Chapter Text
"And that, students, is how we connect with our ancestral spirits beyond the veil. Are there any questions?" Miss Iberis asked her class, having finished her demonstration at the front.
Most of the class shook their heads. One student, however - a pale, one-eyed girl with a moon-shaped face by the name of Celine - raised her hand.
"Yes dear?" the teacher asked kindly.
"Yes, I was wondering about what exactly is beyond the veil? Do we have any understanding of the Realm Beyond?" she asked excitedly.
Miss Iberis shook her head. "Unfortunately not. As I'm sure you're aware, our conjured spirits cannot regale us with such information, and as no one has pierced into the Space Between Space, we can only guess-"
A sudden clearing of a throat interrupted her.
"Sorry, ma'am, but if I may…that's not quite accurate…anymore at least," came the uncharacteristically meek voice of the Isles’ resident human.
"Oh?" the teacher raised her eyebrow. "You know of someone who has seen the Liminality, Miss Noceda?"
Hesitantly, Luz nodded. "Yes ma'am…me."
There was a chorus of 'ooohs' from the other students. Barcus, sitting across from his human friend, looked up from where he had been pondering his own ball, surprised and curious.
Miss Iberis's eyes grew wide with excitement. "Well that's altogether too exciting to pass up! Can you show us what you have seen?" she asked.
Luz gulped, and nodded. "S-sure." Standing up, she placed her hand on the crystal ball in front of her and concentrated. She had only just begun to get the grasp of projecting memories through oracular images (without a functional glyph combo, she was stuck with the limitations of the ball itself) but after a few agonizing moments, a beam of purple energy shot out from the ball, breaking out into a screen of sorts, ready to display what she had experienced.
A view appears of Luz standing in front of a door strapped with a variety of magical paraphernalia, and via a cord to a bicycle/tub combo thing, which Eda sat in. Next to Luz stands King, clearly worried about what she is about to attempt.
"So," memory-luz begins, "According to Philip's instructions, the hardest part to making a portal was finding someone who knew how to build it."
She turns to the door and affixes something to it before she turns back to Eda and continues.
"But a lot of the ingredients are pretty easy to find. Your crazy apocalypse supplies finally came in handy, Eda!"
Eda snaps her fingers and clicks her tongue while giving her a wink in response, clearly glad to see her hoarding tendencies have actually paid off for once.
"Don't forget this!" adds in King as he reaches out and offers up an inky blue-stained glove.
"...Is that…?" Miss Iberis interrupted.
"Titan's blood?" finished Luz. "Yes it is. It's the only thing powerful enough to…to bust through worlds." With that Luz turned back to her memory broadcast, trying hard to ignore the hitching in her voice, and the chorus of additional 'ooohs' from her classmates.
Luz takes the glove in hand, turning back toward the door. "Thanks buddy. Titan's Blood…I can't believe something this powerful was in that old key this whole time."
"Old key?" the oracle teacher inquired again.
"Y-yeah…the key to Eda's o-old portal…to the Human Realm…before it was d-destroyed…" Luz couldn't help but let out a few sobs as she replied, now steadfastly ignoring the rest of her class and staring at her memory again. Thankfully, the teacher was tactful enough to not impose any follow up questions. It was clear this was tough for her.
Barcus whined in sympathy for his friend. Unfortunately, he'd had a vision of her attempt to return failing, but he had been lucky enough to not know how. Looks like that luck was changing. Carefully, he reached his paw across the table and tapped on Luz's hand still holding onto the ball in what he clearly meant as a calming gesture.
Luz smiled sadly. "Thank you, Barcus." Sighing, she focused again.
Memory-Luz began again. "It's okay. If Belos is still trying to get to the Human Realm, he'll have to beat me to it!" To punctuate her point, she ripped off a piece of the glove and taped it to the door. Turning to Eda in the tub, she gives the signal.
Eda looked wary. "Are you sure this isn't like…gonna blow our faces off?"
Memory-Luz shakes her head. "Nope!" she replies cheerfully.
"well, here goes…something." And with that Eda begins to pedal.
Luz's classmates look at her concernedly. If this was something the notorious Owl Lady was nervous about, this MUST be dangerous. New appreciation for the human soared.
They watched with excitement and trepidation as the magical items surrounding the door began to glow in pace with the pedaling, before levitating and twisting the door…into some kind of wonky shape not unlike Mattholomule's attempts at architecture (he'd improved ever since he developed that illusory blueprint technique but doors…were not his Forte, as the other construction students relentlessly reminded him).
The oddly-shaped door then opened of its own accord, showing…inky blackness? but with concentric circles rippling, like waves from a thrown rock on the Boiling Sea. Strange colours infiltrated the inky blackness, altogether suggesting something dark and powerful.
As a whole, the class gulped. The teacher included.
"It worked!" cheered memory Luz as she ran forward.
"Did it?" the class asked as one, along with King in the memory. Luz shook her head sadly.
"It looks real different from the old door," King continued.
Yeah'" Luz agreed, grabbing her cloak from Eda as she did so. "But this is my one chance to see my mom." She grabs a rope and ties it to herself while explaining." If it looks like it's closing, pull!" she ordered.
"Luz…" Celine called out calmly, "What, I mean, are you…is she…OK?"
Luz was desperately trying not to cry. She couldn't even look at Celine as she asked that. "Please ignore that," was all Luz said. No one dared respond.
"Luz, as impressive as this is, I don't want you getting hurt," Eda implored as she was nonetheless handed the rope.
Once I make sure my mom is okay, I'll be right back," Luz promised them, as she finished tying her knot.
"Just be careful. The Human Realm's filled with some real weirdos." Eda winked as she said that, earning a massive hug from Luz.
"Mhm!" Luz replied, smiling widely.
"Don't forget to mention me!" added in King from her ankles.
"OK!" And with that, Luz jumped into the eerie blackness of the door.
There was another collective gasp from the crowd as the image went black before Luz floated back up in some water, her vision becoming clearer. It looked like she was in some cosmic ravine…which to be fair, she kind of was, with the 'walls' and 'ceiling' reflecting beautiful colours. Underneath her, the class noted as Memory-Luz looked down, was inky-black water like the door, roughly a foot deep where they were standing. It did NOT look comfortable…or inviting for that matter.
And speaking of matter, there were all sorts of strange, multicolored cubes that looked like they had been made from the same liquid Luz was standing in, just floating around, or dipping into the water below. The image was surreal.
Memory-Luz looked around in confusion and nervousness. A creepy voice seems to boom out around her, but she shakes it off. (The classmates on the other hand, can’t withhold their fearful gasp). “Did-did I do something wrong? Eda? King? Hooty? Can anyone hear me?” As she shouts each name, a different cube pops out of the inky blackness, startling her.
One of the cubes that appear begins making some muffled sounds. Grabbing it, Luz looks inside, suddenly finding herself, to her surprise, inside the stained glass window of the Owl House somehow. “Whoa…I think I’m in the reflection!” Luz exclaims excitedly as the window begins to open, making her nervous.
Looking down, Luz sees King and Eda by the portal, looking at it worriedly.
“Do you think she’s safe?” King asked, looking up at the Owl Lady.
”She’s made it this far. We have to trust her,” was Eda’s only response, clearly worried as well. Luz pulls away and the scene disappears, bringing her back into the In-Between Realm
”Wow, I wonder if I can see…Amity!” Luz mused out loud, but then blushed a second later and shoved the resulting cube back under the ink. “Ah! Ugh, no no no! Come on Luz, you’re on a mission!”
Real Luz’s ears burned red as her class chuckled. She immediately pulled her hand away, ending the visual. “For the record Luz,” Celine said, looking over to her, “It was a foregone conclusion that you were going to end up together. No matter what path you took, each one ended with Amity,” she chuckled again.
“You two were really very cute at Grom by the way,” added a lizard-faced boy Luz knew as Willow’s one-man cheerleader squad, Hector.
“Uh…thanks, Hector,” Luz blushed again before letting her hand fall away. “So anyway, that’s what the Realm looks like. Lots of cubes and weird inky water. If you call out anyone’s name, a cube will respond and let you converse with that person through reflections - glass, mirrors…rain…” she let out a sob at that, but caught herself. “Any questions?”
Barcus’s ears perked up at the concept of cubes-as-communication. Perhaps, there was value in exploring those more…for his friend’s sake.
“No,” he barked instead. “Thank you, Luz!” he said faux-cheerfully. When everyone else nodded, Luz sat back in her seat, relieved, but her thoughts were dimensions away. Barcus turned his own thoughts beyond as well.
’This hound has a plan,’ he mused.