Luz Vs Owl Beast
Luz felt her heart break as she saw what had become of the Owl Beast in her brief time away from the Isles. Watching as the patchwork creature leapt and bounded through the square to terrorize the puppetified versions of the townspeople. Importantly, Luz felt a spike of rage grow within as she saw what a mockery of the real deal, this version of Eda was.
Not even taking the time to process what was coming over her, Luz gritted her teeth and retrieved an ice glyph. With nothing more than a peck on Amity’s cheek, Luz jumped into the fray, activating the glyph card and sliding it frame perfectly underneath the Owl Beast.
The card activated and generated a spire of ice, launching the unexpecting demon into the air. Not wasting a second, Luz slammed another ice glyph below her and launched up after it, meeting the beast at the top of its ascension arc, just as it began to fall back down towards the ground.
Swiftly, Luz grabbed two light glyphs and activated them in tandem, making a pulse of light directly in the Owl Beast’s eyes. The Owl Beast screeched in pain, clawing at its covered eyes as it fell down to the ground.
Wait, what? That should have worked. If this were the Owl Beast she knew and tolerated the existence of because it was Eda’s brain roomie, the flash bang combo should have forced a reversion back into Eda’s witch form. However, As Luz was caught by Amity’s clutch placement of Abomination goo, she saw that the beast was dazed but not shifting form.
Maybe it had something to do with The Collector’s spell.
Luz looked at the still fleeing puppets. A key aspect of their design was the moon seal on their foreheads, probably some kind of magical brand. Considering that the Coven Brands were an extension of the Collector’s abilities it made sense that he could make one for anything. Yet looking at the patchwork Owl Beast, Luz noticed that there was no such seal.
As her friends and mom moved in, Luz gestured for them to stay back. She reached into her back and grabbed another ice glyph, willing this one to create a sharpened icicle.
Then she stalked forward as the Owl Beast struggled with itself, pawing at its own head in a very disoriented manner. In fact, it didn’t look like a real creature, even a reconfigured one. It looked like a mascot performer trying to get the head off their costume without help.
Once face to face with the beast, Luz decided to test her theory and stabbed the icicle into the beast. And with the sound of the ripping of fabric, the whole charade ended as it revealed Terra Snapdragon inside of an Owl Beast shaped suit wearing an Eda cosplay.
“Terra?” Luz asked incredulously, stepping back worriedly.
“You!” Terra groaned, glare settling on Luz. “Of course you choose now to show up and mess this up.”
Luz scoffed. “Excuse me. Maybe I just didn’t realize you couldn’t go five second without sassing someone, but you’ve got some splanin to do!”
“Yeah!” Willow chimed in. “Why are you wearing one of Eda’s dresses?”
“And why were you inside of that weirdly accurate Owl Beast costume?” Gus tacked on.
Terra rolled her eyes, stepping out of the torn costume and into the light. “I’m doing what I have to do to survive in the new world you left us with after the Day of Unity. Everything I need to do to keep my mind my own.” The older woman jabbed a finger at the puppets. “Playing pretend is better than being played pretend with.”
What? Is that what The Collector is doing? Luz pondered how much she genuinely knew about the pint sized god. All of Philip’s notes made them sound like some kind of omnipotent being, a deity that was wise and all knowing. Yet what Terra was describing as a game of pretend fit more with the little bit of the entity that Luz did get to see. A child just wanting to goof off and have fun in a fantasy world.
Sound familiar?
Suddenly there was a burst of light, one that sent a wave of fear passing over Terra’s expression.
“Terra, what’s wrong?” Luz asked.
“He’s here.” The old witch answered, horrified. “The Collector is here.”
Without a second thought, Luz reached out and grabbed ahold of Flapjack instinctively, somehow knowing he was in staff form right next to her. In one movement, she dashed and grabbed everyone. She pulled them all into the alleyway, only to realize she hadn’t grabbed Terra. Luz almost went back for her, until she heard the voice.
“Fear not citizens of Bonesborough!” The voice of a shrill child came from the pillar of light, now revealed as the star that the group had been following. “For I am here to put an end to this beast’s mad rampage!”
However, The Collector’s child like excitement died out the moment he saw the torn Owl Beast costume and Terra standing awkwardly next to it.
“Hold on, time out everyone!” He yelled, causing all of the puppets on the street to slump into an inert form. Like a petulant child, the Collector stomped over to Terra. “Terra, what happened to your costume?”
Terra glared at the child flatly. “It ripped.”
“Well duh! I’m not stupid.” The Collector childishly moaned. “But how could you let it rip?” Their expression dropped downward. “I put a lot of effort into that for you.”
“You’re a real thorn in my side, you know that?” Terra groaned “I’ve just about had it with you and your stupid little dog.”
The Collector glanced to King, seeming to take offense on his behalf, before turning back to Terra with a glare.
“Whatever,” Terra continued, “All I have to do is play Eda the Owl Lady and I don’t get turned into one of those things… right?” She gestured to the puppets. “So let’s just get on with it.”
That was apparently the wrong thing to say, as Luz watched the Collector’s expression morph from offense to anger. “You’re not being very nice right now.” They raised their hand, clutching a crescent moon brand.
Luz looked away as the little god flicked the brand at the old witch. She even managed to wince at the scream of terror she heard.
_
A rustling noise jolted Philip back to awareness. He blinked the sleep away, feeling the ache in his back from resting on the somewhat comfortable yet still very much rocky surface of the cave workshop.
Here he was, in his prime, in the cave with the Grimwalkers growing in the back. If it weren’t for the damn staff that STILL WASN’T FINISHED CHARGING he would have almost believed that he was back in the old days. That the last couple centuries had been some bizarre nightmare, that there was still some time to track down the portal and just leave this accursed place before he lost himself.
Wouldn’t that have been a wonder? To go back before there were curses and possession, back when he felt like he wasn’t slowly becoming what he wanted to destroy, a blemish on the world. Alas that wasn’t what he could have, Philip wasn’t that reckless to change the past, and he certainly knew that he’d really lived everything. His sins were his own.
The rustling came again from the other room, followed by the sound of shuffling. That was mildly concerning. The staff beeped, two bars left before a full charge. As whatever was making that noise continued to amble around in some unseen part of the cave, Philip decided that was enough and disconnected the staff, holding it defensively as he moved to exit the room.
He considered going straight to the entrance and simply leaving the cave behind, however as he entered the next room, Philip caught sight of something. The Grimwalker plot that held the remaining attempt, the one that failed to properly emerge, was now empty.
The shuffling was now behind him, as was another noise. It was ragged, pained breathing. Philip held his staff tighter, wondering if his mind was playing tricks on him or if the Grimwalker really had managed to emerge after all this time. As he did, the red light of the staff cast a glow onto the walls around him, where Philip saw a very familiar shadow.
Philip whirled around, catching nothing more than a slight glimpse of the Grimwalker before it skittered back into the shadow. Only the silhouette was visible to him, yet it was enough. He could see his brother’s trademark hair style peaking through alongside his strong jawline.
“P—p—p.” It tried to speak, getting caught up on the Ph sound. “Ph—i—lip?”
A twinge of sorrow tugged at the inside of Philip. He’d encountered Grimwalkers like this before. Ones that suffered from delusions that they were Caleb. He’d had to talk them down in the past, it never got easier.
“Yes Caleb. It’s me.” Philip greeted.
“I—i—i—t hurts.” The Grimwalker said slowly, trying its best to get the phonetic sounds out. “Whe—here are we?”
“A bad place,” Philip said to the Grimwalker with a sigh, “One I wish neither of us ever came to.”
“Why am I here?” It asked.
“Because I missed you.” Philip answered, “because despite everything you’re still my family, and I wanted you to be with me as we finished our work.”
There was silence for a long period of time before the Grimwalker said. “You killed me.”
“A long time ago.” Philip nodded “It’s something that still haunts me.”
The Grimwalker stepped out into the light, revealing a ghastly sight. The perfect recreation of Caleb was pale, rotting, and looked increasingly malnourished. He was little more than skin and bone. Every step he took looked like torture.
“Just let me go.” It said, voice pained as tears sprung from decaying eyes. “P-please just let me go. I— I don’t want this. I don’t like this.”
The Grimwalker lunged forward and grabbed ahold of Philip’s shoulders, red eyes filled with utter agony as it pled. “I just want to die. L-let me die. Philip please!” As the Grimwalker screamed the flesh began to melt off of its body, arms being reduced to little more than bone and goo.
Philip took a deep breath, looking into the eyes once more. “All I ever wanted was for us to be a family again, but the universe is imperative in showing me that’s impossible.” Resigning himself, Philip closed his eyes and snapped the Grimwalker’s neck, putting Caleb out of his misery again.
As the body of the Grimwalker tumbled to the ground and disintegrated, Philip turned to the piles of bones, seeing the visages of Caleb and all of the Golden Guards staring at him.
“Shut up.” He sneered. Philip really couldn’t deal with this right now.