Chapter 44 – Recipe World

Becca waited. The dim lighting from the archway's inner space kept her in a dire state of suspense, like a cloak of desolation within the halls of the empty spaces between all that was. The air smelled of dust and old books, at times forcing her breath within. She paced back and forth, felt the very ends of the short hall, barely 4 feet wide and 9 ft long. No sign of anyone. No sign of anything. She paused to listen. The sound of the water, rushing along a river, echoed faintly in the distance outside one of the doors, she pushed towards it and found it gave no purchase. The door was jammed shut by some unknown force, like a giant fist pushing inward from the other side, from beyond the archway, or from her own mind and her own fears.

She felt the pressure build within her lungs as she held her breath, waiting. Waiting for what? She didn't know. Then she heard a voice, she recognized it as hers.

ΨStep away from the door. Take caution my child. Just because you feel that you can go into the unknown, doesn't mean you should. Psychic space, in all its myriad ways, is always open.

The door started to crack open, Becca leapt back, almost stumbling.

Becca jumped back. A hand, of pure light, of color, the most pure color she had ever seen, of all of life's pure colors, was grasping around her hand. Lighting up the markings around her arm that she saw from the coffin earlier. She turned to see, and nothing but the color existed. It glowed, and the light that it emanated was unreal, a dream in the mind of the creator of the universe perhaps. Soon the light went into her arms and the markings were glowing so hard that Becca had to cover her eyes and scream.

By the time the door opened, the overwhelming light faded into a glint, like red hot bands after a branding of iron. Stepping forward was a woman wreath made of leaves, a white toga with numerous feathers, she had a staff in her hands and was playing some conch-shaped instruments. "Doth the forest bring me a morsel?" The lady said, a grim presence emanating from the skull at the end of her staff. The door slammed shut. A few moments later it opened back up, another woman coming in. A She was dressed in a black dress with a blue vest with a , a white sash around her waist, and numerous black boots that covered most of her body. Her eyes were a golden and had flames coming out of them. She was holding a glaive, a single light at the end of the 8 ft pole. This woman was a little taller than the first, the first being of a medium height, the second was of a high stature. "Who shall the darkness bring me?" The second lady spoke with a sinister smile on her face. The door shut again, and surely enough when it opened a third woman came in. This woman was dressed in a black leather overcoat with numerous straps and buckles on it, and white overalls, with a gun holster, and a 10-gallon hat over her head. "Who is at my very doorway? I dun remember asking for a rodeo." The third woman asked. She held a gun, a single shotgun that she aimed at the group. Becca watched the door close, she stepped back as many times after more people came in, all female and significantly older, in their 30s and 40s. Soon many more people came in, and by the 15th, Becca was at a state of

shock, she was sure they would be squished inside before long. She swiveled her head around the crowd, trying to see if any were Astrid.

The door opened yet again, a younger looking woman of around her mid 20's, with dark hair, ashen grey skin and black dirt soil all around her, caking her like charcoal. She wore a collar with numerous spikes sticking out of it, and wore numerous rings on her hands and fingers connected to chains that went to said collar. "Lord, the darkness was hungry today, I brought you a meal." The girl threw some sort of dead rotting beast into the hallway, ripping a chunk out with clawed-tips and taking a bite. The other woman looked at her with disgust.

"Behave yourself!" The lady yelled. She walked up to the girl and grabbed a chunk of meat from the dead beast and threw it down the lady's throat.

"Don't waste food." She chewed impolitely.

"You bitch!" The woman in the leather overcoat said, reaching for her gun and shooting at the girl directly in the face. Her weapon let out a blaring flash of lightning and her pistol went boom as she blew the charcoal faced girl away, a hole in her face as she splattered against the wall and slumped motionless. "What a waste of life." The lady in the toga said, holding her staff like a cane. Becca looked in astonishment at the girl, and saw a black marking all over her, almost like a death rune. Becca felt a sting in her arm, it was like the burning of electricity on her skin, but felt like the marking came off her skin like a snakeskin. "Don't worry my dear." The woman said, holding her hand out. "She's done, lights out."

Becca put her palm on the girl's chest, the coiling markings twisting around the body- suddenly the corpse twirled and twisted as if it were liquid flushed in a urinal. "A-aaah!" She cried, trying to take her hand away. The moment she did, it untwisted and flung towards a fancy woman in a victorian brassier and long skirt, the markings coiling around her and choking her, her eyes twitching as she went limp as her neck slowly twisted and sleeves and chemisette twisted. "H-hhelp!" She gasped for breath, reaching for her neck. "S-stmpph!" Becca reached forward, the markings returning to her arm, the woman untwisting and gasping as she plunked onto the ground in a stumbling turn.

Everyone looked at Becca suspiciously, the cow hat clearing her throat. "Sure don't fuck with that." She aimed at Becca and pulled the trigger. Becca's pupils dilated, and time slowed down for her.

ΨJump

She attempted to leap up, the rest of the room a slow moving scene from her vantage. She heard the words "Sure don't fuck with that." by the time she reached the ceiling- from the perspective of everyone else, the woman shot Becca and she flurried into a smoky afterimage which faded upon being shot. Everyone looked up at the ceiling to see the smoke as if they were staring at a blaring fire or a burning flame in the dark. In their midst, was Becca, looking down at the gun with wide eyes. Her face showed some shock, but also some amazement, and in her eyes an glowing translucent ambient after... or, beforeimage(?) slowly merged into the

women as the present caught up to her. When time sped up again, she saw the glowing images shoot at her in advance, causing her to leap about the ceiling and walls.

The woman continued to shoot at smoky mirages, never seeming to hit her target. "Well." The cow hat woman said. "I'll be." She said, taking her hat off, whether out of

respect was anyone's guess. "Tricky kitty."

 

 

There was no more time to spar as the door opened up- this time to brightly lit hues and pink pastel streets. Swiftly, as if a rogue instinct possessed them the woman rushed out, with swords/guns/staffs/maces/spears/axes/fans blazing. In a cottoncandy town square the women rushed into a building, a candy cane sticker on its side, and in walked to a single young girl who was wearing a pleated neon-green skirt that matched her hair, she held a book in her hands. "Huh?"

One of the woman stuck an axe into her skull. "ARCH MAIDENS!"

Everyone in the jovial, illuminated town square panicked, lanterns turning from pink to red. Becca fell silent from inside the arch, she slowly walked forward but something grabbed her leg- the chunk of meet she'd twisted earlier that belonged to that black haired girl. It grew out and bulged as if shaping itself from clay, lumpy limbs pushing forward, organs and structure growing as the body contorted into proper shape. Soon the same girl re-emerged and got up, "That was sick!" She said. The hole in her charcoal coated face undented and spat out the bullet, healing everything to her signature pale beauty. She kissed Becca on her forehead. Becca was still stunned as she pulled the black haired girl away. "Sorry dove, too much?"

Becca wiped the black smudged wax from her forehead and turned to the scene of carnage, the woman let loose were attacking as ever they could, mauling and breaking apart the people that attempted to get out of the way. That being, the teenaged girls with spoons and forks aplenty came rushing into the square, one holding a fork in her hand, two others holding a few spoons in their hands, while the last one was trying to fry people with a pot in her hands. "Enough is enough! Spoon spoon, strike of the moon!!" A beam from the translucent, foamy dome above shot at one of the woman in a leotard and crown was flattened by a sea of boiling broth which spread flames as it touched down. "Red Velvet strike, sugarheart light!!" Another yelled, holding their book like a spell tome. As cake shot gunned out, the woman on the left was sent through a wall, a crater formed in its place. The other three girls were in shock at what they were doing as they fired their spells in retaliation, two dozen more recipe girls appearing on the rooftops. A diced pressured stream of waxy sugary discs split head the cowgirl's shoulder open, cookies piercing her like shurikens. She screamed and fell the ground, reaching for her gun, only for another disc to pierce her wrist and send her hand flying. "Tsk! You lil britches n' your pastries!"

A woman in a black robe and hood with wings, and one holding a large Scepter.

They held out their hands, and a black light came from them, a light as if night had turned into a black sea in the eyes of some creatures as it formed a sphere of the black light, like a mini sun of darkness, the darklight expanding like a shockwave into a black hole. Buildings were swallowed, the girls fled from the expansion as it swallowed the ground and anything in its wake. The woman stood together, holding hands. "This is our mourning, this is your doom.

Perish in the dark, be swallowed up in the womb of death's embrace."

Just as quickly as it expanded, it began to shrink- the top was siphoned out, slowly sucked away into a funnel. A strange white feline-shaped clump breathed in and suckled away at the 'womb', like sipping a bubble through a straw. It wobbled and contracted into nothingness, leaving the remaining woman in awe. They heard a low rumbling 'urrp', when suddenly the clumpy cloud spun around and compressed into the shape of a large cat, its fur, made of the same color, a tophat made of black and red vest which showed only its edges and contours but was see-through along its surface. "Party's over ladies! Pack it up fellahs and go back where you came, nyah~!"

 

 

The woman stepped forward in unison. "Doth you plan to bring forth the end? The end of the line, the end of the day?" The woman on the left asked, her fingers twitching. "Doth you want to kill us all? Take us and burn us in the hells?"

The strange cloudy cat in the sky snickered. "Don't be such mewrtyrs, geez golly weez!" She took a deep breath, fat pudgy chest puffing in like a frog and holding the air in. When she forced her mouth open, the entity unleashed powerful screech, which echoed in the empty sky. "MEOWRRRRRRRRRR!" She let out, the sound wave causing all the remaining women to crumble down to their knees, some falling on the ground, the gust blowing through the fallen party and blasting them like a heavenfire hurricane. The cannon-fire of destructive wind ripped through the ground leaving cracks as it unearthed them. They were blown far back into the doorway arch- some missing and running into it out of panic while the cat's storm raged.

The dark haired girl was walking out with Becca when the ladies pushed her aside, closing the door and locking her outside in the crumbled block. The next thing they saw, the doorway vanished and they were stranged, looking at one another. The recipe girls looked around them at the scene of destruction, signs of darklight realm's presence upon their merry city still lingering, More of them arrived- many older, in baking hats and aprons, the rest wearing their uniforms and some holding forks.

A woman wearing an latex white apron underneath a silver sash and a blue hair net smiled as she looked at the girls. "Are ye havin' fun?" She asked. The wind twisted and turning from above, shrinking the cloudy cat into the size of a wedding cake and floating her just above the woman, her compressed form still resembling a cat made of puffy white, her silky fur around her neck like a luxurious boa. "Good job Roux." She said, stroking her belly.

"Mewrr.. sugary delights, these 2 weren't with them in the attack! They came out of that door, but were left behind? Must be purrisoners!"

Becca hid behind the girl, her hand unleashing her spirals and accidentally twisting and tearing her spine. Suddenly she but a little different. She grew four arms, four legs, and was breathing like a hippo, her body a bit of everything- a little dog, a little wolf, a little human, a little rabbit. Her body moved like an animal, her features changing from a haggard old crone to a spunky young woman as she smiled to the people around her, tentacles growing out her back.

"RAVEN!!" A girl in a witch's hat screamed. She held up a piece of french toast, tossing it until it expanded into a cubicle barrier of light. The raven-haired girl's hand turned into a scaled claw, and she smashed the barrier with ease. "Nuh uh, nonono. Nuppity nuhp we don't waste food like that." The cat, Roux grew 5x her size and twisted around the girl, compressing into a funnel of sticky, cloudy material "No we don't- I'm mmMPHFGFFF!" She was encased inside Roux, the giant cat ate up the Raven, her body twisting and turning as if she were inside a blender, and soon the girl's organs and flesh mixed together with a sticky, sugary, white-blue cream as her body was swallowed by the cat who licked her own face. "Yippy yappers, no fear.

We share our delicious food with... everyone!"

The blue haired woman patted Roux's head. She eyes Becca. "And what of you?"

 

 

The girl sighed. "Nyaa I got this." Roux floated in the air towards her, in a way that reminded Becca all too much of her previous host. Right as she was about to expand her mouth, she saw something hanging around Becca's neck- an Ankh necklace. "Huh? Wait wait willyickles, where'd you get this?" She whispered in her ear.

Becca shrugged and gave a look of disgust. "I don't know." She whispered.

"G-good!" Roux winked twice back. "Nyaa! Then you're under ''her' protection!" She yelled and put her arms around her, cuddling her. "Even have her smell, gish gosh sweaty goth posh!" Roux turned her head as the woman looked. "Huh?" She said, the cat slowly turning into a cloud, a white clumpy mound of sugar floating in the air as it transformed into a tiny bikini- clad goth-Becca, imitating the girl like a frivolous trickster might.

"This girl is one of us! Or, she may be, but she's no furrreat nor dangerous. I can vouch for her! We should show her around-around this girl we found!" The woman looked to the Becca-shaped-Roux. "Very well then. My name is Headwitchress Verniss, but you can call me by my Recipe Witch name- Tart." She pet the cloudy white copy of Roux, who poofed and returned to her floating fatcat shape. "My cat's name is Roux, protector of Recipe World! Genus Loci of the bakery, defender of the culinary curriculum Nyah wah weez nyah! From one cat to another, I welcome you." She turned to Tart. "Nyyam gonna take a cakewalk to the Prisoner Pantry! Will double check our security and be right back." Her paw shapeshifted into a white key.

Inside her body, she felt the girl kicking and resisting. "Now now, naughty Racoon... nyah! That's not very ladylike!" Changing her shape into a helicopter, Roux flew off off across the city.

"...Custard." The blue haired witch, Verniss said to a girl with glasses and a fork-shaped dagger in her belt. "Say, can you keep your eye on that girl?" She pointed at Becca.

Custard nodded silently, her book in one arm. "You don't look like any Recipe Witch I've seen, " Head Witchtress Tart told her.

"Recipe.. witches?" Becca asked.

"Powers of the kitchen, sweetie. Spellcrafters of ingredients. Holders of the sacred book." She clapped her hands and urged the girl to follow her along. Slowly they walked along the colorful streets, hues of lime, pink, grape, cherry and a chocolatey maroon made up the walls with renaissance-architecture. High arches with licorice, domed rooftops made of cookiebread, and spires coated in thick chocolate all around. "Recipe world is a secret- a place of magic and food, a realm made of all that is tasty, sweet and divine. Not like the mundane, dull and tasteless world outside." She said.

"A secret?"

"Yes, we are somewhat exclusive. Those who obtain a Recipe Book may be invited to join and be trained in our ways. I'm sure you understand the difficulty of having such a delicious realm out in the open! Especially with attackers like them, whores from the Darklight and their accursed mother." Becca saw girls of 12-18 in classrooms alongside older woman giving classes in windows, baking with ovens and kilns and over roaring fires and highly advanced equipment. Many skirted girls in their skirts and aprons wandered the streets happily with their recipes books. "To think they're still attacking on my hundredth anniversary." Tart said, her primed and matured features quite distinguished but not nearly aged or elderly.

"You're 100 years old?!" Becca asked.

She nodded. "I know its hard to tell, but Recipe magic can slow our aging, or even prevent it. Behind every door is another recipe world- a bakery, culinary kitchen, a restaurant or a grocery store. They contain their own worlds, their own magic and their own recipe magic. We hold 198 worlds within our grand 'Bakery', and this city is our main hub that connects them."

"...what about the attackers?" Becca asked, noticing many girls scared or gossiping when looking at her.

"The attackers were all born from a dark place called the Darklight, brought there by the 'Mother of Darkness'. In is a place that contains all darkness in its endless void, always trying to change them, and only the 'Daughters of Thermidor' are born there- many even are those who would have been Recipe Witches but their Recipe books were destroyed in their world because of evil, death or other misfortunes." She explained. "For reasons we don't know, they hate us and have become our sworn enemy."

"What about the cat??" She raised a brow.

"That was Roux, a Genus Loci of our world. Our city's protector and mascot the guardian spirit of our world." She said, her gaze looking like it was miles away as she thought. "She was

born after we built the Bakery a thousand years ago. She can turn into anything she pleases, shapeshift and has the most potent magic on all the worlds."

"What? Even more than you?" Becca gasped.

"Even me." She nodded." After all the war and turmoil of the Darklight, she gave us hope for a new start. She's a formidable djinn, as long as we have her, we're safe and sound. Even from-" She looked upwards. "It."

"It?"

"Just a saying. Never worry about 'It', unless you're a recipe witch or you have one of our books, I suppose. But it's another of our enemies here."

She winked, "I bet you're wondering where your book is."

"I don't know." She gulped, glancing around as if it were right behind her back.

"Recipe Books commonly vanish or come and go when newbies arrive here. I'll get back to you, I have much to attend to, let me show you to our orientation room and drop you off for now." Head Witchtress Tard told her. About three street blocks later, Becca was taken to an indoor amphitheater, an old styled projection behind hundreds of leathery seats. Becca sat down as a woman with a chef's hat put an old reel in the projector.

On the old dilapidated footage, Roux appeared and began to dance around as she narrated.

"Welcome, to the city of Recipe World, a secret universe hidden behind an archway.

Within this pocket dimension outside of space and time itself, the Daughters of Thermidor, are hellbent on destroying our world, they are the only ones who can cross through the arch into our world. My name is Roux, and you may have found me here when you arrived. But, you may ask 'what happened to the book?" For it is the most valuable thing in this world! Possessing a Recipe Book is the first and primary requirement to be here! There may be others, but all considered Recipe Witches may bask in our culture, our magical knowledge and protection!" Roux shapeshifted into a book, opening up as the footage zoomed into scenes of numerous classrooms and pastel skylines.

 

 

 

 

"The Recipe Book! To the uninitiated it may seem like an ordinary spellbook, but this tome is the key to unlocking your inner magic, aswell as the gates to Recipe World! A book unlike any other you've ever known. I could tell you about it, but let's have the Head Witchtress Verniss speak on our behalf." On the screen, Verniss came and spoke to the camera sitting on a velvet chair. "All those here find their illustrious existences as Recipe Witches begin when they find their book- or rather, when their Recipe Book appears to them. Whether you've done little with your life or much, no matter what creed, beliefs or dreams you may have had, the book

comes to those who find purpose or meaning in magical cuisine. In its pages, you may learn magic, how to cook, or how to use the recipe magic to fulfill any dream or desire you may have. But all those dreams, desires, dreams and goals...all of them, they must be connected to food." She lit a cigarette, puffing slowly as the footage rolled. "You may find yourself undergoing some changes as you bond with your book. The closer it becomes to you, the more spells- recipes, it reveals and the more recipes you may intuitively understand and record in the book itself." Verniss crossed her legs. "The book may talk to you, or you may find yourself feeling different- changing appearance, personality, becoming more of what you want, be that a sexy librarian, a warrior, an adorable and charming witch, a bartender, a beautiful goth, a powerful goddess, or even a strong leader of your people. But, what is truly important is what the book helps you be who you, or even the book desires you to be. You may soon find those are one in the same."

The images cut between different women, and different girls- all with their own personality. "To be frank, I understand your confusion. When you arrive here, you are just like everyone else- a young, impressionable girl whose found her way in life. You may not even be human! But once the book is your's, your past and your identity may become a thing of the past, just so you can fulfill your new destiny." She blew smoke out the corner of her mouth. "The book comes to those who want to be more. It calls out to all young girls and woman that are eager to do more. You and your book are one, and what your book wants, your heart is sure to want too. The book's wisdom may be more powerful than any book you've ever seen, for it is the book itself we at Recipe World, obey and divine from to receive our instructions. It tells us who to recruit, how to protect our city, warns us of our enemies, and even informs us who is to be the Head Witchtress and in time, who are to be those who shall inherit her legacy. We all do our part to uphold this tradition, while we all do what our book requires of us." She laughed. "There is one warning I must provide for you, our new witchee. Our city is protected by a powerful barrier, but beyond these skies it's not safe for us Witches. The gluttonous Blight outside consumed both witches and their spellbooks greedily n the years before the birth of this city. 10000 years ago, the Blight came as darkness forged by those who lost their recipes, their friends, or those who were evil, and it consumed the very witches themselves. Those who lost their recipe books because of death or misfortunes, were corrupted and consumed into the Blight's collective power. Their recipes, their magic, and their very essence was transformed into an indefinite and neverending hunger. It swallowed spellcasters and witches whole. Now it prowls outside our realm's barrier, always trying to enter and weaken our wards. But if it gets into our city, it will consume everything and destroy our magical and culinary way of life. Those that were corrupted, marked by a red pitch-fork tattoo on their forehead have surrendered to the Blight live to prey on the lives and magic of innocent young Recipe Witches, like you, and devour their recipe books alongside them."

 

 

The footage reel finally slowly faded out and the lights dimmed back on faintly, the Recipe Witch with her large white wings and oversized puffy shoulderpadded arms showing Becca out. "Head Witchtress Verniss has suggestions for your curriculum. She shall see you through the initiation process later, until then feel free to roam around and explore until Roux comes to find you."

Without further delay she was let out of the theater to wander. The smell of fresh baked goods and sugary sweets filled the air.

She heard her mouth make sounds groaning suddenly.

"ΨI feel like I'm going to throw up or something- maybe it's just my nerves."

She felt a hand on her back, with a voice whispering into her ear. "Psst." Slowly she turned around, seeing a brown sheeny bunnygirl whose fur looked like velvety chocolate, she wore a hoodie and bandages around her arms, her book in her arms. "My name's Cocoa Puddles. Everything you saw in there, was just some sort of propaganda!" She said, her gaze looking around suspiciously, then whispering. "Everything you've seen- everything that Head Witchtress said is just a lie. Most of the dark world stuff, the Blight is just a myth! I don't have proof yet but, my grandma was a Recipe Witch. She said when she attended classes here there was no Blight.

Whatever is attacking us over the dome, isn't some singularity of corrupted evil witches." "Really?" Becca said, trying to feign care.

"Yeah. But don't tell anyone okay?" She said. "It's hard to tell here. Even if they were telling the truth about the Blight, which we're not sure about, it just seems like a lie! A cover- up."

"Why?"

Cocoa Puddles pouted. "To hold power obviously! They just want to force us to do what they want. I bet the pitch-fork tattoo is also madeup somehow." She handed Becca a flier. "I'm part of an organization called the Boiling Point, we're a group investigating and trying to expose Miss Verniss and her lies." She handed Becca the flier, looking around the alleyway carefully as she tucked it close.

"The Boiling Point is a group of girls like us, who question this place and everything it stands for."

"Like the Blight and all?" Becca looked at the gilded pamphlet.

"Right. We've heard of this city before. Apparently, Roux's supposed to be some sort of guardian spirit, but we think it's more likely she's a familiar or golemn of some kind, a summon rather than an avatar. According to my grandma she wasn't here either in her time."

"Summon? Like a Genie in a bottle?" Becca asked.

"More like a familiar! A creature made with Recipe magic. But who could create a familiar that strong, we can only assume is Head Witchtress Verniss, or one of the 6 Witchtress council members." She said, looking at her shaking pawed hands. "They're trying to hold onto everything. They'll even confiscate your book for questioning them."

Becca glanced at Cocoa Puddles who seemed very nervous. "Where do I find them?"

She nodded and pointed at a building behind the movie theater. "It's some kind of council meeting, maybe its a secret." She mouthed and walked off, vanishing into the crowd.

The girl turned around, and saw Tart the Head Witchtress, and Roux the cat levitating gently over her. Puddles was nowhere to be seen. "Find your sights a delight my dearie?" Verniss asked.

Becca nodded.

Elsewhere in the council of Recipe World, the 6 leading Witchtresses sat in a circle. Cherry Pie, Blueberry, Eclair, Velvet, Raspberry, and Peach stood around a round table, with hologram a gothic-looking woman with a long black skirt floating in front of them. "We still haven't located her.." Peach said, her soft bosom covered in fur along her massive petticoat.

"We'll find her soon, don't worry, Roux is still searching as we speak. She'll be found soon enough, that girl will come to our sides..." Raspberry said, magenta ringlets flowing out her backside along her frilly waistcoat. They dismissed the hologram. "We've other worries to attend to. This last Darklight attack was rather extreme, we spotted about 25 combatants, many at the level of a Class-U8 threat.

Our scouts may have found their next base of operations, but its possible the Darklight is just amassing its forces. It seems Thermidor has been busy recruiting herself lately."

"It must be." Eclair said, her short fur-coat covered in puffballs of dark brown cream all around her, her legs extending down her body in a bipedal shape. She looked around. "Where are our allies? The Heart Guild..the Winery society? The Magnum Order?"

Cherry Pie sighed, crossing her legs and folding her arms. "Pity the pathetic state your city is in if we need those louses to come to our aide."

Blueberry raised her glasses up. "Our sensors have detected Blight activity. It seems to be getting stronger with each successive attack, and we don't know why. At this rate the barrier integrity will-" "Oh pish posh." Velvet interrupted, huddling towards Eclair and massaging her breasts.

The barrier is made of cake, we're the bakers. Pies, you yourself baked the barrier! If the barrier is weak it's because you're slacking off at your job."

"I would appreciate it if you didn't talk down to me." Cherry Pie said, her pinky fingernails flicking through the air with ruby rings attached.

"No need to get huffy about it." Velvet said, looking at the other girls. "Let's focus on the new girl. Have we vetted and tested her for a candidate of the Prophecy?"

Cherry furrowed her brows and took out a glass chalice, sprinkling cream, milk, rum and cherries into a delicious mix. "The prophecy, really? This again. It's just a myth A myth created by some old Witchtress, who wanted to unite all the Witchtresses and Recipe Lords under one banner." She gulped her drink. "What even is the prophecy? That we'll be overrun and fall like

Rome and Athens, or something when a chosen one appeared? As if a Recipe Witch could be something like that."

"Excuse me, we have quite a few fine members from both those locations. It's one of our finer time eras in most recruitment searchs." Blueberry added.

"I'll give you that, but who's to say the prophecy isn't true?" Raspberry asked, raising her furry arm up. "Maybe it's just some mystical crap, but can we take any chances? The prophecy states when the chosen child appears, it'll bring with it destruction and salvation.

With the Darklight's attacks, the increasing of Blight activity and the Daughters' increasing strength, we must prepare ourselves for the worse."

"The darkness can devour us like a whirlwind in hell for all I give a scrumptious fuck." Cherry Pie said. "Who cares? We all have our own domains to attend to."

Witchtress Raspberry got up, hands on the ring-shaped table. "Your arrogant stance aside, we need Recipe World! Do you think the Darklight will stop once its destroyed? That the Blight will cease hunting consuming us? Lesser, inexperienced Recipe Witches will stand no chance against them!"

"Boo hoo to them. How sad. If any other wants to antagonize or come to my realm and take what belongs to Cherry, they may try it." Cherry Pie put a cherry in her mouth, and bit down for dramatic effect.

The council looked at her angrily, then around, nodding quietly. The only reason Cherry had ever joined, they recalled was to secure her own power and influence. She never had any interest in protecting their stronghold or benefiting anyone but herself, if it weren't for her being a formidable ally, they'd have kicked her off the council long ago. "We should put a stop to this before it starts." Eclair said, her head tilted to the right. "We must find the chosen one as soon as possible and complete the prophecy. Head Witchtress Verniss had done fine as administrator and regularly screens every recruit , but its time we take over. We'll tell her that with respect to her tenure as Admin, she needs to step aside and let us investigate."

"We do what? The work of peons! Let the kiddos play detective, it's a waste of our time." Cherry Pie exclaimed.

Blueberry objected, folding gloved hands together and leaning back in her chair. "So what? We've all had our powers for a long time now, its time we use them to protect our realm. Verniss may have been a good leader but-"

"But what?" Cherry Pie interrupted. "What was her plan? To force other Recipe Witches into the city's fold and recruit as many as possible?"

"I don't think she's the best leader for us, and she's starting to make some rash choices that we feel are unnecessary- and possibly dangerous." Eclair added. "Previously joining was strictly voluntary, she's taken her recruitment drive abit far lately. Even with these 're-education classes' and 'City loyalty centers' she's been building. Plus, her suggestion to feed Recipe Books

into the Blight to appease it was simply asinine and dishonorable for every one of us, right girls?"

They all mumbled abit and seemed to agree.

Eclair continued. "It may sound insane, but a large number of our books have been devoured over the years from the Blight. I mean- she didn't say it directly, but she's considering sacrificing some other books from fallen Recipe Witch's, despite them previously being stored in the library's Recipe hall of fame. She's even suggested tossing books for those disobedient or as punishment."

"She better not!" Cherry Pie screeched, her furry hands balling into a fist. "I'll have her head on a platter. I worked to long and hard to get my status! We can't just offer up any Witch's book!"

"That is not good."

Blueberry agreed. "She's no good to use. We should definitely get rid of her." Peach cleared her throat.

"Alright, but one of 6 will need to step up and replace her as Head Witchtress in administrating Recipe World. Do we have any volunteers?"

"Well I'm not going to waste my time running that saccharine place." Cherri Pie announced.

The group went dead silent. One might even be tempted to hear crickets chirp, if Recipe World wasn't a hermetically sealed realm of cleanliness and pastel perfection. When the muted air passed, they all knew their proposal was unfeasible. It wasn't feasible the last dozen times, and would never be the next dozen.

"We'll keep an eye on her." Eclair said.

"Yes, yes an eye. She can rule a little longer, teach the kiddies and lil recipe younglets. Run the workshops and classes, who cares." Velvet said, stretching her hands behind her said.

"Let her do daycare." Raspberry declared. "Who cares if a few books of dead witches get lost, if things get really bad we'll step in."

Cherry Pie shrugged. "Well then, it's done. Anyway a dignitary of another kingdom came in, I'm going to feed her pie and then my pussy before she leaves. Tootles ingrates." Cherry Pie turned to a gateway and walked out, the others one by one doing the same until the meeting room was but naught a silent memory.

Back in the city's indoor shopping district, Becca walked through hundreds of the most luxurious stands and stores she'd ever seen, run by Recipe Witches far and wide. Cakes and jams and rums and soups. Sugarplums and jellybabies and milkshakes. There were even stands dedicated to the rarest fruits of their respective realm- like the cherries of Cherry Pie,

Raspberrys, the gingerbreads of the legendary Ginger Brenda IV, aswell as Eclair's treats and Peach's fruits. The aisles and hallways went across five separate floors visible among arches and bridges, connected by elevators and magical platforms that went up and down with ease.

Vendors seemed plentiful no matter where one looked, eager to have their treate be appreciated.

Sweet puddings, cookies and more were all around the shoppers, who all seemed to have their own distinct aromas. And like that, she saw another goth bunny wearing glasses, a book, and with a sign around her neck. Her gills were the color of dark, blue and her backside was covered in a blue-white spatter of creamy mist. Her ears were huge and spike-like, like a biker or punk would adorn themselves. She looked around and saw Becca. Her ears immediately perked up at once, waving her arms in the air. "Psssst, over here!" She looked around and found Cocoa Puddles on the other side of the street, across a gourmet ice cream parlor. "The meetings in an hour, find a way to ditch her late and come to our get together!" They peaked from under a kiosk cloth, then swiftly vanished under it.

"Who are you talking to dear?" Headwitress Tart asked. Becca shrugged. "N-none."

Tart frowned. "You don't seem so happy dearie. Why the big frown? And what are you trying to do- run away?" She raised her hand and slapped at her feet. "What did you do now?" She put a finger on her chin and pursed her lips, then looked at the flier Becca had in her possession. Suddenly the flier fell out her hand, the Headwitchtress picking it up. "Oh! That silly Cocoa Puddles is at it again." She crossed her arms. "I should have known, it's the goth girls they don't bother screening as closely. The Boiling Point hm? Don't you worry your little noggin, go follow them later tonight. I'll take care of this problem."

"P-Problem? Why do they call it the Boiling Point?" Roux asked, shapeshifting into a pot and drooling to resemble its overflowing contents.

"Just a silly code phrase used by their leader. Freya Fondue herself." Tart said. "But you're on the task now as I'll spy. I'll give it to you like a little mouse." She looked at Roux, who looked confused for a moment before shouting 'Oh right right! Me.' and shrinking into a cloudy white mouse that slipped into Becca's hair, where she immediately encountered a sleeping cat inside.

"But go find your friend and go meet with them at the Boiling Point." "I'm not their friend." Becca said.

"Alright, whatever." Tart turned, leaving Becca with a baffled look on her face. "Just attend."

Becca nodded following after the handwritten golden note that read 'Meet at the Boiling Point, 7PM.' The map directions were abit obtuse, she had to skip past a few lollipop hotels and cupcake condominiums, to find a gingerbread house and candy lane.

It wasn't long before she heard her stomach growling, finding herself at a small pizzeria.

Inside, the sign above the pizza oven said "Charlie's Pizza." She noticed it was abit shady, the pizza oven was dirty, dusty and the pots and pans on the burners weren't clean. The place looked

like a real filthy dive, in sharp contrast to the cartoonishly clean and colorful streets and buildings outside.

When she went in, she saw Charlie Cheerful- the recipe witch of fine dough cheesy treats, regarded by most Recipe Witches as a bothersome, brutish and big-bodied sort. The woman had broad shoulders and a sizable girth to her bosom, an apron over her bib, an order cap, her hair in a ponytail and a massive hairband. Her apron displayed a pizza slice with pepperoni on it.

She noticed Becca looking at her. She took off the hair band and said. "Hello there." Becca nodded and said. "Hi.."

Charlie's eyes widened. "Wait a second." She put her hand on her chest. "You're from the Boiling Point?"

"No..I.." Becca mumbled as she shook her head. She showed her the flier. The woman nodded, looking out her window curtains suspiciously.

"Part of the résistance huh? Right this way."

The large woman led Becca into the back rooms of the pizza parlor. There was a staircase going down, with a sign reading 'Do Not Enter.' The woman whispered into the crack, and someone on the other side opened it. Beyond the door, Freya Fondue with her large black- furred bosom and cascade of melty hair underneath big ram horns looked in. "Come in."

She said, opening the door fully. Becca went in, finding herself inside an old and moldy basement. A dingy, smelly, grimy and musty dungeon. "Close the door behind you."

Becca nodded and closed the door. Inside what looked like a large meeting room in serious need of a DJ and bar counter to liven up the place, there were about three, maybe four dozen recipe witches that Becca could spot. Freya headed to the pedestal in back

They all wore various clothes, from onesies and sweats, aprons and jumpsuits, t-shirts and bathrobes, skirts and blouses. Some in frilly clothing and others in plain and simple t-shirts. Some looked like goths, one with a rainbow dyed pink hair with a purple skirt clutched her Recipe Book like it was her lifeline.

Many had their familiars- either animal companions like Cocoa Puddles's gothic small sloth around her neck, or a a magical pixie, spirit, ghost, faerie, wraith, demon, brownie spirit, even elementals- and their recipe books to hold them together. Magical familiars for Recipe Witches were fairly common, and existed as a baroque way to increase one's range, utility and powerset in a very incremental manner. They all looked at Becca in silence, as no one knew her. Becca looked back, a little afraid that her cover would be blown.

"This is the one?" Freya asked. "What's your name little dweeb?"

Becca's nose quivered. She had to fight to say her real name thinking of an alias.

Celeste- no, that one sounded bad she decided. "R- Copurrnicus."

She said, taking a breath.

"No confidence? C'mon say your name in a way that makes you sound like a badass." Freya said.

"Cat-purrnicus!!" She gave her deepest voice.

"Better, it has some feline essence." Freya put her hand on her chest, and felt Becca's Ankh, holding it against Becca's neck. "Do you know what this is?!"

Becca looked at her necklace. "Mine?" She huffed.

"That's the symbol of the damned and the dying! Eternal life! The mark of rebellion. It was rumored the first Recipe Witch to ever rebel in this place had that symbol, she must've chose or sent you here if you have it!" She announced.

Becca was starting to get a headache from these questions, from who knew what the hell she was being asked. She put her hand on her head, and Freya took a deep breath. "It means you are worthy to join our cause, and end Witchtress Verniss's tyranny!"

"That's the thing, I.. " She had to speak slowly and regather her thoughts, as if speaking through a fog until concentration broke through. Her convictions. Or lack of them rather.

"I don't really feel like getting rid of Witchtress Verniss at all." They all looked at each other concerned.

A girl with pink cotton-candy hair named Pastel Penelope objected, abit in a calm and discursive manner. “Let’s think this over, use your reason catty batty. Why does Recipe World even need to exist in the first place? What is the purpose of this institution?”

She paused for a moment to respond. “The footage said, uh..” The images of the terrible ladies that had attacked the place earlier came to mind. “The elders and sages of Recipe World created it for our own protection. To protect Recipe Witches from their enemies.”

Pastel nodded, sitting on a stool and getting comfortable. “Okay. But would they even BE our enemies if Recipe World didn’t exist? Would they still target us at all?”

Instantly Becca shrugged. “Probably. Why not?”

“I mean like, we’d all be spread out right? So we’d be harder to find and track down rather than massacring us in a big city.” Pastel argued.

“Urrr. Sure. Unless, they can probably travel dimensions with their stupid magic evil door too, like you saw? Then they’d hunt you down 1 by 1.”

Everyone in the room grew more indignant with her and her contrarian responses. “ALRIGHT BUT-“ Pastel took a deep breath. “Even IF we assume Recipe World protects us, who gets to be in charge of it? The Council, the elders? They say they derive their authority from the

grand Recipe Book’s instructions, but we all have Recipe Books too don’t we? If it has a will of its own why hasn’t it shared itself with us?”

Becca spun her head around, she didn’t really have any argument for that. “Maybe you weren’t important enough?”

“Elitist!” Pastel shouted.

Another girl, Lemon Frosting adjusted her glasses. “Pastel, not to play devil’s advocate but, I could hardly bake a crumpet before I arrived here. The classes have been valuable, the library of thousands of recipes and information on Recipe Magic has helped me a lot. I like having a place to grow, without Recipe World I’d have felt lost.”

A girl next to Pastel, Bubblecake Breeze scoffed. “Not all of us are so co-dependent. How do you even know Recipe World is making you better? It might just be conforming and molding you into another good yes-girl for its hierarchy, and putting mousy minxes like you in charge so they can boss around the rest of us.”

Lemon grumbled. “As opposed to who, girls like you who don’t even believe in our mission?”

“You’re just further submitting yourself to the authority! Of Recipe World, of the Recipe Books! You statist pig!” Someone in the crowd shouted. “Recipe Books should not be dictated by tyranny!”

“How is it tyrannical? Educate me.” Lemon said sarcastically.

Pastel tried to respond with a clear head. “It just seems, like a place where a very select few Recipe Witches go to grow and gain more power, but that doesn’t mean its beneficial for the majority or all of us that spend our time here.”

“Well.. isn’t that the gamble of any institution?” Lemon Frosting suggested.

Pastel shook. “No! A gamble implies the chance is objective. Its rigged towards those in charge, those that accept its indoctrination and the rest of us don’t have any power to exert.” She shook her fist. “There are GREAT Recipe Witches like Cherri, who even without joining Recipe World had already grown on their own and become great and powerful! We could all do like them!”

With a scowl, Lemon sighed. “Yesh sure sure except- most don’t. Surprise! Thems facts.

Seems like everyone ‘going on their own’ is just as much a gamble.”

“Yes!” Pastel smacked her fists to make a point. “It IS a gamble, based on talent and luck, but in the true sense of one! Not merely on the merits of, institutional mediocrity or compliance. Recipe World has allowed the sniveling decrepit few to rise above the rest and impose their standards on the rest of us. Any growth is for their benefit.”

“Idunnnnno Pastel. I’m pretty sure Witches like, say Cherri or Éclair are fine without us and don’t really care whether or not we rise. It’s not for their benefit, what do they benefit from? What do they even impose, outside giving us a place for security and strength?”

“Fascist!” “Conformist!” “Statist pig!” “Recipe World will never be legitimate!” “We’ll never reach our true potential with those crones in charge!” “Recipe Books should be interpreted and shared by all, not just some hag’s personal canon.” “The Witchtress is the one we must rebel against.” “If Recipe Books don’t want to be on our side we should burn them and write our own magic books!” “Recipe World should be open to all, it should exist and be built for all, not merely by a small group of power-mongers!” “Recipe World should be disbanded, abolished, or left to the dead history books!”

The political arguments spun into a haymaker of tense confrontation.

Becca took a deep breath. Freya's head spun. She put a hand on Becca’s chest. "How dare you betray us so! We've dedicated our lives to fighting against her, and you're saying you're okay with her leadership?"

Becca nodded. "Yep." She could honestly care less. This all felt kinda silly. "What?!" Freya gasped. "That's awful! To be an ally of the enemy-"

"No." Becca huffed, her eyes rolling. "Not an ally either." "What?" Freya asked. "You're betraying us?!"

She'd rather be honest up front- they were just dumb kids, and she'd rather come clean so she'd get out of here. "I'm not from Recipe World!" She said, crossing her arms.

Freya Fondue could hardly catch her breath. She remembered the day she first got her Recipe Book her homeland, how she started taking strands of sheep wool, fat, milk and spanning it into soup, flour, eventually even cakes and meaty pies. Shortly after Recipe World had contacted her and let her join their ranks. The slow transformation of her body and the growing of her horns brought her pride. The acquisition of her magic over husbandry and hooved mammals, the magic she could conjure up. For a moment it had made her feel whole.

And then she went back for a time to find her sister- Freyeir had also acquired a Recipe Book, but never joined Recipe World seemingly. She’d mastered the dairy arts with her manipulation of milk, bovines and lactic acids. The creamy delicacies she’d learned to create, the riches she amassed, turning the family farm into an entire kingdom where she was considered a priestess of the Bovine goddess, respected and loved by all. Her form had aged gracefully, now 8 feet tall with flowing milky robes of silk and a golden headdress with cow horns. The wisdom and sensuality she displayed was the envy of everyone that walked by and admired her, including Freya herself.

For all her troubles in Recipe World, all Freya had learned was to summon some sheep and make fondue, aswell as common cottage meals. Her recipe spells were 2nd rate, all the lessons and all the growth she’d done in Recipe World itself paled in comparison to Freyeir’s

skills. Not only that, she got an offer from Recipe World to take the position of an Elder itself, as they needed more ‘younger’ ones in their ranks. But one she’d accepted it as an interpreter of the Recipe Book and its will, its pages only came out blank for her. She never received any prophecies or legendary instructions, as if saying she wasn’t even good enough to lead or learn.

Recipe World had done nothing for her and all the years she’d spent studying. She’d made some friends, but it was largely a waste of time. She stood there, her eyes twitching. She was growing angrier and angrier. Her mind felt on fire. Freya was going to burn down Recipe World if it was the last thing she did. Becca meanwhile was so calm, sitting there unperturbed.

This all felt so removed from her.

The group of Recipe Witches all stopped in their tracks, staring in anger at Becca, which slowly turned to disgruntled groans and disgust. Freya frowned at her with her teeth grinding.

The group looked at one another, fuming and cursing. Freya took a breath, her heart beating to the brink. "Wait a minute, she was with Tart and Roux earlier." "She's probably a spy!" "We invited a spy to our lair!" "Hold her down! Someone restrain her! We'll force the information out of her!" The accusations flew in and soon she was surrounded. Out of her hair, Purrin and Roux slowly popped out and observed. They looked at one another, Roux being chased out until she floated in the air and sneezed, puffing fully into shape.

"IT'S HER!" Cocoa Puddles screamed.

"Yep, me." Roux twisted and grew in size, until she was thrice as tall as Becca and Purrin, now full size again. She scampered around and made her way out, running around through the group like a ghost or wraith. One girl grabbed a broom and started striking at her. Roux morphed and stretched like a rubbery cartoon, twisting around the room and then swallowing it whole. She then started blowing outwards, creating a storm inside the room that sent everyone into disarray, desks falling over and vases going flying, walls shaking. From the other side, the stairway wall crashed and Recipe witch familiars in black latex security gear and helmets- Chief Licorice's agents poured into the scene, night sticks doubling as their magic wands which easily magnetized the congregation. "EVERYONE GET DOWN ON THE GROUND!" One of them shouted.

"T-they found us! Everyone bail!" Cocoa Puddles shouted.

The crowd began to flee in multiple directions, running up and down the stairs, some out the windows. Others hid in crates, trying to avoid the agents. Cocoa Puddles ran to her sisters Puffs Puddles and Reeses Puddles, and a second later Purrin, Roux and Becca were escorted slowly from the chaotic riot that ensured. A brave few of the résistance fought back, a large lady with massive breasts, a green haired vixen, and a spider witch. They threw blasts of magical buttersticks, whipped creme and other witchery only to be subdued. Charlie Cheerful bashed a few of Licorice's thugs with a giant rolling pin, throwing spinning pizzas like flaming discs, she was big bodied enough to plow through eight of them at once. Freya and Puffs Puddles were

thrown in a headlock and taken down by an agent, watching Becca walk out the staircase slowly with a look of lament as she faded from view. The uprising it seemed, had fallen short of expectation. A bread batch borne too soon and never to rise from the meager dough.

Cocoa Puddles look out the thin strips of space between red and white bars, the aroma of vanilla and cloying sweet sugar suffusing into the Prisoner Pantry. Dozens of her most loyal comrades waited in similar cells with her. Chief Licorice's agents in their purple suits and black latex uniforms stood ajar in space, with silver name tags reading 'CHIEF LICORICE'S CORRECTIONAL PERSONNEL.'

"Why did you bring her here?! She got our whole operation blown!" Freya and Puffs Puddles huffed, the former turning to Cocoa for answers. "Ssh, it's all part of the plan." Cocoa responded.

Her two sisters pouted. Cocoa gritted her teeth. "Don't worry, we'll escape in a few minutes." She whispered.

"Y-yeah okay then!" Puffs retorted.

Suddenly Headwitchress Verniss entered from the hall, her heels clicking with a certain menace whereever she walked. Cocoa Puddles shrunk, the other recipe witches went silent.

Puffs Puddles was about to try and talk, but Cocoa covered her mouth. The Headwitchress smiled and looked at Cocoa Puddles. "So Freya Fondue, you're not with us anymore. I see you're with the traitors now." She glared at Freya, who folded her arms and stood her ground. "Recipe World will not fall under your tyranny!"

"Moi?" Verniss asked, feighning shock in a mock fashion.

Freya huffed. "Yes! You're the tyrant! You just want to rule this place!"

"Oh pish posh. Your merry band of trouble makers have the wildest imaginations. And- I'm going to tell you a secret that will show you what happens to those who rebel against me. Do you know what we do with witches corrupted by the Blight?" She and the licorice guards took out red stamps. "We boil and burn them appropriately of course."

"W-we're not corrupted! You're corrupt!" Reeses Cocoa shouted.

With a grab of the prisoner via her arm, Verniss yanked her close and stamped the mark on her forehead. "What was that? Why yes indeed you are, see look! The pitchfork mark, right on your head! We'll burn you alive in a matter of minutes, you're a goner! A lost soul! You'll pay dearly for your treason!" She and the agents marked everyone one by one forcibly with the stamp and left. Some licked their thumbs and tried to rub off the mark, but it stayed stuck on their skin once pressed on.

Outside a cell, Becca had watched the entire thing.

"I'm going to be boiled and burned alive? H-how long until they do it?" Freya asked.

"Nobody's going to be burned, geesh. And if anyone should be unconcerned with that it's you 'Fondue.'" Cocoa took a laser light from under her tongue and aimed it at the bars. A red beam shot out and she began to cut the bars apart, until a wide enough space to escape was carved open. "Just calm down, we're getting out of here! This was the plan from the beginning." The Licorice guards rushed immediately, but the prisoners fought back with Cocoa focusing on slicing more cells open, increasing their numbers until they outnumbered the garrison. The guards and agents quickly fell one by one to the attackers with their spells.

In a matter of a few minutes, the prison was emptied, with dozens of Recipe Witches escaping and free to roam. Cocoa turned to Becca. "Good work, pretending to double cross us! You brought us into the Bakers Bastille where the Prisoner Pantry is held, we can use the top- bridge to head straight into Verniss's personal quarters."

"Uh, welcome?" Becca said confused.

"C'mon let's go!" The Recipe Witches moved out through the prison, like a colorful mob of recipe witches of all shapes, forms and purposes. They all went for the exits, their familiars following. Cocoa led them out with Puffs, Reeses and Freya ahead of the massive group, going up a spiral staircase and toppling guards in their numerous mob formation. When they finally reached the glass bridge at the second highest floor, an icecream shaped tower with a chrome surface their destination on the other side. While they were narrowed crossing the bridge, Headwitchress Verniss came out with her assistant Custard and Roux. The center of the bridge had a sizable honeycomb shaped platform, Verniss's group meeting on one side of it and Cocoa's group on the other.

"The Dame Ding Dong herself!" Freya shouted. Verniss said. "Traitors! I knew you were coming." "You're going down Dame!" Reeses Puddles said.

"Custard! Go catch them!" Verniss shouted, who then summoned a dozen black ice cream waffles. These waffles floated in the air, turned red hot and then from each square-indent, shot angled lasers in whirling rotations sending the rebellion into a panic- a nearby building roof hit by the laser gained a hot burnt streak through it and then sliced right off.

Slowly however a figure emerged from the rebelling crowd. It was Margarita Margenta herself, with her golden hair and a crown of stars on her head.

"Margarita, let's take care of this then." Cocoa shouted. "Let's kick the baker's butt!" She put her arm around Margarita. "This is it! A fight for the soul of Recipe World!"

Margarita took out two wine bottles and when she opened the caps, the bottles contents shot like fireworks at Custard. The mousy assistant dodged, soon the two were circling around the platform while everyone cheered as if watching an arena of death. Margenta remembered the day when Verniss came to power and banished her forcibly from Recipe World, a long ago memory of pain, anguish, betrayal and anger.

She remembered the times before Verniss where Recipe Witches were free to roam, to explore, to expand and grow. But those days were no more- ever since then the Witchtress was in control, making all recipes and spells conform to her own needs and wants. Her destiny had been leading up to this, She began to strike at Custard with the wine, Custard responded with lasers. They were in the fight of their lives, all their ideals and loyalties pitted into the platform. The battle raged on and on, while Headwitchress Verniss and the Puddles sisters stood by and watched and cheered as if watching a gladiator match.

From far back on the bridge, Becca blinked and yawned. This was all so tiresome, she felt. She was just a cat, not a fighter, her only wish to escape this nightmare from this world.

With a lick of her tongue and a deep breath, her head cleared and her memory focused.

Margarita was knocked down, the lasers cut into her. She put her hand on her heart and bleeding, smoking chest, holding her chest in pain as Custard came up. Just then the lasers sliced a hole through the platform as the beams were so sharp, slicing open a deep hole, it collapsed and Margarita fell stories below in the collapse. The rebels gasped, while Verniss Tart laughed maliciously. "Ahaha, so much for your champion!" She exclaimed. Becca slowly walked through the crowd, pushing her way through and leaping over the hole until she was next to Verniss and Custard. On this side of the bridge, that side, it really didn't matter much.

"Now, to dispose of all y-" Before Verniss could even finish her sentence, Becca accidentally bumped her hand into Custard's broad side. The markings on her arm twisted on contact and her Nobility phantom sprung its power, Custard seeing her waistline start to crunch as if wearing a corset. The twisting pull got tighter, bending her bones, mangling flesh, mortifying her spirit, making her insides shift and turn in their wrong direction. Her body was turned into a human pretzel and when the ability 'unsprung', the twisting in reverse was so much faster and more horrifying. Custard cried out in a terrible scream and then shot forward to the side, a puddle of goo in the making- she was completely undone. She melted into a liquid sludge, like a cartoon villain turned into liquid slime and shriveled meat.

Everyone blinked horrified. Verniss started to take slow steps back. "Woops." Becca said.

Both sides slowly revoiled. Becca looked up at Tart. "I didn't mean to.." Tart huffed.

"Don't you think it's time to leave? Let's head out, we're not going to win this fight!"

Becca nodded. "Oh yeah, yep. We should be leaving.." The two ran towards the cupcake tower away from the group, who attempted to storm ahead. Roux swiftly blocked the way preventing them from pursuing, a gale trailing her. "Nuh uh, not happening."

The crowd stood defiant. "Who cares. She's just a cat!" Cocoa Puddles shouted to the cloudy feline puffball.

"Rude." Roux twisted her bowtie like a windmill's bladed fan. She took a vast breath sucking air in and swiftly began to grow in size, her pudgy cat form taking on a tall humanoid stance with a broad chiseled chest, bulky extended arms and a refined waistline. She doubled, tripled, soon growing as large as a colossus, her body like an obelisk with a bulky muscular waistline and biceps crotch growing around her pudgy feline head. Her whiskers grew like a mane, and she swelled in size until she dwarfed the cupcake tower, her head nearly in the clouds. She was ready for battle, the surrounding skies turning grey and bleak under the dome. Thunder began going off nearby as she commanded the storms above. The Rebels all took a step back, shocked.

Roux grinned as she commanded the skys, silencing the crowd. "What, like you said right? Just a cat." She sniffled. Cocoa looked on all sides, the air getting colder and darker, storm whirling above, the cupcake tower shaking with the roaring thunder.

 

 

Inside the tower, Tart ran in a furious huff. She pulled a book off the bookshelf, the entire thing sliding to reveal a stairway upstairs to her private room. The room had a massive Recipe book on a podium, and nearby a screen and projector like the one Becca had seen in the theater. "To think Recipe World has fallen this far.." She turned the projector on, showing her old recordings of herself.

"I need a hero." She whispered, turning a page to another map that showed multiple different worlds- A map showing a dozen different worlds surrounding Recipe World, "I need someone.. who can travel through dimensions. But there is only one recipe to do it!" She huffed and paced around the room. "The prophecy has yet to come to pass, and the Darklight's attackers grow more bold overtime. If I could travel while leaving someone competent in charge, would I be able to follow the Recipe Book's instructions and save the chosen witch? Perhaps it's my destiny to save Recipe World. It's just a matter of time."

The footage sped forward. Tart was seen going through various worlds. Plentiful worlds, barren worlds, worlds with farms and barns, with castles and swamps, worlds with technology beyond what one could ever dream. The segment paused with her focusing on a single house in a rustic neighborhood. Verniss dropped a book on a woman's front step. In another world, she dropped it on crystal temple- just as her book had instructed her to do. Recipe Books oft had such baroque wisdom. She knocked, and two woman answered.

The woman opened the door, a redhead in a sweater and jeans. "Hello?" She picked up the Recipe Book.

Becca's eyes widened. "Serendipity!"

"Excuse me?" Verniss asked her. Becca pointed to the footage. The projector jolted and rolled ahead, a woman with long white hair and a lab coat picking up the book at the temple.

The footage after showed both woman in Recipe World, looking at the streets with awe, toured by Verniss herself.

"This is it." She told them. She look at the white haired witch who looked back at her glum. "Recipe World is in grave danger. If we fail, I believe we could lose the war. We need scientists, sorcerers, learned woman like you! This could be a new opportunity for you two, for your families!"

Serendipity put her hands together. "Maybe, but why do you need us?" She looked at the Recipe Book in her hand. "You said there's supposed to be Recipes in here? It's been blank ever since I found it. It's practically useless to me!" She chuckled. "I suppose I could record formulas and star charts in it.."

Verniss's brow furrowed. "What nonsense! These books are for unveiling recipes, not your silly hobbies! The recipes they contain are the secret of the universe, spells that can change the fate of the world."

Euphoria took a look at her own. "My book doesn't have recipes either. Only stanzas and musical notes." She showed the pages. "I write a lot of ballads in it! It's quite soothing to work on while cooking." Verniss ignored them, pointed to a map and explained the details of the world they were going to, showing them around the city.

 

 

The footage jumped forward again, Verniss and the women in the alley of Recipe World. Euphoria's and Serendipity's new homes, they were told to meet again later after the move was complete. Verniss said, "If you two ever wish to return to your previous lives, all you have to do is come back here." She turned away and walked down the street. "Good luck."

The footage went black. It had been months since the last recording, when Verniss filmed in her office. "There seems to have been some, unusual side effects for the two participants.

Recipe Books have been known to be quite inscrutable, and physical transformations or advancements in form and age are quite common. But I've never once before seen, well.." She stepped away and turned the camera, Serendipity and Euphoria now looking 8 years of age, having regressed to young Recipe Witch’s rather than the motherly aged women they were prior. Never had she seen Recipe Witches get younger the more they leaned into their books- their appearances were adjusted in strongly themed ways, Tera's hair more straight and brighter red, Euphie's look more exotically gothic and lanky, as if she'd become a wraith. "We cannot return these two like this, nor continue the project with these unknowns. I'm going to contact someone I know who's an expert in Recipe Books, perhaps Croix will know something about this.."

As the footage continued, the two seemed to get quite accustomed to baking- Aside from the formulae for stars, Serendipity wrote complicated chemical formulas from which she could cook with, a groundbreaking method that her book seemed to find beautiful. The seemingly normal woman had become infatuated with quantum theories, mathematical principles and technology no girl her age- or even her former adult age could comprehend, as if her transmutation had pushed her down a path of brilliance. Euphie continued her music composing in her Recipe Book, she now had less the look of a scientist and more a teenager experimenting in goth. The two learned to cook with physics and with harmonic music respectively.

Euphoria was singing to a large pot complete with eggs, flour, milk, cake batter and coconut creme filling, her melody bringing to life in a pot her first construct. A powerful cloudy- textured cat who floated from the flash and dazzle of her spell. Becca recognized her familiar as Roux.

The video ended.

Tart turned around, shaking. "I did something foolish, didn't I? What the hell happened to them once Croix took them from me?" She looked at the window, hands folded behind her back. "They were no doubt, the prophecy. Every sign was there, I don't believe in prophecy, but I'd have to be a complete fool to not have seen the proof. These two were prodigious recipe witches of the highest order The book made them inhuman." She sat down in a chair, shaking. "According to the prophecy, once the chosen one's have arrived Recipe World will lose its edge. The book will summon an entity called 'The Blight' to pack up and close the curtains on this dimension, so to speak. All recipes that power magic would be destroyed and Recipe World, having served its purpose will return to the void from whence it came. She sighed and looked up at the sky. "It's just a matter of time, really. Recipe World is finished." She shook her fist at the heavens. "But I'll be damned if I let that come to pass! Others don't know the prophecy is over, that's why we can't leave. If we don't get the chosen ones back, then I'll stay here and let it happen."

Becca scratched her ears, Puffin stretching and yawning out the top of her head. "Do you know how long, I've been waiting here? I've tried begging Croix to give them

back, at best she allowed me to see them. But when I found Euphoria, she was no longer herself.. When I found Serendipity, she was nothing like she used to be." She turned to Becca. "But that said.. Why are you here? And who are you?"

Becca turned to Tart. "Erm.. I'm a cat. I don't know. Why am I here?" She scratched her ear and looked at the ceiling.

Behind her, the window exploded in a huge blast of light and color. Roux entered the tower, her familiar form shrinking and becoming a smaller cat in a worried huff. she tried to suck in and expand, but slowly shrunk back down, her feline body regressing like an inkblot. "Witchtress! They're a little stronger than I thought.."

Verniss got up. "This is how you repay my love? Get back out there and deal with them!" "Boss, those girls are strong-"

"You're a familiar, do what the fuck you were created for and protect the city!" Verniss stomped her foot and screamed.

"Right, sorry love." Roux wheezed and wafted back out the window, again growing in size, again facing the crowd. By this time around Margarita Margenta had recovered. She summoned a large bottle and held it it like a rocket, throwing it in a liquid flaming burst into Roux's stomach. The explosion hit Roux and sent her flying up into the air until she smacked the dome barrier, the Recipe World bending and bulging as she smacked into it like a snowglobe

shaken up. She began to feel nausea, her grey stormy shade turning back to a flashing white as she began to cough and hack up repeatedly. Out her mouth whirred a black blob of goo with some bones in it which fell onto the plaza where numerous of the rebel party were still fighting. They backed away, The Witchtress and Becca watching the scene from below.

Slowly the gooey wad of flesh rose from the ground, the bones and tissue growing into a full humanoid form- an emaciated figure with pale skin and long arms and legs reforming into a similar form. Becca thought back to earlier- it was that weird girl in the Archway she'd encountered earlier. She straightened her dark black hair and looked up at Roux who looked shocked at her figure. She took a step towards Roux, made a single thumb to her neck and swiped it slowly in a cold gesture, then pointed to Roux with two fingers and two hands.

"Let's see how you like it."

From her arms, black feathers began to shed out like dander, slowly turning into full blown wings and a large bird form, which multiplied into many bird forms. And then divided into an unimaginably high quantity of black ravens. They swooped out to envelop Recipe World, the world went black, the darkness in the sky like a cursed plague waiting to be heard. "Dumb birds." Roux took a breath and blew out with the strength of a hurricane, the ravens exploding like black smoke in a blistering force of gust. Their numbers replenished and multiplied further until they crowded her like a storm of locusts. Roux could feel their beaks began to bite down, tearing and pecking at her thousands of times over. "G-get off!" The cloudy cat squealed.

A massive tornado of swarming black feathers, a great swirl began cannibalizing and devouring Roux right before everyone's eyes. From the tornado, the air began to suck and funnel like a whirlpool, the entire cityscape with Verniss, Roux and Becca at the eye of it, funneled until their entire world of Recipe World was condensed into a single tear of rain, Roux sucked dry until she too was evaporated, until she had near no form or presence at all. Her remaining condensation sucked into a white gumball with her face scribbled on it, falling to the ground right before the Raven girl. She picked Roux up. "Arrivederci." She threw the tiny white ball in her mouth and swallowed.

"Urp." Everyone was deadly silent.

The girl turned around, created herself a black sweater neck and leather mini-skirt with black-and-white striped leggings, then turned around to a long winding street where she strut away.

Everyone looked at the sky. "T-the barrier.." Verniss said. Roux was the only thing maintaining its power, and she gone. "It's dissipating.."

Everyone watched the foamy sky above begin to slowly dissolve, like the fluid of a lava lamp pulling and fading away alongside the beautiful gregarious projection of an atmosphere with it.

Verniss walked out of her office. "Becca.."

Becca looked at her. "Yeah?" She scratched her ears.

Verniss sighed. "I know it's not a cat's place to do anything, but- if you could help me please.. I know you have a good mind. If I could get Serendipity and Euphoria back to where I found them, back in my City under my instruction, I might be able to change the outcome. This world was only setup to prepare them, to fight a great evil that the creator of all Recipe Books deemed a grave threat. Recipe World no longer has a reason to exist now that the those two have metamorphosed and evolved, the ancestral Grand witchtresses knew as such. But even so.. I don't want to lose Recipe World, I don't want the Blight to come. I need you to help me."

Becca turned to her. "How?" She asked.

The Head Witchtress went to the giant Recipe Book on the podium, going far back to page where she could locate and send for any Recipe Book in existence. "Pick one of the two." She said. "The prophecy girls."

Scratching her chin, Becca nodded. "Euphie." She said. "Take me to.. Euphie." "I can only send you to her book, at some point in time."

She said.

"Sounds simple enough." She nodded. "Are you sure, Becca?" Verniss said.

"What? Yeah, sure! I'm a cat! Don't worry." Becca shrugged.

Suddenly the black voided sky began to rumble. "It'll take me ten minutes to prepare the transfer." She looked out the window. "I don't know if we'll have enough time.."

Becca opened said window and looked up. Slowly, a thorny darkness began to creep from beyond the abyss, red and blue tendrils like roots of hell reaching forward to suction into the Recipe World as if it was a dying plant. They began to creep, spread out, the darkness of them growing exponentially and enveloping the entire world in deep blood red and sapphire and black like a thicket. The Recipe Witches started casting spells at it, only for the magic to become quickly absorbed.

 

 

Atop Becca's head, Purrin was woken up. She blinked into the miasma slowly encroaching - The Blight. The tiny cat crawled off Becca like a rat and onto the top of the tower, looking out. She sniffed and sneezed. Rebeca's gem on her forehead began to glow an eerie ruby red.

As the Blight's tendrils grew into an appendage, a massive storm began to brew and bubble and froth from the Recipe World's horizon in all directions, dark-tempered as it blasted in front of the darkness of the Blight like a wall of rain. The tendrils began to knot and merge into themselves in a whirl of darkness, and slowly coiled together to form a gigantic hand.

Despite Recipe World's magical artillery, warheads and turrets firing away uselessly at the gigantic hand. The Recipe witches struggled against the Blight, a cacophony of noise and flashes

of light and the occasional burst of magic being sucked into the Blight- absorbing, the force of it growing more and more to the point that the dark hand had its hold on the Recipe World and was ready to crush it and bring it back to nothing.

While they struggled and despaired, Purrin the cat slinked out of the tower, walking down the black streets in a huff. Her form began to slowly expand like a bloated frog croaking, the red thunder from above striking it. It nearly imploded, feline body resisting disintegration. She looked up at the sky, her body aching to transform as she felt the heat between her paws. Further and further did her spherical shape stretch, her fur and ears growing even further like a cactus and drying into an arid rocky state. Becca's jewel was glowing blood red, bright enough to shine into the light and cast a single spotlight on Purrin. The cat blew up in a fiery explosion, but her feline form remained- only now it had taken the shape of a bear-sized gargoyle. The surge she felt continued, her muscles and spine contorting upwards from a bent hunch to a standing contrapposto, her transformation mirroring the ascent of man diagram. Soon a spinal column was fully formed and fleshed out, within a female Set with fangs, upright legs, massive muscular arms and a massive spine and long dragon-shaped wingspan. She flapped her wings and blew away from the surface in a roaring thunderous burst.

"Hmm.." She huffed and turned around, her massive wingspan a dazzling sunburst of feathers in contrast to the dark storm that now surrounded her in the night. "Those.. new.. hihi.." Purrin said, her voice now deep and raspy like a gravelly-voiced dragon. "This.. is fun.." She took a step forward and looked up, the stormy sky above beginning to recede. "Wow.." A name came to mind, only faintly but enough to swallow as she punched her fists together, arms covered in scales.

"Nine!" Becca screamed from the cupcake tower.

The winged Set had already taken flight and was soaring above the Recipe World. The Blight in its Fist formation, met her challenge and slammed down as if punching from the sky, a hit that would strike like a meteor and flatten the entire city if it landed. She managed to catch it halfway through its descent, the impact slowing their momentum and creating shockwaves from both. It smashed her against gravity's maw until she landed on the ground. She was able to hold the gargantuan hand on to the surface, a hand several city blocks-wide and twelve million tons rocketing her into the ground. Her arms began an existential struggle to hold it back , she blew a blast of breath that began to turn into fire, flaring like a volcano into a black-cumulonimbus cloudy smoke.

She felt the ground begin to shake, the Recipe World's city shaking and crumbling to bits around her with her at the epicenter. Fault lines began to form from her standing point outwards cracking the crust miles below.

"N-nine! C'mon! YOU CAN DO IT!" Becca yelled, fearing the tower tilt and sway. Set's head jerked back, a roar deep as avalanche echoing from her throat as she let out a single cry. "Fuuuuuuu-!" She said, running out of breath as it slowly squashed her, like a titanic ship sinking overtop her. She could barely breathe, the hand about to turn Recipe World into a pancake. She closed her eyes, breathed deeply and remembered what her Mama told her- Depth and Destiny were Alpha Scientist's worlds. Her breathing became calm, her heart focused. It was

a momentary pause, but all it took to crack the Blight's hold. She used the breach to punch her arm through the Blight hand, her fist ripping through a hole into its interior. The Blight recoiled upwards loosening its push, and the Set now taking the momentum to tackle it upwards, the Recipe World's gravitational field now pulling her back out of the grip of the Blight while she swung it into the sky. She gripped the Blight in her paws and swung, the Recipe World recoiling from the backfired recoil of the punch, like a ship being thrown by the waves. It began to rise back up out of the recoil like a rocket from a slingshot, the Set's strength enough to launch the Blight far up into the void at the third cosmic velocity.

The Recipe World was still rumbling but beginning to slow down. Recipe Witches began to cheer, the stormy weather began to calm, it's clouds and thunder beginning to disperse and slowly disappear. "H-Hu.." Set said, the Blight's hand was gone. She sat down on the ground for a moment, her heart beat quickening. But it began to slow down. She was tired. Her body began to shrink once more- not to the minuscule pocket Purrin, but to the height of a small child at barely two feet. Even her magnificent wings had become tiny, flapping cutely along her back.

"Talk about going from the sublime to the ridiculous." The Witchtress smiled and applauded the tiny fairy-winged Set. "That was wonderful." She said.

Minutes passed, and those dark storms soon felt long long ago. Becca ran down the tower to pick up the miniature child-Nine and looked up at the sky. "But the Blight.. Where's the Blight gone?"

"Far away. It will come back no doubt, but for now.." Tart folded her arms.

The three went back up, the head Witchtress taking her to the gigantic Recipe Book, where she'd located along the timeline where Euphoria's book would be at some point or another. "I cannot take you to where Croix hid her, but this might be as close as you'll get." She told Becca. "Go, find her, good luck."

Becca, with the kitten Nine passed out on her shoulders, walked up, and slowly opened the great Recipe Book. A flash of white light exploded out from the book, a projection of a massive world-wide city-like the first- the City under the Sea. The light consumed Becca, taking her into its pages, then closing up whole.