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Today had been a rough day for Camila Noceda.
It has started rather calmly. Her daughter, Luz, had decided to do some house chores in the morning. It was unlike her, but Camila didn’t mind the help. Luz seemed to behave so well since she went back from summer camp, it was almost magical. In the afternoon, she even had tidied up her room, which included throwing away a lot of her old stuff.
Then, she seemed to have gone outside for a bit, because when Camila heard back from her daughter, it was through the house phone. It was then that everything went sideways.
It turned out Luz never went to camp at all. In fact, she wasn’t even on Earth anymore, but somewhere called the “Boiling Isles”. The Luz Camila accompanied to the camp and who came back such a well-behaved girl, was in fact a creature from that place who had taken on Luz’s appearance to blend in. The real Luz, meanwhile, was still on those Boiling Isles and couldn’t even come home. The reason Luz called was because “fake Luz” (who Camila later learned was named Vee) was kept prisoner by the curator of Gravefield’s Historical Society and she needed Camila to help her escape.
At first, Camila hadn’t really believed her daughter. How could she? Luz and her friend probably needed a ride home, but she certainly didn’t need to make up such an elaborate story for it! Maybe it was some sort of play pretend like those LARPs, only in real life. Oh, how wrong she had been…
Finally, after managing to free Vee from her cage (and the curator taking her place), Camila had driven her back to the house, where Luz appeared in the glow from the car’s headlights. It was here that she had made her goodbyes, but not before Camila had made her promised to stay here forever once she made it back. It was selfish in retrospect, but Camila didn’t care: she just wanted to see her precious baby again.
After all of this, Camila had asked Vee about what kind of place the Demon Realm was, but she didn’t get nearly as much answers as she wanted; Vee spent nearly all of her life imprisoned and didn’t see a lot of the outside world.
When the night came, both had gone to their rooms. While tired, Camila couldn’t help but toss and turn, worrying about her daughter. Several hours had passed before she had finally fell asleep.
___________________________________________________________
When she opened her eyes, she found herself in what looked like a gigantic cavern. The rocky, jagged walls, which were carved with wavy patterns, seems to stretch behind the horizon, making it look like a giant stony hallway.
Instead of the ground was black water, yet she could stand on it as if the ground was only a few inches deep. The rocks disappeared beneath the water, glowing green at the meeting point. Looking up, she could see another black pool a good hundred feet above her.
The most surprising thing, though, was the cubes. Constantly raising from both water planes and floating away, they each seemed to hold myriad of stars within them, as if each was a window to some faraway universe.
It was definitely a dream, but one that was so much clearer that any she ever had. Was she lucid dreaming?
“Where am I,” asked Camila. “What is this place?”
“You are in the Space in Between, Ms Noceda,” claimed a voice behind her. “Well, between a lot of places.”
Surprised, Camila turned back and nearly recoiled in fear. In front of her stood what was probably the strangest creature she had ever seen.
It was bipedal, with dark gray fur on its entire body, from the mane to the tail. Its hands sported three digits each, complete with bony claws. From its back sprouted large gray wings tattered with holes, and it seemed to wear on its head a slightly wolf-like skull missing the lower jaw.
Said skull was adorned with four horns, two slightly curved inwards at the top and two more curved upwards on the sides. In the left orbit was a round, yellow eye with a vertical pupil, and in the right was… some sort of worm with what looked like a tiny owl face.
Contrasting with its beastly appearance, the clothing it wore was rather bizarre: a brown opened bathrobe, under which was a pink t-shirt adorned with the words “BAD GIRL COVEN”, as well as the drawing of an elderly woman in a red dress, standing on an owl-like scepter like a skateboard. Under the belt, the being wore black pants decorated with four kind of glyphs, either red, yellow, green or blue.
While she was too stunned to speak, the fear on her face must have been obvious, as the being immediately took a step back.
“My apologies. I did not mean to frighten you, not in the slightest!”
“It’s… it’s okay,” she said after a few seconds, “Who are you? What is this place? Are you from this Demon Realm? Those Boiling Isles?”
“My, my, so many questions! Don’t worry, I will try to answer them as best as I can.
First, you can call me Titan. It has been my name for… a very long time now, probably longer than I been alive as of now. Secondly, I call this place the “Space in Between”, or the “Between Realm”. As the name suggests, it connects realms between each other, like the Demon and Human Realm.
As for your last two questions, the answers are slightly more complicated. I am indeed from the Demon Realm, which would fill the role of your Human Realm, or “Earth”, as I believe you call it. However,” he mused, “saying I am from the Boiling Isles would be... slightly inaccurate.”
Titan then shifted his attention to one of the cubes, taking it in his hands. He then enlarged it, and the surface began to ripple like water.
“No, Ms Noceda, it would be far more accurate to say that I am the Boiling Isles.”
The ripples and stars faded, showing an image of what Camila could only describe as a gigantic skeleton, surrounded by water and covered with several landmasses, most of which sported a red-orange vegetation (although the moonlight made it purple). The skeleton was resting in water on its back in a cross-like shape, with only the right knee being raised, which made it look like a mountain. Even though the point of view was from several miles above, she could still see several towns scattered along the entirety of the landscape.
However, what piqued Camila’s interest was the skull. Somewhat wolf-like, it had four horns, two curved inwards at the top, and two curved upwards on the side.
Camila turned to Titan.
“That skull… is this skeleton yours?”
“That is correct. Eons ago, my kind peacefully roamed this world, until we were all slowly killed by invaders from beyond the stars, called the Collectors. I was the last to die, although I would say my “death” was rather unconventional. It was more so that I willingly let my spirit go in this place, to trap the last of the Collector here.
As for my body, it soon became the skeleton you are currently seeing, and slowly began to be covered in land, eventually forming the Boiling Isles. At some point, life began to develop, and due to our species’ extremely potent magic, those lifeforms developed magic of their own. Some became sapient, and eventually established a civilization, which still continues as of today.”
The cube then took back it initial shape and interior and drifted away, towards the other pool of blackness above them.
“Are you the only one here,” Camila asked.
“I am, yes. Although once in a while, someone manages to dream about this place, like you are doing right now.”
“So this is a dream? Is all of this even real?”
“One does not exclude the other. Besides, I am pretty sure this dream isn’t like any other you had, am I wrong?”
She slowly shook her head.
“To answer your question further, the people drawn here usually have a strong wish to go to another realm, or to know something about it. For you, I assume it is your desire to see your daughter again. Unfortunately, most of the dream rules still applies, as they only stay as long as they are asleep, and them remembering anything at all is often a gamble.
But yes, apart from those welcome interruptions, I am indeed the only one here.”
“It sounds... lonely.”
Titan took interest in another cube.
“It is. But at least, I can still watch over my son, King. And those who have been kind to him.”
The starry interior of the cube changed into a miniature version of Titan, seemingly the size of a small child. His skull only sported two white horns, both slightly curved backwards, although the top half of the left one was slightly grayer. The skull also had two downwards fangs, and four molars in the back. He didn’t have wings nor clothing, only a red collar with a golden medal.
He was currently asleep on some blue tissue, in a pose very similar to that of a cat.
“Que lindo! He’s adorable!” Camila couldn’t help but smile.
“Ha! Funny you should say that. Looks like the apple doesn’t fall far from the tree after all.”
“What do you mean?”
Instead of immediately answering, Titan made a pinching motion with one of his hands, which had for effect to make the image slowly zoom out, like there was some sort of camera.
The blue tissue on which King was asleep was in fact a sleeping bag, in which Luz was currently resting. Contrary to King, she was wide awake, simply browsing her phone.
“What I mean,” Titan finally answered, “is that your daughter had a pretty similar reaction to King when she first saw him.”
“I… can I talk to her?”
“I’m afraid not. Only someone physically present here can talk to people in other realms, like Luz did earlier. Otherwise, I wouldn’t have let my son alone for so long.”
Titan then stopped talking, seemingly contemplative.
“I must say,” he then added, “it is quite fortunate that our children found each other. King can count himself lucky to have a friend as kind as your daughter.”
“That’s not surprising.” replied Camila. “She always wore her heart on her sleeve.”
She then took a better look at the environment. The room they were in was rather small and filled with dusty junk, with a small window letting the moonlight through.
“Where are they? This looks like some sort of... closet room?”
“You are spot on. They are in the same place King spent nearly all of his hatched life, and Luz the last three months.”
Titan made the same pinching motion, and the image once again zoomed out, this time much faster, until they could see the exterior of the building.
It was a two stories tall house, bordering a cliff, with gray stone walls and a curved roof made of dark blue tiles, and on top of it was a weather vane in the shape of an owl. On its left side was a brick chimney, giving the house a homely feeling. Camila could also distinguish a huge mossy stone tower in the back.
The most striking element of the house was a giant stained-glass window in the shape of a cat eye.
Barring said tower and the giant eye window, the house probably wouldn’t look too out of place in Gravefield.
“Welcome,” crowed Titan “to the Owl House! Home of my child for eight years, and of yours for three months.”
“I must admit, it’s a really pretty house.”
“I agree. It’s also one of the safest place Luz could find here.”
“But who’s the owner? The house looks too nice to be abandoned.”
“One moment.” The image zoomed in, this time showing the room behind the eye window, evidently a bedroom. Compared to the room Luz was occupying, this one was much nicer, and much less cluttered. Only two oddities were apparent to Camila: the numerous empty glass bottles on the floor, a few of which looked a lot like they could be used on Earth for… certain substances, and the giant nest in lieu of a bed. Nest that was currently occupied by someone.
The snoring woman inside had a mane of gray hair, pointed ears, and was wearing a purple nightgown, as well as an assorted sleeping mask. Strangely enough, something about her seemed familiar to Camila, as if she had seen her somewhere.
“This is Edalyn Clawthorne,” said Titan, “more commonly known as Eda the Owl Lady. As the nickname suggests, she is the owner of the Owl House, as well as the one who took your daughter in when she first arrived in the Isles. She may not be the most responsible, but her heart is in the right place. She first became Luz’s mentor, but over the months, she became akin to a second mom to her. Don’t worry”, he added with a wink, “you’re still her favorite.”
He then gestured at his t-shirt, looking rather bemused.
“As you can see, I am a big fan of her.”
Camila felt a huge load lifting off her shoulders. Her baby was safe.
“Can we go back to Luz?”
“Of course!”
The image went back to Luz’s room. She was now resting on her side, apparently having decided to go to sleep.
“Why does she looks so… sad?”
“I’m not completely sure. But if I had to guess, I would say it have something to do with your promise,” Titan replied, after which Camila immediately deflated. “Oh, don’t worry, I’m not blaming you. Had I been in your shoes, I might have done the same thing.”
“I just wanted her to come home, to be with me. To stay with me.”
“I know. Believe me, I know the feeling. But this place is also very important to her, very much like a second home.”
At his command, another cube rose from the water, displaying this time a still image. Luz and King were hugging Eda, who definitely looked like she had been caught off guard. The other two didn’t seem to care, and were visibly happy.
This prompted Camila with another question.
“How is Luz adapting in there?”
“Oh, she’s thriving! Sure, there are a lot of things she cannot eat, and the Isles are much more dangerous than most of your world, but that doesn’t deter her. I might even say she’s the best thing that ever happened to the Isles!”
“… I know you want to reassure me, but you don’t need to exaggerate to–”
With a gesture from Titan, the image shifted, displaying this time a group of four teenagers – one of which was Luz – wearing what appeared to be school uniforms, each having their own colored sleeves and leggings. There was a chubby girl with dark hair and glasses, a younger boy with dark skin and short curly hair, and a girl with a green ponytail, although Camila could see auburn roots.
Apart from Luz, all of them had pointy ears. Luz’s uniform also had a different color for each sleeve and leg.
“Of the three other children you see, two weren’t on speaking terms since eight years, and all it took was Luz coming around, being her cheerful and admittedly nosy self, and she mended their relationship in barely a month. Now the four of them are friends for life, and two are even in a relationship together.” He smiled. “I’m not telling who though.”
The cube then showed a video, this time in sepia, of Luz and Eda, both in… pirate costumes? Eda definitely seemed to scold Luz, and the reason was pretty clear.
“...think throwing your life away is going to help me? Well, it won’t! You helped me find King’s crown when you barely knew me. You saved me from turning to stone, and you even got me to talk to my sister again. So, unfortunately for you, my life is pretty great, because I am friends with Luz, the human.”
The words seemingly were enough to move Luz to tears.
Another image, this time of the green haired girl standing between Luz and a giant monster made of purple goo and metal.
“That girl,” said Titan, “found the courage to affirm herself and stand up to her mother after years of abuse, again all thanks to Luz.”
The cube finally shrunk back, and moved upwards. Titan then turned towards Camila.
“So believe me when I say, your daughter is safe, and more fulfilled than she has been in years. She makes the world a better place just by being herself. She still loves you very, very much, and she won’t give up until she has found a safe way back to your world, and to you.”
He looked her in the eyes, his stare full of compassion.
“That’s what you wanted to know, right? The reason you came here.”
Camila didn’t speak for several seconds, before finally answering.
“Yes… Thank you.”
The world around her slowly began to blur. Maybe it was because of the tears. She couldn’t really tell.
Titan spoke again, his voice seemingly fading away.
“Hm. Looks like our time together is up. You will wake up soon. Let’s hope you won’t forget about me.”
“I’ll try not to. Goodbye.”
“Goodbye.”
And with those parting words, she woke up.