"It's business. A business that could fail at any moment if we decide to not work at it." Luz replied, her tired expression softening for a moment as she reached up with a shaking, callused hand to hold Amity's and gave them a squeeze before turning back to her work. "I'm on a real breakthrough here. I think all of our investors will be really excited." she sighed.

Amity placed a hand on Luz's shoulder. She too didn't look any older. Her hair was a few inches longer, and she looked like she had been working for months without rest, but she still looked like the Luz she knew; only without the boundless energy that she had come to appreciate. "Uhm, have you seen my Mom and Dad anywhere?"

Luz clenched her fists and turned around again in frustration. "I can't keep doing this, Amity. When they passed away, you asked for my help in keeping Blight Industries going. I didn't expect us to start making deals with the Emperor's Coven, but hey… it got you noticed, right?"

"And now I'm one of the most powerful witches on the Boiling Isles…" Amity whispered to herself.

"You're your own person now. But if I don't get this done by our next BlightCon, we're not going to have anything to show, and this business relationship of ours is going to fall in on itself." Luz said, gesturing for the clawed hand on the side of her table to grab a magnifying glass and put it into position. "Now if you don't mind, I've really got to get this glyph right before we go into mass production."

"Right." Amity stepped away, her surprised sadness beginning to turn to anger. "Of course. I'll leave you to it." She began climbing the stairs back to the living room, thinking of how specific she had to be on a wish and cursing herself for being so careless. Powerful, confident, independent, and she was with Luz… in her parent's house, after inheriting it. She had everything she'd always wanted, but of course that resulted in an uncompromising relationship that had so far destroyed Luz's happiness.

Just as the realization struck her that she and Luz had filled the roles of her parents, a knock at the door made her jump. She pat down her clothes, finding Jinn's bottle in her pocket as the abomibulter answered the door and groaned. In the doorway was what she assumed was a witch dressed in the uniform of the Golden Guard, with a gold tunic and hooded white cloak, black pants, grey boots, and an eerie gold mask that resembled that of a round faced owl. Coven Scouts were on either side of them, and they carried in one hand a staff that Amity didn't recognize as any typical palisman; with a white shaft, and a gold wing protruding past a red gem on the top end that crackled with energy. They were the Emperor's closest companion and agent, and to her knowledge, was only sent on the most important missions.

"Oh! Golden Guard! To what do I owe the honor?" Amity asked, though she felt strangely unintimidated by the figure and their position.

The Golden Guard stepped into the house, his entourage spinning in place to face away from the house as he stopped to look down at Amity. "I'm here to meet your engineer, Head Mistress Blight. The Emperor would like to know what is taking so long on the construction of more glyph inventions." His voice was surprisingly soft, and presumably deepened by the mask and hood, but he had an arrogant air that rivalled even Boscha. "He is not a particularly patient man."

"I understand that but Luz…" Amity began, standing straight to nearly match his height. "Luz has been working too hard as it is. The Emperor will have to wait until after she takes some time off."

The Golden Guard paused for a moment before he burst out laughing. "No one defies the Emperor; not even the Coven Heads, and you are no exception. Your human will complete the job she's been commissioned for."

"Or what?" Amity asked, crossing her arms and glaring at the man before her.

"Or I'll burn this entire house to the ground with both of you in it and seize your factories." he said. "No one is irreplaceable."

Amity reached behind her back, twirling a finger to summon her staff and lowering herself into a stance, ready to defend her home. The Golden Guard lowered his own staff, throwing his cloak over his shoulder in preparation for a duel.

"Amity, it's fine." Luz said after creeping up the stairs. She turned her attention to the Golden Guard with a look of contempt, and looked even worse than Amity had originally thought now that she was in the light. Her eyes were darkened and sunken, her posture hunched, with her usual grin and look of wonder faded into a scowl. "Tell the Emperor that his order will be ready on time."

"Luz, no…" Amity said, over ruling Luz's comment, much to her continued annoyance. "You need a break."

"Go check on the Factory, Amity." Luz insisted, a look of both conviction and resignation on her face. Amity reluctantly nodded as Luz lead the Golden Guard down the stairs to her workshop. She heaved a sigh and walked away, leaving the house through the front door as she fished the bottle of purple and gold smoke from her pocket. She quietly passed the Coven scouts and pulled the cork free from the bottle, the smoke enveloping her as a massive creature of meat and bone exploded from inside the house and let out a roar that sent the scouts running. The Golden Guard, Blight Manor, and likely even Luz… were gone.

Amity left the cloud of smoke to find herself at the gate of the Manor again; back in her ruffled Grom dress and short, green and auburn undercut hair, and she looked back at the fully intact house. Jinn materialized out of the smoke with a smile. "So? How was that? I'm surprised you're back already. I really thought you had something good there."

"Are you kidding me?!" Amity shouted, clenching her dress in her fists. "My parents were dead, Luz was a wreck, and… and…" she began, her eyes filling with tears.

"Whoa, whoa!" Jinn said, leaning back to arm's length to look Amity over. "Let's get you out of that dress, shall we?" she asked, and with a snap of her fingers, the pink and black outfit transformed into a black tunic and deep red leggings. She reached out, plucking a green hair from Amity's shoulder and smiling. "There we are. Now, you were as powerful as the head of the Emperor's Coven, weren't you? You were confident, standing up to the Emperor's right hand. You were happy with Luz; at least until you learned that she wasn't happy, but that wasn't part of your wish, was it?"

Amity wiped her cheeks with a hand, glaring at the older woman. "You take pleasure in this, don't you?"

"In providing witches and demons with their greatest desires, helping them reach their ultimate potential? Of course I do! I warned you about not being specific. You know how hard it is to materialize someone's greatest desires?!" Jinn cried. "It's not easy. Usually witches don't even know what they want, and it's a very thankless job!"

"Fine." Amity sniffed. How could she be specific with how little she really knew about Luz? She barely knew anything about humans, let alone Luz herself. She had to find something she knew. "Okay, we both love the Good Witch Azura, so what traits could I have that would attract Luz?"

"Ooo! I think you may be on to something. Who wouldn't want to be an adventurer? The ultimate freedom of living off the land; a spell for hire, a hero!"

"Okay, okay…" Amity said, lifting a hand to calm her benefactor. "I can get this." She began pacing in thought again, audibly picking through Azura's traits. "Azura is altruistic, brave, smart, and strong, and can befriend even her enemies."

"So, you want to be Azura?"

Amity stood up straight and blurted out, "Yes." she said before hesitating. "No…" she added. "No, because I don't want to wind up a picture in a novel, tucked away in the library. Once was enough."

Jinn grinned. "Well done! I'm surprised you caught that so soon."

"What?"

"So anyway, what'll it be?" Jinn asked, rubbing her hands together.

Amity spied her suspiciously. "Why do I get the feeling that I'm not aware of all the rules that I could be?"

"Listen, you know everything you need to know to have a happy, successful life of your own making. A part of being a responsible adult is just learning as you go."

"My parents say it's climbing to the top over whomever gets in your way."

"I think that's pretty much what I said. Now let's hear it. I'm ready."

"Fine. I wish… that I was adventurous, good hearted, wise, and brave. That Luz and I were heroes."

"Sounds perfect!" Jinn said, snapping her fingers. "Now, roll for initiative!" she shouted, giving Amity a shove that bowled her over and onto the ground.

Amity hit the ground hard, gasping as the air was knocked from her lungs and she rolled to the side before a quill laden tentacle struck the location that she had been a moment before. "Amity!" Luz called. "Are you okay?!"

The tentacle that had nearly struck her retracted into a large blurry, feline form that was difficult to see as it continued to shift in and out of focus. They were alone with the Shimmer Cat, battling the creature in a clearing outside of Bonesborough. She held a staff of ivory that ended in a blue, tear drop shaped gem that was shielded by a golden hilt. She stood and looked down at herself, noticing the black dress and heeled boots that blew around her bare legs in the wind. She wore a loose fitting white shirt with voluminous sleeves and a matching, pointed hat with a wide brim that she grinned at her opponent from underneath. "Doing just fine!" she replied, dramatically spinning her staff and plunging it into the ground at her feet before drawing a brightly glowing pink circle around herself with it.

A deluge of abomination goo flowed out of the ground beneath her feet, propelling her into the air where she released a barrage of fiery bolts at the creature. It shifted in and out of reality, dodging a few of her spells before the remaining caught it off guard and caused it to roar at her. "Nice!" Luz shouted, sliding alongside the beast and slapping a series of plant and ice glyphs along its flank while it was distracted. "Sneak Attack!"

Ice formed along the Shimmer Cat's hindquarters, and vines sprang out to grapple it to the ground, nullifying its ability to blur. The creature was stark white, with a fine layer of fur and a pair of spiny tentacles that protruded from behind its shoulder blades. It hissed and spat at them, trying to wrestle free as the vines continued to tighten, and Luz stepped up beside Amity, brushing herself off. "Nice moves, Luz!" Amity said with a smile. "Now we just need to get this girl back to the Beast Keeping Coven."

"Orrr… we could sell it to the Potion Coven for ingredients!" Luz suggested, forming an ice dagger from a glyph.

Amity stared at her in disbelief. "Are you serious? Luz, that's… terrible! That's not you!"

"Amity, c'mon. She would have done the same to us. Besides, we can make way more snails from the Potion Coven, since they have, y'know… income."

"Adventuring… heroism… isn't about snails. It's about doing the right thing!"

Luz rolled her eyes. "Says the rich witch. Adventuring… let's call it what it is: demon hunting… isn't free, is all I'm saying. You know how much paper I go through?" she laughed, dropping the dagger and pecking Amity on the cheek. "You're lucky I like you."

Amity froze in place, her face flushing with heat as Luz stepped away. It was weird that Luz had suggested the Shimmer Cat be turned into spell components, wasn't it? But at the same time, they were a couple… which is what she wanted, wasn't it? "Uhm, yeah… I guess I am." she said, touching her cheek.

"Hey, are you going to lift this thing so we can collect our snails? Time is money, after all, and these vines won't last forever."

"Huh? Oh, right." Amity stammered, drawing a circle with her staff. A corresponding glowing circle appeared around the beast, encasing it up to his jaws and hardening into a solid carapace. She drew another circle to conjure a bipedal abomination that lifted the Shimmer Cat in its arms like a common swaddled pet despite it's constant struggle to escape. "Uh, Luz…" she began as they started their walk back into Bonesborough. "Are you happy?"

The human girl laughed nervously. "Sure! Why wouldn't I be happy? I'm living out every fantasy I ever had!"

"You just seem… different, I guess. Than what I'm used to."

"Amity, I wouldn't want to be anywhere else than here with you, and doing nothing else than hunting down monsters and sticking it to ne'er-do-wells, and making a small fortune while we do!" she replied, turning and walking backward to speak to Amity face to face.

Amity hadn't thought Luz was so greedy, and she thumbed Jinn's bottle in her pocket, considering cancelling the wish already, but she shook her head to herself. No, she couldn't just keep giving up so easily. She had a limited amount of wishes, and if this one turned out to be a life she could be happy with, then having the rest to use later would be useful. She just had to make that decision before nightfall…

Luz continued to chat on the walk to their Beast Keeping contact where they handed over the Shimmer Cat, and continued on to Grub's Pub. "And that was how I managed to get this Selkidomus scale vest!" she explained as they pushed their way through the swinging doors of the tavern. "I makes me totally impervious to the heat of the Boiling Sea."

"But it's just a vest. How could it protect all of you?" Amity asked, confused.

Luz shrugged. "Magic?" she asked before spotting their remaining two companions sitting at a table alone, drinking something steaming as they clasped their hands to their warm cups. "Willow! Gus! Are you guys okay?"

Amity followed Luz up to the table where their friends waited, banishing her staff and sitting herself down in one of the remaining chairs while Luz spun her chair around and rested her chin on the backrest. "Tough bounty?"

"We just got back from the Knee." Gus informed them, shivering. "The bounty was for one troll, but we found a few of them."

Willow took a sip of her hot cocoa. "The bounty was also for it to be brought back alive." she explained, reaching down to a bag under her chair and plopping it on the table with a smile. "Fortunately, so long as the body is still alive, all of it's parts remain alive too."

As she let go of the opening of the bag, the sides of it fell to the surface of the table, revealing the still snarling severed head of a troll. It had pale blue skin with icicles that were still slowly melting off of its chin, eyebrows, and long pointed nose. It tried to bite at Willow as she retracted her hand, and its eyes seemed to be searching the individuals surrounding the table it now found itself on. "Eugh…" Luz exclaimed.

"So there's a headless troll running around the Knee?" Amity asked, giving the disembodied creature a look of disgust. "Doesn't that sound a little… cruel?"

There was a long pause before her companions laughed at her concern. "Oh, Amity…" Willow chuckled. "Sometimes I have to wonder how you've survived all this time with that attitude."

"Yeah." Gus continued. "It's us or them. We just provide a service, that's all. They have to be dealt with by someone!"

Willow bagged the troll head again, much to its protest, and placed it under her seat. "Anyway, we had to come warm up first before delivering it."

"And, we heard there's another job coming up." Gus added, looking about the room before continuing on. He held a hand up to his mouth to shield his words and leaned in. "There's something huge lurking in Forearm Forest. Witches have reported going in as a group, and then find themselves alone back on the road a moment later, not knowing what happened."

"Wow, that is a weird one." Luz said. "Any ideas?"

"Lost time? A scary monster? An Illusionist could do either of those with ease." Gus noted.

"I've also read about certain plants that can be conjured that affect memory, and I've created some impressively sized plant creatures myself." Willow said.

Amity listened intently to both Gus and Willow's theories, and shook her head. "Should we find the survivors to see what they remember? Maybe they have clues."

"Pfft! Ain't no one got time for that!" Luz exclaimed. "We'll wing it!" she shouted, standing from her seat and pumping an arm in the air. Amity and I will hit up Mr. Elixir for supplies. You two… turn in that head, and we'll meet up at the gate."

Willow and Gus cheered, grabbing their troll head to turn in for the bounty before exiting the pub. Amity frowned, slowly climbing to her feet and pushing in her chair. "Luz, are you sure this is a good idea?" she asked, feeling her pocket for Jinn's bottle. She was confident that they could handle whatever monster or witch might be hiding in the forest, but the group dynamic was making her uncomfortable. It was like none of them cared about what they were hunting, or who they might hurt.

"Something is out in the forest hurting people. It's our job to take care of these things." Luz insisted, flipping a snail coin to have it land on the counter. "Not everyone has the ability to fly over Forearm Forest whenever they want."

Amity sighed. "I know. Something just feels off."

"Something always feels off to you, Amity. I'd almost say you care too much." She smiled. "Now let's get going."

Amity followed Luz, still uneasy as they reached the Market. Morton, the shopkeeper of Mr. Elixir, brightened at the sight of them. He was a slight man that had run the shop for years in the Market, and was often considered the go to shop for potions, elixirs, and salves in Bonesborough despite the numerous small potion shops that littered the rest of the city. Luz approached with confidence, unclipping the small pouch of snails from under her belt and dropping it on Morton's counter. "Good day, Luz!" Morton said with a smile, his eyes reluctantly being drawn from the pouch of coins up to Luz's expression. "What can I help you with?"

Stepping forward, Amity interrupted before Luz could reply. "Hi. There. Morton, have you heard of some monster in Forearm Forest that people have been talking about? Groups of witches and demons going missing; the survivors saying they have no memory of what happened."

"Amity, I'm dealing here." Luz said in annoyance.

"Luz, going in blind isn't a good idea. We don't know what we're up against!"

Morton frowned at the two girl's argument. "So are you going to buy something, or?"

Luz turned back toward him. "Yes, we need some kind of mind protection potion, maybe a couple potions that'll heal…"

"And any information you can think of." Amity added.

Morton shook his head. "The potions I can help with. I'm don't really deal in monster lore. Should you find anything interesting though, I'm happy to purchase any potion ingredients."

Amity growled while Luz looked at her smugly, turning back to Morton. "We'll take four of each, please!" As Morton disappeared into the tent behind his counter, Luz addressed Amity once again. "C'mon, Amity. We take care of this thing, we help people, we make some coin. Everyone wins."'

"I guess I just remember when you tried making friends with everyone you came across. Like me."

"That was a long time ago." Luz collected the potions from Morton, divvying out the snails she owned him, and began walking toward the arms-way Bonesborough gate where they had agreed to rendezvous with Willow and Gus. Amity followed as they continued their discussion, continuing to hold the bottle in her pocket. "I guess I've just come to learn how things work on the Boiling Isles. Look out for number one, y'know? Just like Eda taught me."

"Luz…"

"Willow! Gus!" Luz shouted, waving. "How'd the turn in go?"

Gus grinned. "Well, the troll wasn't overly happy about it, but we got our reward!" he said, lifting a small bag of snails.

"I think the troll head taught Gus some new words." Willow whispered once she had approached Luz. "Are we ready to go after this creature?"

"You bet!" Luz assured her. "But the sun's going down. We should definitely get this done quick. I got a healing and an oracle potion for each of us to protect against whatever mind tricks this thing might do." she explained, handing out the vials she had just purchased.

Amity frowned up at the ghostly moon that was vaguely visible across from the descending sun, anxiously rubbing her thumb on Jinn's bottle stopper. She eyed Luz, still not certain that this wish was exactly what she wanted. As the group of teens began making their way through Forearm Forest, she couldn't help but ask herself why Jinn insisted on changing Luz so much over her first few wishes. Was she simply just that petty, or did she have some ulterior villainous plot? She growled to herself. Her thoughts were even beginning to sound like Azura, and she wondered if she could even tell how much she changed from her real self.

"This is where the last survivor was found." Gus informed them, looking about for any clues outside of the well worn carriage tracks in the dirt road.

Willow drew a small spell circle, directing the leaves that had covered the road to be swept away while Luz pulled one of her glyph papers from her pocket to light up the area. Amity crouched next to a set of large, five toed footprints that were strewn around the area and grimaced. "I don't recognize these." she said, gathering her companions around her.

"They lead toward the cliffs." Luz noted, standing impatiently and already moving into the treeline.

"Luz!" Amity called with an exasperated sigh. "Don't split the…" she began, but Luz had already vanished into the darkening forest. "Nevermind. C'mon, we should catch up before she gets into trouble."

As though to accentuate her worry, Luz's surprised shout echoed through the trees. "Luz!" Willow and Gus shouted back, racing into the forest. Amity rolled her eyes and stood, chasing after the pair while keeping her attention partially on the sunset. She didn't have much time to make her decision as to whether to keep the wish, but it was difficult to gather the necessary information as to the events that lead to everyone's current state when they insisted on running headlong into danger.

Standing outside of the entryway of a large cave was Luz, facing down a muddy colored bug demon. Amity's mouth held agape at the sight of the bulky and unwieldy creature with large mandibles that clacked angrily as it towered over Luz. It resembled a bipedal beetle, covered in thick armor plates and a pair of feathered antennae that protruded out from above its bulbous multifaceted eyes. It reared up to a height that matched a slitherbeast, letting out a loud hissing before bringing down a clawed fist where Luz stood a moment before.

Luz placed a glyph on the ground at the creature's feet, causing vines to reach up and entwine around its limbs. "See? No problem!" Luz grinned, confident that their target was now contained.

Amity continued charging forward as Gus and Willow stopped behind her. The bug demon glared at Luz specifically, it's iridescent eyes shining with a magical glisten as Luz suddenly stopped in her tracks. Her expression and posture grew slack, and a pair of ice glyphs fluttered from her grasp as she seemed locked in place. The creature's sharp spines and sickle-like claws tore through the vines that were trying to grapple it, and it stepped forward in an attempt to crush her.

Colliding with Luz before the bug struck her, Amity knocked her out of the way and rolled to a stop before reaching the edge of the cliff. "Luz! Luz?" she called, straddling the girl. Luz's eyes were glazed over, and she couldn't seem to make any sound other than a distressed groan. "Luz, c'mon! Wake up!" Amity continued to shout, shaking her.

"Amity! Is Luz okay?!" Willow shouted, attracting the attention of the angered creature toward herself and Gus. A series of clicks and hisses emanated from it as Willow conjured up a small, flowery beast that burst from the rocky ground, extending more vines in an attempt to slow its progress. Gus drew a large spell circle in the air, forming a copy of the monster between himself and his attacker but it appeared to be unperturbed by the illusion. It slashed at the blue glowing clone, causing the illusion to vanish in a plume of smoke, and it continued forward, glaring at the pair of witches.

"She's okay." Amity replied. "She's in some kind of trance!" she shouted back, finding that Willow was now in the same state as the monster bared down on her. She twirled the head of her staff in a circle, drawing up what abomination mud from the ground that she could to form an adult sized creature of her own to take hold of one of the bug demon's claws before it could strike.

It was clear that she wouldn't be able to face this creature alone, and she couldn't seem to revive Luz from her confused state as the human girl suddenly began to fight back against Amity's grasp. "Luz, stop!" There were tears filling Luz's eyes, but she seemed to be unable to grasp Amity's request. She dug into her pocket and pulled out a bottle, popping the stopper and watching a light blue smoke spit out of it for a moment. "What?!" she said aloud, surprised at the mind protection potion in her hand.

Luz tumbled over her, grasping for the potion and wrestling it free and splashing it over her own face. Amity dug into her pocket again to reveal Jinn's potion bottle. Luz shook her head to clear it after managing to swallow some of the protection potion. "Amity? What happened?"

Amity pulled the cork stopper from Jinn's bottle with her teeth and spat it out as the last of the evening's sunlight had nearly faded. "I'm sorry, Luz. I'm going to try doing better next time."

"What?" Luz asked, looking around at the battlefield as the purple and gold smoke poured out of the bottle and surrounded Amity.