Explosions rang out in the woods of the Boiling Isles one after the other. Two figures moved through the darkened woods: their silhouettes only visible due to the flashing of light. Flames spewed one way, while a wave of energy cleaved the ground. Ice formed multiple sharp glaives while the resounding rumble of a bell echoed and flattened several trees. All the while to the backdrop of rhythmic, almost tribal drumbeats. The pounding of the drums grew louder, along with the marching of feet, which only caused the explosions of magical energy to continue to erupt more and more.
The two figures continued to run around in the forest for a good while before both burst into a clearing up ahead. One was Kamen Rider Witch, and the other, Kamen Rider Heka. Witch brandished her WizarSwordGun, while Heka wielded her magical staff, Lady Luck. The two Riders stared each other down, tightening their grips on their weapons and widening their stances. Without a word spoken both heroes dashed towards each other, weapons raised in preparation to strike.
The two weapons clashed against each other, sending sparks flying through the air with each contact of their blades. Witch brought her WizarSwordGun down in an overhead strike, while Heka raised her staff countered with her own rising slash. Their blades clashed as both heroes dug their boots into the earth, trying to push the other back. Their auras began to rage from their bodies and grind against each other, adding to the dueling powers that were already taking place. It proved to be too much as the burst of energy erupted between them and forced the two Riders to skid backwards on their heels.
Witch swung her weapon around and readied herself to charge in again but paused when she looked at Heka's Driver. "Okay, I think we should stop here."
Heka checked her HUD and noticed that she had about a minute of remaining active time. "Guess you're right."
Both heroes disengaged their transformations, returning them to their civilian forms.
Luz stretched her arms over her head and said, "That was pretty good, Amity. You're getting better."
Amity rubbed the back of her head sheepishly as she said, "Maybe, but I'm nowhere near as good as you. Your experience in combat shows in our sparring matches."
"Yeah, but you pick up on what I show you fast. At this rate, you'll be able to handle yourself a lot better, even without my help," said Luz.
Things had been quiet on the Isles for the last week. No Phantom attacks, no Gates in need of rescuing. And as far as Luz could tell, nothing from Emperor Belos or his lackey, the Golden Guard. Which was fine for Luz as she was happy to have some time to just enjoy her school life and be with her friends. Things around her and Amity were a little awkward, but overall, Luz was glad that Amity agreed to wait until Luz could finally move on past her trauma and accept what Amity felt towards her.
Which brings us to now. Luz had suggested to Amity that they use this time to train. Per her suggestion, Luz would show Amity how to fight, outside of her transformation, and around 11:49 p. m. at night, Luz would portal to Amity's room and bring her to a secluded spot near the Owl House where they could spar in Rider form. This way by the time midnight rolled around, Amity would be able to transform again should there be a Phantom attack. Thankfully they have been able to work around Amity's volunteer schedule at the library.
"Strangely enough, I do enjoy these sparring sessions. This is about as close to having a one-on-one match with Laly as I'm going to get," said Bast.
"Not now, nor ever, will you beat me in a fight, Bast. That's just a fact," La Lechuza replied.
"Oh, be careful, Laly, your hubris is showing."
Luz and Amity rolled their eyes at their Inner Phantoms' little banter.
"Well, as always, this was fun. But now I need a rest," said Amity.
"Can do!"
[Connect, Please.]
Luz's magic circle appeared before them, and once it had, both of them walked through it. They exited into Amity's room, and when they got there, they found another Amity sitting on the bed with a book in hand. Before they started their sparring matches, Luz would use the Illusion spell ring to create a double of Amity just in case her siblings or parents came in to check on her or ask her for something.
"Heya there Amity Clone, anything happen while we were gone?" Luz asked.
The Amity clone closed the book and replied, "No, not really." The clone walked over to them, and for some reason gave Luz a dreamy eyed, half-lidded stare, and put just a little bit more swing in her hips than was necessary. "But I'm glad your back, my Luz."
"Eeep!" Luz quickly dismissed the clone, her face bright red. "T-That was just – I don't know why she said!"
Amity was blushing just as hard as Luz was as she tried to remain composed. "Uh…ahem…well, some Illusion clones are like that. Emira and Edric told me t-that they can be tricky. S-Sometimes they can, um, well, say things independently of what you want them to say."
"O-Oh, yeah, you're right. I forgot they could do that. Gus showed me one of his Illusion clones on the day he snuck me back into Hexside. He said it was supposed to take notes for him in class, but it wrote a note saying, 'I'm not paying attention'. So, yeah, what just happened makes sense!"
"Right…" Amity then muttered under her breath, "And sometimes they can act out on their creator's subconscious commands."
"What?"
"What?"
Both girls blinked.
"I should…get going," said Luz.
"Y-Yeah…goodnight, Luz," said Amity.
Luz turned around to head into the portal, but turned to wave at Amity as she replied, "Night."
A moment later, Luz arrived back at the Owl House, looking mortified that her clone of Amity acted that way in front of the real Amity.
"I don't understand why you're so worked up about that, you two have already admitted that you have feelings for each other."
I know we have, but that doesn't mean I want her to know I'm thinking of her in some pervy way!
"I will never understand human relationships, but they are entertaining to watch."
Again, I'm happy my drama can be a great source of entertainment for you.
Eda walked into the living room, a cup of Apple Blood in her right hand. "Hey, back from training?"
"Yeah…"
"Oh, the Blight girl not do so hot?" Eda asked.
Luz shook her head. "No, no, she's getting better with each session. Pretty soon she'll be at my level in no time."
Eda raised her mug to Luz and took a sip of her drink. "Good to hear. At least then the two of you will be able to fight better together."
"Yep, well, I'm going to go grab a snack and –!" Suddenly, Luz went still and silent.
"Uh…Luz?"
The human said no words, instead, she turned around and walked right out of the door. Eda, worried, followed after her apprentice and watched as she started to carve yet another magic circle in the ground.
"Oh boy," said Eda as she headed back into the house to gather something sweet.
It took about five minutes, but Luz had completed another of her large magic circles. This time, the center of the circle had a ring made up of four Fire Glyphs, which could only mean one thing. Eda watched as Luz finished up the last sigil mark on the outer ring and stood back. The human girl shook her head for a little bit, coming out of her trance as she looked down at her work.
"Oh, wow, I did a big one again," said Luz.
"This'll be the fourth one, won't it?" Eda asked.
Luz took a bite of the chocolate cake slice that Eda had brought out to her before saying, "Yeah, it will be. With this, I'll have all four Super Form versions of my elemental Base Forms!"
Eda wondered how this would affect things going forward. Emperor Belos was no doubt weary of Luz's strength, she did manage to land a blow on him, something that no witch has done in many years. And that was just with the first of her four Super Forms, now she was about to gain the fourth and final one, which meant now she could be versatile in battle, and possibly overpower Belos more easily than before.
After Luz was finished with the treat, she reached into her pocket and took out the two magic stones she had pulled out earlier when she was in her trance. She walked into the center of the circle and placed both of them at the center. Once she had, Luz stepped back until she was at the perimeter of the outer ring. The Latina knelt before the circle and pressed her hand against it. The reaction was immediate as a pillar of flames burst forth and shot up straight into the sky. Luz watched in awe as the embers danced in the air, and although the flames were huge, she did not feel hot, and was not burned. The same went for Eda. Instead, both of them felt warm.
The flames quickly took on the form of a giant owl, the form of La Lechuza. The great owl Phantom screeched into the air before diving back down and crashing into the two magic stones. A bright red light flashed, causing Luz and Eda to cover their eyes. When the light finally died out, and when it did, Luz and Eda beheld two new rings at the center of the circle. Luz walked into it and picked up her newest rings. The first one was had a ruby gemstone that had the mask of her Rider form. The second had the image of an owl, but with flaming wings.
Luz smiled as she turned to Eda. "With this, I have a complete set!"
Today was the weekend, and Luz decided to spend this Saturday improving her magic. She had called Amity on the crystal ball to tell her today and tomorrow would be rest days. Amity was fine with that as she wanted to practice the fighting moves, she had taught her by herself. So, with that done, Luz went to work researching more into Lilith's Glyph Combo. Thanks to Lilith's discovery of the Glyph Combo, and the realization that there were probably only the four glyphs, the older witch and young human decided to work together to figure out more combos.
Luz had combed through the various historical tomes, and spell books that Lilith was able to salvage from her time in the Emperor's Coven, trying to create something new. If she was successful in creating a new kind of spell combo, perhaps that could be fashioned into a new spell ring for later use. However, first she needed to create the combo pattern, which was a lot harder than it looked.
Eda and Lilith explained to her that a witch's bile sack contained different kinds of fluids that, when mixed together, allow a witch to focus their energy and cast a spell through the use of a drawn circle. But there were many in the sack, but only four glyphs. So, perhaps that meant that each of the glyphs had a double or maybe even a triple meaning. She had jotted down several notes on the four glyphs, trying to determine their meanings. The Light Glyph, on its own created light, but what else could it mean when combined with others? Power? Reflection? Color? What about Plant? It could mean growth, or maybe even life? If that's true, then maybe combining Light and Plant would create a healing combo? But then…I wonder…?
Luz was not the only one buried in her work, as Lilith was busy across from her, drawing on a piece of paper with a brush and red ink. There were mounds of books in the living room, most of which were stacked behind Luz, while Lilith had a few books strewn about near the couch, along with a blackboard, and another board that had papers pinned to it, mostly all her notes. Off to Lilith's right was another pile, a pile of King's stuffed animals on the opposite couch.
Speaking of the little demon, King ran up to Luz and said, "Luz, I need your help! I think Francois is trying to start a rebellion."
Luz looked towards the pile of plushies, Francois, the rabbit plushie, was sitting there at the center. After a moment, a knife with a jagged blade fell from behind its back.
"He's cold blooded that one," King warned.
"In a minute, King. I'm getting so close to figuring out this glyph combo," said Luz as she went back to her work.
"It's always glyphs, portals, and training Amity with you these days. What about King?"
Luz felt a little bad for ignoring him, but she really needed to get this down. "Why don't you ask Lilith for help? She was in the Emperor's Coven. She has more experience with unruly mobs than anyone."
Lilith, after carefully drawing her circle, giggled giddily, and stared at her work. "Watching the ink dry is the best part!"
"Eeeh…" King grunted.
Hooty stretched himself into the living room, and in his beak, he carried a mug filled with tea, and placed it on the table for Lilith to enjoy. "A fresh cup of tea for my favorite cup of tea. That's you, Lulu."
Lilith, after being snapped out of her near deranged moment, fixed her hair and smiled at the house demon. "Well, Hootsifer, you truly are a gem. How do you always know what to do?"
King was confused by what he was seeing. What was happening right now? "What's going on? Is Hooty blackmailing her?"
Luz took a moment from her glyph drawing to see what King was talking about, and she was surprised to see just how well Hooty and Lilith were getting along. It was quite the unlikely friendship, but then again, so was her friendship with Amity, and look where that was going. "I think they're actually friends. Isn't that nice?"
"It disturbs me," King admitted.
Luz finished up her drawing and stood up with the paper in hand. The combo glyph was of two rings. The outer ring had two glyph circles connected to it, both Light Glyphs, and a second inner circle housed the Ice Glyph. "Okay, this will work for sure. Now you see me…" Luz placed the combo glyph onto her chest, and immediately disappeared from sight.
King gasped, causing Lilith to look up from her work, noticing that Luz had vanished.
A couple seconds passed, and Luz reappeared in the same spot she had vanished from. "…now you don't! Oh, I guess it only lasts as long as I hold my breath. Still pretty cool, huh?"
King, having been scared the sudden disappearance of his surrogate sister, quickly latched onto her leg as the memories of her disappearing into another world had triggered a small bout of a PTSD. "Don't ever do that again!"
Lilith quickly stood up, eyes wide with curiosity and awe. "No, do that again, please! How ever did you accomplish that?"
"Well, since you guys discovered that we can make new spells by combining glyphs, I've been experimenting. I got the invisibility idea from your history books, Lilith. And now…"
After shaking off King from her leg, Luz took out one of the magic stones she had put in her pocket for the occasion. She drew the combo glyph again and placed it on the floor. She then put the stone in the middle of the glyph combo pattern and tapped the stone. Immediately the paper released a burst of energy, which the stone captured and transformed it. After a few seconds, the entire stone transmuted into a new spell ring, one that showed a see-through owl.
"YES! It worked! I can make new spell rings with the combo glyphs!" Luz giddily cheered.
Lilith was astonished, this now meant that whatever combo they came up with, it had the potential to become yet another magic spell in Luz's arsenal to fight the Phantoms. "This is fascinating, Luz, truly, fascinating." Lilith got up from her seated position next to the table and walked towards Luz. "You know, as the lead historical scholar of the Emperor's Coven, my aid could be very helpful in – Gaah!" she cried before stumbling into King's pile of plushies.
King gasped upon witnessing this egregious act and cried out, "An ambush! Men, defend your ruler!"
The little half-pint demon picked up a warthog plushie and threw it at Lilith. However, before the plushie could even hit Lilith, Hooty stretched himself out and took the blow that was meant for the eldest Clawthorne sister. But upon doing so, Hooty, in a dramatic fashion, went limp and fell into Lilith's arms.
"They got me…I'm…I'm done for Lulu," said Hooty, pitifully.
"Hootsifer, this is make-believe, you took an imaginary blow, from a stuffed animal," Lilith replied in a deadpan tone.
"And I'd do it again…" Hooty coughed, again, in an overdramatic fashion. "Ah…to die in your arms…avenge me…Lulu…!" Hooty "died".
Which left Lilith wide open for King to throw another. Lilith glanced at the little demon and said, "King, can you please stop?"
"The King of Demons yields to no one!" King declared.
Lilith, being the history otaku that she is, felt the need to correct him. "I hate to be the one to tell you," I'm not. "Historically, demons have never been united under a single rule until Belos. There's no such thing as a 'King of Demons'."
King gasped upon hearing such a lie and chucked another plushie at her. Beaning her in the head and causing Lilith greater annoyance. "Blasphemy! Clearly, you know nothing of my reign of terror. Allow me to tell you." King started to move about dramatically as he began his tale of a once mighty ruler. "I was once the mighty King of Demons! I was beloved almost as much as I was feared. But one dark day, an evil spell was cast…" King fell to his knees. "Transforming me…into this!"
Hooty "resurrected" and raised a figurative eyebrow at King's story. "Oh? What happened to your 'crown of power'?"
King waved his hand dismissively. "A trifle! That was just to test Eda and Luz's dedication to me! They passed." King gave a narrowed eyed stare at Hooty and Lilith. "You two have yet to prove your worthiness, FYI. Anyway, my real crown is still out there! But when I shrank, my memories got, uh…fuzzy."
Lilith rolled her eyes at his little tale. "How convenient. A hole in your memory for each hole in your story."
Hooty chuckled as he got out of Lilith's arms. "Nice one, Lulu! Up top!"
Unconsciously, Lilith did high-five her avian worm demon friend, but in so doing smacked him the face, and gave him a black eye. Good thing he was a quick healer.
King glared at the woman and demon in front of him and retorted, "Hey, I remember plenty! I remember armies bowing before me, being served the greatest of feasts…and falling from a massive height as that evil hex shrank me. One day, I'll return to my rightful place…" King flared his arms as a wild-eyed look appeared upon his face. "AND ALL SHALL FEAR ME!"
Luz, as if to undercut the drama of King's backstory – unintentionally of course – reached out and scooped up the little demon, giving him little scratches under his chin and on his furry belly. "Aw, you're gonna be such a good tyrant. Who's the scariest demon king? Who is it?"
"Me! It's me!" King giggled.
Lilith, again, not convinced in the slightest, remarked, "Your dedication to this farce would be charming if it wasn't so sad. There has never been a 'king of demons', that's just an historical fact. And until you can prove it, what your saying is nothing more than a story."
King jumped out of Luz's arms and glared intensely at Lilith. "Don't blame me for your ignorance! I'm not a liar, and I can prove it!"
Luz watched as King scrambled away and into the next room.
Lilith's jaw dropped, never in her entire academic carrier has anyone stated, insinuated, or even suggested that she was ignorant of anything. "He called me ignorant. Me! The nerve of that little–!"
"Stop it, you guys." Luz got up and began fixing up King's plushies. "This story is really important to him, so the least we can do is play along."
"You mean indulge his silly fantasy?"
"Yeah! I'm a house of principles! You're asking me to lie? Hootrageous!" Hooty scoffed, feeling sense of slight from even suggesting that he'd lie.
"I have to agree with Hootsifer. To what end, Luz? Sooner or later, the fantasy has to come to an end. It does him no good to keep delving into his little make-believe," Lilith pointed out.
Luz felt as if she heard those words before. Oh, wait, she had. From her teachers, and the kids at school back in the Human Realm. What was wrong with having your head in the clouds? What was wrong in diving into the world of fantasy and make-believe? Was she hurting anyone? Okay, that snake thing for her book report and fireworks was a bit overkill in hindsight, and maybe she did take it a bit too far with the sausage link entrails during the "Romeo and Juliet" play. But overall, she hasn't really hurt anyone or bothered them.
The Latina shook her head and furrowed her brow as she said, "Look, he's not hurting anyone. He's not hurting himself or anything. Could you please just go with it? For his sake?"
Around that time King walked back into the room, carrying Lilith's witch staff. "All right, you two shall regret ever doubting me. We're going to my castle!"
Okay, I know what I said, but this is starting to sound like we're diving into the realm of some chūnibyō stuff right now, thought Luz.
Hooty stretched himself around to Luz's right and smugly asked, "What's wrong, Luz? I thought you said we should just 'go with'–"
"Go with him!" Luz quickly interrupted. "I said we should go with him, right? How could I forget what I just said?"
Lilith rolled her eyes at the notion, but at the same time, her pride was on the line here. She was called "ignorant", she was the most learned person the Emperor's Coven aside from the emperor himself. There was no way she was going to let her reputation be tarnished like that. And if she was lucky, it would snap him out of this little fantasy. "My historical expertise is being questioned, and I will not allow it." Lilith walked over and took her staff. "Hooty, would you like to accompany us?"
Hooty gasped, he was never asked to come along on their wacky adventures, this was a dream come true. "I-I'll get ready!"
What occurred next was…much too disturbing to put into words. Lilith, King, and Luz watched in mild fascination, then those expressions morphed to disbelief, then unease, and finally, horror. When it was over, the spot in the door where Hooty once resided in was vacant, allowing one to see outside. Along the inner rim were blood vessels, and pulsating organs. Down below, Hooty had managed to affix himself into a birdhouse shaped backpack.
"Porta-Hooty, reporting for Hooty!"
There are no words to describe what they had just witnessed. Luz was busy dry retching, while King was crying and shaking his head slowly, wishing to the Titan that he had not seen any of that. Lilith was still horrified, her hand clutched over her heart as she remained silent.
"I…I need to go…um – ugh – call Amity, right quick," said Luz as she hurriedly rushed into the kitchen.
She took a moment to collect herself and called Amity over the crystal ball, the image of the green haired witch appeared on the smooth surface of the glass orb as she smiled up at her. {Oh, Luz, did you change your mind about training today or – what happened to you?}
"N-Nothing, it's nothing…I've just seen things…horrible things…A-Anyway, I'm heading out for a bit, don't know how long I'll be away, so I'll need you to on watch for any Phantom activity," said Luz.
{Wait, you are? Are you sure that you don't need me to come with you?} Amity asked worriedly.
"No, no, it's fine. I'm just taking a trip somewhere, I should be back before the end of the day," she assured.
{Okay, just be careful. Alright?}
"Will do."
Luz, King, Hooty, and Lilith were flying over the Boiling Seas as the sun was setting on the horizon. The Latina had called upon her Witch Speeder, with King riding on her lap so that he could lead the way to his "castle", while Lilith was flying next to Luz on her staff, with Hooty strapped to her back. The flight had been long, hours long, with no land in sight since they left the mainland. Luz knew that this might be going too far in indulging King's fantasy, but it was not that unfair, was it? It was not like they were going totally out of their way or anything, if they found nothing then Luz could just open a portal back to the Owl House, and if King wanted, she could portal them back to his "castle" whenever he wanted after they got there.
Unfortunately, it was not a sentiment shared by all.
"Are we still flying? It's been hours," Hooty complained.
Lilith agreed. "Yes, it has. Should we call it a day? Or perhaps a night?" The eldest Clawthorne sister chuckled at her own joke. "Hooty, your sense of humor is infectious."
"There it is!" King cried out.
The clouds of mist below parted, and below they spotted an island. It was a strange looking island to say the least. From their position in the air, they could see that the island was cone shaped, with tall walls of stone that acted like a barrier around the island itself and were crescent shaped. They were several feet high, higher than Emperor Belos' castle. The group descended from the sky and flew lower, bringing them close to the shore gap.
Luz, to say the least, was surprised. She did not expect to see an island, she was expecting King to take them to some random spot out in the middle of the sea and then declare that that spot was where his kingdom once stood before some catastrophic event sank it to the bottom of the Boiling Seas. Like a Demon Realm version of Atlantis. But this? Yeah, no, she was not expecting this.
Lilith was confused for another reason; she had studied many of the maps that were made of the Boiling Isles and the known islands off its coast and could bring them up by memory alone. So, when she saw this island, it did not make any sense. "This island shouldn't be here! It's not on any of the maps!"
King turned to Lilith and smugly replied, "It's always been there when I looked for it."
The group flew in closer and landed on the beach. Lilith dismounted her staff, while Luz dismissed the Witch Speeder. Lilith, Hooty, and Luz looked upon the woods before them, and the mist that lingered in the air. There was something about this island that felt off to them, mysterious, and ominous.
"After I shrunk, I woke up here, in Eda's arms, and she carried me away. Like a wittle baby," said King.
"Aww," Luz gushed. The Latina glanced at Lilith and motioned with her hand to join in. "Ahem?"
Lilith rolled her eyes and sighed. "Fine. Aw."
"Look!" Hooty exclaimed.
The mists began to clear up, and in the distance, they spotted a large stone tower, part of it appeared to be damaged, whether by the decay of time or by some natural, or unnatural cause had yet to be determined.
"Ah, home sweet home. Let's get a move on! Onward my loyal minion, and you, too, nonbelievers!" King ordered as he led the way.
They ventured into the thick forest, keeping an eye out in case something might be lurking in the woods. They trekked for a long while, minutes passing by as they pushed through bushes and vines along the unknown path, at least unknown to everyone except King.
"I will admit that tower is certainly intriguing, but – OH!" Lilith tripped over an exposed root.
But Hooty managed to extend himself and press against a nearby tree, acting as a balance to keep Lilith from tipping over. This action also had the unpleasant effect of having him press his face into the bark of said tree.
"Thank you, Hootsifer."
"My pleasure," came Hooty's muffled reply.
"Couldn't we have landed a little closer instead of having to bushwhack our way there?" Lilith asked in an annoyed tone.
King shook his head at the notion and drew their attention to the leaves and branches above. "The treetops are so thick, this is the only way in. Plus, now I can dramatically do…this!" King drew back on some leaves and revealed their location.
They had made it to the entrance of the tower. The doorway was constructed to look like a giant keyhole, which had been covered in moss, vines, and roots over the many years that had been neglected. As they got closer, they could see that the entrance itself was blocked by several large boulders that had collapsed to plug it.
"Ooh. A door fit for a tyrant," said Luz.
King giggled. "That's me!" Once they reached the entrance, King hopped atop one of the boulders and said, "I'll find you guys another way in. Wriggle, wriggle, wriggle!"
Now that they were closer, Lilith studied the inner lining of the doorway. It looked to be made of some kind of bronze colored metal, and all along the lining were these strange carvings and circular patterns. "Huh. What a strange material. And this symbol. I've never seen anything quite like this."
Hooty stretched around and saw what Lilith was looking at, but he was not impressed. "Ha! I've seen better graffiti. I've got better graffiti on me." To this Hooty stretched out more of his body and showed that Luz had written her name on him in a stylized font and in purple, while there were three "S" letters, and each one was a different color of blue, magenta, and green.
"Luz, look! This predates any language I know. King's story may be a fake, but these ruins are a history mystery! Hehehehehe," said Lilith, gleefully.
Luz had to admit, things were getting a bit more serious than she had expected. The mysterious island, the mysterious tower, ancient writing that not even Lilith recognized, it got Luz wondering how much of this was make-believe and how much of what King had been saying was true.
Suddenly, the boulders fell over, creating a big gap in the debris. And out from that hole popped out King. The little demon looked in their direction, having only caught the tail end of what Lilith was saying and asked, "What's a mystery?"
Luz hurriedly said, "The only mystery is how Lilith can be so smart and so wrong at the same time. Academics, am I right?"
King smiled and replied, "You so are. Come on in."
When King disappeared back inside, Lilith gave the little human teen an indignant narrowed eyed glare. Luz chuckled nervously and quickly leaped through the hole to catch up to King. Lilith followed behind Luz, and once inside, both of them took out their Light Glyph papers and created two floating orbs of light that illuminated the inside of the tower. The tower's interior had seen better days, but it was still a sight to behold. The floor had several idols, all of them made up of three rocks, with the top rock having the same sloping shape as a banana. There were columns that rose high into the tall ceiling, all carved to resemble leaves on a tree or on a vine. And then there were the walls, they were covered in ancient murals of some kind.
"Ah, the chamber where I would devour the hearts of my foes. The taste was cold and bitter, but I bet yours would be sweet, Luz," said King.
"With all the sugar I eat, it better be," Luz replied with a wink.
They proceeded further into the tower, but as Luz walked behind King, she noticed something, a shadow not belonging to her, or King swiftly crossed behind her. Luz gasped and swiftly turned around; her cloak fluttered loudly from the sudden action as she prepared to fight whatever it was that was there. But, as she panned the orb of light around, there was nothing there.
Lala did you sense something? Anything? Luz asked.
"I saw what you saw, but for some reason, I didn't sense anything. But I know what we saw," said La Lechuza.
Suddenly, King appeared behind her, having climbed onto her shoulder. "Can't believe your eyes, huh? My castle does have that effect."
Luz released a sheepish laugh as she said, "Yeah…So much wonder…"
Meanwhile, Lilith and Hooty were busy looking on the other end of the room, but as they walked, Hooty gasped and stretched himself out to point towards what he was looking at.
"Are you seein' what I'm seein'?!"
Lilith shifted her orb of light towards the wall on her left. When she got closer, they were able to see a mural of a giant creature, bare chested, with half his head covered by a white skull with two curved horns, a long beard, and a long fur cape. The mural itself was not the most shocking thing, the being that the mural depicted had a very striking resemblance to a certain little demon.
"These carvings, they're ancient," said Lilith. "But what – I don't…"
"Wh-what does that mean?" Hooty asked.
"Well, if I've never heard about this ruin, let alone this entire island, who knows what other parts of history we scholars have missed?" Or…more accurately, what we haven't been allowed to know.
Hooty looked at Lilith in surprise as she asked, "Are you saying…?"
"That he may actually be…"
"THE KING OF DEMONS?!" Hooty and Lilith exclaimed as they shifted their gazes towards King.
King was busy posing in front of another mural that showed the same burly, skull faced demon wielding a spear, prepared to do battle with another huge creature about to attack him. "Ah, my kingdom. I, uh…" King sniffled as he wiped a tear from his eye. "I got some bone dust in my eye."
Luz looked up at the ceiling and noticed an opening that was blocked off by debris. "What was up there?"
King looked up as well and shrugged. "I-I can't quite recall. I just remember a muffled roar, probably some minion praising my name."
"Yeah…probably." Luz could not help but feel that there was something lurking about in the room with them. Maybe it was all the little idols that were scattered about the floor, or the fact that this place was an unknown to even Lilith, but something was making Luz feel uncomfortable. "Well, uh…wanna head back? This is all so cool, but Eda's probably on her third cup of apple blood by now, and the last time, it was real hard getting her off the roof."
"You might want to duck."
What?
Suddenly, Hooty stretched towards them, knocking Luz over as he then began to – more or less – grovel to King. "Your Majesty! It's me, faithful ol' Hooty. You know I was messin' around with you the whole time, right?"
"Honestly, what's the point in me warning you if you don't react in time?"
Luz, who was on the floor, grumbled as she got up. Then it clicked in her head what she just heard Hooty say. "Wait, 'your Majesty'?"
Lilith appeared next and pushed Luz out of the way. "Your Highness, I apologize. There is clearly information here that scholars like I have been – to my dismay – ignorant of. It's clear these ruins are of immense historical value. Perhaps you could tell me more about them?"
King chuckled and said, "I suppose I could, uh, regale you with some tales. Am I using that word right? Regale?"
Luz thought she heard something coming from another hallway, she decided to do a little more investigating and splintered off from the others. When she arrived at the entrance to the hall, she once again heard the strange noise. "Uh, guys, are you hearing this?"
"I'll show you where my throne used to be. It was made from the teeth of my enemies and boy was it awkward to sit in."
Ookay, that would be a no.
Luz took off the Driver On ring and switched it with her Defend ring just in case there was something in there that was unfriendly. As she walked into the hallway, she saw that both sides were lined up with slots, and inside each person sized slot was some kind of statue that looked similar to the little idols that were in the main chamber. The hall was also filled with cobwebs, and the statues themselves were ancient, some had crumbled to pieces were they stood, while some were intact, but cracked and chipped, and in the process of falling apart.
"What are these things?" Luz asked aloud.
"Just thinking out loud, but they appear to be possible sentries. Or at least made to look the part."
"Well, if that's true, what could be in here that was so valuable that they needed this many sentries?"
"Perhaps that little demon dog was telling the truth? A king does need their royal guard, and maybe, once upon a time, these things were those very guards. But if, and again that's a big IF, that demon's story is true, then whatever spell was cast upon him had happened many centuries ago. Everything in here looks withered by time."
"What do you mean, if? You're not convinced?" Luz asked in disbelief.
She could feel La Lechuza shrug. "His delusions of grandeur aside, he does possess some knowledge unknown to even a scholar like Lilith Clawthorne. Then again, who knows what else has been kept secret from the people of this world. That man, Emperor Belos, has complete control over the inhabitants of this world, their culture, their knowledge, and their history. Remember these words, Niña: 'History is only the written record of the winner'."
She understood, it meant whoever was in charge could make up whatever they wanted, the truth was only the truth they told. And with someone like Belos, only his truth mattered. Maybe there was a King of Demons? Luz was hoping that it was King, the little demon clung onto that knowledge that he was a king, and if that was true, his frustration and tendencies made a lot more sense. But mostly, Luz wanted it to be true for her sake as well. She often preferred the realm of fantasy over reality, and with the things she's seen and endured, was it any wonder why.
As she kept walking, Luz groaned when she saw the "hand" of one of the statues sticking out towards her and passed it by, but then turned around and said, "Just kidding. I'd never leave someone hanging. Up top, buddy."
Unfortunately, doing so made the whole thing fall forward and push her onto the ground. Luz pushed it off, but when she looked up, she saw that there were even more of the statue extending higher up towards the ceiling and beyond. The teen girl got up and waved the light around to see more of the area but stopped when she noticed that one of the slots had nothing in it, no crumbling remains, or damaged remains, it was just empty. Luz heard some skittering behind her and shined her orb of light in the direction of the sound. When she did, she saw a shadow quickly disappearing down the hallway she just came through.
Luz hurriedly ran in that same direction and exited back into the main chamber. She quickly looked around and saw Lilith, King, and Hooty on the far end of the chamber, and ran to them.
"And that's how I would annihilate my enemies. Who needs due process, am I right?"
"What does this image represent, my lord?" Lilith asked as she pointed to another of the murals.
King looked at it but was not sure at the moment. "Uh, it's hard to remember. But that handsome devil looks familiar, huh? "
Luz skidded to a halt before he companions and said, "Tour's over! We gotta go! Now!"
Lilith looked at the young girl with confusion. "What? Why? There's so much to learn here, Luz!"
"This environment is not conducive to learning. It's conducive to death!" Luz remarked.
King hopped off Lilith's shoulder and tried to assuage Luz's fears. "Ah, you saw the Horrifying Monstrosity Room. Don't worry, they can't hurt you."
That strange noise echoed inside the main chamber, along with some skittering sounds accompanying it. Luz and Lilith turned their lights towards the ceiling and saw what was making those noises. One of the statues had come to life, its eyes were beady, and glowing a bright blue color. The statue had some kind goo substance that connected each of its limbs together and acted as fingers for its left hand. The creature crawled along the ceiling and twisted its neck around as it looked right at them.
"THAT ONE CAN!" Luz corrected as she scooped up King and ran.
However, the moment she did this, the creature jumped off the ceiling and intercepted her, landing right in her path and forcing Luz to fall back. The creature raised its right arm and had some of its connective substance shift over to its right hand, which then transformed into three long claws.
[Defend, Please.]
A barrier of light formed around Luz and King, but that did not seem to stop the creature from trying to get at her and her friend as it slashed at the barrier again and again. Lilith backed up Luz as she took out three Ice Glyph papers, activated them, and fired them straight at the monster. They transformed into three ice spikes that impaled the creature and pinned it against a stone slab.
Luz brought down the barrier and praised Lilith, "Dang, girl, you've been practicing!
"You may admire my progress when we get out of here alive!" Lilith stated.
"Right! Portal time!" Luz released King and went to switch out her rings.
The creature saw this, and hurriedly unstuck itself by morphing its body to widen the holes, allowing it to slip over them. Once freed, the monster swiftly attacked Luz, knocking her back and away from the group. The sudden impact caused her to lose her grip on the Connect ring as it skittered across the floor. Luz hurriedly tried to grab another of her rings, but the monster saw the Hand Author buckle and ripped it off her shorts.
"HEY!" Luz cried out indignantly
The creature jumped off her, and landed a few feet away, holding the Hand Author buckle in its hand. The creature tried to crush the item, but no matter how hard it tried, nothing it did was going to destroy it. It finally gave up on it and tossed the buckle off to the side. Luz watched it carefully, tracking where it was going to fall so she could go and grab it. However, the monster was not going to give her time to even try. It lunged at her, forcing Luz to whip out her Light Glyph and form a shield over her left forearm.
The monster created an ax blade on its left hand and brought it down, striking Luz's shield, and causing the teen to brace against the attack. Luz took out a Fire Glyph and funneled her mana into it, transforming the flame into a burning sword. Now armed, Luz went on the attack, swinging her flaming sword back and forth, and thrusting when she saw an opening, but the monster was lanky and nimble, allowing it easily dodge Luz's attacks and granting it greater speed to counterattack.
Lilith appeared and yelled, "LUZ, HOLD ON, I'LL HELP!"
"NO, FIND MY BUCKLE! IT RIPPED IT OFF ME!" Luz pushed the monster back with her shield and continued. "I SAW IT LAND SOMEWHERE OVER THERE! At least I think I did!"
Lilith, Hooty, and King looked in the general direction of where Luz was pointing. She summoned more orbs of light with her glyphs to illuminate that area, but it seemed the monster was onto what they were doing as it jumped onto the ceiling and changed its left arm into a bow and drew an arrow.
"HEADS UP!" Luz warned.
Lilith looked up and hurriedly took out another of her Ice Glyphs and formed an ice wall just in time for the arrow to fly and embed itself in it. The creature turned its attention back to Luz and fired more arrows, forcing the Latina to run around to avoid getting hit directly.
Okay, two can play at that game! Oh, look there!
The Latina saw her Connect ring and quickly scooped it up. Luz quickly took cover behind a large rock, hearing the many arrows make a "thunk" sound as they embedded themselves in the rocks. The Latina switched the fire sword to her left hand and concentrated, within seconds she managed to transform it into a flaming bow with a string attached, also made of fire. Luz drew on the bowstring and the moment she did, a fire arrow notched itself. The young teen took a deep breath and peeked over the rock and saw that the monster was busy attacking Lilith, trying to break down her ice wall to get to her. The oldest Clawthorne sister dared not move from behind the wall or risk getting sniped.
Taking advantage of its lack of attention, Luz rose from her cover and fired the arrow. The flaming arrow sailed straight towards the monster and exploded on impact, sending it falling from the ceiling and down to the ground in a cloud of dust.
"Heck yeah! I'm bad!" Luz exclaimed.
The monster dashed out of the cloud and headed towards Luz. The Latina notched another arrow and fired again, but the nimble monster dodged those as well. In little time at all it was upon her, forcing Luz to release the bow and raise up her shield. The monster swiped at her, striking the shield with enough force to send Luz flying backwards. Despite how lanky and quick the creature was, it was not lacking in strength.
Luz looked up and saw that the creature was preparing to deal her a death blow, however, something hit the creature and exploded against its body. At that moment, Eda jumped through the entrance, wearing a sash and belt that had multiple bottles of potions attached to them, and skidded to a halt.
"Get away from my kids!" Eda warned.
"EDA!" Luz cried.
"Get out of here! I'll hold it back and meet you outside!"
Luz shook her head at the notion. "What!? No! Let's fight it together!"
Eda tossed another of her exploding potion bottles, forcing the creature back "You can't beat this thing right now, we need to regroup! Now GO!"
Lilith glanced at Luz with a serious look in her eyes that told the young witch apprentice that now was not the time to argue. It was not like Luz had much of choice, her buckle was gone, and without it, the rings were useless. Luz and Lilith, along with King and Hooty, ran out of the chamber and made it outside. Even though she did as Eda asked, she could still here her mentor fighting the monster inside, and it was her fault.
I should've transformed before we got into this place! Luz thought.
"More running, less stopping!" Hooty insisted.
"Edalyn said to wait here!" Lilith retorted.
Luz stamped her foot and said, "We can't let her fight it alone! We have to go back!"
The sounds of combat continued to rage inside for a few more seconds before Eda finally made it outside, although she was clutching at her right arm, obviously not unscathed.
Lilith rushed to her little sister and helped her to her feet. "Edalyn! You're hurt. What of that horrible creature?"
Suddenly, said horrible creature appeared at the entrance and raised its left arm ax in preparation to attack. Lilith closed her eyes, ready to accept her fate. But when the monster attacked, the moment its arm passed through the archway, it went limp. A blue screen of light appeared in front of the entrance, and when the monster reeled its arm back to its side of the screen, it regained full control.
"It can't get past the entrance. We're safe now," said Eda.
"That thing must be guarding this place against intruders, and I let it tear off my buckle…" Luz looked at the broken loops around her shorts and remarked, "At least it didn't rip off my shorts in the process. I hate to say this Eda, but we're going to need to go back in there and get it back, I'm sorry, I was careless."
Eda chuckled and said, "Don't sweat it, I don't expect you to be perfect. We all make mistakes; we just need to make sure and do something about 'em when we can."
King was having hard time understanding what Luz meant by what she said a moment ago as he hopped off her shoulder. "Intruders? Me? But it's my castle. How could we be intruders? I invited you in."
Luz had forgotten herself and realized what she had just said. "Uh…u-um…well…"
"Luz, you think I would lie to you?" King asked, hurt.
"No, King, I…it's just…"
"You aren't lying." Eda sat down on her knees, groaning from the effort as Lilith sat beside and attended her wound. "You just don't know the truth." Eda knew this day would come, she just wished it did not have to happen like this. "Eight years ago, I was looking for a place to hide from the Emperor's Coven. I never knew this place existed and it just…appeared out of the mist. So, I landed. Now, I was one hot tamale, but the boiling rains were even hotter. I needed shelter. But when I found it…I wasn't alone. And that's when you appeared."
King's eyes widened. "What…?"
"I assumed you were just some stray dog. But then…that thing was gonna kill us both, so I picked you up and bounced. As we escaped, it tried to shoot me out of the air, but ended up hitting you. More specifically, it hit your horn," said Eda.
Luz looked down at King, she was wondering why his horns were like that, why one was broken off and other intact. King was still grappling with what Eda was telling him, his left hand unconsciously rising and touching at his broken horn.
"Against my better judgment, I took you home with me. I'd gotten you the collar, 'cause... well, that's what you do when you get a new pet. But then…I made a comment about you being a king, and then you spoke. Then I started telling you about what kings are. And that's how you got the idea you were some despotic overlord. You were a little sad for a time when I brought you back home with me, but after I told you all that stuff, I just let you believe that you were the 'King of Demons'. I know I should've told you sooner…Oh, but you were finally happy. So, I kept playing along with it."
King couldn't believe what he was hearing, it just could not be true. Cracks started to appear over his body, slowly spider webbing across King. "NO! Y-You're lying!"
Eda sighed as she reached into her hair and pulled out the broken off part of King's horn. "I'm not."
King looked at the piece of his horn skeptically, he carefully took hold of it, and the moment he did, his mind was flooded with images of the past. His "army", no more than the stone idols he himself had fashioned during his time in that tower. His "feasts" only consisted of bugs that he would hunt and eat. There no were minions, no servants, no grand thrones, nothing but him as a baby wandering around a broken tower, fitting, as his dreams were broken.
"My army…My feasts…My life…" King tossed the broken piece of his horn onto the ground, fearful and resentful of it. "No! Keep that thing away from me! It's messing with my head!"
Luz's heart was breaking as she saw King going through his existential crisis. This was what happened when you indulged in the fantasy too long, at some point, you get so far into it, that when reality finally hits, it shatters everything you thought was right with the world.
The Latina dropped to her knees in front of King and reached out to try and comfort him. "King, it's going to be alright, I promise. We'll get through this."
"NO! No…this…this is a trick, right?" King asked as he chuckled hysterically. "You're just messing with me, that's it! Ha-ha-ha, we had a good laugh at King's expense."
No one was laughing.
"No! No, no, no, no! No, no, no, no, no, no, no!" King was hyperventilating, panic gripped him as he cried out, "NO!" and ran off into the woods.
Luz shot to her feet and yelled out, "KIIIIIING!"