Everyone except for Tidimew retained a vague, sporadic sense of themselves, as this foul, part reptilian, part mammalian, part insect that used to be Nala, placed them all in one spot away from the staircase, laying them side by side, as they drifted in and out of consciousness. A terrible dream making sense only in its own bewildering fashion. Nala’s stark white eye’s peered out of the darkness like a pair of newly peeled, hard boiled eggs, poking out of her hard, white, reptilian head like a couple of golf balls, resembling a monstrous goat with two ram’s horns curling back on either side of her skull, above two shrunken looking animal ears. Her lips retreated in emphatic fashion, receding from her teeth and gums so much, one might easily have imagined she could've peeled the skin from her entire head, so exaggerated was her appearance. Her teeth were long, sharp, jagged instruments of death, capable of slicing flesh from bone with a single bite. Her skin was armoured and scaly, her neck long and serpentine, her arms brawny and far reaching, not unlike a Prey Mantis, covered in thorny barbs, particularly about her forearms, sporting several gigantic claws at the end of each. Her torso was solid and woven down the middle by several large hooks, running from the top of her sternum to where her naval ought to be. She had six legs in total and a terrific scorpions tail, capable of paralysing its prey with a single strike.

Almost as if by magic the several hooks stitching her abdomen slowly began to part, revealing her insides, opening outwards and forming a crater smack bang in the middle of her torso. A soft, slug like appendage slowly began to emerge, working its way out of her abdomen, until it protruded just far enough to reach the children. Nala’s eyes flickered spasmodically and rolled up into her head, as the appendage felt its way around, latching onto Meo’s face like a disgusting, grey leech, preparing to suck out her soul.

Meo felt helpless, her young life teetered on the brink. Unable to move, unable to do anything, and doped up to the eyeballs on scorpion juice, she found herself at the mercy of her captor. Nala was in an ecstasy, a trance, a state of delirium, revelling in her pestilence like a pig in filth. Fate it would seem had not smiled kindly upon the four young companions, but then what could they do? Nala meant to suck the souls clean out of them and planned to be done by breakfast time tomorrow.

“YYAAAGGGGHHHHHH!!! TAKE THIS YOU SOUL SUCKING FIEND!!!” yelled a fluffy, pink, branch wielding lunatic with fang’s, hurtling towards the back of the room and flapping his wings like a homicidal goose on a killing spree.

Telimo leapt from the shadows, armed with little more than a snapped off tree branch and launched a surprise attack, spearing Nala’s slug like insides, as she tried to suck out Meo’s soul, driving the makeshift stake straight through her soft, greedy ass appendage with gusto, catching her off guard, as she attempted to feed.

Nala shuddered violently. Her eyes rolled back into place and her eyelids snapped open. An ear piercing cry rang out noisily, as the gravity of the situation dawned on her. She stumbled backwards and lashed out in her confusion, striking at everything and anything. Her claws outstretched. Her aim clumsy and rash. Telimo jumped out of the way and retreated from danger. Nala lashed out with her tail. Her sting flailing about wildly and lashing manically through the gloom, stinging roots and what not along the way. Nala stumbled backwards, turning weak at the knees. A monstrous pile of jelly, if ever there was one. Telimo leapt backwards, flapping his wings and making it as far back as the staircase, watching as Nala fell to the ground, hitting several roots along the way. Nala hit the dirt, jerking back and forth, and writhing in pain, groaning and clutching at her impaled appendage. Her muscles seizing up and shaking uncontrollably, as she cradled her insides. Her joints contracting in on themselves, as wisps of light spewed from her belly like fireworks. Her shaking became increasingly violent, white light spewed ever more rapidly from her guts and erupted into darkness. Her hands struggling to hold it in. Her eyes rolling back into her head, as her guts exploded in a furious opalescence, spraying out into the air like souls fleeing their prison, expiring in a monstrous heap, as her body shrivelled up like a giant prune, the light dissipating into nothing and vanishing into thin air.