Living in a house with a powerful witch would make you think that adventure can be found around any corner.
Slay a minotaur? Travel through time? Fight off armies of zombies? That's what should be expected! Or at least to Luz Noceda that is as she sweeps the floors with a broom.
To earn her keep, she has to do chores similar to home. Though simply sweeping floors won't sound too bad to some people. but it did to Luz. What kind of teenager would want to waste time doing housework? Oh, and did she mention that she lives with a witch? Why couldn't Eda just poof all the dirt and dust out?
For someone who loves taking shortcuts, it confuses Luz as to why she's given these tasks.
However, cleaning around the house does have some charm to it~
You see, Luz has been in every room inside of the owl house where she bared witness to many awesome junk that Eda has "collected" over the years. And by collected, Luz can correctly guess that Eda stole a large amount of this stuff. But there's one room that Luz hasn't been able to see yet. It's a wooden door that connects the house to the stone tower erected on the back.
Eda discouraged Luz from ever entering, saying that there's a lot of artifacts beyond that door that are fragile, priceless, and potentially dangerous.
Has Eda learned nothing about Luz these last few weeks? Anything fragile, priceless, and potentially dangerous is the flame to Luz's moth! And today's the day that Luz sees what's behind the door.
She picked a good day to do it, too. Eda is busy with... something Eda-related and King is taking one of his weekly power naps, so both are distracted for the meantime.
Rubbing her hands together like a fly, Luz licks her lips and stares at the door with anticipation. There's no sign of any locks or something that'll keep the door shut (which is odd because Eda said the stuff in here was...you know) which made everything much easier for the teen.
Luz grasps the door handle and pulls it open gently so the door won't make any noises. The hinges creaked at every movement which caused Luz to stop periodically and wait about half a minute before continuing only slower each time.
"Man, Eda. Ever thought about greasing this thing?"
After what felt live a thousand years, Luz had managed to open the doo enough where she can fit her slim body through. The teen peeked inside only to see darkness and dust particles floating inches away from her face.
'A dark room inside of a magical house of mystery. Why wouldn't I go in?" Luz smiled wickedly.
"Probably because I told you not to."
The annoyed voice behind Luz caused her to shriek like a little mouse and jump into the air. Quickly spinning around, Luz stares into the narrowed eyes of Eda.
"How's those chores comin' along?" asked Eda who already knew the answer.
"Oh! Hey, E-Eda! I j-just... heard a noise behind this door and thought it was an intruder. So I was gonna take care of them for you!" Luz lied.
Eda scoffed. "Kid, you're a terrible liar. Besides, if there was an intruder here, they would be dead already." she replied.
Luz chuckled at Eda's joke before seeing that the latter wasn't smiling. "Aaaand you aren't kidding about that." she said sheepishly.
"So, about you ignoring my orders-" Eda began only to be stopped by a guilt-filled Luz.
"Don't worry, Eda. I'll go finish sweeping and then stand in the corner for the next hour or so." Luz sighed with shame as she began walking away only to be stopped by Eda's hand landing on her shoulder.
"Kid, don't sweat it. You've done enough. I wanted you to ignore me anyways." Eda revealed.
Luz looked back at Eda and scowled. "What?"
Eda wore an amused grin. "Yep! I actually wanted to show you this room but wanted to be in this kind of situation."
"Wait-" a confused Luz began, "So you were gonna show me this room anyways but wanted to do it through me disobeying you?"
Eda nodded.
"Why?" Luz asked.
Eda shrugs. "I work in mysterious ways. Also, I enjoy your curiosity. And I think Hexside is polluting your mind into becoming a honest being. Ew."
The owl lady moved Luz aside and opened the wooden door completely. With a snap of her fingers, the dark room was immediately illuminated by candles attached to the walls revealing the inside.
Luz stared in awe at what she was seeing. A room filled with what looked like treasures from different eras..
Staffs, hats, weapons and other stuff that wouldn't seem interesting to the eyes of young people, but to Luz; it's marvelous. Plus, everything is so shiny!
"Well, what do you think?" Eda inquired, anticipating Luz's answer.
Luz, expressionless, turned to Eda and spoke in a low voice. "I wanna touch all of it."
Eda snickered. "And you'll be able to. This is my special collection."
What makes it special?" Luz asked.
"The stuff in here have stories behind them. Lots and lots of interesting tales. Heroes, villains, monsters, princesses, and much more!"
Luz's excitement decreased as the Eda's description of these items seemed off. "So the sellers just told you that the things you've bought were special?"
Eda narrowed her eyes. "Are you doubting me?"
Luz raised her hands up defensively.
"No. It's just that the Isles is full of cons who'll sell anything for a quick snail. And Eda, for a con artist, I think you've been played."
Eda flicked Luz's forehead hard causing her to yelp in pain. "No, you dingus, I got all of these from my travels. Mostly from your world! Also I'm not a con artist; I just stretch the truth a bit when I'm selling stuff."
"Wait, my world?" Luz asked, sounding interested while ignoring the last bit from her mentor.
"Well, there might've been some time travel involved, but yeah." Eda replied.
Eda led Luz into the room and brought her over to two chairs surrounded by the niknaks.
Luz sat down and partially sunk into the cushion under her bum along with Eda who just plopped herself down onto her chair.
The witch began to rummage through a nearby shelf. "Alright, let's start with... THIS!" Eda grabbed something from the shelf and presented it to her apprentice.
Inspecting it, Luz could see that it was a small brass oil lamp.
"YES!" Luz squealed in joy as she snatched the lamp from Eda's grasp.
"Rude." Eda grumbled.
Luz but her bottom lip as she rubbed the side of the lamp. Seeing that nothing was happening, she started to rub the other side only for also nothing to happen.. Well, a regular fly flew out of the spout, but nothing else.
"There's usually a genie in these things." Luz pointed out, sounding disappointed
"There WAS a genie in that lamp. That's what I was trying to get to." Eda chastised.
"Oh, sorry, I guess." Luz apologized.
"Anyways. I bought this lamp from this peddler in a city located in a desert area somewhere in your world. Now that I think about it; that peddler was a little odd. He seemed to know more than he lets on and loves wearing blue clothing... He told me this tale about a genie. who's powers could be only described as Phenomenal and Cosmic, was once trapped in the lamp for centuries until he found by a young street rat, that was the name for the poor people in the kingdom, who lived on the streets and his pet monkey."
"A pet monkey? Wish I had one of my own." Luz interrupted.
"Right. Well, the young man who's name is difficult to remember. A- Al- Ala-something. So he wanted to impress this princess of the kingdom they lived in. The kingdom was also called Agrabah."
"Agrabah?" Luz wondered. "I don't remember hearing about this place in class before."
"The peddler said that the story took place centuries ago and Agrabah's name was changed at some point, so that's probably why you've never heard of it." Eda concluded before continuing the story:
"But there was the Grand Vizier of Agrabah who's name was never revealed to me. He wanted to overthrow the Sultan and rule over the kingdom himself. The vizier originally wanted the magic lamp for himself only for it to fall into the hands of the street rat. Soon, the vizier managed to get the lamp and got the genie under his control for a short time until he was outsmarted by the street rat."
"What happened?" asked Luz who was very invested.
"The street rat tricked the vizier and made him wish the genie to turn him into a genie as well." Eda replied.
"Wait, so this...street rat made the bad dude wish to become an all-powerful genie? That doesn't sound too smart." She pointed out with a scowl.
"So did the genie at first, but it turns out that when you wish to become a genie, not only do you gain their powers but you also become imprisoned to serve others forever." Eda grinned as she rhythmically tapped the lamp.
Luz smiled in admiration at the street rat's witty idea. "Oh! I get it."
"Once the now-genie vizier was trapped in a lamp of his own, he was sent to the mystical cave of wonders to be imprisoned there for all eternity. The street rat ended up getting together with the princess because the Sultan saw how much his daughter loved him and changed the law stating that the princess must only marry someone who's of royal blood, so now princess can now marry who she pleases. As for the genie; the street rat used his final wish to set him free at last. One day, the street rat and the princess got married which made the former into the new Sultan of Agrabah. And they lived happily ever after! ...Excuse for the cheesy line."
"Whatever happened to them; the street rat, the genie, and the others?" Luz asked, leaning forwards.
Eda took a bit to remember what she was told by the peddler all those years ago.
"I recall him telling me that the street rat and the princess ruled Agrabah for decades until they both died of old age. He seemed... sad saying this. The genie continued to help look over Agrabah and its future rulers for years before disappearing one day. The whereabouts of the genie has been unknown for so long that eventually his very existence was thought to be a myth."
"So that's it? The genie is just gone?" Luz sounded disappointed.
"All the peddler told me before selling me the lamp and something else was that wherever the genie may be if he was real; he's living peacefully." the owl lady answered as she placed the lamp neatly back onto a nearby shelf.
"That's not all of what I've purchased from the peddler. Do you see the carpet are chairs are standing on right now?"
Luz looked down and noticed the large purple carpet with patterns of triangles and symbols on its frame and gold tiger heads on each corner with golden tassels on each end.
"Did the genie used to sit on this carpet or something?" Luz inquired as she examined the interesting patterns of the carpet.
"Well, sorta. This was once a magic carpet." Eda replied.
Luz glanced up at Eda. "Once?"
Eda gently nodded.
"The peddler didn't go into full detail as to what happened to this thing. All he told me that any magic or sentience it once had is completely gone. Now it's just a carpet." The Owl Lady replied somberly.
Luz began to feel bad for the carpet. Having what could be your lifeforce taken from you either by force or just naturally is just sad. But then again, there's one question that still lingered in Luz's brain.
"So are you sure that this peddler was being honest about the history behind the oil lamp and this carpet?" Luz questioned, still unsure.
"Oh, here we go again." Eda sighed in annoyance, rolling her eyes.
"Don't get me wrong. It's just that I wonder how you know that any of these things are legit? You're not the type of person who can be fooled to buy something because of some made up story." Luz elaborated.
Eda pinched the bridge of her nose for a few seconds before replying. "Okay, I see your point. To answer your question, it's just a feeling I have. I can feel the magical properties in anyone and anything even if said magic has been separated from whatever living or non-living thing."
"That makes sense, I guess." Luz replied, still looking over the answer she wasn't really expecting.
"And don't worry, kid. If that little weirdo was trying to trick me, I would've showed him a thing or two about magic." Eda chuckled which made Luz smile.
"Now then," Eda clasped her hands together. ",That's the first two thing in this museum of a room. Anything else that catches your eye?" she asked.
Luz glanced curiously around for about half a minute until her eyes set on something very shiny.
"Ooh! What about these?" Luz suggested.
Eda looked at what Luz was holding and flicked her gaze towards the latter slightly disappointed.
"Out of everything in here you could've chosen, you decided on a pair of glass slippers? Seriously?"
Luz nodded vigorously.
"Fine," Eda gave in. ",Here's the story about the handmaiden and how she became a princess because of those glass slippers."
I hope everyone of you has enjoyed this. Review, Follow and Favorite if you want more.