Luz closes the third door behind her and releases a deep and stress filled sigh. Riffling around in someone's memories as she's come to realize is a pretty messed up thing. Sure, the Witches of the Boiling Isles don't seem to mind as part of the schooling curriculum is ripping a magic photograph out of a child's ear and putting it up for display.
Still, going into someone's traumatic memories and messing around in them makes her feel like a disgusting person. She thinks back on her words and how she told Inner Lilith how changing a perspective is key in healing from bad memories.
But... is it really healthy doing this?
Will Lilith be better off, or is all Luz really doing is messing around in someone's brain for personal gain?
"Raaagh!" Luz pulls on her hair and shouts loud for the world to hear. The world, as it always has, doesn't give a shit and stays silent.
"God! I don't even know if I'm doing the right thing anymore! I'm violating Lilith to save my friends, but do they even want to be saved? Is it even saving them?!"
They seem happy to me. After all, what better escape from the stresses of life than finding comfort in your own mind?
"I guess so... But I just-! My Mami always told me to help people heal, but it feels like I'm hurting people instead! I'm just so... confused..."
Maybe she's wrong? Adults don't know everything, that's why they rear their children to be greater. You're in the mind of a mentally unstable woman who was too afraid to admit the truth for thirty years only to find out her sin was easily forgiven.
"Am I doing the right thing? It feels like no matter what I do it either hurts someone else to maybe help, but when I think about it both people will get hurt! It's just all so-so so damn stupid! There's no point to any of this!"
Now you're starting to understand. There is no understanding! Maybe it's time you start... disconnecting a little?
"...Yeah. Yeah, that sounds-! Wait a second... 'you'?"
Luz blinks a few times and looks around the room. There's no one else there yet she feels like she was just having a conversation with someone.
A chill runs down her spine. Is she going... crazy? Her Mami told her plenty of stories of men and women who went to her hospital that talk to strange voices in their heads. As a child Luz was fascinated by the idea of that; Who wouldn't want a friend in your head all the time?!
Oh god, she's going crazy!
Her little canary guide suddenly flies right into her face and chirps frantically. For a second Luz want to grab the poor avian and squash it in her hand only to immediately feel sick to her stomach.
The bird's song eases her weary soul. It doesn't make her have some sudden realization that there's nothing she's doing wrong or even anything right. But something in the song... it just makes her feel like she's escaped to somewhere where she doesn't have to care.
"Hey little birdy." She raise a hand and the bird happily perches on her finger, "You've got it all figured out, huh? Ah, how nice it would be to be a simple bird. You've got nothing to worry about, do ya' little birdy?"
If she could speak bird then she'd realize being a bird isn't all that it's cracked up to be. Why, her little guide practically shat himself facing a daedroth from the bowels of hell only to get eaten by his master in the end anyways!
Chirp chirp!
Luz giggles weakly and gives her bird friend a few pets on the head.
"Let's finish up the last door. Maybe we could go home after?"
She examines the mural off the final door. Carved into the wood is a scene depicting a Witch wearing one of the Enforcer bird masks leading a young looking Lilith who seems very unhappy with herself.
Her mouth feels dry all of the sudden and a knot forms in her guts. Something about this mural feels like bad news!
Gulping, Luz opens the final memory door and enters into a peculiar scene. Lilith pre-goth phase is humming happily at a desk as she files what Luz guessed to be paperwork.
Her uniform is the standard all grunts of the Emperor's Coven wear so she must still be low ranking at this point. Her room is simple like a college dorm. A few posters decorate the dark grey walls, each has an 'office poster' vibe. Nothing too intense but definitely light propaganda.
Pushed up against the far wall is a simple student's desk with a tiny window nearly touching the ceiling over it. Ever the workaholic, past Lilith is hard at work even if the sky out of the window is well into the night.
A knock at the door draws Lilith from her work and she quickly opens it for whomever is on the other side. Luz watches as Lilith suddenly goes stiff in the shoulders as an Enforcer pushes her aside and enters the room, closing the door behind him.
The Enforcer is different from the standard idiot goon. He's larger, likely physically fit and his cloak and dress are fare fancier with gold trim and fancy stitching etched into the fabric. His bird mask has silver swirly decorations inlaid into it durable porcelain. Luz is reminded of those funny Celtic symbols she's seen while browsing Pinterest.
"Lilith." His voice is hoarse yet refined in a strange way. "We have work to do. Leave your staff, our business does not requires it."
"Y-yes, my master."
Luz can practically feel his disapproval.
"Speak clearly and with assurance. If you are to eventually replace me as head of the Emperor's Coven then you must not be weak. Come along now. We must make haste!"
The memory then shifts and changes into a new scene. Lilith and her Master appear to be inside of an old tomb. Luz can't see very far as the tomb is large but lit only around the two enforcers. Small spheres of light shine over them as Lilith's master uses his magic to remove a heavy stone lid off of a casket while she waits nervously to the side.
As the lid is freed a sudden, piercing stench fills the air and makes Luz want to vomit. She covers her nose with her hand to try and mask the stench as she moves closer to see just what in the world is the cause of the disgust smell!
Inside of the stone casket is brightly glowing green liquid that looks like stereotypical nuclear waste. Lilith's master plunges his hand into the disgusting slurry with no hesitation and pulls a shriveled blackened body from it.
Luz finally hurls as the pickled body is dumped unceremoniously onto the ground. It's empty eye sockets and pulled back lips as well as its shriveled face strikes a deep fear into her heart.
Past Lilith covers her mouth in shock and takes a step back, preparing to make a run for it. Her master points a finger at her and she freezes in place. Her green eyes turn red and her stiff body and shocked expression relaxes.
"Mind control?" Luz figures it must be. Oh gosh, what's going to happen to the poor girl?!
Lilith's master chuckles weakly. Something in his voice makes her skin crawl.
He approaches his frozen apprentice and traces the back of his finger gently down the side of her face. Alarm bells immediately ring and Luz reaches for Umbra to end the pig's life right there. Before she can the canary chirps wildly in her ear as though it's saying 'not yet!'.
Luz pauses and begrudgingly let's the memory continue. The mesmerized Lilith has no reaction as her mentor sickly appreciates her features.
"...Such power and beauty. A shame we never could meet as we should have. You've inherited much from your mother. How unfortunate that your pig of a father stole her from me! All is well, you suffice just as well in her place."
He spins around and approaches the body. He removes a knife hidden in his cloak and in a swift motion cuts the left hand of the body clean off. He tosses Lilith the knife and thankfully she catches it without hurting herself.
"Harvest the fat in the belly and string the hair into a wick. Compact both into a candle stick and bring it to me while I work on the enchantments to make the Hand of Glory."
Without hesitation nor emotion Lilith takes the knife and carves into the pickled body. Even greater stench fills the air but only Luz reacts to the putrid odor. Like a machine Lilith deftly completes her task and hands the disgusting and dark candle to her master.
He takes the severed hand and candle and holds them near one another. The once curled hand opens by itself as though it's waiting to grab and hold something. He places the candle inside the hand and it's finger curl around it and hold it firmly in place.
With his demented prize in hand Lilith's master hold the Hand of Glory into the air for the dead to seemingly behold.
"After years of research and planning it is finally realized, I now have my key weapon in defeating the Emperor! You have served me well, puppet. Once we return we shall consummate together to celebrate my victory!"
Clap... clap... clap...
Eerie clapping fills the empty and dark tomb. At the other end of the room two sets of familiar glowing blue eyes shine in the void of shadows. From the darkness emerges Luz's nemesis, Emperor Belos himself donned in his iconic golden cloak and armor.
The eyes hidden behind his golden mask radiate an intensity that Luz can only compare to the energy Bendu released when he disappeared.
"I must say, such a betrayal really was unexpected at this time. I predicted another decade, yet I only proved myself a fool. Power really does change a man. A Hand of Glory? Impressive, such knowledge was lost years ago. And you used the old King as well! Such a shame you'll have to die now."
Belos snaps his fingers and the spell commanding Lilith is disrupted. She collapses to the ground and weakly rubs her forehead in an attempt to soothe the pain in her brain.
Lilith then notices the presence of two of the most influential and powerful people in the Boiling Isles and she's up at attention regardless of how dizzy she must be.
"Emperor Belos, sir!" She salutes him, causing the lord of the isles to chuckle.
"As loyal as can be. You shall make an excellent replacement. Tell me, my dear, where are we?"
Lilith frowns. It's obvious from her confusion and fear she not only has no clue where she is but doesn't understand how either.
"I don't- I don't know, my lord. I must've been bewitched! The last thing I remember is seeing to some paperwork in my room..."
"I thought as much. Allow me to illuminate; You have been bewitched. By your master, in fact, who used your unknowing labor to assist him in crafting a dark artifact to the means of betraying me and assuming my throne. Don't be surprised, Wilbur, I know all that takes place within my court. You're not the first to betray me, nor will you be the last. However, your loyalty to me shall be rewarded. For assisting my rise to power you shall die as befitting yourself."
Wilbur makes no move to defend himself as the emperor snaps his fingers and lights the man on fire with sick green fire. Past Lilith stands frozen in shock as her master burns to ashes before her. Luz feels an emotion like a knife to the heart as she watches the pure heartbreak in the poor girls eyes.
To be betrayed like that and still not know the full story. And, knowing how Belos operates, she likely learned the whole truth through bits and pieces he manipulated her with for years to come.
Poor Lilith, manipulated by her mentor and then her savior as well.
Her master collapses to the ground a dark pile of ash, yet the Hand of Glory is completely unharmed by the magical fire. Belos snaps his fingers and the severed rises into the air and floats into Lilith's hands.
She flinches back as the disgusting object touches her fingers, but for the mistaken sake of her leader she keeps a hold of the dark artifact.
"You have my congratulations and condolences, dear Lilith. Wilbur will pass into memory as you rise greater. You're young, yet Wilbur has seen well to your training. You now head my Coven in his place. As your first task befitting your new station, I order you to take the Hand and all of your late master's work and hide it somewhere deep and far away. It's knowledge and power may have some use to us in the future. Only I shall know of its location, however. Once you return I will lock away your memory of this foul night. That sounds pleasant, doesn't it?"
Lilith furiously nods her head. Luz can see the tears trying to spill as clear as rain from the sky. Once again Luz finds a new hatred for Belos. The bastard has been manipulating the poor woman all the way back when she still just a young girl!
The memory fades into darkness, leaving Luz in a black void, but she still finds herself thoroughly confused. Unlike the other three memories Luz had no real opportunity to fix anything. Wilbur died, Lilith got the promotion of her dreams and even was 'gifted' with losing her awareness of the memory.
What was she supposed to do, then?
The void begins changing and within a few moments she finds herself back in the dining room with Inner Lilith, but things have changed. Normal colors fill the room and the dining table set before Inner Lilith is filled with a wild assortment of delicious meals and appetizers.
Luz sees cheese of all colors of the spectrum, juicy tender meat ranging from venison to duck and fruit as fresh and ripe as the fake photoshopped ones she sees on tv all the time.
Sat across from Inner Lilith is none of than Skooma Cat. The bizarre cat 'smiles' as Luz appears in the room. As brooding as Inner Lilith is something in her empty expression feels grateful.
Before anyone says anything Luz points and angry finger at the cat, "YOU."
"Me?"
"Yes, you! You hijo de puta I should shave your hair and throw you in the snow! I saw horrible things! I did horrible things! What the hell do you gain from any of this?! There was no point to any of it!"
"And that's where you're wrong. You mortals never seem to understand something, even when I dangle it right in front of ya'! Maybe I should write it down on some paper, crack your skull open and shove it in there! Or, I could scoop that lump of fat you call a brain and feed it to the skeevers! It might make them smarter too!"
He thinks on it for a few seconds.
"Ah, who am I kidding? As smart as a skeever get, it'll never get to swing a sword around. Now isn't that sad? Congratulations, you're better than a rat so long as you have thumbs!"
Luz growls at the insult but concedes. She learned things browsing Lilith's darkest memories and she knows it.
"Fine. You win, but I still don't get why I had to in the first place! How are you really benefiting from this?"
"Now yer' using that fat noggin! You see, us gods get bored. So, to liven things up, we like to put on little shows! Dagon has his midlife crisis. Bal had a real show of things trying to steal a planet, and old Antler-head has his scry red moon. But the one we're all jealous of? Why, that's Azura and her Red Mountain revenge! Thousands of years in the making, a wasting plague, reincarnation and the defeat of one, two, three, yes four gods!"
Skooma Cat pauses for dramatic effect.
"AND I HARDLY GOT TO BE INVOLVED. Sure, I got to give them my favorite spear. So what did they do with it?... They locked it up in a museum! So, I think I'll do my own version of the play. Let's check our list, shall we?"
Inner Lilith holds up a piece of parchment paper and begins reading down a small list scribbled into it.
"A dumb hero with something to prove?" She glances at Luz, then back to the paper, "Check."
"Hey!"
"A wasting disease ravaging the lands?"
"Check!"
"The heart of a dead god?"
"Check!"
"An evil tyrant using said heart to fuel his powers and further his dastardly plans? Oh, I already know this one. Old Belos is the villain of the play."
"Righty-O! And last, we need our tools to undo the heart of the god. Why, we already have the one, now we need to second. Care to guess?"
"...!" Luz understands what's about to happen. "Oh my god... you're going to overthrow Belos! In the memory, Wilbur believed the Hand of Glory had some power to defeat the emperor!"
"Well, I'm not going to be the one to overthrow him. That'll be your job! I'll just be your happy little audience enjoying the show. You're only half right about the hand. See, the heart of the dead Titan is protected by a shield. No magic in the isles can break it, so how did Wilbur find a way around that? With a Hand of Glory and some magic inspired by Mannimarco, an old friend of mine. And thanks to you I know where dear Lily hid the hand."
"...Who's Mannimarco?"
"About two or three people now, I think. The Warp in the West really made things confusing. Such a shame that wasn't something I planned. But enough about home! A Hand of Glory is a fun little creation. It can undo any lock, magical or mundane! So, like a good little skeever, you'll break into Red Mountain! Undo the barrier and absorb the remnants of the heart with Umbra! Bad guy? Defeated! You? A hero!"
Luz ponders on it. Belos is a tyrant through and through. He hurt Eda and Lilith and took away everyone's freedom of choice. Because of him people aren't free to express themselves! She met the people he locked up in the Conformatorium; Sure, they're a little strange, but so is everyone else! Can she really do this? Would she really making the right choice?
"I'm... considering it. But I need to get something out of this! Something to reassure me everything is worth it!"
"Oh, that's all you want? Fine, I can be a fairy god-mother. How's about I bring that missing little friend of yours back? You know the one! Mint chocolate with the funny pair of eyes."
"Y-you mean... Amity?! You can bring Amity back home?!"
"Of course I can! What kind of cat do you think I am?!"
"I'd say, you're not a cat at all, are you?! Don't try and play me! I know a liar when I see one. Show me who you really are!"
Skooma Cat chuckles and grins at her; In place of pointy cat teeth are rows of pearly white human ones. Luz shudders in discomfort as a strange pressure presses around her body. She recognizes it, she's felt it once before.
"Trust me, mortal, you wouldn't last if I showed ya' what I really am."
A swirling vortex surrounds Skooma Cat for several seconds. It vanishes and in Skooma Cat's place is a familiar dapper man with empty white eyes.
"Tada! How's that for a magic trick! I bet'cha weren't expecting to see this mug again!"
"Um... I kinda assumed you were Bendu. That little pressure thing you do is pretty familiar, though I'm glad you didn't make me pee my pants this time!"
Inner Lilith recoils in horror. Sheogorath throws his hands up in defeat with a pained expression on his face.
"Even when I spell it out you mortal's still never understand! Shall I fetch some paper?"
Luz flinches back in fear, "N-no, that won't be necessary!"
"Wonderful! It's Sheogorath, Daedric Prince of Madness! I suppose you could call me Bendu if ya' like, but only if yer' partial to your skin being fashioned into a lovely sweater, sure to please ol' Malacath. Now, what say you! Shall you be my new champion?!"
She's stuck between a rock with rusty nails and a hard place that's on fire and is also covered in rusty nails. So basically she's pretty darn fucked! Luz gives it a great deal of thought but comes to a decision. Whomever Bendu or Sheogorath or whatever they hell he goes by can't be trusted! Not now or ever! He probably doesn't even have Amity anyways.
"S-sorry, but you've gotta find someone else! There's no way I can trust you on your word."
Sheogorth almost seems... sad? Gosh, is he trying to do puppy eyes?
"Oh please? What if I added a little pumpernickel to the deal?"
"I mean, that's not gonna help any. Surely you get my skepticism!"
"Well what if I don't understand, what then? Haha, got you there! The only thing I know is never bother Haskill when he's running errands! He'd badger yer' ear off then give it to me later. True story, I have a lovely collection."
Luz is starting to feel a little irritated by now.
"Listen, I don't-!"
"Ah well, suppose I'll have to find another. Nothing ta' worry about, really! Well, I suppose not if you don't mind seeing yer' darlings' entrails scattered around."
The human stills. In her mind she sees the sea of Enforcers back at the museum, she can still see their organs in vivid detail. By god, the smell. Blood, feces and all other body fluids mixed into one disgusting slurry.
And in place of those unfortunate Enforcers she imagines a sea of Amity's instead.
"The children in Crucible have such fun games! Toss the Lung is one of my favorites this Era so far."
"W-wait a second, let's not be hasty!" Luz is shaking and sweating like a dog begging for her life. Her eyes are wide and focused even if they vibrate ever so slightly.
Sheogorath dons his signature toothy grin. He says nothing and lets Luz continue her pathetic groveling.
"I'll do it! For... for Amity-oh god. God help me, I'll do it! You diablo, I'll do it!"
Luz feels like an ant beneath a mountain's shadow once again. The Prince of Madness smiles cruelly while the teen faintly weeps beneath his shadow. She was already his, anyways.
"Marvelous! Cheese! Cheese for everyone!" A single quarter block of cheddar falls from the ceiling and bonks Inner Lilith on the head.
"...Well that was anticlimactic. Ah well, nothing more to do. And you, my darling little champion! I think you should be off to bed! You've got some work to do, after all. Oh, and take my little birdy champion with ya'. He's been oh so lonely lately."
With a snap of his fingers everything goes back before Luz can ask anymore questions. Her slumber is dreamless and without true rest. Her eyes snap open as she awakens once again somewhere new.
She frantically looks around but finds herself in no danger, rather she's in the safest house in the Boiling Isles. She wakes tucked in her sleeping bag, safe in the upstairs room of the Owl House.
No greyscale room. No Inner Lilith and no Sheogorath. Was it all a dream, could it really have just been a terrible nightmare?
Chirp chirp!
Her fellow champion lands on her lap and answers her question. That tiny bird, so round and adorable, breaks the dam and Luz grabs her pillow to muffle her sobs as she weeps for the loss of her soul.
Chirp chirp!
Lilith pours herself a nice hot cup of Witches brew. Ah, nothing like a warm cup of boiled caffeine bean water to start the day before it's inevitably soured by something.
As per usual she's the first person awake, and given tradition she'll be the only one awake for some time. Lilith sips her brew and furrows her brow. Something about her rest last night was... peculiar. Her dreams were plagued with strange images of an old man, Luz and something about cheese. She shrugs and continues to enjoy her cup. A few minutes later the Human-ahem-Luz comes down the stairs.
Luz, more so than usual, looks particularly unhappy this morning. She has heavy bags under her eyes and she keeps her gaze downward. Her expression is peculiarly downtrodden, did something happen? It must have been a nightmare, those have been very common these days.
Before Lilith can ask what's wrong the human quickly crosses the room and wraps her arms around her in one of those foreign human embraces she's so fond of. Lilith is taken aback momentarily but reciprocates as best she can. She feels the human wrap her arms around her tightly and mumble something into her shirt.
"What was that, Luz?"
"...mm' sorry."
"...Sorry for what, is everything okay, Luz?"
The damned human sighs deeply with a heart weighed heavy by burden.
"No... no I don't think so."