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Two days had passed since the border fence had been finished. Luz was in the living room with Lilith and King. Eda was taking a nap on her rare day off of not having to babysit Bat Queen's kids.
Luz had her new glyph binder on the table. Her original was back with Belos along with the thirty glyphs she had added to it. Thankfully, when she returned home she remembered all eighty glyphs and was able to create a new binder.
She wanted to experiment to see if using glyph magic would cause a problem with the bile sac magic. It didn't seem to affect Eda or Lilith, but they had been born witches.
She was human with a bile sac. It was a possibility something adverse would happen if she wasn't careful. She picked up the glyph for invisibility. The glyph could only make an object invisible, and not a person.
"Maybe if I alter the glyph, I can make a person invisible. Let's see, if I combine the light glyph with it I might figure out the answer." She played with the glyph drawing different versions only to toss them away.
Finally, she thought she had a glyph for making people invisible. She stood up. "I'm going to try a new glyph. This is a variation on the glyph that turns an object invisible. If this works, then I can make a person vanish from sight."
Luz took a deep breath and then held it. She pressed the glyph against her chest and tapped it. A tingling sensation went through her body. When it encountered her bile sac the sensation increased slightly.
She let out her breath and looked at Lilith. "Did it work? Was I invisible?"
Lilith applauded Luz's success. "Yes, it worked. I couldn't see you until you had to take a fresh breath of air."
"Forget that, how did it feel to be invisible Luz?" King asked eagerly.
"I felt tingly. When the glyph magic reached my bile sac it started tingling intensely."
Hooty popped over and looked at Luz. "So if your bile sac was tingling does that mean it…?"
"DON'T EVEN GO THERE!" Luz bellowed at the house demon. Her body was surrounded by a pink glow. Out of nowhere, a hand made from Abomination goo came out of the wall.
It grabbed Hooty and shook him violently. "This is no way to make friends!" the house demon screamed. The house started to move back and forth as the attack continued.
Pressing her hands against her head, Luz did her best to take control of her magic. Ignoring the developing migraine, she willed the hand to disappear. It vanished and both Hooty and Luz fell to the floor.
"Hootsfier! Are you okay?" Lilith asked rushing over to check on her house demon friend. The bird tube's eyes were rolled back and his tongue was sticking out of his mouth.
"What was that Mom?" Hooty asked in a confused voice.
King was bopping Luz on the nose and she wasn't responding. Leaning down a little bit he poked her with his horn.
"Ouch! King, that hurt!" the teenager snapped.
"I had to wake you up. That was the most amazing magic I've seen and I've seen plenty. You would make an excellent knight in my kingdom. We should go to my palace right now so I can make it official."
Lilith scoffed. "Historically, there has been no King of Demons. Until Emperor Belos appeared demons were fighting between each other, nearly destroying each other."
King whipped around and gave Lilith a death glare. "You don't know what you're talking about. I remember leading armies and eating great feasts. I was shrunk because everyone was too afraid of me!"
Hooty, who had recovered, chortled. "Yeah right. You don't even have a real crown."
"I do! It's at my castle! If we go there I can prove it!"
Luz intervened before the conversation could escalate even further. "King, you don't have to prove anything. You already have plenty of subjects right here who serve you."
She pointed towards his collection of stuffed animals who lay bowing on the floor. "I could make you a magnificent banquet if you want. Plus, I think you're the perfect size for a little tyrant."
King thanked Luz for defending his honor. "I know you will always believe me, but they won't without proof. So we shall go to my island kingdom."
"How exactly are we going to get to an island? If you have forgotten we're currently exiled and trapped inside a magical barrier. We can't leave without permission from Bat Queen."
"If we did get permission, we would be apprehended the second we left the forest for trespassing," Lilith sternly pointed out.
King argued Luz could teleport them there. After all, she had access to witch magic. If Eda could teleport so could her apprentice.
Luz protested saying she didn't know how to control her powers. Even if she could use a teleportation spell, she didn't know where she was going.
King was not hearing her. He was going to prove once and for all that he was telling the truth.
"My knight Luz, I order you to take the inhabitants of this house to my island kingdom, right now!"
Luz lost control of her body. It felt like someone else was taking control and using her body to perform magic. Everyone inside started glowing bright gold. Slowly, everyone levitated into the air. With a huge flash of magic, the little family disappeared from inside the house.
On a hidden island in the Boiling Sea, an orb of golden energy formed inside the jungle. There was a crackling sound and the orb vanished, leaving behind the inhabitants.
Lilith felt a huge pain in her back. "Ugh, what did I land on?"
"Don't worry Lulu. It's just me cushioning your fall!" Hooty chirped. Lilith scrambled up and looked down, but couldn't see Hooty anywhere.
"Hooty? Did you go underground?"
"Nope, I'm in the backpack on your back!"
Confused, Lilith reached behind her and felt a clock-shaped backpack with Hooty's face smooshed inside.
"Help me! Someone help me, please!" a muffled voice called out. Lilith followed the voice and found Luz with her head stuck in a hole in a tree. She was thrashing madly.
"Hold on, I'll get you out," Lilith called out. The witch carefully evaluated the situation. "Hooty, do you think you could peck until the hole is wider?"
"No problem! I always wanted to be a woodpecker!" Hooty started banging his head against the tree. The entire tree shook causing Luz to panic.
"Stop! You'll bring the whole tree down on me!"
"Hootsfier, try using your beak instead of your whole head," Lilith suggested.
The house demon did as suggested and soon Luz's head was free. Coughing, Luz took in their surroundings. "Does anyone know where we are?"
All around them was a thick jungle overrun with thick roots. Creepy sounds echoed all around them. The feeling as if you were being watched was creeping up the visitors' spines.
Lilith commented that she didn't know any place on the Boiling Isles that resembled this jungle. It was a high possibility that they were on that island King had been talking about.
Speaking of the little demon, he was nowhere to be found. They looked around and found his tracks leading deeper into the jungle. They had no choice, but to follow.
Eventually, the jungle ended as they came to a clearing. In the clearing was a tower with strange symbols carved into the walls. Rocks had been pushed away from the entrance to allow people to enter it.
"Hey, Lulu, look at the old fashion graffiti. Who uses metal when paints are much more colorful?" the house demon asked as he showed off his own.
"This isn't graffiti. I believe that the symbols are part of an unknown language. This could be one of the greatest discoveries in the history of the Boiling Isles."
A pebble was kicked in their direction gaining their attention. King was tapping his foot impatiently in the entrance. "What took you three so long to get here? Chop, chop, people. I want to give you a tour before we do the knighting ceremony."
"King, stop! Where are we?" Luz demanded.
"At my castle. I told you to bring us here and you did. Now come on, I have a lot to show you," the little demon said as he dashed back inside. The others chased him.
The first thing they encountered inside was rows and rows of strange sculptures. Luz shuddered at the sight of them.
King mistook the reason why she was shuddering. "Ah, you love my sculpture garden, don't you Luz? These statues represent my fallen army and stand as a tribute for their tireless efforts."
He then led the others around the room, showing them all the images of the wall. "As you can see, I had accomplished a variety of things before I was shrunk. But one day, I will rise back to my true and glorious form. Only then can I take my title back!"
Right after he said that something launched itself out of a darkened hallway at the group. It was some kind of creature made of sinew and rocks. It turned one hand into an ax blade and brought it down towards Luz.
Hooty managed to grab her and fling her in the other direction before the blade cut her.
"Stay down!" Lilith instructed the teenager. She hurled several ice glyphs at the creature pinning it to the wall. "Let's go!"
"I'm not going anywhere! This is my castle and I'm going to dispatch this intruder," King snarled. He raced on all fours before jumping on the creature's back.
"KING!" Luz cried out as her friend did his best to hold on. "Let go, King! We need to retreat!"
"NO! I'm not leaving until all intruders are out of my castle!" the little demon roared.
The creature straightened up, dislodging King. The little guy rolled on the floor behind one of the statues. The creature started to advance towards the group, both hands were now giant ax blades.
"We're doomed, I tell you. DOOOOOMMMMED!" Hooty wailed.
Just then several potion bottles came flying into the room. Three powerful explosions engulfed the creature. Its body started to come apart before collapsing in the heat.
The group twisted to see Eda, still in her pajamas, holding two potion bottles, one in each hand. "Get out of here, now! The creature will reform in a minute!"
Indeed the creature was already reconstructing itself. The others ran for the exit. Luz was holding onto King tightly. He was squirming around demanding to be put down.
"King, you can't beat that thing! Stop squirming right now!"
"NO! I will not be run out of my castle again!" King jerked his head and his horn connected with Luz's face, drawing blood as it cut across her cheeks. The blood flew into her eyes, blocking her vision.
Unable to see where she was going, Luz stumbled to the ground, scraping herself badly. One of the stones on top of a sculpture and fell on top of her head.
King was horrified by what he had done to his friend. "LUZ! I'm so sorry. Get up, please! We'll get you to a healer and you'll be okay. I promise I won't let anything else hurt you."
The creature jerked a bit and then started crawling to the fallen girl. King stood in front of Luz to defend her.
Eda flew over on her staff and grabbed both of them. "Hold on tight! We're getting out of here now!"
They were nearly at the entrance when the creature pounced on the staff. The sudden change of its weight threw the balance off. Eda, King, and the staff went flying through the entrance.
Luz hung limply in the creature's arms. It jerked its head and focused its eyes on King for a minute. It then turned around and headed back into the darkness.
"LUZ! I'll save you!" King cried as he tried to run in after her, but was restrained by Eda. "Let me go! I need to help Luz!"
"We will help her, but right now we need to tend to our injuries. Besides, there's something we need to talk about first."
Luz woke up to someone bandaging her cheek. Blinking a few times, she scooted back when she saw who was attending to her injuries.
"Stay back! Don't come any closer!" Luz screamed before the bump on her head forced her to lay down again.
To the teenager's surprise, the creature halted. It twisted its head and pulled its arms back. In his hands, he was holding some sticky leaves.
Touching her cheek, Luz realized the creature had been using them to close her cut. Curious, she asked why it was it was helping her.
The creature found some rocks and constructed a statue that looked like King. Then it pointed up to the ceiling. Hundreds of rocks were blocking the entrance to the upper levels.
"King asked you too? Do you know King?"
The creature rotated its head which pointed to the image on the wall, then then the sculpture, and finally the ceiling.
"Someone important told you to look after King? That there is something of King's up there?"
The creature nodded its head. So the creature was King's protector and only listened to him. It heard King command it to get rid of the intruders. That meant anyone that wasn't King.
King had also promised to take her to a healer and make sure no one hurt her again. The creature had interpreted those instructions to mean it was supposed to heal her and make sure no one came after her.
She tried to sit up only for the creature to gently push her back down. It pulled some moss off the walls and used its sinew to form a crude blanket and pillow.
"You want me to sleep? But I can't right now! I need to let King and the others know I'm okay. They need to know that you're just trying to protect King."
The creature looked around on the floor and picked up a weird beetle. It held it over Luz's face and squeezed it. A foul order filled the room.
"Cough, cough. What are you doing? I'm not going to sleep." The teenager yawned loudly and felt her eyelids grow heavy. She tried to keep them open but in the end, lost the fight.
Once the creature was sure the girl was asleep, he started doing his rounds by repairing the sculptures. Its master would return soon with new orders for it to obey.
Outside the building, King was trying to keep it together. At first, he didn't want to believe what Eda was telling him. That he really wasn't the King of Demons.
When he put his other horn on him it had shown him memories. Memories that he didn't want to have. If he wasn't a king then what was he?
He wanted to scream and kick something. Let the entire Titan know how lost and confused he felt. How humiliated he felt from believing in this farce fantasy Eda had created for him.
Except he couldn't break down at the moment. Luz was hurt and in danger because of him. He had commanded her to bring them here ignoring her warnings about how dangerous using that much magic was for her.
He also refused to listen when she told him they had to retreat. His stubbornness had caused Luz's injuries. He was guilty of leaving her with that monstrous creature.
After he rescued Luz and apologized, he could break down. Even, confront Eda for keeping the lie going. Right now, his best friend needed him.
The creature was watching the entrance sensing something was about to happen. Suddenly, one of the witches came flying in and circled above its head.
"Hooty, now!"
"Eat this sucker!" the house demon shouted as he began to rapidly spew potion bottles that exploded. The creature was forced back as it constantly was reforming itself.
While it was distracted Eda and King, flew in invisibly. They reached Luz just as they had to breathe again.
"Come on, help me get her on the staff," Eda urged. They started to pick her up off the floor when one of the creature's bladed hands came shooting at them.
Both of them dropped Luz as they dodged about. Eda slammed a plant glyph on the ground. A vine grew and wrapped itself around the creature as it lifted it high in the air.
Lilith gained height and then threw ice at the creature until it was frozen. Lilith quickly descended and ordered Hooty to tie himself around both witches' staffs so they could load Luz onto them.
The house demon went to work, twisting himself into a knot. Once again Eda and King tried to get Luz onto the two staffs, only to have shards of ice exploding on top of them.
"Doesn't anything stop that creature?" Eda cried out as she jumped in front of Luz and King.
In a blink of an eye, the creature had grabbed ahold of everyone, save King and Luz. It started squeezing them tight as it tried to crush them to death. They all screamed in pain.
"STOP!" King yelled at the top of his lungs. Instantly, the attack stopped. "Drop them, right now!" The creature followed the command and bowed to him.
Comprehension came slowly to everyone as they realized the truth. "You listen to me. You were just following my orders," King whispered.
The creature nodded while it awaited King's next command. The little demon looked at the ceiling, recalling a memory of falling. "Can you show us what's up there?"
The creature brought them up there and showed King the place where he hatched. Lilith examined the walls with Hooty. Eda was gluing King's horn back together.
"There. You should be able to access all your memories now. What can you remember?"
King closed his eyes as the memories resurfaced. He repeated what he was seeing to Eda. The witch was surprised to learn that King might have a living relative somewhere on the Boiling Isles.
"Eda, do you think my dad could still be alive? I'm only eight years old, it's possible right?"
"It's possible, King. The only way to know for sure is to find out what happened here, and why you were left with a bodyguard. I promise to help you find the truth," Eda told him kindly as she hugged him.
Once they were done hugging, Eda looked at the creature again. "We need to collect Luz and get back to the Bat Queen's forest. We can't risk being caught by the Emperor's goons with Luz injured like this."
Tilting his head slightly, King thought about the problem. How had Luz brought them to the hidden island when he commanded her to? He said a lot of commands before, so what was different this time?
He snapped his little fingers. "When I told Luz to bring us here, I didn't just command it to happen. At that moment, I wanted more than anything to prove to Lilith and Hooty, I was right."
"Maybe I'm able to extend my will to others when I'm in a certain mindset. It would also explain why I didn't realize the creature was protecting me."
The little demon turned to his bodyguard. "Jean-Luc, show me if there's a secret way off of the island."
Jean-Luc lead them back to ground level and to the hallway, which it called home. Reaching the end, he reached into a narrow crack and pulled open a secret door to a hidden chamber.
There was an archway and the strange symbol from before was on top. In front of it was a pedestal with a map of the Boiling Isles and a few buttons.
Lilith gasped as she realized what this was. "There have always been rumors about this, but I never thought I actually would discover the Demon Gate."
"Lulu, what's the Demon Gate?"
"According to legend, the Demon Gate was a portal from the underworld on Earth, constructed to transport all magical folk to a new dimension. A place where we could live in peace without fear of persecution."
"It was supposed to have been destroyed after the last magical folk arrived, but it was hidden here." She studied the pedestal and map. "It looks like the Gate was modified after use."
Instead of creating a passageway between Earth and our Realm, it was repurposed to send our kind all over the Isle. From what I can tell, this device created the seal that keeps our two worlds apart."
That surprised the group. Eda looked down at the teenager she was carrying. "Could the Demon Gate send Luz back to Earth?"
Lilith shook her head. Anything related to travel to Earth had been destroyed, including parts for fixing the pedestal. Their ancestors had been thorough in destroying the link to the human realm.
The portal that Eda had found was probably one of a kind. Someone had wanted to get back to Earth badly enough to spend years building it. Now it was the only way back.
They decided to discuss this at another time. King ordered Jean-Lux to send them back home. Jean-Luc gave King a rock with the unknown symbol on it. Figuring it was a way to travel back to the island if they ever needed to use the Gate, the group marched through the portal, happy to be going home.
Later that night, Eda slipped outside the house and headed towards Bat Queen's tree. She knew it wasn't wise to interrupt the queen's sleep, but she had questions and couldn't wait until morning for answers.
When she arrived, she was surprised to see Bat Queen wide awake. "I sensed your unexpected travels earlier. I had a feeling you would want to talk. Come, let the babies sleep."
They moved the conversation to another chamber nearby. If her babies needed her she would be there in seconds. Once both were sitting comfortably on some moss covered rocks Bat Queen told Eda to ask her questions.
"My apprentice, she's changed physically and mentally because of what Emperor Belos did. Her behavior is erratic. One minute she's the girl I knew and then she's depressed and loathing herself."
"I need to know for certain that the spells you taught her or being a palisman, hasn't exasperated her condition. I want to know if she's going to be okay."
Bat Queen frowned slightly. "I can't give you a definitive answer. Even after a thousand years, I am not an expert on the mind. All you can do is give Luz time and be there for her."
Eda admitted it was hard for her. "I'm used to pushing people away and now Luz is following in my footsteps. I don't know how to show her that she needs to hold onto her friendships. Make her believe that she needs them as much as they need her."
Bat Queen assured Eda that motherhood was always complicated, especially between mothers and daughters. She couldn't let the hard stuff stop her from being a parent to Luz.
"There is one big question I wanted to ask you. The other day Luz gave me more details about her bile sack transplant. The healers told Belos it came from someone who died at the hospital."
"You suspect differently?"
Eda nodded and explained why. "She was able to perform powerful magic without any training. Magic that would take decades to develop inside a bile sack. Our little trip today? She was able to connect with a powerful device that was millions of years old. There is no way that bile sack came from a teenager."
Bat Queen scratched her chin, thinking about something. "It could also explain her high pain levels. I'm not an expert, but I know it's unusual for someone to feel that level of pain after that particular procedure."
"Will you help me find out the truth about the situation, please? You have lived so long, you might know something important, but not realize it."
"As one mother to another, I promise to help you."
In the old watchtower, Hunter was giving his uncle his daily report via his crow phone. "Something happened today. The girl was ordered by the young demon to take the family to some island he claimed he was from. After giving the order, she performed a complex teleportation spell."
"Do you know where they went?" Emperor Belos asked.
"No. I looked for any clues in the house and found nothing. Did any of the patrols find them?"
"No. Also, all the islands in the Boiling Seas are periodically patrolled. If they had gone to an island, one of the patrols would have found them," the masked man said.
Belos scratched the chin of the mask, thinking hard. "Without proof of where they went, I can't have them arrested for trespassing. What did you observe when they returned"
Hunter described how the Owl Lady had carried an injured Luz upstairs. Lilith and the house demon were discussing the history of the Boiling Isles. The small demon had been using a rock to etch something on his tag.
Hunter hesitated slightly before he asked his uncle a question. "The human's power is unusually strong for a teenager. Is it possible there's something wrong with the bile sack?"
"It's nothing you need to worry about Hunter. Remain focused on your mission. I expect that you will make contact with Luz very soon."
"I will Uncle. I won't let you down."
Emperor Belos, released the crow-phone, letting it fly out the window. Getting up from his throne, he called out to the guards outside. They came in and knelt.
"Bring me the head healer from my infirmary right now."
Within minutes, the head healer was dragged into the throne room and dumped in front of the Emperor. "My Lord, how may I be of assistance to you?" the man asked nervously.
"I have questions that I need answers to. Where did the previous head healer procure the bile sac that was placed inside my valet?"
The man trembled as he gave the same answer the previous head healer had said. Instantly, Emperor Belos's staff point was laying against his neck.
"I had the records checked. No one died at the hospital the night your predecessor claimed he obtained it."
"Maybe, he wrote the wrong hospital name down on the paperwork?" The point of the staff dug deeper causing a thin trail of blood to trickle down his neck.
"For the last time, where did he get the bile sack?"
"THE ARCHIVE CRYPT! HE WENT TO THE ARCHIVES AND FOUND A MATCH IN THE CRYPT!"
Emperor Belos smacked the man across the floor. The archives contained all the knowledge of magic from the beginning of the Boiling Isles to current events. There were places in the archives that were restricted, including the crypt.
The crypt contained the bodies of the original coven leaders. The men and women who fought by Emperor Belos's side when he ended the Savage Ages. After their death, their bodies were preserved in the crypt for future generations to draw wisdom from.
"How did he gain access to the crypt? He didn't have a card to access the crypt!"
"I have no idea, My Lord! All that he told us is that he procured the sack from the strongest coven leader's body for use in the experiment."
The Emperor ordered the man to get out of his sight. He turned his attention to the guards. He ordered them to start cataloging the entire archive to make sure nothing else was missing. Kikimora would be in charge of the project after he inspected the crypt.
Even as the most feared witch on the Boiling Isles, Emperor Belos was not ashamed to say the crypt spooked him. He had it built as a memorial for his friends.
The mosaics and lovely candle chandeliers were supposed to make the place inviting. Instead, the darkness and cold were reminders that someone had disturbed their rest.
Belos walked down the row of ten caskets slowly. He waited for his staff to react and tell him the one had been defiled. As soon as he came in front of the original Head of the Oracle Coven, the staff's jewel changed color.
"Lady Nimue D. Lakewood. I shouldn't be surprised that it was your preserved bile sack was used in the surgery. After all, you predict these events leading up to the Day of Unity before we met."
Belos remembered the charming witch. Platinum hair and ocean blue eyes. She had carried herself with grace and passion. Her prophecies had never been wrong.
She predicted that the Day of Unity couldn't happen unless the union of a magicaless witch and magical human restored the gateway passage back to the underworld on Earth, allowing him access to immeasurable power. Power, he planned to use, to join the two dimensions as one.
This was the reason he needed Luz back and for Hunter to bond with her. Only by working as one could his dream become reality.
