He was not going to smash his head into the wall, he was not going to smash his head into the wall, he was not going to damage his house more than he already has. He has more than enough self-control to not ram his body through his wall, he... okay he was currently only staying as calm as he was because he had Hard Apple Blood to deal with the Titan Damned screech in his ear. Not like he could get drunk from something as lightweight as that, and his body was hot enough that any alcohol he consumed was quickly burned out of his systems.

Said screech was the voice of the one person everyone, and he could not express how much that word was meant and emphasized, everyone hated no matter what coven they were in. From the lowest bard to the highest of the Emperors Coven the moment they met her; the word hate was soon seared into their mind along with her cursed visage.

"So, you say the Owl Lady let a Human come through her portal," The small red skinned imp asked as she sipped from a small porcelain teacup held between two of her three digits, it wasn't as if that was exactly what Wrath had just said to her moments ago. "Truly that is quite a tale Warden, quite a tale." Wrath wanted nothing more than to have the ability to cast a silencing spell on her so he could be spared her voice for the rest of his life, sadly he doubted even that would be enough.

Kikimora had arrived at his house about an hour after the human and he had talked, because apparently, she had taken it upon herself to snoop through and increase screening on all documents and notices sent from all departments, and his just happened to be a priority it when it was found in transit.

Actually, everything he did was marked a priority by the gremlin since he was high enough on the 'Maw Line' to be in her Cross Sight on a regular basis.

'Note to self, increase security on internal documents.' If it took her less than a week to sink her claws in the outgoing paperwork then he needed to up the checkpoints and the delivery process, that and the filing department would have his head if she started to snoop around them more than she already did. He nearly shuddered at the thought of them being more stressed because Kikimora decided they needed more paperwork to do and taking it out on him, he doubted the prisoners on the upper levels would dare to go against them and the upper levels were where the Wild Witches were locked up if they weren't going to be petrified.

Wrath took a calming sip from his large mug that looked more like a miniature barrel with a handle lodged onto it, downing the calming liquid that consisted of half Bean Blood and half hard Apple Blood. "A tale yes, a tall tale it sadly isn't," He didn't need to see behind that high collar of hers to see the face she was giving him, what that Human Realm expression Steve mentioned? 'Napping Dog Face' something like that, whatever a dog was, he could ask Steve that next time he saw him. "I believe the proof is a few rooms down and asleep last I checked." It had been an hour or so since he had checked on the Human, but they were still fast asleep, and he saw no reason to wake them up after they cried themselves to sleep.

It was amazing how much expression Kikimora could put into a one-eyed eyeroll, taking the small spoon she had brought with her and adding another bit of sugar into her cup and stirring it. "Yes, I suppose it is, though how odd it is that the human is here and not currently at the palace," Yep, she was going to play that card wasn't she, well wasn't like he wasn't prepared for it anyway, years of dealing with her made her at least that bit predictable, what little good that did. "Tell me Warden, why is it that the human isn't at the palace and kneeling in the presence of out glorious Emperor?"

It took almost half of his mug for him to not give any outward irritation at her statement, this was the game that she enjoyed playing and he was not going to indulge her this time. "Because he is our Emperor and not hers." He knew that was obvious, but it was regrettably something that would need to be explained to her since as far as Kikimora was concerned the Emperor was the absolute authority that everyone and anyone should obey.

He could cough and she would decry that it was a subtle tactical maneuver to make any nearby assassins drop their guard, not that the castle didn't get dusted the day prior and a Gorenado happened to roar by as well.

It was a subtle movement, even if her other eye was hidden behind several fingers of her hair Wrath could still see the slight movement that showed it had narrowed to a dangerous slit, were he of any lower rank or one of the threats to her station she would already be crying treason and for his immediate execution; several scouts had already suffered that fate when they let their lips get loose.

The cup and saucer held in her hands shook as the chinking sound of rattling porcelain as the liquid threatened to slosh out, "I do hope you have an... excellent reason for using such choice words 'Warden'," The fingers drew up from the knuckles as they cast a dangerous shadow over what little was shown of her face. "It would be... unfortunate to find that you too have turned traitor so soon after the Golden Guards 'failed' assassination attempt."

Yep, she was trying to cry treason at him, why should he expect anything else of the Talon Polisher; always looking to elevate herself above the rest of them. Like she hadn't already risen to third in command after the Golden Guards treasonous defection, and Coven Head Lilith having to take up much of the operations of the Emperor while he recovered and much of the Golden Guards previous duties.

Still, he needed to keep his voice respectful and even, as annoying as it could be she was technically his superior and she always appreciated it when people made that obvious. "As little as we know of the Human Realm it is not hard to figure out that they too know little if anything of our realm," Her narrowed eye and subtle head nod gave him all the indication he needed to continue, not that he was waiting for her approval. "Why waste our Emperors time with a Human uneducated and unknowing of our ways, I merely believed it would be best if they were aware of our laws and customs before presenting them to his majesty."

Kikimora was still glaring at him though she was no longer visibly shaking, instead she brought her cup to her lips and drained it in one continuous sip before placing it and the saucer on the nearby table. "I suppose I can accept that as an... acceptable reason, our Emperor has been rather overworked as of late with the rest of the usurpers and traitors feeling emboldened," Her tone had taken on a less threatening one, though she still kept that smidge of superiority; honestly at this point Wrath could care less about her overcompensating and just wanted her out of his house. "Already in the three weeks since I have uprooted no less that twenty-six Witches that were in a conspiracy to overthrow his glorious highness."

Wow, okay that was more than double her last count, toss her into the Boiling Sea all he wanted to, but she was efficient at her job. "Thats... a lot." Wrath actually found himself at a loss for words at hearing that she had caught that many, had the many malcontents that had remained idle for so long been 'that' emboldened by the traitor's actions, he would have to make doubly sure his own men were not among those that would seek to overthrow the Emperor.

Kikimora huffed as she looked off to the side and crossed her arms. "Indeed, and yet I know there are many more to be found. I merely need to flush them out of their miserable little holes and drag them to be 'petrified'!" Here eye gained a wicked look as she spoke the last word, the fingers on her head twitching as two of them parted and revealed her second eye and its near pure red bloodedness. Her desire to see the traitors petrified was not shocking to Wrath as one might expect, with as vicious as he was, he knew very well how much... worse Kikimora could be.

As much as he loathed her presence and existence, she was the last person he would ever wish to cross short of the Emperor, actually scratch that a hundred thousand times, the Emperor might have made it quick if he ever crossed him, just to get it over with. The gremlin herself would draw it out to the bitter last second and make petrification look like a mercy, he would almost feel bad for the old Golden Guard if she ever got her claws on him, 'almost' since his newly regrown heart was still sore in his chest.

"But I'm not among them, right?" There was a small bit of humor in his voice, a mask to his nervousness as Wrath honestly wouldn't put it past her to petrify him if she got the chance, he would just make sure he didn't give her that. Plus, maybe he would get luck and she would let slip whatever she had planned for him if she ever got her reasoning and give him the chance to prepare for it.

Knowing her she'd go after him because he paid his taxes in solid snails and would accuse him of embezzoling or illegal night Market activity, that was how she got the last Construction Coven Head, and the prior Abomination Head.

Kikimora scoffed as narrowed her eye at him for a brief moment before rolling it in an uncaring manner. "No, I suppose not, so long as you remain loyal to our Lord, you will find yourself out of my cross sight." Wrath would not breathe a sigh of relief, he knew the implications behind her threat, and when it came to the two of them, she was especially more likely to pay attention to everything he did to find one reason.

Just one reason would be all it took for her to yank him out of his position and have him tried for treason; Titan knows others have been tried for worse where she was concerned, the last three people to hold the position of Imperial Scribe were tried and stripped of their position and sent to the Conformitorium for a year each because they made a spelling mistake on their documents.

Never before had Wrath appreciated how many people he had check his documents for errors before they were sent to her or intercepted by her, not that he made mistakes to begin with.

Wrath took a long sip and drained the last of his drink and sat his mug down next to Kikimora's cup and saucer, "I believe my record speaks for itself in regard to my loyalty," He knew it was redundant at this point, but he knew that the more he affirmed his loyalty the less likely she would be to 'Discover' some evidence that he was a traitor. "Unlike 'other' members of the Coven."

It may have been inflammatory on his part, but if there was one thing those in a high enough position to deal with Kikimora on a regular knew, it was that she despised the Golden Guard above all else and would never pass up a chance to spit on his name and insult his reputation and character.

In other words, it was an easy way to change the topic of the conversation off of him and his loyalty, of which it was absolute though he had the sneaking suspicion that to her it would fall on deaf ears.

Kikimora let out something akin to a mix between a huff and high-pitched growl as she faced him, "Like the Golden Guard was ever really part of the Coven anyways," She spat with so much venom that the air around her may as well have been contaminated. "I never trusted that boy for one second, and it looks like I was proven right in that regard, consorting with the Owl Lady 'BAH', how the mighty have fallen."

He chuckled at just how fast she would switch between threatening him and then a whiny upstart who sounded more like a teenager in their later years of schooling, well he did have her younger sister as an upperclassmen one time in his brief time at Magic school and she acted much the same. Must be a family thing.

"I'm sure everyone in the Coven can now agree that you were right about that." Wrath could especially feel how much pain that brought since he had actually lost two hundred snails on the Coven betting pool that existed for whether or not Kikimora's latest gripe would be proven right, with the biggest bet having been of the Golden Guard was actually a traitor to the Coven, which since he had been handpicked by the Emperor himself no one believed it. Last time he trusts the loyalty of someone he never heard of before, Emperor handpicked or not he was not going to let this happen again if he could help it.

"Yes, I'm sure they can, unfortunate it is that it required such events to happen," she said snidely with a smug tone of superiority as she reclined into the chair, "Hopefully they feel more inclined to heed my warning in the future."

Wrath knew he would, he wouldn't have to like listening to her, but he would at least make sure to not immediately discount whatever she said as a Radamus level conspiracy. Actually, he might still do that occasionally since he doubted Darius and Eberwolf were secretly leading a rebellion while at the same time being Coven heads, that was something even Radamus hadn't believed, and he was the guy who thought there was an infant Titan living somewhere on the Isles; insane did not begin to cover how that sounded.

With a swift motion Kikimora hopped from the chair to the floor and sunk her talons into them and making sure to leave marks in the wood, Wrath would have punted her like a Grudgby ball if she were anyone else. Maybe the next time the walking nose got uppity at the Conformitorium he could pretend it was her, he only had a handful of days left of sick leave before he had to go back; mainly because Mavilda was the one person who ensured those up at the top took care of themselves. Last he remembered she had threatened to tie the Emperor down if he didn't stay on bedrest like he was supposed to, well not that anyone was faulting her for that, even Kikimora was giving her leeway; one does not get nearly cut in half and buried under a throne room's worth of rubble and walk away from it in less than a month.

Still, he had recovered greatly from the initial injuries he had sustained due to the top members of the Healing Coven having constantly used healing spells for a week, and the Emperors own magic healing him at an accelerated rate. Really the only reason he had not returned to his proper duties was because he requested to take some time to himself to mourn his trusted ally's betrayal.

It was then that they learned the Golden Guard was his Nephew from his long deceased brother that he took in, that knowledge made Wrath's blood boil when he though about it sine family was one thing on the Isles that was held sacred just below the Titan.

"Considering the condition our Emperor is in, the increased workload and stress he is currently under, and the confirmation that the Owl Lady is in possession of a portal to the Human Realm I have decided that the Human will remain in your custody," That was good, great actually since her approval would five him plenty more wiggle room in regard to the Human; more than his own authority allowed in any case. "However as soon as the emperor has fully recovered and returned to his duties, the Owl Lady petrified, and once the pathetic rebels have been squashed like a pixie you are to bring the human before him."

Wrath nodded as he too stood up and ignored the now obvious talon marks on the wood floor, "I shall do as he commands as I always have, when our Emperor deems it so the human shall be ready to be brought before him." He placed a hand over his chest and held the other one up in a closed fist salute, one that Kikimora returned in kind.

They dropped the salute and the fingers on her head wiggled again as they drummed a strange assortment of sounds, then one finger pointed forwards at the table where the saucer and cup were and glowed a pale purple: both items disappearing with a small pop and crackle. Placing her arms behind her back as the finger slowly returned to its resting position over her face Kikimora cleared her throat as she turned to walk off. "Well Warden since any doubt of your loyalty has been cleared, I suppose I shall be off," Beginning her trek towards the door she didn't spare Wrath so much as a parting look as she neared the threshold, only stopping to make sure her word was truly the last. "Make sure that your loyalty remains as such Warden, it would be a shame if you were to become the father of a 'Stone Gnome' in the near future."

...

He waited five minutes after she left before he moved to the kitchen and grabbed a bottle of Hard Apple Blood and cracked the top off, the glass not being strong enough to dig into his skin and he ignored the bit of liquid that now covered his fist. He downed the bottle in less than three seconds and waited another five minutes to ensure Kikimora was gone and not sticking around to watch him.

Even with his blood boiling as it was that steam was now rising from his pores, his self-preservation was still at the forefront of his mind; though the red-hot rage that was rapidly filling his body was soon to drown it out. The bottle he had just drained found itself crushed in his hand, ground up into bits the size of sand and powder, his hands curled into fists as he placed them on top of his counter.

"RRRRRRRRRRRRRAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!" The counter was smashed, he didn't care, how DARE she threaten his son like that. Suggest that Bracky would be petrified if he was disloyal! He should have RIPPED her head off her neck, consequences be Boiled and Titan Damn anyone who blamed him, he would make sure she paid for it if she went after his son. He would make sure they wouldn't find her, Oracle or Beast Keeping magic or not you wouldn't find anyone if they wound up at the bottom of the Boiling Sea, he'd make sure they never found her.

The glass from the crushed bottle was digging into his palm, huh, guess he crushed it when he clenched his fist; it still didn't break his skin, but it was stinging like a pixie bite. In other words, he barely felt it at all, no all Wrath felt at the moment was a boiling rage that put the Sea to shame; nothing could compare to the rage he felt.

"THREATEN MY SON!"

He spoke in his species native language, one that to anyone who did not know it would sound like a chatter of teeth and a throaty whine mixed with the sound of squishing slime, it was a relatively unknown fact that most species of demons had their own language that persisted from the old days long before the Savage ages. Though it was considered a social taboo to speak anything but Ielees as it was considered barbaric and dare they say 'Savage' to do otherwise, Wrath had always tried to be mindful of that even if it was frustrating at times since his mouth and throat were not made to naturally speak anything but his people's language.

Eventually it had become like breathing to him and he was able to work through the awkwardness, though he did occasionally mumble the occasional gripe or curse under his breath in his language when annoyed or stressed.

Or angry, and right now he was very very angry.

The cabinets found his axe hand buried in them; they were easily able to be replaced, they were cheap anyway and so found themselves the immediate target of his rage, being torn from the wall as he dug the axe out and morphed it back into his hand.

He thought he had prepared himself for her, he knew eventually he would have to confront Kikimora about the Human, she would have found out sooner or later as she always did when something was hidden from her, intercepted letter or not. Still, he had steeled himself for it, rehearsed his argument to her in his head for days at this point, refining exactly what he would say and how he would say it. Leave it to the gremlin to always get under his skin like no one else could, she brought shooting below the belt to an entirely different level, she was practically shooting at you when you were already buried under.

He could take shots at himself, threaten him all you want, and he wouldn't bat an eye, you didn't become the champion of the Bonesborough Brawl Pro division for nothing if not having thick enough hide to take criticism. Truly the number of times people accused him of using strength enhancing potions or rigging a match to keep his Seven-year undefeated record intact was staggering, but he didn't care nor did the officials of the tournament.

But his son, his precious baby boy, that was one of the few things that he could say he loved with all three of his hearts was off limits, and he would personally make sure that whoever decided to threaten him would find themselves fed to the beasts in the lower levels of the Conformitorium. He couldn't do that with Kikimora, Titan he probably couldn't even beat her in a fight unless he got the drop on her, she may have been small, but she was the definition of deadly where required. So much so that even in his anger induced state of rage he could still feel fear, fer at knowing that it was very likely that she could carry through with that threat, that it was only his loyalty that ensured his son was safe from her greasy claws.

And that chilled him to his bones.

He felt himself retching the sink from the wall and sending it in a random direction, he didn't know which way he threw it but he didn't care so long as it destroyed something. His eyes found themselves landing on the kitchen pipes that remained in a fractured state, his arm unfurled and the tentacles wrapped themselves around the various pipes and tore them from the ground and wall, they too finding themselves being thrown in a random direction.

His fist collided with the floor, it was like the beat of a drum, one after the other as he pound them into the floor, each strike adding to the depth of the crater he was standing in.

He began to calm down after some amount of time, and his rage began to wane and subside as his senses returned, his breathing was ragged and his muscles ached.

He had lost track of time in his temper, but clearly it had been a minute since he had the kitchen had been decimated and the Cooling Chest had been thrown into the other room and smashed the small dining table. Well, those were also cheap, maybe not the Cooling Chest since it had been full of food and a newer model but nothing he couldn't replace easily enough, the warranty did cover Demonic Rampage so he could probably just use that as a reasoning and get it replaced.

Heavy labored breaths escaped him as he clutched his side, his wounds aching with a constant dull throb at being agitated, he was going to pray to the Titan that Mavilda never learned of this, or she would have his head. Observing the rest of the damage it seemed to just be limited to the room he was in, that being the kitchen, and little bits of destruction which was mainly just thrown items like a handful of chairs, the cabinets, and his kitchen sink spilling into the nearby rooms. Thankfully none of it seemed to reach the guest room where the human was staying since it would have been bad had he thrown something through the wall and squashed...her...

Wait, the human...

"Oh Titan..." He had forgotten about them for a moment, she had probably been forced to awaken by his outburst... that wasn't exactly going to be good for his relationship with them, thankfully Bracky was at Hexside, a small mercy since he had always tried to shield his son from his temper, there were just some things he didn't want his son exposed to and that side of his father was high on the list.

Taking a nearby dish towel that had survived his tantrum and wiping the glass from his palms that was too weak to cut into his side while held it, Wrath let out a defeated sigh, the repairs wouldn't cost him much, he had a small stockpile set aside for when this happened. Titan he needed to get back to work to blow off some steam, just two days and he was cleared to head back, for now he needed to make sure the Human wasn't having a panic attack and or trying to escape through the locked window.

He tried to be as quiet as possible when he walked towards the room they were in, wouldn't do well for him to sound like a raging Slitherbeast barreling down the hall. He didn't hear anything from the inside of the room as he stood outside the door, probably a good sign, still he knocked a few times with one of his knuckles before he asked to come in.


Luz woke up to the sound of a loud enraged guttural roar and something being smashed so loudly that she could hear the wood splintering from wherever it was, she had been having a quiet dream and yelped when she had been forced awake. Questions raged in her mind such as 'What was happening', 'Is everything alright?', and 'Am I in danger?', she only knew of one person who could roar like that, and she was currently in his house.

No no no she had to stay calm, maybe Wrath was just... working out, he might have a home gym or something and was smashing wood as an exercise, he wouldn't hurt her... not after letting her sleep in his house. She had to trust that would remain true. She removed her hands from her face as they covered them when she flinched, maybe she should still make sure he was okay, as a good gesture.

The grey wall of her cell in the Conformitorium looked back at her, the chill and damp atmosphere of moist stone brick and cold metal bars invaded her senses, the sounds of the prisoners shouting, wailing, screaming, a cacophony of noise burrowed into her ears. Her breath quickened as her heart raced, she couldn't be back here, she was just in a bed in borrowed sleepwear so she couldn't be back, she couldn't.

She rubbed her eyes to clear her vision and she was back in the room, the light streaming through the windows and the feeling of the bed beneath her brought her back to reality, she released a breath that she had held in.

And promptly sucked it back when a hideous screeching sound tore through the air and knocked her down from the shock alone, followed by the sound of destruction, that was all it could be described as. She heard what she could only assume was Wrath ripping into whatever was near him as more sounds of splintering wood and crushing walls was heard.

If she was infantile, she might have hidden under the covers or under the bed, but she wasn't infantile, nor could she find it in herself to move. Her breath hitched and her vision blurred, and her ears rang with an earsplitting wail, her hair itched, her arms itched, everything itched, and she couldn't scratch it. Her brain pounded in her skull, a throbbing ache accompanied every second she felt it, she clutched her head in pain and fell forward; thankful that she was still on the bed.

Her throat burned and her neck began to strain, the muscles in her arms ached and she began to sweat; she began to burn up and her stomach felt like it was on fire.

She vaguely heard another thump through the pain, but she couldn't feel it in herself to look up at it, her vision too blurry from tears that had welled up in them. No, she had to look, what if it was someone trying to attack her? Even if she couldn't fight back, she needed to know who it was.

An image of Wrath in his tattered Warden uniform covered in blue blood and debris with his exposed face blotted out her vison, no matter where she looked away to, he was still there. His mouth open, maw pointed down at her and dripping with fire before it erupted at her like a volcano..

It burned... burned burned burned burned burned EVRYTHING BURNED!


Wrath had knocked softly a few times and hadn't heard any reply, even when he asked if he could come in, he knew they was awake because he could hear the bed moving. That made him concerned since he didn't hear them moving in any frantic manner, which either meant they was ignoring him or hiding from him; neither of which he would accept.

He needed to get out of his house, he'd Raven the local Construction Coven and have the come by, he just needed to calm down after the Gremlin decided to get under his skin. Plus what better way to introduce and begin the Human's education in the way of the Isles than taking them out for a day around Bonesborough, Bracky was at Hexside and afterwards was going to the library with the rest of his class to be read by the younger Blight Daughter.

Thank Titan for that since he doubted Bracky would have appreciated his tantrum, but the Construction Coven did work fast, and as sad as it was, he was a regular user of their services so they usually gave him a discount. He would not complain.

Shaking his head to reorient himself as his thoughts wandered Wrath reached forward and gripped the knob to the door, he debated just opening it with no warning, but he gave the human another indication that he was coming.

Having three brothers, two sisters, and one cousin that lived in the same house as him when he was younger made understanding privacy important to him... when privacy was deserved.

"Human, I'm coming inside." He gave it about two seconds before he opened the door, and immediately he could tell something was wrong.

He could hear the short rapid breaths as the human was clutching their head, their skin was an unnatural red color and sweat was pouring off of them as every one of their muscles trembled as they were curled in on themself. Even if he wasn't a healer, he could tell that that wasn't natural for a human, especially since he recognized all the signs as to what was happening.

The human was having a panic attack, and from the look of it, it was a bad one as well.

Rushing forward Wrath knelt next to the bed in front of the human. "Human, Luz, can you hear me?" He knew the first step of calming someone down was to make them aware of you, otherwise you would more than likely worsen the attack.

He saw the human's eyes dart towards him as their grip on their head tightened, he could vaguely make out them muttering. "It burns." It was muffled and warbled through their stuttering and the rapid breathing didn't make things better, but he could still make it out. he wondered whether they were referring to 'burning up' in terms of having an illness that raised their body temperature, or if they were having a vision about being on fire? Something he might need to ask them about when they calmed down.

He was able to make out them giving a single weak nod in affirmation to his question.

Wrath hung his head in shame for a moment as he realized he was probably the cause of their panic attack; his thrashing earlier was probably the cause, and the human burning was the effect. Thinking fast Wrath drew a yellow spell circle and a regular sized bottle filled with a thick clear blue liquid fell into his hand, carefully uncorking the bottle Wrath poured a bit on his finger as it cooled to the touch.

A minor freezing potion that was used to treat burns when Healing Magic was out of the question, and also usable as an instant Ice burst. In this case the miniscule amount would just reduce the temperature of whatever it touched to a reasonable degree, and since the human was burning up it would serve the situation perfectly.

He carefully held his finger out to them as small ice crystals began to form on it, "Here, it's cold." He tried to keep his voice even and soft, it wouldn't do to intimidate the human at the moment.

While still breathing heavily the human managed to look through their hands and momentarily cleared the tears from their eyes, weakly they reached forward and wrapped one of their hands around his finger. Wrath saw them wince as they clearly did not expect the rapid drop in temperature, something he was more than willing to admit that he hated them the same; the Knee could go and sink into the Boiling Sea for all he cared.

Still the relief was almost immediate as they rubbed the liquid that was now on their hand over their face and arms, the burning red tone their skin had taken faded back to its natural color. Their breathing also slowed down, until they were just taking large gulps of breaths and not short rapid intakes, another good sign that they were calming down.

"Human, can you look at me?" Now that they were calming down, he needed to make sure they were okay, his earlier anger that Kikimora had caused had all but faded until it was in the back of his mind. He didn't know completely why, but Wrath had felt the need to make sure the Human was okay, more than what was required of him as he would have done so regardless; but there was a certain... drive that made him want to make sure they were alright.

"Fire, burns, the fire burns." The human sputtered out between breaths, confirming that they was hallucinating being on fire, so either the human realm was a lor more dangerous than he thought or... they had seen enough of his fight against the traitor and still held a deep-rooted fear of him.

He was going to have to change how he went about instilling fear in future prisoners if it turned out they weren't guilty of anything, which was never the case except for them since they were human, and he was not willing to punish someone for something they did not do to deserve.

He recorked the bottle and held it out to her, small enough that he could hold it between two of his fingers and they could hold it in both of their palms, hopefully by just holding the bottle the coldness of it would help soothe them further. The human took the bottle, and he could see them grip it tightly and held it to their head, their breathing evening out and her muttering stopping

"Do you feel better now?" He asked softly after a minute, the human seemed to be fine now save for them still being curled into themselves, hopefully that meant they had calmed.

"Qué? Dónde? Éste?" They sputtered out and dropped the bottle, Wrath catching it and quickly dismissing it with a spell circle, "I... I'm not on fire...?"


Luz was confused, she had been burning, she could feel the flames covering her and her skin charring off of her. Yet now she was ice cold, a welcome change but a shocking one as she was also not burned at all in the slightest; she wasn't even slightly singed or sunburnt.

She remembered hearing a voice through the pain, it was... she couldn't place it properly, it sounded so much like Wrath, yet at the same time she could hear her Mami trying to calm her down as well.

But Wrath was right there in front of her, kneeling on the ground right next to the bed she had fallen asleep on, but what happened? Did she have a nightmare? She remembered falling asleep after trying to send a text to her mami, and then... it felt like she was on fire and in so much pain; but was she missing something from the middle of those two events?

"I... I'm not on fire...?" It was still hard to process, the burning sensation had felt so real that it couldn't have been anything but, she buried her head in her still Ice-Cold hands to make sure though. The chill of her palms soothing her and helping to keep her grounded.

"Are you alright Human?" Wrath had brought her out of her stupor, she looked up at him through her had never thought she could picture Wrath like she saw him now.

His face which had once been the absolute epitome of terror looked soft and worried as he looked at her, and though his massive stature was near pure muscle it looked soft and comforting at the moment.

"Co..could you hug me... please?" It might have been awkward to request a hug from someone like Wrath who was a Demon, but her options were limited since she was in the Demon Realm.

She saw Wrath tilt his head to the side in a confused manner, "What is this 'Hug'?" Did Wrath... not know what a hug was, but that was impossible, everyone knows what a hug is. "And how do I give one to you."

Luz didn't know how Wrath was unaware what a hug was, but the implications of that escaped her for now, instead she moved to sit on her knees and moved closer to him.

"Well, when you give a hug first you wrap your arms around someone," Even kneeling he was still a good half a foot taller than she was on the bed, but it was simple enough to reach up and wrap her arms around him, though she had to stand up to do so. "And then you squeeze them enough, so they know you're there."

It was... odd to feel Wrath's leathery skin against hers like this, it was extremely rough and felt like sandpaper and carpet. Yet it was also somewhat reassuring as if he could protect her from anything, that as long as he stood by her nothing would be able to threaten her. It might not have been much, but it was something and that was all that mattered to her right now.

"And this is supposed to make you feel... safe?" Wrath asked her incredulously, she would have giggled if her head wasn't buried in his neck, his skin was unusually warm as well like it was a living heated blanket.

"Yep." It was... odd at how much comfort Wrath could radiate, she had thought the warmth would have terrified her after she thought she was on fire, but she found that it now felt like the warmth of a fluffy towel.

She felt something wrap around her back, she knew what it was immediately however, the leathery texture and warmth clued her in on Wrath having wrapped an arm around her. "Is this right, I uh... have no idea if I'm doing this right." It was odd hearing him sound like he had no idea what he was doing, it was also kind of nice that it showed he wasn't a complete monster that she had seen in the Conformitorium.

She supposed it only made sense since he was apparently a dad, that was also a weird thought since she could never have pictured the... beast that took her from her cell to have a family. But Braxas was so cute and fun to read too, especially when he brought her a book from his room that was apparently a children's story that was a popular series; that was probably just as exciting for her as it was for him.

"Well since you haven't pulled yourself off of me yet, I'm just going to assume I'm doing this right." Oh, she spaced out didn't she, hopefully she didn't make the situation awkward by doing so, it was already awkward enough that Wrath didn't know what a hug was.

She broke free from the hug and slipped out from under Wrath's arm, her size compared to it making it easy to do so. "Thank you." It was all she could say to him right now, they were the only two things that came to her mind when she thought about what to say.

Luz could feel the tears starting to prick at her eyes, but for once since arriving in this realm she felt truly... content, safe, secure. She still missed her Mami, and wished she could go home, but she had hope that it wouldn't be long before it was possible for her to go home. Hopefully when she was taken to meet this Emperor that everyone talked about, he would be able to help her, or maybe the Owl Lady would be caught before that, and she could take her portal home.

Wrath placed a hand on her shoulder, it was just two of his fingers since his entire hand wouldn't fit, but she appreciated the gesture. "Human, Luz, I'm sorry if my outburst frightened you. There were things that happened that made me... upset, but I should not have let me anger get the best of me as I did," She didn't have the background to what happened, but Luz was at least able to guess that something happened that made Wrath upset enough to cause the commotion she had overheard. "I will work on that while you are with me, and as I said before I will do all I can to get you home," She appreciated that he was trying to comfort her, it made her feel welcome in his home and not just some stranger he decided to take in. "However, for now I believe it is best for you and I to make the best of this situation," She looked up at him and saw the concern written on his face, his voice still deep sounded reassuring and not threatening as it once was, "Do you feel comfortable in going out to the neighboring town with me today, allow me to show you what our realm has to offer."

He was... he was asking if she wanted to go out and see the nearby town, he was asking if she wanted to see a town in a world where everyone had magic, that was... so cool! She was finally getting the chance to see her fantasy dream, would she see people flying around on brooms, would people be brewing stuff in cauldrons right out in the open, would magic be seen in all its fantastical wonders everywhere? That was amazing, how many times had she fantasized about being in the many towns and villages that Azura had been to in the books, how many times had she visualized the many wonders that her world contained.

The Lost City of Ka'ladadon, the Nomadic Tribe of Boordala, the Crystal City of Pyth, would there be things that rivaled the images of them that she had built up in her head, would she get the chance to explore them.

Would she see the Owl Lady at a stall trying to sell more items that she had stolen from the Human Realm without a care as to who they had been stolen from?

No! She couldn't let the Owl Lady dictate what the rest of her time here would be like, if she saw her then she could point it out to Wrath who she was sure could handle it from there. For now, she would get to enjoy going out and seeing what the Realm she was in had to offer, it was going to be just like that time she and her Mami went to California for a month a few years ago.

Except maybe without the Thai food, the place they went to had left her mouth burning for an entire week afterwards; and she was in no rush to repeat the experience.

Luz decided with a renewed vigor that she was going to make the most of her stay here, Owl Lady be damned. "Sure, but um... do you have my other clothes, I don't think you want me to go out in sleepwear."

Wrath blinked a few times before chuckling, his laugh sounding much more natural and less grating to her ears than it had before, sounding like a mix between a snake hiss and a tiger's purr. "They're in the drawers right over there, I'll give you a bit to get changed while I go and get myself ready."

Wrath stood up and lumbered out of the room, taking great care to slowly close the door so as to not slam it, Luz remained sitting on the bed for a little bit after he left; doing her best to savor the moment of clarity that she had. Deciding that she had sat there for long enough she stood up and walked over towards the dresser that Wrath had pointed to that held her clothes, much like everything else in the room it looked to have been made with rough wood and was coarse to the touch; a large handle lodged in each of the three drawers. Marveling at how unlike much of the furniture she had seen the drawers were made for someone of her stature and not Wraths, she took a guess and pulled at the middle one and found that it was lodged in place so tightly that she had to use both hands and her legs to get it to budge.

"Stupid ner-nerd arms!" Okay how tightly was this drawer stuck in place, she was using all of her body weight and it was just BARELY moving a centimeter, let alone an inch, okay maybe this was made for someone with Wrath's strength to open. "GAH!" She lost her footing as the drawer flew open and fell backwards into the bed, her back colliding first into the wood of the backboard.

Pulling herself up and rubbing her back from where she hit it, Luz was at least happy that the drawer had opened, and also prayed that it was the right one since she didn't want to open the other two if this was going to be what it took. Thankfully she found her clothes neatly folded up inside the open drawer along with her shoes that were placed off to the side inside of it, the also appeared to have been washed since they were clean and had the distinct smell of cherries, did they have washing machines in the Demon Realm?

It was a surreal experience to be back in her own clothes after being in sleepwear for a while, even in the Conformitorium it felt like she was a stranger in her own skin, but that was right after she had been left out to dry by the Owl Lady. Walking over to the mirror she pulled up the hood on her shirt and used her fingers to move the cat ears. "Meow meow."

She was surprised at how calm she was now, it felt like ever since she had gotten to this Realm like it had been nothing but one continuous rush of adrenaline or fearing for her life. But there was no way a trip to a nearby town was going to be like that, sure it was going to be a surreal experience since there was magic and demons in this realm, plus she was going to be with Wrath who was the Warden of the prison; and she had already seen how he could handle threats.

She was about to rush out of the door before she remembered her phone, she walked over to the nightstand and saw it sitting there. Powering it on she saw that there were no new messages, and the battery had dropped about five percent; hopefully there was something that could act as a charger so her phone wouldn't die.

Placing her phone in her pocket after holding it for a few moments, she was about to head to the door before she noticed a shiny bit of gold on the nightstand. "Huh, almost forgot about this." It was the Burger Queen crown, she vaguely remembered getting it from...somewhere, she just couldn't exactly remember where.

Well, it's not like it'll do any harm if she keeps it, after all its just a piece of cardboard. Making sure she wasn't forgetting anything else Luz rushed over to the door, making sure everything was in place and making the bed, it wouldn't do for her to be a bad house guest.

Taking a deep breath Luz readied herself for what was going to be her first time getting to see the outside of the Demon Realm, where she was going to get to see what it was actually like. She decided that despite her past experiences, she was going to be hopeful that this was going to be an enjoyable day.


Okay she didn't think there would be this much walking involved, like so much walking that it was getting ridiculous; especially after a straight thirty-minute journey and the town was just barely in sight on the horizon. They had left not long after Luz had changed back into her old clothes, deciding to keep the hood on since it would hide her ears and she wanted to keep people from realizing she was human for now, if the way Wrath acted was any indication, she would basically be like a celebrity movie star walking into a public restaurant and getting mobbed by fans. He had told her to wait outside while he finished up, but to stay inside the fence and not wander off, something that just from his voice was clearly stressed to be of the utmost importance.

The first thing she noticed was how hot the sun was and that if it followed the same rules as back home, it was almost noon since the sun was about directly above her, sweat already beginning to form just from the minute exposure. Wrath's house was not what she was expecting though, it looked like three separate houses had been mashed together in a near seamless manner, the middle house looking like a regular suburban house that had a total of six windows in the front overlooking the outside, two on the bottom floor and three on the top. On both sides it was as if someone had taken the body style of a barn and sandwiched a suburban house between them and the overall look gave the house an impression of a fortress, enhanced by the large concrete blocks lining every edge and the... ballista on the roof that she could clearly make out. Wrath had an honest to goodness ballista on the top of his house, for some reason she didn't find that as disturbing as she probably should have.

Still with how DIY a handful of things looked like inside such as the window frames and the dresser, the outside looked like it was put together professionally as a clean white coat of paint gleamed in the sunlight and a spiked iron fence surrounded the perimeter. That and the ballista at least made Luz feel like she would be safe if something ever did happen and she was here, the bars of the fence were at least a third of a foot wide and thick; rising up to where they were at least a foot taller than Wrath.

Wrath was ready and came out of the house about a minute after she had walked out and brought her out of her looking around and she saw that he was carrying a large backpack the looked like a large leather rucksack with shoulder straps and a series of closed toothy mouths in place of zippers. Mouths and teeth being in place where they normally wouldn't be seeming to be the theme that she was going to need to get used to. He was also holding a large brown cloak that looked like it had been hastily cut to fit someone of her size since the bottom and sleeves were horribly eviscerated and looked like some had taken a saw to them, and the hood of the cloak fell all the way down to her chest when it was up. He had explained that it was so she wouldn't draw attention in her clothes from the Human Realm since they were so out of place and nothing in the Demon Realm looked like them, an made it a point to mention that they would be getting clothes to blend in with the isles among other things on the trip.

That didn't make the cloak that was as thick as a door and felt like it was made of leather any less hot or prone to trapping in the heat.

"How much further is it again?" Luz asked between huffs of breath, her throat was dry from both the heat and the ungodly amount of sand that got kicked up in her face whenever a breeze passed through. Seriously she was getting too familiar with the taste and texture of sand that it was starting to get concerning, she was going to need a couple gallons of water just to wash the texture out of her mouth let alone the taste.

Seriously if she ever became a dark overlord of an empire her first decree was going to be to outlaw sand everywhere but the beach, the stuff was coarse, rough, and it was getting everywhere, especially in her eyes!

Wrath let out a small chuckle before whipping his arm into the air and snatching something from the tree's above, a brilliant shower of vibrant red leaves cascading down with Luz having to flick some off of the cloak as they stuck to it. "We're almost there, once we get inside the limits, we can take a Beetle Bus to the market district," He handed her what he grabbed from the tree's, it looked like a purple peach but the skin had the texture of an apples. "This'll help with the sand, not fun to deal with but that's the price of living on one of the Shoulders."

Taking the 'fruit?' from Wraths hand and feeling it in her own, she slowly took a bite and was amazed at the flavor. She was already surprised that it looked like a peach with an apples skin, but the inside had the texture of a watermelon and the taste of an orange with lime mixed into it, and surprisingly it didn't taste bad at all. Luz was both happy that she was trying fruit that didn't exist in the human realm, and that she was able to get the taste of sand out of her throat, she was also happy that there wasn't a core to this fruit, and she was able to eat the entire thing without difficulty.

"Well, that the first time I've seen someone practically inhale a Lathomelon." Wrath said astonishedly, it was true since usually their sour taste made it difficult for most witches and demons to eat the Lathomelon without just taking bites at a time. Luz had practically devoured the thing in under five seconds, and she didn't even realize it.

He offered Luz a handkerchief since her mouth and chin were covered in green juice, "Thanks." She mumbled as she wiped off the sticky juice from her face before wiping her hands as well.

They continued on in silence as much of their walk had been, with the occasional stop for Wrath to point out something that she needed to know, such as how the Scabble Wood tree sap was incredibly flammable, and also acted as a great Pixie repellent. Which animals were likely to be hostile such as the Six-Winged Toe Beetle, which sounded funny until a beetle the size of a foot started buzzing after you with all six of its wings making it incredibly fast, and the mouth that looked like someone stuck a crab's claw on it didn't help with her aversion to it in the slightest.

That and they stopped whenever Luz herself had a question about something they passed or in general, it was cool to learn that red was the natural color of the tree leaves, and that the place they were going to was the largest town nearby.

Apparently though Wrath decided to live in one of the most difficult places to navigate since it was surrounded in both quicksand pits, but also littered with dangerous predators that would attack the unawares, and when Luz asked about that he just replied with "It's a natural security system.". Well, she could guarantee she wasn't about to try and break into his house anytime soon, not with the underground dwelling Burrow Wormipedes that had a nest nearby, thankfully Wrath explained that they were a strict Herbivore species which was a comfort when he went into detail on their appearance. Even the visual image was enough to make her shudder, she had no present desires to meet the real thing when "Their mouth is pretty much just a pit filled with tentacles and swords for teeth." even Wrath himself shuddered when he described them.

The walk was much more bearable now that her throat was no longer dry, and the fruit was doing wonders for getting the taste of sand out of her mouth with the citrus flavor slowly fading away and leaving a cool sweet aftertaste that pleasantly reminded her of grapes.

It was interesting at just how sudden it was as they neared the town of Bonesborough, there was no wall surrounding it or a sign saying that you were entering its limits, the only indication was that buildings and shacks were starting to pop up with an increasin frequency the farther they went, and they were starting to see other people. Luz thought she would be able to handle it without issue, but she found herself pulling her hood over her head as far as it could go and staying as close as she could to Wrath without being on top of him, it felt like she could feel everyone's gaze on her.

Did they know she was human? Did they recognize her from when she was at the Owl Lady's stand, were they going to confront her about her actions there? Demand her head for retibution or tear her organs out of her body to feast on like wicked beings and witches from old folklore she had read a long time ago.

NO! She had to keep calm; she was barely in sight of people for a few minutes, and this was a large town, they wouldn't have seen she was human with all the commotion that they caused, and it wasn't like she was advertising she was human.

Taking a few breaths to calm herself as well as lightly smacking her cheeks a bit, Luz looked around and marveled at the buildings surrounding her, it was surreal to see the difference in architecture up close and to compare it to human architecture. Many buildings were made of obvious brick and stone and looked like what old mediaeval houses were shown to look like, then some of them looked like they were made of a mish mash of clay mounds, large sheets, and wood. One building was completely covered in moving plants that shifted and turned in every direction, and another one that looked like it was made entirely of grey stones had six different chimneys with different color smoke billowing out of them.

Much to Luz's delight the sand that seemed to permeate the air was also dissapating as the loose gorun became less and less common, allowing her to breath regularly and not worry about swallowing a mouthful of sand everytime she opened her own mouth.

Then off in the distance she could see a giant cathedral structure that looked like it was made of marble and large stained-glass windows dotted its frame that she could clearly see from at least a good few miles away, and large spike crowned spires made it look like a fortress as well. Luz wondered what that one was, was it actually a fortress, some royal palace where a noble of the land lived, or was it just some fancy building that happened to tower over everything? If it was a fortress then would it be filled to the brim with soldiers and guards ready to do battle, and if so, what would they be fighting against, was there another enemy kingdom that she hadn't heard about yet, or were the internal enemies against the throne just that numerous?

"I'd recommend keeping your mouth closed," Wrath's voice snapped her out of her thoughts and she realized that her mouth had been hanging open in awe. "Pixies are more than likely to take that as approval to rip your tongue out." There was no humor in his tone either, and Luz found it hard to disagree with that since a pixie had asked for her skin shortly after she came through the portal.

She shuddered at the memory of how something so cute and tiny could turn into a little ball of murder and death as fast as they had, plus the teeth... there was no reason their teeth had to be that bug.

Still, for her it was one thing to see all of the buildings from a faraway glance, and another to be in front of them and within touching distance, there was just so much personality and liveliness that it was hard not be in awe or amazed by it. The people as well since there was such a wide variety of different Demons and Witches with barely any of them looking alike, there was one that looked like a praying mantis with the lower body of a spider and the head of goat. Another that looked like a regular person with blue skin and fins on the side of their head, who was talking to someone with vines and flowers for hair that had the eyes of a chameleon, Luz gushed when the two of them kissed since that probably meant they were a couple.

'I guess love really is eternal.' It was comforting to see that even in a place literally called the Demon Realm, that there was such a thing as love and friendship, and it wasn't just one betrayal and backstab after another.

She ignored the laughter that rang in her head as she had already decided she wouldn't let that Witch determine how her time here was, she was not going to let that one experience dictate all of her opinions and actions. She would do her best to make sure the Owl Lady couldn't do the same to anyone else ever again if she ever got the chance,

The streets were packed with large slug drawn wagons that Wrath warned her not to touch since she was liable to get consumed by them if she did, and other creatures that carried people or large crates, kicking up dust and sand as they did so. Luz was at least grateful that she wasn't in the crossfire of them and was glad that the sand which had been getting into her mouth was no longer able to since the ground inside the city was mostly stone or some other tightly packed material and not loose dirt.

"We can do the sightseeing in a little bit, first we need to get you proper clothes to blend in." Wrath said as he motioned for her to stop as they had reached a small group of people who were standing by a small black and yellow pillar that was right next to the road, since Wrath had mentioned taking a Beetle Bus Luz guessed that this was probably the place it stopped.

"So this is a Beetle Bus stop?" The small pillar did remind her of a bus stop sign with its black and yellow stripes, and if she looked closely enough, she could see a carving of a beetle silhouette with a number under it which was faded to the point that she couldn't read it.

Wrath nodded as he scanned his head across the area, his massive size allowing him to look over most others that were there, with very few exceptions such as a person that was at least two feet taller than him and covered in hair; making them look like Bigfoot or a yeti.

There weren't many people at the stop, well not enough that it was crowded though still enough for the space to be filled as there was the aforementioned Bigfoot lookalike, then there was a group of three people close to her age that, after looking closer Luz saw they were wearing the same outfit that Braxus had been wearing in the picture in the hall back at Wrath's house. The only difference was the color of their sleeves and leggings with one of them being green, one blue, and the last one being red; they stood out from everyone else because of this as they were the only ones, she saw that were wearing such outfits.

Luz looked up to Wrath and saw him scanning over the area as his neck kept slowly moving back and forth, even going as far as to look behind himself by turning it so far in either direction she could hear the crunch of his neck. She wondered if it was the proper time to ask him about what was up with the multicolored cloaks, but she noticed that right now he seemed... tense, one of his hands was clenched tightly around one of the thick ropes that served as a strap for the bag, with the other balled up into a fist. He wasn't scared that much she could tell, but he was acting like the hall monitors from her school; like they were expecting someone to skip class and were tensed up and ready to find them.

As she was looking at him Luz noticed his teeth quirk downward and his eyes narrow at something he was looking at, intrigued and following his gaze she saw what had apparently soured his mood. About fifty feet away there was someone in a concealing black coat that had snatched an old lady's, who looked like she was part spider, purse and was running away while doing a movement with one of their arms and pieces of the ground forming steps for them as they parkoured over passerby's. Luz was about to ask Wrath if he was going to step in before the thief was blasted from several directions with blue balls of energy and fell off of a stone slab that had floated into the air, falling to the ground the thief was beset by a group of people in the same uniform as the Conformitorium Guards.

She saw herself in chains again instead of the thief for just a moment, the cold feeling of metal over her wrists raised every hair on her arms as they were swallowed by goosebumps. The image faded when she heard a loud Humm from next to her and saw Wrath nodding as he turned away from the scene, well it was a purse snatcher, and she did see them do the act so at least they were guilty of a crime.

With that thought in mind Luz was able to calm down and refocus on everything around her, a few more people had joined the crowd, but they were all just regular looking people without any obvious demon parts.

Suddenly, the pillar began to glow a bright yellow and Luz began to hear the sound of rapid beats against the ground. Looking to where the sound was coming from Luz saw that a cloud of dust was barreling towards them from far away down the road, passerby and pedestrian jumping out of the way and pulling stalls and wagons with them. Six charcoal black eyes were in the front of the dust cloud along with a bright red head that had dark blue spikes jutting off of it; four red and blue mandibles hung from where the mouth would be.

Twelve long triple jointed legs jutted out from the long oval bulbous body that was an equal bloody red, two long scythe like blades acting as toes for each leg dug into the ground as they kicked up dust and dirt. A large leather like saddle hung from the creatures' neck and was tied with a mix of chains and rope, a large metal rod held up by more chains and ropes was lodged between the mandibles with the reigns being held by a cloaked figure riding the saddle.

Their harsh dirty yellow skin looked cracked and peeling, as literal scraps of it tore off from them and flew off into the wind as they rode. They had four eyes with two on both sides of their face, the lower right eye being cut out as a large crevasse that marred their face cut through it, the deep green of their flesh being visible from beneath their skin. A long billowing black cloak hung from their shoulders, billowing in the wind as they held the reigns to the large beetle creature, a whip was held in their other hand as they cracked it against the back of the beetle's head.

As they neared Luz could make out a large wood and steel rimmed wagon being pulled behind them, thankfully it seemed to be covered from all the dust that was being kicked up, so the passengers didn't have to worry about the dust storm being kicked up. When they were close enough the rider leaned back on the reigns and the beetles began slowing down and skidding to a stop right in front of the pillar, Luz realizing that Wrath had placed a hand on her shoulder as the force from them stopping caused enough kickback to knock a few people down.

"Ey sorry bout that luv's," The rider called down with a warm British accent that sounded comical when paired with their appearance, like that one British character that always sounds the same in every television show or cartoon. "Breakin lil lessie in for now, anyways everybody off, nes stop tha 'Boil Boles'."

A door on the side of the cart opened downwards and formed a makeshift ramp as people began to depart from the wagon, Luz paying them no mind as she took in the gigantic sight of the beetle creature up close. She knew it was big even from afar, but up close it looked like it was the size of a small building when it was standing up on its legs, even the legs themselves were almost as long as most small trees were.

The tapping on her shoulder by Wrath let her know that it was their time to board as everyone who was getting off had done so, and now people were starting to funnel in, obviously giving Wrath and the Bigfoot lookalike a wide enough berth to enter. The inside of the wagon was made to look just like a school bus with two columns of seats and a center aisle, but everything was made of...wood, just wood, not even a cushion to the bench like seats, they were just straight up planks of wood that still had the nails poking out from where they were poorly hammered in as they were bent sideways.

Well, she could just fold up the cloak to act as a cushion if she needed to, but it wasn't as if the benches could be any more uncomfortable than the seats they had at school.

She and Wrath took a bench near the back of the wagon where the benches were made to be larger so they could seat those of larger stature, the Bigfoot person sitting a few rows behind them.

The voice of the driver roared from a hole near the front of the cabin letting them know they were about to take off, followed by them saying the next destination, 'Boil Boles.' whatever that was, and the sound of a whipcrack and the hideous shriek of the Beetle. The feeling of whiplash was near instant as Luz instinctively latched onto Wrath's arm to keep herself from being thrown around, something that was a very real concern after most others began flying around the cabin and hitting into anything and everything in their path. Wrath had at one point caught one from the air and sat them down on another nearby bench, his arm extending place them back where they were sitting several rows ahead of them; Luz noticed that it had been one of the cloaked people, who had yelled out a thanks for catching them.

"WHAT IS THIS!" Luz asked loudly, her voice cracking and sounding warbled from the inability to stay still and the hectic vibrations of the cabin.

Wrath grunted as he moved his head to the side out of the way of a random person that was flung near it. "Beetle Bus, you give up comfort for unmatched speed!" Even Wrath's voice was strained from the shaking of the cabin, if this was how it was inside the cabin Luz didn't want to think about what it was like on the outside. "Just keep holding onto my arm, it helps to grab something!"

Luz decided to tighten her grip on his arm in an attempt to reduce the whiplash she was getting from the thrashing around of the wagon. Somehow Luz was able to hear an audible grunt that drew her attention over the sound of people hitting against everything, but it hadn't come from Wrath, instead she saw the four other people were holding onto the patches of fur on Bigfoot's skin and his face which was covered in fur obscuring it, was obviously scrunched up in annoyance.

Luz felt sorry for him since it was probably painful having several people holding and pulling your hair with some still being in the air and being jerked around by the movements of the cabin. Heck, she was having trouble holding onto Wraths arm without being flung around with the jerky movements of the cabin, it was like every bad driver back home had poured their collective habits into the driver of the Beetle Bus and multiplied it by a factor of 'Yes'.

"WOAH!" The driver must have run over something because the entire cabin was thrown in the air for several seconds, the force causing Luz to lose her grip on Wrath's arm and fly over the seat in front of them.

Before she could process anything more than the feeling of weightlessness, Wrath had already shot his arm out and nabbed her before she could go too far and sat her back down next to him. Luz was breathing heavily, but thankfully Wrath was now holding her in his hand to prevent her from flying off again, the whiplash not as hurtful as before.

The sound of Wrath letting out a grunt drew her attention to him as she felt him loosen his grip slightly enough to not crush her but still hold her steady in his palm. "Believe me, I know it's not the most comfortable mode of transportation but next to Staffs the Beetle Bus is truly fastest way to get around the isles." Wrath explained as he oved hie body to the side in order to avoid another person that was sent flying through the air, they were rolled into a ball like an armadillo with yellow orange plates curling around them.

Luz couldn't find her voice because of the chaos happening round her, but she did give Wrath a nod letting him know she heard him, he was still holding her in has hand which let her focus on something other than trying to not go flying because of the force of the cabin's movements. She was thankful that she didn't have to worry about holding onto him anymore since he was now making sure she wouldn't go flying through the air and crash into something or someone, since two rows ahead of them a duo of people collided and fell down, but the yelling that started was clear they weren't happy about it.

Her hands were free, and she reached up to make sure the hood of the cloak was still covering her head, as it had fallen down during the jerking movements and her time in the air, she quickly pulled it back over her head and held it there. Whatever she had expected the Beetle Bus to be like this wasn't it, she thought it was probably just a bus that was either pulled by a beetle or a beetle that was somehow a bus itself; but this insanity was nothing like what she imagined. The only reason Wrath wasn't being thrown around was his enormous size and weight, but everyone else who wasn't of equivalent stature could have very well been pinballs in one of those old arcade machines.

She thought she would have another panic attack from Wrath holding her in his hand like he was, gotten flashbacks from when he was taking her to that interrogation room in the Conformatorium. Yet an attack never came, she was stressed yes but she suspected that was just from the anxiety of what was happening around her and what she and Wrath were going to do today, and... a large part of that was probably from knowing she couldn't go home.

She was trying her best to not think about that in the hope it wouldn't be long before she'd be able to go back home.

The cabin lurched forward, and Luz was sure to everyone's pleasure, stopped as the voice of the driver hollered from the hole in the front of the cabin. "BOIL BOLE CREEK COMMERCIAL STOP, ALL FOR THIS DESTINATION OFF!" The moment the door and ramp opened every person who was getting off practically ran out before the door shut again, they were so fast that a cloud of dust and smoke had been kicked up and obscured Luz's vision until it faded.

Most notably the Bigfoot person was now absent as well as several others such as the armadillo person and the group of cloaked people though Lu was quickly able to spot more of them dotted around the cabin. As she was looking over the rows of seats Luz felt Wrath let go of her and begin reaching into his cloak, idly moving her eyes over to the small hole that was acting as a window Luz figured she may as well see what the Boil Boles were.

She didn't know what to expect when the place had "Boil" in its name, but she had hoped that it was referring to water boiling and not the skin blemish.

Her hopes were in vain.

The landscape she saw was dotted with large mounds of a searing, burning purplish red, rivers of sickly yellow puss ran down from the tops and pooled into smaller lakes as the streams joined together. The Stoney brick buildings were still prevalent though they were spaced out and several of the had large waterwheels attached to the sides that spun at a slow rate, scores of people in hard hats with pickaxes and shovels were lined up around several mounds and scooping up the searing red ground that began leaking with the yellowy puss liquid as soon as it was scooped up. Luz had to suppress the overwhelming urge to vomit at the sight as she imagined the sheer volume of puss that filled the inside of every mound, it was revolting to think about and made her skin crawl and feel like it was covered in grease just looking at it.

Then without warning the liquid began to bubble and churn before exploding upwards, and from the puss a large octopus like creature rose, four long tentacles that were a sickly green and blue with hooks on the end thrashed wildly as they latched onto one of the mounds and made large gashes into it causing more of the puss to pour out. It's eight solid purple eyes formed a ring around its head, the top of its head opening up just above them as two rows of small teeth lined them; the top of the head suspended by a fleshy pillar in the center.

Immediately swarms of large stones and boulders were flung at it, with several of them smashing into its eyes and causing it to shout in pain before it began to retreat back into the depths of the unspeakable fluids from whence it came, letting out one long shriek before it was fully submerged.

"Unless you want to have that image unable to leave your mind, I would look away." Wrath said as she used all of her willpower to rip her eyes off of the large hill sized boils.

Looking up to Wrath, Luz saw that he had taken out a book from somewhere and had begun reading it with one of his hand, it was a sight to see since the book was made for someone with hands her size and not Wrath's, which was probably why he had unfurled his arm and was using the smaller tentacles to hold it and turn the pages. The book's cover was just plain brown leather with an eye on the front, but aside from that there was nothing else on it to distinguish it.

Biting down on her tongue and swallowing the bile that had rose from her throat Luz asked him a question. "What. What was that thing?" She had to swallow another clump of bile from her throat, covering her mouth with her hands in an attempt to keep it down. The scenery itself was bad enough, but seeing something like that octopus creature come out of it was just making her skin crawl and goosebumps to form.

Wrath looked over from his book at her and quickly saw the state she was in, "That was an infant Pooktapuss, a species native to the Boils and one of the only aquatic species that isn't native to the Boiling Sea," He reached into one of his pockets and pulled out something that was the size of a pebble as it was held between two of his thick fingers and held it out to her. "Peppermint. I didn't think the 'Beetle' would be this bad for you, we can take a different mod e of transport back to my house."

When Luz heard the word peppermint, she eagerly snatched the small plastic wrapped treat and placed it in her mouth, savoring the taste as it helped was the taste of vomit from her mouth and tongue. "Gracias Senor."

Wrath nodded at her before the sound of the door and ramp slamming shut and the British accented voice of the driver sounded through the cabin. "MARKET DISTRICT FOURTEEN NEXT STOP!" The next sound heard was the whipcrack and roar of the beetle creature as

She tried to brace for the whiplash that was sure to happen, but even with Wrath still holding her she still had the wind knocked out of her by the sudden movement of the cabin.

"Thats our stop, we're getting off near the clothing district first so we can get you out of that cloak as soon as possible," Wrath said as he moved Luz close enough so she could hear him over the ruckus of the people flying around the cabin again.

Thankfully it was better now that she knew what to expect, but that was by a very small margin since there was only so much being prepared could lessen the feeling of being thrashed around the cabin like clothes in a washing machine. Still, she didn't have the immediate urge to throw up now so Luz would count that as a win, even if the headache she was getting was going to kill her later.

Hoping that perhaps looking out of the window would help distract her and take her mind off of her being thrown around like a ragdoll, even in Wrath's grip, Luz tried to see what the passing scenery outside looked like. So she slowly wiggled herself in Wraths hand until she was facing the window and able to look out of it, Wrath not having been paying attention as she noticed him reading a book held in his other hand and seeming to be uncaptured by it.

She could barely make anything out aside from what color the objects, people, and buildings were, the speed of the bus was so fast that she couldn't make out any more characteristics. Luz was able to make out that people were jumping or being thrown out of the way and hoped that they were okay since she was sure being run over by the Beetle pulling the cabin was anything if fatal.

Still it was a somewhat surreal experience to see the collage of colors fly by at such speeds, she wondered what it would feel like if it was her moving at such speeds and seeing everything blur into color like that, what sort of adrenaline rush would that bring.

Maybe they had flying brooms or something similar and she could see if she could get her hands on one, despite her dislike of the flying broom stereotype she could deal with it if it meant she got to fly.

"Waaah!" Luz was broken out of her musings by a shout, now that alone wasn't what snapped her out since she had tuned out the various shouts of everyone else on the bus. This one however was coming from in front of her and came from a body that was currently being flung at her at high speeds.

"AAAAGHH!" Luz felt screaming was a reasonable action since there was little, she could do with the missile like person barreling towards her at high speeds.

"GAH!" While Luz had braced herself for impact, she had not expected Wrath to let go of her and catch the other person before they could collide with her.

Opening her eyes again, Luz saw that it was someone else wearing the same type of cloak as the other people she saw, with the sleeves and legs being a dull yellow. Her shoulder length violet hair was matted in sweat and was sticking up in places from being flung around, her hands were covering her face and was still shaking from having been flying towards Luz.

She was still breathing heavily, but her mouth and visible parts of her face soon morphed into a confused expression. "Oh uh... huh guess you caught me," Her hands withdrew from her face reveling her tricloptic nature with her having three eyes of a glistening greyish blue. "Thank for that mister big, muscley guy."

It was clear she had no idea on what to address Wrath as, and her chosen way of thanking him caused Wrath's eyes to narrow in a mix of mild annoyance and amusement. "No problem, which row do you want me to seat you at?" He asked as he moved both himself and her out of the way of another body that was sent flying and impacted a seat a few rows behind them.

All three of her eyes shot towards where the person had just been flung from, "Yeah, right here is fine!" She said with certainty in her voice as Wrath let her go and she sat down on the seat, leaning against the window as she held on to the seat and the backrest.

The wagon rocked from side to side as the very audible sound of something being run over was heard, Luz was gripping the edge of the seat now as she wobbled back and forth. The girl that Wrath had caught was looking over the seat and noticed Luz's discomfort. "Bit of advice, breath through your mouth and not your nose," Luz looked up at her in confusion as the girl finished her statement with a disinterested tone. "Makes it easier to deal with the nausea."

Luz didn't know if that would work but decided there was nothing wrong about trying, it was disorienting at first as it took her a minute to be able to consistently breath through her mouth and ignore the force of habit of breathing through her nose. She was surprised when much of the pressure in her head and throat did clear up. "Thanks."

The girl snorted as she tried fixing her hair using the reflection in the piece of glass that served as the window and one hand, using the other to hold onto the seat so she wouldn't be sent flying. "Don't mention it, just didn't feel like getting vomited on while I'm forced to take one of these things."

The mean girl attitude was throwing Luz off, but she just assumed the girl was having a rough day and she was just unfortunate enough to be on the receiving end of it. "Oh that's... nice, my names Luz. What's yours?" She would have held out her hand to shake, but with how the cabin had begun rocking back and forth she was worried she'd fall or be thrown from her seat.

Still Luz hoped that was a good way of breaking the ice, she was never a great conversationalist and as much as it pained her, her Mami was right when she said she didn't have any friends. But this was going to be a new start, and maybe this girl could be her first real friend; it would be cool to have a witch friend. Plus, her hood was up, and the cloak was wearing was thick enough that it hid her human clothes, so she had little worry of being discovered.

The girl side eyed Luz, before blowing a stray strand of hair out of her face. "Yeah, that's nice, the names Boscha." The girl, Boscha said dismissively as she went back to fixing her hair but was clearly struggling with only being able to use one hand and her face began to turn red in frustration.

Luz was conflicted on if she should speak up and offer to help, looking over to Wrath she saw he had pulled his book out again and was clearly deeply enthralled with whatever its contents were. She didn't want to disturb him more than was necessary and he was still making sure that no one would impact them since he was still catching people and moving them to another row.

"Would you uh... would you like some help?" Luz asked nervously as she saw Boscha intake a sharp breath and turn towards her, her face a mixture of dark pink and beet red from irritation with steam practically pouring from her ears.

"Look Luz whatever your name is, I'm already in a bad mood because Grudgby practice got cancelled and I have to take this moving deathtrap instead of my Ratworm, and to top it off I lost my hair tie somewhere in here! So please, just let me fix my hair in peace and we'll be good." Boscha said in an irritated tone as her upper eye was twitching in visible annoyance, and her bottom two narrowed into dangerous slits.

Before Luz could reply or apologize, something impacted the back of Boscha's head and coated it in a cover of thick red and blue goop that dripped down in clumps. The wood of the seat Boscha had been holding splintered beneath her grip as her nails pierced into it, her mouth was twisted into a scowl and all three of her eyes were now shaking in rage.

"WHO THREW THAT!" She yelled in the direction that whatever had impacted her came from, her outburst going ignored with all the rest of the chaos happening around. She looked around before she let out a huff and fell backwards and sandwiched herself between the back of the seat and the wall of the cabin, "it's gonna be one of those days isn't it."

Despite her outburst just seconds ago Luz still felt sorry for Boscha since while she was rude, it seemed to be more from irritation at the situation and not at her. Before she could offer her sympathies in ana attempt to continue trying to befriend Boscha, Luz felt something drop in her hands; looking down she saw it was a large towel sized handkerchief with Wrath motioning his head for Luz to give it to her, his expression unreadable.

Taking a deep Breath and hoping the turbulence of the cabin wouldn't get any worse Luz leaned forward and cleared her throat. "Hey uh... hope this helps." It was all her brain could think of at the moment since as soon as words left her mouth Boscha's still rage filled face snapped at her direction and caused her to stumble, but she still held out the large piece of cloth for her to take.

Boscha's eyes moved from the cloth to Luz before she snatched it from her hands and began rubbing the gunk out of her hair and wiping it off her face. "Thanks." Boscha said in a more polite tone than she had before, the look of anger on her face slowly dissipating as she continued to clean herself of the red and blue substance.

At least until the wagon came to a dead stop and threw her into the seat in front of her, with her head making first contact. "GAGH!" It was only thanks to her already leaning up against it that Luz was not thrown into the seat, her worry spiking as she knew from her brief time cheerleading that head injuries were serious.

"MARKET DISTRICT FOURTEEN! ALL OFF!" The voice of the driver called from the hole in the front, Luz hardly hearing it as she rushed up over the seat and bent down to help Boscha up.

"Oh Dios Mio! Are you alright?" Luz asked worried as she lifted Boscha up as the girl gripped her head and winced in pain, the expression of irritation back on her face.

"Just FINE! Thank Titan this is my stop." Boscha grumbled as she rubbed her head and er eyes narrowed in frustration; Luz being surprised that instead of blinking like a regular eye as it had before, Boscha's middle eye blinked sideways.

The bus shook as Wrath stood up and proceeded to pick both girls up, Luz letting out a meep and Boscha letting out a shout of indignation. Their actions went ignored as Wrath lumbered towards the front of the cabin, the passengers who were in the beginning stages of rushing out stopped in their tracks and gave him a wide berth as he came through.

Exiting off of the ramp with the two teens still in his hands Wrath turned his head to look up at the driver. "Thank you for the ride, sir. Good luck in breaking the Beetle in!"

The driver gave Wrath a wave as more passengers ran off of the bus and others began to board it for their journey. "Eh thanks gov, you take care now!" He replied before cracking his whip against the beetle again and the bus taking off in a quick cloud of smoke.

A cough from Boscha drew both Luz and Wrath's attention to her as the triclops had an expression of mixed irritation and embarrassment, "Thanks for getting me off there and all, but you can totally set me down now." Her arms were crossed, and her eyes were narrowed.

Wrath proceeded to lower his arms and set both of them down on their feet, Luz covering her mouth as she coughed out a large amount of dust that she had accidentally swallowed when the Beetle Bus took off. "My apologies." Wrath said as he proceeded to dust himself off as well, the actions causing small dust cloud to form around him due to the volume that had been stuck to his clothing.

Boscha descended into a hacking fit as she moved out of the dust cloud, covering her mouth with her elbow while using her other hand she traced a circle in the air, and to Luz's awe a yellow glow followed the path and from the fully formed circle a potion bottle dropped.

It held a glowing purple liquid that quickly found itself swallowed by Boscha as she had ripped the cork off with lightning speed and downing the potion with an equal amount. Smacking her lips before the drawing another circle which caused the bottle to vanish in a puff of smoke, she let out a deep breath. "Much better."

Luz, who had just scene magic firsthand again marveled at how it was performed, immediately her mind swam with questions that took every ounce of her willpower to not blurt out at the top of her lungs. 'What allowed them to draw the circle in the air?', 'Did the size of the circle matter?', 'What did the color represent?'. She already knew about the Witches Bile sack from Mavilda's notebook that she read, which was... incredibly detailed and gave a very vivid description on the ins and outs of a Bile Sack; even down to how viscous the Bile should be.

Realizing she was staring and was now receiving a questioning look from Boscha, Luz nervously stuttered out statement. "So-sorry, was just uh... watching you do magic." Gosh that sounded so weird in hindsight, magic was supposed to be a normal thing her right? She hoped that she hadn't just violated some unknown social norm, she still wanted to try and befriend Boscha, even if she seemed a little rude.

Boscha narrowed her eyes in contemplation of Luz's statement before shrugging her shoulders, "Eh whatever," she said in a disinterested tone, holding her hand out to the air a puff of smoke and purple light appeared before a small rolled up piece of vibrant purple paper fell into it. "Anyhow nice meeting you two, hope you survive and all that other good jazz."

Luz watched as Boscha unrolled the paper and began moving one of her fingers over it, though she was unable to see what she was doing. Still a flash of panic surged through Luz as she realized her first attempt at making a friend was just walking away from her, and she didn't even get an address or way to contact her in the future or anything. In a rush of panic and desperation without thinking the first thing that popped in her head Luz blurted out. "Hey, would you uh... like to join us for clothes shopping."

She realized as soon as the words left her mouth that she had made a mistake, she was a human, something not native to this realm and who was supposed to be hiding and keeping a low profile. She couldn't take her offer back, and to top it off she didn't even ask Wrath for his opinion or permission; oh, he was going to scold her for sure, maybe even kick her out!

As Luz slowly descended into panic, she failed to notice Boscha turn around and give a sideways look at her. "Are you really asking me to go clothes shopping with you?" She asked as she rolled up the paper but still held it in her hands, arms crossed and foot tapping impatiently on the ground.

Before Luz could reply or answer the question, much to her surprise Wrath spoke up and answered for her. "She is, you see my... 'ward' does not have any friends their age and I myself am not in touch with what you youth consider fashion these days," It was almost starting to Luz at just how easy Wrath was able both lie and seamlessly fabricate a story that made sense at the same time. "Unless you are busy that is, I can assure you that you will be compensated if you desire."

Now Luz was incredibly worried, she hadn't expected Wrath to cover for her like he was, and if he was angry his tone was hiding it well since his voice was even and composed. Then to, Luz was not sure if it was surprise or relief, Boscha shrugged her shoulders and walked back towards them. "Not like I have anything better to do right now, where to first?"


While it had caught him by surprise when the Human had extended an invitation to the teenage Witch to join them without checking with him first, Wrath was quickly able to come to the decision to go along with it. He would be speaking to them about it later, but for now he could find little faults with allowing a third member to join them, and with any luck they might just be someone the Human's own age that they could associate with. Still, he would need to do something about keeping Luz's identity as a human a secret, at least until he could make sure that the witchling wouldn't blab about it to the entirety of the isles, that was a surefire way to bring everyone down on Luz and him by association; and would also likely bring Kikimora down on him as well.

Yeah, he was not about to have that happen again anytime soon, not after his outburst earlier and certainly not before he made a visit to the Conformitorium to make sure the prisoners understood their place.

Seeing the distraught look on his charge's face Wrath reached forwards and placed a comforting finger on their shoulder to help calm them down, his action causing them to look up at him in worry.

Well, he had already said they were his ward, and it wasn't like he didn't do the same with Bracky whenever they spent time together around Bonesborough, so with relative ease he picked the human up and sat them on his shoulder.

"Eep!" Luz let out a small squeak as she was picked up and as soon as she was sat down on Wrath's shoulder, she latched onto his clothing to hold herself up.

Wrath noticed their guest, Boscha if he remembered correctly from the conversation he had been listening to on the Beetle Bus, looked back at them as she heard the sound but quickly ignored it and went back to whatever she was doing on her scroll.

"We will be talking about this later," He was here this time to handle the damage, but once he resumed his duties as Warden then the Human was going to be on their own for the majority of the day. "You are not in trouble this time, let us make sure this doesn't happen again." His made sure his voice was low enough that their guest couldn't hear him, he knew firsthand how embarrassing it could be to be called out in front of others in public, and they haven't done anything deserving of that yet.

He saw Luz give a silent nod at his statement, their face while mostly hidden underneath the hood of the cloak was still one of distress. Perhaps he could talk to them more in-depth later, he was trying to build a positive relationship with them, and his outburst earlier definitely did not help him in that regard.

Still perhaps this could all work out for the better if they were able to make friends their own age it would help them better acclimate them to life on the isles, and he did send a call asking for a low-grade concealment stone after the... 'incident' at the Conformitorium. That was a 'fun' time having to explain to Lady Lilith why he let the Owl Lady escape, never mind the fact he had needed to fight the former Golden Guard before that; the only upside to that was he didn't have to hear anything about it from Kikimora.

Regardless all it would take to make the human appear like a Witch was the low-grade Concealment Stone and proper clothing, and the lack of magic could easily be played off as having 'Stone Bile Syndrome'. Mavilda could get the proper paperwork for that and despite the animosity between the three of them he doubted Kikimora, or Lady Lilith would object since it would keep the fact a human was on the isles a secret for longer.

Plus having someone he could trust outside of the Emperors Coven with watching the human would help take a lot of stress off of him making sure they were safe, and the fact they were a Hexside student on top of that was an added bonus.

"So what shop are you guys heading to first?" The voice of their guest broke Wrath from his musings, strange, it wasn't like him to let his mind wander like that.

Wrath knew that they needed clothes first and as he said earlier, he knew nothing about what youth considered fashion these days, in his day it was all chains, Selkidomus leather, and iron boots. Apparently, all of that was now considered 'old fashioned' and not in style, since Bracky said as such last time they went shopping together... he could still rock the look though.

"You may pick where we stop first," he said before realizing that it would be best to impose a limit, his Snails weren't infinite, and he had to take a five percent pay cut to pay off the Conformitorium damage. "Do try not to go over ten thousand snails, I'm not an alchemist after all."

The triclops brought a hand to her chin as her face took on a contemplative look, her top eye narrowing sideways. "Well Skin N' Linen never fails, come on I know the way." She vanished her scroll and motioned for him to follow, which wasn't difficult since for every eight strides she took it equaled one of his.

'Hmm, Skin N' Linen? Haven't heard of that shop before.' Wrath thought internally as he tried to think about what kind of clothing such a store would sell, if the name was to be believed it was probably one of those that specialized in leather

Maybe he could pick up a new pair of boots if they had them, or perhaps he could also grab a trio of matching jackets for... reasons.

Out of the corner of his eye he saw that Luz had calmed down, though their face was still showing signs of hurt and worry. Maybe he could get them something extra later to show that he wasn't mad, their mistake didn't cause any permanent damage and they were just a teenager after all.

The trio spent the next handful of minutes walking in silence, something that Wrath had little issues with since it allowed him to think; this time making sure to not let his attention wander too far. He was about to ask how far away Skin 'N Linen was as he had never heard of the store, nor did he know where it was, when he saw it for himself, and one thought immediately rose to the top of his mind.

'My wallet isn't about to survive this.'


Luz was still worried about being in trouble with Wrath, it was her first time being outside in the Isles and she already put her identity as a Human at risk. Plus, he said the five words that drove every child and teenager into a nervous wreck, 'We'll talk about this later,' even if he said she wasn't in trouble it was still in the front of her mind. Her only hope was that she would be on her best behavior and hope she didn't cause more trouble for him, so much for trying to make this a great day.

NO! It was just a single mistake, that was all it was and all it ever will be, she can still make the best out of this day, and she wouldn't let this slip up ruin it. Mentally slapping herself back to reality and calmness, Luz decided that she was going to continue to persevere through this day, just like with the Owl Lady she wouldn't let this single slip up ruin her time here. That was part of the reason she wanted to befriend Boscha, to know what an actual witch who wasn't a criminal was like.

It was a unique experience riding on Wrath's shoulder, it was something she hadn't done since she was a child and her Papi... she didn't want to think about it further, not right now. Still, she didn't have to do much balancing since Wrath's shoulder was big enough for her to sit on with room to spare, she was still holding onto him, so she didn't fall.

It was a few short minutes until she saw the store that Boscha had mentioned, it wasn't hard to miss with the giant sign on top of it that had the name 'Skin N' Linen' in bold red print. That, and it was also glowing like a neon sign, and to Luz's surprise it also changed colors every few seconds; she wondered how that worked and what type of magic was most likely used.

The store itself was made of fancier materials than the other surrounding buildings, with a pair of polished marble pillars in front and walls of granite encasing it, long flowing red cloth hung from the outside in a ribbon like pattern. The large stained-glass windows were rimmed with gold, the patterns on the glass giving a vague resemblance to a human body with a boar's head, it was probably the most detailed piece of glass Luz had ever seen. The large double front doors were a dark polished oak, lighter spots in the wood making an appearance of skeleton hands grabbing the large cast iron ring handles; a large white 'S' and 'L' were emblazoned in the middle of them, with a much smaller 'N' running halfway through both.

The building itself was the largest one on the street, taking up the space of at least six others, and rising up to be about four stories, furthering its impression of magnificence.

Luz didn't know if she had heard it correctly, but she was pretty sure that when they neared the building that Wrath let out a low whine. It was her proximity to his throat and the vibrations he made that gave it away, along with the highest pitch she had heard his voice go, it sounded almost like a cat whining... if said cat was a giant lion of Herculean size and strength.

"Well, are you two just going to gawk or are we going to go inside?" Boscha said impatiently from the bottom of the steps leading up to the doors, looking back at them as she rapidly tapped her foot.

Wrath said nothing as he picked her up from his shoulder and sat her down, still internally shrieking at how much damage his wallet was going to take after today, he was probably going to have to work overtime for months to recover from this.

Luz found her legs moving by themselves as she followed up the stairs after Boscha, making sure not to step on the eyes and mouths that littered the steps, something she didn't think she would ever need to do. When they neared the top, she saw that there was someone standing in front of the door dressed in a typical red bellhop's uniform, it would almost have seemed normal if they weren't three feet shorter than her and looked like a crossbreed between a tiger and a triceratops.

Their neutral expression changed to one of excitement as she and Boscha got closer, Luz having chosen to remain a little way behind the Triclops since she felt more comfortable with her leading the way; and the miniature earthquakes thumping behind her let her know that Wrath was not far away.

"Ahh Lady Boscha, such a pleasure to see you again." They said with a smile on their face, their voice was young and sounded like someone running a wet sponge over a wooden board with fishing line wrapped around it.

Boscha gave a wave as the group neared, for once something other than an impassive look, sneer, or scowl on her face. "Hey Jeremy, still holding up down there?" For someone who had been sounding agitated or snarky, it was a little bit jarring for Luz to hear her joke so casually.

The tiger?...dinasour?... Jeremy the doorman, giggled as they covered their mouth with their hands. "Well, I'm hanging as high as I can reach," He laughed as a small trill escaped his beak like mouth, while at the same time grabbing a wooden cane with a hook on it and latching it on the ring to open the door. "As always my lady I hope you find your shopping experience pleasurable, and enjoyable."

Luz was about to tell Jeremy a 'Thank You' for opening the door, but Boscha quickly wrapped an arm around him and held out her scroll like one would a phone, and Luz swore she heard the sound of a camera click. "See you around 'Jear Care', come on you two we have shopping to do." Before she could protest Luz found her hand grabbed by Boscha and pulled inside, immediately the cool air was the first overwhelming sensation she felt; almost akin being sunburnt at the beach to dunking yourself in an ice bath full of cubes.

The inside of the store was just as fancy and upper class as the outside, the floor was a polished dark oak like the door that was shiny enough that you could use it as a mirror and spread throughout the inside were Marble pillars that either rose to the next floor above them or even higher than that. Also spread through the building were large crystal eyes that illuminated all that was in their sight, acting as the light source of the entire building, and despite how interesting Luz found them to be it was still weird to see them roll in their sockets like an actual eye. Maybe it was just the fact they were giant balls of polished crystal that would have probably been worth a fortune back home, that seemed to be just the light source of the building.

Aside from the crystal eyes and the occasional mouth that was on the wall it looked like a regular clothing store if an upscale one, that someone would find in any mall in the Human Realm. There was an entire section dedicated to leather clothes as Luz saw the small ocean of shiny clothes of varying colors, another one that had a forest of cloaks all hung from creepy arms that sprung from the floor, the flesh on the arms was pulled taught making them look like little more than skin and bone.

Luz had to take a second to center herself as Boscha let go of her hand, still following after her regardless, and prepare herself for what she was about to do. She had never been the type of person to just want to go shopping, sure she liked going to the art store at the local mall, and occasionally the costume store when it was in season, she didn't find much fun in clothes shopping just for the sake of it. She was just the type of person to know what she wanted to wear and usually just had a small group of outfits she wore in rotation, plus her otter costume... she liked her otter costume, it was comfy.

But she was willing to give this a shot, this was a clothing store in the Demon Realm, a realm that had magic as part of everyday life, she had Wrath here to keep her safe and she had Boscha helping her as a potential future friend. This was her chance to actually start living in the Demon Realm, right here in this moment was her first activity, and it was shopping for clothes, she could do it, after all how hard could it be?

As it turns out she should learn not to tempt fate in such a manner, Boscha had quickly led her over to a random section that had an array of shirts held on the wall by the mouths of skulls embedded in it. After a quiet prompting from Wrath, and a quick illusion spell to make her ears pointed, and some very harsh insistence from Boscha who was a small dstance away; she had shed her cloak, at first, she was worried that Boscha would realize her clothes weren't from the Demon Realm and question them, but she just took one look at them before scoffing and dragging her away. Thus began the painful experience of Luz being made to stand still in a T Pose as Boscha grabbed shirt after shirt and held it up to her, judging how it looked almost like it was a piece of produce or meat, and one time out of fifty she would set the shirt aside before putting the other forty nine back.

"Hmm, no the color on this one is too light, clashes horribly with your complexion." Boscha said as she put back a dark blue shirt from the skull, she had taken it out of, it was the ninth dark blue one in a row she had grabbed, all of them apparently being a different shade but Luz couldn't tell the difference.

With Boscha's back turned Luz took the opportunity to look over a few sections at Wrath, who had insisted he would remain close by but give the two girls enough space to not disturb them. He was going through the leather section they had passed when the entered, Luz chose to believe he hadn't just abandoned her knowing what Boscha was about to do, though his expression when Boscha asked if he was going to join them combined with her three-eye glare made it clear that was likely the case.

Boscha came back with a brown shirt this time, holding it up for barely a second before scoffing and throwing it aside, then holding up a white shirt and looking at it from every angle she could. To Luz's surprise Boscha nodded and made a hum of approval after a minute of inspection and put it in the small pile with the other shirts they had picked out. "Well, that should do it for the first layer, now we go and get the outer layer."

Luz found the four shirts Boscha approved of thrust in her hand and herself dragged along to another section, this one actually having clothes with different designs on them and not just a solid color.

"So, Luz what style are we trying to go for, because I'll be honest here," Boscha said leaning in and speaking to Luz right in her face. "Your current 'style, it's atrocious."

Luz felt a pang of hurt as Boscha said that as she like her outfit, "What's wrong with it?" Still, it was painfully obvious that Boscha knew a lot more about fashion than her, and Luz was willing to learn all she could while she had the opportunity.

Boscha snorted at Luzs question before gesturing to her attire. "Well for one the color of your top clashes with your complexion and then there's this absolute travesty," Boscha grabbed the hood of Luz's hoodie and jerked it a little bit, not in a forceful way but in a way that emphasized her actions. "Who in Titan's name wears a hood with short sleeves, that's just something you don't do."

"Oh kay?" Luz wasn't sure how she was supposed to respond to that as Boscha let go of her hood and began going through the various clothes hanging around them.

She still wasn't sure what to really think of Boscha, at first she seemed like a typical mean girl even with the excuse of her having bad day, which was only compounded when she got drenched in the goop earlier. Already with only knowing her for just under an hour Luz could tell that Boscha was loud and had a short fuse, still she was willing to give the girl a chance and not judge her by the books cover. Which was turning out to be a good idea since here the two were with Boscha giving Luz a lot of fashion advice that she would never have thought about, and occasionally she would ask for Luz's input.

Boscha held up a purple longs sleeve jacket to Luz as she once again judged it from every angle, "Hmm, colors a tad off but not too much, hmm," Boscha hummed in thought before she went over to the other shirts, they had picked out earlier and grabbed a dark purple magenta, Luz still wasn't sure if that was a real color variant, and held it next to the jacket. After a few seconds of thumbing both articles Boscha gave a hum of satisfaction before turning back to Luz. "Here keep these together so you can try them on."

Taking the articles as they were thrust in her hand Luz folded them together and sat them down next to the other shirts they had picked out, she did her best to ignore the fact that it was a tongue that looked like it was made of stone protruding from a closed mouth on the floor. Turning around Luz was caught off guard as Boscha held up another article of clothing to her chest, "Hmm, not bad but needs a bit extra," Boscha said as she sat the deep blue piece of clothing to the side, Luz was barely able to see more than the fact that this one had openings on the arms and had lighter blue colored patterns decorating it. "We can finish that one later."

Yep, Luz was going to make it official that she understood nothing about clothes shopping, with the speed at which Boscha kept picking out and judging outfits to be inadequate for her Luz would have just picked out a few that caught her eye that were maybe cohesive if she was feeling extra.

Still even if Boscha hadn't said they were friends yet and they had only just met, it was nice doing something with someone her own age, maybe this was why her Mami had wanted her to make friends at camp.

Maybe the two of them shopping together would be reason enough for them to become friends, Luz hoped that was the case since she was having a good time the longer, they were in the store. Plus, Boscha had a habit of muttering loudly under her breath and Luz found that cute since she could still hear the words clear as day.

After roughly twenty minutes of them shopping in the shirts section and Boscha getting a handful of jackets for herself, the two of them checked up on Wrath who had two tote bags in his arms that were easily the size of the two girls.

"I uh... found a couple things I liked." Was his excuse when Luz managed to peek inside and saw that both bags were nearly packed to the brim, and nearly bursting.

Boscha took one look and scoffed, "Just a couple, looks like you bought the entirety of the leather section." Boscha also wasn't exaggerating that statement as one look over to the area where Wrath had been prior showed that at least half of it was now gone.

Wrath's face didn't change but he did drop his head, "They had a discount." Luz had to suppress chuckling at that statement since it was clear Wrath was struggling with buyer's remorse.

When Wrath saw the bundle of clothes held in Luz's arms, he sat his bags down and drew a purple circle in the air causing both of his bags to disappear in a puff of smoke. "Is that everything?" He asked as Luz nodded, before placing the items in Wrath's outstretched hand at his prompting.

"Well I'll see you two after I pay for mine." Boscha said as she walked off with her much smaller bundle of clothes.

Luz followed after wrath as he walked back over to the cashier, who was nearly as tall as him, but where Wrath had muscle, this person was nothing but thin and looked like a stick figure had been brought to life. Two bulbous green fly like eyes protruded from the top of his head and had a mouth that screamed untrustworthy as it was pulled into the most sinister of grins, both sets of immaculate fanged teeth peeking out from his lips. He wore a uniform similar to the doorman but a much darker shade to accentuate his deep purple skin, the only reason Luz could tell that is because she had actually been listening to what Boscha had been saying about colors accentuating each other.

"Well well, back so soon my good sir," His voice was light and smooth and held the air of a jester, as he leaned over the counter to look at Wrath closer, his head spinning and his arms going backwards as he leaned over them. "Ah and I see we've brought a little guest with us this time, how wonderful."

Luz felt like she was being eyed like a piece of meat as both eyes moved in their sockets to look right at her, which was even more disturbing with the lack of a noticable pupil. She tried to bury herself behind Wrath as he sat the pile of clothes down on the counter, making sure that they were close enough to nearly slam into the mans hands.

"Here, and I believe I still get the same discount as last time." Wrath said harshly as he watched the mans eyes snap back up to him before snapping down to the pile of clothes.

Within a blink of the eye the man had straightened up to his full height and proceeded to spin in place, his form blurring, or at least his lower body as his head remained perfectly still; that ear splitting grin still plastered all over it. "Of course, my good sir, and I must say it is quite a pleasure to see such great customer loyalty such as yours," Luz was barely paying attention as she saw the pile of clothes Wrath sat down rapidly disappearing and another tote bag that had been placed on the counter filling up, along with an ever elongating piece of paper coming out of a set of teeth that looked like a smaller version of that typewriter creature. "Ah here we go, apply that splendid little discount, and this my dear sir would be your illustrious total."

Wrath snatched the paper from the man, and Luz could hear him grumbling under his breath, then in one fluid motion Wrath grabbed a small rope sealed pouch attached to his waist and pulled out five coins that were held precariously between his two fingers.

Dropping them in the man's hand Wrath grabbed the tote bag and glared at the elongated purple man. "Keep the change."

With those words Wrath walked off and Luz followed suite, both choosing to ignore the sarcastic sounding 'Thanks' the man shouted to them followed by a long-winded cackle. Ok Luz could understand why Wrath was rude to him, and was glad they were heading the opposite direction since the man was still smiling when she took one look back at him.

"Stupid money grubbing Flygorn," Wrath grumbled as he led Luz over to a nearby changing room, identified by Boscha being there waiting for them. "A pleasure to see you sticking around." Well at least Wrath's voice was going back to its normal tone, it was odd and highly unnerving to hear Wrath sound... like a child who just got scolded by his parents, even if that wasn't what happened it was the closest comparison Luz could think of.

Boscha snorted as she straightened her jacket she had just bought, a purple mixture of cloth and leather with gold detailing. "Well, I have to make sure my work is superb as always, can't have word getting around that I have subpar fashion sense." Her tone was snide but not in a way that it was directed at Luz, and the smirk she had on her face was

Luz wasn't sure if she should be flattered or insulted, but she supposed that Boscha's baseline attitude was snarky and insulting. Wordlessly Wrath handed her the bag and told her to change into one of her new outfits, it was a small hassle to drag a bag that was half her size but at least it was light weight.

The changing rooms looked like a makeshift dungeon though, cold stone brick walls and floors lay behind the wooden door, iron doors dotted the small hallway and Luz hoped that the skulls she saw littering the floor were decoration. Ignoring them, she grabbed the large silver key hanging outside one of the doors and proceeded to open it, the slow creaking of iron not helping her nerves as she swore she could hear something in the back of her mind.

She chose to ignore the childlike laughter as well.


Wrath had decided to stay outside with Boscha, the Triclops wordlessly doing something on her scroll, though with how often she would hold it out in front of her Wrath guessed she was on Penstagram.

Contrary to what it looked like on the outside the prices weren't exorbitant and the discount he got for buying in bulk, plus an added one for being in the Emperors Coven meant he ended up getting half off of both purchases. So thankfully he was still within budget for what he ahd set aside for today, still it was painful to give up nearly ten thousand snails on clothing alone.

"So, what's up with the Warden of the Conformitorium hanging out with a human." Wrath froze in his thoughts as he heard what Boscha had said, that she knew who both of them were. He could understand that she might have picked up on Luz being human, in hindsight they should have been more careful to make sure she wasn't discovered, and should have put the illusion spell on her before they left.

But how had she found out his identity, he wasn't well known outside of the Conformitorium, and he wasn't in his Warden regalia either.

"And what makes you say that?" He kept his voice subdued, it wouldn't do to cause a scene here and even if the majority of the sotre was empty there were still others there, and his size always ended up drawing eyes.

The triclops snorted before vanishing her scroll and putting her hands in the pockets of her jacket. "Not many Pliamorphs in Bonesborough that match the size of the Warden, and that Illusion spell was subpar at best."

Ok now Wrath was both insulted and impressed, he could give her credit for figuring out that he was the only Pliamorph of his stature but insulting his spell work... that hurt. "What's that supposed to mean?"

Boscha let out a light chuckle as she leaned against the wall, all three eyes locked in a staring contest with Wrath's. "I've seen more immersive illusions in Grudgby practice, plus her outfit, only ever seen stuff like that in mom's human paper book collection, and yes she has a permit."

Titan, this girl was the one that Luz had to try and befriend, well now he was concerned. "I see," Wrath could feel his teeth starting to grind, nails on a chalkboard sounding like a symphony compared to it. "And what will you do with this... information."

He had to know if she would keep it quiet about Luz's identity as a human, knowing she was on Penstagram it could already be too late to stop it, but that was the worst case scenario; and its best to not jump to conclusions Leave the paranoia to Radamus and the little red gremlin with a superiority complex.

Boscha blew a stray strand of hair out of her face, "Not my business to tell, I'm a rich girl jock, not a tattletale, isn't my business."

That made Wrath relax a little, he knew he had little reason to trust her, but it would do no good to make her an enemy at the moment. Sure she was acting slightly less uppity as the Blight Matriarch when she was younger, but that was the case for most of the Isle's upper echelon, though perhaps... yes that could work.

"You understand that their identity as a human must remain secret correct." He copied her action of leaning against the wall, making sure not to hit a chandelier... 'Ok who puts a chandelier in a clothing store? That was just practically screaming that you had to much money ', he hoped that copying her actions would make her more open.

Boscha nodded as she finally reached the end of her fuse and plucked the strand of hair that refused to stay put out, "Wasn't going to spout it out anyway, last thing I need is you coming after me."

Wrath laughed at that since he understood her aversion to making an enemy out of the Conformitorium's Warden, even if he wasn't the first thing that came to people's minds when they were breaking the law, he was going to be the last thing they ever saw if they did. "Smart decision, but still now that you know, what are you going to do?"

His answer was Boscha shrugging her shoulders and looking over at him lazily, "No idea, probably hang out with them, even if I can't have bragging rights, having a human friend should be pretty cool."

Wrath could feel his eyes blink several times in slow succession at the... unexpectedness of the answer, "Thats it?" Even he found that hard to believe, she wasn't trying to extort him or asking for any kind of Snail compensation.

"Yep, what did you want me to try something to get on your bad side?" Boscha asked incredulously as she rolled her eyes, producing a nail file and beginning to file down her nails.

He shrugged his shoulders as he watched her file her nails down, he had never had to worry much about taking care of his physical appearance as he had neither hair nor nails, and really only needed to sharpen his teeth whenever they grew too big or dull.

A few moments of silence passed between the two as Wrath took out a rolled-up piece of paper and a pencil and began running through how many snails he had left in his budget for the day, and how much he could scrape by. Really half of what he bought wasn't for him, having seen enough Slitherbeast Leather jackets to get one for each of the Skull B'Roll crew... they were still working on a team name for when they went to the intertown competition.

Boscha just continued to file down her nails to her desired length before vanishing the file, wordlessly drawing a small spell circle above her hands and changing her nails; after going through fire, griffin talons, spider claws, finally settling on red snake fangs.

"Gotta say you're a lot more chill than I expected." Boscha's statement broke the silence as Wrath looked up from his number crunching and stared at her, his blank expression not giving away anything.

"Chill? I'll have you know I'm a hot-blooded Demon." Wrath said as he let a small bit of smoke leak from between his teeth to make his point clear, if there was one thing all 'Hot Bloods' as well as 'Fire Breathers' found insulting it was being called cold.

Seeing what she had said Boscha quickly walked back her statement, a panicked expression on her face. "Sorry didn't realize, I meant you're a lot more relaxed than I thought you'd be," Her voice was nervous now, a far cry from her constant snark and her third eye was drooping half closed. "You know with your whole, Warden of the Conforitoriumness."

He hmphed in response as he went back to number crunching, waving off her statement and choosing to not reply. 'Old defensive habits die hard.' Wrath surmized as he was usually pretty thick skinned and didn't let most insults get to him, he must still be on edge from the Gremlin's visit earlier.

His thoughts were broken when the sound of the door to the changing area opened and he moved to the side to give whoever was coming out more room, it was only them coughing that made him realize it was Luz.

"So uh..." There was a nervousness to their voice, though he was quickly growing used to that as just a staple of their character. "How do I look?"

It was impressive how much a change of wardrobe and an illusion spell could make a Human look like a full-blooded Witch, though it would be better when he got the Concealment stone for them.

Luz was dressed in a smooth purple undershirt with pale blue colorations forming an outline of gills on the sides of their chest, over that was a thin midnight black cloak that went to their knee's; its style made reminiscent of a coat more so than a stereotypical cloak. On the back of the cloak was the assortment of the various Coven Sigil's, the symbol of the Emperors Coven was in the middle with the other nine circling it, and from each of the nine a lighter streak of coloring formed into vines that wrapped around the areas of the cloak.

Upon closer inspection one would see that each vine was styled to match which Coven sigil it had originated from, with the one from the Abomination Coven looking like a tendril of goop, and the Bard Coven having protrusions and turning in ways that gave the appearance of musical notes.

Their leggings were now a darker color purple, bordering black territory, and holding them in place was a thin rope going through the loops around the waist. With dark boots finishing off the look, with Luz now looking the full part of a Witch who wouldn't raise any eyebrows aside from their lack of knowledge.

Luz sheepishly rubbed the back of her head as she saw both Wrath and Boscha looking at her, "Do I look alright, I know I changed a few of the outfits around but I thought they looked nice."

Wrath remained silent as he turned his head to look down at Boscha, who in turn was smirking as she looked Luz up and down. "Oh yeah, still got it."