For her Family, The Raven Will Soar:
Soar High, and Break Her Chains
Everyone, even the ones who knew beforehand, were shocked by this turn of events. Odalia was probably the most shocked by the creature standing before her. She quickly tried to collect herself, and made another spell circle.
Lilith nearly grinned when she saw that the number of fireballs coming towards were nowhere near the number Odalia had used before. With a quick flip of her new wings, the former Coven head lifted off the ground and flew towards the onslaught of fire.
Lilith was amazed; her old coven training was mixing the instincts of her raven beast in a near perfect fashion. This allowed her to bobbed and weave through the fireballs with little trouble, and snuffed a few of them out with a quick swing of her claws.
Soon, the raven harpy was in front of her opponent and gave Odalia the punch she's been trying to give the businesswoman the entire duel.
Odalia moaned as she stumbled backwards. She would have fallen if she hadn't summoned a spirit to catch her and keep her upright. She collected herself before sending a venomous glare at opponent.
Odalia growled as she took her hand away from her face, showing the crowd her broken and bloody nose, and jabbed her hand to her oracle stone. She summoned two more spirits and together, the three apparitions got in front of their master.
Now it was Lilith's turn to growl as she realized what Odalia was planning; she was creating another spell matrix to call out that spirit again.
The CEO may have acted arrogant when she called off her battle spirit, but a simple fact was made clear to Lilith in that one moment…Odalia simply couldn't handle the spirit.
Lilith had figured that's why Odalia had called off her spirit shortly after disarming her. If she had kept that spirit out for much longer, she would have depleted herself, and even something like the simple punch she used just now would have been more than enough to end things.
But…She was planning on calling it out again, and if Odalia did that, she would no doubt push herself past her limits. If that were to happen, it might take days for Obalia to recover, and they would miss their window to lift Amity's curse.
Lilith growled again and took to the skies with a mighty flip of her wings. She couldn't let that happen, not when she was so close to breaking the chains that had bound Amity, her CHILD, to Odalia since birth.
"My first principle of the battle; near underestimate your opponent, but do not overestimate your own skills either. That's a sure fire way to walk into an opponent's trap."
Lilith stopped and thought as the words of the mysterious Drake Blacklight came to her.
Odalia was a lot of things, but an idiot wasn't one of them. What if this was a buff? Surely, even Odalia wouldn't be arrogant enough to try to summon a battle spirit when she was near her limits.
But, if that was the case, and she doesn't plan to summon a battle spirit, what's her end goal? And most importantly what happened to Odalia if Lilith allowed her to continue?
"Clawthorne!" Looked toward Hunter when he called her name.
The Gold Guard had taken off his mask and lowered his hood. He held out his cape in a way only she could see, and Lilith could see the three vials hidden in it. She grinned as she began to look around the area and the voice of her mysterious sparring partner entered her mind.
"My second principle; it never hurts to have a final plan at the ready. Even if you never need to use it, knowing you have one would keep your mind clear and focused."
Lilith found what she was searching for…her cape, right where she dropped it, thanks to a glue spell she had put on it. She dove for it, and dared a glaze at her opponent. Odalia was clearly confused by this, but was to focus on finishing her spell matrix to do much of anything.
This had worked in the historian's favor as it allowed her to land and scoop up her cape. Lilith fished out the glyph from the cape's hidden pocket. She faced Odalia and saw that her matrix was ready. The CEO hesitated to use it, probably out of fear that she would waste what little bile she had left.
When Odalia saw the piece of paper in her opponent's claws, she panicked and slammed the matrix into her stone. She absorbed the spirits like last time, and soon a new spirit rose. Everyone in the area noticed that this new spirit wasn't nearly the size of the last battle spirit that Odalia summoned.
Lilith figured that this new spirit must either be an upper-lower class or a lower-middle class spirit. The tier didn't concern the former coven head, as she flipped her wings and rocketed forward at full speed.
The spirit roared as it swung a fist, and Lilith planted her feet into the ground. She ducked the blow, kicked off the ground and rocketed towards the spirit. With a short cry, she slammed the glyph on the spirit and activated it as she rocketed upwards.
Odalia could only gawk as her trump card was quickly covered in ice. Lilith came down on the spirit a second after it was covered, and put her full weight onto the spirit and she went straight in the spirit. There were cheers as the spirit cracked like an egg and crumbled a second later.
Lilith stood at her full height, in the melting ice and dissolving spirit's remains. She was glaring fiercely at her opponent, and Odalia looked ready to have a panic attack.
"Let's finish this, Odalia," Lilith said calmly. "You need to remove that curse from my child."
Odalia didn't like having the disgraced coven head (in her mind) treating Amity like her child, and she responded by drawing a small circle and sending a few fireballs at Lilith. The ex-coven head dodged them by jumping into the air and soaring high into the sky. She positioned herself so her back was to the sun and whoever looked at her would just see a shadow with spread wings in front of the sun.
Lilith dove straight towards Odalia as the final word that human spoke came to her mind.
"My final principle is probably my most important one; it is to find a reason to go beyond the fight. If you can find a reason to move past the fight you're in, you can't help but feel like you could reach out and grasp victory with a burning hand."
Lilith saw it, she saw the reason to live past this fight; she wanted Amity to be happy. She wanted Amity to find her own way in life. She wanted to see Amity laugh, and just being the child was meant to be.
An image suddenly popped into Lilith's head; in her mind, she was handing off a fully-grown Amity, who was dressed in the most beautiful wedding gown in two realms, to the love of her life. All over the soon-to-be-wed couple were family and friends happy for the two.
That was the reason Lilith would move past this fight…to see her child make her own future.
Odalia's desperate, screeching voice brought Lilith out of her head, and she realized that fireballs had been hitting her. The spell had little power behind it, and wouldn't even leave a small burn mark.
"WHY? WHY ARE YOU DOING THIS? WHY FIGHT SO HARD?!"
Lilith allowed a cocky grin to spread across her face as her opponent got ever closer, and she could see the terror in her eyes.
"Simple, Odalia…I FIGHT FOR MY DAUGHTER!"
Lilith thrust out her right claw and took a firm hold around the wrist Odalia was using to cast her spells. The former head witch didn't even let her opponent move her other arm, as her claw snapped out and grabbed Odalia's other wrist.
Lilith pushed her opponent to her knees as she glared coldly into the CEO's terror-stricken eyes. She squeezed Odalia's wrists with enough strength to cause the CEO pain but not to injure her.
"Remember this pain; this is the pain that Amity had suffered for over seven days," Lilith said coldly, and then shook her head. "No, this is the hold you had over Amity for her entire life. But, no more. Now yield…YIELD, Odalia!"
"I…yield," Odalia choked out.
Lilith didn't smile as she let her defeated foe go, and Odalia slumped to the ground. Lilith took the elixir from her sister as Eda joined her. She popped off the cork and downed the entire brew, not even reacting to the bitter taste.
"Now, remove the curse from my child," Lilith commanded as she puffed back to normal.
Odalia looked at her foe with an unreadable expression, before she tilted her head down and began to cackle in an arrogant fashion.
"HAHAHAHAH! You fools actually thought I would hold up my end of the deal?" Odalia spite. "You're even more idiotic than I ever thought."
Lilith heard something, turned her head and saw the two coven officials moving to act. She stopped them by holding up a hand, and looked at Odalia with such a cold smile that it shattered whatever confidence was building within the CEO.
"Alador, I believe you're up," Lilith said with irony clear in her voice.
Odalia linked and looked behind her when she heard someone come up behind her. She turned her head and was surprised when she saw her husband looming over her, and giving her such hatred that it sent shivers down her back.
"Odalia, you will release the curse-" Alador took a pause as his face twisted in a mix of shame and regret, "-On Lilith Clawthorne's daughter, this instant."
Odalia stared at Alador like he had gone crazy…until she gasped and held her chest. She began to pant as she felt her chest tightened painfully and realized what was happening.
"H-How?" she stammered, trying to glare at the sisters with the force of two suns.
The Clawthorne sisters looked at each and then back at Odalia with matching cocky grins.
"You really must not think much of us," Eda retorted.
"Perhaps some re-introductions are in order," Lilith added, gesturing to her sister. "This Edalyn Clawthorne, once known as Eda The Owl Lady."
"...And this is Lilith Clawthorne," Eda continued, with an obvious fake bow in her sister's direction. "Former prissy head of the Emperor's Coven."
Lilith walked up to the CEO and got down on one knee. She looked Odalia right in the eyes, and the business woman couldn't help but shudder from the intensity in the former head's eyes.
"We didn't get to where we are today by being stupid."
"Well, some of us, anyways."
Lilith chose to ignore the obvious jab her sister just threw and kept her focus on Odalia.
"We both had a feeling you wouldn't hold up your end of the deal, with what you pulled with my niece. I decided it best if we have a contingency plan in place."
"A-And you roped my husband into that plan," Odalia tried to growled through the pain in her chest as she realized something.
All those theatrical the two pulled before the fight began wasn't about unnerving her. No, it was to distract her while her husband made the oath real.
"No, Odalia," Alador's stern voice broke his wife's thoughts. "I approached them. I was the one who disarmed the manor's defenses."
"W-Why?" Odalia choked out.
It was clear to everyone (plus, a little amusing to see) that Odalia didn't expect that her husband, the man she basically hen-pecked into her own little Yes-man, was now standing up to her.
Alador's face darken to such a degree that it scared Odalia into nearly wetting herself.
"How long have I just stood around and watched as you turned our children into your personal products?" Alador's voice was low and his tone grimly serious. "But you crossed a line this time. Your actions could impact our children in ways they may never recover from, and you don't care."
The Abomination inventor stood at his full height as his eyes began to glow. The ground around Alador's feet began to bubble as abomination goo came to the surface. Everyone immediately took a few steps away from the disgraced CEO as her soon-to-be ex-husband glared down at her.
"But no more," Adalor's voice was barely above a whisper as he allowed his magic to fade into the ground once more. "You will release the curse on Amity, and you will do it NOW!"
Odalia tried her hardest to fight against the influence of the oath, but it was simply a waste of time. This was magic that preceded even Belos and one that even the emperor allowed witches to continue to use.
"FINE!" Odalia screamed as she felt the pain in her chest loosen.
Taking that as her cue, Luz wheeled her girlfriend close to her ex-mother. At the same time, Hunter walked up to the CEO and took out three potion vials from his cloak.
"Take these energy and replenishing potions," Hunter ordered. "They should give you the energy needed to remove the curse. Remember, don't try anything, I'm right here."
To hammer his point home, Hunter brought up his golden guard staff and ignited the artificial magic in it.
Odalia glared at the young "witch", but did as she was told. She quickly downed the three potions and sent a glare in Amity's direction. She flinched ever-so-slightly when Lilith got behind the "knocked-down" witch and glared at the CEO with black and green eyes.
Odalia growled to herself as she gestured for Amity to get closer. She got onto her knees as Lilith gently picked up the current toddler from her wheelchair. She got close to Odalia and gently set Amity close to her ex-mother. The former head began to untie the pain-nabbing plant from around Amity's wrist as Odalia prepared the spell.
She first made one circle that was barely big enough to fit a finger through. She next created a bigger one, a circle that one could pull a hand through. Finally, she created one last circle with enough space that two adults about Adalor's size could fit an arm each into.
Odalia slowly pulled her arm through the circles and they were absorbed into the witch's body. She placed two finger tips on the curse mark and began to chant.
"For the one who gave life to us all, I call upon thee from depths unknown. For the Unknown I asked thee to bestow your powers onto me. With this power, as the one who placed this seal, I command thee to release!"
Amity's curse mark glowed in the colors of the Oracle and soon the sound of unlocking locks could be heard. The glow quickly spread to the rest of the "knocked-down" witch and began to alternated between the colors of the Oracle Coven and the Potion Coven.
Amity let out a sharp gasp as the seal exploded off of her and the changing colors settled on potions. Her eyes clouded over for a more time, and when they cleared, they had the near fourteen years worth of experience behind them.
Curious, she stood up and began to test her legs. A big smile graced her lips as she realized she could feel her leg…for the most part. Amity began to do a silly little dance as the Oldstone siblings cast spells to check on Amity state of being.
"Well, Oldie, what's the word?" Eda asked in a whisper.
Willia smiled as she replied, "Amity's out of danger, and most of the potions in her system had returned to normal…for the most part."
Willis got behind the former Coven head and whispered in her ears. "We will have to be prepared, though. That curse was on her for nearly eight days. We don't know how that would affect her going forward."
Lilith nodded, her eyes never leaving her daughter. Amity stopped dancing and looked at her ex-mother with a cute glare when she noticed the CEO was looking at her new mother with an angry glare.
"What are you looking at, brat?" Odalia snarled.
"Meanie," Amity retorted and kicked her ex-mom in the thigh.
Odalia let out a weak scream, and held her thigh. The entire Noceda-Clawthorne family had big smiles on their faces, as some in the crowd snickered at the CEO's pain.
"That's my little sweet potato."
That's my bossy-boots niece."
"That's my girl!"
"Why you, no good ingrate!" Odalia screeched as she found the strength to lunch herself at Amity.
"Mommy!" Amity quickly turned and ran toward Lilith.
The ex-head witch quickly scooped her new daughter into her embrace and turned so her body was shielding the "knocked-down" witch. Lux and Eda quickly get in front of their family members, glyph and staff at the ready. Many in the crowd began to make spells, just to show their support to the Noceda-Clawthorne family.
Odalia realized she was outmatched, and took a moment to collect her thoughts and composed herself. She smoothed out any wrinkle in her outfit she found and looked at the gathering of witches, demons and one human with scowl on her face.
"Are we done here?" she asked scornfully.
The gathering heard the sound of a staff striking the ground and suddenly Odalia found her feet and hands restrained at her sides by red magical energy.
"We are far from done here, Odalia…Golddagger," Hunter said commandingly, walking up the disgraced witch.
The Golden Guard glared at the CEO as the Oracle head joined him. The tip of his staff was ablaze with magic.
"What you just did proves that you were the mastermind behind the theft of the Ouroboros curse," Hunter said with authority. "Normally, in these kinds of cases, we wouldn't even bother with a trial."
He walked around the restrained witch, and Odalia tried to growled menacingly at him. Hunter stopped in front of the witch and brandished his staff in front of him. The magical restraints on Odalia's hand and feet tightened just enough to cause her mild discomfort.
"However, your crimes are numerous and you would be an example, to show the Emperor's laws are not to be trifled with. To that end, I am invoking Coven Law 12," Hunter said with as much authority as possible, thrusting his staff into the air and releasing a magical wave.
Immediately, everyone looked at the former Coven Head.
"It's basically an on-site trial," Lilith calcified with a casual shrug.
A round of 'oh' went out and the gathering turned their attention to the Golden Guard.
"Before we begin, you would tell me what are the conditions you put on the curse," Hunter ordered sternly, and sighed when Odalia remained defiant. "Head Witch Orsan, I believe you know what to do."
The oracle witch nodded and took a step forward. He made a quick spell circle and sent it Odalia's way. The CEO's head reeled back by the force of the impact, and when she pulled it back, her eyes were glowing in Oracle's colors.
"Now, what were the conditions you put on the curse," Hunter commanded sternly.
"That she had to obey momma," Odalia replied with an arrogant and sadistic smile.
"And I suppose that included not informing anyone about the curse," Hunter said.
"...In all shapes and forms," Odalia replied automatically.
"Anything else?" Hunter asked curiously.
"Why would I need to add anything else?" Odalia's smile seemed to get even more arrogant when she said that.
Everyone in the area fell into such a dead silence a cricket could be heard from the human realm. Eda was the first to recover from her shock and shook her head.
"And here's I thought you couldn't get any more lame."
Odalia shot her old school rival with a glare that was basically challenging her actions. Lilith picked up on this and took a step forward, still with Amity in her arms.
"What my sister is saying is that Amity was no doubt looking for a way to fight back, as she knew that only the one who put the curse on her could remove it. However-" Lilith shot a small glare at the high-ranking officials, "-I would figure she was turned away, as no one would take a child seriously."
"She even asked to help me around my workshop, so she could try and tell me about what happened," The Clawthorne sisters heard Alador mumble shamefully. "And I was just too oblivious to see it."
Lilith filed that statement into the back of her mind and turned to the officials and asked, "Before you remove your spell, I would like to ask her a question.
"You are the organizer of this duel, so the floor is all yours," the Oracle witch stated.
Lilith nodded and looked at Amity with a soft smile and planted a soft kiss on her new daughter's forehead. The "knocked-down" witch blushed but had a big smile on her face, as Lilith looked at the ex-mother seriously.
Lilith noted how close to gagging and she had to fight back a growl that threatened to break her composure.
"When I began to teach Amity, you were quick to undermine me, and I want to know the reason behind it."
Odalia's arrogant grin returned and the look she was giving Amity was enough to put Lilith on guard.
"Simple," Odalia replied arrogantly, "Before the Abomatons, Amity was the best product to ever come out of Blight's Industries. I couldn't let just anyone have her, regardless of their status. I needed to remain Mittens of her place in the world to come. Why else did I go through all of this hassle?"
Again, a dead silence fell into the area that a cricket could be hard from a realm away. It was clear to everyone in the place what Odalia was truly planning with the curse and it didn't sit right with anyone.
The silence was suddenly broken as Emira screamed and barreled into her mother, tickling her to the ground. She began to punch Odalia in the face, screaming her head off as tears began to fall.
"You no good piece of slime!" Emira screamed. "You were going to let the curse be completed! You were willing to rob Amity of her freedom…ALL BECAUSE SHE WAS BECOMING HER OWN PERSON!?"
"Em! EMIRA!" Edric screamed as he hurried over to his sister and pulled her off. "She isn't worth it! SHE ISN'T WORTH IT!"
No one missed the kick the young male witch "accidently" sent into his mother's side. Hunter watched as the brother dragged his sister away, and noted how all of the anger had dissolved and the young female was crying into her brother's shoulder.
The Golden Guard used his magic to raise Odalia to an upright position. He inspected the damage, and was surprised; there was a little bruising, but nothing too serious. Still, he cast a small healing spell, in case someone had something else they wanted to ask.
"Before we proceed, does anyone have anything they would like to ask?"
When no one stepped forward, Hunter took that as a 'no' and had Orsan remove his truth-telling spell. He next took a position where all could hear him and began addressing the graced witch.
"Odalia Golddagger, you are accused of the following crimes; the theft and illegal use of a Coven spell. The potential murder of a coven scout; failure to cooprated with a high-ranking coven official! The blatant disregard of traditions the Emperor had allowed witches to continue to this day! Threatening a child with the purpose and intent to enslave her!"
Hunter raised her staff and slammed it into the ground sending a magical burst of energy into the air. He aimed the still glowing tip at Odalia.
"Odalia Golddager, you are found guilty on charges, and would be locked away for a long time to come. Steve! Take this scum to the Conformatorium!"
Hunter waved his staff and Odalia's feet were freed as the energy around her hands brought them together in magical handcuffs. The lovable scout had a satisfied grin on his face, as he made a spell circle and turned his casual outfit into his work uniform.
He grabbed the disgraced CEO by an arm and began to drag her away.
"Don't you all see?" Odalia suddenly screamed, "None of this matters! I already won his favor! I would be out in a matter of hours and back in control before you all could blink!"
Odalia looked at Lilith with just hateful and insane eyes that caused Lilith to shield her new daughter.
"And you! When I'm out, I will come for you, Lilith Clawthorne! I will enjoy every moment as I tear you apart piece by piece. I will show Amity how truly misplaced your status was!"
The clearly mad woman continued her rant as she was dragged out of view. Lilith sighed and looked at Amity. She was thankful that she had the foresight to cover her new daughter's ears, just in case.
She looked up when she heard someone approaching her, and smiled a grateful smile when Alador came up to her. In the inventor's hands was a folder.
"Thank you, Alador," Lilith said gratefully, "Without your aid, things could have been more…problematic."
The magical inventor smiled an empty smile and said, "You would have been fine. Your family seems to make the impossible possible, like the rumors say."
Alador held out the folder, and Lilith gestured for her sister to take it, as her hands were still full. Eda took it with little complaint, and while the former head knew what was in it, she wanted to hear from Amity's birth father.
"Is that-"
"All of Amity's legal information," Alador confirmed sadly. "It should make adopting Amity easier."
Lilith put on a soft smile as she closed the gasp and placed a comforting hand on the confused inventor.
"You're right, I will be adopting Amity. She would never truly feel safe in that house, despite the changing coming. But, let me give you some advice."
Lilith took her hand away from Alador's shoulder and wrapped it around Amity in a gentle hug. Her face turned serious as she looked her old schoolmate right in the eyes.
"Don't walk out of Amity's life, just because you made a mistake you think you have no right correcting. I did the same thing, and all it left was a hole in my heart that remained of everything I gave up, every single day."
She looked down at the "knocked-down" witch in her arms, and couldn't help herself. She bopped her on the nose and Amity's entire turned scarlet. What Lilith didn't see was the same expression on Amity's father's face.
She looked back at Alador with a serious face. "You and Amity have been making progress with your relationship, if the words of my niece are right. It would be cruel, for both of you, to have that ruined. So, please, think about visiting her or let her visit you."
"...I would think about it," Alador replied hesitantly, and turned toward the Manor. "Now, if you excuse me, I have much work that needs my attention."
He started to make his way to his home but stopped when he felt a surge of magic, abomination magic, flowed through the air. He looked behind him and gasped at what he saw; Amity had made mittens out of abomination goo! With a big smile, she waved with one covered hand at him.
He couldn't help but smile slightly as he returned his daughter's wave with a small wave of his own, as he resumed his walk back to his house.
Yes, he would indeed give some thought to what he was just told.
Lilith smiled greatly, glad her words had gotten through to her old schoolmate. She looked to her right when she heard her sister moan, and caught the tale-end of Eda stretching. She let her body got limp and looked at her sister with half-closed eyes
"Well, I don't know about the rest of you dorks, but I could go for a day-long nap," the wild witch moaned lazily.
Luz suddenly seemed to get tired as well, her eyes drooping slightly. "I could go for a half-a-day siesta myself."
Lilith nodded, feeling the weight of the last two day finally catching up with her. She followed behind her sister and niece as they made their way to the group.
"Yes, I think we all earned some will-needed rest," Lilith mused softly to herself.
She looked down at her new daughter, and smiled when she saw that the events of the last couple had caught up with her; Amity was close to falling asleep and her thumb was already in her mouth.
Lilith looked back at her family, and her smile turned fond as her parents meant their daughters and granddaughters.
"Well done, Lilith Clawthorne," the voice in the back of her head said proudly. "Now, when you need it, think about your daughter and you will have wings to SOAR!"
(M Corner)
You know, it's sad when you think about Amity's nickname. It was supposed to be a cute nickname given to a daughter by her father; but, at best, it became a constant tease that made Amity never want to hear that word again. At worst, it is a constant put-down used by her mother to remind her of her place.
I also like to think I created a pretty awful version of Odalia, but let's face facts; outside of actual CA moments, no version of Odalia could beat Canon-Odalia. I mean, that woman was either near insane or highly delusional!
Odalia Bright was fine with the death of thousands, maybe even hundreds of thousands, all while believing that her family would be spared! Where did that even come from?
Sorry, didn't mean to pull an Alador and vent, but I needed to get that off my chest. We're near the end, just two more chapters and we can put a pin in this story.