As one traveled down the Titan's right arm, becoming increasingly distant from the colonial-style streets of Bonesborough, the coniferous forests would slowly thin out, giving way to rolling planes of sallow grasses, dotted by small mountains. As they drew closer to the Elbow, these cliffs would steadily grow in both frequency and stature as they traveled further south—though never enough to be mentioned in even an adjacent breath to the Knee—until the landscape was more crag than field.

Roads were also scarce this far south. They only connected the few small villages which were scattered across the region, and were so poorly maintained that they seemed to be entirely swallowed by the fields in a number of places. In certain particularly distant reaches, monsters seemed to be more regular sights than witches and intelligent demons, taking all manner of strange shapes due to the abnormal niches they fulfill in contrast to more developed regions.

Eventually, however, civilization would begin to reassert itself, funneling travelers towards the city of Fossa Springs. Located in the shadow of an immense rock shelf—the result of the Titan's forearm bones being shunted several hundred feet upwards, while its titanic humerus slid beneath and penetrated the seafloor below—naturally-occurring saltwater hot springs were regular fixtures in the region, with much of the city's fame coming from its bathhouses. Some even attested that they held healing properties, owing to extremely diluted quantities of Titan's Blood.

"Yeah, I'm pretty sure that's a lot of colchis shit," Eda snorted, crumpling a pamphlet and tossing it over her shoulder. She violently shook her head, water spraying from her grey-brown hair onto a number of shocked bystanders. "We've been here for—what?—a week, and I don't feel any 'restoration' happening. Whatever that even means."

"Maybe you're just doing it wrong," Edric suggested, shielding himself from the torrent of salty hair-water. He adjusted his headband, making sure to keep his hair out of his face as he fiddled with the small device in his hands. He had heavily modified a metal detector wand he'd found on one of the numerous trash slug expeditions which he'd been unwillingly dragged along to, using it now to detect magical energies rather than smuggled contraband.

"Have you managed to find the things you need to finally get your doodad working? I'm ready to get out of here and never come back."

"I think so…" He attached the last of the arcane wiring, then closed the frame around it. "Let's see if this baby's good to go."

The device blinked to life with the flick of a switch. The pair of arms which he attached to its side quickly raised, flashing and beeping at him as they were overwhelmed by the sudden influx of stimuli. A screen affixed to its front displayed a rapidly-fluctuating bar graph. "Yeah, I'd say your little doohicky's working alright."

"Probably shouldn't have done this in public," Edric mumbled, noticing the strange looks he was getting from onlookers. "But it's definitely sensing magic, that's for sure. Now to see if it can find the type we're looking for." He turned off the sensor and set off into the crowd, with Eda in close pursuit.

Mauve siltbrick buildings flanked the streets, each rising two or three stories high. Small storefronts rested beneath the jade-tiled verandas, while small windows crossed by coldiron bars peered across the way from the upper floors. On the ground level, brightly-clothed vendors proudly displayed their wares to interested onlookers, their garish outfits and decorations serving to attract customers in a far more dignified manner than the constant shouting and rushdown advertisement which filled Bonesborough's market district.

Edric continued to tinker with the device as he wove through the brightly-clothed rabble, making a beeline towards the inn which he and his mentor were staying in. His cloak hung loosely from his shoulders, shielding him from the harsh summer sun. He was thankful his dad remembered to pack him a bottle of sunshield balm. Without it, he was pretty sure he would've bypassed sunburn and gone straight to spontaneous combustion.

Several paces behind, Eda adjusted her own cape, making sure to keep it over her right arm. The vermillion fabric dangled from a thin chain, which gently rested against her neck.

They quickly reached their destination, ducking into their room for a final time. Edric collected a number of mechanical gadgets scattered around his bed and dresser, quickly tucking them into a heavy leather satchel.

"Frame… sensor… meter… other frame… carrier…" he mumbled to himself, listing each of the items as he placed them into his bag, and the smaller gadget onto a loop on his belt. "Alright, I think I'm good to go. You ready?"

"I've been 'good' since our first day here, kid." Eda took a swig from her flask, the distinctive scent of fermented apple blood quickly filling the room. "The sooner we can find this thing and get back to Bonesborough, the better."

Over the past three years spent studying under her, Edric had gotten far better at reading Eda. Sure, she was ornery, sarcastic, and at times, even outwardly unsympathetic. Beneath all that, though, she was also one of the most caring and devoted people he had ever met.

More importantly than all of that, however, he had learned to tell when she wasn't being straight with him. Times like now.

He drummed his thumb against his thigh pocket. The metal container within was hard against the bony digit. Even through the brass and fabric, he could feel its energy faintly pulsing against his skin.

"Alright," he exhaled, pulling the sensor from his satchel. It resembled a metal divining rod, with a black plastic box at the center featuring several small lights. "So, we'll get up in the air and then I'll use this to find the thing. Then—"

"Wait, why do you need two of those?"

"This one"—he raised the larger device—"is a diviner. Dad made this prototype about ten years back to find large sources of magic—I think it was when the city had that wisp infestation?—but it never got into production since Odalia wanted us to focus on abomatons and all that junk. Anyways, I can program it to only pick up specific energy types, but the amount it reads stops it from giving any specific info. It can find things up to, like, ten miles away, but it's kind of useless close-up and doesn't actually tell me anything actually useful."

He patted the smaller device at his hip. "Meanwhile, this little guy—the ASE, or "Ace" Meter—is the important one. It only works at about thirty meters, but it gives the juicy details." He began to count its features on his fingers. "Specific location, energy type, volatility, even a rough estimate as to how long a thing's been active, and a bunch of other stuff. This guy's the real star of the show."

"Cool, cool. I have no clue what half of that means."

Edric sighed. "Just get me in the air so I can use the big one to find the thing. Then I'll move over to the little dude and figure out the important stuff."

"Hey, I'm the master here!" she reprimanded, snapping her fingers for emphasis. "You don't get to sigh and condescend at me."

"This is for the company; you're just tagging along. That means I'm in charge." He gave her a wry smirk as he flashed his Blight Industries badge.

Eda rolled her eyes as Owlbert hopped from her shoulder, a wooden pole extending from his feet. "I'm pretty sure I outrank your dad, kid."

"Debatable," her apprentice shrugged, taking a seat behind Eda on her staff. "But you definitely don't outrank Em. By the way, probably don't let her know you came with if you don't want a bill. I'm not supposed to share the card with you anymore."

"...Let's just get this over with," she conceded with a huff as the pair took flight, flying through an open window. "How's she doing, by the way?"

"Stressed beyond belief," he chuckled as they spiraled into the air. The immense cliff face which separated the city was still far overhead. From this height, he could see the villas which dotted its craggy front, nestled onto the ledges and rock shelves which arose from the Titan's jagged bones. These fronts, impressive though they may have been, were only the external faces of much larger structures hidden within the cliff itself. From what he heard, some of them could even put Blight Manor to shame.

"She and Dad are helping Hunter with his relief efforts after the attack on Latissa last week," he continued, as he clicked the sensor's power button. "They're still backlogged from the storm in Talus Falls, too. Honestly, it wouldn't surprise me if she didn't know Amity was back in town."

Eda cocked an eyebrow. "She is? That's news to me."

"Really? I would've thought you'd be close to the top of people she'd want to visit." He pursed his lips. "Though, considering she hasn't come to visit us yet, I guess I shouldn't be surprised. I wouldn't even know if I hadn't run into her while Viney dragged me along to pick out a birthday present for Em."

"Aren't your birthdays in, like, Morosber?" She paused briefly to reconsider. "Actually, I shouldn't be surprised. Griffin girl's something else. Anyways, Amity's not staying with you?"

"Nah. Apparently she's crashing with Willow until she can find her own place. Not that I blame her. She never liked being at the manor, especially after… well, you know."

Eda slowly nodded. She knew.

Silence stretched between them, broken only by the ruffling of their cloaks in the wind. Behind, Edric pulled the sensor into his lap and flipped the power switch. It softly hummed to life, lights flashing as it calibrated its functions.

He adjusted several dials, staring intently at the lights as they blinked back at him. Eda couldn't notice any difference, but judging by Edric's focus and muttering, he was evidently seeing something she couldn't. It was something she had grown accustomed to. Technology was never her strongsuit, even as a kid. As she passed into her fifties, she had begrudgingly accepted that all of the new inventions that Edric toted around were leagues beyond her understanding.

Finally satisfied, her apprentice began slowly pivoting on the back of her staff, pointing the rod around. Occasionally, he would reverse his direction as if attempting to focus in on something, only to grunt something under his breath and tweak a few more dials or flip another switch.

At long last, he pointed towards the southeast. "That way, about 8 miles. Give or take."

The pair sped off, soaring over the rugged golden hills. Their shadows rippled across the rugged terrain, a dark silhouette rolling over the slate-mottled landscape. Edric continued to pan across the horizon with the device, giving Eda slight adjustments to their course, interspersed with the occasional snarky exchange.

A few miles outside of the city limits, they found a small stream, flowing out a cave mouth. It wound its way through the terrain as it slowly navigated a circuitous route to the sea. As it worked further through the rugged slopes, it also carved a deeper trench through the hardscrabble earth, gradually broadening as its basin grew.

Large formations of stone erupted from the earth on either side, forming a pair of small cliff faces which flanked the rugged, waterladen artery. It slashed from east-to-west, running all the way to the craggy shortline like a scar, cast in deep shadow at all hours but noon.

Small, blue-leafed trees grew within the pass, their azure canopies preventing all but a few scant rays from reaching the ground, even as the sun beat down overhead, unimpeded by clouds of any sort.

Edric's diviner began to beep wildly as they circled overhead. "It's somewhere in there," he reported, putting it back into his satchel. "The terrain's messing with my readings, so we're gonna need to get our hands dirty. We've got about a quarter-mile stretch of gorge to check out, so try not to get separated. I'm not too familiar with the monsters this far down the Arm, but if what my old beast keeping classmates have told me are true, if we aren't careful"—he paused to look at his mentor, a shit-eating grin plastered on his face—"they're gonna be gorging on us!"

The wind tousled their hair as Eda stared at him. He could almost see new wrinkles forming on her face in real time. If there was one thing he knew could get under her skin without fail, it was puns. The worse, the better.

Finally, she rolled her heterochromic eyes and dipped her staff towards the ground. Dark grey walls of rock funneled salty sea winds through the canyon, causing the trees to shake and bristle. As they dipped below the treeline, plunging into a narrow opening between the trees, Edric threw up his arms to protect his face from the ashen branches which blurred by. Twigs clawed at his sleeves and hair as Eda navigated through the boughs, far faster than anyone would reasonably advise.

He didn't realize they had landed until the wooden staff unexpectedly disappeared from beneath his body, dumping him onto the soft ground below with a grunt. Moist leaves stuck to his back as he pulled himself back to his feet, squinting his amber eyes into the gloom.

"Dude," he started, wiping himself off. "Uncool."

As his eyes adjusted to the surrounding darkness, he pulled the ASE Meter from his belt and flicked the power switch. It quickly beeped to life, its lights and display both giving erratic readings. After punching in a few commands, the arms fell to its side and the readout bottomed out.

Satisfied, he turned to Eda. "Alright. I'm pretty sure I've got this calibrated right, so in theory, we should just wander around here until I get a reading, then follow it to the source." He started walking through the trees, carefully measuring his steps to account for the uneven ground. "Planar magic is pretty distinct, so I don't think we'll need to worry about false positives or anything."

"And what am I supposed to do?"

"I dunno. Wander around, look for a glowing hole in reality, and try not to get eaten?"

With that, he struck off into the gloom, summoning an orb of light above his free hand. Eda watched as the light disappeared into the trees, fading away to a silver highlight at the edges of the dark grey trunks.

"Right…" Eda grunted, rubbing a knuckle under Owlbert's feathery chin. "Guess we find a quiet place to hang out until the kid finds what he's looking for."

She started off, stepping over gnarled tree roots and large stones. Her eyes had instantly adjusted to the darkness—one of the perks of her so-called curse, though she had long since stopped referring to it as such—but she still struggled to find her footing. Heels and wilderness do not mix.

Owlbert hooted on her shoulder.

"I know I should've bought new boots, but have you seen what they're trying to pass off as 'style' down here?" She shook her head dismissively.

The sound of running water played on her ears. It echoed off the trees and walls, making it hard to track the origin of the noise, as it splashed and rippled through the gorge. However, the terrain slowly descended to her right. Eda was far from an expert survivalist, but she knew how to find water.

Pushing through the trees, her theory was quickly confirmed as the slope further descended, while the trees thinned out and had their spaces occupied by small bushes and shrubs. The grass gave way to soft, loamy earth and large rocks, their round surfaces covered in shaggy magenta mosses. Below, a stream rolled in a shallow riverbed, the water reflecting the dark treetops above.

She kicked off her boots and stepped into the water, its coldness immediately radiating up her legs. It was comfortable in contrast to the oppressive humidity, which the shade did little to combat. As she wode into the center of the stream, it barely rose to her knees.

The stream slowly widened as it extended further into the gorge, bending towards the rocky walls. Her eyes scanned the forested shadows, her strigiform pupils making constant micro-adjustments to pierce the constantly-shifting layers of darkness.

In the distance, she spotted something abnormal: a glimmer through the trees.

"You see that?" she asked her palisman. She stared into the darkness. Then, after a few moments, another glimmer. "There!"

She scrambled back to dry land, soaking herself to the waist as she stumbled and nearly fell on the slick rocks and clinging silt. As soon as she was out of the water, she hastily stepped back into her boots and set off, pursuing the flickering light.

Elsewhere, Edric was calmly walking through the forest, humming to himself as he wandered around with his Ace Meter in-hand. The silver orb of light hovered at his side, gently bobbing in the air as it illuminated the trees around him.

The meter's arms twitched at its sides, having risen only a few degrees from their resting position. It softly whirred, picking up only the faintest of planar magics. Too far away to give any information, or even a general direction.

"It's a strong source, that's for sure. Probably—" His foot suddenly fell into the earth, being consumed almost to the knee. "Woah!"

He pulled himself free, dusting off his pant leg. Mixed in with the dirt, he noticed several small, bronze fibers clinging to the fabric. Pinching one between his fingers, he took a closer look, finding it more akin to a metal filament than any natural material. "Huh," he grunted. "That's weird."

A pair of clawed feet landed on his shoulder, making him jump and instinctively start to trace a spell circle into the air. His fears were dashed as a feathered head nuzzled into his neck. "Owlbert?"

The palisman hooted at him, blinking its big orange eyes. It hopped once before taking flight, fluttering its wings to remain in place for a few moments before darting off into the gloom.

Edric gave chase, focusing his light spell into a conic beam as he attempted to follow the wooden owl. He struggled to keep up with it, but every so often, a hoot would echo through the trees to keep him on track. Occasionally, he would find the bird perched on a tree branch, giving him only a few moments to catch his breath before setting off once more.

"Hey, where are we going?" he asked between gasps for air.

Owlbert gave no response, silently flapping his wings as he disappeared once more behind a tree. On his hip, he was vaguely aware that the meter was growing more active as he continued to run.

He broke the treeline to find himself at the mouth of a large split in the chasm wall. Dim light radiated from within, wavering in color and intensity as it played on the craggy interior. Eda leaned against the rugged stone, pretending to inspect her nails. "Hey, kid. Found your thing."

The lower half of her dress was absolutely soaked. "What happened to you?"

"Slipped in the stream," she shrugged. "So, we gonna check this thing out or what?"

He didn't buy her explanation, but he knew better than to pry. After all, he knew full well why she insisted on accompanying him.

Rounding a corner, he found the short corridor opened into a large grotto. Jagged rock formations clung to the walls, and small droplets of mineral-rich water dripped from stalactites on the ceiling. In the center of the chamber rested what he had been looking for.

Levitating a couple feet above the ground, a jagged tear in the fabric of reality itself loomed ahead, surrounded in a halo of multicolored light, which danced on the walls like a rainbow cast through a prism. He could see a strange void within the rift, multicolored masses of aberrant matter which seemed to froth against one another. Countless pinpricks of light shone through like stars in the night sky. The image's surface constantly rippled like the surface of a pond in the rain.

The air around the breach seemed to hum with power. It made the witches' skin crawl, as waves of wholly unnatural energy washed over them. Eda noticed a strange sort of familiarity.

He went to work, scanning it from all angles with his Ace Meter. Although it appeared to be a flat image, it seemed to rotate almost arbitrarily so that it was always facing him no matter which angle he approached it from.

"Okay, okay," he started. 'This is interesting."

"Good interesting or bad interesting?"

"Good. Really good! This rift is fresh. Like, I don't think it's even got a set location on the other side yet."

"What does that mean?"

"Well, our research is still a bit spotty, but I'm pretty sure that these rifts jump around in the Human Realm until they can find a spot where they can anchor themselves. It's probably not fully active yet, but if you go through, you might be able to see places they've appeared in the past."

"How do you know all of this?"

"These things have been popping up all over the Isles for the past few years. We've compared notes with other people who're looking into them, and from what we've gathered, they seem to go towards places that've already had interplanar activity." He paused for a moment. "Now that I think about it, these really started showing up after the Day of Unity. Wonder if that had anything to do with it."

"And do you know how long this portal's been open?"

Ed paused to look at his meter. "About a week, two at the most." He fiddled with a few dials. "It's actually remarkably stable. I don't think we could've found a better one."

He clicked the device off and clipped it onto his belt, before opening up his satchel. He removed a pair of large blocks of metal and placed them on the ground on either side of the rift.

Clicking a button on the side of one block, the object split in half, the two parts connected by a metal bar bearing several complex glyph combinations on its surface. Numerous colored tubes ran up its length, which Edric attached to their matching ports as he raised one side of the frame until it completely encapsulated the rift, before repeating the process on its counterpart.

With both sides of the frame assembled, he pulled a small control device from one of the split metal blocks. "Alright. Here goes nothing."

He flipped the switch. Nothing happened.

"That, uh, doesn't look very activated," Eda started. "Are you—"

A sharp crack cut her off, as an arc of prismatic energy leapt from the edge of the rift to the metallic frame. The glyphs flared to life as the multicolored electricity climbed towards the top, joined by a steadily-growing number of other arcs.

"You sure this is safe, kid?" Eda asked, tentatively backing up a step.

"Yep! Mostly." He hesitated. "It only blew up once."

She shot her apprentice a disingenuous look. "And how many times have you tried this?"

"Also once." He flashed her his signature Cheshire Cat grin. "But, hey, this is already going better than last time! I'm sure it'll be fine. Hundred snails on it."

However, as the words left his mouth, the glyphs started to flicker. A bassy hum filled the cave, echoing off the walls and vibrating the stone. Small stones fell from the ceiling.

Eda stumbled, roughly grasping at a nearby stalagmite for support. "You still sure about that bet?"

Despite the situation, Edric's grin didn't falter. "Hundred fifty."

He flipped out his meter and started to scan the rift. The energy levels were high, nearly four times what they were before he set up the frame, but holding stable. The glyphs on the side flickered but remained illuminated, their effects maintained by the magically-charged fluid which coursed through the power tubes.

The hair on his outstretched arm stood on end as he took a step towards the rift. He knew that, if this blew, they wouldn't be safe anywhere in the cave, so really, there wasn't any harm in getting closer. Another tremor threatened to throw him off balance, but he managed to steady himself with another step forward. Behind, Eda was leaning against a stalagmite, an expression of dueling concern and hope written on her face.

Then, just as quickly as it began, the chaos ceased. The electricity split, pulling the edges of the rift until they were flush with the metal frame, separated only by a thin glowing border. On the sides of the beams, the glyphs dimmed before fading entirely as their purpose concluded.

Eda slowly stepped back towards the portal.

Without looking away from it, her apprentice held out a hand, and she begrudgingly dropped a pouch of coins into his palm. "Told you it'd work," he said cockily as he counted out his winnings.

The pair looked to the now-contained rift, the cavern now eerily silent, save for the soft hum of the disturbance and the quiet clinking of coins.

"What now?" Eda asked after a few moments.

"Well, I'm gonna have lunch, then in a bit, head back to Fossa to call Dad and tell him about this thing." A knowing smirk rose on his lips. "And you're gonna try to sneak into the rift while I'm eating."

The Owl Lady's face was overtaken with an insulted expression, but Ed cut her off before she could argue to the contrary. "Listen, I know that you're only interested in this because you think it'll be a way for you to see Luz again. I get it, but I don't want you to think you have to sneak it by me to try. Or, worse, that you'd actually manage it."

He dug into the bottom of his pouch, before pulling out a small metal casing, small enough to fit in his hand. "You're gonna want to take this with you," he said as he tossed it to Eda.

She caught it and flicked it open to find it contained a large wooden splinter, about the length of her thumb. It resonated with a familiar energy. "Is this…?"

"Yep. From the door. Hunter sent us what was left over after it got blown up when you guys reversed the draining spell. I think that should be able to link the rift to the same spot where the door connected in the Human Realm. With luck, the rift will have already been in that area, since it's probably got a lot of residual planar magic, which should make it more stable."

Eda stood still for a moment, looking between the small shard of wood in her hand and the glowing tear in the fabric of reality which floated mere feet away. "Alright," she finally exhaled, stepping towards the breach. She slipped the container into her hip pouch. "Do you have a rope?"

"Yep." He tossed her a length of glossy, magically-strengthened rope. "If anything happens, I'll give you a tug. We are in the wilds, after all."

The older witch tied the rope around her waist, then handed the other end to Edric, who fastened it to a nearby stalagmite. He threw her a thumbs up as he pulled a slightly-crushed paper bag from his pack. A small, modified ice glyph glowed on a corner, keeping the contents cool despite the ambient heat which surrounded them.

"Well, here goes nothing." She stepped towards the wavering tear. "And you're sure this is safe?"

"Enough," he shrugged as he took a bite of his sandwich, showering crumbs down his front. "Can't be worse than Luz and Mittens' door. And you should be able to actually go there, instead of just appearing in reflections. Just try not to get stuck on the other side. If this thing closes, there's no telling if you'll have a way back until we can reopen it."

"And you can do that, right?"

"Nope!" He took another bite. "Have fun!"

Shaking her head, she turned back to the rift. She took a breath to steady herself, then touched her fingertips to its surface. A jolt of electricity ran through her body, making her jump. It pushed back, almost as if surrounded by a membrane of some sort, but she kept moving forward.

Her fingers broke through, immediately disappearing into its rippling, nebulous surface. The other side was cold, but resonated with the same energy the door used to pulse with, and which its shard still carried.

She stepped through. For a moment, everything was dark. Slowly, the rest of her body was overcome by the same sensation which her fingers felt. She opened her eyes, finding herself lying on her back in a narrow pool of jet black liquid. Twisting walls of some aberrant material rose to the dark green sky above, their surfaces made up of foggy, multicolored masses which somehow formed solid, almost crystalline structures, reflecting and emitting light in a way unlike any other material she had ever seen. She had no words to describe their shape. Their geometry, she thought, was all wrong.

Pulling herself to her feet, she found herself in what vaguely resembled a chasm of indeterminate width, the walls directly to her sides somehow seeming further away than those which stretched away. The "water" expanded to the horizon in both directions, the separation marked only by a thin white line. Shapes hovered above the surface of the fluid at varying heights, some only a matter of inches, others several meters overhead.

Unlike Luz's description, these were not cubes, but dodecahedrons. As she walked among the crystals, they turned to face her, each one showing her an image. The center of a small town in a swamp, a statue of a girl wielding a sword at its heart. A sprawling seaside city, its brilliant skyscrapers attempting to hide the swathes of partially-repaired damage which decorated many of its streets. Several large, capsized marble buildings, partially swallowed by a brilliant azure lake. A triangular building in an evergreen forest clearing, its sign hidden by her perspective. The crumbling ruins of a craggy tower, resting on the slopes of a mountain pass.

Of these, she only recognized one location from her various Human Realm excursions—the city, Los Angeles, where she had fled after tricking some guy out of his lottery winnings in Las Vegas during one of her longer tenures in the other dimension. She wondered if they were still technically married, or if what happened in Vegas truly stayed in Vegas.

The other locations, however, were complete unknowns. In fact, she doubted if some of them were even on Earth. Could this place connect to other worlds than just the Human and Demon Realms?

She was pulled from her thoughts as she spotted one last crystal just up ahead. It levitated nearly thirty feet in the air, more than high enough that she couldn't see what location it linked to. However, judging by the strength of the pulses coming from her hip pouch, she knew what it connected to.

Focusing her energy inwards, she drew upon her inner beast. When she opened her eyes, her vantage point had raised by over a foot, as her body transformed into its harpy form.

She heard a sound echo through the airless realm, like a high-pitched tittering.

"Hello?" she called out, quickly looking around. "Is someone there?"

At the very edge of her hearing, she thought she could hear the faintest inkling of a response—the vague suggestion of a whisper. "Ah, one of mine, I think."

"One of— what do you mean?"

An extended pause, as the whispers dissolved into wordless noise. They eventually realigned, saying simply, "Not yet. But soon." Again, the voices broke apart into a distant chorus of giggling.

Thoroughly perturbed, Eda fluttered her wings before taking flight. She plucked the dodecahedral crystal from its glowing perch, her glowing eyes darting around the dark phthalo sky.

As she landed once more, she returned her attention back to the crystal in her clawed hand. It showed a small shack in the midst of a forest. She had to do a double take as she realized it was the same building which her portal door once connected to. In contrast to the derelict hut which she remembered, this was a perfectly-livable building.

The supports on its porch were repaired, as were its cracked and broken windows. Small planks had been set into the coarse dirt path, while the grass around it appeared to have been recently mowed. Its roof had been fully reshingled. The collapsed hole was patched up. The loose boards had been replaced, and the walls had been recolored to a warm brown. In fact, the only thing which remained mostly unchanged was the door, but even that had received a fresh coat of paint.

Unbuckling her hip pouch, her taloned fingers fumbled around as she searched for the door shard's container. As she drew it out, she could feel it vibrating intensely within its metal shell. As soon as she opened it, the splinter pulled itself free and flew to the crystal, adhering itself to its surface.

A white light immediately appeared on the shape, beginning at the edges of the frontmost face, before quickly spreading to each and every vertex. Then, the object began to unfold in a way which was realistically feasible, adjacent faces distorting until they were flush with one another.

More and more faces, more than should be geometrically conceivable, joined together in this puzzle, a flat surface of countless impossibly-linked pentagons which seemed to slowly bend around Eda. She spun around, watching as the pieces appeared with increasing speed until she was completely enveloped, peering into the Human Realm as if through compound eyes.

The glowing seams vanished, leaving her at the foot of the porch. Her transformation slowly reversed as the cool breeze washed over her, tousling her hair and receding feathers. Behind, a new rift glowed quietly, its light consumed by the tree trunks which flanked the path.

She stepped forward, her movements stiff and awkward, as if she weren't fully within her body, but instead remotely controlling it from a great distance away. Her fingers wrapped around the smooth wood of the repaired column, noting its texture but not quite feeling it.

Another step forward. She clasped the handle. The metal was cold against her hand. Twisting it, the door slowly creaked open to reveal the shack's front room.

Like the outside, it was completely renovated. The debris and rotting wallpaper had all been taken away, replaced with brightly-colored coverings and new furniture—a sofa and several cushioned chairs, set loosely around a table. LED light strips lined the corners, while posters occupied much of the wall space on three of the four walls. Several small dressers and a mini-fridge were against the far wall, while a TV was mounted above the fireplace. Shelves of games and consoles flanked the brick column.

Stepping further into the room, she noticed several framed photos on the dressers. They featured various members of a group of teens—a black-haired girl with a gap tooth, a boy with brown hair and an array of striped polo shirts, another boy with shaggy black hair which always seemed to cover the upper half of his face, and… Luz? With neat hair?

She grabbed the picture and looked closer. Upon closer inspection, it became apparent that the girl in the photo wasn't Luz. Their faces were almost identical, but differed in a few small places, most noticeably in the eyes. Luz had brown eyes, not green. And, last time she checked, human pupils didn't reflect yellow in photos.

"Must be that basilisk girl," Eda mumbled to herself as she put the frame back in its place.

Moving down the line, the majority of the pictures focused on permutations of these four, with a few new faces here and there. A handful also had an older woman, who she assumed to be Camila.

Some of the more recent ones appeared to be graduation photos. One set showed the goth in their robe, while their friends held them on their shoulders; judging by their appearances, this one looked to be from a year or two before the others. The next showed the two boys in their robes and hats, while Luz's doppelganger and the goth celebrated alongside them. The last set was reversed, with not-Luz—she made a mental note to try and remember this girl's name as soon as possible—in the getup alongside her more casually-dressed friends.

As she looked closer, she noticed a beanie-clad figure in the background of each of these latter photos. She initially assumed her to just be a member of the crowd, or maybe a photobomber, but one showed her with the rest of the group outside of the school, flashing a "Too Sweet" hand sign to the camera, while a lazy smirk played on her lips. The next was just her and the basilisk, as she lifted the smaller girl by the waist while she held her diploma aloft.

"Is that…?" She barely recognized her at first, but it was definitely her. Her face may have slimmed down, and she may have grown considerably taller, but there was no mistaking it: this was Luz.

She quickly scanned the other photos and noticed her in the backgrounds of several others, presumably going back to when she first returned to the Human Realm, or not long after.

Though she appeared to have generally adopted a far more laid back demeanor, some of the older pictures told a different story. Many of these showed her not too different from how she remembered her, but far more disheveled, and with eye bags that would have put even Goldie to shame.

Before she could pry any deeper into the goings-on of Luz's family, she felt a tug on her waist. Turning around, the rope was being pulled taut, through the portal.

She stepped back through the door, pausing briefly to look back through before shutting it behind her. Turning back around, she walked down the stairs. The tugging paused briefly, before continuing with renewed, frantic vigor.

As she neared the rift, its interior cleared to reveal Edric stood within the cave, agitatedly looking around as he continued to pull the rope. His eyes met his mentor's through the portal. His voice sounded muffled as he called to her, as if underwater. "Eda! There's something here with me."

"What is it?"

"I don't know. It's digging around under the ground." He paused to listen. "I think there's more than one."

Her ears popped as she stepped through the breach, quickly untying the rope. A deep rumbling echoed through the chamber, seeming to come from everywhere. In front of her, a glowing spell circle appeared around Edric's wrist, a faint glimmer filling his amber eyes. Owlbert fluttered to her shoulder, cooing apprehensively. Eda gently scratched the top of his head, eliciting an appreciative trill.

She stepped forward, moving into the center of the room. "Eda?" Edric asked, his eyes panning across the floor, tracking the faint auras of the creatures beneath. Suddenly, his eyes widened. "Eda!"

With a resonating blast, a creature burst from the ground, fangs bared. The Owl Lady whirled around and threw open her cape, revealing her right hand. The flesh ended a few inches below the elbow, the limb replaced by pale wood. Its surface was smooth, with clear separations at each of the joints, between which dense wooden "muscle" was visible.

She struck the beast down with her staff, batting it from the air. It scrambled to its feet with a low growl, allowing the witches to get a closer look at it.

It resembled a badger, but almost double the height at the shoulder and significantly longer. Four pairs of legs extended from its lengthy torso, each ended with a clawed paw. Its thick fur glistened like strands of brass, while its claws and fangs bore a coppery sheen.

As soon as it regained its verticality, it charged again. More booms filled the cave as the rest of its packmates revealed themselves, eliciting a bestial chorus of animalistic growls and screams.

Eda fended the beast-demon off with her staff as its companions stalked closer. "What are these things?" she demanded.

"Gimme a second," Edric spat back as he traced a spell circle into the air. With a flash of light, his body separated into a half-dozen illusory replicas, which wasted no time in rushing elsewhere in the cavern. Several of the bestial predators gave chase, dispersing the pack. "Mustelid bodies, four pairs of legs, metallic coats… Crap, Viney told me about these things… I think they're called gold… eaters? No, goldgorgers! Aurumvorax… something-or-other."

"She tell you how to kill these things?" Eda pulled a scrap of paper from her hip pouch. A moment later, a jet of golden fire shot out, washing over several of the beasts. As the flames cleared, they revealed the beasts to be virtually unharmed, snarling at her in annoyance.

"Not like that! They're immune to fire." He lashed out with an energy cable, wrapping it around the jaws of the nearest beast. It immediately started leaping around aggravatedly, desperately clawing at the magical binding. "And don't let them bite you. Once they do, they don't let go. And their claws'll mess you up, too."

"Is there any way to lure them away?" Golden halos of light surrounded several of the aurumvorae, lifting them into the air. Eda tightly clasped her staff with both hands, Owlbert's eyes glowing with the same energy that wreathed the beasts.

"They're carnivores, obviously, but I don't know if they have a preference." He fired two more tethers at the beast, binding its legs together. "No, wait. She mentioned they could eat inorganic material. What was it? Rock? Earth? No, wait, no. It was…" His eyes widened. "Eda! The portal!"

She whirled around to find two of the beasts sniffing the metal frame, excitedly barking to one another. One opened its jaws and clamped onto the side, gnawing harshly on the steel.

An icicle embedded itself in the beast's flank. Dark red blood quickly soaked into its fur.

True to Edric's warning, even as it thrashed about, clearly in agony, its jaws remained locked onto the metal. The other one immediately turned and charged at Eda, only to get caught in place as an ice slick spread along the ground. Ice crystals quickly climbed up its eight legs, holding it in place, even as it raged against its frigid bindings.

Although she wasn't casting the spells natively—it had been nearly five years since she lost that ability—Eda was still beginning to tire. She had been forced to rely much more heavily on Owlbert's magical reservoir than ever before, and though it was better than nothing, it paled in comparison to what she had been able to do before she had been robbed of her spellcasting, even with the extra versatility granted by glyphs.

That was more Lilith's territory, in any case.

She noticed Edric had hogtied and muzzled the aurumvorax which he had been grappling, while his doubles had slowly been whittled down by the beasts. The last one was currently backed up against a wall by four of the beasts. One leapt towards it, and as soon as it made contact, the illusory doppelganger vanished into a puff of cyan mist.

The remainder of the pack turned towards her, frothy saliva dripping from their maws. With a swipe of her staff, she threw her levitating victims against the far wall, causing them to crumple into a heap of lustrous fur.

Their companions continued to move forwards without fear. However, as soon as they got halfway to Eda, they stopped, while still snarling and bristling their fur.

A moment later, another rumble vibrated the cave, far stronger than any of the ones which came before. Then, just in front of the beasts, a far larger specimen pulled itself from the ground. It was nearly three times larger than even the biggest of its pack, and a mane of golden fur spilled over its shoulders. With a deep growl from the back of its throat, it rushed towards Eda, muscles visibly rippling even beneath its thick coat.

Behind, the rest of the pack sprinted after their alpha, a small portion splitting off to charge towards Edric.

"Well, shit," Eda sighed.

A series of ice shards flew through the air towards the aurumvorae. The alpha deftly wove between the projectiles, the few which struck it merely glancing off its fur. Its underlings, however, weren't as lucky, as several were bludgeoned and pierced by the frigid onslaught.

Edric flicked his wrist and vanished into thin air. The beasts chasing him briefly faltered, but began to warily pursue his scent.

The alpha leapt towards Eda, its roar echoing throughout the cave. She dove to the side, tracing a spell circle around herself. As the beast slammed into the ground, the rock gave way beneath its feet, almost seeming to become liquid for a brief moment, before solidifying.

It roared defiantly, quickly pulling itself free from the ground. A lash of energy appeared around its throat, wrenching it backwards as a stroke of golden energy slashed across its right flank, drawing blood. Edric appeared in a puff of smoke, stood atop a rock shelf on the far side of the room. Several smaller beasts patrolled its base, aggravatedly barking and growling. A pair of holes penetrated its surface.

Eda continued to assault the captive alpha with energy blades, fired from the tip of her staff. On the other side of the room, two aurumvorae burst from the wall. Edric blocked them with an energy shield, but the force of the impacts staggered him.

With another roar, the alpha freed its front two pairs of legs, then wrenched violently against its glowing leash.

Edric flew from his perch, landing a few feet away from the pack. He slowly lifted his head to find them bearing down on him. A split second before they pounced, he threw up another barrier, a bubble of glowing energy forming around his prone form.

"Edric!" Eda shouted, dashing to meet him. Her clothes merged with her body as feathered wings erupted from her back. The wood of her prosthetic hand grew steadily up her arm, small twigs and leaves extending from its surface.

"No! Keep fighting the alpha!" He added a second hand to his circle as he took a knee, reinforcing his glowing bulwark. "I'll be fine! I've got a—"

She ignored his demands as she took flight, batting away at the beasts with her talons.

"Eda! Listen to me! If we can get rid of the alpha, the others will bolt." He looked towards the alpha, which now had only a single leg still trapped. "If it breaks the portal, we may not have another chance like this."

That got through to her. She looked down at Edric, who met her eyes with a determined gaze. "I'll take care of the little ones."

She nodded, then once more took flight. Just as the alpha pulled itself free, she was on it, her talons dug into the back of its neck. Her claws slashed through layers of fur to reach the leathery hide beneath, forcing a furious screech from her target.

Meanwhile, Edric peered through his barrier at the pack, which continued to scratch and bite at its transparent surface. "Alright, guys. Time for you to listen to me."

He twirled his finger, splitting his focus from the barrier to cast a new spell. A flickering blue light filled the beasts' eyes as they yelped and bellowed, shaking and clawing at their heads as they staggered away in confusion.

After several moments, the beasts calmed down. As they regained their vertical bases, some of their eyes resonated brightly with light, while others' eyes were clear.

A smirk rising on Edric's face, he twisted his finger again and declared, "Alright. Protect me!"

His charmed beasts wasted no time in turning to the packmates which had resisted his spell, snarling and backing them away from Edric. "Hell yeah! I didn't think that would actually work."

In the center of the chamber, the alpha erratically leapt and thrashed about, trying in vain to free itself from Eda's clutches. It desperately threw its body to the side, smashing against a stalagmite. The impact shuddered the cave wall, causing a shower of small stones to be knocked loose.

It crashed into another rock formation, blood from its open wounds smearing against the stone. More rocks fell from the ceiling, roughly impacting both itself and Eda.

Finally, it collided with the cave wall. A large chunk of debris struck Eda in the back, dazing her just long enough that, with a mighty heave, the aurumvorax managed to throw her across the room. She slid along the craggy floor, its uneven surface tearing at her armored skin and feathers.

Returning to her feet, she found herself directly between the alpha and the portal.

Sneering, she beat her wings, lifting herself a few feet from the floor. Across from her, the aurumvorax shook the rubble from its bloodied fur.

It charged at her, blasting an ear-splitting screech. She met it halfway, the bestial Owl Lady grappling with the octopedal demon. She made a concerted effort to avoid its jaws, making swift attacks with her talons, ripping bloody chunks of flesh and fur from its body before retreating.

However, the effects of her previous spellcasting were taking their toll. She was tiring, and the intensity of her ongoing battle was only expediting the process.

The beast seemed to be able to tell this as well, as it continued to fight with increased intensity despite its mounting injuries.

Eda attempted to mount the creature once more, digging her claws into its back. Unwilling to be grappled again, it immediately bucked against her, repeating the motion used to previously throw her off. In order to maintain her position, Eda grasped onto the sides of its head with her hands.

Sensing an opportunity, the beast whipped its head to the side and bit down on Eda's prosthetic forearm. She screamed in pain as its fangs gouged deep into its wooden surface, its magical reinforcements the only thing keeping it from breaking like a twig between its mighty jaws.

It threw her from its back, slamming her into the ground and violently shaking her around, threatening to rip her shoulder from the socket as its front limbs slashed at her chest.

Desperately trying to free herself, she took to the air, planting her feet on its underside and beating her wings until she achieved flight, the beast still locked onto her forearm. She ranked her talons across its flesh, but in her panic, was unable to breach its thick fur.

She scratched at its face, her talons slashing at its eyes. The thinner fur allowed her to draw blood, even managing to hook a finger in the socket, eliciting a pained shriek from the beast, but nothing seemed able to make it release its hold.

The scream roused Edric's attention. Their fight thus far had been muffled by his aura, and drowned out by the civil war he had forced upon the pack.

"Oh crap," he gasped. Dispelling his shield, he scrambled to his feet and dashed to her aid. He dug deep into his pockets, pulling an assortment of fire and ice glyphs. He activated them all and surrounded them in an energy bubble, which he threw between Eda and the beast.

As the glyphs flared to life, he reshaped the orb, opening it towards the beast. A thunderous blast exploded from the sphere, blasting both Eda and the alpha back, though the majority of the elemental energy was directed into the aurumvorax's chest.

Eda flew across the room, smashing through several stalagmites before rolling to a stop, slowly returning to her natural form.

The beast was thrown backwards, smashing against the portal frame before tumbling through the rift's inky surface. Its surface wavered as soon as it passed through.

"No!" Eda screamed, forcing herself to her feet despite her injuries. Her dress was in tatters, while dark red blood—belonging both to her and her opponent—covered much of her body. Even as her prosthetic forearm returned to its original shape, it still bore the damage from the alpha's fangs.

She limped towards the portal as quickly as her body allowed, getting close enough that its surface cleared to reveal the world on the other side. The beast bellowed weakly before burrowing into the earth, as the portal collapsed in on itself, leaving only a glowing crack in the air, hovering in the air, held in the center of the two posts.

The older witch fell to her knees, breathing heavily. Behind, Edric hesitantly put a hand on her shoulder, while watching as the rest of the pack turned tail and retreated, just as he anticipated.

Silence stretched between them. It wasn't until he heard Eda sniffling that he realized she was crying. Before he could say anything, she asked, "Can you reopen it?"

He knew she wouldn't like the answer, but he didn't want to crush her hope. Not when they were this close. "We're… working on it."

It wasn't technically a lie, but he still felt bad, as he neglected to tell her how little headway they had made. After all, it's hard to study a portal without having a contained one. Fortunately, they now did, so he knew that—with or without her insistence—this would be a priority going forward.

Eda looked up at him. "She's still there, Ed. I saw her. Well, a picture. But she's there, living with her mom and that basilisk girl." Her eyes dropped again. "I was so close."

A thought played on the back of his mind: What if they couldn't reopen the portal?

He knew that Eda would be heartbroken, no doubt, but he knew she would bounce back. After all, she was no stranger to loss. Just the knowledge that Luz was okay would be enough for her to keep going, though he knew the pain wouldn't leave her. But she could deal with it.

No, he wasn't worried about her. He was worried about Amity.

He felt guilty about what he was about to ask, but he didn't want his little sister to go through any more heartache than she already had. She had gone through more at 14 than most people did in their entire lives, all in a matter of 3 or 4 months.

She'd already be furious at him for not inviting her on this mission. If she knew how close they got… he didn't want to think about it.

"Hey, do me a favor? Don't tell Mittens. Not until we get it open again, at least."


Hi! I'm not dead, and I'm very sorry that this chapter took so long. I ended up rewriting this a ton of times, and though I'm still not especially satisfied with the end result, I figured that I had to get something out.

Also, I decided to make a themed playlist for this story, so if you search the title on Spotify, you should be able to find it. I've seen other people do it for their fics, and I like to listen to music while I work, so I figured, "Why not?"

Some of the songs are ones that are actually featured (or I plan to feature) within the story itself, while others provide parallels either to the themes I want to explore or plotlines which will unfold, and more still were chosen for fitting the vibe of the fic rather than any deep reasons. And there's just a few that I wanted to share because I really like them. And it's up to you to figure out which group each song belongs to. Have fun theorizing!