Season 1: The Demon Realm
Chapter 7: By the Light of the Stars
After the chaos that was the Covention, Luz fell back into the comfortable if chaotic routine she'd gotten used to on the Boiling Isles, with mornings spent on chores, afternoons spent on magic, and evenings spent with her friends. Eda had been noticeably diligent in training Luz to make up for her blunder at the Covention, which had ended up being a fairly good day despite the bet. Both Eda and King had been worried to learn that Amity knew about Luz's true identity, but Luz said she trusted the mint haired girl, and so that was enough for them. In fact, Luz was trying to work up the courage to tell Willow and Gus; she trusted them too, but her Mami's warnings to never reveal herself were so ingrained in Luz's psyche that she had a hard time following through with her plans.
Eda had also bought an apology gift for Luz; her very own Smart Scroll, the Demon Realm equivalent of a Smartphone. With it Luz could call her friends and even make a Penstagram account, immediately adding Willow, Gus, Amity, and Eda. Luz had never been one for social media back in the Human Realm, but now she thought it was just because she'd had no friends to chat with on it, as she wiled away many late night hours messaging Amity, who could rarely hang out in person.
Other than training, there had been one minor misadventure involving Eda and her obsession with Hexes Hold 'em. She'd gotten so into it when not training Luz that she'd forgotten to use their new supply of Goldwort to brew up some of her elixir, with her stock drained, she'd been forced to try and buy some in Bonesborough. Unfortunately her old supplier Morton had stopped carrying elixir now that Eda was making her own, and with no way to possibly brew some more in time, she'd gone to the Night Market to acquire some, taking King with her and leaving Luz in charge of watching the Owl House.
This unfortunately meant Luz had to miss the Moonlight Conjuring that Willow and Gus wanted to have. She'd tried to ask Eda if they could have it at the Owl House itself, but Eda had put her foot down, then quietly explained that with Luz's magic being a combination of angelic and wild magic, it could have a nasty effect on a conjuring, making it dangerous to mess with. Luz, Willow, and Gus were all disappointed, but Luz wasn't going to disobey Eda on this one, and her friends didn't want to push her to do so either.
It turned out to be for the best; Eda's Hexes Hold 'em obsession got her and King into trouble with a nasty little pig demon named Tibbles, and Luz had needed to come to save them. Eda's gift of a Smart Scroll proved very useful in alerting Luz to the problem, and she'd shown up to find King enslaved and Eda about to be hauled off by guards so Tibbles could collect her bounty. Luz managed to sneak in and free Eda and King, and the guards Tibbles had called were so angry over being dragged out for nothing that they arrested him for wasting their time (and having a stall full of illegal goods. It was the Night Market after all). Even Willow and Gus's Moonlight Conjuring had gone well, as they'd found a third person in Amelia, the plant track girl that Willow had effectively poached from Boscha's gang after the Mandragora incident. They'd successfully animated some action figure that Gus brought, and according to Amelia, Boscha's gang had failed to animate their own subject.
the Mandragora incident. They'd successfully animated some action figure that Gus brought, and according to Amelia, Boscha's gang had failed to animate their own subject.
It was now a lazy Sunday morning, and Luz was sat on the living room couch with King, flipping through the pages of an ancient tome that Eda had, searching for information about angels on the Boiling Isles, while King read her Good Witch Azura books out of boredom.
"Ugh, no good…" Luz sighed, shutting the tome; "I've officially been through every book Eda has and not one of them mentions the glyphs, or anything about angels on the Boiling Isles! I can't possibly be the first one to have come here!"
King looked up from his own book; "I mean, it's possible that you really are. The Titan is super old but it isn't the only place in the Demon Realm. Even if an angel had come to this realm recently, they might not have shown up on the isles."
Luz groaned and flopped over on the couch; "I'm never going to figure this out at this rate… Eda says these glyphs are the language of Wild Magic trying to talk to me, and that absorbing Wild Magic is what caused my rapid evolution and these markings, but is that really all there is to it?"
"Well just learning the glyphs wasn't enough. It was two days between learning the plant glyph and having it show up on your tummy." King commented, "If they are the language of the Isles' magic, maybe they only show up once you actually understand them?"
"Maybe… There has to be answers somewhere in the Demon Realm. Too bad they aren't exactly lining up at the door…" Luz sighed.
At that moment, Hooty swung his door open with a happy hoot; "Ding-dong-ding! Hoot hoot! We've got a visitor!"
King and Luz stared at him for a moment; "I swear if this is someone with all the answers to my problems, I'm gonna flip out." Luz whispered, heading to the door.
She found there was no one there, much to her confusion. She then looked down and noticed a large basket on the doorstep with its contents hidden by blankets. Shrugging, she picked it up and hauled it into the kitchen where Eda was raiding the fridge for Apple Blood.
"Eda, you got a package." Luz said as King followed her in and hopped on the kitchen table beside the basket. "It looks like a gift basket."
Eda smirked; "Probably an offering. Ah, being the most powerful witch on the Boiling Isles has its perks."
King yanked back the blankets to discover the "gift basket" actually contained a baby demon. It looked like a human-like baby head with bat wings wrapped around it and little bat feet sticking out of the bottom. King rubbed his paws together.
"Mmm, fresh meat!"
"No! We are not eating a baby! I've been cool with all the other weirdness on the isles, but I'm drawing a line there!" Luz said firmly.
King whined and Eda rolled her eyes; "Oh please, witches eating babies is so 1693. What is this?"
"There's a note." King pointed out, grabbing a tag tied to the basket; "It says "Take care of my child 'til morning. Yi Yi?" I don't get that last part…"
"Nope, babies are awful! Not happening." Eda protested.
"Wait, there's more. "You will be handsomely rewarded. Hugs and kisses, the Bat Queen." King finished.
"Bat Queen!?" Eda snapped to attention. King reached into the basket beside the baby and pulled out some snails, making Eda smile; "Reward?"
"Who's the Bat Queen?" Luz asked.
"Only the wealthiest demon on the Boiling Isles! Get in with her and you're set for life!" Eda said happily, holding one of the snails aloft. "So all we need to do is keep this thing alive for a few hours and we get paid? Pfft, easy!"
Luz smiled happily; "Aw, this will be fun! I love kids! I always wanted to volunteer at the daycare back home, but Mami was worried that my chaotic attempts to help would hurt someone."
Eda winced; "Uh, sorry to break it to you kid, but I'm gonna need you to scram for the day."
"What!? Why!?" Luz cried.
"This little guy is a Bat Demon. They drink blood! They're the source of vampire stories in your world." Eda explained, "They won't drink from other demons, but witches, humans, and little angels are fair game. Who knows what effect your blood could have on the baby! An overdose of your tears caused me to have a Bile Overload, and the regenerative effects were so strong that they rejuvenated my skin to the point that I now look like my actual age instead of an old lady! Minus the hair…" Eda flicked her grey locks, "But angel blood is way more potent, to the point of being potentially toxic to Demons. We don't know for certain what it'd do to them, so I can't risk the baby drinking from you."
"Oh…" Luz said disappointedly. She wanted to stay and play with the baby, but she didn't want the poor thing to get hurt. It sucked, but she'd stay away. "I guess I'll go out for the day."
"Why don't you check out the library?" Eda suggested, "You might find books on angels in the Demon Realm there. Plus I need someone to return the books I checked out."
She twirled her finger and summoned a large stack of library books into Luz's arms. The girl groaned under the weight; "Got it. I'll be back tonight, once the little one is asleep."
"Good call." Eda said, "Oh, and speaking of little ones, that reminds me; I've got to tell you something. Remember my sister Lilith? How she called you Luz Clawthorne at the duel?"
Luz's eyes widened; "I'd forgotten all about that. What was with that anyway?"
"Lilith's got it into her head that you're my daughter who inherited my curse." Eda said, making Luz gasp, "It makes some sense too. Your eyes are like mine, and taking an apprentice isn't usually my style. Plus she sensed your concealment stone and knows what you look like beneath it thanks to the Conformatorium. She thinks the white hair and feathery wings are symptoms of the curse."
"Whoa… I know you didn't tell her I was an angel, but did you correct the rest?" Luz asked.
"Nope. It'll be safer for you if the Emperor's Coven assumes you're just a cursed kid. I figure that's why they haven't come after you even though you announced yourself as an angel when you fought Wrath; they think you were playing around. Plus, Lilith will go easy on you if you ever meet again because she assumes you're her niece." Eda explained.
Luz gulped; she was a lot stronger now, but she didn't want to go face to face with a witch on the same level as Eda! Maybe this wasn't such a bad idea… "I won't be able to lie about it, but I guess I don't have to correct her if I see her. But what do you mean she sensed my concealment stone?" Luz pulled it out from her shirt; "This thing isn't much good if witches can tell its there!"
Eda shrugged; "Eh, your Mom just neglected to put a shielding enchantment on it to keep people from detecting its magic. I guess she considered it a waste of time in the Human Realm. I'll fix that now." she said, drawing a couple of spell circles and weaving the enchantment into the stone. Once she was done, Luz noticed that the familiar warmth she always felt from the stone was gone now, making her realise that she'd been sensing it too.
"There. Now go on to the library, before the baby bloodsucker wakes up." Eda instructed.
"Okay, thanks Eda! Good luck!" Luz said, before giving King a kiss on the cheek; "Love you, little buddy!" she added, then ran out the back door as King giggled.
She was barely ten feet from the house when she heard the most ear-piercing wailing she'd ever heard. She looked back to find the entire Owl House shaking from the vibrations.
"Oof, I guess they woke the baby…" she muttered to herself, before shrugging and skipping off to Bonesborough. She wished she could actually fly to her destination, but she was still new to her wings and couldn't concentrate on flying and maintaining an illusion at the same time yet, and the risk of being spotted was too large in broad daylight (she'd only been able to go on a few late night flights since gaining her fully grown wings). Still, it was a nice day so she enjoyed the walk into Bonesborough.
When she arrived (and exchanged a brief nod with Tinella Nosa, who was leaving with a massive tome of her own), she gasped up at the impressive library. It looked almost like a mix between a library and a medieval cathedral, being vast and ornate with colourful stain glass windows. The young angel grinned excitedly and hurried inside, and the moment she passed the threshold, the pile of books in her arms began to glow green and fly away from her towards the front desk, where a stern male librarian was making them fly through a red spell circle.
"Late. Late. Late…" he frowned, then grabbed one of the books; "Coffee, grass, and blood stains? These are Eda's, aren't they?"
Luz chuckled nervously; "S-Sorry. I can pay for those…" she said, summoning the coin purse Eda had given her. While she didn't get paid for doing chores, Luz did receive a cut of the profits for any potions she personally sold, brewed or were brewed with ingredients she'd grown, so she had a tidy sum of snails to her name.
The librarian just sighed and shook his head; "No no, I'll just put them on her tab." he said, summoning a long scroll and writing the new debts on it. He then pointed to a sign by his desk, depicting a shooting star with a crying face. "By the way, we're closing early tonight for the Wailing Star meteor shower."
"Ooh, what's that?" Luz asked.
The librarian gave her a deadpan stare; "You're in a library. Read a book."
"I am in a library… I will read a book!" Luz smiled, happily running off as the Librarian shushed her.
With two topics to look into now, Luz began searching around for something to help her find what she was looking for, and quickly found herself hopelessly distracted. She'd always loved reading at the library back home, but the Bonesborough Library was so much more interesting! The Dewey Decimal System was the Demon Decimal System here, and was alive (and not to be fed apparently), and books flowed through the air like literal rivers of knowledge. Even the computers often found in libraries had their own magical version here in the form of crystal balls.
"This place is amazing!" Luz gushed.
"What do you think you're doing!?" said a familiar voice.
Luz flinched at the harsh tone, recognising the voice as belonging to Amity. She wheeled around, expecting to find her friend behind her, only to find no one at all. She then heard the sound of small children laughing coming from the same direction as Amity's voice, so she decided to follow it. She ended up following the sound all the way to a secluded kid's corner, then gasped at what she found.
Amity was sat on a stool surrounded by small children, reading a story to them. The kids were all enraptured, and the mint-haired girl had such a serene look on her face as she read to them that Luz found herself becoming enraptured too. As quietly as she could, Luz crept in and hid herself behind a low shelf of books to listen to the last few pages of the story of Otabin the Bookmaker. It was a cute little story, but it was the storyteller that made Luz smile.
It was almost unfair! Amity was pretty and cool, not to mention smart and strong, but now Luz found she also had a cute side and was great with little kids! Amity must have access to the universe's cheat codes or something!
The story came to an end and the children thanked Amity happily before skipping off to continue their days (including a surprisingly deep voiced little boy named Braxas, who looked like a younger Warden Wrath). When the kids were all gone and Amity was putting away the book, Luz finally emerged from her little hiding spot.
"Oh! Luz! Uh, how long were you there?" Amity asked, embarrassed.
"Only for the last few pages." Luz smiled, "I never expected you to be reading to kids."
"It's for extra credit." Amity said quickly, though Luz didn't buy it.
"Aw, don't be like that. I thought it was really sweet." Luz giggled, "Maybe I could help next time? We could take turns and do voices! Oh, and Gus has been teaching me more about illusions, so I could make some cool effects to go along with it!"
Luz twirled her finger, conjuring an illusion of Otabin, based on the picture she'd seen on the cover of Amity's book. Amity smiled at the adorable little rabbit creature, but shook her head in refusal.
"That's nice of you Luz, but I think you'd be a bit too high energy. The other Librarians would get upset if we made the kids too excited and rowdy."
Luz pouted and dismissed her illusion; "Oh well. Maybe we could still hang out?"
"I'm sorry Luz. I'd normally love to hang out and talk, but I'm working right now." Amity replied.
"Aw, don't be like that Mittens!"
Luz and Amity turned to face the source of the new voice, the former with curiosity and the latter with annoyance. There stood not one person, but two; a pair of near identical twins in the illusion track uniform of Hexside, and apparently a few years older than Luz and Amity. One was male and the other female, yet both had the same golden eyes and mossy green hair, as well as extremely similar faces with matching beauty marks. The boy had short but neat hair with his beauty mark under his right eye, while the girl had long hair in a braid and her mark under her left eye. Both smiled strangely, making Luz wonder if they were being teasing or not.
"Oh, hi! Who are you guys?" Luz asked, trying to be polite.
"They're my older siblings." Amity scowled; "Edric and Emira. What are you doing here?" she demanded.
"Come on now Mittens, is that any way to talk to your big brother and sister?" Edric grinned.
"Yeah, especially since we came all this way to deliver your lunch." Emira added, holding in a giggle as she held out a cutesy rabbit themed lunch bag.
Amity blushed and snatched it away, hiding it from Luz's view, though the Latina angel just thought it was adorable.
"Mom says to stop forgetting it. "It's unbecoming of a Blight!" Emira continued, doing an impression of a snooty and cold sounding woman. Luz shuddered, hoping it was just the bad impression of a rebellious teen rather than accurate.
"And stop being a jerk to your friend, who came all this way to hang out with you." Edric finished, actually sounding serious for a moment.
"I'm not being a jerk!" Amity protested, "I just have to work!"
Luz put her hands up to calm things down; "Hey now, it's okay. I get it, Amity is busy today. Besides, I didn't actually come here for her. I'm looking for books on stuff."
Edric and Emira exchanged smiles and moved to flank Luz. Edric put an arm around her shoulders and Emira put another around her waist, wedging the girl between them and making her blush; "Well, if our little sister is too good for her friends, we'll happily help you." Edric said.
"R-Really?" Luz asked, getting flustered at how close the twins were.
"Of course! It'll be fun to hang out with Amity's only decent friend. The rest are all brats, but you're a sweet little cutie, aren't you?" Emira winked. It was hard to tell if she was being flirtatious or treating Luz like a cute animal, but either way it was making the poor girl's face heat up.
Amity growled and stalked forward, grabbing Luz's arm and yanking her out of her siblings' embrace and into her own. "You two only want to cause chaos! If Luz needs help, I'll be the one to do it. Helping library patrons is part of my job, after all."
The twins raised an eyebrow at their sister, before smirking and shrugging their shoulders. "Whatever you say, Mittens. See you around, cutie!" Emira said, leading her brother away. Amity kept her hold on Luz and watched with narrowed eyes until her siblings left the library. It was only once they were gone that she realised she was basically hugging Luz to her side.
"Oh Titan! I'm so sorry Luz!" she yelped, almost shoving the other girl away.
Luz just laughed nervously; "It's fine. Your siblings seem… nice?"
"They're nightmares who constantly try to get me in trouble." Amity corrected, "But enough about them. What can I help you with? If it's books, then I'll still be doing my job."
Luz brightened; "I'm definitely looking for books but it's kind of a secret. Involving my… condition?" she said, miming the flapping of wings with her hands.
Amity's eyes widened in understanding. She peered around to see if anyone was watching, then pulled Luz along with her to the romance section of the library. Luz blushed when she saw the topics of the books, and wondered why Amity was bringing her there, until the mint-haired girl suddenly stopped and pulled one of the books on the shelf; specifically "The Lone Witch and the Secret Room." The book glowed and made a clicking sound, then as it was returned to its original position, it clicked again and the entire shelf moved back into the wall, then slid across to reveal a secret entrance.
"Whoa…" Luz gasped, peering inside. It was a cosy little study area with Amity's personal books on the shelves, and throw pillows scattered around the place. There were even glow-in-the-dark stars and moons hanging from the ceiling. It looked exactly like the kinds of secret bases Luz had dreamt up as a kid.
"This is my secret hideaway." Amity said, closing the entrance behind them as Luz began to look around. "The Master Librarian Malphas lets me use it as a private place to study away from my family."
Luz frowned upon hearing that. Her only family was her Mami, and she'd never imagined wanting to be away from her. Before she was sent to camp and ended up on the Demon Realm, Luz had always been with her mother, so the idea of someone actually wanting to be away from their family was foreign to her.
"Do you want to talk about it?" she asked awkwardly.
"No." Amity replied firmly, before smiling; "I'd rather talk about you." she blushed, "I mean, talk about what you needed."
Luz nodded and explained the situation to Amity. The girl obviously knew she was an angel now, but she didn't know the truth about the glyphs or Luz's unusually sporadic evolutions, so Luz did her best to explain everything she knew, namely how she'd come to memorise the light and plant glyphs, and the events that had led to them bonding with her and triggering the beginning and completion of her maturity. She even temporarily removed her concealment stone so Amity could get a close look at her true, angelic form. Both girls had blushed as Luz pulled down her shirt a bit to show the light glyph on her sternum, then pulled it up to reveal the plant glyph on her stomach.
"I've never seen anything like these symbols." Amity said, her cheeks dyed red as she looked at Luz's bare abs. The angel girl was more skinny than shredded, but she still had a fairly toned midriff that had Amity sweating. "So you saw this in that weird flash back when we found the Mandragora Flowers?" she asked, trying not to think about Luz's bare skin.
"Yep, but it didn't appear on my skin until I fought the Owl Beast." Luz nodded.
Amity hummed; "I'm not sure I'll be able to help much with these "glyphs", but I think we have a couple of books on ancient iconography that might have clues. And there are a handful of books with angels in them. I might have looked through them all last week, when I first found out what you were." she admitted bashfully.
Luz just smiled; "That's fair; I read all the books on witches and witch biology that Eda had too. Did you know that aside from our hearts and wings, angels have almost identical bodies to witches and humans? All three of our races are super similar, though Mami once told me that we're a lot more different on the deeper, magical levels."
"Fascinating!" Amity smiled, leaning forward a bit; "Actually, I had a few questions about angels that I wanted to ask, if you don't mind?"
"Go right ahead. Ask anything you want; I might not answer if its too personal, but I won't get mad." Luz promised.
"Well first, I was wondering about your wings. How do they work exactly? They're sticking out of your back even though there are no holes for them in your shirt, and my siblings didn't notice them earlier when hugging you. Concealment stones like yours only cover up the things they hide, not magically remove them."
Luz gently flapped her wings, just enough to stretch them out and lightly rustle Amity's hair in the breeze; "Angels can use magic to "put away" their wings. They sort of just disappear when we want them too, though we can't do the same with our ears or hair colour or anything, so we still need concealment stones if we want to hide those features. If I'm wearing mine, then I put my wings away so they don't get caught on anything; they're kind of big now!" she grinned proudly. She really loved her fully grown wings; the stubby little cherub wings she'd had before were cute, but they'd also been a source of shame for Luz that she was happy to have lost.
"According to Mami, angels don't really like putting their wings away if they can help it. If they're hidden then they can't be used to generate our magic. There's even supposed to be a stigma in the Divine Realm against hiding them without a really good reason. As for my clothes; my shirts and tops are all enchanted by my Mami to let my wings pass through. It's a common thing that all angels learn. Even I can do it, now that my magic has matured." she finished.
Amity listened intently, and found herself subconsciously reaching to touch Luz's wings. She pulled back when she realised what she was doing, but Luz just smiled and gently brought her wings forward so they loosely wrapped around Amity in a hug-like hold. Amity blushed bright red, but took the opportunity to brush her fingers through Luz's feathers. They were soft and luxurious feeling; a little stiff in places but soft as silk when brushed the right way. Amity loved the feel of them on her fingers, and considering the way Luz was practically melting at her touch, Amity guessed she loved it just as much!
"I-I see! Have you ever been to the Divine Realm?" Amity asked, forcing herself to stop stroking Luz's feathers so both girls could concentrate.
"No, I've never been there. I was born and raised in the Human Realm, and never left until I accidentally stumbled my way here. I used to ask Mami about it, but she always said she didn't want to go back. I'm not entirely sure how we would go back… I think we'd need a portal like Eda's, but I have no idea where I'd find one." Luz said, a little disappointed that Amity had stopped petting her wings.
"Don't you have any family there?"
Luz shook her head; "Not really. At least not like humans or witches. Angels don't "do" families apparently. We have our Crest Orders and that's it."
Amity raised an eyebrow; "Crest Order?"
"Yep! Think of them like a combination of coven and commune. There are seven Crest Orders and all angels are born into one based on the role that we're judged to be best for. Each order has a role in society that we have to fulfil, and we're assigned to one based on what we're good at and where we're needed. We're usually raised to fulfil the role of the order we're born into, but if we prove to be better in another order, then we're moved to that one instead. Even if we don't want to." Luz said, adding that last part with a frown. "Our Crest Orders are our families, and Mami said there's a strict hierarchy with Cherubs on the bottom, then the grown Angels, followed by the slightly stronger High Angels, then the powerful Arch-Angels, and lastly the Seraphim. Each order has one Seraphim angel, which rules the order, and the Seven Seraphim make up the ruling government of the Divine Realm."
"That does sound a bit like our Coven system… what Crest Order are you in?" Amity asked.
"Crest Kindness!" Luz said proudly, "Our order is focused on healing. We're the doctors and nurses of the Divine Realm."
Amity smiled; "That's fitting." she said quietly. "What about the others?"
"Well there's Crest Chastity, which are the teachers and in charge of caring for children. Then Crest Charity, who run the economy…" Luz counted them off on her fingers, trying to remember the details. Her Mami hadn't liked talking about it, so she only knew a little bit about each one. "Next is Crest Diligence, who are the police officers and military angels. After that is Crest Temperance, who are the farmers and in charge of food. Then Crest Patience, who are like the courts, and lastly Crest Humility, who are the administrators and organisers."
Amity blinked; "That's… weirdly simple and straight forward. Are those really the only jobs?"
Luz shrugged; "It's probably more complicated, but that's what Mami told me. Chastity teaches Cherubs what they need to know for when they grow up, Temperance keeps everyone fed, Kindness keeps them healthy, Charity makes sure everyone has what they need to survive, Diligence keeps the peace, Patience deals with those who break the peace, and Humility makes sure the whole system is working. Mami said we can sometimes pick our Crest Order if we really want, but only if we're good enough at the job they do, and we aren't needed more elsewhere. In cases like that, we're stuck where they put us."
"So do you think you'll stay in Crest Kindness then?" Amity asked.
"If I ever got stuck living in the Divine Realm, then probably yeah. I like the idea of healing, and now that I can make my healing flowers I think I'd be good at it. But I could see joining Crest Temperance too, or maybe Chastity. I do love kids." Luz smiled, "I bet you'd be in Chastity if you were an angel; you were really good with the little ones."
Amity blushed; "T-Thanks. And for the record, I think you really suit Crest Kindness. You're the kindest person I know."
Both girls ended up blushing and avoiding each other's eyes after that. It was a few minutes before their faces had cooled down enough for them to face each other again.
"I-I don't have any more questions right now. Shall I show you the books I mentioned?" Amity offered.
"S-Sure! It's getting a little warm in here, so we should probably get moving." Luz replied, fanning herself.
The two girls stood and Luz put her concealment stone back on before they both left Amity's secret hideaway and began their search for the books Amity knew about. It took them a good hour just to hunt down all the titles currently in the library, and when they were done they had quite the stack to go through on both angels and iconography. They sat together at a free table and began to skim through them, with only the occasional interruption when someone else needed Amity's help for a moment.
After two hours of reading, both girls were becoming frustrated at their lack of progress.
"There is absolutely nothing on these bizarre glyphs of yours anywhere in these books." Amity scowled, closing a copy of "Symbols of the Deadwardian Era". "I've learned more than I ever wanted to know about ancient runic languages and Savage Ages Iconography, but nothing on glyphs!"
Luz nodded with a frown; "The books with angels in them aren't any better. Most of them have barely a mention of angels or the Divine Realm, and what I have found are old fairytales and folklore. The closest thing to non-fiction I've found is this." she held up a copy of "Taxonomy of Exotic Peoples from Beyond the Realm", before dropping it back to the table with disgust; "But even this is either wrong or flat out lies. Most of the information it has about angels, and humans too, is just plain wrong. I don't think the writer had even met an angel or human!"
Both girls groaned; they'd wasted hours gathering and looking through all these books, and the library's early closing time was fast approaching. Luz had gotten so caught up in her own research that she'd forgotten to even look into the Wailing Star like she'd planned to, and now her enthusiasm for reading was burnt out for the day. However, as annoying as the failed search had been, Luz did notice one thing that made her curious.
"Hey Amity, can I ask what you were taught about angels? Like in school or by your parents?" Luz said, lifting her head from where she'd laid it on the table.
Amity hummed and tapped her chin; "I remember being told stories about them when I started school. My parents aren't the type to tell their kids bedtime stories, so school was the first I'd heard of them. All we were told was that they're the dominant species of the Divine Realm, they have feathery wings and use magic, and that they live to spread their own brand of goodness and order."
Luz nodded; "None of that is inaccurate exactly… but when I first showed up here, King was freaked out. He thought angels were like dictators who killed anyone that didn't fit in to their order."
"I've never heard anything like that." Amity frowned.
"That's what I'm getting at." Luz said, "I read the old books that Eda had on angels, and they tended to paint us as dangerous like King thought, which explains why he reacted like he did. But all of these…" she gestured to the tall pile; "Just paint us as good and orderly. A few of the fairy tales even have us as heroes! Plus everyone else who found out what I was reacted like I was something special, but not scary." she added, thinking back to when Adegast had figured out what she was.
"I see what you mean. It's like there's been some cultural shift in our perception of angels. These books are all from the modern era, so perhaps the Savage Ages viewed angels as bad, while the modern era sees them as good or neutral." Amity suggested.
"But then what caused that shift? It can't have been random…" Luz said.
Amity wracked her brain for a moment, before gasping; "There are only two explanations I can think of; either Emperor Belos was involved, since he's the one who ended the Savage Ages and founded the modern era, or an actual angel showed up here and changed people's minds somehow!"
Luz shot to her feet; "Amity, you're a genius! There has to have been another angel here!"
"And the Savage Ages only ended about 50 years ago, so there's a chance there are still living people who knew this angel! Plus, if they were like you and found these glyphs, they may be the secret to figuring out why they're appearing on your skin!" Amity smiled, feeling like everything was clicking into place.
"Let's go ask one of the older librarians, they might know something." Luz said, grabbing all their books and tucking them under one arm while taking Amity's hand with the other. The mint-haired girl squeaked but didn't protest as she was pulled along to the front desk, helping Luz put back their unneeded books along the way. When they arrived, Luz noticed the same librarian who'd taken Eda's books earlier was still there, so she cheerfully greeted him.
"Hello sir! I was wondering if you could help me with something?" Luz smiled, speaking softly.
The librarian raised an eyebrow as he noticed Amity beside her; "I assume this is something you weren't able to help with, Amity?"
"We've already looked at all the books I knew about on the subject." she said primly.
"Very well. What can I help you with?"
"I'm researching angels…" Luz began.
"For a school project." Amity quickly added, so Luz wouldn't have to lie.
"… and I've noticed that public opinion on them has changed from negative to positive when the Savage Ages ended. I was wondering if you knew where I could find details on why, or if any angels have come to the Boiling Isles in living memory?" Luz finished.
The librarian stroked his chin; "What a peculiar topic for a project. It is fascinating though." he began, "I was just a young boy when the Emperor unified the Boiling Isles into the modern empire and officially ended the Savage Ages. Angels were a taboo topic back then, but after the Emperor took power, he revealed that Angels were actually blessed by the Titan to serve as agents of its will. Apparently when the Titan is in need of assistance, it summons an angel from the Divine Realm to do its bidding. After that proclamation, all old books about them were banned and largely destroyed. Only a few copies still exist for the sake of history, and they are stored in the Emperor's private library or the Forbidden Stacks here."
Luz and Amity exchanged wide-eyed looks; "I've never heard anything about this!" Amity exclaimed.
"You wouldn't have." the Librarian replied, "It was a fairly small and insignificant proclamation and decree being made in the middle of a lot of bigger, more important announcements. It also doesn't help that a real angel hasn't been seen in the Demon Realm for hundreds of years. Although there was a hoax about 15 years ago."
"A hoax?" Luz asked.
The librarian nodded; "Yes. Some fool witch disguised themselves as an angel in an attempt to gain access to the Emperor. Their plot was foiled by the previous Golden Guard and one of the Coven Heads, though the Golden Guard died whilst protecting the Emperor and the fake angel was wiped out completely. No other details on it were made public. Not even which Coven Head was involved, or the fake angel's name or gender."