Luz and Maddie have been flying for most of the day, finally reaching Newtopia's outer border. It is the middle of the night, and from the skies, they could already see that there is extremely little activity in the city. The two of them landed on a small cliff just outside the city gates, its metallic surface reflecting the moonlight into the city and illuminating the immediate area beyond.
From the cliff, the two girls can clearly make out the dimensions of this huge city, well, huge by the standards of this world. The entire area around Newtopia is flooded with water, which at first glance does not seem to be too high up. The same cannot be said about the enormously high city walls that encircle Newtopia. Even from a distance, it seems disproportionately huge, at least a hundred meters tall. Unfortunately, at this distance it is not possible to identify individual buildings within the city, with the exception of those located just beyond the city gate and the castle(?) looming above it. Just outside the wall, they can make out a few ruins, but it is too dark to spot any details.
The two girls move down the cliff towards the water, and Luz checks to see exactly how deep the water is, and whether she might have to carry Maddie on her shoulders. This is not the case, and the two girls make the two-kilometer walk to the gates of the metropolis.
When they arrive at the open gates, Luz in particular is astonished.
"Whoa... These gates are as tall as Hexside as a whole...", she marvels. Maddie, who stopped just a few meters ahead of Luz, turns around.
"Come on, Luz. We've got to keep moving. We both need enough sleep, in case we want to go check out the library later..."
"Coming..."
They stroll for a while through the alleys and streets of the city. While Luz admires all the strange buildings they walk past, not knowing exactly where they're going, Maddie seems to know the exact way, and she has to remind Luz every now and then not to fall too far behind to admire the architecture.
Newtopia is huge. While Luz is familiar with big cities on Earth as well, this one is different. While everything on Earth is gray and made of concrete and asphalt, here no two houses are alike. Each building is made of a different colored rock or other material. They are all decorated differently from each other, with different designs, mostly based on coral and mushroom optics.
Maddie suddenly stops in front of a multi-story building. On the lowest floor, a few lights are visible through the glass in the door. Maddie knocks.
"Here? How can you be so sure this is the right place?", Luz wonders.
"I announced us by letter. Should have arrived a few hours ago. Besides, I have a map of the city at home that I've memorized."
"And who-", Luz is cut off when suddenly the door opens. Standing before them is a slender figure, about Luz's height.
"Hi Iva.", Maddie greets the figure.
"Oh... Hey Maddie. I didn't think you would actually arrive today already... "
"Yeah... Turns out flying speeds things up quite a bit...", Maddie jokingly says.
Maddie and Iva giggle before Maddie continues.
"Oh, by the way, this is Luz. Luz, this is Ivora"
"You can call me Iva", she says with a friendly smile.
"I suppose you two want to go straight to sleep, don't you?", Iva asks, wo which both Maddie and Luz nod.
"Okay. I'll show you your room then."
While all of them are now entering the house, Luz can now get a better look at Maddie's acquaintance. Luz originally thought she was just a newt, like the guards she saw earlier, stationed outside the city gates, but that's not quite true. She appears to be part newt, as well as part axolotl.
Iva's general body shape is quite slender, but her head is rounder, and her tail shorter than that of other newts. The gills, which are usually on the side of the axolotl's head, are usually not very long. In Iva's case, they actually extend past her shoulders, and appear to Luz as if she is wearing them like hair, as her head otherwise appears quite devoid of regular hair. Her skin is largely light blue, while her gills appear only minimally lighter. But that could just be due to the light.
Iva, currently wearing nothing more than a plain white bathrobe, walks ahead and leads Luz and Maddie through a living room, past a small kitchen, and to a door next to a staircase going up.
Luz's eyes begin to water as Iva opens the door and sees the room, which looks exactly like Amity's hideout in the Bonesborough library. All the walls and the ceiling are covered with brown wood, the floor is made of cyan parquet and the room is filled with bookshelves. At the end of the room, there is a desk with a chair in front of it. A few shroomlights are hanging from the ceiling, and on the floor is a round gray carpet with two mattresses on it. There are also a few large pillows in one corner of the room.
"You know, I'd really like to cry right now if I wasn't so tired...", Luz mutters.
"How comes?", Maddie asks curiously.
"I had a friend back in the Isles, and she had a room that looks exactly like this"
"We will find a way, Luz…"
"I hope so, Maddie…", Luz says, before Iva speaks up again.
"Um... I'll let you both rest. See you tomorrow", Iva waves goodbye and heads up the stairs.
Maddie and Luz fall onto the provided mattresses almost simultaneously. Maddie turns to face Luz.
"I know you miss the Boiling Isles, and we will definitely find a way for you to get back there. And even if it doesn't work, you could at least try to get back to Earth with Anne. And if that doesn't work either, you can start a new life here, and we both could be the most powerful witches in Amphibia. Well, you at least. But I'll help.", Luz chuckles at that.
"Thanks Maddie… you know, for trying to cheer me up, but I don't think it'll work. But maybe I'll feel better tomorrow"
"It was worth a try. Good night, Luz"
"By the way: you have to tell me tomorrow how you and Iva met"
Maddie doesn't answer that. Luz turns onto her side, noticing that Owlbert has detached himself from his staff, and is standing right next to Luz's head. He snuggles up to Luz and they both quickly fall asleep.
The next morning came surprisingly quickly, and Maddie is the first one to wake up. Since the room in which the two girls (and Owlbert) were placed has no windows, it is not possible to tell what time it is now.
Maddie sees that Luz is still asleep, and moves quietly towards the door. She notices Owlbert looking at her and waves him over. As soon as he lands on her shoulder, and she closes the door behind her. She hears noises roughly from the direction where the front door is. On the way there, Maddie looks into the kitchen. It's not really a room, but more just a side area, that is separated from the rest of the apartment by an open archway rather than a door. The kitchen is not particularly furnished. There are some cupboards, a stove, an oven and a larger worktop. As in the rest of the apartment, the floor is made of cyan parquet.
Maddie walks past the kitchen and into the living room. Iva is sitting there on a red couch, with a cup of tea in her hand, and a book in front of her on a wooden, dark brown coffee table. It's ironic, because Iva doesn't have any coffee in her apartment.
The living room is almost three times the size of the kitchen, although not too big. In the middle of the room lies a huge, colorful carpet on which are standing two couches, an armchair, and the coffee table. Behind the couch that Iva is sitting on, is a bookshelf that goes from floor to ceiling, along the entire wall. And the whole bookshelf is full of books. Unfortunately, it is not possible to identify what kind of books these are. There is a fireplace on the opposite side of the room, but there is currently no fire burning in it.
"Good morning. Tea?"
"That would be nice"
"Here you go. And who is this?", Iva asks, pointing to Maddie's shoulder.
"This is Owlbert. Luz's...pet...", Owlbert rolls his eyes as Maddie sits down.
"How did you sleep?", Iva asks kindly
"Like a baby", Maddie replies with a chuckle.
"Glad to hear. How was your journey? You said you two flew here..."
Maddie ponders for a moment, not sure if Luz would be okay with divulging that she has a flying staff. "We were travelling for almost a whole day, but we also took a few breaks here and there"
"And what did you fly here with? Did you have access to a Sparrow?", Iva asks with sparkles in her eyes.
"No. It's more of a human thing. I think... you'd have to ask Luz.", Maddie replies, to which Iva is visibly disappointed.
"So, Luz is a human too?"
"Too?", Maddie asks in surprise.
"Well, a human was made Newtopia's new Chief Ranger a while ago.", Iva tells her. Maddie raises at least one eyebrow.
"Do you think, you could maybe arrange a meeting?"
"Unfortunately, I have no contact to that human, or the palace. I'm sorry."
"Not? I thought you worked at the Royal Library..."
"Not anymore. I resigned earlier this year in order to be able to study at the university."
"Great..." Maddie says sarcastically. "To be honest I was hoping you help us get access to the Royal Library."
"I'm sorry Maddie"
"No problem. We'll find a way in. ... ...just out of curiosity, what are you studying at the university?"
"The history of Amphibia", Iva replies proudly. Maddie snorts through her nose.
"Of course. With your gigantic private library, I should have guessed that.", Maddie laughs and Iva blushes slightly.
Suddenly, Maddie hears a door opening from the left. It's Luz, who steps out of the room where they were housed, seemingly still asleep. Maddie and Iva greet her, and Owlbert flies over for a hug.
"Aww, good morning, buddy. Did you sleep well?", she asks, to which he nods, and cuddles up to Luz.
"Is he always like this?", Maddie wonders.
"He's never said no to cuddling before. But I think he misses Eda."
"Who was- Oh wait, I remember. Your mentor", she remembers.
"Yup... Anyway... Iva, thank you so much for letting us sleep here."
"That's absolutely no problem.", Iva assures Luz, "Maddie and her friends are always welcome"
"I asked Maddie a question last night, but it was too late by then. So now I'm going to ask you now: how did you two met?"
"Uh, this story is almost funny", Iva starts to tell.
"Almost funny?", Luz asks doubtfully.
"Yeah, hear me out..."
It was about three years ago. I was on a research trip in southern Amphibia with my parents...
"Hey mom?"
"Yes darling?"
"We've been down here for months now, and I know you're dying to open that door to see what's behind it, but it would be really great if we could go back to the surface and maybe travel further..."
"Oh darling, it's only been a few weeks, not months. Besides, behind that door might be the greatest archaeological wonders, the greatest find of the last thousand years."
"Yeah, I know. You've been saying that for a long time. And at first, I was just as excited as you are, but I don't think we're going to get very far with this kind of equipment."
"Kate, I think our daughter is right. We can't get any further here without better equipment."
"It seems I've just been outvoted... Alright. Ivora, you go back towards the exit, and prepare Bruno for the journey. Your father and I will gather the equipment and follow you in a moment."
"Okay... See you soon"
As I made my way towards the exit, I heard a heavy door slam shut behind me, that we had been able to open a few days earlier. I ran back, quite scared...
"Mom? Dad? Are you okay?"
"..."
"Can you hear me?"
"..."
"Please tell me you're alright"
"..."
"..."
"..."
"Mom? ... Dad? ..."
"..."
"... Please don't leave me..."
"..."
Unfortunately, I can't say how long I sat and cried in front of the closed door. But at some point, the door opened again. My parents were lying unconscious on the floor, and there was a horrible smell coming from the room, but I was happy to see that they were still alive. I had pulled them both out of the tunnels back to our beetle, and made my way to seek help.
When they woke up in the meantime, I had the impression that both of them were no longer able to… think. They couldn't speak anymore and their eyes were totally unfocused. It's been a few days and I've stopped at several villages before eventually arriving in Wartwood. When I arrived, I ran immediately into Maddie.
"Hello stranger. Do you need anything?"
"I need help. Something happened to my parents"
"Maybe I can help. Follow me"
"Where are we going?"
"To my house. There we can find out what's going on"
[A few minutes later]
"So... who are you and what happened?"
"My name is Iva and I was on a research trip with my parents. We were in a huge underground facility, that is several hundred to thousands of years old. We were down there for several weeks and before we wanted to move on, the facility trapped my parents and did something to them."
"Were there any signs that the facility was active?"
"No"
"Did you spot any traps?"
"Also no."
"Any chance someone else was down there?"
"No. The entrance to it was sealed when we arrived. We were also able to explore the entire facility, with the exception of one last door."
"Hmm... Were you able to find out what the purpose of the facility was?"
"My father thinks it was some kind of underground city. My mother thinks it was a military base. I am not sure myself. I mean, there were many places to sleep and live, places to gather, places to exercise... However, we hadn't found anything that indicated food and water production..."
"So... hidden facility, perhaps military use. You were alone and there were no other signs of activity. Nothing indicated traps, but your parents seemed to have lost their higher brain functions. Hmm... When you found them, did the room smell any different than before?"
"Oh yes, definitely. It smelled absolutely disgusting."
"Did you have an unpleasant tingling in your nose?"
"How do you know?"
"Many curses that rely on low levels of magic are based on different gases. Usually, curses are cast by one person and could only be removed by the same person..."
"Oh..."
"But fortunately, this curse was cast by the facility and can therefore be lifted by anyone who knows how it works."
"Aaand you know how it works?"
"As a matter of fact, I dooo... not know. Yet"
"That was weird. Umm... What do you mean 'yet'?"
"In order to create an antidote, I need to know exactly how the curse works. We need to travel to the facility and dissect the place where your parents were cursed. I need to know exactly how they were cursed."
"Ugh... I was hoping not to have to go back there, but ok"
Not long later we drove back to the place where my parents were cursed. We had pickaxes, explosive potions, boomshrooms, and gas masks with us to avoid being cursed in the facility. And so that we wouldn't be locked in, we had kept all the gates and doors open with supports.
"This is where your parents were cursed?"
"Mmm."
"Interesting. No open areas in the walls, nothing in the ceiling and nothing in the floor. However, there are cracks in the walls here... Maybe that wasn't a curse at all, but an accident... Hey Iva!"
"Yes?"
"Can you open this wall here with the pickaxe? Right at this crack here"
"Pipes?"
"Maybe that could be the water supply. We couldn't find it last time."
"I remember you had told me about it"
"We'd better not touch the pipes until we know exactly what's in them, and where they lead to. Besides, my parents will kill me anyway if they find out that we've damaged this facility."
"Bullshit. They'll be glad you saved them"
"I'm not so sure about that..."
"We need to move on. The pipes all lead into this room and you haven't gotten in there yet, do I understand that correctly?"
"Yes, that's right. The door isn't made of stone like the rest of the base. It appears to be made of iron or steel..."
"Hmm... Soo no pickaxe... Unfortunately, I don't have any potions to melt steel... Boomshrooms maybe?"
"I guess we don't have a choice. But let's not blow it all up"
When we burst open the door, there was an awful lot of stuff inside that I had never seen before. It was pretty advanced technology. What interested me the most, however, was a glass container that held a green liquid, and the pipes we uncovered leading into it.
"Well, I definitely have no idea what anything in here can do. Look, there's an outlet on the tank. We'll take a sample with us."
"All right. And then?"
"Well, I don't think we're going to find anything else in here that can help in any way. So, I would suggest we go back and hope this liquid can help your parents."
"My parents would love it in here... ...but let's head back to Wartwood"
Ultimately, this liquid helped my parents, although we could not find out exactly what happened to them, and how this liquid helped them. When I told them how Maddie and I had helped them, they wanted to go straight back to the facility, but I talked them out of it.
"That's... um...", Luz stutters, as she tries to break the silence.
"I think we ended up doing three weeks of research. Unfortunately, I wasn't even able to cast level 1 spells at the time, so we had to do a lot of guessing", Maddie explains.
"But she made it through in the end and I owe her a lot for that", Iva says.
"Impressive", Luz remarks, "And where was that 'almost funny' part?"
"Um... Well... I'm not good at telling stories.", Iva tries to justify herself, which Luz doesn't question any further.
"Just out of curiosity, where are your parents now?"
"Umm... They are both working. My father teaches at the university and my mother works at the museum."
"Newtopia has museums?", Luz asks with a sparkle in her eyes.
"Just one. It doesn't really specialize in anything, but-"
"Maddie, we have to go there", Luz beams.
"To the museum? Why? I don't think there's anything that can help us with our research there..."
"I know, but I haven't been to one of them in ages. I love museums. Back on Earth, I've always gone there or to a library when I was upset or feeling down in general. Libraries and museums have a pretty calming effect...", Luz states, with a touch of nostalgia in her voice, "...and I have hope that it will help against my homesickness."
"I assume you are looking for a way to travel between Amphibia and Earth?", Iva asks.
"Well... yes and no. Even though I'm originally from Earth, I'm not sure I want to go back there. Before I came to Amphibia, I was on the- Um... I was somewhere else. But Anne and her friends do want to go back to Earth though, and maybe we can find some useful information about that."
"Anne?", Iva asks.
"Another human stuck here. Including Luz, there are four", Maddie responds.
"Interesting. How can I help?", Iva asks.
"Hmm...", Maddie hums and thinks for a moment. "Do you think you could get us access to the University Library?"
"University? OH FROGGERS! I'm late, my class is about to start.", Iva yells, jumping up off the couch, grabbing the bag that was lying on the floor next to her, and running towards the door. Luz and Maddie look after her with questioning expressions.
"I'll get you access to the university library, but that won't happen today. See you later", Iva quickly says before closing the door behind her and running off, leaving Luz and Maddie alone in Iva's apartment. Luz, who is a bit perplexed, looks at the closed front door a little longer before finally turning her attention back to Maddie again. She looks at Maddie with a confused look
"Wait a minute... University Library? I thought we were going to do research in the Royal Library... Or are they the same thing?"
"No, the royal library is in the palace.", Maddie explains.
"And why did you ask for the university library?"
"Well, I actually thought that Iva could get us in there, because she wrote to me that she would work there. Unfortunately, she told me earlier today, that that's not the case anymore."
"Then we'll probably have to sneak in there", Luz suggests with a smirk on her face.
"I had thought of that too. But first we should take a look at the university library."
"Ugh, fine…", Luz says, pretending to be annoyed. "But we have to go to the museum before that."
"All right. Today we're going to check out Newtopia, and as soon as Iva gets us access to the library tomorrow, we'll start researching."
"Deal. Let's go then", Luz beams before jumping off the couch, and running to the front door, but stopping abruptly and turning back to Maddie, "I don't even know where the museum is... You wouldn't happen to have a map with you, would you? Or do you happen to remember, where it is located?"
Maddie just shrugs, gets up, and walks back into the room where they spent the night before. She comes back with her bag, and sits back down on the couch. After digging for something in her bag, she pulls out a folded paper, and places it on the coffee table. Luz sits down next to her. After Maddie unfolded the paper, a map of Newtopia revealed itself. However, it is not clear how up-to-date this map is. Nevertheless, it was possible for both of them to recognize fairly quickly, where they are at the moment, but also where the museum is located.
Immediately after the two of them set their destination for the day and got ready, they leave Iva's house.
"I hope we'll find Iva's house again later. And I hope we can get into the house if she isn't back yet...", Luz worries.
"Let's only worry about it if it really happens. I also have the map with me...", Maddie reassures Luz.
"Okay... I'll try not to worry about that…", Luz says, actually quite appreciative of Maddie's advice. In fact, not only this time, but all the time, Maddie was quite attentive when Luz wasn't feeling well. She always managed, or at least tried, to cheer her up. Luz wonders if there's a way, she can show Maddie how much she appreciates what she's already done for her. She plans to at least talk to her about it sometime.
The two girls wandered around the colorful, bustling streets of the city for a long while. At a rather high spot, however, they decided to take a break, and sat down on a bench overlooking the city. They watch all the newts, axolotls, and other creatures going about their daily lives. On the other side of the bench is an unfenced ledge that descends very steeply almost vertically. This is one of the reasons why the girls chose this bench in particular. While Luz continues to watch the people, Maddie looks around elsewhere, until suddenly something very interesting catches her eye. She taps Luz on the shoulder.
"I think I found Marcy..."