Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

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“Report!” the commander of the Nightmare squad yelled.

“There are too many, sir!” a guard said while firing fireballs desperately against the abyss snakes.

“I don’t want to hear excuses!” the commander snapped while cutting a snake on two with his sword.

“Talon is down, sir!” another guard yelled.

“You must be fucking kidding me!! I’m going to put the head of that pet over my chimney!! What the fuck is wrong with all of you?!! You’re members of the best squad on emperor’s coven!! I want this solv-” the commander was yelling but was interrupted when his communicator beeped. He answered it immediately “Nightmare squad here”

“What are you doing, idiots!? I can hear all the noise from here!” Kikimora yelled in an angry loud voice making the commander wince.

“We spotted the intruders, they…”

The doors of the room blew in pieces followed by a big burst of blue magic that continue its way until impacted the wall at the end of the corridor, leaving a big hole on the wall. The guards threw themselves to the floor to avoid the big burst of magic. When the burst of magic subsided, several fireballs flew toward the corridor, the guards jumped to avoid the fireballs but some of the spells hit some of them, knocking them out.

“What’s going on there?!!!” Kikimora yelled angrier.

The commander lifted his gaze and got surprised when spotted Eda and Lilith running through the corridor throwing fireballs to the remaining guards on the corridor.

“I-It’s the Clawthorne sisters!!! They-They’re free!!” the commander said in panic.

“THAT’S IMPOSSIBLE!!!! THEY WERE PETRIFIED!!! AAARRGHH!!! YOU USELESS IDIOTS!!! HOLD YOUR POSITION, AND YOU BETTER HAVE EVERYTHING UNDER CONTROL WHEN I ARRIVE OR YOU WILL PAY WITH YOUR LIVES!!!” Kikimora shouted at top of her lungs and ended the call.

“CAPTURE THE CLAAAARGH!!!” The commander coughed blood and watched in horror a spike bursting from his chest. The captain was raised a few meters from the ground until the spike stopped.

“I told you that you would pay for your offense” Lilith said in a deadly voice while glaring at the leader of the Nightmare squad. The commander stared with horror at Lilith before going limp.

“Ex-boyfriend?” Eda asked while throwing more fireballs at the guards.

“Ugh, no! That asshole would have lost his hand if it wasn’t for Belos!” Lilith said with resentment making Eda laugh.

“A handsy guy, huh? I hope he enjoyed it because he won’t be doing it anymore” Eda joked.

“Focus, Edalyn!” Lilith said while dodging a magic shot and deflection another one with her staff.

An abyss snake appeared from a shadow on the floor, biting on the neck the guard who was attacking Lilith on and slammed him hard on the floor.

“Is that an abyss snake?!” Lilith asked with surprise. Eda’s and Lilith’s heels practically screeched on the floor by the sudden stop on their paces. They give a better look at the corridor and saw several corpses of the abyss demons and a few dead guards. The snake retracted his body and hissed while looking at the trio. By now the guard was already dead, its deadly venom made the guard die in seconds with extreme pain.

“Great! If we hadn’t enough obstacles already now some idiot let abyss demons loose in the castle!” Eda complained.

“Hey! They are my minions!” King felt offended by Eda’s commentary.

“What?!! Those are your minions?!!” Lilith asked incredulous.

“King, no one can tame an abyss demon!” Eda said looking at King in disbelief.

Abyss demons were one of the most feared creatures on the demon realm. Even when they are from all sizes and forms they have something in common, they obey to no one. Even when they are summoned they don’t listen to anyone, not even the summoner, they just go into a rampage killing whatever gets on their way, sometimes killing their ‘master’ too.

“What are you talking about!? I’ve been commanding them all the time since I summoned them!” King complained.

“Are you sure they don’t went into a rampage once you released them?” Lilith asked while holding her staff in a defensive posture.

“What!? No! Just watch this!” King jumped out of Eda’s hair and landed on the floor “Minions! Your king demands your presence!”

For both sisters surprise, some abyss snakes appeared from the shadows next to the one that was already there and they stood still in front of them waiting for King’s orders. Eda and Lilith glanced at each other and then turned their looks at King.

“Minions! You’re doing a great job!” King ordered in his ruler authoritative voice “But I still see some guards around! And we have to hurry because Luz needs us! Your king demands a free path to the throne room!”

The abyss snakes bowed and melted into their shadows and creeped to the joint corridors. They heard some screams and hissing and watched some spells flying through the corridors.

“How did you…?!!” Lilith was interrupted by Eda.

“No time for that, we need to hurry!” Eda said in a serious voice “Lily, you know where we are?” Lilith nodded “Good! Lead us to the shortest route to the throne room!”

Ravus spread his wings and Lilith mounted her staff “We’ll arrive quicker if we fly”

Eda mounted on the staff without thinking twice “Come on King, get up here”

King jumped to the staff and placed himself behind Ravus “Come on, buddy, Luz needs us!”

“Full speed, Ravus!” Lilith commanded and Ravus began to fly at full speed.

As they flew through the corridor they watched how the guards were fighting against the abyss snakes, but just as King demanded the center of the corridor was free, letting them pass easily between the struggling guards. When they left those corridors some abyss snake’s shadows were going along them by the walls and floor as if they were escorting them. Eda and Lilith glimpsed at the shadows still not believing that they were following King’s orders.

“Is the throne room far?” Eda asked.

“Not if we use the side entrances, and were close to one. Just some turns and go up some levels” Lilith replied while leading Ravus in that direction.

However, nothing has been easy this day, and for King and the Clawthorne sisters wasn’t different. Just a few floors up, several burst of magic were flying against them, forcing Eda to grab King and jump down from the staff while Lilith landed hitting hard her staff on the ground, protecting them with a barrier. Feeling the force of the spells, Lilith intensified her barrier, but the strongest the barrier the more magic it uses. The abyss snakes that were escorting them pounced against the guards, taking down a couple of them and attacked the rest of them. The barrier managed to block all the spells but Lilith’s gem began to drain. About ten percent of it turned black.

“Lily, your gem!” Eda exclaimed when noticing her sister’s gem began to turn black “I thought we were clear on saving your magic for help Luz!”

“There was no time, Edalyn! By the time you had found the barrier glyph we would be already down for sure! Those spells were pretty strong” Lilith said while watching her gem. Luz theory was right, a strong spell made her magic to be drained and sealed. She saw the process when fighting her sister a long time ago. But now that she was experiencing it by herself she felt a very uncomfortable sensation on her body. Even when she used that spell to share Eda’s curse, only now she could feel what her sister went through all this years. The sensation of losing her magic was terrifying.

“My minions!!” King yelled when seeing the last abyss snake being stabbed by one guard. The few demons that escorted them couldn’t handle the several guards by themselves.

“Well, it’s just us again” Eda said while preparing some glyphs “Now, if you know what is better for you get out of our way, kids. I’m not in a good mood right now!”

Even when they had Eda and Lilith in front of them, the guards didn’t hesitate and began to attack with magic shots. Lilith placed herself in front and began to deflect the magic shots against the guards. Meanwhile, Eda took several plant glyphs on her hand and slammed it hard on the floor. Thorns sprouted from under the guards and wrapped some of them before slamming them hard against the wall. The guards that managed to escape the thorns began to burn them to release the others. Lilith slammed her staff on the ground and some rock pillars burst from the ground hitting some guards, crushing them against the wall. Both sides exchanged spells, neither of them giving ground. Not wanting to waste more time Eda thought on one of her tricks to finish this battle.

“Remember our Grudgby special move?”  Eda asked to her sister with a smile while taking out a vial from the bag.

Lilith smiled and nodded and prepared herself to attack. Eda threw the vial between them and the guards, and a big dense smokescreen burst from the explosion. The guards began to throw spells in all directions. Eda took King and placed him on her hair and began to run toward the guards dodging the several spells that appeared from the smokescreen. Lilith teleported herself behind the guards and threw magic shots against them drawing their attention, she hit the nearest guard with her staff, making him crash hard on a wall just to receive a magic shot and pass out. Every remaining guard turned their attention to Lilith so no one noticed when Eda jumped out from the smokescreen.

“Behind you, suckers!” Eda landed slamming hard his hands on the floor.

More thorns sprouted from the floor and wrapped all the guards. Lilith began to knock them out with magic shots while Eda threw some sleep potions at them, but not without leaving one just to kick him hard on the head just for getting in the way to her beloved daughter.

“Nice thinking, Edalyn” Lilith praised her with a smile.

“I missed those days when we were a team” Eda and Lilith weren’t on good terms for a long time, but she really meant her words “Now let’s move, we have wasted too much time already!”

They continued their way, but in the next level they were received with several fireballs. Once again they got down of the staff, but this time Lilith just deflected the fireballs with her staff. They took a defensive posture when spotted Kikimora ahead.

“So it was true, the Clawthorne sister are free” Kikimora said in a nonchalant voice.

“Kikimora. Out of our way or you will regret it” Lilith threatened but Kikimora just laughed at her words.

“I’m sorry, but I can’t let you go any further. Master Belos is in an important meeting with your human pet” Kikimora tried to pick on Eda.

“Belos’s little whore talking about pets. Ha! You must do wonders for him to not get bored of you after so long” Eda taunted while smirking at her. Her commentary made Kikimora groan angrily, giving Eda great satisfaction.

“Smile while you can, Owl lady” Kikimora said with bitterness but immediately her face turned into a nasty smirk “I don’t think you would be smiling when you see what’s left of your human. I’m sure that by now she’s already scattered all around the throne room”

“My Luz had beaten your emperor twice already, if someone is scattered around the room that’s your owner. I think you should worry more for who you’re going to do ‘jobs’ now” Eda kept smirking at Kikimora. However, she was really concerned for Luz, she didn’t want to waste more time with the guards or the little bitch “Now get out of our way if you don’t want to share the same fate!”

“Why the hurry? I thought you said your apprentice was more powerful than the emperor” Kikimora said smugly, making Eda glare at her this time.

Lilith spun her staff and sent a big burst of magic against Kikimora, but the guards casted a barrier that blocked completely the spell. A little bit more of her gem turned black. Just like Eda, she wanted to get out of there as soon as possible, she was really concerned about Luz and the younger Blights, especially Amity.

“We said move!” Lilith threatened in a deadly voice.

“And what are you going to do? The Owl lady has no magic and…Oh my!” Kikimora burst in laugh “Don’t tell me your sister cursed you in revenge! Just look at your gem, how pathetic. Hmm, I haven’t seen you since the human free both of you, and now that I look close at you…” Kikimora narrowed her eyes analyzing the sisters, then her visible eye went wide and she began to laugh even more.

“What’s so funny, whore?” Eda asked annoyed by the demon laugh.

“Aw, you performed a sharing spell and got cursed too. That gray eye and the gray band on your hair really suits you, after all, you’re an old woman, Lilith. I don’t know who you think you were fooling with your stained hair” Kikimora mocked nastily.

“Maybe I’m old and I’m cursed too, but I’m still stronger than you” Lilith said without a trace of anger “After all, nobody was able to take my place as coven leader after so many years, not even you despite being Belos’s favorite”

Kikimora laughed at Lilith’s words in a nasty way. There were so many things that even Lilith didn’t know about Belos and his coven. But to be fair, even when Kikimora know a little bit more about the background of the coven, she didn’t knew about what Belos told Luz, nobody else knew about it. For everyone on the Boiling isles, Belos was just the envoy of the Titan.

“Lilith, Lilith, Lilith… You were always the most foolish witch on the Boiling isles. Did you really think that you reached the top because of your qualities? You were given the rank just because your sister found the portal that the Titan asked master Belos to search. It was the easiest way to reach it. And just like Amity, your admiration for the coven made you easy to manipulate. We just needed to offer you to cure your sister from her curse for you to begin to chase her. But the years just proved your incompetence, after so many years you never were able to capture your sister, she always made a fool of you. But that was to be expected, you never had a chance. Your sister was the strongest child of the Clawthorne house”

Lilith casted a fireball and threw it at Kikimora, but the guards blocked the spell.

“What’s the matter, Lilith? Did I hurt your pride?” Kikimora began to laugh making Lilith to get mad.

“Chill, Lily! She’s trying to pick on you. Your bad temper won’t help us here, not to mention that you’re wasting your magic” Eda tried to calm her sister. She knew better than anyone how bad tempered her sister could be. After all, her temper was one of the reason she cursed her sister and the main one to reveal that she was the one who cursed her.

“Can’t you see it yet? You were just a puppet. All this years you did exactly what we wanted you to do. But your results hardly were what we expected. Odalia on the other hand is the perfect leader for emperor’s coven. She’s smart, powerful and relentless” Kikimora praised Odalia after what she have done this four years as coven leader.

“She’s a bitch!” Eda snapped making Kikimora to laugh.

“Indeed. But that’s exactly what we needed. Someone that will do everything for her ambitions. And the results were more than we expected. We have total control of the isles, she even captured several wild witches. There were barely someone that dared to oppose the emperor” Kikimora said with satisfaction.

“Then let me ask you why there is a raising all around the isles. I thought Odalia have everything under control” Eda taunted with a big smile on her face. But once again that just made Kikimora laugh.

“Oh, but we know. We knew about it since last week thanks to the Oracle’s prediction. We just let them thought they have managed to surprise us. We knew that the main heads of the rebellion would assault the Conformatorium and Bonesborough, and of course that your little pet will assault the castle. And we prepared something special for them” Kikimora smiled nastily under the collar of her attire “The coven leaders were waiting for them all day, and we provided them with the ancient relics!”

Eda and Lilith gasped at the statement. King told them the plan, but just like them, he didn’t knew how things were going out of the castle. If they were concerned about the youngsters before now was even worse.

“The coven leaders…with the relics!?” Lilith whispered to herself.

“We really can’t waste time now!” Eda said with a concerned voice. A single sweat drop rolling from her temper.

“What are we going to do now, Edalyn?” Lilith asked also with a concerned voice.

“Same plan. Help Luz!” Eda said without hesitate.

“But, the others…” The concern on Lilith was evident. After all her years on the coven she knew perfectly how powerful the coven leaders were, not to mention that now they have the relics.

“I know, but they are together, and they have the help of the rebels and maybe the rest of the witches on the city. For the ones at the Conformatorium they maybe released the prisoners, so they won’t be alone. Even the twins were after little Blight. But Luz…Luz is alone! I won’t let her fight alone!” Eda declared with great determination.

“Your right, but…”

“I trust them” King interjected in a serious voice making the sisters turn their looks at him “Luz entrusted them because of their abilities. I watched them grow stronger for the last three months. She trusts them, so I trust them too”

“King…” Lilith said in a soft voice.

“I watched Luz made the impossible for over four years. I know she can do it. But just like Eda, I refuse to let her fight alone. And I know everyone else feel the same way. They promised to catch us at the throne room when they finished with their tasks. I bet they’re already heading this way. Luz was always there for us no matter what, now she needs us and I will be there for her!” King proclaimed in the most determined voice Eda have ever heard from him, the gleam on his eyes made Eda’s doubts vanish.

Eda smiled and turned her look once again toward Kikimora “That’s enough for me. Maybe they’re young, but they aren’t kids anymore. I trust them too.”

Lilith couldn’t do other thing but to smile too. “You’re right. If King said that they have grown strong, I believe him. I trust them too. Come on, sister. If the emperor fall all of this will be over”

Kikimora laughed nastily again after hearing the little group talk “You don’t seem to understand, we have total control of the situation. The human is alone with master Belos, the Blights are in their private family reunion, and the rest of the rebels are being slaughtered by the coven leaders. Everything according to the plan. Well, almost everything. You’re not supposed to be here, but it doesn’t matter. Without your magic you can’t do anything against us”

Lilith slammed the base of her staff on the ground making ice shards burst from the floor, the guards and Kikimora jumped back to avoid the deadly shards.

“The fact that I’m cursed doesn’t mean I have lost my magic yet” Lilith smirked.

“That can be solved” Kikimora said and she traced a little spell circle with her finger.

Lilith felt a nasty sensation on her right arm. She turned her hand and her coven mark began to glow and was visible even under her sleeve. Lilith began to feel how her magic was been drained little by little and her gem started to lose its color. She fall to her knee and held her arm trying to subside the pain that the mark was causing.

“Lily!!”

“I told you we have complete control of everything. The coven marks are special, but since you were just a mere tool it wasn’t necessary for you to know” Kikimora smiled in anticipation “Say goodbye to your magic, Lilith!”

King panicked remembering that he didn’t removed Lilith’s mark and hurried down from Eda’s hair, and from one of the frontal pockets of the bag, he took out a paper with the seal breaker Luz created and give it to Eda. “Hurry!! Tap it and place it over Lilith’s mark!!” King yelled nervously.

Eda didn’t bother in watch the glyph, she hurried to roll up Lilith’s sleeve and placed the paper over the glowing coven mark. For everyone surprise, the paper reacted with the mark, and just like when Luz broke the seals of her friends, Lilith’s mark divided in the different seals, and like a combination lock, the glyphs began to spin until the glyph from the paper engulfed the other seals. When reached the last one on Lilith’s arm, the mark evaporated leaving a black mist on the air that vanished a few seconds later. Lilith and Eda watched with astonishment the process. The pain that Lilith was feeling vanished, and she stood up for Kikimora’s astonishment.

“Wha-What did you do?!!!” Kikimora demanded in a very angry voice.

“Luz found the way to remove the coven marks. And for your information that’s not all. By now everyone on the Boiling isles has been released from their coven marks. Your emperor can’t control anyone anymore! Fear the power of the mighty Ancient Owls!!! You will regret getting in the way of the king of demons!!” King raised his paws in victory.

Kikimora took out her portable communicator and opened it, but Lilith took it away from her with a levitation spell.

“I’m sorry, but I thought you said that the emperor didn’t want to be disturbed” Lilith set on fire the little device.

“Kill them!!!” Kikimora shouted enraged and turned around to head to the throne room, but a wall of bricks raised from the floor blocking her way. She turned around and looked at Eda with one hand leaned on the wall.

“You’re not going anywhere, little bitch” Eda smirked at her “As King says, you will regret getting on our way” Without warning, Eda used several fire glyphs and casted a big flare against Kikimora and the guards. The guards blocked the flare with a barrier, however Kikimora get more enraged.

“That primitive magic won’t help you against emperor’s personal guards!!” Kikimora yelled, and another round of fireballs flew against her. The guards protected her with another barrier.

“What’s the matter, whore? Can’t you protect yourself?” Eda taunted.

“Silence!! There is no need for me to fight such pathetic witches!” Kikimora said annoyed by Eda’s commentary.

“So you’re that weak, huh?” Eda smirked at Kikimora on an attempt to provoke her more “Don’t worry dwarf bitch, we won’t make you suffer, we have something more important to do”

“What are you waiting, idiots?!! I said kill them!!!” Kikimora yelled to the guards and pointed to one of them “You!! Destroy that wall!!”

Eda took half of the barrier glyphs and slammed the little papers on the floor. A powerful barrier covered the wall preventing it to be destroyed. The guard casted a powerful spell but the barrier just absorbed the spell. More guards attacked the barrier at the same time but the spells just collided with the barrier. Once the smoke dissipated, the guards stared at the barrier incredulous, there was no trace of damage on the barrier.

“Try whatever you want, losers! That barrier won’t disappear as long as I live” Eda said smugly with a smirk on her face “Come on, Lily, we had lost already too much time!”

Eda and Lilith charged against the guards with all the intentions of ending this battle as fast as possible, but since this guards were Belos’s personal guards they were above the average, so none of them hesitated even when the Clawthorne sisters were in front of them. Even when they were Belos’s personal guard they weren’t a threat for Eda and Lilith, or that would be the case if they were at full power.

About forty percent of Lilith’s gem have turned black. Lilith have planned to use her magic just to protect them until they reached the throne room but the mark’s seal have drained a good amount of magic from her. If she followed Luz’s orders, she just have now thirty percent of magic to spare, and that wasn’t good. However, she didn’t mind using all of her remaining magic if she needed. She didn’t know if she would turn into an owl beast too, but she didn’t mind if that happened either. But for now using her own magic wasn’t an option.

With some difficult, Eda and Lilith managed to knock out some guards, however there were more of them. One of the guards teleported behind Eda and attempted to chop her head with her lance. Eda noticed the guard but just smirked confidently. But before the lance chopped her head, Lilith tackled and pulled her down to avoid the deadly attack. With a quick move, Lilith turned around and used several fire glyphs to cast a big fireball in front of the guard, hitting him directly on the chest and sending him against the ceiling. The guard passed out and fall hard to the floor.

“Hey!! I had everything under control!! A chopped head won’t kill me, you know!!” Eda complained and frowned at her sister as if she have ruined her fun.

“Don’t be an idiot, Edalyn!! You have no magic right now!! If that guard had chopped your head you will be dead now!!!” Lilith scolded Eda but there was some trace of concern on her voice.

Lilith’s statement made Eda flinch. She had detached parts of her body as if nothing during years that it was natural for her now, but that made her forget that for a witch to achieve that she needed an incredible amount of magic, an amount she didn’t have right now “You’re right. It’s just that…Thanks, Lily”

The Clawthorne sisters rolled to avoid several magic shots that were flying toward them. King threw some potions from the bag now and then to help Eda and Lilith. Kikimora stayed on the sideline just yelling at the guards for not being able to defeat the sisters. The battle continued for some time and soon they found themselves with another problem. The glyphs sheets weren’t infinite, and little by little some of the glyphs began to get low.

A guard with an axe attacked Eda who just grabbed the axe by the handle and began to struggle with the guard. Eda kicked hard the guard in the balls making him to release his grip on the axe. Eda took the axe and pierced the guard on the chest to sever the bile sack and then chopped his head. Eda’s weapons at the owl house weren’t just a mere decoration, they were on the walls because they were unique or legendary weapons, and she liked to show them off, but that doesn’t mean she didn’t know how to handle them.

“We’re running out of glyphs, Lily. We can’t continue like this!” Eda remarked while kicking the body of the guard out of her way.

“I know, I think it will be better if we take another route even if it take us a bit longer to reach the throne room” Lilith agreed while sending to fly a guard with a hard hit of her staff.

“I don’t like the idea, but if we kept fighting here we’ll lost more time and will run out of glyphs. Let’s blind those losers and take another route!” Eda was preparing some light glyphs when another problem arose.

“Look out!!” King yelled from Eda’s hair making the witch turn around just to be hit by a magic shot from behind. The impact send her fly. Eda barely had time to pull King out of her hair before she crash hard on a pillar by the force of the spell.

“Edalyn!!” Lilith yelled with concern, but the distraction made her get a hit form the guard she was fighting too. Even when using her staff to block the attack, the fireball send her back close to Eda.

The sisters turned their look to where they came from and saw several guards coming their way. The guards they left behind have ridded off the abyss snakes. They were trapped now, the guards that reached them blocked their escape route.

“The game is over, Clawthorne sisters” Kikimora said smugly. A wide grin was on her face.

All the guards began to throw several spells at them. Knowing that they have no other option, Lilith was going to use her magic, but before she could cast a spell and for her astonishment, Ravus released himself form her grip and levitated in front of her. The raven spread his wings and his eyes began to glow. A strong barrier surrounded the trio, protecting them against the rain of spells.

“Ravus! How did you…” Lilith got her answer by their special link before she could finish her question “…so Luz and the Bat Queen taught you a trick or two, huh?”

“Fuck! We can’t waste any more time here!! Luz needs us!!” Eda exclaimed with frustration. Just before they could escape, the guards they left behind have reached them and were blocking their way now.

“I know. I don’t see another way…I will us my magic!” Lilith hands started to glow but King jumped on Lilith’s back and stopped her from casting a spell.

“No! Look at your gem! We need your magic to fight Belos!”

“King! There is no other way!” Lilith complained.

“I agree with her, King! If we don’t do it we’ll run out of glyphs and we won’t be able to help Luz! We have no choice!” Eda exclaimed while standing up and preparing some glyphs.

“Yes we have!” King jumped to the floor and stared at Belos’s personal guard “You take care of the guards behind us, they are just pathetic, you knocked out some of them with just a few glyphs so those won’t be different. I will take care of the others. Protect them, little buddy!” King began to run on his four and a hole opened on the barrier allowing him to get out. Eda tried to grab him but couldn’t reach him on time.

“King, wait!!!” Eda yelled at the little demon but he didn’t stop.

“Prepare yourselves puny mortals! You will regret getting on my way!! Now is too late to ask for mercy, you will feel the wrath of the king of demons!!!”  King shouted while running. Kikimora and the guards began to laugh at King’s words.

“How funny. Just like the owner. But if you want it that way…Kill the pet first!!” Kikimora commanded and the guards began to throw spells at King.

King kept running while avoiding the spells. There was just a thought on his mind.

“I can do this…I can do this…I can do this…”

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

“Come on, King! I know you can do it!” Luz was encouraging her little friend but the demon was very reluctant about the situation.

“No! I will lose control! I don’t want to hurt you again!” King said miserably while looking at the floor, he hadn’t gotten over that incident yet.

One week ago…

King was laughing hysterically, the events of that morning were fresh on his mind. He would never forget it, and he won’t let Luz forget about it either.

“Stop laughing or we’re not doing this!!!” Luz complained at her little friend and crossed her arms while pouting.

“I-I’m so- hahahaha I’m sorry but…” King continued laughing. It took him some time to stop himself from laughing “It was very funny!”

“It was not!!! You were supposed to help me but you just stood there and laughed all the time while that…that creep was… Aaaaahh!!!! I don’t want to remember what happened this morning!!” Luz was so angry that her face turned red, plus she blushed when remembering all the things she had been told a few hours ago.

“Yes it was! You have to admit that when he said…” King was cut off by an angry Luz.

“Don’t you dare!” Luz raised her index finger and gave a warning to King “I swear that if you finish that sentence I won’t talk to you ever again!” That make King stop his laughing.

“Sheesh! Someone got up from the wrong side of the nest” King crossed his paws and turned his look away from Luz.

“Let’s just…forget all about this morning, okay?” Luz said while pressing her nose bridge.

“Fine! Capitan buzzkill…” King mumbled that last part but it was loud enough for Luz to hear.

“King! Let’s just focus on this, please” Luz let out a deep sigh and continued with what she was doing before King burst on laugh “Are you ready, buddy?”

“The king of demons is always ready. Do it!!” King proclaimed raising his paws before stopping Luz “No, wait! Is it gonna hurt?”

“I didn’t saw any of the giraffes in pain so…”

King was going to burst into laugh again but Luz’s glare made him hold his laugh back. He cleared his throat and gave green light to Luz. “Let’s do this!!” King yelled with excitement.

Luz placed her hand on King’s forehead and a glyph appeared over his head. The little demon began to feel a rush of energy through his body “Yes!! I can feel the power!!! No one will be able to stop me! Me, the king of demons!!! I will rule this world!!!”

King began to laugh maniacally while his body started to grow in size. The flush of energy he was feeling made him thought only on one thing. Conquer the world.

“King!?” Luz shouted with concern while watching with astonishment at her now not so little buddy.

Then, everything went dark…

King groaned and held his head trying to suppress his headache. It was as if he had a hangover after getting drunk on a crazy party. He has never been drunk but of course he has the same result after eating a ton of sugar in one sitting. He opened his eyes but everything was blurry.

“Are you okay, little buddy?” Luz asked in a very tired voice.

“My head hurts. Anyway, what happened?” King shook his head trying to clarify his vision. Once his eyes got focused he turned his gaze at Luz who was next to him. The sight made him jump from his place and the little demon began to panic. “Luz!!! What happened to you?!! Did they found us?!! Let’s get out of here!!” His concern made Luz to chuckle.

“It’s okay, buddy. We’re safe”

“But then why…” King couldn’t finish his sentence, he was horrified at the sight of his friend.

Luz was badly injured. She was holding her left arm and she was shaking slightly because of the pain. Half of her face was covered with blood, a drop of blood dripped from her chin, it was evident she was still bleeding from somewhere on her head. There was a trace of blood on the corner of her mouth. Her clothes were stained with blood in some spots. And she looked very tired.

“So you don’t remember, huh? It’s okay, don’t worry” Luz said with a weak smile. Even with all the pain she was feeling she was still smiling warmly at her friend.

“Not to worry!? Luz!!! You’re seriously hurt!!! Wha-What happened?!!!” King yelled in panic. He didn’t know what to do.

“Don’t worry about that now. I’m just happy that you’re okay. And now that I’m sure that you’re fine I think I’ll just faint here” Luz chuckled weakly and her eyes began to turn cloudy as she bent to one side “King…Don’t tell…my mom…” With those final words Luz passed out and collapsed on the ground.

“Luz!!!” King tried to wake her up without success. Owlbert and Ravus stared at Luz with concern. King looked around and spotted the owl house on the distance, but not knowing how bad Luz was he didn’t attempt to move her. Worried for Luz and not knowing what else to do, the little demon took out the portal key from Luz, she always wears it around her neck. King opened the portal and crossed to the demon realm. Ravus and Owlbert stayed to watch Luz. And after some minutes King came back followed by the Bat Queen.

“Luz!!” The Bat Queen yelled with great concern after looking Luz on the ground seriously injured. King was so panicked that the only thing he could say to the Bat Queen was that Luz needed help. “What happened here!?”

Owlbert and Ravus locked their looks with the Bat Queen’s. Their eyes glowed and showed the Bat Queen what happened.

“Oh my!” The Bat Queen was astonished by what she had seen with their palisman link “King! Go to the Owl House, prepare her bed and take all the healing supplies you have on the house to that room!! I will take her there once she’s out of danger! Hurry!!”

“She’s sleeping on Eda’s room, use the side window to enter the room!” King yelled back while running to the house. King prepared the nest and removed all the pots from the little terrace so the path were free for the Bat Queen. The little demon climbed to the terrace and looked to the place where Luz was. He spotted them and waited anxiously. After a while he spotted the Bat Queen finally moving. With a levitation spell the Bat Queen moved carefully Luz and began to fly in a slow pace. Owlbert and Ravus escorted them to the house.

The Bat Queen leaned Luz delicately on the nest. Her babies flew out from her hair and hovered above Luz making little sad whines. “She’s okay, little dumplings”

The little bats landed on the border of the nest and watched with sad eyes at Luz.

“Is she okay!?” King asked with great concern.

“She’s out of danger now. But I’m afraid I can’t heal her completely since she used almost all of her energy. Fortunately she had enough energy left to heal the deadly wounds, but I was just able to realign her bones so they can heal properly”

“What…” King flinched by Bat Queen’s words.

“She has several broken bones and was bleeding internally. There’s only the matter of the bones now. But I can’t do anything now without putting her life on risk. It will take some days to heal her completely. But for now we can only let her rest. She need to recover all the energy she spent”

“But what happened!?” King asked really concerned, the last thing he remember was feeling a rush of energy through his body.

“I think you should wait for Luz to tell you” the Bat Queen knew exactly what have happened thanks to Owlbert and Ravus, and after seeing their memories she thought it wasn’t a good idea to tell King what happened a few hours ago.

“No! I have to know! I will find those who hurt Luz and make them pay!!” King frowned at the Bat Queen, he was determined to avenge Luz.

“I…”

“Please…” King stared at the Bat Queen with pleading eyes this time “She’s my best friend”

The Bat Queen couldn’t negate to King’s petition after hearing those words. The Bat Queen sighed and stared with a serious expression at King. “Very well. But I warn you that you may not like what you’re going to see” The Bat Queen clenched her foot and it glowed. A memory circle appeared in front of King. He was now watching the incident through Owlbert’s and Ravus’s eyes.

Several birds and animals started to flee from that place. King began to grow in size, another pair of eyes appeared on his head and his skull morphed into a more menacing one. The fur on some parts of his body were replaced by scales, just like the image Eda showed to Luz. Once he reached a height of about twenty meters he roared fiercely and shouted something in a foreign language for him. Luz tried to call him several times without success, King just ignored her and began to walk in the direction of a town that could be seen on the distance.

King watched with astonishment to what happened when Luz used the seal she tested on the giraffes on him. However his eyes went wide with horror as the memory continue. Luz flew in front of King and began to call him but again there was no response from King. And without warning, King tried to eat Luz. The brunette flew back just to be surprised by a swipe from his arm. Luz barely have time to cast a barrier around her, however the barrier broke instantly by King’s force, receiving the full impact. Luz was sent to fly against the ground with a monstrous force. A big cloud of dust raised from the spot where Luz crashed, all the ground under Luz was badly cracked. The demon kept his way toward the town.

Luz winced in deep pain and gasped for air. She turned around and tried to push herself up, but when she leaned on her left arm she fall to the ground making her wince in more pain. Her arm and ribs were completely broken. She began to cough blood and there was a nasty cut on her head, it didn’t took long for her face to get stained with blood. Luz used her right arm to push herself up, and she managed to do it with great effort. Her right arm was also in pretty bad shape. When she managed to push herself up she coughed more blood. That simple blow would have killed her if not was for Owlbert and Ravus who casted another barrier around her just before she touched the ground. Even when the barrier absorbed some of the impact the damage she received was big.

Luz forced herself to stand up and stumble a little but she managed not to fall. She used all of her will not to subside to the pain and flew over King. Once close to him she dropped herself from the staff and even with one broken arm she slammed both of her hands on King’s back. A giant glyph appeared and the demon roared again before starting to shrink. Luz fall from his back and Owlbert hurried to place the staff under her, however she couldn’t hold her grip on the staff and began to fall to the ground. Owlbert and Ravus detached themselves from the staff and grabbed Luz by her hoodie and helped her land gently on the ground.

King shrunk to his regular size and collapsed on the floor unconscious. Luz walked with difficult toward him, and then she plopped next to King, she began to caress the back of the little demon while she hummed a melody. Luz was on pretty bad shape but forced herself to stay awake until she was sure his little friend was fine. The memory finished and the circle vanished.

“Did I do this to her?” King asked with a quavering voice and watery eyes.

“I’m afraid so” The Bat Queen said in a sad voice.

King gave a step back and turned his look at the nest where Luz was lying. While King was watching the memory of the incident, the Bat Queen cleaned Luz’s body and bandaged her carefully. She wasn’t sure how the healing patches will work on her so she didn’t put any on Luz, she didn’t want to risk Luz life. Seeing her friend in that state was too much for him. King fall to his knees and extended his arm to reach Luz but he froze halfway, he didn’t want to hurt more her friend.

“I’m sorry…” King whispered and tears began to roll down his skull. He was responsible of Luz’s deadly wounds. His mind was torturing him and he didn’t knew what to do.

“I think we should call Camila” The Bat Queen suggested in a soft voice.

“She…I…Y-yeah, you’re right…” King said in a very soft voice. Luz told him not to tell her mom about this but he felt guilty and thought that Camila deserved to know. Even if that meant she would hate King after this.

But before King could reach Luz’s phone, Owlbert said something to the Bat Queen through their palisman link.

“She said that? Mmm…” The Bat Queen seemed to think something for a minute before she spoke again “Very well. I think she don’t want to worry Camila. So I will stay and take care of her until I can heal her completely”

“Thanks…” King said with a very sad voice.

“Don’t worry, King, she will be alright. It will just take some time to heal her. She used all her energy to seal your power again, so I can’t do much until she recover that energy. I have to say that you have an incredible power, King. But such power is never easy to control, you should be careful. Come on now, she needs to rest” The Bat Queen said with a soft voice.

“I won’t leave her alone”

“Okay. Call me if you need something. Come on little dumplings, I don’t want you to disturb Luz until she is fine” The little bats seemed to complain but they obeyed her mother “Now, kids, Luz needs a lot of rest so be in your best behavior until she recovers, understood?” The kids nodded and left the room. King stayed by Luz’s side. “Oh! Here. You shouldn’t leave this around” The Bat Queen gave the portal key to King and then she left the room.

It took five full days for the Bat Queen to fully heal Luz from her wounds. It was a titanic work for the Bat Queen, she needed to do it gradually and very carefully so she wouldn’t left Luz without life force. However, during the process she got amazed about Luz recovery speed, it took only some hours to recover a considerable amount of life force. But even with that, the healing process was slow. The Bat Queen could left Luz’s bones to recover naturally, but that could have taken months. Months that maybe she doesn’t have so she opted to heal her completely. Luz didn’t woke up until the next day she was fully healed. King stayed by her side all that time barely eating something, he felt guilty and was very worried about Luz.

King hugged Luz tightly when she woke up causing the brunette to giggle. The kids of the Bat Queen entered the room and rubbed themselves against Luz making her laugh. The Bat Queen and Luz have some words and she thanked the palisman for her help. King apologized with Luz over and over, but Luz just chuckled and said that it was all right, that she was happy to see him unharmed. The Bat Queen stayed one more day just to watch Luz and when she was sure she was fine she left to the demon realm.

And even after that terrifying incident, it just took Luz another day to try to use the seal on King again. So she was now trying to convince him.

“Come on, King!! I told you already that I’m fine. We can’t succeed if we didn’t fail first!” Luz said cheerfully.

“No! I won’t do it!”

“I thought you wanted to rule over both worlds. What happened to all that thing of ‘I will conquer the human world’?” Luz made an impression of King before she giggled.

“Not if that means I will hurt my best friend” King said softly in a sad voice while looking at the floor.

Luz expression turned serious and then she kneeled to hold King by his skull and pressed her forehead with his. “Hey. It’s okay. That will never happen. You just need to control yourself. Focus. I know you can do it”

“I trust you, King”

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

That incident changed everything for King. He trained with Luz for weeks, it took him a lot of time and effort just to not lose control with his own power, even when he still can’t control all of it he can use part of it freely. And even when he finally achieved to control part of his transformation he preferred that Luz sealed his power again once the training was over. He wouldn’t risk to lose control and hurt her again. The line between having control and going berserker was thin.

But it wasn’t just the training that helped him control his power. Even when he still acted as a cruel dictator in front of everyone it was different with Luz. He wasn’t afraid to show her true feelings around her, a side not even Eda knew. The little demon grew more attached to Luz. And after seeing Luz risking her life just to make him be himself again, he forgot about his dream of ruling this world or any other world, he forgot his ambitions. There was something more important for him now. The only thing that matter to him now was Luz. The circumstances separated them at the beginning of their mission but he was determined to reach the throne room and help her even if she didn’t need the help.

King dodged another round of fireballs and when close enough he pounced against the nearest guard. The little demon began to grow. Luz’s old cloak couldn’t held and the button subsided by the pressure of the growing demon making it fall to the floor.

“Aww, it’s so cute. It really is a shame to have to…” the guard froze on his place when seeing King in front of him.

In just an instant King was already three meters tall, his skull acquired a more menacing shape but her second pair of eyes didn’t appear. With great force and without mercy, King slammed the guard on the floor with one hand. Then he grabbed it by the neck and threw it against a pillar. The guard pierced the pillar and continue his way to the wall leaving a hole in it. Everyone stared astonished at King. The demon roared making the guards in front of him gave a step back.

“I told you that you will regret getting on our way” King said in a deeper voice and then he charged against the guards.

“Did you know about this?” Lilith asked Eda while staring astonished at King.

“I thought it was just his crazy imagination” The surprise on Eda’s voice was evident. Both sisters watched as King get rid of the guards without effort. Eda shook her head to get out of that trance “Anyway, we don’t have time to admire at your highness”

“Let’s finish this” Lilith prepared some glyphs and took Ravus with her other hand “Vanish the barrier, Ravus!”

Eda and Lilith charged against the few guards that came from the back. Eda gave another glance to King. The demon was attacking fiercely the guards on the front line. A smile appeared on Eda’s face. “This is also your doing, isn’t it?…Luz” Eda thought feeling proud of her apprentice and her now not so little friend.

Almost every guard was injured, the battle against the abyss snakes must have been very rough. But that wouldn’t give them mercy from the Clawthorne sisters. Eda and Lilith attacked with all what they have. Eda grabbed the axe once again and attached some earth glyphs on the blade, she swing it hard against the floor and several rock tubes with the shape of Hooty burst from it, the rock owls began to chase the guards. The guards threw spells against the owl tubes destroying the head, however smaller tubes burst from the sides of the remaining tube and chased them too. Eda took advantage of the distraction and chopped the head of another guard, then she pierced his chest and kicked the limp body. She was sure that none of this guards will be powerful enough to survive a chopped head, but for the first time in her life she didn’t want to take any chances, not when Luz’s life was on jeopardy.

Lilith for her part used some lighting glyphs and casted some electric ravens that burst when touching the guards. The guards received a powerful electrical discharge from the spells, some of them passed out while others got paralyzed. Just like Eda, Lilith didn’t hesitate and attacked mercilessly. She used some ice glyphs to send ice needles against the paralyzed guard, piercing them directly on the chest. Eda continued chopping limbs as they break through the enemy line.

The guards began to pull back from the Clawthorne sisters. Even without their magic they were powerful and relentless adversaries. All the guards watched the fight between the sisters four years ago, they knew how powerful witches they were, but battling them was just terrifying. They began to fear from their lives more than from Kikimora’s threats. But even when the guards began to hesitate, Eda and Lilith continued their attack.

Meanwhile, King was slamming and crushing the guards on the front line. With his new strength and agility he was a tough opponent, the guards were unable to harm him. Even when their spells hit him, his thick and hard fur protected him; and he didn’t mind the pain at all, helping Luz was the only thing on his mind. Just like her, he will endure everything for her. And for the guards bad luck, every hit just made King angrier which made him attack even more fiercely. Seeing that none of their spells took effect, they began to use ice needles and spikes, however, King dodged the attacks even when they burst under him, he even grabbed some of the ice needles and stabbed the guards directly on the chest or head.

“What the hell are you doing, idiots?!!! They don’t have magic and yet they are beating you!!!!” Kikimora shouted angrily. She began to get enraged from the sudden change of sides on the fight. She couldn’t believe that they were defeating the guards with magic that came from a little piece of paper.

Eda and Lilith took some fire glyphs and in a simultaneous attack they sent a big flare against the remaining guards knocking them out. The guards that dodged the attack ran from the place, they preferred to take their chances than staying for a certain death at the hands of the Clawthorne sisters. Eda and Lilith turned around and headed to where King was.

While King was slamming another guard against a wall, another one came from behind and stabbed King in the back with his lance, causing King to enrage. The guard flinched at King’s glare, he could foresight his death on King’s eye. King took the guard with one paw and slammed him hard against the floor. Blood dripped from the border of his mask. King lifted the guard and slammed him again on the floor, then he threw the guard against the wall Lilith had raised. The force with which King threw the guard pierced and vanished the barrier that Eda had casted, the guard left a big hole on the wall before piercing another wall of the castle. It was evident that the guard was cold meat now. King pulled out the lance and threw it to a guard, pinning him on the wall.

“Did he just destroyed my powerful barrier throwing that guard?!!” Eda asked not believing what she saw.

“Ravus said that he’s even more powerful than that” Lilith was talking with Ravus silently through their special link. Then a grimace from Lilith called Eda’s attention.

“What!?”

“I’m not so sure you want to know about that right now” Lilith tried to talk out Eda.

“Come on, it can’t be that bad!!”

“Well…apparently the first time King transformed he almost killed Luz…with one hit” Lilith turned her head and closed one eye knowing what was coming.

“WHAT!?!?!?” Eda shouted making her sister to grimace “Just wait until this is over!! That little idle will hear some words from me!!”

“It was an accident, he didn’t do it on porpoise!” Lilith tried to calm her sister. Both sisters watched how King crushed another guard with his mere paws. “Are you sure it will be a good idea?” Lilith asked while looking the limp body falling to the floor.

“Heck with that!! I don’t care how strong he is now, as long as he lives in my house he’ll live by my rules. And the most important one is that NO ONE mess with my daughter, not even him! I swear I’m gonna strangle you, King!” Eda get mad at King for hurting Luz even when it wasn’t his intention.

Lilith couldn’t do other thing but to smile slightly. She still can’t believe how her sister got attached to Luz in so short time. “Good luck with that. I will write your obituary”

By the time the sisters reached King he finished with Belos’s personal guards, the only one remaining there was Kikimora. The little demon tried to flee through the hole King opened but was intercepted by Lilith.

“Going somewhere, Kiki?” Lilith asked in a deadly voice before sending her fly with a hard hit from her staff.

Kikimora landed hard on the floor away from the hole so she couldn’t escape. She stood up and stared with fear at the trio.

“The heck with the bitch!” Eda snapped and turned her look at King “King! What is all this about YOU almost killing…” Before Eda could continue to scold King, the wall that Lilith raised collapsed and a creature came through it, charging directly at King. The abomination that Amity released was in front of them now.

While King struggled with the nasty creature and taking advantage of the commotion, Kikimora escaped since there was nothing blocking his way now. The trio was distracted with the creature so no one noticed her absence. The Juggernaut tried to slash King with his scythes but King grabbed its arms and threw it against a wall. The Juggernaut recovered and screeched at them. King growled in response.

“What the hell is that?!!” Eda asked with surprise.

“I…don’t know! There was nothing like that when I worked here!” Lilith said with some concern. She knew how the Juggernaut looked, but Amity’s creation was something that no one had ever seen before.

Lilith and Eda casted several spells with no effect on the Juggernaut. The hits just seemed to make it angrier, so it charged against Eda and Lilith. King intercepted the abomination and struggled with it again, not allowing it to get closer to the witches. Seeing that their magic do nothing to the abomination, Eda charged with the axe and swung it hard against one of the creature legs to chop it, but she obtained the same result as the twins. The limb reattached itself once the axe passed through it. The Juggernaut pushed King back and turned its attention at Eda and attempted to slash her. Lilith used her magic to pull her sister away from the Juggernaut with a levitation spell until she was next to her. The Juggernaut dissolved and the black goo chased Eda, when close enough the sisters, it raised from the goo but King tackled it hard. King grabbed the abomination and threw it away. The half formed abomination splattered on the wall before regaining its form.

“Is that supposed to be an abomination!?” Eda asked while getting on her feet.

“I’m afraid it isn’t just an abomination. Its resistance to magic and physical damage…I’m pretty sure it is the abomination from the ancient relic, The Juggernaut. But…” Lilith said in a serious voice “There is something very odd, it isn’t supposed to be like that”

“Yeah, there is something very nasty about it. Can you feel it?” Eda get as serious as her sister. If what Lilith said was true then they were in big trouble.

“Yeah…It seems…corrupted. But by whom?”

“I think the answer is obvious” Eda said with some bitterness.

“Belos” Lilith said matching Eda’s bitterness. But they were wrong about that. Amity’s negative emotions have turned the Juggernaut into a corrupted version of the abomination. And once it killed Alador it went berserker and began to wander the area searching for traces of energy. And when King transformed and released some of his power it caught the Juggernaut’s attention and it made its way to King. But not before killing everything that crossed its way.

King and the Juggernaut charged against each other once more. They struggled fiercely, no one wanted to give ground to the other. King pushed the Juggernaut against a wall making both of them to end on another room. Eda and Lilith hurried to the hole on the wall.

“Go!! I will handle this thing! Go help Luz!!” King yelled and continued to struggle with the abomination. King punched the abomination hard on what he supposed was his face. King’s strength pushed back the abomination with each punch. The Juggernaut screeched and King roared in response.

Eda and Lilith didn’t think it twice and continued their way. Eda picked up Luz’s old cloak and stored in the bag. They just needed to get to the next level to reach the side entrance to the throne room. However, when they turned the corner and just half way of the corridor, the wall collapsed and King and the Juggernaut appeared from the hole. The abomination had tackled King against that wall on porpoise, it was not going to let them escape, and there was only one thing on its ‘mind’. Slaughter.

King threw the abomination against a wall and then he charged against it, but the abominations held the tackle and both started to struggle once again. The abomination attempted to slash King but the demon stopped it by grabbing its limbs.  The abomination began to morph and a tail with a sharp blade that launched against King in no time. But before it could pierce King, vines sprouted from the floor and wrapped the tail to immobilize it. Lilith turned her look at her sister who was already kneeled on the floor with one hand pressing it, she had used some plant glyphs to help King.

King knock over the abomination before grabbing it to slam it hard against the wall. Eda slammed her other hand on the floor and a rock Hooty raised from the floor and began to push the abomination hard breaking the wall, however the tube continue its way breaking every wall in the way. Eda and Lilith used the opportunity to continue their way with King following behind, but just some meters ahead the wall next to them broke and the abomination charged fiercely against them. King grabbed Eda and Lilith and brought them close to his chest and curled himself to protect them. The abomination tackled King hard sending him to the adjacent room. King rolled over the floor but didn’t uncurl himself until he stopped. King placed gently Eda and Lilith on the ground and immediately pounced against the Juggernaut who was already charging against them.

King and the abomination struggled again. With King’s current strength the battle was even, but no matter how hard he hit the abomination it just regained his form and attacked them again. He began to debate if he should release more of his power or just distract him until Eda and Lilith could reach the throne room. For their part Eda and Lilith began to debate on what to do, they knew that they must reach de throne room as soon as possible, but knowing about the Juggernaut they didn’t want to leave King at his luck. The Juggernaut pushed back King and slashed him on the chest leaving a nasty cut. King growled in pain and rage and charged against the abomination without minding the wound.

“King!!” Eda yelled concerned for her friend.

“That thing is practically indestructible! How we’re supposed to destroy that thing!?” Lilith asked with the same concern, using magic wasn’t an option since it was practically immune, plus they didn’t have much glyphs left.

“There must be something here that we can use!” Eda said and began to rummage inside Luz’s bag.

Eda and Lilith looked at the several vials inside, but none of them was useful against the abomination. Even more, they didn’t know what the Juggernaut primal components was, so they didn’t know how it will react against the potions, they were practically liquid magic so they maybe will do nothing to him, not even altering its composition and there was also the possibility that it will make him stronger by absorbing the potion.

Starting to get frustrated, Eda rummaged more fiercely the bag until her hand hit something hard on one of the walls of the bag. Eda looked carefully and noticed a hidden pocket on the inner lining of the bag. She unzipped the pocket and inside was the pocket version of the petrifying effigy.

“What’s this?” Eda took out the artifact and began to analyze it.

Ravus told Lilith what was it and then she practically snatched it from Eda.

“Hey!! At least you could have said please!” Eda complained and frowned at her sister.

“Ravus said this is a pocket version from the petrifying effigy. And I took it away because knowing you we’ll be probably statues again by now!”

“Hey! You’re the one with butterfingers!” Eda complained and closed the bag roughly causing a flask to fall to the floor. The flask shattered and the potion inside spread over the floor. “That doesn’t prove anything!”

Lilith raised an eyebrow. “Anyway, I didn’t know this thing existed”

“It seems that what that little bitch said was true. They hide so many things from you. Anyway, that thing isn’t alive, is it possible to petrify it?” Eda asked turning her gaze at the abomination who was struggling with King.

“Is not alive but it’s organic. Theoretically it should work. And I can’t think in other useful thing right now”

“Worth a shot. Prepare yourself, sister” Eda said while preparing the remaining barrier glyphs she had on her hand “King!!”

King looked at the sisters and spotted the little artifact, King nodded and returned his attention at the abomination. The demon pushed the abomination back and began to punch it heavily over the body. Even when the damage was practically null the abomination twitched with ever punch from King. The demon grabbed the abomination by its head and slammed it hard against a wall and then he threw it to the middle of the room. The Juggernaut splattered on the floor but began to reform itself instantly but King was already in front of it, grabbing it by its limbs and they began to struggle again. Eda slammed her hands on the floor creating another powerful barrier on the floor. Meanwhile, Lilith placed herself behind King.

“King, now!!!” Eda shouted.

King headbutted the abomination pushing it back and then he jumped back. In the instant that King move, a ray of green light lit the Juggernaut and the petrification process begun. The abomination screeched and tried to dissolve to escape but the barrier didn’t allow the black goo to vanish on the floor. Every drop of goo got petrified instantly under the green light, the goo that wasn’t petrified yet reformed again into a nasty creature, it was hard to tell which part of the abomination was in that convulsing mass. Eda slammed her hands against the barrier with some plant glyphs on her hands. The barrier started to project into translucent thorns. The projections wrapped the abominations to stop its movements.

The Juggernaut morphed over and over trying to escape from the light. It tried to pierce the barrier with its claws, cracking the barrier but it was useless. The more it tried to escape the more surface the light petrified. The petrification process completed and it left a bizarre statue on the center of the room. It was an amorphous mass with several heads and limbs around the elongated body, the last ones trying to reach the little group. King punched hard the statue leaving just debris around the room.

“Well, it actually worked!” Eda said cheerfully.

“Now, I wonder were Kikimora went” Lilith scanned the surroundings.

“Forget about the little bitch! We’ll deal with her later. We have something more important to do! King, are you okay?” Eda asked returning to her serious mood.

“It’s nothing” The demon said while rubbing his wound.

“Fine! Because you and I have some things to discuss!” Eda crossed her arms and stared at King with an angry face “First off. Why the hell you didn’t transform since the beginning?!! You could’ve been very useful to everyone!!”

“Hey! It was Luz’s orders! She told me to be on stealth mode. Plus, I didn’t wanted to break the potions to de-petrify you. And I can’t control completely my powers yet! You should be grateful I didn’t attack you!” King complained.

“That leads me to the second thing. Ravus told us you almost killed Luz!! Our Luz!! What the fuck is wrong with you!! I can’t let you two alone because the instant I got petrified you-” Eda was lecturing King but she as abruptly interrupted by the demon.

“Later, Eda!! We must hurry, Luz is waiting for us!” King got on his four and motioned Eda and Lilith to climb on.

“I agree, Edalyn. Leave that for when this is over!” Lilith said while mounting on King.

“Fine!!” Eda raised her arms in exasperation and climbed on King. “But this isn’t over, mister! We’ll finish this talk later!”

King began to run following Lilith’s directions.

“How did you managed to do that with the barrier?” Lilith asked trying to calm Eda’s mood.

“I…You know, I don’t know! I just tried to cast thorns with some plant glyphs. Maybe they got mixed since the barrier covered all the floor. I remember Luz saying something about combining the glyphs when she was teaching us but we never have the chance to try it. But I must say it is pretty awesome. But even more important, what do you say if we return Belos the favor?” Eda smirked.

“Sounds like the proper thing to do. It would look nice on the backyard of the house. We could use a target to practice spells” Lilith said while staring at the pocket effigy. Eda chuckled at Lilith’s suggestion.

The path to the throne room was clear and not too far from where they were. In no time they reached the side entrance.

“Luuuz!!!” Eda shouted from the corridor and smiled in anticipation. King hasted his pace and punched hard the door, shattering it into pieces. They entered the throne room ready to fight Belos…

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

“Guys!!!” Gus yelled to his friends that were flying in front of them.

Boscha, Willow and Barcus turned their looks and slowed their pace so they could catch them.

“Hard night, huh?” Boscha asked when seeing the injuries of her friends, especially Jerbo’s casted arm.

“Yeah…I see you too” Gus noticed the half treated injures of the other group. “Coven leaders?”

“Four” Boscha said.

“Five. Apparently there have been always two leaders on Illusion coven” Gus explained.

“Man! That sucks!”

“At least everyone is okay” Willow said. That words made Viney flinch. Barcus noticed immediately.

“[Wait, where is Puddles?]” Barcus asked. But Gus just shook his head. A sad expression where on the faces of the Bonesborough group.

“Oh, Viney! I’m so sorry…” Willow said in a soft voice.

Barcus flew to Viney’s side. “[Are you okay, Viney?]”

Vine nodded slightly and forced herself to hold back her tears. “He saved me…”

“Shit! I’m going to rip Belos throat with my own hands!!” Boscha tightened her grip on her staff. There was a very angry glare on her face.

“[I’m sorry, Viney]” Barcus whined softly trying to comfort one of his best friends “[We should haste our fight, they knew about Luz assaulting the castle]”

Everyone nodded and increased their speed. In no time they were already on castle’s ground. Boscha looked around and seemed to think on something. Gus noticed that.

“What’s the matter, Boscha?” Gus asked making everyone to stare at Boscha.

“We are on restricted area already but...” Boscha scanned the area again, there wasn’t any guard on the strategic points “…there is not a single guard in the forest. Those guards can’t leave their stations under no circumstance”

“Would they retreat to the castle?” Willow asked.

“It’s the most likely. That would be a lot of guards on the castle. But that’s not all” Boscha said with some concern.

“What else?” Jerbo asked.

“Have you noticed? When we were flying we could see and hear some explosions coming from the castle. But it have been silent for a while now” Boscha’s words made everyone turn their attention at the castle, then it hit them that what Boscha said was true.

“Let’s hurry!” Willow said and everyone hasted a little more.

The castle wasn’t that far now so they reached the castle in no time. But they weren’t prepared for what they saw there. On the bridge of the castle were several guards laying on it, or to be more accurate, the guards have been slaughtered and they were scattered all around the area. Some of the Ancient Owls have to do their best not to throw up. The sight wasn’t very nice.

“What happened here!?” Boscha said while covering her mouth to not throw up.

“Did you think Luz and the others…?” Jerbo asked.

“No! They wouldn’t do something like this!” Willow said not believing what her eyes were seeing. “Whatever happened here I don’t like it. Maybe they are in danger. We should hurry!”

Everyone agreed and hurried to enter the castle. What happened there was that once Luz’s group entered the castle, the guards that were supposed to protect the surroundings gathered around the castle so no one else could enter. However, once the Juggernaut killed Alador it got out from the castle, and guided by the trial of energy it headed to the bridge and began to slaughter every guard on it. There were no survivors from the abomination attack. But its carnage didn’t end there. Not so long after it finished with the bridge it felt King’s energy and hurried to that place, not without slaughtering every guard that crossed in its way.

The Ancient Owls entered the castle and the sight wasn’t better inside. The guards that Luz’s group have knocked out were now scattered all over the corridors. Some of them attempted to fight the Juggernaut, but nothing worked. There were blood and pieces scattered all around the walls. The entrance of the castle was a wreck. The abomination damaged severely the castle, destroying walls and ceilings in its hurry to reach King. The direct path to the throne room was blocked. Not knowing what was behind of the wall of debris they didn’t attempt to waste magic in cleaning the way, there was the possibility that behind this wall of debris there was another one. The only free path now was by the route were the Blights were fighting. The group began to fly through that path.

“Why we just don’t make some holes on the ceiling and walls?” Jerbo asked.

“It’s not that simple. The castle is protected in more than a way” Boscha replied.

“Then this destruction…” Gus said.

“It must have been a really fierce battle…or something very powerful was here. Anyway, if we attempt to make our path we’ll run out of magic. And I don’t know about you but I’m low of magic. I prefer to save my remaining magic to help the others” Boscha explained.

“Same with us. And we used all of our Moonlight Blessing potions already” Gus said.

“[Yeah, we’re dry too]” Barcus said.

“I hope everyone is okay” Viney said in a sad and soft voice.

“Don’t worry, they will be. They must be…” Boscha assured but the truth was that she was worried too.

A sudden tremble of the castle made them stop their flight and look around.

“What was that!?” Gus asked nervously.

“Let’s just continue!” Willow said and everyone resumed their flight.

Soon enough they reached the big corridor where Amity and Odalia fought, the one with the broken windows. The corridor was a wreck. With his canine hearing, Barcus heard something that no one else noticed, there was a faint sound coming somewhere near.

“[Did you hear that?]” Barcus asked and stopped his flight making everyone also to stop.

“What is it, Barcus?” Jerbo asked.

“[Listen]” Barcus said and everyone went silent. Then everyone could hear a faint wail.

“Is someone crying?” Gus asked.

“It comes from the main hall” Boscha pointed to the adjacent room. Everyone landed and headed to the hole in the wall. Everyone looked with astonishment what was left from the Blights. When they went further in the room everyone froze on their steps. There was a horrified expression in everyone faces. In front of them was Emira slumped on the floor, hugging tightly Edric’s body over a pool of blood. It took them a second to realize who was in front of them since Emira had lost her long hair during the battle against Alador.

“Emi?” Viney asked with a trembling voice.

Emira turned her head, when noticed everyone she began to cry again. Viney hurried to her side and hugged her the best she could since Emira refused to let go of Edric.

“I’m here, Emi…I’m here” Viney couldn’t bear it anymore and started to cry too. She felt horrible by Puddles death, but she knew Emira was feeling even worse. Emira had lost the closest person to her, she had lost her twin brother. No one could replace Edric never, not even her.

Everyone’s eyes filled with tears. Jerbo and Barcus sat next to Emira. Their faces were full of sorrow. Barcus whined sadly. Since Emira and Viney started to date they grew attached to the twins, they had lost a close friend. Gus was close to them too since they were in the illusion track, and since Luz arrival to the demon realm he grew attached to the twins too.

“This is not true…This is not happening!” Boscha didn’t want to believe what she was seeing. She grew attached to the twins once she stopped being a bitch and became a true friend for Amity. She spilled some tears when they thought the twins have been killed by revels, but now that it was a reality that Edric was dead she felt even more pain than that day.

“Emira, what happened?” Willow asked gently.

“Everything went wrong! They knew we were coming. Mother lured Mittens to isolate her and when we came to help her father lead us to the main hall” Emira managed to speak clearly but with a quavering voice. “Then Mittens and mother appeared through that hole and father was going to kill me but Edric got in the way and he saved me but…but…” Emira started to sob gain but she forced herself to regain her composure. Viney hugged her tightly trying to comfort her.

“Father stabbed Ed on the chest. That broke Mittens and she lose control. Father used the ancient relic during the battle, and I don’t know how but Mittens took control of the abomination and then it killed father. Then Amity killed mother but she was not herself. I have to push her out of the room to bring her back to herself”

“What about Luz?” Willow asked.

“We got separated since the beginning. She and King stayed behind. But I’m pretty sure Luz went alone to the throne room” Those words made everyone gasp. Boscha was analyzing the Juggernaut vessel but she dropped it when hearing that. The empty orb fell to the floor and the crystal shattered. It was a luck that the Juggernaut were destroyed or there would be no way to stop it without the vessel. “I had to lie to Mittens about Ed so she left to help Luz. She left just before you arrived. Please…Help them” Emira pleaded with sad eyes.

“[Boscha, Willow. You’re the strongest among us. Go help them! We’ll stay here and protect Emira and Viney. They are in no condition to fight anymore. I have almost all my magic but I see Jerbo is badly injured so I’ll stay]” Barcus said while looking at both girls.

Boscha looked away and bite her lips. She didn’t want to leave her friends after what happened. But this wasn’t over yet. And she couldn’t afford to lose another friend. She wouldn’t resist it.

Boscha and Willow left the room leaving just a trail of light.

“This couldn’t be worse…” Jerbo said while drying the tears from his eyes.

“Yes…it can…” Emira whispered.

“Luz…” Gus whispered while looking in the direction where Boscha and Willow disappeared.

Boscha leaded the way to the throne room. They followed the same route Amity used. In no time they reached the entrance of the throne room and they saw the open doors. They landed and entered the throne room ready to fight…

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

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

Once the darkness engulfed Luz, Belos trapped her in a sphere of pure darkness. The girl lose conscious instantly, trapping her on her own mindscape. Owlbert tried to reach her, but the darkness blocked the link between them. Belos could have just killed Luz, but he wouldn’t miss the opportunity to drain the life force from someone as powerful as her, after all, those chances didn’t come to him so often. And since no one has ever escaped from that trap he knew this was over.

While Belos drained her life force little by little, the darkness corrupted her dreams. Belos used all her painful experiences, doubts and fears to create that horrible nightmare and those fake memories. But since the darkness couldn’t stand against the light, when Luz casted that spell and the light vanished the darkness inside her mind. Belos was practically expelled from Luz’s mindscape. But the lich didn’t mind it. He had broken her spirit. Just one more memory and she would have gone crazy. And as long as Luz was sleep inside that sphere he could continue feeding with her life force. So he continued draining her energy.

[Insert suggested music No. 2]

Inside her mindscape, Luz was drifting on a bright and empty place. Her light spell had vanished all the darkness that tried to engulf her. Luz didn’t know where she was or if she was even alive. Everything felt so real for her, even falling from the stairs was very painful for her, her back still ached from the hit. But Luz was so exhausted that she just let herself drift wherever she was. And with her spirit broken she began to torture herself.

“I’m so tired…maybe I’m dying…”

“Maybe it’s better this way…I lead my friends to a trap…I sent them to their death…”

“Just because of my selfishness…I planned all of this and never heard their opinions about this…I wanted so desperately to free Eda that I put aside everything else…Nothing of this would be happening if not for me…”

“I have lost everything I care…my mom…my friends…no…my family…” With her memories corrupted Luz didn’t know what was real or not. But right now, those memories were real for her.

 “He was right…I’m selfish…I’m useless…I’m pathetic…I’m just like him…”

“I deserve this…”

Tears began to escape from Luz’s closed eyes. In the emptiness of her mindscape the tears floated and drifted away.

“Guys…I’m sorry…I failed you…All of you trusted on me and now…”

“Even Amity hates me now…” That thought made her eyes twitch. Luz didn’t wake up but she realized something.

“No…That thing wasn’t Amity…Amity isn’t like that…Amity…She isn’t…She is…”

A memory of Amity popped on her mind. This memory wasn’t a full interaction like the ones her friends had during their battles against the coven leaders. Hers was simpler. It was just a brief moment, but it was her favorite memory in life. A very happy Amity with her eyes closed and with one closed hand in front of her mouth while laughing. Amity’s cute laugh echoed on her mind.

“This…This is not real…”

Belos could have kept Luz forever in the mindscape if were not for a big mistake. A mistake he will never notice even if he tried. Not knowing about love or any other good feeling he couldn’t replicate Amity even when using Luz’s memories and desires. He couldn’t replicate that sparkling feeling of that single kiss she shared with Amity. And that was all Luz needed to know that something was wrong. Luz’s hand jerked inside the sphere.

Luz was now staring in astonishment at the place where she was now, she never noticed when or how she arrived there. She was on the field where she used to live the last year on the human world, she could see the Owl House on the distance. She could feel the air caressing her skin gently. She could even smell the grass around her. And in front of her was Amity smiling while leaning slightly and offering her a hand. Just by mere impulse Luz took Amity’s hand who helped her to get up from the ground. Without letting go of her hand, Amity began to run pulling Luz and leading her to the Owl House backyard. Luz couldn’t even blink, she just stared astonished at everything in front of her.

On the backyard of the house, were all her friends, her mom, even Eda and Lilith. There was food on some tables, it was a picnic. An event Luz wanted to organize after all this were over. Everyone were helping on something but all of them turned their attention at Luz and smiled at her. Amity let go of Luz and hurried to help. Nobody said nothing but it was evident that everyone was enjoying this moment. Luz could just stare at them. It was as if nothing had happened. Even Amity began to fight with Hooty when he get very close to her. Willow and Gus tried to stop Amity while Boscha and the twins just laughed. A smile appeared on her face. It was just what she wanted. And everything felt so real. But the smile vanished as fast as it came.

“This… isn’t real either…”

The world around her froze immediately. Memories of her friends popped on her mind one by one. And when the memories of that friend ended the person in front of her just turned into dust and began to flow dragged by the wind. One by one her friends began to vanish. Willow. Gus. Viney. Jerbo. Barcus. Emira. Edric. Boscha. Hooty. King. Lilith. Eda. Camila…Amity. The last thing Luz could see from Amity was that smile she loved so much. She found herself alone again. The ground under her feet melted and she fell into water. Luz began to sink. Luz didn’t attempt to swim up, she just closed her eyes and let herself sink deeper into the endless water. The deeper she sunk the darker it got.

The fake memories of her friends dying started to cross her mind. But realizing that what she saw on that house wasn’t real, the memories began to shatter and were replaced by her true memories. However, the sight wasn’t encouraging. Her last memories of her friends were those images Belos showed to her. All her friends fighting for their lives against the coven leaders, and at that point the fight wasn’t on their side. The guilt invaded her and she began to panic.

“Run…Everyone…Just run…It’s my fault…No one else have to die but me…”

Her battle with Belos flashed on her mind. She felt despair after recalling that her attacks do nothing to Belos. Her confidence was buried under tons of fears and doubts. She never thought this would end like this. The more she thought the more she slumped.

“What am I doing?…Why did I thought I could defeat him?…I’m just a human…I’m just a girl who pretended to be a witch…” Luz was invaded by a deep sorrow.

“But you’re a witch…You have achieved a lot by yourself…You have done the impossible in more than one occasion…What you say is not true…” A faint voice echoed in her mind.

“Who’s there…?” Luz opened slightly her eyes but could see nothing but the dark ocean. Luz closed her eyes again and kept sinking in that endless ocean.

“Look deep inside you…” The voice echoed more clearly on her mind. She didn’t recognize the voice but it was somehow familiar.

Those words triggered something on her mind and the memories of her training days began to pop out as if she was seeing a movie. From the first time she casted her first light spell, the first time she casted a spell in the human world, the first time she managed to cast a spell without a glyph. The time she opened a new gate with the portal key. Her learning of the ancient magic. When she broke the seal of the demons. Everything she achieved during all these years. All of those things seemed impossible tasks to do, but every time she succeeded. Of course the way wasn’t always easy, and several times she found herself frustrated but she kept trying and trying until she made it. And of course she wasn’t alone…

“I know you can do it…” Camila’s voice echoed on her mind.

“Mami?...” Luz asked weakly.

Camila had supported Luz since she returned from the Boiling isles. Even when Luz broke or burn or caused some kind of trouble with her magic, she always encouraged her when she get stuck at some point of her studies. But there was one memory that was very special for her.

It happened when she was attempting to mix magic for the first time. It wasn’t as easy as she imagined it would be, and it isn’t as easy as she made it sound nowadays. What she told Amity was true, she needed to cast the spells at the same time and visualize what she wanted to achieve, but the ‘science’ behind was more complex than that. Between the amounts of magic she needed to use from each spell, the flow of magic and the timing into mixing the spells, she needed to focus on too many things at the same time. And an unbalanced amount of magic ended in a spell exploding on her face. And during her first attempts that happened a lot.

----------

“Hey! Some of us are trying to sleep here!” King complained from Luz’s room window before slamming the windows and return to Luz’s bed to curl again.

“AAAHHHH!!!” Luz screamed in annoyance “¡¡¡Estúpido hechizo hijo de puta!!!” “[Stupid spell son of a bitch!!!]”

Something hit her head with great force making her practically see stars. Luz held her head with both hands trying to subside the sharp pain. She turned around and looked at her mom with arms crossed, swinging a slipper on one hand. Her mother was staring at her with a raised eyebrow and she didn’t look very happy.

“Ooww! Mooooom! That hurts!!” Luz complained with a single tear on her eyes while rubbing her head. Luz have tried several times to mix those spells but this last one produced a bigger and louder explosion making Camila hurry out of the house. And after hearing Luz swear she took off her slipper and slammed it hard on Luz’s head.

“What did I told you about that language!?” Camila gave a warning to her daughter. “Now get inside the house, you have been causing explosion for almost three hours, you will hurt yourself! I think is enough already!”

“But mom!!” Luz whined.

“¡Dije adentro! ¡AHORA!” “[I said inside the house! NOW!]” Camila said in an ultimatum.

Luz groaned but she began to walk to the Owl House grumbling under her breath. But mothers have super powers when close to their children, so when another swear escaped from Luz’s mouth of course she heard it.

“¿¡Que fue lo que dijiste!?” “[What did you said!?]” Camila asked in a deadly voice.

“¡NADA, NADA, NO DIJE NADA!” “[NOTHING, NOTHING, I SAID NOTHING!]” Luz ran to the house trying to get as far as possible from her angry mother.

When Camila entered the house she saw Luz sitting on the couch hugging her legs and with a pout on her face. Camila sighed and shook her head in disapproval.

“Aren’t you too old for tantrums?” Camila asked in a serious voice.

Luz groaned and buried more her face on her arms.

“Tell me what’s the problem now, mija” Camila sat next to her daughter and stared at her waiting for her answer.

“I can’t make that spell work. I have been trying to mix those spells for days and it just blow on my face every time!” Luz complained with frustration.

“Didn’t you learn the lesson when you almost blew the chemistry lab for mixing random solutions!?” Camila raised an eyebrow remembering the incident. Even when nobody got hurt she was very upset, not to mention angry because the bill hadn't been cheap.

“It wasn’t random solutions” Luz pouted “I was trying to see what happened if you mixed those solutions. The teacher just said that because he never liked me. And it’s just that I’m a natural inquisitive person…”

Camila chuckled and caressed Luz’s now longer hair. “I know. It’s what make you so special. Always wanting to know how everything works. But that curiosity cost us our vacations that year”

This time Luz chuckled. “Yeah…sorry about that. But after spending some time searching for this place I think we didn’t miss anything that year. Who wants to spend hours on a line for riding a crowded attraction anyway?”

“You made a full drama worthy of a dramatic movie to convince me to go to that place!”

Camila and Luz laughed at that memory. When the laughs ceased they stayed silent for a moment.

“Have you read carefully the books?” Camila asked gently.

“That’s the problem, mom. There is nothing about mixing magic on the books. It's something that was forbidden on the Boiling isles. Something like that would never be on the books”

“Isn’t it a good reason for that to be forbidden?” Camila asked.

“Is not like that, mom. I think that jerk forbid it just for nobody to be powerful enough to overthrow him” Luz said now sitting properly on the couch.

“Yeah…I recall something like that from that time you told me about the emperor’s history”

“Anyway. Mixing magic isn’t as easy as I thought it would be.  I just can’t find the right way to cast the spell, whenever I think I will achieve it something happens and it blow on my face like the others!” Luz let out a big sigh.

“Well, mija. As far as I remember, you wasn’t able to cast spells when you returned home. It took you some time to make your glyphs work and even more time to cast a spell without them. And every time you got frustrated just like today. I think the answer is obvious” Camila said with a smile.

“That next time I will achieve it!?” Luz said with big shiny eyes. But Camila just frowned and gave her a weak slap on the head. “Ow! Mooom!”

“You asked for it! I’m trying to encourage you and you’re just fooling around!”

Luz chuckled at that. “Sorry. But I don’t get it, mom. What do you mean with that?”

“I mean that every time that you failed in something you wanted to do you kept trying over and over until you achieved it. You didn’t notice it, but each time you put all your mind and heart on everything you did. And you didn’t achieve it from one day to another. It took you some time and a lot of hard work” Camila caressed gently the cheek of her daughter “Luz, I have seen you made the impossible more than once. Even when you failed you never gave up. You told me nobody taught you the glyphs, you found them by yourself. You have never stopped before, and I know you won’t start now. I know you will achieve it as long as you kept working hard and putting your heart on it. I know you can do it, mija”

Luz spilled some tears and hugged Camila. “Thanks, mami”

“Now go clean yourself. It’s almost time for meal. You can keep trying after you eat something”

After the meal, Luz was ready and determined to succeed on mixing her spells. Camila watched from a safe distance from her.

“Don’t force things, Luz. Desperation won’t help you”

Luz began to trace a spell circle with a finger of each hand, each trace of different color, leaving a trace of light as she drew the circle. She felt that everything was fine until she draw three quarters of the circle. That was the point where everything goes wrong. But encouraged by her mother words, Luz remained calm and focused instead of hurrying as always when she felt that she would achieve it. And this time she managed to complete the spell circle without making it explode. The glowing orb turned into a little blue flame.

“I did it!” Luz smiled in excitement “Now prepare to die, rock. You will feel the wrath of Luzura, the witch!”

Luz threw the mixed spell but when close to the rock the blue flame began to wave and then imploded before bursting into a little dust of snowflakes. It just missed the puff sound to make it a very funny scene.

Luz groaned when seeing her failed attempt of a powerful explosion of ice. Camila approached and laughed.

“You didn’t think you will be able to blow a mountain in your first try, didn’t you?” Camila said cheerfully making Luz to chuckle.

“Maybe you’re right” then Luz eyes grew wide and started to shine “Can I blow a mountain!?”

“Don’t you dare, young lady!” Camila said in a warning voice, causing Luz to chuckle.

“Anyway, did you see it!? I did it! I mixed magic!” Luz hugged her mother and bounced like a little child.

“You never cease to amaze me” Camila returned the hug and caressed gently Luz’s head “It just took you another attempt to succeed. Maybe is not the powerful spell you imagined, but it’s a start. I know is against your nature, but be patient and when you least expect it you will be casting the powerful spell you imagined. Keep that unstoppable spirit of yours. Whenever you fail remember all what you had been through and never give up”

“Te amo, mami. Gracias por apoyarme siempre…” “[I love you, mami. Thanks for always supporting me…]” Luz said in a teary voice and tightened her hug. She buried her face on Camila’s shoulder.

“Yo tambien te amo, mi hermosa brujita” “[I love you too, my beautiful little witch]” Camila tightened her grip to and kissed Luz on the head.

----------

“I know you can do it, Luz…” Camila’s words echoed on her mind.

That memory snapped out Luz from her misery. But even when her confidence was returning the impulse wasn’t enough.

“Mami…I…”

A pair of hands took gently Luz by her cheeks. It was a warm touch. In the instant Luz felt the hands all the remaining fake memories of her friends vanished. And in her mind she could see all her friends still fighting, some of them at the climax of the battle. But all of them had something in common. Even when they were injured there was a fierce expression on their faces. They were giving their best against the coven leaders. All of them without a trace of doubt. And whoever was projecting those images on Luz mind also made her hear their thoughts.

“I can’t give up!”

“They are counting on us!”

“She believed in us!”

“Luz…Luz is waiting for me!”

“I won’t give up!!” Everyone thought at the same time.

“Guys…They are…” Luz began to be more and more aware.

“They trust you…” The mystery voice echoed in her mind.

“If someone can make the impossible possible, that is you, Luz” Eda’s words from her letter echoed on her mind.

“I…I can’t give up…Everyone is giving their best…They won’t fail…I can’t fail them…I won’t fail…I promised to destroy him…There must be a way…I must find the way…” Luz body began to twitch on the real world.

“You’re more special than you think. And there is something darkness can’t bare…”

“My little ball of light, you enlighten the darkest of the places just with your presence. Never stop being that radiant little ball of light…” Camila’s words echoed on her mind, giving her the final push she needed.

Luz slowly opened her eyes. The endless ocean had vanished and she found herself surrounded just by a blinding light. There was a woman looking at her upside down. But with all that light Luz only saw a shadowy figure. Her face was close to hers, and the only thing Luz could glimpse clearly was her warm smile.

“You are…” Luz whispered weakly. The woman smile grew and then the light engulfed everything on the mindscape.

“Forgive me…for leaving this heavy burden on your shoulders…But I know you can do it…Only you can do it…” And whit those faint words, Luz woke up from her sleep.

[Insert suggested music No. 3]

Luz gasped and screamed in anger. She casted a big ball of light that vanished the darkness that was imprisoning her. The sphere exploded and Luz landed on a knee breathing heavily; there was a fierce glare on her face.

“No! That’s impossible!” Belos exclaimed in disbelief.

Luz charged immediately against the monstrous lich and began to attack him with light orbs. For the first time after Belos morphed, Luz’s attacks seemed to damage him. The lich covered with his long arms to protect himself from the light spells. However, Luz was attacking fiercely, she was really pissed off.

“How dare you…HOW DARE YOU!!! You don’t even know her!!!” With every sentence Luz casted a new light orb, each one bigger than the last one “How dare you invade my mind!!! How dare you to use my memories and dreams to create such pathetic version of Amity!!! You don’t know anything about her!!! You don’t know anything about me!!! ¡¡¡Solo eres un estúpido y pútrido pedazo de mierda!!! [You’re just a stupid putrid piece of shit!!!]” With those final words, Luz jumped on Belos head and slammed fiercely her hands on the skull placing a seal on the lich.

Belos screamed in rage and pain. He held his skull to subside the pain and in an attempt to capture Luz. Luz jumped back and casted a big light orb with both hands and threw it against Belos who fell on her back. The big light spell made the darkness surrounding the room retreat to Belos' body.

Belos kneeled and glared fiercely at Luz with glowing eyes. “What did you do to me?!!!” The lich roared angrily.

“I placed a seal on your body to interrupt your link with the marks! You won’t be able to drain more magic from anyone!” Luz snapped.

“There is no seal I can’t break!” Belos placed his hand over where Luz slammed her hands but when his hand glowed red, the seal sparked repelling Belos hand. The red glow on his hand vanished instantly.

“What’s the matter ‘your highness’? Can’t you fight with your own power?” Luz said smugly and smirked for a second “Besides, I embodied the seal with light, you won’t be able to break it so easily! I think is time you feel what everyone felt with your stupid marks!”

“Fool! The only energy I drained is the one from those useless junks of wood and your life force! You have been fighting only my power, human!!! You’re seal won’t make any difference!!” Belos left the seal alone and locked glares with Luz.

“You talk too much” Luz spun her staff and pointed it toward Belos “Let’s finish this…Sephtis”

Belos enraged at his old name and roared fiercely “I WILL DESTROY YOU, HUMAN!!!”  Belos stretched his arm commanding his darkness to spread over the room again. The floor got covered in darkness in no time.

Luz flew with Owlbert’s help and charged against Belos. But from under her, nasty hands and tendrils with sharp blades on the tip made completely of darkness, sprouted from the black liquid and launched against her. Luz dodged those limbs and using light shots she made the tendrils and hands return to the mass of black liquid. Her hand with which she was holding the staff glowed making Owlbert spread his wings and his eyes to glow. The palisman emitted a bright light that forced the darkness to retreat leaving free way for Luz. The girl charged against Belos, the darkness opened in front of her unable to bare the light coming from the staff. Luz reached Belos and swiped her staff hardly. Belos shielded himself with an arm.

The clash produced a bright flash but neither of them moved an inch. The lich tried to grab Luz with his other hand but Luz avoided it and began to throw more light spheres. Being so big was a disadvantage for the lich now. There was more surface where Luz could hit. And not showing any mercy Luz threw a rain of light spells at him. Just like his dark orbs against Luz, her light orbs were very uncomfortable for him. Being practically an entity of pure darkness, the light left a nasty sensation on the lich, not to mention that he was receiving damage now.

Luz casted another big sphere in Belos chest. The spell burst when touching him, causing the lich to fall back again, this time with more force. The lich crashed against some pillars making them collapse. Belos grabbed one of the fallen pillars and threw it at her. With a quick move of her hand Luz casted a spell and a pair of big abomination hands raised form the floor and caught the flying object and threw it away. With another motion of her hand the hands dissolved into purple goo and in a second they raised in both side of Belos and tried to crush him.

Belos stretched his arms to his sides stopping the powerful slam of the abomination hands. The lich had a monstrous strength. Belos clenched his hand and burned the abomination’s hands, melting them into goo. Belos charged against Luz and threw a dark orb at her who responded with a light orb. The spells clashed between them, their opposite nature made them struggle before exploding violently. The shockwave produced by the spells was so strong that it cracked the surfaces of the room. Luz and Belos were pushed back by the shockwave. Belos buried his claws on the floor to stop himself from being pushed back. Luz for her part recovered from the recoil with a quick spin landing in a knee and tried to stop herself by pressing the staff and one hand on the floor.

While Luz was trying to stop herself form the shockwave Belos was already on his feet and more darkness emanated from his body and started to chase Luz. When Luz managed to stop herself, the darkness was already surrounding her. The darkness engulfed her once again and the black liquid began to compress itself to form a dark sphere, but half the way the sphere vanished by a blinding light coming from the inside. All the darkness surrounding Luz retreated.

“That won’t work again!” Luz snapped.

The brunette casted several light orbs and spread them around the room. It was like a mined ground, little orbs of light were floating around the room making the darkness retreat to avoid the light. Belos raised some shadow hands from the sea of darkness to engulf the little orbs but when the hand closed it exploded and vanished. The darkness that was spread over the room was a part of Belos nasty energy materialized on that black liquid, so every time Luz vanished the darkness he lost part of his energy. Not wanting to lose too much energy and seeing that it would be impossible to trap Luz for now, Belos decided to retreat al the darkness of the room.

Even when Belos retreated all the darkness Luz still felt all the castle surrounded by that nasty energy, she wondered if it was because of Belos monstrous power. It was hard to sense Belos surprise attacks. But Luz didn’t hesitate. Now she was able to hurt Belos and that was enough for her to keep her assault. She won’t give him any chance to try another trick. So she charged against the lich.

Luz moved at full speed with Owlbert’s help. Belos made broken and sharp bones raise from the floor in an attempt to impale Luz. But Luz dodged all the sharp bones until she placed herself behind Belos. With her staff charged with light she hit Belos hard behind the knee to make him lose his balance. The lich bent by the hit and was impaled by ice shards. Belos roared by the pain, Luz had embodied her ice spell with light. Belos jerked breaking the ice needles and turned around quickly to attack Luz. Belos tried to claw Luz but the girl dodged the attack and charged against Belos skull. However, Belos took Luz by surprise with a dark orb casted with his mouth.

Luz gasped when Belos opened his mouth and the dark sphere was already there. Belos launched the spell and hit Luz directly, making her crash against the wall. The wall cracked badly and Luz fell to the floor, but the girl landed on her knee. The pain caused by the dark spells was the same, that nasty sensation of razors all over her body. However, this time she didn’t receive any psychological damage. She was more determined to destroy Belos and help her friends, especially Eda and Amity. Luz stood up immediately and charged against the lich.

Luz and Belos exchanged several spells. Luz was attacking with all what she got. But it was hard to tell if Belos was doing the same or just using part of his power. The battle was fierce, the spells produced a destructive shockwave when colliding. Anyone who watched the battle will lost its breath but the only witnesses were the several light orbs that Luz casted.

Luz casted a big light orb and threw it at Belos. The lich covered with his arms and the hit pushed him back. When he downed his arms a blue flame was already in front of him. Belos was going to melt himself to avoid the explosion but the spell burst first. Belos’s hand and one of his antlers got frozen into a big ice shard. With both hands, Luz casted a light orb. The light spell glowed and she shot a light beam against the ice shard, shattering Belos’s hand and antlers.

The light spell was the first one that Luz learned so it has a very special place on her heart. She knew how to manipulate it like when she crafted that sign for Eda’s stand and the market, but she never had thought about using it as a weapon, until now. With all what she learn about magic this four years it was easy for her.

Belos held what remained from his arm and groaned angrily. Luz had embodied all of his spells with light so it would harm the lich. Belos was pissed off not just because Luz managed to destroy part of his body but because she had added light to an already mixed spell. It was ridiculous for him that a human could achieve something so complex with no effort. But this battle was far from over. Bones began to raise from the floor and then shattered into pieces just to merge into a new one to replace Belos’s missing bones. As long as his soul is protected on the phylactery he is immortal. And to destroy his body, Luz needs to left Belos without a trace of magic or he just will regenerate himself over and over. And without knowing it, she was achieving it. To regenerate what was left of his body Belos needed to use a lot of magic.

Belos roared in anger and charged against Luz clawing at her fiercely. Luz dodged the attacks and with a quick move she placed herself next to Belos head. She extended her arm ready to throw a light ball at Belos but her spell vanished half way. She ran out of magic. Luz gasped and before she could react, Belos swiped his arm and hit Luz hard with the back of her hand making her yelp. Luz was sent flew with such force that part of the wall where she crashed fall apart, revealing the complex system of pipelines behind the wall. Luz didn’t notice those pipelines. Owlbert levitated the debris away so they didn’t fall on Luz.

Luz began to breathe heavily, but she stood up and cleaned the trail of blood from her mouth with her hand. She extended her arm aiming at Belos and tried to cast another spell but only sparks appeared form her hand.

“Tsk!” Luz face twitched in annoyance. She never thought that Belos had drained so much energy from her. Also she used a big amount of energy to place the seal on Belos.

“What’s the matter, human? Did you ran out of magic?” Belos laughed when seeing Luz attempting to cast a spell without success.

Luz didn’t answer to Belos’ mocks and charged against him with a piercing battle cry. Belos laughed at that action but got surprised by the witch. A big light orb hit him hard and made him crash on the wall behind. When he recovered he noticed some papers between Luz’s fingers. Luz attempted to use those glyphs as land mines at first, but she never thought that she will end in this point of having to depend on them again. But even without her magic she didn’t give a step back; she just kept attacking Belos. The lich chuckled at Luz’s attack.

“Impressive. I forgot you used to use those. I see you improved your skills with them too. But that won’t change anything, human. Now that you lost your magic I don’t have any use for you. Die, human!” Belos roared and summoned some dark tendrils from his body.

The tendrils launched at Luz who flew away from them with Owlbert’s help. But without her magic she was able only to fly at Owlbert’s speed, so she got a hard time avoiding the attacks. Luz mixed her glyphs and froze one of the tendrils. Belos broke and retreated the remaining part of it before it froze completely. Luz’s glyph spells were embodied with light too. Luz mixed the few glyphs on her hand along with light glyphs to vanish the remaining tendrils. But when she finished with the last one a black orb pushed Luz back. More black orbs where flying toward her. Luz jumped back to avoid the first one and flew away to avoid the rest but some of them hit her. Luz winced by the nasty feeling of the orbs, but got up in no time.

Luz counterattacked with more spells and Belos did the same. The clash of the spells produced powerful shockwaves. Both of theme receiving a hit now and then. The room began to get more and more damaged. Even when Luz was enduring the battle she knew that her glyphs weren’t unlimited. At some point she will ran out of them. Luz took what was left of her glyph bundle and spread all of them but the light glyphs to the air. The little pieces of paper flew and where engulfed by the light orbs, but nothing happened.

Belos laughed when nothing happened and threw a giant black orb against Luz so she had no other choice but to use her remaining light glyphs at once. Luz’s light orb matched Belos dark orb in size and power. The collision produced lightning discharges, both orbs struggled and started to deform as the pressure between them increased. Luz prepared herself for the imminent explosion covering herself with her cloak, but just before the orbs exploded a pair of giant decaying hands imprisoned the orbs between them. The hands exploded and shattered the putrid flesh around the room, however the explosion was diminished. Luz didn’t knew why Belos did that. Maybe that explosion would have caused him a lot of damage too. Whatever the case, Luz felt relief that the explosion didn’t hurt her already injured body.

“This is your end, human!” Belos began to run and pounced at Luz. The lich was laughing in anticipation.

“In your dreams, asshole!!” Luz slammed the tip of the staff on the ground and Owlbert spread his wings and his eyes glowed brightly.

All the glyphs that were engulfed by the light orbs activated. The little orbs glowed brightly and the glyphs glowed inside the orb with the color of their nature. Using the special bond with Owlbert she was able to manipulate all the orbs she casted previously, and one by one the orbs glowed, casting a powerful spell against the lich knocking him back.

Belos was astonished at such display of magic. He didn’t understand how Luz was doing that without magic. What the girl started to do after she get out of his nightmare prison was unknown for him, even when he studied everything about magic when young. And that just pissed him off. It was ridiculous that a human achieved such a thing.

The orbs were embodied with every glyph Luz knew. And without knowing where the attack will come from, the lich was at Luz’s mercy. Being so big made Belos an easy target, even when he melted to escape to another place he received damage from the spells that hit the black liquid. It was a colorful display of magic. Fire, ice, water, lightning, plants, rocks, goo. Even when there were just basic spells it damaged the lich. At some point of the battle, Belos kneeled. He had received a big amount of damage, by now his powers have diminished considerably. He used his arms to cover from the overwhelming spells. With every hit Belos received and with his power diminishing, he enraged more and more until he reached a break point.

Belos roared in anger, releasing a powerful wave of magic that pushed back the light orbs, vanishing the nearest one to him. Her eyes glowed so intensely that a blue flame surrounded them. Luz covered herself with her arms but the wave pushed her back some meters, but she managed not to fall.

“I’ve had enough of your games, human!!!” The lich roared madly and the seal that was printed on his head burned with a green flame until it vanished.

“Your friends will be the first to die! Then, I will drain the rebels and every single witch on the isles!” Belos’s eyes glowed and he raised a hand to the air and clawed it. Luz glared at him and waited in expectation for him to become stronger. But nothing happened. Belos couldn’t find the traces of the witches but the members of his coven.

Seeing that nothing happened after several seconds, Luz chuckled making the lich turn his look at the girl. “They did it” Luz said with a smirk on his face.

“What!?” Belos asked in confusion.

“Have you forgotten? The plan wasn’t just to kick your ass. My friends have released everyone from your nasty marks” Luz wasn’t sure if the images she saw while trapped on the mindscape were real, but with Belos failure attempt to drain the energy of the witches of the isles she was sure now that those images were real “They won! Everyone is free from you!”

“NO! That’s impossible!” Belos was so focused on the battle that he never noticed when the marks began to disappear. He also wasn’t aware that Eda and Lilith got de-petrified. The lich focused to see in his mind what was going on in the Conformatorium and Bonesborough. The coven leaders were all dead. The only ones remaining were Odalia and Alador who were still fighting. The lich roared in rage and glared fiercely at Luz “YOU, INSIGNIFICANT HUMAN, I WILL MAKE YOU AND YOUR FRIENDS SUFFER A HORRIBLE DEATH!!!”

Belos enraged at the statement that all of the leaders were defeated, and that Luz, a mere human, was enduring a battle against him, and even more, she was injuring him with her spells. He began to breathe dark orbs at Luz. The brunette dodged the balls with Owlbert’s help flying around Belos. And suddenly, one of the orbs hit the pipes on the back of the room. The pipes broke and began to fall. Belos ceased his attack and with a levitation spell he pushed away the falling pipes.

Luz watched surprised the action of the lich. Then something caught her attention. Something she spotted four years ago. Something she overlooked. If the Titan has been dead for eons, “Why does his heart is still beating?” Luz thought for an instant and the answer came to her “The phylactery! His soul is inside the Titan’s heart!” Luz looked carefully at the room and finally noticed the pipes behind the broken wall, all of them coming from some main pipes that were connected to the heart. She focused really hard and finally she was able to sense the source of the nasty energy, all of it came from the Titan’s heart. She thought at first that it was because Belos was here, but now that she sense it carefully, all the energy that surrounded the castle came from the heart.

Not wasting time, Luz used some orbs to cast some fireballs at the heart. Belos melted immediately and appeared in front of the heart and deflected the fireballs with some dark orbs. With that, Luz confirmed what was evident now. She needed to destroy the heart.

Belos noticed Luz’s reaction and attacked her more fiercely. Luz tried to attack the heart but Belos’s relentless attacks didn’t give her any chance. Luz dodged the attacks as best as she could with Owlbert’s help and countered some of them with some of the light orbs. But with the number of light orbs decreasing, Luz was starting to get in serious troubles. Belos teleported himself behind Luz but before Owlbert could drag her, Belos hit her with a swipe of his hand. Immediately, the lich breathed a black orb that hit the brunette. Luz crashed hard on the floor and bounced several times before stopping herself. Luz stood up with some effort, she was breathing heavily and her sweat began to mix with the blood of her injuries. She was very tired after using all the life force that her body used for magic.

The desperate attempt of Belos to drain the energy from the witches told Luz that he had wasted a lot of energy too. But he wasn’t as bad as Luz. Even worse, he was attacking even with more force. Belos wanted to end this as quickly as possible just like Luz. Luz knew that if she continued like this she will be dead for sure in no time. So she made a risky move. Luz took out the Moonlight Blessing vial from the blister that Boscha gave them.

One of the things that she and Boscha weren’t sure about was what would happen if Luz drank the potion when she had low energy. She had tested it at full power getting the same result as her friends. They knew that when a witch with low magic or none magic on her body drank the potion, this will grant the witch a temporary bust of magic but getting the twice of the side effects when the effect wore off. Luz gladly would test it to see what would have happened, but Boscha stopped her arguing that it would be too risky since they didn’t know where her magic came from. So in the end the results were unknown. But there was no time to think about that now so she just drank the potion without hesitation.

Luz felt the bust of energy running through her body, but she winced slightly, the side effects didn’t take long to show, she could feel her body working at four hundred percent. But Luz ignored the pain and charged against Belos at incredible speed.

Luz spun her staff and released a powerful burst of light in front of Belos skull sending him to fly. The lich crashed on the wall, breaking it and revealing more pipes behind it. The lich couldn’t believe that Luz was able to cast spells again. Just having less than a minute to act, Luz didn’t waste time and with a move of her hands, all the remaining orbs gathered and merged into a big light orb. The orb glowed and then it began to spin until it uncurled into a big light otter.

The otter hissed fiercely at Belos and charged against him immediately. Luz then focus all her energy and with a levitation spell began to pull the heart from its place. Seeing that, Belos ignored the big otter and threw several black orbs at Luz, but the otter moved quickly and deflected them with its tail. The otter charged at Belos again and breathed fire at him. Belos raised a wall of darkness to block the fire but the other continued his charge. Being made of light allowed the otter to pierce the wall without problem. Belos grabbed the otter by one limb but his hand got frozen instantly. The otter hissed and with a tail whip it pushed back Belos. Immediately, the otter slammed both front paws in the floor and thorns raised from under Belos, wrapping him by the legs and arms.

Belos watched astonished at the otter. What Luz have created wasn’t just a light spell with the form of an otter. The otter had embodied all the glyphs Luz’s merged with the light orbs. All spells mixed in one unique spell, something that nobody have managed to do in all the isles history.

Belos enraged at the only idea that Luz, a mere human, was able to mix every spell in that light otter. Belos turned his insane glare at Luz who was struggling to pull out the heart. The lich melted into black liquid and vanished, but the otter dived into the floor as if it was water. Just before Belos could attack Luz from behind, the otter pushed him out of the floor and began to struggle with him. The lich pushed away the otter and was going to attack Luz, but it was too late. With a fierce scream Luz, pulled the heart out of the wall with all the bust of magic the potion gave her. The titan’s heart flew out making some of the pipes break and fall from the wall. Black mist emanated from the veins and arteries. The potion effect wore off and Luz fall to one knee in exhaustion. The brunette was breathing and sweating heavily.

Belos ignored Luz and summoned some darkness hands to catch the enormous heart, but the otter pounced to it and pierced to the center of the heart. Inside the heart, the otter curled and began to glow intensely. The mixture of spells made the heart explode violently. The castle trembled heavily by the explosion. All surface on the room cracked badly, some parts of the walls and ceiling collapsed. Owlbert protected Luz with a barrier while Belos covered himself with his arms, but both of them were expelled by the violent explosion, making them crash hard on the walls. Pieces of flesh were scattered around the room, but a big part of the heart practically turned into dust by the force of the explosion. Luz achieved to destroy Belos’s phylactery but this wasn’t over yet, Belos was still alive.

A red orb glowed in the place where the heart exploded but after some errant moves it flew directly at Belos chest, surrounding his black heart with a red aura. Belos felt his heart beating causing him to gasp. The only thing that kept him alive now was his remaining magic that animated his dead body. He was vulnerable again after so much centuries, and he didn’t have the energy to make an emergency phylactery anymore.

Luz’s powerful magic…Luz escaping from the darkness…Luz’s light spells…The light otter…The seal that the girl placed on his head…And now, the destruction of the Titan’s heart. All of those things popped in Belos’s mind. All of those things, done by a mere human…

Belos enraged and charged madly against Luz. Luz attempted to dodge the attack but her movements were slow because of her exhaustion, so she received the full blow of Belos’s hand. Luz crashed hard on another wall causing her to cough blood. Before Luz could fall to the floor, Belos grabbed the girl by her torso and began to crush her.

Luz screamed in great pain, every single cell of her body ached. Luz grabbed Belos’s wrist trying desperately to free herself from the deadly grip but it was evident that the girl didn’t have the force to pull the lich away.

“I will squeeze you and drink your blood!!” Belos roared madly.

Luz glared at the lich, she was far from giving up. Belos began to crush Luz again making the brunette to scream loudly. Luz could hear her bones cracking, but she tried to ignore the pain. There was just something on her mind. Destroy Belos. But with no magic and no more glyphs, she used her last resort, she did what she promised never to do.

“Lo siento, mami…” “[I’m sorry, mami…]” Luz thought.

“When I finish you I will slaughter your friends and then I will drain the energy of every living beings in this world” Belos threatened in a deadly voice and his eyes surrounded by blue fire while staring at Luz “And when I finish whit this world I will destroy your world, starting with your mother!!”

“Over my dead body!!” Luz tightened her grip on Belos wrist and screamed in anger.

Luz’s hands glowed and a powerful light spell destroyed Belos’ hand. The lich roared in pain and gave a step back. Luz joined her hands and casted several burst of magic that sent Belos crash against a wall. Luz landed on a knee and began to breathe even more heavily. Luz broke the promise she made to her mother since she opened the portal for the first time. She began to use the life force that kept her alive to cast spells.

“No!!! That’s not possible!! The potion wore off and you ran out of energy!!” Belos roared in anger. The lich regenerated his hand but it had a high cost on him. Without a source of magic, the energy he used was the one remaining on him, and he hadn’t much now. Luz have pushed him at the point that he used almost all of his reservoir.

“You should had studied humans better!! If you knew anything about humans you would know that we don’t give up so easily!! And we always surpass our limits to achieve what we want!!! As long as I’m alive I will be able to do magic!!!” Luz charged against Belos and casted a powerful light orb, breaking completely the wall. Belos crashed on the pipelines behind the wall and these collapsed over him.

Belos got out from the debris with an angry roar. The lich could just get on his knee and began to breath heavily too. Luz noticed that and slammed her hands on the floor. Spell circles with some runes and a light glyph on the center appeared over the floor, walls and ceiling started to turn slowly. Luz created a powerful barrier around the room so Belos wouldn’t flee from the place. Luz stumbled and her vision turned double. A barrier like that used a big amount of magic. She forced herself not to fall and shook her head to recover her vision.

“Fool!!! A barrier won’t stop me!!” Belos breathed a big dark sphere and it exploded when touched the barrier, but when the smoke dissipated Belos watched astonished that the barrier didn’t have even a scratch.

While Belos was distracted with the barrier, Luz took the chance to cast a burst of magic that pushed the lich back again making him fall over the fallen pipelines. What Belos had said was true, when using life force the spells were stronger. But Luz was not only using her life force, she was using the part that kept her alive, the one that was attached to her own soul. All her feelings were embodied on her spells making them incredible strong; but of course the cost was too high. With every spell she casted she felt more and more tired. The only reason she didn’t faint yet was her will and determination to save Eda. The witch that sacrifices herself for her four years ago. And just like her, Luz didn’t care if she was putting her life on risk. She will do anything for Eda, for her second mother.

Not only the barrier was the strongest barrier Belos had seen over the centuries, the last spell Luz threw at him was incredible powerful. And with that and what Luz achieved during the battle, the lich finally lose his control. Belos roared insanely and began to throw dark orbs randomly over the room. Not a single orb hit Luz and the barrier remained untouched. Then Belos began to raise shadow hands under Luz, but without that nasty energy surrounding the castle, Luz was able to sense where the spell will raise. Luz dodged every single hand making Belos to enrage more.

Belos began to claw at Luz fiercely. Luz dodged Belos attacks and pushed him back with some light orbs. Belos roared insanely and darkness began to emanate from his back and took the form of a nasty shadow and it charged against Luz. Luz clenched her fists and concentrated a big amount of her energy. A big owl of light burst from her with a loud hoot and flew against Belos’s shadow with a screech. Both figures clashed creating a powerful shockwave but the owl surpassed the shadow and vanished all the darkness and continue its flight until hitting Belos.

The lich was sent to fly against the pipelines under were the Titan’s heart used to be making the barrier glow but it didn’t even crack. Before the lich could do anything, Luz charged and jumped on the chest of the creature and buried her hands, placing them in front of the black heart. Luz felt her hands burning when inside the lich but she ignored the pain. Luz screamed angrily and with both hands casted a powerful light spell embodied with all her feelings against the lich. The blast of magic exploded destroying Belos’ heart, the only flesh that remained on his body. The force of the explosion pushed Luz away. Owlbert, who was floating behind Luz, flew directly to her hands and Luz used the staff to stop herself. The girl was soaked in sweat and her breathing was heavy, not to mention all the injuries she had over her body. With her energy so low the barrier couldn’t remain and vanished, but it didn’t matter anymore.

The lich began to lose valance but didn’t fall. Belos began to walk toward Luz with a lot of effort until the lich fall to his knees just a few meters from Luz. The lich put his hand on his chest. Black liquid began to pour from the chest, mouth and eye sockets. The darkness surrounding him began to melt and form a pool on the floor. Without heart and vile sack there was no place for him to keep his magic so he couldn’t reanimate his own body anymore.

“Hu…man…” Belos said in a weak voice. He stretched his arm in an attempt to grab Luz but the lich finally collapsed on the floor. The darkness surrounding him melted into a pool of black liquid. The bones began to turn into dust. And when the monstrous skull crumbled it just left Belos’s mask behind. Luz had won the battle. The emperor had fallen…

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[Insert suggested music No. 4]

Amity got down from her staff and ran toward the big doors, she hurried to enter the throne room and swung open the doors ready to attack the emperor, with one hand set on fire and the other one holding her charged staff. Amity began to slow her pace until she came to a stops just a few steps from the door. The eyes of the mint haired girl went wide, she stopped breathing and her heart started to beat faster.

In the back of the room was a big creature roaring fiercely with its claws dripping blood. And in the place where the throne used to be was Lilith looking in astonishment at the creature, and next to her, on a pool of blood was Eda on her knees hugging tightly Luz while sobbing hysterically with the most heartbreaking screams someone has ever heard.

Amity dropped her staff and she began to shake. Amity opened her mouth letting escape a muffled sound because of her astonishment. She breathed again and finally an insane piercing scream came out from her…

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Under the pink tree, for the last three years, on the same spot, a life-size statue of Luz at her eighteen has been there, holding Owlbert staff with one hand and with Ravus staff on her back, looking at the horizon with that warm smile on her face. Amity remained still on her place, holding tightly the flower bouquet, just staring at the smiling statue.

Just like Edric and Puddles, there were statues of Luz all around the isles. The biggest one was on the gardens of the Noceda Institute of Magic and Demonics. But the one under the pink tree was special. Under it, lies Luz. This was Luz’s final rest place. This was Luz’s grave.

When once again nothing came out from her mouth, Amity sighed and placed the beautiful arrangement on the base of the statue. Then she began to remove the dry leaves over the statue and all around it, with no magic. When finished she sat on the ground hugging her legs, staring at the bright plate on the base.

[Here lies Luz Noceda]

[Savior of the Boiling isles]

[Beloved daughter and friend]

[And the most powerful witch on the demon and human realms]

[Glory to the Ancient Owls]

After a while Amity began to cast little light orbs that floated around the statue. When an orb vanished she casted a new one. This was what Amity do every time she was in this place. She just stayed there, without saying nothing and blaming herself. No matter how hard she tried, nothing ever came out from her mouth.

Meanwhile back at the institute, Eda and Lilith were waiting at the entrance. Both of them looking at the top of the pink tree that raised above the rest of the trees. Just like everyone else, as time passed Eda continued with her life, but that didn’t mean it didn’t hurt anymore. Even when she was doing fine, this day was very hard for Eda too. Nothing have prepared her for what happened on the throne room. And those memories always came to her this day…

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With a lot of effort Luz managed to stand up and she got close to the black pool. Luz have thought some cool words to said when Belos was down since she began training, but she just stared with a frown at the remaining mask for several seconds while trying to recover her breath. Then Luz chuckled by Owlbert’s words and turned her look at the palisman.

“Yes, little buddy, we destroyed that asshole. Don’t said that in front of Eda or she will think that I only taught you bad things” Luz said in a weak voice and then chuckled again when Owlbert told her something more, but the girl winced.

“Don’t make me laugh, please. I think I broke everything” her chuckles made her body ache. Her body was at its limit by the side effects of the potion and the abuse of her life force. It was surprising that she hadn’t fainted yet. But she couldn’t. There was one last thing she needed to do.

“Come on, little buddy, we…” Luz gasped and coughed blood. She felt a sharp pain on her chest. The girl turned her look and saw a nasty dark spike piercing her chest. Blood begin to pour from the corner of her mouth. Belos’s nasty laugh echoed weakly on the room.

“You may have won…human…but you will not enjoy your victory…” the lich began to laugh weakly again.

Owlbert glowed with a blinding light, vanishing the spike and the pool of black liquid. Belos nasty laugh ceased. The spike pierced Luz completely, damaging her heart and spine making Luz lose all sensation of the lower part of her body. The only thing that gave support to Luz was the same spike. But when it vanished Luz fell hard to the floor.

Owlbert detached himself from the staff and began to fly in panic over Luz. The palisman tried to call her but the girl began to drift into unconsciousness.

“E…da…” The girl whispered weakly before losing conscious.

The sudden noise of something breaking made Owlbert turn his look at one of the side entrances. King, Lilith and Eda appeared through the shattered door ready to fight. However Eda’s smile disappeared once she spotted Luz lying over a pool of blood on the floor.

“Luz!!!!” Eda practically snatched Ravus from Lilith’s hands and flew at full speed to Luz. Owlbert perched on Eda’s shoulder.

Eda held Luz and began to panic when spotting the big hole in her chest. Eda shook Luz in an attempt to wake her up calling her name over and over. King and Lilith reached them and Lilith kneeled next to her sister. King just stood still in front of them. All of them with concerned eyes. After some seconds Luz winced. Eda’s voice had reached the girl. Luz slowly opened her eyes and took her some time for her vision to adjust. When her vision finally focused and spotted Eda she smiled.

[Insert suggested music No. 5]

“Hey, mama owl” Luz said weakly but with a warm smile.

“Yes, mama owl is here. Don’t worry, Luz, mama is here” Eda said with a weak smile. “Look how beautiful you have grown, and I see you have good taste on clothes too”

Luz chuckled at Eda’s compliment. “Thanks, I learned from the best. Guess what…I defeated that asshole”

“That’s great, my little owlet. You can tell me all about it later. Now let’s heal your wounds” Eda said in a very concerned voice and then she placed her hand over Luz’s chest but nothing happened. Remembering she has no magic she looked at her sister with pleading eyes “Lily! Lily! Heal her! Please, heal her!” she pleaded desperately.

Lilith placed her hands over Luz wound and began to focus her energy on the palm of her hands, but as soon as they glowed a bright blue, the spell broke. Lilith tried it again with the same result.

“Lily!! What are you doing!! Hurry!!!” Eda said a bit loud.

“I…I can’t…” Lilith said with a concerned voice.

“Dammit, Lily, just do it!!”

Lilith was going to try it again but Luz grabbed one of her hands. Both witches turned their looks at Luz and the girl shook her head slowly. Lilith’s eyes went wide. With that single gesture she understood everything. They couldn’t do anything to help her.

“It’s okay…I’m just happy that you’re free. You did a great job, little buddy, I knew you could do it…” Luz turned her look at King and smiled at him. The demon could just watch with watery sad eyes. Eda panicked more but refused to believe there was nothing they could do to help Luz.

“D-Don’t talk Luz. Save your strength…”

“Eda…” Luz said weakly, but Eda had a panic attack and didn’t listen to her. The witch began to scan the room desperately trying to find something to help Luz.

“…I-I…We’re going to get out of this place and…”

“Eda…”

“…and we’re going to take you to the healers and then everything is going to be okay and…and…”

“Mama Eda…” Luz grabbed gently Eda’s arm. The touch and those words snapped Eda’s out of her panic attack and she turned her look at Luz once again. Luz was just smiling at her. Eda watched at the girl with a very concerned expression.

“Thanks for risking your lives so I could get back home. And it was a wonderful gift the one you left for me inside the Owl House. I was able to learn magic thanks to you. Everything that you have done for me means a lot” Luz smiled warmly at them. A tear formed on the corner of Luz’s eyes.

“Save your strength, sweetie. We’re going to help you, just…” Lilith said with a weak smile.

Luz chuckled at those words and offered another smile at Lilith. “I’m sorry…I have to use almost all of my life force to destroy that monster. But before I run out of energy I have a gift for you. In gratitude of everything that you have done for me” Luz traced slowly a small spell circle with each hand dragging some of her remaining life force.

“Luz, stop! Don’t do that!” Lilith started to panic.

Two scrolls appeared in front of her hands. She took them and focused more energy on the scrolls. She stretched her arms until reached the head of both witches. The scrolls glowed and unfolded before merging into them. An aura surrounded Eda and Lilith and her eyes recovered its natural color. The clear band on their hair also disappeared. The sisters felt immediately the magic flowing again in their bodies. Eda and Lilith stared at each other and got astonished. Luz had removed the curse.

“I’m sorry for not giving those to King but, I wanted to do it myself. I worked very hard to find a cure for the curse. I’m glad it worked” Luz said in a weaker voice. Casting magic in that state had a very high cost. But she didn’t mind. Without energy and the massive loss of blood she knew she wouldn’t survive this, but she refused to die until she cured Eda and Lilith from the curse. And now that she achieve it, the brunette began to felt sleepy. “Hey, mama owl…”

“Yes…my little owlet?” Eda asked gently.

“I want to stay here…under the pink tree…”

Eda didn’t understand what she meant with that in that moment, she was worried sick about Luz that she couldn’t think clearly.

“Aunt Lily…I wish I could have known you better” Luz offered the warmest smile Lilith had seen. Those words made tears began to roll from Lilith’s eyes.

“Please…tell my mom that I love her and that I’m sorry for having to break my promise…I left Hooty and the portal with Bat Queen. You just need to pick them up…King and Owlbert know how to find my house…” Now King was the one that was beginning to cry.

“And…watch Amity for me, okay? Her life has been hard enough…don’t judge her please…” Luz’s eyes reflected some sadness.

“Oh…and guess what…the palisman tree called me…it would had been nice to carve my palisman with your help…” Luz smiled at Eda.

“What are you saying, Luz? We’re going to carve your palisman when you recover. That’s the first thing we’re going to do!” Eda smiled at Luz.

“…Hey, mama Eda…” Luz caressed gently Eda’s cheek and offered her the warmest smile she had “I love you…”

Luz smile began to fade and her hand began to slide form Eda’s face until it went limp.

“Luz?” Eda called with a hoarse voice “Luz!” Eda shook Luz with some energy and called her in an attempt to wake her up, her calls suddenly turned into desperate shouts, but it was useless. Luz was gone. Lilith covered her mouth and began to sob. Eda began to cry and hugged Luz’s body tightly, and what started with weak sobs soon became heartbreaking screams. King for his part frowned but tears were rolling down her skull. He had a mixture of emotions inside him. Half of him was in deep grief but the other half wanted to slaughter the responsible of killing his best friend.

Eda’s screams were suddenly overshadowed by a strong explosion on the other side entrance. From that door came Kikimora with several coven guards.

“KILL THEM!!!” Kikimora commanded to the guards.

King enraged at the interruption and his eyes glowed a bright red. The demon charged against the guards and pounced at them. All the guards stopped him with a levitation spell. King roared fiercely getting angrier with every second it passed. Eda was lost on her sorrow and didn’t care about anything but Luz. Lilith also let out her anger and was going to attack but froze on her place when she got up and watched astonished at King.

The demon began to grow more and his second pair of eyes appeared on his skull. The guards weren’t able to hold him and their spell broke. King landed making the room tremble. The demon straightened when reaching twenty meters tall. But unlike that the first time, something else happened. A gold crown began to materialize over his head. When the floating crown finished to appear it got surrounded immediately by blue fire.

“NAFL'FHTAGN YA NYTH'DRNN NG F' AH'N'GHA NILGH'RI!!!!” King roared fiercely in a language no one understood. The shockwave released by the monstrous powers of King made all the castle tremble violently. That shockwave made more of the ceiling and walls collapse, some pipelines and cogs of the ceiling began to fall. Lilith reacted and pushed away all the debris that were falling over them with a levitation spell.

King returned his glare at Kikimora and the guards and threw a blow with great force. Kikimora and the guards got paralyzed in fear just by King’s glare. They just stayed there watching as his hand approached. All of them were crushed by King powerful slam. King lifted his hand just to slam them with the other hand. He did it one more time before he closed his hand to grab the crushed bodies. His sharp claws left a deep mark on the floor. King roared and threw the bodies against the wall. The bodies crashed in the wall splattering blood over it. Tears began to roll from King’s eyes while he roared to the sky.

The words King shouted when transforming broke the seal of all the demons around the Boiling isles. The eyes of all demons glowed and they morphed into their true forms. Every witch on the isles looked at them with astonishment and fear. But the demons just attacked the coven guards leaving a trail of blood behind them. The remaining guards around the isles fall in the hands of the demons, just those ones that were knocked out or surrender survived. Until this day no one knows how the demons knew who to attack. Eda and Lilith suspected that it has to do with King’s feelings, somehow they could sense King’s orders. After that day nobody made fun of King. He earned his title as the King of Demons that night.

Back in the castle, an insane heartbreaking scream caught Lilith’s attention. She turned around and looked Amity stood in front of the main entrance with an insane look on her face.

“Amity!” Lilith was going to run and embrace the girl to calm her but in that moment Boscha and Willow arrived the room, both of them froze on their steps when seeing King.

“Is that King?!!” Willow asked with astonishment “Lu-” Willows was going to call Luz but then she spotted the terrible scene. Boscha was already watching with wide eyes at the broken Eda holding Luz’s dead body.

Amity began to walk slowly and set her hands on fire. Not thinking clearly and with no knowledge of what happened, she concluded that ‘that thing’ with blood dripping from his claws was responsible of Luz’s death. Boscha noticed that and acted quickly.

“Stop her!!” Boscha yelled to Willow. With tears on their eyes both girls hurried at Amity and each girl grabbed one of her arms. But because of their injuries it was difficult for them to hold the girl. Amity struggled fiercely to release herself. Her gaze was lost in King. “Lilith!! Knock her down!!”

Lilith hurried to the girls and casted a sleep spell over Amity, however the girl kept struggling. Lilith had to cast the spell two more times before Amity fell to the floor. Boscha and Willow fell over her. Willow got up and hurried to King. Boscha tightened her grip on Amity’s cloak and lowered her face. She bit her lip in an attempt to suppress her sobs but the girl sniffled heavily.

Willow placed her hand over King’s foot making the demon to turn his look at the girl. Willow stared at him with a very sad expression and tears rolling on her face. King began to shrink until he was that little demon again. King curled himself on the floor and began to sob. Willow lifted him up and hugged him tightly. Both of them crying heavily.

Eda’s hysterical screams made them feel even worse but everyone remained in silence until Eda let out all her grief.

“Boscha…” Lilith called her gently “Where is everyone?” Boscha was now sitting on the floor with Amity’s head on her lap.

“In the main hall” Boscha answered in a very soft voice.

“I heard you have to fight the coven leaders. Is everyone okay?” Lilith asked with concern. And she received the answer she didn’t want to hear. Boscha shook her head.

“We lost Puddles, Viney’s griffin, on Bonesborough…and…and…Alador killed Ed” Boscha said at the verge of tears again. Lilith covered her mouth when hearing that.

“Oh my…No wonder why Amity ended like this” Lilith said in a very sad voice. And for making things worse, Boscha shook her head again.

“She doesn’t know”

“What!?” Lilith asked with astonishment.

“She thinks Ed is alive. Em had to lie to her so she would leave to help Luz…But I see it was too late”

Lilith’s eyes went wide and froze for a minute. She got concerned of Amity, she didn’t know how she would react when she wakes up and find the truth.

“Where is he?” Boscha asked in a vicious voice while frowning at the floor. The bitterness on her voice snapped Lilith from her thoughts.

“Who?” Lilith asked confused.

“That fucking bastard!”

“He’s gone. Luz destroyed him” Lilith said gently.

“Good” Boscha said coldly but it was evident that she wished to have a chance to kill the lich with her own hands “Lilith, what happened?” Boscha voice began to ease.

“I would like to know that too. But I think we should take care of Luz, Edric and Puddles first. We’ll have time to find out what happened here later” Lilith suggested gently and got up again. Boscha just nodded. Lilith approached Eda and placed one hand over her shoulder “Sister…”

Eda didn’t move nor answer; she was just staring at Luz.

“Edalyn. We have to go” But Lilith got no answer from Eda. Lilith sighed and then turned her look to Willow and King who were sitting in front of Eda now. “King…do you mind if you grow like when you helped us to fight and carry Luz and Edric out of here?”

“No problem” The little demon said without energy and got down form Willow’s lap. The little demon grow again and leaned to carry Luz.

“NO!!” Eda yelled fiercely and tightened her grip on Luz “I will take her…”

“Very well, Edalyn” Lilith said gently “I will go ahead with King to the main hall, we’ll…”

“The castle is a wreck, the only free path is by the main hall. We don’t need to split up” Boscha said.

“Okay…We should get going then” Lilith said gently.

“King, do you mind?” Boscha asked gently.

The demon nodded and lifted Amity gently and began to walk on his hind legs. Boscha hurried to another room and brought two big blankets and covered Luz with one. They left the throne room and walked all the way to the main hall. No one was in a hurry to spread the bad news to everyone else. Once they reached the main hall, King leaned Amity gently on the floor and entered the main hall with Lilith, the rest waited outside.

They entered through the big hole on the wall. King’s loud steps drag their attention.

“King!? Is that you, buddy? You look fierce, man!” Gus said with some enthusiasm. However the demons said nothing. Gus noticed the sadness in his eyes and his mood dropped.

Lilith approached Emira and Viney. Emira’s head was resting on Viney’s shoulder. Edric’s head was resting on Emira’s lap. She caressed gently Emira’s and Viney’s heads. “I’m sorry, sweeties…I think is time for us to leave this place. King will take care of Edric, Emira” Lilith said gently.

“Lilith…what happened?” Emira asked in a tired voice.

“Well, everything is over. The emperor is dead…but…” Lilith remained silent for a moment. Everyone stared at her waiting for her to answer. Lilith took a deep breath and told the bad news to everyone. “…Luz is gone”

Everyone’s eyes went wide at hearing that Luz was dead. Gus gave a step back not wanting to believe the truth.

“That’s not true! You’re lying! No one is stronger than Luz! King, tell her!” Gus practically yelled. But when King just turned his look and frowned at the floor he understood that it was true. Luz was gone. The impression made Gus fall to the floor. All of the youngsters were crying now. Lilith looked at the floor with sad eyes and gave them some time. When everyone was ready to go King approached Emira and lifted Edric’s body gently. Viney covered Edric with the blanket that Boscha gave to Lilith.

Everyone left the main hall and joined the rest in the middle of the corridor. Eda was sitting on a fallen pillar holding Luz. She had uncovered Luz’ head, she was holding gently her cheek while looking at her. The ones that arrived watched with grief the heartbreaking scene.

Emira turn her attention at Boscha who was sitting next to Amity, she kneeled next to her and caressed Amity’s face gently. “How is she?”

“Hard to tell” Boscha said in a soft voice.

“Did she faint?” Emira asked and Boscha shook her head.

“We have to use a sleep spell on her. She was pretty broken when found that Luz was dead. I don’t want to think how she will react when she finds about Edric” Boscha said in a sad voice.

“I’m sorry…baby sister” Emira whispered and do her best to hold back her tears, but she couldn’t. Tears began to fall from her face again.

“We should get going now” Lilith said gently.

“Wait…” Eda said in a hoarse voice after all that screaming. Everyone turned their attention at Eda. “I have to know”

“Edalyn…I think we should wait until getting out of here” Lilith suggested gently.

“No, I have to know now!” Eda glared at her sister.

“It’s okay, Lilith. I think we all want to know what happened. And it wouldn’t be very smart for the guards to bother us now…” Boscha said in a deadly voice. Lilith was going to say something but change her mind and just nodded.

“Owlbert…show me” With those words the little palisman flew from her shoulder and drew a spell circle in the air showing the memory from the moment they reached the castle. Everyone watched carefully the memory. They saw everything. The interaction with Odalia. Her little talk with King. Belos’ past. Belos evil form. The fierce fight, every part of it but what happened on the mindscape. They just watched an angry Luz freeing herself from the black orb. They watched amazed all the battle. And finally they reached the part that everyone wanted to know. An exhausted Luz stabbed by Belos’ final action. The memory ended when Eda, Lilith and King entered the room.

“You did great, my beautiful daughter…I’m so proud of you” Eda smiled weakly while caressing gently Luz’s cheek before tears began to fall from her face again. It was very hard for them to look at that. Seen the carefree and rough Eda in that state was too much for them, some of them began to cry again.

“We should leave this place now” Emira said with a hoarse voice not wanting to spend another second in the castle.

“I agree” Lilith said gently “I’ll take care of Amity, Emira. I can see you had a hard time during your battles”

“Thanks…”

Lilith levitated Amity carefully and began to head out of the castle. If there were guards on the castle they didn’t cross their way. When they reached the bridge, the group that was in the castle noticed all the dead guards scattered around. The rest told them that when they arrived they were already dead.

“Maybe that thing that attacked us killed those idiots” King pointed while looking around the area.

“Probably that’s the best explanation” Lilith said while looking at the half of a guard clinging from a statue.

“How are we going to get out of here?” Willow asked looking at the long road ahead of the bridge.

“Wait just a moment” Lilith raised her staff and Ravus’s eyes glowed. A drakkar flew out from somewhere in the castle and landed in front of them. Lilith leaned Amity gently on one of the seats while King leaned Edric carefully on another seat, then the demon helped Eda to get aboard and then he shrunk again. Eda still refused to let go of Luz.

Barcus, Gus and Jerbo offered to head to Bonesborough to help Viney retrieve Puddles from the wrecked town. Knowing that no one was on the Conformatorium, Willow and Boscha decided to go with them to help there. They were unaware of what the demons do around the isles. Lilith nodded and asked them to spread what happened in the castle and that they came to the square of the town for giving the details the next day.

Emira decided to go with Lilith not wanting to leave Amity and Edric. As much as Viney and Emira wanted to be with each other they knew they needed to be on their respective places. Lilith told them to meet with them later at the Owl House. Everybody nodded and departed to Bonesborough. Lilith traced a spell circle and the drakkar headed to the Bat Queen’s den.

When they arrived, the Bat Queen was already expecting for them outside of the cave. When Luz died the barrier surrounding the forest fell. In that moment the Bat Queen knew that Luz was gone. The little bats flew near but stopped in mid-air, her mother must have told them something and they hurried back to the cave. Lilith told her the short version of what happened. The Bat Queen gave her condolences to Emira and Eda. Knowing by the palismans of the isles that the entire place was a wreck, she offered to use a stasis spell on Edric and Luz until everything was settle for their burial since that even with magic it will take a day or two to prepare everything. They gladly accepted and thanked her. Since the cave wasn’t a good place for keeping them, she went with them to where the Owl House used to be. Bat Queen called his kids and they immediately hid on her hair and didn’t come out.

The Bat Queen gave Eda the cheat box but she didn’t let go of Luz, so Lilith took it instead. Lilith took out Hooty and paced it in the floor and returned him to his normal size. Hooty began to complain but when stretched to complain with Eda she noticed Luz and said no more. The owl demon gave a sad hoot and retreated to the door.

“I will take them to your nest if you don’t mind” Bat Queen offered softly.

Lilith nodded and thanked her. But Eda didn’t release her grip.

“Edalyn…you have to let go of her…” Lilith said in a gently and soft voice.

The Bat Queen began to levitate Luz slowly until Eda released her grip, it took a while. The Bat Queen took Edric and Luz to Eda’s room. Inside she leaned them carefully on the nest and then she flew back. Then she offered to take Amity and Emira told her to take her to Luz’s room since there was the only bed on the house. They entered the house and Emira went to Luz’s room to watch on Amity. Eda stopped in front of her wanted poster and stared at it for some seconds before rip it off from the wall roughly. The loud noise of shattering glass made Lilith jump and turn her look to Eda. Being the most powerful witch on the Boiling isles worth her nothing. So much power and she couldn’t help Luz. She felt ashamed of herself for the first time in her life. Lilith approached Eda but just before she could place her hand on her shoulder, Eda spoke.

“Leave me alone…” Eda said hoarsely.

“I’ll be upstairs if you need me, sister…” Lilith left Eda to her grief and headed to Luz’s room to check on Amity.

Eda slumped on the coach just staring at the void. King curled next to her and Eda placed a hand on his back without taking her gaze away from the void. The Bat Queen perched on the tower to guard the house. After some time the rest of the team arrived and entered the house. The Bat Queen notified Lilith and she and Emira went down to the living room, the Bat Queen joined them and they talked a little about what was the next thing to do.

When they finished Lilith told them to rest. And even when no one feel like doing it, they crashed out by the exhaustion on the spot they were sitting. Emira returned to Luz’s room with Viney following her, they fell asleep soon. Even when they slept nobody rested that night, all what happened that day had been very traumatic. Nightmares were the common guest of everyone that night. The only ones that remained awake were Eda, Lilith and the Bat Queen. Eda didn’t move from the couch. Lilith and the Bat Queen cleaned gently the blood on Luz’s and Edric’s bodies and then the bat Queen removed the stained blood from the clothes and repaired them too. They looked as new. When finished they laid them down on the nest again and left the room.

The next day, Eda and King left the house before anyone got up. Lilith offered to go with her but she rejected the offer. Outside the house Eda opened the portal and crossed the door to the human realm.

On the human realm, Camila was sitting in the kitchen drinking some tea. She didn’t sleep much either, she was too anxious thinking on her daughter fighting in a war. A knock on the door snapped her out from her thoughts and she went to the front door. When opened she spotted Eda, King and Owlbert and smiled automatically. If Eda was here that meant that Luz and her friends had succeeded.

“So I finally have the honor to…” Camila’s smile soon disappeared when seeing their sad faces. King jumped down and approached Camila and offered something to her. “What is…?” When Camila unfolded the piece of cloth she saw that it was Luz old cloak. Luz gave that cloak to King but it didn’t feel right for him to keep it. He thought that if someone has to keep it that must be Camila. Before Camila could said something, King shook his head with teary eyes saying everything to the woman.

The memory of just the day before came to Camila’s mind. Luz smiling warmly at her for a long time before crossing the portal. Camila’s eyes went wide and began to fill whit tears immediately. Camila fell to her knees and began to sob hysterically. King hugged her and began to sob with her. Eda spilled some tears but did her best not to brake. Eda helped Camila and took her to the couch. It took a lot of time for Camila to calm down. They remained silent for a long time until Eda spoke.

“I’m sorry…I have no excuse…I should have been with her…” Eda looked at the floor. She couldn’t watch Camila to the eyes. She never felt so ashamed on her life.

“What happened?” Camila asked with a quavering voice.

“She…” Eda was saying but Camila placed her hand on hers.

“Show me”

Eda lifted her gaze and looked at Camila’s pleading eyes. She wasn’t sure if it was a good idea, but she also knew that Camila deserved to see it if that was what she wanted. “Okay…Owlbert”

Owlbert draw a spell circle and repeated the same memory that he showed to everyone else. Camila looked at the memory attentively. The only sight of Luz make her cry again. She watched the fierce battle of her daughter and when the memory came to the final part she began to cry heavily when watched at her daughter been stabbed by a dark spike. Eda suddenly jumped from the couch and threw a magic shot at the memory when seeing that part. The magic shot pierced the memory and hit the wall behind, making a hole to the kitchen. Eda fall to her knees and began to sob and hit the floor with her fists in frustration. If she had been there. If only she had her magic in that moment. With just one spell this wouldn’t have happened. She cursed herself for not being able to help Luz.

When Luz fall to the floor and nothing more happened, Camila leaned to Eda and placed her hand over her back. Camila thought that if she was suffering as much as she then it was true that she really loved Luz as much as she said it on her letter. Camila was going to say something when a loud sound coming from the memory dragged her attention. This time Owlbert didn’t stop the memory. Eda flinched when hearing her own voice coming out from the memory. Camila began to watch again, hearing carefully Luz’s final words; but that part of the memory was too much for Eda, she couldn’t hold it any longer and she began to sob heavily again.

It hurt Camila watch her daughter die on that memory, but it hurt her too watch the broken state in which Eda ended when Luz died on her arms. Eda began to sob hysterically when heard her own screams. Camila hugged Eda trying to comfort the witch and to find some for her own. Camila began to sob again too.

“I’m sorry…I’m so sorry…” Eda continue apologizing for Luz’s death.

“It wasn’t your fault…I’m the one that have to thank you for being with her when she departed. Thank you, Eda, for taking care of Luz when she was on your world. Thanks for being in my daughter’s life, I know she felt the same way” Camila said between sobs. Those words just make Eda sob more.

Camila knew that it wasn’t Eda’s fault. Luz told her all the story and was grateful that even without her magic she made her way to Luz even if it was just for held her hand in her final hour. Camila was completely broken, but hearing Luz final words she understood that more than giving her life to prove something or to gain the approval of everyone, she just did it for the ones she loved. To protect the place where she felt happy, the place where she belonged. Both women cried for a long time.

Meanwhile on the demon realm, everyone shared their memories of their battle with Lilith. Everyone but Amity who was still unconscious. Everyone watched attentively at them. Everyone felt the same way, everything had been insane. The leaders, the relics. Everything they went through. Emira’s memory was the hardest one for everyone to see. Not just because of Edric’s death but because Amity’s behavior after that. Boscha spilled some tears when seeing Amity lost in her anger. But everyone got the same reaction when seeing Odalia’s death. Their expression turned into one of horror when hearing her laughing until death. The bitch really was crazy. Lilith was practically boiling internally by her anger. She wished to have the chance for killing Odalia with her own hands for everything she had done. But she was more concerned that Amity was the responsible of corrupting the Juggernaut, telling her that the mint haired girl have too many negative emotions bottled inside her. She wished that she would had been a better mentor for Amity. And she begged that it wasn’t too late for Amity to get rid of them.

Lilith needed everyone for a later conference, so she told them to relax a little, take a bath, and eat something or whatever they needed. No one was on the mood of eating but everyone took a very long bath. Part because they lost themselves on their thoughts and part because they wanted that the water took away the grief from them. While they waited for a bathroom to get free, the Bat Queen healed their untreated injuries, starting whit Jerbo whose arm was a jigsaw. She managed to fix it nicely but he needed to keep the cast for at least a month. Barcus’s eye was a lost case but he didn’t mind. The injuries of the rest weren’t that bad but there were some broken ribs and fissured bones. Being Boscha and Emira the ones with the worst injures after Jerbo.

Emira returned to Amity’s side and; after a while, Lilith entered and was going to discuss with Emira how to tell everything to Amity when the youngest witch began to jerk and moan. Amit suddenly woke up with a scream, there was a horrified expression on her face and she was breathing heavily. Emira hugged her to calm her down. Amity removed the sweat on her forehead with her hand and looked all around the place.

“Where…” Amity asked with a tired voice.

“At the Owl House. It’s alright, Mittens. You’re safe” Emira said in a gentle and soft voice. Amity relaxed at that and let out a deep sigh.

“Does that mean…”

“Yes, sweetie. Everything is over. Belos is dead” Lilith answered in a gentle and calm voice. But inside her, she wasn’t sure how to tell Amity everything. She thought that maybe she didn’t remember a thing after setting a step on the throne room.

“Thanks Titan…for a moment I thought we lost. I-I was dreaming that father have killed Ed and then when I reached the throne room Belos have turned into a big monster and killed Luz”

Emira and Lilith remained silent for a moment.

“Amity. How much do you remember before fainting?” Lilith asked gently.

“I-I…I’m sorry, I can’t get out that horrible nightmare from my mind. Just give me a minute…” Amity held her head with one hand to help herself focus in recalling what happened.

Emira tightened her grip and her eyes began to fill with tears. She didn’t know how to tell her sister everything but she knew that the longer she waited the worse it will be. She regretted now for not telling her in that moment. Emira pulled from Amity and took her by the shoulders.

“Mittens…” Emira said hoarsely making Amity to look at her “It wasn’t a dream…”

“Wha…” Amity said in a weak voice.

“They’re gone…” Tears began to roll down Emira´s cheeks “Luz and Edric are gone…”

“I’m sorry, Amity…” Lilith said softly with a very sad face.

Amity’s eyes went wide and she pushed away Emira’s hands. Amity jumped out of the bed and hurried outside the room. She stopped on the door and looked around the hall and her eyes stopped on Eda’s room, the doors were ajar. Amity began to run to Eda’s room.

“Wait! Amity!” Lilith shouted and began to run after the girl. Emira just began to sob on her place unable to move.

Lilith was just a few steps behind Amity, but when reached the stairs she collided with Boscha who hurried upstairs after hearing the commotion. Both witches fell to the floor.

“Ams! Don’t go there!” Boscha called her while on the floor, but Amity entered the room. Lilith and Boscha untangled from each other and hurriedly got up and ran to the room.

Amity approached the nest and spotted Luz and Edric laying in it. Both of them with their hands on their chests. Amity stretched her arm toward them with the intention to shake them so they wake up, but she froze on her place. The scene on the throne room came back to her mind, a broken Eda holding a dead Luz. She could hear Eda’s screams clearly as if she was there. Then the moment in which Alador stabbed Edric came to her. Amity eyes widened in horror and she fell to her knees. Before she could let out her grief those memories of when she gave to her anger were unlocked. The nasty abomination slaughtering her father. Her relentless attack against her mother. And then, the only image on her mind was the insane smile of her mother’s face. “Congratulations, you’re finally a Blight, my dear” And then her horrible laugh echoed on Amity’s mind. “You’re perfect now, Amity”

Amity began to blame herself for everything. She began to think that if she had been there Luz would be still alive. That if she had been stronger Ed would be still alive. If only she hadn’t followed her mother. She blamed herself for abandon Luz. She always had the option not to fight and help Luz, but she preferred to fight against her mother. She wanted so desperately to get rid of her that without noticing she fall on her game. She recalled what her mother told her. Once again, Odalia have manipulated her to do exactly what she wanted her to do. The laugh of her mother echoed on her head.

Boscha practically slipped on the floor when hurried to hug Amity. Boscha was grateful that Lilith and the Bat Queen took care of the bodies or maybe this would be worse. But then Boscha just realized something. Amity wasn’t screaming. Boscha pushed herself away from Amity and stared at her face.

“Ams?” Boscha asked gently. She didn’t receive an answer making her to worry.

Amity was staring at the horizon with wide eyes. There wasn’t a single tear on them.

“Sweetie. We should return to Lu- to the other room” Lilith said gently.

But before Lilith or Boscha could help her, Amity just stood up, turned around, and left the room. Boscha and Lilith didn’t know what to do. They never expected that reaction. They left the room and looked at Amity return to Luz’s room. Everyone else were on the stairs in expectation. Amity didn’t seem to notice them or she didn’t care about it. Amity sat on the bed and Emira hurried to hug her still crying. Lilith and Boscha entered the room and stared at the sisters. Emira was going to apologize for not telling her before but Amity spoke first.

“I want to see it” Amity said in an emotionless soft voice.

“What?” Emira asked with a quavering voice.

“Show me…” Amity said with the same voice.

“Ams, I don’t think should do that right now” Boscha tried to talk her out gently.

“SHOW ME!” Amity yelled making Emira to push herself back in fear. There was a furious glare on her face. Everyone flinched, even those who were on the stairs in expectation.

Lilith sighed and gave a step forward “Very well, Amity. This wouldn’t be easy to watch, just have it in mind”

Lilith traced the spell circle and showed Amity the memory Owlbert shared with them. Lilith didn’t censore a second. Amity watched all the deal. After seeing that burst of anger, Lilith got mad immediately but controlled herself not to show it. She felt so much anger of what that bitch made to Amity who used to be such a sweet girl after meeting Luz. That glare was wrong in so many ways. When the memory ended, the three witches inside the room looked at Amity in expectation.

“It’s all my fault…” Amity said emotionless, making Emira, Boscha and Lilith flinch.

Amity began to blame herself. Watching that Luz stood for her once again just make her feel even guiltier. Even when Luz had to fight alone because Amity didn’t stick to the plan, she still believed and trusted her. And just like Eda when seeing the final part of the memory, she began to felt even guiltier and began to think what if. If I had been there I could have saved her. If only I had been there she wouldn’t have used all of her energy. If I had helped her…Then another thought cross her mind. If I had been there… Emira would have died too.

No matter which path she chose, she would have lost two of the most important persons for her. Then the words of her mother echoed on her mind once again “You’re willing to sacrifice your siblings for the love of the human!?” then Odalia’s nasty laugh echoed once again on her mind “Amity, dear. Remember, nothing else matter but to achieve your objective” and once again her final words echoed on her mind “Congratulations, you’re finally a Blight, my dear” and her nasty laugh echoed once again on her mind.

Amity began to believe that her mother was right. She left aside the ones that were important for her just to complete her objective. She forgot completely of Luz and her siblings, she got consumed by her anger in her seek of revenge. During battle nothing mattered for her but to defeat her mother, and she didn’t just defeated her, she ended killing her. Without remorse, without a doubt… “I’m sorry mother. A Blight don’t hesitate” In the end she just acted like her parents. She ended doing what her parents wanted her to do. With those thought and that nasty laugh echoing on her mind she finally broke.

“It’s not your fault, Amity” Lilith assured gently.

“Yes…It is…” Amity traced a spell circle and showed them her part of the battle.

Everyone on the room watched horrified the memory, especially the talks between Amity and Odalia. Lilith began to understand what Luz meant when saying not to judge Amity. She never thought that Odalia had done those kind of things to Amity since her early days. If not were for Luz, the poor girl would have been broken before finishing school. There was no doubt now that Odalia was the biggest bitch on the Boiling isles and that she was crazy. Lilith was boiling in rage but there was nothing to do about the past. She calmed down herself and focused on thinking in a way to help Amity.

“It’s my fault…” Amity said in a weak voice and then she fainted. Emira barely caught her before she fell from the bed. Lilith helped Emira to lay Amity down on the bed. It took some time for Emira to calm down.

Eda returned to the Owl House some hours later. King stayed in the human realm not wanting to leave Camila alone. When the time came for the public conference, Lilith asked all of them to come along. Emira didn’t want to leave Amity alone, but Eda told them that she will stay because she was going to bring Camila to give her farewells to Luz and wanted her to have as much privacy as she could have. Eda said she will watch Amity and Emira agreed and thanked her. When everyone left the house, Eda opened the portal and sent Owlbert to pick up Camila and King. Eda leaded Camila to her room and left her alone so she could have a moment alone with Luz. She could hear Camila’s sobs from Luz’s room making the witch spill some tears.

Every witch on the Boiling isles gathered on Bonesborough Square waiting for Lilith’s speak. But before she could start a witch of the rebellion praised the Ancient Owls and everyone cheered and praised them. But even when all the witches were celebrating it felt like a defeat to the little group. They have lost Puddles, Edric and Luz. None of them was on the mood to do or say something, they just stared at the floor. Those close to them and those who lost someone didn’t celebrate and looked at them sharing their grief.

Lilith spoke dragging everyone attention. She explained everything what happened while showing the memories to them, but removed some parts like some talk between Luz and Belos and some of the conversations and scenes between Amity and Odalia. Some of the witches cheered at the amazing battle of every member of the Ancient Owls, but the cheers soon stopped when they reached Puddles’s, Edric’s and Luz’s deaths.

With those memories everyone on the isles found out about Belos’ true identity, the truth about the marks and all what Belos himself reveled to Luz. Then Lilith began to reveal all the rotten things that happened on the covens. Lilith began to talk about the abuses on the Blight family but Emira walked next to Lilith and told her she will explain everything. Wanting to help her sister in any way she could and to clean her name, she explained all the abuses and torture Amity was subjected and asked for her forgiveness. All the dark secrets of the Blight family were revealed by Emira. There were divided postures between the witches, but when Bump began to hear the mumbling around he stood for Amity once again. Just like the day before, Bump’s words convinced more people but even with that the forgiveness wouldn’t came immediately, it took months for everyone to forgive Boscha and more than a year to forgive Amity.

When all of the events and background of the covens were explained, Lilith touched the matter of the burials. Everyone on the square agreed that it was the first thing that had to be done in honor of those who gave their lives to free them from Belos’s reign, especially Luz. So with some organization they choose the place and began to work immediately, it will be quick with everyone hands. Some artisans approached them and offered to sculpt the statues to honor them. Emira remembered one of Edric’s drawings and she traced a spell circle to show the drawing in the memory. It was a not too well drawing of him mounting Puddles and throwing something to the witches on the ground. Even with the grief Viney chuckled and told her that it was perfect and both of them will appreciate it. Lilith told them that she will discuss about Luz statue with her mother but that they could start with Emira’s and Viney’s request. The isles started as soon as the conference ended.

When they returned to the Owl House, Camila was already on the living room, the Bat Queen was with her. Her kids were rubbing against Camila in an innocent attempt to give her some comfort, Camila smiled at them weakly, she got fond of the little demons when helping Luz to babysit them. Everyone gave her condolences to Camila and she did the same with Viney and Emira. She hugged tightly both of them and they let out some of her grief in her arms, especially Emira who never had a caressing mother. Camila’s hug was very comforting to her.

After a while, Emira excused herself and went upstairs to check on Amity. Eda came down and Lilith told them what happened on the conference and about the request for Luz’s statue. Eda told Camila that it was her call and Camila thought it a minute and a smile appeared on her face. She asked if it was possible for them to show her memories like they did. The Bat Queen helped her with that.

In the middle of the room appeared the memory that Camila was recalling. It was the moment before they left the human realm yesterday. The memory froze when reached the part Camila was thinking. The moment just before Luz crossed the portal. It was just Luz standing in front of the portal with that warm smile on her face. That smile made everyone on the room spill some tears but everyone agreed that there was nothing more perfect than that. With that settled, Camila asked them to help her fake Luz’s death on the human realm, she was willing to grant Luz her wish of staying on the isles. Lilith and Eda said they will take care and they accompanied Camila back to human realm to take care of that.

Amity wake up several hours later. Starting from that day she began to dream several things. Edric’s death, her fights, bad memories from the past, but all of them ended the same way. She fighting Luz under the pink tree, but this time when she crossed the portal she ended in the throne room just to see a dead Luz on a pool of blood, and the nasty laugh of her mother echoing on the room. But even with that she shown no emotion on her face, and that worried Emira.

“Are you okay, Mittens?” Emira asked gently.

“I’m fine” Amity answered nonchalantly. But Emira knew that was not true, but remembering all what happened and Amity’s last burst of anger she didn’t push further for now.

“I’m here for you, baby sister. Everything is going to be alright” Emira hugged Amity but got no response from her. Nothing more happened that night.

The next day everything was ready for the burials.

There was several burials that day. Edric and Puddles were buried along everyone that died during battle on the place the witches selected to honor them. And that took a while. All the witches around the isles were on the ceremony. Fulfilling her final will, Luz was buried under the pink tree, and since the place wasn’t that big the burial was private. No one complained when Eda decreed that just her friends and family could visit that place this day. Only her mother, friends and just a few more witches were there, like Bump, Skara, Cat and Amelia.

When Luz’s statue were placed, Camila tapped one of Luz’s light glyphs and casted a little orb of light that ascended to the sky. The rest followed her and everyone casted a single light orb that followed Camila’s light orb. When the witches near the place spotted the lights they do the same and a chain started, soon enough there were light orbs ascending all around the isles. The light orbs lit up the night sky like stars.

Everyone gave their condolences to Camila and Eda and left the place. When Camila, Eda, Lilith and the Bat Queen left, the only one remaining was Amity. She didn’t spill a single tear. She was unable to cry after seeing Luz and Edric laying on the nest. She just stared with a serious expression and empty eyes. She wanted to say something to Luz but couldn’t find the words. After some time she gave up and casted her light orb and watched it get lost in the sky. She left the place with the same expression with which she arrived.

Telling everyone in the human world how Luz died without thinking that Camila was crazy was impossible, and not wanting to get overwhelmed with questions, Eda and Lilith brainwashed a person here and there and crafted some fake documents. And with that they faked a more ‘real’ death for Luz. So they got another burial on the human world the next day. Camila’s friends and some of Luz’s relatives were also there. Even when Camila and her friends knew Luz wasn’t there they acted as if she was there. They honored her the same way they did on the Boiling isles. It was very hard for everyone being in Luz’s funeral twice, but Amity’s behavior didn’t change. The girl ended with the same result, unable to say something or to let out her feelings.

They escorted Camila to her house and said their farewells to her and offering their condolences one more time. Camila told them not to be strangers and visit whenever they wanted. Camila had noticed Amity’s behavior and looked at her with great concern, but not knowing what to say to her now she just hugged her tightly, Amity didn’t returned the hug. Camila told her that if she needed something she just needed to say it.

“Thanks…” Amity said emotionless and left to the wrecked cabin where the portal was.

Everyone returned to the demon realm and all of them returned to their respective home, for those who still have one. Bonesborough was a wreck, half of the town was destroyed. Eda and King returned to the Owl house. King went to Luz’s room and curled on her bed and fell asleep. Eda plopped on the couch and hugged her legs and did nothing for a while. After some time she took one of Luz’s notebooks and began to read it. She smiled at Luz’s writing. She wrote knowing that Eda will read them. It was like hearing Luz talk. Then she spotted a doodle drawn by Luz when at some point she got bored, it was a silly otter with a speak cloud with the words “Don’t look at me! Pay attention to your studies!” Eda chuckled but immediately they turned into sobs. Eda buried he face between her arms and cried for a long time knowing that she will never hear Luz’s goofiness again.

The rest weren’t doing better, all of them felt terrible, the sorrow was deep. Knowing that Emira and Amity didn’t want to return to Blight manor, Lilith took them under her wing until they feel better. Lilith, Willow, Boscha and Viney went with them to the manor to help them retrieve their belongings. Emira took her clothes and some other essentials with Viney’s help. Then they entered Edric’s room and Emira broke immediately. Viney comforted her and helped her took some mementos from his brother and then they left the room.

Meanwhile, Willow and Boscha helped Amity who just took her clothes and her little chest and left the room leaving everything else behind. Willows sighed and shrunk Amity’s bookshelves and put them in a little box along with the Slitherbeast plush Boscha took knowing that it was a present from Ed and Em. Boscha burned the Emperor’s coven poster that was on Amity’s room.

When they left the manor, Willow used her magic to make thorns and vines take over the house. She also made deadly plants grow inside. She and Lilith didn’t want someone to enter and take something that might hurt Amity and Emira in anyway. That day they helped the girls settle down on Clawthorne manor. When unpacking the chest she used in the Owl House, Amity spotted Luz’s hoodie. She took it carefully and placed it on a level of the closet and then she curled on the bed. Boscha and Willow put everything else on place leaving that level with just the hoodie. Amity spent all that day curled on her bed.

As days went on, they tried their best to continue with their lives; everyone except Amity who didn’t have any change on her behavior. One day, they all went to Clawthorne manor to try to help Amity. Even when everyone told her that it wasn’t her fault she didn’t made any attempt on getting out of her slump and that got onto Willows nerves. Willow then pulled Amity roughly by her clothes.

“I’ve had enough of your fucking attitude, Amity!! You’re not the only one that is suffering!!” Tears began to roll on Willow’s face “Luz is gone!! But I know she wouldn’t want to see us like this, she would want us to continue!! And I’m sick of you…I’m sick of you being this emotionless!!! You didn’t even cry on her funeral!! If you felt so guilty you at least could show that grief and your fucking feelings so we can help you!! At least you owe her that!!”

Amity emotionless face turned into an angry glare. The atmosphere went tense and everyone watched Willow and Amity with great concern. Amity roughly removed Willow’s hands from her clothes.

“A Blight show no weakness” Amity said in a cold voice.

Willow enraged at those words and punched Amity hard on the face making the witch fell back. Boscha hurried to stop Willow and that made her earn a punch on the face too.

“Your right…It was your fault. I don’t know why Luz saved both of you. It’s all your fault…” Willow said in a very cold voice and left the room. Gus, Barcus and Jerbo went after her.

Now that Boscha was honest about her feelings for Willow, those words broke her heart. She got seriously hurt but said nothing, after all Willow told her during their training and before the battle that she was still mad at her for what happened when in the coven. Just like Amity, she felt part guilty because their actions forced Luz to act and that leaded to the rebellion. Whatever the case if it was their fault or not there was nothing to be done. Like Willow said, Luz was gone, and nothing will bring her back. With tears on her eyes, Boscha stood up with Viney’s and Skara’s help. Emira and Viney helped Amity.

“Don’t worry, Bos. I know she didn’t mean it” Skara said gently.

And it was true, it was just that Willow let out the worst of her when mad. Lilith heard all the commotion from the hall. There was a very sad and concerned expression on her face. Everything they have done trying to help Amity wasn’t working. And as the days passed nothing improved.

It took some time for the witches to rebuild the town even with magic. The first thing they did was to level the ground again, and that took a big amount of magic and effort and of course, a lot of hands. The houses were easier but it took time too. As time passed life returned to normality and little by little everyone get out of her slump. Like Willow said, everybody knew Luz wouldn’t like to see them like that. So they continued with their lives.

Eda replaced her big poster with Luz’s. She still hanged her own poster but this time in a smaller version next to Luz’s. Over the months, Eda and Lilith read Luz’s notes and the idea of the institute came to them. The coven system was abolished and a council was created, leaded by Eda and Lilith. Those who wanted their privileged place on the covens were against the abolishing of the covens. But anyone who dared to say bad things about Luz in front of Eda had a short life. Just calling ‘human’ to Luz was enough to make them feel Eda’s wrath. So nobody dared to oppose the Clawthorne sisters. Their first mandatory was the construction of the Noceda Institute. And even when they were the heads of the council the still became instructors in the institute to share all that knowledge that Luz rediscovered.

Boscha recovered all the lost time with her mother, the first thing she did was to burn all Malpha’s belongings and pictures. She also spent every day she could to win Willow’s heart. It took some weeks, but when her grief diminished, Willow began to talk to them again and tried to help Amity whenever she could. It took a full year for Willow to agree to be her girlfriend. But the truth was that it just took her some months to forgive her, she just wanted to make Boscha suffer a little, but in that time she realized that Boscha’s feelings were true. When people fully forgave Boscha she joined a Grudgby professional team, it just took her a season to win the MVP trophy. Willow always accompanied her to her games. Willow for her part didn’t open her flower shop until they visited the human realm again, and that took some time.

While the institute was in construction, Gus took the opportunity to learn more about the entertainment world in the transmission tower while helping and watching his father at the news. Skara was on the transmission tower too. The girl got tired of hearing her parents complain and worry about the future of their fortune now that there was no coven system and they didn’t have a place on the council, so she just left her house and began to live by her own. She was following her dream of creating her own music. And it wasn’t hard for her to achieve it, she loved music. Gus knew it was lunch time when from the stage door he heard a “Hey there, handsome!” Since those days they hanged out a lot together and after a while started to date.

Even when there were no covens the healers institute remained, it was the equivalent of a hospital on the human world, so Viney rejoined it. She helped as much as she could to everyone who was hurt or sick. Her participation on the war and her abilities on healing made her earn the title as head of the institute in a very short time considering the young she was. She spent all her free days and some hours of the day to see Emira. She supported her as much as she could, and in no time Emira got out of her slump. Since she and Edric helped the witches as much as they could when in the coven, the people nominated her to take a place in the council, but it took a while for her to accept it not wanting to leave her sister alone. But at some point Amity convinced her to take the job arguing that she could take care of herself. Emira spent all the time trying to help Amity, but everything she tried was useless.

Jerbo and Barcus waited for the institute to be finished to learn about the ancient magic. They didn’t want to bother Eda after Luz’s death. So they helped to build it and once it was finished they enrolled and they kept being the trouble makers just like old times. And of course they trained the new generation of troublemakers for Bump’s bad luck. And since they were part of the Ancient Owls the students listened to them. Also it didn’t helped that Eda was there too, sometimes convincing the students to make some mischief. There were some things that will never change.

Eda gave Camila the rest of the money she had stolen so many years ago, she didn’t have any use for it after all. She gave it to her so she could do whatever she needed to relieve her grief. But King knew she wouldn’t accept it so she just sent Owlbert during the funeral in the human world to leave the suitcase with the money inside her house. Camila just took the necessary for her usual living, without luxuries or nothing too extravagant. She invested part of it and used the rest on charities and things like that. After a while she returned to the hospital where she used to work, she didn’t need the money anymore but she did it just to help people, just like Luz did.

So life continued for everyone but Amity who was stuck in the same place. She began to dye her hair every time her natural color showed. It was a reminder to herself that she wasn’t better than her parents. That she was a Blight. After some time she began to do her things as usual, with the only difference that she do everything without a trace of emotions. She was doing everything like a robot. The only emotion she showed was her anger when she was upset, and she didn’t have much patience those days. An event that didn’t help her much was Viney and Emira weeding. She was happy for her sister even when she didn’t show it. But her wedding reminded her all those fantasies of marrying Luz. A dream that will never come true. When they move from Clawthorne manor Lilith offered to take care of Amity, but Emira rejected the offer wanting to fulfill her promise to Edric. But nothing changed.

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Laughter from the entrance of the institute snapped Eda out of her thoughts. Camila was coming out of the school carrying King and being escorted by Bump.

“I hope my daughter hasn’t caused you too much troubles” Camila said cheerfully. Bump chuckled at that.

“Not at all. She got on a little mischief now and then but taking into consideration who her mentor was I have to say it was like a blessing. I was afraid she would be causing as much troubles as Edalyn, but as soon as she enrolled she showed great skills and determination. She worked hard to catch with the rest of the students in the short time she was with us. And I have to say, Mrs. Noceda, that everything that Luz achieved by her own in so short time was just amazing. She was a remarkable witch. And all of this wouldn’t be possible if not were for her. Your daughter was very special” Bump said cheerfully.

“Thanks, principal Bump” Camila smiled at him.

“Hey, Cami! What do you think? Did you like it?” Eda asked cheerfully.

“It’s a wonderful place, Eda. I’m sure Luz would have loved this place. But isn’t the statue…?”

“I know right. I told them that we should have spent more on the statue but Lily said budget was tight and that it would be better using it on chalk and those things than to honor our beloved daughter!”

“Edalyn, this is a school. The students and teachers need supplies. And the statue is already big enough!” Lilith said taking one hand to her face.

“Nonsense, it should have been bigger!” Eda proclaimed making Camila to laugh.

“I think is a bit too big, Eda. I know Luz would have been in the moon after seeing it, but she would have the same reaction with a small one”

“Yeah yeah, all of that is very nice and everything, but what about me? The king of demons! Where is my life-size statue!?” King complained

“King, a twenty meter statue will be too big for this place!” Lilith said.

“And why did you complain?! There is one life-size on town and you have your own statue here in the garden too!” Eda remarked.

“But the one in here is too small!” King complained.

“Just like you” Eda teased.

“What!? I will show you who’s small!!” King began to struggle in Camila’s arms to free himself, but Camila didn't let him go.

“King, be nice” Camila said gently.

“Ugh…Fine! You’re lucky Cami is here or I would have crushed you in a second” King threatened her making Eda to laugh.

“Oh, I would love to see that…Mr. Wiggles!” Eda teased with a wide smile on her face causing King to struggle again, but Camila didn’t let go of him.

Bump groaned. The interaction remembered him Eda’s mischiefs when young “You see what I’m talking about, Mrs. Noceda? By now the school would be just a bunch of bricks thanks to Edalyn. Luz’s mischiefs were nothing, thankfully she didn’t learn Edalyn’s destructive behavior”

Camila chuckled remembering all the things Luz did when training like hijacking the internet signal and all those things she “borrowed” from the isles for her potions. “I’m not so sure about that. She learned some of Eda’s bad habits”

“Hey! You offend me, I don’t have bad habits!” Eda complained.

“Really? Stealing, hacking, breaking and entering…” Camila enlisted with a smirk.

“Hey, first off. We didn’t steal anything! We just borrowed them, we always have the intention to return them…someday. Secondly, I…don’t know what that other word means but it sure sound like fun! You have to tell me what this hacking thing is. And finally, the only reason they forbid the entrance to a place is because they are hiding something!” Eda said in defense.

“Yeah, like the delicious snacks on their cupboards. And it’s not our fault that they’re empty when we intend to return them” King said.

“Edalyn…” Lilith took one hand to her face. Camila just chuckled and Bump sighed and excused himself.

“Anyway. I should leave you, Mrs. Noceda. We have still some details to attend for tomorrow event. I’m sure Edalyn have told you already about the anniversary. You’ll be more than welcome tomorrow for our event if you want. I’m glad you liked the institute, you can visit us whenever you want. Goodbye for now, Mrs. Noceda” Bump said cheerfully and began to retreat.

“Thanks, principal Bump. I’ll be happy to assist” Camila smiled.

It took a while for everyone to move on, but when things settle a little they began to visit Camila again. The short time they spent with her on the human realm made them grow close to her. Eda and Lilith become closer after their visits. They mostly talked about Luz’s childhood and her wild adventures on the isles. Eda loved to know more about Luz. But Camila hadn’t returned to the Boiling isles after Luz’s funeral, partly because of her job, but mainly because this place was a bit frightening for her. And it was not her place. It was very dangerous for humans after all. So she visited Luz on the empty tomb on Earth during her birthday and anniversary knowing that whatever Luz were she will listen her. Eda and Lilith were the ones that sometimes took a little trip to the Earth. But after three years she returned to the isles for Eda’s special request.

“Hey, Eda. Lilith. It has been a while” Camila greeted them cheerfully.

“Yeah…Sorry for not visiting in some months. It has been a little too hectic in here lately. Work appear from nowhere. Like pixies!! That’s why I hate work!” Eda complained but her smile returned instantly “But hey! Save the date for the next girls’ night. Or maybe another trip! We could…”

“We’re not going to Las Vegas again, Edalyn! You almost made us became wanted criminals in the human world!!” Lilith complained with annoyance.

“Hey! It was their fault, they tried to scam me!! Nobody scam the Owl lady without being robbed!!” Eda replied in her defense “But seriously, Cami, humans must try to be more subtle when scamming people instead of blaming distinguished costumers like us!”

Camila laughed at the memories of their little trip to Las Vegas. It was very frightening at some points but it was very fun. “Come on, Lily. You have to admit it was a fun trip. Especially when Eda messed with the poor magician during his magic show”

“Ugh! If you can call that magic! It’s an insult for the witches! I just taught him a lesson about magic”

“That was no reason for you to throw him your hand!” Lilith scolded.

“Hey! The man said that somebody lend him a hand. I just gave him what he wanted” Eda smirked.

The three women started to laugh remembering when the magician screamed in fright while stumbling with everything on the stage when Eda’s hand moved by its own.

“Yeah, that was a fun trip” Eda removed a tear from her eye. “Anyway, we can get fun later. Let’s get serious now” Eda turned serious “Cami, we need your help”

“What’s the matter, Eda? Viney vaguely told me something during the flight” Camila asked in a serious voice.

“Well…”

Eda explained everything about Amity. All the abuses she suffered since she born. Everything that happened during her battle with Odalia. Camila didn’t see that memory so she didn’t know about that. Emira spoke a little about that but she never asked more not wanting to touch a nerve. She only knew that Amity was having a rough time. And during the flight to the institute Viney told her how Amity was but didn’t push further not wanting to upset Viney more, she looked very sad when she spoke about Amity. Then Lilith explained Amity’s behavior of the last three years.

Camila remembered seeing the girl pretty broken during the funeral. Lilith and Eda sometimes touched the subject but she never thought things would be that bad. She would had known but Amity never visited and she hadn’t put a step on the isles for the last three years.

“Oh my… That poor child…” Camila said sadly but she suddenly got mad “I can’t believe those monster did that to her since she born. I wish I could have a word with both of them!!”

“Yeah, we all wish to have some time with them” Lilith said with a cold voice.

“That’s why we need your help, Cami. She didn’t listen to us, no matter what we try. But maybe if she hear it from Luz’s mother she will listen. You know, because they were especial to each other” Eda said sadly “I promised Luz to watch little Blight but being honest, I’m running out of ideas, Cami. And I think this will worth a shot rather than brainwash her head!”

“I see. I'll gladly try to help. That poor child has suffered enough already. Is she here?” Camila asked.

“With Luz” Lilith answered making Camila to sigh but then chuckled.

“Just like three years ago” Camila smiled with some nostalgic.

“What do you mean?” Lilith asked and Camila told them the time she talked with Amity after the incident on Hexside surprising Lilith and Eda.

“She saw herself as a monster back then, I bet she feel the same way now. But nobody can blame her. After all what she went through, all what they done to her. What they did her do. With nobody to hold her hand for so long. It’s hard for her to believe that it isn’t her fault when her own mother told her otherwise her entire life. And with what you told me her mother did in the end, well…that bitch really did a number on her” Camila looked at the top of the pink tree “But let’s left that for later. We don’t have time to waste”

“We’ll be near. You know, just in case. Is hard to tell how she will react” Lilith said making Camila to chuckle.

“I don’t think that would be necessary, but if that made you feel better lets go then” Camila said and they headed to the pink tree.

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

[Insert suggested music No. 6]

Amity was looking at Luz’s statue when a voice startled her, a voice she hadn’t heard in a long time.

“Amity, sweetie! Is that you!?” Camila asked cheerfully “What happened to you? You promised to visit often but you haven’t shown up for the last three years! I had so much stories of Luz I wanted to share with you!”

After three years Amity finally expressed surprise.

“M-Mrs. Noceda. I’m sorry, I didn’t know you were coming today. I will leave now” Amity got up from the floor but was stopped by Camila who shook her head and chuckled.

“Why would I want you to leave? I will be glad to have your company. And I know Luz is happy that you’re here! Did you bring those?” Camila asked while looking at the flower arrangement.

“Yes” Amity said weakly.

“They’re beautiful. Those are Luz’s favorites. I know she would love the detail” Camila took out a little candle and turned her look at Amity “Do you mind, sweetie?” Amity lit the candle with a little fire spell and for Camila surprise the fire remained magenta. Camila placed the little candle next to the flower bouquet.

“Thanks. I had forgotten how beautiful your fire was, Amity. You know, when Luz returned home from your world and when she was happier, she told me about all the fire colors, and she told me that your fire was her favorite. ‘You have to see it, mami! It’s so beautiful!’ she said” Camila then chuckled “She even attempted to make her fire change of color, but never achieved it. She made a tantrum so big that King and I got annoyed and went to eat something outside. When we returned she asked were we went and when we told her she felt offended. And King said ‘Sorry, Luz. But you said you just wanted to be alone. But don’t worry, I ate your part. You have good taste by the way’ then she pouted and pulled her hoodie up. But when I gave her her sandwich she lit up and acted as if nothing had happened” Camila laughed remembering that day.

Amity couldn’t believe what she was hearing. She was the responsible of Luz’s death and yet, her mother was there talking about her past as if she deserved to know anything about Luz. She thought it was ridiculous that after what happened Camila was acting as if nothing happened. She wasn’t sure of Camila’s true intentions.

“Why are you being so nice with me?” Amity asked frowning at the floor.

“What do you mean, Amity? Why shouldn’t I?” Camila asked with a smile.

“Because it is my fault that your daughter is dead” Amity replied while clenching her fists.

Camila got serious in that moment and stared at Amity. “Is that what has been bothering you all these years, sweetie?”

“Nothing is bothering me” Amity said in a serious voice.

“Are you sure, sweetie?” Camila asked without taking away her stare from Amity.

“I was just telling that you shouldn’t be nice with me” Amity said a little tenser now. Camila noticed that and remembering what Eda and Lilith told her, she knew she was getting on Amity’s nerves. But she needed to push further if she wanted to help her.

“Why not?” Camila asked in a serious voice.

“Because I killed Luz!!” Amity yelled and lowered her face.

“Amity, look at me” Camila said in a serious voice. Amity lifted her head but was unable to hold his gaze so she turned it to one side “I watched the memories of the battle and I can tell you that is not…”

“Shut up!!” Amity covered her ears “I don’t want to hear it anymore!! I’m sick of everyone telling me that it wasn't my fault when it was!!! I’m sick of everyone telling me how Luz will feel about me because is obvious that she will hate me for sure!!!”

Camila gave a step wanting to approach Amity but the girl gave a step back.

“What’s the problem, Amity?” Camila asked.

“What’s the problem?” Amity huffed and then got mad and a furious glare appeared on her face “The fucking problem is that everyone is telling me what to do and how to live my life!! They don’t understand that I’m fine no matter how many times I tell them!! The fucking problem is that they want to change who I am!! I’m a Blight!!! And that’s the fucking problem!!! I just made everyone’s life miserable!!! But they just act as if nothing happened!!! The fucking problem is that everyone is still nice with me after all what I’ve done!! Everyone forgave me!! Even you!! When I just have caused but misery to Luz since I met her! I almost made her to be dissected! I was mean to her for a long time! I put her life on risk just because I’m weak and I couldn’t face my fears!!” Amity's rage raised.

“Then I hurt her feelings! I rejected her! She! The girl I felt in love with! And because of that, she risked her life once more and she lost Eda!! Then I tried to kill her twice!!! She always stood for me and I abandoned her!! And then she died!!! Because I left aside everything just to get my revenge!!! I KILLED THE PERSON I LOVED THE MUST!!!!” Amity’s hands lit on fire by her anger “I don’t understand why I don’t get why I deserve!!! I just want them to stop lying and hate me already!!! I want you to stop being nice with me and start hating me!! I killed your daughter!! I have killed many others!! And I can’t bear it any longer!! Just punch me!! Torture me!! Kill…”

Before Amity could finish that word Camila hugged her tightly. Amity’s eyes widened and the fire on her hands extinguished. The sensation of Camila’s hug made her recall the time she hugged her on the swing in the human world. She felt again that warmth and safety sensation between Camila’s arms. That single hug disarmed her. Amity lose her forces and Camila kneeled when feeling that, but she didn’t soften her grip on Amity. And for the first time over three years, tears began to fall from Amity’s eyes.

“Why don’t you hate me?” Amity asked in a hoarse voice while tears flowed heavily.

“I don’t have reasons to do it, Amity” Camila said in gentle voice while hugging tightly the girl “Why do you blame yourself?”

“Because it was my fault. Because I left her alone. I fell in my mother’s game and because of that Luz had to fight alone. If I would have been with her, she wouldn't have died” Amity began to tremble.

“Is this what you talk with Luz every time you’re here?” Camila asked gently and pushed away gently.

“No…I never found the words. And even if I did, I don’t deser-” Camila put a finger on Amit’s lips.

“Shh…Amity, sweetie. It wasn’t your fault” Camila said gently.

“But I abandoned her” Amity said in a hoarse voice but her words made Camila to chuckle slightly surprising Amity.

“Sweetie, have you seen your sister’s memory? Luz was more concerned about you than herself. And I bet you whatever you want that she blamed herself for not being able to help you than worry of fighting alone. As much as you wanted to help each other both of you had their own battle to fight. Both of you were in the places where you needed to be. And even if you would have stayed with her, there was no guaranty that she would have survive. Or even worse, both of you could have died” Camila caressed gently Amit’s hair.

“But at least we’ll be together. But no, I preferred to get rid of my mother…and I failed. I did what my mother wanted” Amity said miserably.

“We all fail at some point, sweetie. What your mother did to you have no forgiveness. You maybe think she won, but I don’t see an assassin on those beautiful golden eyes” Camila removed the tears from one side of Amity’s face with her thumb “You will let her won if you continue like this, Amity. Don’t let her won or everything that you and Luz did would be in vain. Remember what I told you that night in the swing. Be the person you want to be. If you think you failed just keep trying. Became that wonderful person I know is inside you. Be that person that Luz knew you were already”

“But…” Camila covered Amity’s mouth with one finger again.

“Shh…Hey. Stop blaming yourself. I want you to understand something. She didn’t die because of you. She made a decision, even knowing that it would lead her to death. She gave her life to save this world she loved so much. To save Eda who was a second mother for her. To save all of you, her only friends in the world. She didn’t do it wanting to be a heroine or to gain someone respect. She just did it for those who she loved, including you, Amity” Camila smiled warmly at her.

Amity’s lip began to tremble.

“I never blamed you or anyone else. I knew it was Luz’s decision to fight using every last drop of her energy.  Do you want me to be honest with you? After some time, when I recall the long time Luz stayed before crossing the portal that day, it made me wonder if she did it because she felt that she wasn’t coming back. Or if she knew it all the time and she just didn’t tell anyone. Whatever the case, if she knew it or not she continued until the end. She never stopped, so you shouldn’t do it. I know she would feel very sad if she see you like this” Camila offered her a warm smile.

“If you really want to do something for her, just live your life, Amity. Continue being that sweet lady I met three years ago. She sacrificed her life for making this a better world, don’t waste the life she gave to you. I know it has been very hard for you, sweetie. You lost your brother and Luz. I know they’re gone, and it hurts. It really hurts. And will hurt, maybe forever. But if there is something Luz taught us is to never give up no matter how impossible it might be. As long as you kept her in your heart she will be always with you”

And with everything Camila told her, Amity finally let out all the grief that has been oppressing her heart for the last three years. And just like Eda, her weak sobs suddenly turned into heartbreaking screams. Amity buried her face on Camila’s chest and let out all of her grief. Camila hugged her to offer her some comfort. The warm sensation of Camila’s embrace was something she was seeking so desperately but she rejected from everyone else, even when they were there for her. For the first time in three years, Amity allowed herself to feel again. It was painful but necessary. They stayed like that for a long time.

Not far from there, on the branch of a tree, Eda and Lilith were watching the interaction.

“Well, your plan worked, sister” Lilith smiled warmly “Do you think she will get over it soon?”

“To be honest, Lily, I don’t think I will get over it never!” Eda said in a serious voice and with a frown on her face, but she smiled immediately “But just like Cami said, I don’t think Luz would like to see us trashing our lives because she isn’t here anymore. And no, I don’t think she will get over it soon, it will take a long time and maybe she will never get over it like me. But at least she won’t be that cold Blight that Odalia wanted her to be anymore. I think that’s a good start”

“I agree with you, Edalyn” Lilith said still looking at them “So that means you will finally take another apprentice”

“Are you kidding me!? That will never happen. No one will take the place of my little owlet. She was and will be my only apprentice! Besides, there is no one worthy enough to fill her heels, and never will be! So you can tell all the little brats that I won’t take anyone under my wing!” Eda proclaimed with a big smile causing Lilith to chuckle “And what about you? You will finally adopt little Blight girls?”

“That would be nice” Lilith said with a tender face.

“I don’t know why it took you so long to accept that they were like daughters for you” Eda teased.

“Me neither, sister…”

After a long time Amity finally let out everything that was bottled on her heart for three years. Camila and Amity were sitting on the ground looking at Luz's warm smile. Amity was leaning on Camila’s shoulder and Camila was caressing her hair in a motherly way.

“I…could never tell her my true feelings” Amity said in a tired voice.

“Don’t worry, sweetie. I’m sure she always knew it. But if it make you feel better you can do it now” Camila said gently.

“Luz…Forgive me for not telling you this before but…I was afraid…I was afraid of being rejected…Forgive for hurting your feelings… but the truth is…I loved you”

A warm smile formed on Camila’s face but said nothing. She was happy that it wasn’t too late for bring Amity back, and that she finally was able to say what she really felt.

“I miss her so much…” Amity said weakly.

“Me too, sweetie” Camila said gently.

Camila took out a light glyph from her pocket and tapped it and a light orb appeared. Amity casted her own light spell giving it the magenta color of her flames.

Just like Eda, Amity would never get over Luz’s death. But just like her, she continue with her life even when it was hard at some points. But she never gave up. Just like Luz, she would never stop. It took her a while to fully recover and return to an active life, but she managed to do it. She was determined to live a life worthy of telling for when she meet with Luz again. The nightmares stopped from that day.

The light orbs floated around Luz statue and began to ascend to the sky. Amity watched as the orbs ascended and shrunk the higher they floated on the sky. And said something she wasn’t able to say three years ago.

“Goodbye…Luz…”