"Do I really have to do this?" Nero asked as his mother prepped him up to make him seem more 'proper', as she liked to put it. He was wearing his Hexside uniform, which wasn't an issue, but his mom trying to do up his hair and adding a tie to give him a professional appearance was really starting to irritate him. While he got why she was doing this, that didn't mean he had to like it.
"Nero, the Covention is an opportunity for any witch of the isles to find a coven that suits their interests and join it," she explained with a hint of exasperation, "I'll be attending as a guest to inspire others to join the Emperor's Coven, and this is a perfect year for you to attend. You still haven't chosen a coven yet, and I'm hoping you'll find one today."
And one of the reasons for that was simple; Nero just didn't see the appeal in joining any covens. They all came off as so...limiting, what with how they blocked off your magic to only perform a specific type. The only coven that didn't limit magic was the Emperor's Coven, but while his mom did push for him to try out for it every now and then, he didn't want to wind up working for Emperor Freakshow, which was exactly what joining that damned coven entailed. What he really wanted was to just be who he was. Relax, kick some demon ass, and have fun while doing it.
But he had trouble doing any of that for the past three years. Ever since the Grom when he was fourteen, he tried to go out and fight in the forests like he did before, but couldn't bring himself to do it. He couldn't really explain how or why, but something was stopping him from doing so. About the closest he came to it was sneaking out a few times to make further modifications to and maintain Red Queen, but he never really used it anymore.
Overall, he just went about his days in a dull, mechanical fashion; doing schoolwork, passing classes, and ignoring everyone else around him.
"Mom, I'm just not really in the mood for picking a coven today. Can't we try some other time?" Nero asked. His mother simply sighed and straightened herself to meet him at eye level. Ever since his last growth spurt, they were both roughly equal in height, something Nero would admit that he took a bit of pride in given how tall his mother already was.
"Nero, selecting a coven is mandatory for when children of the isles come of age. You need to join one eventually. It's just the way things are." she explained again. They've had this talk every time he put off joining a coven. She didn't put up much of a fuss a couple years back, but now that he was seventeen, she was getting more restless on the subject, "Look, just...try. That's all I'm asking. Just make the attempt to find a coven that you'd want to join, okay?"
"Fine," Nero muttered. He still had no interest in joining any of them, but he'd at least give the covens a glance, if nothing else, "I'll try, but I'm still not really in a coven picking mood."
"Good." she said as she finished combing his hair, "Hopefully you'll find your preferred coven today. Make sure to find something you know you'd like. Y'know, something that would help you smile more." after she finished, she and Nero made their way to the door and headed off to the Covention. Nero doubted that any coven would help him feel better, and it wasn't like he could talk to his mother about the problem. Not without revealing the whole 'I've been sneaking out every now and then to fight demons in the woods' part that he really didn't want her to know about.
"I'd smile more if I didn't have to look like some pompous jackass," Nero said, noticing his mother's aghast look at his language, "What? You've said way worse than that."
"I...look, an important facet of entering a coven is how you present yourself. You want to come across as appealing to them so they'll be more likely to choose you." she said while pinching the bridge of her nose, "So please try to avoid cursing so much."
"Just saying that maybe you should take your own advi-"
"Nero." his mother sternly interrupted, not in the mode for backtalk right now. Nero could only sigh and say, "Alright, fine, I'll tone it down for now." after his mother nodded, they headed off.
"And here we are!" Nero resisted the urge to roll his eyes at his mother's excitement from seeing all the stands for the various covens. The many, many, pointless, meaningless covens.
"Oh, it's just such a delight seeing upcoming witches find their own covens. What do you think, Nero?" Nero could only shrug in response. This was his first Covention and so far, whatever appeal this place had was lost on him. Most of the covens looked rather pointless on concept alone. Seriously, why the fuck are there so many covens dedicated to cats?
"Well, in any case, I need to prepare for my guest appearance. Give this place a look around and see if one of the covens strikes you in any way," she said before she backpedaled, "Oh, and that wasn't a pun on the Striker's Coven, that just means-"
"Yeah mom, I get it. Go prepare for your thing, I'll see you later." Nero waved off as his mother gave him a quick hug before heading to where her guest appearance would be. Figuring he needed to start somewhere, he walked to the nearest stand to at the bear minimum get an idea of what some of the covens were really about.
"Hey Nero!" the ever familiar voices of the Blight twins entered his ears as he turned to face them. He looked and saw that both of them were in their Hexside uniforms, standing about a head shorter than him. Just behind them was the shorter, familiar, and overall less irritating presence of their younger sister, Amity Blight. She was wearing a Hexside uniform like the other two, albeit with the pink coloration of the Abomination track on the sleeves, and had brown roots in her hair contrasting the light green throughout.
"Hi Nero," she greeted politely. Nero had met Amity a few times beforehand, and overall, he found her to be better than her older siblings on the grounds that she didn't make it a point to actively worm her way into his day-to-day life.
"Hey guys." Nero greeted with a half-hearted wave. While he didn't feel like admitting it, Edric and Emira's presence became more tolerable in recent years. They still bothered him on occasion and were malicious pranksters, but at the very least they toned down the annoyance levels around him to a degree. "So, let me make an educated guess, Papa and Mama Blight wanted you to bring Amity here?" he rhetorically asked while gesturing to the youngest Blight in the area.
"Ding, ding, ding! He's got the right answer," Edric said like a game show host, "Tell him what he's won, sis!"
Emira smiled and continued, "Why, he's won a whole day with all three of us, of course!" she then proceeded to grab all of them into a hold. Nero didn't bother resisting, given that she'd just try again, but he did sympathize with Amity's efforts to get out, as futile as they were.
"Emira, let me go!" the youngest Blight grunted as she managed to just barely pry herself out as Emira released all of them.
"Oh come on sis, live a little." Emira cheekily said as she then reached for Amity's face to force her frown into a smile, only for Amity to slap her hands away.
While the Blight sisters were going about with their thing, Edric turned to him and said, "Mittens here wanted to see a bunch of different coven kiosks before the Emperor's Coven presentation. She's aiming for the top, but she's also looking for other covens to join."
"That's not it!" Amity said indignantly as she got her sister off of her, "I'm just...keeping my options open." she then looked down and pressed her index fingers together, "Y'know, just in case I don't get into the Emperor's Coven." Edric and Emira's faces softened up just a little while Nero looked at the girl's apprehension.
Deciding to try and cheer her up, he said, "Look, most of the Emperor's Coven guys are kinda worthless anyway. So if they got in, I'd say you're overqualified."
…Judging by the expression on Amity's face, his words didn't exactly help. "Uh, I'm sure what Nero meant to say was that you're more than talented enough to get in." thankfully, Emira tried wording what he said into a less unhelpful manner. "Now, Nero, hows about you join us in looking around? Looks like you got nothing better to do anyway, so you might as well."
"Fine," Nero rolled his eyes, seeing as whether he liked it or not, Emira was correct in that he had nothing better to do at the moment, "Let's just get this thing over with." Then Edric and Emira practically grabbed both his hands and pulled him along as his brain entered autopilot, tuning out much of the discussions each stand representative went into about their covens when they started to get uninteresting. He at least put a token effort in trying to find the covens interesting, but time and again all that led to was white noise. At one point, the Fortune Tellers coven attempted to give them all souvenirs, but while Amity accepted the pen they gave her, Nero turned down all of them. He was pretty sure the representative tried to play it off as an 'I knew you would say that moment', but the flustered and slightly pissy reaction said otherwise.
Just as they finished speaking with the representatives for the dice coven, they stopped and Nero saw that they were now standing in front of the opening to the auditorium arena, where the Emperor's Coven's presentation was about to begin.
"Oh! It's starting!" Amity exclaimed, "I'm gonna get a front row seat, see you guys later!" and with that, she ran inside, somewhat shoving and pushing past the others entering. After she left, Nero scoffed as he heard Edric and Emira snicker from behind him.
"What a waste of time," Nero muttered, hating this obnoxious coven system.
"Maybe it is, but Mittens wants to be part of the Emperor's Coven more than anything," Edric reminded him, "So, even if covens are boring, may as well put up with it."
Emira then playfully gasped, "Maturity? Who are you and what have you done with my brother?"
While the two started laughing, Nero started walking into the presentation, "Hey Nero," Edric's voice stopped him for a second, "We're gonna see if we can trick one of the caffeine coven into putting on a power glyph and going crazy, wanna come?"
"You know the answer to that, Blight." Nero bluntly reminded them that he didn't want any part in their antics, "Besides, mom's gonna be the guest here and I kinda have to show up. Family obligation, y'know? So go do your usual shit, but leave me out of it." he then proceeded to walk in, only briefly hearing Emira say "Have fun Clawboy!", the nickname only slightly bothering him compared to normal as he moved past many of the audience members and found a seat at the far back row. He sat through Principal Bump's opening for the presentation, though he did tune most of it out, barring the part where one of the younger students made his head grow and accidentally crush the student on his left.
Then the members of the Emperor's Coven appeared in the arena and were introduced as an 'elite force', which Nero had to resist the urge to laugh at. Most of the members of the Emperor's Coven that he'd met were rather incompetent from what he could tell. The only ones he knew by name that were actually good at their jobs were his mother, Steve, as weird as that sounded, and at least a couple others not worth talking about or putting any effort in trying to remember for one reason or another.
"And now, I am pleased to introduce the esteemed leader of this coven, this year's mystery guest, and someone whom I am most definitely not afraid of because she did not drop a house on me a few years back. You know her! You love her! LILITH!" at Bump's declaration, the crowd was left in awe when a large spectral raven appeared and flew down from the ceiling. As it landed, light blue energy enveloped the entire room and his mother emerged from the aura, a raven's cry echoed throughout the room as the entire crowd cheered. Nero decided to clap along with them; as much as he didn't like the Covention, he could still support his mother, regardless of how he felt about the whole thing.
"Thank you," she said as she unceremoniously threw her cloak and mask towards Principal Bump before he walked off. "It wasn't easy to rise to the top. I also came from humble beginnings," Nero listened to his mother and became curious about these 'humble beginnings'. She never really talked about her past before he was born, and she deflected every time he asked over the years whenever he questioned what her childhood was like, if she had any siblings, or where his grandparents were. What she was saying now was probably going to be the closest he'd ever get to her talking about her past.
"So be more! The Emperor's Coven awaits you!" she exclaimed as she once again summoned the spectral raven to envelop herself and the entire stage. It expanded until it exploded in a brilliant show of lights that left the crowd dazzled. Nero gave a short round of applause as he stood up, deciding that he'd seen enough now that his mother's guest part was over.
Alright, what am I supposed to do now? Nero asked himself as he walked out and headed off in no general direction, opting to wander. He'd already checked the different coven stands and found nothing that interested him despite putting an effort to do so. A very minor token effort, but still an effort. He wandered for what felt like a few minutes before he said out loud, "Fuck this place."
"Tell me about it."
Nero turned to the source of the voice and saw that he was standing next to a rather old looking woman with a similar skin tone to his mother's as well as golden eyes and a gold fang sticking out of her mouth. She was wearing a lot of maroon with a dress and heeled boots of that color alongside grey leggings. She also had a lot of hair, or at least Nero assumed given that she had something tied over her head what looked almost like a balloon-sized hood with some grey hair coming out of it.
"Huh?" Nero said, surprised that the woman was agreeing with her. Most people tended to eat this coven crap up.
"This thing's nothing but a big ol' scam and I would know about those." the white haired lady said. "They just cut their own potential up to suck up to some creep in a mask. It's kinda sad actually."
"Tch, tell me about it," Nero agreed, "Last thing I want to do is work for Emperor Freakshow and his dumb ass bullshit."
"Amen to that kid," the lady said with a smirk, "Though I gotta ask why exactly you're here then. You don't seem the type for this crap."
Nero shrugged in response and answered, "Mom came here and wanted me to come to. Can't really say no on that front. What about you? Why are you here?" after he asked his question, she snickered.
"Oh, a momma's boy. Well, I ain't gonna judge that. Okay, maybe a little, but I'll just say my apprentice tortured me with her overly flowery Blehzura book to get me to take her here," she looked like she was about to vomit just from talking about it. Given the deriding name she called it by, it sounded like she was talking about those crappy Good Witch Azura books that Amity brought up once or twice. How and why anyone would ever like that shit is anyone's guess. Nero thought to himself.
"Ugh, you know someone who likes that obnoxious prosy shit too?" Nero sympathized, "I am so terribly sorry for what you must suffer through."
"Ha! If I can handle having enough exes to raise an army and a bunch of other law-breaking nonsense, I think I can handle a poorly written book series," she laughed before giving a more genuine smile, "You know, you're alright kid. Name's Eda. But don't tell anyone you saw me, kay?"
"I think I can manage that, Eda," Nero said with a genuine smile on his face. Probably the first in what felt like a long while, "My name's-"
"Nero!" an all too familiar voice yelled as he found himself pushed away. Aw crap, mom's here.
Things had been going relatively well throughout the day for Lilith. She'd prepared and made her guest appearance, even spotting her son in the crowd far into the back row and being delighted at that, she found time to meet with the younger upcoming witches of Hexside and signed autographs for them. Overall, it had been a good day, aside from the nagging feeling in the back of her mind constantly telling her she didn't deserve any of this, though she kept that bitten down.
And then, as she filled out another autograph, she saw her son out of the corner of her eye and looked up to greet him, but then she froze, seeing the person he was talking to.
"Shit!" Lilith whispered loudly before she turned to the children and swiftly said, "That's all for today," before she gently pushed them aside and ran up to her son as he talked to a face she was hoping to not see today, or anytime soon for that matter.
"Nero!" she yelled to her son as she grabbed him by the shoulders and started pushing him away from her sister, "I think I saw something over there that you'd like to check out. Why don't you go over there and not-"
"Lilith!" she froze as she heard Edalyn yell her name.
Not wanting to put up with this at the moment, she turned and said, "Edalyn, not now! I'll deal with you in a moment."
"Whoa, whoa, wait a minute!" Nero broke free from her grip and pushed her aside, "Mom, what the hell are you doing?"
"MOM!?" Edalyn yelled, her face turning to complete shock. Lilith buried her face into her hand, dismayed that all of this was happening. She was hoping that this day would never come, that her son and her sister would never meet each other, because Edalyn's lifestyle would be a bad influence on him and because facing Edalyn meant facing something she absolutely despised herself for. But now it seemed there was no choice.
"Titan fucking dammit," Lilith muttered into her hand just loud enough to be heard by present company, "I was hoping this wouldn't happen," as she removed her face from her palm, she turned to her son, "Nero, this is Edalyn, my younger sister," she then turned to Edalyn, "Edalyn, this is Nero, my son."
Both of them turned to each other, then back to her, then back to each other with completely slack jawed expressions. After a few moments, Edalyn reached into her hood and pulled out a flask with what looked like some kind of potion in it before she took a swig of the substance. As soon as it looked like she was going to drink it, she instead spat it out in a random direction, accidentally (or purposefully, you never knew when it came to her) hitting a random bystander.
"YOU'RE A MOM!" Edalyn screamed out in shock and surprise.
Nero, meanwhile, screamed, "I HAVE AN AUNT! WHY DIDN'T YOU TELL ME!?"
"Okay, to answer those questions in order, yes, I'm a mother, Edalyn, and a proud one for the past 17 years," Lilith said as she faced her sister before turning to face her son, "And as for why I never told you about her, there are a couple reasons, but the best I can summarize it as is that we're...estranged."
"Why?" Nero asked, "She's pretty cool, so why aren't you guys talking to each other?"
"Hah! Looks like your kid's smarter than you," Edalyn snarked as Lilith felt her face heat up. Keep it together, Lilith, don't blow a fuse right now.
"Look, firstly, I've tried to go to her house beforehand, but every time I've done so, that infernal fucking house demon knocks me out!" Lilith said as her anger flared up at remembering that obnoxious demonic bird tube. How it kept saying "Hoot!" in the most irritating tone imaginable.
"Language mother, there are children present," her son said in a deadpan tone with his hands behind his head as she felt her face heat up again from embarrassment.
"For shame, Lily," Edalyn shook her head, "For shame. And as annoying as Hooty is, you know why he has to do that."
"Which brings me to the second reason why," Lilith then formed a spell circle and manifested a copy of Edalyn's wanted poster as she pointed right at her sister, who was currently cleaning out her ear, "She's a wanted criminal and isn't even supposed to be here." she then walked up to her sister and looked at her with curiosity, "Why are you even here anyway?"
"Said something about her apprentice torturing her with a book with shitty prose," Nero answered for her, "So, not really here by choice."
That got Lilith's attention. "You have an apprentice?" she asked disbelievingly. "Must be some bottom dweller if she's learning from you."
"Hey! I'll have you know that Luz isn't some bottom dweller," Edalyn fired back, "She's the best bottom dweller! And I bet she could wipe the floor with any prissy blue blooded jackass the Emperor's shitty system has been churning out."
"Uh, guys?" Lilith heard her son say, but she ignored him. She was focusing all her anger on her sister. The sister that made it oh so very hard to help her.
"I've spent years training the isles best and brightest witches, and you think that your disorganized covenless way of life can produce a better magic user than I can!?" Lilith almost screamed as she glared at her sister, who returned it in full.
"Guys?"
"Oh, I don't think sis, I know," Edalyn fired back.
"EDA!"
Their argument was suddenly interrupted when someone jumped between them. It was a young girl who looked no older than fourteen with tan skin, short brown hair, and hazel eyes. She was wearing rather unusual clothes for the standard isles civilian.
"Yeah, see, I was trying to tell you that someone was coming and she kept yelling Eda's name." Nero said.
"Eda I accidentally challenged Amity to a Witch's Duel and I think she's going to kill me all the way dead!" the girl said as she almost collapsed to the floor. This was Edalyn's apprentice? A random girl who freaked out at the first sign of trouble? Lilith almost felt sorry for her, but not by much.
"Hold up," Nero said as he kneeled down to the girl's level, "What's with your ears? Never seen those before." he then gestured to his right arm, "Then again, can't really judge there."
Nero's statement made her look at the girl more closely, causing Lilith to note that her ears were actually round. This girl wasn't a witch at all, but a human. "So, your apprentice is a human? You can't honestly expect a human to be better than one of my students?" she then looked more intensely at the girl, who shirked away, "Can she even do magic?" Lilith asked, barely resisting the urge to laugh as she formed a spell circle that burned every one of Edalyn's wanted posters in the vicinity, "Very well then, sister. Consider this a free day for you. Your apprentice versus my student. We'll see whose teaching methods have produced the strongest magic user." As she walked away, she called for her son to come along.
"Uh, mom, what the hell was that about?" her son asked.
"Nothing, merely a show of superiority to my dear little sister," Lilith said as she clasped her hands together and smiled at the thought of showing Edalyn up.
"Except the part where that kid said that Amity's gonna 'kill her all the way dead'. Are you seriously going to let Amity do that?" Nero's words drew something out of her. She wasn't sure what, but for a moment, she wanted to call off the thing. If only for a moment.
"Rest assured, my little raven, if Miss Blight becomes too aggressive in their duel, I'll call her off, but for now, the fight must continue," she said to assuage her son's worries. Though that didn't seem to work very well.
"You mind answering why you're acting like this?" he asked, "I've never seen you get this uppity about something, so what the fuck?"
"Language," she chastised, "Look, just go enjoy yourself for now. I need to find Amity and train her for the coming match." As well as gather some things to ensure my victory!
This is gonna get ugly, Nero mused as he sat in the stands of the arena, this time closer to where things would be playing out.
"Is that girl really a human?" Edric asked from beside him, "I've only heard about them from what that one kid keeps rambling on, whatever his name was, Rustus, I think?"
"Yup," Nero answered with a large emphasis on the 'p'.
"Something tells me Mittens is gonna flatten her here. Too bad, she's kinda adorable," Emira said next to Edric as she looked over to Nero, "Something up, Claw Boy?"
"It's just...something's up with mom," he answered as he looked directly at his mother, who seemed laser focused on the whole affair, "She started getting weirdly aggressive with Eda when they started yelling about who's student was better and all that crap. Never seen her get like that and I just don't get why."
"Nero," Emira said as he saw her move over to sit at his other side and place her arm around him, "Let me explain something to you about siblings. See, we have what we like to call 'The Sibling Rivalry', and that means we compete with each other on just about anything and everything." she looked over to Edric, "Me and Edric do it all the time, trying to one up each other in who's the better prankster," then she removed her arm from his shoulder and looked down at where Amity was standing, "And we also do it with Mittens. This is all just a natural part of having a brother or sister. It's all just fun, games, and trying prove who's cooler."
"Sounds like a load of shit if you ask me," Nero growled as he glared at the display, "First off, still don't like your idea of 'fun'. Second, you didn't see how mom acted around Eda. This isn't about fun and games. If anything, this feels too...personal, and not just between mom and her sister," he looked down at Amity, who seemed a little too excited to be doing this, "Don't you think your sister's looking a little too kill happy about this?"
"Eh," Edric shrugged, "I'm sure the human will be fine. If she could survive living on the Boiling Isles with your aunt, I'm sure she can handle Mittens throwing a temper tantrum. Me and Emira survive those all the time."
"Still doesn't make this any less shitty," Nero muttered. Even if what they were saying was true, which he doubted, it just didn't sit right with him, especially since they were basically using their own students as proxies for their feud. It what he understood was the case, Amity and Luz were already going to have a duel beforehand, but his mom turned it into a 'me and my sister thing'.
"Huh, that's interesting," Edric said, gathering Nero's and Emira's attention, "Look at the mounds in the arena."
Nero did so and saw that Edric was right about the mounds, which was odd because he knew they weren't there before. Just what were they?
"Oh, I think I see what's going on," Emira realized, "I think your aunt's helping the human girl win."
"Isn't that cheating?" Nero didn't know his aunt well at all, seeing as they just met today, but he would admit that given her having a criminal reputation, he supposed her cheating in a duel wasn't out of the ordinary for her. Either way, given that the human, Luz if he remembered correctly, couldn't do magic on her own, odds were she needed a leg up just to survive. Still, if Amity found out...he did not envy the human or his aunt.
"There is the old expression that all's fair in love and war, and this is a war in the bonds of sisterhood, so I'd say it's all fair," Edric said before frowning, "Although..."
Nero looked at him questioningly, "What?" he asked.
Edric gained a serious expression as he said, "I could have sworn I saw something," he then shook his head, "Nevermind, the fight's about to start anyway."
Sure enough, the bell screamed and the two combatants met at the center of the arena, though Luz walked with very notable trepidation while Amity had full confidence. The younger Blight summoned her abomination, but to Nero's surprise, and Amity's as well from the looks of it, it was far bigger than he was expecting. "Uh, guys, has Amity ever summoned an Abomination that big before?" he asked.
"Hm, now that you mention it, no, I don't think she has," Emira pondered, "Maybe she's just been getting a lot more practice than we thought?"
"No, that's not it," Edric said, "I wasn't sure before, but I think what I saw before has something to do with it." that made Nero and Emira look at him just as Amity's Abomination stepped on one of the mounds, triggering a trap, causing the crowd to roar in surprise and delight, "Before the duel, I saw your mom give my sister a pat on the shoulder, but I could have sworn I saw something in her hand when she did that." he said as the battle continued, Amity's monster triggering another trap that blew them away.
"Wait, you mean that mom's..." Nero wasn't sure if he wanted to finish that sentence. Even with how she was acting earlier, he still didn't think she was willing to do that just to show up her sister. And with Amity too, someone he knew loathed unearned victories more than anything, especially if she didn't earn them herself.
"I mean, based on that, all the puzzle pieces seem to fit," Emira said as her expression grew serious, "Still, Mittens isn't going to like-what the!?"
Nero followed Emira's eyes when she saw what she was looking at; a small creature with a bone mask wearing a bunch of coven apparel was falling down the seats of the arena. Whatever it was, it fell over the safety wall and right in front of where Amity was standing...and right on top of one of the trap mounds. The mound suddenly erupted in a group of spikes that tore through the creature's apparel, though the creature seemed to survive.
"Okay, I'm calling that out," Nero said, now actually kinda pissed since something like that could have actually killed Amity, "SPIKES! What the hell!?"
"Maybe your aunt just didn't think that part through?" Emira shrugged as Nero's mother walked down and inspected the arena, "She doesn't seem the type to think ahead."
"And we should know," Edric added, though he earned a glare from Emira at the reminder.
"...You're both taking the fact that your sister could have been skewered a little too well." Nero evenly, but angrily stated, off-put by their seeming callousness to their sister's well being. While something like that wouldn't kill Amity, their reaction was just too casual.
"Hey, we worry!" Emira adamantly stated, "We're just not gonna get bothered by it because she wasn't skewered. She didn't actually get hurt, so it's all behind us!"
"That still sounds really fucking-"
"SHHHHSH!" Edric quieted them down, "I think your mom's been found out." he then pointed at Eda removing something from the back of Amity's neck. Nero looked closer and saw that it was a Power Glyph, with his aunt announcing it to the audience, to the shock of everyone except for the twins sitting to his left and right. In Nero's case, he was still surprised by the fact that his mom cheated in a duel. It went against damn near everything she drilled into his head when he was growing up. He didn't really know whether to be shocked at her or flat out pissed, though he knew the answer to that when he saw Amity run out of the ring with a devastated expression on her face. His mom didn't even notice, instead focusing her attention and anger on her sister, who was currently doing a sort of gloating dance.
"Titan fucking dammit mom," Nero growled out before he looked at the twins, "Aren't you two going to go and talk to your sister?"
"Eh, we sorta learned that when Mittens gets like this, it's usually better to let her cool off on her own," Emira said, "Besides, I saw the human go after her, so maybe she can calm her down?"
Nero was about to retort and tell them that they should still try to help their sister out rather than leave it to a complete stranger, but before he could, the sound of a burst of fire and an explosion erupted from the arena. He looked back and saw that his mother, staff now out, had just blasted Eda into the wall on the far end. Just as Eda got up and drew her staff, which had an owl Palisman on its end, Nero yelled, "What the hell!" The two then started blasting each other with magic, the sheer force of it causing waves of power to shake the entire arena and the stands they were sitting in.
"Whoa! This is awesome!" Edric said as he and Emira started chanting "FIGHT! FIGHT! FIGHT! FIGHT!" while Nero was baffled by the turn of events. With the amount of power they were giving off and the intense looks on their faces, it was almost like they were trying to...
"Shit," Nero cursed as Eda switched over to launching a barrage of energy blasts at his mother, who spun her staff around to counter it before firing another blast of azure flames. "I need to stop the fight!"
"What?" "Why?" Edric and Emira asked respectively. Before he could reply, the sound of cracking rock and rubble drew his attention to a group of large stones headed right for them. Thinking quickly, he summoned an ethereal arm and motioned to block the stones, protecting himself and the twins. Screams filled the bleachers as everyone else started running away from the destruction caused by the fight.
"That's why," he said as his mother was now in the air, preparing to throw her burning staff at Eda, "I'll try and stop them from killing each other, you two get out of here."
"You don't have to tell us twice," Emira replied as she grabbed her twin's hand, "Come on Edric, let's get out of here!" as the two ran for the exit, Nero turned his attention back to the fight, trying to figure out how to stop the sisters before things got worse.
I've finally bested you, Edalyn! Lilith giddily thought as she teleported right behind her sister in an azure blaze. She had her off-guard, now all she needed was one direct attack to knock her wild sister down a notch. But before she could strike, a blur of white and blue intercepted, getting in her way as she suddenly found herself pushed far back, landing on her butt. Edalyn's yelp of surprise indicated that she was also shoved aside.
"BOTH OF YOU, STOP IT NOW!" Lilith became shocked as heard her son's voice yell at her. She looked up and saw his ethereal arm held out in front of her, as if telling her to halt. She looked to him and saw that he was rapidly looking between her and Edalyn, his other arm held out with the same motion towards her sister.
"Nero, move!" she demanded of her son, wanting him to get out of her way, "I was about to launch her into the wall!"
"Oh, and what makes you think I wouldn't have anticipated your crappy attempt at a sneak attack and dodged accordingly, Lily?" Edalyn asked condescendingly, causing her blood to boil.
"Okay, both of you SHUT THE FUCK UP! NOW!" Nero yelled, once more surprising Lilith and leaving her a bit afraid, as his voice gained a sudden reverb as he spoke, and she could have sworn her son's eyes flashed a similar shade of blue to all those years ago. He then turned to Edalyn and said, "Look, uh, Aunt Eda, just what the hell were you thinking!? You could have seriously hurt Amity or worse, killed her with that trap!"
"Sorry kid, I just sifted through every trap I had on hand and put 'em all over the ring," Edalyn admitted, rubbing the back of her head, "Didn't really put what you'd call 'forethought' into what they were."
Lilith responded by crossing her arms and looking away, "Well, I hope you've learned your lesson."
"Oh, don't fucking start, mom." Nero almost snarled as Lilith looked at her son, once more shocked by his anger, "Let's get a couple things out of the way. First off, you cheated."
"I, but I," Lilith stammered for a second before she put her foot down and glared back at her son, "I only did that because I knew Edalyn was going to cheat. I simply planned ahead!"
"It's still cheating, Lily!" her sister's taunting voice almost made Lilith walk up to her to give her a piece of her mind, but she found herself pushed back by her son, who still glared at her with more anger than she'd seen him have in a long time.
"Look, I may not know Aunt Eda well, but since I was a kid, you always taught me to work hard and not be underhanded, and I'd like to think I've done a pretty damn good job with that last thing." he then crossed his arms, "So, it's all okay for you to go against all the shit you've practically drilled into my skull just cause it suits you?"
Lilith tried to retort, but found herself left mute, both under her son's glare and because of a sinking feeling in her chest.
"Oh, and let's not forget that you really screwed your own student over on this one," he continued, "Did you even see her face when she saw you made her cheat? Oh wait, you and Eda were too busy with your dumbass rivalry to notice or even care! And while we're on that, are you two seriously trying to kill each other!?"
"I-I don't want to kill her," Lilith admitted, "I just...I just want..." she then fell silent and looked away, not knowing how to explain things to her son to get him to understand.
"Look, I ain't comfortable with killing Lily either kid. Just got a little carried away is all," Edalyn said as she leaned back and rolled her shoulders, trying to relax her bones, "Anyway, I better get going. Not as spry as I used to be, cursed and all that."
"Wait, what do you mean cursed?" Nero asked, and suddenly Lilith's blood ran cold as she tried to force it back. Every ounce of guilt she carried was starting to come up at once as she looked at her sister again. It's all because of you. You're the reason she goes through this everyday. She then looked to her son, who eyed his aunt with a questioning look. How would your son feel if he found out about what you did to her?
M-maybe he won't have to, Lilith thought as she cleared her throat. All she had to do was convince Edalyn to come in and Belos would cure her. That's all she had to do now. "Edalyn, i-if it's alright with you, I-" before she could continue, she yelped in surprise as something hit her face. She looked down and saw it was a snack bag. When she looked back up, Edalyn was already running away.
"We'll call it a draw for now! See you around kid!" she yelled out, the last bit directed at her son as Lilith felt herself grow angry again.
"Dammit Edalyn! You make it so hard to want to help you sometimes!" Lilith growled as she smacked her face with her palm. Why did Edalyn have to make this so hard? All Lilith wanted was to cure her sister, to undo her mistake, if only she could get her to see reason.
"Ahem!" Nero called her attention as he still looked at her with an angry, disappointed glare. Lilith felt her guilt increase as she looked down with a sigh.
"Nero, I'm...I'm sorry. I just got so caught up in everything with my sister and-" her son's voice interrupted her.
"Don't apologize to me. Go find Amity and apologize for using her in your whole rivalry bullshit. After all, it was your idea to make this about you and your sister," he said as he started walking away, "I'll see you at home. Don't want to spend another minute here."
Before he could leave, Lilith tried to go after him, "Nero, wai-WHOA!" and promptly ate the arena floor.
"Mom, you alright?" Nero ran back to help her up from her fallen position. As she sat up, she noticed that the laces of her boots were all tied together. For a second, she wondered how the hell they got like that before it clicked, at which point she did the one thing she could do: yell out the name of the culprit in rage.
"Argh! EDALYN!"
It took a lot of asking around Bonesborough, but Nero was able to get what he was looking for out of some of the locals: the location of his aunt's house. At the moment, it was mid-afternoon as he walked through the forests where the so called 'Owl House' was supposed to be, having told his mother he was going to the library to find something to read so she wouldn't get suspicious. As for why he was heading there in the first place, he had a couple reasons. Firstly, he was rather curious on what his aunt meant when she said she was 'cursed', seeing as she never answered, and asking his mother didn't get him any answers on that front. The second reason was that after today, he was still pissed at his mother for the shit she pulled, and this made for a good excuse to get away for a few hours.
Before he left, he changed into something he felt more comfortable in; a dark blue overcoat with red inner lining and a red hoodie underneath. He also wore dark blue pants and dark brown boots that went over the pant legs and halfway up his shins.
"Alright, so if I were a house isolated from society in the woods, where would I be hiding?" Nero pondered out loud as he looked around for any signs of the house. So far, nothing but trees and leaves. "Maybe I should get a higher vantage point? See if I could find it that way?"
Before he could attempt to get to a higher area, however, the ground beneath him shook, and before he could process what was going on, something erupted out of the forest floor beneath him, knocking him to his feet as the most annoying voice permeated his ears.
"Howdy there stranger! Hoot!" the owner of the voice in question was some kind of weird owl tube...thing that looked at him with the dopiest smile he'd ever seen. Clearly whatever this thing was, it wasn't very bright, "You want to play some games? I'm always in the mood to make new friends!
"Look, whatever you're supposed to be, I don't have time to play around," Nero replied as he got up and dusted himself off, "I'm looking for someone, so unless you know where she is, kindly fuck off."
"Oh, you must be looking for Eda. Hoot!" the creature said, "Sorry buster, but Eda doesn't like trespassers, so I'm gonna have to show you out," he then pointed his head in a random direction, "Exit should be right over-hey! Hoot!"
Nero ignored the creature's indignation as he pushed it aside to get back to his search. He, at least he thought it was a he, was obviously not going to help him and his voice grated on his nerves, so the best thing he could do was ignore him. Unfortunately...
"Sorry mister!" he suddenly found himself slammed into a tree that fell over from the sheer force of the push. As he picked himself, he found himself face-to-face with the creature, "Can't let you get too close! Hoot hooty hoot!"
More annoyed than he thought he could get, Nero attempted to grab the creature's body with his ethereal claw, only for him to dive back into the ground, avoiding his grasp. Before confusion set in, he was suddenly knocked into the air when the ground beneath him erupted, only to be wrapped up mid-flight and slammed back down at high speeds, causing him to grunt in pain.
"Anyway, like I was saying, you can't see Eda. Hoot!" At this point, Nero didn't know what was more painful, the creature's constricting grip or his voice, "But we can still play and be friends. Oh! Let me get my tea set and we can have a party!"
Nope! Not dealing with this shit! Nero mustered enough strength to speak, albeit strained, "Look asshat. I just want to talk with my aunt! Now let me go or I'll find wherever your ass is and kick it to the curb!"
"Ooooooh, your Eda's nephew. Why didn't you just say so? Hoot!" Nero suddenly found himself dragged away in the creature's grip at high speeds; the forest around them becoming a blur. A few seconds later, they were in front of a small house; the creature's tube-like body connected to the front door. The door opened by itself as the creature poked his head through. "Hoot hoot! Eda! Guess who found a visitor for you!" next thing Nero knew, he was pulled into the house and dropped into the floor, "It was me! Hoot!"
"Nero?" he looked up and saw his aunt staring at him. In her hands was a soup ladle, indicating she was in the middle of cooking something, "What are you doing here?"
"Came to ask some questions," he answered as he breathed in and out, getting air back after almost being crushed by the door monster, "Ran into whatever the fuck that thing is."
"Sorry about Hooty. He's my state of the art security system," she informed him as she put the ladle down, "Hooty, could you buzz off?"
"Okay!" Hooty then retracted back into the door and closed the house's front opening. As Nero got up, he heard footsteps coming from one of the hallways.
"Eda, I heard Hooty bring someone in, who's" the voice entered the room, revealing its owner to be Eda's human apprentice, Luz, from earlier, "Wait, your that guy from the Covention that followed Eda's sister!"
"Yeah, don't think we were introduced," Nero held out his left hand, "Name's Nero Clawthorne."
"Clawthorne..." Luz whispered before her face brightened, "Are you and Eda related?"
"Yup. Luz, say hello to my prissy sister's kid, and my nephew," Eda said as she smirked and tussled Nero's hair, much to his annoyance. The girl gasped and her smile grew even more, if that was possible.
"I have so many questions! How old are you? Why's your arm like that? How long have you been visiting your aunt? What kind of magic can you do? What's-"
"Hold it, HOLD IT!" Nero yelled as he shook his head and turned to his aunt, "Damn, is she always like this?"
"Eh, part of her charm, honestly," Eda said as more footsteps echoed down the hall and out from it came the same bone-masked creature that fell into the arena.
"Hey Eda, who's the new guy?" he asked as he walked up and pointed at him, "I demand to know why you've interrupted my nap!"
"And who are you supposed to be?" Nero asked as he knelt down to try and meet the creature at eye level, though he was still far taller than him.
"Who am I? Who am I?" the creature said as his voice grew more bombastic, "I am the most feared monster of all! I am the King of Demons!"
If the 'King of Demons' was expecting any fan-fair from his statement, nothing but silence met his claim. If anything, the idea that this little guy could be king of anything was so ridiculous that Nero did the only logical thing.
"Bwhahahahahahahah!" he fell to his back and laughed his ass off, "Oh that's" he wiped a tear from his eye as he struggled to stop laughing, "That's friggin hilarious!" he then calmed himself down as he got up, "Thanks though, best laugh I've had in a while."
"Hey! How dare you laugh at your king!" said 'King' then ran up to try and 'attack' him, but Luz picked him up and started to cuddle him.
"Oh, don't get upset, King, you little cutie" she calmed him down.
Eda then took a seat on the couch, "Anyways, you said you came here to ask me something, kid?" she asked, prompting Nero to find a seat as well.
"Well, yeah." he began as he cleared his throat, "If you don't mind me asking, what exactly did you mean back at the Covention when you said 'cursed'?"