3rd POV
Luz is going toward the exit. She sees one of the many posters of King around the building. "They got his good angle," Luz sighs, before noticing a shadow falling over her. Two large reptilian-like guards are in front of her. "Uh, can I help you?"
The guards step aside to reveal Piniet, "Perhaps. I hear you're an aspiring writer," Piniet smiles.
Luz nervously laughs nervously.
Meanwhile in the theater in the covention center. The stands are packed. Hanging in the center of the theater is a towering banner for Ruler's Reach 2.
The crowd cheers King's name as his fans asks questions
"I can't wait for the sequel!"
"If it's disappointing in any way, I will spend every day of my life trashing it!"
At that last statement, King became nervous as he looked at the audience from behind a curtain. King rambles as he paces, "oh boy. Oh, man, Aw jeez. Hemming. Hawing. Piniet, I gotta come clean. We can't announce book two. I can't write without... withou--"
"Without your writing partner? Piniet smirks evilly. He and King enter a dressing room.
King gasps as he sees Luz is inside a translucent purple box.
Luz gasps, "King!"
"Luz!" King exclaims as he runs up to Luz.
"That snappily dressed lizard trapped me in this shrinking box," Luz explains.
Piniet tightens his fist. The box shrinks and hits Luz on the head, causing her to scream and fall. "You gotta get me out!"
King turns to Piniet, "what are you doing with her? Let her go!"
"You wrote Ruler's Reach together. So if you don't want her crushed, you'll write together again." Piniet says ominously as Luz and King both give him kicked-puppy expression. "Oh, don't give me that look. Some of the best books were written in literal crunch time."
The box shrinks again.
"That's a toxic mentality that contributes to burnout and unrealistic expectations! King, do something!" Luz argued.
King growls at Piniet, "set her free, now!"
"Not until I get my best-seller. You'll recall you are under contract," Piniet retorts as he pulls the contract out of his jacket.
When the paper starts to glow, King suddenly was lifted into the air. "Ah! Nyeh!"
A hole opens in the box and King was flung into the box with Luz.
Piniet drops paper and a pen into the box, "make your deadline, or you'll never be able to hold a pen again. Just like..." Piniet then holds up Jon De Plume, who is now shrunk into a cube.
"Help me!" Jon De Plume pleas desperately.
King and Luz looked in horror, "No!"
Piniet opens a briefcase, in which are dozens of other cubed authors. They scream for help. Piniet puts Jon De Plume into an empty slot and closes the briefcase. "I'll leave you to it. Looking forward to your next volume!" Piniet says as he leaves, closing the door behind him.
Luz and King gasp as the box shrinks again.
"We're not getting out of here until we write a book, and that'll take forever! We're cube meat!" King says worryingly.
"Well, I have my story," Luz says as King looks at her with resistance. "But it's all hugging and crying! I can't put my name on that."
Luz frowns at King, "that's why we are in here! Because YOU, can't compromise! All I wanted was to write a dumb story with my friend."
King looks down feeling regret in his stomach, "Luz, you're living your dream. You're becoming a witch. But this celebrity is as close as I'll ever get to my dream. It all went to my head, and I hurt you. I'm sorry."
"Hey," Luz says as she puts a hand on King's shoulder. "Being with you is one of my favorite parts of this dream."
The sweet moment was interuppted when the box shrinks again.
Luz yelps, "I have a plan. But we need to work together this time."
King nods, "just tell me what to do."
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The merchant laughs, "I know you must be confused. The Bloom of Eternal Youth, dead? What if I told you the Bloom never existed at all! And now that I have led you to my nest, I'll suck all the life out of you to satisfy my unending hunger!"
Lilith halfheartedly smirks, "he scammed us. Can you believe he scammed us?"
Eda shrugs, "I thought there was a 50/50 chance going in. Hard not to admire the tenacity though."
"I had a feeling that this would happen when he gave us a map," (Y/n) says nonchalantly.
"Good entrance, but that outfit? Ha!" Lilith chuckles.
"Look at his little shoes!" Eda points as she laughs.
"I bet that Principal Bump would look better compared to this guy," (Y/n) comments.
Eda wheezes out a laugh and snorts, "oh my Titan! Good one (Y/n)!"
Lilith laughed as well, "you are such a bad influence on her Edalyn."
The merchant blushes embarrassingly as he covers his shoes, "well, maybe you've never been led into a lethal trap before, but the response should be, "Aa! No! Spare us!"
The three share a look.
"Ah, sure." Eda then steps onto the dais, "spare us."
Lilith summons her staff, "woe to us whose fates are sealed."
"We plea for our lives, for we are at your mercy," (Y/n) says with a dark smile as she cracks her knuckles.
The merchant gulps as he laughs nervously. Tha-That's right, witches! Cower! Cower?"
ʇɥıs ıs ƃoınƃ ʇo ɥnɹʇ °-°
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In the covention hall, where Piniet is stacking the cubed authors into a tower. The tower falls. "Aw, dang."
"Hey Piniet! We're done!" King calls out from the dressing room.
Piniet opens the door to the dressing room. The box is now so small King has to be under Luz's legs, which are bent in order to fit. "Faster than I expected!"
"That's the miracle of teamwork!" King says uncomfortably.
A hole opens in the top of the box. Luz holds up her manuscript: Luzura and the Shimminger Tears of Love + Hate. "+ Hate" is added in red while the rest is blue.
Piniet takes it and flips through part of it. The box shrinks slightly. "This is much more gushy than your last book."
"Skip to the finale, because it is quite a payoff," King urged.
"Piniet rolls his eyes. He keeps reading. Luz and King prepare to move. Piniet gets to the last page. "What is this all about?" He flips it around to reveal a light glyph drawn on the last page.
Luz smiles, "something that I learned from a friend. Blinding Light spell!" Luz reaches through the hole in the box and activates the glyph. The manuscript catches fire and turns into a blinding ball of light that rapidly disappears.
Piniet yells as he was blinded.
King groans, "Ugh, I just realized I should've said enlightening. "Skip to the finale, you'll find it enlightening."
"King! The contract!" Luz points at King's contract that's hanging out of Piniet's pocket.
"Pretentious scarf, go!" King uses the scarf as a lasso and pulls Piniet toward them. Luz grabs the contract and rips it in half with her teeth. The box explodes.
Piniet growls at the two, "I made you a star, and this is how you repay me?"
"No, this is!" King opens Piniet's briefcase. The cubed authors jump out and attack Piniet, screaming. Luz runs past, carrying King. They run into the two reptilian guards at the door.
Piniet frees himself of the authors. You are making this harder than it needs to be! And believe me, I am being very patient! But let's..." Piniet pulls a pen from his jacket. He pops the cap off and presses a button. The nib of the pen extends into a large two headed battle axe, which he raises above his head. "Cut to the finish."
Suddenly, the doors are burst open, sending the guards flying.
The three turned their attention at the door, "huh?"
Tinella Nosa came rushing into the room, "King! I am your biggest fan! And I fought my way back here for you...to read my story?"
King looks at Tinella Nosa, "I'm sorry, my lawyer advised me not to look at unsolicited work."
Tinella Nosa looks heartbroken, "But... but... eep!"
Piniet takes her story from her hands, "Ugh! If I read this, will you go? So I can annihilate them in peace?"
Tinella Nosa nods with a smile, "Of course!"
Piniet tosses his battle axe, adjusts his glasses, and slowly reads. Luz and King look at each other, then one of the guards. The guard shrugs. Piniet finishes the story. He's nearly crying. "Oh, it's beautiful! You, you must let me publish this! I can make you a star!"
Tinella Nosa gasps, "really!?"
"Wait a minute. What about King?" King asks as Piniet scoffs.
Piniet takes King's jacket, "you're old news. She on the other hand is the future!" Piniet drapes King's jacket and sunglasses over Tinella Nosa.
King looks at Piniet angerly, "Hey!"
Luz puts her hand on King's back, "King! We're good then?"
Piniet waves them away, "Yes, quite."
Luz picks King up and backs out of the dressing room.
Tinella Nosa shoots off finger guns, "Pachew, pachew."
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Back in the forest, the merchant groans at the feet of Eda, Lilith, and (Y/n), all beat up.
"Well, we wrecked this chump. But I guess the Bloom of Eternal Youth isn't real," Eda sighs.
"Well, if it makes any difference, I don't consider you to be a tired old bitty." Lilith smiles at her sister.
Eda looks at Lilith, "really?"
Lilith scoffs halfheartedly, "If you were, you'd be much easier to catch."
Eda groans, "Oh great, you're gonna cart me away to the coven now, are you?"
Lilith shakes her head, "not now. Because I want to give you a chance to join on your own! Join me in the Emperor's Coven, Edalyn. He could even heal your curse," Lilith holds out her hand to Eda.
Eda only pushes Lilith's hand down, "no, I'll heal it on my own terms. I don't wanna owe him anything. Catch you later, sis."
Lilith smiles, "not if I catch you first."
Eda smiles back before summoning her staff. "I'll see you around. Come on (Y/n)."
"Just to let you know, the next time we meet, I'll punt you to the sun." (Y/n) says, smiling halfheartedly.
Lilith smiled with a nod, "note taken. Please watch out for her."
(Y/n) smiles and waves, "will do. Bye Ms. Lilith"
Lilith sighs as she watches Eda and (Y/n) shoot up into the sky, and away from sight.
"You're welcome for the chance to bond," the merchant wheezes.
Lilith deadpans as she shoots him with a fire spell, causing him to yell in pain.
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At the Owl House, Eda and (Y/n) lands outside.
Luz and King were snoring on the couch, until Eda opens the door. "Hey, kids. Woof," Eda drops her staff and cracks her back.
"That was a rough couple days," (Y/n) groans as she falls onto the carpet. "I require sleep for the next millennia."
"Yeah, I'll say," Luz concurred.
Eda sits on the couch, "ah. Well, nothing a bit of apple blood and a good book can't mend."
Luz looks up in panic, "Books?"
King shook his head, also in a panic, "Nope, I don't know nothing about that."
"We hate books. Wow, look at the time!" Luz says as she got up the couch.
King also got off the couch, "what's a book? Good night!"
Luz does a back-handspring out of the room while King just runs away.
Eda and (Y/n) blinks as they watch them go, then notices Ruler's Reach on the coffee table. "Huh? What the-"
Typewriter looks at the two, "Girls, you do not want to know."
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