The dark halls stood silent alongside the towering figure before the door. Belos' white cloak and golden mask the only things standing out against the black. In his hands, he held a large mirror-like disk. A shadow continued to pour from its sides, making its way under the doors frame, inside the room.

After another moment, the shadow retracted into the mirror, causing it to shine a slight blue hue. Child-like laughter echoed through the once silent hall.

"Silence, Collector. We don't want to alert anyone." Belos urged quietly. The laughter continued, but much softer. The witch sighed before taking his leave.

—

The torches' fire lit the throne room against the black night outside. Belos set his keep on the throne before turning back to check if anyone was with him.

"Oh, calm down, Belly." The voice piped up again. The shadow emerged from the disk like it had before. Collector smiled with malice at his friend. "We're fine. Nobody saw us. I kept a look out."

"You need to be more careful. If anyone finds out you are here, it could ruin everything." Belos' voice grew stern and cold. "Our agreement was that if you stayed quiet and out of sight, you were allowed to roam with me, but if you can't keep your end of the deal, then I will put you back in the portal room for good until this is all over."

"Psh, come on. We were fine. You always say that." Collector put on a mocking tone, "Oh, Collector, don't get too close to those witches, they'll see you. Oh Collector, don't laugh when literally nobody is around, someone could hear. Blah, blah blah. You're getting soft, Bell. Just break those toys like you used to then I could roam all I want and you don't have to pretend threaten me."

A thick, green mass slammed into the wall where the Collector's shadow once was. He moved quick enough to avoid it, though it wouldn't have harmed them anyway. The mass retracted back into Belos' arm, shifting back to normal as he looked up with frustration.

"Just tell me what they were talking about." He grunted.

"Oh, alright, alright. But it was mostly boring stuff." Collector shifted along the wall as he told his story, "They were talking about their day. Luz went to the library, which was pretty borin apparently. Amity talked to Darius about some personal stuff. The usual stuff of them being boring."

"Is that all?" Belos pushed.

"Well…There was one more thing at the end. The staff started to glow while they were asleep. Luz was acting weird too. It looked…Painful." Collector's voice softened a little.

"Ah, that must be the curse. Good. We're still on track. As for that library incident, I don't think I'll have to worry too much about that."

"Why not? She's clearly onto you. Maybe we could speed things up, free me early and the draining spell could be done in no time! We wouldn't have to worry about the staff anymore, and-"

"No." Belos interjected, "The plan is still being followed. We have two ways to fallback, at least. We are not going to change it anymore than it's already been. Anymore tampering will ruin everything."

"But, what about the human? Is she still apart of that?"

"Only if she continues down this path. Only if I have to. The coven heads are clearly going to start something, and I can't fail. Not now. Not after all of this. If they don't fall into place, then someone will. If it has to be a human…" Belos pulled off his mask, gripping it. "She will have made her own bed then. After all, it's her decision. I only have to wait to see which one it is."

Belos reclaimed his mask, straightening himself up. Grabbing the disk, he made his way out of the throne room, back to the portal room where the Collector was placed again for the night.

"Belos," Collector spoke up before he left. "What are gonna do if the heads don't come through?"

"What must be done."

—

Water dripped down the stalactite, hitting the ground with a somber melody. The cold cave weeped with light that escaped the circular mirror as a man held it up.

"Collector. I am Phillip Wittebane. I have freed you from the Titan's skull."

Laughter echoed off the walls as the symbols from the disk transformed along the dirt, forming into a black figure. It disconnected from the mirror, forming into a human-like shape with jagged edges and pure white additions, including the eyes. A while smile plastered on its face.

"Phillip? What a dumb name." The voice responded with a child's tone. They laughed. "I'll call you uhhh, how about Tinker?" He laughed again, flipping along the walls. "I'm kidding, I'm kidding! Boy, you do not look like you can take a joke. Are you gonna be like those Titan Trapper guys? Booooo." Collector flipped their thumb down at the man.

"Titan wha-? Ugh, nevermind. I seek your help, Collector."

"Help? Am I gonna be doing chores? I hate chores. Can't we at least play a game first? It'd get me in the mood."

Phillip thought for a second, then his eyes lightened. "Oh, I don't mean chores. I want you help in a game I'd like to play."

Collector straightened up. "A game? You wanna play a game? With me? Oh boy, oh boy! Finally, someone who wants to just play! What game do you want to play? I like tag, or oh! We could do capture the flag! I'm really good at that one."

"I want to play something that has quite a lot of players, Collector. Something that has some high stakes. Are you interested?"

"Oooo, that sounds like fun! I'll play anything. I'm so bored in here. Let me out so we can start, I can make the map if we need one!" Collector excitedly flew over to his disk, swarming it like a fish.

"Free you?" Phillip was surprised. He didn't think about anything like that. He pulled out a book from his satchel, a mooned face plastered on its front. "Ah, you're trapped in there."

"Yeah, for like ever. So you can free me so we can play! You'll just need some Titan's blood, and then we can start."

"Titan's blood? I've tried to get some before, but it was unsuccessful. I'm afraid I cannot free you. At least not yet."

"Ahhh come on! Doesn't anyone know how to get some Titan's blood!"

"It's hard to come by. Can't we still play my game without freeing you? At least at the moment?"

Collector thought for a moment. He sighed. "Yeah, I guess there are still some things we could play until then. But only if you promise to free me. I want to be out there where it's more fun and I can use my powers."

"Powers…" Phillip hastily looked at his book. A passage shook him a little bit, but he didn't want to believe it at first.

A child of the stars, trapped in limbo

Under bones and blood

God of play, powers beheld

Life depleted as he gains freedom

"Ah, uh, yes. I asure you, Collector, I promise to release you. After all, I am a friend."

"Friend? You're not just saying that?"

"Of course not, Collector. I would never lie to you. I just wanted to be your friend and play this little game of mine."

"Ohoho, then alright! What's this game called, friend?"

Phillip smirked as he put away his book. His blue eyes glinting from the light coming from the mirror.

"It's called Witch Hunt."