Angel: Sorry it's so late that I'm uploading this, I tried to do it this morning right before I went to work, but my computer didn't want to upload it *blank look* And I just got off work, and my computer was STILL being an ass about uploading this chapter until I finally fixed it, so here you go!
Eda was cleaning up her Human Collectibles stand while Lucila and Luz were both reading books. Luz had her Good Witch Azura book and Lucila had her book on covens, which she hadn't finished. Luz was reading her book to King.
"Emboldened by the dishonor Hecate had shown, Azura lifted her staff to the cotton-candy skies and shouted, 'I challenge you to a Witch's Duel!' And look, I drew a flip book," She gestured to the bottom right corner, where there were drawings of both Azura and Hecate. "Pew, pew, pew!"
Lucila shook her head in amusement nearby, sitting on a chest. "Show me the picture," King stated, holding the book and looking over it.
"What?"
"Show me the picture!" She turned around the book to face him and he snorted.
"Huh! I can draw better than that. You know, they once called me the King of Artists," King bragged to her.
"Wait, I thought you were the King of Demons," Luz said with an amused smile and he froze. "Are you just making this up now?"
Lucila giggled nearby. "That sounds about right."
"Doesn't matter," He whipped around to Luz. "What's important is that my followers would leave me offerings in fear of me."
Luz glanced at her sister, who just shrugged in response. "Well, I can offer you more of this tantalizing book, or Lucila could offer you more of hers."
Eda groaned nearby at just the thought of it. "Please stop reading that. Its flowery language is an insult to witches and driving away all our serious customers!" She waved the dirty feather duster in front of Luz.
"Um, Eda?" Luz looked to the empty area, as they were the only people around. "What customers? There aren't even any other stands around. What's going on?"
"Yeah, why plant yourself here if there's no customer traffic at all?" Lucila raised an eyebrow at Eda, who glared a bit. There would usually be people here, but apparently not today, and that only meant one thing.
"This is a bad omen. There must be something horrible happening today."
"Luz, Lucila!" Gus called out to them as he walked over with Willow. "Something amazing is happening today!" Willow was holding a poster.
"Gus, Willow. Hey," Luz greeted them with a wave.
"What's up?" Lucila closed her book, standing up to join her sister.
"It's the annual covention," Willow held up the poster in her hand, which mentioned a mystery guest. "Student witches get to see all the types of covens before they're placed in one. There's even a mystery guest this year," She pointed to the bottom of the page in excitement.
"A job fair for witches! Eda, can we go?" Luz asked excitedly.
"Absolutely not," Eda denied her, earning a groan. Lucila watched as Luz slid to the ground.
"Oh, come on, Eda. You don't even have to go, I'll be with them," The older girl crossed her arms, giving her a small glare that stated she was still technically Luz's guardian regardless of Eda being much older. And she felt like she was capable enough of letting Luz go.
"I don't care. I never joined a coven for a reason," Eda argued back to her. "Sure, it's like a fun club for witches, but you're also giving up your magical independence to be part of a crooked system." Willow groaned as well by her answer, also a little offended. "Eh, but, you know, no judgment," She looked away with closed eyes. "In any case, I haven't been to one since we were girls."
"'We'?" Luz asked in confusion, earning a wide-eyed look from Eda.
"I-I mean..."
"Who's 'we'?" The girl stood up from the ground. "You have a mysterious past," She pointed up at Eda. "Now we gotta go."
"No," Eda made clear and Lucila rubbed a temple.
"If the system's as crooked as you say from only your experience, how are we going to know what it's really like if you don't give us a chance to see it for ourselves?" She pointed out to the woman, who held her head up high.
"Nice try, kid, but I'm still older than you. Being Luz's older sister means bunk here."
The girl narrowed her eyes in annoyance since for one, Eda was technically right, but the girl was responsible enough to take care of her sister as well. And two, she didn't know what Eda was trying to run from, but it shouldn't stop them from going to Covention.
"You know, the more you hold back, the more curious you're gonna make Luz. And you don't want that," Lucila warned her, earning a raspberry in response.
"Okay. Then you leave me no choice," Luz gestured to King, who started to read the Azura book.
"'You shall not shan't doeth no more harm,' Azura callethed out-"
"So flowery, so awful," Eda walked away while twitching an eye as he continued reading it. She held a suitcase in her hand that was really a door.
"Hecate could only screech," She held it up in front of her and entered the door.
"Screecheth did she, for the screeching did worseneth." Luz took King and threw him into the door to follow after Eda. The door closed and reopened a few seconds later. Eda marched out, fists clenched as King was sitting on top of her hair.
"Stop it. Stop it! I will literally do anything to stop this."
Lucila crossed her arms with a smirk, fist bumping her sister.
They all stood in front of the center for Covention, Eda groaning as she pinched her nose. She just had to say anything...
She struggled to put her hood on, since her hair was very wild. King was standing on her back to help her put it on. "Gotta keep a low profile," She struggled, grunting. It went over her head, but her locks were still sticking out. Luz tried to help by pushing it in.
"Is this cowl really necessary?" She asked curiously, the other three just watching.
"Do you think all my wanted posters are for petty theft?" Once she got the hood on, a bunch of junk fell from her outfit. "Partly," She stated in acknowledgement. "But the big whammy is I disobeyed the law and refused to join a coven," She scooped up all her items into her hood. "If I'm seen, I could go to jail. Again."
"Maybe this informative event will inspire you to join a coven," Willow pointed out, holding one of the wanted posters. Eda waved a finger to make Willow's hood go over her head in response to that. She quickly adjusted it, but didn't seem angry about it.
"Let's just get this over with," Eda guided them inside. Once they walked in, Luz was amazed by the flags above their heads as there were various booths for covens, with nine banners hanging from the ceiling, all of them in different colors: red, orange, yellow, green, blue, purple, indigo, pink, and brown.
"Whoa! Was I even alive before now?" Luz murmured, seeing several witches flying over their heads.
"Those are the main nine covens," Gus saw Lucila's book in her hand and he gestured forward. "I'm being rude to my teacher. I'm sure she's read up a lot about this."
"Oh! I have, actually," She smiled at him, turning to Luz. "There's all kinds of different covens here, but the main nine are Potions, Beast Keeping, Abominations, Healing, Plant, Construction, Bard, Oracle, and Illusions. Each color and symbol from the banners represents that coven, which also matches the tracks that students can study from Hexside for them to join permanently. Hence the uniforms," She gestured to Willow and Gus.
"There's Flower Coven, Artist Coven, Big Dog Coven, Small Cat Coven, Tiniest Cat Coven-" Eda groaned behind Willow as she was talking, Luz's arm hooked around her and her sister's. "Also the Grumpy Coven," She whispered to the two.
"What was that?!" Eda growled, scaring them off.
"Ah, excuse me, ma'am," Someone spoke up to her. "But you look rather familiar." He glanced to the wanted poster of Eda right nearby her, making her nervous.
"Uhh, no I don't. Distraction spell," She threw down Hex Mix on the ground, which of course didn't do anything. She ran off, but as soon as he reached out to grab it, she came back. She threw his cowl over him and grabbed the Hex Mix, running back over to the group.
Luz looked around excitedly and then pointed forward. "Ooh, what's that?" She pointed to a dwarf standing nearby bricks.
"That's the Construction Coven," Willow introduced and they watched as the dwarf threw up the pile of bricks. When they came down, they stacked up to make a house. "One of the main nine," The dwarf reached into his hat and pulled out a piece of paper with the Construction symbol on it. "They use power glyphs to increase their strength."
He planted a glyph on Tiny Nose, the conspiracy theorist from before. Something sparked within her and she screamed as she gained a ton of power. She grabbed the dwarf and threw him up into the air.
"I am destwoyer of worlds!" She hollered, throwing the sign nearby.
"Hey, that's the opposite of construction!" Two Construction witches attempted to stop her.
"They can also create various tools from the ground up," Lucila gestured to them.
"Yowza-wowzer," Luz exclaimed in awe, and then a blue hologram of sorts appeared behind her.
"Yowza-wowzer." She flinched and looked behind her, watching as the other Luz walked past with a smile.
"Yowza-whaaaa?" She watched as it went over to two Illusionists and then completely disappeared.
"Ah! You've been taken in by the allure of the Illusionist Coven," Gus gestured to himself. "We like to magic with a hint..." He disappeared and then reappeared, bowing. "Of showmanship." The other two witches appeared and bowed next to him.
Lucila chuckled at Gus and the other witches. "Illusionists can also trick people by changing appearances or by showing you things that aren't there."
"Wow, you've really done your research," Gus complimented her.
"I'm not interested in the magic aspect, but I do like the organization," Lucila shrugged at him.
"Wow! Acceptance? Camaraderie? A sense of belonging? Covens sound incredible!" Luz stated happily, looking up at Eda. "Eda, why haven't you ever joined one?"
The older Noceda sighed, confusing Luz as she looked away. "Well..."
"Watch closely, Luz," She turned to a kid who was wearing the same uniform. "When you join a coven, all your other magic is sealed away," The kid was given the Illusion mark, blue veins briefly appearing on him. "From now on, that kid will only be able to make illusions. Since I never joined a coven, I can do every kind of magic," She made a fireball and a water ball from her hands to emphasize her point. "That's why I'm the most powerful witch on the Boiling Isles."
"It's also another reason why she's wanted, Luz. Having every single magic is deemed wild magic," Lucila continued for her, hugging her book a bit. "And practicing wild magic is basically against the law. Like she said, she could go back to jail."
Luz frowned a bit and then looked up ahead. "Another one!" They followed after Eda, Luz glancing over to her sister. "You coming?"
"Nah, I'm gonna look around for a bit and catch up in a minute. I just wanna look at the booths for the other covens."
"Okay! See you soon," Luz waved and she ran after her friends. She walked away from King, who was about to leave when he was stopped by someone grabbing his shoulder. He looked up to see someone from the Oracle Coven.
"The tea leaves foretell that this will lead you to your destiny," She spun around a pen and then gave it to him.
"Destiny?" He raised a skeptic brow, scoffing. "I'm not paying for-"
"It's freeeee..." She then slinked away.
"Are you...bestowing gifts upon me? Yes!" He pumped a fist happily. "I accept your offering. The King of Demons is back!"
Lucila looked around at all the covens around her, standing at the potions booth. One of the witches there poured in a green liquid into a yellow potion, and it resulted in fireworks above their heads. Lucila blinked in awe and then shook her head. She was only here to see what it was like, not to be interested in magic. And even if she was, she wouldn't even know where to begin.
"Hmm..." She suddenly started thinking about all kinds of magic like Eda mentioned, wondering why it was insisted that people had to join a coven. Wouldn't it be better to just have all of them? Granted, that might create some chaos, but there shouldn't be a reason why people couldn't take that path anymore. After all, Luz didn't have natural magic.
She flipped through pages while walking back to where her friends were until she found the section she was looking for: The Dangers of Wild Magic. She was about to read it when somebody bumped his shoulder into her while walking, causing her to fall onto the ground. The book flew onto the ground, going back to the front page.
"Hey!" She shouted, getting his attention and she looked up to see who she had bumped into. He was wearing an ivory cloak with a hood, with a golden triangle clasp on it. Under the cloak was a golden-yellow tunic with darker sleeves and a dark brown belt, black leggings, dark brown gloves, and boots. He also wore a golden pauldron on his left shoulder and a pointed two-faceted mask with a thin slot across it.
"Watch where you're g-" He turned around and saw her, flinching. Just by looking at her, he knew that she was one of the humans that had arrived in the Boiling Isles. News about them had still been floating around. And he expected her to be nothing special, but...there was something about her that made him curious because until today, he hadn't met one of them. She stared up at him, a little intrigued by his appearance but still a bit mad.
He snapped out of it, shaking his head. "You! You're one of the humans."
She cleared her throat as she got out of her own daze. "Thanks for the observation," Lucila remarked sarcastically, a hand on her head. "Aren't you going to apologize?"
"If we're being frank, you bumped into me. And that's a mistake you shouldn't make again. But if you treat me with some respect like you should've been taught, maybe I'll let you off with a warning." He pointed his staff at her, which she noticed wasn't like Eda's already given by the mechanical wing and red tip from the front. She glared up at him, already not liking his attitude. Of course she had no idea who he was to know how to treat him, because she hadn't seen him before. Though his symbol did look familiar...
He glanced to her fallen book, looking at the open pages. He scoffed as he saw that it was a book about covens and then glanced at Luz briefly. He could tell that Luz was her sister by the hair color and skin complexion alone.
"Looking for a coven while hanging around kids, Grandma?"
"I'm 16!" Lucila grunted at him.
"Wait, really?" He asked in confusion as she stood up, snatching her book. "W-Well, you should still learn how to watch yourself! Especially when dealing with someone like me."
"Whatever," She huffed and dusted herself off. "And I'm not actually joining a coven. I'm just here to learn more about them. I don't think I could choose just one if I really wanted to anyway."
He recoiled back a bit in surprise. Maybe she'd be interested in learning about wild magic? No, no, you can't. You'd get caught just even mentioning it in a public place like this. And she wouldn't know what she's getting into.
"Well then...j-just watch where you're going next time!" He stammered as he walked away and she scoffed.
"He sounds like such a brat..." She muttered as she left to go find the others.
They had found a panel that was different from the others, in that it was white and gold, with a winged shield and sword symbol. The same symbol was on some soldiers standing nearby wearing white cloaks and grey bird masks. It was also on the same person Lucila had bumped into.
"That panel looks popular," Luz pointed up at the symbol and Gus gasped just as Lucila had walked up to them. "Hey sis! You okay? You came back pretty quick."
"Eh, I ran into this jerk and it kinda ruined the experience," Lucila dusted herself off in annoyance as she didn't want to think about him this soon.
"Who's this jerk?! I'll find him right now!" Luz clenched her fists, looking around rapidly.
"Relax, he's around here somewhere. We'll just make sure to avoid him when we see him," The girl assured her younger sister.
"Guys, this is the Emperor's Coven! Do you think they'll sign my forehead?" Gus asked excitedly and the oldest girl looked up at the symbol. She furrowed her eyebrows in confusion as she had seen the exact same one before. And then she saw the triangles and realized that the person she met had the same thing, meaning that he was from the Emperor's Coven. However, she hadn't had a chance to read up on it yet.
"Only one way to find out," Willow stated and the two took off into a run. Luz was about to go after them when she looked over her shoulder at Eda.
"Aren't you coming, Eda?"
"No way," Eda waved a hand. "Of all the covens, they're the worst. I'll wait out here."
"Hm?" Lucila raised a brow, wondering why she would say that.
"I got it, Eda. Covens bad. Individualism good. But we're still figuring this world out, so we're going to go in there and make up our own minds, okay? Come on, hermana," She took her sister's hand and they walked in.
"I just saw her." Eda turned and saw the same man she encountered earlier reporting on her appearance. "She's over there. I think that's her."
"Uh oh," Her eyes widened in a panic as she made a break for the panel.
There were tons of people in the crowd and Eda found the two sisters, sitting between them. "All right, let's see this mess."
"I'm gonna learn about this one while it's going on," Lucila flipped through her book. Behind a podium was the banner for the Emperor's Coven. In a flash of light, Principal Bump appeared on stage. People cheered and he waved a finger, making a mic.
"Hello, Bonesborough. Students ask me all the time, 'Principal Bump, what's the height of magical achievement'?"
"Is it this?" A student from the Construction track within Hexside made his head larger with a spell. It then fell on a beast keeping student nearby.
"...Wow! I've failed you as a principal." He then grabbed the mic in his hand. "It's being selected to join the best of the best. And there are none better than the jewel of the coven system and the enforcers of his will, the Emperor's Coven."
Three soldiers with the same uniforms and masks phased through the floor.
The older Noceda flinched upon hearing the word enforcers. "Wait, what?" Lucila frantically flipped through pages and finally found the one she was looking for. She quickly read it and her heart dropped. "Oh no," Her eyes widened as she realized that the guy she bumped into was from the same coven who caught those who refused the coven system, just like Eda...and she had told him that she wasn't practicing any magic!
"Whoa!" Luz stated in awe, Lucila rapidly shaking her head, having a small mental crisis.
No, no, no, no, no...!
She felt like her whole world was crashing down. The guy now knew that she was technically a rogue, he could do anything he wanted with that information! If she had known who he was when she met him, she definitely wouldn't have told him that.
"What's up with you?" Eda glanced at her. "You look like you encountered a ghost."
"Um...n-no reason..." She bit her lip nervously. There was no way she could tell them what happened; they'd never let her hear the end of it. At least no one from the Coven knew where they lived, but if word got out, they'd never stop chasing after her. And what was worse was that she potentially put her sister in danger as well.
Luz waved to her friends. "Luz! Lucila!" They pointed to Gus' forehead, and apparently he got the autograph.
"Feast your eyes on this elite force, each member handpicked to help usher in a new age of controlled magic." All of them held up their fingers in the air, making a spell circle each to showcase one kind of magic. All of them combined to make fireworks and confetti. Luz grabbed some in excitement, but not without noticing Lucila covering her eyes with her hands in agony over hearing the speech. Every single sentence about them just got worse in her head...
"When does that elite force get here?" Eda leaned forward to ask another person, laughing while slapping her knee. The stranger then slid away from her.
"Members of the Emperor's Coven have access to all, yes, all forms of magic," Principal Bump continued and the girl looked up. She remembered the staff he was holding, which not others had...meaning that he had all kinds of magic, and that it might've been he was high up in the Coven...
In which that case, it made things even worse!
"Ooh. Aah!"
"Ooh. Aah!" The crowd stated in unison.
"But only the best of the best can ascend these ranks. Someday that could be one of you," He pointed right at Amity in the crowd, who squealed.
Eda was still laughing as Lucila blinked, finally noticing the girl. Luz looked a bit confused seeing her. "Huh?"
The soldiers then disappeared out of thin air. "And now, I am pleased to introduced the esteemed leader of this coven and this year's mystery guest. You know her, you love her. Lilith!"
The audience gasped while Eda immediately stopped laughter as she processed the name. "Huh?" A spectral bird appeared from the ceiling, swooping down and landing at the podium. Standing there inside of the spectral bid was a woman with a white cloak and raven mask. She then removed both, the audience cheering and clapping. The two sisters were clapping too, noticing that Eda had a frozen expression.
"You know her?" Luz nudged the woman.
"You...could say that."
The girl gasped sharply. "Mysterious past."
"Thank you, all," Lilith threw her threw onto Bump, who took them away. "It wasn't easy for me to rise to the top. I also started from humble beginnings."
"Like me?" The big-headed boy's eyes got misty.
"Now I have the highest honor of enforcing the Emperor's will. So be more. The Emperor's Coven awaits you," She summoned a larger spectral bird, which exploded into little orbs. Eda glared down at the woman while Lucila looked a bit worried, given her encounter with one of them...
She stormed out the exit, Lucila and Luz following after her. "Eda, where are you going?"
"I'm gonna head home and wash the con funk off my skin," Eda gently pushed off Luz.
"But we haven't even taken the quiz to determine our coven type," Luz held up the magazine and Eda spun a finger, blasting a hole in it. She looked back at the magazine while walking. "Ooh, a punky potionist."
"Give her some time, Luz. Being here isn't exactly ideal for her, and neither was seeing Lilith. And let's not forget that they're after her because she does wild magic," Lucila spoke up and Luz looked up at her.
"...Yeah, I get it," She gave a weak smile, noticing that Lucila hadn't said much back there. "But are you okay? That guy really bothered you, didn't you?"
She froze a bit upon Luz bringing him up. "Yeah...! Just...trying to enjoy myself in the meantime," She glanced around quickly and didn't see him, thankfully. But he might still be in the building, though...
Luz bumped into someone, both of them dropping their stuff. "Ow!"
"Oh!"
"Watch where you're-" Amity turned around and saw them. "Oh, it's you. Willow's...abomination thing and wait a minute! You're a human too?" She glared at Lucila. "I should've known Half-a-Witch Willow had something to do with that."
"Ugh," Lucila simply responded while looking away. As if she didn't have enough problems today.
"Ah, hey, Amity," Luz waved nervously. "So, funny story. Not an abomination, and she's not a sprite. Sorry for the confusion last week. I-I'm Luz, and this is my older sister Lucila. The humans. Hi!" She held out her hand to Amity.
"Ugh! Put that away," She pushed away Luz's hand like it was a disease. "You guys are the ones that got me in trouble with Principal Bump, and I never get in trouble." She stormed off, and the two followed after her.
"Well, to be fair, you were okay with him trying to dissect me while trapping Lucila in your backpack, so..."
"And you got into trouble yourself when you kept getting suspicious," Lucila pointed out. "And while being prideful about the whole thing after the fact."
"You two can't be here," Amity whipped around to them. "This covention is for witches only. Not to mention that hanging around your little sister when you're what, 16? Lame."
Lucila grunted, crossing her arms. It reminded her of earlier with the guy from the Emperor's Coven...
"Well, I'm learning how to be a witch," Luz gestured to herself, trying to be as nice as possible. "I'm receiving magic lessons from a powerful witch and a ferocious demon."
Amity looked skeptical as she looked past Luz's shoulders. "Is that your 'ferocious demon' there?"
The two turned to see King walking over, wearing a bunch of clothes from covens, as well as holding a cupcake. Two people wearing baker's uniforms were trailing after him. "Cupcakes in my tummy-tum makes a king say yummy-yum."
"So will you join the Bakers Coven?"
King glanced over his shoulder and then stuffed a cupcake in his mouth. "Mm...nope!" He ran over to the three. "Oh, hey, Luz. Look at all these offerings!" He stepped on the scarf and tripped, dropping his cupcake.
"King! You okay?" Lucila asked as the two humans bent down to help him up. Luz reached out to get it, only for Amity to stomp on it. King gasped at this.
"Oops. That was an accident," Amity mocked them.
"Why are you being so mean, Amity?" Luz glared a bit at her.
"We've done nothing to you so far!" Lucila defended furiously. "It really says something when you feel the need to hurt someone you don't even know."
"Because you, your nerd sister, and your pet are giving witches-in-training a bad name," Amity answered without hesitation. "And she doesn't even need to practice magic to do that."
"I am not a pet!" King shouted while scratching at his ear with his foot. Luz hugged him close. Lucila took a deep breath, crossing her arms. It was taking all within her not to slap this girl across the face right about now.
"He's a very good boy and the King of Demons! I'll tell you what, Amity," Luz stood up bravely. "It's one thing to say I can't be a witch-"
"Cause you can't," Amity pointed out once more.
"But it's another thing to bully my friends OR my sister! Just like the good witch Azura said when facing down her rival Hecate at the Bog of Immediate Regret, I challenge you to a witch's duel."
Everyone around her gasped, including her sister. Amity stepped forward with a smirk. "I accept. Let's set the terms for this duel, shall we?"
"One, if I win, you apologize to King for squashing his cupcake and to Lucila for saying that she's a nerd!" She pointed to the two, King holding the smashed cupcake close.
"Goodnight, sweet child."
"And two, you admit that humans can be witches too," Luz added in defensively.
"Fine by me. But when I win, not only do you have to tell the whole covention you're not a witch, you have to stop training forever. And your sister won't be allowed to practice either."
Luz dropped her stance a bit upon hearing her conditions.
"Do it, Luz! For my honor," King called out from the ground.
"Hang on," Lucila placed a hand on Luz's shoulder, glaring at Amity. "That's a bit extreme, even for you."
"That's just the reality of it," Amity crossed her arms with a small smirk.
"...Fine. Let's shake on it," Luz held out her hand. In turn, Amity drew a spell circle around it and they shook hands.
"The everlasting oath is sealed," She looked smug as she let go of Luz's hand, the spell circle disappearing.
"That's probably fine."
"Meet back inside the theater in one hour," Amity walked off, flipping her hair. "Let's see what kind of witch you are."
Luz flinched a little as they watched her leave. "King, sis, I-I can win this, right?" She turned to King, and they saw him stuffing his face with fallen cupcake.
"Umm...well, when you only have one spell..." Lucila frowned at her, not even bothering to finish her statement since Luz knew the answer to it.
"Hmm? Yeah. No," King answered bluntly, finishing what she wanted to say.
"I'm doomed...wait! You've been reading up on my spells, right? There's a book dedicated to it?" Luz held her sister's arms, whimpering up at her. Lucila bit her lip, looking away. "...Why aren't you saying yes?"
"I'm sorry, sis, but no...there isn't. If more do exist, then I can't find any books on them. They must be rare to come by."
"…I'm so doomed," Luz stated with wide eyes.
Eda was looking for the exit when she came to a stop. "Sister?" She glanced behind her to see Lilith staring right at her. She was handing out autographs to some kinds, including the one that made his head larger. "It's been so long since I've seen you last," She finished signing the paper and then approached the Owl Lady. "What are you wearing? You look like some sort of trash collector. Oh, right. You are."
"Oh, Lily, I just had to see the leader of the Emperor's Coven in action," Eda waved off, bending down to the group. "You know, when we were kids, Lilith was so excited to see the Emperor's Coven, she peed a little," She winked, earning laughter from the group.
Lilith blushed in embarrassment, and decided to change the subject immediately. "T-That's all for today," She shooed them away gently, waving to them. She then whipped around to Eda. "You shouldn't even be here. You're a wanted criminal," She then gave a shocked look. "Unless..." She gasped and Eda narrowed her eyes. "I don't believe it! You're here to join the Emperor's Coven!" She clasped Eda's hands.
Eda snickered at that statement, letting go of Lilith. "In your dreams!"
The woman gave her sister a glare. "You think being coven-less makes you so much smarter than everyone else. But while you run from the law like a degenerate, I'm mentoring the next generation of powerful witch students into the world."
"Well, I have a student," Eda bragged to her. "And I bet she could wipe the floor with any of your prissy little blue bloods."
"Is that a challenge?" Lilith got into her face.
"Oh, it's a promise," Eda growled a bit, pointing at her. Luz then popped up between the two, deflating the tension.
"Eda, I need your help. I accidentally challenged Amity to a witch's duel, and I think she's going to kill me all the way dead!" She slumped onto the ground as Lucila appeared.
"Luz! You're interrupting," The girl struggled to get her up.
"Mm, it seems your student has met my strongest protégé." She then bent down to them, noticing their ears. "And look at those ears," She pointed at them and then reached out to Lucila's ears, who smacked her hand away in return. They glared at each other briefly before Lilith stood up. She didn't know why, but she was already getting bad vibes from the woman. It just felt like something from her screamed bad news, though she could not for the life of her determine how exactly.
"Are they human?" Lilith scoffed and stood up. "Where did you even find one of these? Okay, Edalyn," She spun a spell circle to get rid of all of the wanted posters. "For one day, you won't have to hide from the law, because I want to see how good a teacher you really are," She placed her hands together as she walked away.
"Edalyn?" Lucila looked up at the woman in confusion, and she bent down to them.
"Come on, kid. Time to prepare for bloodshed."
"But...whose blood?"
"Anyone's guess," Eda smacked her back and Lucila groaned at the joke, Luz smiling nervously.
Eda put on a headband and turned to Luz. Lucila didn't seem to be paying much attention because she was keeping out for whoever she bumped into. She didn't even know his identity, but she would know him by appearance.
The woman cracked her knuckles. "Alright, Luz. Let's start your training. Now, I'm coming at you with a blast of fire. What do you do?" Luz simply responded by putting her hood on, falling to the side with eyes full of fear. "Oh, that's right. I haven't taught you many spells, huh?"
Luz shook her head no. "Which was obviously a mistake," Lucila muttered to herself, Luz raising a brow at her.
"Who are you looking for?"
"Uh, ah, nobody," Lucila turned around nervously, waving her hands. "Just thought I...saw King! Yup, King and no one else. But yeah, the only spell you taught her doesn't exactly equal combat material. You know, unless you really wanna make Amity blind, which we're not doing."
"Dang it," Eda snapped her fingers. "Boy, I hope you didn't make an everlasting oath to stop learning magic or anything. You'd be toast."
The older girl's eyes widened and then she pinched her nose with a small sigh. Her sister just had to challenge Amity to a witch's duel...Luz stood up anxiously. "Is there a glowy hand thing that happens, or, uh..."
"Abomination, rise." They heard Amity's voice, turning to her and Lilith. Amity created an abomination half her size. It took off its own head and then threw at somebody from the Baker's coven. Tiny Nose grabbed the baker by the arm and threw him. She yelled as she gained even more strength.
"Oh, boy," Eda commented knowingly.
"I can't believe I'm gonna have to stop learning magic!" Luz said in despair. Lucila's eyes softened at her and she bent down.
"Hey, it's okay. We'll just...forfeit-no, wait, you'd still have to stop learning magic, because that means you lose. Um...um..." Luz frowned and rested her head on Lucila's shoulder. She hugged her sister, looking up to Eda for help. While she still wasn't into magic like her sister, she didn't want to see Luz miserable if she couldn't be a witch anymore...
"Listen to me, Luz. We are not gonna let those snobs win that easy," Eda gave a quick glare to Lilith. "We are not gonna let them win at all. I've got an idea." The headband popped out from her hair since it was so wild.
An hour later, Eda and Lilith stood with their students nearby. Lucila was in front row near Luz. "Beloved citizens," Lilith started off to the crowd. The person that Lucila bumped into suddenly stepped in from a back door. He stood in the shadows in the back, seeing Lucila behind her sister. He flinched upon noticing her. He was only here to witness the duel, but he didn't know she'd be there. And that was when he saw Luz down there and realized that Lucila's sister was in the duel.
"Wait, why am I even thinking about her?" He scoffed and snapped out of it. That girl was just a human. Though, there was that thing she said earlier about not wanting to join a coven, and she did have a book that mentioned wild magic...
No! She's technically outside the law...and yet why didn't I force her right then and there into the Emperor Coven's hands?
"The Emperor's Coven proudly presents an impromptu demonstration of the sort of witch we seek every year." She then gestured to Amity, who stepped forward. "Introducing Amity Blight." The audience clapped, one of them even holding up a foam finger.
"Whoo, Amity!"
"Versus..." Lilith gestured to Eda, who moved out of the way so Luz could be seen. "Some human girl."
"A human?"
"Humans can't do magic."
"She's not Amity."
"They shouldn't even be allowed here."
He glanced at some of the people protesting their presence, flinching. They were saying all of this, and yet he himself didn't make a move to get her or Lucila to leave. Which was strange...normally, he wouldn't bat an eye.
He took a step forward, but then moved back into the shadows. No, he wouldn't go that far—yet. She might've seemed incompetent to him, but something told him to learn more before he did anything drastic.
"Eda, what am I going to do?" Luz asked the woman in a panic.
"Calm down," Eda moved her hands away. "You see those mounds?" She gestured to the ground, where there was a bunch of bumps in the sand. "Get Amity to land on one of those and she'll set off my magic traps."
"That's cheating!" Luz told her with a small frown.
"Nobody'll know," She waved it off. "To all eyes up there it'll look like you're performing magic. Just trust me."
"But I will know in my heart," The girl gestured to herself. "Even if I win now, I lose."
"That's the spirit!" Eda smiled encouragingly.
"Eda!" Lucila protested at her. "I know she wouldn't get far, but come on. That's not a fair fight."
"Fairness isn't in my vocabulary, Luci," She crossed her arms. "She'd get creamed without 'em."
"Well, yeah, but you don't set off magic traps in return," The girl gestured to the arena. "What if someone gets hurt?"
The bell rang, or screamed, before Eda could answer. Amity and Luz stepped forward, Lucila frowning in worry. Amity cracked her knuckles while Luz waved with a nervous smile, hoping that Amity wouldn't go so far as to cream her. Amity spun a large spell circle into the ground.
"Abomination, rise," However, the abomination now looked at least twice as tall than it did before. It towered over Luz, who whimpered.
"Huh?!" Lucila almost stood up in shock by the sight of it. It wasn't that big. None of Amity's abominations had ever been that big before, actually. Even the ones she made at school to chase her, Luz, and Willow were not giants.
"Whoa!" Amity looked surprised herself, but then gave a boastful smirk. "Show me what you got, human."
"I'm not good under pressure!" Luz ran away, and the abomination stepped took off its own head. It then threw it at Luz, almost hitting her. She panted and went over to the wall right underneath her sister. Lucila gasped a bit in concern. The head grew back on its own, stepping forward to her. She slid onto the ground, seeing one of Eda's traps right in front of her. She closed her eyes as the abomination lifted up its foot, and then stepped onto the trap. Its foot was set on fire from it, shocking Amity.
His eyes widened from his spot. "How about that?" He murmured to himself, however, when he looked at Lucila, she didn't look so pleased. Which gave him the sign that something wasn't right.
"How did you do that?" Amity demanded to Luz.
"I, uh...magic?" Luz smiled anxiously.
King scatted to himself, covered in more free stuff. "Things that are free~! People are giving offerings to me~!" He stopped behind Willow and Gus. "I love offerings! What'd I miss?"
"Luz is in a witch's duel," Willow answered him.
"Yeah! And she could win it all. Yeah, yeah!" Gus responded enthusiastically.
"Wha...?"
The abomination stepped on another trap, and a wind tornado shot out of it. It blew the abomination and Amity into the air. She slid safely to a stop once she landed on the ground next to her abomination. "I saw you that time! You didn't use your hands. What are you getting at?"
"Not dying!" Luz called out. Amity gritted her teeth while the abomination got onto its feet. Luz yelped and then ran off.
"This I gotta see," King started climbing down stairs, stopping himself when he noticed a kid waving the foam finger with Amity's name on it.
"Go, Amity!"
"Hey. You root for Luz or nobody!" He stood forward to grab the foam finger, but tripped from the scarves he was wearing. He screamed as he started tumbling down the seats.
The abomination stood on another trap, resulting in an explosion. King flew over the seats right past Lucila, causing her to whip her head to him in shock.
"King?!"
"How are you doing that?" Amity stepped closer to Luz, wanting to get some answers. However, she was about to step on another trap.
"No, Amity. Don't step any closer," Luz warned her and her foot stopped right over it. She glanced down at it, getting more suspicious by the second.
"Why, Luz? What happens if I step closer?" She gritted her teeth. As if to answer the question, King fell back-first onto the trap, confusing them both. Spikes popped out, and thankfully King wasn't affected because all the stuff he was wearing saved him.
"Mm? I'm okay."
"Oh my god," Lucila said in disbelief, jumping over the seats to land between the two.
"Spikes?!" Luz exclaimed at Eda, who gave her two thumbs up.
"Okay, you're never doing that spell in public again," The older girl pointed up at her.
"Dang it," Eda sagged her shoulders.
"I knew it!" Amity pointed at Luz angrily as Lilith stepped forward. "You were cheating!"
"Amity, no..." Luz looked terrible about it while Lilith bent down and poked at the spike. She then looked disappointed.
"Oh, Eda, I do believe this means you lose!"
Eda grunted a little and the groups faced each other now that the truth was out. "It wasn't my idea to cheat," Luz spoke up in defense. "And when I found out, I tried to stop it, but-"
"Who could believe anything you say?" Amity replied in disgust.
"Hey, Luz might not be as experienced as you, but she's not a liar," Lucila glared at her and she scoffed.
"Whatever," She turned around and walked off, but there was something on her neck that got Eda's attention.
"Wait just a sec, Ms. Protégé," Eda stopped her, walking over. Lilith's eyes went wide as Eda lifted up the back of Amity's hair...to reveal a power glyph, the same ones that the Construction Coven used on a daily basis.
"Hey, what are you-"
Eda ripped it off her and the Abomination shrunk down, the head destroying the rest of it. "A power glyph from the Construction Coven," Eda held it up, the crowd gasping.
"I mean, I knew it," Someone from the Oracle Coven stated.
"She cheated," Willow whispered to Gus in disbelief, since Amity never cheated. Sure, she was mean and looked down on them, but they never thought she'd go that low.
"Aha! Yes, yes, yes, yes, yes!" Eda laughed at her sister. "You cheated. Perfect, prissy Lilith cheated. Hot dang, I love coventions," She then did a little dance around Lilith to mock her.
"I only did that because I knew you would cheat!" Lilith argued back, Lucila giving a look of disbelief. Lilith just framed Amity, and she didn't even care. All she wanted in the end was to beat Eda, and it kind of disgusted her when she thought about it.
"La, la, la, la. Still cheated. Welcome down to my level!"
"But...I didn't know," Amity rubbed the back of her neck, Luz approaching her.
"Amity, wait." The girl watched Amity run off.
"Luz! Lucila," The two turned around to King. "Help me!"
The sisters grabbed one arm each and pulled, but it ended up with his stuff getting ripped off his body. "My offerings!"
"You'll get more offerings, King," Luz patted him on the head. "Luci," She looked up at her sister in worry. Lucila placed a hand on her shoulder.
"Yeah, go on and talk to her," Lucila said gently.
"Hey, wait for me!" King ran after her and the girl sighed. She decided to go and check out the other covens since she didn't get a chance to do so. The guy in the shadows stared after her as she left. He couldn't believe what he just saw.
"Knock it off. You're making a scene," Lilith growled at Eda still dancing.
"You cheated! Hey, where's the Rhyming Coven? What rhymes with cheated?"
"Stop acting like a child!" Lilith snapped at her, getting more annoyed by the second.
"You were defeated, don't get heated. Get your stank face treated," Eda mocked her, earning a glare.
"Rhyme one more thing. I dare you."
"Oh, it's okay. I'm done," Eda waved a hand. "Because my rhymes are depleted!"
"Oh, that's it!" Lilith snarled, summoning her white staff. She then fired a jet of water at Eda, knocking her into a wall. The entire audience, including Willow and Gus, gasped by Lilith's actions. Eda wasn't fazed, however, as she smirked.
"There she is." She got out her own staff, dropping it. But then she picked it back up and fired back a blast of her own. Lilith blocked it with her own power.
"Witch's duel!" A little kid called out as they were evenly matched, resulting in an explosion.
Luz ran out of the exit, panting as she couldn't find Amity...until she saw her hiding near the bathrooms.
"Amity..." She walked up to the green-haired girl. "I'm sorry."
Amity just scoffed in return. "Seriously? Just leave me alone," She looked away after glaring at the girl.
"I didn't mean to embarrass you."
"That's all you ever do!" She exclaimed a bit in anger. "First at school, and now this!"
"Yeah, but-"
Amity suddenly stood up to face Luz. "You made me look like a fool in front of the Emperor's Coven. My future! You think it's so easy to be a witch," Her voice cracked a little as her words weren't even enough to describe how she felt. "I have been working my whole life to get to the top! You lost! You cheated! Say it! Say you're not a witch!"
"...I'm not a witch," Luz admitted to Amity, who stared as the girl sat down. She then took out a small notebook and Amity curiously sat down to find out what she was doing. Luz drew the glyph she learned and pressed a finger against it. It glowed and turned into a ball of light. "But I'm training hard to be one."
Amity stared in shock.
Lucila sighed a bit to herself as she looked around. She couldn't help but feel bad for Amity...she still didn't like the girl, but Amity definitely didn't deserve to be a scapegoat for Lilith just to get some pride out of it. And that just went to show that she didn't care for Amity at all, which was sad considering that Amity must've been her best student...she couldn't imagine being let down by someone she looked up to while also being seen as a cheater.
"Hey, you!"
She flinched as she turned around to see the guy from earlier that she bumped into standing right behind her. "Is it true? You...can't learn magic?"
"...Even if I wanted to, no," She looked away as she had to be cautious around him this time around.
"I...didn't know," He looked towards the ground. "Back there, if I had known, I would've-"
"Would've done what? Actually apologized?" She interrupted, looking back over her shoulder. "I know you're from the Emperor's Coven. You...force people to lose their individuality instead of giving them a choice."
"We encourage people to...stay in the right direction, if you will." He imagined that when she noticed his uniform and then the symbols, she put two and two together. And it...actually changed his perspective of her a little. Granted, she was rebellious towards him earlier, but he...kind of felt bad now.
"You mean turn them into people who won't fight back. You shouldn't even be talking to me, anyway. I'm the human, remember?" She said in a slightly bitter tone and with that, she stormed off, with him staring after her. The girl looked away a bit sadly, since she didn't want to use that card, but that was just the reality of it right now...
Lilith spun her staff to block Eda's attacks, firing a large beam of magic by hand. Eda spun around and created a wooden pillar to block it off, and it essentially turned into Hooty. Lilith spun a spell circle over her to teleport herself out of danger. The audience ran off screaming as some of the blows were flying into the stands.
Eda spun her fingers to make several Hootys around Lilith to attack her. She spun around and teleported to avoid every single one coming her way. She then used her magic to bring herself into the air, and she destroyed all the wooden Hootys.
Eda spun around her staff to create a bubble around herself while dodging off Lilith, who pierced her staff into the bubble, but failing to do so. Eda smirked and Owlbert's eyes glowed, coming to life and smacking her against the face. He then tugged at Lilith's hair.
"Ow, ow, ow, ow, ow, ow!"
"Say goodnight, sister," Eda spun around her staff, tapping it against the wood. Owlbert flew off as a giant Hooty swallowed up her sister. She smirked as Owlbert landed back at the top of her staff. She thought it was over until a blue flame appeared. She gave a look of shock as Lilith reappeared behind her.
"Enough of this."
Eda turned around with a gasp, and didn't have enough time to react as Lilith knocked her into the wall, but hard enough to make a hole. Lilith spun around her staff, about to finish her off when Eda stood up, grasping her arm.
"Lily, wait. The curse." Lilith saw Eda's face and stopped, her expression softening. "Look at me. Look at my face. The curse is worsening and I can't keep up with it. I don't know how much time I have left."
"I'll admit I was surprised when I first saw you today," Lilith confessed to her.
"I just had to see my sister for...possibly the last time."
"Eda, I-" A bag of Hex Mix was thrown into her face. "Ahh!" She looked at the bag and then growled as she saw Eda running away.
"It's been fun, but let's call it a draw!" Eda quickly called out, earning an angry shout from her sister.
Amity stared at the light orb and then dismissed it. "That's nothing. A child could do a light spell." Luz then made it go away, looking sad towards the notebook. "But I've never seen it cast like that."
"It doesn't come naturally to me like it does for you, so I've had to improvise," Luz explained to her.
Amity then sighed and spun a spell circle. She grabbed Luz's hand and put it through the circle. Their hands glowed briefly before it went away. "The oath is unbound." She stood up and started to leave.
"Did it work?" Luz looked at her in concern. "Can I still learn magic?"
"Humans have no magical ability. But I doubt that'll stop you," She left, Luz staring after her.
"Luz!" King ran up to her. She bent down to him with a smile as her sister approached behind him. "You left me."
"Yeah. Sorry. Your legs are just so tiny. Should we get you more offerings?"
"Nah. That stuff just weighed me down. But I have something for you, guys. And it's the best thing, because it's free, comes from my heart and I always have more than I need."
She gasped happily. "Is it love?"
"Ugh! No," He then held out a Covention Tote bag. "Tote bags! And they have so many uses," He hopped into the one he gave Luz. "Away, fair chariot. Away!"
"Okay, King," Lucila rolled her eyes in amusement while Luz patted King on the head. "Everything okay?"
"I...don't know, honestly. I can only imagine that she's got a lot of feelings to deal with," Luz looked away awkwardly.
"Give her time. And who knows, she'll be back to being Amity before we know it," Lucila shrugged at her just as Eda found them.
"We gotta go."
"How'd you get away from Lilith?" Luz asked the woman curiously.
"Let's just say she had a real snack attack! Ha," She snorted at her joke, walking off. "Wait, I got a better one."
"Eda..." Luz started off, Eda glancing at her. "Do you ever think I'll be a true witch?"
"What? I don't know. Who's a true witch? These suckers? According to them, that means being in a coven, but I never joined one and I'm better than all of them combined. You gotta be your own witch."
"My own witch," Luz smiled at the advice.
"Now, let's go before my sister realizes I tied her pointy shoes together."
Just then, Lilith let out another angry shout. "And that's our cue," She guided them away to the exit.
"Wait, hold on," Lucila held up a hand.
"Sister?" Luz asked what she was thinking. "Now that's a mysterious past payoff."
"Oh, you think that's all the mystery I got? Wait till you hear about my parents," Eda stated, shocking the girls.
"What?! You've got parents? I need to know more."
"You very much don't," King spoke up.
"Oh come on, King, everyone loves a good mystery," Lucila stated with a wink.
Lilith walked into her dressing room, falling face first thanks to Eda. She grunted as she stood up. "You make it so hard to want to help you, Edalyn." Suddenly, her compact mirror opened and she gasped as she saw someone else from the Emperor's Coven, having a similar outfit to the member Lucila met.
"Lilith, I see you let the Owl Lady get the best of your temper. Just remember what Emperor Belos has promised you."
Lilith looked away briefly. "I will capture her, ma'am. You have my word."
"Very good," She smiled and then hung up, Lilith looking into the reflection.
"Your days are numbered, Edalyn."
Lucila was pacing in her room, thinking about her encounter with him. She was actually flipping through pages of a book that had documented the ranks of the Emperor's Coven. She quickly flipped while her eyes darted back and forth, finally stopping on a page and she gasped. There in the book was a drawn picture of the guy she saw.
"The Golden Guard...the enforcer to the Emperor's rule, with smarts impressive enough to leave school and join the Coven at a young age..." She slowly closed the book, trying not to freak out. "Okay, Lucila. You just...happened to encounter someone from the Emperor's Coven, the highest one in a group where they can arrest Eda and probably me and Luz too just by association..." However, by their second interaction, he seemed much...nicer and a bit more sympathetic to say the least. Almost as if he was...actually a good person.
But she couldn't really trust him fully, either. And yet she couldn't stop thinking about him. His voice endeared her the second time, as well as his sympathy, even if she didn't show it to him...
She snapped out of it as she realized she was thinking about him.
"Right. I can just ignore him and I'll never have to talk about him again."
Though he still crossed her mind...
Likewise, the Golden Guard closed the door to his room behind him. The human was stuck in his mind as he tried to get rid of her image in his head and failed. She was definitely interesting for a human. Though he thought it was strange for her to suddenly appear, along with the revelation that she couldn't do magic. Though, looking back, it did make sense since she didn't have the biology for it.
"Hmm..." He lightly touched the side of his cloak near his ears. "No pointed ears...And those glasses I could do without—well, no...they might actually suit her. And maybe she'd like it if we could talk about wild mag—No! What are you doing? She's just a human..."
It wasn't like they were going to meet again anyway...