A True Witch (Part 1)

Invisibility and Inevitability

Edric led the group to one of the various rooms that had rows of bunks for people to sleep in.

"I know it's not much, but it works. There's bins underneath the beds. Just write your name on one and the bed and bin will be claimed and you can store your stuff in them. Oh, and make sure you add your names to the room roster. With how many people are here, we try to keep close track of everyone and where they are. Once you have your stuff put away, you can just hang out. If you need help finding anything, just ask someone and they'll point you in the right direction. Cafeteria is always open so you can eat whenever you feel hungry. You just got here so it'll be a few days before you get assigned a job. I'll let your families know where you are so they can say hi. Lastly, in your bins are pins with the invisibility symbols. You need to wear one any time you leave, and you also need permission if you want to leave the island. Anyways, let me know if you need help with anything."

Edric gave Amity one more quick hug and walked away. The five of them wrote their names down on the room roster, claimed some bunks, and put their stuff away. While Amity, Gus, and Willow went off to try and find their families, Luz found some paper and started drawing some glyphs and experimenting with new combos she thought of back in the Human Realm.

"Uh, can I join you?"

Luz looked up and saw Hunter standing by her bunk, holding a stack of paper and a pencil.

"Sure! What's up?" She said, moving back so Hunter would have room.

"Well I thought it'd be a good idea if I didn't have to solely rely on Flapjack to do magic and wanted to learn how to use glyphs. I figured since you found the glyphs first out of everyone here and you've always had to use them without having a staff as backup, I should come ask you to teach me.."

"Oh! Really? That's awesome! I can teach you the basics, the combos I know, then maybe you can help me figure out some new ones."

"I would be happy to."

Luz ran through the four basic glyphs with brief versions of the stories of her figuring them out, how to combine glyphs, basic glyph combos, and the ones she learned from Philips diary.

"I honestly haven't figured out uses for a lot of these combos Philip figured out. The wind is cool but not a ton of uses, the water is weak, and these ones, petrification and the flesh stuff, are just no-gos. I'm not even going to try to find a use for those."

"That makes sense. It's kinda crazy how much of Belos' magic was derived from glyph combos he found, and yet he hated wild magic with a passion."

"Yeah, though it makes a bit of sense that someone like Belos wouldn't exactly have flawless logic." Luz chuckled.

Hunter's face morphed slightly into concern at the way Luz was talking.

"You still struggling with the fact of Belos and Philip being the same person?" He asked softly, trying to not be too blunt but also wanting to be serious.

"What? No! I recognize they're one in the same. Hell, to not be petrified I had to admit that fact! Anyways, got any combo ideas? I know you read 'From Bones To Earth', so you should know more than-"

"Luz, stop that. You need to stop acting like things bother you less than they do. You admired Philip for being a human who came here like you, so it's hard to see him as the witch dictator who wanted Eda dead. I saw Belos as the only family I had left in a world of evil wild magic, so it was difficult for me to acknowledge he was also a human who hated magic and killed his own brother then made a bunch of copies to help his mission of genocide. Out of everyone here, we know Belos the best because we have seen and been close to both sides of him.

"It makes sense that you don't want to use some of the darker spells he created, but you really need to deal with the truth that Philip Wittebane and Emperor Belos were the same person. At one point, we both looked up to one without noticing the other. And we both need to stop doing that. I'm still struggling with it, but you need to let yourself struggle and confront the truth of the matter."

The two just stared at each other for a bit, neither really knowing what to say next.

"You really know how to give it to me straight." Luz chuckled, wiping away a tear, "I'm glad I have someone like you as a friend. You're right. I do need to accept Belos and Philip being the same guy. Not saying it'll be quick, but you're right. I at least need to accept the facts to be able to face them. Besides, it's not like there'll be some revelation that'll change our views thanks to his mind being inaccessible for months now with him being dead."

"Fuck yeah he's dead! And we're all better off for it!" Hunter said, playfully punching Luz's shoulder.

"Yeah! Belos is just goo now!"

"Really gross goo too. Looked and smelled awful."

"You had time to smell it? I was just grossed out by the looks. At least I didn't have to run over it like you guys did."

"Dude, I think some actually landed on me. I didn't notice anything when you mom gave us clean clothes, but I swore I felt something land on me when I ran through the goo."

"Now that's disgusting."

The two laughed and lightened the mood back up. As the laughter died down, Luz was still smiling widely at Hunter, thankful for having him.

"So, back to the original topic, I actually did have a thought for a new glyph combo. Maybe if we found a way to combine the invisibility and wind glyph, we could have a modified invisibility glyph that allows you to not have to hold your breath." Hunter said.

"Oh! That might actually work!"

The two spent a while experimenting, and after a bit over 15 minutes, they did come up with one that made them invisible without having to hold their breaths.

"Man this is so weird. I'm even invisible to myself." Hunter said, "I can't imagine being like this and not being able to breathe."

Luz laughed, looking at where Hunter's voice was coming from and hoping that's where he actually was.

"It does take getting used to. When I first figured it out I was too busy being excited about the discovery to really think about it. It can take some getting used to when you move, but it doesn't take too long."

"This will be so handy. Imagine how easy it'll be to save people with this!"

The invisibility vanished and Hunter reappeared, looking a bit disappointed but also intrigued.

"Guess it only lasts, what was that, a minute?"

"Guess so." Luz shrugged.

Hunter sat back down on the bed and they started drawing more invisibility glyphs.

"You know," Hunter began after a while, "I also think we should try to fight. At the very least save King."

"Really?" Luz gasped, looking up from her paper.

"It's worth a shot. Once your palisman finally hatches we should sneak out."

Luz paused and thought about his proposal, before looking at him with a smirk.

"Why wait?"