"Amity, please, I'm fine."

Amity used her magic as a light source to peer into Luz's eyes, watching them dilate to the light. Luz pushed the ball of light away.

"I just want to make sure. Witches don't usually go down like that when using their staffs for the first time." Amity thought for a second. "Well, you're human, so I guess it could just take some time."

"Yeah, exactly," Luz stood up from the bed and stretched, "It's just gonna take some time for my body to get used to. Besides, I feel okay now." She put her hand on Amity's shoulder, giving her a look of consideration. Amity pushed out a small smile.

"Okay, but only if you're 100% sure."

"Psh, it's no big deal." Luz swooped up her staff from the bedside, tossing it from one hand to the other. "But did you see what I did to that jerk? Pew! Pew!" Luz made the blast sounds with her mouth, aiming her staff like she had before. "I knocked him out of the sky!" She was happy at her victory, ecstatic even. Humans had never been capable of such things before, and she was happy to be the first to truly experience magic, even with its little setbacks.

"That was insane. He deserved to be taken down a peg for once. Oh look at me," Amity began to mock as she sat on the bed, "I'm the Golden Guard. I'm the Emeperor's favorite little nephew and everyone loves me because I'm sooo cool." she said sarcastically, plopping her back onto the bed's soft covers. "He's always got something to say."

Luz joined her on the bed. "I wish you coulda gotten him. I had a lucky shot. Would have been nice to prove him wrong, huh?"

"Yeah, but hey, at least you were able to get your connection." Amity lightly punched Luz's arm, both of them laughing a bit. "That staff is strong, especially with that being the first time you've ever used it. Imagine what it could do with some more practice."

A knock on the door halted the conversation. Amity went up to greet the visitor. As the door opened, a short Emperor Coven member looked up at the towering Amity and yelled up to her. "The Emperor has given you and your human an assignment!" He pulled out a piece of paper and handed it to Amity, then saluted and went on his way. Amity looked the note over.

"Wait, assignment? Like, my first assignment?" Luz piped up, excitement filling her voice.

"It looks like a basic monster hunt. Not too bad, I guess." Amity scratched her head.

Luz squinted, "That sounds like worry."

Amity shook her hands to say "no". "I-I'm not. I just think you should probably get used to that staff before you actually have to use it. Especially if that whole thing happens again." She motioned over to the staff. Luz gripped it a bit tighter.

"I know, I know, but cmon, why pass up an opportunity like this? It's just a small monster anyways. What's the harm in that?"

Amity sighed. "Okay, fine. But I'll be keeping a close eye on you when you use that thing, and don't use it without telling me first. It packs a punch, too much right now. I don't need to passing out while I wrestle this thing." Amity joked, tapping the page with the back of her hand.

"Then onto adventure!" Luz exclaimed, sticking her staff into the air. Amity pointed at the helmet under the bed.

"Fix that before we leave."
"Oh, shoot, right."

—

The trek to the knee was nothing less of a day's worth of back aches and leg cramps, but finally they had made it. The cart couldn't bring them all the way up, as the winds were threatening to throw it off the side of the world if it continued. Luckily, the icy winds of the knee couldn't penetrate the cloaks of the Emperor's Coven garments. Somehow, they were fit with some sort of material that kept the frostbite at bay. At least for now.

"I need to keep this when I get home. Would make a killer jacket." Luz wrapped her arms up in the cloak then wrapped it around herself.

"Sh! We need to keep quiet. There are a lot of beasts up here." Amity warned. Luz made sure to keep that in mind as she looked around through the holes of her mask. It was a rule to have all of your uniform on when outside of the sleeping quarters. It had a message to send.

The winds began to die down as they continued their journey. Thankfully. The thick snow beneath their heels sank in, forcing them to dig their feet out every so often when it was too deep to simply pull out of. Finally, they made it to what looked to be an abandoned ruin. Pillars and pieces of wood and stone outlined the area. There wasn't much to make out, as much of it was scattered and covered in snow.

Amity pulled out the note, examining it. Luz peeked up behind her, looking at it over her shoulder. "So that's the thing?" She asked.

"Yeah. Silkworms are small and almost harmless, but faster than you could blink. This should be where they like to hide. It's freezing. Perfect temperature for their nests." Amity put the paper into her pocket, and trekked on. The top of the knee was surely the coldest spot to set up shop. The frostbite might as well be knocking on your door if you decided to live here without some form of protection from the elements.

Finally, they made it to the middle of the ruins. The snow was thickest here as it coated the landscape. Luz stabbed the ground with her staff, watching the snow refuse to fill in the holes. "So, what now?" She asked.

"Now, we make bait." Amity revealed a small satchel that was hidden away in her cloak. She pulled out a few small pieces of plants along with a small vial of some sort of glittery powder. She poured the ingredients together on a broken pillar, then rubbed them hard against the stone, pushing it into the different cracks of the horizontal space. She used her magic to summon a few drops of water that fell onto the mixture. Once it was absorbed, it began to emit a nasty smell. One that was like being in a gas station bathroom when it's 90 degrees outside. Luz gagged, trying to wrap her cloak around her mask.

"Why would anything like something this gross?" She asked through tears. It was like a bad onion was being cut.

"No clue, but it's what we have to work with. This is considered a delicacy to the worms since they don't get many plants up here. It should bring them out soon." Amity put the ingredients back into her satchel, then tucked it away again.

"So are they like big worms or normal sized worms?" Luz asked, making her away closer, trying to avoid the smell as much as possible.

"Medium, I guess? I don't know what you consider to be a normal sized worm, to be honest."

"Oh, right, yeah." Luz looked around as they waited. The ruins were coated in snow as far as she could see. It was very peaceful, especially for a place like this. "Ruins means someone was here before." She pipped up.

Amity turned her head. "Yeah. This used to be a town about 50 or so years ago. It was destroyed by wild magic users. Belos saved the townfolk here."

"Wild magic huh? I keep hearing about that. What's the difference between what you do and wild magic?" Luz moved over to Amity, sitting on a protruding rock and resting her feet.

"Wild magic is magic without purpose. It's reckless. Being in a coven is the way to go." Amity turned towards Luz and pulled up her sleeve. On her wrist, there was an emblem that looked like the one around the Emperor's Castle. "A coven allows a witch to use only one type of magic. It restricts the rest. The only ones who can use multiple forms of magic are those in the Emperor's Covens. If you don't have a sigil, you're considered wild." She sighed as she rolled her sleeve back. "Wild witches destroyed everything before Belos came into power. He was able to turn anarchy into this." She gestured to the air. "This is the Titan's way."

Luz shook her head in surprised, her eyes going wide. "Wait what? Titan? I thought the Titan was dead." She stood up, looking at the ground.

"It is, but Belos can speak to it. Somehow." Amity bit the inside of her cheek. "The coven system is what the Titan wanted, I guess, and I mean, hey, it's worked out so far. People are a lot happier now."

Luz calmed a bit, but didn't resume her seat. Instead she walked over to the ledge where there was a dip off further down the knee. She looked at the bones of the Titan, sitting in the boiling waters of the Isles. "Wow, so he's like, way cooler than I thought huh? Imagine being able to speak to that!" She threw her hand out towards the bones. "I guess if you got a bunch of little creatures living on you, you'd want to set some ground rules."

Amity chuckled. Luz smiled.

"Will I ever get a sigil?" Luz asked. Amity took a moment to respond.

"I…Have no idea actually. Sigils restrict magic, but I guess if you don't have magic then you won't need one. You most likely will just to show you're a coven member, but I don't think it should affect you." She shrugged. "Which is odd that you haven't gotten one yet. Members usually go though a whole bunch of stuff, then get their sigil before they can go out in the field like this."

"It's cause I'm the main character, obvi." Luz plopped down next to Amity, nudging her in the shoulder. They laughed. "Naw, maybe i just don't need it. I'm the first human "witch" after all, aren't I? I just have this staff and nothing else. I mean, unless you count the glyphs." She pointed to the splotched out glyph on her mask.

"Yeah, the very thing Belos is so against. Sure."

It was quiet for a bit. The winds pushed through the ruins, sounding off a bit of a whistle as they ran through. A little longer of waiting, and they would be able to complete their assignment. Luz's first assignment. Maybe this would be the next step before getting her sigil. After all, she never went through basic training. Belos just handed her a staff and threw her out there. It was odd, but Luz knew not to question a good thing. Anytime she did, it was always ruined. This time, she wouldn't let her curiosity take this away from her. She was finally a witch.

Nothing was going to ruin that.