Before Luz had even really realized it, her first week on the Boiling Isles had come and gone like the wind.
The comfortably domestic environment of the boisterous Owl House was a far cry from her time spent around campfires and huddling under aging ruins on and off for years. It took a few nights for Luz to adjust to having no stars over her as she slept, especially considering the dreams that dogged her evenings.
The ones involving the Titan of the Boiling Isles had only happened twice, but more commonplace nightmares quickly moved to fill the void. She spent every other night waking in a cold sweat, feeling grasping limbs and ragged screams chasing her into miserable wakefulness. Luz did her best not to wake her housemates with her whimpering after that first morning, and so spent some time thumbing through some of Eda's worn collection of novels whenever dark memories interrupted her rest.
It did little to shut the nightmares out, but she still felt better when she would return to slumber.
She'd thought herself long past such phantom reminders, but evidently her attempts at forming new friendships left things a bit more – raw, than she would have expected.
In the mornings following, the Owl Lady proved quite creative when it came to finding work around the property to get done between the four residents. There never seemed to be an end to the list of items to be sorted and cleaned, the rooms to be cleared of dust or clutter, and batches of potions to be delivered promptly for nearby customers. It remained an appreciated, if exhausting, distraction from lingering night terrors.
While her guests handled the variety of unending chores needed to keep the Owl House up and running, Eda herself spent multiple hours a day pondering the puzzle Luz had given her, utterly determined to parse out the secrets to accessing the tides of blue magic surrounding them. Luz often left her sitting by the seaside cliff, condensed mana in hand, as the older woman muttered and fretted over the stubborn puzzle box.
The day she finally solved her conundrum, Luz had stepped outside with ceramic plate and glass in hand, a sandwich prepared for the distracted witch while she pondered her target. She called out to the Owl Lady, coming to a stop shortly before the woman so as to not startle her host.
"Lunchtime, Eda!" The mage crooned sweetly. "I don't know what this is from your fridge, but it looks like bologna so I went ahead and cut some up for you!"
"Thanks, kiddo. You can just drop it here." Her hand waved flippantly towards the grassy patch of ground she was sat upon, eyes solely on the puzzle that had her enraptured.
Luz hesitated a moment before depositing the meal next to the pale woman, taking a seat on the far side of the plate.
"Still nothing?" She felt terrible that she wasn't of anymore assistance. Sure, Luz had struggled with blue mana when she was getting started, but that had been her first attempt at harnessing the supernatural. Eda had been making use of magic her entire life, practically, and she knew it was incredibly frustrating to fight with something so similar yet so far from what one was familiar with.
"I'm close, I can feel it." The Owl Lady's optimism was undiminished, even in light of her irritation. "I've been waking up and tasting sea salt every day, and can tell right when the tide's gonna hit in the morning. Something's different today though, I just – know."
Well, that was encouraging, if a bit strange. Normally one needed to be actively channeling magic to have so much sensory feedback from the locations that were supplying their power, and Luz had never felt anything like that from lands she conferred with if she were on a separate plane. Then again, Eda wielded magic with the ease and confidence of a decades-long veteran, spells as comparable to her as breathing. She knew the witch was reasonably powerful, so maybe the side-effects were just influencing her oddly?
"Ugh. All of this thinking's got me starving. What'd you say you made for lunch?"
"Some kinda meat for sandwiches. Came in a cylinder, if that rings any bells?"
"Oh yeah, that cut of hellboar I picked up in town. Great." To Luz's surprise, the witch flicked her wrist blindly at her side, leaving the orb of mana to rest in her lap, and – the sandwich floated into the air. Without a spell circle.
Eda took a quick bite, letting the entrée drop back to the plate with a smack as she hummed thoughtfully.
"Yum, is that some of those 'tomatoes' you gave Willow that I'm tasting? They're pretty good, might have to ask her if I can get a trimming to grow myself."
"Uh. Eda?"
The woman gave another dismissive twirl of her hand.
"Hold on a sec, kid. I think I'm having an epiphany."
Luz could feel the crackle in the air now, mana flowing in and around the Owl Lady's form, bending to her will as she squinted intensely at the core of the wooden puzzle knot.
"Can't touch the inside with the locks, can't knock it into place – gotta move it without my hands, or my spell circles. With my mind." She lowered her free hand to the trinket, fingers pinched above it. "Shouldn't be possible, but I can feel it. Just have to -" The tips of her fingers closed, and the toy slid cleanly apart, its internal lock opened wide. "…Change things so they fit."
Eda sat there for a moment, motionless, before rocketing to her feet with a cheer, orb of captured mana fading away quietly. Luz followed her lead, giving her own little cry of joy as the witch twirled around, lambasting the puzzle that had kept her confuddled for so long.
"Ha! In your face, you damn inanimate object! Guess who's the most powerful witch on the Boiling Isles? That's right – it's the Owl Lady! A whole new type of magic, and I still got it."
Luz had to laugh at the boundless enthusiasm, stifling her chuckles against a palm.
"Yeah, you sure did Eda. Though, uh, I think you might've had it when you lifted your sandwich to your mouth without your hands."
The older woman ceased spinning, a look of disbelief on her face.
"What? No way I did that! It's been an entire week, and I couldn't get anything to – wait." She swished a hand towards her ground-bound meal in a 'come hither' gesture, and the sandwich levitated to meet her. "Huh. I guess I did." A vicious smile broke free. "Nice!"
The planeswalker caught Eda in a hug without warning, one which the woman returned after a moment's pause, her ferocious grin softening into a warmer expression.
"Now that we finally got the baby stuff outta the way, you can start teaching me all about the bigger, more fun spells." The Owl Lady clenched her fist, bringing the laden kitchenware floating upwards, alongside the discarded puzzle knot pieces. "But first, let's go show off to the boys!"
The rest of the day was spent happily exploring Eda's newfound grasp on multiversal magics by lifting everything she owned at least once, and a few things she didn't, such as King's diminutive form. Hooty was happy to offer congratulations on her breakthrough considering he wasn't being tossed liberally around by the witch, who had taken to telepathically juggling Owlbert and the King of Demons for a spell, leaving Luz rolling on the floor in hysterics at the level of distress coming from the small pair.
They celebrated that night with an enormous dinner, in which the Owl Lady insisted on handling every cooking implement with her mind. There were a few near misses in regards to grease fires and boiling water, but all in all the spirits of the household remained high as they chowed down on Eda's supper offerings.
The approach of the following weekend brought with it a return of Willow Park, who was ecstatic at the success her mentor had found in attempting foreign spells, the two babbling excitedly over the potential utility of their respective magical breakthroughs. The plant witch had even been kind enough to return with a potable sample of tomato seedlings for Eda to begin growing, the magically enforced growth of the plants a stunning success on her part. Apparently, witches had something akin to phones called 'scrolls,' and the Owl Lady had thought to ask ahead of time for some clippings. At any rate, she had already moved onto experimenting with other samples she was cultivating in her family's greenhouse, and her fathers thoroughly enjoyed the addition to the family diet.
However, the main event of her visit was not the report from home, or the work that needed doing once she was present. Instead, the major milestone of Willow coming to the Owl House that week was the guest she had brought with her, one Gus Porter – the youngest member of his graduating class, illusionist extraordinaire, son of the Isles' most famous reporter, and a fanatic of all things relating to humans.
When Luz first spoke with the diminutive boy, he had nearly keeled over on the spot from excitement. Hooty had let the pair in, and the short male witch – with his close-cropped hair and richly dark skin tone – made for quite the interesting sight himself, though he appeared utterly enthralled with Luz's presence in the kitchen.
"Oh. My. Titan. You weren't kidding Willow." His eyes were sparkling with joy, hands clasped before him. "An actual, living human here, on the Boiling Isles! Somebody pinch me, I don't think I can take this cruel joke anymore if I'm dreaming."
Willow gave a snort, smacking him on the shoulder blade as she walked into the Owl House, placing her offering of young tomato plants on the counter for Eda's review.
"Stop being so dramatic, Gus." She turned to the bemused mage, giving her an apologetically amused smile. "He used to be the head and founder of our high school's Human Appreciation Society. They'd have meetings discussing all sorts of stuff about your world and people, so… get ready for a lot of questions. Most of what he knows is probably wrong, anyway."
"Wuh – hey! I'll have you know I am the most prolific collector of human relics on the Isles, thank you, and that my knowledge even rivals that of the Owl Lady. Not only that, but I'm one of her best customers!" Gus swelled with pride at his boast, gesturing to the idling witch who was currently inspecting her newly received crops.
"You do buy a whole lot of… stuff from my stand kid, I'll give you that." Eda turned the small pots of soil over, inspecting their occupants as she gave a carefully nonchalant response. "Gotta wonder how much of that is your parents' money, though. D'you even have a job?"
"That is… entirely irrelevant and I am not going to dignify it with a response." Gus quailed before the unimpressed look directed his way. "Um, Miss powerful Owl Lady. Ma'am."
Eda snorted, shaking her head in amusement as she placed her spoils gently back on the countertop.
"Whatever floats your boat, shorty. Why don't you and Luz take this conversation to the living room while Willow and I talk shop? Got a few things to go over for the day."
The pair retired to the sitting room, taking up residence on the overstuffed sofa as the two witches discussed some item of business in lows voices on the far side of the kitchen. Luz had little hope of actually hearing anything being said, however, as Gus was now excitedly talking her ear off.
Evidently the Boiling Isles education regarding humanity was, to put simply, incredibly poor. Misconceptions were rife in every subject from biology to culture and technology. The young witch had boundless heaps of questions about Luz's physicality and knowledge of random household items, making her giggle at the sheer ridiculousness of it all.
"So humans don't have gills? Or an inner row of fangs for consuming prey?"
"I'm… pretty sure you're thinking of sharks, buddy. I can't naturally breathe underwater, and my teeth are just as flat and single-row as yours are, for the most part."
"Okay, okay. So no flight either?"
"Ha ha, nope."
"Dang! How do you get around then without flying or swimming, do you just… walk everywhere? Mattholomule once told me that humans roam around on top of giant metal mounts, but that sounded like a load of phooey."
"He probably meant cars. They're similar to carriages made of metal, and are powered by devices called 'engines.' It burns a liquid fuel inside, which produces a lot of force to spin the wheels – at least, that's a really basic understanding of it. I'm not a mechanic, sorry."
"That's still really fascinating! Now, how about those things I've heard called 'toasters?' Are they projectile weapons? I think Eda was actually selling some once!"
The discussion went on in a similar vein for minutes, and then into hours, the other two magic users bustling about as Gus pelted Luz with endless queries. She offered to assist them at one point, only to be gently rebuffed, with Eda telling her to help Mr. Porter work his curiosity from his system. It wasn't that she minded the friendly banter, but it made her feel uneasy, skimping a workday to play Twenty Questions on steroids while her companions were engaged in labor.
Eventually, however, the topic turned to Luz's magical skills, and how they fell outside the expectations of the average witch due to her species. She gave Gus a short rundown on the information she had previously shared with Eda and Willow, speaking of the colors of mana and how their use was generally influenced by a person's character. The boy soaked up her knowledge like an eager sponge, surprising her with insightful commentary about the topic, considering his prior questions had simply been a stream of consciousness.
However, Luz had developed some curiosity of her own.
"If witches don't use mana as far as you understand it," She began slowly. "Then how do you cast spells? And why does it have to be with a spell circle, of all things?"
Gus perked up, delighted to share some of his own expertise.
"Well, witches have an organ attached to our hearts known as a 'bile sac.' It pumps magical essence through our bodies, and works kinda like a person's general stamina for doing intensive things. We can use it up and strain ourselves if we get overworked from casting lots of spells, and generally taking naps and eating healthy is required to keep it in shape." He paused in his lengthy explanation, a hand cupping his chin as he considered something. "If humans don't have anything like that, it would explain why they can't use magic as witches know it. And because the spells you know are more of a mental thing that interacts with the environment, that'd be why you can cast them without a circle.
"As for why we use spell circles?" Gus shrugged helplessly. "I dunno! It's always been like that, even before the coven system, as far as I know."
"Not – huff – entirely true, kiddo." Eda interjected, dropping a heavy wooden crate of discarded human memorabilia on the nearby countertop. "Before the Savage Ages, records say witches used to make do with glyphs and runes to cast the same spells, which didn't take a bile sac. Not sure when things got changed up there, but if I had to make a bet, I'd say those glyphs probably ran off of the mana that Luz taught us about. And, without a reason to keep up with all that…"
"It fell out of favor for the easier form, which is why my magic is different." Luz completed for her, nodding slowly as she mulled over this new information.
"Wow, this is amazing." Gus bounced up and down in joy, shaking the entire couch in his excitement. "Meeting a human, and getting to learn all about your culture, and on top of that you rediscovered lost, ancient magics. That is so cool!"
Luz had to chuckle at the unbridled awe in his voice. Is this what having a younger brother was like?
"There's one last thing that's been bugging me, though," He continued inquisitively, looking over the mage. "If you're a human, and you know all of this forgotten magical lore and the like, where did you come from?"
She froze on the couch, her smile growing strained at the question.
"I know you're from the Human Realm as, like, your home world," Gus clarified, threading his fingers together as he leaned forward. "But humans still don't know any magic like that, as far as we're aware. And neither do the Boiling Isles, apparently! So where'd you go that taught you all this cool stuff? Somewhere on the islands that nobody knows about?"
"How, uh, do you know I didn't just – find out on my own?" Luz couldn't help the poorly-phrased response, panicking at being reminded of her internal debate from earlier in the week. She still hadn't reached a conclusion, but outright lying wasn't looking very attractive, especially since she liked her new companions, and had to live with any falsities she might sell them…
The two missed Eda and Willow sharing a quiet look in the kitchen, even as they stayed silent for the moment.
"Nooot very likely, I think." Gus gave her a concerned look, his head tilting to the side. "I didn't mean to make you upset, Luz. Sorry about that. It's just hard to believe you found all of this without any help, even if you are decent spellcaster…"
"Frankly, I've been thinking the same thing." Eda butted back into the conversation, dusting her hands off as she gave Luz an unreadable look. "Listen, kid – I definitely don't mind you staying here. And I know there's some things I'm not gonna bug you about right away. But you've gotta admit, your whole situation is pretty weird, and I think we'd all love to hear where you were getting up to this kinda crap without – being found and hauled off to jail."
The Owl Lady paused for a moment, looking as if she wanted to say something different, before giving herself a shake and continuing on.
"If you're worried about us ratting you out to the Emperor? I wouldn't be. Nobody in this house is a snitch, and we all stand to get screwed just as much as you if we go running our mouths in front of the wrong people."
"You don't have to tell us if you're really uncomfortable with it, Luz." Willow added softly, ignoring the flat look sent her way by the Owl Lady. "But… we're just really curious, y'know? It's all so strange and exciting, learning about this new – er, old – kind of magic."
It would be… nice, to have friends she could confide herself in. It was a lonely life sometimes, hopping between worlds without telling anybody the full scope of your abilities and the things you'd done, only occasionally finding another planeswalker to chat with. On top of that, half the ones she'd met or known of were nuts, or just crazy powerful, neither of which were things Luz wanted to tussle with.
"The truth is…" Maybe it was time to take a chance. They might even be able to help her in the quest for home. "Honestly, I don't think you guys would believe it. It's a little fantastical."
"Pfft! Come on, Luz." Eda blew air out her mouth disbelievingly, stretching her arms over her head to work out the kinks from lifting heavy boxes. "Just spit it out already, if you're gonna tell us."
"Okay, then."
Here goes.
"I'm what's known as a planeswalker – somebody who was born with the ability to travel between different worlds in the multiverse at will. There's a lot more than just the Demon and Human Realms – I've traveled to at least a dozen over the years, and every single one of them has had different sentient peoples on them, including humans. My magic is the kind used everywhere else in reality, and it's your spell circles that are new to me." She took a deep breath, steadying herself at the confession, and awaiting her companions' reaction.
Complete silence reigned over the room, before Eda let out a snort of laughter, making Luz pout in frustration at her disbelief.
"Alright kid, you had me going for a minute, there." Mirth was clear in the Owl Lady's expression, even as she folded her arms and leaned against the kitchen counter. "I've gotta give you credit for the story; I wasn't expecting that one. But not once have I ever heard that there are more worlds like that, somewhere out in space or whatever. Now really, who taught you all that stuff?"
"It's true, Eda." Luz growled, leaping to her feet. Did they really not believe her? That was something she hadn't imagined. "And I've got plenty of proof. Hooty!"
"Hiya, Luz!" The house demon snaked in through the window, giving the girl a cheerful greeting. "What can I do ya for?"
"Could you grab my bag, the same one as last time?"
"Yuppers!"
After taking a moment for retrieval, the extensive creature spat out her bag's strap, leaving her to root through the satchel in search of her few personal mementos.
A firm drop, down onto the stained coffee table.
"My sketchbook that I've drawn pictures of every kind of people I've encountered in, and a lot of major landmarks. Enchanted to protect against wear and tear." Slap. "A handful of mana containers and sources I know witches can't make, since you didn't even know what I was talking about until this week." Smack. "A bit of crystal found only in Zendikar's cave systems, which I've never seen anywhere else." Slam. "And on top of that, a booklet on languages I've had to make myself because not everybody speaks English, which is apparently really common across space and time for some reason."
The mage stood back up, taking in the dumbfounded expressions on her friends' faces as she huffed angrily, counting off her fingertips.
"Plus, since I've gotten here, you've seen me: wear foreign clothes, trade you foreign money when Willow said no one's come overseas in decades, use magic that's entirely new by your reckoning, and summon two creatures from separate worlds that you didn't even recognize. Because they aren't found on this entire planet." She dropped back onto the sofa, aggravated energy exhausted and leaving her feeling spent.
Gus was the first to break the frozen atmosphere following her rant, gently scooping the binder of drawings off the table and giving them a careful look-over, thumbing through the handstitched pages.
"These are really impressive, Luz." He stated softly, eyes glued to the drawings of distant lands. He pointed down at one, fingering the figures sketched out on rough graphite. "What kind of person is this? I've never seen anyone like that, around here."
She leaned over to view the page he was examining, taking a moment to recall where she had completed that image.
"That's a merfolk I met on this crazy world called Eldraine. Everything there was straight out of a fantasy novel, and the people even had to contend with stuff like curses that made them act out or live through tropes from that genre. It was a pretty dangerous place – I didn't stay too long." She took a moment to retrieve the book from Gus, pointing out some of the smaller details from her work.
"See those markings? That means she was a dark undine, one of the really aggressive, man-eater types. I actually only got her to pose for this drawing 'cuz I saved her from some hunters – and she only stuck around when I started telling her a bunch of old myths I knew as a kid. They love learning anything they can."
Gus uttered a small sound of amazement at the explanation, grabbing the booklet once more to continue perusing her collection. The next to speak was Willow, her tone low and thoughtful.
"I thought it was really strange you'd found me any seeds I didn't recognize, Luz." Her hand was at her chin, eyes pointed upwards in remembrance of the prior magic lesson. "Hexside has a really good curriculum for Plant Coven work, and they quizzed us constantly on identifying species of plants so we could use or avoid them."
The girl directed a sideways glance at the small, hearty crops she had brought for her mentor.
"We've got some pretty similar things that are edible, but nothing exactly matches up. And unless you somehow brought an extinct strain of something back to life…" She took a deep breath. "Then I believe you about there being other worlds – and wow, isn't that a lot to take in."
Luz gave a pointed look at the silent Owl Lady, eyebrows raised in question, and the woman sighed.
"Okay, you're starting to convince me that maybe there's something to this whole 'multiverse' thing, but I still think there's ways you could fake all of this stuff. 'Specially if you were dedicated to the story. But -" She held up a slender hand, forestalling Luz's indignant protest. "I've got a method to really prove whatever you're saying, if you wanna try it."
Luz couldn't help rolling her eyes.
"I'd hope I didn't have to just to convince you, but sure. What've you got in mind?"
Eda strode to the center of the room, drawing a sizable circle of magic in midair that generated a coruscating ring of energy, floating over the coffee table.
"This spell will cast an illusion based on your memories of a place, person or item by skimming your mind when you stick your hand into it. Just say whatever it is aloud, and it'll show everybody what you were talking about. Now -" The witch placed her own limb within the ring, looking to Luz. "Give me the name of a world that you know of, and I'll say it aloud. We shouldn't see any changes, since I've never been there, and as far as I know it isn't even real."
"…Fine. Try 'Ravnica.'"
"Ravnica!" Eda parroted confidently, the ring of pulsing magic bobbing for a moment – only to return to its original position, with no illusion cast.
"Alright…" She retracted her limb. "Now it's your turn. You'll be the one taking the reins, so try and keep a clear head – it'll be a lot easier on the picture if I don't hold your hand the whole way."
Luz stood from her perch, taking a step towards the spell.
"Here goes…" Her arm passed through easily, and she let out an anxious breath. "Show me the world of Zendikar."
The spell shrank to enclose her tanned wrist, a burst of magic emitting from its center, sweeping across the room to unveil a location completely alien to the Boiling Isles in every way.
The three witches gasped in surprise, varying exclamations of shock filling the air as they stumbled back from the cliffside illusion cast onto the floor, the furniture and miscellaneous objects fading away – but Luz could only smile, breathing the fresh scents of jungles and roaring rapids in with joy.
It almost felt like home.
The illusion was impressively detailed, clearly picking up on items that she would have only subconsciously registered. Her boots crunched through the pulverized grit of the rocky cliffside they appeared to stand on, the living room transmogrified into a floating stone island only a few dozen feet in width. It was one of many mobile landmasses, a drop in the sea of flying precipices twirling slowly in the altered gravity of Zendikar.
Waterfalls the width of the house roared as they fell away into jungle miles beneath the party, an intricate dance of flying waterways borne atop the moving islands slopping over the edge of dozens of skyscapes, offset only by the field of arcane hedrons drifting betwixt the grinding mobile outcroppings. Intricate carvings in an ancient script scrawled over their surfaces, making them pulse with magics heavy enough to press down on Luz's stunned audience, not unlike the pressure felt deep beneath the seas.
And the noise – she didn't realize how much she'd missed the sounds of the living, breathing world until only silence had filled its space.
Stone ground and tumbled loudly throughout the sky as islands slammed into one another, shearing off immense slivers of rock to pitch down into the lush gorge beneath. Gushing rapids thundered dully out of sight, above and below. Countless animals screamed and cawed at one another, a cacophony of life filling the air as great beasts lumbered across skylanes, and clouds of wheeling jungle fowl dipped and dived between floating mountains.
It was so much to digest – so very alive, it made Luz feel like she could take on the entire world. She basked in the breaking morning sun that ripped through the canopy of expansive jungle, the phantasmal warmth on her skin utterly delectable.
Just as Luz remembered, before the happy times came to a close. She really had been missing this experience.
"Holy shit," Eda breathed from behind her, making Luz turn to look at her huddled companions. They seemed utterly enraptured at the view around them, drinking in every detail they could of the alien world, no small amount of fear warring with curiosity.
The Owl Lady looked totally poleaxed, dazed by the illusion cast into her living room.
"This is what I was talking about – and here's Zendikar, one of the most beautiful places I've ever seen in the entire multiverse." Her comment was intentionally cheeky, but her overly bright expression softened in light of the true wonder on her housemates' faces. "The whole plane is alive, filled with jungles and animals and elementals, spawned from the giant storm at its center: the Roil."
She kneeled at the edge of the island they stood one, one hand running reverently through the crushed rock cushioning their feet.
"I spent a year or so here, learning how to live in the rainforests and navigate all of the huge ravines and mountains. Actually, let me try something…" She stood once more, as a thought occurred to her – something to truly wow her tagalongs. Luz's eyes slipped shut, a vision rippling to life in her mind's eye. There was one more detail she'd missed so dearly of her temporary sanctuary from the multiverse.
The scene shifted, flowing into a morass of colors as the enchantment reacted to her thoughts. The quartet found their view of the wider jungles obscured, a thick brush of jungle foliage surrounding their position, barring the artificial clearing dominating the center of Luz's projected memory.
"These guys were my first friends I found after… leaving home. They helped me get back on my feet, showed me the ropes so I didn't get eaten by any giant predators or squished by floating rocks."
A bustling camp was spread throughout the jungle floor, rawhide lean-tos and larger tents filling the cleared path. The trappings of a simplistic life on the move were easily visible, bone and metal molded into tools for hunting or climbing, leather garb and sewn packs scattered about. The most captivating detail, however, were the people occupying the encampment.
The Kor were tall and lean, much greater in height than the average human or witch. They swayed gracefully like reeds before a windstorm, every motion calm and conserved as the nomads worked throughout their mobile village. Each of them was engaged in some mundane necessity, sweat glistening on their albino flesh as pointed ears swiveled back and forth, the sounds of laughter and conversation rumbling lowly amongst the smoking fire pits.
It was like seeing a ghost come tearing through a wall right for her, but Luz batted the thought away with a spike of anxious nerves, her breath hitching. She was fine, everything was fine, they would simply explore the camp and leave. Nothing more was necessary to make her point.
Eda looked rather spooked herself, her hand passing through the phantom of a washerwoman as the illusion strode by her.
"They…" She swallowed a lump in her throat. "I look just like them. Is – is there some kind of connection…?"
"Not as far as I know," Luz laid a steadying hand on the witch's shoulder, helping ground them both in reality. "The Kor are fairly exclusive to this plane, though I heard some rumors from other 'walkers that you could find them in some secluded places."
"This is amazing, Luz," Gus breathed, darting between tents to peer inside at the primitive footprint of a foreign people. "You lived in this village with them? What was that like?"
"Well, it was a lot of work, I can tell you that much." Luz laughed, relieved for the distraction of his and Willow's continued amazement as they wandered around the phantom camp. "Most of the time though, I was -"
A voice like a whip cut through their conversation.
"Training time, girl. On the double!"
Every observer's eye turned about to track a single woman; her warrior's garb unmistakable. Thick leather padding coated her lithe form, belying the packed musculature hidden beneath as she hefted a pair of poles on one shoulder, brow furrowed over her milky white eyes while she looked towards the center of camp.
"Si, si, sorry Chieftess. I'm coming!"
The ghost of Luz's past emerged from the crowded enclosure, ducking awkwardly around tribesmen as she skidded to a stop, panting, before her adoptive Chief.
Her phantom was frozen eternally at the fourteen years of age she'd been when her spark ignited almost half a decade ago, dragging Luz from Earth and straight into the belly of the jungle beast. She still retained the clothes she'd arrived in, now being worn ragged by the passage of time and sloppily stitched back into serviceability. The young Luz Noceda had none of the poise or muscle of her current self, being rather wimpy by most standards – but the ghost of the teen still stood gamely at attention, awaiting her orders.
"Sparring, today. With me." The camp leader sounded like she was gargling stones, the bulging edge of a healing scar snaking up her collarbone and into view.
"Yeesss, Chieftess." The phantom sighed, resigning herself to another bout of being battered into the dirt by her merciless instructor. Without another word, the pair set off for the edge of the village, Luz taking one of the carved wooden branches from her mentor as they disappeared from sight.
It felt as it were only yesterday that she'd first picked up a weapon in self-defense. Oh, how time had flown.
"Heh. You made a pretty cute kid, back in the day." The Owl Lady still sounded shaken, but she was clearly trying to recover her previous stride. One hand carded through her impressive mane of silvery locks as she gave an exhausted sigh.
"I gotta apologize, Luz. I didn't – this is just so much." Her hands gave a quick flap towards the illusion cast about them, an awed look in Eda's eye. "Sorry for laughing, earlier. And – sorry for bullying you into showing us. I should've… taken your word for what it was." She gave the immersive spell another scan. "Gotta admit that it's beautiful, though."
"It's okay, Eda. I get it." The human mage wrapped her arm around the witch's shoulders, giving her a quick squeeze. "It's pretty crazy, even to me. And I've been to a lot of different planes, at this point."
The quiet moment was shattered as Willow and Gus returned from their exploration, still with starstruck expressions in place.
"This place is gorgeous, Luz." Willow whispered, running a hand down the mossy trunk of a curling tree. "There's just so much life and variation – I never thought a jungle would look like this."
"Yeah!" Gus added, practically vibrating in excitement. "And not only that, but this spell? It's incredible. There's so much detail here that it has to be doing something funky to fill in the blanks. There's no way you would have remember every little bit of this!"
"I could spend my entire life just cataloguing all the plants and their properties here," Willow sighed dreamily, a faraway look on her face. "That's not even taking into account all of the people and wildlife. The stories they could tell…"
"I know, right?" Gus buzzed to and fro still, investigating the nomadic camp with a ravenous expression. "How'd you ever make the decision to leave, Luz? I woulda spent years here just – learning everything!"
The one thing she didn't want to answer, and they just had to bring it up.
She tensed at the question, drawing a raised eyebrow from the Owl Lady, who clearly felt the tightening of her grip from their one-sided embrace.
"That – it's a long story. Not worth telling right now." Would the spell Eda cast read her thoughts, make them see her fears against her will? Mierda. Luz needed to get a grip. "I'll let you guys know later. Okay?"
She did a poor job of deceiving the pair of witches, however, as they gave her a look of growing concern.
"Luz? Did something happen that… forced you to leave?" Willow asked slowly, cautiously. Her companion did not show any such restraint.
"What d'you mean, Willow?" Gus gasped, a hand flying to his mouth in wide-eyed surprise. "Oh no! Did you break some ancient taboo, and the tribe you were with had to banish you forever?"
Luz was feeling her calm slipping under their questioning. There was only so much not-thinking about a topic she could do before the dam burst, and being back here – even if only in spirit – was thoroughly rattling the clamp she kept on her darker memories. The nightmares had already been picking at the scar, and now… she hadn't realized how badly this would affect her. Eda was looking increasingly uncomfortable under her white-knuckled grasp, indecision visibly growing.
Hadn't she moved on from this, already? They'd been gone for years now. She couldn't just – fall apart at the drop of a hat, anymore. Didn't that day haunt her enough?
"Gus! That's insensitive," The bespectacled witch scolded her friend, wagging a finger in his direction. "Leave her alone – I'm sure she has her reasons not to tell us."
"Sorry, sorry!" The boy relented, throwing his hands up in submission. "It's just – I can't ever imagine leaving a place like this. There's so much to learn from one world, but all of them? An infinite amount? That's crazy! It's huge! And the people here seem so lively and interesting…"
Yes, the people. The Kor nomads, to name a few that Luz had encountered on her journeys. So open and kind, even to a complete stranger of another race, stranded in the jungle. A tight-knit community, closer than blood and just as protective of it.
Loving. Supportive. Almost-home.
Was she starting to hyperventilate? Her chest was – too tight. Luz might've been feeling the beginnings of a panic attack coming on. She hadn't experienced one of those since she'd first learned how to strike to kill, lest she wind up dead herself. Which was the problem, really, seeing as that had happened here on that horrible night, when – when she –
Shadows were lengthening, a shift towards one fateful evening scene as the enchantment responded to her spiraling thoughts, akin to a flock of carrion birds.
She'd never been able to force herself to return after it all. Just avoided the world she'd grown to adore like it was plagued. Broken.
"Kid, look at me. Look." Eda was holding her cheeks in both hands – they were crouching? When did they get there? "You've gotta calm down. I don't know where the spell's gonna take us, but this – I don't think it's something you're gonna want to see, you have to stop and breathe -"
Couldn't even warn anybody else what had happened. Didn't even try. She just… ran. A coward to the end.
"Eda, is she okay? Everything's changing now, the illusion…"
"Alright, I think that's enough of that." Even through the filter of white noise clouding her hearing, Eda's growing concern was plain, her fingers arcing with leaping magic as she snagged Luz's limp wrist. "Point made, pretty pictures taken, time to cut this little trip short before it stops being family friendly -"
A blaring call like a distant foghorn, so immeasurably loud that it rattled the party's very bones, ripped through the jungle valley and shocked them into pale-faced silence. Luz could have sworn that her heart had stopped beating, right then and there.
A moment of deceptive peace filled the clearing as the illusion of drowsy nomads stumbled from their tents, fear and confusion on their faces while they scrambled for weapons. The jungle night was far too still for miles around.
The Swarm descended upon the forest only seconds later.
A tide of chittering, slithering chitin fell upon the world in a blast, tearing trees and stone asunder with the force of its passing. The mindless servant-husks of the Eldrazi horde poured into the gaps within the forest, shredding everything alive in their path. The mind-boggling symmetry of the Titan Kozilek's brood cut through dense foliage like a sharpened knife through meat, erasing the vibrancy of Zendikar from existence as plant matter vaporized into dust. They made way for their foul cousins spawned from the unknowable intelligence of Ulamog, ravenous musclebound hulks crushing the resistance from the scattered, fleeing wildlife and elementals as they passed, grinding the world about them into shattered paste.
Somewhere, distantly, the sound of an older woman cussing up a storm slid through the murky hoots and shrieks, bands of foreign power caressing Luz's arm like tropical fronds in passing as something tugged at her ephemeral shackle.
It was not long before they reached the Kor encampment, slobbering mandibles reaching and reaching and hungering –
"I know, I know, I've gotta be careful - it's bound up in her mind, I can't just rip things out! Just need enough wiggle room in the circle to…"
Enchantment snapping like a cheap rubber band, the magic rebounded, a fragmented spillage of glowing ring segments floated harmlessly over bare wrists as Eda tilted the unresisting girl backwards, a sigh of relief leaving her pale lips. The ghostly overlay vanished, leaving the quartet standing within the cozy cottage interior of the Owl House once more.
But Luz saw no such thing. She was trapped, back in that sweltering jungle, because she'd never truly left it behind. The howls of a dying world cottoned her ears alone, cluttered her swimming vision as she -
Could only watch in horror while the pale fairfolk were butchered in droves, forced before the wave of alien might as if wheat before an implacable thresher. Screams and gurgles from the fighting, dying warriors echoed through the air, offset by the chilling shrieks and ululating whistles of their attackers. The temporary shelters of the village were torn asunder, providing no respite for the cowering citizens hidden within, their terror high and reedy in the crashing night air.
Luz's throat was killing her. She was probably screaming herself hoarse, but you couldn't tell over the din. She scrabbled at the shackle of the spell at her wrist, desperate to end the nightmare unfolding before them.
Murmurs came to her from miles abound, ranging and worried. She could pay them no mind. After all…
The worst of things were yet to come.
The nightmare shifted once again, focused on the crush of fleeing tribespeople flooding between their trampled tents, leaving behind two stooped figures in the wild firelight. A younger Luz was sobbing hopelessly as she held a cloth slick with spilled life against the Kor Chieftess' side, clutching her own gifted staff like a lifeline, with the pale woman grasping her by the torn hoodie.
"Run, you stupid girl," She rasped, pulling herself from the ground with the aid of her spear, out of Luz's grip. "You can't win this. I can't win this. Someone must escape – to let people know what approaches."
"But I – I can't leave you! What about tribe? Family?" The phantom of a terrified girl gasped. "You said that -"
The warrior shook the girl briefly, a resigned look of despair in her eyes as she settled her free hand on the teen's slim shoulder.
"A family would see its children survive, no matter the cost." There was no room for argument in her steely voice. "Go. Remember us. Live for us."
"Luz…? Luz. Come on, girly, you've gotta look at me. Spell's done, you're out, there's nothing left -"
And with that, the chieftain spun with a snarl, screaming a defiant war cry as she plunged back into the fray to her death.
The ghost of Luz cried out after her, nearly signing herself to certain doom, as two skittering monstrosities broke through the line of sagging tents and rushed towards the source of the sound. The shade shrieked then, panicked and flailing, a vicious bolt of seething lightning flying from her open hand into the beasts. They shuddered to a smoldering stop as the teen girl fell on her back. Her eyes were blind and lips moving, a prayer to a distant god as more nightmares encircled her, the pulsing light of a planeswalk wrapping about her prone form –
Suficiente! Hazlo parar!
The aching terror fueled Luz's haphazard spellwork as she jerked, pouring burning magic into the last flaking tethers of Eda's spell, defiantly tearing its toothless remnants asunder in seconds beneath her maddened fear and scraping her wrist raw in an effort to clean herself of the lingering phantoms. The memory faded from her vision, leaving the three spellcasters shocked and pale in her view once more, the only sound her own choking sobs.
King came rushing downstairs, panting with effort as he took in the horrified expressions on the others' faces, wide-eyed at the sight.
"W-What happened? Is everybody okay!? I heard a bunch of back and forth, and you – Luz just started screaming. What's even going on?"
Hooty slithered back in through the window, looking dazed himself, gazing around at the trio of blank-faced witches surrounding a crying human girl.
"They did some crazy spell to show that Luz had visited other worlds or something, and it showed a buncha – terrible monsters!" The house demon gave a full-body shudder, his feathered form bristling in disquiet. "Let me tell you, that felt all kinds of wrong on my walls and floor!"
She couldn't control herself. She'd said over and over that there would be no more tears. Not over that. They were dead and gone, her Kor family, and wouldn't want her torn to pieces on their account. She was right to survive while they hadn't. There was nothing she could do.
It definitely didn't feel like any of that, though. It felt like it was all because of her – not strong enough, not quick enough, not good enough.
"It wasn't your fault, kid." Eda's husky timbre tickled her ear as the planeswalker rocked back and forth. Had she said that out loud? "There was no good way out of something like that. You did the right thing – you survived."
The first thing to help anchor her in reality once more was a bare pair of arms, pale and deceptively muscled, wrapping her tightly in a hug as she was moved to the couch. It was almost worse, because she knew who they belonged to – but it felt so much like the embrace of a warrior and leader from a faraway land so long ago, the excited display of someone made proud by their student. Another two sets of arms enwrapped her shuddering form, the warmth of multiple bodies pressed close soothing her ragged cries over long minutes.
It wasn't even dinner yet, but she was just… so exhausted. So comfortable in this big pile of hugs, and… she didn't want to feel anymore. Feelings hurt, remembering hurt. It never got any easier losing loved ones. It certainly didn't stop after Zendikar.
Slowly, achingly, Luz drifted off into slumber on the couch, surrounded by her new friends.
She sleepily hoped they would last a good, long while.
AUTHOR'S NOTES:
Chapter and notes originally posted on 2-26-2021.
Not everything is sunshine and smiles in the multiverse - it's a dangerous place, even for characters we know and love.
Please let me know your thoughts on this chapter, I went through several revisions to hit the emotional angle I desired before I was fairly satisfied. I'm not above returning to something I've already written and making adjustments if people feel that things came across awkwardly in some of these chapters. If it wasn't obvious already, I don't have a beta reader, which suites me fine - normally.
Thanks again for everybody who's read this story, and especially everybody who's dropped a comment, kudos, or whatever thus far!
Edit (6-28-22): Following some helpful criticism regarding characterization and problem-solving for the end of this chapter, modified the sequence of events near the end to more accurately reflect Eda's intelligence and Luz's traumas. I feel that this alternate interpretation more accurately relates to the proceeding chapters and reactions of the characters present, without majorly altering the story's timeline. Further alterations/revisions will be marked separately of this note.
