3 HOURS PRIOR...
The team had been trucking up the terrain with fast and coordinating speed, their hopes heightened and smiles were on their faces. But it didn't help the fact that all of them were straining their bodies to the limit. Their bags began to feel a whole lot heavier now, Hunter and Willow were taking occasional bag swaps to barter the yearn for a break. Luz wasn't having many problems, not phased by the slightest. Well, maybe her allergies. The tree pollen the higher they got had gotten denser, so her eyes were watery and her sniffling was getting worse.
"Oh Titan, why did you pack so much?" Willow complained, her legs wobbling over a rock.
Hunter groaned, rising up from his resting position on Clover; To whom was coasting at a very comfortable three miles an hour. "I was making sure we had enough... stuff."
Luz twisted around, a few dozen feet ahead of the group, walking backwards. "What do you mean by...'stuff'?" she raised a curious eyebrow.
"Stuff." He brushed off in reply.
"Hunter."
"What?"
Amity glared at him, a smug expression lingered in her mouth. "Hunter, what did you pack that was so important that he had to lug it with us on the trip?"
He sighed in defeat. "Fine, I grabbed extra food, blankets, a foldable tent, firewood, and a few gallons of water to go around. Why?" he admitted, swiftly landing on the ground.
Willow snuffled deeply as he exchanged the lugging weight, his back falling backwards at an uneven tilt.
"Hunter!" Luz yelped, dropping her staff, and Stringbean perked up as she outlined a small circle with her finger. Hunters capacious luggage slipped with a bright yellow and purple color, and began to slowly hover upwards before nearly inches from touching the ground. "I got it..." her breathing shook for a moment, and her hand slowly went upwards; as well as the bag following her hand movements.
"Well someone had been practicing their spells." Amity grinned ear to ear, hands on her hips approvingly.
Luz chuckled sheepishly. "I wanted to get a little bit more control over it, that's all." she dismissed, letting the luggage free float.
Willow was fascinated, and a idea popped into her mind. "Wait, that might be the best idea yet!" she blurted out, raising her hand up to do the same cast— her bag glowing green, and Clover perched on top. "We use our magic to lug our supplies!"
Amity, Hunter, and Luz exchanged hopeful glances.
"That might work."
"And we're going upwards to the Knee, so it's not like we will be running out of magic juice." Amity said.
"So we will only need to take a few breaks in-between to gather our bearings!" Luz nodded.
2 HOURS PRIOR...
Luz used both of her hands to levitate Willow and Hunter's baggage. Since survey says: 'she has the better stamina than everyone because of her Titan abilities', Luz was stuck with the holding job. Curse you, levitation spells. She still managed to stay in front of all of them though, which was a decent surprise. She wasn't even slowing down, and Stringbean was perched on her hat, contently sleeping for the time being.
"Hunter?" She turned her attention to him, who stopped.
"Yeah?" he raised an eyebrow, moving the phone down to his sides.
"Do you know where you're going?" Luz glanced around, seeing the canvas of purple and crimson trees hanging over the bright sky.
"Um..." he peeked down at the phone, and twisted to his surroundings. "Yeah, yeah we are."
Luz slowly lowered her arms down, and the luggage's gracefully hit the long grass. "Then why have I seen that same rock over a dozen times? I swear we are going in circles."
"We are not going in circles! Maybe we just took a wrong turn or something," Hunter paced, and Willow strutted over.
"How? We've been walking in almost a—"
"Straight line?" Luz cut off. "So how could we be circling back to the same location of we are not turning at all since we started up the Leg?"
There was a pause.
"Could it be illusion magic?" Amity suggested, inspecting the nearest Isles red pine tree.
Luz groaned internally, "Now I wish we brought Gus on our trip, since Hunter packed enough to feed and clothe a whole army."
"Hey! Not cool!" Hunter yelled from the other side of the small clearing they settled in.
"Okay, everyone just stop for a second, please." Willow interjected, onto something the team was oblivious about. "Look." She put her arms up, and began to walk in one direction, left. She continued to go the same direction, now enveloped by the thicket of bushes and trees.
They all waited for a moment, until rustling was heard to their right, not too far away. Willow popped her head out, and went right back into the center of the clearing; moonlight beaming down on her. "See, Luz was right." She supported.
Luz stayed silent for the time being, pondering deeply. It was all starting to make sense. She thought. She could vaguely remember when Eda first brought her to the The Knee. Making her point very well known that:
"Hey. I know my lessons seem weird but this is what wild magic is all about! Making a connection with nature. The earliest witches understood that." Eda lectured while kicking a small bit of snow.
"I know," Luz agreed, nodding. The faint smell of the rocks she sniffed and sap from the twigs lingered in her senses.
"Then you got to learn from the island itself," she continued. "See what it's trying to tell you, and follow it. Let it guide you."
Luz remembered her beginning days when she was still discovering not only new spells— but herself. She was so panicked about the enrollment exam's to Hexide.
Wow was she a wreck back then. But now? Maybe all she really needed to do was hone into the island again. Even if the memories of King's fathers passing was weighing her down.
Luz stayed quiet, and sat herself right down into the long grass patch. And closed her eyes. Soft humming had drained out the sound's of her friends voices, and her looping mind went straight.
She could feel it, Willow was right. They had been going in circles…. or so they thought. Where Luz was sitting, she saw grass, but when she actually touched it, it was cold. Moldable.
Like snow.
The realization hit her with a loud bang, and her eyes opened, shooting upwards. "Willow was right!" She exclaimed, and moved around the clearing. "None of this is real!"
"Yeah I kn— wait what?" Willow blinked for a moment. "None of this is real?"
"It's all an illusion!" Luz grinned triumphantly.
Amity let the revelation settle. "So….. we're on the Knee? Like the Cap?"
"Yes!"
"So we haven't been going in circles, we've just been misguided to think we haven't gotten to the top yet." Hunter theorized.
"The Gloom Mushroom was said to hold illusionistic and hallucinogenic properties." Willow said bluntly, but everyone turned to her.
"What?" Luz's eyes widened. Not mad, but not truly surprised either.
"Did nobody actually read on it?" Everyone was silent. Willow facepalmed.
10 MINUTES PRIOR…
Hunter was quiet during the teams contemplation. He didn't know why, but something in his gut was not settling right. His arms and back tingled on high end and alert ever since they stalled foot on the iliac crest he was feeling weird.
Something just wasn't right, he didn't know if maybe his body was reacting to being on the Knee his powers were powering up because of it. A small chill left his mouth, and he held his shoulders close.
He could feel it.
That eerie feeling. Like impending doom he didn't know was coming.
When he got the sense something was wrong, he caught the sound of Luz abruptly stopping mid sentence.
"Luz… are you feeling what I'm feeling?" Hunter began to instinctively move away from the canopy of trees, back turned to the center of the clearing.
Luz followed, "That feeling your being stalked?"
"Yeah," his blood ran cold.
"What are you both talking about?" Willow whispered, out of sync from the two. Since Willow now Amity had come through the encounter with Volley at Belos' castle.
"Volley." Luz and Hunter both deadpanned together, on edge as is.
Amity jumped a little at the name, and snapped right back into the small circle they were creating. Abutting with each other, eyes scanning their line of sight.
"How are we going to even know where it strikes?" Amity hastily questioned.
"Oh you'll know." Luz replied with the same urgency.
Everything in the illusion first had soon turned silent. The birds weren't chirping, the trees weren't rustling.
It was coming.