Five days have passed, and Azara's arm was fully healed with some help from the healing glyphs. There was a slight tingliness here and there every now and then. Apparently, Azara discovered that she was double jointed on her elbow as well. It pretty much disturbed and disgusted everyone, aside from Luz who thought it was cool. Her and Amity were sitting on the floor, going over some blueprints for the portal door.
"Doesn't it hurt?" Hunter asked. He cringed as Azara attempted to do it again. "Would you stop that?"
"No," Azara replied.
The front door opened and a woman with long black hair wearing a white t-shirt with a half dead battery and long black skirt and boots, walked in. She had one green eye and one silver eye, similar to Eda's. It was Eda's sister, Lilith. She stopped when she noticed Azara and John.
"You two must be the humans that Hootsifer told me about," Lilith said.
"Yep, I'm Azara and this is my brother, John," Azara replied as she introduced herself and her brother to her.
"Lilith," Eda greeted her. "What brings you here?"
"You'll never know what I've found out!" Lilith smiled. She was practically hopping up and down with excitement.
"Let me guess," Eda smirked. "A way to cure us?" Lilith's smile was wiped off from her face as she stared at Eda with a shocked look.
"Yes, how did you know?" she asked.
"Lilith, I was only joking-Wait, are you serious?" Eda asked her, surprised. Lilith nodded.
"I've been doing some digging around the Night Market and found out something interesting," she explained. "I've found the person who can help us. She's the one who gave me the scroll of the owl beast." She took Eda's hands, holding them. "Eda, don't you know what this means! We can finally be cured! You can finally be free from the owl beast!"
Eda stared at Lilith, still shock from the news, as did everyone else. She let go of Lilith's hands and stepped back, with an unsure look on her face.
"How do you know that this person is not a fraud?" she asked.
"They're not!" Lilith insisted. "They are the original creator of the magic scrolls. They are known as The Collector. If anyone can help us, it's them!" Amity had a troubled look on her face when Lilith mentioned the collector. Luz noticed.
"Is there something wrong?" she asked her. Amity's eyes widen and she shook her head, quickly.
"No!" she answered. "I'm just surprised." Luz frowned. She was lying...
Then Lilith noticed Eda look away. "Don't you want to be cured?" Eda snapped her head, looking back at her.
"No! Of course I do!" she told her. "It's still just a shock to me that's all."
"Then let's go to the night market and free you from your curse, Eda!" Luz smiled.
Later on that day, as night came, everyone arrived at the Night Market. Azara looked around, taking in the surroundings. There some shady people standing behind their stands. Criminal thieves and Scammers, selling illegal goods and items. One of the sellers noticed her looking at them. Their eyes looked her up and down before going lower, stopping at her necklace.
"That's a fine piece of jewelry you got there," They smirked. "I'll pay a heavy price for it, if you're willing to sale?"
Azara made a small squeak as Hunter pulled her away, suddenly, by her arm. "She isn't interested." He said, darkly, and walked away, pulling Azara behind him, catching up to the others.
"You didn't need to do that," she told him. "I could have taken that guy if I wanted to."
"You need to be more careful," Hunter hissed as he warned her. "There are people here that would love to take advantage of sweet, naive, girls like you." Azara smiled.
"Aw, you do care about me. That's sweet," she teased. Just to torture and embarrass Hunter even more, she linked her arm with his, pulling closer to him. Hunter blushed and looked away as the two continued to walk, following behind the others.
"Can it, you two love birds," Eda told them. They stopped in front of a tent that had constellations, stars and moon designs on it. "We're here."
They walked inside to see that it was dimly lit inside. There were a variety of scrolls sitting inside of crates and shelves.
"Why, hello there," They heard a woman's voice call out. Everyone saw a person walk in as they pulled open the curtains from the other room, closing it behind them. The woman looked over at Amity.
"Well if it isn't my adorable granddaughter," the collector remarked. Amity frowned. The collector began to pinch Amity's cheeks. "How's my Alador been doing?"
"Granddaughter?!" Luz exclaimed. "Wait a minute, she's your grandmother?!" Azara could have sworn that she heard low growling sounds on the other side. They sounded like they were in pain. Amity sighed. The woman pulled back her hood, revealing a woman that looked a little like Amity, only that her hair was brown and pulled up in a bun. Her eyes were a golden shade of color.
"Amity, don't be rude," she frowned. "Aren't you going to introduce your grandmother to everyone?"
"I was just getting to that," Amity growled. "Everyone, this is Eleanor Blight, she is my grandmother."
"So what brings you here, darling?" Eleanor asked Amity, ignoring everyone else. "How are Emira and Edric?"
"They are just fine," Amity replied, sharply. "'We' are here, because we need your help. You sold a scroll to her," she gestured over to Lilith. "And she cursed her sister." then gestured over to Eda. "They want their curse lifted. So, do it so we can leave."
"Oh my, what a curious case we have here," Eleanor said, examining Eda and Lilith closely. As she was doing so, Luz slid over to Amity, standing beside her.
"Hey, why are you being mean to her?" she whispered to her. "She seems harmless." Amity snorted.
"Yeah, that's what she usually does, before she wants something in return," Amity said. "I just want to get out of her as soon as possible."
"We will." Luz smiled. Amity blushed.
"So, you've been cursed with the owl beast," Eleanor said, stepping back from Eda and Lilith. "Okay, come with me into the other room and we can begin the separating process." She turned to the others. "You can come in as well if you want. But, I must warn you, it won't be pretty."
"They're not going to die are they?" Luz asked, concerned.
"No!" Eleanor exclaimed, appalled then she made an evil smirk. "It's just going to be a very painful process."
She gestured them to follow her behind the curtain, pulling it back. "This way."
As everyone stepped inside, Eleanor closed the drapes behind her. Azara saw that there were giant jugs in the far corner and on the shelves there were small bottles. In the center of the room, there were two spell circles drawn on the ground. Azara frowned, looking around some more. She could have sworn she heard growling noises. Maybe, it was her imagination. Eleanor walked over to a spell circle that was drawn on the ground. "You two step inside here and we'll begin." Eda and Lilith walked over and Lilith stepped inside. Eda stopped, with a hesitant look on her face.
"Eda?" Lilith asked, confused.
"Come my dear," Eleanor smiled. "Don't you want to be cured?"
"What are you going to do with the owl beast, once were free from it?" Eda asked.
"Well, that's entirely up to you now, isn't it?" Eleanor made a sickening sweet smile. Eda sighed and stepped inside of the circle, it began to glow as it did. Suddenly, Eda and Lilith let out a loud shriek in pain.
"Eda!" Luz shouted. She turned and glared at Eleanor. "What are you doing to them?!"
"Didn't you hear me? I said that it was going to be a painful process," she told Luz. "They will be fine. The spell is pulling the owl beast out from them." Suddenly, a dark shadow erupted from Eda's and Lilith's chests and began transforming turning into the shape of a bird then it landed on the other spell circle, the owl beast. The creature let out angry screech as soon as it saw Eleanor. It was about to lunge at her when it was suddenly bounced back as it smacked against an invisible barrier.
"It is done." Eleanor replied. Eda and Lilith groaned as they fell on the floor. Luz ran up to her along with everyone else.
"Eda, are you okay?" she asked worried. Eda blinked, opening her eyes. Her hair was still a grey shade and white streak, however she had two golden eyes, except one being silver. Lilith eyes were both blue green, but her hair still had a long grey streak. Both of their jewels on their chest had returned to their natural color, Eda's was gold, while Lilith's was blue. The effects from the curse were still there, but they were no longer cursed.
"Can you do magic?" Luz asked. Eda and Lilith both made a small spell circle with their finger and a made fireball and earth pillars. However, their spells were weaker than what they've normally cast.
"Yep," Eda smirked. "I'm back!" Lilith was making giddy noises as she was squealing happily. "My magic's back! Wait until I tell mother!" Eleanor walked past them inching closer towards the owl beast, who was shrieking at her. Eleanor smirked and placed her hand on the invisible barrier, looking down at it.
"Well, now, since you two are now cured," Eleanor smiled. "I will take the owl beast back as payment."
"And there's the catch," Amity sighed. Eda frowned looking at Eleanor.
"Your not going to set it free?" she questioned.
"No, why would I?" she smirked, turning to everyone. "Not after the trouble I went through, catching it."
"It deserves to be free," Eda glared at her, standing up. "I'm not going to let you seal it up again."
"Why do you care for some dumb beast?" Eleanor asked. "Aren't you angry for what it did to you and your life?"
"There has been times that I resented it, hated it. But, it was apart of me," Eda said. "I'm not going to let you hurt it anymore."
"You are making a grave mistake," Eleanor hissed.
"Maybe I am," Eda laughed. "But, I would duck if I were you." the Collector looked at her confused.
"What are you-" Eda whistled and Owlbert suddenly came flying in from the other room, heading straight at Eleanor from behind, fast, before she could react or defend herself. The staff smacked right on the back of her head, knocking her out. Eda walked over to the owl beast and released the spell circle that was holding inside. She bent down and petted it on it's head.
"Let's get you out of here."
Everyone was standing nearby not too far off, while Eda and the owl beast were standing near the cliffs.
"It's been a long ride," she told the beast. "But, it's time for you to go." The owl beast stared at Eda, but didn't move. Eda frowned.
"Get out of here!" she shouted. "Don't you understand? You're free! Go!"
The owl beast didn't budge.
"Eda, I think it doesn't want to go," Luz told her.
"Well, I don't know why, not after it tormented me all of these years," Suddenly the owl beast spread out it's wings and took off.
"Oh now, it takes off," Eda retorted. She watched as she saw the creature fly away as it headed over the horizon until it was out of sight. Eda felt her eyes burn as tears began to form, slowly dripping down. She should be happy...but she wasn't. It was apart of her was missing...severed.
But, they were finally free, the both of them.
She was going to miss that dumb bird.
