Quick content warning: mentioned death, suicide, and animal sacrifice
Luz loved flying. Something about soaring through the sky on a staff was amazing. Sure her palisman wasn't hatched yet, but it would be eventually and she could go flying whenever.
Unlike now where she was flying on Owlbert, two bags on her back, and flying next to Eda, currently in her harpy form.
Regardless, she was flying. Her new witches wool cape flapped in the wind. Apparently Eda had made it awhile ago and was just waiting for her to come back so she could have it. It was really sweet and the dark purple went great with her outfit; an asymmetrical long sleeve shirt with black sleeves and a gold, purple, green, red, and blue splatter look on the torso, black jeans with torn knees, blue-gray calf high boots, and of course, her dark blue fingerless gloves.
After a few hours of flying, the Isles came into view and Eda and Luz approached Bonesborough. From a distance, everything looked mostly normal. The bones of the Titan were more jagged, some buildings were damaged, and the whole place had a desaturated look, as if the draining spell had drained the magic from the land itself. But as they got closer, Luz slowly became more horrified.
The bones were jagged because they had broken and pieces crushed massive buildings. The damaged buildings only hid the completely crushed ones next to them. And the desaturation was the thick layer of dust, rubble, grime, decay, and blood. The stench of rot filled Luz's nose like a tidal wave. It was so strong she nearly vomited before even landing. As she touched down, it instantly got worse. Because on the ground she could see the bodies.
Lifeless limbs crushed under rubble and sticking out. Bodies morphed into impossible positions. Corpses missing arms from attempts at stopping the spell by removing sigils. People trampled from panic of either the spell or the Collector. The cobblestone roads were stained by the dark brown of dried up blood.
Luz felt frozen, feeling unable to move or breathe as she looked out at the carnage. There was a faint gust of wind as Eda landed next to her and turned back into her normal form.
"H-how long? How long has Bonesborough looked like this?" Luz croaked out, throat feeling too dry to talk for too long.
"Mostly the day of and after the Day of Unity. After the Collector was freed and you and your friends went to the human realm, it was chaos. Anyone conscious fled. People turned to anarchy as the Collector played with Belos' goopy corpse. Homes were ransacked, brawls broke out, and people were captured. There were some scared the draining spell would start again and mutilated their arms. Some people began to worship the Collector and attacked anyone they saw who seemed afraid. It was...terrifying. Seeing all these people, lots of whom I knew, turn to brutality so quickly. Against others and themselves. I don't think anyone slept that night.
"The next day, the Collector was done watching and began collecting resources. They had no concept of structural integrity and took chunks of bone from the ribs or first floors of buildings and didn't bat an eye when they collapsed. They stole water from the oceans. They changed the weather. He treated us like playthings. I tried to mitigate the chaos, but one arm down and weak, I couldn't help everyone.
"After that day, I gathered everyone I could and we fled to King's Island. There were only a handful of us at first, but I kept going back for more people. The hideout grew, and we began to have our own little society. But I never moved on. I kept searching for people. Searching...for you."
Luz looked at Eda, who seemed on the verge of tears, but she didn't stop talking.
"It was my idea to make the memorial. Only Tinnela Nosa wanted to join me for such a dangerous and pointless mission. But I got sloppy. And she got found. I didn't save her because I didn't want to get captured too. So I finished the memorial and went back. People were understanding, said it wasn't my fault and she knew the risk. That if I got captured too the hideout wouldn't be able to run with all the coven heads supposedly gone. I didn't sleep that night. And I have spent the last 7 months trying and failing to protect everyone. But I can't. Not alone."
Eda turned to Luz and took her hands in her own.
"Luz, the thought of you somehow being alive is all that kept me going. You're the closest thing I have to a daughter. I don't know what I'd do if I lost you. So, while we're here, please be safe. I don't care if people see, but defend yourself, okay?"
Luz nodded, making Eda happily sigh and weakly smile at her.
"I'm so proud of you, Luz. I'm going to do a quick search. You scavenge what you can. We'll meet back here in a few hours and I can train you some more. If you need me, scream. I can hear a lot better in my harpy form. Okay?"
"Got it." Luz said confidently.
Eda turned back into her harpy form, gave Luz a kiss on the forehead, and flew off, making Luz's cape get blown back as she rocketed into the air. Luz watched until she couldn't see Eda anymore. Then, she started to walk.
Down the roads she knew so well from living in the Boiling Isles for over a year. Except they were suddenly unfamiliar. Rubble blocked streets. The smell of death made going inside buildings impossible to handle. Nevertheless, Luz pressed on and tried to find a building that might have something in it. Soon, she reached a very familiar area and thankfully spotted a stall she knew all too well.
"What exactly is in here?" Belos asked, "It doesn't look like any regulated stand."
"It's Morton's potion stall! He works in the day market. Makes potions. Eda always got her elixir from him." Luz explained as she pulled up the rusty window gate and clambered inside.
She rustled through the stuff that, thankfully, wasn't ransacked. Apparently not enough, if any, people that knew about Morton had checked. Luz started grabbing bottles and ingredients and shoving them in the bag Eda gave her. Once she grabbed everything that didn't look rotten, Luz closed up the backpack and climbed out, much more gracefully this time. She got back to work walking around the city.
"So Belos." Luz said, sounding curious.
"Yes, Luz?"
"You know any good places to scavenge? Like, you probably knew where people lived that had power and stuff. So are there any houses around here that might have some good stuff?"
"If you want a branding glove, just go to the local scout outpost. I doubt people will have stolen those." Belos said with a voice that sounded like if he could, he would be shrugging.
"We don't just want a branding glove. We're on a supply run. A branding glove is just an additional thing. Now, do you know a place?"
Belos paused, then moved slightly against Luz's skin that felt like he was nodding.
"672 Rotswell Drive. One of the residents was a high level scout. They made good money and, as their spouse was in the healing coven, likely have medical supplies. Considering their daughter went to Hexside, I wouldn't be surprised if they got a bit rebellious and stole a branding glove."
"Was their daughter a multi track student?" Luz asked as she scanned street signs.
"I believe so. Healing and...beast keeping? Yes, that's what Adrian reported."
"I get to see Viney's house! Wish it wasn't because I was robbing it, but hey, I'll apologize when I get back to base. Maybe I can even grab a few things for her. I don't know how much she got before going to the hideout."
Luz eventually found the street, but paused before going down. Something was off. Every house had a strange symbol painted on the door. Upon closer inspection, the realization hit Luz like a tidal wave.
A melting blue crescent moon with three triangles surrounding it.
The Titan Trappers.
They had gone from house to house, likely searched them and did who knows what else, and marked them as their territory. Luz didn't know if they had decided to stick around or just marked the houses and left. Whatever they had done, it was worth the risk. She walked down the road, scanning the house numbers. Soon, she hit what was supposed to be Viney's house. With a deep breath, she walked up to the house.
The front door was locked, but the window next to the door was shattered so she could carefully get in that way. The first floor of the house looked decent, but didn't have anything good. It looked like someone released a bunch of rat worms high on Pixie Sticks into the house. The second floor was much more promising. The first room Luz checked, what looked to be a guest room, didn't have anything useful but it was much more intact. The next room was like an at-home treatment room. Luz grabbed all the sterile supplies she could and stuffed them in her bag, as well as a box of healing patches. The next room was another bedroom, and looked like it was probably Viney's.
A flier derby poster hung above the twin bed. Shelves on the side of the room were lined with picture frames, each one with before and after pictures of hurt animals, the after ones having Viney in them as well, smiling wide with the healed animals. Sitting along the dresser were a bunch of stuffed animals, most of them of demons Luz recognized, but some unfamiliar. Luz grabbed the stuffed griffin and put it in the bag.
"What's the use of that toy?" Belos asked.
"No use to it." Luz shrugged, "But I bet she'll love it. It'll remind her of Puddles. Her pet griffin."
"I remember when I was a child. I too had some sentimental items. Shame they were lost." Belos sighed.
As Luz left the room, she began thinking of what the thing could be. She'd been inside his mind, so it shouldn't be too hard to figure it out.
Luz got to the last room, but was for some reason hesitant to open the door. It was like an invisible force was urging her to not go in. But, anything that could be scavenged would be helpful. She opened the door, and froze, hand clapped over her mouth. Then she removed her hand, curled over, and vomited on the floor. Of all she had seen that day, this was by far the worst.
A limp body hung from the ceiling, a noose around their neck. The skin on their neck, arms, and legs was loose and torn from decomposition. Their hair had fallen out and their skin had gone pale from a lack of blood flow. The whole room reeked of death, and puke. Luz went to slam the door, but couldn't for some reason.
"What about checking every room?" Belos asked.
"I'm not about to disrespect one of Viney's parents by robbing their room while their body just hangs there. We're done here."
"We still have the garage." Belos said casually.
"Witches have garages?"
"Yes, but not for the reasons us humans have them. Mostly for animals and storage."
"Okay. We're searching there, then we're leaving. If they don't have a branding glove, we'll go to a scout outpost. Then, we're done. Okay?"
"Okay."
Luz finally managed to close the door. Following Belos' directions, Luz went down the stairs to the first floor, then through a door that led to what Belos said was the garage.
And if Luz hadn't already emptied her stomach in the last room, she would have been more than nauseous in that one.
Puddles, Viney's dearest pet and companion, her best friend, was lying on her back, gutted, with the Titan trapper symbol smeared on her forehead. And what was worst of all, it hadn't begun to decompose. The body was still slightly warm.
The trappers were still here.
Luz turned to run, but was met with two trappers, in their full outfits and towering over her.
"Well this day just got better!" One of the trappers said with a bellowing laugh, their voice vaguely familiar, "The Grand Huntsman will be pleased with this offering! The very human that brought us the baby Titan all those months ago. Luz was it?"
"Tarak?" Luz asked, confused and surprised to see him again.
"Yes! It is I! And now, you will be coming with us to-"
Tarak was cut off by the sound of shattering and his companion falling face forward to the ground. Tarak and Luz both looked back to see someone in a ragged brown cloak, a belt with lots of potions around their waist.
"I just gave you an opening, now run!" The cloaked person commanded.
"Wait, Boscha?" Luz asked curiously, recognizing her voice.
"Human?! You're the one I've been tailing? Ugh. Of course I needed to save you, you weak, good for nothing, thought to be dead, wannabe witch!"
Once Boscha was done with her rant, she realized it had distracted her enough she didn't have time to fight back as Tarak threw a bolas that wrapped around her arms, preventing her from throwing another potion. She fell to the ground and hit her head hard enough to knock her out.
"Two offerings in one day? Must be my lucky day?"
Luz couldn't do anything as Tarak hit her with a sleep spell and she fell to the ground.