"Okay... So run this by me one more time?" Eda asked, making Lilith moan in annoyance.
She had spent the last two hours after waking Eda up trying to explain what her findings meant.
"Edalyn, the Owl Beast curse that was placed on you... And then me once we shared the burden... Can possibly be removed for good if this scroll is to be believed." Lilith explained.
"Hoot! Which would mean Lulu wouldn't have to make more tonic, and can instead spend that time with me!" Hooty proclaimed from behind Lilith.
Eda blinked in surprise, "Wait, seriously?" she asked.
Lilith nodded, "Yes! We found it while searching in the forbidden... Well, now bidden sections at the library." she replied. "But that's besides the point, the main thing is we can possibly remove the Owl Beast from both you AND me!"
"Huh..." Was all Eda could say in response.
She had never thought there truly would be a way to actually remove the curse. Eda had pretty much accepted the fact (and she thought Lilith had too) that the Owl Beast was going to be a part of them forever.
"So, you're SURE this is legit and not like some misinformation, right?" Eda asked while itching her cheek with her hook (Titan, it made such a good scratcher).
"It was really buried in the forbidden section... I have my reasons to believe this very well could be true info." Lilith replied.
"Well, spill then! What sort of ritual do we have to do to break this damn curse?!" Eda exclaimed.
"That's the thing... There is no ritual specified in the scrolls." Lilith explained, "It only details WHERE we can possibly find more history concerning the Owl Beast."
Eda groaned, "Seriously?!" she complained, "You woke me up at five in the morning just to tell me that?!"
"Oh, pardon me for thinking it was rather important!" Lilith huffed., crossing her arms.
Eda shook her head in slight irritation, "Where does the scroll even tell us to go? The Knee? Eclipse Lake?" she questioned, giving possible guesses.
Lilith and Hooty chuckled a bit, "Oh no... It's not in the Isles. The scroll details that the Owl Beast once roamed on an island far off the shores. This island is situated on a Titan's hand bone-"
"THE FUCKING TITAN TRAPPERS?!" Eda exclaimed, taking Lilith aback before she regained her composure.
"Yes, I've theorized that they live on the same island this scroll details..." Lilith sighed, gesturing at the open scroll on her desk.
"Nope, not happening and not worth it. I don't even wanna SEE those pricks." Eda waved her off, beginning to leave the study.
"Edalyn, come on! We're not even going to interact with them... This isn't ABOUT them, it's about finding out more on our curse! Even if there isn't a way to break it, we may discover a way to control it better!" Lilith reasoned, trying to convince her hesitant sister.
Eda had a good reason to be hesitant. She knew how close the Titan Trappers had gotten to killing King. It was on her bucket list to somehow make it to that island and return the favor. But at the moment, with all the stress of being part of the new Titan Coven, she didn't have time to think about revenge at the moment.
But nonetheless, Eda relented with a small groan.
"Ugh, fine..." Eda sighed, "When were you even thinking about going?".
Lilith tossed Eda the scroll, "Seeing as you're awake now, I was thinking... Now." Lilith answered.
"Wha- Now?!" Eda exclaimed, holding the scroll in surprise, "Also, having Hooty drag me out of bed doesn't count as 'awake' in my book."
"It does in mine." Lilith responded, "Now come on, we can get supplies for the trip at the council building."
Lilith walked out of the study ("Hoot! Another life threatening adventure!" Hooty exclaimed), while Eda watched her go.
"Could we get breakfast at the bar before we leave?" Eda called out.
"Apple Blood isn't part of a balanced breakfast!" Lilith's voice replied.
Eda grumbled before also leaving the study to follow her older sister.
***
Luz slowly began to wake up, she blinked as her eyes adjusted to the light peering in from the window.
She sat up, and stretched with a yawn. After she did so, she glanced beside her and noticed something... Or rather, someone.
The Collector had fallen asleep cuddled beside her. Still holding Francois close to him, a small smile on his sleeping face.
Luz couldn't help but find the sight adorable. She lightly shook the star child a bit, trying to wake him up.
"Mmm, huh...?" The Collector mumbled out, beginning to open his eyes.
"It's time to wake up bud." Luz told him as he sat up.
The Collector stretched a bit, as he looked around. "Did we fall asleep?" He asked, slightly surprised.
Luz chuckled. They both had spent a LOT more time than Luz had planned on spending watching Spellrun last night. She originally was going to stop at only three episodes, but then the Collector got invested in the first arc of the series, which had the protagonist, Kaitlyn, being the first human to be entered into a magic school.
So they watched a few more episodes after that. Luz remembered making it to the Season 1 finale before they both passed out.
"Guess we must have!" Luz replied, picking up her phone from her lap.
"Ohh! Let's watch more of Spellrun!" The Collector excitedly suggested, "I bet Kaitlyn and Thea end up together!"
Luz giggled at his enthusiasm. "Maybe in a bit Collector... Right now, we should probably go eat breakfast."
"Okay!" The Collector floated up, and out the door.
Luz got up, and followed him down the stairs. They walked by the couch, where Vee was laying down in her basilisk form, eating some chips.
"Vee, it's like eight in the morning... Why are you already eating chips?" Luz asked.
"I finished breakfast like an hour ago. So, I decided to eat some chips I brought with me." Vee said, swallowing her mouthful.
"What'd mom cook?" Luz asked, leaning to look at the kitchen doorway to see if she could spot a plate.
"She scrambled some griffin eggs, and toasted some white-root bread... It was pretty good." Vee claimed, letting out a small burp.
The Collector giggled, while Luz rolled her eyes in slight amusement.
"We didn't really see you yesterday... Did you just sleep the entire time?" Luz asked, curious.
Vee shrugged, "I was tired. Toured pretty much the entire town yesterday, you know." she replied.
"Guess that makes sense." Luz said, before she looked at the Collector beside her.
"Oh! You haven't met the Collector yet, have you?" Luz stepped to the side so the star child was in full view.
Vee seemed surprised at the sight of him. "You're the Collector?" She asked, taken aback..
"Uh, yeah?" The Collector replied, as he raised an eyebrow at the weird question.
"Sorry... It's just... I expected you to be a bit more... Threatening, I guess?" Vee said, as she gave a small half shrug.
"More threatening? What do you mean?" The Collector asked, tilting his head a bit.
"Um, Luz and the others mentioned your godlike powers and how you splattered Belos against the wall like he was nothing... I just, didn't expect you to be such a small kid." Vee explained, rubbing her arm.
"Well... I'm not THAT small..." The Collector claimed, a slight blush appearing on his cheeks.
Luz giggled a bit at the Collector's reaction to Vee's comment.
"You're pretty small compared to us Collector." Luz reasoned, an entertained smile on her face.
The Collector crossed his arms, and huffed. "No, I'm not." He claimed.
Luz smirked as she got a mischievous idea, and with a slightly movement of her arms... She picked up the Collector, holding him in her arms bridal style.
"Wha- Luz, what are you doing?" The Collector asked, confused while in her arms.
The human giggled, "Wow... You know, you are somehow even LIGHTER than you look. It's like holding a cloud." she remarked.
The Collector continued to blush as Luz held him, even cradling him as if to show off how light he was.
"Okay fine... Guess I'm sorta small..." The Collector sheepishly admitted.
Luz and Vee laughed a bit in amusement, which the Collector couldn't help but join them in.
Their laughter was interrupted when Raine rushed down the stairs and past them to the kitchen. They put on their coat, and quickly walked out the door.
"Morning Raine! Where are-" Luz began, only to be cut off as Raine closed the door behind them.
"...You going?" She finished flatly.
***
Eda and Lilith walked into the council building. They passed by multiple working demons and witches as they made their way to the equipment room.
Eda grumbled as they both went. "Stupid scroll, stupid island, stupid trappers..."
"Edalyn, would you stop already?" Lilith deadpanned, "No matter how much you groan about this, we're doing it."
"Oh, sorry I'm not completely on board with going to the same island my adopted son almost was MURDERED on!" Eda snapped back. "We should be dealing with them before doing this stuff!"
Lilith rolled her eyes, but she did agree with her sister. The Titan Trappers were a problem they would have to deal with in the future... A problem she was VERY looking forward to dealing with in the most brutal manner she could come up with.
"As much as I wish we could, we cannot focus on the trappers at the moment... We have more important matters to focus on, like breaking the curse." Lilith reasoned.
Eda thought for a moment and sighed, "I guess you're right..." she ultimately agreed.
Lilith smiled, and opened the door to the equipment room.
Multiple shelves and racks lined the walls, holding weapons and other tools.
"Only take things we'll need. Weapons aren't necessary." Lilith said, as she walked past the weapon racks.
Eda did so as well... And made it to the fridge at the other end of the room, opening it to reveal a six-pack of ice-cold Apple Blood.
"Seriously Edalyn?" Lilith deadpanned, seeing Eda take the pack and stuff it into a bag.
"What? You said to only bring stuff we'll need... And I'm gonna need to be at least a LITTLE drunk to go where we're going." Eda reasoned defensively.
Lilith simply shook her head, and started to pack what she deemed would be useful supplies.
Lilith had almost finished filling the bag when...
"Eda? Lilith?" A voice questioned.
They both turned to see Raine walking up to them, his clothes seemed to have been put on in a rush.
"I saw you both leave through the bedroom window..." Raine explained as they stopped in front of the two witch sisters.
Raine noticed the bags, and raised their eyebrow inquisitively. "What are you packing for?" They asked.
"We're investigating a possible source of information concerning the Owl Beast." Lilith answered, as Hooty scooped up Lilith's bag for her. "It's on a secluded island off the shores of the Isles."
"Wanna come?" Eda asked, drinking one of the bottles from the six-pack.
"It'll be life threatening! Hoot!" Hooty cheerfully added.
"Well, as tempting as that is... I can't. There's just too much to do around here." Raine said in reply, making Eda roll her eyes.
"Oh come on! There's the other council members who can handle that stuff for a day or two!" Eda reasoned, "What, is there suddenly gonna be an attack the day you leave or something?"
Raine hesitated, but couldn't help but find Eda's logic made sense. What was the worst that could happen if they left the other council members in charge for the day?
"Okay... I'll come with you." Raine finally decided, making Eda grin.
"Alright! That's what I like to hear!" Eda said, tossing Raine a bag. "Let's head out."
As they walked out of the equipment room, Raine remembered something.
"Wait! Before we leave, we've gotten these reports of weird activity in the Palm Stings. Maybe we should check that-" Raine's suggestion was cut off by Eda.
"Oh, don't worry about that... I already sent someone to investigate it." She waved it off.
"Really? Who did you send?" Raine questioned, curious.
Eda simply smirked deviously.
***
Darius suddenly remembered why he disliked the Palm Stings the second sand was blown into his eyes by the wind. He then remembered why he HATED the Palm Stings when he transformed back into his solid non-goo form, only to find sand had clumped up in a few parts of his body.
"Wonderful..." Darius groaned, trying to knock away the sand to no avail.
When Eda had dropped this task on him, he really should have asked where exactly the reports were coming from before accepting.
Now he had to tread through the sand-filled Palm Stings for hours looking for a place that seemingly didn't even exist.
Darius had made a mental note to kill Eda next time he saw her.
He was at least thankful he didn't have to be out here alone doing this. Darius couldn't get Alador to help investigate with him, because the Blight father was still 'busy' in his lab. Eberwolf was still completely missing (Not that he was worried or anything). So he took the second option for companionship on this mission.
"Welp, there's nothing here. It's just... Sand." Hunter remarked, kicking the sand below him as he glanced around the flat desert around them.
"The reports said there was a few small explosions heard by witches and demons in this area, there has to be something..." Darius reasoned.
A small part of him hoped that the reports had to do with Eberwolf somehow. Why he would have been out here all this time, he had no idea.
"Hey wait, look!" Hunter pointed in the distance.
Darius looked to where the grimwalker was pointing, to see the burnt ruins of a cabin through the sandy winds.
"Hm, good eye kid... I believe we might have found the source of the explosions." Darius remarked.
They began to approach the burnt cabin.
"What do you think even happened?" Hunter asked.
"Spell gone wrong?" Darius suggested as they walked past the still standing fence.
"Must have been a big mess-up then-" Hunter was cut off when he spotted something... Or rather, the remains of something.
"Oh Titan..." Darius mumbled, spotting the near mutilated corpse of the witch halfway buried in the sand.
Most of the body had been seemingly blasted apart. Only their head, neck, and top portion of their chest was left. Sand had clumped around the messy undersection, concealing most of the bloody bits. Hatchlings of sandworms were feasting on what remained of the corpse.
"Poor guy... That couldn't have been a pleasant way to die." Darius remarked as he kneeled down to look closer at the body.
Hunter on the other hand, felt a bit sick to his stomach at the sight. He took a couple deep breathes as he faced away, trying to compose himself... When he noticed something over by the fence.
"Darius, look! Someone's by the fence!" Hunter exclaimed, pointing at a witch leaned awkwardly against said fence.
Darius quickly got up, and walked over to the witch. Once he got close enough, he saw that the witch's chest had been ripped open. His legs were gone, ripped from the kneecaps down.
Somehow, despite all this, the witch was still breathing and looking up at Darius.
"Oh my Titan... I didn't think anybody would find me..." Athan managed to say, groaning from pain as they tried to sit up a bit more.
"What the heck happened to you?!" Hunter asked, shocked at the state of the witch. "And what happened to the cabin?"
"The biped demons... Those titanforsaken biped demons." Athan coughed, "One of them came here... Killed my bodyguards, and left me here crippled."
Athan moaned as he laid back against the fence, feeling the strength start to leave him.
"The sandsnakes came to the surface in the night... I was easy pickings for them. They ripped my legs off first..." Athan said, gesturing his arm at the bloody stubs he now had in place of his legs.
Darius shuddered slightly at the thought. It was nigh impossible for him to go through the pain of losing a limb due to his magic, but it was still a horrible fate to imagine. Hunter was silent as he glanced around, seemingly focused on something else, but Darius had a feeling he agreed with him.
"Why didn't you try and crawl to the nearest town?" Darius questioned, noticing Athan's arms did still work. "Even if you hadn't made it, it would have been worth the attempt..."
"I DID try. The snakes kept dragging me back whenever I got far enough..." Athan claimed, coughing weakly.
Darius shook his head, not knowing what to make of the witch's situation. Darius could tell that this witch wasn't going to make it, it was a wonder how he was even still alive. There was just one thing Darius wanted to know before the witch succumbed to his wounds.
"What biped demons did this to you? And why?" Darius asked the slowly dying Athan.
Athan coughed wetly before answering, "These two red-skinned demons... Kikimora and Valera."
Hunter and Darius' eyes widened in surprise.
"Kikimora?! Like... Small red demon, hands for hair, and generally just demented Kikimora?!" Hunter asked, taken aback.
"Yeah, sounds like her..." Athan replied weakly.
Darius thought for a few moments. Kikimora... And that Valera demon again. They were connected somehow!
"Why did they come here?!" Darius demanded, "What did they want from you?"
"They wanted... A steady supply trade for their coven..." Athan explained, cutting off a cough.
Hunter nervously chuckled, "Sorry... COVEN?!" he exclaimed, hoping he didn't hear Athan right.
"Indeed... They were going on and on about this coven they had started, that would soon be strong enough to topple the Titan Coven..." Athan replied, confirming Hunter and Darius' fears.
"Oh, Titan... That's not good." Darius mumbled, "How long ago was this?!" he demanded.
"W-Well... We had first made the deal about a week or so ago..." Athan weakly answered, barely managing to even get the words out as he slumped more.
Darius noticed that Athan was beginning to fade, and paled.
"No, no, no! Stay with us! We need more info! How large is their following?! What kind of weaponry do they have?!" Darius shook Athan, trying to keep his eyes open just for a little longer.
"They... Have..." Athan mumbled out, before his eyelids slowly drooped, and he slumped completely over motionless.
"Goddamn it! No!" Darius shouted, getting up and releasing the now lifeless Athan.
"There's another coven... And Kikimora is leading it?!" Hunter exclaimed, still in shock.
"Quick, we have to head back and warn everyone! We must prepare in case they attack Bonesborough!" Darius said, turning to Hunter as he did so.
But Hunter didn't seem to be listening... At least to Darius. He was looking around, as if trying to find the source of a noise.
"Hunter? Are you even listening to me?" Darius questioned.
"Yeah, yeah I am but... Do you hear that too?" Hunter replied with a question of his own.
Darius listened closely, curious on what was distracting the grimwalker... When he heard the faint sound of rumbling coming from the ground.
"...Oh Titan, it's an adult sandworm." Darius paled in realization.
The ground burst open from underneath Athan's body, and sand flew everywhere. Darius and Hunter had to hold their arms up to block their eyes from the incoming wave of sand.
When they lowered their arms, they were greeted with the sight of a very large sandworm devouring Athan's corpse in only a few bone-crunching bites.
The adult sandworm sported tan scales that all had small backwards facing spikes, no visible eyes, and had four large mouth flaps on the tip of it's head that opened to reveal rows upon rows of sharp sawblade like teeth.
It peered down at Hunter and Darius after swallowing the last of Athan, gurgling questionably at the new creatures in it's sight.
"Well... That may be a problem." Hunter deadpanned, as the worm launched at them with a shriek.