Witches Among Humans: Getaway

2: The Portal

Luz could barely sleep last night. She was squirming around in her bed and was practicing her magic. Luz decided to get to the site early since...well...she was bored back at her place. So, she grabbed her palisman staff and flew to the Knee mountain.

Upon landing, Luz could already feel something odd. The gravity was lighter, and some of the snow is slowly drifting towards one of the towers. All of this means that the core will be arriving soon. But to Luz's surprise, something else is arriving as well.

She could hear footsteps. Many. She ducked behind a rock.

"Alright, my liege, this is the place," a familiar voice said.

Luz immediately recognized it. Kikimora.

More footsteps came and all stopped.

"Hm...I see," said the most familiar voice.

Emperor Belos, he's here, Luz heart raced.

"The energy is strong here, I can feel it," Emperor Belos said, "Bring in the rest."

Everyone else appeared from the shadows, including the Golden Guard. Luz gritted her teeth in annoyance and anger.

"Sir, you called," the Golden Guard approached the emperor.

"Search the area for the possible pull of the core. Report to us once you do. Oh, and also make sure no one is here. I don't want any of those witches following us," Emperor Belos ordered.

"Yes, sir."

The Golden Guard commanded for everyone to spread out and search for any trespassers.

"Crap," Luz cursed and clenched her fist in the snow. She wanted to scream but she knows it will obviously give her position away.

So, Luz just waited. She fabricated a plan in her head. She is going to wait until they find the core. She will then cast herself an invisibility spell while simultaneously throwing an illusion spell over everyone (maybe not Belos though). Once that is done she will attempt to kick everyone off, and find a way to stun Belos and capture the core. However, Luz was almost certain this plan will not work.

There are a lot of flaws, one being that Belos will subdue Luz in less than a second, another is that it will take a while for her to tame the core. But Luz is risking it all.

I'd rather die trying to fight Belos than see him win for the Day of Unity, Luz thought.

A bright blue flash then cast over the ruins and a loud electric-y boom was heard. Everyone turned their attention to the source of the ruckus. The core was in one of the towers.

Belos floated up, and the Golden Guard followed.

Luz cast the invisibility spell over her and followed their lead.

"Ah, yes. Finally. The 4th Titan Core. We just need one more now," Belos grabbed on to the core.

The Core started to glow lighter. Then the emperor performed complicated magic even Luz couldn't comprehend.

Luz couldn't let Belos take the core, not only will it bend timeline (which is what Luz wants to do with it to take away her problems), but it will mean the Belos gets what he wants and bad things for sure will happen.

Without wasting anytime, Luz cast an illusion spell over everyone to make the ruins all covered in darkness.

Everyone, of course, were startled and confused. They started firing flames at all directions, hitting stones and their friendlies.

But Emperor Belos had no problem, he used a sensing spell to hear Luz's position. He found it and threw a beam of energy towards her.

The illusion faded away back to reality and revealed Luz on the tower with the emperor and Golden Guard. Belos gestured for everyone stay at their positions.

The Golden Guard clenched his staff in anger, "You! How did you find out about this place?"

"How did you find out about this place?" Luz got ready for a fight.

Kikimora jumped, "It's you! The witch! Oh, I will find my way up there and I will end your-"

The Emperor raised a hand before Kikimora could say anything else. "Ah, Luz. The last wild witch of the Boiling Isles."

"You bet your ass. What do you want from me?" Luz got in stance, her hands slippery with sweat.

"You think I want to kill you. Don't you? Well, consider yourself lucky. Or not. I won't kill you. I was planning to. But since your here, I might as well take that to my advantage. You already know about these cores. From your guardian. Correct?"

"How do you know about them?" Luz lowered her staff from the position it was in.

"I have eyes and ears everywhere," Belos looked at the core. "These things are a mysterious. Hm? None of us know what they were. Where they came from. But, I know. These were spawned from the Titan. Bits of the blood dripping through cracks of two realms. I will use it. As long as you stay out of the way and let me do my job, as the Titan ordered. I will unite these realms. I will protect the blood. But, the cores...with it, we can have peace. Peace and prosperity."

"So, what? Your not gonna put up a fight and instead just throw me in there as my punishment or something?" Luz asked, skepticism and sarcasm blending in together as she talked.

"Precisely. We will use you as a little test. If the other side is dangerous or not. We just need to know if the place we're sending you is the right one. If you die, too bad. If you don't, like I said, consider yourself lucky," Belos replied.

"Oh, really? I was just-"

The Golden Guard blew a red beam at Luz who shielded herself from it. Using some of that energy, Luz thew it back at the guard who dodged it. Luz threw a spread of fire at the Golden Guard and Emperor Belos. Belos seemed to have melted and absorb into the floor, before showing up again behind Luz.

He hit Luz with focused energy which sent Luz to the edge of the tower. She picked herself up and continued fighting. She threw shards ice at the Golden Guard. He blocked some, before one hit his head, cracking his mask.

The Golden Guard grunted and caught himself before hitting the floor.

"I will not be sent anywhere by you!" Luz sent vines towards Belos who effortlessly dodged this by making himself transparent.

The vine shot through Belos. Who then chopped off the vines and reconstructed his chest cavity.

"Oh, well. That won't be an option," Belos grabbed chunks of the floor and threw at Luz, who consolidated all of it into a new platform.

Belos forces the platform to tilt down but Luz jumped up and struck him in the head with her staff.

"Argh!" Belos rubbed his head and chuckled.

"I like your spirit. But try that again, and things will only get worse for you," Belos then summoned ghostly like fists. Luz took cover.

The fists collided with each other. Belos summoned two more fists and grabbed the pillars and crushed them, causing the tower to tilt.

"WHAT ARE YOU DOING?!" Luz screamed.

Belos drifted into the air and telekinetically grabbed the core and set it to a position where Luz is inevitably going to fall.

"Using this to my advantage," he said.

Luz closed her eyes and braced herself for whatever dangers will greet her on the other side.

Then, Luz felt her hair twirling and slapping around. A rush of cold air engulfing her and a painful feeling in the gut as she fell through the sky. All she heard was the wind whistling as she fell through the dark sky.

While tossing in the air, Luz desperately tried breaking her fall. She drew a wind spell in the air for the gush of wind to push her upwards. It succeeded, but it was too late. Luz hit something hard. She tumbled over and rolled down a small slope into a mud pit.

The only things Luz felt was the cold mud and the rain drenching her clothes and face. She saw small beam of light shining and a voice echoing. Then, it seemed to fade away, and Luz fell before darkness.