Chapter 1: A Beginning

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Luz stood in the alleyway watching the Owl Lady down the street at her Human Collectables stand. The human sighed clutching her light gray cape closer to her, she made sure the hood was up and that the owl-like mask was in place. She had been spying on the Owl Lady for three days now, and she had seen quite a lot of things, having never really been able to leave the Emperor's Castle much to actually explore the Boiling Isles before.

She's seen all kinds of monsters, and was excited to learn more about the Boiling Isles. But she had a mission to do first, she walked around, staying out of sight, and made her way to the back of the Owl Lady's tent.

She thought about this plan for the past two days, and it was time to take action. She lifted the back of the tent and went inside, there was a lot of junk inside the tent and a door.

Luz stepped closer to the door curiously, it was slightly ajar, she peaked inside and saw a forest beyond. She could have run straight though and be back in her home dimension, but the Emperor's threat lingered in her mind, plus there was no magic in the Human Realm, how would she heal her curse then?

No matter, she had a job to do. She turned away from the door and scavenged through the junk, she needed to find some more human-like clothes. After a bit of searching she found a short-sleeved white and indigo striped shirt, high-waisted jean shorts, dark grey capris leggings, which she put on, and kept her brown boots on.

She ditched the cape and took the amber colored owl-like mask off revealing a fourteen-year-old Dominican-American girl with tan skin, brownish-purple short hair that was styled in a messy pixie cut, and hazel eyes. She had pointy fangs and claw-like nails due to her curse. She also had a few scars on her face, three scratch marks over her left eye and two scars on her right cheek.

She grabbed a yellow bag and stuffed a few more random items inside, including her Emperor's Coven uniform. She zipped the bag up and put it on her shoulders, sighing she turned to look at the entrance of the tent, seeing the Owl Lady talking to a little owl that sat back onto her staff.

The Owl Lady went through the bag of items the owl brought, deciding what was trash and what she could sell. Luz came closer to the entrance of the tent waiting for the perfect moment to introduce herself, luckily the moment presented itself soon enough.

"This will make good kindling." The Owl Lady said, holding a book up to a candle and letting it burn. Luz took a deep breath, steeling her nerves before launching herself from the tent and shouting "Excuse me, sorry, it's mine, thank you!" She snatched the book from the Owl Lady's hand and jogged back to the door, the door folded up before she could even get close to it.

Luz turned around the face the Owl Lady, "you're not going anywhere." She growled at the human before her. "What's a human like you doing in the Boiling Isles?" The Owl Lady asked, crossing her arms. "I-uh..." Luz stammered, she looked down at the book she still held "I just wanted my book back, an-and I saw that little owl take it so I followed it here." She lied, quickly.

"And, what do you mean 'human'? Aren't you a human too?" She decided to add on, to give the Owl Lady a reason to believe she was clueless about where she was. The Owl Lady chuckled "oh dear child, I'm Eda the Owl Lady! The most powerful witch on the Boiling Isles!" Eda declared, proudly, twirling her staff and slamming the end onto the ground, creating a few yellow magical sparks.

Luz flinched at the display but quickly recovered "a witch?" She questioned, but before Eda could reply someone shouted from outside the tent. "Eda the Owl Lady! You are wanted for misuse of magic and demonic misdemeanors. Come out here and face your punishment!" Eda rolled her eyes and groaned "hang on a sec human."

Eda turned around and exited the tent, Luz quickly followed behind, stuffing the book into her bag for safekeeping. Outside Eda had her arms crossed as she faced a guard. "You are hereby ordered to come with me to the Conformatorium." The guard grabbed Eda's arm but the Owl Lady quickly freed herself and scoffed "Would you guys quit following me around? I haven't done squat."

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