Eda bawled her eyes as she held the dying form of her lover, Raine Whispers, the non-binary head of the bard coven who tried all they could to stop this damn draining spell. But here they are, surrounded by all the witches that had the magic sucked out of them through their sigils. "Damn you Belos." Eda swore as she held Raine in her arms as she stroked their hair with her remaining hand. All seemed lost for her people...
Until at the same time, the Collector had moved the moon out of the way of the sun as if he was moving something on a human touchscreen. This frankly insane feat had ceased the draining spell, and all the magic had returned to their owners. Seeing this Eda looked bewildered before seeing everyone around her regain consciousness, looking just as confused as she was. Darius shook his head, "What happened?"
"(cough, cough)" Raine let out as they looked up to Eda, "Eda?"
The Owl Lady gasped, "Raine!" she pulled her ex into an emotional hug.
Raine hugged back, "Eda, what happened? I thought we failed, I-"
"Oh who cares!" Eda exclaimed, "I'm just glad you're okay." Just then they felt the ground rumble.
"Um, hate to break up your lovers' reunion but..." Darius interjected before the rumbling got louder and everything started to crumble.
Sounds of concern rang through as the landscape dissolved, questions arose as to what is going on. "Owl Lady! Raine!" Terra exclaimed as she and everyone floated, "What's going on?! Is this what Belos meant about a new world?"
Eberwulf looked into the distance near where the head had broken apart, they growled something and pointed to it. The other coven heads and Eda looked to where Eber pointed, Darius gave a rough translation "I don't think this is Belos' work."
Raine narrowed their eyes as the form floating overheard and all the rubble was orbiting around, this figure looked like a child in pajamas "Wait... is that..."
The collector looked to where Luz was holding the portal together, couldn't hear what she was saying as they kept their eyes on the little demon that released him. "KING! You said you'd play with me, you pinky swore!" the collector raised his pinky, this caused King to be pulled to the child of the stars.
King and Luz grabbed onto each other, Luz chanting "We gotta stick together! We GOTTA stick together!"
King can tell she was desperate, desperate and scared as he too didn't know what was about to happen. But he knew that no matter what plan Luz will ever conceive, there's nothing that can be done. "No... not this time... but I can keep you safe." what felt so long ago he never thought he would love any being that didn't bow to him. But this human, who he loved so much. He was willing to make the ultimate sacrifice.
Luz saw the look in his eyes, "Nooo!"
"Luz... I'm so happy I had you as a big sister." with one breath...
"WEH!"
The Titan wail sent both of them flying, King towards the collector and Luz shot towards the portal along with her girlfriend. King could only watch as the door closed behind the power couple of the show before the cave collapsed, severing the only connection to the human realm. King sniffled as tears poured from his eyes, "Farewell Luz."
The collector caught him, "Yaaaaaaaaaaaaay! We're gonna have so much fun!" the collector cheered as he spun him around as he rebuilt all of existence. "Too bad that human and her friends had to go, they seemed like they would have been cool to hang out with. But no matter, we can still have an amazing game of Owl House!" Collector then looked to King, "By the way I didn't ask but... how do you play Owl House?"
King's head was still spinning, but he shook off the dizziness to look at the collector "Um... well... I uh..."
"Oh you can tell me after I'm finished."
"Finish what?" King questioned fearfully.
"Constructing the BIGGEST OWL HOUSE IN EXISTENCE!" the creator's proclaimed as his voice went lower and more powerful with each word. King and everyone shielded their eyes as a blinding light enveloped everything as the Collector gained a jubilant smile.
King groaned as he stirred awake back on the Owl House couch, "Uuuuuuuuh... Man, I had the most bizarre dream. That a child with unholy power tore apart all of reality and I shot Luz into the human realm to save her."
"Nope, its all real."
"REEE!" King screeched as he leaped off the bed, startled by the collector. Who had been laying beside the titan child, he looked down at King with a playful look "You know you purr in your sleep."
"C-c-collector? What did... what did you?" King questioned as he pushed himself up.
Collector giggled before he floated over to the door, "I'll show you." the Collector opened the door, with King following suit and he gasped when he saw the new Owl House exterior. Which was now the size of Belos' castle, even was designed like it. With more than a few posters with the Collector and King in various poses, with the pictures looking playful with hint of foreboding doom. And in a lot of the posters, King looked like he was scared out of his mind. King then saw that in they were now also at the head of the Boiling Isles, and on their front lawn he saw a giant golden statue with the Collector standing tall with King shouting his super sonic 'WEH' in one hand and the head of Phillip Wittebane's monster form in his other hand.
"Uuuuuuhhhhhh." King sweatdropped at the statue.
"You like it?" Collector kneeled in front of him, "I made it myself, what do you think?" he asked with sparkly eyes.
King sweated as he saw a pigeon land on Statue King's head, and before it can drop a dung the Collector shot a magic bean at it which blast it off the statue landing on the ground burnt to a crisp. King gulped as the Collector stared at him, "It's... amazing! You got all my best features!" King let out, looking it he had to admit he looked good in gold.
Collector squealed as he hugged King, "Thanks Besty!" Collector pulled away, "So, now can you explain the rules to Owl House?"
"Oh right... well you see. The thing is..." King twiddled his claws, as he thought of what to say the Collector's smile slowly sunk into a frown. He gulped, "Owl House isn't like most games, its way more intricate than you would first think."
"How so?" Collector narrowed his eyes, "Unless you lied to me, but you'd never do that. Riiiiight?"
King gulped, "Well, you see there's no real right way to win it. It's uuuuuh..." he snap his claws trying to find the words "kind of like these games that Luz talked about in the human world, where how well you do is... kind of boiled down to what decisions you make... so uhhhh." King's heart kept beating and beating as he begged to his dad that his explanation didn't cause him to join his father in the afterlife.
The Collector hummed as he listened to his new friend, honestly his words didn't leave much information. He then gained a smirk, "As good as I'm sure your game is, I suggest we add a few things to it." he snapped his fingers, and King watched as the Isles morphed and contorted into what looked like a board game field. And a giant arena manifested itself in the dead center of it. "I've been trapped in the void for so long, all I could do is watch everything went down as the years go by. With nothing else to do except peep into the lives of the multiverse, including a slumber party in the human realm where a group of kids played something called... what was it Marcos Party... eh whatever. "
"Well, Owl House... is pretty similar" King let out as the Collector conjured up two beach chairs for himself and King. King was then given a scroll as he saw on it was a list of every last resident of the Boiling Isles.
"You can use your scroll to select hmmmm lets go with three people to play for your team." the Collector said as he conjured up his own scroll with the same list.
The collector then drew a circle and out pops Kikimora in a ref shirt and green cargo shorts, with a large scarf that covers her mouth. She groaned as she stirred awake, "Ugh, I had the most bizarre dream. Like the world was being erased by-" she then went wide eyed before she saw the Collector who smiled and waved. "GYAH!" she screamed and leaped into King's arms as she clung onto the titan, "YOU!"
"Yep, it's me. The kid that appointed you as official Owl House referee, making sure everything goes smoothly." Collector said as he picked up a flower and with a flick of his wrist turned it into a sandwich. "Consider it a thanks for bringing me my new best friend, and for helping him release me."
Kikimora pulled King to the side, "Are you okay? What happened to the Boiling Isles?" she grabbed King's shoulders and stared fearfully in his eyes, "Blink if you're in danger!"
King grabbed her hands and pulled them off his shoulder, "Look, I know full well that Collector is... pretty much God with the mindset of a child. But until we figure out what to do, the safest bet is to just go along with whatever he wants. I'll try and keep him from doing anything too drastic." Kikimora gestured behind her at the large field, "Starting now."
Kikimora clasped her eyes shut as she held tightly onto King's hands, "It's all my fault." King 'weh'd in confusion at this. "I knew Belos had his secret meetings with the Collector, but I wish I did more investigation to find out what they were talking about. Had I known that the Day of Unity was actually a plot to wipeout all of magic kind in one fell swoop..." she sniffled, "I could have done something before I got demoted. I could of have gone home to my family renuion... then I would have had a place to go back to, then maybe the human and I could have been..." King softly cried into King's furried chest, who awkwardly patted her back.
"There... there..." he muttered, this is what he meant that day Luz got trapped in Belos' mind. No one wants to know they spent their life following the wrong guy, and low and behold. "Look, whatever happened has gone and passed. Belos is no more, everyone is safe... I think... um where is everyone?" King asked the Collector, who was playing with a paddle ball.
"Huh?" he looked over to King, "Oh sorry, I didn't want to interrupt your moment. But just pick whoever you wish to play for you and you'll see." Collector demonstrated as he picked, "I summon Adrian Grey, Terra Snapdragon, and Odalia Blight to the field!"
Just then the three witches appeared at the bottom of the head, at a large golden square. Where the Illusion coven head looked even more disheveled, Terra looked confused, and Odalia was looking around. "Is this... the new world Belos promised?" the oracle magic user questioned.
"I don't think this is the paradise I had envisioned." Terra said.
"More like hell." Adrian grumbled as he hid his 7-0'clock shadow with a paper bag.
King and Kikimora blinked before King looked at his scroll, "Okay... I uh... pick Eda the Owl Lady... Lillith Clawthorne... and Steve." King pressed the icons, which summoned the Clawthorne sisters and the former Emperor's coven guard to the square.
"What's going? Where were we? Why does the Boiling Isles look like a board game?! Can't make sense... of anything!" Lillith hyperventilated before Eda slapped her with her one hand. "Thanks sister."
"Eh, was the only way to calm your tits." she looked up to the head where she saw King, the little gremlin Kikimora, and... "So that's the collector huh?"
"The what?!" Lillith looked up and saw, "Oh dear, he's real."