At the Noceda residence, Azura was looking through the newspaper in the job section to try and find a job so she could find herself. She turned to her already finished Palisman with a sincere look. "What is my want Palisman? Can my want be to find a job to help me find myself? I want to find myself?" But nothing. "I want to be as strong as a witch as my mom?" But nothing happened. "I don't want to work with kids?"
Luz walked in the room. "Ow, to your brother."
"No, Mom!" Azura assured her Mami. "It's not like that! I'm just struggling to get my Palisman to come alive! And I can't find out what my want is!"
The tired Luz sat down on the couch and exhaled. "I understand what it's like. And I swear I'm not patronising you, I'm saying." Stringbean flew towards her owner and began to nuzzle her cheek. "Before I had Stringbean, I said stuff like I want to be a witch. And I want to get home. But it turns out, all I ever wanted, was for people to finally understand me. Could that be your want?"
Azura picked up the wooden carving and exhaled sadly. "I want to be understood?" But once again, nothing happened and she groaned. "Nothing. Why is this so hard?"
Luz rubbed her daughter's head. "You have to be patient, Mija." She kissed her forehead and Azura sighed. "It's not like you can just ask it what you want."
"Yeah." She then noticed the eye bags under her mother's eyes and drew concern. "Have you been struggling to sleep?"
Luz sighed. "Sorry, Mija. I've just been having nightmares recently. They've been frequent. I don't know why." She then noticed that Azura had a newspaper and became intrigued. "Hey, is there anymore news about those Belos supporters?"
Azura flicked through the pages and stopped at the article reporting the Belos supporters. "I mean, it's nothing much. Just stuff about two more members and stuff about the Bane's second-in-command, the Spook."
"Need full details." Luz snatched the newspaper out of her daughter's hand and began reading the article. "Least no one I know isn't part of this new Coven. Wait a sec, oh! The baker who bakes those tarts I like?! ¡Oh vamos! Unbelievable!"
"You're not scared of them, are you Mami?" Azura asked her mother with concern. "I mean, they are starting to get a crowd from what I've heard."
Luz gave her daughter a smile. "Don't worry. The Dignitaries have got it under control. As far as I'm aware of, they're just a bunch of radicalists who want attention. You be concerned about getting a job, while I'll worry about you, your brother and your mother." She put her head back into the newspaper while her Palisman was giving her owner a worried look.
Azura gave her Mami the same worried look. She knew that her Mami was never the most subtle person, so seeing her be this scared of these Belos supporters was worrying. She then saw something on the newspaper that caught her attention and immediately smiled. "I know the perfect job."
Meanwhile, at Lilith Clawthorne's Museum of the Supernatural which used to be Bonesborough's library, the head Curator was giving a tour of the exhibits to a bunch of curious visitors.
Lilith had aged in the last 26 years. She had brown into her grey hair and had developed wrinkles but she thankfully didn't really need a walking stick. She had Hooty around her back just in case she ever fell. Whereas Hooty has not aged one bit for whatever reason.
"As we exit our exhibit of human/witch relations, you can see a newspaper article in mint condition of the first human/witch marriage in over 400 years." Lilith said as she presented a newspaper frontline of Luz and Amity getting married in the Dominican Republic which was being officiated by Mildred Featherwhyle. "Though, it wasn't in the Boiling Isles it was on Earth, it was still a historical day for this realm. Just like this historical moment." She showed them a news paper article about Azura, being the first human/witch hybrid born with Luz and a tired Amity looking annoyed with all the publicity. "The first human/witch hybrid to ever be born."
"I even blessed her with the Hooty caw." Hooty made a loud cawing noise which included him spitting a lot of drool out of his mouth, causing it to crash on a lot of the unsuspecting tourists.
"Now our next exhibit, is the artefacts of mysterious intrigue." She motioned her tourists to follow them to a hallway where there were a lot of mysterious exhibits on display like a silver egg, a metallic looking spider bot, a sword that was red all over and what looked like a golden coffin. "They are placed here because no one knows where these artefacts come from. But we thought that they were probably worth to be put on display for us to show that our world despite its wonders and discoveries still have mysteries that deserve to be explored. Like this coffin for example. It came from the island of Tion, an island of mystery and a place where my colleague has gone to retrieve our next exhibit, an idol." She then looked over her shoulder to see her daughter-like figure, Amity Noceda, standing behind the tourists with her sack in hand.
She gave a wave to Lilith who returned it back and Hooty was beyond excited. "OMT! Amity!" He shot out towards Amity and began to hug her by wrapping her all over his body. "It's so good to see you! Did you survive?! Are you dead?!" He began wailing. "Please tell me you're not dead!" In that moment, every one of the tourists were made uncomfortable by Hooty's wailings.
Amity just gave an uncomfortable chuckle as she managed to free herself from his strong and might grasp. "Lilith!"
Lilith approached her student with the biggest smile on her face. "Amity!" She and her shared a hug with each other.
After saving the Isles, the two managed to clear whatever bad blood was between them and once again had a student/teacher relationship only more healthy. They had gotten so close that Amity considered her, the closest thing she'd have to a healthy maternal relationship besides her and her mother-in-law.
"How have you been?" Lilith asked. "Did you get it?"
Amity's smile vanished and exhaled. "Miss Lilith, we need to speak."
Lilith knew that look on her face wasn't good and sighed with disappointment. "Okay." She turned to acknowledge her tourists. "Um….Please wait right there. I'll send someone to take over, shortly."
Later, in Lilith's office, which was just like any regular old office with a bunch of bookcases, a desk with a bunch of desk toys, a stapler, an assortment of pens and pictures of her family which included her looking disgusted while holding a baby Ronda whom looked like whom was grinning at her.
Lilith stared at the photo with a disgusted look. "Okay, Ronda! Did you put that picture here?! You know how I don't like it!"
Then, a sudden illusion of Ronda appeared, laughing. "Sorry, Aunt Lilith! But you know how it is! I hated that sentimental photo so…" Amity used her magic to make the illusion of Ronda disappear.
"She's still a menace." Amity said. "I swear if she's like that at 30."
Lilith turned to her student. "Okay, give me the rundowns. But first, why do you insist on wearing that outfit? Are the shorts a little revealing?"
Amity shrugged her shoulders. "What? I really liked the video game the Human Realm had. Wanted to show my love for it. Plus…." She gushed. "It makes Luz crazy."
Lilith chuckled. "Of course it does. Okay, so what happened?"
Amity groaned. "I had it, Lilith. I had the idol. But Talo turned out to be a traitor working for Flora and Matt has been hit by a ton of darts that left him paralysed so he's currently being healed."
Lilith exhaled sadly. "Yes, I looked into Talo's past and he was employed to cleaning duties at Flora's museum. But do we have good news?"
Amity reached into her sack. "I may not have the idol, but I think this is worth a few snails." She pulled out the tablet out of the sack and handed it to Lilith, whom began to analyse it with intrigue.
"Hmm?"
Hooty even began to analyse it with intrigue. "Hmmm?"
"I don't know." Lilith said. "But it looks like these nine little pads can be turned…." She turned one before moving it back to where it was before. "….and they appear to tell us something."
"I think I might be able to decipher." Hooty said. "Let's see, we have a fully grown Titan, we have some beam of light, what appears to be a tribe with a light glyph in their palms, a witch with flowers coming out of their back, what appears to be a corpse being reanimated, four versions of the Collector, the Owl Beast and its offspring, a human and witch in love and finally what looks like vampires slaughtering someone trying to cast illusions." Hooty gasped in horror. "OMT! This is giving me inspiration to write an angsty soap opera! Where did I put my typewriter?!" Hooty began going through the cupboards and the drawers to find his typewriter while Lilith and Amity just stared on with deadpan stares.
"Nevertheless." Lilith said. "I'll put it in its rightful place later. Right now I have a tour I need to attend to." When she left her office, she saw that her tour was gone, leaving her annoyed. "Oh come on! I wasn't even absent long! What even happened?!"
They then heard the sound of the tourists mumbling as if they were listening to someone. "Huh?" Amity reacted.
"And this is the wax statue of Luz Noceda, my Mami, in Titan form, defeating the evil Emperor Belos." Azura said while pointing to a wax statue of her Mami defeating a statue of Belos in his weak monster form. "And he was one foot closer to his grave at that point. Or in his case, a ton of feet stomping on him to his grave." The tourists chuckled at her joke.
Lilith and Amity saw this from afar and each had different reactions. Lilith was amused, Hooty was stretching still looking for his typewriter while Amity was narrowing her eyes at her daughter.
"Then after the defeat of Belos, due to the Titan using the last of his powers on my Mami, glyph magic could no longer work until four years later where my uncle King Clawthorne's Titan powers partway blossomed leading to new glyphs which only got stronger every year. Then, he, my Mami and my aunt Lilith who happens to be here with my mother developed the new glyph…." She froze when she saw that her Mom was there looking annoyed. "….Um….Forget I was a part of this tour!" She moved out of the tourists ways and approached her family. "Uh…Hey, Mom. Nice to see that you're back."
Amity just narrowed her eyes at her daughter a little longer. "You took over Lilith's tour without permission?"
"Look, Mom, I know you're probably annoyed…"
"I am annoyed but I'm also…" She pulled her daughter in for a hug, something that surprised her. "…Just happy to see you again."
Azura returned her mother's hug. "Did you have a nice trip?"
"I failed to get an artefact, but I found a new one." Amity replied. "But may I ask, why did you take over the tour?"
"Well…I was looking for a job at the museum." Azura replied.
Amity and Lilith were surprised by this and gave Azura some supportive smiles. "You're taking an interest in working at the museum? Is this an effort to try and find yourself?"
"Of course." Azura replied. "I mean, I might have to guide kids but….Least it's a job."
Lilith cringed. "Well….We don't have a job for tour guide, we only have one job offer remaining."
Later, Azura was sitting in the office of her aunt whom was reading a piece of paper. "The only job we have left for you and that is the night guard."
"Yes!" Azura responded.
"No!" Amity interjected.
"What?! Mom!" Azura exclaimed.
"Sorry Azura, but I'm not letting you get a job like this." Amity argued. "You'd be having school nights."
"But Mom, I need this job!" Azura exclaimed. "I need to find out who I am!"
"You can find another job." Amity said. "What about….Internship at a pet store?"
"You sure Amity?" Lilith asked. "I heard that their more venomous pets are back in stock."
"Well, my daughter is still not getting the job no matter how hard she pries." Amity argued.
Azura groaned. "Aunt Lilith, can't you find a way to get me that job?"
Lilith began to ponder until the perfect idea came to her. "Well….I could give her the job on non school nights."
Amity gave her mentor a surprised look. "Wait, you're willing to give my daughter the job?"
"Of course. Sal needs a couple of nights off." She pointed at very old man who looked to be very old, standing by the door.
"I only have 100 hundred years left till retirement!" He exclaimed. "Or has it been a hundred years already?! Oh, curse my old age!"
"He actually has a year left." Lilith said to her student. "So, what do you think?"
"I'd take that job no matter the day." Azura replied with confidence.
"I was asking your mother." Lilith said.
Azura gave a nervous gulp and turned to her mother who looked to be pondering the idea of her daughter being a night guard. Her, guarding a museum, all night long until morning? She wasn't sure about the idea, but knew her daughter needed a job so she sighed once she saw her daughter's puppy eyes.
"Alright." Amity said. "You can take the job."
Azura pumped her fist. "Yes!"
"But, only on Saturday." Amity said. "You need plenty of rest for school."
"Okay, wonderful!" Lilith exclaimed. "I'll show you around the museum when your initiation begins. Now, we need to conduct a few interviews first and see if you have the right qualifications."
"I have one question, just one!" Hooty said. "Do you have a history of finding typewriters? Because I can't find mine!"
"Aunt Lilith, I'm alert, prepared and highly observant, I think I got the skills." Azura said. "And Hooty, I've never found a typewriter before because I've never used a typewriter in my life."
Hooty angrily slammed his head on the desk. "You have no job!"
It was the night of the job at the Noceda residence and Azura was ready to get going. She was admiring herself in her night guard uniform which consisted of dark blue pants, dark blue buttoned up shirt, a tie, a black belt and a dark blue cap.
She summoned a light glyph and aimed it at the reflection. "Freeze, dirtbag!" She huffed. "I'm not a cop. What am I saying? Maybe I need to say something a little more museum, punny. Oh! Oh! You're going on display, in jail!" She sighed. "Nah. It'll come to me."
Azura left her bedroom and into the living room where she saw Amity putting on a nice black coat on Manny.
"Okay Manny, when we see Dr Waybright, what do we need to tell her?" Amity asked.
"That I was born down south instead of the Demon Realm." Manny replied.
"Okay, good." Amity said.
"Why are you seeing a doctor?" Azura asked. "Is Manny sick?"
"I'm seeing this human doctor because my Mom says I might be artistic." Manny said. "Which is odd because…Have you seen my drawings?" He showed Azura a picture of what appeared to be Ronda.
"Aww, is that a drawing of Ronda you made when you were three?" Azura asked.
Manny gave a hurtful look. "This was drawn two minutes ago."
Luz approached her son and kissed his forehead. "Now Mijo, I want you to remember to be extra good around Dr Waybright. She's going to see what we can do with you."
"Okay, Mami." Manny said.
Amity pressed her hand on her wife's shoulder. "Are you sure you're going to be okay on your own, Batata?"
"I will, Amity." The still tired Luz responded.
"You still look a bit tired." Amity remarked. "Maybe you shouldn't be reading those articles about the Belos supporters."
"Do you really think you can handle being alone?" Azura asked her Mami. "I mean, I won't be home till the morning while Mom and Manny won't be back for a few hours."
"I'll have Stringbean to watch me." Luz assured them before turning to her Palisman, who just nuzzled her. "Who's a good Palisman? That's right, it's you."
Azura felt a twinge of jealousy over her mother's Palisman and pulled her own out of her pocket. She sighed sadly.
Amity turned to Stringbean. "Keep an eye on her. Make sure she isn't reading any newspaper articles about the Belos supporters." Stringbean nodded her head.
"Okay, let's go." Amity said before she and her wife shared a kiss on the lips. "I'll be back in a few hours. Be safe. And as for you…" Amity kissed her daughter's forehead. "….Good luck. Don't mess up."
"Let me know if any artefacts come to life." Manny said while he, his mother and sister began to leave the house to do their separate things.
"That's not going to happen." Azura assured her brother.
Once her family left, Luz picked up her newspaper. "Just gotta make sure they aren't planning…." Then, Stringbean turned into a dog and snatched the newspaper out of her hand with her jaws and tore it to shreds. "Stringbean!" Stringbean responded by doing a mixture of a bark and a hiss. "I'm going to be fine! Yes, I've been having nightmares but…..Look, I need to make sure that these Belos supporters aren't as much as a threat as they appear to be. That's it!" She then did a yawn. "But you know what, I should probably get some sleep. By the time I wake up, everyone will be back."
She jumped on the couch and positioned herself in a sleeping position with Stringbean shapeshifting into a pillow for her to rest her head on. "Thanks Stringbean."
And so, Luz began to take a small little nap. But unbeknownst to her, there were some people outside of the house planning to break in.
The masked individuals were all wearing masked that looked very similar to Belos and even wore robes that looked similar to their deceased monarch.
One of the masked individuals groaned in annoyance. "Why doesn't the Spook just go in and deal with it themselves if they think they're so good?"
"Something about tiring her out, I don't know." The other masked individual replied. "I think we're going in just to get our butts destroyed."
"Yup. But we might as well." The Belos supporter then raised their fist high. "For the glory of Belos and the Titan."
"For the glory of Belos and the Titan." The Belos supporter responded before they summoned a fireball spell.
"No Jerry, we're not burning the house down." They said.
"Aww, come on Constance! I want to burn the house!" Jerry pleaded. "I'm not in the fire coven for nothing."
"It'll just be pointless because I'm in the construction Coven and I'd just rebuild it." Constance said.
Meanwhile, at the museum, Azura was being given a last minute rundown of things by Lilith and Hooty. "Okay Azura, remember what I said."
"Check if everything is locked, if I hear any kind of noise, investigate; be careful not to set any of the the wax statues on fire, they're extremely flammable; Fire extinguishers are nearby in case there's a fire or you need to distract a threat; Make sure that none of the exhibits are gone; And most of all, I'll keep an eye out for the typewriter, Hooty."
"Please!" Hooty pleaded. "It means so much to me!"
"Goodnight Azura, stay safe." Lilith said to her niece. "Okay, what were you saying Hootcifer?"
"Okay, then the protagonist fights his mentor's sister but unfortunately the mentor's curse takes over and gets captured by her sister." Hooty said.
"Hootcifer, that sounds way too similar to our life story." Lilith laughed.
"No it isn't! My protagonist, Guz is fighting Hillith while Beda stands on the sideline." Hooty argued. "While Tootcifer is going tooty toot! Toot!"
Azura chuckled at Hooty being ridiculous before turning to the receptionist desk which would be her temporary seating place. She placed her desk toy on it which happened to be her wooden Palisman.
Azura sighed. "Okay, I want you to wake up so I can take care of you." Azura sighed when nothing happened. "Well, nothing happened. Guess I'll figure it out when I do. But first…." She pulled out the keys that were attached keychain and groaned at how many there were. "Well, this is going to take a while."
And so Azura began to try and lock the front door with the keys. She tried the first key but nothing happened, the second key but nothing happened, third key, fourth key, fifth, sixth, seventh, twelfth, seventeenth, thirty-first and finally the thirty-second locked the door.
Azura passed the Stonesleeper skeleton that was standing on display, she passed a painting of Belos, the statue of her Mami defeating Belos till she finally found some of the mysterious exhibits including the coffin and the tablet.
She closed the door to the display cases and struggled to lock it because there were just so many keys on the keychain. She eventually got there by the 29th key and exhaled. "Phew, finally." When she walked away, she didn't know the tablet was emitting a golden glow.
After 31 keys, she finally managed to lock the bathroom door. But then, she realised that she needed it and quickly began struggling to find the key to unlock the bathroom. "Come on! Come on! Come on!"
Then, she locked the ceiling door, the windows in Lilith's office, Lilith's office, more display cases, a trapdoor and a door to the lost and found room. She turned out the lights except for the one around the receptionist area.
She then got back to the receptionist desk, sat back down and exhaled with relief. "Yeah. And it took only…." She looked at her watch which was busy biting her wrist. "….An hour? Huh? Didn't know it was that long. But I know I've locked all the doors so there is no need to worry. Right unborn Palisman?"
When she looked back at her desk, she saw that it was gone. "Palisman? Palisman? Palisman?" She stood up and began to look around her desk for any sign of them. "Palisman whose name I haven't decided? Where are you little fella?"
That was when she heard the sound of tiny little feet running about. "Huh? Is that a big rat?" Then she heard the sound of a witch sized figure running around. "Who's there?!" She summoned a light glyph as she began to walk around one of the darkest rooms.
She then heard the sound of giant footsteps coming from the darkness towards her and began to approach it with worry. That's when she noticed a big black silhouette in the distance that looked like was drinking a water fountain.
She stared at it with fear before she realised something. "Oh wait, I can just turn on the light." She turned on the light where she saw something shocking.
It was the skeletal remains of the Stonesleeper drinking from the water fountain even though it doesn't have any tongue. She was a little afraid of what was in front of her but then shrugged her shoulders.
"This is probably normal." Azura said before she was about to walk away. But then began to get a call coming from her scroll. "Hello?"
"Hey Azura, this is Uncle Hooty speaking."
"I have never called you that in the 15 years of my existence." Azura retorted.
"Well, I just wanted to let you know that if you see an exhibit that comes to life, it's not normal even in the Boiling Isles." In that moment Azura froze in fear. "I don't know why I'm telling you this because none of this is very likely to happen. Bet you're feeling lonely right now, how about we start talking? Okay, I bet you're wondering, how am I calling you if I don't have any hands? Also, did you find my typewriter?"
Azura hung up on the scroll and turned around to face the skeletal creature with fear on her face. She gave it a nervous wave before she began to run away for her life with the creature chasing her.
It chased her toward the reception area where she had to hide behind the desk to make sure the Stonesleeper didn't find her.
"Okay, okay, this is a new experience for you." Azura said. "You've tamed plenty of animals before, just not in skeletal form." She poked her head out of the desk where she saw that the beast had three red marks on the back of their ankle.
She huffed in annoyance. "Aww, what?! Untameable?!" She groaned. "Okay, what do I do?!" She looked at the doors that led to the Human Realm exhibit and she had an idea. "Alright, I might have an idea."
She stood up and began to tiptoe away from the creature in order to think of a plan. She tiptoed closely to the Human Realm exhibit and when she got very close, she accidentally stood on an empty pack of chocolate. "Huh? What?"
But unfortunately, the Stonesleeper did hear the sound and instantly began pouncing towards the human/witch causing her to scream.
She ran towards the Human Realm exhibit and towards to a sub section of the area and quickly slammed the sliding door shut.
And in doing so, the Stonesleeper ran past Azura. She heard the noise of the skeleton destroying some of the exhibits.
Azura groaned in distress. "Ohhhh! I'm alive but Aunt Lilith is gonna kill me! But at least I'm safe." She heard the sound of growls coming behind her and froze in fear. "Oooooh, you have got to be Titan darn kidding me." In front of her some of the Earth animals have come to life. Lions, tigers and bears. "Oh my!" They snarled as they began to approach her intent on eating her.
Azura summoned a spell circle. "Beast keeping, don't fail me now!"
Meanwhile, Luz was sleeping on the couch peacefully until she heard the sound of something covering her body. When she opened her eyes, she saw something that has haunted her.
It was the strange fungus that grew over her body when Belos killed her growing up her legs. She screamed and jumped off the couch to wipe it off her legs, but it only ended up on her hands.
She heard sinister laughter before she looked up to see Belos. "You failed Luzura."
Luz dropped on her knees in fear and tears falling down her face as the fungus took over her body. "No! No! You're dead!"
"You took my legacy away from me…." He opened up his hand to reveal Stringbean struggling to escape his grasp. But then, he cracked her open and sucked her lifeforce.
"No!" Luz cried. "Stringbean!"
"Oh, and let's not forget your biggest mistake…" He opened up his hand to reveal the petrified Amity, Azura and Manny in his hands. Luz gasped in terror as the fungus began to cover her face. The last thing she saw before the fungus fully took over was him crushing her entire family in his hand.
But really, it was just a dream as she shot up on her couch and began panting. She looked around the living room still panting. "Azura! Amity! Manny!" Stringbean flew to their owner and shape changed into a scarf that wrapped around her neck.
This made Luz instantly calm down and exhale in relief. "Oh, Stringbean. Thank you." Stringbean began hissing with desperation. "What is it?"
"Please don't tell her we're here." Jerry pleaded.
Luz looked around her living room to see a bunch of people dressed as Emperor Belos narrowing their eyes at her. She screamed before falling off her couch.
"That's humiliating." Constance remarked.
Luz stood up with fear on her face. "What…What do you want?"
One of the Belos supporters removed the helmet from their head to reveal Adrian Gray still looking disheveled after Azura humiliated him the other day.
"Well…Well…Well…"
Luz narrowed her eyes at Adrian. "Adrian Graye. We meet at last."
"Tis' a shame we never met until this very moment." Adrian said. "By the way Jerry, you're incompetent! Very incompetent!"
Jerry hung his head in shame. "Yes. I am incompetent."
"Well…Well….Well." Adrian began. "The human who defeated Emperor Belos. Sleeping on the couch in little dog slippers."
"First: These are otter slippers. And second: Belos was a human who tried to kill you!" Luz argued. "Why would you want to reinstate something that almost killed you?!"
"Because it gave us security, freedom, justice and appeased the Titan." Adrian replied.
"Jokes on you, I have spoken to the Titan and he in no way supported what Belos did." Luz said.
"Liar." Constance said. "You did not."
Luz groaned. "You believe in Belos but not me even after everything he's done?!"
Constance shrugged her shoulders. "I don't know."
"Now, Luz Noceda, you are about to meet your fate." Adrian declared. "A meeting with the Bane! He is fired up to meet you."
"Fire!" Jerry then shot fire out of his hands straight towards Luz, causing her to be engulfed in flame.
In that moment, Adrian seethed his teeth in anger at Jerry. "Constance! Slap him on the back of his head!"
Constance shuffled towards Jerry and shrugged her shoulders. "Sorry, Jerry." She slapped the back of his head.
"Okay, let's dig up her ashes once the flames have done engulfing her." Adrian declared. "I mean, how long does it take for her to become ash? It's taking a little too long for her to become a crisp."
But when the fire died down, it was revealed that Luz had managed to engulf herself in a giant purple ball being projected by Stringbean that acted like a shield.
The Belos cult members were shocked by this revelation and all gasped. "Oh man! I thought being old and a parent would do something to her. Like, make her weak and pathetic. Like a hermit living on a mountain in the middle of an island."
"What was that analogy, Jerry?!" Adrian exclaimed.
Luz grinned at her intruders. "My turn." She slammed her Palisman down on the shield, causing it to emit an energy blast that sent the cult flying backwards.
The human witch span her Palisman and struck an Anime style pose. "By the way, I'm 39 and approaching 40!"
Meanwhile at the museum, a tired Azura had managed to tame all of the animals that were about to eat her and exhaled with relief.
"Thank Titan." She said before turning to the animals whom were constantly nuzzling her. Then, a bear licked her face causing some drool to appear. "Yes, thank you, Leonardo." She then began to question how they were all alive. "But how are you alive?"
She walked out of the sub-exhibit and closed and locked the sliding door. "Don't worry you little carnivores, I promise you, I will get you a nice slab of meat. Just don't eat each other. You're made from fluff and other fabrics."
She then heard the sound of metal clunking like there was some kind of knight in shining armour walking around the museum.
She walked down the corridor with caution and with some magic at the ready just in case. But when she got to the end, she noted how dark it was. She turned on the lights where she saw a magical sight.
A lot of the museum exhibits had somehow come to life and were roaming freely around the museum. A lot of statues of historical figures, statues of demons, wax statues, statues made of stone, statues forged from metal, statues of art, the Stonesleeper and even a lot of paintings and photographs had somehow come to life.
She walked around admiring the sight where she accidentally bumped into a statue of someone from the Deadwardian era.
"Ow!" Azura exclaimed.
"Humblest apologies, fellow witch." The statue said before walking away while trying to tip their hat. But they couldn't do to the fact the hat was forged to their head.
She continued to walk around the in awe and wonder where she saw a bunch of birds flying around like they were free from their captivity. She was in awe before they flew into the window and knocking themselves unconscious.
She cringed at the sight, feeling somewhat sorry for them. She then saw a painting of a frog just croaking while the painting next to it was a witch struggling to sleep.
"Shut up! Shut up! Shut up! Shut up!" The witch cried. "I'm trying to sleep!"
She then saw a grizzled witch soldier covered in moss and appeared to be battered. "And then….I ran with my staff in hand for the glory of the Isles. Not for the glory of Belos, but the Isles."
"Where did you run to?" A statue a demon with eyes where the nipples should be, asked.
"I was running towards the battle and then….I tripped and fell off a cliff." The grizzled statue replied.
The statues groaned. "Some soldier you turn out to be."
Azura was awe over everything that was going on around her. "Woah. This is just like that fantasy comedy from the 2000's. What was it called again?" She began questioning what the name of the movie was before snapping her fingers. "Oh, that's right, Five Nights At The Museum!"
She then bumped into a wax statue of a male witch dressed in a puffy white shirt, red pants and black boots. "Oh, watch yourself!"
"Sorry, it's just, I don't know what's going on." Azura explained. "I mean, one minute you guys were statues at a museum, the next you're suddenly fleshy and everything has come to life."
The man froze in shock and grinned. "I knew it! I knew that we were just museum exhibits!"
"I'm sorry, what?" Azura reacted.
Then, the man began running around. "Hey everybody! We're in a museum! Our whole world is just a museum for someone's sick amusement!"
Azura had no idea what to say about all this and shrugged her shoulders. "Oh well." Then, she heard the sound of barking coming from one of the corridors. She looked forward and saw what looked like a little dog. But more specifically, a dog that looked like her Palisman.
She rubbed her eyes and opened them up again where she saw that the dog was still there. She was very baffled and very confused by what she was seeing. "Wait, did I say my want?"
Suddenly, the dog began running away. "Hey wait! Wait, please!" Azura began chasing the dog intent on asking questions. She ran past some giraffes that hissed at her, two statues of a three eyed creature walking and chatting and even a stone skateboarder trying to get off the skateboard. But couldn't since they were carved on to it.
But while chasing them, Azura heard the sound of screaming coming from her left and froze. She looked to her left and saw someone in a hood eating a candy bar while looking like they were trying to figure out how to get an artefact from one of the display cases. Specifically, the one that had the tablet.
"Oh man! Oh man! Oh man! Oh man!" He exclaimed. "What do I do?"
"Hey you!" Azura said.
The hooded figure screamed before standing up and running face first into the wall and falling on his back to reveal Talo.
Azura approached the treacherous witch and narrowed her eyes at him. "Talo."
Talo flinched and raised his hands in surrender. "Ah! Azura, how are you?!"
"Why are you asking like we're familiar with each other?" Azura asked.
"Because I heard how very artistic you are." He replied.
Azura sighed in annoyance. "That's my brother. And he's autistic, not artistic."
"Whatever, I never cared for your mother." He said.
Azura lifted him up by his front collar narrowing her eyes at him. "So, this was your plan? Bringing everything in the museum to life including my Palisman to distract me while you steal the tablet?!"
Talo looked baffled. "Why are you blaming me for that?!"
"Seems like the only explanation!" Azura argued. "By the way what was with the screaming?"
"It was the guy in the coffin." He replied. "He just screamed when I was breaking through the glass."
"Huh?"
Then, the coffin that was next to the tablet began to scream. "Aahhhh!"
"Aahhhh!" Azura and Talo screamed in terror.
"Why are you screaming?!" The guy in the coffin yelled. "I'm the one trapped in the coffin! Wait, are you two in a coffin?!"
"No." Azura and Talo replied.
"Oh, good." The crazy voice in the coffin replied. "Because being in a coffin sucks when you're undead."
"Looks it." Talo remarked. "Hey, can you let me go?"
"Why?" Azura asked.
"So….I can leave out the back, which you left unlocked, thank you very much." He replied.
"What?!" Azura exclaimed. "But I locked it! I remember because it was the 6th one I locked and I spent the next three hours….Ohhhh!"
"You really need to mark your keys." He replied. "I mean, this is a museum."
"What's a museum?!" The corpse asked.
"A place where people like him aren't allowed." She pulled out the cuffs from her pockets and cuffed one of the cuffs on his wrist and the other on a pipe.
"Hey!" Talo exclaimed.
"But in all honesty, it's where a bunch of statues, art, documents and artefacts are placed for public curiosity and education." Azura replied.
"Ohhhh, that's the perfect place where the tablet would be placed." He remarked. "I mean, that's what I did."
"Wait, you know the tablet?" Azura asked.
"Yeah! We came from the same island." He replied. "I was its creator."
"Well, that's convenient." She remarked.
"No, I'm kidding!" The coffin said. "But I know about it."
"I know more." Talo said.
"Shut up!" The coffin demanded. "Anyway, this is the Tablet of Life. Generic, I know but names weren't our strong point. Anyway, so, this tablet was designed by a bunch of people from beyond the sky, given to us so we can raise the dead 100 years after they die."
"Why?"
"I don't know, they just gave it to us and we had all might power so we had to exploit it." He replied. "Anyway, when it got dark, the tablet would activate and raise the tribe that have been dead for 100 years or more. But not just that. They also brought our art to life, our stick art to life and carved Palismen. But the stick figures that we based off of people with powers, weren't given their original powers back because…I don't know. Sometimes all mighty power is vague and confusing."
"Carved Palisman?" She reacted with realisation and smiled. "Carved Palisman?!"
"Yup!" He replied. "Wait, you don't have one that was carved, right?"
Suddenly, a dog jumped on Azura, knocking her on her back. "Ow! What the?" She opened her eyes as she saw what knocked her over was her Palisman, somehow alive. A cute shine in his eyes, a waggling tail, a wet nose, soft fur and a huge smile on his face.
The dog-like Palisman barked before it began to lick Azura in the face lovingly, causing her to laugh. "Awww! Hey there you little cutey!"
"What is it?!" The coffin asked.
"It's a Palisman!" Talo replied.
"A Palisman?!" The coffin asked.
"Aww, hi there." Azura laughed as it continued to lick her. "Stop it, little baby! Stop it!"
"Oh yup, as mentioned, the tablet brings Palismen alive." It said.
"Aww! Did you get too impatient and wanted to meet me already?!" The Palisman shook its head. "Uh….Okay. I guess you had a bit of a rude awakening. Wait, does this mean I've said my want?" The dog shook its head. "So, you're not officially my Palisman?" He shook his head again. "Aww!"
"Oh yeah, your Palisman is officially your Palisman when you declare your deepest desire!"
"I know how they work!" Azura exclaimed. "Wait, if it's alive, could I ask what my want is?"
"Not how it works, kid." He replied. "It will never tell you. Heck, you don't even have a psychic link with it."
Azura stared at her Palisman with sadness in her eyes and sighed sadly. "Oh, right."
"Hey don't be disappointed, you'll only have till sunrise until it turns back to normal." The coffin explained.
"Along with every other exhibit?" She asked.
"Yeah." The Coffin replied. "So, ya know, just make sure they're under control and don't cause too much of a mess."
"Our world is a museum!" The statue exclaimed. "I knew it! I was always right!"
Azura sighed as she had to prepare for what she was dealing with for the night. But at least she had her soon-to-be Palisman at her side. "Okay, let's do this."
And so, Azura began to make sure every exhibit was going to be accounted for. First, she checked that every door and were locked just so that they wouldn't escape. Thankfully, she had managed to lock every last one.
Then, she had to help the birds so they wouldn't fly out so she managed to lead them into a bird cage with plenty of bird feed inside.
Then, she had to help some of the statues whom were starting to get into aggressive arguments with each other. Thankfully, she managed to calm them down before things get too violent.
Then, she had to think of a way to keep the Stonesleeper calm so that way it wouldn't cause any damage to the museum. But she thankfully managed to find something that could help, a bone that managed to keep it calm.
Then at one point, she suddenly heard sinister laughter and froze in fear. When she turned around, she came face-to-face with Emperor Belos, laughing sinisterly.
"Hello, you witch. Hand me your Palisman." He requested.
"No." She responded.
"Why not?" Belos asked.
"Because you're a painting." She responded to the painting of Emperor Belos that hung in the Reign of Belos exhibit along with 7 statues of Coven Soldiers, whom were just chatting it up.
"Give me your Palisman or else I will make you regret it!" The painting demanded.
But instead of doing so, Azura just turned the painting around so it wouldn't be facing her or anyone else. "Turn me around this instant!" The painting demanded. "Now!"
"We could have done that?" One of the Scouts asked.
"In my defence, I was worried what he would have done to us." Another one said.
"Same."
"Definitely."
"Oh yeah."
"Totally."
"I am Drew."
Azura picked up the dog and stroked its head. "Phew, thank goodness he was just a painting. I mean, could you imagine if we had to deal with a statue version of him? Come on, let's get back to the desk. We could spend some time together." The Palisman barked. "I assume you like that idea?"
While Azura began to walk back to her desk, she walked past where the statue of Belos and her Titan Mami were, not noticing that they were both gone.
At the desk, Azura was sitting in place, waiting for daylight, bored out of her mind while her would-be-Palisman was playing with a toy ball.
One of the statues walked past and tipped a carved-in hat to Azura. "Evening, Azura."
"Evening, Horace." Azura responded before turning to the dog Palisman. "Sooo, you're not gonna tell me what my want is?" The dog shook its head. "Okay, you think you can try and tell me what it is?" It shook its head. "Yeah, no psychic link, yet." She then had an idea. "Okay, if you can't tell me what you want, then perhaps you can give me your name?"
But the Palisman just stared at her with a baffled look on his face which made Azura raise an eyebrow. "Name! Ya know, like me? Azura. You do have a name, right?" The Palisman shook his head, surprising the half-human. "You don't have one. But I thought Palismen already thought of their names even after they're born." He shook his head. "Guess you don't, huh? Okay, since you can't tell me what my want is, how about I give you a name? Sound good?"
The Palisman nodded his head. "Okay, okay! How about Ethan?" The dog shook its head. "Too generic. Stanley?" The dog shook his head. "How about….Hawk?" The dog gave her a 'are you serious? Look.'
"Yeah, good point. You don't look like a Hawk. Oh! How about….." She suddenly heard the sound of screams. She looked behind her and saw a bunch of statues running towards the front door. "Hey! Hey!" Then, the birds arrived and tried crashing through the window but without any luck. "Guys!" She climbed over the desk and began running towards them. "Guys! Guys!" She ran in front of the door with her hands raised. "Guys! What's going on?!"
"Monster!" One of the statues cried. "Mysterious Artefacts exhibit!"
"It was a monster placed in our eternal prison!" The crazy conspiracy statue yelled.
"Guys! Guys! It was just the Stonesleeper." Azura assured them.
"It was not the Stonesleeper." Said the statue that looked like a grizzled soldier. Battered and covered in what appeared to be moss. "It was something worse. Something smaller than the Stonesleeper, but still big. A monster that looks to be a witch, but not a witch. Human, but not a human. A demon, but not a demon. An animal, but not an animal."
"You look like you've seen it before." Azura remarked. "What was it?"
The soldier shrugged his shoulders. "I don't know."
"Wait, then why were you acting like you did?" Azura asked in confusion.
"I comes with being a grizzled soldier, I guess."
"He fell off a cliff while running into battle." The eye nipple demon said.
"Okay folks!" Azura said. "Just stay in the reception area while I investigate, it's probably nothing but worth a shot to investigate. Come Untitled Palisman." She said before she began walking toward the Mysterious Artefacts exhibit.
The other statues and pieces of art just looked at each other with concern and worry. "Do you think she'll be okay?" Horace asked.
"I hope so." The grizzled soldier replied. "Cause Titan knows she'll have one story to tell."
Azura was slowly patrolling the corridors straight towards the Mysterious Artefacts exhibit in case she saw something sinister.
She heard a loud clang and walked slowly down the corridor as she got closer. But then, her Untitled Palisman ran towards the source of the noise.
"Wait! Wait!" She ran toward her soon-to-be Palisman where she saw something that she didn't expect. "Aunt Ronda?!"
Turns out it was Aunt Ronda whom had her foot in a bucket and the untitled Palisman biting her leg. "Oh hey, Azura!" She said before kicking the dog off of her.
Azura narrowed her eyes at her aunt. "What are you doing?"
"Definitely not stealing from the vending machine." Ronda lied before some gems came out of her pocket. "Uh….That's hard candy." They stared at each other awkwardly before she pointed at what's going on behind her. "Hey look, some loser is trying to escape."
Azura looked behind her and saw Talo yanking on the pipe trying to free himself. "Hey, you!" Azura and her untitled Palisman began running towards him.
But then, Azura slipped on some wet and sticky puddle. She sat up and gagged in disgust at what she was covered in. "Eww!" She stood up and ran towards him. "Talo!"
Talo stopped yanking and chuckled nervously. "Hey Azura, I was checking if the pipe was strong enough to hold me."
"No, he was trying to escape." The coffin said.
"You snitch!" Talo yelled.
"Hey, I'm already dead!" The coffin laughed.
"Why Talo, why?" Azura asked. "Why do you want to escape? You know you'll have witnesses and I'll be here as fast as I can."
"I was asked to distract you." Talo said.
"By who?" Azura asked before she felt drool being dripped on her shoulder. She patted her shoulder and began to analyse the drool and realised it was the same one she slipped in. "What the what?" She then saw that her would-be-Palisman was staring at her with fear in its face.
She turned around to see a terrifying sight. It was none other than Belos in his monster form snarling at her. She stared at the monster in fear as it snarled at her.
"Hello, witch." It said.
Azura was about to cast a spell but then Belos backhanded her into one of the exhibits, specifically the one with the tablet. Glass flew everywhere around the room with tiny shards and big shards flying about.
One of the sharpest ones ended up near Talo, causing him to scream. "No! Don't!"
Azura had multiple cuts on her face as she narrowed her eyes at the monster who was staring down at her.
"Belos!" Azura said.
"Where am I?" Belos asked. "How am I alive?"
"It's the magic tablet!" The coffin replied.
"I wasn't asking you!" The living statue said.
"You're in a museum and you're supposed to be dead!" Azura said. "And you will be once again by sunrise."
Belos smiled sinisterly. "Well, I better make the most of it." He raised his hand high above his head. He stared at it with confusion and he shook it. "Why isn't this working?"
Azura was baffled at first but then it clicked. "Ohhhh! Your hands were supposed to shape-change into a weapon. Right, since you're a statue that came to life that means…." The monster just took a hold of Azura and tossed her against the wall. She groaned in pain while Belos snarled.
Belos then saw the Palisman staring at it with fear and he began to crawl towards it. "I need substance. Come Palisman." The Palisman began to run for its life while Belos began to chase it.
"Precious Baby!" Azura stood up and began to chase Belos. "If you're okay with that name!" The dog just did an angry bark. "Not a good time, I'm sorry!"
Meanwhile at the Noceda residence, one of the Belos supporters was firing an oracle ghoul towards Luz. But then Luz slid under the ghoul and kicked them in their leg. She shot back up and pulled out some glyphs from her pocket in case she needed them.
On another Belos supporter came out of nowhere throwing some ice towards her but thankfully, Luz activated her fire glyph causing the ice to melt.
Luz then fired an ice fist from her glyph, towards the supporter causing him to fly backwards.
"Don't attack one at a time, idiots!" Adrian demanded. "Attack all at once!"
The supporters began charging towards Luz each with their own desperate weapons. One with vines in her hands, one with a potion in hand and the other with a magic spell summoning what appeared to be a healing spell.
Luz spun her staff in hand and knocked a Coven Scout in the head. The hit made her drop the potion to crash into the one with the vines in hand. "My eyes!" She cried as the vines hit the spell activating Coven member.
Jerry began charging with fireballs in hands that he threw at Luz. But the human witch quickly spun it and deflected the fire back at Jerry, causing his pants to catch fire.
"Oh! Hot! Hot! Hot!" He cried before Luz fired a glyph that was a mixture of fire and ice which made water that hit his leg. "Thanks!" Then he was blasted backwards by Luz's staff.
Constance raised her hands high. "You know what, I'm leaving. I am outmatched." She declared before jumping out the window. "Sorry!" She stood up and casted a spell to repair the window. "Don't need to pay!"
"Hey!" Adrian yelled out in anger. "Get back here you idiots! How did we lose to you?!"
Luz grinned. "Maybe because you use one kind of magic…" Luz spun her staff, activated a shield while showing off some glyphs that activated a light glyph. "…While I'm using all kinds."
"Cheat!" Adrian yelled angrily. "You're cheating! Well, not for long!" He snapped his fingers and disappeared from Luz's view.
Luz gripped on to Stringbean very hard as she looked around the room for any signs of Adrian. "Come out Adrian! I know you're in here!"
Then, Adrian popped out of the shadows. "Oh, I'm sorry, are you talking to me?"
"Or to me?" Another Adrian asked.
"Or to me?" Another Adrian asked.
"Or to me?" Another Adrian walked out.
"Or to him?" Two more Adrian's walked out of the shadows.
"Or to us?" Three more Adrians walked out of the shadows and soon Luz was surrounded by multiple Adrians while Luz looked around at the multiple Belos supporters wondering what to do.
"Who is it, Luz?" One of the Adrian's asked. "Who is the real Adrian? Could it be me? Could it be him? Or could it be the one next to that one?" He laughed while Luz dug through her pockets. "It's hard isn't it? Ha! Who is the real Adrian Graye? If you want my opinion, I think it's-" Luz then activated a light glyph that emitted a flash so bright that it affected Adrian.
"Ow! My eyes!" This made all the Adrians disappear except for one which confirmed to Luz that it was the real one.
She spun Stringbean in her hand before she knocked Adrian out with one hit to his face from her staff. He landed with a loud clash on the floor.
Luz performed an Anime pose with a confident grin plastered on her face. She smiled at her Palisman who turned back into Palisman form and nuzzled her owner.
"Yeah Stringbean, we still got it." She said. "Unless there's one more of you in the house, come out so we can kick your butt!"
But then, Luz began to hear the sound of some kind of humming. Humming that almost sounded like some kind of lullaby. "Little witch. Little witch. Go to sleep. Go to sleep. It's time for bed. Everyone is sleeping and you need to sleep."
Luz turned around to see someone around her daughter's height wearing black boots, a black cape, black pants, black armour and a black mask. It was almost like Luz was looking at a version of the Golden Guard.
"Well, well, well." The figure spoke in a high pitched distorted voice. "If it isn't Luz Noceda?" They laughed sinisterly.
Luz felt unnerved by their very presence and Stringbean could feel it. The Palisman turned to staff ,ode which made Luz grab on to her.
"I assume you're a special member of the group?" Luz asked.
The figure picked up a random family photo. "What makes you think I'm special?" They looked down themselves and laughed. "Oh yeah. The suit. Well, guess this is what you get when you're second-in-command to the Bane. Or, from what we see of ourselves."
Luz instantly knew who this was. "You're the Spook."
The Spook sighed. "That name is dumb. I wish I could change it but….That's what people call me. But I prefer the Black Guard."
Luz shrugged her shoulders. "I think everyone is gonna prefer calling you the Spook. More catchy."
The Spook sighed before they began to monitor the room. "Ah, I see you've been busy. Taking out these pathetic and gullible idiots." They kicked one of the unconscious ones and they made a groaning noise. "But they did keep you distracted for a good while for me to think of what to do with you and your family." They crushed the family portrait in their hand causing Luz a lot of anger.
"If you dare hurt my wife and kids…"
"Do your worst." The Spook interjected before throwing an Abomination dart straight towards her which Luz deflected.
The Spook jumped over the coffee table and summoned an Abomination sword and clashed blade and staff with Luz.
Luz in that moment was about to pull a light glyph from her pocket but then the Spook used their free hand to grab their wrist and then toss them to the floor.
"Naughty. Naughty." They said as Luz made impact with the wall, causing some pictures to fall.
They were about to attack, but Luz blasted them across the room, causing them to crash into the mirror. They stood up just as Luz was about to fire another blast to incapacitate them but they summoned an Abomination shield.
Then, Luz summoned a fire glyph and fired it towards them, but they just avoided it by performing a cartwheel. Then, they threw a spear at Luz which she managed to dodge by performing a perfect jump.
Luz spun her staff while the Spook summoned two mini Abomination scythes that they spun as they grinned. "Time to complete this challenge." They charged towards Luz while she did the same thing.
Back at the museum, the Untitled Palisman was still being chased around the museum by Belos whom was being chased by Azura at the same time.
They ran through a bunch of the exhibits where due to how slippery the floor was, Belos crashed into the wall causing some damage. He even knocked over some exhibits which made Azura angry. "Nooo! Lilith's gonna kill me!"
They ran through the reception area where many of the exhibits held on to each other in fear as Belos ran past.
Then, Belos destroyed one of the pillars that destroyed the floor above the reception floor, causing Azura more distress. "No!"
Then, Belos leaped forward and grabbed the Untitled Palisman. He was about to snap him open to suck his life out but then Azura panicked.
"Stop!" She summoned some vines from the ground that latched themselves around Belos' wrists causing him to let go of the Palisman. "Run, Rexy!" The dog barked. "I assume that name isn't good! Just run!"
The Palisman ran for its life while Belos snarled with hunger in his eyes. "Noooo!" He freed himself from the vines and turned to face Azura.
She began running for her life while the monster Belos began chasing after her, intent on killing her. Once again, the chase caused a lot of damage to the museum. Cracked floors, destroyed door frames, hole in walls, scratched paintings and more smashed glass.
She picked up a random bucket placed on the floor and threw it at Belos' head, causing him to growl in anger.
Azura ram down the exhibit that showed the history Belos' of reign and panicked as she ran past the Coven Soldiers. But what she didn't expect was to make it to a dead end. "Oh! Titan, Aunt Lilith! Why did you need to design a dead end?!"
Belos eventually made it to Azura with a grin plastered on his face. "You think you can escape me, witch?! I need your Palisman's life to live!"
Azura stood up and activated some fire in her palm and narrowed her eyes at him. "You think I'm just some regular witch?! I'm the daughter of the human who destroyed you."
Belos smiled. "I had a feeling. You look exactly like her. And I see judging by your ears, she found herself her own witch." He snarled. "Even in death, your influence still has an affect, Caleb."
"You're not escaping or hurting the Palisman." Azura said.
"Since I'll be a statue by daylight, I'm still going to make the most of it." Belos said with a smile. "The death of the daughter of Luz Noceda is too good to go for first, I think I'll save you till last. The Palisman is first." He turned back around to chase after the Palisman while Azura stared on in horror.
"You will not get away with it!" Azura began chasing after the monster. But before she could leave the exhibit, she was tackled by Coven soldiers.
She struggled to get out their grasps, but unfortunately they were too strong. "Sorry kid, you can't get away from us."
"Emperor Belos has returned and not just in painting form!" Another one said.
"I am Drew." Another Coven Soldier said.
"I know!" Another soldier responded.
Azura tried to escape but still, the wax statues still held on to her like she was nothing.
Meanwhile, the untitled Palisman project was running for their life from Belos whom was just getting close to grabbing him and sucking the life.
It ran under the table that Belos flipped over with one swipe. Then, it ran down the mysterious artefacts exhibit where Talo looked to be reaching for the big shard of broken glass with his foot.
The untitled Palisman ran past him, down another corridor where Belos slammed into the wall before getting back on his feet and chasing the Palisman while crashing into the wall beside Talo, causing him to be covered in debris and a few cuts.
"I support you dude, watch it!" Talo cried.
Belos continued to chase the Palisman down the hall where it tried getting through a vent but Belos unfortunately got a hold of them and smiled.
"Oh, poor little Palisman. You were so close to escaping." The Palisman tried to escape Belos grasp but it was unfortunately no use. "It's okay. It's going to be over soon enough." He was about to snap the Palisman to suck its life when he was suddenly hit by fire extinguisher foam.
He cried as he let go of the Palisman due to being blinded by the white and frothy foam. But while briefly blinded, he could briefly make out a black silhouette grabbing the Palisman in their hands and running towards where Azura is.
Meanwhile, Azura was still struggling to breakout of the soldier's grasps but they were surprisingly strong for a bunch of wax statues.
"Try all you want, but you'll never escape." One of them said.
"You won't." Another one said.
"You do realise that Belos is a wax statue? So he technically doesn't have the power to suck the souls of Palismen, he'll just kill them." Azura explained.
"Oh well, we just need to make him happy." The other Coven scout said.
Azura continued to struggle to escape their grasp but she couldn't do to how strong it was. She was struggling and afraid. Afraid that she couldn't get out and save her future Palisman from the monster that had hurt many people, including her moms many years ago.
Suddenly, she heard a whistle which made her stop struggling and the Coven soldiers stop restraining her as they saw someone in the distance.
In front of them was the silhouette of a girl. Wearing a furry black covering. A black hat. A pair of horns similar to a Titan. Eyes black with yellow pupils, and the hands and lower legs looked skeleton-like.
"Unhand the witch, you fiendish Coven soldiers! For I am here to save her from your….Your….Your….Dang it! What can I say?!"
In that moment, Azura recognised that voice and went wide eyes. "Mami?"
In that moment, the glyph symbol on her chest glowed to reveal herself to be Luz Noceda in her Titan form. But more specifically, when she was 14 years old and in that very form on the day she defeated Emperor Belos.
The Coven soldiers just laughed at this instead of being afraid. "You fool, you do realise that you're a statue made of wax?!" One of the Coven soldiers laughed.
"I may be that, but that doesn't mean I can't use a few glyphs." She pressed on the original fire glyph but that didn't do anything. "Uh…." She tapped on it a few times and groaned. "Why isn't this working?!"
"Drew, get her." One of the Coven soldiers requested.
"I am Drew." Drew let go of Azura and began charging towards Luz. But the wax Titan/Human statue hit him in the head with her staff, causing his head to be knocked off.
"Ahhh!" The Coven soldiers screamed in terror. "Drew!"
"I am Drew!" The head of Drew exclaimed while Luz knocked his headless body to the floor.
Two more followed and tried to take down Luz. But Luz kicked the first one really hard in the chest, causing them to fly backwards.
While she tore the mask off of another, causing them to touch their face and scream as they realised that they had no orifices on their face. "Ahh! I have no orifices. Wait, how am I…" Before she could ask, Luz knocked her down.
Then, three more let go of Azura to take down Luz but she only knocked them down with one hit from her staff.
The two remaining soldiers stared at Luz with fear before they looked at each other. "You take her!" They argued.
"No, you take her!" The first one demanded.
"I don't want to take her!" The other shouted.
"I have to keep hold of her!" He argued.
"So do I!" The other one argued.
But Azura got tired of their bickering and summoned some vines to trap them. "Hey, thanks for the assist." Azura said.
"No problem." Luz responded. "Oh, by the way…" She took her hat off to reveal untitled Palisman project was underneath it.
"Frank!" Azura exclaimed while her soon-to-be Palisman ran up to her. But stopped when it got called Frank. "You don't like that name?!" She and the dog hugged each other regardless of that. But stopped when Azura began to hear her Mami groan.
She stood up and dusted herself off as she approached her Titan Mami. She was obviously freaked out by this. Having heard stories and seeing statues of her Mami in her Titan form, seeing her like this and at 14 was weird. "Okay…This is weird." She said to the living statue whom was trying to activate the fire glyph.
"I know!" Luz exclaimed. "Why can't it work?!"
"Here, let me help." Azura took the paper out of her hand, as well as the pen, drew the new fire glyph and activated it.
Luz stared at her with a baffled look. "What happened to the glyph combos? They're….Different."
"Okay, I think you're confused by everything so I'll explain what you are first." Azura said.
"Oh, I figured I was a statue in a museum." Luz said.
"Really? How?" Azura asked.
"That really loud guy stuck in a coffin told me." Luz said. "It was just like that movie from the late 2000's. Though there were some details he forgot to mention like, my glyphs not working."
"Well, after you defeated Belos….The Titan passed on and in turn, your way of making glyphs was over." Azura explained. "But when Uncle King grew, his Titan…"
"Wait! Uncle King." Luz interjected. "What relation do you have to King?"
Azura was baffled but then grinned. "Oh! Oh! Sorry, I forgot!" She moved her hair aside to reveal a human ear on one side and a witch ear on the other.
Luz looked surprised. "Wait, you're part human and part witch."
"Not just any human witch." Azura said. "I'm….Well….Azura Noceda."
Luz's eyes went wide at the mention. "You mean, you're my daughter?"
"Well, technically, seeing that you're a statue of my Mami, not really." Azura replied. "She's at home while Mom and Manny are in the Human Realm."
"Wait, that's my Dad's name." Luz interjected.
"Actually, he's your son."
Luz went wide eyed as tears fell from her eyes. "You mean, I have a son as well?! And I named him after my Papa?"
"Well, yeah." Azura replied.
"Wow! My future is looking bright." Luz said. "I am married to Amity, right?"
"Obviously." Azura replied. "She's my Mom as well."
The human/Titan looked happy but she then frowned. "It's a shame though, seeing as how I'll turn back into a statue at daylight, it's a shame I won't see any of it."
Suddenly, they heard the growl of Belos coming straight towards them which put Luz and Azura on high alert while the untitled Palisman whimpered in distress.
"I'll explain everything later." Azura said. "Right now, we have a bigger beast to fry."
"Right." Luz said. "Show me the fire glyph."
Azura gave her statue Mami a cringed look. "I don't know. You're made of wax. It could be a bad idea."
"Oh, so I'll melt?" Luz asked.
"Pretty much." Azura said before she came up with an idea. "Wait a minute…I have an idea."
Meanwhile at the Noceda residence, Luz was still fighting the spook in the house. They moved the fight into the kitchen where Luz had activated a few ice glyphs that the Spook unfortunately destroyed due to an Abomination fist.
Then, Luz tried a blinding light glyph but due to the mask they were wearing, it didn't do anything. "You think I wouldn't see that coming?"
"How about this?" Luz pushed on a drawing of the fire glyph that was on the cupboard door, causing a stream of fire to shoot out that did set fire to a bit of the Spook's mask and the kitchen.
Luz groaned in frustration. "Oh no, not the kitchen!"
Then, the Spook climbed over the chopping table and tried to impale Luz with an Abomination sword that she thankfully avoided it by quickly side stepping, which caused the sword to be stuck in the fridge.
Luz tried to deliver a stun to the Spook, but she quickly pulled the sword out and formed a shield to deflect themselves from being stunned.
They then formed a fist that they used to punch Luz in the face, really hard, causing her to fly backwards into the wall and to drop Stringbean.
Just as they were about to hit Luz with a finishing blow, Luz thankfully quickly formed a shield made of ice. Though the power of the punch, did make the ice shield shatter into a million icy pieces.
They were about to deliver a killer punch, but Luz raised her hand out and her staff flew to her. When they tried to hit, the Palisman activated a shield that sent them flying back.
Then, Luz and the Spook engaged their respective weapons against each other once the Spook got back up.
They narrowed their eyes at each other with their teeth gritting and their eyes watering. Then, the Spook summoned an abomination dagger and stabbed Luz in the gut.
The human witch cringed as she felt the blade made impact to her skin. This made her drop her staff and caused her to collapse on her back against the wall.
Luz panted as she held on to her stab wound while the Spook got down on their knees and tilted their head. "Don't worry. I'll call for help. The Bane wanted to send you a message."
Luz cringed as she looked at her hand and saw blood on her palm. "They…They…Couldn't send me….A letter?"
"Well, he wanted a more….Impactful message." The Spook replied. "Oh, and tell your daughter to keep an eye on me." She walked away just as the other supporters stood up. "Come, the Province of Belos has sent the message."
The weakened Luz watched as the Spook made a call while the other supporters got up and left. Stringbean stared at her owner with sadness on her face just as Luz closed her eyes and was rendered unconscious.
Back at the museum, Belos was patrolling the museum trying to find his Palisman. "Come, Palisman. You know you can't hide from me forever."
He looked forward and saw Azura and Luz doing an epic pose causing him to snarl. "You think you can escape me, Nocedas? I killed you once, Luz. I will do it again."
"What makes you think I won't do the same with you, again?" Luz retorted.
"Technically, Mami, it was Grandma Eda, Grandy Raine and Uncle King that-"
"Sweetie, you ruined a cool retort." Luz interjected.
"Sorry, Mami." Azura said.
"Give me the Palisman!" Belos demanded.
"If you want him…" Luz removed her hat to reveal the Palisman. "…Come claim him."
Belos snarled before he began to pounce toward Luz. He pounced at Luz, but he unfortunately went through her and crashed into the wall, causing a hole.
"Oh come on!" Azura exclaimed. "Aunt Lilith is gonna kill me more!"
Belos looked at Luz and the Palisman and swiped at her, discovering that she was actually an illusion. "No." He looked at Azura and saw that she was casting an illusion.
He swiped at her as well, but soon realised that she was an illusion. Then, from up above, he got hit on the head by what appeared to be a typewriter.
He looked up and saw Azura on the floor above him, looking terrified like she realised something. "Oh Titan, I think that was Hooty's typewriter."
Belos roared, causing Azura to begin running for her life while Belos began to climb up one of the pillars to try and get Azura.
The half human quickly tapped on an ice glyph that was drawn on the floor, causing a metre of smooth ice to form on the floor. She slid on the ice with Belos following behind. But unfortunately, he was less graceful since he just slipped and crashed into a statue of the Owl Beast.
Azura, whom was now running into the history of Gravesfield exhibit, looked at the damage that was being caused and groaned. "Oh man! Aunt Lilith, is going to kill me!"
"Azura!" Luz yelled out. "Come on!" Azura listened to the statue of her Mami and began to run towards her.
Belos soon followed her into the exhibit where there were a bunch of clothes of witch hunters being displayed and even information boards. He stopped when he saw a pa8nting of Caleb, his older brother, whom was alive.
"Phillip?" The painting of Caleb reacted in horror. "What happened to you?"
"You did!" Belos replied before he clawed at the painting.
"Stop, destroying everything!" Azura demanded before she began to throw some fireballs at Belos that he managed to avoid.
He tackled Azura to the floor and was about to use his sharp claws to slice Azura's face, but she quickly summoned some vines that attached to his wrists and raising them high above his head. She quickly stood up and punched Belos in the face.
He roared before Luz jumped out of nowhere and hit him in the face with her staff. He managed to free himself from the vines, pulling some debris with him.
He spun his improvised weapons before tossing them towards Luz and Azura, but thankfully the two dived out of its way as the debris shattered.
Azura stood up and threw another fireball toward Belos that he dodged, but unfortunately, some got on Luz's fur. She panicked as she put it out with her hand.
"I'm not inflammable, Azura!" Luz yelled. "I am made of wax!"
"Sorry, Mami." Azura said.
Belos backhanded Azura, causing her to crash into a wall, causing it to crumble and for some of the debris to fall on her.
Azura stood up and wiped some of the blood coming out of her mouth while she watched her Mami fight Belos. She hit him a number of times but he just punched her hard, causing her to fly into a vase.
Belos snarled. "Where is the Palisman?!" He heard the bark of the Palisman coming from the deceased practitioners exhibit and turned around to see the dog Palisman barking. "Oh, how sweet." He remarked before he began to chase after the dog like some kind of big cat.
"No!" Azura cried.
Luz stood up with Azura following. "We gotta save it!" Luz and Azura began to chase after Belos.
Belos ran down the corridor to follow the Palisman. He ran past many paintings of these inspirational witches and demons whom were terrified of the monster.
"Oh my!"
"Oh dang!"
"What in the monstrosity is that?!"
He saw that the Palisman had reached a dead end and grinned with hunger and ruthless evil. He snarled as he slowly began to approach the terrified Palisman. "Good little Palisman. Good little Palisman. Your fear will make your taste more quenchable."
When he got closer to the Palisman, he suddenly stood on something and looked down on the floor. What he saw was a glyph. But not just any glyph, it was the fire glyph.
This caused Belos his hand to be set ablaze he struggled to put it out as the fire spread around his body. "Nooo!"
The Untitled Palisman ran past Belos and straight towards the Nocedas, who have thankfully arrived on time to see Belos struggling to put the fire out. "Nooo!"
From the fire that was engulfing him, he could see some sort of psychotic grin on Luz's face and Azura looking surprised. "It worked! I can't believe that plan worked!"
Belos dropped on his face and began crawling towards the Nocedas. "What did I tell you, Luz?! You ended up as monstrous as them! And you!" He turned to Azura. "You'll make the same mistake as your mother! You'll see! You'll…."
Then, Belos collapsed as the flames fully engulfed him, causing him to melt into wax that began to puddle the museum. But thankfully, the sprinklers came on and began to put out the fire. But it also caused Azura and Luz to become soaked.
"Ahh! An indoor rainstorm! Was this forecasted?" Yelled one of the exhibits from downstairs.
Azura looked to the statue of her Mami and saw that she was staring at Belos' burnt remains without a care in the world. Like, she was giving him a very cold and insincere stare. Plus, her nose was dripping.
"Uh….Mami." Azura said.
"Yes, Azura?" Luz asked.
"Your nose is dripping." Azura said.
Luz went cross eyed to look at her nose and screamed. "Oh dang it! I'm made of wax! The heat from the fire must have done it!" She removed the bit of wax from her nose and turned to her daughter.
Azura saw that her Mami's nose looked a little disfigured and just shrugged her shoulders. "Eh."
"Well, we have a few hours till sunrise, wanna tell catch me up on everything?"
And so, Azura began to tell the statue of her Mami the life after the defeat of Belos and everything that was going on with her. The two were sitting down by the stand where Luz was standing before she came to life while the Untitled Palisman was resting on Azura's lap.
"So….You have a friend at school named Hecate?" Luz asked.
"Yup."
"You mean after Azura's enemy to friend to lover?"
"Yup."
Luz gave her daughter a grin. "Do you…."
Azura looked at her Mami with a surprised look. "What?! No! When was this implied?!"
"It happened with me and your mother." Luz laughed while Azura's cheeks turned red in embarrassment. "Oh and your Palisman…" She began to stroke it. "…He's rather cute. Though, he doesn't seem interested to be your staff."
"That's because….He's not my Palisman." Azura said. "Well officially. I haven't even decided what my want is. For the longest time, I thought I wanted to be as powerful as Azura and that was a dream I had when I was five. But after I finished carving him, I realised it wasn't what I wanted and I spent 10 years on a dream that will never be. All these years of being disconnected from my friends and family for nothing. So now, I'm taking jobs to find out what my want truly is. My psychiatrist said it helped him so it might help me."
"And has this job made you realise your want?" Luz asked.
"I want to never screw up again?" Azura asked the Palisman, but nothing. "Oh! Dang it!"
"So what have you and your Palisman been doing?" Luz asked.
"Trying to find a name for him." Azura replied. "But a lot of them aren't good. How about Bryan? Or Sweetie? Sweetie Pie?" But the dog just shook his head. "Oh come on! Do you want a name like General Stanley?!"
Luz laughed. "General Stanley? That's a random name."
"I know."
Luz then smiled, like she came up with an idea. "Why don't you ask him the name he wants?"
"How will it respond?" Azura asked.
"I have a feeling it will." Luz replied. "Just in his own way."
Azura turned to the untitled Palisman and looked at it straight into the eyes. "What name do you want?" The Palisman motioned his head to the side and right at Luz. She looked back between the Palisman and statue with a baffled look. "Do you want to be called Luz?" The dog shook its head. Azura was confused and baffled at first. Human? Stringbean? But after a couple of minutes she finally figured what the name of the Palisman was. "Titan? Titan! Titan!" The dog nodded its head.
Azura laughed as she hugged her future Palisman. "That's an awesome name! Titan!"
Luz laughed before she began to notice sunlight seething through the window. "Well, I best be going." Luz got on her podium. "How was I standing?"
"Pointing your staff at Belos whom was in front of you." Luz pointed her staff. "Up a bit. Down a bit. Little to the left. Perfect!"
"Great!"
Azura noticed that Titan had gotten into position as well as he turned back into what he was before he came alive. "Wait, Mami, how long till I know what I want?!"
Luz looked to her daughter. "Self discovery takes a while Azura. Days, weeks, months, maybe years. But, you are a Noceda and you want to know something about us?"
"What?" Azura asked.
"We always find ourselves." Luz said before she eventually turned back into a statue.
'We always find ourselves.' The last words spoken by her Mami before she turned back into a statue. Least that gives her some confidence that she will eventually gain her Palisman and find herself. She stared at her lifeless Palisman and smiled.
"We'll meet again." Azura smiled at her Palisman.
Then, she heard the sound of the museum door opening and the horrified scream of Hooty. Lilith stood by the entrance with an equally shocked Hooty on her back, horrified by the damage. She saw a bunch of her exhibits were not in their designated spots.
"What happened?!" She yelled in distress. She saw that the floor was wet, smelt dispelled fire, a bunch of debris all over and some exhibits were destroyed.
Azura ran towards her aunt who was now narrowing her eyes at her niece. "Azura! What in Titan's name happened?!"
Azura began to panic. "Aunt Lilith, the statues….They…They came to life….Tablet….Talo….He tried to steal it! He is in cuffs!"
When Azura and Lilith arrived where Talo was, all they saw was a hand that was still attached to the cuffs and a large shard of glass covered in a tiny bit of blood.
"Oh my Titan!" Hooty screamed in horror. "My typewriter!"
Lilith looked to where the tablet would have been placed and pulled a horrified look. It was gone. The tablet and Talo were gone.
Lilith narrowed her eyes at Azura who began to back away. "Aunt Lilith, let me explain!"
"Oh yes! You will explain to me what happened by the time your mother arrives." She suddenly got a crow calling her from her pocket. She pulled it out and read whom was calling. "Oh! That'll be her! I bet she'd like to be pulled out of her second job to know what kind of mess her daughter made at my museum!" She answered the crow while Azura prepared for the worst. "Oh Amity! So glad you called I have your…." Her scowl turned into one of concern. "Wait! Wait! What?!" Then tears began to fall. "What happened to Luz?"
Azura looked to her aunt with concern and worry. What happened to her Mami while she was at the museum?
