The Angel of the Owl House

by OwlHouseAngel

Luz Noceda is a young half-angel girl living with her angel mother in the Human Realm. Her attempts to be good always backfire, and after one too many mistakes, her mother sends her to Camp Reality Check. But a chance event leaves Luz in the Demon Realm, where she meets the Owl Lady, who teaches her that in a chaotic world like the Boiling Isles, Luz might be the perfect angel.

17. EP 17: No Gods or Kings, Only Titans

The Angel of the Owl House

Season 1: The Demon Realm

Chapter 17: No Gods or Kings, Only Titans

Almost two entire weeks passed following the events of the Looking Glass Graveyard, and it had been a fairly relaxing yet productive time. Eda, King, and the Hexsquad had been amazed by the story Luz, Gus, and Matt told them about their experiences in the Graveyard, and while they were apprehensive about a Coven Scout knowing Luz's identity, they'd ultimately decided to trust Steve to keep her secret. Steve himself had come by the Owl House with Matt later that week, so he could prove to Eda that he was trustworthy by offering an Everlasting Oath, though at Luz's insistence, Eda had declined. That had also been when Steve informed Luz about what had happened with Bria, Gavin, and Angmar. He'd reported their actions to their parents, and all three were now grounded. Gavin did find a silver-lining though, as his father realised his son was acting out for attention and started being there for him more, which made Luz happy. Angmar had also apparently sworn off bullying of any kind after how terrified Luz, Gus, and Matt had made him, and was reportedly being transferred to St. Epiderm to get him out of Glandus' combative curriculum. Bria was shaken up by her experience in the Graveyard and appeared to be more timid than before, but only time would tell if she'd turn over a new leaf or not.

Since that day, Matt had effectively joined the Hexsquad, hanging out primarily with Luz and Gus, but getting along with the others too. Ironically enough, this actually led him to not only having the friends he'd wanted, but also the popularity, as the Hexsquad's social standing was surpassed only by Boscha's gang's, and since Boscha was being nice (or at least nicer) that meant Matt was not only no longer picked on by anyone, but he was now a part of the popular crowd!

Gus had also experienced a huge boost in confidence, and he'd begun incorporating water and ice magic into his illusions, allowing him to trick all five of a person's senses through clever use of the element. He'd also started taking lessons in wind magic from Edric and Emira, in exchange for teaching them about water magic, making all three better Illusionists. Both he and Matt had returned to the Looking Glass Graveyard a couple of times, learning from the Keeper and helping to build up the place's defences in the event of another attack.

The day after their trip to the Graveyard, Luz used the Super Power Glyph she'd made with Matt to empower herself and finally complete the Purification Ritual for the Alchemical Silver. The result was an extremely pure liquid silver that was cool to the touch, making it look almost like mercury. Over the next few days, Luz had followed Rasiel's instructions (and gotten some help from her friends) to craft the Panacea Mirror itself; setting the silver into the shape of a mirror, then adding a crystal lens that had been made from a liquid that Eda had been brewing for them. Luz had then been required to sacrifice two feathers; one for the Purification Ritual and one for the crystal lens solution, but Rasiel assured her such a small number of lost feathers wouldn't affect her magic, and they'd regrown within a week, so it wasn't such a big deal. Finally, after a few days of delicately carving angelic inscriptions with miniscule light beams, then flooding them with her magic, Luz had completed all but the very last step of the Panacea Mirror. Now she just needed to mix her blood and another angel's into the mirror's surface (which still rippled like water, despite being solid) and the mirror would officially be complete!

The residents of the Owl House were ecstatic, and threw all their focus into translating more of Philip's diary, since it was the only lead they had to the Black Tombs and hopefully Rasiel's body. Once they found that, they'd have the blood they needed to finish the mirror!

The only other major development in the ten days that passed following the adventure in the Graveyard was a pair of visitors. The first had been Lilith, who'd come by to apologise to Luz for not showing up to her game, explaining that important business had kept her away. Since her absence had worked out in Luz's favour, the young angel wasn't upset, and ended up spending a day after school with her, just getting to know each other a bit more.

The other visitor had been Raine Whispers, who'd come by to see Eda. Luz and King had been bundled out of the house so the two old flames could have some privacy, so neither had seen or heard what actually happened during that meeting. In truth, Eda and Raine had spent the afternoon having tea and properly catching up without the distraction of a Birthday party to interfere. It was mostly reminiscing about their past as kids, and when Luz and King had come home for dinner, Raine had joined them and helped Eda tell the story of how they met and how Raine had come to transfer to Hexside. Luz had found the story adorable (though shuddered at the image of Terra Snapdragon) and when Raine finally took their leave, she'd pestered Eda on whether the two would get back together. Eda had been non-committal, saying both she and Raine had changed a lot… though she was finding she still had some feelings for the new Raine.

Beyond that, they all just continued their lives. The Hexsquad hung out together and went to classes, improving their magic. Amity continued her apprenticeship with Lilith, getting progressively stronger and becoming closer to the woman, who treated her almost like family now that she and Luz were dating. Amity appreciated it greatly, as it helped replace the maternal affection she was missing from her own mother. Luz and King trained their glyph skills together, and played with one another, while also learning more from Eda, and helping out with her potions and human junk businesses.

Luz and Amity had even gone on a weekend date together, following one of Willow's suggestions by spending a Saturday afternoon shopping for swimsuits (a fun experienced that had both girls blushing like crazy for most of the day) before spending Sunday having a lake-side picnic at Lake Lacuna. It was as close to a beach date as one could get on the Boiling Isles, and both girls had great fun splashing around in the water and playing in the sand, forgetting all their troubles and just enjoying each other's company. They'd finished the date by cuddling and watching the sunset, then Amity got to enjoy being carried home like a princess by her angelic lover.

A whole ten blissful days passed without any major incidents, which was a new record for Luz, but also had her feeling like she was waiting for the other shoe to drop. As it would turn out, she was right to feel that way, as things were about to change for the residents of the Owl House…

It was a peaceful Saturday morning, and the residents of the Owl House were relaxing together in the living room, Eda sipping Apple Blood while keeping an eye on a small simmering cauldron, while Luz was hard at work on translating Philip's diary, and Rasiel and King poured over a collection of atlases and books on ruins and temples that Luz had checked out of the library for them (Amity having helped her get a library card). The two were trying to find any correlation between hot locations on the Boiling Isles and any reports of ruins similar to Caplacier, in hopes of finding the Fire Temple that supposedly housed the Black Tomb Philip Wittebane had written about.

Their peaceful morning was interrupted, as it often was, by Hooty's shrill voice; "Hoot hoot, we've got a visitor!" he declared, giving Rasiel a chance to retreat to his ring before the House Demon slammed open his door to allow their visitor inside. It was Raine, wearing the slightly forced smile that people often wore after dealing with Hooty.

"Good morning everyone." Raine greeted.

"Hi Raine!" Luz chirped.

"Hey there Raine Storm. To what do I owe the pleasure?" Eda asked, leaning forward and winking at the Bard.

They blushed and smiled nervously; "I-I came to see you, Eda. I wanted to discuss something with you… In private."

Eda blushed even as she smirked, while Luz giggled knowingly and King rolled his eyes and made quiet gagging noises. "Sure thing Raine. Let's go upstairs so we don't disturb the kids. Who knows, if you're good, I might break out my good Apple Blood." Eda said, giving a sultry smile that had poor Raine feeling like they were going to keel over.

"S-Sure. That sounds wonderful." they stuttered, before following Eda upstairs, stopping only long enough to smile and wave awkwardly to Eda's kids.

"Have fun you two!" Luz said cheekily. Eda's disembodied hand came skittering back into the room, then crawled up Luz's body to flick her on the nose, making the girl giggle before it skittered back out to join the rest of Eda. Once the kids heard Eda's bedroom door shut, Rasiel came back out of his ring.

"Well, it seems Eda is going to be occupied. I'll watch her potion for her; it's not like we're making any progress with these books anyway." Rasiel commented, going to float over Eda's forgotten cauldron.

King groaned; "Great, Eda's making kissy faces with Raine and I'm still no closer to finding another glyph! I want to grow my power so I can take back my Demonic Kingdom!" he pouted, stomping his little foot.

"We'll find one soon, King. Let Eda have her fun; she's been taking good care of us, so she deserves it." Luz smiled, petting her little brother's head as she continued to translate the diary.

"I know…" King whined, flopping over into his mountain of plushies. He hugged Francois to himself and sighed; "I like Raine; they're fun and make Eda happy, but she's been paying a lot of attention to them recently… whenever you're at school, she's texting and calling them."

Luz looked over to him; "Are you feeling jealous?" she asked. She wasn't teasing him, instead giving him a look of openness and understanding.

King shrugged. "I don't want to make a big deal of it, but I kinda miss when I had Eda's attention all to myself. Sharing with you was fine, 'cause you pay as much attention to me as Eda does, but Raine is different I guess."

"I get it. These last several weeks have changed a lot for you. It's got to be tough to adjust. But even if Eda is spending more time with Raine, you know she'll always have time for you. And I do too! So cheer up, little brother." Luz smiled brightly.

The little demon giggled; "Thanks Luz. You're a great big sister!

Luz grinned; "Well then sit back and watch, because you're great big sister has almost got this entry down, and I have a feeling it's a good one!" she said, turning back to the diary. King watched her for a moment, then frowned as Luz's grin faded.

"Aw, nuts…" Luz sighed as she finished translating the current entry; "I guess I was wrong… That one looked so promising too…"

"No luck?" King asked, coming to sit beside her.

Luz shook her head; "No. The entry is about Philip trying to solve the Black Tomb at Caplacier… he apparently found some old ledger within the temple that detailed how the tomb could be opened, but the information was wrong, so this entry is another dud." she sighed.

Rasiel looked up from Eda's cauldron; "The ledger Philip found was wrong? I was under the impression the old High Priests knew precisely how to open the tombs. How did Philip say it was done?"

"He writes that the tombs require three different kinds of magic, which we already knew. But instead of Witch, Demon, and Angel, the ledger listed the required keys as "The Blood of the Demon Realm, the Blood of the Divine Realm, and the Blood of the Titans." But since we didn't have any Titan Blood when we opened your tomb, that can't be true." Luz said, before her eyes suddenly went wide; "Unless my blood is already becoming like Titan Blood because of the Glyphs!"

King hummed curiously, while Rasiel looked between the two of them with a suspicious expression.

"Are you two playing with me?" he asked suddenly, making the two turn to him.

"Playing with you?" King said, confused.

Rasiel nodded; "Yes. Are you, what is it you say in this era…, "pranking" me?"

Luz and King exchanged baffled looks; "We don't know what you're talking about." King frowned.

Rasiel crossed his arms; "I understand the need for secrecy, but I already know the truth. There's no need to hide it from me."

That just confused them even more; "I don't think I have any secrets from you." Luz said, "Rasiel, I really don't know what you're talking about."

Rasiel's eyes widened; if even Luz was saying that, then it had to be true. His jaw hung open; "You… you really don't know?"

"Don't know what!?" King demanded, "Stop jerking us around! What are you talking about!?"

Rasiel looked at the little demon; "King, the keys listed in that ledger were correct. The Black Tombs require the blood AND magic of the Demon Realm, the Divine Realm, and a Titan to open. Luz may have Titan magic via the Glyphs, but that would only give her pseudo-Titan's blood, and it would take years for the change to happen. It wouldn't be able to open the Black Tomb."

Luz shook her head; "But then how did we open it? I obviously have Angel magic, and Amity had magic from the Demon Realm, but the third key was opened by…" she trailed off as her eyes went wide with shock as she turned to stare down at King.

The little demon stared back with confusion, before the pieces began to fall into place.

"No… No, it can't be!" King cried, getting to his feet and backing away from the two angels; "I-I am the King of Demons!"

"No King. I've known it since the day I met you, but I assumed you, Luz, and Eda already knew and were just keeping it secret." Rasiel said sadly.

"No! You're wrong! I-I AM THE KING OF DEMONS! I-I can't be…" King looked on the verge of a panic attack.

"King… I'm sorry, but you aren't the King of Demons. You're not technically even a Demon…

"Shut up! You're wrong!" King tried to interrupt.

"You are a Titan, King." Rasiel finished.

"NO! I can't be! I'm King! King! I-I just look like this because an evil spell was cast on me, taking away my powers and my crown!" King yelled, turning his panic into anger.

Luz put her hands up in a calming gesture; "King, it's okay. We can work this out." she said soothingly, still shocked to the core herself but putting that aside for King's sake.

"There's nothing to sort out! M-My memories are fuzzy, but I remember some things! I remember armies bowing before me! Being served the greatest of feasts! I remember falling from a great height as I was shrunk into this form! But when I get my powers back, I'll reclaim my true form and take back my kingdom!" King declared, again stomping his foot. With each memory he recalled, the more confident he felt about his story. He was no Titan! Rasiel was just mistaken! Maybe Titans had looked different 100,000 years ago?

"King, I know this must come as a major shock, but be reasonable. I was there, 100,000 years ago! I saw plenty of baby Titans! As far as I can see, you're about 8-10 years old; far too young to be the King of anything." Rasiel said gently.

"You're wrong! I remember my feasts and armies! I remember! Y-You're probably just mistaking me for a Titan because you lost most of your personal memories!" King pointed an accusing claw at Rasiel.

"King…" Luz said softly, reaching to stroke her little brother's back. Before she could however, King spun around and pointed at her.

"You believe me, right Luz!?" he cried.

The young angel froze; she knew King wasn't what he believed himself to be, and had done since her first day on the Boiling Isles, when she'd tried to reclaim his stolen "crown of power". At first, she'd just believed the whole "King of Demons" thing was a game that he was playing, but as time marched on, Luz had realised that King truly believed his game was real. Luz had thought about asking Eda if they should do something about it, but she hadn't had the heart. Now, faced with King's pleading expression as his entire sense of identity was being questioned, Luz couldn't bear to shatter his fantasy.

"Of course I believe you." Luz replied.

Fire spread throughout her throat, and it took every scrap of willpower Luz had to maintain a confident smile. She reached a hand behind her head, pretending to rub the back of her neck, when in fact she was casting a spell with the ice glyph to sooth the burning in her throat. It was agonising, but seeing King's little face light up made the pain worth it. He was her baby brother! She couldn't crush his fantasy!

Rasiel looked at Luz with wide eyes of concern, realising what she'd just done before a mix of anger and sympathy filled his golden eyes. King turned back to Rasiel to gloat, allowing Luz to stop hiding her expression of pain for a moment.

"Ha! See! Luz knows the truth!" King bragged, "I'm no liar!"

Rasiel frowned; "I never claimed you were lying, but you don't know the truth! I've seen Titan Babies and you look just like one!"

"Well then I must have been cursed to look like one by whoever cast that spell on me!" King retorted, "Look, I'll even prove it! Wait here!" he commanded.

King scurried out of the room, leaving Luz and Rasiel alone. The younger angel turned to the elder, wincing as she saw the angry expression on his face.

"If I had a physical body right now, I'd be pulling on your ear, young lady!" Rasiel scolded, crossing his arms; "What were you thinking, lying like that!?"

"I-I had to!" Luz whimpered, her voice a little bit crackly. She conjured some ice water and poured it down her throat, sighing as it soothed the burning sensation further.

"What possible reason could you have to hurt yourself just so King can keep living in denial!? He. Is. A. Titan!" Rasiel said severely.

"I know he's not what he thinks he is!" Luz retorted, "But this is important to King! This is his entire identity, his self-image! He's so little and young; I can't bear to break his heart and make him question his own existence! For Heaven's sake, his literal name is King! This "King of Demons" fantasy is his entire life! I couldn't just take that away from him… even if it hurts."

Rasiel's anger abated and all he was left with was pity. His desire to yank on Luz's ear was replaced with the desire to hug her, as the girl suffered to try and preserve her little brother's happiness. He understood where Luz was coming from; King really was very young and was trying to make sense of his own existence. It was no wonder he reacted with denial when Rasiel tried to challenge the nature of that existence. Who wouldn't react like that if everything they thought they knew was uprooted? But at the same time, Luz was still hurting herself and putting off the inevitable. King would have to face the truth one day, and the longer he waited, the worse it would hurt when he had no choice but to accept it.

Sighing heavily, Rasiel softly asked; "How is your throat feeling?"

"I'm dealing with it. It's not as bad as at the Covention, but I didn't have to say as much this time, and I have the ice glyph now." Luz replied. Her throat still felt sore, but it was manageable.

Before either angel could say anything more, King came running back into the room, now carrying his notepad and pencil.

"Okay Mister Amnesia, I'm going to make you see the truth! We're going to go to my castle!" King declared.

Luz and Rasiel exchanged looks; "Your castle?" Luz said questioningly.

"That's right! It's on an island beyond the Boiling Sea! I can lead us to it, but you'll need to fly us there." King explained.

Rasiel raised an eyebrow, wondering if this island really existed or was part of King's fantasy. Titan's were masters of shaping the Demon Realm (heck, their bodies were the most populated landmasses in the realm), and some had been known to build small islands to serve as nurseries for their children. Of course, if the island wasn't real, then King was leading them on a wild goose chase.

Luz was the one to answer; "Well then, let's go. It's been a while since the two of us went on an adventure together! In fact, the last one was when we met Rasiel on the Knee! It'll be fun!" she smiled.

King nodded happily and scrawled a quick note for Eda, before clambering up into Luz's arms and pointing to the door; "Onward, my loyal subjects! My castle awaits!"

Rasiel gave Luz an unimpressed look as she smiled nervously. He returned to his ring so he wouldn't be forced to float along beside the pair, then Luz headed outside with King. They said a brief goodbye to Hooty (who was preoccupied trying to eat flies without extending his body for some reason) then Luz cast an illusion over herself and King to disguise them as Eda on her staff before they took flight and began heading westward. Once they were out of sight of the Boiling Isles, Luz dropped her illusion, but kept her concealment stone on just in case they came across other people, as unlikely as that may be. King wiggled excitedly on the back of Luz's head, while Luz prayed this would all turn out okay, and Rasiel simply hoped it wouldn't end in tears.

[Meanwhile]

Eda ran a nervous hand through her hair as she led Raine up to her room and closed the door behind them, with a little spell in place to keep any curious little ears from hearing something they shouldn't. She trusted her kids, but King became clingy when guests took her attention, and Luz was an avid supporter of Eda and Raine rekindling their old relationship, so Eda wanted to make sure the kids didn't get into mischief by eavesdropping on them.

Raine was blushing nervously as they took a seat on the edge of Eda's nest. It wasn't the first time they'd been on it; in fact they'd shared it with Eda on more than one occasion when they were dating, but it felt different now that they weren't together any more. But they shook off their nervousness and blush; they weren't just here to spend time with Eda this time.

"So, Raine." Eda sat beside them, "What can I do for you?"

"I've got some news for you, and a proposition." Raine replied, looking very serious all of a sudden.

Eda was tempted to tease them, but the look on their face made her hold back; "Okay, I'll bite. What is it?"

Raine took a deep breath; "Do you remember that day in the Drake Tail Flower Field? We were sat on our favourite spot on the little hill, and I was trying to avoid having to do that performance?"

Eda smiled at the memory; it had been the last time they'd gone to their spot together… at least until the fateful day that Raine announced they were joining the Bard Coven and broke up with her.

"I remember it pretty well. Especially the part where I told you that you can't run from your fears forever, and should instead get the jump on them." Eda grinned, before sighing; "I guess I didn't exactly live up to my own example there, considering I pushed you and everyone else away out of fear of my curse."

Raine gave her a smile and put their hand on top of hers, blushing a bit; "We've both grown up since then. Seeing you with King and Luz, and hearing you actually be honest about your feelings… it's exactly why I decided to come to you with this idea of mine. But first, let me get back on topic."

They cleared their throat; "I took what you said to heart that day, but I didn't understand it until after we broke up and I joined the Bard Coven. I started out as just a teacher for the younger members, but because of that, I got some insight into how the covens recruit new members." Raine's eyes hardened; "The Emperor prioritises recruitment through force. There are no real benefits to joining a coven, or at least none exclusive to joining covens, so the only thing he has is threats. People who don't sign up are labelled Wild Witches even if they never practised wild magic, and people who objected or refused to fall in line would disappear, ending up in the Conformatorium or the Emperor's dungeons."

They looked to Eda and clenched their fist; "In that moment, I remembered what you said. About not running from my fears and rising to face them! I decided I wasn't going to stand for the Emperor's corrupt rule! I've been carefully and quietly moving up the ranks of the Bard Coven, and now I'm going to be the new Head Witch when Scooter retires, which he wants to do soon. I also found people like me, who want to change things!"

Eda's eyes widened as her face was split by a massive grin; "Well well, Raine Whispers has become a rebel! Trying to change things from the inside! I'm impressed!"

The Owl Lady had always found Raine attractive, but they'd never been hotter than when they were plotting rebellion with such fire in their eyes. It was a new side to them that Eda could very much appreciate!

Raine then smiled coyly; "From the inside yes, but I always found that a problem is best dealt with from both sides at once, so I'm also forming a group to fight back against the Emperor more overtly."

"So a public rebel group on one side, and you undermining him from within on the other! Now that is a plan I can get behind! I'm guessing that's why you want my help?" Eda asked eagerly.

Raine nodded; "Yes, but I'll get to that in a minute. First, I need to warn you about something. Some contacts within the Emperor's Palace passed along that Belos is planning something big in the coming months. Something he's been working towards since taking power."

"What could he want? Is he planning on expanding his power beyond the Boiling Isles? A war with the rest of the Demon Realm?" Eda theorised.

"I don't know. But based on various rumours and the activities of his coven, I've pieced together that he needs at least three things." Raine held up one finger; "First is the Coven System. His obsession with getting everyone to join one is suspicious, so I think the Coven System, or perhaps the sigils themselves, serve a bigger purpose."

They held up a second finger; "Second is something related to you."

"Me?" Eda frowned.

Raine nodded; "The bounty on you is obscenely high. We're talking a trillion snails, and before you busted everyone out of the Conformatorium, your biggest crimes were petty theft and being a wild witch. The bounty is far too large for something like that, so I believe Belos needs you for something. I can only think of two possibilities; your curse, or your portal."

Both of those were bad; the portal would give Belos access to the Human Realm, and Eda didn't even want to imagine what he'd want with her curse!

But then Raine raised a third finger, and what they said next had Eda's heart sinking.

"Third, and most unusually, is an Angel."

Eda gulped nervously; "A-An angel? What could Belos possibly want with one of those?"

Raine shrugged; "I don't know. But he wants one alive and unharmed. A living angel is the only thing on the Isles that has a higher bounty than you, Eda."

They reached into their pocket and pulled out a bounty poster depicting a hooded figure in white and gold robes, with a pair of large white wings on their back. It read; "Wanted: Angels of any rank and order. ALIVE and UNHARMED. Reward: 5 Trillion Snails." Eda eyed the poster warily as she felt bile crawling up her throat. Her mind conjured images of Luz's smiling face, and the Emperor's hands clasping around her.

The fact that the Emperor wanted an angel alive meant he obviously had something nefarious planned, but what? Luz and Amity had shared their theory about Belos being an angel himself, so was he looking for help? A second angel to help him create something? The Panacea Mirror needed the blood of two angels, so it wouldn't surprise Eda if other such things existed. And what if the girls' theory was wrong and Belos was something else altogether? With the power in an angel's tears, feathers, and blood, Belos could do any number of things! Heck, he may even want one to find a way to the Divine Realm and conquer that too! If it was Eda's portal he was after, Belos' ultimate goal may well be the conquering of all three realms!

Eda shook her head; ultimately it didn't matter what his goal was! Eda would not let that monster anywhere near her kid!

"So we've got some insight into Belos' plan, and you've got a plan of your own to counter it. Where do we go from here?" Eda asked seriously.

"I've begun recruiting people against the current system. A lot of the Conformatorium escapees have already signed up, including a fellow Bard who was arrested for stupid reasons. I believe you may know her; her name is Katya." Raine smiled.

Eda nodded, remembering the fan-fiction writer fairly well. Luz occasionally ran into her at the Library and brought home some of her work. Food falling in love wasn't exactly Eda's cup of tea, but she had to admit Katya wrote good romance!

"Katya and the rest of the escapees all had good things to say about you and your kids, which reinforced my wish to recruit you. I'm not leadership material, Eda, and once I'm Coven Head, I'm going to be under a lot more scrutiny. I can't fight from the inside and outside at the same time, so I wanted you to become the leader of the Rebellion." Raine finished, finally getting to their proposition.

Eda didn't even need to think about it; rebelling against Belos, spending more time with Raine, and protecting Luz from whatever evil things Belos needed her for? She couldn't think of a better way to spend her day!

"I'm in. Don't worry Raine Storm, I'll whip your little rebellion into a real force to be reckoned with! Now who and what am I working with?" Eda smiled eagerly.

Raine had honestly expecting that answer, but they were still delighted and hugged Eda gratefully, making them both blush. "Our rebellion is only about 50 members strong at the moment. Including the two of us, Katya and two of my other young students from the Bard Coven, along with around 45 escapees from the Conformatorium; a few are wild witches like you, but most are a part of the nine covens. Since most were arrested on trumped up charges, they don't have bounties and aren't being hunted. The few that are wanted are currently in hiding at safe houses around Bonesborough, Pancrea City, and Cartilia up on the Knee. We don't have any members in the Emperor's Coven, but some of us have friends there that pass along bits of information."

Eda grinned wider; "So we've got a spy network across the nine covens, allies willing to get us info on the Emperor's Coven, the future leadership of the Bard Coven, AND a force of wanted criminals who can act openly and brazenly against the Emperor without worrying about their identities getting out. With you managing the spy network and me leading the open rebellion, we might actually be able to do this!"

"That was my plan too. The name of our group is "Covens Against the Throne" AKA the CATTs!" Raine said proudly, "It was originally Bards Against the Throne, but once we expanded past the Bard Coven, we needed a new name. Katya picked it out, since it kept the animal theme! BATTs to CATTs!"

Eda smirked; it was kind of a corny name, but she could get behind that! Now the only thing she had to think about was whether to let King and Luz get involved, as hiding it from them would definitely fail since Eda had sworn to always be honest with Luz, and she couldn't treat one kid differently than the other. King would definitely want to join, and while Luz would likely want to help in some way, Eda doubted she'd want to help with the fighting. She was still afraid of being seen as another of the conquering, dictator-like angels that wild witches of the past had feared; she'd definitely have some qualms against trying to upend the status quo. Though to be honest, Eda was happy to keep her out of it… King too for that matter. He was still so little, even with his growing glyph skills…

Putting that out of her mind for the moment, Eda stood up and offered her hand to Raine; "Well Raine Storm, here's to our rebellion. We always made some sweet music together; let's show the Emperor what we can do with it!"

Raine smiled broadly and got to their feet too, taking Eda's hand and shaking it, before pulling her into another hug; "Thank you Eda. I knew I could count on you. You've changed a lot in the last fifteen years." they smiled with a faint blush on their cheeks.

Eda nodded and looked to her dressing table, where a picture from Grom was pinned to the side of the mirror. It depicted Luz, King, and Eda together in their fancy get-up, smiling and having fun. "I really have changed, huh…"

It had started with King, and gone even further once Luz joined their little family. The fact that Eda was joining the CATTs to protect them and not just to satisfy her own need for rebellion was proof of that.

"It's worth it. For the first time in my life, I've got something I want to protect." Eda said determinedly.

Raine felt their heart skip a beat as they gazed at the resolute expression on Eda's face. Raine had always found her beautiful, even when her hair had started to grey and she'd prematurely aged from the curse (Raine still insisted Eda aged like fine wine), but even disregarding how the new Super Elixirs had her looking like her real age again, Raine thought Eda had never looked as beautiful and alluring as she did in that moment. Motherhood suited Eda better than the Owl Lady would ever admit. The curse may have robbed her of the chance to have her own biological kids, but Raine doubted any such kids would have ended up being better for her than King and Luz. A mischievous little demon and a sweet and helpful young girl; each sharing a side of themselves with their all-but-confirmed adoptive mother; it was like the Heavens themselves had brought them together.

The two former lovers sat together for a bit, their minds and hearts racing as the mood in the room suddenly grew intense. They were silent as they considered their relationship; it had ended because Eda had refused to confide in them, and lied about how she felt, and Raine hadn't been able to sit there and watch the woman they loved suffer while being forbidden from doing anything about it. But now Eda had matured and opened up, and Raine had come to understand her rebellious, free spirit better than ever. Their prior doubts had faded, and both wished to rekindle what they'd once had… But both were also afraid to ruin the friendship they'd rebuilt by bringing romance back into it.

Ultimately, both decided not to broach the topic yet, mentally making the same decision.

"I'll see what King and Luz think about this first. I share my life with them, so they deserve to at least tell me what they think before I bring someone else into our shared life." Eda thought.

"I'll talk to Eda's kids first. I don't want to ruin the family she's made for herself by forcing myself into their lives against their will." Raine thought.

After a few silent moments, Eda chuckled awkwardly; "It's, uh, kinda quiet. I wonder what the kids are doing. We should probably check on them; leave King alone too long and he gets into my ingredient stores! He's surprisingly good with potions, but he has a tendency to experiment. And Titan knows Luz could stumble across a thought-to-be extinct monster while trying to heal a baby bird or something wild." she half-joked.

Raine smiled and nodded, and followed Eda out of the room (which really had begun to get a little too warm). They went down to the living room, but found that neither King nor Luz were present. The books and papers they'd been working on were still where they'd been using them, but the kids were gone.

"Where did everybody go? Hey Hooty, where are Luz and King?" Eda asked.

Hooty swung his door open; "Hoot hoot! They flew off somewhere with Raspberry, hoot!"

Eda frowned; "It's not like them to leave without saying anything. They must have left a note or something." she murmured, looking around.

Raine helped, eventually finding a short scrawled note stuck to King's stuffed rabbit Francois.

"I found a note from King. It says "Off to my real castle! Don't wait up! Love, your favourite Demon Overlord." Ha, you've got to love that child's imagination." Raine smiled fondly.

However Eda didn't smile; she took the note and paled as she read it herself. "Oh no, not again!"

Raine blinked in surprise as Eda pulled out her scroll and tried to call Luz, only to curse; "Dang it, no answer. She must already be out of range… how do humans get their phones to connect so far away?" she grumbled. She then called Owlbert to her side and turned him into his staff form. "Sorry Raine, but I need to go after him!"

"Of course, It's fine. I can come too, if you'd like." Raine offered, snapping their fingers and summoning their own Palisman. The red fox Palisman appeared in a flash, transforming from Raine's violin to her true Palisman form. Her name was Rena, and Raine had carved her themselves under the tutelage of Dell Clawthorne, Eda's father. She was as shy as they were, so usually preferred to stay in the form of a violin, but she was eager to come out and fly again, turning into a staff with a quiet yip.

Eda prepared to refuse, but decided that if the worst should happen, having another adult witch by her side would be helpful. "Okay. Follow me; King is leading Luz into danger and he doesn't even know it!"

Raine nodded, and after Eda gave an order to Hooty to keep the Owl House locked down, the two took to the sky and began flying westward in pursuit of King and Luz. As they flew, Raine had to ask; "Eda, what exactly is going on. What is this "real castle" King was talking about? Why is it so bad that he's taking Luz there?"

Eda sighed worriedly; "It's a long story Raine Storm. But we're going to be flying for quite a while, so I might as well tell you… It all started eight years ago…"

[Later]

Luz sang cheerful songs as she flew through the air, carrying King in her arms. They'd been flying for hours at this point, with King occasionally getting a funny look on his face, then pointing her in a slightly different direction. They'd seen various small islands and archipelagos (some natural earth, and some made from Titan fragments) but King had dismissed all of them on sight, saying they weren't the right one. It made Luz certain that he really had a specific destination in mind, though she couldn't see anything. Things were still a bit tense between King and Rasiel, so they hadn't talked much and Luz had instead filled the silence with singing, making King happily wiggle along.

About an hour ago, King had moved from the back of Luz's head to her arms, and ordered her to fly low enough for them to feel the heat of the Boiling Sea. It made them a little sweaty, but the ever optimistic Luz treated it like a sauna treatment, and more importantly, it allowed King to see closer to the water, which became very helpful when mist started to build up.

"We've been out here for a long time now. It's starting to get dark." Rasiel said within Luz's mind, noting the sun setting behind them. "If this island is real, we may end up having to camp there."

"Getting home tonight does look a little unlikely. I hope Eda doesn't get too upset… still, at least she'll have more alone time with Raine." Luz said, briefly summoning her scroll and finding she had no signal, preventing her from calling Eda and letting her know.

King rolled his eyes; "She probably won't even realise we're gone until we get back. You know how she gets around them. But forget that; I think we're almost there."

Luz narrowed her eyes and flapped her wings hard, trying to disperse some of the mist around them. At first, all she could see was more ocean, but then she felt something strange. King's little body seemed to briefly vibrate in her arms, and Luz felt a sudden spark of warmth that made her body tingle. She blinked hard, and when she opened her eyes again, she gasped as she saw a new island in the distance, one she definitely hadn't seen a moment ago.

"There it is!" King declared excitedly, pointing to the island.

It was a bizarre one; unlike anything Luz had ever seen. The island was covered in a dense jungle, and was surrounded by a tall rock wall with only a single opening that led into a small cove. In the centre of the island was a tall circular tower that had been damaged somehow and was missing a chunk from its upper levels. Luz gasped softly as she descending onto the island's beach, and King hopped out of her arms. Rasiel then appeared from his ring and took a look around.

"Wow… Look at the cliff walls!" Luz said in amazement. "How did something like that even form?"

"One of two ways." Rasiel chimed in; "The most likely answer was that it was created by a Titan as a nursery for its child…" King shot him a glare, so Rasiel added; "… or it could be the remains of a large dormant volcano. Rising sea levels would have submerged most of it, and the magma inside formed an island within what would have been the caldera, which would also explain the rock walls forming like that."

"You see? I told you! And that big building there is my castle! Whoever cursed me did some damage to it, but it's still mostly intact." King grinned, beginning to march through the forest.

Luz and Rasiel followed him, looking around at the beach and jungle. There was other life around, but only insects and birds; nothing else.

"I woke up here in Eda's arms after I was cursed. She carried me to safety, so I could reclaim my strength! I was even weaker back then; like a wittle baby." King explained.

"Aww." Luz cooed, imagining King even smaller and cuter.

"You were originally smaller?" Rasiel asked.

King nodded; "Yep! I've regained some of my powers, but not much… I still need my crown and a cure for this curse on me! It's a shame the same two angels can't make more than one Panacea Mirror, or I'd be asking you to cure me too! But Eda deserves it for taking care of us."

Luz felt her heart swell, seeing King's obvious love for Eda, while Rasiel raised an eyebrow and asked; "Have you not considered that you've gotten bigger simply because you've been ageing?"

King completely ignored him, instead leading the two angels through the jungle to the tower/castle. The canopy was even thicker than the Forearm Forest, and if it weren't for Rasiel's natural luminescence, none of them would be able to see beyond the ends of their noses. Eventually they made it to the entrance to the castle, which was shaped like a giant keyhole.

"Ah, home sweet home!" King breathed deep, then exhaled slowly.

"Ooh, a big keyhole? I guess that makes this castle a giant treasure chest! And I bet I know the treasure inside!" Luz giggled, winking at King.

The little fella giggled happily; "That's me!"

Rasiel rolled his eyes good naturedly at the children's banter as they approached the entrance. It was caved in with rocks, but Luz and King used vines to shift the rubble out of the way, allowing the trio to go inside. While they were working, Rasiel noted an unusual golden material that formed the frame of the keyhole door, and odd circular designs on them. The pattern was somewhat faded, and Rasiel felt his eyes go fuzzy as he tried to focus on the swirling design, though he recognised it as Titan Writing.

"These markings are definitely the written language of the Titans. They're likely Glyphs from Titans that have long since lost their magic." Rasiel murmured to himself. He didn't bother saying it louder, as King would just deny it anyway. Besides, the tower itself was certainly not what Rasiel had expected… the island itself was what he expected, but the building was definitely not normal from what he could remember. Titan Nests and Nurseries were usually a lot more open, while this place was like a fortress. What would compel a Titan to build such a place?

"And there!" King declared, his vines pulling the last of the rubble out of the way; "Come on in!"

The angels followed him into the tower, and Luz and King created numerous balls of light to illuminate the place. Luz and Rasiel gasped at the sight; they were in some kind of grand hall, with intricate pillars, golden filigree decorating everything, and painted stone carvings lining the walls. There was even some kind of star map made from gold detailing on the wall above the entrance. It looked exactly how one would imagine the entrance hall of a Demon King's palace, only partially overtaken by the elements. However there was also something odd; besides the rampant vegetation and weathering from years of abandonment, there were also dozens upon dozens of odd stone sculptures on the ground. They were each around the same height as King, and were made of two or three rocks stacked on top of each other, with a vaguely crescent shaped rock on the top.

King paid the figurines no mind, and spread his arms out grandly; "This is the chamber where I devoured the hearts of my foes! The taste was cold and bitter!" he grinned at Luz; "But I bet yours would be sweet, Luz!"

Luz giggled; "Well I wouldn't recommend eating it! If my heart is supposed to turn into a Galdorstone after I die, then you might break your teeth! It'd give a whole new meaning to rock candy!" she said, before blushing and adding; "Besides, my heart belongs to Amity. No one else gets to have it."

King rolled his eyes with a grin, while Rasiel gave them both mildly disturbed looks; "Congratulations, you two have managed to be horribly morbid and sickeningly sweet in the same sentence."

"You're just mad because I proved you wrong! I'm the King of Demons! Not some crummy orphaned Titan." King boasted.

Rasiel shook his head; "I'm not mad, and I still say you're a Titan!" he then looked around with a very unsettled expression; "But this place has me concerned. This isn't Titan architecture…"

"Then isn't it possible for King's story to be true?" Luz pointed out.

"Yeah! This is the finest of Demon Architecture!" King agreed.

Rasiel shook his head again; "No, this isn't Demon architecture either. Nor is it from any witch clan I can recall… No, these designs… the pillars, the gold, the celestial map on the wall above the entrance… This is Angelic Architecture!"

Luz and King both stared at him with wide eyes as that revelation hit them. "W-What!? You're kidding!" Luz cried.

"I'm not. I don't know how, but this place was definitely designed and built by an angel. I haven't been in the Divine Realm for over 100,000 years, but this looks exactly like a very modern version of the buildings I recall from back then. The gold that decorates everything is another clue; it's not actually gold but Aurum, an alchemical creation that was invented so all real gold in the Divine Realm can be used for currency." Rasiel explained, his hand ghosting over some of the golden detailing. Nostalgia was hitting him hard as he missed his homeland.

He shared a brief look with Luz; this had now become a mystery. King was adamant he wasn't a Titan, Rasiel was adamant that he was, and Luz wasn't really sure what to think, but the idea that King's "castle" had been designed by an angel made all of them pause.

King wanted to excuse it by claiming he'd had an angel build it for him, but he couldn't actually remember anything like that and didn't want to lie to Luz. In fact, he feared that he might have done something terrible to an angel in the past! Luz might hate him if she found out he'd preyed on her people!

"W-Well we know angels have been to the Demon Realm before. Maybe King hired one to build his castle?" Luz suggested, though the shake in her voice made it obvious that even she didn't really believe that idea.

"Or perhaps an angel once found a Titan Egg on this island and build this tower to protect and study it. Without their parent around to saturate the egg with magic, Titan Eggs can take around five millennia to hatch." Rasiel countered, though he couldn't imagine why. In fact, he had strange gaps in his memories when it came to Titans. He remembered what they looked like and several biological and magical facts about them, but little else. To him, that meant that he'd either never known anything more, or the other things he'd learned were tied up in his lost personal memories.

King stomped his foot; "How many times do I have to say it!? I'm the King of Demons! L-Look over here, there's carvings of me!"

He directed them over to some of the wall carvings. Most of them were damaged, but one was still decipherable. It depicted a figure that looked like an adult King, with a long flowing beard coming from beneath his skull mask, and clad in some kind of ancient warrior garb. The angels looked at with awe.

"Wow! You look awesome, King!" Luz praised, eyes shining. It was hard to imagine her adorable little brother looking like that grand-looking warrior!

"This figure… it resembles a Titan, but different. Titans didn't have facial hair like that; they had manes, and they didn't wear armour. They also had draconic wings." Rasiel muttered, looking closely at the carving.

"See! More proof! I may look like a Titan, but it's obvious that I'm not!" King declared, "Look at that one next!"

He led the duo to a second carving, this one depicting the adult King wielding a spear and facing down a giant monster. The top of the monster's head was missing, as the carving had worn away, but Rasiel could still recognise most of its features.

"That creature there is a Titan, I'm sure of it!" he said resolutely, "But then what is this masked person? Is that really King?"

"If that is King, then this shows him fighting a Titan!" Luz exclaimed.

King gaped at the idea of him taking down one of the Titans, but he quickly rolled with it; "I must have done! I was much larger back then, so I bet I could have handled it! I wonder if more of these carvings show my valiant battle with the Titan?"

The little Demon scurried off and began looking around at the other carvings, while Luz moved to stand beside Rasiel.

"So, does this mean King really isn't a Titan? That he really could be the King of Demons?" she asked, sounding hopeful.

Rasiel shook his head; "Luz, I can sense magic and I know for a fact that King has Titan magic! It's also the only way he could have helped open the Black Tomb!"

"B-But maybe he's just a species of Demon descended from Titans! That would explain it!" she argued, though she sounded like she was trying to convince herself more than him.

"Luz, it's beginning to sound like you want me to be wrong." Rasiel frowned, crossing his arms.

Luz looked away, before whispering ashamedly; "I-I do… I'm sorry Rasiel, but I really do want you to be wrong."

Rasiel's expression softened, seeing Luz so distressed; "Why is that?"

"B-Because it means King is the last of his kind. There are no other Titans left… Eda told me once that the Boiling Isles is the youngest Titan Landmass, and no Titans have been spotted elsewhere for over 5000 years. If King really is a baby Titan like you say he is, then he was orphaned… or worse, abandoned. What do you think that will do to King if he finds out that's the truth?" Luz asked miserably. The idea of her baby brother in pain was tearing at her heart.

She then began to rub her arms as if cold; "And now there's this tower… built by an angel. If you're right about King, then why was he placed inside this tower? What if the angel who built it actually stole King's egg from his parent!? W-What if we really are the reason there are no Titans left!?"

Her mind went back to the High Priestess Zara, and her words after being defeated as an Ice Wyrm; she'd called angels "twisted monsters and enemies of the Titan!" and that they "drove the Titans to their deaths!"

Luz ran her hands through her hair; "By the Seraphim, if Zara was right about that and you're right about King, then our people slaughtered his!"

Rasiel dearly wished he could touch Luz to comfort her as she began to spiral into a panic; clinging to the hope that they were all wrong, and that King was what he believed himself to be.

"Luz, I don't know if Zara was correct or not. Perhaps angels did wipe out the Titans, though I haven't the foggiest idea how, considering a single full grown Titan should be powerful enough to take out the entire Council of Seraphim. But perhaps we were just a convenient scapegoat for the real cause. Witches and Demons are short-lived creatures, and time obscures all things eventually. The truth is unknowable for us at the moment. But I'll tell you what is knowable."

He knelt so he was on Luz's eye level; "You love King and would never hurt him. He knows that, and he loves you just as much. Would you blame King if you learned Titans had wiped out all angels but you, long before he was even born?"

"N-No." Luz shook her head.

"Then trust King to do the same." he smiled gently.

Luz took those words to heart and began to calm down. Things had become emotional and she still had so many questions, but like Rasiel said; the truth was unknowable at the moment, and it wouldn't change reality no matter what it was. Luz loved her little brother and King loved his big sister; what they were beyond those titles didn't matter.

"Y-You're right." Luz nodded, before looking Rasiel in the eye; "You're right about everything. King… he really is a Titan, isn't he?"

Rasiel nodded; "His magic is Titan magic, he opened the Titan lock on the Black Tomb, and he perfectly resembles a baby Titan of around 8-10 years old. If you recall, Zara recognised what he was too."

Luz blinked and thought back, before her eyes widened; Zara had gone pale when King had declared Luz his big sister, and had reacted with shock when she saw him. She must have known King was a Titan!

But then another puzzle piece fell into place as she recalled what Rasiel had said earlier about Titan Eggs. "Without their parent's magic, a Titan Egg takes around 5000 years to mature and hatch, right?"

Rasiel nodded, already knowing were Luz was going with this. Luz gulped; "And the Boiling Isles are about 5000 years old too, and is the youngest Titan Landmass… that means…!"

She looked over to King, who was sifting through pieces of a broken carving in hopes of restoring the image.

"The Boiling Isles Titan is King's parent." Luz whispered.

Rasiel nodded grimly, and Luz felt her heart shatter. Her little brother had been living on his own parent's body without even knowing it…

"Oh King…" the young angel cried softly, hands covering her mouth.

King didn't hear her, but he turned to face her anyway, seemingly sensing something was wrong. He saw tears glistening in her eyes and panicked.

"Luz!? What's wrong!?" he cried, running over and clambering onto the girl's shoulders to comfort her.

Luz's lip wobbled as she struggled with what to say, but Rasiel saved her the trouble; "She just got a face full of dust. Let's give her a moment to wash her face. In the meantime, you can show me more "proof" of your title."

Rasiel was obviously lying, but he couldn't feel pain as a disembodied spirit. King didn't know that, so took his words at face value.

"Oh, okay! In that case, I'll show you my throne, made from the teeth of my enemies! It was, uh, not exactly a comfortable seat…"

King began leading Rasiel away, but the spirit hung back just a moment to whisper in Luz's ear. "You have a choice to make, little one. You can choose to let King live a comforting lie, or give him the painful truth. Just remember that whether you choose truth or lies, there will be pain for you. It is up to you decide which pain you'll face."

With that, Rasiel floated off after King, leaving Luz to mull over her thoughts and feelings. She wiped her eyes and walked down a long hallway that led off from the entrance hall, since it was the opposite direction that King and Rasiel had gone in. The young angel was trying to decide what to do; she'd tried to deny the truth even to herself, but that wouldn't be possible any more… should she try to convince King of the truth? If she was in his position, she'd want to know the truth! But King wasn't her… There was no way Luz could think of that wouldn't make this all end in tears.

Luz was distracted from her thoughts by an eerie skittering sound, making her frown and cast another light spell to better illuminate the dark hallway. She almost let out a scream of surprise as the light revealed that the walls of the hallway were lined with countless large alcoves, each containing some kind of odd creature made of flesh and stone. Luz readied her lightsaber-like spell and crept closer to one of the alcoves to get a better look at the creature within. It, like all the others, appeared completely inactive. It was a tall, vaguely humanoid creature made from several stones held together by some kind of red, mush-like flesh, which looked to have partially rotted. Interestingly, all the creatures had somewhat crescent shaped heads, just like the effigies in the entrance hall.

"What are these things? Servants for the castle's owner? Or guards?" Luz whispered to herself. She continued following the hallway until she reached the end, where she found a circular chamber that stretched high up into the upper floors of the tower. This chamber was absolutely covered in these alcoves too, and each one was filled with more of the odd constructs. Luz carefully poked one of them, and it promptly crumbled into fragments, the fleshy parts having become like wet sand while the stone became like chalk. Luz squeaked as it fell on her, jumping out of the way just in time to avoid being covered in its detritus, but as she did so, she noticed something strange.

There was an empty alcove.

Luz remembered the skittering sound from earlier and gulped; she had a horrible feeling they weren't alone! She peered closer at the empty alcove, hoping to see if it had been recently occupied, but found that it was covered in cobwebs and dust; perhaps the occupant had been destroyed a long time ago? Not wanting to take any risks, Luz turned to leave and warn King and Rasiel, but just as she was about to leave the circular chamber, she walked straight into another of the constructs… one that had definitely not been there a moment ago, and one that was very much still alive!

"Ahh!" Luz yelped, swinging her light sword at the creature instinctively. She cleaved off the construct's arm, but the two ends of the fleshy segment she'd cut reached for each other, reattaching its arm.

The construct's two beady little eyes; really just small holes bored into the stone of its head, began to glow gold for a moment, then a voice echoed out from it. The voice was that of an elderly man, and it said;

"Angelic magic detected. Energy Saving Mode disengaged. Golem A17-03 has encountered a hostile. Hostile Designation: Angel Female. Classification: High Angel. Titan Magic Saturation Detected."

Luz's eyes widened; the voice was that of a person, but what it was saying was clearly cobbled together from pre-recorded voice lines. However more concerning was that it had been able to tell she was an angel! It must have absorbed some magic from her spell!

Seeing as her attack hadn't worked, Luz combined the ice and light glyphs to create a beam of freezing light to encase the golem in ice before fleeing down the hall. She didn't get far however, as the ice shattered and the golem extended one of its arms after her, catching her ankle and yanking her back. Luz screamed and tried to slice off the arm that had grabbed her, but the golem's other arm gripped her wrist. It had seemingly coated its stony nub-like hands with fleshy goo that had then turned the stone into claws, which were gripping Luz tightly. She squirmed and tried shooting light beams from her free hand, but the golem moved its head aside to dodge the beam, then promptly slammed Luz into the ground to daze her.

"Hostile Angel exhibits Beta Level Threat. Nursery Tower defences are currently offline. Golems are 99% inactive. Reactivation is required." the Golem said, dragging the dazed Luz back to the circular chamber.

Luz had hit her head on the ground when she'd been slammed, so she was mildly concussed and had to use her free hand to conjure a Crystal Lotus healing spell to fix the damage. By the time she could think straight again, she was already in the circular chamber again and the golem holding her had released her leg and instead wrapped her up in its extended, tentacle-like arm. The other hand was now being used to shift aside rubble in the centre of the room, revealing a series of concentric stone circles sculpted into the floor. The golem rotated these circles like the dial of a safe, causing a loud click to echo across the room, before a short stone pillar rose up from the centre of the room.

The pillar was about twice the width of Luz's leg, and came up to just above her waist in height. Atop if were five clear crystals sticking out of the stone like the fingers of a hand, and in the centre of them was some kind of cuff with a very thin, short spike sticking out of the inside of it. Luz blinked at the sight of it, then paled as the golem took the cuff, which had some kind of clear tube connecting it to the pillar and brought it towards her. She struggled valiantly, and expelled light from every pore of her body to destroy the arm holding her so she could escape and fly away. She successfully got away, but her freedom didn't last long as the golem regenerated its arm and extended it in her direction. Luz dodged the attempted grab, only to find that it hadn't been aiming for her at all. It instead hit the door frame leading out of the circular chamber, and twisted a piece of the golden design that lined it, causing a heavy stone door to slam shut just as Luz was about to fly through.

Luz had been trying to fly away as fast as she could, so she couldn't slow down in time to avoid slamming into the stone door. She'd managed to pull up at the last minute to avoid smashing her head against it at least, but the sudden impact still knocked the wind out of her, which was the only reason she didn't scream as she felt her ribs crack. She fell to the ground and gasped, desperately trying to get some air back in her lungs as the golem grabbed her wrist and dragged her back over to the pillar. She struggled weakly, but was too stunned to get away, so the young angel found her sleeve being pulled up by the golem and the cuff slapped around her upper arm. Luz squeaked as the little spike on the inside pierced her skin, then paled as she saw it begin draining blood from her and sending it into the little pillar.

Luz managed to cast another healing spell to fix her ribs, but the draining of her blood left her feeling weak. Shockingly, the blood was not the red that Luz was used to, but a golden yellow. Luz had no idea what was going on there; as far as she knew, angels had red blood like most creatures! It had certainly been red the last time she'd bled, and her Mami's had been too!

"W-What's going on…!?" Luz gasped out. On the pillar, the five clear crystals were slowly beginning to fill with her blood, turning gold one after the other until all five were shining. Once they were all glowing, the cuff snapped open and Luz was released, and the golem let her go as well, allowing her to scramble away. She healed the puncture wound from the cuff and yanked her sleeve back down a bit, then watched warily as the golem pushed the pillar back into the ground.

As soon as the pillar was hidden in the floor again, all of the carvings in the stone and gold detailing of the chamber began to glow golden with angelic magic. The glowing lines formed magic circuits that connected to every single one of the alcoves, which then began to shine so brightly that Luz had to shield her eyes. When the light finally faded, Luz looked up and turned as white as a sheet as most of the inactive golems suddenly began to twitch and move, their eyes shining gold like the other one's briefly had.

Golem A17-03 then said; "Angelic Magic Emergency Stores replenished to 100% capacity. Beginning reactivation of Nursery Tower Defences. Nursery Golem activation in progress."

Luz grimaced; so the golem had taken her blood to reactivate the tower's defences and awaken the other golems!? This was bad; she needed to warn Rasiel and King!

Thankfully, the other activated golems hadn't begun moving yet, likely still charging up, while Golem A17-03 began moving around and examining the golems that weren't activating. Roughly a quarter of the golems were too decayed or damaged, forcing Golem A17-03 to try and make repairs, using its own fleshy slime to patch or replace the damage to the others. With it distracted, Luz was able to fully heal the remaining damage she'd suffered, then focus her light magic into a single big blast.

"Take this!" Luz cried, creating a massive ball of light magic and dropping it on the Golem like a spirit bomb. She knew she could damage it, but to prevent it from regenerating, she needed to destroy it utterly, so she made sure her spell was large enough to consume it. Her plan worked perfectly and the Golem was utterly vaporised.

"Ha! How'd you like that!?" Luz cheered.

All the active golems in the room slowly turned to look at her, their necks making creepy creaking sounds after decades of dormancy. Luz gulped; she probably should have thought this plan through a little more…

The golem closest to her spoke; "Golem A17-03 has been rendered inoperable. Hostile Angel remains active. Beginning capture."

The golems began to creak and move, and Luz had no delusions about being able to take on all of them, so she instead took advantage of their stiffness after years of being inactive. She conjured a few more massive light blasts, destroying four more golems, then used her Lightsaber spell to slice open the stone door and fly away at breakneck speeds. The hall she flew down was also full of slowly awakening golems, but Luz ignored them and flew straight back into the entrance hall, where she found King and Rasiel.

They were staring up at a patch in the ceiling that looked like a passage covered in rubble, which King was commenting on; "I can't really remember what was up there. The only memory I have from up there is a muffled roar. Probably one of my minions praising me!" he declared grandly, before noticing Luz flying towards them.

"Whoa Luz, where's the fire?" King asked, before grinning; "Oh I get it, you wanted to see my throne too! Sorry to say that it doesn't look like its here any more, but-"

"That's not it, King! We need to get out of here! We're in danger!" Luz cried.

Rasiel was immediately on guard, while King just shook his head; "Ah, you saw the Horrifying Monstrosity Room! Don't worry, they can't hurt you."

As soon as he'd said those words, a small army of golems began crawling out from the hallway Luz had just vacated. Some remained on the ground while others began scrambling around on the walls and ceilings. King cried "Weh!?" in surprise, while Rasiel frowned.

"These things… I can sense angelic magic in them!"

Luz nodded, slowly edging her way over to King so she could protect him; "One of them stole my blood and used it to wake these things up. They're a part of the tower's magical defences! They can detect that I'm an angel!"

"What!?" King cried, "B-But they've never moved before! I don't remember anything about these guys being alive!"

One of the active golems moved forward, using its arms and legs to skitter like a very large and creepy bug. It looked Rasiel up and down, before saying; "Golem B23-01 has encountered an intruder. Association with Hostile Angel confirmed. Intruder Designation: Angel Male. Classification: Spirit. No magic detected."

It then turned and looked at King, who flinched in fear at the creepy thing; "Hatchling Detected. Beginning securing of Hatchling and neutralisation of Intruder. Continuing capture of Hostile Angel."

The golems then darted forward, swarming towards the trio. Luz grabbed King and took to the air immediately to avoid the golems on the ground, who became distracted by Rasiel. She used their distraction to create an even bigger Light Bomb and drop it on Rasiel's head, knowing it wouldn't hurt him. The result was the destruction of about half a dozen more golems. The golems on the walls began morphing their arms to form large bows, which they used to fire spikes of rock at Luz, purposely aiming so they wouldn't hit King. She countered with her ice barrier spell, while King slapped some drawn ice glyphs on the back of the shield, causing each of the hexagons that made it to turn into spikes that Luz then launched at the golems. The ice spikes stabbed through the archers and pinned them to the walls, giving Luz and King a moment to fly away. The golems on the ceiling began dropping down, creating axes, swords, and spears from their bodies, yet they hesitated to attack as one due to King's presence. Luz was sure that the golems were designed to protect King as the "Hatchling" of the Nursery Tower.

However hesitation was not the same as refusing to attack at all, and they began swinging, stabbing, and chopping at any angle that let them hit Luz but not King. Luz had to counter by creating her icy barrier all around her, encasing herself and King in a crystalline bubble.

"Close your eyes, King!" Luz ordered, using her magic to conjure an ice and a light glyph inside each hexagon segment of her shield. King obediently closed his eyes, and Luz activated the glyphs, releasing a blinding light that gained the freezing powers of the ice glyphs, turning her barrier into a shining beacon that froze the golems around her solid. The flash was so bright that even with her and King closing their eyes, their eyelids had only reduced the effects of the light and not eliminated them, leaving both King and Luz blinking.

Knowing the golems wouldn't stay frozen for long, Luz dropped her shield and flew towards the entrance, with Rasiel floating rapidly behind her. They'd almost reached the exit when the golems broke free of the ice, and one launched their spear at them. King gasped as he saw the spear fly at them, and scrambled onto Luz's back to try and block it. However his shaking paws fumbled the glyphs and he dropped them, leaving him defenceless as the projectile was now moments from hitting his skull.

Thankfully for him, Luz had looked behind her after hearing King's gasp, so she was ready to act.

"NO!" she cried, rolling in mid-air to shake King off her back and out of harm's way, catching him in her arms in the process. The spear missed King, but thanks to her shifted position, it instead managed to pierce right through one of Luz's wings.

She screamed in agony, golden blood splattering to the ground as King and Rasiel cried out in alarm, and since the shaft of the spear was stuck halfway into Luz's primary left wing, she wasn't able to keep flying and went crashing into the ground. Even in pain and falling from the air, Luz still managed to turn enough to land on her back so she wouldn't land on King and crush him, but this only furthered the damage to her wing.

"No! Luz!" King cried, wriggling out of her arms so his weight wasn't pressing down on her and her wing.

"Ugh…" Luz whimpered, tears in her eyes as pain wracked through her. She'd never felt so much pain; being impaled through the wing was no joke, and since it was right near one of her major blood vessels, her blood was flowing thick and fast.

The golems began swarming towards them, seemingly ready to cleave the fallen girl to pieces. Rasiel threw himself at them, making it look like he was attacking, but since he was incorporeal, all he managed was making the golems pause to hack away at him for a moment, before they processed that they couldn't hurt him and thus ignored him in favour of Luz. However this brief distraction was enough for King to use Luz's spilled blood to draw an ice glyph on the floor.

"EAT THIS!" King roared with fury, activating the glyph. The result was a mighty ice wall with metre long icicles jutting out from the other side, impaling the golems that smashed against it and making it even harder for them to break through. The combination of Luz's angelic blood and Titan Magic meant the glyph was a lot more potent than normal, but it was still not enough. The impaled golems regenerated and cleaved at the ice wall, quickly beginning to make progress.

"We need to get out of here!" King cried, trying to drag Luz towards the door. The girl tried to stand, but the weight of the spear in her wing made dragging it with her an exceedingly painful experience, and she ended up screaming and falling to the ground again.

"K-King, you've got to run! Leave me and save yourself!" Luz ordered, forcing her voice to sound strong despite the pain. She tried to put her wings away, but they wouldn't disappear while injured, leaving Luz stuck.

"No! I won't abandon you! I-I'll get the spear out! Then you can heal yourself and we can all leave together!" King yelled, his voice shaking with distress.

There was a loud crack as the golems finally smashed a large enough hole in the ice wall for them to begin crawling through one by one. King hurried to draw another glyph, but the golems were too fast, bearing down on him and Luz before he could even draw the outer circle. Luz, woozy with blood loss, raised a hand to try and blast the golems away from her little brother, but instead of a blast of light hitting the golem, Luz felt a rush of heat flying over her head as a fireball slammed into it.

Luz, King, and a frantic Rasiel all spun around to see Eda rushing towards them, Owlbert in one hand, a fireball in the other, and fury in her eyes.

"STAY AWAY FROM MY KIDS!" she roared, blasting the golems with another fireball, then casting a spell with Owlbert to magnify the size of the fireball so it was large enough to consume the entire crowd. It wasn't as effective as Luz's light spell since it didn't vaporise them, but it did keep the golems in a state of constantly needing to regenerate for a few moments.

Luz then heard the sound of a violin, following shortly by the sight of a blade of red and gold magic slicing through the air and cutting the entire horde of golems in half, further lengthening their regeneration. It was Raine, following closely behind Eda.

"Raine Storm, get King and Luz out of here! I'll hold these things back!" Eda ordered, not taking her eyes off of her flames, which she was keeping burning by summoning and tossing potions into them.

Raine obediently rushed to Luz and King's side; "Kids, you need to go!" they then noticed Rasiel and frowned; "Wait, who is that!?"

The Bard looked ready to attack, but Rasiel put his hands up in surrender; "It's a long story, but I'm not an enemy!" he yelled, "We'll talk later, once the children are safe."

Raine nodded, the questions could wait. With Eda focused on keeping the golems busy, it was up to them to get the kids to safety. They grabbed King and put him on their shoulder, then tried to help Luz to her feet, only for her to scream as the movement jostled her skewered wing.

"You need to lift that spear, or else Luz can't move!" King yelled.

Raine blinked in confusion; Luz was still wearing her concealment stone and so her wings were invisible to the bard, so to them it looked like the spear was just laying on the ground with gold liquid around it. With now not being the time to argue, Raine whistled a tune that made the spear weightless, allowing Luz to finally get to her feet with only the slightest of winces. Raine scooped her up into their arms and immediately frowned as they felt something soft on her back and saw the weightless spear move on its own. They then ran out of the tower with Luz and King, Rasiel following closely behind, until they came to a stop on the edge of the jungle just a little ways to the side of the tower's entrance, so there was no line of sight between them and the tower's occupants.

"Why are we stopping!? We need to get the kids off the island!" Rasiel yelled.

"It's fine. Eda told me about the tower's guardian on the way here. It, or I guess they, can't leave the tower." Raine explained.

Sure enough, Eda came flying out from the tower a moment later, riding on Owlbert as the golems tried to pursue her. The instant they tried to cross the threshold out of the tower, a blue barrier appeared and the parts of them that passed it lost all power, melting to the ground until the golems sucked them back in and reformed.

"Intruders have left vicinity with Hatchling. Island Defences Inactive; Primary Power depleted. Remain on Standby." one of them said. They then disappeared into the shadows within the tower, and Eda sneered at them.

"Good riddance!" she growled. She then looked around and spotted the others, flying over to them in an instant.

Eda knelt beside Luz and took one look at the spear beside her, immediately putting together what had happened. "Luz, I'm sorry I didn't get here sooner."

Luz, looking very pale, nodded and smiled weakly; "A few minutes earlier would have been nice, but you still saved our butts."

"We're going to have to pull that spear out before you can heal." Eda nodded to the spear. "And I'll need to take off your concealment stone so I can see what I'm doing."

Eda's eyes flickered over towards Raine, then back to Luz. Removing the stone would reveal her true nature to Raine. Luz grimaced; "Do it. I've got enough magic left in the tank to cast a healing spell, but I can't get the spear out on my own."

The Owl Lady nodded and turned to Raine; "Raine Storm, you're about to see exactly what I meant when I told you Luz had come unique circumstances. I need you to stay calm and not freak out, alright?"

Raine gulped; just what were they about to see!? They swallowed down their apprehension and nodded, resolving to keep their cool no matter what. Seeing this, Eda gave them a grateful smile, then reached into Luz's hoodie and pulled out the pearlescent concealment stone. She slipped it off and Luz's true form was suddenly revealed, allowing Raine to see her pure white hair and four angelic wings, one of which was skewered by the spear and bleeding profusely.

The bard gasped; their initial thought was that Luz really was Eda's child and had inherited her curse, but they shook that off immediately. Eda wouldn't lie to them about something as serious as this! Eliminating that possibility left only one other; Luz was an angel!

"An angel…! I can't believe it!" Raine whispered, looking to Eda, "Now I know why you sounded so worried when I mentioned the bounty on angels! Belos cannot be allowed to find out about this!"

"That's the plan. Now I'm going to need your help, since you're better with cutting spells." Eda said, gently holding Luz's pierced wing as the girl winced. "I need you to slice the spear as close to her wing as you can, so I can pull it out more easily."

"Easily done. Hold tight Luz, and stay as still as you can." Raine softly instructed, kneeling beside her. The girl nodded and braced herself, while Raine lined themselves up and played a quick note on his violin, creating a slashing sound wave that sliced the spear down to about an inch long on one side of her wing. The vibration of the sound wave through the spear made Luz yelp softly, but she remained strong. With that done, Eda gripped the other side of the spear with one hand and placed her other hand on Luz's wing.

"Okay sweetheart, I need you to be brave now. I'm going to pull it out with one move. It'll probably hurt, so if you need to scream then do it. Don't hold back for our sakes." Eda instructed gently.

Luz gave her a frightened nod as King gripped her hands in his paws, and Rasiel knelt to whisper comforting words in her ear. Eda then said; "On the count of three. One, two, THREE!"

In a single movement, Eda pushed Luz's wing with one hand and yanked on the spear with the other, successfully pulling it free. There was a spurt of golden blood, and Luz screamed so loudly the noise echoed across the island, making the others wince in sympathy. The girl panted in pain and immediately began casting her healing spell, closing the hole in her wing and restoring the lost and damaged feathers. The effort left her feeling weak, and she was still a little light-headed from losing so much blood, but at least now her pain was gone.

"L-Let's not do that again…" Luz said, slumping against Eda as a shaken King crawled fully onto her lap.

"Agreed. When I was here last, there was only one of them! And it didn't talk!" Eda frowned, "What happened?"

Luz gave a brief explanation of her trip into the golem-filled hallway, making the rest of the group frown. Eda was impressed that she'd destroyed several golems, but the rest of the revelations were much less pleasant.

"Stealing your blood to activate the other golems… whoever built this place really wanted to keep intruders out." Eda commented.

King frowned; "But we're not intruders! It's my castle!"

The rest of the group gave him awkward looks. Raine averted their eyes, having been told the details by Eda on the way to the island, while Eda and Luz both looked guilty. King's eyes widened at Luz's expression.

"Luz… you don't believe this is my castle?"

The young angel averted her eyes, unwilling to lie again but still unable to spit out the truth. King's expression fell; "You think I'm lying to you?"

"No! I don't think you're lying! I just…" she tried to find the right words.

Thankfully, Eda had them; "You're not lying, you just don't know the truth." she said, putting a hand on King's head. "Do you remember how we met?"

King looked unsure of himself; "I-It was after I was cursed. I was being carried away by you… the rest is fuzzy…"

Eda sighed sadly; "The part about me carrying you away was right, but the rest… let me tell you how we really met. It was eight years ago…"

She closed her eyes as she recalled the events of that day; "I'd stowed away on an Emperor's Coven ship as it sailed out of Bonesborough, intending to rob it. I was a young hotshot on a crusade back then, but the boiling rains were hotter, and thanks to them my plan went awry and I had to flee, and ended up coming across this island. I needed shelter from the rain, and the island seemed to just appear out of the mist, so I took it as a sign and landed. The jungle didn't provide much protection from the weather, so I hid inside the tower. That's where I first met you."

Eda smiled; "You were an adorable little fella, and I found you making those weird effigies. At first I didn't know what you were and assumed you were a stray dog or something. But as I was trying to figure it out, the golem attacked. I thought it would kill us both, so against my better judgement, I grabbed you and ran. It didn't chase us beyond the tower, but it did fire a shot at us as we flew away. The shot hit your horn and broke it off, but I grabbed it and you, and high-tailed it back home. I couldn't exactly abandon you, so I decided to keep you as a pet… I even got you that collar."

King looked down at his collar, his heart clenching painfully.

"But one day, I saw you using my junk to make more of those effigies in my living room. I made a joke about you looking like "A King amongst his subjects" and you seemed really taken with that, repeating the word King. It was the first time you'd spoke, making me realise you were more than just an animal. So I named you King, and since you were so into the idea, I told you stories about Kings having armies and minions and feasts. Because of my issues with authority, I also painted them as monsters and tyrants… and that's how you got the idea that you were some despotic overlord."

The smile left Eda's face as she opened her eyes and looked sadly down at King; "I knew it was a lie, and a part of me always thought you'd grow out of the fantasy… but ultimately, I couldn't bring myself to tell you the truth. You were happy, so I played along."

King's eyes widened even as his pupils shrank to pinpricks. He scrambled out of Luz's lap and away from her and Eda, shaking his head as he backed away; "Y-You're lying! Luz, she's lying right? Y-You believed me before! Didn't you?"

Luz bit her lip and shook her head with tears in her eyes; "I'm so sorry King… I lied at the house. I didn't know for certain that Rasiel was right about you being a Titan, but I knew you weren't really the King of Demons. I've known since the day we met, but like Eda, I couldn't bring myself to say it."

Eda and Raine's eyes widened at the mention of King being a Titan, but the latter wisely kept their mouth shut for the moment and the former gasped softly, her heart aching as she came to the same realisations as Luz had earlier. But that could be worried about later; for now King was in distress.

Rasiel sighed softly; "King, I know this is hard, but look at the evidence. Your "castle" was built by an angel, and guarded by golems fuelled by angelic magic. They called you "Hatchling", and never intentionally attacked you, only aiming for Luz. I can sense your Titan magic, and your power served as the Titan Key for the Black Tomb. This island could easily be made with Titan magic too. Please, I know how difficult this must be for you, but the truth cannot be changed. You are a Titan, King."

"You're lying! You've got to be! I-I remember…!" King screamed, backing away further.

"Your memories became scrambled after your skull was damaged." Eda said sadly, reaching into her hair and pulling out a chunk of pale white bone. Everyone immediately recognised it as the broken piece of King's horn. Eda offered it to King, and he reluctantly stepped forward to take it from her.

He gasped as a rush of familiarity went through his body, and his foggy memories began to clear up slightly; the sight and feel of the horn helping to remind him of the event in which he lost it, and the things that preceded it.

"My army?" his mind flashed back to him standing on some rubble, looking over his effigies.

"My feasts?" another flash of memory, of him stalking and eating a bug in the ruined tower.

"My life…!?"

He looked heartbroken, before his expression twisted into anger and he threw the horn away; "No! Keep that thing away from me, it's messing with my head!"

Luz reached for him; "King, it'll be okay, I promise!"

King shook his head as he began panicking, backing away from them all again; "Y-You're just making fun of me, right? This is just a joke!"

Luz and Eda gave him sympathetic looks as they shook their heads. King shook his own head in denial, then began hyperventilating.

"No no no no no!" he staggered back, clutching his skull with one paw and his chest with the other. "No no no NO!"

The little Titan turned on his heel and ran away into the jungle, his panicked denials echoing through the trees as he went. Luz and Eda rushed to their feet, but Luz was still weak from the blood loss and staggered, causing Eda to stop and catch her, allowing King to run far out of their line of sight.

"No! King, please come back! KING!" Luz cried.

Raine switched their Palisman from violin to staff mode and prepared to take flight in pursuit of King, but Rasiel put a hand in front of them. "The canopy is too thick; you'll only hurt yourself and you won't be able to see him through it anyway. We'll need to follow on foot."

Raine nodded in acceptance, while Luz clutched Eda's hand as tears crept down her face.

"I lied to him. I thought I was doing the right thing and sparing his feelings, but all I did was break his trust! Now he's all alone and hurting! What do I do, Eda? I need to help him! He's my little brother, whatever species he is!" she wept.

Eda gently wiped away her tears; "You lied to protect him. It may not have been the right thing to do, but you were trying. King will understand that once he calms down. For now, we should split up and look for him. This island is small and he's even smaller; he couldn't have gotten far."

Luz sniffled and nodded, still feeling guilty. But she could worry about her own feelings after helping King! "Let's go find King!"

As Eda suggested, they split up into three teams and went in different directions. Since the only thing to the north was the tower, Rasiel began searching to the east, Eda and Raine to the west (whilst Eda filled Raine in on everything they needed to know), and Luz searched to the south. Luz's fears for King grew the further she had to travel, and the more her shouts of "King!" were unanswered, at least until she stepped out of the jungle and reached the island's coast.

There she found King, sitting on some driftwood on the beach, looking out at the ocean and the night sky, full of stars and the shimmering full moon. Luz's heart went out to him, and she slowly approached him. King knew she was coming but didn't try to run away from her, instead continuing to stare dejectedly out at the water.

Luz took a seat beside him, and he spoke; "Eda and Rasiel were right, weren't they? I was never king of anything. I'm nobody."

"You are somebody." Luz said softly, "In fact, you're somebody very precious to me. Somebody I would do anything for… even if I once again messed up when trying to help. I'm sorry I lied about what I believed… I was trying to avoid this exact situation, but instead I made it worse."

"Everyone lied!" King cried, "But I was too caught up in my fantasy to realise it! Luz, you hurt yourself to protect me because I couldn't handle the truth!" he began to sob, "I don't know what to do, Luz! I can't tell what's real and what's fake!"

Luz felt herself tear up in sympathy as her heart ached for her little brother. But now wasn't the time to focus on her feelings; it was King who mattered. She slowly got off the driftwood log and knelt in the sand in front of King, and put her hand up as if for a high-five. King looked at her questioningly, but put his paw against her hand regardless. Luz smiled gently.

"You can feel my hand right? That's real." Luz said, before gently wrapping King in a hug, "And this? This is real. And you want to know what else is real? I love you, King. I love you, and I always will."

She kissed the top of his skull and leaned back, while King looked up at her. Both their eyes were glistening with tears, and King felt Luz's love for him as strongly as her arms around his body.

"I don't care if you're the King of Demons, a Titan, or anything else in the universe. You can decide what you want to be for yourself. All I care about is that you're my little brother. You're King." Luz finished, giving King a big smile; "And that will never be a lie."

King sniffled, then fully threw himself into Luz's embrace, hugging her with all the strength in his little body. He still felt confused and afraid, and questioned his whole identity… but he knew that no matter what he really was, he would have Luz by his side. His big sister wouldn't abandon him.

"Thank you, Luz. I'm still so confused… not only am I not what I thought I was, but I'm supposedly a Titan? There's so much I don't understand." King said, wiping his eyes.

Luz nodded in understanding, standing up and clutching King to her chest as she looked back at the Nursery Tower in the distance. "Between Rasiel's knowledge and the things those golems said, we know for certain that you're a Titan, but why exactly was your egg left in that tower? A Titan built the island, but angels built the tower and its defences, but what was the relation? Did the angels come later? Did your Titan parent know about them?" Luz mused, "If there are answers anywhere, they'll be in the tower."

King frowned; "What makes you so sure?"

"Remember what you said before? You remember falling from a great height. Eda found you in the entrance hall of the tower, so what if the fall you remember was you coming down from the upper levels? The ones blocked off by rubble? You also told Rasiel that you remembered a muffled roar… that could have been…"

The little Titan's eyes widened; "My Mom or Dad!"

Luz nodded; "I'm sure we'll find something up there that'll answer at least some of our questions. If nothing else, we may find the place that you hatched."

"It would mean going against those golems again… they really hurt you last time." King frowned.

"I'll be fine, King. Eda and Raine will help us; if the four of us work together, there's nothing we can't accomplish, right?" Luz smiled, giving him a comforting pat on the back.

King couldn't help but giggle; "Okay! Let's do it!"

The two siblings rubbed their cheeks together, and hurried back to the tower, where Luz fired a light beam into the sky to draw Rasiel, Eda, and Raine back and let them know she'd found King. They arrived mere moments later, and Eda rushed over.

"King! You're alright!" she sighed with relief. Then she noticed the tear tracks on his skull and frowned; "You're mad at me, aren't you. I get it; I would be too. I'm sorry I lied to you for all these years…"

King, still in Luz's arms, reached out and booped Eda on the nose with his claw. "No more secrets, okay? Promise me… please?"

The Owl Lady smiled; "Only truths from now on, I promise." she then turned to Luz, "Speaking of, I told Raine everything about you and Rasiel. It was kind of impossible to keep it hidden after everything that just happened, so I figured it was better to tell them the truth rather than have them fill in the blanks on their own."

Raine nodded; "It was quite the story; I never would have guessed most of it. Especially the parts about you, Rasiel. But either way, you don't need to worry; I'll keep your secrets no matter what." they promised.

Luz smiled appreciatively, and Rasiel gave a polite nod. Eda then asked; "So, are we ready to return home?"

King shook his head; "Actually, we have one more thing to do. This tower… it has to hold some secrets as to my past. My parents. The angels who built it. Luz thinks the answers may be in the upper floors. I want to go up there and see."

"I've already given the place a glance from the outside; the damage to the upper floors is mostly cosmetic so there are no open holes to fly through even if we could get above the canopy, and I doubt anything short of a Titan's power could crack the defensive walls. Angelic structures are built sturdy and resistant to even our own magic. Just flying up there isn't going to be enough." Rasiel frowned. "If we want to get up there, we'll need to do it from within."

Eda and Raine exchanged looks; "That would mean getting through that whole army of golems." Raine frowned. "I might be able to keep some of them busy, but that's it."

"If I really push it, I can probably vaporise a few of them too. But my magic is already low after earlier." Eda said, reaching into her hair and pulling out three Super Elixirs. "This is all I have to keep me going."

"I can help too. My light blasts are effective if I can completely consume the golems with one. Combine that with your magic, King's glyphs, and Raine's bardic magic, and we might just be able to pull this off." Luz said confidently.

Rasiel crossed his arms; "You are still weak from losing so much blood. If you use too much magic in this state, your body will crash."

"I can handle it." she retorted, eyes burning with determination. King's were much the same, and the adults of the group knew there was no dissuading them.

"Alright; we're getting up there! Got a plan, King?" Eda grinned.

The little Titan nodded with a grin of his own, then explained his brief and simple plan. Luz and the adults listened carefully, then nodded in agreement. It was a simple plan, but one that could work very effectively if they managed their resources properly.

Eda drank a Super Elixir, King drew dozens of glyphs, and Luz summoned her satchel and retrieved the spare Super Power Glyph she'd made with Matt and the Galdorstones. Meanwhile, Rasiel worked with Raine, telling them to harmonise their violin playing with his singing, as while the spirit couldn't actually use bardic magic, he could still lead Raine through a song that would be more effective against angelic constructs.

Once they were fully prepared, Eda and Raine sat on Owlbert's staff while Rena took her violin form, and King got onto Luz's shoulders as she began to fly.

"On the count of three. One, two… THREE!" King yelled.

In a flash, they all flew into the tower and immediately paled as they saw even more golems swarming the place than before. They had previously escaped while many of the golems were still being activated by Luz's blood, but now all the working ones were awake and many of the previously damaged ones had been cobbled together into a few more working constructs. The entrance hall was so full of them that it resembled a beehive or an ant hill; they covered every surface! Still, as many of them as there were, King's plan didn't change.

The moment they entered the tower, all the golems turned to them and prepared to attack, taking aim primarily at Luz since she was the one with King on her shoulders. Luz put up a barrier to protect herself and the others from a barrage of massive arrows and spears, while King took the Super Power Glyph and slapped it onto the back of Luz's neck. The resulting power boost gave Luz a fiery golden aura, making her wings appear to be made of gold as her eyes shone with pure white light. With Luz powered up, King then jumped from her shoulders to Eda's and Luz draw a massive spell circle that caused ice and light glyphs to appear inside each hexagonal segment of her barrier spell, sandwiched together.

"Time to put these guys on ice!" Luz grinned, knowing King's appreciation for puns. She activated the light glyphs with a spark of magic, resulting in beams of light shooting out of them and through the ice glyphs, turning them into freezing rays that were further magnified by the lens-like hexagonal segments of her barrier. The entire entrance hall was touched by the frigid light, and the entire army of golems were flash frozen.

Luz panted as she dropped the barrier; her big freezing spell taking a lot out of her even with the Super Power Glyph. "Go!" she yelled, knowing the ice wouldn't hold the golems for long.

The others obediently flew towards the end of the hall, where the shaft to the upper floors could be found. Almost as soon as they were out of the way, the golems began to break free from the ice and split their attention between Luz and Eda.

"All eyes on me! Here's a spotlight to help you remember that!" Luz yelled, focusing every scrap of magic she could muster into a single light spell. She created a tightly compressed ball of light between the palms of her hands, then released her control of it. The ball rapidly uncompressed, resulting in it ballooning to a massive size and vaporising a huge number of the golems. It was powerful enough that it could have destroyed them all, but Luz had to hold back in case she destroyed part of the tower and brought it down on their heads, the inside not being as reinforced as the outside.

Over half the golems were wiped out, unable to regenerate from the particles the light blast had reduced them to, but the remaining half were either left unharmed or only partially damaged, allowing them to repair themselves and continue their attack while Luz was barely able to muster a shield around herself.

With Luz's part of the plan done, she flew back over to the others, and King jumped back onto her shoulders while Eda swooped down on the golems and began pelting them with fire and acid spells, focusing on continuous damage rather than destruction. Raine began playing their violin in time with Rasiel's singing, using a bardic spell to take control of many golems' feet and keep them marching in place instead of attacking. Whenever it looked like a golem was about to hit them, Luz would summon a weak barrier to protect them, relying on the strength of the Super Power Glyph to keep her going.

While the others were keeping the golems busy, King began using plant glyphs to create vines to safely shift the rubble (throwing it at the golems in the process), and Rasiel flew about the battlefield, no longer needing to sing for Raine to continue their song, and distracted golems and let Eda and Raine know where to focus their efforts to most effectively disrupt the swarm of stony constructs.

Between Luz decimating their numbers, Eda trapping them in a loop of regeneration, and Raine's bardic magic impairing their movement, the golems were left virtually helpless. However they were also tireless, regenerating seemingly without limit, and both Eda and Raine were using a lot of magic to hold them back. Luz was having to use more and more barriers to protect them from rogue shots, and Eda had to chug two Super Elixirs to keep up the barrage of spells. Even Raine, who was in fairly good condition compared to Luz and Eda, was struggling to keep their grip on so many golems at once.

Finally, King managed to shift the last of the rubble out of the way, clearing the shaft so they could ascend. "The way is open! Get up there!" he ordered.

Eda immediately turned Owlbert around, and Raine braced themselves against her as the two rocketed over to King and Luz, then up the shaft. Rasiel followed right behind them, and Luz lingered a moment to cast one last barrier spell over the bottom of the shaft to hold the golems back from pursuing them. The effort burned out the last of the Power Glyph's magic, leaving Luz virtually powerless after using so many big spells while still suffering from her earlier blood loss. The golems skittered up the walls and began chipping away at her ice barrier, and Luz flew up the shaft as fast as her tired wings could carry her.

But then she heard the shattering of ice below her, and suddenly felt a trio of fleshy tendrils wrapped around her waist and legs. She and King both paled and looked down, seeing the golems had broken through her barrier and caught her by extending their arms like grappling hooks. Their claws cut into Luz's clothes and scraped her skin, making her wince, then they began to pull her towards them.

As Luz felt herself being dragged back down, she grimaced and made a desperate decision. Without her boosted magic, she barely had the strength to keep flying, so instead of letting herself and King fall into the Golems' clutches, she pulled King off her shoulders, gave him a kiss on the cheek, and then tossed him as hard as she could up to Eda and Raine. Raine caught him, and the others all looked down in horror as Luz was grabbed by more golems. They were aiming to capture and not kill her, so they weren't tearing her apart, but their claws did leave scratches on her skin and four of them raised their spears to skewer her wings to ensure she didn't fly away again.

Despite her fear, Luz smiled up at King. A golem's arm around her throat prevented her from giving him any comforting words, but she tried her best to convey her feelings of love for him with just her gaze.

Time seemed to slow down for King as he watched his big sister about to be further hurt, all so he could discover the secrets of his past. He couldn't allow it! He would not allow it!

"Stay away from my BIG SISTER!" King roared with all his might. He felt magic thrumming beneath his skin, filling his veins and lungs with power, which blasted out of his throat in the form of a mighty roar. The roar was accompanied by a magical shock wave, as well as three rings of colour in gold, green, and blue. The shock wave hit Luz and the golems, and while Luz felt her body shudder as the magic passed over her, the golems grabbing her were all blasted back down the shaft and into the room below, impacting the floor so hard that they splattered.

Luz almost fell too, but was able to start flying again now that the golems weren't grabbing her, and quickly darted through the air towards the others, barely noticing that the glyphs on her skin were now glowing softly, reacting to King's Titan Roar. The instant Luz reached the others, King leapt at her and hugged her tightly, while Eda flew close enough to put an arm around her shoulder too.

"Luz! Oh thank the Titan, I thought you were a goner!" Eda sighed with relief.

"Well, we can thank one specific Titan!" Luz giggled, her heart beating wildly from adrenaline. "You did magic King! And without the glyphs!"

King, looking as surprised as the rest of them, nodded numbly; "I-I guess I did! And it looks like it did something to you too, Luz." he said, pointing to her glowing glyph markings.

Luz opened her mouth to question Rasiel about this, since he was the only one to know anything about Titans, but the ancient angel was preoccupied. "We're not out of the woods yet!" he yelled, looking down the shaft; "The golems are starting to recover and climb again! We need to move!"

"Where to!?" Raine cried, looking around. The shaft had ended in a small and empty room, with only cobwebs and vegetation lining the walls, and only a single sealed door.

Luz and Eda landed and ran over to it and tried to push it open, but found that it wouldn't budge, even with them and Raine all throwing their weight against it. Rasiel tried to phase through the door to see if there was some kind of release mechanism on the other side, but found that he couldn't go through the door or the walls around it, almost as if he was physical.

One of the golems reached the top of the shaft and the group spun around to face it, backing up against the sealed door. This resulted in King pressing his back to it, causing a ripple of magic to spread through it and making the door glow. It then opened on its own, causing the Owl House Trio and Raine to fall backward into the room beyond it. Rasiel quickly flew through too, and Raine leapt to their feet and slammed the doors shut just as the golem lunged at them. Once the door was shut, they all waited in silent anticipation for something to happen, but the golems made no attempt to breach the room.

"I-I think we're safe now." Raine said, taking a deep breath to calm themselves.

The others relaxed and began to look around at the room; it was similar to the rest of the tower in design, but with carvings of the golems on the walls, and a golden platform in the centre of the room. On the platform was a strange carved symbol, and this symbol was covered by some kind of fragments. Luz and King approached it and immediately recognised the fragments as having come from a very large egg.

"This must be where you were born, King." Luz said softly. King carefully climbed down from Luz's shoulders and stood in the centre of the golden platform, feeling a distant sense of nostalgia.

"Does this ring any bells, kiddo?" Eda asked.

King frowned and shook his head; "No… but I think I know how to jog my memories. I'm ready, Eda." he said, holding out his paw.

Eda didn't bother asking if he was sure; they'd come too far to turn back. She took out King's broken horn and handed it over, then watched as her youngest child took a deep breath and placed the horn back in its proper place on his skull.

The nostalgic feeling magnified, and King found his fuzzy memories clearing up; "I-I remember waking up to a really loud roar. It was scary, but it made me feel safe for some reason. But I was still too little, so I went back to sleep… the next time I woke up, I remember seeing one of those golem things. They took me out of this room and down to the entrance hall… that's why I remembered falling from a great height! It must have been from going down that shaft."

The little Titan looked misty-eyed, and Luz knelt beside him; "Are you okay?"

"I don't know… that roar I heard. It meant "Son". I'm sure of it. That roar was my dad, Luz!" King said, smiling sadly.

"If you heard that roar, then your father must have known you were here. I can't imagine a place like this keeping out an adult Titan, so he must have allowed you to stay here for your protection. That's why the golems were trying not to hurt you; they were protecting you from us." Rasiel reasoned.

"But that still doesn't explain the angel connection." Raine pointed out.

Eda looked around the room with a frown; "There's nowhere else to go. No doors or anything accept the one we came through. I think we've seen everything there is to see here."

King looked down in disappointment, but Luz wasn't ready to give up yet. There had to be something else! She felt it in her bones! She began looking around the room, pulling ivy from the walls to look behind it, and shifting rubble in hopes of finding a secret. She'd seen the golem from earlier rotating pieces of the floor to cause the blood draining pillar to appear, as well as to close a door; surely there were other secrets like it!

The others watched her curiously, and her efforts were rewarded as she moved some of the fragments of King's shell and noticed a large glyph-like symbol engraved on the golden platform. Her eyes sparkled with anticipation as she looked closely at the circle at the centre of the symbol and saw that it was made of concentric circles. She tentatively touched one of these circles, then grinned as it rotated.

"I knew it! There's some kind of mechanism here!" Luz said excitedly. She tried to remember the combination that the golem from earlier had used, but copying it didn't work.

King crouched down and touched the circles, whereupon the spaces between them began to glow blue and the circles started to rotate on their own. The entire platform began to shake and rise up, forcing Luz and King to leap off. Eda and Raine were on guard, while Luz and King gasped as the platform rose up to reveal it was actually some kind of golden cube, which had Rasiel shuddering.

"It looks like a golden version of the Black Tomb… Just smaller." he commented.

Rasiel's comparison was an apt one, as the front face of the cube slid back into the ground and revealed the contents of the cube. Within was a massive blue crystal, and sealed inside the crystal was a person; an extremely elderly looking man in white and gold vestments, with a very long white beard and a hood covering his facial features. From the man's back sprouted four angelic wings, marking this man as a High Angel, just like Luz.

"Whoa! Did we just find another sealed up angel!?" King exclaimed.

Rasiel took one look at the crystal, then shook his head and put a hand over his heart; "No. This is a true tomb. This man has passed away. The crystal is preserving him… I can also sense a bit of magic inside it. I think this crystal was originally the power source for the tower's enchantments and golems."

The others gasped; "So was this the man who built this place?" Eda asked.

"It is likely." Rasiel answered, as he and Luz bowed their heads and began whispering an angelic prayer for the dead. Luz had offered the same prayer at her father's grave on multiple occasions.

Eda and Raine weren't sure how to react to this revelation, so they simply kept a respectful silence, while King looked at the old High Angel's face. He didn't recognise them at all, but for some reason that made King sad. He suddenly felt compelled to touch the crystal, so he did exactly that.

Everyone startled as the crystal began to glow, and a wizened voice echoed out from it. It was the same voice that the golems spoke with.

"Greetings. If you are receiving this message, Young Titan, then you have finally matured enough to be able to understand my words and have opened my tomb. Please do not be alarmed by my body; I preserved myself within alchemical crystal so that I might use the last of my body's magic and blood to fuel the defences of your home, the Nursery Tower."

King gasped, as the others gathered around him. Luz lifted him into her arms as the two listened eagerly to the deceased angel's words.

"My name is Zachael, a High Angel belonging to no Crest Order. I am the last scion of the Crestless Angels who came to the Demon Realm 50,000 years ago. Our group is no more, lost to in-fighting with ourselves and warring with the Demons. Not all of my brethren sought a peaceful life here, but that is neither here nor there. What is important is you, Young Titan. I apologise that I have no name by which to call you, but as your Father was chosen to bear your egg, your Mother was to be the one to name you. Alas, that did not come to pass… I pray you have found a name of your own."

King looked up at Luz; "Did you hear that? I had a Dad AND a Mom! I wonder what they would have named me…?"

"I don't know, but I think they'd approve of the name King. You'd be the King of their hearts." Luz smiled lovingly. King blushed and giggled, then looked back to the crystallised angel as the message continued.

"I am afraid the tale I have to tell is not a pleasant one, as it concerns the death of your parents and the fall of the Titan Race. But it is crucial that you know, both for the sake of closure, and the sake of preparedness. The Titan Race has always been small in number; they are too large to sustain a plentiful population, but they possessed impressive magic. This magic proved to be their undoing however; as a mysterious being known as an Archivist came to our world from beyond the stars. This Archivist, calling themselves "The Huntsman" began capturing creatures from our world for some unknown purpose. They attempted to capture a Baby Titan, and that Titan's parent took exception and drove the Huntsman away. The Archivists have immense magical power, akin to a God, but that magic doesn't work on Titans, so the Huntsman was forced to flee. For centuries afterwards, the Titans thought they were safe… but then another Archivist came. This one was a mere child, and called themselves "The Collector." They merely seemed interested in playing with the Baby Titans, like any other child, so the adult Titans allowed it. But this was a ruse."

The recorded voice began to sound even older, as Zachael recounted the tragic tale.

"The Collector was a distraction, lowering the Titans' guard so the Archivists could steal and eliminate their children. At the same time, the Huntsman and three other Archivists, whose names I do not know, found and empowered a clan of vicious witches, turning them into skilled hunters capable of trapping and killing a Titan and wearing their skulls like grim trophies. You see Titans may be colossal, but they are able to create smaller bodies for themselves known as Avatars, allowing them to interact with the world. The Titans transferred their souls into these bodies in order to interact with their tiny children and the other species of the Demon Realm while their true bodies hibernated. But while their power is not diminished in these Avatars, they are still more vulnerable, and if an Avatar is killed, then the Titan within dies too. The Archivists destroyed the Baby Titans themselves, and had the Titan Trappers destroy the Avatars of the adults, ensuring the demise of the Titan Race. Only three remained; your parents and you, still an unhatched egg within your father's chest."

The others gasped in horror; so it had been these Archivists who'd destroyed the Titan Race! Zara's belief that it had been the angels was false after all! Still, while this was a small relief for Luz and Rasiel, it did nothing to numb the pain all of them felt as they looked at King, who wore a shocked and pained expression.

"Your father, whom I named Orion as true names in the Titans' own tongue are unpronounceable for non Titans, was a dear friend of mine and allowed me to live with him and his mate when I was orphaned. Witches with a hatred for angels killed my parents, but Orion protected me. I had been very much looking forward to meeting you, when the Archivists came. While your egg was still within your father, your mother Cassiopeia, went to fight the Archivists and avenge the deaths of her fellow Titans. I do not know how she was defeated, as your father would not tell me, but she did succeed in wounding the Huntsman and his cohorts enough to force them back to the stars. Grief-stricken, your father chose to remove your egg from his body and build this island. He then entrusted it to me to protect, before going off to face the last of the Archivists; the Collector. I do not know how that battle went either, but when I went to investigate, I found your father had passed away and the Collector was long gone. I do not know if the Collector was destroyed or simply banished like his fellows, but your father's body was uninjured and appeared to have passed away naturally. I have returned to his resting place several times over the last 2000 years, and like all Titans, he has become an archipelago that is home to hundreds of thousands of demons and witches. The residents have taken to calling him "The Boiling Isles." and I know that he would be proud to sustain so much life."

King's eyes widened, while the others all winced. So Luz's earlier theory was correct; the Boiling Isles really was King's father; the Titan known as Orion. The little Titan began to cry silently, as Zachael's message reached its end.

"This is the tragic history of your race, Young Titan. I know this news must distress you, and I am dearly sorry for that. But the truth must be known, and a warning must be given; the Huntsman and his three fellow Archivists are still alive out there, and I fear they may one day return. You must be cautious; do not trust others who bear the skulls of your kinsmen. But above all else, find others you can depend on; loneliness is a debilitating poison, but you needn't let it taint you. Find friends and family; be they witches, demons, humans, or even another angel like myself. I wish I could be there to meet and comfort you, but alas I have reached the end of my 3000 years of life, and I am too old to ascend into an Arch-Angel now. But I will continue to watch over this tower until you hatch and are ready to finally leave it. Live long and live well, Young Titan. As your Godfather, this is my last will and testament. You were dearly loved; never forget that."

The message ended and the faint blue glow of the crystal faded, the last of its magic now expended as its final task was completed. Everyone stood there in stunned silence, trying to process everything they'd seen and heard.

Raine was completely stunned; the revelation that Luz was an angel was shocking, but the idea that King was a Titan and the son of the Boiling Isles was on a whole other level. They didn't really know what to think; all they knew was that both of Eda's kids would need protecting and they would be there to help her do it!

Rasiel, having been proven right, felt no joy or satisfaction in that. Instead he felt numbness, as well as a spike of fear; he had no idea what these Archivists were, but it felt like he should. Titans were massively powerful, so the idea of beings from beyond the stars that could orchestrate their near-extinction despite their magic not affecting the Titans was mind-blowing and terrifying. At least Zachael's story had explained the carvings down below; those hadn't been of King or Titans, but of the Titan hunters. It had been a visual warning for the young Titan.

Eda was also concerned about these Archivists and how one would be able to stand up to them. If a Titan couldn't beat them, then what hope would she have? Putting these star people out of her mind for the time being, Eda then looked over to King, the child that she had begun to consider a son to her, and felt her heart break as she saw him crying in his big sister's arms. She approached the two and pulled them into her embrace, silently comforting King. Whatever happens, she would be there for her child.

Luz felt her eyes prickling with tears as she held King tightly. He was shuddering with sobs, and Luz made soft, comforting noises as she hugged him gently. This whole situation was the near-worse case scenario that she'd been fearing; King's whole sense of who he was had been uprooted, and while he now knew the truth, he was also forced to realise he was an orphan and had lost his parents and his entire race to beings that may very well still be out there… She had no idea what to say or do to make King feel better, so she just held him and comforted him as he cried.

As for King himself; there were too many thoughts and feelings rushing through his head for him to fully articulate them.

"So it's true." King whispered shakily, his heart aching once again; "It was always true… I am a Titan."

"You are. But you're still the same person you were before." Luz replied softly. "You may not have been the King of Demons, but you were still the most important thing in the world to your parents, and your Godfather."

King nodded; "I… I think I want to go home." he said. He needed time to think and process everything, and he definitely needed to get away from this place.

No one argued, and Luz gently handed King to Eda so she could go and kneel in front of the crystallised Zachael. She didn't have much magic left, but King's roar from earlier had given her wings a bit of a boost, so she had just enough left in the tank to cast a single spell. She used the plant glyph to create some vines that filled Zachael's tomb, then began to bloom with beautiful white and gold lilies.

"You did your duty and protected King to the end. We'll take it from here, so rest easy Zachael." Luz prayed.

King and the others put their hands together in a prayer motion, paying their last respects to the High Angel who had been named King's godfather. Raine found a large piece of rubble and placed it in front of Zachael's tomb, then used bardic magic to create magic blades that carved the angel's name into it, making it a simple gravestone.

With that final act, they turned to leave King's nursery. They were briefly prepared to fight the golems to escape, but Rasiel found that with Zachael's crystal now out of magic, the last of the tower's defences had shut down and the golems had all gone dormant, frozen forever in the positions they'd been in at the end. Despite them trying to kill them just a short time ago, Luz, Eda, and Raine felt strangely sad as they looked at the golems, who'd merely been trying to protect King. King himself was tempted to ask if they could take one home with them, but decided against it; he didn't really want a reminder of the creature that had stabbed his sister.

They left the tower in silence and walked back through the jungle to the beach, before Eda and Raine took flight with their staves, while Luz flew with her wings, using the moon and starlight to slowly restore her magic. King was held in Luz's arms, and Rasiel floated along behind them all. They stayed silent as they flew back to the Boiling Isles, each of them having too much on their minds to really want small talk.

No one made a peep for the hours it took them to get back home, and the silence was only broken when they saw the Boiling Isles in the distance. They'd been gone for so long that the sun was beginning to rise again, painting the sky in shades of red and gold, and seemingly forming a halo of light around the Titan's skull.

King looked at the Boiling Isles… the body of his father… and began to tear up. "H-Hi Dad." he said, his voice shaky and impossibly small. "I never thought… I was with you the whole time."

He shook his little head; "No… you're not really there any more. You've been gone since before I hatched… You're gone. I-I'm the last Titan… I'm alone."

That final word broke the dam, and King began to quietly sob, tears dripping down his skull-clad face and into the Boiling Sea far below. Eda and Raine looked at him with sympathy and flew closer to comfort him, but Luz acted first.

"No!" Luz cried, hugging him to her chest with all her might; "You're not alone! You've got Eda and Hooty and Me! You may be the last of the Titans, but you're not the last of the Clawthornes or the Nocedas! You're my baby brother and I will never let you feel alone!"

King looked up at the girl with big, shimmering eyes. Luz had tears streaming down her face, but she met his gaze with all the love she had to give, and smiled softly. "Remember what I said; I love you, Little Brother. That is the honest truth, and it always will be!"

His heart ached with both pain and happiness, which only magnified as Eda put a hand on his back, with tears in her eyes. King had never seen her cry before, so the sight was shocking, but the loving smile she wore was what really struck him. "Luz is right, King. Your parents loved you, and so did your Godfather. But they weren't the only ones who love you. You will always have me and your big sister; we don't care if you're a Titan, a Tyrant, or the Demon Realm's smartest dog; you're our family. You're…" Eda blushed, "You're a Clawthorne! And I'll make that legal if I have to!"

"Y-You both really care that much? Even though I'm not who I thought I was? Even though I'm a Titan?" King cried.

"You loved me even though you grew up reading Eda's wild magic books that called Angels like me evil. Even after my screw up got you eaten by the Owl Beast. I never cared what you are; only who you are. And who you are is King Clawthorne-Noceda!" Luz declared.

"That's right! And you loved me even after I lied to you for all these years, and even after my curse meant I was abandoned by everyone else, excluding those I pushed away…" Eda looked briefly at Raine, who was wearing a happy smile at seeing her open up about her feelings. "You made these last eight years bearable, King. I may not like all the mushy stuff, but I'll be damned if I don't love you to pieces, you furry little goof ball!"

King sniffled, smiling as his chest felt like it would burst from all the love he was felling. He looked back at the Boiling Isles and said; "I had a Mom, who drove away the people who destroyed the Titans. I had a Dad, who gave birth to me and became the Boiling Isles. I had a Godfather, an angel like you Luz, who protected me for thousands of years… they're all gone now, but they loved me. I want to do them proud…"

He then turned back to them; "But I've got another family now too. A crazy Owl Lady who took me in and raised me even when it must have been a lot of trouble. And a big sister who accepted a weirdo like me as a little brother, and taught me magic and showed me who I really was. Heck, I even have a crazy house demon who always wants to play, and an ancient angel spirit whose helping find a cure for Eda's curse! And…" he looked sheepishly at Raine, "...and someone else, who makes Eda very happy, and treats me and Luz really nice."

The Bard smiled, touched to be included, while Rasiel grinned, and Luz and Eda both hugged King a little tighter, sharing a quiet moment as a family. The three continued hugging as they descended onto the Boiling Isles, Luz and King riding on Owlbert so they could keep their embrace with Eda. They landed in front of the Owl House and were greeted with the usual enthusiasm by Hooty, whom King actually allowed to hug and smother him a bit. The little Titan whispered something to the House Demon, and Hooty promptly burst into happy tears, letting the others know that King had let him know that he was appreciated too. Luz soon ended up wrapped in their embrace too, leaving Eda and Raine to watch with wide grins, especially when Hooty tried and failed to bring the incorporeal Rasiel into the hug.

Raine chuckled, then turned to Eda; "I really need to be getting back. I wasn't supposed to be gone for so long."

"I understand. Thank you for today, Raine. And for keeping my kids' secrets." Eda smiled, taking the bard's hand and squeezing it.

"It was my pleasure. Leave it to you to adopt a little Titan and a young angel. They're great kids, Eda. You've done a wonderful job." Raine complimented.

Eda blushed; "W-Well I can't really take credit for Luz, but thanks anyway. I'll call you later to discuss the CATTs with you. Until then…" she leaned forward and kissed Raine on the cheek; "… good night, Raine Storm."

Raine went crimson, but smiled all the same. They lifted Eda's hand to their lips and kissed her knuckles; "And to you, Edamame." they winked.

The Owl Lady snorted; that nickname had always been kind of dumb, but she supposed her name wasn't as good for nicknames as Raine's. She then watched as Raine got back on their staff and flew away, waving goodbye to everyone as they went. King and the others waved back, and Eda yawned.

"Phew, I am one sleepy little owl. Let's go hit the sack. Thank goodness it's not a school day, eh Luz?"

Luz nodded; "You can say that again. I'm gonna send Amity and the others a quick text to let them know we're gonna have a lazy day today, then I'll go to bed."

King shyly raised his paw, the emotional day draining his usual exuberance and confidence; "Eda, can Luz and I sleep with you in your nest tonight? Please?"

Eda smiled and looked to Luz, who silently nodded. "Sure thing Kiddo. Let's get you some Hot Choco-Smilk first though, you earned it."

King beamed and held Eda's hand as the two went inside, leaving Luz to text her friends. Rasiel watched her for a moment, then said; "So, you chose the path of truth. It hurt, like I said it would, but it also ended up strengthening your bonds instead of breaking them. There will still be some emotional healing for King, but I think the three of you will work things out easily enough. You've become quite the family."

Luz smiled tiredly as she looked up from her phone; "Yeah… I never should have lied to King in the first place. I'm just glad things worked out okay… but this has all made me think." she looked down at her left hand, and the ice glyph embedded onto the back of it. "These glyphs come from the Titan… from Orion, King's Dad. Did he show me them so I could teach them to King? Or so I could protect him?"

Rasiel hummed; "I suspected since we first met that the Titan entrusted the glyphs to you because you were helping his child. I only kept quiet in front of Amity because I assumed you were hiding King's identity. It makes sense too, if you think about when you learned the glyphs or bonded with them."

Luz thought back; she'd learned and bonded with the light glyph when saving King and Eda from Warden Wrath. Learning the plant glyph hadn't involved King, but she'd bonded with it while saving King from the Owl Beast. And on the flip side, King hadn't been involved in her bonding with the ice glyph, but she'd learned the glyph after shielding King, Amity, and Owlbert from the Ice Wyrm. The more she thought about it, the more it made sense; she was learning the glyphs from the Titan so she could protect King! His own experience with Zachael was likely why he entrusted the task to an angel in the first place! But that begged the question…

"Why didn't the Titan show these glyphs to Zachael? If he had and Zachael had bonded with them, he would have ascended beyond a High Angel and might have lived longer to protect King." Luz asked.

Rasiel didn't know the certain, but he did have a theory; "I suspect he could only manifest the glyphs close to his body. Zachael lived on King's island and while he visited the Boiling Isles on occasion, I doubted he lingered for long or was exposed to the elements. It would have been dangerous for an angel after all. It's also possible the Titan simply didn't know he could do such a thing yet, or what bonding with the glyphs would do to an angel. I'm afraid all we can do is speculate."

Luz wished she could have a more solid answer, but alas the Titan could only communicate to her through the glyphs. However, that didn't mean she couldn't try to communicate with him...

Flying high into the sky, Luz put her hand over her chest, where the light glyph was tattooed into her skin, and gave a quiet prayer while gazing at the Titan's skull, hoping that it would reach King's father.

"I don't know if you really gave me this power to protect your son… but I WILL protect him. He's my little brother, and I'll do anything for him. So please; rest easy knowing your son is with people who love him."

There was no answer, but for the briefest moment, Luz thought she felt the glyphs on her skin warm up a little. It brought a smile to her face as she walked into the Owl House to be with her family. King had biological parents who loved him and whom he was learning to love, but also had his found family. As Luz floated back down to the ground and looked at King and Eda, she thought about her Mami and hoped that just maybe she could have both too.