Flint hovers on his staff before a familiar cave.
He was stumped. The moment he stepped foot in the past he could feel, no, he knew he needed to fly to the Knee. He heard a voice call out to him, sounding distant, yet right in front of him.
Flint…
Flint turned around, finding himself walking over to look at the Titan's skull. Idly, he felt a sensation wash over him, which he recognized as a glyph being utilized. Ice, he believed from the cool sensation it gave him. He didn't understand how he could tell.
Flint…
He turned back to the cave ahead of him and walked in. At this point in time, it had yet to become the mine he had gone through previously…or in the future…
"Time travel is annoying," Flint grumbled.
Got that right.
Flint became alert, frantically looking around the cave. Was he going crazy?! No, wait, that isn't right. Was he going craz-ier?
I mean- Use the Force, Flint.
Flint donned a deadpan look. "Okay, I'm clearly being messed with now," Flint said. After a moment of silence and not getting a response, he deemed his theory true as he continued.
Flint eventually rounded the corner and was met with a familiar, but vastly different sight. The cavern of Eclipse Lake was mostly the same, but this time it lived up to its name. Gallons upon gallons of royal blue blood, chock full of magic that could accomplish nearly anything, given both the barriers of time and space were already broken just for him to stand here in this moment.
Flint stood before the edge and looked down at his muddled reflection as Gray animated and landed on his shoulder. The boy furrowed his brow as he looked on at the plentiful resource.
"I suppose it would be a good idea to get some while it's still around. The timepools are bootstraps, so doing so wouldn't make a difference." Flint thought out loud as he tapped his chin with his normal hand. "But why was I drawn here?"
Flint's thoughts were interrupted by scarlet light emanating from his palisman beginning to flicker slightly. It wasn't much, but he could see the tiniest change of light.
"Gray?" Flint asked, turning his head to see the palisman's eyes glowing violet.
The palisman flew off Flint's shoulder and slightly back the way they had arrived. Flint turned with his back facing the lake as he looked at his partner.
"Gray? What's going on?" Flint asked.
Before he could react, the entranced palisman flew straight forward at him, knocking him off balance. As Flint's arms flailed in the air in alarm, the palisman wisped into him, before Flint fell back-first into the lake and beneath the surface.
Flint awoke with a gasp, rising from a watery substance. When he calmed down and regained his breath, he looked around at his changed surroundings. The world around him was a bizarre cavernous landscape, the ground made of reflective black water stretching as far as his eyes could see. There were various cubes floating about that glowed with images that reminded him of a galaxy. The entire landscape was lit with a goldish light.
"What is this place? And how did I get here?" Flint wondered. Suddenly the memory of Gray pushing him flooded his mind. "Why did Gray push me into the lake?"
Flint looked around the strange landscape for a few moments as his confusion and frustration began to sink in.
Flint took a deep breath. His fists clenched before suddenly, he screamed at the top of his lungs. Flint's hands shot to the top of his head as he began violently pulling at his scalp. "Son of a bitch! WHAT THE HELL IS GOING ON?! I. WANT. ANSWERS!" Flint shouted at the top of his lungs, his voice echoing throughout the area.
"Hey!"
Flint turned to the source of the voice, being met with the towering figure of a skeletal demon. It was bipedal with a set of bat-like wings sprouting from its back. Its hand and leg structures bore a great resemblance to Flint's recent transformation, with the addition of numerous more bone spikes jutting from the shoulders and biceps. It had two horns atop its head, with two more weaponized ones emitting from the sides of its jaw dangerously. Its eye sockets were hollow, but glowed with golden light that resembled eyes in the open sockets, the light pulsing as it bore down on them. Flint was hardly even the size of the demon's pinky toe.
"Whoa." Flint breathed out in shock.
Though the demon was expressionless, Flint could feel the simmering anger radiating from the demon.
"Who are you?" The demon's voice boomed through the realm, every syllable causing the cavernous landscape to rumble.
Flint instinctively threw his hands up to cast a spell, only for nothing to happen. He then noticed that his left hand had returned to flesh and blood, confusing him as he looked down at the reflective black and gold water. In his reflection, he saw that he had returned to his sickly appearance. There were no traces of his changes throughout the past months.
Flint shook himself from his thoughts and turned back to the demon. As menacing as it was, there was something oddly…familiar about it. "Have we met before?" Flint asked confusedly.
"Heh. You could say that." Flint suddenly heard the demon's voice again, though it was without the same booming power, and was also coming from behind him.
Flint turned around to see another demon. They had shaggy, dark gray fur and a skull similar to King's, though with four horns in a similar manner to the skeleton (with two of the horns being lightly cracked). The demon's right eye is missing and a small Hooty-like creature emerges from it. They had a pair of large, bat-like wings on his back from one of Eda's 'Bad Girl Coven' shirts. Finally, they wore a brownish bathrobe with lighter brown trim and a pair of pants with many of the glyphs depicted on them, with a tail that reminded Flint of his own and King's poking out from under the robe. Their form however was faded and semi-transparent, as if they weren't all there.
"What the-What's going on?!" Flint exclaimed.
"Yes. I would like to know as well." The skeleton boomed.
The faded one chuckled. "Don't worry, everything will make sense in a moment…mostly. Time travel isn't exactly something that makes sense most of the time."
Before Flint could wonder what that meant, the faded one floated up into the air and toward the skeleton. With a flash of golden light, they phased into the skeleton, who in turn glowed. As the skeleton glowed, their form shrunk down and morphed until it became the faded one, though their form was now solid-looking.
The demon sighed with relief. "Man, you have no idea how good it feels to be corporeal again after nearly fifteen years." The demon said.
"Can I please get some answers now?! Starting with who the hell you are!" Flint demanded.
"To be honest, my kind never really had names per se. But if I were to go with the theme my son set, you can call me Sovereign. 'Sov' for short." The now-introduced Sov greeted before pointing to Flint. "And you, my boy, are Flint Smith."
Flint's body tensed. "How do you know my name?" Flint demanded.
Sov laughed heartily. "You could say that I've known you for all your life, and even before."
Flint looked at the demon trepidatiously. Seeing as he still wasn't getting any proper answers, he looked to the world around him. "Okay…then what is this place? And why does it feel so familiar?" Flint asked.
Sov gestured to the world around them. "This place is between many. Think of it like the wall across realities. The Demon Realm, Earth, the Nightmare Realm, and Amphibia to name a few. This place is a crossroads that exists between it all, even the afterlife, and the portal door you made creates a path across this place, bridging Earth and the Demon Realm temporarily." Sov explained before pointing to the cubes. "These cubes are observation windows into the realms, focusing on whoever you desire and allowing you to watch through whatever reflective surfaces are nearby."
"Okay…" Flint paused as he took in the information as best he could. "But why are we here?"
Sov's expression became firm. "Because I called you here. This is the only chance we have to interact on this level. A time when my spirit was not yet yours." Sov stated.
"'Your spirit'? What are you talking about?' Flint asked confusedly.
"Remember what Tabatha told you? About being an 'old soul'?" Sov asked, receiving a nod from the boy. "Well, it's true. An old soul, my soul, was used when you were created. I utilized my own soul in order to give you life." Sov claimed.
Flint was taken aback by this. "So you're…me?" Flint asked hesitantly.
Sov gave a so-so gesture. "Kind of, but not quite. You see, I've been watching over these lands for a long, long time; since their very inception. When I was alive, I was a towering figure like my skeletal form you saw a bit ago. I'm from an ancient race, one thought to be extinct…barring my sons."
"Okay…then what in the Titan's name are you then?" Flint asked.
Sov gave the boy a deadpan look.
"You're joking…right? Please tell me you're messing with me." Sov requested. When Flint just stared at him, he groaned. "Oh my Me, you're serious. C'mon kid!"
The gears were turning in Flint's head as he ran through all the possibilities. 'He said he was ancient, and he's clearly very powerful. And that phrase, why didn't he say-' Flint's eyes widened in realization, pointing a shaky finger at Sov.
"Oh my…" Flint trailed off in shock.
'Sov' smiled, jabbing a thumb towards himself. "Titan."
In a flash of light, Luz and Lilith appear in a new location with Philip. Luz and Lilith open their eyes and find themselves inside an icy cave with a tall double door across the way from them. They stood on a path suspended above a pit by many supporting pillars on either side. It was impossible to tell just how high up they were though.
Luz looks around in awe. "Whoa. Where are we?" Luz asks.
Sadly, Philip doesn't answer as he walks forward. Luz notices light coming from nearby and takes the opportunity to inspect it, finding a crack in the bone-like wall. Luz walks up to the crack and peers through, only to be shocked by what she saw. She could see most of the Isles, but the angle she was seeing it from could only mean one thing.
"We're in the head of the Titan?!" Luz exclaimed in shock. Stringbean looked out through the crack with a curious head tilt from her spot on the staff.
Lilith looked back in surprise and a hint of fear. "W-We're what? But this is sacred ground!" Lilith said.
"I suppose that's why no one wanted to accompany me," Philip noted as he limped along the path, with Luz and Lilith following behind him. "But every legend told me that the Collector lies there. Behind that door. I just can't figure out the mechanisms to open it. If I weren't so frail..." Philip trailed off as he winced in pain, kneeling down and clutching his right leg.
"It's okay, we can help!" Luz reassured as Lilith walked ahead. "Puzzles are in my blood, literally. My mom had to stop me from eating puzzles when I was a kid." Luz said with a hint of embarrassment, the statement also causing Lilith to look back at her with a weirded-out look. "You stay here and rest up."
"Thank you for your kindness, Luzura." Philip thanked, putting a hand on Luz's shoulder. "Perhaps we were destined to meet."
Luz smiles at Philip before running off to join Lilith. With her back turned, she doesn't notice Philip's face contort into a sneer…but Stringbean does. Stringbean glanced back at the man, noticing the vile look for the briefest of moments before he realized the palisman was watching as he quickly turned his back to save face, causing Stringbean to stare contemplatively. She may be young, but she wasn't stupid.
Lilith is standing before the door, trying to open it as Luz comes up behind her. "This mechanism is unlike any I've seen before. It'll make a remarkable addition to my exhibit. It's just..." Lilith hesitates, looking contemplative.
'Too easy. Puzzle almost solved already. Nothing ever that easy.' Stolas supplied in her mind.
'Exactly.' Lilith agreed internally.
"Come on, we can't stop now! We're getting everything we could have hoped for!" Luz said eagerly.
Lilith grunted. "That's the problem. Most of this puzzle has been solved already." Lilith turns back with a glance at Philip. "And Philip...the confidence, the compliments. He says everything you want to hear. It feels...uncomfortably familiar." Lilith noted skeptically.
"He looked angry after you turned around," Stringbean added..
Luz frowned. "That is pretty weird. Say didn't those guys earlier say something? 'Ask about Blue Fang and his palisman?' or something like that?" Luz pondered.
"I'll continue working on the puzzle. You should ask him about it." Lilith suggested as she turned back to the puzzle before her, but not before shooting another glance Philip's way. She was starting to understand Flint's bizarre hatred for the man.
[Oh, you don't even know the half of it.]
Luz nodded as she quietly walked back over. As she approached, she paid close attention to him, trying to look for anything out of the- She saw a blue fang poking out of his bag. Right next to a palisman. A blue fang that also heavily resembled the ones those guys from earlier had.
'Oh. Hello, dread.' Luz thought, the sinking feeling in her stomach growing. Then reached Philip and read over his shoulder. 'I single-handedly defeated the beast behind the door. Tragically, I could not save my companions.' Luz read in her head.
'...fuck.'
Philip feels eyes upon him and freezes, standing up suddenly and glancing at Luz behind him.
"You know, it's rude to sneak up on someone," Philip said, his voice oozing with false kindness and barely-contained malice.
Luz glared at him. "Why did you bring us here?" Luz demanded.
The ground shaking and an energized activation sound catch their attention, looking toward the door as it opened inward. Lilith still had her back to them as it began to open.
"This was way too easy," Lilith stated.
'Even I was able to solve.' Stolas chimed.
"...this is a trap, isn't it?" Lilith said.
Philip snorted. "Well, what do you know? The sacrifice gained a sliver of intelligence."
Lilith heard the man's statement with her enhanced hearing and turned with a growl. "You bastard!" Lilith screamed, only just before a claw emerged from behind her. It grabs her, dragging her into the darkness.
"Lilith!" Luz called in worry.
"See, with the beast distracted, I can finally get through those doors," Philip stated with an unbothered look.
Luz growled, grabbing him by the shirt with her right hand and raising her left up in front of him with a fire glyph ready to go. "I should've listened to Flint about you! You really are nothing but a filthy witch hunter!" Luz yelled.
Philip tilted his head with an analytical look. "Curious, I don't recall ever meeting a 'Flint' before. Nor revealing myself a witch hunter. No matter. You and 'Raven' were still easy to trick, just like Blue Fang was. Though, I surely hope you two can last longer than him against the beast." Philip stated.
Luz hears Lilith scream from inside the room and it breaks her concentration. She lets go of Philip and hops onto her staff, riding it in like a snowboard as Philip adjusts his coat and dusts his torso off with a sneer.
When Luz reached inside the room, the only source of light came with the dim glow of the ground beneath them. The beast, a stonesleeper, was being held back as its claws were interlocked with Lilith's, who was currently holding it off.
"Lilith!" Luz called out with relief.
"Can't hold this thing off forever," Lilith grunted as the stonesleeper pushed her back, causing her feet to drag through the ground under her.
Luz donned a determined look. "Hang on!" Luz said as she flew around the room, peppering the stonesleeper with fireballs.
With a grunt, Lilith took advantage of the stonesleeper's distraction from its new combatant by forcing it onto its side before giving her wings a flap and joining Luz in the air. The stonesleeper recovers as Philip effortlessly walks up to a nearby dirt platform, unwrapping his 'hurt' leg without issue and grabbing the splint and hitting a button, causing it to expand into a shovel as he planted the head in the ground.
Luz and Lilith dodge the stonesleeper as it jumps after them, the confined area allowing it to use its strong legs to jump high enough to reach them, forcing them to dodge.
"That better be your own grave you're digging you lying piece of shit!" Lilith yelled at him.
Philip huffed haughtily as he dug. "Ugh. So vulgar." Philip dismissed.
Luz hovered right in front of a support pillar with light glyphs lit on her gloves. "Hey ugly!" Luz shouted, gaining the stonesleeper's attention as it prepared to jump, only for Luz to throw her hands forward. "Eat light, sucka!" Luz declared, causing a large flash of light to blind the stonesleeper just before it jumped, causing it to jump blindly into the pillar.
As this happens, Philip's shovel makes a different sound, striking something in the dirt. He grins and picks up a round blue tablet from the dirt.
"There you are," Philip said with a grin, a crescent moon drawing seen on the surface of the tablet past his reflection.
Flint pointed at Sov in disbelief, his finger shaking. "Buh-but you-the…" Flint sputtered before one word finally came out clearly. "HOW?!"
Sov chuckled. "There it is! There's the reaction I was waiting for." Sov's laughter died down. "I'll give you the CliffsNotes. My people were killed by another: The Archivists. They feared us because our magic nullifies theirs. We Titans merely wished to coexist, but they instead slaughtered us. Not all of the Archivists were bad, mind you. The Caretaker was quite the nice lass, and she's actually the one you heard crying when the Wailing Star flew by."
Sov's expression became sharp, and Flint could practically feel his anger from where he stood. "The Huntsman however, was a shifty bastard through and through. He preyed on their fears, and lead the genocide of my kind. He's actually the reason for that curse Eda and Lilith have. Some of the earliest beasts back then had far more potent magic from living off a more freshly-made Titan corpse. Though Owlfred and Stolas were from a different Titan, the beast's power could've come to counter Archivist magic had it had enough time to grow." Sov explained.
Flint scratched his chin before turning back to Sov. "Does that mean it is still possible to separate them?" Flint asked.
Sov smiled. "Of course. My Blood would actually help if utilized correctly." Sov became contemplative. "Come to think of it, you should be able to do it when you get back to the present. Magic is directed by intent. The only thing that limits the output is how much power is going into the spell."
"Okay…but where do I come in? How was I created? How am I half-human?" Flint asked.
Sov gained a longing expression. "I've been here for too long, trapped and watching as horrendous people taint those who call my corpse home. In a way, I see myself as a bit of a father to the creatures that inhabit the Boiling Isles. They only became what they are today thanks to me, after all. Humans were once plucked from your world due to my unfiltered power, and they adapted to the land, eventually becoming the witches of today." Sov's fists clenched. "I wanted a way to be freed from this prison of a realm. Eventually, I came up with an idea. I learned about the religions of Earth and one concept piqued my interest: reincarnation. When I went through with my idea, you were the result." Sov explained.
Flint looked down at his pale hands. "Reincarnation…" Flint trailed off.
"Correct. Thanks to all this time travel bullshit, and believe me it is, I was given all I needed to know about enacting it. I channeled what magic I could until finally, you were placed on one heartbroken Madelyn Smith's doorstep. The reason you're half-human is because of how I designed your body. You merely looked human but were actually still a Titan. When Madelyn touched you, she felt a shiver crawl all across her body. In truth, your body was imprinted with her genetic structure, meaning that she would biologically be your mother." Sov continued.
"That…explains a lot, actually," Flint noted.
"You know, I would ask why you even believe me so readily, but I already know the answer," Sov said.
"Why not?" Both said in sync, eliciting an exasperated look from Flint with Sov's smile.
"As for your magic, I'm sure you can piece together how that worked," Sov remarked.
"The 'bile sac' suppressed the Titan side of my genome until I arrived in the Demon Realm," Flint stated.
"Specifically, since your magic is the same as mine, it synchronized with the ambient magic of my body. You were steadily growing until two incidents in particular: The Greater Basilisk and your fight with Belos." Sov explained.
Flint's eyes widened. "The voice I couldn't make out…was that you? I think you mentioned something about time travel back then as well." Flint asked.
Sov nodded. "Yep. Having your magic ripped from you by the basilisk and returned after you had recovered already pretty much overcharged you; instead of being overwhelmed, you adapted to the extra power and re-integrated it into yourself to further your evolution. When Belos snapped your neck like a glowstick-"
"Dude!" Flint cried out indignantly.
Sov ignored his outcry and continued talking. "-you ended up in this realm. In order to send you back, I channeled enough of my/our power into you that you would come back to life, and with it, causing you to evolve further into your hybrid form. There are some things I've subtly influenced you with though, but to a superficial extent."
Flint cupped his hand on his chin. "Okay…I think I'm starting to understand now. My love for ATLA?"
"Hey, it's a good show. Of course now that I think about it…you and Aang share the part of being reincarnations."
"My childhood crush on Katara?"
"Future knowledge leak for Amity, same for seeing her with lavender hair when you first saw her too. Her and Katara's voices sound so similar."
"Seeing the light glyph when I first met Luz?"
"Also a future knowledge leak. Same with seeing the Boiling Isles in your dreams."
"Wait! When I couldn't stop Amity from burning Willow's memories- was that you?!"
"Sorry about that kid. I knew you would've stopped her otherwise, so I had to do something."
"Grom turning into that weird hooded guy? And it being confused about my fear?"
"That was The Huntsman I was talking about, actually. Somehow Grom managed to tap into my fear of King getting hurt. I mean, nothing scares a parent more than their kid getting hurt."
Flint's mind ground to a halt at that last one.
"Holy shit, your King's dad…Holy shit King's a Titan!"
"Yup." Sov sighed. "I know this is a lot to take in. You've been through a lot in the past months, and I get it if it feels…overwhelming." Sov lamented.
Flint went quiet. His mind was a chaotic mess as he drew connections. With every connection drawn though, he couldn't help but feel…put off. If all of this was meant to happen from the beginning…were his choices even worth anything? Was every he did simply inevitable? Every action predetermined?
Flint frowned, catching Sov's attention. "Is something wrong?" Sov asked, already knowing what was coming.
"Sov, can I ask you something?" Flint asked.
"You just did," Sov responded. At the boy's flat look, he chuckled. "I'm just messing with you kiddo. I already know what you're going to ask, but I also remember it'll make you feel better if you say it anyway, so go ahead."
Flint pursed his lips as he looked at his hands. "What...what exactly am I? What does this make me? Your son? Just a reincarnation? Or am I just some kind of puppet for you to use?"
Sov frowned, putting a hand on Flint's shoulder. "Hey, none of that."
Flint looked at him confused. "None of what?"
Sov sighed. "Look kid, I'm gonna say this once: those doubts you have are dumb."
"A little blunt, don't ya think?" Flint remarked.
Sov shot him a deadpan look.
"...Yeah…I heard the hypocrisy." Flint said after a beat of silence.
Sov snorted as he shook his head. "Sure, Titans each have their own patterns for glyphs, but that doesn't mean squat for you kid. You aren't like my brethren." Sov backed up a bit. "Son, reincarnation, puppet...maybe you are, but at the same time, you aren't. I'll admit, I did make you as a way to more directly interact with the world. You and my future self, currently the guy talking to you, showed up, which led me to decide on all this. But you wanna know what I didn't know back then? I never knew all the details of how you would turn out." Sov revealed, causing the boy to look at him in confusion.
Sov crouched to Flint's eye level. "I was only given select information about our future, only what was necessary. In fact, after this entire conversation is over between the two of us, the version of me I possess at the moment will only receive the necessary memories to keep the loop intact. Most of that knowledge will only awaken around when you fought that basilisk."
"How is that relevant though?" Flint asked.
Sov smiled, placing his left hand on the boy's shoulder and tapping his chest with his right index claw. "Because it means that outside of those select instances, everything you've done has been by your own merit. I may be the reason you exist, but you have always been your own person. It doesn't matter what you are." Sov paused as he scratched his chin inquisitively. "Actually, wait, that does make a difference." Sov shook that thought away. "In any case, all that truly matters is who. So you shouldn't be asking me who you are...you should be asking yourself."
Flint thought for a moment before smirking. "Aren't I technically doing that already?" Flint said cheekily.
Sov snorted. "You little shit." Sov shook his head in amusement. "Fine, then I'll do it. Who are you?" Sov asked.
Flint closed his eyes. His mind flashed through his life thus far.
His drawings, his mother raising him, meeting Luz, all of the hijinks he and Luz would get up to...
The space around Flint began to heat up as sparks crackled in the air.
Owlbert stealing Luz's Azura book, meeting King and Eda...
The sparks grew louder and brighter.
Getting stuck in Willow's abomination, meeting Gus and Bump...
The sparks turned to flames as they spiraled around him.
The duel with Amity, gushing over Trixx, creating the Gylph Grafters, helping Amity get over her fear of fire, seeing Luz's excitement over the Glyph Grafters...
The flames grew more intense, making only his silhouette visible through the vortex.
Hanging with Hunter at the carnival, performing his song at Grom, looming over Lilith as he held out his hand, the fight with Belos...
The cloak of flames began to rise. The first change was the return of his now-matching bony legs, with traces of fur.
His first kiss with Luz under the moonlight, giving his friends their Glyph Grafters, embracing Amity in a comforting hug...
The fire reached his waist, coiling at his tailbone as his tail returned.
Looking at the murals in King's hatchery, fending off Lilith in her Raven Beast form...
A simple belt made of bone with a circle where the buckle would be fabricated on his waist. External rib bones point more downward in the direction of his stomach.
Carving his palisman, talking with Bat Queen, Gray's awakening...
His torso was now coated in fur with a scarlet symbol on his chest. The fire coiled once more as his wings materialized at their full size, completely bat-like.
Helping Eda with Owlfred, saving Hunter from Kikimora's abomaton, his kiss with Amity...
His shoulders adorned external bone-like shoulderpads. His arms were now covered in fur, and both his hands now bore claws instead of fingers.
Building the portal, reuniting with his mother, threatening Agent Powers and Trigger...
His horns grew, stretching and curling until they formed an S-shape. The horns nearly eight inches tall and were angled inward slightly, pointing toward a ball of scarlet magic the size of a baseball that hovered in the space between the tips.
Removing sigils at the parade, beating up Orsan and Mason, and protecting King.
Finally, his hair glowed scarlet and wavered as it grew out and became curly and shaped Midoriya-style, the light then dimming as his transformation was completed.
The fire died down, leaving the still-standing boy in the center. Gone was his misshapen form brought upon by stress. Gone was the imbalance of his biology. Gone was the uncertainty of who he was. Now, all that remained was his completed hybrid form, his face itself being the only part of his appearance left unchanged, though his clothing from before seemed to merge with his fur. The boy took in a few steadying breaths, wisps of fire fluttering as he exhaled. He felt the power he held rushing through his veins like the very fire he breathed, a fire that only burned when he willed it to. It felt...natural. He felt whole.
He spoke, his voice radiating finality with every syllable.
"I am an ancient soul reborn, son of The Boiling Isles, son of humanity, child of two worlds, a friend, a student, a brother, a lover. I am a protector of the innocent, the burning flame to cast away evil."
The boy opened his eyes. His sclerae black, his irises glowing lavender, and his pupils alight with scarlet fire glyphs.
"I am Flint, the Blazing Titan."
Sov looked on with a smile. "Well said."
Flint nodded. "I'm glad to finally understand. I'm glad that I finally met you." Flint tapped his chin thoughtfully. "Or, I met me finally? Met you back then since we're in the past? Back here?"
Flint groaned as he smacked his forehead. "Oh for Us' sake! Time travel, am I right?"
The two versions of the Titan just laughed at the joke, knowing the reincarnation's statement to be true.
"Ain't that the truth. Never a simple thing, that's for sure." Sov agreed. "I've already lived through this conversation and yet it's still confusing me."
Sov looked at Flint firmly. "Look, kid. Don't make the same mistakes I did. I was willing to do anything to keep my kid safe. But I attacked the wrong person. Dragged the Collector down here for nothing. I can't tell him ourself, this whole interaction is only happening because my spirit is synchronized with our past self at the moment, and your magic is filling the gap. When you leave this space between, I'll be gone again, left to watch your story unfold through your eyes. But if you manage to find and free The Collector…tell him that I am deeply sorry for what I did. I know it doesn't make up for it, but I really am sorry." Sov pled.
Flint nodded his head. "I will."
"I'll let you get back to Lilith and your precious Starlight." Sov said with a light tease. "Until we meet again, whenever that might be." Sov said with an outstretched hand.
Flint took Sov's hand and shook it. "I can't be a father figure for King, but I'll be sure to be a good big brother to him."
Sov smiled. "I'm counting on it…son."
Suddenly, Sov's hand glowed with a string of glyphs. The glyphs activated, sending a stream of golden fire from the symbols themselves, curling around the boy as he looked in surprise at the action.
"Wha-! What is this?!" Flint exclaimed, the flames swirling up towards his head and flying into his eyes.
"Just a little parting gift. You've come a long way on your own to learn my/your magic, but it never hurts to have a little help right?" Sov said with a smile.
Flint's eyes now glowed, as the glow spread across his body. An influx of information flooded into his very being itself. The fog that was his understanding of the magic dissipated, and his body tensed as it crawled with newfound instinctual knowledge.
Sov spoke one more time to him. "Hey kid, tell your friend Luz I'm impressed by her skill with the glyphs, and tell Eda I'm grateful for her taking care of King. Oh! And I have a message for you to give to King." Sov leaned in to whisper something into Flint's ear, causing the boy to chuckle.
"Guess I know where I get my quips from," Flint said through the chuckles.
"Take care, Flint, Blazing Titan." Sov's past self and spirit versions bid him farewell, Sov's body splitting as the spirit that came with Flint wisped into Flint's chest as he levitated into the air with a flash of multicolored light blinding the boy.
Upon the surface of the Titan's Blood-filled Eclipse Lake, bubbles begin to sputter in the center. The blood began to warp, and rising beneath the bubbling area, Flint's completed horns pierced through. Flint rises above the surface of the lake, in a manner just like he had from his bed the day of his and Luz's book report as the surface tension wraps around him. Flint raises his wings and lifts himself out of the lake with a mighty flap, launching him to solid ground at the entrance to the cavern and the remaining Titan's Blood off of him. The hybrid lets out a gasp as he falls to his hands and knees, taking fresh air into his lungs, and expelling spurts of smoke with every exhale. After regaining his breath, the ground beneath his hands glowed as mirror-like ice formed beneath him, allowing him to see himself. Curiously, there was an ethereal marking upon the left side of his face. The marking was in a shape akin to the Eye of Horus and though it was firmly on his face, it pulsed like a living flame. Flint went to touch the marking but it suddenly wisped off his face in a stream of fire. The wisp landed on the ground beyond the ice and warped into the shape of a bird, until Gray was now sitting on the ground before him with a cocky smile.
"Dig the new look," Gray said simply.
Flint smiled back. "Thanks."
Gray raised his wing to rub the back of his head. "Sorry about pushing you in like that. Your Pops used our connection to control me." Gray apologized.
Flint lifted himself to his feet. "No need for apologies. I take it since I already have wings now that you chose that marking as your calling card now?"
"What do you think?"
Flint smiled. "Not bad. Now then, let's go stop a witch hunter." Flint said, becoming serious.
Gray nodded before wisping into Flint again and forming the Blazing Eye as a glyph matching the one Philip used as transport shined to life beneath his feet. With a flash of light, both he and the glyph were gone.
Luz looks over to see Philip pick up the tablet and growls. She leaves Lilith to handle the stonesleeper as she flies over and lands at the base of the dirt platform.
"Put that whatever-that-is down!" Luz ordered, pointing her staff threateningly at him.
Philip growls in anger before seeing the stonesleeper charging their way. He grins arrogantly. "No, I don't think I will."
The stonesleeper charges, only for Luz to turn around and use her staff to make a giant ice wall between herself and the stonesleeper, making it crash into the wall before Lilith tackles it.
Luz turns to face him again. "I'm not going to ask a-" Luz is tackled by Philip, causing them to tumble on the ground a few times as a zig-zag dagger falls out of Philip's coat pocket, and Luz drops her staff.
Luz shakes her head as she regains her bearings. She looks up to see Philip picking up the dagger and forcing her to the ground.
"Let it be known, I am more than willing to do my own dirty work if I must!" Philip shouted angrily as he raised his dagger.
Luz's eyes widened Philip brought the dagger down, narrowly dodging the man's attack before using her gloves to make a pair of ice gauntlets around her arms. She quickly grabbed his arms and held them back, keeping the dagger away from her.
"I know you want to get home, but nothing is worth hurting people!" Luz yelled.
Philip laughed psychotically. "I disagree! I am God's executioner, and I will smite all who dare to defy his will!"
Luz groaned, both from exertion and from Philip's words. "Ugh. If you jerk yourself off any harder, you're-"
Luz's eyes widened as she glanced down briefly before looking back at him, the devious grin on her face. The look confused Philip enough to briefly sober his insanity.
"What are you-"
CRACK
Philip's pupils narrowed into dots as he let out a high-pitched whine. He fell to the ground unceremoniously as he folded. Luz released him after lowering her leg, now covered in an ice boot, and he dropped his dagger to the ground as he lay on his side, trying his best to push through the pain she just inflicted upon him.
"N-not…fair," Philip said in a high pitch.
Luz shrugged. "Hey. When you're life is on the line, etiquette ain't no one's business." Luz said smugly. That was when she realized that there was significantly less fighting going on with Lilith.
Luz goes over to check on Lilith, picking her staff back up along the way only to find an interesting sight. Lilith is now seen scratching the stonesleeper behind its ear, which was on its side, and enjoying every second of it.
Lilith looked over and noticed Luz, waving to her with her free hand. "It's one of those Stonesleepers from the Hecktaceous Period! It must have been hibernating in here for ages." Lilith said with a smile.
Luz's eyes sparkled. "Cool Aunt Lilith!" Luz whispered in excitement.
Philip dragged himself back to the tablet. He painfully collected his dagger and shovel, and was about to begin carving his teleportation glyph on the ground until he heard the sound of two people clearing their throat. He slowly turned to see Luz and Lilith standing with their arms crossed, and the stonesleeper glaring at him from behind them.
Philip chuckled nervously. "I don't suppose-"
Between the two sides, a pillar of light appeared. From the light, an ivory-clawed left hand reached through it and grabbed Philip by the neck, before dragging him into it. Luz and Lilith watched in batted breath as the pillar of light disappeared, and Philip with it.
"…That wasn't Philip…right?" Luz said after a moment.
"No...no it wasn't," Lilith confirmed.
In a dark cave filled with broken wood, another pillar of light appeared in the darkness. From it, a figure stepped out, with another held in his claws.
"Who-Who are you?!" Philip managed to say before being dropped to the ground.
Nursing his bruised neck and regaining his breath, Philip growled, pulling out his dagger again and charging forward.
Flint stared him down with cold eyes, a stark contrast from the fire glyphs that glowed from them as he nonchalantly batted the incoming blade with his right hand, the dagger merely cutting a patch of fur from him before he grabbed Philip by the wrist, forcing him to drop the blade before he threw a palm-strike at his chest, forcing him back.
"It doesn't matter who I am, brother killer," Flint said coldly, his voice overlapped with that of Sov's.
Philip scoffed. "If you're here to avenge a brother of yours that I killed, I'm afraid the list isn't exactly short."
"I'm not talking about someone else's. I'm talking about yours. What you did to Caleb disgusts me." Flint stated.
Philip's eyes widened at the name before he snarled, getting back to his feet. "You keep his name out of your unholy mouth, Devil!"
Flint chuckled darkly. "Oh, you'll wish I was Luci," Flint said, slowly outstretching his left arm before swinging it forward, slashing upward with a slice at Philip's face.
"GAH!" Philip cried out in pain, holding his face as he fell to the ground.
Flint's gaze bore down on the traitorous human and sneered. "Look at you. Crawling around like the insufferable insect you truly are." Flint's eyes narrowed. "You disgust me."
Philip brought his hand away from his face to reveal five slashes across his face, reaching from the right ear and all across the right side of his face, stopping just before it reached his nose and mouth. The gashes bled profusely as the deceitful human's eyes were filled with unbridled hatred.
"You damned witch! All of your kind deserves to die, you unholy wretch!" Philip spat venomously.
Flint simply glared at the (debatably) human scumbag. The boy felt no pity for this thing, and by no means did it deserve any in the first place.
"Let this serve as a warning of what happens when you meddle in matters you shouldn't," Flint stated coldly before a glyph appeared beneath him, and he reappeared in front of Luz and Lilith, who looked at him with much surprise.
"Whoa! Flint?!" Luz said in shock as Stringbean animated to have her eyes bug out.
"That's my name. Don't wear it out." Flint replied with a smile.
"What happened to you?" Lilith asked.
"I'll explain when we get home. Better to explain it all at once. Now, let's get out of here." Flint stated, summoning a teleportation glyph beneath all of them, including a very surprised stonesleeper.
After setting the stonesleeper free (and letting Lilith inspects some ballusters), the group eventually made their way back to the present. They took off for the Owl House and Hooty greeted them.
"Oh, hiya Lulu, Luz, and Flint!" Hooty greeted, seemingly unfazed by Flint's new appearance.
"Are Eda and King inside?" Luz asked.
"Yep. Right on the couch." Hooty replied.
"Good, because we've got some serious shit to talk about," Flint stated, barging forward as Hooty swiftly opened the door, revealing the duo lounging on the couch.
Eda glanced over. "Oh, hey-" Eda's eyes widened as she noticed Flint's new look and nearly fell off the couch. "Whoa! Someone sure did get their pelt in."
King looked over and ran up. "Whoa! Cool!"
"So…I'm gonna go out on a limb and guess you managed to find a timepool?" Eda asked.
Flint turned to Lilith and Luz as Gray reappeared on his shoulder. "You two can go over your side first. I still need to…figure out what to say for my side."
After the two told Eda, Hooty, and King about how things went down for them, it eventually became Flint's turn. Lillith sat in the chair to the side with Hooty stretched beside her. Closest to Lillith on the couch was Luz, followed by King and Eda in the next spots over. The coffee table had been moved to the side for a more open area in front of them. All five (yes, even Hooty) had serious and worried looks on their faces as Flint stood before them.
Luz looked at Flint. "Flint...what happened when you were gone?"
Flint sighed. "Remember when we were younger? How I knew what the Boiling Isles looked like in my dreams? How I saw the light glyph after meeting you, Luz?"
Luz nodded slowly with slight confusion.
Lillith looked surprised. "Wait, you knew these things long before coming here? How is that possible?" Lillith asked in shock.
"At first we chalked it up to prophetic dreams. But it turns out they weren't sights of the future...I was seeing the past." Flint revealed, shocking everyone.
"Huh?! But how?!" Lilith exclaimed.
"Yeah! How?!" King echoed.
Flint did a sharp intake. "The Bat Queen said I was 'An old soul in a very young body'. As it turns out, I was looking back at things from my past life. I'm a reincarnation of someone from this world."
Luz gasped excitedly. "A reincarnation story where the protagonist is the reincarnation of a powerful individual set to save the world with powers inherited from their previous life?!"
Flint blinked before lightly chuckling. "Yeah, I guess it is."
Flint would swear he saw her pupils turn into the shape of stars as she looked at him in awe. "Awesome." She said in quiet excitement.
Eda shook her head fondly. "Never change Luz. Never change." Eda chuckled.
King's brow furrowed in thought. "Wait. So did you like, meet your past life or something?"
Hooty's face stretched to nuzzle against the left side of Flint's face, not unlike the action that caused Amity to...retaliate against the house demon. "Ooh! So who were you buddy?!"
"Hooty. What did we talk about regarding personal space?" Flint said with a chastising voice.
"Oops! Sorry. I'll go back over to Lulu then." And so the bird-tube did so.
Flint looked to King. "King, you know how I can't help but hold you close to me whenever Luz doesn't get to you first?"
"Hey!" Luz cried indignantly.
Ignoring his longtime friend (somehow), Flint walked closer to them and looked into King's eyes. "As it turns out, my past life was your father King...and technically mother too. Asexual reproduction apparently."
Everyone present proceeded to have their jaws drop -with Hooty's having hit the floor with a 'thud'- at that. King's father?!
King looked up at Flint in awe and disbelief. "Wait! He was-" King's pupils shrunk in realization as his shoulders sagged a bit. "Then that means he's..." King's tone became sad as he trailed off, not willing to finish his question, but everyone understood the implications.
Flint got to one knee and put his right hand on the young one's left shoulder. Flint looked at him with a look of compassion. "He told me he was sorry he couldn't raise you properly. He fought to protect you from a great foe, but in order to do so he had to sacrifice himself in the process. And if he didn't...the Boiling Isles would have never existed."
King looked down at that. He understood why his dad had to do it, but that didn't change just how much he wished he could truly meet him. To have a conversation.
Flint almost sensed the sadness coming from the young (and unknowingly) Titan, pulling his hand from King's shoulder. "You know, your dad did ask me to tell you something," Flint mentioned, pulled close, and cupping the clawed hand to whisper something in his ear.
"I loaf you?" King questioned before a look of realization crossed his face. "I loaf you." The young demon begins to chuckle. "Bread pun!"
Everyone smiled when King began chuckling.
"Until the day I was created, he was always watching over me. And when Luz and I arrived in the Boiling Isles, he then began to watch over you through my eyes." Flint explained. The teen then brought his right hand and held it over his heart, over the glyph on his chest. "His spirit watches through me. My magic ended up bridging the gap and I was able to talk to his spirit."
Flint snapped his clawed fingers. "Oh! And Eda. King's dad asked me to thank you for taking care of him all this time, and that he's a big fan. His spirit was even wearing one of your 'Bad Girl Coven' shirts."
Eda grinned as she pumped her fist. "Hell yeah, baby! Even the damn Titan knows it's good!"
Eda's eyes widened as hands slapped over her mouth, realizing what she just said.
"Wait. You knew!?" Flint demanded in shock.
Eda waved her hands defensively in front of her. "I only found out recently!"
"When!?"
"I found out when I met with Tiny the other day before the Coven Day Parade," Eda answered. "When you two went with Amity to the Human Realm, I was doing another Demonology study sesh to see if there were any candidates for your other half. Then I started thinking about how much power your blood has and joked about it not being as strong as Titan's Blood…and that's when the idea came." Eda groaned. "In hindsight, it makes way too much sense for the dumbest of reasons. Your blood was red when you first got here, it turned purple, and Titan's Blood is blue."
Lilith removed her glasses and rubbed her face. "Oh for goodness sake. How did we not make that connection?!"
Luz shrugged. "I mean, did you guys even know what Titan's Blood looked like until we opened up the key?" Luz asked.
"Okay, fair point." Eda conceded.
"But still. To think that this whole time, the answer has been right under our noses!" Lilith violently gestured toward the ground. "Literally!"
"And then to make this all crazier, you know those results I got about Flint? Get this, I had Tiny also do a test on whether it matched with King too! The results said Flint and King were both sons of the Titan!" Eda revealed.
Flint watched as all four didn't move for a bit, processing the information. He counted about thirteen seconds before they finally gave their reactions.
"WHAAAAAAAATTT!?" They all exclaimed in shock, Hooty's jaw dropping to the floor again, and others' hanging open.
Eda laughed with a haunted look. "Yeah. Turns out, I adopted the son of The Titan! That's why no one knew what King is!"
Lillith's face was frozen with shock. "This whole time..." the woman muttered, realizing that this whole time, she had been in the presence of a freaking Titan! Technically two!
King just stared off into space. "Whoa..." he said quietly.
"I know. Crazy. Turns out you calling me your brother was more literal than we thought." Flint shook his head. "To think that my past life was the Titan. It explains my knowledge of the glyphs, and why mine are the same as his." Flint stated.
Eda blinked as she turned to Flint in confusion. "What's that supposed to mean?" Eda asked.
"Right. Before I swiped Philip, Sov -er, Papa Titan, shoved a bunch of information into my head, mostly how to use my magic better. As it turns out, the glyphs are actually Titan magic, but more specifically hismagic. Every time we make a glyph, we're actually drawing on the power residing within the corpse we all stand on today." Flint then demonstrated by making a spell circle in midair, a light glyph appearing in the bounds of the circle before it turned into a ball of light. "Thanks to how I was made, my glyphs match his. Each Titan actually has their own brand of glyphs, think of it like a fingerprint. You can tell which Titan you are drawing power from depending on the structure of the glyph. As I said, mine are only the same as his due being his reincarnation, but King's however..." Flint trailed off.
King's pupils turned into stars. "I have my own glyphs?!" King asked excitedly.
Flint nodded. "You do, but you're still young. The strength of the glyphs is comparable to the strength of the Titan it draws power from, but due to your age you still haven't developed them quite yet."
Lillith spoke up. "Fascinating. So if King were to use one of his glyphs, he'd need to make a much bigger version of it to cast a spell of the same strength?"
Flint nodded. "Correct, but it would also be dependent on how much his body could handle as well." Flint looked down at his clawed hand as one of each glyph appeared in the air around him as he furrowed his brow. "When I was left at my mother's doorstep as a baby, half my DNA was like a blank slate. Making contact with her synchronized that other half with hers, meaning that I really am her son to an extent." Flint said, pausing a bit in thought before continuing. "Just stepping foot here in the Boiling Isles awoke my magic. I've been adapting to it since then. It wasn't much at first, but recently I noticed the glyphs have been growing stronger. Because I grew up as a human, my body matured at the rate of a human's rather than a Titan's, and now the power is finally unleashed after all these years."
Luz's eyes widened. "So that must mean your power grew at the same rate! And that's why the glyph I tried to use on Earth worked against those agents and not Lilith, because you didn't have any yet!"' Luz realized.
Flint nodded. "And now my body has rapidly been adjusting to match my Titan age to my human age. Meanwhile, the glyphs now draw from both Papa Titan and my own powers at the same time, at least for those in range of me." Flint rubbed his head with a pained expression. "I'm still trying to decipher all that information Papa Titan gave me. There's a lot to go through."
"Um, this is one of those things that should be kept secret right?" Hooty asked.
Lillith nodded as she petted Hooty on the head. "Correct Hootsifer. This kind of information would be dangerous if Belos were to find out about it. We already know he's after Titan Blood. If he discovers he could get it from either you or King..." Lillith trailed off, the implication from her tone suggesting the worst.
Luz turned to Lillith. "But what about Gus, Amity, and Willow? They out of anyone else should deserve to know!"
Flint interjected. "Luz is right. They'll know something is off. But other than them, we need to be careful who we tell. The last thing we need is for Belos to find-"
Flint's pupils shrank as images flashed in his mind. He saw Philip being slashed by his clawed hand as the human swore he would get his revenge. He saw Belos dodging a similar attack from their fight. His mind flashed to Belos' projection as he removed his mask, showing his scarred face. A scarred face by what looked to be claws from a five-fingered creature...
Five slashes...
The images began to overlap in his mind as other memories from Sov began to make themselves known.
The angle...
Philip and Belos' faces are aligned almost perfectly.
They're the same...
No…Philip and Belos' faces were identical.
Flint fell over as his brain shut down from the shock. He could vaguely hear the worried cries of everyone, just like he was numb to the feeling as they tried to awaken him from his shocked state. His vision blurred as his eyes grew heavy, the last semblances of consciousness fading from him before darkness overtook his vision. After everything that had happened today, his mind was crashing down as he tried to sift through all the information. Yet…there was only one thought running through his mind before he finally let the darkness consume him.
'Philip Wittebane is Emporer Belos.'