I've been trying to get this done for so long, and now it's finally back. We're almost done with the first part of this long story, so stay tuned! Enjoy this chapter (one of the longest so far)!
Bonesborough was always an unpredictable place. Even after Luz had spent so long around the town, it still managed to surprise her. It seemed like this was going to be one of these days when she and the others stepped into the town.
Luz didn't know what she was expecting when they arrived in town. Just maybe she wasn't expecting smoke rising from the skyline, or people running around and horrified screaming. The crowds were running specifically away from the shopping district of town.
"Uh, is this normal...?" Masha questioned, taken aback by the chaos happening around them.
"No, it's definitely not!" Vee answered, also shocked by the sight.
Luz internally remarked "Debatable."
"What's going on?! Why's everyone screaming and panicking?!" The Collector questioned, concern lacing his tone.
"I don't know... But it can't be anything good!" Luz commented. She looked at the smoke rising from across town.
"Oh Dios! Looks like a fire started in town!" Camila noticed, pointing at the smoke after she noticed the ominous gray pillar as well.
"A big one too!" Masha added, putting her hand horizontally on her forehead to see better without the sun blinding her (Even though it was cloudy today anyways).
"It looks like it's coming from the store!" Vee squinted, "Or at least somewhere close to it!"Luz's eyes slowly widened, remembering what her girlfriend said she was doing today on Penstagram: She was going shopping with her family for some things...
"...Hermosa..." Luz managed to mumble out in horrified realization, before quickly running down the street.
"Mija! Hold on! Wait for us!" Camila called out to her, before she and the others began following after Luz.
It all had happened too fast for Amity to process. The last thing she saw before her vision was blinded by the explosion was the shelf beginning to catch fire. The youngest Blight had tried to warn her family, but was too late as the explosion caught everyone off guard.
Now she was laying in a pile of debris, weakened and unable to get up; the flames beginning to rise more around her like a wall of orange and red. Amity groaned as she attempted to right herself up, but to no avail as she slumped back down.
The smoke was beginning to affect her breathing, with her coughing becoming more noticeable. The only benefit of that was her coughing made it easier for the nearby Edric and Emira to find where she was though the smoke that fogged up the burning store.
"Mittens! Mittens, where are you?!" Edric called out, coughing as he tried to fan away the smoke, searching for his little sister.
"Wait, I think I see her! Over there in the debris!" Emira pointed at the slumped over Amity, before coughing as well.
The twins rushed over, managing to get past the fire, and Emira leaned down to help her weakened sister up.
"Come on Mittens, you aren't going down like this!" She claimed, getting Amity back on her feet with a good heave.
"W-Where's dad?" Was the first words that Amity coughed out when she was back to standing, glancing around for any sign of Alador.
"I'm sure we'll find him! But we gotta get you out of here first!" Edric coughed, trying to keep himself from breathing in too much of the smoke.
Edric took Amity's right arm, and the three manage to shamble their way out of the burning building, which was beginning to collapse as the support beams gave in to the flames.
As they made it to the surprisingly still standing door, they heard the sound of rubble moving nearby.
"Dad...?" Amity weakly turned back to the source of the noise, a twinge of hope in her tone.
But her hope was diminished when they saw one of the witches that were attacking them from before crawl out from some of the rumble, brushing himself off. He glanced up at the three Blights.
"Ugh, brats... You survived..." The Merc Coven member groaned, coughing from the smoke fumes. But he still had enough energy to begin charing up a spell. "But not for long..."
It only took one single glance around for Emira to realize... That they were sort of just screwed. She couldn't move fast with Edric helping her keep Amity upright, they sure as heck weren't gonna ditch their little sister to save themselves, and they couldn't cast any spells in time to counter anything the witch in front of them was going to do.
"If you know what's good for you, you better run!" Edric called out, though his tone also showed he clearly was in the same mindset that his female twin was in.
The Merc Coven member chuckled mockingly, still charging up his spell. "And pray tell, what are YOU gonna do-"
The member was cut off when a pillar of vines burst through the nearby wall, completely plowing through him and launching their motionless body across the floor with a loud crack. The Blight siblings were taken aback.
"...We're gonna stand here and watch that, apparently." Edric remarked as an answer to the rhetorical question, blinking as he did.
The vines retracted back through the wall, and in rushed Willow, her eyes returning from their glowing state back to normal. She gasped at the sight of her friend in the twins' arms.
"Amity!" She exclaimed, rushing over to the three.
"Oh, Willow! Good timing!" Emira commented, relieved about the plant witch's arrival.
"What are you doing here...?" Amity weakly remarked, coughing as she did.
"Me and my dads got jumped by a couple of these witches wearing the same outfit design that guy who just attacked you was wearing! We managed to fight them off, when I saw smoke rising from this store in the distance... So I decided to split off from them and come see if anyone needed help here." Willow explained, fanning some of the smoke in the air away.
"Well, we're thankful you did!" Edric smiled, "We would have been screwed if you hadn't shown up when you did! Or at least back in body casts. That was horrible, you know-"
"LOOK! Can we possibly talk about this outside, instead of in here where we're gonna suffocate to death?!" Emira pointed out, gesturing around at the smoke building up in the air around them.
"Okay yeah, fair point." Willow remarked.
She gestured for the three to follow her out of the building, as the flames continued to grow and overpower the wood framing of the walls.
Out of all of the situations she had been in recently, Eda had to put this one up there with one of the most nerve-racking
After she had unsuccessfully tried to find an easy way out of the council building to safety, Eda had decided the only other plausible route to escape would be to make their way to the other side of the building, and out the front entrance.
The only problem with that is that the building was now crawling with witches aligned with the so-called "Mercenary Coven". So they had been avoiding being caught, because if they ended up alerting a large group of the coven, it'd be pretty much game over for them and they'd be swarmed with too many people to fight at once. She had no idea how many people were in this building at the moment, but she knew all of them were out for their heads.
So to sum it up, Eda's career had pretty much gone from Hunted Owl Lady, to Hero of the Isles, to Council Member, to Council Leader, and back to Hunted Owl Lady. Story of a Clawthorne's life.
King had been helping her point out lone witches and demons that were scouting out for the two, which were easy to knock out and hide their unconscious bodies in various places as they went (You'd be surprised how easy it is to stuff a biped demon in a cupboard).
"Alright, only a few more rooms and we should be home free, kid..." Eda remarked, knowing they were close to the front exit.
"Why can't you just turn back into your harpy owl thing? Is something wrong?" King questioned, remembering what happened recently.
"I don't know..." Eda sighed, annoyed by the turn of events.
After the incident with her crashing to the floor randomly while in her Harpy state, she hadn't been able to willingly turn back into that form for some reason. A large part of her somewhat blamed Lilith for being somehow responsible for it... And a larger part really hated the fact it was only just happening NOW of all times.
They both turned a corner, to see the entrance to the building up ahead. It was completely unguarded, and it didn't seem like there was even a soul around.
Yeah, Eda didn't trust that shit for even a few moments. You might as well have written "NOT A TRAP" up on the wall at this point.
"...You think it's safe to just run through?" King suggested, also getting the idea that it wasn't as simple as walking out.
"Maybe... It's worth a shot, I don't see what else we can really do..." Eda remarked with a shrug.
She ran forward with King in her arms, making a dash for the exit... When she stopped in her tracks after having noticed something, or rather... Heard something. The sound of muffled heavy mechanical footsteps echoed from the roof above them.
"Uh... What is that?" King questioned, also hearing the sound of the footsteps.
Before Eda could reply, the skylight above them was crashed open by something large, and a hulking figure leapt down into the room in front of them. It was a large abomination mech, it's mechanical parts creaked as it stood back up, turning towards the
"Oh Titan..." Eda groaned, knowing exactly who was piloting the mech in front of her as she backed up.
The Abomatron's arm gripped the top of the hallway arch, as it leaned down to get under it. Once it entered the room the two were in, it's pilot noticed them.
"Ah, Eda Clawthorne... It has been a long time..." Kikimora smirked down at her from the cockpit of Roka.
Eda scowled at the sight of her. "Wish it was longer." The Owl Lady snarked, one of her arms protectively wrapped around King.
"You really had to make this harder than it had to be... All you had to do was surrender, and you couldn't even do that..." Kikimora tisked condescendingly.
"That conversation was going nowhere, I was bored." Eda claimed with a shrug. "Besides, I got everything I needed to know about what shit you're trying to pull... And I for one, am not too willing to let it happen!"
"Ah, we figured as much..." A new voice commented, and Roka's right arm lifted to reveal a miniature cockpit built into the upper area of it. Inside was another family biped demon, which made Eda scowl.
"Oh, it's you again... Figures you're working together." She scoffed.
"Wow, did you put that together all by yourself?" Valera mockingly complimented, "Aren't you just a smart witch?"
A group of the coven members (Brielle surprisingly not being one of them) flowed into the room behind Roka, having heard the arrival of the Abomatron. A couple of them seemed poised to attack Eda and King on sight, but Kikimora held up a hand to halt them before they could do anything.
"So, still going on about that whole 'building a new empire' thing? Not only is that completely unoriginal, it also didn't work out for the last guy who tried that..." Eda snarked in an attempt to try and shake Kikimora's confidence.
"Yes, but while Belos created an empire as a cover for his true intentions... We plan on taking a much different direction than simple genocide." Valera remarked.
"Wouldn't call genocide simple, but okay." Eda flatly said in response.
"All Belos wanted was the destruction of the Isles... Now us, we want something more..." Kikimora continued, ignoring Eda's comment.
"Yeah, yeah... We got the whole 'empire' thing figured out." King deadpanned.
"Well, it's a rather good plan and endgame... Control over the Isles, like we deserve." Valera remarked.
"While also getting vengeance on those who have wronged us so much in the past..." Kikimora added with a sadistic smirk.
"Still completely unoriginal!" King mocked from in Eda's arms.
"And we both know that's not happening, you little pricks..." Eda scowled, really wishing she could access her Harpy form right now.
"Well, I have been waiting for a second chance at you for a long time, Clawthorne..." Kikimora claimed, "You've been a real, ironically enough, thorn in my side for-"
"Look, if you've been waiting so long, why haven't you just killed me already instead of putting me through this basic-ass villain monologue?" Eda questioned, not being able to help making another snarky comment as she did.
Kikimora simply chuckled mockingly, with a bit of an edge to it.
"Actually, I'm rather willing to start my revenge list with that human who's been even MORE of a thorn in my side than you have ever been for months now..." Kikimora threatened. "She'll be nothing more than a messy stain on Roka's foot once we're through with her."
Eda growled at the mention of Luz. "You better stay the fuck away from her! If you so much as even scratch her, I'll rip both of you two's ears clean off with my bare hands!""Yeah! And shove them down your throats!" King added, also scowling at the threat against his big sister figure.
"Oh, you'll both have a tough time doing that locked up deep underground, I'm afraid!" Kikimora cackled, not intimidated by the two's threats.
"You two are far too useful to simply kill as of yet..." Valera remarked, likewise not threatened at all.
"We aren't going to let you do this! And we sure as shit aren't going down without a fight!" Eda snarled.
"Unfortunately, that choice is not in your hands... The Isles will be under our complete rule soon enough." Valera mocked.
"And trust us... It will be in much better hands with us in charge." Kikimora grinned, "It's clear to see that the only path to peace and power is through subjugation!"
As the two demons continued to monologue, Eda's scowl slowly disappeared as she glanced at a nearby door. It's just what she needed: A possible way out of this situation. Eda just needed to wait for the right moment to come in order to get over to it safely without being brutally stomped or squished by the Abomatron.
King seemed to grasp the same idea Eda had, as he was also taking small glances between the door and the two rambling biped demons.
"...Course, you could always choose to simply join us, and maybe I'd be willing to see past your previous actions..." Kikimora offered with a smirk.
Eda had only been half listening, but she could tell just from the demon's face alone that she had no intention of keeping her word even if Eda was actually interested.
"...Or, you can choose the more obvious choice: Death." Kikimora finished.
Eda nodded, seemingly considering her options. "Alright, is that all I can pick from?" She asked.
"Yes, you really don't have any other ones." Kikimora flatly responded.
"Well... I have THIS one!" Eda exclaimed, making a quick dash for the door.
She managed to get over, and quickly pulled open the door handle... Only for the door not to even move a single inch.
Eda was confused, trying to pull the door open once more, before she glanced up and spotted the problem. Roka's hand had been shoved against the top section of the door, which blocked it from being pulled opened.
"Shit..." Eda exhaled, realizing she was too slow.
"Welp, we're dead." King added, paling as well.
"Congrats. You have chosen death. Thanks for your time." Kikimora mocked, before using Roka's other arm to swing at Eda in an attempt to splatter her on the wall like a bug.
The witch managed to duck under the swing, with it completely smashing through the wall with dust puffing out from the impact. Eda then rolled out from under the arm, and began to book it down the hall.
Kikimora snarled, pulling Roka's arm back out from the hole she had created in the wall. "Run while you can, Clawthorne! It's only a matter of time before you slip up!" She called after the fleeing Owl Lady.
Valera turned to the group of Merc Coven members standing nearby. "What are you all waiting for?! Get going after her!" She ordered.
The group quickly stood to attention, and rushed after the witch and young Titan.
"Should we go after them as well, Kiki?" Valera asked her friend, looking up at the main cockpit.
Kikimora chuckled in response. "No, I'm sure Brielle can handle those two just fine... We have other business to attend to. I believe it's finally time we go have a little reunion with the brats who've been so willing to ruin my plans in the past..."
Valera smirked along with her. "Ah yes... I completely agree! Shall we go then?"
"We shall! But first... Just to make sure those two don't leave alive..." Kikimora flipped a switch on Roka's control panel, triggering the flamethrower function.
Flames erupted from the right cannon arm on the Abomatron, and spread quickly onto the wooden area around them. As the fire caught and smoke began to billow from the orange lights, Roka's jetpack activated and lifted out of the broken skylight above them.
The fire left behind by the flamethrower was beginning to spread very quickly across the room, and into the other nearby chambers as well...
Now that she was thinking about it, Luz had realized would have been a lot smarter to simply ride Stringbean over to the smoke pillar instead of running the whole way. Her legs felt like they were gonna collapse by the time she finally reached the now burnt to a crisp store.
Outside on the stone road, the Blight siblings and Willow were laying around, seeming as if they were recovering from what had just happened. Alador was nowhere to be seen. Nonetheless, Luz had never been more relieved in her life.
"AMITY! OH THANK GOD!" Luz exclaimed, rushing up to her witch girlfriend.
Amity, thought weak and on the floor, felt a bit of her spirit relight at the sight of Luz. She smiled slightly.
"Oh Luzura... You're a sight for sore eyes..." Amity remarked as Luz kneeled down next to her.
"Are you okay?!" Luz wasted no time in asking, looking her girlfriend over for any wounds.
"Not feeling the best... But I'll be okay..." Amity answered.
The answer didn't seem to calm Luz's nerves as she continued to look at Amity with worried eyes. The Collector soon floated over, also worried about the witch girl's state.
"What happened?! Are you hurt?!" He asked, concerned with a frown.
Amity smiled slightly at how concerned the star child was about her. "Don't worry, I'll be fine... I promise." She assured the young godlike being.
"Did everyone make it out of the fire okay?" Camila asked, looking at the burnt ruins of the building.
"Yeah, everyone who mattered." Edric bluntly responded.
Vee seemed like she was going to pipe up to question that, but was distracted by Masha looking up at the sky.
"Masha? You good?" Vee asked her 'friend'.
"Uhh... Am I seeing things, or is that straight up a Valkyrie?" Masha randomly asked, pointing at the sky.
Everyone looked up to see Lilith in her Raven Harpy form, Hooty on her back, and Raine riding their Palismen down to the ground nearby.
"Oh Titan..." Raine murmured when they saw the burnt down store.
"Aww, hoot! Did we miss a barbecue?" Hooty whined.
Lilith noticed Luz and the others. "Oh! You're all here as well!" She commented.
"What happened here? We heard an explosion..." Raine questioned.
"We got attacked, a fire started, and the potion shelf caught flame... Then explosion. Pretty simply, really." Emira bluntly explained, coughing the last of the smoke out of her lungs.
"Attacked by who?" Raine questioned more, taken aback.
"We don't know! All we know is they tried to shoot at Mittens, and everything went to chaos from there!" Edric answered.
"Maybe she just grabbed something someone else wanted while in the store! Hoot!" Hooty theorized, which no one seemed to really pay attention to.
"Look! More smoke!" Vee pointed out for the second time today, her finger aimed at another smoke pillar.
"Wait... It's coming from the Council building!" Raine realized.
"Why am I not surprised the place Edalyn went to is the one on fire?" Lilith mentally remarked, knowing now wasn't the time for such talk out loud.
"What do we do now?!" Edric exclaimed.
"Well, whatever it is, we gotta do something soon! Something's definitely going on!" Masha commented.
"We should head over to the council building! Pretty damn obvious something bad's happening over there as well!" Emira remarked.
As everyone was discussing what to do, the youngest Blight then noticed another Merc Coven member run out from a nearby alleyway, and aim a charged spell at the Collector...
"COLLECTOR, LOOK OUT!" Amity wheezed out, trying to warn the star child in a panic.
The member shot the spell at him, but the Collector wasn't hit by the spell... And instead was hit by a familiar illusion witch boy in a tackle. The magical burst flew over their heads.
"Oh Titan, that was close!" Gus commented, scrambling to get himself and the star child back up.
With no hesitation, Willow used her plant magic, and caused vines to burst up from the ground under the witch, and launched them against the alleyway wall before they could attack again.
"Thanks..." The Collector mumbled out, still taken aback from the suddenness of the tackle and attempted attack.
"No problem, Collector!" Gus patted the star child on the back as he helped him up.
Just as everyone had recovered from the sudden attack, multiple other Merc Coven members appeared from multiple alleyways; surrounding the humans, witches, and basilisk. They were all armed with Artificial magic weaponry, much like the type Hunter used to use while in service to his "uncle".
"Oh, you've got to be kidding me..." Amity moaned in annoyance, now finally able to stand up on her own.
The group all glared at the various enemies around them, pulling out their various Palismen (or bat in Camila's case), got their fists out, and/or prepared spells. They all posed together while in a circle formation, ready for any incoming attacks.
"Well, here we go again..." Luz quipped, pulling out Stringbean and getting in a defensive position with the others.
Yeah, she really needed to get some better opening combat lines sometime soon.
I'll try and update this again as soon as I can! I might have made some mistakes, so feel free to comment about them if you happen to spot any!
Remember to leave a review and a favorite if you enjoyed! Love reading your thoughts on my fics, it gives me life force to feed off of.