A/N: This one was hard to write for a multitude of reasons. Kurt's anger in the second half, the characterization in Luz and King, Eda's speech at the end, so many things, but the hardest thing of all was the wording and the references. I wasn't sure if I wanted to go for something accurate, at the expense of it going over your heads or something less accurate, at the expense of it seeming confusing, so I made a compromise. By the end of Canon Season 1, I will likely have an index or glossary or citation page or something. But for now, here it is.
booploop14: Thanks, man! I appreciate the praise!
Chapter 2:
A Murky Blaze
Today, Kurt would be faced with a dilemma. Though, it did not seem that it would be this way when he started his morning. Such a long night caused Kurt to lose sleep, and he awoke slightly tired, his arms stiff, and a muted pain in his skull. Kurt yawned loudly, walking down the stairs, he exited and breathed in. The fresh air filled his lungs, and then he exhaled again, the cool morning air was likely one of the few things their worlds had in common. The creature that kept watch of the house addressed him. Kurt ignored him. As he walked back inside, he found his sister in an odd attire. After combing through Eda's closet, Luz picked what she thought were the best witches' clothes, and she stole one of her hats. He found his sister with a black robe hanging from her shoulders and a long pointy hat on her head, an old-fashioned wizard appearance. It did not work. She ended up looking like a cat lady.
Waiting patiently, Kurt kept himself occupied with listening to his mp3 then, he saw that it had left off at Vein Melter by Herbie Hancock. He enjoyed the feel of jazz fusion, especially that of the album Headhunters. It was the mix of two things that people thought could never go together, jazz, rock, and funk, and Herbie Hancock had managed to strike a delicate and beautiful balance. And somehow through this, he found himself motivated to keep an open mind. Just as the song was ending, the witch of the hour came down the steps, slowly and meticulously, and she looked unkempt in her nightwear, with disheveled hair and crust in her eyes and tired, her eyelids discolored and her eyes red and bloodshot from forcing herself awake.
Eda stopped when Luz blocked her path, expecting a lesson or teaching, but Eda's face became confused. "Who are you two again?"
Kurt twisted his head, saw her face genuinely confused, and then he sighed. What a memory! One almost as spotty as Luz's own.
Luz reminded her of who they were, "You know, weirdos need to stick together? Humans? Anti-magic?"
Eda waved her off, and she picked up her white mug, with a grimace as she looked down at it, "Hmm- lay off the details. I haven't even had my cup of morning jane," she uttered, pouring a red liquid into the mug.
Luz stared at her. "You mean morning joe?"
"I do not," replying with dull intonation, leaning herself onto the countertop, Eda took a sip from her mug, and met Luz's expectant gaze, "Okay, what do you two eat for breakfast in your world?"
"Hm?" She pondered off the top of her head, thinking of the food pyramid, "Um... bread, eggs, bananas, pancakes, uh...-" she hummed in thought, though knew more, but now she drew a blank.
"I guess there are some foods that are common around here that you guys have," she said. "I don't know what a banana or bread is or are, but I do know we have pancakes."
"Awesome! I knew the pancake's power was universally known across worlds!" Luz said. Kurt heard her say something along those lines almost a month ago.
"Now do you like yours with phlegm or without?" she asked with a big smile on her face. Luz retched and following his sister, Kurt felt bile rise in his throat. Eda was confused.
"Your loss."
Pancakes were just as they expected, wheaty and full. While chowing down on the food, the siblings found themselves in awe of Eda's cooking skills, and they were shocked that she had any kind of skill in the kitchen. Awaiting the moment she finished, Luz asked her to teach her a spell, any spell. "Teach me some spells!" she demanded, and Kurt sighed as she did, "When do we get a magic staff? Do I need runes to make one?" her eyes widened, "Will I go on a dangerous magical quest?"
Eda placed her hands on the young girl's shoulders and stopped her before she could continue, "Slow down, kiddo. Let's not get ahead of ourselves, learning to be a witch doesn't happen overnight, y'know. It takes a lot of effort and dedication. And..." she pulled the hat from her head, blowing away dust and debris from it to reveal a traffic cone, "A smaller and more goal-oriented view."
Looking down, Luz became forlorn and she seemed frustrated over such minimal lessons from the get-go, "Darn," she muttered.
Eda picked up on this and she threw Luz a bone, "You really want a magic staff, huh? D'you really want one?"
"More than anything," she said.
Eda breathed in with a smirk on her face, she flexed her right arm and bellowed, "Staff, come to me!"
And it did.
Covered in undergarments, a weird, smooth, goopy substance, and a few other unmentionables. In the room before it, broken china, vases, and lanterns. After it cracked her in the face, leaving her dazed for a few moments as she picked it up, Kurt and Luz looked away, their faces flushed.
"Oops," she flicked her finger, and sent all the small objects left on her staff were sent back to where they belonged. "Uh, where was I?"
"S-s-staff stuff..." said Luz, her face still hot from the accident.
"I- oh, yes... um-" twirling her magic stick free of the goop, she moved on, "So, uh, witches are awarded their magical staffs from their schools. With me as your professor, you'll be taking a different approach to this," She brought them a large nylon bag full of bulbous glass containers, "Today, you'll be delivering these to some people in the nearby town."
It was typical of Kurt to be the one doing the chores, and even back home, after he'd grown old enough to do the work in the house, he did. If his mother asked him to do something, he followed it to the exact letter. He seldom made mistakes, but if he did, it was due to confusion of wording. Even then, the objective was always completed. And to Kurt, this was no different. Luz followed his lead and did the speaking for him and King directed them as to where they were supposed to go. It seemed like a routine job.
Kurt glanced around himself, to the right he saw hundreds of people, streaming out of the squares, under a fiery golden sky. Sharp bones sticking out like mountains above the trees and roofs of small houses, shops, and stands. To the left lay the surrealist creatures and ramparts, the towering walls of Bonesborough's palaces, castles, and fortresses; and under those forts and mansions, the long canyon came, descending in a widening trough towards the center of the bones, or what he assumed to be bones. At its bottom, the boiling ocean: Kurt could feel its heat rising to create beads of sweat; and beside it, on the nearest side a road, winding down like a charcoal swamp, down into grey mists that no shimmer of sunlight touched. There it seemed to Kurt that he descried far off, the long dim tops and dead pinnacles of the old pillars desolate and dismal. To the south, he saw the Owl House hidden within the Bonesborough forest, and below the sunken concave cliffs, they pulled into plains with small villages and then into small towns.
There were no humans in sight, Kurt considered the two of them isolated, but Luz was starry-eyed over it, regressing to her idea that they were in a world of her dreams.
"Wait, are we the only humans here?" Luz asked King, having noticed the same thing.
"Haven't seen any others for a while now," King replied, nonchalant.
"There has to be a reason for that, right? A reason why we came here?" she gasped as she turned to Kurt, who shrugged while holding the small demon upon his shoulders. "What if I, Luz Noceda, average teen, actually had ...a predetermined path of greatness? Just like Azura!"
"Yeah. Did Azura's path to greatness involve her delivering boil cream?" King responded, scratching his ear.
"Today I'm delivering packages, but tomorrow I'll be earning the respect of everyone on the Boiling Isles with my magical prowess," she replied.
"Ha! Good luck. The Boiling Isles is nothing but a cesspool of despair," King replied.
"More like a cesspool of delight," Luz tried to stay optimistic. Kurt commended the effort, though he knew it was in vain. While continuing through the town, splitting the work between Luz and King did the majority of deliveries while Kurt held the collection of potions.
The rest of the day became as hectic as possible, and soon enough, they found themselves finding odd people and giving them whatever potion they asked for, at times they were assaulted just because they were human, and others, they were just assaulted because Eda's customers had no chill.
"I know I've had enough delight for one day," King uttered as they sat on the sidewalk, King, Kurt, and Luz feeling depressed and fatigued after a long day of being mauled, eaten, and groped by customers and passersby.
"I thought being the only human in a magical world would make me special, but apparently, it just makes everyone want to scream at me or..." Luz said as a fairy tried to eat her arm, "...eat me." she flicked the creature off her arm. "At this point, Azura had already been sent on an enchanted quest. Where's my questâgranting wizard?"
King sighed. "Listen, would you rather have your life be left to fate? Where anything could happen to you, maybe even getting crushed in the tentacle of some ginormous monster?" he continued.
"What are you talking about?" she said, "That would be awesome. Being in mortal peril yesterday gave me the chance to do something heroic, what's wrong with that?"
"Heroic, to you, means almost dying?" King asked.
"Yup."
"How heroic were you in the mouth of that monster today?" King snickered.
"I- Hey!" Luz huffed, "My mama always told me that we were put here to do something and that we should always be looking for that reason."
"We were probably made to just do our own thing. That's just what I think," he said, "Look around you. Is there any reason for this delivery stuff? You'll never know whether your reason is right or not, so that's why I just do what I want before I die cause, when we die, everything we did goes away forever."
"So why come with us, then?" Luz asked. "If you do what you want."
"Cuz Eda will kill me if I don't and you end up getting lost or waste her potions."
"If we live just to die, then what's the point in doing anything?" Luz reasoned.
"I'unno, you figure it out, I'm bored of this conversation," he shrugged.
"Okay then," Luz sighed, and she stood up, "This has been a rough day. I guess we should just finish this last delivery and head back," Kurt looked at her with a sad expression.
The last customer lived in a colossal house, one which Kurt likened to a gothic castle. King's idea was to wait for the customer to come outside, and get the package themself but, Luz was too curious and too quick. King dropped from Kurt's shoulders and followed her in to stop her, while Kurt was left outside.
He carefully pushed the door open, the room inside full of old, dusty books and a massive spiral staircase, and in the middle was the inhabitant of the castle showed himself: he was an old man, one that Luz was mystified by. King was not.
"Magical wizard," Luz uttered in astonished awe.
King crossed his stubby arms, and he spoke in a matter-of-fact tone, "Weird old man in jim-jams."
Kurt stared at the "wizard" in question. He observed his features and stature with a critical eye. The "wizard" was a relatively tall man with a long white beard, a violet robe, thinly framed glasses, and a cone-shaped hat that fit his head perfectly. Toccata and Fugue played in the background of Kurt's mind. This guy appeared to be similar to Mickey Mouse in Fantasia, what Kurt considered a classic animation era wizard look. It was true he looked the part, but something was off.
"Hm, where is the Owl Lady? It was my understanding that Ms. Clawthorne delivered the packages herself," he said in a noble tone.
King slinked away and he stole what appeared to be the Wizard's lunch, all except for a cup of tea the wizard held in his hand. Kurt decided to let the scene play out, and when the time was right, hopefully, allow them a chance to slip away.
"Well, I'm kinda her - sorta apprentice," she sighed, placing her head in her hands. "Can I be honest here? When I decided to stay in this magical world, I thought I was meant for something bigger - no, in fact, I thought this even when I was at home. But now? Now I'm having second thoughts," she said, "...being with this powerful witch, I thought maybe I'm special, but all she thinks I'm good for is her chores!"
"That is lamentable, young miss. It's almost as if you weren't meant to be with a witch like her," he responded, waiting for a reaction from her that wouldn't come, yet he took a sip of his tea, hiding his expression, a smile, from her, "Maybe you were in the wrong place, er- maybe it was all an accident?"
His sister nodded, despondent.
"Hm," he said, "Maybe what you need is a purpose, a - a way to move forward. A journey, a- uh, quest?" he pulled a piece of parchment from his beard, holding it in his hand and twirling it innocently. Luz took notice.
"What's that?"
"Hm? Oh, this..." he played dumb, luring her further, "The prophecy spoke of a short-eared person, who will claim the celestial staff and free this world from evil," he said. "I just noticed that you fit that description. Maybe you are our savior,"
This was clearly a hoax, but Kurt would not speak of it.
He handed her the piece of parchment, "If you believe yourself to be worthy, o' chosen one and pure of heart this map will open only when held by the chosen one." she took it and opened it and it revealed a lay of the land around Bonesborough toward a single x on the map and her eyes gazed upon it with mischievous joy. "The quest stands on the edge of a knife. Stray a little and it will fail to the ruin of all."
Oh great, they had Gandalf references in this world, too.
"I will not stray, o mister wizard!" she turned to Kurt, "Are you ready to go on a quest? We have to go back to pack!"
"Neat story, swindler. Anyway, your food is gone now, therefore, I am too," King said, running out the door with his stubby legs. Luz followed. Kurt glared, the wizard returning his gaze for a few seconds, head turning downward at Kurt's fiery eyes, backing down, and then he left and followed his sister. If there was anything that he'd learned from this world, Eda, King, and the various other creatures he met, it was that looks were deceiving. The wizard was no exception.
It was clear that Luz believed in this Harry Potter, call-to-adventure bullshit vehemently and, as Kurt hoped Eda would tell her, detrimentally. Because no matter what any of them told her, she was determined to show that she was chosen to do something important, and once they returned, she surged briskly past Eda and went to pack her things for a quest.
"Hey, King, what kinda chosen one should I be?" she asked while King was preparing to take another nap. Luz picked up her book, "Should I be full of optimism and goodness, like Good Witch Azura? Or a bad girl chosen one with black nail polish and a mysteriously withdrawn attitude? Like Raven from Teen Titans, or Sasuke from Naruto?"
He likened her more to Naruto, who was goofy, all-loving, and often unable to see the little things sitting below her nose. Kurt knew that. He loved her just the same. But now, that endearing attribute that he would poke fun at when they were kids, the joyful but gullible nature that made her so fun to be around, would get her in trouble.
"You guys came in really quick," Eda strolled in, "And I heard you guys talking about bad girls, what's going on with you guys?"
"Eda, tell Luz how dumb wizards are!" King whined.
"Ugh, wizards are the worst," she rolled her eyes, "Never trust a man in casual drapery, you know? They're always hiding something disgusting under that robe. Wait, why are you talking about wizards of all things?"
"Your wizard client told Luz she was a Chosen One!" King said, breaking into a giggle.
"Wait, wait, no way, Luz?" Eda snickered.
"He even gave her a map!" King said as they fell into merriment.
They proceeded to make fun of wizards as this world's equivalent of telemarketers, obviously nice for malicious intent like it was common sense, but as they did, Luz hid behind her book, too embarrassed to continue the conversation. Like she was any better, Kurt thought, the first thing Eda had done when they arrived was milk them for all they were worth. Selling her wares and sending them into dangerous prisons.
By the end of their laughing fit, Kurt had a sour expression, but Luz was at the end of her rope, nearly ready to cry, "Can I have some time alone with Kurt, please?"
They left without a fuss, the tone of her voice conveying the hurt she was feeling at them, no, at the entire world. Kurt sat along the wall, and Luz sat beside him, and she leaned on him as they did before the fire came, "They don't get it, do they?" he said, his voice hoarse, yet somehow, soft and pensive.
There were a few things she wanted to say, to point out, but she only found the energy to say one thing: "They don't." she said, her longing for a higher purpose still unsated. There was nothing more that she wanted than to accomplish something that couldn't be ignored, that Eda would see, all of them would see, even her mother. She desperately wanted something great.
And this felt like her dream was crashing down on her head.
"Did you ever read Lord of the Rings?" he asked. She uttered a weak 'no'. He continued anyway, believing there would be no better chance to voice his opinion. "Luz, you're not Good Witch Azura, if anything, you're just like Frodo. He was selfless, wise, and thoughtful, and he was inquisitive about the outside and knowledgeable about the traditions of the Elves. While in the Shire, Frodo dreamed of adventure... always wanting to be something, but as soon as he started his quest, he just wanted to be home. He had a duty, to destroy the ring of power, but to him, it was only a burden - one that grew as the quest went on," he said. "I know you want to be the hero of this story, but... maybe it's best not to force it. I don't want you to get hurt."
He wrapped his arms around her in a warm hug before he stood up and left her to think. She wallowed in self-pity a while longer, her heart as broken as it was when she was sent to that camp to be straightened out, wrung of all her desires and ambition. And when she thought of that, she thought of many things, a single one coming to mind in particular:
before Kurt broke down, they were a happy family, the two of them would poke fun at each other, their mother would tell them stories of her youth in her childhood home in the Hermanas Mirabal province, moving to the Espaillat province to live with her grandparents, and then moving to New Jersey for better opportunities. then, of course, their mother went to work later, hired babysitters for them, but they found themselves unable to speak to her anymore. and they searched for connections elsewhere. places they shouldn't have checked. and of course, she didn't notice anything until it all went awry. The fire.
and even after that, she didn't see what was under her nose. the bullying at school between the both of them, the tension they felt when they were in a room with her...
that her daughter was drifting away from her.
if it was through ignorance, deliberation, or some form of anger toward her, Luz's mother pulled away from her. not from some kind of duty to Kurt - because she knew when Kurt needed help, and it was often whenever Luz wanted something with her. and after Luz somehow figured how to deal with it herself, Camila would act like everything was fine. it was a cruel dance they played. and she'd seen her ambition squashed so many times now because her mother refused to pay attention. And now it was happening with Eda.
She only groveled a couple of seconds longer before she glanced at the map as the sunlight shone down on it, revealing a message below. Her eyes went wide with newfound conviction. "The path will only appear to those who are worthy," Luz said.
She was different.
It did not matter what they said, she was going on this quest.
Luz had been upstairs for about an hour before Eda said something, and Kurt had begun to get worried, so he went upstairs.
"Crony, wake up," she implored, "You said that wizard was one of my clients?"
King yawned, "Yes. Now go away."
"I don't know him that well," she sat on the couch with enough force to send King flying into the air, "And I don't trust this itch he's scratching in her."
"Less talky, more nappy."
Kurt stood in the middle of an empty closet with a small piece of paper in his hand, a note from his sister, relaying the many reasons she was chasing phantoms. He crumpled the paper into a ball and threw it to the floor in a small bout of disappointment, frustration, and second-hand fear. "Fuck!" he cursed, "Dammit, Luz!" he uttered, crouching to the floor, not noticing the little black demon standing behind him.
That was the first time King heard Kurt speak.
"Hey, I just heard you speak! And it was a bad word! Two-for-one!" King shouted, "Where's Luz?"
Kurt pointed to the open window. Eda walked in, coming to the same conclusion just as quickly, and she looked to Kurt, who shook his head, forlorn, "Hooty!" the creature appeared before them, his face going surging into the window, "Hooty, where did she go?!"
"Hoot, hoot. If you want the answer that you seek, solve my riddle in a-"
Black steam burst from Kurt, the heat licking at their skin, and burning their eyes. Eda turned to the demon hastily, unknowing of what Kurt might do, "Hooty. Answer the question."
"Okay, okay. She went into the forest towards Bonesborough," he said. "Sheesh."
Kurt ran out of the Owl House, heading in the same direction Hooty described, and Eda followed behind him on her magic staff. "Kid, you better not die!"
They stopped by the castle, which was demolished as if a bulldozer ran through, and stepped into the desecrated library tentatively. "I don't like this," Eda uttered. She moved forward, stepping over a pile of multiple similar scrolls and maps, each of them alike, and with the same glowing message: The path will only appear to those who are worthy. Eda's eyes widened at the sight of the message, "I really don't like this."
Kurt walked over and he read the parchments, too. He glared up at Eda, in silent anger, and he began wondering if she knew that this guy would end up doing something, she picked up on his glare and immediately defended herself.
"I might have overlooked a few when going through the order list, but..." she scratched the back of her head, he knew that she was lying. Eda let out a sigh and kneeled to Kurt's size, "I'm sorry, Kurt. We'll get her back, I promise," she said.
It was a bizarrerie to end all surreal dreams and nightmares, blindingly beautiful, and breathtaking, and in some ways, poignant. She was finally having the dream she always wanted, one where she was important and pivotal to the world and many lives, and she managed to have fun with her new companions, even with that weight on her shoulders. But there was something that felt strange about it all. Instead of feeling like a hero, somehow, she felt like something was being lost between, like home was being pulled further and further away from her and she was getting closer to something cruel and dangerous.
She faced her new companion, the prince of Angstmore - a world of dumb names, she supposed - and smiled at him, though he wasn't convinced, "Is everything alright? You seem..." he came close, his breath on her face and his hand on her cheek, warm, kind, his mouth only an inch away from her lips, "...distressed."
What was she thinking about again?
"No, there's nothing wrong. Let's keep going." she looked back for a moment, but kept moving ahead. As she always did.
King had an awful smell fill his lungs, and as they flew over the remains of what seemed to be a village, Kurt felt the foreboding sense that they were headed into the cracks of doom, and Eda realized the culprit of this entire debacle. From above it was a scar on the earth, small villages razed and burned to the ground, but seeing it from ground-level, it was so much more than that. Or less. They were expecting bad things, but the village appeared a whole lot worse. They looked on with an apprehensive feeling overtaking, and to their dismay and consternation, it was that villagers were killed from what seemed like a stab wound in their necks. There were dead bodies on the ground before them, and those that weren't stabbed were smoking corpses. Kurt could taste the irony flavor of blood, a taste he recognized as easily as he felt it, and King had the charcoal smell of smoldering humans.
"Holy..." she sputtered, "I knew it was him. Only he would do something so... vile..."
Kurt stared at the ground below, he saw a mother holding a child under a bloody rock. He saw himself under his mother's arms, both of them waiting to die, but neither of them protected from death, swift, yet somehow, long and excruciating, and then Kurt felt his nails bite into his skin, and the sharp creatures on his hand eating up the hot blood oozing from his veins. And he felt an emotion come up, one he hadn't felt for a long time, one he suppressed for a while.
"Kid!" Eda gasped, "You okay?"
He turned his head to face her, he shrugged. He didn't know.
"This guy... he's evil. He's been out to get me for some time now and now he's using your sister to get to me. He's luring us into a trap."
The pungent odor made Kurt want to vomit, and he cringed at the cruel redolence; while King stood away from the horror and death, unwilling to stare at it. Kurt walked up to Eda, hoping they could move on from this checkpoint and find his sister in one piece. Eda kept making promises he wasn't sure she could keep, "We'll get her. We will. Don't worry."
He turned to his mentor with an obscure expression on his dark face. Eda beckoned her staff and King, the look on Kurt giving her pause somehow, she knew that he was not worried, no, in fact, he was already mourning. He followed behind, his hands covered in carmine red blood, she knew they had to find her safe and sound because he didn't know what he was going to do if he didn't.
"Yes, I am the Chosen One! I knew it!" Luz said in triumph. Everything was for a reason, she knew it all along. "Kurt, I-!" she stopped herself, the joy she felt disappeared, her brother was probably at home, panicking over where she was, while her mother was probably at work, taking care of someone's pet. It was only her. Suddenly, the staff she held felt hollow. A reminder that this quest was one that would leave her alone, just as it had left her companion searching for vengeance when there was no one to take it out on. She dropped the staff into the water below her feet. Just as the staff when it suddenly turned into dust. She gasped, trying to grab it in vein, only pulling out clumps of water.
Heh heh heh...
she heard in the distance as she continued to grab handfuls of water. She began to cry, "No, no... dammit!" she cursed, putting her hands over her eyes. "I failed!" she felt a chill up her spine as something came close to her.
Luz the human. She turned around to see the wizard walking out of the fog with a smile.
"Your hubris has failed you, Witch Apprentice," he bellowed, and the figure showed himself behind the puppet of the wizard. The wizard's body shifted out of the way, and Adegast's true form was revealed as a large, pale violet cephalopod who had both tentacles and arms. The body of the wizard was being held up by one of his tentacles. He cackled as Luz looked up hopelessly, standing up to her feet in an attempt to be brave and selfless. She ignored her frustration and anger, the disgusting irony stench emanating from him, the fact that she was alone, had abandoned everyone she knew to chase a hollow dream, and followed the pathetic ruse of a swindler. Yes, as soon as he revealed himself, it all clicked for her. This entire quest was a farce. A long-winded, excruciating, and hollow farce. This was the end.
"Your mentor always thwarted my plans, selling poison as healing potions, my plans to destroy these goddamn towns," he cackled, "And as soon as you came here, she became too occupied with you and that stupid dog to stop me! At least you were good for something, human! You brought your master here for me to kill her! You were chosen to bring an end to this disgusting world, so, I humbly thank you. And as a show of gratitude...
"...I will kill you swiftly."
"Adegast!" Eda shouted, landing on the path before her the beast with Kurt right behind. They dropped King off at the entrance, to be sure he was safe, and she insisted that Kurt stay behind too, but he was adamant about staying with her, getting to his sister before some faux-Leviathan-Kraken reject attempted to kill her under his watch. With the black energy radiating from his body at the time, she was under no obligation to refuse him.
"Eda, the owl lady! I have you now!" his tentacles shot in their direction, Eda leaping into the sky from instinct, but Kurt stayed stationary. The tentacles stopped right in their tracks, black energy enveloping the limbs. "What the-?"
The limbs twisted and turned until they became balloons of flesh that exploded in a sea of blood. He roared in pain, using two of his other limbs to cover the wounds, but the blood kept flowing. He reared back his other arms to try and hit Eda again. But again he was stopped by the black energy, but instead of exploding like before, his tentacle imploded, collapsing in on itself and the blood spurting out of the shriveled part.
"Gah!" he shouted, the corpses dropping from his arms. "What the fuck?! What's doing th-" he glanced around until his gaze stopped on Kurt, who gave him the look of death. "You, this- this was...Take this!" he launched another tentacle his way, stabbing him in the stomach, his organs leaking through the other side of his body. Eda turned away, knowing she couldn't take the sight of red blood. Luz screamed as she saw her brother impaled.
Kurt was perfectly calm as his body fell off Adegast's limb and into the water, a red substance oozing from his body and coloring the water in a dark scarlet. Adegast breathed heavily, his body still in the high of adrenaline, but he sighed as the boy fell.
Then there was an explosion. The pool shot upwards, and the droplets floated in the air along with Eda and Luz. Adegast clutched his ruined three limbs and began to panic again, his eyes searching for the kid who ruined his body and his plan to kill the Owl Lady. He had to find him, kill him, destroy him, tear him into so little pieces that even atoms wouldn't be able to recognize him. No, there was no way in hell he'd get away with messing with Adegast.
He looked no further.
Even with a hole in his chest, Kurt still managed to rise. And in the few moments between the next attack, Adegast realized something dangerous and possibly inevitable about Kurt, such that his last few moments before the strike was filled with fear and hopelessness as he saw the child, no- creature in front of his face for only nanoseconds, the blood washed over his face and body, mixed in with his own, empty brown eyes, scars all over his frame, the wound healing quickly, and a smile on Kurt's face.
"Die!"
splash!
Water exploded up, an invisible hand brought Luz and Eda into the air without their volition, and Eda's ears started ringing as she floated in the air. Luz was unable to see what occurred next as she was blocked by a cloud of mist. And before they knew it they were dropped to the ground above the water. They both attempted to gain their senses back from the vicious drop, and Eda saw a dark figure standing before Adegast, just before Luz managed to stand up. As the mist cleared up and her vision became more refined, she saw Kurt as he stepped into the light and showed his face and body, his clothes were still torn up and his eyes dead. However, the thing that distinguished him most was the smirk on his face and the violet and red blood that covered him. And, a few seconds after, his body began to transform to normal, his bright brown eyes, and with a wave of black energy, his stomach. He seemed to return to his senses as his sister hugged him tightly.
"Kid, what the hell'd you just do?"
He turned his attention to her and simply shrugged. It just happened. At that moment, he felt anger and then it all faded to black. And when it was over, he was standing with his sister, feeling sore and tired. His body had been torn to pieces, his head of curly hair was dripping, and his clothes had been torn apart. He slung an arm over Luz, though a whirlwind of emotions ran through her mind, she held him up. She looked at him directly in the eye until he passed out, he had no recollection of what had occurred just a few moments ago, but he was glad that his sister was safe and sound. Luz stared at him, and she saw a smile grace his lips, one she hadn't seen for a very long time. A smile that meant relief.
What a world this was.
King had gotten sick that night. He vomited a clear, hot, and acidic substance early that day, but everyone assumed it was from Eda putting the entire village in a mass grave and burning all the ones that hadn't been consumed by the first flame. "Are you okay?" Eda asked the small creature as he reeled back for another upchuck. She patted him on the back as if she were burping a baby, while Kurt and Luz watched her with general apathy. The younger sibling cried after seeing it all, her emotions getting the better of her as it always did for things like this.
Kurt remembered the first funeral he'd been to, the fire from early in his life had caused a major disease in one of the nurses attending to his mom and she'd died three years later. It was one of the only memories of his childhood before the second flame, after all. The day of the burial was the first time he saw his mother pray, cry in front of him, and the post-funeral proceeding was one of the last memories he'd had of his mother with his father. Camila had been friends with the nurse up until she decided to become a vet, which was when she died. She spent the night in her room, crying after hearing it from her sister. The nurse had been getting better, but as his mother often said when she thought about it, she had a time on this earth and God decided it was time for her to come home.
But he thought it was only a way of trying to make atrocities of the world seem like there was some sense like she had control over the cruelties of the world, by calling it the force of something unseen something metaphysical, yet in truth none of it made sense. And he doubted that it ever would.
That night, everyone found themselves unable to fall asleep and the next morning was relatively silent between them. Kurt was unwilling to leave the room and Luz, as hyperactive as she was, was just as downtrodden as the rest. Eda was unfazed. On her face was a blank expression. Numb. She was the only one who could have taken care of King and she was unwilling to leave him alone with the two depressed children. So, that day, they spent the day inside and though she knew that she would lose about a day of income, she did not care all that much if she knew he would end up in danger.
Eventually, Luz found some wind in her sails and started talking with Eda about what happened yesterday, she knew talking about issues always alleviated her stress at least slightly and Eda always seemed willing to listen to her.
"I was so scared when that happened, I thought he died! He had a hole in his stomach!" she began to cry. "That's the first time I've ever seen him react like that. I didn't think he would be able to... to..."
"Kill?" Eda finished for her, the word easily rolling off her tongue.
"Y-yeah," she exhaled. "Listen, do you think that he's always been like this? That he's always been able to do things like this?"
"I don't know much about anti-magic, kid. And I know even less about the two of you," Eda responded, looking down at the sick demon on her lap, "It's complicated... that's all I can say. You running out seemed to really make him, er... frustrated would be the correct term, I think. He bolted off into the forest without us as soon as he knew where you went."
"Wow," was all she could say.
"Yeah," she said, "I just think that when it comes to you, he doesn't play around."
Luz only pondered this for a few seconds before changing to the topic, "Have you seen things like this before?"
She paused, placing a hand on King's jet black fur, stroking it slowly, then answering her question, "Yeah, I have," she replied, "I'm not gonna get into the details of it, but, um... it-it was bad."
Luz was silent as she spoke.
"The faces you burn, are the faces that you saw every day, the faces you laughed with, the faces you cried with. And when you burn them, you feel it just as much as they don't. It's like a hundred painful wounds and it seems like they just burn forever," she said, thoughtful of the times before she met them. "But they don't. Not if we don't let them. The best we can do about things like this is move on. Because if we don't then we would be better off burning."
"Yeah," she replied, "You're right."