Season 1: The Demon Realm
Chapter 2: Hello Terrifying Fantasy World! Part1.
Luz slowly came to after a long and restful sleep, her dreams full of the events of the previous day. For one sleepy moment, Luz thought it had all been some kind of amazing dream, but as her eyes focused on the ceiling above her, she found it wasn't the familiar ceiling of her room back home in the Human Realm, nor was it the roof of a camp cabin. Getting up slowly, Luz found she was in a sleeping bag in a partially cleared storage room, still dressed in her outfit from the previous day, and with King curled up by her side.
The burst of joy that filled her with that realisation had her smiling brilliantly, and she hurriedly got to her feet and threw open the window to breath in the fresh morning air.
"Ah… it really wasn't a dream! I'm in the Demon Realm!" Luz giggled happily, letting the wind from outside ruffle her wings slightly. She enjoyed the feeling of wind on her feathers, and waved hello to a massive tentacled demon out in the ocean beside the house. Once she was done, she turned to the slumbering King and scooped him up into a hug.
"Good morning, you little cutie-pie!" she cooed, kissing him over and over.
King wiggled and whined sleepily; "I am not your cutie-pie!"
"Yes you are." Luz grinned, giving him one final hug before releasing him.
He collapsed back onto the sleeping bag with a defeated; "I know…"
Luz giggled at his expression, then asked; "Could you tell me where the bathroom is? I want to change and freshen up."
"Down the hall, last door on the right." King answered. Luz thanked him and used her magic to create his halo/crown of light again, which perked the sleepy demon right up, then grabbed her satchel and headed to the bathroom to change.
The bathroom was as messy as the rest of the Owl House, and even had a couple of live owls that flew out when Luz opened the door, but the girl didn't let that bother her. Walking in, she was greeted by Hooty, surprising her. She had always thought he was just an animated carving on Eda's door, but he had now extended out from the door like some kind of worm… bird… tube? And was now poking his head through the bathroom window to greet her.
"Hi Luz!" he said.
"Whoa! Uh, Hi Hooty? Good morning?" she replied, unnerved by the creature.
"Good morning! I'm making breakfast downstairs, so be fast! Hoot!" he said, a big grin on his face. He then retreated out of the bathroom window, allowing Luz to close it before shuddering.
"What is he?" she whispered to herself. She shook off that thought and began changing. Her Mami had put some expansion, lightening, and concealment spells on her satchel, allowing Luz to carry her entire wardrobe inside it without any difficulties, so Luz was able to pull out a new outfit with ease. She opted for another set of calf-length leggings and denim shorts since they were comfy and easy to move in, and also selected another one of her hooded shirts, which was white with purple bands of colour around the sleeves and collar, and had sharp, cat-like ears on the hood.
As Luz changed, she examined and admired the changes that her angelic maturity had made to her body; namely her growing wings and her changed eye and hair colour. Her eyes were an almost golden amber, just like her Mami's were under her glamour, and her hair was also the same pure, snowy white. Luz was happy to see that it had grown a bit and regained some curls; she'd always preferred it that way, but she'd had to cut it short after one of her attempts to help someone had ended with her hair catching on fire… Her wings were also a very welcome sight; they were still a bit too small to be considered fully grown, so Luz couldn't fly with them, but they were still magnificent compared to the little fluffy cherub wings she'd had before. Each wing was about as long as Luz was tall when fully spread, and they'd thickened and widened a lot, with most of the fluffy down being replaced by proper feathers. She still had a while to go before they fully matured, but Luz was happy to live with that.
But there was another change that Luz hadn't expected or been aware of; one she didn't see until she was changing her shirt and the sports bra she wore beneath it. She took off her old sports bra and replaced it swiftly, but once she looked in the mirror to make sure it was sitting correctly, she gasped at the sight of her exposed sternum. There, right in the middle of her sternum was a golden circle with a very familiar symbol inside it; the symbol that had filled Luz's head after Katya had cast that super-powered light spell yesterday. For some reason, that symbol was permanently etched into Luz's memory, and now it seemed it was etched into her skin too. The circle also had lines of gold that stretched to the sides of her sternum, stopping just before her armpits, then going up and over her shoulders, diagonally down the top of her shoulder blades, and finally coming to a stop at her wing joints, where they formed a circle around each joint.
"What the heck!? Where did these markings come from!?" Luz exclaimed. Her Mami had told her that some angels had magical tattoos, but she'd never mentioned that they appeared on their own! She also hadn't mentioned anything about odd symbols like the one on her chest. Luz remembered that the symbol had appeared when she cast her light magic the previous day, so Luz decided to test it by casting a basic illuminating light spell. A tiny version of the symbol appeared in Luz's palm as she focused her magic, before it transformed into the little ball of light. Not only that, but as Luz was casting the spell, the markings on her chest and shoulders had glowed a soft golden colour.
"Whoa… Mami never mentioned anything like this, and I had a lot of the angelic maturity talks… maybe this is something to do with the Demon Realm. Hopefully Eda will know what's going on." Luz muttered to herself. She finished changing and hurried out of the bathroom and downstairs to the kitchen, where she found King in a high chair eating some kind of yellow mass with eyes while Eda sat nearby sipping sleepily from a mug of… blood? A plate of sausages and eggs was set out for Luz too, making the girl smile.
"Good morning, Eda!" Luz greeted.
"Morning, Kid. Didn't expect to see you up so early; you were pretty tuckered out last night." Eda said.
"I'm feeling great! But I have something important to ask about! You see-"
Eda cut Luz off by pressing a finger to the girl's lips; "Lay off the questions for a bit. I haven't finished my cup of apple blood yet."
Luz blinked down at the red liquid in Eda's mug; "Blood? Not juice?"
"Yup." Eda said, taking a long swig that painted her upper lip red.
"Okay… note to self; Demon Realm apples can bleed. Good to know." Luz mused. Since Eda wasn't ready to talk yet, Luz took her seat at the breakfast table and began to eat the meal laid out for her. Her eyes sparkled with delight at the first taste.
"Oh my gosh! This is soooo good! I've never had eggs and sausages like this before!" she exclaimed, moaning happily as she took another bite.
"They're Griffin Eggs and Orc Sausages." Eda said; "They're pretty similar to food from the Human Realm. I'm not really sure what an angel can digest, so I told Hooty to play it safe."
Luz hummed in thought; "Mami told me once that most magical creatures can eat the same sorts of stuff, so I should be able to eat what you guys can." she said, eyes briefly wandering over to King and his meal, which he was stabbing happily.
"What is that, King?" she asked.
"Scrambled Eyeggs. They're chewy until you break their spirit!" he declared, stabbing his food again.
It didn't exactly look appetizing, but Luz was curious about how it tasted; "Hey, wanna trade? I'll give you a bit of sausage for some of that?"
King nodded; "Ooh, I can always go for meat! Gimme!" he said, ripping a chunk of his scrambled eyeggs off and flicking it onto Luz's plate. She in turn gave him half a sausage, which he quickly inhaled whilst making pleased noises. Luz then speared the bit of eyeggs he'd given her and shoved it into her mouth before her brain could talk her out of it. Eda and King watched closely for her reaction, slowly grinning wider and wider as Luz's scrunched face relaxed and she began to happily chew. They were chewy, almost like scrambled eggs but with the texture of pizza cheese. The taste was indescribable; there was no human equivalent Luz could compare the flavour too, though they were a bit salty, a bit sweet, and very spicy, and the single actual eye she'd gotten had burst as she chewed it, flooding her mouth with a concentrated dose of the flavour.
"Oh man, I have no idea how to describe this taste, but it is amazing! You're an awesome cook, Hooty!" Luz yelled out the open kitchen window as she licked her lips.
Hooty appeared in the window with a massive smile; "Thanks Luz! I'm glad somebody around here appreciates me!"
Eda rolled her eyes and shoved the bird/tube back outside. "Try not to compliment him too much, kid. If Hooty gets overexcited then things can get… weird." she shuddered at the thought, before grinning again; "Now finish up your breakfast; I've got stuff to do today, which means you have stuff to do as well, my apprentice!"
Luz giggled, pleased with how that sounded, and began eating with gusto alongside King. Eda watched, inwardly thrilled; she'd been a little worried that she'd have to break the bank a bit to buy food that an angel could eat, like human food. Such foods were usually expensive since they were marketed as being close to real human food, and were thus considered "exotic" and received a big mark up. Rumour had it that even the Emperor favoured that kind of food. But with Luz being the innocent and helpful kid she was, Eda was willing to bet she'd much prefer the cheaper fair found in the Boiling Isles. She'd have to get the girl some diluted apple blood juice boxes too, to see how she liked it (normal apple blood was the Boiling Isles equivalent of Cider, but the diluted stuff was basically just non-alcoholic apple juice).
Once Luz and King had finished their food and Eda had polished off her apple blood, Eda had Luz do the dishes as her first chore, then brought her back to the living room.
"So, my Apprentice; you had questions before we get started?" Eda asked.
Luz nodded and pulled down the collar of her shirt to show the symbol on her sternum. "When I woke up this morning, I saw this. I didn't have it before, and Mami never mentioned angels getting something like this with their maturity, so I hoped you might know more."
Eda and King looked at the mark curiously; the former found it fascinating while the latter felt something odd about it, but neither had seen anything like it before.
"Sorry kid, but I've got nothing. Witches don't develop magic tattoos as far as I know, and I don't think any demons do either." Eda said, looking to King for confirmation on that last part, since he was the demon expert.
"I'm stumped too. The symbol is kinda familiar, but I can't think where I saw it." King frowned.
"Was it like this?" Luz asked, casting a basic light spell, causing the symbol to appear on her palm for a moment.
King nodded slowly; "Yeah, I think so… it was when you blasted Wrath yesterday. That must have been it…" he said, not sounding too sure.
"Aside from it appearing on your skin, do you know anything more about this symbol?" Eda asked Luz.
The girl briefly explained how she'd first come to see the symbol, which she began to mentally think of as the "Light Glyph". Eda and King exchanged curious looks.
"So you saw the Light Glyph in an overpowered Light spell… odd." Eda muttered, stroking her chin; "I wonder if your magic awakening after that was a coincidence, or if this glyph was involved somehow."
Luz shrugged; "I don't know. An angel's magic is supposed to develop naturally over time and get stronger once we hit our maturity. We don't have glyphs, and my Mami doesn't make symbols appear when she casts magic. I've also never heard of light magic like mine…" she said, charging a tiny light blast on the tip of her index finger, then firing it out the living room window and into the sky. "Mami could fire bolts of magic like that, but they weren't light."
"Maybe you could tell us more about angels and their maturity? If we know more, we might be able to find the cause of this mark." Eda suggested. "Actually, I'll do the same with witches; that way we can get started on your lessons right away."
Luz nodded in agreement; "Good idea. Could you go first? So I have an idea of where to start?"
"Alright then." Eda said, casting a spell to summon pair of scrolls. She unravelled the first one to reveal a diagram of what appeared to be a human heart, but with some kind of large black organ attached to the side. "This is a witch's heart. In ancient times, we tapped into the magic of the realms themselves to do magic, but nowadays our magic is powered by a sack of magic bile attached to our hearts."
"Gross, but kinda cool too." Luz commented, getting a good look at the picture. Eda then unravelled the second scroll, which showed a cross-section of the bile sack, with colour coded sections. The centre of the sack was black, and the interior edges were split into nine different colours.
"Now, magic bile is the power source of our magic, but these nine sections are called Spell Phlegm Glands. Each one produces a different kind of spell phlegm that mixes with the bile to allow us to cast different types of magic. The nine core types are Bardic, Healing, Plants, Potions, Oracle, Construction, Illusions, Bestial, and Abominations, so named because of the primary effects those types of spell phlegm cause when not mixed together. We can get all other types of magic by blending different spell phlegms together, giving us a full range of magic." Eda finished.
Luz looked vaguely disgusted; "Witch magic sure involves a lot of gross liquids…"
"Well that's the way it is here. What about you angels?" Eda asked.
Luz flapped her wings a bit; "Our magic is powered by these." she said. "An angel's heart is right in the middle of our chests, and leans back instead of to the left. We also have two extra major veins and arteries, which go into our wings. Our feathers absorb energy from all sources, like light and heat, or even vibration and kinetic energy, then converts it into magical energy and infuses it into our blood, which then flows back to our hearts to be pumped to the rest of our bodies. I'm not sure how we cast different types of spells; Mami said it was mostly instinct and practice."
Eda and King looked at Luz's wings with fascination, before Eda asked; "What about the whole "maturity" thing? I already know that baby angels are called Cherubs, so I'm guessing maturity is like witch puberty, which ain't too different from human puberty."
Luz shook her head with a faint blush; "N-Not exactly. Angels have puberty in almost the exact same way as humans do. Our maturity is something separate, and only really effects our magic, though it usually happens alongside puberty. Before we have our maturities, we are called Cherubs or Cherubim, and our magic is fairly weak since our wings are small. As we get close to maturing, our wings go through a few growth spurts, making our magic stronger. Once our wings are fully grown, our magical maturity is complete and we go from being Cherubs to full Angels." she explained.
"Wait, does that mean you're not actually a full angel yet? Your wings aren't fully grown." King pointed out.
"It's different for hybrids. "Pure" angels complete maturity before puberty even starts, but as a half-human, I started puberty first. In the eyes of angels, that makes me an adult by human standards, which means I only have to start my maturity to be considered a full angel."
Eda shook her head; "Sounds complicated. You angels sure like things convoluted. Still, with everything you just said, I think I have a theory on what the deal is with that glyph and your weird light magic."
Luz leaned forward eagerly, waiting for Eda to explain.
"My theory is related to one I have about the magic we used in the Savage Ages. Back then, witches didn't have bile sacks and solely used wild magic, which I think was powered by the world around us; either the Boiling Isles specifically, or the Demon Realm as a whole. We eventually evolved bile sacks to use instead, but wild magic still exists. My theory is that your wings began absorbing magical energy from all the spells cast around you yesterday, as well as the ambient wild magic of the Isles itself. It kickstarted your maturity, and when it combined with your natural angel magic, it altered your normal maturity to give you that glyph." Eda said with a grin.
Luz's eyes sparkled; that made about as much sense as any theory she could come up with, but it still left the mystery of what the glyph actually was, and why it appeared to her in the first place. She raised these points with Eda, and the Owl Lady just shrugged with a smirk and said; "Wild magic is alive, kid. Maybe the glyph is its way of trying to talk to you. You are making it a part of yourself after all."
Luz gasped softly and put a hand on her chest, over the glyph. Could Eda be right? Was the magic of the Demon Realm trying to talk to her? That was both an intriguing and terrifying thought… Luz had never heard of an angel who'd even been to the Demon Realm, let alone absorbed some of its magic and adapted it into their own! What else could it do? Were there more glyphs? What would they do to her body if there were? It was a lot to think about.
"I guess all I can do is keep practicing my magic while helping people. Now that my maturity has started, I'll need to use magic a lot since that's the best way to speed it up." Luz said, trying to pump herself up.
"I'll teach you some things; with the most powerful witch on the Boiling Isles as your mentor, you're bound to become a super angel!" Eda grinned.
"And then maybe you can find a way to lift this spell I'm under, so I can reclaim my rightful place as King of the Demons!" King declared.
Luz smiled and tickled King's belly; "If I can, I'll do it. Gotta help my little buddy become all big and strong!"
King giggled, then said; "Hey, do you think you could put that Light Glyph on this?" he pointed to the large gold tag of his collar. "I bet if you do, my light crown won't keep disappearing."
Luz noticed the crown had indeed vanished again, though both she and Eda had a feeling there was more to King's request than he was telling them. Of course, being the proud King of the Demons, he didn't want to admit that he just wanted to match with his new friend.
"Sure, King. Let's trace it onto paper first, then I can use my light beams to trace the mark and burn it onto your tag." Luz said, grabbing a notepad and pencil from her satchel. She tore a page from the pad and placed it over the mark on her sternum so it could be accurate traced. "Eda, do you mind?"
Eda nodded and reached for the pencil, but King jumped up; "Ooh, let me do it!" he said eagerly, taking the pencil. He held it clumsily, like a child with a crayon, but showed a surprising amount of care as he traced the glyph on Luz's chest, being careful not to pierce the paper and stab her. When he was done, he had a perfect replica of the glyph drawn on the paper.
"Ha! I am the King of Artists!" he proclaimed proudly.
"Good job, King. Now put it on your tag so Luz can burn it on." Eda said. She could have replicated the glyph on his collar much more easily, but she wanted to let Luz practice her magic.
King licked the back of the paper and stuck it to his tag; "There, all… done?"
His voice trailed off as he tapped the paper to smooth it down, causing the glyph to begin glowing. To the surprise of all three of them, the paper then crumpled up into a little ball of light that hovered in King's paw.
"What the…? Did I do that?" King asked, shocked.
"Whoa… here, try again." Luz said, handing the notepad and pencil back to King. The little demon immediately redrew the glyph, this time without tracing it, and then put his paw over it, causing the page to tear itself off the pad and crumple into another ball of light, just like the first.
"I did do that! I can do magic too!" King yelled with joy.
Luz and Eda gaped at the sight, before both broke out in massive grins. "Amazing, King! Now you can do magic too!" Luz said excitedly.
Eda wiped a faux tear from her eye; "Aw, they grow up so fast. One day they're eating trash off the floor and the next they're rediscovering ancient wild magic. Am I a great teacher or what?" Neither King nor Luz bothered to point out that Eda hadn't taught either of them any actual magic yet.
As King was having fun playing with the two balls of light he'd made, Luz got Eda to trace the glyph off her chest, then finally used it to burn the Light Glyph into King's collar tag, completing the task that had caused their discovery. Once the glyph was carved, King had tentatively touched it and discovered that the glyph would now cause his tag to glow whenever he wanted it to, giving him a permanent flash light. King got so excited that he rushed off to show Hooty and his stuffed bunny Francois, leaving Eda and Luz alone in the living room.
"So kid." Eda began, "As per our deal, I teach you magic and you work for me, right?"
"Yep! Are we gonna have our first proper lesson now?" Luz asked eagerly.
"Not yet; the work comes first." Eda said, before a grin like a Cheshire cat crossed her face; "Unless you want to make a trade."
Luz narrowed her eyes suspiciously; "What kind of trade?"
"A trifle really. A feather or two for a full week of lessons without a single chore." Eda offered.
Luz immediately shook her head; "Nope! No way! Not gonna happen! I said that yesterday."
"Aw, come on Luz! Your wings have gotten a lot bigger since then; surely you won't miss a couple of feathers! Maybe just the little ones?"
"No, Eda! You heard what I said; my wings are the source of my magic! After being stuck as a powerless cherub for so long, I don't want to risk giving up even a single feather!" Luz said firmly.
Eda frowned, seeing Luz really wasn't going to shift on that one. The girl was stubborn… but Eda could respect that. "Fine, no feathers. But what about tears? Angel tears are supposed to be great for all kinds of healing magic and medicinal potions! Give me a vial of those and I'll teach you any spell you want!"
Luz bit her lip as she considered the offer, but ultimately she shook her head; "Sorry Eda, but I'm not comfortable with that. I don't want any part of me being used for your potions." It just felt too weird, and Luz really didn't like the idea of being made to cry; she'd never cried from happiness or laughter before, so the only way for her to cry would be for her to be physically hurt or emotionally upset.
Her answer was really not what Eda wanted to hear. If the legends about angel feathers and tears were true, then they might be just the thing she needed to deal with her own little feathery problem. Eda could understand Luz's reluctance to give either, and she definitely had no intention of pushing the matter with the feathers, but the tears were another story. A properly made mix using her usual elixir and distilled angel tears would surely purge her of the curse! But convincing Luz without explaining herself would be nearly impossible for Eda, and the Owl Lady didn't want to risk scaring the girl off by telling her about the real reason for her moniker. No, Eda needed another way to get those tears; a way that didn't involve hurting Luz physically or emotionally.