The Entanglement

9 - Grometheus The Fearbringer

Amity cast a light spell while she walked deeper into the catacombs. She did not want to admit it to Willow who followed her but she knew very well where she should look for Luz.

"If she's here." Her mind reminded her. They were walking for a while now. Straight ahead. Then to the left corridor. Turn to the right. It was not a coincidence. Willow was too smart to be fooled.

"Amity..." She finally cut the silence. "This place is enormous and yet you seem to know exactly where you're going," Willow said and Amity gulped. Blight stopped mid-step, placed her hand on the cold wall to ground herself, and let her head down. She sighed heavily to gather courage.

"Odalia used to lock me in here." She finally admitted quietly and walked away before Willow had a chance to comment on that.

"She never said anything..." Willow thought and did not say anything out loud. "There's just so much baggage. Yet, she tries to be better every single day..." Suddenly Amity's ears twitched, cutting Park's train of thought.

"What did you hear?" Willow recognized the reaction of her friend. They both stopped and Amity listened in closely. A scream echoed through the darkness. "This one I heard as well!" Willow exclaimed and they rushed forward faster than before. They knew they were not far away anymore. Few more turns and they made it to the dead end. Or rather a large, wooden door at the end of the corridor.

"No! Amity!" A loud yell of panic and pain mixed with fear was heard from the other side of the door. The familiarity of that pained voice sent chills through their spines. Young Blight did not think twice. She busted the door open and covered her mouth to contain the scream of shock. She never thought what she should expect to find but Luz's mutilated body, facing the door, hanging from a ceiling, cuffed by her wrists, enduring psychological torture while her own mother was standing in front of the human was not one of them. It took Amity a second to get herself under control. She rushed in and took hold of her mother's collar, throwing her to the side of the cell, and approaching her hurt girlfriend.

"Get her down! I'll take care of Odalia." Willow offered and Amity nodded, never looking away from the human body. She had no time to think about her anger toward her mother. Her eyes were solely focused on Luz. Nothing else mattered to her at the moment. A small spell circle summoned an abomination slime that surrounded her legs, lifting her to get better access to remove the human's hands from the shackles. The abomination crept in between the human's wrist and the metal, forcing it open.

"NOOOOOOO!!!" Luz screamed when the first hand plopped down to her side. Amity frowned, noticing her girlfriend's dislocated shoulder. She took hold of the human's waist to secure the body. Once she freed the second arm she caught her girlfriend and slowly lowered them to the floor, keeping the human's comfort in mind. "Noooo! Noooo!!!" Luz was screaming repeatedly, thrashing in the hold, trapped in her mind. Amity sat on the floor and cradled the human, holding her upper body close to her chest.

She took in the view. Dirty hair mixed with sweat and blood was stuck to her beat-up face. Her dry, broken lips were swollen, covering bloodied teeth. Fewer teeth than Amity recalled. Cuts and bruises on her face were inflamed, swelling her features up, and making her almost unrecognizable. Her chest was heaving heavily and shallowly, broken ribs made her shape uneven, and her naked skin was infected, and inflamed along the dozens of cuts, gashes, and ripped-out skin. Young Blight looked at the relatively fresh burn on the human's scorched neck and her heart rate increased. Luz's trousers were wet, dirty, and ripped in multiple places, showing long legs hurt just as much as her upper body. The smell of feces was still strong even though Amity knew Odalia to clean that out. That did not matter though. The only thing that mattered was that Luz was alive. At least for now.