Meanwhile with the remaining Blights...
As Amity, Edric and Emira were sneaking thorough Bonesborough carefully and quietly in order to sneak into the Emperor's castle, thoughts of what was going on at the trial between Luz and Belos was rummaging through their minds as they went through the back alleys and other shadowy parts of the city that they live in.
"What if Luz was losing the trial?"
They hid behind an apple-blood stand...
"What something dangerous was happening during the trial?"
They sneaked in between the space between two stores.
"What if the trial was already over and Luz was going to get petrified?"
Those thoughts only fueled their determination to get to the Human World... and fast!
They can actually get there and what they would do if they actually get there is another story.
As the three Blight siblings hid behind a cart that had crystal balls behind it, Edric spoke up.
"Amity?" Edric whispered.
"Yes." Amity answered.
"I should've asked this before, but what do you intend to do even if we get to the portal and go to the Human World?" He asked.
Amity went silent for a bit before she answered. "We're going to find Luz's mother and bring her, hopefully she'll want to help us."
"What do you mean, Mittens?" Emira said, teasingly calling her sister by that despised nickname as they snuck behind the Snack Shack. "Luz's mother would obviously want to help her own daughter."
Amity sighed a bit before she answered. "You don't know that, guys. From what I've witnessed from Luz's battle with Grom, her mom doesn't even know that Luz is staying here."
"Really?" Emira asked in surprise.
"Yeah, apparently Luz has been keeping her time of being here a secret." Amity said quietly.
"Well, where does she think Luz is staying at?" Edric asked quietly.
"This is a bit vague, but she thinks that Luz is staying at this human thing called "Summer Camp"." Amity whispered. "From what I saw, Luz would be horrified if she found out that her mother knew that she was staying here the whole time and for good reason."
"And why are you suggesting that we bring her here?" Emira asked as she peeked around wall she was behind.
"Well, hopefully to help Luz with her trial for one." Amity admitted, softly.
"And?" Edric asked.
"And hopefully give Luz some closure with her mother." Amity said before quickly adding. "And if Luz can overcome her fear of her mother knowing that she's been here the whole time, maybe we might be able to stand up to our parents as a result of Luz's bravery."
"That does make sense." Edric said.
"And?" Emira asked quietly as three ran and hid behind Grimgrub's Pub. "Come on Mittens, tell us your own personal reason for doing this."
Amity blushed a bit before thinking to herself. "Screw it! Might as well tell them just in case Luz does get petrified." Before she then spoke. "If I bring Luz's mother here, it could give me the strength I need to tell her how I feel. There, happy?"
"Very much." Emira teased.
"Hey, you two." I see Belos' Castle just up ahead." Edric informed his sisters as pointed at the castle's entrance, which was just a mile away.
"Then let's get going." Amity whispered with determination as ran towards the castle, her siblings following close behind her.
Amity, Emira and Edric ran to the castle's pit of spikes surrounding it, stopping at the edge so that they wouldn't fall into it.
"The bridge is out!" Edric said. "Belos must've drew it in before he went to the trial."
"We're going to have to find another way in." Emira pointed out. "But how?"
The three siblings just stood there thinking of some sort of plan.
Amity then got an idea.
"Abomination, rise!" Amity yelled out as some purple muck rose up in front of her, forming into the shape of a human sized pile of goo. "Abomination, find a way for us to get into this castle."
The abomination jumped into the pit of jagged, sharp rocks, much to the shock of the three. They were about to ask when they looked a bit closer, that's when they saw what was really happening.
The purplish muck monstrosity was slipping past the pit of spikes which led to an entrance beneath the castle.
"Wow, I didn't even noticed that there even was an entrance below the pit of spikes." Emira said.
"Well, this is the Emperor's castle. You don't know what kind of surprises are in store there." Amity said.
The abomination made it through the pit and opened the door with ease before it became a puddle of purple goo once again. But now there was another problem that the Blights had to deal with.
"Now that we know that the secret entrance, how are we suppose to get to it without getting impaled on the spikes?" Edric asked. "Cause I doubt we just slip past them like that abomination did."
"Hmm." Amity thought about how to do that before she clicked in her head.
"Abomination, push these spikes leading to the entrance away as much as you can so that we can get through!" Amity yelled out as the abomination goo at the open secret entrance started to bubble up.
The goo sprouted up as a multitude of giant hands which touched the giant spikes and struggled to push them away due to how large thes spikes were.
"C'mon, you can do it. You have to, Luz's life depends on it!" Amity stressed as she clutched the skirt of her uniform in nervousness.
Sensing their sister's nervousness, Emira and Edric decided to help out.
The both formed blue circles of illusion magic, which manifested into giant troll like monsters that assisted into getting the spikes out of the way after a few seconds of struggling.
"We did it!" Edric cheered. "Now let's go in. We've got no time to lose!"
"Let's be on our guard." Amity said cautiously. "For all we know, Belos might have set up traps just in case something like this happened."
"Right, we've got to be quick and careful." Emira said as the three ran to the secret entrance.
Back at the Hall of Law...
"I like to call my assistant, Kikimora to the stand." Emperor Belos declared as his assistant went up to the stand.
"Kikimora." Luz's lawyer began. "What has my client done to you recently?"
"Well before I met her face to face, I only heard rumors of her causing disaster around the Boiling Isles. From the abomination masquerade at Hexside to the prison riot at the Conformatorium to Bat Queen trials at the forest of Pailsmans."
When she saw how confused everyone looked at how she managed to know all of that she responded. "Our spies get around a lot, your honor."
Kiki cleared her throat as she continued her testimony. "I mean come on jury, just think about it for a sec! An insignificant human of all creatures capable of such destruction and chaos. It's laughable and I thought Eda was bad!" The assistant said with a chuckle. "It was when she saved the owl lady that we first met and she attacked my Emperor and cracked his mask, she threatened me with fire just to free King, that traitor Lilth and Eda!" She explained as she glared at person who was responsible for her master's suffering. "May she be petrified honorably, that's the only good thing that I hope happens to you."
Luz blew a raspberry at the assistant as she walked past her back to her seat.
Inside her mind, Eda was fuming as she clenched her fists and glared at the Emperor's tiny assistant seating in her seat. "Next creature to call my Luz insignificant is getting their teeth knocked out!"
"I like to call my next witness, Lilth Clawthrone, to the stand." Kiki said.
"Aw man!" Luz whispered. "That's it, I'm doomed."
"Stay calm, Luz." Gus said quietly. "The trial's not over yet."
"But she is under oath." Luz whispered as she bit her fingernails in worry. "For all we know, Belos could use what she says to his advantage."
"Luz has a point." Eda whispered as she watched her older sister approach the stand. "I wouldn't put it past Belos to do something like that."
Hearing that caused a chill to run up Luz, Willow, Gus and Eda's spines. Even King felt it despite being in his cage.
"Ms. Clawthorne," Belos' lawyer began. "It's been noticed that you've been in the Emperor's Coven since that duel you had with Eda, is that true?"
"Yes." Lilth admitted softly with a hint of guilt. "And to be honest, I regret every second of it."
"Would you like to tell us what happened on that day?" Belos lawyer asked.
"I object, your honor!" Luz's lawyer yelled out. "Such an event is irrelevant to this trial!"
"Overruled." The judge aid, banging his gavel. "You may speak, Lilth."
"Thank you, your honor." Lilth said as she she began her tale of her and Edalyn's childhood.
The scene then flash-backed to that specific day in the Clawthorne's lives.
"When me and Edalyn were young, we were the best of friends. Whenever she got hurt, I would use a spell that would make the caster share the pain of the victim." Lilth said as she sighed happily at the memory.
The scene then flash foward to Eda and Lilth in their teens.
"When we became teenagers, we both wanted to join the Emperor's Coven. More than anything. But there was a problem."
Random asked. "What was the problem?"
Lilth then sighed. "Only one of us could join. We were forced to duel for the position tomorrow. I didn't want to fight Edalyn because I knew that she would beat me, even though she was younger than me, we were equals." Lilth took a breath before continuing as a tear of remorse slid down her face. "That was another problem, I wanted to join the Emperor's Coven more than anything and my sister wanted to be with me. So I took a third option."
"And that third option was what exactly?" Belos' lawyer asked.
Lilth grew silent upon being asked that, of course Luz, Eda and the rest of their friends knew exactly why she was, the court did not.
"Ms. Clawthorne, need I remind that you are under oath." Belos' lawyer said with a hint of impatience.
Upon hearing her enemy's lawyer speak to her sister that way caused Eda to get out of her chair and march to her sister's side as she push the lawyer back a few feet.
"Back off, law man!" Eda demanded. "Can't you see that this blast from the past is hurtful to recount for her."
"May I need to remind you Eda that we're in the middle of a trial here!" Belos's lawyer said, getting into the witch's face.
It took all of Eda's restraint to not pound this guy right then and there. But before the two could go at each other, Lilth spoke up.
"It's okay Edalyn. I'm ready to continue."
Eda looked at her sister before looking back at the bastard lawyer before sighing. "Fine, but I'm going stay right next to you just in case." She said before doing just as she said, standing right next to her sister.
Lilth smiled up at her sister, who smiled down at her before she got the courage to continue as the scene switched to the Night Market.
"On the night before the duel, I went to the Night Market and got a spell that I thought would take Edalyn's magic away for the day, not the rest of her life. So on the day of the duel, Eda forfeited the match before it even started, saying that she didn't feel like joining the Coven, saying that it wasn't her style." A few tears began to stream down her face at that point. "The curse took its toll on my sister as she walked away, that's why I joined the Emperor after that. I thought he was going to heal Edalyn from the curse that I cast on her." She then glared at the Emperor. "But it turned out that he lied to me, he was never going to heal her, he only saw her as a threat that needed to be petrified."
"And the portal." Eda pointed out.
"Oh right, yes." Lilth said, almost forgetting that. "He also needed the portal of the Human world for his "Day of Unity" plan. Thank you for reminding me Edalyn." The older witch thanked her rouge sister then continued with with a snarl, still glaring at the Emperor. "In the years that followed that tragic day, I regretted every single time I tried to get Eda to join Belos' coven so that he could undo what I've done, but when Luz came to the Boiling Isles, she made me realize the error of my ways. So if she gets petrified, then I should be in her place."
The scene then flashback to the courtroom as the two Clawthrone sisters went back to their seats.
However, no one seemed to noticed that Emperor Belos was suspiciously silent throughout most of the trial...
Inside the Emperor's Castle...
Amity peaked around the corner of a stone wall that she was hiding behind alongside her older siblings, Edric and Emira. So far, they've only encountered a trap that involved shooting sharp and poisonous arrows from both sides of the room and a death trap involved a tightrope, a bottomless pit that spewed fire every five seconds and to make things even more hectic, a series of large swinging blades that went from one side of the room to the other. Luckily, the three Blight siblings managed to avoid certain thanks to a combination of their magic, near perfect patience and timing, their combined determination to succeed in their mission and lots and lots of dodging.
"Okay, looks like the close is clear." Amity said as she and her siblings ran down a hallway to their right.
"Okay, if the map's correct, Belos' weird project involving the Human World portal should just down to the right of this hallway." Edric said as he held up an illusion of a map that represented the bowels of Belos' castle that had three green dots representing the three of them and a red dot which is where the portal was.
At last they made to the door.
"You ready sis?" Emira said.
"Chance to back out if you want." Edric said.
"I'll be honest here, I am scared." Amity admitted as she took a breath to calm her nerves. "But, we've come to far to stop now. So let's get to Luz's world."
She then finished this statement by kicking the door open, only for the three Blights to drop to their knees in horror at what was in front of them.
In front of them was a big room that had a a large, circular ring with white-gold wings splayed at its sides with the reconstructed remains of Eda's portal to Luz's home being constructed around it. The room was empty either as on the middle of it stood a familiar looking figure who had his back turned and an assortment of abominations and other types of monsters putting the finishing touches on his little... project.
"Belos?" Emira asked as she could believe what was she saw was her Emperor.
The familiar looking person turned around to reveal himself to the three intruders, confirming Emira's suspicions with his white robe, cracked mask, and the manner in which he spoke.
"Hello Blights, might I ask why you guys aren't at the trial?" The mask figure said in a cool and calm yet still menacing tone, a tone that sent a chill down the spines of the three Blight siblings.
"O-Our business here is our own!" Edric said with some bravado and a lot of fear.
"Perhaps," Belos said as he slowly lifted one of his fingers, which glowed with red colored magic.
The three intruders were instantly brought to the center of the room before the Emperor released them from his magical grasp as he continued to speak. "but when it involves intruders like you sneaking into my castle for some less than benevolent reasons, that's when it becomes my business as well. Now are we going to talking while my monsters finish their work or will I have to get my gloves dirty?"
"We all know you're going to do the latter either way." Amity said with disdain.
"Smart, Blight." The emperor complimented. "Now tell me, why do you wish to go to the Human World?"
"The Blights looked shock that Belos knew that part of their plan. regardless, Emira spoke up.
"As if we tell you that much!" Emira said defiantly. "Now tell us this: Are you an illusion of Belos or the real version?"
"Neither, I'm a clone of Belos." The now known clone revealed. "In the case that the real Belos had to leave the castle for whatever reason, he created me using some of his own technology and some ancient magical relics from the room where they're held in, he did this just in case people like you would snoop around here while he or any of his minions were away."
Hearing that the Belos before him was just a clone, put the three Blights at ease, as they knew that if it was the real Belos they would be dead at that moment.
"Wow, that's one heck of a defense for this place." Emira said.
"You said it." Amity said.
"Now if you three don't wish to die today, I suggest you all leave now." Belos demanded before he began to walk back to the portal. "You obviously won't be able to get past my creatures or me."
As Emira and Edric looked down in defeat, Amity just stared at the clone of Belos' retreating form when she noticed something on the ground in front of him. It was a pile of abomination goo.
Smirking a bit she shouted. "Abomination, punch!"
Bubbling up from the goo pile on the ground came a large fist that tried to uppercut the clone, only for it to simply took a step back to narrowly avoid just in time as he heard the bubbles boil.
"Please, you really think I'm that stupid to fall for a trick like that." The clone said as he turned around to the Blights, a bit overconfident. "Just who do you think I am?"
"Made you look." Amity said smugly as she drew a different kind of circle with her finger.
Noticing her look, the clone quickly turned around, only to blasted in the face at point blank range with a powerful blast of fire.
"Oh snap!" Edric said s he ruffled Amity's green and brown hair in his excitement and her chargin. "You go Mittens!"
"Emira breathed a sigh of relief as she got up. "Way to take advantage of that clone's arrogance, baby sister."
"Oh, um, t-thank you guys." Amity said as she blushed at the praise she got from her older siblings.
"Foolish Blights." said a voice among the smoke, sending chills down the three siblings spinal cords once again. "You really thought that fireball would enough to stop me, I'm a clone of the most powerful with alive."
When they saw the clone emerge from the smoke, they that his mask was completely destroyed as they gazed upon his face. He had wrinkly gray colored skin that was covered in burn marks, a almost hook like nose, light, piercing, blue eyes and a black and gold around the edges breathing masks. And he had a look that spoke of what he intends to do with them.
"You know, I will admit Amity. That was rather impressive, really it was." Belos' clone admitted wholeheartedly, before he then glared at her with murderous intent. "But try that again when I'm actually trying and I will be having my Abominations washing you and your siblings' blood and guts off this room's walls for a while."
Hearing that caused Emira to shudder.
The siblings, despite their growing fear decided that they were not going to back down to this cheap imitation's threats.
"Just know this clone..." Emira began.
"We have a mission here to complete and regardless of what happens, we will complete it." Edric continued.
"We will get past you and whatever you throw at us and we're getting to the Human World." Amity finished.
The clone chuckled as he spoke. "My, my, such determination, to think that I am actually shaking in my boots. However, I do wonder how long that determination will last against me. Hope you said goodbye to your loved ones."
Looks like Amity and her siblings have their hands full with this strange but omnipotent clone of Belos. Can they get to the Human World and back in time before the trial between Luz and the real Belos ends?
Find out next time!