eyed the bathtub, as did the witch.

"I'm showering first!" They both snapped at the same time.

"I'm afraid no amount of showering is going to clean that off," Arvena said.