Summary: Are illusions useful?
"This is it, Lucci! The next big step of my protagonist's journey has begun!" Luz skipped through town. "And it starts at one of the most magical places in the universe!"
"The same place that almost killed you with books and you met the two most annoying Blights on the planet?" Lucci rhetorically responded. "The same place that revoked mom's library card for all the late fees and book damages?"
"That's why it pays to have friends, specifically smart friends that have valid library cards!" Luz wouldn't let reality dampen her mood today.
"So this is also an excuse to see Amity, isn't it?" Lucci smirked.
"Pfft, what, no, I wasn't even thinking, who's Amity?" Luz sputtered.
"The girl you once said sparkles?" He questioned.
"No fair using my own words against me!"
"Not my fault I have no shame about what others learn from me." He smirked. "I have no secrets, and thus no blackmail, but I can exploit everything from everyone else."
"No secrets huh?" She raised an eyebrow. "Then why haven't you told anyone about who you are?"
"What do you mean? Everyone knows I'm a half crystal devil already."
"Yeah, but only the people in the owl house know your half human." Luz reminded him. "You still keep your ears pointy instead of round."
"…It's more comfortable pointy than round." Lucci pouted.
"Ah, then you wouldn't mind if I told Gus." She pointed to the guy they were about to walk into.
"No!" Lucci exclaimed, pulling Luz back. "Just..give me time to adjust to it. Being a crystal devil is one thing, and you're the only good human I've met." So true. "Not to mention Boscha…she can't stand humans."
"Hiding your inner self from the girl you like?" She clicked her tongue. "That's not right at all Lucci. And here I thought better of you." Then again, Boscha was a bitch.
"And why don't you tell Amity you like her?"
"There's a difference between fantasizing about a girl and being capable of actually asking her out. She's obviously into Willow, not me."
For some reason that just made Lucci laugh. "Ahahaahajaahahahahahahaa." He paused for a second. "Oh you're serious. Let me laugh harder. HAHAHAHAHAHA!"
"Why is that so hilarious? We both saw the memories." Luz would think he wouldn't be that skeptical.
"It's funny on multiple levels. One of which being you thinking Willow's the type to go back to an old crush. That bridge burned a long time ago even though they're friends now."
"This is why I got kicked out of anime club." Luz grumbled. "I am the only one who can believe in past relationships being fixed."
"Maybe. Except there was no relationship. It was a friendship that was cut off for ten years, stopping it from getting into the romance zone." Lucci sighed. "I swear romance was much less complicated before I met you."
"Tell me about it." Luz nodded, before they finally caught up with the illusionist. "Gus, buddy, what's up?"
"The sky of endless possibility that is forever out of my reach. The cloud that hangs over my head and stops the sun from showing. The shadow that spreads the darkness throughout my soul."
They stared at him for a moment. "Dude, don't pull a pre me Lucci." Luz deadpanned.
"Better than pulling a Luz and getting into hair-brain shenanigans." Lucci rolled his eyes. "But seriously, since when are you so melancholy Gus? Did you eat ice-scream from the night market?"
"Guys, do I suck?" The boy asked bluntly.
"No/Depends." … The two of them looked at each other.
"Depends?" She questioned.
"He's a good stage lighting and distraction, but he hasn't been pulling combat weight lately." He said. "He's really holding himself back."
"Yeah…that's what I've been thinking." Gus lamented. "You guys do Multitracks and are practically in a league of your own. Amity and Willow don't even need other forms of magic because they're so good at the one they have. And me…the best I can do in a fight is fog the area and hope it blocks people's vision."
"Oh come on Gus, you can do plenty more than that." She assured the boy. "You can make blinding lights, footsteps, body doubles while we run … a lot of stuff."
"But you can do the first two, and we always fail on the third. I mean, what good has my magic been to the group lately other than being a glorified party trick?" Gus kept sulking. "Other than birthday parties, Illusions are useless."
"Hey, don't start putting it down so soon." Lucci patted the kid on the back. "Nothing's more useful than the ability to lie, and Illusions are essentially lying with style. You just severely lack the creativity to use its full potential."
"Geee, so I'm sub-par at the magic I've dedicated my whole life to learning, thanks for that; I feel so much better."
"You're not helping Lucci." She pointed out.
"Here, let me show you." He waved his fingers and poofed, creating three forearms that blended onto his arm. "This is the perfect example of a practical combat illusion."
"But they're not actually there." Luz stated.
"Exactly, so now you won't be able to tell which finger is the real one I'm going to flick you with." Lucci grinned.
"Hey, don't just.." She flinched as he braced herself…only to feel nothing. "Okay you proved your.." This time she didn't flinch when his fingers got close, stepping back when she did get hit. "Ow. I thought you were going by the rule of three."
"Sleight of hand Gus, take notes. The last one should never be the real one."
"Huh, I will take note of that." Gus nodded, before looking around. "Thanks, but even if I don't give up on illusions, shouldn't I try to expand a little? You guys multitrack, why can't I give it a shot?"
"Well Lucci once said magic responds best with your love for it." Luz added on, rubbing her head. "Do you actually like any other forms of magic?"
"…Not really." The boy admitted honestly. "I admire other forms, sure, but the showmanship of the illusion coven just..I don't know, spoke to me. Showed me that I can make anything out of nothing." Gus shook his head. "Maybe I just need to learn to love other forms of magic. Quick, tell me what dangerous and insane journey you're going on today!"
"We're heading to the library." Lucci responded blankly.
"Ah. So Luz just wants an excuse to see Amity, gotcha."
"Oh come on!" The girl shouted. "Can't it just be about finding a diary for a human realm portal?"
"Noooope." Lucci smirked. "Because by how well the plans go, it's going to go completely off the rails somehow because of your crush."
Luz grumbled. "Fine then. Gus, you wanna join us?"
"I guess. I got nothing better to do anyways." The kid moped. "Unless something else crazy happens."
Luz looked around, seeing nothing happening. "... Strange, the universe is usually quicker to respond to stuff like that."
"Hm..maybe if I say something it'll work." Lucci scratched his head. "It's not like anything crazy will happen in the next five-"
"Grooo!" They watched as a slitherbeast ran right through the streets, chasing screaming people.
"Wow, either the universe really hates me or I'm improving on my beast keeping magic." Lucci chuckled.
"Highly doubt the former." It was probably her the universe hated more.
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The child screamed, running as fast as he could from the dangerous beast. Why didn't he listen to dad's warning and not stay within the restricted area? Rules existed for a reason, and anyone that didn't follow them died. If he knew he'd die by getting eaten, he would've stayed away from the demon hunters cart.
"Grooo." Now the slither beast was after him, intent on taking him down and tracking his scent to the end of the earth. If he could just make it to daddy, he could beat the guy up. He just needed to run faster, and faster, and-he tripped. This was it, this was how he would-
"Glandus, Go!" The voice of a girl was called out into the air as a purple sludge formed on the ground, making the creature begin to slip and lose traction on the ground.
"No big, just as easy as wrangling a womp rat." An orange kid waved his hands in the air and made vines that caused the beast to trip onto its face.
"And the coup de grace." A purple haired girl leapt over the slither beast and pounded her fist on the ground, covering the creature in the rock around it, trapping it inside. "Viola." She took a bow to the crowd that responded with instant cheers.
"That's weird. A mess we don't cause gets fixed by someone else. Usually we get involved in some way beforehand." Another voice spoke up.
He ran up to the girl, hugging her leg. "Thank you for saving me, miss."
"Think nothing of it, little guy. Just doing my thing." She sent him a thumbs up.
"Well your thing is amazing!" The voice of another kid came as three of them approached the group. "Plants, abomination, and construction. You took down the slitherbeast like it was nothing." The dark skinned witch looked at them sparkly eyed.
"Glad to see we have some fans." The girl smiled. "The name's Bria, it's a pleasure to meet you all."
"Huh, usually something else terrible happens, but so far nothing. Must be an off day." The curly haired kid smirked. "Anyways, this is Gus, the girl poking at your trap is Luz, and I'm-"
"Oh, you need no introduction, Lucifer ." The girl with purple hair smirked, pulling out one of those really cool pictures dad liked to make of the people he chased. "Everyone knows about the terrifying, and might I just add, powerful and amazing Manticore Menace that beat the Petrification spell."
The curly haired kid chuckled. "Oh, not many people would put it that way, but thanks. And please, call me Lucci."
"Sure thing, Luuucci ." She said in a weird way with a wink. "This is Gavin, Angmar, and….wait , where is Mattholomew?"
"Wait, Mattholomew?" The dark skinned kid questioned. "I thought he was a Hexide student?"
"Oh he is, but we managed to talk him into helping us with a special project." She giggled.
"Yeah… talk." Some short kid in a brown suit walked up. "Anyways, I finally got the map! And I only had to endure thirty-five noogies from my brother!"
"Oh, you poor baby, noogies of all things." The kid on the posters rolled his eyes. "They deal with a vicious monster, you get slightly annoying affection."
"Tell me about it, some people should just toughen up." His savior giggled.
"So what's this project anyway?" Round ears questioned.
"We're going on a quest to grab the Galder stones." She explained.
"Galder stones?" The dark skinned one asked. "But aren't those just a myth?"
"That's just what the Emperor's coven tells everyone so normal people don't try to look for them." The abomination guy snickered. "But that ain't going to stop us from finding them."
"Strong and defiant of authority. I'm liking this group already." The wanted poster kid smiled. "Mind if we tag-"
"Hang on just a moment would you?" The round ears girl smiled, pulling the two of them away. Luckily, since he had tiny eyes, his hearing was in top shape to compensate. "Lucci, how do you not see it?"
"See what?" The wanted poster kid asked.
"I may be a naive and optimistic child who believes the best in everyone, but I think you forget I've been to the most dangerous social location in the world, Human High School. Trust me when I say that girl is just a bitch hiding under kind and sympathetic clothing."
"Oh please, just because one girl you meet has the social dominance of a hydra doesn't mean they're all the same."
"Look, as much as I hate Boscha, at least she's open about her bitchiness. This girl's going to pull the rug from underneath you, and I know how much you hate that. Come on, Gus, back me up on this."
"Luz, this is my chance to be awesome with cool kids!" The boy shouted.
The round eared girl groaned. "Fine, but I'm coming with you. I want to reserve the right to say I told you so."
"Don't you need to go to the library to find the human diary?" The curly haired kid questioned.
"You've put off and sacrificed plenty to do the exact same thing Lucci."
"Fine, do that. Put off finding your way back home, back to your family, and put off seeing Amity again."
"... You're being a real hypocrite right now, just so you're aware." She grumbled, pulling out papers and handing them over to the dark skinned kid.
"I know, but I can take care of these guys if they backstab me." He nudged her arm. "Besides, your the one that wants me to make new friends, let me at least give it a try before it crashes and burns."
"Fine, but again, I reserve the right to hold it over you when this goes bad."
"Luz relax." The dark skin kid smiled. "With these glyphs, nothing's going to go bad."
"Son!" He turned, seeing his dad run over. "Are you alright?"
"Yes daddy, that girl saved me." He pointed.
"Thank you mam, I'll be sure to repay the …" His dad trailed off, staring at the poster kid.
"Look wrath, you got two Options here." The poster kid stared at his dad. "You can fight me, and I can guarantee it'll not be pretty, and it'll scar your kid for life….or you can be a good dad and spend the rest of the day with your son. Your choice."
"... Curse you Lucifer Clawthorne." Dad growled, picking him up and walking away.
"You just made the warden back off, oh you're definitely coming with us. He heard the girl say weirdly before he was out of ear shot.
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Matt knew on the inside deep down that he wasn't the strongest, or the coolest, or the smartest, especially when it came to his old classmates at Glandus. But now he was at Hexide, and he managed to land a girlfriend. That convinced him he more than leveled up, and thus, could stand next to the cool kids as equals.
Clearly he was wrong, as the moment he walked near the place to pick up a comic, he was immediately cornered, and … coerced into getting a map to the Galder stones from his brother. It didn't help if he tried to fight it, they'd just make it worse until he would agree. He shivered from what happened yesterday, with the teeth … so many teeth.
At least this time he was allowed to walk without a leash. That almost made up for the two thorns in his side that just popped out of nowhere and enjoyed. "So you guys are Glandus Students? What's that like?" The devil kid, Lucci, asked Bria, who for some reason wasn't decking the guy for getting too close.
"Well unlike Hexide, which allows all students to grow by any means necessary, Glandus puts all their griffon eggs in one pile, and focuses on only the strongest and cunning of witches." She explained. "The powerful reign at the top while the weak suffer, like poor Matty here." Why not call him out on it? The day didn't feel like it sucked enough.
"Heh, Matty." That loser Gus laughed. Like Augustus was a better name.."So that means you guys must be top of the food chain."
"Sometimes. We have our thrones, but they're thrones we constantly have to fight for." Gavin answered.
"It's a witch eat witch world." Angmar responded. "Luckily I got to eat a whole arm while they only ate my finger." He showed off his four fingered hand.
"Casual Cannibalism. Bit nauseating, but you get by with what you can I guess." The devil kid snickered. "So you guys are after the Galder stones to give yourselves a leg up magic wise?"
"You catch on quick." The girl smirked. "Yep, finally locked down the spot needed to keep us in the lead. Honestly, better us than some of the other crazies."
"There's one or two guys that'll use it to kill all the teachers and take over the school." Gavin laughed. "And while that sounds nice, I'd just want one to create the world's biggest abomination to get my dad's attention…before running him over with it."
"I want to create a forest to start my butterfly sanctuary, and then strangle any jerk that makes fun of my hobby." Angmar snickered. Were they always this bloodthirsty, or was Matt gone longer than he realized?
"You guys seem like lovely people." Gus smiled obliviously. "Oh, giant tree." They all turned to the massive block in the road. "I've got this."
"Oh right, because illusions can totally cut about trees." Matt rolled his eyes.
"Shows what you know, Matty, my friend Gus here happens to be super strong and powerful." Lucci lied straight through his teeth. "Just watch the fireworks show.
He pulled out one of those human papers, pressing on it as a fire ball was sent flying through the tree. "Unlike you, I'm not a one trick imp." The boy smirked, pointing at Matt … before noticing his hand was on fire. "Hot hot hot."
"What…how!?" He exclaimed. "You're just an illusionist!
"He's not branded with a sigil, he has time to learn more than one spell, doooy." Lucci snickered. "Onwards, to adventure and ignoring the moron!"
"To ignoring morons!" Bria cheered as eveyone laughed at Matt's expense, just like usual.
"Ugh, can't I just get a break!?" Matt grunted, turning to Gus. "Look, I don't know what your trying to pull here, but whatever it is, you gotta stop now."
"Why? Jealous I'm better buddies with your Glandus friends than you?" The brat chuckled.
"One, they're not my friends, and if you actually have a brain in that dumb head of yours, you'll see that they're not yours either." Matt emphasized. "You're just useful to them at the moment. Trust me, when they see through this 'powerful witch' facade, they'll turn on you in a snap."
Gus seemed to flinch at the words, before shaking his head. "Then I guess they'll never find out."
"Find out wha aaaaaaaggggghhh!"! Angmar cried out as a snake pulled him upwards. "It's got my leg! It's got my leg!"
"Just chop it off, you got another one!" Bria ordered.
"I've gotcha!" Lucci held out a hand, a razor disk flying forward and cutting the creature clean in half. "And boomerang it for a cushioned landing." It did fly back, landing under the boy as it slowly descended. "Boomerang shield works!"
"Super strength, a form that can go toe to toe with Belos, and shields, all without magic circles? Is there anything you can't do?" Bria scooted close to the devil kid, using that sweet voice she only used when trying to subtly threaten someone, weirdly sounding almost girly for once.
"Spit acid." He responded almost seriously. "Well, that and proper control of plant magic, but I have a teacher there."
"Who's crazy enough to teach you plant magic after two veggie incidents?" Gus asked fearfully.
"Sorry, secrecy." The boy zipped his lips. "So how much longer until we get there?"
"Shouldn't be too far off from here, just… Ah Here it is!" She pointed to a foggy field. "We just need a way to make it through this … oh Gus, you wouldn't happen to have anything for that, would you?"
"One clear path, coming up!" The kid grinned as he clasped his hands together, creating a giant ball of light that shot into the air, beaming brightly as it practically cut through the fog.
"Your magic is super cool man!" Gavin shouted. "Where did you learn it from?"
"You know, here and there, I just pick up whatever I can, nothing special." Barf. Matt could barely stand to look at the brat lying his way to the top. Gus was literally doing what Matt did during his first day at Hexide, get something original if you're going to be full of it!
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Lucci gazed around the barren and rocky landscape, noticing a large fenced gate in front of them. "Should I tear this down, or does anyone else wanna go?"
"No, please, be my guest, rip it apart like paper." Bria insisted. Lucci had to admit, this was turning out to be pretty enjoyable. Sure, he'd probably never be the social butterfly Luz was, but it was nice to talk to these new guys. Bria especially was pleasant to be around, though she made him feel a little weird when she got a little close for comfort. "Go manticore if you want, I'd love to see it in action."
"That's sort of a last minute thing I do in dire situations, but duly noted." He nodded as he grabbed ahold of the bars, bending it like it was cardboard and lifting the gate off the ground. Ever since the kiss with Boscha, everything about Lucci has felt on fire, in a good way that is. His fast healing was back, strength was way above average again, and his shield and bubbles were improving.
Now it was just a matter of getting them even better than his top shape. He had a particular idea in case the Golden Tool ever showed his face again, but only time would see how that one turned out. "Wow, these really are out of the way. I don't even think this place is marked on any map." Gus said out loud as they walked through the fog.
"It isn't. The Emperor's Coven keeps people from trying to find them because they don't even know where it is. Everything they have is only speculation." Matt explained. "My brother only agreed to give me the map I have because he didn't think we'd find anything here."
Lucci looked around, seeing statues slowly unveiling themselves from the fog as they walked through, each holding a blue orb. "I take it these are the lucky rocks?" Lucci questioned, keeping his eyes located on the glowing rocks. Staring at them seemed to raise hairs on the back of his neck for some reason.
"Yes, yes! Actual Galder stones! There's so many of them!" Gavin ran up to one and grabbed it. "Lets see. Mega Abomination, ACTIVATE!" He shouted, a giant magic circle forming on the ground as a huge, HUGE mud man appeared, one even bigger than Amity's during the Covention. Considering that was when she was on a power stamp boost, this was just to be expected.
"Look at all the power we can get from them!" Angmar used a stone himself, creating … well, a Willow sized tree … he didn't know if that spoke measures about how weak this guy was or how overpowered Willow was.
"Oh yeah, come to mama!" Bria grabbed two stones, grinning as she made a massive stone hand with really detailed muscles. "The power! The adulation! It's mine, ALL MINE!"
"So they're enjoying themselves." Lucci muttered at the chaos in front of him. Classic power trip. They'd die down from this eventually "Gus, you want in on this?"
"Why are you asking him? He's an illusionist. The Galder stones are meant to amplify magic, and you can't power up what isn't there." Matt groaned. as he tried to grab ahold of one, only for Bria to take it out of his hands. "Wha-"
"Sorry Matty, but we're going by Glandus rules. You can have one if you can take it." Bria snickered. "You know, if you can actually be strong enough." Okay, the jerk deserved it, but that was hitting a little below the belt.
Lucci rolled his eyes at the dejected look the jerk was popping off. "Alright, enough playing around. He brought the map, he deserves some form of compensation." As much as he'd rather not.
"Him tagging along was the compensation." Angmar answered as he just bloomed a bunch of tall flowers to attract a lot of Butterflies. "If you wanna stay ahead at Glandus, you can't give out free bees to the weak."
"And who decides who's weak? You guys?" He asked, starting to see what Luz was talking about earlier.
"We are the ones at the top of the food chain after all." Bria smirked. "We keep the school's GPA high and bring all the trophies, that means the teachers let us make the rules." She came in closer, brimming with a confidence that Lucci's felt a million times over with a certain special someone, except this one unnerved him instead of infatuating him. "That means I'm free to do whatever, and I mean whatever I want to whoever I want."
"Then pardon me for exercising my freedom to get away from you." He backed away, turning to Gus, who was looking at the bottom of one of the statues. "Hey Gus, is something wrong?"
"Here lies the phantom bringer….that's a title only illusionists receive…" He looked them over. "This isn't ruins … this is a graveyard Lucci … an illusionist graveyard." Gus responded with a shiver.
… Lucci tried to remember what his mom said about robbing graves. 'If they're bastards, it's cool. They both deserve it and are too busy being chained up in hell.'… Yeah, it might just be best to put them back and not wake up some vengeful spirit.
"Meh, who cares about some dumb illusionists?" Bria shrugged. "It's not like they had any more worth living than they did dead."
The way she casually just dismissed their lives…the way she treated them without care…that sounded just like how the golden shrimp would think…how Belos would think.
Lucci let out a groan. "Luz is going to hold this over us for a week." He was going to get an earful when he got home. "Okay, put down the stones. They're no longer for the taking."
"Aww, come on now." She once more invaded his space. "Can't we strike up a-"
Lucci gripped her arm. "Just because I can heal people, doesn't mean I can't break them either." He threatened, keeping it tight so she had no room to pull it out.
" Ooooh, so you like playing it rough, don't you?" The girl sickly smirked as a hammer of earth raised above his head. "Fine, I'll play, but I'll have you know that I'm always on top."
"Then you should know something too. I've fought the Rainbow Devil twice. And these constructions?" He held up his free hand, catching the hammer without taking his eyes or grip off her. "Aren't worth the effort ." He was still, however, looking for alternatives other than 'punch rock really hard'. It was effective, but for who knows how long against a woman like that.
"Nice. But you should also know I play grudgby, and thus, I always play in teams." … Ah nuts.
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Gus watched as Lucci was sent into a statue, a small imprint from his body. "Three kids powered up by Galder stones, all of them with highly physical magics …" The boy grumbled, turning to Mattholomew. "I don't suppose you'd be willing to lend a hand?!"
"I spent the majority of my life being bullied by them, what makes you think I have a shot?"
"... Grudgby bully with unconfident victim … Great, it's Boscha and Willow from a different school." Gus realized.
"I don't see myself as a bully, just a great motivation to get weak people to stop being so pathetic." Bria laughed as she opened up the earth below Lucci. "The strong need to step on something every once and a while. We need footstools to rest on."
Lucci merely floated in the air, kicking off his own shield to rocket himself forward. "The strong only need to step on the skulls of their enemies. Anything else is over indulgence." He shouted, using two smaller shields to deflect abomination goo and a vine.
"Aren't you the most wanted guy on the isles? Literally everyone in the world is your enemy." Gavin noted as he created blades with his goo.
"No, the world chooses to be my enemy, not the other way around." The boy countered as he threw some razor disks, turning them into puddles. "It's a very exclusive list."
"You know, you'd be so much better if you'd just cut the weaklings off." Bria smirked as she threw another first of earth that Lucci shattered to bits with his shield. "At Glandus, you'd be ruling over weaklings and get away with anything you'd ever want to."
"And at Hexide, we have the right to murder anyone we think is a big enough annoying jerk." Lucci groaned, forming his drills to cut through more of the vines.. "Seriously, I'm actually glad Mattolomew skipped out on your school. At least he has some semblance of decency when backstabbing people."
"If that's how you really feel, then maybe we need to switch up our targets!" Angmar shouted, gromings roots from the ground and grabbing Gus and Matt by the legs.
"What, hey!" Gus shouted. "No fair using us as leverage!"
"Why fight fair when you can win?" Gavin questioned. "Besides, if you're not strong enough to break out of something as simple as plants, then you kind of only got yourself to blame." Dang it!
"Speaking of …" Bria smirked as she walked up to him, reaching into his pockets. "Paper magic, perfect for a weakling illusionist to come up with, and for an already strong powerhouse like myself to use." The Boscha 2.0 patted his face condescending. "You might as well roll over and die right now. What use can anyone get out of anyone who uses the weakest and most useless type of magic."
"There's no such thing….as useless magic." Lucci groaned out loud, drilling through Gavin's abomination and bubbling the head, tossing it right at the two Glandus boys, before cutting through the vines keeping them hostage. "Gus, find cover. Matt, help or flee, I don't care which!" He didn't even consider Gus for help … he really didn't bring anything to the gang, did he?
"Bet you're feeling pretty useless right now, aren't you?" Matt sighed as the both of them hid behind a rock. "Yeah….that's how I feel most of the time around these guys."
"They can just do so much, can't they?" Gus asked as he saw rocks and plants go flying above head. "But even with construction magic, I guess it wouldn't help me do something …"
"I only took construction magic because of Bria, because I thought it would make me stronger, but even if I have powerful magic…I'm still me, and that's not worth anything." Matt looked off to the side. "I'm not like you. You're smart, you have friend's that don't beat you up, and you were more useful than I was when the school almost ate us alive."
It was weird to hear the jerk actually sound nice to him. Weird, but not unwelcome. "Yeah…well you got a girlfriend, something I probably won't have." Mostly due to lack of understanding/interest in romance, but still.
"And you…" The boy sighed. "If we get out of this alive, I'll bring you back into the human appreciation society."
"REALLY!?" Gus couldn't help but be elated. "I mean, cool, cool, sounds totally spool, I mean cool!"
"...You're really bad at playing it cool, you know that right?" Matt raised an eyebrow.
"Hey, I can't help it, sue me." Gus shook his head, slapping himself to get himself ready. He wasn't going to back down from today without a fight. "Lucci! I'm going to help, just hang in there!"
"Oh hey, this hostage just gave away his location!" An abomination began crawling to them.
"And he also takes your attention off of me!" Lucci placed a bubble off his fist, slamming it into Galvin's head.
What could he do, what could he do to help? What was it that Lucci said earlier? Illusions magic was just lying with style, and lying meant tricking everyone into believing what they were seeing was real. What illusions could Gus make that could trick Bria and her stooges into leaving?
"You know, if you're just going to stand still like a moron, then you're just asking to be killed." Bria launched one of the statues into the air, and it was about to fall right on top of Gus .
"Look out!" Lucci cried out, jumping from his spot as the statue was just about to crush Gus's head.
"I'm sorry I got in the way!" He shouted.
"Stop feeling sorry for yourself and brace for impact!" A bright light showed off.
SMAAASSSH
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Bria watched the pile of rubble intently, juggling the Galder stones. "Come on out Lucci, we both know you can take that." She playfully called out. Things had been going nice so far, until the cute moron revealed they had that dumb old Hexide mentality engraved into their head. Why did that 'comradery' bullshit have to corrupt such an adorable looking face?
Bria remembered the petrification ceremony quite vividly. The sighting of a kid her age being the most wanted criminal on the Isles, a kid that was such a threat that freaking BELOS of all Witches had to announce how dangerous the guy was. So much strength and power in one slightly chubby little package. Seeing that power in action, especially in a three against one fight right now only made her more and more interested.
So much potential, too bad the anchors were here making him waste it all. "Uh Bria, I'm not seeing any movement." Gavin poked at the pile of rubble that landed on top of the two.
"Just give him a few minutes to get back in working order." She smirked. "Any second now he'll break his way out and be ready for round two." And then they could have some more fun, especially if he pulled out that manticore power.
"Um … Bria?" Angmar called out annoyingly. "I was following some butterflies-"
"I told you to stop chasing those things you moron." She glared at him. Bria was so going to replace him once they got back to school.
"And then I found … this." The boy pointed to … a hand next to the rubble, connected by a string of blocks leading back to the rocks.
"Huh?" She took a swipe at the blocky looking limb. "Did Gus bring a toy limb with him or something? That's weak, even by illusions standards."
"Who you calling weak, Blockhead?" The limb spoke… like actually spoke when it moved, there was a mouth connected onto the palm as it turned over. "I know you're dumb enough to speak ill of the dead, but you can't even give a moment of silence for someone you killed? That's just tacky."
"It's alive!?" Gavin shouted, jumping back.
"I'm alive? Of course you're alive Gus … wait. You feel that? The awkward back and forth. The third voice in our heads?" The rubble began to shake like she expected, but what burst forth wasn't Lucci. It wasn't even Gus. "WE FUSED!" It was … an abomination of multiple limbs and organs snaking around on blocks. Every inch was painted in multiple colors, mainly shades of pink and blue, everything constantly shifting and turning every second.
"AAAHHH!!" Angmar weakly screamed.
"Wow, so many parts. How did we even end up like this? Well I noticed Orchid has roots on her feet to help talk with plants, and Pudding had three eyes to help us focus ahead. Oh, and what benefit does shifting body allow? Is it merely to help distract with illusions, or to reflect the chaotic mental state of my components? Is it strong and fast, or can we expand magic on a country scale? Gah, so many questions! We're the greatest mystery known to witch kind!"
"Uh, hello, big blocky freak? We're still here!" Bria shouted. "I don't know what this whole thing is, but if you think combining your power is going to scare us, then you can forget it!" She shot a fist at the two-in-one figure.
"Hmm?" The two separate eyes and ears turned to her, the tangle simply shifting around the fist. "Right, right, almost forgot, just a second." He brushed her off. "Hey, what's our stage name? Don't combine our names together, that's just tacky.Obviously, I'm not Luz. It needs to reflect everything we are and what we're all about. Getting into fun trouble with theatrical flair?"
The body began shifting itself much quicker, becoming smaller and more compact as it took on a bipedal shape, the various colors matching up as they formed a suit, complete with a face that combined both their features. "Witches and Demons, good evening, and welcome one and all to the show of … Rubix !" There were some very weak fireworks behind them. "Oh come on, I thought we were supposed to be boosted!"
"You can't boost what isn't there, idiots." Bria rolled her eyes.
"Oh contraire my friend. Allow me to do my first act of the night." They pulled off a hat, taking out … a fluffy kitten. "Adorable, isn't she?"
"Awwww, so fluffy." Aangmar reached out for it.
"Yes yes, here you go." They handed over the kitten, which purred and snuggled itself right up to him. "Next up, a bit of a location trick." They pulled out a curtain, moving it over themselves. "Now you see me." It fell to the floor. "Now you don't." Before the weirdo voiced out behind them.
"Wow, almost instantaneous!" Gavin shouted.
"... We're doomed." She almost felt bad for Matty.
"Wow, anything else before we kick wherever you put your but?" Bria had to laugh at this pathetic display. Even Lucci couldn't make illusions cool, apparently.
"Now for a spell I'm sure even Bria will find interesting. Can we not? She's giving me vibes that aren't comfortable in the slightest. Meh, can't make it worse. Not like Illusions can do anything. Now behold!" They held out both of their hands, and twisted, their body's following along as they now stood on their heads. "This wasn't even a trick!"
"Wow, how impressive?" She rolled her eyes.
"It should be, do you know how hard it was to turn the world upside down?" … What? " WHAT!?" Bria could see her hair start to rise, and her center of gravity was off as she began to fall … UP. "Oh, forget to tell you what my last trick was going to be…..I'm going to make you go MAAAAAD!"
"This is just an illusion!" She shouted as she continued to fall. "ILLUSIONS ARE NOTHING!
"GAAHH!" Agumar shouted as the kitten grabbing him scratched. "It hurts, it hurts!"
"Nothing you say?" The blocky freak chuckled as they fell right alongside her, laying down in the air with a drink in their hand. "Your brain can't tell the difference between what's real and what's fake, if at all. Reality is all about perspective….and I'm in control of it all!" Flames of rainbow fire burst everywhere. "Ooooh, this is going to be good. My illusions are physical now!"
Bria fell into a house. "When the world is full of care …" She looked around, finding the door and running to it. "And every headline screams despair!" A beast came from the other side. "All is crap, starvation, war and life is vile." It was an illusion, JUST AN ILLUSION!
The ground she took decayed with every step as she had no choice but to stand still as the monster swallowed her, where she continued to fall into the dark abyss, where maniacal and sinister mouths surrounded, laughing and mocking her helpless state. " Then there's a certain thing I do! Which I shall pass along to you!" Arms of bones and decayed flesh grabbed her, forcing her lips to go upwards. " That's always guaranteed to make me smile...…..!"
"I go loo-oo-oony...…as a light-bulb battered bug!" She fell into a pile of insects. It was just an illusion, it was all FAKE! "Simply loo-oo-oony, sometimes foam and chew the rug!" The room began to fill up with foam, slowly reaching her knees.
"Mister, life is swell! In a padded cell!" Bria now found herself bound in a restraint jacket, constantly bouncing around in a tiny room uncontrollably, hitting the walls and bouncing back like they were made out of rubber. So she was feeling a little pain, so what!? They were just…pushing her around! There was no way this could be real! NO PHYSICAL WAY IT COULD BE REAL! "It'll chase those blues away!"
"You can trade your gloom…For a rubber room! " She was stopped as the blocky freak, now dressed in a dirty doctor's uniform, with a saw that SLICED THROUGH HER HEAD! " And injections twice a day!! " And shoved a giant oversized needle in her exposed brain!
"AAAAAAAHHHHH!" She ran off from the chair, feeling her forehead. It was still intact, she was still alive, which means it was still fake… but it felt so real… so… so freaking REAL!
"Just go loo-oo-oony like an acid casualty." Bira's hands began melting, dripping down her body as her bones became cookies, body deflating like a balloon. "Or a moo-oo-oonie, or a preacher on T.V.!" She felt herself get trapped in crystal ball, static and electricity shooking her from every corner.
"When the whole witch's race! Wears an anxious face! " The freak grabbed Gavin and Agmar, forcing them into tables with restraints, wires and hooks to force them to smile. " When the bomb hangs overhead!" A giant black ball labeled BOMB hung above them with just a simple rope holding it, one that was about to tear and rip. "Here's the name of the game folks. Is Bria truly a good leader? She can let her teammates blow up or let herself blow up. If it's all an illusion there's nothing to be scared of, right?" They grinned, their head spinning like a top.
"Hey, she has…. more integrity than that, she won't just…. sacrifice…" Gavin tried to speak up even with all the hooks in his mouth.
"Blow them up, blow them up, blow them up!" She shouted, shrinking into a ball and closing her eyes. This all felt too real, it felt too real, she couldn't chance it in the slightest.
"Bria, why!?" Angmar shouted out.
"Then off they go!" The two kids screamed … as the bomb detonated into confeti, with the words 'what a dud dummy' written on them. "What a moron, haha!"
"What, but…" She felt herself get shocked again as the whole world went blue this time, making her feel like she was drowning.
"When your kid turns blue...It won't worry you...You can smile and nod instead….." Her head was grabbed by a mechanical hand, shaking up and down even when it felt like her jaw would fall right off.
"When you're loo-oo-oony,.....then you just don't give a fig!" She was thrown into the sky, past the clouds, past the painbows, and into the stars, and she wasn't slowing down in the slightest! Man's so pu-uu-uny, and the universe so big!!"
She was heading into the void, where all that awaited her was the bright sun that she was hurtling towards, the one that would burn her alive in a matter of seconds upon contact. " If you hurt inside, Get certified, And if life should treat you bad…!"
" AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHH !" She was going to die, she was going to die, she was going to DIE!
"Don't get even….. GET MAAAAAAAAAAAAAAD!!"
She was slammed into the ground, feeling her body almost crack under the agony. "AAAGG! AAAH! AAAHH!" It was all real and fake and nothing would ever make sense again.
"Pfffffttt….HAHAHAHAHAHAAHAHAAHAHA, Oh, oh that was priceless, that….oh I think I topped myself on that one. Gonna be hard to beat that." The blocky freak rolled on the ground… the completely normal ground…. huh?
"What, huh, but aren't we in… what about…" Bria weekly looked around, seeing Angmar and Gavin groaning to the side. "What just…"
"I just pushed you guys to the ground and you all went ballistic! HAHAHAHAHA!" The…thing kept laughing. "You're all such saps…ahahahahahaha !" The giggling continued as the thing glowed while splitting it up, and showing Gus and Lucci rolling on the ground in uncontrollable laughter.
"Oh, remember when you put all those tiny bubbles around them and sent everyone up, making them think Rubix turned the world upside down?" Gus questioned. "Because that, that was awesome."
"Not as amazing as you setting up all those mirrors and making her think she was sent into space." Lucci snorted. "See, told ya illusions are great in a fight, it just takes the right creativity to pull it off."
"I…I still don't understand… was any of that real?" Bria asked weakly.
"Let me simplify it for you, Bria." Lucci walked up to her, and poked her in the head. "All the mental anguish and trauma you just experienced was real. And if you and your goon squad ever show up to this graveyard again, or even think about disrespecting the dead, Rubix will come back, and haunt your nightmares."
This boy was so insane, so crazy, so powerful, he made illusions actually threatening….
Badump
"Yeah … don't threaten me with a good time." She stood up. "Come on boys, back to the lot. We'll figure out what to do next there."
"Yeah….I think we're just going to go home." Gavin grumbled, heading out in the other way. "Don't wait up for me, Bri. Or call…or anything."
"Pffft, he's lost. Angmar." She turned to her other lackey.
"I've seen maggots that are more pleasant to be around than you. I think I'll go see them now." Angmar went in the other direction.
"Whatever, I don't need to hang around a bunch of weaklings." She groaned walking out of the way. "At least today wasn't a complete loss." She got to see the devil in action, in all his glory, and she had Gus's weird paper magic. That'll be nice for a rainy day.
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The old guard watched the children from his corner. "So was the scary stuff me, or you?" The illusion kid questioned. "Because that kinda felt like Orchid near some parts."
"From how I understand fusion, it's basically the both of us. It's our similar traits combining together for a new personality. So a playful showman is the base of it." The pink one scratched his head. "I gotta test-fest all these Fusions one of these days. I'm up to for by this point, and it would be nice to know the trigger for them all."
"Yeah, that mystery rocked." The illusion kid grinned. "Oh, Matt, sorry we forgot about you while all that was going on."
"Trust me, I'm glad you did." The third kid got out from behind the rock he was hiding behind. "I don't know what that was about, and I don't want to find out. I'm just glad Bria backed off."
"Yeah, no one deserves to suffer under a bully like that, not even you." The pink kid nodded, looking around. "Shame they messed up so much of the graveyard though. Feels wrong to just have it all vandalized. We should clean it up before anything else happens."
"Ah, I can take care of that." The man decided to come out. They seemed like nice enough kids.
"GHOST!" The pink boy instantly formed a buzzsaw and tossed it at him.
"Oddly enough, that's one of the tamer reactions." He laughed, ducking underneath it. "I'm the guard of looking glass ruins, i've looked over it for over four decades." He explained.
"You guard the ruins?" That third kid questioned.
"Yes, because illusion magic doesn't actually hurt anyone, we were chosen to keep watch of the Galder stones, since we're the least likely to use them for evil …" He looked at the two children. "... Probably …"
"Eh, makes sense. I know mom wouldn't exactly be miss's clean with one of these babies." The pink boy nodded
"Wait, why didn't you stop us earlier?" The illusionist kid questioned.
"I was going to step in, create the 'keeper of terror'." He showed off the giant monster. "But then you threw a hammer across the ruins." He looked at the destruction. "... Yeah, I should probably hide away this place for good."
"Hey, you don't have to uproot everything just because a couple of jerks ruined it." The third kid walked up. "What if we came on the weekends or something and helped with defenses? Lucci here is half crystal devil, he alone would scare off anybody from getting too close."
"Hmm.." He questioned it. "Well it would be nice to have company with living people for once, and I can finally have someone to share all my old man stories."
"Living people…so you ARE a ghost?" The illusion kid asked.
"That wasn't what I quite meant."
"That still doesn't answer-"
"There was one other reason why illusionists were chosen to guard the Galder stones." He placed his hands on one of them. "We're the only ones capable of projecting their true form and communicating with them."
He let the light shine forth, showing off a strange and ethereal source of light he still couldn't grasp to this day. "Bop. Bweep. Moop." A vaguely witch-like shape formed.
"She says it's nice to meet some new people." The pink kid answered, making everyone turn to him in shock.
"You can understand her?" The old guard asked. "It's taken me years just to get a read on their emotions."
"Yeah, she sounds just like Centi…..wait a minute…." The pink kid walked up to the stone, and placed a hand on it. "I thought these thi-these guys felt familiar…they're Crystal devils."
"Really?" The illusion kid raised his eyebrow. "But they're not monsters…or mobile."
"Well they are a bit damaged in the head. Their memories are all scrambled, and they're constantly leaking energy instead of forming it into a stable construct." He answered. "This is the closest they have to communication … took me YEARS to comprehend a sentence."
"Sorry, guess it comes with being half of one." The pink one shrugged. "Well now you definitely won't have anything to worry about. I'm going to make sure no one takes advantage of these little guys ever again."
"Meep. Biip. Voor."
"Where are you getting Quartz from? Mom says my rock is a diamond." The pink one answered.
"... Vip?"
"Yeah, a pink one."
"... VIIP! BRAA!" The lights instantly retracted into the ball after shouting in fear.
"…I don't know whether to call that cool or terrifying." The third one muttered.
"That's pretty much my life now." The pink boy shrugged. "... So did the statue go there or …"
"Let me get the tea before we start."