Titan, the Demon god of magic, creation, and life, High King of the Demon Realms, watched in abject horror and despair. 'Four years.' he thought, 'I have watched for FOUR YEARS as my daughter, my little light has been abused and mistreated by those pieces of human trash my late wife called a family, unable to do a damned thing, now they are sending her away to a place where she'll be treated even WORSE! I have to do something! ANYTHING!'
Growling in frustration and righteous anger he searched for anything he could use to save his precious daughter, one of the two children he had left. His power while strong in the Demon Realms was close to being nonexistent in the Human Realm, but he would not let that stop him, he would find a way, he would save her.
That's when he felt it, a pulse, a fragment of his power from the Demon Realms, something that he knew all too well, a Palisman. But how? The creatures can't survive for long in the Human Realm without their bonded witch, and he knew for a fact that no witch currently called the Human Realm home save for his daughter. So just how did a Palisman of all things come to be in the Human Realm? His true body back in the Demon Realm had decomposed to the point that natural portals don't just open anymore, his blood the thing that fueled them having dried up almost a hundred years previous, so that was out, leaving one of two things, either some enterprising witch managed to rip open a small hole in spacetime that lead to the human realm and their Palisman sadly fell through and was now lost forever in a different dimension, sad, but these things happen sometimes. Or someone had found the Demon Door and for some reason sent their Palisman though.
This may just be something he could use, a way to help his little girl! Focusing in on the wayward Palisman it came into view, a small brown owl with golden eyes, a very familiar owl at that. Owlbert, the Palisman of his other child's caretaker/adopted mother, Eda, and it was dragging a bag of trash? Reaching out to the small witches familiar, something made infinitely easier by the fact that it was mostly made of living magic, he spoke.
"Little One, what are you doing?" the voice of Titan reverberated through the small witches familiar, carried by the very oldest of magic. Startled by the sudden appearance of its most sacred of gods, the small creature dropped the bag it was carrying in its beak.
"M-My lord!" cried Owlbert "I am collecting human treasures for my Mistress. She sells them at the market!"
"Oh?" Spoke Titan, more than a little amused at what the small owl-like creature thought was human 'treasure' "you seem to be doing a fine job in that case. Now Little One, just how did you manage to get to the Human Realm?"
"My Mistress has a portal door, my lord. She uses it to come to and from the two realms."
"Eda has a Demon Door then does she," whispered Titan to himself, this could be just what he was looking for, the Demon Realm may be dangerous, but even at its most savage it would be leagues safer for his daughter then under those barbarians that his daughter currently lived with.
"Little One, I have a favor to ask of you. My daughter, my little light, lives nearby, her… caretakers leave much to be desired, and her home life is not one that a young witch should be forced to live in. I ask that you take her with you, back to the Demon Realm. It's sad to say but even on her own there she would be much safer then here under the care of those who are supposed to be her family."
"You have another child my lord? I thought that the young King was the last of your progeny?" asked Owlbert, taken aback slightly by the fact that another of his lords' children still lived.
"King is the last of my Demon progeny Little One, my daughter is a witchling born of my mortal form and a human mother. Her name is Luz, will you help her?" Asked Titan, the desperation clear in his voice as he asked that final question.
Sitting alone at the local bus stop with her entire life packed into an old beat-up duffle bag was not how Luz expected today to go. It had started off like any other day in the past four years for the teenager. Her caretakers (she refused to call them her grandparents after they have put her through) waking her up before dawn and letting her out of the barren cell like room she was forced to live in for her morning prayer session. An hour and a half of being forced on her knees to recite her prayers and they sent her to get ready for the day. She had lucky not had any incidents where they caught her using her 'abilities' in the past few days so she was allowed a small breakfast of water and plain oatmeal, it wasn't the most appetizing thing on the face of the planet but at the very least it dulled the near constant hunger pains and would make the wait till lunch at school bearable. After finishing the meager meal and getting dressed in the, in her opinion, not too horrible school uniform for Gravesfield High (why the school had a uniform in the first place she would never know as it was just your normal American public high school) she was then shipped off to school. That's where everything started going downhill.
Arriving at Gravesfield High Luz was immediately set upon by her grandmother with her usual speech before letting her go off to school.
"Now nieta," spoke Maria, her voice stern, eyes set hard on her granddaughter, "I want you on your best behavior today, keep that demonic curse of yours under control, you hear me!"
"Yes, abuela."
"Good girl," smiled Maria, patting Luz on her cheek "Have a good day at school, love you!"
"Love you too, abuela." Luz chokes out, managing to even make it sound sincere.
Hopping out of her caretaker's Buick, Luz runs off to the school, quickly entering the large brick building in an attempt to get away from her 'grandparents' eyes as soon as possible. Letting out a breath and relaxing as she enters fully into the relative safety of the school. She makes her way to her locker getting ready for the day, that's when it hits her. Her book report! Her book report that she wasn't able to finish because her caretakers took away the book claiming it to be heretical. She was so screwed!
Mr. Miller wasn't the most forgiving teacher in the school in the first place, and this wasn't the first time that something like this had come up in his class. He was rather fascinated with the witch hunts of old and let that interest bleed over into the works that he assigned to his students, which was not a good thing for Luz. Her grandparents desisted anything with witches, magic, and the like claiming it all to be demonic and heretical. She knew that Mr. Miller wouldn't take her grandparents refusal to let her read the book that was assigned as an excuse as to why she didn't finish the report and would simply say that she should have thought of that before and figured out a way to get the book read and the report done anyways. He was a massive jerk in her opinion.
Sighing and resigning herself to the fate of Mr. Miller's ire she trotted off towards her first class, which in her infinite luck just so happened to be Mr. Miller's. Entering the classroom, Luz slinks off to her seat hoping to avoid anyone and everyone in the class, flailing almost immediately.
"Ms. Noceda," called Mr. Miller sitting on his desk at the front of the classroom, "do you mind handing in your report? I'm hoping to get all of them collected before class starts. Give us more time to go over today's lesson."
Panicking slightly, not expecting to get called out so suddenly, Luz stammers out, "R-report? A-about that…"
"Yes report Ms. Noceda," drawled out Mr. Miller annoyance filling his eyes. "The report that was assigned on Monday, is it done or not Ms. Noceda?"
"M-my grandparents wouldn't let me read the book Mr. Miller. T-they called it blasphemous. Told me I wasn't allowed to read those kinds of books while living under their roof. You know how they get with that kind of thing…"
Sighing, Mr. Miller hopped off his desk and walked over to Luz who shrunk under his gaze. "We've talked about this before Ms. Noceda, that is no excuse not to get your work done," stated Mr. Miller, his voice even if not a little patronizing, "This is the fifth time that this has happened now. I'm sorry but I must send you to the principal's office. Hopefully that will teach you to do better in the future. Now off you go!"
"B-but… "
"No arguing. Principal's office. Now!" ordered Mr. Miller, handing off a hastily written note explaining why she was being sent to the office. Knowing better than to try and argue again, Luz deflates even more and shuffles off, tears pricking at her eyes.
Making her way to the front office, she could feel a cold pit of dread building in her stomach. She knew she wouldn't be able to slip by with a warning this time. Principal Hal would end up calling her grandparents and that would be bad, more than bad actually. The last time that school called home about her she was denied food for three days and almost sent off to a religious 'reeducation' camp, she knew that this time would be worse.
Arriving at the front office, Luz made her way to Principal Hal's office, knowing that Mr. Miller would have already called to let him know that she was on her way. Knocking on the door she called out "Principal Hal, It's Luz Noceda."
"Come in Ms. Noceda," said Mr. Hal, his voice hard.
Entering the office, Luz looked around, nothing had really changed from the last time she had been there, the same white walls, the same outdated advertisements for school clubs on the bulletin board, and the same uncaring empty eyes of Principal Hal.
The man had been principal of Gravesfield High for nearly twenty years at this point and while at one point he may have cared about his students and faculty, years of being passed over for the position of superintendent coupled with the death of his wife and daughter two years prior left him, cold, uncaring, and broken.
"Have a seat, Ms. Noceda," gestured Principal Hal, his cold eyes simply passing over Luz, not even bothering to look at her. "Mr. Miller called a head. He said that you had a note for me? Hand it over."
"Y-yes sir."
"Looking here it seems that this is another case of you not handing in a major assignment, is that correct Ms. Noceda?"
"Yes sir. B-but I can ex-"
"No excuses, you know it's the student's responsibility to finish ALL assignments given. No matter what." chided Principal Hal, "now this is the third time you have been in my office this semester Ms. Noceda, that means that by school policy I am obligated to call your guardians in for a chat. Do you understand what that means?"
"Y-yes sir…" mumbled Luz, slumping into the chair. She knew exactly what that meant, exactly what would happen to her, and it was not good. Not good at all.
Three hours, principal Hal had kept them there for three hours going over every little incident that she was involved in, no matter how small. At the end he even ended up spending her for the rest of the year, the week and a half that it is anyways. Her caretakers were absolutely livid, even though most of the incidents resulting in the suspension were caused by things that they had done.
It wasn't her fault that she was unable to finish several book reports when the books that were assigned to her were confiscated the second that she got home because her caretakers labeled them as blasphemous. It wasn't her fault that she was unable to keep up in gym class due to being so hungry that she simply didn't have the energy to run. And it certainly wasn't her fault for being late mornings when she was forced into extra long prayer sessions because of simple mistakes. But they didn't think that way, they refused to see it that way.
"I can't believe you nieta*, you couldn't even make it through your first class before getting in trouble!" Yelled Maria, as they drove back home. "What are we going to do with you? It seems that your curse is just getting stronger…"
"I'm sorry abuela!" cried Luz, tears falling freely down her face. She knew that things were just going to get worse for her if she stayed with her caretakers and she had to get out, she just wished that she had a bit more time to plan. Using the skills in acting that she has built up over the years mixed with the gut wrenching dread that fills her as she is driven to what is probably going to the straw that breaks the camel's back for her caretakers, getting her sent off to a 'reeducation' camp. She plays the part of a heart broken teen, upset at disappointing her loving family. She needs to buy time and not arouse suspicion if she wants to get out without getting caught.
She knows exactly what those camps are, exactly what goes on in them. Kids sent by their families to what is essentially a modern concentration camp to be worked and abused all while being subjected to what paramounts to religious brainwashing. She wants nothing to do with those camps, nothing to do with the religion that her caretakers forced down her throat from the moment that she was taken in by them after her mother's death four years prior.
Arriving back at her caretakers home she enacts her plan. As much as she hates it, the camp will probably give her the best shot at getting out undetected. It runs pretty much year round from what she knows of the one that her caretakers have talked about sending her to and will take kids on short notice. That means that in all likelihood if she plays her cards right she could be out from under the pieces of human offal 2 she calls grandparents thumb within the week if not sooner.
The first part of her plan would be to, sadly, make sure that she is sent to the camp. Not that she will actually go, but the opportunity given to get as far as possible away from Gravesfield while also giving months to cover her tracks is something that she simply can't pass up. Lucky this part is easy enough to accomplish, a couple of words here or there and a feigned interest in the camp should work nicely.
"M-maybe that camp would be the best place for me," muttered Luz, just loud enough for Maria to hear, "Maybe they could help to get this curse under control…"
'Hook line and sinker,' thought Luz seeing the contemplative look on her grandmother's face 'Well that's faze one done, now for the harder part…'
Part two of her little plan was probably going to be the most difficult to accomplish. She needed to get all of her personal documents, social security card, birth certificate, and the like. While not integral to her escape plan they will be VERY important later on down the road when she needs to prove her identity and find a way to support herself. The good thing is that she knows exactly where the documents were stored, the bad was that they were locked up tight in a safe.
Lucky for her she has just the thing to get into it. Her caretakers liked to lock her in her room at night, afraid that she'd get into something that they wouldn't like she guesses, but it did do her some good, it taught her how to use her 'abilities' to pick locks. Something that she's quite good at if she has anything to say about it. She just hopes she has enough energy to pull it off.
The documents were held in a simple wall safe down in the basement by the washer and dryer. Best of all it was Friday so that meant laundry day so that gave her an excuse to go down there in the first place. After sitting through the scolding of her grandfather she started on her chores for the day. Getting through most of the list for Fridays she makes her way down to the basement, she needs to be quick so as to not arouse suspicion, it was a good thing that both her caretakers were getting on in years and avoided the old, and rather rickety stairs leading down to the basement whenever possible and that the laundry area was out of sight from the top of the stairs.
A quick twirl of her index finger and the telltale deep violet ring hanging in the air and the laundry is sorted ready to go in the wash. She can feel a small, but familiar drain on her energy that using her abilities takes, lucky she was able to eat this morning so she should be good to get the safe open. Another ring drawn, this time about a foot in diameter and the safe pops open. She can really feel the drain from this one, it's good that she shouldn't have to use her 'abilities' again for a while if everything goes smoothly.
Grabbing the documents and hiding them in the small hidden pocket she had sewn into all of her skirts, she finishes putting the clothes into the washer, starting its cycle. Heading back up the stairs she is greeted by her grandfather "Luz, nieta, we need to talk."
"Yes abuelo." spoke Luz, a flash of anxiety flashing through her as she followed her grandfather into the living room. 'Did they notice that I was up to something in the basement,' thought Luz, internally panicking 'no, no, I'm good. I took about the same amount of time that I normally do with the laundry. There is also no way that they would have been able to see me use my abilities or get down the stairs without me noticing, I just need to calm down. Everything will be fine.'
"Luz sweetheart," spoke Maria softly, small tears pricking at the corners of her eyes, "your abuelo and I have been talking. After this last incident we think it best to send you off to Camp St. Francis. We don't want to do it but they may be able to help you with your curse nieta."
Shocked slightly at the speed at which they decided to send her off, Luz could really only stammer out a short response, "Y-yes abuela. W-when am I going?"
"We called the camp while you were working on your chores, you'll be leaving tonight. The bus will pick you up at the station at 7."
"I-I should go pack then; we don't have that much time."
'Thats a lot faster than I thought they were going to move,' thought Luz, going over everything she needed to get done in the next few hours 'it's a good thing that I grabbed the documents when I did, I don't think I would have had another chance to unless I stuck around Gravesfield and snuck back in. I wish that I would have had a few more days to be able to snag some more cash, the thousand that I've stashed away should be enough for a bit at the very least. The only other thing I have to worry about is making sure that I can fit everything I need into my bag'
"Alright nieta, we'll let you get to it, let us know if you need any help."
"Will do abuelo."
Rushing off to her room, Luz pulled out her old duffle bag from the back of her closet. The last time that she had used the thing was when she had originally moved in with her caretakers and it had honestly seen better days, but it would work. Closing the door, she quickly opened up her stash spot, a small piece of the floor between her dresser and the wall that she had cut out using her 'abilities'. Taking stock of what she had she planned out what she could take with her and what she couldn't.
Grabbing some clothes, she started packing, layer of clothes first then her documents, followed by some more clothes and the overstuffed envelope with her life savings, a blanket, the pocket knife she had stolen from the local hardware store, and the small first aid kit she had tucked away into a hollowed out old bible. That was the important stuff at least she also managed to fit her old kindle with her Azura books on it, a few days worth of emergency rations that she had stored up, and the last gift from her mother, the final book of the Azura series, book five. It was in all honesty her most treasured item, especially because taped to the front cover was the last photo of her and her mother, taken just a few weeks before her death.
Wiping away the few tears that formed in the corners of her eyes from thinking about her late mother, Luz double and triple checks that she has everything. It would be rather difficult to get back in if she forgot something now. After reassuring herself that yes, she really does have everything ready to go and is in fact fully packed to run away, opens the door to leave her room one final time.
Looking at the time on her phone, something that she'll have to ditch later, doesn't want anyone tracking it, she notices the time is 6:23, a little over half an hour to go. Walking into the living room she sees her caretakers sitting on the couch.
"Alright, I'm done packing, is it alright if I walk to the bus stop? The fresh air would be wonderful before getting stuck on a bus for hours." asked Luz, hoping that her grandparents would say yes, it would make it so much easier to escape.
"I guess nieta," said Maria, getting up to give Luz a hug, "just make sure to send us a text when you get there, ok?"
"Yes, abuela, abelo, I'll see you guys in a few months then? Love you guys." lied Luz, knowing if everything goes well, she'll never see the two again.
"Love you too nieta, have fun at camp."
Not bothering to stick around longer than that, Luz makes her way to the door, trying to get as far away from this place and Gravesfield as possible. Knowing that she at the very least needs to make an appearance at the bus stop that she was supposed to get picked up at, even if it wasn't her actual destination, she slowly made her way there. It really wasn't far from the house, about a ten minute walk on a good day, but the walk was definitely long enough to make her think, something that she really didn't get a chance to do today with how fast everything went. She knew in her heart that leaving was the best bet, that getting away from her caretakers was the best thing if she wanted to live to adulthood, even if that meant living on the streets for a bit. But there was that little nagging voice at the back of her head that was telling her to stay, that she was wrong about the camp that it wasn't going to be what she thought it was, that even after all she had lived through with her caretakers that the loved her and wouldn't send her off to be tortured. Sadly, though she knew that that voice was wrong, that even though her caretakers actually loved her their religion warped their perspective enough that sending their only granddaughter off to be tortured at some religious conversion camp was the best thing to do.
Sighing she knocked herself out of those thoughts, they wouldn't do her any good right now, she needed to focus on a plan to survive. The biggest concern right now was making it to the bus stop and at the very least being seen by a few people who live nearby to give her a bit of an alibi and hopefully make it seem like she went off to camp. If she could accomplish that then she had three months to get as far away from Gravesfield as possible, and that gave her the best chance of actually succeeding.
Reaching the bus stop she sat at the bench, it was only 6:37, she could take a minute and rest. Setting her bag on the bench next to her, she grabbed her phone out of her pocket and sent a quick message to Maria letting her know that she made it. She and Maria knew that all phones would be confiscated for the duration of the camp so this would be the last message she would send. Putting her phone away she went to reach for her bag, only being able to eat breakfast today along with using her abilities made her extremely hungry, knowing it was a bad idea but honestly not caring she was going to eat one of the granola bars that she had stashed there. Only to be meant with nothing but the cool metal of the bench. Her bag was gone!
Looking around frantically for her bag, the thing that literally held everything in the world that she owned other than the clothes on her back at the moment, her attention was drawn by the hoot of an owl. Looking towards where the sound came from she saw it was her bag! And it was getting carried off by a tiny owl!
"Tiny thief!" she cried rushing after the small animal. To be honest if she wasn't as frantic about getting her bag back, she would have probably questioned the fact that an owl roughly the size of a can of soda was able to carry a bag that was probably close to being twenty pounds. Sadly, though, she wasn't exactly in the right mind to do so at the moment and followed the thief into the woods.
For how small the owl was, and how heavy her bag was, the thing was surprisingly fast, easily managing to keep ahead of her as she laid chase, leading her deeper into the woods. She followed the bird for quite some time, until they came across an old, abandoned shack in the woods, the door hanging wide open. It seemed to be the owl's destination as the creature zipped right in the open door not even bothering to look behind at her.
Hesitating for a second Luz rushed in after the small bird, focused solely on getting back her bag, barely even noticed that she wasn't in a shack after passing through the door. That is until she almost tripped on one of the many boxes that littered the ground around her. Stopping for a second to get her bearings she found herself inside a strange tent of all things, when she clearly remembered running into an old shack. As she began to question what was going on she heard a woman's voice.
"Trash, trash, trash, really Owlbert? Normally you're much better at this," chided the woman as she digged through her bag, the little bag thief perched on her shoulder, "Well at least this will make good kindling," she said, holding up her Azura book, and bringing it closer to the flame of a candle.
Sprinting forward as fast as her legs would take her, Luz shot past the woman grabbing not only her bag but also her book as well. "Sorry, not sorry!" she called as she rushed past, "This is mine thank you very much."
Quickly doubling back and into the tent and back to the door that she came through, Luz was stopped in her tracks as the door suddenly shut on its own and folded in on itself turning into a briefcase and flying past. Following the flying door, case Luz meets the strange woman's eyes.
"And where do you think you're going?" smirked the woman, a single gold fang glinting in the light.
