(I want to say something before beginning this chapter: This is a side project which I'll update once every now and then. I am often busy and I have a difficult time writing, especially when I'm tired. Sorry for the long pause between chapters.)
Luz had been pondering at the stained window for quite some time now.
"Whatever she has done on the other side of that door must have hit her way hard." was all Eda could think as she watched Luz staring at the empty nothing out of the window. She seemed so cheerful to finally go back for once, what in the arcane could she have possibly done? Slap her mother? Cast a glyph in her kitchen? Or was describing Hooty just THAT awful?
Stepping through the discarded papers and King's various little outfits Eda climbed her way to the stained glass window, her pale arm already aimed for Luz's shoulder.
The touch was comforting but at the same time so incredibly out of place. Luz's eyes finally stopped looking where the crooked portal disappeared and moved to Eda's toothy grin. Luz couldn't help but smile back at her.
"Is everything alright, kiddo?" Eda asked. Luz wasn't sure if she was ready for this conversation. Had she just made another empty promise? Camilla's tears had gotten to her heart and, who could blame her honestly? Mama's voice was always the sweetest and hearing it crumble like that at the desire to once again embrace her own only child… It hurt. It really did.
"Cuídate mucho, mija. ¡Qué te vaya bien!"
She just had to promise to stay with her forever once she returned home. This was going to be heartbreaking for the both of them in the long run. She couldn't give up that whole new family, her girlfriend, her friends, that magical reality!
Eda sighed. Luz wasn't going to drop it that easily.
"If you don't feel like talkin' it's ok. I'll be here." She took her hand off of Luz's cold shoulder, but the immediate pull back stopped her from leaving.
"Eda… what do you do if you make a promise you can't keep?" Luz asked, staring at her mentor with puppy eyes. Out of all the witches on the Boiling Isles Eda was the wrong one to ask that question to.
She had never been good with promises. At times it was because of her sheer malevolence, like when she stole that dude's car after marrying him; More than often it was due to her own incompetence as a person, like when she promised to teach Luz magic.
"Kid, I've learned to never expect myself to keep promises. Or even others to, really. Promises are expectations, and expectations crumble way too easily. That doesn't mean you shouldn't try! They'll understand if you just can't." Luz found a bit of relief in Eda's answer, although not much, not enough.
"Thank you Eda. I needed that, really." Luz gifted a soft smile to her mentor, trying to hide the heartache that was ruining her mood.
A quick glance at the window and Eda found a quick ice breaker.
"I think your awesome girlfriend has come to visit you!" She teased Luz, who sprung up in record time and ran downstairs. Less time idling around and more time with her girlfriend, no?
Eda's hand pulled out a chronometer from her grey hair, before mumbling to herself: "She's making records!"
"AMITY'S HERE AMITY'S HERE" Luz squealed over and over with each tiny step on the stairs. If someone could make her feel better it was certainly Amity! Rush down the stairs, hop over King and finally reach out for the door kno-
Thud
The door had been kicked open, the exterior light making whatever was that enormous sphere thingy outside much more ominous.
"OW! THAT HURT! WHY WOULD YOU DO THAT?!" Shouted Hooty, angry to be kicked open in such a way, and rightfully so.
"Sorry! Coming through!" Amity's splendid voice resonated from behind what was revealed to be an abomination, as it was quickly pushed inside the owl house. Hot dang, this certainly didn't look good.
"Amity, what's this?" She asked as the abomination sphere was made to float over the living room's table.
"Luz, I'm sorry but you need to help!" The sphere opened up like a cracked egg, and the few ornaments on the table were crushed by the body of a teenager. A human teenager at that.
Luz stared at the unconscious body with eyes wider than a watermelon and a mouth more open than a green shirted hippy's when eating a comically large sandwitch.
"WHO IS THIS AMITY?! HOW DID A JAPANESE GUY GET HERE?! IS HE WOUNDED?!" Amity expected that reaction from her girlfriend but even so she still managed to stagger through her words.
"I don't know, I don't even have a clue about what 'Japonis' means! The children from the library told me he rained from the sky!"
"What are you shouting about down there?!" Eda's worried shout didn't help the two girls relax, and King's curious stare from afar was functionally the same.
"I don't know anything about Humans! I thought you could do something!" Amity's wishful thinking was sadly wrong.
"Amity, I'm not a doctor!" Luz examined the young man's head, noticing how blood stained his hair. Her ear took a few seconds to sense his heartbeat, which was thankfully still present.
"Alright, I have an idea!" Her fast hands immediately rushed over to a piece of paper and her trusty pencil, and Amity watched as Luz's hands scribbled and scribbled a circle here and a circle there. At this point Amity had memorized Luz's magical spells, but this seemed… new.
A light glyph and a plant glyph connected through an outer circle was drawn on the piece of paper. But Luz wasn't happy with it yet.
"What's happening? What's all the fuss about?" Eda walked down the stairs and Luz saw the immediate opportunity. With a quick leap forward her hands was submerged in the plentiful grey hair, and after a few seconds of awkward shuffling Luz pulled out… a box of band-aids.
"What are you- Who is this guy?" Eda seemed way too calm at the sight of an unconscious human in her house. Perhaps it was the 'Unconscious' part that made the whole situation less stressful for her.
Luz's hands worked against the box, pulling it apart as fast as possible and taking out a single purple band-aid. With movements akin to a chef finishing up the main dish of the dinner, she placed the adhesive on the paper and finally touched the outer circle. The magic did the rest. The paper crumbled and folded on itself, enveloping the band-aid until a soft glow was the only trace of magic visible.
Luz picked up the magic-infused band-aid and, after a brief moment of peeling the outer plastic, slapped it onto the young man's head.
Everybody stood silent in front of the table, waiting for something to happen. Anything. Heavy breathing filled the room as the young man slept uncomfortably on the small table. The band-aid's glow didn't seem to stop, but it was hard to distinguish the wound between all the hair. Luz had to hope that the light coming out wasn't the only effect that her glyph gave. It was a pretty cool band-aid, but if it didn't heal then it was as useful as before, or maybe as useless as before? She would ask that question later.
Everyone inched closer to the boy. Hooty stretched farther inside the house, King climbed onto the table to stare at him, Luz and Amity held their breath and Eda secretly hoped that the kid didn't come hunting for her.
What an awful dream. So… bizarre and vivid too. The velvet room callings were much better than that nightmarish… thing. Monster children… a door…
Why is his bed so uncomfortable? were his arms hanging off the sides all night? What…
Light slowly filled his eyelids, and the brightly lit room certainly was not his own.
"He's waking up!" …Mona? No, who else has that high-pitched voice? His eyes shot open and his eyes immediately began adjusting to the influx of light and bright colors. Undefined shapes blurred their way into his vision, and incomprehensible whispers reached his ears but not his mind. What is happening…?
"eh!?" What was he witnessing? An owl tube? A spanish kid and an emo girl? A living skull? As he stared around he didn't know if to get up, or if to scream. This was not nearly as scary as some other events but it was so bizarre that there wasn't any real world situation that he could take inspiration from.
"IT'S ALIVE?!" The old lady didn't seem relieved to see him moving, and it was too late to act dead. Everyone stayed silent and surprised, and Ren, moved by a desire to get off that uncomfortable 'bed', finally decided to get up.
Holding his head, Ren got into a sitting position, now clearly seeing his surroundings and his surrounding people. Maybe he could take that brief moment of silence and pure shock on their faces to recollect his thoughts.
Alright, first thing that's odd, that damned owl tube. It seemed excited, but Ren surely wasn't. What even is that thing? It looks like a shadow, but at least shadows were more menacing and less disgusting. Yes, including Mara.
The little furball that looked like a rip-off Pocket Monster seemed just as confused about Ren as Ren was about him.
The old lady had so much hair he could probably make a nest out of it, all of it colored an old grey. Was she the kids' mom? Sure looked the age. Her robes were something you'd expect a witch to wear, and the gem on her chest was a little touch that would be often overlooked. Was she getting ready for an event or was there a different reason to bring out the jewelry?
The purple-haired witch must have been wearing make-up of sorts, but other than that she must have been the most normal looking out of everyone there. That statement soon fell apart as he laid his eyes upon the dark skinned girl.
It was immediately clear that there was something different about her. Her clothes were much more modern than the medieval peasant get-up he had observed in every other witch. Those earrings were- Her ears! They were human ears! Is that why he was brought there? Because there was another Human?
His thoughts were accidentally made clear as his vacant stare at the other human was paired with the reactionary touch of his own ears.
"How did you get here?!" Finally someone spoke to him… and in perfect Japanese at that. How did a Spanish girl like her learn Japanese? Did she enter that weird realm just like him, from Japan?
"A… A door?" he answered, the questions that stormed his mind made it hard to communicate clearly.
"What did it look like?!" The girl was almost oppressing him, and Ren couldn't answer. Everyone else seemed just as taken aback from her behavior.
"Luz, you're stressing him!" Said the Emo witch.
'Luz' had to restrain herself from saying so many things and it was clear. She held her hands to her mouth, clearly wanting to speak, but having trouble deciding what to speak about.
Perhaps he should start the conversation? Breaking the ice may be a way to calm the situation.
"Nice Owl." He commented, appreciating the… Owlness of the weird creature that was still staring at him.
"Oh, you'll regret that…" 'Luz' said, and Ren soon found it to be the case.
"NOBODY EVER GIVES ME COMPLIMENTS! OH I'M SOOO HAAAPPY!" The owl worm suddenly began wailing in excitement and screaming, fear and realization striking Ren like a speeding bullet. It's long body was soon wrapped around him like a long scarf, and it began strangling him in what was supposed to be affection. Was its high pitched voice altered on purpose or was it always that ear-piercing?
The crooked glasses fell off his squirming body, and the rest of the people present were witnesses to his predicament.
"Hooty, get off the human!" The old lady ordered, to which the owl worm followed, unraveling Ren like a scroll and retreating into its door. He could swear he heard it say something like "Friendssssss" as it passed near his ear.
"I didn't fall asleep here, did I?" He spoke again, the more he continued the discourse the less time he would remain ignorant.
"Fall asleep? Is that what humans call 'passing out'?" Wittily answered the Emo Witch.
"No, it is not." Chimed 'Luz' from the back of the room, now having moved somewhere farther from him.
"Kid… can I even call you kid? How old are you?" The old Lady fidgeted in place, she looked nervous to speak to him.
"Eighteen." His honest answer was taken a bit bitterly.
"… Kid will have to do for now, you entered here through a door, correct? You're gonna' have to tell us what happened." The old Lady seemed really worried to hear his testimony, and she was probably right to be so. This may not have been the metaverse, but it may have been an even more peculiar place. He may have lacked the phantom thief mask, but as they say: It's not the dress that makes the pope, it's the pope that makes the dress.
"Hold on, no presentations?" He latched a bit onto his inner persona, letting the 'gentleman thief' attitude come out.
The lady didn't seem to care enough.
"Look kid, start with the explanations or I'll let Hooty know how much you adore him!" Owl weaponization was a weird, new, and strangely effective tactic!
Ren didn't think twice about objecting. The recalling of events begun.
"Luz? Luz? Where are you?" King's small voice scouted the nearby room. Luz had retreated, but why?
"I'm here…" She shyly said, inviting King to her side. His tiny steps made their way onto her bed sheets.
"Luz, why are you hiding? That guy may know how to get back to the human realm!" Asked King. Luz could only feel repelled by the question, for she knew it was coming.
Reality eventually has to catch up with fantasy and Luz feared what would happen.
"King… I don't know. I don't know if he's a good guy or if he is just a creep. He's so much older than me, too. One of the reasons I stayed on the Boiling Isles was because I wanted to avoid talking with… 'Normal' people." She felt shivers when she thought at all the cruel judgment she was inflicted all these years. All for wanting to have fun. For that stigma of being a weirdo.
Vee showed her that not everyone was like that, but could the same be said about this guy? Was she willing to risk reliving the past?
"Luz, I will protect you! He's not going to get near you as long as I exist! I'll screech at him until he flies out of the window!" The cute words didn't mean much to Luz, but they were appreciated. That small, lighthearted comment had just jumpstarted her humor. Now it was up to her if to continue at cruising speed or go into overdrive!
"It's ok King. I think I'm ready." Her kitty cape was thrown back, revealing once again her human ears. She would have to try. This was the moment to do so. Picking King up, she once again got up, feeling a new courage within. It wasn't going to be so bad, it was just one dude! She was ready for that! It's not like he had a whole team with him!
Theo_2009 posted a picture 3 minutes ago
The door hasn't appeared again in a while now, I wonder if those guys somehow broke it? I will keep you updated!
The attached photo was the same vacant alleyway. Instead of the door however, a small winter hat was left on the ground, dirtied and left untouched.