A boiling rainstorm raged as a cloaked witch ran through a forest into a large temple. Inside of the temple, the witch removes her hood to reveal a much younger Eda with mostly ginger hair with some streaks of gray.
Eda lifted her cloak and grunted as she saw that it was full of holes. What she failed to notice was a pair of yellow eyes watching her from inside of a pile of rocks. As she moved past some stacked stones, a shadow ran past her startling her.
"Who's there? Reveal yourself!" Eda said as she got her staff ready to defend herself. As the shadow approached her, Eda turned before gasping in shock.
At the Owl House, Luz sat in the living room as she scribbled on a notebook. She starts to draw a glyph but quickly scribbles it out with a frustrated grunt. She grabbed another piece of paper from her pile that is next to the towers of books surrounding her.
"Luz!" King dove through a pile of books. "I need your help! I think Francois is trying to start a rebellion."
He pointed towards the couch as Francois was surrounded by more of King's stuffed animals. Suddenly, a jagged dagger with a red gem on the hilt slid to the side of Francois. King shuddered when he saw it.
"In a minute, King. I'm getting so close to figuring out this glyph combo," Luz said as she continued to draw in her notebook.
"It's always glyphs and portals with you these days. What about King?"
"Why don't you ask Lilith for help? She was in the Emperor's Coven. She has more experience with unruly mobs than anyone." The two turned to look at Lilith. She was kneeling at the coffee table as she carefully drew a circle on a pice of paper using red ink.
She was looking at it extremely closely as her eyes appeared like she hadn't slept for a while and her hair was a mess.
She giggled giddily. "Watching the ink dry is the best part." King grunted in disapproval
"A fresh cup of tea for my favorite cup of tea. That's you, Lulu," Hooty said as he handed Lilith a mug.
Lilith smooths her hair as she looked at Hooty. "Hootsifer, you truly are a gem," she said as she pet Hooty on his head. "How do you always know what to do?"
"What's going on? Is Hooty blackmailing her?" King asked in a whisper
"Oh, I think they're actually friends. Isn't that nice?" Luz asked as she continued to work on a glyph combo. King turned to see Cruz sitting by the window as he looked over multiple notes and different books.
"Can you help me instead, Cruz? I'm sure you have something I can use to quell the rebellion."
Cruz looked up from his notes as he looked at King. "Sorry, King. I've been too busy lately with this portal research. That and I've been trying to make an Abomaton of my own. Haven't had much luck with it."
"Is it because you can't make abomination goo?" King asked
"No. I managed to get some from Amity. The only problem with it is the power source. Alador uses boiling sea water and a bit of abomination magic to create the power source in a reusable way. It basically recycles the magic with the sea water in a loop. I tried using Fool's blood instead, for some reason the abomination goo doesn't respond well to it. It's almost like dropping acid on it."
"I'll need something else instead. Either a new power source, or something that's compatible with Fool's blood."
"Okay, this will work for sure," Luz said as she stood up gaining their attentions. "Now you see me…" Luz slammed a piece of paper on herself before she promptly disappeared. Cruz and King gasped as Lilith looked up in surprise before Luz reappeared.
"…Now you don't!" Luz looked down at her hand and saw that she was visible again. "Oh, I guess it only lasts as long as I hold my breath. Still pretty cool, huh?"
King rushed and clung to Luz's leg. "Don't ever do that again!" King yelled
"Do that again!" Lilith said as she stood up in amazement. "How ever did you accomplish it?"
"Well, Cruz and I haven't really been putting too much effort into looking for more combos since we thought we'd found enough of them. But with the snow combo you discovered, I figured we can find some if we look in other places. I got the invincibility idea from your history books, Lilith."
"Who says history is lame," Cruz said as Luz handed him a copy of the invisibility glyph.
"Fascinating! As the lead historical scholar of the Emperor's Coven, my aid could be very helpful in—" As Lilith began to walk around the table she tripped over one of King's stuffed animals toppling the tower.
"An ambush! Men, defend your ruler!" King said as he tossed a green pig with tusks at Lilith. Hooty dove in front of Lilith as the stuffed pig hit him. He fell into her arms dramatically.
"I'm done for, Lulu."
"Hootsifer, this is make-believe," Lilith said unimpressed
"Ah, to die in your arms. Avenge me! Blegh!" Hooty stuck his tongue out as his eyes turned to X's. Lilith gave him a deadpanned look as King tossed another stuffed animal at her head with a squeak.
"The King of demons yields to no one!"
"Historically, demons have never been united under a single rule until Belos. There's no such thing as a King of demons," Lilith said as King tossed another stuffed animal at her head, annoying her.
"Blasphemy! Clearly, you know nothing of my reign of terror. Allow me to tell you. I was once the mighty King of Demons. I was beloved almost as much as I was feared. But one dark day, an evil spell was cast... turning me into this." As King finished explaining he kneeled dramatically.
"Oh? What happened to your 'crown of power'?" Hooty questioned
"A trifle! That was just to test Eda, Cruz and Luz's dedication to me! They passed," King said. "My real crown is still out there. But when I shrank, my memories got, uh... fuzzy." Luz bent down as she put a hand on his back.
"How convenient. A hole in your memory for each hole in your story," Lilith said
"Nice one, Lulu! Up top!" Hooty said as Lilith high fived his face giving him a black eye.
"Hey! I remember plenty!" King protested. "I remember armies bowing before me, being served the greatest of feasts and falling from a massive height as evil hex shrank me. One day, I'll return to my rightful place... and all shall fear me!"
"Aw, you're gonna be such a good tyrant!" Luz said as she picked him up and started to scratch his belly. "Who's the scariest demon king? Who is it?"
"Me! It's me!" King said happily as he giggled. Cruz smiled at the two.
"Your dedication to this farce would be charming if it wasn't so sad," Lilith said
"Projecting there a little," Cruz said under his breath remembering how dedicated Lilith was to her belief of Belos.
"Don't blame me for your ignorance. I'm not a liar and I can prove it," King said as he left the room.
Lilith scoffed feeling offended. "He called me ignorant! Me!" Hooty shook his head in disapproval
"Stop it, you guys. This story is really important to him," Luz said as she stood up and started to clean up the stuffed toys. "So the least we can do is play along."
"You mean indulge his silly fantasies?" Lilith questioned
"Yeah! I'm a house of principles! You're asking me to lie? Hootrageous!"
"Who's to say that King isn't telling the truth," Cruz said
"You really believe him?" Lilith asked
"Hey, all I know is that in the human realm, it's not that uncommon for history to be either rewritten or completely erased. Or what, you're telling me that Belos isn't the type to try and erase any bit of history that would contradict anything he'd say? Remember, this is the same person that lied to you about curing Eda and being able to talk to the Titan."
"Well, when you put it that way…" Lilith began to say as she thought about his point.
"Could you please just go with it?" Luz said; "For his sake?"
King reentered the room holding Eda and Lilith's staffs after struggling to get them through the doorway. "All right, you two shall regret ever doubting me. We're going to my castle!" King announced.
"Oh, no," Cruz said not liking where this was going
"Uh.." Luz stared at him not knowing what to say
"What's wrong, Luz?" Hooty asked as he slithered behind her. "I thought you said we should just go with—"
"Go with him! I said we should go with him, right?" Luz said as she pushed Hooty back. "How could I forget what I just said?" Luz grabbed Eda's staff as Lilith grabbed her own.
"My historical expertise is being questioned, and I will not allow it. Hooty, would you like to accompany us?"
Hooty gasped sharply at her offer. "I-I'll get ready!" Hooty slithered back towards the door before he began to remove himself from the door. The four looked on in horror and disgust as they saw his process before gasping. The door hole was now hollow with pulsing organs surrounding the edges.
Down on the floor, Hooty now sat in a bird house shaped backpack. "Porta-Hooty, reporting for Hooty!"
Luz began to dry heave as King teared up while slowly shaking his head. Lilith's hand rested on her chest as she looked taken aback. Cruz looked like he was trying his best not to throw up. "I really wish that I had some memory erasing potion on me right now."
Eda stepped out of the shower as the five all flew off on their staffs. "Hmm? Where'd everyone go?" Eda questioned as she entered the living room, adjusting her hair underneath her towel. "Man, they made a mess in here. Oh well. It's been a while since I had room to put my feet up." Eda jumped on the couch before she detached her feet.
As her head laid on the arm rest, she opened her eyes before noticing a note. "Off to my real castle! Don't wait up! Love, your favorite demon overlord."
"Oh, no! Not again!" Eda said as she fell off the couch since her feet were still detached. After getting dressed, Eda ran out of the house as she put on her boots before running into the shed before she flew off using a bathtub with a motor.
The five were still flying over the sea as King kept his eyes peeled while sitting in front of Luz. Lilith flew slightly behind as she was wearing Hooty on her back, while Cruz flew close to the other two. Both twins wore their cloaks to keep them warm from the high altitude air.
"Are we still flying? It's been hours!" Hooty complained as he slinked down.
"Should we call it a day? Or perhaps… a night?" Lilith said as she chuckled. "Hooty, your sense of humor is infectious."
"Oh, for the love of—are we there yet?" Cruz asked not wanting to hear any more of Hooty's jokes.
"There it is!" King said as he pointed towards an island surrounded by fog. It looked like a cylinder with a broken wall.
King steered Luz towards the island as Lilith and Cruz followed. As they got closer they could see a large forest with a broken tower of some kind in the center.
"This island shouldn't be here. It's not on any of the maps," Lilith said in disbelief
"It's always been there when I looked for it," King said smugly as they landed at the shore before heading towards the forest.
"After I shrunk, I woke up here, in Eda's arms, and she carried me away. Like a wittle baby," King explained
"Aww," Luz cooed. She grunted as she gestured for Lilith to follow her example.
"Fine," Lilith said as she grunted. "Aw."
Hooty gasped as he looked ahead. "Look!" The group looked ahead to see the fog begin to part showing the large structure. "Ah, home sweet home," King said.
King lead the group through the forest. He climbed over a tree root as Luz, Lilith, and Cruz all followed after him.
"That tower is certainly intriguing, but—Oh!" As Lilith climbed over the root, she tripped before Hooty extended himself towards a tree to stabilize her.
"Thank you, Hootsifer," Lilith said
"My pleasure," Hooty said in a muffled voice.
"But couldn't we have landed a little closer?"
"The treetops are so thick, this is the only way in," King said as he pointed up towards the trees. "Plus, now I can dramatically do…" King grabbed a bush that was in their way before pulling it away; "…This!"
Behind the bush, stood a large doorway in the shape of a key hole. "Ooh. A door fit for a tyrant," Luz said looking down towards King.
He giggled as he put his paws on his cheeks. "That's me!"
As they walked towards the door, Cruz looked around the forest before looking back towards the tower. The air felt eerie to him as he could feel a chill down his spine. As he looked towards the tower, his eyes felt as if they were stinging before he shook off the feeling to rejoin the others.
As they made it to the entrance, they saw that it was blocked by a large pile of rocks. "I'll find you guys another way in," King said as he climbed the rocks before squeezing through them. "Wriggle, wriggle, wriggle!"
Lilith walked towards the wall and noticed the markings on it. "Huh. What a strange material," Lilith said as she touched it. "And this symbol. I've never seen anything quite like this."
"Ha! I've seen better graffiti. I've got better graffiti on me," Hooty said as he showed his side where Luz graffitied her name along with three S's.
"Luz, Cruz, look! This predates any language I know." The twins walked up towards the wall as they examined it.
"It… kind of looks like gold," Cruz said as he touched the wall. "But it doesn't feel how gold usually feels like."
"King's story may be a fake, but these ruins are a history mystery," Lilith said happily as she giggled and clapped in excitement.
The rocks collapsed behind them as King cleared the path. "Eh? What's a mystery?"
"Ha, ha, ha! The only mystery is how Lilith can be so smart and so wrong at the same time," Luz said as Lilith looked at her in annoyance. "Academics, am I right?"
"You so are. Come on in," King said as he entered the tower. Luz looked up to see Lilith and Cruz giving her a dirty look. She smiled sheepishly back at them as they entered the tower.
As they entered the tower, the three summoned a ball of light since there was barely any light in the room. They looked around and saw multiple stacks of rocks all in the same shape of some kind of figure with a crescent shaped head.
"Ah, the chamber where I would devour the hearts of my foes. The taste was cold and bitter, but I bet yours would be sweet, Luz. And yours too, Cruz," King said as Cruz shrugged.
"With all the sugar I eat, it better be," Luz said mater of factly
"Sugar helps to keep the brain moving," Cruz said
As they continued to look around, a shadow passed behind Luz startling her. When she turned to see what it was, there was nothing there.
"Can't believe your eyes, huh? My castle does have that effect," King said as he climbed on Luz's shoulder
"Yeah," Luz said as she laughed sheepishly. "So much wonder…"
As Lilith continued to wander, Hooty suddenly gasped as he looked towards a wall. "Are you seein' what I'm seein'?"
Lilith walked over towards the wall, which had a large mural of a demon that bore a striking resemblance to King. "These carvings, they're ancient."
"Wh-what does that mean?" Hooty asked
"Well, if I've never heard about this ruin, let alone this entire island, who knows what other parts of history we scholars have missed?" Lilith said as Hooty took another look at the mural before looking back at Lilith in shock.
"Are you saying..."
"That he may actually have been..."
"The King of Demons?!" They both said in unison and shock as they looked back to see King standing regally on a pile of rocks next to Luz and Cruz.
"Ah, my kingdom. I, uh.. I got some bone dust in my eye," King said as he wiped a tear away from his eye.
"What was up there?" Luz asked as she looked up to see a hole in the roof being plugged up by rocks.
"I-I can't quite recall. I just remember a muffled roar, probably some minion praising my name."
"Well, uh... wanna head back?" Luz said as she looked up at him. "This is all so cool, but Eda's probably on her third cup of apple blood by now, and the last time, it was real hard getting her off the roof."
Hooty suddenly knocked Luz onto the ground as he came up to King. "Your Majesty! It's me, faithful ol' Hooty. You know I was messin' around with you the whole time, right?"
"Your majesty?" Luz questioned as Cruz helped her up. Lilith then appeared as she moved the twins to the side as she came up to King.
"It's clear these ruins are of immense historical value. Perhaps you could tell me more about them," Lilith said with interest.
"I suppose I could, uh, regale you with some tales," King said with a laugh.
Luz and Cruz heard some hissing coming from a dark corridor. "Am I using that word right? Regale?"
As the twins walk up to the corridor they hear more hissing before they gasped. "Uh, guys, are you hearing this?" Luz asked as she turned to the others.
"I'll show you where my throne used to be. It was made from the teeth of my enemies and… hehe… boy, was it awkward to sit in." King lead Lilith and Hooty towards the throne room.
"Let's go check it out, Luz. I'm sure it's nothing we can't handle," Cruz said as the two headed down the corridor.
As the two headed down the corridor, they saw the walls lined with recesses that held stone statues that looked like the small ones in the previous room. The main difference between these statues and the ones in the other room was the size and that they were partially covered in fleshy goop.
"What are these things?" Luz questioned as she looked around
"Look like some kind of statues, but more… organic," Cruz said.
They stopped in front of one of the statues that had its hand out. Luz looked at it and groaned in disgust before they continued to walk.
Luz immediately came back to it. "Just kidding. I'd never leave someone hanging. Up top, buddy." As she high fived it, the statue broke apart falling on her.
"That's why you don't touch things recklessly," Cruz said as Luz gasped.
"Cruz, look." The twins shined their light towards the ceiling and saw that many more of the same statues lining the walls. As Luz stood up, they saw that one of the crevices was empty.
They suddenly heard hissing noises coming from behind them. As they turned around, they saw what looked like one of the creatures heading towards King and the others. The twins looked at each other in worry before running back to warn them.
Back in the main room, King was sitting on Hooty's bird house as he showed Lilith and Hooty more murals. "And that's how I would annihilate my enemies. Who needs due process, am I right?"
"What does this image represent, my lord?" Lilith asked as they saw a mural of a demon that looked like King holding up a spear while fighting a large demon.
"Uh, it's hard to remember. But that handsome devil looks familiar, huh?"
"Tour's over! We gotta go! Now!" Luz said as she and Cruz ran in.
"But there's so much to learn," Lilith protested
"Not worth the danger that's here," Cruz said
"This environment is not conducive to learning. It's conducive to death!" Luz pointed out
"Ah, you saw the horrifying monstrosity room," King said as he jumped off Lilith's shoulder. "Don't worry, they can't hurt you."
They heard hissing coming from above them. They all looked up as Cruz lifted the orb of light to see one of the creatures crawling on the ceiling. It rotated its head as it looked down at them.
"Nope!" Cruz said feeling a chill run down his spine
"That one can. Let's go!" Luz said as she grabbed King and started to run towards the entrance. The creature jumped in front of her stopping her advance before changing its hand into a claw as it began to swipe at her and knocking her down.
Lilith took out three ice glyphs before throwing them towards the creature as they formed icicles pinning it to a pile of rocks but stabbing its chest and arm. Cruz quickly summoned multiple spikes of ice further pinning the creature down.
"Dang, girl, you've been practicing!" Luz said as Lilith helped her back up before they all began to ran towards the entrance.
"You may admire my progress when we get out of here alive!"
As they ran towards the entrance, the creature slipped through the icicles before shattering the ice spikes surrounding it. It began to crawl the walls and ceiling as it raced towards the group.
As the creature landed in front of the group it looked at them before it started to raise its left arm it had changed into an axe. Cruz stood in front of Luz and Lilith as he prepared a spell circle. He could feel his eyes stinging as they began to glow again in a low hue.
The creature saw the glow in his eyes as it looked at Cruz in confusion before it started to lower its axe down slowly. Before they could figure out why it had started to act strange, an explosion at its head knocked the creature down to the ground.
Eda jumped down the rocks as she wore a bandolier with multiple explosive potions.
"Get out of here," Eda said as she grabbed a potion. "I'll hold it back and meet you outside." She tossed another potion at the creature.
"Eda! We can fight it together!" Luz called out
"You can't beat this thing. Go!" Eda ordered confusing Cruz on how Eda knew about this creature.
They all looked at each other before following Eda's advice and running out the door. Eda grabbed another potion as she tossed it in her hand.
"It's been a while. Miss me?" The creature looked at Eda before lunging at her.
The group run out of the temple before they stopped and turned to look back at it.
"More running, less stopping!" Hooty said urgently
"Edalyn said to wait here!" Lilith said
"We can't let her fight it alone! We have to go back!" Luz said with clear worry
"She'll be fine. Eda's tough, even without magic," Cruz said as more explosion were heard coming from the inside.
They all looked up with worry and frightful anticipation. King clung to Luz with fear in his eyes. Suddenly, Eda came back out clutching a wound on her shoulder.
"Edalyn!" Lilith said as she ran up to her and held her. "You're hurt. What of that horrible creature?"
They all turned to see the creature begin to climb out of the temple while hissing. It lifted its axe arm before it swung it down before a blue forcefield appeared at the entrance, and the axe arm went limp. The creature pulled the arm back before retreating into the temple.
"It can't get past the entrance. We're safe now," Eda reassured them as Cruz traced a light blue spell circle over Eda's wound as he began to heal it.
"That thing must be guarding this place against intruders," Luz reasoned
"But it's my castle. How could we be intruders?" King questioned
"Uh... u-um..." Luz looked at Cruz as he shook his head not knowing what to say either.
"You don't believe this is my castle," King said as he saw the look in the twins eyes.
Luz looked away from King as sweat began to form on the side of her head. King saw that Cruz also looked nervous about answering the question.
"Luz, Cruz, you both think I would lie to you?"
"King, I—"
"You aren't lying," Eda said as she stood back up. "You just don't know the truth." Eda sat down on a rock as Lilith began to bandage her arm. "It's time for me to tell you how we really met."
"Eight years ago I was looking for a place to hide from the Emperor's Coven. I never knew this place existed and it just... appeared out of the mist. So, I landed." A younger Eda looked at her ruined cloak before she noticed the tower in the distance.
"Now, I was one hot tamale, but the boiling rains were even hotter. I needed shelter." The younger Eda entered the temple as she removed the hood from her cloak. "But when I found it… I wasn't alone."
Eda noticed a shadowy figure as it ran behind her. "Who's there? Reveal yourself!" Eda brandished her staff as the figure approached.
From behind a little stone structure, baby King jumped out as his tailed wagged happily. Baby King tilted his head in curiosity as Eda lowered her staff, knowing she wasn't in danger.
Baby King then grabbed a crescent shaped rock as he put it on a small pile of rocks, making one of the small stone statues in the room.
"Did you make all these? What are you?" Eda asked as she began to pet baby King, who began to happily wag his tail.
"I assumed you were just some stray dog. But then.." From behind the two, the same creature towered over them as it raised its axe arm. "That thing was going to kill us both. So I picked you up and bounced."
As Eda and baby King flew out of the temple, the creature stood at the entrance before changing its arm into a bow and arrow and shot towards them. The stone arrow it had shot, managed to hit them as it broke off King's left horn knocking him out as the two fell to the ground. Eda grabbed the unconscious King and the broken horn before flying off the island.
"Against my better judgment I took you home with me."
Back at the Owl House, Eda looked into the living room to see King, now awake, stacking piles of objects to look like the statues in the temple. "I'd gotten you the collar, 'cause... well, that's what you do when you get a new pet. But then.."
Baby King finished stacking objects to look like the statue as he stood proudly in front of his work. "Ah, look at you. A King amongst his subjects," Eda said with a chuckle.
"King. King!" Baby King fell onto the ground with a yelp surprising Eda as he spoke for the first time.
"It spoke. Yeah, that's right, a King," Eda said as she kneeled down to baby King. "You know what else Kings do? They command armies and eat delicious feasts."
Baby King fell back happily before sitting up a continued to listen to Eda's stories. "And that's how you got the idea you were some despotic overlord."
"Oh, but you were finally happy. So I kept playing along with it," Eda said with a slight shrug as she looked at him.
"Y-you're lying!" King said in disbelief
"I'm not," Eda said as she took our King's broken horn. King took the horn as he looked at it curiously before he gasped.
"My army? My feasts… my life…" King looked down at the horn before throwing it down in a panic. "Aah! No! Keep that thing away from me! It's messing with my head!"
Luz and Cruz looked at him with sympathy as Luz extended her hand out to him. "King, it's going to be okay."
"Y-You're all just making fun of me, like usual, right?" King said as he began to hyperventilate.
"No! No, no, no, no!" King begins to sob as his reality starts to break apart.
"No, no, no, no, no, no, no!" King started to sob as he ran off into the forest. "No!"
"King!" Luz extended her hand as he ran off.
"King?! King! Please, come back!" Luz yelled into the forest as they all searched the forest.
"I can't fly. The tree cover is too dense. I regret ever playing a part in this," Lilith said with sadness
"Is this what regret feels like? I hate it!" Hooty said as he started to sob before dropping over Lilith's shoulder who started to pat him gently.
"I lied to him, even though I knew he trusted me. Now, he's all alone," Luz said as she sat down on a rock with tears in her eyes.
"Luz, it's not your fault. I should've said something too instead of just staying quiet. I'm sure that you'll make this right," Cruz said as he hugged Luz which she returned.
"For now, let's split up. This island is small, and he's even smaller. He can't have gone far," Eda said as Lilith and Hooty headed into the jungle to look.
"Don't worry, we'll find him," Eda said as she kneeled down and put a comforting hand on Luz's shoulder before running off to look.
"Come on, hermana. Let's go find him," Cruz said as Luz wiped the tears from her eyes and stood up with a determined look on her face.
"You're right. Let's go," Luz said as the twins headed into the forest to find King.
"King? King?!" The Noceda twins called out to him as they made it through the fog surrounding the forest as they reached the beach.
They found King sitting on a log looking out towards the sea. They looked at him with sadness before sitting down with him in between them.
"Eda was right, wasn't she?" King asked, still feeling upset. "I was never King of anything. I'm nobody."
"You know that's not true, King," Cruz said trying to reassure him
"He's right. You are somebody. And I love that somebody very much. I'm sorry I lied about what I believed," Luz said as she looked down.
"Everyone lied! And I was too caught up in the fantasy to realize it!" King said as he started to cry again.
"I… I don't know what to do, you guys. I can't tell what's real and what's fake!" King held his head as tears streamed down his face.
Luz bites her lips as she feels herself about to cry as well. Cruz looked down at King sympathetically before looking back towards Luz. She looked back towards the tower as a thought occurred to her.
"Something's not adding up. One of your memories is falling, right?"
"Probably another stupid thing I made up," King said as he wiped away the tears from his face.
"No! What if that's a real memory?" Luz asked
"She's right, it could one of your earliest memories," Cruz said as he and Luz stood up
"Why does it matter?" King asked
"You said you remember a roar from up in that shaft. Maybe that's where you fell from! Eda found you in those ruins. There's gotta be a clue in there about where you came from!"
"I don't know, Luz. What if the story gets worse?" King asked hesitantly.
"You might have been alone before, but you have us now. Whatever we find up there won't change that. So, what do you say?" Luz said as she extended a hand towards King.
"She's right. No matter what kind of past you've had, the present is the most important thing," Cruz said as he smiled down towards King.
King looked at the two before taking Luz's hand. "Okay."
The three head into the jungle before they find Eda and Lilith waiting for them as they look worried. Eda spots them as she smiled.
"King! You're alright!" She runs up to them happily before she noticed King's expression
"You're mad at me. I get it. I would be, too," Eda said with a sigh before she kneeled to him. "I'm so sorry, King."
King suddenly poked her on her cheek. "Boop. No more secrets, okay? You have to promise me."
"Only truths. I promise."
"Great. Now, before we leave, we have one more thing to check out," Luz said as she pointed towards the tower.
"We might find a lot of answers in there," Cruz said. He wanted to know why the creature had started to act strangely when he stood in front of Luz and Lilith.
Back inside of the temple, the creature was repairing one of the little stone statues when it suddenly turned its head towards the entrance. A flying explosive potion with a sticky note with Eda's face on it hits it in the head.
Lilith then flew into the temple holding Hooty like a bazooka over her shoulder.
"Special delivery: pain!" Hooty said as he coughs up another explosive potion that hits the creature as something invisible passes by.
Luz and Cruz take a breath as they reappear with King and Eda sitting on her staff along with Luz.
"You sure they'll be alright?" Eda asked as they stopped and Luz hopped off her staff.
"Hooty know what to do," Luz said as she ran off to start her plan
"I'll give them some back up," Cruz said as he flew towards the creature.
Eda turned back towards Lilith and Hooty as he shot off multiple explosive potions at the creature in a rapid fire.
"You sure they'll be alright?" Eda asked, feeling doubtful as she started to rise up on her staff towards the ceiling.
Cruz flew in as he created a yellow spell circle shooting off a bolt of lightning towards the creature.
The creature dodged out of the way, but instead of attacking Cruz, it seemed like it intended to simply ignore Cruz more than anything. This confused Cruz even more as Lilith and Hooty continued to launch explosive potions at it.
When Eda reached the ceiling, she planted an explosive potion in the rocks and landed next to Luz.
"Ready?" Eda asked
"I always wanted to do something like this!" Luz said in excitement as she got a fireball ready.
"They're in place!" Hooty said as he looked towards Luz and Eda
"Hold your breath!" Lilith said as she and Cruz activated the invisibility glyph again.
The creature hissed as it looked around before it got hit around by Lilith and Cruz.
As Luz is about to shoot the fireball towards the potion, the creature manages to grab Lilith and Cruz's face causing them to become visible again and drop their staffs.
As it noticed it grabbed Cruz, the creature quickly let him go causing him to fall to the ground. Luz's fireball hit the potion causing it to explode and clearing the path.
The creature turned to look at the explosion giving Hooty the opportunity to hit the creature in the face, forcing it to let Lilith go. She and Cruz grabbed their staff as they started to follow Luz, Eda, and King up the hole.
"Fly, fly, fly!" Lilith and Cruz create two light orbs as they follow after the others. The creature quickly follows them as it starts to crawl up the tunnel. They quickly reach the top of the tunnel as they look around.
"There's…"
"There's…"
"Nothing here!" Eda said as they saw the small empty room surrounding them. They all get off their staff as they begin to explore the room. King turns as he hears rattling coming from below. He sees that the creature is quickly climbing the tunnel.
"It's coming!" King said in a panic as the creature climbed over the edge. King ran as it swiped at him. He retreats towards the others as they hold their staff defensively.
As they moved back towards the wall, King touched a door as it reacted as it began to glow and open, confusing him.
As the door opened, they all fell into the next room. They quickly ran to close the door as the creature began to reach out towards them. They managed to close the door, cutting off its arm. They all took a deep sigh of relief.
"Huh, I think we're safe... for now. But how did we get the door open?" Eda questioned
"Huh?" King looked down at his paw wondering why it reacted to him.
"This room is old," Lilith said as she looked around. "Very old." They looked around and saw that the room was filled with decaying plants and a skylight that shined down on a golden pedestal.
The walls seemed to be lined with drawings of stars and the same creatures that they'd found dormant. King walked up to the pedestal and saw a broken eggshell sitting in the center.
"I knew there was something up here!" Luz said happily. "I'm like the mystery whisperer. The butler did it, magnifying glass, secret door."
"Calm down, Sherlock," Cruz said with a chuckle as Luz rolled her eyes at him with a smile.
"It looks like that creature was made to guard whatever was in here", Lilith said as she looked at the wall murals.
"Is this place some kind of… nursery?" Cruz asked as he looked at the eggshell.
"King, does any of this feel familiar to you?" Luz asked
"I'm not sure, but I think I know how to jog my memory," King said as he stood on the pedestal. "Eda, I'm ready." He extended his paw out towards her.
"Are you sure?" Eda asked with worry
"I am."
Eda took out the broken horn as she handed it to King. He placed the broken horn on the stump on his head before he gasped as memories started to flood back in.
"I remember a deep roar. And then something happened…" An unborn King hears a muffled roar from a demon from outside of his egg before an explosion could be heard, startling him. "…but I was too small to do anything. So, I went back to sleep."
As more time had passed, King had developed more in the egg. "And the next time I woke up..." The eggshell had started to crack as light started to pour in. Baby King reacted to the light as he started to reach for it. As baby King fell out of the egg, he fell onto the floor before looking up to see the same symbol that lines the walls on the outside.
Baby King crawled towards the door. As he touched it, the door reacted as it opened up with the creature standing outside, almost as if it was waiting for him. The creature grabbed King as it cradled him before it jumped down the tunnel holding King protectively. King reached towards the light in the ceiling as he descended.
King took off the horn as all of his memories now became clear with a look of revelation on his face.
"King…" Luz said as she walked towards him.
"That roar. It meant 'son'," King said as he turned to look at Luz and Cruz hugging his horn. "I don't know how I know that, but I do. Someone called me their son. Luz, Cruz, I think it was my dad!"
"You might have a point there, King!" Cruz said feeling hopeful
"Maybe that was him on all those wall carvings," Luz suggested. Suddenly, from behind Luz the creature broke through the door with its axe arm.
"Luz!" Cruz jumped in front of Luz as he prepared lightning magic to defend her.
King ran up defiantly to the creature as he held up his paw. "Stop!" King ordered it with authority.
The creature's axe hand returned to normal as it bowed to King.
"That thing was defending King from us this whole time? Huh. Alright," Eda said. From behind them they heard a shutter click along with a flash. They all turned to see Lilith taking a picture of the wall murals.
"Oh, sorry. Were we discussing important revelations?" Lilith asked awkwardly as she looked at them. "I'll…" Lilith cleared her throat. "I'll just… do this later."
She took the photo from the camera as she sheepishly hid the camera behind her back as Hooty swallowed it.
"Maybe you weren't exactly the King of Demons, but—"
"I was important to someone," King said as he started to tear up. "If... If he's out there, I want to find him. I'm not that old! It could be possible!" King sniffled as he hugged the horn.
"Would you two help me?" King asked as he looked at Luz and Cruz.
"We'd do anything for you, buddy," Luz said happily.
"Yeah, just name it and I'll help out anyway I can," Cruz said with a smile
"Then… can we keep him?" King asked as he pointed towards the creature.
"No!" Luz, Eda, and Lilith said unanimously
"Why not," Cruz said as he shrugged
"Yes!" Hooty said happily as he wrapped his body around everyone.
Back at the Owl House, King was carving the symbol that lined the outer walls of the tower into his collar using a fork.
"Whatcha doin' there, King?" Luz asked
"That symbol was all over that tower. What if it's my name?" King said as Luz glued King's horn back onto his head. She wiped away the excess glue from his horn.
"Aah... gooey..!" King put his collar back on after he finished carving the symbol. "It's too bad Jean-Luc stopped moving outside the ruins. I liked having a big, scary minion."
They both looked to see the creature, now named Jean-Luc, sitting in the corner lifeless.
Luz looked at it, feeling creeped out. "Yeah… too bad," Luz said sheepishly.
"Luz, is it okay to still call me "King"? It feels kind of weird when I'm not the king of anything," King said as he looked down sadly.
"Well, you'll always be king of my heart. That's good enough, right?"
King thought about it for a moment before he smiled. "Yeah! Goodnight, Luz," King said as he laid down on the sleeping bag. Luz kissed him on his forehead.
"And Francois." King held up Francois as Luz kissed the toy on the head. "Now, Jean-Luc." Luz looked at the inanimate creature as some red goop fell on its knee.
"Bummer, looks like I'm all out of kisses. Maybe next time, goodnight!" Luz said quickly as she left the room and closed the door.
In the living room, Lilith, Eda, and Cruz looked at photos that Lilith had taken.
"I've never seen marking like this," Eda said as Luz sat at the coffee table and Lilith opened a book. "Hmmm... Ooh, is it some kind of ancient language?"
"And those old carvings. Who were they depicting?" Lilith asked as she flipped through the pages.
"Any ideas, 'mystery whisperer'?" Eda asked Luz as she picked up a photo.
"I don't know. But whatever we discover, we'll be there for King... no matter what." Luz looked at the photo of the demon holding up the spear.
"Looks like we've got a lot of research to get done. You mind if I borrow some of your books, Aunt Lily?" Cruz asked as Lilith looked at him in surprise.
"Aunt Lily? You haven't called me that since…" Lilith looked down sadly as she remembered that he'd stopped calling her that ever since the petrification ceremony.
"There's really no point in being angry with you anymore about it. You weren't the one that knocked me out that day. And besides, if anyone's to blame for that whole mess it's Belos."
"That's for sure, that bonehead is the cause of so many of our problems," Eda said cheerfully.
Lilith smiled at Cruz knowing that he'd forgiven her and was back to seeing her as his aunt. "If you need anything at all, don't hesitate to ask. If any of my books can help you, then they're at your disposal."
"Thanks, Aunt Lily. But first, I think I might have a way to start up Jean-Luc again," Cruz said as he stood up and headed towards the front door.
"Wait, seriously?" Luz asked as he opened the door. "I thought it was just going to be a decoration in my room from now on."
"I can at least try. If it works then we'll have some added security to the house. And maybe I can reprogram it to help out as an assistant. Hooty, I need you to grab Jean-Luc and bring it to my room."
"You've got it!" Hooty said as he extended his neck towards Luz's room. A startled "Weh!" told them that Hooty had woken King up.
Hooty came back to the door as he put himself back in place. "I put it in your room! It's sitting in the middle of the room now!" Hooty reported as he closed the door.
"I'll go see if I can start him up now," Cruz said as he headed towards his room. King came down stairs holding Francois.
"What happened? Why'd Hooty take Jean-Luc?" King questioned
"Cruz said he's gonna try and start it up again," Luz told him. "Let's go see if he can!" Luz and King ran off to follow Cruz.
As the two entered the tower, they opened the door to Cruz's room to see him working on Jean-Luc. His room was lined with multiple more blueprints and more of his experiments while on one end of his room, a lab was working on making potions automatically for him. A list of orders hung near the lab.
Luz and King saw him injecting Jean-Luc with Fool's blood using a syringe. "Why are you injecting him with that?" Luz asked
Cruz looked back at the two as he lifted his goggles from his face. "It looks like Jean-Luc had something inside of it. It's a liquid that looks pretty similar to Fool's blood. There wasn't a lot left in it, that might be why Jean-Luc stopped working once we left the tower. It was about the only thing keeping it going."
"So what are you going to use that other liquid for?" King asked
"Nothing," Cruz said with a sigh. "The liquids run its course. I'm not getting much of a reaction from it at all. Maybe if I charge it like I did with the Fool's blood I put in Jean-Luc, I might be able to do something. But for now, this liquid is pretty useless to me."
"So did you get Jean-Luc working again?" King asked as he walked up to the golem with some levels of excitement.
"We'll be able to tell as soon as I do this," Cruz said as he grabbed a piece of paper with the lightning glyph on it. Cruz tapped on the paper as lightning sparked from it and he extended the lightning covering Jean-Luc's body.
After a few moments of nothing happening, Cruz was about to declare the experiment a failure when a glow appeared in Jean-Luc's eyes. King, Luz, and Cruz stood back as Jean-Luc stood up and looked around at its new surrounding.
"Call me Dr. Frankenstein, 'cause I just made life!" Cruz cheered with a smile.
"Are we sure, that it's not going to hurt us? I mean we couldn't really do anything to it at all," Luz said with some worry
"We've got King here with us. He can just order Jean-Luc to stand down if it starts to get aggressive," Cruz said as Jean-Luc looked at King and him before bowing again.
The three let out a sigh of relief knowing they weren't in danger from the golem. "It looks like it worked. Now I just have to figure out a way to reprogram it."
"Do you have to? We know that it'll listen to me," King said as Cruz sat at his work bench.
"I kind of have to, King. For now it'll only listen to you, which is great to know. That way we know that it won't attack any of us here. But it won't really help since if you're not around, it's not going to listen to anyone and might just go looking for you instead."
"He's got a point there, King. Imagine how Jean-Luc can help us if it'll protect the house and help out with other stuff too," Luz pointed out
"You've got a good point there," King said as he turned to Cruz. "Can you still make it where I have a high authority over it?"
Cruz smiled down at him as he scratched King's fur. "Sure, buddy. I'll get to work on it as fast as I can. I might borrow Jean-Luc to act as an assistant for me. Not that it'll actually work right now. I can't just say, Jean-Luc grab me that battery cell and bring it over."
As Cruz turned to look at his computer, Jean-Luc stood up in attention before turning to grab the battery that Cruz had pointed at and grabbed it. Luz and King watched the golem walk to him as it placed the battery on his table gently.
Cruz looked at the battery before looking back at his computer. Cruz whipped his head towards the battery again in surprise.
"No way!" Luz said in surprise. "Jean-Luc actually listened to you!"
"But how?" Cruz asked as he held up the battery before looking at Jean-Luc again. "It should only be able to listen to King for now. I haven't done anything to it yet." Cruz began to think of theories on why Jean-Luc would listen to him before a thought occurred to him.
"Do you think it might be because I've got some demon blood in me?" Cruz asked as he looked at King and Luz.
"But then why not listen to Eda or Lilith?" Luz wondered
"I think it might be because of the type of demon I've become. From my horns, I might be the same type of species as King. Maybe Jean-Luc recognizes the features and the blood inside of me and thinks I'm the same species that it's supposed to be serving."
"It's a good theory and honestly makes the most amount of sense. What kind of demons do you think you two might be?" Luz asked as King and Cruz looked at each other.
"No idea, I've been reading all kinds of beast keeping books at the Bonesborough library. I haven't found a single clue on what we might be."
"So the mystery deepens," Luz said acting like a detective. Cruz chuckled at his sister's antics.
"Alright, I think that's enough for today. We'd better get some sleep. We've had a long and crazy day today. I can see if I can reprogram Jean-Luc tomorrow," Cruz said as he turned to Jean-Luc.
"Jean-Luc, take King back to Luz's room in the Owl House. She can show you the way. After that, go and patrol the perimeter of the house and make sure no one approaches us for tonight," Cruz ordered.
Jean-Luc seemed to understand as he scooped up King and gestured for Luz to lead the way.
"Weh? Put me down! I can walk on my own!" King said as Jean-Luc seemed to ignore his order before Luz waved to Cruz and led Jean-Luc towards her room.
"Interesting. It looks like for now, my orders take a higher priority over King's orders. Might be that Jean-Luc recognizes that I'm the older one of us two. Age might be a factor in determining whose orders are priority. Something I'll be work into the reprogramming." Cruz suddenly had another idea.
"There were a lot of those golems in the tower," Cruz said as he grinned.
"What's better than one Jean-Luc? A whole squadron of them. Oh man, this might be a lot more fun than I first thought."
Cruz smiled as he looked at his computer that was busy creating a program for the future Jean-Luc squadron.