The Owl House Oneshot Collection

Simple Realization

Word Count: 1,139

Originally Finished: 04/01/2023

Rating: General

Warnings: N/A

Characters: Emperor Belos, Kikimora

Relationships: N/A

Other Tags: N/A

Summary: Kikimora gives Lilith's report to Belos, making him curious. After some basic digging, he makes a realization that makes everything begin to fall into place.

Belos sensed small feet approaching the door, likely Kikimora here to snitch on Lilith, as she tended to do. The two always had a rivalry and, while it was entertaining, it was all trivial in the grand scheme of things. Soon, just about 9 months to be precise, the eclipse would come and he could finally purge the evils from this world and be free from this place.

Just as he had assumed, Kikimora pushed open the massive doors to the throne room. It almost made Belos laugh, seeing the wretched little creature pushing open the doors. She likely had to do magic just to have the strength to make them budge. If he were a pettier man, he would have made the doors heavier or even magic resistant just to see the little gremlin struggle, but it was a waste of time,

"Less than a year now. Less than a year." Belos whispered to himself.

Kikimora, after traversing the comically long carpet leading to the throne, kneeled in front of Belos.

"Emperor Belos, I have just checked in on Head Witch Clawthorne and may I say-"

"You may report on how she did. I do not need your gossip at this moment. Did the covention go well?"

"Yes, my lord. It went wonderfully. Record amounts of sigils were given. The unbranded adult population is rapidly dropping and, thanks to the actions you commanded, older students are now getting their sigils before they graduate. Just as you had hoped."

"And Ms. Clawthorne?" Belos asked, wanting to at least get the abridged version of why Kiki looked so happy.

Every time he said that surname, he felt those weepy souls that afflicted him bubbling. It made him sick that one of the descendants of the family that took his brother from him was working so closely to him. And it wasn't even the one he wanted. Had it not been for the curse, Edalyn would have been the perfect candidate. It wouldn't take much to force that rebellion out of her. Belos did have the faint memory of learning that she and the soon-to-be head bard Raine Whispers were together. A little threatening of loved ones always did the trick. But for now, Lilith would have to do. It thankfully wasn't awful having her so close to him. She was awful at her job.

"Yes, of course. Lilith did fine at the exhibition, but the Owl Lady made an appearance at the Covention." Kikimora began.

"Any intention of joining?" Belos asked, though he knew the question might as well have been rhetorical.

"None. She was there with a human pet that challenged her protégé, Amity Blight, to a duel."

A human? Now that was something worthwhile.

"How did the human perform?" Belos questioned, leaning forward slightly in his seat.

He had to know if this human had found pictoglyphs yet.

"The Owl Lady planted traps to trip up Amity, Lilith had stuck a magic enhancing sticker on Amity, and the sisters fought and made a real mess. You know how Lilith is with her temper. You see, if I-"

"Do you have anything else on the human?" Belos said, voice booming.

He could care less about the vile witches. They'd all get sigils before the eclipse. What he needed to know about was this human.

"N-no, my lord." Kikimora stammered.

"Not even a name?"

"Uh, um, Luz. I believe her name is Luz."

"That will be all. You can go now."

"But my lord-"

" GO. "

Belos could hear his gauntlets begin to slice through the metal throne as his grip tightened. The curse, so those who knew of it believed it to be, was acting up again. He needed the gremlin to leave so he could go to his lab and actually find something more useful than just a name.

Thankfully, Kikimora quickly scampered out of there. Belos dismissed his guards and went to a section of the wall that, when he touched it, opened the door to his secret study. He slipped off his mask and grabbed one of the crystal balls. As much as he hated magic, he had to use it and magical items at times. The system worked great for research, and with unrestricted access, Belos could find anything he needed to know about this human.

It was quite simple, really. He had built his castle in the heart of the Titan for a reason, and that was being connected to everything. With some simple spells, he could set up a surveillance system all across the Isles and with the help of oracle magic, could look backwards in time at what had happened.

For a brief moment, Belos thought about the human realm. How have things advanced? What happened in the last 400 years that he'd need to catch up on? An industrial revolution was bound to happen at some point, and maybe a war, but without magic...

It was the one flaw with humans. They took so long to change. Magic was the work of the devil, but it evolved rapidly and gave the chance for those who used it to evolve along with it. He'd be surprised if humans had anything comparable to this realm with its scrolls, crystal balls, moving pictures, and air transport. Just the thought of humans making a flying machine was preposterous.

Belos refocused and looked back at the covention center and began searching. He found the fight between the Clawthorne's, then flicked through the places he had active surveillance until he found the human. Thankfully, it didn't take long.

The human girl, Luz he reminded himself, was simply talking to a young witch, who he assumed was that student of Lilith. He could get audio, but frankly didn't care. They argued, the human said something, knelt down then...

"You..." Belos gasped in a hushed tone.

He zoomed in more to be sure, got a look at the human's face, and then just began to laugh. There were soundproofing spells in place already, so thankfully nobody would hear him, but even if they weren't there it was impossible to hold back.

"Luz. Or should I say, Luzura. Very creative fake name. I'm glad I've finally found you." Belos said to the recording, as if she could hear him, "Good to know you found the light pictoglyph. Faster than I thought you would. Good. That means it won't be long before we meet, and everything will go according to plan. And truly, I can not wait for that day to come."

Belos slipped his mask back on and turned out the lights in his study, leaving just the glowing crystal ball with the image of the human. He slid the door open and then, smiling under his mask, gave one last glance to the image.

"Goodbye Luzura. I'll see you soon."

A/N: Once again, this was written and edited with 15 minutes after I got this idea. Just thought it'd be interesting to go through what Belos must have thought when he found out Luz arrived at the Boiling Isles, setting her down the inevitable path to go back in time and help him.