Chapter Text
It was a peaceful day out in the wooded clearing. No inclement weather, just a nice cool, light breeze, and a partially cloudy sky keeping the sun from baking this corner of the earth with intense summer heat.
Everything was serene. Even the old, dilapidated, abandoned house sat quietly undisturbed. The only thing that might seem unusual was the yellow glow of the windows and the bright white portal in the open doorway.
That was until a human and a witch came tumbling out of the portal. A small demon followed after, landing at the bottom of the steps as the human and witch looked up.
Luz stood and took a couple of steps forward into the clearing. She was on earth again, not far from her own backyard. She stared at the trees and the portion of sky that the tree line did not obstruct. The light of the sun poured in, from the west as it was just beginning its journey to set. the wind tousled her hair as she stood somewhat in shock.
Lilith, on the other hand, had enough fighting a human she was just trying to talk to. Now was her chance to restrain the human before the fighting started again.
“Luz, watch out!” King shouted as he came to his senses.
Lilith quickly turned and, with just as quick a spell circle from her hand, several vines emerged from the soil and tied the little demon up.
Lilith turned back to see Luz had noticed King’s entanglement. Lilith tried to bind Luz in a net of magic energy, but the human jumped away. The net just disintegrated without a target ensnared. Lilith readied for the girl’s counter attack. Sure enough, Luz had performed a roll and retrieved a piece of paper with a glyph on it.
“Fire!” Luz shouted as she activated the glyph. instead of creating a blast of fire however, the paper just disintegrated. Lilith saw her opening.
“What?” Luz asked before immediately being tackled by Lilith.
Lilith had pinned the human’s legs and right arm, but struggled to restrain the left arm as Luz pulled at Lilith’s hair as she struggled to escape Lilith’s grasp. Luz also held her eyes shut as she attempted to free herself, her feet flailing about and grunting with the effort. She even barely raised her torso off the ground before it collapsed back onto the ground.
“Please, just listen to me!” Lilith groaned in frustration as she continued to grapple with Luz.
“No way! You deserve to be petrified! Not Eda!” Luz said before she stopped struggling and opened her eyes to glare at Lilith.
Lilith’s grip on Luz slackened. Her expression changed into one of remorse.
“You're right.” Lilith said.
Luz recoiled in surprise as Lilith let go and pulled herself off of Luz.
“I deserve to be in Edalyn's place.” Lilith said, crossing her arms and hanging her head in shame. Luz sat up.
“Why did you do all this?” She asked
“When Edalyn and I were younger,” Lilith turned to face Luz as she began to explain, “We were the best of friends.”
Luz listened. As soon as this explanation was done she would be ready to tear into any excuses Lilith tried to make.
“Being in the Emperor's coven was my dream. I wanted to work alongside the most powerful witch on the isles and make the world a better place. Eda wanted to be with me, but there was a problem. When we went to apply only one slot was available. We were to duel the next day. The winner would join the ranks of the Emperor’s coven. I knew Edalyn would beat me, she was younger, but worked twice as hard. She met me at my level.”
Luz frowned. It was a backstory she had heard in fiction before. one that did not excuse the horrible things done.
“Emperor Belos always said ‘To be great, you have to make sacrifices.’ What would he do in my situation?”
Luz scowled at the mention of the Emperor. His quote and Lilith’s question about what he might do in her situation… Luz was unnerved as she thought back to how enthusiastic Gus and Willow were to visit the Emperor’s Castle. How Willow readily recited propaganda on “witches doing magic all wrong” before Belos. The Emperor’s influence ran deep and Luz was really starting to hate this guy.
“I found a spell that would take away her powers,” Lilith paused momentarily to exhale, “I thought it would just be for a day…”
Misgivings about the Emperor aside, Luz still was angry with Lilith. He may have been a bad influence but her actions were her own.
“When it came time for our duel, Edalyn refused to battle me. She denounced the Emperor’s coven, the whole coven system, publicly. And as Edalyn walked away…”
Lilith went silent, averting her eyes from Luz. The implication of the owl beast transformation was clear. Luz shuddered to imagine the crowd of onlookers’ reaction to Eda’s curse. Luz looked to see Lilith couldn’t even face her at this point.
“I made my sacrifice for The Emperor, and it was time to receive my reward.” Lilith’s tone of voice simmered with regret and perhaps self loathing.
Luz found herself pitying Lilith. It was clear Lilith wasn’t proud of her actions. Yet suspicion crept into Luz’s mind as Lilith brought up the whole “need to make sacrifices to achieve greatness” line again. Did Lilith really regret her actions, or was she lying? Acting remorseful so that Luz would be suckered in?
“I've been pursuing Edalyn because if she joined the Emperor's coven, Emperor Belos told me he would heal her curse,” Lilith looked at Luz, “but he lied to me.”
Lilith noticed that Luz, while no longer enraged, still eyed her with suspicion.
“I know how to rescue Edalyn,” Lilith’s words caused Luz to perk up and listen intently, “but I can't do it alone.”
Luz once again glared at the witch in suspicion.
“How do I know I can trust you?” Luz asked.
Lilith seemed to ponder for a second before she drew a large spell circle and from a flash of blue energy, both Eda’s Staff and Owlbert emerged.
“Owlbert!” Luz said as Owlbert and the staff were handed over, “you're ok!”
Owlbert woke at the mention of his name and cooed.
“All right Lilith,” Luz placed the palisman on her shoulder and used the staff to help her stand up before continuing.
“I don't like your whole…” Luz struggled to find an appropriate word as she pointed at the witch and made a circle with her finger, “deal, but…”
Her face softened from disgust to concern. Luz reached beneath her cloak to grab the key to the portal.
“We need your help to save Eda.” Luz held the key to the portal out. The gesture was more symbolic than practical as the door was already open, but it helped to get the witch apprentice’s point across. Lilith stood up.
“Thank you.” Lilith nodded. She turned and freed King from the magic plants, causing the possibly napping demon to squeak in surprise.
“Now let's head back...” Lilith turned to the house.
Luz though, she turned to face the clearing again. Beyond those trees lie her home. The wind picked up again, blowing leaves past Luz. If there were time to spare, she could have—
“No!” Lilith shouted, breaking the young girl’s train of thought. Luz bolted towards the door.
“What’s wrong?” Luz asked.
“The door slammed shut!”
Luz turned her head to see that, indeed, the door did close. Lilith tried to get the portal to reignite by opening and closing the door to no avail. The other side of the door was just the interior of the dilapidated house.
“I got it,” Luz took out the key and pressed the eye situated at the key’s bow.
Nothing happened.
Luz clicked the eye again.
still nothing.
“It’s probably just slow, just need to wait a minute.” Luz laughed nervously.
Thirty seconds later Luz was repeatedly tapping the eye over and over.
Lilith gently put her hand on Luz’s shoulder.
Luz nearly fell backwards before she froze in place. Lilith, seeing the human’s reaction, slowly retracted her hand.
“Perhaps something is obstructing the door on the other end?” Lilith suggested.
“But then how do we move it?” Luz asked.
“I… I don’t know.”
Leaves drifted to the earth as the remaining wind began to die down.
“Alright, there’s no need to panic.” Luz said that more so for her own sake than the others. Falling apart at a time like this would not solve anything. That was easier said than done as Luz felt she was at the verge of a full blown panic attack.
“Yes, you’re right. We just need to fix the issue,” Lilith clasped her hands together, “Or find another way back.”
Luz looked towards Lilith expecting to see a cool, collected, and rational witch ready to solve this problem. Instead it appeared as if Lilith was seconds away from a breakdown as well. Her voice might have been steady enough, but Luz noticed the twitch of Lilith’s eye and the tension in her shoulders.
Lilith looked down and locked eyes with Luz. Each saw the dread on the other’s face. Lilith closed her eyes and took a deep breath. Luz cracked her knuckles and put on a determined face.
They WILL find a way back. They WILL save Eda.
“WE’RE TRAPPED HERE!” King shouted, losing his composure as soon as the reality of the situation settled in.
The dominoes fell immediately.
“WHAT If WE DON’T SAVE EDA IN TIME?” Luz screamed before she began to hyperventilate.
Owlbert flew off of Luz’s shoulder and towards the other end of the clearing.
“IT’S ALL MY FAULT!” Lilith sobbed, falling to her knees with her hands on the sides of her head, fingernails digging into her scalp.
“YES IT IS!” King launched himself at Lilith’s face. She let out a shriek and stood up quickly, nearly losing her balance in the process.
“KING, NO! WE NEED HER HELP!” Luz shouted. She attempted to pull King off of Lilith, but was still in full on panic mode, tripping over her own foot and knocking into Lilith.
Luz and Lilith tumbled down the steps of the porch, King still clinging to Lilith’s head. Luz quickly sat up and once again tried to remove King from Lilith’s head. The incoherent cacophony of shouting and arguing echoed through the woods.
Camila Noceda had donned her scrubs, grabbed her purse, locked the front door, and was about to head to the clinic to cover her shift when something flew by from the forest, colliding with the trash bin. Camila turned just in time to see it fall over.
The culprit, a small, brown owl, landed atop the overturned bin.
“No tengo tiempo para esto…” Camila sighed before slowly approaching.
The owl hopped off of the bin, allowing Camila to set it back upright. Though, as soon as she did so, the owl flew up to perch on the bin.
“Shoo!” Camila waved her arms at the owl while trying to keep her distance. It was a wild animal after all, she did not want to provoke it. “¡Fuera! Out of here!”
The owl, instead of being scared off, flew towards Camila. She ducked, expecting the bird to attack her, but instead it circled her once then landed on her shoulder. Camila stood incredibly still, trying to ponder her next step on getting the owl to leave without provoking it. The owl hooted at her, then flew off to perch on the fence next to the driveway. With that settled, Camila was ready to head to work.
She began to turn away when the owl hooted again. Camila blinked. Did the bird want her to follow it?
She faced the bird and began to listen intently. She was about to walk away and was primed to hear the owl should it hoot again. Before she could take the first step, Camila thought she heard some kind of fight in the distance. She focused her attention on the forest and indeed there seemed to be some shouting from within. The Owl hooted at Camila again, then it flew off into the forest. Camila was dumbfounded. It was trying to get help.
Initially hesitant to just wander off into a potentially dangerous wooded area following a wild animal, Camila just stood there. She pondered the bizarre situation for a moment before realizing the shouting could be an injured person in need of help, and Camila could not stand idly for that. She took a deep breath and followed the owl through the trees and towards the sounds of shouting…
“STOP— CHEWING ON— MY HAIR!” Lilith shouted between ineffectual kicks to the jaw by King’s little foot.
“NEVER!” King yelled back as Luz was only half successful in her attempt to pry the demon from Lilith’s face.
None of the three noticed Owlbert landing on the house’s porch. Nor did they notice the person following the palisman, until…
“Hello?” A voice called out from the other side of the trees on the far end of the clearing, “Is everyone alright?”
Upon hearing the voice, Luz lost her grip on King and fell backwards onto the ground.
Lilith sat up and looked in the direction of the voice, narrowly missing Luz’s widening eyes and grimace.
King gave a confused squeak, lost his balance and slid off the back of Lilith’s hair.
Lilith sighed with relief. This stranger could be of use.
“Actually we could use some—“
Luz shot up and covered Lilith’s mouth with a hand, then cleared her throat.
“Everything’s fine!” Luz said, attempting to make her voice sound deeper.
Lilith pulled Luz’s hand off of her mouth.
“Why are you—?” Lilith began to ask.
“Luz?” the distant voice of Camila Noceda replied as the nurse emerged from the tree line on the other end of the clearing. Camila squinted towards the far end and saw her daughter alongside an older goth woman and a dog with a ghastly case of mange on its face.
“Oh man.” Luz muttered as she face palmed. This was going to be an ordeal she wasn’t ready to face...