Raine didn't trust the other Coven heads, especially Terra. They had good reasons to doubt that the other Coven leaders wanted what was best for the Isles, and not just themselves.
That's why they decided to follow Ms. Snapdragon after the meeting was over. It didn't surprise them that she went to the ruins of the emperor's castle. Raine landed Fiddlesticks on the ground, and snuck over.
They hid behind a piece of the rubble as Terra began to investigate the still intact throne.
"What a shocker, she's also after the throne... Quite literally actually." Raine remarked mentally.
They were just about to use their purple scroll to send a message to Eda about it... When a vine wrapped around Raine's foot, and dragged them over to Terra. She sneered down at them.
"Did you honestly think I didn't see you following me, Raine?" Terra said, a vine wrapping around her hand and forming into a blade.
Raine began to struggle in the vine's grasp, as it slowly began to grow tighter with every movement they made.
"Shame too, you could have been useful during my rise to power." Terra remarked, keeping her sneer. "But alas-"
Suddenly, a blast of abomination goo hit her side; knocking her to the ground and loosening her vines' grip on Raine. They jumped up and quickly summoned a violin in their hands.
Before Terra could even get up, Raine used his bard magic to force her limbs to stay on the ground, making her unable to do anything. Raine then looked around to see who had saved their life, and spotted Darius approaching from behind them.
"You're welcome." Darius plainly said as he stopped in front of Raine.
"So, you were following me then?" Raine asked him.
"Well, I followed you while you followed Terra. So I like to think of it as close supervision." Darius claimed, making Raine roll their eyes.
"Of course." Raine then turned to look down at the still restrained and resisting Terra, "What should we do about her?"
"If she made an attempt to take the throne for herself, I see no reason why the other Coven leaders won't." Darius said.
"Maybe they'll surprise us-" Raine was cut off when Darius pushed him out of the way of a wave of toxic fumes.
Vitimir jumped out from behind a piece of rubble, and flung two potions from off his belt. One at Darius, the other at Raine.
Darius quickly turned his arm into goo, broke the potion mid-air, and coated Vitimir in goo that restrained him as well. Raine wasn't as lucky, and the potion hit their arm.
They recoiled into a nearby piece of rubble, and the arm the potion hit became congealed in a gray substance that stuck to the rubble like concrete.
"Yep, they certainly did surprise us." Darius remarked, deadpanning at Raine.
Suddenly, multiple illusion clones of Adrian appeared around them. Darius, thinking fast, detached his goo arm from the blob that now restrained Vitimir, and swung it at the clones.
The makeshift whip phased through the illusions, but one of them ducked. Adrian then held onto his earring, and Darius could feel his head begin to pound. He groaned in pain as he was brought to his knees.
"Aw, what's the matter Darius? Don't like what you see?" Adrian sneered.
Memories of Darius' past flew by as he clutched his head. There was a lot he regretted in life... And now it all was being replayed in his head, over and over with no way for him to ignore it.
Just before Darius was about to succumb to the mental pain, Eberwolf pounced onto Adrian's shoulder from off a piece of the castle ruin, biting into his shoulder. Adrian yelped in pain, before knocking Eberwolf off, knocking him into the air and over some nearby rubble.
But Darius had already taken advantage of the distracted Adrian, he tripped the illusionist to the ground, and coated him in abomination goo.
Darius took a couple deep breathes as he recovered from the pain in his head. Meanwhile, Raine finally broke free from the gray substance and rushed over to Darius.
"Are you okay?" Raine asked, helping him up.
"I just went through agonizing pain... I'm pretty far from 'okay'." Darius answered as he breathed heavily.
"I guess you were right... We need a leader.
"Just message Eda already." Darius told them, "I'm going to go see if Eberwolf is okay."
He rushed off to where he saw Eberwolf get thrown to, while Raine pulled out his purple scroll.
Vee followed Luz through the portal door, and found themselves back in the front lawn of the Owl House. It had been a very long time since Vee had been in the Demon Realm.
"Hey, was that arm always pointing up like that?" Vee asked, pointing at the dead Titan's arm.
"Nope. It was not." Hunter deadpanned.
"It's a long story, so when we-" Luz began, before being interrupted.
"Oh hey look! It's Ms. Eda!" Gus pointed out, looking away from the group
Luz turned and saw Eda approaching the house... Looking like she was ready to murder someone.
"Uh, should we be worried about that?" Vee asked, seeing Eda as well.
"...Maybe?" King remarked, unsure who her anger was directed at.
"Eda, you okay?" Luz asked.
As Eda walked past her without answering... And proceeded to slice a mark in the wood wall. She growled in irritation, "Fucking Coven leaders!"
"Huh, must have been a pretty annoying meeting if she's this mad." Gus reasoned.
"The meeting was annoying! Like, really annoying!" Eda remarked, "But that's not why I'm pissed!"
"Oh... They only served soft Apple Blood at the meeting, didn't they?" Willow guessed.
"NO! Raine got jumped by three of the Coven leaders! Turns out Terra and some of the others were trying to take the throne... Like, literally take the physical throne." Eda exclaimed. "If it hadn't been for Darius, and Titan do I not have much to thank that guy for these days... Raine would probably be dead right now!"
Luz and the others gasp. "We should have known the Coven leaders would try and pull something like this!" Amity exclaimed.
"Amity's right! Now that nobody's in charge, this will only get worse!" Willow agreed.
Luz knew the two were both right. People were gonna start killing each other to try and get more power! She knew that there had to be a leader instated to stop the Boiling Isles from going into full chaos... Again.
She internally sighed. God, everyone was so much easier back in the Summer... It was just her, Eda, and King-
Luz suddenly got an idea, as she looked at King... And then back to Eda.
"Actually, I think I might have an idea on what to call the new Coven." Luz smirked.
Later, everyone was gathered in Bonesborough's town square.
Luz, Eda, Lilith, and Raine were on a makeshift stage. Sitting behind a long table as they looked out into the crowd.
"Okay, so it's come to our attention that everyone is desperate for a leader and a government to follow." Luz started, as she shot a glare at the still goo-encased Terra, Vitimir, and Adrian.
They were being closely watched by Darius. Eberwolf was also nearby, rubbing his arm from the fall he had suffered.
"Which is why we've come up with a solution. The new Coven will not have just one leader, but a council of leaders!" Lilith continued.
"It shall be known... As the Titan Coven!" Raine declared.
The crowd murmured amongst themselves.
"Titan Coven? Why choose to name the new government after an ancient species?" Someone in the crowd asked.
"Glad you asked random citizen!" Eda said, "Because from this point onward, my son is now the figurehead for the new government!"
"Weh?! Say what now?!" King's eyes widened.
"Yep! King is the last Titan, and we technically live on his dad's corpse so he's like an extension of the Isles itself!" Luz added.
King was surprised, but he guessed it made sense. Being the last of his kind and also related to the being that the population of the Boiling Isles also happened to LIVE on did make him an icon of the Isles in a way.
"The council will be made up of the previous Coven leaders, each governing their own respective magic branches." Lilith explained.
"Excluding these three." Raine gestured toward the Coven leaders that had attempted to kill them, "Seeing as we do not have an intact prison as of now... They will be kept under probation, and be demoted from the council."
"Taking their places as members of the council will be Me, Eda, and Hootsifer." Lilith dictated.
Hooty appeared from behind Lilith. "Hoot-Hoot! I have a position of high power!"
"Anyone against this new system?" Luz asked the crowd, to which she got no negative response from.
"Wonderful! Then it's settled... The Titan Coven is now officially the leading faction of the Boiling Isles!" Raine declared.
The crowd cheered, and Luz smiled as she sighed in relief. That was one disaster avoided. Now that there was a new Coven system in place to keep the peace (That wasn't designed to weaken witches), the Isles could focus on what really mattered: Rebuilding.
But right now, all Luz wanted to do was relax for the rest of the day back at the Owl House. She walked off stage with the others, before facing Eda.
"So, you're not gonna let being in a position of power go to your head, right?" She asked.
"Oh no, it's gonna go to my head kid... BIG time." Eda smirked, "But hey, I'll only use it to score extra Apple Blood... Probably."
Luz chuckled, "I'll quote you on that." Luz smirked back.
With that, Eda turned into her harpy form, while Luz got onto Stringbean... And they took off toward the Owl House.
The crowd had finally dispersed to do their own things around the surprisingly still standing town. Darius was still on the stage with Eberwolf.
"You sure you're okay? Those illusion spells can do a number on your head..." Eberwolf asked Darius once again.
"For the last time, I'm fine." Darius replied, "That's the fifth time you've asked that since we were at the ruins."
"Excuse me for worrying." Eberwolf shrugged, rubbing his arm again.
Darius was interrupted from his conversation with Eberwolf, when someone patted his shoulder. He turned to see...
"Oh great... What are you doing here, Alador?" Darius groaned.
"I was hoping to catch Eda while she was still here... But apparently that moment has passed." Alador remarked, not even looking up as he tinkers with a part a robotic arm.
"Surprised you weren't here for the new Coven announcement. Your family used to be all about the leadership of the Isles." Darius remarked back.
"Odalia, was all about the leadership of the Isles... Only when it benefited her. Not me or my children." Alador corrected Darius.
Darius chose to ignore his correction, "So, tell me... What are you working on now that you're not designing weapons of war for the Emperor's Coven?"
"I didn't know about their true purpose when creating them!" Alador exclaimed, before sighing. "Right now I'm working on a new arm for Eda."
"Oh right, she is still missing that arm... She does have a nice hook now though." Darius said.
"Yes, it was a cheap replacement for her arm until I finish this." Alador remarked, "Speaking of which, I really should return to the work-"
"Oh come now, I'm sure your workshop will be fine without you in it for a couple hours. Let's go see what remains of Grimgrub's Pub." Darius put his arm around Alador's shoulders, and led him off the stage.
Darius and Alador soon walked off together, leaving Eberwolf on the stage alone.
He couldn't figure out what was causing his arm so much discomfort... Yet, something about it felt soothing in a way as well. Curious, Eberwolf tilted his arm slightly... And found a weird black mark.
It wasn't a scar, but it looked more like a pitch black paint had been spilled on his fur. Eberwolf hummed a bit curiously. He hadn't noticed it before... Not even when he had fallen in that weird patch of black vines coming out from that small crack in the earth he had landed near at the castle ruins.
Eberwolf shrugged. He figured it was just an exotic type of rash that would go away eventually, and walked off the stage to go catch up to Darius...
...He failed to notice a small vine slowly sprout out from the black mark on his arm as he walked.