Boiling Ink (An Owl House x Splatoon Crossover)

Due to an accident by the creation of a portal with Titan and archivist magic, the Human realm became disconnected from other realms in the elements of space and time. When access finally re-opens, the denizens of the Demon realm will be welcomed with the image of a very different and "Fresh" Earth. Top it all off with a curious and excited Octoling girl and the tides of change will begin to Sweep the Boiling Isles.

Notes:

(See the end of the work for notes.)

Chapter 1: Prologue: “The coming and going of the tides”

Chapter Text

It is a cold night in the Boiling Isles, everybody at home due to an influx of a downpour of rain burning the common night activities for all. But even with these conditions, some still have work to do and must complete their tasks. Such is the case for those that work in the Conformatorium, the asylum/prison for those that either oppose the will of Emperor Belos or simply don't fit by the tastes of the infamous Warden Wrath. However, deep in the bowels of this place lies the chambers of experimentation, secret laboratories where Belos experiments with different elements of the Isles in preparation for the day of Unity.

A new chamber, built very recently, shows the Emperor contemplating a tall podium where a door is located, carved of a rare material called palistrom wood and with only a golden cross as a notable detail. Belos looks upon the door and sighs with resignation, due to the annoyance he feels whenever he has to talk to his magical sponsor. He puts on a mask of friendliness and speaks:

“Were ready to begin, Collector” Belos says to coax the mischievous spirit from a nearby table.

The shadows extend and begin to take shape on the floor, creating the image of a child wearing a tunic, decorated with small imagery of the sun, moon, and stars.

“Jeez Belos, you really plan to do this” The child known as the collector said with a mischievous smile and a tone of both curiosity and joy that permeated through his being. “I thought you wanted there to be only one door to the Human Realm, isn't it incredibly risky to create another one?”

Belos looked down and frowned at the comment. In order to make sure the day of unity went through as he expected, he got rid of both the knowledge and resources to create portals to other realms that the witches of the past used. Aside from the magical pools that siphoned trash from the human realms into the boiling sea, the only form of portal travel left was the old Clawthorne door which led to the Human Realm. While he would love nothing more than to confiscate the door from the cold petrified hands of the heretical being, her power and ability made her evasive and difficult to capture. Her sister was proving herself to be useless in taking her back and they were months away from the solar eclipse that would allow the draining spell to work. He couldn't reschedule, so he had to plan ahead and make a new portal with what little he had left of the Titan Blood reserve he had.

“Yes, I'm sure Collector, now start fueling the door” If his calculations were correct, the magic of the collector mixed with the Titan Blood should feed the door with enough energy to convert the magic into a functioning portal.

“Okie Dokie, let's play!” The collector began fueling the machine with small bits of his magic which he had accumulated at Belos request for the last 50 years. He was excited that he was so close to being free and would get to play some new games. Belos even promised to take him to the Human Realm and allow him to play with them.

The magic of Titan and Archivist began to mix into the door, which began glowing an ominous silver into the room. Belos was happy at seeing things work out and was about to call for the collector to finish when something odd happened. The magic in the door began to twist its form and change colors at a rapid pace, crackling with energy and hitting different parts of the room. Belos, visibly disturbed at the event, called out to the collector to stop the procedure when it finally happened.

The door, cracked and twisted by the mixture of powerful magic, exploded in a blast of multi-colored energy, knocking both the Emperor and child of the stars. The magic destroyed the would-be portal and sent a shockwave of energy all across the Isles.
Without anyone knowing, all the once open portals that led to the Human Realm closed in an instant and the magic which fueled the Owl Ladys portal door was knocked out, closing the eye of the key and preventing all from seeing what would happen on the other side of the door.
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A long, long time ago there was a planet of green and blue. This planet of abundant life and resources was once populated by a species called “Humans”. These humans were an intelligent species which managed to climb their way from the position that nature gave them and became the dominant species of their planet. They created marvelous technology and had a vivid variety of cultures to amaze all who could see them. However, their rapid expansion clouded them from seeing the harm done to the planet they lived in, as well as the superficial differences which differentiated them from one another created a series of conflicts which would inevitably lead to the extinction of their species.

Attempts were made to prevent this. Some attempted to use their technology to preserve their ways or beings from disappearing. Others tried to fix the problems before it was too late. Some simply preferred to escape and never look back, less they confront the consequences of their mistakes. All failed.

So ended the human race alongside the vast majority of surface life with the events of nuclear Armageddon and great floods. But in one of the last attempts to preserve humanity, something interesting happened. A series of mysterious crystals would become ingrained in the waters of the world and allow for a new group of beings to take over. They call this “The Mollusk Era”.

Witnessing all this change, a door sits quietly in the tides of water intangible and invisible to the world but witnessing the events all the same, waiting for its energy to recover. Sadly for it, it would not recover for a long while, for the energy required would take thousands of years to energize. Even still, the door remains, housing a realm which is now disconnected from both time and space of this one.

The tide comes and goes, and 13 days in one realm turn to 13,000 years in another before the eye opens once more.

Chapter 2: Chapter 1: “A Lying witch and an Octopus”

Notes:

(See the end of the chapter for notes.)

Chapter Text

It was a busy morning down in the Owl House, with all of its inhabitants having a somewhat “Calm” breakfast, if you could call King and Hooty having a pancake art competition with that name. Eda was currently reading the newspaper of the BNN for the day, citing that the mysterious rumblings from the past two weeks haven't been identified.

“Well, at least they're going down,” Eda commented with a certain degree of cynicism. Aside from the rumblings interrupting her sleep at night and Morton having difficulties procuring elixir ingredients for her curse elixirs, her portal door has been malfunctioning and not allowing her to gain access to fresh human garbage to sell. She has been selling some of the surplus she has gotten from the trash slugs of the last couple of months, but it's the fresh stuff that really brings in the snails.

“Hey Eda, why dont you check if the portal has started working again, maybe you can bring in a new product for the sale of today” King said with enthusiasm. He's been a bit down the last week since those pesky coven guards took his magical crown of power and he wants to see if cheering Eda up would make her more inclined to hurry up with her plan to take it back.

“I hope it does, i'm running out of interesting things to sell” Eda grimaced when remembering that one of her last sale had only human clothes to sell, one of which featured a pack of giraffes on the front which scared the crap out of the kids(and a couple of adults) that passed by.

Suddenly Hooty, the demon, tube, owl,... thing? perked up, shook a little, and proceeded to spit a magical watch on the table. “Hurry up Eda, it's time to go! Make sure to get some of that early worm for me!” said with a joyful and excited voice to Eda, who shared a look of slight horror with King at the thing that he just did.

Shaking the disgust from her face, Eda proceeded to gather the materials for her sale, and put them all into one bag with the usage of her magic. She then made sure to instruct King on how to both behave and defend himself in case of emergencies, putting a small tub of grease for him near the stairs. She summoned her companion Owlbert and, finishing saying her goodbyes for the days, set off to the Day market of Bonesborough.

Sighing with relief, Eda summoned Owlbert from her staff and handed him one of her bags of holding. “Remember, keep a low profile and don’t steal directly in front of an audience. We don’t want the humans to look at how cute you are and have another one of their ‘Selfies party’” Eda said, fully aware that Owlbert sometimes got overconfident and was seen by humans before, tough not with a level that they risk having difficulty escaping or are in the way of real harm.

Owlbert, a bit annoyed at the implication but accepting of the warning, grabbed the bag and gave a small peck to Eda before flying into the portal. Eda returned to manning the stand and hoped that Owlbert brought something good. If they were really lucky, they could even get an item which could help them get through the barrier in the Conformatorium and help King recover his crown. If there was anything like that in the Human realm of course.

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When Owlbert crossed through the portal, he expected to be welcomed by the sight of a lush green forest and a warm blue sky. While he got the sky right, the scenery with which it was decorated had changed drastically. Instead of a forest, he was now in front of what he could only describe as a boarding station. The stone plaza was decorated with many vibrant colors with what he could only describe as human items, although the language with which they were promoting it was not one with which he was familiar. Getting out of the dark alley in which the portal was now located, he proceeded to be faced with a large expanse of expanse of a semi-desertical zone with some forested areas in different parts of the horizon. He could see that very close by was a small town with some higher degree of industrial development to the one Gravesfield had. Ignoring the weird events, he decided to stay in the area and rummage through the garbage locally and inform Eda of the new location to schedule a more wide exploration later.

He happily found the big dumpster behind the station which had a treasure trove of weird human items, from different pieces of broken technology to some gag items of the kind that Eda liked. After that he proceeded to scavenge and explore a little of the surroundings before the two hour mark ended and he had to return.

When returning to the station, he was met with an odd sight. Two humans were talking about something in the middle of the station. They were both of the darker skin variety of humans, what he could assume was a relationship of mother and daughter due to their physical similarities. They appeared to be having an argument, of which the ending he was seeing involved the younger girl putting a book on top of a dumpster. Owlbert was a bit confused, who would throw out a perfectly good book like that. Deciding that perhaps some foreign literature might sell in Eda’s stall, he took the small book and put it in his satchel. Satisfied with his haul, he returned proud to the alley to inform Eda of his findings. He did not notice the fact that he was seen by someone, nor did he see that said someone had decided to follow him.
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Eda felt her small wooden companion approaching her, years of being bonded together allowing for them to detect each other's presence from a relative distance. The small owl looked excited and began to try to tell her of his adventures, though she told him to quiet down a little while she examined the loot.

All in all, this appeared to be a rather successful haul. A lot of the items appeared to be both legit and in good condition, albeit slightly altered from the typical haul. There were some duds, like a rather useless unenchanted and undetailed diamond ring, some that were just repeats of previous items that she had in some smartphones that human teenagers liked to stare at all day, and even one glowing grail that while certainly magical, was clearly heavily weakened. There was a positive in the fact that she found a pair of glasses which created fake eyes and the illusion of having multiple vision. This would certainly make quite a bit of snails.

Putting aside the rest of the items, the last item in Owlberts bag was a book. Eda normally did not sell human books due to them being considered boring to read to the average witch and demon. This appeared to be slightly different in her interest of humans due to clearly being a fantasy book about non-humans in another language. The creatures in the book resemble humans, though with a bit of artistic liberty thrown in. While Eda might have been interested in at least leafing through some of the pages, the language in which they were written was different from the common that witches, demons, and the humans she met used. Seeing no further use for it, Eda decided that, if nothing else, the book could at least be used for kindling her candle.

At least, she would have done that if not for a hand made of black liquid had not extended from the inside of her tent and snatched the book straight from her hands. Eda, startled but noticing that an intruder had entered her tent, quickly clicked the portal key so as to not allow them access to the Human realm for escape. She tried to go for the tent, but before she entered, a large ‘Splat’ sound filled the air inside the tent.

Looking inside, she saw that various of the items around her and both the floors and walls were covered in a sticky black substance, which on closer inspection seemed to be some kind of ink. Eda felt annoyed that her items were dirty now, but decided to worry about it later. Looking around with some of her magic, she could feel that the intruder was near her, but was getting mixed signals to their location. She suddenly felt a bump in her boot when she looked down, but saw nothing. The ink then began to change shape until a pair of eyes with brown irises manifested on the ground floor. It then sprayed a blast of ink directly to Eda’s face and bolted for the back exit.

Eda was annoyed by the attack and was gonna trounce the weird creature after she cleaned her face. It took her a solid minute and a half to find a clean towel that wasn't covered in the creature's goo. After ridding herself of the ink, Eda grabbed Owlbert and was ready to fly to survey the area… until she saw that the creature not only transformed but was standing trembling at the edge on a cliff.

On closer inspection the creature, now a girl, appeared to be a human. Well, calling her human was incorrect but it was the closest thing to describe her. She had the human body shape and signature round ears, but her ears were stretched a lot more similarly to a witches ear type. She was wearing what appeared to be a hoodie with weird fins sewn onto the hood and was wearing some blue shorts with black tights and white shoes.

The things that told her that this girl was not human was her skin and ‘hair’. Her skin had a weird gloss to it that made her seem as if she was slightly wet from afar, alongside the fact that there was no noticeable hair or fur in her skin. And her hair… It wasn't hair at all, instead it was a collection of tentacles making themselves in the shape of small cuts of hair that were protruding from her head. Her face also had a pair of patches of pure black skin around her big, wide eyes which faded to the sides of her face in two sharp, opposite points.

Eda softened up a bit at seeing a clearly scared kid, but she had to remain firm. She approached the kid, who proceeded to flip out and cower at her:

“Ipppp, xtmiam lwvb sqtt um! Qlqlvbumivbwabmitnzwugwcjcbqbeiauqvmivlqkizmitwbnwzqb!” The kid said in rapid succession, grayish tears streaming down her face, though Eda couldn't make sense of it all, whatever she said only sounded like weird gibberish to her. Still, she could tell that the kid was scared and she wanted to make sure to calm her down before further interrogating her.

“Relax kid, I'm not killing or eating you” She said while attempting to use some signs and symbols to communicate, though with little success. Deciding that, like all things in life, a little magic could help, she conjured up an image of her deciding not to eat the kid and instead offering her a way back for some information in a somewhat stylized version of themselves.

The girl visibly calmed down thanks to the image, and even showed open admiration at her little display. Her fearful expression turned to one of excitement spouting a bunch of excited gibberish. “Bpib eia bwbittg Nzmap! Pwe lql gwc lw qb!?”
Eda smiled at the excitement, but proceeded to plan ahead for how to deal with this situation. Going back inside her tent, she looked for a bag in which she stored different items for dealing with encounters in the human realm. Fake ID’s, some human realm currency, an old donut from a month ago, everything kind of thing was inside. Searching in the bag, she eventually found what she was looking for. A small necklace of leather and feathers with the symbol of an eagle.

This item was one Eda had used on a couple of occasions to deal with certain humans who did not speak the common tongue. While she was not sure how it would work on this girl, it was at least worth a try. If it worked correctly, all the words the girl was saying should auto-translate into common and vice versa. A rather useful find from one of the last not-pilfered wild witch tombs left in the isles.

She signaled the girl, who had been waiting at the back-entrance of the tent to put it on. She even made a show of her putting the necklace to show it meant no harm. The girl rather reluctantly put on the necklace, which proceeded to grow a light purple. Testing a bit, Eda said “Hello?”

The girl recoiled at the words, confused at how the woman in front of her had started speaking her tongue. Still, she tried giving a friendly “Hello” back… only for her to be absolutely shocked at how her voice made a word which did not sound like what she said and quickly clasped her mouth.

Eda lightly chuckled at the girl's reaction and signaled for her to follow. “Relax kid, that necklace is translating everything I am saying to you in your own version of the common tongue, while everything you say is translated back to me in something I can actually understand”. Eda signaled for the girl to sit in the front of her stand.

“How could that be possible, a universal translator of that kind of level should be something far outside of the current technological reach” Eda snorted a bit at the kids question, finding the similarities in the common human reaction to magic to be comforting.

Standing straighter and with a bit of flair, Eda responded “Well that's because that is no piece of technology, but a magic necklace girl” Eda jumped in front of her table and proceeded to loudly declare ”And that’s because i’m Eda the owl lady, the most powerful witch in the boiling isles!” Eda garnered a bit of an audience with her statement. “I’m respected, feared…!”

“Busted” said a big guard in a gray and white uniform, who took Eda’s distraction to quickly cuff her, as well as break some of the items on the table. The small audience which gathered quickly scattered at the presence of the coven guard.

“Eda the owl lady, you are wanted for use of wild magic and demonic misdemeanors” The guard said while holding a wanted poster featuring Eda with King at her side.
“OMM, a real life witch!” Said the girl with giddy excitement.

“And you are coming along to for colluding with a criminal, your both coming to the Conformatorium” The guard said while cuffing the girl with a pair cuffs as well, only to be perplexed when the cuffs proceeded to fade through the girls hand and into the floor.

The guard looked perplexed at the event, allowing Eda to quickly grab a hold of her staff and knock the guard to the ground. Quickly using her magic to summon her entire tent into a bag, she grabbed the kid by the wrist and proceeded to activate Owlbert to fly.

“Hold on kid” Said Eda as they started flying off into the distance, the sound of the pissed off guard slowly fading into the background.

Once they got far enough away, the kid started to relax from the impromptu chase they just had and examine the world around her. She was amazed at the landscape. A vast landscape of red flora covered the land, decorated with a wide pink sky. The land was vast and she could see a great deal of small and large towns in the distance, some situated in what she could only describe as the massive remains of a creature. Alongside them in the flight, a large group of what was a mix between a pigeon and some weird four legged creature were flying and spitting spiders. The form they have is familiar, it reminded her of photos of the ‘cat’ creature that lives in Inkopolis.

The stranger, or Eda as she called herself, was currently telling her about their current location. This was the Boiling Isles, a place where magic and myths come to life, although luz couldn’t recognize the names of any of the creatures Eda mentioned.
They soon started coming down at the end of Eda’s rant on the outskirts of a forest near a house on a cliff. Eda came down from her flying apparatus and she noticed that she left her hand behind. Remembering her manners when people lost limbs or other body parts, she scooped up the arm and handed it to her. The old woman looked a bit perplexed at her reaction, but accepted the limb nonetheless.

Glancing down her arm, she noticed that her ReefWatch was marking that it had currently been 20 minutes since she left the station and she had begun to panic. Her mami must be worried sick and here she is just spacing out without a single care in the world!

“Ummm, excuse me miss Eda, it’s been nice knowing you and all, but i must be going now. Can you open the way back home, please?”

Eda looked at the kid for a few seconds with a pensive look before settling down with a grin on her face.

“Sure thing… uh, I haven’t asked for your name yet”

“My name is Luz”

“Ok Luz, I would be more than happy to take you back home, i only just need one little favor from you before you go. Do this for me and I will even let you keep a small souvenir for your troubles” Eda said while walking towards the house.
Luz was a bit frustrated that she couldn’t return home yet, though she supposed that coming back home with some proof that she didn’t just wander off should help placate her mom. She picked up the bag that Eda left beside her and followed her from behind.

Approaching the house, she noticed that it appeared to be a large house composed of white brick with colored crystal windows. Not the most vivid image in her eyes for the home of a witch or of the most wanted criminal of the land. It didn’t appear to have any defenses either.

“This place doesn't seem very… secure”

“Relax kid, my home has a state of the art defense system” At that moment, the carving of an owl on the front of the main door came to life and started speaking.

“Hoot Hoot, password please” Said the owl/thing before being poked in the eyes by Eda. “Owww!”

“We got no time for this Hooty, let us in” Eda said.

“Alright alright jeez, you never want to have any fun. Owww Hoot”

Hooty then opened his mouth so wide that it reached the door frames, allowing them to come inside. It also burped, which is a bit concerning, though she was accustomed to seeing the sea anemones in town do weirder stuff with their fish.
Looking inside, she was awestruck. The house looked like a hut straight from a fantasy novel, walls and floors made of wood, a giant owl tapestry on the ceiling, magical objects moving around, and many more things.

“Welcome to… the owl house. My own little private haven where I hide away from the pressures of modern life. Also the cops, mhhhm. Also ex-boyfriends, ha!”

“This place looks amazing, do you have this place all for yourself?” Her answer came quickly in the form of loud and strong footsteps shaking the house.

“I actually do have one roommate” Eda said while looking down the hall to the now looming shadow of a large creature. The tall creature loomed over them, proclaiming itself as a great leader, the supposed king of ‘demons’... only for it to turn out to be different. Or in other words, one of the cutest things Luz had ever seen.

The creature reached to her kneecaps. It was covered in more hair than any other species Luz had ever seen, somewhat similar to birds with their coats of feathers. It had what appeared to be two antennae that were made of bone and connected to its head, also made of bone in the upper part of its face. It had two full yellow eyes and the squeakiest voice.

Not holding herself back, Luz jumped to hug the creature and yelled “Ay que lindo!”, accidentally slipping into speaking southern Octarian. She hugged the creature and declared him the cutest “widdle guy in the room”. The creature denied being the little guy and tried to free itself from her grasp, struggling in uselessness against her grasp. Not much to do against a girl that was composed mostly of muscle.

Eda chuckled at the sight, but decided to spare King from the humiliation.

“This is Luz the… thing” Eda realized that she still needed to ask some questions of what she was, but that could come in their way to the Conformatorium. “She’s gonna help us with our little… situation”

King looked a bit confused. “That girl is not human, how can she help?”

“She came from the portal, so she is not local. While not ideal, perhaps the barrier won’t be able to recognize her”

“Ummm, excuse me, what are you talking about?” Luz stared confusedly at Eda and King.

“Ok, a bit of visual aid and an explanation is warranted” Eda started preparing a spell. “This is King, the former king of all demon kind. He used to be a lot more formidable and powerful in the past, until his crown of power got stolen”

“You mean to tell me this little bundle of joy was a mighty and scary king?” Luz said while holding the ‘demon’ in her arms, scooping him up while Eda was distracted.

“Indeed, now the crown lies along with other relics behind a powerful barrier. No witch or demon can cross the barrier, though it is said that a human can cross it” Eda noticed that Luz did not seem to recognize any of those terms.

“You wouldn’t know any humans, would you?”

“What do they look like? There are many species back home”

“Well, they should look like me, except they can't use magic and have rounded ears.”

Luz looked pensive for a moment. Eda is the first creature of her type she has ever seen, what with all that fur she had on her head. There was no animal or sentient species like her back home, with the exception of Judd the cat. The only other possibility was thinking back to some of the extinct species from the pre-mollusk era. But that would be ridiculous, those species went extinct thousands of years ago, while Eda spoke of them as if she met them recently.

Finally shaking her head, she answered “No, sorry, can’t say I ever heard of such a creature”

Eda frowned but she kinda expected that answer. Wherever this girl came from, it was clearly a different place from the Human realm. Her key must have broken and connected her to a different realm entirely. Still, she could use this for her benefit right now.

“Well kid, before I continue, could you tell me what you are?”

Luz perked up at the question. “As I said before, my name is Luz, full name Luz Noceda, and I am a member of the Octarian race.”

“Thanks kid. Now, we can’t go through this barrier, but maybe you being a species so far removed from anything in this realm could allow you to cross the barrier as if you were a human. If you help, I'll open the portal and take you home with any magic souvenir you want. At a reasonable price of course”

“Besides, who can say no to this cute little face?” She said while holding King up like a small plushie. “Not like you have many other choice in the matter, were your only way home”

Luz started thinking. While this was similar to the many stories of magical quests she had read in the past and that excited her beyond measure, the possibility existed that she could be lying and attempting to trap her somewhere. She didn’t know what weird ingredients a witch would want for potions or the like, nor did she entirely trust the words of a criminal. Still, a lack of options made for a good incentive.

“Very well, where are we going?” Luz asked.

“Someplace really fun” Said Eda with a big smile.

“This is the Conformatorium, a place made for those who are considered unsuitable for society” Eda looked to the side with a scowl on her face. Looking at the walls and even the floor, there were dozens of the same poster detailing the Owl lady’s bounty and features.

“Woah, these guys must really have the hots for you” Luz said while holding up one of the posters.

“Yup, but we were never caught because we're too slippery” King said, jumping on her head.

“Try to catch me when I am all covered in grease. I am a squirmy little fella.” King declared, before promptly slipping and falling to the ground from Luz’s head. He looked adorable.

“You and him are gonna sneak to the top of the tower” Eda pointed to the tower. “And I'm gonna make sure the warden is distracted” Eda declared proudly.

“Oh, Oh! If we're gonna do that, we should use disguises.” Luz pulled up her hoodie and flicked its side fins to move up properly. “Bloop, bloop!”

“It’s hideous” King said with a deadpan tone.

“Oh you'll fit right in” Eda answered with amusement, starting up her spell to create a platform to raise them up the tower.

“Wait, you should take this before we leave” Luz said to Eda, putting a bunch of plastic pyramids on the floor.

“What are these?”

“They’re a bunch of splat bombs. If you need a distraction, there’s nothing louder or more visible than one of these” Luz looked at the collection of weapons. One should always be prepared, which is why every person worth their salt always carries at least one weapon on their person. She only had the standard splattershot with her at the moment, her other weapons were left back with Hooty, but that should be enough for at least one adventure.

Eda was a bit puzzled at where or when this kid suddenly got access to bombs, they sounded, but she shrugged at a problem for future Eda. Once she finished the spell, she activated the platform and raised them up quickly to the tower. When they got near a window, Luz grabbed King and jumped into it, sliding for a couple of seconds before arriving at the inside of the prison.

“Nice reflexes” King was surprised at the calmness that Luz displayed in her actions.

“Not that impressive honestly. Seen more impressive things from those that compete in the higher echelons of Turf War” Luz remembered with some amusement when she once entered a tournament. She got absolutely crushed under the more sophisticated and precise movements of her opponents. Perhaps she could have gone farther, but a lack of good teammates had led decidedly to her loss. Well, she supposed that was the fate of someone who joined constantly with random people as opposed to having a team of friends to partner up with…

Hearing a shuffle to her side, Luz quickly pulled out her splattershot and pointed it towards the gua… woman? In front of Luz was another person with features similar to Eda, though her fangs were far more pronounced than Eda’s own. The lady looked taken aback by her weapon, but she relaxed quickly.

“Woah girl relax, i'm just curious how you got out of your cell” The fanged lady responded with open curiosity.

“I never had a cell, so i’m not a criminal” Luz answered, only to be rebutted by King that she was simply not a criminal yet, since coming into a prison and stealing contraband would count for most as a crime. Not that she had ever seen or been to a prison before, last she heard, one of the last five prisons had closed after lack of use.

“Neither are we, the stupid warden likes to lock people up who don’t fit in” Said the girl with sadness in her eyes, looking to the ground. “I’m only here because I write stories about food falling in love” She then proceeded to pull out a large book with lots of text Luz couldn’t read, though it had some pretty good illustrations. “I like food, I like love, just let me write about it”

“I’m here for eating my own eyes” Said a large bipedal creature with multiple eyes. He demonstrated it by eating one in front of her, only for said eyeball to regenerate rather quickly. A bit gross and off-putting, but nothing that a bit of education of time and place couldn’t fix, and it was certainly not a crime.

The last prisoner in the row was what she could only describe as a walking head, with a prominent large nose and vibrant orange hair. “We awe agents of fwee expression, they will never silence us!”

“Yeah she is really big into conspiracy theories” The fanged girl said while rolling her eyes. Luz agreed that it was a bit annoying when some people pushed their ideas too far, but it was still overall harmless. She remembers one kid back in seventh grade that kept pushing the idea that the company Grizzco was actually run by a ‘bear’, the wooden animal that was in all Grizzco stores.

“The world is a simulation, we are but playthings for a higher being” The tiny nose creature said.

“You are not criminals! Sure you're a little on the odd side, but you have done nothing wrong. How could any society condone this!” Luz was horrified, she never heard of such harsh punishment for simply not fitting in. “Youre all simply a bunch of weirdos, like…”

She suddenly heard the sounds of loud footsteps approaching. Quickly picking up King she went inside a cell and closed it up. For good measure, she started shooting some ink into a corner of the room and quickly submerged both of them into the puddle.
The guard that came was a huge individual, as big as a coconut crab, who carried a somewhat distinct mask compared to the other guard she saw. The guard knelt down and picked up a poster of Eda that was lying on the floor. He said “Ah, the Owl Lady”, before transforming one of his hands into a hammer and bending the cell. He looked inside, but he did not appear to notice us while we were in the puddle.

“We will fight against the opwwesor! We will resist! We will conquer! We will never be afwaid of bully’s like you” Said the tiny nose on the cell next to theirs. The guard advanced to her cell and opened it. “Oh i’m free!” She said, moments before the guard grabbed her and hoisted up into the air.

“Let this be a lesson to all of you, there’s no place in society for you if you can’t fin in” The guard said. And he just left, taking the scared creature with him to some place unknown. Once she was sure he left, Luz emerged from the puddle with King, who looked incredibly perplexed.

“What was that!? It felt like we were everywhere and nowhere at the same time” Luz assumed that he was not familiar with the act of swimming in general, though the cephalopod style of swimming in ink was special for her kind.
“It’s just a skill I have, which comes in handy for stealth and movement” Luz said, advancing to the front of the gate and grabbing the gate to flip it open. She then, without a moment of hesitation, went to the fanged girl’s cell and flipped with a little of difficulty the lever of her cell.

“What are you doing?” The fanged girl said, stepping back to see the gate opening.

“Can you free the rest?” Luz said with a serious tone.

“Yeah, I can. But not many will want to leave. I’m not sure if I want to leave. If we escape, we will only end up back here eventually.” The fanged girl looked scared and sad when she said that, and looking around showed that it was a common sentiment with the rest of the prisoners.

“You don’t have to leave, but I believe you should. Perhaps being different is considered a crime here, but where I come from is not. If you want to have others accept you, you need to fight for it and keep your spirits alive. This warden and his troupe are not invincible. Their time may be now, but yours can be as well. You can have your freedom, but you must learn to fight for it” Luz said very quickly with a dissatisfied tone, angry at how a society could treat some of their own like this.
“But in the end, the choice is yours” Luz concluded, starting to head towards the exit of the prison. She was stopped by the fanged girl.

“Hey, regardless of my… feelings, I'm happy that you're willing to stand up for us. What’s your name?”

“Luz, Luz Acuda. Yours?”

“My name is Katya”

“Thanks Katya, hopefully I’ll see you outside” Luz said with some hope, finally reaching the stairs.}

Luz and King climbed up the stairs to hear the sound of laughter. There they found Eda cackling while she threw one of Luz bombs out the window. A couple of seconds later, the sound of a familiar ink explosion and screaming guards came on. Eda stopped laughing for a minute and looked them up.

“Hey kid, thanks for the bombs, those things really pack a punch, i was even able to knock out some guards with these” Eda said with a smile “They should be busy cleaning their butts from that Ink of yours so we should have clean passage to the contraband room. I also saw the warden going off to torture some random demon, so it should be an easy ride for the rest of the trip”

Luz looked a bit dejected and pensive, remembering the events on the cells and the poor small demon. Eda noticed this and asked with a bit of concern. “Hey, what's wrong kid?”

“Eda, how could this place exist!? They're hurting people just for being different! It's absolutely insane!” Luz said with exasperation in her voice.

“I get you kid. If it makes you feel a bit better, what the warden does here is for the most part ignored by larger society, but not actually accepted. The types of weirdos and criminals that are kept here are not actually dangerous, but the warden has free reign in what is worthy of an arrest.” Eda said with some bitterness in her voice. “The real criminals that the top figures in the emperor’s coven which would disagree with warden Wrath are usually busy and kept out of the Conformatorium. I’m not sure why Belos keeps warden Wrath around, since his actions have occasionally caused some PR problems, but that’s the way things are right now”

Both looked to the ground, thinking of the situation, but were knocked out of their thoughts by King running in four legs to the contraband door.

“My crown! I can feel its power from the other side”

Remembering what they came here for, Eda took Luz hand and guided her to the barrier.

In the middle of a large room stood a semi-translucent blue barrier that separated them from a bunch of items. King ran to the barrier, but was instantly repelled from crossing it. Bracing herself for anything, Luz made her own attempt.

Crossing the barrier appeared to be surprisingly easy, whatever magic that appeared to fuel this not reacting to her presence. Now inside, she could see that there was a large pile of different magic items and relics piled up into a mountain. Searching for the crown, she noticed the presence of a glowing object in the shape of a crown at the very top of the pile. Climbing up, and accidentally knocking down some boxes with items, she reached her destination. But she was absolutely confused at what she saw.
The crown was made of cardboard, with a logo that was written in some of the text that the locals here used. Confused, but without many options, Luz climbed back down and headed for King and Eda. King’s reaction at least showed that she didn’t make a mistake.

“My crown! YES, YES, I can feel my powers returning!” King yelled with happiness. He then approached one of the knocked down boxes and took from it a plushie of a creature with long ears. “You there, nightmare critter! I shall call you Francois and you shall be a new member in my army of darkness”

Luz found herself both warmed by the display but still confused. She turned to Eda and whispered “That crown is not really magical, right?”

“Yup, not a single thread” Eda answered with a snicker, but quickly clarified once she saw Luz frown slightly. “Oh look at us Luz, King and I don’t have much in this world, we only have each other. So if that dumb crown is important to him, it’s important to me. Besides, us weirdos have to stick together, you know” She finished, giving a quick blink to Luz.

Luz felt happy at being included. While the revelations of the state of this world and its inhabitants were troubling, the fact that she was able to at least help some people still made her feel happy. Plus, she felt comfortable with King and Eda in an unexpected way, she hasn’t been able to make friends ever since dad… NOPE NOPE, don’t think about it.

Seeing Luz fidgeting a little, Eda decided to call it a night. Perhaps she could even try to take some prisoners with her in order to put Luz mind at ease of their fates. Probably guide them to some therapist who could get the funk of this place from their heads.

“Well, we owe you one. Now let’s get out of here before the warden finds us and loses his head” Eda said, but Luz saw that something was approaching them fast and with violent intent. Luz quickly pushed Eda out of the way when the warden said “too late”. She got head cut off as thanks for her good deed.

Everybody was silent in the room as the body of Luz hit the floor, now limp and headless. Eda wanted to scream. She couldn’t believe that not only was the warden willing to go and kill her, but that Luz ended up paying for her price. Tears came to her eyes, she should never have brought her there.

The warden looked shock at the events, him and the guards hesitating from the corpse now littered on the floor. Even more so when both the head and the puddle melted into black goo on the floor. Figuring it was a new trick of a wild magic made abomination, the warden prepared his speech.

“Finally I have you right where i wanted you Owl lady” Warden wrath said, snatching King’s crown while he was distracted. King got scared and ran behind her for protection. “My guards could never get you, but i knew that if i stole your little pet’s toy you would come here running. I am surprised that you were able to create a new type of wild magic to cross the barrier; but in the end, it didn’t matter” He then crushed the cardboard crown in his hand.
King was quiet. He could not believe that Luz was gone, just like that. He wanted to cry and was about to start when he noticed something in the background. The black puddle was beginning to expand ever so slightly and approaching the warden from behind. He decided to keep quiet for now.

“What do you want Wrath, here to cash in my bounty and get an even cushier job in the emperor’s coven?” Eda said with anger and disdain.

“No, I want you… to go out with me” He then knelt to the floor and pulled out a bouquet of flowers.

“Woo, you go boss!” Said the guards to the side, cheering for the big moment of their chief.

“Your propensity to always get away and your foxy attitude always left us in the dust. I find that alluring” The warden said while trying to put on an alluring voice.

Eda was gobsmacked. The theft, the threats, Luz death, all of it was… to ask her out? Eda would be telling him where to shove it if she wasn’t surrounded and needing to protect King. So she decided to play along while she gathered up energy for a spell.
“Ok, let’s say I accepted. What of the emperor? He will not let you keep a wild witch lover as one of his representatives.” Eda said, gathering up her energy in her staff for a powerful light spell.

“What the emperor doesn't know won’t bother him” Warden Wrath said with conviction. “Besides, if worst comes to worst you can always just let me put on an emperor’s sigil for you” Warden wrath signaled to a side room, where they kept the sigil gauntlets for the covens.

Eda was about ready to fire the spell when something odd happened. Before the warden could react, the puddle of ink that had reached behind him suddenly gave way for Luz, who had somehow reanimated from the dead. Her tentacles were glowing and Luz pulled out what she could humbly described as a giant hammer. She swung the hammer with force directly on the warden’s head sending him tumbling through the floor. She then started swinging the hammer faster and faster on the warden’s goons until they were all knocked out, unable to do anything for Luz struck faster than they could fire their spells. Eda could only stare, perplexed at the sight of broken guards and a girl carrying a hammer larger than her own body.

“By Squod, that guy was a creep with capital C. I mean, who asks out somebody out under threat of violence, I mean what kind of relationship was he…” and then luz went on longer ranting about morality in relationships and something about shipping, but Eda needed some answers now.

“Luz, how are you alive!? The Warden chopped off your head, and most things don’t live that type of injury” Eda ignored commenting that she could have survived that pretty much intact, but she prefers if she doesn't need to make a demonstration to make clear.

“Inlinkgs and Octolings possess freeform bodies, which allows us to resist cutting damage entirely. We can be hurt by certain objects and elements, but that has a bunch of whole other connotations. I would say more, but that strike won’t keep him out for long” Just as she said that, she could hear the warden beginning to stir from the realm of unconsciousness on the floor below.

“Ok, you're right, we should leave” She grabbed King, who had his crown, and Luz and started quickly flying away. Just as they left the room they could hear a loud crash as Wrath got out of his hole and started roaring and chasing them to the tower. They quickly swayed and passed through the many rooms in the Conformatorium trying to get away. Kitchens, barracks, surprisingly empty prison rooms, all of them gone until they got. They would have flown to the sky when she got careless and received a hit to her staff which sent them to the ground.

Seeing behind her, she could see that warden wrath was now accompanied by many members of the guards of the emperor coven, alongside abominations with metallic parts strapped through different parts of their bodies. She noticed that they were getting into position and surrounding her.

Eda got into a fighting stance, but faltered a bit. Seeing down, she noticed small black dots in her gem. Her curse must have taken advantage of her stress and activated. She needed to get back home quickly to drink one of the elixirs.
“End of the line Owl lady, if you will not be my partner, I will use you to get into the emperor’s graces”. He said while signaling for the coven guards to advance and the abominations started pointing their arms at them.

One of the guards was about to cast a spell at them when they were hit in the head from behind. A bunch of spells started flying off and hitting the emperor’s faction. Eda saw what she could only assume was a group of prisoners from the Conformatorium attacking the guards, being led by a member of the bard coven. The guards were taken by surprise but were taken by surprise, their spells being deflected by some of demons that had magic dampening clothes with them, others were scattered when several members of the abominations coven started twisting their abominations to turn on their masters. Seeing the shock, Eda was prepared to attack Wrath when Luz stopped her.

“Eda, I can see you're weakened, let me handle it” Eda wanted to object, but Luz sprinted before she could say anything.

("Splatattack -- C-Side")

The sound of guitars and music started sounding from Luz as she took out what she assumed to be a water gun from the human realm and started firing all around her. She threw a bomb at Wrath which detonated in a second and staggered him. Warden Wrath transformed his arms into tentacles and lunged at Luz, but she avoided it by shapeshifting into an Octopus and going into the Ink in the floor, quickly re-appearing into Wrath's side and shooting him point blank. The Ink seemed to pack a punch as Wrath was pushed back and looking much worse for wear as the Ink started making his moves slower and sloppier. This went on several times as Wrath would attempt to strike Luz down, only for her to avoid it and keep hitting him with Ink. The battle ended with Luz once again pulling out her hammer and giving Wrath one final smack and knocking him to the ground.

Once the dust settled, she could see that the battle had been won from the side of the prisoners, with most of the emperor’s coven being unconscious or escaping. Cheers came from all around as people rallied around Luz and congratulated her for the victory. Luz looked a bit sheepish at the praise but took it nonetheless, congratulating everyone for their bravery and telling everyone to go back home to safety.

Once everyone left, Luz approached them and asked them if they were okay. Eda nodded while King raved on about how cool Luz looked and wanting to recruit her as a general of his royal army. Eda would have let them play out the scenario, but she needed to get home quick.

Eda had to enter the house quickly to go for something and she ended up returning looking much better than before. She did not understand why she had weakened so much during the fight with Wrath, but she understood if she did not want to tell her of weaknesses that she wasn't proud of.

“Well kid, a deal is a deal and you fulfilled your part in spades” She said, clicking her portal door and showing the familiar yellow swirl that brought her into this world. “You can take that necklace for yourself as well as make a request for me before you go back home. You got carte-blanche kid”

Luz became thoughtful of what she wanted. If she went back home, while she would see her mom back, she would also be forced to go to camp. She understood her mom’s concern of not properly focusing on school, but she did not think that merited sending her to a career counseling camp. It just wasn’t something that interested her, nor did she think that this camp would have anybody who she could easily connect to, just like all the other camps before them that tried with her. Other kids were nice, but they never seemed to click with Luz or her interests.

Eda and King on the other hand had, with all other peculiarities shown her a much more exciting day that took her into an adventure straight from one of her fantasy books. They had shown with all their flaws that they were very kind and social. A part of Luz wondered if perhaps she had been too cold back home and she could have had this same viewpoint had she gone a bit further in her attempts to connect.
Luz stared at her copy of ‘The Legendary Warlock Azura’ and remembered fondly the times when her father read the book for her before she went to sleep. She remembers a long faded dream of being a powerful magic caster just like Azura. Suddenly, an idea pops into her head.

Luz turned to Eda and spoke. “Ok,thishasbeenthe mostexcitingdayinquiteawhile;thebattles,thedrama,everything.Iknowthismaybepresumptuousofme,butifyoucangrantmeanything,couldyouteachmemagic!?” Luz said in 5 seconds and later took a second to breathe with a slight blush on her face.

Eda was intrigued and answered her. “I don’t mind teaching you magic kid, though you must know that what allows us to cast spells around here is kinda unique. I don’t know if you have that thing, even with the knowledge of all the things you did today, though maybe there is a way since ancient witches supposedly used different methods. But even with all of that, what about your family?”

Luz shook a bit. Her mom would be pissed at her for skipping camp, but maybe some results would convince her that it was a better opportunity. She was also weirded out that she had not yet called to question where she was. Maybe she assumed she went to camp, while the camp managers felt that she had stayed home, with neither side contacting the other.

“I don’t think so, my mom probably thinks that I'm at camp right now, and she will keep thinking that until the end of the summer” Luz felt confident that if she returned on time to the day of camp release and explained things properly to her mother, she wouldn’t be in trouble.

Eda still looked unconvinced, when King came to her defense. “Let her stay, she can make us snacks” That argument somehow pushed Eda over the edge.

“Ok alright, from now on Luz the Octarian you will be my apprentice. But don’t think it will come for free, you still will have to pull your weight around here” Eda replied with a bit of a sargent’s voice, but she could see the open smile on her face.
They started heading inside while Luz checked her messages. She saw one asking Luz how she felt at camp. Luz replied with ‘I think i’m gonna like it here’.

“I’ll try to make something of my life here and make you proud mom. Both you… and dad” Luz declared to the sky and finally followed her now roommates into the house.

Notes:

This is chapter 1, I'm still working out some of the details and will be a bit busy with a family trip for the following weeks, but I'm very happy with all the support. If you have an opinion feel free to comment so long as we keep it civil.

Chapter 3: Chapter 2: "Cures and Wizardry"

Chapter Text

Luz Acuda was having the strangest dream. She had somehow stumbled into another world where weird hairy creatures with magic invited her over for an adventure and she managed to make herself useful to someone. A nice thought, she must have had quite a pleasant yesterday to not have any nightmares. Even so, she could feel the sun coming up and as the designated morning person of the house, she needed to put some coffee for her mom before work.

Raising herself up, she suddenly felt a bump on her abdomen as she hit one of her plushies. Going to remove it, she then felt hard bumps on her hands. Weird, none of her plushies were this hard. Finally deciding to fully wake up, she opened her eyes.

The light hit her eyes harshly but she saw that she was not in her room. She was in what could be described as a spacious closet or storage room. With boxes filled with various knick knacks on the corners and near the walls. She was lying on the floor of the room, cushioned on a cocoon of blankets and pillows. On top of her was King, who had fallen asleep over her while clutching the plushie they got yesterday.

Yesterday… that was when it hit Luz. It wasn’t a dream! She really had come into another world and had become the apprentice of a powerful witch. She wondered what she was gonna do first. Perhaps they would go to collect rare ingredients, pilfer ancient tombs, awaken old gods, or even overthrow the government. Ok, probably not that last one, she assumed even Eda wasn’t that chaotic and she hoped what she saw in the Conformatorium was a result of rules being abused and not systematic corruption.

Rising to her feet, she decided that she should take a bath. Giving a kiss to the still sleeping King, she headed to the bathroom down the hall. Pulling into the sink, she turned the handle with her toothbrush at hand… only to immediately close it when water started coming out.

Luz panicked a bit, but ended up giving a sigh. As this place was completely disconnected from regular society, they obviously wouldn’t have any sort of food or services system which catered to her kind. Nonetheless, one of the basic things one learned to survive was how to use water for basic needs.

Opening a cabinet below the sink and taking out a glass, she filled it up with water and began to fill it with ink. Once it was half full, she added a little bit of water and began to mix it. When it was properly mixed, she put some shoalgate on her mouthbrush and began to clean the ceratin inside. One minute of brushing and washing with Ink, her mouth now fills minty fresh.

She began to wonder if maybe she should take a bath as well, but was stopped by the thought that Eda wouldn’t appreciate finding her bathroom covered in Ink, even if it would go away in an hour. She was knocked out of her thoughts by the sound of the bathroom window smashing.

“HI LUZ, GOOD MORNING!” Said the house demon to Luz in a loud squeaky voice. Luz was taken by surprise and almost felt herself having a triple heart attack, but relaxed when she remembered that Hooty wasn’t an enemy. Straightening herself, she decided to give a bit of cordiality back to Hooty.

“Good morning Hooty, thanks for keeping us safe at night” Said Luz, who then gave a small bow to the house demon.

“Oh geez, you’re making me blush! Thanks! Also, you should know that breakfast time is in half an hour if you want to eat at the same time as Eda and King” The house demon felt flattered at the compliment and retreated happily to his spot at the front door.

Luz made note of that and decided to continue her morning preparations. She went to a closet door she saw nearby and was pleasantly surprised at the results. The room was filled by tons of stereotypical witch goodies for her to touch and see. She resisted the urge to squeal in joy, but decided to give a quick fistbump in celebration. She picked up one of the robes and a witch hat and quickly dressed herself, her regular clothes under it.

Heading into the kitchen, she took a seat and began to wait for her new housemates to arrive. King was the first to arrive and gave her a happy good morning while carrying both the plushie that they got yesterday as well as her crown. A part of her would miss that particular piece of clothing, but she was happy if it made King happy. She could get another one later on. King busied himself planning a new outfit to go with his new crown.

Eda came 5 minutes later looking much different than yesterday. While before she was wearing a red dress and tall boots, now she was wearing some pajama pants, sandals and a cushioned shirt. She also looked sleepy as shell, so she assumed that she must not be a morning person. She wondered if that was a common element on pointy eared people, since Inklings were known to do that too. Well, at least that was something she was told during her time living in Octo Valley, but things were very different in the outside world compared to what they were taught in her original home.

Eda looked at both of them, shrugged, and immediately headed to a fridge. She magically pulled a mug from the cupboards and poured herself a liquid from a container with the symbol of an apple on it. Once she took a sip, the bags under her eyes removed themselves and she now looked much more awake.

“Is that some sort of enchanted apple juice?” Luz wondered with star-eyed curiosity.

“Nope, just some plain old apple blood” Eda answered. Luz wondered if apples in this realm were animals. Another part of her wanted to taste it.

“Can I have some?” Luz asked.

“No” Eda answered and then focused her vision on what Luz was wearing. “Why are you wearing one of my old bathrobes and a super dusty traffic cone”

Luz took her hat and blew a bit of air into it, revealing that it was indeed an old traffic cone that was covered in black dust. She made a mental note to search whatever clothes market this world had and find herself a proper hat, she refused to return home without the genuine article.

Putting the hat down, she scuttled close to Eda and began bombarding her with questions: “Soooo, what are we gonna do today? Are you gonna teach me some spells? Can I get my own magic staff? Will you teach me some runes or did I have to bring my own? Oh, Oh! Are we going relic hunting or on some type of quest!?” Luz beamed while asking the questions.

Eda smiled at the kid’s excitement, but decided to still clarify. “Woah kid, being a witch isn’t something that happens overnight. Still, a staff you say…” Eda’s smirk grew at how the opportunity to show off came. “Magic staff, come to me!” Eda sayed, raising her hand into position. The staff took 20 seconds to come as they heard the sound of a vase breaking and wood thumping until the staff finally appeared and smacked Eda in the head. Eda quickly picked herself up, silently cursing the so dreaded ‘morning funk’.

“Ahem. Well kid, being a witch is more than waving something like a magic stick around. Most teachers hand over a staff to their student at the end of a long period of reading various books and arbitrary tests. My way is a little different” She punctuated this by summoning a bag to the floor which was filled with dozens of bottles of different colored liquids.

“You’ll have to work for it and earn it” Eda signaled for her to follow into the living room, so she picked up the bag and went for it.

“Now on the weekends I run my little stall in which I sell only the finest human relics which Owlbert drags from the human world” One of the relics which Eda displayed was a plastic sword that lighted up and proceeded to spout words in the language that Luz heard Eda speak yesterday when they met. Luz was confused at why the necklace didn’t translate.

Eda noticed her confusion and answered. “If you wonder why you can’t understand what it said, the necklace is designed to translate the words of the soul into something you can understand and viceversa. If something does not have a soul, all you hear will be as incomprehensible as if you didn’t wear the necklace. Plus, as I’m sure you must have noticed by now, it does not translate the written word. Later on I will start teaching you a bit of basic words and phrases so you can communicate a little bit in case something happens to the necklace” Luz frowned at the idea that she couldn’t read the texts of this world, but decided that she would simply have to learn as she went. Not the first time she learned a fantasy language. She still remembered how she marathoned reading and talking to herself in the mirror for a week in order to learn ‘French’ to understand the hidden references and lore of ‘Master of The Rings’. Some would call her a bit silly for learning made up languages, but she thought of it as being dedicated.

“Anyways, my main business is selling the finest potions on all the isles. I would normally trust you to make the deliveries yourself, what with all the skill you displayed yesterday, but since you can’t actually read the directions or names of the people you need to deliver, I’mm going to have King guide you for the day” Eda declared while looking at the kitchen.

“What!? Why do I have to do work!?” King said with a level of indignity at the mere thought of labor.

“Do you want to pay rent?” Eda answered back with deadpan on her face.

King did not have an answer to that, so he simply went back to the kitchen and waited for Hooty to finish making breakfast. They could hear a “fine” as he pulled the chair to sit down.

Eda recovered her smirk “Ok kiddo, let’s go make you some breakfast and you can be on your way. I’ll even give you two pieces of advice: Make sure to return by sunset or predators will eat your bones; plus, never trust a stranger wearing sandals”. Eda went to the kitchen with a chuckle. Luz worried at the idea of predators, but she shrugged since they would go hungry if they came to hunt for her none-existent bones.

Luz was marveled at the town of Bonesborough. The place was what she always imagined a medieval era town looked like, with a lot of quality of life improvements enabled by magic and the supernatural that gave it a touch of modernity. There were demons and witches of all shapes and sizes running around.

King, while annoyed at the idea of work, was happy to accompany her. He was especially happy when she started asking him questions of the nature of demons and witches. According to him, witches were the bipedal, lightly haired species that Eda was a part of, with both the title of witch and name of the species being used somewhat interchangeably. Meanwhile, demons referred to all the kinds of creatures that lived in the ‘Demon realm’, with all types of classifications and even some crossover among them and witches.

Luz was familiar with the arrangement. The largest group of people back home, second only to the Salmonids, were Inklings and Octolings, but it was inevitable for anybody who lived in regular society to meet and become accustomed to seeing members of the other sentient species. Well, at least if you lived outside of Octaria.

The process of delivering potions turned out to be actually quite easy. King explained to her some of the common courtesies of the demon realm. Where to knock, how to identify some common signs, and even some traditional greetings. She had to become accustomed to some weird things, such as one dude who had a quadruped body with a male witch torso at the front, but had his face where his abs should be. Aside from initial shock, he turned out to be quite the good sport and buyed some ‘snake oil’ for his pet Boiúna.

Not all the experiences were good, she got her arm chomped by a door, only to spit it out when it didn’t like the taste. She also didn’t see any kids her age, though she assumes that they’re probably all at school since it’s a weekday. She should probably ask Eda later of the idea of the existence of magic schools. Still, she was having a good time overall.

Once they were done with almost all of the deliveries, they only had some potions left that all had to be delivered to one address. They got to the place, which turned out to be a large castle illuminated in such a way that could only be described as MAJESTIC. She was amazed by the theme and scale of it, but King looked less than unimpressed at the sight.

“Big houses always belong to big Whackjobs, we should leave the potions by the door and go for some not-dogs” King said. Luz felt that was a bit presumptuous, any kind of person could own a house like this, it didn’t necessarily have to be a creep or whackjob of some kind.

Going for the door, she knocked for attention, only for the door to give in and open for them. Inside the house was what she could best describe as a cozy mansion. The walls were covered in pastel colors and many of the different furniture looked like something straight from her Azura books. They were in the middle of a library with hundreds of what she assumed to be magical tomes. Luz was delighted, but wondered how the aesthetics of the house, since they clashed with the cultural footprint she had been seeing from the rest of the isles.

She shifted as she heard the sounds of steps coming down the stairs. A witch was descending dressed in what Luz believed to be a stereotypical wizard outfit. For some reason, he also had a large portrait of himself doing the same pose he had now. She put a bit of stock on King’s whackjob comment because of that, but she decided to still keep an open mind.

“I fht in my oscilarium, reading the stars. And who might you be with eyes full of curiosity” The wizard said with a very warm and cozy old man voice. Luz however was a bit startled since one of his words got jumbled up in the translation. Must be some magical interference or something.

“Oh good morning mister, i came here to deliver a package of potions from the owl lady” Luz answered and put the bag of potions on a nearby table.

“Ah thank you gtmy much, I will have your payment shortly” The wizard answered with a smile “While we wait, would you like to accompany mg for a cup of tea?”

Luz was surprised by the generosity, but felt the need to answer with a polite decline on account of the fact one should NEVER deal with strangers. She was gonna answer when King took to following the wizard when he offered snacks. Groaning a bit, she accompanied them to the man’s living room.On their way, she noticed that one of the rooms had an alchemy lab to the side, something that made her curious as to why he wouldn’t make his own potions.

They arrived at the room which had an already prepared tea set with some scones on the plate. King ran to the couch and began to scarf down the pastries. She took a seat and eyed the cup, but she chose to not drink it. You never know what someone can tell you.

After leaving them in the room for 5 minutes, the man returned with a small pouch which he gave to Luz. Checking inside, Luz confirmed that the currency was real and appropriate. The man eyed her curiously and proceeded to sit down on a very elaborate chair that he made appear from the grown. She could swear she saw him also throw glitter from his pocket.

Once comfortable, the man started speaking to her. “I did ret know Eda chose to have an apprentice, never took the infamous owl lady for an apprentice. By the way, the name is Adegast, the nbhgt wizard.”

Luz relaxed a little, but kept her eyes firmly on him. “Luz, witch apprentice. It’s a very recent thing, nothing has been solidified yet. I’m curious however why a man with your resources would need to buy potions from a criminal. Isn’t that risky?”

The wizard looked curiously at her, but gave a shrug. “Ah yes, I run a vhtnt potion shop as a side business and a hobby, helps keep my mind sharp” The man then leaned from the chair. “Tell me young lady, would you be interested in running a little errand for me?”

Luz looked suspiciously at the man, feelings of old bitterness showing on her face. “What kind of errand?” Luz answered a bit coldly.

Adegast looked shocked by her reaction, but kept firm in his resolve. He took a scroll from his pocket and handed it to her. “Inside ghus scroll is a copy of a map, which legends foretell has a magical staff of immense power. Legends foretell of how the magic staff holds the key to many things, from the transfiguration of common metals to gold, access to old powerful spells, even the ability to revive the dead in pristine condition. I searched for it in my youth, ngt was never successful in finding it. It may be nonsense to some, but it’s special to me. I don’t expect you to find anything, but hopefully you may be able to at least have some use ght your own journey in magic” The man looked a bit melancholic at the story.

Luz was tempted to tell the man to shove it up where the sun doesn't shine but she paused. The man looked genuine in his story, even if she doubted the validity of things. A part of her wanted to believe that the man was being genuine, a dreamer instead of a scammer who had genuinely good intentions. A larger part of her was currently screaming into her head for even considering something like this, that she didn’t learn her lessons.

What pushed her mind to finally at least acknowledge it a little bit was the mention of revival magic. It may just be a fluke, it may not be real. But if there was even the smallest of chances that it was real, shouldn't she take that chance anyways? Looking to her side, she noticed that King had finished the plate of scones and did not seem worse for wear, so she added at least a little bit of opportunity to the idea that all of this wasn’t some scam.

Standing up and picking up a now napping King, she gave a polite bow to Adegast and put the scroll on her bag. Leaving the large castle, she finally took the route to go to the Owl House, a thousand thoughts running in her mind.

Eda was relaxing on the couch right now, having a small notepad beside her. She’s had a lot to think about.

The first thing she wondered was how the whole ordeal with the Conformatorium would end up. There has been no comment yet from the emperor’s coven of the massive prison break that happened yet in the crystal balls. There were some forums on places like Penstagram that speculated what happened, but nothing concrete from neither escapees or guards posting about the event. She did not like the quiet stance they were taking.

Besides that, she now had to draft a teaching plan for a role she never really considered actually taking. She had been all for learning and experimentation, she just never thought she would do the reverse, and she had no idea if her teaching would even benefit Luz, being a species she knew nothing about.

On top of that, she had to regain access to the human realm. While the stuff she picked up was interesting and even somewhat similar to the human garbage, it would not sell if she couldn’t add that mysticism that the human realm brought. Trying at different hours of the day and different locations led Eda to the same spot Owlbert identified in Luz’s realm, so those two factors at least did not change her key. Without a steady supply, she would need to check if one of her markers revealed a nearby trash slug perished and she could collect its garbage. She couldn’t even go to the other realm herself, what with no longer being able to blend in with the locals.

She had a lot on her mind, which made her appreciate it even less when Hooty popped in front of her face to tell her that Luz and King returned. Standing up and fixing her clothes, Eda went to the door to receive them.

She was pleasantly surprised to see that not only did both of them return safely, but that they also managed to sell some of the surplus she put in the bag. King came to her and started telling her of their trip, with Luz listening to the side, fidgeting a little while holding a scroll.

“Hey kiddo, what do you have there?” Eda asked. She interrupted King telling her how Luz managed to sell 5 of her hair growth potions to some canine demons with balding heads.

“Oh, a wizard client of yours gave this scroll for an old quest” Luz looked at the scroll weirdly. There was a hint of both happiness and unease at the scroll.

“Get this Eda, he told Luz all about how there was this mystical staff she could get which he really tried to sell as if it could solve any problem! He must really think we were suckers.” King said excitedly.

“Ugh, Wizards. Never trust a man running around in casual drapery. Besides, if there was such a thing as a scepter or staff with that level of power, either me or the Emperor’s coven would have gotten it by now” A lifetime of hoax cure-alls and a persistent mother erased in her the naivety of easy solutions. Both she and King failed to notice the light hurt in Luz's eyes.

“Yeah, it’s a really dumb thing, didn’t believe it for a second.” Luz handed her the bag with snails, but kept the map. “Hey Eda, how long until dinner?”

“Mhhhm, three hours, maybe a bit more since I have to figure out what you can’t eat” Eda answered. She was gonna need to prepare a bit of everything to check.

Luz perked up at that and returned her regular smile. “Ok, thanks! Can i go into the woods to explore, I would really like to see what kind of unique critters and plants you guys have”

Eda wondered if Luz was hiding something, but decided to trust her for now. “Ok, but don’t wander too far, I don’t want to find out you were eaten by some rogue Grabwall or something”

“Ok, I’ll be home by 7, don’t worry” With that said, Luz headed to the forest and disappeared from sight.

Eda returned with King inside and counted her money. Once everything was accounted for, she went to the kitchen and pulled out her scroll to look up some basic recipes she could make with what she currently had in the fridge. It was 30 minutes later when Hooty came into the kitchen with a somewhat concerned look on his face.

“What’s the matter Hooty?” Eda asked. It was rare to see Hooty concerned over anything but the nearest bug to eat.

“Ok, so, I was having my four-thirty-o-clock reunion and talking with the fly that comes by every Sunday when I noticed that Luz was at the beach. I saw her and yelled hello and kept walking somewhere. I checked the woods nearby and I have not seen her either” Hooty was confused and concerned.

Eda grew concerned. From what little she knew, Luz shouldn’t fall for such an open scam like this. Should she have been more openly malicious about not trusting wizards? Could Luz be influenced by something? Eda didn’t know, but she had a bad feeling for how things were going.

“Hooty, you’re in charge until we come back. King!” Eda said with a hint of irritation to her voice.

“Weh?” Said King as he poked his head into the kitchen.

“Take me to the wizards house, I smell foul play”

Luz was not having a good time at all. After figuring out the easy as shell puzzle that the map had, she was given a set of directions to the location of the magic fountain where the legendary staff was supposed to be located. She was honestly not sure what she expected, but she did not think it would be this bad!

First were her so-called ‘companions’.They were all one-dimensional caricatures. Nevareth was quite handsome, but he didn’t actually have any brains in his head. His backstory was full of holes and she could swear he was actually trying to seduce her for some reason, which creeped her out since he looked 7 years older than her. Then there was the furry demon Chris who was constantly speaking in elaborate riddles and seemed to be patronizing her. Lastly was the fairy princess, who while quite cute only seemed to talk in dramatics and overreacted every situation. They also had the same annoying voice tick that Adegast had.

Which led to the next problem, the simplicity and coherence of this place. Everything in her journey so far had been painfully easy. Any enemy they encountered had been a pushover which resulted in her getting a bunch of praise for being so ‘smart and brave’. The hardest thing was actually Chris’s first riddle, since she couldn't read the nametag he carried, which resulted in him giving her a bunch of obvious hints.

She could not fill the struggle. This place did not seem real at all. None of the people she met or things she’s seen fit into the culture or life she has seen from the people of the Boiling Isles. Everybody here was being patronizingly friendly and it was starting to piss her OFF!

Still. STILL! She had to keep going. She couldn’t afford to give up just yet. So she put on a dumb smile, acted wowed at the praise, took the gifts they kept giving her; all for the sake of getting there. Even if the staff wasn’t real, she needed to follow through on it for the smallest chance that the revival magic had some truth to it. She owed them that much.

And so, she would shut up and kept eating the overly processed Karp they were serving her for an hour. Just when things didn’t seem like they would ever end, Nevareth claimed that they finally arrived. Looking in front of her, she was absolutely shocked.

Standing proudly in the middle of a pool was a large white staff with a shining gemstone in the middle. The staff was surrounded by carved stone pillars which radiated glowing lights. There was a path directly in front of her which led directly to the staff and there was mist covering the entire area giving it an even more mystical feel.

She could not believe her eyes.

She had been absolutely…

DUPED

The place was packed with artificiality. Everything in this place screamed of that chosen one dirt everybody on this journey had been peddling to her. They were not in any kind of ruin, no kind of interesting conflict with her, just a simple case of going into a lake and picking up the most powerful thing in the Boiling Isles. Thinking back, she could see everything clearly of what was happening here, she was simply blinded by hope. AGAIN.

Still she could not stop her facade just yet. Signaling for her companions to follow her, she walked the steps in the lake. She could see to her sides that the water was actually fake, due a lack of ripples in the liquid. That was gonna be helpful. She finally got to the middle of the lake and made a motion to grab the staff. She then took action.

She quickly phased the gifts her companions gave her out of her body and grabbed them on her hand, throwing them quickly at them. The different pieces of clothing struck their bodies, making them take a step back as visible cracks. Luz observed with attention as parts of their bodies flickered in her eyes, revealing doll joints and distinct wood markings.

“You can come out Adegast, I’m tired of playing games in this stupid fantasy of yours” Luz said.

Coming out of the mist, Adegast revealed himself. The old man of the castle was there, but behind him was a large tentacle. Looking around, her companions also showed large tentacles coming from behind them. The tentacles led to a main body which looked like a combination of an octopus face and a doll. The creature she assumed was Adegast began to chuckle.

“Mhhmm. Interesting. You were actually able to see through my illusions. An impressive feat. Nonetheless, your fate is sealed. The owl lady must have already begun looking for you, and with you in my captivity she will not be able to fight properly and I will be able to take over as the most proficient potion seller in Bonesborough.” Adegast smirked at her. “Why don’t you even help me? As a fellow tentacle wielding demon, surely you can view a bond of camaraderie between us as more valuable than that of a stupid witch and her pet”

Luz stared at him, and started laughing. She started laughing louder and louder as the sound of her voice started overwhelming the entire clearing. Adegast looked weirded out by it and just a little bit nervous. After 30 seconds, Luz voice began to wain and she started speaking aloud.

“Again! Again I make the same stupid mistakes! It’s bad enough that this happened back when I was 9, but I’m still screwing up!” Luz yelled out in frustration. Luz should have known, there’s no such things as magic cure-all’s, only people taking advantage of those who were desperate and hopeful. Luz started to cry a little bit while looking to the floor.

Adegast saw his chance to capture Luz and transformed the magical staff into its original form of chains. Just when they were closing in on Luz, the chains were smashed and scattered in the ground. Adegast blinked in surprise, the girl in front of him was carrying what appeared to be a massive paint roller in both hands. She then rested the paint roller and pulled out a device from her bag. The girl flicked her fingers a bunch of time as music started playing, the sound of loud guitars and drums filling the air.

(LuzTracksForFun/Metal/Off-The-Hook/#$@%* Dudes Be ＃$@%* Sleepin/Uncensored )

“Ok you miserable spoiled excuse for fish bait. I have a lot of anger right now and need an outlet. You’re gonna be that outlet for the next five minutes.” Luz took a stance as she held the hand of her Splatroller firmly.

“Let me show you how a real cephalopod fights” Luz said, moving quickly as she charged the demon.

Eda was currently rushing through the air over rumef forest on Owlbert, with King barely holding on. The situation had turned out to be much worse than it appeared. Turns out Adegast was a bug demon specialized in Illusion magic that had become pissed at her stealing customers from his shop. Not only that, but he also had an extortion side-gig, if all the identical scrolls with the text chosen were anything to go by.

She wasn’t sure what made the demon think he could take her out, even with Luz as a hostage, but she wasn’t gonna take any chances. If her readings on King’s description were correct, he was proficient enough to make an entire castle look real while hiding the reality of it being a dilapidated ruin. She was ready to bring her A-Game for this.

They were quickly approaching the location of the fountain with the staff, passing the various locations the scroll described, but looking much worse for wear. That at least calmed her a little, since a truly powerful illusionist could have conjured the places from nothing instead of needing to use a physical medium like Adegast was doing. He would at the very least also have the ability of being competent enough at potions if he had the ability to sell potions without being blown out of the water by any decent member of the potions coven.

Suddenly, they heard a loud scream as the sound of music was coming from the front. Eda did not recognize the voice, but it sounded similar to the language used by Luz when not wearing the necklace. She also had the feeling that the voice just yelled out a massive swear word, but she could not pinpoint which kind. Regardless, she quickly went to the source of the music.

Once she arrived, Eda expected Luz to be fighting Adegast like she fought Wrath yesterday. She was not quite correct.

The entire area was covered head to toe in purple ink. Strung along the many zones were the remains of what she assumed to be puppets. Though the ink and they’re current state made it hard to see that, they were all torn to pieces. In the center of the fountain, she saw Luz in a much larger Octopus form than the one she appeared during her fight with Wrath, she was currently absolutely tearing limb by limb the form of wizard Adegast.

Adegast, who had runned out of puppets, was cowering at her. Luz came out of her giant octopus form and started approaching Adegast with a giant paint roller. In a last attempt of self defense, Adegast spit out what she identified to be a force blast potion.

For some reason, Luz did not avoid the potion and was hit square in her chest. She was blasted away by the explosion and knocked to her knees. Looking at her, her body was moving wildly and looked slightly melted. Eda panicked but kept her focus on Adegast. The little demon saw his chance to escape, but was quickly blocked by Eda, who decided to return the favor and blast him with a force spell of her own. His form was sent flying and crashed into a tree. His form started shrinking and he now looked so small she could hold him entirely with one hand. Seeing his now weakened and unconscious form, Eda saw as Luz was approaching her with a now stable form, her form now a completely solid state.

“Eda, what are you doing here?” Luz asked. There was anger in her voice and face, but she was not sure if it was aimed at her.

“I came because I saw you doing something stupid and needed to bail you out. I don’t know why you would even decide it was a good idea to openly walk into a scam, but just be aware that is not something you should even consider doing, especially with no kind of plan or support.” Eda said, putting her own level of seriousness into her voice.

Luz form shifted at her comment. Her face went from open anger to deep shame as her faculties looked a lot less firm. The music which had been playing before also faded out, leaving only silence in the dry lake where they were standing.

Realizing that making Luz feel bad wouldn’t make this situation any better, and seeing that nothing major had been lost, she decided that they would talk a bit later about this.

“Go wait with King on Owlbert, I’ll deal with this guy” Eda said. Luz simply silently followed her command and went to Owlbert. Taking a look at the now defeated demon to her right, she wondered what she should do with him.

“Well, I haven’t had lunch today”

Luz clinged to Eda as they were heading back to the Owl house. King held on to her shirt and was giving her a snuggle to her own back.

She screwed up. She put people in danger, and she couldn’t even finish cleaning up her mess. She was blinded by her anger and did not see the attack coming properly. It destabilized her form for two seconds, but that could have been enough for her to get splatted and Adegast to escape. She wasn’t sure what to say to Eda. Did she even deserve the chance to apologize?

She was in the middle of these thoughts when Eda started flying to higher altitudes. They started flying up for a couple of minutes when they suddenly stopped. Moving herself from Eda’s back, Luz looked around her and was marveled by the sight. From this high up, she could see the immensity of the titan. She could see its snow covered bones, the different forests filled with life, the head of the titan glowing with the light of the sun. It was simply marvelous.

Eda started talking, which got her out of her mind. “This is one of my favorite spots. When life gets too complicated, everything feels like a million things are going on all at once, or even feels like I have screwed up royally, I come to see this place and be reminded of my own position in this world.” Eda said with a wistful look on her face, gazing at the titan face.

“You know kid, you don’t strike me as the kind who get scammed easily. And something tells me you don’t buy into the idea of a chosen one that Adegast was selling. So, why did you decide to follow him?” Eda asked with a soft but firm voice.

Luz closed her eyes. Could she really open herself up that easily? Eda wasn’t even a member of her species, how could she understand? Another part of her was simply tired. Tired of hiding from the opportunity of getting closer to others. How many chances did she squander to form connections because of her feelings as a burden.

A part of her wanted to close up really badly, but decided that she could open up a little bit. “A long time ago, A girl lived in a different part of the world. Her home wasn’t quite as warm or welcoming as the place she lives in now, but it had its own charm and beauty, if marred a little bit by the politics of those in charge.” Luz started telling.

“We lived as a group of three. The father, a man who defended the bunkers from the pink fish. A mother, an expert nurse and veterinarian who healed the wounds and sickness of our home. Lastly, a daughter, a little girl with various dreams. She did not quite fit into the society that birthed her, too eccentric. Still, the family lived happily and in harmony with their surroundings. The girl remembered nights when the father would read her contraband from outside civilizations”

“One day however, things changed. The dad got sick. His movements became sloppier as his form destabilized with every day. No advancement in medicine had developed to cure the father's illness, neither in that civilization, or the ones on the outside. The family grew sadder every day, the mom became paranoid and started looking for anything which could heal the father’s pain.” Luz said, then proceeded to swallow hard.

“The girl, not fully understanding the situation, but wanting to help still, searched herself for a cure. One day, returning from school, she encountered a poster with a link. The link came promoting an organization that worked inside of her home which seeked to create a better tomorrow and claimed to have methods to cure any imperfection.” Luz said, a bit of ink crawling in her eyes.

“The mom took the information that the girl provided, and was pleased to find the information. They had everything. Records, social media accounts of successful patients, installations and credentials of the government, and many more things THe dad was sckeptical and wanted to avoid getting his family’s hopes up, but decided to listen anyways”

“They…” Luz paused, images of the events flashing to her mind. Weird, unnatural Octarians. An artificial voice. A fight. Escape. She couldn’t bring herself to tell.

Arming bravery, she decided to continue “Regardless of the details, the result was the same. The father perished due to the folly of his family. The mother and daughter were not even able to bring justice, the existence of the organization disappearing as if it was nothing”

“So they moved away from their old home. They arrived at a new place, one which under other circumstances would have brought the girl joy, a wonderful new home with many opportunities. Now she was full of sadness, unable to find partnership or connection. Now the girl lives alone and guilty of her part in the folly. And apparently, said girl still repeats the same mistakes many years later.”

Luz saw that Eda and King were very much shocked, with King having some tears in his eyes. Luz wiped the tears carefully and gave him a head rub.

Eda looked at her pensively. They sat all three together in silence for a minute. Then Eda spoke. “Ok kid, that’s a lot to unpack. Still, I think there’s something to be said” Eda shifted in the stick to look at her directly.

“Whatever scam you fell through, even as disastrous as that, is not your fault. Whoever did that to you was clearly someone with a lot more resources and knowledge than anything you could have possibly done at the moment. You were desparate and took advantage of you. The fault is in them, not in you.”

“You also have learned. While you did walk into a trap, it seems to me that you know your faults and are trying to improve them. If you fall here, that just means you still have room to become wiser and stronger. There’s nothing wrong with not being always fully capable”

“On the part of your loneliness, I think that’s a two way street kid. Me, King and Hooty accept you and think good of you, as I’m sure other people in your realm must have felt that too. But if you truly want to connect, it's not only something of you choosing them and them choosing you. You also have to choose yourself. Choose that you can be loved. There’s no such thing as a fated meeting, only a grasped opportunity” Eda smiled and then hugged her. King soon joined her.

Luz felt some ear crawl into her eyes and returned the hug. A part of her still felt that she didn’t deserve this, but it was getting overwhelmed by the spirit of a girl who had long looked for connections. She decided that right here, right now, she would do her best to return this warmth and share it with others. She would build connections here and hopefully form connections on her return home. She would live, not only for herself, but for the lover her father left with her as well.

Lilith Clwathorne was not having the greatest of days. She was currently having to sort through dozens of complaints in regards to the events of yesterday’s breakout.

Somehow, over 100 prisoners escaped the Conformatorium with the aid of her sister. Typically, all of them would go right back if not for the revelations of how they got arrested in the first place. Warden wrath and his group of coven scouts had used their influence to arrest people by the pettiest of charges. This went along as several reports showed abuse of powers as they would demand things from prisoners while they were in captivity, mainly being fee’s and favors from members of various covens. Said coven members were now rallying to make a large demand of responsibility from the media, only to be stopped by the prudence of their coven heads. Still, the heads demanded answers, and they demanded quickly.

Lilith never understood why Belos would put a simpleton as Wrath in charge of the Conformatorium. She assumed that perhaps he thought he was easy to control, but the matter had gotten out of his hands. When she asked Belos, he simply gave her the idea that he had clearly been deceived and would work on finding a replacement for him. He also took the time to again remind her to capture the Owl lady.

This led to some things she would have to investigate in order to make a proper report and a declaration that wouldn’t piss off everyone. The first was the presence of those weird abominations. According to the guards in captivity, Wrath got a deal in a future discount for a Blight Industries product if he buyed and tested some of their prototypes. When she asked Wrath about them, he told them that Odalia made a big show of them, but they turned out to be useless when confronted with members of the abomination coven. Odalia was always secretive of her plans, so she would need to ask Amity if she knew anything. She did not like to use her apprentice for information, but she still had a duty.

The other issue was her sister and the bipedal demon that came with her. The interrogations said that she came to the Conformatorium to recover an item taken from her pet demon and had taken a bipedal demon girl as well. Some of the reports on the details of the girl varied. Some said she was some kind of fish demon. Others claim that she was a cat. Some even claimed that she was a human, since she had rounded ears and somehow managed to cross the contraband’s room barrier. However, a lot of the reports claimed that she appeared to be some kind of demon with octopus-like traits, mainly detailing the presence of tentacles in her head.

There were witness and guard reports that she also somehow managed to take down warden Wrath in combat, but that seemed to be an exaggeration to her. If they were to be believed, the girl somehow had access to the advanced abomination style of shapeshifting magic and moved with precision fitting a seasoned warrior, not a little girl. Warden himself refused to comment on it, and proceeded to refuse to talk for the rest of the investigation. Her sister probably fought him and probably used some kind of illusion magic to mock him further, since this all happened due to his painfully terrible attempt at courting.

Edalyn…

No, she needed to focus on finishing this quickly and continuing the hunt for her sister. The emperor gets more impatient each day and she knew that if he became truly angry, he might not keep his promise of healing her from her curse. She would not lose the opportunity for her to fix her mistake. Her sister might not like it, but she knew better. They would both finally be fully happy after this.

Chapter 4: Chapter 3: "Of change and plants"

Chapter Text

Eda woke up to the sound of an alarm. Checking to her right, she was pleased to find that one of her trigger spells was notifying her of the death of a trash slug on a nearby beach. This was good news, as she needed some restocking of human goodies to sell on the upcoming weekend. Still, she had to do something first.

A week of having an apprentice had shown her both the weakness and strengths she had at teaching. Since the Adegast incident, Luz had become more open and curious of her questions of the Boiling Isles and its magic. As a result, Eda began teaching her everything she knew of magic and its properties. They hadn’t figured out a method on how to cast spells for Luz, so they kept for the most part to theoretical knowledge and learning how to brew potions, since it was one of the only types of magic that didn’t actually need bile to work. While Luz absorbed everything quite well, they hit a roadblock which she couldn’t solve on her own. She was a terrible linguist.

Her attempts to teach Luz common had turned out quite badly. At best, she had teached Luz how to say some simple words in common, but progress was slow. She also couldn’t teach her anything on how to read or write. A part of her wondered why it was going so terribly, but then she took one attempt at Luz’s own language. Aquarian, as Luz called it, was a language that consisted heavily of the usage of stylized letters and bizarre sentence structure, with multiple parts of the same words meaning different things depending of the order. That wasn’t even taking into account the existence of regional variants which had their own sense of structure and pronunciation. It was similar to some old dead demon languages that certain parts of the isles still used, but she didn’t know how to speak those and didn’t personally know anyone who could.Plain simply, she was out of her depth.

Which all led to the present. In order to solve Luz’s language difficulties, she would have to do something she never wished to do before. Willingly go back to school.

Hexside school for magic and demonics might be just another institution parroting the emperor’s dumb values, but it was still her best shot at finding someone who could teach Luz anything. She also knew that Bump was discreet and willing to protect his students, which would be important if the request came from him.

Deciding to not put it off for longer she got dressed and came downstairs. Entering the kitchen, she saw Luz and King talking over breakfast. She dreaded the image a little bit, as King had started converting Luz on his usage of terrible puns for comedy. She waited for them to finish before coming to Luz.

“Good morning Eda! What are we doing today!?” The girl looked a lot more comfortable when interacting with her, which made her feel happy.

“Ok kid, while I would normally like to give you another lesson or chore today, things will be different” Eda smiled, but was mentally preparing her mind for what she was gonna say next. “I’m gonna enroll you at school”. Uh, she only gagged a little bit at the words. Curious.

Luz slightly frowned at that. She wasn’t against school, but felt that was a bit of a downgrade to having a personal tutor. “Ok, but may I ask why?”

Eda felt a bit of relief. The kid wasn’t entirely opposed, so it would make her proposal go smoother. “You are a good student kid, but I can’t teach you everything. You’re gonna need to have someone to properly teach you how to read. Besides, while school may be close minded to subject possibilities, you could use the aid of seeing magic performed in real time and prepare you for the basics, at least until we find a way for you to cast spells.” There was a third reason, but she kept it to herself. Luz needed to try and form some friendships, and school was the best place to meet other kids her age. “If it makes you feel better, were not enrolling you right now. Think of today as a trial package. See if you like it and we can discuss a more permanent position”

Luz still had some reservations about the whole ordeal, but returned her smile at Eda’s help. She also was at least a little bit excited at the idea of seeing a real magic school “Ok, lead the way Owl lady”

Eda did not expect to feel nostalgia at seeing her old school. It had been a long time since she was a kid making pranks during Faust’s rule of the school, also feeling some sadness at seeing the Grudgby field as memories of her last day at school played in her head. Even so, a part of her was happy at seeing the old building still standing proud and lively.

Parking herself on the entrance, she wore on her head a green cloth to tie her hair, with Luz behind her wearing her fish hoodie. She didn’t want to draw too much attention to herself, and she didn’t need to make Luz stand out too much. She knew at least some kids here bought some of her human merchandise and didn’t want hounding Luz at the idea of her being one due to her round ears. At least, not until she had some guarantees that Bump wouldn’t put Luz on route to the emperor, or worse yet, her sister.

They entered the school and Luz seemed to be marveling at the place. The way her schools had been were a lot more plain compared to her’s, a lot more practicality over style and decoration.

That was however for a reason, if Luz was to be believed. Unlike her previous assumption, the realm Luz inhabited was populated by a large number of species. While Luz’s kind and a species of similar creatures called Inklings were the dominant species, they were all kinds of creatures. Jellyfish, crabs, different types of sentient fish, anemones, and many more kinds of creatures. They all had different kinds of physical needs, which led to their schools being designed to accommodate their students. When Luz told her about this, she joked that their schools must have been huge if they had to accommodate something like a whale into classrooms. Weirdly enough, Luz asked her what a whale was. Eda described it to her and was weirded out when Luz inquired if the human realm had access to old extinct species. Eda felt that something was weird about that information, but decided to put it off for later.

Walking down the halls, she could see students talking and walking as they prepared for their classes, with some feeding books and homework to their lockers. She also happened to see some teachers, who seemed to immediately recognize her and were either backing up slightly or hiding in the nearest room. She smirked at that, proof that her previous work was still this effective.

They came upon the principal’s office. The secretary was looking a bit nervous as she nodded for them to enter. Clearly one of the teachers reported her to Bump. Still, this accelerated things.

The office didn’t look that different to how Faust kept it, tough some of the dramatic lighting and instruments of torture had been taken out. Sitting now in the principal’s desk was a very unamused Bump. He looked much older than when she used to run around, but she could see that his aura was much firmer and wiser than when he was vice-principal. He also had Frewin still being used as a hat, most likely to keep that mane of hair that would put even her own to shame from spilling all over.

“I had a premonition in my coffee that I would be getting a large headache today. I believed to be an attempt from the barista for me buying another cup, but I seemed to have been wrong” Bump sat with both his hands holding an empty cup. “Good morning Edalyn”

“Good morning to you Bumpy Kins, how you doing?” Eda said, trying to relax herself as much as possible. She considered putting up her feet and taking a more casual stance, but considering what she was looking for, she decided to hold herself back a little bit.

“Well I was having a good day looking into school proposals until I had 3 different teachers come in and announce that the Calamity returned” Bump looked at her with firm eyes, but after a while they started to soften up a little. “Still, its nice seeing you again after all these years”

Bump then knelt down and started reaching for some papers in his desk cabinet. “Now, while I would have preferred that you started with a formal education earlier, it's nice to see your taking responsibility and trusting the system a little bit with the safety of your child.”

Eda felt a crimson blush sprout at her face and sought to immediately correct. “Woah, woah, woah! Hold on! Luz here is my apprentice and not my child” Eda felt embarrassment on her entire being, with a bit of an odd emotion mixed in.

Bump raised an eyebrow curiously “Ah, so she is an apprentice and not your child. That 's fine. Tough that makes me curious as to why you decided to enroll her. I tought to believe that your wild teachings would be better than our own”

Eda cleared her throat and started explaining “Well, I can’t teach her everything. Some subject are not my specialty and I require help dealing with her unique… condition”

Bump looked at her with some severity in his eyes “What kind of condition?”

“She can’t read, write or speak common” Eda said

Bump looked incredibly panicked at that information. “She can’t do any of those things!? What kind of education has she been getting!?” Bump answered with incredulity and slight anger in his voice.

“Calm down Bump, its not that they didn’t teach her because of neglect, its more so that she hasn’t had a need to do so before” Eda waited for Bump to calm and continued. “Luz here is not from the Isles, she’s from somewhere else”

Bump had settled down from his reaction and was now analyzing the situation with more carefulness. After thinking about it, he reached a somewhat obvious conclusion. “You took a human for an apprentice?”

Eda shook her head. “Not at all. Luz, take your hood off”

Bump was curious what was Eda hiding until he saw the girl. Peculiar would be an understatement. While heavily similar to a witch, the girl seemed to be a combination between an octopus and witch. She had rounded ears unlike witches, tough hers were a lot more exaggerated compared to the photos he had seen from the club young Porter spearheaded. “Its good to meet you Luz, could you perhaps tell me a little bit of yourself? I’ll try to interpret if I can”

The girl had been fidgeting during their conversation, but being addressed seemed to perk her up and gave Bump a smile. “Its nice to meet you principal Bump, my name is Luz Acuda”

Bump was gonna ask how Luz could clearly speak well common, but Eda clarified before he could say anything. “She has a translation necklace on her, it helps both sides to communicate verbally, but only when she’s wearing it. Otherwise, she can only speak a couple of words”

Bump nodded at the words. “Ok. Luz, what can you tell me of yourself and your kind?”

Luz put her finger on her lips and started thinking. “Well, my kind are known as the Octarians, though most call us Octolings. Were a race of bipedal cephalopods with the ability to manipulate the Ink in our bodies for mobility and combat. We also have a minor ability to change the color of our ink and tentacles. As for myself, I like fantasy books, I enjoy turf war matches like most of our kind, and I am deeply fascinated by magic”

Bump seemed to be quite pleased at the information, but continued with some other questions.

“Can you cast magic of any kind?” Bump asked.

“I am learning potion magic from Eda, but I haven’t figured out how to cast spells yet. Were still looking for a way to bypass the lack of a Bile sac” Luz said.

“You mentioned you produce Ink. Do you have special requirements to dispose of it and is it hard to clean” Bump asked

“I don’t need to use my Ink unless I want to. And if I do use it, the Ink will evaporate in an hour” Luz answered. Eda had to chuckle a bit. She remembered the demonstrations Luz had to make in order to convince Eda that was true and she was not gonna turn her bathroom into a multi-colored art piece everytime she took a bath.

Bump looked a bit incredulously at this information, but decided to accept it for now. Returning to his seat he pulled out some papers.

“While enrollment is something that’s too early in the cards, due to a lack of being able to use the textbooks we provide it, we can have Luz start taking some common classes for first year students. Once she demonstrates a sufficient ability to read and write, we can have her attempt to enroll properly” Bump said. “I would also like Luz to walk around the school and see what she thinks of the premises”

“Luz, you’re okay with spending a day here?” Eda said.

“Sure, I’m curious to see how it goes” Luz said

“Fantastic, now come with me and I’ll guide you to the language classroom. Once you finish there, you can enter the different classes with this pass and the teachers will know not to bother you” Bump drew a magic circle and a tag appeared on Luz hoodie with the word ‘VISITOR’ in bold red letters. He then took Luz out of the office and into the hallway.

Once she saw them turn a corner, Eda decided that it was time to leave the school. She opened a window and jumped out, summoning Owlbert and taking flight to the Owl House to pick up King to help her carve up the trash slug.

Willow believed that one should always try to present themselves as best they could to others. No sense in burdening people with your problems when you know they could be going through some kind of problem themselves. As such, she preferred to remain calm and not make a big fuss of things. Right now however, a part of her wanted to scream until it reached the clouds.

Today was evaluation day for their abomination projects and professor Hermonculus was currently being extremely critical of her classmates' projects. As a student of the abomination track, she was expected to at least be able to animate her abomination to move under her magic and hold its own form. That would get someone a decent grade. A problem for her, since she didn’t have the ability to do even one of those things.

It's not that she didn’t try, the titan knows that she didn’t get a wink of sleep in order to get the mix right enough that it could at least partially work. But no matter how much she studied or practiced, she couldn’t get her magic to work properly. She knew she wasn’t entirely talentless as people called her, but she couldn’t disappoint her dad’s by asking for a transfer to another magic track, if Bump would even allow her.

After being disappointed in yet another student’s project, professor Hermonculus declared that if the next student couldn’t even reach the level of decent, they would all get extra homework. Amity then rose to the challenge and proposed that she should show her project, as top student she was guaranteed an A and would in the process guarantee everyone safety from homework, but the professor said that he would leave her last, since he preferred to cap off with a high note.

A part of her scoffed at Amity’s display of fake kindness. At one point she maybe would have believed that her old childhood friend was genuine in her actions, but years of seeing her stand back on the sidelines as people bullied her and even sometimes participating led to whatever friendship they once shared vanished. Even today, while she struggled to drag her cauldron to class in the woods, she came by only to mock her and remind her of that horrible nickname Boscha gave her. Not one sign of comfort, not one piece of advice, just wicked mockery.

As she was thinking this, she was startled as professor Hermonculus signaled to her to present. The entire class groaned at his declaration, no one expecting her to accomplish anything. She felt the pressure and a tightness on her throat as everyone stared at her with looks of pity mixed with annoyance.

She forced herself to stand up and dragged her cauldron to the front. Lifting the lid, she stared at the purple liquid and breathed in and out. She drew a spell circle as she tried to make the abomination take shape. The liquid inside barely stirred and Hermonculus took notes. Getting worried and feeling panic, she started pouring more magic into the spell. She felt her mind and body strain as magic flowed into a new circle, forcing with all her might for the abomination to take shape. The purple goo started lifting itself up and started rising from the cauldron, beginning to form hands and feet as it was supposed to. Willow saw this and became elated. She was actually doing this! She really was controlling her abomination! Just as she was preparing herself to make it move, things fell apart.

The abomination’s form became overwhelmed at all the magic that was being poured into it, and with Willow lacking the ability to fully control it, the abomination detonated and spread all over the front of the classroom. Hermonculus actually casted a spell and protected the other students from the blast, but she ended up covered in her project.

Hermonculus approached Willow and summoned all but the goo in her clothing into her cauldron. He then began criticizing her. “While your abomination matter is good, your lack of control clearly shows that you have been slacking off in your shaping homework. I’m very disappointed Miss Park, you leave me no choice but to give you this grade.” He then summoned some abomination matter in the shape of a big capital F in her cauldron.

She returned to her seat, hearing both whispers and slight giggles from her show. The rest of the class felt almost like a blur as the words and the rest of the presentations mixed together. She felt tears forming in her eyes, her hands were shaking, and she felt bile rise to her throat. She still held it in however, as she wouldn’t give others the satisfaction.

She didn’t take notes of whatever homework the professor gave, since as soon as the bell screamed and signaled the start of recess, she took off from the classroom to go to the bathroom. She felt herself bump into someone, but couldn’t tell who as tears were beginning to stream down her face.

Luz was having a great day. While it was somewhat embarrassing having too spend an entire class with younger children, the results seemed to be worth it. She got a lot more use of learning the basics of common from professor Duolin than Eda, no offense to her teacher of course. He was quite nice, using a variety of practical examples and explaining to her the usage of an ‘alphabet’. She still felt better using her home language, but she was quite happy to learn.

After the first period, she basically had free reign to wander the school for the rest of the day. She took the opportunity to peek inside various of the coven classes. Eda explained to her that the magic of the boiling isles was mainly divided into 9 types, with almost all magic entering into one of those 9 branches.

She was very interested in learning how bard magic compared to the music of her realm. Some called the music of bands like the Squid sisters to be almost magical in action. While she was not sure how true that was in terms of being literally magic, music in her world played an important role in motivating and entertaining all creatures. The tradition of music was very important.in all cultures, from Inklings to jellyfish and even Salmonids. It was curious seeing everyone here use more classical styles of music without some synth mixed in, reminding her of the son from Ink Theory.

The other class she sought was the plant coven. There were multiple projects in order to reforest the surface properly and healing local ecosystems, so the idea of magic which could accelerate that process fascinated her. The people here could grow seeds in seconds and animate the plants to shape themselves and their environment. A very useful skill and one she wished to learn herself. Before leaving, she found a seed falling from the teacher’s pocket. Seeing her not returning for it or any of the students acknowledging it, she put it in her bag.

She proceeded to walk down the hallway and think of which class she wanted to see next. Some students whispered some comments about her appearance. She was a bit annoyed at standing out so much, but knew she couldn’t do much for it. Weirdly enough, after getting over her tentacles, kids made comments about her ears. According to Eda, rounded ears were a very uncommon physical trait in the Boiling Isles, the trait being associated almost entirely to the humans Eda stole from. She wasn’t sure what was so special about humans, since looking into the technology Eda had revealed them to be more primitive than her own. Still, very similar

As she thought about humans and weird convergent technology, she heard a loud scream. She wasn’t gonna get accustomed to that anytime soon. Students started leaving their classrooms and heading for what she assumed was the cafeteria. She started heading there as well, having some snails Eda gave her to buy lunch, when she was knocked down.

Standing up and looking back, she saw a girl in the Hexside uniform with purple socks and shirt, Abomination track if she remembers it right, running down the hall. Looking to the ground, she could see small patches of grass and flowers trying to grow from the stone ground that the girl stepped on.

Luz was confused but didn’t know what to do exactly. She wanted to really help the girl, but she didn’t want to get embroiled in some kind of scandal and get herself Vetoed from magic school without even having an official first day. The call to do the right thing was strong, but so was her survival instinct.

She wondered what Azura would do. With that thought, her resolve finally gave in and she began to follow the patch of flowers.

Willow was sobbing in the bathroom, her will had crumbled. She was hiding in one of the stalls of a bathroom on the second floor, hopefully with no one coming during recess.

She was sad, she was a little bit hungry, but most importantly, she was angry. She hated having bad grades. She hated having to disappoint her parents. She hated how people kept calling her half-a-witch Willow. She hated how professor Hermonculus picked on her. She hated Amity and her stupid mockery.

But most importantly of all, she hated abominations! She hit the stall wall and slightly bruised her hand, leaving a mark on the wall.

Wiping her eyes, she started trying to calm herself down to go out when the door suddenly opened. She rose her feet to the seat as the person started moving around on the bathroom. She was doing something in the bathroom for 3 minutes before she suddenly stopped. Willow kneeled down and looked at the floor, seeing no one there. She wondered if a ghost had suddenly appeared in the bathroom. Arming herself with bravery, she left the stall.

As she left, she was shocked. She saw a drawing of a flower. The flower was drawn with heavy detail, resembling the image of a clotted flower. She thought that it looked very pretty. As she saw the flower, she began to notice that the paint was slightly moving on one spot. As she began looking into it, the paint gave way and showed a pair of eyes.

Taking a step back, the eyes gave way as an octopus jumped from the drawing and landed on the floor, being colored as green as the paint. The octopus then began to shift and, in the blink of an eye, transformed. It grew its tentacles until it formed arms and feet, its body stretched and changed into a torso, and its face positioned itself into a head, which morphed into a witch-like face.

The girl shook a bit and reached out into a bag she had on her side and pulled out a small bag. Out of the small bag, she took a sandwich and split it in half, offering it to her. “Are you hungry?” She said, her voice trying to make itself calming. Willow was gonna answer, but her stomach got ahead of her and rumbled a bit loudly. She blushed, but the girl nodded her head and gave her the half.

She sat down on the floor and took a bite of what she could now identify as a griffon egg sandwich. It was quite tasty. After that, the girl and her just sat there for a minute as they ate, getting into a comfortable silence. Once she finished, they kept the silence going for a minute before the girl talked again.

“So, what got you upset?” The girl asked. Willow was shocked and wondered how she noticed that, but looking into a mirror revealed that she hadn’t finished cleaning the tear marks. She clamped up a bit at answering, but the girl simply stared at the floor next to her.

“You don’t have to answer, but maybe telling a complete stranger some of your problems can be a bit better than nothing at all. Just saying” She flashed that her shirt had a visitor marking, indicating that she wasn't actually a student. She still did not feel that talking about it was okay, but a tired part of her wanted to at least tell someone how she felt.

“I failed a test” Willow said while looking to the side.

“There’s a bit more to it than that, right?” The girl gave her a questioning look.

Breathing in and out, she continued.“It's… not my first time. It's actually been like that ever since I joined my track. I keep failing and failing without showing any improvement. Today simply was that I got overwhelmed, nothing to serious”

The girl looked at her and cocked her head “If you aren’t that good at this, why not go for a different track?”

“My parents signed me up for the opportunities the abomination track covers. My father is an abomination member and he makes good money with his magic” Willow said dejectedly.

“Is one of your grandparents an abomination member?” The girl asked.

Willow was confused at the inquiry, but still answered. “No”

“Is anyone else in your family an abomination member?”

Willow was not seeing what the girl was looking for. “No, only my dad and a cousin from my dad’s side”

The girl sat there pensively before piping up. “Then you’re not being forced into this”

“Uh?” Willow said.

“Listen, your parents seem to be looking out for you by pushing you into using abominations, but it won’t work if you're not compatible. No one will want a mediocre or decent abomination user when there are better options, no matter how many more opportunities they have” The girl said. “Do your parents know of this or how you feel?”

Willow felt a small tear crawl into her eye and answered. “No”

“Well then, you should try to change that. Bottling up things only works for so long. Better communication can go a long way” The girl said while smiling at her. “Still, this is just a stranger's opinion, you can just dismiss this whole thing if you want. I’m not your boss or superior”

Willow sat there thinking of things. Was the girl right? Could she really do something as drastic as changing her track? She wondered.“Even if I wanted to, I don’t know how to even address that to Bump”

“Well, why don’t we go ahead and ask him” Willow looked shocked at her. “Come on, you didn’t think I was gonna encourage you and just leave you dry like that. I’ll accompany you and help you out as much as I can.” The girl said. She then stood up and offered her hand.

Willow then took her hand and stood up as well. They headed for the bathroom, but stopped before they left.

The girl gave a small smack to her forehead. “Oh my Squod, I didn’t even introduce myself” She then turned around and opened her palm for a high five.

Willow chuckled a bit and high fived her back. “Willow Park” They made moves to remove their hands, but she then noticed that she didn’t finish cleaning her hands and were stuck together by a trail of abomination goop.

Once we got to Bump’s office we had to wait a few minutes. While there, I began thinking of how this was gonna work. Eda told me that the Demon realm had a very rigid view on the usage of magic. She didn’t elaborate further, but she mentioned it had something to do with the coven’s and being forced into a specialization. The way she described it, it almost sounded as if they were collectively crippling themselves for the sake of only using one type of magic, but it must be more complicated than that. Still, she presumed that there were gonna be complications with switching tracks for Willow.

She could not understand why people were being mean to Willow. Her impression of her seemed to be of a very polite if timid girl. Sure, she was underperforming, but the school should be responsible for finding a way for her to succeed, not just throw her into things without more counseling.

Once Bump arrived, he found them waiting patiently on some chairs near his door. He signaled for them to come inside. They took their seats.

“Hello again Miss Acuda, I hope you have been having a good day so far” He then looked to Willow. “Good day to you too Miss Park, though your presence outside of your classroom confuses me. Are things okay?”

Willow tensed up, so I decided to help her out. “I encountered Willow during my exploration in School and we got talking. She told me she’s been thinking of switching tracks. Is there anything that can be done about that”

Bump's face frowned a little bit at the idea, but he didn’t reject it outright. “That is a… highly irregular petition. While students have changed tracks before, it usually is due to high limitations. Do you believe Miss Park that you hit some sort of roadblock in your studies, and if so, which track would you like to change to? You must also provide a method to show that you actually have some skill in this new magic style compared to your old one, otherwise it would be pointless changing you from one underperforming track to another.”

Willow was lightly clenching her hands, but answered. “I feel that I can;t progress in the abomination track. I have tried everything to improve, but haven’t shown even a smidge of real progress. For a new track… I would like to try out the Plant track if that’s okay with you Principal Bump. I don’t have a method right now to prove my prowess however”

“I actually have a proposal for that if you will allow me” I said. An idea had formed in my head and I think it would prove useful.

“Really? Well then, tell us” Bump answered her.

“She can just fight me!” I said excitedly.

Both Bump and Willow looked at me as if I grew another tentacle in my head, with Bump recovering first. “That isn’t an entirely bad proposal. Trial by combat has been used before. But how will I know if you are going to be worthy of a challenge, as well as being impartial”

I crossed my arms. “Our kind holds combat and competition to the highest importance. The act of cheating of any kind is an extremely cultural and social taboo. I will give Willow a completely fair fight, don’t worry about that” I said confidently. “As for my worthiness… How about I show you how an Octoling fights professor Bump?” I said while a smile showed itself on my face. I will admit to missing the opportunity to have a good fight. Wrath and Adegast might have had raw power on their side, but lacked the skill to give a good fight. They were also both creeps that I didn’t regret pummeling more than fighting.

Bump looked intrigued at my proposal and nodded. “Okay, let us head outside.”

We went outside to the field outside the school. Aside from us three, there was no one else on this part of the school. Bump stepped firmly on one side of the field, flexing his fingers.

“These are the conditions of the match. You and I will fight, If you prove yourself a good match for me, you will fight with Miss Park. If Miss Park is able to give a good performance, she will be able to join the Plant track. If she can’t show this, we will have to wait a while and discuss this with her parents” Bump declared, summoning a parchment and etching the words into it. So cool! Willow was sitting on the steps and giving me a cheer. I pulled out from my bag a tube, which unfolded itself into a long sniper rifle. I also fastened my Ink tank to my back, making sure it properly applied to my clothes.

Bump looked shocked at my weapon, but maintained his stance firm. Waving his hand, the sound of a bell rang and the match started.

Bump summoned a bunch of abominations and sent them flying towards me. Ducking and weaving the attacks, I charged my weapon until it became full, and shot a blast to Bump’s head. Bump quickly avoided the attack, barely gracing him. He started moving his hands and weaved larger spell circles. It seems he began taking my skills seriously.

I began shooting around me to build turf for me to move around, seeing that Bump formed a large wave on the field. Seeing no openings, I quickly super jumped over the wave, but it left me open for Bump to blast me with a shot of abomination. Feeling my form being destabilized, I threw two bombs in quick succession to Bump’s feet and dived into my ink. Bump used two abominations to swat away the bombs, exploding out of range. He then drew another big spell circle and threw yet another large wave at me. This time however, I was prepared.

I emerged out of the ink and my weapon transformed into a giant vacuum. The vacuum absorbed the entire wave and converted the abomination goo into energy. The energy transformed to ink and was rapidly fired at Bump. Exploding right on his face and raising dust.

As the dust settled, I was impressed at seeing a large abomination barrier blocking the front of Bump. The barrier lowered and I saw that Bump’s hat had transformed into a small familiar in a staff, similar to Owlbert’s Eda. Without his mask, Bump looks changed to having a scar on one of his eyes and having his Eda worthy hair cascading down his back. Bump cleaned some of the dust and unsummoned the familiar, having quickly scoop up his fair and transform again into a hat.

“Well, I will admit I was not expecting that. You fight better than some students who joined the Emperor coven later on in their lives. For this test you pass” He turned to Willow. “Miss Park, pick up the bag of seeds I left on the first row and take your position”

Willow rushed for the bag of seeds and stood on the opposite side of the field to me. I was gonna give Willow an extremely hard fight, but she needed to showcase her strength. Not just to Bump, but to herself as well.

///////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////

Luz and Willow were following behind Bump to the field. Luz nudged Willow to turn to her and put a small seed in her hand.

“What is this?” Willow asked while whispering.

“Some seed the teacher from the plant track dropped. Thought it might be useful” Luz answered while putting her arms behind her head.

“You think I need help?” Willow ask while some sad feelings popped into her head.

“Not at all” Luz said. Willow looked confused.

“I haven’t seen you fight yet, but I can see a lot of hidden determination in your eyes. Use this fight to prove not to me or Bump or anyone else your strength and value. Use it to prove it to yourself. See the strength of Willow Park” Luz said while smiling at Willow.

///////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////

Luz gave a light bow as Willow took a stance. She then heard the sound of the bell ringing again.

Luz charged her rifle and immediately shot at Willow’s chest. Willow in return uses one of the seeds to summon a flower which catched the blast, though it was ripped out by the force. Willow then drew a spell circle which glowed in green, summoning a large patch of grass which grew to cover her and a lot of the ground. I threw a bomb in there to try to force her out, but Willow did not leave the grass. I then saw a lot of seeds flying in my direction. I was gonna simply thank them at first, but one of the seeds transformed into vines which tried to entangle me. I dodged the vines, though one of them got me and dragged me a fem meters back from my leg. I then saw Willow summon a tree whose branches extended and wrapped around her. She quickly shifted from her solid form into Ink as she passed through the branches and charged up a shot.

Willow was shocked at my transformation, but kept firm and summoned two flowers which fired blasts of powder at me. I avoided both and gave a fully charged shot at one of the flowers, knocking it out. I then had to spend a few seconds peppering the second one with smaller shots until it was knocked down as well.

Willow tried to reach for another seed, but saw that she had run out. She then remembered the seed Luz gave her and began to focus. She started pouring magic into the seed and noticed that it had a very complicated flow of growth. Still, it was much easier than controlling an abomination, so she made her magic flow naturally through it.

As Luz finished fighting off the second flower, she then felt rumbling as large vines started forming from the ground all over. Looking over, she saw Willow standing on top of a giant plant and commanding its different parts like they were her own limbs. She also saw her having one of the widest smiles she had seen, looking absolutely pumped up.

Luz felt her own ink respond to the challenge and with her energy summoned the vacuum again to continue the fight. However, they were stopped when Bump started yelling for them to stop.

“I can’t believe this, you made an Ampelus seed grow” Bump looked incredibly shocked at this. He looked up to the sky and said. “It really was a mistake…”

Both me and Willow began to panic at those words. I was gonna jump to defend Willow when he continued.

“It really was a mistake putting you into the abomination track” He finished saying, giving both of us a smile. Feeling relief, both of us lowered our attacks and began to approach Bump.

“While the change will have to be run with your parents later, for now you can know that you have my full permission to change tracks. Welcome to the plant track Miss Park '' He casted a spell and Willow’s tights and shirt changed from purple to green. Willow spent a second looking at her arms and then rushed at me and pulled me into a tight hug.

“As for you miss Acuda” He then looked at me. “As I said before, you're welcome to come along to study on the weekdays for our linguistics class, though I would be very glad if you were interested in taking a more permanent position. Hexside could use an exchange student such as yourself” He then gave us a wave as he retired back to his office.

Willow then finally stopped hugging me and I could begin breathing again. “Luz thank you, thank you, thank you! I can’t believe this is really happening!” Willow said while giving me a big smile.

“Hey I only did the job of being your obstacle, you are the one who proved Bump your worth. Like I said before, you are strong”

Willow looked at me warmly and then opened her eyes widely. “Oh my titan, I left my things in the classroom and I have to give the news to my parents. Will I see you again?”

Luz smirked and pointed to the forest. “I am currently living with my teacher on the other side of the forest. I can take you there and we can hang out tomorrow if you like”

Willow flashed her a smile and started leaving. “Sure, I can even introduce you to Augustus and we can hang out as a trio of friends” She then rushed to the building.

I then just stood there for a minute as I finally processed what happened. I helped someone. I made a positive impact in their lives. I even made a friend for that. A warmth then filled me as I pumped my fists to the air. Today really has been a good day for all!

WIllow arrived to find the classroom empty, with the other students and Proffesor Hermonculus retiring for the day. Finding my stuff, I checked my scroll to find various messages from Augustus asking how I was and what happened to me. I felt bad for leaving him hanging, so I left him a bunch of messages explaining as best I could what happened and for him to call me later. I also left a message to my dad’s to come seek me out in principal Bump’s office as we needed to have a talk.

As I was finishing packing my things, I heard the door open and a very familiar voice start speaking. “Plant track uh? Figured you go for that, you always liked playing in the ground”

Turning around, I saw Amity enter the classroom and head for her desk, picking up a golden star badge and pinning it to her cloak.

“Still, it's a bit disappointing seeing you take the easy way out. Had you shown just a little bit more talent and work, you could have been with the rest of us” Amity said.

Willow felt annoyed and was about to start arguing with Amity, but decided to not bother. She grabbed her things and headed for the door.

“You know, a part of me always regretted losing you as a friend. Some of my fondest memories were of the two of us hanging out when we were younger” Melancholy and bitterness showed on her voice. “But you really have shown me that I actually dodged a curse there. You’re a spiteful and mean witch, just like your mother”. She grabbed the door handle and left. “Have fun being Boscha’s main lackey, I’m done giving you the benefit of the doubt”

Willow leaved and left Amity inside there. The classroom was now dead silent as the sound of a few tears hitting the ground were heard.

Chapter 5: Basilisk Expansion - Shape 1 - “Octopus”

Chapter Text

Vee was walking back from the food stand after getting her order. She had ordered what appeared to be a sandwich and smoothie from the friendly prawn vendor. She did not know the flavor, but the smell alone told her that it was much better than the grub she was fed in the Conformatorium. After leaving, a lot of people started going to the stand and pulling out cameras to take photos of the vendor. The vendor didn’t look that bothered by the attention and even posed for the teenagers. Vee didn’t know what all the fuss was about, maybe he was some kind of celebrity?. He seemed to know the camp counselors.

Vee decided to return with her plate on hand and decided to go eat with Masha at their cabin. Vee could not believe how her luck had changed from just a week ago.

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Vee had been sneaking through Bonesborough market for what felt like hours. Having to avoid the demons and witches was slightly easy thanks to her stealing some of their magic to feed and transform. Some charge off from their scrolls and she could jump from one form to another with some ease. Still, she needed to focus and find her.

It had already been nearly two weeks since the explosion on the Conformatorium and her escape into the wilds of the Boiling Isles. Most of the Basilisk experiments had managed to escape and were now on the run from the emperor coven. She didn’t know what happened to the rest of her fellow Basilisk. She heard that one Basilisk was trying to raise morale to fight Belos. Others would try to live among witches in hiding and hope to never get caught. Vee could respect both, but she knew either case was pointless. Fighting Belos was impossible and nobody in the Isles would ever support them if they found out of their true nature, not with the presence of the Emperor coven all over the Isles. So she took a third option.

She heard whispers from some of the coven guards watching them about how the Old lady, a prominent wild witch, had a portal to the human realm. If she understood it correctly, it even was the only portal that led there. To Vee it was perfect, it meant that it was a place long away from the reach of Belos. The only issue in her eyes was the lack of easily accessible magic for her to feed on, but hopefully she wouldn’t need to shapeshift that often once she got there. She would hopefully just live a life as a normal human for the rest of her hopefully peaceful days.

After finding out that the Owl lady summoned human curios on the weekends, she went to the market to find her. Searching for her was difficult, but she eventually found her tent near a cliffside. She started approaching from behind and see if she could find the portal open. She could have asked, but she didn’t know how sympathetic a wild witch would be to her kind.

Peering inside the tent, she was amazed to find that there was a door frame with a portal already swirling inside. She began to ponder how to approach the situation when the portal suddenly made a loud sound. Coming from the front of the portal, a small bird stepped out while holding a large bag. Assuming that it belonged to the Owl lady, she waited a few seconds. What came next she did not expect.

Following the owl was a teenage girl. She would have assumed her to be human if not for the obvious differences. The girl had tentacle hair, she had colorful clothes, her eyes were marked with black shadows, her skin was weirdly glossy, and her teeth looked weird. Vee was confused, she thought the portal to the human realm?

The girl suddenly stepped and went to the entrance of the tent. Seeing no better chance than this, Vee went through the portal and crossed into the other side.

Once Vee came out, she was surprised to find herself in an alley somewhere. The place was also surprisingly clean, with a lot of garbage neatly piled into containers. She could see some drawings on the wall, but couldn’t identify what they were saying.

She suddenly heard some footsteps coming from out the alley. Panicking she changed into the form of the weird girl from earlier and assumed her form. Two neat abilities from Basilisks was they had extremely good visual memory and could understand the language of other species without any problems. She had communicated for some beast demons to get to the market, who were mostly indifferent to her existence.

As she finished her form, she heard the sound of someone yelling “Luz” and stopping in front of the alley. Looking there, she found a woman of extremely similar features to the girl of the portal. Notable differences was that this one looked a lot more mature to the teenager, she was wearing different clothes, and had glasses. She also had the same weird physical features the girl had.

Coming up to her the woman approached and took her hand. “Why did you run off like that, you had me so worried!” The woman gave her a stern gaze and she could see clear anger on her face. Vee didn’t know what to do or say, so she merely turned her look down and said a meek “Sorry”.

The woman seemed to calm down and her stern gaze softened up to a somewhat tired smile, though her eyes had a lot of warmth to them. “Oh mija, you know I only worry about you,I’m sorry if I came off as mean” She then took her hand and started guiding her out of the alley.

She took her to what she could describe as some kind of waiting station. She took and wiped her ‘clothes’ from some dust. “I know you aren’t entirely comfortable when sending you to this camp mija” She said. “A part of me wishes things were different and we could both deal with things together. It's just… really hard to move on '' She gave a sad look to her side.

“This place will be different, no preaching or formalities. Just a normal camp where you can express yourself. Because I believe that the person you are is someone worthy of another's love. You are special Luz. Never forget that I believe that and others can too” She then stood up, gave me a hug and kissed my forehead. “Te amo” She then placed a ticket in her hand. After that, she left somewhere else. I know those words were not meant for me, but they still made me feel really happy. Some tears escaped from my eyes.

I was then left alone in the station, pondering my options. I could try to escape someplace else, but I didn’t know anything of this world and its species. She also didn’t want to leave that woman entirely alone. Her daughter got herself stuck in another world and she didn’t know any better because she took her place. So she decided to build her resolve. She would go to this camp the woman mentioned, stay until the girl, ‘Luz’, returned, and hopefully her good behavior would mean some help and getting knowledge on how to survive. How hard could this be?

Her answer, as if by divine comedy, came to her when a long metal creature/vehicle stopped at her station and opened one of its doors/mouths. At the front of her transport was a small blue ball/thing with a lot of nubby spikes coming out of it. It did not have any eyes, mouth or any other noticeable features. Some of its spikes were extending themselves to press buttons on the wall. It turned its… face? at her and began speaking.

“Luz Acuda?” The thing said. Assuming it meant her, Vee gave the small creature the ticket she was given. The creature looked? at it and then gave it back to her.

“The ticket is valid, you can come inside” It said with an accent she didn’t recognize.

Stepping inside, the door/mouth closed behind her and a new one opened at the front. Walking through it, she was amazed by the sights. In the compartment were lots of seats that were occupied with all manner of creatures. A lot looked like her, though there were a lot of variants between those, some small and other large. There were also other creatures. They ranged from bulbous and semi translucent balls with shirts, to hard shelled and bulky creatures.

She looked all around for an empty seat and found one on the back of the left side. When she got there however, she saw that the seat also had one other person. It seemed a lot like her, though her skin was a paler tone to her own, their hair was a vibrant blue, their eye shadows combined into one shape, and the tentacles on their head had the tentacle protrusions backwards from hers. They also had a small gap on their teeth, though the more she looked at them, the less they seemed like teeth.

Noticing that she had been staring at them without saying anything she decided to try asking for permission. “Ummmmm, excuse me, is this seat taken?” She asked, her voice cracking a little because of her nervousness.

The octupus?? person looked at her and flashed a smile at her, which calmed her a little. “Sure thing!” They shifted a little to the left and patted the empty seat. I took the seat with little grace on my movements. I must not have been looking that calm, because they noticed it and started talking to me.

“First time camping?” They said while laying in their seat.

“Something like that. Haven’t really had an opportunity to go out a lot. It's all a little… new to me” My words trailed off as a large creature with really sharp teeth passed by.

“First time seeing so many people?” They looked at me curiously.

“Yeah, there were all kinds of people where I am from. Just never saw someone like that.” Vee said. She should probably tone down her reactions, otherwise she’s gonna stand out.

“Nah, it's okay. Sharks keep mostly to the west coast, so seeing one isn’t that surprising.” They then offered me their hand. “Masha Ryu, They/them, pleasure to meet you.”

“Luz Acuda. She/her” She grabbed her hand. They then took my hand and started moving it around in a spiral parent. Reaching back into the center, they released my hand and started making a wave pattern with her hand. I didn’t show a reaction and that made them blush a little.

“Ha, sorry. Been trying to make that a thing.” They started scratching the back of their head.

“No, don’t worry, it's okay.” I quickly tried to calm them down. No need to antagonize the first person I had a full conversation with. “So, what are we expecting here?”

“Oh, you know the work. Just a month and a half of fun in camp Arowana. They have sun, a lake, and lots of snacks. Not a lot of turf war spots though, so things will get cramped for the best places. Also gonna have to miss out on the splatfest, would have totally kicked the butts of team white and milk chocolate.” Masha said. I did not know what a turf war match is, but decided to remember it for now. If I was gonna be here, I should probably get accustomed to the terms the locals use. Looking back, I noticed that Masha was starting to snooze off, so I decided to nap as well.

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I was knocked out of my remembrance as I lightly bumped into a group of jellyfish drinking from a puddle. While I saw that same puddle the day before, I knew now not to question it. Jellyfish like to drink any water they find, and without a concept of clean or dirty, they just drink what they find.

Things had been going somewhat smoothly since I arrived. After getting here, I was able to join Masha’s cabin in the camp, cabin 7. We were joined by a spider crab named Mike and a moonfish named Carrie.

Learning things has been hard. The customs of the people here were weird and confusing. A lot of things were taken for granted, so I had to learn everything from scratch on how the different species interacted. Thankfully, Masha has been getting me up to speed on the ins and outs of communication.

What they could not help me with, since it would blow my cover, was the limitations of my body and language. I could not understand the things said on the ‘T.V.’ or ‘Phones’, since my basilisk magic couldn’t translate them. It was difficult, but I had been making some progress by borrowing a kid’s book on basic language and trying there. Otherwise, I’m just nodding and guessing at things, trying to not voice an uninformed controversial opinion on a topic.

The bigger problem however was the kind of creature I became. As an octoling, there were a lot of things I was expected to understand and do. I still remember some of the weird looks people gave me when I climbed up the stairs instead of just using an Ink pipe. I had to say I liked to exercise my legs. People looked at me weirdly, but shrugged. The real close call was when I went to get a glass of water, only for one of the counselors to knock it out of my hand and ask me what kind of weird challenge I was doing. I had to quickly deny it and claim to have believed it to be a Smoothie. They left me off, but the counselors paid extra attention to me during lunch time. I now take my water in the middle of the night when no one is looking.

Finally there was turf war. When Masha mentioned the game, I thought it was an innocent game of capture the flag or something like that. Instead, it was a very bloody, tough ink instead of blood, game of painting the ground while hitting each other with powerful weapons. I've seen people, even Masha, get completely obliterated and turned to mist, only for them to suddenly ‘respawn’ later. From what I gathered, inklings and octolings are a species which is both solid and liquid at the same time, with some special properties. Their essence can get caught in the Ink and they leave on the ground and reform even when their forms are destabilized by another creature's ink or attacks. That explained why they disliked pure water, as too much of it can easily destabilize their forms. While the information that they weren’t killing each other was comforting, it did lead to a problem. I also wasn’t entirely sure what could actually kill one of them, nor did I want to entertain the idea.

A basilisk can copy a creature's appearance and most of their physical properties, supposing they had the magic to fuel it. They couldn’t however copy magical elements inherent to the creature. This leads to a positive and negative revelation of this world.

There was magic everywhere. Or at least, something similar. The creatures living here and plants had some energy fueling them. She could get the energy from anything, though she was getting enough from eating the meals given to her. The problem with this however, was that she could not copy the abilities anyone had. Problematic for an octoling to not be able to swim or shoot ink. She was doing good on excuses for now, but things would get worrying if she had to start piling lies on top of lies. Which would suck, since she loves it here.

The people were nice, she wasn’t under constant scrutiny from evil guards, she could go outside and see the sun without worrying about a beating. She actually started making friends. Things were going great. She even stopped worrying about the original Luz making a big fuss. Something she realized, with some healthy serving of stress, was that the original Luz had a phone and would have probably called her mom or vice versa. After two days without getting detained however, she realized that if Luz wasn’t dead or tortured right now, she would have called her home by now. Unless she chose to stay there and lie about where she was. A part of her was confused why she would choose to stay in the demon realm, but decided to not overthink the opportunity she was given.

As for her future goals, she wasn’t sure. She asked Masha if any group was openly discriminated against, hoping for an idea that maybe I could come out as myself in the future, though a part of me felt weird about the idea. Masha told me there were three types that had weird behaviors in overall society.

The first group are the Octarians from Octo valley and Canyon. After their loss in an event called the Great turf war, a large group of Octarians segregated themselves into a secluded territory. They overall cut ties with the rest of Inkadia, but there are rumors of peace talks coming ahead for reintegration of the population into Inkadia.

The second group was the denizens of the deep. This group referred to a series of species that lived underground due to uneasiness of the air and sunlight. They aren’t discriminated on, but they have a somewhat different culture to those that live above. Still, some of them live and work here, like that conductor that drove the ‘train’, so they are accepted, if not common.

The last group that they mentioned were the salmonids. They says that they aren’t really discriminated upon, but they aren’t really a part of society as well. As one of the few species that live on the sea, Salmonids have the largest population on the planet. They also have a rather aggressive culture, centered heavily on the idea of raids and combat, even more aggressive than those of the various species. Occasionally bits and pieces of Salmonids will arrive on the mainland, along with the occasional rogue member, but it was an exception rather than the rule.

With all this in mind, I decided to keep pretending. I had an entire summer to learn and adapt, hopefully creating a better life for myself.

It’s not like Luz would just disappear forever.

Chapter 6: Chapter 4: “The light against the intruder”

Chapter Text

King was currently admiring his work. In front of him stood a compilation of everything he had learned of demons in his many years of living while weakened in this house. As the king of demons, he must keep a detailed and consistent account of everything concerning his subjects. Even if he forgot about it, knowledge can be easily recovered and put to use.

Still, what use was acquiring all this knowledge if one didn’t get the chance to show it off! Which led to this. Demonology 101.

The octopus girl Luz has been staying with them for a full week now. They have been a great boon in the doing of chores and getting him closer to the cookie jar. As such, it was only fair that he would give her lessons in how to better survive the isles.

He had called her to the living room where he had prepared a full lesson on the many details about demons and which were the most dangerous. He had with him a small stick to guide her vision, as well as an old academia hat from the human realm Eda kept in her closet. While he would prefer the mighty crown Luz gave him, it would be better for the purposes of the lecture for him to look a bit more professional.

Luz sat behind the table with her phone ready to record parts of the lecture, with his permission of course. It would be natural to want to spread such a glorious presentation to other realms.

“Well Luz, before we begin, I need to know what do you know about demons?” King pointed his stick at her.

Luz sat pensive, before answering. “Nothing really”

King was confused. “Seriously, you guys don’t have a concept of demons?”

Luz started scratching her head. “We have something which is coloquially referred to as spirits and some mythological creatures, but none of which would correspond with any of the creatures of this world”

King was amazed that a species would somehow keep away from the concept of demons. Still, he decided to use an example. He pulled out a picture of a demon that was very common in the human realm, at least if the amount of junk Eda pulled with his face on it was to be believed. He looked like a red skinned witch with goat legs and large black horns. He was called Christopher or something like that. “Recognize this guy or something like him?”

Luz flashed recognition in her eyes. “He actually looks familiar, that is the wicked spirit of mischief Ferluci. They are said to be a species that likes to trick travelers and steal coins from pockets. He looks different tho. The one I know has Nudibranch antennae and a sea slug lower body.” King did not recognize the picture she was painting, but this told him that she at least had a concept of demons, if slightly warped.

“Well, you’re at least not totally clueless. We can now formally begin” King flexed his paws a little.

“Welcome to demonology 101!” King spoke loudly and with authority. “You’ve been walking around all willy-nilly obsessed with witchcraft, but demons are serious business! We are creatures of the night fully capable of ripping you apart! We exist to only spread misery and chaos. Our only weaknesses are purified water and passive aggressive comments… sometimes”

“Awww! You guys are sensible” Luz said while gushing at the cuteness.

“Yes, even demons have inner demons” Not dwindling in making the class sound lame with mushy stuff, he redirected his stick to an image. “On the isles, the most powerful demon around is the Snaggleback” The image he showed looked to a creature of pink skin and long thin limbs, while having a shell with spikes coming out of it. “He is a…”

“A bad boy!” Luz said while smiling, he could hear her put some filters and sound effects to his presentation.

“Luz take this seriously, this could save your life someday” King said feeling slightly frustrated.

“Oh, sorry King” Luz said and genuinely looked apologetic. He calmed at the sight. “Its just that your kind, even with the scary illustrations, aren’t really as scary as things back home”

“You mean your own kind of demons?” King asked curiously and excitedly.

“No, those guys are things we are nervous about, but never attribute to real fear. What I mean are the salmonids, another one of the species of our kind.” Luz said, grimacing a little at mentioning the creatures.

“Why are they so scary?” Luz had mentioned them before, calling them the ‘pink fish of the sea’. He did not understand how some fishies could be scary. Luz was gonna answer him, but they were interrupted by the sound of lighting.

“Looks like it's gonna rain” King said. Rainy days were a bit boring. It meant staying home and not doing a whole lot. He sometimes referred to it as nap days, since he did very little else.

Luz stayed quiet and he was confused. “Why do you look uncomfortable?”

Luz looked at him with a slight sadness in her eyes “Our kind is weak to water. Our forms get unstable when exposed to it. A bit won’t hurt us, but getting exposed to too much leaves us way too vulnerable”

“Does that mean you don’t swim or drink?” King was weirded out. He did not envision how a species could not engage with water at all.

“We drink a little bit, though usually mixed with other substances. As for swimming, you need to coat yourself with a protective gas to insulate your body, and it leaves you feeling weird for hours after.” Luz looked like she was gonna say more, but stopped herself as the door flung open, revealing Eda coming inside with a bag on her shoulder.

“Oh good, you're both here” Eda said. Giving the house a quick look-over, Eda turned back to the door and began casting a spell. A small magical shield appeared above Eda as she went outside, now protected from the rain.

“Why do you guys protect yourself so much from the rain?” To answer her, he pointed to a small flower on the front porch that got completely destroyed by the coming rainfall.

“Boiling rain” He said.

“Indeed, we don’t really have weather here, we have plagues” Said Eda, who was preparing a spell for the entire house. “Gorenados, Shale hails, Painbows!” That last one she said with a smile.

“It’s like a rainbow, but if you look at it, it turns your inside out” King said. Luz proceeded to close up her hood until only her eyes were visible. She also pulled out that water gun she always carries around.

“So, until the boiling rain stops, no one is allowed to go outside” Eda said, her hands circling an orb of light.

King took the opportunity to continue his lesson. “The snaggleback is unique, in the fact that his shell protects him from the rain and allows him to move around while everyone else is hiding” King said while showing again the image of the demon.

Eda snorted at his comment. “King, that thing is only a myth. No one has seen a snaggleback before, so for all we know, they’re as real as possums. Anyways, this forcefield spell will protect the house from the rain and made up demons”

King wasn’t impressed by her taunt, but Hooty chimed in before he could. “Hurry up would you! That rain is getting closer to my precious stucco!” King did not know what Hooty was talking about, nor did he want a clarification.

Eda ignored Hooty and with a few movements of her staff and hands, she summoned a large force field over the house. King would never say it out loud, but he always liked the feats of magic Eda did. Shame he wasn’t of the group of demons who had magical abilities.

Luz gushed about Eda. “Woah, someday I’d like to be as cool as Eda. Powerful, sassy, very foxy and active” Luz paused for a couple of seconds as Eda came inside the force field. “Hey Eda, why do they call you the owl lady? Is it all the owl imagery and Hooty?”

“Nah, that came after I got my title. It’s because I am so wise” Eda said while radiating pride.

“Cause she coughs up rat bones” Hooty said

“It’s actually because she sleeps in a nest and steals shiny things” King said.

“No I don’t!” Eda said offended.

King stared her right in the eye as he pulled a pen from his cap and clicked its gem top. It started sparkling.

Eda’s pupils dilated as she stared mesmerized at the object. “It sparkles, it shimmers, it shines and delights! I must have it for my nest!” Eda said. She then lunged at King, who sidestepped the tackle and sent her to the ground.

Luz went to pick up Eda. “Are you okay? You sounded a bit weird”

“Ooof. That spell must have taken more from me than I expected” Eda answered.

“Finally getting into your old age, uh! Should I bring out a cane?” Kind said teasingly. Eda sent him to the shadow realm for his troubles.

As they came inside, Luz started speaking. “Sooooo, Eda. Since were stuck inside the house for the entire afternoon, could you maybe help me learn how to do some magic. All the lessons on potions and other theoretical knowledge is good, but I was hoping we could get into some practicals” Luz said while looking a bit giddy.

“Not tonight kid” Eda said and snapped her fingers. From her usual red dress, she changed to a much less regal pink sweater and pants with sandals. “I’m a bit too tired for any lessons. Besides, I told you yesterday about the concept of a bile sac, so that kind of limits how far we can go on that aspect ” King remembered that lesson. He was still disgusted at the image of the magic producing organ witches had. Luz looked a bit less disgusted at the image when she saw it, more happy at the idea that her guess that magic came from the heart to be proven right.

“Yeah, I get that. I was hoping you could show me some practical examples to maybe learn the structure of the spells” Luz said

“Not sure what to tell you kid. The way most people do it is instinctual. We think about what we want and that mixed with the magic produces a spell. There's the intricacies of how to direct the energy to get the result, plus the control of a spell, alongside some other nuances, but it's not something that can be easily shown. Anyways I’m too tired for it, in the morning we can do some practice.” Eda said and began walking to her room. Luz went ahead of her and stopped her.

“Cmon Eda, just one! I promise to do extra chores if you show me at least one spell!” Luz was jumping to the point her entire being bounced with her movements.

Eda was not fully convinced. “I’m not sure” She then noticed Luz pull out something. It looked like a glow stick with a mixture of pink and green that shined really brightly. She went to grab it, but Luz pulled it back and showed her hand with one of its fingers lifted up. Eda grumbled, but got the message.

King accompanied Luz to the sofa while Eda prepared a demonstration. Luz took out her phone to record whatever Eda was gonna do. He was a bit annoyed at Luz being more interested in dumb magic stuff in comparison to the cool ways demons could kill you, but he chalked it up to all things being new to her.

Eda summoned Owlbert to her hand and began her lesson. “A witch's staff has magic within it, to the point where even a kid could cast a spell if one were to use it. However its dangerous to use a staff without any comprehension or control, so one must first understand a spell before casting it with a staff” He threw Owlbert to a bunch of pillows on the floor and began making a spell circle. “As such my dear student, *yawn*, tonight I’ll be teaching you how to make light” Finishing the spell circle, a shining ball of light appeared.

“The bigger the spell circle, the more powerful the spell” She quickly drew a larger spell circle, which gave way to a larger ball of light, even producing a small flash when it appeared. Eda then stepped up to the sofa and looked like she was gonna say something else, but then collapsed on the furniture. King gave her a couple of prods in order to check on her.

“She’s dead” King said. She snored loudly enough to wake up people all the way on the left arm, but he refused to back down his statement.

Luz sighed and put away her phone. “She must have been more tired than we thought. Come on King, help me with the legs”

Luz opened the hatch to Eda’s room and carefully lifted Eda to the straw nest with the help of King. Looking into it, she saw that Eda held a bunch of other sparkly objects in the nest, ranging from coins to wire. Luz put a blanket over Eda and put over her the concert glowstick.

Luz and King returned to the living room and Luz opened up her video. She put a bunch of filters over Eda’s spellcasting portion of the video, hoping for something to maybe reveal a clue on how the spellcasting worked. If she could figure that out, it may lead to how she can do it.

She was plucked out of her activities by King, who was nudging at her to pay attention to his demon class. She stopped looking at the video and began paying attention. Sadly she couldn’t put her full mind to it.

Not to be confused, King was a great speaker and made his talks of demons and their qualities very interesting. The fact of the matter however was that her brain couldn’t stop working on trying to find out how to do magic. She really wanted to show her mom that her little adventure here had given her something to use for the future, which a bunch of theoretical knowledge just wouldn’t cut it. She must have not hid her distraction that well, since King stopped talking and began shuffling from his pile of books.

“Well, I can clearly see you're a bit distracted” Luz felt guilty for offending King, but he waved his ‘paw’ to her face and began going into the hallway. “Meet me in the kitchen in 15 minutes”

Luz went to the kitchen and began waiting. She was checking her phone again, but couldn’t find anything. There must be something more to this spell business than just drawing circles in the air. As Luz felt frustration coming up, King returned carrying a bottle with orange liquid.

“Eda is constantly drinking this stuff when she thinks I'm not looking. I don’t know what it is, but I personally believe it to be some sort of magic supplier for her body” He set the bottle on the table near her. “If you drink this, maybe some magic will come to you and allow you to cast spells. After that, you will be satisfied and we can continue class” Luz didn’t look fully convinced, but King still pushed. “Come on, don’t you wanna be a witch? Sometimes that involves plunging into the unknown and drinking weird liquids”

Luz felt conflicted. She didn’t wanna drink if this would inconvenience Eda, but she didn’t wanna just languish forever. This could be her shot at using magic and bringing good back home. Good news for all. Luz then noticed something as she was looking at the bottle. There was an inscription on the cap of the bottle. She could read the word ‘day’ on it, but couldn’t make out the rest.

“What does this say?” Luz asked.

King waved dismissively. “It says ‘An elixir a day’, just part of some marketing slogan or something”

Luz frowned but decided that she had nothing to lose. She took out the cork and gave a big gulp of the bottle. She regretted instantly, as the taste of sand and burnt wood bark barged into her mouth. She began pumping ink into her mouth to offset the taste.

Luz tried doing Eda’s motion, but nothing came of it. King jumped from his seat. “Well, we tried” He began signaling for her to follow, but stopped when he saw her frown. “Come on Luz, who needs a dumb light spell anyways when we have lights anyways”

The lights then began brightly and then turned off completely, leaving them in the dark. Luz worried at the event, but King was as calm as a jellyfish. “Don’t worry, Hooty controls the lights. He probably fell asleep or something like that” They both tensed however, when Hooty began screaming and thrashing, the house slightly shaking. They rushed to the living room and found a horrifying sight.

The door, and Hooty with it, had been knocked down and was in the claws of a large quadruped creature. She couldn’t make out the details, but she could see that the creature was dangerous. The creature didn’t seem to pay much attention to them, but when Luz stepped near it, the creature turned its attention to them, or more specifically, her.

Luz reacted quickly as the creature lunged at her, intent on tearing her down. She summoned her roller and smacked the creature back into the door. The creature decided to retreat after that and went outside. Following outside, she saw trails of her ink leading a trail to a now broken window of Eda’s room.

Luz knelt to Hooty and checked him out. He seemed to still be alive, but had been knocked out. Luz looked for King and found him staring at the window with excitement.

“Why are you so happy?” Luz asked with confusion

“That was the snaggleback! This means we can put your lessons to good use!” He then went and attached himself to the back of her shirt. “You clearly have the strength to fight it, so with my knowledge and your skills, we can beat this demon!”

Luz wanted to argue for it, but decided to do it later, since Eda was most likely in trouble. She flicked some ink to the front of the house, she would apologize to Eda later, and began swimming to Eda’s room.

Looking inside, the room looked wrecked and battered from the beast’s assault. Looking into Eda’s nest, she found that she was nowhere to be seen. She was worried. Eda was dead tired from the day, so she wasn’t as powerful and could be hurt. She felt guilt crawl into her at the idea that her pushing might have gotten her hurt. She couldn’t continue this train of thought, as she heard movement from the ceiling.

She grabbed King and threw him through the open door of Eda’s room. She prepared her roller quickly as the intruder leapt on top of her.

King landed on his bum as he felt himself hitting the floor of the hallway. He saw an image of Luz fighting the demon before the fight went outside of his range of view. Rushing back in he saw an image of Luz and the beast fighting before coming out of the window again. The only thing left of Luz was one of her shoes.

He picked it up and began to wonder what to do. He looked outside and all he could see was the rain outside and a large ink splat on the entrance. He began to panic slightly. Luz was strong, but he wasn’t sure if she was capable of defeating a snaggleback without help.

He then heard the sound of shuffling as something began running in the hallway. Weaponizing the missing shoe, he began to pursue the intruder. He traveled through various places of the house until he cornered the beast into the closet. Readying his weapon, with Francois at his side, he prepared his strike.

“Listen here you wild demon! As your king, I’m heavily disappointed in your actions. You should know better than to attack your superiors. So I will give you one chance. You can barf up my caretaker and top knight, or you can suffer the full extent of my wrath!”

He grabbed the bunch of clothes between him and the beast and began counting. “1…, 2…, 3!” He then pushed the clothes aside and faced the intruder. Or at least, what he thought was the intruder.

The demon was certainly the snaggleback, but his features were heavily downsized from the drawings he had. He was much smaller, his spikes were nubby, his fangs much less prominent, and his limbs much less thin and long. A complete disappointment across all fronts. He kept his stance however, since it might just be hiding behind some kind of illusion.

“Please, I don’t mean any harm, I’ll go as soon as the rain stops” He said meekly while cowering in fear. King was feeling unimpressed by the second.

“Man you're not at all like how I imagined. Still, you came into my house and ate my friends, bad snaggleback!” King answered back.

“I just came in through the broken window while seeking shelter from the rain. I haven’t eaten anyone or anything.” Answered the weak demon.

King was flabbergasted. If the beast wasn’t the snaggleback, what kind of demon was it? He then felt a slight tremble and sudden quiet.

The roof of the closet burst open as a pair of hands snatched the snaggleback from the front of him. He yelled out something about a twist and immediately dissapeared. King was not left waiting for long however, since the beast suddenly stormed down to his behind. It spat to its side the shell of the snaggleback, having clearly not done any good in protecting its user. He started backing away as the beast drew closer.

“As the king of demons,I demand that you stop this nonsense!” He yelled nervously as it approached, clearly not caring for decorum of any kind. He dodged quickly as the beast threw a swipe with its claw and cut the wall, getting stuck in it. Taking his chance, he began running away.

He ran through many of the hallways of the house as he could hear the beast approaching, screaming and slamming into the walls. He was scared. He did not know what to do or how to save Eda or Luz.

As he ran, he was suddenly grabbed by one of his arms and into a room. He was going to scream, but a hand quickly covered his mouth. He was gonna complain, but then he tasted something along the lines of sushi in his mouth. Calming himself and looking up, he could see Luz watching the door while holding him. Aas they heard the beast leave, Luz relaxed and let him go. Only to immediately hug him.

“Oh thank Squod your okay!” She whispered loudly while tears streamed down her face. King was shocked at her emotions, not thinking of her as someone who really faltered from what he saw, but returned the hug to make both of them feel better.

As they hugged, he looked at the room. It looked like they were back in Eda’s room, but was now currently lined up with a bunch of Luz’s bombs and her weapons. He left the hug and questioned Luz.

“Luz, what’s going on?” He said while pointing at the room’s contents.

“This creature has either eaten Eda or hurt her. To make sure it doesn't hurt us and allow us to find it. I’m going to either beat it into submission or deal with it in a more permanent manner” Luz said while showing no signs of the usual happiness she had, replaced with a rather firm look, filled with determination and focus. She then noticed he had been carrying around her shoe.

“OH, thanks King” She perked up a bit as she took her shoe and began putting it on. As she did, King noticed that Luz’s other shoe had a small piece of paper lodged in it. Taking it out, he saw that the paper looked similar to the one from the elixir bottle. He read it and it said: ‘Keeps the curse at bay’.

“An elixir a day… keeps the curse at bay” Realization came to his face as he suddenly realized what was happening. He saw as Luz prepared one of her weapons to go out and quickly stopped her. “Wait Luz, stop!”

Luz came to a halt and did not open the door. “What’s the matter King?”

King quickly explained. “This creature isn’t any kind of demon, it's Eda!”

Luz looked shocked but then grabbed him and bolted from the door. The beast… Eda came into the room. The light from the moon and lighting finally illuminated her form. She was now a large quadruped creature completely covered in grey feathers, her arms and legs shaped to be longer and with sharper nails. Her face had been somewhat distorted, but still held various features which identified her. Her eyes were now pitch black and her ears long. When finding them, it flashed a smile, almost as if she was satisfied.

Luz held her ground, but looked less steady than before. When Eda lunged, Luz blocked the attack instead of countering it and was pinned in a struggle. Eda tried attacking Luz and she had to evade the attacks constantly. One of them got her with a now glowing claw as it pierced her and saw Luz falter, her form destabilizing. Still, Luz held her ground and pushed back as hard as she could.

King didn’t know what to do and began searching the room for anything that might help. He came to Eda’s nest and began throwing some of the objects at Eda’s form, hoping to distract her. The last object he threw was Luz’s glowstick that she gave Eda earlier that night. The glowstick shined in his paw as he threw it and began shaking in the air. It glowed until it flashed a bright light at Luz’s feet. The light did something, as Eda recoiled from it and began screaming in pain. Luz took the opportunity to grab King and hide in the balcony.

They both held their breath as Eda calmed herself and began sniffing around from them. Before Eda could approach the balcony, Luz stealthily pressed a button which detonated something in the house. The owl beast reacted and quickly went on the search for the sound. Once they were sure she left, they began to calm themselves. That was when the guilt and realization came crashing down.

“This is all my fault!” King said while sitting down, facing away from Luz. “The elixir I gave you doesn't give Eda powers, it prevents her from transforming into that thing! She’s turned into a nightmare and it's all my fault!” King said and looked up to Luz with sadness in his eyes.

“I'm so sorry Luz, I just wanted you to be into demons like you're into magic. The only thing I did was put us into a sorry mess of my own making” A few tears came into his eyes. “I don’t really have a lot of friends and people tend to ignore me or look down on me. I felt that if you cared about demons, you would care more about beings like me”

Before he could wallow more in his sadness, Luz curled him up into her arm. “Relax King. You did not know and made a mistake. Instead, let us finish the lesson” KIng was confused at that. “Eda transformed into some kind of demon, but that doesn't mean she’s gone forever. If we feed her the potion, she may go back to normal. So tell me, how do I incapacitate her without overtly hurting her”

King calmed down and smiled at Luz tenderness. He then began to try to remember if anything of Eda’s form could incapacitate her enough for them to feed the potion. He then remembered the light and her eyes. “Eda’s eyes are pitch black, which means her vision works best in the dark. That’s why she went for Hooty first. She must have remembered his control of the light and sought to take care of that first”

Checking the floor of the room, he saw that the glowstick still glowed, but much less than before, as it had been stepped on by Eda, not that it would fully work, since the light was not enough to actually incapacitate her.

“The glowstick is a bust. What about your phone, does it have anything that could produce a large flash of light”. King inquired.

Luz nodded negatively, as she showed her phone. It had a cracked screen and he assumed that any light producing mechanism was now damaged. Luz began to think pensively as she searched for a solution. Deciding to try anything, Luz went back to the video of Eda doing a light spell.

She kept looking at the video, trying desperately to find anything that could help her cast the spell. It was in one of these replays that something weird happened. The video glitched at the image of Eda’s spell circle as the image now projected that inside was a symbol. King looked at the symbol and for some reason brought some sense of familiarity to him.

Luz took out a piece of paper and drew the symbol into it. It did not do anything on its own, but when she tapped it, the paper crumpled into a ball of light. It was small and overall something King believed others would call ‘baby magic’ but it had been done by a magicless being.

Luz’s eyes suddenly lit up as she stood up and began doing a bunch of weird poses with a wide smile on her face. She also began quickly transforming from her smaller form to human form in rapid succession.

After she calmed down, she took out another piece of paper and began drawing up a plan for how to catch Eda.

Luz felt anxiety at the plan. While she designed it herself, it could still potentially fail. She was armed with an octo-brush for increased mobility and prepared herself mentally. Coming up to a hallway, Luz found Eda prowling around. She sniffed the air and noticed her. The creature gave a large growl upon seeing her.

“HuNtsmAn!” The beast roared. Luz was shocked that it actually said a word, even saying it in a voice only slightly different from Eda’s own, but decided to shelve it for later. She taunted the creature to come for her and it took the bait. The creature charged at the hallway and Luz quickly submerged into her ink. She had left a large path all over the house, allowing her movement to not be impaired in the slightest.

They traveled all over the house, with Luz dodging long lunges and taking pot-shots. Luz then felt her a click as King’s signal came from the small object they used to communicate. Taking the shot of another missed lunge, Luz gave a light swat to the owl-beast as it came for her and continued her escape. They ascended to the second floor and into Eda’s room.

The beast charged into the room blindly and she took the opportunity to activate the trap. Activating some remote bombs, she temporarily paralyzed Eda. It would not hold her forever, but it would long enough. Looking back, King revealed his work. A large scale form of the glyph she found had been drawn on the wall. He quickly tapped it and she had to shield her eyes from the large flash that came after, illuminating the entire room in white light.

Eda felt herself stirring from a deep slumber. She felt a large headache as she could not remember things clearly. Opening her eyes, she could see King looking over her. Eda pulled out the straw she just noticed was pumping a bunch of her elixir into her mouth. Touching her face, she noticed she still had a lot of it on her face, so she took the bottle and gulped the rest, balancing her out.

She was gonna ask King what happened when she felt bile coming to her mouth. SHe ended up puking something out of her mouth as a large owl pellet came out of her, which cracked open to reveal a rather traumatized pink demon.

“I was looking for this” She said while looking at the elixir bottle. It wasn’t in her night stand like usual, so she had to search quickly for it.

“Actually, we found an extra one in your closet” King said while giving an innocent smile

Eda then realized the implications of this as memories flooded into her. “You… YOU! You took my elixir! I oughta break every bone in your body…” Eda was gonna ramble on the many punishments she was gonna inflict on him, but he just shushed her and pointed to his side.

Eda was shocked at seeing Luz draw a symbol over and over again, each producing a ball of light. They all floated into the air and created a ceiling of warm light in her room. Eda was amazed. She knew there must have been some way for witches to do magic before bile sacs, but she didn’t think Luz would find it that easily. SHe was proud of her. The pride was enough to make forget her desire to put King into a sailor suit and parade him in town.

She then remembered that if she had to be fed her elixir they must have seen her in her cursed form. King sensed the shift in her posture.

“Hey… i’m sorry for this. I shouldn’t have taken your elixir.” King said dejectedly

“You better be! I have a long list of disgusting chores with your name on it!” Eda said angrily, but softened at seeing him look sad. She could never stay fully mad at him. “Still… its not entirely your fault. I haven’t been completely honest with you guys” Luz heard them talking and sat down next to King.

“When I was younger, almost the age of Luz, I was cursed. I don’t know when or who, but all I know is if I don’t take my elixir… well, that’s why people call me the owl lady” Eda said sadly, remembering the looks and unpleasant memories her curse caused.

“Are you okay?” Luz asked worried.

“It's manageable. So long as nobody takes away my elixir…” She gave a look at King. “... I’ll be fine” She then perked up and looked at Luz. “Anyways, look at you! A magicless being doing magic. Good on you kid!”

Luz smiled at her and gave a look at King. “Well, I couldn’t have done it without some help of a good friend and teacher” King smiled softly at the compliment.

They all were startled when a voice suddenly rung through the house.“HEY, HELLOOOO! I’m on the floor! It’s cold!” Hooty yelled from downstairs.

“That voice… That horrific voice!” King said as he left the room to attend Hooty. Luz shook her head with a smile as she picked up the now unconscious pink demon from the floor and followed King. She stopped at the doorway and turned to her.

“Hey Eda, when confronting the Owl beast, it targeted me pretty aggressively and I think I heard it call me by a name. Huntsman. Does it mean anything to you?” Luz asked.

Eda was confused. The owl beast lashed out at anything and didn’t really pick targets. This was also the first time she heard something of the curse talking. She simply shook her head with a no. Luz took her answer and simply wished her a good rest. Eda tumbled back into her nest and began to sleep.

Opening her eyes again, she was now in a black void with a liquid floor as she stared at the door of her childhood bedroom. The door opened to reveal a shadowy figure with white orbs for eyes. She hated having to relieve this memory, always taunting her with the knowledge of who cursed her.

As Eda confronted her past, on another part of her soul something similar occurred. The owl beast cowered on a cliffside, cornered by a being. The being captured it with a net but it managed to escape. It tried flying away, but felt its very being being compressed by the creature's energy into a small piece of paper. The being laughed at its misery. One last look did not give an indication of a face, but rather of a long robe covered in symbols of stars and suns.

The Boiling Isles are a place located on the remains of a large being. The land is made of its bones and bygone flesh. However, around it remains small pieces of land that would be more akin to regular islands. Many of these are documented, but some are not. One such island is hidden away, completely hidden from view of most witches and not referenced in any map.

The island sports a large temple of unknown origin, guarded by creatures made through old magic from creators which no longer roam the lands. Aside from this, nothing else but a few animals live on this island. At least, this was the case. In the woods of the island, there now lies a large cabin. The cabin would look like a mansion to any who saw, since its inhabitant was quite large.

Besides the cabin lie fields with trees which bore fruit and vegetables. The corpses of large demons were left to dry for storage. There was a large tree with a nest for creatures called firebees, which produced a magma like honey. A path from the cabin led to the beach, where a fishing rod rested on a small station.

On this same beach lies an object. A small statue. The features were eroded from the crashing of the waves, but one could still make out some features. The figure depicted a quadruped creature, standing on its four legs, holding a fish on what one would call its mouth. The name of the creature was unknown by the denizens of the demon realm, and only barely remembered by those of its home realm, but its name still exists.

A bear.

Chapter 7: Chapter 5: "Covention and Clashes"

Chapter Text

"Furious at the dishonor her fated rival Hecate had shown to her and her companions, Azura summoned her staff and struck the ground, creating a vortex of ink surrounding her. Azura then raised her hand to the black licorish colored skies and declared to Hecate. "I challenge you to a duel of magic!" " Luz said to King, who was listening to her recite a passage from one of her great warlock Azura books. "And then they fight, I even drew a picture" She showed a small doodle of Hecate and Azura fighting while making sound effects.

"Can I see the picture?" King asked. Luz gave the book to him and he started making some scribbles. Luz leaned on the stand and stared at the empty street.

Luz would be in School, but today had been canceled because of a special event. She couldn’t find anybody who could tell her anything about the event, so she had free time on her schedule. Eda took the chance to drag her into running her human trash stand, but so far nobody had come to buy anything. In fact, there was no one else on the street, period.

"Hey Eda, how come no one else is here on the market. Its prime time for sales, yet its empty" Luz asked

Eda was dusting some old looking lamp while answering her. ""Don’t know kid" Eda put down the duster and leaned on the table with her knees. "All I know is that if no one is here, something terrible must have happened"

"LUZ! Something amazing is happening!" Luz turned to her side and smiled as Willow and Gus were coming hurriedly to the stand.

Luz was surprised that she had made a friend that quickly after going to school, but she couldn’t complain, since Willow was a great friend. She was kind, very knowledgeable in different topics and quite the powerhouse. They had been strengthening their bond over the last week, helping each other out. She had been explaining her information on the unique flora of the boiling isles, while she had been teaching her some tricks in their sparring sessions to polish her fighting techniques. It turned out that she had a great affinity for her new magic track, but needed to strengthen her control.

In one of these sparring sessions, Willow introduced her to a friend she had, a young witchlet named Augustus. The kid was a supposed prodigy of the illusion track, so advanced that he was put in Willow’s grade even though he was 2 years younger. In terms of age, he looked like a kid just barely entering in his full maturity, ready to engage in turf war. He was quite a friendly fellow, an excited and energetic kid with a fascination for humans. He actually thought that she was a human, since according to him and Eda when asked about it, humans were the only recognized species with round ears and witchling characteristics. Once she confirmed she was completely disconnected to these ‘humans’, he looked a bit sad at not meeting one, but perked up when they continued to hang out. At one point, she mentioned the idea of giving him a nickname, which he took quite happily. She called him Gus, in reference to an octarian kid that used to live down the street bunker.

They had all become quite good friends, but Luz noticed something. Both of them seem to be pretty isolated from the rest of the school. They weren’t completely cut-off, since Gus had his Human Appreciation Society and Willow had been making connections on her new track. She asked about it, but didn’t get any answers from them. She had noticed however the presence of a group of girls who seemed to at least be somewhat connected. On the occasions they crossed paths, Willow gave them hard looks, particularly to a girl of green hair. The girl seemed quite pretty, but Luz held those thoughts to herself.

As they came up, they stopped a bit abruptly and noticed Eda. They were a bit shocked when they learned her teacher was the infamous owl lady. They relaxed at the idea when she told them of how Eda wasn’t really a dangerous person and was more of a quirky lady. It also helped that their respective parents knew Eda from her years on Hexside, which confirmed her character. Still, they were a bit nervous whenever they encountered Eda.

“Hello Gus and Willow! What happened?” Luz asked excitedly.

Willow recovered first, and then held up a poster of a witch looking at a cauldron, a reflection showing a more grown up witch. “It's the annual convention, school got canceled due to all student witches going to examine which coven they would like to join. There's even a mystery guest this year!” She tapped the bottom of the poster, explaining the bottom text of it.”We would like you to join us! Even if you don’t live here, it could be a good way of showing our culture to you”

Luz smiled at Willow’s consideration and turned to Eda. “Since its a job fair for witches, can I accompany them Eda”

Eda looked a bit uncomfortable at that, but she gave an exasperated sigh. “Fine, you can go. But I’m gonna accompany you. Not going to let you be fed a bunch of baloney propaganda without at least one dissenting opinion. Not like we used to do” Eda was startled at the mention of we and turned away. Luz was curious, but knew not to prod too deeply on Eda’s issues.

Eda summoned her staff and put King in her hair, prepared for travel. They then took forward the covention.

Luz was both excited and worried once they arrived.She was excited at the idea of experiencing something new of this world with her friends, she was also worried when she heard the emperor coven would be present. While Eda told her that she wouldn’t be arrested, on account of the events of that day turning out to be a huge mess to clean up for the coven and addressing her was the least of her concerns, she was still cautious.She relaxed a little when they arrived and saw that the place looked to be a regular auditorium, if a fair bit smaller than the ones at home.

Eda then began trying to cram her entire hair into a cowl. There were a bunch of posters showing her profile and wanted status, so she wanted to hide her most distinguishing feature to avoid detention. She couldn’t get it to fit inside however. Such a troublesome thing these fur witches had on their head they referred to as hair. Couldn’t even change color without applying liquids or magic to it.

Once they managed to hide it, as well as a whole bunch of stolen items Eda kept in her hair for some reason, they headed inside. The place was lined up with a whole bunch of stands advertising a great variety of covens. On the top, between a bunch of witches flying in brooms, were 9 large banners of different colors and symbols. Luz identified them as the symbols that represented the 9 branches of magic.

As they advanced, she noticed the different stands trying to call out to them. Some made big displays to attract them, while others tried to entice them with all manner of free samples. King took a liking to the latter quickly, leaving their group to chase for more gifts. She wanted to chase him, but Eda told her that he would be fine.

She was actually pleasantly surprised, as she saw some of the people she helped liberate from the Conformatorium working the stands or viewing the displays. Most amusedly, she saw the little nose demon absolutely breaking havoc on a display for the construction coven. They had these paper runes that applied a great boost of energy, according to Eda, to the user's magic. It was, however, heavily taxing, leaving the user tired and even potentially damaged if they tried going above the levels of their regular limits. The little demon gave her a friendly wave as she used a wooden beam to smack away some of the other members of the construction coven.

She was very happy with what she was seeing and started to wonder if what happened at the Conformatorium was a sad case of localized corruption as opposed to a larger systemic issue. Eda must have noticed her mood, because she grabbed her by the shoulder and started whispering to her.

“Don’t let yourself be fooled kid. Behind all the camaraderie and friendly smiles, this place is nothing but a glorified trap” She then pointed to one of the displays. “Look closely”

Luz saw a display for the illusions coven. After making a good presentation, one of the teenagers there went ahead and asked to join the coven. The coven members manning the show seemed quite happy and guided him to a booth. In the booth was a witch with a glove with the illusion sigil crafted into it. She was then shocked and horrified as the symbol began painting itself into the witch’s skin and the blood in his arm became a hue of blue.

“That’s what joining a coven really means. You seal your magic away to only one type of spells. From now on, that kid will only be able to use illusion magic. If you refuse to get a sigil when you become an adult, you're branded a wild witch and will be hunted down until you join a coven” Eda then pointed to herself and showcased in both her hands small displays of different branches of magic. “That’s why I'm the most wanted witch in the boiling isles. I never joined a coven, and my level of power makes me incredibly dangerous to the rule of the boiling isles. Even if I never bothered anyone ever again and disappeared into the woods, as other wild witches have, I would still be hunted” Eda vanished the spells with a wave.

Luz's face was now marked by a look of horror. How could people be okay with this!? It was a clear violation of liberty and rights. She then looked at Gus and Willow, gushing at the displays of the illusion and plant covens respectively. Would they seriously just cut off so many different paths from themselves in the future. Quickly turning to Eda, she asked: “Why?”

Eda had a grimace in her face, but answered anyway. “The emperor coven has a foothold on anything related to the rule of the isles. Things were different 50 years ago before he took over, but it was a slow process. Emperor Belos has been around for over 200 years and has been slowly changing the minds of the populace. As the self proclaimed voice of the titan, he has everyone buying into his beliefs”

“Has the titan ever spoken through him in a verifiable way?” Luz asked

Eda was taken aback by the nature of the question “Not really, at least not in a verifiable way as you describe it. Does your kind not have faith in a higher being. You have mentioned someone by the name of Squod before”

Luz looked at her weirdly by the question “No one believes in some kind of higher power without at least some evidence. Squod is the name of an Inkling prophet who helped shape the inkoming societies thousands of years ago. He was known as a great visionary. Our kind worships the ancestors of the past and the sea”

“The sea? Doesn't that kill you?” Eda said perplexed.

“All creatures of some level of intelligence can trace their origins to the sea. While almost none of us can return to that holy place, we still honor it to this day” Luz said, looking really serious about things.

They would have continued their conversation, but Willow and Gus returned while shaking excitedly about something.

“Luz, come quickly! The emperor's coven is about to make a presentation!” Willow said

“Maybe they’ll sign my forehead!” Gus said. They both then turned around and began running to a large room.

“Well kid, you want to see bigger hypocrisy, you’re gonna want to see this. The quicker we go, the sooner we can get out of this place.” Eda then held her hand and guided her to the podium.

They took their seats at a large coliseum, with hundreds of witches and demons seated tightly and talking while waiting for the presentation to start. They quieted down as the lights began to dimmer and concentrate on the stage. She was then surprised to see principal Bump take what looked like a microphone, she would never understand the necessity to have mundane objects be partially living, and began talking to the crowd. “Hello, Bonesborough! Students ask me all the time, "Principal Bump, what's the height of magical achievement?" ”

“Is it this?” Said a kid she identified from the construction track. He made a spell circle and grew his head by five times its regular size. A rather useful spell, if applied with more control and another body part, as the imbalance made him twist his head and drop it on another kid. Both of them seem overall fine, if slightly uncomfortable in their new positions.

“Wow, I failed you as the principal” Bump said. He then readjusted himself. “No. Its being selected to join the best of the best. And there are none better than the jewel of the coven system…” Then three witches appeared in front of him. “... The emperor’s coven!”

The three witches were slightly different from the ones she had seen on the Conformatorium. They appeared to be more organized than the others, more clean in their presentation. They also mixed magic, something absent from those on the Conformatorium. But the more she looked at them, some things didn’t fit.

“Feast your eyes on this elite force, each member handpicked to help usher in a new age of controlled magic” Bump said. The coven members started signing autographs and performing tricks for the audience.

The more she looked and thinked about them, the less it made sense. All covens were composed of highly skilled wielders of their respective branch of magic. It made sense that specialist would go and join their specialized coven, instead of opting for a prestigious but unknown generalist coven. Even if they did, the education she had seen at Hexside did not prepare people to join or take advantage of mixing magic, so how could they even see if they had affinity for it. Seeing one coven member who was doing a similar spell to Eda, she noticed how his hands slightly tremble and the spell came out just the tiniest bit wrong, as if he wasn’t accustomed to it. He had the knowledge, but something was preventing him from fully taking advantage of it and being as free flowing as Eda.

Bump said that the attraction of the Emperor coven was attractive because they had access to all forms of magic, which the audience wowed at. She was extremely confused. Everybody could do all types of magic if they wanted to, it was the coven system which took that ability. Why were people impressed at a skill that belonged to them by birthright?

“But… only some can ascend these ranks. Some day that could be one of you!” Bump said excitedly and pointed to the girl of painted green hair. Ignoring her and looking at Gus and Willow, she saw their smiles and movements when they pointed at the girl. She was not liking what this implied more and more. Eda actually snorted at Bump’s speech, which while mean to him, she could somewhat understand.

“And now, I’m pleased to introduce you to the esteemed leader of this coven and this year’s mystery guest. You know her, you love her! Lilith!” Bump said.

Eda tensed up beside her as we looked up. A bright blue raven had appeared on the top of the stadium. The raven flew down and landed with splendor in front of Bump. A woman is revealed in the middle of the raven and extends her arms. The raven screeches loudly and disappears in a mist. The woman revealed wears a more custom version of the emperor's coven clothes. She removes her mask, revealing a familiar face. Luz looks at Eda and notices her frown. A mysterious past was exciting, but there was no need for her to annoy Eda with questions that won’t be answered.

“Thank you all!” Lilith says. She sends her cape and mask flying magic, quite rudely covering Bump with them. If he has any complaints, he’s not showing them. “It wasn’t easy for me to rise to the top. I also started from humble beginnings”

“Like me?” Said the kid with the giant head. Somebody should probably go and help him. He’s turning a bit purple and she assumes that’s not good for their kind.

Ignoring his question, Lilith continued. “Now I have the highest honor of enforcing the emperor’s will. So be more! The emperor coven awaits you!” Lilith said with a cry and disappeared with a great flash of light.

The entire crowd left with a great wave of excitement, while Luz was left with worrying thoughts. What she saw here felt eerily similar to the propaganda fed through the bunkers about the horrors of inklings, other species and traitor octarians in the bunkers. So convincing, but paper thin once one left. It had diminished heavily by her generation when the government was confronted with reality, but she had experienced some of the remains. They felt very similar through this, if the angle was different.

Luz left the stadium of Willow and Gus, who seemed to have recovered and were now as excited as before. Gus gushed over his signature. Luz looked at Eda who looked a bit uncomfortable.

Luz approached her. “Hey Eda, I’m gonna keep hanging out for a while with Gus and Willow, you can go home if you want”

Eda was a bit startled by her speaking, but relaxed. “That might be a good idea, kid. I will be looking for King and I’ll come to pick you up later” Eda said and then left with a wave and a wry smile. She really hoped that things would go smoother today.

Amity had been having a good day so far. She had gotten to come to covention without any major problems from her family, so she had the day mostly to herself. She didn’t really need to participate, since there was only one coven for her to join in the future, but it was good for making connections. It was also a good opportunity to meet her mentor for some extra lessons, seeing as she was here. Of course, things had to go slightly wrong when she encountered Boscha and her friends while leaving the stadium.

Her friendship was a complicated business. Boscha was a self absorbed witch who seemed to only care for Grudgby, but she had become a constant in her life. Her friends also weren’t the worst people ever, so long as they weren’t following Boscha’s lead. Still, she couldn’t say she was connected to any of them. At least, not as much as… No, it wasn’t good thinking about it.

The titan must have wanted to punish her for thinking, since Boscha stopped and pointed somewhere. Looking there, she saw Willow hanging out with that Illusion track kid, as well as the demon girl that went to linguistics in school.

She felt something akin to bitterness at the sight and memories. It had been a week since Willow had blown her off at the classroom. She never expected her to either have the backbone to do something like that, nor be that bitter at her specifically. She was never that mean to her, unlike Boscha. She was not her mother.

( She ignored memories of her just standing by as Boscha mocked Willow. She ignored that she had been the one to popularize the nickname of half-a-witch Willow. She ignored the memory of asking her mom what she thought about Willow joining the plant track, only for her to not even remember her name )

Anyways, Amelia had complained recently that Willow had been doing really well in the plant track and was on her way to taking her spot as one of the better students. That made Boscha want to put Willow in her place, and it seems now that she was taking her chance.

The group approached Willow’s group, and they noticed them approaching. While Willow and the illusion kid seem to squirm a bit at their approach, the demon girl stood firm at them. She was a weird member. She belonged to a species that she wasn’t able to identify as a member of any demon group classification. She thought she could be bipedal, but she has never seen her cast a spell of any kind.

Boscha noticed that the girl didn’t back down and tried to threaten her. “Hey tentacle girl, scram. We got business with half-a-witch”

The girl simply buried her hands into her hoodie pockets. “The name is Luz. And if you have business with Willow, surely you can say it in front of me. It is a public space after all”

Boscha was weirded out by the girl’s attitude, so she tried to upgrade her threat.”Look, you clearly are new, so you don’t know the status. If you want to be at Hexside, you should be aware of this at minimum. We stand at the top and they are at the bottom. You can be a somebody and seek new acquaintances or you can be mocked with them”

The girl, Luz, did not look amused at Boscha’s comments, but before she continued, they heard something.

A tiny furry demon with a skull on its head was approaching and calling out to the demon girl. He was covered in t-shirts and carrying all kinds of free-samples from the stands. He stopped for a bit as he took two samples of cupcakes from the bakers coven and approached them.

“Hey Luz, check out the offerings I have received because of my greatness, it's been quite a…” He was saying, before tripping in his own scarf. The cupcakes went flying to the floor. The girl then twisted her own spine or something like that, because she quickly leaned backwards until her head was at the same level as her feet and reached for the two cupcakes with her hands. In the span of a second, she returned to her position and gave the cupcakes back to the demon.

Everybody, even Boscha, was shocked at the display. Willow and her friend even smiled at it and had stopped squirming. The girl then looked Boscha straight in the eye, which made her back off. “You can say whatever you want, but be aware that putting your feet in the water is a good way to get bit”

They started staring at each other for a few seconds, but Willow then tugged on the girl’s arm. “Luz, it's alright. Let’s go somewhere else”

The girl relaxed and looked at Willow with a smile. “Good idea”

They started leaving, but it seemed that Boscha wanted one last word. “I don’t care what hole you or your kind crawled from, that gives you no right to…” Boscha started saying, but was stopped. The girl had turned around quickly and put to her throat a large paintbrush. The paintbrush was tipped with purple paint, yet exudes in her senses some level of danger. Everybody backed off at the display, with Boscha tripping to the floor. The girl looked at Boscha and the rest of them, for some reason she felt that her gaze lingered on her for a second longer, and then gave a sigh. She unsummoned the large paintbrush into her body and simply left with Willow and the rest.

They were left alone for a while and Boscha eventually picked herself up and left mad from the group. Everybody eventually started leaving and she was left alone again.

Amity felt an odd feeling. She could not explain it, but the sight of the girl defending Willow had made her feel both good and sad. It was really odd.

Lilith was not used to social events. While being the head of the emperor coven meant that she was the center of a lot of social events, she was usually sidelined in that role with Kikimora, who was a better public speaker. Nonetheless, she felt she did pretty good on this one. She was now leading a bunch of little children and teaching them the wonders of the coven system. She was in the middle of explaining some history of coven sigils when something caught her sight.

Down the hallway was Eda, looking around the place. She might have hid her hair, but she could recognize her sister’s profile anywhere. While she was busy attending the children, and it wasn’t a good idea attempting an arrest in such a public place, she decided to approach her anyways. She called out to her. “Sister?”

Eda slowly turned around and showed surprise at seeing her. Taking initiative to not allow her an escape, she came forward, with the children following her.

“Sister, its been so long since I seen you last!” Lilith then took a look at her clothes. “My, what are you wearing? You look like some sort of trash collector. Oh, right. You are” Lilith said. She did not feel happy insulting her sister, but years of trying to ask nicely for her to join the coven and failing had made it clear that being nice wouldn’t get her anywhere. She needed to be decisive and aggressive in her approach if she ever wanted to have her sister join either willingly or by force.

Eda did not show any sign of hurt or embarrassment at that. Instead she answered back. “Oh Lily. I just had to see the leader of the emperor’s coven in action” She leaned down to whisper to the little kids. “You know, when we were kids, Lilith was so excited to see the emperor’s coven, she peed a little”

Lilith felt herself blush as she heard the snickers of children coming below her. This was her mistake, naturally. She should have remembered that her sister was cruder and could dish out as much as she could take. “That… That will be all for today” She said to the children, which then began to leave. After they left her sight, she turned to her sister with some annoyance in her voice. “You shouldn’t even be here. You’re a wanted criminal, Edalyn. Unless…” She gasped as a small part of her filled with hope at the idea. She tried grabbing her hands. “You’re here to join the emperor’s coven!”

Eda pulled back her hands and snorted mockingly at the idea. “In your dreams” She started laughing.

Lilith returned herself to her posture and simply scoffed at her sister’s mockery. “You think being a covenless witch makes you smarter than everyone else. But while you run from the law like a degenerate, I’m mentoring the next generation of powerful witch students into the world” Lilith said with great pride.

Eda laughed and for some reason gave a far more relaxed smile. “Well, I have a student too” Eda then made herself firmer in her stance. “And I bet she could wipe the floor with any of your prissy little blue bloods”

Lilith was surprised at hearing this. Her sister had shown a disdain of authority ever since they were young, even before the accident. The idea that she would take the role of a mentor perplexed her. But then she remembered a detail of the reports of the break in. They both turned as someone began yelling at Eda.

They both turned as a small demon carrying a massive quantity of the covention’s free samples was approaching them, followed by the girl. Lilith saw the girl and she was surprised at seeing her. She fit some of the reports given of the girl who led the rebellion. Nobody mentioned anything about the round ears, however. She looked extremely bizarre, almost like a mixture of regular demons with tentacles and a witch.

The demon ran to Edalyn and began rambling on about the many offerings he received. Ignoring the delusional demon, she noticed how the girl just stared at her with a firm look on her face. She then approached her and offered her a handshake.

“Coveness Lilith Clawthorne, I presume? Pleasure to meet you, I’m Luz Acuda, apprentice of Eda Clawthorne” Her firm expression changed to a gentle smile as she said this. She took the hand cautiously and noticed two things. The first thing is that her hand was squishy because of a lack of bones on her hand, and most likely, the rest of her body. The answer of how she could move was there as well, as she could notice highly dense muscles made up her body. The girl removed her hand from her own and then took a place near Eda.

Lilith was extremely confused. She expected Eda to have picked up some random girl or chaotic sympathizer to her cause of wild magic. Not a highly disciplined child of some unknown demon clan. She needed to know more, and she had an idea for how to do so.

“Ok, sister. I have a proposition for you” She made a spell circle and all the posters in the area for her sister vanished. “To see who’s the better mentor, we will do a little challenge. Your student will fight mine in a duel. If mine wins, you will have to present me to the girl’s clan. I would certainly like to have their opinion on their child studying wild magic. If you win, I’ll leave the matter alone and I’ll lay off patrols and raids to your house for a week. Provided you don’t engage in any overt breaking of emperor’s law” Eda looked taken aback and there was some worry in her face, but the girl actually looked more relaxed. Instead, she actually looked somewhat glad. She approached her.

“Two questions before agreeing to this. One, does anything go for this duel? And two, is music allowed to be played?”

Lilith was weirded out by the questions, but answered them anyway. “You can use your magic anyway you want, but it won’t be enough. As for music, you can use bard magic. You could also play regular music if you wanted to, assuming you feel so confident that you can lose yourself in it” She then looked to Eda. “Do you agree to the terms Edalyn, or is all that bravado you have for show?”

Eda shook her discomfort and recovered her moxie. “Oh you're on, Lily. Were gonna kick your butt. One hour in the auditorium” She then took the demon girl’s hand. “Come on kid, let’s go strategize” They then all left, heading for some other part of the covention.

Lilith took her leave as well, looking for her student. She felt confidence in her. She was similar to her in both diligence and attitude. She was always shocked to know she was Odalia’s child. The woman was a pain, but could be reasonable when dangled with a prize in front of her. The idea of her daughter being trained by the best of the best was a good idea to her.

She found Amity walking around the covention. She perked up at seeing her and rushed to her side. “Good morning, miss Lilith. Are we gonna have our lesson now?” She said with a curious smile on her face. It warmed her heart, but she needed to prepare her quickly.

“Not yet Amity. Right now an opportunity has presented itself for both of us” Lilith said. Amity stared curiously at her.

“You will be fighting in the auditorium in an hour. Your opponent will be the student of my sister, Eda Clawthorne” Lilith said. Amity went from excitement to growing panic. She began to shake and Lilith realized she needed to calm her down.

“You do not have to worry Amity. This will be good marks for your record and will get you recommendations for the next emperor’s coven tryouts. As for your opponent, my sister lacks the ability to be a good teacher. Even if she has the ability, she will lack the ability to apply it. She’s also overconfident, so you will have the element of surprise on your side. And most importantly of all, I trust you Amity, my dear student”

Her explanation and promises seemed to calm her down as she recovered her calmness. Once she fully calmed down, they went to a part of the plaza to train a little before the match. There, Amity showed her skill.

Amity was an incredible Abomination magic user. Her control of abomination’s for her age was quite as good as her father was in their youth. In some aspects, it was even better. Her magic was quick and efficient, striking and launching the abomination goo at her targets. She was quite proud of her progress. But there was a problem in her mind.

Amity was powerful, but she lacked variety in her offensive spells. As such, she couldn’t deal with a lot of different problems. Not a problem normally, as most witches her age and level didn’t need to train for combat. The issue was her opponent.

She still didn’t fully believe that she took down Wrath by herself, she must have had some help from Eda at minimum. But even with that idea, she had the impression that the girl must be at least somewhat capable of fighting, enough to put Amity in trouble.

As she was thinking this, she noticed that the construction coven stand was currently unmanned. While a violation of protocol, seeing it all alone got her an idea. Her sister would most likely cheat to guarantee success, so why not indulge a little bit herself. Nobody would ever know afterall, and it was all for the greater good.

Amity walked herself with practiced calmness. She had to rehearse her feelings, lest she falter in front of the crowd.

The idea of fighting had been quite perplexing and terrifying for her, but Lilith had reassured her that her reputation would be ok, since only a few people would witness the fight and would be forbidden from recording it. She also had weird feelings about her opponent.

Luz Acuda being the student of the owl lady certainly explained her ferocity and willingness to disregard the social order. While a part of her could respect that, she knew it to be futile. Everyone was beholden to the social order at one moment or another. While she could care less for Boscha and her issues with Willow, she still needed to maintain her order if she wanted to be part of her friend group and not be called out to mother. She already got in trouble for leaving Grudgby, so the less problems she had, the better.

Entering the auditorium, she saw a modest crowd. Some members of the stands had entered, seating to see her. SHe even saw a pair of kids that cheered for her and had merchandise of her. She didn’t know how they got that, so she should probably contact the family lawyer for the royalties on whoever was making it.

On the opposite side, cheering for Luz, was both Willow and the illusion kid, she thinks his name was Augustus or something like that, holding banners for Luz. There was also the owl lady and her pet demon looking from on top of them. Below all of them, Luz was stretching her body. The display was somewhat mesmerizing, seeing her limbs twist in ways which shouldn’t be possible.

Seeing her enter, Luz stopped her stretches and dropped from the stands and onto the ground, seemingly without injuries. A part of her wondered what made her tick, but she didn’t let it show on her face. Luz began walking center stage, manifesting from her back what seemed to be some sort of glass container. She also materialized from her arm the large paintbrush from earlier. Amity wondered if the girl was some sort of abomination user, what with all the tools she was carrying. She should probably get in the future something of that kind.

She looked to the side of the stage, as principal Bump and Lilith were preparing to announce the duel. Bump looked a bit nervous, for some reason.

“Beloved citizens of the Boiling Isles. The emperor coven offers you an impromptu demonstration of the sort of witch we seek every year. Introducing Amity Blight”

“Woo, Amity!” Yelled out a demon kid with some merchandise of her.

“Versus Luz Acuda, apprentice to Eda Clawthorne and member of the Octoling clan!” Lilith declared. Octoling? She didn’t know of any demon clan or species with that name. Must be some kind of underground clan that lives somewhere else on the isles. Amity heard the whispers as they wondered of the identity of the demon girl. Some also snickered a bit at her handling of a painting utensil as some kind of weapon. Luz at least didn’t seem to bother herself with the laughs. She instead raised her arm as she fiddled with her clothes. From her neck, she pulled out a collar made of feathers and wood. She began showing it to the crowd.

“This item is a translation collar that helps me understand and speak the common tongue. While it doesn't have any other abilities, I choose to display it to make it transparent for its use. Principal Bump can confirm its qualities” She said, signaling to Bump. Bump nodded and seemed to confirm her comment. Amity was surprised at the honesty. She expected the student of the owl lady to try some underhanded cheating.

“I will also be playing some music. It will come from a device in my hand. It won’t have a major effect on the battle, just helps to set the mood for me” She then showed the device in her hand. Lilith told her about this, but she still didn’t get it. If the music did not have inherent magic to it, then what use was there for it. She was most likely gonna just put on some pop song or something like that.

Lilith cleared her throat and Luz guarded the device in her pocket and took silence. She then offered her a smile and took position further from her. “Well then, without any other interruptions, I declare this match open!”

Amity stepped back and drew a large spell circle. It would be risky, but she knew that she could create a stronger abomination and guide it to take her down. She finished her spell circle and said the words to solidify her spell. “Abomination rise!”

The result surprised her. The abomination that came out was big enough to eclipse a house. It towered over both of them. This gave Amity confidence. She had clearly surpassed her own limits and had come out even stronger. She probably scared the girl and she was now quivering in her boots.

Her smile faltered a bit when she looked ahead and saw her. Instead of quivering, the girl took a solid stance with her paintbrush and smiled widely, showing her mouth only had two opposite fangs in them. She held the scroll-like device in her hand as she pressed on its screen and pocketed it.

From her body the sound of guitars, drums and a weird female voice emerged. The voice merged with others as weird sounds started mixing with the music. She blasted off from her spot as she put the paintbrush on the floor and began sprinting very quickly to her direction. Amity made a move to block her advance with the hand of her abomination slamming in her path. Luz saw the atack and transformed into a smaller form, dashing back and somehow melting and swimming in the path she created, not before throwing something to my side. Looking there, the object she threw looked like a small beast, except it was made of metal.

The beast noticed me and began sprinting at me with its tiny legs. I used some abomination matter to grab at it, but it then exploded, covering my goo with the substance she was using. The goo destabilizing and my distraction allowed her to cover more of the floor with that substance. I tried to wash away the paint-like substance, but it did not remove from the floor. I did the next best thing and began covering it with my own goo. But that idea was countered as she took to paint my abomination from the floor, dissolving a little bit from it.

I took notice that my attacks aren't working, so I decided to fight fire with fire. I pointed my abomination’s arms to Luz and began firing a lot of smaller shots to catch her. She began running, but I actually managed to tag her in the legs a couple of times. She tripped, but used the momentum of her brush to still move around. I recalled the goo and began thinking of what to do next. Her movement was great and she seemed to be well focused. I would need to focus on cutting her movement if I wanted to hit her properly.

Luz seemed to ignore me as she began making a round-a-bout over the auditorium walls, covering ground for her to move. I decided to prepare something for her when she moved next. After finishing a loop, she dashed directly at me.

I did my spell and transformed my large abomination into a tidal wave. She was cut from options to escape and could not move. It was then that her hair flickered and her form changed. One of the tentacles of her hair extended and covered her mouth, as her whole body turned to a white hue. She then launched one of her arms to the ceiling and jumped over the wave. While she was on the ceiling, she looked at me and launched herself at me. I still kept some of the goo with me, thankful, which allowed me to tank the paint explosion that occurred near me. It did push me back a bit, however.

Instead of rushing for another attack, Luz gave swats of her paintbrush to her front and began painting the floor again. She made a beeline for me, but then dashed back and began painting on her back. I could not understand why she was doing this. She had only thrown some attacks my way, yet she had refused to push her advantage. A part of me began to worry, so I decided to finish this quickly, before she could pull anything else.

I summoned all of my abomination forward, but instead of having it slam into Luz, I made it dissolve itself into liquid form. I began making an encirclement around her area, pushing her back. In an open space, this normally wouldn’t be that effective, but the enclosed space of the arena serves me well.

The abomination matter slowly begins cornering her into a wall, as she finally stops painting and starts backing into the wall. She looks around and sees herself trapped. I quickly launch some of it into the walls, breaking some of the stone, cutting off her escape from there. This is taking a lot of concentration, but it's working. I’m gonna win.

And yet.

She hasn’t stopped grinning.

She grabbed a piece of stone from the wall and transformed into her smaller form yet again and began curling up in a single spot. Her form then launched high into the air, almost reaching the ceiling, escaping my trap. I launched my atack upwards, hoping to catch her in the air. It was then that I saw her throw something again.

The same beast of before had landed only a few feet from me, this time with a rock attached. Without my magic, I had to dodge it manually, which was easy, but cut off my concentration. It then exploded again and I was only white.

My eyes hurt and I was blinded, I tried wiping my eyes, but couldn't do anything. It was then that I felt myself getting knocked back to the floor and getting incredibly weak. She hit me with a lot of ink, making my magic and body feel distorted. But then, things got even worse.

Something felt even worse as my whole body began welling up in pain. My blood felt almost like boiling as my mind collapsed under the strain.

Luz looked on as Amity Blight collapsed on the floor. She did not notice the cheers as she did not understand what was happening. Attacks from her kind to other denizens of the Boiling Isles had not been quite as weakening. She should still be standing. She approached her and noticed with great worry as her body was out cold. She also noticed something sticking out. Pulling it away, she saw what the object was a glyph from the construction coven, pulled off and distorted by my ink.

I felt a lot of things at that, but still had something to do. I picked her up and began carrying her to the entrance. Everybody was weirded out by me carrying her, but people didn’t seem all that concerned. Bump was saying something and congratulating her victory, but she did not pay that much attention.

Eda was waiting for her, along with Willow and Gus. Lilith began rushing from the top of the stadium to here.

Once she got here, I explained to everyone that Amity seemed to be unconscious. Lilith was worried heavily, her eyes twitching oddly. She said she was gonna take Amity to a stand of the healing coven. I declared that since I was her opponent, it was my duty to accompany her. Lilith wanted to protest, but Eda reminded her that she was the loser and subservient to the roles of the winner. Willow and Gus congratulated her, though Willow looked uncomfortable. Luz reassured her that things would be ok with a smile and accompanied Lilith.

They got there and Amity was attended by the people there. There was a woman with two prominent horns and blindfolded eyes who attended Amity, she murmured something of owing Lilith a favor. Lilith left at that point, getting some urgent call about coven business. She asked Luz quite softly to look after Amity. Luz squinted at her, but said nothing. I had to confirm things first after all.

Half an hour after she left, Amity started waking. They were both alone, so they could talk privately. Amity stirred and tried to get up, but her body was failing her.

“Don’t bother. Your bile sac overloaded your blood, which rendered a lot of your body inert. You won’t have permanent damage, but you will have to rest for the remainder of the day” Said the demon lady. She put a couple extra patches on Amity’s skin and left the room, since a group of people came to observe the healing coven stand.

“Why did I overload?” Amity said with a hoarse voice.

“Most likely because of this” Luz pulled out the construction glyph. Amity’s face contorted, trying to comprehend what she was seeing. Once she got it however, her eyes widened heavily.

“That… that can’t be true” Amity said with grimace in her voice.

“Sadly, it is” Luz said. “The good news is, you reacting this way confirms that you did not know, so my biggest doubt is resolved” Luz then stood up from her chair, went and filled a cup with water, and put it on Amity’s stand. “Well, I hope you recover. Have a good evening” Luz then headed for the exit.

“Wait!” Amity blurted out.

Luz turned around with an eyebrow raised. “Do you need anything else?”

Amity directed her gaze to Luz. “What kind of magic is that, you clearly must be some abomination expert to move and transform like that. Also, why didn’t you tell on me for cheating?”

Luz pulled out a small piece of paper and began drawing. “My species can’t do magic, at least, not of the type you do. Those moves I did are something as natural as breathing for my kind” Luz finished drawing a glyph and tapped it, forming a ball of light. Amity widened her eyes. “The only real spell I did was this one, which was enhanced by strapping a bunch of them to my bomb” Luz put the pen back in her pocket. “As for your other question, why should I? As I just confirmed, you didn’t cheat intentionally, so it's all good”

“Aren’t you going to punish me for Willow?” Amity said, Luz noticed some sadness and evasion in her eyes at mentioning Willow’s name.

“No, I wouldn’t. I’m bothered by what I saw earlier and its implications, but that’s not enough for me to ruin someone’s reputation” Luz said. “You and Willow have some history, but she hasn’t told me that yet. Her issues are hers to deal with, and I’ll only question her if she feels comfortable in sharing” Amity closed her eyes, a sad expression on her face.

“Still, you were quite good out there. You lack some experience in fighting, and you could do with learning some variety, but your control was quite superb” Luz said with a slight smirk. Amity opened her eyes with shock, not expecting to receive praise from her opponent.

Luz decided that now really was the time to leave, since she agreed with Eda earlier to meet up to leave, and she needed to say her goodbyes to Gus and Willow. “Stay fresh, Amity Blight” Luz said while smiling, making the squid sisters signature goodbye.

Luz left and now Amity was lying alone in the healing coven carp. The day had absolutely derailed itself from her expectations. She would probably have to think of confronting Lilith on the construction rune that she put on her neck, as well as worry about her mother’s possible reaction to hearing she lost a witches duel. However, none of those things were on her mind right now, instead replaced by a single solitary thought.

“Was that girl always so cute!?”

Chapter 8: Chapter 6: “A night to conjure forth”

Notes:

(See the end of the chapter for notes.)

Chapter Text

Luz opened her eyes after another night of sleep. The familiar wooden ceiling had made itself familiar to her over the last two weeks in the Boiling Isles.

She had been quite pleased with her time on the Boiling Isles recently, having done many things she had previously not felt like doing. She was learning magic, making friends, and learning many new things. Everything about this journey of hers had been great so far. Sure, the things involving this world government was worrying, but she was still passive on that. She wasn’t making any plans to overthrow it anytime soon, though she had some plans in the making on how to address it to her friends.

She also was feeling rather homesick, missing the blue sky of her homeland. She should probably make some plans with Eda on making a trip there.

Time for reflection was over tough, since today was market day. She lifted herself from her blanket cocoon on the floor and went through her morning routine. Putting on a fresh set of clothes; a black and white bolero, pants and blue slip-ons; she gave herself a quick rinse and went down to the living room.

Entering inside it, she found the sight of King watching with some snacks as Eda and Owlbert were playing some sort of card game. Since it wasn’t breakfast time yet, she plopped next to King and began munching on some of the snacks. They were triangle shaped in a red plastic bag, with a striking logo on the front. ‘Doritos’ was their name, for as nonsensical as the word seemed. They tasted a bit weird, having some sort of taste to this. They tasted a bit like almond cheese, but not quite. She liked them anyway.

“What are they doing?” Luz whispered to King.

“They’re playing a round of Hexes-holdem. Eda is obsessed with that game, but goes through long periods when nobody wants to play with them. She finally wore down Owlbert to play a game” King whispered back.

She was curious about the game and observed it curiously. The game played like some version of “Convocation of Sorcery”, a rather popular TCG, though this one played itself with a lot more flare than the one back home. At least, the ones that don’t employ the hologram imagery that occasionally popped up in world tournaments. Those things could get quite big and flashy.

Eda noticed her arrival and was smirking quite heavily. Luz did not understand, as it seemed that her field was quite poor compared to Owlbert.

“Watch closely, Luz. Hexes-Holdem is the most tricky game on the Boiling Isles. Any proper witch knows how to play it” Eda said.

She was quite startled by that fact. She did not know that a game like this held such importance to their culture. But on the other hand, King was giving her a look as if Eda was making the fact up, which had her doubting. Something to research later anyways.

Eda continued making moves while she was thinking, sending an arc of lighting to Owlbert. He avoided the attack and rounded up his cards to atack Eda’s field. He seemed quite confident, looking a bit smug at Eda’s imminent defeat.

“Now, when the deck seems to be stacked against you, that’s when you break out the wild card” Eda said. She then put a card with a tower on it, which began to glow green and burn up Owlbert’s cards. The fire formed the phrase “WINNER EDA” and burned up into the air, leaving nothing but ashes. Luz was not sure if that was some kind of really good move on Eda’s part or if it was absolute nonsense. Knowing some of the games back home, maybe a little bit of both.

Owlbert rolled his eyes and flew to perch himself on Eda’s shoulder, who was currently gloating.

“Woo, I win! In your adorable little owl face” Eda’s smirk was extremely wide, reminding her a bit of an eel smile. “Ah, I love the smell of victory, it feels… fluffy?”

I panicked when hearing that, noticing that some feathers have began creeping over Eda’s frame. I quickly jumped from the sofa and rushed to Eda’s room. I got there and began checking for many of Eda’s stashes, but couldn’t find anything. I was checking an elixir-free chest when King and Eda finally arrived.

“Found anything?” King asked.

“Nothing, but empty bottles” Luz answered.

“Yeah, my elixir stock ran out. I usually keep some extra stashed away, but must have blown through those without realizing” Eda said, surprisingly nonchalant at the situation.

“So what are you gonna do? Cook up some more?”

“No, I can’t. The potion coven and the plant coven have the monopoly on the type of flower that makes curses like mine heal themselves. I tried to steal it once when I was younger, but no dice” Eda entered the room and took a cloak from her closet. “It seems our market visit will include a little visit to Morton’s shop for some extra stock”

“I’ll go prepare my pickpocketing kit!” King said and ran out of the room. Luz decided to accompany him, but Eda stopped her.

“Hey kid, before we go, how about a game of Hexes-Holdem” Eda said.

“Don’t you think we have something more important to do?” Luz said and snatched the deck of cards from Eda. “You’ll get this once we arrive at the market”

“You really think you can keep me from taking those when you're not looking?” Eda said with a smirk.

I said nothing and simply held the deck of cards in my hand, letting it sink into my body as it completely disappeared, depositing itself in my Ink’s pocket space. Eda’s eye’s widened at that.

“Sometimes I forget you can do that. Are you sure you're not magical?” Eda said, but I simply shrugged. I left the room and went to get my bag from my room.

Luz stuck to a wall as Eda was banging on the closed window of her elixir supplier. As a habit when she wasn’t actively participating in shopping or selling, she liked to watch people doing their thing on the streets. The habit formed itself as she took in how different things were out of Octo Valley. You can learn a lot by just seeing the day to day life of those around you.

Case in point, a large egg rolled up to what she assumed was some transport stop, cracking open and letting out a large featherless bird. The bird flew away, while the people on the stop climbed in, sealing back the egg. A bit disgusting in her eyes, but she didn’t judge quite that harshly. The egg rolled away, leaving behind a now familiar little head demon scrambling to make them stop, failing, then getting left behind.

“The curse of tiny limbs” Luz said, with some irony as she remembered one time she saw a bass jump onto the top of a train without any legs.

“I know the pain” King said.

They both then backed away slightly as the sound of loud footsteps and rumbling came down from the street. Looking to her right, Luz saw a bunch of hooded people were carrying some large beast on a cart, tied down. The beast was horned, but had the anatomy of a red worm and scarab mixed together. She felt herself tense up as she noticed the beast isn't really tied up that well.

“Who are the walking safety hazards?” Luz whispered to Eda.

“Those are demon hunters. A bunch of dangerous nomads who hunt and sell the most dangerous wild beasts” Eda said.

The beast then began stirring and started to trash the cart. Two of the demon hunters struggled to keep it tied as the one on the front began casting a spell. He launched a bunch of green lighting, hitting the beast and knocking it out. He then gave a glare to her side of the street, trying to look intimidating. She was not impressed.

“... Which I’m gonna become unless you open up Morton!” Eda finished saying and continued knocking the window, even harder than before. She stopped when the window opened and a somewhat meek man wearing a metal hat came out.

“Sorry Eda, I was up all night poison tasting, and for some reason I don’t feel so good” The man Luz assumed to be Morton said, seemingly without a hint of irony in his voice.

“I’m outta juice pal” Eda said plainly.

“Oh, gee. Lemme see what I can do?” The man said, and she decided to continue seeing the street as he searched his store. The demon hunter group had finished tying some knots around the demon and continued on their way. As they left, Luz saw Willow and Gus coming this way. She rushed to meet them.

“Heya friends!” Luz said, but then she noticed both of them with sad faces. “Wait, what’s wrong? Who hurt my squishies!?” She then grabbed Gus by the cheeks, giving them a light squeeze.

“Them” Willow said defeatedly and pointed to a part of the alley. Looking there, I could see Amity and her group hanging around, taking pictures and eating snacks. I felt myself growing angry and decided that I was gonna calmly ask them a question. With my roller. Willow, however, stopped me from going there.

“It’s okay Luz, they didn’t really do something that bad” I raised my eyebrow and signaled for her to continue. “Amity is having a moonlight conjuring and Boscha decided to just taunt us by saying we weren’t invited. Wasn’t sure why she wanted to point out the obvious”

“She’s also making a big deal about it on Penstagram” Gus said and summoned a magic phone, a scroll with a screen, and showed it to me. The account was Amity’s and had a picture of Amity posing with her friends. The caption said that no dorks were allowed, apparently. Not sure why that’s a bad thing, I can identify some dorks in that picture anyways. I felt a bit disappointed, seeing as Amity had not changed her perspective on being permissive of Boscha’s antics.

“What a bunch of jerks” I said, but then I realized that there was something I was ignoring. “What’s a moonlight conjuring?”

“Oh, it's this really fun thing with friends. You go to someone’s house, tell stories, play games…” Willow said.

“A slumber party then. That sounds fun!” I said excitedly.

“... And then you bring something to life with moon magic” Willow then finished saying, smiling while holding a book she pulled out of nowhere, showing the image of three kids holding hands in the shade of the moon. I should probably ask Eda, since it seems witches also have some sort of internal storage for objects. Did they store it inside them like she does?

“A weird slumber party then. Seems doable, why don't you just have one?” I said, trying to come off as curious and not inquisitive.

“Gus and I can’t do it, you need three people for it to work” She was looking at Gus dejectedly while saying this, but then seemed to catch herself as realization dawned on their faces.

“Well I’m people, so that makes us three people. Shell, if more hands are required, I technically have some extras up top” I pointed to my hair, whose tentacles wriggled on command. “And besides, were way better than them”

Boscha and her group then passed in front of us. While the group, upon noticing me, began to fidget, Boscha seemed to have a more cautious but forward approach to us. Amity stayed back, looking uncomfortable.

“Well hello there tentacle girl” Boscha said, looking a bit smug at me. “I heard of your victory against Amity and it makes me think that maybe we started on the wrong foot. I have a proposition for you. Ditch these dorks and come with us for the conjuring tonight. Could be good for tying up your clan with some powerful allies in regular society”

I… I wasn’t sure if I was hearing this right. She wanted me to come, though the rest of her group seemed apprehensive of it. Looking to my side, Willow and Gus were quite nervous, waiting for my answer.

I simply smiled and took off my collar, breathed in, gave her a big smile, and twisted my head 180 degrees downward. “ No thanks ”. Nobody understood, but they seem to have at least inferred what I said. The whole display made Boscha uncomfortable and made her back off.

Pleased by her reaction, I put the collar back on and shifted my head back into place. “Excuse me, I sometimes forget that I need this to talk properly. What I meant to say was, No thank you, I’m good”

Boscha made a comment, but Amity simply grabbed her by the shoulder and shot her a look that said that talking was a lost cause. Boscha scoffed at her, but she took the hint. They started leaving, but Amity stayed behind a little bit. She had a look on her face that she wanted to say something, but stopped herself as one of the other girls called out to come along. She then left, not looking back.

“Thanks for sticking with us Luz, we really appreciate it” Gus said, looking quite happy at me, Willow sharing his position.

“It's alright guys. Why should I hang out with some stiffs like them when I can hang out with coolest kids in town” I shot them some finger guns to them.

“Thanks Luz. So, if we are gonna do a conjuring, where would we have it?” Willow asked, looking relieved. I could see that she occasionally looked behind me to where Amity went.

“Can’t it be at one of your homes?” I asked. They shook their heads at that.

“Not today at least” Gus answered. “Dad’s having some of his coworkers to come celebrate at home, so my house is out”

“My dad’s will be home, but they will be keeping the house busy with chores today. I can get out early, but there won’t be much room to do anything” Willow answered.

I noted those comments, meaning that the only shot was Eda allowing me to use the house. I didn’t really want to impose, but I didn’t want to disappoint them both either. “Okay, I’m gonna go ask Eda”

I left to talk with Eda, who was leaning into Morton’s stand as he was whispering something to her. When I got there, he finished telling her and left deeper into his shop. “What’s up kiddo?” She said, turning to face me with a serious look on her face. Must have received some not so pleasant news.

“Willow and Gus wanted to have a moonlight conjuring tonight, can we use the house for it?” I said with quite the smile on my face.

“Sorry kid, not tonight. I’m going out.” She took Owlbert from the wall and started heading to the market. “I need you to watch the house, I have many precious objects there”

“Like me!” Said King from the bench. Eda then picked him up by the collar.

“You’re coming with me. I need an extra pair of eyes looking out for pickpockets” She then leaned into my face. “Plus, an extra pair of hands if I want to pickpocket” She said with a smug smirk on her face.

“Pickpocket!” They both said triumphantly.

“If that’s the case, then Willow and Gus can come over and help me…” I said.

“No” She quickly shut me down. “Besides, conjurings are dumb; sitting in a circle holding hands. Pfft, it's like magic for babies” She said dismissively and began to walk away.

“Wait!” I ran and put myself in front of her. She looked at me curiously, thinking of what I was gonna say. It pains me so much to do this, but I had no other choice. I shapeshifted into my octopus form and knelt slowly, preparing myself.

“Come on, wiss Eda, pwwease!” I said with as cute a voice as I could muster. I made my eyes glisten, shaped my tentacles in the form of a heart and tried to make myself as cute as possible. I had to ignore the burning shame I felt at this. I will pray extra hard to the spirits for forgiveness tonight.

Thankfully, it seems as if it paid off, since Eda and King let out a soft “Awwwww” at the display. I quickly shapeshifted myself back, watching as Eda started thinking.

“Well, you have been helping out a lot recently, so you have earned yourself some favors” Eda said. She then patted my head lightly. “Okay, for tonight only, you can have the house. Now, let me be for now, I still have to buy some groceries” She then left for the market with King.

“How did it go, Luz? What did she say?” Willow asked, her and Gus arriving shortly after Eda left.

I simply gave the two of them a smile and showed a pair of thumbs up. They both squealed happily at that.

“Oh, I can’t believe I finally have enough friends for a moonlight conjuring!” Willow said excitedly while grasping her hands.

“Hey, look!” Gus said and pointed to the sky. The moon was visible in the sky and even this early, it shined quite brightly. “It seems that the moon will be a bit bigger this year, probably because of the conjuring. It only happens a year after all” He said quite happily. “By the way Luz, you did something in front of Eda, what did you…”

“Oh, would you look at that, Eda is communicating telepathically for me to go. Seeyoulaterbye!” I said, hiding my blushing face. I then ran to the market to meet Eda. By the spirits, I can’t believe I used to do that for mom so many times.

Willow had left home by the time of sunset. After asking permission from her dad’s, she was let go with just some fair warnings to be careful. They knew Eda’s reputation and had witnessed her when their schools would have grudgby matches, but still felt a little apprehensive due to her wild witch nature. She personally was not that worried. From the times they interacted, the worst she did was be snarky to others. The witty kind of snarky, not the mean kind.

She met Gus on the way, having his own bag of things. He was excited for many reasons. Aside from the conjuring, he was excited to see the owl lady’s house. As the main supplier of human artifacts, he assumes that her house will be full of many things. He was mainly looking for a bucket, since it was on his bucket list to own a human bucket.

As they walked, she began to think about what they were gonna bring to life. Maybe it would be a plant, though she assumes that giving life to an already living being would be a bit bizarre. When Amity and her talked about it, they were hoping to give life to one of her dolls and make her dance…

She caught herself in the middle of the thought and crushed that memory. She breathed slowly and calmed herself. Tonight was about her having fun with her friends, not reminiscing about days that are better left behind. Shaking herself from her mind, she noticed they got there.

At the entrance of the owl house, Eda and Luz were talking about something, most likely some house rules. She seemed to be hammering it in, but Luz seemed undeterred by it. Luz was also still wearing the clothes from earlier. She wondered if they were from the human realm, as the fashion seemed to have no traces of local taste in mind.

When Eda finished talking, she gave a light path to Luz’s head and said her goodbyes. She sat on her palisman staff and flew off. Willow was amazed; she wondered if she could have a palisman of her own in the future. A bit doubtful, since palistrom trees were becoming endangered. She hopes to do something about that in the future.

They got to the house and Luz ran forward and gave them a hug. She was a lot more physical than others she knew, but Willow didn’t mind that. She was happy to get hugs.

“Company hooray!” Said a voice. She noticed as the owl face on the door came to life. The house demon had a bit of a grating, but somewhat charming, voice. “Finally, someone to listen to my stories. Okay, one time, a sparrow flew into my mouth, and then I…” Before he continued, he contorted his face and spat out what she assumed was the same sparrow from his mouth. “Awww, man. I spoiled the end of the story”

Luz came to house demon and gave him a few pats to the head. “Thanks for the effort Hooty, I’ll take it from here. I’ll listen to your stories later, okay?” She said quite softly.

“Okay! Thanks Luz” The house demon said quite happily, swinging the door open and letting them inside. They crossed the threshold and entered the owl house, with the demon thankfully keeping to the exterior. She wasn’t annoyed, she was more weirded out.

“Welp, welcome to the living room. An accurate term since it is technically living. The walls breathe, look” Luz said.

On closer inspection, the walls did seem to contort and grow as the house demon drew breaths. It was fascinating. House demons were typically only something rich families had, so the opportunity to see one were rare. “Enchanting”

Gus had gone ahead and helped himself to one of the owl lady’s chest. “And look at all this human treasures” He pulled out a black ball that had the number 8 on it which he put on the ground. He then pulled out a skull from the chest. “And actual humans!”

“Uh, that’s a human skull? I honestly thought that was just a witch skull with misshapen fangs” Luz said, putting a bowl of candy eyeballs on the table. “So, how do we do this? What are the rules?”

Ignoring Gus, who was now running around with a bucket he found, she began explaining. “Well first, we find an object to animate. Since its our first time, we should pick something meaningful…” She walked to a table and grasped a beautiful set of flowers. Hopefully, it would work and not create some sort of weird monster. “Something beautiful”

Gus then burst from behind the flowers holding a doll. The doll was that of a particularly buff man with the name ‘Beef Bob’ on his shirt. “Like this little buff man?” He then tapped the figure.

“I’m half man, half bob”

“Are you sure about that, my man?” Luz asked, weirded out by the toy.

“Yeah, that’s not exactly what I meant by beautiful”

Gus lowered the doll and began to lightly whimper, looking a bit hurt.

While she wasn’t convinced, she also wanted the rest to have fun. “Well, alright we can use him if you like. You’re okay with that Luz?”

“Sure. Don’t know how this works entirely, so I’ll leave the details to you two”

“Woooo! Tonight he shall be risen!” Gus said excitedly.

“Well, if you guys don’t have a preference, why don’t we do it up in my room?”

“Sure” Both Willow and Gus said.

They went upstairs and found Luz’s room. It seemed more like a refurbished closet, but it still had a lot of things. Various pieces of human artifacts littered the room, with a bunch of blankets and pillows piled at the back, near the window. On the wall to the left were the weapons Luz had. Aside from the brush and weird water gun, there was a large paint roller and a more regular sized water gun.

On the right of the room was a backpack with two posters perched on top of them. The one on the left featured a familiar image of a book Luz occasionally brought to school, ‘The great warlock Azura’. On the center of the cover was a woman very similar to Luz, though her ears were pointy instead of Luz rounder ears. She had green tentacles and wore a white tunic with marks of purple, having the symbol of a yellow ten pointed star on her neck. She was also holding a large staff with a blue gem on top. To her side was an older woman, this one with Luz’s ears instead, wearing a red hood and dress very similar to the one the owl lady wore, complete with a yellow gem on her chest. To the right of who she assumed to be Azura was something… weird. A slug-like creature, about the size of a small demon, with red antennae held itself proudly alongside the other two. She also noticed that the text wasn’t written in common, but instead done in a weird language she couldn’t identify.

The other poster that Luz had was both simpler and stranger. It depicted the silhouettes of a small girl and a woman crossing their arms atop a speaker, with 4 more speakers at their sides. There were splashes and sparks of two colors, light pink and teal. The text was also unreadable.

“Hey Luz, what is this poster about?” Willow asked.

Luz was positioning some candles for the ritual with Gus when she asked this. Drawing her attention from that, Luz seemed quite excited at the question. “Oh, that’s actually an original poster for ‘Off the Hook’. They are my favorite music band”

Willow had never heard about this band, but she was quite surprised that the band had their own posters. She had not asked Luz for details on where her clan lived on the isles, but they must be quite big if they had access to their own band. Still quite a small underground band though, if no one really knew about them.

She was shaken from her thoughts as Luz signaled for her to come, since they were ready to begin the ritual.

She knelt down as both Luz and Gus took their respective positions.

“According to the conjuring books I’ve read, we say the incantation and make a connection with the doll” Willow said.

“Figurine” Gus intervened.

She shrugged it off and they started holding hands, as well as closing their eyes. “Moonlight, we call, we sing. Moonlight take this chance. Moonlight come tie the string. Moonlight start the dance!” The three of them chanted in unison.

She felt something as magic seemed to pass through them and channel. Opening one of her eyes, she noticed the lights of the candles went out.

“That’s your cue little man” Gus said to the doll.

The house then began to shake. Things moved loudly as her and Gus were thrown off by a sudden movement. Luz took their hands and pulled them into the blankets.

They waited a couple of seconds until the house stopped shaking. “Guys, did the house just hiccup?” Luz asked as she rose to her feet.

“Little buff guy, what did you do?” Gus asked the doll that was now in his hand.

“A real man never takes responsibility!” The doll answered back.

Ignoring the stupid comment, Willow had a nervous realization. “Guys, I think we might have animated the house”

“The house?!” Luz asked. She rushed to the window and took a look outside. The house view was now higher, than when they entered, peering over the treetops. She then took the smallest weapon from the wall and jumped down the window.

I pulled out a small seed from my pocket and summoned a vine that clung to the front wall, allowing both me and Gus to go down. Luz was fiddling around with the house demon, who now sported blue glowing eyes and was silent. I got down, but quickly had to move and catch Gus from falling as the house shook again. Looking to the front, I saw as the landscape shifted and the house entered the woods.

“Hooty, you have to stop!” Luz yelled to house demon, who remained stoic and unchanging.

“By the power of moonlight, I have risen. Hoot Hoot” Said Hooty, who seemed to have become unconscious and unresponsive to any commands. Still kept the grating voice.

Luz seemed to realize it was pointless to address Hooty and went to the edge of the house. She pulled out her gun and shot ink to the floor where the house walked. The ink latched onto the legs of Hooty, slowing him down slightly. It also made him a lot less stable, causing him to stumble. Gus was launched from the floor and onto the edge of the floor. Willow and Luz both rushed and grabbed Gus by his hands mid-fall, pulling them down. Luz held herself steady and Willow decided to use her hand to build support and lift Gus.

Then the house stopped moving completely and Willow noticed something in the three of them. They had a blue light emanating from their bodies, glowing with a similar hue to Hooty and the moon. Leaving mysteries for later, she helped Luz pull Gus to the floor. They stopped glowing when they finished pulling him back up.

“How’d we do that?” Gus asked.

The trio then looked to the sky, watching the moon glow over their heads. They all had a similar thought, but Luz said it first.

“Willow, Gus, hold hands again” Luz said and offered her hands to them. Once they were all linked together, the glow returned to their bodies. The house shook again, standing firmer as they took control.

“We're controlling the house with the power of friendship! Uh, and the moon. Probably the moon” Willow said. She felt a bit silly saying it out loud. Perhaps that was why principal Bump cut the friendship class from the school program.

“This is amazing! What should we do?” Gus said excitedly.

“Well, we should probably stay put and return the house to its original spot…” Luz said, looking to the path they came from.

“On the other hand, we’ve got a giant walking house and should totally take it for a joyride!” Gus said and looked at Luz with pleading eyes. Willow also wished to do something, knowing they were twisting Luz's arm a little, but hopefully she would be okay with a little mischief. She was the owl lady’s apprentice afterall.

Luz looked expectantly to the sky and looked in the direction of the moon. She gave it a little thought and smiled at them. “Well, the house is a mess already. A little trip in the woods won’t hurt anybody. Let’s just return the house, before the moon goes; otherwise Eda will splat me and I’m not in the mood to spend the night regenerating”

She offered her hands to the two witchlings, who held them tightly and started giving commands to the house with their minds. The house moved and they entered into the woods. Willow was really happy now. Her first conjuring and she accomplished something this big. A part of her still felt bitter at the memory of Boscha and Amity from earlier, but she felt fine now. Would feel a bit better if she could just rub it on their faces, but she didn’t want to push Luz too hard with requests.

As the children left for the forest, a man in a cloak watched them from the top of a cliff. This man signaled for his group to follow. They had new prey for the night.

Eda dreaded coming to the night market.

An odd thing to feel for the most wanted criminal in the Boiling Isles, but it was the honest truth. Everybody here was off to rip each other off, so that left her with little room to actually use her skills. There was also the fact that everyone marked up the price of their items, a lot of the time not working at all. She scammed people, sure, but even she had her standards.

She only came here if she was desperate, which applied to the current situation. She had avoided using magic or stressing herself out too much in order to keep her curse from spreading. It worked, keeping it only to a few feathers, but she was left pretty vulnerable because of it.

She walked through the market, King safely carried in a baby carrier she owned, until she arrived at the spot. She had been pointed to a rather imposing tent with a skull glowing ominously red. She did not feel good about this, but she had little choice.

She peeked through the tent, a bit too dark to see inside.

“Hello? Uh, I seek the one they call Grimm Hammer” Eda asked cautiously.

She couldn’t see it well, but a shadow rose in front of her. Two ominous lights reflected her as the creature spoke. “I'm the one they call Grimm Hammer” Said the vendor with an ominous, if slightly high pitched, voice. Then the lights turned on properly as the covers were lifted.

Standing in front of her was a pig-like demon wearing a small suit with some rounded glasses on top. He looked a bit silly, but Eda could tell the man was sharper than he let on.

The demon clasped its paws, looking at her with a friendly smile. “Welcome, welcome, welcome. I've got weaponry from the Hinterlands, curses from the Winterlands, and jelly beans!” Said the demon excitedly. It then threw a bunch of jellybeans into the air. King caught some, but she took them from his paws. She did not trust stranger’s candy.

“You are Grimm Hammer?” Eda asked. She felt sure of it, but was still weirded out for a very badass name to be attached to a pipsqueak like him.

“Tibblet-Tibblie Grimm Hammer the Third. Please, call me Tibbles” Said the demon.

King snickered at that. “He wants to be called that”

Slightly smirking at his comment, she composed herself and pulled out her elixir bottle. “Okay, Tibbles, I need some of this elixir” She handed the bottle to him.

Tibbles inspected it, looking over the label and other details of the bottle. “Oh. This is one wicked brew. Let me check on the back for some. He hopped from the stand and went on the back.

Eda waited and spent some time looking at the store. It was somewhat impressive, having some nifty potions and weapons, but nothing to really steal or buy. However, King drew her attention to something.

“Hey Eda, isn’t that Luz?” King said and pointed to something on a shelf on top.

Eda thought King was pointing at an image of some octopus demon, but the object was even stranger. It was what she assumed to be a pack of cards. The pack featured the image of a bunch of stylized octolings on a gray background. The pack shimmered and was covered in the garbled language Luz read in her books.

“Hey, what’s that?” Eda pointed and asked Tibbles, who returned with a few bottles of Elixir.

Tibbles looked to his side and noticed the card pack. “Oh, that. Trash slugs occasionally eat a bunch of human garbage that appears on the sea. I go to collect when one washes up ashore dead. That particular object came from a relatively young one, only a couple of months old. It didn’t have a lot of stuff, except for that and a bunch of frying pans” Tibbles layed down the elixirs on the side of his stand. “Why so curious, want to add to your purchase?”

“Nah, just never seen human stuff like that” Eda lied. She didn’t understand. Her portal disconnecting itself and going to another realm was understandable. That other random natural occurring portals also led to the same realm was weirder. She didn’t understand how realm travel works, but it couldn’t be a coincidence.

“What a shame then, it's too weird to sell as a human artifact, so i’ve been looking for someone to take it off my paws” He said, never changing his business smile. “Is this it, I have a stock full of it”

Eda could recognize the familiar glow and smell from a mile away, confirming its contents. “It sure is, here’s ten snails” She reached into her pocket to pull out her money.

“Add two more zeroes and it’s a deal” Said Tibbles with a cutesy smile.

Eda couldn’t believe the guts this guy had. “What kind of sick game are you playing!?” Asked Eda with anger in her voice

“Capitalism. The game where everybody wins! Except you” Said Tibbles as he took the elixirs from the stand. Eda was furious, but there was little she could do. Her curse was spreading and she couldn’t risk King getting hurt in a fight with security. She should have brought Luz, would have been amusing to see her beat him up. Looking for something to help her, she noticed a deck of Hexes Hold-em cards laying beside her. An idea formed into her mind.

Luz saw the moon go near the treetops as the night was reaching its apex. She didn’t want to worry, but things were getting a bit risky.

They had walked through the forest for a while until they bumped into Boscha. The bully was walking and talking to her parents over the phone. Willow proposed that they prank her, which she agreed to. They hid and pretended the house was alive to scare her. Despite being quite standoffish, she ran away quite easily. A bit sad in her eyes, she doesn't understand how someone can’t have thicker skin. She remembers a time where she took a shift at Grizzco and faced a pair of Kohazuna’s. Everybody was super excited at facing them and even got 4 golden scales as their pay.

Anyways, she was ready to call it quits and return home when Willow said she wanted to show off to Amity’s house to prove who really didn’t have talent. The way she said it didn’t seem to talk about Boscha however. She really wished to say no, the moon was going down after all, but she relented to it. Whatever struggle Willow had with that group, if this could help give her some closure, she was more than willing to help.

She was… less than pleased when their path took them across town. Hopefully Eda didn’t have a penstagram of her own. When they finished crossing, Luz could see a large manor sitting atop a cliff. It looked rather imposing, if paling in comparison to some photos Luz had seen of other mansions. And Pearl’s garage.

Willow perked up and had a look of confidence when they saw the mansion. “Look, Amity's house. Time to show Amity what a real conjuring looks like”

Luz noted the explicit comment about Amity being the target of the show-off, but she was literally knocked off her thoughts when the house suddenly stopped moving. Looking up, she noticed a large rope going over the house.

“Is that a… a giant crossbow/” Gus said and pointed to the front of the manor. In it were the same hooded people from before, carrying some form of artillery with them. A man at the front made a sign and a second bolt was fired, pinning the house down. I could see a bunch of them moving to the house. The same demon hunter leader jumped to the front and made a show in front of us.

“Knock, knock” He said with a gravelly voice. I was gonna take out my splattershot to fight, but I noticed that both Gus and Willow were cowering behind me. They seemed to scared to fight, not helped by more hunters climbing Hooty and surrounding us.

Luz was tense. She did not know how to get out of this situation without somebody getting hurt. Seeing a lack of options for her, she took a risk and lifted her arms. Better not to startle or fight them. For now.

Gus and Willow followed her lead and also raised their arms, though more scared than her. The hunters grabbed us and took us inside the house. They took out a bunch of ropes and tied our arms and torsos into a tight knot. They then left without saying much of anything, simply threatening us to not leave or we would get hurt.

We sat there silently as the hunters did things outside. After a certain amount of time, the house began moving again. She assumed that the hunters must have tied them to a wooden cart of some kind. Right now, she was glad nobody here had discovered how to make an electric car.

Looking at her companions, their state of mind was bad. Gus looked panicked and was biting at the ropes, while Willow was simply despondent and looking at the ground. Luz meanwhile, was formulating a plan.

These guys might seem imposing, but they actually are quite amateurs. Otherwise, they would have been more careful and put guards around them. She also didn’t really think they were quite capable as fighters. It’s quite easy hunting for an animal without the larger levels of sapience and intelligence to fight back. It was different to fight an intelligent being.

She first decided to try something. Hooty was Eda’s defense system, he should activate.

“Hooty, wake up! We need your help! Please!” She said, kicking at the door. The house demon didn’t respond to her, at least not with a good answer.

“If you want this to end as you say, three must hold hands. It's the only way” Hooty said. She groaned at that answer, which seemed to knock Willow out of her thoughts.

“I’m sorry Luz, this is all my fault. I… I just wanted to show her that she was wrong about me. Even after we cut ties, she pops into my head from time to time, taunting me. All I wanted was to prove her wrong. You wanted to turn back, but I got us into a mess instead” Willow said, starting to get into sobbing.

I stretched a piece of my hair and snatched one of Willow’s tears. I gave her a big smile and reassured her. “Willow, you're not wrong for wanting to prove to others your worth. You’ve been hurt in the past, I get that. Though I personally don’t think you need it” Willow perked up at that and looked at Luz quizzically. “You're the second strongest witch I know, next to Eda. Your talented, kind, and powerful; the whole package if you ask me”

Willow began to smile again. I still didn’t know why it was Amity specifically targeted, but that could come later.

“Well, now it's time to turn the tables” Luz said. She started shifting her body until she became intangible and slipped through the rope. The rope then fell off Willow and Gus, no longer being tight enough for the two of them.

“You can phase through objects? Are you part ghost?” Gus asked, surprised.

“Not really. Nothing can hold my kind” Luz said. It wasn’t entirely true, but she wasn’t gonna go into a tangent about glass and plastic. “Well, since these guys had the absolute gall to mess with us, I think the favor should be returned” Luz said while having a small wicked smile on her face.

“What do you mean?” Gus asked.

“I’m saying to show them the true meaning of a fight. Splatlands style.”

Both Willow and Gus seemed onboard with her idea, so they accompanied to her room. She was gonna show these hunters the true meaning of combat.

Samuel the Crusher was an excellent demon hunter. At least, that’s what he would tell you.

Being the 7th generation descendant of a hunting clan, he had earned his mark through various hunts. From selkidomus to Slitherbeasts, he had seen it all. There were oddities, like this specific variant of house demon, but nothing ever surprised him. At least until now.

Among the legally recognized sentient demons, most kept themselves to being from a mammalian or reptile species. Odder, more complicated creatures stayed in the realm of the bug and beast category. Which perplexed him at the existence of the girl tied up in the house right now. He wondered if he could sell her as an oddity to the beast keeping coven, but dismissed the idea. They did not appreciate the capture or distribution of any species, let alone sentient ones. They had more than one run in with members hunting for their group, some captured even by Eberwolf themselves.

Carla, one of his closest confidants, approached him from the side. “What’s on your mind”

He grunted at that. “Just wondering how we're gonna sell this thing. Fine cuts of house demons are valuable, but it's expensive to pull them out of the house. We also have to keep this thing sedated to avoid it trying to escape”

She gave him a smirk as they walked, the sound of the forest and their cart filling the air. “We simply sell the house and its valuables to the market. Judging by the house, it belongs to a wild witch, so that means a high payday on the night market” She then took out a poster from a pocket of her hood. “We could earn more if we took this job you know, don’t have to deal covens interrupting us and the pay is big enough to set us up for a few years”

“My answer is still no on that one. Too risky and not worth our time” He said. The poster that Carla had was one that had appeared last month on the guild. Nobody knew who posted it, but it seeked information regarding Basilisks. Samuel thought of himself highly, but even he knew that those things were too dangerous for anybody to deal with.

On his right, a junior member of the guild named Tom approached them. “Hey boss, what are we gonna do with the kids”\

Samuel sighed in frustration. He wasn’t a stone cold killer, but he couldn’t allow witnesses to rat them out to the emperor’s coven. They could get the guild into trouble, which would leave them defenseless to a lot of people who had a bone to pick with them. Some of them literally. “Well dispose of them up ahead, throw them over the boiling sea. You can do it if you want” He knew of the young hunter's desire to do something like that. A bit of a freak if you asked him, but he made some good soup.

He began clapping happily. “Oh boy, I always wanted to do that, thanks chie…” He was suddenly silenced as a large boom ringed through the air. In a moment, his happy face twisted and was thrown to the ground. He was knocked unconscious, his head and upper torso covered in some weird cyan slime. Following the sound,, and a trail of the slime, he noticed that the upper window of the house was now open and had an object sticking out of it.

He was annoyed as it seemed that the kids had escaped the ropes. He didn’t have a lot of time to complain however as the object quickly moved and shot a blast of slime. He heard a scream as a hunter behind him fell over, also getting hit in the face with a blast of slime.

He signaled for everybody to take cover as they hid behind ropes. One of the kids had some kind of crossbow-like weapon on them and was very accurate with it. They also had the high ground and cover, making them very dangerous. Luckily for them, they had numbers.

He made some signs for them to slowly approach the house. They would take it back and make sure to cage these kids properly. They got closer and closer using the terrain to the height discrepancy of the house to their advantage. Another shot rang as a demon hunter peeked too early from cover and got blasted on the face.

They got to the house and prepared to rush them, when they were met with a troubling sight. The kid with glasses from earlier was now standing on the lawn and pouring magic into the ground, except there were now ten of them, each standing on different spots from the lawn. Their magic made enormous roots emerge from the ground and rush at them. He slashed one of the vines that came at him, but the rest weren’t so lucky. They were getting grabbed, tossed and slammed by the vines.

Then a bunch of different smaller demons rushed at us. I tried to slash one, but it was simply an illusion. Everybody realized that. But the distractions opened up chances for the vines to slip by them and attack. He tried to pinpoint where the real plant witch and the illusionist were to cut off their spells, but he was launched from his spot as he barely blocked something large coming from his side.

He was launched from the lawn and landed harshly on the ground. He felt some of his ribs crack at the attack, its force feeling like that of a young griffon. Rising up, he spotted the tentacled girl from earlier, approaching him while wielding a massive paint roller. She had a large smile on her face, the moonlight reflecting off her smile which sported opposing fangs on her mouth. Her tentacles were now of a cyan color.

“You know, you don't really get a lot of chances here to just pummel somebody so I must thank you for today” She then pointed to the house, where vines and illusions of creatures were now popping up and bashing his compatriots. “Your group also got those two more accustomed to real fighting, so that’s nice as well”

He readied his sword, and prepared a lighting spell. “You think you can take me out kid, I’ve faced more monstrous things than you”

The girl's smile widened. “Funny you should mention that” Her hair then began to glow. She made a sound as her body changed. It grew in size and contorted, shifting to a large tentacle demon, its body glowing a bright cyan hue.

It rushed at me, swimming on the ground itself. When it got close, I fired my lighting spell and hoped to catch her off guard. Instead, she simply shrugged off my attack and latched herself on me. Her tentacles wrapped around my body as she took me off the ground and started slamming me into it. By the third hit, I lost consciousness, the screams of the rest of the hunters fading into the void.

Eda was not tricked easily. A long experience at selling human garbage made you aware of the common tricks. She was a bit vulnerable, however, to being bested by those over her in the lying department. Normally this wasn’t an issue, seeing as her strength carried her through when words weren’t enough. Not the case this time.

She was laying on the ground, her arms and torso tied up in magical chains. King was above her, being forcefully stuffed into a little sailor outfit by Tibbles. The little pig had beaten her at Hexes Hold-Em, being a pro player of the game and blowing her out of the field. Not only that, but he twisted their wager to take King from her.

The biggest problem however, was that he actually knew who she was. He always knew, this whole ordeal was a scam meant to capture her. She would do something about this, but her magic had been cut off by the curse. She could hear the beast scratching at her mind, asking to be let out. A part of her was tempted, if only to see if the beast would make bacon from Tibbles, but she didn’t want to put King in danger.

King was also mad at her. Getting himself captured and sold to a scammer wouldn't make anybody happy. He was also tied up from the ankle with an ankle chain. They were both waiting for Tibbles to return from the back room.

Eda looked up to King. “King, I'm sorry”.

King scoffed and seated on the stands bar, clutching at the necktie of his outfit. “King? Who's King? I go by Little Bone Boy now”

Eda felt a bit frustrated, but she knew what he meant. She got overconfident and fell into his trick because of her addiction to the game. “I know, I know. I have a problem. I get obsessed with Hexes Hold'em. But I'm done with that stupid game. Look” She then ate the card in front of him. It tasted like cheap paper and paint, but she’s tasted worse.

King looked at her more fondly and smiled at her. “You promise?”

“I promise” Eda answered back, her voice muffled by the pack of cards she was eating. They were starting to taste like chips for some reason.

King chuckled at her. “Okay, okay” He stood up and forcefully pushed the ankle chain from his leg, freeing it with ease. “I'll grab you the elixir and then we can bust out of here”

He was then stopped as a magical chain appeared, binding his legs to the stand and preventing him from moving. “Bone boy!” Tibbles yelled from the back.

King turned around. “Heh?”

Tibbles climbed up the stand, holding up a little jester outfit. “You will do no such thing. The Emperor's Coven is already on its way to send this witch here to the Conformatorium” He then held up the clothes to King’s face. “And I just rustled up some more clothes for you to try on” He chuckled maliciously.

King threw the hat of his outfit to the ground, and stood up to Tibbles. “Just because I have a model's body doesn't mean you can use me like this” As King said this, Eda felt a loud thump on the ground and the earth lightly shook.

Tibbles dismissed King and approached the smaller demon, even if he was only taller by a couple of inches. “I can and I am, bone boy. I've got the cards stacked against you” He poked King in the chest while doing this. Eda was angry at the sight, but she was distracted as the sound of footsteps grew louder.

Tibbles then began to laugh maniacally, believing he had won. “And nothing can stop me. Nothing!” He said triumphantly to the world. He was proved wrong.

A massive avian leg stepped on his stand, breaking it from the inside. The small shack had several of its merchandise crushed and damaged. The house then stopped moving and she saw as Luz came down from the house. She was wearing a black bandana with a white lower jaw painted on it, adorned with three fangs on its teeth. She approached Tibbles and grabbed him by his shirt, pulling him to her face.

“Release them” Luz said coldly to Tibbles.

“Or, Or what!?” Tibbles said dismissively to her, but nervousness crept to his voice.

Luz shifted her body to face away from King and then pulled down the cloth from her mouth. She then morphed her face as her face shifted to one composed of tentacles and yelled to Tibbles face in her garbled language. The sight of that knocked out Tibbles, who fainted from fear. Their chains disappeared when he went out.

Luz then noticed the pack of cards she saw earlier from the ground. She tossed Tibbles into the ground of his shop. “Wow! Didn’t know the Boiling Isles had Tableturf packs!” It was then that she noticed both King and Eda staring at her dumbfounded.

“Ummmm, there will be a good explanation for this later. Ok, bye!” She said and shifted into her octopus form, jumping highly into the air.

The house then began to move and go down the night market street, fading into the background.

Eda saw the house fade away. She had two thoughts in her mind. ‘What the fuck!?’ and ‘Is that my house?’

King approached her and handed her an elixir bottle and a cage where Owlbert was kept in. She drank the elixir bottle quickly, feeling the feathers recede and her magic returning. She cast a quick spell and destroyed Owlbert’s cage, freeing him. She had so many things on her mind, but for now, she had her priorities.

Pick up King and safeguard, get/rob some elixir from the now unconscious Tibbles, and figure out what was going on.

Willow fell and sat on the ground, partially exhausted. Rushing to get the house back home had been quite hard, but they made it in time. The only issue now was dealing with Eda once she returned. Looking around the house, she realized that there was no way to clean this mess before she got here. Moving the house knocked a lot of the furniture around, so the house looked as if a wild beast ravaged it. She was worried about Luz, but she said she was gonna handle it.

They were all startled as the door flung open, expecting Eda to bust them. Instead, it was only Hooty, who was back to normal. He did look a little bit dizzy.

“Is the room spinning or is it just me?” He said. He then began lightly giggling, almost as if they didn’t just hijack his body for the night. “Ah. Just a little house humor. Ooh.”

Luz gave a sigh of relief and approached Hooty, giving some affectionate scratches to his head. “Sorry for the whole ordeal Hooty. Next time I go home, I’ll bring you some cooked insects”

Hooty smiled at that. “Hoot Hoot! Thanks Luz. By the way, don’t worry about earlier, I'm just glad I was included.”

He then slammed into the doorframe, revealing a ticked off Eda and a grumpy King. They were giving Luz a look of judgment, which Luz could only nervously laugh at.

“You are so busted” Eda said to Luz. “You animated my house and decided that it was a good idea to parade it around the isles”

Willow didn’t tell Gus, but they both seemed to have the same thought. We rushed to Luz's defense and stood between her and Eda.

“No! Don't punish Luz. We're the ones who pushed her to take the house for a joyride”

“If you're gonna eat me, just do it now. Do it now!” Gus yelled at Eda, tough he had his eyes closed in fear.

Eda looked unamused at the children and closed her eyes. She gave a big huff and crossed her arms. “Well, you’re all guilty, so you’ll all be punished by cleaning this house top to bottom” She magically summoned a bunch of brooms, buckets and mops. She didn’t notice, but Luz backed away slightly from the bucket filled with water.

Eda then went to sit on the couch, but quickly turned around and gave them a mean look. “And another thing!” Eda said. The three of them gulped at what she was gonna say.

Eda’s features softened however, giving them all a big smile. “That was totally amazing. And I'm so joining you for next year's conjuring. Now get to work” She then finally took a dive on the sofa, ready to rest.

They all loosened up after that, happy to not be in bigger trouble. While her and Gus darted into the kitchen, Luz ran to the kitchen with a pair of gloves and paper towels on hand. She gave Eda a look and piped up about their earlier encounter. “Hey Eda, wasn’t sure how you were gonna react, so I had a little apology gift behind the sofa for you”

King piped up at the mention of gift and jumped over the sofa. He came back around carrying a somewhat hefty bag. Eda untied the knot on the bag and then froze up. She saw the contents of the bag, then Luz, then repeated that 5 times before addressing Luz again.

“Kid, why are there five thousand snails on this bag?”

Luz gave her a slight smirk. “Oh, that. Some wimps thought they could take the house as if it was their own, so we gave them a firm no. They were so intimidated by that, they even gave us some snails for the show. Amazing, isn’t it?”

Willow remembered that. After subduing everyone of the demon hunters and knocking them unconscious, Luz went around and collected their cash. She would feel bad, but she remembers hearing someone say they were gonna throw into the sea, so the feeling lessened up a lot. Weirdly enough, when Gus wanted to claim the eyepatch of the leader, Luz stopped him, citing the fact that messing with another person’s style was a travesty.

Eda seemed like she wanted to say something, but she simply closed her mouth. Instead she smiled wildly and began to pour the golden snails at the table, looking at them with delight. King even jumped on them and rolled around in the cash.

Willow looked affectionately at them. Despite being a criminal, Eda seemed like a very normal and likable person. Made her wonder why the emperor coven wanted her so much. Was somebody like her really that problematic?

Luz had grabbed a mop and began cleaning the floor while they picked up the furniture and decorations from the ground. “Tonight was great, thanks Willow. Sad we couldn’t show up Amity however”

Willow panicked at that. “Ummm, who said anything about Amity?” She said nervously. Luz paused her smile and simply gave her a firm look. She sighed. “Ok it was Amity”

“I don’t have a problem with that, just curious why? Boscha seems to be your bigger problem” Luz said.

Willow wondered if telling Luz was a good idea, but after tonight, she could confide on her this much. “Amity and I used to be friends. Best friends. Then years ago, when we were seven, she just blew up at me, she called me weak for not developing my magic powerful enough and declared me not worthy of being her friend”

Luz looked at her with a mixture of sadness and anger in her face. “After that, she’s mostly just been taking potshots at me over the years and standing by as Boscha started targeting me”

Luz remained passive, not saying anything as she mopped the floor with a pensive look on her face.

Willow tried to lighten things up. “Hey, please don’t worry. I have been trying to get over it, since it's not really worth the trouble. Besides, you’ve been a better friend on the last couple of weeks than her in years, so I got that goin for me” Willow said, giving a big smile to Luz.

That seems to brighten up Luz as she smiles again and makes a fistbump at her. She giggles at it and invites Gus to join in. They have a triple fist bump and continue cleaning, a peaceful air roaming the house now.

Amity saw from her window as the moon dimmed and faded from the sky, the light of the night beginning to be replaced by the sun. Now it looked the same as the one from any other night, making it seem as if there was nothing special about this night. Which, as it turned out, could describe tonight's experience.

After multiple failed attempts at conjuring life into an old Otabin doll she had alongside the rest of the girls, they failed to do anything. It didn’t stand, it didn’t sing or dance, it didn’t even twitch. It stood lifeless on the floor, similar to the mood of the girl.

Boscha tried to distract them by engaging in gossip and checking out penstagram for funny videos, but she knew the truth. Everyone was disappointed. That they failed to conjure anything for the night made them feel weak and useless, something nobody enjoyed. The only couple of good moments so far had been a point where Skara played a new song for her harp which they enjoyed, as well as Boscha making up a story of how she bravely stood up against a talking house in the woods, which she found kind of funny.

But they still didn’t make her feel all too happy at the results. She remembers back in their youth, she would always fantasize with Willow about the night they would have their first moonlight conjuring together. They would discuss everything. The food they would bring, the object, music to ambient the party, all kinds of things. Now those memories are distant, only relics of happier times.

She then heard Boscha gasp, making her turn her attention to the group. Boscha signaled for her to come. She went there, not really interested in whatever gossip Boscha had, but needing to pay attention anyways. Kneeling down to see, she was shocked at the very different content she was seeing.

There were multiple posts with pictures of Willow, Gus, and Luz holding hands and guiding a walking house around the Isles. The three looked like they were having a great time together, a bright blue light emanating from their bodies.

I couldn’t believe it. We failed to animate a doll and they did an entire house!?

In a rare moment of synchronized thinking with Boscha, we both said the same thing at the same time.

“What!?”

Notes:

Sorry for the delay, returning from vacation and into the grind of university has been difficult to get accustomed to. Hopefully, I'll be able to restore a faster upload rate in the future.

Chapter 9: Basilisk Expansion - Shape 2 - “Squid”

Notes:

Happy Splatfest to all! In honor of this occasion, I'm releasing this chapter a bit early. Hope you all have a great day.

Chapter Text

Vee has come to accept that this world was different. An understatement when contemplating traveling to another realm, but important nonetheless. A different world had a different culture, so different standards applied to the people living there. Still didn’t make her feel less stressed out at what was happening right now.

When Masha mentioned they wanted a deep fried look for their hair, she thought that perhaps they were gonna accessorize it with sparkles or something on that route. She didn’t expect it to involve dumping her tentacles in boiling oil and literally frying it. They were doing the tips only, but it still seemed horrifying to willingly do that. However, the way they talked about it, it seemed to not be painful at all or something that would stick with them for life.

She shifted a bit, as a jellyfish went by, carrying a box of objects. One of the camp supervisors mentioned that he was studying for a cosmetology degree, something to do with makeup and accessories she assumed, so some campers asked if he could style them. He happily took the offer. Masha asked her earlier if she wished to have something done to her too, but she rejected it. Even if she had the ability to tolerate pain that the people here har, she couldn’t risk her disguise.

As Masha’s hair was frying up, she decided to read up further in her investigation. She found in the camp’s library a ‘geography’ book for kids to find out more about the world she was in now. It used simple language and had lots of pictures, which was a big plus.

The name of this realm, or planet as the locals called it, was Aquarius. It consisted of a large quantity of lands made of dirt and stone, shaped in a sphere and encapsulated by a sea of salt water. Thankfully, of the non-boiling variety.

She was currently in a place called Inkadia, a large country island near one of the main continents. She couldn’t get a read of the population by the book, but she could guess there were a lot of people living here, if the size of the lands in comparison to her estimates of the titan were true.

There were many species living here, but the main two that seemed to have major influence in this land, and the rest of the world for that matter, were the Inklings and Octolings. Of the two, Luz seemed to be an Octoling, characterized by certain body parts being smoother than their Inkling counterparts, as well as having suction cups facing outwards instead of inwards.

Reflecting on species made Vee reflect on her own form a bit. She had no trouble disguising herself as Luz, but didn’t really have an idea of what she was like. It didn’t really seem to be an issue, as no one knew who Luz was either, but that left her acting a bit… loose. It was only through the kindness of others that no one was more inquisitive to her nature.

This tied into her not knowing where to go next after this vacation was over. She had considered some options, but they all had their ups and downs.

Her first option could be to just ditch her form and reveal herself as a Basilisk. This would be unthinkable in the Isles, but not so much here. Some of the people here looked similar to her, they were called ‘eels’, as well as many others. Even if she didn’t pretend to be a specific species she wouldn’t be caught as something weird and unnatural by the standards of this world. There weren’t guarantees however. They could just hunt her down if they realized she came from another realm.

Option two involved her taking the form of another species or individual, but that had its own risks. If she pretended to be something specific, she would need to accommodate their requirements. She once thought of maybe becoming a sea anemone, but they had customs and relationships with sentient little fishes that inhabited their heads. A jellyfish blended well into the background and were given a lot of free reign, but they were even more bizarre. It took her days to figure it out, but the reason they never spoke is because they are all connected through a hivemind of consciousness. Something she couldn’t imitate. All in all, imitating another race would be difficult unless chosen correctly.

The third and really complicated option involved continuing to pretend to be Luz. This one seemed downright foolish. She risked having to explain what happened to the original Luz and being accused of doing something to her. The positives however, was that she could continue her relationships from this form.

For the first time in her life, she felt happy and accompanied. There was solidarity between herself and the other basilisks while they were trapped under Belos, but there was no warmth. Not that she could blame them, they were all starved for affection, but too scared to show any of it. But here, she had great friends, could eat her fill, have fun, and live without fear. There was even now her relationship with Camila.

After learning to write and read on a more basic level, she got to writing letters on a typing machine in the library to Camila. At first, she planned to write only one, expressing her thanks in a subtle way for allowing her the opportunity to live comfortably for the first time, even if it wasn’t intended for her.

However, after getting a letter back and reading her emotions, she took courage and opened a constant conversation with her, even if it was one told not face to face. She learned a few things from her. She learned that Luz was still alive, as she had access to her phone. Another thing she noticed was some sort of… distance in the way she wrote. She couldn’t pin it down, but her words were a lot more reserved, at least compared to the other people she had met. Perhaps it was a mother's way of speaking, she wasn’t sure.

Smelling the air, her stomach rumbled a bit, indicating that Masha had finished. They were now washing away the oil from their tentacles with a towel.

“How do I look?” Asked Masha. Looking at them, Vee for some reason felt a bit flustered. They looked really good with the look, the crispy tentacles complimenting her darker color aesthetic. This look simply seemed to enhance it even more. Oddly, the fried tentacles bounced and moved as if they were not deep fried, still retaining their bounciness.

“Thanks! Just wait, since it's not fully finished yet” They said. The inkling stylist, a young man with oval shaped eyelashes and with six cut off tentacle tips on their side, approached Masha and grabbed their hair. He then took out a black bottle, covering the parts of Masha’s hair and tinting them black. He handed a mirror to Masha, who gave them a thumbs up in approval.

“What did he put in your hair, some kind of dye?” Vee asked Masha.

“Something like that. It's some kind of soy based ointment that keeps certain parts of the body with black coloring, independent of the ink changing color” They said.

We left the building and headed outside. The camp had many buildings for services and housing for residents. In total, if including staff, there would be 4,000 people. Which absolutely astounded me. The statistics in the book said that the population was enormous compared to the boiling isles, but this was still incredible.

As they were leaving, she saw that in a nearby parking lot some squids and a crustacean were playing turf war. Yet another fascinating fact of this world. Everybody could, to various degrees, manipulate ink to use in combat. The advantage Inklings and Octolings have is that their bodies seemed to have the most advantages to manipulating it. They could swim, use it on weapons, fuel themselves, all kinds of things. When she asked Masha about this, they said that the inkling and octarian ancestors had the most control of ink in the previous era, leading to them having the most control of it.

All creatures had some degree of weird quirks that Masha said belonged to their ancestors. Crabs had tough shells and strong claws, Jellyfish had venom and electric stingers in their bodies. A lot of creatures had venom according to Masha, but the effects were diminished on their bodies. When asked what the effect would be on a creature without those defenses, Masha speculated that for a small bird, about 5 stings would be necessary, but each sting would paralyze their opponent more and more, making them easy pickings. I became a bit more wary of getting on the bad side of a group of jellyfish now.

Really, all creatures here were dangerous to some extent. For some reason, everybody here was more… relaxed around violence. She knew that wasn’t that strange, considering what she knew of the boiling isles relationship with violence, but it was different here. Everybody had an underlying level of excitement when talking or witnessing fights, never really having some kind of inner conflict. She wondered if this was only bravado for fights in a controlled environment, or if it applied to all violence.

She was worried about that. While the magic in the world and food was safe, the magic in people was odd. She’s been taking sips of the energy in people’s bodies, just to know if she could potentially defend herself. She could drink fine most people, though it left a sometimes bitter, sometimes spicy taste in her mouth. Inklings and Octolings on the other hand, were a lot more dangerous. Whatever was powering them, it seemed very toxic to consume. She tried a little from a passerby and it left her dizzy.

Masha turned to her walking and noticed her staring at the others playing. They summoned a large thin paintbrush from their bodies and looked at her expectantly. “Wanna play, I can ask the rest to join us for a couple matches”

Vee panicked and waved her hands dismissively. “No, no, I’m fine! Just curious is all! Already had my fill back home!” Vee said while lying through her teeth. She didn’t want to completely deny Masha, but she couldn’t say she had not played the game either. Everybody was familiar and enjoyed playing it, so it would ring alarm bells if she showed a lack of interest on it.

Masha frowned a bit at her response, but their smile returned quickly after putting away her weapon. “Hey, wanna see something cool?” Masha asked her while having a coy look in their face.

Vee didn’t really know what cool meant here, but she trusted Masha. “Sure, lead the way”

Masha's smile grew wider and they took her hand. Running from one stretch of the camp to the other. We got to the other side of the camp, facing a large cliff with a small forest running down its back. Masha signaled to her to stand on one side, while they stood on another.

“Is this what you wanted to show me?” Vee asked.

“No, silly, it's all the way on the top. And for that…” They said, pulling out their inkbrush. Vee took a step back, panicking at the idea of Masha wanting to fight.

“Race you to the top!” Masha said. They began swinging their painbrushing, creating a path of ink as they started climbing the cliff. They moved quickly, each swing of the brush leading them to a step to climb further upwards.

Vee looked at Masha climb, a bit worried at what to do. She then remembered something, wondering if now was the right time to test it.

Looking around her, she went to another side of the cliff to test something out. Once she was sure that no one was seeing her, she began concentrating on a feeling on her back.

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Basilisks shapeshifting can be considered as something beyond the limits of regular shapeshifting in the boiling isles. When a Basilisk consumes magic, they create a stockpile of energy in their bodies which allow them to shift their muscles and bones to fit many forms, only limited by their size. Internally, their organs don’t change, which prevents them from making venom or creating a bile sac to produce their own magic. The benefit of something like this, as opposed to the more precise and less costly beast-keeper magic, is that the amount of forms and natural control they have over this can allow for rare combinations and powerful techniques. Or at least it used to.

There once was a time where Basilisk would live off the environmental magic of the Titan’s body, making them one of the strongest beings of the Boiling Isles. However, the passage of time would diminish the titan’s ambient magic, leaving Basilisks without their main source of sustenance. The species would greatly diminish, only having a few dozen members before their extinction. The species was forced to prey on witches and demons, stealing their magic and forcing a group of witches to hunt down their kind.

Or at least, that’s the story which is told in the present.

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Vee’s shapeshifting in the isles was limited, taking the form of witches and demons was a careful process due to the limitations of how much mana she could use at the moment. Now however, she had a large stockpile of magic, making her feel a lot stronger. She had experimented a little, refining some details of her current disguise, but now she could try something stronger.

Vee once saw a large Griffon, proudly defending its flock from a pack of skull-beetles. It flew high into the air, with its large wings, striking the beetles with a sharp beak and claws. She focused on it. Large wings.

Her back shifted, body extending as two appendages formed. They grew, extending high into the air and shifting wildly. They grew feathers, adding a warm brown to her back. As vee calmed her mind, she noticed it. She had done it. She had wings.

Giving them a quick flap, Vee launched herself a bit into the air, slamming into the ground with a bit of a thump. Not being deterred, instead gaining excitement, Vee then shifted her hands. The smooth and floppy hands were replaced by sharp claws, good for digging into the earth. She slammed the claws into the cliff and decided to start moving.

Using the claws, she would launch her body upwards, gaining more altitude with the wings. She would launch herself step from step, moving quickly and efficiently. She would occasionally stumble, misjudging the pace and almost falling off, but she held firm. It took her a while, but in 10 minutes, she climbed the cliffside.

She decided to enter the cliff through an obscured part of its forest, allowing her a place to shift her body in peace. Overall, the transformation cost a lot more than using the Inkling one, since she was going for aesthetic over function there, but she still had a good amount saved up. All the food she’s been eating has increased her energy reserves, which should last her for a good while.

She walked the forest, searching for Masha. She found the spot where they came from, a large trail of ink running all the way to the bottom. She found them sitting on a stone a bit further from there, watching something on their phone. They looked up and spotted Vee, giving them a friendly wave as they pocketed their phone.

“Geez, you took a while. Are you okay?” Masha asked, pulling from their bag a smoothie. Vee took it, building up a bit of a thirst from climbing upwards.

“Yeah, sorry. Not really used to climbing natural reserves like this.” Vee said. At least, not for recreational reasons.

Masha smiled at her, signaling for her to follow. They lead her to an exit to the forest, getting near the cliff. They told her to wait, checking outside for a momento before waving at her to come. Vee came outside and was absolutely impressed.

She did not see it while climbing, but the cliff rose from the sight of the buildings and other natural reserves to showcase a large desert. It was vast, with spots of green and blue running across it. The sky was a bright blue, the clouds of a pure white that casted immense shadows on the landscape. The sun shined brightly, standing in the center of her view. The only thing that doesn't seem natural is an odd structure on the horizon. It seemed like a large gray cup, below the position of the sun.

“This is amazing Masha! I’m curious however, what is that?” Vee said, pointing to the gray object.

“That’s the unfinished barbed pyramid. It's a relic from the past. It's been here in the splatlands for at least 12,000 years. It used to be somewhere else, but the great flood from over a 100 years ago moved it from its point of origin” Masha said, taking her phone out again and snapping a picture. “There's also another one of these in the Bluefin Union, but that one is all rusted up and deformed. This one is mostly intact, if a bit smaller”

Vee looked at it, amazed. “Our ancestors were pretty advanced to make something like that on such an early point of history”

“Oh, our kind did not make that. Nor did anybody else, really” Masha said.

Vee was confused. “Then who did?”

Masha looked pensive. “Before our time, there was a species which inhabited the planet. No one really knows about them, so all we have is a bunch of approximations of what they were like” She then inclined her head. “Well, except maybe Judd, but he refuses to comment of details about them”

Ignoring the comment about this ‘Judd’, Vee saw the landscape and relaxed a little. The sight calmed her, making her forget for a bit about any ideas of planning for the future. This calmness allowed her to gather the courage to ask Masha.

“Masha, what do you want to be in the future?” Vee asked.

Masha looked at Vee a bit confused, but nonetheless answered. “Honestly, I’m hoping to be a historian. There's a lot of things to discover, not just of our history, but the ones from those old beings as well. It excites me a lot” They sat down next to Vee. “There’s also the fact that it is important for us to learn. Looking into the past and learning from it is important for the future. Without it, we are doomed to repeat the errors of those before us” They leaned their head on their hand, flashing a small smile to Vee. “Why, worried about the future?”

Vee scratched her head nervously, but still smiled at Masha. “Yeah. I just… I don't really know what I am gonna do with my life. What is my purpose? Do I even have a future?”

Masha patted her on the back, both of them staring into the horizon. “Well, in my opinion, you shouldn’t worry that much about the future, at least for now. While you should plan ahead, you must also learn to enjoy what’s in front of you.”

They then pointed to the sky. “One quote that I always remember said: ‘Why are we here? For what purpose do we exist? We must not dwell on these questions. We can merely trust in the will of the universe and spend our days and nights in harmony with the world, celebrating this festival called Life’. It doesn't apply to everything, but it's a good basis to start ”

Vee repeated Masha’s words in her head and watched the clouds on the horizon, a sense of calmness washing over her. She decided that, for now, she would simply enjoy things. She would plan ahead, but would enjoy her time at camp as well.

The sound of an alarm woke her up. It was subtle, barely hearable by most standards, but she could hear it. Her ears picked up all kinds of sounds, a funny consequence of the strength of her shouts.

Picking up her phone from the bedside table, she saw that it was eight in the morning. Back in Inkopolis, it would be thirteen-o-clock, but one had to adapt on the fly when traveling around. It was early, but not so early that she couldn’t cook both of them some breakfast. Marina and her ate early after all.

Speaking of the Octoling, she was sleeping soundly by her side, still clad in their stage uniform. After a late night concert, they were so tired that they fell asleep the moment they hit the bed. She looked tired, but her face showed a content smile for her dreams.

Giving her cute DJ a light peck on the lips, she went to the kitchen of their small apartment. The studio rented them a small place, on petition of Marina, to have while they stayed on the Bluefin Union. They had their own place, independent of Damped socks. She honestly wanted to splurge a little bit more, but she couldn’t really say no to Marina.

Once in the kitchen, she pulled out her own personal mini staircase to get to shelves. She could just climb up for it, but she didn’t wanna make a mess. Again.

Pulling out some baking mix, she got some pans and a waffler out to cook themselves a delicious pancake-waffle mix. However, before she could unleash this mystic combination on the world, her phone rang, loudly this time. A custom ringtone of three bass drops stirred the air.

Pulling out the phone back from her Hoodie, she noticed a request for a video call. Accepting it and putting her phone on the counter, a beam of light projected a screen in the air. She saw the image of a female Inkling, dressed up in a captain’s hat and wearing a multicolored and stitched up cape. She also noticed something else, but decided to keep it to herself for later.

“Yo, Captain. What can I do for you?” She said.

The Captain had a serious look on her face, but years of working with her had led to getting an understanding of her more… less expressive emotions. Right now, she was happy serious. “Hello to you, Pearl. I hope you have been keeping up your training”

The Captain was rigorous in her training. After she assumed controls, she’s been having them all run around and practice their fighting styles for the future. To an extreme degree. The warrior of Inkopolis indeed. “Sure thing squirt, been doing it in my free time between concerts and dates. Though you didn’t call us in the morning for the chance to check up on our training, so what’s up?”

Her eyebrows flinched at being called squirt, but she let go of the teasing for now. “Hmmm. You know me well. I was hoping to check up on Marina about the thing that I asked for”

Pearl sighed a bit, figuring it was about that. “She’s been working on that radar for a while, but hasn’t found anything yet” She leaned backwards on her seat, putting her feet on the table. “And if I’m being honest, I don’t think she’s gonna find anything in a long time. The bear is dead, captain. Neo herself said that he disappeared after the ink explosion. We even checked on Grizzco and found nothing. Even if he survived the explosion, the reentry into orbit would have killed him”

The Captain looked down, looking inquisitive at herself. “I know, it's silly, but we need to make sure. Can’t allow more loose ends to bite us in the tentacle later” She then looked at something offscreen, frowning at it. “I also came to ask for something else. Something I’m not sure of”

Pearl raised an eyebrow at that. “What are you doubting?”

The Captain took a breath and looked at Pearl directly. “Do you believe in magic?”

Pearl looked at the captain for five seconds straight. Then she began laughing. “Hahaha! Seriously, squirt? You’re asking ME about magic? May I remind you that I was on team Sci-Fi while we were running the Splatfests, plus, me choosing knight over wizard” Pearl said with some smugness in her voice.

The Captain didn’t say much, only throwing a deadpan look at the idol. “I was being serious”

Pearl allowed herself a few seconds to calm down from her laughter. Once she calmed down, she fixed her posture. “Honestly, a little. There are somethings we can’t explain, which might be the work of an element we don’t understand, which could be magic.” She then leaned forward. “BUT! Just because we don’t understand it means it's automatically magic”

Pearl knew why the captain was asking, the report she gave them about the events of Alterna, of the spirits of marine life coming to temporarily boost a Smallfry into a Hugefry, it would make anyone interested in the elements of the supernatural.

The Captain was fixing her hat, making sure it was clean. “I know, and I agree with you. The issue is something that has recently come up, which has had me look into it more. Four sent me this a week ago” She said, pressing a few buttons to show it on screen.

A news report from the Unified Angelfish Republic appeared on screen. It was dated from last week. The news was from Tinselreef, talking about the disappearance of three girls. A Sea Anemone, a Beta Fish, and a Cuttleling.

“This is upsetting, but what does it have to do with magic?” Pearl asked.

The Captain was preparing something. “The case has been declared as a case of multiple runaways. One of the girls was gonna move a few months later, while the other one had parents going through divorce. A reasonable, if blunt, explanation. The one that doesn't make sense is the Sea anemone. She had a good family and no big social conflicts. Was a decent, if distracted, student. Had a good thing going. Then she showed me this” She then put a video on screen.

The clip showed an image of a security camera for an antique shop. The sea anemone girl was buying a box. A music box by the look of things. The background showed the image of the other two girls there as well, looking behind her.

“Oooook. What’s so special about this?” Pearl asked. The captain showed an image of the box on an old piece of paper.

“O.R.C.A has been helping us compile and recover information left by the Alterna humans. While a lot of it is just life blogs or personal videos, one group has captured our interest. A scientist with notes on the supernatural left behind by his family. There isn’t a lot, much of it was destroyed during the fall of Alterna, but this was one of the things we were able to recover” The text on screen called the box ‘Odd indestructible frog music box’. There was a note on its side which said ‘Also depowered’. It looked exactly like the box from the video.

Pearl wasn’t sure what this meant, but she couldn’t help but get a rotten feeling from it. It seemed the captain did as well. “I honestly don’t know what this all means. The only reason we even got the video is because Four was studying there and decided to look into the case”

The Captain crossed her arms. “I know there’s a lot going on with all of us. Our own lives outside of agent work, the analysis of the NILS statue, the recovery of the former fuzzy octarians, but I would really like it if you could help with this. Try to fit that radar tech with some way of detecting something like this” The captain asked.

Pearl was frustrated at more work being put onto them, but relented. She knew these things were important, ignoring them would do no one any good. She heard sounds coming from upstairs. Marina was waking up.

“Sorry, gotta go captain, I have my own duty for now, which needs a lot of attention, hugs, kisses and cuddles. Say hi to the rest of the crew for us” She was gonna cut the feed, but decided to finally cash in that opportunity. “By the way, say to Eight that she should be careful with her tentacles, they can sometimes leave a print!”

The Captain didn’t get what she meant by that, but her looking directly on the screen for reflection revealed various markings on her face for purple ink in the shape of tentacles. The captain looked incredibly flustered, breaking her serious facade. She cut the feed, hoping to hide her embarrassment.

Pearl gave herself a chuckle, hopping from her seat to welcome Marina, who looked a bit sleepy.

“Good morning, Pearlie” Marina said.

Smiling at her girlfriend, Pearl jumped to give her a peck in the cheek.

“Were you talking to someone?” Marina asked, still a bit sleepy.

“The Captain called to check up on us. Also said some serious stuff, but we can talk it over breakfast”

Marina smiled at her. “Breakfast sounds nice” She then noticed the counter had only one bowl for mixing the baking powder. “Pearlie, No”

“Awww, come on! Its a good idea. I just need to perfect it this time” Pearl said.

“May I remind you that last time you did this, the kitchen exploded with foam” Marina said, giving her a questioning look.

“Fiiiiine! We can keep the mixes separate. But you're helping me prepare the orange juice. Remember, mine with pulp”

Marina gave her a light chuckle. “Sure thing, my little rapping princess” Marina said, giving her a quick peck on the cheeks, with Pearl now sporting a pink blush on her face. They both went to the counter, ready to make breakfast.

Chapter 10: “Sunken tales: Final Recording”

Notes:

Good night to y'all!
Today I present to you a type of chapter called "Sunken Tales". Events of the past which can help give context to the story. Tonight, we witness the end of an era.

Chapter Text

…

Booting up O.R.C.A.

Engage friendly_welcome.mp3 to new user

“How may I help you today, good sir/madam/mx?”

…

User has requested access to video_logs files

Specified search for keyword: crystals

Reviewing video_logs files…

…

ERROR, Files data has been corrupted

Engaging file restoration

PROCESSING…

Process has been completed

1 video recording of 350 video files has been successfully restored

Playing video

_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-

An image opens to reveal a man in a lab. The lab is tidy, but packed with furniture and lab equipment. The room is white, tiled in a triangle pattern all over the roof.

The man appears to be a scientist. Caucasian, early thirties. Keeps a tidy brushed hairstyle, with a light brown shade of color. He wears a white robe, coupled with some blue jeans and a red shirt. An overall normal looking man, except that his left hand has an odd element. 6 fingers.

The man starts wiping his head in frustration. He seems slightly mad. However, he tries to force a smile for the camera.

“Good morning everybody, this is Jeremy’s guide to the supernatural, episode 231. Today we're gonna talk about…” He says, before the frustrated smile disappears, slamming his face into the table. The video recording has footage of him resting his head on the table, until a minute later, he rises back up.

“I’m sorry. I really am sorry guys” Jeremy said, looking incredibly frustrated while looking to the side. “Today is rocket day, and the guys in charge are so excited for it, they decided to cut funding for my research. Not only me, but a lot of others whose focus is deemed ‘Non essential’ for the recolonization of the surface. Trying to research magic and the supernatural is deemed as kids play”

He gave a long sigh. “You know, I didn’t really get into research for glory or recognition. I could do this with the bare minimum. It was the excitement of it all. The ability to learn about things beyond the limits of our own imagination” He then seemed to perk up, having an idea.

“I was hoping to save these for later, but what the hell, you only live once” He said. Jeremy knelt under, reaching into a bottom drawer of his desk. He pulled out a sealed box, with 6 books on it. They were hard cover books, thick with a lot of pages. They all had the symbol of a six fingered hand carved in gold on its front, a number distinguishing one from the other.

“These have been in my family for generations. They’re the reason I started researching in the first place” He looked at them fondly, a look of nostalgia on his eyes.

“It's tradition for every generation to add a bit of knowledge to it, furthering the quest of its original author. So today, I’m adding my own entry” Jeremy said. He took out book number 6, and landed on a white page. He drew an image. It displayed a high quality depiction of a crystal in the shape of a thin octahedron. After finishing carving out details, he took out the same crystal from a pocket in his coat.

“This is an Alternan crystal. It’s mankind's most recent and important discovery” He put the crystal on the table. “When Alterna first took residency in this caves, we originally carved it out as a large bunker, without much detail. It wasn’t until we stumbled upon an underground tunnel that we found a large underground lake, where a lot of sea creatures resided. There were all kinds of creatures, but the most important for the future would be Squids and Octopus. Their bodies can harden their Ink into this crystals, which hold both a solid and liquid form when applied pressure”

He moved a vase into frame. “These crystals have special properties. When put into 3d printers, they can take the shape, texture and properties of any material. We have used this to expand and restore our society” He then had a quick shuckle and rubbed his head. “Though some people think it's funny to just print whatever. Some guy just went on a spree and printed out a bunch of Easter island heads and spread them all over the bunker”

He then went back and opened a window on the back. “It's also the reason we have a sky, moon and sun 1 kilometer underground. The crystals were printed and mixed with advanced screens in order to simulate the sky. You can look outside and almost forget that the world outside no longer looks like this”

He frowned at that. “People seem to forget about things quickly. A lot of my colleagues convinced the government that it was a good idea to create a rocket to travel outside. I don’t know what they’re hoping to find, aside from a flooded wasteland” He took the crystal and gave it a twirl in his hand. “We also don’t seem to learn how to treat animals. There have been issues recently with hunting some of the fishes and creatures of the lake. Squids and Octopus have been industrialized like cows were once. And Salmon are being driven to extinction due to overeating on our part. But nobody seems to care”

He returned to the desk, a bit of a grim look on his face. He grabbed a pen and wrote the entry down. “Some people would call me paranoid, that I care too much. I just really hope we leave a better world for our descendants, instead of creating a worse one yet again”

Jeremy sat patiently on the chair, a complicated look on his face. “You know, my family has an odd story going down. It tells of an old trickster god, who once tried to take over the world. He was pushed back by the effort of the Pines, erased from existence. He however said something before he died, to the man who killed him. He laughed and talked about the end of times, that he could have helped prevent it, even as we would be his puppets. The journals talk about him, but don’t really give a lot of information. They called him Bill. He was…”

Jeremy was interrupted as the entire room shook. Objects were knocked over. Jeremy himself was thrown off his chair, landing on the floor.

“What the fuck was that?” Jeremy asked. The door to his room opened, revealing a young girl of asian descent entering the room quickly. By her attire, she seemed to be another researcher. She had a distressed look on her face.

“Jeremy, we gotta go! Now!”

“What’s going on!?” Jeremy asked. He closed the journal, leaving the entry incomplete.

“Those fuckers lied! They were wrong in their calculations! The rocket has the potential to destroy Alterna. “We have to stop them, before they…!”

The girl was cut off as music started playing. It was a familiar tune. The Alterna National Anthem. A song announced with the sound of trumpets. The sky turned black and filled itself with stars, preparing for the departure of the rocket.

(Song / Rocket Lift Off - Splatoon 3)

“It’s too late” The girl said as despair filled her voice. “I… I have to see my parents” The girl hurriedly left to a location unknown.

Jeremy sat there, looking at the now empty door frame, as the music continued to rise in the background. An announcement was being made, as well as a speech from the elders, but those were only heard muffled from the room.

“Shit!” Jeremy said. He took the journals and took out a box. It was a shiny black box, with a bunch of locks. He put the journals inside and closed it. He took the box and put it in a sealed cabinet near his desk. He then left the room.

Music continued to blare in the background as the camera stared at a now empty room. This went on for a few minutes, until a countdown started.

The camera stared at the room one last time, until the image was filled with a bright orange light. Sounds of screaming were heard for a few seconds until the camera was cut off, the screen turning black.

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…

Awaiting new orders from user

User has requested the deletion of file: drpinesdiary_entry231

…

Is the user sure of this activity?

…

User has selected: NO

Deletion process aborted

…

Request to create new priority storage folder

Creating a new priority storage folder.

Storage folder: “Fuzzy” created

Chapter 11: Chapter 7: “Lost communication”

Notes:

Small trigger warning: Mentions of blood and violence.

Chapter Text

Luz watched for the tenth time today a recording of Eda casting a spell. This time it was a simple fireball spell, but she still couldn’t see anything. She internally groaned in frustration.

After the fiasco with the Owl beast where Luz learned the light glyph, she decided to call it glyph, she’s been searching for new ones ever since. She’s recorded Eda cast dozens of spells from different branches, but to no avail. Worse yet, the original video that displayed the glyph originally no longer showed it. If it wasn’t for her now using the glyph, she would think it was just her imagination.

At least she was making progress with what she got. She had been experimenting with the limits of the glyph. Like Eda’s spells, the bigger the encirclement, the stronger the spell, or in her case, the bigger the light sphere. There seemed to be a limit however, as she once tried to make a glyph as big as the house and it didn’t work. Perhaps it was a problem with the energy it drew from?

She had to touch the glyph to activate it, but she discovered during her fight with Amity that applying pressure from afar could also work. In terms of combat, the spell was a bit limited. She could make dozens of these and fire them, but they didn’t hurt anybody, only lit the environment. They could work as flashbangs when activated however, which would be useful.

She made good progress, but she was now stuck in a bottleneck. She didn’t know what to do. Eda didn’t know anything, so what could she really do? Meditate? Fight a grand battle until the knowledge came to her? Punch a bunch of rocks until she could feel the potential running through her? That last one appealed to her. The ancestors know that getting a fix for a good fight was rare around here.

As she reflected on this, King approached her, coming in from the living room side entrance. He was carrying with him a small notebook.

“I must say Luz, your people really have fantastic beasts. They look so intimidating and ferocious” King said.

Luz looked at the notebook. It was her Grizzco guide to fighting Salmonids. In it was a recording of the many types of Salmonids one could find near the waters of the Splatlands.

“They’re not beasts, King. They are just as intelligent as you and me. Just a bit hungrier and with a lot more frenzy going on in their minds” Luz said. Luz could admit that it was a common misconception to call Salmonids unintelligent. They wouldn’t be as big as a concern if they were simply mindless. They had their own culture and beliefs, even if they were on the more extreme side. Thankfully, their kind had mellowed out over the last millennia, even if they remained separated from the rest of those that lived on land. Didn’t make it less necessary to have the coast lands guarded, but that was simply how life worked.

“Ok, I guess. Seems like a bunch of crazy fishes to me, but what do I know” He laid the notebook on the sofa, climbing it up to face Luz. “Can you continue reading me your story? I want to get to the next action scene”

Luz gave King a quick smile and pulled out the book from her bag on the ground. She was a bit disappointed that King seemed to only be interested in action, but she understood that getting reading ability involved a lot of practice to get used to. She would simply have to be patient.

Luz picked up and began narrating the story from where they left off. Azura and her companions had escaped the clutches of the cult of Tlaloc, who were on the path to revive their old enemy, the Leviathan Gildereel. Having lost access to the amulet leading to the temple of the old gods, Azura would now need to ask help from her rival/frenemy, Hecate the Two-headed Inkling.

“‘Hecate, I know our paths have not crossed well in the best of times, but now I seek your council. The world is at stake, and only you can help me. So today, I ask you not to be my enemy, but instead, a friend’ Said Azura” Luz narrated, adding a flair of dramatic to the dialogue.

“Uuuum, Luz, you’re getting all swoony again”

Luz blushed and ruffled her hair. “I can’t help it. Azura has been one of my main inspirations for the longest time. Having the power to beat up bad guys, while also having the ability to not even have to use that power, but instead befriend others. Even her biggest rival. I wish I had that kind of strength” Luz remembered well the day she fell in love with Azura. It was after all, the day her world opened up for the first time after… Nope! No need to drag herself down with sad memories! Luz shook her head to keep the dark thoughts at bay.

~~(Subject 9937…)~~

“...Luz!” King said, having broken through Luz mind fog. King was clinging onto her, a worried look in his face. Luz took a few short breaths to calm herself, afterwards she gave King a smile.

“Sorry King, I got a bit sad there, some bad memories. But I’m okay! Don't worry”

King looked at her with worriedness in his eyes, but seemed to get the idea that she didn’t want to talk about it. He pointed at her book, indicating that he wanted her to keep reading, his tail wagging a bit.

“Ok, let’s keep going. ‘Suddenly, the door swung open’” Luz said.

As she finished that sentence, the front door loudly opened, revealing an excited Hooty.

“Ding-dong. Ding. Hoot! Hoot!” Hooty said.

“The book has come to life! Quick, burn it!” King said to her.

Luz ignored King’s ramblings as she approached the door. At the bottom of it was a straw basket, with a soft looking blanket covering all over the top. Luz picked it up, noticing some light weight on it. After feeling around for any possible traps, she decided to take it to Eda, since she would be more aware of what was normal for a delivery.

“Hey Eda, you got a package! Kinda looks like a gift basket” Luz said.

Eda, who had been brewing a potion before they arrived, now stood in front of the table where the basket was placed. “Probably an offering. Ah, being the most powerful witch in the boiling isles has its perks” Eda said, a look of satisfaction on her face. King shared her sentiment, putting on a bib in case the thing in the basket was some kind of food.

Luz wasn’t so sure about that. Criminals were seen negatively back home, as she assumed it applied here. She was half expecting this to either be some sort of trap, which is why she kept some tools to the side in order to destroy the basket as quickly as possible.

King excitedly jumped in front of the basket and pulled its frontal cover open. The cover revealed a cute little baby head, sleeping.

“Hmmm, fresh meat” King said, clasping his paws in delight. Luz was really hoping he was having a gag. She was not taking chances.

“Nope, not eating that” Luz said, pulling the baby from his grasp.

“Ugh, witches eating babies is so 1693” Eda said, making Luz pull the baby away from her grasp as well. King noticed a note clinging to the basket, which she grabbed and pulled open.

“’Take care of my child till morning. Yi Yi’” King said

“Nope, babies are awful. Not happening” Eda said while crossing her arms, a mixed look of dissatisfaction and annoyance on her face.

“‘You will be handsomely rewarded. X-O-X-O-X-O-X. Bat Queen’”

“Bat queen?” Eda said, sounding surprised. King pulled a handful of snails from the basket, which sparkled as if freshly minted. She leaned into King’s paw, eyes sparkling almost as bright as the coins. “Reward?” Eda said with a voice of whimsy.

“Who’s the bat queen?” Luz asked.

“She’s one of the wealthiest and oldest demons of the isles. Get in with her and you’ll be set for life” She took one of the snails in her hand, eyeing it with ambition in her eyes. “So we keep this thing alive for a few hours and get paid. Pffft. Easy”

Luz ignored Eda’s ambition and looked at the baby. She assumed it would be different to having caretaking duty back in Octo-valley, but she felt confident to manage it.

And then came Eda to change her course.

“Oh no you don’t. You have chores for the day” She summoned a bunch of books from somewhere, falling in a perfectly aligned way. They were a bit heavy, but nothing she couldn’t manage. “You need to return these books for me to the library, they’re way overdo” Eda said.

Luz groaned at that, ignoring the whispers of Eda and King as she walked to the door. Once she got there however, her ears were assaulted by the sound of crying so loud, it was shaking some parts of the room. Suddenly thankful for the excuse, she took her leave to the library.

Luz did not notice that an orange notebook was in the pile as well.

‘The great priest who beholds the northern stars’ observed carefully the selection of the day. Today, the hunters had managed to hunt down a bunch of eels and a great white shark, making the selection of meals much larger and appetizing than before.

“I'm curious, how many of our kind fell to bring these meals to our homestead, oh great butcher” The priest asked the butcher, a salmonid of the Cohock variety, adorned with multiple scars on his torso.

“About fifty, priest of the northern star” The butcher said, a look of pride on his face.

“How wonderful, to fall in battle to such mighty beasts. Do you mind if I give a prayer?” The priest asked kindly to the butcher.

“Absolutely not father, go right ahead. They would love to be commemorated like that” The butcher said.

The priest gave an acknowledging smile. He began with a quick song, signaling the passing between life and death. He prayed to their souls, of both the beasts and hunters, that they might reach the river of eternity with the peace deserved after a lifetime of struggles. To an outsider, it might sound like nonsense, but it was said in the ancient tongue of the salmonids, one of the original languages of the world, while all things lived at sea.

“... And let your souls be delicious for eternity, let you be both prey and hunter, commemorated by your conflict and the cycle of life. Amen” The priest finished his prayer. He then took a selection of his family's preferred cuts, putting them in his basket. The little ones would love to feast on some fresh entrails for dessert. “How much do I owe you, fresh butcher”

“Nothing father, it's on the house” The butcher said. The priest looked a bit displeased at that, but the butcher sought to explain himself. “It's no worry priest, most of this is gonna be free after all, since the big migration is coming”

The priest nodded at that, pleased with the explanation. Since time immemorial, their kind would migrate and pass through the land, to challenge the denizens of the sea who now lived on land. Originally, their kinds were on much less amicable terms, on account of their different views on a life well spent. But after their great emperor was defeated over a millennia ago by one of the tentacled ones, their views on the matter had changed. Those who lived on land were not contaminating their lives, but cultivating their own strength, something they could all respect. He himself had participated in those migrations in his youth, getting a lot of the strength he needed for that time.

“I noticed you took more than normal. Got something planned today?” The butcher asked him with curiosity pouring from his yellow eyeballs.

“Ah, yes! Tonight the stars will be aligned, allowing me to , to enter the astral plane and see life through the eyes of other salmonids, getting a better wealth of experiences. Gotta have a full belly for that.” The priest said. It was a ritual that his section of the priesthood had developed over the years, in order to better preach to their schools. It was less popular nowadays, but he would perform it nonetheless.

“Hmmf! Then don’t let me keep you busy father. Say hello to the missus for me” The butcher said, waving at him with a smile.

He left the stall happily, a sack of meat and guts dangling from his side.

After walking through Bonesborough for half an hour, she finally found the library.

It was a large building, with glass-stained windows. Unlike some of the surrounding buildings, the brickwork was in good condition and clean, while also having golden hints all over some parts of the building. The glass window on top of the central tower had a stylized shooting star on it.

She rushed a bit inside, admiring the place. Not a lot of places had regular libraries, most people kept to digital libraries and printed if needed a copy, so it was quite a sight for her first time.

The inside was just as incredible, books being all around her. The doorway had led to a large hall, all leading to a receptionist stand. After a bit closer, the books in her hands began to feel lighter and started flying away to the stand. A bored looking man guided the books into a glowing ring, which indicated that the books were closed.

“Late, late, late…” The man said as each book passed through. He grabbed the last one, before it could pass through. “Coffee, grass and bloodstains? These are Eda's, aren't they?” He said, giving her an unamused look.

Luz chuckled a bit at that. Eda had to capture a wild demon whose feathers were needed for a potion, so they ended up cornering it in the house. “Yeah, that was one crazy night”

The man seemed even less amused, but all he ended up doing was giving a large sigh. “I'll put them on her tab” He said, as he summoned a large list and began scribing on it. Luz hoped that was a list for multiple people, otherwise she worried that Eda might spend her life paying for a tab that big. Or worse, trick her into paying for it.

“By the way, were closing early tonight for the wailing star meteor shower” He said, pointing behind him to a cartoony depiction of a star that was crying. Was she supposed to take that literally, or was she meant to take it more symbolically? She was gonna ask him, but she felt that he would just sass her back.

Finishing with her chore, she decided to start an impromptu research in the library. Totally not for avoiding dealing with a crying baby. Totally.

As she went further into the library, she found that the place was a bit more mundane on the inside. At least, mundane in structure, if not execution.

There were archives for records, but they were alive ( And vomited their contents if fed candy ). Books were transferred magically from one side of the library to another, and they also had crystal balls, which seemed to work as rather basic computers. It looked really nice.

Once she got enough of the sights, she decided to start searching. She had not made progress in finding information about the glyphs, so looking into the library may do some help. She searched around until she found the section on history. She grabbed a book titled ‘History of magic 101’ and began leafing through it. And then she did another book called “Coven magic expertise”. And another. And another. And another.

Rifling through many books, she noticed an odd and distressing pattern. A lot of the text seemed to be written in a rather unprofessional manner, injecting opinions and beliefs all throughout. They also didn’t have a lot of history, only the last 400 years were given any detail. Anything before that was given very little attention, or worse not mentioned.

After finding herself frustrated, she read a bit about the basic history of the isles. According to a book of the history of the empire, the past of the Boiling Isles was originally one of savagery and disorder, plagued with wild magic. That was until 354 years ago, when the cult of Belos appeared. The man, a being blessed by the titan apparently, had determined that in order to calm the uncertainty of the time, as well as please the titan, they would need to renounce their wild magic. He originally wasn’t really popular, but its long lived leader had endured and allowed it to spread slowly over time.

The big milestone that would shoot the cult into the spotlight was the extermination of the Basilisks. A species of reptilian shapeshifters who could drain magic, had been hunted down by Belos cult 288 years ago, which boosted the popularity of Belos. Luz had to breathe hard to calm herself after reading that. How could anyone just hunt down a species like that!? Even if they were magic eaters, surely they couldn’t have been all evil. Even the propaganda against Inklings back home had not gone out of its way to paint them like that, certainly not to the extent of extermination.

Gulping some Ink down her throat, she continued reading.

Belos would continue growing in power, taking control and unifying various different tribes of wild witches, with little resistance. His victory and control of the isles was determined to come around 50 years ago, when he and the heads of the nine covens would defeat a commune of wild witches who sought to oppose Belos, led by the wild witch Malakith.

After reading through all that, Luz was baffled by the amount of propaganda on display here. There was not a single shred of doubt in the author to expose any kind of counter idea or doubt in what they were writing. It seemed the situation was worse than she expected.

She wandered for a bit, unsure on how to feel about things. The books here were clearly contaminated, at least the ones detailing history. That meant she was not gonna be able to search for anything on Glyphs, since she’s sure that type of information would be heavily censored if it existed.

“What do you think you’re doing?” A voice suddenly called out.

“Ah!” Luz said, quickly making a splatter of ink on the wall and submerging, hiding from view. She peered around for the person who said that, but didn’t really see anything. After calming down, and feeling embarrassment from getting so startled, she identified the original source of the sound and followed it.

She arrived through a small room to the side. The room was decorated with more colorful and friendly looking decorations, as well as shelfs with smaller books. On the back of the room, near a window, she saw a surprising sight. It was Amity, reading a book to a bunch of little kids.

“‘We're your friends and we wanna help’ said the Tin Boy with a yelp. Otabin smiled and paced the floor. ‘I've never had real friends before’”

Luz had heard stories from Willow about how Amity behaved over the years with her. Seeing her like this, Luz could almost not correlate the girl from those stories to the one in front of her. This one looked calmer, more free, less aggressive or mean.

“‘Then we'll be your first’ The Chicken Witch clucked. Otabin couldn't believe his luck. So, Bookmaker Otabin surrounded by friends, bound a book of friendship and that's the end”

Luz felt conflicting emotions. On the one hand, her interactions with Amity had not been negative and she could see a lot in her to admire. Even when she cheated unintentionally, her skill in combat was true. She also seemed to not be a bad person, if what she could read of her personality was true. But just because she wasn’t mean to her or some others didn’t mean that she couldn’t be cruel. And cruel she was to Willow and Gus, whether she meant it or not, by supporting Boscha.

As she watched this, the kids began to cheer and thank Amity while saying their goodbyes. Some even hugged her. Luz decided to return to her puddle and wait it out. The kids noticed her puddle, some even made some quick pokes, but none stayed around.

When Amity left the room, she noticed her puddle, but didn’t seem to realize I was there. Deciding to not wait for longer, I rose from the puddle, startling her.

“Ah Luz!” Amity said in a panic, scrambling the books in her hands. “Wha… What are you doing here? How long have you been there!?” Amity asked nervously.

“To research for my magic apprenticeship and for the last couple minutes, in that order” Luz put her arms behind her head, stretching out her muscles.

“Oh, okay” Amity was fidgeting a bit. “Just so you know, I’m only doing this for the extra credit”

“Ok, sure” Luz said with a small smile. From what little she saw, there was more to credit in it for her.

She expected Amity to continue the conversation, but she simply stayed quiet, looking to the side. They kinda fell into an awkward silence after that. Neither saying anything or making the first move. Luz began to feel a bit uncomfortable, still not sure how to feel.

“Well, I’ll be seeing you around later” Luz said, trying to give her a convincing smile. She seemed to react positively, going to wave at her, when they suddenly were intruded upon.

“Hey Mittens, who’s your friend?” Said a slightly older male voice.

Turning around, she imagined she was seeing a bit of double. Mirroring each other to a nearly perfect degree were two witches of green hair. They were a bit older as well as slightly taller than her, the male witch being half a head bigger. They would be considered to be a bit below average in height, if her estimates about their age were correct.

Amity groaned at the appearance of the witches. “She’s not my friend” Said Amity with some anger in her voice. Luz felt a bit hurt at that. She failed to notice Amity’s look of guilt.

“Ugh, whatever. What are you two doing here?” Amity asked the two witches with a tone of annoyance in her voice.

The girl piped up, and began making exaggerated moves of grace. “We are simple well-wishers, embarking on a noble quest” She then summoned a lunchbox featuring a cute mascot of some kind on the front. “Mom said to stop forgetting your lunch. She also mentioned if you have any updates on getting into contact with the owl lady’s apprentice”

Luz looked a bit surprised at that. She wondered why Amity's mom wanted to make Amity meet her. And why did Amity not inform her that she knew well who she was. They saw each other at school, even if they didn’t really talk to each other.

Amity looked heavily uncomfortable at that. She looked around and seemed to spot something. “Oh, look at the time. Malphas needs me for some work. Seeyoulaterbye!” Amity said, begging to run in some direction, out of sight.

Luz was left alone with the twins, who seemed to get a kick out of Amity being a bit embarrassed. Luz did not like that one bit, but decided to maintain politeness. “So, could I know your names, oh dear strangers. You kind of barged in our conversation without even introducing yourself”

The two of them looked a bit surprised she was talking to them, but that didn’t make them lose their grins. Instead, they widened a bit more.

“Oh, how rude of us. Were Amity’s siblings. I’m Edric Blight…” The boy said.

“...And I’m Emira Blight” The girl finished. “Were Amity’s siblings, are you one of Amity’s friends? She can be quite the shy girl while in public” She said, sporting a toothy grin.

“Nope, sorry. Kinda just know her from Hexside, don’t go to the same classes.” She said. Were they really named Blight? Unless the word meant something else, that sounded like a recipe for people doing mean jokes of your name.

“Yeah, we figured. You look way too cool for someone hanging out with our sister. Most of her friends are prissy popular girls.” Edric said. Luz felt weirded out by that. They only met a few minutes ago and they thought she looked cool. A part of her heart twisted at being called that by someone attractive, but she did not let a blush show.

“Why don’t you follow us around? We can show you how to have some real fun around here” Emira said. She signaled for her to come. Luz didn’t really need to go, but she was curious about it.

As it turned out however, their idea of fun was… pranks. Not her first choice for fun, but who was she to judge? They actually were quite good at it, making a bit of mischief to the librarians by changing things around in the library. Nothing too bad, if one of them seemed to be reacting much more. It seemed fine in her eyes.

However, their last prank, before that got the three of them kicked out, was simply making the shelves vomit all of its contents. Amusing? Sure. A prank? Only if making a mess was considered a prank. That would definitely get you in trouble. And it did, as Amity and the librarians seemed to be less than pleased, booting them off. While Luz had fun, she was not happy with making Amity mad.

“Oh no, we pissed her off” Luz said, worry in her voice as they exited the library.

“Oh, don’t worry. Amity’s not mad” Emira said.

“Yeah. If she was mad, she would make a face like this” Edric said. He took a breath and held it, making his face bright red. He couldn’t keep it up though, as he released his breath a bit forcefully. “Wooof! Almost passed out” He said. She chuckled a bit at that.

“Hey, I’ve got an idea! You should come with us later tonight!” Emira said. Luz cocked her head in confusion.

“Whyyyyy?” Luz asked. They’ve only known each other for a few minutes.

“We need to go back inside, as there’s a certain book we left… inside” Edric said.

“And you didn’t think to get it before you started doing pranks?” Luz asked, skeptical. It seemed to her like they simply wanted to do more pranks.

“We didn’t find it and just sorta gave up, but with your help, I’m sure we can do it” Emira said. “Besides, rumor says that something happens in the library when the wailing star passes, so we can also look into that!”

Luz was not convinced by their intentions, but she figured there was no harm in it. If they truly were up to no good, better to have a responsible eye on them.

“Ok, sure” Luz said, trying to come off as friendly in her response.

“Great, we'll meet you here at midnight. See you soon~” Said Emira, who alongside Edric, gave her a wink. Ok, she wasn’t made of stone and they were pretty! She was allowed a bit of a blush.

Luz then waved them off, going back to the owl house. Hopefully, Eda would have calmed the baby down.

“Phew! Almost passed out” Said Amity.

She had been eavesdropping in her sibling's conversation with Luz, finding the results to be quite infuriating.

She was not sure what they wanted with her. Odalia’s usual dismissiveness towards things had allowed her to not reveal details about Luz. As far as she knew, she was simply defeated by the apprentice of the Owl lady, which got her only a mild scolding. Lilith’s efforts to contain the fight from going public had allowed both her and Luz some respite. Edric and Emira had drilled her for details, but she was able to hold them off.

She wished she could talk things through with Luz, but sadly, it wasn’t something she could do. Some looks Luz had given her indicated that Willow most likely told her about their shared history. While Luz might have had positive feelings towards her before, they were no longer an option. Worse is, she wasn’t sure if she deserved that.

She had spent a long time playing along with Boscha and her actions with Willow. Whether she liked it or not, it was her fault that things had progressed the way they did. She had said and done terrible things to Willow, even if she played the observer most of the time. She could see things to like in Luz, but that would only create unnecessary conflict between the three of them. It was much better for them to remain separate. Let Willow have one true friend.

She also didn’t want to bring her into the mess with her mother. That was a whole other mess she preferred not to think about. Odalia showing interest in anyone was a bad sign.

For now, she would have to deal with this. Malphas should allow her to stay until later, so she will wait them out in her hideout and prevent Edric and Emira from doing something stupid.

Gary the librarian wiped the sweat from his forehead. He had done it, after 30 minutes of picking them up, he had finally finished cleaning the papers from the floor. It had been the fifth time this week but he had done it.

Being a librarian was a difficult job. He had to spend all day organizing things, checking for the state of the books, watching out for echo mouses, cleaning the dirt from kids dragging it in from the outside, but it all left him with a large amount of satisfaction.

One of his last activities for the day was putting the returning books from the day. A large batch came in from Derek, citing a particularly troublesome late returner. He sounded annoyed, but he knew he simply was like that. Getting a genuine smile from him was as rare as finding information on possums. He liked those things, even if they weren’t real.

As he was finishing putting the books however, he found something strange. It was an a reddish notebook, emblazoned with a gold symbol. The symbol looked to be that of some fish. Out of curiosity, he opened it.

The book was filled with gibberish. Organized gibberish, but gibberish nonetheless. There was the occasional number that popped up, but that was it. The second half was at least interesting.

It featured doodles of rather silly fishes. They were armed with pots, pans and spoons. They’re weapons seemed to be made from garbage. He realized this might have been somebody’s sketch book. The poor thing must have left it by accident.

Well, no problem. He would simply return the book to the missing section of the desk and the missing artist would get their sketchbook back.

Luz had returned to the same spot they had agreed to meet, 10 minutes before midnight. She had to come a bit late, due to helping Eda and King on their baby caring quest. The baby had somehow managed to triplicate in the time she was gone, leaving three little flying baby heads. Cute, yet really noisy, baby heads.

She thanked the sea for her taking nursery turns back home. A bit of some tricks, helping Eda read storytime and preparing some baby food had helped calm them down. Eda actually looked really motherly before she left, and King had also taken some affection to them. Once she was sure things were cool, she left to the library. Not before packing in some supplies. Never leave home without a weapon.

Once she got there, she leaned against the pillar and began waiting for them. After they did not get here after the clock hit midnight, she decided to do something. Close her eyes and pretend to be asleep. Sure enough, after a couple minutes, she could hear steps coming her way. Once they got close enough, she opened her eyes.

“What are you doing?” She asked. Edric had approached her and was making the movements to cast a spell, most likely an illusion if she had guessed his preferred spell type.

“Oh, n-nothing!” Edric said, seeming to be catched off guard and being a little embarrassed. He rubbed his head.

“Good to know you can stay up late. Helps plan for future tricks” Emira said. Edric recovered and stood beside her, going for the door.

They took out a scroll from their pockets, which revealed some glowing yellow lettering. She couldn’t read it, but she assumed it to be some some sort of lockpick or lock vanishing spell.

“The building says no trespassing, but I’m allergic to the rules” Edric said.

“And dairy” Emira added. Edric made a shocked faced at that. She snickered a bit.

They then activated the scroll, which made the keyhole really big, allowing them passage. Okay.

They got inside to find the library alone and in the dark, though the light from the street and sky illuminated well enough to see.

As they got to the center of the library, she started hearing the sound of crying.

“Oh, it must be the Wailing star!” Edric said, pointing to a stained window. As she looked up, the sound of a crying infant passed through them. A bit eerie, she wasn’t gonna lie.

Nothing seemed to have changed however. “Hey, nothing happe… Luz?” Edric said, suddenly looking confused.

“Are you okay?” Emira said, looking a bit worried.

Luz was confused until something had touched her lip. Touching her face, she noticed that she had started crying. She was confused. Why was she crying? She wasn’t sad, nor was she thinking of sad things. How odd.

“No, I’m fine. Must have accidentally left the tear ducts open.” She said, showing a genuine smile. As she looked around, she began to notice something. The books had begun to glow an eerie green.

She tentatively approached a book called ‘Extinct bird species from the Boiling Isles’(Hopefully only of natural selection), opening a bit. Her face was blown away as a group of colorful birds came out of the books. They flew through the air, making the roof seem as if many colors had taken life by themselves. Luz decided to close the book, and the birds disappeared as she closed it.

Emira and Edric looked very excited. “Wow!” They both said.

“The wailing star magicked the books to life!” Emira said.

Luz shared her excitement. This definitely was quite an interesting development, which allowed her to relax. Maybe the twins really didn’t have any weird intentions and simply were a couple of inoffensive troublemakers. So long as they didn’t destroy the library, what was wrong with some fun.

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

And so Luz and the Blight twins would spend some time playing around in the library.

Trying out clothes, summoning objects from the books to play around it, messing with illusions it was quite of fun.

However.

While they’re fun was innocent, during the snowball fight, a small cart of books fell over. These books didn’t really have anything wrong with them. Cooking books, some pet-care books, and other innocent fair was mixed around, missing stuff from those who dwelled in the library.

A small dog like creature with a pair of heads sprung forth from one of the books. A rather popular pet, the Orthus was a friendly demon who would protect its owner's home, leading to it being classified as a minor house demon. It curiously examined its surroundings, looking for a master. It smelled the objects until its nose opened a small notebook by mistake. A red notebook.

The Orthus looked curiously at the book, weirded out as a green substance began to form in its pages.

Tonight has been a successful journey so far. He had traveled to the dreams of many of his brethren, giving them relief and advice to succeed for future hunts.

The ritual he performs allows a Salmonid to enter the astral plane. It does not allow the physical body to travel, but rather their soul. As such, he could visit various members of his school, finding their consciousness and inhabiting their bodies temporarily, seeing what they were dreaming. A lot dreamed of being great warriors, but some also had dreams that guided them to other goals in life. Romance, exploration, writing scrolls. There were even a couple of budding musicians and future priests! He would need to find them in the real world, help nurture those talents.

He was finishing wrapping up when he encountered something. Far away from him, one of the mystic windows showed something. A flock of salmonids were moving, ready for combat. He did not know their names, but he was curious to what they were doing up at this hour. It was quite strange. Deciding to venture forth, he went to the window.

Luz had been having quite a blast. The twins certainly knew how to have fun. They had been experimenting for half an hour with many of the books. The books seemed to all be affected by the spell, tough to different degrees. The books seemed to bring life to anything on the books contents, so long as they were properly described. The more a description revealed details, whether visual or textual, the more likely it was to bring those objects. She discovered it when one of the books had some bad doodles, which fizzled out before they could take form. There also seemed to be a link to emotions, since some text only books also projected things, but only if there was some emotion resonating in the corresponding text.

Luz and the twins were having fun having a snowball fight, where she decided to take cover. She could have dominated more easily in that fight, but she felt that it would be more fun to hold back. No sense dominating with no benefits.

As Luz heard the sound of laughter outside, she decided to see some of the books this section had to offer. They didn’t seem different in presentation to other books of this type back on Inkadia. A lot of soft looking characters and nice stories to entertain and educate children. She noticed that one had been left on the table nearby.

The book was titled ‘Otabin’, featuring a small pink like creature on the cover, wielding a needle and book. Luz recognized the character from Amity’s lunchbox. Remembering the way Amity read the book, it must have meant something deeper to her. She opened the book.

Out of it came the titular Otabin, looking quite cute. Luz decided to read through the book, hoping to find out what exactly drew Amity in. It was quite a cute story. Otabin was a bookmaker, a master of his craft. He would spend his days mending and making books. However, this task and duty had left him alone, without friends. He would remain like this until one particular day, where a group would help him while doing an adventure to fix the land. These characters would eventually become Otabin first friends, which he would treasure forever. It was quite cute, but she felt that there was some connection it had to Amity’s current state. She just wasn’t sure what it was yet.

She instinctively closed the book, turning to meet them. They had excited faces, as if they had gotten a brand new toy.

“Look what we discovered” Emira said. She opened a book called ‘Quacks eats snacks’ and from its pages came out a small cute little ducklett.

“Awww, a cute little quackster” Luz said while cooing at the animal. One of the first animals she met outside of Octo-valley were a family of wild ducks living near her home. They were quite adorable.

She noticed that Emira had passed the book to Edric, who pulled out a pencil. He drew a pair of beefy legs on the image of the duck in the book. She was a bit horrified as the duck suddenly started morphing, growing large bipedal legs to match the drawing.

Luz was horrified and so was the ducky. It began quacking in distress, clearly not liking this development. Before it could continue, Edric closed the book, making the duckie disappear.

“Now you try it” Edric said, trying to give her the pencil. She pushed the pencil from her, deciding to pocket the book for now.

“Nah, don’t really feel like it. Not quite a fresh idea when it's been done before” She walked faster to outside the kids area. “Besides, don’t you two have a book to borrow? If you didn’t find it earlier, you certainly won’t find it while faffing about”

If they had any complaints of me not following in their play, they didn’t show it. Instead, they also came out of the book area and waved for me to follow.

We walked for a while before getting into the romance section. She was confused. They came here for a romance novel? Not a book of forbidden magics or secrets, but some cheesy romance?

“Didn’t think you guys would be the romantic type” Luz said, sizing them up.

Edric winked at her. “Oh, we certainly are. But that’s not why we're here”

Emira pulled a book from the stand, which made a clicking sound. The shelf shifted and moved into the wall, revealing a hidden room.

The room looked quite nice. Figurines glowed lightly and illuminated the room, giving it a nice cozy vibe to the room. There were inner bookshelves, with lots of different books adorning them.

“I must say, I’m impressed. Didn’t think you guys would go the route of a secret clubhouse in the library” Luz said. Both Edric and Emira snickered at that. Did she say something funny?

“We don't hang out in a library. ‘Uh, teacher, I'm in love with a dictionary’” Edric said mockingly.

"I'm studying the dork arts" Emira said. Luz felt offended at that. “This is Amity's secret hideaway”

Luz suddenly felt her muscles tense up all at once. She really, REALLY, hoped that this wasn’t going where she expected to.

“Mittens has gotten too full of herself lately. She keeps tattling on us when we do pranks at school or want to cut class” Edric said, still keeping his charming smile. However, it no longer had the same effect on Luz, who began to feel anger bubbling inside her. She kept it calm. For now.

“She needs to learn not to mess with people like that. So we're gonna find her diary” Emira said.

“And then post the pages all around school for everyone to see”

Luz felt her throat dry up at that. That was… horrible. An absolutely monstrous act by any stretch. “Why are you going so far? It would ruin her reputation” She really hoped this was a case of ignorance and not one malice.

“Not really, her reputation is quite high, so posting some embarrassing crushes or what she really thinks of somebody's hair isn’t gonna do that much damage. Besides, don’t know if you have any siblings, but this is how relationships work. Tough love and all” Emira said with quite the sincere expression, which confirmed to Luz she wasn’t lying. So it was a case of ignorance. She was thankful, but still pissed. How could they not realize that maybe there was something there that would really be dangerous to be let out! Would they even stop if that was the case?

Luz decided to try to find the diary first, to hopefully prevent the twins from making a seriously dumb mistake. She went close to the table, where she saw something important. There was a cup with some tea on the table. Touching it revealed that it was slightly warm. This meant that it was recently made. Which meant that someone was here. That someone was most likely Amity.

She felt hopeful at this. She just needed to return, and they could hopefully sort this out. As she looked to the left however, she was quite surprised. There was a book cover she recognized quite well, in a specially dedicated shelf. It was a book copy of ‘The Great Warlock Azura 4’! Except, it looked different. The design of her clothes was off, and she wasn’t an inkling, she looked more like the witches of this realm, although this one had more rounded and shorter ears.

Looking at the books around it, she saw somewhat familiar titles surrounding it. The books 1 to 4 were also there. ‘The Good Witch Azura’ they were called. That was really odd. Perhaps it was a parallel universe type of deal, where certain things are the same and others are different? She wasn’t sure.

She noticed one book from the displayed shelf was different. Grabbing it, she looked at the cover, which was handmade. It was Amity, striking a pose while wielding Azura’s staff and robes. It was quite cute. She then felt a bit of dread. This was most likely the diary. She was gonna put it back, when she suddenly felt a tap on her shoulder.

“What do you got there, Luz?” Emira said, looking over her shoulder.

“Oh nothing, just a copy of ‘The Good Witch Azura 5’” Luz said nervously. “Its kind of a slow read, so I’ll just put it back” Luz said, motioning to return the book. She then felt a tug on the book as it almost slipped out of her grasp, but she tightened her hold, preventing it from moving.

Edric looked surprised that his spell didn’t work, so he held out his hand instead. “Luz, I’m gonna need you to give us the diary”

Luz felt her anger come back, this time stronger. “Absolutely not”

Emira tried to placate her, raising her hands. “Look, you seen how she treats people, how she treats you”

“And revealing her personal thoughts to me mocked at is gonna fix that? Yeah, sorry not buying it” Luz said, moving the book back into its place.

Edric suddenly jumped at her, and grabbed the book. “Were doing this for her own good, so were gonna have to insist” He said.

Luz felt the emotions from the past half an hour whittle away, as anger took over. “No” She said.

Amity walked back from the bathroom, giving quick glances at the library. So far she hasn’t seen or heard the twins and Luz. She had waited until midnight, but she apparently had to take a break from the tea she drank.

As she observed, she noticed that some books had been dropped to the floor. She groaned at cleaning up later, but she had to find them first. She left some things that could help on her hideout, so she was going there to pick them up.

She then panicked as light had started to leak into the second floor hallway, where her hideout was. She rushed to it, wondering just what sort of thing were the twins doing there. She wondered if they had convinced Luz to prank her. She felt they wouldn’t have to push too far.

As she got closer, she started hearing grunts which came from Edric and Emira. Her hideout was open, so that meant they were there. She quietly approached the entryway, hoping to catch them in the act.

She certainly catched them, but she wasn’t sure what to describe what she was seeing.

Luz was standing there, holding a book in her hands with an unamused look on her face. The cause of the unamused look on her face was the twins, who were trying to wrestle the book from her hands to no avail. They were trying to take it with all their might, but Luz didn’t budge an inch. It was almost a comical sight, until she saw that the book they were trying to take away was her diary.

“What’s going on here!?” Amity yelled. Her voice made Edric let go of the book, sending both him and Emira tumbling to the floor.

“Oh, hello Amity. Here, catch” She said, throwing the book in my direction. I catched it midair and made a quick check to see if it had been messed with. From what she saw, it hadn’t.

“What do you two think you're doing?” Amity said, unimpressed by her siblings antics. If they had gone after her diary, then she was really mad. She could tolerate the teasing and pranks, but she couldn’t tolerate this.

Emira was the first to recover from the two, standing up straight. “Look sis, were trying to do you a favor. You’ve been a real stick in the mud lately, so were trying to teach you a lesson in not to mess with others”

“Yeah, what she said” Edric said, standing up next.

Amity would drop her jaw to the floor at the sheer audacity. “Me!? You two are the ones constantly butting in with your pranks. Not to mention all the cutting you do in class” She stormed right in front of them.

“Have you even considered what would happen if I didn’t tattle!? You two are walking on thin ice. Or do you think that some illusions would help you avoid the consequences. No matter how much mom pays the school, you two are still underperforming. Intent to do something is less punishable than doing that something, so you two get in less trouble than if you were actually caught”

Amity frowned and looked at the floor. “I know why you two behave like this. I really do. But things will only get more stifling if you give her an excuse. Believe me, I know” Amity said. She could not get why they didn’t understand. They were older, they should get better than anyone the consequences of doing things like this.

As she looked up, she could see that Edric and Emira had some guilt on their faces. “Amity…” Emira said.

They all suddenly heard a loud crash and yelp coming from outside. Amity grabbed her bag and pocketed her diary, going outside. She took a step bag as an Orthus had crossed running across the hallway, opposite to them. Amity was confused, not understanding how a pet got into the building. Then she paled as she looked to the floor, a trail of red running from where it came. She heard an odd sound, and turned around.

Amity had read of many creatures and demons. From Griffons to Giraffes, she could recognize and categorize most, even if she was not going to be a beast tamer. Luz was an odd exception, having features normally only seen in bug demons. However, she could still rationalize it as her being a beast/bipedal hybrid. Those existed. She wasn’t sure she could say the same for what was now staring at her from across the hall.

It slithered without any legs, it was about four feet tall. Its body was covered in scales, but they were not reptilian, instead being fish scales. Because that's what it was. A fish. With a pink nose and orange mohawk. Wielding a cooking pan. With blood dripping from its mouth. And two yellow dead looking eyes staring right at her.

She heard Luz gasp behind her. The twins didn’t seem much better, panicking at the blood. Amity then heard a loud thud as Luz had closed the entrance to her hideout with a slam. The creature then let out a scream. It was a scream that sounded almost as if someone screamed while having water in their throat. She was yanked from her thoughts as Luz suddenly grabbed her by the waist.

Luz then jumped off the railing and into one of the bookshelves. She put her down and pointed at Edric and Emira. “Pull them out now!” She said.

Amity didn’t even question it, as she summoned abomination goop and grabbed both of them. As she pulled them away, she saw a large group of those same fishes coming from both sides and slam into each other.

Luz changed as the large tank of paint she carried on her back suddenly appeared on her back. She then took out a water pistol and began firing the same goop she fought her with. The fish exploded and began retreating from that position.

“What in the titan’s name was that?” Edric said in a panic.\

“Salmonids” Luz said. “What are they doing here, they shouldn’t live here. Unless…” Luz looked like realization hit her face. “My manual. It must have been mixed in with the books of the library”

Calming herself, Amity approached Luz. “What do you mean your manual?”

Luz looked distressed. “It's a notebook on how to fight Salmonids. If it's here, the Wailing star must have brought them to life as well. We must have accidentally opened it at one point.”

Emira seemed to have recovered from her shock. “Ok, ok , ok. Then it's simple. Just find the book and close it. We can handle this right? Just shoot them with that water gun and we'll be fine. Easy” Emira said with a nervous smile.

“It's not that easy. These Salmonids are only the basic ones. If they have access to the bosses, or the kings and queens, then we'll be in really big trouble. Fighting salmonids in an enclosed space is the height of foolishness”

“Then what can we do!?” Edric said, still looking quite spooked from the atack. They were suddenly startled as a noise came below them. She looked down and noticed as the floor was now filled with those fishes. Joining them now were much larger variants, much stronger and imposing.

Luz kneeled and looked pensive. She was like that for a full minute until she seemed to get an idea.

“Ok. Amity, where is the missing and lost section of the library”

Amity pointed to a section far away, where the entrance was.

“Good, what about you two? Do you know any other spells besides illusions?” Luz said to Edric and Emira. They shook their heads to indicate that they didn’t. Luz frowned, but she didn’t say anything else. She could hear the horde becoming louder below them.

“Ok, these things probably aren’t as smart as the real things, otherwise they would have left the library already” Amity shivered at the idea of those things being smart. They reminded her of the legends of Basilisks.

“What we're gonna do is that you two will distract most of the horde from us. Me and Amity will go to close the book. So long as you keep to the high ground, you’ll be fine. It takes time for them to jump”

“Wait, if you’re leaving, how can we move to maintain the illusions?” Emira asked. Luz didn’t say anything as she pulled out a book. She recognized it as Otabin’s book.

Luz opened it and out came Otabin. Even under these conditions, Amity still felt warmth at seeing him.

“Mr Otabin, could you help them please. They need to move through the ceiling” Luz said, pointing upward. Otabin smiled and jumped into the air brandishing his needle and started making a floor for them to walk on. As he made it, a thread ladder suddenly came down.

“Well up you go. Try to make as much noise as possible” She said, leaving the book open and letting it rest on the top of the shelf. They began to climb up.

Luz then offered her arms, indicating that she wanted to carry her. She decided not to, summoning an abomination bridge. This was simply for efficiency (And not the fact that having Luz carry her made her blush for some reason). They got to the entrance, where the lost section was.

In its place was a large geiser, blasting green goo upwards and onto the floor. There were dozens of salmonids wandering around near the source. Following them was more of the Salmonids she saw before but they were accompanied by some more. Some Salmonids piloting a contraption that she would almost say came out of her dad’s lab were near the fountain, alongside two enormous black fish whose body seemed to be made of armor. On the floor was also a beeping red light.

They settled down and waited perched on the shelf. Until Edric and Emira made a distraction, they couldn’t do much.

“I’m sorry about all this” Luz suddenly said.

“Why are you sorry? It’s not like you opened the book and let those things out” Amity answered back.

“Sure, but I brought the book here. Its my fault they’re making your life harder” Luz said with a sad look on her face.

Amity looked at her curiously. “Why do you worry so much about me? I haven’t given you a reason to care”

“Nor have you given me a reason not to” Luz interjected. She seemed to add some passion as she said it.

“That’s… that’s not entirely true is it” Amity said, making Luz flinch. This confirmed it to her. “You know what I have done to Willow. Why would you want to associate with that”

Luz looked upset at that and simply looked down. She returned her gaze to her after a few seconds. “Honestly, because I don’t buy it. Willow hasn’t been the most talkative about you, but I got the gist of it”

“I don’t approve of it, in any way…” Luz said. Amity looked down. “... but I also know that there must be more to it.” Amity looked surprised at Luz.

“The person I have been seeing is one who seems to care a lot more than she lets on. And quite frankly, I would like to meet that person” Luz said. Amity felt a bit happy at hearing that.

She then suddenly brightened up. She pulled out a black notebook from her backpack, and started making some doodles. She couldn’t see what she was drawing, but she felt the effects after she finished.

Her clothes now had an overlay which she recognized quite well. It was the robes of the good witch Azura, alongside her hat. She saw Luz wearing the same things. “Wait, what?” Amity said perplexed.

“Well, when you’re going into battle, you should wear something in both style and function. I don’t know how to make some efficient armor, but I sure as shell can equip us with some stylish clothes. And what better thing to wear than Azura’s iconic dress!” Luz said with a smile.

Amity was thrown completely off the loop at that statement, but before she could process that, loud sounds came out from the other side of the library. Fireworks were ringing loudly. The majority of the Salmonids left, leaving only a dozen of the regular salmonids alongside the special variants.

Luz looked at her as if seeking confirmation. She nodded in agreement. Luz then jumped from the shelf and began shooting at the salmonids, taking out a freshly made batch of salmonids. The larger salmonids and special variants screamed at her and began rushing at her. Luz shot back at them and pulled them away from the fountain. Amity carefully approached the fountain, as she last saw Luz throw a bomb into the floor, only for a Salmonid to come out of nowhere and eat it, exploding into goop.

Amity approached the book, making sure no one was there to stop her. The light of the moon made the green goop shine ominously. Once she made sure, Amity rushed to the book and closed it, getting a bit covered in the slimy liquid. She got halfway until her progress was suddenly stopped.

Her hands were being pushed back as a mouth was forcing itself out of the book. It was small at first, but it then grew larger and larger. It started to grow larger than the fountain itself. Amity panicked and let go of the book for a second to command some abominations to help her close it. They quickly helped her, but the creature had gotten free enough to pop more of its body out. A part of a head came out, with one light yellowish eye with no iris stared at her, the moon shining on it.

Amity struggled with her magic as the abominations fought hard to keep the being contained, which wanted to come out. As Amity struggled, she remembered something.

After her lost to Luz, Amity examined the construction glyph she was applied. Construction magic was about strengthening one’s body, alongside control of materials. To some extent, both construction and abomination magic were born from similar styles. She remembered an idea that she got when practicing her spells. She couldn’t get the fireball spell yet, but she was able to figure out something else. However, if she were to actually use that, she could get in trouble.

Still, she felt that she needed to do it if she wanted to stop this. She got closer to her abominations and planted her hands into each of their bodies. Their structure had begun to change, going from their freeform liquid state to a solid one. As they solidified, the strength on their bodies increased. Soon, the beast struggled to release itself as the book came closer and closer. The maw let out a final cry, a terrifying gurgle across the hall as she finally closed the book.

Some slime was about to stain her, but it vanished in the air. The slime on the floor and her clothes also vanished, making it seem as if it never happened. She saw Luz come quickly, a worried and panicked look on her face. Once she saw she was fine, she instead gave her a big smile and a thumbs up. She also heard her saying ‘Booyah’ for some reason.

The journey… had been curious, the priest reflected.

After finding the school of salmonids, he surprised himself as when he entered the dream, he was able to possess the body in its entirety. That was weird, as there should be a soul he should be able to interact with. Instead, this body seemed hollow.

Looking around him, he was able to see that there were other Salmonids around him, moving in a battle formation. He approached one, a rather young member but he was horrified at what he saw. He was soulless, not a real presence behind those eyes. To those untrained to the art of spirituality, soulless beings were difficult to recognize, but he could tell. They were all soulless, including the vessel he was possessing.

Seeing no point in following them, he began looking around, noticing they were inside a large shack. He could even describe it as a temple of some sort, if the magnitude was anything to go by. A little cramped for larger members, but still.

Rather than following the horde of husks, he left to wander this place. He would leave until arriving at a hall with a large door with a rather large keyhole. A very large oversight he thought. While difficult for more solid beings, the tentacled ones could get through. He wasn’t a priest for nothing however, and so he channeled some energy into his body. Following the way of the Maws, he went under the door.

When he left, he found himself in a large open space. There were lots of shacks all around him. They looked bigger than the Salmonids, but much smaller than the dwellings of those who lived on land.

The second thing he noticed was the smell. He could tell they were near the ocean, but it smelled… different. Spicy, if he had to use a word.

He waddled forth to the center of the plaza when he encountered something. Three winged pink colored beings, wearing clothes of a tinted white appeared in front of him. They batted their eyes at him, making noises he did not understand, trying to do something. He was confused, what were they trying to do? Were these things sentient?

The beings then shifted, revealing large pointed teeth on their mouths. Ah! That explained it. They were trying to lure him to eat him! He could commend the effort, but their strategy was flawed. How could they trap anyone with such poor camouflage? He would have to teach these young ones a lesson.

When one lunged at him, he simply opened his mouth and chomped down on it. The force split it in half, the lower half of its body plopping to the floor. Mhhhm! Quite tasty!

The other two immediately stopped their assault, beginning to panic. Bad move. This is how you get killed.

He moved quickly. As they attempted to fly away, he jumped and ate the other 10 feet midair. Again, very nice taste. It reminded him of some treats the traders would bring from land. What was the word… Ah, yes! Raspberry!

The third being flew away, out of his reach and deeper into the village. He paid it no mind. Hopefully, it would pass on to its progeny better lessons for survival. He went to pick up the rest of the first winged creature. Never let anything go to waste!

He then spent some time roaming around, watching the surroundings. There were paths to other parts of the village, but he decided to not wander too far. At the end of it all, he decided to take residence near the place where he arrived, to watch the stars. They were different from the ones from home, a rather incredible sight.

At one point, he felt his body almost lose shape, but he kept it firm. He couldn’t do much, as he was beginning to grow tired, even as this didn’t actually tax his original body, when he heard a noise. He decided to check it out.

He viewed through a window, where he found the sight of a tentacled one. He could not discern what kind they were, but they were definitely from their species. He would go say good morning, but he didn’t know their language, and they most likely didn’t know his. They were approaching someone to the side, so he took a look to his left.

He was suddenly filled with anger, which confused him greatly. He did not understand why. The other being was from another species he couldn’t identify. They had green hair and a body structure similar to the tentacled ones. Yet, something about them seemed… familiar. And that familiarity gave him a bad feeling. He was going to move, but his body suddenly felt dead tired and he collapsed.

The next time he opened his eyes, he was back home. He was not sure what that was. A dream? It felt so real…

Luz didn’t return to the Owl house until a bit after dawn.

Her and the twins helped Amity clean up the library, their previous fun and the Salmonids making a mess of the place. While the twins groaned, they did it anyways. It seemed that they had been conscious of Amity’s comments, which made them more agreeable.

They finished an hour before opening hours, where the two finally bounced. Amity and her stayed for a while there, just talking. She was quite the fun person to talk to, when the circumstances allowed it. She was studious, witty, had a nice laugh… where did that come from?

She asked her about the glyphs and if she had ever seen something like that. After a few minutes of observing it, she mentioned that she had never seen anything like it, not even in the runic language of the Boiling Isles. She mentioned something about a forbidden section, but said she couldn’t get in. I thanked her anyway.

We eventually had to part ways for her to report to the head librarian. Before they left however, they exchanged books.

Amity was quite surprised as well that there existed another version of ‘The Good Witch Azura’. I didn’t sit to explain the concept of the multiverse to her, so I simply said that it was simply the version of my homeland. She was surprised to learn I wasn’t native to the Boiling isles, but agreed to keep it a secret. I honestly didn’t intend it to be a secret. I just haven’t gone around showing off the whole, ‘I'm from another universe, look how special I am’ Schtick.

It was quite curious to see the book in this form. The differences seemed to adapt for the culture and species of this place. It even had an author! Her book didn’t really have one. All it said was that it was a translation, inspired by the works of someone called L.N. Maybe this woman had an alternate universe counterpart in her world?

She was already yawning when she got to the owl house and was met with an odd sight. There was an incredibly large head with wings knocking at the door. Figuring that it must be the mother of the babies. She approached her.

She signaled for her to wait. “One second” Luz said. She started scratching Hooty under his beak. “Could you let us in Hooty, I think you can trust this woman”

“Sure thing Luz!” Hooty said, flinging himself open. She went inside, the demon woman squeezing herself to follow her.

She found King and Eda on the couch, sleeping. They were cuddling with the little babies quite nicely. The woman whistled, the babies waking up and flying to hide in her hair.

“Aah! Snuggle dumplings” The woman said with a soft voice. She then began to gag and vomited a treasure chest. She would say gross, but she once saw the metro guy whip some rowdy silver fish delinquents by using his own innards, so she was over questioning people’s bodily functions.

She also vomited a whistle in the shape of a skull. “Yi Yi. Thanks little one. I am the bat queen. The whistle is for trouble. Eda is owed a favor” She then squeezed back and flew into the sky.

Eda began to stir awake. “Ah. Sweet babies” She made squeezing motions in the air, but she just grasped at air. That made her wake up, which also woke up King. “Babies? Where are the babies?” Eda asked confused. Luz decided to play a little and simply mimicked with her hands the act of a bird flying away. She also pointed to the treasure for good measure.

“Oh. And I just taught Junior how to pick locks too” Eda said, sounding quite disappointed.

Luz could see that the both of them had developed some attachment. “Still, your night looks very successful. Look at all that money you made. And look at this cool whistle that the cool winged woman gave you” Luz still had no idea what a bat was, but she felt it wasn’t exactly the woman or babies she saw. She grabbed a napkin from her bag and cleaned the whistle, handing it out to Eda. “I'd give it a proper wash before you use it”

“Yeah. We did it all for the money” Eda said dejectedly. “I miss my babies!” King said with tears on his eyes, hugging Eda in the process.

Luz had foreseen this, so she decided to ask Amity permission to borrow a book. “I actually got you something from the library” She gave her the book, a small book about coping with empty nest syndrome.

Eda seemed to get a laugh out of that. “Thanks, kid. So, how was your night?

Luz smiled at the memories. “Mostly good. Some dangerous, but still good.

Hooty then chimed in. “Hey, you wanna hear about my night? “

“No!” Said both King and Eda.

Luz smiled at that and decided to lay down on the couch, earning herself a nap after the night.

Chapter 12: Chapter 8: “Culture exchange”

Notes:

Sorry for the delay!
Been busy workshopping this chapter, along with university work.
Hope all of you can enjoy, and thanks for the support.

Chapter Text

Luz was right now witnessing the funniest and saddest thing imaginable happen to herself. Odd to see it from another person's eyes, but still.

To explain the odd display, Luz was gonna have to back up a bit.

Luz had not really progressed much in her magic studies so far. She has gotten more theoretical knowledge from Eda and some books she had, but she was stuck. Without the ability to learn other glyphs, she might as well be learning the magic system of a fantasy novel. They had tried anything to see if she could learn, but nothing. That was when Eda had an idea.

She proposed they make a body-swap in order for her to cast spells using her body. A really sound idea, but Luz worried for Eda, since she did not know how to move with an octoling body. Eda claimed it would be fine, since she had swapped with King in the past to allow him the ability to feel tall. She tentatively accepted.

Which led to the current situation at hand. They were in the living room. What was happening now is that Eda was lying limp on the floor, flinging her limbs on the floor. She was struggling to move in any way, but she could only really position her head to look up, like a deflated tube-squid. King found the display more funny on his end, having a laugh with Owlbert and Hooty.

“Titan dammit kid, how do you move in this?! It feels as if I’m made of Jell-o and my hands are my feet. Also, my teeth feel funny” She said, constantly licking her teeth.

“You gotta focus each of your limbs and command individual movement for stability, I don’t understand how it can be that hard” Luz said with a light smile. “Besides, if it's any consolation, your body isn’t a walk in the park either”

That last bit wasn’t entirely true. She could control it fine, but she felt uncomfortable in it. Her limbs felt slower and her innards felt squeezed, but at the same time not? It was really confusing. She tried to flex her arms like in the past, but pain detracted her from going further. She might try more, but she didn’t know how durable Eda’s body really was. Eda could lose limbs, but she didn’t know how durable those limbs were.

Eda gave a huff. “Fine kid. But hurry up! It feels like I’m gonna melt on the floor over here” She tried to raise her hand, but raised her feet instead. Eda groaned at that.

Luz hopped from the sofa and extended her hand. She started out by casting a light spell. She could feel the magic coursing through her body, landing in her finger as she traced the circle. It looked like an empty circle, but Luz could sense that there was more to it, as the video she took once demonstrated. It casted itself easily enough.

Afterwards, she casted what some would call the simplest spell in magic history. Fireball. The magic coursed through her, but had a different feeling this time, though she couldn’t put it into words. The magic pulled around her, but felt directionless.

“Relax kid. Picture what you want and let magic do its thing” Eda said from the ground, trying to reach out to Luz, only to flip her head backwards. “Dammit!”

Luz tried doing that and pictured the image of fire in her mind. The energy coursing through her took focus and shape, pooling into a spell circle she traced in the air. When she completed it, a small ball of fire appeared. She was a bit frustrated. She could feel there was something there, similar to her light glyph, but she couldn’t see it.

“I think I’m done” Luz said, failing to hide the disappointment in her voice.

“Don’t worry kid. Whatever those glyphs are, they must exist somewhere. But before that… Owlbert!” Eda comforted her from the ground, to afterwards summon Owlbert. Luz got near as the magic enveloped her and sent her back into her body. A few quick thoughts and her body was once again standing upright.

“Jeez kid. Not gonna take for granted my bones anymore, that's for sure” Eda said, flexing out her muscles and cracking her jaw. She then put a hand on her shoulder. “By the way, I have an idea for something to do which can hopefully help you learn a spell”

“Really!?” Luz asked excitedly.

“Yup! But I’m gonna need to plan it out a bit” Eda said. She then went to grab a bag from the other side of the room.

“However, today I need to gather up some garbage to sell. Wish me luck!” Eda then clicked her portal key, which opened up the doorway to another realm. However, it still led back home.

“Oh come on!” Eda groaned in frustration.

Luz went and looked ahead, finding the familiar alleyway which led her here.

“Still no luck in finding the human realm?” Luz asked.

Eda dropped the bag beside her. “No. I’ve been trying all week, but I cannot get to it. It always leads to your realm” Eda closed the door and leaned back into the couch, her head twisted backwards in frustration.

Luz put an arm on her shoulder. “Don’t worry, I’m sure you’ll get to see your humans eventually” Luz said. She honestly did not get what was so special about them. They’re technology seemed to be below that of her realm, and a lot of their stuff simply seemed to be regular household items. “If it's that important to get new items, why not get them from the recycling bins of the station. Owlbert did that originally”

Eda perked up at that. “Not that easy kid. People are only interested in this stuff because of the myths surrounding humans. Can’t sell them if they’re not invested in it” Eda then brightened up. “Although… Your kind has a lot of similar items. We could maybe sell them off as human, so long as they are similar enough” Eda then began to smile, but then frowned. “We would need another place to get the stuff however”

“Why is that?” King asked, jumping on Eda’s lap.

“All the items were heavily damaged, or looked completely unlike stuff made by humans. Still have to sell a myth.” Eda threw a look at her.

“That stuff was in the recycling bin. Only really heavily unwanted or damaged items get sent there” Luz answered. She wasn’t sure what she expected. A bunch of nearly intact objects?

“Didn’t you throw away that book you were carrying?” Eda said.

Luz groaned. “I didn’t throw it away, I merely put it there to organize my bag, only for Owlbert to snatch it away” Luz said. She was still a bit bitter at that.

Eda crossed her arms. “Then where can we get some good items to sell?”

Luz started thinking back to places, until she got an idea. “We can go the city to some fresh recycables. A store I know has lots of stuff there which gets shipped off for repurposing” She then frowned. “But you can’t go outside like this”

“Why not?” King asked.

“There aren’t really creatures like you or Eda out there, with all the fur covering your bodies” Luz said. There was only one being like that, and he was an exception among exceptions.

“No problems kid, I have a solution” She stood up and went upstairs. Rummaging sounds could be heard as she waited for her to return. When she did, she carried a pair of blue gemstones in bracelets, one bigger than the other. “These are concealment stones. They’re a money and magic sink in investment, but for a few hours, you’ll look like something else entirely”

“Is that shapeshifting!?” Luz asked excitedly. That seemed like some really potent magic.

“Not really, kid. The concealment magic can’t make stuff that doesn't exist. It can make you look like you have clothes, but unless you’re wearing something beneath that, it can’t fool textures. It also uses your own body as a template, so no changing into a completely different thing. Most rich folk just use it to save on makeup” Eda said. Luz felt a bit underwhelmed, but appreciated that it was some cool magic.

“Now, I’m gonna need you to design us some disguises. Make us something which you think would hide us well on your world”

Upon hearing that, Luz grew a grin so big that her teeth almost made her shine.

“Would you like me to pack those for you sweetie?” He heard the old lady say.

That was enough to knock him back into the earth, taking out a few snails. “No thanks granny. I’ll carry them myself” He said, taking her groceries with him. A pack of meat and milk was not a lot, but it was enough to last him for a week. He had survived on less. “How much do I owe you?”

“200 snails dear” Said the old lady.

“That’s less than you asked before” He said. He really didn’t want to take any favors. It would make it difficult to escape.

“Oh, it's alright dear” The old lady said “I got more from my supplier than usual, and I don’t have the place to keep all of it. Besides, you’ve been buying here the last week and been quite polite with me. Its good to do things like this, keeps your customers loyal!” The woman said with a wide smile.

He looked at the meat bag, still unsure. He ended up relenting at the end. No use seeing a gift ratworm on the mouth.

“Ok, have a nice day!” The old lady said. She was a bipedal demon with reptilian features, scales covering her body. A part in him felt a connection with her, even if they didn’t share the same species. It made him wish he could walk around in his true form. Sadly, he couldn’t.

He wasn’t sure how other Basilisks coped with their surroundings. Perhaps they were able to take more pride in their new forms, or they simply had no choice to do so in order to survive, like him. He’ll never know sadly. After they all separated, he hasn’t seen or heard from any of them. He might be the last one still free, for all he knows.

He had found a relatively calm city in the southern part of the titan, where he took the appearance of a black haired witch. It took him a while to make his disguise more unique, but he was able to crack it. Clothes weren’t a problem, so he looked like a sorta fancy, but not really, kind of witch. The kind you would ignore on the street in your daily life. The good kind. He also started referring to himself as Tom. It was much more inconspicuous than number 10.

He took residence in a cave nearby the city, where he collected and sold some ingredients for the potions coven. He wasn’t paid a lot, as the ingredients weren’t rare enough to fetch a price (He also suspected that they were trying to underpay him for some of it), but it was honestly enough. He was content to live the rest of his life like this honestly, if he could live it in peace.

He suddenly tensed up and tried to walk formally as members of the emperor’s coven walked past him. They were embroiled in a conversation, too occupied to notice him, but his desire to run screamed at him in the back of his mind. Once he could no longer see them, he relaxed and resumed his steps.

He could never take his chances with those guys. They had increased security ever since they had escaped the comformatorium. They didn’t mention them on their searches, but he had started to hear the rumors. Guards would periodically make people cast spells publicly. Made excuses about looking for wild witches, but he knew better. They were looking to see who couldn’t, since that would mean they were a basilisk. He was careful to avoid patrols lest they ask him too.

Speaking of that, one should be coming by the street in 5 minutes. Deciding to not take any risks, he went to a nearby alley.

He took out a pack of Hexes Hold-em cards from his satchel and ate them up. A bit rudimentary, but it added some flavor to eating magic. He felt the magic course through him, recharging his shapeshifting. He made a quick change into another of his disguises, a young darker skinned woman, and came out of the other side of the alley. He heard the sound of guards registering people behind his back, so he hurried along.

He walked down the street nervous, but confident. He had done well in moving around on his own, which made traveling the city a much safer endeavor. As he walked down the street, he noticed something on a lamppost. A flier for a festival in town, celebrating its founding.

A thought came to his mind, which made him want to slap the scales off his head.

It was incredibly risky, stupid, and dangerous. But… he wished to be there. What good was a life, if it was only to be hidden?

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Far above the town of Femurio, an object surveys the city. This object would periodically take photos of the town, from such a distance that it would be considered a bird.

It was camouflaged as one after all. Brown paint job, made cooing noises occasionally, dropped a surprise for passengers below, but it still wasn’t a bird. Instead, it is an object whose role has not yet been seen to this level in a society like this.

A drone.

The drone would transmit the images captured for its maker, giving him information about this land's inhabitants. The drone had been doing this for a couple of weeks, seeking something. This something was important, incredibly so, but elusive at the same time. It had witnessed many things, but they all fell short of his needs.

Today would have been the last time it surveyed this particular city, had it not been for what it just captured. A shapeshifter, on the run, who seemed to be desperate.

Finally, it had revealed itself to him. A business opportunity.

The maker of the drone prepared himself. He set the drone to follow the individual. It was time to arrange a meeting.

Man it was hot as hell out here.

Whenever she left to the human realm, the worst the temperature got in summer was a mild heat wave. Even on the rare occasions she flew out outside of the town of Gravesfield, things got only slightly hotter. Except for that time at Vegas, that had been an incredibly hot couple of days. She never returned that car. Eh, she would pay it later.

She was waiting with Luz on what she assumed to be a train station of some kind, waiting for their transport. The sun hit her in the face, which made her cover it with her hand. It allowed her to examine up close Luz handiwork, her hand now of orange skin without fingernails.

Luz had really done a number on her and King. She had turned her skin from a couple of shades darker, she expected to not be confused for a vampire again, and removed the body hair for being reasonable. That had been simple enough. The complicated part was what she did to her hair.

She basically turned it to black with purple lines, alongside braiding her hair so it went off in multiple small bundles to match the spikes she was now sporting. Luz had said she matched a species called a sea urchin. She heard of the term street urchin before, she never figured there was one for the sea. Her eyes sclera had turned green too, giving her an eerie vibe. She had Owlbert in her head, pretending to be a 3D pin.

King got that treatment, but rather than brading him up, he was turned into simply a large ball of spikes. Or at least, that’s what he seemed to her. Luz made it so the illusion used King’s skull as a baseline for spikes, while converting his fur into clothes. Luz said they should be fine, he could pass as a very young child, and since it was rude to touch a young Urchin’s spikes, they would leave him alone. King threw a fit at being called a child, but Luz promised him an Ice cream if he complied to not make much noise on their journey. He’s been behaving like an obedient boy since. Sucker, she knew Luz would have bought him the ice cream either way.

Luz had handed her a coupon with the drawing of 3 conch like objects in the middle. She said that once they got to the city, she would tour King while Eda made a deal with whoever was in charge of the shop. Eda had held on to the translation collar for this, since she would get more mileage for it here than Luz.

She snapped her view as a train got to the station. It didn’t look like a train though, it looked more like a smooth white snake. The train opened and a whole menagerie of creatures popped out. She was accustomed to seeing all kinds of people in the demon realm, but this was a first for her. In the human realm, only humans were intelligent enough to form a civilization. Here however, there were quite a lot of creatures. From those that looked like Luz, some translucent creatures the size of kings, to a shark just walking around. Uh, now that she thought about it, these people resemble some of the creatures that lived at the sea of the human realm. She never saw any of them, living in an island where the sea boiled kind of took away one’s desire to swim in anything other than a pool, but she had definitely heard of them. Still, the resemblance they possessed was uncanny.

But then again, maybe it was just a case of coincidences. The isles had all kinds of creatures that resembled stuff from the human realm as well. Hell, humans still believed that giraffes were just another animal, instead of the soul sucking demons they really were.

Once the passengers left, the ones who were gonna enter started pouring in. Luz guided them to the entry, passing over a card on a screen on the inside of the train before they got in. They got inside and took their seats, the place being quite crammed. They were packed like sardines, more ironic since there was a group of sardine-like creatures on the opposite side of the cabin they were staying.

The ride moved surprisingly smoothly, but the window revealed they were moving quite fast. She could reach this speed with Owlbert on occasion, but that would be pushing him quite a lot. King was napping in her lap as they moved, while Luz was checking her phone.

“Hey kid, isn’t it a bit suspicious that you were the one to pay for our ride?” Eda asked. She had done it so nonchalantly, yet she was worried it seemed like she was taking advantage of a child. They could maybe pass it off as a family thing, if they were even of the same species.

Luz looked at her oddly, almost confused“Nooooo? Paying for one’s ride at my age is expected, and if I want to, I can pay for others”

“Uh” Was all Eda had to say. She remembered her mom giving her snails to take the Egg when going to school. For a child to pay out of their own pocket would be ludicrous. Even the biggest cheapskate, a flash of a green haired witch came to her mind, wouldn’t make their own children pay like that. But here, it seemed to be common. Really bizarre.

They rode the train for 30 minutes before they got to the city. They had traveled through a desert area, filled with mountains and some towns along the way. Once they came near the city, Eda saw a large glimpse of it. The place was huge, the same type of large city the humans would make. Tall buildings, lots of colorful lights, a whole lot of cars. Oddly, she didn’t see the smoke that accompanied those cities. That was nice, those fumes did not taste nice when flying around.

They got to their station and exited. The train departed rather quickly, leaving them here for now. Luz guided them out of the station and into the city proper.

The place was busy to the extreme. Bonesborough busiest time and day couldn’t even begin to compare. Lots of people walking around, tons of stores. She couldn’t read any of it, but she assumed that they were all for lots of stuff. There were restaurants, boutiques, she even saw a couple of super large stores as they passed by. None of them seemed to be the place Luz had been looking for.

Once they finally got there however, she wasn’t sure what she expected. It was a shop on a street corner, rather big by the looks of it. It also seemed to be heavily pink by looking inside. Lots of things inside however.

Luz turned to her and signaled to the shop's entrance. “This is ‘Hotlantis’. Its one of the biggest merchandise shops in Splatsville. Tell the owner that you're planning to make an art project and want the recyclables. Offer her the coupon, and all should be well. I’ll take King for his ice cream and we'll meet back up in half an hour” Luz said.

“Yes! Bring sustenance to your master, my general!” King said excitedly.

Luz grabbed him by his paw and led him away. Eda was a bit worried at leaving King wandering in a big city like this, but she trusted Luz.

She entered the shop and was bombarded by a whole array of colors. There was a whole bunch of figurines, plushies, boxes and all kinds of stuff lining the shelves. The place was also packed with lots of kids Luz age, grabbing and examining a lot of the objects. They looked quite happy and excited. A song played around her, softly humming a digital tune.

(Hotlantis Theme)

Eda wandered around, looking for a cashier to talk to. There were a bunch of them, but they were busy taking orders. Eda approached an empty front, which had a bell on it. Eda rang the bell, but no one came looking. She was startled when a plastic object came from underneath the registry.

Eda leaned in and saw a young woman, playing around with a plastic claw toy. The woman had glowing pink strands of limbs for hair, which faded into green ends. She wore blue shoes and a combination of a black shirt and dress. On her head was a yellow and black cap, which had a small black fish… swimming? by the side of her hair. The girl seemed to not pay any attention to her, instead being completely immersed in the toy.

Eda rang the bell a few more times, but the woman didn’t react. The fish did however, and began pestering the woman to pay attention. After a few seconds the girl looked up to see Eda, who was simply waiting around with her arms crossed. She stood up and Eda just noticed that the girl was releasing an aroma into the air. It smelled sweet. She decided to take a step back so she wasn’t hit as hard.

“... Oh, hey. Didn’t see you there” The girl said, almost as if she wasn’t completely sure what she was seeing. “Welcome to Hotlantis, what can I get both of you?”

Eda was taken aback and looked around, but she didn’t find anything. Eda chalked it up to the woman messing with her. “Just me, miss. I need some supplies for an art project of mine. Gonna need some recyclables you have. How about you go and get some for me?”

The girl didn’t seem to change her expression a lot, almost seeming out of it. She did pay attention, since she answered her back. “Sure, how much do you need?” She asked.

“How much does this get me?” Eda handed her the coupon Luz gave her. The girl took it and began examining it around. She spinned it in her hands and felt it all over. Once she seemed satisfied, she pressed a button on the counter.

“Mary, could you get me 8 boxes of used merchandise please?” The girl said. 8 boxes? She wasn’t sure how she was gonna make a mint with just 8 boxes of stuff. Eda wondered if Luz had underestimated how much that coupon was valued.

The girl didn’t pay attention to her, instead leaning down and fiddling with something. The fish on her head just stared at her, making her feel a bit awkward. After a minute, the girl stood back up, a small box in front of her.

“What’s that?” Eda asked.

“Bird food. Free of charge. For your little owl” The woman said. Eda panicked, but remembered a detail of their disguise. She had put Owlbert as a pin in her hair, in order to have him be by her side. She relaxed as she remembered and simply took the package. Owlbert didn’t need to eat, but Hooty should appreciate it well enough. It did smell quite nice.

She waited a few minutes in silence until the sound of footsteps made her turn around as the ground began to quake, and her sight was filled with boxes. The boxes had turned to be way bigger than she expected, being enough to fill a large portion of her storage. Mary, a large crustacean of gray hue, held a box in front of her to inspect. Eda opened the box and was quite pleased by the results.

While some of it wouldn’t work, a whole lot of this stuff could pass as human made, so long as she made the appropriate alterations. She was definitely gonna give the kid a cut of profit for this. She could basically smell the snails already.

“It’s perfect. Could you help me put the boxes outside, miss? Don’t have quite the muscle for it” Eda patted her arm. She could carry one or two, but she was gonna have to stash them in her magic sack later if she wanted to carry them back to the demon realm, and she needed Luz’s help for that.

“Sure” The crab woman said. She picked up three of the boxes simultaneously and began to take them outside.

“Well, thanks for the help, toy girl. If I ever need more stuff, I’ll be sure to come back here” Eda said and waved the counter woman a goodbye. She still had 15 minutes to wait.

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The odd woman left the store as Mary carried her purchase outside. Once she was sure she wasn’t coming back, she returned to her previous business. She was this close to figuring out the secrets of this ultrahand.

(“Harmony”) A deep voice rang inside her head.

She continued her pursuit, but answered the voice back. (“Yes, Christopher?”)

(“Are you not gonna comment on what just happened?”) Christopher asked.

(“What is there to say? A woman came to buy some retired merch for an art project”) Harmony said. She was able to catch a fly with the ultrahand, which she then grabbed with her regular hand. She gave it to Christopher, who was still nagging at her.

(“Thanks for the fly. Still, you surely must have seen it, right? The disguised hair, the stiffness of her limbs, the constantly shifting owl pin in her head. She was clearly hiding something) Christopher said. He also decided to rest in her head, laying with his fins up in the air.

(“Yeah, but if she had bad intentions, she would have done something. She came in, paid for a service and left. Not likely to be some kind of supervillain”) She decided to give the plastic toy a rest, satisfied with her fiddling for now. (“Besides, I’m more concerned of the soul thing with her”)

(“Soul thing?”) Christopher asked.

(“Yeah. She has two souls, which seem to be fighting each other. One of the souls looked like an owl, which is why I gave her the food) Harmony answered. Everybody had auras, which told you things about people. They were always shifting, but they were there. The woman had three auras. One in her hair, most likely the owl pin, and two in her body. But for her, one of the auras was causing damage to her body.

(“Why didn’t you mention that to her?”) Christopher asked confused.

(“Its rude to comment on somebody’s aura without permission. Orion mentioned that I should let people tell me about their problems first, not confront them about it everytime I notice it.”) Harmony took a pause to swallow some of her toxins back. (“Besides, she must already know by now the problem. How could you ignore something that big”)

Harmony heard a specialized ringtone coming from her phone. It sounded like drums, which meant Sid was calling. She flipped her phone open. “Hello”

“Yo, Harmony. Clash says we're running practice later. You should probably get your gear ready by then” Sid said. Sid always made it a point to notify her hours in advance to prepare to gigs or practice, since she can get distracted easily.

“Sure thing Sid, see you later” Harmony said to him. She closed her phone and decided to notify the manager she was leaving. She didn’t have a clear schedule, most of the time she just stayed in the shop and they let her sell things from time to time, but it was good being honest.

King held Luz’s hand as they waited at the counter of the shop. He would normally not allow anybody to hold his hand like a kid, but the circumstances required it. Said circumstances were that this place was humongous!

He had been to the market of Bonesborough and some other cities when accompanying Eda to sell stuff, but the amount of people just moving around was much higher than anything he had seen before. It also didn’t help that he didn’t understand a thing. Eda only had one collar, which meant that he was walking around hearing nonsense all day. Everybody, even Luz, talked as if they were gurgling water in their throats, it was bizarre.

Luz had taken them to a small cafe where they had lots of stuff. She had placed her order over 5 minutes ago, and they were now waiting at the front. He was pacing around madly. Not a whole lot to do, and he was honestly getting bored.

He decided to exercise some of Eda’s skills she had taught him. He had become quite the good pickpocket over the years, sneakily taking some stuff of even the most attentive of witches. He began looking around, seeking for a somewhat easy target. Looking over the shop, he found one near him.

A bit away from him was a large, somewhat round, fish person. They were adorned with brown scales with dotted points all over. They were wearing a brown coat and had a pair of green tinted glasses on their face. They were checking their ‘phone’, as Luz called the scroll look-alikes, and were perfectly distracted.

He moved stealthily, intent on stealing whatever was on those pockets. He was right on target, ready to put his paws there. That was until Luz yanked him outta the way. He released a yelp, which made his target turn to them.

“Fhet tfs fhr foesj?” The fish head said.

“ Ghtexfe, hf ftst feste gy vbfe fhrsww ” Luz said while pointing at him. She then took out her phone and pointed for him to move away. He begrudgingly took the phone. He didn’t get it, Luz stole money from others too, why couldn’t he do it?.

Whatever, he at least had some entertainment now. Luz had installed an application early on in her stay on the Owl house which he could use to entertain himself. Opening up, he readied his birds to smash into some mudskipper strongholds.

Luz returned and gave him a stern look to reprimand him. She had a flier in her hands. She crumpled it up and carefully put in the garbage.

“What was that?” King asked her.

“Just some nonsense. The dude is a conspiracy nut, tried to rope me into checking out his blog for some quote ‘Deep truths’. Bunch of junk really” Luz said. Uh, conspiracy theorists must exist in all realities then. They always were a good laugh, if anything.

He snapped his attention back to Luz as she was getting the ice cream for them. He was quite pleased. Two large glasses filled with ice cream and covered with what he assumed to be chocolate were given to Luz, her taking off to an unoccupied table.

They both sat down as Luz handed over his ice cream and a spoon. He scarfed it down quickly. It tasted really good. Eda didn’t really take him to the human realm, which meant he never got to eat on their fancy restaurants. All he got was store bought stuff, and Eda did not buy from high end stores. It was a really delicious change of pace.

“Thanks Luz” King said. Thanking one’s minion was something a good king did.

“You’re welcome King” Luz said. She was eating her ice cream more slowly than him.

“Hey, why did you stop me from stealing from that guy’s pocket. Its not like he was gonna miss whatever pocket change he had there”

Luz looked confused. “No one uses physical currency, so its hard to believe you would have found anything to nab. Its also illegal, which wouldn’t be good for either of us in the event you got caught”

“Aren’t you a criminal too? You’ve been breaking the law on a lot of occasions while on the isles”

Luz held the spoon in her mouth. “I guess I have…” Luz pulled the spoon out to take another bite. “But that doesn't mean that I want to commit crimes. Laws exist so everybody can get along well. They are problematic if those enforcing them are bad people, alongside being badly designed. They only benefit some groups while not protecting others”

“Yeah, those chumps are jerks” King said. Even if he didn’t live with Eda, he could see that the whole system of the emperor was quite the bothersome thing. That’s why he was preparing himself, gathering up his strength so that one day, HE was gonna be the one to rule the isles! And he would fix all the problems and make everyone happy!

A thought occurred to him. “Hey, that explains the emperor's coven and those things. But what about the demon hunters you mugged the other day” King said. When Eda coaxed the full story from Luz, he had quite the laugh. Those guys acted so cool, but they were beaten up by a bunch of kids.

“Rules of the scavenger. Whoever finds the treasure and manages to keep it, earns all the rewards. Those guys wanted the house, we fought for it and won. It's only fair we keep their money for the troubles caused” Luz said, pulling out a straw to drink the remaining ice cream. Was that a real law? If so, Eda would be all over that.

The festival of Femurio was an annual festival, celebrating the city's founding over 700 years ago. It originally was a small town populated with wild witches, before it was converted into a settlement officially sanctioned by the cult of Belos after a large explosion destroyed most of the town. Since then, it has grown into a large city with a population of 30,000 thousand, a twentieth of the population of the Boiling Isles. A marvel of modern society. At least, that was how it was sold to him.

He had been walking around the festival, enjoying some rather cheap meals and shows made by the illusion coven. Since he was in the outer parts of the city near the forest, he wasn’t part of the main festivities. He heard that the head of the illusion coven was making a show in the center of the city, but he wasn’t taking any risks to see that. That place would be crawling with guards.

The overall vibe of this place seemed to be quite nice. Children running around with those scrolls of theirs, game stations promoting to take a chance at their activities, all sorts of things. He had tried some of them, relishing in the feeling of being normal. He knew that he would never belong, but hey, what was wrong with some fun every once in a while.

He was finishing up picking some fairy muffins when he saw something in the distance. He identified the woman from the store. She was talking to an emperor scout. He immediately went stiff and went for cover in the most inconspicuous way possible.

He ducked behind a barrel with some apples on it, opposite to them. Peeking at the scene, he saw them talking about something. The woman seemed to be sporting an angry look, complaining about something to the scout. The scout for his part, seemed to move as if he was pissed off as well. He began to look around, before he grabbed the old lady and dragged her into a nearby alley.

After they left, he was left with a lot of conflicting thoughts. He wanted to run away and not bother with this. It was dangerous and stupid for anyone, him even more, to mess around with the emperor’s coven. Unless you were high enough on one of the other coven’s, people tended to ignore the complaints of those that dealt with the bad side of them. He heard that the coven had received some damage after a massive jail breakout at the conformatorium revealed a lot of hidden abuse of power, but even then, they got off with less than just restructuring most, and firing the worst offenders.

However, he could not force himself to leave. He didn’t really know that lady deeply, but his common decency made him care. If he was the one in that situation, he would surely want someone’s help. So against his better judgment, he did exactly that.

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The target had entered an alleyway, going to stop a mugging from happening. He sent a message to his subordinates in the cave to be ready at any second.

They had been following this particular creature for the last week, after they caught a lucky break in spotting it changing forms on an alleyway. They didn’t rush and captured it right then and there, since they didn’t know if there were more of them. But after following it around for this long, he felt confident it wasn’t the case.

The creature seemed incredibly passive, only coming and going in buying a few supplies to live in a cave outside the city. It wasn’t hurting anyone, as far as he knew, since no one reported people being drained of their magic. Still, they could never be careful enough.

A part of him dreaded having to take on the basilisk mission, but they had little choice. Those brats had destroyed their equipment, robbed them, and put a lot of them in debt with the healing coven. They had even become the laughing stock of the guild, since word spread around that they were beaten by a bunch of kids.

Well no more! He was gonna catch this basilisk, deliver it to the emperor’s coven, cash a fat paycheck, and shut everyone’s trap on the guild!

Looking back into the alley, he heard the scream of the old woman ring in the air, followed by the basilisk in its witch form running away, heading for one of the gates that led to the forest. He decided to move out. Nothing would get in his way now.

After finishing their ice cream, Luz and King returned to find Eda, waiting outside Hotlantis with a lot of boxes. Luz counted them and felt that it was the right amount for a coupon to 5 super snails. Those were rare, but Luz had acquired plenty of them after over a year of turf war matches. Grizzco also payed with that too, but it was rarer.

Eda needed some help putting all this into a sack, so Luz took the chance to take the boxes into an alleyway. After making sure no one was seeing, they started putting the boxes in Eda’s magic sack. A really useful tool, seemed to work similarly to how she could put things into her own body, but blown to a whole other level. That made her think about the collar used to translate languages. Was magic infused onto the item, or was the item itself magic? Eda commented on a theory on the former, but mentioned that she herself did not understand it. There are a lot of relics from the old days of the boiling isles where items like this were more common, but that they were lost to time. A lot of it was apparently lost in the creation of the empire, purged with wild witches that once made use of that knowledge. It made her sick, but she couldn’t change the past.

After getting things in order, Luz took them on a bit of a tour guide around the city. She took them around for the skate parks, some of the malls, a pair of shops to see new clothing lines. They even got to see a lot of the turf war matches that were happening around the area, with both of them being very surprised at the intensity of it all. Eda compared it to a game called Grudgby, if it was about painting the floor. She didn’t know what that game was, but if it was anything like turf war, then it must be fun!

They were all having a great time, but Luz was walking around for a different reason. A part of her felt more comfortable, exploring the city with others. She had come on other times, sometimes with her Mami, and really enjoyed her time just experiencing everything, but it always felt a bit… hollow. Not for the city itself, it was absolutely lovely, but more so on the solitary nature of her ventures. But now she had someone to share these experiences with! Maybe she could even have Willow, Gus, and Amity come along!

It was around the afternoon when they decided to return, but Luz still had something to show them. She dragged them to a specific spot. It was a spot she had discovered when exploring around and had never really shown anyone else. Mami preferred to stay in town instead of coming here, which led to being something exclusive to her. Until now at least.

“So we have to climb up all the way up there?” Eda asked. It was a somewhat tall building, 10 floors, but nothing that difficult.

“Yeah!” Luz said excitedly.

Both King and Eda looked at her as if she was crazy. She didn’t get it, surely they must be accustomed to a lot more rigorous activities in the isles? Well, dosen’t matter. If they couldn’t climb up, they would simply take the easy option. Even if the climbing made it more fun.

“Okay, we can fly. But be discreet, we don’t need people posting this all across social media” Luz said. Eda smiled and liberated Owlbert, who transformed into a staff and flew the three of them to the top of the building. After checking that no one was looking, of course.

Once they got there, Luz walked them to the edge of the building, where they were met with a gorgeous sight. While taller buildings might allow for a bigger view of the city, sometimes being at a more reasonable level allowed you to really drink in the view.

The city sprawled all over. You could see all manner of buildings of different sizes and colors, with lots of folcloric decorations mixing in. A lot of the city had wooden rooftops of old housing and carvings on the stoneworks, arching back to the more humble origins of the city. Others looked incredibly modern, looking more abstract in their design. Splatsville has been called the city of chaos, a place where the old and new come to mix and coexist. The two of them seem very enraptured, but were inmediadly startled by something else.

“By the titan, what is that!” King said excitedly.

Luz followed his finger to the Lobby tower, where the great zapfish was resting. Luz could certainly say that it was a mighty specimen, but she had seen him many times, so the awe had mellowed out over time. She called her Miss whiskers.

“That’s the great Zapfish. She’s the main power source of the city. All the lights, machines, and tools work because she supplies the energy” Luz said.

“Luz, this is the first time I have ever seen anything that big in my life. It could eat a Selkidomus for breakfast” Eda said, taking out her scroll to take some pictures. This was one of rare times she has seen Eda’s scroll out. She typically hides her usage of it, mostly to keep King from grabbing it.

“Oh, she’s harmless! She wouldn’t hurt a fly!” Luz said. It wasn’t entirely true, threatening a Zapfish’s brood was bound to get you hit with millions of watts of electricity, but nobody would be foolish enough to do that!

“Pfft! Yeah, as harmless as a lenderman is to my snails. I’ll stay from flying close to that thing” Eda said. Still, she said it with a smile, so she must not be that afraid.

We stayed there for a few more minutes, basking in the sight. I certainly cured some of the homesickness I was feeling before. There’s no place like home afterall.

He was stupid, he was stupid, he was stupid!

Why did he have to go and do that!?

He couldn’t just mind his own business like anybody else, noooooo!

He had to play the hero.

He couldn’t help but return to those crucial moments while he was running back home.

The woman from the meat market was being blackmailed by one of the emperor’s scouts, intent on getting some form of money from her. The woman refused and the scout seemed intent on getting physical for it. He had decided to intervene and help the old lady.

The guard was spooked and threatened him as well, saying he was gonna take him to the conformatorium for interfering in the emperor’s business. He was gonna scream for help, but the screw up decided to throw a fireball at him before he could. Seeing no better option, he decided to confront him directly.

The guard was rather weak, with slow reflexes and not a whole lot of technique to his moves. Almost made him forget he was scared for his life. He had managed to tackle and subdue him, using a rope from the trash to tie him up. And then it all went to hell.

The scout managed to wrangle one of his hands free and fired a spell directly on his face. He was fine from that, it wasn’t strong enough to penetrate his scales, but it was enough to blow a part of his disguise away, for less than a second.

The woman screamed upon seeing his true form and he simply freezed. The guard took the chance to escape from his grasp and run outside the alley. He wanted to say something, but the fear overwhelmed him and he simply ran.

He thinks he bumped into a lot of people while he ran in the busy streets, but he couldn’t care less. He had ruined his chances at a normal life here.

He was incredibly lucky no one had stopped him in his escape, nor when he ran out of the gates. Now he was in the forest walking back to his cave.

His cave wasn’t something really impressive but it had everything he needed. Food, water, shelter, and some small luxuries he had allowed himself over time. It wasn’t much, but it was the home he had made for himself. Abandoning it hurt, but he had to do it. He was relieved of making that sacrifice in the worst way possible.

His cave was on fire, the interiors were torched and put to the flames by a group of hooded figures. He was gonna run away, but he was suddenly hit from behind by a strong net. The net was then piled on with ropes, restricting his movements.

His breath shuddered and his mind raced with fear. In his panic, he didn’t notice his form disappear, exposing himself to the world.

“Didn’t think we would be able to pull it off Samuel, but your strategy proves good yet again” Said a female sounding voice from his front. He lifted his head to see a witch with purple hair looking at him with contempt.

“You don’t need to doubt me, I’m good at my job” Said a figure to his right. It was a bipedal demon with an eyepatch on one of his eyes. “With this bounty, forget the money, we’ll be a bunch of heroes even to the public” He grinned wildly.

“Please… You don’t have to do this” He pleaded, tears coming off his eyes. He had no choice, he never had a choice with people like this. “I never drained anyone of magic, I swear”

The demon with an eyepatch simply knelt down and looked him in the eyes, the grin not leaving his face. “I know. But you're worth more to us as a monster than as some random herb collector, so it doesn't really matter” He started approaching his palm to his face. “Say goodnight Basilisk” His hand crackled with electricity.

He stopped when a scream rang in the air. Everybody turned as a body was flung at high speed and collided with another of the hooded figures, making their bodies spin and collide to the wall. Both people had stopped moving, but he could see they were still breathing.

He widened his eyes at the sight. Shining under the moonlight, a being stood there. It was large, yet slender. Its body is composed of stone and some sort of pinkish goo. Its stone parts were pointy and almost seemed like bone. It had brown fur growing on its goo, spread sporadically on its body. It also had glowing eyes. Pure white, shining eyes.

The hooded figures readied themselves and put out weapons, intent to defend themselves. The creature didn’t really give them a big chance to do that. It was fast, moving and striking quickly. At one point, it would grab one of the witches and use her as a club, taking down many of its contemporaries. He didn’t know how many there were, but he counted twenty witches in his sight and fell to the odd abomination. He tried to wriggle himself from the bindings, but to no avail.

At the end, only the eyepatch demon remained, his sword broken and clothes turned to rags. He tried firing one last spell at it, but the creature shrugged off the attack and simply grabbed him and threw him on the ground. It slammed him over and over again, until it just stopped. Then the creature turned its eyes on him.

It started moving towards him and he panicked. This was it. He was gonna die for sure. And the worst part of it all. This at least was a better way to go than returning to the conformatorium. He closed his eyes and waited for the moment the creature would crush his head.

He waited, for a full minute, for a strike that never came. He didn’t understand what was happening. Why wasn’t he dead already? He opened his eyes and was met by an odd sight.

The creature was gently untying him, slowly unraveling the nets and ropes used on his body. It worked carefully, making sure its claws didn’t damage his body. It did that for two minutes before he was free.

He immediately slithered away, getting out of range for the creature. The creature did not pursue him, instead staying there, just looking at him. He didn’t understand. It moved so much before, but now it simply stood there, lifeless.

It suddenly moved as one of its claws reached out and pulled something out of the goo on its body. The object seemed to be a wooden carving of some sort. It depicted a beast of some kind, but he wasn’t sure. The beast sat on a platform, with a black circle on its front.

“Hello” A voice suddenly came out. He panicked and looked around, looking for its source. When he didn’t find one, he realized that the voice came from the carving. A type of palisman perhaps?

“Ummmm, hi?” He said. He didn’t really know what to say.

“Curious, you speak english. A modern variant even. Very interesting. Didn’t expect to communicate on my first try” The voice said. It sounded raspy and gruff, with a very firm sound to it. Also, english? Was that a name for common he wasn’t aware off?

“Doesn't matter anyways, it simply makes communication easier. May I ask your name, little one?” The voice asked him. He wasn’t sure if it was a good idea to give someone you just met your name, but the creature on the back made him relent in being cagey.

“I… Its Tom” He answered, cursing in his mind for stuttering.

“Tom… A fine name, if a bit unexpected. It's customary in these transactions to give one anothers names before getting to business, so allow me to return the favor. I’m Grizz” The voice said.

Grizz? He didn’t know anyone like that, nor did he hear rumors of someone like this. An unknown wild witch, maybe? Would explain the odd display of magic.

“Now that we're acquainted with each other, we can begin the discussion”

“Discussion of what?” Tom asked. He wasn’t sure what was going on.

“Discussion for a business venture for the both of us, Tom” Grizz said.

“Business venture?” He said. Was this guy for real?

“Indeed” The voice said, some odd sounds coming from the carving as he spoke. He wasn’t sure what they were. “I’m required of your assistance, Tom. I have recently found myself on this market, and I don’t know the situation. I’m out of stocks, connections and other resources. I can build myself back up again, but I will require somebody who knows more of this market, who also has the ability to blend in better. Someone like you” The voice said.

That… made sense, even if what he is saying is presented in such an odd way. “You want me to be your spy?” He said.

The voice threw a deep slow laugh at that. “Spy is such a strong word. You would be my employee, my partner in business. I don’t know yet what type of business exactly, but business nonetheless”

His mind was begging to calm down as they were talking, the voice helping him ground his fear from before. He needed that sharpness, if he didn’t want to make a mistake. “Am I allowed to say no?”

“Yes” The voice answered immediately. “There will be no use if you don’t work for me willingly. I’ll simply look for somebody else. This… rescue that you experienced was incidental. I originally wanted to speak to you on a calmer position, until this… bastards, tried to take you in. You can walk away right now, and I won’t follow”

He couldn’t believe it. Was he really free to walk away? That tempted him to just up and leave, until he realized that he had nowhere to go. He was gonna be hunted in the city anyways, so he would have to live in the wild again. What was the harm in trying something new? “What do I get from working with you?” He asked the voice.

“Safety, comfort, sustenance, and freedom. If you work for me, above all, you will no longer need to hide your form, at least from me. I have a place, free from the eyes of others, which can suit you fine and protect you from those that hunt you” Grizz said, a soothing tone to his voice. Still sounded raspy.

Tom felt skeptical. A place free from the emperor’s coven? Preposterous in all ways. But he had nothing to lose and everything to gain. A thought crossed his mind at that. “Will the rest of my kind be able to benefit from this as well?”

“I do not know the conditions of your kind. But I’m willing to make the offer to them as well. If they work under me, I’ll make sure they have a fair shot” Grizz said.

He spent five minutes debating the offer made. He didn’t fully trust the voice, but he didn’t have a lot of options. There was also the fact that Grizz saved him and was not forcing him into anything. The most important thing was the last one however. While they weren’t close, he still felt a connection to the rest of his kind. They had suffered through everything together. Who was he to deny them a chance at a better life.

He made up his mind. He approached the creature and its carving. “I made my choice. I’ll work for you, on the promise that you can protect my kind”

Grizz stood silent for a few seconds, but he answered. “I’m glad you have made this choice Tom. I’ll make sure you don’t regret it. We will plan things later, but for now, I require something of you”

“What is that?” Tom asked.

“Everything. Tell me everything you know of this corpse you all call an island, alongside its inhabitants” Grizz said.

Notes:

Good morning, this is my first fanfiction ever. I welcome anybody who is willing to give grammar advice and tagging since English is not my first language. Besides that i hope you enjoy.

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Renbyborn on Chapter 1 Sun 09 Jul 2023 08:43PM UTC

Im looking forward seeing more of this :D

Last Edited Sun 09 Jul 2023 08:43PM UTC

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Isadora727 on Chapter 1 Sun 09 Jul 2023 09:37PM UTC

I’m so looking fowards to this

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Itharax on Chapter 1 Mon 10 Jul 2023 05:48PM UTC

Oh. I can’t wait to see how this goes!!!
Have a great day!!!!!

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Digieykid on Chapter 1 Mon 10 Jul 2023 06:33PM UTC

Interesting😁😁😁😁 Excited to see what comes of this.
I see Camila is tagged so I’m very curious how she’ll be able to become involved with the portals being all wonky. Wait and see.

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The_Literary_Lord on Chapter 1 Wed 09 Aug 2023 04:57AM UTC

Guess what? This story now has a TV Tropes page!

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1. TrinityCore60 on Chapter 1 Sat 10 Feb 2024 06:55AM UTC
  
  Wait, really? Got a link?
  
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What_is_this_about on Chapter 1 Sun 20 Aug 2023 05:07PM UTC

I've wanted to read something like this for quite a while. Like, "mostly the same story but I changed the MC's species from human to X"
Here, the humans are gone, and the witches don't know this (confusion ensues), but I couldn't even find a way to make it work (never thought about changing the time setting (but 12-13k years is a lot anyways)). You came up with a creative solution, and now I'm HYPED
PD; I guess Luz wouldn't care about the rain boiling here, since she melts under it anyway

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Little_Bit_Much01 on Chapter 1 Wed 23 Aug 2023 01:06AM UTC

While I like what I'm seeing so far, what puts me off is the lack of spacing between paragraphs. It hurts to read a wall of text, so if it's possible to, could you maybe fix that in the future?

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1. Sanroc1002 on Chapter 1 Wed 23 Aug 2023 01:13AM UTC
  
  Sorry for that, getting used to the format.
  Future chapters are being written with that in mind, but the this and chapter 1 have this as an issue. They will be fixed later.
  
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2. 1. Little_Bit_Much01 on Chapter 1 Wed 23 Aug 2023 01:17AM UTC
    
    That's great, then! Keep up the good work, good Author. I'm excited to see more.
    Quick question, where in the Splatoon timeline are you on? Octolings being in Inkopolis should at least make it at around Splatoon 2, but is it before or after Splat3?
    
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  2. 1. Sanroc1002 on Chapter 1 Wed 23 Aug 2023 01:34AM UTC
      
      The story will tell itself, hopefully, but things are happening after the main story of Splat3.
      Aside from that, I will also be putting in some headcanons in regards to timeline and culture of the splatoon world.
      
      Last Edited Wed 23 Aug 2023 01:37AM UTC
      
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justacasualidiot on Chapter 1 Sat 09 Sep 2023 11:46AM UTC

AAA when I saw that it was Huntlow AND Splatoon AND PEARLINA???? I lost my sh!t and immediately clicked.

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1. Sakumon16 on Chapter 1 Wed 25 Sep 2024 04:05AM UTC
  
  I’m in heaven
  
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Sakumon16 on Chapter 1 Wed 25 Sep 2024 04:05AM UTC

I am going to love this!!!!

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nightmaster000 on Chapter 2 Thu 13 Jul 2023 05:59AM UTC

Great stuff and chapter. :) Hmm though if can make one friendly critic/observation might want to put more space between your paragraphs and sentence to make it easier to read other than that great work so far. :)

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1. Sanroc1002 on Chapter 2 Thu 13 Jul 2023 07:22AM UTC
  
  Glad you liked it! :) I am still getting used to posting from google documents to Ao3, so I haven't figured out how to deal with spacing, tough I'm working on in. Thanks for the support.
  
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2. 1. nightmaster000 on Chapter 2 Fri 14 Jul 2023 03:08AM UTC
    
    Ah I gotcha hmm allow me to help a bit. :) Just click edit chapter go to rich text and than hit the enter key between the places you want to space apart~
    By which I mean place the blinking icon which I forget the name of that appears whenever you are typing on the PC at the spots you want spaced out and hit enter~
    
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Renbyborn on Chapter 2 Thu 13 Jul 2023 08:04AM UTC

This was amazing. I loved every part of it. I cant wait to see more chapters! :D

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Digieykid on Chapter 2 Thu 13 Jul 2023 08:26AM UTC

Oooooooo Luz and Camila are Octolings. Ok cool😁😁😁😁😁😁 For some reason I assumed a human Luz was already in the Boiling Isles before this chapter.
I find it a bit odd that Luz resorted to cowering so quickly after seeing the things she did later in the chapter.
Cool translation necklace😁😁😁
Lol. I love how Luz just let the cuffs fall of her.
Heh, I wonder how Vee will handle pretending to be an Octoling. I’m not sure if she can replicate their biology but we’ll see.
Luz handing Eda her hand nonchalantly is funny.
I think it makes a lot of sense for an Octoling kid to be able to gauge the security of a location.
……… southern Octarian is Spanish?
Hmmmmm I wonder when the gang will figure out that Luz is actually from the human realm just the future of it. Also. Belos is not going to be happy when he figures it out.
“Eda was a bit puzzled at where and when this kid got access to bombs” So. How are we going to tell her that the most popular teenage sport in Luz’s culture is literally just a scaled down version of how warfare is conducted in her war. And that the players literally repeatedly die and response during a game (Inkling and Octoling culture is metal as hell)
I love how Luz has good reflexes for a kid in the demon realm but for an Octoling she’s kinda just mid. She’s gonna be so OP in this fic especially when she starts getting some combat viable glyphs. (Imaging if she somehow brought a small army of teenage Octolings and Inklings here. Belos would be overthrown in a week)
There are only four prisons left? Like in the entirety of Luz’s realm, or just her country, or city, or what?
“And quickly submerged both of them in the puddle” She can do that with another person? She can do that with someone that isn’t an Octoling or Inkling? How?
I love Luz’s speech to Katya. It feels very fitting for Luz in general but it seems extra fitting with her being an Octoling seemingly from the Splatsville area since fighting is a deeply ingrained part of the culture.
I’m confused is Luz’s last name Noceda or Acuda?
Luz survived getting her head chopped off!!?? Is that a cannon Octoling ability or something you came up with?
Lol Luz using the Ultra Stamp to whack the sh*t out of some coven goons and Wrath is hilarious.
“Abominations with metallic parts strapped through parts of their bodies.” ………… are those Abomitions? If so Alador didn’t make those till Escaping Expulsion I wonder what caused this change in universe if any.
Wow the final battle at the Conformitiorium was far more wide scale in this fic with a bunch of guards and seemingly way more than three prisoners. Cool😁😁😁😁
“The sounds of guitars and music started sounding from Luz” How?
Luz’s battle with Wrath was also very cool she outmaneuvered him so well😁😁😁😁
It’s interesting to see the differences in Luz’s situation pre boiling isles here compared to the show. Seemingly she wasn’t bullied and wasn’t labeled as a troublemaker she just failed to connect with her peers and struggled to focus in school.
The Legendary Warlock Azura. Sounds interesting. I wonder how it compares to the Good Witch Azura.
Excellent chapter. It was a good introduction and I look forward to seeing what’s in store😁😁😁

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1. TrinityCore60 on Chapter 2 Mon 19 Feb 2024 05:20AM UTC
  
  “ “The sounds of guitars and music started sounding from Luz” How?”
  Based on what I remember from a future chapter, it’s a Turf War playlist on her phone.
  
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2. 1. Digieykid on Chapter 2 Mon 19 Feb 2024 06:56AM UTC
    
    Oh right. Thanks😁
    
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  2. OMNISENSE95 on Chapter 2 Tue 07 Jan 2025 12:45AM UTC
    
    She wouldn't happen to have "Calamari Inkantation" and "Ebb and Flow", in that playlist, would she?
    
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  3. 1. TrinityCore60 on Chapter 2 Tue 07 Jan 2025 01:22AM UTC
      
      As an Octoling living in Splatsville, I think we both know the answer to that.
      Question is, when will she play them?
      
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Itharax on Chapter 2 Thu 13 Jul 2023 08:35AM UTC

Fantastic [technical] first chapter! Seriously loved this! I can’t wait to see what comes next for Luz the Octoling! Especially when she finally meets Belos…
Though, one thing that you may need to work on a bit more is just making sure to capitalize all of the “I”s. There are a lot of them that are like “… you and i…” or “… i’m going to…” as examples. It’s not every instance, but a good amount.
THAT ASIDE. Seriously looking forward to seeing what happens next!!!
Have a great day!!!!!

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Raith017 on Chapter 2 Thu 13 Jul 2023 06:20PM UTC

❤

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GodzillaMaster on Chapter 2 Thu 13 Jul 2023 07:34PM UTC

Bit of a word wall here, hope that can be fixed in future chapters
Vee is going to be in for an interesting time during her stay on earth
And I'm interested in seeing how Eda will react when she learns that humanity has been extinct for thousands of years.
Or Belos, everything he's done in the show was all for nothing since humanity doesn't care about witch hunting, now everything he's done is less than nothing since there isn't a humanity to "protect" anymore

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Portal_Master_Mania1 on Chapter 2 Sat 15 Jul 2023 10:53AM UTC

Wow! I have to admit that I didn’t have high hopes for this story at the start… but MAN! Was I wrong! This is an OUTSTANDING retelling of The Owl House, well done!
If you are open to suggestions, may I recommend that you add a tag like “Octoling Luz Noceda” to make it clear that this is a story where Luz is the Octoling?
So… this Luz is an Off The Hook fan? Will we be hearing some of their music throughout the story? And also… will we be hearing that heavenly melody at any point? I was thinking that maybe you could have Luz humming the Calamari Inkantation in her sleep, like agent 8 at the start of Octo Expansion.
Btw, when you say “The sound of guitars and music started sounding from Luz” would that happen to be Splattack by any chance? If so and if you intend to continue this theme… then may I suggest you put in bold or brackets what song is playing at which point? Just so that we readers know what’s going on at each point.
Belos being so eager to return home caused him to technically be the last human alive… why do I think that he would team up with Tartar or The Ursine Anomaly - #03 (if you know, you know, no major spoilers here) after finding out what happened to Earth and humanity?
Just so you know, all those points I brought up are just suggestions, you have no need to use them, I am just happy to help budding Fanfic authors.
Keep up the good work, this was an amazing start and I can’t wait to read more :)
BOO-YAH!

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1. Sanroc1002 on Chapter 2 Sat 15 Jul 2023 05:50PM UTC
  
  Thanks for the recommendation. I will definetely take into account the adding of tags, just didn't wanna overcompensate with my tagging without a solid foundation of where the story is going.
  The song playing is Splattack, but its being heard from Eda's perspective right now. Still, worth some consideration in making things clearer.
  The heavenly melody will defenitely play at one point in this story, but its being reserved for something.
  I would comment more on Belos, but that would be entering into possible spoilers.
  Hope you like the rest of the story. :)
  
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Truces on Chapter 2 Sat 15 Jul 2023 06:51PM UTC

WOAH I LIKE THIS A LOT A LOT COOL YESS SPLOON X TOH

Last Edited Sat 15 Jul 2023 06:51PM UTC

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Braigen on Chapter 2 Tue 18 Jul 2023 09:59PM UTC

Vee is probably so confused right now

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criticalsmoke on Chapter 2 Sat 27 Jan 2024 01:58AM UTC

But a lot of Human appreciator would pay handsomely for a human scroll, smart phone. It never made sense to me why Luz did not tell Eda the value of the items, especially the weird Holy Grail, not that the real Holy Grail would be made of gold.

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Max_waspace on Chapter 2 Wed 17 Apr 2024 05:09PM UTC

I like how you gave explanations for Eda rejecting the ring and the holy grail. Though weren't the abomatons not invented until season 2?

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