Chapter Text
Who are we?
You sure you wanna know? Our story isn’t exactly for the faint of heart.
If somebody told you this was a happy little tale, if somebody told you that we were just average, ordinary people, not a care in the world?
Somebody lied.
Oh, where are my manners? My name is Luz Noceda, and I used to be a human like you (you are a human reading this, right?), living an ordinary, if misunderstood and bullied, life. That is, until the start of this summer, when I was transported to The Boiling Isles, a realm where magic and witches actually existed.
And for once, everything seemed to be going right for me. I was learning actual, genuine magic (something I had wanted to do since I was a little girl), I had friends, and even a girlfriend. Sure, the ruler of this world, Emperor Belos, wanted me, my mentor, Eda, her sister, Lilith and the closest person I had to a little brother, King dead, and yeah, I did have to destroy the only thing allowing me to travel and communicate between dimensions, but besides that, everything was perfect.
But then came the day I tried to go back to the Human Realm, so I could resume communication with my mom. After Eda and King rebuilt the portal to the best of their ability, rather than sending me to the abandoned shack just a little ways beyond my backyard, it instead sent me to this bizarre in-between realm, where I could see and communicate with anyone I wanted, so long as I could see them on a reflective surface.
Using this, I was able to not only communicate with mami, but also help her in rescuing Vee, a basilisk from the Demon Realm that Belos had cruelly experimented on, who had fled to the Human Realm and taken my place. Everything was going well, until we suffered a communication error, which made mom think that I had purposely went to the Isles to run away from her, and as I was being pulled back into the Demon Realm (as the portal was about to collapse in on itself), she asked me to promise her that, when I get the portal fully working again, to head back to the Human Realm and stay there.
Now, in any other timeline, I would’ve agreed to the promise, and spent a good portion of time fretting about the day when I’d have to permanently say goodbye to everyone, and how to go about doing it. But I decided to do things differently. Mustering up all my strength, I resisted against Eda and King’s pull, giving me just enough time to explain to mom why I couldn’t agree to the promise.
This… was a very big mistake, as those few seconds caused me to get stuck in the in-between realm, while everyone else in The Boiling Isles thought I was dead. And if not for the timely arrival of Orion, the soul of the Titan (and King’s dad, apparently?!), I would’ve most likely gone insane.
After Orion brought me back to the Demon Realm (with a kickass human-Titan hybrid form, to boot), and I was able to reunite with everybody in the Demon Realm, a lot of things have happened. I opened up about my father’s passing, I nearly got killed by a group of psychopaths called Titan Trappers, we were able to bring my mom and Vee into the Isles, and, with the benefit of truly being able to speak with the Titan, I was able to get several people to defect from Belos’s side to our side, in order to build an army to thwart Belos’s Day Of Unity Plan, which would’ve entailed the deaths of every witch in the Isles.
But little did we know that Belos had a secret backup plan. One more horrifying than the Day Of Unity. And he was looking for ANY reason to enact it…
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“Oh, Hunter, I so dearly wished all those reports of your treason were unfounded.” Tsked Belos, casually blocking another spell. “How disappointing.”
Hunter flinched hard, and Luz gritted her teeth in anger. She considered sending a fire beam to wipe the smirk off Belos’s face, but hesitated. The blast would take off more than his smile if it hit, and despite everything, she still wasn’t sure how she felt about killing him.
Belos still hadn’t moved from the spot he had initially appeared at, fully confident the members of the Bad Witch Coven couldn’t hurt him. Luz began to think of a way to knock him out using sleeping nettles when she saw Camila walking towards the emperor. Luz attempted to stop her, but backed off at the look her mama shot her. She had never looked so… murderous.
The onslaught of spells died down as Camila got closer to Belos. The emperor cracked a maniacal grin, and was preparing another taunt, but stopped himself when he spotted the adult woman.
“And who might you be?” Hummed Belos in mild interest. Camila didn’t answer, and kept walking, her anger clear as day, despite the shadow casted over her face.
“Let me guess,” Said Belos, a cruel smirk on his face as his staff began to glow ominously. “I killed the waste of space you called a family, and now you’re willing to join them?”
Luz felt impossibly tense as Camila stopped about two meters away from the mad emperor. Belos towered over her, amused and not feeling threatened in the slightest. He raised his staff as Camila reached for her hood, but froze when she removed it.
Belos’s face would’ve been hilarious in any other situation. His eyes snapping to Camila’s ears, as his train of thought visibly derailed.
“Hu… Human?”
“This is for Vee, you feo malnacido.”
Belos was too stunned to react in time as Camila’s bat impacted the side of his head, which activated a fire glyph that exploded in his face. He roared in pain, but unfortunately didn’t drop his staff, which he used to blast Camila away with a magic pulse.
“You wretched WITCHES!” Screeched Belos, the scorched side of his face already beginning to heal. “How many more souls shall you corrupt?!”
“This isn’t corruption, Belos!” Proclaimed Luz. “This is how humanity is now!”
Once again, Belos’s thoughts came to an abrupt halt. “What did you say?”
“There are no more witch hunters.” Began Camila. “Most people don’t believe in witches anymore, and those who do, they celebrate them. Nowadays, your mindset will cause people to either think you’ve gone insane, or call you out on your ways!”
Even though Belos looked like his entire world view had been shattered, Luz and the others could tell that gears were turning in his head.
“I see. It’s clear to me now.” Said Belos after a moment.
“What’s clear?” Said Hunter, confused.
“Humanity has become far too corrupted.” Continued Belos, his voice becoming more maniacal. “No better than the witches who led them astray. And as such, they are just as deserving of punishment as you witches. Only something more worthy than a simple draining spell!”
“Wait, what are you doing?!” Exclaimed Luz, realizing a bit too late that she and her mom may have made a big mistake. But Belos simply cracked an evil grin, made a dark green colored spell circle, and with a snap of his fingers, released a shockwave that knocked everyone unconscious.
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“Luz?... Come on, kid, get up… Come on, we gotta get out of here!”
Luz awoke to see Eda (who was joined by King and… The Collector?!) staring down at her, concern etched on her and King’s faces. Glancing around as she sat up, Luz saw Lilith, Raine, Vee and Steve were helping out the others.
“What’s going on?” Questioned Luz.
“Don’t know.” Said Raine. “Everything seemed to be going fine, then all of a sudden, I’m getting messages from Darius and other resistance members about how Belos supporters are going crazy and ravenously attacking people!”
Suddenly, a Coven Scout staggered into the room, clutching their stomach. “Steve…”
“Lionel?” Said Steve, concerned.
“I…I don’t feel too good…” Said Lionel, before falling to his knees, ripping off the scout mask, and puking up a disgusting amount of… something that looked like a cross between blood and oil. A few moments later, Lionel looked back up, only this time, he had changed. His eyes were glowing a bright blue, his face had pus-filled boils all over it, and the flesh around his mouth seemed to be melting.
The thing that was once Lionel then lunged at Steve, but before it could lay a finger on the former Coven Scout, Luz blasted it into a wall.
“Everybody run!” Exclaimed Luz, the rest of the group not hesitating in the slightest to follow her lead. The gang made their way through the Titan’s Skull, dodging several more former Coven Scouts and even catching a glimpse of Bonesborough falling into disarray, before making it into the room that held the portal door.
The door was open, and the only other person there was Kikimora, who was now nothing more than a half-chewed carcass.
“Quick, into the portal!” Called out Amity when she saw a horde of former Coven Scouts hot on the gang’s heels. One by one, they went through the portal, the portal itself cutting out right before the scouts could make it through.
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“Let’s see ‘em get to us now!” Exclaimed Eda as she placed the portal door in her hair, and pocketed the key.
“Ok, can someone explain to me what the Titan is going on?!” Said Lilith frantically.
“Alright, this might sound like a bit of a stretch, but I think Belos unleashed a zombie plague upon the Isles.” Explained Luz.
“A zombie plague?!” Said Camila.
“Well, how else can you explain what happened to Steve’s friend, mami?” Retorted Luz.
“Uh, guys, hate to be the bearer of bad news,” Interrupted Vee. “but I don’t think Belos unleashed zombies on just the Demon Realm. Look.”
The others turned around, and saw that not only was it night out and pouring rain outside, but the moon was eclipsed, and Gravesfield looked to be on fire.
“Uh-oh…” Muttered Luz as she and everyone else looked on in fright.