Chapter 1
New World
"Amity, try making the abomination head a bit bigger."
"You got it Luz."
"King, rotate the antenna a little more to the left."
"Aargh. Fine."
"Eda, slow down the pedaling. We don't want the door to stabilize just yet.
"Luz, I've been pedaling for an hour now. We've got to go for it eventually."
Luz took a step back to look over their work. By having Eda provide small amounts of power to the door she was able to see if the portal was properly forming or not and make minor corrections to the setup before the components fully merged. Coupled with the more expensive materials being used – she's still not sure how she'll ever pay Amity back for all of that – Luz should have been feeling more confident with this attempt than any before. But, she just couldn't shake her doubts about the one new ingredient to the setup.
"Eda, are you sure that mask is a good idea?" Tied up to the antenna sitting at the top of the door shined an intricate silver mask the likes of which Luz had never seen. It was huge, made for a face twice the size of her own, with jagged edges on both sides and two long horns extending off the top. The eyes of the mask seemed mostly for show as they were made of the same material as the rest, making it impossible to see through. It certainly looked cool, but she had reservations about deviating from Philips design.
"It'll be fine." Eda reassured. "That thing has some strong magic coming off of it. It should work even better. Besides, we're all out of human skulls, so we've got to replace it with something."
"You mean plastic skulls right?" Luz chuckled.
"Uh… ya, let's go with that." Eda said, making Luz uneasy.
"Amity. Philip just said a skull-like object, right?" Luz asked.
Amity said nothing, but her lack of eye-contact told Luz exactly what she didn't want to know.
"Ay dios mio" she said with a shudder.
Shaking away those unsettling thoughts for a moment, Luz took another look at the door. Weird mask aside, she had to admit that this looked far more stable than ever before. The setup matched Philip's diagram almost exactly. She looked back at Amity, King, and Eda. She couldn't help but smile gratefully for all the help they'd been, and the three all returned the favor, though Eda's was strained through panted breaths.
"Okay, Eda. Let it rip!"
"Finally," Eda said thankfully. Taking one large breath, she began to speed up the pedaling of her tub-boat, increasing the power flow to the portal door. The exhaustion she'd already built up was ignored as she focused entirely on getting Luz home.
Luz's smile fell again as she took a tattered glove from her bag, worriedly fidgeting with it. If this didn't work, she'd only have enough Titan's Blood for one more try. All past attempts have resulted in either the portal collapsing in on itself, or simply returning her to that strange in-between realm before then collapsing in on itself.
Looking back at the door though, Luz could tell that this attempt was already going differently. The portal was taking longer to form than before, which she didn't know if that was good or bad, but she did know that all the tell-tale signs of a failed attempt were absent this time.
The ingredients surrounding the wooden door were smoothly pulled into the door's center, as the Titan's Blood slowly expanded, coating the entire door in its blue ooze. All the while, the door itself never lost its shape as all the components started merging together in a warm yellow glow.
When the glow dissipated, the door had managed to maintain its perfectly rectangular shape, lacking the deformed look of the previous attempts. However, while the door looked stable, it was also completely different from the original one. At least previous attempts looked like the original door, albeit heavily distorted with more muted colors and perhaps an extra eye or two.
This door though was dark gray and silver across, seemingly made of metal instead of wood. And most notably, instead of a single glowing eye in the center, the metal mask now took the centerpiece of the door. The blade of a sword was added to its design, going straight down the center of the mask, while its eyes were glowing bright yellow, which Luz took to mean that the door was at least functional.
"That looks real, real different from the first door." King said nervously. "Does it work?"
Luz slowly walked up to the door. She was already mentally preparing for the worst, but there was only one way to be sure. In one fluid motion, she grabbed hold of the handle and thew the door wide open. What she saw then left her speechless.
Green. Beyond the door, a luscious scenery of trees and grass laid before her. A vibrant green forest that you couldn't find anywhere on the Boiling Isles.
"I'm… I'm home." Luz cried out as she rushed through the door. Though blurry with tears, she looked around her surroundings not realizing how much she missed the forests of her home. Or at least what she thought was her home.
"Luz? What's wrong?" Eda called out as Luz's joyous expression quickly morphed into confusion. Eda, Amity, and King all joined her on the opposite side of the portal to see what was wrong.
"This isn't my home." Luz answered much to their surprise. "This isn't the forest that's outside my house. The abandoned house isn't here. It's so much more humid. And these trees are huge. I don't know where we are."
"Huh, you're right. Weird." Eda said. The portal door on this side seemed to have just attached itself to a random wall instead of an abandoned house like the one in the Human Realm. "Well we're definitely not on the Boiling Isles anymore. Maybe we're somewhere else in your world? It's not like I've explored that much of it."
Luz pulled out her phone and looked intently at her connection. After a few seconds though she gave a weary sigh before putting it back up.
"I'm not getting a signal on my phone, but we might still be on Earth. There's probably plenty of remote places that my phone wouldn't get a signal from." Luz theorized, trying to convince herself just as much as the others.
Eda also seemed unconvinced with that explanation. Sticking her head back through the portal she called out, "Hey Owlbert. Get over here will ya?".
In a few seconds, her palisman staff flew out of the Owl House into her outstretched hand.
"I'm going to fly up and get a better look at the area. You three stay put."
"I'm going too." King quickly volunteered. "Just don't leave me alone with these two love birds. They always get all gross when they think there's no adults watching."
"King!" Luz exclaimed with a blush. Eda laughed at the comment as the young demon climbed into her hair.
"Haha. Well we'll only be gone for a moment, so don't try anything too naughty while we're gone."
"Eda!" Luz's blush intensified as Eda and King flew off. Looking at her girlfriend, she was surprised to see that Amity was not a blushing mess herself like she expected. Amity seemed too distracted by the forest around her.
"Hey Amity. You okay?"
"Huh? Oh, yes I'm fine. I'm just… in awe. I've never seen so much green before." Amity took another look around. "Is this how forests look in your world? Assuming we're not in your world right now of course."
"Some of them do. It's pretty different from the woods around my house, but I have seen videos of forests like this in the Amazon and other places."
"It's beautiful." Amity said.
"Yes. It is." Luz agreed, grabbing a hold of her girlfriend's hand in the process. A slight blush made its way onto both girls' cheeks, but the couple relaxed soon after, content to just bask in the serenity of their surroundings.
The comforting sounds of the lively forest was soon interrupted by the sound of a faint buzzing noise that rose in intensity as it approached them. The two girls looked around at the source and finally caught sight of the strangest bug.
The creature seemed to vaguely resemble a dragonfly but with a sharp looking stinger in place of a tail. Said stinger had two circles of what looked to be magic ruins surrounding it which immediately got Luz questioning again where the heck they are right now. The insect also had four legs under it's body which it was currently using to carry a glowing red crystal. Oh, and it was huge. At least 5 feet in length from its stinger to its head. That probably should have been the first thing Luz took note of.
"Wow. Cool." Luz said.
"Do you recognize that thing?" Amity asked.
"No. I've never seen something like that before. Now I'm like 90% sure that we're in a new world."
"And the other 10%?"
"Australia."
The insect seemed lost, looking around its surroundings for something. Luz risked taking a step towards it, phone in hand, wanting to take a few pictures. Before she could approach it though, more faint buzzing was heard coming from much deeper into the forest. Apparently the bug heard it as well as it immediately took off in that direction.
"Wait. Come back little bug friend." Luz said before giving chase.
"Luz wait. Eda said to stay put." Amity said, before following her.
Luz chased the large insect through shrubs and bushes for a few seconds, all the while the cacophony of buzzing grew ever louder, before they all reached the source of the noise.
An entire line of those flying insects were found before Luz, each carrying something different in their legs, usually a glowing crystal or a rock. The first insect added itself into the line, intent to dutifully carry its prize back towards their hive.
"These things are so cool." Luz said, her phone in the process of capturing as many pics as she could take. "I wonder if Mom would let me keep one as a pet?"
"Luz, we should get back. Eda and King might already be waiting for us." Amity said.
"You're right. We should probably head back and- whoa! Look at what that one has." Luz said, distracted by one particular insect that had in its hands a green hexagonal-shaped gemstone, about the size of her hand. The smooth, perfectly cut design must have certainly been man-made, making her think that the insect probably swiped the shiny possession right from under someone's nose. Poor guy, it looks like it must have been pretty expensive to boot.
The smooth surface made it difficult for it to hold on to and with a slight gust of wind, it ended up dropping it right at Luz's feet. The insect went to retrieve its treasure but stopped before her as she picked it up first. Luz wasn't sure whether to give it back or hold on to it on the slim chance that she finds its original owner.
Before she could choose, an ear-piercing screech bellowed from behind them. In an instant, all the insects scattered in different directions as Luz and Amity turned to the source of the noise.
It was a dinosaur. That was Luz's first thought as she looked at the creature before her. It looked like a red velociraptor at first glance, albeit a massive one standing at about 10 feet tall. The main differences were its much rounder head, an even tinier head sprouting out from where its chin should be (that is so gross, eww), and there seemed to be a red spike sticking out from its back surrounded by fire. Luz would be amazed at the creature if she wasn't fearing for her life. She'd seen enough Jurassic Park to know where this was going.
"Did you bring Ghost?" Luz whispered, hoping that her girlfriend had her palisman on her so they could fly away.
"No. I left her napping in the Owl House." Amity admitted. The two were as still as they could be as the dinosaur kept looking between them intently. After a moment, the creature let out another deafening screech. Before the echoes even faded, a second velociraptor-like being, one colored blue with electricity instead of fire, came rushing at them.
"RUN!" Grabbing her girlfriend's hand, Luz quickly pulled them away from the approaching predators. Drawing a quick spell circle, Amity summoned a large abomination to block the path, hoping that the size of it would deter them from giving chase.
This only provided them with a small distraction as the two dinosaurs let out dual breaths of fire and lightning against the unsuspecting abomination. The purple ooze monster fell apart from the attack and the two velociraptors gave chase again.
Both girls ran along the paved path through the forest floor, but the increasing thump of the dinosaurs' foot steps made them realized that the hungry predators were gaining on them.
Taking a right Luz and Amity abandoned the paved path in favor of navigating through the trees, hoping that their pursuers would get lost or tangled in them. This tactic worked, but only for a moment as they quickly came out the other side of the dense trees, and were met with a cliff leading to a massive drop, easily over 100 feet to the river below. Looking around, Amity pointed to a thin rope bridge several yards away from their location. They ran towards it with all their might, but before they got close, the two velociraptors appeared before them.
Immediately the two dinos put themselves right in between the couple, each focusing on their own prey. Luz faced the red creature while the massive cliff was behind her. Looking beyond the dinosaur, she saw Amity raise an abomination to defend her from the blue monster.
Luz had to think fast. She was trapped with nowhere to go and nothing to protect herself with. She knew her glyphs would be of no use while they were off the Boiling Isles. The fiery dino released a quick blast of fire that Luz barely avoided by rolling off to the side, nearly losing her balance next to the cliff's edge. Looking back down at the drop below, an idea suddenly came to her.
"Hey! Don't just attack from far away. Aren't you hungry? Come and get me!" Luz taunted while clapping her hands and trying to be as irritating as possible.
"Luz what are you doing!?" Amity screamed while struggling to keep her abomination sturdy enough to resist the powerful jaws of the electric monster before her.
Taking the bait, the fire monster screeched and charged at Luz, ready to claim its meal. Luz crouched low and prepared herself. Just as the creature was inches away, she quickly threw herself off to her right landing flat on her stomach as the dino's momentum carried it over the edge. With one final screech, the fire velociraptor fell to the waters below.
This instantly diverted the attention of the remaining monster as it caught sight of its kin just before it fell over. Amity took this opportunity to have her abomination quickly engulf it in its purple goop. This only further enraged it though, and with a screech, the blue crystal on its back released electricity so strong that the abomination couldn't maintain its form while in contact with the creature.
Now freed, it charged at Luz intent on avenging its fallen comrade.
"No!" Amity cried out as she formed a new abomination to stop it. Her magic wasn't fast enough though to halt the reptile before it reached Luz, ready to take a bite of her prone form.
Luz could do nothing but roll on her side away from the creature to avoid its powerful jaws. Unfortunately, she was far too close to the edge as is, and just barely caught the edge of the cliff with one hand before she fell completely below. But she could not hold that for long, already feeling her hand slipping.
"Amity!" she cried out in fear.
"Luz!" Amity's abomination finally reached the enraged dinosaur and with a powerful squeeze, managed to break off the electric spike on its back. Hopefully that stops it from escaping again. Amity wasted no time in confirming that theory though as she ran to Luz with all her strength and dived towards her outstretched hand.
Everything seemed to go in slow-motion as Luz's grip finally failed. Looking up, she saw Amity's tear stained face as her hand reached out to Luz. Their fingers were barely an inch apart before gravity started pulling Luz away. She felt the rush of air past her as she started plummeting to the depths below, the last thing she heard was Amity's horrified scream.
"LUZ!"
"We can fly up there on our palismen."
"We must be outside the tower."
"Welcome, True Heir to the Monado."
"Father!"
"WHEH!"
"Weak. Weak and Pathetic!"
"Stay away from my kids!"
"What or who are you?!"
"You will pay for what you've done!"
"You will know the pain and suffering you caused the Emperor and Fiora!"
Shulk let out an audible gasp as the visions of the future faded out and his consciousness returned to the present. It had been several weeks since he'd first obtained the power to glimpse into the future. By now, he was more than used to having these visions suddenly come to him without warning. This vision though left him uneasy, unsure of what to do next.
"Shulk? What's up? Another vision?" Reyn asked beside him. The large man looked down with concern at his childhood best friend. Shulk couldn't blame him. It' s been weeks now since a vision has left Shulk this stunned.
"It's the oddest thing…" Shulk started, but paused part-way through, trying to think about how to explain it.
"Is something about to happen?" Dunban questioned? The veteran war hero tensed up, always the first one to be prepared for any potential signs of danger.
"It's hard to explain. Do you guys remember how I described the vision I saw of us at Prison Island?"
"Of course. It's the whole reason we're at the Bionis Head in the first place." Dunban said.
"Well, it felt like I was seeing that same vision again. Except there were differences in how some of the events played out. And there were more people there this time. People I still haven't met."
"Hmmm…" Dunban thought hard about what this could mean. "Well, we've made major progress in our journey since you first had that vision. Perhaps we've already changed the future you originally saw, and what you saw now is the new future that will happen."
"That does make sense. That was my best guess as well. But I'm not entirely sure I believe it. I've never had a vision 'update' itself like this before. And why didn't these new people show up in the first vision? We hadn't met Melia or Riki when I had the first vision, yet they were still in it."
"What'd these new guys look like anyway?" Reyn asked.
"That's probably even weirder still. There were three of them. Two women, one that appeared to be an adult and the other a teenager. They mostly looked like Homs, except they both had long pointed ears. And there was also this little fluffy… dog? I think? But it was walking on two legs with a skull around its head. And I think they can fly on top of staves?" Shulk couldn't help but cringe at how absurd his description sounded. He doubted he'd even believe himself if he hadn't seen it.
"Uh, Shulk. I know I'm saying this to a guy who can see the future using a magic sword, but that sounds hard to believe." Reyn admitted.
"I know, but that's what I saw." Shulk defended before turning his attention to Dunban. "What do you think?"
"I'm not really sure what to think. Until we learn more about the Monado and your visions we may just have to wait until this new future comes to pass and deal with it then. In the meantime, all you can do is trust in the power of the Monado."
"You're probably right. Thanks Dunban." Shulk said after a weary sigh.
"Anytime Shulk. At least the good news is this makes it more likely that the Emperor will actually grant us passage into Prison Island. For now let's just head back to Alcamoth and inform them that the workers are safe. We'll let Sharla and Riki know about your new vision afterwards."
"Okay." Shulk and Reyn agreed as the trio began their march back to the High Entia's capital.
Still, despite Dunban's reassurance, Shulk couldn't shake the uneasy feeling he felt since his latest vision ended. Something caused his vision to change, and he was beginning to think that these new strangers were related to it. Whether that was a good or bad thing, he still wasn't sure.
He turned towards the direction of the Bionis's head. The morning sun shined brightly above the great titan's horn, causing the entire Eryth Sea to glitter in its warm glow. It would have been a beautiful, serene sight, save for the dark, foreboding tower floating directly in the center of his view. The accursed tower that not even the High Entia dare enter, yet it was the place he was determined to reach. The place where the true power of the Monado would be unlocked, and hopefully, also the place where he can learn more about his now altered vision. Prison Island.
A/N: Any reviews, comments, and feedback will be appreciated.
I've been planning out this fic for months now. Having Owl House s2B's air date announced the day after Xenoblade Chronicles 3 was revealed gave the push I needed to commit to it.
