The ship streaked across the surface of the sea like an arrow; Jerbo's steam engine was working perfectly for once, It seemed that the boy had finally found the solution to the problem that had tormented him for a long time, and now the ship was traveling faster than any other sailing ship. However, no one seemed to notice: everyone, including Jerbo himself, was located at the edges of the ship with a telescope or binoculars in their hands, looking at the water-covered horizon trying to spot anything. The only exception was Captain Salty who could not join the search as someone had to be at the helm.
"Do you see anything?" Luz asked with extreme anxiety in her voice. She was moving the binoculars from side to side so fast that anyone looking at her might almost think they were seeing two Luzes at the same time.
Viney let out an annoyed huff: "No, and if you ask me that one more time, I swear I'll throw you overboard again!" she exclaimed. She understood the puppet's anxiety and worry, but being asked the same question over a hundred times (or was it two hundred? By now she had lost count) was affecting her psyche enough to make her forget the rules of morality.
Luz bit her tongue; normally she would have at least replied, but at that moment her mind was completely elsewhere. "Come on, mom, where are you..." she murmured as she continued to look through the binoculars, so much so that her eyes almost stayed glued to them.
Vee put a hand on her shoulder. "Luz, calm down. You heard Hunter, she's in here somewhere. We'll find her"
Unfortunately, Luz didn't even seem to hear her and continued to stare from one side to the other at the horizon. She was almost shaking and her breathing had accelerated so much that she seemed on the verge of hyperventilating. Gus climbed up to her ear and tried to tell her: "Luz, being nervous won't help you find her faster and won't do you any good. Try to relax"
"Yeah" Willow said, supporting her friend. "Take a few deep breaths and…"
Obviously the spider and cricket's attempts also failed; Luz seemed to have gone completely deaf. In the end, everyone gave up trying to calm her down and continued to watch the sea waiting for something to be spotted. After all, the only real way to be able to calm Luz was to find Camila and bring her on board and allow mother and daughter to finally hug each other again, so they might as well use their energies in the search rather than trying to calm down that puppet who was now so frenetic enough to seem like she was in the midst of a caffeine overdose.
Perched atop one of the masts, Puddles was observing the situation from above, when suddenly he noticed movement in the water. Initially he thought of the tentacles of some enormous octopus, but then he realized that in reality such movements were not uniform at all and that if any animal moved like that it would destroy its entire body. He strained his eyes as best he could; even though he didn't have phenomenal pupils like those of eagles and hawks, he was still confident in his eyesight which until then had never betrayed him. That's how he realized that those movements were actually produced by several thousand fish swarming around the ship, all of them headed in the opposite direction from where they were going. No, not just around the ship: the whole sea around them was full of swimming fish. And there was something even stranger... the fish were all different species. Sharks, sardines, herring, octopus, manta rays: creatures that would normally try to eat each other were swimming together at full speed, as if nature's eternal rivalries had suddenly been extinguished. Or… as if an even more threatening rival was approaching and so the only thing in the minds of both prey and predators was to run as far away as possible.
Puddles was intrigued, and also had a bad feeling; so he took flight and headed towards the surface of the water. He tried to call one of the fish, but no one heard him, and if they did they didn't even consider it. After a while, however, he saw a group of dolphins that were continually jumping out of the water, so he headed towards them. "Um... sorry, fellow dolphins, could you tell me...?"
"RUN, YOU FOOL! HE'S COMING!" one of them yelled at him, and then he swam away as fast as he could.
Puddles' eyes widened in surprise and fear; he couldn't remember ever seeing a dolphin more scared before, not even when he'd encountered some running away from a leviathan. This could only instill fear in his heart; now he was absolutely certain that they had to leave that corner of the sea immediately. He immediately returned to the ship and flew towards Viney: "Master, something is wrong. I think it would be better if we..."
"OVER THERE!" Luz suddenly screamed. Her voice was so full of excitement that it made the entire crew jump and completely overpowered anything Puddles was about to say. "I see a little boat! It must be her!"
"I'll correct the course immediately!" Captain Salty, following her directions, turned the ship slightly, heading towards a tiny dot in the distance. Dot that as they got closer began to become more delineated, forming the shape of a small boat with a person on it. A person who became more and more defined, revealing tanned skin and black hair...
"MOM!" Luz screamed as she threw the binoculars away, almost hitting the poor Barcus in the process, and oblivious to any fear she ran towards the tip of the ship and then even started climbing onto the figurehead. She almost slipped and fell into the water, but Viney intervened and grabbed her by her jacket and then she helped her reach the tip of the figurehead; there Luz leaned as far as possible and putting her hands in front of her as if they were a megaphone she shouted: "Mom! Hey, mom! I'm here!"
Meanwhile, sitting on her little boat, Camila was washing her hair with a little sun-purified water; after days spent at sea she had filled them with salt. She was very tired; not physically, since she hadn't made too much physical effort in the last few days, but mentally she felt completely drained. Seeing nothing but water in every direction for days without hearing even a human voice was taking a toll on her psyche. Luckily that strange kind traveler who had helped her during the storm had told her that the coast was very close, because she wasn't sure she would have survived another day at sea. It was then that she clearly heard a voice enter her ears, a voice she remembered very well. "Huh? Great, now I'm gone completely crazy. I even hear Luz's voice..."
She sighed heartbrokenly and lay down in her little boat. She knew Luz couldn't be there next to her, there was nothing but water around her. Her little girl was surely somewhere else... yet the more time passed, the more that voice continued to echo in her ears, and grew in intensity until she was not even able to make out the words. "No... no, I can't be imagining it!" Camila exclaimed as she stood up and looked around, and in the distance amidst the sea mist she saw a large ship heading towards her. She grabbed a spyglass she had brought with her and looked towards that vessel.
Her heart stopped for a moment when her eyes met the glass of the spyglass and she was able to see the ship as if it were only a few meters away: hanging from the figurehead like a monkey, with a brown-haired girl holding her so that she won't fall into the water, there was Luz, her Luz, her sweet and precious Luz! It wasn't a hallucination, it was actually her, and she was calling her! Camila dropped the spyglass into the water out of happiness and raised her arms to the sky: "Luz! It's you! I finally found you!"
"Mom!" Despite the great distance, the puppet's voice had now become much clearer and Camila could clearly make out the words. "Don't move! We're coming to get you! Oh, mom... you don't know how happy I am right now! I was afraid I'd never see you again!"
Camila had tears in her eyes. It had finally happened... she had finally found her daughter! She wasn't even sure how long she had been looking for her, it didn't matter: she had found her and that was all that mattered! "It's okay now! Ah, as soon as I catch you, I'll shower you with hugs so much that you'll suffocate! I've spent too long away from you, nothing and no one will keep me away again!"
"Me too, mom! I'll give you so many kisses that it will change the color of your face!" Luz yelled back, and then her tone became more apologetic: "I'm sorry, Mom! I'm really, really sorry! I've been making you worry all this time, and who knows how hard you've struggled because of me! I should have obeyed you and gone to school right away!"
Camila was overjoyed to have finally found her daughter, but that didn't stop her from raising an eyebrow and asking: "Didn't you go to school?"
"Yes! I deviated and went to a circus, but there a crazy puppeteer captured me and tried to convince his boss to use me as an attraction, and they almost burned me alive, but then his boss freed me and gave me some gold coins, but then I went to a forest where I met some murderers who tried to steal them from me, but luckily Willow and Gus were with me and helped me, and then a fairy came to save me and cured me, and then I also ended up in a town with the law reversed where they locked me in prison and that's where I met Vee..." Luz explained, then her eyes lit up: "That's right, Vee! Mom, now I have a sister! She's a wonderful girl, I'm sure you'll like her! She'll certainly be better as a daughter than me! Vee, come here, let mom see you!"
Even though she had lost her spyglass, the ship was now close enough for Camila to see what looked like a large green snake slithering up next to Luz and timidly shouting back: "Um... hello, Mrs. Noceda! I'm Vee! I know this is the first time we've met and I don't know exactly what to say, but... Luz is truly like a sister to me, and we would give our lives for each other! I want to let her know that her daughter didn't abandon me even in the most dangerous moments, she should be proud of it! Well... I don't know what to say, but... Luz told me that I was welcome in the family... I know it will be shocking news for you, and that perhaps you will not agree..."
"Everything is fine!" Camila exclaimed. "I'm going to need a lot of context and a good chat with both of you, but if Luz really loves you like a sister and you feel the same way about it, then I have no problem welcoming you into the family!"
"Yay! Thanks, mom, I knew you'd understand!" Luz screamed in triumph giving a strong pat on the shoulder to Vee, who blushed and smiled shyly with gratitude and happiness. "You'll see, she's a good girl! She's certainly more obedient and polite than me, you'll be happy to have her as your daughter!"
"Yeah... and anyway you'll owe me a lot of explanations!" Camila said. "I didn't understand half of what you explained to me! You will have to tell me your adventures one by one!"
"I absolutely will!" Luz answered her. "I'm sorry, mom. I'm sorry for all the heartache and trouble I've caused you! I'll try to fix everything! I promise I'll do my best to be a good girl and a good daughter from now on!"
"Don't worry, I forgive you everything! Right now I'm just happy to have found you again!" Camila exclaimed, raising her arms again and wiping the tears from her eyes. "As soon as we are reunited, we will land on the first land we find and get back on our feet! We will start from scratch if necessary! We will build a house, we will open a shop again, and you and your sister will go to school and make many friends! We will be a big happy family...!"
BRAAAAAAAAAANG!
The sea behind Camila seemed to explode as if a submerged volcano had just erupted; the woman barely managed to prevent her boat from capsizing when a wave at least three meters high hit her. A huge whirlpool formed behind her and a gigantic peak began to emerge from the water at breakneck speed, covered in seaweed and emitting a horrible fishy stench into the air. The entire ocean seemed to tremble as that happened. A second whirlpool formed about a hundred meters away and another peak began to emerge; the two peaks rose for tens of meters, and the more they did so the more they seemed curved and covered in spikes, as if they were two horrible horns. Camila managed to avoid being dragged away by those whirlpools and crashing into those strange mountains, but a few moments later something even more enormous emerged: the two horn-like peaks connected in a gigantic hill similar to an immense skull that rose higher and higher, until two enormous eyelid-like formations rose out of the water. Soon after, those formations trembled and opened, revealing two crystal-blue eyes that emitted a sinister light, which seemed to contain death itself.
Camila froze, realizing that what had emerged before her was not a mountain, but the head of a gigantic creature. What looked like seaweed was actually putrescent and festering skin, and the fishy stench was actually the stench of a rotting corpse. It was as if that monster had already been dead for centuries, but the body continued to move animated exclusively by its own evil soul. The creature's crystalline eyes moved and the pupils the size of houses focused on her, and for an instant their gazes met. Inside those eyes Camila read something terrifying: an unspeakable desire to possess and consume everything, an insatiable longing that knew no restriction or qualm. And there was also a strange awareness, as if that creature was able to think and understand that it was putting someone in danger, but despite this it didn't feel the slightest remorse and in fact it was having a lot of fun seeing it tremble in terror, laughing at its own cruelty and at the fear and pain it instilled in the hearts of its victims.
She felt like she was looking the evil itself in the eye.
That exchange of glances lasted just a fraction of a second, then the creature's head lifted even further to reveal a mouth full of sharp and serrated teeth, so big that the largest ship ever built by humans could fit inside it in one swoop. The water flowed into it like a giant waterfall, and Camila's little boat met the same fate. The woman screamed, desperately trying to resist the unstoppable current, but there was nothing she could do and soon both she and her voice disappeared into the black pit that was the monster's throat.
Meanwhile, on the ship, Luz was paralyzed as she watched the enormous creature emerge from behind her mother. Not just her: every person on the ship, even Viney, had frozen and their faces were filled with horror. They remained to watch as a horrible monster of unspeakable dimensions, over a kilometer long and the size of a small island, emerged from the water, making the entire sea tremble. One by one more and more parts of the creature's body came to the surface, revealing two gigantic upper limbs covered in sharp claws that seemed to be composed of nothing more than bones and rotten skin, and countless tentacles, deformed fins and insect's legs (or perhaps spider's, or scolopendra's, they couldn't understand it) emerging from the hips, torso, neck and shoulders; in some places there were even extra eyes that shone with the same evil light as those on the head. Only when she saw the monster's mouth close on her mother Luz regained the ability to speak: "MOM!"
She would probably have jumped into the sea to reach her, but luckily Viney grabbed her by the shoulders and dragged her back onto the deck of the ship. Immediately afterwards, Captain Salty's terrified voice rang out throughout the entire ship: "BELOS! IT'S BELOS!"
*Drin drin drin*
Belos: "Who the fuck calls on the phone at five in the morning… hello?"
Author: "Hey, buddy!"
Belos: "WHAT!? You again!? Are you a complete idiot!? Who's the crazy person calling at this time of night!?"
Author: "Eh, sorry friend, but in my defense I inform you that it's daytime here. What can I tell you, the curve of the Earth is a bitch"
Belos: "Urgh. What the fuck do you want this time?"
Author: "There is an emergency, we need your services and skills"
Belos: "What? There's no mention of that! I remind you that I was supposed to appear at the end of this damned story, and instead I already did two extra scenes! I took two weeks of vacation in Hawaii with Andrias and Bill Cipher precisely because you promised me not to make me no more working beyond the original script!"
Author: "Yes, I know, but please understand me, those idiotic protagonists are convinced they can end the story with a happy ending and above all without trauma"
Belos: "Again? They never learn... they still haven't figured out what kind of franchise they're in?"
Author: "Eeeeh, apparently not. So I need you"
Belos: "Why me? Send someone else! Can't you ask Odalia for once? Or Kikimora? They're bad guys in canon too, right?"
Author: "Yes, I thought about it... but in the end I chose you"
Belos: "Why!?"
Author: "Because you're the main enemy, come on! People hate you, so let's exploit this thing. And then you have a talent for traumatizing kids"
Belos: "Why do people hate me!? All I did was try to destroy a world! Frieza devastated millions of planets and yet he is cheered by fangirls! And Darth Vader? Shall we talk about it? He exterminated children and enslaved an entire galaxy, yet everyone loves him! Why does everyone hate me instead!?"
Author: "What can I tell you, that's how the fandom of this franchise is! People want you to be a bitch and mean, and we give them what they want! It's the showbiz, man!"
Belos: "It may be showbiz, but I am a little be fed up with always playing the bad guy! I don't pretend to be the hero, but I would at least like to have some justification from time to time!"
Author: "Look, let's do this: at the moment our budget and time are concentrated on this story, but after we finish it we can do others... and I'm currently thinking of one in which I could give you a role pretty neutral... even if you'll still be an asshole"
Belos: "Okay, at least it's a start. What kind of story will it be?"
Author: "Ah, nothing special... the classic, a little conflict, a little forbidden love, a little conflicting worldviews, a few nukes..."
Belos: "Wait, nukes!? What are you planning on doing, freebooting Fallout!?"
Author: "Of course not, who do you take me for? Do I look like a freebooter to you?"
Belos: "You're literally freebooting Collodi right now!"
Author: "Hey, at least half the story is totally my invention, at most I'm just taking inspiration!"
Belos: "Call it what you want, but it's still called freebooting! And you didn't answer my question! What's this story going to be called, by the way?"
Author: "I still have doubts about the title... but I think World War Witches would be appropriate"
Belos: "You want to make me fight a war!?"
Author: "Of course not, the kids will fight it! I told you, we do everything for showbiz! And people like traumatized kids, not traumatized old adults! At most you will be the man in command who sends the armies to die"
Belos: "It will be a dark story, right?"
Author: "I told you, we're still working on it. Now stop wasting your time and go do your job!"
Belos: "What if I refuse to do what you ask?"
Author: "In that case we will have to cancel the publication in advance and according to your contract you will have to go and star in the new live action of Snow White"
Belos: "... fine. I'll do it"
Author: "Ah, I knew I could count on you! You are a bloody legend!"
Belos: "Why are you freebotting Mammon now?"
Author: "Um... yes, yes, I'm just freebotting... and the reasons don't concern you! Now go to work, you cuck!"
Belos: "Hey, now I heard it clearly! Why do you have an Australian accent!?"
Author: "I sent you the coordinates on Google Maps, do your job! Goodbye!"
Belos: "Wait! Give me a..." *call ends* "That son of a...!"
Sorry, but I wanted to do this micro cartoon too much, and I thought I'd take advantage of the last day of the old publication rhythm to do it. As already mentioned, starting tomorrow the chapters will be published at 7:00 pm Italian time (1:00 pm New York time). And as for World War Witches... it's a project that I have in mind and that maybe sooner or later I will publish, but I won't give any spoilers about it, for now I'll just let you speculate. Yes, I know, I'm an asshole X-)
