Luz had found living with Gus and his father had been very pleasant and safe, Gus had been over the moon with happiness at having a human actually living with him. He and Luz had a pretty good dynamic, he would ask her questions about humans and what the human realm was like, which Luz was more than happy to answer, and in turn, she would ask him questions about witches and the demon realm.
Her weight gain had also slowed down considerably, having gained only about 10lbs in a week, then the 100lb she grew at Amity's place. Perry also had two interviews with Luz while also disclosing her location so that she didn't have to worry about anyone coming to arrest her.
Today it was a weekend and due to the weather being so good, Luz and her friends decided to have a beach day. Amity had passed out when she saw the now over 400lbs Luz who was wearing a bikini…this was due to Willow not having enough fabric at the time.
Luz had found it a bit weird that despite the fact that no one could actually swim in the boiling sea, everyone at the beach was wearing swimsuits. The group had a great time playing volleyball, making sandcastles, burying people in the sand, and turning a sleeping Amity into a mermaid.
After a while, Luz made the suggestion to explore the beach more. The group agreed and grabbed their things before walking off.
Soon they reached a part of the beach that was completely abandoned. As they walked along it, Luz sunk straight down into the sand like there was nothing there. "Luz!" The group shouted the started digging only to find that their hands went through the sand like it was water. Looking at each other, they all took a deep breath and stuck their heads into the sand. Feeling air on their faces, they opened their eyes and saw that they were now looking at a beach, except for Amity who had a great view of Luz's large rear.
Turning around, Luz saw her friend's heads sticking out of the sand "uh do you guys know what happened?" Luz asked as she got up followed by her friends pulling themselves out of the water like sand. Looking around, thing's looked familiar but at the same time also different. An example would be that the sky and the sea were blue. They could also see that the town of Bonesborough looked similar, only it was smaller.
"Oh my are you, children, okay?!" a concerned female demon questioned, to the group of teens, the demon to them looked to be wearing really old-fashioned clothes, reminiscent of that of the 1600s.
Gus's eyes widened at this before he stepped forward "ma'am what year is it"
"oh my you children must have had a terrible accident do not know what year it is, tis the year of the titan 1645," she said before she used her magic to make clothes on all of them, thinking that they had been in some sort of shipwreck due to their lack of clothes.
"Thank you, Ma'am, we'll just be taking our leave now," Gus said as he grabbed Willow and Amity by the wrists and began leading them away
"Are you sure you're okay?"
"absolutely positive," Gus said and he and his friends left the area.
"Gus, what's going on?" Willow asked
"We just went through a time pool!"
"time pools? I thought that those were just myths" Amity replied
"Does this look like a myth to you?"
"so if what that demon just said was true, we're currently in the deadwardian era" Willow stated
"Sorry, but I'm a bit lost here, what's a time pool?" Luz asked
"Time pools are mythical puddles that act as windows into the past, if you go through one, you'll end up in the same spot, only somewhere in the past, be it 2 minutes, or 2 million years"
Luz was in awe at this "then let's go explore a young Bonesborough!" she suggested, the others didn't look so sure though "what's wrong?"
"Luz, we're currently in the savage ages, it would be really dangerous for us to be here"
"but that lady didn't seem dangerous, heck she even gave us clothes from this era so we'll blend in" she could see that her friends were unconvinced "this is our chance to learn things about the past that no one else knows" this made them all perk up, they knew that there were many things lost during the deadwardian era, from spells to civilizations.
"...okay then, as long as we're careful and cautious, we can explore this place," Amity said, and with that the group headed off to explore a young Bonesborough.
As they walked along the beach, Luz veered off, moving towards the calm blue sea. Walking right up to where the water lapped the shore, Luz stuck her finger down on the sand and felt the water wash over it slightly, it felt cool. Kicking of her shoes she then stepped into the cool water and smiled. Turning to her friends she smiled "hey guys, the water's cool" she said, stunning her friends. One by one the witches entered the water, amazed that they weren't being cooked alive
"I don't get it, how could the sea be boiling in the future but cold in the past?" Willow questioned as they walked through the water, with her friends being just as stumped as she was.
Exiting the water, the group headed into town to see what a young Bonesborough looked like. Amity took lead as they entered the town "Now remember guys, we're in the savage ages, way before Belos banished wild magic. These denizens may be dangerous, so keep your guard up!" she said, getting nods of understanding from her friends who all got ready to defend themselves at a moments notice. When they entered, however, they were surprised to see that everything looked much more peaceful and harmonious than the Bonesborough they had just come from. Residents could be seen playing musical instruments, helping each other out, and summoning Abominations at will. The group looked at everything with amazement.
"This doesn't look dangerous. This looks awesome! Why did Belos want to banish wild magic again?" Luz asked
"Well, the Titan supposedly doesn't like it" Willow replied before a group of much younger kids came up to them and all offered Luz food, to which she happily accepted and ate. As the group explored the town, they were given friendly greetings by everyone, a minstrel sang for them, and they were even given directions to the best places to visit in the town. Luz had also been constantly offered food by everyone they met, leaving her bloated after a few hours. The group was now sitting on benches in the park, mostly waiting for the overstuffed Luz to recover…it also didn't help that she still kept eating everything passers-by gave her.
After eating a meatball the size of a grapefruit, provided by a witch that was in their early 20's, the witch smiled and patted Luz's belly "my you certainly put it away, just like that other human, Caleb"
"wait, you mean that there are more humans here?!" Luz asked, snapping out of her food daze, her friends were also surprised by this revelation
"Sure, he works at Clawthorne Carvings if you want to meet him, good day" and with that, she left.
Luz was stunned at hearing the name Clawthorne 'Eda had relatives all the way back here?!' she thought to herself. After getting directions the group of friends arrived at Clawthorne Carvings. There were displays in the front windows that were filled with masks, statues, toys, and talismans. A bell rang as the 4 friends entered the store. The inside was even more loaded than the window displays, the 4 friends spread out and observed everything in the store.
"Hey guys, look at this" everyone turned to Gus and they saw him standing next to a statue of a female witch that was sitting in a chair. Luz's heart stopped for a second as the witch looked shockingly like Eda only a bit younger with lavender hair and a bulging stomach.
"wow, this is really well done," Willow said
"yeah, it looks like it could come alive any second" Amity added
"but what's with this stomach?" Gus questioned as he went to touch it, only for the statue to slap his hand
"hands off the merchandise!"
"AAAHHH!"
*poof* "ah ha ha, oh boy that never gets old," the witch said as she stood up with the slight illusion she had over herself disappearing.
"sounds like you got them, honey," a voice said, the 4 friends turned and saw a tall and incredibly obese man with a big thick beard and a red cardinal perched on his shoulder step out from the back. The young witches present all felt the same urge to give the man food as they did with Luz
'wow, make his hair white and put him in a red suit and you've got Santa Claus' Luz cheekily thought to herself.
"Welcome to Clawthorne Carving's, my name's Evalyn, are you looking for anything in particular?" she said
"Actually we came here because we heard that there was another human who worked here, I take it that you're Caleb?" Luz said
"that's my name" Caleb replied before he realized that the girl he was speaking to had round ears, "wait you're a human as well! How did you get here!?"
"I came to the boiling Isles through a portal door"
"the boiling Isles? Are you referring to this place?"
"yes, why? what do you call it at this time?"
"These are called the Tranquil Isles"
"huh? Well they're called the Boiling Isles in the future"
"whoa, whoa back up, did you kids come here through a time pool?" Evelyn questioned,
"yeah, you know about Time Pools?" Gus asked
"yeah, my sister Judith and I used to play around in them all the time when we were kids, ah the things we did in the past. good times." She shook her head and look back at the kids "So besides a name change to the Isles, what else happens in the future?" Evelyn asked
"I don't think we should tell you that, it might mess up things in the future" Willow stated with her friends agreeing
"fair enough, well while we can't learn about the future you can learn about the past" the 4 friends seemed a bit confused by that statement
"what do you mean?" Luz asked
"well, things are constantly lost to time, like how Palismans were originally made, sure it may be easier to make them today, but they're not as powerful as ones made the traditional way" that caught all of the witch's attention, from what they knew there was only one way to make a Palisman. Gus told them the process by which Palismen were made and Evelyn confirmed that that was the way untraditional ones were made. Willow also stated that Palistrom trees were also very rare in the future which made it hard for students to obtain a Palisman, hence why quite a lot were more or less forced to ride brooms.
"Hey, would you kids like to adopt a Palisman each?" Caleb asked while gesturing to a pen in a corner where some Palismen could be seen running about "just go up to them and tell them what your deepest desire is" the 4 friends, excited at the idea, moved over to the pen.
Willow knelt down and spoke first "I want to be strong and wise to protect everyone I love. And if anyone gets in my way, they'll feel the sting of defeat" the 4 friends watched as a bee the size of a football flew over to Willow "Oh!" a bee Palismen transforms into a staff. "Oh, my gosh! I'm gonna take such good care of you" next Gus stepped up
"Dad wants me to become a master illusionist, but that's easy. So instead, I'll become an ambassador to the Human Realm and re-establish contact with the giraffes!" they then watched as a blue chameleon palisman climbed up to Gus and became his staff.
Amity then walked up "I want to get stronger so that I can become the head of the abomination coven someday" a white cat Palisman strolled up to Amity before turning into a staff "oh my gosh it's so cute!" she exclaimed and she gave it a kiss.
Then Luz stepped up "I want to be a witch!" None of the palismen approached her "Uh... probably just takes a little longer 'cause I'm a human, right?"
"Actually Palismen bonds through emotion. And as interesting as your desire is, I'm not sensing any conviction from you, plus humans can't do magic" Evelyn stated
"That's impossible. I'm Luz, I'm choked full of conviction! Conviction and Chocolate!...and also I 'can \'do magic, got a piece of paper?" Caleb gave Luz a pencil and held out a notepad for her. Luz then drew a plant glyph and pressed it, making a rose appear, stunning the older couple
"well blow me down, she can perform magic," Caleb said, stunned at what he had just witnessed.
"tell me, kid, what kind of witch do you want to be? What do you hope to accomplish with your magic?" Evelyn asked
"Oh, uh...hmm…"
"Would you still train to be a witch in the Human Realm?" Gus asked
"Can you even do magic there?" Willow questioned
"Huh, I guess I never thought that far ahead"
Evelyn then walked over to a shelf and grabbed what looked like a wooden egg "here, if you can't find one to adopt, have one to hatch" and she handed it to Luz, who gently took it
"cool, what kind of Palisman is going to hatch from it?"
"don't know, when a Palisman hatches from an egg, it chooses what it wants to be"
Luz beamed at this "I don't know what you're going to hatch into, but I know you'll be perfect either way" she said and she nuzzled her nose to the egg.
Evelyn then turned to Gus "and to answer your question from before, I'm with child" she said as she put her hands on her bulging stomach, making the young witch blush in embarrassment.
The group of friends soon left the store after bidding goodbye to Evelyn and Caleb. As they left Evelyn got a concerned look on her face "what's wrong?" Caleb asked
"there's something about the time pools that I know is important, but I can't remember what it is"
"oh I'm sure it's not that important"
"yeah you're probably right"
The sun was now starting to set on the Tranquil Isles, with the 4 friends sitting on the beach watching as the sun got lower and lower until it finally disappeared over the horizon "okay guys, let's head back home, our parents are probably worried about us" Willow said, getting nods from everyone. When they reached the spot, which was now being lapped by waves, Luz stepped forward. She was expecting to fall through like before, but instead, nothing happened
"huh?" she stepped around but the only thing that happened was that her feet got wet. "this was the spot where we first arrived right?" she asked before everyone else began walking around trying to find the time pool. As they searched they were interrupted by the arrival of Evelyn who came down on her staff, which had a Palisman of a dove on the end.
"crud, I was hoping that you would have gotten back in time," she said,
"what do you mean?" Luz asked
"time pools are only in one place once before the tide washes it away"
"gah! How could I have forgotten something so important?!" Gus shouted, now remembering that bit of information.
"So what you're saying is that we're stuck over 300 years in the past" Amity said flatly
"well not necessarily, I mean they pop up every day, it's just only in one spot once a day" Evelyn replied
"so tomorrow it could literally be right next to the titan's head?"
"possibly"
"so there aren't any spells or something that could get us back home?" Luz questioned
"I'm afraid, not sorry"
Gus began to tear up at this and began to cry when he was comforted by Luz and Willow. "You kids are more than welcome to stay with Caleb and me" she offered, not having much of a choice the 4 friends agreed and followed her to her house.
That night the 4 friends lay awake in their beds, which were essentially just giant pillowcases stuffed with rags. They hadn't had dinner, not having any appetite to speak of. They were each thinking about fun and happy moments that they had had with their parents, though with Amity she was only thinking about her dad and siblings. Tears streamed down the sides of their faces as they all just stared up at the ceiling "well at least we still have each other" Luz said, this actually brought a smile to everyone's faces and they all held hands, or hands in Luz's case.
Even though Evelyn claimed that there were no spells that could send them back home, that didn't stop the 4 friends from trying to find out. They scanned through book after book for the past week trying to find something, anything, that could help them get back home, they even asked all of the townsfolk if they knew, or knew anyone that could help them, but so far no one had an answer for them. They had also been practicing using their staff to fly as well as spending time with their Palismen, Luz on the other hand was learning how to use a broom to fly…or rather 3 tied together to help her stay in the air properly. The 4 were currently in the library still researching, Amity then closed her book "guys, I think we should just get comfortable, I think that this is going to be our new home" she said, while no one said it, they all silently agreed.
Luz's eyes then widened "wait guys, this is just one library and one town. There are settlements all over the titan, surely there's got to be someone out there who knows something" this actually raised everyone's spirits
"and while we're searching, we can also give Luz her arm back!" Gus said before showing his friends a page he had bookmarked, Luz began reading it out loud
"The Healing Hat? Anyone who wears this article of clothing will have any and all illnesses, ailments, deformities, and curses removed from them" Luz then thought back to Eda and her curse 'maybe after I heal myself, I could put it in a place where Eda would find it if we can't find a way back, and then she could cure her curse' a grin then spread on her face
"and in order to make it, all we need is a holy ring, the hat of a Gnome, the glove of a Sunweed, and the bandages of a Weremummy, mix it in a cauldron of holy water while reciting the chant provided and the hat will be formed" Willow finished before Amity took a picture of it on her penstagram, and Gus began writing it down, just in case.
Once he had finished writing it down, Willow took the book and began looking through it, it was filled with different articles of clothing that possessed magical qualities that did all sorts of different things from enhancing magic, restraining magic, erasing memories, showing forgotten memories, and many more. One that caught her attention was the Green Thumb Gauntlet, she had read about them recently only the method to make one was stated to be lost to time, yet right in front of her was the method. All she needed was the glove of a Sunweed and the jewel of a Royal Crown, then she had to bury it, pour 1 liter of holy water over it, recite a chant, and then wait 24 hours. She quickly wrote this all down and pocketed it. Unfortunately, the books didn't state where they could obtain all of the items they needed, just what they needed, even Evelyn didn't know where to find said items.
Evelyn and Caleb decided to make a going away feast for the 4 friends, everyone definitely ate their fill and then some, with Luz and Caleb even having an eating contest, which ultimately ended with Caleb winning while Luz was stuffed to her limit. The biggest surprise of the night however was how much Amity could put away, one of the many items of food available at the feasts was BBQ Spider back ribs, Amity's all-time favorite food, seeing how much Amity liked them Evelyn kept using her magic to make more ribs for the young witch, she even gave Amity more sauce to put on them, only for Amity to drink it like a glass of lemonade on a hot day. There were jokes, stories, and various antics throughout the feast which everyone enjoyed.
Later
Luz and Amity were now lying next to each other, hand/s resting on their engorged stomachs, Amity looked like (and felt like) she had swallowed a bowling ball whole "wow…Amity…I didn't…know…that you…could…eat…that much" Luz said finding it hard to breathe
"I…love…Spider back ribs" she simply replied before she and Luz gave simultaneous burps. Willow and Gus just watched the two and shook their heads at the sight before they went to get ready for bed.
Later that night, Luz woke up to the taste of sweets, as well as feeling a pain in her stomach along with pressure on her before something was shoved into her mouth and it went down her throat by itself. Fully waking up, she realized that Amity was straddling her stomach while conjuring up food and shoving it in her mouth, while she was asleep. "Eat till you explode. Eat till you explode. Fatter. Fatr. Bigger you...butter you." She mumbled in her sleep Luz tried the move but she found her arms and legs pinned to the floor as Amity kept shoving more and more food into Luz's mouth. The young witch lowered her face overtill their noses were touching. Glaring into the human's wide eyes with her half open and glazed ones "Your not going anywhere. I'm going to fatten you up until you can't move and spend the rest of your life as my personal blob, and theirs nothing you can do about it. You understand me Boscha?" she said with an alarming amount of clarity and aggression for someone that wasn't even really conscious before pulling back up and resuming cramming food into her face. This continued to the point where Luz's stomach was now being stretched beyond its new limit. After shoving a final slice of cake into Luz's mouth and forcing it down her throat, Amity lay down on top of Luz and soon, light snores were heard
'oh thank god' Luz thought before she passed out into a food coma.
Luz woke up the next morning to find Amity still sleeping on her, peering under her covers, she saw that she had once again outgrown all of her clothes, with them now just being shredded bits of cloth. Luz gave an internal sigh, if she had to guess, Amity had been sleeping feeding last night, as much as Luz wanted to put a stop to this, seeing her friend smiling in her sleep made most of the annoyance she felt, wash away. She wouldn't deny that she thought Amity was beautiful, and she honestly admired who Amity was as a person, but she had yet to see Amity return said admiration toward her, it seemed that Amity was more interested in feeding her than anything else, but she did keep her hopes up.
When everyone woke up, Luz was given a set of Caleb's clothes to wear, which were very close on her, to the point where his shirt was more like a dress on Luz, a fact of which made her friends laugh, Gus even made a comment that given how fast Luz was growing, she'd probably outgrow it in a week. Giving the teens a backpack of supplies each, Evelyn and Caleb gave them a fond farewell before they left.
The first place they were headed to was a village on the right forearm called Fleshdale. It took them about an hour of flying to reach said location, but when they arrived they could see that the village was rather small and underdeveloped. "wow, Fleshdale was a lot smaller back in this time" Gus said
"Really? How big is it now?" Luz asked
"it's bigger than our Bonesborough"
"well it's got 300-plus years to get bigger" Luz mused as they landed
"well at least we don't have to spend a week or so asking everyone" Willow added
"hello there young witchlings" they turned and saw a smartly dressed red-skinned demon, with a goatee, and horns coming out of his forehead "welcome to Fleshdale, we may be a small town, but were big on hospitality. I'm Natas, mayor of this fine town if there's anything I can help you with, please don't hesitate to ask" he said proudly
"actually there is something you could help us with. Do you know or know anyone who knows about time magic?" Amity asked
"hmm, time magic you say, well the only time magic I know is freezing things in time for only 30 seconds" Natas replied, Amity then gave him a brief rundown on their situation "oh, I see, well I'm extremely adept at all modern types of magic, and as far as I know there aren't any spells to actually send someone forward in time. I'd say your best bet would be to talk to elders about that kind of magic, they'd most likely know about that kind of time magic if it existed in the past"
"thanks for this"
"um, do you happen to have any libraries in this town?" Gus asked
"we do have one, but we, unfortunately, don't have any books at the moment" Natas replied sheepishly
"and one other thing, do you know where we could get these items?" Luz asked while showing him the list and Willow giving him her's
"…wow, good luck getting the Gnome hat, as for the holy ring, holy water, and the jewel of a Royal Crown, you could get those from the King of the Titan, he lives in a castle at the very heart of the Titan. If you're looking for Gnomes, they live in the Blood Forest" he said while pointing at the forest far away from the village. The teens thanked him and began wandering around the village, to find old people.
After speaking to a few elders, the group finally got a lead, according to a very old demon, when he was younger, he met a man on the right hand who knew all about ancient magic that had long since been forgotten by witches and demons alike. That being their best bet, the group headed off to the hand, though before they got there, they had to make a stop in the Blood Forest. It was easy to see why it was called Blood Forest, the trees, the grass, and even the ground itself was crimson red. After flying around it for a while, Luz spotted some buildings nestled between the trees. "hey guys, down there!" Luz called out, her friends saw what she was pointing at and they all flew down. Landing just outside the area, they walked toward the hidden village "so what do you guys know about Gnomes?" Luz asked
"don't know, they're extinct in our time," Gus said, with Willow and Amity in the same boat as Gus
"well, if cartoons have taught me anything, its that Gnomes are tiny, harmless, helpful…" she trailed off as they passed a sign that said Gnometown, and they were greeted by a massive open town full of 7'0 monsters in pointy hats "…giant…hulking…brutes…"
"there's an illusion over this entire area of the forest!" Gus exclaimed, the teens gulped as they walked over to the closest Gnome, the sleeves of his shirt were torn off revealing risqué tattoos
"um excuse me Mr. Gnome" Luz started, the Gnome turned with a low growl "um I know this may seem like an odd request, but could I possibly have your hat please, we need it to make a healing hat"
"Nobody takes a gnome's hat!" and he turned away, there was a pause before two giant hands burst out of the ground, one made of abomination goop, and the other made of vines
"Luz! Grab it and lets go!" Amity shouted as the hands made the Gnome bend forward, which caught all other Gnomes present's attention. Luz then grabbed the Gnomes hat
"no don't!" the Gnome shouted before Luz took it off revealing his blindingly shiny…
"Bald! Bald!"
"bald! bald! bald!"
"MY EYES!"
"Let's get out of here!" Amity shouted while shielding herself from the brightness.
The group quickly fled the hidden village, only stopping when they thought that they would be safe. "Okay that's one item off the list" Gus stated
"and one item closer to curing Eda" Luz added
"…and restoring your lost arm" Amity added
"huh? Oh right, funny, you'd think I would still be noticing that I'm missing an arm" the 4 friends then froze as a loud roar echoed for miles turning they saw a huge monstrosity forming and rising above the trees
"Well, now we know why the mayor wished us good luck getting the Gnome hat?" Willow said before the giant Gnome, made of Gnomes, charged at them at incredible speeds for its size.
The 4 teens ducked, weaved, flew up, flew down, and everything else you could think of to avoid the combined creature of terror, it picked up trees and hurled them at the kids with such accuracy that the 4 teens were grazed by the bark of the tree or were sliced by the razor-sharp leaves. As they flew about, Luz saw the edge of the arm was near, and she got an idea "hey baldy!" the monstrosity turned to Luz who was now wearing the hat on her head "you want your hat back, well come and get it"
"Luz!" her friends shouted as the Gnome monstrosity gave chase to Luz. As Luz neared the edge of the arm, which was a sheer drop into the sea, she reached into the shirt pocket and pulled out several glyphs, going over the edge she pulled up and flipped over the Gnome monstrosity, which stopped just at the edge as it turned around Luz activated the handful of glyphs and there was a bright flash of light, blinding the Gnomes, that was instantly followed by a mass of thick strong vines that struck it in the chest and caused all of the Gnomes to fall into the sea.
"let's go before they get their second wind!" Luz shouted to her friends and they continued their way to the hand as fast as they possibly could.
The group arrived at the hand to find that it was vastly more populated being roughly the size of Bonesborough "wow, this is a lot bigger than the last place we visited" Luz stated
"Palmreed is a port town, and is the main source for seafood for about half of the isles"
"…but you guys can make food, why would you need to fish"
"Because seafood is one of the few things we can't materialize," Luz thought back, Willow was right, throughout the whole time she had been in the demon realm, she had not once had any seafood
"huh? Well I'll be darned, what else can't you materialize"
"spider back ribs" they all looked at Amity "I would be twice Luz's size if I could make them myself"
"then how was Evelyn able to make them"
"…fuck, I should have asked her"
"we'll drop in on the way back and ask her, right now we need to find the man that demon was talking about"
"you know when that demon said that he met the guy when he was younger, it's possible that the man he was talking about is dead now," Gus said
"well we have to try" walking up to the closest civilian, Luz cleared her throat, the figure turned around to reveal that she was a triclops. Before Luz could get half a word out the triclops made a large pie and gave it to Luz "thank you" she said and she began eating it "mmm apple".
Willow decided to ask in Luz's place "pardon me ma'am, but would you happen to know where we could find a man who knows about ancient magic?" "ancient magic, ancient magic…actually that's ringing a bell…oh yeah I remember my mother talking about someone like that, I think she said that he moved to The Knee. Let me just give her a call…HEY MOTHER, THE MAN WHO COULD DO ANCIENT MAGIC MOVED TO THE KNEE, RIGHT?!" she then cupped her ear
"YES, DEARY!"
"there, he moved to the knee"
"thanks," the four said in union, their ears still ringing
"would you happen to know where we could find a Sunweed and a Weremummy?" Willow asked
"sure, Sunweed's like to live on the left tibia, as for Weremummys, they generally stay around the Titan's neck"
"thank you very much for that, okay, off to The Knee" Willow declared and they all headed off to The Knee.
When they arrived, they instantly realized that they were ill-prepared to be in such a place, it was freezing! While Evelyn had given them supplies, she had neglected to give them anything warm to wear, and they didn't have any money to buy clothes with. "fun fact Luz, this place is nothing but ruin's in our time" Gus said
"h-hey lets j-just go o-o-over t-to that b-building" Luz said while pointing at, ironically, a clothing shop that had smoke coming out of its chimney. Entering the shop they all gave sighs as they were engulfed in the warmth
"oh my, what are you children doing outside wearing those?" a kind voice said, they all turned and saw a man who looked identical to Willow's dad Gilbert. Willow was about to say 'dad' when Gus put his hand over her mouth to silence her, this time Amity spoke up
"we're travelers who weren't prepared for the cold"
"then here, take these," he said and he gave them a full set of winter clothes, which they were all extremely grateful for. "So what are a bunch of children traveling around the Tranquil Ilse for?"
"well were on both a personal quest and an item test"
"Oh, and who is the person you're searching for"
"a man who knows about ancient magic"
"ancient magic you say…something like this?" he then drew a symbol on a piece of paper and pressed it, making a chunk of ice appear, the 4 friends gasped at this
"show me that again please!" Luz pleaded, the man chuckled and drew it again, getting the same result. Luz then tried her hand at it, managing to get it right on the first try. "who taught you that?" Luz asked
"oh no one, I see that symbol on all snowflakes"
"thank you so much for this, it'll really come in handy" Luz thanked
"no problem," the man said, he then pulled out a large empty pot and made Luz a massive amount of stew with a large spoon in it, before moving it over to her
"thank you very much," Luz said, and she started eating it, the man giving a sigh of relief. As Luz ate, her friends went to get changed. By the time they were done Luz had already finished the pot of stew
"wow, I can't believe that you ate it all that fast" Gus commented while Luz just gave a sheepish grin before she went to get changed. When she was finally changed, having had some problems due to her size, the group headed out to find more people to ask.
After several hours of searching and asking residents of Snowcap village, the 4 friends decided to bunker down for the night. Setting up tents in an ally way to avoid the cold wind, the 4 friends snuggled up in their sleeping bags, using their clothes as extra blankets. By the next morning, their tents were covered in a thin layer of snow. Exiting their tents, they all now sported serious cases of bedhead, Amity however looked half dead due to hardly getting any sleep that night. It was decided amongst the group that they would search the village archives next to see if there was any mention of the man.
Together they searched through every profile of everyone who ever entered or was a part of the village, but there were nothing that gave any indication that any such man existed. "good tidings children, may I help you look for anything" the librarian asked, the librarian was a bird-like demon, about the size of an average adult, he wore a black cloak with a name tag that said 'Malphas' on it. Had Amity not been asleep with her head propped up by a book, she would have been the most surprised at the demon's appearance
"Yes, we're looking for any information on a man who supposedly knows about ancient magic" Luz stated
"hmm, that sounds like something Robert would know"
"who's Robert?"
"a friend of mine, he knows everything about magic, past, and present"
"do you know where we could find him?" Luz asked, her hopes skyrocketing
"yes, he lives on the forehead of the Titan"
"thank you so much for this"
"don't mention it" and with that, he left. Luz then woke up the sleeping Amity and assisted the half-asleep girl outside, with Gus and Willow following after her.
"Hey Amity, you sure you're okay to fly?" Willow asked, concerned
"yes…why?"
"you're on your staff backward"
"…your right" turning it around she hopped on it "okay let's go" and with that, they flew off. As they rose up higher into the air Luz spotted something, it seemed to be a mining operation of some kind
"hey Willow, what would they be mining for?"
"I have no-AMITY!" Luz almost broke her neck turning to see Amity had fallen off her staff and was now freefalling to the ground. Luz flew down as fast as she could and just as Amity was about to hit the ground, Luz caught her by the front of her jacket
"oh thank god, that was-" *slam* Luz had flown straight into the side of a hill, making all observers flinch.
Luz woke up with a pounding headache "I really hope my egg hatches soon"
"at your size kid, your Palismen staff would have to be as thick as a tree trunk," a gruff voice said, turning her head she saw a demon that looked a cross between a rhino, a man, and an ogre-wearing fairly dirty clothes "you certainly took an impact with that hill, nice save you made with your friend"
"Is she okay"
"yeah, your body took the full impact"
"where are we?"
"We're in the medical tent area of mine 1A"
"oh yeah, we saw that from above, I'm just wondering what you could be mining out of a dead monster"
"titan's blood"
"you mean that the titan still has liquid blood, despite being dead for so long"
"we guess its because its magic is so potent that it stayed in its liquid form for much longer"
"what's it used for"
"spells and potions"
"…could I have some?"
"Sure, just grab a jar or something and fill it up, I checked you over and you should be fine to go"
"thank you, sir"
"you're welcome young lady" and with that Luz exited the medical tent.
"Luz!" Luz saw her friends coming up to her each holding large sacks that clanked with every step
"are those sacks filled with jar's of Titan's Blood?" she asked
"yeah, we went back into Snowcap Village where Amity sold a gold bracelet she had, and we used those snails to by all of these jars" Gus explained while Willow handed Luz a second sack she had been carrying
"In our time Titan's Blood sells for massive amounts of snails. We would be set for life with just 3 jar's" Willow stated
"wow, really?" Luz questioned
"yep, because it's so rare in our time, just a drop sells for a 100 snails"
"whoa! You're right we would be set for life"
"Luz, thanks for saving me, I owe you big time"
"Amity, you don't owe me anything, I'm just glad that you're safe" and with that, Luz hugged Amity. Amity smiled and returned the hug, for the first time just enjoying the hug itself and not from the fact she was embracing someone 5 times her size. When they broke apart, Luz got a determined look on her face, "next stop, the left tibia"