Bong.

Bong.

Bong.

The execution block echoed with the ominous cymbal. Few had come to witness the sentence. And those that did just wanted to see the criminal done. A box covered in chains was shaking and growling, next to the Weeping Witch statue, and a small biped demoness, about the height of a child, with hair that looked like a hand. Higher above them still, sat the Emperor, and the young boy Hunter.

The demoness stepped forward and cleared her throat.

"It is on this setting sun, in the 34th Day of Nergal, that we condemn this, criminal creature," she spoke with particular venom on the previous words, "For the acts of impersonation of a coven official, the murder of him, his children-"

An unearthly squeal and chattering noise was heard from the box as it bounced about. Hunter grew nervous as the demoness continued louder.

"And 86 Coven Soldiers, you are condemned to eternal petrification. May your agonizing final moments give reflection to our flock on the necessity of honesty, and the all-encompassing power, of our dear Emperor."

The demoness concluded and nodded to a soldier who, with a long hooked stick, and shivering in fear, gently guided the end towards a small latch on the box. It shook about ferociously, until the first tap on the latch, and then stopped completely. The solider looked back at the demoness, and she nodded slowly as he worked the latch open, which blew open as a long spindly arm shot out and clawed at the air with sharp nails, just in front of the soldier, taken with fear as this freaky arm creature. The demoness laughed quietly, and turned to signal the cue to start the process. The eyes of the Witches glowed green and fired their sickly ray into the cage. A cry of pain and child-like sobbing could be heard from the box as the beam covered the inside, and then there was nothing to hear. The box stopped moving. The soldiers began to move forward, but the demoness raised her hand to stop them. Hunter looked on curious. He'd never seen a changeling in its original form before, and if the ceremony worked he'd be able to see it himself. The Demoness stared at the box, then let her men move towards it. They got to the box, tapped on its sides, and heard nothing. A glance inside showed nothing. The men faced battlestaffs at the box, charges ready, as others undid the chains about the box,

To which the entire box jumped in the air, revealing a tunnel of serrated teeth underneath, that immediately snapped shut on the head of an unfortunate Coven Soldier.

"SECURE THE BEAST! ALL AVAILABLE MEN TO THE EXECUTION BLOCK!"

The demoness's orders were drowned out by the beast, gnashing its many teeth, impaling what men it could get its hands on. It swallowed men and pieces of wood, and spat out parts of both to thin the crowd. And then, it twisted itself. Not a head, it didn't have a head, but if it had, that's what would have twisted from the box. And it was twisting towards the boy.

Hunter took a step back as it leaped in the air, hissing and spitting, a maelstrom of bloody teeth about to pounce, as the young boy screamed.

"Stop."

The words froze the scene in excruciating silence, the beast mid-strike. Hunter looked up, and then at the Emperor, stepping towards him. He quickly adjusted himself and kneeled.

"Forgive me my Emperor, I should not have shown fear at illusions."

"It IS a justifiable fear. That said, perhaps in the future when you gaze upon a such a monster you'll do the smart thing and jump to avoid, rather than cower in acceptance of fate."

Hunter nodded. There was no need to emphasize further on the importance of defying fate.

"Tell me, what did you gather from what you saw?"

Hunter thought, and he looked at the beast, then back down on the execution block, and around to the square below of people running.

"Changelings are able to transform not simply into witchenkind forms, or beasts, but any object of any size, regardless of density, size and shape."

"Almost correct. They aren't able to transform into Orichalcum, but that wouldn't have been apparent to you with just this recording. What else?"

"The, size of their shape doesn't apply to rules on equivalence or matter. Savage Magic, I would assume."

"Correct. Their density is able to shift to any form they please, as well as whatever weight they require. This is how a spindly but aggressive execution box can leap into the air like a tiger. Now, what else?"

"They are…immune to petrification."

"Our soldiers learned this the hard way. What else?"

Hunter studied the creature further. The guards, the demoness,

"Wait, is this-"

"Kikimora, yes. She's served me for many years in many seats, but that's not what I'm asking you. What else is there?"

Hunter continued to study the dock and the box, and the stand, and as much as it pained him, he knew delaying it would only make it hurt.

"Forgive me, Emperor, but I do not know the answer."

The Emperor grumbled, and adjusted the illusion down to the ground, to the screaming crowd, frozen in that terrible day. The faces were curled in fear, as they ran for the exit. Some were looking back, some were just running, and a child was crying, left behind in the chaos. It was hard to watch, but Hunter still couldn't see what the Emperor wanted him t-.

Hunter did a double take. He gazed upon that face of a man, running through the crowd, panic in his eyes, and a spark of familiarity in Hunter's. He stepped back, scanned the crowd again, and realized, this 'man', was in the crowd three times. And not just him but his clothes, his expressions, the stain on his shirt.

"They're-"

"Crafty. It seems the Changeling was not alone in its final moments. We reviewed the footage a few days later, and our Finetooth Scryers picked up the information. A raid on the poor man's house found him dead for days, and two, perhaps even three, MORE Changelings were noted, but missing."

"But I thought that Changelings,"

"Are aggressive. territorial, and unable to cooperate. For the most part, that has been true of them. But these two, or three, and their 'co-being', defied that principle. Exceptions to the rules, are the only rules one can really keep with a changeling." Emperor Belos then extended his hand. "Now give me your arm so that you may remember this well."

Hunter tensed but offered his arm nonetheless, rolling up his sleeve to reveal bruises and welt. The Emperor gripped the boy's arm, and with a quick swipe, struck his arms with two fingers from his other hand. The sting was sharp and intense, but thankfully over.

"Th-thank you, Emperor."

"You're welcome, Hunter. Now, there is one more lesson to be had with this creature." Emperor Belos returned the two to the podium, where sat the Emperor; the Emperor from the past. The Real Belos motioned Hunter to his side, and gazed intense hate at the Changeling, before turning to his younger self and the beast, and saying "Go."

The scene and screams returned, as the beast lunged at the Emperor, who stood up, and with a wave of his staff, released a torrent of fire upon the creature. The box beast howled and screamed in varying pitches as it shifted and twisted in the flames, only to crumble and mash and eventually collapse on the ground, in the outline of a small child made of ash, as it stopped moving. After a good ten or twenty seconds of powerful flame charred the spot where the beast fell, Belos halted his attack, stepped towards the ash pile, sifted through it and found a blackened piece of wood. With a swift pounding of his staff, the little plank snapped, and the illusion ended.

"We weren't sure if petrification would work, and our experimentation cost us many more soldier. Nevertheless, the Changelings are still unable to survive in intense flame. If you ever encounter one of these disgusting creatures, you now know what to do. Burn. Everything."

"It's a Changeling, human."

Luz blinked.

"You mean, like a shapeshifter?"

"Skinwalker, Doppleganger, the Savage Ages had many names for these things. They were tricksters, despised even before the Emperor, violent and sadistic creatures. Luckily, maybe, they're also intensely territorial, and will hold on to whatever ground they can worm their way into. I'm sure your history teacher at Hexside told you of the 100 Year Lies?"

"…uh…"

Hunter rubbed his eyes, "Nevermind. Not important. We need to get that portal open as soon as possible. If a Changeling got to Earth, Titan knows how, we're gonna need a full garrison to deal with them?"

"Wwwhat if we just called the police?"

"The who?"

"Theeee Emperor's Coven human equivalent. Well, kind of, but also, kind of DEFINITELY, but w-we-what-whatever, we could just get the army to deal with this or-"

"Have anyone in your governance ever faced a Changeling before?"

"You know, I, wouldn't put it past the CIA to have."

"I'm, I don't, you keep making references, and you NEED to explain what they are to me or it's just gonna be-."

"Look, it doesn't matter, I use comedy as a stress manager, so let's just call for help and-"

"Human, what do you think is going to happen when your armies encounter a creature that turn into anything at anytime? Can they even detect magic? We're talking about a kingdom-killer threat, the last thing we need to do is get this thing anywhere near real power. As much as my instinc here is telling me to leave, I can't risk this thing causing real damage, or worse getting back on the Boiling Isles."

"Well, a-alright, how do WE handle this? I can't use my glyphs, and your staff has a limited battery life."

Hunter folded his hands and thought for a bit, considering the supplies and resources, and finally decided; "We make the portal to the Boiling Isles and go home."

"Wai-what?"

"Right now, you and I are the only ones who know what that thing is, and where it is, but we're not equipped to deal with it. Those who could are on another world, and we can't reach them until I can get the Titansblood device working. After that-.'

"Yeah, after that, you go home and leave my mother alone with a killer and write this off as another thing not to worry about, no deal."

"Human, even if you weren't here, getting rid of this creature is crucial to my coven's mission. The Emperor doesn't want this thing here anymore than you do, but he'll burn half the town down on his own. If we can guarantee a way through, we'll send the men we need to take it out and rescue your mother."

"So, I've come all this way, home is RIGHT over there, and I, I gotta go BACK?!"

Hunter nodded and looked away, "I know, I would be upset too, but right now, we can't handle this thing. We NEED help. And the only way we get THAT, is…"

"To, open the portal." Luz glumly resigned to Hunter's logic.

"We'll keep reconnaissance on the creature from afar. I don't know when the portal's gonna be ready, but IF we can get it open when your mother is away from that, we will bring her with us. We can't get her away now, the changeling will notice her missing and start looking around. If it sees us, we're dead. If it hears us, it will see us, and we're dead. We have a very limited window, but I- hey…"

Luz was looking down on the ground. "Human, look at me." She did nothing, "Look, at me." She looked up, exhausted and sad, and Hunter sympathized. "I know. I know this isn't what you wanted, I know you're concerned, but we don't get to choose what we face, just what we do to overcome it. Your mother's going to be alright, if it was going to kill her to keep up the illusion it would have done so already. WE'RE going to be alright too, IF, we stick to the plan. Right now, we need a base to work from, something nearby that we can keep tabs on its going abouts. Let's scout the woods, if we can find a decent clearing, we'll set up camp there. I can conjure up some tents and sleeping bags, that shouldn't be too taxing on the staff's power. We can use some of that human money to get more supplies and-"

"Actually, I think I have a better idea…."

"Who… what is this place?"

Hunter stood back and marveled in the state of the cabin Luz had found. Luz turned her head to study the beyond-fixer-upper, her arms still spread in presentation of their new accommodations. "Um… it's, a cabin."

"W-what is it even doing out here? How did you find this place? Wh-why is it such a dump?"

"Oh, uh, it's, how I got to the Boiling Isles in the first place actually."

Hunter's expression of judgemental distaste faded as he looked back at Luz, and then back at the house in surprise. "W-what?"

"Yeah, uh, Eda's Palisman, was, heh, stealing my trash, and I just, ran after it. Ran through the door and, well, started all of, 'that'."

"Wait, the, the portal was just, open?"

"I-I guess, I just ran in the house and it, opened up behind Eda's human shop. I didn't see where it began in there."

"I see." Said Hunter, considering something.

"Well… shall we go in?"

Hunter nodded, and Luz walked towards the front of the house. She turned the rusty doorknob, and pulled back the door. Inside the cabin was… very little. The floorboards were old and somewhat rotten, but still intact. There was an old bed, torn up in deep gashes through the busted mattress. Hunter followed through on Luz's left and stepped into the other side of the small shack.

"I think, Eda used to live here." Remarked Luz.

"She hid in the human realm? You know, I never asked, how DID the Owl Lady find the portal box?"

"She, never really clarified. Just said she found it on her travels."

There were cobwebs in the corners, and a ray of sunlight shown through the top of the house illuminating the left side of the building. Hunterlooked about the one-room cabin. He sized up the damage and nodded, before spinning his staff. In an instant, the 'natural skylight' was closed up in conjured wood, and the glass windows and their shades were patched up. The floorboards sprung fresh, and the cobwebs were dusted out of existence. The house was still spartan in furnishing, but now it wasn't so uninviting. Luz giggled.

"Hah, I opened the portal so many times, and I never actually looked where it was ending up."

"Ending up?"

"Oh yeah, the door just came back here every time, I'd open it up to get some signal for funny internet videos and-"

"Wait, the Portal Door had a FIXED point in the Human Realm?"

"Yyyes, is that a bad thing?"

"Ba-a bad thing? Human, this is PERFECT!"

"Uh, good. How though?"

"How? Don't you remember how the Titansblood wasn't working in Toolsa?"

"Okay, Hunter, it's Tulsa. Tull."

"Oh, whatever! Titansblood portals are dangerous because we can't determine where they'll end up, but if there's a fixed point in the Human Realm, then, the Portal Door had established a stable gateway. This shack must have belonged to Phillip Wittebane himself!"

"I- oh. OHH! Wait, you know about Phillip?"

"Human, the Emperor's been trying to get to the human realm since before we were born, of course he knows about Mr. Wittebane."

"Ah. Well, too bad I burned the box, we could have just been home already."

"Tha-… well don't worry about that now. The point is, this location is still where the gateway would open up. Therefore, if we can construct a way INTO the gateway, we can temporarily reopen it. No telling where we're gonna end up after that, but-"

"Oh. Well, it sounds like it's a good thing I remembered this place."

"Yeah." Remarked Hunter, "You got good instincts, human."

"Okay you gotta stop doing that, though."

"Th- stop what?"

"Human. Stop saying it like it's a four-letter word."

"I'm, pretty sure human has, five lette-"

"Look, my NAME, is Luz. Luz Noceda. Please, call me Luz."

"Uh… sure, Luz… if that works for you."

Luz crossed her arms and puzzled at Hunter's nervousness at calling her by her name, but shrugged, and ran over to the bed and jumped into the old mattress.

"I call dibs!" she said, rolling about in the old mattress that still smelled like Eda.

"Sure, go ahead. I think something peed on it though…"

"AAAH!"