So I'd like to give a few shout-outs for some people who made Fan-art of this fic. You can find all these images on Devaintart, I have them favorited on my page in a collection if you want to find them easier.
Firstly to R-Doll he drew two images. One of Luz in the St. James uniform and another with her in the BFF picture. Thank you so much!
Next to a user named Szart98pl he drew an image of Marcy comforting Luz.
Finally to a user named PeterVanHelsing (though I think the actual person who made it is named Crosshot, not sure) Who made an image of a Luz figurine from the Newtopian News.
To all of you who made this Fan-art a HUGE thank you. If you are on Devaintart and make something then please feel free to let me know. As I've said before I can't draw so I always like seeing things other people drew. And feel free to tag it with "theowlandthefrog" so I can find it easily.
Two more things, #1. I have put the one-shots on Archive of Our Own now, like the main story that version will be updated at the same time as the version.
#2. I have a poll up on my Deviantart page, nothing major just vote on who you think Emperor Belos is. Just curious to hear what you think.
Aside from that here we go!
Chapter 33: Maddie, Marcy, and Luz
1000 Years Ago
Outside the walls of Newtopia a purple salamander was writing notes in a journal. As she continued writing a voice called out to her.
"Sheresade, Sheresade!" called the voice.
"I'm over here," she replied. After a bit a red frog hoped over to where she was.
"Oh there you are, the King's been looking for you, says he wants to know more about that world you went to," said the red frog.
"Oh does he now, well as it so happens I was just finishing writing down some notes of that world in my journal," said Sheresade.
"So that world you went to is it true that they have their own system of magic?" asked the frog inquisitively.
"Oh yes, it does, and it's much different from what we have here. Instead of simply brewing potions or casting curses like here that world has a way to cast spells at will. I believe they even have a name for it, they call it wild magic," explained Sheresade.
"Ooooo interesting," said the red frog.
"Yes indeed, I spoke with a few of the locals of that world and took notes of everything they told me. I think the king will be delighted to hear what I have to say," said Sheresade, "in fact… Hey before we go back do you want to see something?"
"Oh sure, I always love watching you perform magic!" said the red frog.
"Well I don't know if this will actually work, but ever since I got back I've been wanting to test a theory about how magic works," explained Sheresade, "now listen. In that world the inhabitants live on the body of what they call a "Titan." They believe that this "titan" creature exudes a kind of magic field that allows them to call upon it at will. It is this field that lets them perform spells."
"How do they cast them?" asked the red frog.
"Like this," said Sheresade, with that she pulled out a page from her journal and began to draw a strange symbol on it. When she was done she tapped it with her hand, the symbol began to glow and then it engulfed the paper to create a small orb of light that hung in the air in front of the salamander and the frog.
"Ooooo pretty," said the frog.
"Yes it works!" said Sheresade in triumph, "I thought it might, you see I felt that this "wild magic" as they call it might also work here in our world. I wasn't sure until just now, but I thought that Amphibia might have it's own background magic field. I've always theorized it's what allows for curses to work. And it seems that it allows the use of this same magic that this other world uses."
"Wow so this could mean a whole new way to cast magic then?" asked the frog.
"I suppose it could be, but what if we are able to expand upon it?" said Sheresade.
"How do you mean?" asked the frog.
"Well from what I was told there were only so many of these glyphs in that world, but what if there were more? What if I could create a new kind of glyph for a new element of magic?" asked Sheresade.
"I mean that would be amazing!" said the frog.
"Yes well that's all for another time, I suppose we should go see the King and see what he wants, is it just me or has he been working extra hard lately?" asked Sheresade as she began to gather her things; the two of them began walking back to the castle.
"No, it's not just you, I've noticed it too," said the frog, "but he always gets so evasive when we ask him about it. I wonder what it is he's been working on?"
"Maybe I'll ask him after this report, oh but there's something else I want to mention, something I only want to tell you," said Sheresade.
"Oh what's that?" asked the frog.
"It seems we may not be the only ones capable of traveling between worlds," whispered Sheresade, "you see when I was in that other world I met someone. He called himself a human."
"Human….and you say he wasn't a native to that world," asked the frog.
"No, not according to him," said Sheresade, "he claimed he was from a place called Earth. I think that's one of the other places the box can go to."
"Yeah it is," said the frog, "how'd he get to that world then if he didn't use the box?"
"He said something about this substance called Titan's Blood," answered Sheresade, "I'm not sure I understood it all, but it was nice speaking to him. Still I think it best if we not mention to the king that there are others capable of traveling between worlds, at least not yet."
"Okay, I won't say anything, what's his name?" asked the frog.
"His name is Phillip Wittebane," replied Sheresade.
"And once the potion turns blue like so," said Luz as the mixture in the cauldron did indeed turn a dark blue, "then the potion is ready, you can bottle it up and keep it with you. This batch we've made should make at least ten bottles."
"Great! We should give some of these to the Plantars and Anne," said Marcy standing over the cauldron and writing in her book.
"Yeah having some extra healing potions is always a good idea," agreed Luz, "I've made sure to carry some a few with me ever since leaving Tadpole Pond." Luz indicated her belt to show her spare potions.
"So this is a basic healing potion then," said Marcy as she eyed the bottle.
"Yeah, you can think of it like a basic first aid potion," said Luz, "it's good to cure minor cuts and bruises and can even help with pain to a degree. There are more advanced healing potions out there, but this is the only one Uodeela taught us."
"So what does it taste like?" asked Marcy intrigued.
"Uh it kind of tastes like grape juice," answered Luz, "though it has a bitter aftertaste. Potions have weird tastes. Though thankfully not all of them taste bad, but for the ones that do, yeah you kind of have to get used to that."
"Fascinating," said Marcy as she wrote more in her book, "thanks again for teaching me this stuff Luz. Ever since I heard that magic was a thing here in Amphibia I wanted so much to learn, but magic teachers are so rare."
"Uodeela said the same thing, but she also didn't seem to know why," said Luz, "she told me that the Salamanders were once the ancient keepers of the secrets of magic, but they seem to have either died out or gone missing or something."
"I met a few salamanders in Newtopia," said Marcy, "but none of them knew how to do magic."
"I sure wish we knew more," said Luz, "but in any case let's get cleaned up here so we can go meet Maddie."
"Oooo I can't wait," said Marcy, "it will be so cool to learn magic under two of Uodeela's former apprentices."
"Yeah, I'm glad she agreed to this, there's so much we could teach you, oh how'd you like to learn how to make a bomb potion?" asked Luz.
"Actually I already know how to make that," replied Marcy.
"What!" exclaimed Luz, "how'd you learn that?"
"Eh that's one of the few potion recipes that's survived all this time, it's really useful in demolition," said Marcy, "I guess a few magic secrets from Amphibia's past have survived into the modern day! Even so I'm excited to see what you and Maddie can teach me!"
"Huh you know when I was learning magic I never thought that one day I might be teaching someone else," said Luz.
"Uodeela must have done a good job if you're able to pass on her lessons then," said Marcy giving Luz an encouraging smile.
Luz smiled back, "yeah I guess so."
Luz and Marcy kept walking in the forest on their way to the meeting spot with Maddie, as they got closer they realized that she was already there as they could hear her arguing with someone.
"But sis you promised to play with us!" said a voice.
"I have important witch business right now," replied Maddie, "Anne's friends are coming, we were going to put our heads together and try and find a cure for Uodeela. I'll play with you tomorrow."
"Awwww but that's what you said yesterday," said another voice.
"Look finding a cure for Uodeela is really advanced. She only ever taught me basic level one spells, in order to help her I'm going to need to use higher advanced magic," said Maddie.
"Booo," said one of the tadpoles, "magic is boring."
"And creepy," added another, "let's play instead!"
"Juggle us! Juggle Us!" they all chanted.
"Aw come one knock it off," called Maddie, she glanced to where Luz and Marcy were coming from, "speaking of which Luz and Marcy are here so I don't have time to play!"
"Hang on a sec," said Luz, "maybe we do have time."
"Huh?" said Maddie surprised as both she and her siblings looked at Luz.
"I mean it's just for a little while right?" asked Luz, "I don't see why we all can't play for a bit before we do magic."
Luz walked up to the three Tadpoles kneeing down to look at them, "Hi my names' Luz, what's your names?"
"I'm Ginger," said one of the tadpoles
"I'm Rosemary," said another
"And I'm Lavender," said the last one.
"We're Maddie's sisters," they all said together.
"Aww don't you all look cute together," said Luz, "so what did you want to play?"
"We want to play the juggling game," they all said at once.
"It's where Maddie juggles us!" said Lavender.
"Oh that sounds fun, here I have an idea," said Luz picking up Lavender, "Hey Marcy why don't you grab another one, and Maddie take the last one."
Marcy and Maddie complied though Maddie wore a confused expression on her face. Luz made a motion for the three of them to stand in a triangle.
"Okay now when I say go we all pass one of the kids to the right, got it?" said Luz. Maddie and Marcy nodded.
"Okay then, here….we….go!" With that the girls all passed the tadpoles to each other at the same time. They stopped for a sec, then did it again, then again, they kept it up with Luz encouraging them to go faster. Then at certain points they would switch sides and pass the tadpoles the other way. All the while the little tadpoles cheered at being thrown around.
"Yay!" they all said.
After awhile they stopped, the three tadpoles cheering at the fact that they were played with.
"Wow that was so fun!" said Rosemary.
"Yeah playing is a lot cooler when there are three of you," said Ginger.
"Thank you for playing with us!" said Lavender to Marcy and Luz.
"No problem," said Luz, "now is it okay if we borrow your sister for a bit. We have something really important to talk with her about."
"Okay, we'll go back to the shop, thanks again!" they all said. With that they began hopping back to the bakery.
"Huh wow! That worked," said Luz a little surprised.
"That was nice of you Luz, and honestly that was kind of fun," said Marcy.
"Yeah…." said Maddie before trailing off, "you know I had kinda forgot what it was like to play with my sisters like that. I've been so busy studying magic I guess I hadn't really had time for that."
"I think your sisters missed you too," said Luz, "you know I've always wanted a sister. There are advantages to being an only child, but I guess I've wished I had someone like that I could be close with. I bet it's because I didn't have friends for such a long time."
"Hey thanks Luz," said Maddie, "I realize I've been brushing my sisters off. I haven't played with them in ages."
"No problem, glad I could help, and hey now we have the whole day to study," said Luz.
"Right we need to help Uodeela, and uh sorry what's your name?" asked Maddie turning to Marcy.
"Marcy," said Marcy, holding out her hand, "I've heard the whole story regarding Uodeela and I told Luz I wanted to help. Also I wanted to see about learning magic, I learned a few things from Amara in Newtopia, and Luz just started teaching me a few basic potions."
"Oh you're interested in Magic too?" said Maddie.
"Yeah, I mean I've read every Cynthia Coven book, and I tried asking around Newtopia, but magic users are so rare," said Marcy.
"Wait you read Cynthia Coven too?" asked Luz.
"Yeah, did I never tell you that?" said Marcy, "I thought you mentioned you used to read those books too."
"Well….yeah I used to read them," began Luz, "Cynthia is different from Azura, especially seeing as she's a human who learned how to do magic."
"Exactly, I thought you would have liked her more because of that," said Marcy.
"No it's not that, I actually do like the series," said Luz, "It's just….kind of hard to enjoy it after that whole scandal with the author…."
"Oh yeah…." said Marcy, "I know what you're talking about, and I mean….yeah I don't really like what the author said either….that really was hurtful, but I still try to enjoy the books."
"For me it's just hard," said Luz hanging her head, "I just can't enjoy the books anymore knowing what I know about the person who wrote them. Maybe that's part of the reason why I turned to Azura so hard. I wanted a new series to love."
"Uh I must be missing a lot of context here, because I have no idea what you guys are talking about," chimed in Maddie.
"Right, sorry, we went off on a tangent," said Marcy, "the point is I am so psyched to be here. I can't wait to see what you and Luz can teach me! Although technically Luz already started teaching me some things, we brewed a basic healing potion this morning." Marcy brought out a bottle filled with blue liquid to show her.
Maddie took the bottle and examined it, "Hmmm looks the right color," she then dabbed some potion on her finger and tasted it, "tastes right, not bad for a novice," she said shooting Marcy a smile. Marcy let out a squeal of delight at being complimented.
"Oh Marcy why don't you show her that book you were working on?" said Luz.
"Oh right," began Marcy, she reached into her bag and brought out a large hardback book, "I started compiling a plant encyclopedia of the various flora in Amphibia. I know that some of these are used as potion and elixir ingredients but I had no idea which ones. Though Luz has been helping me try and sort that out. Oh Luz why don't you show her your drawings."
"Sure," said Luz reaching into her own bag and pulling out her sketchbook, "when Uodeela took us on walks to show us the different plants used in potions I made drawings of them."
Maddie took a look at both Luz's sketchbook and Marcy's encyclopedia. After a bit she turned to the girls, "I have to say that's real impressive what you guys have done. As far as I'm aware no one's ever tried compiling a list of plants like that, while besides Uodeela, but I'm pretty sure she had the only copy. Hey Marcy, maybe before you head back to your world you could publish that book, it would be a nice way to leave your mark on Amphibia."
Marcy's eyes went wide at hearing that, "I guess that would be neat, oh and Luz we can include some of your sketches in it too."
"Yeah that sounds great!" agreed Luz, "okay so, let's get started with today's lesson. I figure we could walk around Wartwood and Maddie and I can show you some of the ingredients for positions that are native to the area."
"I am so ready!" said Marcy excitedly.
Over the next few hours the girls walked not only around Wartwood, but also in the surrounding forests. Maddie and Luz showed Marcy different plants as well as a few animals that were vital ingredients in potions. Marcy made sure to take notes and recorded the information in her book. As they got to the end of their journey they noticed a particular bird they showed Marcy.
"Uhg that's a vomit bird," said Luz in disgust, "as its name suggests it'd prone to just randomly throwing up, and unfortunately its bile is an ingredient used in many potions."
"Hey this is a great opportunity," said Maddie opening an empty bottle, "We can get a lot of bile right now."
"Please tell me you're joking," said Luz, "collecting it is nasty."
"Hey no one said making potions was pretty," countered Maddie, with that she handed an empty bottle to Luz and Marcy and motioned for them to follow her. They got close to the bird just as it was about to hurl. They held up their bottles and did indeed manage to gather a lot of the bile, only to also get covered in it themselves. Luz was not amused.
"Ahhh it's all over me," she said trying desperately to wipe it off. Marcy couldn't help but laugh a little at seeing Luz's misfortune before coming over to help clean her.
"On the bright side we got two full bottles of bile," said Maddie holding them up in triumph, "should last us quite some time. And hey Marcy got some hands on experience getting potion ingredients."
"I guess that makes It worth it," said Luz as she continued cleaning herself.
"It totally does!" said Marcy, "I learned a lot, made some good notes in my journal. I can't wait to learn more. What should we do tomorrow?"
"I was thinking we take a trip to the archives," said Maddie, "there's bound to be some books about magic there we can take a look at. And who knows maybe we'll find out something new about curses."
"That sounds amazing!" said Luz, "anything we can learn about curses could potentially help Uodeela."
"Exactly!" said Maddie.
The next day the three friends took Joe Sparrow out to the site of the Archives. They landed near a hole in the ground, Anne having informed Marcy and Luz about their previous misadventure there.
"I can't believe Sprig almost trapped them down in here," said Luz, as the group approached the hole.
"Still they did manage to get out so I'd say it all worked out," said Marcy.
"Aw man they really did trash this place though didn't they?" said Maddie as she peered down into the hole.
"You know I have to admit maybe that sunlight timer wasn't the best idea either," said Luz, "I mean is there a reason the archives can't just be open all the time?"
"I think the original idea was to keep out large bugs and night predators," said Marcy, "They didn't want those things just walking into the archives."
"Yeesh considering all the damage here it will probably be ages until Wartwood spends the money to fix this place," sighed Maddie, "it sure will make looking through the books harder."
"Well that just means looking through here will be more of an adventure!" said Marcy.
"Alright then here we go!" declared Luz as she jumped into the hole, it was a bit farther down than she thought, but luckily she landed on a pile of books. Marcy and Maddie followed soon after, as they got up to look around it became apparent at how dark it was inside.
"Can't see very well in here," said Marcy as she fumbled around in the dark.
"Oh no worries I have something," said Luz reaching into her belt she pulled out a bottle of golden liquid.
"Oh good idea," said Maddie, "an Elixir of Light is just what we need."
"Here Marcy," said Luz offering her the bottle, "now you can have a taste of a real Elixir."
Marcy was ecstatic at this and took the bottle from Luz, she downed the elixir slowly and wiped her mouth when she was done.
"Mmmm tastes kind of peachy," said Marcy. A moment later her vision changed and suddenly she could see in the dark.
"WOW! This is so AWESOME!" she yelled, "it's like my eyes are night vision goggles." Marcy began to look around frantically taking in her new power. She glanced all over the underground archives testing out her new power.
"This should last a few hours," began Luz before suddenly getting an idea, "Hey Marcy can you try something for me?"
"Yeah sure," answered Marcy.
"So this may sound weird but why don't you try and imagine a ball of light forming in your hand," said Luz.
"Oh, okay," answered Marcy, she closed her eyes and held out her hand. She did her best to imagine a ball of light forming in her hand, but as the minutes went by nothing happened.
"I don't think it's working," said Marcy, "is there something I'm supposed to be doing?"
"No….I was just curious, I thought maybe….it's nothing," said Luz.
"Okay well in that case lets get looking for books on magic!" said Marcy moving to a pile of books
Over the next few hours the three friends went through as many different books on magic and curses as they could find. While they didn't have success in finding a cure, Marcy enjoyed using her night vision to explore the archives. At one point as she was making her way back from putting a book away Marcy tripped and slammed into one of the pillars by the stairs. As she hit the pillar she noticed that it sounded hollow. After recovering Marcy knocked on the pillar and confirmed it was indeed hollow. Placing her hands on the pillar she finally managed to find some groves in it where she could put her hands. Marcy slid that section of pillar aside and looked inside. There she found an old leather-bound book. Marcy carefully removed it from its resting place and opened the cover to the first page. There was an entry on there she began to read.
"It finally happened! We were able to get the box working, with this box we will not only bring about a new age to Amphibia but it will also allow us to explore other worlds! I have decided to chronicle the adventures I have in those other worlds in this journal. Who knows what fascinating secrets we may discover or what new lands and creatures we will meet along the way? As someone who has dedicated myself to studying Amphibian Magic it will be interesting to see if any of these other worlds have magic in them, and if so I wonder if that magic might work in Amphibia."
"Hey guys I found something!" called Marcy getting the attention of Maddie and Luz. She went to go find her friends and the three of them met up.
"What you got there Marbles?" asked Luz.
"I think it's a journal of some kind," said Marcy holding out the book so the others could see, "but what's interesting is whoever wrote this talks about a box and traveling to other worlds. I think they might be talking about the music box."
Marcy showed the entry to Maddie and Luz both of them quickly read it intrigued.
"I have to admit that sounds amazing!" said Luz.
"Huh other worlds," said Maddie, "so there are other worlds besides the one you guys came from?"
"According to what I found out about the box yeah!" said Marcy, "the box not only connects to Earth but other worlds as well. Wouldn't it be so cool to explore some of those places?" Marcy looked at Luz as she said this.
"You know if we were a bit better prepared and knew what we were getting into then yeah I suppose it would be cool," answered Luz. Marcy's eyes lit up at hearing this.
"Hey if the author of this journal did visit other worlds then maybe there's a chance they discovered other ways to do magic," said Maddie, "maybe they know of a way to remove curses." The three friends all glanced at each other as they realize what this could potentially mean.
"Here let's get back outside so we can read this clearly, I think my elixir is starting to fade," said Marcy. With that the group climbed out of the hole and back outside the archives.
"So what else does this person say about these worlds?" asked Luz. Once the girls were settled back outside.
Marcy flipped through the book quickly scanning the entries trying to find one that talked about magic. "Oh I found one," she said, landing on a particular entry. She began to read aloud to the others.
"I just returned from a most wonderous place, a world where witches and demons live, the locals call it the Boiling Isles. From what I've been able to gather they live on what they call a "Titan" an enormous creature that is dead, but whose bones are still able to provide land to live on. That is not all, this creature, whatever it was, apparently contained great power and even though it is dead it's mere presence acts as a sort of background field that provides the witches here a way to cast magic. This field is similar to the one I theorized exists in Amphibia, the one that allows for curses to be cast, the one that delights in causing pain if you so invoke its power."
Maddie and Luz looked at Marcy intrigued by what she was saying, "go on," they said together.
Marcy was about to continue but suddenly a strong gust of wind blew the journal out of her hands. Marcy chased after it worried that she might lose the journal, as she did the wind picked up a bunch of small pebbles along with the journal. Marcy finally managed to catch the journal but as she did, she starred down at the ground.
"Guys, come check this out," she called to Luz and Maddie. The two approached where Marcy was and looked down at the ground where she was starring. The pebbles that had been swept up in the wind seemed to have fallen in a formation. The pebbles had landed to form what looked like a symbol of some kind.
Marcy, Maddie and Luz were starring at the strange symbol unsure of what to make of it.
"What is that?" asked Marcy curiously.
"I don't know, it looks like some kind of ruin or glyph," said Maddie, "but I've never seen anything like it before."
As Luz continued to stare at the symbol she realized it had formed as the pebbles were blown in the wind.
"I wonder….do you think it's related to how Uodeela was able to use magic?" asked Luz, as she said this she got an idea.
"Marcy can I see some paper and a pen?" asked Luz. Marcy obliged handing them to her.
Luz took the paper and drew the symbol onto it, as she finished drawing she tapped the symbol with her pen, suddenly the symbol turned white and a gust of wind blew out form the symbol. Luz jumped back in surprise!
"Do that again!" yelled Maddie wanting to make sure what she had just seen was real.
Luz again drew out the symbol on the paper and again tapped it with her pen. Again it produced a gust of wind that blew out from the symbol. Maddie and Marcy both looked at Luz then at each other, all of them with smiles on their faces.
"That….was….AMAZING!" yelled Marcy in delight!
"Whoa I can't believe it!" exclaimed Maddie, "could this be a new way to use magic without a gem? Let me try!"
Luz handed Maddie the paper pad and pen, she described how to draw the symbol to Maddie who wrote it out on paper. Then instead of tapping it with the pen Maddie hit it with her hand. Again the wind blew out of the symbol, Maddie feeling incredible at being able to cast magic in this manner.
"Oh I have an idea," said Marcy as she asked for the pen and paper, Marcy drew out the symbol and tore out the paper it was on, then she put it on her hand so that the symbol was facing out she quickly tapped it with her other hand and this time the blast of wind went out away from her.
"Oh that is more pragmatic," said Maddie, "good idea Marcy!"
"Have we really just discovered a new way to do magic?" asked Marcy excitedly to the others
"It sure feels that way," said Luz still in disbelief over what just happened.
"Well there's only one thing to do," began Maddie, "we have to keep experimenting!"
"Hang on a second," said Marcy as she reached for the journal, "there's more."
Maddie and Luz came over to where Marcy was sitting down next to her. Marcy continued to read from the journal
"The locals of this place refer to this type of magic as "wild magic" I believe this term is to denote that it comes from nature. I have observed other types of magic (for instance they are able to brew potions much like we can in Amphibia) but this magic that they refer to is unique. The witches cast it by drawing a symbol in a circle and then activating the effect. They refer to these symbols as glyphs. For reference I have drawn these glyphs in the back of my journal."
At that Marcy quickly turned to the back of the journal to find the aforementioned glyph. She did and turned the journal to show both Luz and Maddie. Though as they looked at the page they noticed something strange. There were three black stains on the page as though someone had drawn over symbols that were already there.
"Hey it looks like there were more glyphs," observed Maddie.
"You're right, agreed Luz, "it looks like there were four on this page, but it seems like someone crossed out what the others were.
Marcy moved the book around and tried to put it in various positions to see if she could glimpse what the glyphs were, "Ugg no good, I can't see anything under these ink stains, whatever they were they're lost."
"Well at least we still have one," said Luz.
Marcy took out her notepad again. Luz and Maddie gathered close to Marcy as she drew the symbol on a piece of paper and then hit it with her hand. When she did it caused an orb of light to consume the paper and rise up to rest in Marcy's face. Maddie and Luz observed in awe!
"Wow I know it doesn't seem like much but that's amazing that we can form that ball of light on command," said Marcy.
Luz meanwhile was thinking in her head, that looks just like when I first formed light after trying the Elixir. It's unreal how similar it looks, I wonder…. does that mean anything?
Maddie used the notepad to try her hand at this new glyph she had already summoned a few orbs that hung low on the ground. After she was done Marcy had continued to summon more orbs of light. They small orbs hung around the ground. The sun had begun to set bringing twlight to the area, in the dim light the orbs looked just like little stars.
"I guess it's a good thing we learned a light spell," said Maddie as she sent up another orb, "it is starting to get dark, we should probably head back."
"Ah but we just unlocked a new method of magic!" said Marcy excitedly, "we have to keep experimenting!"
"And we will," said Maddie resolutely, "but we should at least get back to Wartwood, it's never good to be out in the wilds after dark."
"Okay, Okay," said Marcy, "but I want to keep practicing these glyphs when I get back, Oooh I can't wait to show Anne!"
"I wonder who wrote that journal?" pondered Luz aloud, "whoever it was must have known how to work the music box. It's crazy to think that besides Amphibia there might be even more worlds out there!"
"Yeah I bet it has some cool information in it," said Marcy, though as she said this she looked at Maddie, "which is why I think you should have it Maddie." With that Marcy offered the book to Maddie.
"Huh really?" said Maddie smiling brightly.
"Yeah I mean Luz and I are going to leave this world at some point, but the information in this journal is probably a lot more useful to you since you'll still live here," said Marcy.
"Marcy's right," agreed Luz, "it makes sense that you should hang onto this journal, Maddie, plus I'd feel better knowing a former student of Uodeela's had it."
"Wow, that's….I really don't know what to say," said Maddie as she accepted the journal, "thank you both! I promise to take care of it!"
Maddie looked hard at the journal before continuing, I'll admit I'm curious myself who wrote it," said Maddie, "but at the end of the day it probably doesn't mean that much. No point getting obsessed over it."
"Obsessed?!" said Marcy and Luz at the same time.
"Yeah obsessed," repeated Maddie, "like I'm curious who wrote the journal but I'm not so curious that I'd do ANYTHING to find out who. I mean hypothetically, say a demon came up to me and offered to make a deal with me in order to maybe (and I stress MAYBE) find out who the author of the journal was. Oh and let's also say this wasn't the first time I met this particular demon. I had in fact met him before and knew he wasn't trustworthy. But then he comes offering me a "deal" to maybe learn the identity of the author of this journal. Now you have to admit making any sort of "deal" with a demon is usually a bad idea, but to make a deal in order to MAYBE learn the name of who wrote a journal (like come on REALLY?! That's what you're going to make a deal with a dark entity for?) you gotta admit that would be REALLY STUPID!"
Luz and Marcy considered everything Maddie had said before replying,
"I mean yeah that is stupid!" said Marcy, "you'd have to be an IDIOT to do something like that."
"I'm not sure I'd still want you to succeed if I saw you do something that stupid," said Luz, "like I think I'd root for the demon to win if you fell for something like that!"
"Exactly!" said Maddie, "glad you girls can see just how idiotic that would be. I mean the only way it could be worse is if you (the person making the deal) were supposed to be "the smart one" and yet I have a feeling that most people would give this guy a pass and either not realize just how stupid that was or say "whatever he needed to know." As she said this Maddie, Marcy, and Luz made a glance forward looking straight ahead…
With that the three friends walked towards Joe Sparrow and flew back to Wartwood.
A few days later Maddie decided to head to the Plantar's house. She had just finished brewing up a potion she thought would prove useful to her friends. As she got closer to the Plantar house she saw Marcy hovering a bit off the ground using a small tornado to keep her afloat. Anne and Luz were close by watching.
"Ah there you guys are!" said Maddie, "enjoying using that new glyph?"
"For sure," replied Marcy as she moved over to where Maddie was, "as you can see I've just come up with a way to use a tornado to hover."
No sooner had Marcy said this though, then the tornado faded away causing her to fall to the ground.
"Ooof," said Marcy as she picked herself up and dusted herself off, "Obviously there are still a few kinks to work out."
"Marcy's been having a blast using those new glyphs," said Anne, "She and Luz have been testing them to see how they work. I have to admit it's really cool to see."
"We started drawing them out on paper and carrying them with us," said Luz showing Maddie the pre-drawn glyphs. "I told Anne she should carry some too, who knows when they might be useful."
"Eh magics not really my thing," said Anne, "Chock it up to the negative experience I had when I got cursed, but hey you guys go ahead and knock yourself out."
"Oh that's a good idea," said Maddie, "drawing the glyphs out takes time, having some ready to go would be smart."
"I bet they'll be helpful when we go to the next temple," said Anne, "in fact we're just getting things ready, we're heading to the second temple tomorrow."
"Oh perfect, glad I caught you before you left," said Maddie, "thought I could give you a peak into the future."
"Oh how so?" asked Luz.
"Well in my efforts to try and become a better curse user I've been trying some more advanced potions," said Maddie, "there was a potion Uodeela showed me that she said I wasn't ready for at the time, but….ta-dah!" Maddie pulled out a bottle filled with purple liquid in it.
"Ooooh What's that?" asked Marcy intrigued.
"This is a prophecy potion," said Maddie, "it's a lot tougher than any potion I've tried making before, but If I did it right then I can drink it and have look into the future. I figure it would help you out considering all the temples you still have to go to."
"That would be helpful, thanks Maddie," said Luz.
"So how does it work?" asked Anne.
"It's simple I drink the potion and then I make a prophecy," explained Maddie, "thing is I won't remember it so someone needs to be close by to hear it. And don't worry when I drink this potion I go into a sort of trance, but I'll be alright."
"How likely is the prophecy you make to happen?" asked Marcy.
"If I did it right it should be a for sure thing," answered Maddie, "so you gals ready to learn something about your future?"
"Yeah why not?" said Anne, "this could be fun." Marcy and Luz nodded their heads in agreement.
With that Maddie uncorked the bottle and drank its contents in one gulp. For a moment nothing happened, then she closed her eyes and began to clutch her stomach as though she was in pain.
"Maddie you alright?" asked all three girls coming up to her concerned. Just as they got close Maddie suddenly stood straight up and opened her eyes, they were glowing a deep purple. She looked straight at all three girls before speaking in a deep unnatural voice
"The black wind howls…..One among you…will shortly perish…."
And with that Maddie fell face-down in the dirt, the girls didn't immediately rush over as they were still in shock from what she had said. Maddie opened her eyes and got up noticing the expression on all three girls.
"Uh hey what happened?" she asked. None of the girls replied.
"What's with that look on your face?" asked Maddie now concerned, "what did I say?"
Anne, Marcy, and Luz looked at each other then at Maddie, not sure what to say to her or if they should even say anything….
1000 Years Ago
Sheresade dug through her bag and quickly pulled out a healing potion, she uncorked it and slowly tipped it into Phillip's mouth. As he drank it the wounds on his body began to fade, finally he opened his eyes.
"Are you okay?" she asked desperately, "the potion should have healed your wounds."
"I feel alright," said Phillip slowly getting up, "that thing that attacked us, what was it?"
"It's a robot," said Sheresade, "I'm afraid it's from my world, it seems my king lied to me, I think he means to invade this place. That robot was a scout sent to see just how strong this world is."
"Despite having lived in the Demon Realm this metallic monstrosity is like nothing I've ever seen before. Is it gone?" asked Phillip looking over at the wreck that had once been the robot.
"Yes I destroyed it, but it's not the only one, there are sure to be more," said Sheresade, "he will send more into this world to try and subjugate it."
"Still I think he would not find that an easy task, the witches in this world are fearsome, they would not so easily fall to an attack," said Phillip.
"Maybe, but he can send them from Amphibia. As long as my king controls the entrance to the world he could continue to send many robots. Even if the witches could defeat them all they would have no way to bring the fight back to him," explained Sheresade, "Andrias will just keep sending more until they are tired and overwhelmed."
"If only these worlds were not separated," bemoaned Phillip, "if there were some way to connect them, then it would not be so hopeless. We could bring the fight back to your king."
"But then the fighting could continue forever," countered Sheresade, "and across multiple worlds, how terrible would that be?"
"Does your king only mean to conquer this world?" asked Phillip, "or will he set his sights on other worlds too?"
"I don't know," answered Sheresade, "but we should assume the worst, and that means your world is in danger too! How much longer until your portal is complete?"
"I'm almost done," said Phillip, "getting the Titans Blood was…costly, but I think it will make the portal work."
"Then you must use it and immediately return to your world!" said Sheresade, "you will be safe there for the moment. I have an idea for how to stop Andrias. He requires the music box to make his plans work, if he doesn't have it then he won't be able to open his own portals to other worlds."
"So you will destroy it?" asked Phillip.
"No….I have no idea what that would do," answered Sheresade, "destroying the box may unleash a terrible power. I have no idea what could happen. All I have to do is get the box away from Andrias."
"Can you do it on your own?" asked Phillip.
"I have some friends, don't worry we can trust them, they like me share disdain for this idea of conquest. We have in fact already spoken about taking steps to stop Andrias," said Sheresade, "our plan is to take the box away from him and into another world. The King won't be able to retrieve it and thus will be unable to travel to other worlds.
"But then you will not be able to travel between worlds either," said Phillip.
"No we will not, which means this is likely the last time I will see you Phillip," said Sheresade.
Phillip let out a sigh before replying, "What a pity, I should have liked to see your world, after spending years in the Demon Realm a world of talking Amphibians sounds pleasant. I should have liked to compare your world to this one, see what is similar. If only I had more time, perhaps I could have figured out how to make my portal travel to other worlds too, like your music box."
"I think it is best this way, merging the worlds, allowing travel between them I fear it will make more problems than it will solve. Though I share your sentiment, I would have liked for you to see my world, meet my friends," said Sheresade her voice heavy. "I also would have liked to stay in this world a little longer and study its magic more. But alas! If I take back the power of the glyphs to Amphibia, and teach others there how to use them, then it is only a matter of time before that knowledge reaches the King. If he learned how to cast magic with glyphs that could be disastrous!"
"But you said how much you wanted to teach the glyphs of this world to people in your world," protested Phillip, "in fact you had wondered if there were perhaps glyphs of your own in Amphibia."
"Yes I did…." said Sheresade with a heavy sigh, "but now I cannot risk their power falling into the King's hand. I cannot pass on the knowledge of glyphs, as much as I want to. It is better if they remain here." With that she looked at her journal and sighed before taking her pen and crossing out three of the four glyphs in it.
"I will leave this one," she said pointing to the glyph for light, "I still won't pass the knowledge on, but I should at least like to have something to remember this place by. Plus I doubt much harm could be done with this spell."
"If you are certain then I won't try and dissuade you," said Phillip. He looked deep into Sheresade's eyes and she returned his gaze, then the two friends came together in a hug.
"Goodbye Sheresade," said Phillip, "I hope your mission is successful."
"Goodbye Phillip," said Sheresade, "for your sake I hope so as well. Whatever happens take care of yourself."
With that the two friends left each other and went their separate ways, never to see each other again.