The Calamity House

Chapter 6~Luz

Luz waved farewell to Eda, King doing the same. She kneeled down to him so she could meet his eyes. 'I can tell we are going to be great friends.' she says in an adoring tone. King slapped her. 'The King of Demons does not have friends!' he yelled at her in his squeaky voice. Luz rubbed her cheek briefly; it hadn't been that painful. 'You're friends with Eda.' she said with a smile. King seemed unable to speak for a moment, but then rapidly shook his head. 'No! Eda merely grants me a roof! She is not my friend!' he declared quickly. Luz chuckled. 

King was angry at her after and didn't want to speak to her. Luz didn't care much. She suspected his current cold attitude would soon thaw out. The platform continued rising and they saw Eda flew past them. 'Meet ya at the top of the tower,' she said with a smirk before flying off. The platform reached a window and King climbed on Luz's shoulders to get in. Once King gets in the window, Luz jumps up into it. She succeeds in getting into the room, but she lands flat on her face.

'Haha, cats don't do that.' King said mockingly. Luz glared at him. This Demon was getting on her nerves. She gets up and looks around the prison, letting out a tiny gasp. It was absolutely massive, torches lighting up the place. Luz could just barely make out people in nearly every single cell. 

Luz was snapped back to reality when she heard a voice. 'Hey! Cat lady! Tell us how you got out of your cell.' the voice was tired, female, and impatient. Luz turned around and saw a woman in a dark dress and black hair in a ponytail. 'Come on! Tell us!' the woman persisted. 

Luz took down her hood. 'Oh, no no no. I'm not a cat. I'm also not a criminal.' she replied. King chuckled. 'Not yet you're not.' he said gleefully.

'Neither are we..' the woman said glumly. 'The stupid warden locks up everyone who doesn't fit in..Like, I write fanfics of food that fall in love!' she picked up a book from the corner of her cell. It seemed to be her last possession. 'I like food, and I also like love, why can't I write about it?'

A Demon in the cell beside her with many eyes nodded. 'They locked me up because I eat my own eyes...' as he said this, he plucked one of his eyes out and put it in his mouth, swallowing it. The eye then reappeared in its socket. 

Another Demon in a cell, who had white skin and was very small with a very large nose piped up. 'We are agents of fwee expwession! They will never siwence us!' she then threw her fist in the air. 

The woman who wrote fanfiction about food rolled her eyes. 'She is real into conspiracy theories.' she said with a chuckle. 'The world is a simulation! We are onwy playthings for a higher being!' the Demon with the large nose declared. 

Luz stood still, letting all of this sink in. She then began pacing. 'But..none of those reason at actual crimes..' Eda had said that people were imprisoned for invalid reasons, but this was not what she had expected. 'You're all just a bunch of weirdos...like me.' she finished quietly as she stared at her hands.

The woman laughed bitterly. 'Do you think that matters to them? They don't care if they don't have a good reason, even if they don't like the look of your face, they'll make you disappear.'

Luz felt a stab of anger towards the people running this place. Why were they doing this? The human's thoughts were interrupted by loud, thundering footsteps. 'Hide! It's Warden Wrath!' the woman hissed over to Luz. Luz didn't need to be told twice and quickly ran into a cell, grabbing King and putting him in with her. Using all her might to pull it down. It partially did, but Luz thought it could work. 

The footsteps continue until a door near them is swung open. A giant person with a black cowl, a white sleeveless tunic with buttons, a belt, heavy boots and a beak-like mask. His voice was deep and rumbling. 'I can hear you fools whispering...' he said in a threatening tone. Luz whimpered slightly; she did not like this one bit. King cowered behind her. 

'But what are the whispers about? An escape plot, perhaps? Or more specifically, an escape plot to Kneetopia...' Warden Wrath continued on. Luz privately wondered what Kneetopia was. The small nose Demon began speaking. 'We will fight against the opwessor! We will wesist! We will conquer! We won't be afraid of you, old fweak!' she said fearlessly. 

Warden Wrath stared at her for a moment, before approaching her cell. He slammed his grey fist at the lever of her cell, which rose up immediately. Her cell opened in a matter of seconds. 

The  small Demon looked both surprised, pleased, and scared. 'Hooway, I'm fwee.' Warden Wrath grabs the Demon, his grey fist changing shape until she was completely covered, only her tiny squeaks of terror suggested she was still there at all. 

'Let this be a lesson to all of you. You will never escape, and you will never be freed. And most importantly, there is no place in society for you if you can't fit in.' Warden Wrath said aggressively. He then stormed out through the door he came through and slammed it.

Luz, who had been barely keeping the cell door from closing fully, grabbed King and they jumped out of it just in time. She had been thoroughly shaken by the whole scene. She turned to the woman. 'I never got your name.' she said timidly. The woman looked at Luz with a curious expression on her face. 'I'm Katya.' she replied. Luz smiled. 'And I'm Luz Noceda, the human who will free you!' she declared. Katya's eyes widened. 'You're..you're a human?' she asked. Luz nodded. Katya stared in disbelief, but her eyes wandered to Luz's ears, which were round. 

Luz pulled at the lever, put could not get it up. 'No! My weak nerd arms!' she said desperately. Katya, who seemed to have gotten over her shock, gave a heavy sigh. 'It's no use. Just get out of here, kid. Enjoy freedom for us..' she said in a defeated tone. She then retreated deeper into her cell. 

Reluctantly, Luz walked away towards another door. She did not look any of the Witches and Demons in the eyes as she passed out of guilt. She wished she could've freed them all. She opened the door and she and King raced down a hallway, searching for any sign of a magical barrier. 

As they are searching, Eda zooms in through an open window and Luz yelps in surprise. 'Hey, I just checked. The warden is busy tormenting some tiny creature, now's the best time to find the crown, since he won't be coming here any time soon.' she said in her usual tone. 

Luz nods and begins walking, looking down at the floor glumly. Eda stared at her confused. 'Luz, are you oka-' the Witch was interrupted by King. 'My crown! I can sense it's power!' he starts scratching at a door, trying unsuccessfully to open it. Luz and Eda looked up, and at the top of the towering door there was a label that read "CONTRABAND". 'This must be it.' Eda says, her eyes lighting up.

King continued to fiddle with the doorknob (which was as large as he was). 'Aw, he's so adorable when he's hungry for power.' Eda said, staring at the Demon. Luz, who had been barely holding these words in, began speaking. 'It's not fair why they're all in here. They just want to be themselves..Why does everyone think being a weirdo is so bad?' she said desperately. It had been a bad thing back at Earth, and it seemed to be the case here, too. 

King grunts as the doorknob falls off and the door opens. He enters, cackling madly. Eda seemed at a loss for words for Luz's question, and just sighed. 'Let's go, before he hurts himself.' They walked in and witnessed King ramming into a cylindrical beam of light which Luz figured was the barrier. The King of Demons was repeatedly being zapped by the light. 

Eda approaches him and kneels down to his level. 'Hey, we have a human, remember?' she told him gently. 'Oh, yeah.' King said. 

Luz takes a deep breath. She walks through the barrier. A large pile of junk stands before her, and on top she sees a crown - but not the crown she expected. It was a Burger Queen crown - a Burger Queen crown she had an exact replica of. 

A stab of disbelief hit her. This had to be some kind of joke...Nevertheless, she went up to the crown and grabbed it, and then making her way out of the barrier. Apart of her thought she had gotten the wrong crown!