"Speak softly and carry a big gun."

–Theodore Roosevelt

In just one night, Luz's world had been mercilessly wrecked. Her girlfriend was kidnapped, monstrous beings attacked everything she knew and cared about with a savagery she had never witnessed before. Gus, Skara, Viney, Barcus, and others had disappeared. Hexside lay in ruins. She had died again, and her worldview had shattered into a million pieces.

When Luz shared her terrifying experience from the other side, the reactions were mixed. Eda wore a skeptical look, suspicion flickering in her eyes at the mention of an unknown figure — the "Dark Man," as Luz had dubbed him — who seemed to know more than he let on. King was simply confused, scratching his head in bewilderment. Oddly, Willow sat in silence, her gaze distant and unfocused.

"...Did you even catch a word of what I just said?" Luz asked, exasperation coloring her voice.

"...Nope! All I got was the Giraffe Hell thing. And let's be honest, that was a given — knowing how freaky giraffes are," King replied honestly. Luz couldn't blame him; she too struggled to believe what she had seen and learned.

Eda crossed her arms tightly, grunting in disbelief. "This is ridiculous! Magic on Earth? Secret societies? Bigfoots?? What a complete crackpot! I've been smuggling around there for decades. If such a thing were true, I would've seen it from miles away."

"Maybe it's just not common?" Luz shrugged, trying to keep the conversation open.

"I used to be the strongest witch in the Boiling Isles—"

"Technically, that was Belos—" King then shut up by the annoyed look his stepmother gave him.

"The second strongest witch in the Boiling Isles. If there were magic on Earth, wouldn't I have found out about it?"

"Maybe the rules are simply different? I doubt there are dead Titans just lying around on Earth," Luz suggested.

"Bah! Say, Willow, what do—" Eda turned, noticing Willow staring into space. With a snap of her fingers near Willow's face, she tried to pull her back to reality. "Hey, kid, something on your mind?"

That's when Luz remembered something critical. "Oh my gosh, I forgot! Where's Hunter?"

The atmosphere shifted, everyone looking somber. Willow's face twisted into a mask of guilt.

"He's, um... alive, technically…" King stammered awkwardly.

"Poor kid is in a coma," Eda sighed, her voice heavy with concern.

Willow finally found her voice, trembling as she spoke. "He… he… he was being controlled, like— like he was being puppeteered," she said, flailing her hands. "By that horrible woman with tentacles, using a kind of plant magic I've never seen before on Hunter… and I... I…" Tears streamed down her cheeks as she pressed her hand against her mouth to stifle a sob. "I had to use my magic on him…"

Luz and Eda exchanged glances, wanting to offer comfort, but before they could speak, overwhelmed by guilt, Willow shot up from her seat. "I… can't…!" she cried, sprinting from the room.

Luz tried to follow but felt Eda's hand gently resting on her shoulder. "She's overwhelmed right now. She needs to process it." Luz's shoulders slumped in sadness, feeling helpless.

Just then, the sound of hurried footsteps echoed in the hallway, and the door swung open as an amazed Lilith burst in. "EDALYN! YOU WON'T BELIEVE WHAT WE FOUND—" She stopped abruptly, taking in the heavy air that lingered.

Lilith wasn't known for her social finesse, but she wasn't oblivious to the mood. "...I've missed a lot, haven't I?"

A few minutes of hurried explanation passed, and the usually vibrant Clawthorne slumped into a chair, her tone far less energetic. "...Oh, I did miss a lot." The realization hit her hard; Luz had nearly died, Amity — her favorite student — was kidnapped, and even Hunter, whom she hadn't been particularly close to, lay in a coma.

"Yep." Eda punctuated her response with a pop of irritation. "As if we didn't have enough problems, there's a plague going around, infecting half the people here who had to be quarantined like it's the freakin' Dark Ages again, likely thanks to that cephalopodic mo—" She halted, remembering King was present. "Anyway, I've never met a carnomancer before. Since you've been busy being our previous glorious emperor's second-in-command, have you seen any fleshcrafters before?"

"As far as I know, Belos was the only known carnomancer for a long time… until today," Lilith replied, a hint of unease creeping into her voice.

"And of course, it's always freaking Belos," Eda said, rolling her eyes.

"That's the thing," Lilith said, shaking her head. "This time, I don't think Phillip had anything to do with it. Even before Belos's reign, carnomancers were feared and hated. There are spooky legends about Goreblights, and many references suggest the boogeyman myths originated from them. There were even alleged Goreblight hunts."

"Witches witch-hunting? Emperor bird-face is probably cackling in his grave," King commented sourly, crossing his arms as he leaned back, a frown deepening on his face, even Eda shared his soured look.

"The twins…" Luz sniffed, dread pooling in her stomach as she imagined what the Goreblights might do to Amity. With Emira and Edric both stricken by the plague, she couldn't fathom what Alador must be feeling, having two of his children in critical condition and one kidnapped by Goreblights. With a groan, she slouched back against the bed, rubbing her face in frustration. "Esto solo se pone mejor y mejor…" she muttered in her native language, oblivious to the surprised looks from everyone around her.

King blinked twice, trying to process what he'd just seen. "Uhm… Sis? Not to scare you, but I'm pretty sure humans don't have an extra thumb."

"What are you talking—" Luz looked down at her hands and gasped. Instead of her usual five fingers, there were six. "EEEP!" She shot out of the bed in shock and, with wide eyes, looked back. To her relief, her hands had returned to normal. "What—did—DID EVERYONE SEE THAT!?" she practically shrieked, her voice rising in panic.

"Either I had a strong moonshine apple blood, or you just grew an extra finger," Eda noted, flabbergasted.

"So that's why Stingerbean and Owlbert looked so disturbed…" King muttered to himself, clearly bewildered.

"Oh, what is it now!" Luz groaned in frustration, feeling like the universe was piling on dread upon dread.

"Well…" King hesitated, glancing at the others before continuing, "Let's just say the Palisman, after that freaky bony scepter did whatever it did to you, looked perturbed and didn't dare to be in the same room as you."

Luz clapped her hands in an exaggerated manner, her voice rising hysterically. "Terrific! This is just terrific!" she yelled, her tone bordering on manic. "My girlfriend was kidnapped, I died again, Gus is nowhere to be seen, Willow is a mess, and Hunter is in a coma! And now even my own palisman is afraid of whatever eldritch magic that thing—" She gestured wildly at the Scepter of Ion still resting on her bed, "—and the Dark Man spilled on me! Is there something else I should know about?!?" She turned back toward her companions, her expression wild, making them understandably worried about her ever cracking sanity.

Exchanging glances, the group realized they couldn't postpone additional news any longer.

"Well… Emberwolf had a couple of fractures and mumbled something about weird armored soldiers before they disappeared…" King said quietly, nervously fidgeting with his fingers.

"There's a whole ancient temple thing with plant zombies, and what I think is a giant mecha…" Lilith pondered aloud, counting off her fingers as if trying to organize her thoughts.

When it was Eda's turn, her face soured with concern. "Rain is currently busy with the quarantine, using his magic with CAT—still a stupid name—manipulating the environment to make sure nothing viral spreads around in the air or water. And the healers say that while the scepter healed you and even gave you a new heart… that Bile Sac thing King's dad gave you? It… it's no longer there." She squinted, the weight of the news settling heavily in the room.

Luz felt a rush of panic. That meant she was back to square one, able to do magic only through glyphs or her palisman, which was now afraid of her thanks to whatever unholy arcane power the Dark Man had unleashed to resurrect her. Her expression was eerily deadpan, eyes twitching with frustration, until something inside her finally snapped.

In a sudden burst of emotion, she walked over to the bed, grabbed a pillow, and screamed into it with all her might. The muffled cries echoed through the room, a chaotic mixture of frustration, fear, and overwhelming anxiety flooding from her.

Alador adjusting a gadget, not looking up, he stopped looking up at all enamoured by hsi work. While he was an engineer not a healer, he could make tools that would greatly help the healers against the pandemics and thanks to Luz and Gus he took some inspiration from Earth over the years, currently he was working a sort of Abomaton drone that can be controlled from afar to administer dosage and help the diseased without risking contamination as this plague from what he seen was airborne and chances are he along with half of the Hexside are diseased too just that their symptoms are yet to show up and also a new filtering system to filter out the airborne disease. " I just need to finish this. Once I finish… maybe it'll help Emira and Edric."

Darius came and leaned against the doorframe, arms crossed, eyebrow raised "Right. Because a gadget could magically cure a highly contagious disease better than magical means. That's how science works now?"

Alador sighed "You don't understand. I can't just sit here—there's something I need to do.

"Oh? And what about Hunter? Or are we pretending Eberwolf and others are fine and dandy? Forgetting that your children are not the only ones in mortal peril?"

Alador immediately stopped and gazed at Darius with an angry flush "I'm not forgetting- !" Before he could snap.

Darius interrupted him with a smirk "Now I have your undivided attention."

"I-you- you did it on purpose." He gritted his teeth realising Darius was intentionally trying to get a raise at him to stop his focus on his work.

Darius' typical haughty smirk then ceased as he spoke softly "Look, I get it. You're trying to hold it all together. I can't imagine what you're going through, but tiring yourself won't help anyone."

"So what am I supposed to do? Just crumble like everyone else?" Alador sarcastically asked.

Darius once again had his smirk that gave Alador the urge to punch "Well, I wouldn't recommend it. You might actually make the place look worse."

"Great. I'll keep the breakdowns to a minimum. But you're avoiding the point." Alador said this time half-smiled.

Darius rolled his eyes and threw his hands up "Fine! I'll say it—Hunter's in a coma, and Eberwolf has a rip facture and is currently slurring about weird soldiers with no face. I know, I care, even if I'm too proud to admit it."

"It's just… they need us."

"Exactly. So let's stop pretending we're invincible. Lean on each other for once. You have my… unique brand of support."

Alador chuckled "Your 'support'? No one else would define it quite like that."

"There you go. See? Emotions aren't going to kill you." Darius mocked a hand on his own chest.

"Maybe just my pride." Alador shrugged.

Willow wiped her face after using the bathroom and walked toward the room where Hunter had been taken, passing healers in protective suits as they made their way to the quarantine zone. Thanks to Luz, Gus, and Alador's inventions, the suits were modern and well-equipped for a biohazard environment. Otherwise, they might have been stuck with those medieval bird-like suits, which, according to folklore, were inspired by some ancient necromancer who had claimed to come from another realm before mysteriously disappearing.

Before opening the door, she took a deep breath, steeling herself to see her boyfriend in a coma, and pushed the door open. Inside, she found Hunter lying on the bed, eyes closed, appearing lifeless. But there was an unexpected presence in the room—a man wearing a monastic robe of red and gold, his face obscured by a deep hood. He was leaning over Hunter, touching his forehead and chanting something in an unrecognizable language. Alarmingly, she noticed that Hunter's body was beginning to convulse.

Reacting quickly, Willow summoned a vine from the ground, slamming it against the stranger and pinning him to the wall. "Who are you? What have you done with Hunter!?" she demanded, her voice low and fierce.

The stranger, hood now pushed back, revealed a whip-thin, bald male Witch who appeared to be in his mid-forties. He did not flinch or show any sign of intimidation. Instead, his voice was smooth and cool, like that of a priest. "I saved him."

Gasped

Suddenly, Hunter awoke with a sharp intake of breath. "Hunter!" Willow rushed forward and hugged him tightly, still keeping her vine restrained around the stranger.

"Huh?... Where… where am I?" Hunter mumbled, confusion clouding his eyes. Before he could gather his thoughts, Willow leaned in and kissed him, causing a deep blush to spread across his cheeks.

"You've been hospitalized! The healers said you were in a coma! Are you okay? Do you feel unwell?" She cradled his face in her hands, anxiously scanning for any signs of illness.

"Where's… Waffles?" he asked, his eyes darting around as he gently lowered her hands.

Willow grimaced, struggling to find the right words. "Waffles… she's… she became inert after—"

Chirp!

She stopped abruptly as both she and Hunter turned to see the familiar blue jay palisman perched on the stranger's shoulder, who, for some inexplicable reason, was no longer held back by the vines. Waffles flapped her wings and flew over to Hunter, chirping happily.

"I believe… we have some things to talk about," the stranger stated, his cool demeanor unwavering.

After Luz had her brief meltdown, she took a deep breath and drank a glass of water offered to her by Lilith. Eda had tried to tempt her with 'Special Blood Apple Moonshine,' but the stern look she received from her sister quickly silenced the offer. With a final deep breath, Luz managed to compose herself.

"...Okay, I'm calm now. As of now, there is nothing more world-shattering—"

The door suddenly swung open, slammed by a random female healer. "Someone broke into the hospital, managed to wake Hunter and his palisman, and said they have information on the Goreblights!"

A moment of stunned silence fell over the room as everyone exchanged incredulous looks. Luz wore a deceptively bland expression until she broke the silence.

"The universe has a wicked sense of humor!" she exclaimed, throwing her hands up in flabbergasted frustration.

"It sure does," Eda whistled.

Without wasting any time, they followed the healer down the corridor.

"I swear, that Dark Man—Ion or whatever he calls himself—is probably somewhere in the zillionth circle of Hell, laughing at my expense," Luz muttered bitterly.

"WHAT!? Ion!?" Lilith exclaimed, her head darting back and forth incredulously. "You didn't say the Dark Man's name is Ion!"

"Oh, let me guess—that's too revealing, huh!? At this point, I feel like a bad protagonist in a low-budget 2000s film!" Luz snapped in frustration as they continued through the halls.

When they entered the room, they spotted Principal Bump, his hand in a cast and a few bruises marking his stoic face as he stared intently at the other side of a one-way mirror.

"Principal Bump! You—" Lilith exclaimed, startled at his condition.

"I'll rest later," he cut her off, raising his good hand. "Willow found this man somehow sneaking past the guards into Hunter's bed and did something that caused him and his palisman to wake up. I'm guessing some kind of Plant Magic method."

"Hunter is awake? Is he well?" Luz asked anxiously.

"He is, but just to be safe, he and the palisman are being checked to see if this man put any hexes on them or left any nasty surprises, it won't take long. Willow is with him."

A collective sigh of relief washed over them at the news. They turned to peer through the mirror at the man. The room he was in was typically used for interrogating alleged suspects; the one-way mirror meant he couldn't see them. He appeared to be an unassuming witch in modest robes, but they all knew better than to trust appearances.

"What did he say?" King inquired.

Bump sighed heavily. "We tried to interrogate him, but he said he only wants to speak with Luz."

Eda and Luz exchanged glances until Luz finally nodded. "I'll go."

"Not without me you don't," Eda said, her tone leaving no room for argument.

"Are we sure that's wise?" Lilith asked warily.

"Face it, sis. We're all in the dark, and we need information. If he tries anything funny—" Eda shrugged nonchalantly, "I'll just let out my Owlbeast."

But Eda's expression turned serious as she continued, "There's something else, too. When the other teachers and I checked, we found someone had tampered with the security wards here. We still don't know who, but whoever did it was from inside and wiped their own tracks. As we discovered, some of the children evacuated during the attack… are missing."

Eda and Lilith exchanged grim looks, a shared understanding passing between them. Luz and King felt a chill run down their spines at the thought of the missing kids. The horrifying possibility that they could be in the same predicament as Amity — at the mercy of those cannibalistic carnomancers — was too much to bear.

Seeing the grim reality of the situation, Lilith reluctantly agreed to accompany them. As Luz and Eda prepared to enter the room, Luz turned to her mentor and asked, "Good cop or bad cop?"

"Nah, I'll be Bad Cop; you go with Witch Cop," Eda snorted lightly.

Once they entered the room, they found the stranger sitting calmly in a chair near the table. His demeanor suggested he had planned to be captured, but for what reason, they would need to find out.

The stranger looked at them, his lip quirking slightly. "Ah… I was hoping you would show up. I'm very sorry for not arriving sooner; otherwise, I could have prevented many tragedies."

Luz and Eda exchanged wary glances. They didn't like the smoothness of his tone or the apologetic air that accompanied it. Eda, having been a con artist herself, knew all too well how to recognize faux emotions, but this man was different; it was hard to tell if he was genuine or if something more sinister lay beneath his composed exterior.

Crossing her arms, Eda scoffed. "Cut the Titan turd. Who are you? What are you doing here? And what did you do to Hunter?"

"My apologies," the man replied. "My name is Dox. As for what I did? Being a plant-based lifeform, just like his familiar, their cells—well, they became hardened like wood, putting them in a catatonic state. All I did was free his cells."

"And you couldn't just come in like a normal person and ask?" Luz raised an eyebrow skeptically.

"I… am not familiar with the authorities of the Boiling Isles. I'm a traveler, you see. In my experience, those in positions of authority rarely have clean hands. So I thought it wiser to beg for forgiveness than to risk it."

"What are you now, a philosopher?" Eda commented sarcastically, though as a former criminal and rebel, she secretly understood his perspective.

He chuckled in amusement. "Philosophy is actually a hobby of mine."

"Are you a Plant Mage?" Luz tilted her head, curiosity piqued.

"To be precise, while I possess a few tricks in the field of botanist, my true expertise lies in a realm considered somewhat… taboo." He locked eyes with Luz knowingly. "You've been gifted by him, haven't you?"

A pit formed in Luz's stomach at the implication. She feigned ignorance, asking cautiously, "Gifted by who?"

"You know exactly who," he replied, his gaze unwavering. "I know because I was gifted by the Breaker of Chains as well." He raised his hands, and to their shock, two extra arms burst forth from under his armpits, each ending in four inhuman fingers. Eyes blinked open in the palms of those extra limbs. The sudden mutation startled everyone, including those watching from the other side of the mirror.

"You're one of them, aren't you?" Eda's question felt more like a statement.

He shook his head, the eyes on his palms closing and vanishing as if they had never existed. "No, our abilities may be similar, but I'm no kin of theirs. Tell the child there is no need to fret. Had I any ill intent, I would have acted by now."

A squeak escaped King as he was almost taken by surprise, almost shifting into his beast form and somehow he saw through the one-sided mirror or sensed him.

After staring back at Dox, Luz turned away, swallowing nervously. "By 'gift,' you mean…"

"Yes, he found me when I was in dire need. I was a drifter, shackled and mutilated for spreading the words of enlightenment and freedom. It was through him that I stand before you now."

Eda felt as if she might be sick at the reverence in Dox's voice when he spoke of the figure in Luz's vision. It reminded her of Belos's devotees. She wasn't the only one affected; Eda scowled and Lilith grimaced from the other side of the mirror, recognizing echoes of her own past as a follower of Belos. Luz looked awkwardly at the floor.

"He is the Breaker of Chains, for he aids those who stand against tyranny," Dox said earnestly.

"Would have been nice if he also brought my sac back…" Luz muttered bitterly.

Dox simply smiled. It was a grandfather kind of smile and yet it felt unnerving to Luz and Eda for whatever reason "Silly girl, you don't need an organ to reach ascendance. One with an unshackled will can move mountains. Besides… what is already known cannot be unknown."

"Oh yeah? I don't call having Cronenberg-esque body horror in exchange for magic a fair trade," Luz shot back sarcastically.

"All you can gain, once you learn to open your mind. I can help you with that, but… unfortunately, my hands are tied given the state of affairs."

"What are you babbling about?" Eda narrowed her eyes, suspicion lining her tone.

"I can save them. The infected, I mean. Fortunately, the contagion's potency has decreased without the direct presence of Ieva. I can create vaccinations against it, but it will take time to fully cure the infection."

Eda suddenly recalled that 'Ieva' was the self-proclaimed Karcist's name she had heard during her inquiries while Luz was on the bed. "You know that multi-lip wretch?"

"We had… in the past, yes," Dox replied reluctantly.

"What, she's your ex?" Eda asked sarcastically.

He tilted his head, genuinely baffled by the suggestion. "I have never had any romantic relationships, if that's what you mean."

A witch carnomancer somehow knowing a human carnomancer? It couldn't be a coincidence. Eda was certain he was hiding something. Before she could press further, he interrupted her thoughts with his next reply.

"That's not the only thing you need to worry about. The heri—Goreblights planted very fast-growing spruces that feast on fauna blood to unbalance the ecosystem. I believe if you ask Ms. Willow and her spouse, they will verify that claim."

Luz and Eda caught the slip when he almost revealed something else but quickly corrected himself. There were more pressing issues to address.

"And… Do you happen to know any Dracula and Carmilla lookalikes who have a fascination with Titans?" Luz asked pointedly, intentionally leaving out mention of the scepter. She recalled the ghastly grin Vivian had given when she looked at the Titan blood beneath her nails, just before she and her husband had fled.

Dox nodded. "Only by their vile reputation. As part of being a carnomancer, one has the ability to consume the flesh or blood of other beings to mimic their abilities. However, it's a discipline, not something to be learned quickly. Alternatively, it can also be used for rituals."

Eda scrunched her face at the memory of Alex gaining those deformed wings after biting her. She and Luz didn't need to be geniuses to guess that having a sample of blood from a living Titan could only lead to disaster.

Everyone eyed Dox warily.

"What about the knight guy? Witnesses said he did something to a librarian named Malphas and somehow managed to withstand a powerful Titan's magic. Not to mention, he and Ieva performed a long-range teleportation ritual, something no one has been able to do since Belos's fall," Luz inquired while internally chilled at the memory of her own still beating heart ripped out and then crushed into a blood pulp instinctively holding her own chest where her heart was ripped out.

Dox's expression darkened. "That man's source of power does not come from either Earth or this realm, but from somewhere… darker." He elaborated, "He's known by many names: The Demon Knight, the Eldritch King, The Red-Stepped, and… Mordred the Morbid. It's why he is resistant to this realm's magic. But believe me, Vanquisher of the False Emperor and Scion of the Wild, the less you know, the better. He made a deal with something from the dark below."

Eda and Luz processed what he had said. Finally, Luz spoke up. "Okay… So, I'm guessing Ion sent you to help with the plague, the blood-sucking spruces, and… to train me? Talk about asking a lot."

Dox seemed unfazed. "I'm good at multitasking; why do you think I have extra limbs?" He jested lightly about her own extra limbs, if he was joking they could not get it. "Though, yes, with my hands tied, my ability to train you is limited. However, I can provide guidance."

Edalyn raised a hand. "Now hold on, buddy. Why exactly should we trust you?"

Eda couldn't shake off the feeling that Dox was careful with his words, deliberate in what he revealed. While there was a chance he wasn't affiliated with the Goreblights, she remained skeptical of his true intentions.

Dox answered without hesitation. "You don't. Trust must be earned. But I am your best chance against the incoming storm and the plague."

Eda hummed thoughtfully before sharing a glance with Luz. "Excuse us, we need to discuss this." With a nod, she gestured for Luz to silently follow her as they stepped outside the interrogation room.

"So, what do you think, Eda?" Principal Bump asked as they left.

"I smell Titan dung halfway across the room. That guy is clearly hiding more than he lets on."

"What kind of name is 'Mordred the Morbid' anyway? Sounds pretentious," Lilith said, baffled by the moniker.

"It has a rhythm," King shrugged.

"For all we know, he might be the one who tampered with the wards and is involved with the missing children," Eda pointed out.

"Malphas? That old blue bird? But he seemed nice. He doesn't even look like he would hurt a fly," King scratched his head, confused.

"Don't mistaken, boy. That demon may be old, but he has secrets," Bump cryptically replied. Next, he shook his head. "No, the person who did that would have to be familiar with the wards first. There are procedures in place; we don't just let anyone have access to them."

"Plus," Eda added, wrinkling her nose in disapproval, "I'm not exactly comfortable letting a carnomancer—who might as well be a Goreblight in all but name—train Luz. That guy is sus as hell."

"But Eda," Luz interjected, her expression desperate, "he may be the only one who could help me understand what happened to me. If what he says is true, we don't have much time, and… Amity is kidnapped, and Gus likely is too." Her dejection pulled sympathetic glances from Eda, Lilith and King.

"We can have guards around him in case he tries anything funny, or we could keep tabs on him," Bump suggested, trying to ease the tension.

Luz glanced back at Lilith, who appeared deep in thought. "Lilith, you recognized the name Ion. I guess you found something during your excavation?"

Lilith snapped her fingers as an idea came to her. "Luz, go check on Willow and Hunter. Eda and I will head to the library; I think I have an idea of where to look."

"But—" Luz started to argue.

"Luz," Lilith interrupted firmly, "You just survived a traumatic event, and so did they." by 'they' she meant her friends.

Luz paused, considering her words, then nodded slowly. "Okay. Just tell me what you find out later."

With her hands shoved in her pockets, Luz walked despondently through the sterile hallway. As she passed a clinic room, she caught sight of dissection tables where the bodies of Goreblights and their grotesque abominations lay sprawled, picked apart by witches and demons clad in white uniforms and masks. Suddenly, one of the Goreblight corpses began to twist, and out of its mouth slithered an angry white worm that leapt into the air. The dissectors yelped in startled shock as the worm angrily aimed for one of them. The person stumbled backward, narrowly avoiding the creature until another dissector lunged forward with a glass cage, catching the worm mid-jump as its jaws snapped open. It thrashed violently against the glass, furious and desperate to escape.

Continuing her walk, Luz noticed a collection of Palismans hanging around the clinic, including her own, Stringbean.

"Uh, hi little buddy," she greeted, forcing a small smile.

Warble

Stringbean warbled hesitantly, looking at her with wide eyes. After years of having the creature, Luz had become adept at deciphering her Palisman's sounds. Stringbean wasn't fearful of Luz, but uncertainty lingered, compounded by the strange way Luz had returned to the living world. Luz couldn't blame her Palisman for feeling unsettled; she too felt disturbed by the memory of fallen witches and demons resurrected by that Scylla-like necromancer thinking that she came back as a hungry revenant.

"Yeah... I don't understand what happened to me either…" she admitted, a hint of sadness clouding her voice.

Just then, Ghost fluttered nearby, sadness evident in her cat-like eyes. As Amity's Palisman, she was not burdened by uncertainty; she was simply overwhelmed with sorrow for her kidnapped owner.

Meow

"Yeah, Ghost... I miss her too." Luz gently caressed the cat-looking Palisman, who responded with a soft purr.

Clover, Willow's Palisman, nudged Stringbean forward, prompting the little creature to rub affectionately against Luz, who welcomed the gesture in kind and Owlbert too, who at first was a bit stiff, joined in.

As Luz continued down the corridor, she noticed other Palismans—some damaged, others sorrowful for their fallen owners, and many mourning their lost companions during the conflict.

She had hoped that with Belos gone, she would never witness such a heartbreaking sight again. Yet here it was, evidence of a new and unknown enemy, vicious and reveling in carnage. How many had died in this conflict? Some of the Palismans were familiar to her from her first days at Hexside and throughout her time in the Boiling Isles. The pit in her stomach deepened as she realized that Gus and others might be among the fallen, their bodies lost to the ruthless feasting of the Goreblights. The thought of her dear girlfriend potentially sharing such a fate or worse—especially after the words of the Dark Man—disgusted her and ignited a growing rage within her.

This new enemy was not above desecrating the dead, finding sadistic joy in taking lives. Yet it filled her with dread; what if she, too, became one of them? Whatever the Dark Man had done to her, whether she liked it or not, gave her cartomancy, albeit in its infancy. Sure, there was Dox, but who knew how many skeletons were in his closet? Would she eventually turn into a Goreblight—a cannibalistic monster of carnage?

Her thoughts were interrupted when Waffle flew close, chirping insistently.

Luz paused, lifting Stringbean to her shoulder. "Do you know where Willow and Hunter are?"

Waffle and Clover both nodded and gestured with their heads for her to follow. They led her to a room where she found Hunter still in bed, awake, with Willow lying beside him, holding his hand. Relief washed over her as she took in the sight, but a small, selfish part of her felt bitter—a reminder that Willow's partner was okay while hers was not.

Luz smiled and knocked on the door to get their attention. "Hey, I heard you woke up. Are you okay?"

Luz stepped inside, her smile faltering as she took in the sight of Hunter and Willow. "I'm so relieved to see you both awake."

"We're okay, though…I'm not looking forward to when my parents come from their picnic, who are very likely gonna go full helicopter and imprison me in my room." Willow amused, though her voice trembled slightly. "How about you?"

Luz hesitated. "I… I don't know. I feel like I was brought back from the edge of something dark. It was really strange."

Hunter shuddered at the memory. "It… it was unnerving. At least when Belos possessed me, I wasn't conscious. But with this—it was different. I could see and feel my own body rebelling against my will, controlled like a puppet." His expression darkened, haunted by the experience.

Willow squeezed his hand. "You're safe now. We're all safe," she said softly, searching for reassurance in his eyes.

"Not…all of us, certainly not for long," Hunter replied with exhale, hearing her friend Gus was disappeared was disheartening for him and though he and Amity were not exactly best friends or close as he was with Gus he never wished her any ill.

Luz's brow then furrowed. "But we need to figure out what's going on with this new threat. Speaking of which, what do you think of Dox?"

"Waffle seems to vouch for him," Hunter said, shrugging. "He did wake us up from our coma, so that should count for something."

Willow pursed her lips, skepticism flaring in her chest. "I don't know… I still don't fully trust him. But there's something about him that makes me think he's genuine."

Luz nodded, understanding the conflict. "It's hard to know who to trust right now, especially after everything with Belos and now the Goreblights." She glanced out the window, as if searching for answers in the distant trees. "But we need to stand together. No matter what happens next."

"Right," Hunter said, taking a deep breath. "We've already been through so much… we can't let this pull us apart."

Willow offered a soft smile. "Together, we can face anything."

"Together," Luz echoed, her heart swelling with determination.

As they exchanged supportive glances, a sense of renewed resolve filled the room. Whatever lay ahead, they would confront it side by side.

"No, it doesn't work; it's too general." Lilith shook her head as she placed the book back on the shelf, reaching high up on the ladder. Eda watched from below, and King, feeling bored, rested his head on the table, staring vacantly at a flickering candle flame.

Lilith had to suppress her inner academic dismay at the state of the library, the damage wrought by Mordred and the Goreblights. She silently vowed to show them no mercy if she ever crossed their paths again—especially after what they had almost done to Luz and likely going to do with Amity.

"Let me see… let me see… where… where…" Lilith's voice rose in frustration as she scanned the endless rows of tomes. "There's so much knowledge here, yet it's hard to find anything useful!"

Eda snorted. She never imagined Lilith would ever say something like that.

"Xylarthic Epics… Gorathulian Tales… Thalchurian Legacy… Krythessian Mythos… Nycthelithian Saga… Eldraxis Codex… AHA!" Lilith's loud declaration snapped King back from his bored trance.

She slid down from the ladder with a dusty book in hand and set it on the table, blowing off the dust. "The Zyltharoth Chronicles!" she declared, adjusting her glasses as she opened the tome. "In the beginning, there were two opposing gods, one of flesh and the other of metal. Together, they created beings that shared both of their gifts, called the 'First Ones.' The First Ones, over time, advanced and progressed, choosing invention over instinct. This pleased the god of metal, but displeased the god of flesh. In an act of sacrifice, the metal god imprisoned itself into a brass cage to contain the flesh god. The First Ones, wanting to escape their conflict, traversed into a realm of dead gods and became the progenitors of the inhabitants of this realm."

She closed the book with a huff, glaring at it. "What a load of nonsensical make-believe crap! It's already scientifically and concretely established that all life in the Demon Realm comes from the Titans, not whatever these 'First Ones' are, if they even exist."

"A god of flesh sounds like it could fit Luz's description. What about a crimson god?" King pointed out through a yawn.

"Other lesser deities—which frankly would involve explaining the whole Borathian Pantheon, which has conflicting information of its own—and we don't have time for a folklore class." She rubbed her eyes, pressing her lips together in frustration. "Nothing about a crimson god."

For some inexplicable reason, a chill ran through the air at the mention of a crimson god, a sudden wave of foreboding that washed over Lilith, Eda, and King for just a fleeting moment before fading away.

"That wasn't creepy at all…" King muttered.

"Then we are left with the Malpharic Heritage, that is if it wasn't already taken by 'Mordred the Morbid'." Lilith mocked that name.

Eda's interest piqued, a smirk spreading across her face. "So the blue bird had a past, huh? I knew it."

She nodded. "He is. Rumor has it he had a troubled past. Malphas was an isolationist, rarely sociable, didn't make a fuss, and there's no evidence suggesting that this Malpharic Heritage is even real. So there was no reason for Belos to take any action against him. Though… there were whispers that when Belos heard his name, he looked stiff."

"What do you think the reason was?" Eda asked, curiosity piqued.

"Wish I knew," Lilith shrugged.

"So, the old bird had a book and this 'Mordred the Morbid'—" Eda lifted two fingers from each hand, gesturing up and down. "—wanted. So, in conclusion, they want a living Titan, that creepy staff made of bones, and whatever the old bird had. And the best we have now is some very biased and historically inaccurate book from a long dead and defunct region, which isn't exactly a reliable source of information, right?" Eda raised an eyebrow.

Lilith's annoyance was directed more at the book than at her sister. "Let me remind you, the Zyltharoth Chronicles is not an accurate historical account; it's a myth, much like Earth's Epic of Gilgamesh. It may contain some elements of truth, but it's not the whole truth. For all we know, there may never have been 'First Ones' at all—just a general metaphor for all life in their primitive state. Heck, these gods of innovation and instinct could just as easily represent conflicting members of Archivists and Titans."

"No," came Luz's firm voice, and they turned to see her entering the room, accompanied by Willow. Hunter trailed behind them, and Stingerbean perched on Luz's shoulder. "The Dark Man said these gods are neither Titans nor Archivists. He showed me…." Luz shuddered, wrapping her arms around herself as if she were cold. "They're something… more." Another shiver ran through her. "And whatever happens, the Dark Man warned me never to give in to their temptations or all be lost."

—-

In the heart of the wilderness, an elderly witch trudged deep into the dark jungle. Her emaciated form gave no indication of the formidable power she wielded. Any creature that dared to attack her fled in terror at her hiss or acts of sudden savagely, for despite her frail appearance, the foul witch possessed a strength and speed far beyond what her age and physique suggested.

Beside her, another elderly woman walked. In contrast to her companion, this witch appeared much younger, with a short stature and deeply tanned skin that was remarkably free of blemishes or liver spots typical of aging. Her bright eyes shone with a youthful spirit, and her white hair was tied in a neat bun, accentuated by traditional attire and round eyeglasses.

The duo had once worked at Hexside—the first witch was regarded as a grumpy and unpleasant old woman, often relegated to cooking alone in the cafeteria, while the younger one was friendly and sociable, affectionately called "Grannie" by the students, who enjoyed her sewing and tailoring skills.

Little did anyone know that behind their stereotypical roles as elderly women lay a dark secret. Evidenced by them dropped their cosmetic long-ears revealing human ears.

With a sigh, the younger witch stretched her back. "Are we there yet?"

"Patience, Beatrice," the elder replied in a gravelly voice. "It's important to tread in darkness and shadows; otherwise, they will find us."

"Well, just in case you forgot, you fossilized crone, my elixir won't stay full forever. I already feel myself getting older."

The older witch flashed an unpleasant rictus grin that might have frightened anyone else except Beatrice. Her white hair moved like tendrils as she sneered. "Says the one who has lived for eight hundred years."

"And I'm in FAR better shape than you! So don't forget that, you crone."

"Pah! You and your shallow view of beauty…" The older witch looked back over her shoulder. "Still, with the youths here, so much potential… Mordred's promises have been worth the trouble. My only regret is that I won't be there to see the fakers' faces when they realize their children are gone," she said, her disdain dripping with every word. She scorned the so-called 'witches' of this realm. To her, these witches were mere pretenders—not the true Daughters of Lilith who had once driven humanity into a frenzy of madness and paranoia during the Dark Ages. Oh, how she longed for the days of old, watching the not-gifters tremble in fear, unable to see their predators as they turned on each other in a wild, paranoid frenzy by just taking them one by one.

She also yearned for the moment where she will feast on the fraud named 'Lilith' for daring to claim their great brood mother's name.

Beatrice turned her gaze back, a smile creeping across her lips. Behind them walked children stolen from Hexside, their minds entranced and controlled by the hexes woven into their very souls.

"They burn brighter than any child back on Earth. They will make a better alternative for my liquid of life," Beatrice mused, raising the vial half-filled with a colorless and odorless liquid. She and her vial had another name she detested—SCP-545.

The crone, too, was known by another designation: SCP-352. But her most infamous name was that of a creature born from tales of horror in Salvic Mythology… Baba Yaga.

Notes:

Knock knock

Owl House: who's that?

SCP Verse: oh you know…MYTHOLOGICALLY ACCURATE WITCHES!