Ah, the Owl House. I've wanted to write a fic for this thing for quite some time, but never had enough ideas or reasons to do so. After getting a request to do something similar to what I did with Undertale though (that being adding an OC that changes basically everything), I got the perfect idea.

Besides, there aren't a lot of OC stories out there for this fandom. Well, okay, that's a lie. There are 75 of them, but from what I've read, most just rehash the same plots from the show with an addition of a random OC, not really changing much. I, for the most part, don't intend on doing that. While there will be a few plot points that are essential to the characters being reused, for the most part, each chapter will have a completely original adventure inside it. That's more fun for me, so hopefully it is for you too.

Alright, without further ado:

Chapter One: New Beginnings Without the Reminiscings

Our story starts off plain, simple, with a boy walking down a road, alone and fearful. Time had become... abstract to him; a big blur that he could barely pick any details out of. Weeks and weeks of just walking, only occasionally stopping to buy food with what little money he had. Armed with nothing more than his now broken pair of glasses, a blue sweater with a hood, and some jeans, he was helpless to the nature around him. If you ignored the large scab covering the deep gash in his cheeks, he didn't look special; just dirty.

He wanted to stop, he craved to turn back and run home, but he knew that wasn't an option. They made that clear to him when they gave him his newest cut. He gave them chance after chance, day after day, to show even the slightest bit of change, even the slightest bit of care. But, that never came, and he knew what he had to do from there. He was painfully aware that he would be walking for most likely the rest of his life, but that, in his eyes, was far better than what awaited him at home. His entire body shivered at the mere thought of it. What they said to him before he left... it still echoed in his ears. It was what drove him to keep going.

It was almost like he could hear them. "Run away?" That all too familiar low, gravely voice. The chuckle that escaped the woman next to him. The look of hatred in the man's eyes as he crouched down to his level. "You want to... run away?" The fear that pumped through his veins as the man gripped his shoulder to the point it brought him to tears. "Well then, you better start running, because if we ever find you-"

...

He didn't want to think about it anymore. It was in the past now, and he couldn't do anything to change it. Even if he decided to turn around, there wouldn't be anything left for him to return to.

Realizing how empty his stomach felt, the boy left his thoughts and focused back on reality. A thick maze of trees stretched as far as the eye could see right behind him, but, thankfully for him, a town was in the not-so-far-off distance. He could stop by a gas station to grab a snack, maybe ask the locals for directions to the next town. Judging by where the sun set, it was mid-afternoon. He had a watch on his wrist, the time completely wrong. "10:00 PM," it read. He wasn't sure how exactly it broke, just that sometime during his journey the hour hand stopped moving. Not many cars passed him, giving him the assumption that this town was fairly small.

It took him a while, but he did eventually walk past his first sign of civilization; a bench, cans and trash littered about next to it. He really wanted to sit down, but he had to get some food first. Luckily for him, the next thing he passed was a gas station. He dug into his pocket and pulled out the only money he had left. $20. That was all that was keeping him from dying. With a sigh, he made his way into the building. It wasn't run down, but not well maintained either. The floor needed mopping, the windows had a bunch of fingerprints on them, and the teen behind the counter was in desperate need of a nap, but otherwise, it was passable. Far from the worst he had seen on his walk across the state. He browsed the aisles, picked the most calorie-filled foods he could find, then brought them to the checkout counter.

The teen behind the counter eyed him up and down as he slipped the $20 bill next to his assortment of junk food. They had a short staring contest before the teen began to scan his items. "Looks like you haven't bathed in days," they added in, probably an attempt at small talk.

Weeks, probably, the boy thought to no one but his empty mind. He let out a little grunt, thinking about just how many conversations started with this. "I'm hiking," he said bluntly, not in the mood to talk.

The teen raised an eyebrow. "Either you look young, or you're not old enough to solo hike." The latter was true, but he obviously couldn't admit to that. "At the oldest, you're 15. A far cry from the 18 required to go about the world without a parent."

The boy rubbed his eyes. "Look, could you just ring up my stuff? I'm a little tired after walking for five days straight." Sleeping in bushes was far from enjoyable.

They finally seemed to get the message and finished scanning his items. He got $11 back and a handful of food. "Be careful out there," the teen said, the boy making his way back outside.

He decided it was best to walk a little more before stopping to eat. When buildings and houses had become a lot more common, the street looking well paved, he finally rested at a bench, this time missing all the trash the other one had. His legs felt like jello. In front of him sat an average house, nothing in particular standing out about it. A long and windy dirt path set next to it. He dug into one of his bags of chips, nearly gulping them all up in a single bite; it had been at least two days since anything entered his mouth. It didn't take him long to finish them, and he soon found his eyes becoming heavier. Maybe... He yawned as he laid on the bench, using his arm as a pillow. Maybe just a tiny nap. That was all the convincing he needed before his eyes fully closed, finally entering dreamland once again.

He didn't stay there for long. Maybe an hour or two passed before the distant sound of struggling woke him up. His eyes slowly drifted open, the noise getting louder. It sounded like... a girl? He sat up and looked in the direction it came from; it was the average-looking house. Outside of it sat a girl, most likely Hispanic in some nature, head face-first into a trashcan. "Where is it?" she almost shouted to the inanimate object, clearly on the hunt for something. The boy continued to watch her struggle, scratching his chin. Despite his shy nature, he was considering approaching her to at least help. Maybe then he could ask for directions. When a few minutes passed and she was still searching like a dog who lost its bone, he decided to give in to his curiosity.

He got up and slowly crossed the street, making his way to her. She wore a strange-looking hoodie, the sleeves being short and the waist only barely getting coverage; certainly won't protect her from the cold. With a deep breath, he put his thoughts into words. "Need some help?" he asked as confident as he could, causing her searching to come to a halt.

Her head slowly turned to him, clearly shocked by his presence. I mean, I was right across the road, so I don't know how she didn't see me... he thought while scratching his chin. She stared at him a little longer, her eyes getting slightly wide, before suddenly spinning around to face him. "Hi!" she said with a surprised tone buried under her voice, making sure to hide her arms behind her back. It was probably because they were covered in trash. Clearly, she wasn't expecting anyone to talk to her. "I was just, uh-" Her head made a motion towards the trashcan. "-looking for my book I accidentally threw away." One of her eyebrows raised, realization quickly washing over her face. "Wait, do I even know you?" she asked, tilting her head slightly.

He let out a small sigh. "No. I'm not from around here." He stuck his hand out in an attempt to offer a handshake. "My name is Oliver, I was actually sleeping on the bench across the road."

Her eyes lit up, almost as if a lightbulb had gone off in her head. "Oh! That was what that strange figure was!" She let out a few chuckles, doing a little roll of the shoulders. "And here was silly old me thinking it was a bunch of trash bags!" Her hand suddenly came down and grabbed his, giving it a good shake. He was right about the trash. "I'm Luz." They held the handshake for a little longer before their grips eventually loosened, thankfully before things got awkward. He wiped his hand on his pants while she continued. "So, um-" She pointed over at his bed. -"why exactly were you sleeping on a bench?"

Oliver was mentally slapping himself; why did I tell her that? His mind scrambled for an excuse. "Well, it's a long story..." Her eyes never lost interest. "... and I'm not really in the mood to tell it." Now they did. Nice one, totally doesn't sound suspicious. He scratched the back of his neck, thinking of a way to change the topic. His eyes slowly drifted to the trashcan as it hit him. "You want me to help you find that book? I got time."

She quickly nodded. "Yeah, sure!" She spun around on her heel, going back to staring at the trashcan. "It's so strange too, because it was literally on the very top-" Her sentence was cut short by a surprisingly loud "hoot" coming from right behind Luz; her body was preventing Oliver from seeing the supposed owl. She quickly turned around. "Hey!" she nearly shouted, pointing at the sound's origin. Oliver poked his head around to get a better look at the creature and was surprised to see that it was, in fact, an owl. A strangely small one. It had a trash bag in its mouth, a book titled "The Good Witch Azura" just barely poking out of the piles of junk. "Give that back!" The owl stared at them with the blank expression they were known so well for, then slowly turned around before hopping down the dirt path it was standing on. Luz wasted no time, beginning to run after it. "You tiny trash thief!" she yelled while waving a fist in the air, knocking over the trashcan in the process.

Oliver couldn't help but smile at what was going down in front of him. "We're really doing this?" When both the owl and the girl showed no sign of slowing down, he sighed. "Chasing a baby owl with a bag of trash," he said as he began to run after them. "What better way to make good first impressions?"

Tuns out that that little owl was a lot faster than the both of them. Oliver quickly caught up to Luz, but she didn't even seem to notice, hellbent on catching the "tiny trash thief." Off in the near distance, an almost ruined house sat looming over them; the owl was headed directly towards it. Weird place to put your nest, little guy. Unfortunately for Oliver, due to his days of walking, his legs quickly got tired. Before long, he was struggling to keep up, his thighs aching.

It didn't take long for Luz to get miles ahead of him, clearly not having any interest in slowing down. As the owl hopped up the stairs, the door to the decrypted house slowly drifted open, revealing a bright white on the inside. A few more seconds later, the owl had disappeared into it. That's... that's not how light works. Despite the obvious oddity, Luz chased right behind the owl none the wiser. Out of breath, Oliver began to shout out to her. "Wait up!" Luz didn't, completely vanishing into the white void. When he finally reached the stairs, the door loudly slammed in his face moments before he would've reached it.

Gripping his gut as he did, he walked up the stairs and twisted the doorknob. Imagine his surprise when the door refused to budge. "What?" he said through his panting. "But you were just open!" Disregarding the non-sensical logic, he knocked on the door a few times. "Hey, Luz! Open up! Hobos usually camp in these buildings!" He waited for a few moments, fully expecting the door to pop open.

But, that moment never came. He banged on the door this time around. "Seriously, hobos are usually druggies! Unless you want to get stabbed, you should let me in!" Once again, he was met with silence. He sighed, crossing his arms. "Fine then." His eyes looked the house up and down, looking for a way in. When they grazed over the rusty hinges of the door, an idea popped into his head. "It is an abandoned house... no one's going to care if I bust the door down."

That was all the convincing he needed as he lined his body up, making sure his shoulder was jutting out. He quickly rammed into it, feeling the entire porch shake as he made contact. It didn't give way, but he could tell judging by the sound it made that it would soon. Another bash... still nothing. All it took was one more for both him and the door to go falling to the floor. He let out a grunt as he collided with it. After quickly brushing his face, he pushed himself off the floor and looked around. Nothing but the color black stared back at him. The door and his body, though, were still perfectly visible. Almost as if a spotlight was on them. Once again, not how lighting works.

Feeling a little creeped out, he turned around expecting to see the outside world. That is not what greeted him; just the color black, as far as the eye could see. "W-what?" he said purely out of shock. He took a few steps forward, almost hoping he was just seeing things. "Where's the exit?" He began to frantically look around for the door frame, hoping he just got lost with his directions. That was not the case. No matter how many times he spun around, the only thing that he saw was black. "I'm... I'm so confused."

He didn't get much longer to admire his empty surroundings. The supposed floor underneath him started to furiously shake, as if an earthquake had started up. He looked down and saw that the door had begun to... droop down a little, going through where the floor was supposed to be. His brain slowly pieced together what was going on, but he couldn't react in time before he began to fall through the black void, the door just underneath him. He couldn't help but scream as he felt his speed picking up, his hair flapping wildly in the wind. He barely processed what was happening, somewhat convinced that he was still sleeping and that he'd wake up soon.

That, of course, wasn't the case, but something similar to "waking up" spread throughout the void. It was color, a deep purple, to be exact. Little white dots were randomly spread about, like stars in the sky. More colors began to faintly appear, bule mixing and molding with the purple, an orange tint filling the view. It was almost as if he was viewing a majestic painting of the twilight sky. The only thing it was missing was the clouds. But, that too didn't last long as wisps of white flowed up above him at a great speed. And that's when he decided to look down, his heart sinking.

He wasn't witnessing a painting being created. No, he was falling. Falling incredibly fast, the ground below him getting closer every second. It looked... strange, like nothing he had seen before, but he didn't have enough time to think about that. With a sliver of hope that the door might break his fall, he clenched his eyes shut and waited for impact, the air making an audible "zoom" as he passed by it.

With a thunderous crunch and all the air in his lungs being sucked out of him, he reached the ground. He felt dazed, terrified, maybe a little traumatized, and had a terrible headache, but physically, he was fine. He wouldn't know that, of course, because he refused to open his eyes. He waited a few moments, his body completely frozen, before slowly bringing up his still shaking hand to his face, feeling it all around. When he pinched his cheek and felt a stinge of pain, his eyes jolted open. "I'm... alive?" The door sat right below him split in two, his back leaning against one of the halves. That wasn't the only thing broken though as a table with a green cloth sat in far more than two pieces around him. A... croc had somehow found its way onto his chest, an open bar of deodorant laying next to his hand. He slowly pushed himself off the door, scratching his head. "I shouldn't be alive..."

Due to his... utter shock, he failed to realize there were two people standing over him. One he had just must, the other completely unknown to him. "I might eat him though," a woman said with a snarky tone.

Oliver jolted up, quickly snapping to where the voice had come from. What met him was a... incredibly pale lady. Oliver thought he was low on melanin, but compared to her, he was practically tan. Her hair was very long and messy, a light silver in color; a green and yellow-spotted bandana held all of it back, covering her ears as well. A single sharp and shinny gold tooth stuck out of her mouth, and how could he forget about her golden eyes. She wore a red dress that was in tatters nears the end, and a golden-ember orb sat right in the center of her chest. If there was anything he was certain about, she wasn't normal. He took a few steps back, just now processing her words. "Eat... eat me?" he asked with a hushed voice.

She brushed off her shoulder and picked up the bar of deodorant that sat where he had landed. "Yeah. You crushed my best wares!" she said, gesturing down to the shattered table. She bent down and picked up some of the pieces. "How'd a human like you end up in the sky anyways?"

"Yeah," said a voice he recognized. He turned to it and saw Luz, head titled, staring at him. She sat in a chair a few feet away from the ruins of the table. So that's where she went... "How did you end up in the sky?" She pondered the thought for a moment, then her eyes lit up, not giving the boy a chance to answer. "Wait, did you come through the portal like I did, but a griffin swooped you up before you could say anything?" she asked with a surprising amount of enthusiasm.

He looked at her with a raised eyebrow, pointing down at the broken door. "Did you not see the door I fell down with?"

All of her enthusiasm left her in a second, slumping down while she did. "Oh."

Oliver let out a sigh as he rubbed his eyes, trying his best to remember all that happened; it felt like a big blur to him. "I was in front of that abandoned house and I couldn't get in. So I busted down the door, and I started falling and like the sky came and started to appear..." He paused as he realized the situation he was in. "Wait, why am I not the one asking questions?" He gestured around at the wacky surroundings. "Where the hell are we? And-" He pointed at the lady he was still somewhat scared of. "-Who or what are you?"

The lady waved her hand at them, still picking up the scraps of junk all over the floor. "You humans and your questions," she said with the same snarky voice she seemed to always have.

Luz squinted at her with a smirk. "You're talking a lot about humans even though you are one."

She let out a chuckle as she stood up. "Oh, dear child." She reached to her head and ripped the bandana off, letting all of her hair loose. It also just so happened to reveal pointed ears, almost like a... "That's because I'm not one," she finished.

If Oliver was holding something, he would've dropped it due to nearly all muscles in his body going loose. "Oh my god. She's an elf!"

Now the lady was squinting at him. "A what?"

Due to his love of fantasy, Oliver knew all about the subject. "You know, pointy ears, pale skin..." He nearly face-planted as his eyes looked over her appearance. "That's why you're so pale! It should've been obvious to me."

The lady seemed to know what he was talking about since her eyes went wide with realization. "Oh, you're talking about those 'I'm so perfect and pretty, look at me' bozos with a stick up their ass." She shook her head. "Nah, not my style." She jumped into the ruins of the table and rested one of her hands on her hips, the other pointing to the sky. "I'm Eda the Owl Lady, the most powerful witch on the Boiling Isles!" She said like she was announcing it to the whole world. Guess she's proud of it.

Luz nearly jumped out of her chair. "A Witch?!"

Oliver, on the other hand, didn't seem convinced. He gestured to the piles of junk lying around; some were even literal pieces of trash. "What's 'the most powerful witch on the Boiling Isles' doing selling human waste?"

She looked down at him like he was an insect. "Silence dear child! Do you not know who you speak to?" She held that position for a moment before glancing around to make sure no one was watching, then slowly leaned over to him, cupping her hand as she did. "It makes a lot of money," she said in a hushed whisper. She quickly went back to standing straight up. "I'm feared, respected, loved-"

She was quickly interrupted by a voice coming from behind Oliver. "And don't forget busted," said an overly masculine voice.

He spun around and saw quite the muscular man standing there. He wore a gray suit, white being at the shoulder blades, and had this strange cone on his face that completely removed any and all tension he gave Oliver. He stood a foot taller than the boy, the "Owl Lady" only being slightly shorter than them. Oliver quickly dived out of the way to where Luz sat; she was eagerly watching the scene in front of her unfold like it was an engaging movie. She got off her seat and onto her knees, presumably so she was harder to see, with Oliver quickly following her lead.

The man approached Eda who just stood there with drooped down arms and tired eyes. "Eda the Owl Lady," he shouted. He dug into his pocket and pulled out a paper, quickly opening it and presenting it to the lady. It depicted Eda in all her glory with a... dog-like creature wearing a skull mask by her side. The top simply read WANTED. "You are wanted for misuse of magic and demonic misdemeanors."

Luz almost jumped up yet again. "Woah! A Witch criminal!" she said with an overly dramatic voice, causing what was assumed to be a guard to glance his eyes over at her.

Oliver sighed. "There goes being stealthy."

She looked over to him as she realized what she did. "Oh, um..." She pulled a hood that Oliver had yet to notice up, revealing two little cat ears. "I'm definitely not a human! No siree bob!" She took her hand and pointed at her chest with her thumb. "I'm... uh... Meowsefer the First, heir to the throne!"

Oliver stared at her for a moment before rubbing his eyes while shaking his head. "Nice save."

The guard ignored us, instead reaching over and grabbing Eda's arm. "You are hereby ordered to come with me to the Conformatorium."

Eda reached down and peeled his hand off of her. "Jeeze, would you guys quit following me around?" She crossed her arms. "I haven't done squat..." She paused for a moment before looking to the floor. "... in front of you."

The guard sighed before stomping over to Oliver and "Meowsefer the First," reaching down and picking them up by their shirts. "And you two are coming with me for... existing." The two of them eyed him down, causing him to cough. "We don't really have a lot of laws on humans."

Luz crossed her arms while dangling in the air. "That's not cool."

Meanwhile, Oliver just allowed himself to spin around. "So these guys are racist... or specieist, I guess." He sighed, putting his head down. "Great."

Eda put her hands up, rolling her eyes. "Fine, fine. Just let me get my things," she said as she turned around and began picking mostly crumbs off the floor. While the guard looked away, she reached over and grabbed a stick with a craved-out owl at the end. She spun around and slammed it into his head, causing the guard to let the two humans go as he fell to the floor. Oliver brushed himself off while Luz reached over and grabbed the book she literally went to another realm for.

Eda made her hand into a fist and the table cloth Oliver landed on began floating, collecting all of the junk lying around before wrapping itself into a bag. She puts her stick through the bundle and began running away. "Come on, humans!" she shouted back at the two of them as she made her grand escape.

Oliver was already on his feet while Luz was still trying to get her book. The guard was about to get up, so Oliver reached over, picked up her book, and forced her up as he dragged her along towards the Owl Lady. It did not take long for them to catch up to her, the guard now quickly running after them. "This is crazy!" Luz said through quick breaths. "My Mom's going to kill me if I get stuck in jail here!"

Despite the pain in Oliver's legs, he forced himself through it as he tried his best to keep up with the rest. "Yeah, that would suck REALLY bad!"

Eda chuckled at the two's panicked thoughts. "Like those guys could hold you anyways! They're the most incapable task force out there." She took a sharp turn, the other two struggling to do the same. "Besides, I wouldn't let them get to you two. The boy still has to pay me back for all the crap he destroyed!"

Oliver was beginning to lose steam. "I would, but I doubt I have your currency!"

Right before he would've run out of breath, Eda jumped up, her stick coming out of her hand and floating below her as she did. She landed on it without effort, pulling both Oliver and Luz onto the thin seat before it began to raise. Luz quickly closed her eyes while Oliver kept his wide open, eager to see the beautiful landscape before him. As he kept getting higher, he started to get a good impression that this place was far from normal, if the flying stick wasn't already enough to go off of. A giant ribcage poked out of the ground, trees and buildings mixed into it. A skull sat at the tip-top, overlooking the entire... island of sorts. Old, rotting bones of truly giant arms could be seen at the coast, just barely poking out of the red-ish water. One of the legs of the massive skeleton sat up, acting as a mountain of sorts, while the other was completely submerged. The entire Island was on the decomposing corpse of... whatever that was. Creatures of all sorts flew around them, some more whimsical than others, but all very real nonetheless. It was like it was straight out of a fantasy novel.

Oliver was completely speechless, just staring out at land he didn't think possible to exist. Luz, on the other hand, was huddled into a ball in front of him with her eyes tightly shut, tears streaming down and off her face right into Oliver's eyes. He put his hand in front of him to shield him from her tears as he tried to look at the girl. "Um, Luz..." He tapped on her shoulder. "Are you okay?"

She vigorously nodded, eyes still closed. "Yeah, yeah. Just tell me when we're away from the gaurd that might lock me up for life!"

Eda, clearly amused by her fear, let out a little laugh. "You can open your eyes now, human."

Hesitantly, she did so, her eyes slowly drifting to the fastly moving floor, letting out a little yelp as she did. She began to lose balance and almost fell off entirely, but Oliver grabbed her shoulders and held her in place before she could. "Flying staffs... crazy monsters..." It seemed she was finally processing the situation she was in. She turned around and pointed at Eda. "... and you're a Witch criminal!" She almost fell off again, but this time corrected herself as she returned to looking out at the fantastical landscape. "What is this place?"

Eda gestured at their surroundings. "Welcome to the Boiling Isles. Every myth or legend you humans have is caused by a little of our world leaking into yours. Like the, uh..." She snapped her finger a few times as she tried to think of a word. "... the elfs the boy was talking about."

As they were still staring out, Oliver could hear the heavy flaps of something. It sounded it was coming from his left. He slowly turned in that direction and felt paralyzed as he saw a giant eye flying next to him. He nearly jumped off, but Eda grabbed him before he could get anywhere. Luz, on the other hand, looked like she wanted to jump up and down as she pointed over to the huge creature. "A Griffin!" she shouted.

The winged creature flew further away from the group, revealing what it fully looked liked to Oliver. He was... disappointed, to cut it short. It looked like someone had taped a pigeon's head to some sort of creature. "That's... a Griffin?" He looked down to the floor, scratching his head. "My imagination really misled me."

Eda did a little nod. "Yep. Elves, Griffins, Vampires, Giraffes... we got it all."

Oliver nodded his head. "I guess that makes..." His brain finally put together what she said, causing him to turn to her with wide eyes. "Wait, Giraffes?!"

The stick, or staff, began to lower down into a tiny clearing in the trees, a path clearly visible. "Yeah, we banished those guys to your world." Her entire body shivered as the staff came to a halt. "Bunch of freaks they are." She stared off in space for a moment before hopping off the staff. Everything seemed normal, then Oliver noticed that her hand, completely detached from her body, was still gripping onto the staff. Luz jumped back in terror and fell on her butt, audibly screaming "Aaah" along the way, while Oliver froze in place, eyeing down the chopped-off hand. Eda looked confused at the commotion first, but then her eyes drifted to her hand and she became slightly embarrassed. "Whoops!" she said as she walked over and picked it up. She twisted her hand until it was fully on, almost like a bottle cap. "That happens every once and a while."

Luz stood up, looking like she was about to barf. "Alright, yeah. I think I've had enough adventure for one day." She walked up to the Owl Lady, hand out. "This clearly isn't the PG fantasy world of my dreams, so if you could just give me the key door-thingy, I'll be on my way!"

Oliver nodded, his neck still stuck looking at where the hand was. "Yeah, what she said. I really don't want that to happen to me."

Eda picked up her staff with Oliver still on it, causing him to fall face-first into the ground. "Not so fast! The boy-" She interrupted herself, looking towards Oliver, who was still in the dirt. "-What's your name?"

He pointed up into the sky. "Oliver," he said, voice muffled due to his face being in the ground.

She nodded, turning back to Luz. "Oliver still owes me." She began walking down the path as Oliver pushed himself off the floor. "Besides," she said as she pointed towards Luz. "You... Luz, was it?" She nodded. "You can help me with a little problem I have." Luz walked over and offered her hand to the boy, which he eagerly accepted, finally getting back on his feet. The Owl Lady gestured back at them. "Now come along, humans. We don't have time to play in the dirt." Luz quickly listened and, after a sigh, Oliver too followed behind her.

The three of them continued to walk down the path, the tree line becoming thinner and thinner until, eventually, there was none left at all. They stared at a cliffside, dropping straight down into the alien-like ocean; it appeared to be bubbling. They took a left turn and there sat in all its glory a surprisingly nice house. It somewhat looked like a Norse house except there was a big stained window in the shape of an eye sat right in the center. Also, the roof was far more curved, and out in the back sat the ruined remains of some sort of tower. Oliver glanced around at his surroundings, worried they had walked into some sort of ambush. "Do those guards ever visit you?" he asked.

Eda shook her head as she walked up to the door. "If they do, I don't ever notice due to my state-of-the-art defense system." Now that caught his ear. What was it going to be? A potion dropper? Archers? Magic forcefield? The mere idea got his mind running.

She stopped and what Oliver thought was just an owl ornament opened its eyes. "Hoot, hoot!" it basically yelled in a voice similar to nails against a chalkboard. "Password, please!"

Eda rolled her eyes. "Don't make me poke your eyes out again, Hooty. Open up!"

Hooty furrowed his eyebrows. "Alright, geez! You don't have to threaten me!" The door slowly drifted open and Eda gladly walked in. "Is it really that hard to say Open Sesame? Geez!" It paused for a few seconds, then let out a "hoot" in the exact same way it said geez. Luz followed right into the strange building, not phased by the thing in the door whatsoever, while Oliver hesitantly tip-toed his way in, making sure to keep his eyes on it. The black orbs Hooty had stared right back at him.

Finally, they had made their way in. No lights were on so seeing was far from easy, but, at the very least, it wasn't pitch black. Eda raised her hand up. "Welcome to-" Her fingers snapped together and, in an instant, every single candle in the entire house lit up, revealing quite the inside. Engravements of something sat carved into the roof, somewhat glowing. A fireplace gave the room a nice comfy glow with an assortment of items resting on top. Two couches sat pushed into the wall, a coffee table in front of one of them, just like any other home you'd see on Earth. Eda's wanted poster was framed and hanged above it, the price on her head this time included. There were so many zeros that the number lost all meaning. Oliver shook his head. I'd be proud too if it was that big. "-the Owl House."

Eda walked over to the couch and gently leaned her staff against it. "This is my own personal little retreat where I hide from the pressures that come with being the most powerful witch." She rested against the wall. "And the law... and ex-boyfriends... and-" She stops herself, letting out a chuckle. "You get the point."

Oliver looked around the room with pure awe, as did Luz. He walked over and put Luz's book, of which he had cared the entire time, over on the coffee table. "Now this is what I expected when I learned I was in a fantasy world."

Luz nodded her head as she walked forward. "Yeah, this place is amazing! Do you have it all to yourself?"

Just as she finished, the distant sound of water splashing could be heard from a hallway Oliver just noticed. Eda shook her head with a smile. "No, actually. I have a roommate."

Oliver raised an eyebrow, surprised that anyone would willingly live a life of crime with her. "Really? What's their name?"

Her smile got a little wider as the noise of something squeaking could be heard. "He goes by-" She got off the wall, interrupting herself. "Actually, I'll just go get him." Before either of them could react, she had left the room.

Oliver sighed, walking over to the couch and plopping down on it. His eyes drifted over to Luz who was currently messing with things on the fireplace. "You know, I'm kind of surprised I've accepted that this fantasy world is real. I was expecting to freak out over the tiniest details, but nope. I've kinda just accepted it."

Luz nodded her head, picking up an item Oliver couldn't quite make out and examining it on all sides. "Yeah, I feel the same." She titled her head. "I think it might be because we're in a state of shock." She raised her hand up and slapped her face, much to Oliver's surprise. "That might explain why my entire body is numb or why my heart feels like it's going to explode."

He gave her a weird stare. "Um... yeah, I guess?" He scratched his neck, trying his best to smile. "Wasn't really what I was thinking, but it definitely sounds like it's the case for you."

It looked like the conversation was about to continue, but it quickly ended when approaching footsteps came from the hall. "May I present to you-" Eda's voice echoed through the corridor. She appeared at the entrance, holding up in the air... the dog creature on the wanted poster. But the "skull mask" definitely wasn't a mask, instead being a part of them. They had two tiny horns sticking out of their head, one being broken halfway. It was about the size of your average dog, with a collar and everything, but resembled a fox more than anything. "-The King of Demons!" Eda finished.

Luz's eyes instantly went wide, her pupils seemingly gaining love hearts as she ran over and swooped the creature out of Eda's hands. "Aw, he's so cute!" She held him like a baby, wiggling her finger in front of him. "Who's a Widdle guy? Who's a Widdle guy? Is it you? Huh? Is it you?"

Oliver felt the urge to go up and pet them until they started squirming, trying to pry Luz's arm off of them. "No! I don't know who your little guy is!" He had a pretty high-pitched voice, but it wasn't anything baby-like, or even child-like at that. He did eventually succeed in getting Luz to let go of him, but only because she put him down. "The King of Demons" turned to Eda, pointing towards Luz. "Why would you ever let such a monster in here?!" He asked.

Eda rolled her eyes. "Relax, King. The monster's hear to help us with our little..." She got on her knees and leaned over towards him, almost whispering the word "situation."

King lost all rage in an instant. "Oh. Hooray!" he shouted, jumping up into the air.

Oliver squinted towards Eda. "I really don't like the way you said that.

Eda smiled. "What? Do you mean the way I said-" She got up and leaned over to him this time with the same hushed voice. "-situation?"

He backed up a little bit, crossing his arms. "Yeah. Please... please stop."

She went back to standing normally, blowing away air with her hand. "I'm just messing with you." She stuck her hand out and her staff came flying towards her hand as she walked towards the door. "Now come on Luz and King, we got some work to do."

Luz looked around the room with confusion. "But wait, what am I doing?"

Eda stopped in her tracks, almost face-palming. "I can't belive I forgot that." She turned around and walked back towards Luz, tracing her finger through the air in the shape of a circle as she did. A yellow line appeared, quite literally, out of thin air, following her finger until it eventually formed a circle. The surroundings began to dim in response. "Let's make this quick."

Oliver walked up to the group. "But, why did you dim the light?"

She waved her hands in the air. "Dramatic Effect! Now then, if we're done asking pointless questions..." She coughed into her arm before reaching down and picking up King, presenting him to us. "To cut a long story short, this cute furball you see before you wasn't always so cute or cuddly."

"Hey!" King shouted up at her. "I'll have you know that I'm neither cute nor cuddly!" He crossed his arms. "I'm a respected and feared dictator," he almost mumbled.

Eda chuckled. "Yeah, what he said." She shook him around a bit. "King used to be the actual king of demons, but then one day, he lost his crown of power, transforming him into this lovely creature." She put him down. "An evil Warden has locked it behind a magical forcefield only a human can cross." The lights returned to normal as Eda pointed to Luz with tired eyes. "And you will be helping us get it back. Capiche?" She spun around not giving her a chance to answer. "Alright, let's go."

Luz looked completely dumbfounded, so seeing this as an opportunity, Oliver slowly raised his hand. "What about me?" Eda yet again stopped in her tracks with a sigh. She walked over to the fireplace, grabbing a broom that was leaning against it and throwing it his way. He examined the thing, somewhat confused. "So what, is this thing going to allow me to fly or something?"

Eda took a deep breath, getting his hopes up. "No," she said plainly. "It's a broom." Her head gestured to the floor. "You clean the floor with it." When Oliver still had the same confused expression, she slowly leaned over to Luz, eyes still on him. "Do you humans not have brooms?" she barely whispered.

Oliver rubbed his eyes. "I know what a broom is. I was just hoping-" he punched the air with free hand. "-for some adventure, you know?"

Eda seemed to understand, but quickly dropped the facade once she started speaking. "Yeah, no. You broke my stuff, so you get to clean my floor." She looked towards Luz and King before gesturing towards the door, starting to walk towards it. "Now let's get out of here before someone else asks me a question."

Oliver stared at them leaving, still processing what she said. "Wait, you're being serious?" She ignored him, pushing the door open and leaving the building. He drooped his head down to the floor. "Great; the one day I'll be in a fantasy world and I don't even get to do anything."

Luz looked towards him, clearly feeling bad. "Hey, cleaning isn't so bad," she said, trying her best to cheer him up. "Besides, at least you'll be safe in here. I might get locked up for life!"

Oliver appreciated her attempts to make him feel better even though they weren't working, so he forced a smile as he looked up to her. "Yeah, I guess you're right." Luz seemed satisfied with her efforts seeming as she was walking towards the door. King walked next to her for a moment before being quickly swooped up into her arms. Just as she left the house, she turned around and gave the boy a little wave. Oliver did the same and she began to shut the door. "Have fun," he said as it was fully closed.

A/N:

And there's chapter one! I hope you enjoyed it. Next chapter our down in the dumps friend here will go out and meet a certain green-haired girl we're all quite familiar with. That is going to be an interesting chapter. So yeah, this is brand-spanking new, so I don't got a lot to say at the moment. Hopefully you'll be around next time, so fingers crossed, I'll see you then!