Eda landed on the Knee, with Willow and Skara close by.
"Here we are, Luz. The coldest place on the Boiling Isles, the Knee." Eda said, gesturing to the winter wonderland around them.
"Woah!"
"Yeah, it's a sight to see your first time." Skara said with a smile.
"Now, the ingredient we need for this is a special mushroom that only comes out a handful of times a day." Eda said, "So we have a limited time to do this."
"So where do we start looking?" Luz asked.
"Follow me. There should be a spot close by." Eda said, leading the trio of young witches towards the forest close by, "And remember, the animals will leave you alone, if you leave them alone."
"Got it." Luz said but she still wanted to see a Slitherbeast herself, just to see how beastly it was. "So, does anything else live up here besides Slitherbeasts?"
"Just small bats. My ex told me this whole mountain is practically Slitherbeast territory but I don't believe that." Skara said.
"I don't know, Kid, this is where hunters go to die." Eda said, "The amount of Slitherbeast on this mountain is more than the rest of the knee."
"Really? Exactly how many are there?" Luz asked her.
"About 100 but full grown slitherbeasts have the strength of 20 witches." Eda said to her, "They all gather here, and no one knows why. Some say breeding, but they do breed in other parts of the Knee, so I don't know."
"Like that one over there." Willow said, pointing towards a Slitherbeast chewing on a tree.
"HOLY SHIT!" Luz shouted at the sight of it, grabbing Eda. "THAT'S A SLITHERBEAST!?"
"Hey! You cursed! I am so proud!" Eda said, tussling Luz's hair. "But relax, like I said, just leave it alone and it will leave you alone."
"Now, come on, we need to go through a Slitherbeast den in order to get the mushrooms." Eda said.
They carefully walked passed the Slitherbeast and into a den, while a person with a golden mask watched them.
"The owl lady with three witches here? That's something you don't see everyday." The person said, confused and intrigued. "What are you up to?"
In the den of a cave, the three young witches got very nervous, as there were at least a dozen slitherbeast sleeping. All of them babies, snoozing without scare in the world with the boney remains of their past meals around them!
'Why did the mushrooms have to be in here?!' Luz, Skara, and Willow thought as they were tiptoeing through the cave.
Skara felt her knees shaking, while Willow was keeping a firm hand on Skara's hand. Eda raised her fist.
"We're near the entrance to where the mushroom is." Eda said quietly, "There's a gap that we should be able to get in and the slitherbeast can't."
"And how do we get past them without waking them?" Luz whispered.
"Levitation magic could work but the glow would be too risky. It could wake them." Willow said.
"Well, we have an Illusionist with us." Eda said, pointing at Luz, "Think you can make us invisible for a bit?"
"I-I-I've never made a spell that large before." Luz whispered.
"Relax, you can do it." Eda told her, "You're a pretty strong witch."
"Only self taught. I don't think-" Luz was cut off as Eda put a hand in her head.
"Don't think. Just do. Believe in yourself and you can do it, trust me." Eda said, giving her a kind smile.
"Early witches came here because if was filled with natural magic energy." Eda said, "If anywhere is going to help with your magic, it's this place."
Luz felt a new sense of confidence in this, her breathing becoming calmer as her fear of the Slitherbeast faded away.
"Okay." Luz said, raising her finger and making a large spell circle.
The group was covered in a cloud and... were now made of near highly transparent slime.
"Well... you know what, this'll work, come on." Eda said.
"What kind of spell is this? I've never seen a transformation spell turn someone into slime." Skara said, looking at her now slimy hand.
"Well, her mom did say she did do some pretty crazy spells when she was a kid." Eda said, "This will make it easy to get there, as Slitherbeast have bad vision, so they shouldn't see us like this, and we can easily get through the crack like this."
"But what if we lose a part of ourselves?" Skara asked.
"We can just call it back. Don't ask me how, just trust me." Luz said, walking forward.
"I have a feeling it's never boring around you." Willow said to Luz.
"Yeah, me too." Skara said with a smile.
"Alright, kids. Less talk, more walk." Eda said to them.
They headed to the crack in the wall. Still being careful of the slitherbeast.
"Okay, we're here." Eda said, motioning to the crack in the cave wall.
"All of a sudden I'm glad to be slime, because I wouldn't be able to get through there otherwise." Willow said, "Even Skara would struggle getting through that, and she's built like a toothpick."
"I'll take that as a compliment." Skara mumbled.
"Eh, don't be ashamed of your girth, kid. It's all about how you throw it around." Eda said as she moved to the crack.
Willow sputtered and Skara grabbed... fused... did some kind of romantic gesture by grabbing Willow's hand.
"I think you and Boscha are perfect in every way." Skara said.
"I know but-"
"Eda didn't mean anything by that. I think she just said you should be happy being you. No matter what others who don't like you think." Luz said, "Now come on, let's get that mushroom."
Luz slipped through with ease. Willow and Skara agreed as they moved to slip through the crack as well.
"Great, we're through, can I get my... everything back now?" Skara asked, "I really miss my bones."
"We can AFTER we get what we need." Eda said.
The new part of the cave was completely slitherbeast free but a little dark. Eda and Luz solved that problem by making light orbs to give the room plenty of light.
"Okay, follow me." Eda said.
The girls agreed as they continued through cave as they didn't seem to leave a trail of slime behind them. After a good five minutes, they arrived at a glowing mushroom.
"Here we are." Eda said.
"So these little things will help with the potion?" Luz asked.
"Very much." Eda said with a nod. "Just 3 or 4 would be more than enough."
"Well, maybe we can get more so that King and I can make the potion." Luz said, "Find our families too."
"You never know kid, you may be the person these two are looking for." Eda said with a snort.
"I doubt it." Luz said, "There are how many people in this realm? The odds of me being the person they're looking for, it's very slim."
"Slim, but never zero." Eda said.
Luz moved and grabbed the mushroom, nearly all of them and held them in her hands.
"Okay, we got what we need." Luz said.
"Great, now let's get out of here." Eda said.
The cave shook, causing them all to look concerned.
"What was that?" Willow asked.
"Nothing good." Eda said, summoning Owlbert to her hands. "Stay close, kids."
Eda went first and left the crack, only to get trampled by slitherbeast.
"Eda!" Luz said.
The slime moved back into the crack and reformed into Eda.
"I've never been so glad to be made of slime." Eda said.
Luz "hugged" Eda tightly, surprising the older woman as she looked at Luz.
"Don't ever do that again, please!" Luz said as Eda quickly pulled them away from the Slitherbeast!
"Same to you!" Eda said as Willow and Skara came out of the cracks.
"On the bright side, we'll be fine as slime, because we can just pull ourselves back together. On the down side, something spooked them... and NOTHING spooks them." Eda said.
"Then what spooked them?" Willow asked.
"Not sure, either it's inside the cave or outside of the cave!" Eda said, "We need to be very careful. Everyone behind mama slime, I'll lead us out. Luz, after we get to safety, THEN you can turn us back, not a second before."
"Got it. Luz said before noticing the mushroom were now inside of her stomach.
'I must've pushed them inside when I hugged Eda, hopefully they still work after I take them out.' Luz thought as they all walked to the cave exit.
They began to head out of the cave. Luz was the most nervous, because if she gets trampled, the mushrooms get destroyed, and everything they did will have been for nothing. Willow and Skara were just as nervous because if they died here, Boscha would be sent into an even greater despair than she already is! They would never forgive themselves if they caused that! Eda was just focused on getting them out of the cave. She was also worried, if Luz dies, she doesn't get a piece of Camila's sweet ass.
'Yep. I definitely have a type.' Eda thought, making silent comparisons to her last love and Camila. 'And I've upgraded, sweet!'
That made her feel a bit better and more confident as she lead them outside of the cave.
"Okay, coast is clear so far. Just a few more feet and we'll be in the clear." Eda said, before noticing a large scorch mark, "I think I know what set them off... someone blasted the cave with magic."
"Someone is here? But barely anyone comes to the Knee." Willow said.
"Do you think someone followed us?" Skara asked.
"Why would anyone follow us?"
"I don't know but I don't wanna stay and find out. Luz, take out the mushrooms, undo the spell, and let's get out of here before the creep comes back or comes out." Eda ordered Luz.
"Right." Luz said as she reached into her stomach, pulling out the mushrooms and setting them on the ground.
She made a spell circle.
'Please don't melt us, please don't melt us, please don't melt us.' Luz thought.
Her spell... worked. Everyone solidified and was no longer transparent, solid in form and solid in color.
"Okay, everyone hurry up, let's get back to my house." Eda said, "We have one of the three ingredients that are needed."
Everyone nodded as Luz grabbed the mushrooms again and put them in her coat pockets.
'Two ingredients left.' Luz thought.
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