Chapter 1: Chapter One: The Twins and the Serpent
Summary:
Two sisters on the run, a new realm awaiting and a desperate being waiting for another chance at life.
Notes:
Well, in the last week I managed to finally get my stuff together and work again at this story, though it has undergone drastic changes, like now including the franchises of both Helluva/Hazbin and MHA, in theory, I am still playing with the idea of adding undertale, but I am unsure. It will be a bit complicated and it will get weird, but I hope you can bear with me.
(See the end of the chapter for more notes.)
Chapter Text
It was an odd day for the Noceda twins, to say the least. One moment, they were kicked out of school, having a fight with their mom, and now they fought a real-life witch.
But back to the start. At the school:
It had been a shitty day already for the younger of the twins, Luz Noceda, as her best friend was sick, and she was left to wander the halls alone; she had never been a popular girl. Her statue was more modest; she did not have the strong build of her sister nor the hot body of Masha, a consequence of her quirk.
She had long brown curly hair, tan skin, and dark blue eyes with a golden pupil. That made her so attractive to so many. She wore a maroon and yellow sweater and blue jeans with light purple boots.
Some said her troubles were there because of the bad rap of her sister or because she was weird, or that she had a villainous quirk. No matter the reason, she was a frequent target of bullying.
Though Luz had one thing going for her…
Luz rounded when suddenly something collided with her face.
One thing Luz could always count on, no matter what happens…
The Latino girl fell to the floor, holding her head. She looked at the hand with which she held her head. There was blood on it. She could feel the thick liquid running down her forehead.
She let out a sigh and looked at the object that collided with her. It was a glass bottle, now shattered into shards, a few being embedded into her skull. A burst of laughter echoed across the halls. Luz stared at the group of young adults. It was her main tormentors. It was the queen bee of the school, Amanda Steiner, captain of the cheerleader squad, her quirk was interesting, she could take up a form of pure lighting. Surrounded by her goons, let by her lover, Zander Jones, the captain of the rugby team, not too surprising, since he had a good strength-based quirk, a bit plain but very strong. He is known for being a womanizer and had several girls before, all turned into his plaything and then disregarded after he was done with them. And Amanda knew it too; she even got some sick kick out of it when Zander inevitably broke them and turned them into sobbing messes. She would then post pictures on private Discords servers and chat rooms. Most girls disappeared after that, the general believe was that they switched schools to avoid the rumours and judging glances inside the school, but both Luz and her sister knew better, these poor girls most likely ended up inside Amanda’s stomach. This was supported by the way Amanda’s quirk evolved over the years, it started out as very weak electric quirk, allowing her to shoot small electric currents from her fingers, but now she can turn herself into a lightning avatar and shoot lightning from her hands. Her lover was no better, he went after boys who looked at girls he considered his own, even if the girl in question did not share that opinion, and these boys too would vanish and Zander would suddenly grow stronger again. In the beginning his ability was just heightened endurance.
They were a sick duo, and the worst part? They had good chances of becoming heroes, since the school overlooked their behaviours and their parents covered every possible trace that could harm the future of their beloved golden children. Actually no, the true worst thing was that Zander had been eyeing the Noceda twins for a while now. When he couldn’t get his way, he started to hunt and harass them.
It started simple enough: things went missing from time to time, or the locker was sprayed. But other times, things got worse and worse; rumors began to spread, and other students started to participate in the harassment. Some of the teachers went along; the rest looked the other way. All of it because of the parents of the brats: The Jones and the Steiners were filthy rich and very influential. No one would go against them, and most tried to kiss up to them.
Luz had only two people who would defend her; one was Amanda's sibling, Masha, a full raven heteromorph. But today, Masha was at home, feeling sick, she was stuck in moulding season.
“Well, well, well, look who we have here…” sneered Zander, slowly making his way towards Luz. “The little freak herself, all alone.” The girls, led by Amanda, giggled, their eyes gleaming with wicked delight.
Zander stood before Luz, towering above her. He grabbed her shoulders and pinned her against the lockers. “Your little goth freak isn’t here to save you now, is she?” he leaned down. “What do you say, Luz, you and me? There is an old broom closet nearby…” He flashed her a predatory grin. But Luz just looked at the boy with determined eyes. “Back off, Zander.” But Zander just gave her a wicked grin. “Well, maybe you're not realizing it… But you don’t have much of a choice, only if it will be the hard way or the easy. No matter…” He leaned his head next to her ear and whispered, “… I’ll get my fun, one way or another…”
But Luz was undeterred. She heard faint footsteps, slowly getting louder.
“Last chance, leave me alone…” Zander raised an eyebrow and asked, his voice brimming with mockery. “Or what?” he sneered at the girl. “Your freak girlfriend is not here; you are all alone! And don’t even think to use your villain quirk, or you will be in real trouble, maybe being shipped off to prison, I hear that prison in Japan, Tartarus, is nice this time of the year.” He made a derivise snort. “Honestly, your savage you call a sister should have been send there long time ago.”
Luz let out a sigh and gave him a cheeky grin.
The footsteps were now loud, echoing the halls. The group, sans Zander, looked around nervously. “You are mistaken in two things, Zander; I and Masha are only friends, and secondly…” Luz grinned and pointed at the corridor.
A figure ran towards them, eyes gleaming red. “… I am not alone…” The figure was a head taller than Luz but had the same tan skin tone. Her hair was a bit longer than Luz’s, reaching to her lower back. Her eyes blazed with an enchanting blood-red iris and a golden pupil. She wore a black tank top, loose black biker pants, and red combat boots.
A second Latino girl jumped towards Zander, a knife in her hand and a murderous look in her eyes.
“My sister is still here.” Lucia Noceda had come, and she wanted blood. The following screaming echoed through the halls.
The next bummer? Well, it was followed next.
“MIJA, YOU DID WHAT?” Screamed the mother of the two young women, Camila Noceda. The elder Noceda was practically red in the face. They sat together in the living room of the Noceda household.
The eldest Noceda looked tired, her early 40s age showing clearly on her face. She still wore her working clothes form the vet. She pinched the bridge of her nose while pacing around. She breathed heavily, muttering to herself; a string of curses filled the room. Finally, Camila looked at her two daughters. “Have you any idea what you have done!?” she asked, anger filling her voice. “One year!” She said, pointing an accusing finger at her eldest daughter. “I asked for ONE YEAR that you don’t give in to your violent, villainous nature.” She shook her head. “And it lasted not even five months…” She went back to murmuring and headed to the kitchen. Lucia and Luz could hear the sound of a bottle being opened. And sure enough, their mother returned with a wine bottle in her hand. She placed a glass on the table and began to pour herself a drink.
After downing the content of the glass, she glared at Lucia. “I’m very disappointed in you, mujer joven… I had high hopes, you know? You were once so creative and happy, a perfect little girl… and look at what you have become, what that vile quirk has turned you turned into…” Lucia's eyes darkened, and her sister went pale. As they both heard what Camila whispered next “It would have been better if you remained quirkles.” This was not going to end well, was it?
As if to make the situation worse, Camila decided to pour her second glass, which she also downed in one go. Camila stared into Lucia's dark red eyes, her own eyes sparkling with anger and barely suppressed rage. “…You turned into a dog that only knows violence…” As if to confirm her statement, Lucia bared her teeth and began to growl lowly.
Sensing the approaching disaster and wishing to prevent it, Luz laid a hand on her mother's arm. “Mom, please. I know Cia went a bit overboard again, but she was protecting me…” But it seemed to be the wrong choice of words as Camila withdrew her arm and now glared at Luz instead. “And you are in trouble as well!” That shocked Luz; she stared at her mother in disbelief. “W-what do you mean?” Camila just snorted, already preparing her third glass of wine. “Don’t play coy with me, young one…” Camila muttered threateningly. “You always enable your sister's violent desires by trying to cover for her with your excuses and even with that dangerous quirk of yours…” Luz just stared at her mom, dumbfounded and at a loss for words. But it seemed that her sister had plenty of words to spare. “What do you mean `excuses´? That bastard wanted to rape your daughter! And she never even used her quirk to defend herself!” Her growling turned more animalistic as she answered her mother's glare with her own. But Camila just clicked with her tongue disapprovingly. “You can shove that animal behaviour unless you want to be treated like a beast. So STOP GROWLING!” A fourth glass of wine went down Camila’s gullet. And she was slowly getting flushed in the face. “I read the letter that the school sent with you.” She said, throwing the piece of paper onto the table. “The only reason the family of poor Zander dropped the charges was that we are old classmates!” This enraged Lucia. “That bastard tried to RAPE YOUR OWN DAUGHTER!” She threw her arms into the air in desperation. “AGAIN, might I add?” But Camila, again, shook her head. “There were eyewitnesses there! And they said that you attacked them unprovoked, with a weapon and your disgusting quirk!!” Lucia's eye twitched. “Mom, these people are their goons! Of course, they would take their side!”
But the Noceda matriarch chose to ignore the protest of her eldest and turned her attention back to Luz.
Her expression softened, and she gave her youngest an understanding smile. “Luz, dear, they also told me a lot of what really is happening in school.” Confusion rose in Luz while dread and anger bubbled within Lucia. Their mother's next words confirmed Lucia’s dread: “They told me how your sister truly terrifies you. And of how she stands between you and Zander.” Luz’s eyes were now the size of pancakes, and she began to feel sick. It was now Camila’s turn to rest a hand on Luz’s. “He told me that you admitted to having feelings for him, that you loved him.” Now, she turned a scathing glare at Lucia. “And that your… sister… threatened you both with violence.” Lucia clenched her fists with such ferocity that her knuckles turned white. How dare this woman spread such slander in their own home! Camila continued with a caring smile that made Lucia sick. “Please, if you speak out against your sister, then you will be safe; no more violence, no more hiding your relationship with Zander!” She gave her eldest a side-eye. “And maybe a few months in prison will straighten your sister out…” Now, both of her daughters were shaking. The eldest out of rage and the youngest out of fear. But Camila understood them differently. In her mind, her youngest was shaking with hope and relief that this dark phase of her life was over. Her unruly and dangerous, downright villainous eldest was shaking because she understood that the consequences of her action were finally catching up to her and that she would lose the subject to torment and the shield to hide behind.
“That’s right…” she smiled lovingly at her youngest. “Soon, you won't have to fear your sister anymore…” She then turned to Lucia. Her smile disappeared. And all love and gentleness fled from her tone. “If you show that you have redeemed yourself and got your anger under control, wearing quirk supressing cuffs at all time, and promise to stay away from your sister and Zander, then I will think about welcoming you back into the family.” What stung Lucia the most was the care in her mother’s voice. No sarcasm, no hidden sneer. Absolute and pure care filled Camilas's voice as she condemned her eldest child. Even with the hidden threat to cut ties with Lucia permanently, it was this twisted offer of a second chance that hurt Lucia more than anything. “She wants me in prison and supress my quirk? Then even after that to stay away from my baby sister? And let Zander have his way with her…” In the time the twins were reeling from Camila’s statement, the eldest had already downed three more glasses. Her bottle was nearly empty. And the Noceda matriarch was slightly swaying. Clearly, the alcohol had taken its effect. Normally, Camila could hold her liquor quite well, but she had just arrived from another hard shift at the vet. And her healing quirk had left her drained, it was quite dangerous to Camila herself, transferring her own life-essence to another being to heal their wounds and cure diseases.
Lucia gnashed her teeth and glared at her mother with raging eyes, while Camila regarded Lucia with the same hurtful mix of distain and care.
Finally, a roar broke the silence. But it was neither Lucia nor Camila that ended the silent stalemate. No, it was Luz. Tears were streaming down her face as she stared at her mother, eyes glimmering with azure blue light.
“How can you say something like that? Lucia is your daughter!” she yanked her hand away from her mother's grasp as she sprung on her feed. “How can you take Zander’s word over your own flesh and blood?!” Her shoulders heaved as her breath became laden with emotions. “And it isn’t even the first time! We tried to tell you. But you were never listening to us!” Camila looked at her, displeased. “Luz, please stop defending your sister; she isn’t worth it. And if it would be true, then why didn’t you tell me of such incidents sooner?”
Now Lucia couldn’t hold herself back anymore at the sight of her mother emptying the bottle without a glass. “Why we didn't tell you?” She sneered. “BECAUSE YOU WERE NEVER FUCKING HERE! NOT EVEN TODAY AT THE PRINCIPAL’S OFFICE!” The scream echoed throughout the house. Luz hugged her sister. The gesture calmed Lucia down. But her blood was still boiling. “When we were bullied, you never came. When we called you on the phone, you said you were busy with work. You blocked us on your phone!” Camila just snorted dismissively. “I already told you you were interrupting my work too often.” But that just coxed a bitter laughter from Lucia. “Work, that is all that matters to you these days… work.” Camila wanted to retort, but Luz beat her to it. “Cia and I had to take care of ourselves for most of our lives. You were only ever briefly there.”
Luz shook her head, saddened.
This was too much for Camila. The eldest Noceda rose to her feed and glared at her two children. “That’s enough! I will not hear any more of this!” she turned to Luz. “You will cut ties with Lucia going forward until I tell you otherwise; you will not see or interact with her!” She then turned to her eldest. Here, she made the biggest mistake of her life.
“What would your father say?”
For a moment, Lucia stared at her mother with an empty gaze. Then she bared her teeth before bellowing. “HE WOULD ASK WHAT A FUCKING BITCH YOU HAVE BECOME!”
Lucia clicked with her tongue, adding, “If that fucking deadbeat even cared in the first place.”
That drove Camila over the edge. With a furious scream, she threw her glass at Lucia. The girl dodged the improvised projectile with ease. But her eyes were wide with horror; it had never gotten this bad when the two of them had an argument. Consumed by rage, Camila grabbed the empty bottle, ready to smack her own child with it. But to her surprise, her arm was stopped by Luz; the girl clung to her arm, tears flowing freely down her face. “Please stop, mami!” Now Luz’s eyes literally glowed with the azure light as she stared at her mother. In her drunken anger, Camila raised her free hand and hit her youngest with the open palm and all her might. “DON’T YOU DARE USE YOUR CREEPY QUIRK ON ME!”
She hid Luz's face. The girl screamed and fell to the ground. Lucia screamed her name and rushed over to her. Camila seized this opportunity and brought her empty wine bottle down on Lucia.
Different than Luz, Lucia let no scream escape her throat. Instead, she grabbed Luz, not stopping even when the glass shattered against her back. And carrying her sister, the elder sister fled the house and into the woods.
A surprise came when they ventured deeper into the woods.
Lucia had just set her sister next to her and began checking her for injuries. Luckily, Luz had nothing more severe than a swollen cheek from the strike. While Lucia was fussing over Luz, the younger twin looked at her sister with concern. “Cia, enough…” she got up and pointed to where she had just sat. “Your turn now, sis.” Lucia looked at her and grumbled but ultimately let her sister inspect her for any injury.
After a few minutes of examining the older twin, Luz was relieved to find no severe injuries on her sister's body. The bottle hit her back when Lucia tried to get Luz, but it hadn’t been broken. So, no glass shards had pierced Luci’s back. And, as far as Luz could see, no bones were broken or appeared to be fractured.
Luz let out a breath she didn’t even know she had held. “So, sis, no injuries, you’re okay. But how are you feeling? Are you thirsty? Do you need a quick sip?” Lucia shook her head, mumbling “I am good” before she stood up and looked at her surroundings. They were at some decrepit ruin of an old shack. The roof had partly collapsed, and every window was busted or not there at all.
“This place is wrecked…” muttered Luz. Lucia shrugged. “Well, it’s better than nothing, and who knows, maybe we can turn this dump into a nice home for us both…” None of the twins wanted to admit it but they could never return to their mother.
But their musings were interrupted by the call of an owl. They both looked down and saw a little brown owl hopping along the ground with a huge back in its tiny claws. However, one thing caught Lucia's attention. In the back of the owl was an Azura book. No, not an Azura book. “That’s MY Azura book!” she yelled. And sure enough, Luz spotted the little drawings Lucia had decorated the cover of the book with. “Did Mom really throw Lucia’s most cherished book away?” she muttered. Sometimes Luz agreed with a common opinion of her sister: they should have eaten the hag that had replaced their once loving mother a long time ago.
The owl looked at them, then hopped towards the door of the house. Without a second thought, Lucia raced after the little owl, screaming, “Get back here, tiny trash thief!”
Shaking her head, Luz followed her rash-acting sister, like always. In their haste, none of the Noceda twins noticed that they ran straight through an ornate door that, had they examined it, looked like a gaping maw.
When Luz jumped after her sister, the door closed, not by folding; instead, the gaping maw closed itself, and the door disappeared.
And from here, their true adventure began.
The twins stumbled into an unknown room- well, it was not really a room but a tent. Everywhere lay junk and weird collections. “That’s weird…” muttered Lucia, picking up a strange Frankenstein's monster-looking doll. Her sister raised an eyebrow at the scatterbrain of a sister.
“Really sis? You don’t care where we are? Your first thought is about how weird some dolls are.”
Lucia pretended to think for a second and then nodded.
Luz let out an exasperated sigh. It was always like this with her older sister. She was easily distracted by curious or strange things. So, Luz tipped her sister on the shoulder and pointed to the tent's exit.
“Remember why we are here?” Lucia sat there for a moment. One could see the gears in her head turning. Then her eyes widened, and she looked at the exit. “My book!” she growled.
Luz smiled. Lucia always let her animalistic side out when she wanted to protect something she cherished. And that book was very high on the list. Without hesitation, the older Noceda marched towards the exit, Luz following her. They looked around, but there was no trace of the odd owl to be found. But then they heard a voice. “AH Owlberd, there you are!” The two girls looked at each other and nodded. Together, they sneaked closer to the tent's flap, peaking at the other side.
It turns out the voice's owner was a young woman- or so the twins guessed. The woman looked to be in her early twenties.
She wore a sleeveless maroon dress with a ripped hem, grey pants, and high-heeled boots. And a kerchief around her head. The glimmer of a gem turned the twins' attention to the woman's chest. Both sisters went red in the face; a triple of blood ran down Luz's face while drool escaped Lucia's opened mouth.
The woman was thick! Her dress seemed to burst at any moment from the stain of holding two huge breasts in cleavage that reached to her belly, showing the two mounts in nearly all their glory. And the rear of the lady was filling her pants out quite nicely. A tear at the leg teased her thick thighs. It formed a perfect hourglass figure. The face of the lady was alluring, too. Her red lips were full and plump.
Her golden eyes glowed with excitement. A golden tooth glimmered in the daylight. She flicked her silver-grey mane that reached her butt with one hand.
“What took you so long?” she asked impatiently. Without waiting for an answer, if an owl could give any, she grabbed the small bird and placed it on a staff. After she turned it three times, the bird, to the surprise of the twins, turned into a small ornament on top of the staff.
The voluptuous woman then turned her attention towards the bag. She eyed and judged every item in the bag. But everyone was deemed as trash until she found a pair of fake eyeglasses, which seemed to satisfy her desire. “Now, this will make me rich!”
She struck a pose, giving the twins a good look at her two mounts once again. After a moment, she retrieved the last item from the list, Lucia's book. Eda looked at it for a moment, then shrugged her shoulder. “Well, this makes for good kindling!” She held the book over a candle. That shook the twins out of their lustful stupor. Luz began to panic. She knew what would happen next. And sure enough, Luz was storming towards the lady. Witnessing her beloved book, the only last thing her father had left her before abandoning them, being damaged, turned her entire vision red. With a bestial roar, she sprinted the last few steps and, with a mighty swing, she knocked the lady's face unto her stall. “OW!” came the painful groan of the woman. Lucia grabbed the book and checked it for any damages. Thankfully, it seemed that the flames had only done superficial damage.
Lucia nodded, satisfied with the book's near-perfect condition. Then she turned towards the busty lady and growled.
She clenched her fist with one hand while the other reached for the spare knife she had in her jacket. Meanwhile, the woman looked at Lucia with squinted eyes. She grabbed her staff with the little owl at the top. Sensing the coming trouble, Luz positioned herself between her sister and the strange woman. “Please excuse my sister, but that book means a lot to her, and she loses her temper when one tries to damage it!” She then turned to Lucia. “Cia, please, hands away from the knife, okay?”
But Lucia gave no response, still staring daggers at the young woman before them.
Seeing this, the woman lowered her staff. “Okay, kiddos, I’ll play nice. So, are we good?” Luz looked over to her sister.” Do you need help Cia?” Lucia huffed, trying to calm her rage, and nodded. Lu kneeled in front of Lucia and looked her deep into her eyes, activating her quirk. At this point, she did not even need the eye contact, after all, the little seed had already gown into a servant of Luz, but she found it more personal to interact with her sister this way. Finally, Lucia’s fiery mind calmed down and her hand slipped from the jacket, without a knife.
The lady rubbed her chin and looked at Lucia with a praising gaze. “Damn, kid, you pack a hell of a punch!” Lucia grinned and bowed lightly. That made the lady chuckle good-hearted. “What’re your names kiddo?” This time, Luz sprang into the conversation. “I’m Luz, and the ruffian behind me is Lucia.” She didn’t mention their last names, a fact that Eda quickly picked up but chose not to comment on, not yet, at least.
The lady smiled while still touching her face and probing for any injuries. “Not bad, kid, not bad at all...” she flashed them a grin that made both girls flustered. “…for a human, that is.”
That statement confused both twins. “But you are a human too…” said Luz, bewildered. But the woman just laughed. “Not quite Kiddo…” she commented. And, with one smooth gesture, ripped the kerchief from her head, revealing her long, pointy ears. She jumped onto her stall and raised her voice. “I am Eda the Owl Lady! Most Powerful witch on the boiling isles!” A crowd had gathered. And now they were shouting and cheering Eda’s name. She twirled around, her breasts dangling inside her dress. At the sight, quite a few of the onlookers lost consciousness from the amount of nosebleeds they experienced. “I am feared! Respected! Sexy!” On that, both twins and the crowd could agree. “AND BUSTED!” thundered a deep voice. The owner of said voice was a burly man. He wore a grey chain shirt, leather gloves and boots, and grey pants with a brown buckled belt. His face was hidden by a combination of a chain cowl and a bird-like mask. The crowd quickly dispersed, leaving the guard, Eda, and the twins alone.
“Eda the Owl Lady, you are hereby under arrest for wild witchcraft, misuse of demonic, and eating…” But Eda interrupted him angrily. “Oh, shove it. I haven’t done squat!” meanwhile, Lucia was staring at her with sparkling eyes, muttering, “Witch criminal…” Luz meanwhile let out a sigh. “And, I have lost Cia…” Luz knew that this was practically a dream come true for her sibling. A fantasy world and a likable criminal… Suddenly, the guard grabbed Luz and held her to the counter. “And you two will come with me too!” He shouted. “We have done nothing!” protested Luz. “For fraternizing with a criminal!” declared the guard. Eda was already planning on taking the guard out with her staff, but Lucia was already on the move before she or the guard could do anything. In the blink of an eye, she was next to the guard and proceeded to pummel him into the ground. She sat atop him, letting her fists fly down on the poor bastard. All the while, Lucia howled like an enraged animal. Her rampage was interrupted by a gentle hand that rested on her shoulder. She glared at whoever was touching her, letting out a threatening growl. But her demeanour changed when she realized that it was her sister. A single command echoed within her mind, its origin not of her own mind. “Calm down.” She, took deep breaths and forcefully calmed herself down.
Seeing her sister regain her senses, Luz eyes sized to glow and she extended a hand to help her. Lucia gave her a grin and grasped the offered hand. Once on her feet, she turned to Eda. As she looked at the young witch, her eyes began to sparkle. Eda had drawn a circle into the air with her finger. A golden aura formed a circle, and the same aura enveloped the tent. It wrapped itself around the stall and then shrunk down to the size of a backpack.
Eda then fixed it to her staff and looked in the direction of the twins. However, her gaze seems to linger on the unconscious body of the guard. For but a moment, she licked her lips. But then she looked at the twins and waved to them. “Come on! We need to scram before more of those stooges come here!”
Luz looked unsure, but Lucia grabbed her sister's hands and ran to Eda, dragging her sister with her, all the while muttering, “Witch criminal!” over and over again. Luz chuckled and shook her head. Yep, she had officially lost her sister. The two of them jumped on the staff, and together, the three of them flew off.
“Well, kiddos, welcome to the boiling isles!” Eda proudly declared. Lucia and Luz looked around them in amazement. “These lands are formed by the decaying corpse of a being known as the Titan.” Explained Eda. And true enough, the twins saw the massive ribs rising from the ground and shuddered at the giant skull in the distance. The trees had red leaves, and the grass had a bloody red heugh as well. Eda smirked at their stunned expression. “Yep, every myth you human talk about had come from here: Dragons, Wendigos, Ghouls…” Eda shuddered slightly. “…giraffes…” Luz looked at her, confused. “Giraffes?” The witch nodded solemnly. “Yep, but we banished these freaks years ago; good riddance if you ask me.”
Eda grinned and pointed ahead. “And over there is a griffin.” At once, Lucia tried to get a good look at her favorite mystical creature. “GRIFFIN? WHERE?” Then she saw it. It looked exactly like she always imagined. No eagle had, but instead, a cute dove head! The griffon opened its beak and out came hundreds of spiders. Lucia raised her arms into the air, which nearly made her fall off the staff if it was not for Luz holding her. Lucia looked at Luz smugly.
“Told you they would have a spider breath!” Luz groaned and rummaged through her pockets. But it seemed she was empty-handed. “Well, it looks like I have to wait to pay off our bet…” She grumbled to herself. How could she have known that she and her sister had ever had the chance to meet a real, living griffon? “So much for my hundred bucks…” She sighed.
Soon, they reached their destination, an old house in the middle of the woods. It had a nice blue-sloping roof and a big mosaic window on the second floor.
They landed in front of the house. Eda jumped off the staff, but for some reason, one hand of the young witch separated from her body. Luz took the hand with a look of disgust and horror on her face and presented it to Eda. “I think you’ve lost something…”
Eda laughed, her ample chest heaving with her laugh, again giving the girls a good view of the two mounts.
“Well, that happens when you get older!” she said. That got Lucia's attention. She cocked her head. “But aren’t you like 20 years old or something?” Now, Eda’s laughter filled the clearing. She laughed so hard that she needed to hold her belly. She finally calmed down a bit. “Me? 20 years old? Oh, that was a good one.” She wiped a tear from her eye. “No, kiddos, this awesome lady is 45 years old right now!” that left the two twins speechless, their mouths hanging open. Lucia was the first to snap out of her stupor. “Lady, you need to teach me your secrets!” Eda laughed again and ruffled Lucia's hair. “Well, I have a feeling that we will get along just fine.” The group made their way towards the house. Luz looked around nervously.
“Eda, aren’t you worried that the guards will come after you?” Eda shook her head with a light chuckle. “Don’t worry, kid; this house has state-of-the-art defences.”
As if summoned, a voice rang from the wooden front door came a high-pitched voice. “Password, please!” It was some kind of bird, tube, bug, worm thing. It slivered out of the door and stared at the twins. “Who are you? Hood!” But Eda karate-shopped him on his head with a slight scowl. “Hooty, play nice. They could help us with our problem!” Hooty’s beady black eyes widened. “THEN COME IN! HOOT!” he yelled and slithered back into the door, which then swung open on its own.
Eda let out a laugh. “Well, you heard the bird tube; come on in.” With that, she sundered into the house, hips swaying with each step. The twins looked at each other and nodded. They followed Eda into her home. The living room that greeted them seemed pretty cozy. A fainting couch stood in the corner while a crackling fire in the hearth illuminated the house. Feather dusters and brooms flew through the air and cleaned the house on their own. A fresco of some kind of owl-like bird was carved on the ceiling.
As the sisters looked around in awe, they heard a chuckle. It was Eda; she was standing in the center of the room. At the wall behind her hung a giant wanted poster of her and a little dog-like creature.
“Welcome to the owl house!” she opened her proclamation, spreading her arms wide.
“A heaven where I escape the pressure of the modern world!” she grinned mischievously. “And the cops…” Lucia grinned at that addition while Luz frowned at the eccentric woman before them. Eda shrugged and added, “And exes…”
Luz hummed and looked around. She then nudged Lucia before turning to Eda. Luz set on a pleasant smile. Ever since coming into this house, she had a bad feeling. “Well, Miss Eda. Today has been fun. But my sister and I need to get back to the human realm.” Lucia groaned but nodded in agreement. “Yeah, we need to get a few things settled over there…” Lucia’s reluctance did not slip the witches' notice. And a plan began to form inside her mind.
She nodded. “Well, I have the portal that leads back to the human realm…” she said, and from her hair, she retrieved a key that looked like a maw closing in around an eyeball. The young woman pushed the eyeball, and with a clicking sound, the door appeared. The twins took a step towards the door, but with another push on the eyeball, the door disappeared again. “Well, I will let you go, but I need a favor from you beforehand.” Now Lucia was getting nervous, too, and when she got nervous, she had the tendency to react rather violently.
“What’s that favor supposed to be?” she asked, now eyeing the woman warily. Eda smiled at them unperturbed. “Well, you help me break into a prison and smuggle something out of it!” Luz glanced at Lucia. She knew her sister did not have the best relationship with the law, so Luz was concerned that Lucia would jump at an opportunity like this. But to her relief, Lucia shook her head.
“Nope, not happening!” she declared. “We helped you escape the market because that idiot wanted to take my little sis with him. But this is on another level entirely.” She let out a sigh and looked at Eda. “Sorry, but we can’t help you there…” To her surprise, Eda just shrugged her shoulders. “It was worth a try to play nice.”
Then, with a flash, she disappeared from the point where she just had stood. With one swift motion, Lucia drew her knife from her inner pocket and looked for any signs of the witch. Truth be told, she didn’t know how much she could do against a witch with her puny knife. But Lucia would be damned not to try and slice that bitch up before she could do any harm to Lucia or, even worse, Luz. But a thud alarmed Lucia that it was too late already. She whirled around and swung her knife down in an arc. Then Luz’s scream echoed through the room. “STOP!” and the blade came to a stop, mere inches away from Luz’s face. The owl lady flashed Lucia a cheeky grin, standing behind the girl, holding the younger twin with an arm around her neck, pointing a spell circle at her.
But the Latina could only growl, teeth bared. The traitorous witch just chuckled at the enraged Lucia. “Wow, you got some reflexes!” she praised. Meanwhile, Luz was squirming in her grasp. Eda looked at her and then at Lucia. Eda pointed at a far corner of the room with her free arm. “Your knife, throw it over there!” Lucia answered her with more growling. But ultimately complied. Her knife skittered across the wooden floor and came to rest in the corner. Seeing her demand fulfilled, Eda dismissed the spell circle she had drawn directly next to Luz’s face. The witch nodded her head and looked at Luz and then Lucia. “Good, now comes the risky part. SURPRISE ATTACK!” she yelled, and in the blink of an eye, she had created a new spell circle, which she had pointed at Lucia. Luz let out a cry of shock as a golden-colored bolt razed towards Lucia, and before the violent Latina could react, it struck her in the chest. But no pain came following the impact.
Lucia wanted to look at the spot where the spell had hit her. But to her horror, she couldn’t move a muscle. “Stunning spell, simple but effective!” Eda explained cheerfully. She then grabbed the younger twins' shoulders. Luz looked at Eda with uncertainty, but that quickly morphed into utter terror as she sighed before her. Eda towered over Luz. Her mouth opened wide. Wide enough to fit Luz’s head inside. Lucia watched with a terror-filled fascination as Eda’s maw slowly enveloped Luz’s head. The twins shared one last look of absolute dread. And then, with a gulp, Luz’s head and shoulders even disappeared into the witch's insides. Luz’s head was now only a lump in her neck. With each gulp, more and more of Lucia’s little sister disappears into the ravenous witch. Finally, when she reached Luz’s hips, Eda straightened herself up. Now, Luz’s feet were struggling and kicking in the air. But Eda just leaned her head back and let gravity do the work for her. With one last terrified scream, Luz Noceda plumaged into the stomach of Eda the Owl Lady.
The Owl Lady stroked her now enlarged belly proudly. She winced when a kick landed on the walls of her stomach, the first of many. “Well, it seems like the little human has some fight left within her.” Her belly was contorted, and hand prints and bulges from the kicks appeared all over her tummy. Eda clicked with her tongue. “Well, you better behave, or I’ll cut your stay in my belly rather short!” But her attention was drawn to a different situation when a guttural roar made her ears ring.
Eda looked towards the other twin, still paralyzed from her stunning spell. Or at least she should be. Eda watched with amazement as the human recovered from her inhuman howl. “Is this kid really human?” But Eda’s thought quickly turned to fear as the human crouched. Why was the fearless Owl Lady afraid? Well, maybe it was because of the machete that the human drew from a holster of her leg. And Lucia stared at Eda, murder clearly blazing in her eyes. Only one thought came to Eda’s mind. “You carried that thing with you the whole time?” She cried out in shock. But the Latina didn’t answer. With a roar, she sprinted towards Eda, her machete raised for a deadly swing. Sensing where the human was intending to strike her, Eda stepped to the sides, causing the long blade to miss her gut by a hair’s breadth. “Girl, that could have killed me!” She cried out. But Lucia just nodded grimly. “I’ll get my sister back, and if I have to gut you for it to happen…” Lucia held her blade close to her face and let her tongue caress it. “…then so be it.” And again, she stormed towards Eda. The witch now seriously began to doubt her plan. “I didn’t think that the girl was a psycho! Maybe I should have gone for the other twin instead… She seemed rather meek to me…” She had to jump to evade another swing aimed at her belly. “Fuck!” she muttered. The ceaseless attacks from the older twin were scary and bad enough, but the younger counterpart inside her did everything in her ability to fight against the witch from the inside, too. Her constant movement in Eda’s belly hindered the witch's movement quite a bit. “OW!” yelled Eda as Lucia managed to land a blow on the witch. Though Eda had managed to turn her belly away from the strike, she had not been able to dodge it completely. The moment she leaped to the side was the time Luz decided to kick Eda’s insides with both of her legs, causing her captor to stumble. Thanks to that, Lucia managed to draw a lengthy cut on Eda’s arm. The witch stared at the wound and then at the `human.´ She began to doubt that this beast in front of her was really human at all. And if to prove her point, Lucia had just brought the machete to her lips and licked the blood from the blade. The Latina chuckled at the shocked expression of the witch. “What, scared witch?” Eda shook her head. “Nope, just deeply disturbed…” Lucia laughed, then got serious again. “Time to finish this…” And off she went again. This time, she chose to flank Eda rather than go for another frontal attack.
At the same time, Eda felt the girl inside of her stomach curl herself into a ball, no doubt preparing another heavy two-legged kick. Eda knew she could not handle both opponents at the same time. She drew a spell circle and pointed it at the charging Lucia. Eda winced as the spell ate away at her bile reserves, as well as her body fat. Worse because of it, Eda's life span was shortened again. “Knew I should have eaten that guard!” She thought angrily. But she had decided against it. If rumors of humans were true, then they didn’t have the ability to devour others. So she decided to keep her cards close to her bountiful chest. And just as she was ready to launch the spell, having paid its toll, it flickered and broke down. Why did her spell fail her right now? It was because of Luz. The girl, instead of kicking the fleshy wall of her prison, had opted to slam her entire body against it. This caused Eda to stumble a bit and lose her concentration.
Luckily, that stumble worked in her favor. Thanks to this sudden movement, Lucia's blade didn’t pierce her belly, but it scratched her face and clipped her ear.
Eda let out a shriek of pain, stumbling a few steps back, her hand covering her freshly wounded face. The witch stared at the approaching human with fear and respect. No one, be they witches, demons, and especially those coven stooges, had given her much of a fight, not to mention wounding her in any real way. The human stared at her with dark, cold red eyes. “Had enough yet? She asked. She stood before Eda, pointing her blade at the throat of the witch. “Give me back my sister…” her voice was as motionless as her eyes.
A tear of sweat rolled down Eda's head; this chick was truly dangerous. But she smiled, which confused the human greatly because it was a confident grin. “Well, I’ll admit that you surprised me. Had been a while since someone managed to actually hurt me. But…” She said, standing up and staring at the human's murderous glare. “You forgot something important: This is MY house!” The entire house rumbled, causing Lucia to look franticly at the source. “And as I told you, THIS HAS A STATE-OF-THE-ART DEFENCE SYSTEM!” She took a deep breath and then screamed: “HOOTY; RESTRAIN HER!” And with that command, the weird bird tube came crashing through the floor. “HI INTRUDER!” he cheered happily as he flew towards Lucia. To give her credit, the human quickly recovered from her shock and brandished her machete against her new opponent. She slashed and cut at Hooty, but the house demon didn’t seem to be bothered by it in the slightest. “OH! SOMEONE IS RATHER CHOP HAPPY TODAY! HOOT!” he exclaimed in his high-pitched voice. The cuts and slashes didn’t bother Hooty. He chased his target down into a corner and quickly coiled himself around her. Lucia let out a frustrated roar, but it was for nothing. Hooty had restricted the Latina just as Eda had commanded. The Latina could move an inch.
Seeing the result of her gamble, Eda let out a sigh. But another pain emanating from her belly reminded Eda of her unruly meal. “Whelp, time to get the distraction out of the way!” She formed another spell circle and pointed it at her swollen belly. It glowed for a second and then began to shrink rapidly. Lucia flailed and screamed as she watched her sister being digested by the witch in front of her.
When it was done, Eda let out a moan filled with relief and pleasure as she felt the life force and nutrients flow into her body and rejuvenate her. Lucia gawked as the wounds on Eda’s face and arm began to close and her figure filling up a little.
Eda gave the Latina a wink but stopped as she saw the silent tears running down the human face; her eyes were empty and devoid of emotion. “Oh shit…” cursed Eda. “…looks like this broke the girl…” She took a deep breath and walked over to the captured girl. She knelt down and looked Lucia in the eyes. “Okay, girly, first things first: your sister ain't dead.” That baited a dry laugh, bordering on the brink of insanity, out of the remaining twin’s throat. “Why, because she lives on in your body or some similar bullshit? I heard that excuse plenty of times in the human world already.” she spat. But Eda just raised an eyebrow. It sounded like it was not new to the Latina to seen people getting eaten.
“Nope.” Eda said, then pointed to her collarbone. “Take a look.” Lucia, against her better judgment, did as she was told and turned her gaze to the collarbone of the witch after taking a quick look at the impressive rack the witch possessed. Lucia’s eyes widened at what she saw. At the beginning of the cleavage was a tattoo that had definitely not been there before, a tattoo of the shocked face of Luz Noceda. “Wha- What is that…?” mumbled Lucia. “That, my dear human, is a soul mark, or soul tattoo as the youth had begun to call them.” Explained Eda. “We store the souls and a bit of the essence of our prey in there. So as long as we have it, we can reform the prey at any given moment!” She finished with a grin.
Hope returned to Lucia’s eyes as she stared at Eda. Sensing the different mood, Eda began to grin. “So you can bring her back?” Lucia whispered, hope so very fragile swinging in her voice. Eda nodded. “Sure, any time I like.” Lucia still was shook with disbelieve. “I never have heard about anyone being able to bring their prey back.” This was interesting news to Eda. “So, humans can eat others too? Seems my info is a bit outdated.” Eda wanted to know more about that part of humanities nature, but decided against it, since she still had a task to do.
“So, how about we talk about the favor again?” Lucia’s eye twitched. But she knew she had no choice. So, with a growl, she said. “Alright, I’ll help you…” Eda clapped and let out a barking laugh. “Okay, Hooty, free one of her arms… The one not holding a murder weapon.” The bird tube let out a happy hoot and freed one of Lucia’s arms. Eda then grabbed said arm and a circle appeared for a moment, then disappeared. “What was that?” Lucia asked.
Eda just smirks. “Everlasting oath!” she proclaims. “Now, you will help me, and in return, I will reform your sister and let you go home!” But Lucia just snorts. “What’s stopping you from going back on that promise?” Eda’s eyes turned serious. “The oath will kill the one who breaks it…” Lucia’s eyes widened, not because of what Eda had said but because of how sincere she had said it.
With another sigh, she simply said, “When do we start?”
Eda grinned and snapped her fingers. At once, Hooty retreated from Lucia back through the floor to his normal post on the door. Eda reached out her hand to help the fallen girl, and Lucia decided to accept the hand offered. “I must say, I think if I had devoured you instead of your sister, the whole fight might not have happened.”
But to Eda’s confusion, Lucia laughed so hard that she had to hold her belly. After wiping a tear from her eye, she looked at Eda with a smirk of her own. “If Luz would have been in my position, then you would wish for death while lying on the floor!” Eda gulped. Somehow, she knew that the girl in front of her was NOT joking.
“Well...” said Lucia, still grinning at the dread in Eda’s eyes. “Let’s get going!” Eda cheered, liking the human's determination. “YES! Let’s get going, girly!” But she stopped at the glare Lucia was giving her. “If we wanna work together, then you’ll call me by they/them, understood?” This surprised Eda, at least the aggressive reaction of the human. Eda just shrugged and nodded. “Okay then, human.” For a moment, there was an uncertainty visible in Lucia’s gaze, but it disappeared quickly. Though not before they muttered a quick: “Thank you…”
After a few hours of flight, Lucia found themselves in front of a giant, castle-like building with high walls and a single, dominant tower reaching towards the sky in the middle of the complex. “This is it, human,” Eda whispered. “The place is called the Conformatorium. And it houses many criminals of the boiling isles.” Eda then pointed towards the tower. “At the very top is the room with contrabands. The thing I want is in there.” Lucia gave the witch a questioning glance. “If you know where it is, then why don’t you get it yourself?” Eda shook her head. “The contrabands are protected by a barrier that keeps everyone with magic, or who lack the right sigil and key, out. One of my informants told me that the only option is for a human to go through the barrier.” Lucia nodded, and then something caught their eye. They reached towards a nearby wall and ripped a wanted poster. It was a smaller version of the one in Eda’s living room. “Seems like you're quite popular here.” Eda looked at it and snorted. “Yup, they always try to catch me, but I’m too slippery!” For a moment, she was silent, as if waiting for someone to say something. But with a pained expression, she shook her head, mumbling something Lucia could have sworn sounded like: “Not for long anymore…” but she slapped herself and straightened herself. “Listen, kid: I will bring you to the highest point over there…” She pointed at a high window. “Then I’ll cause a bit of a distraction. Use that to get to the top floor. With any luck, we will meet up there. If not, walk through the barrier and get the thing I want.” The human raised an eyebrow and leaned against the wall. “And how the hell am I supposed to know what to take?” But Eda just gave a warm chuckle. “You know it when you see it, trust me.”
She then reached into her hair and retrieved a wooden mask shaped like a falcon. Eda looked at it with both pain and fondness visible in her eyes. She threw the mask to Lucia, and the human caught it with ease. “Here, take this, can’t let them see your face, you know. The mask belonged to a person dear to me in the past…” she let out a sigh. “I think, back then, she would have liked you. And would have given you this too.” She shook her head and drew a spell circle. A disc of pure magic formed under Lucia and began to float with its human cargo towards the window at the tower.
“Good luck, human!” she yelled after Lucia. They looked down at where the witch stood, only to see her flying away on her staff. Soon, explosions echoed through the night, and curses and insults that Eda flung at the guards could be heard.
“Well, let’s get this over with…” muttered Lucia. They put on the mask. Once the disc reached the window, Lucia jumped through it. Looking around, they found no guards standing by or being on patrol. The whole tower seemed to be empty. “Strange…” They muttered and began to wander the hall. It led to an archway. Turns out the entire tower was a giant archway. And into the wall were the cells carved. A platform hovered in the center, suspended by a stream of blue magic. “Looks like it can go to any floor of the tower…” They continued to walk towards the upper floors when someone whistled at them. “Hey, you! Over here!” Curious, Lucia walked over to the nearest cells. In it were a few people huddled together. The one who called them was a witch with sharp fangs protruding from her lower lips. Her face paled when she saw the mask Lucia was wearing. “Where did you get that?” She whispered. Lucia shrugged; they saw no point in secrecy; these people were already criminals. So, Lucia hoped that they would not snitch on them. “Eda the Owl Lady gave it to me. We’re robbing the place.” The witch's eyes bulged so wide that Lucia feared that they might pop out of her head.
“You work with the savage owl?!” She exclaimed excitedly. Lucia shrugged their shoulders. “Don’t know about that name. But Eda kinda forced me to work for her.” This seemed to surprise the inmates. So, Lucia added. “She ate my sister and now bound me with an oath to help her in return for reforming my sister.” They all nodded and relaxed. “Maybe it’s just a thing they do here…” wondered Lucia. “Well, anyways, what are you sitting in prison? What crimes have you committed to earn such a fate?” The prisoners looked at each other and told Lucia their stories. First, the eye guy, a blue-skinned demon who could eat his own eyes. Next a demon that was just a head with a giant nose with arms and legs. She was in because she talked about too many conspiracy theories. And lastly, the witch. Apparently, she wrote fiction about food falling in love, and that earned her a place here. “My own teacher put me in here! Said I needed some time to think!” She growled. Lucia looked at the group. Something was up with the three, something behind those accusations. Something they knew was bad but wouldn’t tell Lucia.
“These are the reasons you three are in here?” They asked. The group shook their heads. “Not just us! Everyone here has been imprisoned for not fitting into society!” the girl growled. This irritated the masked human. They knew first-hand how it felt to be ostracised because of who they were or with what body they were born with…
Before they could do or think anything further, loud footsteps echoed through the hallways. “It’s the warden!” The witch hissed. “You need to hide!” Lucia nodded and quickly dashed towards an empty cell, crawling into the farthest corner and hoping that the shadows were enough to obscure them. A door swung open in the hallway, and a massive man walked towards them. He was huge! Towering above them. He wore a white tunic with dark pants, dark boots, and a brown belt. He wore a hood, and a bird-like mask covered his face. However, the eyes of the mask seemed to be styled after insects. “What are you scum whispering about…” he sneered. The gaze he directed at the three inmates was full of contempt and disdain. “You are all troublemakers and misfits. Your behaviour and even your very beings disrupt the paradise that Empress Confidia is envisioning for the isles.” He let out a huff. “She thinks you can change with the proper treatment, be redeemed…”
He then grabbed Tiny Nose Tina, as the big-nosed, walking head was called, and threatened the other inmates. “Let this be a lesson to you. You betrayed the empress and her rebellion. You deserve every ounce of suffering you get…”
He turned around and saw a poster of Eda. He grabbed it and gazed at it. “Ah, Eda the Owl Lady, or the savage Owl… Sooner or later, you will be MINE!” With that, the warden transformed his fist, which still held Tiny Nose Tina, into a hammer and slammed it against the bars. He then turned around and left, muttering something about a commotion outside.
The witch with the pointy teeth looked at Lucia’s hiding place. “Go, as long as he’s distracted!” Lucia went towards them. “How do I get you out?” They asked. But the others shook their heads. “You would need to find the right lever or use the master lever at the center platform.” But before Lucia could sprint towards it, the witch held their sleeve. “Forget about us… Go and help the owl lady.” She gave Lucia a tired but proud smile. “And tell her that she is still the hero to some. And that some still believe her…” With that, Lucia began to sprint to the highest level. There, a giant iron door blocked her path. The human pushed with all their might, but the door wouldn’t budge. A hand on their shoulder let her swirl around, their knife pointing at the fool who would sneak up on them. To their relief, it was Eda. The Owl Lady smirked at the surprised expression of the human before her. “Told you I would meet you here!” Lucia shook their head. And despite their still rather negative view of the young-looking woman beside them, Lucia could not help but be fond of the quirky and foxy behaviour of the witch. Eda, meanwhile, looked at the door in front of the two of them.
“Yup, I can see why you won’t get it to open.” She cracked her knuckles and moved towards the door. “Here, let me try…” She drew a spell circle, and a golden glow enveloped the door. Lucia couldn’t help but notice that the rather well-endowed body of the witch seemed to thin out just a tiny bit. After a few seconds, the door creaked open. Behind it waited a round room with a big, blue pillar in the center of it. It crackled, revealing it to be made entirely of magic. “So, this is it?” Asked Lucia, eyeing the pillar suspiciously. Eda nodded. “Come and see for yourself.” She sundered towards the pillar and touched it with one finger.
And then yelped as an electric shock rocketed through her body. She turned to Lucia. “See, no being with magic can even touch this thing.” Pointing a finger at the human, she flashed them a grin. “But you can pass right through it!” Lucia nodded and stepped towards the pillar. With one last sigh, they took a step into a pillar. But against their fear, they did not experience the pain of a shock. Instead, she simply stepped though the barrier and found themselves on the other side. They shook their head and began to look around. “H-Hey you!” Came a high squeak, catching Lucia’s attention.
Looking around, the human found the source of the voice. It was a black-furred, dog-like creature. A skull with two horns sat atop his head, though the tip of one appeared to be cut off. The little one had grey fur on his belly and piercing yellow eyes. “Que lindo,” whispered Lucia. The dog demon looked at her, confused. “What are you whispering about?” He let out a huff. “I swear if you again don’t bring me any food, then I shall remember you AND PLACE YOUR HEAD ON A PYKE!” he screamed. It would have been either intimidating or disturbing if the flailing of his limbs was not absolutely adorable. Lucia remembered the words of their partner. “You will know it when you see it…” then it clicked in her head. “That is the dog from Eda’s wanted poster!” They walked over to him. He was leashed on a little pillar. So, they drew their knife and leaned close to the young demon. His eyes widened with fear as he eyed the sharp weapon in the human's hands. “W-what are you planning to do?” he stuttered. Lucia took off her mask and just gave him a smile. “Well, I did come here to smuggle you out.” The demon dogs filled with excitement. “Then do it! Do IT!” he cried with unbridled joy. He then added. “I’m King!” The human smiled and answered, “And I’m Lucia; nice to meet you, King.”
So Lucia went to work, and with a few cuts, the leash was in twain.
They opened their arms to the king, and the little demon jumped into them without hesitation. “Move, my loyal minion! Bring your ruler back to his castle!” He demanded. Lucia just snickered and moved towards the barrier. “WAIT!” cried King. At their questioning look, he pointed at a lever next to them. “The barrier will still keep me inside!” he explained. “But if you pull the lever, the barrier will disappear!” And just as he said, the barrier disappeared as soon as Lucia pulled the lever. Behind it stood Eda with a big grin on her face. As soon as King saw the waiting witch, he jumped out of Lucia’s arms and ran towards Eda as fast as his little legs could carry him. “Momma!” he cried in relief and joy. “My little freeloader!” Eda shot back and embraced the little demon.
Lucia stood there on the pile of confiscated stuff. A frown formed on their face. “So, this little demon is the son of Eda?” Now they almost felt bad for attacking Eda like they had, almost.
A frown settled on Lucia’s face. The message from the vampire-looking witch came back to their mind. Eda saw her companion’s shifting mood and gave her a questioning look. “Something on your mind, kid?” Lucia just shook their head but then let out a sigh.
They steeled their resolve and looked the mysterious Owl Lady directly in the eyes.
“Does the name `Savage Owl´ ring any bells?” Eda's eyes widened, and the color drained from her already very pale skin.
“Where did you hear that name?” She asked, her voice dropping low, a dangerous edge sneaking into it. Lucia raised their hands. “A witch with sharp teeth said it back in the cells.” Eda relaxed a bit. “Anything else the girl said?” Lucia thought for a moment. “Only that she you were her hero, and she still believed you. Then she said her own teacher turned her in for writing fanfiction about food falling in love?” hearing this, Eda furrowed her brows. “That chick must have been Katya… then this means…” her eyes darkened with a mixture of rage and sadness. “Oh, Raine… how could you?” Looking at Lucia, she just shook her head. “I’ll tell you another time…” She took a deep breath and hugged King close to her chest. “We should get out of here before the warden loses his head!” she said, putting on a cheerful tone, but Lucia could hear how forced it truly was. Suddenly, a voice came from behind Eda. “Too late.” It was the warden. He stood behind them while two of his lackeys cut their escape route off. The warden morphed one of his hands into an axe and, with one swing, decapitated the Owl Lady. Her head flew right into Lucia's hands. They let out a scream. But then Eda opened her eyes. “OW! Oh, I hate it when this happens!” Eda looked expectantly at Lucia. “What, no other scream? No surprise?” And Lucia just shook their head. “You are speaking after being decapitated… I don’t think you can surprise me much more.” Eda let out a barking laugh. “HA! Just you wait! I have quite a few surprises left to amaze you!”
The Warden seemed to be annoyed by the fact that the two people in front of him ignored him. He morphed his hand into a hammer and slammed it into the floor, creating fissures and cracks in the stone. One of the guards ran and captured King, holding him in an iron grip. “Eda the Owl Lady…” The warden chuckled. “I knew if I captured your pet, you would come sooner or later…” Eda was fuming and gave the guard holding King a deadly glare; she would remember that one… she turned to the warden again. “And what do you want with me!?” Eda yelled. “I haven’t broken any of your dumb laws…” She squinted her eyes. “In front of you.” She added.
The warden just harrumphed. “Eda, the owl lady I want…” he suddenly pulled out a bouquet of flowers and held it towards Eda's head. In the corner of her eye, Lucia could see Eda’s headless body stumbling behind them, slowly making its way toward the two guards.
“…for you to go out with me.” He finished. The two women in front of him just gawked at him.
“What?” muttered Eda. “The fuck?” Finished Lucia. “You have eluded me and my men for a long time. That made you alluring to me…” He said, leaning down to Eda. Lucia just stared at him. “You are disgusting, you know that?” With a roar, Wrath transformed his arms into tentacles and lifted Lucia into the air. “This is of no matter to you!” he then turned his attention back to the Owl Lady. “So, what do you say?” Without waiting for an answer, he grabbed her head and lifted it into the air. “The two of us combined, we would be the Isles' most fearsome power couple!” He chuckled and added. “It is not like you could say no right now…” That drove Lucia mad. This reminded them way too much of Zander. Luckily, they still held their knife. So, they plunged the blade into Wrath’s flesh with all their might. “YOU BITCH!” He howled as he let them fall to the floor, holding his hand in agony. Eda’s body chose this moment to incapacitate the two guards by banging their heads against one another. “Let’s scram!” Lucia yelled, grabbing Eda’s head and King. They then threw the head to the body, allowing Eda to put herself back together. The trio jumped on Eda’s staff and flew off.
But the warden would not surrender so easily. Enraged, he turned both of his arms into tentacles and followed the trio.
Lucia and their two companions made it to the courtyard when Warden Wrath, a whole platoon of other guards, and his two goons streamed out of the barracks and prison. “We have you now, Owl Lady!” He declared. He was not even trying to hide the malice and the vicious glee from his voice.
Eda clicked her tongue. She reached into her hair and pulled the portal key from it. “Here, human.” She said, laying the key into Lucia’s hand. “Your part of the oath is fulfilled.” She spoke. “King is outside the prison. So, I will honor my part of the deal!” She gently touched the tattoo on her collarbone. “Go back to the owl house. In a few days, your sister will materialize back there! And then go back to the human realm!” Lucia stared at Eda, mouth agape. “But what about you!?” They asked, now genuinely concerned for their witchy friend. “I’ll manage…” was all she muttered before they pushed Lucia backward. They fell on Eda’s staff. And it began to leave the prison complex. Looking back, Lucia saw Wrath removing his mask, revealing a hideous face underneath. It was just a giant maw filled with razor-sharp fangs with two beetle-like eyes at the side. He opened his maw, and a torrent of flame flew towards Eda. But the witch smiled and, in quick succession, drew two spell circles. The flames entered the one and were shot back at the warden from the other. But the horde of guards was slowly surrounding the witch and her demon. Lucia decided that they had to do something. They looked at the owl on the top of the staff. From their encounter, Lucia knew that this thing was sentient. So they hid it on its little head. “If they keep it up, then your master and the adorable demon puppy will lose.” The owl let out a hoot in agreement. Lucia nodded. “Good, then help me!” The owl rotated it’s little head and stared at the human riding it. A grin spread across Lucia’s face. “It is time to call in the cavalry…”
It took only a few minutes for the odd pair to enter the prison complex again. Together, they flew toward the platform in the middle and landed on it.
Taking the staff in one hand, Lucia stood proudly in the center of the entire prison tower. “Hey, inmates!” They yelled. And soon enough, every last captured soul came to the bars and looked at the masked figure on the platform. “My name is Lucia. And I know one thing for certain.” Lucia let their gaze wander over the gathered audience. “You all don’t belong here, caged behind bars just for being different!” A murmur of agreement went through the inmates. “So now it is your time to regain the freedom they robbed you of!” The masked human declared. Their words were slowly riling up the prisoners, with many banging their fists against the iron bars. Lucia smirked. “But more so, I need your help.” They pointed in the direction of the courtyard, from where explosions and the sound of battle could be heard. “Out there, right now, fights Eda the Owl Lady. Or better known to some of you as the Savage Owl!” Shocked whispers spread through the people. “So let’s help her and take your freedom back while also sticking it to the warden!” Lucia yelled, and with one motion, she kicked the master lever, and every last cell in the tower opened. The inmates took a tender step forward. And when they felt no pain or a force stopping them, they cheered. Lucia themselves raised the staff into the air. “LET’S START A FUCKING RIOT!” And the tower trembled from the roar Lucia received as an answer.
As the inmates ran out and battled the guards that came to investigate the commotion, Lucia looked around. They noticed a metal door at the lowest point of the complex. Their curiosity piqued and demanded that Lucia investigate the secrets hidden behind the door, but her gut was telling her to stay away. The two waged a war in Lucia’s head and heart, but in the end, Lucia’s curiosity won, and she flew down to the door. Luckily, this one had a key lock, so the Latina went to work and began to pick the lock. With a satisfying click, the door was unlocked, much to the delight of Lucia. They leaned Eda’s staff against the wall and gently stroked the owl at the top. “Wait here, buddy, I’ll check this out real quick.”
Lucia opened the door fully and stepped into the dark, their sparring knife and machete at the ready.
Inside the cell room, it was dark; no sources of light illuminated Lucia’s surroundings, but it seemed that the walls were littered with heavy chains; there were tables placed across the ground, and lying on them were different tools. Lucia looked at them, but they were unknown to the Latina. “Weird…” They muttered. All this room was just so strange, but one thing the quirked Latina knew: the scent of blood hung heavy in the air, and it was fresh. “Shit, what happened here?”
And that was the last Lucia knew before they fell to the floor and something enveloped her head.
Vee had a bad day, well, to be honest, every day was bad in her life, which was filled with misery up to this point.
She was a demon looking like a chubby snake with a fish-like tail, ending in a fin. Her scales were of swamp green colour, her face was round with wide, pale blue eyes and a cat-like maw with maroon lips in the shape of a w. She had two cat-like ears and blue tufts of hair on her head, the back of her arms, and on her tail.
She was currently curled in the corner of the room, shivering from the cold and sobbing from the pain. Her body was riddled with cuts and bruises, most of them quite fresh.
Today could have been the best day in her life! She and her comrades had managed to escape this hellhole! They had spent their entire lives here! Never even allowed to catch a glimpse of the outside world or even the other inmates, with the exception of said inmates being thrown into their cell as food. And why was she held here? Because she and the others of her kind should not exist. They were an ancient race of demons called basilisks and once had been the apex predators of the isles, but witches began to hunt them down once the former tyrant Belos took power. Eventually, the fanatics managed to eradicate the last living basilisk, smashed their eggs, and laid waste to their hatcheries and nurseries.
But under the new rule of the empress came a new order: to resurrect these demons, and from ancient fossils, the researchers managed to bring back five true basilisks via cloning fossils and petrified eggs that somehow survived the purge. They had split up Vee wanted them to stay together, but the others nearly ate each other over the position of alpha, so eventually they split up and went their own way. Against her better judgment, Vee, being the youngest of the basilisks, headed to the nearest town. She hoped to hide amongst the populace there until she could find a sanctuary, and she nearly did!
She found the stand of none other than Eda the Owl Lady! Vee knew that witch from all the ramblings and ravings of her tormentor, Wrath. Slithering closer to the stand, Vee had seen her ticket for a secure and safe life: a door to another realm! Vee had no idea how she knew this glowing door would lead to another realm, but her instincts screamed at her that this door would indeed bring her to a new world. Her plan was to slither into the tent, go to the new realm, and rebuild her life there. But all the hopes of the young basilisk were shattered when a commotion occurred: a young witch had somehow gotten into a fight with the Owl Lady. The weird thing about this young witch was that she had no magic in her body. Basilisks could naturally sniff out magic and would know how strong a witch or demon was. But this girl? No magic and even more confusing were her ears, they were round instead of pointy. Vee spotted a similar-looking young witch with the same round ears, and even though Vee could only get a small glimpse of the second girl, Vee could not help but blush and think how cute that round-eared witch was.
But that commotion also drew in the guards Vee had been running from; they spotted her and quickly and silently captured her. The guard captain went to confront the two round ears and the Owl Lady.
Once Vee was dragged back, she was subjected to harsh punishment, and the experiments on her increased in intensity and cruelty. Her screams filled the prison tower. And in the past few minutes, the prison had erupted into chaos, and now it sounded like the other prisoners had started a riot or something. “But they won’t save me… no one will save me…” the broken basilisk whispered. She had curled up in a corner, gently licking her wounds. But then, to her disbelief, her cell door opened. “Maybe the riot is over, and they throw the leader in here for me to eat?” But it was not the wardens that stepped in and no prisoner was thrown into the cell, no, it was a single, tall, and tan-skinned girl… with round ears…
“That’s HER, the one assaulting the owl lady!” Vee almost let out a hiss of anger. This girl was responsible in Vee’s mind for the pain and torture the basilisk had to endure, the one who took away the only chance of freedom Vee had. While the girl had flown off with the Owl Lady, Vee looked after them longingly from the prison cart, slowly rolling back to this accursed place.
“Wait… this might be a chance again…”
something flooded through her body. It was pure pleasure and bliss, and a strange symbol burned itself into her mind. “A gift for a true predator…” She looked around for the owner of the voice, but no one else but Vee and her bloated belly. Suddenly, it began to glow and then rapidly shrank. The voice in her head returned, carrying gentleness but also authority.
“Child of my favoured, a gift shall be granted to you. You will size to be who you were and become something new. A gift shall be granted to you; use it wisely. Lastly, my child, I have but one command to give. Go out, hunt and devour, grow in strength, and seize, then you shall receive my blessing. For you are the purest of your clutch.” And with that, the Vee lay on the floor, but… she felt strange… she felt no longer like Vee… she was changed. Memories not her own flooded her mind, and an entirely different life nestled itself into her mind.
Yet the expected insanity of reliving an additional life did not come; instead, a strange sense of understanding and revelation came to her. She was no longer Vee, but was also not the… human… named Lucia. “Humans have no magic, but a different power called… quirks?” And it seemed that this girl had a relatively strong one. All the knowledge and experience the girl possessed about her… no, their… quirk possessed was now readily available to Vee… that did not sound right either…. But at least Vee was happy about their new power.
“Wait, they? Do I see myself as gender neutral?” It was surprising to the basilisk, but it felt… right. So, Vee… “Why does my own name no longer sound right to me?” They wondered and decided to go along with it. They would now officially go with they/them. Vee heard footsteps approaching the cell, so they had to act quickly. They concentrated and felt her bile stomach, which was filled to the brim with magic, distribute the magic it had stored all across their body as Vee used the natural ability of the Basilisks, the one that made the basilisks the apex predators of the isles. For you see, they were not regular hunters, no. Basilisks relied on ambushes. And to do that, they developed the ability to shapeshift.
Soon, a new figure stood inside the cell where Vee had just been. Well, it was not truly a new person but the form of Lucia. They looked around. “Nice, it still works!” Vee cheered in the deep voice of the Latina. For a moment, Vee closed their eyes and delved deep into the memories of Lucia. And what they found made Vee shudder. “Okay, maybe you had not exactly the perfect life, nor the life I really desired. But you still have your… no, MY cute sister and the connection to the Owl Lady. I think even with the baggage back at your realm, I can make a nice life out of this for myself.”
Vee’s eyes snapped open, and they looked down to her crouch, and a relieved groan escaped their lips. “Nice, still have that!” But the footsteps getting louder brought Vee back to the present. So, Vee quickly put on the discarded clothes. Initially, they wanted to leave the two knives behind, but something stopped them. They put the machete back into the holster on their leg and hid the knife inside their jacket. Finally, the door opened and two prisoners stepped in. “You good in there? They kept monsters down here, but I heard that the beasts managed to escape recently.” Vee suppressed her urge to hiss at the multi-eyed demon. “No one was here.” Lucia’s memory of Eda and the situation, the reason for starting the riot, and Lucia’s mission to save the witch surfaced in Vee’s mind. So, they quickly turned to the exit. Stepping out of the cell, they saw the staff of the owl lady leaning against the wall. Slightly cautious, they grabbed it and were quite pleased when the owl at the top gave her a happy hoot. It seemed that it had not seen through Vee’s disguise. “I am done here, come on. We need to hurry and get to Eda.” Vee flashed the two inmates a savage grin. “Let's get this party rolling.”
Outside, the situation was rather dire. Eda and King were surrounded. Dozens of unconscious guards lay on the ground. But Warden Wrath stood there, not even a real scratch on his grey-skinned body to be seen. His two lackeys flanking him, having only received minor damage, too. The truth was that Wrath and his two cronies had patiently waited while Eda was tiring herself out with the foot soldiers under Wrath's command. And Eda knew it, too. Her body had lost most of its fat, her breasts and butt having been reduced to be nearly flat. She huffed, her shoulders heaving with effort. “Damn it.” She thought. “If things go this badly, then I have to take a bit more essence from the kid…” It was a risky gamble. If Eda took too much essence from Luz out of the soul mark, then Luz would be lost forever- a mere sentient bit of flesh on the Owl Lady's body.
“Don’t worry…” came a disembodied voice. Only Eda heard it because the voice whispered to her inside her own mind. “Kid, Luz, is that you?” A giggle rang through her head. “Yup!” Then the voice, Luz, grew serious. “Don’t worry about me. Take more of my essence; I can endure it.” Eda shook her head mentally. “That could kill you. And I already danced with your sister once; I don’t want to repeat that experience…” More laughter came from Luz. “We did give you a hard time, but to be honest, they were holding back.”
“Wow, kid, I’m impressed.” Whistled Eda. She looked at the wounded warden. Dozens of cuts covered his body. But he glared at the group. His eyes were gleaming with madness. “My guards… COME TO ME!” he bellowed. And his two goons appeared before him. “My guards, become one with me…” Wrath commanded. The two looked at each other and bowed before the warden. “Your will is our command, master.” Wrath grinned, then opened his fanged maw. He lunged forward and consumed his two flunkies in one fell swoop. His gut was so bloated that Vee was sure that his movements were compromised. But it was the horror of him eating his own followers that drove Lucia to the brink of maddened rage. They growled, crouching down, before, once again, sprinting towards Wrath with a roar. Then, his body began to twitch and contort. His flesh shifted, bones broke, only to reform themselves anew, his muscles tensed and shaped something new.
Realization struck Eda; what Warden Wrath was doing could only be one thing… her gaze landed on Lucia, who was still gunning for Wrath, unaware of the changes her opponent was undergoing. “LUCIA STOP!” She shouted. But the masked human was too enraptured in their battle frenzy. One could hear their chuckling while aiming their machete at the spasming warden. “Of course, he had to be one of them…” Eda growled. “Then? What do you mean, Eda?” Came the voice of Luz again. “I’ll explain in a bit. Right now, I need to prepare to save your sister… or is it sibling?” She heard the soft laughter of Luz. “Don’t worry, either sister or sibling is fine. Lucia is not so stringent about it. Just call them by their preferred pronunciation, and everything is ok.” Eda nodded and drew a spell circle, aiming it at Lucia. Suddenly, the warden's body expanded. His posture became four-legged, his arms transforming into clawed legs. His neck elongated, and a long tail grew from his back. At the same time, a fleshy blob protruded from the middle of his back, growing in size. Eda decided to act. She activated her spell, and a rope shot towards the raging human. It wrapped around her hips. Eda pulled with all her might and managed to yank Lucia back towards her. A moment later, a foot stomped at the spot Lucia had just been at a moment before.
Eda chose to explain what was going on aloud so both sisters could hear her words. “There are different predators on the isles. Each has its own unique abilities to handle its prey and reap different rewards.” She pointed at the mutating warden. “He is a merger. They are a tricky bunch. They can merge their bodies with their prey, gaining a totally new appearance or body from it.” She huffed. “Normally, it poses risks of the prey fighting back. But these two were his servants… So, he can suppress their minds and take the reins…” She clicked her tongue. “This is bad news…” she muttered. Parts of the fleshy bulb burst open, and worm-like appendages emerged from the holes. They slithered across the battlefield, grabbing prisoners and guards alike and dragging them into the confines of the fleshy bulb.
And it grew and grew. Soon, screams filled the courtyard.
Then, the blob exploded in a shower of flesh and gore. And from beneath its remains came a new horror. It was a torso attached to the back of the warden. This torso looked like the two guards merged into an unholy abomination. Their two heads were rolling on their necks, their bird masks having been transformed into actual breaks. They opened their beaks, and everyone could see the rows and rows of sharp teeth. They now had four arms, each displaying the ability to shape into whatever form was required. And all around their body were gnashing maws, with tentacles surrounding them, grabbing the nearest person and then dragging them to their doom, kicking and screaming.
“Fuck this is bad…” cursed Eda. “Okay, we need a plan…” But before she could lay out any plan, Lucia rushed into the fray once again. “What are you doing?!” Eda yelled. “What about making a plan?!” She hated it herself, but her past had taught her that a good plan was half the battle. In her mind, she could feel Luz sighing. “I believe their plan is to attack; it is a good plan, no?” The younger twin sighed. “At least that is what they would tell you…”
Meanwhile, Vee dodged and weaved through the tentacles. They cut everyone she could reach with their machete. But in a moment of distraction, while Vee was cutting another tentacle, saving a guard from his doom, one of the four arms turned into a sickle and slammed into the basilisk turned Latina. Luckily, only the tip managed to pierce their body. They were sent flying back, crashing into the wall of the barracks. They collapsed into a heap.
Eda wanted to go over to them and make sure that the human was okay. But it seemed that Warden Wrath was slowly going more savage as he consumed the people around him. Eda’s body froze in terror. “He can’t handle the transformation…” She gulped with dread filling her soul. “He’s turning into a ghoul…” She could feel the questioning gaze of Luz inside her. “What is a ghoul, and why is it so bad?” Eda readied her staff, preparing a multitude of potions and poisons. Thanks to the berserker of a human, Eda had enough time to devour a few scouts and regain most of her strength. “A ghoul is a being that has lost itself to the hunger of the isles… they are monsters only concerned about devouring other living beings.” She took a shaking breath. “They are the symbol for corruption and death…” Then, she finally stepped into the battle herself. “Let me remind these coven stooges why they feared the Savage Owl!” And with that, she was off. She ducked and dodged the fleshy tentacles and threw the different potions at the exposed spots of the main body. Some exploded on impact; others released acid that melted the flesh from the bones of Wrath. But it was all for nothing. Every wound the owl lady inflicted on the warden was closing itself in a matter of moments. He used the gathered life energy of his victims to give him an unnatural regeneration. “Damn it, if we don’t act right now, the bastard will become the first merger ghoul in over a century!” Eda cursed. She knew a trick to go around the regeneration, fire magic. Once a wound was cauterized, the healing could not work on the scarred tissue.
So, Eda created a big spell circle with her staff. From it rose a fiery owl-like magic construct. With a wave of her staff, the owl spread its wings and flew toward the raging warden. It engulfed him in golden light. The screams of pain silenced the battle noises in the courtyard. They all stared at the monstrosity the warden had become. Guards looked at the prisoners, and the prisoners looked at the guards. They nodded and brandished their weapons and magic against the turning ghoul. And with a mighty cry, the battle was on. Fire spells, arrows, and bolts filled the air and turned Wrath into a pincushion. But nothing worked. The thick skin of Wrath was too tough to be pierced by either bolt, arrow, or spear. And most of the fire spells were not powerful or hot enough to seriously do much more than annoy the warden. Only the spell that the owl lady was keeping up seemed to hurt the warden at all.
But maintaining the spell was taking its toll on Eda, and back in her mind, she could hear the dreaded growl of her other roommate… “We seriously need a miracle by now…” thought Eda with growing panic. And it seemed that the titan planned to deliver.
Wake up, wake up, human child! “There was that voice again.” Vee muttered and looked around them. The battle seemed to have shifted; now, both sides were working together, peppering Warden Wrath with every spell and projectile they had. “What’s going on?” they muttered. The servants of the pretender have risen up to the task. Listen, little hatchling, for a monster is about to be born into this world. And only because of this fact that the abomination is threatening the natural circle of the devourer, I shall intervene. The voice paused. Lucia felt her wounds close, her broken bones mend together. Use my gif and the power of your first true prey, young one, and free the realm of this sickness! The weird symbol flashed through their mind once again. Vee curiously dipped her finger into a puddle of her own blood. They then drew the symbol with their blood on the ground. “Okay… how do I use that… quirk… of Lucia, no wait, of mine…” Vee had to suppress a grin at the thought. She searched the depths of their being and found a well of power. They gently nudged it and coaxed it to follow their will. The symbol glowed before the blood burst into flames, and then a crackling orb of flaming energy rose into the air, hovering before Vee. Awestruck, Vee, they stared at the orb before them.
A scream of a familiar voice brought them back to reality. It was the fanfic girl Katya. A tentacle had grabbed her and was now dragging her toward one of the two murderous beaks. Save the child of the isles… and urged by the voice and adrenaline pumping through their veins, Vee grabbed the crackling, flaming orb. For a moment, they questioned what to do with the ability, but then a single spear flew through the air, passing Vee on its way. And then something clicked inside of them. “Well, Lucia’s favorite build in that…video game… Elden Ring IS the lightning paladin. So…” The orb in their hand changed its shape into a long crackling lance with flaming energy around it. With a smirk, Vee screamed, “HEY, WRATH!” The creature turned towards them. His three mouths were blabbering and salivating in pure madness. But Vee just grinned. He had turned into the mindless beast he had always tried to turn Vee and their clutch mates into. They removed the falcon mask from their face. “Eat this! LIGNTHING SPEAR!”
And with that, they threw the crackling spear at the monster. Wrath seemed to have enough of his old mind to try to block the incoming attack: his four arms, tentacles, everything to block this one attack. And one of them was the tentacle that held Katya. The spear tore through all of them. Katya fell to the ground but was caught by the eyeball guy, who was currently missing two of his eyeballs.
When the flaming lighting spear hid the body of Wrath, he spasmed and thrashed around. Eda looked at the spectacle before her with utter disbelief. Not only did this HUMAN use magic, but said magic somehow not only hurt Wrath but also prevented his regenerative abilities. An orange crackle of energy that danced along the warden's body gave her the answer. She smacked her hand against her head. “Of course, lightning!” She yelled, and many heard her, realization dawning on their faces, too. “What has lightning to do with anything?” inquired Luz. Eda chuckled grimly. “Well, lightning is known to us as the sibling to fire and light, combining the two forces in itself. When you fight against a foe with regenerative abilities, then fire can be used to cauterize the wounds and prevent them from closing.” She pointed at Wrath, who was still reeling from the attack. “But sometimes we have fuckers like him, blessed with not only potent regeneration but also high defences. In that case, fire can hardly do any harm. But lighting ignores these defences. It flows directly through the muscles and into the body of the victim. It damages and burns everything in its destructive path.” Eda drew a new spell circle. But this time, it crackled with the same aggressive energy as Lucia’s spell. Eda then unleashed her spell, and an arc of lightning shot towards the warden. Others, prisoners, and guards/scouts alike copied Eda, and a myriad of different colored lightning strikes of various strengths and intensities crashed into the monstrosity that Wrath had become.
He shrugged off the majority of them, but Eda and a handful of others stung him or, in Eda’s case, even hurt him.
But it was not enough. The warden monster still stood. “Kid!” yelled Eda with growing concern. “We need another of these spears!” But a gasp from Luz drew her attention to the human girl. Eda’s eyes widened at what she saw. The girl grasped the arm that had hurled the spear. It was charred and trembling uncontrollably. Eda, while still holding her spell steady, moved over to Lucia. “Kid, you need to get out of here!” Eda said that seeing the human's state, she had changed her priorities. But Lucia shook their head. They laid their machete on the ground and drew a weird symbol with blood on its blade, their own blood. Eda paled. Whatever Lucia did, it came dangerously close to blood magic. And that could have severe consequences for humans. Blood magic had its price, besides the obvious, of course.
“Kid, don’t do it!” Eda hissed. But the stubborn human did not, in fact, listen to the witch and tap the glyph. The blade of the machete was enveloped in aggressive, orange lightning. They grasped it. The lighting forks danced across the blade and across Lucia’s flesh, sinking into her arm and charring the flesh and burning the muscle. But all of it didn’t seem to bother the human. No. Lucia had a maniacal smile on her face, and before anyone could stop them, the human was halfway towards the warden. They let out a crazed laugh of pure excitement and ecstasy. When they reached Wrath, they unleashed a barrage of cuts, stabs, and slashes.
Every hide they landed, lightning cracked the air, and both the warden and the human were charred. For all the onlookers, the human thought could only be described in one way: As a berserker in their element. But soon, the human began to make more precise cuts, ran around Wrath, and only attacked seemingly random spots and splashing it with their own blood. But soon, Luz understood. “Cia, that is crazy!” Eda couldn’t wrap her head around it; the attacks seemed random and borderline useless for her. “Eh, don’t let me in the dark! What is your crazy sister doing now?”
Luz sighed. “It seems like Lucia needs to draw this specific symbol to use the lightning. You follow?” Eda nodded; she had seen them drawing the symbol with their own blood. “Okay, and now look again at the pattern my berserker sister is attacking that bastard.” Doing as she was tasked, Eda’s heart stopped for a second with dread. The human was carving the lightning symbol into the flesh of Wrath! “That girl is going to get herself killed!” She yelled in total panic. “I know!” Whined Luz. “I don’t understand it, though. Normally, her quirk should not hurt them this much, except needing a wound for the blood…” But Eda did not heed the contemplation of the human soul within her body. Without a second thought, Eda stormed towards the human. But she was too late. Lucia jumped off the back of Wrath and made their last cut to finish the symbol.
Vee tapped it with a foot. Lightning energy began to gather, floating towards the center of the symbol. Some even burned their way out of Wrath's body, being the remaining energy from the torrent of the other fiery lightning spells. At last, the sphere of crackling energy formed in front of Vee; their last attempt was only the size of their fist. But this one had doubled in size. Vee placed their hand against the orb and willed the energy to change its shape and obey them. The orb began to rotate, and the energy spun around the young shapeshifted basilisk. It lifted them into the air. Meanwhile, the sphere itself formed into a spear. But the excess magic sank into the human disguise and into their basilisk body through their eyes, causing them to spark with blood-red burning lightning. “WRATH!” roared a floating human. “This is your end! For I am Lucia, warrior of peace! And student of magic!” It was something the human would have said, and Vee could not lie; they liked the way Lucia thought. They grabbed the huge lightning spear, but instead of just throwing their weapon, the basilisk held onto it, slowly feeding it more and more magic from their bile stomach, causing the spear to grow in size and potency. Before unleashing her spell, Vee looked Wrath in the eyes of the original head and morphed their own face back into the basilisk. “I hope you’ll suffer as I had suffered in your hands. And despair at the knowledge that I will roam the isles free, hunting, devouring, growing stronger with every witch and demon that ends up in my stomach. I will have the life that should have been mine.” They returned their face to that of Lucia before shouting with all the rage at Wrath and elation at the freedom at hand. “NOW EAT THIS SUCKA!” And with that, they threw the conjured weapon towards Wrath. “Have a taste of my CHARGED BLOOD FLAME LIGHTING SPEAR!” When it hid the screeching Wrath, a mark appeared beneath him, and from the heavens, a giant fork of lightning crashed down and engulfed both the warden and the human, blinding the rest of the courtyard.
When everyone could see again, the sight would haunt their nightmares. On the ground lay the charred remains of Lucia and Wrath. But for better or worse, both were still breathing. Eda stood there, rooted to the ground. Then, a bunch of scouts in blue robes came and surrounded the two. “These are from the healing coven, totally neutral.” informed Eda, the younger twin. Luz was crying inside Eda’s mind. And Eda couldn’t stop herself from letting her own tears flow down her face.
After a few minutes, a scout came to Eda. “Miss Clawthorne, first and foremost, the young woman is fine aside from some severe burns she had received during the fight. I would advise you to see a healer of your trust. And do that fast!” Eda nodded in understanding. “I understand, there is one I know…” Two other healing coven scouts joined them, carrying the badly injured Lucia. They handed Lucia over and nodded to Eda. The owl lady looked around and saw that most of the inmates and prisoners had fled, and only the injured stayed behind. That was a smart move. The healing coven would move them to the next hospital. And that was in one of the neutral zones. The empress and her stooges would have a hard time bringing them into custody without sparking conflict with the neutral zones. “WAIT FOR ME!” Looking at the owner of the voice, Eda smiled warmly when she saw Katya limping towards them. “Please take me with you!” Eda just padded her staff, and the young witch jumped next to her. The healing scout then fixed Lucia on a strap and attached it to the staff. Without another word the group flew towards Bonesborough. The night had fallen again when Eda and Katya landed next to a medium-sized building. Without missing a beat, Eda began to knock at the door with enough force to damage the wood. A commotion could be heard from inside. Finally, the door opened, and Eda smiled at one of her old friends. “It has been quite some time, Umral, but I need your help.”
Notes:
Thank you for reading this, and thank you for your patience, which I must have stretched thin. I had a lot of stuff going on in life, my apprenticeship and trouble at the workplace, add to that that I am a scatterbrain and constantly coming up with new story ideas that shove the older ones aside, and that my brain is currently hyper fixated on the mha fandom. I cannot promise regular or fast updates. Luckily, I have a second chapter ready to drop right now, so I hope you'll enjoy it as well.
Chapter 2: Chapter Two, Part One: the Aftermath
Summary:
the aftermath of the missadventure and the beginning of a new friendship
Chapter Text
Pain, that was all that Vee could feel. A quiet whimper escaped their throat. A gasp came from right next to them. But as much as the basilisk tried, they couldn’t muster the strength to even open their eyes. Vee tried to move, and a burning sensation shot through their arms and ignited an inferno of torment in the rest of their body.
A cool and gentle hand was placed on their chest, gently pressing them down. “Sis, please don’t move…” But this was the wrong action. The sound of that voice gave Vee all the strength and determination they needed. “That is With growls and sneers of pain, they opened their eyes and stared at the owner of the voice, Luz.
Formerly Lucia’s and now Vee’s sister looked at them with worry, consuming her gaze. But something was off. For starters, Luz looked to be quite a bit thinner than she was supposed to be, and maybe it was the weakness of their eyes and the light that blinded her, but Vee could swear that quite a few strands of grey were visible in the normally brown hair of the younger twin. So, despite their entire being protesting, the Latina raised an arm and let it caress a grey strand of their new sister's hair. For some reason, Luz’s face was flushed red. But instead of saying anything or protesting, Luz leaned into Vee’s touch, her eyes closed and a small smile adorning her face. And Vee could not help but let out a small coo at the adorable sight before them. Just then, Vee realized the position the two twins were in. Well, for starters, Vee was lying in a white bed, with Luz right next to them. Secondly, they appear to have taken the position of the big spoon for Vee and the little spoon for Luz. The next thing was the detail that they were both just in their underwear. At first, Vee panicked; had they slipped out of their human form? But since Luz acted so familiar with the basilisk, Vee began to doubt it. A string of memories from Lucia surfaced in Vee’s mind. These brought a sly grin to Vee's face. “Ah, sis, want a bit of snuggle time again~?” they whispered teasingly. From Lucia’s memories, it was a common occurrence for the twins to snuggle with each other like this. Be it a bad dream, a bad day at school (which was quite a number), or they just wanted a bit of company, one of the two would seek the other to snuggle a bit for the night or during a quick power nap. As sisters and twins to boot, they were not shy about exposing themselves in front of each other.
For whatever reason, the nights spent together were the most soothing.
But Luz’s eyes shot open, and they were filled with anger. “You have some nerve to try and tease me like this!” she shoved her index finger accusingly at Vee's chest. “Do you have ANY idea how worried I was?! Still AM?” Seeing their new sister so distraught, Vee lowered their head, shamed to have worried this cute girl. “Wait, why am I caring so much about Luz? I mean, she is cute and pretty, but I don’t even know her that long… something's strange is going on.” Nonetheless, Vee muttered. “I’m sorry, Luz…” Luz sighed and gently cupped the face of her sibling, gently forcing Lucia to look her in the eyes. “I know, and I’m sorry too; I shouldn’t have yelled at you; I overreacted…” But Vee just laughed at that statement, diving further into the memories of the human they had devoured and seeing the nature of said human. “Isn’t it my job to be the overreacting one?” Luz couldn’t help it; she flicked her sister's forehead with a playful giggle.
The two hugged each other, both giggling. “So…” began Vee. “…how bad is it this time?” Luz gave them a deadpan stare. “You wrecked your own body with weird lightning, which you empowered with your quirk… What do you think?!” Her eyes filled with worry. “And Eda was especially worried. She said something about blood magic and its consequences…” Vee looked down at their arms, only noticing now that their arms were wrapped tightly in bandages. They tried to sit up, but a sudden spike of pain shot through their arm, causing them to yelp.
Luz acted quickly, catching her sister, and helped her to sit upright. Vee stared at their arms, which were trembling. They turned to Luz with fear in their eyes, something that Luz saw so rarely that it made her worry even more.
“Sis…” Vee took a shaking breath. “What’s going on…” Before Luz could answer, the door to the room opened, and a new figure, accompanied by Eda, entered. “I can answer that question…” said the new figure. It was an arachnid-type of demon. She had the upper body of a gorgeous woman, though she had four arms and six eyes, with two being more human-like with red irises and the other four being small, black pearls.
She had long, black hair and marble-like skin. Her lips were a wine red and full. She wore nothing but a doctor's coat. Only the nipples of her impressive rack were covered by it. Everything else was clear for the world to see. But the lower part of her body stopped being human; it was the body of a black spider with red markings on her back. She held a clipboard in one hand, with another holding a pen. The third arm held a lit pipe, which puffed up small smoke rings.
The last arm was put on her hip.
She wore a grim expression as she looked at the notes on her clipboard. “Though I have a few questions before I can answer you.” Vee cocked her head, looking at the strange and sexy lady before them. “Uh, who are you, lady?” they asked, a slight edge hidden in their voice. Though they tried to hide it, it seemed that the spider lady had caught on. She gave the human-disguised basilisk an understanding smile. “Don’t worry, little one. I am Umral, a doctor, and I have been taking care of healing your charred body for a while.” That rang alarm bells in Lucia’s head. They looked at Luz with concern. “Vis, how long was I out…?” They received a hug in response. “F-for a w-whole w-week…” she said, her voice trembling with trauma. That left Vee speechless; they stared at Eda, who was leaning on the door frame. The witch nodded gravely. “You were in a pretty bad spot, kid. Truth be told, I didn’t think you were gonna make it.” The doctor nodded in agreement. “Your entire body was damaged by lightning, and thanks to your use of blood magic, healing magic was next to useless.” She turned her gaze to the older twin. “That leads me to my question: how were you able to perform blood magic in the first place?”
That confused the elder Latina greatly. “First of all, what is blood magic? And secondly, I did magic?” Then, the memories came flooding back from the raid on the strange prison. Their eyes brightened and sparkled with excitement. They grabbed Luz and began to shake her, ignoring the pain that their body experienced. “LU! I DID MAGIC! I DID MAGIC!!!” Finally, the pain was too great to bear, and with a wince, they let go of their sister's shoulders. Luz gently laid her sister back in bed. The two others came to her side, and the doctor created a green spell circle and hovered it above the elder twin's body. After a few moments, she nodded. “Well, no wounds reopened, no inner bleedings…” She dismissed the spell and took a few notes on her clipboard. “Just plenty of rest, and in a few more days, you will be right as rain.” She shook her head. “It is a miracle that you healed at all, after using blood magic so recklessly…” Vee let out a groan. “What are you all on about? What is so bad about blood magic? I mean, my quirk relies on blood. AND HOW THE FUCK DID I DO MAGIC?” Eda patted Vee’s head. “Well, little berserker, to make it simple, blood magic is any form of magic where you use blood in it. It is very dangerous and you, crazy little shit, did the most stupid thing and used your own blood. That made your spells very potent but it damaged your body.” The ravenous witch shook her head. “Blood magic is based largely around curses. The witches gather the blood of others and use it to put curses on them. The most basic one is to prevent healing magic from working on the victim.” And now the doctor glared at the Latina. “And guess what kind of curse you used with your OWN blood…”
Lucia gave a nervous chuckle while scratching their head. “It worked, didn’t it…? And my quirk requires me to use my own blood to function, or what the fuck a quirk is.” Several eyes of the spider demon twitched. She hissed at them, leaning down at her. “You should be glad that you SOMEHOW recovered…” she straightened up and threw her four arms into the air. “And I don’t even know how that was possible; by all accounts, you should be DEAD or at least crippled!” She looked at Eda, who gave her a smug and knowing look. The well-endowed witch reached into her hair and retrieved a large bottle with some kind of deep red liquid. She then tossed it to the doctor, who caught it and drowned the entire thing after opening it with a swift motion. But something strange happened. When Umbral was halfway through the bottle, a growl came from the patient's bed. The two witches looked at the source. It was Lucia who pulled their sister close to her chest in a defensive hug. They growled at the doctor, baring their teeth. “Uh, kid, you’re okay?” Asked Eda, confused. But from the elder twin came only more growls. The busty witch turned to Luz, who had used that opportunity to snuggle into her sister's chest with a content expression on her face. When she noticed Eda staring at her, her entire face went red. She gave a nervous chuckle before becoming serious. “Our… mo-…“ another growl from her sister interrupted the younger sibling. “Our birth giver…” a grumble from Lucia was all she needed as confirmation. “Our birth giver was very drunk when we last saw her…” She buried her face once again in her sister's chest, though this time tears escaped her eyes. Lucia acted quickly and began to stroke the head and hair of her sister. Eda sensed heavy family drama, and considering her own history, she knew not to push the two girls before her. “It’s ok; you don’t have to tell us anything.” She made a sign to Umral. The spider demon sighed and lowered her bottle.
“So much for my trauma drink…” But Eda just slapped her back, laughing. “You can drink it after we leave!” But the doc just gave the thick witch a deadpan stare. “With the girl still in such a bad state? No way.” She sighed. “This girl will be in my care for at least a few more days… At least she can change her clothes on her own now…” Suddenly, Vee went very stiff, causing them to hold their sister in a tight grip. But the younger just patted her `siblings'´ back, looking up at her and offering a smile. “Don’t worry, sis, I changed you. No one saw anything.” The older Latina looked at the two other people in the room. Eda just shrugged and nodded while Umral groaned. “She wouldn’t let us even examine you naked, even though it would have made the whole examination and healing so much easier AND faster!” Now Vee relaxed fully and returned to stroking Luz’s hair again. Their eyes landed on the grey strands of hair in their sister’s formerly brown hair.
“What is with your new hair?” They then poked their sister’s stomach. “And why are you so thin? Have you skipped meals again?” The two adults looked in surprise as the berserker fussed over their sibling like a mother hen. Umral shot Eda a smirk and cleared her throat. “That would be Eda’s fault…” Eda’s look of absolute betrayal morphed into nervousness as the temperature in the room dropped by several degrees. Lucia glared at Eda with almost murderous intent. Again, behind the mask of Lucia, Vee began to wonder why they felt so protective about their newly acquired twin.
Eda gave her an unsure smile and raised her hands placatingly. “I can explain, no need to get your knickers in a bunch…” But she received only a growled, “Explain…” from the furious Latina. Eda gulped and sent a silent prayer to the Titan, hoping they would show her mercy and let the human girl accept her explanation. With a deep breath, she began. “Well, it is a consequence of me devouring your sister.” With a shriek, Eda dived for cover. And luckily for her, it was just in time. Embedded in the wall, at the location where Eda’s head had just been, was a knife. Both Umral and Eda stared at the Latina twins. Once again, Lucia was sitting, and her outstretched arm marked them as the assailant. “YOU LET THEM KEEP THEIR KNIVES!?” Eda yelled at Umral. The spider demon herself was wide-eyed. “Do you take me for a fool? OF COURSE, I DIDN’T LET THEM KEEP THEIR DAMN KNIVES!!!” But a chuckle drew their attention to the younger twin. “I told you it would be useless to take away their knives…” to make her point clear, she then reached to the back of Lucia’s bra and took out another knife. “They have knives for days…” The two adults stared at her, mouths agape. “Knives for days…?”
Luz nodded, grinning. “Knives for days.”
Eda shook her head and let out a groan. “You…” she pointed at Lucia, “have some serious problems…” Umral could only nod in agreement. Luz snickered and hugged her sister from behind. “I always say that they were switched as a baby and should actually live in London!”
She ducked as Lucia tried to grab her. She then whispered into her older sister's ear: “It’s all about the knife crime…” But then Luz let out a squeak as Lucia just fell backward, landing on top of their sister. So the two sisters lay there on the bed in a heap, both giggling madly.
Eda glanced at the still-open door and began to move, ever so slowly, towards it, but was stopped when a second knife buried itself in the door, right next to Eda’s head. She turned her gaze towards the bed again, and sure enough, Lucia sat upright again, already holding another knife in her hand. Curiously enough, the knife in the wall was gone. The tapping of little, clawed feet drew her attention to the fifth occupant of the room. “KING!?” she yelled in disbelief. Sure enough, her little free-loader of a son was currently carrying the dagger that he had no doubt pulled from the wall towards the bed. He then climbed quickly onto it and gave the weapon to Luz, who, in turn, gave some candy from the human realm to the demon toddler.
Eda’s eyes twitched as she stared at her son. “Traitor!” she hissed. He just shrugged and pointed at Luz. “She had the better offer.” He then continued to throw some human candy into his mouth without unwrapping it. But a growl turned her attention back to Lucia, who was now aiming the freshly retrieved knife at Eda. King eyed the weapon wearily. “Thought Luz DID promise that Lucia wouldn’t kill you…” Now Lucia gave their sister a look. Luz sighed and nodded. “Yes, Cia, I promised that we wouldn’t have to hide a body.” With a grumble, the elder Latina lowered the knife. “Explain…” they grunted. Eda took that as her cue to continue her interrupted explanation. “Well, when we witches or demons devour others, we tend to simply reform them later on. But we take some of the nutrients of their bodies, reducing their overall mass, and add that to our own.” She then pointed at the grey hair strands in Luz’s air. “But we also take some of the lifespan of our prey.” Lucia's eyes darkened as her glare intensified. “What does that mean exactly? You took her life span…?” Eda gulped. “Well, in the truest sense of the word, your sister will die sooner when she should have…” Apparently, Eda had expected the twins' reaction as she dove for cover as a knife flew through the air, once again aimed at her head.
But before things escalate, the spider doctor stepped in. “While it is true that the life span of your sister has been shortened…” She glared at Eda, “…immensely…” She turned back to the twins. “It does not mean that your sister will die before her time.” She drew a spell circle and vial with a sapphire blue liquid inside it. “We have developed a treatment to restore the life force of the less fortunate.”
“She means the weak!” yelled King excitedly. Lucia looked confused. Eda, seeing that no more knives would be thrown at her, probably stood up. “Well, to clarify what my little freeloader said: Here on the boiling isles, every witch and demon is both predator and prey alike. We devour each other constantly. So even if we steal some life span of others, the prey can just eat another person to get that life span back. The most successful predators are truly ancient, living for centuries already, some even for a millennium and more.”
She let her hands roam her form, making both sisters blush again. “And as a bonus, we can get to choose how young we look! Though there is a minimum to look like our 16-year-old selves.” She then grabbed her two melons and weighed them in her hands, making Luz almost faint. “The more experienced or talented predators can also allocate the gained mass exactly where they want it to go on their body.” Umral coughed, her entire face red and even her beady black eyes had turned cherry red. “W- well, some people are just too weak to truly hunt others. For those, we have made these potions to make sure that they don’t die… Unless they are absorbed, of course…” Lucia raised an eyebrow. “Absorbed?” Eda nodded. “The ultimate death. The predator digests the prey; normally, a soul mark is formed from a bit of essence and mass of the prey so that they can be reformed later on. But when someone is absorbed, even the soul mark is fully consumed by the predator.” Eda sat on a chair and looked at the twins.
“There are laws imposed by the government and even the Isles themselves that will prevent too many absorptions. For example: kids till the age of 16 are forbidden from partaking in any devouring activity, nor being allowed to participate as a predator, or titan forbid, as prey.” The doctor chimed in. “Though there are some exceptions, you see, reformation after being devoured combined with healing magic can be one of the best healing we have. So, in the worst cases, we allow either a family member or a doctor, under the supervision of other healers, to feed the underage subject to save their life. In other cases of adoption, it can be done too.” Luz hummed in contemplation. “Interesting, in the human realm, eating others is heavily restricted, like only heroes are normally allowed to eat others, and that falls mostly to criminals. Of course, there are still instances of people eating each other, most commonly by criminals, but even regular people seek opportunities to snack on others either to grow in strength or to get some kind of revenge.” She paused for a moment. “I should add, in the human realm, we don’t have that soul mark thing, if a person is eaten, then it is game over for them. Of course, doing anything to children under the age of 16 is punishable by death. And we have created laws of “the successful hunter”, if a person manages to eat another and then is not being caught for a certain amount of time, depending on how important the eaten version was, then all charges will be dropped against that person.”
Umbral hummed. “That is very interesting. The common belief is that humans can’t devour others.” She sighed. “But that is beside the point.” She gave Luz the vial, which Luz opened and drank the sapphire blue liquid. “We established a donation, similar to blood donations in the human realm, only that the witches and demons give us the tiniest fractions of their life span in the healing coven. And we distil it into this rejuvenation potion.”
Lucia was fascinated as she watched the potion already taking effect on her sister: The grey strands were turning a bit browner again, and her body seemed more energetic. The doctor created another spell circle and hovered it above Luz. “This spell scans both the vitals of a being and their life span, too.”
After a few moments, she dismissed the spell and nodded, seemingly satisfied. “Very good, your treatment seems to go well. Your lifespan seems to have nearly recovered, and the lost body mass can be recovered by just eating plenty and exercising a bit.” Lucia hugged their sister and let out a contented grumble, glad that Luz was okay. However, one thing bothered them. They looked at the doctor. “So doc, why do you give my sis the treatment only now?” Umral raised an eyebrow. “You are mistaken, young one; Luz has been on this treatment as long as you have been unconscious.” Lucia paled and stared at Luz, who looked nervously at the ground, not meeting the eye of her sister. “It wasn’t that bad, Lu…” But the doctor harrumphed and crossed two of her spider legs in front of her body. “Not bad? Young one, you had 3/4 of your lifespan taken! If we hadn’t put you on an emergency treatment, then you might as well have withered and died in just a few days!” Luz gulped and looked at Lucia; the doctor did the same and paled.
Lucia was frothing at the mouth, eyes filled with pure rage and hatred as they stared at Eda. In truth, Vee had to keep themselves from changing back into their basilisk form and siphoning all the magic they could from the witch in front of them, before devouring her and adding her great mass to their own body. The witch walked over to the enraged basilisk in human form and hugged her. “I’m very sorry, kid, for both endangering your sister and for putting you in such a position…” To everyone's surprise, the `human´ did not attack the busty witch. “Why?” they grunted. Luz could tell that it took all of their willpower for Lucia not to murder the witch in front of her.
Eda sighed and removed herself from the girl and stood in front of them. “Well, it is not by choice that I took so much life span from your sister…” With another sigh, she continued. “I have this… condition that forces me to use my life force to cast my spells. So, while I hold off all the idiots at the Conformatorium, I shortened my lifespan so much that I had no other choice but to leech from your sister, or I would have died right then and there.” Vee studied the witch before them, scrutinizing her for any sign of a lie. After finding none, they relented. “All right…” Everyone stared at them. “I won’t kill you…” A sigh of relief escaped everyone's lips. But Vee quickly grabbed Eda's arms and stared the witch in the eyes with a wicked grin. “But one thing you should know… I hold unto grudges… And I WILL find a way to get back at you… That I promise…” They let go of the arm and slumped back on the bed, their eyes closing, and soon, a soft snoring filled the room.
“Well, that went better than expected…” muttered Luz. The two other adults stared at her, dumbfounded, but both chose not to question it further.
Eda slapped her head and groaned. “Great, we forgot to ask how they managed to do magic!” Luz slowly stood up, carefully not to wake her sibling up. She then went over to a table and grabbed both paper and a pencil. She drew the symbol that Lucia had used against Wrath and, as her sibling had done, tapped it. But nothing happened.
She whined, grumbled about the paper, and threw it on the pile of other failed attempts. “I just don’t know how they did it!” She moaned. Eda stepped to her. “Maybe you need to draw it with your blood? Like your sister did?” Umral let out a hiss. “I will have NO blood magic in my clinic!” Eda chuckled and bumped the spider body of Umral with her butt. But Luz shook her head. “No, that’s not it. It is Lucia’s quirk that requires the blood; it is normal for them to coat their knives in blood before activating their quirk.” Finally, Eda had had enough. “Okay, kid, spill. What are these quirks you keep talking about?” Luz pointed at the sleeping Lucia. “Could we move to somewhere else before we wake them? They will be in a bad mood if they woke up from a nap too early.”
Eda just patted her head with an understanding smile and a sigh. “Your sibling is something else, huh?” Luz nodded, smiling at her sister. “Yeah, they are really special…” Eda couldn’t help but snort at that comment. “Don’t sell yourself short, kid.” She laid her hand on Luz’s shoulder. “You were able to speak to me while being nothing more than a soul mark!” Luz blushed, and suddenly, Umral began to cough violently. The good doctor appeared to have snuck a few sips of the alcohol that Eda had given her earlier. And now it appeared she was choking on it. After a few moments to calm herself down and taking a few deep breaths, the doctor looked at Eda, now a small spark of madness glimmering in her many eyes. “Eda… why didn’t you tell me about that…?” Eda gave a nervous laugh and rubbed the back of her neck. “Well, to be honest, with the state the knife maniac was in, I kinda forgot about that…” Umral sighed and took another swig of her bottle. She then looked at Lucia and then Luz. “You won’t wake them if I drink a bit?” Luz gave her a smile and shook her head. “You are not our… birth giver… So, as long as you're not drunk, it’s okay.” She gave her sleeping sister a quick glance. “Though I would recommend not to drink while Lucia is here; they might not react that well.” Umral looked at her patient with worried eyes. “Noted, but I have to ask, will they always react that violently?” Luz went over to her sister and gently stroked their hair. A smile played on her lips when the berserker made an almost mewling sound as they snuggled into Luz’s hand.
“Believe it or not, they can be quite gentle… and very excitable…” Luz snickered at some memories of her sister in the past. “Truth be told, when they are not agitated, they have the energy of an excited puppy.”
Umral chose not to voice her doubts about the berserker before her. If she were honest, the `human´ was scaring her. She shook her head, and after taking another long swing of her bottle, she turned back to Luz. “So back to the matter at hand… Were you truly able to speak to Eda after she devoured, digested, AND turned you into a soul mark or soul tattoo, whatever you want to call it?” Luz nodded, and Umral groaned. “What’s the deal with you and your sister doing crazy feats on your first day here?” She gestured at the sleeping human. “A HUMAN doing magic- blood magic, I might add, beating a merger that was turning into a ghoul and then recovering from severe wounds while being cursed by said blood magic… And now you’re telling me you did something that only a few powerful witches needed years of training… And you don’t even know how you did it, do you?” Luz blushed and shrugged her shoulders. “Again, quirks, Lucia has one related to their blood, while mine…” Luz hesitated for a moment; a mix of fear of rejection and anxiety settled into her demeanour. After a moment, she finally continued. “While mine is connected to the mind, literally.” She sighted. “It is complicated and multi-levelled, but telepathy is one of the easier aspects of it.” She pointed at her eyes. “Though it does have its drawbacks, and signs that I use it. If you see my eyes glowing an azure blue, then my quirk is active.”
Umral had had enough and turned to Eda, choosing to prevent any more headaches and preserve her sanity for at least another day. “Well, for now, the two humans are looking good. While Lucia needs to stay for quite a while to make sure they recover properly and won’t suffer any aftereffects from exposure to blood magic.” She pointed one of her arms at Luz. “She is recovering well and can leave. Now the only question would be where she could stay…” Eda rolled her eyes and gave the arachnid doctor an annoyed grin. “You don’t need to try to convince me to take her in; I already was planning to do it anyway!” She gave a hearty laugh at the shocked look of the spider demon. “The little rager over there saved my son and me later on, as well as both the scouts and inmates. The least I could do is offer them a place to stay…” She gave the two sisters an almost melancholic glance. “And they are like I was, how I am once again…” She felt a hand on her shoulder. It was Umral, who had an understanding smile on her lips. She pulled Eda into a hug, enveloping her with her four arms. Eda grumbled, but Umral knew it was just an act to uphold her `Bad-Girl´ image. The two women had quite a history behind them. Friends for as long back as their school days. They separated when a quiet giggle reminded them that they were not alone.
Luz sat at the head of the bed, her sister's head in her lap, still stroking it gently.
“So, just because my sis would scold me for not asking you, what’s your story?” She asked while gesturing between the two women. Eda and Umral both blushed. An awkward silence filled the room, with both women refusing to look at either each other or at Luz, who had a smug grin on her face while wriggling her eyebrows.
“It’s not like you think, little human; we are just friends…” Umral tried to argue, only to be interrupted by Eda’s cackling laughter. “Oh, my cute little spider, I would say we are much more than just friends…”
The spider demon groaned and stared at the voracious witch. “First, you promised never to call me that while others were in the room. Second, I don’t think they need to learn about THAT aspect of our civilization quite yet.” Before Luz could ask Eda nodded. “I agree, at least not before her sibling is awake too…”
Luz could see that she would not be getting any answers out of the duo. So she just pouted. Eda, who saw that, laughed and went over to the Latina and ruffled her hair. “Now, as adorable as it looks, there is no need to pout. You’ll know soon enough. For now, we two will go back to the owl house. Your sister will be in safe hands with Umral.” But Luz let go of her sister's head and crossed her arms into an X shape before her while shaking her head frantically. “Bad idea!” She exclaimed, her voice raised, though apparently not enough to wake the slumbering human in her lap. “If Lucia wakes up and I’m not here, they will be VERY nervous…” Umral gave her a gentle smile, trying to calm the younger human down. “It is only natural for her to be concerned about you… But it won't be so bad.” Luz gave her a deadpan stare.
“If my sister is nervous about something, especially if it is about me… she tends to react quite violently…” Now, the other two occupants of the room began to sweat a little; one thing they didn’t want to risk was making the mad woman on the bed to fall into a frenzy… Umral coughed into one of her hands. “Noted, till Lucia recovers, I will house you two in my clinic…”
She gave Luz a tired look. “Well, if you are staying here, then you will do me a little favor, okay?” Luz put a finger on her chin, thinking for a few moments. She then grinned and nodded. “Okay, what can I do?” Umral pointed at the empty vial. “I need you to get a few of these from the market. A contact of mine from the potion coven sells them there.” She sighed and sat on a stool. “Normally, I would get my supply from the healing coven directly, but with how bad your state was, I emptied much of my reserves. So, I need extra vials for your remaining therapy.”
Luz nodded and stood up. She gave her sister a gentle kiss on the forehead and went towards the door. She was about to reach it when Eda’s raised staff blocked her path. The younger twin looked at the busty witch. She gave the Latina a toothy grin and pointed at her. “How about a few clothes first?” Luz looked down at herself and blushed heavily when she realized that she wore nothing more than her underwear. “Clothes sound like a good idea…” she mumbled, embarrassed. The two women left the room so that the young human could have some privacy.
Luz joined Umral and Eda a few minutes later in the living room of Umral above the clinic.
Now fully dressed, she smiled at the two women. “So, what’s my job again, doc?” She asked, deciding to shoot her famous finger guns at the spider demon. The eight-legged demon raised an amused eyebrow at the strange gesture. She giggled, grabbed a map from a drawer, and laid it on the small table before them. She pointed at one area. “This is the market…” She moved her finger and pointed at a specific building. “Here is the shop you need to visit; it’s a potion shop run by an associate from Eda and myself; his name is Morton.” Another arm of Umral reached for a different cupboard and retrieved a small leather pouch, which she threw to Luz. The young woman caught it hastily and looked inside it. The pouch contained a few coins and some printed money. “These are snails, the currency of the boiling isles. It should be more than what is required for the potions I need for you.” Umral gave Luz a small and friendly smile. “So go and spend it on something nice. You deserve it after SOMEONE…” She gave Eda a side-eye. “…put you through so much stress and trauma in the recent past.” Luz grinned eagerly, pocketed the money, and promptly ran out of the door. Or at least she tried to; she was stopped by a golden glow that formed around her body. Luz looked back and saw Eda maintaining a spell circle. “Before you storm off and get eaten by some random thug…” The voracious witch grabbed something from a window still and threw it at Luz, too. All Luz could hear was a surprised “Weh?” before something black and furry hit her head.
Eda cackled at the sight before her. King was confused and clinging to Luz’s head, obscuring her face. All the while, Luz stumbled around and tried to get the little demon off.
When she finally succeeded, she gave the witch an annoyed glare while holding the confused King in her arms. Eda just waved her hand dismissively at the duo.
“Take the freeloader with you; he’ll be your guide and keep you out of trouble, hopefully.” King glared at Eda, crossing his arms. “Why do I have to go with the minion?” Eda stood up and went over to them. She then bonked King on the head. “First off, she also helped to save your butt; she gave much of her essence to me during the fight through which you slept! Hiding in my hair!” Eda then bent over and whispered to the little demon. “Also, I really need you to keep her safe. Imagine what her sibling would do if something happened to the human.” The occupants of the room, minus Luz, shuddered at the thought of being on the bad side of the enraged berserker.
The small demon eyed the human wearily. “Ok, that makes sense…” Luz huffed with a slight annoyance. “Is my sister scaring you all really that much?” She groaned when every occupant in the room, besides herself, nodded at the same time.
“Trust me, when you get to know them, they are a total sweetheart and goofball.” The other people didn’t seem convinced. Luz just sighed and turned toward the door.
“Well, I should get going while daylight is still there…” Eda nodded in approval. “Oh yeah, at night, a whole different bunch of predators come crawling out of their hiding places.” Luz stared at the voluptuous witch with both horror and disgust. After a moment, Eda seemed to realize her own implication and paled. She stood up and waved with her arms frantically. “Not
THAT kind of predator! I mend beings that are specialist to hunt their prey during the night! Like vampires and stuff!” Luz let out a sigh and made her way out of the room. Outside, Eda and Umbral could hear the young human talk to King. The little demon seemed to retell her of the greatness of his rule.
A little while later, Luz was strolling through the market. And everywhere she looked, wonders and curiosities revealed themselves to her. From amulets containing ancient spirits (at least according to the bat-like demon that was selling them, though King did dismiss them as nothing more than shiny rocks with lesser spirits bound to them) to various herbs, parts of animals Luz had never heard of before, not even in the many legends or cryptid stories. “Damn, we are lucky that Cia isn’t here with us, or we would be stuck here while they try to get something for every stand here!” King’s eyes widened at that and he quickly looked into the bag of money that was given to them and then at Luz. “We wouldn’t have any cash for snacks!” he cried out in horror. But Luz smiled at him and shook her head. “Who said they would have paid for any of the stuff?” the demon pup looked up at the human confused. “But the stuff is all so expensive. It would easily cost us all our money!” But Luz just smiled at him as they passed a stand selling some of these weird amulets.
“Oh I have a discount around here~” She raised her hand and opened it, revealing a pendant of a black stone with a pearl-like orb in the middle. King’s eyes sparkled with joy and adoration. “How much did you pay?” Grinning, Luz formed a circle with the thumb and index finger of her other hand. “Little secret, you don’t have to pay anything if you have a five-finger discount~” King giggled. “Wow, you are either brave or really dumb.” Hearing that, Luz gave him a confused look. The demon pup climbed on her shoulder and pointed at another stall; there, another witch had tried to steal a few fruits, but the vendor noticed the witch. The vendor grabbed the thief and quickly devoured it. The terrified screams of the thief filled the market. A burb of the vendor ended the spectacle as the thief was now struggling inside the vendor’s gut. “We have pretty loose laws around here…” King started explaining. “… most of the things end up with one person devouring the other.” Luz was stunned by this. The owl lady explained some things to her during Luz’s stay in Umbral’s clinic, but it was a different matter to witness things like this in person. Luz shuddered slightly and quickly pocketed the pendant.
They continued their way around the market, looking at all the oddities that were offered for sale. King suddenly poked Luz’s head and pointed towards a different stall; there, a group of students was trying to buy an expensive-looking item. But after they put all their money on the table, the vendor shook his lizard-like head. It seemed that the money was not enough. A teenager said something to him, and the vendor seemed to think about something. He then pointed at three people in the group. The teenagers spoke with each other before the three chosen teenagers stepped towards the vendor, who grabbed them one by one and quickly sent them on a one-way trip toward his stomach. They didn’t struggle or shout. After the vendor had had his fill, he took the money on the table and used his lizard tail to present the other teenagers with the item. The teens took the item and, while leaving, waved at the vendor who was rubbing his bloated belly.
King cleared his throat to gain Luz’s attention, which he did. He pointed at the vendor and his new belly. “Eating each other is a method of payment here; if you don’t have enough snails, then you can pay by offering yourself or someone else as payment.” The young demon hopped from her shoulder and began to walk towards a building at the edge of the market. “Don’t worry about them, and the guy will reform them probably tomorrow. Now, let's go; we are nearly there!
But before the duo could continue, a commotion started next to them. Screams and shouts echoed through the area as a single witch ran past Luz and King. His clothes were covered in paint, and he had a panicked expression on his face. “STOP! IN THE NAME OF EMPRESS!” Shouting and following him were a couple of town guards. The witch turned around and flipped his pursuers off with a rather rude gesture while screaming, “FUCK YOUR EMPRESS!”. Witnessing this, King cackled madly, rolling on the ground. Other parents quickly covered the eyes and ears of their children; Luz did nothing of the sort to King; the Latina was used to this rude behavior from her sibling. Lucia was always rather rude to others or outsiders or aggressive. But when they were around people they trusted, which became only Luz and Masha, they were soft and gentle. Returning to reality from her reminisces by the approaching footsteps of the witch and the guards.
Before the young demon on the ground could be hurt by either the fleeing witch or the pursuing guards, Luz scooped King up and put the still giggling youngling back on her shoulder. As the witch passed Luz, he suddenly spun around and grabbed her shoulders. He jumped behind her, turning the human towards the guards. “Sorry, kid, but I will not be captured by these idiots.” And with that, he opened his maw wide and quickly brought it down on her head. “Not again!” whispered Luz. Last time, when Eda had eaten her, she had taken the Latina by surprise.
But this time, Luz was not taken by surprise. She drove her elbow into the gut of her adversary, stopping him from gulping her down. He pulled back his head in a cry of pain. Then she slammed her arms against his, and combined with the pain and surprise, he lost his grip on her shoulders. King chose this opportunity to jump at the witch and rammed his skull-covered head against the head of the witch. The witch cursed and stumbled back from the impact. King clung to him for a few moments and slapped his bone-clad claws across the face of the witch. Suddenly, the witch regained his bearings and grabbed King. With a maddened look in his eyes, he glared at the demon pup. “I just wanted to snack on the witchling, but you will do too, you mutt!” gasps came from the witches and demons around; it was a known taboo to eat a being under the age of 16 years, and it could have severe consequences.
Luz would not let that happen, activating her quirk; her eyes glowed with an azure blue light as she stared at the guy. “LET HIM GO.” It was not a shout; her voice wasn’t even raised, but it carried a cold like the harshest winter with it. The male witch gave a laughing bark and looked at Luz. “Or what you dam-“ he stared at her eyes and stopped. Luz used all her will and besieged the mind of the witch before her. And to her pleasure, she quickly overwhelmed the guy and his mental defences grumbled under her assault. He let King go, setting the pup on the ground. Luz thought for a moment. The laws around quirks did not exist in this world, and society seemed pretty okay with devouring others, so if Luz took over the mind of that guy, they would not mind, right? “I can try at least.” She thought, and so she let her mind invade the broken mind of her opponent and planted a tiny seed into it. While Luz would love to speed up the process, she had only grown a seedling once. “Now you will…”
Suddenly, vines shot up from the ground, lifting King from the ground. They gently guided him across the market, away from Luz. Then, purple slime restrained the witch by wrapping around his body, which broke him out of Luz’s control. “FUCK!” yelled the witch in frustration and suprise. He tried to struggle against his restraints, but any hopes of escape were quickly killed off as a new, cold voice rose from the muttering of the crowd. “Struggling won’t help you, criminal.”
Searching for the owner of the voice, Luz quickly found it, and it left her almost drooling. It was a tall woman with raven black hair that fell down her back like a waterfall towards her butt and even a bit lower. While Eda was already tall, standing 8 feet tall, this woman towered even above her! If Luz had to guess, then this woman was at least 8’7 feet tall! She towered over Luz with her 5.5 feet. And while Eda had her beaten in thickness, this woman was still a bombshell. She wore a black dress that opened around her flat and soft-looking belly and had a kyte-shaped cleavage that gave a nice view of her generous breasts, which were a bit smaller than Eda’s but still very large. And her rear was filling the dress quite nicely, too, while her tights made the dress almost form-fitting. The entire dress seemed to be wrapped tightly around the figure. Around her hung a cloak embroidered with golden inlays that formed beautiful patterns and intriguing designs. Stealing a glance at the cleavage of this tall witch, it appeared that she wore some fishnet tank top beneath her dress that ended beneath her chest. The tall witch’s skin was snowy, almost marble white. Moving her gaze upwards, Luz inspected her face. It was sharp, her eyes an icy glowing blue with dark blue eyeliner and black eyeshadow. Her lips were full and covered in black, glossy, metallic lipstick.
She held the black demon cub in her arms and glared daggers at the constrained witch. King suddenly jumped out of her arms and ran over to Luz, climbed up the human, and rested on her shoulder, hugging her. The tall witch spared them a glance before returning her attention to the constrained witch before her. She let out a hiss. “Valintro Melandros, you stand accused of not only besmirching the face of the empress on the statue at the central plaza but also desecrating the shrine to the heroes of the rebellion.” She grabbed the witch, dispelling the goo and vines holding him. “But worst of all, you tried to devour a minor, a youngling who has not yet reached the age of 16. This would normally mean petrification and then shattering. But I have a different idea…” She pointed to her exposed belly, where a smear of brown, red, and yellow was visible. “You ruined my dinner and destroyed my favorite Not-Dog stand, so I would say you owe me dinner.” She took a deep breath and then announced in a voice that echoed across the market square. “For besmirching the face of my mother, the Empress, and for the primordial crime of trying to devour a minor, with the power granted me to me by my station as princess of the isles, I sentence you to be devoured by me, and suffer full absorption of mind, body, and soul.”
And with that declaration, she chomped down on the witch and quickly devoured him, sending his struggling form deep inside her body. As he reached her stomach, he started to struggle in earnest for his life. From the outside, the tall witch’s belly had extended outwards, and the design of the dress came into play; it seemed to extend itself without cutting into the enlarged flesh of the gut.
The tall witch looked with contempt at her threshing belly. With a quick draw of a spell circle, she hastened the digestion of her prey. And before the eyes of the people around her, the witch inside her was turned into nutrients and was quickly distributed across the tall witch’s body, enhancing it even further. Her breasts grew even larger, nearly rivaling Eda’s now, her butt gained some more fluffiness too, and her tights grew in size too. At the end, a soul mark appeared on the tall witch’s chest. The tall man then took out an amulet, and Luz realized that this was similar to the pendant she had stolen. The tall witch touched the orb on the amulet and drew a spell circle. Suddenly, the soul mark on her chest glowed in a pale blue light and began to disintegrate slowly. At the same time, the glow began to spread from the disintegrating mark across the tall witch’s body. Finally, she stopped glowing and let out a satisfied sigh before she had to quickly cover her mouth to suppress a violent burp that escaped her mouth. But something caught the attention of Luz, the seed she planted into the witches mind was now residing within the mind of the newcomer. “Interesting… that could be quite useful…” She whispered as silently as she could. Luz reached out with her mind to connect to the seed, finding a VERY weak connection. But it was there and she was able to command it. “Be careful and remain unseen, but grow and prosper, evolve till you are ready to take over…” Luz knew it was villainous what she was doing, but both she and her sister had been treated like scum and villains in their home, so both agreed to use their quirk for a better life if they could.
After the newcomer was finished digesting body, mind, and soul of the criminal, she turned to the crowd. “This is the fate of all who break the primordial laws given to us by the titan himself!” Then she smiled. “Now, please go on with your lives. The coven officials will handle the situation from here on out.” And with that, the crowd dispersed. The tall witch then turned towards Luz and King. “Young witchling, are you alright?” but Luz nodded. The tall witch extended a hand towards the Latina. “I am coverntess Lilith Clawthorne, princess of the isles. It is nice to meet you…” it was then that Lilith got a good look at Luz, and one detail stood out: the witch bent down to get a better look at Luz to confirm her suspicions. “Round ears…” mumbled Lilith. She then lowered herself to be on the same eye level as the discovered human. “Are you a human, young one?” Luz nodded, not really seeing any negatives in revealing this detail. Lilith nodded her head. “Well, young one, where are you currently staying? You witnessed how dangerous the isles can be.” King took this as his cue to join the conversation. “Well, aunty, she is staying with us!” Luz looked at the demon toddler in surprise and then pointed at the tall witch. “She is Eda’s sister?
Now, it was Lilith’s turn to be surprised. “You know my sister?” she then rubbed her chin. “Well, you are traveling with King, and my sister would never let him stay with someone she doesn’t trust.” Luz cocked her head and looked at the tall witch in confusion. “But if you are such an important person, why are you in a market like this?” From what Dr. Umbral had told her, Bonesburrough was a relatively small town. King peaked his head up and smiled mischievously. “She loves the not dogs here. She can’t have enough of them!” she then whispered to Luz, just loud enough for Lilith to still be able to hear him. “Mom told me that Aunty had once eaten over thirty not dogs from a specific vendor…” Lilith’s cheeks flushed red, and she pointed her index finger accusingly at King; the air of authority had gone. “I told you to stop spreading that story! You know Eda made that one up!” but she giggled and petted the demon toddler but then looked at the two quizzingly. “But why would the two of you walk around the market by yourselves?” Her eyes narrowed with suspicion, and the authority in her behavior returned in full. “You’re not helping Eda with one of her scams, are you?” Luz quickly shook her head. “No, Dr. Umbral had sent us to get more life-restoring potions.” Lilith studied the human before her closer, and only now did she notice the grey strands of hair and how thin this human looked. Lilith’s eye began to twitch as her mind put the puzzle pieces together. “You ended up in my sister’s gut, didn’t you…” Luz rubbed her neck in embarrassment but nodded. Lilith sighed and shook her head. “That greedy sister of mine…” she returned her gaze to Luz. “My condolences…” she saw the pendant that was sticking out of Luz’s pocket. The tall witch smiled a bit. “Interested in pendants, are we?” Luz paled a bit and let out a nervous laugh. Lilith raised a hand to calm the nervous human. “I won’t question how you got that pendant… today at least.” She opened her hand and held it expectantly out towards Luz. “Let me see it, please.” Luz sighed and gave the tall witch the pendant. Lilith inspected it thoroughly. After a while, she huffed and crushed the pendant in her hand, eliciting a shout of surprise and indignation from Luz. But Lilith shook her head. “This was praised as an oracle pendant, holding a spirit of some kind, wasn’t it?” Luz nodded, still glaring at the witch before her. Lilith was unperturbed by the glaring human. Instead, she chose to continue her explanation. “This was a fake; the orb was made from cheap glass, and the wood was the lowest quality imaginable. I have seen better pendants made from trash, some even made by Edalyn herself. And they worked, mind you.” These words kinda hurt Luz, and it seemed that her eyes conveyed her disappointment. Lilith smiled and took out another small pendant. It was made from beautifully carved wood with an orb of beautiful teal color. The chain was made from a silver string-like material. It was a stunning work of craftsmanship in Lilith’s palm. The tall witch held it towards Luz. “This was made by my former father and my true mother. Sadly, the spirit that is contained within never listened to me or Edalyn.” She gave Luz a wink. “Maybe the spirit will listen to you.” She shrugged her shoulders. “Then again, humans do not have the ability to cast spells.” Before Luz could correct her and tell the witch about the fact that her sibling had cast magic, a crow came flying down to Lilith and landed in her hand, where it transformed into a tiny cloud of smoke into an old block phone that still looked a lot like the crow.
Lilith listened to the person speaking at the other end. She sighed and looked at the duo before her. “So much for my lunch break…” Luz cocked her head. “Who was that?” Lilith sighed. “It’s my sibling; they need me to help them with an investigation…” Luz’s eyes sparkled; she knew that her own sibling would love to hear more about the family tree and Eda's background. “So Eda has another sibling?” But to her surprise, Lilith shook her head. “No, they are a sibling of mine; we became siblings after accepting the embrace of our mother, the empress. Eda was supposed to join us, to live with us and help guide the Isles to a better future, but she refused and turned on us…” She sighed and turned to Luz. “But that is not important right now…” The tall witch bent down and fastened the pendant around Luz’s neck. “I am sure we will see each other again, Luz the human.” With that, she disappeared into the crowd.
“BYE AUNTY!” King yelled and waved enthusiastically after her. Luz had a question for King. “If she is a member of the royal family, isn’t she responsible for the conformatorium and stuff?” King nodded and shrugged his shoulders. “She is a dumb aunt, but she is still my aunt.”
Somehow, this reminded Luz of her birth giver. Checking to see if the seed was still in Lilith's mind, and was pleased to feel the connection to it even after losing contact with the tall witch. “This is something I need to discuss with sis…” But Luz shook her head, storing that line of thought into the back of her mind and started to walk to their destination, the little shop with a potion bottle painted on the wall. “Morton’s Potion-Brewery…” Muttered Luz as she read the name of the job. The vendor was a middle-aged witch, if Luz had to guess, and the witch was thin and lanky. It made Luz think that he was perhaps not the best predator around. He had a pale complexion, brown hair, and sunken brown eyes. Weirdly enough, he wore a grey funnel for a hat. For the rest of his attire, he wore a brown tunic, pants, and a darker brown belt. Underneath the tunic, he wore teal-colored sleeves that ended in fingerless gloves. A necklace in the form of a frog hung around his neck.
He looked tiredly at the duo. “Morning, what can I do for you?” he asked. Quickly, Luz gave him the letter that Umral had given her. The witch read over the letter, nodded, and with the words “I will be back in a minute,” went into the back of his shop. And true to his words, it took a few minutes before he returned with a sack full of potions. “Here, these are all the life recovery potions that I have. It should be enough to cover the amount Umral has spent.”
Just as Luz wanted to take the bag and thank the potion witch, a yell made them halt. “Morton!” It was a young witch. And the sight of her caused Luz to take a step back. The witchling was thin, her ribs visible beneath the skin, and her hair was almost completely grey. Her clothes hung loosely on her body. Her head seemed to have just enough strength to bear the burden of the thick glasses that rested on her nose. Even her eyes seemed to be kind of dead. She wore a grey tunic with a pink-sleeved shirt under it. Grey pants and brown boots completed her depressed look.
But the pioneer gave this girl a kind smile. “Hello, Willow, how are you today?” But it seemed that Willow had no patience for pleasantries. With a pleading look and exasperation in her voice, she begged Morton. “Please, Morton, I need a life extender!” Morton looked at her with concern. Again? Did you not just take some last week?” Willow looked at the ground, shame turning her face red. “Some thugs jumped me and ate me… If not for who my mistress is, they might have absorbed me completely…” Morton sighed and shook his head; his voice was filled with sadness. “Sorry, Willow, but I just sold the last potions I had to this young lad here.” He pointed at Luz. “She comes from Umbral’s clinic, so maybe you can go there for a quick visit?” Willow’s frame trembled, tears beginning to escape her eyes. “The clinic has been closed for a few days already! I can’t wait much longer!” She hugged herself, her face riddled with desperation. “My friend said that I have only twenty-seven hours remaining…” She raised her head; her eyes had lost all hope and seemed dull. “That was yesterday…”
Her voice cracked as a sob forced itself out of the witch's throat. “I don’t want to die! What about my dads?” The young witch sank to her knees and wailed. Luz observed this scene. King hopped onto her shoulder and pointed at the witch on the ground. “See that? That is the drawback of our society: if you're too weak, then you have to accept that others will rob you of your life span and rely on a limited cure to gain it back, or else they die like this one.” His voice lacked the usual boastfulness or superiority he had prior to when Umbral explained the life span situation. Luz had to do something. She knew Lucia would have tried something. Thinking a bit, the Latina finally looked at the potion bag. “Umbral will probably chew me out for this…” She took three of the seven bottles contained within the bag out and offered them to the crying girl. “Hey there, take these.” A look of disbelief appeared on the young witch's face, and even Morton looked surprised at the young Latina. “Are you sure? The latter stated that these potions are important for your own recovery. This could put you at risk as well.” But Luz just shrugged. “The doc said that I am well on the road to recovery. So I think I should be fine with waiting for the next batch.” She nudged the three bottles again towards Willow. The girl, in turn, gave the Latina a scrutinizing gaze. “Why would you give it to me? What do you want from me? If you want favors from my mistress, then I have to tell you; she will devour and absorb you before giving in to any of your demands.” Luz cocked her head, visibly confused. “What are you talking about? What mistress?” she turned to King for answers, but the demon pup scratched his head in discomfort. “Eda made me promise not to tell you about THAT part of our society.”
Hearing that, Willows's eyes widened. “You know the owl lady?” Luz gave a nod as an answer. The witch sighed in defeat. “Great, now she can edge her claws even deeper…” Luz was confused by that statement and wanted answers, but first, she extended a hand to Willow, holding the vials in the other. For a moment, Willow just looked at Luz, pondering. But in the end, she seemed to have come to a conclusion. She grabbed the offered hand, and Luz pulled the girl up. Normally, Luz was not the strongest; Lucia jokingly called Luz’s arms “weak nerd arms”, a drawback of her quirk that funnelled most of the nutrients and energy her body received into her brain to keep her quirk running. Yet Willow was so spindly and thin that even for Luz, it was easy to pull her up. She let go of Willow's hand only to extend her hand again, this time offering a greeting and not a helping hand. “I think I should introduce myself, I am Luz Noc…” But she stopped, this name, her family name, still bound her to her birth giver. Luz knew that this name came from her daddy, Mannfred Noceda, or Manny Noceda, for his friends and family. But the connection to Camila muddied the image and meaning of this family name to Luz; she would have to talk with Lucia later about that; she wanted to know what her sibling’s thoughts were on this matter. So, Luz shook her head and forced a smile to reappear on her face again. “J-just Luz for now is fine…” Willow seemed to have caught on to the stutter, and her eyes betrayed her curiosity and inquisitiveness, but she chose not to question this girl further. Instead, she grabbed the offered hand and shook it, as weak as her grip turned out to be, further worrying the Latina. But a sudden gasp from this thin witch drew Luz’s attention back to reality. The witch was now right in Luz’s face and was fanning over her ears. “So round and circularly…” She muttered with joy. “You are a human, aren’t you?” Luz nodded, once again not seeing a reason to deny and hide this fact. “Yup, just arrived a week ago in this realm!” The other girl blushed as she overcame her surprise. She backed off and smiled awkwardly.
“I-I am Willow, Willow Park.” Luz gave her a warm smile. “Nice to meet you!” Then she cocked her head. “You said Eda had her claws in you? What does that mean?” Willow sighed. “My family is not rich, and with how weak I am, I need many life extenders, but they are becoming more and more expensive after the rebellion.” She took one of the vials and stared absentmindedly at the liquid inside it. “So, I wanted to pull my weight and cover my own expenses.” She laid the vial back with the others and looked at Luz. “But with how weak I am, not many would accept me or even employ me, and I can’t use the name of my mistress; she has forbidden it. But Miss Eda was kind enough to actually hire me.” Now, Willow pointed at something behind her. It was a large bag, nearly as large as Willow was. The young witch had likely discarded it when she saw Morton handing over the vials. “She wanted me to make delivery runs for her potion business. The pay is good, easily covering my need for potions, but…” She shuddered, hugging herself. “But that also makes me a target for her competitors and enemies…” She began to shiver, small tears now running down her face. “I-I was eaten on a few occasions already; other times, I was captured. But the Owl Lady came to save me, most of the time.” Morton decided to give his own two snails to the conversation. He nodded sagely at what he had heard from Willow. “Yes, the legendary Savage Owl, the first of the rebels. A tragedy what has become of her, destined to be a princess of our realm and now a con artist at best.”
Luz’s curiosity had been awoken, and she looked at the duo. “I had heard someone calling her that name before, but what does it mean?” Morton seemed to become nervous, looking around the market. “Listen, I can’t tell you that Eda has enough enemies, both in the criminal world and in the covens themselves; she is a wanted person for a reason. But at the same time, she is the sister of the princess, and any ill-chosen word against her will be taken as an offense against her family, which includes her sister, Lilith Blight, formerly Clawthorne. So, if you say anything bad about Eda, you could very well have the empress enforcers down your neck.” He tapped his counter to give weight to his next words. “So: CHOSE. YOUR. WORDS. CARFULLY…” Both of the girls nodded. That seemed to satisfy the potion witch. “Well, anyway. I need to taste test some poisons a client has delivered to me, so see ya!” and with that, the older witch slammed the shutters to his shop window shut.
The girls blinked in unison, staring at the shut window. “Well… that went well…” muttered Luz. She turned around to Willow, and once again, she offered the sickly witch three of the seven vials of life extenders. “Now take these. You need them more than me right now.” Willow stared at her with wide eyes. “But, I told you, they are expensive!” But Willow's rant was interrupted when an open vial was placed against her lips. In her surprise, the young witch did not resist as Luz tilted her head backward. The sapphire blue liquid trickled down Willow’s throat. The effects were visible. Her hair regained an enchanting navy blue, her eyes became a lively olive green, and even her body seemed to regain a bit more weight. She was still very thin, thinner than even Luz, but she no longer looked sickly.
Now Luz could get a good look at her. The witch was taller than her, if only ever so slightly. If she had to guess, this person would be around 5’7 tall. Luz grumbled; she was already somewhat smaller than her twin sister, with Lucia standing at a proud 5’9. “Why is everyone here so damn tall?” She sighed and shook her head. From what she had seen, from Morton to the witch that had tried to devour her, damn, even Umbral, every adult seemed to be around 7 feet tall at least! Well, that held true only when it came to the witches; from what Luz had seen around the market, the demons were a very diverse bunch. Their height was crazily varied. From a handful of feet tall to the towering presence of Wrath, who Luz had guessed was somewhere around a freaking 7’9 feet tall!
“At least the younger witches seem to be more human-seized…” She muttered, but laughter turned her gaze to the recovering witch before her. “Sorry, I didn’t mean to laugh.” But that apology felt kind of weak since giggles were accompanying that statement.
Again, the witch apologized with a “sorry,” but she seemed to regain control over herself. “It is just that I am short for my age.” Luz's jaw dropped. This girl was bigger than her! And she was considered to be SHORT?
Luz let out another groan. “I need to find a way to get bigger, too; I don’t want to be a dwarf…” That statement seemed to upset Willow; she glared at Luz, arms crossed before her flat chest. “What do you have against dwarves? They are sturdy, hard-working, and unwavering in their beliefs!” Luz was taken aback by the outburst. “Sorry, I did not mean any insult!” Willow got into her face, eyes glaring daggers at her. “You better not; my dad is a dwarf…” Now, Willow was surprised by a gasp of excitement from Luz. The human began to shake Willow while asking a million questions about dwarves and Willow’s dad at once. After a few more moments, Luz stopped her actions and let go off Willow, stepping back and rubbing her neck, embarrassed. “Sorry.” She said, her voice wavering with both embarrassment and shame. “It’s just that my sister and I really love all the mythical creatures and beings. And knowing that ALL of them came from here? It is all really exciting.” Willow scanned the face and posture of the girl before her for any sign of her lying, but to her befuddlement, this human practically radiated excitement. So Willow allowed herself to lower her guard. She offered the excited human a smile, which the girl returned in kind. Then Willow’s gaze turned to the large back full of potions on the ground. Looking up in the sky, she let out a sigh. “It was nice to meet you, Luz, but I need to deliver these potions.” She took the bag in her hands, looked back at Luz, and raised a hand. “Ah! And thanks for the vial!” The short witch tried to lift the bag, but Luz was having none of it. She marched over to Willow when the witch had her back turned to the human, trying to lift the bag off the ground. She uncorked two further vials from her own small bag. Then she grabbed Willow’s head. The witch let out a shriek of surprise, but Luz had counted on this; she forced the liquid in the vials down Willow’s throat. Feeling the liquid flushing down her throat, the witch swallowed it out of reflex. Luz observed this, her cold and uncaring eyes never leaving the “short” girl, making sure that every last drop of the life extender had been swallowed. Willow shivered; seeing the cold and hardened expression on this girl and the glowing, azure eyes, which before seemed to be nothing but sunshine, sent shivers down her spine, and trusting her instincts, which screamed not to defy this girl, she drank all of the potions.
Once all was down, the human’s expression changed, her cold and uncaring gaze vanished without leaving a trace, and the sunny and warm smile returned to the girl’s face, and her eyes lost their glow. Willow was uncertain if this smile was but a mask of the girl before her. Yet she could not sense any deceit behind these cheerful eyes. Willow decided to write it off; she had seen many people who had two faces, her mistress included. So, Willow offered the weird human a wavering smile, which the girl returned with a glowing radiance. “That was not too bad now, was it?” Willow sighed and shook her head. The truth was, she had just dodged a bullet with the brazen action of this human; she had not been extravagating a few moments ago; she had been a few hours away from meeting the spirit of the great devourer, the Titan. Still, she had a job left to do. “I don’t know how to thank you, you saved my life…” she looked at the human, who was taken aback by the gratitude seeping from the young witch. But she raised her hands and shook her head. “Nope, not taking that, it was just the right thing to do!” Seeing the bag on the ground, Luz smiled and quickly grabbed it, swinging it over her shoulder. The bag itself was pretty heavy for Luz, and she did not want to imagine how hard it had to be for the spindly witch. “So, you still need to go around town and deliver these potions, right?” Willow nodded hesitantly. “Cool!” Cheered Luz with full enthusiasm. “Then I could accompany you! It would be like a tour through the town!” Willow was a bit perplexed. This delivery was a chore, but this girl wanted to go with her? Willow had some doubts. “What’s the catch?” She asked, eyes narrowing. True, this human had selflessly given her three very valuable potions, but in the Isles, nothing came for free. But Luz raised her free hand placidly. “No catch, no hook, and I don’t expect any compensation.” Yet the voice of a particular demon pup contradicted her statement. “Sure, there is, a big one even!” King waved at the witch. Willow focused on him; her brow raised. “And what would that be?” King grinned and pointed at Luz.
“If something happens to her, then her sister will murder you!” The threatened witch blinked owlishly. “He is kidding, right?” She began to worry when the Latina shook her head. “My sibling is a bit… emotional when it comes to protecting me.” King let out a cackle. “If you mean she unleashes accursed and devastating blood magic against anyone who hurts you? Then yes, a bit emotional…” Wide-eyed, Willow’s head slowly turned to Luz, her gaze almost pleading for a denial, but Luz rubbed the back of her neck. “Well… don’t worry of the details. Cia is a big softy on the inside…” King quipped up again. “And a murder machine on every other spot on her being!” Luz groaned, yet she could not argue against him. She knew that her sibling had a rather violent tendency. Willow thought, saw an opportunity; if this sibling was truly that violent and protective, then it could offer a sort of protection for Willow. If she took this girl, Luz, with her and something happened to the two of them, then this sibling would surely come in to save them, or at least Luz. So, having made up her mind, Willow nodded. “Alright, I’ll try to keep us out of trouble.” She shrugged, a slightly defeated look in her eyes. “But I can’t promise anything to protect you. I am weak…”
Luz went to the witchling and hugged her. “Don’t worry. I may not look like it, but I am not as helpless as I look.” King huffed. “I doubt it. Mom managed to snack you up.” Luz sent a glare at him. King squeaked in fear at the pure murderous intent radiating from the girl. “Let us be clear about something: Eda got the jump on us, and she only survived because of this Hooty creature.” She put the demon pup on the ground and leaned down to him. “If Lucia’s and mine roles were reversed, Eda would not have been able to come for you…”
And like before, the girl changed her behavior in an instant. Like flipping a switch from murderous intent to sunny smiles as Luz returned her attention to Willow. “So yeah, even if something happens to us, my sib can keep up with Eda, and that was before she discovered how to do forbidden magic they can activate with their quirk.” At that, Willow barked. “Forbidden magic? Is your sibling a witch?” Answered with a cheerful “Nope!” accompanied by a merry giggle. Willow raised an eyebrow. “What is a quirk?” Luz smiled. “A power only humans possess and can potentially rival witches' magic!”
Not seeing any point in further arguing or wasting time, the two young women began their tour. Their first stop was atop a cliff overlooking the town. “So, this is my hometown, Bonesborough.” The witch pointed at the city below. “As you can see, we used to have a harbor there.” Willow sighed. “In the past, before the tyrant, we used to be a large trading city. Some records indicate we were the center of trade in the realm, but then the tyrant came along. He proclaimed to speak for the titan and forced changes upon our society, closing our borders and isolating us form the rest of the world.” The two began to walk down the cliff again. The town was strange; all the buildings were a mix of stonework and biological components like teeth, maws, and eyes. A giant claw shot up from one of the buildings, grabbed a dragon-like creature, and dragged it down. It was near the two young women. Luz could hear the scream of the dragon creature before it disappeared into the maw of a house. Said house then shook before beginning to grow in size, and its details changed. Grey scales, as the dragon-like being had, began to cover the walls, and the glass of the window began to change its color to the same green hue as the eyes of the beast had been. Dragon statues and ornaments appeared all around the house. The roof became an enchanting light blue. The eyes on the building changed too, gaining a yellow color and dark, slitted pupils. “What was that?” Exclaimed Luz, excitement and surprise mixed in her voice. Willow allowed a giggle to erupt from her throat when she saw the display. The human was now running around the house, gushing over it and stroking its new scales. “That is a house demon.” Was Willow’s answer. The house let out a rumbling growl of satisfaction. “They are born from normal buildings that are built in mana-rich environments. Over time, the stones and material will absorb the mana, which will mutate the material and the house itself. When enough man is consumed, the building will change aggressively; the fleshy parts like mouths, teeth, claws, and any other possible appendage will erupt from the walls.” Emboldened by the humans' actions, Willow herself petted the house. “Like the rest of the isles, they devour other creatures and grow from their prey.” King, who had been running around Luz, nodded in agreement. “Yep, and they even eat each other!” Picking him up, Luz placed him in her hoodie. “That’s right.” Willow chimed in. “It isn't uncommon for a house to eat another. Sometimes, it happens because the families living inside have a feud. In these events, the house is either encouraged by the family living inside it, or it wants to please said family by getting rid of their opponents.” King again added his own knowledge to the conversation. “The victorious house or building will then grow in size! It will take all of the space and size the other house had and add it to its own!” Willow hummed in agreement. “This causes an almost constant change in the outlay of the city. It also means that the construction coven, the builders and architects of our lands, constantly need to add new buildings to the city. That is why they are rather wealthy compared to other witches.”
A question popped up in Luz’s head. “What happens when people are inside the devoured building?” Both Willow and King shrugged their shoulders simultaneously. “Most of the time, they are either consumed by the buildings itself or present them to the family living inside it. The exceptions are beings under the age of sixteen of course.” Luz raised her hand. “What happens to them? To the minors?” Willow gave an awkward smile. “Well, if the child has no other relative, then either they will adopt the child or they will give them up for foster care, with compensation.” Starting to walk, the young witch continued. “In most cases, where a child is adopted into the family that had eaten the original family, no hard or lasting feelings will come up. We, as a society, have accepted that the strong will take what they can.” Luz scrunched her face. “That does not sound nice… and the poor children. I know how it is to lose a parent… I would not wish for anyone else to go through the same thing…” Willow stopped and looked back at the human. Luz held her right arm with her left, fighting back tears. Willow could only think of one action to comfort her companion: she went over to the trembling human and hugged her. “I am sorry if this brings back bad memories…” Willow whispered while holding her human friend… were they even friends? Willow hoped so; she liked the young woman and her upbeat and eager energy, but she was kind of afraid of the serious mood she had already demonstrated.
After a time, Luz calmed down again, though Luz remained in Willow’s embrace. “How can people just live with that?” Willow hummed. “Well, I guess for us it is different if one dies from natural or unnatural causes or if another devours them. We mourn those who have passed, but celebrate and remember in fondness those who were devoured.” Her tone grew serious and dark. “Or we celebrate the fact that someone had gotten rid of the person.” She let out a long breath. “Like my mother.” Luz looked up to her, her face filled with unspoken questions. “Well…” Willow began; she could see how eager yet cautious the girl was. Clearly, she was interested in Willow's past, and at the same time, she did not want to hurt the thin witch.
“How long ago was it? Nine years ago? A bit longer than a decade ago?” Willow pondered. “It was at the end of the tyrants’ reign, I think…” She looked at Luz, a haunted shadow covered her face. “My mother… she was related to one of the witches helping the old tyrant. Her name was Terra Snapdragon.” She shook her head. “This witch was evil! And an ancient predator. It is said she had a garden where she stored her victims and prey by burying them in the soil and letting carnivorous plants devour them. And from what I know, she actually cared for my mom, who was said to be just as despicable as her…” Luz hugged Willow now; the spindly witch embraced it. “How can your father have been OK with this?” Willow shrugged her shoulders. “He had not really any choice in this.” Now she froze, having realized her error. Even King shot her a glare. Luz had had enough of them keeping secrets from her. “What is it that you don’t tell me?”
Both of her companions looked at each other, not sure how to handle this situation. Willow knitted her brow, trying to figure out how to resolve this situation. “Well, I can’t tell you the specifics… But we have a system here where a witch or demon can become a servant of another being.” she realized that Luz seemed satisfied with that answer for now. “Well, that was what happened with my pa: Dad had challenged my mom, and after an intense battle, he devoured her and took my dad as his servant.” This surprised the Latina somewhat. “Wait, your pa was the servant of your dad?” Willow giggled and shook her head. “He still is. It is not that strange here for a witch or demon to be a servant of their partner. So yeah, my dad is still the servant of my pa.” King nodded, seemingly liking the explanation as well. “The strong thrive, but even they need help with some things, so they make others into their servants. The strong get to rule over the weaker beings, and the weaker beings get protection from stronger predators.” He glanced at Willow, a hint of sympathy hidden within his snarky voice. “Normally at least.”
Luz hummed to herself. This was all so interesting, and she wanted to know more! But right now, she was satisfied. She knew that no matter how hard she pestered her two companions, she doubted that they would divulge any more information. Well… Luz had several methods to extract the information from them, but it would significantly harm or even kill them. She liked King and grew fond of Willow. She did not like the thought of losing her first possible friend in this realm and feared the wrath Eda would unleash should something happen to her kids.
So, instead of trying to sate more of her curiosity or quell her thirst for knowledge, the Latina grabbed the potion bag again and started to walk the street. Two sets of feet following her heralded Willow and King, catching up to her. Once the group walked side by side again, well, King had secured his favorite spot in her hoodie again, she turned to the witch. “So, where do we head first?” Willow grinned and pointed to a nearby house.
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In another part of the isles, a hospital on an outpost of the empress coven, located halfway between Bonesburrough and the Conformatorium, a certain gothic-looking witch was approaching the gate. “This better be good…” Muttered Lilith, still grumpy that her dinner had been interrupted. The guards at the front quickly recognized her as one of their princesses with the shout: “The raven princess has arrived!” and opened the gate. Lilith strolled into the courtyard; the guards and scouts quickly scrambled to greet her in two orderly lines. The tall witch ignored them and headed straight for the main building. “How is the subject doing?” She asked the captain of the guard, who had joined her. “He has not fully recovered yet, and the doctors doubt if he will ever recover properly. But at least they are able to speak again. However, that let us realize that the three personalities are still separate and can not come to an agreement about who or what had beaten them… or how.” He shook his head, his golden armor gleaming in the setting sun. “Though I was informed that the siren princess had more information on the situation.”
Lilith took the information in, not bothering to give a response. She knew her sibling's intelligence; they probably had information above this rabble's head. So she gestured to the captain, who understood and bowed slightly. “I will lead you to them, your highness.”
For a few minutes, they ventured through the outpost in silence. Finally, they reached wooden double doors. The guard captain knocked. “Your Highness, your sister has arrived…” The door opened, and two young witches, somewhere in their twenties, stepped out of the room. Both were dressed in the garbs of the empress coven, marble white and brilliant gold; one was a lanky male witch with dark skin and black hair; he stared at Lilith through his spectacles. The other was a shorter witch with silver hair and eyes. This one clearly had a demonic heritage; her ears were those of bats, her nose crooked, and black bat wings were visible on her back. She gave Lilith a smile with that impish grin that never seemed to leave her face. “Heya aunty, Mom is expecting you!” shouted the witch. Both Lilith and the guard captain flinched slightly; this young one had too much energy for most people to handle. The male witch decided to chime in, his voice stoic and calculating. “You took longer than usual for your dinner break this time of the week.” Lilith just huffed. “It is nice to see you two again, Amber and Derwin. But please, your mother said it was important, so let us not make her wait; we all know that it seldom ends well.” She gave a slight smirk to Amber. “Or do you want to be stuck as a sentient layer of fat on your mother's breast again for the rest of the week?” Amber blushed while Derwin was looking in another direction. He tried to hide it, but Lilith knew that he had liked the experience. Derwin coughed before gesturing to the inside. “I will bring you to our mother, Your Highness; please follow me.” He looked at the guard captain. “You are no longer needed; please return to your duty.” His voice held no malice or arrogance; it was curt, cold, and professional. Even so, it was no secret to his family that he held the soldiers and guards in high regard. And so, the guard captain did not complain. He gave the princess and the royals a salute before going in the direction he and Lilith had come from. After a few moments, Amber closed her eyes, her ears twitching and readjusting their position. Finally, she opened her silver eyes again and gave a nod. “We are alone now.” Now, it was Lilith’s time to give a grin. She opened her arms, beckoning the two witches into a hug. Immediately, she was tackled by the two. She let out a small gasp when Amber used her wings to catapult herself into the air to reach Lilith’s bust and wasted no time burying her head into Lilith’s cleavage. “Wow, Aunty, your tits have grown again!” Another gasp of delight followed as the masterful hands of Darwin groped her ass. “It has grown quite a bit… Absorbed anybody recently?” his voice had lost its cold and professional tone and now was filled with warmth. He always had a problem communicating with anybody outside of his family or friends, so he chose to forgo any emotions when dealing with others. Instead, he schooled himself to be always professional.
But now, that he was alone with his family and no strangers in sight, he could finally let his guard down. His eyes glimmered with adoration for his aunt as he continued to massage her butt. By now, the combined assault caused so much sensation of pleasure through Lilith that the older witch could not help it. Her mouth was open, and her tongue hung out as her eyes rolled up. That too quickly changed, as lips that were not her own were pressed against her lips, and her tongue was pulled into a passionate kiss. An adorable squeak of Amber followed but was ignored by Lilith, as the tall witch exchanged a passionate kiss with the individual when the two separated, Lilith could finally see the individual in front of her. It was a witch Lilith knew only too well. The witch had the body of a woman, a gift of their mother, the empress. The witch had been a non-binary being originally, but their true mother had deemed a female body to fit the witch more. Yet, in her kindness, the empress had let them keep the non-binary gender. This new body of the witch was breathtaking. She was the shortest of the faded sisters, even if Edalyn still refused to see the truth, only 7’8 feet tall. Their skin was tan, yet not as warm as the humans had been. Like Edalyn and Lilith, the mint green hair had grown in length and now rested at the lower part of the witch's back. Their chest and ass were the most bountiful of the three of them, surpassing even Edalyn’s breasts. The witch was called the short stack of the group by both sisters in jest and, in the past, in lust. The witch was wearing quite a revealing, shoulder-less, long black dress with red highlights. Their breasts were hidden beneath a triangle-shaped cloth but still, let a bit of the areola show to tease the world and any onlookers. Their beautifully shaped legs emerged from that dress with every step the witch took. Sometimes, even the tan flesh of their butt could be spotted. It was still a discussion if the witch was doing that on purpose, for anyone who would take a peek at their behind and was not a part of their family or loved ones, well, they would have spent quite some time as a sentient layer of fat on the witch’s body.
Lilith smiled lovingly at the witch. “Raine… you could not wait for me, could you?” Raine smiled gently; they were still a bit skittish at times, but the empress had taken away their stage fright during the rebirth. Yet it could not be completely vanquished. A small fear and skittishness would crop up from time to time. “Well, I ask you to come with the utmost urgency, but what do I find?” They accused Lilith teasingly. “My dearest sister is fooling around with my kids. Without inviting me.” Raine moved a little bit closer to the tall witch. A meep reminded them of the two witches between them. Amber was struggling, pressed between the breasts of the two older witches. But they both knew that the young woman did this not out of a desire to escape but to give them as much pleasure as she could while also burring herself deeper into their cleavages. Derwing was between Lilith’s and Raine’s lower regions. Right now, he was still occupied with fondling and kneading the ass of Lilith.
But Amber had slipped down a bit. She sat now on his shoulders, her nether regions right in front of his face. And it appeared that Derwin was currently trying to get the clothes off of his sister. Both of the older adults knew they had to stop, or this would quickly escalate into a very pleasant evening. But nothing would be done, and the meeting would stretch out into the next day. This could annoy or downright disappoint the empress. That was a result of both wanting to evade.
So, they stepped away from each other, causing the two younger witches to stumble and fall atop each other. Still, they were now going at each other. Before it could escalate too far, Raine cleared their throat. “Children, stop.” They did not shout or use any magic. The words were spoken in a calm manner. Yet these two words were enough to stop the two young and horny adults. They both got up and looked at them, a bit disappointed, well largely disappointed on Amber’s part, and ashamed, thought that was more on Derwin’s side. Raine sighed. “I think I remember telling you how important this meeting is, yet you could not control yourself after seeing the improvements in your aunt?” Amber grinned and nodded her head enthusiastically, while Derwin gave a nervous chuckle yet nodded, too. Raine looked at them, not with disappointment or anger; instead, they twinkled with mischief and lust in equal measure. “I think some punishments are in order!” They announced before turning to Derwin. “After this meeting, you will spend the next few weeks as a layer on my body, to be moved to any place I desire. You will be kept awake at any time and will have full access to your sensations. But I will not be able to communicate without my permission.” Derwin bit his lower lip. Next came the expectant Amber; the bat girl could not contain her excitement and was hovering in the air. “You will still accompany me at any meeting I need to attend to and… give me distraction should the meeting get too boring. The nights you will spend with me as well. This punishment will last till I release your brother.” Raine turned away from them, a smile gracing their lips. “Do you two understand?” Both let out an existing “YES!” Lilith let out a chuckle. This was how it always went.
“You do realize that this is no true punishment, right?” she asked, shaking her head. This will only invite more behavior warranting such punishments, right?” Yet Raine only laughed in turn. “But that means I can keep them closer to me!”
Both adults laughed together before Lilith’s expression grew serious again. “But speaking of the meeting, we should get going. It sounded like you had found something important.” Raine’s own face was twisted into a grimace. “I have a theory, adding to that the mumblings of the warden, or what had become of him, and the marks on his body… I had to contact the healing coven and bargain for their help.” Lilith cringed. After the rebellion, the healing coven had sought complete independence from the government, too many atrocities forced on the coven at the hands of the tyrant had been revealed. Now, they act as a private organization. Yet they had established a system where every inhabitant of the isles would give them a monthly tax, and in turn, almost all treatments were given for free to the people of the isles and its visitors. Yet, when it came to the Empress requiring their service, the healing coven and the cutthroat of a coven head, Hettie Cutburn, the royal family had to make many confessions to the coven, from monetary rewards, tracks of lands or even written laws. Yet they were never disappointed in their work, so, with gritted teeth, the empress and her two daughters were forced to make the payments.
The fact that Raine had been forced to make a deal with the coven spoke volumes about the seriousness of this meeting. “Hettie herself had arrived a few hours prior.” Now, THAT was surprising. Usually, the head witch would never leave the giant hospital, which also acted as a health resort. This was one of the earliest confessions the royal family had to make, a tract of precious and desired land in the oasis on the palm strings. “Well, now I am beyond intrigued…” Lilith muttered. The group got moving and began to walk through the medical track of the outpost. “What results have you gotten about the incident in the conformatorium?” Inquired Raine. Lilith grumbled. “Mostly, this was Wrath’s fault; it seems he is strongly infatuated with our wayward sister and had set a trap for her.” Gathering her thoughts and needing a moment to calm down, Lilith eventually continued. “He kidnapped King and imprisoned him in the confiscation room.” Hearing this, Raine growled, Amber let out a hiss, and even Derwin’s eyes darkened with anger; while their interactions with the demon pup were limited, they still saw him as their brother. “His plan was to lure Edalyn into his trap and forcibly detain her… so he could then propose to her…” Raine, Amber, and Derwin came to a screeching halt. ”HE DID WHAT?!” Raine snarled. Their rage radiated from their beautiful body. Meanwhile, Amber surprised the others when she toppled over laughing. She was rolling on the floor, wheezing. “Are you alright?” Asked Derwin. He offered his sister a hand to stand up again, which the witch took, and Derwin heaved her to her feet again. “Sorry, everyone…” Amber said, trying to catch her breath. “I just know that Aunty Eda would beat the absolute shit out of him for that.” The image in their minds made the whole group chuckle. Though Raine recovered quickly, their face became serious again. “What else did you uncover?” They asked their sister. Lilith became nervous and tried to avoid looking at her sister. “What else was there…” Raine inquired. Finally, Lilith gave in with a sigh. “Eda managed to escape Wrath's trap and somehow caused a prison riot…” She now looked at Raine. “One of the ring leaders was Katya. She was seen to fight guards and scouts alike and openly defied the empress.” Her sister’s family grew quiet. “How can that be? She should have been conformed already?” Muttered Raine. But Lilith had the answer for that. “It was because of Wrath; he saw all who landed in his care unworthy of the empress's kindness and mercy. It appeared that he planned to let them rot in their cells.” Now, Raine was truly furious. “How does this scum DARE?!” They roared. “The empress had given him a task! And he thought he knew better than our mother? Who had dethroned the tyrant of old?” Their rage was slowly boiling over. “And he dared to hold and imprison the witch, destined to be my daughter, without informing me?!” Lilith laid a calming hand on her sister's shoulder. “Your daughter always idolized our wayward sister far too much. It is not surprising that your destined daughter followed our to-be sister into her foolishness, not able to accept her destiny.”
“Though that leads us to our current problem.” They rounded a corner of the hallway and now stood before the medical wing. “Wrath, or what is left of him, rests here.” Raine turned to Lilith. “Little warning, sister, what you will see will not be pretty or for the faint of heart.” Said sister just grumbled. “Come now, Raine, I am not that squeamish.” Raine looked at her for a moment before muttering, “That is different…” before they knocked on the door. “Who is there?” It sounded deep, and a feminine voice came from the other side. “The royal sisters,” Raine answered. “One moment, please…” a series of locks being unlocked, chains removed, and warding spells being deactivated. After a full minute of this, the door finally opened. “Come on in, sweethearts!” Came the enthusiastic voice of none other than Hettie Cutburn herself. And the royal family did just that. Once inside the room, the door behind them was enveloped in a pink aura and shut closed. The locks locked down again, and chains wrapped across the door —a shimmering hue of different colors with symbols flitting across its surface.
“One can never be too careful when dealing with cases like this!” The voice came from a table on the other side of the room. Standing before a glass window was Hettie Cutburn, head of the healing coven. She was TALL, standing at anything around 9’3 feet! The horns so prominent for her demon kind were hidden beneath white cloth with blue edges that formed a headpiece that hid the upper part of her face under a pale blue cloth piece. Her skin was snow white, and while some would say that she wore blue lipstick, these plump lips had a natural, icy blue color. She wore a black dress with a dark robe that covered it, held together by a golden brooch with a blue hand embroidered on it, the symbol of the healing coven. She usually had white gloves covering her hands, yet they were stained red and blue with the blood of witches and demons. And she was buff! The dress seemed to be skin-tight. Her statue was rather plain; while her bust was not small by any means, it did not reach its full potential. It was said that once, this woman had a bust of a legendary size that made men and women swoon in equal measures. But at some point, Hettie decided to reduce its size, claiming it was bothering her during work. But what she had lost in bust size, she had made up for with muscles. Hettie Cutburn was one of the oldest witches alive; some say she had already lived five lifetimes of the average witch. She was an apex predator, only rivalled by the older witch Terra Snapdragon.
“Enjoying the view, dears?” The tall woman asked teasingly. The entire group before her blushed. Hettie let out a deep laugh before gesturing to the royals to join her. They stepped next to her, looking through the glass. The scene before them was… nauseating. It was Wrath, or what he had become. His body was mutilated, one of the fanged beaks of his fused servants had been broken, and it was missing a good chunk. Limbs were missing, the tentacles were still moving around, trying to grab things and pull them towards itself. But the mouths all across the mutated body were sewn shut. The main body of Wrath was severely burned and still bleeding heavily. “What happened to him…?” gasped Lilith, her voice trembling with fear. Hettie let out a grumble. “The easy part to explain is his form.” She pointed at the two fused bodies at the top of the bestial-like wrath. “It seems that he was a merger.” This surprised the royals; mergers were rare and powerful. Their potential growth in strength and power was basically limitless. They could merge with their prey instead of just absorbing them. This would grant them all the powers and knowledge their prey had held. And, in many cases, a new form as well.
“But that was not the worst of it.” Continued Hettie, the tall witch's gaze turned sharp. “He was undergoing ghoulification.” A heavy silence filled the room. “He was losing himself to the hunger?” whispered Lilith. Amber shuddered and took a few steps back. Her form was shivering. Noticing this, her brother quickly walked to her and offered her an embrace, which she quickly accepted. Glancing at the duo, Hettie’s gaze turned thoughtful. “That is the girl of the Seide incident… is she not?” Raine nodded. “Best not to mention this to her, though; she still hasn’t gotten over it…” All three adults nodded. “But what could have pushed him to the brink of falling?” Lilith inquired. “I know that he had an encounter with our fated sister, but that was not the first time the two had butted heads…” Lilith looked at the convulsing form of the warden with a gaze that almost held pity.
“So…” she said, turning her gaze to the numerous wounds on the warped flesh of the warden. “How did he get injured so severely? If I remember correctly, he has regenerative abilities. And they should have been greatly boosted by the transformation.” Raine hummed in agreement. Hettie gestured to several of the larger burn marks all across its body. “We have two types of burn marks, on clearly the logical choice when fighting against a foe with regeneration: fire magic.” She pointed at a group of them. “Yet they are only superficial: Wrath's hide is far too tough for the thick and actually resists flame, one of the reasons he had been placed as the guard dog of Conformatorium. Normal fire spell would be completely useless against him, and even higher-tier or more complex fire spells would do minimal damage against him…” The leader of the healers turned her attention to the other groups of burn marks. “But these attacks… they were his downfall.” Raine decided to chime in, their brow furrowed. “Forgive me for my interruption, but these wounds seem even more shallow than the fire attacks.”
Hettie nodded. “While it may seem to on the surface, it is the best counter for a foe like Wrath: lightning.” Lilith’s eyes widened in understanding. “The damage is not external… the magic attacked his unprotected insides…”
Again, Hettie nodded. Yet her face darkened; only the cloth covering her eyes was illuminated by the lights of the room. “Even so, he should have healed by now.” She began. And the group was struck speechless. Wrath was alive, and his regeneration should have worked as long as his heart was still beating. Then it hit Lilith; she cast a spell of the illusion coven, allowing her to see the flow of magic all around her, and one look at Wrath made her nearly throw up with disgust. “What the hell is this?” She shrieked.
In her enhanced sight, the body of wrath was littered with lines of red, pulsing energy that ate away aggressively at the body of the former warden. Green whisps of healing magic, no doubt originating from Hettie, considering the complexity of their designs, battled against the red, fiery energy assaulting Wrath's body. Hettie huffed. “I wish I could tell you that, but while I have an obvious answer, something's not adding up.” Raine applied the same spell to their eyes as Lilith, but managed to hold their dinner inside. “What are we looking at Hettie, what are your theories?”
Hettie eyed them with something akin to worry, something unusual for the usually bright witch. “The most obvious answer… is blood magic, or to be more accurate, the most basic curse of suffering.” The room fell silent, even before the tyrant came to corrupt these lands, blood magic had been forbidden and banished for centuries, nay, even millennia before that!
“So one of the prisoners was a blood witch?” But to their surprise, Hettie shook her head. “No, if it were simple blood magic, I would have already gotten rid of this basic curse.” Her voice became lecturing, as if the people with her were not royalty but her students. “While blood magic was banished at large, two versions of it were kept and even further studied, even as the tyrant ruled over our lands:
The first is a simplified and non-curse-based version of it, which we healers have incorporated into healing magic. For example, we can use it to get rid of tumours and growths inside a witch’s or demon’s body that we can hardly reach.
The second one is the counter-magic to even the most powerful curses blood magic can offer, of course, that requires the user to understand and even be able to perform said curses. In theory, every high healer is a full-blown blood mage with plenty of knowledge and experience in that field of magic. The reason we have no rogue healing witches turning to blood hags is that the hypothetical oath a witch takes upon choosing to start their studies in the healing arts prevents anyone from using the blood magic they learn, even trying to teach it to others that are not subjected to the oath will die within moments, slow enough for the witch in question to suffer, but fast enough that not even the fastest memory transfer or scry spell will be able to get any information on the magic. Additionally the oath installs barriers in the mind of the healer that will expand and protect any memory related to blood magic, so mind reading is a no go as well.”
Finished with her explanation, Hettie scowled at the living husk before her. “Sufficient to say, I am the leading expert on blood magic and should be able to uncurse this bastard in the blink of an eye. As I said, the curse he suffers from is called a curse of suffering, a curse not meant to kill but torture the victim.” Now her tone took on an almost impressed tone. “Honestly, I haven’t even considered using it to prevent regeneration from working. It’s brilliant, to be honest.” Again, she shook her head. “But there is something else, an unknown factor in the blood magic itself, or rather, the blood that was used.” She pointed at the flaming red energy. “These are clearly flames, but no fire magic was detected that had pierced his hide, blood magic or otherwise. No, only lightning was traceable on his inside…” She stopped for a moment before continuing. “If I did not know it better, then I would say the lighting itself had to be BURNING.” Now, Lilith shot the head healer of the coven a questioning look. “Forgive me for sounding rude, but it is known that lightning cannot burn, just as water can not turn to stone or earth evaporate into a cloud. It is against the principles of magic itself; the different elements cannot influence each other directly, only work together to create a new spell.” If Hettie took offence of the tone or choice of words Lilith was using toward her, then she did not let it show. Instead, she nodded along. “That is quite right, princess, but blood magic does not operate on the fundamental rules of magic, since it relies on blood and not bile to create the spells. So the lighting was not just the elemental essence, but the blood the caster had used.” She leaned down and glared at Wrath. “If I did not know it better, then I would say it was the blood that was burning, which should have disrupted or downright destroyed the integrity of the spell cast, but from what I see, this burning of blood had the opposite effect, it increased and changed the curse and elemental component of the spell.” She let out a heavy sigh. “As it stands, I can do nothing more than experiment and observe. I don’t believe Wrath will recover from the spell.” With a sweeping motion, Hettie added, “I believe this is the state he will remain, never serving as anything other than a study subject into this new phenomenon of blood magic.”
Just as Hettie was saying that, the warden let out a roaring scream. His eyes opened and rolled around in their sockets, his mouth began to slaver and babble till finally, his main maw managed to say something somewhat coherent. “HUMAN! MONSTER! WILL KILL YOU! DESTROY YOU! NEVER WILL ESCAPE! NEVER BE FREE! CANNOT HIDE WITH… OWL… LADYYYYYY!” To the three older witches, two who still had their bewitched eyes, while Hettie's visor was enchanted to let her see magic, the next thing that happened was clear as day: the red energy inside the warden erupted into a burning inferno, scourging his body and destroying Hettie’s healing spell. The warden fell back with a gurgle. At once, Hettie Cutburn rushed into the room and cast any healing and anti-curse magic she knew, which were plenty.
After a few minutes of panic, Hettie returned. “I managed to stabilise him for the moment. And I may have made a discovery of sorts.” She held a vial of blood, which was burning in a brilliant scarlet and white flame. “It is truly the blood that burns, but I can’t find any trace of magic on the blood or the flame itself. If I didn’t know better, then I would say that the blood is designed to ignite on itself. But that is a phenomenon I have never seen in any kind of demon and certainly no witch.”
Raine made a noise. “He said something about a human in Edalyn’s care…” Lilith’s face paled; the interaction she had had that day resurfaced in her memories. “Aunty, are you alright? You don’t look too good…” The tall witch ignored her niece and went to Raine, grabbing their shoulders and looking them with a fearful gaze into their eyes. “I have met a human earlier today! One that was staying with Edalyn!”
Raine's eyes darkened as they became serious. “So a blood witch… human? Lives with our sister right now… It is problematic enough, but if Eda invited them into her house, we would have to face Hooty to get to them…” All let out a shudder. When it came to house demons, the owl tube was arguably the strongest known house demon.
But another bit of information returned to Lilith, and her eyes glowed with hope. “We might not have to! When I spoke with the human, who was accompanied by dear King, the human, a girl I might add, said they and Eda stayed at Umbrals clinic!” Raine gently pulled their sister’s hands off their shoulders and then tapped their fingers against their chin. “That makes it not necessarily better… Umral is an old friend of Eda, her servant if I remember correctly…”
“Not to mention…” Hettie cut into the conversation. When the others turned to her, they had to hold back terrified shudders at the menacing glare the head healer gave them. “That any and all places and institutions of healing are sovereign and neutral territory, where your law does not apply.” This was true, after the fall of the tyrant, the entire healing coven had declared independence and while its members were still considered citizens of the isles, all hospitals, resorts and clinics, as well as any other place where the arts of healing were practised and had the backing of the healing coven, would only adhere to the laws and rules the healing coven itself had declared.
Raine lifted their hands placatingly. “Mrs Cuttburn, we have no intention to go against the treaty of the healing hand. But we will call forth the right to investigate and interrogate a suspect inside a place of healing under the watch of a healer. As you have heard, this girl is suspected of being an accomplice to quite a few crimes, so we need to get her statement before deciding upon her fate outside the clinic.” Hettie nodded. “You don’t need to quote the treaty to me, which I was the one who drafted it.” She made a chooing motion with her hands. “Now go, I have much experimentation to do with this case and blood before we transfer Wrath into the grand fortress!” Not willing to challenge the head witch, the two princesses and the three daughters exited the chambers. The door fell shut behind them, and a series of clicks proclaimed that all the countless locks were now secured again, and the glimmer on the door was a clear sign that the wards on the door and room were back in place.
Raine turned to face Lilith. “If I remember correctly, you have at least an amiable relationship with Umbral and Eda won’t attack you on sight…” Raine unintentionally let their fingers over a scar on their neck. “So you should go and see this human again and get the admission we need.” They grabbed Lilith’s arm. “Sister, this might be a charge we can use to finally arrest Edalyn for good!” Lilith nodded and turned around.
“Worry not, my dear sibling, soon enough, our wayward sister shall be reunited with us.” Eda began to walk down the hall, preparing for the long flight back to Bonesburrow.
*********************************************************************************************************
Back with the two girls carrying out potions, they had gotten far into their journey, having delivered all but a handful of potions. Luckily for them, they had only one last stop to make; one patron apparently made a pretty large order. “Well, looks like we are nearly finished with the job,” Willow muttered. They had spent hours wandering across the city and giving potions to the different customers. To be honest, Luz was surprised by the grand scale of the wanted witch and how many were willing to acquire the service of the foxy witch.
“Yeah, but it was way more fun than the usual errand runs I do for Miss Eda. Having you around was so fun!” Luz flashed the `short´ witch a smile. “I think it was really fun!” She let out a gasp. She turned around to Willow. “We totally need to meet with my sis!” Willow nodded; a bit excited herself. Luz had told a lot about her sister, and it intrigued the young witch. She really wanted to meet this mysterious, raging girl. “Maybe we can meet in a few days at my dads house?” Luz shrugged her shoulders. “Sure, sounds good, but I have to talk with my sis first, even if you can reform us, I don’t want to find myself in another stomach again any time soon.” Willow gave her an understanding smile. “I know the feeling… live through it every day… weird that today no one has tried anything.” Luz shrugged her shoulders.
Eventually, they arrived at their destination, an old and impressive castle. “Wow! That looks so fancy! Like straight out of a pre-quirk fairy book!” Both King and Willow shot her a questioning look. “What does `pre-quirk´ mean?” But Luz just said. “Too complicated to answer right now, how about my sis and I explain it when we get to your dads house?”
That satisfied Willow, though not King. “What does that mean! Come on! Tell me!” He scrambled out of the hood of the hoodie and looked Luz in the eyes. ” Reveal your secrets! Your King demands it!” But Luz just grabbed him, held him in one arm, and tickled his belly with the other hand. King could not help but fall victim to the giggles from the relentless yet gentle attacks. “You get to hear it once Cia is awake. So be a bit more patient.”
She relented her assault and placed the demon pup back into the hood of her hoodie. Looking up at the castle, she sighed. “Let’s get it over with. I want to return to Cia.” Willow nodded, and together, they walked up the steps of the castle. Before them was a set of heavy wooden doors. Luz was about to knock when King stopped her, a claw on her shoulder. “WAIT! Mom always said dudes in giant castles are nothing but creeps!” He pointed at the ground before the door. “Can we not just place the potions there and get out of here? I want to hear the secret of quirks!” But Luz shook her head. “We need to make sure that dude is paying for your mom’s potions, after all, Willow needs this job, so we can’t let down.” King sighed and nodded. “Alright, but can we hurry? I need to catch up on the nap I was denied!” Luz could not help but giggle and gently pet his fur. “But you napped the entire time!” King, in turn, gave the Latina his best attempt at an intimidating glare, but his little squeaking noises of indignation made it look just adorable in the girl's opinion. “Napping while in public, with people talking all around and the constant shaking from your walking, can NEVER compare to the bliss that is finding a quiet spot with enough sunlight to warm your fur!” hearing this outburst, Luz was reminded about a similar scene with Lucia, where she would trying to climb a tall tree to get to a specific branch to nap there, giving the terrified sister a similar explanation as young King had just done.
“I get that, or at least Lucia gets that. I think if you allow it, you might have found a nap buddy. King looked at her with excitement in his eyes. “Really?!” To his surprise, Luz shook her head. “Not really, cause they always pull me to themselves and force me to nap alongside them but I don’t think they would mind if you join our cuddle pile.” King looked as if he was weighing his options or the pros and cons of this offer. Finally, he shrugged. “Sure, I’ll talk to the berserker when we come back, maybe I'll show them the best napping places once we are back at the owl house!” Luz gave him a warm smile. “I believe they would appreciate that.” With that said, Luz took a deep breath and knocked on the door.
“I’m coming! I’m coming! STOP BAGGING ON MY DOOR! FOR TITANS SAKE!” The wooden door was thrown open, and Doctor Umbral stared at the two people before her. She had not expected to see these two shows up at her home this soon. It was inevitable; still, the two had to have made haste to arrive here this early. “Miss Lilith, how may I help you?”
Darkarines on Chapter 1 Sun 07 Jul 2024 03:19PM UTC
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