Chapter 6: Adventuring with the Coven
Joy, Hope, and Faith were in another battle against the forces of the Big Bad. Locked in combat with enemies made from the purest of darkness. With a blast of purple crackling energy, Joy sends the beasts of shadow and gnashing teeth flying back.
"This is getting annoying, Faith! You sure we can't kill these things without our guest appearances?" Joy said, straining as her magic threatened to wane. Faith just finished slamming a magical sword into one of their chests, pinning one of the beasts to the ground for the moment.
"I'm quite certain. They have something that can take care of these beasts in a pinch. Hope! How much longer until they arrive?" Faith asks, reaching into her bottomless bag to pull out another magical weapon. Hope finds herself hiding behind a roadblock, looking fervently back to her crystal ball. As she looks, the swirling smoke inside forms into a vision she can see. She gets a perplexed look, before peeking over the roadblock to yell back.
"It seems they already have!" Hope replied, before jumping up and sprinting towards the direction of where she saw the two. As Joy and Faith continue the fight, Hope finds her target, Tristo, the new human exchange student. Walking alongside him is Zoe, and they both halt as they see Hope approaching rapidly. Zoe waves her hand and speaks a greeting, but it goes unnoticed by Hope. Hope leaps forward tackling Tristo to the ground. Knocking the wind from him, Tristo sits helplessly as she straddles his chest and takes the glasses from his face. Zoe seems annoyed and wants to help, but knows better than to interfere with whatever the Coven are doing. Plus, they needed their help.
With the glasses in tow, Hope turns and runs back to the rest of her coven.
"Faith! Catch!" yelled Hope. Faith performed a magically enhanced reverse aerial maneuver, catching the glasses as Hope tossed them. Faith looked at the creatures with a smirk. The creatures turned to each other with a confused and cartoonish look.
"A vampire's glasses are the most reflective surfaces in the world. Taste pure light losers!" Faith said, her expression smug. Catching the rays of the sun at the perfect angle, a beam of light shot from them slamming into one of the creature's torso. It began to wither away into a wisp of smoke. Faith snapped the glasses in two, tossing one to Joy as they both began to take each creature out.
Zoe stared on in wonder for a moment, before turning her attention down to the now sitting Tristo. She reached a hand down to help him up, which he accepted. As she did so, she pulled him a bit too close to her. Close enough to cause them to both laugh awkwardly.
"Are you okay Tristo?" Zoe asked, as her many eyes scanned him for injuries. Tristo nodded, trying to take in the now blurry surroundings.
"I'm fine, just winded me for a second. I can't see now though, what happened with the glasses Liam gave me?"
"Um… we'll find you a new pair."
"I see. Well I don't, but I know what you're getting at."
"How bad is your vision? Can you walk?"
"I can, just gotta move a bit slower."
"Well you can continue to hold my hand, if you want to." Zoe said, twirling her foot on the ground. Tristo looked down and he in fact was still holding her hand. He continued to look down and smiled slightly.
"I mean if you don't mind…" Tristo replied. He wanted to say more, but was interrupted as the Coven arrived and stood before the two. Joy stepped forward with her fists on her hips.
"Thank the goddess you both showed up when you did. We really had our work cut out for us with this one." Joy remarked, twirling the one end of the broken pair of glasses in her hand. She outstretched her hand to Tristo to shake, which he gingerly took. He struggled to find her hand with his lack of depth perception, but managed to meet her firm handshake.
"On behalf of our Coven, it's nice to meet you, Tristo. Wanted to introduce ourselves sooner, but this season has kept us busy." She continued. The other witches to her left and right nod in agreement.
"Um sure. It's nice to meet you all too. You wouldn't happen to have a spare pair of glasses?" Tristo asked, blinking his eyes as if that would aid his blurry vision. Joy turned over to Faith with a curious look. Faith nodded, reaching through the bottomless bag and searching. She pulled out a small brown case, and opens it to reveal a pair of eyeglasses. Faith walks over and offers them to Tristo, who gladly accepts. Putting them on, he can feel a magical effect overtake him a moment and his vision improves.
"These are magic? Do they do anything cool?" Tristo asked, hoping for something to help aid him in this crazy world.
"They are the Glasses of Attunement. They attune to your vision." Faith explained with a neutral tone. Tristo sighed at the news that he wouldn't be able to fire lasers from his eyes or anything.
"Thanks Faith."
"Ah you know my name."
Shit. I knew something I shouldn't have again.
"Yeah I uh, heard about you guys at school." Tristo said, completely unconvincingly. Faith and the rest of the Coven narrowed their eyes at him. Zoe decided to step in and relieve the tension.
"Look Tristo is from another world, we wanted to know if you guys could help him get back?" Zoe said, hopeful and rubbing her tentacle nervously. The Coven shared a glance with each other and nodded.
"We'd love to help, but we're in the middle of this thing with Gerard. He's gone crazy with darkness powers beyond his control again, and he's our villain of the week. We gotta deal with this first." Joy explained. Tristo looked a bit dejected and Zoe began to think.
Damn. I was worried this might be the case. The only way to quicken things are for Tristo and I to involve ourselves. If we get lucky, our problems may even get solved along the way.
"You know ladies, I'm very capable in combat and Tristo is pretty crafty too. We could probably help you handle Gerard if you agree to help us after." Zoe offered, giving Tristo a sly look. The Coven turned, looking Tristo up and down, and Hope spoke up.
"Zoe, I agree you're pretty tough, but I don't think Tristo looks like much. I tackled him pretty easily, and I'm tiny." Hope explained with a smirk. Tristo crossed his arms and looked away slightly.
"You just got the drop on me is all, I didn't think you were gonna tackle me. I'd be prepared for whatever we're getting into now."
The Coven turned and began murmuring to one another. Zoe stood next to Tristo and waited patiently for their answer. They stop suddenly and Joy turns.
"Are you both fine with skipping class today?"
"Yes." Tristo and Zoe both answer in unison. The Coven murmurs a bit more before they all turn to face the two. Joy resumes speaking for the Coven.
"Good, then it's settled. You'll both join us to go to Doom's Diner.
"Can I ask what happened?" Tristo said, unsure if he actually wanted to know the answer.
"Let's walk and talk. You see, Gerard was working his shift, and got into it with a warlock that came in. Then he called me, begged for me to come back to him, that he needed me, blah blah blah. I told him no, then he gave into the darkness again. Classic stuff really."
"Well it sounds like he just needs some help then, get him back on the right track."
"You really think he'll listen to you Tristo?"
"No… I am but a disgraced clinical psych student, though I could try and talk him down."
"We'll see if you get your chance. Let's hit the road."
Tristo and Zoe followed after the Coven, a mix of fear and excitement for what would come next. Tristo waves down Faith, who turns, but does not leave her position within the trio.
"Do you have any magical swords or anything I could use to fight?"
"Sorry, I just used my last one of those."
"Oh alright then…" Tristo said, sulking a bit. Zoe puts a hand on his arm.
"No cool anime sword for you this time, sorry Tristo. But hey, I'll watch your back out there. Nothing's gonna hurt you."
"Thanks Zoe. I just feel bad, you're kinda just carrying me round on your shoulder."
"And if I like that? C'mon just let me feel like a big powerful monster."
"Heh well… and hey it's hard to look like a big powerful monster dressed in yellow with a big sunny smile. Really though… I appreciate it." Tristo said, growing more bashful as the conversation goes on. Zoe smiles at him, feeling his genuine appreciation for her wash over like a warm glow.
"You can maybe make it up to me later." Zoe said, craning her head a little more in his direction.
"Really, and how do you want me to do that?"
"Hmmm. I'll let you surprise me, Tristo."
"Then I'll make it a good one."
The two continue their back and forth, as the Coven are collectively annoyed with their mushiness. They continue until they arrive at the Covens' van, where they all clamber inside to head to Doom's Diner.