Summary: Our love is like a burning fire ... it kills everything around it.
Amity sighed in content. "You like it Luz?" She asked, turning to her girlfriend.
"This is the coolest site ever!" Five hundred snails won in that betting pool … spent on a telescope that brightened Luz's face … worth every coin. "I thought the stars looked pretty before, but there so breathtaking…so many colors I didn't even know stars could be….bright balls of fire burning endless in the cold vastness of space….dreadful yet inspiring and beautiful at the same time."
"Imagine if I could hold them in one hand…the civilizations that I could destroy if I could have that level of power." Boscha mused as she laid beside Lucci. Amity almost forgot that it was a 'couples day' today. Every couple they knew outside of Skara and Belfry was here.
"It would be kinda overkill wouldn't it?" Lucci mused. "Considering you'd destroy all your subjects almost instantly."
"There's no such thing as overkill, my crystal. Plus it'd be a great bluff. They merely just need to see me to cower away in fear." Boscha smirked.
"But you do that naturally, and quite amazingly, my angel." Lucci petted the girl's head.
"You know how to put me in the mood." The girl smirked, kissing him on the lips. Amity wasn't sure if the extra romance invigorated or degraded the mood.
"I never really saw them up close." The unusual entry, Mattholomule, turned to his girlfriend. "You're an oracle, what's it like to gaze at them?"
"Mesmerizing, and kind of dizzying." Celene explained. "We look at the star's occasionally to help with fortune telling, and when we do, we channel a sliver of the cosmic forces of the universe into our brains. It's like getting drunk while reading every book in a library simultaneously all at once."
"And yet the Crystal Invasion completely blindsided you." Boscha deadpanned rudely.
"Blindsided me, or inspired me to let Mattholomule in my apocalypse bunker?" Celene smirked.
"You guys wouldn't believe how big it is. I actually got lost for an hour navigating between the bags of sugar and the field of cabbage." Said boy admitted.
"I'm confused, when did we start hanging out with Mattholumule?" Luz asked.
"At first it was just weekend tea with the guardian of the Galder stones ,but after a while we formed a guys club at school." Lucci stated. "You know, considering our friend group is outnumbered gender wise."
"When you put it like that, I half expect a 'guys vs girls' adventure to pop up at one point." Luz noted.
"That's dumb." Boscha rolled her eyes. "Gender has nothing to do with skill. One doing better than the other doesn't prove shit to anybody, and pointing it out in situations like it's the exception and not the norm only damages whatever equality crap you're trying to fight for and sets everyone back."
"... The boiling isles are so advanced compared to earth in so many ways." Luz deadpanned. "So, Skara and Belfry still looking for a home?"
"I think so…I'm not sure." Lucci frowned. "I tried calling her the other day, but she hasn't been answering. Belfry said it was personal, so I think she might have had a fight with her mom or something."
"Weird … hey Amity, Boscha, either of you guys meet her mom?" Luz asked.
"Didn't she turn out to be that food fic obsessed woman you busted out of jail?" Lucci asked.
"Really?" Amity raised an eyebrow. "Never would've taken her for that type."
"You seriously didn't see it?" Boscha asked with a scoff. "Whenever our parents met together, she was always the odd one out. The white wolf of a pack of black furs."
"If she's so nice, how did she get as rich as yours?" Celine asked.
"Her family runs a music shop that sold instruments to the Bard Coven." Amity explained. "They made just enough money for mom to consider them 'worthy' associates."
"And somehow, Skara grew up gaining our ruthless traits." Boscha mused. "She might have been bipolar thinking about it."
"I literally grew up only knowing her nice side for ten years." Lucci pointed out. "I think she outdoes Luz in pushy positivity, minus the extra layer of insanity."
"Never thought you could go that deep." Her girlfriend mused. "Hey look, a shooting Star." Luz pointed to the sky.
"All stars shoot Luz." Lucci rolled his eyes. "We talked about this when we looked for the Light glyph on the knee."
"... Do they get brighter and brighter?"
They looked at the sky … seeing that the star was falling right at them! "EVERYONE GET DOWN!" Amity shouted as Lucci took out Sugar.
"Matt, make a deep trench! Lucci! Make a massive bubble to cover us all and roll us into the ditch!" Celene ordered fiercely. "It's the only path where all of us survive the impact!"
"Is there anyone where everyone except the human survives?" Boscha asked.
"BOSCHA I SWEAR TO TITAN!" Amity shouted as she was shoved into the bubble, rolling into a ditch.
Fwosh
As a wave of HEAT soared right over their heads, flying through the forest. "What the heck is that!?" Matt screamed. "I feel like I'm in an oven at a million degrees."
"A fallen star …" Lucci's eyes looked like they were genuinely sparkling with his pupils becoming star shaped. Weird way to use shapeshifting. "Mom always said it was a myth."
"Shooting stars, at least back in my world, are usually asteroids, space rocks floating around until they reach the plant's atmosphere."
Amity blinked at that. "Space rocks?"
"Yeah, I know it's a weird concept-"
"Like the Crystal Devil space rocks?!"
There was a moment of silence. "Nope!" Boscha shouted, grabbing Lucci. "De bubble us, we're leaving. I'm not getting involved with another Crystal Devil misadventure!"
"But this one isn't family related, it's a mythical fantasy adventure." Lucci gave pouting eyes.
"Don't care. Pop this bubble or I pop your head." Again, WHY did Lucci like this girl?
"I wouldn't recommend that." Celene raised her hand.
"Let me guess, 'all paths lead to doom', or something?" Boscha rolled her eyes.
"That…and the moment the bubble pops, the river of fire surrounding us is going to melt us instantly."
Everyone blinked. " River of what now?"
========================================================================
Luz saw it first, the red glow in the forest, the flames instantly rising from trees, and … a liquid … "MAGMA!" Oh this was bad.
"Mag what?" Matt questioned.
Luz stared at them. "You know, given that we were surrounded by boiling water on a corpse, I forgot you guys wouldn't have a concept of the stuff." Time to break out the boring earth facts she barely paid attention to. "Okay, so the deeper into the planet you go, the hotter it gets."
Lucci nodded. "That checks out with the boiling seas … how hot are we talking?"
Luz blinked. "Do you guys have a concept of fahrenheit or celsius?"
"You mean Fairyheit and Cerebruses?" Amity asked.
"We'll roll with that." Luz nodded. "Now, the boiling point of water would be one hundred cerberuses, right?"
"Probably a lot hotter than that, but fair assessment." Celene answered
She looked as the magma started to get closer, pointing at it. "That's about a thousand times hotter, around seven hundred to fourteen hundred." She let the shock sink in for a minute before continuing. "When you drill deep enough and get closer to the planet's core, the rock begins to liquify, becoming magma. When it shoots up to the surface, we call it a Lava flow-"
"What do you mean by core?" Boscha interrupted? "How can there be something that deep without falling off into the void down below?"
Luz sighed. "Alright, so, that's because gravity works both directions, which is why no planet doesn't have any edges." She explained. "Like the sun, or moon."
"Wait…you're telling me…the planet is round!?" Amity gasped. "It's not flat!?
"Aww, your innocence is adorable." Luz cooked. "But no, lots of science can support round earth."
"Not that I'm not enjoying having an existential crisis, but it's getting really hot in here!" Matt screamed out.
"Oh, I almost forgot to mention." Lucci gave a nervous chuckle. "I can handle the boiling rain, but the boiling sea starts to reach my upper limit … and this stuff is supposed to be a thousand times hotter?"
"..So by any chance did your vision let you see exactly HOW we survived this?" Amity asked as everyone began sweating, puddles already being formed at their feet.
"You covered the bubble from the inside with abomintion goo that Luz cover's in ice glyphs, that cools off a decent chunk of the liquid fire for us to run across to safe ground." Celene explained.
"We need to head away preferably." Luz said as she already began pulling out her glyphs. "I know we have adventures and stuff when it comes to danger, but as a human world experience, let me tell you that Lucci has the only body here capable of surviving the heat that falling star's giving off. Not to mention the fire's gonna burn away the oxygen faster." She began tossing the ice starters to the abominations Amity pulled out.
"Heheh…yeah…about that…" Celene chuckled hesitantly. "That path I mentioned….we only survive….because we go after the source."
"..." Luz took a deep breath, taking in steam as she coughed. "Celene, no offense to your magic and track, but the future is BS. We're barely surviving by using up our resources as it is, and it's only going to get worse the closer we get."
"Hey, I'll have you know that Celene's predictions have never been wrong before." Mattohomule defended his girlfriend. "If she says that's our best option at survival, then we better take it."
"Oh really, name ONE thing she's gotten right." Amity accused.
"I predicted Boscha and Lucci would get together two months before it happened." Celene bluntly stated. "You can ask her yourself."
They turned to the blushing girl. "... Lets just get this over with." She turned to Luz. "Human, how bad will it get?"
Ignoring the insult, she decided this was a 'lay down the facts' situation. "First will come dehydration, then things will start to catch on fire. After getting hot enough we'll be knocked out by heat stroke, following that our blood will begin to boil." Luz brought up as the heat began to rise. "That's not getting into the likely hallucinations we'll experience before we get knocked out, and …well, Lucci knows firsthand what melting flesh feels like, right?"
"I think the loss of nerve endings was the worst part. The pain was gone, but it was almost like there was a ghost where my body was." He stated. "I did smell surprisingly tasty though …"
"So pop the bubble, lay the ice down, and grab that shooting star as quickly as possible before we all melt, got it." Matt concluded.
"What are we even going to do with it?" Amity questioned. "If this thing is so hot it's generating all this destruction, any attack will be burnt to a crisp, much less a way to dispose of it."
"That parts….a little fuzzy, I'm not going to lie." Celene said. "I just know going on this path leads to our survival and the lava flow stopping."
"The one time I chose not to be optimistic about our chances." Luz sighed. "Amity, you got the goo ready. The air's pretty thin now in here."
"Yep … on your cue Lucci." Her girlfriend nodded.
"Okay, one your mark…get set…" The moment the bubble opened, they were assaulted with a WAVE of heat that filled their bones.
"OH TITAN THAT'S UNGODLY HOT!" Boscha screamed as she looked like she was choking on the air. "Why, why is it so hard to breathe!?"
"Partially the temperature of the air, partially because of the sulfur coming up from the ground, and partially because the fire's eating up the oxygen." Luz answered, freezing the ground ahead of them. "It's only going to get worse, so remember this clean air while you can!"
"Celene, if we don't make it out of this alive, I want you to know that you've made me the happiest witch on the Boiling isles!" Matt clung to his girlfriend.
"I know, Matty, I know…"
"And I was the one that broke your limited edition crystal ball made from carved gargoyle bones!"
"...That I didn't know." Celene glared.
"You deserve it for not mentioning this!" Amity shouted. "Seriously, how did you not see this coming!?"
"How does no one in the Oracle track see the disasters at school coming!?" Boscha countered. "It's not that good of a magic!"
"Don't you dare mock me, it's the only reason I've been able to survive this crazy life!" For once Luz wasn't the one getting on Boscha's nerves. A very rare occasion this was.
========================================================================
Boscha would never, ever say this aloud … but she finally found a trial she was not ready to go through. No heat or flames compared to the absolute torture that they walked through. "Dry … so dry …" The human mumbled, coughing.
"The human's already failing." She noted.
"Could you not insult Luz for one moment!" Amity argued.
"Actually, she has a point." Her crystal agreed. "The earth has a cold sea, which means the entire planet is probably colder overall. Her body isn't adapted to this level of heat." He reached into his hair. "Here, have some water."
The girl reached forward, opening the bottle … as nothing but steam came out. "Why….why….why is this world so….cruel…?"
"We already reached the point where water becomes steam … that can't be a good sign." That outcast boy noted as they made their way forward.
"Given that the ice trail behind us is getting shorter and shorter as we move along." Amity noted, looking back to see the give way to black rock, which gave way to liquid flames. "Yeah …" Blight turned to her. "You wouldn't happen to have any potions to deal with this?"
"For once, I will concede my point to the human." Boscha admitted, possibly already in the throes of heat stroke. "I really need a bigger variety than explosions."
"As long as we have the glyphs, we'll be fine." Lucci tossed forward another glyph … which caught on fire in mid air. "... Um …"
"So hot …" That one boy panted. "I'm not a science wiz … but I know when it's hot enough that paper catches on fire mid air that it's not good."
"Great, we're stuck in the middle of a fiery pool of death. If we stay here, we die. If we turn back, we die. And if we keep going, we die." Boscha groaned. "When I said I wanted to go out in a blaze of glory, this was not how I wanted it to be interpreted."
Lucci looked back and forth between her and the destination. "Did the future vision say all of us have to reach it?" He asked the moon girl.
"Not…precisely." Moon girl nodded.
"Good." The boy began taking off his shirt- wow he was packing some muscles. How did she not notice it underneath the baby fat? They practically spooned each other every other day. "You all head back to a cooler section, I'm going to, against better judgment and sanity, test my upper limits against this thing."
"Lucci, that's dumb. Like, really, really dumb." Amity for once made a good point.
"I know, but we don't have anything else that can keep us cool, and-" Why was everything fading … oh hello there "-Boscha!" She woke up to see the boy shouting and shaking her.
"Wha …"
"You guys started passing out, you need to get to safety, now!"
"Mr…mister kitty…you…you can't leave me now…." She glomped on the boy in spite of the star people laughing in her ears. "We hav-haven't even gotten married on top of Harshmellow peak yet.."
"Screw it!" The kitty wrapped her in a fluffy rose along with her best buddies, tossing her in the sky … hard … Boscha's sanity came back with the cool air.
"Ow…that…that really…really smarts…" The human groaned as she rubbed her head, looking back at the giant death trap they were just stuck in. "Wow, that's a giant pile of lava."
"Yeah, surprised it hasn't flowed into town with how hot and fast the flow is." Amity observed.
Chink
Chink
chink
"Uh…I think I know why … and the reason isn't good." Celene pointed off to the side, where they saw someone … CLIMB the lava with a hammer, pounding on the hot liquid, and making it solid.
"... Hello there." Luz waved.
"Oh, you're the human right?" The man asked. "I've been wanting to meet ya. The name's Mason."
"Mason…as in head of the construction coven Mason?" Oh for fucks sake, HOW MANY COVEN HEADS WHERE THEY GOING TO RUN INTO!?
"The one and only!" The bearded man nodded. "Don't mind me, just grabbing something important for the Emperor, that's all, best be on your way."
"Something important." Boscha nodded slowly. "You mean the falling star, right?" Because why WOULDN'T it be the same exact thing they were after!?
"Is that what that is?" The man questioned. "Didn't really ask questions. There's just something causing this huge flow of liquid fire and the Emperor wants it to help expediente the process of eliminating wild magic, so you know, standard Coven head duties." Mason shrugged. "Well, better get back to work, stay safe kiddos!" He swung his hammer on the ground, and launched himself high in the air
"... So is that a path we all survive?" Amity questioned.
"I have to double check, your group has so many fights with Coven heads that it gets exhausting sorting through all of them." Moon girl rubbed her head. "Matt, would you please massage my head while I concentrate?"
"Uh…Matt's not here Celene." The human pointed out.
"...What?" The one eyed girl stood agape.
"Yeah, he didn't land with us when Lucci threw us away." Amity looked around. "Come to think of it…I don't think he WAS thrown."
"...So the weak outcast and my boyfriend, who's a SPECIFIC target for coven heads, are on a lake of fire to grab a rock from space while a Coven head is right behind them and likely to get them killed?" Boscha summed up the HORRIBLE turn of events.
"Yep." The human nodded. "Lets just hope Lucci's body is actually capable of … surviving." For once, she wanted the human to be right.
========================================================================
Matt woke up to a long string of expletives. "Damn, shit, fuck, gahhh!" He slowly turned his head, noticing he was inside of a bubble, being pushed by Lucci. The boy was panting, red mist coming out of his mouth … what was it that the human said, blood boiling?
"Uh…hell..ah, throat burning, throat on fire!" Matt coughed.
"Oh, you're awake." Lucci grunted, his sweat became steady as he kept going forward. "You wouldn't wake up no matter what I did, so I couldn't just tossed out in the air without risking you breaking something, so a bubble was the second best option." The boy's voice became raspy as he gasped more and more.
"Ah …" He got up, clutching at his burning insides. "How close … are we?"
"... You ever stare … directly at the sun?" The boy asked.
"Not particularly." Matt responded.
"Well unless the … moon is wrong … we're seeing a second sunrise … right there." He pointed to- blinding light .
"AAAAH! My eyes…the moisture in my eyes is turning into steam, it burns so much!" Matt covered his own face
"I see what Luz … meant now …" The boy turned around, showing half of his face looked scorched. "That light … is melting anything … it touches …"
"How are we even supposed to get close? One more step, and I'm pretty sure you're bunt barbecue
"Yeah … I don't think I can push it anymore … and-" The boy coughed out some smoke and red mist. "And I don't have a way … hey Sugar … Help me work on something." The boy pulled out a palisman. "Let's see if we can control this bubble at a distance if we work together."
"HHHSSSSSSSS." The snake hissed as it wrapped around Lucci's arm.
"Okay…one…two….THREE!" He made another pink bubble appear…right beside it. "Dang it, I'm still too far away!" The boy groaned, coughing up more mist as he suddenly turned to him. "Hey…you're in the construction track, right?"
"We've been hanging out every weekend and you just remember that now?" Matt glared at the guy.
"No time for snark, you're probably our only hope at getting that star!"
"...You're kidding right?" He asked skeptically. "How am I supposed to do anything when the guy that's literally half devil can't even come close to doing it?"
"Construction magic deals with rocks, just make them cooler."
"What kind of leap in logic is that!?" Matt ignored the agony in his throat. "I doubt Mason himself could do anything against this!"
Chink
The sound of whistling filled the air.
Chink
The two of them turned to the source of the noise.
Chink
And came face to face with Mason himself. "Hey there Lucifer Clawthorne, pretty warm wouldn't ya say?"
"... There's ten coven heads, how do you keep running into all of them?"
"Because I'm starting to think the titan hates me." Lucci groaned. "Please don't turn this into a fight, we've had a really long night."
"Oh, no problem, feel free to leave and cause more destruction." The man waved off. "I'm just here to bring whatever's causing this heat to the Emperor, simple Coven head duties, that's all."
"You think you can contain that !?" Matt pointed to the blinding and incinerating star.
"Oh, it's quite simple, just simple heat manipulation of construction material. A good user of construction magic can do it quite easily." The man took his hammer, and swung on the fiery liquid ground, turning it solid….and much more cool. "See, simple."
For a single brief instance, Lucci had the gall to look smug at Matt. "Not…one…word."
"Fine, here's six. Told you so." The kid smirked, before turning back to Mason. "So, really glad you don't want to kill, seriously, more people need to be like you…but, is there a slight chance you might, I don't know, don't bring that thing back to the Emperor?"
"Nah, he got a bit pissy when I couldn't recreate the portal key." The man chuckled. "A shame too, the portal door was quite a challenge to reconstruct."
That sent a spike of fear into Lucci. "Belos … had the portal fixed!?"
"Yep, about a month ago." Mason nodded. "Couldn't do much with it though, but then the golden guard came in with some titan's blood, so now I gotta work on a new project. The star thing just happens to be next on the list." He turned to it. "Well, better hop to it!"
"Matt, get to work on cool ground now ." The boy stated, his body glowing pink.
"Dude, that's a coven head, I can't just…"
"I'm going to be fighting him, you just keep the ground stable and grab the star when you can." Lucci interrupted. "Whatever Belos is planning, it's not going to be good for anyone, not for Amity, not for Boscha, and not for Celene. If you care about her, you will do this."
"...Low blow using my girlfriend dude." Matt grumbled. "Seriously, not cool."
"Nothing about this has been cool, literally." Lucci grabbed his palisman, and turned it into a sledge hammer. "Sorry Mason, but I can't let you have that star!"
"Understandable, do know I regret this fight too." The man nodded, swinging his weapon as multiple rocks shot at Lucci, the bubble beginning to fade as more heat came rolling inside.
"Dude, if you let this bubble pop, I'm toast!" Matt screamed.
"And if Mason grabs that star, the rest of the Isles is! So don't be a baby for once and DO SOMETHING!" Lucci rused head, smashing as many of Mason's rocks as he could, even when the steam came pouring out of the devil kid's body like some kind of engine. "Time for a new little thing humanity brought to the table if you're so set on that portal!" The boy shouted, switching his staff around into something flatted. "Baseball!" Before making a bubble, and swinging at it with enough force to cause the 'magma' to part.
"Ah, a child with their Palisman, that truly brings me back to the good old days." The bearded man sighed loudly as he mashed the ground, splashing the lava everywhere, getting Lucci to go defensive and dodge them. "It's going to be a shame without wild magic around. There won't nearly be enough buildings to fix from all the damage to keep me occupied."
"Oh is that all there is for you!?" Lucci shouted, or at least it looked like Lucci, Matt's vision was getting blurry. "Money and entertainment!?"
"Of course, enjoying life is why we live it after all." The man hollarad off a laugh as spikes of fiery rock were pulled from the ground, being flung like spears. "Though I suppose we'll have to see just how much of Belos's utopia lives up to the hype!"
The bubble was starting to flicker more and more. Soon Matt, plain, weak, Mattholomew would have contact with the open air and ground, where he would be fried in seconds unless he miraculously learned how to control this magma, something he JUST learned about today.
Okay, think about it Matt. He said you just manipulate heat. He's only managed to make one fist pop out of the ground before, so he just needed to both power up AND do something completely new simultaneously while trying to figure out how. This stuff was partially liquid, like…like clay? Yeah, think of it like clay…like really…really hot clay that would cook him alive if he didn't do this right. Clay was easy to mold, he loved clay, that was like baby's first construction magic.
Just make clay solid … solid … solid clay …
POP
The bubble popped….his hands and feet hit the ground…..but he wasn't dead….HE WASN'T DEAD!
"It's working!" Lucci stated with a grin.
"It's working!" Matt cheered, taking a step for-"Still hot though!"
"Nice to see when a youngling finds their stride." Mason grinned. "Now if you would only step aside.."
"Not in your life, buddy!" Lucci bubbled his fist as the snake wrapped around his arm. "Snake gatling!" Gushes of wind appeared as Mason seemed to be moving backward, looking like he was being punched rapidly in the chest.
"Impressive!" The man shouted, raising up a stone wall which began to crack. "Now try this on for size!" Multiple stone hands covered in magma coating started flying at them.
"Matt, time to put your new amazing skills to the test now!"
"On it!" He would do this, he would punch those rocks right back, he would…..make a single pillar. "...I'm gonna need like a couple test runs before I'm fully comfortable with this."
"That's completely fair, we're running miracles as it is." The boy nodded, pulling up a shield as the boy was pushed back, his eyes widening. "Okay, new plan, get us each a platform, but make it mobile."
Mat did as told, trying his best as he wobbled. "Now what?"
"Now I'm going to try an activity Luz mentioned once … and surf!" The guy took his palisman, and banged it against the ground, making him move forward on top of the semi stable liquid. "You get to that star and contain it, bury it, whatever you need to do, just don't let anyone grab it!"
"Alright, bury it under a wave of melted ground, that I can do." Matt nodded. "Wow, is this what it feels like to be useful…it's sort of tingly..in a good way though." Multiple stone blades nearly took his head off. "... Mixed bag."
========================================================================
Luz may have had a point, Lucci was starting to get the hang of it. Move like this, tilt like that … oh if his body wasn't trying to murder him every second, this would be fun. "Come on, Mason, I'm pretty sure there's damages that still need to be fixed from the invasion, or even the damages from the coven's day parade! Lots more things to do other than grab a rock from space!"
"Actually we got that covered." The man stated as he sent forth stone walls to try and box him in. "The Invasion was blocked off against a lot of Construction Coven workers due to fortified defenses making them less likely targets, so we lost only a few hands on deck. Not to mention you were surprisingly not as violent this year as your normal parades, you seemed super subtle."
"Damn it, I knew I should've just gotten a big bubble of abomination goo." Matter of fact, maybe he should've formed Pudding and have THEM fight Cuttie. Would've pissed the woman off from not being able to hurt them and explode her face again. "Seriously man, don't make me hurt you!"
"You punched me in the chest repeatedly."
"Like that actually hurts people like you."
"You cracked five of my ribs!"
"Really?" Lucci started at his hands. "Huh, I thought I was holding back. That pink mode really amps up the strength factor."
"You have modes?"
"I honestly don't know at this point. After the manticore incident everything just blurs." Lucci admitted. "But the point is I WILL use force stronger than that if you don't surrender."
"I think you got it backwards." Mason smirked as he hit the ground again, making multiple golem clones of himself out of the magma with each strike. "Either you back away now, or I'll be forced to use stronger force against you." He became surrounded. "You got spirit, kid, and I'll gladly watch what you'll turn out to be, but I still got a job to complete."
"Actually, you blockheads both got it backwards." A sassy sounding and dreadfully familiar voice announced itself as the ground opened up, and swallowed the golems whole while encasing them in the hot rock.
"No…oh you gotta be freaking kidding me!" One glance of rainbow hair was all Lucci needed to know who it was.
"The RAINBOW DEVIL!?" Both Mason and Matt shouted in disbelief.
"In the burning hot rock, baby!" The buff woman snickered as she smashed herself out of the ground. "Sorry I took so long, it's been a long while since I've been able to enjoy a nice Lava bath, and I had to take the chance while I could."
"Why are you always where I am!?" Lucci shouted. "Did you put a tracking spell on me or something!? Do you just watch me sleep?!"
"Believe me, you upper crust piece of shit, watching you is the last thing on my mind. You're the one that's constantly getting in my way." The bounty hunter threatened.
"Gahhhh." He groaned. "Okay Mason, I know we both want the Fallen Star, but I think we can agree-"
"Fuck this shit I'm out!" The man shouted, letting himself sink into a rock, and coming back up by creating a giant golem around himself. "I am not fighting that crazy broad again!"
"Aww, still sore about last time, Masey? I promise to go easy on you this time." The bounty hunter teased mockingly.
Said golem stood up, and began running away, leaving Lucci alone to buy time. "So … Fallen Star …"
"Wow, your head is so up your own gem, you can't even remember your own piece of work." The Rainbow devil snorted. "The Shooting star, one of Homeworld's greatests power sources, capable of reaching heat's hotter than the star's and suns themselves."
"So it's a fuel source you need because your stuff is lacking a buff." Luckily, Luz and her 'phone' taught him a thing or two.
"I lack nothing, Pinky. This just puts me far more ahead of dealing with the likes of you." The hunter smirked as she walked over to the star, where Matt was still trying to bury it. "Move pipsqueak, or I'm burying you under this world's mantle."
"Oh no you don't." Lucci struggled, cracking himself out of the rock she trapped him in, and went right for the throat to poof her…
Creak
Only to be grabbed by the neck. "Oh. It would be so sweet to poof you right now. To have your filthy diamond in my hands and shatter it to the point where it's a fine powder…but that would be too easy for you, Rose." The hunter squeezed Lucci's neck harder. "I don't just want to shatter you…. I want you to suffer. For every life you ruined in the past six thousand years , you will suffer their grief a hundred fold." She brought him closer to her face. "Only then…will you have my permission to die."
"Take the thing, don't hurt me!" … Well, Matt was badass while he lasted.
"Heh, at least that's one lackey that has brains. Thanks squirt." The hunter tossed him aside…and grabbed the star with her bare hands. "And this, this right here is how you handle it, not with whatever lame skinsuit you're using."
"Skinsui-you are a massive moron." Lucci couldn't help but point out.
"Ah, I'm the one with the shooting star now and your the one on the ground with no feasible way of picking it up. I'm not the one that looks like an idiot here." She pointed out. "So long Rose, see you soon."
The woman walked away, Diving into the magma and disappearing from sight. The moment she did, the floor rehardened and cooled, as if it was never hot to begin with, aside from there being black rock everywhere now.
"… Damn it." Lucci banged his head against the rock, already regretting everything about today.
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"So gooooood." Celine continued to apply ice glyphs onto her boyfriend. "So soothing …"
"I'm still sweating steam." Lucci complained as multiple glyphs were covered all over his body.
"I'm freezing you the best I can, your body heat is through the roof man." Luz complained as she drew a massive ice glyph on the ground. "Move him here, we'll see if freezing him solid can help."
The boy was unceremoniously tossed by his girlfriend, the kid's body completely covered in ice. "This is punishment for leaving me behind!" She shouted in rage.
"You were hallucinating. You either would have died or said something embarrassing that would've made you want to kill everyone else." The boy's explained as most of his body around the ice melted almost instantly.
"And that would be different from her default, how?" Amity questioned.
"Don't think I'm still not up for killing someone." That only really proved Amity's point. "Seriously, going after something crystal devil related is one thing, but a coven head, AND the rainbow devil!?"
"We can't let Belos have it …" The boy sighed as steam started dissipating. "Luz, he fixed the portal door."
"What?!" Luz exclaimed. "Not just that…he has the key too.."
"And with the vial being broken..,there's probably a limit to how much he can use it." Amity concluded. "Or..when.."
"No. Whatever Belos is planning, it has to do with the day of unity." Lucci mentioned that day . "That gives us roughly two months before he needs to use it."
"Right … two months to topple an empire …" Luz nodded hesitantly, probably realizing the futility of trying. "Come on, let's go home. We gotta get you to rest."
"I couldn't ask for anything better." The boy smirked, turning to Matt. "I can't say you were exactly brave back there, but for about a solid five minutes, you were cool."
"I'll take it …" The boy raised his fist triumphantly. "… Ow."
"Let me take you home before you become too cool to handle." Celine chucked as she walked her boyfriend in the other direction. "So, taking on a coven head, huh?"
"I didn't do that much. Just made the ground cool enough for us to walk on, nothing that special." He hesitantly laughed.
"I think the fact the man didn't immediately undo your hard work says something." She smirked. "You got skills, Matty. I'd love to see what you can make of it." Before ..,. that day… arrived at least.
They walked through the forest, carrying in warm silence … until the two of them were grabbed from behind. "Hey!" Matt shouted. "We've been through enough, let us go-…" He let out a high pitched scream. That slightly killed the macho image she was building in her head.
"Why would we let you go?" A voice called out to them…a voice that sounded like her own . "You're helping us out so much."
"Why do you look like-"
"They're Basilisks." Her boyfriend whimpered.
"Ah, I see you've encountered my kind before…you were one of twicepta's victims." The copy that looked like Matt snickered. "Aww if only she wasn't stopped."
"Celine, baby?" Matt started. "Can I ask how you didn't see this coming?"
"…I think I look too far forward to see what's in front of me." She admitted.
"Don't worry, I'll look for you." Her copy smirked, a green glow forming in their hands … before a fearful look enveloped their face. "We're doomed." The copy fell to the ground. "All I see is darkness…is that the fate of all…we…all is dead…life is nothing but dust floating in the wind."
"Strange. Usually oracles have nothing to show for themselves." The copy of Matt frowned. "Yo twenty four, you alright?"
"We're all doomed, there's no point, all paths lead to the end of the Boiling Isles, for no one can stop Unity."
"… Celine, have you been hiding something from me?"
"….No?" She weakly excused herself.
"Whatever, just drain them and get this part over with. We need to stay ahead of schedule."
"The schedule is irrelevant when all existence is entropy. We need an apocalypse bunker, or to spend our last minutes drowning in vices." Her copy stated in panic.
"... What vices would we even have?" The Matt clone asked. "We need magic to live, and that alone gives us a 'high' so to speak."
"Seriously Celine, what are they talking about?"
"I will drain you dry!" The basilisk opened her mouth, and Celine's world went black.