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Alma rolled her eyes and began looking around the dark space they had entered into. The large room was dimly lit and appeared altogether different from the rest of the cave. A cluster of blackened bulbs hung from the ceiling above with no known solution on how to turn them on. The room was fitted with fancy furnishings—shelves full of either books or large specimen jars, strange elixirs, and shining phials filled with shimmering potions. Adorning the walls and floors were large draperies and carpets with colorful star patterns. In the corner was a large, steel cage with what Alma hoped were rust stains on the bottom. What little light was illuminating the alchemical lab came from a lone window at the very back that had no conceivable sense to exist in a place so far underground.

Looking out through the opening was a grand rocky field that stretched on for miles. At first glance, it appeared to be another enormous segment of the cave, but a closer look at the sky revealed an endless black space that seemed to somehow cast a pale shade over the entire area. What she at first took for clouds were actually strange, circular creatures covered in scales of ivory that hung there, floating stationary in the shadows of the sightless sphere above—pendulous tendrils dangling from their flabby undersides. Enveloping the crests of the land’s many hills were ruins of fallen monuments to Kings and Lords long dead and forgotten. At the far ends of the field stood impossibly tall cliffs of immense magnitude with hollowed out colonnades and temples that were lined with dozens of small openings, all of which were aglow with eerie phosphorescent lights. For a moment, Alma thought she could see shadows dancing within those tiny windows.

“This room seems to be in some sort of pocket dimension,” noted Heloise, dusting off her large hat and placing it back on her head. “I've only ever read about this kind of thing. Never actually thought it'd be possible. Like, this goes beyond just the regular pale of magic."

"Judging by the dust and weirdly-shaped cobwebs, this place has probably been abandoned for a while. That book didn't tell you who owned this place?"

"No…" The witch trailed off as she peered out the window. "What in the world…?"

“Want to go check it out?” Alma smiled wryly. “Bet I could shoot one of those things down. Damn! Imagine what other cool animals are roaming around out there.”

“Absolutely not,” retorted the witch. “Like, who knows what kind of atmosphere is out there or what if we get lost and never find our way back? No thanks. Fuck that. I rather not run into any more of those magic suckers.”

“Your loss. What kind of room is this, anyway?” The markswoman began inspecting some of the specimen jars adorning the shelves. They smelled of acrid chemicals and were full of weird, floating creatures she had never seen before. She noticed something alive and swimming inside one of them, causing her to recoil.

Heloise turned away from the window and looked around the room. She was about to re-light her scepter when the image of the horrifying creature that had chased them down flashed in her mind. Instead, she set it down on the table.

“Some kind of alchemist’s lab, looks like,” the witch replied.

“A what lab?”

“Alchemist. You know. The result of a scientist who tries his hand at magic?” There was a burning fury in her eyes. “Those white-coat bastards that think they know the secrets to the universe better than the witches and wizards of the world and only end up corrupting a pure, unadulterated craft with their sterilizing touch? Those guys.”

“Oh, Heli. I didn’t—”

“Forget it. Let’s just look around. Oh! What’s this?” The miffed sorceress’s eyes brightened as she looked over the vast library of ancient tomes and journals that lined the bookshelves of the lab. Accursed texts not meant to be read by any man—or curious witch. “Holy shit! Alma, I think this is it!”

“What? These books?”

“What do you mean ‘these books’? This is a treasure trove of goodies! Look!” She pulled a large, dusty scroll from a nearby bin and unfurled it. “The map to… The Charnel Acreage of Offal. Ew…”

“A veritable jackpot.” Alma smiled wryly once again, watching as her friend sanitized her hands after letting the map drop to the floor. She took a look at some of the esoteric texts filling the abandoned lab. She picked out a fancy-looking tome and skimmed the cover. “The Right Angle by the witch Kaziah.” She shrugged and placed it back, taking out another. Flicking through it, it seemed to be a piece of fiction about a regiment of holy knights caught in battle with a golden beast.

“Oh!” exclaimed the excited Heloise. “The dream diary of the king in the mountain! Wait. Holy fuck. To think this bastard even has notes on the Great God Azotha, my patron in witchery.”

“Heli.” The markswoman turned to her friend, suddenly remembering something. “Do you think you could try to scour some of these books for more info on that monster outside? We’re… probably going to have to face it again when we leave.”

The witch gave an all too intensive grimace at the prospect Alma put forth and began pulling out a number of bestiaries. Grime and dust coated her petite hands and sleeves as she piled up a stack of them on the floor, one by one.

Curiosity got the better of Alma as she picked out a thick, leather-bound tome with an unreadable title. She took the large book to the table and began to look through it, growing frustrated as she soon realized the entire thing had been written in an unintelligible text. Sweeping her fingers through its old pages, she finally reached a page with hand-written scribbles penned in its columns. Footnotes that seemed to be a hastily-made effort at translating the archaic language.

“The Crepuscule Lands, home to the Elder Dwellers of Zai Rall. The last governing scions of multicreation. They are at constant war with the Deep Residers of the Dirge Star, Carthexi. The Entropic Scourge. Beware the avatars of Carthexi!”

Alma scratched her head, trying her best to decipher the message left by the owner of the strange book. Turning toward the end of the book, she found an extremely unusual page whose contents had been vandalized by a single message scrawled over it in thick, bold letters. It read,

“THE DEFAULT MAN IS WATCHING. THE WORLD WILL DEFAULT.”

Something about the sinister message made her shudder, as if she were being watched. The markswoman looked over her shoulder at Heloise, who was quietly mouthing the words as she diligently continued to study the old secrets and wondered if she should bring it to her attention. Ultimately, Alma chose to just close the book on the mad rantings, not saying a word and assuming it for another pointless piece of fiction.

“Neblina,” remarked Heloise, after a long period. “That creature’s name. Looks like that fool of an alchemist was the first to discover it, in a very odd way, when he decided to build his lab here. He wrote that he was first told of this place in a dream he had. It showed him this cave and while exploring its depths, he excavated a really old book in some old language that held a lot of accursed knowledge. But the one section that most caught his attention was on how to make portals to other worlds. I guess it works on the same basis as summoning magic but a bit backwards."

The witch was nervously chewing on her nail as she spoke.

"Sounds like something that should've stayed buried," said Alma.

"Seems most of his attempts were unsuccessful anyway. And that he blundered his way into this one completely by chance. Or so he first believed. And get this! The coward was so scared when he finally got here that he built this lab as a little hideaway and never went outside. He has no idea what kind of place this is, but he refers to it in his writings as 'Stone' for whatever reason. Maybe because of all the rocks.

Heloise quickly flipped through a few pages of the journal she was reading from.

"He spent several nights here, without sleeping, miraculously. He couldn't explain it but it took a whole week before he finally felt anything like drowsiness. He instantly regretted sleeping here though, because the moment he actually fell asleep was the moment when that yucky Neblina came to him. It came to him from out there.”

She pointed to the window, slowly.

“More specifically, from some place it called the granite city. It had told him its name and that long, long ago he was once worshipped by the people of the cave. It taught them how to counter magic and use it to bring naive, unsuspecting spellcasters to him as sustenance. Something it began asking of him."

"Counter magic? Like the reflect spell on the door?"

"Uhh, doesn't go into much detail but I really, really doubt it," she said nervously. The witch's small mouth sunk into a frown.

She seemed to be utterly terrified of the Neblina. Alma began to wonder if this trip was worth the trauma.

"Now the important part," Heloise continued. "Took some time before he finally grew some balls and began looking for a way to destroy it. He found a spell he was thinking might work but it looked like he was lacking in the magical affinity department. Which makes me wonder how the fuck he was able to open the portal in the first place!"

A sudden revelation caused her eyes to widen.

"Or maybe it wasn't him that opened the portal…" The young witch swallowed, swearing under her breath.

“Any idea what happened to him?”

“I don’t know. The entries end kind of abruptly so it’s pretty obvious he didn’t live very long after that! He tried to fight it and lost. Imagine! Even with all his knowledge… What a fucking waste.”

"Heli? Are you okay? I don't think I've ever seen you this scared before."

"I'm just…" Heloise's hands dug into the sides of her chiffon hair, head slumping between them. "What if we can't get out of here? What if we're stuck here forever, with our only choices being to go out there to starve to death, stay in here to starve to death or go out and face that thing so he doesn't starve to death?"

Alma walked over and placed her hand on her best friend's shoulder.

There was a pressure in her friend’s hand that gave the young sorceress a slight feeling of reassurance. But it wasn’t enough. Heloise lowered her head completely and buried her face in her arms.

"What was the spell?" Alma asked after a brief moment.

"What does it matter? I'm sure I can't cast it." There was a strong doubt in Heloise's muffled voice, her face still buried.

"That's not the Heli I know. Come on, there has to be something around here that can help. Didn't you say there were also powerful magic items down here?"

“Yeah.” Heloise raised her head, thinking. “Yes! You’re right!”

The witch scooted out of her chair excitedly and rushed to the other side of the room. She began rummaging through trunks coated in ancient dust, looking for anything that might be useful. Nothing of interest seemed to catch her attention until she spotted a fairly large, faintly glowing key that reacted to her touch. It seemed to be made from a kind of special electrum-like alloy, there was a small serpent wrapped around the bow of the key in an exotic design. As she held the strange trinket in her hand, a resonant energy coursed through her fingers, reacting to her magical energy. It was an odd feeling and it seemed to be directing her somewhere.

"Did you find something?" asked the confused markswoman.

As if in a trance, the witch Heloise felt compelled to move to a large curtain hanging down along the center wall. She grabbed it and ripped it down with all her might, bringing the handle crashing down along with it, barely missing the top of her head. On the wall that had been previously covered was a keyhole masking a warded lock that kept flickering in and out of existence. The witch held the key aloft and recited the first word that entered her mind.

Patentibus!