✨ Bijou The Ascended (Part 1) ✨

Agony of a Witch

At the Emperor's Castle, the Emperor's Coven sign flapped in the wind. Scouts were guiding witches who had either not joined or refused to join a coven. They felt as if they were in prison, with Lilith watching them from above. She was wearing her cloak as she approached a stained-glass mural of the Emperor himself.

"I haven't forgotten what you promised me," she told herself. "I will bring you my sister and Bijou, Emperor Belos."

"Then why the delay?"

Her eyes widened at the sound, and she turned around to discover Kikimora standing directly behind her. "Kikimora!"

"The Day of Unity is fast approaching, and other teams have bound many rogue witches to covens. And yet the Owl Lady and her escapee student still roam free. Are you protecting them?" She tapped her chin as she thought about it.

"Rest assured, Kiki, I have everything under control," Lilith snapped her fingers as a group of Scouts lined up. "Today, we capture Eda and Bijou once and for all."

"Just one more thing," Kikimora said, the woman looking down at her. "Make sure you take this path," she said, holding out a map, which Lilith took. She read it, and the indicated path led to the nearby lake...

•°•°•○•°•°•

The next day...

Hooty was still asleep, wearing a nightcap and snoring. Lilith was watching from the bushes, which were at least a mile from the home.

"Good," she said, lifting up her mask. "That infernal house demon is asleep."

Lilith waved her fingers forward. The Coven Scouts emerged from hiding, holding aloft their guns.

"Surround the house!"

"Sleepwalking. Sleepwalking," Hooty began to move on his own while sleeping. "Sleep hooting!"

He awoke immediately and began digging into the ground. He appeared behind Lilith, surprising her.

"Hiya, Lilith! Peekahoot," he said, knocking her against a tree as the scouts charged forward. "Sorry, Eda doesn't like trespassers. But I'm always here to make new friends!"

He smacked a scout's head while flying behind him.

"Look at me," he said, inserting his head into the cloak while the guy wearing it struggled to free himself. "I'm a person now. Wobbly, wobbly! Ooh, blackout!"

He hit another guard in the face.

"Hoot, hoot! Hoot, hoot, bye friend," he said, throwing away the Scout he was controlling. "Oh, I feel like dancing."

He shook his hips, knocking over other Scouts. "Hoot!"

Lilith moaned as she sat up, gasping and clutching her staff. She pointed it at Hooty.

"I did it! Oh, hey, look, it's a bug!"

He bent down, but the blast struck a tree, knocking it towards Lilith. She gasped as she heard a thump, and luckily for her, she had jumped out of the way... She groaned and let her back fall to the ground in tiredness.

"Ah, just an old leaf. Well, that's good, too!"

He ate the leaf while Eda watched from inside with her binoculars.

"No, no, no!" shouted a Scout as Hooty slammed into him.

"Hooty," Eda said with a warm smile. "Oh, you're a thorn in my side," she said, sipping some apple blood while a kettle swirled on its own. The Scout collided with the window. "But you always dig your way into my heart."