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.

18. EP 18: Glow of Flame

The Angel of the Owl House

Season 1: The Demon Realm

Chapter 18: Glow of Flame

The day of revelations for King and the residents of the Owl House had quickly passed into a lazy Sunday in which they all slept in and relaxed together. Luz, King, and Eda had gotten no real work done, instead just spending the afternoon (as they'd slept all morning) spending time together and chatting. It was a pleasant day, and a much needed emotional break after the stress of the previous evening, and it left all of them refreshed and ready to face another week. Luz had used her healing magic to reattach King's broken horn properly, and Eda told the kids about the reason for Raine's visit and her agreeing to join the CATTs. Both children had been excited by the idea of a rebel group going against the Emperor, and already had some ideas of people they could recruit, but Eda had told them not to get involved unless they had to; Belos' plans needed an angel (or another angel if Luz and Amity's theory was correct) and he'd also definitely have use for a Baby Titan, so keeping Luz and King safe were her top priorities. Seeing how serious Eda was being about it, the two agreed (with varying levels of reluctance) to not involve themselves unless they needed to.

Monday saw Luz return to Hexside and her friends, and also marked the beginning of her 12th week in the Demon Realm. Camp would end on the Sunday of her 13th week, so she had just 13 full days left on the Boiling Isles, before she'd have to face her Mami. That was also 13 days to find Rasiel's body and complete the Panacea Mirror to cure Eda's curse! With King's permission, Luz had told Amity, Willow, Gus, and the Twins about him being a Titan (neglecting to tell Matt, Skara, and the Multi-Trackers since they didn't know the truth about Rasiel, who was an integral part of the story), and her friends had been completely shocked. The Twins had panicked slightly, wondering if they'd be in big trouble for teasing King a little during their trip to the Knee (something Luz was fairly certain King didn't even remember) while Willow and Gus had reacted in much the same way they had to Luz being an angel; with shock and amazement. Amity had been equally surprised, but had just ended up laughing and saying; "I guess he was a mighty and ferocious demon after all!" referencing the joke she'd made to Luz back at the Covention.

The story about the Titans' fall and the Archivists was met with a lot more seriousness, but there was little any of them could do about it. Titans were on a level of power beyond even the Seraphim, and certainly beyond any witch or demon; so a foe that could threaten them was well beyond the scope of their abilities. If the worst happened, the only plan they had was to take King into the Human Realm and hide him there.

The people in the know had visited the Owl House with Luz after school that day to offer their condolences to King for his losses, as well as express their amazement at his new status. King had reacted a lot more bashfully to the praise than any of them had expected, and had even become uncomfortable with the Twins nervously worshipping him. Now that he knew his old Tyrant fantasies were, well, fantasies, King suddenly felt a lot less comfortable with being treated like one. However he still enjoyed praise, so after making sure the worshipping stopped, King showed off his new Titan Roar, which he'd been practicing all day with Eda and Hooty.

Following that, Luz had decided to recruit her friends to help her continue translating Philip Wittebane's Diary, mindful of the limited time she still had in the Demon Realm. While Luz desperately hoped her Mami would understand and allow her to return, she wanted to make sure Eda was cured and Rasiel at least had his body back, just in case the worst should happen. Amity and Gus had thrown themselves into this task with enthusiasm; the former keen to find more old ruins like Caplacier and Fibul Academy, while the latter was curious to read the thoughts of a true full-blooded human! Willow and the Blight Twins weren't as interested personally, but they were at least happy to help their friends/sister.

Tuesday and Wednesday passed quickly after that; Luz would attend Hexside while King continued his lessons with Eda, then they'd spend the afternoon with Luz's friends, trying to translate Philip's diary, then spend the evening either playing together, or with King listening to stories about Titans from Rasiel while Luz continued her apprenticeship with Eda. They made fast progress with the diary now that they had more people to help, but it wasn't until Thursday afternoon that they had a breakthrough.

They were all sat around the kitchen table of the Owl House; Luz and the witches were hard at work translating pages from the diary, while King worked with Hooty to make dinner under Rasiel's supervision. Watching Hooty cook was a strange experience, since he was able to control the house enough to open cupboards, turn on the burners, and even tilt shelves to make food slide into pots, while Hooty's tube-like body held knives and other utensils with a weird amount of skill and dexterity.

"I still don't understand Hooty…" Willow whispered, momentarily distracted by the odd demon.

"No one does." Eda said dismissively; "Its best to just let him do his thing. He's a weirdo like us after all, and he's actually pretty competent when he doesn't get overexcited." the Owl Lady shot a smirk at Luz; "Kind of reminds me of someone else I know."

Luz responded by sticking her tongue out at Eda, before sighing down at her page; "Well I'm done, but this entry has nothing useful. It's just him continuing his study of the carvings at Caplacier for more clues." she looked to her friends; "Any luck for you guys?"

"Nope. Mine is a short one about him travelling from the Knee to the Hip." Gus sighed, wishing the human could have written more about his own world too.

"I've got something on the Black Tombs, but its just Philip making up theories as to what they are based on what he'd learned from the witches of the era. He mentions that most people think the tombs are cursed, but filled with incredibly powerful relics." Willow added.

Amity sighed; "Mine's a dud too. He's experimenting with Titan's Blood from Eclipse Lake in hopes of making a portal, but nothing more."

"With King around, we don't even need to worry about Titan's Blood. We could probably make another portal whenever we wanted." Edric pointed out. "Oh, and my entry is no good either. Just some whining about how hot it is in Palm Stings."

Emira remained silent, completely focused on her work. Amity thought it was odd to see her big sister so transfixed, especially since she'd been the least interested the previous two days. The youngest Blight was about to ask about it when Willow changed the subject.

"So Luz, what are you going to do about tomorrow? It's the big field trip to the Emperor's Castle." she reminded her, pulling out a pamphlet they'd all gotten at school.

"I'll be skipping it. I don't like playing hooky, but it would be dangerous for me to go there." Luz frowned. In truth, she really wanted to see the castle, but she was afraid of what might happen if she ran into Emperor Belos. If he was an angel like she suspected, he might recognise her immediately! Bump had been able to, and he wasn't even an angel!

Willow, Gus, and Amity all looked disappointed. They'd expected Luz's answer, but they'd still wanted to enjoy the field trip with her, and had hoped that maybe her relationship with Lilith would keep her safe. Still, it was probably safer not to risk it.

"Oh man, you're gonna miss out on all the cool stuff! Maybe we can take photos for you?" Gus suggested.

"Bah, what kind of cool stuff could be in that place? A bunch of tools to subjugate people?" Eda snorted sarcastically.

"Well I don't know about that, but there are some ancient relics there. Each of the nine covens keeps a really powerful magic item in the castle. They were gifted to Belos when he first officially became Emperor." Amity explained, pulling out her own pamphlet to show Luz pictures of the relics.

"Personally, I'm interested in the relic from the Abomination Coven: The Titan Clay." Amity pointed to a picture of a glass orb on a golden stand, with purple abomination-like goo swirling inside it. "It's said to be Abomination slime made from mixing together earth, blood, and bile from the Titan, and is rumoured to be able to make an Abomination close in size to the actual Titan!"

That got King's attention, and he rushed over to look at the artefacts too. "Ooh! What else, what else!?"

"Well there's the Green Thumb Gauntlet from the Plant Coven!" Willow pointed to a picture of a wooden gauntlet, "It can supposedly grow any plant without limits. It's like your plant glyph, but even stronger!"

"And there's the Oracle Sphere, which shows you the path to becoming your best self." Gus grinned, pointing to a picture of a crystal ball with a golden snake wrapped around it. He then pointed to a picture of a silver hand mirror "As well as the Silver Tear Mirror from the Illusion Coven. That one is supposed to let you shape your own body as if it was an abomination! You can permanently change what you look like with that thing!"

Luz and King's eyes shone with curiosity as they looked at all the relics. There was also the Winderfly Harp; a golden harp from the Bard Coven that could control the weather, the Amber Phial; an appropriately named potions phial that could infinitely reproduce any potion the cork was soaked in, the Beckoning Bell; which could be used to sooth the rage of any beast on the Boiling Isles, and the Bag of Abodes; a seemingly mundane pouch from the Construction Coven that actually had a whole luxury manor built inside it. They were all amazing and sounded useful, but it was the last one that caught Luz's attention the most.

It was a pointed blue witch's hat with the hand-shaped crest of the Healing Coven poking out from the side. Luz read the words beside the picture; "The Healing Hat. Made from the magic of the Savage Ages, it is said to cure the deadliest diseases and heal any curse!"

She looked up to Eda; "Eda, I think this could heal your curse!"

Eda shrugged; "Meh, who cares? We've got your amazing Panacea Mirror to do that!"

"But Eda, who knows how long it'll take us to find Rasiel's body so we can finish it? Even if we find the next Black Tomb today, it might not be the one with his body! But we could cure your curse tomorrow if we went to the castle." Luz argued.

"We could hide you under an illusion. We're supposed to see the Relic Room on the tour, so we go in, use the hat, then get out. It's foolproof!" Gus smiled confidently.

Eda shook her head; "No. I appreciate the cunning, but it's too dangerous. The Emperor is already after me and would be after Luz too if he found out what she was. I'm not going near that castle, and I don't want you there either Luz." she said sternly.

Luz wilted and looked down, feeling like she'd made her mentor mad. However Eda just ruffled her hair; "I'm only saying this to keep us both safe, okay? Besides, I have faith in you and your mirror. If anything can cure my curse, it's that."

Luz nodded; Eda had a fair point. It was a big risk to take, especially when they already had a safe option. Rasiel decided that was a good moment to chime in; "If that hat worked anyway, wouldn't Lilith have already tried to use it? She's the Head Witch of the Emperor's Coven, so she'd have access to it."

"Rasiel has a point." Amity said, "Miss Lilith is always talking about how the Emperor promised to heal Eda's curse if she joined the Coven, but she's never mentioned the Healing Hat. There's no way she doesn't know about it, and surely she would have brought it up if that was how the Emperor was planning to cure Eda."

Luz couldn't really argue with that, so she decided to drop it and change the topic. "So I guess tomorrow is going to be a day off for me after all. Looks like we get a three day weekend, eh King?"

"Yeah! I wonder what we should do…" King said, scratching his chin in thought.

"I know what you're going to do." Emira said, finally tuning into the conversation. She looked up from her translation work with a big grin; "You're going to the Black Tomb!"

Everyone gasped and gathered around her; "You found the right page!?" Luz exclaimed.

Emira nodded proudly; "I did! Translating this guy's flowery words and handwriting was a pain, but I finally managed it! Listen to his!"

The girl cleared her throat and began to recite the diary entry; "Today, I finally made the breakthrough I'd hoped for in my study of the enigmatic Black Tombs. Rumours of a Fire Temple to match the Ice Temple at the Caplacier Ruins have led me to investigate numerous arid regions of the isles with no luck, but today I finally succeeded! In the desert of the Titan's left palm, there is a place known as Palm Stings; a warm coastal settlement. But in the very centre of the desert is an old ruined city much like Caplacier. The locals call it Volcarpalis, and it is home to the Fire Temple. I solved its trials with some help from my companions, and now write these words as I stare at a second Black Tomb. I know not what lies within, but the temple records I have recovered claim it is something of immense power. Power enough to complete my mission, mayhaps? Alas I am no closer to opening this tomb than I am the last. My expedition to Eclipse Lake has yielded me Titan's Blood that I might use with the glyphs for one key, and I have no shortage of volunteers to supply Demon Realm blood and magic for the second, but the third key still alludes me! How am I to find an Angel, the holiest of beings, in the Demon Realm? Even asking about them back on the Knee saw me run out of town! Clearly these chaotic creatures do not feel the same of God's servants as my own people do. I dearly hope to meet an Angel; surely they would help me achieve my mission? Until then, I must find another way."

The diary entry ended there, and everyone began exchanging excited looks. Finally, they knew where the temple was!

"Great job, Emira!" Luz grinned, hugging the girl, "Now we know where to go to find the next tomb! Looks like I'm going on a field trip of my own to Palm Stings!"

"Me too!" King cheered; "You got the ice glyph at the Ice Temple, so you've got to unlock a fire glyph at the Fire Temple!"

"Naturally I will be coming along too. I really hope this is my body; I long to be able to feel things again!" Rasiel said, a big grin on his face.

Eda put her hand up with an awkward frown; "Uh, I hate to break this to you guys, but I'm pretty sure Volcarpalis is gone…"

The others turned to her with confusion, so she explained; "There aren't any ruins in the desert around Palm Stings. I should know; I've been out there a few times on ingredient gathering sessions."

The enthusiasm began to drain out of the room; the desert of the left palm wasn't exactly small, but it wasn't so large that it was unexplored. Small oasis outposts as well as the coastal town of Palm Springs could be found there, so if there were ruins out there then surely they would be well known. Rasiel and King exchanged frowns; come to think of it, they hadn't seen any mentions of ruins in the Palm Stings desert in the books they'd been researching, and since Palm Stings was the most famous hot region on the Boiling Isles, it had been the place they'd looked in to first.

"So the ruins are just gone? But if they're like the Ice Temple, they should be indestructible! How could they just be gone!?" Luz cried.

"Maybe it was swallowed by the desert?" Willow suggested.

Rasiel seized on that idea like a drowning man clinging to his last hope; "That must be it! The ruins must have sunken beneath the sand! Luz, wasn't there a map in the diary right after Emira's entry?" he asked.

Luz nodded and flipped open the diary to the right page, showing that there was indeed a map. It showed what looked like a city, and a trail that led from it to an X, marking the spot that the Volcarpalis ruins should hopefully be. However nothing on the map was actually labelled, not even which direction was north, and there were no landmarks at all, hence why Luz hadn't paid it much attention when she'd first seen it. A map that couldn't be read was not much use after all.

"How can we use this? Are we even sure its related to Volcarpalis?" Gus asked with a frown.

"It has to be; it was right after the proper entry in the diary!" Rasiel said determinedly. He might have been more sceptical normally, but he was desperate to get his body back, or at least some part of his lost being!

Amity looked at the simplistic map and hummed; "You know, if we assume this is a map to the ruins, then this…" she pointed to the drawn city; "… must be Palm Stings. It's the only large settlement in the Left Palm. And since it's on the south coast of the palm, we can assume this trail is heading north, since the temple is supposed to be in the desert."

Luz grinned; "It's not perfect, but with Rasiel being able to phase through the ground, we can use this map to find where the ruins are supposed to be, then send Rasiel down to find it! Then once we do, we can dig down!"

"Sounds like a plan!" Eda grinned, "So while you guys are at school and on your field trip, Luz, King, Rasiel and I will go digging for these ruins!"

"I'd like to come as well!" Amity said, "I've been to the Emperor's Castle before with Miss Lilith, and while it's nice, I'd much rather spend the day exploring some ancient ruins with my girlfriend."

Luz blushed and grinned; "Careful Amity; after the Fibul Ruins and Caplacier Ruins, I'm going to think you love exploring ruins more than me!" she joked.

Amity giggled; "Well I can't actually date ruins, so I think you're safe." she joked back.

The two girls giggled and blushed, holding hands even as their friends all rolled their eyes and smirked at their cutesy display. Gus raised his hand; "Uh, not to be a third wheel or anything, but can I come too? I want to see one of these temples with my own eyes. Plus if we're going to a Fire Temple, then you'll want people who can use ice and water magic, right?"

Luz looked to Eda, King, Rasiel, and Amity, but none of them had any complaints, so she nodded happily; "Sure thing Gus! But weren't you looking forward to the field trip tomorrow?"

Gus grinned; "Yeah, but this is way cooler!"

"You mean hotter." Willow joked, before saying; "I'll go on the field trip and cover for you guys, so the teachers don't suspect you guys are just playing hooky. All I need to do is make some plant golems and disguise them as you guys using concealment stones, and no one will be able to tell the difference. Besides, plants and the desert don't really mix."

The others agreed, and Edric and Emira also opted out of the adventure; "We've skipped too many classes recently, and Professor Lavestra will report us to Mom if we skip any more." Edric said.

"Besides, we've had enough temples for one life time! Try not to wake up any crazy dragons this time!" Emira smirked.

"Ha! We beat the Ice Wyrm, so we can definitely beat a fire dragon, especially with all of us knowing ice and water magic! Plus now that we know I'm a Titan and those Supreme Dragons are servants of my dad, I bet we won't even need to fight!" King said proudly.

The others couldn't argue with that, so they grinned and agreed to the plan. Gus and Amity would join the Owl House Crew on their expedition while Willow covered for them on the field trip! Eda and Luz invited everyone to stay for dinner as thanks for their help with the translations, and the expedition crew agreed to meet up bright and early the next morning to make their way to Palm Stings and the desert.

Luz went to sleep with a strange feeling in her chest that night; she had a feeling that tomorrow was going to be the biggest day of her life thus far!

[The Next Morning]

Lilith looked down from the battlements of the Emperor's Castle as she watched a wagon of wild witch prisoners being brought in. They would soon find themselves in cells within the dungeons, and offered a choice; stay there and rot, or join a coven. Few had stayed stubborn for longer than a month before; the dungeons were not a pleasant place to be after all, and those that did found themselves forcibly branded with a random Coven sigil. At least those that were compliant would get to choose their covens, encouraging them to just accept their fates.

For a moment, the elder Clawthorne sister thought of Eda and Luz, dragged into the castle in one of those wagons and tossed into a cell… it was a distressing thought, but Lilith knew that would never come to pass. When Eda was caught, she would not see a cell; she would be cured of her curse and immediately branded with the sigil of the Emperor's Coven. Luz might be given a choice, or even a reprieve until she graduated Hexside, but she would join her mother and aunt in a coven, and then she too would be cured of her curse… the curse that tore at Lilith's heart as she remembered its origins.

Lilith shook the thought away and headed back inside, where a team of hand-picked Coven Scouts was waiting for her.

"Alright scouts; today is the day we will be assaulting the Owl House and capturing my sister." she proclaimed. She had picked this day especially; Amity had assured her that both she and Luz would be attending the field trip to the castle today, ensuring Lilith's niece was out of the way. She didn't want Luz being pulled into their battle after all.

Her scouts saluted and began to march behind her as she made her way out of the castle and towards the airship waiting for them. Standing at the bottom of the ramp onto the airship was Kikimora, a little red skinned demon with a blue clawed hand in place of hair, with a second such hand acting like a ponytail on the back of her head. She served as an assistant to Emperor Belos, making her a sort of equal to Lilith within the Emperor's Coven, much to both of their distaste.

"Off to finally capture your sister, Lilith?" Kikimora asked, "It is about time. Many in the coven have been questioning this delay, especially as you have been seen fraternizing with the Owl Lady and her apprentice."

Lilith rolled her eyes; "I have been attempting to convince them to join us peacefully. However the Emperor wishes this taken care of, so I will finish things today. By the way; my niece should be attending the field trip today, Kikimora. I expect you to treat her well; it would not do to further dissuade her from joining the Emperor."

"Naturally." Kikimora replied, her polite tone hiding poison as always.

Lilith did not bother with a proper goodbye; she simply swept past Kikimora and boarded the ship, ordering her scouts to follow her. They were in the air within minutes and began making their way towards Bonesborough, landing outside the local police precinct (which had apparently required some renovation recently). After that, Lilith led her scouts to the Owl House and had them take up positions in the trees and bushes just out of Hooty's reach, something Lilith had learned after her Grudgby game with Eda. Once in position, she and her scouts lay in wait for the perfect moment to strike; namely when Luz left for school.

She wasn't waiting for too long, as she soon heard her apprentice Amity walking through the forest towards the Owl House, alongside Luz's other two close friends; Gus and Willow. Lilith watched as the trio went into the house, then ten minutes later, they emerged again with Luz in tow and walked happily off to Hexside. They were unusually quiet, especially the usually chatty Luz, but Lilith chalked it up to it still being early. She had her scouts wait until she was sure Luz and her friends were out of ear shot, then grinned.

"Good, they're gone. And it looks like the House Demon has fallen asleep." Lilith said. She signalled to her scouts; "Surround the house."

The scouts jumped to obey her orders, but as they moved into position, Hooty woke up and immediately went on the attack. He dived into the ground and popped out behind Lilith.

"Hiya Lilith! Peek-a-hoot!" he hooted, smashing into Lilith's gut hard enough to knock her into a tree, winding her. The elder Clawthorne struggled to regain her breath as she watched her elite, hand-picked force of scouts be completely devastated by the chaotic bird noodle that was Hooty. The House Demon treated the whole experience like a game, sending her subordinates flying with his strange wiggling and dancing, hooting happily the whole time. Lilith growled and tried to cast a spell at the House Demon while it was distracted, but Hooty bent to eat what he thought was a bug, and Lilith instead hit a tree… a tree that promptly fell on top of her. She barely got out of the way in time to avoid being crushed, but as soon as she got up again, Lilith found herself face to face with Hooty.

Clearly her plan to capture Eda was not going to work out how she'd hoped…

As this was happening, Eda watched the "battle" with some binoculars from her living room. She felt a little bad for her sister, but still enjoyed watching Hooty take apart the Emperor's Coven so easily.

"Ah Hooty. You can be a thorn in my side, but you still manage to worm your way into my heart." Eda sighed happily, "Now speaking of people worming their way into my heart… Luz! Are you ready yet?"

"Coming Eda!" Luz called from the kitchen, before coming into the living room with King, Rasiel, Gus, and Amity. They were all (other than Rasiel) wearing heat-repelling cloaks and carrying backpacks, canteens, and collapsible shovels, ready for their trip to the desert. "We heard a commotion outside. Did Willow and the disguised plant golems run into trouble?"

Eda shook her head with a grin; "Nah, Flowers and the fakes got out safe and sound. Lilith and her goons have come to capture me again. I bet they waited for you to be gone before they attacked, so if anything, I'd say the fakes are working fine! Now Hooty is beating the stuffing out of Lily and the scouts."

Gus, King, and Rasiel chuckled as they went to watch the scene too, while Amity felt embarrassed on behalf of her mentor, and Luz worried for her Tia. She was distracted from her worry by a cauldron Eda had set out on the table, which seemed to be stirring some kind of blue spaghetti.

"What's this, Eda? Making some lunch to take with us?" Luz asked to distract herself from Lilith's predicament.

Eda shook her head; "Nope, this is Witch's Wool. I'm dying it and weaving some extra magic into it."

Luz looked confused, so Amity helpfully explained; "Witch's Wool is a kind of magically woven material that can repel magic. They keep the wearer safe from all but the most powerful spells! Though it doesn't tend to last long unless you recharge it."

"And any Witch worth their salt has a cloak made of it." Eda finished.

Luz oohed and ahhed, eyes sparkling with desire. She wanted a Witch's Wool Cloak! But considering the current situation, it made more sense for Eda to have one; she was the one being actively hunted by the best coven on the Isles!

"That's good. Now you'll have some more protection!" she chirped happily.

Eda rolled her eyes; "This isn't for me, kiddo."

"Oh? Ohhhhh, I get it!" Luz grinned impishly, "You're making a present for Raine!"

The Owl Lady chuckled; "Sure, let's go with that. Now we should-"

Eda suddenly froze as the world around her faded into blackness, and she found herself alone in an empty void.

"Oh no!" she cried, her voice echoing through the void; "The curse! B-But my magic wasn't low! I wasn't stressed! Is it getting stronger again!?"

She looked around desperately, then scowled as the void was replaced by a hazy scene from her distant memories. She found herself staring down at her younger self, exactly as she had been all those years ago before she was cursed. The young Eda was curled up in bed, sleeping with a contented smile, ignorant as to what was about to happen to her. Eda sighed irritably and turned to see the figure who'd cursed her; a shadowy being with no defining features besides large glowing white eyes.

"You know, I'm getting a little tired of this game!" Eda growled, taking a step towards the shadow and reaching for it; "So why don't you show me your face!"

She clasped her hand around the shadow's face, but then the void faded away and Eda suddenly found herself in her bedroom at the Owl House, with her hand wrapped around Luz's face as the young angel held an empty vial of Super Elixir to her mouth. Eda blinked for a moment, registering what had happened and noticing Gus and Amity standing beside Luz, wielding weapons made of ice and abomination slime, while King was behind her, using plant glyphs to make vines. They had likely had to subdue the Owl Beast so Luz could force feed her the Elixir.

"Oh…" she mumbled numbly, pulling her hand away from Luz. Thankfully none of the kids seemed hurt, but with Luz's healing magic, that didn't mean a lot; "Is everyone okay?"

"W-We're fine. We got the jump on the Owl Beast straight away." Luz answered shakily, "But Eda, we needed to use five Super Elixirs to calm you down. We're all out now."

"You've been building a resistance to them. With everything that has happened in recent weeks, you've used a lot more magic and needed to drink so many elixirs to stave off the curse that they aren't as effective any more." Rasiel frowned, "Even that gem you use as a Bile Monitor is still specked with black."

Eda looked down and sure enough, her amber gem had specks of black throughout; a bad sign. "I might need to postpone the expedition, kids. We can't afford to go without some Elixirs, and I need time to brew some up."

"Can we really afford to delay though?" Luz asked worriedly; "We need to complete the Panacea Mirror as soon as possible! If you run out of magic completely, you'll turn into the Owl Beast forever! We can't let that happen."

Eda sighed; "We don't have a choice. If I turn without any elixir, it'll be a disaster."

King chimed in; "Then you stay here and brew up some more while we go to Volcarpalis! With my Titan powers and the others having water magic, we should be a match for anything the temple can throw at us!"

"It's a good idea, Eda. We can handle it." Amity agreed.

"Yeah; we've faced a lot of dangerous stuff without you. We'll be fine. And if the worst should happen, I'll hide us with an illusion and we can high tail it back here." Gus said confidently.

Eda wanted to argue, but couldn't bring herself to. The Panacea Mirror really was her last chance, and this expedition was the only hope they had of finishing it before Eda fully succumbed to her curse. In the end, her fear of that and the concern of her kids made Eda relent.

"Alright. You kids can go without me. Just promise you'll be careful and come back safe and sound, okay?" Eda said.

Luz and the others nodded; "We promise! Don't worry Eda; we'll find Rasiel's body and cure you one and for all!" Luz declared, hugging her mentor tightly. King wanted to join too, and after a three-way hug, Eda and the Expedition Crew went back downstairs.

Since their stores of ingredients was a bit low, King grew the plants they needed with his plant glyph while Luz took some Tearful Tonic to make herself cry and produce a vial of tears. In her desperation to make sure Eda was okay and could potentially make stronger elixirs, she even pricked her finger to give Eda some of her blood, and plucked a single small feather from one of her lower wings, giving Eda all three of the coveted angel ingredients. That way if the expedition ended in failure, they'd at least have a chance at staving off the curse.

Eda was touched by this, and had to all but chase her kids and their friends out of the house before Luz talked herself into giving more parts of herself. She watched as Luz carried King in her arms and Amity carried Gus on her staff, and flew away under an illusion to make them appear like a flock of birds to keep Lilith from seeing them.

Once they were gone, Eda sighed; "They're really good kids… I'm really causing them a lot of stress." she looked at the vial of golden blood that Luz had shed for her, and the plants King had grown, then thought back to the Witch's Wool in the living room. She smirked; "Well, I was planning on repaying them anyway. It's not like brewing the elixirs will take all day!"

With that, she got to work on the elixir as her kids flew off to Palm Stings. The kids ended up flying right over the scene of the "battle" between Lilith and Hooty, completely ignorant to the Head Witch's troubles.

Lilith, having ended up half buried in the ground thanks to Hooty, dug herself up with a groan as her comm-pact mirror began to ring. Groggily she answered it, scowling as she saw the face of Kikimora staring back at her from the mirror's surface.

"The Emperor demands your presence in the throne room." Kikimora said. "And there's a bird on your head."

Lilith looked up, spotting the edge of a displaced bird's nest. She heard the Demon bird say "Ooooh, you're in trouble!"

Lilith growled and slammed the comm-pact mirror shut and got to her feet. She looked over and saw her scouts being held captive by Hooty and forced to participate in a tea party. She grimaced at the scene and went over to rescue them; anything to delay hearing of the Emperor's displeasure!

[Later]

The flight from the Owl House to Palm Stings was a long one, since they essentially had to travel from the Titan's right elbow all the way to the left palm. It took Luz and the others almost two hours to reach it, and that was flying in a straight line! Still, at least they got to spend the flight chatting and hanging out, and speculating what the field trip was like for Willow, who was puppeteering three plant golems. They'd texted her and gotten a message back saying that Skara was helping with the disguise by using Bardic magic to imitate their voices so the golems seemed more alive, and so far no one besides Skara had caught on. That was at least one worry off their shoulders, though Eda was still another.

"I really hope Eda is okay… was it stupid of me to give blood and a feather to her? What if they trigger another Bile Overload like the overdose of tears!?" Luz asked, beginning to worry even more.

"Calm yourself, Luz." Rasiel said soothingly; "The tears caused that reaction by countering the symptoms of the curse; namely the magic drain. Angelic blood doesn't have that property, but it is a potent source of magic in its own right, and our feathers speed up how fast one regenerates and produces magic. So long as Eda doesn't stupidly throw all the ingredients together haphazardly, she will be able to make adjustments to her elixir that should at least buy her a few more days. You needn't worry."

That didn't exactly make Luz feel better, but it did calm her down a bit. However it also raised another question, this time from Amity. "That reminds me; back when Boscha hit you on the day we first met, you blood was red. But earlier today it was gold; why did it change?"

"Actually, I've been meaning to ask that too. I know Mami's blood was red like mine was, so it can't be because of my maturity. Do you have an answer, Rasiel?" Luz asked.

Rasiel nodded; "It is a symptom of your evolution. Angelic blood turns gold when there is a significantly higher magic saturation. Basically, once you have enough magic, your blood will turn gold. It usually happens around the time an angel reaches High Angel levels of power, but it can vary."

Luz hummed, but her thoughts were soon drawn away from the topic of her blood and to her little brother in her arms. He'd suddenly gotten colder, making her look down and see that he was using ice glyphs to cool himself off as the temperature got hotter and hotter. His fur really made it uncomfortably warm for him. Thankfully, the rising temperature was a sign that they'd just about reached their destination, so they flew lower and saw the desert of the Titan's left palm for the first time. It was a wide expanse of pale yellow sand, dotted with red sandstone formations and little green spots that denoted oases, most of which had white sandstone buildings surrounding them. The Titan's fingers jutted out of the edges of the desert, some curling into the sky while others lay flat against the Boiling Sea. It was an intimidating sight, made more so by the sheer size of it.

Amity then pointed out their first destination; the city of Palm Stings along the southern coast of the palm. Luz, the only one besides Rasiel to not have seen it before, gasped in amazement. It was a fairly small city; maybe only a little bigger than Bonesborough, but it resembled a mix of a holiday resort and a fantasy Arabian city, with buildings and palaces of white stone to reflect the sweltering sunlight, palm trees (with red leaves like most Demon Realm trees), and fancy stained glass windows that prevented the sunlight from being magnified like normal glass would. There was also a massive port with dozens of ships, both sea and sky, docked within it. If the situation had been different, Luz would have been desperate to explore it! Maybe once Eda was cured, they could come on vacation here to celebrate? Rasiel would get to sunbathe with his own body, and Eda could bring Raine! Maybe Luz would be able to bring Amity too!

Shaking those thoughts away for a moment, Luz descended to a small grove of palm trees just outside the city's north gate, followed by Amity, Gus, and Rasiel. Once they were on the ground and certain that nobody was watching, they dropped the illusions hiding them. Luz placed King on the ground, but he yelped and began dancing around as the hot sand burned his paws, making him leap back into Luz's back.

"This place is so hot! Even the ground is hot! I hate coming to the palms!" King grumbled, slapping another ice glyph onto himself to cover his fur in a thin layer of frost.

"It really is way warmer than Bonesborough" Gus agreed, pulling up the hood of the light cloak he was wearing to keep the sun from beating down on him. "I came here on vacation with my Dad a couple of years ago, and I swear I sweated enough to fill a swimming pool!"

"Me too. Dad ended up passing out at one point on our last trip here because he insisted on still working on his abominations, and overheated in the villa we'd rented." Amity said, smiling as she remembered how her father had gotten after that. The experience had left him loopy for a while, and it had made him extremely cuddly and affectionate. He'd actually spent a few hours playing with her and her siblings until his brain cooled off.

Rasiel smiled; "I look forward to feeling the heat for myself! This city does bring back memories though; it reminds me of the cities of the Divine Realm."

"It does?" Luz asked, enjoying the feeling of King's icy fur on the back of her neck.

"Indeed. The Divine Realm is a place of near eternal sunlight, so it is fairly hot there. Why do you think my clothes are baggy pants, a waist cape, and no shirt?" he grinned, pointing to his bare chest. "Angels rarely wear much clothing in our own realm; just enough to maintain comfort and modesty, and what we do wear is light, like the residents of this city."

He nodded over to the nearby gates, where people were heading in and out of Palm Stings, most of them wearing light clothes or cloaks of some kind. "Our cities are also built with white stone to reflect the light, and we use Aurum, our alchemical gold, to decorate the place since it can absorb heat and convert it into magic energy while keeping things cool. Though our actual architecture is different."

Luz and her friends listened eagerly, especially Amity, who imagined what Luz would look like in a feminine version of Rasiel's outfit. It made her blush crimson, forcing her to use some ice magic to cool her cheeks, lest she overheat.

"We can hear more stories on the way to the temple. But walking through this desert is gonna be a nightmare!" King complained.

"I've got some snails on me, so we can rent Croconaw Crabs." Amity suggested, pointing over to a building beside the nearby gates. The building was some kind of stable with massive creatures that resembled coconut crabs residing inside. Other witches were renting them as transportation through the desert, and they moved surprisingly fast once they got going.

"Good idea, Amity. Let's go!" Luz smiled, taking her girlfriend's hand and rushing over to the stables, with Gus following close behind and Rasiel returning to his ring.

Getting a closer look at the Croconaw Crabs, Luz found that they were even bigger than she'd thought, looking like coconut crabs with bodies closer in size to large bears, and a retractable head that resembled an Alligator. Each one was fitted with reins hammered into the sides of their thick shells, and a long saddle on their backs. They decided to rent two of them from the cheerful old crone who owned the stable, and received a stern warning not to try and ride off with them; as the Crabs would throw off their riders and return home if they were gone for more than 24 hours or tried to leave the desert.

Since Amity had ridden one before on her last vacation with her family, she took control of one of the crabs and had Luz sat behind her, much to both of their pleasure, while King and Ghost rode alongside Gus. They then shot off into the desert, moving at remarkable speed as they followed the map in Philip's diary, which Luz had brought along in her satchel. It was a fairly fun ride; the crabs moved quickly and smoothly, so they could race across the desert without constantly being bumped. King, Gus, and Luz all cheered whenever their mounts would slide down a sand dune, feeling like they were riding a roller coaster. Amity and Rasiel didn't really get it, but they smiled at their companions happiness all the same.

Luz guided them along the map's path and soon found that the sudden changes in direction that Philip had drawn matched up perfectly with rest stops at small Oases throughout the desert. It would have taken hours to walk the path, but thanks to their mounts, the group bounced from oasis to oasis without much trouble, until they finally reached their ultimate destination in the dead centre of the desert.

They stopped at the spot marked on the map and got off their mounts to look around. There was absolutely nothing around them. No landmarks, no signs of ruins, no nothing; just another oasis a few kilometres to the north and miles of sand in every direction. It was just like Eda had said; there was no sign of Volcarpalis.

"Well, this is the moment of truth." Rasiel said, steeling himself; "Time to see if Volcarpalis was buried like we thought! Wish me luck!"

The others did so, and Rasiel promptly dived down into the sand, taking advantage of his incorporeal form to swim through the desert with ease. With nothing to do but wait, Luz grew a palm tree with the plant glyph to give them some shade and Amity sat with her at its base, holding hands and happily chatting to each other as Gus used ice magic along with King to have a snowball fight to keep them cool, something Ghost was watching with amusement.

"You know, I'm kinda freaked out by the fact this is a desert but I haven't seen a single cactus." Luz mused. "I always wanted to know what the water from the inside of a cactus tasted like."

Amity giggled; "Cacti don't grow in this desert. We only get Fire Melon Cacti, and they grow in the right palm desert instead. And trust me, you don't want to drink the water."

"Fire Melon Cacti? I don't know Hermosa, if it tastes anything like Water Melon, I might just have to try it!" Luz giggled, enjoying how Amity blushed at the nickname. Amity still didn't know what it meant, as Luz loved to tease her with it.

"Luz, Fire Melon Cacti produces the most potent alcohol on the Boiling Isles. It gets its name from how much the juice burns! Also, because the juice heats up in the desert heat, then catches fire like oil and makes the cacti explode." Amity explained with a grin.

"Oh… I wonder how it compares to Apple Blood. That stuff burned!" Luz said, remembering an occasion that she'd accidentally taken some of Eda's hard Apple Blood instead of the diluted soft stuff she normally drank.

Amity pet her girlfriend's hair; "Luz, I love you, but Apple Blood is one of the weaker alcohols. Why else do you think Eda is able to drink it so casually?"

Luz pouted; "Aw… why does Demon Realm alcohol have to come from such tasty sounding fruits…?"

Amity giggles at the silly conversation and kissed Luz's cheek, making the angel stop pouting immediately so she could kiss Amity back. Rasiel picked that moment to come floating back up from under the sand.

"Okay, so I have good news, bad news, and great news!" he announced, smiling as Gus and King came over to join the girls.

"What's the great news?" Gus asked.

"Willow's theory was right; the Volcarpalis Ruins were here and sunk beneath the sand! They're right below our feet!" Rasiel grinned happily.

The kids cheered, before Amity cautiously asked; "Okay, so what's the bad news?"

Rasiel winced; "The ruins are about a kilometre below us, and sank into the Titan's bones. The molten bone marrow has formed a pretty intense volcanic environment too."

The kids gaped; "A kilometre!? The tallest building in the Human Realm isn't even that tall!" Luz exclaimed.

"How are we supposed to dig that deep!?" King cried. He only had a little trowel, and the others had regular shovels! It would take them years to dig down that far!

"Well you see, that's the good news!" Rasiel said, "Not only is there air down in the cavern so you can all breath, but I found a passage way! It leads to a hidden cave beneath that oasis over there." he pointed to the oasis they'd spotted a couple of kilometres to the north. "I suspect the temple was hidden on purpose, and that passage was made as a way for people who knew about it to get inside."

"Well, I guess we've got no choice. Let's take a look." Luz decided. Her friends nodded in agreement, and after a brief drink from their canteens, they got back on their crab mounts and hurried over to the distant oasis. When they arrived, Luz took a look at the seemingly innocent pool of water, but couldn't see any signs of a secret.

"Is this the right place?" Gus asked, dipping a finger into the pool.

Rasiel nodded; "The water is bubbling up from the cavern underground. There's about ten inches of sand and sandstone between the bottom of this oasis and the cave below it. You'll need to dive down."

Luz used her ice magic to form an ice bubble around her head to act like a diving helmet, then stuck her head under the water. The Oasis was about two metres deep, so they'd have to either dig two metres down from the surface, or dig a few inches from the bottom of the water.

"Well guys, looks like we're gonna have to swim a bit. I'll dive down and blast us a way into the cave with my light magic, then I'll come get you." she decided.

The others agreed, so Luz took off her shoes and cloak, then dove fully into the oasis. The cool water was a relief on her hot skin as she swam to the bottom of the oasis. She put her hand against the small lake bed, only to gasp as it passed straight through. There was no sand or sandstone at all; it was an illusion! Taking a risk, Luz dove down through the illusion and found herself swimming into the cave Rasiel had described. The cavern was fairly small, being about the size of the Owl House's living room, but featured a literal pillar of water bubbling up from the ground and into the ceiling, completely defying gravity. Luz poked her head out of this pillar and saw a passageway leading southward.

The young angel hurried swam back up and surfaced; "Guys, you won't believe what I just found!"

She described the illusion and the magic pillar of water, the former of which Rasiel hadn't noticed, since he phased through solid ground like it was an illusion anyway. The pillar of water was apparently a semi-common thing on the Boiling Isles though; "They're called Lake Roots. Water from the Boiling Sea filters up through the Titan's bone marrow and forms these strange upward flowing water formations that form into lakes and ponds on the surface." Amity explained.

Luz blinked at that, but didn't question it; the Boiling Isles was full of oddities after all. "If Rasiel is right about someone hiding the Fire Temple, then they probably made this place a secret entrance. That means we're going to all have to dive down there. You guys can swim, right?" Luz asked, looking to King and Gus.

Both nodded, and they and Amity immediately used their own ice and water magic to give themselves bubbles to breath in while diving down, while Amity also made a second one to contain Ghost, who naturally didn't like the water. They left their Croconaw Crabs tied to a tree in the oasis, then one by one, dived into the pool. They all passed through the illusion at the bottom and emerged into the small cave beneath, stepping out from the water of the Lake Root. Luz illuminated their surroundings with a light spell, then used her water magic to dry them all and dismiss their icy diving helmets by pulling the water towards her and then releasing it into the Lake Root.

The little cave below the oasis really was plain and empty, except for the Lake Root, so they immediately began heading down the passage towards the Volcarpalis Ruins. It would be a long walk, but they hadn't come this far to give up!

[Meanwhile]

Lilith, still covered in dirt, leaves, and now the feathers of an annoying mocking demon bird, marched into the Emperor's castle through one of the side doors, very much not looking forward to the meeting she'd been called to. The Emperor rarely demanded her presence, and whenever he did, it was to give her a mission that would be a pain in the behind, or to reprimand her for her failure to capture Eda. Considering how she'd gotten into her current state, she expected it would be the latter.

To make the situation all the worse, coming in through one of the side doors meant that Lilith almost immediately ran into Kikimora as the demon escorted the students from Hexside on their field trip. Kikimora's one visible eye glittered with malicious delight at the sight of the Head Witch.

"Ah! Make way for Miss Lilith Clawthorne, students." she said with false enthusiasm as the students behind her gasped in delight. It heartened Lilith to see they weren't disappointed by her appearance. She looked towards the back of the group and saw Luz and Amity, as well as their little friends. Both girls waved to her, their smiling faces unchanging and their wave oddly synchronised. Lilith blinked, finding the gesture almost robotic coming from her usually energetic niece, but she smiled and waved back, preparing to speak to her before Kikimora once again opened her trap.

"Yes, and if I'm not mistaken, she's on her way to see the Emperor himself. Let's all wish her luck!"

The students (save Luz and her friends) said "Good Luck, Miss Lilith!", making the Head Witch blush and inhale deeply to suppress her embarrassment.

"Thank you, students." she said, before muttering under her breath; "Good luck with puberty."

She then marched off, leaving Kikimora to deal with the students. Lilith hoped to speak to her niece before the tour was over, but for now, the Emperor awaited her. She went straight up to the throne room, cleaning herself off as she went, and eventually found herself right outside. Taking another deep breath to steady her nerves, Lilith opened the doors and walked inside.

The Emperor's throne room was long and dimly lit, and silent except for the sound of the Titan's heart, which continued to beat even though the Titan was long departed. Various tubes and pipes were connected to its blood vessels, linking it to wherever it had been before the Emperor claimed it. Beneath the Titan's heart was the golden throne of the Boiling Isles, on which sat Emperor Belos himself. Lilith immediately felt her heart lurch at the sight of him; he was slouched and his masked face was being held by one hand as the other clenched the armrest of his throne; clearly he was having one of his… unpleasant moments.

Flanking his throne was the Golden Guard on his right side and the Silver Sentinel on his left, both standing as still as statues. A small number of Coven Scouts also lined the walls, and surprisingly, another Coven Head was present. This Coven Head was a short man of a similar demonic species to Kikimora, only with four arms and purple skin. His eyes were blue with black sclera, while his "hair" (actually clawed hands and fingers, like Kikimora's) was white, and included a long moustache that wrapped around his entire head and tied together at the back. He wore a dull purple robe with a slightly brighter cowl, and in one hand he wielded a quill, in another was a book, and in the central two was clasped a crystal ball that was also tied to a rope around his neck.

This man was Osran, the Head of the Oracle Coven, and an enigmatic fellow that seemed to live half in the future, half in the past, and never in the present. His presence in front of the throne did not bode well.

Lilith ignored him for the time being and knelt before the Emperor, bowing her head; "I am at your service, Emperor Belos."

The Emperor did not reply immediately, instead waiting for something. That something turned out to be another Coven Scout, who approached him with a dormant Palisman on a platter. Lilith felt her stomach churn as she knew the fate that awaited it; the only mercy was that the poor thing was completely dormant and wouldn't feel what was about to happen.

"Just a moment, Lilith." the Emperor said, snatching up the Palisman and cutting into it with one gold clad finger. The head came away and thick glowing green essence began flowing out, allowing Belos to lift the Palisman to his mask and pour the essence into his eyes. The Emperor's eyes glowed in the same sickly green colour as the Palisman was reduced to an empty wooden shell, which was promptly burned away in pale green flames.

"Ah, that's better." he said, relaxing as the Palisman's essence rejuvenated whatever it was that ailed him. "I heard you attempted a raid this morning, with the goal of capturing the Owl Lady. Given you are here and she is not, would I be correct in assuming you failed. Again?" Belos asked casually.

Lilith flushed in humiliation; "Yes, Emperor Belos."

The man shook his head; "Tut tut, Lilith. The Day of Unity approaches, and you have made no progress. I'm afraid I cannot allow this to continue."

"Please my lord, if I had but a little more time, I could-"

Belos silenced Lilith with a cold glare; "You've had enough time. I have decided that your time, and your sister's, has run out. Eda Clawthorne will be captured tonight, and I will see to it personally."

"Y-You, my lord?" Lilith blinked.

"Yes, me. Though you will assist me by bringing me something else I require." Belos said; "You will bring me an angel."

Lilith balked; "My lord! H-How can I possibly bring you an angel!? There's no way to even tell if one is on the Boiling Isles or in the Demon Realm!" she argued, briefly looking over to Osran; "Oracle magic doesn't work on them either, so how could we find one!?"

"Find one?" Belos chuckled; "But my dear, you already have. In fact, you know her quite well… my Scouts in Bonesborough have seen you with her. What was that charming little name she calls you? Oh yes; "Tia Lily"."

Lilith's eyes widened with shock; "N-No… no, it couldn't be…!"

"I'm quite certain it can be, and is. Young Luz Noceda is an angel, one already blessed by the Titan as He tried to steer her away from the corrupting influence of your sister, the Owl Lady. Alas the Owl Lady's talons are deep in her soul, and the girl blocks out the true words of the Titan. We need to fix that." Belos explained, watching Lilith's expression closely.

The woman put a hand over her mouth; suddenly, the white hair and feathers she'd known Luz to possess took on an entirely different meaning. Luz wasn't a cursed child; she was an angel! She wasn't Eda's daughter… she wasn't Lilith's niece… That revelation made her guts twist painfully; she'd become extremely fond of Luz. The cheerful girl was often a breath of fresh air whenever Lilith had to deal with her bratty younger sister, and the budding relationship between Luz and Lilith's apprentice had been adorable… but had it really all been a lie?

"How is it Luz was able to lie to me? I thought angels had to tell the truth?" she questioned.

Belos hummed; "I suspect through a combination of exact words, and having developed genuine familial feelings for yourself and the Owl Lady. Those very feelings are why I will be sending you to capture her; your mutual affection will make her transition into a ward of my coven a lot smoother."

Lilith bowed her head once more; if the Emperor was correct, then Luz could not be allowed to remain under the guardianship of Eda. An angel should not be twisted into an agent of chaos; lest the Titan become angry. It would break Luz's heart to be torn away from her mentor; Lilith still remembered Luz's answer when she'd asked why the girl didn't call Eda "Mom", and knew that parental feelings were building there. But Lilith could ease that pain just like the Emperor said, and once Eda was in the coven and cured, perhaps she could still spend time with Luz!

"I will do as you command, my lord. As luck would have it, Luz is in the castle as we speak. I will go and get her now." Lilith said, getting to her feet.

"Actually Head Witch Lilith…" Osran said, finally speaking up for the first time in a deep, wizened voice; "The being that walks these halls is not an angel. That is a plant golem disguised by illusion magic, as are the young illusionist and your apprentice. They are controlled by the plant track girl in glasses."

Lilith's eyes widened; "What!? They're fakes!?"

"Indeed. It appears the Owl Lady's bad influence extends to skipping school. Sadly, an angel's immunity to oracle magic renders them impossible to track with it… but their companions do not share that immunity." Belos said, leaning forward in his throne; "As your apprentice, Amity Blight, is also absent and being replaced by a replica, one can assume the two are together. Osran has used his powers to find and track the Blight girl; she is currently in the desert of the left palm, searching for ancient ruins known as Volcarpalis. You will go there, along with a detachment of scouts, and apprehend the young angel and bring her to me. Once the angel is free from your sister's clutches, I will capture Eda Clawthorne personally, and cure her affliction."

"Of course, my lord. I will not fail you." Lilith said, bowing once again.

"I know; because if you do, you will be stripped of your rank and banished from my coven. You do know what happens to covenless witches, don't you?" Belos said threateningly.

Lilith gulped; at best she'd be made to join a different coven (a humiliating prospect) but at worst… she'd be petrified. She nodded shakily; "I-I understand. I will bring you Luz by the end of the day. No matter what."

With that, Lilith turned and fled the throne room, and Osran left moments later, bowing to the Emperor as he went. Once they were gone, the Golden Guard stepped a bit closer to the Emperor; "My lord, if I may, why have we not gone to apprehend the angel sooner? We've known of her presence since the Conformatorium incident."

The Emperor chuckled; "Simple, my young friend; I wished to see how she would react to this world and the Titan's will. While she has resisted His call thanks to the Owl Lady, she has still proven quite helpful in bringing some order to the isles. The destruction of that disgusting Grometheus and the recapture of the escaped Greater Basilisk are major examples, and it was her presence that allowed us to find the Looking Glass Ruins and claim a Galdorstone. She moves to the Titan's will even if she doesn't know it. But things cannot be allowed to continue further than this."

Belos stood up and began walking out of his throne room, his two most loyal shadows following closely behind him; "Besides, now that the Owl Lady has had enough time to grow fond of her angelic apprentice, the young lady is now the perfect bait to draw her in. With patience, we can capture two birds with one cage."

The Golden Guard and Silver Sentinel exchanged silent looks as their Emperor chuckled to himself, already anticipating the arrival of the angel child. His true order would soon be realised!

[Meanwhile]

It had taken quite a while for Luz and her friends to finally reach the end of the long passage from the oasis entrance, but even long before they reached the end, they knew they were going in the right direction. When they'd first entered the passage, things had been relatively cool; they were out of the sun's baking heat and still refreshed from their brief dip in the oasis. However as the path slowly sloped downwards and they got closer to their destination, the heat was beginning to rise. In fact, by the time they reached the end, it was hotter than the desert, forcing all of them to use ice magic to keep themselves cool, and water magic to keep their canteens filled.

They were damp with sweat and melted ice when they stepped out of the long passage, and found themselves in an expansive underground cavern. The cavern was huge; easily big enough to contain all of Hexside, and it was well lit by veins of glowing hot magma that flowed like rivers through the pitch black, igneous rock and charred Titan bone. Pillars of rock dotted the cavern, some as thick as buildings and others as thin as twigs, and which had formed from portions of the cavern ceiling melting in the heat and drooping down. The whole place looked like the inside of a volcano… or a vision of hell.

"By the Titan, I thought the desert was hot! We'll actually cook down here!" Gus exclaimed, fanning himself with some of the wind magic he'd learned from the Blight Twins.

"I'm more surprised we can breathe. I'd have thought this place would have filled up with smoke or gas or something. Don't volcanic places usually have tons of stuff like that?" Luz asked, continuously flapping her wings gently to generate a light breeze.

"It's because of the Titan's bone marrow. It works kind of like plants, filtering harmful gasses into breathable air. It's a really useful purifying agent." Amity explained, stopping to pick up a chunk of the ground to show it to Luz. It was uncomfortably hot to the touch and blackened with soot, but when wiped clean, it was revealed to be pale and porous stone that smelled faintly sweet and smoky.

"Cool!" Luz grinned, putting the rock in her satchel as a souvenir, "Now where is that temple?"

"Just ahead, behind the largest melted pillar. On the far side of the cavern." Rasiel said, pointing in the right direction.

"Good! Let's hurry and get this over with!" King cried, his fur dyed white by the frost he'd covered himself with, "I'll pass out if I stay in this heat too long! Curse my adorably fluffy pelt!"

Luz, Amity, and Gus chuckled and began walking through the cavern. There was no clear path and the ground was hot, so they had to be careful as they moved through it (at one point, Luz even had to use her magic to cool a lava flow so they could all easily cross), but they made it around the large melted pillar and came face to face with the ruins of Volcarpalis.

The ruins looked similar to the Caplacier Ruins, having the same architecture. Big chunks of the temple's upper levels were made of conventional stone that had become weathered and melted over the years, but just as the lower levels of Caplacier had been made of indestructible blue stone, the lower levels of the Volcarpalis ruins were made of a similarly indestructible red stone, showing no signs of damage or degradation despite being underground for at least a couple of centuries. In fact, the red stone portions were covered in a glossy sheen, from where the sand that hand clung to it on the surface had melted into glass.

"Look at this place!" Amity gasped; "It's just like Caplacier! We might be the first people to find this place since Philip Wittebane!" she said excitedly. "The red stone portion must have originally been built underground, like the Ice Temple was, but now that it's sunken into this cavern, it's been exposed."

"Whoa… how do we get in though?" Gus asked, not seeing any kind of door way.

"The entrance is likely inside what was originally the surface part of the temple." Rasiel said, pointing to the partially melted ruins atop the red stone structure. He floated forward and pressed his hand against the red stone, finding that just like the blue stone at Caplacier, he couldn't get through it. "This temple is warded against spirits too, so I can't scout ahead either."

"Guess we're doing this the old fashioned way. Hold on a second." Luz said, flying up to the melted ruins. What would have been the front entrance was still open and unobstructed, allowing her to go inside and find little besides more warped stone and a lot of ash and soot. She flapped her wings to blow some of the soot away and found a sheet of some kind of glass blocking the entrance to the underground section, just like the sheet of ice that had guarded the entrance to the Ice Temple. Smiling, she looked back down to the others.

"I found the way in. Hold on a second." Luz replied, before using the plant glyph to make a long vine. Instantly, the vine caught fire in the heat, making Luz yelp and drop it. The others dodged out of the way and watched as the vine crumpled into ash. "Uh, okay… I guess plant magic won't work down here." Luz said, suddenly glad Willow hadn't come with them.

"Don't worry about it!" Amity called up to her, switching Ghost to her staff form and flying up to join her girlfriend, carrying Gus and King with her. Luz blushed, realising she'd forgotten Amity could do that, and Amity giggled and gave her a kiss on the cheek.

"Thanks for trying, my Luz." Amity said, making Luz blush even brighter. The young angel misted herself with some icy vapour to cool herself down as Rasiel and the others took a look at the sheet of glass blocking the way into the temple proper.

"I'm pretty sure this is tempered glass." Gus knocked on it with his fist, then smacked it with his shovel, the latter only managing to scratch the glass. "I doubt we can just melt it with fire if it withstood this place's heat."

"I could try vaporising it with light magic?" Luz suggested.

"Ooh, let me do this!" King said excitedly. He shooed everyone to the far side of the ruins, then planted himself firmly in front of the glass and took a deep breath. He then unleashed his Titan Roar, created a powerful shock wave that rattled the glass, causing it to vibrate until it eventually shattered, sending little fragments of glass into the air. Thankfully King's roar ensure the fragments hit the far wall instead of landing on him or his friends. The young titan then scurried down the steps into the temple, using his tail to sweep aside any fragments that had landed on the stairs.

"Yes! My power is supreme!" King boasted.

Luz and the others applauded him; "Great job King!"

The little Titan preened and rushed to sit on Luz's shoulders again as the group descended into the Fire Temple proper. Surprisingly, the temperature actually went down inside; becoming more like the desert above than the volcanic cavern they'd been suffering through. King and Luz used light spells to illuminate the darkness as they walked, until they came to the central chamber of the temple.

It was just like the Caplacier Ice Temple, having almost the exact same layout except with red stone instead of blue; it was the same long and wide hallway, lined with pillars and stone sarcophagi. Clearly they had been built from the same model! The only differences besides the colour was the carvings on the pillars, which featured salamanders instead of snakes.

"Be careful where you step, Gus. The Ice Temple had booby traps to deal with intruders." Amity warned as she, Luz, and King began to explore the temple, being mindful of any pressure plates or tripwires.

Gus gulped and suddenly became very interested in the floor; "Didn't you tell me before that the priests of these temples brought acolytes down here for their trials? Why would they booby trap it!?"

"Likely in case of grave robbers. The priests and acolytes would have known about the traps and how to avoid them." Rasiel said, pointing to a raised stone tile just in front of Gus.

Feeling curious despite his nerves, Gus poked the tile with his shovel, and found the metal head promptly melted off by a jet of flame shot from the mouth of a salamander statue on the closest pillar. With his curiosity satisfied (and terrified), Gus carefully made his way over to Luz, who was examining one of the Sarcophagi.

Luz frowned as she saw they were open, just like the ones at Caplacier. "Did someone else rob this place?"

Amity turned to take a look too, peering cautiously into a sarcophagus. She jerked back in disgust as she found that the tombs were open, but unlike the ones at Caplacier, they were NOT empty! A mummified body was within, and while it had been dried out by the heat, it was remarkably well preserved and thankfully didn't reek. Luz, Gus, and King took looks inside the tombs closest to them, all reacting in much the same way. However Luz noticed something important.

"The bodies are here, but the Palismen aren't. If these priests were buried with their Palismen like the ones at Caplacier were supposed to be, then someone has definitely stolen them." Luz frowned.

"B-But who would do that? There's jewellery on these bodies! Why would someone take the Palismen but not the really fancy stuff?" Gus asked, disturbed by the whole thing. "W-Was it Belos!?"

Luz and Amity exchanged looks; they'd told Willow and Gus about what they'd learned from Lilith and the Bat Queen regarding the Emperor eating Palismen. Considering Belos had also ordered the tombs at Caplacier opened, it made sense that he was involved this time too. But then why leave the bodies this time? And why wasn't Volcarpalis reported like Caplacier was? Even Amity, who was a ruins nerd, hadn't heard of this place before yesterday.

"Something is definitely weird about this." Amity frowned. "We should move on."

"I agree." Rasiel said, feeling impatient knowing that a piece of himself was so close, yet the enchanted stone of the temple kept him from it.

Gus immediately agreed, backing away from the exposed mummies. Luz shook her head; "Not yet. We should at least close these sarcophagi. It feels wrong to leave them exposed like this."

"Yeah. These guys worshipped my Dad. We should give them some respect." King declared.

No one could argue with that, so they began to push the lids of the Sarcophagi back in place, after Luz had given each one a short prayer and a crystal lily grown with her plant magic. King also whispered his thanks to each one, telling the mummies that he wouldn't forget their service to his father.

With the tombs resealed and their prayers given, Luz and her friends finally went to the end of the chamber, where the entrance to the Ritual Chamber could be found. Like Caplacier, the room ended in three doorways that led to different parts of the Fire Temple, and between the doors was a dais that held the secret to accessing the Ritual Chamber. The dais took the form of an ornate stone crucible held over a fire (which was also stone), with three stone Salamanders on the outside, each with their mouths open over the top of the crucible as if drinking from it, and their tails pointed to one of the three doors.

"So, assuming this is the same as the Ice Temple, we'll need to go through the three doors and complete a trial behind each one that proves we understand the element of fire. If we pass, we get orbs that open the way to the Ritual Chamber, where the Black Tomb should be." Luz said, mostly for Gus's benefit.

The young illusionist nodded excitedly; "I can't wait! But uh, what does fire represent?"

"Destruction, Passion, and Warmth." Amity recited, remembering Eda's lessons on the Knee. "I'm the only one here who can use fire magic though, so it'll be up to me to clear the trials."

"Unless they failed to account for flying or really short people, like the Ice Trials!" Luz grinned, winking at King, who huffed at the memory. "Since you haven't seen one of these trials before Gus, you can pick which one we tackle first!"

Gus beamed and immediately pointed to the left door; "Let's do that one first! I've got a good feeling about that one!"

The boy immediately marched through the door confidently, and Amity just barely had time to leap at him before the door slammed shut behind him, sealing them both inside and separating them from the others, including Ghost. Amity created a pink light spell to illuminate the dark hallway leading to the trial chamber, as well as illuminating Gus's shocked face.

"Yeah, these doors seal you in until you clear the trial or give up. Luz forgot to mention that." Amity said, feeling a little awkward. She obviously loved Luz and was close to Willow now that they were friends again, but she didn't really know Gus very well, so she wasn't sure how to act around him.

Gus felt similarly awkward; "Ah. W-Well at least with you here we have a chance of finishing the trial!"

The two walked to the end of the hallway and entered the trial chamber proper, finding it to be a much smaller version of the chamber they'd just come from. In the middle of the chamber was some kind of giant kiln with two giant stone Salamanders holding onto either side, with a third stuck to the ceiling above the kiln. Gus and Amity took a step towards it, and the eyes of the Salamander on the ceiling suddenly began glowing an ominous red. It then opened its mouth and sand began to pour from it into the top of the kiln. Once the kiln was full of sand, the Salamanders on either side of it had their eyes glow red too as spouts of intense flame burst from their mouths to rapidly heat the kiln. Gus created a coating of cool water to help himself and Amity deal with the intense heat, then watched as the Salamanders stopped breathing fire and the kiln, which had been glowing red with the heat of the flames, cooled down with supernatural speed. Once the kiln was cold, the Salamanders slid back, splitting the kiln in half and revealing it to be a giant mold, which had been used to turn the sand into a glass sculpture of a Salamander. The glass was largely opaque, looking like frosted glass, but there was some reddish shape in the centre.

"Huh… what do we do now?" Amity asked, looking at the sculpture.

Gus, with his keen eye for detail, immediately noticed something odd about the red shape in the middle of the sculpture. He peered closer, narrowing his eyes; "I think there's some kind of red… ball? Yeah, a red ball inside this thing. Oh, is that the orb Luz mentioned?"

Amity smiled; "It must be! You've got a good eye!" she complimented.

"Heh, comes with being an Illusionist. Now I'm guessing we need to break the statue to get it out, which would make this the Trial of Destruction." Gus smiled.

"I can handle that. You might want to stand back." Amity said confidently, walking forward as she drew a spell circle. She conjured a large abomination and hardened its fist, then added a little bit of ice magic to really make sure the abomination's punch was solid. She then said; "Abomination, attack!"

The purple golem reared back its hardened fist and slammed it into the glass sculpture with all its might, and as one would expect, the entire sculpture shattered into pieces. Amity grinned in satisfaction as she dusted off her hands.

"Child's play! Now lets get that orb!"

She stooped to pick up the orb, only to frown as she couldn't see it. She sifted through the glass fragments, careful not to cut herself, but she couldn't find the orb anywhere! "What? Was that red thing not the orb after all?"

"Maybe you shattered it along with the sculpture." Gus suggested.

"B-But I don't understand! If destroying the sculpture was the point of the trial, why would that destroy the orb too!?" Amity exclaimed, looking panicked. She hadn't just ruined the trial, had she!?

Before she could panic too much, the glass fragments melted on their own and disappeared into the thin lines between the red tiles of the floor. The Salamander statues then moved forward, reassembling the kiln, and repeating the same process they'd done when Gus and Amity arrived, recreating the glass sculpture. Amity looked into the sculpture and sighed with relief when she saw another red orb within it.

"Okay! We've got another shot! Maybe if I try to slice the glass this time? If I cut it right, the orb shouldn't break…" Amity mused, turning a part of her abomination into a razor sharp falchion. Before she could take a swing at it though, Gus put a hand on her shoulder.

"Uh, Amity? These trials are meant to test how well an acolyte understood the Fire element, right? Then shouldn't you use fire magic to solve them? Maybe try melting the glass." he suggested.

Amity's mouth formed a perfect O as her face went red, having completely forgotten that. "O-Oh. Right… I probably should have remembered that, huh…?" she said bashfully, averting her eyes.

Gus smiled and playfully slapped her on the back; "No, I get it. You're flustered since you aren't used to hanging out with me. You've had a pretty close knit circle of friends, and most of them were either picked for you, or they picked you, so you get a little out of sorts when dealing with people outside that circle. Plus you wanted to show off your mad ruins skills in front of one of your girlfriend's best friends."

Amity blushed and twiddled her fingers; "…Am I really that obvious?" she asked in a small voice.

"Nah, Willow just gave me a heads up. She understands you pretty well and wanted to make sure the two of us didn't have any misunderstandings." Gus comforted, "You can just be yourself around me; I'm not gonna judge. I know the famous "Ice Queen Blight" is actually a closet softie, especially for her Luz." he finished, lightly teasing her.

Amity's face reddened further but she smiled regardless, feeling a little closer to the boy. She hadn't had a male friend before (unless one counted King), especially one two years younger than her, so she'd not been sure how to handle the situation. But now she felt a little silly for ever worrying; Gus was one of her awesome girlfriend's best friends! There was no way he'd be anything less than nice and understanding.

Feeling calmer, Amity dismissed her abomination then decided to show off a little by using the Pseudo-Light Beam spell she'd developed, which was made of super condensed pink flames in the form of a beam, to melt the glass sculpture. It didn't take long for the sculpture to be reduced to a puddle of glowing orange liquid, revealing the intact trial orb. The orb was made of red crystal and there was a little black salamander figurine in the centre of it, surrounded by an eternally burning flame. Amity picked up the orb and felt its warmth, then watched the flames within flicker for a moment before turning to Gus.

"One trial down, two to go! Thanks for the help, Gus." she smiled.

"No problem. Up top!" Gus raised his hand, and Amity gave him a high five, making them both chuckle. They then walked back out to the central chamber, where they were met by their friends.

Ghost immediately leapt up onto Amity's shoulders, displeased by their earlier separation, while Luz, King, and Rasiel saw the trial orb in her hand and applauded.

"Great job guys!" Luz praised.

"You mean great job Amity. She's the one that passed the trial. I was just a happy spectator." Gus said, giving Amity a wink and nudging her towards Luz with his elbow.

The lavender haired girl smiled bashfully as Luz hugged her; "Ha, I should have known this place was no match for my awesome girlfriend!" the angel cheered, giving Amity a sweet peck on the lips that had her swooning.

"I-It was nothing. Gus helped too." Amity stuttered, making the others smile. Gus especially enjoyed watching the former ice queen melt in Luz's presence.

"Okay, enough lovey-dovey stuff! We've still got two trials to go!" King declared. "Since Gus picked the last trial, I'm picking the next one! We're going that way!"

King pointed to the right door, then clambered onto Amity's shoulders so he could accompany her. Ghost allowed this, and Luz wished the two of them good luck as they went through the door to the next trial chamber, leaving her and Gus behind with Rasiel.

Amity felt a lot less awkward with King than she did Gus, so they walked down the dark hall to the trial chamber without any tension… at least until King decided to ask Amity a question.

"Hey Cotton Candy, you really love my big sister, right?" he asked out of the blue.

The girl blinked; "Of course I do. Why do you ask?"

"I've been thinking about family stuff a lot lately. Luz is my big sister, so she's important to me… but you're important to her. That means that one day, you'll be my big sister too." King said casually.

Amity almost tripped in surprise; "W-What!?"

"Yeah, isn't that how it works when people get married? You marry my sister and that makes you my sister-in-law, right?"

"W-Well yes, but that's a bit far off, don't you think? I mean, Luz and I have only been dating for about three weeks at this point…" Amity said, while her mind supplied "24 days to be exact, not that I'm counting or anything."

King looked confused; "Who cares how far off it is? You two are so lovey-dovey, it's bound to happen. Then I'll get to be Uncle King!"

Amity choked on her own saliva; "THAT is really far away!" she exclaimed. Nonetheless, her mind was filled with the mental image of an adult, pregnant Luz, then of that same adult Luz holding a little winged cherub in her arms; one with the same sharp golden eyes and straight hair as Amity. She blushed crimson as she realised that she REALLY liked that image.

"Ha! You said both were far off, but you didn't say they wouldn't happen! You totally want to marry Luz and have babies!" King said triumphantly, making Amity realise he'd baited her. The smugly grinning child may be a Titan, but he was also a little devil!

"W-Well maybe I do!" she huffed in embarrassment; "I love Luz. She loves me. We wouldn't be together if we didn't think we had a future together."

King nodded; "Good. I'm glad. Luz got a lot happier after she started dating you, just like Eda got a lot happier when Raine started coming around more often. I don't really get all the lovey-dovey stuff…" Amity wasn't surprised; King was only 8 after all, "…but I want my big sister to be happy. If you make her happy, then I like you."

Amity felt touched; "Thank you, King. And for the record, I like you too. And I think you make Luz happier as well, and Eda too."

King preened; "Of course I do! I'm the King of Familial Love!"

Amity giggled as they emerged into the trial chamber. The chamber was much like the others, but this one had a small platform on it flanked by two stone Salamanders facing towards it, with a third, smaller Salamander stature in front of it, looking down at its front claws which were clasped together. All in all, it looked very simple, but King and Amity couldn't find any signs of either fire or the trial orb; just the platform and the three statues.

"Weird. This trial has to be either passion or warmth, but I can't see how these statues relate to that." Amity mused.

"Maybe try standing on the platform? It looks big enough." King suggested.

Amity wasn't so sure, so she instead recreated the abomination from the last trial and had it stand on the platform instead. Immediately, the two larger Salamander statues opened their mouths as their eyes turned red, and some kind of magic began sucking something out of the abomination and into the statues. The statues then moved their tails to point at the third, smaller statue, which began to generate a tiny red speck of light in its claws. Amity and King watched curiously, until the Abomination suddenly became stiff and hard, then crumpled into dust. As soon as it was in pieces, the Salamander statues closed their mouths and returned their tails to their original positions, while the red speck disappeared.

"What was that!?" King exclaimed as Amity bent over to examine her destroyed abomination.

"I think… I think those statues sucked the heat out of the abomination." she said, touching the shards of her creation and discovering that they were ice cold. It had been seemingly frozen from the inside out. "This must be the Trial of Warmth; you need to withstand these things sucking the warmth out of you by keeping yourself heated with fire magic."

King's eyes widened; "That's what the red speck was! I bet they're using your heat to make the Trial Orb! So you just need to withstand it until it's done!" he looked up at Amity; "Do you think you can do that?"

Amity nodded; "I'm sure I can. And even if it's hard, after how hot this place has been, I'd welcome some cold anyway!"

She gently placed King and Ghost on the ground and stepped forward onto the platform, dismissing the rubble of her abomination, then watched as the statues' eyes began to glow red again and they moved to suck the heat out of her. It was a bizarre feeling; it was a bit like when the Basilisk had drained her magic, only instead of leaving her feeling weak, it made her feel cold. It was bearable at first and actually refreshing with how hot it still was within the ruins, but then Amity began to shiver, and before long she felt like she was back on the Knee without her warm clothes. Shakily, she drew a spell circle and conjured some intense pink flames, which helped counter the loss of her body heat by warming her up. Keeping the flame burning enough to warm her without also burning her was tough, especially as the Salamander statues were draining heat from the flame too and making it waver, but after a few minutes of this, the statues finally closed their mouths.

Amity shuddered, then sighed with relief as her body temperature rose again, suddenly thankful for the heat within the temple. She and King looked to the third statue, which now held a ball of fire the same size and shape as the trial orbs. The statue then leaned down and swallowed the flame, before opening its mouth again to reveal the completed orb on its tongue. Amity reached over and took it, successfully completing the trial.

"That's two now. Just one left." she said, handing the orb to King as he clambered back onto her shoulders alongside Ghost.

The little Titan cheered and Ghost meowed her congratulations, then the trio went back out to the others in the central chamber. There, Amity was treated to another hug from Luz while King happily recounted what had happened in the trial.

"So the Trials of Destruction and Warmth are done, which just leaves the Trial of Passion behind the final door." Rasiel said, looking to the middle door they'd thus far ignored. "I can't imagine how they would test one's mastery of passion in regard to flame, but as the only fire user present, it falls to you again Amity."

"Sorry we're making you do all the work this time, Hermosa." Luz said, feeling a little guilty.

Amity shook her head with a smile; "It's fine, really. I'm happy to help. Plus this has given me the chance to know King and Gus a little better, and I get to help you, Eda, and Rasiel. A few trials to show off how good I am with fire magic is no trouble! Besides, it was because of you that I was able to get this good in the first place."

Luz blushed and hugged Amity, while Gus grinned impishly; "If the last trial is passion, then Luz should be the one to go with Amity. It's only fair since King and I already went with her for the other two."

The girls flushed, and Luz poked her tongue out at Gus for teasing them, but neither girl argued. "O-Okay. We'll be back in a bit with the last orb!" Amity declared, taking Luz's hand.

The two girls then walked side by side into the final trial chamber, taking only Ghost with them (who was sitting on Luz's shoulder now) and leaving the others behind. They walked in comfortable silence, enjoying each other's closeness and the softness of one another's hands, until they reached the final chamber itself.

The final room was the most empty one so far; only containing a pair of stone Salamander heads coming out of the side walls, a short stone lectern with some kind of plaque on it, and a Salamander shaped dais on the other side of the room that was holding the Trial Orb, completely out in the open.

"Well, this looks easy… which probably means its actually a lot tougher." Luz commented. "What are the odds that we can just snatch the orb with a vine and then get out of here?"

"I don't know if that's a good show of passion, but since you just flew over the Trial of Change back at the Ice Temple, I wouldn't be surprised it it worked." Amity grinned.

Luz smiled and conjured a plant glyph, using it to create a vine that shot towards the Trial Orb. However, the instant the vine crossed between the two stone Salamander heads, their eyes began to glow and they belched out a stream of intense flames, incinerating the vine completely.

"Ah, now that's more of an obstacle." Luz said. "No way can my ice or water magic stop those flames. I doubt I can just fly over either."

Amity nodded; the flames blasted out by the Salamanders had formed an intensely hot wall of fire that split the room in half, cutting off access to the Trial Orb. She briefly tried making some abomination slime to gum up the Salamander heads and stop their flames, but it was wasted effort as the slime was baked solid by the heat, then burned away to purple ash.

"It looks like we've got no shortcuts at all in this temple. I guess we'll just have to pass the trial the intended way." Luz said, going over to the lectern to look at the plaque.

Amity followed behind her and peered closely at the plaque to read the worn carved text. It was in Runic, archaic but decipherable, and said; "When the Flames of thy Heart burn hotter than dragon's breath, all others will burn thee not, for thee will have become its master."

"The flames of my heart…? This is the Trial of Passion." Amity realised with a whisper. Her heart beat a little faster as she turned back to Luz, who was slowly reading the passage too, struggling since her Runic was still very basic. If there was anyone that made the flames in Amity's heart burn hotter than dragon fire, it was Luz. Now she just had to get that fire burning to the peak.

"Luz, I think I know what to do. Do you mind helping me?" Amity asked, steeling herself.

The young angel turned to her with a bright smile; "Of course. I'll do anything for you."

Amity approached; "I know you will; you're amazing. Now let me show you just how amazing I think you are."

Luz tilted her head cutely, then found Amity stepping into her space. The other girl put a hand around Luz's waist and pulled their bodies together, then used the other hand to cup Luz's cheek as she stared lovingly into her eyes. Luz's face began to redden, as Amity closed the distance between them completely and joined them both together in a passionate kiss. She didn't stop until they were both completely breathless and panting as they pulled away; Luz was completely flushed and adorable, while Amity's eyes were filled with love and desire. The lavender-haired girl's heart burned with passion just as she knew it would. She then released Luz with a final whisper of; "I love you." before turning, drawing a spell circle, and walking directly into the wall of flames.

Luz, completely overwhelmed by her feelings, almost screamed as she watched Amity disappear into the flames, which turned pink the moment she passed through them. Confused and needing something to focus her mind on after that breathtaking kiss, Luz looked at the plaque and continued translating it in her head. Once she was done, she blushed even more intensely, to the point that it spread to her ears, which wiggled adorably.

A moment later, the wall of pink flames disappeared entirely, and Amity walked towards Luz, completely unharmed and holding the final trial orb.

"The Trial of Passion has been cleared. I'm really glad you came with me for this one, Luz." Amity said, giving her girlfriend a flirtatious look (accompanied by her own luminescent blush). "It let me give my heart's fire some extra fuel."

"H-How did you…!?" Luz stuttered.

"Remember how you used the Bat Queen's staff to overpower the Mandragora's superior plant magic with your own? Well passionate feelings work the same way in fire magic. It was my passion for you that let me master it enough to cast it without the training wand up on the Knee, and my passion for you that let me refine it into my pseudo-light beams during the fight with Grom. I knew I just needed to think of you and my passion would be enough to let me take control of the flames those statues were breathing. The kiss was just a little… pre-success reward for myself." Amity explained with a wink.

"N-No fair! Why do you always get to be cool, even when blushing, while I become a mess!?" Luz whined cutely.

Amity giggled and kissed Luz's cheek; "I told you didn't I? I'm the cool one, and you're the cute one."

Luz giggled; "Honestly, being both so hot and so cool at the same time has got to be cheating."

"What can I say? We Blights never settle for less than the best. That's why I've got you as a girlfriend." Amity flirted.

That made Luz blush yet again, and Amity couldn't resist creating a ball of pink flame on her finger tip to compare it to the colour of Luz's flushed cheeks. However Luz took one look at, then blinked as the small flame suddenly intensified for a moment, creating a bright flash that made Luz flinch back. Her mind raced, as for the fourth time since coming to the Boiling Isles, a new glyph was burned into her mind's eye.

"Luz!" Amity cried, "I'm so sorry! D-Did I burn you!? Did I lose control!?"

Luz immediately grabbed the sides of Amity's face and pulled her in for another kiss, this time leaving Amity as the blushing, breathless mess. When Luz pulled away again, her eyes were shining with joy; "Hermosa, you are amazing!"

"W-What!?" Amity stuttered, hopelessly confused.

"Your fire! I saw a new glyph in your fire!" Luz said, holding her girlfriend's hands together, "I've finally found a new glyph!"

"You did!?" Amity exclaimed, "If it was seen in my fire, then it must be…!"

Luz nodded, and used plant magic to grow a single leaf, then used light magic to burn the symbol of the new glyph into it. Once she was done, Luz tapped the glyph and gasped with delight as the leaf crumpled into a tiny fireball. "The Fire Glyph! Now King and I will be able to use fire magic too!"

Amity smiled brightly, accepting the excited hug Luz gave her, before joking; "And right after the fire trials were all completed. Typical."

"Oh, King is gonna be so happy!" Luz said, "Thank you for this, Hermosa."

"You're welcome. As a reward, will you finally tell me what Hermosa means? You've been teaching me Spanish but refuse to tell me that word!" Amity said with a hopeful look.

Luz giggled and took Amity's hand as they began to walk out of the chamber and back to their friends; "Hermosa means Beautiful, you beautiful ruins nerd."

Amity blushed and giggled too, and the two girls wore wide smiles that were still present when they got back to the others. They held up the final trial orb, making the others cheer, then Luz grew another leaf with her plant magic.

"Hey King, I've got a surprise for you." she said, drawing the new glyph on the leaf with light beams again.

King, Rasiel, and Gus gasped, immediately realising what had happened; "You found the fourth glyph!?" King exclaimed.

"Yep! Give it a try!" Luz said, offering the leaf to King.

The little Titan excitedly tapped on it, making a little fire ball that he promptly launched at the ceiling, where it burst and made the glowing embers of the burning leaf rain down on them, creating a pretty (if brief) shower of lights.

"Yes! Now we wield both ice AND fire!" King cheered.

"Now all we need is for the Black Tomb to have Rasiel's body in it. Then this trip will officially be a huge success!" Gus said, watching with amusement as King immediately began scribbling the fire glyph into his notepad over and over, making tons of fireballs that he tossed around while cackling like the little imp he was.

"Indeed. Forgive my impatience, but I'm eager to get to the tomb and open it. I dearly wish to recover another piece of myself. Being just a disembodied spirit without the ability to touch anything or use magic or even remember much about myself is becoming rather tiring." Rasiel said, hovering by the dais that covered the entrance to the Ritual Chamber.

Keen to continue their explorations, the others immediately agreed and looked to the dais. King and Gus placed the trial orbs Amity had given them for safe keeping into the mouths of the Salamanders on the side of the crucible, then Amity added the last one herself. Each Salamander swallowed the trial orb and then seemingly came to life, their scales glowing bright red as their stone bodies heated up. Their tails, now pointed at the stone flame beneath the crucible, ignited with real fire which turned the stone flame into a real one as well. The Salamanders then began to spew lava from their mouths and into the crucible, and the fires below it heated the lava even further, until it was glowing bright enough that Luz and her friends had to obscure their vision for a moment. When the light died down enough for them to open their eyes again, they saw the lava overflow from the crucible and pool around the dais, forcing them all to step back. The lava formed a perfect circle around the dais, then melted through the supposedly indestructible red stone to reveal a long shaft to deep below the ground, with the dais stood on a pillar in the centre. The crucible continued to overflow, and the lava trickled down the central pillar and formed stairs, giving them all a safe way to travel down to the Ritual Chamber. Once the stairs were formed, the lava disappeared from the crucible, and the Salamanders returned to being plain red stone.

Gus gaped down the deep hole; "Okay, that was way over the top! As an illusionist, I can appreciate the showmanship, but still!"

"Are the stairs safe?" King asked, eyeing them suspiciously. They looked cool, but they had been molten just moments ago, so he was reasonably concerned.

"Only one way to find out!" Luz said, gingerly stepping on one of them. She found it no hotter than the rest of the temple's stone, so began to descend. "It's safe. Let's hurry!"

With that, she rushed down the incredibly long spiral staircase, with her friends right behind her. Like the Ice Temple, it took a full minute to reach the bottom, where they were met by an open doorway that led to a hall illuminated with torches. These torches were, predictably, shaped like Salamanders and were breathing red flames. Unlike the ice flames at Caplacier, Luz had no intention of going near these! The group then hurried to the end of the hall, where they found a short staircase leading up into the Ritual Chamber, just as they were expecting.

"Alright, the moment of truth! Gus, make sure you're prepared! If this goes like Caplacier, we may have to fight our way out of here. Have your ice and water magic at the ready!" Amity warned, making the younger boy gulp and nod.

"Okay… here we go!" Luz said, leading them up the stairs and into the Ritual Chamber. The sight that met them was a mix of what they'd expected to find, and a sight they'd never imagined in a million years.

The Ritual Chamber was nearly identical in layout to the Caplacier one; it was circular with a ceiling and floor made from the same stone as the rest of the temple, while the walls were made from something different. There was also a circle of braziers themed on the Temple's signature animal, the Salamander, which illuminated the room with red flames, as well as what appeared to be a large altar. However that was where the similarities ended. Luz had expected to also see that the walls were made from a giant sculpture of a Salamander, just as the Caplacier Ritual Chamber's walls had been made from a giant sculpture of a snake, but instead the walls were bare volcanic rock, as the statue that had once made the walls had already been awakened.

That was made obvious by the large red skeleton of a Salamander-like creature that was slumped against the far side of the chamber, resembling the blue skeleton left by Zara's Ice Wyrm form up on the Knee. In addition, there was no sign of a Black Tomb at all, much to the adventurers' distress, and worse still, the room was covered in ash and corpses, all of whom looked to have died a fiery death. Scraps of clothing and armour could be seen on a few of those that hadn't been completely burnt, while only blackened bones and piles of ash and soot marked the final resting place of the really unlucky ones. The only corpse in the room that wasn't completely burnt was a very emaciated one lying on the altar, surrounded by odd glittering gold stains.

"W-What happened here!?" King cried, clinging to Luz's leg as he saw the bones.

"There weren't any bodies at Caplacier, right?" Gus said fearfully, peeking out from behind Amity.

Amity gulped; "I-I think I might know." she began; "S-Someone must have come here years ago, and opened the Black Tomb. That woke up the temple's guardian; the source of that big skeleton, and then… well…"

"It killed the invaders." Rasiel said darkly, the feelings of disappointment nearly overwhelming him. "But based on the giant skeleton, I can assume the guardian was another Supreme Dragon: a Fire Drake. But if it successfully killed the invaders, it would have likely gone back into hibernation as a statue. The fact that these bones were left here means that the Fire Drake was likely defeated, just as the Ice Wyrm was."

Luz grimaced at the scene; "This is horrible… all these people… I don't know what kind of people they were, but they couldn't have deserved to die like this."

Gus got as close to one as he dared; "There isn't much left of their clothes, but they look really old. They were probably from the Savage Ages."

"Who cares when they were from?" King cried frustratedly, "The Black Tomb is gone, and so is the piece of Rasiel! Now we can't help him OR Eda! We don't even have a clue about where the other tombs are either! We're back to square one!"

Luz could definitely sympathise with King's frustration. Eda's curse was getting worse, poor Rasiel looked so disappointed, the sight of the burnt corpses was traumatising for all of them, and to make a bad situation worse, King was right about them losing their only lead. They had no idea what to do or where to find the next Black Tomb! It had taken six weeks for them to find Volcarpalis; who knew how long it would take to find another one!? There was no guarantee that Philip and his diary would point them to another one either!

Utterly dejected, Luz shuffled over to the altar. She couldn't do much, but she could at least offer some prayers for the deceased. Her Mami had always told her that an angel's prayers would reach the dead in the Spirit Realm and make them happier, and while it was just a folktale for their people, Luz always offered these prayers when the opportunity arose.

She looked down at the body on the altar; the only one in the room to not be burned at all, and wondered if it had belonged to the Fire Drake's true form. It would explain why he hadn't been burnt like the others, and had few signs of injury. In fact, as Luz curiously examined the body, something about it caught her attention. It lacked any obvious injuries, besides a missing pinky finger, but that wound had long healed, so it must have happened before the person died. The person, a man from what Luz could tell from their bare chest, was also remarkably well preserved and looked more like a man who'd died recently of starvation, his pale golden skin clinging tightly to his bones, than someone who'd died in battle in the hundreds of years it must have been since anyone had come to Volcarpalis. The face was largely hidden behind a curtain of long, matted golden hair and a thick, wiry golden beard, so Luz couldn't make out any defining features. She instead looked at the man's garb, immediately gasping as she recognised it.

The man's chest was bare, but his lower half was clothed in tattered and dirty white pants that would have been somewhat baggy even on a healthy man, and ended in golden bands around the ankles. Similar bands were around the wrists, and a white cape of sorts was tied around the man's waist. Both the clothes and the ground around the altar were also stained with some kind of glittering gold substance, especially around this person's upper back and hand… the hand missing the pinky finger.

"C-Could it be? Is this…!?" Luz turned to her friends; "Guys! I think I found something!"

Everyone hurried over to her and looked at the body, while Rasiel gasped softly.

"What is it Luz?" Amity asked.

"I don't think this guy is dead! I think he's just missing his spirit." Luz said, looking meaningfully at Rasiel, who stared at the body with shock and desire.

Gus was about to comment that missing one's spirit is usually what made a body dead, but he saw Rasiel's look and pieced together what Luz meant. He, Amity, and King exchanged shocked looks.

"This guy is Rasiel!?" they exclaimed together.

Luz nodded, her mouth twisted into a half-smile, half-grimace as she struggled to process what this meant; "The hair and skin are the right colour, if a little pale and dirty, and the clothes are the same too! Plus there's gold blood around it, like an angel's! This place is where a Black Tomb should be as well, so it would make sense! This has to be him!"

"It is." Rasiel said, his voice thick with emotion. "Put a hand on the chest; a Ten-Winged Seraphim is a true immortal, so even without a spirit inside it, this body should still be alive."

Luz did as she was told, feeling the warm of the skin, as well as the beating of the heart within. This was indeed Rasiel's body!

"We found it! It wasn't all for nothing after all! We really found it!" Luz cheered, nearly crying with joy and relief. King clambered up onto Luz's shoulder and hugged her face, as Amity hugged her too, and Gus made an illusion of celebratory fireworks. Rasiel had tears in his spectral eyes as he looked from his body, reduced to such a state due to not eating or grooming for thousands of years, to Luz and her friends.

"Once I return to my body, I will likely be unable to talk easily after so many years of being unable to use its throat, so I will say this to you now. You will never understand how grateful I am for this, Luz. You, King, Amity, and Gus; as well as Eda, Willow, Edric, and Emira… I owe you all so much. You have my oath that I will repay all of you. And I will start by offering my blood to complete the Panacea Mirror." Rasiel said, turning to them with his back straight and a hand over his heart. He then bowed a full 90 degrees; "Thank you, will all my heart."

Luz and her friends smiled happily; "You're welcome, Rasiel. Now take back your body; I can use some healing magic to help restore it to a better condition."

Rasiel nodded with the biggest grin any of them had seen on him, then turned and floated towards his body. He reached out a hand and prepared to fuse with it, but just as he was about to make contact, a fireball suddenly shout of from the skull of the red skeleton. The fireball struck Rasiel's spirit and he was blasted through the volcanic rock wall with a cry of surprise.

Luz and her friends immediately turned to the source of the attack and readied themselves for a fight; Luz producing her light sword, Amity switching Ghost to staff form, Gus drawing some spell circles, and King preparing ice glyphs with his mouth open and ready to roar.

Rasiel rushed back into the room through the volcanic rock (which didn't keep him out like the red stone did) and scowled furiously. The fireball hadn't hurt him since he couldn't feel pain without a body, but the fact it had still impacted him and blasted him away marked it as being made of similar magic to the Ice Wyrm's breath attack. He could think of only one kind of being with that power.

"The Fire Drake still lives! Show yourself!" he demanded.

"Are you really in a position to be making demands, Angel?" came a deep, foreboding voice.

From out of the giant red salamander skull stepped a large figure; one that was easy to identify as the Fire Drake's human form. He was a male witch, with skin a few shades darker than Gus', with pitch black scales spreading from his elbows to his finger tips, and from his knees to his toes. Each finger and toe was tipped in a fiery red claw, and from the man's behind sprouted a thick draconic tail covered in black scales with lines of red between them. The tail ended in a spiked tail hammer that looked able to crush bone with ease, and suited the huge man it belonged to. The Fire Drake's human form was even buffer than Rasiel's spirit body, being wider and thicker, with a strong jaw and wide nose that suited his rough yet handsome face. His hair was long and fiery red, and he had a beard in the same colour, though lacking any kind of moustache. Atop his head were curved black draconic horns that appeared to be made of partially cooled magma, which made the man look almost like a devil; something his glowing red eyes and slitted pupils made an even more apt comparison. Finally he was dressed in an intricate ceremonial robe similar in design to Zara's, only in red and black, and with the top half removed to hang around the back of his waist, leaving him topless save for an open vest. Just like Luz and Zara, he had a glyph tattooed on his chest, though his was the fire glyph, which glowed a faint red.

The man looked at Rasiel with anger; "So, one of my mates was unable to keep their Black Tomb sealed. Was it Zara, or Lars?"

"Zara." Luz answered, "And you shouldn't judge her too harshly, seeing as your tomb was opened too!"

The Fire Drake smirked, then sniffed the air to get a handle on Luz's scent; "Ah, and an even littler angel. So that is how you opened Zara's tomb. But you'll find that I am not as soft hearted as my love, little girl. While she fell to you after her tomb was opened, I slew all but one of the people who opened mine, and the last one escaped without his prize." he gestured to Rasiel's body. "Now, I believe proper introductions are in order! I am Godric, High Priest of the Temple of Fire, and servant of the Titan! State your names!" he commanded, slamming his tail hammer on the ground, making the children flinch.

"I-I'm Gus Porter! Student of Illusions at Hexside!"

"I am Amity Blight, one of the witches to defeat Zara at Caplacier! Don't underestimate us!" Amity threatened, even as her heart pounded with fear. She generated some ice magic to show she meant business, which made Godric smirk.

"I am Rasiel, an angel that was ripped apart and sealed by the Divider, then wrongfully kept imprisoned by you and your kin." Rasiel said, glaring at Godric.

The Fire Priest raised an eyebrow; "Wrongfully kept imprisoned? I confess to knowing nothing about this. My mates and I were not informed of the contents of the tombs when we ascended to Dragonhood to guard them. I only learned the truth when your corpse flopped out of the tomb I guarded. But I am not a judge; I am a warden. Your guilt or innocence mean nothing to me."

"Well it should!" Luz yelled, stepping forward; "I am Luz Noceda, High Angel of Crest Kindness! And I am blessed and marked by your Titan master!" she declared, removing her cloak and pulling the neck of her shirt down enough to reveal the light glyph on her sternum, as well as holding up her left hand to show the ice glyph on the back of it.

Godric's eyes widened and with speed that was unusual for such a large and bulky man, he moved in front of Luz and grabbed her wrist to better look at the mark on her hand. Luz squeaked as he traced the pad of his clawed finger over the ice glyph, and covered her chest with her other hand when he looked like he was about to do to the same to the light glyph there.

"Don't you dare!" she cried with a blush.

"Ah, apologies. I meant no harm." Godric said, now speaking a tad more formally as he released the girl and stepped back; "So, you are marked by the Titan. As an angel, I know you cannot lie, and those marks are definitely not the result of simple tattoos. How curious…"

He then turned his attention to King on Luz's shoulder, who was glaring at him angrily. The sight of the little creature made Godric step back with surprise; "Wait, could you be-!?"

"That's right! I am King, a Titan! I'm the son of your master, the Boiling Isles Titan! And Luz here is my big sister, and Rasiel over there is my friend! I demand you let Rasiel take his body back!" King commanded, doing his best to make himself seem intimidating.

Godric looked between him and Luz with confusion; how had a Titan come to consider an angel to be his sister!? Could he have been brainwashed? Or was this angel really different than he'd been taught? The large man needed answers, and more to the point, he wanted proof.

"I am commanded only by the Titan of the Boiling Isles, and he has spoken to no one for many millennia! For 1000 years I've guarded this temple, and I never heard his voice, following only the teachings of the High Priests that came before me. If you are truly the Titan's child, then let me feel your magic; hit me with your best shot!" Godric demanded, stepping away from the group then turning and holding his arms out wide, invited King to attack him.

King jumped off of Luz's shoulders and faced Godric with a fierce gaze; "Alright buddy, you asked for it!" King took a deep breath, then cried out a mighty; "WEH!"

The Titan Roar blasted out from his throat and struck Godric head-on, hitting him with the full force of the shock wave. Godric stood firm and unmoving even as his hair and clothes were whipped about by the force of the roar, and when it was done and King was left panting, the ancient witch merely clapped his hands.

"Marvellous. You're still very young, but your roar has potential! Very well, I'll believe everything you have to say. But I still will not abandon the duty given to me by the Titan and my forebears!"

He snapped his fingers and a ring of intense flame appeared around the altar, completely sealing off access to the altar and Rasiel's body. The angel spirit gingerly tried to pass through them, but just as expected, the flames were physical for him and blocked his path. The others also shrank back away from the intense flame.

"But you know we're telling the truth! Why would you want to stop us!?" Gus cried.

"I do not question the duty I was given. Young King is the son of my master, but I do not serve him or any other. His presence and the Titan's blessings on Young Luz are enough to make me stay my hand and spare your lives, but not enough to make me abandon my duty, especially when faced with those that killed my mate Zara!" Godric declared.

"We didn't kill Zara!" Amity protested, "We defeated her dragon form, then she ran away after talking to King and seeing Luz's glyphs!"

Godric narrowed his eyes on her, then looked to Luz; "Is this true?"

Luz nodded frantically; "Yes! Zara tried to kill me, but I still didn't want to kill her!"

That made the Dragon Man pause and scratch his chin in thought; "So Zara retreated? Then she must have decided to trust you…" he suddenly jumped up and sat on the skull of his dragon form; "Tell me everything. About how and why you came to the Demon Realm, why you sought out the Black Tombs, how you came to be marked, and everything regarding your relationship with the Titan's son." he demanded, looking at Luz with fiery eyes.

"That's a long story, but here goes!" Luz said, before going into a somewhat summarised explanation of every relevant event that had happened since she first walked through Eda's portal. She summarised meeting King and bonding with the light glyph, finding the plant glyph and later bonding with it to save King, how they stumbled upon Rasiel and the Black Tomb at Caplacier, facing down Zara the Ice Wyrm, how she found and was later bonded with the ice glyph, how and why they were searching for more Black Tombs, the revelations of Zachael on King's Island, and finishing up with discovering Volcarpalis and finding the fire glyph (which she and King demonstrated). The others occasionally added little details that Luz had forgotten to mention, with Gus making illusions to help Godric visualise what had happened, until finally their long story was over.

Godric listened with a stern expression, never reacting more than raising an eyebrow and widening his eyes slightly. When Luz was finally done, he stroked his chin once more.

"I see. From what you've told me, I have no choice but to believe you. So the Titans were not killed by angels, but rather beings from beyond the stars… and Rasiel's imprisonment predates this by around 95,000 years. The Titan of the Boiling Isles wasn't even born yet when he was sealed by this "Divider". I am curious as to how these tombs ended up here…" he muttered.

"Yeah, we're kinda in the same boat." Gus commented.

Rasiel nodded; "The best we've been able to gather is that I was sealed by the Divider, and in the time that followed, other angels made themselves the enemy of the Demon Realm. Those who knew what the Black Tombs contained likely wanted to keep me imprisoned, believing I was like these enemy angels. When the Archivists wiped out the Titans, blame was placed on the angels and we were more vilified than ever, leading to my tombs being kept under heavy guard at these temples. This is all just theories based on what little information we have, but I believe Luz was marked by the Titan to protect his son and potentially fix the reputation of angels, seeing as the Titan took in Zachael, an angel orphaned by ancient witches and demons who hated angels."

"Honestly, I haven't actually heard the Titan's voice either, so it's just guess work. But ultimately I just want to do what all angels should; help people. That means all my friends, Rasiel and Eda, King, Amity, and all the people of the Boiling Isles." Luz said, smiling kindly up at Godric.

The Fire Priest listened to their words and closed his eyes for a moment; he'd just had many of his core beliefs turned on their heads, but he wasn't the kind of man who'd go into denial. However, there was one crucial thing that Luz and the others had failed to do.

"You have convinced me of your good nature and intentions, and I believe you that angels are not the monsters I was raised to believe. You have my respect, young Luz… but my duty is iron clad. You have not proven to me that it is the Titan's will that Rasiel be freed from the Black Tombs, and thus it is still my duty to prevent you from leaving with him." Godric declared, leaping off the dragon skull and marching towards Luz; "I will not let you pass unless you can prove it is the Titan's will!"

"B-But how am I supposed to do that!?" Luz cried.

"And why isn't what we already told you proof enough!?" Amity yelled, brandishing her staff.

Godric eyed her briefly, then flexed his muscles and began to glow with a red aura, which rapidly raised the temperature in the room. "You've proven that you were marked and blessed by the Titan, but he did not lead you to the tomb at Caplacier; that was your youthful desire for adventure. And it was Rasiel and your need for his blood that led you here today. You open the Black Tombs out of your own desires, not that of the Titan! Unless you can prove otherwise, you will not take the body I guard!"

"Oh come on, now you're just being stubborn!" King growled, "How are we supposed to prove that my Dad wants this!?"

Godric gave Luz a wide, toothy grin; "Simple. I will face you, High Angel. If the Titan truly wishes for you to free Rasiel, then the power he gifted you will be enough to defeat me in single combat!"

Luz and her friends all paled; "You want me to fight a Supreme Dragon by myself!?"

"Worry not; this is not a death match. It would be a grave sin to kill a child blessed by the Titan. Besides, my full power was diminished by the man who opened the tomb and escaped 300 years ago. The Primordial Wellspring in this region dried up a long time ago, so I've been unable to restore my full might." Godric explained, pointing to the red skeleton behind him; "Still, you'll find me more than a match. So, will you give up on your quest, or will you face me?"

Luz thought about it for a moment; this wasn't a battle to the death, it was basically just another trial. If she could beat him, something that was quite possible with her ice magic and healing magic, then Rasiel would get his body back and they'd have the blood needed to cure Eda's curse! She couldn't back down now!

"I accept." she said determinedly.

Godric grinned and clapped excitedly; "Excellent! Your companions may observe from over there." he pointed a claw to a section of the chamber that had no burnt corpses. Rasiel, Amity, Gus, and King obediently went to stand where he'd pointed, then he snapped his claws and created a ring of fire that trapped them, ensuring they couldn't interfere in the fight. They protested loudly, and Luz looked ready to run over and try to free them, but Godric dismissed their concerns.

"Fear not, they'll be released when this is over. Now the rules for this duel are simple; we fight until one of us yields or is rendered unconscious. Killing blows are strictly forbidden, as is outside interference." Godric said, "If I win, you and your friends must leave. Though if you put up a good fight, I may invite you back to try again. Nothing gets the blood pumping like a good battle!"

"And if I win, you've got to let Rasiel take back his body! And tell us what happened when your Black Tomb was opened!" Luz countered, adding that last part to satisfy her own curiosity.

"Agreed. But first…" Godric marched over to a pair of charred corpses and moved them to the centre of the chamber, where he placed them together in a pile. "… we should clean this place up. This chamber is hallowed ground; it shames me that I allowed it to remain in this state. Alas, I fell into a slumber after I lost my full dragon form."

Luz nodded, and helped him by using vines to move more bodies to the pile. Once all of them were piled up together, Godric took a deep breath and then roared, releasing a massive torrent of red and white flames that incinerated the pile in seconds. Luz offered the departed a prayer as the flames burned them away, and when both were done, not even ash remained.

"There, all done." Godric clapped his hands, "Now are you ready?"

Luz nodded, slowly backing away in anticipation for the fight. "As I'll ever be…"

"Then you may begin." Godric said, smirking as he stood in place, not even bothering to take a combat stance. Luz frowned; so he was going to let her have the first move? Fine by her!

She flew into the air and spread her wings wide, used her foot to draw a massive spell circle by flying in a loop. Then she used her left hand to draw the ice glyph inside the spell circle, turning it into a massive glyph, before charging up light for a massive beam. Once she'd gathered enough magic, she fired the light beam (which was about as wide as she was) directly into the ice glyph, causing it to gain ice properties as it passed through. The golden light took on the colours of the aurora, and Godric's eyes widened as the beam came at him faster than anticipated. He didn't have time to dodge and if he let himself be hit, the fight would be over before it had even begun, so he instead roared and blasted back at the beam with an intense burst of flame.

Luz's freezing light spell (which she'd decided to dub her Aurora spell) continued straight through the flames, but the ice magic within was burned away by Godric's fire magic, so when the beam struck him, he was blasted back a few steps but otherwise not frozen. He did receive a mild burn to his chest, but he seemed more amused by that than anything else.

"I haven't been burnt since the day of my ascension to Dragonhood! I'm impressed! If you'd made that light strong enough to burn through flesh, I might well be dead right now. High Angels are no joke!" Godric laughed. He drew a spell circle (which looked like a ring of fire) and his tail hammer suddenly burst into flames, then he rocketed himself towards Luz by using fire from his back and feet like a booster rocket. He spun around as he was about to reach her, whipping his tail hammer at her.

Luz squeaked in terror and rapidly threw up her ice barrier, but the force of the fiery tail hammer was too much and it shattered straight through. Thankfully the barrier had at least slowed him down enough that Luz was able to dive out of the way, only getting her shoulder clipped by one of the fiery spikes as it passed by her.

Luz winced in pain and cast her healing lotus spell, not bothering to use the crystal healing lotus as the wound was minor and she needed to preserve her magic.

"Luz! Are you okay!?" Amity cried frantically.

"I'm fine! Don't worry about me!" Luz gave a pained smile in response.

Godric meanwhile was watching her healing lotus with curiosity; "Hmm, combining the light and ice glyphs to make freezing beams, and the light and plant glyphs to make healing flowers. I've seen people make glyph combos before, but never like that. Care to show me what happens when you combine plant and ice?"

Luz frowned; he wasn't taking her seriously! "You asked for it, buddy!"

She drew the ice and plant glyphs, one in each hand, and produced a barrage of crystal vines covered in thorns, which spiralled through the air towards Godric. He blinked in surprise and spat a fireball at them, but they didn't melt or burn and instead collided with him, making him grimace as the unscaled parts of his arms and torso were stabbed with thorns. The thorns weren't very long so the cuts were shallow, but they still stung! Before they could tighten enough to bind him, Godric slammed his scaly forearms onto the vines and shattered them, before launching himself at Luz again. This time Luz had expected it, so she flapped her wings hard to launch herself backward, and grinned as Godric passed the spot she'd just stood in.

She had left behind another dual layered plant and ice glyph, but when she activated it with a spark of her magic, the result was not a crystal rose but rather a massive blooming flower, akin to the Mandragora flower, the roots of which were trying and failing to dig through the red stone beneath it to plant itself properly. Without being able to plant its roots, Luz was forced to maintain it with magic instead, but that was a sacrifice she was willing to make. Godric's eyes widened right before a huge torrent of water shot out from the flower and hit him in the stomach, launching him into the ceiling like a geyser. The water kept coming, pinning Godric to the ceiling as it slowly drained Luz's magic. The young angel then cast an ice spell to freeze the water and encase Godric.

Before the ice could even reach him however, Godric was coated in a fiery aura that filled the air with steam as it evaporated the water and melted Luz's ice, turning the ritual chamber into a sauna. The plant that was creating the water quickly withered in the intense heat, making Luz frown.

The steam was obscuring her vision, but it was obscuring Godric's too, so she quickly cast a pair of illusions; one to make her invisible and hide the way the steam moved around her, and one to create an illusory copy of herself to trick the Dragon Priest. She then used the cover of her illusions to slowly creep around behind Godric, who landed feet first back on the ground with a heavy thump. He spun on his heel and whipped his tail around, aiming to catch any sneak attacks coming out of the steam while also blowing it away with the gust kicked up by his rapid movement. The steam cleared and Godric saw Luz's illusory copy and began to approach it, before suddenly stopping and smirking.

"So you can make your glyph combinations work differently if you change up which element is the supporting one. Using ice to support plant magic results in crystal plants, and using plants to support ice magic results in plants that can produce water, and probably ice too." Godric said, crossing his arms; "Tell you what, since you impressed me…"

His hand suddenly shot out to the side and grabbed the real Luz by the throat, destroying the illusion hiding her. Her friends (save for Gus, who'd spotted the illusions) gasped in surprise as Luz struggled against Godric's grip. He held her aloft, making sure to hold her just tightly enough that she couldn't escape, but not so tightly that he was actually choking her. Of course, being held in the air by her neck still meant Luz had to use her wings to hover and stop herself from choking.

"… I'll not choke you out here and now."

He tossed Luz at her own illusion clone, causing it to pop into cyan smoke. Luz was able to twist in the air and stop herself from hitting the ground thanks to her wings, then rubbed her throat as she glared at Godric.

"How did you see know about my illusion?" she asked, voice a bit hoarse.

Godric tapped the side of his nose; "My nose is sharper than most witches thanks to my ascension to Dragonhood. Your illusion clone had no scent, while I could still smell you slinking around easily."

Luz grimaced; she still couldn't make anything but visual illusions! Putting that aside, she decided to switch tactics and suddenly darted at Godric as fast as her wings could carry her while also creating her ice barrier around her, aiming to hit him like a battering ram. Godric spread his feet apart and took a combat stance, then threw a flaming punch directly at Luz's barrier. The punch stopped Luz in her tracks, then without removing his hand from her barrier, Godric focused his flames into his finger tips, making them glow like magma and melt through the icy shield. Once his fingers were fully embedded in the ice, Godric grinned and began using his impressive strength to flail Luz and her barrier around, smashing her into the floor and ceiling with wild abandon, slowly cracking her shield and shaking the poor angel around like a hamster in a soccer ball.

"I'm gonna hurl!" Luz groaned as she bounced around. She thought about dismissing her shield, but then she'd be right in front of Godric without any protection, and one hard punch or swipe from his tail would be enough to knock her out. Luz had agility, a lot of magic, and a creative streak, but she didn't have much in the way of physical strength or endurance!

On the flip side, Godric had fire magic worthy of a dragon and a body to match, being incredibly durable and strong. Luz felt it was completely unfair; weren't magic users supposed to be on the squishy side!?

"Ugh, think Luz! Use those nerd skills! How do I knock this guy out or make him give up with that crazy strength of his!?" she thought desperately as she was flung around inside her shield; "Attacking him straight on didn't work… maybe I can choke him out, like he almost did to me!"

With the beginnings of an idea in her head, Luz drew a spell circle with the ice glyph inside it, turning a portion of her ice barrier into water, allowing her to fly through it to escape. It took Godric a moment to realise that she wasn't inside the barrier any more, but before he could toss the ball of ice aside, Luz melted the rest of it into a giant sphere of water, then condensed it down onto Godric's head. It was like a reversal of the ice helmets she'd made for diving through the oasis earlier; instead of creating a bubble of air so she could breathe, she created a bubble of water so Godric couldn't.

The man flailed and clawed at the bubble, but his fingers passed through it. For a moment, Luz thought she'd won; Godric would soon pass out from lack of oxygen, giving her the victory! But Godric was tougher than that. He stopped his flailing and panicking and forced himself to stay still, then opened his mouth and unleashed a massive torrent of flame that evaporated the water bubble in an instant. This not only freed him, but also sent a stream of fire in Luz's direction. She blocked it with another barrier spell, but the intense flames melted straight through. They were diminished by the effort, but not erased, and Luz found herself being blasted backward as the flames hit her in the gut.

She cried out in pain and hit the wall, her friends screaming in horror as they watched helplessly.

"LUZ!" Amity cried, having to be held back by Gus to stop herself from trying to jump through the ring of fire.

"Ugh, I'm okay. That looked worse than it was!" Luz groaned. The flames had burned a hole in her shirt, exposing her tummy and the plant glyph, while also leaving the skin red with some minor burns, which she healed quickly. She barely finished before Godric was suddenly attacking her again, launching a kick at her head. She ducked and pressed herself against the volcanic rock of the chamber wall, using plant magic to grow a giant carnivorous plant behind her so it would swallow her and then burrow back into the wall. It re-emerged on the wall on the far side of the chamber from Godric, then spat Luz back out.

"I can't easily grow plants on the red stone on the floor or ceiling because the roots can't burrow into it, but I CAN grow them on the volcanic walls. Good to know." Luz thought, panting from exertion.

Godric turned to her and drew a series of spell circles, each of which turned into a crimson fireball and was launched her way. Luz, knowing her ice barriers weren't very useful against dragon fire, instead countered by placing her hands on the wall behind her and growing two more plants just like the one that had spouted water earlier. She then had them fire jets of water at some of the fireballs while she herself generated water to put out a few others. The effort drained Luz of even more magic, while Godric didn't even look phased.

"I don't even need to hit you." he boasted; "I just need to wait until you wear yourself out!"

Luz grit her teeth; she really wished she had her friends backing her up! Gus's illusions would definitely trick this guy, and Amity's abominations would keep him busy long enough for Luz to find a way to knock him out! But in a one-on-one fight, she couldn't call on their help!

"Or can I…?" Luz suddenly grinned as another idea came to her. "I think I've got enough magic for this. Come on Luz, time to show what you're made of!"

Taking a deep breath, Luz focused on her water spewing plants and had them spray at Godric, who frowned. "The same trick a second time? You disappoint me, girl." he said disdainfully, not even trying to avoid the water and instead just raising the heat around himself, making the water evaporate into steam. This was what Luz wanted however, and she spread her wings and flew in another loop to draw a large icy spell circle, which immediately froze the steam into powdery snow. This distracted Godric for long enough that Luz was able to make some more snow and mould them into abomination-like constructs.

"Abominable Snowmen, attack!" Luz ordered, mimicking Amity. She couldn't make real abominations, but the ice glyph on her left hand allowed her to control water, ice, and snow, so she improvised!

The Snowmen lumbered over to Godric, who smirked; "That's more like it! Too bad my flames are too hot for you, little girl!"

He began smashing the snowmen to pieces with punches, kicks, and swipes from his tail hammer, but Luz just made them reform, shooting some kind of green magic at the Snowmen as they stood back up. Godric narrowed his eyes, assuming it to be some kind of plant magic, so he drew a spell circle with his tail hammer, which then began to leave a fiery trail in the air wherever he swung it. This melted the snowmen and burned whatever plants Luz had placed inside them… only for this to backfire as a foul stench filled the air.

"Ugh!?" Godric recoiled as noxious green gas rose from several burning seeds inside the snowmen; "What is this!?"

"Skunkweed seeds!" Luz smirked, her nostrils blocked by frost, "The flowers smell really bad, but if you burn the seeds then they stink so bad that it'd make most people throw up! Not only that, but the fumes are poisonous if you breathe them long enough!"

Godric glared at the girl; "Disgusting, but ineffective. My body runs so hot that no poison survives long enough in my system to do damage. All you've succeeded in is making a bad stink bomb and annoying me!"

Luz frowned, and before she knew it, Godric was charging at her once again, aiming to end the fight once and for all. He threw a punch right at her face, knowing full well she couldn't dodge in time and her shields would shattered like glass, but instead of making contact with her face, Godric's fist passed through empty air as Luz disappeared in a puff of cyan smoke.

"An illusion!? I already told you, that won't work!" he snarled. He had to give the girl some credit though; his sense of smell was completely neutralised by the foul stench lingering in his nose, but his hearing was just as sharp! He heard the sound of a footstep behind him, stepping in a puddle of slush left by the snowmen, and immediately spun around and grasped the invisible person by the throat.

Luz appeared in his hand, and Godric shook his head; "Did you really think I'd fall for that after it failed the first time?" he asked.

"Actually, yeah!"

Godric's eyes widened as Luz's voice came from behind him. He turned to see Luz appear there, but before he could react or wonder how it had happened (he was still holding Luz after all), the Luz behind him suddenly bound him in crystal vines. The Luz he was holding then melted into water, revealing itself to be an ice doll made in Luz's image. Its liquid body immediately coated him, allowing the real Luz to flash freeze him. Godric turned up the heat to begin melting himself free, but Luz was maintaining her ice spell, draining her magic but causing the ice to refreeze as fast as Godric could melt it. Then, with her magic almost tapped, Luz took a page from another friend's book and summoned her ocarina and began to play the Lullaby of Lethargy.

Godric definitely hadn't been expecting Luz to whip out Bardic magic, and his eyes grew heavy as the song took effect, lulling him to sleep. His arms felt like lead and went limp in their vine restraints, and Luz stopped bothering to freeze the water, instead allowing it to melt and giving Godric the feeling of being submerged in a warm bath. His eyes slowly closed, and the world around him went dark as he finally succumbed to sleep.

Luz continued to play her song until the end, then released a long breath of relief as she heard Godric begin to softly snore. She slowly and carefully removed the crystal vines holding him, then used her control of the water to very gently lie him down on the ground, then grinned widely as she succeeded. With Godric effectively unconscious, she'd won his challenge!

"Oh thank the Seraphim! I was almost out of magic!" Luz cheered quietly. "I can't believe my plan worked!"

It had been kind of a last resort; she'd used the water spewing plants knowing that Godric would evaporate the water into steam, not only giving her the chance to turn it into snow for her Abominable Snowmen, but also giving her the cover she needed to begin casting illusions. She'd made the ice doll and then layered illusions over it; one to make it look just like her and one to make it invisible. She then sent the snowmen at Godric to further distract him and lure him into her trap, using plant magic to create Skunkweed seeds inside the snowmen knowing that Godric would eventually just burn them. She'd sort of hoped the gas would be enough to defeat him, but considering how the poison was effected by intense heat, she hadn't bothered relying on that. The gas and smoke had given Luz the last bit of cover she'd needed; she'd created an illusory copy of herself while turning herself invisible, then when Godric's sense of smell was impaired and he attacked the illusion, she purposefully had the hidden ice doll expose itself to trick Godric. From there it had just been a matter of binding him in crystal vines he couldn't burn, and keeping him from using his full strength with a coating of water while she used her ocarina to put him to sleep. Luz had needed to mash together just about every bit of magic she'd learned, but it had worked out in the end!

"You were amazing, Luz!" Amity grinned.

"That was some clever illusionism! I feel so proud!" Gus added, pretending to wipe a tear from his eyes.

"Yeah! You totally kicked butt! And showed that creep who the real Titan blessed one is!" King cheered, jumping up and down on Amity's shoulders (much to Ghost's annoyance).

"Well done, Luz. Now wake him back up so he can get rid of these flames! Having my body so close yet being unable to reach it is torture!" Rasiel said, floating around anxiously in the ring of fire.

Luz soaked in the praise, always loving it when she did good and the people around her said as much. In truth, she was pretty sure that if it had come to a real battle between her and the Fire Drake, she would have lost; he was simply too strong and sturdy, and Luz didn't think she had it in her to go for a killing blow against him. Thankfully Godric had been weakened by not having his full dragon form, and limited to non-lethal attacks, so Luz had just barely gotten a win.

Luz flapped her wings hard to blow away the poison gas from the burning Skunkweed seeds, then doused them with water to stop them producing more. She then used a tiny bit of water magic to control some of the melted snowmen and sprits it into Godric's face, making him snort loudly and snap awake.

"Huh…? Did I…? Did I fall asleep?" he slurred, slowly getting back to his feet.

"You did." Luz smiled, "Which means I beat your trial!"

Godric rubbed the sleep from his eyes and hummed, before her words fully registered and he stared at her in surprise. "Right, you actually managed to put me to sleep. I honestly wasn't expecting that; I thought for certain that I'd defeat you and send you all on your way. But it seems I was arrogant in that assumption. You have my respect, Luz Noceda."

He put a hand over the fire glyph on his chest, then bowed formally. Godric prided himself on being a powerful witch and great warrior, so he had great respect for anyone who could genuinely best him, even if he was holding back.

Luz smiled bashfully; "Thanks! You were amazing too! You Supreme Dragon Priests really are cool; I wish I'd been able to talk with Zara like this instead of her trying to kill me."

Godric laughed; "Yes, Zara was always more obsessed with her duty than I was. But you survived both of us, and you've proven in my mind that the Titan favours you. But I must ask; how exactly did you come up with such an unorthodox plan?"

"Oh, I just channelled my friends!" Luz grinned, "I couldn't have them fight with me for real, so I just took inspiration from them and what they taught me. The abomination snowmen were inspired by my awesome girlfriend Amity, and hiding the plant seeds inside them was inspired by my friend Willow, whose the best plant witch ever and also taught me about Skunkweed in the first place. The layering illusions over each other thing was a trick I learned from Gus the Master Illusionist over there. The idea to combine those illusions with an ice doll was something I learned from my buddy Matt, and the song was one I learned from the best Bard at Hexside; Skara!"

Amity and Gus beamed, proud that Luz had taken the skills they'd taught her and used them to win. They knew Willow would be thrilled, as would Skara and Matt when the day finally came that Rasiel allowed them to know the truth about him.

Meanwhile Godric just looked surprised; he'd already figured that his assumptions about angels may be wrong based on Luz's earlier stories, but now he was completely certain. There was no way that the angels he'd grown up hearing about would ever deign to learn from witches.

"I think I understand why the Titan would bless you… nonetheless; you won our duel and I am a man of my word." Godric snapped his fingers and the rings of flame around Luz's friends and Rasiel's body disappeared, freeing them.

Rasiel wasted no time and immediately floated over to his body while Luz and the others gathered around it to watch the reunion. Rasiel placed his hand over his body's emaciated chest, then the instant he touched it, there was an impossibly bright flash of golden light as his spirit was sucked into his body, fully reunifying the two pieces of the ancient Seraphim. When the light faded, Luz and her friends peered closely at Rasiel's body, and marvelled as his chest began to rise and fall as he started to breathe, and his fingers twitched. Slowly, he opened his eyes, revealing the glittering amber orbs that began to look blearily around the room.

He opened his mouth but could only manage a rasp as his throat was impossibly dry and painful after eons of disuse. Luz began using what little magic she had left to cast healing spells, helping to restore Rasiel's atrophied muscles while Gus used some water magic to give him a drink, helping ease his throat. At the same time, Amity decided to be helpful by using abomination slime to make a knife and some scissors, which she used to cut away at Rasiel's long beard and hair, removing the matted lumps and trimming it down to a similar style to what he'd had as a spirit. King, not knowing what to do in this situation, just watched alongside Ghost and Godric.

By the time Luz, Amity, and Gus were finished with their work, Rasiel felt and looked much better. His clothes were still tattered and his body emaciated, but he no longer looked like an ancient hobo, and he was able to move on his own. Luz still helped him shift into a seated position though (revealing that the altar was completely coated in dried golden blood), and spoke softly to him.

"Are you alright, Rasiel?" she asked.

"Every fibre of my being is screaming in pain. It definitely feels like I've been asleep for 100,000 years!" Rasiel croaked, even as he smiled brightly; "After feeling nothing at all for so long though, even the pain is worth it! Thank you, my young friends. You have done me a great service." he said, tears in his eyes; "I feel so many things I never thought I'd miss… pain, hunger, even the uncomfortable heat. It's all so glorious!"

He lifted his right hand to his face and ran his fingers through his shortened hair (which really needed a proper wash), then frowned as he looked at the hand; "I wonder when I lost my pinky finger?"

Luz eyed it nervously; "I tried restoring it when I was healing you up, but it didn't work."

"Then the finger must still exist somewhere." Rasiel replied; "An evolved Seraphim's magic is infused into every part of our bodies, and remains so even if a part is removed. In such an event, the lost part cannot be regrown so long as the original still exists; it's a defence mechanism that prevents our magic from having to support multiple of the same body parts. Since an evolved Seraphim is also a true immortal and our bodies can't decay naturally, it also prevents us from endlessly creating immortal body parts by just removing parts of ourselves and regrowing them."

"So Luz can't regrow your pinky because then your magic would have to support an extra pinky?" King asked.

"Essentially yes. It's annoying, but you'd be surprised how much magic fills every fibre of an evolved Seraphim's being. Having to split our magic into extra body parts would be a bother. It's only a problem for evolved Seraphim though, so if Luz were to lose a bit, she could regrow it easily enough. Still, without many of my personal memories, I can't tell when this happened so I have little hope of finding it." Rasiel sighed.

"Considering all the blood on the ground, it might have happened when your tomb was opened." Amity commented, noting that the blood had been centred around his hand and shoulders.

Rasiel eyed the blood; "That is a lot for a lost finger… Let me see if I can cast a-"

The ancient angel suddenly froze; he'd been about to twirl his finger to make a spell circle, believing the return of his body meant the return of his magic too. However he felt nothing; no spark of power or energy. Panicking, he tried to summon out his wings, thinking that he just needed to absorb some energy to replenish his magic, but nothing happened. He distinctly felt the shift that all angels experienced when summoning or hiding their wings, but no actual wings appeared. Gingerly, he stretched his arm behind him and felt his back, turning a sickly shade of green as he felt the familiar texture of scar tissue.

"My wings…!? My wings!?" Rasiel cried, voice croaky and raw with emotion; "I can't summon them! They're not just hidden! They're gone!"

Luz went as white as snow as she moved behind him and looked at Rasiel's back. She saw two massive diamond shaped scars where his wing joints should have been, and immediately gasped and covered her mouth in horror; Rasiel's wings had been removed completely.

"By the Seraphim!" she cried as the others all looked on in shock. To an angel, losing one's wings was basically a death sentence! Angels needed magic to survive, and without their wings, they couldn't generate more! If Rasiel wasn't a true immortal, he would certainly be dead right now!

"That explains why there's so much blood!" Gus grimaced, looking away from the grizzly looking scars on the distraught angel's back.

"Can you regrow them, Luz?" Amity asked, putting a comforting hand on her distressed girlfriend's back.

Luz slowly shook her head; "If I could, they would have started growing while I was healing Rasiel's chest. They must still exist somewhere too."

Rasiel put his head in his hands; "No… how did this happen? Was it the people who came here before and opened the tomb?"

Luz turned to Godric; "Godric, you agreed to tell us what happened when Rasiel's Black Tomb was opened. You may be the only clue we have about Rasiel's wings, so please tell us everything!"

Godric nodded in agreement; "Of course, though I fear what I have to say will not be of much help to you. The tomb was opened 300 years ago, when the temple was still on the surface, by a large number of witches and demons. Most wore cloaks and masks and there was no obvious leader or anyone who appeared notable. I observed them attempt to open the tomb, but since I'd seen numerous attempts over the last 1000 years, once even by an odd human, and they'd all ended in failure, I didn't intervene until they successfully opened the tomb. I sealed the temple, then emerged in my full Fire Drake form and began to lay waste to the invaders. I was winning fairly easily, but then one of the invaders was revealed to be an angel; likely the one who helped open the tomb. I fought the angel briefly, but they used some bizarre magic to transform into some kind of twisted sludge creature that infected my body. I was wounded and forced to give up my dragon form, after which the angel returned to normal and fled the temple by tunnelling out through the volcanic walls of the chamber."

He pointed to a patch of volcanic stone that looked slightly different from the rest; "I originally intended to pursue them, but found Rasiel's body left behind, so I didn't bother. There was fresh blood leaking from his back and hand, but I couldn't be certain if the wounds were from before or after he was sealed and released, as I didn't get a good look at his body until the fight was over and the angel was gone. After the battle, I pulled the entire temple down as deep as I could, then created the cavern around it so worthy pilgrims of flame still had a chance to come here, though none have before you. I've been hibernating ever since."

Luz and Rasiel exchanged worried looks; another angel had come to the Boiling Isles and tried to free Rasiel? That was unexpected, but it was made disturbing by the idea that the angel had turned into some kind of monster… it sounded almost like Abomination magic, but angels weren't capable of any such magic and didn't have any direct counterpart to it either. Godric's description of events was also vague, which didn't help.

"So, does that mean the guy that escaped stole Rasiel's wings and finger?" King asked, looking disgusted by the idea.

"Actually, I think it's more likely that Rasiel's wings are sealed up in one of the other two Black Tombs." Gus said.

"But then why was Rasiel's body bleeding when Godric found it? If his body was able to heal up enough to scar in the last 300 years, then wouldn't they have healed up in the almost 100,000 years he was sealed up?" King pointed out.

"Not necessarily. Look at Rasiel's clothes." Gus said, pointing to Rasiel's pants and gold bands. Everyone turned to look at them, noting their worn and tattered state as Gus continued making his point; "I don't know anything about angel clothes, but that looks more like 300 years of wear and tear, not 100,000!"

"You're suggesting that my body was in some kind of temporal stasis while inside the Black Tomb?" Rasiel raised an eyebrow.

Luz looked confused; "Temporal what-now?"

"Gus is basically saying that time wasn't effecting his body while he was locked up inside the tomb." Amity explained.

"Oh! So he only started ageing when his body was let out again!" Luz gasped, "Which means if he was sealed 100,000 years ago while his back was still bleeding from losing his wings…"

"...Then they'd still be bleeding when he was released. But the wounds scarred over in the 300 years since then." Gus finished with a smile.

King still looked a little confused, but the others seemed to grasp it. It made sense too, considering Rasiel had been divided into four pieces before he was sealed away. His spirit, body, and memories were obvious pieces, but the fourth had been something neither Rasiel nor his friends could figure out. If his wings were removed from his body, that was the equivalent of also taking his magic, so it was logical for them to be sealed separately.

Rasiel sighed irritably, but forced himself to calm down; "Well, that's disappointing." he said miserably, "I had hoped I'd be more useful to you all now, but it seems I'm now basically powerless. Still, angel blood still flows through my veins, so we can still complete the Panacea Mirror. Today wasn't a total loss."

"I'm sorry things didn't work out how you wanted, Rasiel." Luz said, hugging him around the waist as she often did with Eda, "But we were going to try and find the other tombs anyway so we could completely put you back together. It's just going to take a little more time."

Rasiel smiled, enjoying the hug. He weakly hugged Luz back, and patted her head, falling in love with the feeling of her curls beneath his palm. So many years without physical contact had made him a little touch-starved, and Luz had frequently made Rasiel want to pat her head, so he was more than happy to indulge that now.

"Thank you, little one. This means a lot to me; I meant what I said earlier about how grateful I am, even if things didn't work out the way we wanted. With or without my magic, you'll have my support in all your endeavours." he said formally; "That goes for all of you." he added, looking to Amity, Gus, and King.

They smiled in return, glad he'd cheered up some. Amity then turned to Godric; "I don't suppose you could tell us where the other Black Tombs are, could you? Are they in temples like this one and Caplacier?" she asked, already eager to go with Luz on another ruin date.

Godric nodded; "There is a third temple somewhere in one of the Boiling Isles' forests; it's the Plant Temple."

Gus grinned; "Oh, Willow has totally got to go to that one!"

"So there are only three elemental temples on the Boiling Isles? What about a Light Temple, or the other four elements?" Amity asked.

Rasiel answered that question; "Each Titan possesses four elemental glyphs; three inherited from their parents and one unique to them. Based on the glyphs he's shown to Luz, The Boiling Isles Titan possessed Light, Fire, Ice, and Plant. I imagine Temples were only built for those four."

Godric nodded; "You're mostly right. Only those elements were worshipped in temples, but only Fire, Ice, and Plant Temples were actually constructed. A fourth one was intended to be built in the Skull, to represent light, but for some reason it was never completed. The Titan himself is said to have stopped it. However I wouldn't bother going to the Plant Temple unless you want to sightsee; no Black Tomb can be found there. Only two were left on the Boiling Isles. I'm afraid I don't know where the other two are, but old scriptures from the founding of our temples say that the other two Black Tombs were held by the Titan's Mate, whom we refer to as the Lost Titan."

"My Mom…!" King gasped.

"It would seem so, Young King. I cannot tell you were the third Black Tomb is exactly, but I can tell you that it is guarded by our third mate; a witch named Lars. They, Zara, and I were raised together for this duty and became mates when we became dragons. I was assigned to Volcarpalis, Zara to Caplacier, and Lars to somewhere on the Lost Titan. Sadly they were sworn to secrecy, so I don't know if they're at a temple or some other hiding place." Godric explained. "All I know is that Lars had to use a Primordial Wellspring to get there, as conventional travel to the Lost Titan was impossible."

Luz frowned; "They travelled with a Primordial Wellspring? I thought those were just places filled with magic from the Titan?"

Godric nodded; "They are, but they also serve as portals between them. Jump in one wellspring and you can pop out of another that was formed from the same Titan or their bonded mate. It's the only way I know of to find the Lost Titan, and was how Zara, Lars, and I remained in contact even after being separated by our duty."

Luz and her friends frowned; that made things difficult. The other tombs weren't even on the Boiling Isles and could only be reached through Primordial Wellsprings, all of which were apparently dried up! They would need to look into this problem later. Luz was also curious about the glyphs; if King's Dad had four and he'd shown them all to Luz now, did that mean she wouldn't be able to find any more?

Shaking that thought off, Luz decided not to worry about it. It had been a long day and she was mentally and physically exhausted, having used up most of her magic and been further drained by the heat, not to mention all the information she and her friends had gotten. For now she would just be grateful that they were all alive and unharmed (excluding Rasiel's emaciated condition and missing parts), and they'd gotten exactly what they'd come for AND a new glyph! Now all that was left was to go home and finish the mirror, and Eda would be cured!

"Well I guess we should be getting home. It'll be evening soon, and I hear nights in the desert are freezing!" Luz chirped; "What are you going to do now, Godric?"

The Fire Priest stroked his beard; "With the Black Tomb and its contents gone, my duty is here over. I'll linger here until nightfall, then go to the Knee and find Zara. I suspect she went hunting for an active Primordial Wellspring to restore her power, so with any luck, I'll find her before long. I'll unseal the temple and leave it as is, allowing over curious pilgrims to face its trials, even if there's nothing waiting for them at the end."

"Great! I hope you and Zara can be happy together! And with Lars too!" Luz smiled broadly, holding Amity's hand.

Godric gave the girls a toothy grin; "I wish you luck as well, Luz Noceda. You, and your witchling mate."

Amity blushed and edged a little closer to Luz, as Godric turned to King; "It was an honour to meet you, Young King. If you should meet Lars in your search for the Black Tombs, be sure to give them your best roar. That skinny brat could do with being knocked on his behind!"

"I'll roar some good that you'll hear it when I do!" King boasted.

Godric smirked, then looked to Gus. He didn't have a good judge of the boy's character, but he appeared to be more of the brainy type like Zara, so he simply nodded; "I wish you well, Gus Porter."

"You too big guy! It's a shame we can't tell anyone about this; I'd love to get an interview with you!" Gus replied.

Godric didn't know what an interview was, so just smiled and nodded as he turned to Rasiel. "And you, Rasiel the Seraphim. I don't know why the Titans allowed you to remain sealed up after your run-in with the Divider. But there are legends about a being by that name… legends that make him sound an awful lot like these Archivists you claim are responsible for the Titans' demise. I don't know if they're the same beings, but if they are, tread carefully; your enemy is not something to be trifled with."

Rasiel nodded stiffly as Luz and the others went wide-eyed at the idea that the mysterious Divider could be like the Archivists. With one final wave and a snap of his fingers, Godric unsealed the exit to the chamber (which slid open slowly) and walked away, disappearing amongst the bones of the giant red skeleton.

"You know, I'm not sure if I want to be friends with that guy or do violence to him…" King commented.

Luz snorted, and then began to giggle, with Amity and Gus soon joining her. King blinked, not really getting what was so funny, but their laughter was infectious and he was so happy with their successes that he began to laugh along too. Even Rasiel found himself swept up in the merry mood, and laughed until his ribs ached.

Once they'd calmed down, the group walked out of the Ritual Chamber. Rasiel couldn't fully walk by himself yet, so Amity used abomination slime to tie Ghost's staff form to his back while Ghost levitated, keeping the man upright even when his legs failed him, allowing him to slowly get some motor skills back. They climbed all the stairs back up to the central chamber of the Fire Temple, then headed out to the volcanic cavern outside. From there it was a long, slow, and hot walk back to the cave beneath the Oasis, and then a short and refreshing swim to the surface. Gus and King went first, followed by Amity and then Rasiel (who found swimming a whole new challenge with his atrophied body). Luz was the last one to swim out, and the instant she got to the surface and removed the icy diving helmet Gus had made for her, she frowned as she looked at her friends.

They were all stood on the shore, looking at something and not moving a muscle.

"Guys? What's going on? Are you okay?" Luz asked worriedly as she got out of the water. As soon as she was on dry land again, she realised what had them all frozen.

The entire Oasis was completely surrounded by Emperor's Coven scouts, with a ring or airships behind them. All had spears pointed at them, and directly in front of Luz and her friends was the familiar face of Lilith, staff in hand..

"T-Tia Lily? What are you doing here!?" Luz asked fearfully.

Lilith smiled; "It honours me that an angel like you calls me such a name, Luz. But I am afraid I am here on Emperor's Coven business. The Emperor has demanded your presence at his castle. You are coming with me."