บท 22: Meet the Child of Light
When Luz Noceda awoke this morning, she'd have never dreamed gthat….Okay, she would've had dreamt, but she didn't think this would actually happen:
Here she was, in another world filled with living statues, monsters and fairies! But not the cute, wish granting kind; these ones were most like Mosquitoes dialed up to 11!
"Gimme your skin!"
A phrase Luz would hear in her nightmares for weeks.
If she had to make a comparison, where she was? It was akin to 'Pan's Laybrith' or 'The Dark Crystal' instead of the usual fantasy setting she was used to
All she'd wanted was to save her 'Azura' book! It was the last thing she had of her dad! Why the heck had she considered throwing it away in the first place?!
And then, to top it all off! That crazy 'Bridget' lady she'd seen on more 'Banned' posters than….well, anyone really?] She was a witch! A real, living, breathing witch!
A wit6ch criminal, to top it off!
Luz would've loved to fully enjoy the experience…but as it turns out, flying is way scarier than the Azura movies made it oput to be! That and some of the inhabitants of where she was were CREEPY!
OWLPHIBIA
"YOU WON'T GET AWAY WITH THIS, OWL LADY!" The guard who'd tried to arrest Eda and Luz shouted, only to realize no one was listening. "Yeah, all right. You did. You got away with it. She got away with it, everybody! Typical."
A raven then flew bneside him and someone on the other side asked:
"You lost her, didn't you?"
"….Yeah."
BANG!
CRASH!
"WELL THEN GET ON LOOKING FOR HER!"
"But no one in the Emperor's Coven can go near the Owl house!"
"That sounds like a you problem! We're stuck trying to keep prisoners from escaping during all this…OH DEAR TITAN!"
BLAZE!
SMASH!
"WRATH! PREPARE TO DIE!" Raine Whispers roared, yes ROARED, as they unleashed another streak of magic from their fiddle.
"YOU KNOW YOU'LL HAVE TO DO BETTER THAN THAT!" the Conformitorium warden snapped back as he dodged and swung a fist Raine dodged.
A half hour ago, Raine had come to pay KItya's bail, when they'd noted Wrath was in a chipper mood. The Warden then revealed that he had a date with Eda in a few hours…
And well….
Raine did not like to hear that. To be fair, they'd held their tongue until Wrath mentioned how he was going to 'teach (Olivier) a few lessons.'
And thus, a third of the Confromitorium was in flames, one tower mnow rubble and all around? Chaos! That was being streamed and viewed and cheered and jeered at….
"AND NOW WE GOT ONE OF THE DETENTION TRACK KIDS TAKING BETS!" The guard at the scene whined in pain.
"I got 50 on Wrath, make that 70!" Karma beamed. "Do I hear an 80? Wait, what is this, 100 on Raine? Come on, up the ante folks! ALRIGHTY! That's 200 for Raine! Anybody el..."
"Hit me!" Osran suddenly added in his own few snails.
"I as well!" Darrius followed. "Whomever and whatever he doesn't choose!"
"Oh, and I see the Coven hands are joining in! Hit me ladies, gents and non-binaries!" Karma beamed.
The guard who had been chasing Eda pouted
"…I wanna watch the fight.."
"Too bad, you drew the short straw… OOOF!"
The guard was knocked out and into a wall by Wrath, who then took over.
"YOU BETTER PRAY SHE SHOWS UP TO STOP THIS, OR YOU'RE BABYSITTING BRAKCUS FOR A WEEK! AND! HE'LL BE ALLOWED TO BE NAUGHTY!" Wrath snapped at the guard, who whimpered.
OWLPHIBIA
"You can open your eyes now, human." Eda smiled gently.
Luz did so, yells and nearly fell off the staff when she saw the ground below them. VERY below them.
"Flying staffs, crazy monsters, you're a witch! What is this place?" Luz managed, torn between her fear and amazement, although the former was dying with each passing moment.
"This is the Boiling Isles." Eda explained. "Every myth you humans have is caused by a little of our world leaking into yours."
[Various winged creatures flew around them, including a griffin extremely similar to the one Luz made at school…which even barfed out spiders.
"I knew it!" Luz beamed.
"Yep. Griffins, vampires, giraffes..."
"Giraffes?"
"Oh, yeah. We banished those guys. Bunch of freaks."
She shivered, recalling…the zoo incident as she leapt off her staff…minus a hand.
Luz screamed.
"Oops!" Eda smirked as she screwed Screws her hand back on. "That happens sometimes."
"Well, I've had enough adventure for today." Luz realized. "This is clearly not the PG fantasy world I always dreamed about. So, can you help me get back home?"
Eda leveled her staff in front of the girl, startling her.
"Only if you help me first." The witch glared before re4alziing she was home.
" Wait, aren't you worried about those guards finding us?" Luz asked.
"Nope!" Eda popped. "A certain genius put a spell on the forest, so no one from the guards or a certain other group I will not mention can come near without being pounced by beasts and plants. And even if they did, my house has a state-of-the-art defense system."
"Hoot-hoot! Password, please!" Hooty announced, only for Eda to pokesboth of his eyes. " OW!"
"We got no time for this, Hooty. Let us in."
"All right, all right! Geez! You never want to have any fun!" Hooty snapped. "….Ow!...Hoot!"
some kind begins to glow with a great screeching noise. Luz looks at all of this in awe.]
"Welcome to the Owl House..where I hide away from the pressures of modern life." Eda smiled. "Also the cops. Mm, also ex-boyfriends."
Luz This place is beautiful!" Luz gasped, in awe of the artwork, the lights…everything. "Do you live here all alone?"
Thudding footsteps suddenly shook the house.
"Actually, I have housemates…" Eda groaned.. "…and the more irksome one just heard you."
"WHO DARES INTRUDE UPON I?!" King roared before his voiuce returned to normal…revealimng Eda's arrival had interrupted his weekly bath. "…the king of demons?!"
Luz gasped at the sight in front of her.
"Ay, que lindo!" she beamed as she scooped King up in a hug. "Eda, he's so cute! Who's a widdle guy? Who's a widdle guy? Is it you? Is it you?"
She then hu8gged him even more and nuzzled her cheek against his skull.
"No! King screamed in panic as he tried to escape to no cial. "I don't know who your little guy is! Eda, who is this monster?!"
"Oh, this is Luz, the human." Eda smiled as she pulled the girl away from King, smirking at how she tried to hold him again.
"Wait…another one?!" King asked in shock.
"Yeah, and…it MIGHT'VE been my fault?" Eda suddenly blushed in embarrassment. "I….didn't close the door right after Owlbert returned."
King sighed and shook his head.
"So, why's she here?"
"Well I was about to burn a book she cares about and then I realized; wait a tic! We have a taste tester!"
"Oh. Hooray!" King beamed.
"Wait, taste tester?" Luz asked.
"You see, human," Eda explained as she went to a tarp. "I am a legendary criminal indeed! But bow, I must settle down and thus, I;m bringing a human world treasure to the boiling isles…"
Eda then tore the tarp away, revealing a model of building decvorated with an owl monster holding a slice of..
"Pizza?" Luz asked.
"Yup!" Eda beamed. "Except for Hawaiian. Whoever came up woithy it deserves death!"
"Oh um…Actually? …I'm lactose intolerant." Luz admitted. "I can't eat or drink anything with dairy in it."
This took Eda and King for a loop.
"Aw, poop. Well, gimme a few hours and I'll take you back." Eda promised. "Did you clean up after yourself, King?"
"Why should it matter?" King asked.
"Prinicpal and basic ettiquetee." Eda then sighed. "…Man, I wish Anne and Ollie where here."
No sooner had those words lefty bher mouth, and before Luz could ask how Eda knew those names..
"OOF"
"OW!"
Three more suiddenly appeared in the room
"LUZ?!"
"OLIVIER?! ANNE?!" Luz gasped before she spied… "And some…kind of…frog…girl?"
"Oh yeah, you only saw me under a glamor!" Maddie smirked, then dropped a potion on herself and becoming a famialr face. "Member me now?"
"Maddie?!" Luz gasped.
"Oh, you know her already?" Eda asked,
"Yeah, in the Human realm, while you were getting ready…remember how you came back to Fleetwing with a wing in a brace" Olivier started, then began to feel embarrassed. "Her mom patched him up."
"Oh that's nice…Wait a second!" Eda finally realized her son and his girlfriend where back. "WHAT THE TITAN'S NAME ARE YOU DOING HERE?!" Eda roared. "I TOLD OUM I'D COME GET YOU IN A WEEK! ANNE….!"
"It was my fault, Eda!" Maddie cut in. "I saw Ollie's teleportation glyph and was tryimng to see if I could make an Amphibia version…"
"…Teleportation glyph?" Eda asked, turning to her son. "….You made a teleportation glyph?"
"I burrowed some Anne's manga…" Olivier admitted before Eda let out a whoop and hugged her son., peppering his face with kisses.
"Mama's little genius strikes again! Still mad at you for worrying the Boonchuy and Plantars, but so proud!"
"Wait…" Luz asked, making a realization of her own. "if he's your son…and you're a witch…?
An elated, almost squealing grin overtook the Domincan girl's face.
"Oh my gosh, I talked to an actual warlock and didn't even know!"
Eda, King and Olivier grimaced.
"Ooooh. Um…Luz? You…you probably didn't know, but…" Olivier struggled to find the right words. "Well, ANOTHER male witch can call a male witch a warlock, but when someone else says it…?"
Luz gasped as did Anne, who'd had no idea the Boiling Isles had it own version of….that kind of langage…
"Oh my god, I am so sorry!" Luz profusely apologized
"No, no! It's cool! You didn't know!" Oliver assured her. "And for the record? I'm only a half-breed, not sure it quali….Ouch!"
Maddie qand Anne had BOTH lightly slapped him, beatimng Eda to it.
"Stop that."
"yes ma'm."
"I'm guessing that you're NOT the type with all the cool and none of the drawbacks type of half-breed?" Luz noted.
"…There are kinds?" Maddie asked.
"Oh yeah, I've seen in anime and manga all the time!" Anne shrugged. "...Why I never realized that with Ollie until now I do not know…"
Her phone suddenly buzzed and the Thai girl answered it.
"Hey guys…" She sheepishly managed.
"WHERE THE HECK DID YOU GO?!" Bee, Oum and the Plantars all shouted together.
"Okay, long story short: Ollie made a shortcut from the Owl House to our house, and we might've accidentally summoned ourselves back." Anne hurriedly explained, trying to keep everyone calm.
"Well then, come back at once!" Oum ordered, although not as forceful as she normally would; this time she was clearly worried for her daughter.
"Can you?" Luz asked. "I mean, usually time and space spells need a recharge….or a shortcut the other way around….Sorry, I'm rambling!"
Oliver smiled; he already liked Luz, but her thinking logically about magic? Well, it was a refreshing change of pace from all the explaoining he usually did (mnot that he minded!)
"…Whose that?" Polly asked. "She sounds familiar…"
"Hola, Polly!" Luz waved.
"Oh, Luz! From the vet!" Sprig noted. "yeah, sorry for the scare…"
"You kidding? " luz assured them. "This may be the best day of my life! Magic is real, toad people, I have a magic friend…!"
"…How did she get to the Isles that Boil?" Oum asked.
"Boiling Isles, dear." Bee corrected his wife.
"That….MIGHT'VE been my fault?" Eda confessed. "I….didn't close the door right after Owlbert returned."
"Typical." Oum sighed. "Juuust typical."
"Now honey…." Bee started
"Again with this Oum?!" Eda whined. "I thought we'd bonded over our future grandbabies and my upcoming business!"
"….Future grand what-now?" Anne asked, looking at her boyfriend.
Smiling warmly, Ollie drew and Oracle circle and willed it toward's Anne's head, missing Luz's shocked look of awe. The Thai girl was then greeted to the same sight he'd seen when his mother showed him:
An adorable little girl with blue eyes and a cute little baby boy in goggles with a teddy frog, both reaching for her with loving smiles.
"….I love them." Anne whispered, tears in her eyes as she then raced to hug Olivier, who repeated his act to King and Luz.
"Awwww!" Luz cooed as they saw the children.
"…I'd bury myself for them." King vowed.
Meanwhile, Eda had ended the call and massaged her temple, being in no mood to deal with this.
"Look. I have to get ready for something I do not want to do. Anne, Ollie? Can you look after Luz until I get back from…"
She gagged on bile.
"….My date with Wrath?"
…
….
….
"…Mom. Why?" Olivier asked. "Why are you willingly going out with that demon after all the creepy things he;s done?"
Eda became embarrassed yet again.
"I made a bet with your aunt that if he managed to find the goat demon who sent you to Amphibia, I'd let him take him out on a date. And for once? He…was competent."
Now normally, all three teens would've jumped onto that: Luz due to her love of backstories and Oliver and Anne so that they could plot a mix of brutal revenge and possibly a gift basket.
But these were not normal circumstances.
Oliver gagged and covered his mouth before racing to the bathroom. The sounds of the half-witch 'tossing his cookies' could be heard from the main room.
"OLLIE!" Anne worriedly called out, being held back by Eda and Maddie.
"I'm okay…!" Olivier managed. "I'm…I'm o…!"
He threw up again.
"Nope! Nope! Not okay! Sick as leprechaun with leprosy! Oh Titan, think that made it wor…!"
He threw up again.
"Yup! Yup! Made it worse!"
"I can whip up a potion!" Maddie suggested, getting a nod from Eda and Anne as she headed to the kitchen. "Also, save some of your barf! I wanna see if I can make a curse out of it!"
Olivier just groaned before he threw up again.
"…Is this Wrath dude that bad?" Anne asked Eda.
"I believe the best phrases to describe him would be….'Amazon chasing Simp' and 'hypocrite when it suits him.'" Eda explained.
"Not going to lie, when you said 'for once he was competent', I kind of got that impression." Luz admitted. "…Is he at least…attractive?"
"Bod-wise?" Eda asked. "6/10 before the tentacles. Face-wise?"
She spun a magic circle and created a copy of Wrath's face; crocodile like, sharp teeth, no nose… and two tiny dots that might've been eyes or…something else.
"AH!" Anne screamed as she leapt onto Luz, not unlike a certain cartoon dog would their cowardly best friend. "KILL IT! KILL IT WITH FIRE!"
"He breathes that, so I doubt that'd do much." Eda smirked.
"…I'd give him a….4.5/10." Luz said. "Standard 'intro arc' villain at most."
"Perfect description kid." Eda smirked, her liking on his other human growing.
"…Oh please. She's dated worse." King waved it off, whipping out a small black book. "The Lord of Silver, that Kraken warlord, those siren…"
"WHERE THE HUNTSMAN DID YOU GET THAT?!" Eda snapped in a scandalous tone, racing after the little monster. "GIVE THAT BACK, YOU LITTLE WHATEVER YOU ARE!"
"Got the potion!" Maddie said, leaping up to the bathroom as Anne got out of Luz's arms to go and comfort Olivier, shooting the Domincan girl a promise of being right back.
Suffice to say, this wasn't quite what Luz expected from her first few days in a magical world…But she liked this all the same.
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