Chapter Text
When the blinding light filled the room, Luz would have thought her reaction would be a bit more dignified. Compared to the danger of capture and possibly death she faced on a daily basis, which unfortunately never got any less depressing and scary, a big glowing rectangle should be nothing. Maybe she’d stick her tongue out. Or she could have stayed absolutely calm, showing that she was a warrior who let nothing faze her. But when she looked into the fabled white light, Luz’s reaction wasn’t any of those things. It wasn’t her life flashing before her eyes, having lived a life with no regrets and only feeling guilt that she hadn’t been more of a thorn in Belos’ side in her short 16 years. No the only thing that went through the teenager’s soul (and her mouth) was a loud scream as the white void consumed her.
7 hours earlier
AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!
No matter your station, no matter what faction you belonged to on the Boiling Isles, one thing everyone agreed on, from the high and mighty emperor to the lowest of peasants, was that the alarm clock was a mistake. The horrifying screeches the thing emitted were impossible to ignore and always woke you up when you were just getting to the good part of that dream. So it wouldn’t shock anyone to know that an uncountable number of the hellish devices were thrown walls with strength that only pure hatred could summon.
The same was true for Luz Noceda, one of the many wild witches currently holed up in the cave systems of the Right Elbow. While ‘’wild witches’’, the common soldier in the resistance’s military forces and the last thing a Conformatorium guard would want to bump into alone on guard duty, were mostly adults, an incident involving the seduction of a slitherbeast, a literal witch hunt and quite a few bruises had shown the council that Luz was the exception to the rule, and she quickly turned from a nursing assistant (she didn’t like the job anyway) to a full-fledged, spell slinging operative. But seeing as a higher rank didn’t come with sleep privileges, her alarm was still quickly smashed apart.
After putting the thing back together with a quick construction spell, Luz dashed through her morning routine. And after fixing the brown disaster on her head she put on her deflector cape and made her way to the mess hall. Breakfast was the same as it always was. The cooks were cooking, the janitors were cleaning and the sound of conversation was as recognizable as ever. After greeting a few friends she sat down at one of the soldier tables. A group that, while filled with all kinds of demon and creature, was instantly recognized by their serious faces and a lot of scars.
Finishing her sandstone bread, Luz noticed a bat-like demons flying straight at her, quickly recognizing it as Jorge, one of the many messengers used to deliver letters or, as she suspected this was, orders throughout the vast tunnel system used to hide from the Emperor’s coven. Thanking the creature as her suspicions were quickly proven correct when reading the message:
Luz Noceda, please report to High war commander Wrath’s office as soon as possible. Details for your upcoming mission will be revealed there.
While it definitely wasn’t uncommon to be given orders by Wrath, usually those orders were delegated via lower ranks of commanders or assistants. As she looked around the table, Luz saw that three others, Michaela, Vandal and Grimbeard, had also gotten a letter. Grimbeard in particular was quickly finishing his food, probably eager for the mission, or as he liked to call them, GRAND ADVENTURES WHERE THE WORTHY WILL EXTINGUISH THE LIFELIGHT OF PATHETHIC COVEN MEMBERS. Luz was pretty sure he had a screw or two loose.
After everyone arrived in Wrath’s office, the commander wasted no time getting to the point.
‘’Alright everyone, listen up. As you probably noticed, you four were the only ones who received my summons via messenger demon. The rest of our forces will be receiving all the information they need to know in a few minutes.’’
’Why is that?’ asked Michaela
‘If you don’t interrupt me, I’d happily disclose that information.’
That shut the snake woman up and Wrath was just about to continue when Vandal, who’d snuck up behind the fire-breathing demon, did the one thing he wasn’t supposed to be doing.
‘We have another mission that will most likely involve us four infiltrating a certain place.’
‘I TOLD YOU TO STOP WITH THE INTER’ Wrath suddenly stopped as he realized something. ‘Y-Yes, tha-that is actually completely right. How in the Titan’s name do you know that, that is supposed to be classified information!’
‘It may be classified, but it’s also painfully obvious.’ The triclops answered. Luz didn’t think it was painfully obvious. Luz hadn’t even considered the possibility of a stealth mission. But Vandal had always been a bit of a strange one and it wasn’t that weird to think that he’d be the one to figure it out. A master of oracle magic, the purple-skinned witch believed that his ability over the magic came from deductive reasoning sharpening the potential futures his powers showed him. The more details he knew, the clearer the pictures in his mind would become. Luz herself had never been that good in oracle magic, so she wasn’t sure if that was basiliskshit or not. Either way, Vandal’s mission results didn’t lie. He was good at what he did.
He continued ‘Looking at those who were picked for this mission, we have a witch who specializes in illusions, an obvious choice for sneaking around,’ he nodded to Michaela ‘a construction warrior, always nice to have around when inside a building,’ Grimbeard let out a laugh ‘an oracle operative, useful in diving and evading patrols, and one of our finest combat mages. You can never go wrong with that last one, no matter the mission.’ Luz got a little red at the praise. She still wasn’t completely used to sitting at the big player table.
‘All of this information leads me to believe that we will be infiltrating an Emperor’s Coven facility, which is heavily fortified and will require a distraction to enter. Combining that with you just saying that everyone will be receiving orders at the same time, which leads me to believe that this is an important operation. Counting all the operatives in this particular cave system who currently aren’t on mission we should have just enough people to cause chaos in a place around the size of Bonesborough. And the closest high-profile target in the proximity of that city is Belos’ castle itself.’ He couldn’t stop a smile from showing on his face. ‘How did I do?’
Grimbeard, amazed with the display of intelligence, instinctively moved his arms to clap but was stopped by Wrath answering begrudgingly ‘ Correct, all of it was correct. The four of you will indeed be sneaking into the castle. Allow me to explain why, and no interruptions this time please.’
After summoning some chairs and everyone sat down, he started to explain: ‘A few weeks back we received word of materials being moved to the castle. While this normally wouldn’t be anything unusual, the amount of security was quickly noticed by our scouts. After further observation, interrogation and deals with the right people, we believe we have a pretty clear picture of what is going on inside the castle walls. We believe Belos has constructed a portal.’
‘Why is that such a big deal? Big grumpy teleports all the time.’ Michaela asked. Luz couldn’t help but agree with her. While it was a spell that not just anyone could do, it was still used quite frequently by the head honchos in Belos’ inner circle.
‘Normally I would agree with you, but this time the answer lies in the specifics. Because it isn’t just any portal Belos has created, it’s a portal to other worlds.’
If the group was expecting anything, it certainly wasn’t that. Shock covered their faces as they processed the news. Michaela looked confused, Vandal seemed to be working this new information into his calculations and Grimbeard was just uncharacteristically silent.
Luz was the first to recover and, for the first time during the meeting, opened her mouth:
‘You say other worlds, as in there’s more than this one and the Human Realm?’
‘We haven’t been able to confirm anything, but it seems very likely. Magical energy signatures have been radiating from the castle all week, a different one each day, and all of them have been foreign to every expert we’ve thrown at it. The only pattern we’ve been able to find is that the intensity of the energy seems to lessen every time. The leading theory at the moment is that Belos is trying to find a world with magic that’s weak enough for him to consume it, just like he did with all those poor palismen. I don’t think I need to tell you how big of a disaster that would be.’
Luz shivered at the thought of that memory. The resistance had suffered massive losses after the mad emperor had consumed an immense amount of palismen and shared the power with his followers. Ambushes had been set up for groups of unsuspecting wild witches. Luz had stumbled upon the remains of one of those groups while scouting. For the next few months, nightmares had followed.
‘Last time the emperor’s coven slaughtered dozens of ours in a few days. And that was just with palismen. If he get’s his hands on the magic of an entire dimension, then no spell in existence can hide us from Belos’ sight. We’ll be dead before sunrise.’
‘And you think the four of us can pull it off?’ Grimbeard asked
Wrath sat down and suddenly looked a lot older, his commander face broke and Luz no longer saw the scary general who had made her training hell, but a tired old man, who’d lost his husband and son in the crossfire a the civil war they played no part in. She couldn’t help but feel sympathy for the fire-breather ‘I think that if we don’t do anything, than everything we’ve worked for, all the sacrifices we’ve made, all the people we’ve lost, will all have been for nothing. I think that with every passing day Belos gets closer finding the right dimension. And I think, no I believe that you four can save this realm. You have to.’
Slowly he put his commander face back on and grabbed some files from his desk.
‘In these files is all the information we’ve been able to gather surrounding the portal. Read it when you can. The distraction will commence in 6 hours. Make sure you’re in position when that happens. This operation has to go as smoothly as possible.’
5 hours later
The flight to the castle had been silent. Everyone was mentally preparing for the upcoming battle. They weren't idiots, a stealth mission into the most heavily guarded building on the Isles was bound to be detected at some point.
After arriving at the edge of the moat surrounding the castle, Michaela and Luz hid their position from prying eyes and then it was simply a matter of waiting for the right time. They’d made camp at the east wall, as Bonesborough lay west of the castle. After everything was in order Luz wandered to the edge of the moat and sat down, hiding herself with a quick illusion spell.
Looking at the castle, Luz couldn’t help but feel scared. The moat looked as if it would swallow her if she got too close. The walls, laced with the veins of the titan made for an impenetrable defence. And behind all of that were dozens of EC members. Their noble quest seemed more like a suicide mission.
Hearing movement behind her, she nearly struck the person who turned out to be Grimbeard.
‘Someone’s a bit trigger-happy.’ The half-giant commented, although he didn’t look bothered at all.
‘Sorry, It’s just that… I don’t know, I got a bad feeling about all of this.’
‘It’s okay to be scared Luz. In fact, I’d probably be more concerned If you weren’t. Because this isn’t a normal raid or some theft. This is the most important mission any of us have ever been a part of. The stakes have never been higher. And it seems insane! Four people, four people Luz, have to succeed or hundreds of others will pay the price. And I won’t lie, there’s a high chance not all of us will make it out alive. So yeah, I too am scared. And you know what? I’m okay with that.’
‘How?’ Was all the young mage could say.
‘Because I know that no matter how much Michaela might act tough, or how disinterested Vandal might seem, at the end of the day, they too are scared. And to me, that makes them people. And my faith is in people. The people that are worth fighting for. So I’ll have their back, and yours, and I know that you’ll have mine. And the rest is up to fate.’
'You really think that's enough?'
'Let me tell you a little secret, little one.' Luz took a little offense at that nickname but let the construction veterean continue 'When a battle gets intense, people don't fight for their faction's victory. They don't fight for the glory of their commanders. No, what a soldier really fights for, is the ones beside them, their friends and their loved ones. And there is not better motivator. So yeah, I think that's enough
‘Wow, Grim, that was actually kind of comforting, in a weird way.’ And Luz meant every word of it.
‘Don’t mention it squirt. I know you and the others think that I’m a brute, and I definitely am, but I have my moments.’ He playfully punched her shoulder and they sat there for a few minutes. ‘Speaking of the others, I think mister tall, dark and handsome is calling us. We should head back.’
‘Yeah, it can’t be long now until all hell breaks loose.’
They walked back to the campsite, where Michaela was polishing her palisman. She noticed them and wasted no time berating them for wandering off. But before any of them could reply the ground suddenly began to shake.
Luz gripped Owlbert tightly, her battle reflexes kicking in. ‘What the Titan was that?’
‘Look at the sky!’ Vandal shouted, pointing at a massive cloud of smoke hanging over where Bonesborough was. Any hope that a random earthquake had occurred vanished immediately ‘I think the mission has officially begun. Let’s move people, we can’t afford to waste a single second.’