A True Witch (Part 1)

Home Again

Luz, Amity, Hunter, Willow, and Gus stood, stunned at the landscape in front of them.

They were back, that was sure, but everything looked so different.

For miles the landscape was barren. Not to mention the Titan's head, where the portal had led them, was completely gone.

"What on earth happened here?" Luz softly asked no one.

In the distance, there was some weird thing. Luz began to walk towards it, the others following close behind. With every step they took bone dust was kicked up, leaving footprints in their wake as they got further from the door.

As they got closer, they saw it was a marble-like monument that was slightly taller than Hunter. It had a rectangular base with strange symbols carved into each side.

Luz dragged her hands across it as she walked around until she got to what was the front and read the inscription carved into it.

"Uh, guys. You need to look at this."

"Here stands a memorial to those who disappeared on the Day of Unity

Gus Porter

Willow Park

Amity Blight

Hunter Demonne

Luz Noceda-Clawthorne

And

King Clawthorne

Their sacrifice to defeat Belos and save so many lives will be remembered"

Gus, Willow, and Amity were in shock and felt so bad for their families, thinking that they're dead.

Meanwhile, Hunter and Luz were nearly brought to tears. Hunter was absolutely shocked that Darius saw him as so close to family that he put his last name on was was basically Hunter's grave. A man who is known for having a perfectly clean image for decades actually accepted him as a part of his family.

Luz, on the other hand, was devastated. Eda actually considered her a daughter and had no idea where she was. One moment she's sending her off to be with her girlfriend, and the next she and King are gone.

Before she could go further into her thoughts, she and the others heard a strange noise and the sound of footsteps. Gus quickly threw an invisibility illusion over all of them. The person got closer. They were wearing a red cloak that hid their face and they had a golden clasp on the cloak with a strange symbol on it. As they got closer to where they were hiding, Luz recognized the symbol as the one from King's collar.

The person went up to the memorial stone, knelt down, and slid off their hood, revealing them to be Eda. Her hair was cut much shorter and she looked so tired. And, when Eda began to draw a glyph on the ground, the group saw her left arm was replaced with abomination tech from the elbow down.

Eda finished drawing the glyph, which Luz found was a plant glyph when 6 flowers sprouted from it. One red, one green, one blue, one lavender, one yellow, and one purple.

A flower for each of them plus King.

"Hey kid," Eda softly said, speaking to the stone, "Sorry for not visiting yesterday. Things in the hideout have been really busy, so I hope you can forgive me. My arm was acting up so Alador had to make a few modifications. Well, it was less just acting up and more like when I changed into my harpy form I broke it and Alador had to make one that could withstand the transformation. He even made it so it senses when I do and changes accordingly to mimic my other arm!"

Eda paused for a moment, staring at the memorial.

"I wonder what you'd think of me if you saw me now. It's been so long. I'm holding out hope that you're still okay. You, King, Boots, Goops, Golden Boy, and Plant Girl. I know you're a strong kid. And I'm trying to make a portal but I don't have the time, resources, or any clue how to make it. We still can't find your echo mouse, so that info is as good as lost. But, uh, I believe in you. You are the best witch I know, kid. Not because you have the strongest magic, but you have the strongest heart. I miss you so much. So, Luz, please. Come home."