BREAKING THE FANTASY
Written by Gwendolyn Frost.
"There's roots ingrained on it." Luz said before Amity touched the Looking Glass which led to a sudden burst of wind that caught everyone else in the room by surprise, sending them back flying against the walls.
Gathering themselves back up to their feet after being slammed so violently, the gang realized that Amity was standing in front of the mirror with her eyes glowing white with light in some form of trance.
"Amity!" Luz exclaimed as she rushed up to her, but the pink haired witch did not answer. Instead, her legs gave up and she was about to hit the floor if it was not for Luz catching her inches away from hitting her head on the way down. "What's happening? What's going on with her?!" She asked her friends who were just as puzzled as she was.
"Maybe she's performing Oracle Magic?" Hunter suggested with a shrug. "I remember the Oracle Track leader having a similar thing going on with… their eyes."
"You think she'll be alright?" Luz asked as she held Amity's head on her lap. "Please, Amity, wake up."
"Honestly, it's kind of weird that she's developing Oracle Talents just now. Back when we were young she despised the Oracle Track." Willow said.
"What do we do?" Luz asked while gently caressing Amity's forehead with a worried frown on her face.
"Head home, maybe?" Gus suggested.
"I don't know if it's a good idea…" Luz said while biting her lower lip. "Before we came back down, Amity sort of told me that the Unknown was here earlier?"
"And you're telling us just now!" Willow exclaimed.
"Guys, with Amity like this, I doubt we can protect her and handle that monster on our own." Hunter said.
Luz looked back at Amity as she whispered to her to wake up a few more times while the rest of their friends kept discussing a plan to get out of there.
"Oh my dear Sherlock!" Gus whispered with a horrified look on his face. "Guys, we've just become the teens in our very own slasher movie!"
"Shut up, Gus!" Willow exclaimed. "I'm not going to die down here! Not without putting up a fight!"
"Calm down, guys." Hunter said. "We shouldn't be picking up a fight just yet. We should wait here in the meantime."
"I agree with that notion…" Vee said before nervously whispering to herself. "Although down here is kind of scary."
Amidst the chaos in that basement, Luz had an idea as she stared into the sleeping Amity's eyes before a look of determination drew itself on her face. "Guys… I'm fixing this the only way I can think of."
"What?" Willow asked as everyone else shut up after her.
With the whole room now in a state of silence, Luz leaned down and gently pressed her own lips against Amity's in a short but tender kiss before she pulled away expecting her to wake up.
But it didn't happen.
The peace was soon disturbed by Willow's voice. "Luz! Stop clowning around! This isn't anime."
"Dammit Disney! You lied to me!" Luz exclaimed with tears in her eyes. "There's no magic in true love's kiss!"
"Ok, that's enough guys!" Hunter raised his voice which caught the attention of everyone in the room. "I repeat, we should wait down here where it's somewhat safe until we can come up with a plan. Maybe Amity will wake up soon."
"Please Amity…" Luz whispered. "Wake up. What's happening in your mind?" She asked as she traced her hand over her forehead once more.
The gang waited down there in the basement, with their only source of light being the light spells they casted earlier, however, those orbs of light began to flick on and off shortly after waiting down there over an hour later.
"Why are they doing that?" Hunter asked.
Willow sighed and explained. "Because without magic in the ambient, they can only draw from our hearts, which is limited. My magic is becoming weak, we need to get out asap."
"Yup…" Gus gulped. "I may have a spell or two left, and I'll need a few days before I can be able to cast again."
Luz looked at Amity before asking. "How do we get her out of here?"
"On our staffs. There is no other way." Willow said as she brought her staff up and hopped on it.
Luz nodded before she did her best to bring Amity up on her arms. "Crap, I forgot how heavy she is!" She groaned a little bit as she carried her up to Willow's staff and hopped on it on her side while still holding her girlfriend.
It took them a little bit of time to navigate their way out of the house, but just as soon as Luz was able to step off the staff she placed Amity down on the grass while everyone else joined them shortly after. Now in the outdoors, the blue sky was soon replaced with a yellowish hue.
Soon after, while everyone was gathered around the entrance to the Morton Ranch's house, Amity's eyes stopped glowing, they flicked up and down while she regained consciousness once more.
Surprised and relieved, Luz rushed back to Amity to embrace her in a tight hug.
"Amity… you're awake!"
Of course, Amity was just as happy to see Luz as she hugged back just as tightly, but there was an urgent tone in her voice when she said: "Luz, you were right!"
Puzzled, Luz pulled away from the hug to ask: "What do you mean?"
With an ominous tone in her voice, Amity replied. "I think this whole thing is the work of a witch."
THE LOOKING GLASS
Chapter: What lurks in the dark.
For the next couple of minutes, Amity described what she experienced while she was out cold. From the fact she was seeing everything through the eyes of that old woman, to that eerie voice whispering in her ear before she woke up.
"Welp…" Hunter sighed. "There goes my sleeping tonight."
"So, what you're saying is… that the mirror was only able to reflect the old woman in your vision?" Willow asked.
"Yeah, but not only that, the reflection was younger than she actually was." Amity replied.
"Were you able to see this witch?" Luz asked.
"No, I could only see through the eyes of that woman, and for a while… I thought she was crazy but then…" Amity stared down on the grass as the sound of that whisper began to replay in her mind over and over.
Soon.
"I heard that whisper… it… it's hard to describe but… it pierced through my mind. It almost felt… like she was speaking to me and not this woman."
Gus was taking notes the whole time as he mumbled everything he wrote down. "Old woman… cursed mirror… reflects younger self… possible witch suspect."
"You know magic more than I do…" Luz said. "Do you have any idea what kind of spell this could have been?"
"There's nothing I know of that is capable of doing that." Willow said. "Then again, wild magic is different to what we were taught at Hexside."
While everyone else was focused on sharing ideas as to what Amity had experienced during her vision, she finally realized something was off and that instantly brought her into a state of panic. "Wait, what time is it? How long was I gone?!" The pink haired witch asked as she looked at the sky no longer coated in bright blue but rather a somber yellow with the sun about to set soon enough.
The gang all looked at each other with worried looks before Luz was forced to reply. "Hm, well… a little over an hour and a half?"
"What?!" Amity exclaimed with an upset look on her face. "Why are we still here?! Didn't you tell them about the Unknown… Face Snatcher… whatever you call it now, it's out there Luz!"
"I know, I know. And I did!" Luz tried to calm her girlfriend down. "But there's not much we could do while you were asleep. I can carry you from the Grudgby Field to the Nurse's Office, but I can't carry you all the way home. Nerd arms, remember?"
Hunter was the next one to speak. "Yeah, also… if we were to walk out of the woods with your unconscious body, that would raise a lot of eyebrows."
"Not just that…" Willow added. "We're in the Human Realm, Amity. We cannot bring you to a human hospital and ask for help, that would blow our covers!"
Gus closed things by saying: "I'm sorry but I'm bad at making excuses so… I'm just going to allow you guys to sort things out."
While upset, Amity tried her best to calm down before she replied to them with a much softer tone in her voice but still visibly as upset as she was earlier on. "There is a monster out there in the woods. I felt its presence and I'm sure that it is now aware of ours. We cannot stay here. We need to leave, now!"
"Right…" Luz said with a nervous smile. "Although it is quite peaceful out here."
"A bit too peaceful if you ask me." Vee said as she pointed out what Amity feared most… the lack of sound.
Other than a light breeze making her long pink hair wave slightly towards the south, the lack of chirping, insect buzzing and rustling of leaves was making the young witch uneasy. The worst part is the fact that with the sun about to set down for the night, the light began to fade and the entire place began to be swallowed slowly by the incoming darkness.
"I have to agree with Amity." Willow said. "We've wasted too much magic down in the basement, if we were to run into something… I really doubt that the magic I have left will suffice."
"Ditto…" Gus added. "Not that my Illusion Magic will help beat the monster but… I barely have enough left in the tank for a distraction."
"Ok, I get it." Luz said before reaching up to Amity to hold her hand. "Shall we go?"
"The sooner the better." Amity said while giving a smile, no longer upset… at least not as much as she was before, but she was fearful of staying there in the forest any longer.
"Ok, so there's the fence…" Luz said as she led the way to the boundaries of the property where there was a fence lying on the grass. "When Masha brought us here we walked south, right? So now… we should be heading north and we will be back to Gravesfield in about… 15 minutes top."
"You sure?" Hunter asked.
"Yeah!" Luz said with a smile. "Unless you'd like to show off those hunting skills of yours and follow our tracks back to our shack?"
"It's a little dark, tho. I doubt there's enough visibility for me to follow the tracks." Hunter said while walking past the fence and looked around the woods where there was hardly any light left past the dense field of trees beyond the Morton Ranch.
"Hm…" Luz reached for her phone in her pocket to see if she had any signal left. Gratefully there was, so she used her Oogle Maps app to find the way out. "Ok… so I was right. We should be heading this way and we should be back home in no time. Don't worry about the light, I got that covered!" Luz said as she used the flashlight in her phone to light their way. "Ta-da!"
"Nice! Hooray for human technology." Gus said with a grin.
"Wait, your phone can do that and you let us waste magic in the basement!" Willow exclaimed which made Luz chuckle nervously.
"Well… if I had wasted battery in the basement, we wouldn't have a map right now."
There was a short argument between both parties for a short while, which kept everyone distracted hearing both Luz and Willow debate what was more important; if saving phone battery or magic. However, all discussions come to an end, and by the time that both of them stopped arguing one another, the group found themselves in the middle of Herlock Woods with an eerie silence looming over them.
Their feet made the leaves and branches lying on the soil to crunch loudly. Together, one by one started to reach for each other's hands to hold while they paced forward. First Luz and Amity, then Luz to Vee, Willow, Hunter and Gus… by this time, the unnerving silence was starting to get to Gus' head, who started to ramble out of nervousness.
"Hey, guys. You know… I just realized something."
"What's that?" Willow asked as she held onto his hand in the dark.
"We've been in the Human Realm for a while now… and during the time we've been walking now, I just realized how the Boiling Isles conditioned me to coexist with horrific things my whole life on a daily basis. To the point that I've come to accept that one day… I might get eaten and digested and that doesn't seem scary anymore."
"It's kind of messed up that you've accepted such fate, but ok." Hunter said with a soft nervous chuckle.
"I mean, it's easy for you to say, you were in the Emperor's Coven. What do you even fear for?" Gus asked with a soft chuckle of his own.
"Bruh, Steve got eaten like 4 times, and he's still kicking around." Hunter replied with a shrug.
"Wait…" Willow joined the conversation. "Steve got eaten a fourth time? What a guy."
"I know right." Hunter said with a soft chuckle.
Luz chuckled a little bit while saying: "This conversation is a little morbid, but I love how you guys make it entertaining."
Gus cleared his throat which brought everyone's attention back to him. "The point I was trying to make is that… in the time I've been in the Human Realm, I've come to be conditioned in a different way. I no longer thought of getting eaten anymore, this place is so peaceful and safe most of the time. But now… in moments like these when I feel that the Human Realm can be scarier than the Boiling Isles."
"And… we're back to our regular programming." Luz joked with a nervous laugh.
"Guys… we're almost there." Amity raised her voice. "Can we please just cut it out with the scary topics?"
Stop.
"Stop what?" Amity asked Luz while squeezing her hand.
"Huh?" Luz replied in confusion. "Stop what?"
"You told me to stop." Amity said which made Luz even more puzzled than before.
"No… I did not say anything."
"But you… I heard… did any of you guys…" Amity was cut off by Willow replying to the question she was about to make.
"No one said stop, Amity."
The crunching of leaves and branches had seized by now as they all stood still. There was no more light seeping down on them through the trees, which meant that the night had won the race against them. The only source light they had was Luz's phone, and in that darkness, the pink haired witch could barely even see their faces.
As she looked around, Amity soon heard another word that only she was able to perceive.
Hush.
Amity began to panic, her heart racing fast and hard against her chest, and the more time they spent in silence, the more scared the rest of her friends became.
"Amity, what's happening?" Luz asked but was shushed by Amity herself.
The meowing of Ghost on Amity's shoulder disturbed the peace next which was instantly shushed by her while whispering. "Ghost, quiet… everyone shut up."
For a short while, Amity looked to her left, in that direction there was nothing but pitch black darkness. Soon enough… another message was picked by her ears that said:
Don't move.
"Don't move…" Amity repeated so that her friends would know something was about to happen. "Luz…" She whispered. "Turn the light off…"
Luz was about to raise her voice in disapproval before she was shushed by Amity once again. "But it's so dark…!"
"You have to trust me, Luz… please." Amity whispered with distress in her voice.
"Ok… I trust you…" Luz whispered back while turning the flashlight in her phone off with her shaking hands, leaving them all in pure darkness.
They waited there for a minute or so… until their ears were able to catch the sound of something coming from the direction that Amity was looking at.
The crunching of leaves and branches started all over again, but this time not by their feet which remained still in the place they've stopped. One by one, humanoid black shapes began to walk past them in the dark. Some of them were limping, others were dragging their feet, stumbling, all moving like a hive mind without paying any attention to the witches, human and basilisk standing there among them in Herlock Woods.
It all lasted a little bit under a minute, but it felt like an eternity for them. Each one was squeezing each other's hands tightly in the hopes of sharing strength with one another. Whatever they saw didn't seem to care about them in the slightest. As soon as the shapes were gone, the group found themselves in the eerie dark forest once more all alone.
"What was that…?" Hunter whispered.
"I don't know…" Amity whispered back.
"How did you know that was going to happen?" Willow asked next.
"I don't… know." Amity replied. "I think it's over now."
Just as soon as Amity had finished her sentence, another snapping of a branch close by filled their ears which caused them to gasp in surprise. One more shadowy figure coming from the same direction was approaching them now fully aware of their presence. The figure was groaning in a feral like way as it was quickening up its pace.
"Ghost!" Amity called to her palisman who meowed in response before transforming into a staff which Amity used to cast a spell that forced the shape to be blown back against a tree.
Groaning still, the shadowy figure bounced back at them before it was swiftly striked by Luz's baseball bat which she swung with force at it which made a huge cracking noise that echoed through the woods. Lastly, Willow used whatever magic she had left to raise a barrier of roots to trap that shape in place.
"It's time for us to nope our way out of here!" Hunter exclaimed, which they all agreed to before quickly running as fast as they could away from the scene.
Minutes after, they were able to see lights in the distance. The streets, the cars, the lights illuminating windows on houses and buildings.
By now, Vee was almost on the verge of tears which brought Luz to encourage her to keep running. "We're almost there, Vee. Don't worry! Just a little more!"
Closer and closer they were about to reach the end of Herlock Woods, their feet practically skipping as much terrain as they could, their panting becoming heavier alongside their heartbeats.
But before they were able to pierce through the last line of trees they were stopped by a sudden large black shadowy shape in their way which caused most of them to stop and Luz to groan in pain as she stumbled forward and rolled over towards that large animal standing there… it took them a few moments to process that it was just a deer.
"Crap…! Oh my dear She-Ra, you scared me…" Luz burst into laughter which made the deer tilt its head in confusion.
"Damn, that was close." Willow sighed and held her knees while panting some more.
Everyone allowed themselves a brief moment to rest while the deer eyed them up out of curiosity. Luz got herself back up to her feet and smiled at it as she reached over to gently pat it on the head. "Don't you scare us like that again, ok? Ooo, you're kind of cold… it does get chilly out there I guess." Luz chuckled some, after a few pats on the head - the deer backed off a little bit which caused Luz to retreat as well. "Wow, easy there. We're friendly, you're friendly - right?"
"Luz, we should go." Amity said which everyone else agreed to with a groan.
"Ok, yeah. Man… I'm beat." Luz said while leading the way towards the streets with her friends closely by.
'Fu fu fu fu…'
The sudden noise made Amity look back at the forest, only able to see a bunch of leaves rustle where the deer had taken off into the dark forest of Herlock Woods.
"What're you doing, Amity?" Luz asked while reaching up to hold her girlfriend's hand so she wouldn't be left behind.
"Oh, sorry…" Still fixated on the woods, she dared to ask herself if what she heard was it?
The gang returned home with Camila, having made up an excuse to her when she questioned them where they had been. Once they reached the basement, they all collapsed in different spots, some on the couch, others on the carpet on the floor. Only Gus still had energy left, going towards his murder board and filling it with the notes and pictures he took while they were in the Morton Ranch.
"Seriously Amity, I'm never doubting your Oracle skills ever again!" Willow exclaimed. "That was crazy, how did you know that was going to happen?!"
"I don't know…" Amity replied while leaning against the couch next to Luz who was holding her close. "It's complicated… I don't even know how to explain."
"Nevertheless…" Luz said while raining kisses on Amity's cheek which made the pink haired witch laugh so hard. "You were amazing!"
"STOP!" Amity exclaimed.
"Now that's how it all started!" Luz said while pulling back from Amity's face. "You said that you heard someone say stop, right?"
"Yeah…" Amity said before she rubbed the side of her head. "No… I don't know, it's hard to explain. I'm trying to remember what I heard… but I don't remember a voice… I just remember the words stop… hush… don't move. And that's it."
"Well whatever it was… we made it out of the forest thanks to you warning us about it." Luz said with a smile. "I can't wait to see how many other Oracle abilities you will unlock in the future."
"We're not sure this is a long term thing, Luz." Amity said while laughing. "I can't believe I'm saying this… but I wish I had someone from back home helping me figure out these… episodes. For all I know it could be that damn TV that Gus brought here. Yeah, I'm talking about you, you dork!" Amity threw a empty can of soda over to the strange TV resting on the corner of the basement.
"Ok, let's not enrage the spirit of the TV." Luz said with a nervous chuckle.
"I couldn't care about the spirit of the TV's feelings." Amity said with a soft sigh.
While they all made jokes at the expense of the TV, Vee who was now in Basilisk form, got a message on her phone from Masha.
Masha: I saw u and ur sister head into Herlock Woods, plz tell me ur back
Vee bit her lip while nervously typing back.
Vee: yeah, we are
Masha: i need proof
Vee nervously looked back at the group still messing around before she transformed into her human form and took a quick selfie with everyone else distracted in the background.
Masha: ok, cool, dun u do dangerous stuff like that, plz, im serious, ttyl
Vee: -smiling emoji- night!
"Some late night texting… huh?" Luz's voice made Vee panic and blush heavily in her human form before she quickly transformed back into her Basilisk self.
"Uh…!" Vee tried to say something but was quickly interrupted by the grinning Luz.
"You ok, little sis?"
"It was… Masha. They saw us…" Vee said nervously which made Luz drop the teasing act and nervously ask.
"You mean they saw us go into the woods?"
"Yeah…" Vee nodded. "They're not dumb, they know something's up."
"Is everything ok?" Willow asked.
"For the time being, at least." Luz said while sighing softly. "It's this human friend that Vee, Amity and I hung out with the other day. They're starting to suspect something. I know that it's dangerous for us to welcome someone new into our inner circle, but I know that Masha can be a valuable asset for us. They know the woods well and we almost got lost today."
"Yeah… I think Masha is cool too. But… I think we need a little more time before we can decide if they can be trusted." Amity said.
"Plus…" Vee interrupted. "I don't know if I'm ready to tell her I'm a Basilisk just yet. What if… they're scared of me."
"What?!" Luz exclaimed. "You shut your cute mouth! You're adorable! They're going to love you."
"Yeah, Luz is right." Amity said with a soft chuckle. "Have a little more faith, Vee."
Vee shrugged before the two girls brought her to sit down with them on the couch.
"Well, you could ask them to come over if you'd like one of these days." Luz proposed, to which Vee blushed a little bit.
"Maybe."
"Yeah, we'll need a few days to recharge our magic, so I think we can take it easy on ourselves for now." Amity said to which Hunter added.
"Oh yeah, and you got that thing on the weeke-" Hunter was suddenly hit by a pillow on the head by Amity herself before he was able to finish that sentence.
"Why are you bullying Hunter, Amity?" Luz asked.
"No bullying, he's saying things he shouldn't be saying." Amity said with a innocent smile.
"Ow." Hunter said under that pillow.
Luz looked at Amity with disbelief. "Are you… hiding something from me?"
Amity nervously looked around before she sighed and confessed to Luz: "Well… this weekend I'm doing a public reading at the library… in the hopes of landing a job… somewhere in town."
Willow and Gus began to whistle their way out of the room to give them some room, followed by Vee and then Hunter who begrudgingly looked at Amity before leaving.
"Why didn't you tell me… that's…" Luz's face became lit with sheer happiness. "Amazing!"
"It is…?" Amity asked.
"Of course it is! The library, why didn't I connect those dots!" Luz chuckled softly. "But for real, why didn't you tell me?"
"I didn't know how you would react…" Amity said with a smile. "I just want some sort of normalcy. I want to feel useful. I also want to earn my own snails, I mean dollars! So that I can buy my own clothes and maybe contribute to the grocery expenses."
"Yeah, I get it." Luz smiled and leaned in to kiss Amity in the lips. "I hope you get that job."
"Me too." Amity smiled back.
Once the situation was handled, the rest of the group came back a bit after to hang out some more before they head off to sleep and leave the experience in Herlock Woods behind… at least for the time being.
End of the chapter.