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“My apologies miss blight” amity heard the voice, but all she could do is fall to her knees… she was gone
“Emperor belos doesn’t take kindly to citizens building their own portal doors” wet tears flowed down the girls face as she watched the abominations hand raise from the kindling that was the door to her girlfriend… her love… her life, gone.
“He would like to have a word with you”
A new sensation filled her “she..luz” amity started. She clinched her fists “give…her…back” kikimora hoped off the purple walking ooze “miss blight, your little rebellion is coming to an end, how could you have hoped to fiht__”
“GIVE HER BACK!!” the girl shouted, tears of anger in her eyes
The little troll breathed out “humans… I don’t see everyone’s fascination with them, if belos didn’t want to go their id say leave that place alone” she then drew a spell circle getting only about half way through when they both heard another noise.
Like a ball of electricity, a low Humm as a blue portal, the event horizon like water, through the portal stepped a young, blonde man, short hair, dark green cargo pants, black boots, black and grey flannel button up shirt, he wore a thick sheep shin jacket, white wool on the inside, the outside was a mix of blues, purplish reds and white squares. He also had a camper’s pack with him. On his hip a belt of different things, and he had something under his coat… a magic staff? No… luz had shown amity movies from earth, what was that stick the kid from home alone had? A rattle?
“Alright, one more week on patrol then home—” the man stopped as he looked up, realizing he just walked into something not having to do with him. Then he saw a teenager, tears in her eyes, first curled in rage.
“hey kid, you ok?” he asked… his accent was off, it sounded like he was from; lots of different places; but amity knew that luz enjoyed a movie called shrek…. This accent was similar.
“Who are you” questioned the dwarf
The stranger side eyed his surroundings… two walking slime monsters… little dwarf that looks to be controlling them, some teenager, pointed ears… looks in distress.
“joe Allan… just a traveler… my friends call me a scholar” he knew the name wouldn’t mean anything hear… according to the roster this dimension had no spartan presents.
“Scholar hgh?... of what”
“I travel to different dimensions, collect information, recruiting for my organization, I use to be whats called a ranger in the order” his expression changed, he squinted at the little one “rangers go around fighting random evil… I still do that, but now I press them for information or steal it.” He finished by scratching above his ear. A round ear
“Another human?... to many… “ kiki said under her breath “well anyway, your not needed hear… go off to the next world now, we already took care of our villains… in fact I caught the last one here” she said as she motioned one of her soldiers to grab the girl.
“wait” called joe “what is she guilty of, and I want to hear the girl say it”
Kiki growled “to nosy, GET HIM” she then turned to amity, again drawing her magic circle,
*BPEWW*
only to be flunk to the ground, a searing pain in her chest, her magic bolt went wide, hitting amity in the leg… kikimora fell dead, on the spot.
Joe drew his colt M45 and shot kikimora in the chest, seeing as she was the leader. Head of the snake and all that.
The blobby homunculi looked at their leader, then … giving a roar they charged the strange man.
Joe turned his pistol to the nearest beast droping his backpack, firing 3 rounds in its head. *BREP*BREP *BPEWW
The mass just absorbed it, grabbed joe and slammed him into a nearby tree, joe unloaded the rest of his magazine in the beast’s eye until the slide locked back.
“Their abominations, physical attacks do nothing!!” yelled amity
“These things common here?” questioned joe, as he holstered his sidearm, yanking out his Kbar, he quickly slashing down he cut the hand off, landing him on the ground.
“My parents company builds them, I tested them myself” she conferred.
Joe watched the dropped hand morph back as the other hand swiped towards him, joe rolled to dodge the attack. Reaching into his thick coat joe produced his sawed off M79 pistol.
Knowing just how much damage he can take joe fired the little grenade launcher near point blank at the creature’s chest, blowing chunks out… it fell back, starting to regenerate itself.
About then the other one walked right up to joe. “How these things with fire!?” asked the traveler.
“Not the best?” the girl questioned
Joe inhaled sharply as the other beast started to reform and stand, focusing his KI joe breathed out a large, storm of fire, engulfing the entire abomination, dissipating it to grease in moments.
Amity was amazed, she tested these things personally… not only that… what kind of magic was that?
Joe turned to the first abomination, fishing on his belt for a second, he charges the purple bastard and jumps on its chest, knocking it back down, he drives his fist under the armpit behind the armor, kicking off the breastplate like a springboard, he backflips and lands in a low squat, flicking a grenade ring away… the abomination lifted its head to look at joe, then the thermite grenade inside it went off, burning its core and killing it.
The scholar rose, turning towards the girl.
“You alright?” he asked approaching her. She held her leg, burned from the little gremlin creature from earlier. He bent down. So, he could be eye level with the purple haired girl. “Here, this should help the burn” he said as he pulled a little blue vile from his left cargo pocket. Looking for her to nod, when she did, he pulled the cork, poured a little bit on the burn, watching it heal, slowly but visibly.
“And here” he said, amity looked up to see the man reach into a little bag from his waist, pulling out a bean of some sorts?
“This senzu bean will help give you energy, I’m joe by the way”
Amity ate it, feeling a rush “I’m amity, thank you”
“You mind telling me what happened?”
“Why do you care” she asked harshly… she should be happy that this stranger probably just saved her life…but all she could think about was luz.
“I’m just an old traveler… I stopped caring about most things the third time my home country fell and got renamed” amity questioned how old this guy could be his eyes held sarcasm… but seriousness. “but I may be able to help, I cant tell you if I can or not if I don’t know” he said very dryly.
Amity looks him dead in the eye… she started to feel something… fear, this man was scary, and he was just sitting there trying to help.
“you travel to other dimensions?”
“yes”
“how old are you?” she questioned with a scouting glare
“I turned 10,000 years old about a decade ago” amity’s eyes widened “pros of different dimensions… there’s places where age isn’t a problem anymore” he said curtly, face hardening like stone.
“why would you help me”
The man snorted a laugh “when I find an answer ill tell you, it’s a reason to wake up? sear cripling boredom? Why does anyone do anything… I guess because it’s the only thing I know how to do…anymore questions?”
“Just one… you really travel to other worlds?... like there are more than just the human realm and the boiling isles”
Joe looked around… he spied the oceans… he sat down next to amity and watched the waves. “I travel to different realities… I just call them dimensions, as do the rest of my organization…. The human realm? Where im from we call it earth, and there are infinitely many… most have subtle differences… im sure there lies an earth…. Where your worst enemy here is your sibling there… you would hardly recognize your own appearance… hell, you have pointy ears… elf?” he asked
“witch”
“I’m sure there lies a place your more human then I” amity looked up the strange man “if that’s all the questions… something tells me you have other issues then trying to get killed by… well whoever the hell that was.”
“she’s the chief assistant to the emperor” joes face hardens… his brow furrows “but yes… my girlfriend… she is from another world as well… you said there is infinitely many, so I won’t hold out hope…. We built a gate to get her home… we were going to visit her mom… but then kikimora… she destroyed the portal” amity finished… pointing at the broken wood pile.
“broken portal?.... alright then, lets go” joe stood, walked over to grab his pack. He then stepped over to the pile of rubble, inspecting it , he grabbed the severed glove with titans blood on it, sniffing it before standing back up. he waved his hand over the debris, closing his eyes… opening them he could see the dimensional flow, some realities have a color and texture to them, and when you’ve done this for as long as joe you can tell certain things, even identifying others by their signature, like the female version of Darth Vader that fought for the honor of grey skull .
He clapped his hands together, locking in his intended location, being an already linked portal the crack was already there… so he just had to pry it open, not his hardest travel, plus the way these places where linked makes it the same reality, just different plane, easy. He pointed his hands out and spread them, a circle appeared below the rubble, then the rubble itself seemed to repair itself, the titans blood burned off, so joe pushed some of his own abilities into it to force the power, the door opened with a golden light, joe lowered his hands. Amity got closer, holding her breath, after a few seconds the light dissipated, revealing lush green forests, a grassy field, and luz sitting there on her knees, tears in her eyes, looking confused at the portal.
“amity?” asked the young nerd on the other side
“this the right place?” questioned joe. The purple haired girl in turn rushed through, worried that the door would close again, rushing into the other girls’ arms, both where in tears, feared that they would never see each other again… joe kept quiet, he knew what that was like, he grinned slightly, these young kids had a whole life Infront of them, they seemed to be good kids.
“oh luz, that was worse then grom… kikimora came out of nowhere… I thought I would never see you again, she destroyed the portal”
“When I turned around… I feared the worst” the other girl… joe guessed was luz said.
“how did you reopen it then?” she asked… which amity turned to joe, who half heartedly flicked two finger from his forehead in a half salute “morning… you must be luz” the girl nodded he head.
“this place smells like earth?... where and when are we if you don’t mind me asking… it looks almost like new England area” he finished
“2019… Connecticut?” luz answered quizzically.
“damn… I aint been back in Connecticut in…. almost 800 years…” joe grinned
“who are you?” asked luz eyes wide with curiosity
Joe unbuttoned the cuffs of his jacket and flannel shirt on his right arm “I work for an organization that travels to different realities and dimensions … for many reasons, but aside from that—” he pulled his sleeve back showed the symbol tattooed on his arm, and eagle globe and anker, hoping the girl knew what it meant “gunnery sergeant joe Allan… united states marine corps, second force recon battalion” joe then smoothed out his sleeve.
Luz eyes got bigger, marines where the good guys, her dad was a marine, this one helped amity, who said kikimora got the drop on her, since she isn’t here now that meant amity was safe…and then he reopened the portal? But what was this guy doing on the boiling isles
“Um... I have a question… why are the marines on the boiling isles” she asked
“Well to put simply I’m not here on behalf of the corps…. My other organization… the Gallowglass, we are something between mercenaries and roving lawmen… most of us don’t really know what to do without fighting, so we travel to different places and fight peoples battles for them, or in my case, I’m exploring… kind of like star trek, boldly going where there’s loot and booty and info… as it where, I was in Chechnya helping a goblin empire deal with the local bandits, when I figured they had it on their own I moved on, just opened a portal on a random plane and stepped through seeing what I could get into. Hoping it wouldn’t be much because my patrols almost up in about a week, want to get home eventually.”
Amity looked from joe to luz, tightening her grip on her girlfriend’s hand, always the smart one she asked a simple question that had a lot of impact … “so… what now”
Joe rubbed his chin “normally this might be where I take my leave... but I feel like yall need my help more… so… what was your plan after coming through the portal originally… ill back you up”
Luz face turned to stone, she nodded, she knew belos was going to far, he was a problem, they were basically in open rebellion agents the emperor… but first “I guess let’s go see my mom”
Hunter was scared, he finally figured out wild magic, belos found out and lost it, hunter hadn’t been preforming to his best lately anyway, he had outgrown his usefulness …. hunter was fucking scared.
“HUNTER!!!” the boy could hear the screams of his uncle as he ran through the woods, bushed smacking him in the face as he went, red tucked in his coat, he didn’t have his helmet, he didn’t have his armor, but he lucked out and grabbed his cloak…. The emperor’s coven, his coven, the men he trained, turned on him in moments. If he went back now there’s no telling what will happen.
Hunter ran through the bush until he slipped down a slope, he tumbled down, skipped his hip off a rock, right on his face. As he went to get up and catch his breath he waited as he heard voices.
“Come on, over here” it was a patrol. He quickly looked around, seeing himself to be in a marsh he jumped into the shallow pond, laying down to up to his face would be covered he used the reeds to cover himself. He tried to stay as still as possible when they passed, the thumping of boots in mud had never seemed so loud to him as they did now.
When the patrol left, he eased himself out of the water… straining his ears to listen he hears breathing, heavy, labored breathing… wait?... THE WARDEN!! Before he could do anything, hunter got smacked into a tree. “shit” the boy swore, but then the luckiest part of the day happened, red, finally turned into a flyable staff, the warden rushed towards the boy as he jumped on his staff and barely escaped.
He managed to get over a hill or two before falling, clattering to the floor, he hit his head, he knew he was close to passing out, the last thing he saw when he looked up was an almost familiar pale lady with dark hair. “Mother, come quick…. Oh shit” she spoke, shocked at what she saw.
“What is it sweet flea/oh, dear me, your sister is close, lets hurry”
Blackness
“You may not be my luz… but you can be my vee, you don’t have anywhere else to go… what kind of person would I be to turn you away”
Vee remembered the words perfectly, in the weeks since then she still portended to be luz of course, but around cami---- mom, she didn’t have to play pretend. She was currently in the garage, the door was up letting the sun and cool September air in, she was moving some boxes around when all of a sudden, she hears.
“VVEEE!!!” in a fairly familiar voice, she turned to see luz running up the road, a purple haired witch and a scruffy looking traveler behind her.
“luz? MOM!!” she called; Camila scooted the door from the house to the garage open with her back as she turned holding chilled box of soda for the pair to work with. “mija , what’s up, find some lost treasu—” she lost her voice, turning she saw luz, her luz, her (oldest) daughter, 50 feet from her.
“l-luz” a tear started to trickle out
“MOM!” she yelled as she ran into her mothers’ arms, Camila dropped the box of soda, which clattered to the floor.
“Your home, your finally home” she near wept, the other two walked up, amity was anxious, one hand griped the hem of her skirt, joe looked around, they should get out of the broad daylight… why did he think that? … this place had no hostile… did it? Damn this feeling.
The mother and daughter separated, luz looked at vee, who in turn hugged the human girl, “good to finally meet you” the basilisk said
“I feel like meeting a long-lost sister” luz replied. Now Camila turned to see her daughters’ companions.
“luz, mija… are these your friends from the islands?” the worried mother asked
“well,” luz started, walking over to amity “mom, id like you to meet amity blight, the whole reason I was able to make a new portal, my girlfriend” she said with a smile.
Camila stepped forward, amity didn’t know what to expect, but she was definitely scared… “thank you for looking after my daughter, I can tell, she’s happy there” she said with a smile as she rested her hand on amity’s shoulder.
“y-yes ma’am” she replied, causing Camila to laugh, “and polite to, oh luz how did you manage this”, she then turned to joe, he definatly… gave off a vibe, not one Camila was sure she liked.
“This man… we acutely just met” luz told honestly
“He saved my life, fixed the portal on a more permanent basis… while I’m proud of our handy work… it was budget to put it nicely”
The man walked up to the woman, taller then luz, the two adults where eye level. “Gunnery sergeant joe Allan, united stated marine corps…. currently working on personal projects… I stumbled across that dimension at the right time” he supplied
“a marine? huh?” she questioned eyes wide
“long story, use to be with the corps, now I travel to different realities, this isn’t the earth im from, but it’s kind of close” he answered her unspoken questions with a raise of his sleeve to show a tattoo. Camila found this to not be the strangest thing.
Camila looked at the symbol, she was all to familiar with it… her husband had that same tattoo, wore it on a hat too.
“please, come inside, I’m sure we’re fixing to have a long conversation and could do it on the couch, I know I need to sit down” she joked.
As they all went in vee ended up next to joe “hm… a changeling, festinating” the merc mentioned off the cuff, which scared vee “um, how.. i—I mean” she started to stutter, then her ears changed, Camila grew worried “vee? HEY is there a problem?” she asked joe, questioned
“no, no problem, I mean she’s never been in a fight in her life” he answered in an almost bored voice.
Both vee and camila became puzzled, “how do you know that” asked Camila “and how do you know I’m a basilisk” questioned vee
“oh that’s what you call yourself?... cool, new one on me… anyway” he tapped the side of his temple “I saw it, my eyes aren’t what you would call normal, I can see her true self… and her aura… the texture, you appall violence, nothing wrong with knowing yourself… and what you don’t like” everyone looked at him quizzically and shocked. In turn he forces the muscles in his eyes to turn to oval/ cat slits, then the color to change yellow… then back to his normal round blue eyes “a little something I picked up a few millennia ago” he then closed the garage door behind him and smiled at the group.
“so how does it work?” the scholar asked
“well… as u can see I run through it… like gas I can say, but I use magic as fuel, if I run out I will be stuck as my basilisk form” vee informed
“what have you been using as fuel?” asked joe
“these” the young girl replied as she pulled out a deck of cards… more like a small stack, she was almost out “but as you can see im almost out of magic cards” she looked down.
“hell” joe started, whipping his pack around he unzipped a pocket and dug around in it “here” he held out a necklace “I get these all the time, magic jewelry... I mostly sell them when I’m back in Sparta… this one fortifies magic strength” he handed to shiny pearl surrounded by silver… in the shape of a chicken to the girl
“How would i?” vee questioned to herself wondering how to get magic from it
“If consumption is how, you do it… try sucking it like a candy? Don’t know, or wear it?... anyway, its yours, so you don’t have to worry about running out” he said with a wink and a smile.
“th---thank you” she said wide eyed staring from the necklace to the man… she then hugged him.
Camila looked on curious… why would this basic stranger help so much? Any way “I’m sorry to ask… but, can I talk to luz and vee alone for a moment?” Camila asked as she placed drinks on the living room table , amity and joe looked at each other, shrugged their shoulders and relaxed, luz, vee ,and camila walked into the kitchen.
Luz told her story; she told her mom what she tried that night several weeks ago before the connection cut out.
“Why did you destroy the portal” turned into “because belos would come to earth, because I needed to protect others” made Camila calm down a bit, then she relised something… her daughter, the girl who didn’t fit in anywhere… had finally found a place she was normal, it hurt her heart, knowing she found something she couldn’t give her little girl. “I’m so proud of you”
Outside while more conversing happened amity sat on the couch observing this strange earth show left on the T.V, teen titans or something, while joe looked around the living room, he had a hand on his chin as he thought about what the next course of action should be, he thought about what he could do to help, in 10,000 years of traveling dimensions… going to different times, everything, what he hated was he couldn’t do anything to help the whole world… but he could help people, that was sometimes the only way to ease his soul to the things he’s done… helping where he could.
He looked around the room, finally looking at old pictures of luz, near the fireplace mantle, the wall had a pic of young luz in a soccer uniform, next to her was a proud looking Camila, and a stocky man in shorts with hairy legs, he had a mustache and a smile, next was a picture on the mantle, same man in marine dress blues, behind that picture was a folded American flag in a case. shit
“Thank you for your service brother” he whispered out morosely
The kitchen door opened, luz and vee went to talk with amity about some things while camila walked out last, she noticed joe by her husband’s flag.
“I’m sorry for you sacrifice ma’am” , Camila appreciated that… she knew mort would welcome this man like a brother. He may not be in uniform, no discerning markings… but he exuded soldier… exemplified a marine. Maybe that’s why he helps? She thought
“he was a water purification specialist” she said, she was sad but both stifled a laugh at that.
“People make jokes, but I love those boys… save a lot of lives… hell I remember Peleliu… wish we would’v had water then” joe looked off for a second “if you don’t mind ma’am?” the next words remained unsaid… if she didn’t want to, she didn’t have to.
“he always believed in helping others… he was a good man, When luz was young… he was sent to Iraq… he was helping a village, I was told… a car bomb” she started to stifle her words… joe placed a hand on her shoulder… he had heard enough… he was looking after the daughter of one of his brothers… from what he learned of luz he now knew why she strove to do the right thing… her father would be proud of her… helping others… taking on a tyrant. She was young and inexperienced… babies first revolution, she needed an expert helping out.
He heard laughing and the two adults turned to the kids… the three girls talked about their adventures so far.
“luz’s first-time dating… anyone, first friend to… I’m happy its someone like amity… she seems level headed, keep luz out of trouble… or help her when she finds it” Camila smiled
“Those girls… … they remind me of when I was young… when I first met my wife” joe produced a picture of him and a Japanese woman, they smiled… seeming to be at in a desert… the woman had gold monkey statue”
“im guessing she’s a high energy bundle of joy, you have to keep her head on the job?” camila joked “you just seem like amity, serious and collected”
Joe chuckled “oh no, just my game face… in my youth, I guess I would be the luz there… anna’s like amity… driven, focused… had little to no emotion… didn’t need help fighting… but” he stopped there… letting mystery fill the space between them.
“Where are you from mr. joe” asked camila
“You would call it Ireland…. Our name for it has been lost” joe said absently looking at the flag.
“let’s eat… you can put your things near the garage door”
Joe removed his big jacket, grabed his pack, wrapping his XM177e2 in his coat, placing it near his pack… for years now he used M4s or AKs during these kind of missions or patrols, but lately he needed more light weight and smaller stuff then the heavier M4 with pic rail or M-lock and big sights. And the kind of missions he’d been on 20 round mags where good enough… or historically needed.
He still had his pistol belt on, a few mags, rifle and pistol, smoke and flashbang, and his pistol, he untucked his shirt over it so it would be less awkward… but he wasn’t disarming in a non-permissive dimension where he knew these people to be hunted…
“So, how do your powers work” asked vee
“Yes, you claim to be human, witches have the magic bile sack, and basilisks eat magic, soo?” questioned amity
Joe finished the enchilada on his plate before turning to the girls “years of study and practice… that and not every dimension has the same laws of physics or rules. When I was younger, I went to a place where I could learn magic… but before that spend years in a monastery learning myself… then figuring out KI. sometimes I come across places where my strangth is at its fullest, I can fly, hell iv even cracked planets before but I don’t do that much anymore. However, there are places… like this one where my magic is lessened… I can do simple stuff but nowhere near other places… and that’s because I’m human, that being said my KI seems fine, hell a lot of places I can’t use anything… I’m just a well-trained human.”
The man drank from his grape soda “for the most part when I do or can use it, it runs off of vitamin C… so if I use it to much at once I run into vitamin deficiency… that and because of how dimensions work, some are stuck in a certain time…. So, I can’t bring lasers or power armor into the crusades…. Or here really” he finished
“Wait… power armor?... like halo?” questioned luz
“Yea I got my mark IV in my garage at home next to the Pontiac”
“Is it weird being … I don’t mean to be rude, but that old?” asked luz
Before Camila could scold her joe chuckled. “No… well? Sometimes… its funny, being around long enough to be a legend… that legend change, people make stuff up about your legend then change your name like the Greeks did with my story…. But hey, iv got a popular anime character based off me so that’s nifty”
They ate their meal and talked some more…camila was worried about what to do now that luz was back, how to deal with 2 luz’s, how to help vee, she was basically unregistered and that could lead to problems, when all of a sudden vee, who had view of the road through the window grew a feared look in her eye “mo—camila…” she started
“What is it mija?” she questioned before turning to the window… shit…. It was the museum curator “oh no, he found us” she said
Luz grew concerned “what’s wrong, who is… oh no” she got angry
“I feel I’m without context” joe questioned
“He captured vee awhile back… he hunts witches to prove they exist” luz answered
“he thinks he’s a hero or something” Camila finished
The man looked at a paper and turned to the house, walking towards it.
“so like he’s here to harass yall?... hell, I can fix this” joe stood from his table
“what? what are you doing” camila tried
“Relax… I do this all the time” he said with a sly grin
Joe walked over to the door, waited for the knock. Turning back he saw everyone in the door frame, he gave them a reassuring smile and a wink before.
*knock *knock
Joe grew serious. Then opened the door
“hello? can I help you”
“um… was not expecting you… is this the naceda house?” questioned the man
“it is.. im a friend of the family, so what’s your business” he spat out curtly
“im here for the demon… I know she’s in here, you can’t silence the truth” he triad
“wait?... that’s what you’re here for?... listen dumbass I feel your lost on the context” he then reached into his wallet and pulled out a badge “joe allan… central intelligence agency… you must be the dickhead who interfered a couple weeks ago… you know we can charge you with a federal crime right?”
“what?.. but-but, is the government trying to keep this under wraps.. I know my rights; people need to hear thi/”
Joe cut him off “no … we’re not keeping this under wraps, no one would believe us anyhow, im hear checking in on her… she’s a refugee we’re trying to help out, she moved here because America is awesome… im all the different realities”
“Wait, realities… so like?”
“yea, there are other planes of existence, the info’s out there… just no one cares or believes, so your harassing a minor and pushing into our witness protection shtick… and the only reason im telling you this is because its faster then faking your suicide, there’s no grand witch conspiracy, she isn’t a demon, she’s a kid… so” joe glared at the man “what was your name again?”
The man grew fearful when he released who he was dealing with “um.. Jacob,sir”
“mr Jacob, they tell me you’re a museum curator... you can help us actually… you would be doing the federal government a huge service by ignoring this… and leave us to our work, if someone from ‘out of town’ learns she’s here they would go after her… and you may be shafting some of my boys when their dealing with real dangers… leave this to the professionals”
“but … my armour” Jacob said downtrodden
“aint doing shit compared to .308 rounds dude… trust me , im saving your life”
“Well… I guess my lifes work has finally found answers… I thought I was the good guy”
“no, your just some nerd in over his head without the facts… now you have them” joe sang and closed the door in his face, turning to the group “the truth will set you free…bro it happens to the best, your only accidently doing harm so that’s why I and putting you in cuffs”
“Would you really have killed him?” luz asked
“Sometimes that’s the easy way… I can, but he just needed answers”
Joe walked over to camila “are you serius about taking care of the kid” he asked pointing his thumb at vee
“ye-yes… she needs help, what kind of mother would I be” she trailed off, that old fashioned parental instinct to protect kicking in.
“a better one then me” joe joked, pulling out a piece of paper and a pen he wrote something down on it
“here, call this number, ask for graves registration, tell them you have a lost sheep and need a new one, talk to them and they will set up vee with a new identity, no questions asked… follow these instructions here for other details” he finished pointing out what he had written.
Camila was shocked “how… why” she almost had tears
“How… I really am CIA, and I change my ID sometimes… why?... I cant help everyone, but I can do this, its literally the least I can do” he grinned. “plus” he turned to amity and luz “if I led a couple of kids lead a revolution without me… id lose my cred”
“oh really” luz asked defensively… “is it because you think we’re to young, or because we’re girls”
Joe belly laughed “hahaha,,, no. no, I was younger then you when I fought my first war… hell a good number of my organization… the gallowglass, start as child soldiers… and my wife has toppled more governments then me… but … your good kids, this isn’t fun and games, it will change you forever… not everyone can be me, and most shouldn’t do this, at least not without help”
“its getting late, should we head back” luz questioned, absorbing what joe just said.
“oh, I don’t want to lose you again… but I feel you have work to do… at least stay the night, rest up and leave in the morning” camila begged.
“ok *yawn*, we’ve had one heck of a day anyways” luz said
By the end of the night vee officially becomes vee naceda, amity and luz hang out. And joe ends up sleeping on the couch.
Alador blight was pissed, he was running through his warehouse being chased by his own creations.
“20 years odalia!! Was the last 20 years a lie?!!” he yelled,
“you lack vision alador, there’s strength in the emperor” the green haired woman scoffed.
“and is strength worth betraying our daughter over” he shouted , breaking a crate he was leaning agenst with his elbow, pulling out some grenades… thank the titan , in this warehouse it could be weapons or kitchen utensils.
He heard an abomination in just the next row, he crept over to a break in the crates, seeing its an older model he rolls a grenade to take out its legs, then pitches one in the directions of his wife (ex?)
*ki-buung*
Alador moves only to have a bolt of lightning go over his head… damn she’s good with that crossbow “is that really your best?... now I see where amity gets her weakness from, that’s why I tried to fix her hair… but no, she wanted to rebel”
Another abomination jumped over the crates into aladors row, he flipped up the lid to grab a grenade launcher. “she’s stronger then both of us” the pump made a *krak krik* sound as he aimed for the head, firing several rounds turning it into mush, just for two more with chain guns to get a elevated position and push him back.
“she’s living her own life, she doesn’t have to be us… that girl makes amity happy” he yelled, pulling his goggles down to protect his eyes from the dust and splinters.
“Happy?! THAT GIRL is a danger to our family name, fighting the emperor is foolish, the disgrace, and now she’s killed kikimora our family is near done, so of course … I choose to stay at the TOP, where blights should be, she should be grateful for what we’ve given her… and she does this to thank us?” odalia urged several more abominations to move around and outflank her husband.
“That girl is a no name, not even a witch, what does amity see in her, she wouldn’t help the family name at all, there’s no standing to be made!!” she yelled, shooting another shock crossbow bolt his way.
“I let my parents arrange my marriage, I see now this was a mistake, I will not put my children through this” quietly alador grumbled as he lined up a shot to her platform, squeezing the trigger he sends a round to the catwalk she was on, *boom* sending her rolling to the floor, alador moves to go after her when he gets stopped by his abominations. Rolling underneath he slides next to odalia, slamming the stock into the side of her head knocking her out, then turning to finish off the last two abominations with a hail of fire and science.
Ed and em knew their parents where fighting, they rushed to the warehouse to see how it turned out, luckily there father… the reasonable one , won
“DAD!!” both yelled
“are you ok” ed questioned
Alador felt awful, he may have failed his children, his wife just tried to kill him, she tried to have their daughter killed “ill be fine ed, thanks for asking”
“what do we do now” asked em
“we cant stay here, he need to find a place to stay, and to restrain your mother” alador pondered
Ed used magic to try a rope around odalia
“we could go to the owl house… we don’t know where mittens is, but she would be there evebtuely, and MS eda will help us” em theorized
Alador nodded “then lead the way”
Joe felt tired, his arms felt heavy, he opens his eyes, a familiar green plane stretches beforehand, what’s that thing next to him….oh , it’s a giant stone, then another one, he was in a circle of stones… standing stones.
He felt something tickle his belly… joe felt coldish. He was barely wearing anything… something cold on his back.
He was tied to a tall standing stone that was bolt upright, using his guts as rope.
He looks around some more, trying to get his bearings… then he saw them, people, hundreds or people, stareing at his.
He relised they were scared… of what?
Of him
What’s in his hand… firm.. wood? metal!... a sword, heavy, but his arms didn’t falter.
And on his shoulder, out of the corner of his eye he noticed movement…. A crow
*graaaqk* it growled then flapped its wings once.
Turning back to the crowd he saw one gulp… grow an angry look on his face, chopping a step forward.
“he’s dead… no way after 3 days…. Fuck it…ahahahah” the man charged… no … the boy moved to his death
The crow flew
‘joe shook awake with a gasp, barely making any noise, he felt his pistol under his belly, he slept on his side, wrapped in his big coat, the sheep’s wool inside reminded him of simpler times… times when he could sleep without either a gun to fight the monsters… or his wife to calm his nightmares…. Where the fuck was, he again?
“good morning mr joe” luz ran by with a laugh.
Joe sat up straight on the couch, scratching his scalp he reholstered his pistol, rolled his shoulder, then put his flannel shirt over his black T-shirt.
Then he moved to the kitchen. They group sat around talking some more, luz was hugging vee.
“u’know… I always wanted a sister, im so glad its you” the young witching gushed.
After breakfast they figured… more like Camila wouldn’t take no for an answer, that she should make at least one trip to the boiling isle… to thank eda… and meet the woman who takes such good care of her little girl.
Vee was nervous, but she knew her family would protect her, luz was strong, amity was fierce and she knew she wasn’t getting rid of her any time soon. And joe was coming, while she didn’t know if and how he could fight belos himself, she knew he’d try, and anything less would be in trouble.
After breakfast they all packed bags, not knowing how long this would take
“You should be home before dinner” luz was convinced… but better safe than sorry.
They gathered in the back yard, pulled his sleeve back so he could mess with what looked like a smart phone in a wrist sleeve, it was the thing he used to travel, he had locked in the boiling isles coordinates earlier.
Joe opened the portal, turned to Camila and held out his hand towards the opening before stepping through himself. Camila stepped up to the edge, amity walked past her and luz close behind her, Camila took a deep breath, and stepped through.
The other side was not what she was expecting… the boiling isles… it was awe inspiring, scary, and wonderful all at the same time. Like the first time getting a tattoo. “wow” was all she mustered, looking at luz she saw her oldest daughter had a huge grin on her face “its something else right… doesn’t stop being amazing”
Camila then turned to vee, who looked scared, her eyes searched the horizon, as if the devil himself was hauling ass in their direction. Camila slowly snaked her hand on vees, who clutched it for safety.
The walk to the owl house was quiet… peaceful, luz led the way like it was second nature, joe found this amusing, she was a local now, an indig… amity walked next to her, joe behind them both, hand near his pistol unmoving incase the coven guards shows up.
Luz opened the door with a fury “im home eda-“ she cut her self-off, what stood before her both freaked and confused her, then amity walked in… and her world went down hill from there.
Hunter was sitting at the table, he was still hurt from running away, and was a little sick as well.
“hunter?” luz asked shocked while amity formed her slime into a knife “what!!” she hised out.
Eda stepped in-between them “wow, wow, easy boots… he’s with us now”
Amity lowered the knife and raised an eyebrow “ugh?” she questioned.
The group turned to the teenager “belos kicked me out… he wasn’t happy with my finding, iv been studying wild magic in secret for a long time, I found a way to help him, I found a way to replicate titans blood… and all he did was destroy my research and attack me.”
Eda spoke up “he had nowhere to go… us wierdos gatta stick together”
Eda’s mom popped up then “Lilith and me found him in the woods… figured he needed help” she finished with a smile. Then turned to hunter “dearie… you really should finish that stew, it’ll help you get your strength back”
Amity cut everyone off then “ok…but, I get why my brother and sister are here, they’re friends with eda… why is my dad here?” she questioned, alador looked downcast… “and where’s mom?. guys? What happened”
They went down to the basement, odalia was tied up, the next few minutes where a bler to the purple haired witch…. Then next 3 hours consisted of
*“why would you betray me” amity sobbed
*“You where a mistake… your not fit to be called my daughter” she spat at the young girl
*“all I ever wanted was for my parents to love me!!”
*“amity… im not the best father … but I will always love you” alador choked out
*“what did I do wrong” questioned amity
“nothing, you are perfect” Lilith tried, wraping her student in a hug “your so strong, so kind… if your mother cant see that” she started
“I wish you where my mother “ amity whispered
*“that womans been more of a parent to my kids then either of us” alador confessed to eda
Then odalia started shit talking Lilith
“if she’s so precious to you take her” odalia shriek… losing her mind
“she’s dead to me anyway”
Then turning to alador “you two where always close, probably sneaking around behind my back… no wonder you insisted on her tutoring the kids… so you could get closer”
“Her teaching was your idea” alador countered.
After they all said (screamed) their piece folks started to leave, the last was joe
“so your amity’s baby momma?... to be honest, im not a father, kids scare the hell out of me, or annoy me… so know what im about to say comes from the heart… and it tue… you’re a terrible mother.”
He then turned and left.
Outside amity stayed in liliths arms, everyone else gave them space.
“why… why would she do this” amity’s voice started to even out.
“Because she’s a fool, she doesn’t know what she has… amity, you are not a failure, iv made more mistakes then almost anyone in this age… you haven’t done these thing…. Being in your life is one of my biggest accomplishments”
“my parents where always tough… but this? Youv always been there for me” she tightened the hug
Lilith shushed the girl “it’s alright little princess…”
“I wish you where my mother”
“I wish you were my daughter… I will never let anything bad happen to you again, this is the last straw… belos has turned family agents itself… he needs to be stopped”
Inside the house hunter sat on the couch, joe sat down next to him, his last MRE of garlic chicken in its cardboard sleeve.
“so… you’re the big bads little sad hmm?” hunter glared at the man
“easy kid, just a joke… iv been where you are, running away from home aint easy… it took me 200 years to figure myself out… while I doubt you got my time, you also seem brighter then me, so iv got faith.”
“yea” hunter started “I go from running the largest coven on the boiling isles… and when I do what a coven head should? I get the axe”
Joe mixed some tobacco sauce and take a bite “that’s rough buddy… so what did you do?”
“I studied wild magic” hunter said downtrodden
Joe, who did know no better... set down his meal out of curiosity “im guessing that’s bad?”
“my uncle forbade it… but its so strong, iv studied it y whole life in secret” hunter pulled out a small moleskin notebook, joe scratched his chin hair and leaned over to study “its all based of the natural elements and these glyphs…. And—” about then joe got every 5th word for the next 45 seconds.
“so … your like... a master at this stuff?” joe asked
“I don’t know… all the old wild magic witches died out generations ago, most times when people try it, they mess up and it has terrible consequences … but here, this page… these show how to negate the danger…. I had more notes… but belos destroyed them”
Joe thought hard “hell kid, they atta set shop for you, give you a place to work on this , like our research division”
“yea well… I don’t have anything now”
“well… if you dont got nothen… you could be a gallowglass, kid, when I leave you could come with me, we do more then just fight, some of us spend our lives in libraries and in study, sometimes to learn then teach… hell iv had to phone in a few times to figure out how to fight some stuff, that seems right up your ally… we’d give you your own … well we call their offices cells but. Its basically an office, your own research zone, not uncommon for new arrivals, our magic school is not just for teaching but also for cataloging and research” joe reassured the boy.
“you’d? you’d just let me in?” he questioned “whats the catch?” he asked
“dipending on where you go, you have section heads who bassicly run the day to day, sometimes your given specific tasks… sometimes your asked to study something on behalf of someone else… or play chaperone to someone like my friend dave who basically is a walking natural disaster”
This appealed to hunter a great deal “ sergeant joe… you might just have a new recruit” hunter said with a smile, holding out his hand.
-=-------------------------------
Joe ended up in the kitchen with eda and her mother. He looked around, sniffed the air then looked at eda.
“you have a curse?” he questioned, both women looked at him confused.
“how did you?” asked eda
“whats it to ya?” questioned the older woman.
He pulled out a necklace from his jacket, and wrapped it around his wrist. “Well… I can help, a little trick I learned from a ninja… if you allow it… what’s the symptoms?”
Eda tried to draw a magic circle only for it to fiz out “for one I cant do magic anymore… I use to turn into a crazed owl beast… but now I can go harpy mode… recently iv tried making peace with the spirit in the curse” she informed.
“hmm…. If its friendly… maybe I wont clean it out, just adjust… magic back, less crazy… keep the powers… yea I had the same thing happen to me when I was younger and fought the village kids…. Then later when weredragon blood became a thing” he said as he grew an awkward look on his face in the memory.
Joe stepped forward “ma’am?” he asked… eda nodded her head. “this will be weird” placing a hand on her shoulder. He focused his magic in a ball in his palm, then moved towards her heart, a portal like light appeared in that area and his hand disappeared “ok… hold on” he rooted around for a second… the sound of slick magic filled the air. “that not…” joes arm went all the way to the shoulder as the sound of metal parts moving around filled the kitchen… then a *click* and he retacted his arm.
“ok… think that’s it” he said as the portal closed… “try it out”
Eda made a sphere of light…. Old lady clawthorn wraped the young Oldman in a hug “for 30 years iv searched”
“sometimes you just get lucky”
“but lily” eda realized her sister still had the curse
“ill get her before I leave”
The whole house heard a scream, joe pulled his pistol, extending his arms he glided towards the sound in case there was an attack, it came from the back door, luz and camila looked shocked… amity and Lilith came around the house in anger.
Odalia had grabbed vee, wrapped the chain around her neck and used her like a hostage.
“a filthy basilisk… well, maybe with this I can buy my way back to belos… NO ONE MOVE one step and ill break her neck… and she looks just like your darling mittens?... maybe this is foreshadowing, not even needing to use my oracle magic to see the future here” she spat.
Old lady clawthorn walked out of the woods, snaped her fingers and shot odalia with a sleep spell “this woman is dangerous” she spat and vee ran to camila.
“she’s dead to me” amity muttered. Turning and walking with vee and luz back inside, alador shook his head “she’s finally lost it… she can’t come back from all this”
Eda turned to the twins… they looked devastated; em shook her head like she didn’t want to talk about it.
“what’s the prisons like here” joe asked
“Horrible, luz breaks in and out of them every other week, their run by the emperor… or private wardens who just lock up anyone they think is weird” eda huffed.
“im sorry” camila started “but… this place is to dangerous, I don’t want my daughters here… im taking vee back, and I want luz to come with, I know she loves it here—” she stopped
“but with how things are now it’s too much” Lilith started
“Even if she’s basically the head of the rebellion” gwen finished
“iv seen this before… even if we get him… followers like odalia here would be a problem” joe said concurred. “and its bullshit that we just close the door, cam… you’d either have to take amity with you… or separate luz from her girl… you’d already be taking her from a place she loves so much, her school… she’s so powerful here… “ the man inhaled….camila looked sad, she felt awful… eda looked scared she’d lose her little apprentice… Lilith looked like she considered how much safer earth was then the boiling isles.
“well then… I guess we don’t have much choice” joe started… the whole crowd looked at him “we’v got to finnish this in one foul swoop… or I should at least” he then turned and walked inside… alador tied odalia up again and brought her with them as they followed.
Joe took off his big jacket, reaching in he undid his M79, pulled his knife out of the seathe, and lied them next to his bag, reaching in he pulled out the spare “overt” gear he had been using this time around.... a WW2 BAR belt with matching magazine pouches, with a STABO harness, with another knife sheath on the left shoulder where he put his knife, he had a canteen cover filled with grenades, fished out his taped together 20 round mags… and the only 30 rounder he had… loaded down with tracers.
He took his pistol and put it in his bag, not needed for this mission, loading his jungle mags in his rifle first, 30 rounders in his back pocket. And hung his m79 where his left hand could get it
(look up john Meyers sog gear… basically that)
Fishing aaround his pack some more he pulled out some flex cuffs
“you can take your magic slime back”
“its clay”
“Really? fascinating”
Cuffing odalia he reaches over, using the back of his knuckles he tapps her twice on one cheak then a flat hand slap from the other side “hey.. wake up”
Joe stood there.. blue jeans, black and grey flannel, black boots and his STABO rig and car15 rifle.
“what?” odalia asked groggily
Joe squats down to look at her, grabing the wrist restraints “we’re going to go talked to your emperor” dragging her to her feet he goes to leave.
“what are you going to do” asked alador
“nothing good… listen… iv been at war so long I don’t know how to do anything else… the only time im not lost is when someone puts a gun in my hand”
“Wait… this is our fight too” luz demanded, walking in the room, amity couldn’t look at her mother but agreed
“yea... we’re the ones in rebellion why fight for us by yourself… we cant ask you to risk your life” she questioned, hunter leaned agents a wall
“kids… no, i cant let you be in this… you can never come back, your better then me, your fighters sure… but your not warriors… this is awful”
Well tough, us wierdos stick together” luz said with confidence… joe grew a concerned look on his face “ok… but yall can’t do this empty handed… your glyphs are strong… but, here” he walked over to his jacket and bag… ruffling around he pulled his hand out. The girls got closer, he blew into his palm kicking up a small amount of powder, knocking both girls out. The collapsed on the floor.
“they’ll be ok… but I know what comes next” he turns to camila and alador “their strong… but strong enough to take on the whole castle?” both parents nodded their heads as joe walked towards belos keep.
And evening fog hung on the land… the wind blew and joe jammed his rifle into odalias side. “Get on your knees here… I got to talk to your boss” they where about 300 yards away from the castle. Joe used his magic once again, this time a thunderous clap, to grab the castles attention.
“id like to speak to you manager” he yelled out in a cacophonous magic infused yell, sounding like a mix between the devil himself and the dark brotherhoods doors.
The guards rushed to their stations… most shocked, who would just announce themselves like this?... as a matter of fact, they hadn’t had a castle siege on the boiling isles in near 90 years, then… the deer man himself, a cloaked figure in a mask came onto of the battlements.
“who’s making all this racked out here” he asks… spying joe, and odalia on the ground, this puzzled him but he was putting the pieces together.
“so… you must be belos” joe shouted “big bad buck himself”
“And who are you… having my weapons dealer on the ground”
“im just a traveling scholar… I heard you have an extensive library?” joe asked.
Belos sized this man up “a traveler?... from where?”
“earth”
“so, are you the one helping the owls rebellion?” belos scowl was visible through his mask.
“im not exactly one of them… but I found one being threatened by some gremlin… killed that little shit” joe glared at some guards loading a ballista.
“what do you hope to accomplish with all this… do you hope to take me down?... are you trying to take over? Think you can become the emperor of the isles?... what’s your plan, lock me up and throw away the key” Belos chuckled condescendingly
Joe laughed in return. “Yea… not really my style… I don’t often take people alive… they tend to break out and kill more people later” to prove his point he leaned his muzzle into the back of odalias head, he squeezed off a round into odalias back, she slumped forward.
The whole battlements were shocked… belos relised this wasn’t your average goofy goon or lame “rebel” … this man was chaos… this man was real.
“I’m not here to take over… I’m here to take part” joe raised his hand, snapped his fingers… music emanated out of thin air, loud… the song this is the new shit by Marylyn Manson.
“fire” yelled belos in fury.
The ballista launched its large bolt, only to be deflected with a shield of air pressure “its good to let lose”
Letting his rifle hang he formed a large ball of energy, the size of a yoga ball, launching it towards the ballista itself, blowing a chunk of the battlements to pieces like a 155 howitzer. It sends dust and smoke into the air, making it hard to see in that area.
One of the gauds stumbled on the side of the battlement, looking over to the strange wizards position, the guard throws out a fire spell.
Joe moves forward, then disappears, his speed faster then the eye, “where?” questions the guard as joe appears ight above his head. The last thing he hears before he gets spinkicked off the side is manson screaming :ARE YA MUTHERFUCKERS READY:
Landing on one leg he strafes belos flank with a burst from his car15, non of the 10 rounds hit him but tear the hell out of his security, the man himself jumps and runs to his sanctum, the group of gaurds behind joe cough in the dust, he slings into the smoke to hide from the more balanced side, they see nothing but flashes and hear nothing but screams as joe kills 6 of them, swapping his mag to the other taped one he unloads all through the smoke to that other group.
Jumping into the courtyard he shoots a grenade round to what seems to be a barracks door, wounding a few still trying to put on their masks.
Fresh 20 round mag in and he notices a large bat creature charging him on all fours, using its own momentum he kicks it in the jaw
:DO WE GET IT? NO. DO WE WANT IT?YES:
He drops a minifrag on the knocked-out beast, as an arrow goes in between his legs, he takes that as his que to start moving,
*bang*bang*bang: he fires from the hip, practiced, not accurate, but he doesn’t care.
He makes his way into a hallway , one girl comes at him with a knife, he takes it from her and throws it into the skull of someone 20 feet away, then ripping that arm off and stabbing her in the throat with the exposed bone.
*bak*bak*bak*bak: the bolt reciprocates as he unloads one handed into some poor cyclopes belly, pulling his Kbar from his left strap, he flips it downwards, leans agents the wall corner and holds it out for the guy running down the hall to stab himself at full force.
Then turning the corner his barrel gets grabbed by a 4 armed man, who punches joe in the face then headbutts him, which actually stunned the 4 arm man, joe lets his rifle hang as he grabs the man’s shoulders , slams his forehead into his nose, knocking him out, then left cross to the temple which fractured his skull, killing him, joe reloaded then ran off again.
A dragon made of hands roars overhead, joe kicks out a window , takes aim with the grenade launcher and sends a WP round right to its shoulder, slamming it into a tower.
Joe runs across a ally when he gets 3 spears to the chest, lifting him in the air, the gauds think they killed him but he just breaks the tip off one, and throught it at the middle guy, the 2 other drop him, on his way down he puts one in a headlock and snaps his neck, the other runs, but get shot in the back *bang.
For the next 20 minutes he runs, shoots, he’ll pass a hall only to toss a hand grenade in with the troops.
A giant with hands made of weapons screams “for the emperor” joe just flattens his hand “distrocto disk” as he bisects the beast.
Finally, he makes it to belos throne room. “KNOCK KNOCK ARSHOLE!!” he yells as he kicks the 20 foot doors down, *slam they fall with dust In the air as joe loads the 30 round mag with tracers.
“I was led to believe you where a scholar” drowned belos… walking out of the shadows with a magic staff.
“there’s power in knowledge” quipped the Irishman
“so theres no talking to you… your just a killer, here to kill me and disrupt the island”
“mmhe… iv done worse…and yea, you’r die’n now” joe raised his rifle.
Belos drove his staff into the polished stone floor. “many have tried” the man started to morph onto a large muddy monster “bUt FEw hAVe eVeN GOtTeN tHIS fAR” raiseing to his full height,
Joes rifle dropped slightly “why is everything here a feck’n blob monster” before dumping all 28 rounds of red hot tracers into belos head and chest…. Nothing.
Belos chuckled in a muddy mess “is that the best you can do…. Iv watched, as u killed with your gun, with knives, swords… explosives and magic… but what can you do to fight me?” questioned belos condescendingly. “do you really thing you were the hero here?”
“I haven’t been a hero since Maeve came to ulster” joe layed down his rifle, unhooking his webgear.
Joe shot a bolt of lightning at belos, who turned back into his normal form to dodge, droping his mask, reveling his cursed face.
Belos launched one arm like a beam of mud at joe, jump rolling forward to dodge, tossing a flashbang into the air, blinding belos.
Joe ,seizing the opportunity, tackled belos, pinning him to the ground “now” he starts “lets see if we cant level the playing field” he raises his hand, revealing the magic necklace to be wrapped around his wrist, plunging it into belos chest he pulls out a brown ball… the curse, then standing up he kicks belos away.
“what the… whaa” belos stops, the marks on his face, gone, he see’s his reflection in the mirror, his mud powers, gone. “im.. cured”
Turning to joe, who pops the ball like a bubble “now your just like everyone else” he gloated
“thank… thank you, I thought the only place I could fix this.. the place… the plan… earth, all the power iv consolidated, the prisons… the whole reason for being emperor” belos could look away from the mirror… was his nightmare over?
Joe walked up behind him… wordlessly he took a handful of belos long hair, wrenching his head back he drove his knife into his jugular. … the mad emperor fell dead, right next to the portal he wanted to invade earth with.
The next few hours was a blerr… joe berried odalia, no one should see a friend.. parent, or spouce dead on the ground… bad guy or not.
Joe ruffled through the library while the other met…. Old lady claw thorn and hunter had an idea and floated it with some coven heads…. They would form a council to rule… and is a new coven wanted to become apart, like if they found new magic or new discipline… they could.
What wasn’t expected was another portal opening, three figured walked out, the most notable was a young Chinese woman wearing grey crye percission pants, a black hoody, and a plate carrier.
“oh, shit.. I think I might have missed a comms check” joe sputtered “that’s not normaly something to send a team for though… LIN!! How’s my faverite—”
“not in the mood joe… status report”
Joe grew a thin lined grin “average 24 hour insurgency… we’re not needed here, just grabbing some books, found a prospect then heading home”
“new prospect?” questioned lin
“yea… that kid hunter over there… hey last I heard you where with cold harbor in yemen?” questioned joe as he slapped a sticky note of the inventory on a bundle of books
“in between contracts right now… the lord warden asked me to make sure you weren’t helping the French take over England… fucking weird ass irish… you bothering these poor people too?”
Joe just chuckled…. Ignored lin and walked over to luz. “Hey kid” he unbuckles his wrist device.
Holding it out to the girl “you guys got a long road ahead of you… you still got to get through school… and I figure your mom still wants to live on earth… so here” he taps away on the pad “iv locked it… this button takes you to earth… this one brings you to the isles… right now that all you can go to… and this button… if you ever come in trouble you cant get yourself out of… or if when your older you feel you can become gallowglass…. Hit this… I will come” he handed the device over .
“thank you” luz said with a smile.
“what the hell joe” complained lin “you’ll just have to be my ride back” joked the celt
“amity… im sure if I didn’t save you… you’d been just fine” joe said as the girl nodded her head “maybe being a librarian suits me more then fighting” he tried to seem humble.
“of course… now, I must be off … hunter, you ready?”
“I am” the kid seemed uneasy… no wonder, this was a great step… the kid had probably never lived outside belos grasps before.
“don’t worry kid… we’ll get you processed, and you can study all the wild magic you want in no time at all” joe tried to reassure hi with a smile.
Lin opened a portal “lets go people… next stop, Sparta” walking through herself
Next her compatriots, joe recognized them as ajay ghale, and sev 07… good men.
Joe and hunter stopped, turned to their friends. And waved good bye.
The months that followed where strange… but luz founded the glyphs coven, becoming the youngest coven head in history, she was offered a seat on the council… she said she’d wait will she gradutated hexide.
She went home every now and then… at least once a week, she still found it funny when she walked in on vee getting ready to go on a date with clara… the blonde girl who use to make fun of her… pulling her to the side “it was along time ago…. Ill forgive you because you make my sister happy” luz smiled… clara just stared in amazement…. “im sorry I use to be a cunt….i hope we can get along” he tried
“I wouldn’t go that far” turning to her sister “good luck vee…. All was right in the world
Far way… in another dimension, after giving hunter a small apartment and telling him “the talking white owl will help you get settled… and show you how to catalog these book, use them to get in good graces”
He was finally home, showered off… walking in his room he saw anna, the burn scar on her left shoulder poking out from under the blanket… she had her back to him, asleep. He crawled up, trying not to wake her as he got under covers.
Laying down he felt her roll over, wrapping him in a hug. “You back?” she asked tired
“yea”
“How was your sleep when you were gone?”
“terrible” he replied
“Always is” she said in a smoothing voice… he knew he was good now… he was home.
No more nightmares… no dreaming of war, no more dead kids, burned villages, no memories of times long past and lost friends.