"Lord Belos, the Owl Lady and her acquaintances have arrived."

The entrance to Belos' throne room opened widely. The Owl Spy came in first accompanied by Eda, Lilith, and King. They wore heavy shackles on their ankles (but it proved to be more cumbersome for King due to his tiny body), and cuffs were fixed on their wrists. To add salt to the injury, Eda and Lilith's fingers had additional bindings so they would not attempt to draw circles in the air.

Emperor Belos was slouched in his throne, his right hand holding up his forehead. The Titan's heart once again was beating, but now it was a more noticeable tremor to it. Belos exhaled sharply and then deeply exhaled the air from his lungs. It had become a very circulated fact that Belos had seen better days. Somewhere in his fifty-year reign of the Boiling Isles, his health declined. With no heirs known either legitimately or otherwise, Death may as well knock on his door one of these days. Belos clutched at his chest from the sudden sensation of a deathly cough violently scratch its way up his airbags. The most powerful witch of the Boiling Isles wheezed a squeaking tune. His chest convulsed a few times. The Owl Spy and the guards carrying the prisoners stood in place pondering if he would cough up a lung or two.

Kikimora stood at the left side of Belos' throne. She was informed of her lord's coughing fits earlier and never took her eyes off him. When she heard the spy say that the Owl Lady had been captured, that was the one time that she did direct her attention from Belos. There Eda was: rather than being cursed into her monstrous, owl-like form, Eda was back to her normal appearance from her grayish-wild hairstyle to her clothes. Kikimora was conflicted: she never denounced Belos as a liar or for being incorrect. But here was the Owl Lady back as her own treacherous self. Seeing her this way for the first time made Kikimora start to ponder her master's claims of being the Titan's representative. But even humoring the idea that Belos was a fraud filled her with a sudden dread that Belos could be reading her thoughts at that moment. Oh, Titan, what would he do to her for her lack of belief? There were many ways for witches and demons to die in different, creative ways.

Belos lifted his head sluggishly in a sideways glance at the prisoners. His exposed blue eye stared at them to study them. "It is such a pleasure being in the presence of you, Owl Lady."

Eda scoffed. "That makes one of us."

Belos ignored her snark and inspected Lilith again. "The Prodigal Child returns as well?"

"Enough with your flimsy peppering of words, what do you want from us?" Lilith demanded.

Belos sighed. "You know that only the most qualified of witches can join my coven?"

Lilith nodded. True, twenty odd years ago, joining the Emperor's Coven was Lilith's ambition for a long, long time. A dream that she shared with her younger sister, at least until that awful, terrible, reprehensible day she decided to curse her sister to give herself a better chance at narrowing her way to victory. A curse that was supposed to last for a day instead made Eda's existence miserable, and ostracized her from witch society. Lilith's bottom lip quivered from the acknowledgment Lilith placed such a heavy load on her sister's shoulders all for a meaningless position due to Belos lying to her. From the deepest, darkest pits, a fire was raging.

"I made my decision to defect, Lord Belos," Lilith announced with conviction.

Belos was speechless at first likely to digest the words his former servant was spieling out. "And I am sure you know what becomes of witches bereft of a coven?"

Like he alluded to her back when she captured her sister the first time, Belos lifted his staff and directed it towards the murals comprised of painted, stained glass. While Lilith anticipated this the moment she betrayed the Emperor, the thought of being on the receiving end of the most cruel and unusual of punishments in accordance to the Isles did make her step back on her confidence for a smidge.

"If it means atoning for all the horrible things you made me do in your name, I will accept that. But please, spare Edalyn and her dog's lives. As well as Luz's."

As she spoke, two imperial guards came in holding the unconscious bodies of the two girls. The girls were being carried the guard's stout shoulders. The girls' arms loosely swayed back and forth behind the backs of the guards. They were placed on the ground with minimal gentleness. Belos stood from his throne and knelt down to further inspect the girls. With his staff, he tapped the limbs of the girls and then their backs. He pressed his index finger and thumb on the chin of his mask inquisitively.

"By the Titan, these two girls actually managed to do it."

Eda smirked. She did have some shred of doubt that Luz may have failed and that the likelihood of her becoming braindead as a result of the brew did concern her, but she also knew that Luz could pull it off. It gave her all the more reason to be proud that she was Luz's mentor.

"Yeah, that's right Belos," she bragged, "and when she gets the book, we will do everything in our power to keep you from getting your grubby hands on that book!"

"Ho, oh!" Emperor Belos retorted "a most charming dream, but tis be the nature."

Belos slammed his staff on the ground and returned to his throne. There was a side door behind the mighty throne of Belos which creaked itself open. Out from it walked Odalia Blight holding the staff she was entrusted with by Nyarlathotep. It was made of the same breed of tree most witches of the Boiling Isles own, but instead of a palisman adorned on the top, there was a gem which glittered in the light. A large, ruby gemstone accompanied with a low murmuring sound. Befitting of her social status, Odalia had a haughty grin from ear to ear. Odalia stepped aside to allow a few more of the imperial guards to exit.

"Well, what have we here? Enemies, traitors, and lowly demons."

Eda tilted her head. "You...one of the Blights I assume?"

"Of course, darling," Odalia bragged, her hand squarely on her breast. "One of the most esteemed, exquisite, and powerful of the Boiling Isles."

She brags a lot about her bloodline, Eda thought to herself. Sure, Eda would tend to think of herself in high regard, but Odalia was taking it leagues above. She sensed a small bit of tension in the air: the Owl Spy had disappeared from the room the instant that Odalia strolled her way in acting top class.

"Yeah, yeah, go suck a griffin egg," Eda groaned, "I still remember all the bragging you did back at Hexside."

Odalia smirked. "At the least I didn't become a criminal."

Odalia tilted her head back and laughed like a noblewoman. For whatever reason, Eda felt the growing urge to punch the lady over and over until she was an unidentifiable pulp. One that not even the dark arts could ever hope to revitalize.

"Wait, you are a part of the coven now?" Lilith asked.

"Indeed, I am," Odalia boasted.

"How? I could have sworn that you lost the competition of joining the coven years ago. As much as I hate the Emperor, at the least he always remained consistent on the qualifications to join the coven. I mean, that is the very reason we have the coven system."

"I am very aware of my lack of qualifications, but I was granted audience with Lord Belos, and he entrusted me with acting on his will."

Odalia towered above her daughter's body. From the way she was fixed, Eda was unable to read any emotion on her face. Odalia then turned away from her daughter, returning her accusatory glare at the Owl Lady. "Is this the nature of being on the run; scouting people into your ranks?"

"Amity chose of her own volition to help Luz acquire the book," Eda clarified, "maybe you do not understand your daughter as much as you'd like to think?"

"You and your human pest have been nothing but a thorn in the side of my family," Odalia yelled, "perverted thoughts spreading rampant, disrupting the bloodline."

"That is absurd; Amity was a girl who was always tired of the way that you were restricting her freedoms. Instead, what do you want her to do? Study. Work hard. Study some more. You try to control every aspect of her life including those that she hanged out with. And yet once you get off your high horse, you do not understand why your daughter is having her rebel stage now? It's because you are trying to mold her into being just like you. You keep on going on and on about bloodline this, bloodline that...maybe you can take one second to think about what your daughter actually wants instead of making decisions for her?"

Odalia held the staff firmly between her eyes and loudly ground her teeth. "She is not my daughter; she made up her own mind to follow an inferior ape, so I now acknowledge that I have two older children who will listen to every word I say and continue down the right path of making our family name immortal."

Odalia clapped her hands and brought Edric out. The Owl House residents almost fainted from what they had seen: Edric was emaciated and skinnier than usual. His skin was now paper-thin and very suspect to bruising easily. Edric's eyes became small, golden pupils because of their sunken position. Odalia took the liberty of dressing her son for the day in his casual clothing, but the clothes were slipping off him because of his sudden thinness. Edric's legs lacked enough muscle to protect the bones from snapping like a pair of chopsticks. New waves of pain washed over the young witch with every step he took.

"What have you done to him?" Eda asked horrified.

"The staff that I was given requires magic to fuel it...an excessive amount if you so please."

Odalia held the staff in front of Edric and activated it. A swirling cloud appeared in the gemstone and began to draw once more on Edric's magic. Edric howled in excruciating agony the sort of pain that could rip a person inside out. Green vapor filtered through his body orifices and collected inside the gemstone. Edric dropped on his knees the surge of affliction still flowing through his veins. He looked up at his mother before a whooping cough manifested. At certain intervals, Eda and the others could catch glimpses of his stomach and chest during his fits; his rib cage was poking against the flaps of skin.

Lilith clenched her teeth. "Can't you see that you are putting your own son in such pain and for what cost?"

"He is making the Blight family proud immortal," Odalia simply said with a cold flair in her explanation, "small sacrifices need to be made, and my son is more than worthy of the title."

"From the looks of it, your son is barely hanging on by a thread," Eda interjected, "what if you kill him?"

"My son will provide the way of the Blight family name becoming renowned and feared by all of creation; the powers that be – the Titan, or perhaps one of the greater gods – will greatly reward him."

Two guards came into the throne room and each individually held the thrashing arms of Emira Blight. She reared herself up to take a swinging kick at her kidnappers, but it was no use. Her struggles subsided upon catching sight of her twin brother. "Edric!?"

The guards let her go at that moment. Without much prompt, Emira raced towards her brother and clutched his head in her hand. "Speak to me, please!"

Edric weakly opened his eyes to see tears running down his twin sister's face. She tried to fight back the treacherous tears with all her might, but her throat was growing larger from her increasing despair. "Mom, can't you see that you are sucking him dry?!"

The gemstone's inherent ability of stealing magic was greater than that of the basilisk that infiltrated Hexside months ago and nearly drained all the students of their magic. Emira held her face over Edric's her tears now falling on his. He stared into the matching eyes of his sister for a long time likely to say whatever was at the top of his head, but the agonizing pain was preventing him from performing what amounted to a simple task.

Eda and Lilith attempted to wiggle their fingers out of their restraints. "Odalia, you have gone too far, you have to be stopped!" Lilith proclaimed.

Odalia ignored them and looked at the staff again. It murmured the same low drone it always did. Before the prisoners, Odalia conducted a conversation with the staff. There were a few nods implicating a mutual understanding and deal-making. She studied Emira and took a few glances at the magic staff. "The staff is still unsatisfied."

Odalia pointed to Emira. "Once your brother had served his use, you shall be the next one that the staff consumes."

Emira shook violently. "Mom, you've become insane!"

Odalia flicked her hand to the guards. "Keep Emira imprisoned here; once I lead the army on the Earth realm, I will return to offer more sacrifices to it for Belos' victory."

The imperial guards surrounded the green-haired teenage girl. At any time, Emira would be more than willing to administer a thorough beat down on her enemies, but she was sorely outnumbered. They came down on her in a frenzy and stole away the girl. They disappeared behind the second door her screams fading away the further they ran. Belos stood up and raised his arms.

"Now with that settled, Miss Blight, you have the honors of enacting the Day of Unity!"

Odalia obeyed and went to walk back to the other room. She momentarily stopped to glance at Edric, again what she was really feeling in that moment being uncertain, and exited the throne room. Eda, Lilith, and King were forcibly grabbed as well and were being walked out.

"So, you are going to execute us?" King asked.

"My furry friend, no, this is not the Titan's will. After all, how else will you enjoy the experience of the Day of Unity?"

Lilith shook her cuffs. "For years, you have told us without fail of this Day of Unity, but you never told us what it entailed. So, before you condemn me, please enlighten me."

"That's the old Lilith I remember," Belos said in a disconcerting tone.

"Yeah, and why do you have such interest in the Earth?" Eda asked "you could have visited as many times that you wanted now that you have the portal door in your possession."

While Belos' true face was always concealed behind a mask, it was relatively easy to imagine that he was smiling malevolently.

"I have a score to settle with someone that you may or may not know," he stated, "I will leave it as a surprise."

Eda, Lilith, and King were marched out of the throne room to the dungeon of the coven. Alone with his thoughts, Belos cackled in ecstasy despite his wheezing cough.

"The Day of Unity is finally upon us! Go, go my servants into the human realm! Go and slaughter all in your path! Reduce their cities to rubble! Leave not one stone unturned! Darken their skies and poison their lands! Reduce their world to ashes and blow those ashes into the farthest reaches of space! By the name of the Titan, the Earth will be laid to waste, never to be remembered or missed."