The fifth episode of the Owl House and the fourth are reversed in this fanfic.
Warning: mention of blood, gore, self-harm.
Hope you enjoy.
(See the end of the chapter for more notes.)
She ran as fast as her leg could propel her, each stride taking her further away from the cafeteria, leaving a trail of confused colleagues and teachers in her wake, but she couldn't even begin to care.
All that mattered was for her to get as far as possible, but the simple task of running was far more challenging than she could have imagined.
Inside her upper abdomen, her stomach lurches and shudders painfully, her ribcage tightens around her lungs like a tight corset, forcing her nostrils to flare to inhale larger quantities of oxygen just to keep her brain alive.
Her mandibula and upper jaw throbbed with pain caused by what was left of her tongue and nerves being shredded by rows of pearly white daggers that pushed and twisted unnaturally against the inner chamber of her mouth. Muscles across her body spasm and strain under the weight of her skeleton, and the marrow in her bone shifted and wrenched, tearing fiber and blood tissues to bits.
Inside her cranium, her mind fractures under the despair and blemish the Pale Song brings forth, even if it is just an echo of its glory.
Her body should have given in long ago, left in a sickening display only a morbid painter could ponder, yet she didn't, the only forte keeping her standing and mouth shut was the burning determination and claustrophobic fear coursing through her vein like molten magma.
Sadly determination is not enough.
The longer she delays the inevitable, the more she can feel herself altering under the influence of the Nightmare slumbering under her flesh.
With each tick of a second, her hands and legs become something not real .
Her head swirls with horrible visions and before she could hold it, a viscous liquid mixed with remnants of discontinuous branches spewed through her mouth, the simple and human gag reflex forcing her bloody mouth wide open, by doing so releasing the nightmare melody onto the world.
At that moment, a paradox is created where there are two Luz o̷n̷e̷ o̷n̷e̷,̷o̷n̷l̷y̷o̷n̷e̷ .
The first is a terrified girl with unreachable dreams and a broken future, trying to navigate between buildings in the naive search of a place that is isolated enough that the echo of the melody that will sing the world asunder would do the least amount of damage.
The next second, she is gone, replaced by something that isn't ■■■.
In a fragmented second, the entire abyss beyond the wall of light vanishes.
Pantheons of deities, gods, dragons, elder devils, heat, and entropy are extinguished in a blast of horrid melody. Simultaneously the wall that had kept for eons the abyss away from the kingdom of Life shatters under the Hunter's horrendous existence.
Their presence, incomprehensible to the humanwitchgod eye, breaches into the mortal realm like an endless calamity of hatred and turmoil.
Hope dies.
Light shatters.
Darkness burns.
Lower dimensions shudder and strain under the sovereignty of their true form, propelling a shockwave that rattles the pillar holding time and space together, evoking the terrifying notion that they had existed since the beginning, end, and all that came in between.
Their eyes, which were seconds ago shimmering with terror, were replaced with voracious verdant orbs that glowed with the same intensity as the emptiness between stars.
With an indifferent glint, they scrutinize the intricate tapestry of cosmic order, beholding the very fabric of existence itself, and deem it pitiful. For those are the same eyes that had gazed onto infinity and found it limiting, constricting.
Before the stars could flicker, the last proof that anything existed was expunged as the Nightmare unfolded its maw, revealing interminable rows of jagged fangs, each one a supercluster of galaxies held together by the suffering of countless lifeforms adhered in a perpetual cycle of rebirth.
And from within the null that plagued the endless and gawing maw, a melody that predates life and death and is above the laws of entropy surges forward.
The end
Then, the second passes, and the universe breaks the paradox.
The abyss is restored like nothing had happened and there is only one Luz once more.
Like a bolt of lightning had struck her, she is dragged back into her body at warp speed, stumbling around as she readjusts to being a solid, three-dimensional, human .
From within her ribcage, she can feel the healthy rhythm of her beating heart the pain induced by countless rows of teeth piercing her flesh, and the Roar of Finality that surged from every pore of her body. And she cannot help but feel relieved, for the pain proves that despite everything, she is still herself– l̷i̷l̷i̷e̷l̷i̷e̷l̷i̷e̷
That, however, does not mean everything was back to normal.
Looking around her, she could see clearly that the air around her was splintered with matter pollution spewing from the cracks. Even though human eyes couldn't see it, she caught a glimpse of the broken remnants of the intermolecular link that held the air molecules together, its shambling cry of help being heard only by its killer. But that is just one of the many effects of the Roar of Finality breaching into the mortal world.
The cement under her was shredded to bits, leaving only dirt and sand in its place. Windows of apartments and cars windshields had either cracked or burst under the influence of the Hunter melody, sending boiling shards of glass at breakneck speeds, embedding themself into every solid surface.
Mammals ranging from mice, dogs, and bears stamped in all directions but her location, taking any chance to delay the inevitable. It didn't matter that they were strays or lived by their owner's side all their life, that loyalty was obliterated the moment the melody that shall erase all had breached into their mortal coil. After all, their undeveloped brain was programmed on two fundamental axioms, fight or flight, and there was no such thing as fighting the Pale Song.
Birds were not in any better predicament as they either died from the shock, their frail body left to crash to the ground and spasm even in death, or they had long departed from their nest, leaving any fledgling unable to fly to fend for themself.
As for humans, given their innate ability to sense danger like other mammals and animals alike, they will never understand the true terror they should feel even after hearing a single vowel of the Roar of Finality. Through their naivety, they will never comprehend their mistake of not departing as far as their eye can see.
Their mistake of not killing themselves before the Song could get them
But this also meant they would never figure out the actual culprit was none other than silly little Luz. So with that in mind, the girl began running once again.
This time, straight home, and only under the shade of her silent house, she unlocks the vault keeping all of her emotions at bay, letting her sobs fill out the oppressing silence and muffling the howls of hatred and acrimony at the back of her mind.
Such a shame, for if she had been more careful and not driven by grief for what her mistake had done to the world, she would have seen the noxious seed left in her wake.
It is the dawning of a new day and what might be one of Amity's only chances to prove why she is fit to be part of the Emperor Coven.
Above her, the bright streaks of gold enrich the purple sky, setting ablaze what darkness was left hanging onto the island, its heat bathing the island in a scalding climate.
The sun's rays cling to her limbs uncomfortably like a blanket she can't shake off, but the feeling does not last long as the Convention doors gracefully swing open, allowing the revitalizing breeze to brush away any remnants of heat, the crisp air filling her lungs and gently improving her mood.
The Convention Center was one of the largest buildings to have ever been constructed on the island, a vast expanse of their empire culture and a testament to their Emperor's accomplishments. Yet, despite the grandeur of the structure, today there was not a single unoccupied path to walk through as every nook and cranny was occupied, leaving no vacant path to navigate without running into someone, witches and demons of all ages crowding nearly every stand.
The atmosphere brimmed with excitement, which was to be expected, for who wouldn't be thrilled to get the chance to be part of a coven, the Convention Center being the optimal place to choose their path.
Amity was also eager to attend, even if she didn't show it, and if her family didn't have a reputation to uphold, she would be shuffling between stands like any other person her age. So instead, she chose to move forward in search of the Emperor Coven booth, where she knew her mentor was most likely waiting.
But just before setting off, she lifted a brochure depicting the Emperor's Coven from the kiosk where a particularly bored-looking teenager rested, wanting to make sure everything was ready for her ascension to the Emperor Coven, even if said ascension was one year away.
Amity mentally checked off each requirement to ensure nothing new was added to the already long list of outlandish challenges needed to pass to join the elite coven.
Some might say even impossible, but she had been i̶n̶d̶o̶c̶t̶r̶i̶n̶a̶t̶e̶d̶ taught from when she was little that a Blight shall never fail and no matter the obst-
Before she could finish reciting the doctrine her mother had instilled in her since she could talk, without even the slightest warning, she felt her body collide with something heavy, causing her to drop the brochure and fall on her back.
"Watch where y-"
Her words remained stuck in her throat as surprise contorted her face. Over the years, she had met many strange-looking demons and witches, yet the person standing before her stood out even compared to those.
She was a lanky girl with long hair, her locks cascading down her shoulder in a disharmonic symphony, not too dissimilar to the mesmerizing chaos of a brooding star.
Her skin, a light brown shade reminiscent of creamy caramel intermixed with hints of ashen ossein was contrasted by her hazel eyes that sparkled like crisp honey with hints of a verdant ocean that almost seemed to encroach on her iris. However, what caught her attention the most, apart from the rounded ears and the pale scar coiling on her forehead, was the weird psych of her body and limbs. Practically no oleaginous fat or muscle bulk clung onto the bone , heightening in weirdness when considering that it felt like colliding with a mountain.
Nonetheless, those were questions for another time since people were quickly turning their attention onto them, their inquisitive eyes making her shudder. Slapping away the offered hand, she quickly rose from the ground, pointing an accusatory finger toward the human.
"You're responsible for the mess at Hexside, aren't you? Let me tell you, if you came here to cause more problems, I won't permit it." The young witch crosses her arms in defiance, doing her best to look as intimidating as a fifteen-year-old can look. Because of an accident that occurred while training, she hadn't been able to attend Hexside for the past week, so she was a bit taken aback to hear that a human had breached into the school and caused havoc for everyone involved.
The same human who stood before her
, who to their credit, at least had the decency to look embarrassed as she scratched the back of her head,
"Well, they did try to dissect me, so ooo… regardless, you have nothing to worry about, as today I am here to learn more about how magic works on the island, no shenanigans in sight," She answered before jutting out a slightly trembling hand toward the witch again. And it was good that the young witch was still not looking at it, for something shifted beneath the thin layer of her skin that went unnoticed even to Luz. "Oh, I almost forgot to introduce myself. I am Luz Noceda, disciple of the most powerful witch to walk on the Boiling Isle and friend with the King of all demons."
But despite her attempt to be friendly, even forcing herself to smile toward the young witch with the normal amount of teeth, Amity slapped the offered hand away with mild anger once again, dispelling the slim chance that the conflict would end right there and there.
"Please, you, a Human that shouldn't even be on this island, learning magic? Now that's something outrageous."
"Luz!"
Before Luz could find her words to respond to her remark, the squeaky voice of King reverberated over the burgeoning crowd that encircled them.
The "King of all demons" ran toward them unburdened by any concern, carelessly holding a cupcake above his head as his small claws barely held the pastry upright. "Eda said you needed to put some meat on those bones, so she sent me here to give you some of my offerings!" As expected for someone who walked so carelessly, he quickly lost his balance, falling to the ground with a thud and dropping the cupcake, its layers crumpling upon impact, frosting smearing against the surface, while crumbs scattered like King's "shattered dream" of delivering his human one of his offering. Not wanting to sadden the little guy, Luz turned to grab onto what remains of the cupcake from the ground even if a small layer of dust had settled upon its surface.
Sadly her futile attempt was crushed alongside the pastry under Amity's boot, eliciting a 'heart-wrenching' wail of 'despair' from King.
Lifting her foot from the ruined pastry, she smeared the ground with the remnants that clung to her boot, feeling a slight surge of satisfaction from her petty action. "Oops." She smiled smugly. "That was an accident."
"Listen here, Amity Blight…." Feeling a slight rush of bravado to her normal meek personality, Luz began moving toward the witch with balled fists. "Talk what you want about me; you are not the first and won't be the last, but don't you dare try to ridicule my friend." Luz commended, standing a few inches away from Amity's face. Of course, exuding an air of confidence and pride, much like a Blight rightfully should, the witch wasn't intimidated by the human, staring directly into her eyes, showcasing no fear or concern.
But maybe she shouldn't.
You see in life, there are many times when you realize that there are some things that you should have refrained from, and only in the aftermath, the consequences dawn on you like an unwelcome revelation.
Only then we grasp the gravity of our choices.
Most times, it is nothing major that can be laughed off, but sadly for the young witch, this wasn't those times.
Her serene composure is rattled by emaciated fingers curling around her skin and gripping her neck with delicate care, slowly squeezing on her tender diaphragm, causing a chill to crawl down her throat, freezing it with a shiver-inducing touch.
No, freezing her whole.
The erratic rhythm of her heartbeat intensified in synchrony with the escalating fervor of the pounding within her chest, and the grin she showcased seconds ago flattened into a frown as the muscles in her lips failed their basic function. An overwhelming sense of dread trampled the delight she felt, the terror that crept into her veins piercing her soul like razor-sharp blades.
For a moment, from the amber stars that were Luz's eyes, something that could swallow her whole rose from the depth it was imprisoned, a burning hypernova that flashes in fractal patterns reigning over an ocean of nothingness.
Something vaster than her, vaster than words could convey, peeked through those eyes and vowed to break her. An amorphous silhouette emerged from the inky ocean, a stark antithesis and the manifestation of a malevolent presence veiled in shrieking shadows, nothing less than a calamity in perpetual motion.
Then, in a delirious flicker and a blink of her eyes, it was gone, taking the sensation of unadulterated terror alongside it, their presence concealed once again by a warm but determined hazel that brought a sense of uncontested relief.
"I challenge you to a Witch's Duel!" The angry human broke her trance with a foolish demand, and in ways she couldn't understand, making her shrug off something that shouldn't be shrugged off.
The surrounding witches and demons gasp at the bold declaration, drawing even more attention to the two. The fear Amity had felt moments ago began to fizzle out quickly, and she had to question if her imagination was playing tricks on her.
T̷h̷e̷ ̷l̷i̷e̷ ̷i̷s̷ ̷p̷l̷a̷y̷i̷n̷g̷ ̷t̷r̷i̷c̷k̷s̷ ̷o̷n̷ ̷y̷o̷u̷,̷ ̷t̷i̷n̷y̷ ̷w̷i̷t̷c̷h̷
Shaking her head slightly, she shoved the strange moment aside as if it had never happened to begin with—m̶a̶y̶b̶e̶ ̶s̶o̶m̶e̶ ̶t̶h̶i̶n̶g̶s̶ ̶s̶h̶o̶u̶l̶d̶n̶'̶t̶ ̶b̶e̶ ̶f̶o̶r̶g̶o̶t̶t̶e̶n̶.
With far less bravado, she reapproaches the human, getting into Luz's face as a smug smile blooming once again across her face, although this one didn't quite reach her ears.
"I accept. In one hour, meet me inside the theater."
Amity declared with utmost authority before turning and walking away, ignoring other witches' stares.
A part of her wanted to show that naive girl why no one messes with a Blight. To form an everlasting oath and lock away any insignificant chance the human has to learn magic. But for that, she would need to look Luz straight into her eyes and shake her hand. And that notion filled her veins with ice shards and made her hands quiver.
The start of the witch's duel was coming closer, and Amity was ready.
She stood composed as if the manifestation of tranquility, patiently awaiting for her adversary to enter the arena. At her side, Lilith Clawthorn, her tutor and the third most powerful warrior of the empire, was only surpassed by the ex-coven leader Darius and the Emperor himself.
In the rowdy crowd stood Principal Bump alongside some of her Hexide colleagues and other witches and demons she didn't entirely recognize. But a definitive trait that characterized each one was their eagerness to watch the famous Blight prodigy fight.
From her side, Lilith stepped forward, eliciting a scream from the rowdy crowd. "Beloved witches and demons," Lilith announces, her voice booming into the air and reaching every corner of the auditorium. "I am proud to stand before you today and present the top student of Hexide and my personal pupil, Amity Blight!"
The crowd roars reached an all-time high as she walked inside the stadium, bathing Amity in the cheers and applause that shook the ground and made her heart swell with pride.
"And in the other corner, we have...a Human, disciple of the infamous Owl Lady."
Almost on cue, the door opposite of her opened, revealing a visibly shaking human, gripping her arm behind her so harshly, you would almost think it would pop any second. Amity narrowed her eyes at her, but Luz seemed lost in her world.
However, that lasted only a short time as a decision was made.
What should have been a one-sided battle for Amity will soon prove to be much more.
For you see, willpower can be such an interesting thing.
If used in your favor, it will bring you to ruin, but if one uses their determination to fight for someone else's sake, let's say the result is extraordinary. And this is what differentiated Luz that lived in the human world to present Luz.
In the past, she was a loner with no friends or other family relatives besides her mother, whom Luz was too worthless to help.
But now things are different. For now, it wasn't only her reputation on the line but also Eda's.
For now, she had used wicked power coursing through her bone marrow to save someone
Eda, the witch she had so cruelly tricked into keeping her around instead of throwing her in the boiling sea. She had made the old witch believe she was like any other human kid, eager to learn about the island's mysteries and live her wildest fantasies when in reality, she is nothing more than a worthless, freak , monster, t̷h̷e̷e̷n̷d̷o̷f̷e̷v̷e̷r̷y̷t̷h̷i̷n̷g̷ , using pity to lure her in her webs.
Still, despite the truth being right in front of the witch, she insisted on letting her stay in her home, even if it was Luz's fault the portal to the human world didn't work anymore.
To be able to show kindness toward someone like Luz, it w-was...
She wipes away the tear threatening to break through her eyelid as the bell on the side of the pit screams, announcing the beginning of the duel.
Her experienced opponent doesn't waste a second as she begins drawing a large circle in the air, the hot air cracking with unbridled magic that flows around Amity's body.
From the ground, something gargantuan and imposing rises without a stir, its size shocking even the young witch that had summoned it. Its liquid mass spills into the entire arena, occupying half of it before reforming into something anthropoid. When the process is done, its height quickly reaches the top of the auditorium, and its size draws gasps, both of terror and awe, from the witches and demons present in the arena.
Amity is in the same boat as them, for not once in her life has she been able to create an abomination of this magnitude. But her features quickly return to an arrogant smirk as she commands the creature to overpower the idiotic human who had dared to challenge a Blight.
"Abomination! Subdue the human."
Without a single shred of hesitation, the abomination rushes forward, its mass barely able to be supported by the ground, resulting in cracks forming on the arena floor.
As the giant's shadows fall upon the scrawny girl's frame, she can feel every beat of her heart resonating through her quivering flesh as her resolve to win for Eda slowly fizzles away.
Fear was everything her life was composed of, and everything was pain.
There was not one second she didn't feel the harsh and oozing feeling of fear coursing through her veins.
Luz feared that people might find it repulsive and disturbing how she walked, talked, dressed, lived.
She feared that her loved ones would realize what a burden she certainly was.
But most of all, she feared losing little control over her life and the nightmare inside.
And the abomination before her could be why she lost it all.
Backpedaled desperately away from the colossal abomination, the place she had stood seconds ago plummeted by a giant hand that left a noticeable hole in the ground.
The Hunter laughed at her expanse, knocking harshly against the chains that held them in place and making the girl lose her balance and trip over her legs.
Luz shakily straightened up from her crouched posture, one trembling hand helping her rise from the ground just in time to see the abomination tearing its head off and pitching it in a high lob toward her. Despite its size, the head moves faster than anything that size should, barreling toward her like a cannonball. Ignoring the twist of her femur that serrated her Soleus muscles, she slides around the predictable attack, managing to dodge out of the way just in time to watch the head wash past her.
In a single moment, the deformed head of the abomination reconstructs itself on its original body before advancing toward the human again.
Dodge. Slide. Jump, her mind supplied rapidly as she tried her best to survive the onslaught of attacks, the spectator's volume rose by the second as they realized that the "underdog" actually had a chance, their chants reverberating through the arena.
In hindsight, she should have expected that, even though most would cheer for the prodigy of Hexside School, they wouldn't automatically hate her. After all, witches and demons alike, even the so-called bullies, were so uniquely welcoming and so not human.
Speaking of said "bully" unbeknownst to the struggling human, was gradually losing her composure, the elevated amount of magic needed to hold together the abomination was beginning to take its toll. Her control had been flawless for the first few minutes, but as the human kept evading all her attacks, it became more apparent that her control over the abomination and the battle was swaying.
Even though Amity tried to hide it, her arms were trembling, and her fingers tightened and jerked from the excessive use of magic, her frustration surging further at her inability to just land a single blow on the human. For with the tremendous mass of the abomination, a single strike was all there was needed to finish the fight.
With an animalistic snarl unbecoming of a Blight, she reached toward the lowest threads of magic lying deep inside her core and poured every bit into her abomination, but not before casting a silencing spell around as the crowd uproar was beginning to distract her.
How peculiar that, unbeknownst to her, this austere spell was what spared her life
Faster than ever, the abomination threw its head toward the human once more; however, in contrast to before, now, from the gaping maw of the abomination, a long and pungent tongue curled out. Its color was a sickly purple with black spots sprinkled across the surface, masquerading muscles bulging underneath.
As the head smashed into the floor, meeting only empty space where Luz stood just moments before, the tongue, almost sentient, shot toward her, making the girl jump in the opposite direction to dodge its trajectory.
But she was too slow, and couldn't even brace herself as the tip of the abomination's tongue burst through the air like a whip, slashing her across her Achilles tendon.
Pain, hot and unbearable, flared faster than one could blink, spreading across the backside of her leg as it peeled away muscles, nerves, and fat in a sickening display.
Across the arena, the sound of snaps and popping bones reverberated like gunshots in the night as Luz's bone structure morphed without its owner's consent. Tibia and fibulas of different shapes and sizes began sprouting from under the bloody patch of skin that was left, phasing through different dimensions before fussing with one another. Each new bone added to her anatomy was like a set of armor that enchanted her senses, but it also made Luz acutely aware of how fast her consciousness became ever so slightly more hazy, which could mean only one thing.
She was losing control
Her frustration manifests like an inhuman growl that slips past her lips.
Her opponent took a step back in surprise, the sudden scream making her unable to conceal all her emotions.
Luz knew her skin was the only tiny defense she had against the Hunter's influence, and with a part of said defense gone, it wouldn't take long before the nightmare inside her corrupted more of her until it left nothing that made Luz herself.
The girl's body jerks slightly as she presses a finger on the new set of "armor" around her leg, the bones' iciness transmitting a chill down her spine. They kept wobbling and splintering into more by the second, tightening around her "real" leg and quickly revoking her control onto it.
She was losing control fast
So when faced with a dreadful hopeless circumstance, Luz made an equally desperate decision.
With fear driving her every move, she bolted toward the young witch with lunging footsteps, her ragged breath echoing in her ear like thunder. The abomination followed instantly, swinging a wobbly but powerful fist toward Luz, who dodged it by a hair's width, the strike crashing against the pavement and kicking up a plume of dust that enveloped the entire arena.
The crowd waited with bated breath to finally see the first counterattack that had transpired in the battle that should have been a short, one-sided fight, dozens of eyes squinting to see past the veil of scattering dust.
Amity pauses from delivering any more attacks, utilizing the needed respite to rest and replenish their depleted reserves of magic, only lifting an eyebrow in suspicion as she is forced to wait for the dust to settle.
And waiting for long she doesn't as Luz lunges from the dust cloud without a single warning.
Golden eyes shimmer in surprise as the human left leg is now coated in a pearly white material that looks like dozens of bones coiling around one another in nauseating motions.
But Amity isn't allowed to scrutinize the new development as the human pushes her left leg against the ground and leaps.
The ground beneath her cracks under the strain as Luz closed the distance between them with a single stride.
With speeds she shouldn't possess, Luz slams into Amity shoulder-first, sending the young witch to the ground in a chaotic flurry of limbs.
The air is knocked out of her lungs, a muted cry of surprise escaping Amity's lips, the blow giving her little time to prepare for the second strike.
Yet it does not come.
Looking back up, she quickly realizes that Luz was, in fact, not in front of her but pinned by her abomination against the wall on the other side of the arena. After all, even if its master was disoriented, the abomination continued to follow its orders to subdue its target without a single gram of doubt in its catatonic mind.
The wall fissures and splinters under the pressure of the abomination hand, and Luz can't help but grit her teeth in irritation as she tries her best to escape from its grasp.
She had been close, so damn close to winning for once in her life, that she couldn't help but let her heart fester in irritation, knowing deep down that the rush of exhalation and undeserved cockiness made her blind to her surroundings.
After a few seconds of needless struggling, she breathes her first puff of air, and irritation turns to horror when her lungs fill not with air but the viscous liquid the abomination was made of. Thick and putrid fluid rushes down her esophagus, steadily robbing the oxygen from her thrashing body and pooling in her lungs like a ball of lead.
Ignorant of the threat it was so close to releasing onto the world, the abomination kept pushing harder against her frail body, making it impossible to breathe or move.
Deep in her psyche, she felt the Hunter rise from the inky depth, every bone in her body mediating simultaneously as her shadow became more defined, sipping into the ground itself like viscous acid.
Then the influence of the Hunter influence evaporates in a fine mist
Taken aback by the abrupt stop, she gazes deeper and comes face to face with the silhouette of the Nightmare, their gaze gleefully staring at her helplessness, their awaiting appendages stretching tower her and allowing their power to be hers. The extended 'hand' hovered tantalizingly close yet out of reach, the promised power dangling like a ripe fruit just above her, ready to be plucked with a simple stretch of her own volition and it would be hers.
As the liquid surged deeper, clogging her airways like gelatinous cork, the restriction and restraints she had created and set in stone began to dissolve alongside the rock they were engraved in.
For she knew that dying would make things so much worse.
Like a never-ending calamity, the Hunter roars at the back of her head, the chains holding them back slipping for a second from her grasp, their non-threatening action reveling to Luz that there is still something far more terrifying to be afraid of than the abomination slowly drowning her.
Skeletal fingers began clawing at the liquid clogging her respiratory system, striving with every ounce of her being to pull out said liquid and failing miserably. The flesh on her arm swiftly peels away in a guttural display, muscles, and tendons sizzling and bubbling like clusters of malignant growths before rupturing and spilling an inky substance, leaving only pristine bone that remains stark against the backdrop of the surrounding devastation and the desperation to not die grew heavier in her heart.
Her vision flashed with static, and before she knew it, all sensations and control over her hand slipped away as they fell limply to her side. It wasn't the Hunter who decided to steal away the little control she still had but rather her oxygen-deficient brain being unable to perform its basic functions and keep her body straight.
Everything stung and ached, and panic clouded her mind as it became more apparent that she was going to DIE and there would be none left to hold back the Nightmare under her skin, no matter how poor of a job she did.
If she wanted her loved d̷o̷n̷'̷t̷g̷e̷t̷a̷t̷t̷a̷c̷h̷e̷d̷ one to survive, she needed to prevail, even if it meant living just a bit longer.
Even if it meant lying just a bit better
Luz just hoped wholeheartedly she wouldn't wake up with the shredded corpses of those around her between her fingers.
And those were her final thoughts as she grasped the Nightmare appendage.
Like a rupturing tumor, the echo of the Hunter melody blooms in her chest, nullifying the abomination fluid trapped in her lungs and slowly forcing its way up her esophagus.
Luz screams
The world seemed to freeze for a second, stuck in a never-ending moment propagating through the universe, ranging from the crowd surrounding the arena, whose cheers are brought to a halt, the bickering of two sisters whose argument was starting to heat up, and last but not least, the depleted huff of air emitted by a young witch whose eyes are golden orbs that shine like the scalding blaze that birthed everything and yet said glow now cowers away inside the iris like a frightened child hiding behind his mother dress, for it knows that once seen, the nightmare will get her.
The second passes, and existence weeps
A chorus of howling screams painfully synthesis in a dis cordial symphony
vaguely sketching the antithesis of Life Nothingness and the void that binds them. Like the epitome of an incurable plague, the echo of the Pale Song bloats into the air like a mist and fills every molecule around it with the null that predates all notions.
Shadows infesting the cosmos are burned alive by something colder than the core of a black hole, and light and hope are swallowed by something hotter than the explosion of a hypernova.
Although the creatures inhabiting the physical plane may never comprehend it, the melody brings down entire pantheons of godlings and collapses future realms that are yet to be born but shall never come by virtue of the Beast that Grins only law.
Gravity, velocity, matter, death, and finally, life are annihilated on a subatomic level by the anthem that sings of the Nightmare's supremacy and the ceaseless and unrelenting Pale Song that came long before Nothingness and its offspring the Abyss was in its infancy.
Those are just a narrow list of the echo of the Roar of Finality's effect on the immaterial, but even though the consequences of the melody's presence in the mortal coil are much more lenient, that does not mean much.
A typhoon that predates despair yet embodies it to its fullest, the Roar rips through the abomination liquid body, twisting its form into a sick parody of what was once a powerful creation, before forcing its molecules to collide against one another until it was nothing but a wet colorless paste on the ground.
The entire auditorium shakes under the melody, as its intensity transmits tremors through the whole island, cracking walls and shattering windows into insignificant shards that splinter into runes of forgotten languages.
Echo it might be, but the world still bows toward the melody that shall one day sing away all there is and isn't.
The atmosphere of the meeting was suffused with a familiar sense of lethargy, the man already resigned to the repetitive routines and proceedings that lay ahead.
The monotonous cadence that rolled from the Coven Head tongue was an intermix between excessively flattering, brown-nosing, and appealing for more funds and materials for their own Coven. The other coven heads' eyes glazed over, minds wandering to distant lands that weren't the mundane topics being discussed, even if for all their "boredom", they seemed to forget they were going to be the ones asking for the same things in the close future.
Raising a hand to signal it was enough, he nonetheless agreed to provide what they asked for, their loyalty far more important than what their acquisitiveness desires, the snails themself being of no concern and when it came to the requested materials, he was pretty sure he knew a few spots and pocket dimensions in the Abyss that had them in abundance-
Before he could finish that line of thoughts, a sudden chill ran down his spine as he rose from the chair, its structure shattering beneath his sudden reaction. His finger clenched, digging into the golden surface of the table that was applauded for supposedly being able to survive the blow of an adult titan, the metal mending around his finger like a second set of armor, its center of gravity changing its imaginary fixed point.
The four royal guards encircled him just a moment later, their pale uniforms almost shining in the room that had been enveloped by his shade not a moment later, their power a sharp contrast against the unseen backdrop of endless gaping maws, festering eyes, abominable gods and unhallowed beasts chained to his shadow and bound to his will.
Then the howl hit them.
The entire palace shook in its entirety, the standing Coven Head being the first to lose their stability and smash into a table with enough force to rattle their brain but not enough to knock them unconscious. Unfortunately for them.
The melody drilled into their brain with an uncaring intensity, perverting the very nature of the sound spectrum along the way.
At last, the derail came to a halt, the ringing in their ears disappearing alongside it and relieving the people of his court of the need to grip their ears in a desperate but foolish attempt to stop the abhorrent cacophony from borrowing in their ear canal.
His royal guard had remained motionless even when subjected to the horrendous tune, only one of them showcasing a shred of weakness when they pierced their head with their trident, eviscerating their eardrums and reliving some of the pain.
Nonetheless, a glint of vulnerability was of no concern to the Emperor of Chains, the first declaration of the Nightmare masquerading in the corpse of a human child being of far more importance.
Retracting his shadow and allowing the rays from the sun to slip through the now broken window, he couldn't help but oscillate between amusement for the cause of this declaration and the frigid spike of anger caused by the disobeying of his subordinates.
Turning his gaze from the splintering wall to his right, his eyes glossing over the coven heads to scan for any anomalous mutation that might have appeared, before finally turning toward his third royale guard, not noticing the shudder of relief coming from the coven heads when he turned his back toward them.
"Number three, please be a sweetheart and bring before me Miss Clawthorne, Caleb, and Kikimora because I am eagerly awaiting an explanation of their direct insubordination and their stupid actions setting the foundation of the start of the War to End All Wars."
Amity was winning
It should have been evident that she would stand victorious over the human, but somehow, Luz had managed to evade her abomination attacks constantly, and despite not wanting to admit it, the continuous evasion has cast a sliver of doubt upon her prospects of victory. But in the end, even if the flesh on her hands trembled, muscles twitched painfully and her breath was an uneven mess, she managed to cage and subdue the human and ensured that the win was hers to take home.
But then Luz opened her mouth
Despite being burdened by her exhausted state, her hand instinctively clapped over her ears, almost driven by a primordial feeling she couldn't grasp.
An invisible pressure forces Amity to her knees as a mangled and wrenching mixture of howling screams encroaches on the core of her existence and rupture her very being. The cacophony rattles Amity's bones, vibrating her internal organs and popping her eardrums like pieces of cotton lost in a vortex of reverse time.
Her chest and lungs heaved uncontrollably, unnoticeable fissures splintering across their surface like spider webs, and her cranium rattled in distress, her skeletal structure tightening around her internal organs forcing her to spill a mouthful of fluid, disturbingly similar to that of a mixture between abomination fluid, her bile and a part of something that should have been inside of her, it surfaces shining with dreams of the dark below. She didn't know how long the incomprehensible and sickening noise had lasted, but it probably ended when it became possible to vaguely hear her own hand scratching the inner walls of her ears, nails digging into her cartilage until a piece fell off.
But even if the noise had stopped, that did not mean the visions it had shown her had disappeared.
Her body convulses on the ground as the vivid memory of the Pale Song rushes through every vein pulsating blood in her body and showcasing the blurry vision of unspoken languages, ruined worlds, trees that are everything, and branches that are nothing, the rotting corpse of deities and their consciousness that is trapped in an unrelated process of death and rebirth, and a throne build upon the corpse of mentioned gods made of bones and branches and madness and nothingness and–
Amity. Forgets. Everything.
Like struck by lighting, Amity resurfaces from the shattered dream, its content being dragged down into the deepest domain of her mind and burned alive in azure light.
Examining her surroundings, it quickly became apparent that her vision was blocked by a cloud of dust that permeated the air.
Her mouth tasted bitter and metallic, a repugnant flavor that she tried to spit onto the ground futilely, but the taste wouldn't leave despite everything she did to scrape it off. Forgoing it for later, she slowly lifted herself on shaking limbs, knees buckling under her own weight and with a quick healing spell, the ringing in her ears finally fades away.
Many unanswered questions bubble up from the depths of her mind, the last memory left stuck in her brain was barely achieving her well-deserved win, but the fatigue plaguing her consciousness put an immediate stop to even trying to answer those questions. So instead, she slowly wobbled toward her opponent almost like an unconscious action, doing her best to dodge the deep cracks scattered on the ground like the remnants of the ravines left by small comets.
To be known that she wasn't doing this out of worry or a bit of guilt that she had hurt the human, but because she wouldn't want to tarnish the name of her family by...killing someone. A strong but strange emotion envelops her heart in barbed wire, sending a painful throb across her chest at the thought of taking someone else's life, her pace speeding up from a slow wobble to a slightly frantic jog toward where she could only hope Luz should be a̶l̶i̶v̶e.
Thanking Titan with a million praises, it did not take long for the familiar form of the human girl to enter her line of vision, but as she got closer, dread began to blossom alongside her guilt. There was no clear injury or cut present on her body, but it was pretty apparent that something wasn't right with the state she was in.
She had expected to have hurt the human since it was a fight, but the state t̶h̶e̶h̶u̶m̶a̶n̶ Luz was left in… was nausea-inducing even if her stomach was already bare.
Maybe it was the frail state her skin was in, barely holding onto bones with nothing but a few layers of fat and muscle to keep it on the body, her pain-stricken expression in her unconscious state, fear, and maybe a gram of hatred engraved as if in stone, or the growth of the pale scar that now occupied the entirety of her forehead like a scar left by a brutal plague.
Or maybe it was all of the above intermixed with the gallons of blood that slipped between the cracks sprinkled on the floor and clung to her messy hair and the ragged clothes she wore.
Regardless of the angle you looked at the girl, it was unmistakably clear that Luz had endured unknown suffering.
And it was partly, if not entirely, Amity's fault.
She couldn't possibly comprehend how her abomination attack could cause such significant damage since, despite trying her best, she could not remember what happened before she fell unconscious.
But even if she did, Amity didn't believe it would have helped mitigate the geyser of foreign guilt eating at her exhausted mind.
It was such a weird emotion that, as a Blight, she was forced to believe it didn't exist, but right now, it felt so real that it almost made her double down in pain, to clutch her heart, and crush it so she may never deal again.
So despite the Blight family teachings, she gave in, following what her guts vaguely told her would make the feeling partly go away.
Using an anti-gravity spell on the absurdly heavy body of Luz, she placed her on her back and began moving toward the stand in hopes of finding Lilith or that weird Owl Lady; they would surely know how to help Luz.
It was the least she could do
...Amity Blight, you are quite an interesting specimen, aren't you? So insignificant in the grand scheme of things, a mere speech of Life's light yet here you are, holding our God on your back.
Some negligible part of you fully understands the consequences of choosing this road, this future, and yet, foolishly, you are still determined to embark on it.
If we were lower beings, we might have asked ourselves if it was fate that threw you in our God's way, but fate is nothing more than a predictable concept created by mortals that, in the end, will lead to the same null life had decided so idiotically to defy.
And yet...hmm, how peculiar.
Fine, if this is our God's choice, then we shall accept you.
The end of all things is inevitable. The stars, time, the false gods, and even Life itself shall perish under our God's song, but you, Amity Blight, will be spared, and by our God's benevolence, you shall stand beyond life and death, forever our Queen bless our current and last true God and the holy Beast that Dreams himself.
Evermore be your head blessed by a crown of twigs and eternal hatred.
Long live the queen, for an eternity and beyond
-𝐀 𝐩𝐚𝐫𝐚𝐠𝐫𝐚𝐩𝐡 𝐟𝐫𝐨𝐦 𝐚 𝐦𝐚𝐧𝐮𝐬𝐜𝐫𝐢𝐩𝐭 𝐢𝐧𝐬𝐜𝐫𝐢𝐛𝐞𝐝 𝐛𝐲 𝐚𝐧 𝐚𝐧𝐜𝐢𝐞𝐧𝐭 𝐭𝐫𝐞𝐞 𝐟𝐫𝐨𝐦 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐅𝐨𝐫𝐞𝐬𝐭 𝐨𝐟 𝐍𝐨𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐠𝐧𝐞𝐬𝐬
Notes:
It is said that hard times create strong men, but power isn't something you should strive after, Luz Noceda, for what you will find will be at the expense of everyone you love.
That's all from me for now; thank you for reading, and I would like to know your opinion about the chapter in the comments, or if you have any questions regarding the story, you can leave them in the comment, and I will check it out.
Bye bye.
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