Edric sat in front of a small campfire slowly chewing on a piece of tough, somewhat burnt meat. He sent a concerned glance at the two witches sitting across from him. Both were clearly lost in thought and neither of them had taken a bite even though this was the first time they'd caught a living animal in weeks. Granted Ratworm wasn't exactly a delicacy but the three of them really needed energy for tomorrow.
It had been almost a year since the Day of Unity and the War for Witchkind was pretty much over. Honestly calling it a war in the first place was generous. It would be more accurate to call it a hunt for survivors. The CAT's rebellion attempt had failed to stop the emperor's draining spell but it did slow it down to some extent. Even so, by the time the eclipse had ended over 95% of all sigiled witches had died.
Of course Belos hadn't been satisfied with that. He made it his mission to wipe out every Witch, Demon, and even Palisman from this world. He wanted to leave the Boiling Isles completely devoid of life. And as much as it sucked to admit it he seemed to be closing in on his goal. They'd been all over the boiling isles and as far as they could tell the three of them were the last witches left.
Honestly Edric was shocked he'd lasted this long. None of his family had made it past a month. Amity and Alador had died on the Day of Unity trying to stop the Draining Spell. Odalia had also died that day but Edric was less sure how he felt about that. A darker part of him honestly saw it as a silver lining. He tried to suppress that thought though and a part of him still missed her in a weird, probably dysfunctional kind of way. He couldn't say he mourned her as much as the others though.
'Not that I really got a chance to mourn any of them,' Edric thought bitterly. By the time he'd really processed what had happened on the Day of Unity, Emira had passed on as well. The less he thought about that the better. Soon after he found and joined a small group of survivors. The Rebels Against the Throne better known as the RATs. Honestly it was a pretty apt name considering how most of their rebellion revolved around hiding, scavenging, and desperately trying to survive. Their numbers had been small to begin with and they'd quickly dwindled over the course of the next couple that point there were four RATs left including Edric. A month ago that number dropped down to three. Edric frowned. He knew Eberwolf wouldn't want him to dwell on it but the wound still felt so fresh. To his credit Edric only frowned for a split second. He tried not to be too sad in front of these two. With Eber gone it was his job to keep the group's spirit up.
"Hey Darius!" Edric said, holding up his piece of ratworm meat right in front of the man's face as he finally broke the silence. "Does eating this stuff count as cannibalism?"
The man's somber expression shifted to disgust in an instant. "What? Why the hell would it?" The man replied in confusion.
"Because we're RATs eating ratworm. I feel like that's pretty questionable..."
"Technically ratworms are closer to invertebrates than rats. Only the head part is truly ratlike and that's not the part that's edible." Lilith interjected seriously.
"We are not rats! Stop trying to annoy me!"
Edric grinned defiantly. If there was one thing he'd learnt from Eberwolf, it was that the quickest way to get Darius out of a funk was to annoy the hell out of him. Honestly Edric might feel bad if he wasn't sure the man missed being messed with constantly.
"Why are you getting mad at me? I just thought you'd be the authority on the subject since you're the one who named our group" Edric casually pointed out. He knew Darius hated being reminded of that.
"It was a moment of weakness and sentimentality and I have regretted it ever since! It's all Whisper's fault for dying so easily in the first place. Also don't remind me where this meat came from. I'm trying to pretend it's something actually edible. Juveniles like you may have no qualms eating bugs but Lilith and I are from a more civilized generation."
Darius made a face as he was interrupted by the sound of Lilith taking a huge bite out of her worm meat. His face grew even more disgusted as he realized that Lilith hadn't even bothered to cook the meat first. "I'm actually pretty used to this," Lilith said nonchalantly. "I've had the Raven Curse for over a year now. Just be glad you've never had to eat them live. They're a lot more wriggly that way."
"You really are Eda's sister. I think I'm literally going to be sick. Maybe I should just look around for more berries or something..."
"The only other food we have left is the firebee honey which I need for something else. You're not gonna find anything more appetizing than ratworm flesh around here." Edric interjected. "In the first place finding a ratworm in this desolate area was already a stroke of luck." Both of his companions grimaced at the reminder. At some point Belos had stopped focusing on tracking down and slaughtering survivors personally and started targeting the vitality of the land itself. Plants started dying and animals became more and more sickly over time. Only a few demonic beasts such as the ratworms were able to survive under these conditions. And even that seemed likely to change soon. They still didn't know how Belos was doing this but at the rate it was progressing the Boiling Isles would be basically uninhabitable within a couple more months. Not that that was a problem for them to worry about. For them everything would be decided tomorrow anyway.
"Sorry, I think I've darkened the mood again. Should probably talk about something other than the end of the world for once. Here, let me help you out." Edric waved his hand and activated his illusion magic. All the ratworm meat seemed to shift into something closer to chicken. "That illusion affects taste too by the way. But not texture. That's a bit beyond my abilities."
"So your illusion magic is good for something after all." Darius remarked before taking a cautious bite. He made a point of swallowing before talking again. "Still a shame you wasted so much time on that..."
"Darius" Lilith scolded him. "Just because Adrian was annoying doesn't mean you should disparage his entire field."
"Don't remind me of that hack," Darius scowled. "And you know that isn't why I said it. I know we decided not to ask because it was probably a sensitive family issue but this might be the last chance I'll get to satisfy my curiosity. I know you're wondering about it too Lilith. The kid has one of the highest talents for abomination magic I've ever seen. Maybe even higher than mine. Definitely higher than Alador's. And I've watched him learn spells from you and Eber as well. Even compared to non-abomination spells, the illusion spells you taught him usually took him longer to learn. And I know it's common for poorer students to start in tracks they aren't suited for but with Odalia's wealth and position in the oracle coven I can't believe she wouldn't get her kids' talent foretold."
"I didn't realize you'd been watching me so closely Darius. I guess you do care." Darius scoffed in reply.
"I have to watch to make sure you don't wander off and fall in a hole"
"That happened months ago, let it go." Edric retorted with an eyeroll. "And honestly guys if you were curious about that you could've just asked. You aren't wrong. When we were five mom dragged me and Emira to the Oracle Coven to get our talents checked. I remember Emira was so excited. Back then she idolized our parents, especially mom. She was really hoping for her highest talent to be either Oracle or Abomination magic. She insisted on going first. The tests were private and confidential so even our parents weren't allowed to go in with her. Emira walked into the room with stars in her eyes and came out with tears. She told us her greatest talent was illusion magic with abomination and Oracle magic near the bottom. I expected mom to comfort her. Instead she gave her this disgusted look and called her an embarrassment. Then she told me not to fail her as well." Edric paused at this point. Taking a moment to calm down. He supposed he was a bit sensitive about this after all. But he still continued on.
"My abomination talent was my highest as you predicted. Beast Keeping was second, though it's still really hard to learn with how few beasts are still alive. Oracle magic was fifth. Illusions was third to last. Just above construction magic and healing which I never really bothered to learn any spells from. But like I said the results were confidential. The oracle who performed it even made a magical oath to never reveal them. And I knew that if I told mom my highest talent was abomination magic she was going to make Emira feel ten times worse so I..."
"You sacrificed your future for your sister..." Lilith said quietly. She seemed strongly affected by his story.
"I wouldn't call it a sacrifice really. I never wanted our parents' approval even back then. I wasn't super interested in abomination magic either. No offense Darius. And I was always pretty clingy with my twin, much to her annoyance. Honestly I kind of wanted to be in the same track as her anyway, regardless of what that track was."
"Did you ever regret it?" Lilith asked softly. "It must've been hard keeping up with the other students."
"Not back then. It's true I had to work a lot harder than Emira and still never quite reached her level but that never really bothered me much. She was always there to help me out if I really needed it. Plus the head teacher for the illusion track was pretty chill. It was an open secret that you could basically skip class whenever you wanted so long as you sent in a convincing illusion to take your place. Thanks to that we got to pull off a lot of pranks and hijinks that I'd never be able to do if I were in any other track. Those are some of my best memories. I'll admit, I did develop a bit of a complex at some point. Felt like a bit of a chronic screwup sometimes. Your sister was actually the one who helped me out of that."
"Edalyn?" Lilith questioned. "What did she do?"
"I guess you could say she gave me a new perspective and some career advice... Also a T-shirt."
"Oh you're a member of the Bad Girl Coven!" Lilith guessed. "How did that happen and how did I not know about it until now?"
"Didn't mean to keep it a secret. I guess you guys weren't the only ones trying to avoid bringing up loved ones unprompted. Anyway I basically tried to help Eda out with something and screwed it up royally. But instead of being angry about it she saw it as an opportunity. She was also the one who inspired me to multitrack. Said I had a future in wild magic..."
"You added beast keeping and potions right?" Darius asked. "Why choose those over abominations?"
"I'd already been studying them both as a hobby for a while. Again, Beast keeping was my second highest talent. Not super useful nowadays since there are so few beasts to keep. I forget where potion magic was on the list. Probably third or fourth. I'm pretty sure I picked both of them because I thought they were interesting though not because of talent. As for avoiding abominations, I guess I was still kind of afraid how my family would react to that. I told them it was my lowest talent so if I started excelling at it then it would be easy for them to realize I'd been lying. Also I never really liked dad's abomination magic that much. His creations were powerful but they always felt kind of slow and boring to me. Not to sound like a brown noser Darius but your kind of abomination magic seems way cooler. I'd never heard of someone turning into an abomination the way you can. Maybe if I'd known something like that was on the table I would have acted differently. Still annoyed I never managed to learn that trick..."
"I wouldn't worry about anyone confusing you for a brown noser Edric," Darius replied with a wry smirk. "You're about as respectful as Eber was. Though I must say hearing a Blight admit how much better my magic is compared to Alador's is music to my ears." Edric rolled his eyes. His father would probably be proud that his rivalry with Darius had continued even after his death. "In terms of talent he was closer to my level than I like to admit but when it comes to methodology we differed greatly. Of course my style is obviously superior but one of its negatives is the amount of nonnegotiable foundational work required to reach its heights. That's why your late start is so unfortunate. As I've explained before, that particular technique is almost impossible without training your control during childhood. Nevertheless you've reached a much higher level than anyone could've expected in such a short amount of time."
"I think it's nice how far you went to protect your sister," Lilith defended him unnecessarily. "It reminds me of my own sister. Eda never cared about prestige or power. She only wanted to live happily with her loved ones. I wish I'd been more like that when I was young..."
"I can't say I don't regret it now though," Edric interrupted her before her happy recollections could spiral into guilt. "Like Darius said, a foundation in abomination magic would've made me a lot more useful in all this. Plus even if it helped Emira a little, I think hiding my talent made mom go even harder on Amity when her talent for abomination magic was revealed. If I could do it again I'd do things differently."
"Wouldn't we all," Darius sighed. "But there's no point dwelling on things we can't change. I know we were trying to avoid this subject but I think we should go over the plan for tomorrow one more time. You understand your role right Edric?"
"I'll finish brewing the monstrous transformation potion for you guys tonight. It should be a good last resort against Belos. Just remember only one of you can take it. The other has to remain lucid so they can cool you down and reverse the effects. Then tomorrow when you two challenge Belos I'll sneak into his castle. It shouldn't be too hard since he probably assumes I died with Eberwolf if he even bothered to think about me at all. Between my illusions and abomination magic I should be able to get past any Abomatons he left to guard it. Once inside I'll steal the last of the titans blood and use Lilith's newly designed teleportation glyph to escape to the rendevior point. Then we can use the door Lilith built and escape to the human world, leaving Belos stranded here. It sucks that we have to abandon our world but there's already no hope of saving this place..." Edric's face darkened. "I hope he really is as immortal as he claims to be. That he wouldn't be able to die even if he wanted to anymore. Because once that last titan's blood is gone death will be the only way off this rock. And if anyone deserves to be trapped alone forever on a dying world, it's Belos. I wouldn't wish that fate on anyone but him..."
Edric stopped himself from ranting any further and glanced at the adults watching him with concerned looks on their faces. His expression instantly reverted back to its easy going default. "Now that I think about it I should really get to work on that potion now. It's getting late and we're going to need plenty of rest for tomorrow." With that Edric started walking towards his tent. Out of the corner of his eye he saw Lilith start getting up to talk to him only for Darius to stop her. He looked equally concerned to be honest but they all knew this wasn't the time to be working through emotional issues. That could be dealt with when they were safe in the human realm. For now Edric distracted himself with potion brewing before preparing for bed. One way or another he knew this would be his last night in the boiling isles.
As he lay awake in his sleeping bag, Edric thought about what that meant. In the best case scenario he would be saying goodbye to his entire world, everything he knew, and going to a place that he only vaguely understood. The place where Luz came from, but also the original world of Belos. He'd never learnt the full story in detail but Hunter had told them how Belos was actually a human witch hunter. He'd like to think Luz was the more indicative example of her species, but he really had no way to know for sure. Honestly going to the human realm wasn't what bothered him anyway. He was more concerned about leaving this world behind. As awful as it had become the Boiling Isles were all Edric had ever known. All of his memories were here. Would leaving this place behind mean abandoning them as well.
"I shouldn't do this." Edric said to no one. "Lilith said it wasn't healthy. I promised her I'd stop but..." Edric's voice trailed off as he made a small spell circle with his finger. 4 small figures appeared on the ground next to him. None of them were more than 5 inches tall but to Edric they all felt somehow larger than life.
"Honestly Ed, you look like a mess. The end of the world is no excuse for this kind of slovenly behavior."
"Glad to see you too Mom," Edric sighed at how sadly true that statement was. He didn't miss her as much as the others but he'd be lying if he said he didn't miss hearing her voice for some reason.
"Edric, are you sure you should be doing this?" The illusion of Emira asked. "You know what Lilith said."
"Always the voice of reason, Emira. Can't help but feel like I'm remembering you wrong. You were never this responsible..."
"I just worry about you."
"There's nothing to worry about. I'm doing great. Tomorrow I'll be getting off this world. Away from all this horror. Away from home..." Edric almost teared up a bit but managed to suppress it. "I just wanted to see you all again before that happened."
"Ok Edric," Emira said with a sad but gentle smile. "I'm glad to see you too."
Emira paused as Alador stepped forward. It looked like he was preparing to offer some profound fatherly advice. "Do you really think Darius' magic is cooler than mine?"
"Dad seriously," Edric almost chuckled at that. He might have actually done so if he wasn't the one making this joke in the first place. "Is that really what you're worried about?"
"Well your plan sounds well thought out. And if I had any notes you'd already know them. Seeing as you're the one coming up with my lines..."
"Way to break the immersion Dad."
"I do want to say that I'm proud of you. Not just for your abomination magic but for persevering through all of this. I know you'll be able to get through tomorrow as well."
"Thank you Dad" Edric said, letting the illusion of his father fade away.
"Proud might be overstating it, but appearances aside I suppose you've done well enough..." Odalia spoke up.
"Don't hurt yourself praising me." Edric replied snarkily. "It's not like I'm one of the three strongest witches alive or anything..."
"That would be more impressive if there were more than three of you left. Still I suppose you deserve some praise for lasting this long. I can honestly say I never would've expected it. Be sure to show that traitor Belos what happens to those who cross the Blight family." Odalia faded away as well.
"Ed, we're always going to be with you." Emira said. "It doesn't matter what world you're in. Just try to remember that. And take care of yourself, ok?"
"Ok Em" Edric replied softly. As Emira faded Edric looked towards the final illusion. She didn't look back at him though. She didn't say anything because Ed had no idea what she'd say in this situation.
"Goodbye Amity" Edric said as he let the last illusion fade away. After a few moments of staring at the empty space his family had left behind Edric laid back and closed his eyes. He couldn't say he felt better. Talking to them never made him feel better. He wasn't insane. He was completely aware that they weren't real and that everything they said came from him. At best this was a way to remember their faces and voices better. But Lilith was probably right about it being a poor coping mechanism. She was right about most things after all. But even if he didn't feel better he definitely felt a bit more tired at least. That should help him get to sleep right..?
AN: I've always really liked time travel redo fics. The whole concept is just fun. Especially when the star is a minor character or a redeemed villain. For Owl House, Hunter feels like the obvious choice. He's a fan favorite character who could change up a lot if he ended up in the past. That said I've already read a couple of that type of story starring Hunter (and one starring Lilith) on AO3 so I feel like if I tried to write that I would just end up retreading those stories. For anyone curious, the ones I've read were Fledgling, A Raven's Time, and A Grim Reminder. Anyway I decided to choose Edric instead. Despite him having only a few significant appearances in the show we actually get a decent amount of information about who he is as a person. His greatest fear is being alone forever, he has a strong desire to feel useful and be taken seriously which leads him to act rashly, he's (I think) the first student other than Luz to multitrack into more than 2 tracks, and his general demeanour is that of a mischievous goofball with low self awareness.