Who would have ever thought Lilith's journey to find the successor would have led her back here of all places. Lilith stood outside of the boundaries of Bonesburrow. The pitch-black cloak she wore covered nearly her entire body as it flapped in the gentle breeze.

The city she was born in. Was it really where she would find them? She looked down at the oracle orb she held in her hand. The shadowy eye that dwelled within was wide open with its crimson iris glowing, indicating she was going in the right direction.

This is the place she wanted the least, but it was non-negotiable with the all-seeing eye pointing her way. It was lucky of her that the head of the oracle coven gave her this powerful spell for this task. Considering just how secretive that man was with his own creation. He must have been ordered to loan it to her by the emperor. She was grateful for the convenience. Regardless of how it happened. It would have been much more difficult if she had to check the hand of every person she met.

"Well, here I go." Lilith thought to herself, letting out a sigh.

Lilith grabbed the hood of her cloak and pulled it over her head. She didn't need anyone recognizing her, so she had to lay low and hide her face the best she could. She looked down at the all-seeing eye once again to confirm it one last time. When nothing changed she hesitantly walked into Bonesburrow.

Lilith made her way through the bustling streets of the Bonesburrow marketplace. It was oddly busy today. With it having such a large crowd she had to try and push through everyone that blocked her way. As she made her way Lilith was met with several shoves in return. People, just like her, wanted to get through quickly. She struggled for a while until she felt herself forcefully shoved aside by a burly hand, throwing her to the side. She ended up collapsing into one of the stand's lining the streets and cursed to herself. She lost her footing but managed to keep herself up by leaning on the stall with her arms behind her.

"Woah there pal! Watch the merchandise!" Jeered a voice all too familiar to Lilith. Without thinking, Lilith blurted out the speaker's name like a preprogrammed response.

"Edalyn," Lilith spoke exasperated and low. Out of all the people in Bonesburrow she had to come across the one person she was actively avoiding. She pushed herself up off the counter of the stall regaining her footing, brushing off the dust from her cloak.

"Wait? Lilith?" Eda Inquired. Eda immediately went into a defensive stance bringing out her staff in preparation. "You trying a sneak attack this time? I think you might have messed up a bit." Lilith let out a long sigh, expecting something like this would have happened. She turned around to face Eda so she could talk face to face. Though she left the hood on.

"No, I'm not here for you Edalyn. I have something more pressing to attend to. Our meeting was nothing more than coincidence." Lilith stated bluntly.

"More important than me? Huh, That''s a first." Eda Lowered her guard just a bit. "What's with the outfit then? Off on an assassination mission?" Eda joked.

"Don't be ridiculous." Lilith scoffed, turning away from Eda. "Now, if you'd excuse me, I have to finish my job." Lilith began to walk away from Eda, but she found herself stopping before she even took a second step. Her expression lowered slightly as she remembered something she wanted to say. "Listen, Eda. You won't have to worry about the Emperor's Coven coming after you anymore. There's... no longer any reason to." With that Lilith took off into the crowd, leaving a perplexed Eda asking questions that wouldn't be answered.

Eventually, Lilith made it out of the marketplace and found herself somewhere that was eerily quiet. A stark contrast from what she just experienced. She walked along the border of a forest and an abandoned section of Bonesburrow. A prime place for curious teenagers to explore for the sake of thrill and mystery. Not much was really known about this section apart from it predating Bonesburrow itself. Though whether or not people actually consider this place a part of the city depends on who you ask.

Lilith looked towards the all-seeing eye to find where she was supposed to go. Currently, the eye was half closed with a blank iris, almost looking like it was tired. She rotated her arm just a bit to the right, and when she noticed the eye close even further she shifted her direction. It began to open wide. It's Iris slowly beginning to glow red until it gleamed like a jewel in the sun. That was where she had to go. Into the forest.

Lilith walked for a little more than a minute before coming across something peculiar in her path. A tall stone door stood in the middle of the area, Etchings of a tree of some sort and an unrecognizable language curving around the top decorated the surface. There was some sort of wall that curved behind the door in some sort of half-dome shape that connected to the door. From what she could gather, the door seemed to lead underground.

Though even stranger was what surrounded the door. Rubble and stone bricks dotted all around the door circling around it like some kind of altar. She bent down to the ground passing her hand over the vegetation on the ground, only to realize there was a completely stone floor under all this grass. It was like it was around for centuries. Yet looking back at the door It remained clean and pristine. free of any overgrowth.

"Strange." Lilith walked herself over to the door to get a closer look at it. Written directly into the door's midsection in bold red letters was 'Do Not Enter By Order Of Emperor Belos'

Whatever this place was it was off-limits. She pulled out the eye once more to check her next destination, only for it to point her directly into the door. She stood there for a bit. It was just her luck. The place the emperor forbade entry was the place she was being led into. She sighed as she lamented that fact.

"Well, I guess I have no choice." She placed both hands on the door fully expecting it would be a struggle to open. She counted down to herself as she prepared to push the door open, but just as she was about to push she noticed more writing on the very bottom of the door. It was faint, and most of the words seemed to have been done in by time. She could only just barely make out a single word. "Yggdrasil."

Blaring light. Glistening specs. It all but blinded Luz in an endless sky of white. The glow that enveloped her sunk her senses into an indescribable state of numbness. It was both terrifying and strangely calming. Then as if in the blink of an eye Luz felt those feelings fade away as the light slowly dissipated into nothing.

Suddenly she found herself sitting in darkness. What just happened? Where was she? She noticed the air around her felt moist and sticky. Like the humidity was going out of control. Wherever she was. She wasn't home anymore.

She couldn't understand what was happening. Who could ever understand? A situation like this was supposed to be impossible. Then again so many impossible things have already happened that the word lost its meaning to her. It was just scary.

Wherever she was though, she had to find her way out of the darkness, regardless of that fear. She felt around the floor in a desperate attempt to find her way. It was a smooth stone floor underneath her. Damp and warm just like the air.

"Wet? Why is it wet?" Luz felt around the floor a bit more until her hand bumped into something. Curious she began moving up her hand to feel at what blocked her hand. It was a stone wall much like the floor. Only the stone it was made from was more rough and coarse. A lot drier than the floor she sat on.

Putting both of her hands firmly onto the wall she pushed herself into it as she tried to stand up in the dark. She slowly and carefully rose from the ground so as to not slip on the damp stone floor. When Luz finally managed to stand up fully. She looked around to see if there was anything at all she could find in this darkness.

Almost immediately she spotted a light in the distance. It gleamed brightly in the darkness like the light at the end of a cave. That was where she had to go. Luz continued to push herself against the wall as she shuffled her way towards the light. for a while, she took her time with each step careful not to slip from the wet floor. Though each step grew harder and harder as The floor got increasingly wet and deep. The water ended up submerging half her feet causing the water to soak through her shoes.

Luz couldn't help but cringe as the warm water started to soak her socks as well. Just where was all this water coming from? Was there a busted pipe somewhere? Was this actually a stream of some kind? Once again her mind began to flood with ideas of just where she could even be. Each thought she had only made her fear worse. Every idea making her quicken her pace unconsciously.

The faster and unfocused movements of her steps soon turned on her as Luz began to slip from the water. She tried to catch herself, only for her foot to hit something that lay on the ground. She ended up tripping directly over it and falling onto her side with a splash.

Luz groaned in pain as she tried to pick herself up. Luckily she didn't hurt herself too bad in the fall, but now the left side of her body got all wet from basically falling into a puddle.

"Great! Just great! What else could go wrong today?!" Luz let out in frustration.

As if to answer that question, Luz began to hear low echoey grumbling followed by what sounded like steam being released from a valve. At the same time, A light blue glow began to emanate from behind her. Luz was stunned silent. Deathly curious she turned her head slowly to look at what was behind her. The fear built up as she did.

When she laid her sight on it her eyes widened. What lay in her sight was a gigantic maggot-like creature about her size in height, but a length almost triple that. Steam shot out from the pores of its skin. Water oozed out of it like a waterfall of sweat. The glow it produced showed off the innards of the creature through its translucent skin. Then there were Its teeth. A large circular mouth filled with what seemed like hundreds of razor-sharp teeth that twisted around like a grinder. Luz took a step away from the beast, terror welling up inside.

"Why did I say that?"

Luz lamented her previous words, watching the creature squirm as it released more and more steam. The water around it slowly becoming hotter. Luz backed away slowly. Maybe with Its lack of eyes, it wasn't able to see. But when Luz took one step back as quietly as she could. Right as her foot submerged into the water, the creature immediately turned towards Luz. More steam shot out from Its skin at an accelerated rate filling the area with a loud high pitched screech. Then water began bubbling up from the creature's mouth Like a flood of boiling saliva.

" Why did I say that!?"

Luz didn't stick around to find out what would happen. She turned around and immediately bolted. Running for her life towards the light in the distance. She heard a large splash of water behind her right where she used to be, followed by a loud sizzling that somehow matched the volume of the hissing steam. Was it spitting boiling water at her? How did it even know where she was without any eyes. She also knew for a fact she made no noise when she moved, yet it still found her.

She looked behind her to see if she'd escaped but The maggot was keeping up rather decently. Slithering along the ground like a snake. It splashed around the water that seemed to heat up all around it. Again Luz heard the distinct hiss. The unending screech that preceded the first blast of boiling water.

"Nonononono!" Luz panicked trying to figure out what to do. It was obviously fast enough to keep up, but that boiling blast of water was the real problem. Was she just supposed to dodge It? To her dismay that was really the only option available.

Just as the steam ceased, The maggot reared its head back to spit that boiling water once again. The maggot thrust its head forward violently flinging the water at Luz. She jumped to the side in an effort to avoid the blast, hitting the ground with a thud and a loud splash. Her body ached from the impact, the adrenaline coursing through her only barely masking the throbbing pain. She tried to push herself back onto her feet. She needed to getaway. She had to live.

She could see the light of her salvation. It was so close. Seemingly just out of her grasp. She had to make it. Suddenly, she felt herself lose hope as she stared at what she thought to be her savior. Looking toward the light she realized it was moving. Fast. She hasn't taken a single step yet as she still tried to recover from the dive. Yet the light just kept moving closer and closer.

Before she could think more about the moving light she felt something wet slither around her leg. It was hot to the touch and made Luz yelp in pain. She felt it coil tighter around her leg. squeezing and twisting. Luz was then dragged across the flooded floor before being yanked up into the air. She found herself hanging upside down staring directly into the maw of the glowing beast. Steam spewed forth from it's back once again. It's maw opened wide as the water began to bubble back up its throat.

Luz stared down the jaws of death. She was trapped in the monster's grasp, and no matter how much she struggled. How many times she pounded at the tail. Luz only felt its grip dig deeper. Was this it? Was this the end? It couldn't. This was all just a dream. there was no other reason this could be happening. The life she lived couldn't have led up to this. Dying in a tunnel to some giant bug monster. She watched in horror as the liquid boiled up more and more from The maggot's mouth. She couldn't take it anymore, so she just closed her eyes awaiting the inevitable.

"Mami, Papi. I'm sorry." Luz whimpered pathetically, believing it was all over for her.

Just when she lost all hope of escaping she felt something whizz by like a bullet. Followed by an explosion. The maggot screamed out in gurgling pain as it lost its grip on Luz. Dropping her to the floor.

She screamed as she fell. Only to fall onto something soft and bouncy. She bounced up and down a couple of times before coming to a stop. How? Who? She couldn't believe it. Luz pulled herself up and looked forward.

The creature was screaming and thrashing violently as blue glowing liquid spurted from it's destroyed face. Nearly half of Its maw was missing. Along with a large chunk of flesh that was connected to Its mouth. It banged into the wall and floor as it violently smashed itself into everything around it.

Luz watched the beast thrash about for a while, completely awestruck. She was saved? She was saved! She didn't know how, but she was! Luz couldn't process any of it. Luz turned her head behind her, curious to see what might have saved her.

Illuminated in a bright yellow light stod a hooded figure in a black cloak. Luz just sat there with her mouth agape, noting the source of the light she has been chasing the whole time. A white staff with what looked like a bleached raven perching on top. The raven was glowing more brilliantly than the dim glow of the creature, overpowering the blue light tremendously. The figure then reached out towards Luz gripping at her forearms.

"Come on! We have to get out of here!" The figure demanded urgently. Luz, unable to question or answer, was quickly pulled away. The soft and bouncy surface vanishing. Replaced by the familiar flooded floor. They were both running now. The beast's thrashing and screaming growing further with every step they took. Only when the beast's cry became nothing more than a distant wale did the figure slow down allowing Luz to catch her breath.

Looking up at the figure Luz felt a great sense of relief and gratitude. Luz could still feel the grip of the person's hand squeezing at her arm like it was something fragile that they didn't want to drop. She was so grateful, the least she could do was say it to them.

"Thank you," Luz said as genuinely as she could

The figure stopped almost immediately after Luz thanked them. Luz stood there confused as to why they stopped. The pressure she felt on her arm subsided as the figure let go of her arm. They stood like that for a few seconds. Like the figure was deep in thought the whole time. Until the figure turned their head to face Luz just slightly.

"You're welcome." The figure said with an almost indistinguishable tone. Another few seconds of silence passed uncomfortably. Luz, unable to handle that silence broke it herself.

"Can I ask who you are?" Whatever Luz was expecting she didn't anticipate a heavy sigh to come from the cloaked figure. Followed by them reaching for the hood they were wearing, and slowly pulling it down revealing the face of a pale-skinned woman. Long indigo hair cascaded down to just above her waist. The woman turned to face Luz, no discernable expression on the woman's face. Her turquoise eyes shimmering in the light produced by her staff. She placed her hand onto her chest and closed her eyes, bowing forward slightly as she introduced herself.

"I am Lilith Clawthorne, leader of the Emperor's Coven." Lilith anticipated Luz to reply with her own name, but she was caught off guard by just how surprised Luz was. Was she another fan of hers or something? Though even if she was, this little witchling should have known that this place was off-limits by order of the emperor. Lilith expected her to be more remorseful, and apologetic for breaking such a strict rule in front of the emperor's coven of all things. All she saw, however, was a curious and astonished girl.

"Emperors... Coven?" Luz asked curiously.

What? Lilith couldn't believe it. This girl was acting as If she never heard of the Emperor's Coven, or maybe even covens in general. Lilith didn't understand what this witchling was trying to accomplish. Somehow putting on this farce with a straight face was impressive, but did she honestly believe acting naive would get her out of trouble. She must've been in the illusion tract if she was trying to pull this stunt.

"You don't know of coven's?" Lilith asked skeptically, raising her eyebrow.

"I know they're a group of witches. Wait does that mean... You're a witch?"

"You? Wha?" Luz's excited question only served to confuse Lilith even more. The witchling showed clear knowledge of what a coven was then acted as if she never met another witch before. What possible reason could she have for continuing a charade like this? Unless.

Lilith took her staff and brought the glowing raven near Luz's head. What she saw made everything clear to her. The light illuminated the side of Luz's head revealing her rounded ears. The clear sign of a human, but that paled in comparison from what she saw next. As if reacting to the magic light from her staff, a small glisten drew her eyes to Luz's hand.

"By the Titan," Lilith whispered in pure astonishment, eyes wide and unbelieving. There it was the very thing she was looking for. Not only was it possessed by a child, but a human child nonetheless. The symbol of the Titan laid bare on the human's hand, just as the emperor described. The very symbol that denoted the successor to the throne.

There had to be some mistake, there just had to be. Quickly she rummaged through her cloak and brought out the eye once again. The iris remained glowing a deep crimson as it faced the human girl. Then when Lilith pulled the eye away from Luz it closed up entirely. She repeated it several times as if the first time wasn't enough to convince her.

"How is this possible?" Lilith looked towards Luz as she put the orb back into her cloak. Why would a human child be chosen by the Titan? Just how did she even arrive here, to begin with? "Could you tell me how you got here, exactly?"`` Lilith asked.

The whole time Luz watched bemused by Lilith's behavior. Instead of answering Luz's question. Lilith just seemed to be trying to figure something out. Luz snapped out of her bemusement when Lilith threw Luz a different question entirely. One she didn't even have confidence she could really answer. One that seemed to sour her mood as well.

"I- I don't know. One moment I was home. Then after a flash of light, I was here."

"Really?" Lilith muttered to herself, rubbing her chin in contemplation

Did the Titan bring her into this realm itself? Nothing like this had ever occurred before so it was all new territory. It was strange. very strange, but she knew she had a mission. Lilith had to bring back the one with the mark. This human child possessed it so she was the one Lilith was looking for. That was all that was important right now. She had to complete that mission she was given.

"What is your name, child?" Lilith asked. She needed to at least learn the name of the next emperor.

"Luz. It's Luz." Luz answered simply.

"Well Luz I will get you out of here, and then I will bring you with me to the castle," Lilith stated bluntly

"What? A castle? Really? Why?" Luz all of a sudden felt a little uncomfortable. All of a sudden she was going to be brought to a castle? She wasn't even asked if she wanted to go. It was just so matter-of-fact. Like she didn't have a choice.

"You see that mark on that hand of yours?" Lilith stated, pointing her staff at Luz's marked hand.

Luz's eyes went wide at the comment, and she quickly covered it up with her other hand. Was that what made Lilith act so strange earlier? She noticed the symbol? Did it mean something to her? Luz's panic rose as she began to imagine what that meant?

"That mark means you are very important to all of witch kind. It symbolizes that you were chosen by the Titan." Luz froze in place for a second, processing what Lilith just said.

"Titan? Chosen!? You mean like, I'm the chosen one!?" Luz felt all that panic drain away with all her thoughts of being thrown into a dungeon and other various fears.

"You could put it that way." Luz couldn't believe her ears. She brought her marked hand up to look at it longingly. She was actually chosen for something. It was just like Azura. What type of wild and wacky adventures would she find herself in? What type of people would she meet? Would she make some close bonds with others through trials and tribulations? The thought it just excited her so much, however, her excitement was cut short when she heard a familiar roar echoing in the distance from behind.

"Hurry. We have already dawdled here far too long. I will tell you more at the castle where you will be safe." Lilith quickly turned around and began walking away quickly. Not hesitating a bit Luz followed closely behind.

Luz was smiling as she walked. She couldn't wait to learn what sort of grand destiny she had before her. She looked at the mark on her hand again as she walked. Perhaps this would be a new chapter of her life she would actually look forward to.

Her smile faltered, however, the longer she stared at the symbol. She thought back to everything that led up to this moment and wondered about her mother.