BREAKING THE FANTASY
Written by Gwendolyn Frost.
The fire lookout tower was the group's next destination, but by the time that they've come close to the large structure – the night has fallen upon them.
While Luz and Vee used their phones to light their way, Amity has used a couple of light spells that were now orbiting around them – further extending their visibility. However, even with the moon free of any obstruction shining it's light down on them, that didn't helped making Herlock Woods any less frightening.
It was then that Masha had broke the unnerving silence that has haunted the group for the past hour. "Hey, guys… I know this might not be the time, but I've never been in these woods this late – so can I ask you guys some questions to lighten the mood?"
Everyone was surprised by the request, but eventually they all chuckled softly in response before Luz nodded at the goth. "Of course, shoot!"
"Well… when you guys were fighting over saving magic earlier, I overheard that spells draw magic from your hearts…? How does that work exactly?"
"Oooo, that's a good one!" Luz said with a grin. "Kinda gross, but a good one – nonetheless!" When hearing this comment, Amity gave her girlfriend a face of discomfort while the rest gave Luz a small glare before they all tried to decide who will answer that question.
"Well…" Amity said as she rubbed the back of her head. "Let's just say that witches in our Realm have evolved to wield the magic in its atmosphere. Which basically means that our bodies produce said magic in our hearts thanks to a… well…"
Luz looked at Amity with a grin as she awaited for her to break it to Masha the truth. "Keep going…"
"Y'know what?" Willow sighed. "I'm just going to give them the in a nutshell version. So, Masha… witches' magic is produced in our hearts thanks to a huge tumor attached to it."
"What?!" Masha exclaimed as Luz laughed out loud.
"I wish I had recorded your reaction!" She said as Amity nudged her with her elbow. "Oww, why?"
"Do you truly believe that my body is gross?" Amity said with an upset look on her face.
"What?! No! Of course not, sweet potato! I w-was… I w-was just…" Luz tried to come up with something to justify herself only to sigh in defeat. "Ok, I'm sorry. I didn't mean to hurt your feelings! I was in shock too when Eda told me…"
"Yikes…" Willow said as Gus added.
"Wouldn't like to be in her place right now."
"Sorry, I didn't know that was a sensitive question." Masha said as Willow and Gus laughed softly.
"It's not, she's probably messing with her. Don't worry." Willow said.
"Yeah. Besides, we've come to terms with the fact that the Boiling Isles can be gross sometimes. Even for us." Gus said with a smile.
"The Boiling Isles? That's where you come from?" The curious goth asked. "Why does it has that name?"
"Oh, well… you see…" Willow said as she tried explaining. "Our home exists on the carcass of a large fallen Titan surrounded by a Boiling Sea."
"Oh, whoa! That sounds so cool!"
"Does it?" Vee asked her friend, finding Masha's enthusiasm towards her home surprising.
"Of course, it does sound like a cool place." Masha said with a toothy grin. "So, everything in these lands have evolved to wield magic?"
"Pretty much, yeah." Gus said with a smile.
"That's very cool!" Masha said before they turned to look at their Basilisk friend with a smile. "So, does that mean you also produce your own magic in your heart?"
Vee's whole face became flustered as she nervously shook her head. "No! I can wield magic, but only after I… steal it from other creatures that can produce it."
"Oh, ok." Masha said, but the way they said this made Vee feel as if her heart dropped down and shattered on the floor.
"Yeah…" A sad Vee said as she tried looking away from who she believed was a disappointed Masha but instead… their response was not at all what she or anyone else was expecting.
"So, what you're saying is; that you're the natural predator of witches?"
"Uhhh…" Vee was left completely speechless as everyone else was just as dumbfounded by the question as she was.
"Wow… that's… wow. I can't believe you put that thought in my head for all eternity." Luz said as she broke the uncomfortable silence.
"In all due honesty, everything is a predator to witches in the Boiling Isles. I pretty much lost count of how many times something tried to eat me." Gus said with a relaxed chuckle.
"True that." Willow said.
"A pixie once tried to eat me." Luz said with a soft laugh.
"Even a doorbell tried to eat you." Willow said, making Luz laugh even harder.
"Oh, I forgot about that entirely!"
"You guys seem really comfortable of talking about your nearly-eaten experiences…" Masha said with a disturbed tone in their voice.
"The Boiling Isles do this to you the more time you spend in it." Luz said with a soft laugh that slowly faded the closer they got to the Fire Lookout Tower. "Wait…" She said as she was able to see something odd about it. "Is there… a light on the top?"
"What?" Masha asked as they raised their eyes to see there was indeed light coming from the Tower. "That can't be… it's supposed to be closed… but then again…"
"But then again what?" Luz asked as they all stopped to look up at the unnerving Lookout Tower sitting ominously in the distance.
"Last year… some hikers who have a channel online visited the site during the night and they found a lit lantern in there." Masha explained. "Most people say they faked the whole thing for views but no one is crazy enough to wander the woods at night to confirm that."
"Well… we're here. So we might as well take a look." Luz said as she was about to lead the way before she felt Amity's hand quickly tightening her grip.
"Luz… promise me something." The pink-haired witch said as Luz looked back at her when she stopped her.
"W-what's the matter…? Why are you so serious all of a sudden?" Luz asked with a nervous chuckle as she locked eyes with her girlfriend.
"Because this seems off…" Amity said just as serious as Luz had pointed out. "These woods already felt off during the day and now that we were caught under the light of a full moon…" The pink-haired witch pointed at the sky, straight at the pale orb sitting on a endless sea of stars. "There might be more than the Shapeless to worry about. Remember what happened the other day…"
Luz the Human saw flashbacks of what happened the day they visited the Morton Ranch and were forced to traverse the woods for a brief period of time during the night. The shadows that they saw wandering the forest started to fill her thoughts… Whatever they encountered that night is still a mystery.
As Luz gave the Lookout Tower one last glance, her eyes fixed upon that light that came from the top. Her mind wandered into frightening thoughts of whatever is awaiting for them there…
"Luz, promise me… not to do anything reckless. I know how badly you wish to both help us find the way back to the Boiling Isles and also to protect your hometown of this plague known as the Shapeless. But… promise me that if we end up splitting up… like the TV predicted… you'll find your way back to us. Do not face this on your own…" Amity almost pleaded with Luz, her eyes filled with nothing but worry and despair for the mere thought of losing her.
"I promise." Luz said without hesitation as she turned to face Amity with a wide tender smile on her.
THE LOOKING GLASS
Chapter 22: Face to Face.
Before the group have reached the Tower, Luz had send Flapjack to scout the top in case of any danger ahead. The palisman came back to them, landing on Luz's shoulder as it chirped something to them. While there were no words in the palisman's message they were able to feel what it was saying:
'It is safe, but proceed with caution…'
Luz and her friends stared upwards before they began ascending the stairs up to the very top. The place was rusty and made them feel it would collapse at any moment. But thankfully it did not, despite the awful noises each step gave.
Once they reached the top, the light began to soak their skins like a soft ember in the darkness. Sitting on a lone dusty table there was a lantern, like the one Masha had mentioned earlier. But unlike what they mentioned in the video… there were more things that gave the scene a much more unsettling vibe. Hung on the ceiling, were plenty of dreamcatchers. All over the walls were doodles, scribbles, drawings of different kinds. Some were strokes of paint… others look like scratches. But most of them were not words at all, but stickmen figures that once your eyes would wander off away from them… it almost seemed like that warm light was giving the illusion of motion. But once your paranoid eyes would look back at them they all were still and in the same exact position.
"Ok, this… doesn't seem right at all." Masha said as they nervously looked around with their eyes, not daring to take a step forward.
"So, I take it you have no idea what happened here, right?" Luz asked just as nervous as the goth was.
"All I know is that the last person that ever worked here disappeared. That's why they shut it down." Masha said as they moved holding the railing on the outside of the Lookout's office. "Why did you want to come up here?" They asked as Luz walked next to them with Vee by her side.
"Well… Flor mentioned there was a cabin somewhere in the woods where she… was attacked by that thing." Luz said, trying to look into the dense forest to get the glimpse of some building or structure that may be the famous cabin she just spoke of. "But… I guess… it's too dark right now. If only Hunter had not gone missing we may have been up here earlier." She said with a sigh.
"I have no idea what cabin she refers to…" Masha said as they explained. "Don't get me wrong, it's not that I don't believe her story. But I've been in these woods every day since my dad went missing and I've not seen any other cabin other than the Morton Ranch. And yes, I did searched for this mysterious cabin when I read about it."
Luz nodded. "I see…"
As Luz and Masha shared details of Flor's case with one another with most of their group listening in into their conversation, Amity was on the other side of the railing facing west where a ominous smoke in the distance was captivating her attention.
Soon, her mind was filled with the voices she heard in the TV that predicted their future.
'We zzzzhshould follow the zzzzhsmoke…' Was the message in that prediction spoken with her own voice that kept repeating over and over in her head.
When she laid eyes on that smoke, the first thing she thought was turning around to tell everyone but a split second later she stopped herself from doing so.
Her mind swiftly wandered into multiple thoughts. 'The message was clear that we are meant to follow the smoke when Luz goes missing… which is what I'm trying to stop…' She thought.
When she went back to look at the spot in question, Amity was able to see that the place was probably on the outskirts of Herlock Woods, granted that she was able to see the lights of Gravesfield's streets a few miles away from it.
'This can't be the cabin that Luz is looking for' she thought 'From what I can remember, Flor crawled through the forest for several miles before she was rescued by the Professor who wrote the book I checked out from the library.'
Her mind wondered with skepticism as she narrowed her eyes watching the smoke in the distance 'What lies in that place? Why did I even suggested in that message the TV showed me we should go there?'
'No matter what, I must stop Luz from going missing.' Amity thought with determination as she had made up her mind of bringing this up to Luz herself and decide if wether they should or not head there next until…
The pink-haired witch stopped midway when she heard with her pointy ears the sound of steps coming from the stairs. "Someone's coming…" She whispered to herself before she ran up to her friends. "Guys! Someone's coming!" She tried not to shout the warning out but the moment they all heard her they prepared themselves.
Vee immediately changed into her human form and took Masha with her to seek for Willow's protection who had just got Clover to transform into a staff.
Gus used his own Illusion magic and made sure every witch's ears were round with his magic.
Luz got her baseball bat ready and Amity wiped off every light spell she casted around them as those steps grew louder and louder before they were able to see the light of a flashlight being brought on their faces.
"Huh?" They heard the voice of a man standing before them in the obscurity of the night who soon asked them "What are you all doing up here?"
As the man walked forward, the lantern inside the office casted some light on him, giving Luz and her friends the chance to take a good look at him.
This man was tall and thin-looking, he wore a park ranger uniform, complete with hat and boots. But what got the group worried was the large shotgun he carried on his back.
"We're sort of lost, sir." Luz said as she glared at the man that kept shining light on each of their faces. "What about you? What're you doing here? We thought this place was abandoned?"
The man brought the flashlight to shine light on his uniform. "I'm a park ranger, miss. I'm just doin' my rounds."
"In the middle of the night?" Luz asked with skepticism in her voice before the man laughed softly.
"Welp, it may not be a easy job, but someone has to do it."
None of them were lowering their guard just yet. Luz then dared to ask him: "And do you really need that… shotgun to do this job?"
"Well, of course. Haven't you heard there's a dangerous bear in the woods? Someone got killed in-town by it. This is just for protection." The ranger said as they walked inside the office where the lantern was, the light able to reveal his face to the group. He wasn't old, but he wasn't exactly young-looking. This man was probably in his early 30s, with blue eyes that almost glowed in the dark with short dark brown hair.
Luz and Amity shared a look, trying to decide wether or not to believe in the stranger before their eyes shut when the ranger turned the lights in the Lookout's Office on, which blinded them for a short moment.
Just as the group's eyes were able to adjust to the lights, they were able to take a good look at the writings on the walls. Most of them the delusions of a mind that has long lost their own sanity. The word 'nightmares' was the prominent one amongst those messages.
But there was also a message that caught Luz's attention. The sole message was written under the lantern that she read out loud:
"Phobos… is real?"
The park ranger looked back at them with a raised eyebrow. "What was that?"
"Oh…" Luz didn't realized that she had read the message out loud for everyone to hear. "It's nothing… it's just that… I think I've heard this before."
"Are you the ones that keep vandalizin' this place?" The ranger asked, now it was his turn to interrogate the group.
"No, no! Of course not!" Luz exclaimed as everyone in her group began to loosen up their hostility towards the stranger and now believe that they're in trouble.
The ranger narrowed his eyes at them before he let out a soft laugh. "Yeah, I figured. Y'all dun look like the type that would do that sort of thing. But I wouldn't blame youngsters like yerselves to be usin' this spot for your ghost stories. Whoever is doing this mess each night is probably not right in the head, though. No one who ever encounters Phobos leaves with all their screws in place."
"That sounds rather ominous, sir…" Masha said as they peeked their head from behind Willow's shoulder. It wasn't just Masha and Luz, everyone else was starting to feel a weird vibe from this park ranger once more.
"Well, if you've heard the stories of what happened in this place, you wouldn't be standin' here right now. How's that for ominous?" The ranger said as he pulled a chair to take a seat next to the desk in which that oil lantern was placed.
"What happened here?" Gus blurted out.
"Several park rangers worked here, most of which disappeared." The man said as he crossed his leg and leaned on his chair with a soft sigh. "Some of them simply vanished without a word or a trace. But others… did things like these. Scratchin' the walls, leavin' these warning messages for the next ranger that would replace them, hangin' all of these dreamcatchers on the ceiling, etc. But what's most unsettlin' about these disappearances is that while they never recovered the bodies, they did found their blood smeared on the walls, precisely in the edges where the walls meet as if the walls themselves have consumed them…"
"That's just speculation…!" Masha pointed out, somehow finding some courage to stand up to the park ranger spooking them out. "I heard the same thing in school, but this took place in the 70s, back then the police didn't have access to DNA analysis, so there was probably no scientific evidence of what happened in here."
"That's true…" The ranger said with a soft laugh. "But they did found evidence of some of those rangers blamin' this on Phobos…"
"Why does that name sounds so familiar…" Luz spoke out loud, which brought a frightened Vee to whisper something that helped her remember.
"Don't say their name…" The poor Basilisk said as Luz exclaimed:
"That's it! It's the name we saw in the Morton Ranch!"
"You sure that's where you heard it?" The ranger said with a smirk as the group became more and more suspicious of this odd-looking guy. "Some say that if you've heard the name before and you can't recall where from, that you've actually encountered them in a past life."
"What?"
"That's right." The ranger chuckled softly as he leaned forward on his chair now. "Phobos has been known by many names. The Frightening Living Thought, The Tulpa Emperor, The Nightmarish Boogeyman… but they've also been known as The True Eternal. For as long as the stars have shined up in the sky… Phobos has been around. Even when their body has long rot away, they still live inside those walls."
"Who are you really?" Amity asked. "You seem to know a lot of this Phobos being… almost as if you know its kind…" She glared at the ranger as the man kept smirking at them.
"The name's Dumphrey… I think… yeah, I think this guy's name is Dumphrey or Dumbphrey or something." The ranger laughed softly as the witches before him all raised their staffs at him when coming into the realization of who this was; The Shapeless Other.
"Hold on, I wouldn't do that if I were you!" The man said as he pulled his hands up. "Calm down. I know you're all eager to fight me, but think about it… the only one with the firepower to take me on is you…" It pointed at Willow who seemed surprised that it knew what she was capable of.
"Oh yeah? What do you know about me, you freak?" She taunted it.
"That your specialty is Plant Magic." Dumphrey said with a smirk once more, reaching for the shotgun on its back. "Just think about it, why did I chose to confront you here? Think how many times I can shoot this thing before any of your precious roots can reach this far up?"
"Dammit!" Willow exclaimed. "I still got other tricks up my sleeve, though."
"Heh, that's a cute bluff." Dumphrey said with a soft chuckle as he pointed the shotgun at them. "I've done my homework on you. Like for example, you." He looked at Amity who glared back at him. "You're basically powerless. Other than fire magic which you've said you wish not to use in the forest, there's really nothing you can do."
"Have you been spying on us…?" The pink-haired witch asked.
"Hehe, I've been around, fu-for sure. I've got hundreds of years of experience hunting my prey." The Shapeless said, while the voice they all heard was most likely Dumphrey's, the otherworldly voice beneath that skin was starting to surface just as soon as the word 'prey' was spoken out loud by the Cosmic Entity within that mass of human flesh.
"You might think you have us all figured out, but you still have no idea of what I'm capable o…" Gus said before he got interrupted by the sudden laughter coming from the park ranger sitting on that chair, no longer sounding human at all…
"You are the Illusionist, of course! I know your magic is strong enough to warp the minds of those who cross you. However… my mind has long been warped by the Void. You cannot break what's already broken. You can try, though. Let's see if gambling the lives of your fu-friends on a Illusion pays off! Even with that charm on your ear that enhances your magic, there's other senses I can rely on than just my eyes, y'know?"
"What?!" Gus' eyes widened when the Shapeless acknowledged his earring which he took from the Illusion Coven Leader. "H-how do you know of this?" He asked with a nervous tone in his voice as he touched the charm on his right ear. "I haven't even gotten the chance to use its magic since I got it!"
"Hehe, one hears whispers… that's all I'm going to say." The Shapeless said with a mocking tone. "You have a bunch of eyes other than mine watching over you…" Suddenly, the entity noticed the flame within the oil lantern starting to move in a erratic way, almost euphoric – which brought them to look back at the group and see the terrified expression on Masha's face which they have been wearing ever since they realized that the park ranger was none other than the monster they saw in the woods wearing a different skin. "I thought I told you to leave…"
Masha flinched when the entity sent them a sharp stare before Luz stood up to it.
"Leave them alone!"
"Well, in that case tell your friend to calm down or we're going to have a bigger problem in our hands!" The Shapeless yelled back at her as it moved the shotgun to point at the lantern instead.
"What?! What do you mean by that?!"
"It's the flame…" Amity said, making Luz look back at her.
"Huh?"
Luz took notice of the nervous expression on her girlfriend's face as she explained.
"From the moment we got up here, I felt an unnerving peace. Like this tower is some sort of a resting place for something that's been dormant for a while… but as soon as we raised our staffs at the Shapeless, everything changed. And it no longer feels peaceful… it feels dreadful. I'm afraid we're not alone with the Shapeless…"
"You mean…" Luz glanced at all the insane writings on the walls. "That something might be the famous Ph…"
"Don't say their name!" Vee exclaimed, making Luz yelp when she screamed too close to her ear.
"You better listen to her…" The Shapeless said with a nervous smirk, its shotgun still pointing at the lantern. "Tis' better to just lock away those fu-fearful thoughts. You're all brave, I'll give you that. But they're not…" It said as it looked straight at Masha who was still shaking in fear. "The fire is reacting to their fear."
"Masha…?" Vee asked as she gently held onto Masha's hand, making the goth react to her with a sudden jump. They almost moved their hand away from Vee's when they snapped out of their trance but once she felt the warm of Vee's hand they tightly held onto it.
"I'm ok… I… I'm just… scared…" They admitted with a huge blush on their face.
"Well, if it makes you feel any better, I'm not here for you!" Dumphrey exclaimed. "I just want to talk to Luz, that's all!"
"Excuse me if I find that hard to believe, especially when you have a gun pointed at us!" Luz yelled at the entity with a furious glare on her face.
"Sometimes you need to point a gun at someone to make them talk." The park ranger said with a soft laugh. "C'mon, is that so hard to ask for?"
"Ok, I think I get it now…" Amity said as she jumped into the conversation with a glare of her own directed at the Shapeless. "The reason why you haven't tried to take Luz it's because you hardly understand her… but you wish to take her place at some point. Don't you?"
"How perceptive…" The Shapeless said before explaining. "While I can feed like any of you do, feasting on and assimilating flesh isn't what keeps me alive."
"Then what keeps you alive?" Luz asked before she answered her own question when she recalled the conversation they had back at her home. "You kept talking about me and Eda's strong emotions… is that what you seek for?"
"In a way, where I come from, emotions are not just a concept – your worlds have yet to discover the way to harness that energy, but emotions can have an effect in biological material such as your bodies. It's what make you surpass your own limits."
"And how do you… harness this energy, exactly?" Luz asked before the Shapeless smirked back at her.
"Tell you what… how about we both ask questions and the other has to give the other honest answers. How's that? You seem a little more chatty, might as well get more comfortable…"
"Luz…" Amity whispered at her girlfriend. "I don't think you should be talking to it…"
"I know… but maybe we can learn more about it, as well as finding a way back to Hunter. Plus… I have other questions for it. For example, what Masha told us about their father… maybe I can make it to answer if it took him."
"But…" Amity looked down as she tried to find the words to talk Luz out of the idea of feeding that thing the information that it craves for.
"Trust me, I don't like this any more than you… but the more time we keep it entertained, the more time we have to find a way out of this…"
"Hold on, are you really doing this?" Willow asked as she got closer to them.
Not only was Willow trying to talk some sense into Luz, but also Gus jumped into their conversation. Meanwhile, Masha and Vee kept their distance. With the Basilisk more concerned about Masha's well being.
"Do you feel any better?" Vee asked her friend who's shaking have diminished substantially, however, their attention was now fixed upon the ceiling.
"No… not really. But… are you seeing what I'm seeing?" Masha asked, their eyes widened up by the strangeness that was happening behind the Shapeless.
Vee tilted her head and looked up at the far end of the room where Masha was staring at. From the corner in which the wall meets with the ceiling… there was a pitch-black shadow emerging from that top corner, slowly infecting the surface of the walls. Neither the lantern's fire or the room's light-bulb illuminating the room were able to dispell that black shade, and worst of all, was the fact that both Masha and Vee were filled with dread and their ears became numb with a unnerving low humming noise the more they stared at it.
Soon, Luz managed to convince her friends to take the Shapeless' offer, allowing Masha and Vee to snap out of their trance when they heard her voice.
"I've decided to talk to you."
"Great! Fu-Finally!"
"On the condition that you answer all of our questions."
"Of course! That's fair. Now, if it's ok with you. Since I'm holding the gun…" Dumphrey said with a smirk as it moved the shotgun away from the lantern to point it at Luz once more. "I wish to be the first to ask something…"
Luz glared at it. "Fine…" She said gritting her teeth.
"Thank you, kindly!" It said with a mocking glee in their inhuman voice. "So, I'm curious, how did you managed to get all of your friends to follow you into the forest? I mean, let's face it… this isn't exactly your brightest idea. Every human that has come in contact with me tend to run away, yet you come to me… that's very odd."
Luz looked down at the floor when hearing the question, her cheeks became somewhat hot. She felt upset, but not at the Shapeless… but herself.
"I… don't know. I guess… I do not think myself that question enough before I get myself into these sort of situations. And I'm sorry for that…" Luz said as she glanced at Amity before looking at Willow, Gus, Vee and Masha. "If only I was less impulsive, Hunter wouldn't be trapped in the In-Between right now."
"Luz, we are your friends…" Willow said before Amity placed her hand on her girlfriend's shoulder in a reassuring way.
"We chose to follow you, no… we chose to help you. We all want to help others as much as you do."
"Yeah!" Gus exclaimed. "You and Camila do all you can to help us find a way back home. And while Gravesfield is your home, this community and you have made us feel welcome here. Just as much as the Boiling Isles became a home for you…"
"Gravesfield has become our home as well… in a way." Amity finished what Gus said while locking arms with Luz.
"Heh…" Luz tried her best to fight off tears but a small one swiftly ran down her left cheek before she wiped it off with a smile on her face. "I still feel as if I don't deserve friends like you."
"Shush…! You do! Don't ever let me catch you ever saying that again!" Willow said as she brought the human into a tight embrace as Amity and Gus quickly joined her.
"Aww, you guys!" Luz exclaimed as they all shared a group hug in joyful laughter until her eyes noticed Vee and Masha standing further away from them. "Hey… what are you two doing?"
"Yeah Vee, get in here!" Gus exclaimed as he reached for them.
Vee was tearing up while Masha was very confused at what was happening before their eyes. "Uh… I don't know you guys that well…" The goth said before they yelped when Vee -who was still firmly holding their hand- pulled them both into the group hug.
For a short minute later they embraced together, but before they would break the hug, Flapjack's chirping filled their ears as he gently landed on Luz's shoulder as if he was making sure they wouldn't forget about Hunter.
"Right… if Hunter was here he would have liked this too." Luz said with a soft chuckle until… the moment was ruined by the Shapeless' voice.
"What just happened? You gave me no answer, you know?"
"Of course there is an answer to your question!" Luz said with a smirk. "The Power of Friendship!"
"Laaaaame!" The Shapeless still using Dumphrey's voice said before sighing. "It's your turn!"
"Oh, right!" Luz thought for a moment before she looked directly at the Shapeless with a serious look on her face.
"Did you took Masha's father?"
Soon after the group hug, Masha was left with a light blushing on their face, especially when Vee entangled their arms together shortly after. But when hearing Luz's question, their blushing faded away and they stared at the Shapeless with wide eyes awaiting for the answer.
"No." The monster said without a hint of remorse in its voice.
"Y-you're lying!" Masha blurted out of their mouth in a rather loud yell that was not out of sheer bravery, but rather frustration. "My father once told me a story that involved a mirror! He walked into the forest and you…!"
Without letting the goth finish, the Shapeless raised their voice. "I did not took your father! I did looked into his mirror, that was me, for sure. But I did not took your father! Not everyone that gets lost in Herlock Woods is my fault, y'know?"
"If you didn't do it… then who?!"
"Hey! I'm only answering Luz's questions! Which that reminds me that it's my turn now!"
"Hey, you better watch your tone with my friends!" Luz fired back at the monster who shook its head.
"I don't have to do anything, now… my question is… what's your relationship with Eda the Owl Lady?"
Luz's eyes widened as the memories of Eda flowed her mind for a short minute before she answered with a sad look on her face. "She is my mentor. No, that's not right. She is my family. I care for her and she cares for me."
"Well, at least you're making sense now." The Shapeless said with a smirk.
"My turn. What were you doing looking into Masha's father's mirror?"
"You're really not letting this go, do you? Fine! I'll answer your question on one condition. This is the last question related to Masha's father that I will answer."
Luz glared at the Shapeless before she turned to look at Masha with a concerned look on her face. "Masha, are you ok with this?"
"Huh?! Why are you doing this?! Why are you wasting your questions on me?!" Masha exclaimed in surprise as Luz insisted on having the Shapeless tell them the truth about their father.
"Because you deserve the truth, silly." Luz said with an honest smile on her face. "So it's up to you, do you want that question answered knowing it's the last?"
Masha thought about it for a short moment before they looked at the Shapeless who seemed indifferent of the situation. "Ok…"
"Give us that answer." Luz said as she glared at the Shapeless once more.
The monster smirked and simply answered right away in the same fashion as it did earlier. "I was doing a job, in other words; I was spying on him."
"Doing a job?" Luz blurted out. "For who?"
"Hey, that's not part of our agreement. The question was what was I doing looking into the mirror and you got that answer, it does not involve me snitching anybody so drop it."
"Fine…" Luz said in frustration as she looked back at Masha. "I'm sorry…"
"No, it's fine… thank you…" Masha replied with tears starting to roll down their cheeks.
Luz made her way to Masha and gently placed her hands on their shoulders in a reassuring way. "Hey, it's ok. I'll help you find the truth."
"We'll help you." Amity said with a grin as Willow and Gus both exclaimed.
"Yeah!"
"We all will help you." Vee said as she looked at the goth with the widest smile ever and burning cheeks.
Masha couldn't hold those tears as they rained down their cheeks as they nodded at the new group of friends that were willing to help them in the quest to find the truth they crave for. "T-thank you."
"Enough already!" The Shapeless exclaimed, ruining the moment.
"Hey! Don't you see we're in the middle of something here?!" Luz yelled back.
"I don't care! It's my turn to ask my next question, so would you kindly fu-focus?!"
"Fine! What's your question?" Luz said before the monster swiftly fired its question with a grin on Dumphrey's face.
"I'm curious to know why did you left the Human Realm. Were you not happy at home?"
Luz felt her whole face turn red once more, unsure if that thing was asking her that so that it would learn more about her or was it simply trying to hurt her.
"It's not that I was unhappy… I just felt that I couldn't fit here. A lot of things happened and when I saw the chance to do something more… to be someone I never dreamed of becoming… I took that chance… that opportunity I felt no one was giving me."
"Oh, Luz…" Amity whispered by her side.
"It's my turn now…" Luz said as she wiped some tears off her eyes and glared at the Shapeless once more. "Tell us how to get Hunter back."
"That does not sounds like a question but I'll let it slide. Sure, I'll tell ya!" The Shapeless said with a smirk as it explained. "You need to find an open window. There's some around town that I forgot about, you may even find one if you look hard enough."
"It must be referring to the mirrors that it passes through." Masha said as everyone turned to look back at them.
"What?" Luz asked as Masha elaborated on their idea.
"Before disappearing, the waitress smashed the bathroom's mirror and got fired for it. Then I saw it smashing the mirror in which it trapped your friend. What I'm guessing is that once it crosses through a mirror, it remains connected to that Realm in which it imprisoned your friend. So, in order to severe that connection it has to destroy that mirror."
"Well, how about that!" Gus exclaimed as both he and Willow looked back at the monster sitting on that chair with a smug look on their faces.
"I should have take care of you when I had the chance…" The Shapeless said with a sharp glare at the goth.
"Yeah, maybe you should have done so." Masha glared back at it.
"Ohhhh! You just got owned!" Gus and Willow yelled as they both stood next to Masha and Vee.
"Wait…" Luz whispered, not paying attention to what was going on as she thought of the mirror in the Morton Ranch that wouldn't show their reflections. "That must be it…"
But before Luz was able to speak out loud her idea to her friends, she felt the tight grip of her girlfriend's hand on her wrist that stopped her from doing so. Luz looked at Amity in surprise as she looked into her eyes when she heard her voice in her head… her Oracle Magic evolving to the point of being able to speak to Luz telepathically.
'Stop, don't say a word… it might not remember that window. Let's keep it to ourselves for now…'
Luz said something in her mind, the word 'ok' , but when she wasn't sure that her girlfriend have heard reply, she nodded so that she would get the message.
"Now it's your turn." Luz said as she resumed the back and forth with the Shapeless without giving away what she's learned from the answer she got.
"Ok… let's see. How did you got the scar you have on your eyebrow?"
Luz got more flashbacks of past events that took place in the Boiling Isles before they got trapped in the Human Realm. "On a fight in the Boiling Isles. I was about to ask you why would you waste a question in such a trivial feature, but I won't waste my own in such thing either."
The Shapeless laughed softly. "Smart."
"My turn, why did you not take Flor?"
"Wow…" The Shapeless had a genuine expression of surprise on Dumphrey's face. "You're really more concerned in asking me things that involve other people's matters than your own, huh?"
"Is that a question?"
"No."
"Then answer mine." Luz said sharply.
"Fine… I only seek strong emotions. She used to have some flare of emotions but that somewhat got wiped when she simply stopped caring. When confronted with the reality that she was never coming home, she opted to give up. I have no desire for the weak-minded. She did however, crawled herself deep into the forest – so she wasn't entirely ending things there. But she was never the same… tis' such a shame… I would have done so much in her role…"
Luz stared into the Shapeless, there was a spark on those eyes that belonged to Dumphrey's blue eyes when it spoke of Flor. But before she was able to say something she was fired another question.
"Would you rather live in the Human Realm… or the Boiling Isles?"
Luz felt the sting in that question, it was back on getting her to answer the hardest questions it could think of. "I…"
The Shapeless smirked. "Well…?"
"I don't know…" Luz glared at the monster as she tightened her grip on her baseball bat. "I wish… I really wish that I can someday be able to find my way back to Eda. But I have no idea if there is a way so that I can stay in both Realms. I do not want to choose."
"I see."
"My turn!" Luz have decided to get back at the Shapeless for its questions when she thought of the perfect question to ask now that she had more information from it. "Do you want to be human?"
"What?" Dumphrey's voice fired out in confusion as Luz repeated the question.
"I said, do you want to be human?! Do you wish to feel human?! Is the reason you take people from the woods not a elaborate scheme to harness emotions but a real desire to experience life? To be whole, to be human?!"
The whole room went silent for a short minute. Luz and her friends stared into the bewildered face of Dumphrey as it was not able to come up with an answer to her question.
"Well, is it?" Amity asked.
"What a stupid question… I… of course not!" The Shapeless said as it shook its head.
"Well, I'm not so sure about that answer. What do you think, Willow?" Gus asked his green-haired friend who replied with a wide smirk on her face.
"I think we've just hit a nerve."
"You've done nothing of the sort, don't think you've got the upper hand, quit…" Before the Shapeless was able to finish its sentence, Luz sharply interrupted it.
"You have done nothing but take when you could have built something of your own. Like Vee…"
Vee was surprised when she was acknowledged by Luz. "Huh? Me?"
"Vee is a shapeshifter as well, and she may have taken my place at some point but now… she has a life of her own. What's stopping you from doing the same? Don't you feel empathy? Have you no desire for friendship? For love?"
The Shapeless tightened its own grip on its shotgun as it whispered. "Shut up…"
"You know… I'm starting to think that this whole charade about learning from me is nothing but a desperate cry for help! You wish to have someone to talk to, you feel lonely!"
"Shut up…" It whispered, gritting Dumphrey's teeth.
But as Luz was focused on the Shapeless, one by one, her friends started to notice that the shadow that was emerging from the ceiling had covered halfway already. The shade seemed to be showing a window into a different place somewhere in the Void, full of purple dust and stars shining bright. But instead of being a comforting sight, it was quickly making each one of them feel an intense dread. The humming noise that Masha and Vee once heard was back, but in addition, they all could hear the eerie screaming of thousands of voices – sending chills down their spines.
"Tell me something, does it hurt? Thinking about it? Having to come into terms with the fact that maybe you don't need the people you take and perhaps you could become someone of your own and be able to be… happy at last?" Luz said as she dared to take a few steps forward before Amity stopped her from doing so as she held onto her hand with a frightening force. "Whoa, hey Amity, it's ok… I…"
It was then that Luz was able to see the looks in her friends' eyes. Their blank stares gave it away that there was something wrong. And once she finally looked up at the ceiling… she understood what was going on.
Luz felt nothing but fear. It choked her, she gasped for air. Just like the rest of her friends.
The shade kept growing, the screaming becoming louder and louder as their heads were filled with their deepest fears. Like the witches together viewing their home destroyed by The Collector. Or Vee seeing herself back in that cage. Or Masha learning the truth, that their father left by his own free will. Choosing to leave them behind without looking back or with the plan of ever coming back. Luz on the other hand… all she saw… was having to face her friends when they learn the truth… that it was her to helped Bellos become the Emperor of the Boiling Isles.
Soon enough, the Shapeless noticed that Luz had gone silent and became entranced by the ceiling. The blank stare on her as well. The monster wearing Dumphrey's face noticed the large shade before a wide grin drew itself on its face.
"I'm sorry Phobos… but they're mine."
With that said, the Shapeless pointed the shotgun at the lantern once more and shoot at it. The explosion shattered the oil lantern and the whole room instantly became a dark void.
The light was now gone and the group of friends all snapped out of their trance as they became desperate when they realized they could not see.
"LUZ!" Amity's voice was able to pierce through the darkness.
"I'm over here!" Luz tried to shout as loud as she could.
But no one could see, everyone was wandering around aimlessly as they tried to follow each other's voices in the pitch-black void.
"Gus!" Willow exclaimed, soon feeling someone's hand on her. "Gus! Is that you?!"
"It's me!"
"LUZ! Follow my voice!" The desperation in the pink-haired witch's voice melted Luz's heart, she followed her voice and when she came in contact with someone she yelled her name.
"Amity?!"
"Ah! It's me, Vee! Luz, I can't see!"
"Hold onto me. Masha, are you there too?"
"Yes! I can't see either!"
"LUZ!"
"I'm coming to you, Amity! I'm coming!"
"Luz, finally!" Amity's glee escaped her lips when she felt someone's hand on her shoulder but it soon was gone when she heard the voice of Willow instead.
"It's me, and Gus!"
For a short second, Amity felt guilty for the disappointment she felt when it was her other friends who reached for her instead of Luz, but then she felt relieved and gripped both their hands as she tried to lead them so they could find Luz and the others.
"Do not let go of each other. Luz! Please follow my voice, where are you?!"
"We are coming Amity!" Luz yelled but then…
The Fire Lookout Tower began to shake… what kept it together was breaking under their feet. Something was squeezing the structure so that it would snap and it soon did…
The Tower was falling apart, it tilted towards the west… they all screamed when they were being pulled by gravity and soon they were all hitting onto the railing before they started to fall down onto the deep forest… it was then that the lights were back. The Void was gone and they all desperately held onto one another until they crashed down on the trees…
End of the chapter.