A/N: I'm all caught up on the episodes and wow, the hiatus finale episode hit Veery differently than I think any of us were expecting. See what I did there? That, children, is a pun. Anyways Vee has basically shot up as a fan favorite basically instantly and the severe lack of fic revolving around what is one of the shows most interesting characters really is a failure on our parts. Alas, the power of Lumity soaks up all of the attention. Hopefully that'll change although Hunter is getting some damn good appreciation too. His sheer potential as a character is vastly underrated but damn if he didn't just straight up murk Jerbo as Edric's artificial ship. Ah, I love fandoms. For good and for bad it's never a dull. Also I'm sorry to all my fellow Lilith fans, but we all know her kicking the bucket is one f the most compelling things someone can do in a tragedy story.
A/N-mk2: So now people are shipping the living shit out of both of the Blight twins with Hunter and Vee's being paired with the blonde cheerleader we saw for all of 10 seconds in the first episode. I swear fandoms are nothing but an industrial wharf with all of the shipping going on. Anyways here's a chapter for ya'll.
Luz wasn't expecting to see Belos stumble into her room. She also wasn't expecting to see Amity leading him in with a knife pointed at his kidney either but there you go. Expect the unexpected in the Boiling Isles.
"Hey, Amity-" She says carefully. "What's up with the hostage situation here?"
"An unnecessary precaution your courter insisted upon. Ow!" Amity jabs his side and fixes him a heated glare. The fallen dictator sighs and holds up a familiar looking wand.
"Ed and Em raided our old home for supplies and found my training wand which Belos will use to heal you without any shenanigan's." She sticks him in the side again and the golden-masked Witch whips his head around and even behind the mask Luz can sense the intensity of his glare. Amity simply responds with a visible one of her own and holds it for a solid thirty seconds until the emperor backs down.
Go Amity!
...Wait, did he say courter?
(Not quite yet)Emperor Belos casts a much stronger healing spell than before on Luz and oh god the sweet release from pain has never felt so good before. The stiffness and lingering, hollow pain in her neck and skull evaporate and the dull, groggy heaviness infecting her body filters away as a wave of relief washes down on her from head to toes. The spell ends and for the first time in days Luz is able to stand up on her feet. Hell, she feels even better than before! What a rush!
"Don't go breaking bones on purpose to chase that high," Belos says Blandly, "Titan knows we had enough of those junkies swelling the healing wards. Now, a proper thanks would be in or-"
Luz tunes him out and runs over to embrace Amity in a tight hug. "Amity, you did it! You made me all better again!"
"Hrhrhrhrhryeah!" Amity's reply isn't as eloquent and a fierce crimson flush coats her face which makes her thankful that Luz won't be able to see it from her angle. Belos is aghast at the boorish behavior and marches out of the room in a fit. Honestly, he generously heals half of the demented household and not one of them thanks him! How fitting it is then that the demon possesing the door has more manners than of the Owl Houses' ilk!
He sighs for the twentieth time in the day (he's counted) and retreats to his favorite, if urine stained, chair. Once he's reclaimed his throne he'll never have dealings with any of these delinquents again!
Luz parts from the hug but maintains a firm yet friendly hold on Amity's shoulders to her absolute delight. "So, is that all of us, then? Are we all healed up and ready to overthrow the government... again?!"
Amity looks away with a wince. "Yeah... about that."
"AAAaaAAAaaaaaAAaaaAAGGGhhHHH! LLLLLilliiith! NoNONOnONoNO, pLEaSE! I can't! AAAAAAgggHHHH- mrrrrrrr!"
Luz reapplies the makeshift gag over Eda's mouth. The older Witch writhes around with wide eyes that stare at nothing in particular as though she were in a trance. "Dios Mio...".
The Owl Lady is tied down in a strange cocoon of blankets and ropes to prevent her from moving and her hands are bound in several layers of tape to prevent her from using magic. The older Witch writhes around in seeming agony but it's easy to see it's all mental which no one has a cure for. Fat, heavy tears slide down her cheeks and even through the gag the muffled name of 'Lilith' can be heard on repeat alongside other rambling.
Eda's suffering and crying out for her sister who Luz is sure won't be returning to them. A gentle hand places itself on her shoulder but even the reassurance from Amity is unable to make Luz feel anything but terrible. Her mentor, friend and damn well the closest thing she's had in months to a mother is bound and gagged like some mental patient from a cheap eighties horror movie. Once again someone close to her has been taken away by the disease of madness. If a person as great and as powerful as Eda can be overtaken by the madness of grief then what chance do any of them have?
The inky voices crawl up the back of Luz's neck and start to whisper things into her brain. There's the usual ones that tell her to kill and promise her answers can be read in spilt blood. They're always the loud ones but there's a new voice amongst the masses now. It is gentle and quiet, like a whisper, but Luz finds herself listening to it while ignoring the angry shouts of the others.
The tiny voice tells her to seek her answers in the Titan and the stars. Titan and the stars? What answers does the corpse of a god and the universe at large hold? And who would she ask about that? The Bonesborough Library burnt to the ground long ago and the Blight Manor archives as well as their scholar, Amity's father, are gone as well.
Luz sighs. Asking herself questions like that is pointless. She knows who to talk to she just doesn't want to do it.
"I'm gonna take a long shower and clear my head. After that... I need to talk to Belos."
Luz sighs happily. A two and a half hour long shower with the heat cranked high might be a bit much but given the general state of emergency all things considered is it really that much? Yes but shut up anyways. She needed this and damn all who shower-shame!
It was a wonderfully stress-relieving experience but there was something else possibly revealed to Luz that she's not so pleased to know.
She's pretty darned sure the bathroom is haunted!
And it's not like the time a wild spirit accidentally broke in either; that one was visible yet see-through. Lilith explained to her that the 'wild' spirits of the Boiling Isles are manifestations of concepts; like nature spirits or graveyard ghosts. They aren't born from a deceased person they're forces of nature. The one haunting the bathroom is much less... present. Like a classic ghost haunting story in the human world.
She sees vague shadows in the corners of her vision and the lights would flicker occasionally and small, lightweight objects like a bar of soap or the half empty shampoo bottle would move on their own and clatter to the tile floor. She swore she felt someone's fingertips ghosting (haha) down her shoulder as though it were trying to get her attention. And no matter how hot she would wrench the water up to a chill shiver ever other minute or so would slither down her spine.
It's kinda creepy and frankly quite annoying when that feeling of being watched lingered even as she was dressing into her comfy evening clothes. Pervert. It was in the mirror above the sink that she was able to make contact.
"Huh?" She questions audibly near a shout. Someone has written in the fog in the mirror and left a message that she reads out. "Turn-hot-water-need-talk? Oh. OH! I get it!"
Luz quickly turns the hot water back on and a nice heavy steam fills the bathroom again. The half foggy mirror fills up fully within moments and Luz is back to it just in time to see the old message get wiped away as though an invisible hand smeared the old message away.
She gives it a second and the mirror fogs up once again with a new message written neatly but in shorthand given the small surface of the mirror.
Need-talk. Sorry-failed. Eda-hurting-no-body. Am-weak-too-weak. Please-forgive!
"Wow, that's kinda..." Sad? Painful? Pitiful and desperate? She feels for the ghost. She really does! But she has no idea who it is. Tons of people have died in the Isles and Luz isn't really sure if people become ghosts or not after death in the Demon Realm. It was something of a taboo subject that Lilith refused to speak on when she was around. In the human world it's still a hot matter of debate but to this point Luz has yet met a Witch ghost nor even heard about any.
The spirits Witches summon are representations or aspects of ideas. If anything they're natural incorporeal animals not the actual ghosts of people. So could this really be proof of life after death or just a prank by some a-hole spirit?
"So like, that sounds like it sucks and all... but who are you exactly? I don't think I'm close enough to anyone dead who'd want to haunt me."
Suddenly the lights go out save for the one above the mirror that is so weak it might as well be broken anyways. A deep chill possesses the room and cuts through the steamy atmosphere like a doctor's knife through skin. A weight is felt on her shoulder and it is as cold as ice and firm like the hand of a stern father or mother. Darkness surrounds her whole and only the weak light barely illuminating the sink and mirror provides any comfort.
Luz's breath picks up in pace as reflected in the foggy mirror is a blurry pale something with a hand on her shoulder standing right behind her. A quick glance over her shoulder shows nothing and she damn near hyperventilates. In her ear she can hear and feel the careful and cold breathing of something behind her. She'd bolt for the door if the chill from the weight wasn't somehow paralyzing her movements.
Squeak squeaaak.
There's another message in the mirror. It says, Wipe-me.
Her arm moves on its own beyond her control. She slowly wipes the fog away in the mirror and reveals who is the one seemingly controlling her body.
"Oh." Is all she can say. The fears and doubts wash away and are replaced by a heavy sadness.
The skin of the ghost is paper white -maybe even more so- and it is tight and hugs the high-cheeks tightly as though it is starving. Where the colorful eyes of a living woman should be is black emptiness with dark blood leaking as though the specter is crying. The hand on her shoulder is thin, barely more than bone with skin wrapped around it, and it is bruised with the skin split above the knuckles. The purple and splotchy red of the bruises beneath the skin stands out profoundly against the bleached of the rest of her as though she was punching something only moments ago.
Luz recognizes who the ghost woman is. It's Eda's missing sister and the closest thing she has to an aunt whom she misses dearly.
The lights turn back on and the Lilith reflected in the mirror vanishes. Luz reaches a hand to her shoulder and for a brief moment she feels the cold, invisible hand there. Is this why Eda has been screaming about Lilith? Can Eda see her dead sister and has been driven mad with grief? Luz thinks so and that thought makes her feel like she's going to vomit.
"W-why?" She barely manages to choke out as dampness appears in the corners of her eyes, "Why are you still here? I think- I think Eda sees you and it's killing her. Please... Lilith you have to move on. For both of your sakes."
A new message writes itself into the mirror.
Can't. Trapped-by-madgod. 'Gift'-to-Eda. Forever-can't-leave-won't-leave. Wait-for-everyone-else. Am-sorry :{
There's a tugging feeling. As though Luz needs to ask Lilith for help with something. It's so present it feels like her brains on fire if she doesn't do it! What in the word is making her so-so, so compelled to ask the dead Witch for help with Belos!
...Wait. When did she know to ask Lilith for help with Belos?
"H-hey Lilith, I need to hash things out with Belos. There's stuff I gotta know before going back out there again. How do I get him to open up about scary, dark and forbidden secrets? How do I get him to talk about updog?!"
What's-up-dog?
Luz double finger guns the writing, "Ayyyy!"
7: o
"Hehe-no but- snrk! No but seriously though I need to learn about ligma. It's important."
...There's no answer this time and Luz waits a very long time before giving up and apologizing before muttering a scornful 'not poggers' under her breath. Lilith responds this time but her answer is longer than usual with some of the bottom half becoming crammed together as she runs out of space on the mirror.
Belos-was-is-scholar. Loves-secrets-but-secretive-appeal-to-hobby. Manipulate. Remind-of-lost-companions. Knowledge-is-a-sword-with-one-thousand-blades. Very-important-words. Key-to-unlock-lock. Belos-sentimental-lonely.
Luz scrunches her eyebrows as she takes in Lilith's advice. Belos? Sentimental? She has a hard time believing it purely out of spite but he is a very old man. He might be like her abuelo. Old, rough and quiet but dear lord once you get them going he'd gossip your ear off for an hour talking about 'the good ol' days' and all the wild stuff friends long since past would get up to.
Old people are sentimental and quite possibly the more full of themselves the more nostalgic. The only issue is that Belos is smarter than she is (and if anyone tells her that to her face she'll kick their shins!) and no doubt it will be quite the effort trying to scam him for any sense of understanding about the greater things that seem so keen to bear down upon her.
"Ugh! God, why is all of this so. SO! So-" -Not-poggers?- "-Yes!"
She feels like collapsing from the ridiculous headache she's just summoned but sheer spite and overwhelming curiosity seems to be the only thing left fueling her drive towards anything. She feels... like giving up. Luz is very well considering just... stopping her pursuit of the madgod after yeeting Belos back to his castle. All of them have tried stopping the madgod but where has it gotten them? Lilith is dead and she has a gut feeling Willow and Gus are too. Her other friends are deranged cultists doing god knows what in the woods and her favorite places outside of her temporary shacking with Eda are just... gone.
It's time to cut losses. She's got Amity. Ed and Em are... kinda creepy now but they're alright. Maybe they can replace Gus and Willow, who knows?
Luz sighs. There's the weight of a hand on her shoulder and even in the frigidness of its touch she can feel the warmth of love. Lilith is dead. Not gone. Eda is crazy but they can work on that. She has a home, friends, a place to live and someone (to love) to spend her limited time with. It's all she has left and it's all she hopes she'll need.
Belos lounges deeply into his chair. It may be stained and violated by a skull-faced brat, but by the Titan it's his. For the time being at least. Once he reclaims his throne and draws and quarters that traitorous, red-skinned midget he's ordering the finest silk robes and sheets and he's going to pretend he's never stepped one foot in the Owl House and never will in the future. For all he cares these rock-smashing troglodytes don't exist in his eyes anymore.
Let them wither away. He'll outlast them all for time is the greatest and most thorough weapon he still yet possesses.
There are two sets of soft footsteps approaching him.
Shit. He really doesn't have the energy to talk with cave-Witches. He lies perfectly still and pretends he's fast asleep. Time is his ally, after all, so all he must do is-OUCH!
He practically jumps out of his chair while pressing a gauntlet firmly against his thigh. Red blood stains his robes but it is not severe. "DID you just stab my leg?!"
"I don't know what you're talking about." The Blight brat lies while cleaning the tip of her dagger with a cloth before sheathing the damned thing. "Luz needs to chat with you and I'm here to make sure nothing goes wrong."
Had he the strength and the willpower he'd have turned the pasty child into a smear a mile long. As it stands he is both too weak and too weary to deal with it so he wisely chooses to sit back down upon his filthy throne and let the human waste his precious time.
"Very well, brats, what do you want? I'd rather you waste my time now and release it from yourselves. Soon I'll be gone and the nightmare that is your company can be buried within my psyche for the rest of eternity."
Amity starts to rise with a snarl like an animal and Luz has to physically restrain her (girl)friend before she can pull out that goddamn knife and murk Belos before she gets some answers.
"Okay, both of you stop. I just want to ask some questions and that's all. Amity, if you can't behave I'm gonna put you in time out."
Hurt crosses her eyes, "Wuh-but Luz! He's being a dick!"
"But nothin'! Seriously... just calm down a little. I've been insulated far worse than that before. You've insulted me worse before. It's really not a big deal, I mean you did stab him in the thigh."
Amity huffs and crosses her arm but promises to behave and not try and stab anyone who insults Luz without good reason. You can always count on a business-minded Blight to sneak in some clause or the other for argumentative leverage later on. Luz thinks its pretty awesome, she won't lie, but back on track!
"Look, Belos, there's unexplainable things going on around here, stuff so far beyond all of us it hurts just thinking about it. If I'm gonna go forward from here I need to know more. I've spoken with various people and they all say you know 'forbidden knowledge' and whatnot. And that you kept it secret for all our sakes."
Luz gestures dramatically to the greater world at large, "And look where it's gotten us! There's no point trying to hide all of this stuff anymore, it's staring us in the face. I'm not asking for every secret hidden in dark corners, I just want an idea of what's going on so I can make basic informed decisions instead of running around blindly. That's all I ask."
Belos isn't impressed. Or at least that's what Luz thinks. It's hard to tell with the weird golden bug mask but she can sort of sense his dismissiveness with a dash of something else... hesitation maybe? She presses on.
"Then what about stories? Sure, every story is embellished in some way but they have to have somethings still worthwhile in them. Knowledge is a sword with a thousand blades; a good friend told me that once."
The old emperor is silent for a long moment. He is still like a statue hidden under heavy robes and a metal mask. He feels more like an empty doll than an intelligent man. Then a strange noise passes from his lips. It's so odd and unbecoming of the elder that it takes Luz a full eight seconds before realizing he's laughing. Or at the very least it is a soft, mirthful chuckle. It is weak and without much heart but still honest joy from a man devoid of it.
"Lilith really was quite the snake, wasn't she? I don't know how she passed that saying unto you, I forbade it with an Everlasting Oath, after all. A message from the great beyond? How peculiar. Fine. Ask your questions, human, but keep them simple and precise! I'm not your damned tutor."
Luz and Amity almost jump in joy but manage themselves. Simple and precise. Luz finds that a hard concept. She can't think like that and the things she wants to know are complicated and of a concept totally alien to her. Simple and precise... simple and precise...
"What is the significance of the stars?"
That gets a genuine reaction from the old emperor. "...Ha, you don't even understand the weight of what you ask. I'm surprised you even know they hold significance in the first place."
The old man relaxes back in his chair and hums in thought to gather his mind.
"The stars are beings; metaphorically speaking, that is. You could look at the universe and see logic only. All things might be explained by some mundane science in a way, but if you look at them through a certain frame of mind? If you change your position of mind and soul then there is new logic to the stars. It is within the realm of the stars, Aetherius, that you divine 'thoughts', so to speak, from spirits that existed before the physical plane ever did and will carry on after it is gone."
Luz has no idea what the fuck any of this means but she assumes its a very 'beyond human comprehension' type situation. The human looks down deep in thought. The dream she had of the stars was... interesting but perhaps not as complicated as she first thought. She may have heard the thoughts of the 'spirits' as Belos called them after all! They weren't cohesive, to a mortal human at least, but she could tell the basics of emotion behind them.
Then what about the golden dragon and the mysterious name? She has a gut feeling that the dragon isn't this 'Lorkhan' but then who is?
"Who's Lorkhan? Is it the name of the Titan?"
Belos stills and finds himself taken aback once again. It couldn't possibly be...
"I am... disturbed to hear that name, I must admit, especially from a simple human. The trickster god has gone by many names and all are rarely spoken even by the ancient scholars. I will speak no more of the great trickster, but know that the Titan is his enemy."
"Why?" Luz questions abruptly, surprising even herself, "Why enemies? I need context!"
He sighs deeply but relents. By now he is certain another being is plucking the strings of fate.
"The Titan is one of the thousands of Magna Ge, ancient followers of the God of Magic who fled existence and tore holes through the fabric of the mortal plane to escape before they lost their physical bodies. These holes are what we call the stars. And they fled because of a terrible trick played upon them by Lorkhan." Belos seems to weaken regaling the story, as if the very words themselves strike his body, "Ask me something else! I will speak of our enemy no more."
"So... why is the Titan here? This certainly isn't the stary realm or whatever and the Titan is as dead as dirt."
"Dead gods still dream. The Titan was cast from Aetherius long ago for harboring selfish thoughts of change. The gods of the Stars are representations of stasis and the Titan desired to be different. To be like the Daedra who are representations of change. It was not the only one to have left the divine realm and settled in Oblivion. There was others though the most well known is one of the other Daedric Princes, of which the Madgod is one. You see the Titan as dead but it is better to see it as 'defeated'. It's body is this realm and its' contract with our people by birth feeds the barrier safeguarding this realm. It is only from the poisoning of madness that Sheogorath has managed such sway in our realm and it is by the restoration of its soul that we can stop the spread of his disease."
Luz and Amity share a look between themselves. The workings of the greater universe and all its ramifications are, simply, mind shattering as well as the thought of other terrible beings like Sheogorath haunting some of the thousands of other realms Bendu briefly mentioned. Luz wants peace and if she has to work and live under the thumb of some dead-yet not dead- god then so be it. The Titan never bothered her with stupid prophecies and deals so better it than Sheo! There's still one last thing Luz wishes to know about. In her dream of the stars there was something that absolutely wasn't a star and the craving for knowing is raw like hunger.
"What is the golden dragon with ruby eyes?"
Belos feels the makings of the universe's greatest migraine settling firmly within his brain. Why must this human ask about such terrible topics?