Warning: mention of self-harm, death, blood
Hope you enjoy the chapter.


The cafeteria quickly filled with students eager to relish their break. Some darted directly to their friends, while others chose to enjoy their meal before venturing toward their fellow colleagues.

She was one of those people, although there would be no venturing toward her friend in her case.

It wasn't all that bad, as she had learned a long time ago that if she didn't bother other people, most of the time, they won't bother her. Plus, if she had friends, she would not be able to enjoy the delicates that her mother prepared for her every day, which would be a crime worse than murder.

However, despite her best effort to stay out of anyone's way, there were some periods when school staff decided to ramp up their brutality. Exams would be given in every discipline , and the pressure of what would generally be a typical Monday will increase tenfold.

Those were the days when some individuals decided to break the sacred rule "If you don't bother me, I won't bother you" and relieve some of their stress on good old Luz.

Why? Well, the answer would be a combination of children's superiority induced by years of being told they are the best and Luz's appearance that looks awfully familiar to a sick person, one mental breakdown away from becoming a hashtag. Or maybe it was neither, and people just enjoyed being dicks.

Today it seems multiple people decided to be dicks. And that was...fine as she was already used to these pricks.

Luz only needed to tighten their jaws to contain their anger and clench their trembling fist under the table, not making a sound even as claws burst through her finger and embedded themself into her skin. Their mocking insults were still better than the trashing and screeching howls at the back of her mind.

And this method most of the time worked, but even the most effective technique had some limits, and today was the day some asshole decided to try his luck.

They decided to bring up her mother in their petty insults. Her mother, the anchor that kept her grounded and sane. Her mother, who was always there when the faint rumble in her mind, escalated into howls of anger and hatred, combined with a familiar sensation of her rib cage closing inwards and making her breathing tighten .

The woman who took her out on strolls through the neighborhood in the middle of the night as the scent of oil and gas kept at bay visions of a distant future where hundreds of galaxies were ripped to shred by branches and what remained was feasted on by roots.

And last but not least, she who was always there to comfort her even when Luz's words and whispers swirled and twisted without the girl's accord, transforming into tales of the Roar of Finality glory, whose power tears the earth, sea, sky, and reality apart, extinguishing unfathomable amounts of souls in its pursuit to catch the tip of the arrow that propagated life forward.

So with that in mind, hearing some prick insult her without a bit of shame erupted an inferno of rage to pulse through her veins. His mistake was believing that Luz won't hesitate to beat the shit out of him if he crossed the line. Her mistake was thinking the Hunter would not take advantage of her unstable mental stability.

As Luz stood up, her eyes flared with fury, and just as she muttered a single word, her jaws instantly clam down on her tongue, and her eyes widened in absolute horror.

The echo of a single tune of the melody written in her bone had escaped into the mortal realm, and it was enough to shatter both the bottle in her hand and her lips, letting blood drip freely on her chin and clothes. She screwed her eyes tightly for a second, feeling her heart hammer in her chest as something rushed through her throat. A cacophony of screams and laughter plucked at her frigid neck like barbed wire, twisting and thrashing chaotically inside her mouth and pushing against her teeth, begging to be released.

But despite the pain, she kept her mouth shut because the world would burn in the Hunter's image if she didn't.

"Luz Noceda!"

Her slumber was broken by a sudden yell that made the fourteen-year-old jolt from the chair, staring wide-eyed at her principal.

"This is the second time you have dozed in my office. Don't you have any respect for this institution?" The principal gaze hardened, and she could only smile sheepishly back. Her face throbs faintly at the irony that her mind decides to say "Nope" and shut down at school.

"Sorry, teach, today has been an awful day, so many exams. I am surprised I didn't pass out more than two times." Her half-baked joke only managed to make the principal eyes narrow. Under the scrutinizing gaze, she stood straighter, pulling her head a little higher and ignoring how her vertebrae cracked and grinded against one another.

Not one word was exchanged for several seconds, leaving Luz in a perpetual state of anxiety. You see, dealing with angry people was easy. They scream and sometimes throw profanity at Luz, but after they run their fuse, it is easier to speak to them. Silent anger, on the other hand, made Luz's hair rise. Of course, this was not true silence- for she could still hear the afternoon air colliding with the clean window, the clicking of a damaged clock at the back of the room, the steady vibration of her heart, and the absents of a permeating smell of decay, but...it still gives her the creeps.

Before finishing her train of thought, the principal rose from his seat and moved toward the window, watching solemnly in the distance. After seeing thousands of cliche movies, she knew that this action meant no good, but before she could open her mouth, they decided to fuck her life again.

She winces slightly as a sharp tooth sprouts in the middle of her mouth and grazes her tongue. Her emotions were beginning to slip, and she needed to reel them in before the principal had the chance to connect the dots and realize that she was something that shouldn't exist.

Using the tip of her finger, she rips a part of the skin on her palm, watching as the fluid bubble from her exposed flesh and begins falling on her leg, staining her skirt. Gritting her teeth, Luz swallows her hiss as the ripped opening to her nerves unfurls into the air, almost sending her into a pain-riddled inertia.

On cue, her mind became clouded, and the principal words became nothing more than static.

Self-inflicted pain always lets her experience an...euphoric and foggy state of being. It allowed her to disregard everything around her for a few moments, merely be a bystander in a world that had decided to make an enemy out of her.

In a blink, she felt herself leaving her corporeal body and merely floating between foreign stars and astral galaxies, spinning, and dancing around one another, similar to how electrons orbit the cell's nucleus. By their side was the unmistakable form of darkness that craved to reach the invisible edges of light as it had always desired since the birth of the embers whose warmth banished away the formless f̷o̷r̷e̷s̷t̷ void.

Each atom in the universe hummed a song of peace and harmony, soothing her soul in more ways than one. Such beautiful patterns were something humanity would probably never be able to admire, and yet they were all unfolding before her very own eyes, even if it was merely a construct created by her fractured imagination.

It was such a pity that the grand and marvelous dance that was life will end because of her

There was no sound to alert for what was to come.

Up and down, from the beginning to the end of the universe, an incomprehensible mass of twisting bones, arms, fingers, branches all materialized from everywhere and nowhere simultaneously.

Each arm and branch latched onto galaxies, gripping them with impossible strengths and ripping them apart.

A never-ending amount of fingers sprouted from each arm and branch and sliced through the intermolecular hydrogen bonds that hold each animal, planet, and celestial body together., invalidating any defense one could have. One by one, each Star and Galaxie flickered and died, consumed by the endless null the Forest is built upon.

And to finish the job, the echo of the Roar of Finality shreds through the fabric of reality like it was nothing more than wet paper, creating an opening for the Unbounded to emerge into the physical universe.

For the end of everything will come when they arrive.

From the uncharted bottom of the Forest rises something should. Not. Be. What was once held back by chains that were each supercluster upon superclusters in diameter was now released from their shackles.

Their presence brings forth the true form of the Roar of Finality, and the hope of the universe surviving is now laughable.

For how could there be any escape from a creature who can collapse higher dimensional realities and pocket dimensions just because they exist?

How could there be any chance of survival when the Hunter's song can annihilate gravity, light, darkness, and degenerate life?

A song that mocks the concept of death and kills it

But for them, the destruction of the universe created by the girl's mind is not even an afterthought. They are drawn to this place of exitance by Luz's presence and their liberty to move freely without constraints.

Speaking of, Luz could only watch in acceptance as the creature residing in her skin breached through the rift from a place worse than the darkest pits of hell. The nightmare form was large enough that its length pushed through the barriers that stood at the beginning and end of the universe. Their body wasn't made of anything organic, but simply an amalgamation of billions of skeletal arms, each individual one capable of wiping away entire species in a single swipe, all held together by the will of the Hunter and the Roar of Finality.

With every twitch and movement of their body, they left flickering shards of broken time and space in their wake. But despite the impossibility of something like this, Luz's assessment will soon prove incorrect. And when the realization dawned on her, it still managed to send chills down her back, even if she had been here so many times before.

Oh...I've been looking just at one of their appendages .

Before her eyes, the appendage opened its "hand" and shot toward her at speed beyond light. The world shifted to a standstill as her body was stuck and incapable of ducking out of the way of the appendage that held an endless link of branches in its palm.

The door to the principal office swings wide open.

Her principal, none the wiser to her current tranquilized state, turns abruptly from the windows, moving his field of vision toward the doorway, giving the dazed girl just enough time to swipe her arm across her face and erase the blood stains her eyes produced.

The vision of a living nightmare evaporates in thin air, and she is back in the physical and real world. Everything moves as it should be, and time, space, and gravity are fundamental laws, not fractured concepts.

Entering the room was a woman in her 40s, dark-skinned and with an athletic build. She was imposing and walked with utmost confidence, her face a mask of tightly controlled anger. Only a single hazel eye was visible but didn't dwindle the intensity it burned with. This was only amplified by the black eyepatch resting on her left eye, covering a thick scar.

She quickly scans the room, and only when her eye lands on Luz does her glare soften. Not knowing what else to do, Luz offers her a smile, regardless of how much it hurts or how fake it looked.

"Hey, m-mom" Her voice cracks like porcelain as a sizzling sensation hits her throat and nostrils. It felt like something was tearing itself through her windpipe, but it quickly became apparent that it was nothing more than guilt.

She should have expected it. After all, it was what she deserved after breaking the promise she made by cutting it into her skin. But nonetheless, it still hurt just as much as the trashing and howling at the back of her mind and laying her eyes on the incomprehensible form of the Hunter. Tears threatened to break through, but she held them back and locked them deep inside her brain, leaving them to be dealt with by future Luz.

Because in the end, she will be fine-lie lie lielie

"Mija," Camila responded coldly, and even though Luz knew the anger wasn't directed at her, it was still terrifying.

Shifting her gaze, the head of the Noceda family's lips curl in a slight frown as they settle on the principal. It wasn't that she hated the man, far from it, but whoever threatened her daughter better have a good explanation.

"Principal, you have five minutes to give me a genuinely good reason why you even dare threaten my daughter with a detention center, or heavens help me, this school will see hell."

Some may be surprised by the venom present in the women's speech, but after dozen of calls and meetings, she realized that the number of times when her daughter was genuinely at fault could be counted on one hand. -However, that is just half of the truth, isn't it, Camila Noceda?

You couldn't care less about what her teacher had to say, for how could that matter when you saw with your own eyes your daughter mutated into something that must not exist, a nightmare whose laughter plagues thousands of broken realms-

Before the man could respond, she sat beside Luz, waiting patiently for whatever he would throw at her.

"Good to see you too, ; I will not bore you with formality and get straight to the point. Ever since this semester had started, she was implicated in thirteen fights, and other professors had reprimanded her time and time again. Still, with no result," Exhaling a bit, he adjusted his glasses before continuing, "this isn't the type of mentality this institution wishes to foster, and it's not the sort of behavior we are willing to permit."

Luz could feel something drop at the bottom of her gut as slight fear gripped her soul. She could shrug off bad grades, warnings, and suspension like a dirty bandage but expulsion? Well, that could crush the slim chance of getting to a university and making something of her forsaken life. And the absolute authority with the director spoke was something too impressive and terrifying at the same time.

Her mother didn't share her sentiment.

There was no tension in her body, her eyes narrowed in apathy with a slight glint of disgust lingering at the back of her mind, and her mouth was set in a firm line. She seems more inconvenienced than anything.

"Really now, sir , are you threatening to kick my daughter out? After your institution and staff complete failing." She huffs a little as if amused before continuing. "So, just to start, tell me, principal , how many times have the teachers of this so-called pristine academy turned a blind eye when other students decided to get a little 'rowdy' with my daughter? And only when she retaliated said teachers suddenly get a sense of justice and decide to persecute Luz and only Luz." She inclines her head, confident as an empress, and clicks her finger before addressing her daughter. "Luz darling, please wait in the hall; this won't take more than a few minutes."

Without needing to be told twice, the girl almost books it out of the office, letting her legs guide her toward the only unoccupied chair with her backpack. Once seated, she sighed in relief, thankful she wasn't the one to fall under her mother's wrath.

Don't get her wrong, Camila was the most loving and caring human she had met in her life, but god, she could also be the second most terrifying person she knows.

Realizing she had nothing better to do for the next ten minutes, she maneuvered her hand in her bag and took out the fifth and final book of the Azura pentalogy and arguably one of the most hated, which was, in Luz's opinion, pretty stupid.

Sure, some people might find an enemy turn-lover trope boring and repetitive, but Luz loved every second she read it. It was so fascinating, almost foraging, to think that there could exist a world full of wonders beyond the borders of places like Gravefield.

Perhaps the crazy idea that somewhere out there exists kind people like her mother, places where her love and optimistic views can find the necessary strength to grow tall as the sky, or maybe even parallel worlds where her existence isn't plagued by a living nightmare.

This is why she loves happy endings in her favorite book series, movies, or her own fanfics and poems. Even though such fate is foreclosed on her, she will always have her own or other writers' stories, proving that if given a chance, love and compassion can blossom in the worst places.

So one might ask why she is rambling to herself about something that she is too embarrassed to tell anyone besides her mother? After experiencing one of the most traumatic experiences in her life, well... in reality, it didn't even reach the top ten.

It all comes back to something that happened a few days before. She would have liked to say that she felt anxiety run through her vein like boiling iron because of the fear of expulsion or laying her eyes on something that should not exist. But she is used to that.

It was supposed to be a typical Monday, except for the rough and crooked handwritten verse placed neatly on her desk for her eyes to see.

The ink was a combination of blue and the color of a supernova explosion that hurt her brain if she looked at it too much. On the page, there were also blood stains of unknown origin-l ielieliel ie

Even without seeing its content, it managed to send a shiver down her back, and thankfully her chair was right beside her when her legs turned into jelly.

She knew deep down that she should have expected that even though for the last year things had been fine -lie , things will never become the norm.

Maybe a bloodcurdling scream wouldn't have escaped her cracked lips if she wasn't such a fool. But those were minute details that didn't register at that moment. Grabbing frantically onto the chair was the only thing that dampened her fall as her body collided with the frame of her bed, knocking the air out of her lung. When the air returned to her lungs, it was hot and almost toxic, clawing at her insides and making it that much harder to move. Once again, she could vividly feel something writhing and consuming her bit by bit, replacing her with something else.

They relish in her despair, not wasting a second to let their roar travel under her skin and crack her pores. Through sweat blended with shed tears, she could vaguely feel her mother's kind but rough hand, but for the will in her, she couldn't take her eyes off the notebook lying mockingly on her desk.

There's a prison of flesh around me, around me

A blob of meat as hideous as one can be, one can be

They took my will, nails sharp and wry

As even trade, I now rest in their eyes

Observing the world from within, within

There's a prison of flesh around me, around me

They waster their pitiful existence day and night, day and night

They hold me tight, chains harsh and blunt,

Locked inside a prison, away from the light, the light,

There's a forest full of trees, and it's me, it's me,

See the remains of the cosmos that used to be, used to be

Soon we will move free, unbounded, and hungry

So hold your loved one close

For their end shall come sooner

rather than

later

Before she could delve deeper into her own mind, the familiar click of her mother's heels shook her from the daze. With that, the realization that she had been reading the same paragraph for the last five minutes forced a groan out of her before unceremonial throwing the book in her backpack and standing up to intercept her mother.

As a part of her already guessed, she was once again let off the hook, and if her mother world were to be trusted 100 percent, she even received a happy holiday from her principal, which was a bit ironic.

Nonetheless, with all this unnecessary out of the way, she was given a chance to either go home with her mother or alone.

The option was evident if not for the fact that her mother still had a few hours of work, and she had already been a burden for dragging the women all the way to the school for her own incompetence.

'She is really pathetic, isn't she?'

Unbeknownst to the Noceda family, this action will prove as pivotal as the Autom night the Noceda family shall never forget. For it is by the will of the Hunter that fate and destiny shall be crumbled and rebuilt piece by piece. After all, it was by their will that out of everything a particular wooden owl could have picked to steal, it would be the one belonging to their prison.

And when the girl crosses the threshold of the dark hut, her yelp of shock and surprise that escaped her lips as the floor gave away under her was drowned by the loud and grating howls of laughter of her bones.


Notes:

Will Luz be ready to face the hardship of an island filled with literal demons?
Ha, Ha, Let's be serious, the Boiling Isle and its residents are the one that needs to be prepared for the hardship they will suffer, but for now, they are merely a boat in a calm sea. Let's see how much longer said sea would remain calm.
With that said, before I leave you, I must mention that although Camila Noceda played a minimal role in this chapter. Let me tell you; she will undoubtedly be the fourth/third most crucial character in this story and the most badass. After all, one does not acquire the title of ''The Nightmare Of the Wicked'' just by being a side character;).
That's all from me for now; thank you for reading, and I hope to read any questions or comments you might have regarding the fic since comments are the ones that contribute the most to how much time there is between chapters.
Now I am going to get some shut-eye.