Chapter Text
The Boiling Isles name is a little misleading.
It’s technically not even made of isles. It was completely underground, for one thing. And all the ‘islands’ were more like big pieces of rock that people lived on, with massive trenches in between them. You couldn’t even see the bottom of most.
This was called the Void. An empty nothingness with some tar-like substance at the bottom. And while some ‘islands’ had water between them, most were just surrounded by the Void. And there were plenty of transportations over the Void. A common one was by train, over bridges built above the trenches and canyons.
And contrary to popular belief, most train fights don’t end up going very well.
“How come I was never told you guys had a library?” Luz complained, peeking around the train car.
“You didn’t ask,” Willow pointed out calmly.
“You’ll love it,” Gus insisted right after, his eyes practically sparkling. “The Mosaic Library is the biggest library in the whole Isles! If there really is anything on old magic, it’ll be there.”
“If Belos hasn’t purged it yet,” Eda muttered, pulling Luz back and taking a look herself, watching as people boarded the train, the group hidden from sight on the other side.
“That library is hundreds of years old, maybe even thousands.” Gus said, waving her off. “And it's rumored to have a hundred books for every year it's been standing. Emperor Belos couldn’t have gotten rid of everything on old magic, should such books exist.”
“Now you sound like my teachers debating my future,” Eda huffed, rolling her eyes as she pulled back until she was in the shadow of the train with the others. “Alright, they’re about to move again. King--”
“Don’t let go, yeah, yeah, I know.” King grumbled, his head poking out of Eda’s hair. “Yeesh, fall on the tracks one time and you never hear the end of it.”
Eda rolled her eyes and gave the three kids an exasperated look. She opened her mouth to say something before the train beside them whistled and began to rumble.
“Times up!” Eda said instead, hurrying around and onto the steps on the caboose.
The kids sprung up and all followed suit as the train began to slowly pull out of the station. Eda made room as Willow and Gus hopped onto the steps. Luz was the last one, grabbing the railing and pulling herself up.
“If any of you fall off, I’m not going after you.” Eda said calmly, turning to the door of the caboose. “King, lockpick?”
King disappeared into her hair, mumbling as he tried to find the bent metal Eda called her lockpick. Luz turned away, instead deciding to watch as the station, and in turn, the town, disappeared behind them while she still had the chance.
A familiar flash caught her eye.
Luz squinted, leaning over the railing as the train started to shakily pick up speed.
Three figures appeared on the station platform, and Luz’s blood went cold.
They all wore black, including black gloves that almost looked connected to their sleeves. Each of them bore a collared cloak that only reached their knees.
Two of them were identical in nearly every way. They were tall and their cloaks were dark green, and they wore white skull-like masks with dark holes for the eyes. The masks had two horns protruding upwards that curved in towards each other, with a noticeable notch at the end of each horn, giving it two sharp ends.
The third was smaller, about Luz’s height. Their cloak was dark purple, and their mask was similar to their partners. But the horns were thicker and instead of sticking straight up were at a tilted angle, and only moderately curved at the tips with no notches.
The Chasers. The Emperor’s Coven elite trio of soldiers.
Needless to say, Luz’s gang didn’t exactly get along with them.
The smaller one, whom Luz creatively named Purple, turned their head towards the departing train.
Their masks eyes narrowed into slits. They unsheathed their weapon, a needle that Luz had often mistaken as a sword, and pointed it towards the train. Their partners turned as well.
“Guys?” Luz choked, her voice hoarse with fear.
The Chasers all leapt off the platform, landing on the tracks in mere moments.
“Guys!” Luz shouted, finding her voice again as she whirled around. “We’ve got company!”
Everyone turned to look, confused. The moment they did so, the three Chasers all shot off at frightening speed towards the train, which still hadn’t gotten onto the railroad over the trench.
“King!” Eda snapped.
“I got it, I got it!” King frantically fumbled with the lockpick and handed it to Eda, who snatched it out of the creature's paws and jammed it into the keyhole of the door and began frantically wiggling it.
Willow took out her own weapons, which were basically two staples a bit bigger than her hands, and pushed Luz further back with Gus, towards the door.
She looked like she was about to shout something to the Chasers, who, despite the train picking up speed, were still steadily getting closer. But Eda, in record time, jammed her lockpick into the keyhole one last time before slamming her body against the door, throwing it open.
“Everyone in!” Eda barked.
They didn’t have to be told twice.
The kids all ran into the train right as one of the green Chasers reached the handrail and grabbed it.
Eda slammed the door shut just as the Chaser threw themselves against the door, slumping for a moment before their head popped right up again, staring through the window in what Luz could only describe as a glare. Gus quickly flipped on the lock for the door once more.
“Go, go!” Eda shoved the kids along, glancing back as the Chaser unsheathed a rivet from their belt, the only difference between them and their twin. They leaned off the train and held it out for their partners to grab and pull themselves onto the caboose.
The four made a break through the train car, tearing the door open at the other end, revealing a gap between the two. The next car was for passengers.
Right as Luz was ducking out of the caboose, there was the sound of glass shattering.
The four whirled around, with a fifth poking out of Eda’s hair, to see the window of the caboose door had been smashed in by the rivet. The gloved hand of the same Chaser reached in and twisted at the handle, unlocking it once more from the inside.
Nobody spared a second to wait and watch. They rushed out of the last train car and shut the door behind them. Luz turned to hurry to the next car before Eda reached out and snagged the back of her shirt.
The train had picked up speed, and in the brief time they were in the last car, had completely left the stone island.
Aside from the railroad and the wooden bridge barely holding all of it, all that was beneath them now was the Void.
Luz swallowed and let Eda tug her back.
“Alright, you kids hop on over. Be careful.” Eda warned, tightly holding the caboose door shut. “Run and hide. We’re not going to make it far on a piece of junk.”
A loud crack startled them.
They all jumped, looking back to see the rivet Chaser was, once again, throwing their rivet against the glass in order to break it. The other two hoverd behind them.
King leapt out of Eda’s hair, scaling the short gap between the cars and landing on the other sides railing. Gus followed close behind, jumping over the gap and ripping open the other door, running inside.
Luz and Willow followed right after, all sense of ‘sticking together’ lost on them. Once they hit that passenger car they took off sprinting. The other passengers looked startled and confused seeing them all run by.
Eda released her hold on the door and jumped over the gap, the last to enter the passenger car before kicking it shut and taking off. Barely seconds after Eda had released the door, Purple had yanked it open, slammed through the second, and sprinted after her. Their partners were close behind.
King had fallen behind among the runners, and Luz scooped him up as she ran by. By the time she reached the end of the passenger car, it was already wide open and Gus and Willow had vanished into the second car.
Luz glanced back for just a moment, holding King tightly in her arms as she stood in the doorway.
It was right then that Purple leapt up and kicked into Eda’s back, sending the two of them crashing into a few train seats. Those nearby yelped and rushed to get away, setting off everyone else in the car, who was already on edge from the running and the sight of the Chasers.
“Eda!” Luz cried as King leaned up in her arms, trying to get a better view instead of slipping out of her grasp.
Eda twisted around and hissed, her ears pressed back as Purple unsheathed their needle, swiping it out at Eda as they did so. The needle point glided right above Eda’s gemstone, putting a cut in her shirt as it started to quickly stain red.
The other two Chasers leapt on the back of two seats on opposite sides of the car, perched there as they watched their companion aim their needle at Eda, who had a hand pressed to her bleeding collarbone.
Luz dropped King, much to his chagrin, and unsheathed her sword from her belt. Well, it was more of a big thumbtack, but she liked to call it a sword.
She, without much thought, threw her sword towards Purple.
It was way off, but the sword did manage to catch the back of their cloak. And Purple jerked as the sword not only hooked into their cloak, but also embedded itself into the wall behind them.
Purple slowly, agonizingly so, turned their head to look behind them at where they were (terribly) pinned to the wall. They then turned their head so to look directly at Luz, their blank empty eyes holding what Luz could almost call surprise.
Nobody, even the passengers, dared move.
Purple then reached out a hand and grabbed the handle of the thumbtack, sharply tugging it out of the wall as their cloak fell back to its normal position beside them again. They did not move the hand holding the sword, instead keeping it in the air.
Then their eyes narrowed into slits, and that shock had been replaced with pure malice.
A loud shriek came from Purple, one that could only be described as a furious cicada, and the stillness jarred right back to how it once was. Sharp spines, almost as long as an arm, shot up from Purple’s back and rattled. Their partners sprung to action near instantly, making a beeline over the chairs towards Eda.
In the same moment, Purple was off like a shot towards Luz, aiming the sword towards Luz with the needle clutched in their other hand.
Luz shouted and jumped back, tripping over King and falling over. Purple mistimed their run and soared right over Luz’s head, instead crashing onto the floor in a confused, snarling heap.
“Get to the roof!” Eda yelled, and Luz looked back at her.
Eda was bearing her cards, which in all terms were like a normal deck of cards, but were dangerously sharp and glided through the air like they were nothing. Eda was pressing down against the wall of the train car, waving and throwing her cards at the Chasers, who were nearly tangled up in each other trying to dodge them.
Luz stumbled to her feet the same time Purple jumped back to theirs. Luz made a break for the train window and grabbed the edge of it, struggling to push it up.
Purple tried to run towards her again, but King had recovered from being tripped over and jumped onto their leg, clinging to it so hard he managed to draw blackish-red blood. Purple made a strangled yowl-like noise and paused with a hiss, kicking their leg out as they tried to shake off King.
Luz took her chance and slipped out the window, pointedly ignoring looking at the darkness beneath her. She placed her feet on the windowsill and grabbed the handlebars on the side of the train, which were normally used to hook the train into the station when it wasn’t in use.
Luz pulled herself onto the roof, rolling and huffing as she lay on her back for a brief moment and stared up at the stalactites high above her.
The sound of scratching and scrabbling reached her above the roar of the train and Luz leapt back to her feet. She glanced back once more before jumping off the passenger car, soaring through the air for a few terrifying moments, before landing on the other car and nearly falling over.
Purple had managed to shake off King, somehow, and had crawled out of the same window as Luz. They used Luz’s thumbtack and their needle by digging them into the roof of the train as they got to their feet and dashed after her.
Luz was just jumping to the third car right as she heard a cry of pain. She looked back, seeing Purple had crashed onto the second car, hissing.
Eda jumped up from between the cars a moment later, covered in slashes and holding her cards. She had thrown one of them and as Purple spun around with their back to Luz, the human could see that a card had made a direct hit and was sticking out of their side.
Luz stumbled backwards, getting to the end of the third passenger car as Eda began throwing her cards towards the Chaser. Purple, due to having a literal card in their side, couldn’t dodge as quickly and fumbled, cards nicking their sides as they hissed and snarled, lowering their spines so to avoid getting any of them cut.
Their partners sprung up moments later, looking far better than Eda did, but certainly not unscathed. They rushed Eda, one with their rivet, the other with darts between their fingers.
Luz was about to run back into the fray when there was a blur beside her and she jerked.
Willow had reappeared, staples in hand, and bolted towards the fight, almost body slamming the Chaser with darts.
“Where did--”
“Luz!”
Luz turned, seeing Gus waving to her from the fourth passenger car window.
“We’ve got guards inside!” He called.
“And we still have Chasers up here!” Luz exclaimed, running across the car and jumping onto the fourth with very little grace. “How long is this stupid train ride?”
“Too long,” Gus shook his head.
There was the sound of shouting and clamor from inside the train, and Luz leaned down and offered a hand to Gus. He quickly took it and hung onto the side handle as he hoisted himself up.
It was then that the train took a turn, so to avoid the railroad crashing into a large cliff and instead going right above a thin canyon. Luz crouched close to the roof and braced her other hand against the same handle Gus was holding, ducking her head. Gus did the same, pressing his body close to the side of the train and squeezing his eyes shut, no doubt praying he wouldn’t go flying off into the Void.
Luz looked down the cars during the sudden turn, watching as her friends and the Chasers all got sharply jolted to the left. Purple stabbed their needle into the roof of the car, piercing it and likely terrifying everyone inside. They grabbed the arm of the Chaser with darts as they started sliding, and the third also jabbed their rivet into the roof, albeit they nearly slipped off before they managed it.
Eda dropped down low to the roof, covering Willow with an arm as she braced her feet against the handle bars behind her. Luz could see now that King had made his way back into Eda’s hair, and he was tightly clinging to her. Purple had dropped Luz’s sword and Willow reached out from under Eda’s arm to snag at it.
As the train came out of its turn, Purple turned to the partner they were holding and, very faintly, Luz could hear a series of rough clicking sounds mixed with a whistle coming from them.
The Chaser nodded and broke free of Purple. Right as Eda and Willow began to wobble to their feet, the Chaser barked to their twin before leaping up and beginning to land behind Eda before spinning around and grabbing her shoulders from behind, swinging their feet right into Eda’s back. Eda hit the roof and started to roll with the Chaser, growling.
The second Chaser tugged their rivet free of the train car, running straight for Willow and swinging it like a bat. Willow managed to duck but was soon locked in her own brawl with them.
Purple began shifting around for something in their cloak, keeping a hold on their needle in the roof. Luz wasn’t really paying attention to them at the moment.
“Gus, c’mon!” Luz said, yanking Gus onto the roof as she took off back down the cars.
“Are you insane?” She heard him cry behind her.
Luz leapt across the passenger cars, glancing down for just a moment to see a guard open a car door and spot her on the roof.
Well, this just kept getting better and better.
“Willow, over here!” Luz called, skidding to a stop on the edge of the third passenger car.
Willow turned for a moment, ducking underneath the rivet as it was swung at her again. She raised the thumbtack she had grabbed and hopped back as the Chaser jabbed their rivet at her. She turned and threw the thumbtack to Luz.
Luz reached up and fumbled with the handle, but managed to get a good grip on it with a celebratory “ha!”
The Chaser battling Willow noticed, and they turned their head back towards Purple, letting out a high-pitched chitter.
Luz was about to leap across the gap when she caught the eye of Purple. The Chaser finally released their needle, and Luz could see there was a string tied around the end of the needle connecting to the belt of Purple. They’d given themselves a safety line.
Luz only had a moment to realize that before Purple charged her.
She could hear Gus crying out behind her, but she was a bit too busy lurching back to avoid getting kicked in the face as Purple vaulted across the train car and landed in front of her.
Purple was up again in a flash. They shot towards Luz as she raised her sword, ducking to the side right before she swung and threw a quick left hook to Luz’s cheek. Had Luz not stumbled back and therefore threw off the punch in doing so, she was sure she would have a broken jaw.
Luz whirled and swung out her sword, almost nicking Purple’s side as they jumped back and began going in circles around Luz. They’d move closer, then back a few paces. Left one moment, right for a few more. It was almost like a dance, what with their feet constantly moving and somehow always missing stepping on the string still tying them to their needle.
Now Luz prided herself on being a good dancer, but sometimes there are limits.
Purple leapt around her, throwing kicks and punches that sometimes landed, sometimes only brushed her. Luz knew with certainty that if Purple wasn’t already bleeding from King biting their leg and Eda jabbing her cards into them, she would’ve been thrown off at the first hit.
Purple’s blood dripped onto the roof before they darted forward and threw a roundabout kick. Luz ducked and shoved her shoulder against the Chaser, feeling a welt squelch and realizing she had hit right where Eda’s card was still lodged in their side.
Purple made a noise between a screech and a bark, stumbling back and clutching their side, which had rapidly begun to bleed again at being disturbed. There was a large dark spot in their cloak now, and their glove that was holding their wound was getting soaked as well.
Luz frowned slightly, but shook it off. She pointed the end of her sword at Purple and thrust it forward, the tip pressing right between the eyes of their white mask.
Their empty black eyes stared back at her, widening. There was a brief moment of stillness, the two holding eye contact.
Then Purple suddenly jerked back and fell over, a startled yelp escaping their throat. Luz blinked and stepped back, confused.
When she looked behind them, she saw what had caused Purple to topple over.
The guards from the train, decked in scaly armor, were in between the train cars and looking up to see what the fuss was and how to handle it. One of them had grabbed the string Purple was attached to and tugged on it.
Purple rolled to their feet and spun around, snarling at the guard with an arched back. The guard squawked and released the string, not keen on meeting the wrath of a Chaser.
Gus appeared at Luz’s side, brandishing his own weapon, a brad pin that could transform into a shield, which was what it was now.
“We should go to the front of the train,” Gus said, the shield raised as he nervously glanced beyond it to Willow and Eda’s fight with the other two Chasers. King was running between the two fights, nipping and biting at a Chaser whenever he got the chance.
“At least hide to buy us some time before the train stops.” Gus added.
“We can’t leave them!” Luz protested, turning her head to him. “You can grab King and run, maybe distract the guards, but the Chasers won’t--”
It was then Luz got a sharp kick to the gut.
She wheezed and fell back, her vision starry for a few moments at the sudden jab before the weight was suddenly back on her chest and pressed down, hard.
Luz’s vision came back enough to see Purple’s horned mask towering over her, and realized that they had their foot pressing down on her chest, heel first.
Luz puffed painfully and grabbed at their ankle, weakly attempting to push them off as every exhale deprived her of oxygen. Purple slowly leaned down over her, their face hovering about a foot over Luz’s. She could hear a low, clicking noise that could almost be described as a scolding growl coming from them. She narrowed her eyes and tried to inhale, but was straining with the effort as her mind went fuzzy. Just how strong was this stupid bug?
“Kid!”
Luz’s eyes snapped open. She barely had a moment to recognize Eda’s voice before a bright light exploded over her head.
That’s where it all went to hell.
The explosion shook the train car, causing Purple to fall over. Luz gasped for air and kicked them further away for good measure. She scrambled to her feet, seeing that everyone had taken a hit.
One of the Chasers was thrown back by the explosion, hitting Purple’s needle and heavily tilting it. The other went skidding across the roof and, in an attempt to get a grip, kick their feet against anything they could get a grip on. Which just so happened to be the head of one of the guards, sending them flying off the train and down below.
Willow and Gus were braced on the ground, the former looking worse for wear. Gus was closer to the edge of the train car now, his shield missing and shaking as he watched everyone fearfully. Eda was standing in the middle of it all, holding a handful of cards, all of which were faintly glowing an eerie gold.
Now, Eda was known to be rather good at magic. Of the card kind at least. However, normally, Eda isn’t on the brink of passing out from blood loss and trying to protect multiple kids on a moving train over the Void.
“Eda! What are you--”
Purple had sprung to their feet again, running behind Luz so their string hooked around her legs and grabbed her shoulder, yanking both of them down. A spear, which was technically just a nail, flew right over their heads and out of sight. A guard had thrown that, as they had begun to climb onto the roof as well after one of them had gotten flung off.
“All of you are under arrest!” A guard snapped, pulling himself up onto the car Gus, Luz and Purple were all situated on.
The Chaser who had previously knocked into Purple’s needle proceeded to run towards the guard, leap up, stomp their feet on his head, and roll on the other side. The guard was dazed by getting his head hit against the metal, and slipped back down. The other guards cried out, grabbing at their comrade before he went falling off the train.
Luz started to twist around to swing her sword at Purple, but they grabbed her arm and twisted it behind her back, forcing her to drop the sword. In the same movement, they grabbed her neck with their other hand, unsheathing hooked, crooked claws that could be felt even through their gloves. They pricked at Luz’s skin and she went still, not keen on getting her throat clawed out.
Eda noticed, too.
“Don’t you dare,” She snarled, fanning her cards.
They suddenly spiked up in a bright golden glow, sparks dancing off of them. The magic surrounded it appeared to almost pulsate, and Eda bared her teeth as all the light in the surrounding area seemed to be coming from her from how bright it was.
Everyone froze.
Now was probably a good time to mention that magic was a...tricky thing. Everyone had it, but there were certain limits one had to put on themselves. Otherwise they can end up overexerting themselves and passing out. The Void fed on it, too.
But the point was that magic is unstable if one doesn’t have a strong grip on what they’re doing. Normally, that isn’t a huge problem. But this wasn’t a normal situation. And Eda wasn’t a normal person.
To cut things short, she was a ticking time bomb.
Everyone stared, not keen on moving in the slightest, should they set Eda off. Her eyes were wild and not at all grounded, and nobody wanted to test their luck. Not even the Chasers.
King was clinging to the side of the Chaser who had kicked off a guard, and both of them were completely still despite the fact King’s claws were very clearly drawing blood.
Slowly, incredibly slowly, Purple lowered their claw around Luz’s throat. They didn’t unsheathe it, likely because they were still tense or thought it would be too sudden of an action. They drew their claw away and began to release Luz’s arm behind her back, taking a slow step back.
And then one of the guards hoisted themselves up onto the roof with a loud clang of their armor, having not noticed anything that was going on.
Everything happened at once.
Eda whirled around at the sudden noise, in turn, setting off all her cards. The ensuing explosion was far larger than the last one.
There were screams, yells, but what Luz knew was that she blinked and suddenly she was falling off the roof of the train.
She had gotten tangled in the string behind her, taking Purple with her. They thrashed and twisted around in the air, though there was no hope in trying to grab the train now. The needle dislodged from the metal with barely even a millisecond of straining.
Luz screamed. Because truly, what else were you supposed to do in that situation?
She felt something clawed grab the back of her cape and turned, nearly smacking her nose right into Purple’s side.
The Chaser rumbled a growl and grabbed their string, yanking the needle closer to them till they could grab it.
They wrapped an arm around Luz’s abdomen and swiveled in the air, throwing their needle towards the wall of the thin canyon.
The needle soared towards the rock at frightening speeds before digging right into one of them. Purple tensed their hold and Luz and only then did the human realize what their plan was.
The string tightened, at the end of its line, and the two of them jolted in the air before swinging towards the wall. Purple raised their legs and bent them, bracing for impact.
Unfortunately for both of them, needles don’t tend to stick to rocks well when bearing the weight of two people and being thrown from yards away.
Halfway towards the wall, the needle gave out from its position on the rock wall and fell.
Purple twisted around, trying to grab the string and yank the needle back. But they were moving far too fast for anything to be stopped now.
They both hit the wall at full speed, the wind getting knocked from Luz. She saw stars and gasped as the stone cut at her face and side before she continued to fall.
She turned to see a black emptiness rushing up to meet her and whirled back to Purple, seeing that they were also falling and had gone completely limp.
Luz grunted and grabbed at Purple, squinting against the wind rushing by and making her eyes water. She found the string attached to Purple’s belt and pulled on it, bringing the needle to her hands.
She spun and jabbed the needle into the wall, holding it there as a painful screeching noise filled her ears and she shut her eyes in pain.
Her descent slowed, and she could almost let out a breath of relief.
However, she had forgotten to grab Purple. And while her descent slowed, theirs didn’t. And as they fell, they came to the end of the string and jolted back.
The needle was yanked away from Luz at the sudden movement and she yelped, her arm tearing back as plunged back down the canyon.
“I’m dead, I’m dead, I’m dead,” She repeated, scrambling to try and grab the string to pull the needle back to her, desperate to stop her fall.
Before she suddenly saw the ground rushing up to meet her.
Luz turned so she fell back-first barely half a second before she collided with the ground, a wheezing breath escaping her.
She groaned, despite her slowed fall being no more than a couple dozen feet. She squeezed her eyes shut, trying to keep her head from swimming.
She was laying on something mildly soft and turned her head, cracking open an eye.
Only to be met with a ghostly white mask with two slitted black holes.
Luz startled and jerked off of Purple before falling back on her side, not prepared for the sudden movement.
Purple was in a heap on the ground, unmoving. Their needle was beside them, having only rolled a few feet away.
Luz hesitantly reached out, crawling on her knees as she managed to grasp the Chasers fingers and pull their hand closer. She thunked her head on the ground but blearily felt around their hand until she could press two fingers to their wrist. She wasn’t quite sure why she bothered checking, but she was too delirious with pain and confusion to bother.
Faintly, she felt a pulse underneath her fingers. She figured it was probably faint due to the gloves, or the fact that technically speaking the people down here didn’t have a circulatory system. Which she had learned from a terrifying day with Eda. But it still pulsed, albeit irregularly due to a weird sack they had on their even odder hearts.
Satisfied that Luz wasn’t trapped in a canyon with a dead body, Luz released their hand and rolled over.
And almost went over a ledge.
Luz jumped back, propping her arms behind her to lean on them as she peered over.
There were long ledges and jutting rock all along the lower parts of the canyon, almost like strange paths. But beneath it all was a sea of inky tar-like blackness, writhing and curling.
The Void.
Luz swallowed and scrambled away, her back hitting the walls of the canyon as she thumped her head against it and looked up.
She could barely see the lights above, but she could make out the outline of the railroad, with the train long gone from it. In hindsight, it wasn't quite as far away as she thought. She figured it looked miles deep because of the Void.
And now she was trapped at the bottom of it with nothing but an unconscious assassin to keep her company.
Luz let out a long, pained groan and shut her eyes.
Today just kept getting better and better.