The Angel of the Owl House

by OwlHouseAngel

Luz Noceda is a young half-angel girl living with her angel mother in the Human Realm. Her attempts to be good always backfire, and after one too many mistakes, her mother sends her to Camp Reality Check. But a chance event leaves Luz in the Demon Realm, where she meets the Owl Lady, who teaches her that in a chaotic world like the Boiling Isles, Luz might be the perfect angel.

33. EP 12: Eons Spent Elsewhen

The Angel of the Owl House

Season 2: The Human Realm

Chapter 12: Eons Spent Elsewhen

Four days passed following the end of the disastrous mission to the Knee and Titan Trapper Island, which ended in the theft of the Portal Door and Luz becoming trapped in the Demon Realm. Everyone in the CATTs had spent those four days in a rather dour mood; half out of sympathy for Luz, who'd fallen into a rotten depression, and half out of fear of Belos. They feared the Emperor now had everything he needed for the Day of Unity and could decide to attack them in Bonesborough any time he pleased, since he had no reason to hold back now that Luz couldn't escape to the Human Realm and he didn't know about Digale Island. However strangely enough, no attacks came; Eberwolf believed this was because the CATTs had grown stronger and the rebellion had been spreading across the Isles more and more, keeping Belos from having the overwhelming manpower he once had, but no one knew for sure.

Luz had spent three of those four days in bed, recovering from the Common Mold (and building quite the impressive mushroom crown). She had recovered completely now, but was still incredibly down in the dumps. She'd missed her first weekend trip home and couldn't even call her Mami to explain and apologise, which soured her mood further. However, she was determined not to become consumed by depression; Luz would find a way back to her Mami somehow!

A few other developments had occurred in the few days she'd spent in bed; Kikimora had been announced to the Isles as a traitor who tried to assassinate three Coven Officials and had since gone on the run, with Mason confirming that her mount Princess had been petrified while protecting her. Princess had since been relocated by Mason for "destruction", but was actually moved to Digale Island, where she remained encased in stone until they could decide what to do with her.

Lucy's true identity was also revealed to the entire Boiling Isles, being introduced in an island-wide broadcast as Belos adopted niece and an Angel from the same Crest Order as Luz. However, Luz's bounty was not rescinded or lowered like many of the CATTs thought it would be, meaning the EC was still after her with the same fervour as before.

Strangely though, King's identity had NOT been revealed by Belos, who seemed keen to keep that secret under his mask. The CATTs weren't sure why, especially since Eda and King had confessed that King was a Titan to a gathering of the CATTs on Digale Island the very day after they got back. Responses were… mixed and enthusiastic. King had nipped any worship in the bud by saying he didn't want it, nor did he want praise for things he hadn't done, and most people (namely the CATTs leaders, King's extended Owl Family, and the Hexsquad) had taken that to heart and were treating him with respect, but not worship. It was a bit like how they treated Luz, meaning King was becoming an honorary leader of the CATTs. Others were still keen to try and worship him and gain his favour, but his friends had become pretty good at keeping them from him and making sure they behaved themselves.

Speaking of the little Titan; King had been practicing with his glyph combos by adding the new earth glyph to his repertoire and making new combos. He'd also been attending a few sessions with the CATTs therapist, and while he didn't feel like therapy was really right for him, he did get to talk out some of his thoughts and feelings, which left the little Titan feeling better. He hadn't begun practicing with his wings yet though, wanting to save that for when his big sister was feeling better.

There was some other minor news too. Lilith successfully got a job at the Bonesborough Museum (the Owl Family and Lilith's friends had held a small party to celebrate), and the prison transfer mission Eda had gone on while the others went to the Knee had ended in success, which brought many grateful new allies to the CATTs. Lastly, Alador had further refined his signal towers (tall monoliths of golden metal and purple slime which occasionally groaned) and now only scrolls fitted with a small enchanted disk of his own design could make calls to places beyond the isles, finally allowing communication between Digale Island and the Boiling Isles. At Amity's request, he was now working on expanding it further, to other realms entirely. Lastly, there was a minor attempt to steal back the Portal by Eda, who tried to sneak into the Emperor's Castle, but her plan failed and she was forced to flee, as security at the castle had been massively increased.

Finally, as the first day of a new week came and went, Luz found herself walking home from school with Amity, Willow, and Gus whilst deep in thought. She'd been distracted most of the day, and her friends in the Hexsquad and Magic Mixers had mostly left her to it; letting her know that they were there for her if she needed them but would otherwise give her space. Luz had appreciated that, but Amity noticed she seemed less depressed and more determined. As they all stepped through the Teleportation Circle to Digale Island, Amity couldn't help but ask;

"Luz, are you alright? You've been deep in your own head all day. Are you sure you're feeling better?"

Luz looked to her girlfriend with a smile; "I am. Katya, Mom, and Tia Lily all examined me this morning and can confirm I'm in tip-top shape! I've just been thinking about stuff."

"Like getting back to the Human Realm?" Willow asked.

"Yeah. I spent enough time feeling miserable and sorry for myself, so now I want to get to work on actually solving the problem!" Luz replied.

"You're not thinking of raiding the castle for the portal door, are you?" Gus asked worriedly.

"No, that'd be too risky. Besides, now Belos could use the portal to escape to the Human Realm with the key, which would stop me getting it even if I was able to break in! I can't risk the CATTs on something like that."

"Then what's the plan?" Amity asked.

Luz smiled a little; "You'll see. But I need to talk to Mom and the other leaders first; this isn't something I can do without their help."

Amity, Willow, and Gus exchanged curious looks, wondering what Luz had in mind. They followed her to Digale HQ and headed straight to the meeting room, where they found Darius, Luna, Alador, Eda, Lilith, and Raine all waiting for the meeting to start, while King and Rasiel sat quietly in the corner, pouring over books. Luz noticed the books were on Primordial Wellsprings and Supreme Dragons; they were clearly looking into the site of the next Black Tomb, which rested with Cassiopeia's Heart and a third Supreme Dragon, accessible only through a Wellspring.

"Good afternoon, everyone!" Luz greeted as she walked in and took her seat between Eda and Raine.

"Hey Sparks. You seem chipper! First day back at school go well?" Raine asked.

"You know it! And I'm happy because I've got a plan!" Luz grinned.

The adults smirked; "Great! Seeing you down in the dumps these past few days has been kinda weird." Eda said, ruffling her daughter's hair. "But where are the rest of your buddies?"

"Skara's off with Boscha, helping set up an upcoming Grudgby match between Hexside and St. Epiderm, and Matt's taking some extra Construction Magic lessons from Mason." Luz explained. "What about you guys? Where's Eber?"

"Eber has work to do at her own coven." Darius replied; "But we had a meeting of the Coven Heads today, and we've got a bit of news."

Luz leaned forward in her seat as everyone waited for Darius to continue. "The meeting was a small one, but it did yield some useful information; firstly, Belos showed us the Portal Door and talked about how the Day of Unity was close at hand. It's only a few weeks away now… but interestingly, little Lucy is not enough to replace Luz in whatever ritual Belos has planned to unite the Demon and Divine Realms… if that is truly what Belos wants."

"So that's why the bounty on Luz wasn't reduced or removed; Belos still needs her! But why can't Lucy do whatever Belos needs Luz for?" Lilith asked.

"I asked him, and he insists that Lucy isn't powerful enough, nor does she have the Titan's power infused into her like Luz does." Darius answered; "Speaking of Titans, Belos also finally informed us Coven Heads about King, though I suspect he only did so because Osran was getting suspicious."

King turned away from the books; "So does that mean I've got people coming for me now?"

Darius shook his head; "Surprisingly, no. Belos ordered that we all keep it secret. He thinks that if the people of the Isles learn the truth about you, then they'll see it as proof that the Titan favours the CATTs and not him. He can't afford to look any weaker, so he has ordered us not to say anything. We were forced to take oaths not to speak of it to anyone who doesn't already know."

"Good thing we all know then." Alador mused.

"Indeed." Darius nodded; "Though I also got to see the Little Prince and Princess for the first time since their mission too. Belos has kept them out of the public eye since his big announcement about Lucy's identity, and I think I know why; Lucy appears to be weakening again. She looks pale and sickly, and I might be wrong, but she appeared to look guilty when the Portal Door was brought up."

"Serves her right!" Eda scoffed; "She only ascended because of Luz's blessings and the Titan magic from the Wellspring! But after betraying Luz when she was at her weakest, I bet Orion and Cassiopeia took their magic back from her!"

King nodded in agreement, while the others muttered darkly. Only Gus and Luz didn't; the former looked upset that the friend he'd made in the desert had gone on to hurt one of his best friends so badly, while Luz looked conflicted about the whole affair, as part of her still couldn't believe Lucy had done such an underhanded thing. Luz prided herself on being a decent judge of character, and she'd been completely blind-sided by the theft.

Strangely, Darius also looked conflicted; "Do not be so harsh on the Little Prince and Princess. Remember, they are mere children who genuinely believe their "Uncle" is a good man. They owe their lives to him; it will be difficult to convince them that he is evil."

Amity raised an eyebrow; "Aren't you normally the "Little Prince's" biggest critic? Why defend him and his sister?"

Darius sighed; "Because they are just foolish little children who don't know what they've gotten themselves into. The boy is… the replacement of my dear friend and mentor, the previous Golden Guard. Michael was a good man but he began to have doubts about Belos, and the next thing I knew he was gone, supposedly killed in action during that fake angel plot. Then a few years ago, Belos elevates his own nephew to his position… Seeing someone so devoted to Belos wearing my mentor's mask is infuriating."

Luz gasped softly; "The fake angel plot was what made Cassiel flee the Demon Realm! It feels like everything keeps coming back to her."

"I wouldn't be surprised. She touched a great many lives in the years she spent here. Eber's and mine included." Darius confessed.

Everyone looked at him with shock; "You knew Cassiel!?" Luz cried, "D-Do you know what happened to her!? Is she related to Lucy?"

Darius shook his head; "I don't know what happened and I don't think she's related to Lucy. It's not a story I like to tell, but the short version is that Cassiel was a dear friend of Eber and I when we attended Hexside. She was also friends with Vitimir, though I never knew how close they supposedly were. One day, she went with Michael, the previous Golden Guard, and another friend named Em, to meet the Emperor… the next thing we knew, Michael was dead and Belos claimed a fake Angel had tried to kill him. Cassiel came to see us one last time to say goodbye, but refused to tell us what happened with Belos. She said she didn't want to paint a target on our backs. Then she left the Demon Realm for good; that's all I know."

Luz stared at Darius with wide eyes; "A-And you're sure Lucy is unrelated to her?"

Darius nodded; "Cassiel left 15 years ago, and Lucy can't be older than 12 or 13. There's no way Cassiel came back either, so there's no way she'd have brought and then lost a daughter! Belos would have had to kill her to get a hold of her child, and trust me when I say that if Belos and Cassiel had fought, the entire realm would have known about it. Cassiel was fierce when it came to her loved ones."

"I see… so the fake angel report was likely to cover up that Cassiel was a real angel that wouldn't side with Belos… I've always wondered about that…" Luz muttered to herself. "Thank you for telling me this, Darius. And for the record, I think something strange is going on with Lucy; I just can't imagine her stealing from me while I was bleeding out!"

"Are you sure, Owlet?" Eda asked.

"I am." Luz nodded; "She's a fellow Angel from Crest Kindness, and even if Belos has twisted her to his side, I don't think she'd do something so cruel after I risked my life to save hers."

Rasiel piped up; "For what it's worth, there is something unusual about her. I've never heard of a red-eyed Angel, and it's an odd coincidence than a second angel from Crest Kindness would be born as a stunted Cherub. I think there's something going on with her that we don't yet understand."

The others began to mutter and discuss the situation; Luna and Lilith wondered if Lucy had been artificially created like the revived Basilisks. Willow wondered if she was actual a witch turned into an angel through a prototype version of the Day of Unity, which would allegedly turn them all into Angels by unifying their world with the Divine Realm. Gus felt that she was a real angel and Belos had hurt her somehow in her infancy to stunt her magic, and Amity and Alador both theorised that she might be some breed of Basilisk that was evolved with angelic magic, similar to Vee. The others had no theories, but Raine and Eda both suggested capturing her if possible, to ensure Belos didn't have a back up angel for his plans. King wanted good old fashioned revenge for the sorrow she'd caused his sister, and Luz simply wanted to get to the bottom of the growing pile of mysteries.

As they discussed their theories, Darius sighed and shook his head; "We're getting off topic. Luz, you said you had a plan?"

Luz snapped back to attention and nodded; "Oh right, my plan! Long story short, I want to create a brand new portal!"

That caught the others' attention and they all turned to listen to her. "This whole problem started because Belos couldn't get the original portal that Philip Wittebane created, so sent his people to get Titan Blood to make a new one! Well we've lost the portal now, but we have access to Titan Blood thanks to King! That means we can make a new portal ourselves!" Luz explained.

King nodded; "I'm happy to give my blood! But do you actually know how to make a Portal between Realms?"

"W-Well no. I was thinking of maybe adding your blood to some Harmonic Crystals and trying to make a kind of Teleportation Circle between the realms." Luz said, clearly unsure of herself.

Rasiel shook his head; "That could probably work, but you'd need to already be in the Human Realm to make the other side of the circle."

"Dang it, I forgot that step… Rasiel, the Divine Realm has portals to the Human Realm; do you know how to make one?" Luz asked.

The Ancient Seraphim closed his eyes for a moment, then grimaced; "I think I used to know… it feels like I know how to make one, but when I try to remember, it fades from my mind just like my personal memories. I guess my knowledge of portals is either connected to a deeply personal memory, or was intentionally removed so I couldn't escape this realm on my own."

"So we aren't getting any answers from you until we find the next Black Tomb, and only if it contains your memories…" Raine frowned, "How goes the search for that by the way?"

King groaned and flopped over; "Badly. We know we need to go through a Wellspring to find it and we've got a Wellspring to jump into now that the one on the Knee has woken up, but we've got no way of knowing where we'll pop out! Or even how to travel through them safely! We almost died last time!"

"We're currently looking through ancient tomes for clues on how to control where we emerge." Rasiel said, lifting a book Lilith had managed to smuggle them from her new job at the museum; "But we've had no luck."

"Aw farts!" Luz whined, putting her head on the table; "And the only person who knew about both portals and the Black Tombs was Philip Wittebane! But he was a human from 400 years ago! He's long gone and Belos destroyed his diary!"

Eda put a comforting hand on her daughter's back; "Hey now, don't lose hope so quickly! If some human could figure out how to make the portal, then all of us working together are bound to figure it out!"

"But he took years to make it!" Luz pointed out; "If only Belos hadn't destroyed his diary, we'd have had a cheat sheet on how to make it!"

The others looked at the dejected angel with sad eyes. Willow turned to Amity; "You work at the Bonesborough Library; is there any chance there are other copies of the diary in storage somewhere?"

Amity shook her head sadly; "It was a unique, hand-written item. Things like that wouldn't have normally been copied. Though it was also a historical relic… Lilith, is it possible that the museum would have a copy? Replicas of important historical items are on display there after all."

Now it was Lilith's turn to sadly shake her head; "I'm sorry, but I've already done a full inventory as part of my Assistant Curator position and no such item was found. I'm afraid the diary of a random human visitor wouldn't have been considered noteworthy enough for an exhibit, so no copy would have been made."

Raine sighed; "So the diary and its secrets are lost to time…"

"Time…" Gus repeated, his eyes suddenly widening; "That's it! Time! We can make a Time Machine!"

Everyone looked at him in confusion; "A Time Machine? What manner of device is that?" Luna asked.

"A human invention that lets people travel to and from both the ancient past and the far future! I read all about them in a book Eda sold me!" Gus grinned, reaching into his school bag and pulling out a copy of Cosmic Frontier, Book 1. The Demon Realm natives (plus Rasiel), all looked at the book with interest and Alador looked outright covetous, but Luz just groaned.

"Gus, that book is science fiction. Time Machines aren't real." Luz said, making Gus's face fall.

"Aw, really? I was sure that was the key! With a Time Machine, you could go back in time and meet Philip himself! Then he could teach you how to make a portal personally!" Gus sighed, "I'm sorry for getting everyone's hopes up."

Willow patted the boy's back, while Luz gave him an appreciative smile; her friend's heart was in the right place… and his idea wasn't totally without merit in a world of magic.

"Time Machines may not exist, but what about Time Magic? Are there spells for time travelling?" Luz asked.

"Of course not." Darius frowned; "Magic like that doesn't exist!"

Luz pouted, but Eda, Lilith, and Rasiel all raised their hands and said; "Well, actually…" at the same time, much to the delight of Luz and the surprise of the others.

"You know something!?" Luz asked excitedly, as she and the other kids looked eagerly at the adults.

"I do. Time Magic does exist; specifically the kind that can send people forward and back in time." Rasiel said; "In the Divine Realm, it is a hideously difficult form of Divination Magic. It allows one to detach their spirit from their corporeal flesh, sort of like I can do, and then use magic to send it forward or back in time via the power of Celestial Bodies. The Time Traveller becomes an intangible, imperceptible ghost in the time period of their choosing, allowing them to see, hear, and smell anything from that era. However they cannot touch anything nor can they be detected by anything, meaning they cannot meddle with past events."

Luz's eyes sparkled upon hearing that; "That sounds perfect! I could use that to travel back in time and watch Philip make the portal!"

Rasiel winced; "It would be perfect if you could do it. But like I said, it's both Divination Magic and EXTREMELY difficult to cast. You'd need an Angel to show you how to connect to the Celestial Bodies of the Universe like any other kind of Divination Magic, and then you'd need to perform a complex ritual. Even if you had another Angel nearby who could help you form the connection, you'd still have to cast the spell and I don't know how. I'm sorry."

Once again, Luz and her friends wilted in disappointment, while the adults looked more intrigued that such magic even existed. But then Luz looked to Eda and Lilith with eyes full of rapidly diminishing hope.

"What about you guys? You were gonna say something too, right?" she asked.

Eda nodded; "There is technically an old urban legend that Lily and I searched for when we were kids. Time Pools."

Alador and Darius scoffed, while Luna looked confused and Raine gasped; "Oh, I remember those old searches! That's a blast from the past!"

"What are Time Pools?" Amity asked.

Eda opened her mouth to answer, but Alador cut her off; "They're an old wives tale. Supposedly some amount of Titan Magic turns puddles into windows through time. But they aren't real."

The kids once again looked downcast, and Eda glared at Alador; "Hey now, they might exist! Even Lily was convinced they did, right?" she said, looking to her older sister.

To Alador's surprise, Lilith actually nodded; "Theoretically, it is possible. Rasiel confirmed time magic exists, and based on the theory on how Time Pools are formed, it could explain why physical matter was able to travel through time. You see, in the Premysteric Era, it was theorised that coagulated Titan Blood mixed with the magical algae of the Boiling Sea created temporary portals through time!"

Rasiel rubbed his chin; "A kind of algae is one of the components to the ritual used in Divination Magic, I'm sure of it. With the incredible power of a Titan mixed in, sending a person's body back in time with their spirit really could be possible!"

The CATTs began to get excited, though Alador and Darius remained sceptical; "Are you truly saying these Time Pools are real?" Darius crossed his arms.

"It's plausible." Rasiel nodded; "Titan Blood on its own can be used to make portals in space, so why could it not make portals in time too, given the proper conditions? Of course, I don't have the faintest idea of how to find or make one of these pools."

Lilith smiled; "Well, I actually might have a solution for that! Back when Eda was dragging me along on those searches-"

"You loved them! You had more fun than I did!" Eda interrupted with a smirk.

"Hush you. As I was saying, during those searches I was able to cobble together a device meant to detect the conditions needed to form a Time Pool! It worked in theory, but I never managed to find a power source that was both potent and stable enough." Lilith finished.

"Potent and stable, like say a Titan's Blood? Or an Arch-Angel's blessing?" Amity grinned, gesturing towards King and Luz. Both kids were practically vibrating with excitement.

"I'll donate my blood! I was already gonna give some for the portal, so I don't mind giving extra!" King volunteered immediately.

"And I can give a blessing! Though I'm not sure how it works with things and not people." Luz added.

"In that case, we can really do this! We can find a Time Pool!" Lilith beamed, getting excited herself. This would not only help her niece out massively, but if she could get a glimpse at the Deadwardian Era that Philip lived in, she could make an amazing exhibit for the museum! They'd be killing two birds with one stone!

"Let's get to it then! I've already lost one weekend visit to Mami and Vee; I don't want to lose another!" Luz declared.

The others nodded in agreement and they all swiftly came up with a plan. Luz, Eda, and Lilith would be the ones to go through to the past, while King, Rasiel, and Raine would help them find the pool and guard it while they were on the over side, making sure it didn't close. Darius would handle CATTs business in the meantime, while Alador had Amity assist him with his own projects. Willow and Gus would also remain behind, since the adults agreed that time travel was dangerous and not something most children should take part in, which they begrudgingly accepted. Instead, Gus would help Alador and Amity by using Illusions to create blueprints for their creations, and Willow would help Luna cultivate plants for their potion supplies. Once their plan was set, they all got to work.

Their first stop was the Digale Island Hospital, where the healers of the CATTs kept everyone healthy. Viney was volunteering there and helped one of the more experienced healers draw blood from King. They filled three vials with his azure blood, one of which was given to Luz and hidden in her satchel alongside her Palisman Egg, while another was given to Eda for safekeeping, before the last one was given to Lilith for her device.

The Time Pool locator turned out to be similar in appearance to a meteorological device; looking like the spinning devices used to measure wind speed, but it had a little glass ball on the bottom that contained the power source. A long cable then connected the spinning part to some kind of monitoring device, and as the wind of the Demon Realm blew through the device and made it spin, the cable would glow and the monitor would give readings that only Lilith really understood. Those first readings proved vital however, as not only did it give them a place to start searching and direction to look in, it also confirmed to Lilith that the Time Pools (or at least the conditions to make them) really did exist!

With the functioning locator in hand, Lilith led her family on quite the expedition through the isles. It turned into a hike that lasted two days, which they all started to consider like a family vacation (though Luz felt a little guilty that she was basically skipping school again after just one day back from being sick). It was a fun time despite this though; Raine taught Luz a bit more about her Ocarina and Bardic Magic whenever Eda was teaching King some more potions, and when Eda and Raine wanted some cuddling time while Rasiel was helping Lilith take readings from the locator, Luz would teach King how to fly with his little wings, while he in turn showed Luz some ways to use the earth glyph she'd recently discovered. Even Lilith (who was enjoying the expedition anyway) was drawn into more conventional fun by her sister and the kids, letting Rasiel and Raine take over the navigation so she could play too.

Finally on the dawn of the third day as they reached the coast of the Titan's Right Shoulder following a meandering trip up and down the Right Arm and Right Ribs, Lilith spotted something that caught her attention. Running up to a seemingly random tree, she slashed the trunk with a small scimitar she'd conjured, then took some of the cut bark and put it in a test tube connected to her locator. Her family watched her curiously, and the eldest Clawthorne giggled almost girlishly as the bark burned away and she got some fresh readings.

"Ha! Exactly what I thought! This is the bark of a Wrinkling Oak!" she declared.

Luz blinked and peered at the tree; it didn't look like the Wrinkling Oaks that Willow had shown her once; it looked too young!

"Are you sure, Tia Lily? It doesn't look wrinkly." she said.

Lilith smirked; "That's because something is keeping them locked in time! Chronomatic Magical Residue from the Time Pools can interfere in the ageing process of certain types of flora!"

"Care to repeat that in common, Sis?" Eda snarked.

"She's saying that magic from the Time Pools are keeping the trees from ageing properly." Raine explained in simple terms; "Which means they must be very close."

"Chronomatic Magical Residue breaks down extraordinarily fast. It cannot travel more than thirty paces from its source." Rasiel helpfully added, though Luz, King, and Eda just looked confused.

Lilith got more excited however and began pouring over her notes and the locator; "Residue of this density in these atmospheric conditions means we just need to account for the local plague patterns and the conversion from the old boiling units to the Empirical system… oh, and that quake in the 30s that shifted the Isles and disrupted algae growth… Accounting for all of that…"

She walked through the trees towards the edge of the forest; "… the Time Pools should be… here!"

Lilith pushed aside some foliage, then suddenly frowned. The others peeked passed her and saw that there was nothing there; Lilith had led them to a small cove that contained sand and the Boiling Sea, but nothing else of note.

"T-This isn't right!" Lilith cried, rushing out onto the beach with the others following behind her; "I triple-checked all my calculations! My equipment was refined and tested thoroughly!"

"Is there some kind of magical interference?" Raine asked as the others split up and began wandering the beach.

"I don't know! King's Titan Blood was fresh, so it can't be that! Maybe the algae isn't blooming right now? Are we too early or too late?" Lilith began to devolve into mutterings as she poured over her equipment and notes, while Rasiel stood beside her and double-checked them himself.

Meanwhile, King and Luz began to wander around the beach, both disappointed. Eda watched them as they began dejectedly kicking at the sand.

"Hey kids, don't let one failure get to you. The locator reacted, so the Time Pools have to be real! We just need to start the search again from scratch." she said, trying to keep their spirits up.

"But we wasted two whole days and got nothing for it!" King complained, "At this rate, it'd be faster to just train up the CATTs and then attack Belos at his castle and steal the old portal back!"

Luz opened her mouth to say that would be too dangerous, but her words became a cry of shock as King suddenly disappeared into the sand, having stomped into what appeared to be quicksand. Eda and Luz both cried out his name, and Luz rushed to the spot he sank into.

"Eda, tie a rope around me! I'm going after him!" Luz ordered, using wind magic to make an air bubble around her head. Eda immediately conjured a rope around Luz's waist and the young angel dove into the "quicksand".

To Luz's shock, it didn't feel like sand at all; it felt like regular water and gave her a bizarre sense of vertigo as she leapt through it, almost as if the entire world was flipping upside down. She suddenly emerged to find herself once again on the beach, but this time it was dark and her surroundings were completely different. The Titan Earth around her still looked like rotting flesh, with pustules of Titan Blood rising up out of the ground, and some kind of erupting volcano in the distance. Luz gasped at the sight of it, then heard a familiar scream of "WEH!"

She turned and saw King running for his life away from a large, dinosaur-like Demon. It had clawed forepaws and hooves on its rear legs, and large spikes running down it's back. It's face was almost beak-like, and it had massive ears! Luz recognised it from her beast-keeping classes; it was a Stonesleeper! An ancient form of Demon that has barely changed since prehistoric times, sort of like Human Realm Crocodiles. They were rare in modern times, but they were still known to exist in the wilder parts of the world.

"King! Over here!" Luz cried out.

King saw her and immediately ran towards her, his wings still too small to fly as fast as his legs could carry him. He jumped right into Luz's arms, with the Stonesleeper hot on his trail, but Luz blinded it with a sudden flash of light and then dove back into the pool she'd emerged from. She and King went screaming back to the present, where Eda caught them both easily.

"Kids! Are you okay!? What happened!?" Eda asked urgently as the others rushed over to check on them.

King was too busy catching his breath, but Luz answered with a broad grin; "Lilith did it! We found the Time Pools!"

The others gasped, and one by one they stuck their heads into the pool the kids had gone into. When Lilith pulled her head out again, she beamed; "A Stonesleeper from the Hecktaceous Period! I did it! I really did find the Time Pools! No wonder we couldn't find them before; they're completely invisible from the surface!"

"This is the discovery of a life time! Genuine portals through time!" Raine gasped excitedly; "Who knows what we could discover with this!"

"A great deal, I imagine." Rasiel smiled; "Now we just need to find one that leads to the Deadwardian Era."

"Alright, split up everyone! And start sticking your head in weird time holes!" King declared, before grabbing a stick from the nearby forest and using it to try and find more Time Pools. The others followed his lead and they all began searching for the correct Time Pool. Every time they found a hole, they'd stick their heads inside it to see what was on the other side, and upon seeing it wasn't the correct time period, they'd stab their stick next to the pool then go off to find another stick and another pool.

It took about an hour, but Eda eventually found herself looking at a version of Bonesborough from 400 years ago! She recognised the Deadwardian architecture from the exhibit dioramas that Lilith had been eagerly showing her in recent days, so returned to the others with a triumphant grin.

"Got it! I found that Wittebane guy's era! We should be good to go!" Eda declared proudly.

The others grinned and came over, each sticking their heads through the pool to confirm. "Great work, Mom! Next stop, 400 years ago!"

"This will be a truly unprecedented exploration! But we mustn't all jump in willy-nilly. If the tide comes in, we could be trapped! There's also the possibility of paradoxes and the bloody fly effect… and if the algae dries out too fast, the pool could close! We must take precautions!" Lilith declared.

"What sort of precautions?" Raine asked.

"Well first, and I hate to say this, but King should remain on this side of the pool. If the pools start to close and dry up, we'll need him to apply more Titan Blood to the algae to keep them open." Lilith explained.

King pouted for a moment, but ultimately agreed; "Fine… seeing a bunch of old stuff isn't worth getting trapped in the past. I'll hang out here and make sure the pool stays open."

"Thanks buddy." Luz said, scooping him up and kissing his skull while tickling his belly, much to King's pleasure.

"I will remain too. Without magic, I may end up being a liability in such a supposedly savage era. Which reminds me; Luz, be sure to keep your angelic nature a secret! This is before Belos convinced the Isles that Angels were good, so you might end up being hunted if the truth is discovered!" Rasiel warned.

Luz gulped and hid her wings, something she hadn't done in quite a while. She also fished out her old concealment stone to turn her hair brown. "Alright, one ordinary witchling coming right up!"

Rasiel nodded approvingly, then added; "If you absolutely must reveal yourself, then don't let anyone know just how powerful you actually are. Remember; an Angel would be hunted, but an Arch-Angel would have the entire Isles aiming for their head!"

"R-Right, good point. I think I'll try and leave any fighting to Mom and Tia Lily." Luz said nervously.

Eda then turned to Raine; "You coming too, Raine Storm?"

They shook their head; "No, I'll stay behind with King and Rasiel. A human from that era probably wouldn't be very accepting of someone like me, and I'd hate to make him unwilling to help Luz with her portal."

The others all scowled, but Luz sadly couldn't deny Raine was correct. Modern Humans were barely starting to accept people like Raine; one from 400 years ago would likely not even understand what Raine was!

Putting that aside, it was decided that Luz, Eda, and Lilith would travel to the past while Raine, Rasiel, and King would remain in the present and make sure the Time Pools stayed open. It was still only a little ways past Dawn, so they had most of the day before the tides started coming in; plenty of time, but they wanted to avoid wasting it where possible.

The two groups said their goodbyes to one another, then one by one, Luz, Eda, and Lilith leapt into the Time Pool and re-emerged on the Titan's Right Shoulder back in the Deadwardian Era. They looked South-West towards Bonesborough in the distance and smiled at the sight of the old town. It was a lot smaller than the Bonesborough they all knew, and the architecture was quite different, as it had been knocked down and rebuilt countless times between now and the future they'd come from.

Luz gasped in delight; "It's like a Babyborough!"

"This probably isn't long after the town was first founded! We need to be careful; remember that this is the Savage Ages! People here are likely uncivilised and dangerous!" Lilith warned.

Luz suddenly looked apprehensive, but Eda scoffed; "Yeah right. Don't forget that Belos is the one to spout all that junk about the Savage Ages! I bet it was just more lies to turn people against Wild Magic!"

Lilith opened her mouth to retort, but stopped herself. Honestly, Eda had a good point… "Well, only one way to find out! Onward!"

The trio made there way towards Bonesborough, flying with Owlbert and Corvanc. As they flew, Eda briefly disappeared and returned a few minutes later with a stolen washing line full of clothes for them to use to make disguises, since their clothing was pretty different from the styles of the Deadwardian Era. Eda kept her red dress but added a long travel cape and hood to hide her distinctive hair, while Lilith covered her head with a scarf and a straw hat. Luz, whose clothes were the most outlandish, being her favourite human outfit, ducked behind a tree to change completely. She re-emerged in a simple cream coloured dress with lilac accents, which made her look a lot like a young maiden from a renaissance fair.

"I always wanted to cosplay like this at one of those events!" Luz commented as she wove some enchantments into the dress so her wings could pop out if she needed them. "Glad they had something in my size, but we'll have to be sure to return them later!"

Eda smirked; "Yeah yeah. Now let's find that human!"

Now disguised, they headed into Bonesborough proper and began to look around. Aside from the old-fashioned architecture and clothing everyone wore, it wasn't too different from the Bonesborough they were all used to. The people were actually very friendly and to the delight of both Luz and Eda, everyone was freely casting magic unhampered by sigils or restraints. Every type of magic was on display and no one seemed bothered by others mixing magic! Eda loved it, and Luz was especially glad to see everyone helping one another so openly! It was almost idyllic, and Lilith was sure to document everything she saw in her little notebook, while Corvanc sat on her shoulder and cawed occasionally to draw Lilith's attention to something interesting nearby.

They continued to explore the town for about half an hour, but saw no signs of a human. As such, Luz finally decided to bite the bullet and start asking people directly. The first few people she spoke to just shook their heads and claimed not to know anything about any humans, much to Luz's disappointment, but then she approached a man leaning beside a noticeboard, who'd been watching her curiously for the last few minutes.

"Excuse me, but I don't suppose you'd know anything about a Human that frequents these parts? He'd have round ears and no magic of his own, and probably wearing strange clothes? Goes by the name of Philip Wittebane?" Luz asked.

The man, who appeared to be from the same species as Warden Wrath, chuckled at her; "You're a bit too small and soft looking to be a Bounty Hunter. Does your Mommy know you're chasing some extra snails?" he asked mockingly.

"Bounty? Philip is wanted!?" Luz exclaimed.

Hearing her daughter's shout, Eda walked over and eyed the man coldly; "Everything okay, Luz?"

"Mom! This guy knows something about Philip!" Luz explained, making the man blink in surprise.

"Huh, so your Mommy does know. You really gonna let your kid go after that Human?" the man asked.

"Of course. But we didn't know he was a criminal." Eda frowned, exchanging looks with Luz.

The man scoffed; "Don't rightly know if he's a criminal. The bounty was put up by Red Fang and Green Fang. Apparently their brother went on an expedition with the Human and never returned, so they've put up bounties all over the place."

Eda smirked; "Interesting. Think you can give us a tip? We'll cut you in on any rewards!" she lied.

"Not a chance! I'm not getting mixed up with those two thugs! Plus there are rumours that they're working for the Bloody Buzzard! Ain't no one in Bonesborough gonna mess with the Buzzard! You should take your kid and forget all about the human! He'll be dead soon anyway." the Demon scowled.

Eda frowned; she'd never heard of any Bloody Buzzard, and she was pretty well-versed in the criminal history of Bonesborough. She'd styled her Owl Lady persona on some of the most well-known ones after all, to help keep her safe via fear while she was just getting started surviving on her own. Seeing as the Demon wasn't willing to be cooperative, Luz opened her satchel and pulled out the small bag of snails she always kept on her. She reached in and grabbed ten snails and offered them to the Demon.

"I'll give you these if you can point is in the right direction. We won't get involved with this Buzzard person, and if we run afoul of them, they'll never know you helped us. I promise." she offered.

The man scowled at her, but saw the snails and eyed them covetously. After a moment of thought, he sighed and nodded.

"Fine, but you didn't hear this from me! Rumour has it that the Buzzard stole something from the Human and so he's gone to the Knee. The rumours say he's after Titan Blood from Eclipse Lake, to use as a weapon against the Buzzard."

Luz and Eda grinned at one another; if Philip was at Eclipse Lake, then they knew just where to find him! Luz even knew a way in from the air thanks to her recent trip there!

"Thanks so much for the help! Here's your payment, plus a little extra." Luz beamed, handing the Demon 15 snails. She then looked to her Mom and said; "Let's go find Tia Lily!"

Eda nodded and the two raced off, leaving the bewildered demon to examine the snails he'd been given. They certainly looked real, though the design was slightly different than he was used to. Still, he was pleased with the reward and shouted after Luz; "Be careful Kid! Red Fang and Green Fang already have a head start! They won't make it easy for you!"

Luz waved and shouted her thanks, then continued to follow Eda in search of Lilith. They soon found her making some unusually detailed notes about the particular design of a cobblestone road, and filled her in on Philip's location. With a destination in mind, they immediately hopped onto Owlbert and Corvanc and flew out of town, heading south towards the Knee. As they flew, Luz asked Lilith if she knew anything about this "Bloody Buzzard", being the historian of the trio, but Lilith was clueless.

"I'm fairly well-versed in the history of Bonesborough; I once wrote an entire almanac of famous figures from the founding of the town to the modern day, but I never heard anything about a Bloody Buzzard… Come to think of it, I never heard of Philip Wittebane either. There were rumours of a human settling in the town, but nothing I found out about him painted him as historically significant." Lilith explained.

Luz hummed; "How strange! You'd think Philip and the Buzzard would be bigger news, considering one made a portal and the other is so terrifying!"

"Maybe they're terrifying enough that no one wanted to make records on them?" Eda suggested.

Luz wasn't so sure; something about this Buzzard situation was twigging something in her mind. Why would this person want to put a bounty on Philip? What trouble could a human cause for witches and demons?

Putting that thought aside for when they found Philip, the trio soon arrived at the Knee. With help from Luz's wind magic, they were able to fly directly through the fierce winds that usually kept people from easily flying to the Knee and forced them to take the foot path, and landed near the ruins of Caplacier, where Eda's sharp eyes had spotted a plume of smoke. Upon landing, they found the remains of a camp fire, and a spot where two large people had slept.

"So one's been here recently." Luz muttered as she cast a Beast-Keeping spell on herself, allowing her to scan the ground for hidden tracks. It was a fairly clear day, but there was a brisk wind that disturbed the surface of the snow and hid any tracks from conventional vision. After examining the ground for a moment, Luz frowned.

"The tracks leading from the camp aren't human or witch; they belong to a pair of Biped Demons." she commented.

Eda scowled; "If I was a betting woman, and I am, I'd wager those tracks belong to Red Fang and Green Fang. That guy in town did say those two were ahead of us."

Luz nodded and followed the tracks with her eyes; "These tracks head towards the mines that lead to Eclipse Lake."

"Which means we're behind. Luz, can you guide us to the cave skylight above the lake?" Lilith asked.

"I can. We should hurry; I'm seeing other tracks too… the Bounty Hunters ruined them so I can't identify them properly, but they look like they belong to something big!" Luz said, eyeing the tracks nervously.

The Clawthorne Sisters nodded and once again got back on their staves and began flying over the mines. Luz didn't know the exact spot that Eclipse Lake could be found, but she did remember where they entered the mines and the path they'd taken to reach the lake, so she was able to lead them in the rough direction needed while also using another Beast-Keeping spell to enhance her sense of smell, allowing her to sniff out the Titan Blood that supposedly filled the lake. After a few minutes of sniffing and flying, Luz gasped and pointed in the right direction, revealing a hole in the mountain below. They flew close to the hole and suddenly heard a man's scream, followed by the sound of an explosion and the roar of a beast.

"Uh oh! That big thing must have found Philip first!" Luz cried.

"Then let's rescue him! That'll be a good way to convince him to help us!" Eda smirked.

They flew through the hole into the cavern of Eclipse Lake and immediately saw a human being assaulted by a rather large and angry Slitherbeast. The human, undoubtedly Philip Wittebane, was a rather skinny fellow with a pointed nose, blue eyes, and very long, shaggy brown hair with a matching beard, the former of which was tied into a rough ponytail. His clothing was English style attire consisting of a gray waistcoat beneath a long navy overcoat with a white cravat, as well as brown britches, white socks, and old fashioned black shoes with golden buckles. He also carried a messenger bag and wore dull off-white gloves over his hands. He looked worn and haggard, and there were scratches and cuts all over him, including a few that looked fairly old, which combined with the dirt on his clothes made it clear he'd had a rough time of it.

The Slitherbeast roared and lunged at him, and Philip once again shrieked and leapt back. He ended up hitting his back against the wall of the cavern, cornering himself.

"B-Back! Back you Devil!" he demanded, fumbling for something in his pocket.

"Don't worry sir, we'll help you!" Luz yelled as she swooped in on the back of her Mom's staff. She leapt off the staff and landed on top of the Slitherbeast's head, then conjured her Ocarina and began to channel Bardic and Beast-Keeping Magic to perform a calming song. The Slitherbeast's eyes glowed red and gold under the effects of the song and it began to calm down, its roars becoming quieter and its thrashing becoming less intense.

Luz smiled and stopped playing, then stooped to rub the beast's head and whisper some comforting words. Unfortunately, Philip was still spooked by the beast and hadn't stopped rummaging through his pockets, eventually finding what he was looking for. He pulled out a slip of parchment with the familiar glyph of fire drawn on it, and pointed it at the Slitherbeast. The parchment erupted into a fireball and was blasted at the Slitherbeast, burning the side of its face and causing it to rear back in pain and rage, knocking Luz off its head.

"Luz!" Eda cried, flying to catch her adoptive daughter. She caught the girl before she hit the ground, then turned to glare furiously at Philip, who was using the opportunity to flee for the entrance to the cavern. "Idiot! She'd calmed the beast down and now you've ticked it off again!"

"Yes yes, terribly sorry." Philip yelled, sounding very unapologetic; "Since you've decided to so gallantly rescue me, I don't suppose you'd mind finishing it off while I make my escape?"

Eda growled and cast a spell at Philip. It shot over his head and hit the cavern entrance he was running for, causing a part of it to crumble down and block the exit with rubble. Philip turned to glare at Eda, who smirked at him coldly; "Oh no you don't! You don't get to land us in a heap of trouble and then run for it!"

Before Philip could retort, the Slitherbeast began running for him. After the human's attack had ignited its fur, the Slitherbeast had briefly jumped into Eclipse Lake (which was filled by about two feet of blue Titan Blood) and used the liquid to douse the flames. Now it's white fur was stained blue, and its maw was drooling with the desire to eat the man that had angered it. It leapt at him with its fangs and teeth bared, and Philip let out a shriek as he dove out of the way, dropping a plant glyph as he went and causing a tree to burst from the ground and hit the Slitherbeast in the stomach, launching it into the air. It happened to be launched in Eda's direction, but Lilith protected her by blasting the Slitherbeast with a beam of silvery blue magic, causing the beast to hit the wall of the cavern and flop to the ground with a groan.

Slowly, the Slitherbeast stood and shook itself, then began running at Philip again. The man tried to run around the lake, but tripped on a stone and hit the ground with a yelp, leaving him helpless. The Slitherbeast raised its claw to rip him open, but Luz got to him first.

"Oh no you don't!" she cried, shooting a light beam at the Slitherbeast. It hit the beast's claw and made it recoil with a growl of pain and turn to look at Luz, who then began playing a new song on her ocarina. This time she began playing a sleeping song to lull the Slitherbeast into a deep and restful slumber. Seeing the beast begin to doze off, Philip reached into his pocket for another glyph, but Lilith suddenly landed beside him and grabbed his arm, glaring at him fiercely.

"Don't even think about it!" she hissed quietly.

"You don't mean to slay the beast?" Philip scowled.

"Of course not! This is its territory! We can't just go marching into another's home and killing them when they get upset!" Lilith scolded.

Philip actually scoffed at that, but made no attempts to attack the now sleeping Slitherbeast. Instead he just watched as Luz made sure the beast was totally asleep, before she began using healing magic on its burns.

"Now you're healing it!?" he exclaimed.

Eda walked over and put a hand over his mouth before he could wake the beast, while Luz said; "Slitherbeasts only attack if someone else hurts them first or goes into their territory; if we leave and heal its injuries, it won't come looking for us again. If we just left it, it would wake up angry and hunt down whoever hurt it… namely you."

Philip gulped; "Ah… well, carry on then." he said awkwardly.

Eda and Lilith both glared at him, but Luz just smiled politely and continued her work. Once the Slitherbeast was fully healed, Luz hummed another quick Bardic tune to reinforce the sleeping spell she'd cast, then tiptoed away from it and signalled that it was time to leave. Eda, putting her hand back over Philip's mouth again, shoved him onto Owlbert's staff and then took off through the cavern roof, while Luz hopped on Corvanc with Lilith and followed her out. They quickly flew back to the abandoned campsite, where Eda finally dumped Philip down in the snow.

"Right, that's one pasty nerd saved! Now you owe us." Eda said coldly, crossing her arms as Philip spluttered and wiped the snow from his face. She was still mad that Philip's stupid glyph attack almost got Luz hurt!

"Honestly, must you all be so barbarous!" Philip growled, getting to his feet; "I had all that quite under control before you showed up!"

"Sure you did." Eda muttered darkly as Luz hurried forward.

"Mom, be nice!" she hissed, before giving Philip a warm smile; "I'm sorry about that! Mom gets a little cranky sometimes. You're Philip Wittebane right? The Human?"

"Ah, so you've heard of me? Have you come all this way to gawk? Or are you perhaps after that evil monster's bounty on my head!?" Philip demanded, suddenly pulling out another fire glyph and brandishing a fireball. "You'll find I am not without defences even if I don't have your magic!" he spat venomously.

Eda and Lilith both readied their staves, but Luz got between then and Philip whilst raising her hands in surrender.

"No! We didn't come to gawk or turn you in for a bounty! We need your help!" Luz cried.

Philip raised an eyebrow; "And what could you Witches possibly need my help with? Can't you just magic up whatever solutions you need?"

Luz shook her head; "We need something only you can do! We need to know how to make a portal!"

That certainly got Philip's attention. His pale blue eyes grew wide for a moment, before they narrowed on Luz. There was something cold in those eyes that made Luz shiver, which only got worse when Philip spoke.

"No." he said frostily, before turning on his heel and walking away. Luz was stunned, and Lilith was equally shocked by the sudden dismissal. Eda was angry however, and stalked forward to grab the man by his coat and drag him back.

She spun him around and went to grab his collar, but Philip pointed his fireball at her in retaliation. The two glared at one another hatefully, before Eda snarled; "Hey, we just saved your life! You owe us!"

"I already said I had it handled, so I owe you nothing! Now let me go!" Philip demanded.

"Not until you help us!" Eda growled stubbornly, golden magic began to form around her staff.

For a moment, it looked like Eda and Philip were really going to come to blows, but Luz hurried forward and used the light glyph to create a bright flash, making both of them stagger back. She then used ice magic to snuff out Philip's fireball while also using plant magic to grab Owlbert with a vine and yank him from Eda's grasp. By the time both of them rubbed the spots out of their vision, Luz was glaring at them both, Owlbert on her shoulder.

"That's enough! There's no point in fighting!" she yelled to them both. Luz then turned to Eda; "Mom, I know you're mad and trying to help, but threatening him isn't going to get us anywhere!"

Eda scowled and crossed her arms petulantly, while Lilith gave her an unimpressed look. Luz then turned to Philip and bowed her head; "I'm sorry about that. Mom was just trying to help me get back to my original home. You see, I was actually born in the Human Realm like you and our own portal was recently stolen." she said honestly.

Philip blinked; "You are from the Human Realm!?"

"Yes! My Papi was a human! I only came to the Demon Realm in the last few months, but now I've lost my way back! I was hoping you could help me make a new portal." Luz explained.

The human stroked his beard for a moment, and there was something about the gleam in his eyes that made Luz nervous. She got the distinct impression that he really didn't like her…

"And why should I care about any of this?" Philip eventually asked; "Why should I help a witch get back to the Human Realm? You're where you belong now, aren't you?"

Luz bit her lip; how could she explain herself without lying or revealing she was an angel!? In the end, she decided to side step the issue altogether by simply pleading with Philip.

"Please, I'll do anything for your help! There must be something you want that I can help you with!" she implored.

Philip groaned; "You're going to make this annoying, aren't you? Fine, I'll consider it… but you'll need to do some work for me! You can start by warming me up; I came here in a hurry and didn't have time to grab proper furs, so I'm practically frozen and my fire glyphs aren't exactly fit for minor warmth."

Eda and Lilith both glared, but Luz took this as an opening and smiled; "Of course! And you'd be surprised! Fire glyphs can do more than just start fires! Fire is the element of warmth, so if you know how to use it…"

Luz conjured a fire glyph in the air and made it radiate heat towards Philip, making him sigh with relief even as his eyes grew wide at her magic.

"… then you'll be amazed by what you can do!"

Philip took a step towards Luz; "Astounding! I thought I was the only one who used Picto-Glyphs!"

"There aren't many of us who use them. My little brother and I are the only other people who can use them like this! We've tried teaching others, and they can sort of do it, but they don't have the natural ability like we do. Almost all my magic revolves around them!" Luz explained with a big smile.

That made Philip hum and begin stroking his chin; "Come to think of it… I heard legends that the Titan of this Boiling Isles possessed the power of Plants, Ice, Fire, and Light… Over the years I have spent here, I've found glyphs of the first three, but not Light. I can't help but notice that you used a few light spells; does that mean you have the light glyph?"

Luz nodded and raised her hand, conjuring an image of the light glyph; "I found them all within a few months, but they were tough. I had to fight an Ice Wyrm to get one of them! That was my first trip to the Knee!"

Philip only half-listened to her recounting the battle with Zara as he pulled out his diary and began drawing the light glyph on one of its unused pages, before activating it and created a ball of light. He smiled upon seeing it, then looked back to Luz with a nod of actual appreciation; "A warrior and a scholar. Truly impressive."

Luz beamed; she couldn't believe she'd taught Philip something new! Considering his diary had been a huge help to her in the future, it felt a little like she was repaying a debt.

As Philip continued to practice drawing and activated light glyphs, making sure he had the pattern memorised, Luz, Eda, and Lilith watched him with varying levels of curiosity and impatience. Eda looked like she wanted to say something, but was staying quiet since Luz looked like she was handling the situation better than she could, but the woman was getting annoyed with Philip's attitude. Eventually she cleared her throat to get his attention, and he turned back to her.

"Ah, right. I suppose since you did help warm me and taught me the glyph I was missing, I could potentially consider offering my help." Philip said casually.

"Potentially? Quit jerking us around!" Eda growled.

"Edalyn, that's enough!" Lilith hissed, "Let Luz handle this! Remember, this is for her!"

Eda growled under her breath, while Philip raised an eyebrow; "Edalyn, is it? At least I finally know one of your names. You know, it's quite rude to come to me demanding my assistance and then not even bothering to introduce yourselves."

Eda looked ready to punch him out of anger, but Luz once again stood between them. "I'm terribly sorry, Philip. My name is Luz Noceda." she said, omitting Clawthorne since it was the name of a semi-famous clan that existed for centuries, and there was a chance Philip would recognise it. "You obviously know my Mom's name now, and this is Lilith, or as I call her, my Cool Tia Lily!" she finished, gesturing to Lilith, who beamed at the extra adjective added to her name.

"Luz, Edalyn, and Lilith. I'll be sure to remember them." Philip smiled smugly, "Now remind me what it is you wanted again?"

"Help to make a portal. We know you're working to make one and were hoping to see your notes or get some advice from you to reconstruct the one we lost." Luz explained.

Philip briefly turned his back on the ladies and continued to stroke his beard. He was muttering something that Eda and Lilith couldn't make out, but Luz could just barely hear a few words.

"… coincidence… never said anything about others… knows the glyphs though… Titan Blood…? …could be useful… Bloody Buzzard…! … get it back… Caleb!"

Luz blinked; so Philip was aware of the Buzzard too. But who was Caleb? Was that the name of the Buzzard?

Philip eventually stopped his muttering and turned back to face them; "Considering the help you've offered, I would normally be happy to assist you. However I'm afraid I won't be able to."

"What? Why!?" Lilith cried.

"Please Philip, you're my only hope!" Luz implored, reaching out and grabbing one of his hands between both of hers.

Philip's lip briefly curled into a sneer, before his forced his expression into a more pleasant one; "The truth is, I completed my portal over a year ago. Unfortunately, it and the notes I wrote on creating it have been stolen by an evil witch, who has been trying to kill me for years now." Philip explained.

Luz gasped; "The portal was stolen from you!? Was it by those guys who are chasing you? Red Fang and Green Fang? Or was it the Bloody Buzzard!?"

Philip looked surprised by her knowledge; "It was in fact the Buzzard. I'm surprised you know of that degenerate! But yes, the Bloody Buzzard stole the portal in our last encounter to stop me getting home, and while I have tried to reconstruct a new one, it requires difficult magic that I was barely able to pull off the first time. Plus the sparse notes I wrote in my diary weren't detailed enough to create a proper portal; only the half-formed shell of one. I need the notes that evil creature stole to complete it!"

As annoying as that news was to the trio from the future, it was also a small relief. It meant that even if the diary hadn't been destroyed, they likely wouldn't have been able to use it to make a complete portal! Not unless Philip had retrieved his notes and put them in the diary before he donated it!

"If this Buzzard stole the portal and the notes, we can help you get it back! My family and I are pretty strong, so I bet we can beat the Buzzard!" Luz grinned, "Then I can make a copy of your notes and you can take back the originals and the portal! Everybody wins!"

"You really think the three of you can help me defeat the Bloody Buzzard?" Philip asked.

Eda marched forward and put an arm around Luz's shoulder with a grin; "You can bet on it! Lily and I can kick butt better than any buzzard, and as hard as it is to believe, this little pipsqueak is actually a lot stronger than us!"

"Mom! That's not true!" Luz argued bashfully.

"Of course it is! With all those glyphs of yours, you're way stronger than us now. If we didn't have the experience advantage, you'd blow us out of the water!" Eda said unashamedly. She was laying it on a little thick, but she knew Luz had been having confidence and depression issues since losing the portal, so she was being a good Mom and boosting her up.

"Edalyn is correct; you are a lot more powerful than the average witch. I'm sure the three of us, along with Philip, can defeat the buzzard and get back his portal." Lilith agreed.

Luz blushed at the compliments, while Philip rolled his eyes; "Yes yes, I'm sure you're all quite talented. I'm not exactly tripping over people seeking my fellowship, so I'm in no place to be picky. If you really help me get my portal and notes back, and put an end to that evil witch, then I'll let you make copies of my notes."

Philip stepped forward and offered his gloved hand to Luz; "Do we have an accord, Luz Noceda?"

Luz happily took his hand and shook it; "We do, Philip Wittebane! Now we should get out of here; we're pretty sure those bounty hunters are here somewhere."

"Good idea; the Buzzard is based in Bonesborough, so let us return there immediately. I don't suppose your "Tia" would be willing to offer me a ride?" Philip asked.

Lilith nodded and got on Corvanc, leaving more than enough room for Philip behind her, while Luz climbed on Owlbert with Eda. Eda smirked at Philip and said; "What, don't want to ride with me?" she asked mockingly.

Philip glowered at her; "I doubt I'd arrive safely by flying with you."

That got a cackle from Eda, and the party took to the air and began flying from the Knee to Bonesborough. It was a fairly short flight, but as they flew, Philip looked over his shoulder and paled, then whispered into Lilith's ear.

"I don't mean to alarm you, but our departure from the Knee has not gone unnoticed! We are being followed!"

Lilith scowled and conjured a mirror, pretending to use it to look at her own reflection whilst actually using it to peek behind her. Sure enough, two hooded figures riding staves were flying after them, keeping to the clouds as much as possible to avoid being seen. Frowning, Lilith flew closer to Eda and Luz to fill them in on the situation.

"That has to be Red Fang and Green Fang!" Luz said urgently; "If they see us working together with Philip, they'll attack right away! They could also warn the Buzzard!"

Eda nodded; "Let's land outside of town and deal with them. If they follow us all the way to the Buzzard, we'll have to deal with three opponents. Four vs three is still in our favour, but it's always smart to make things easier for ourselves!"

Luz and Lilith both agreed, so Eda led them over Bonesborough towards the clearing in which the Owl House would one day be built. Eda had told Luz once that the stone tower had been built in the clearing by her father, Dell, as a workshop to carve Palismen, but it had been abandoned by him after he was injured by the Owl Beast. Eda had then built the Owl House itself over several years after running away from home, so she knew the layout of the area extremely well, making it the ideal place to set up a trap to deal with the Bounty Hunters. Once they landed, Eda loudly declared;

"Alright, we brought you back to town, so our job is over! You're on your own now, Human!"

She winked to Luz and Lilith so they knew it was an act, but Philip still reacted with outrage; "You're going to abandon me!?"

"You've already paid us, so we've got what we want from you! Byeee!" Eda smirked, beginning to fly off again.

Lilith dropped Philip off in the clearing and flew after her sister, while a stunned Philip watched on as they disappeared beyond the trees. He hadn't paid them at all yet, so he was terribly confused. He was no fool however, and soon figured out what was going on and hid a smirk; these witches were more cunning than he thought.

Playing along, he shouted various insults and curses at them, which made Eda snort in amusement even as Luz went bright red at the language he was using. Once Eda and Lilith were sure they were out of sight, they cast invisibility spells on themselves and Luz to keep them from the Bounty Hunters' sight, then flew back to the clearing and hid in the nearby bushes to keep an eye on Philip, who was still pretending to stalk around and curse.

Only a few moments later, two figures descended from the sky and landed on either side of Philip, who yelped in fear and began backing away from them.

"R-Red Fang! Green Fang!" he stuttered fearfully.

The two Bounty Hunters were nearly identical twins, who tore off the warm winter cloaks they were wearing to reveal their true forms. Both were hulking, grey-skinned demons wearing sleeveless tunics, black pants, and black cowls with fur-lined collars. They also had a single eye each, and lipless mouths with a large overbite. Red Fang had dull reddish brown gloves and boots, a dark red tunic, and a large red fang sticking up from the bottom left side of his jaw. Similarly, Green Fang had his titular green fang on the bottom right side, and his tunic was dark green while his gloves and boots were a greenish shade of grey. Both also had belt buckles that somewhat resembled Titan skulls, and wielded identical Bat Palisman Staves.

"Finally caught up to you, worm!" Red Fang growled, clenching his fists.

"The Buzzard's info was good! We tracked you all the way to the Knee with her intel! Didn't think you'd be escaping it alive, especially after we set the Slitherbeast on you, but you always were a slippery bugger!" Green Fang added, grinning maliciously.

"N-Now Gentlemen, surely this is going too far! I already told you, I'd pay you for your help once my mission was completed! I'd already have your money if that Buzzard hadn't robbed me!" Philip argued.

"That's a load of garbage! You paid those three lasses who saved you on the Knee!" Red Fang snarled.

"Yeah! Besides, this ain't about the money any more! We found out the truth from the Buzzard! You led our brother Blue Fang to his death!" Green Fang said, taking a threatening step forward.

Philip shook his head; "I-I did no such thing! I told all three of you the risks of that expedition before we even set out! It's not my fault he's the only one who didn't abandon me in my hour of need! If you'd both stayed too, perhaps all of us would be alive right now!"

Red Fang and Green Fang both looked incensed; "Or if our brother had ditched your sorry carcass, he'd still be alive and only you'd be dead! Well it doesn't matter now!" Red Fang declared.

Green Fang nodded; "Yeah! We'll have revenge and all the snails we could ask for once we deliver your head to the Buzzard! Or maybe we'll take you alive… I'm sure she'd pay extra to gut you herself!"

Philip shrieked as the two brothers rushed at him. They swung their staves at him, magic in their signature colours glowing on the ends, but Eda and Lilith leapt from their hiding spots and parried them with their own staves, knocking the brothers off-balance.

As they staggered and tried to regain solid footing, Eda slammed her staff into the ground and created a shockwave spell that knocked them both (plus Philip) onto their backs. Lilith avoided this by launching herself into the air with a blast of silver magic, then once she saw the brothers knocked down, she shot two bolts of lightning at them. Red Fang was struck and yelped in pain as he was zapped, whilst Green Fang managed to roll out of the way in time. He rolled onto his feet and drew a spell circle that conjured some ice magic into his palm, which he then thrust towards Eda and Philip. Lilith landed back on the ground just in time to get caught in it too, and the ice magic became a spray of razor sharp icicles that nearly pierced the Clawthorne Sisters. Thankfully Luz was ready and created a crystal barrier between the bounty hunters and her allies, stopping the attack.

Even though his attack failed, Green Fang was able to use the opening to grab his brother and pull him to his feet, followed by Red Fang conjuring a massive ball of thick black smoke and cinders in his hand, which he threw at the ground to create a smokescreen, allowing them to back off. They tried to use the smoke to flank the ladies and get a clean shot at Philip, but Luz conjured some wind and blew the smoke away, revealing the brothers and allowing Philip to use a fire glyph to toss a fireball at them. Green Fang took the attack head on and was blown back, getting a large burn to his chest for his troubles, while Red Fang was able to throw up a barrier of his own before Eda or Lilith could finish their own attacking spells.

"Brother! Are you okay!?" Red Fang asked worriedly.

Green Fang nodded, using a healing spell to fix his burn; "I'm fine. Didn't expect the little turd to have his back up pretend to ditch him! You ladies should turn tail and run! The moment this human is done with you, he'll leave you to die just like he did to Blue Fang!"

Luz scowled; "I'm sorry about what happened to your brother, but killing Philip won't bring him back!"

"And besides, it sounds like you were all happy to take his money for this expedition or whatever." Eda said, "Mercs who try and kill their clients when things go south don't tend to get a lot of repeat business!"

"Do you even know for certain that your brother's death is Philip's fault?" Lilith asked diplomatically; "From what we heard, it sounds like you two weren't there! So how could you know his true fate?"

"That's what I've been trying to say! Blue Fang gave his life to protect me! He was a true and stalwart companion! I had hoped to pay you both in his stead, but you attacked me!" Philip yelled, patting down his rumpled clothing.

Red Fang snarled; "Liar! The Buzzard's got Oracle Magic! She told us the truth! She told us that you purposely used Blue Fang as bait and left him to die!"

The ladies looked at Philip with shock, but he shook his head vehemently; "The Buzzard has been trying to kill me for years! She's filled your heads with lies so you'll do her dirty work! Blue Fang gave his life to save me from a fearsome Stonesleeper hidden in the Titan's Skull!"

Lilith gasped; "You've been to the Skull!? But that's sacred ground!"

"Yes, because something very valuable was hidden there! Something I needed to complete the portal. A Stonesleeper guarded the place, and Blue Fang sacrificed himself to help me escape! Alas I didn't get the relic during that visit, but I was able to return with new companions to finish what I started with Blue Fang!" Philip explained.

Red Fang and Green Fang both glared hatefully; "We don't buy it! Blue Fang wouldn't have sacrificed himself for you! And the mercenaries you hired after he died didn't return from that expedition either!" Green Fang said.

Philip looked down with shame; "They fell defeating the Stonesleeper… I was able to avenge them, but I could do little else…"

Luz frowned; what was the relic in the Titan's skull that Philip needed to make the portal? It must be important if he'd been so determined to get it! Whatever it was, Luz hoped it wasn't a one-time use, or else she'd have to find one of her own to make the new portal!

Sadly she didn't have long to think about it, as Philip's answer had angered the brothers further, and both ran at him. Red Fang conjured another smokescreen to blind the Clawthorne sisters, while Green Fang conjured thorn covered roots from the ground and sent them towards Philip. Luz stopped both spells by using a gust of wind to blow away the smokescreen, then blasting fire at the roots. Her wind attack also fed the flames, causing them to grow even brighter and more intense as they burned Green Fang's roots to ashes. Eda and Lilith then prepared spells of their own; Eda using earth magic to summon a large golem of Hooty to try and devour Red Fang, while Lilith created a large arch out of silver magic, then used abomination magic to bend the ends together, forming a massive magic bow. Red Fang was trapped holding open the Hooty Golem's beak, while Green Fang threw up a barrier to protect himself from the salvo of javelin-sized magic arrows that Lilith shot from her bow. Luz saw this and decided to test a new trick she'd been working on since bonding with the wind glyph.

She fired a pair of light beams at Green Fang, who kept his barrier up to block them. However the beams were silver light (similar to Lilith's), and instead of hitting the barrier, they suddenly bent around it like a pair of snakes, twisting through the air and weaving their way behind the barrier to strike Green Fang in the shoulders. He yelped in pain and dropped his arms, causing the barrier to fall too, just in time for him to get hit by a second salvo of giant magic arrows from Lilith. These magic arrows inflicted burns rather than piercing wounds so they were non-lethal, but Green Fang was still damaged enough to fall to his knees, where upon a final headbutt from a second Hooty Golem knocked him unconscious.

"That's one down!" Eda smirked, dismissing her second golem. "Nice trick with the bending light, Luz!"

Luz beamed; "Thanks Mom! Normal light burns, red light disintegrates, blue light freezes, green light heals, and now silver light bends like the wind! I can't wait to see what the other colours do!"

Philip eyed her curiously; "To think you can create glyph combinations like a normal witch casts spells… there is certainly something strange about you."

The young Angel chuckled nervously and said; "Well I am Half Human! That's probably related to it."

Red Fang growled, utterly enraged to see his brother knocked out while his defeaters blabbered on! These humans and human sympathisers had taken one brother from him already, he wouldn't let them take another!

Wriggling as much as he could, Red Fang was able to reach a hand into his pants pocket and pull out a vial of orange liquid, which he dropped on the ground near where the Hooty Golem had emerged. The vial shattered and a viscous, glowing orange ooze began to eat through the earth at the base of the golem like lava. Eda saw this and prepared to reinforce the golem, but then the steam being given off by the ooze reached her nose, and she recoiled in revulsion.

"Ugh, is that stomach acid from a Salamander Eel!? Why would you even carry that stuff!?" she cried, holding her nose as she began to turn green at the foul stench. Lilith and Philip both went to cover their noses as well, while Luz used wind magic to blow the stench away. This helped them avoid breathing in the smell, but also kept them all distracted long enough for the acid to finish melting through the base of the Hooty Golem, cutting it off from Eda's magic. Once it was cut off, Red Fang cast a spell with his free hand and caused himself to bulk up, becoming strong enough to shatter the golem by flexing, freeing himself. He then bum rushed Luz, ordering his Palisman to attack Eda while his brother's Palisman attacked Lilith and stole her glasses. Luz threw up a barrier to protect herself, but Red Fang shoulder slammed it hard enough to make Luz stagger back a step. Before she could recover her balance, Red Fang punched the ground with his enhanced strength, making it shake and causing her to fall onto her backside with an "oof!"

Once Luz was on the ground, Red Fang ran at Philip before he or anyone else could react, and grabbed him by the throat.

"Take a swim, Human!" he roared, before tossing Philip as far as he could off the cliff beside the clearing, sending him plummeting towards the sea.

Philip screamed in terror, and Luz yelled; "Philip!" before darting into the sky and flying after him at top speed. She used her wings, hidden by her Concealment Stone, and some extra fire and wind magic to boost her speed until she could reach Philip, just barely catching him before he hit the water. Even after being caught, Philip kept screaming like a frightened child and held onto Luz for dear life. However as he held her and frantically squirmed to get himself as far from the water as he could, his hands brushed against one of Luz's invisible wings and both he and Luz promptly froze.

"What the-? What did I just feel?" he muttered, reaching for the hidden appendages again. His finger brushed a feather and Luz promptly squeaked, then suddenly flew as fast as she could back to the clearing, where she dumped the surprised Philip on the ground and then leapt away from him. The human was briefly stunned, then began to stare suspiciously at Luz. He wasn't the only one either, as Red Fang was staring wide-eyed, not having expected Luz to suddenly fly without any staff or other flying device. He was so surprised in fact that he didn't react in time to Eda and Lilith shaking off the attacking Palismen (having Owlbert and Corvanc fight and defeat the twin bats) and then turning on him.

Lilith cast a spell that coated her hand in blue magic, which she then slapped against Red Fang's bulked up chest to begin draining his enhanced strength until he was back to normal size. Eda then charged her own hand with a powerful lightning spell, then poked Red Fang's neck, zapping him with enough electricity to knock him out. The sisters then cast sleep spells on the twins' Palismen to knock them out too, officially ending the fight.

"Well that was relatively easy. Good job on saving the Dweeb, Luz." Eda grinned as she pet Owlbert for his own job well done.

Lilith, doing the same with Corvanc, edged over to Philip and lightly nudged him with her elbow; "Ahem, you should thank her for saving you too. You'd have met quite a messy end without her." she said quietly.

Philip shook himself out of his surprise and nodded; "Y-Yes, thank you for your assistance, Luz. But I have to know; how did you save me? When you held me, I could have sworn I felt something…"

Luz went pale, and Eda's eyes widened as she got the wrong idea; "Felt something!? You dirty old geezer! Is that why Luz threw you off her so fast!? Did you use that chance to feel her up!?"

"NO!" Philip and Luz both cried, the former turning pale while the latter went beet red.

"Mom, it's not like that! He touched my back!" Luz quickly explained.

Eda narrowed her eyes as she took a moment to register what that meant, then gasped as it sank in. Lilith realised at the same moment, and the two rushed to Luz's side, each putting a hand on her shoulder while pointing their Palismen at Philip.

"Just say the word Luz, and I'll knock him out. I can make some Amnesia Tincture to wipe his memory!" Eda whispered to her.

"W-Wait! I thought you needed my help! We're comrades now, aren't we? We fought those ruffians together! Does that not earn me a bit of trust!?" Philip cried, putting his hands up fearfully.

"Fought them? All you did was throw one fireball then got tossed into the sea…" Lilith frowned.

"I didn't have the opportunity to do more!" he defended, before looking Luz in the eye; "Miss Luz, forgive me but… I know I felt something on your back! Something feathery! And considering you saved me by flying without any obvious means to do so… Please, are you what I think you are!?"

Luz stared into Philip's blue eyes and saw excitement there. The man was frightened, but also practically giddy with the idea that she might be what he thought she was… Luz had no doubt that he'd correctly guessed what she was too; if he'd spent years in the Demon Realm then he must have heard of Angels, and based on what Belos had said, there were probably Angels living on the isles at that very moment! Heck, considering Philip's diary had information on Angels inside it (not that Luz had ever gotten to those entries), there was a good chance he already knew some of her kind!

Deciding to take a gamble, Luz cast a spell on her concealment stone to alter the illusion. She allowed her hair to turn back to its natural white hue, and allowed her two central wings to become visible. She kept her second and third sets of wings hidden, remembering Rasiel's warning about not revealing more of herself than needed, especially since she wasn't totally convinced Philip was trustworthy (his actions had raised some red flags).

Upon seeing Luz's (apparent) full glory, Philip's face became one of adoration and he dropped to his knees.

"My hunch was correct…! Oh, you are magnificent! My Lady, please forgive my earlier rudeness and impertinence!" he bowed his head to the ground at Luz's feet; "If I had known that you were one of God's Angels, I would have treated you with the respect you deserved!"

Luz felt herself cringing a little; she'd expected a human from the 1600's to be a lot more… devout than the humans she was used to dealing with, but she hadn't expected Philip to drop to his knees and start worshipping her! It was especially weird since most people in the Demon Realm who didn't have any experience with her treated her with a degree of distrust or fear, with only the most die-hard of Belos followers believing her to be some holy figure of worship!

Eda and Lilith looked shocked by Philip's reaction too, especially Eda. "God's Angels? What's he talking about?" she asked.

"In the Human Realm, Angels are worshipped by a few different religions as the direct servants of God. And I mean capital G, created the world, Alpha and Omega God. It's a really big deal to some people!" Luz whispered to her.

Lilith gasped, comparing it to how her people worshipped the Titan, whilst Eda just laughed; "Heh, you're wasting your time worshipping this one!" she said to Philip as she playfully slapped Luz on the back; "Luz is an amazing kid, but she's not some figure of worship! Just last month, she ate a whole bucket of my night market ice cream and got herself glued to the ceiling!"

Philip looked utterly flabbergasted, while Luz blushed; "Hey! That was a sleepover dare from Willow! And you're the one who gave me the ice cream and egged me on!"

"Well of course I did! It was funny!" Eda grinned unashamedly.

"I-I must admit, you're not what I expected from an angel, Lady Luz. I have heard stories of your kind living amongst the witches and demons of this realm…" Philip said, a hint of disgust in his voice as he spoke of the realm's denizens; "But still, if you are an Angel then you are a servant of the All-Mighty! Please, allow this humble servant of the Lord to assist you in any way that I can!"

Luz knelt down and grabbed Philip's hands, then pulled him to his feet; "Thank you, Philip. However nothing I told you before was a lie; in fact, an Angel cannot lie! We have to tell the truth, or we're punished pretty harshly!" Luz said, wincing as she put a hand to her throat and remembered how it burned whenever she was forced to lie. "That means I really am half Human and need your help to complete a portal and return to the Human Realm!"

Philip nodded and smiled; "Ah, it is refreshing to know there is someone I can truly trust! This realm is a hive of villainy and deceit! Those brothers are not the first to try and kill me or impede my holy mission! Not to mention the Bloody Buzzard of Bonesborough! Though I admit to being surprised that an Angel was permitted to have a child with a Human! Your father must be quite the man."

"H-He was… he was the best Dad a girl could ask for." Luz smiled sadly, remembering Manny.

Philip saw the grief in her eyes and bowed his head; "My condolences for your loss. I too have lost my father, though I barely knew him. But you still have your Angelic Mother!" he said, trying to cheer her up as she looked towards Eda.

Eda shook her head; "Oh, I'm not her blood Mom. I adopted her when she first came to our world. I'm a regular old witch! Same as my sister here." she pointed to Lilith, who nodded politely.

Philip looked horrified; "Adopted by a witch!? Is your true mother going to be alright with this!?" he asked Luz.

Eda and Lilith both looked offended, but Luz just nodded; "Mami knows all about Mom, and she's accepted it. She actually gave me permission to live in this Realm, since it was making me a better angel."

"I see." Philip muttered, not looking convinced. "Well, if an Angel cannot lie then surely you must be telling the truth! Thank you for all of your assistance thus far, Lady Luz. As promised, I will do all in my power to aid you on your quest! However I'm afraid our objective hasn't changed; without my portal or the notes I compiled on its construction, I cannot give you the help you need."

"Which means Angel or not, we still need to go after this Bloody Buzzard." Lilith said. "Remember though Philip, you can't let anyone know what Luz really is! Not everyone is as accepting of Angels as you."

Philip nodded gravely; "Yes, I am aware. This barbarous land views Angels as monsters for trying to show them God's light!"

"I wouldn't go that far." Luz said uncomfortably, "I think these people have just had some bad experiences with Angels a long time ago and still have some grudges."

"You are most kind, Lady Luz. I suppose it only makes sense for one of God's chosen servants to be filled with His Love." Philip smiled at her.

Luz just chuckled nervously, not really sure how to respond to that. "Ehehe yeah, that's me! Just chock full of love! Um, should we get going?"

"Of course. Allow me to lead the way!" Philip said, beginning to march towards Bonesborough. His whole demeanour had changed; while before he had seemed bitter, cold, and nervous, now he was standing tall and proud, with a confident smile on his face that turned warm whenever he looked in Luz's direction. Luz and the Clawthorne Sisters followed after him (once they'd seen to Red and Green Fang's wounds and tucked them up safely inside a tree hollow), and Luz was sure to readjust her concealment stone again to hide her angelic features before they could get into the town proper.

"The Bloody Buzzard lives on a small estate just outside of Bonesborough, towards the south east. If we walk through town, it'll take about 40 minutes but it should avoid drawing her attention like flying." Philip said as they walked through the west gates of town.

"Right. We'll follow your lead, Philip." Luz replied politely.

"I shan't disappoint you, Lady Luz!" he said, grinning as he held his fist aloft.

Eda and Lilith watched him curiously. "He's certainly gone through an attitude adjustment!" Lilith murmured.

"Yeah, he's a total angel worshipping wacko! I bet if we brought him back to our time, he'd fall in line with Belos and his empire in a heartbeat!" Eda muttered derisively.

"Mom, that's mean. I know he was kind of jerk to us before, but humans from his era are even less tolerant than the ones in our era." Luz defended, "He's from Gravesfield almost 400 years ago from the one we know; back when it was a Puritan town! Witches and Demons would be scary things for humans like that, just like Angels are for Witches and Demons."

"That doesn't make it okay, Luz." Eda frowned.

"I know Mom. I don't mean to make excuses for him, but he is the way he is because of the society he grew up in. The best way to stop him acting like that is to show him he's wrong about witches and demons being "barbarous" you know?" Luz said.

Eda pouted but didn't argue; Luz did have a point after all. It was hard to change someone's mind by being rude about what they believed; you caught more flies with honey than with vinegar!

"Is that why you haven't tried correcting him about Angels serving this "God" of his? Or told him not to worship you so much?" Lilith asked. She'd noticed how uncomfortable the "Lady Luz" stuff was making her niece, but Luz hadn't really tried to stop Philip yet.

Luz nodded; "Sort of, yeah. He'd probably just think I was being modest or something. I can already tell that his faith is a big deal to him, and I really don't want to try and mess with that; especially since we need his help. If we try and convince him that Angels aren't what he thinks they are, he might start to think I'm actually just a Demon trying to tempt him away from God or something."

The Clawthorne sisters exchanged looks, both having different thoughts on the matter. Eda wasn't a religious person; she'd never truly bought into the Titan worship either, and had primarily just been respectful of magic and the wild power of the Isles. On the other hand, Lilith had been quite devout towards the Titan and still prayed to him, though she'd somewhat fallen out of the habit since learning about King. She still struggled with the idea that her nephew was the child of the God she'd worshipped, while her niece was an anointed champion and "god-daughter" of that God. It was a testament to how far she'd come that she could be normal around them at all! As such, Eda was a lot less understanding of Philip's faith, while Lilith was very understanding.

With little else to do but keep an eye out for threats, the sisters began to chat quietly to each other about their perspectives on faith, Gods, and Titans, while Luz picked up the pace a little to walk beside Philip so she could get to know him a bit better. He wasn't what she was expecting, but she did still owe him and his diary a lot!

"So, are you from Gravesfield in the Human Realm?" Luz asked, already knowing the answer.

"Yes, I am! I'm quite surprised you know that! Did you come through your portal near there too?" Philip asked with interest.

"In a manner of speaking, yeah." Luz nodded.

"Fascinating! To think an Angel lived so close by! Perhaps that is why our town has such a strong faith! And perhaps that's also why it attracts so many denizens of darkness, who come to corrupt our souls!" the man's eyes narrowed as he looked around at some of the townspeople they were passing by.

Luz didn't like those looks, but her curiosity compelled her to ask; "How exactly did you wind up going through a portal anyway?"

Philip's went cold as he answered; "I was chasing a witch that had come through and bewitched my brother, Caleb." he said, "My brother and I were tasked with protecting the souls of the townspeople from evil, but one day that infernal monster stepped through into our world and began causing all manner of trouble. She cast spells on our crops, did strange things to our animals, and drew the eyes of almost every man in town. My brother went to run her off, but she did something to his mind and instead lured him back to her world. I arrived too late to help him, just barely seeing him disappear into that portal by the graveyard. I followed them but the portal began to close as I was passing through it and I was nearly lost. I ended up emerging here on the Boiling Isles, somewhere far away from my brother and the witch that took him captive."

Luz almost couldn't believe it! A witch had come through to Gravesfield and begun causing trouble? It reminded her a little bit of Eda and the antics she'd allegedly gotten up to under the guise of "Marilyn", but while Eda had caused plenty of mischief, it had been just that; mischief. The worst thing she'd done was enchant some food at a cafe, which later caused some rats to turn sapient, which was a far cry from messing with a developing town's food supply and enchanting their men!

"That's awful! Are you still looking for Caleb?" Luz asked.

There was a long silence as all manner of emotions flitted through Philip's eyes. Eventually he settled on saying; "No." in a voice thick with sadness. Luz gulped upon hearing it; she didn't need to ask what had become of Philip's brother… it was clear on his face that the man was no longer with them, and it felt inconsiderate to ask how he died.

The two fell into an awkward silence as Luz thought about Philip's story. His disdain for witches made even more sense now that she knew one had taken his brother from him. Still, at least he wasn't too far gone into hatred; he was still willing to work with witches and demons after all, even if it was out of necessity. After a few more minutes of silence, Luz decided to change the subject.

"So, what are some of the other ingredients needed to make a portal? I know about Titan Blood already, but none of the others." she said.

Philip perked up; "Ah, that was quite a tricky question to work out for me too. A little Titan Blood mixed into water seems to be enough to make a very unstable portal, but its impossible to determine how long it would last or where it would lead. To make a stable portal, fine-tuned to connect where you want it to, you need many other ingredients and precise magical calculations!"

Philip reached into his pocket and pulled out a glass vial filled with a thick black liquid. "This is one of the ingredients I discovered to have a potent effect on the stability of portals; Titan Bile!"

Luz instinctively flinched away from him and the bile, remembering her experience with it at Belos' hands. Philip frowned upon seeing her reaction; "Is something wrong, Lady Luz?"

"Y-Yeah, I'm fine. I just… I didn't have a great first experience with Titan Bile." she frowned, rubbing her arms at the memory.

"Oh? What happened, if you don't mind my asking?" Philip asked.

"Well, let's just say that injecting Titan Bile into someone can turn them into a vicious, uncontrollable monster. I've seen it happen twice, and both times were really unpleasant." Luz said, intentionally hiding the fact she was the victim. She didn't want to give Philip reason to believe she'd been corrupted by evil magic or anything, though she did add; "I know it works on Angels too… it's really not a pretty sight."

Philip looked surprised as he glanced between her and the vial of black ichor. "I've never thought of injecting this into a person! And you say it made the victim go on a rampage? How awful!" he said, a strange lilt to his voice.

"Yeah, it wasn't a good time. The only bright side is that there weren't any real side-effects when it wore off." Luz told him, "But I've avoided the stuff as much as possible ever since… though I guess I'll need to find some of my own if it's an ingredient in the portal."

"I'm sure you'll be fine; if need be I'll give you mine. It's the least I could do for one of God's messengers." Philip smiled benevolently.

Luz smiled back; "Thank you, Philip. But I think I'll be fine; we're already helping each other enough as it is."

"As you wish." Philip nodded, "Though there is something I'd hoped to ask an Angel such as yourself; in my travels, I have discovered two unusual temples containing large black cubes, which the locals refer to as Black Tombs."

Luz snapped her head towards him, her eyes growing wide. Philip raised an eyebrow; "Ah, you've heard of them I see."

"Yes! I've been looking for them! There are supposed to be four in existence, but I only know the location of two." Luz replied.

"Me too. I discovered one in the Ice Temple up on the Knee, and another out in the desert. Both were sealed shut." Philip recounted.

That news made Luz sigh sadly; Philip only knew the temples she'd already visited, so it looked like he wasn't going to be any help finding the other two. That was a shame, but at least his revelation that the Black Tomb at the Fire Temple was still sealed meant that the tragedy that had taken place there had yet to happen. Luz was sorely tempted to go to both Caplacier and Volcarpalis and free Rasiel before that tragedy could happen, and so he wouldn't end up losing a finger, but she quickly shrugged that thought off. If she did that, it would create a time paradox and who knew what would happen as a result?

"Aw man, those are the same ones I know about. Too bad." Luz sighed.

"I was actually going to ask you about them. I've discovered the keys needed to open it are the Blood and Magic of a Titan, a Denizen of the Demon Realm, and an Angel. Naturally I have the first thanks to my trip to Eclipse Lake and my use of the Picto-Glyphs, and the second aren't hard to come by, but I haven't been able to acquire the blood and magic of an Angel. Would you perhaps be willing to share some of yours with me?" Philip asked hopefully, "Or maybe once we've retrieved my portal and notes from the Buzzard, the two of us could go open them together?"

Luz shook her head; she knew Philip didn't open the two Black Tombs that were opened in the future, so she couldn't help him without causing a paradox. "Sorry, but I don't know if that's a good idea. Those tombs must be sealed up for a reason, right? It's probably best if you leave them alone."

Philip looked suspiciously at her; "Then why are you looking for them, Lady Luz? Why search for them if you don't want to open them? And does that mean you know what's inside? Could you tell me?"

"Uh…" Luz hesitated, racking her brain for an excuse that wasn't a lie. "I- uh, I'm looking for them just as a favour for a friend. A fellow angel who's interested." she said, technically speaking the truth about Rasiel. "And the tombs are still closed as far as I know, so how could I know what's in them?"

Again, this was technically true; the tombs were closed in this time period, and without opening them, she wouldn't know what was inside. Philip just didn't know Luz had opened one in the future and thus knew the contents that way.

Philip seemed to buy those excuses, but then asked; "If you don't know what's inside them, why worry about opening them? Could it not potentially be something of great importance to your people? Angel blood is needed to open it after all; it has to involve your race."

Luz gulped, but thankfully Eda had started listening to their conversation and mimed to Luz from behind Philip, pretending to roar and breath fire. Luz realised what she was getting at and quickly came up with an accurate excuse; "You don't want to mess with the Black Tombs! Each one is guarded by a big statue that awakens into super powerful Supreme Dragon if the tomb is disturbed! No one has opened the tombs and gotten away unscathed!"

"Yep! Super deadly! A lot of people have become lunch to those statue dragons!" Eda chimed in.

"A Supreme Dragon is hidden in the statue!?" Philip exclaimed. Luz could see in his eyes that he was imagining the giant snake statue that held the tomb in Caplacier, and probably a similar salamander statue at Volcarpalis (which Luz never actually saw, since someone had opened that tomb before she got there).

"I have heard of these beasts! The Stonesleeper I found at the Titan's Head would be nothing compared to one of those! Perhaps I should abandon my attempts to open the tombs… it was only out of curiosity anyway. I assumed something sealed by angelic power must be something important, but I don't wish to anger a Dragon!" Philip shuddered at the thought. Still, the man still felt suspicious; the young Lady Angel seemed fairly keen to keep him from the tombs. Was that a personal matter for her, or was it the will of her adoptive witch mother, who'd been awfully quick to jump in to their conversation.

Changing the subject, Philip then asked; "How exactly did you come to be the adopted daughter of a witch? I wouldn't think such a thing would be allowed for a young Angel."

"Oh, that's a bit of a long and complicated story. I wandered through a portal one day and met Mom almost right after. She took me into her home and has been looking after me ever since! I couldn't even do magic before I met her; I was just a weak little Cherub, but thanks to her I can do tons of spells now! And potions too! Mom's a real whiz at them!" Luz happily explained.

Eda smiled and ruffled her hair; "Aw, you do as much to take care of me as I do for you, Owlet!"

"Indeed. Life would be unimaginable without you." Lilith added, also ruffling Luz's hair, knowing how much her niece enjoyed that.

The girl blushed as she smiled widely; "Right back at you, Tia Lily! You know, I wasn't kidding when I called you my Cool Tia! That's how I write about you in my journal! You're almost as cool as Mom! Even Amity thinks so."

Lilith went red, but smiled happily, glad to be so loved by her niece. Eda grinned teasingly at her too, while Philip watched the trio with a strange expression.

"You are certainly very close. And your Angelic Mother is truly okay with this arrangement?" he asked, doubt clear in his voice.

"Yep! It was kinda touch and go for a little while. I thought Mami was going to forbid me from every coming back here! But we talked it out and she agreed for me to live in the Demon Realm, doing my best to help people as an angel. She even accepted Mom as, well, my Mom!" Luz chirped happily; "I think it helped that Mom wasn't a replacement for her or Papi."

"Truly? I'm surprised your mother was so agreeable after initially reacting so badly." Philip commented, "What changed her mind?"

"I… actually don't know." Luz admitted, suddenly realising she'd never heard the full story. She'd run off and when she came back with Vee, her Mami was already open to letting Luz stay in the Demon Realm. She'd always just figured her Mom and friends had convinced her Mami, along with having her read Luz's diary. That and making her realise her own experiences in running away were similar to how Luz felt.

"You don't know what changed her mind?" Philip raised an eyebrow.

"Yeah, I sort of ran away when she reacted badly at first… when I got back, she was willing to talk it out. Come to think of it, was it you who convinced her, Mom?" Luz asked Eda.

Eda grinned and nodded; "You bet! Your Mami and I had a heart to heart! I had to do my best to make sure I didn't lose my little girl so soon after she finally started calling me Mom!"

Luz smiled brightly, but Philip narrowed his eyes on Eda. He knew he wasn't getting the whole story here, and he really didn't like it! He opened his mouth to subtly hint at the unusual nature of Eda's explanation, hoping to goad Luz into perhaps noticing it herself, but Luz continued speaking before he could get the words out.

"But part of the condition for me staying in the Demon Realm with Mom was going back to visit regularly! That's why it's so important I remake the portal that was stolen!"

"Yes, I remember you saying the portal you possessed was stolen. Obviously I know who stole mine, but what about who stole yours? Would it not be easier to fight and get it back?" Philip asked.

Luz bit her lip, trying to figure out how to explain that it was stolen by another Angel on behalf of a corrupted Angel Emperor that wouldn't begin rising to power for another 300 years… Come to think of it, was Belos alive right now? If he was really an Angel like he claimed, he certainly could be!

Seeing her daughter's difficulty answering, Eda answered for her; "We don't really know who stole it, so we can't just go after them to get it back. Believe me, I tried to track it down, but it didn't work out…"

Unbeknownst to her, Eda's words had just made Philip even more suspicious. An Angel stumbles into this hellish world and is immediately adopted by a shady witch, who convinces her biological mother to accept the situation while the young Angel was absent, then the portal that allows the young Angel to return home as per the conditions her biological mother set is suddenly stolen with no clue as to who by or where it was taken? There was no chance something shady wasn't going on, and Philip felt that it was his sacred duty to help this young Angel! Once he got his own portal back, he'd send her home to Gravesfield where this "Edalyn" could never bother her again!

"I see. What a horrible thing to happen. Do not fear, Lady Luz; I will ensure you get home safe and sound." Philip smiled warmly, putting a hand around her shoulders. Luz instinctively tensed, and the Clawthorne Sisters looked annoyed by the gesture, but none of them said anything, even as Philip made sure Luz was close by his side; "We are nearly at the Buzzard's home, so stay close. I will protect you with all I have."

"Um, that's really sweet Philip, but I'm pretty tough. I can protect myself, and you too." Luz replied.

The man nodded; "I'm sure you can, but it is my duty as a Servant of God to do all I can to aid his Holy Messengers. Please allow me to do this, as recompense for my earlier rudeness."

Luz fidgeted a bit, but ultimately just smiled and said; "Alright then. I accept the help!"

Philip gave her a pleased smile; "I won't let you down, Lady Luz."

With that, he picked up his pace just a little, though since he was keeping an arm around Luz's shoulders he was sure to not walk too fast. Eda and Lilith watched the man suspiciously; Luz tended to be easily taken in by people being excessively kind to her, as she was the type to feel guilty if she didn't return their kindness, so it was up to them to make sure she wasn't being taken advantage of. However as they reached the south east edge of Bonesborough and found themselves once again surrounded by forest, Eda couldn't help but look around curiously.

"Hey Lily, you recognise this place, right?" Eda asked.

"Yes. It's a bit more overgrown than I'm used to, but I know this place well. We're not far from our childhood home. It will one day be built just over… there!" Lilith pointed directly eastward. The forest in that direction was still very thick, as it'd be almost 100 years before the Clawthorne Home was constructed there. From what their parents had told them, the Clawthorne Clan had once had a large compound that grew as the clan did, but they were infamous for their wanderlust and so many of their clan disappeared to different parts of the Isles, or left them entirely for parts unknown. As such, homes would be torn down and new ones built in the old plots; they were the type of family that always moved forward, leaving behind what their descendents would need and nothing more, instead expecting them to build their own lives and homes independently. The Clawthornes were supportive of each other, but they valued independence above all else! It was that same spirit that allowed Eda to run away from home at barely 15 years old and eventually build the Owl House.

Seeing the forest still thick and wild and largely untouched made Eda and Lilith feel oddly nostalgic, but as they were also heading towards the home of a potentially dangerous enemy, they also felt a strange sense of foreboding. Philip lead them into the forest, quietly speaking to Luz to help guide her through the bushes and brambles, until they eventually reached the edge of a small clearing, surrounded by thick trees and bushes. Philip crouched in the bushes, and the ladies crouched around him and peered into the clearing.

The inside of the clearing was blocked from view by a stone garden wall that was just barely tall enough that Eda couldn't peer over it. The walls were covered in ivy, and they could just barely see an archway on part of the wall with a wrought iron gate inside it. There was also the thatched roof of a house visible over the top of the wall, with a chimney that was releasing a plume of pale smoke. As the ladies examined the wall, Lilith noticed that the clearing extended quite a bit to the north and a cobblestone path had been created that led in the direction of town.

"There is an actual path here, and you brought us through the forest?" she whispered.

"The path is full of traps. This is the Bloody Buzzard's nest, so one can't be reckless!" Philip whispered back, eyes full of hatred as he stared at the wall ahead of him, as if every brick was a personal enemy.

"So what's the plan? Do we sneak in and try to steal the portal back?" Luz asked.

"We should launch wide scale attacks. Large fireballs, explosives, and other such things. With any luck, we'll burn the Buzzard with her nest!" Philip growled.

"Yeah, and the portal and your notes along with her!" Eda whispered angrily.

"I'd also rather not kill someone if I can help it!" Luz added.

"She will not afford you the same courtesy, Lady Luz. You'll see; when this evil witch discovers what you are, she'll do all in her power to kill you!" Philip warned.

Luz frowned and was about to ask if Philip had meant if the witch discovered what she was, but before she could a strange flower rose out of the ground in front of them. They all froze as they stared at it, and Luz recognised it as a Speaking Saffron, which began to glow a faint purple colour as a woman's voice emerged from it.

"Do you really think I would limit my alarms and defences to the path and walls after your last attempt on my life, Philip?" the voice said. "I have alerts all throughout the forest; I knew of your arrival as soon as you stepped foot back in Bonesborough. You and your newest mercenaries are welcome to use the front gate like civilised people… now let's make this quick; I'm in the middle of making lunch."

Luz and the Clawthorne Sisters exchanged shocked looks, while Philip growled and crushed the Speaking Saffron.

"Infernal witch! There is no end to her trickery!" he spat, "It looks like we have no choice but to go in from the front. She'll be waiting for us though, so we must be prepared!"

He stood up and began marching towards the front gate leading into the Buzzard's home, but Luz reached out and grabbed his wrist to stop him.

"Wait! She was expecting us! How many times have you actually tried to take her out like this!?" Luz cried.

"More times than I can count. The two of us have been trying to kill each other since I first came here. It's been almost a decade now… or perhaps longer; it's hard to keep track of time in this realm." Philip grumbled.

Luz stared at him for a moment as Eda and Lilith emerged from the forest to join them. As she stared, she began to piece something together; Philip and the Buzzard had been fighting since he came to the realm, and Philip had come to the Demon Realm to rescue his brother, who was abducted by a female witch… and had since been lost. Considering the Buzzard was also female…

"Philip… is the Buzzard the one who took Caleb from you?" Luz asked in a small voice.

The man's eyes flashed with pain, and he nodded slowly; "Yes." he croaked out, "I should have known better than to try and hide it from the eyes of Heaven… forgive me, Lady Luz."

"There's nothing to forgive; you're entitled to privacy." Luz replied, lowering her hand from his wrist to his palm, which she gently squeezed in a comforting gesture that Philip seemed to appreciate.

Eda and Lilith didn't know what the two were talking about, but Lilith piped up; "It might be wise if the three of us go in and Philip stays behind. Without magic of his own and only the glyphs to support him, it would be safer for us all. A witch who can trap the entire forest with alerts is bound to be powerful and I don't know if someone relying solely on glyphs is going to be able to cut it."

Philip shook his head; "No! I will not have Lady Luz battle that defiler without my assistance! I may not have given a very good showing against the Slitherbeast or those Demon brothers, but I assure you I am quite competent at the old Fisticuffs!"

Eda snorted; "No one who calls it Fisticuffs should ever get into an actual fight, especially against a witch!"

"I will not sit on the sidelines and that is final." Philip declared, then turning to Luz; "You understand, right Lady Luz? My soul screams out for justice! I must do this, even if I must martyr myself!"

Luz did understand where he was coming from, even if her Mom and Aunt just assumed he was being overly dramatic, considering they didn't know about Caleb. But seeing as he wasn't going to back down and would likely get in the way, Lilith made a suggestion.

"Luz, perhaps you could give Philip an Angelic Blessing? That would allow him to use magic like us for a short time, right?" she said.

Philip gaped; "What!? Lady Luz, what is she talking about!?"

"Oh, it's a power we Angels have. We give small portions of our magic to others, temporarily boosting their power if they've already got magic, or granting magic to those who don't. I've mostly been giving these blessings to Mom and Tia Lily, but I have given magic to a human before." Luz explained, thinking of Masha. During one of her trips home since Masha, Gray, and Rebecca learned Vee's secret, Luz had given a blessing to Masha so she could cast spells alongside Vee, who was also learning to cast magic with spell circles. Masha had a blast with it, and the two spent most of the day playing with magic until the blessing ran out.

"Y-You would be willing to give me some of your power!?" Philip asked, eyes shining with joy and some other emotion Luz couldn't quite identify.

"Sure! It'll protect you, and the magic I give you will only be temporary anyway." Luz smiled, conjuring a ball of white and gold flame; "Just touch this. You'll catch on fire, but it won't burn you, I promise."

Philip didn't even hesitate. With his head bowed reverently, he gently clapped his hands into the flame, putting them together in a praying gesture. Immediately, his entire body was covered in the golden flames and he felt his body practically singing with the power that settled into him. The flames melded into his flesh and bones until they vanished entirely, leaving behind only the sensation of immense power on his skin. Philip stared at his hands and then focused on the feeling of magic inside him, channelling it subconsciously to his index fingers, which began to glow. Picturing a fireball, Philip drew a circle with his finger and then gasped with delight as the glowing gold circle transformed into a ball of red flames.

"Incredible! This is utterly incredible! My Lady, thank you so much for this blessing!" Philip got down on his knees and bowed his head, even as he clasped his hands together in prayer. "I swear, I will use this power to continue my God-given mission, and spread the light of righteousness in his name! Thank you, Lady Luz!"

Luz blushed; "Aw, it was nothing. With this power, you can fight alongside us now! Let me give you a real short crash course in how to use it!" she said, before beginning to explain the true nature of Angelic Blessings.

Angelic Blessings weren't just a boost of magic after all; they were a piece of an Angel's personal magic, which included all the instincts that the Angel themselves had. Basically, any person Luz gave a blessing to would have the instinctual knowledge to cast any spell Luz herself could cast, albeit in a much weaker and more limited form since they lacked the glyphs and an Angel's body. However since Philip knew the four glyphs of the Boiling Isles, he would be able to use pretty much any spell Luz had learned, with the sole exception of the wind glyph-related spells.

As Luz was explaining this, Philip was still staring at his hands and feeling the radiant magic there. This was beyond anything he'd ever imagined! The literal power of God was in his hands, gifted by a benevolent young angel! However, it also didn't escape his attention that the two witches with them had apparently been using Luz for blessings as well… Was that the reason for them keeping her so close? Were they using her for power? Philip fully intended to find out!

Putting that thought aside for a moment and focusing fully on what Luz was telling him, Philip focused on visualising spells and how to channel his Divinely Given Gift, then nodded confidently.

"I am ready, let us confront this Bloody Buzzard!" Philip declared. Luz, Eda, and Lilith all nodded, the latter two preparing their staves as Luz created a light sword from her hand. They walked to the wrought iron gate that blocked entrance to the Buzzard's home, and found it opening on its own. As they walked through the gate and into the Buzzard's garden, Eda looked at the archway and the gate with a strange expression, finding it oddly familiar.

She was drawn out of her thoughts by the voice of the Buzzard; "You certainly took your time. Did you have to take a moment to spin new lies for your mercenaries?"

Everyone looked ahead, through the beautiful little garden overflowing with flowers, herbs, and vegetables, to a woman standing with her arms crossed in front of the quaint and homey little cottage that she called home. The house reminded Luz a bit of a more rustic Owl House, which was a very strange coincidence, considering the woman in front of it reminded her bizarrely of Eda!

The resemblance was not uncanny, but it was enough to give Luz, Eda, and Lilith pause. The Bloody Buzzard had similar bodily proportions to Eda and a similarly shaped jaw, but her facial features were softer. She had a button nose and large, forest green eyes, as well as extremely wild and vivid red hair, which flared about her head in the gentle breeze almost like flames. Her hairstyle was a little bit like Gwendolyn's was when she was younger, only longer as it flowed down her back, and a fiery red that put even the orange hair of Eda and Lilith in their youth to shame. Her sense of style was also a little bit like Eda's, as she wore a red dress that clung to her curves and was torn along the bottom, better showing off her brown boots which were also similar to Eda's. However unlike Eda, the Buzzard's dress had pale red sleeves with torn cuffs, and a white fur pelt around her waist that looked almost like an apron, though adapted to the wild aesthetic the Buzzard seemed to like.

Despite her softer features and almost bored tone of voice, the woman glared at Philip so hatefully that it actually made Luz and the Clawthorne sisters flinch. The witch looked from Philip to them and her frown grew more severe, especially when she looked at Luz.

"A child? You've brought a little girl to fight me? I knew you were a pathetic worm of a human, but I never thought you'd sink this low!" she spat.

"That child helped defeat the two assassins you sent after me! Red Fang and Green Fang stood no chance!" Philip sneered.

The Woman's eyes widened slightly, before her expression became mournful; "So, you defeated them… I guess that's two more lives ruined by this long battle of ours…"

"Actually, we didn't kill them." Luz piped up, "We don't like killing people! We don't even want to kill you, Miss Buzzard! But we need the portal and notes you stole, and we can't let you get away with what you did to Caleb!"

Again, the witch looked shocked, before she glared furiously; "What I did to Caleb!? I did nothing to him! If you want justice for Caleb, then you should be pointing that spell of yours at the man behind you!" she snarled, pointing to Philip.

Philip sneered hatefully, while Luz looked back at him with wide eyes; "Philip? What is she talking about?"

"Nothing but foul lies! This evil witch took my brother from me and led him to his death!" Philip roared. "What else can you expect from someone called the Bloody Buzzard!?"

The witch's lip curled into a snarl; "That title is one I got after our last battle, Wittebane! I still don't know how you managed to slink away, but the people of Bonesborough haven't forgotten! They still speak of the day that Evelyn the Bloody Buzzard of Bonesborough destroyed you and the gang of thugs you'd hired to attack me! Not a single person in town will even say your name any more! Soon you'll have nowhere on the Isles to run to!"

She punctuated her sentence by summoning her Palisman, which took the form of a large red buzzard. It transformed into Evelyn's staff and she twirled it expertly before pointing it at Philip, while her eyes drifted to Eda.

"Take the child and leave; whatever he's paying you is not worth it!" Evelyn spat.

Eda scowled and pointed her own staff back at Evelyn; "Oh no sister, we aren't running! I don't know who this Caleb guy is or what beef you and the bearded dweeb have, but my kid needs those portal notes, so I'm not going anywhere without them!"

Lilith nodded in agreement; "We can end this peacefully, or we can fight. It's four vs one, and we're no slouches in combat! Give us the portal and the notes, and we'll leave."

Philip shook his head; "I'm not leaving without this foul witch's head! I lost my brother to her!"

"You lost your brother to your own blind zealotry! It was your knife that ended his life! It is you who'll pay for killing him!" Evelyn screamed furiously, a thick aura of burning red magic appearing around her.

"W-What!?" Luz cried; "That can't be true!"

Evelyn glared at her; "Oh, it's the truth alright! Caleb was my Lover! When he told Philip the truth, that worm attacked his own brother with a knife! They fought, and Caleb lost his life!"

Luz wanted to deny it, but the look in Evelyn's eyes made her freeze. She looked so fierce and righteously angry… was she telling the truth!? She turned to Philip, hoping to hear a denial, and while she got one, it wasn't the one she expected!

"Caleb would never have fallen in love with you! You used foul sorcery to enthral him and turn him away from his mission in life! She defiled our town and twisted Caleb against his flesh and blood, and against his Lord!" Philip declared, reaching into his coat pocket and pulling out a crooked knife; "Your magic forced us to fight! I was trying to save his soul, but you compelled him to turn on me! I was given no choice!"

Luz, Eda, and Lilith began to panic and look to one another, hoping for an answer. Philip had all but admitted to killing Caleb, but claimed he was being controlled by Evelyn, whilst Evelyn was claiming Caleb had been in love with her and Philip had started the attack! But who should they believe!? Luz wanted to trust Philip over Evelyn, but that was because she needed his notes! Could he be lying or deceiving her? Or was this a trick of the Bloody Buzzard? Luz was paralysed with indecision, and even Eda and Lilith seemed unsure of what to do; Lilith wanted to do the right thing but had no idea what that was, while Eda just wanted to get the notes for Luz, though she didn't want to side with Philip if he was as much of a monster as Evelyn claimed.

The choice was taken out of their hands by Philip, who began to proudly boast; "Your lies will not sway the hearts of the Righteous, Evelyn! Lady Luz is no mere witchling that you can buy or turn away from the light of God! She is an Angel, who stands against all evil!"

Philip's companions turned to him with a mix of shock and outrage, while Evelyn's eyes widened as she focused on Luz. "An Angel!? Impossible! The Elders all say they are monsters who wiped out the Titans and tried to enslave us to their twisted order! There's no way one of them would become a mercenary! Unless…" her eyes narrowed on Luz, burning with emerald flames. "… that's why you've sided with this human! You've joined his crusade to destroy us!"

"No! I'd never do something like that!" Luz cried.

"Then deny his words!" Evelyn demanded; "The Elders say that Angels cannot lie! So tell me you are not an Angel!"

Luz bit her lip in hesitation, and that was all Evelyn needed. If the girl was not denying it, then it was because she couldn't! And while she may have insisted she wouldn't destroy them, Evelyn would not allow a monster like Philip to have such a weapon at his side! For the sake of the Boiling Isles and the entire Demon Realm, she had to purge this Angel, one way or another!

Eda saw the moment Evelyn had made up her mind to attack, so she rapidly conjured a barrier of golden magic between them and Luz, just barely getting it up in time to block the blast of red magic that Evelyn shot from her finger. Despite the witch not using her staff for the spell, Eda still find her barrier cracking under the deluge of power. It shattered at the same moment Evelyn's spell stopped, but Eda wasn't going to let it go to waste! The golden shards of her barrier were like glass, so Eda cast a spell to point them all at Evelyn and fire them forward. Evelyn leapt over the shards with a surprising display of acrobatics, causing the shards to slam into the front door of her house. Evelyn briefly looked back at the damage with a scowl, but relaxed a tad when she saw the shards hadn't gone all the way through.

"Gotta protect the house!" she muttered, beginning to draw a red spell circle with her finger. Lilith conjured a jet of icy cold water to knock Evelyn off her feet, but the other witch revealed that she'd been using her heel to draw another spell circle in the ground, causing a rock to suddenly rise up from the garden soil and block the jet. At the same moment, Philip used his newly gifted Angelic Magic to draw a spell circle and create a javelin of light magic, which he tossed at Evelyn's head. She responded by releasing her Palisman from the end of her staff, and the red buzzard coated itself in red magic and flew at the javelin, destroying it at the cost of being knocked to the ground with a squawk of pain. Evelyn's eyes widened, not expecting Philip to have such power, but she shrugged it off and completed her spell.

Red runes suddenly appeared on the stone walls surrounding Evelyn's property, and similar runes appeared on the boundary between the garden and the cottage. The runes then extended up into the sky, forming a pair of immensely powerful red barriers that protected the cottage from spells, and kept Luz and her companions inside the garden, unable to escape.

"I can sense the magic of those barriers without even trying! They are incredibly dense with magic! How did she produce two barriers of such strength!?" Lilith cried.

Evelyn smirked; "I'm not a weakling! I carefully enchanted my property over the course of months, and now the protective barriers draw from the Titan's own magic! Even the stolen powers of the glyphs are no use against them!"

Philip scowled and decided to test this by creating a stream of fire and blasting it towards the cottage. Evelyn made no attempts to stop it, and the flames splashed harmlessly against the barrier, not even causing it to shimmer. She smirked knowingly; "You see? Unlike some people, I'm not a liar!"

"Fine, then I'll destroy everything else instead!" Philip declared, drawing a large spell circle and creating a huge ball of fire. "Lady Luz, take to the skies where you'll be safe!"

Luz, still stunned by the sudden descent into violence, obeyed and flew up into the air, with Eda and Lilith joining her with their staves. Evelyn saw her flying, apparently without a staff, and wondered if this was because of her hidden angelic wings. She wasn't left wandering for long, as Luz altered her Concealment Stone to reveal one pair of her wings, as well as her white hair. However, Evelyn sensed that the stone was still hiding something, though she didn't have time to think on what as Philip completed his spell.

"Burn, you witch!" he roared, throwing the giant fireball at his feet and causing waves of fire to spread through the garden, destroying everything it touched. Philip himself was protected by a coating of ice he'd created while the others were focused on the barrier, but the rest of Evelyn's garden was reduced to ashes.

In a flash, Evelyn snapped her fingers and summoned her Palisman back to her side, then sank the bottom of the staff deep into the soil at her feet just as the waves were coming towards her. She disappeared behind the flames, and when they died down (revealing a field of ash where flowers and herbs had once been), there was no sign of Evelyn.

Luz and the Clawthorne Sisters landed back on the ground, the former looking around forlornly at what remained of the once beautiful garden. Philip saw her expression and said; "Chin up, Lady Luz. The battle isn't over yet; there's no chance that evil creature died so easily!"

As if to prove his point, a hand suddenly shot out of the ashes at Philip's feet and grasped his ankle tightly enough to shatter his icy protection and crack the bone. He screamed and fell on his backside as the owner of the wrist rose from the ground, revealed to be an Abomination made of mud. Lilith swung her staff at it, coating Corvanc with magic to turn him into a magic glaive to take the Abomination's head clean off. The head splattered to the ground, then both it and the Abomination's body began to glow and swell.

Luz had seen this before while practicing with Amity, and reacted fast. She coated her right leg in wind and kicked the Abomination between the legs, sending it flying high into the air with a powerful updraft, whilst using her left hand to fire one of her Aurora Beams at the head, freezing it solid. The head cracked and fell apart as whatever magic inside it stopped working, while the body of the creature exploded against the roof of the barrier. It sent mud raining down on them all, but Eda casually made a barrier to keep them from getting splattered.

Five more Mud Abominations rose from beneath the ashes around the group and began lumbering towards them. Eda cast a spell on the patch of ground that the first one had emerged from, as Luz's wind kick had removed the ash and exposed the earth, giving her a clear target to make one of her Hooty Golems. The Golem slammed its way through the torso of two of the Abominations instantly, while Lilith drew a green spell circle with her foot and then stomped down, causing the ash to be absorbed into the soil by a wave of green magic, which then caused grass to sprout from the entire garden, once again turning it into a verdant paradise. The grass tangled the feet of the remaining three Abominations, and Lilith further demonstrated her plant magic by causing roots to rise from the ground and impale them.

Luz, seeing that her Mom and Aunt had things under control, knelt down and cast a healing spell on Philip's ankle. The man opened his mouth to thank her, then saw a flash of light from a corner of the garden and suddenly grabbed Luz's shoulders and shoved her away. This may have saved her life, as the flash of light was the creation of an intense red beam of magic, which shot directly through where Luz's head had just been. It missed her and hit the wall surrounding the garden, melting a five inch wide hole directly through it.

"She's invisible!" Philip yelled, pulling an ice glyph from his pocket and triggering it with a spark of magic, resulting in a massive blizzard being blasted in the direction the beam had come from. The intense snow clung to the invisible form of Evelyn, revealing she had hidden herself and then taken flight with her staff to avoid leaving footprints in the ash.

Upon seeing Evelyn, Luz transformed the light sword she was still wielding into a spear, which she tossed at her leg. The witch tried creating an eruption of flame to both destroy the blizzard and the spear, but she only succeeded in the former, wiping out all the snow (and a good deal of the grass that had grown beneath her) whilst sustaining a hole in her leg from Luz's spear.

"Argh! Titan Damn it!" Evelyn cursed, dismissing her invisibility as she floated higher with her staff. She reached into her dress and pulled out a purple stone, but whatever she had planned for it didn't work, much to her frustration.

"Why won't my spirit answer my call!?" she growled under her breath.

"Oracle Spirits won't work around an Angel! You might as well give up now if that's the last trick up your sleeve!" Eda boasted.

Evelyn scowled as she turned to look at Luz; so the girl was why her spirit didn't answer? No matter; she was no one trick pony! Still sitting on her staff, she whistled to her Palisman and it began to fly her around the garden on its own, while she began casting a different spell in each hand. Her left hand created a deep blue spell circle that began to heal the wound from Luz's spell, while the right hand create a yellow spell circle that began transmuting the blood spilled from her wound into a cyan coloured liquid that she flicked at Luz and Philip. Luz blocked the liquid with a crystal barrier, then gasped as it began to eat through her defences at remarkable speed.

Lilith saw this and immediately identified it; "A Null Magic Potion! It dispels any magic it touches and will stop you casting spells if it touches your bare skin! I've never met someone who can transmute it!"

Evelyn smirked proudly; "I ingested all the ingredients necessary to make it, so trace elements are in my blood stream. My potions spell just completed the steps needed to brew those elements into a working potion!"

Luz, Eda, and Lilith were all impressed, though they didn't have long to be amazed as the Mud Abominations they'd impaled earlier began to swell rapidly. The Clawthorne Sisters moved their roots and Hooty Golem high into the air so the Abominations wouldn't hurt them when they exploded, but to their horror, the Abominations instead caught fire as a swarm of Fire Bees emerged from each one. The expansion hadn't been the work of a bomb spell, but rather the awakening of the dormant Fire Bees Evelyn had placed inside the Abominations.

The swarms descended on the group, with most of them focusing on Philip and Luz. Philip immediately conjured another wave of ice to freeze large amounts of the swarm, but there was just too many! Eda and Lilith had to turn their attention away from Evelyn to assist in freezing the bees, but that just left them open as Evelyn cast another spell, which caused the stones that previously bordered her flowerbeds to combine together into a giant humanoid stone golem, which punched at the Clawthorne Sisters. Lilith was blind-sided and smacked into the barrier surrounding Evelyn's cottage, being mildly burned by it and then falling to the ground stunned. Eda was able to dodge the blow, but then the Stone Golem began firing pieces of its body at her, forcing her to take flight to avoid them. Evelyn grinned as she pursued Eda, firing red beams of magic at her and Owlbert, while Eda tried to return fire with her own gold beams of magic.

While all this was happening, Luz was still stuck dealing with the Fire Bees alongside Philip, who to his credit, was earnestly trying to protect her. He tore off his overcoat and threw it over Luz to give her some extra protection from the Bee's stings, and focused his ice spells on the holes in Luz's barrier made by the Null Magic Potion. Even with this effort though, both suffered a few nasty burning stings, which Luz tried to heal. Philip suffered the worst of it, with parts of his face and arms swelling up and being covered in second degree burns, though none of it lasted long thanks to Luz's healing. However this was beginning to drain Philip's blessing, and Luz was starting to get winded too.

"Okay, that's enough! Philip, root yourself to the ground!" Luz ordered.

Philip did so immediately, frowning as he felt his dwindling blessing grow weaker. Once he was rooted to the ground, Luz spun in a circle, drawing a silver spell circle with her wings. The circle created a massive tornado around Luz and Philip, which blew away the Fire Bees and the Null Magic Potion, which couldn't devour the magic of something intangible. With the potion no longer threatening her and the bees blown back, Luz was able to drop her barrier and then combine the wind and ice glyphs for the first time, creating a freezing gale that blew through the entire garden and coated everything in a thin layer of frost, including the inhabitants.

Since the layer was so thin, Philip and the witches were able to easily shake it off (while Lilith felt some relief from the burns she'd sustained), but the Fire Bees were completely frozen, putting them into a dormant state. Evelyn's Stone Man was also frozen, though like the others, it was able to shake itself free of the ice and lumber towards Luz. She blasted it with a quick gale of wind to slow its approach and give herself a moment to summon her Ocarina, which she began to play. The song she played utilised Bardic Magic to ensnare each stone in the Golem's body and begin squeezing it, applying enough force to crack them and start destroying the sturdy creature's form.

"Oh no you don't!" Evelyn cried, putting her fingers to her lips and suddenly whistling sharply, using a form of Bardic Magic of her own. The sharp whistle released a sound wave that hit Luz and made her scream as a horrible pain filled her ears. The girl dropped her Ocarina and fell to her knees, clutching her ears as Evelyn's whistle changed to something more melodious. This new song caused the grass beneath Luz's knees to suddenly grow rapidly and entangle the young angel, binding her tightly in foliage.

Seeing this, Lilith dragged herself to her feet and applied a healing spell to her burns, then rushed over and cast a herbicide spell on the grass, causing it to decay and freeing Luz, who was then able to use a healing spell to fix the damage done to her ears.

"Abominations, Bardic, Construction, Plants, Illusions, Potions, Beast-Keeping, Healing, and even an attempt at Oracle Magic! This woman can use every type of magic!" Lilith growled as she watched Eda try to attack Evelyn with some Hooty Golems, and Philip used his dwindling magic to create a powerful light beam to disintegrate the core of Evelyn's Golem.

"She's definitely good! But she's more cunning than powerful!" Luz said as she got back to her feet.

At that moment, Eda finally managed to get around Evelyn's defences, blocking her escape routes with Hooty Golems so she was able to cast a lightning spell directly at Evelyn. To everyone's surprise, the witch just smirked and took the spell head on, but rather than screaming in pain, Evelyn disappeared in a cloud of cyan smoke, revealing herself to be an illusion.

"What!? The real one must have switched herself out at some point" Lilith yelled.

"Indeed I did!"

Eda spun around just as the real Evelyn emerged from an invisibility spell and shot a lightning spell of her own at the younger Clawthorne Sister. Eda grit her teeth to stop herself from screaming in pain, but the lightning still zapped her hard enough to make her convulse and fall to the ground. Luz flew forward in time to catch her, and Philip tried to capitalise on Evelyn's focus on Eda by casting a plant spell to try and grab the woman with tree roots and drag her down to the ground. However Evelyn countered with a simple wave of fire, destroying the roots and nearly burning Philip himself, if not for Lilith grabbing him and pulling him behind her and the protective barrier she created.

Luz applied some healing to a panting Eda, while Philip groaned as he felt more of his blessing fade, and Lilith focused on maintaining the barrier between them and Evelyn, whilst ensuring nothing the woman did would get through to them. Evelyn smirked at them from atop her staff, floating down almost leisurely.

"Did you really think that even outnumbered and with an Angel on your side, I would be so easily beaten? You attacked me in my own territory, where I have spells, traps, enchantments, and illusions of all kinds prepared! I've barely had to use any magic; most of what you've faced today was pre-prepared and only required a spark of magic to activate. Let me give you another example!" Evelyn boasted, snapping her fingers.

Suddenly, a Thornivine plant grew out of the ground at Philip's feet, appearing inside Lilith's barrier, and wrapped around his limbs and throat, binding him and beginning to choke him. Luz gasped and create a light scalpel on her finger, which she used to carefully cut away the vine around his throat, but more vines began to grow and slowly creep up to replace the severed one. Another snap of Evelyn's fingers made them pause just a few inches from Philip's neck.

"I don't have any desire to kill anyone but Philip. He deserves to die for all the lives he's led to their ruin, and all that he's done to my family! But I also cannot allow an Angel to live in this realm! So I'll give you an ultimatum!" Evelyn declared, pointing to Eda and then Lilith; "You two will surrender and leave my property, never to return. I'll take Everlasting Oaths to ensure your compliance." she then pointed to Philip; "You will die for what you've done, but I'll make it quick… more than you deserve!" lastly, she pointed to Luz; "And you… I will open the portal to the Human Realm that I took from Philip, and toss you through it. You will never again return to the Demon Realm, but you will live! Be thankful you're still just a child and I don't want to sink to this monster's level!" Evelyn sneered, glancing back to Philip.

"Or else what?" Lilith demanded, "This isn't an ultimatum unless there's an "Or Else" at the end, right?"

Evelyn narrowed her eyes dangerously; "I think you know what the "Or Else" is. I don't want any more witch blood spilled because of this disgusting man, so take my deal before I have to get serious!"

"You know what?" Eda growled, her sclera turning black; "Here's a counter offer; hand over those notes and the portal, or I'll show you what a real witch can do!"

With one final growl of rage, Eda transformed into her Harpy Mode. She'd wanted to keep this a secret, since she was in the past and didn't want stories of it spreading around, but she had lost her temper by this point. Seeing as Evelyn made no moves to surrender and hand over the notes, Eda flapped her wings hard and lunged at the red-headed witch, moving a lot faster than she'd anticipated and managing to knock her and her Palisman to the ground. Owlbert and Corvanc both swooped down on the Buzzard Palisman and began to peck and scratch at it, keeping him from returning to his master's side as Eda and Evelyn clashed; the latter using a gardening trowel to parry Eda's claws.

With Evelyn distracted, Luz was able to slice away the Thornivine plant binding Philip, freeing him from its grip. She then looked to Lilith, who was taking a moment to rest and observe her sister's Harpy Mode.

"Lilith, I'm going to try attacking from above! You try and help Eda from down here!" Luz said.

Lilith nodded; "Understood!"

She then ran forward and jumped into the battle between Eda and Evelyn. Eda, while mostly in control of herself, had lost her temper enough that she was actually struggling to control her Harpy Mode, and was having trouble casting spells with her own dwindling blessing and her rage messing up her focus. She was relying almost entirely on her talons, while also using the corrosive power of her Harpy Magic to decay any spell circles Evelyn tried to draw, limiting her to her trowel. When Lilith jumped in, things became even harder for Evelyn, who ended up taking a few glancing blows from Eda's claws as she prioritised dodging Lilith's point blank magic attacks, each one of which was designed to debilitate and slow Evelyn down even further. To top it off, Luz circled above and began firing silver light beams down into their close quarters skirmish, using the wind element's aspects of Freedom and Faith to imbue her light and ensure it bent around her Mom and Tia to only strike Evelyn. These light beams were less powerful than a conventional one, but they still inflicted painful burns which further drained Evelyn's stamina. The woman had to admit; this trio fought well together!

As Eda and Lilith fought up and close and personal with Evelyn, the sisters striking with their magic and claws as Evelyn countered with her own attacks, Philip saw the perfect opportunity. The three witches were stuck together in close quarters, and so focused on each other that they'd never notice him. They were wide open, and best of all, Luz was flying around above, peppering them with light while looking for an opening to swoop down and catch Evelyn off-guard. With the young Angel out of harms way, Philip had the perfect opportunity to destroy the Evil Witch that had taken his brother… and free Luz from the Witches that had enthralled her too!

He gathered together every last scrap of magic that Luz had given to him with her blessing, and drew a large light glyph on a page he'd torn from his diary. He then drew the largest golden spell circle he could, and focused the resultant spell into the drawn glyph, creating a massive sphere of light that then released all the energy it contained directly at the witches in the form of an intense beam of light.

"Burn in the light of God, you foul Sorceresses!" he bellowed, a vicious smile on his face as the blast rapidly shot towards the witches, ready to consume them. They looked up just in time to see the attack coming their way, their eyes widening as their lives flashed before their eyes. The blast was strong enough that they'd all be consumed and vaporised, and none of them had noticed in time to raise up a barrier, leaving them with no choice but to accept their fate. Lilith had just enough time to try and push Eda behind her while pulling Evelyn forward, planning to protect her little sister with both their bodies, but as the light encompassed them, and they braced for the pain, they were surprised to feel nothing at all. Their eyes were forced shut by the brightness, and they heard Philip's cry of triumph… until the light faded and revealed a crystal barrier had been erected around the witches, protecting them from harm.

The three witches looked up into the sky and saw Luz pointing her palm at them, the glyphs of ice and light overlapping and glowing in her palm as she panted. "That was too close…!" Luz gasped. She'd barely been able to get the barrier up in time!

Philip's jaw hung open as he saw his targets had been protected, but before he could say a word, Luz descended from the sky and fixed him with a furious glare.

"What do you think you're doing, Philip!? You nearly killed Mom and Tia Lily! Not to mention I said I didn't want to kill Evelyn, just bring her to justice!" Luz yelled.

"Death is the only justice that foul creature deserves! The Lord says "Suffer not a witch to live!" I am merely doing my duty as a Witch Hunter of Gravesfield!" Philip cried. He had used up his blessing and felt empty at the absence of the holy power, but he still had his crooked dagger, which he held tightly in his hand.

Luz gasped; "A Witch Hunter!?"

"Yes! I told you before, my brother and I were tasked with protecting the souls of the people of Gravesfield from evil! That is why Caleb went to run off this evil witch off, before she ensnared his mind with hateful sorcery!" Philip explained.

Luz felt her stomach twist; that was what Philip had meant!? She'd assumed he was just like a town guard or protector of some kind, not one of the crazed Witch Hunters! History remembered them largely as religious zealots who hanged and burned innocent people who'd been accused of witchcraft back in the days of Puritanism! If Philip truly was a Witch Hunter… then had all those people he'd led to their deaths been killed on purpose!? Had he been luring innocent witches and demons to their deaths, in the name of his God!?

"Blue Fang… he didn't sacrifice himself for you at all, did he? You used him as bait and left him to die!" Luz cried.

Philip didn't deny it; "I apologise for my earlier deceit, Lady Luz. But it was necessary with those witches so close at hand! This entire realm is filled with evil! It is Hell in all but name! The denizens have turned their backs on the light of God and speak openly about slaughtering your kin! Look at Evelyn behind you! She was willing to kill you the instant she learned what you are!"

Luz shook her head; "No! That's not right! I don't know why Angels and Demons are really at odds, but it's not because all Angels are good and all Demons are evil! I've met countless witches and demons who are my friends! They're good people who just want to live their lives freely and happily!"

"And we know the truth about Angels." Eda said, looking more at Evelyn as she backed off a step; "While some may have tried to enslave us to their order in the past, not all of them are bad just as not all of us are good. Luz there is helping us fight to preserve our own way of life, rather than trying to force her order on people who don't want it. She's even fighting against another Angel to do it!"

Both Evelyn and Philip gasped at that, both looking at Luz for different reasons. Evelyn looked at her with an entirely new perspective, while Philip looked horrified.

"No! Lady Luz, you mustn't listen to these sinners!" Philip cried, "They have turned you against God's light! Their magic has enthralled you, just as it did to my brother! Think about it; isn't it odd that you were so willing to accept this witch as a mother when you already had an Angelic Mother? How odd it was that said Angelic Mother was willing to accept the arrangement? Isn't it bizarre that she immediately swooped in to "take care of you" when you first arrived in this world? And how they use you for blessings!?"

He pointed his knife at the witches, even as his eyes remained fixed on the horrified young Angel; "Please my Lady, open your eyes! They have planned this whole affair to enslave you and turn you away from God! You must resist!"

Luz felt like she was being slapped with deja vu… Philip wasn't the first person to be convinced that she was being manipulated by Eda after all, and his rhetoric surrounding God was definitely uncomfortably familiar too. The girl hated the comparison, but she couldn't deny it, especially when Philip had literally just tried to kill Eda and Lilith, and basically confessed to leading others to their deaths intentionally.

"W-Was anything you said true? Did Evelyn really attack Gravesfield? Did she really force you and Caleb to fight to the death!?" Luz asked in a shaky voice. Had she been fooled into helping the wrong person!?

"Of course it's the truth! My brother was devout, and that monster forced me to take his life just to save his immortal soul!" Philip yelled.

Evelyn snarled; "I did no such thing! I never cast a spell on Caleb's mind! I never made him think or feel a single thing that wasn't purely his own free will! You just couldn't accept that your "devout" brother genuinely fell in love with a witch! You killed in him cold blood while he was trying to defend me!"

"BE SILENT, TEMPTRESS!" Philip roared, lunging towards Evelyn. Luz leapt between him and the witches and held her arms out wide, forcing the man to stop his attack. He recoiled from her, holding his knife out in front of him shakily. "Lady Luz, please! You are being corrupted by them! I don't wish to see another pure and benevolent soul twisted by this place!"

Luz shook her head sadly. In truth, she didn't truly know if she could trust Evelyn, but she now knew for certain that she couldn't trust Philip; his attempt on Eda and Lilith's lives, and his admission that he killed, or rather let die, many other witches and demons had proven that. But even as wrong as his actions were, he genuinely believed he was doing the right thing! Luz wanted to try and get through to him! It was the duty of an Angel to try and help after all.

"Philip, this needs to stop. What you're doing isn't good or righteous. I don't know if you're right about Evelyn, but I do know that the things you've done are still wrong! You've led innocent people to their deaths! You lied to me! And you're wrong about Mom and Tia Lily. I trust them with all my heart, and I know for a fact that is my own feelings and not just a spell they've cast on me." Luz stepped forward and began gently reaching for Philip's knife.

"No… no, you don't understand! Their magic is too deep into your mind! Please, fight it my Lady!" Philip begged.

Luz gently shook her head once again; "No Philip, it's you who doesn't understand. But I can help you! I'll show you that there are good people here in the Demon Realm. I'll show you that being a Witch Hunter is not the holy path you think it is! And if Evelyn is guilty like you say she is, I'll help you get justice for Caleb!" she carefully wrapped her hand around Philip's, careful to avoid cutting herself on his knife.

"Just let me help you, Philip. This doesn't have to end with more blood and violence. We can talk this out, and resolve things peacefully." Luz finished, imploring him with all she had, her golden eyes staring into his blue ones.

For a moment, Philip genuinely hesitated. Luz could see the doubts in his expression, his wonder if he really had been wrong all along. If Witches were evil, and Luz was simply showing him that. But that hesitation didn't last long as he looked passed Luz to Evelyn, who was watching the encounter with incredulous eyes.

No, Philip would not believe he was wrong! He would not have doubts! If he was wrong, then the cause he'd devoted his life to was all for nothing! The years he'd spent in the Demon Realm were for nothing! His holy crusade of justice was for nothing! Caleb… his brother's death would have been for nothing! Philip would not believe that! He would not entertain the idea of his brother truly loving that heinous sorceress! He would not believe an Angel would side against him and his righteousness! This was all trickery and lies, and Luz Noceda was a young Angel being led astray! Well he would save the world and the young Angel, and he'd start by putting down the source of his pain and the girl's control!

With a bloodthirsty scream, Philip pulled his hand from Luz's grasp, ready to dart around her and throw himself at Evelyn in a bloody frenzy. However Luz did not release her grip easily, and she ended up struggling with Philip. The struggle went from trying to hold onto his hand to trying to stop him brandishing the knife, and when Philip finally pulled free, Luz reacted without thinking and grabbed the blade itself. One more quick jerk from Philip resulted in him pulling free from her grip entirely, and Luz screamed in pain as the jagged blade sliced through the flesh of her palm and got caught on her pinky finger. When Philip ripped the blade free, staggering back as a result, everyone looked on in horror as Luz's pinky finger was severed from her hand, hitting the ground between the pair as Luz cried out.

Tears streamed down her face as she gripped her now four-fingered hand, trying to stem the blood gushing from the stump of her pinky finger.

"LUZ!" Eda and Lilith both cried, rushing forward. Eda immediately began casting numbing spells on Luz's wound, making the girl hiss, and then sigh with relief as the pain disappeared.

"N-No! I didn't mean to-" Philip gasped as he stared at the knife, painted gold with Angelic Blood.

Lilith grit her teeth as she marched from Luz towards Philip, and cast a spell at his right hand, which clung to his knife. The spell burned him and he cried out, dropping the knife and making it hit the ground beside Luz's lost pinky finger. He cursed and looked up angrily, but the instant he made eye contact with Lilith, she threw her fist forward and slammed it into Philip's nose. There was a satisfying crunch as the bridge of his nose broke beneath Lilith's fist, and the man fell back on his behind and cried out in pain.

"Agh! You despicable sorceress!" he yelled, holding his battered face.

"You tried to kill my little sister and I, then cut off my niece's finger when she was trying to help you! Be glad I'm not breaking your neck!" Lilith glared furiously. She then marched over to Luz and helped the girl take off Philip's coat, not wanting anything of his touching her. She tossed it at the man, and he glared venomously as he used the sleeve to dab the blood from his face.

"I was trying to save her from you and your evil! I never meant to hurt her! This is your fault!" Philip yelled.

Luz shook her head; "No, Philip. This is your fault. You're hurting people who don't deserve it, and you don't even realise it. No, you do realise it, but you don't care."

Philip looked at her in shock and sorrow, her disapproval seeming to really hurt him almost as much as his broken nose. His right arm, previously burned, began to pulsate oddly, making Luz and the witches blink at it in confusion. Philip held the arm and hid it with his coat, as his hurt expression became one of anger.

"No… No, I am not wrong! These witches have turned you against the Lord! They've infected you with vile sorcery! But I will save you!" Philip got to his feet and began to back away; "I'll save every righteous soul and bring about the end of this vile realm! Mark my words, Luz Noceda; I will tear their influence from you and all of God's Creations! I swear it on the name of Wittebane!"

With that, he pulled out a large rolled up piece of parchment, which he unravelled to reveal a hideously complex looking glyph combo. He dropped it on the ground, and stepped on it as Lilith and Evelyn both shot spells at him. The spells collided with a sudden wall of ice that shot up between them and Philip; the result of an ice glyph Philip activated as he stepped on the giant combo.

"We will meet again one day, Luz Noceda. And on that day, I will sever the bonds that these witches have infected you with. Until then, farewell!" Philip said, his eyes gleaming menacingly as he slammed his palm into the glyph combo. There was a huge eruption of light, forcing Luz and the witches to cover their eyes, and when the light faded, Philip was gone.

"W-What happened!? Where did he go!?" Luz asked urgently.

"I don't know. He's used that strange glyph combination before, whenever I've cornered him. It whisks him away to who knows where." Evelyn sighed, snapping her fingers and causing the barrier around her property to vanish. "Nothing I do seems to be able to stop it. I'd hoped my barriers would keep him in, but it seems that failed too."

With Philip gone and Luz's claims that she didn't want to force her order onto anyone, Evelyn had essentially lost her reason to fight, though she was still eyeing the Angel and her family closely, and the barrier around her house was still noticeably in place. Lilith kept an eye on her too, not willing to let her guard down around someone who'd been an enemy just moments before, and might well still be one. Eda was less concerned with Evelyn though, and more focused on Luz's injury. Her spell had stemmed the bleeding, but Luz really needed to heal the wound.

"Luz, can you manage one of your Crystal Healing Lotus spells?" Eda asked softly.

"Yeah, but it's gonna hurt to regrow my finger. I'd prefer to reattach it." Luz said, feeling a little light headed from all the blood she'd lost. It felt like she'd been losing a lot of blood recently…

Eda looked towards where the finger would have fallen, only to frown when she found nothing. It and Philip's knife were both gone… he must have snatched them both under the cover of his coat after Lilith tossed it at him.

"I think that creep took it!" Eda scowled.

"Well that's macabre… But I suppose he'd consider it some kind of grim relic from an Angel. The mad Zealot certainly seemed obsessed with you and this God you both allegedly serve." Evelyn commented, "I'm willing to help you heal, provided you answer some questions."

Luz smiled at her; "I'll answer your questions, but I can heal myself. It's just gonna suck… Mom, keep those numbing spells coming!"

Eda nodded and continued casting numbing spells and very mild ice spells to further numb the pain as Luz waved her hand, creating a trio of glyphs in the air. After her encounters with Philip, Evelyn was familiar with the ice and plant glyphs, but the light glyph was a new one to her, and the way they combined with a spell circle to form a crystal lotus flower was definitely new! She watched as green light emerged from the flower in little pollen-like balls and touched the stump of Luz's finger, making the girl wince as the finger began to regrow, starting with the bone, then the nerves and blood vessels, and finally the muscle, skin, and nail. It was a painful and very tiring process to regrow a lost body part, even one as small as her pinky finger, but at least the pain only lasted as long as it took to heal.

"There! All done! Is any one else hurt?" Luz asked.

Eda and Lilith shook their heads, and when Luz looked to Evelyn, the surprised witch shook her head too.

"Great! Now I guess we should decide what to do next. We still need those portal notes even if Philip turned out to be a crazy zealot… and you said you had questions." Luz turned to Evelyn. "So how about we sit and talk things out. I promise I won't try to hurt you or do anything underhanded, if you promise to hear us out and explain yourself too! Is that fair?"

Evelyn thought about it for a moment, the nodded; "Very well. Answer me this one question, and I'll make an Everlasting Oath not to harm you and your friends unless provoked."

Luz, Eda, and Lilith exchanged surprised looks, and Luz nodded in agreement; "Okay, ask away."

Evelyn stared into her eyes; "I was raised to believe Angels were cruel and cold creatures that would destroy anything that didn't fit their ideals of goodness and order. The Sages of the Titan even claim Angels are responsible for killing the Titans. Was all that a lie?"

Luz frowned sadly; "Honestly… I don't know. Not totally at least. I know Angels didn't kill the Titans; that was the work of a clan of witches known as the Titan Trappers, who were working for these insanely powerful creatures from beyond the stars, called the Archivists. As for whether or not Angels were cruel and cold… well all I can say is that not all of us are like that. There may have been some who really were horrible to the people of this world… Angels like Philip would have worshipped. I don't know for certain, but I can believe its true… we're not always kind, even to our own people." she confessed, thinking of Belos and the Angels of Crest Kindness, whom her Mami had run away from.

"I see… so like you said before to that Human, there is good and evil in your kind just as there is in mine and his. That is… both comforting and terrifying. A large part of what I believed to be true has just been undone." Evelyn confessed, looking up into the sky.

"I'm… sorry?" Luz tilted her head.

Evelyn chuckled; "Don't be. Anyway, a deal is a deal; give me your hand and I'll make the oath."

Luz offered her hand, but Eda pulled her back and Lilith offered her hand instead. "I'll take your oath. No offence, but you did attack after hearing Luz was an angel. I'm not taking more risks with my niece after that mad man cut off her finger and fled with it!

"You tell her, sis!" Eda grinned.

Evelyn smirked; "You'll get no arguments from me." she said, taking Lilith's hand and drawing a spell circle around their joint hands. "I swear not to harm you, your sister, or your niece so long as none of you attempt to harm me. I also promise to truthfully answer any question you ask of me, though I reserve the right to refuse to answer."

The spell circle sank into their hands and the customary glow happened, signifying the completion of the oath. Lilith let go of Evelyn's hand and smiled with relief.

"So you really are reasonable. I think we have a lot to talk about." Lilith said.

"Indeed. We can talk inside, now that we know we're not going to fight any more. If only you'd come to me without Philip; we could have done this from the start and spared my poor garden." Evelyn commented, looking forlornly at her garden. It was largely just a grass lawn now, with the remains of golems and tree roots sticking out here and there.

"I can help you regrow everything, if you tell me what you want grown." Luz offered.

Evelyn smiled; "I may take you up on that later. You want those notes I took from Philip after all, and that sounds like good payment. Anyway, follow me; I was making lunch when you all came calling, so I've got some tea on the boil."

The woman, now fully relaxed, snapped her fingers and made the barrier around her cottage drop. She then opened the front door and headed inside, inviting Luz and the Clawthorne Sisters in too. They followed her inside and looked around at the quaint cottage; it was very homey and reminded Luz of a more rustic, old-fashioned version of the Owl House; sort of like a mix of the Owl House, a country cottage, and a log cabin in the woods. The majority of the ground floor was taken up by a single multi-purpose room, with a dining area near a kitchen towards the back, and a sitting area with several bookshelves and a fireplace closer to the front. Two stair cases could be seen, one heading downwards beside the fireplace, and one heading upwards beside the kitchen.

"Whoa… this place feels just like my parents' house." Eda commented, looking around as Evelyn went to the kitchen, where an old kettle and several pots were bubbling away.

"Your parents must have good taste! I built this place myself after moving away from my own folks. They and the rest of the Clan are all gone now; they left the Boiling Isles to seek out other Titans. I'm all that's left of the Clawthorne Clan on the Boiling Isles." Evelyn commented, stirring a delicious smelling stew.

Luz, Eda, and Lilith all snapped their heads towards Evelyn, eyes wide with shock. Had Evelyn just said "Clawthorne!?"

"Not quite ready yet. That fight didn't last as long as I expected! Guess I should count my blessings." Evelyn murmured, casting a spell on the pots then grabbing the kettle and turning to the others; "Alright, whose up for… tea?"

She looked at their shocked expressions with a frown; "What is it?"

"D-Did you say your name was Clawthorne!?" Eda asked.

Evelyn smirked; "Ah, heard of us have you?" she puffed her chest out proudly; "Not to be surprised! We are famed travellers and Palisman Carvers!" she whistled sharply, and her red Buzzard Palisman came and landed on her shoulder; "I carved Rizzard here myself! He's as fine a Palisman as you could ask for! Though yours aren't too shabby either; I can tell they were carved with care."

Luz couldn't help but giggle at that; "Well of course! They were carved by famed Palisman Carvers too!"

Evelyn raised an eyebrow as Eda and Lilith shook off their shock. Eda stepped forward and said; "We haven't introduced ourselves properly. I'm Edalyn Clawthorne, and this is my sister: Lilith Clawthorne, and my adopted daughter, Luz Noceda-Clawthorne."

Eda and Lilith took off the cowl and head scarf that hid their hair, allowing Eda's wild silver mane to puff out and Lilith's own dark hair to come tumbling down, curling at the ends. Evelyn gaped as she looked between the two; her first instinct was to deny it, as she knew every member of her family! However looking at these two witches and the quality of their Palismen… they really did look like Clawthornes!

"I think we both have interesting stories to tell…!" Evelyn eventually said, casting a spell to summon some tea cups and making them and the kettle float over to the sitting area. She gestured for her apparent relatives to join her in sitting down, Evelyn and Eda taking a pair of armchairs while Luz and Lilith sat on a sofa. As a show of trust, Evelyn's Palisman Rizzard perched behind Luz on the back of the sofa and gently preened her hair, much to the Angel's joy. Evelyn smiled at this as she poured them all a cup of tea, then after they'd all sat back and enjoyed it for a few moments, she spoke up again.

"So, you have questions. Ask away."

Luz leaned forward; "Honestly, we just want to know the truth about what happened between you and Philip. He claimed you attacked his home in the Human Realm, kidnapped and bewitched his brother, forced him to kill Caleb in a fight, then stole his portal and the notes to make it so he couldn't go home!"

Evelyn scoffed; "The only part of that which is true is the part about his portal and notes! There was no way I was going to let him run away to his own world after what he did!"

"Figures. I knew there was something off about that creepy little nerd!" Eda declared; "If he wasn't our only clue on making a new portal, I'd have told him to take a hike!"

"He definitely turned out to be a disappointment…" Luz sighed, looking sadly at her regrown pinky, "… but still, while I know he lied about a lot of things, it didn't feel like he was lying about you. I think he genuinely believed what he was saying about you. Could you tell us what really happened, in your own words?"

Evelyn nodded; "Of course. You're right by the way, Philip genuinely believes his own delusions and will rewrite reality around him in his own head, just to try and make sense of it. That's why he was so sure you were corrupted; in his mind, witches are bad and angels are good, and he is good too, so if an angel is siding against him, then they have to be corrupted by something bad."

"That level of delusion is dangerous. Believe me, I once suffered from something very close to it…" Lilith said, thinking of her service to Belos and the excuses she made for him.

Luz held her Tia's hand comfortingly as Evelyn nodded; "It happens sometimes. The fact you saw the error of your ways is a credit to your strength of character. But regardless, you asked for my side of the story…"

Evelyn took a deep breath as she leaned back in her chair; "It begins with your people, Luz. Not far from here is an old Portal Gateway that was originally built by Angels as passageways between the realms. But it was broken over a thousand years ago, and as a girl I was fascinated with it and hoped to fix it so I could visit other worlds. We Clawthornes are famed for being explorers and free spirits after all! Thankfully the portal wasn't too damaged and about 10 years ago, I was able to excavate the keystone needed to operate it, as well as Titan Blood to fuel it. Once the portal was fixed up, I went through it and found myself in the Human Realm, near the small town of Gravesfield… they'd used their side of the Portal Gateway as part of a graveyard gate."

Luz racked her brain for a moment, then gasped; "The old graveyard on the edge of town! I always felt weird visiting the place, but I just thought that was because Mami had Papi buried there, instead of the newer cemetery! I always wondered why, but maybe she found it comforting to be near an old portal built by her people… or maybe that's the portal she came through when she ran away from the Divine Realm!"

"I couldn't say. However when I first arrived in Gravesfield, I was kind of a big hit. The men were all super into me, and I can't blame them. Have you seen this body? BAM! Ha!" Evelyn laughed, striking a sexy pose that made Eda cackle, even as Luz and Lilith were shocked by how similar the two were. "So no, I didn't enchant anyone… not with magic anyway."

Luz hummed; so the men in the town had just been smitten with her, and Philip mistook that for sorcery? He probably couldn't comprehend anyone being willingly attracted to a witch. But honestly, Luz couldn't blame the men of Gravesfield; compared to the conservative style of clothing women in this era wore, someone like Evelyn was probably more than they could handle!

"Well that explains one thing, but what about his claims about you casting spells on their crops and animals?" Lilith asked.

Evelyn scoffed; "I was helping them! Many of the men who became smitten with me were farmers, who offered me gifts and other such things to win my favour. It was blatant courtship behaviour, but I didn't want to turn down the human trinkets I found so interesting! Unfortunately, accepting such gifts would be accepting their courtship, so I decided to instead help them out in return, so it was more like an exchange of favours, or payment for a service. I cast spells to reinforce their crops against the cold and diseases, and make them grow more abundant, and I helped tame unruly animals and provided medicine for the sick ones. My magic scared a few of the suitors away, but others didn't seem to care… But my magic also attracted one of the town Witch Hunters… Caleb Wittebane."

The woman's expression became a sad smile; "At first, he tried to drive me off with a pitchfork, but when I showed him what I was actually doing, he stopped and listened to what I had to say. We talked for quite a while, and I told him where I'd come from… Caleb was sweet and very curious, and since he decided that I wasn't evil even though I was a witch, he wanted to talk to the townspeople and convince them to accept me. Unfortunately, my time in the Human Realm was coming to an end; the Titan Blood I'd filled the keystone with was limited and wouldn't last much longer, so I was forced to flee before the gate closed… unbeknownst to me, Caleb followed me through and Philip, who'd just arrived, followed him. Caleb and I got through to the gateway near here, but it closed before Philip could reach us and he was lost. I later learned he was spat out of a different gateway somewhere else on the isles, which just so happened to have still been functioning."

"So that's how Philip ended up here and separated from his brother…" Luz murmured; "What happened next?"

"Well at first, I offered to get more Titan Blood to open the gate and send Caleb back home, but he was sure Philip was somewhere on the isles and wouldn't leave without him. I felt responsible, so I decided to let Caleb stay with me until he found Philip. I even tried to help find him, but I had no luck. I didn't get my Oracle Spirit until a couple of years ago, and Oracle Witches are rare, reclusive, and very expensive to employ, so we were forced to search the hard way. I thought it would be easy to find a human, but Philip was crafty and didn't trust anyone, so few people knew of his existence… Caleb ended up living with me for five years, and in that time we fell in love and married. Caleb, who had no attachments to his family besides his brother, took my name and became Caleb Clawthorne. I even helped him carve a Palisman of his own, so he could use a small amount of magic."

Evelyn's expression was wistful, before it darkened dramatically; "We continued searching, but in the end Philip found us. Caleb and I were out walking when Philip attacked me, believing I'd ensnared Caleb. My love tried to convince his brother that I wasn't evil and that he had married me of his own free will, but Philip became agitated and the two got into a fight. It started with fists, but then Philip revealed the glyphs, forcing Caleb to use his staff. Seeing his brother using a witch's staff drove Philip off the deep end, and he drew a knife… Caleb drew his own to defend himself, but never did more than block Philip's blade… They fought to a standstill… then Philip lunged at me. I was… impaired at the time and couldn't defend myself fast enough, so Caleb…" Evelyn's eyes filled with tears; "… he jumped in the way. The forest was aflame from the magic they'd used, and the smoke was thick… and I saw my love dead on the ground, with his brother looming over him. I went wild and attacked, aiming to avenge Caleb but like I said before, I was impaired. I wounded him, but Philip escaped."

Luz, Eda, and Lilith stared at the woman with pale faces; they knew she was telling the truth thanks to the oath she'd taken, but the truth was more horrible than they'd expected. Eda and Lilith felt their throats go dry, while Luz's eyes filled with tears as she whispered; "I'm so, so sorry… I can't believe we were going to help him!"

Evelyn shook her head and wiped her eyes; "It's fine; Philip is a skilled liar. He has lied and cheated and betrayed his way through countless people; you've nothing to be ashamed of. Anyway, after Caleb died I took his body and buried him. I thought Philip would die from the wound I gave him, but he somehow survived and the ghoulish little monster found Caleb's grave and stole his body. I don't know why… maybe he just didn't like the idea of him being buried by a witch. Either way, that was the last nail in the coffin; I've spent my life since then caring for Caleb's legacy, and hunting his brother. We've been trying to kill each other ever since."

Luz felt pretty glum after hearing that, and still felt guilty for her part in helping Philip attack Evelyn's home, while Eda was grinding her teeth over the man's trickery. Lilith saw their reactions and decided to change the subject a bit before their moods darkened too much.

"One of these encounters between you led to you stealing the portal and his notes?" she asked.

"Yes." Evelyn nodded; "It was maybe… five, no, six months ago. I'd heard rumours that the Fang Brothers were hired by Philip to break into an ancient ruin in the Titan's Skull. Red and Green Fang abandoned Philip, but Blue Fang didn't and lost his life to a Stonesleeper. Later, Philip reappeared in town and were confronted by Red and Green Fang, who wanted to know what happened to their brother. They tried to burn Philip's diary, and he responded by freezing them both solid with an ice glyph and abandoning them to die from hypothermia. I'd heard he was in town and came running, but he was already gone by the time I arrived. I did save the brothers though, and hired them to help me so we could both get revenge. I had my Oracle Spirit by that point, so I was able to scry on Philip and discover him invading the Titan's skull with some new mercenaries. They all died to the Stonesleeper, but Philip dug up… something. It looked like a mirror, but it messed with my scrying as soon as it was unearthed and I didn't see what happened next."

"A mirror in the Titan's Skull… that sounds a lot like…!" Luz's eyes widened before she clamped her mouth shut. Orion had told her that one of the Collector's Mirrors was sealed up inside his skull! Had the relic Philip wanted been the Collector's mirror!? But why did he want it!?

Evelyn, unaware of Luz's thoughts, continued her story; "I kept scrying for Philip for a while after that, but didn't find him again until he came back to Bonesborough. He had the Portal Door with him at the time, so I was quick to attack him. We fought again and I wounded him again, earning myself the nickname; "The Bloody Buzzard of Bonesborough" due to how brutally I fought him. Unfortunately, Philip slipped away with that big combo of his, but I was able to snag the Portal Door AND his notes! That was the last time I saw him before today. And that's my whole story." she finished.

The Future Clawthornes sat in silence for a long moment, taking in everything that Evelyn had said. It was a lot to go through, but at least now they fully understood the story between Philip, Caleb, and Evelyn.

"You experienced a lot…" was all Luz could say, still trying to get her head around it all; "I'm sorry all that happened to you and your family."

Evelyn smiled; "Thank you; I appreciate the kind words, but I don't need sympathy. Philip will get what's coming to him one day; he's made too many enemies not to. Now, how about you tell me your story? I'm pretty familiar with our family tree, so I'm understandably shocked to see three new relatives coming out of the woodwork! Especially since the others of the clan left the Isles."

"You wouldn't believe us if we told you." Eda smiled sardonically.

"Then have Luz explain; an Angel can't lie, right?" Evelyn looked to the young Arch-Angel.

"Okay, but buckle up! This is gonna be a bit complicated…" Luz chuckled nervously, before beginning her story.

The story she told was a somewhat truncated version that really only went over the important parts. She started with the fact they were from almost 400 years into the future and had come through a Time Pool, then went back to how she came to be in the Demon Realm, becoming a Clawthorne, and how they lost the portal and came to the past in the first place. Evelyn listened with wide-eyed wonder, occasionally casting a spell to get more tea or stir the pot of stew on the stove. When Luz finally finished by repeating the events that happened between arriving in the past and showing up on Evelyn's doorstep with Philip, Evelyn slumped in her chair.

"And here I thought my story was complicated! So you two…" she pointed to Eda and Lilith, "… are my biological descendants from Titan knows how many generations into the future, and you're fighting against an evil super Angel that took over the Boiling Isles and stole the only portal Luz has to get back to her Angel mother with. And since you read that man's diary in the future, you knew he was making one and so came back to the past to get his help in making a new one…?"

"That's the long and short of it." Lilith nodded.

Evelyn looked down at her tea cup; "I think I need to add something stronger to this tea…"

"This must be hard for you." Luz said sympathetically; "I mean, if you have descendants then it must mean you have another lover someday. That's probably a lot to take in while still trying to avenge your husband."

Evelyn chuckled; "Right… about that. Remember how I said I was impaired when Philip first attacked us?"

Luz nodded slowly, while Eda and Lilith's eyes widened, both seeing what Evelyn was getting at.

"No way… You were pregnant!" Eda exclaimed.

Luz gasped; "What!? Then that means… if Eda and Lilith are descended from yours and Caleb's child then…!"

Eda went green; "I'll join you if you're getting out the hard stuff! I can't believe my sister and I are related to that Philip creep!" Eda cried, looking disgusted that she shared any blood with the zealot who'd hurt her daughter (even accidentally) and murdered her great great etc. grandfather!

"I'm not one for day drinking, but I'll take something stronger if it's on offer." Lilith chimed in, also looking paler than normal.

Evelyn chuckled sympathetically; "Sure. Anything for my great great, who knows how many greats, granddaughters! Lunch is basically ready anyway, so you can take a seat at the table while I fetch the food, a stiff drink… and someone you should meet."

Evelyn stood and walked over to the stairs leading down to her basement. She whistled a little tune, and a different tune was whistled back from the basement. Hearing that made Evelyn smile, then call out; "Your Uncle was sent packing, Dove. Mama and some new friends drove him off. Come on up for lunch, and you can meet them." she called. "Bring up that funny box and book too; one of our new friends could use it."

Luz, Eda, and Lilith didn't need to guess who Evelyn was talking to, and a moment later they heard the door to the basement open and the sound of little scampering feet running up the stairs. A little girl, no older than four or five, ran up into the room, a very familiar briefcase in her arms, as well as a bundle of aged parchment covered in esoteric notes. Luz recognised the folded up Portal Door instantly, and guessed that the parchment was Philip's notes. The little girl glanced at their guests for a second, then put the items on the table and then leapt at her Mama, giving the woman a tight hug.

"Mama! I'm glad you're okay!" she cheered in a sweet young voice.

"Hehe, with my little Dove cheering for me, how could I lose? Now lunch is ready, but let me introduce you to the ladies who helped save me." Evelyn said, gently moving her daughter in front of her so the little girl was facing her guests.

Luz examined the girl with friendly eyes and a kind smile, while Eda and Lilith took in the sight of their ancestor. The little girl had sandy golden hair, which was fluffy and messy like her Mama's, as well as light hazel eyes that looked almost golden, like Eda's. She has round cheeks, plump with baby fat, and a very slightly hooked nose that Luz found oddly familiar, though she couldn't place where she'd seen one like it. The little girl gave a bright smile, showing that she was missing a baby tooth, and she wiggled energetically, making the little pale green dress she wore swish back and forth. She was an adorable child, and Luz could definitely see the Clawthorne in her; resembling both Evelyn and the childhood pictures that her Abuela had shown her of her Mom and Tia.

"These ladies are sisters; Edalyn and Lilith, and Eda's adopted daughter, Luz. They helped Mama drive off your mean old Uncle!" Evelyn explained, before looking to her guests; "Everyone, this is my daughter Lillian."

Lillian gave a little wave; "Hello! Thank you for helping Mama!"

"You're welcome, sweetie!" Luz cooed. She loved little kids; they were always so cute! She especially loved watching Amity with them at the library.

"Hello. It's very nice to meet you, Lillian." Lilith said kindly.

"Yeah, we're always happy to meet a new munchkin." Eda joked.

Lillian giggled, but then her eyes were drawn to Luz; specifically her wings. "Mama, Luz has wings! Is she a birdy?"

"No Dove. Luz is special; she's a Good Angel." Evelyn explained.

Lillian's eyes shone with wonder; "There are Good Angels!? Wow! I wish Papa could have met her! Papa's book had Angels in them too!"

Eda and Lilith looked confused, but Luz guessed that the child was talking about the Bible. Caleb had likely kept his faith, even if he hadn't been a fanatic like his brother. Feeling sentimental, Luz knelt down and flapped her visible wings forward so she could gently tickle the little girl with her feathers, making Lillian squeal with delight. The child stroked them happily, and continued to do so as her Mama, Eda, and Lilith began setting the table and setting out their lunch. Once it was set out, they all sat down to eat together, with Luz entertaining Lillian throughout the meal while the adults talked. There was an unspoken agreement not to bring up the fact they were all Clawthornes, just in case it confused Lillian and influenced her young mind, which could cause ripple effects through time.

Once the meal was over, and Lillian was distracted by playing with their Palismen, Evelyn handed the portal notes to Luz.

"Here; you should take these. Philip stole the keystone to the gateway I used to get to Gravesfield so I wouldn't be able to go back there, so I'm afraid you won't likely be able to use the gate in the future to get back home. You'll need these to make a new one." Evelyn said.

Luz took the notes gratefully; "Thank you so much! It took a lot, but we finally have what we came for! And learned a bit about your family history too." she said, glancing to Eda and Lilith.

"It's your family history too, Luz." Eda reminded her, making the girl smile.

Lilith then raised a question; "What do we do about the actual Portal Door? This is the same door that you found in the future, right Sister?"

Eda nodded; "That's right. Which is why I know exactly what you should do with it." she said, looking serious.

"Really? Do tell; I was just going to let it rot in my basement if you weren't going to take it. I've got no interest in going back to the Human Realm after losing Caleb." Evelyn confessed.

Eda smirked; "That's exactly what I want you to do! Leave the portal in your basement. Even if you decide to leave this house, leave the portal buried here."

Evelyn and Lilith both looked very confused, but Luz saw what her Mom was getting at. When Luz had asked how Eda had gotten the portal, the woman had explained that she'd found it in the dirt not far from her house on the night she ran away. Considering Eda had pointed out earlier that her childhood home would one day be built near Evelyn's home, it was almost certain that Eda had tripped over the portal while running through the land on which Evelyn's house once sat. That was how Eda had gotten the portal; Evelyn stole it and buried it for her to find generations later!

Luz explained this to Evelyn and Lilith, and the former smiled and agreed; "Got it. I'll make sure the portal is buried and I won't mention it to Lillian again. She's only little, so she'll forget it ever existed before long. If she does ever ask, I'll distract her with Flap-Flap."

"Flap-Flap?" Eda raised an eyebrow.

"My late husband's Palisman. Flap-Flap is what Lillian calls him; he's her best friend. I'm not sure where he is; he tends to come and go, but he always comes back when Lillian wants him." Evelyn answered. "Now, about my garden…"

For the next few hours, Luz, Eda, and Lilith assisted Evelyn and Lillian in restoring the garden that had been destroyed in their battle. It wasn't a very difficult task thanks to magic; they cleared away the remnants of golems and roots, and trimmed back the grass to only where Evelyn wanted it, before Luz used her new earth glyph to rebuild the flower beds and stone borders (though she struggled with using the cumbersome drawn versions of the glyph). Once the garden was back to its proper condition, Luz used her plant magic to grow all the plants Evelyn wanted, and even included a little flowerbed full of Lilies, as a gift for Lillian. It was a pleasant afternoon, spent with Luz playing with Lillian and the Palismen while Evelyn told Eda and Lilith stories about their family's past, including some that had been lost by the time they were born.

But sadly, all good things have to come to an end and when the sun began to dip in the sky, Luz, Eda, and Lilith knew that it was time to return home. The tide would start coming in soon, and that would close the Time Pool for good, so it was time to say their goodbyes.

The three stood outside Evelyn's property as the woman herself and her daughter stood in their open gateway, both smiling sadly. Despite their bad first impressions of each other, both groups had grown quite fond of the other. Perhaps it was because they were family, but they'd definitely bonded more than one would expect, so their farewell (which all but Lillian knew would be forever) made them all feel a little choked up.

"Thank you again for the notes. I won't ever forget you and all the help you gave us." Luz said earnestly.

"You are welcome. And thank you for teaching me that Angels are not monsters, but just people like everyone else. I shudder to think that I almost had the same mindset towards Angels as Philip does towards Witches!" Evelyn replied, giving Luz a warm hug.

Eda stepped forward next and shook her ancestor's hand; "It's been fun, Evelyn. Keep being awesome and kicking that evil nerd's butt!"

"Naturally. And don't worry about the portal; it'll be waiting for you right where you remember it." Evelyn grinned. "And you girls can call me Eve. It's what Caleb always called me."

Next was Lilith, who bowed politely; "Thank you so much for sharing so much history with us! I've learned so much! I can't wait to use this to make an exhibit at work! Even Flora D'splora won't be able to measure up to this!"

Evelyn blinked; "I have no idea who that is, but good luck! And try to get out a little more. Clawthornes are explorers and adventurers by nature; we don't see the world through books, but through our own eyes."

Lilith took that advice in the spirit in which it was meant, then joined Eda in stooping to ruffle Lillian's hair. Lillian politely said goodbye to them, but she wasn't too upset to see them leave; a kid her age hadn't been too interested in the boring talk of grown ups. She did get teary eyed when she came to say goodbye to Luz though, as she'd rarely had a bigger kid to play with. The little girl hugged Luz tightly as she said goodbye.

"I'm gonna miss you, Luz! You're my best friend, just behind Flap-Flap!" she said, lip trembling as she tried not to cry.

Luz cooed and returned the hug; "Aw, and you're one of my best friends too! And you know I mean that, since Angels can't lie!" she said, playfully tapping Lillian's nose with her finger; "I'll miss you too, Lillian. Go out and make lots of friends, and have awesome adventures! That way even if I don't get to see you again, I'll hear all about the cool stuff you've done and will know my friend is out there having fun!"

Lillian sniffled, then nodded enthusiastically. She gave Luz one last squeeze, then released her so the trio could leave. They waved to each other and yelled one last goodbye as Luz and the Clawthorne Sisters walked back through the forest towards Bonesborough and the road back to the shoulder. Only a few seconds after turning away from the waving Evelyn and Lillian, Luz saw a flash of something red in her peripheral vision and turned to watch as a red bird landed beyond the garden wall of Evelyn's home. Luz didn't get a good look at the red bird, but she did hear Lillian's excited cry of "Flap-Flap!" just before they moved out of earshot. Putting that thought out of her mind, the young Angel smiled and walked with Eda and Lilith out of the forest.

After a brief stop in Bonesborough to return their borrowed clothes, and so Luz could change back into her own attire, they returned to the beach on the Titan's Right Shoulder and jumped through the Time Pool they'd come through, re-emerging in their own time. They arrived to find Raine, Rasiel, and King sitting around a campfire making s'mores, with small pillars of stone all over the beach… clearly King had been practicing with the earth glyph!

"You're back!" King cheered; "How'd it go? Did you find that Philip guy?"

Luz cringed; "Yeah, but he stunk. We got what we came for though!" she said, perking up as she showed the notes.

"We'll tell you all about it back at the house. How was your day?" Eda asked, giving Raine a peck on the cheek, much to their pleasure.

"Easy enough." Rasiel answered, seeing as Raine was now too busy kissing Eda back. "We mostly just hung out and tested some glyph combos with King. Though Raine did get an interesting scroll call…"

The girls turned to Raine, who frowned; "It was your Mom, Gwen. She'd apparently been trying to call you all day, but you couldn't answer being in another time period and all."

"Really? What did she want?" Eda asked. Since she was on good terms with her Mom again, she'd taken to talking to her regularly over their scrolls.

Raine's face fell further; "W-Well she was visiting the Owl House with your Dad. He'd just got back from his latest trip and wanted to see you. I explained you were occupied and he seemed to understand but…"

Eda bit her lip guiltily; "He thinks I'm still avoiding him…"

Rasiel raised an eyebrow; "Well I mean, aren't you?"

"I guess. I really need to go talk to him, especially with everything that's happened. It's just finding the time. And the courage too…" Eda admitted. She'd already decided she was definitely going to finally face her father again, but the reality of what that meant was still scary for her, especially after all these years.

"Why don't we discuss it as a family? You, me, King, Tia Lily, and Titi Raine. We could all visit together." Luz suggested.

Lilith nodded; "That would be nice. I've only seen him briefly since I moved back home, since he was getting ready for another of his travels, so I'd like to spend more time with him."

King nodded eagerly too, and Raine seemed agreeable, so Eda just sighed; "We'll talk about it later. But let's focus on reuniting Luz with her Mami before we worry about me and Dad."

"Right! I've got school again tomorrow, but first thing after I get home, it's portal building time!" Luz declared.

Her family gave a little cheer, and they all started to head home. However as they walked, something niggled at the back of Luz's mind; Lillian had definitely been an adorable child, but something about her had definitely been familiar. Luz wondered if it was just the Clawthorne in the child reminding her of Eda, but that didn't feel quite right.

"Who does she really remind me off?" Luz thought, before King began gushing about his latest glyph combo and all thoughts of the odd familiarity fled from Luz's mind.

[Elsewhen]

It was a furious Philip who returned to his secret hideout hidden in the base of the Titan's Skull. Holding his broken nose with one hand, Philip used the other and his own blood to inscribe a complex glyph combo into the bone wall, causing a secret passage to open up and grant him passage into the hideout itself. He walked to the end of the cave, feeling his right arm swelling as the glyph markings he'd carved into his arm began to pulsate. He groaned in pain, and muttered foul curses as he walked into the chamber that housed his books, his research, and the mirror he'd spent so long trying to acquire.

A shadow emerged from the mirror and began to watch him, giggling childishly as Philip pulled back a tarp in the corner of the room, revealing a pile of dead and drained Palismen. He rifled through them for a moment until he found one that was merely dormant… though it didn't stay that way for long. With a sickening crunch, he snapped the poor creature's head off and inhaled the green magic that rose up from inside it, sighing with relief as his arm calmed down. His nose also stopped hurting, though a scar had begun to form… Philip saw the green tinge to the scar in the mirror and grit his teeth.

"Those damnable witches! As if they haven't taken enough from me! And now they've taken the soul of a young Angel too!" Philip snarled.

"Ooh, an itty bitty birdy came all the way to the Demon Realm? How fun! Did you catch them? I wanna play with them!" the Shadow said cheerfully.

"Patience, Collector." Philip said sternly; "You will be playing with no one until the Day of Unity is complete… though now I know where to find the piece I need to finish it! I just need to save her soul first."

The Collector rolled his eyes, then giggled; "Speaking of Angels, I can smell their magic on you! Did the birdy give you a blessing?"

"She did. That power was intoxicating! I felt closer to God than ever before!" Philip declared, before reaching into his coat pocket and pulling out two items; a dagger coated in golden blood… and the still bleeding pinky finger that he'd accidentally cut from Luz's hand.

"Ooh, a souvenir! What are you going to do with that?" the Collector asked.

Philip placed the finger into a glass vial, and then did the same with some of the blood on his dagger. "For now, nothing. I'd need the whole thing to supply the Bone of Ortet, so I can't make multiple back-ups. With the Eclipse so far away, I can't afford to waste it until the time is right. But when the day comes, I'll have a safety net should I be unable to find and save Luz's soul in time. Angels can live for 1000 years even at their lowest forms, so I'm sure she'll still be alive and somewhere in this wretched realm."

"She may live longer than you think, Uncle."

Philip frowned and turned to face the newcomer; a boy in a white cloak and a golden mask. "Zachary. I take it you completed your task?"

The masked boy nodded and revealed a large piece of what appeared to be reptilian skin; "Fresh Selkidomus scales, just as you ordered." he tossed the scales onto his Uncle's workbench. "Are you going to tell me what they're for?" he asked impetuously.

Philip narrowed his eyes; "Do not get ahead of yourself, Zachary. I grow tired of your insubordination." he snapped. "And what did you mean about Luz living longer than I think? Have you been spying on me again!?"

Zachary tilted his head; "No Uncle. I merely returned earlier than I expected, so I took the liberty of spying on the Clawthorne Witch's house. I had no idea you were planning to attack it today, and I intended to join you, but the witch raised those barriers and kept me out. Since I couldn't help fight, I decided to stick around even after you fled… I witnessed the Angel leave with those two witches, and when I followed them, they disappeared through a Time Pool on the Titan's shoulder."

Philip's eyes widened; "A Time Pool! Did you follow them through!?"

Zachary shook his head; "No, Uncle. The tide was coming in and I thought I'd be trapped."

Philip scowled; "I see… no matter. The information you gave was still useful. I will see Luz Noceda again one day, I am sure of it! She must have come from the future; it's the only way she could know of me! I'll need to be sure to leave evidence behind for her to find…" he muttered that last part as he glanced over at his diary.

The Collector gave a sly grin; "If you live long enough! The Eclipse isn't for almost another 400 years after all!"

"I will live long enough to see this through, no matter what I have to do!" Philip declared; "Now if only I could get my hands on another Angelic Blessing! With the power of an angel, I would be able to achieve all of my goals!"

Zachary scoffed under his breath, but the Collector's grin grew wider; "I don't know about the Ickle Birdy Luz, but I might know where you can find another Angel… Care for a trip to the desert?"

Philip turned to stare at the Collector, whose shadowy hand had shaped itself into a cube. Realisation hit the man like a ton of bricks; "The Black Tomb…! An Angel is interred inside!"

"Bingo!" the Collector giggled.

Philip began to smirk; so an Angel was buried in the Black Tomb… and Luz had given him everything he needed to open it! He glanced at the vial of her blood, then thought of her warnings of what guarded the tomb. He turned to Zachary.

"I've new orders for you. Go out and hire a mercenary band… the largest you can. Offer them any amount of money they ask for."

"And how are we supposed to pay them?" Zachary asked.

"We won't be." Philip chuckled darkly; "None of them will be leaving Volcarpalis alive. After all… there be Dragons!"