It had been a little over a month since the Day of Unity and Edric and the three former Coven Heads were currently hiding in a remote forest glade that Eberwolf had found for them. As far as Edric knew, they might be the last witches alive. It was a depressing thought. Just one of many that they were doing everything in their power not to dwell on. Survival wasn't particularly hard right now. The weather was idyllic and there was plenty of food and water. But the group still didn't have a plan or even an objective really. None of them were ok with the idea of just hiding away forever but they didn't really know what to do about it.

That was part of why Edric had asked his fellow survivors to train him. It was a way to distract them all from the constant thoughts of how everything went wrong. A way to feel productive in a situation where none of their actions felt substantial or meaningful. And, if it was successful, then it meant that when the group finally did go after Belos, Edric might actually be an asset rather than the dead weight he'd been for his entire life.

Edric shook himself. 'Self-pity is not productive. Focus on the lesson.'

Darius was currently giving him a lesson on Abomination magic. His first real one after several weeks of focusing on theory and basic magic exercises. Lilith was sitting next to him with a studious expression on her face. Edric was pretty sure she'd be the one taking notes if she had paper to spare. Eberwolf was also there but he was napping off to the side. He'd actually started the lesson by leaning against a tree and making loud exaggerated snoring noises to irritate his friend, but at some point he had quieted down and presumably fallen asleep for real.

"When it comes to training abomination magic, there are three major areas to focus on. Theory, power, and control. Theory, as you know, is the pure knowledge aspect of abomination magic. We've already gone over the basics, which is all you really need, so we won't be focusing on it from here on out. Advanced theoretical knowledge is really only useful when designing new kinds of abominations. Normally I'd consider that an important skill but it's not something that will keep you alive in the immediate future, so it's not a priority."

Edric nodded, glad that he had finally learnt enough theory that Darius felt comfortable with teaching him some actual magic. Edric had never been particularly good at memorization but even so, Darius' crash course on the 'Basics' of Abomination Theory had been way tougher than he'd expected it to be. He was beginning to suspect that the Coven Head had a somewhat biased understanding of what most people considered basic. Then again it was always possible that Darius had intentionally made the lessons harder to distract Edric from dwelling on other things.

"Between the other two areas that can be trained, almost all abomination witches tend to focus on power. They don't completely neglect their control but once they reach a certain level in it they don't push it any further. This is understandable. Power is the easiest aspect of abomination magic to train, and the better it is, the more force your abominations can exert. This is what allows abominations to perform feats of strength that all but the toughest construction and beast keeping witches could never hope to match."

Darius stopped his explanation for a second, seemingly hesitant to continue. "While It pains me to admit this, your father is... was, my superior when it came to raw power. His creations may have been ugly and clumsy but they definitely packed a punch. At least when he was controlling them directly."

Darius stopped abruptly when he noticed Lilith raising her hand. He'd known she'd be listening in but he couldn't help but be taken aback at her behavior.

"What are you doing?" he asked slowly.

"I have a question"

"But why are you raising your hand? You're a grown woman. If you have a question, just ask it!"

"Clearly you know nothing about common classroom etiquette," Lilith replied, ignoring the fact that they were having this lesson in the middle of a secluded forest glade. "I've seen you and Alador fight before. He put up a good fight but you were definitely the stronger witch. I'm fairly certain you could have beaten him even without your full transformation. Were you just that much better in the other two categories?"

Darius was surprised by the direct complement. He was still getting used to how much Lilith had changed after losing her magic. Sometimes it was like she was an entirely different person altogether. He couldn't say he missed the snooty backhanded woman she used to be, but it was still jarring to see her like this. At least he'd managed to get her to stop calling him Teacher when he was giving Edric lessons. That had been funny exactly once before it became embarrassing for both of them.

"Well it's hard to really compare how good we were at theory since our design philosophies were always so different. Alador stumbled on a few engineering textbooks from the human realm when we were kids. He originally started reading them as a hobby, but they ended up heavily influencing how he progressed as an abomination witch. Meanwhile, I viewed my creations as works of art, not science. Comparing us in that regard is like comparing a greasy mechanic to a master craftsman. The latter is obviously superior of course, but that doesn't mean they're capable of everything the former is."

"So then it comes down to control?" Edric guessed, receiving a surprised look from Darius. "You said most abomination witches focus on power but you don't strike me as the type to follow trends."

"Indeed," Darius confirmed. "I'll admit, I originally went against the grain out of vanity rather than for any practical reason. I expected that focusing on control would have diminishing returns but I wanted my creations to look as beautiful as possible. I wasn't particularly interested in becoming powerful back then so it was a tradeoff I was willing to make. Most people thought I was crazy for wasting my talent like that, but I didn't really care. Then everything changed when the Golden Guard saw me using my magic and took an interest in me. Where others saw waste, he saw potential and innovation. He made me his protege on the spot. Didn't really give me a choice in the matter actually. I was a bit apprehensive at first but he was very insistent. Then he helped me develop an entirely new fighting style centered around my impressive control. That fighting style eventually evolved into the Self-Abomination Magic I'm known for nowadays. Though I only developed that ability after my mentor's passing."

"What was the previous Golden Guard like?" Edric asked curiously.

Lilith suddenly got a nervous look on her face and glanced at Darius. For a moment Edric was worried that he'd touched a nerve but Darius didn't seem perturbed. The man paused in thought for a moment before answering in a fond tone. "He was incredibly knowledgeable. He loved researching all kinds of magic even though he mostly used the same teleportation magic Hunter did. He knew more about abominations than any of the professors at Hexside, including Bump. That's how he was able to teach me so much despite the fact that I never saw him create an abomination himself." Darius sighed. "But while he was definitely a good mentor, and a great friend, he was also incredibly secretive. I can honestly say I was one of the people he was closest to and yet it often felt like I hardly knew him at all. Especially towards the end. I never even saw him without the mask you know. That was one of Belos' rules and Jasper took it very seriously. I don't even think Jasper was his real name. I asked him for something to call him other than Golden Guard and I'm pretty sure he came up with Jasper on the spot."

"Was Hunter also that secretive before he defected?" Edric asked cautiously. He knew the more recent Golden Guard was a sore subject for Darius though he wasn't sure about the details.

"He was at first. We never saw his face or even knew how old he was until Lilith left the Coven and he was selected to take her place. After that Belos decided to give him special permission to take off the mask around his fellow Coven Heads. He said the mask would get in the way of us working together. Belos also revealed that Hunter was both his nephew and a powerless Witch around the same time. Prior to that most of the Coven Heads had a grudging respect for the Golden Guard. But afterwards..."

"The coven heads all had very different personalities, but outside of Raine I would never call any of us humble.." Lilith said somberly. "It makes sense that you'd assume Hunter was appointed out of nepotism and resent him for it. I doubt I would've responded any better."

"Nepotism was hardly the reason I resented him. I just..." Darius stopped short and turned back towards Edric. "We're getting off topic. I wanted to offer you a choice, Edric. I know enough about traditional Abomination magic to easily train you in it. I can even teach you how to fight like your father did. With powerful servants and tendrils of abomination slime. Or I can teach you the fighting style I created in my youth. Don't get cute with me and try to choose both. Obviously you'll need both power and control regardless of your choice but picking one to emphasize is vital. Otherwise you'll end up mediocre at everything."

"I choose control," Edric said without hesitation. "I want to learn your style."

"Are you certain? I haven't even explained the true benefits of increasing control yet. And I did tell you that my style has an inherently steep learning curve."

"I doubt I'll be useful in the near future, regardless of which choice I pick. But I want to be an actual asset eventually. The fact that you gave me the option means you think I at least have a chance of overcoming that learning curve. And I think I've already figured out the benefit you're talking about. It's sharpness isn't it? None of the weapons my dad made cut as well as your blades do."

"Well you're partially right," Darius replied. "Sharpness is a piece of that only scratches the surface of what advanced control can really do."

"Ha, nice pun"

"That wasn't a... ugh nevermind. Since your mind is made up we might as well get started."

Darius made a spell circle that caused abomination slime to spread across his body. The slime then shifted itself into what appeared to be an intricate set of purple armor. Outside of the purple coloration Edric couldn't say it looked anything like abomination slime. The armor even shined like metal.

"I haven't seen you use this in years," Lilith commented.

"My full transformation is a comprehensive improvement on this technique so it rarely comes up anymore. I call it my Eldritch Armor technique."

"Really? That sounds way too cool to be something you came up with." Edric said cheekily.

"Jasper insisted on naming it. He said I'd call it something boring. For the record I remember vetoing at least four other names that were even worse." Darius replied.

"Ok. So it definitely looks cool but what can it actually do?"

"Let's answer your question with another question. What are the properties of abomination slime? Is it solid or liquid? Sticky or slippery? That kind of thing."

"I guess it depends on the caster." Edric answered hesitantly. "Dad's abominations always seemed mostly solid but I think Amity's were a lot more goopy until she really started getting the hang of things."

"That's because abomination slime doesn't have properties. It's a primordial element that can take on any of those traits. It's like the stem cell of matter."

"What's a stem cell?"

"Just a word your dad learnt from one of his human textbooks. He mentioned it once when I tried to explain my magic to him. It's not really important. What is important is that this is the true benefit of extreme control that I was talking about. It's not just sharpness. With enough magic I can give my abominations almost any physical properties."

Darius formed a shield over his right arm. "Theoretically I can make this shield as hard as diamond and as elastic as rubber at the same time. That would take an unreasonable amount of magic power to maintain but the fact that it's even possible is incredible."

Darius formed a sword that extended from his left hand. "Like you said, I can make this sword impressively sharp. But I can also change its size and shape mid swing. And at a moment's notice it can go from a sharp durable blade to an elastic sticky whip."

Darius then began moving in circles around edric at high speeds without moving his legs. "I can also make the abomination slime beneath my feet slippery and shift it around to let me skate across any terrain." He then casually jumped five feet in the air. "And I can make that same slime elastic and expand it suddenly to propel me upwards. This is only some of what this technique can do when it's fully mastered. Far better than your fathers pitiful Abomatron suit, don't you think?"

"How do you even know about that? I thought it was still a secret before the Day of Unity."

"Was it? He wouldn't stop bragging about it to me on Penstagram. Even had the gall to say it was like a better version of my armor. Which was obviously nonsense."

"That depends, does your suit have a jetpack?" Edric asked.

"Wait, did he actually get that working? He's been trying to make one of those since before we graduated."

"I mean, he said he finally cracked it, but I don't think he got around to testing it before things went to shit."

"Well then consider me skeptical. If I had a snail for every time he made that claim I'd have retired early. And no I never managed to make my armor fly either. But that's what airships are for anyway."

"What about more exotic properties?" Lilith interrupted.

"What?"

"Can you make your abominations acidic? Or poisonous?" Lilith clarified. Edric couldn't help but feel the questions were oddly specific. It felt like there was some implication he was missing. Darius' clearly got it because he scoffed in response.

"Sorry to disappoint you, but no. I haven't managed to recreate Odalia's fairy tales. The traits I can manipulate are limited to more physical properties."

"Wait, what's this about my mom?" Edric asked.

"It's nothing," Darius replied dismissively. "My magic just happens to bear some cosmetic similarities to a children's story your mother used to be obsessed with. About how her family is supposedly descended from a powerful witch king who existed before the fall of the Titans. Actually I'm surprised you haven't heard of this. She never used to shut up about it."

"It makes sense that she stopped talking about it." Lilith said. "Discussing history from before Belos took over became much more taboo after we graduated."

"It's not history, it's fantasy! I've studied abomination magic my whole life and I can tell you with absolute certainty that those stories are impossible even in theory."

"I'm not saying that the stories weren't exaggerated. I'm just saying they might still be rooted in some semblance of fact. I've actually researched them quite a bit. There isn't much concrete information on the subject but there does seem to be some evidence that the Warlocks did exist at least. Admittedly most of my research centered around my namesake. I didn't actually investigate the Blight Warlock very much."

"What do you mean Blight Warlock? What's a warlock?"

"'Warlock' is an old title with vague connotations that hasn't been used for centuries, or else Belos would definitely have claimed it for himself." Darius replied in an irritated tone. "The Blight Warlock was supposedly a powerful witch who supposedly conquered almost an entire continent back when continents were supposedly a thing. It's said that he was given the name Blight because his armies of abominations were so terrifying they wiped out entire cities with ease. It's also said that some of his abominations were over 50 ft tall monstrosities that could emanate poison gas, melt buildings like acid, or set themselves on fire. It's all nonsense and it's not important. What is important is you learning how to create and use this armor. So can both of you please stop derailing my lesson so we can get back to that."

Lilith and Edric both nodded sheepishly and Darius proceeded to wake Eberwolf from his nap. Eber gave his friend a look of annoyance before he explained. "Before I start teaching Edric how to use my armor technique I'd like to give him a proper demonstration of what it's capable of. I'll need you to serve as my sparring partner." Eberwolf's drowsy expression immediately morphed into a grin. Without warning he quickly grabbed Darius by the arm and threw him several meters into a tree.

The impact was loud but Darius quickly got up, looking only slightly annoyed. "I guess we're starting then. Should've expected that." Both of Darius' gauntlets extended into blades as he shot forward at a much greater speed than he'd previously displayed. Eberwolf barely had time to shift into his bestial form but once he did his improved speed and reflexes let him dance around Darius' blades for a bit before burrowing underground.

"You use that trick too often" Darius declared as he shifted one of his blades into an already spinning drill. As he slammed the drill into the ground Edric felt the need to protest.

"Isn't this going a little too far? That could've killed Eberwolf if it hit him!"

"It's fine," Lilith reassured him. "These two know each other's limits better than anyone. Besides, Eber's not the one at a disadvantage here. His Beast Emulation magic is on the same level of ridiculousness as Darius' full transformation. And since Darius is limiting himself to just the Eldritch Armor, Eberwolf is likely holding back considerably."

"Just how strong are they?" Edric asked.

"In terms of brute power and durability Eberwolf was at the top of the Coven Heads. You've only seen a fraction of what he can do. Only the Construction Coven's leader could even compete with his strength. As for Darius, before he joined the Abomination Coven there was a time when most people assumed he'd take my position as Emperor's Coven Head."

"Really?"

"Yes. We were both candidates for the position after the previous head died. I was stronger than him but only with the help of my palisman. And since the emperor's coven didn't exactly look favorably on palisman magic, Darius was considered a shoe in. Especially since he was the personal student of the Golden Guard."

"So what happened?"

"Well..." Lilith hesitated.

Suddenly they were both distracted by Eberwolf bursting out from beneath the ground a few meters away. A purple tendril topped with the still spinning drill followed shortly after. But instead of continuing to run Eberwolf flipped midair as his claw began to glow with orange magic. He quickly stabbed his claw into the side of the drill. He let the drill spin him around a few times before bursting away from it in Darius' direction.

Darius barely had time to lift his arm out of the ground and form a tower shield before the Eberwolf struck. The force of the blow was clearly too much for the shield to block but instead of being sent flying Darius slid several meters on the ground.

"He altered the properties of his shoes again" Lilith explained for Edric's benefit. "He kept his feet attached firmly to the ground but left them slippery enough that a lot of the force of Eberwolf's blow was wasted pushing him back."

"How is Eberwolf so strong in the first place?"

"Don't let his size mislead you. Like I said before, Eberwolf's signature magic is no less impressive than Darius'. It gives him the power to copy and even amplify the natural abilities of beasts he's studied."

"Think I could convince him to teach me that too?" Edric asked in awe.

"I doubt Eberwolf would mind teaching you some Beast Keeping magic, but his Beast Emulation magic can only be used by a Biped Demon. An ordinary witch without any natural beastlike traits can't utilize it properly."

"Bummer," Edric replied simply, as they watched the epic fight unfold. Lilith continued to provide useful commentary whenever she could, explaining some of Darius' techniques and decisions. Darius' creative use of his magic was fascinating. His fighting style was a weird mix of improvisational and artistic. Eberwolf's fighting style was just as intriguing. His movements were sudden and instinctual. And his strikes seemed ruthlessly brutal despite Lilith's reassurances.

Edric knew the two of them had plenty of experience fighting each other but he couldn't help but worry that Eberwolf was more used to battling Darius' abomination form. Several times in the fight it looked like Darius narrowly avoided losing a limb to Eberwolf's extended claws. His worries were unfounded though. When Darius finally called the fight neither participant was particularly worse for ware.

Before Darius and Eberwolf could rejoin them, Edric decided to continue his earlier question. "Hey Lilith. You said Darius almost became the Head of the Emperor's Coven. What changed?"

Lilith made an apologetic look. "Sorry I'm not sure if it would be right for me to tell you that. It's really more Darius' story to tell. I probably shouldn't have revealed as much as I did..."

"It's fine..." Darius interrupted them. They hadn't thought he was close enough to hear. "Eberwolf heard you talking about it and let me know," he explained. "No need to walk on eggshells about it. It's not as if it was a secret or anything. It was actually a pretty big scandal at the time."

"What happened?" Edric asked.

"Before Belos appointed the new Emperor's Coven Head, he asked the Golden Guard to give his input on the decision. In hindsight it was strange that he bothered. Everyone knew he was my mentor and expected him to endorse me. But instead he did the opposite. I believe his exact words were 'Darius is an insolent agitator who isn't fit for the Emperor's Coven' or something along those lines." Darius sighed. "I was so angry at the time. I couldn't understand why he'd say that, after putting so much effort into building me up. And I never really got an explanation because that was the last time anyone saw him alive. According to Belos he died on a mission shortly afterwards."

"I'm sorry," Edric said guiltily. "I shouldn't have brought it up."

"I said it's fine. I don't mind talking about him anymore. I resented Jasper for a long time. Both for what he said, and for having the gall to die before I could demand an explanation. But recent revelations have given me a better understanding of what happened back then. I still don't know the exact circumstances, and I probably never will. But I know he was trying to protect me, and that doing so cost him dearly."

The group was quiet for a few moments before Darius changed the subject. "Alright, that's enough talking about the past. Edric, did you learn anything from watching Eber and I fight?"

"Yeah, I learnt not to piss either of you off if I can avoid it!"

"Well maybe tone down your level of sass then. Come on, there's no wrong answers. Is there anything you noticed me doing a lot during the fight."

After a moment of thought, Edric responded. "You made a lot of split second decisions. Eberwolf was faster than you and didn't really give you time to strategize but you still managed to react."

"Good observation. When your magic is inherently versatile it's easy to become susceptible to decision paralysis. Experience is pretty much the only way to mitigate that issue so we'll be doing a lot of practice spars later on. But for now we'll be focusing on some more rudimentary aspects of fighting."

"So what's first? Are you going to teach me how to make a super sharp sword? Or an unbreakable shield?"

"We'll be focusing on mobility for the foreseeable future. I'm sure you saw the variety of things I was able to accomplish by controlling the abomination slime beneath my feet. It's one of my more difficult abilities in terms of factors that need to be considered. But it's also possibly the most useful."

"Yeah that was awesome. So you're gonna teach me how to attack at super speed?"

"At some point yes. For now our primary goal is a little more defensive. Before you learn how to attack or how to block, I'm going to teach you how to dodge."

AN: Sorry it's been so long since this story was updated. I'm sure the next chapter will be a lot faster. In the meantime, I hope you enjoyed this look back at the original timeline. This chapter was mainly for explaining how Abomination magic works in this story along with dropping a few random pieces of lore. But I also wanted to flesh out the dynamic between these 4 a bit.

I wanted to add another story to my list of Owl House time travel fanfic recommendations. That story is Again and Again by GracefulSouffle. It's actually a time loop story rather than a one time redo one. Basically Hunter goes back in time whenever he dies. At first I thought this story was too dark for my taste but over time the overall tone became less negative and more hopeful. Even if there are still plenty of sad moments. And it's a lot longer than most of the other fics I recommended. Already 39 chapters and the last update was only a couple of weeks ago. I seriously recommend trying it if you like time travel owl house fanfiction. And if you're reading this I assume you do...

Random tangent but have any of you seen the new My Adventures With Superman show. Is it just me or do the new Lois and Jimmy feel a lot like adult versions of Luz and Gus. I mean I'm not complaining or anything. I just want to know if other people see the resemblance.