章 11: Chapter 11: Enigma of the Glyphs
Flint could be seen walking through the market with his hands in his jacket pockets. As he walked, he was listening to his music with both earbuds in and doing a combination of humming and singing along to it under his breath.
"…Can't you see now, illusions. Right into your mind?…" Flint sang along.
Right now, the boy was heading to meet up with Amity to retrieve Luz's Azura book. Luz was supposed to come too, and he even tried to get her attention earlier, but he ultimately decided to give up and go on ahead. Luz was so engrossed in trying to prepare by reading everything she could about Hexside and the enrollment, enough to the point she'd somehow completely tuned his voice out.
"…I've just been in this place before…" Flint continued singing under his breath.
Honestly, he wasn't quite sure what track to choose for Hexside. All of them had their own unique perks, with so many ways to mix and match them. Of course, there was also the fact that like Eda, he knew that this system was wrong and that the tracks in particular felt rather…nuanced.
Abomination, Bard, Beast Keeping, Construction, Healing, Illusion, Oracle, Plant, and Potions. Out of those nine, he could really only see Beast Keeping, Healing, and Oracle being the ones that truly deserved their dedication. Bard and Illusion were the ones that seemed the most compatible if merged, after all, what better way to make a proper performance than to have both audio and video? Abomination, Construction, and Plant all felt way too limiting, and then Potions just felt more like an overall profession rather than something to dedicate as its own separate branch.
The thing that alerted him the most was the lack of a coven simply meant for the elements and the mere existence of the Emperor's Coven. No matter how many times he thought about it, it just felt like alarms were ringing in his head. He had a theory. If people like Eda were called wild witches…wouldn't the opposite be a controlled witch?
"Flint!"
Flint heard someone calling his name and turned to the source, pulling the earbud out of his left side in the process. He saw Luz running up to him, so he proceeded to stop his music and put his earbuds away.
"I take it you finally remembered?" Flint asked.
Luz had to take a moment to catch her breath, putting her hands on her knees before looking up at Flint angrily. "Why didn't you say something?!"
"I did. Several times, in fact." Flint pointed out.
"…oh," Luz said, an embarrassed blush making itself known on her face.
Flint rolled his eyes at his friend's antics. In doing so, he noticed a familiar figure in the distance. "Oh hey, there she is," Flint said, pointing over at Amity who was waiting nearby.
Luz turned and saw it was true, and bolted past Flint toward the girl. "Hey, Amity! Luz is finally here!"
Before she could reach her though, Flint watched as two other familiar figures jumpscared her.
"Hi, Luz!" Edric and Emira greeted, popping up in front of Luz
Luz yelped in surprise at their sudden appearance, flailing her arms as she fell backward. Luckily, she felt Flint's hand on the back of her head, preventing her from falling on her back but making no effort to help her correct herself.
The twins laughed as Amity walked over and cut between the two.
"Edric! Emira! Stop bothering her!" Amity chastised as she held her hand out and helped Luz fully get back on her feet. "Sorry, they insisted on coming for some reason."
Emira came up and began squishing Amity's face, much to the girl's visible chagrin. "Because we love you, baby sister!"
The older girl was promptly met with Amity's open palm as she shoved her off, causing Emira to yelp as she fell to the ground, eliciting a snort of amusement from Flint.
Amity quickly straightens her messed-up hair. "They've been extra protective and nice towards me to make up for the library incident."
Edric then popped over and leaned in near Amity. "And we still apologize every day."
Before the greatly unamused Amity could push him away too, he was pelted with a ball of ice that broke apart upon hitting his forehead, knocking him back. Watching Flint making the ball of ice and throw it at her brother brought a small smile to her face, seeing that he was just as unamused by their antics as she was.
"In any case, here's your book," Amity said, pulling Luz's book out of her bag and handing it to her.
"So, what'd you think?" Luz asked excitedly
"It was... fine," Amity responded, turning away a bit.
Luz noticed something lodged in the book that she definitely knew hadn't been there before, being a piece of notebook paper. She pulled it out and noticed a peculiar drawing on it. "So fine you drew yourself with Malingale the Mysterious Soothsayer?" Luz asked, flipping the paper to reveal the picture she'd drawn.
"I don't remember his hair being gold though," Flint thought out loud with a confused tone. He could've sworn it'd been a different color, though he could be misremembering.
A nuclear blush glowed from Amity's face as she quickly summoned a spell circle, destroying the drawing.
"This is great! Maybe the three of us could even start an Azura club at school when we're classmates!" Luz said excitedly.
"Oh yeah, I remember Flint mentioning that the other day. I take it Bump's blackmail worked then," Amity said absentmindedly.
Flint chuckled. "Yep. Soon enough we should be able to be classmates," Flint said.
"Of course, to be in my class, you need to take a placement exam and prove that you've mastered two spells," Amity said, taking the pamphlet from Luz and flipping it to show the requirements on the pamphlet. "I know Flint's probably all good with his from our duel…and hitting Edric," Amity said, glancing at Flint and getting a nod of confirmation and a snicker before she turned back to Luz. "Flint said you have your light thing, but do you know any others?"
Luz smiled. "Yeah. Three more actually," Luz answered.
Amity nodded. "Then you should be fine. That'll keep you out of the baby class." Amity said.
"Of course, it's always best to continue learning as much as you can. You never know if it'll-"
"Neeeeeeeeerrrrrdddsss!" The twins drawled, interrupting Flint.
"Of course, Mittens would end up making friends with a nerd as big as herself," Emira said with a sigh.
"Better a nerd than someone who nearly got their sister killed," Flint said bluntly.
"First off, that was technically Ed." Emira corrected pointing her thumb at her brother without losing eye contact with Flint.
"What the heck sis?!" Edric whined.
"And second…laying it on a bit thick there aren't you?" Emira asked in a more embarrassed tone.
Luz laughed, catching their attention.
"What's so funny?" Edric asked.
"Sorry, it's just- you're calling that laying it on thick?" Luz asked with a smirk.
The two stood silent for a moment as Luz's words registered to them. They looked over at Flint, who now had the biggest Chesire grin on his face, causing them to gulp in fear.
"Anyway, you wanna just meet up at the Knee in an hour?" Amity asked Flint.
Luz blinked in confusion. "Huh? Meet up where?" Luz asked.
Flint turned to Luz. "I thought I told you about…huh. I guess I didn't actually," Flint began to question before talking to himself.
"You didn't what?" Luz asked.
"Flint and I were going to go to the Knee so he could help me train and learn a fire spell. That, and I'm trying to beat Ed and Em's highest score on the exam." Amity said.
Edric and Emira each popped up beside Amity again. "Aw, Mittens. That's impossible!" Emira said.
Edric looked over to the two with a smirk. "She still needs to use a training wand to learn new spells."
Amity suddenly wished she knew how to bore holes through someone's skull with just a glance. She wanted to use it on these two so much right now!
"Somehow I get the feeling you also cheated," Flint said bluntly.
"They probably did," Amity agreed.
"Back on topic, I think that'll be good," Flint answered Amity's question from before.
Amity nodded. "Alright. Be sure to gear up for the cold though," Amity advised before dragging the twins off before they could attempt to embarrass her anymore.
When the three were gone, Luz looked to Flint questioningly. "Why didn't you tell me about this?"
Flint sighed. "I still felt bad, okay? I mean, from what you told me, just realizing I was even nearby had her scared. I just wanted to make up for that," Flint said a bit somberly.
Luz saw his downcast look and remembered how distraught he'd been back at the library. Truth be told, Luz had actually been there from the moment Trixx had drawn Otabin away, so she'd heard their entire conversation. It…well, it admittedly made her heart flutter a bit when thinking about just how dedicated her best friend was to her. But she also learned about just how much the duel had eaten away at him, and how much finding out Amity was that scared of him hurt him.
Luz sighed, putting her hand on his shoulder and rubbing it a bit. "It's okay, I get it. A lot happened that day." Luz reassured.
Flint let out a relieved sigh, putting the hand on his opposite arm on hers. "Yeah, a lot did happen. A lot hashappened…and something tells me there's gonna be a lot more happening." Flint said.
The two pulled their hands back down and separated as Flint flashed her a smile.
"Come on, we should go get ready," Flint said, gesturing in the direction of the house.
"'We'?" Luz questioned.
"I already know you'll just end up following us anyway. Am I right or am I right?" Flint said with a smirk.
Damn it did she hate when he did that!
Luz looked away guiltily. "Nooo…" Luz lied.
When the two returned home, they told Eda about their plans to head up to the Knee, and Luz begged Eda to try and teach her some new spells. Eda wasn't interested at first, saying that she already had enough not to be in the baby class, so what was the point? Luz pointed out that Eda hadn't really taught her any actual spells, with the light spell being a fluke due to the fact they already knew about the glyphs, just never knew they could do magic.
The age-old tactic of attacking someone's pride. However, she did look a lot more inclined when Flint went over and whispered something in her ear. Luz was starting to get rather annoyed by all these secrets Flint had.
So now they were all three here, on the Knee. While Flint was going to help Amity, Eda was going to teach Luz how to 'connect with the Isles' and try to teach her a new spell. There was just one…let's just call it an issueabout when they got there.
"How the hell are you not freezing your butt off?" Eda's voice rang out.
"What can I say, I guess-"
"Don't you dare!" Luz's voice interrupted him.
"The cold never bothered me anyway."
"I don't know what you're referencing, but I already hate it, and whatever corporation owns it."
While Eda and Luz were bundled up in warm coats, Flint, being the bizarre person he is, didn't bother changing out of the outfit he was wearing earlier, and not being bothered by the cold that was around them. The worst part was that for whatever reason, he'd always been fine even when he was still sickly. If this had something to do with his magic, then Luz was starting to envy him more and more.
Given his affinity for fire-related magic though…she supposed it made sense…to an extent. It was still pretty weird.
"You know kid, you chose a good spot to train. The earliest witches came to the Knee to develop their magic, drawn to its natural power." Eda informed them as they trekked up the mountain, reaching a set of ruins covered in snow.
"It's beautiful!" Luz said with a gasp.
"Though, it's not without its dangers." Eda continued, gesturing in a different direction towards a creature with no eyes (at least ones that were visible) gnawing on a tree trunk. The sight of the creature caused Luz to help and get behind Flint, before peaking out from behind him to look at the beast. Flint more or less looked curious rather than afraid.
"The Slitherbeast! Don't worry, if you don't mess with him, he won't mess with you." Eda informed them.
Luz blows a raspberry at the Slitherbeast, just before it bites through the tree trunk and sniffs in the two's direction. Luz yelps and runs off while Flint walks calmly behind.
Eda went over closer to the ruins before stopping. "Here's where we'll set up shop."
"Man, this place is just gorgeous. I can practically taste the magic in the air!" Luz said, closing her eyes and basking in the environment around them.
Flint cracked his knuckles. "Well, I'd say it's as good a time as any to try and find Amity," Flint said. He raised his right hand to the sky and created a spell circle, which shot a beam of light into the air above them.
The group hears snow crunching nearby as they see Amity, Emira, and Edric running toward them, all bundled in winter wear.
"Hey, there you two are!" Edric called out.
As the three got closer, they took note of Flint's attire…more specifically his lack of proper winter wear.
"How in the Titan's name are you not cold!?" Emira yelled out in disbelief.
"I mean, now that I think about it, I can breathe fire if I want to," Flint said, cupping his chin in thought.
Amity walked up, not bothering to give it any more thought than was needed. "Now that you're here we can get started. Maybe I can teach you a bit of abomination magic while we're at it too." Amity addressed Flint before turning to Luz. "So, what about you?"
"Oh! Eda's going to try and teach me some more spells too. I already have the four, but I still wanna learn more," Luz answered.
While the group was distracted, apparently Eda had drifted off before returning with a basket full of snowballs. "Luz! I shall now teach you how to identify different types of snow…by taste!" Eda said, holding out a snowball. "Go on, eat the snow." Eda urged her, shoving the ball in Luz's unamused face.
"Is this some kind of... special magic?" Emira asked, very much judging the woman.
"Oh, she's special alright," Flint said bluntly.
His comment was met with a snowball, of which he moved his head out of the path of before it could make contact.
Amity cleared her throat. "Anyway, let's get going then, shall we?" Amity gestured to Flint.
Flint nodded. "Alright," Flint responded before turning back to Luz and Eda. "I'll see you…"
Flint paused, registering that Eda had managed to cram her mouth full like a chipmunk stuffing its cheeks in the span of time he looked away.
"…later… Flint said after a beat of silence.
Eda manages to swallow, immediately regretting it as she hits her head. "Oooh. Brain freeze! Brain freeze!"
"See you around, human! Good luck with your, uh, training." Emira remarked, knocking a clump of snow that Edric was about to lick out of his hand and dragging him away, with Amity and Flint following.
"Is she…always like that?" Amity asked after a bit.
Flint just sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose. He really hoped this was all just a side-effect of the woman's curse. "I'm still trying to figure that out myself actually. But given how low the bar seems to be for most people in this world…" Flint promptly looked over to see Edric grabbing another clump of snow, only for Emira to knock it out of his hand again. "…I have no idea."
Amity couldn't help but shrug in agreement.
The four made it to a clearing as Flint stood before them.
"So, what're your plans, oh wise one?" Emira mocked, getting a snicker from her brother and a grunt of annoyance from Amity.
"Cool your jets Blunder Twins, your role in this will be important. After all…" Flint eye seemed to glint with devious intent. "We're going to need some moving targets eventually."
The twins shuddered, and not from the cold. Amity meanwhile gained a grin that matched the glint in her friend's eyes.
"Admittedly, this is going to be my first time really trying to teach someone like this, so please bear with me. You guys mentioned something about a 'training wand' earlier?" Flint asked with a raised brow.
The twins snickered as they saw their sister blush in embarrassment, pulling out what had to be the one most stereotypical magic wands Flint had ever seen from her coat pocket.
"It makes it easier." Amity defended shyly under her siblings' laughter.
"Hey, it's nothing to be ashamed of. Some people just learn a little differently is all. We've all got our own rhythm." Flint reassured her. "Say, can I see that wand for a sec?"
Amity didn't see any harm in it. After all, it was probably Flint's first time seeing such a thing. She handed the wand over to him and he inspected it.
"Out of curiosity, how does this work exactly?" Flint asked, poking the end of it curiously.
"It responds to the user's thoughts. You just point it forward and perform the spell how you're supposed to, and then the spell is cast like you would when using your hand. I made sure to fully charge it before we came out here. I mostly just like to use it because it means I can practice with wearing myself out or drawing from my own bile sac." Amity explained.
Flint hummed at that information, holding the wand in his right hand and doing a test run of it, waving it in a circle summoning a ball of scarlet fire, and firing it at a nearby tree, destroying it. Out of the corner of his eye though, he saw Amity jolt a bit at the fire.
Flint hummed at the reaction, both from the wand and Amity to the fire, and lowered the hand.
"Alright, this is pretty cool, not gonna lie. Might need to get one myself for some other projects. So first things first, let's work on the big problem, your reaction to fire." Flint sighed. "I'll admit, at least for most humans, your reaction would be reasonable. Fire can be wild and a force of great destruction. Many lives have been lost to the stuff, and there will always be more to do so." Flint admitted.
Flint pulled up his left hand and created a baseball-sized ball of signature scarlet fire that hovered in the air above his palm, and causing Amity to jolt once more.
"But…that could be said about most things really. For every action, there is an equal but opposite reaction." Flint put the wand in his pocket and pulled out a quarter with his right hand, still holding the ball of fire above his left. "It's no different from this coin. For every coin, there is always more than just one side." Flint flipped the coin's side to display both sides to them, allowing them to see the differences each side holds. "However, at the end of the day…" Flint positioned it so the edge faced the group. "It's all a matter of perception, and how you look at it. No matter what side you set the coin down on, it's still a coin at the end of the day."
Edric raised a brow. "And how exactly is any of this relevant?"
Flint turned back over to Amity. "Can you take off your gloves for a moment?"
Amity was admittedly a bit confused by this but complied. After pocketing the gloves and feeling the cold seeping in, she looked back at Flint. "Now what?"
"Hold out your hands to the fire." Flint requested.
Amity lifted her arms up but hesitated. Seeing the fire in his hands, that scarlet flame that had haunted her, caused her to lock up.
Seeing this, Flint sighed. He put the coin away and walked closer, making sure to keep himself between her and the fireball. He carefully took her left wrist in his right hand, much to her shock, and slowly brought the fire closer with his left.
Amity squirmed a bit from the contact and the fire that came close, closing her eyes in the process. After a moment her hand felt…warm. No longer dealing with the cold the gloves had once kept away. It felt…nice. His warm hand and the crackling fire in the other made the cold feeling dissipate from her hand.
Amity opened her eyes again to see the fireball a mere few inches from her hand. Instinctively, she raised her other, now very much colder hand, and slowly brought it up to join its counterpart and warm up, as she was mesmerized by the crackling ball held so close to her.
Flint slowly let go of Amity's hand, but she made no effort to pull it away. This fact made Flint smile.
"Fire is the element of power. There's a reason we say that someone has a 'fire in their eyes'. These people have the desire, will, energy, and drive to accomplish whatever they set their minds to. Just as fire is used as a tool of destruction, it is a tool of life as well, keeping us warm. And just like the coin, fire is but a tool, devoid of any morals. Only the one who wields it can choose its purpose." Flint explained.
Flint took a moment before continuing. "When we fought, I wasn't myself. My flames were used for pain. But the one you see today…" Flint explained, casting another spell with his right hand. Upon doing so, the ball swirled in a whirlwind of all the colors.
All three Blights looked in surprise at the display. None of them were expecting that to happen, but were now even more mesmerized by the fire.
Flint smiled at their reactions. "…let's just say that today is not the day we dueled," Flint concluded, closing his left hand and snuffing out the fire that was once held in it.
Flint paused for a few moments before summoning another scarlet fireball on the end of his index finger. This time, Amity didn't recoil from the sight so close to her, which caused Flint to smile. "And look at that, you didn't even flinch."
Amity blinked in surprise. "You're-You're right."
Flint smiled before snuffing the fire again. "All it takes sometimes is just to overwrite the bad experience with a good one."
Amity smiled, leaning in and surprising him with a hug. "Thank you."
Shaking himself out of his surprise from the action, Flint gave her a reassuring pat. "Just trying to help."
CLICK
Both teens froze, slowly turning to the source to see the twins smiling with a scroll in front of Emira. Flint and Amity blushed, the former from pure embarrassment, and the latter out of that, plus rage. Amity chased after them angrily, demanding that they delete the picture.
Flint's embarrassment shifted to laughter as he watched Amity try to murder the Blunder Twins, having swiped back the practice wand and using a combination of spells from both the wand and herself to try and attack them.
All the while, none of them saw a figure looking between Flint and Amity with a sad smile.
Eda could be seen sitting on a log in front of a fire drinking out of a mug. Nearby, Luz walked out from the forest, oddly silent as she sat down on the log as well.
"I found your glove. And your hand." Luz said in a neutral tone.
"Ah, I was wondering where that thing went." Eda pointed out, taking the hand and screwing it back on. Eda looked over to see Luz with her hands propping her head up, her elbows on her knees as she sat in front of the fire.
Eda sighed. "Alright kid, what's buggin' ya?"
"It's nothing." Luz lied.
"Sounds like a whole lot of not nothing to me. Come on, what's wrong?" Eda asked.
Luz sighed. "It's just…Flint has magic, he's always trying to keep me out of trouble and safe, and he even seems to have some kind of connection to the Isles if those dreams of his say anything. But me? I don't have any of that. I just…does Flint even really need me? Have I just been holding him back all this time?" Luz questioned.
Eda listened intently to the girl's words and sighed. "I won't lie, Flint could probably do well on his own. But hey, remember what I told you back on your second day here? When you got tricked by that Adeghast guy?"
Luz's expression turned a bit grumpier. She still couldn't believe she fell for that as badly as she did.
"I told you that you need to choose yourself, remember? From what I understand about you two, you've been practically tied at the hip for all your life until lately. But things don't always stay that way. I mean, look at me and Lily. We were the best of friends years ago, and now she's out trying to arrest me." Eda looked a little downcast after bringing that up. She snapped out of it and put her hand on Luz's shoulder, causing the girl to look up at her. "Let me ask you this, what would Flint say if you told him you felt like this?"
Luz thought for a moment. "Well, he'd probably act like the whole idea was ridiculous. He'd point out all the different ways I could do things better than he can, and all the times I've helped him." Luz chuckled. "Like back in the library when he and Amity were stuck to a giant book. They didn't even notice I was there for like, a few minutes before I got their attention." A smile came to Luz's face. "Or back at the Conformatorium when I came back with the other prisoners and saved you guys."
Eda smiled. "See? You guys need each other, so don't get all mopey thinking he's better off not knowing you." Eda tapped her chin. "You know, you didn't hear this from me…but that little project of his has your name all over it," Eda revealed.
Luz perked up at that. "Really?" Luz asked eagerly.
Eda waved her hand. "Oh totally. He got me to help with a good lot of it you know. In fact, he was gonna surprise you after he helped minty-hair over there."
"Is that what he whispered to you about earlier?" Luz asked.
"Maybe." Eda teased before getting to her feet. "So come on, let's see if maybe you can't surprise him by learning a brand-spanking-new spell, alright?" Eda gestured for Luz to follow her.
Eda guided Luz to a nearby rock overlooking a cliff. "Now, I know my lessons seem weird but this is what wild magic is all about! Making a connection with nature. The earliest witches understood that. Human witches need to understand it, too. If you wanna learn, you have to learn from the island." Eda made Luz sit on the rock and pointed off the ledge. "Now look."
Luz is met with a familiar sight, one she'd seen from looking at Flint's notebook, being an outstretched look upon the Titan itself, the Skull towering even from the opposite end of the Isles, as the Ribs seemed to pierce the sky at the same height they were. Luz stared at the sight in awe as the wind blew past her.
"Just focus. And think about what the island is trying to tell you." Eda said before leaving.
Luz took a deep breath, inspecting everything around her as well as she could with a newfound determination. She refused to fall behind.
"Alright, so did you finally get all that out of your system?" Flint asked, the sky now dark with the stars shining in the outer reaches of space.
Amity was dusting herself off, having now put her gloves back on, and her siblings behind her now with the ends of their clothes slightly scorched, and peeking over from their hiding spot behind a rock.
"Yes. I believe so." Amity said, taking a calming breath.
Flint nodded. "Now, I'm going to have to ask for the practice wand again." Flint requested, holding out his hand. Amity complied and handed him the wand, to which he put in his pocket.
"Now, as you've demonstrated, you can cast the spells with the wand. With that in mind, now you just have to do it for real this time, without help from the wand." Flint advised.
"But-But I can't do it without the wand!" Amity said quickly.
"With that attitude? You definitely can't. But you clearly have the basics down already, you just need to implement it for real. While yes, fire came quite naturally to me, but keep in mind that I spent most of my life without magic, and now look at me. Ever since our duel, I've only gotten better and better." Flint stated.
Amity closed her eyes and let out a sigh. "Okay, I guess I'll try."
WHACK
"Ow!" Amity yelped, rubbing the spot atop her head as she saw Flint pull back his sketchbook, which she knew he wasn't holding just a second ago. "What was that for?!"
Flint pointed the sketchbook threateningly at her, silencing her. "No. Try not. Do... or do not. There is no try." Flint chastised.
"That doesn't even make any sense!" Amity exclaimed.
"If you 'try' that only means that you expect the possibility of failure. So don't. Take matters into your own hands, and make it happen. Prove to the voice in your head that doesn't believe wrong, and that you can." Flint directed. "I believe you can do it, so why don't you?" Flint asked.
…
THUMP THUMP
'Titan damn it! Why does this boy have to be so damn charming!?' Amity screamed internally.
Amity closed her eyes and took a deep breath, calming herself. After a few moments to run through how to cast the spell in her head, she reopened her eyes. Amity brought her right hand up and created a pink circle in the air. Once the circle was complete, a pink-colored ball of fire, much like the ones Flint makes, hovered in the air in front of her.
Amity was mesmerized by the flame for a moment before a wide grin erupted on her face. "I did it!" Amity exclaimed excitedly.
Flint watched with a smile. 'Yes. Yes, you did.' Flint thought.
Edric and Emira watched from behind their safety rock as their sister excitedly created a second fireball.
Edric glanced toward his sister. "They seem like they're having a moment. Should we ruin it?"
Emira smiled but shook her head. "Nah. Let's let Mittens have this one."
They watched as Amity joyously moved the two fireballs in a circle rapidly before compressing them into one.
"Thank you so much, Flint!" Amity said.
"Next thing you should try is your aim. Let me show you a little something." Flint said, summoning a fireball in his right hand before taking a pitching stance. Like a baseball, he threw himself forward onto his left leg, launching the fireball at high speed into one of the trees across the clearing, the path of the ball making a curved motion. The fireball struck its target and destroyed the tree.
Eager to do the same, Amity pulled her arm back, but her legs were rigid. Flint watched and attempted to try and correct her, but he was too late. Amity attempted to throw the ball, only to trip over herself from the poor stance, sending the ball flying off-target and causing a minor explosion out of their sight.
Amity did a sharp inhale. "Oops."
Flint gave a patient smile. "It's okay. We can work on your for-"
RRRRRAAAAAGGGHHHHRRR!
Both teens' pupils shrink at the roar radiating anger in the distance. They and the twins look toward the source to see the Slitherbeast jumping over the trees. A large patch of fur has been burned off over its mouth. It growls and sniffs the air.
"Uh oh." All four said in fear as the Slitherbeast turned toward Flint and Amity, locking onto Amity in particular. It roared, charging toward Flint as he quickly put himself between them, attempting to cast a barrier spell but interrupted when the Slitherbeast grabbed him.
"Flint!" All three Blights yell out in panic.
The Slitherbeast leaned over and gave the boy a sniff, before roaring in his face.
"Oh come on! Do I just smell like fire?!" Flint screamed out in disbelief.
The Slitherbeast, oddly enough, seemed to nod at the question.
Flint blinked at that, leaning over, and tried testing it for himself. "Maybe it's the jacket. It is a tad scorched in some areas."
"Flint!"
The group turned to the source to see Luz and Eda running forward.
"Dang it! Why'd you have to anger the Slitherbeast?!" Eda called out.
"I didn't! I mean, maybe by proxy, but I didn't do it!" Flint yelled back, struggling in the beast's grip for a moment.
'Well, time to pull a Goku.' Flint absentmindedly thought to himself as he reached down and-
CHOMP
The Slitherbeast roared in pain, quickly throwing the boy high into the air and the distance.
"Flint!" Both Amity and Luz called in panic, running after him and gaining the Slitherbeast's attention again.
The beast charged toward the two when Eda stood in their way, only to get snatched up in its claw. With this happening, the twins ran up from behind.
"Aw, he's so cute. Can we keep him?" Emira said.
"We could try." Edric rationalizes.
Both twins cast a lasso that wraps around the Slitherbeast's hands. It growls and pulls at the bonds, its strength too great for them to keep hold for very long.
"Alright Mittens, now finish it off!" Emira said.
"Yeah, there might be one teensy little problem there you two," Eda said from the beast's grip.
Edric grunted from a particularly strong, movement from the beast. "Oh yeah? And what's that?!"
"Turn around," Eda said flatly.
The two glanced behind them to where Amity was…only to footprints leading to her and Luz going past the trees and disappearing from sight.
"…Aw crap." The twins said in sync.
Slitherbeast growls and with a mighty tug, frees its hands with a yell, causing the twins to get yanked into the snow. The beast picked them both up and puts them in the same claw Eda was held in and runs off.
"Well, at least it's not Luz's fault this time." Eda thought out loud.
Amity and Luz went into the forest and looked for Flint.
"Flint!" Amity called out.
"Where are you?!" Luz yelled frantically.
"Up here." They heard Flint say from above them, his voice oddly higher pitched than usual. The two looked up and found him stuck in his tree, having landed halfway up, and…both girls inhaled sharply.
Ooh…that's gonna hurt in the morning. They didn't need to have the same…equipment to know that.
"You uh-" Amity coughed awkwardly. "You doing alright up there?" Amity asked.
"What do you think?" Flint asked sarcastically, still high-pitched, and very much in pain.
Amity quickly summoned an abomination and had it help the boy down safely to the ground.
"Of all the times to not be affected by the cold too," Luz remarked.
"Yeah…how 'bout that," Flint said.
'Oh Titan do I wish I had Emira teach me a healing spell so I can-' Amity suddenly slapped herself hard in the face. 'Down girl! What is with you today!?'
Luz and Flint looked over at Amity strangely.
"Are you okay?" Luz asked.
"I'm fine! But I don't think the others are. Pretty sure the Slitherbeast has already captured them while we came to check on you." Amity said quickly, changing gears.
"I can only guess the Slitherbeast took them to its home, most likely a cave, so it can pull a wampa on them. We should be able to follow its tracks in the snow though." Flint said, getting back to his feet and reaching into one of his pockets. "But to do that, we need all hands on deck," Flint said, pulling something out of his pocket.
Luz looked at him confused, seeing him pull out a glove. "What's that?" Is this what he and Eda had been working on?
"I was hoping for a more dramatic reveal, but I guess it'll be a field test instead. Here Luz, take this." Flint said, handing her the glove.
Getting a closer look, Luz saw that it was a black glove with gold trim, missing the fingertips all the way to the PIP joint and the thumb being completely exposed.
"Um, Flint. I don't know how things go in the Human Realm, but how is a glove supposed to help us right now?" Amity asked with an exasperated tone.
Flint gave the witch an annoyed look. "Just trust me, okay?" Flint said before turning to Luz. "Here. Put this on and I'll give you a brief rundown."
Luz took the glove and stared at it confused. "O...kay," Luz said with a confused tone as she put the glove onto her hand. "Alright, what now?"
"Okay, I want you to think of the ice glyph. Imagine it appearing on your hand." Flint directed.
Luz raised a brow before looking down in thought at the gloved hand. She did as she was told and suddenly a cyan light in the form of the ice glyph took shape on the palm of her hand.
Both girls looked at the glove in awe and surprise.
"Wha?" Luz asked in confusion, losing focus as the glyph's light faded.
"Okay, now just do it again. This time, press your hand against the ground." Flint instructed with a growing smile.
Luz focused again and the ice glyph reappeared once more. She then did as told and pressed her hand against the ground. "Okay, now what?" Luz asked.
Flint had a really excited look on his face. "Take your hand off the ground now. Think like you're using an ice glyph while you do so."
Luz's brows furrowed as she did as he instructed. When she took her hand off the ground, a small 3-inch wide pillar of ice shot up a foot from the ground. Seeing the ice startled both girls and they both jumped in place a bit.
"What the heck?!" Amity cried out.
Luz's curiosity peaked as she went to repeat the process once again. She placed her gloved hand on the ground again and brought it up again and, wouldn't you know it, the same result with another pillar of ice forming where her hand just was. Seeing this happen again, she gasped with stars in her eyes. She turned to look at Flint excitedly. "Don't tell me…"
Flint's grin grew wide. "Awesome! Try doing the same with the light glyph now, but place it on a sheet of paper." Flint suggested.
Luz scrambled to pull out her notepad and did so. This time she focused on making a light glyph, to which the symbol appeared on the glove just where the ice glyph had been moments ago. She ripped a page from the notebook, clapping the stray piece of paper between her hands. When she pulled her hands apart, the paper became an orb of light as it floated into the sky. Both girls were mesmerized by the orb as it flew up.
"Whoa..." Amity said in awe.
Luz was speechless at this. This was aweso- wait a minute.
Luz squinted as she looked at the sky. The light spell had flown up and fallen in line with an odd constellation. The strange thing about it though, was that the constellation matched the light glyph.
"Flint! Look in the sky! Are you seeing what I'm seeing?" Luz exclaimed.
It was now Flint's turn to be confused. He turned to look into the sky. He saw the constellation of a light glyph, but how was that impor- HOLD UP!
"Is that the light glyph?!" Flint exclaimed.
"So you see it too?" Luz said in surprise. A snowflake then landed on her nose and she managed to see a glyph-like symbol within the center. She held out her hand and another flake landed in it. Looking at it she could clearly see the ice glyph sitting within it as well. "And the snowflakes have the ice glyph on them."
"Um, hate to break up this moment of discovery, but maybe we should go help my siblings and the Owl Lady before they get eaten," Amity suggested frantically, getting them back on track.
"Right! Sorry!" Flint apologized. "We'll deal with the natural glyphs later. To explain the glove, it's something I've been working on in secret with Eda. I took one of those branding gloves they use to place coven sigils and I was able to make that glove. We have the materials for more, courtesy of Trixx, but that one was meant to be a test given we needed to see if it would react to your thoughts. We used some hair from your hairbrush to infuse it with your DNA. It recognizes you as the only person who can use it since you don't have your own magic to change the glyph on your own. I would've tested it myself, but couldn't due to the DNA binding and the need to ensure someone without their own magic could use it. With that glove, all you need do is focus on the glyph you want and the spell you want to cast, and voila! Instant glyph spell! You should even be able to do it on the back of your hand if you want to give someone one hell of a backhand. And you should be able to use it to help prepare some on a few sheets of paper without needing to draw them every time." Flint elaborated.
"This is incredible! Thank you! Thank you! Thank you!" Luz thanked him with a tackle hug.
Flint chuckled with a bit of blush on his face before turning serious. "You can thank us later. I think it's time we put the Glyph Grafter to some good use, what do you two say?" Flint said, adopting a confident smile on his face.
Both girls looked at each other with a resounding nod, before turning back to him with their own grins matching his.
"Let's do this!" All three said in unison.
Inside a cave, the Slitherbeast spat purple goop at the wall. It shoves Eda, Emira, and Edric against it, with the goop closing around their torsos while the Slitherbeast hops away.
"Don't worry. We'll be fine!" Emira said nervously.
Suddenly, the three watched as skeletons covered in the same goop dropped from the ceiling to the ground in front of them.
"No, we're gonna die," Edric said, accepting his fate.
Eda looked over at the two with a flat expression. "Wow, you two are such rays of hope. Relax. If I know anything about Flint and Luz, it's that they won't just leave us here." Eda reassured, before looking thoughtful. "I mean…I think. Sometimes I'm not too sure about Flint. But if Luz comes to help, he'll follow."
"Sounds like she's got him wrapped around her finger," Emira said with a smile.
Eda snorted. "You don't know the half of it, and I'm pretty sure they don't realize at all just how much they're wrapped around each other's finger." It was honestly somewhat entertaining for Eda. If it weren't for their combined nerdage and Luz being Luz, she wouldn't really bother actually being a bit invested in it.
"So, is there anything we should look out for or something? Because this goop is seeping into very uncomfortable places right now," Edric asked, squirming a bit.
Eda thought for a moment. "Well, from what I've learned about Flint at least, he has three main game plans he goes by."
Before Eda could continue, the Slitherbeast returns, and sprinkles assorted seasonings on Edric, Emira, and Eda's heads. It also causes Eda to sneeze.
"Ugh, I hate garlic." Eda dreaded before snapping back to what she was saying before. "You never know sometimes with Flint and his plans. It's either stealth, magic-blazing, or-"
"Hey ugly!"
They all looked toward the source to see Flint standing by the entryway of the cave, a confident grin on his face.
"You know, I was honestly just trying to get your attention originally, but you are one ugly mo-fo." Flint taunted, summoning a ball of fire and tossing it in the air a few times. "Also a little lopsided. Want me to make the sides match?"
Not appearing to understand the boy any further than knowing he was talking about its recent injury, the Slitherbeast roared in anger as it charged toward him. The boy simply cackled [think Robin's cackle from Young Justice] before running out of the cave with the beast on his non-existent tail.
The three watched this all go down, with the twins looking at Eda expectantly.
"And…what does that count as?" Emira asked.
"There's a lot of different versions, but he just calls it the 'Distraction Card' for short." Luz's voice rang out.
The three look down to see Luz and Amity climbing up to them.
"Luz/Amity!" Eda and the twins said respectively.
Amity got to the top first before giving Luz a hand up.
"Hey, use that fire spell from earlier!" Emira told her.
Eda notices Luz's hand and grins at seeing the different glove. "So, he finally gave it to you huh? It's about damn time." Eda said, glad that Flint's invention was finally revealed to all.
Amity and Luz shared a nod before turning back to the three. Amity held her hand forward and traced a spell circle in the air. As Amity did this, Luz held her hand with the palm facing up, the fire glyph glowing to life in her palm. When both were done, a ball of fire, Amity's pink and Luz's looking like a normal flame, hovered above their hands.
Eda laughed with glee. "Sweet! Glad to see it works!"
The two proceed to melt the three of them free, as they hear roars coming from outside the cave.
"Flint!" Amity and Luz exclaimed in worry as the five of them headed to the entrance quickly.
Meanwhile with Flint
Flint ran through the cave, dodging the Slitherbeast's swipes at him at every opportunity until they reached the exit of the cave. Flint continued running until he reached a tree beyond the small clearing outside the cave. The Slitherbeast followed him, roaring as it prepared to finally slay the pest that dared disturb it.
Flint just smiled. "Ha! You triggered our trap card!" Flint declared, stomping the ground in front of him over an indent in the snow, revealing itself to be connected to a giant ice glyph.
The glyph activated as a giant pillar of ice erupted from the glyph, launching the Slitherbeast into the air and causing it to land hard on its back only a few feet in front of the cave.
At the same time the five get to the entrance, the Slitherbeast lands right in front of them, startling the group as it righted itself. Seeming to sense the five behind it, the Slitherbeast turns to the five and screeches the group, raising its arm for an attack.
Eda stepped in front of them. "Stand back! I've…got this?"
The other four, who had closed their eyes in fear of the incoming attack, opened them to see Eda looking at the beast in confusion as its arm shook violently.
The group wonders what could have stopped the Slitherbeast mid-swing, the group looked behind to see if it was Flint's doing. Oh, it was him alright, but not in the way they were expecting.
The pillar of ice was torn apart as Flint stood with the former pillar to his back. There was a look in his eyes, one that most of them had seen at least once before, directed solely on the Slitherbeast, a malicious glare complete with scarlet pupils upon the beast. This was the look of someone at the top of the food chain, daring the creature beneath it to even consider what it was trying to do.
A few moments later, the Slitherbeast retracted its arm, and jumped over the group, whimpering in fear as it retreated further into its home.
Flint's glare stayed in their direction until he blinked, the piercing scarlet the pupils had become having reverted to normal, and a happy smile on his face.
"Great idea with the giant glyph Luz!" Flint commended, as if he hadn't just intimidated an apex predator into running away scared.
The five just stood there for a moment in stunned silence, none of them saying a word.
"Okay…that was kinda hot." Emira broke the silence.
Luz and Amity couldn't help but internally agree with the older teen.
Since none of them had eaten, they all sat around a fire to eat.
"Nice job kids. And great to see the glove works too." Eda compliments.
"This is awesome!" Luz exclaims happily, slapping the ground again to create a small pillar of ice.
Flint chuckled. "I'm glad you like it so much. We'll be sure to make you another so you can have a matching set, maybe see if there's any other gear we can make. Only other thing I can think of is shoes, but I'm not sure how that would even work." Flint said, scratching his head a bit.
"That was pretty cool! How'd you do it?" Emira asked.
Flint pointed at himself with his thumb. "I stole a branding glove and Eda helped me reverse engineer it. Now instead of making sigils and limiting people's use of magic, it makes magic itself."
Edric chuckled. "Man. You and Dad would totally get along."
Emira rolled her eyes. "If she would ever allow him a day off that is."
Both of the older Blight girl's siblings cringed at that.
Eda scoffed. "Yeah, I'll be honest, never really liked her back in my Hexside days either."
"Well, maybe I can meet him someday. If you think we'd get along I'd love to meet him." Flint responded.
A thought occurred to Luz. "Hey, so is this glove the reason you wouldn't let me look in your sketchbook for a while?"
Flint nodded. "Yep. All because I wanted it to be a surprise for you."
"Then does that mean-"
"Yes, you can look in it again." Flint interrupted her before she could finish her question, holding out the sketchbook, which the girl immediately swiped out of his hand so she could see any drawings he'd been working on. She couldn't help it, she loved his art!
Amity moved over to look over Luz's shoulder and see some of the drawings herself, curious about his skills. She got to see a few of his drawings of the Isles, becoming impressed with the detail she could see as Luz flipped through the book. Luz ended up coming across the page with the gloves, titled 'Glyph Grafter' at the top, with all the different notes and ideas he'd gone through while making it.
Luz flipped to the next page to see a drawing of her looking at someone with a smile as a light spell floated in her hands.
Luz blushed a bit at seeing the immense detail of the drawing as Amity became intrigued.
"Wow, this is all really good." Amity praised.
Flint waved her off. "I only really started because I wanted to show what the places in my dreams looked like, but you know what they say, 'practice makes perfect'," Flint said.
Amity watched as Luz finally seemed to snap out of whatever daze she was in and flipped to the next page. The page has a drawing of Amity with her cheeks puffed up in anger and an angry blush on her face. This one also seemed to have a great bit of detail put into it.
Amity could feel her own face light up akin to the drawing.
Emira and Edric managed to move behind the two to see what their sister was blushing about, only to grin at the drawing.
"Wow, he captured you pretty well Mittens," Edric teased.
Emira nodded. "I might just ask for a copy, or maybe offer myself as a muse," Emira added, sending the boy a look that Amity didn't like.
Flint shrugged. "I mostly just draw what comes to mind really. The more it's on my mind, the more detail it tends to get." Flint said clueless to the nature of both Emira's offer and his own words.
Both Luz and Amity immediately donned nuclear blushes as they understood the secondary nature of Flint's words, even if he didn't realize it, and the two sputter.
Eda just watched on, trying her best not to erupt into laughter and interrupt the show in front of her. 'Oh-ho ho! Now this makes things interesting,' Eda thought with an entertained smile. She still wasn't big on dealing with anything with a sappy or over-the-top love story like this, but she thought she could make an exception if it involved these two humans. She can only imagine how things will turn out.
週次パワーステータス
-- 推薦
ランキング 
-- 推薦
チケット