"He's not wearing the mask…" Adrian Graye Vernworth, Head Witch of the Illusion Coven, whispered beneath his breath.
He and the other Coven Heads, as well as Kikimora, were kneeled before the emperor's throne. Without his mask, his displeasure was plain for any and all to see. The only thing missing from the scene was the kid Golden Guard.
"Head. Witches." Belos said, slowly and purposefully. His hands steepled in front of him, his elbows resting on the arms of the throne. "Tell me. When did you each last see the Golden Guard?"
The Coven Heads shared a look at the question. Was he accusing them of something? Each was unsure and unwilling to be the first to speak, lest Belos attack them for the disappearance of his golden pet.
Mason, the Head Witch of the Construction Coven, opened his mouth to speak, only to be interrupted by Terra, Head Witch of the Plant Coven.
"My lord! The last I saw of the Golden Guard, he was giving me my orders. Just inside the castle gates." she said without raising her head. "However, I must protest what I have been sent to gather–"
"Hmm." Belos hummed Terra into silence. "I can hazard a guess that each of you has a similar story of receiving your orders and then not seeing the Golden Guard after that?"
The silence of the Coven Heads told Belos all he needed to know.
"My Emperor…" Kikimora said, her chin slightly lifted until Belos' blue-eyed gaze turned it back down. "Has the Golden Guard gone missing? And do you believe that any of us are responsible for his disappearance?"
The other Coven Heads kept their heads bowed, but each of their faces grimaced at Kikimora's questions. She had asked what was on all of their minds, what they were afraid to say, lest Belos bring down his wrath upon them.
"Perceptive, Kikimora." Belos shifted back in his seat. "He is indeed missing. But, no, I do not believe any of you are responsible for his disappearance."
The Coven Heads let out quiet sighs of relief.
"However–" Belos said, cutting the sighs of relief short, "I do believe that your incompetence has allowed someone else to steal him from within these walls."
"Emperor Belos… who would want to steal the Golden Guard?" Osran said slowly, unsure if it was a proper question to ask.
"He's a bit of a brat, even compared to the last one! I say we let them–" Adrian said before being silenced by Belos' menacing glare.
"What do you wish of us, Emperor Belos?" Terra said, her tone even and deferential. It was a pleasing sound to the Emperor's ears, she was sure.
Belos snapped his fingers and a Scout emerged from the shadows, holding the Golden Guard's staff. He took it in his hand and turned it over, inspecting each facet of the gem in its head and the craftsmanship of the haft. "This staff has been wielded by several generations of Golden Guards. It is a symbol of authority, both within and without the Coven. And yet, with the Day of Reunion so close at hand, I wonder if the Golden Guard is even a necessary position?"
He sighed and placed the staff in his lap. "But I do not wish to abandon any who could be saved. Especially not my young nephew."
"So, to you all, I offer this: find the Golden Guard and his staff, and its ability to cast any magic, will be yours. This is, of course, on top of your existing orders; the materials for the Day of Reunion must be acquired if you wish to be saved."
"And with the staff," Terra said carefully, "will we also be granted the appropriate authority within the Coven?"
"You shall receive all that you deserve and more, Head Witch Snapdragon."
Pleased with the response, the Coven Heads stayed for a short while longer until they were dismissed by Belos. They quickly filed out and headed to the places where they would be able to complete their missions.
Except for Kikimora, who lingered just at the threshold of the throne room, as she often did, and listened to the Emperor's latest outburst at the nonexistent opponent he seemed to be in conflict with as of late.
Once upon a time, she thought she could use the information she learned from eavesdropping to further her career. Now, she was a pawn in a game between the Emperor and the Collector, and it was only a matter of time till she was taken off the board, whether because one discovered her true intentions or the other just got bored.
She hurried off down the hall, making for the secret exit she had spent weeks digging and rigging with a cover. No one would notice her leaving, slipping along the castle walls, and out into the stables, where she could find a surreptitious mount to abscond with.
Kikimora made her way to the meeting point she had been told to go to when the Collector had first roped her into his game: an abandoned cabin in the middle of the Rib Forest. Perhaps abandoned wasn't the right word, as she and the Collector met there on a regular basis. Though maybe it was apt, since it didn't seem to her that the Collector lived there in any capacity.
She always seemed to arrive just in time to meet with the Collector. They were never late, though that didn't stop him from trying to give her a fright by doing things like spinning around in chairs and walking out of side rooms that didn't exist while wearing a bathrobe.
This time was no exception.
"So, the new Grimwalker went missing…?" the Collector said, perched on what was once a kitchen counter. He flipped a coin while his face displayed his ever-present smug smile. "Interesting!"
"And you didn't–" Kikimora said before being interrupted.
"Oh, no no no!" the Collector waved their hand to emphasize the negativeness of that statement. "I didn't even know he existed. And I wanted mine and Philip's playdate to be something really special, so I haven't been paying attention to the castle. But now he's in the wide open world… and Luz hasn't ever met him…"
The Collector's grin grew slightly, showing just enough teeth to be obviously malicious.
"Collector, what are you planning now?" Kikimora asked.
"Hmm." the Collector held their hand to their chin and crossed their legs as they thought. "I think it's time I participated in that big scavenger hunt you told me about!"
"You mean the gathering of materials for the Day of Reunion?"
"Pfft! Ha!" the Collector laughed at the name Philip had chosen for his second attempt at casting the draining spell. He wiped a tear from his eye as they regained his composure. "Sorry, sorry… He just chooses the worst names for everything! But yeah! That!"
They began to float into the air as he giggled at the thought of surprising the Coven Heads in the midst of their hunts. "Oh, I can't wait to see the looks on their faces!" They turned mid-float and looked Kikimora directly in the eye, causing her to panic internally. "While I'm doing that, you need to go find where the other Grimwalker is! I'm not losing out on a chance to play with him! Philip got to destroy the others in so many varied ways, I want to do something really cool!"
Kikimora nodded, not speaking from fear. She knew the gist of the Collector's deal with the human and she also knew that she had not been kind to the human. She had no protection, except the whims of the Collector. And as long as she did what they asked, she was certain she was safe.
Hunter sat in the mess tent with his head in his hands. His plate of deviled potatoes sat there in front of him, barely touched even after ten minutes.
He had a lot on his mind at the moment. The new Grimwalker, who was also named Hunter for some reason, was at the forefront of his mind. Explaining how they worked would take time to ease him into, he hadn't taken the snippet of Hunter's own life well, as it stood.
"Yo!" Mattholomule's voice snapped Hunter out of his thoughts. The younger witch sat down at the table beside Hunter and placed his lunch tray on the table. "You overthinking your little brother?"
Hunter was about to respond, when Viney and Katya also sat down at the table.
"Hey, leave him alone, Matt." Viney said admonishingly.
Katya laughed. "Yeah, kid, leave the other kid alone. I'm sure everyone would be freaking out after finding out they had a little brother."
"It–" Hunter began, only to be interrupted by Mattholomule's retort.
"Hey! I'm just asking him!" Mattholomule turned back to Hunter with a serious look. "So, really, though, did your uncle never tell you about this kid? Seems weird."
"It's–" Hunter sighed. "It's a long story. Have you ever heard of–"
Hunter quieted himself and turned his head quickly. Flapjack hopped up onto the table with an indignant chirp, out of the lap where he had been sleeping, disturbed by Hunter's sudden movements. Hunter's stare was intense, right at the flap of the mess tent behind and to his right.
"Uh, you ok, Hunter?" Viney asked, her spoon of deviled potatoes paused halfway to her mouth and her eyebrow cocked.
It took Hunter several seconds to respond, during which time Mattholomule downed his entire plate of food and Katya had begun to eat her sandwich. Viney had placed her spoon back down, concerned by their team's nominal leader's odd reaction to seemingly nothing.
"It felt like someone was watching us." Hunter finally said, his voice just above a whisper.
Mattholomule burped and said "There's lots of people watching us, Hunter. We're the best team this rebellion has ever seen!" He hooked his thumb towards the serving counter, where other rebellion members were getting their lunches. "Also Amber. I think she's still mad about what I did on beeloaf night."
From behind the serving counter, Amber locked eyes with Mattholomule. She pointed two fingers at her squinted eyes, then pointed those fingers at Mattholomule as if to say 'I'm watching you.'
Mattholomule averted his gaze and shivered.
"No, I think Hunter's right, Matt." Viney said, lowering her voice to the same level as Hunter. "Puddles keeps getting antsy during mission briefings. She normally loves listening to plans."
"So, what are you thinking?" Katya said between bites of her sandwich.
"It could just be anxiety over some of our recent missions," Hunter said, keeping his voice low, "or it could be something more serious. A traitor, or a mole, or something worse."
"If it's so serious, maybe we should tell Raine–" Katya said.
"Tell me what?" Raine said, popping up behind Katya with a plate in their hands and a slightly concerned smile on their face.
"I think the rebellion has a traitor." Hunter said plainly.
Terra Snapdragon was cold. Mostly, that came from standing in the snow on the Knee, but more specifically from her refusing to don any kind of warm clothes.
"It can't be that cold!" she had said to the Scout who had insisted. "Surely, it's an exaggeration?"
And now she was ankle deep in snow, the only warmth coming from several layers of plants she had cloaked herself in, plus a pair of ear mufflers generously provided by the concerned Scouts.
Well, they had it at first and now Terra had it. Whether they had provided consent wasn't really important in the grand scheme of things.
"Ugh! Why is it still so cold!" Terra said through shivering teeth. She called over to the Scout in charge "Captain! Are we any closer to the mine?"
The Scout Captain, a bear of a demon whose cloak barely fit over his massive furry body, turned and saluted the Coven Head he had been assigned to. "Yes, Head Witch! We are getting closer every minute. We're lucky this vein was already found by Kikimora, it really sped up our search."
"Yes, Kikimora. " Terra spat out.
"Remind me, what exactly are we hoping to find in this vein, Head Witch?" the Captain asked. Terra could tell he was freshly promoted– most of the Scout Captains were, seeing as how many of them had been taken down by the sabotage during the Day of Unity.
"Titan's Vein Ore, Captain." Terra said. "It's supposed to be impervious to magical tampering. Though why we had to come all the way out here instead of digging any old hole in the ground is beyond me!"
"How, exactly, are we supposed to mine it, anyways?"
"The old fashioned way, Captain: without magic."
One of the Scouts assigned to mining duty came running up the hill while the two talked. She clutched a pickaxe in one hand and her cloak was covered in scuffs and dirt.
"Head Witch! Captain! We found an entrance to the vein!"
"Finally." Terra said. "Let's inspect the vein, Captain."
Terra and a small group of Scouts, which included the Captain, made their way into the discovered entrance to the vein. One by one, they dropped down into the vein on vines conjured by Terra's magic.
Once inside, the Scouts began to set up lights and lanterns to illuminate the nearly pitch black space. Other Scouts ferried mining tools down the vines into the vein. Terra and the Captain, meanwhile, began to use the slowly increasing light level to inspect the vein.
"I don't know much about Titan's Vein Ore, Head Witch. Are we looking at a good source?" the Captain asked.
"How should I know? I'm the Head of the Plant Coven, not the Mining Coven." Terra snapped, still frosty from the cold outside. She quickly regained her composure and retrieved the orders she had been given. "According to this, as long as there are not any significant deposits of Fool's Blood in the area, it should be fine to excavate."
Terra snapped her fingers at the nearest Scout and ordered them about. "You! Organize a search party. I want to know if there are any Fool's Blood pockets in the area." The Scout saluted, then ran off to fulfill the orders.
"Now then, the rest of you, start mining! Emperor Belos wants a great deal of this Ore and you do not want me to disappoint him!"
Terra's presence was commanding, even more so than the nominal actual commander of the Scouts. The furry Captain stood around awkwardly, while Terra continued to inspect the orders for any additional issues.
After a minute or so, Terra looked up from the paper to look at the Captain, who was rocked back and forth on his rear paws, whistling a tune out of boredom.
"Captain?" Terra asked, pouring sugar into her words.
"Yes, Head Witch!" the Captain said as he snapped to attention.
"GET TO WORK!" Terra shouted, her visage growing fearsome due to the assistance of freshly conjured plants. The Captain got the message loud and clear and ran off to grab a pickaxe and start mining with his tail firmly between his legs.
Terra shook her head in annoyance. "Honestly, are any of these Scouts even remotely competent?"
Her annoyance was broken by one of the Scouts she had sent out to inspect the area returning. He lazily snapped a salute to the Head Witch before proceeding with his report.
"Miss Snapdragon! We found something you might want to take a look at!"
"Of course. Why can't everything go smoothly?" Terra grumbled as she packed away her orders. She gestured for the Scout to show the way. "Well, let's see whatever this is, then."
Terra and the Scout headed down one of the tunnels, the Scout carrying one of the spare lanterns to illuminate the path.
As they left, a witch stripped down to his boxers and binder ran out of one of the other tunnels, frantically looking around for the thief that had stolen his uniform.
Terra and the Scout walked down the dark vein tunnel. It was taking long enough for Terra to start getting annoyed. Not that that took much effort.
"How much farther until we reach… whatever it is you found?"
"It's right up here." the Scout said without turning his head back to look at Terra. Then, suddenly, he stopped. "We're here."
Terra looked around in confusion. "There's nothing here?"
"Look closer…" the Scout said as he crouched down beside a large bead-like rock formation. He pointed at the formation, resting the lantern on the ground next to it to better illuminate it. "This is Fool's Blood. The whole vein is lousy with it."
"Tch!" Terra clicked her tongue in frustration. "That means the Vein Ore we harvest might be poor quality… we'll have to find another vein."
"That's not all." the Scout said gravely, drawing back up to his full height, which was curiously still shorter than Terra. She could have sworn none of the Scouts on the mission were shorter than her…
"What else is wrong?" Terra said exasperatedly, throwing up her hands.
The Scout turned and kicked the Fool's Blood deposit in one smooth motion, causing the vein to shudder around them. Terra looked up and around as she tried to brace herself on the rapidly crumbling wall. She turned to look directly at the Scout.
She didn't have time to catch their sly smile beneath the mask before they ripped off the Scout's uniform to reveal his bi-colored skin and white hair. And she certainly didn't have time to do much more than widen her eyes in shock before the floor of the vein gave out and set her plummeting into a seemingly bottomless pit.
The Collector, for their part, was surprised to see Terra catch herself on the jagged walls of the pit using her plant magic. She was dangling there from the edge while the Collector looked on from above.
"Wow! You're pretty tenacious." the Collector said with a laugh. "Kinda like a weed! Ha! Maybe I should call you 'Weed Lady'!"
"Human!" Terra said between gasps of air, her lungs working overtime after the shock had knocked the wind out of her. "What is the meaning of this?!"
"Uh, no, I'm The Collector. I guess we never got to meet?" the Collector shrugged as they spoke. "That's kinda sad."
Terra began to carefully test the reach and grip of her vines in order to climb up the pit. "You know, Human, the Emperor has a very large bounty on your head. Yet how is it that you have not been apprehended yet?"
The Collector rested his hands behind their head. "I dunno. Maybe it's just because you guys are so slow? Or maybe I don't want to be caught yet? It could be anything, really!" His musings were interrupted by the sound of Terra's exertion as she tried to keep herself steady on the walls of the pit.
"Oh, no, sorry!" They poked the air, generating a constellation and tossing it down into the pit with ease.
It passed over Terra, whereupon the vines she had wrapped herself in to climb began to wilt and wither away. She scrambled to hug the closest hand holds with her arms, which were painfully unused to clinging for their lives from the side of a bottomless pit.
The Collector covered his mouth and giggled. "Yeah, you aren't going to need any of that anymore! Besides, I caught you, which means I get to decide what happens now!"
"W-what's going to happen to me?" Terra said, unsteadily trying to maintain her composure.
"Hmmm… I think I'll fix up this hole and leave you here." the Collector said nonchalantly. "Then I'll deliver your haul of this Ore stuff. Imagine Philip's face when I'm the one who completes his scavenger hunt before his lackeys!"
"Wha-who is Philip?" Terra said, confused.
"Oh, right, he's still keeping that secret?" the Collector said off-handedly as they began to weave a new constellation pattern. "You guys probably know him as Belos, but basically he hates you and everything you like. He's also a no-good promise-breaker!" They huffed as they said the last sentence.
"Emperor… Belos…?" Terra said haltingly. She could hardly believe what the human was saying; the Emperor hated his subjects? That's preposterous!
"Hey, on the bright side!" the Collector said as he activated the constellation pattern and wiped it over the space where the ground had opened. "You get to die alone slowly and painlessly instead of quickly and painfully!"
"Wha–?" Terra began to say, before the realization hit her. The floor of the vein was growing back somehow, rapidly shrouding Terra in darkness once more. Only the faintest stretches of lantern light continued to stream into the rapidly sealing space.
Adrenaline surged through her body, even as her magic failed her. She tried to propel herself up to the closing gap in the floor as fast as she could, but it was to no avail. Just as she reached it, the last bits of light vanished and her hands felt only cold stone.
She was trapped, alone, beneath one of the Titan's veins. Who knew how long her air would last? Would her arms or her mind give out before that?
She had all the time in the world to think about that. And to regret her actions.
If only she had listened to Raine…
In a room at the top of the tallest tower in the Emperor's castle, Osran sat amid a clutter of various divination instruments. His hands were each placed on a different crystal ball, five in total, as his eyes were rolled back in their sockets, seeing beyond himself.
In addition to the divination tools, various take-out boxes were strewn about, many of their contents half-eaten and lukewarm at best. On the wall, a calendar with various dates circled blew gently as the oracle energies surrounding Osran kicked up a gentle breeze around the room.
A ding rang out and Osran's eyes rolled back into place. He blinked twice, then turned to one of the five crystal balls he had been reading. It showed a familiar boy, roughly the height of a twelve-year-old, with blonde hair and a plain cloak, crouched in a tent beside a cot. There was a tray of food on the bed, but it didn't look like it had been touched.
Osran's efforts had finally paid off. He had found the Golden Guard!
Or, at least, the general area where he was located.
Probably.
Regardless, Osran readied his cloak and his portable crystal ball and hurried out the door, as fast as his legs could take him.
As he passed a Scout on the way down the stairs, he said "Inform the Emperor I have found the Golden Guard!" He didn't stop to make sure the Scout registered his comment.
Osran hurried to the stables and picked the fastest sky-mount he could find. On the back of a feisty griffon, he flew over the outer walls of the castle and headed for the location he had divined.
"If my vision is correct…" Osran mused to himself, allowing the griffon to do most of the maneuvering, "the Golden Guard is located in the heart of the rebellion's camp. That won't be easy to infiltrate… I almost wish Adrian was here right now."
Osran laughed at the thought of that blowhard helping him with anything this delicate. While he continued to muse and think, his griffon gradually lowered its altitude until it was just barely skimming the treetops. He paid it no mind, as griffons were wont to eccentric flight patterns.
He didn't realize something was amiss until the griffon dropped out of the sky.
Osran groaned as he pulled himself out from under the griffon's body. His crystal ball necklace had been completely shattered in the crash. He inspected the beast carefully; he was no beast keeping witch, but even he could tell sudden rigor mortis was not normal in the slightest.
"Hmph!" Osran harrumphed. "I guess I'll just have to walk the rest of the way. Titan protect my bones…"
"I'll keep an eye on them, if you want!" a chipper voice said from behind Osran, surprising him. He turned, finding himself confused face to smiling face with an odd bi-colored girl.
"Who are you? What are you doing out in the woods all alone?" Osran asked. They were perfectly reasonable questions for anyone to ask in the situation he was in. More importantly, he had to tread carefully, lest this child be an agent of the rebellion. Osran was a capable fighter, but not with his hands.
"Oh, you know, just passing through." The girl seemed to stalk around Osran, making him turn to follow their movements. "I was on my way to meet a friend of mine when you crashed out of the sky!"
"Oh, really? Well, it's kind of you to come and assist me." Osran said, putting on a kindly tone. "Say, you wouldn't happen to know where the nearest campground is, would you? I'm trying to meet a friend of my own there."
"Oh, no, I have no idea!" the Collector said with a chipper tone. "Actually, when I saw you flying over, I decided we needed to play together!"
"Play? Sorry, but I'm afraid–"
"Oh! Don't worry!" the Collector said, interrupting Osran's thought. The Collector held one of their fingers with just his thumb, evidently getting ready to flick Osran directly in the forehead. The Collector's eyes glowed slightly as his smile grew wicked.
"We'll play a quick game…"
The last thing Osran did before his body was strewn across the empty forest in a dozen pieces was cock his eye brow in confusion. His last thought was something along the lines of "What kind of ridiculous game involves flicking someone in the head?"
Hunter wasn't sure if he was even real right now.
He had heard the other Hunter's story, which the other witches had believed was just a simple life story, but Hunter recognized it as the exact same story that Belos had told him when he had found him, down to the destroyed village and all. He was just a replacement for the him that had betrayed Belos once before.
But there was something else that the other Hunter was holding back. A part of the story that would make it all make sense. There was no chance Hunter was the other Hunter's little brother, the resemblance was too uncanny.
He looked up to the sound of a chirp from the entrance to the tent. It hadn't been sealed, but a powerless witch like Hunter couldn't make it past so many rebels safely.
Standing at the entrance to the tent with a slightly sad look on his face was the other Hunter. On his shoulder was a cardinal, its wood grained feathers clearly marking it as a palismen of some kind. If Hunter remembered correctly, it had been the head of the staff the other Hunter had ridden on when they kidnapped him.
Hunter curled up a bit tighter into a ball while the other Hunter walked over to inspect his cot. The cardinal palismen hopped down in front of Hunter, evidently giving him a look over.
The other Hunter sighed exasperatedly. "Come on, Hunter, you've got to eat something." He was clearly referring to the full tray of food that he had left on his cot.
"Not hungry…" Hunter grumbled into his knees. He was lying, obviously. He hadn't eaten since before they had kidnapped him and even that had been light.
"Nice try. Here," the other Hunter said as he dropped a muffin from the tray into Hunter's hands, "this is the best thing here. You'll want your strength."
"It's not poisoned." the other Hunter added after a moment. As if to confirm the fact, the cardinal palismen bit off a chunk of the muffin and pretended to eat it. The other Hunter chuckled as he watched this play out. "Flapjack, leave his food alone."
Hunter stared at the muffin, almost willing it to disappear, along with the other Hunter and the entire rebellion camp. If they didn't exist–
"My Uncle told me the best Scouts don't need food. They can survive on the Titan's beneficence alone." Hunter said, focusing his mind on the moment.
"Yeah. I bet he did." The other Hunter's tone was almost nostalgic now. "He told me the same thing, back then. But we've got to eat, same as any other witch."
Hunter glared up at the other Hunter. " We? What makes you so special?"
"Something I wish didn't make me special." the other Hunter said, slumping down onto the floor beside Hunter. "We– I'm a copy of someone that Belos… got rid of a long time ago. He looked a lot like me."
Hunter caught that slip of the tongue, but bit his own and let the other Hunter keep talking.
"And imagine my surprise when it turns out there were a lot of people just like me! They all served Belos, they all served him as his Golden Guards."
"'Were'?" Hunter said without thinking.
"Darius' mentor was one of them." the other Hunter continued. "He was the Golden Guard before me. And, if I had to guess, you are the Golden Guard after me."
Hunter looked down, away from the other Hunter's gaze for a moment.
"Uncle never said what happened to the last Golden Guard…" Hunter said quietly. "I heard he went missing."
"I had a good friend who encouraged me to get out of the Coven, and a sister who pushed me. I guess I did go missing, after I found out everything." The other Hunter let out a little laugh. Hunter could tell from looking at him that the other Hunter was hiding pain behind his expression. Flapjack, the cardinal, hopped up onto the other Hunter's shoulder and touched his head to the other Hunter's cheek.
The other Hunter turned and looked Hunter directly in the eye with a serious expression. "I've had more time to come to terms with this stuff than you do. I'd understand if you want to run away, back to Belos. But I can't let you, not to him. For my own peace of mind, if nothing else."
Hunter looked down at the muffin in his hands. His stomach growled.
"I want to hear more about the Golden Guards…" Hunter said after he swallowed a bite of muffin.
The other Hunter's expression softened. "Of course. But first, I need to ask you something about the Coven's operations…"
"For the love of the Titan! Where is this place?!"
Adrian Graye Vernworth was absolutely livid and his disheveled hair only added to his annoyances.
They had passed through three ravines, six haunted forests, and two overtly creepy but ultimately mundane graveyards, but they were no closer to finding the location of the Looking Glass Graveyard.
"Perhaps we should head back, Head Witch?" the Scout Captain said. She was of average height and build for a witch, while her mask was decorated with a golden filigree along the bottom and her hood was similarly decorated with golden filigree. "It's starting to get dark, and the legends–"
"Bah!" Adrian exclaimed, slapping the Captain's spear-stave out of her hand then pointing in her face. "I have notes on your performance so far! Would you like to hear them? I'm sure you'll run in tears like all the others!"
He wasn't lying. It was the Captain's job to find the route through to this treasure, but she had done nothing but get them lost time and time again. And Adrian's notes had indeed sent each of the other Scouts that had been accompanying them running off, probably back to their mothers, because they were all hacks who couldn't do anything properly!
"Head Witch." the Captain said patiently. "I am only here to help you. We have been following your directions this entire time."
"Tsk tsk tsk." Adrian shook his head in disappointment. "That is clearly the wrong answer, Captain. The best of my entourage should know how to properly interpret my instructions, even when they are vague and unclear!" He stopped walking to strike a pose on a nearby rock, pointing off in a random direction. "Now, please, find me the spookiest graveyard in the Isles! Surely that will be the Looking Glass Graveyard!"
The Captain sighed. "Yes, Head Witch." She began to walk off towards the nearest town, where they could get a map and hopefully directions.
"And while you do that, I think I'll take a rest here." Adrian said, twirling his finger to summon a chair to sit in and a cup of coffee. He settled into the chair with a satisfied sigh. "All that yelling wore out my throat. Can't properly direct if I don't lubricate my tools, right?"
"What kind of tools do you oil with coffee?" a chipper voice said from beside him, causing Adrian to spit out the coffee he had begun to drink.
"What the–?! Who are you?!" Adrian said as he twisted to look at the new figure. They were clad in a starry purple cloak and their skin appeared to be divided between yellow and blue. "Are you one of the new Scouts? Finally!" Adrian settled back into his chair and began to sip his coffee again.
"Uh, yep! I'm a new Scout! Here to help you with… what are we doing out here?"
"Hm, you must be quite new if you haven't even been fitted for a cloak and mask." Adrian said as he looked the new Scout up and down. "Oh, never mind that. None of the help I've had so far is useful in the slightest, so you couldn't hardly be the worst to use."
"Uh…?" The new Scout looked confused. Typical.
Adrian sighed. "We are looking for the Looking Glass Graveyard, Scout. Believed to be the last resting place of the Galdorstones, powerful magical artifacts that Emperor Belos needs for the Day of Reunion. And I have been given the responsibility of locating them!"
The new Scout seemed like they were stifling a laugh, but quickly regained their composure. "The Looking Glass Graveyard, you say? Well it just so happens that I know exactly where that is!"
"Good! Finally an assistant who actually knows what they are doing!" Adrian stood up and uncast the spell that had conjured the chair and coffee. "Show me where this graveyard is, assistant!"
"It's right through here…" the new Scout said, ducking underneath a moss-covered log, their voice quickly fading out of earshot.
Adrian shrugged and ducked under the log as well, parting the moss with his hand. As he passed through, he found himself not on the other side of the log, but in a black void.
"Tch, we must be near an active vein of Titan's Blood. All this wild magic messing with my senses."
He rubbed his eyes and the void disappeared, but it was not replaced by the wilderness. This time it appeared to be a stage of some kind. And the spotlight was shining solely on him.
"This is quite the sophisticated wild illusion. But even the Titan can't defeat the strongest Illusionist on the Boiling Isles!" Adrian spun a spell circle to dispel the illusion surrounding him right now, but as he completed it, it fizzled out.
He shook his head and tried again to the same result.
"No no no!" He tried again and again and again, repeatedly producing no results every time. "What is going on?!"
"MacBolgia! Why'est thou runneth from thy duties?" a gruff voice said, their speech reminiscent of an old-timey speaker, or…
"Forsooth, MacBolgia, we'est must return to the castle. Forsake these three crones! They spit only lies!" another voice, belonging to a wooden statue of a witch on a snorse.
"No! Not this!" Adrian shouted into the void. "I dealt with this enough in school! I'm a reality drama director! Let me out of here!"
He tried repeatedly, in vain, to escape the illusion, but it was to no avail.
Meanwhile, outside the illusion, the Captain returned to the clearing holding a map and freshly-filled canteens. "Head Witch? I found directions to the graveyard! Head Witch? Where are you?"
She began to search, eventually wandering off when she could not find the pretentious prima donna director of a Coven Head. A shame she failed to check behind the large rock that had been moved in front of a moss covered log.
Behind which the comatose body of Adrian Graye Vernworth lay, intermittently convulsing as he repeatedly tried and failed to break out of his own mind.
Mason stood atop the walls of the Emperor's castle, carefully inspecting the progress of the newest fortifications. Dozens of Construction Coven members hurried about with one task or another; some were building scaffolding to higher levels of the walls, while others laid stones to bolster the wall, and others still cut the wood and stone with their magic to the specifications that Mason had established per the Emperor's instructions.
It was all a well-oiled magical machine, not a piece out of place.
Except the scrap of cloth that Mason held in his hand. One of the transporters had found it on a crane whose rope had broken, near a pile of scattered materials.
In any other situation, he would assume such an incident was due to improper or rushed work causing such tools to become overstressed and lose their integrity. But a closer inspection of the broken crane had revealed the rope had been cut clean, indicating foul play.
It could be any number of people on the Isles. The Covens weren't exactly the most popular institution at the moment. Even Mason had his doubts about Emperor Belos' claims of sabotage during the Day of Unity, and the speed at which he planned this 'Day of Reunion' was suspicious.
But Mason was a Coven Head, and unlike the rebels who had fled after the Day of Unity, he did not want to sew division among the people of the Boiling Isles. They needed strong leadership to move forward and usher in true peace and prosperity, and he knew Belos was the strongest witch on the Isles, with the most authority and legacy. Who else could lead the Isles?
He turned the scrap of cloth over in his hand, carefully feeling the texture of the cloth. He was more comfortable working with rough-hewn stone and wood than cloth, but even he could tell it was a fine fabric. Similar to the cloaks used by Scouts and official Coven cloaks.
Could whoever had kidnapped the Golden Guard been a member of the Coven? But why would they have cut the crane line? Unless the kidnapper did not have magic of their own. That would assuredly narrow the list of viable suspects.
The prime suspect, in that case, would be–
"Hey there! Wanna play a–"
Mason drew his hammer and swung it around his body in one fluid motion. His foot followed the path of his body and planted on the other side in a wide stance to increase the power of his swing.
Which the Collector ducked underneath.
"Woah! Wow, that was some serious power!" the Collector said as they popped back up. "Anyways, I just wanted to play a–"
Mason didn't allow them to finish their sentence, taking the momentum of his swing and continuing it into an uppercut that collided directly with the Collector's chin. The force of his power glyph-enhanced hammer strike sent the Collector tumbling through the air towards the space above the moat, where he would fall in and no longer trouble the Covens.
Until he started floating in midair.
"Wow! Forget what I wanted to play, let's play your game!" the Collector said, buzzing with excitement as he floated in mid air.
He spun in the air before launching a dropkick at Mason from several dozen feet above Mason with a "Here! We! Gooo!"
Mason braced his body, tracing a spell circle with his foot to encase his legs in stone connected to the castle wall and enhance his already formidable stability.
The Collector's kick collided with Mason's crossed arms, trying in vain to crush Mason beneath the pressure of the attack. However, the battlement beneath Mason quickly compressed into a crater around him from the aftershock.
Mason threw out his arms, knocking the Collector away, and grabbed the Collector by his leg. He followed the grapple with a downward swing, as if he was striking an anvil with his hammer. His whole body twisted with the motion.
The Collector, for their part, responded with a kick to Mason's face with his free leg, but Mason took the strike to the chin in stride.
The Collector's body collided with the battlements, creating another crater, knocking the wind out of the Collector, and blowing the crenellations off the wall to rain down on the Construction and Emperor's Coven members who were enthralled by Mason and the Collector's brawl.
While the Collector laid on the battlements, trying to recover their breath, Mason spun his magic and encased them in stone restraints that completely restricted their movements and speech.
He breathed a sigh of relief.
It was a much better outcome than the last time he had fought the Collector. He wouldn't be getting out of those restraints for sure. All Mason needed to do now was contact the Emperor–
"You're the strong, silent type, aren't ya? That's fun! Compared to the others who would not stop talking!"
Mason turned and raised his hammer to strike again, recognizing the Collector's voice. He may have thought he had captured the Collector, but it paid to be prudent, especially with such a slippery opponent.
But no matter how hard he tried, he couldn't move his arm to finish the swing. The Collector was right there in front of him, smiling with his whole face. But Mason couldn't move.
Was it fear, seeing how easily this being seemed to toy with him? Maybe the Collector was using strange magic to freeze him? Or they had a collaborator who was holding him in place with their magic?
"You had your turn being the strong one! Now I'm it."
The Collector's eyes glowed as he booped Mason on the forehead.
At first, nothing felt different, aside from a slight pressure on his forehead. Then, Mason found himself hurtling into the moat surrounding the castle.
With his last breath, before he hit the water at terminal velocity, he uttered one word, full of regret, sadness, and a general wish for a chance to do it all over again. To have not been the Head Witch of the Construction Coven and pursue his passions through his magic.
It was a bitter wish in his final moments, but even the dying may dream of an eternal life before they pass. And for that alternate eternity, before his body turned to chum in the water, Mason was happy.
"Good job team!" Hunter said, proudly standing beside his team while Darius carried away the traitor they had caught for a lengthy interrogation.
"Ugh, that fight was exhausting!" Mattholomule said, pushing a crick out of his back. "I think I'm gonna go sleep forever. See you guys tomorrow."
"I've got to hand it to you, Hunter, that plan was ingenious." Katya said, mildly impressed with their team leader. "It allowed us to find, corner, and capture the mole with inspired efficiency."
"But Matt's right." Viney said as she petted Puddles. "If someone was writing that entire sequence of events, it might fill up several pages from how complex it was. And I can't imagine what it would cost to see it in an animation!"
"Alright, that's enough you heroes. It's almost sundown. You should get some rest." Raine said with a chuckle as they approached the victorious rebels. Katya and Viney obliged their leader and headed off to the tents. As Hunter turned to leave, Raine touched his shoulder, causing him to pause and turn back.
"Hunter, I want to thank you for discovering the traitor."
"It's, well, nothing. Really!" Hunter twirled his thumbs. "I just had a hunch and talking to the other Hunter confirmed that hunch. If you should be thanking anyone, it's him."
Raine nodded slightly. "How is he doing?"
"He's eating. And I think he'll be staying for a little while longer."
"If he's staying, then you've got to watch him, Hunter!" Darius said as he appeared out of a puddle of abomination goop on the ground. "And before you ask, Hettie and Eber are dealing with the traitor."
"Good." Raine said. "With that taken care of, we should be able to operate with more impunity. Fewer chances for the Coven to intercept our plans and assault our teams."
"We might even be able to start a PR push." Darius conjured a piece of parchment from his abomination goop. "I've written up a list of acceptable names to call–"
"Raine! Darius!" a dark-haired, bespectacled witch shouted as he ran up to the rebellion leaders.
"Derwin? What's wrong?" Hunter said while Derwin paused to catch his breath.
"It's all over the news! The other Coven Heads are turning up dead!"
"Oh dear." Raine's face blanched as they looked from Derwin to Darius and back. "We need to see this. Hunter, go make sure Hunter is ok." Darius and Raine followed Derwin to the communications tent in the Rebellion camp, while Hunter headed to the other Hunter's makeshift detention tent to help him move over to his tent.
Kikimora watched closely from the treeline just outside the Rebellion camp. Based on what the Scout who had passed Osran had said, he had been headed in this direction after discovering the location of the new Golden Guard.
Kikimora was not surprised to find that the rebellion were the ones holding the boy, though she doubted that they were the ones who had kidnapped him from the castle. She had experience with Golden Guards and she knew they were strong-willed and not prone to taking orders to stay still well.
But now that she could see the former Golden Guard walking away from Raine and Darius, she saw her chance to find the Golden Guard, win back the last vestiges of her respect in the Coven, and maybe even convince Emperor Belos to spare her during the Day of Reunion.
All she had to do was find the Golden Guard and then–
"And then what?"
Kikimora practically jumped out of her skin at the sudden voice from behind her. She turned to see the Collector standing over her. Their smile was attempting to be friendly, but to Kikimora, who knew what he was capable of, it was the source of a significant amount of anxiety.
"Collector! W-what are you doing here? Aren't we supposed to meet at the meeting place?"
"Eh, maybe. But I got bored! I exhausted all my other playmates, so I wanted to see what you were doing."
"I-I-I…"
"Did you find the Grimwalker?" The Collector took a long, hard look at Kikimora's nervous face. She was keeping her mouth shut, regardless of what she knew. "You did, didn't you! And you weren't going to tell your best friend? I'm ashamed to call you a friend, Kiki."
"But, Collector! I was going to tell you, once I found where he was hiding!"
"Yeah, right. You probably just want to help Philip play with him some more." the Collector pouted. His face lit up as his attitude turned on a dime. "How about we play some hide-and-seek!"
"H-hide-and-s-seek?" Kikimora gulped.
"Yeah! You know where the Grimwalker is, so I'll give you a head start. You go find him, while I try to find you!"
"And, what happens if you catch me before I find him?"
"I dunno. Depends on how fast you are."
The Collector's smile grew in equal step with Kikimora's dread. They spun on his heel and covered their eyes, then began to count up. Kikimora realized this was her head start, regardless of how prepared she was.
She turned and ran into the rebellion's camp, trying to put as much distance and obstacles as she could between herself and the Collector. If she was lucky, she would find the Golden Guard soon. But if she couldn't…
She didn't want to think about that right now. If nothing else, maybe she could convince the rebellion to offer her safety by sharing the Emperor's plans.
Luz floated in a malaise. As she had been forced to watch more and more death through her own eyes by her own hands, the comforts of the space, her memories of home, had begun to fade away. Until she was as she is now, floating in a space of stars, barely aware of her surroundings.
She could hear a droning noise in the background of the space. It made it so hard to think.
Every time she tried to remember her life in the Human Realm, she could feel the sound grow louder. And yet, it was like it wasn't actually a real sound.
But, then, nothing in this space seemed real.
The only thing that kept her grounded was the Collector's promise to Amity. That Luz would see her batata again. They would hug, and kiss, and go on the most mundane, slice-of-life date the Demon Realm had ever seen.
Luz longed to see her green hair one more time… or was it purple?
She had just seen it. How could she forget her girlfriend's pulled back purple hair?
She could hear a voice, at the edge of her perception. It was loud like a whisper, reaching out of the noise in the background. "–z. Luz? Are you ready to play?" the voice said.
She could just barely muster the energy for a nod.