Luz lands softly in a clearing Maddie led her to. Maddie begins to explain where they are now.
"Years ago, I found several places where I can conduct different types of magic. At home, I do my research and brew potions, as long as my siblings don't bother me. I'm experimenting with curses and potions not far from here. It would be too dangerous to do that at home. This place is however, perfect for all kinds of higher rituals. You'll see why..."
As Luz descends from her staff with Hop Pop in her arms, she notices Maddie walking towards a rather old looking ruin. Maddie turns to Luz and waves her over, before walking through a very tall archway and disappearing right in front of Luz. 'Whoa', Luz thought to herself. She slowly approaches the archway where Maddie disappeared, but stops herself just in front of it, and takes a deep breath. Suddenly a hand appears, grabs Luz' free arm, and quickly pulls her through the archway.
Luz has her eyes closed, when she suddenly hears Maddie again.
"You're too slow, we don't have that much time."
Luz opens her eyes and her jaw drops to the floor. The two girls are no longer in a forest clearing, they are now standing in a gigantic cave, lit by large purple crystals. In general, the walls of the cave are made of colored crystals, and there are only a few of them who are not glowing brightly. Luz and Maddie are standing in a small stone clearing inside the cave, which features the same archway they saw in the larger clearing in the forest a moment ago. Two small streams flow around the clearing on either side, leading Luz's gaze further ahead to a similar stone path that leads straight ahead deeper into the cavern. Luz takes a moment to absorb the atmosphere, despite Maddie's urging to move on. The clean, fresh, but cold air, the gentle splashing of the stream, and even the crystals seem to emit some kind of comfortable sound. She takes one deep breath before following Maddie.
While following Maddie, Luz suddenly hears a sound. "Hoot". It's Owlbert, who has freed himself from Luz's staff, and is flying past her at high speed. He does a few figures in the air, before flying back to Luz. Luz giggles a little when she sees how happy Owlbert seems to be right now.
"Maddie, this place is amazing", Luz marvels as she catches up with the frog.
"Hoot.", Maddie turns to Luz and observes Owlbert gliding alongside Luz. She raises at least one eyebrow.
"It's new to me that staffs can partially come alive.", she states to which Luz giggles and replies.
"That's Owlbert, my palisman. It's the reason I can use glyph magic here in Amphibia."
"Then its core must be magic in its purest form. Interesting…", Maddie pauses shortly, "You know, I suspect that this place is also made of pure magic, but I haven't yet figured out how to use this magic effectively. That's why I'm experimenting here..."
"Where is 'here' anyway?", Luz wonders.
"Actually, I'm not so sure about that. I think we're still in Amphibia, but I can't tell where we are exactly. Until a while ago I had the theory that this is some kind of micro dimension, but I hid no evidence of the existence of other dimensions until the arrival of you and Anne. Well, other worlds, dimensions, all the same. By the way, we'll be right there."
The two of them walk around a larger rock formation just to find a small lake with an island in it, with a stone pedestal in its middle. A wooden bridge connects the path to the island which the two girls are about to cross. Owlbert flies ahead and lands on the stone pedestal.
"Luz, put him on the pedestal. I need to grab a few things...", Maddie orders Luz before she turns around, runs back down the path, and disappears from Luz sight behind the rock formation. Luz just shrugs and carries Hop Pop to the pedestal.
"Come on, buddy. Hop Pop has to lie there.", Luz says to Owlbert, who then takes off, and starts exploring the cave. She watches him for a few more seconds before carefully laying Hop Pop down. She then leans herself with both hands against the pedestal, and merely stares at Hop Pop's body.
"I'm so sorry Hop Pop.", she quietly mutters to herself, a tear rolling down her cheek, "I wish I'd been more careful so I could have protected you from Sasha... No one deserves that. Especially- huh?"
Luz suddenly notices how the pedestal and the floor beneath it begin to vibrate, and a few of the larger crystals that are all over the cave walls begin to flicker briefly. She abruptly backs away from the pedestal and everything stops again. At the same time, Maddie returns into view.
"What was that? What did you do?", Maddie wonders, and although there was not a hint of accusation or blame in her voice, Luz fears she has done something terribly wrong. As Maddie runs toward her, Luz answers, stuttering.
"So... Um... I... I just... leaned on the pedestal and...", Maddie notices the fear in her voice and tries to calm her down.
"Luz, you did nothing wrong.", Maddie says, putting a hand on Luz' hand.
"Not?"
"I think the cave somehow reacted to you", Maddie thinks.
"But how? I... I don't have any magic in me. It comes from Owlbert..."
"Are you sure? Where is he then?", Luz looks around the cave for any sign of the little owl. Nothing.
"But how?"
"I don't know. Well, not yet. I... I'd like to try something", Maddie says. "You know, I usually use various runes, herbs, and potions for revive people and other creatures. Now, I would like to test to see if YOU can bring him back to life."
"Me? But how? I've never done any magic without glyphs, let alone resurrected a person...", Luz says in a panic.
"Okay, fair point... But let's just assume for now, that the cave actually reacted to you. What exactly did you do before everything started to vibrate?"
"Umm... I leaned against the pedestal. Here, like this...", Luz reenacts her previous pose, "And then I thought about the fact that I couldn't protect him."
"You were mad, right?", Maddie asks to which Luz nods. "Try to remember something more positive…", she suggests.
Luz closes her eyes and begins to contemplate. In fact, Luz has quite a few fond memories: The first time she had finished reading 'The Good Witch Azura' book for the first time, that her father had gifted to her... The time when her mother took her to her first book fair and she got to meet the author... The great feeling when she met Willow and helped her get a good grade, when she snuck into Hexside for the first time...
Several minutes pass, but nothing happens. Luz sighs in disappointment before opening her eyes again and looking questioningly at Maddie. She now ponders for a while herself.
"Do you have any memories where you actively helped someone? Or maybe where you fixed something?", Maddie asks.
Luz doesn't reply and just closes her eyes again. She thinks back to the time she was in Willow's head along with Amity, and fixed her memories. And when they, along with Amity, restored Willow's confidence in after standing up for herself against Boscha...
Suddenly, Luz hears an unfamiliar, extremely deep voice: "LUUUUZ..."
"What?", she asks loudly before the whole cave started shaking again.
Many of the purple glowing crystals now begin to flicker, and the tremor becomes increasingly stronger. So strong, in fact, that neither Luz nor Maddie can continue to stand upright and fall over.
Luz looks up and spots that the giant crystal directly above the island has broken loose from the cave ceiling, and appears to be falling down on Luz, Maddie, and Hop Pop. Luz and Maddie quickly rush under the pedestal. Terrified, they cling to each other in anticipation of their inevitable end.
Suddenly it quiets down again, the vibrations in the floor diminishing. Luz cautiously opens her eyes as she notices something picking at her fingers, and realizes that they are indeed still alive. And that Owlbert is back.
"Maddie...", Luz says, whereupon she too carefully opens her eyes. Slowly, the two girls crawl out from under the pedestal and are astonished as they look up.
"Whoa...", Luz marvels.
The crystal that was threatening to crush them just a moment ago, is now hovering a little less than a meter, slowly spinning, above the pedestal.
"The crystal... It's floating... And it's yellow?", Maddie remarks.
"I think... it wants me to touch it...", Luz speaks to herself, slowly moving her hand towards the gigantic, levitating crystal.
Luz touches the crystal and both she and the crystal begin to glow yellow. Luz' eyes have also changed color, from brown to a bright yellow. As Luz's second hand touches the crystal, a yellow beam shoots out from the crystal, directly into Hop Pop's lifeless body. Maddie watches the scene in amazement.
A few minutes pass and the crystal slowly darkens, until it is completely colorless. The beam breaks off, the yellow aura around Luz disappears, and her eyes turn back to their normal color. The now dark crystal starts hovering upwards again, on its own, leaving Luz' hands. Luz doesn't seem to have been quite herself for the past few minutes, as it was a few more seconds before she could lower her arms again. As she does so, she now has to support herself on the pedestal, so as not to lose her balance.
"That... That was amazing. It... I don't know... I think it'll take me a while to process that.", Luz stammers. Maddie on the other hand as other priorities.
"That's secondary. How are you feeling?"
"I don't know. I... Hop Pop!", Luz shouts before quickly putting her hand on his arm to check for a pulse. Her eyes widen when she actually finds it. She begins to sob and lies her head on his chest in relief. Maddie takes one of his arms and checks for a pulse as well.
"Oh. My. Gosh... He's alive.", Maddie exclaims happily, "You did it, Luz."
"I have no idea how I did it, and to be honest I don't really care right now…", Luz states with tears of joy in her eyes.
"Luz? I… I think I should confess something to you... I've never really resuscitated complex creatures before. Only bugs and insects... And not always successfully either... I was actually planning on throwing you out when I picked up my stuff. I wouldn't have wanted you here if it hadn't worked out… If I failed and he-"
"Shhh. He's alive. ", Luz tries to cheer her up, "That's all that matters"
The two comfort each other when they suddenly hear a familiar voice.
"What? Who's alive?"
"Hop Pop!", Luz yells, "I'm so sorry, Hop Pop. I could have stopped Sasha, but-", Luz's mind is simultaneously filled with joy, about Hop Pop being alive again, and guilt, about not being able to protect him earlier.
"Sasha… She- She killed me...", he mutters quietly, before looking around, "Luz? Maddie? Where am I? Am I still dead?"
Luz chuckles a little, but with a sad undertone.
"We brought you back. It's a long story..."
"We should take you home first. You need to rest and regain your strength.", Maddie adds.
"I could use a nap...", Hop Pop says before losing conscience again, and falling asleep.
Luz lifts Hop Pop high in her arms, but still notices a faint yellow aura around him. She looks up at the now colorless crystal, which has lifted itself back up to the top of the cave. Luz feels a little too exhausted to think about it too much. Instead, she walks slowly, along with Maddie, back to the cave entrance.
Only outside do they both sit down on Luz' staff and make their way back towards Wartwood. After a while, Maddie asks if Luz could drop her off at her house, as she would like to do some more research on what exactly just happened. Needless to say, Luz complies with Maddie's request, and drops her off at the bakery, before flying on to the Plantars' farm herself.
Luz lands right in front of their front door and knocks on it with the end of her staff, which she holds in her left hand. In her right, Luz struggles to hold the sleeping Hop Pop. Anne opens the door and Luz immediately realizes that she has been crying non-stop for the last few hours. When Anne catches sight of Luz holding him, she can barely contain her joy, but quickly realizes that he has a slight yellow glow. She looks at Luz with a questioning expression, who in response, merely nods with a smile on her face.
This answer is probably reason enough for Anne to burst into tears again. Only this time, they are not tears of sadness, but tears of joy.
"He needs to rest.", Luz says softly, and enters the house, heading for Hop Pop's room.
On the way there, she notices Sprig descending the stairs, and sees Anne and Luz with his grandfather in their arms. He looks at Anne, who smiles at him in relief. He falls back on the stairs and, like Anne, starts crying again from happiness. Anne sits down with him and embraces him closely.
Luz, meanwhile, enters Hop Pop's bedroom and sees that his bed is completely stained red. Stained by his own blood. Instead of his bed, she puts him on the couch in his study. She takes a nearby clean blanket and covers him with it before quietly leaving the room and closing the door behind her.
Luz notices that Anne and Sprig have sat down on the couch in the living room. They both look at Luz as she heads over and sits down with them.
"What happened?", Anne asks, at which Luz takes a deep breath.
"After we left, Maddie directed me to one of her hiding places-"
"No!", Anne cuts in, "Even before that. When Maddie arrived. What were those glyphs?"
"Oh. She said they were regeneration glyphs. She must have been experimenting with the ones I left her. I don't think she has slept for a second since then... I didn't ask about those or any other glyphs though. Anyway, when we got to her hideout after a while, we went through some kind of portal that led to a gigantic purple cave. Speaking of which, did you happen to feel any kind of earthquake in the meantime?"
"No. I didn't notice anything", Sprig replies.
"Neither did I. Why?", Anne asks.
"I'll get to that in a moment. Anyway, we walked through this cave for a while until we got to an island where there was a kind of stone pedestal. I put Hop Pop on it and as I leaned on it the cave started shaking. Maddie said to do it again and the cave shook even harder when we saw a crystal... oh, by the way, the cave was almost completely covered by purple crystals. Anyway, we saw a crystal had come loose from the ceiling and saw it falling at us. Maddie and I hid under the pedestal, and when we came out, the crystal was hovering above Hop Pop, and it was suddenly yellow with about the same aura as you had earlier. Just with a different color tho'"
Sprig looks at Anne questioningly, but she just signals him, that she'll tell him about it later.
"I had touched the crystal and it was like a trance. I regained consciousness as the crystal floated back toward the ceiling. I don't know what happened in the meantime, but as I leaned over Hop Pop, I realized he was alive again. And well, that's pretty much it..."
"And where is Maddie now?", Sprig wonders.
"She's back home. She said she wants to do more research, but I think she'll go to sleep."
"Okay, that's good…"
"Speaking of home... I think, I should tell you what happened- what happened before I came to Amphibia...", Luz starts to tell them. Anne and Sprig merely look at Luz with big, wet eyes. "When I arrived on the Boiling Isles, I met a woman. Well, not just a woman, a witch. Eda, the Owl Lady. The most powerful witch on the Boiling Isles. And sadly, she was the most wanted person there, for not following the rules set up by the wild-magic-suppressing dictator to guarantee that people could only use exactly the magic he allowed. She took me in, and she helped me discover glyph magic. Well, her and some friends I made. An additional problem for Eda was that when she was young, she was cursed by her sister Lilith-"
"Ouch", Anne cuts in.
"Anyway... Her sister Lilith is in the Emperor's Coven, and has been trying to capture Eda for years, because he promised her, that he would free Eda from her curse. And surprise... He lied. To capture Eda, Lilith had held me hostage. The two of them, that being Eda und Lilith, fought each other until Eda could no longer fight Lilith AND her curse at the same time. Eda lost both fights, and Lilith sent me away. She was found guilty of her 'crimes' by the emperor and her sentence was... petrification.", it's really hard for Luz to let that last part escape her lips.
"Oh shit", Anne comments.
"Of course, I couldn't let that happen, and together with King- Uh, a cute demon who lived with me and Eda, we let ourselves be captured to be taken to the Emperor's Castle. However, we were found by Lilith, who told us that she was switching sides. She had taken King and I to a room that was supposed to be directly below where Eda was being held. But surprise, it was a trap. Not by Lilith, but by Emperor Belos. He had captured King and Lilith and... took them... somewhere. However, Belos then had me pinned to the ground and said he just wanted to talk to me. I threw some ice glyphs his way, to show him what I'd think of a conversation. We fought each other for a while and I knew I couldn't beat him, but I didn't care. Suddenly a bright light came up behind me and I was pulled in... And you know the rest..."
These memories were extremely painful for Luz and she had to stop a few times to keep from crying.
"Well, not quite yet. Anne, when you told me I was in Amphibia, I realized what that really meant. It meant that I was in yet another world, but also... that I wasn't able save Eda."
Before Luz could finish this last part, tears started to form in her eyes. Anne and Sprig look at each other with concern, and Anne tries to find something sympathetic to say.
"Oh frog, Luz... I'm so sorry."
"Eda was like a mother... I loved her so much...", Luz replies sobbing and with a broken voice. Both Anne and Sprig hug her, as streams of tears flow down her face.
"But you brought Hop Pop back to us, and I will never be able to thank you enough for that...", Sprig says as Luz has calmed down a bit, but is still sobbing.
"I wouldn't have forgiven myself either if it hadn't worked out. I'd already lost someone who was extremely important to me. If Hop Pop hadn't come back, I probably would have broken down completely..."
"No, it's my fault.", Anne cuts in, " Sprig, you had warned me about Sasha, but I hadn't seen the truth. I hadn't seen how she was manipulating me. I hadn't seen the extent to which she would go to get what she wants, but I never thought she would be capable of murder... I won't repeat that mistake again..."
"Anne? What was Sasha like on Earth, actually?"
"She was the one who always wanted to get her way, and was offended when she didn't get it. On my last birthday, she wanted me to skip school with her. She pushed me to steal things and stuff.", Luz and Sprig both begin to notice Anne getting more and more angry as she talks. "Why didn't I notice? Why Did I Think All Friendships Were Like This? WHY DID I NOT RECOGNIZE WHAT AN ASSHOLE SASHA WAS?"
Anne's hair turns blue and a shock wave emanates from her that roams the entire house. Luz and Sprig duck, shouting "ANNE!"
Anne calms down fairly quickly and only now realizes what has just happened.
"Oh...", is all she says. Luz now turns to Sprig.
"That's what I meant with Anne turning blue"
"Oh, okay...", Sprig says, his voice still shaky. "Can all humans do that?"
Luz and Anne both shake their heads.
"My best friend has superpowers…", Sprig mutters to himself. Anne hears this and smiles, though it doesn't last for very long.
"Has this happened any time before this morning? Or do you have any idea where these powers are coming from, Anne?", Luz asks, to which Anne merely shakes her head.
"We could see if we could find more information about it in Newtopia.", Anne suggests, "Well, as soon as Hop Pop is healthy again..."
"And Luz, you could fly ahead with your staff", Sprig adds.
"What? No...", Luz replies. "I won't leave you alone."
"I agree with Sprig.", Anne objects, " You should fly ahead and before you say anything else... listen to me: if you're ahead you can try to get more information right away. We'd get there about a week or two after you. Besides, there's not that much space on Bessie, and I don't think you'd be able to put up with us on her for that long..."
"Bessie?"
"The Amphibia-equivalent to horses. Just as a large snail"
"Alright, fine. But I won't fly until you leave too. Alright?"
"Yeah, okay."
Suddenly there's a knock at the front door. Anne gets up, opens the door, and sees Mayor Toadstool, but without his characteristic sleazy grin. In fact, he seems rather upset.
"Hello Anne", he greets her, "I'm here to express my condolences on the death of Hopediah."
"Oh, um... thanks", Anne replies, "But he's alive again. He's recovering right now…"
Suddenly, his grief seems never to have existed.
"Oh, is that so?", he asks, "Well then, forget what I just said. I just wanted to invite you to a town meeting tonight to talk about what happened this morning."
"All right, we'll be there"