"Ummm, Conserver?" Luz asked spinning her staff in one hand then pushing it down to the floor causing the fire to turn white before disputing completely, The Conserver turned to look at her his form gliding across the first few trees around her and settling on the one closest infront of the human. He nodded showing he was listening so Luz continued "Can we learn some more... intresting spells? Don't get me wrong! Fire and water are cool and all but I want to learn to bring back the dead and make objects float!"
"First off, there's no glyph version of a spell to bring back the dead. Second, Levitation is an ability and not a spell, you'll need to study oracle magic to learn to make things levitate and even then you can't actually perform magic! Your just mimicking it with the staff" The Conserver explained gliding down to the bottom of the tree where his tablet had been layed and giving a sigh "Plus, these spells will help me get a better understanding of what you can and can't do so I know what spells to teach to help you improve one of your specific skills"
"Alright" Luz said with a sigh picking up her staff and getting ready to recast the spell again, she breathed in and pushed the staff out spinning it in a circle causing the glyphs inside the stone to activate in a certain pattern. The stone turned transparent once again and a multicoloured light in yellow, red, blue and green shimmered on the inside, the light filled the stone taking a red hue as she cast the spell. A trail of red mist wrapped around her rising from the circle, she brought the staff up making the mist erupt into bright red fire.
She spun the staff lifting it up above her head then running around moving the staff to move the fire around her. She pushed the star of the staff up the ground following the Conserver as they slid across the trees, she lowered the staff to her chest then slammed it to the ground in the Conserver's direction creating a burst of fire which launched upwards from the ground below the tree just missing the shadow. This part of their training was pretty simple, she just needed to hit the Conserver three times with the fire spell as he ran.
It was just another thing she needed to learn to do before she could even think of trying to replicate the Conserver's spells. She'd heard of the things he claimed to do and based off what she could confirm as a fact he was definitely stronger then a witch and maybe even a titan. She wasn't sure about Belos yet since he was ment to be the one behind witch society as it is but that could just be because she hasn't actually seen the Conserver in action given he's trapped in a piece of stone afterall.
She whipped the staff up quickly spinning it in a circle infront of her causing the fire to form a circle before launching off in every direction landing a hit on the shadow. She quickly slashed the staff out to the left causing the fire to create seven small saw liek rings which chased down the shadow all but one which hit the back just before the Conserver leapt to another tree missing miserably. One more attack and it's done.
She flicked the staff down pulling it closer to her and leaping up slamming it down on the ground creating a river of blue fire which wrapped around the trees and burnt the one that the Conserver's shadow was on to a crisp. The Conserver's shadow disappeared reforming behind Luz as a snake which slid down a branch then forming the Conserver's body on the bottom of the tree trunks.
"Your reaction speed is improving a lot! It's not going to help too much if you're facing an enemy actually trying to avoid your attacks but it's definitely a good start" The Conserver praised sliding across the trees, Luz had noticed he was slower then normal and had been speaking a tiny bit less.
The Conserver never really talked about themself so it was pretty hard to figure out how they were feeling most of the time. Because of this she learnt to recognise the smallest details and pick them apart in order to read the Conserver's emotions. Her best guess was that he was either thinking about something that was annoying him or something felt weird. Or just both. Yeah probably both.
"Are you okay?" Luz asked, the Conserver paused for a second their form switching to be on the tree on her left.
"Everythings fine" The Conserver said waving his hand dismissively "I just feel something, something that doesn't add up"
"Well? What do you feel?" Luz asked once again determined to help
"Really...?" The Conserver groaned sliding down to his stone and rolling his eyes, Luz nodded like the stubborn teen she is.he stared at her for a moment then sighed and slid up around his tablet arms layed on top of the stone while anything below the torso disappeared into the stone tablet "Well since you must know, I feel a specific spell being set up somewhere over there that only me and my species are ment to know"
"And that's concerning you why?! I would be ecstatic if I were you!" Luz exclaimed her eyes practically sparkling.
"Because of what spell it actually is..." The Conserver muttered a look of dread and disappointment on his face "it's a specific spell that I stole from the Archivists, the leaders of my species, when I left with my brother to go to the Boiling Isles. It's a dangerous spell that was made basically to just commit planet scale genocide. Its a complicated spell that constantly changes depending on what your trying to get rid of so only a collector is ment to even know it exists, It's called the draining spell since it drains the magic and life force from any being the spell is set to target through a mark on the skin. I don't know why it's being used but I can feel the magic signature"
"Th-THERES A GENOCIDE SPELL!? AR- Are you sure you're not just confusing it for another spell!?" Luz asked, the Conserver shook his head
"I can recognise the signature of any spell, especially this one because of how long it can take to set up, how different casting it can be every time and the fact that the spell only stops when the eclipse stops so once it starts you can't stop it" The Conserver explained "you see, this is a type of limit spell meaning it only stops when it physically can't continue or when it has completed so no matter how much you try to stop the spell it'll be impossible unless you remove the elements needed to cast it.ĺ in this case it's the solar eclipse which happens for hours on this planet unlike on earth where it only lasts for seven minutes at most, its impossible to mix up a spell that precise"
"It's ment to be able to linger in a host for a life time afterall! It stays in your blood stream and veins feeding on your magic more and more over time, the longer you let it drain your magic and life force the easier it'll be for the spell to take absolutely everything and force it into the nine conduits which will carry the magic build up then release it after the spell finishes and their life force is drainer completely"
"Oh my god- That sounds terrible!?" Luz screeched, the Conserver just shrugged
💚
"Emboldened by the dishonour hecate had shown, Azura raised her staff to the cotton-candy skies and shouted 'I challenge you to a witches duel!'" Luz read aloud as Eda dusted off some of her 'human artifacts' which were really just everyday items that didn't exist in the Boiling Isles magic focused world, she lowered the book and flipped the small doodles she'd made on the pages "Look, I even made a flip book!"
"Show me the picture!" King said suddenly making Luz jump since she hadn't been expecting him to speak so soon. She may seem light hearted at the moment but she was still unsettled by what the Conserver had said, she barely knew anything and he jusy expected her to stay quiet without clarifying anything? All she knew was to be on the lookout for skin markings that did something to your blood. King demanded for her to show the picture again so she did "Huh, I can draw better then that. They used to call me the king of artists!"
"Wait, I thought you were the king of demons" Luz said in a mocking skeptical voice "are you just making this up now?"
"Doesn't matter!" King exclaimed pushing his paws out infront of him "what matters is that my followers would leave me offering in fear of me"
"Well I can offer you more of this tantalising book" Luz offered, eda groaned and stopped dusting off the blue crocs she was dusting
"UGH! Would you stop reading that!?" Eda complained "it's flowery language is an insult to witches everywhere and driving away all our serious customers!"
"Umm... eda...? What customers?" Luz asked motioning to the empty space around them signifying their stand was deader then a polar bear in the desert "There aren't even any other stands around here"
"This is a bad omen. Something terrible must be happening today..." Eda said. Luz quickly went quiet hearing that, all her worries about what the Conserver said coming back to her.
"LUZ! Something amazing is happening today!"
"Uh- oh! Hi gus, hi willow!" Luz exclaimed pushing down her unease down. She grabbed her staff from beneath the stand and slid it into the Carrier she had in her backpack which she used to carry the Conserver's tablet with her when she needed to keep it hidden.
"It's the annual Covention" Willow explained holding up a poster which showed a teen witch looking into a brewing pot which had the text 'which coven are you in?' Written on the front of it "Student witches get to see all the types of covens before they're placed into one" Willow pointed to a section at the bottom which said 'mystery guest!' "There's even a mystery guest this year!"
"A job fair for witches!?" Luz exclaimed all that worry suddenly leaving her head all at once. She turned to eda, eyes sparkling "Eda! Can we go?"
"Absolutely not!" Eda snapped back instantly making Luz whimper as she fell to the ground "I never joined a coven for a reason! Sure its a fun club for witches but you're also giving up your magical independence to be part of a crooked system!" Eda said with a shocking amount of hate in her voice, Gus and Willow looked at her weird for a few seconds "eh, but you know, no judgement. In any case, I haven't been to once since we were little girls"
"We? Who's we!? You have a mysterious past!?" Luz exclaimed jumping up before Eda even had the time to react to what she said "now we gotta go!"
"No" Eda cut in once again
"Okay, then you leave me no choice" Luz said in a threatening voice motioning to king who took her good witch azura book out and began to read
"'You shan't doeth no more harm' Azura calledeth out!"
"So flowery... so awful" Eda said wide eyed in terror of being forced to listen to the words in the book. She lifted the portal door and stepped through as King followed after, Eda ran back out covering her ears and yelling "STOP IT STOP IT STOP IT! I will literally do anything to stop this!"
💚
(Since this is the bit where the opening theme plays in the episode I decided I'd say what I thought the opening would look like in this AU. First off, for the bit where the door to the house opens instead of holding Eda's staff Luz would hold the staff she made with the Conserver. Between the bit where Luz flys through Bonesborough on eda's staff and King's stuffed animals all fall in on him I imagine there'd be a scene of the Conserver's Tablet glowing before he comes out from behind it and the transition to Luz would be his scarf going down the screen. When Luz uses the light glyph at the end it's also replaced with her casting the light spell with her staff instead. Apart from that the season 1 intro stays the same)
"Ugh!" Eda groaned pulling a hood over her hair which proved to be incredibly hard, Luz watched suspicious of why she'd be so concerned about this. Plus, there's a lot more she has on that makes it clear she's still Eda so just hiding her hair isn't going to do much "gotta keep a low profile"
"Is this cowl really necessary?" Luz asked.
"Do you think all my wanted posters are for petty theft?" Eda scolded, just then a lot of random items that clearly didn't belong to her fell from her hair "partly... but the big whammy is that I disobeyed the law and refused to join a coven. If I'm seen, I could go to jail. Again"
"Maybe this informative event will inspire you to join a coven" Willow said optimiacally, Luz stopped listening however because she heard a voice in her head.
"This place feels weird" A voice muttered, Luz paused for a moment but quickly realised it was just the Conserver. It was an extension of the contract spell they'd made when they first met that made it so the Conserver could still speak to Luz as long as the tablet was close by and limit it so only she could hear, it took a bit of energy so he usually used the method where he just came out of the stone to talk to her "I don't like that building, something just feels... off"
"Luz? Do you want to go or not because I'd happily take you back" Eda asked taking Luz out the conversation with the Conserver. Willow led them inside revealing a large hall with large banners and posters hanging from walls with witches from all around the Boiling Isles all gathered in one place. There were thousands of stands but nine near the end of the hall stuck out the most to her, the illusion coven, the abomination coven, the oracle coven, the healing coven, the construction coven, the beast tamers coven, the potions coven, the plant coven and the bard coven.
"Wow. Was I even alive before now?" Luz said in awe watching all the witches who were running from coven to coven trying to get as much information as possible about each one.
"Those are the main nine covens" Gus explained gesturing to the nine Luz had noticed "but there are hundreds of others you can join"
"There's flower coven, artist coven, big dog coven, small cat coven, tiniest cat coven" Willow continued counting the covens on her fingers as she pointed them out to Luz. Eda groaned at all the talk about covens going on around her "also the grumpy coven" Willow whispered to Luz
"What was that?" Eda asked in a threatening tone of voice. Willow jumped and ran with Luz and Gus pushing her forward as they ran to another coven at the very end of the hall not noticing Eda wasn't following them.
"Oooh! What's that?" Luz asked pointed to a coven that used a brown fist ad its symbol
"Thats the construction coven" Willow explained "it's one of the main nine. They use power glyphs to increase their strength"
"Yowza-wowza" Luz remarked watching as a short demon with a nose for a head ran around destroying the construction coven section of the hall, she jumped when a blue version of herself formed behind her repeating what she said. "Yowza-whaaaa?" Luz looked over to see the illusion walking over to a mirror where two illusionists were puppeting it
"Ah! You've been taken in by the allure of the illusion coven!" Gus said stepping infront of Luz and using his own illusion magic to make it seem like he teleported "we like to magic with a hint of showmenship"
"Wow. acceptance? Camaraderie? A sense of belonging? Covens sound incredible!" Luz uttered watching all the witches show off their magic to the covens they wanted to join "Eda, why did you never join one?"
"Watch closely Luz" Eda instructed turning Luz to face another part of the illusion coven stand where two witches were stood, one a student and the other in a weird mask that reminded her of a plaque doctor's mask. The witch in the mask put their hand over the students wrist causing a mark to form there, Luz's eyes went wide as blue formed around their body illuminating the veins on the left side of their body "When you join a coven all your other magic is sealed away, from now on that kid will only be ab-"
"YEP! YEAH I GET IT NOW!" Luz half screamed half panicked, she knew the Conserver was likely fuming "Wild magic good covens bad! Covens really, really, really bad!"
Eda was confused by the sudden switch and the fact Luz had cut her off so soon but was satisfied with the fact that Luz was definitely against covens now.
"If your that worried about loosing your magic you can try join the emperor's coven" Willow said directing Luz to another Coven that used an Eagle with a gold sword infront of its spread wings as its symbol. She saw lots of the witches in the white plaque masks.
"The Emperor's Coven!" Gus gasped, he lifted his hair and looked to Willow with a kind of excitement Luz knew they wouldn't have if they knew what was happening because of these marks "do you think they'll sign my forehead!?"
"Only one way to find out!" Willow answered, they both ran into the hall which was hidden by the golden curtains the coven scouts were guarding. Luz didn't really want to go anymore but she didn't want to leave her new friends alone in a place where someone is trying to kill them all with a genocide spell so she ran after them.
💚
"Hello Bonesborough!"
Luz watched anxiously, she didn't see any giant evil bad guy trying to kill all the witches in the hall but she had to stay on guard. But she was surprised to see the Principal of Hexside leading the opening talk at the event. "My students ask me all the time. Principal Bump, what's the height of magical achievement?"
"Is it this?" A student in a yellow uniform asked standing up from their seat and casting a spell that made their head grow to ten times it's original size.
"Wow. I've failed you as a principal..." Bump said in a tone that radiated disappointment, he recollected himself quickly after and got back to the speech "It's being selected to join the best of the best, and there's none better then the jewel of the coven system and enforcers of his will: The Emperor's Coven!"
"Luzzz!" Willow and Gus said at the same time, Luz looked over putting on a fake look of excitement when she saw they actually managed to get someone to sign Gus' forehead.
"Feast your eyes on this elite force!" Principal Bump continued to explain "each member handpicked to help usher in a new age of controlled magic, members of the Emperor's Coven are able to use all, Yes, all types of magic. Ooh! Ahh!" The audience copied "But! Only the best can ascend these ranks! Someday that could be one of you! And now, I am pleased to introduce the esteemed leader of this Coven and this year's mystery guest. You know her, you love her: Lilith!"
"Huh...?" Eda uttered, Luz could hear her confusion but was too focused on what was happening to ask about Eda's mysterious past at that moment. A blue light appeared at the top of the hall forming the shape of a raven which swooped down to the platform Bump stood on, it perched and lifted its head up with the light exploding outwards in a beauiful mix of blues and whites. When the illusion spell was over, a feminine witch stood at the bottom. She wore a white plaque mask which only let the bottom half of her face be seen, she also had a long black dress that perfectly fit her figure with a blue gem embedded in the center of the chest and the areas above the waist being a light grey.
Lilith used magic to lift her mask off as she spread her arms, the gold rimmed white cloak she was wearing opening with her arms making it easier to pick apart identifying features. She slid the hood down and her long midnight blue hair dropped down from her head, then she used more magic to take the cloak off as well which Bump took as he left the stage leaving everything else to this Lilith woman. Suddenly the Conserver began to laugh in the back of Luz's head, confusing her.
"Oh my Titan! This is gold!" The Conserver Laughed hysterically
"Thank you all! It wasn't easy for me to rise to the top" Lilith began to speak walking from one side of the stage to the other "I also started from humble beginnings. And now I have the highest honour of enforcing the emperor's will! So be more... the Emperor's Coven awaits you!"
💚
After the talk ended, Luz left the hall with everyone else looking at everything in a book that was handed out to everyone in the event who had attended the talk. She flipped through the pages as Eda ran from a Coven scout not paying attention to anything else around h-
"Ha- Hey! Watch where you're-" Luz looked up from the book and locked eyes with none other then the green haired witch who excelled in abomination magic, Amity Blight. Out of all the people she could have bumped into it had to be Amity!? "oh, it's you. Willow's abominations thing"
"Uh, hey, Amity. So uh, funny story. Not an abomination, sorry for the confusion last week" Luz attempted to apologise, she slid the book into the backpack her staff was hooked in and left a small space for the Conserver "I'm Luz. The human. Hi"
"Ugh, put that away!" Amity said slapping the hand Luz had offered to her away "You're the one that got me in trouble with Principal Bump and I never get in trouble"
"Well to be fair, you were okay with him trying to dissect me" Luz said following Amity as she tried to walk away
"You can't be here!" Amity yelled stopping in her tracks and turning back around "this covention is for witches only!"
"Talk about speciesism" The Conserver muttered in a mocking tone that made it really hard to keep a straight face
"Well I'm training to be a witch" Luz said grabbing her staff and swinging it out infront of her so Amity could see "I'm getting lessons from a pretty amazing star"
"A star?" Amity said in a mocking tone that showed she wasn't believing a word Luz said "yeah, sure, because a star came down and told you to be a witch, that's totally a believable story"
"What are you trying to say Blight brat?" Liz heard the Conserver snap.
"LUZ!" A voice Luz loved to hear said, she spun around seeing King running up to her while wearing thousands of layers of shirts "Look at all these offerings people are giving me- AH!" He tripped dropping the cupcake he was holding. Luz quickly rushed to his side helping him up and was about the grab the cupcake when Amity stepped on it. Luz gasped
"Amity! Why would you do that!?" Luz exclaimed
"Because you and your pet are giving witches in training a bad name" Amity answered with a scoff, King was about to speak but Luz acted before he could say a single word. She slammed the end of her staff to the ground remembering the floodgate spell the Conserver taught her earlier. The star at the end lit up as usual solidifying in a mostly blue and red glow, she pushed the staff up above her head causing a basin of a red drink to rise up and convert into fresh water. The boiling hot water rushed straight at Amity from behind scorching her neck and back, she yelped and grabbed her neck taking a few steps forward. She hissed from the pain and raised an arm firing a projectile made of purple abomination goo at Luz but she rolled to the side dodging quickly and successfully like the Conserver taught her.
"Just like Azura did to Hecate at the bog of instant regret, I challenge you to a witches duel!" Luz announced standing up straight and pointing her staff at Amity, Amity smirked and walked forward before giving a reply
"I accept" she said clearly seeing no danger in fighting Luz "Let's set the terms for this duel then shall we?"
"One, if I win you apologise to king for stepping on his cupcake. Two, you need to admit humans can become witches" Luz stated her terms
"Fine, and If I win you not only need to tell the whole Covention you're not a witch but you also have to give up training forever" Amity also stated her terms. Luz paused for a moment her eyes drifting down to the lines on her wrist. What about the contract...? If she loses she'll be breaking the contract, as the Conserver said both sides of the contract needed to be completed otherwise something bad will happen and if she doesn't get training that means the Conserver's side of the contract will be broken...
"Are you doubting my training, Luz?" The Conserver said "If you think you'll lose with how much you've already mastered you're not going to be able to learn anything else. Plus, I'm a being who's literally made of magic I'm pretty sure you'll beat her since a lot of your spells are also mine. To be honest it's kinda insulting you don't think you'll be able to win despite having my help, your ten times stronger then her!"
"Fine! Let's shake on it" Luz said holding out her hand, Amity drew a magic circle around their hands and shook hands once the spell had started. It felt similar to when the contract spell was cast but weaker. A lot weaker.