Covention Cat Fight Ch 8
pThe week had gone by in a flash, Luz had a chance to hang out with Willow and Gus only once before the weekend had already arrived, it felt odd waiting for her friends to show up. She had friends back on earth, but they either always left because she was too weird, or it was a ruse to bully her. Having genuine friends was the greatest feeling, she felt like she could be herself, random antics, terrible jokes and all. She could tell Willow was warming up to her, they would talk through Willows Crow Phone system for at least an hour each night, just talking about their day and telling one another how exciting it would be to experience college together. King would occasionally chip into the conversation, advice on how to deal with bullies and bad teachers – you could tell he got his advice skills from Eda – often the solution was a terrible prank, or trap that left him laughing and the two girls concerned for his future rule. Eda had her work at the stand a few days that week, helping to fix some of the 'treasures' she pulled out of that slug, which Luz did happily. Always enjoying their time together, trying to get more delicious back story from Eda as she tinkered away and sold things. The witch always found the best way to get out of the question and divert Luz's attention to something else./p
pIt was the night before the Covention and Luz couldn't keep her excitement at bay, the way that her friend made it sound, the Covention is going to be filled with every coven and their history. There are also demonstrations throughout the day on what the major covens are all about, how they use their magical skills and more. Luz was sitting with King on the couch, reading the pamphlet for tomorrow for probably the third time that week, listing out to him the different activities she wanted to see and which booths she wanted to stop at to get more information. King was lost on the whole idea but as soon as Luz mentioned each booth has an 'offering' he planned his day around getting as many tokens of appreciation as possible. "You have to make sure you stay out of trouble though King, Eda has to go in a disguise just to come with us. Low profile." The demon was about to protest against her when Luz started to give him a soft scratch on the side of his face, "Hmm.. I guess for Eda." He muttered, leaning into the touch./p
pEda shuffled downstairs and stared at the time, "What are you two still doing up? It's way past the usual time you go to bed, especially you King" her voice was almost accusing, wondering what the two could possibly be up to at this hour. Luz grinned at her sheepishly while putting the pamphlet down, "Sorry Eda, just getting excited about tomorrow..." She picked King up and motioned towards the stairs, "Well you better head to bed or you'll be too tired to enjoy tomorrow" she gave them a wave as Luz slunk up the stairs to go to bed, King already falling asleep in her arms, the weightlessness giving him peace. Eda stuck her tongue out as she entered the kitchen, em Ugh who am I? I just told them to go to bed... AND they listened. /em Eda shook her head again, taking a sip of some smilk to help her get back to sleep. She had a big day of keeping those two out of trouble and herself out of sight, the emperors coven was going to be there in full force to display their 'amazing' coven./p
pLuz had finally laid down on her makeshift bed, King happily cuddled up to her side like usual. She had her arms behind her head, staring up at the ceiling she went through the different covens she had found interesting, wanting to make sure she remembered each one she wanted to visit. em Each coven is based off the nine main covens, Emperors, Abomination, Bard, Beast Keeping, Construction, Healing, Illusion, Oracle, Plant and Potions. Branching off from there, they had more specific covens you could eventually move into after joining the coven and going through their academy and basic training. /em Luz sighed, she knew how Eda felt about the whole system, and she agreedd with it, however she couldn't help but feel for the people already within the coven system. em its not like there is a way out, at least not one that Eda has ever mentioned... /em she closed her eyes, trying again to picture the more specific ones, just to get a better understanding. em Within the Bard coven, there was the Artist coven, stylist coven! Abomination had some interesting ones, despite being kind of gross, Pottery coven, Mediation coven. 'By force?' I assume. /em when the abomination coven popped into her head, so did the face of that green haired witch, she wondered for a moment what coven she was interested in. She had been so proficient with that kind of magic, it had to be that. The girl had to shake the thought away, no point in lingering on someone who brought such misery to other people. em Uh... whats next. Oh! Beast keeping... They have a few cute ones, the uh, tiny cat coven. Big dog... coven /em Luzs mind was slowly drifting to sleep as she tried hard to think on the subsections of each main coven. With her final thought lingering on the different covens, she drifted off./p
pIn a flash it was morning, the light from her window splashing bright morning sun over her face, causing her to wince as she opened her tired eyes. "Ugh... Eda was right, I should have gone to bed earlier" she groaned, giving King a pat to wake him up, to which he whined to sleep just a while longer. "Alright, five minutes" she stated with as much authority as she could muster, "A king is never late for their duties!" She smiled at him as he opened one eye, giving her a small grumbling sound as he turned away from her to get his five minutes. Luz silently chuckled and got up, getting out something to wear from the trunk nearby, she didn't have a ton packed in her bag for her prep classes school trip, but it was enough to get her by each week if she didn't tear or burn the clothes. She grabbed out her blue and white sweater that had short sleeves and a cat ear hood, thankfully despite her leggings having been tattered the other day by those vines Luz had a few extra pairs, with that she grabbed her high waisted shorts and leggings, finishing getting dressed. She headed to the bathroom to brush her teeth and hair, taking a deep breath as she pulled her mom's old beanie on her head. "Alright, Covention day" she gave herself finger guns in the mirror before walking back to her room, kneeling to wake King. "Alright my little man, you had more than 5 minutes extra, Vamos." She gently shook him and rolled him over, so his tummy was exposed, giving him a good rub down before she got up and headed for the kitchen, with or without him. "Weh! Hey! I wasn't done with my tummy time!" he cried after her, jumping to his feet to give chase./p
pWith Luz's vastly longer legs she was already downstairs in the kitchen, helping Eda get some breakfast on the table for them. "Breakfast is served my lord" she put on a stuffy British accent and picked him up, only chuckling as he protested being put into the highchair to have him on level with the table. Eda had served them up something very similar to pancakes, Luz dared not to ask what was in it, at this point she just pretended it was the same as what she ate back at home. Same with scoffee. "Are you ready Eda?" the human asked excitedly, giving off way too much energy for so early in the morning. "Come on Eda, this will be a em loaf /em changing experience for me!" The girl stifled her laugh, staring at King as he howled with laughter. "AH! Bread pun, yes!" he called, causing Eda to let out a long groan. "It's too early for a comedy hour" she insisted, sitting down with her two housemates. "Haha! You em bread /em my mind Luz!" Both Luz and King couldn't contain themselves at this point, breaking out into laughter, while Eda was stuck in the middle of them not understanding how they could find this so humorous. "Oh, come on Eda, em rye /em so serious?" Luz had tears in the corners of her eyes as she spoke, both still laughing hysterically. "Okay, okay you two, eat! Your friends will be here soon... You animals." She couldn't help but give a small laugh as the two whiped their tears away and went back to eating their food, occasionally snickering at each other./p
pWithin a few minutes of them finishing their meal the door swung open and Hooty happily announced her friend's arrival, despite this being their third time seeing Hooty both still seemed incredibly uncomfortable at how close and strong loud /strong he was. Luz bolted to the living room, giving both her friends a wave, "Whos ready for some magical demonstrations!" Luz called, knowing the other two were just as hyped as she was to see them show off. The other two quickly threw their uncomfortable faces away and jumped over to Luz, punching the air, Gus drew a spell circle that duplicated himself doing a karate move. "We're ready!" They called in unison in their fake fighting stances, "Boy I'm glad none of you are in those demonstrations, I'd have to warn the morgue of incoming dweebs down" Eda snorted, catching the three off guard. "Ah come on, we're just messing around! We could totally defend ourselves... probably" Gus said with fading confidence as he thought about his lack of physical experience. "Whatever" Eda said as she passed them, grabbing hold of a weird scarf and wrapping it around her. "Gotta be in disguise remember?" She put the finishing touches on her look, which was a large pair of sunglasses. Everyone tried hard to keep their composure as they stared at her, the grey scarf was holding her hair up and back, making it look like a massive bun at the back of her head, a few pieces of her grey mane still poking out. "Eh whatever, let's get a move on." She insisted, glaring at the kids as she ushered them out./p
pThey all boarded Owlbert who gave a small hooting protest, "Just this one way, then it's just the usual" Eda promised as they launched into the air towards the Covention. Even with the extra load it didn't take Owlbert too long to get them there at all, when they landed Luz was in awe at the large building and sheer number of people attending the event. "Yep, they come from all over Kiddo" Eda nodded, "Some come from the toes to make sure their coven is represented right." The older woman couldn't help but laugh as she saw the look on Luz's face taking the whole scene in. "You know Eda, maybe all the information here will help you select a Coven!" Willows open optimism made Luz cringe a bit as Eda used a spell to pull the girl's cowl over her head causing her to stumble backwards a bit before it went back to normal. "Okay or not, that's good too" she said with an awkward chuckle. "Alright, let's get this over with." Eda sighed and gestured for them to go inside, Luz situated herself between Gus and Willow, as the two went over all the different booths as they walked by. "There are so many covens to choose from once you get into your main one, in the plant coven there I the flower coven, succulent coven and even carnivorous plant coven!" she exclaimed, pointing towards a booth that had large plants on their tables, the two members were currently busy with pulling someone from the mouth of one of their larger plants. "Ahh... Not for everyone but I'm kind of interested!" She admitted, sheepishly moving them along as the man stuck in the plant was screaming in pain./p
pWillow was going on and on about the different covens, with Gus throwing input in here and there. "You already know about the beast keeping covens, little cat coven, all animal coven and big dog coven!" Luz nodded along, still fascinated with what Willow was telling her about them. "The hardest part of this is choosing which one to go for and going not only passing your academy but their basic boot camp as well!" As she stated the difficulty Luz couldn't help but wonder how some of the witches she was seeing in these covens made it if it was supposed to be difficult. em I shouldn't think that but... yikes /em "Here! Lets what a demonstration for the construction coven" Gus grabbed Luz sleeve and pulled them over to the booth to watch, Luz was shocked to see it was that girl from the conformitorium, the one that was mostly nose. em man she really had a fighting spirit to get outta there! Good for her /em the human was nodding her approval as she watched the construction coven member put a 'power glyph' of some kind on the smaller girl. "Now, with this glyph, her magic will be boosted and her physical strength enhanced" he stated and put the patch across her nose, as soon as she felt the boost she let out a war cry. Causing the dust around her to rise, "Haha! The powa!" She yelled out, " I am fearless, I am a destwoyer of worlds!" She shouted, lifting the coven member up and tossing him aside, causing audible gasps from the crowd watching. She started to break the set down and throw things, a group of construction coven members had to grab her and remove the patch, all while yelling "that's the opposite of the construction coven!" and trying to fix the set up for the next demonstration. "Yikes... Wowzah, glad I wasn't on her bad side" She muttered. "/p
p"Yikes, Wowzah" Luz heard her voice call out from right beside her, causing her to jump slightly. She turned to see a bluish version of herself walk out from her body, giving her finger guns as it walked away towards a booth and disappeared. "Oh wow" Luz stared in wonder, Gus walked over to the coven booth and nodded. "Ah I see you've been taken in by the wonder of the illusionist coven. It can trick your mind! Show you your greatest fear and it's all about" Gus cut himself off as he poofed away, showing up seconds later on the other side of the booth. "Showmanship" he did jazz hands with sparks flying from the tips of his fingers as the other two members poofed to beside him as well, accentuated his demonstration. "Wow... A sense of belonging, comradery, and acceptance. Coven's sound incredible!" She was lost in the magic of it all, Eda sighed and grabbed the girls' shoulders pointing her towards the booth again. "Look closely Kid, once you decide what your coven is going to be, all your other magic is locked away. That kid there" She pointed at an awkward looking witch, not much older than Luz, holding his wrist out to one of the coven members "is only going to be able to do illusion magic from now on." She shook her head, looking at her apprentice, appreciating she wanted a sense of belonging. "I never chose a coven; So I can do all kinds of magic." She lit one hand up in a fireball and the other summoned a ball of floating water. "And that my apprentice is why I'm the most powerful witch in all the Boiling Isles" She dispelled the flame and water before continuing forward. Leaving them in awe of the small demonstration./p
pThe group rushed to follow her; however, King was pulled aside by a member of the Oracle coven, "The tea leaves foretell that this path you walk is your destiny..." She whispered, putting a coven branded pen into his paws. He stared at it for a long moment before looking up at her with suspicion "I ain't paying for destiny or anything!" He stated flatly, to which the witch replied with a quiet "It's free" while disappearing to her booth. em Is this what they meant by they will have offerings...? /em King looked around and lifted the pen above his head, laughing "I take this offering and demand more! The King of demons is back!" He shouted, causing some slightly confused stares which didn't seem to faze him. em Onto the next offering booth /em He patted along the path, planning on stopping off everywhere he could to get an offering./p
pThe group finally came across some of the active panels, "Oh!" Gus gasped and ran forward, pointing to the roped off area with guards in white an gold all around the entrance. "This one looks pretty popular" Luz stated, before realizing those were the same uniforms as the guards at the conformitorium. "Do you think I can get them to sign my face?" Gus was way too excited about this, it was his first real encounter with the exclusive coven but Eda and Luz still cringed. "Only one way to find out" Willow declared and the two set off to find seats in the panel room, leaving Eda and Luz outside. "I know... Covens bad, Individualism is good... but I want to learn as much as I can about this world. So I'm going to go in there and soak in as much as I can, alright?" Eda sighed, "God for it kid, I'll meet up with you after" With that Luz jogged after her friends, leaving Eda to wonder. em Ahh snap... that bald headed ass hole is talking to that guard... and of course he's gotta be pointing over here /em Eda rolled her eyes, wishing she could just enjoy the day with her apprentice and King, em Where is King? /em she finally wondered; however the thought was cut there as she saw the guard look in her direction. em Ahh goblin shit... /em She cursed and ran after Luz, finding her inside the panel and sitting with her. "Alright... lets see this mess. I guess." she crossed her arms and grunted as Luz gave her a smile and patted her back. "Alright!"/p
pFinally, the lights in the room dimmed and principal Bump walked onto the small golden stage, summoning what looked like a microphone with batwings attached to it. It floated just above him, amplifying his voice as he spoke. "Welcome, to one of the main events of this year's Covention. I often have students ask me, what is the height of Magical achievement." He grabbed the mic from the air and gestured towards the stage, in a flash three blue circles appeared and from each a coven guard floated up. "This, this is the height of achievement, The emperor's coven! They get access to all, yes, all magic. They are handpicked each year to serve the emperor in ushering in a new age of controlled magic. This Elite force stands out as the power of the isles" As he waved his hand, the three guards lifted their arms and summoned magic that collided together in a wicked spectacle. Fire, Water and Lightning all flashing from the three guards causing a firework effect to awe the audience. "Spectacular isn't it! Oooh, ahh!" He taunted the crowd into mimicking his ooh's and ahh's. "Only the best are selected for this elite force, maybe one day it could be one of you" with that he pointed at a girl in the lower section, Luz followed his gaze down and it settled on long mint green hair. em Amity /em Luz sort of perked up In surprise, to see the mean girl interested in something, she even seemed to have a small smile on her usually set in stone face as she was pointed at./p
pThe principal waved his hand, and the coven guards pulled their white cloaks from behind them to across their body, it looked like they went to block their faces but as it reached their shoulder the three disappeared without a trace they had ever been there. "Now, I am proud to introduce the esteemed leader of the emperor's coven and this year's mystery guest. You all know her, you all appreciate her, Lilith!" The principal shouted and pointed everyone's gaze up towards the dark ceiling of the large stadium like room. There was only a moment of silence before the crowd began to cheer, clearly seeing something Luz still hadn't. Finally, it came to view, a large Raven outlined in brilliant light, it went from a flat 2D image to soaring down towards the stage. A brilliant blue light lighting the whole stadium up, earning some oohs and ahhs from the crowd, as the light settled before them was a slim woman with a white mask on. "Greetings!" She called, magically removing the mask, arms wide open. The audience was clapping and cheering while Eda sat in awe in her seat, just staring at her while Luz clapped, it took a moment to notice Edas shock. "Hey... Do you know her?" she quietly wondered, leaning toward the older woman. "You could... uh say that" she answered, still not looking away. Luz raised her eyebrows up and look at the fair skinned dark blue haired woman on the stage. "Hmmm more mysterious stuff from her past" Luz whispered./p
pThe woman cast her white robes aside, Principal Bump catching them just barely as he made his way backstage. "I had humble beginnings! I was just like any of you" She gestured towards the crowd, "I worked hard to be where I am today." She walked along the stage, her black outfit a large contrast to the white cloak that was just covering her. "Now, I have the highest honor there is! Serving the emperor and enforcing his will, the Titans will." She called, her fist in the air. "Now, I ask all of you... Be more! Work harder! The emperors coven … awaits you!" With her last few words, she pulled her fist down towards herself and created a well-sized spell circle before giving a small spin. The large raven returning and spreading its wings in a display of well-practiced magic, the crowd cheered happily as the program came to a close./p
p /p
pAs Eda and Luz exited the panel, Luz went to head to the next event while Eda had taken a sharp turn towards the exit. Luz raised her eyebrows and went after her, "Hey uh, aren't you staying for the other events? We haven't even done any of the quizzes that were handed out? You know, figure out your coven type an-" Eda shoots a small beam through the book causing Luz to quiet down for a moment, staring at the woman. "I need to head home, wash this con stink off my skin" She grumbled, "I'll see you at home" she nodded to Luz and pulled away, leaving Luz to sigh and turn towards the next activity. Book still in her hands, she continues to read the interesting article, wondering if this was all true or like the magazines back home. She only made it a few steps before she slammed into the back of someone, dropping her book and stumbling backwards. "Oh uhh sorry!" she said sheepishly, finally registering who it was she tried to put a smile on her face em This is my chance to make another friend, maybe she just needs some kindness /em "Oh hey, uh Amity. Sorry about that"/p
pAmity grunted at the connection the two made when they collided, dropping her pamphlet as well, "Watch it!" she said turning to face the person who collided with her, her face dropping as she made eye contact with Willows fake abomination. "Oh... It's you. Willows abomination" she knew the girls name but refused to use it now. Amity could see the girl recognize her, expecting a bit of resentment for what happened to Willow; she was prepared for any confrontation. Or so she had thought. em Did she just apologize to me? /em she raised an eyebrow at the girl and crossed her arms, this was the first time they were really face to face, the witch immediately noticed that although they were similar heights she had about an inch on the girl. "Listen, I'm sorry about the issues I caused last week... I was just helping a friend, and well, anyways. I'm Luz, the human." the girl decided to sort of formally introduce herself to Amity, knowing both hadn't exactly had a proper introduction to one another. As she extended her hand out to the witch, it was quickly – and painfully – slapped away, causing her to flinch and take a confused step back. "Urgh... Put that away. I want nothing to do with you, you caused issues for everyone, and still I ended up getting in trouble with Bump!" em and my parents /em she growled, "And I never get into trouble" with that the green haired girl whipped around, narrowly missing slapping Luz with her long hair./p
pDespite the shock of the interaction, Luz decided to follow her, "Well... you know, you sort of set things in motion with how you were being to Willow" she muttered, trying to catch up to Amity's angry strides. Instead of lashing out at what the human girl said, Amity turned around and pointed to the room, "You can't be here, this covention is for witches only. You should be going." she was struggling to keep her cool, how could this random human be getting under her skin, no one else provoked her like this. Luz stopped short of knocking into the green haired girl again and gave a small smile, "Well, I am! I'm learning to be one anyways... I have a powerful witch I'm learning from and a ferocious demon!" She declared, wondering why she even felt the need to keep this conversation going after how unkind she had been. "Is... That your ferocious demon there" the witch asked flatly, causing Luz to follow where Amity was pointing./p
pThere was King, happily trotting down the aisle towards them with two baker's coven members in tow continuing to offer him cakes and cupcakes. He was covered in swag from all the different booths, as he got closer, he munched down the cupcake in his hands and swiped another one off the offerings plate. "Never!" she heard him yell, wondering if they had been following him to pester him to join their coven. "Look at all the offerings Luz!" the demon yelled, holding the cupcake high trying to hand it to Luz, however, before he could reach her, he stepped on his long scarf from the menders coven and tripped forward, causing the cupcake to go flying towards Amity. Luz quickly knelt beside him and helped him up, "You okay?" She asked, brushing off the front of the shift he had gotten as an offering. "Ye-No!" His answer blended, his eyes wide and tears forming in the corners as he watched his cupcake get demolished by the boot of the green haired witch. "That was for Luz" he whimpered quietly, causing heated rage to form in Luz's chest. She glared up at the girl from beside King, "Woah! Why are you being such a bitch, Amity?" Luz growled, standing up to lock eyes with her./p
p"You both shouldn't be here, you're a useless human and he's a baby... whatever he is. Get lost." she growled, leaning towards Luz not giving up her mean streak. "Thats it, you can insult me all you want, you can call me whatever, but messing with my friends. That's the last straw." She pointed a finger at Amity's chest, stepping closer so they were only a foot apart. "Like the Good Witch Azura said to her foe in the battle of sprawling regret, 'I challenge you, Amity Blight to a witches duel'" She yelled, in the heat of the moment she was much louder than intended. She heard gasps from all around her and flinched a bit but didn't back down as Amity drew incredibly close to her, closing most of the remaining gap between them. "I accept" the witch said coldly, causing a small spark of fear to tremble down Luz spine, although refusing to show it. "Lets set the terms shall we." Luz couldn't speak in that moment, so she simply nodded to the green hired girl./p
pShaking her head Amity asked Luz her terms, pushing her nerves down Luz replied as calmly as possible "If I win, you have to apologize to King for what you did to his cupcake and replace it" saying it out loud it felt childish, but she knew how much this all meant to King, she hadn't seen him quite this upset. "Haha alright, If I win. You admit to the whole Covention you strong aren't a witch /strong and, you must stop training, strong forever /strong" Amity stared the girl down, finding slight amusement in the way her brown eyes went wide. King whimpered as he held the destroyed cupcake, looking up to Luz, he begged her to do it, for his honor. "It's a deal" she put her hand out, to which Amity traced a pink circle around and then grabbed the girl's hand. "The everlasting oath is sealed" em that's... probably fine... right? /em Luz gulped not sure what to think. "Meet me in the auditorium, where the emperor's panel was, in one hour. Don't be late." the witch turned to leave, after a few paces she turned to look over her shoulder, her golden eyes piercing directly into Luz. "Let's see what kind of witch you are" with that she left, all the eyes that were on them scrambled to look elsewhere as they broke apart. /p
p /p
p
"I... Can win this right King?" Luz glanced down at her demon companion and rolled her eyes as he ate the cupcake off the floor, "Oh uh... yeah, I don't think so" he grunted through each bit he took. em I'm absolutely screwed here... What do I do? I wonder if I can still find Eda. I.. I have to find her. God, stupid Luz how did you get pulled into that? Porque eres tan estúpida? /em she groaned in her head, a shudder slamming down her pine as she looked around for any sign of her mentor. She scrambled around for a moment, before finally spotting her, and with em The Emperors Coven leader? Uhh... What... Oh! Lilith! /em she jumped between them and grabbed Eda's one shoulder, eyes wide with panic. "I challenge Amity to a witches dule – stupid I know – and she did this oath thing and now, I think, for sure she is going to kill me, like all the way dead kill me." She huffed; her chest felt like in was caving in with the weight of the situation. Lilith let out a small chuckle and leaned toward the two, "I see you met my strongest protégé... I'll see to it the duel goes smoothly from my side, we will see who the better mentor is." she let out another short laugh and tilted her head looking at Luz, "Oh my, and shes a human? Haha! I don't know how you found one of these... well, good luck" She dismissed whatever Eda was about to say and walked off, "Today you don't need to worry about the law, but do make sure to bring your A game." Her long dark hair flowed behind her as she twirled her finger and the wanted posters of Eda disappeared and she went to search for Amity./strong
/p
pstrongLuz groaned still holding onto Eda's shoulder for support, em I'm going to fucking die here, because I had to open my mouth up to an angry woman who just likes to see people getting hurt, god, not everyone can be saved Luz /em she growled at herself in her head, her eyes going wide as she realized what she had said. Remembered what her father had said to her once when she was younger, emstrong If I can help someone who is in danger, I will help them Mija. Even if they did something wrong, I will always be there to help them, because someone has to /strong/em /strong Luz hated the memory in this moment, but knew it was still true. "Alright Kiddo, lets practice, we need to get prepped for some bloodshed." She patted Luz back and started to lead the way, leaving the girl to fumble after her. "Whose blood?" She asked to try and lighten the mood; however, Eda answered a little too grimly for her liking. "Anyone's guess right now" She didn't even look back as she replied, just leading Luz to the stadium to train./p
p /p
p**** Amity/p
pThe green haired witch felt a pang of guilt in her gut as she sat in the narrow hallway that eventually led into her future arena. em She can't know much magic, I'm much more advanced than she is... I probably could just let her go and am I crazy, or did she quote Azura? /em Amity jumped slightly, pulled from her thoughts as she saw Lilith, the coven leader headed for her. "Hello Lilith, what do I owe the pleasure?" she asked politely, hoping in her mind somewhere she had heard about the duel with the human and wanted her to call it off, maybe citing some kind of power issue if someone of her stature went after the human. However, her hopes were almost immediately dashed as Lilith launched into her reason for showing up. "My pupil, I heard that you were challenged by my sister's apprentice, I would like to put her in her place. Both her and her human." Lilith was normally cold, but this had an edge to it that Amity had nearly never seen. "You are correct... She challenged me to a duel, I created an ever-" Lilith summoned her staff and waved a hand towards Amity, as if she hadn't heard any part of her reply. "Come, we will train together." Despite wanting to continue, she stuffed her feelings deep down and hardened herself, it would be easier this way. "Of course," she nodded and followed Lilith down to another panel area with a wide-open area to practice. There was a small buzzing in the back of her head, she felt like for just a moment there was someone watching them. /p
p****Luz/p
pEda had ushered them into the arena and started to walk around a little bit, eyeing Luz as she did this, wondering what was on the girls mind. em I can only imagine she's freaking out in that nerd brain of hers.. /em she thought to herself before letting out a small sigh, "EDA!" Luz yelled in frustration, causing the witch to jump a bit, em Woah kid, alright /em she thought as she turned towards her apprentice, clearly having gotten the mood wrong. "I've been begging since I came here, to learn new things from you, to learn ANY magic and all I've been able to do is that stupid light spell!" She was shouting at this point, whipping her beanie off her head and onto the floor. "I might have to stop learning magic, before I even really get a chance" She sighed, her hands moving to cover her face. Eda had never seen this side of Luz, with how happy she had been since she'd been here, she forgot how hard she had it back in the human realm. "This place was supposed to be different" the girl sighed, falling onto her butt with a small thud, crossing her legs and hanging her head low. "Hey, Kid... I, I know I haven't taught you much but. I won't let you fail; I have some tricks up my sleeve. They won't know what hit them" She grinned, kneeling to put a hand on her apprentice's shoulder, handing her hat back. "Come on kid, your Luz the human, knower of the stupid light spell, first human to do magic" She offered another small smile to which Luz finally returned "Alright... I'm um... sorry about yelling, I just got frustrated is all..." Eda shook her head and helped pull Luz up on her feet. "Don't be, you're right, I'm slacking. But after this, we'll come up with something, together." She promised, giving a small smile of reassurance to Luz who took a deep breath. "Alright. Lead the way" The plan certainly wasn't what Luz had in mind, but it was something, she just didn't know if she felt good about it./p
pThe hour passed by in a flash, both witches met in the arena and to Luz's dismay people were invited into the panel room to witness the fight. Luz looked to Eda who was standing next to her and allowed to be in her 'corner' for the fight, "Eda, I don't know... this just doesn't feel right, this feels … wrong." Eda shrugged at her and leaned in closer "Listen, we just need to get outta this fight, so keep an eye on the mounds and get her to trigger those traps. Trust me" She gave Luz an enthusiastic thumbs up, Luz should really have known better, her mentor was famous for cheating and lying, she wouldn't feel bad about something like this. "Even if I win, I'm losing now." Luz sighed and gave a small huff as Eda slapped her back, "That's the spirit kid, show that bossy B whose boss" em she did not hear a thing I said /em She groaned in her head, taking steps towards the middle of the arena to meet with Amity. The confidence that the green haired girl was giving off gave Luz chills, she didn't even look like the same person, her eyes were narrow, her jaw was clenched tight, she looked exactly how she had when she spoke with Willow the first time. Void of any emotion. Lilith started speaking, causing the crowd to roar to life "Good day fellow witches, today we have an impromptu demonstration to show you all, what kind of witch we look for every year. Our ideal candidate... and some human." she rolled her eyes at Luz, and murmurs broke out in the crowd, if they didn't know there was a human here, they did now./p
pAmity could see the discomfort in her opponent's eyes as they met in the middle, "Please, Amity. We don't need to fight?" Luz made a final peace offering, though Amity couldn't hear it, her mind was clouded with her purpose. She needed to make the Blight household look good, she needed to ensure her spot in the emperor's coven and win. No remorse, no guilt, no feelings at all, she had buried them deep so she could do what needed to be done, emstrong For the family /strong/em the thought echoed in her head, so loud it was almost like the thought was not her own. The bell finally rung – screamed – to signal the start of the match, before Luz could even flinch at the sound of the bell Amity had drawn a large purple circle in front of her, "Rise Abomination" she called and out came at least a 12ft abomination, letting loose an incredible roar as it stomped its large foot towards Luz. The green haired girl's eyebrow twitched at the sight of the abomination, silently wondering how it had increased by at least 4 ft since her last summon maybe 15 minutes ago. She shook the thought off and concentrated on the fleeing human./p
pLuz gaped at the sight of the huge abomination; it was much larger than the one Amity had taken to school just last week. "Ahh!" She yelled, diving backwards to avoid being stomped on by this monster. She grit her teeth and looked back at Eda who just gave another wide grin and a thumbs up, em Fine, I guess I have no choice /em she ducked under the abominations arm and ran for the first mound she saw, getting it to punch the ground where it was, in a split second flames lit up the abomination. Causing it to stumble backwards with a cry. "How did you do that?" Amity couldn't help but yell, her golden eyes not leaving Luz as she darted around. Luz could barely hear the question but put her hands forward and yelled back, almost questioningly, "Magic?" the answer, for whatever reason, only sparked more anger in Amity. She growled and threw her hands down palms up in front of her, balls of fire quickly enveloped her hands causing Luz eyes to go wide and her speed to double as she ran across the arena now ducking away from the fire Amity was throwing as well./p
pThe abomination hit another mound and was launched into the air, distracting Amity enough that Luz could position herself in front of more traps. She got her abomination to stand up again and launched another attack towards Luz, this time the abomination's leg was frozen in the trap. "You're... cheating?" Amity growled, not wanting to believe it before but it was the only logical thing now. Amity went to take a step towards Luz, having cornered her before she could get any closer Luz put her hands out and shouted for her to wait. "Don't take another step" the flames on her hands went out and she looked down, something was out of place, "Why not Luz, what would happen if I did?" she tested the water, her foot getting closer to touching the trap. "No!" Luz called again and threw her beanie on the trap, just heavy enough to set it off. Spikes rippled out of the ground; her hat went flying. A spike flew passed Amity's face, missing her by only a few hairs, her eyes were wide. em That... /em her thought wasn't allowed to be completed, she knew she almost died but Lilith quickly intervened, calling the fight off due to Eda's apprentice cheating. She really hadn't even bothered to use her name. /p
p"I don't know what I expected from you..." Lilith belittled Eda while Luz tried to confront Amity, "It wasn't my idea to cheat, I swear and I didn't ever mean to … you know, almost kill you with a spike" She insisted, rubbing her arm awkwardly. As Amity came back to reality she closed her eyes, taking a deep breath before glaring at the human girl. "Who could believe anything you have to say? After what happened at the school and now here?" She shook her head and went to walk away, as she turned around the sleeve of her white and pink shirt had ridden up from the fighting. "Hey woah, Ms. Protégé!" Eda called after her, grabbing her arm and ripping a patch off of her, showing it to the crowd and Lilith. "Oh ho ho, a powerup glyph from the construction coven. Lilith... you strong CHEATED /strong" Amity's eyes went wide, her abomination shrank down and was dispelled by her, letting it melt away. em So... Lilith didn't even believe I could beat a human? With no magical powers of her own? /em the idea stung; she felt a sudden weight on her chest. "I-I... I didn't know." She struggled with the words but as soon as she uttered them she bolted out of the arena. "Amity, wait!" Luz called for her and looked back at Eda, who was in a world of her own taunting the coven leader for 'stooping to her level'./p
pLuz ran after Amity, knowing that the ordeal had to have hurt. em Come on... she was only a few seconds ahead /em she got into the large covention center and looked around, trying to find her, em come on... green hair, white and pink shirt with a black belt... black leggings... green hair /em she repeated her description to herself as she scanned the area, finally landing on someone in the distance she ran after them. Losing them around a corner she finally caught up as she turned, Amity was sitting on the ground, her eyes closed and her head tilted back against the wall. This was some sort of supply area by the looks of it. "Amity" Luz said slowly, as she approached, "Im sorry... I didn't mean for any of that to happen, to embarrass you or-" Amity scoffed and directed her golden eyes to Luz's brown ones, staring into Luz soul, she froze. "That's rich. That's all you've done since I've met you, first the school, how I got in trouble for pointing out your stupid ass cheating method is beyond me, at ho-" she stopped herself and ripped her eyes away, to look at the ceiling again. "And then here, you embarrassed me in front of the emperor's coven" She pushed herself up and faced Luz who was finally unfrozen and approaching her. "That's my future out there!" She growled, poking Luz hard in the chest causing her to flinch and take a small step back, Amity quickly closed the gap again maintaining their small distance. "You think it's so easy to become a witch, I have worked so hard for this, endlessly, I have made insane sacrifices to be at the top." Her voice was cold, and Luz saw a painful mix of anger, resentment and something she just couldn't place, it seemed so out of place with anger it couldn't have been what she was thinking. "You cheated, you lost!" She stabbed a finger into the other girls chest again, this time Luz just took it, unable to take her eyes off the angry girl. Still trying to figure out what else could be behind the anger in her eyes. "Say it" Amity finally broke Luz from her thoughts, "Say you aren't a witch"/p
pLuz dropped the other girls gaze and looked at her feet, before sighing and meeting her eyes once more em If that's what will make her feel better... why not... /em "I'm not a witch..." as the words came from her mouth Amity thought she would feel better, feel anything but the horrible twist of emotions in her but she was wrong. Those words solved nothing and didn't make anything feel better in her world, if anything, somehow, somewhere they made her feel worse. "But I'm working, really hard to be one. Uh, let me show you" Luz tried to not sound as defeated as she felt as she pulled a notebook and pen from her jacket pocket, kneeling, she drew her light glyph and gave the paper an affectionate tap. Amity had reflexively knelt with Luz to the floor and stared in surprise at the light in the girl's hands, "A light spell is child's play" She grunted, causing Luz to snuff the light out in her hands with a sigh. em Oh for Titans sake... /em Amity reached out to Luz, taking her hand, "But, I've never seen it cast like that." Luz glanced from their connected hands to Amity's face, "It... doesn't come naturally to me like it does for you. So... I'm um... learning to improvise" She pulled the paper up again, giving the green haired witch a small smile. Amity let out a soft sigh, gripping the girl's hand tighter she drew a spell circle around their linked hands "With this the oath is unbound" her tone was somehow lighter, and Luz took notice right away. She dropped Luz hand and stood up, dusting her black leggings off as she walked away. "Wait, so I can still learn magic?" She asked, standing up to follow her, "I've said it before, humans have strong no magical abilities /strong … But I doubt that will stop you" before Luz could try to go after her again King launched himself at her leg./p
p"You left me!" he whined, Luz knelt to meet him, "Sorry King, your legs are just sooo... tiny" she poked fun at him, using her two fingers to mock run. Seeing that he was without all his previous swag "Did you want to get some more offerings?" she inquired to which he turned his nose up and looked away from her, "Ah nah, all that stuff was weighing me down." He turned his head back to Luz and grabbed her hands "I do have something for you though, something that comes from the heart and, you can never have too much of" Luz raised her eyebrow at his sudden switch, he was acting so cute and innocent. "Is... is it love?" King snorted at the answer, and shook his head "WHAT? No! It's tote bags!" He yelled, smacking Luz in the face with a covention logo bag. "They have so many uses!" he jumped up on her shoulder and slid the bag over her arm, jumping into the hanging bag. "NOW! Onward fair chariot!" He yelled, but Luz was stuck in place staring at the spectacle that unfolded before her. Before she could mock the small demon like she wanted to Eda came barreling at them, grabbing them both and pulling at them./p
p"Alright, let's blow this joint" She chuckled, pulling at Luz and King. "Wah? How did you get away from Lilith?" The human didn't understand the situation but trusted her mentor had done something, the covention was starting to get louder and she could hear distant shouting getting louder. "Let's just say she had a real snack attack" Eda snorted out a laugh and pulled them along, Luz finally just started to go with her, walking briskly behind her with King in his 'chariot'. "Uhh Eda, do you think I'll ever be a true witch?" Eda raised her eyebrows and turned around to see Luz slightly sulking, "What? I have no idea Kid, but what is a true witch anyways? These guys?" she pointed her thumb to the few people around them minding their own business, "These idiots think being in a coven is how to be a true witch, I'm not in one and I'm stronger than all of them combined! What matters is being your strong OWN WITCH /strong Luz, now, let's go before the fuzz get here and my sister realizes I've tied her shoes together" With that Eda turned and bolted away, em Own witch huh? /em the thought resonated with Luz, she quickly chased after their ride home. "Wait, sister!?" Luz was already running after Eda as she realized what her mentor had said. "I need to know more!" She yelled, to which King very quickly replied "You most definitely do not, need to know more... Boring!" King yelled, holding the bag tightly as Luz boarded Owlbert with Eda and then took off back home. em One day kid. /em Eda smiled as she took them home, enjoying the interest Luz had in her and the suspense she could cause./p