He huffed and steadfastly ignored the girl, though Silver constantly stole looks at him, fidgeting the whole time. She'd do it whenever she thought he wouldn't notice, then when he looked back at her, she'd quickly avert her eyes and her fidgeting would get worse. King couldn't quite place it, but something about the way she acted felt familiar…
While he was trying to ignore Silver, King and Gus talked a little about what they'd gone through on their on trips through the desert. King was jealous that Gus only had a narrow encounter with some newborn larvae that hadn't even noticed him, while Gus had winced upon hearing of the near misses King and Prince had suffered through. King was just finishing up telling him about their daring escape from the Ash Moth when the Silver Sentinel (who'd been watching him again), suddenly looked to the west and gasped. It was the first sound King had heard from her, and he and Gus turned to see whatever she'd spotted.
There were two very familiar figures trudging through the sand towards them; Luz and the unmasked Golden Guard. King and Gus both smiled broadly and waved to get their attention, making Luz beam and wave back when she saw them. She began to run towards them, leaving the Golden Guard to walk at his own pace… at least until Silver disappeared into her own shadow and popped out of his, immediately tackling him into a hug that had both of the Emperor's elites rolling around in the sand. King could see that the Golden Goof was saying something and Silver was frantically signing back whilst checking him over, but he was soon distracted when Luz reached the crashed airship and scooped King up into a big hug.
"Little brother! Oh am I glad to see you!" Luz beamed, holding him aloft to check him over; "You're not hurt anywhere, are you?"
"I'm fine Luz! And I'm glad to see you too!" King said, smiling happily.
"You're definitely a sight for sore eyes. Looks like we both ended up hanging out with one of the Emperor's elites." Gus said, stepping forward.
Luz hugged him too, and checked him for injuries just like she had King, before deciding he was healthy and letting him go.
"GG is a little prickly, but he did save my life when I stupidly tried to fly away and got attacked by the Ash Moth. Of course, I returned the favour straight away and pulled him underground before we both got stomped into pancakes by the Ash Moth." Luz grinned.
King and Gus both smirked; they had no idea what a pancake was, but they were amused to hear that the Ash Moth's stomping rampage really had been where Luz had been. It was at that moment that Luz noticed Prince, and King and Gus noticed Flapjack.
"Oh hey! Looks like you found a buddy too." Gus said, "Is this little guy your partner now?"
Luz shook her head; "No, he just happened to find me while looking for help. He knows where the other Palismen landed, and we were going to go after them after we'd reunited with you guys here. But what about this little guy?" she reached down to pet Prince's head.
"He was thrown from the nest and landed near me. He saved my hide a couple of times." King answered.
Prince squeaked, and Flapjack tweeted something in return. Naturally Luz, King, and Gus didn't understand them, but Emmiline was able to and translate for her partner.
"Emmiline says that BQ's kid was the only Palismen lost in the crash. He was trying to hold the nest's door shut on his own, but it opened during the crash landing and he went flying. His actions protected the others though. Searching for him is one of the reasons this little guy left the others." Gus explained.
"Great! Now Flapjack can lead us to the rest of the Palismen and then all we need to do is find BQ!" Luz grinned.
She then noticed Prince's injured leg and scuffed appearance, and used her Crystal Healing Lotus to heal him up. She was just finishing up when GG and Silver returned to the ship following their own reunion.
"My partner filled me in on her truce with you, Gus." he said, addressing the illusionist; "You've got my thanks for helping her."
"And you've got mine for helping Luz." Gus replied.
"Oh please, like I needed GG!" Luz said, jokingly dismissing the idea, making GG grumble.
Silver giggled and created an illusory message; "Thank you for taking care of my brother, Luz. An Angel is an Angel even on the wrong side."
Luz rolled her eyes with a smile; "I'd argue that last part, but I doubt I'd change your mind. From the sounds of it, you and Gus became buddies as well, so thanks for looking out for him."
King piped up; "Okay okay, we've all said thanks so can we get a move on now?" he asked exasperatedly, really not comfortable around the two elites. "Shouldn't you two leave now that you've found each other?"
GG and Silver exchanged looks, while Luz and Gus nodded. Gus would be kind of sad to see his new friend leave, and likely be an enemy again the next time they met, and Luz felt a little worried about the Golden Guard after learning he was Belos' nephew despite not being an Angel, but there really was no reason for the two to stick around… unless they planned to steal the Palismen still.
"How do you expect us to leave?" GG crossed his arms; "My staff is gone and my partner's doesn't have enough juice left to get her to the castle, let alone the both of us."
"Try walking." King scowled.
GG glared at him, but Luz added; "King has a point. We're on the south east side of the volcano, so the Wrist and the Emperor's Coven Outpost is only a little further east." she turned and pointed in the direction of the Wrist, which was a rocky canyon that divided the Palm Desert from the Forearm Forest. "It looks like it'd only take you a short time, then the outpost could get you transport back to the castle while we leave with the Palismen."
"In broad daylight?" he smirked in return; "I think we both know you can't do that. The Ash Moth would incinerate you before you got out of the desert. I saw that nest; you'd never get it out of here without flying."
"And how does having you two around solve that problem?" King demanded.
"If I borrow my partner's staff, we can use my flash teleportation to evade the Moth. Or she could use it to move us through the shadows, out of the Ash Moth's sight. You three could never move fast enough to avoid it on your own, and your strongest defence was still no match for it." GG grinned smugly.
"Then we'll wait until nightfall." Gus scowled.
"Where?" the Golden Guard asked, "Between our three groups, we've been all over the desert and seen no signs of the Bat Queen or the Palismen, which means they're either not in the desert at all, or they're in the one place we haven't looked; this Volcano. A volcano that happens to be the Ash Moth's lair. If it returns before nightfall, it'll see you all and take you out, and like I said before, you won't be able to fly that nest to a safer hiding spot without being spotted."
Luz, Gus, and King all frowned and looked worriedly at each other. The Golden Guard had a point… they had no idea when the Ash Moth would return to its lair inside the volcano, but they were sure it would go there at some point before nightfall… They could hide with invisibility, but they couldn't hold the spells forever, and who knows how long the Moth would linger in its lair, and considering it wasn't even noon yet, they'd have to wait hours before the sun went down. It looked like they really were stuck.
"Face it, Rebels; you'll never got those Palismen out of here without our help." the Golden Guard said smugly.
Silver then created an illusory message; "At the very least, we can help you get them to safety. We can work things out between us after that."
That was something Luz and her friends could agree with as they all had the same thought; once the Ash Moth was no longer a problem, they'd easily be able to defeat the two Elites! They'd use them to escape, the defeat or even capture them!
"Fine. We'll agree to work together. We may want different things for the Palismen, but we all want them out of this desert. So until that happens… we'll keep our truce." Luz said, offering her hand to the Golden Guard.
He smirked and went to take her hand, but she pulled it back before he could and ran it through her hair; "Too slow." she smirked.
The Golden Guard glared while the others, including Silver, giggled at him. "Fine, let's get this over with… Even if this volcano is the only place left to look, we still have a lot of ground to cover. We'll need the Palisman to lead us."
He pointed to Flapjack, who tweeted and landed on his finger. The boy freaked out and waved his hand to get the bird off of him.
"Hey man, relax a little. The little dude was just being friendly." Gus said.
"I don't care! Palismen are made of Wild Magic! They're dangerous!" GG retorted.
Luz looked at Flapjack, who tweeted sadly; "Oh yeah, real dangerous…" she said sarcastically.
Silver then offered her own finger as a perch for the little Palisman, and he happily accepted, tweeting his thanks to the girl, who used her other hand to sign to her brother.
"Be nice. These creatures didn't chose their nature any more than we did."
The boy's glare softened and he nodded; "You're right, Sis. I'm sorry, Bird. Will you please lead us all to the others?"
Flapjack tweeted happily and flew onto the boy's shoulder, then pointed up the volcano with his wing. It was clear that the Golden Guard had the urge to shove the Palisman off of him again, but he resisted and nodded to the bird.
Luz smiled at the interaction, then said; "Let's get moving. It's going to be noon soon and I'd like to be off the volcano by then."
The others agreed and began to climb the volcano, following Flapjack's directions. King and Prince rode on Luz's shoulders so their bare feet didn't need to touch the hot stone of the volcano, while Luz produced ice glyphs on the bottom of her own bare feet to keep herself cool as she walked, seeing as she was still in her Holy Raiment. As they walked, they all caught up with each other, telling one another about their brief adventures in the desert. This also included the revelations that the Emperor's Elites needed their staves to use magic, and that the Golden Guard was the nephew of Belos, yet was a magicless witch instead of an angel.
"So does that mean you're in the same boat, Silver?" Gus asked, walking beside the girl.
Silver shook her head, and the Golden Guard said; "Silver and I are blood-related, but we're not actually siblings. Uncle Belos insists we're also his blood relatives, but whether we're actually his nephew and niece is something even we don't know. He says it's too painful to discuss his family. All we know is that we all lost everyone we had because of Wild Magic and Wild Witches."
Luz frowned sadly; "Belos mentioned something like that when I was his captive. He said Wild Witches took his family from him… I'm sorry for your losses."
"Thank you." the Golden Guard replied, his voice quiet. "I was very lucky… I don't remember the incident that took my parents from me. All I remember is that Belos found me… he gave me a staff of artificial magic, and trained me to help him bring an end to the evil forces that took our family from me. He said the Titan had big plans for me…"
King bit back a scoff, though as his hatred of Belos increased, so did his sympathy for these two teens.
"Silver came later. I was jealous of her at first, as it meant sharing my uncle's attention, but some stuff happened and now we're the best of friends and partners. We decided to call each other siblings, even though we're technically cousins of some kind."
The boy smiled almost tenderly over at his sister, and Gus saw the way Silver's nervous fidgeting eased almost immediately, as if the presence of her brother soothed her. The two really were close. Despite them being enemies under normal circumstances, Luz and Gus both felt a bit more fond of the duo.
They continued their climb up the volcano, which became more treacherous as they got closer to the centre and the slope got steeper. The presence of sharp obsidian shards meant all of them had to be very careful, and use a combination of ice and plants to create hand and foot holds and vine ropes to climb up, occasionally stopping to rest on ridges large enough for them to sit on. It was during one of these rest stops that the Golden Guard surprised Luz by using a piece of stone to scratch an ice glyph into the side of the volcano, then activate it to make a sheet of ice they could lean against to cool off a bit. Luz beamed and began to gush over his use of the glyph, while also teasing him about him using "Wild Magic", as the others looked on. King naturally criticised the boy's less than perfect first attempt, while Gus just smiled and Silver conjured a small message, meant only for the boy beside her.
"I've never seen my brother like this with other people." she wrote.
Gus raised an eyebrow; "Like what? Like a regular kid?" he asked.
Silver nodded, and Gus said; "Luz has that effect on people. She's got the worst luck on the isles, but she's also weirdly good at touching people's hearts and making them want to be better. Maybe it's a natural angel thing… but honestly, I think that's just Luz being Luz. She wants to help everyone so badly that it rubs off on people and makes them want to help themselves too."
Silver looked at Gus for a moment, then stared at Luz for a long time, making the boy wonder just what expression she had under her mask. Was it jealousy? Happiness? Gus wasn't sure, but something about the way she'd gone so still made him think there was longing in her expression. Maybe she wished to help people too… or maybe she wished to be helped. Gus didn't know for certain, so he just put a hand on her back.
"Maybe you should try talking to her after all this is over. You never know, her healing magic could help you speak!" he suggested.
The masked girl gave a non-committal shrug, and stood up, urging the others to continue now that they'd had a short rest.
They continued their climb, with everyone now using whatever ice magic they had available to keep them cool as the sun grew hotter and combined with the volcano's heat. Veins of glowing lava were now visible through cracks in the volcano's side, and there were places where it was oozing out, only to harden before it could flow all the way down to the desert sand. It was becoming increasingly treacherous, but they thankfully reached the edge of the caldera without any incidents.
"Whoa…" Gus gasped, looking down into the caldera and seeing a massive lake of magma deep inside it. However that was normal for a volcano; what was unusual was the white silk that coated the inside of the caldera, and which had been used to create several large hanging nests attached to the inside walls. The silk had been produced by the Ash Moth and was completely heat and fire proof, and most of the hanging nests had dozens of giant, crystalline red eggs, each one looking like a massive ruby.
"Those most be the Moth's latest brood. They're probably a few decades away from hatching by the size of them." the Golden Guard commented. Each egg was about as tall as he was, so they'd need to grow to almost three times that size before they hatched.
"It's incredible… wait! Look over there!" Luz cried, pointing to one of the silk platforms. There, amidst a few eggs, was the Bat Queen and the nest that contained the Palismen. A barrier of blue magic had been erected around it to keep them safe, but Luz could see that the Bat Queen was badly injured; she was missing her left wing entirely, and there were glowing green scratches all over her.
Prince cried as he looked at her and immediately flew down into the Caldera, paying no mind to the heat. Luz flew after him, King still on her shoulder, while Gus and Silver hopped onto their staves and followed, the Golden Guard sitting on his sister's staff. They landed on the silk platform (which felt spongy and bouncy to stand on) and hurried over to the Bat Queen.
Up close, her condition was far worse; she was missing her left leg too and her right wing had several pieces missing from it. Parts of her hair, wing, and body were also burned, making it look like she'd gone toe to toe with the Ash Moth. Flapjack tweeted and Emmiline translated for Gus.
"He says that the Bat Queen tried to fly out of the caldera after they crash landed on one of the lower platforms. The Ash Moth spotted her before she could clear it and swatted her down. This little guy flew away in the chaos to look for help." Gus explained.
Luz gasped; "Oh no! Poor BQ! Hey, can you hear me in there?" she yelled, pounding on the barrier with her fists; "BQ! Let me in, I can heal you!"
The Bat Queen didn't respond at first, apparently unconscious. It also didn't seem to have reached the Palismen hiding in the nest, much to everyone's surprise. However Prince swiftly woke his mother with a loud scream, making her startle awake.
"Babies! Who comes for my- Little One! You are well!" the Bat Queen's brief look of fear and anger melted into one of immense relief. Her eyes glowed blue and the barrier immediately dropped, allowing everyone through.
Prince flew into his mother's embrace, and she held him tightly to her face with her one remaining wing. "My Baby! I feared for you, but could not come! The Monster of the Desert took my wing… I had to send another for aid." she explained, soothing her baby, who was now crying with relief from the reunion. BQ then looked to Luz and the others, smiling at them (and eyeing the Emperor's Elites suspiciously).
"Luz and friends. I am glad you are here. You did well, friend." she said, aiming that last part at Flapjack.
The little bird tweeted happily as Luz immediately rushed to the Bat Queen's side. "I'll heal you right away! Just hold on a little longer." Luz cried, knowing that poor BQ must be in terrible pain. "Losing limbs is no fun. I remember cutting off my hand to escape Belos' slave brand… that was awful." she said sympathetically, conjuring her crystal lotus to begin healing the Bat Queen.
Both the Golden Guard and Silver Sentinel flinched at her words, both remembering how horrified they'd been to see Luz throw her hand in the way of Raine's sonic blades. Both had worked so hard and felt so honoured when they earned their Coven Sigils, so it had been quite a shock to see Luz go through such drastic measures to get rid of hers.
"It wasn't a slave brand." GG found himself weakly defending his uncle.
Luz didn't acknowledge him, instead focusing on healing the Bat Queen, but King was not so calm or kind. "Belos used it to control her magic against her will, and tortured her when she disobeyed; don't you dare try and defend that monster to us!" he growled furiously.
Silver once again flinched and began to fidget a lot more, looking down at the ground. Meanwhile the Golden Guard bit his lip, wanting to argue with King but finding himself unable to find the words. It had all been for Luz's own good! That's what his Uncle had promised… but he doubted that excuse would fly with Luz's little brother. Instead they both stayed silent and watched as Luz restored the Bat Queen's missing wing, then her leg, and then erased the rest of the wounds she'd suffered. It thankfully didn't take very long, but Luz looked pale and shaky by the time she was done.
"Phew, that was a bit more than I bargained for…" she panted, having never needed to heal so much damage. Restoring her own hand had been difficult, but restoring an entire wing that was bigger than her whole body? That was a difficult task! If it weren't for all the heat energy being absorbed by her wings, Luz likely would have passed out before it was done.
"You have my thanks, Luz. But you must rest now; we are in dangerous place and you need strength." the Bat Queen said, gently nudging Luz into a seated position with her wings. She then nodded politely to Gus and King, before turning her hardening gaze on GG and Silver. "You two are enemies. Servants of Defiler."
"We are loyal members of the Emperor's Coven." GG said defiantly; "We did what we did for the good of the Emperor and his Empire. You would do the same for your family."
He then noted the Bat Queen's restored body, particularly her leg. The Bat Queen was still seated, so he could see the sole of her restored foot, noting the Interlock there. "But I understand why you of all people have a Sanctuary for Stray Palismen… you ARE a Palisman!"
Silver turned to her brother with surprise, while Luz, Gus, and King were immediately on guard again. The Bat Queen narrowed her eyes on him.
"Be careful boy. I am not so weak that two whelps of the Defiler can defeat me, especially with strong allies at my back." she said threateningly, slowly getting to her feet and spreading her wings to intimidate the boy. One good flap would produce enough wind to knock him into the lava; if GG was an adult, he likely would have been sent flying already.
The Golden Guard gulped but still took on a combat stance, ready for a fight even without a staff, but Silver stopped him. She signed something that only he and Luz could understand.
"Hold, brother. The Bat Queen has children, despite being a Palisman. That means she can breed. If Palismen are capable of breeding and creating more Palismen, then we might have a potential solution to Uncle's supply problems!"
Luz fought hard to keep her face free from disgust so it wasn't revealed that she understood sign language, while the Golden Guard looked confused; "Are you suggesting we breed Palismen like Dairy Spiders?"
"Why not? We breed other creatures to consume them. Why not do the same with Palismen?" Silver signed.
Under normal circumstances, she might have had a point; Humans, Demons, and Angels all kept and bred animals for meat and other products. However none of the animals they kept could be considered as intelligent as Palismen, who basically had true sapience in the bodies of animals.
The Bat Queen, hearing the Golden Guard's reaction, narrowed her eyes; "You think to breed us!? Palismen are no mere beast of the forest! A Palisman is a living incarnation of the carver's soul! We and our bonded partners are one and the same! That is why people cannot willy-nilly use others' staves! A Palisman is an extension of a Witch or Demon, not some pet!"
Silver flinched and backed off nervously, putting her hands up in surrender, while the Golden Guard scowled; "Uncle told us that Palismen are just vessels of Wild Magic!"
"If he thought that, why didn't he outlaw them?" Luz demanded; "I bet it was so he could keep eating them! He didn't want to stop people from making them so he'd always have more to devour! That's also why the Coven System controls the Palistrom Trees! Belos has been farming Palismen this whole time, just indirectly!"
"Hey, why are you yelling at us!?" GG scowled; "We're trying to find a solution that helps the Emperor without us having to fight! Shouldn't you be on board with that!?"
Luz shook her head; "There's no way to help that monster without someone suffering! Sorry if I'm not too keen to help the guy who tortured me and turned me into a monster so he could force me to MURDER MY MOTHER!"
Her furious roar silenced everyone, as none of them had seen Luz quite that angry before. A combination of Luz's hatred for Belos, her desire to protect and help others, her loyalty to BQ and the Palismen, her love of animals and hatred for animal cruelty, and her conflicted feelings about the Golden Guard and his sister resulted in her being a lot more emotional than normal, especially since she was also hot, tired, and still worried about keeping her friends safe.
The Golden Guard and Silver Sentinel both backed off a step, looking conflicted. This conflicted feeling grew worse as Luz began to calm down and averted her eyes; "I'm sorry… I shouldn't take my anger towards him out on the two of you…"
The Bat Queen gently patted her back with her wing, while Prince fluttered down and landed on Luz's head, roosting in her curly hair to comfort her. BQ then looked at the two elites and frowned.
"Your hopes will not work. I carved my children; over centuries I grew my Palistrom body and harvested the wood from myself. It took 200 years to grow enough to make a single egg and 600 years growing enough for all my children. Even then, I could only grow my body's wood after millennia of life and practice. You will find breeding us impossible." she explained.
GG frowned; it had been a long shot anyway, but he'd hoped it would work out. He really didn't want to fight Luz and the others… but it was looking like that would be his only choice. He began to sign to Silver, letting her know the plan. Luz's group needed their flash teleportation or shadow movement to get the Palismen out of the desert safely, so they were essentially stuck. It would be no trouble at all for Silver to take them all into the shadows, then spit everyone except the Palismen straight back out, allowing the two to escape with their prize whilst leaving the others trapped by the Ash Moth. If they were clever, they might be able to catch Luz too…
… though of course, that relied on Luz not knowing their plan, which she now did since he had signed it to Silver in full view of the young Arch-Angel.
For her part, Silver's posture made it clear she didn't like the idea, even though she signed that she would follow her brother's lead, but that didn't stop Luz from narrowing her eyes on them both.
"And just what were you two talking about?" she asked with a scowl. Her reaction had the others on guard too, since they knew Luz could understand them.
"Nothing much, just coordinating the plan for getting us all out of here. My partner here will use shadow movement to get us all to the Wrist. From there, we can work out what to do next." the Golden Guard said, a fake smile on his face.
"Oh really? Would you be willing to make an Everlasting Oath that you're telling the truth?" Luz asked.
GG narrowed his eyes on her; "Why? Getting paranoid are we?"
Luz shook her head; "It's not paranoia when the other person is actually plotting to betray you."
The Golden Guard was many things, but he wasn't stupid; Luz had been willing to cooperate with them this far, so for her to suddenly change her tune after he'd signed his plan to Silver… well, it could only mean one thing in his mind.
"You understood us, didn't you? You speak Sign Language." he said with slowly widening eyes.
Luz answered only by getting back to her feet and conjuring a light sword. Gus brandished his new staff as well, and King looked ready to roar, while the Bat Queen was edging closer and closer to the Palismen nest. Silver shakily pointed her own staff back at them, clearly not wanting to fight, especially with so little magic left in her staff, but she had no choice; she needed to defend her brother while he was defenceless.
However the Golden Guard wasn't as defenceless as he seemed, as he suddenly pointed his gloved hand at Luz. There on the palm was a light glyph scratched into the leather, and with shards of the broken crystal from GG's staff stuck around it. The light glyph activated and created a blinding flash of light, but the inclusion of shards from the Golden Guard's staff resulted in the glyph being massively overpowered, producing a constant, massively powerful light. It stunned everyone like he wanted, but it was also more than the Golden Guard had expected so he too was stunned by it and couldn't figure out how to turn it off.
"Fool! You will draw the Ash Moth right to us! Turn off the light!" the Bat Queen demanded, her eyes clenched shut.
"I-I'm trying!" he shouted back, clenching his fist in hopes of turning off the light. "Dang it, this is why Wild Magic can't be trusted!"
"It works when you're not a moron, Golden Goof!" Luz yelled, slowly edging towards the boy. She was a bit more resistant to the effects of light, so she was able to open her eyes just a little, enough to see the Golden Guard as a blob of colour behind a shining light. She grabbed his wrist and tore off the glove, before throwing it down into the magma below. As soon as the crystals on the glove touched the molten rock, they exploded with bright red light, creating a terrifyingly loud boom.
Everyone slowly opened their eyes, blinking away the spots caused by the sudden light, while Luz reached up and smacked the Golden Guard on the top of his head.
"What were you thinking!? Are you trying to get us all killed!?" Luz scolded.
"Hey! I was thinking I could use your light glyph and the remains of my staff to shoot light beams like you do!" the Golden Guard yelled. "The theory was sound! I based off of what I read in Bones to Earth: A Study of Wild Magic!"
Luz and King both face-palmed; "We've read that book too!" King complained, remembering that it was one of the tomes they'd poured over whilst first trying to understand Luz's bizarre powers.
"And it's like 50% made-up garbage! Eda once pick-pocketed the guy who wrote it out of protest for how bad it is!" Luz continued; "Natural magic doesn't mix well with artificial magic! Putting those crystals on the glyph could have blown the whole thing sky high! You almost lost your arm!"
The Golden Guard sneered; "So nice of you to feign concern!"
"I can't lie you dolt! Of course I'm concerned! You're just a sad bad boy whose in way over his head! And besides, I had a pretty good reason to stop you from being stupid there!" Luz fired back.
A blush appeared on GG's cheeks in response to Luz's insult; "Y-Yeah, well you're just a silly little girl being tricked by a Wild Witch! What possible reason could you have to stop me besides saving your own skin!"
As if on cue, there was a monstrously loud roar from above them and everyone looked up to see the Goliath Ash Moth landing on the edge of the caldera, and peering down at them. Its eyes focused directly on them and the whole group paled.
"That. That's my reason. Ever heard the expression, "Like a Moth to the flame"? Well your little light show was like a giant inferno that drew this thing right to us!" Luz whimpered, her eyes unable to tear themselves away from the Colossal Demon.
The Golden Guard gulped, but he didn't have time to panic; he needed to keep his cool and fix his mess. He turned to his sister; "Get us out of here! Take us all into the shadows!" he ordered.
Silver nodded and hastily held out her hand for them all to take, but no one but her brother took it. The Guard gaped at them; "Hurry up! That thing's about to come down!"
The Ash Moth was pacing the edge of the Caldera, using its flaming proboscises to heat the rock and melt it, making it impossible for them to climb back out. They'd have no choice but to fly, where it would catch and prey on them easily.
"We're not going anywhere with you! You'll just betray us!" King yelled.
"Are you stupid!? Staying here is certain death!" GG yelled back.
"So is going with you! You'll ditch Gus and King, and take me and the Palismen to Belos, which is basically certain death too!" Luz cried, preparing for a last stand.
Silver shook her head and created an illusory message; "Please trust us! We won't do that!"
She was being honest, but no one was willing to gamble that. Gus was the only one who felt he could trust her, and he conveyed that with his gaze, but he couldn't decide for the others.
"Here it comes! Brace yourselves!" the Bat Queen yelled as the Ash Moth finished turning the edge of the caldera into a ring of fire, before diving down into the magma below. It was briefly submerged, causing the magma level to rise up and almost fill the caldera, forcing Luz to put up the most powerful barrier she could manage. They too were submerged, and for a moment all they could see through Luz's crystal barrier was a sea of red and orange. But then the magma receded as the Ash Moth's head, wings, and front two legs rose out of the molten rock. It was now eye level with the platform that the others were on (which was thankfully intact since Ash Moth silk was heatproof), and two swift lashes from its whiskers had Luz's barrier shattering like glass.
Luz rapidly tried to throw up another barrier, but her magic still hadn't fully regenerated after healing BQ, so the effort just made her go pale and collapse onto her hands and knees. "N-No!"
The Ash Moth reared back a paw and effortlessly swatted them off the silken platform, like a cat knocking a glass off a shelf. Silver saved GG and King, who was the closest to her, by grabbing them and dragging them into the shadows, but everyone else was swept off and sent plummeting to the magma. Gus managed to roughly fly on his staff just well enough to catch Luz, while the Bat Queen was able to catch the Palismen Nest, saving it from a nasty demise. The Palismen inside screamed in terror, but were soothed by the Bat Queen's cooing.
"It will be alright, little ones! I will protect!"
At that moment, Silver emerged from the shadows with King and GG, appearing on top of the Palismen nest by using the shadow cast on it by the Bat Queen's body. Silver then immediately flew on her staff, bringing her brother with her and leaving King atop the nest.
"We've got no chance of beating this thing! If you won't trust us to get you out of here, then we'll need a different tactic!" GG yelled as his sister began to weave through the air. The Ash Moth began whipping its whiskers at all of them, forcing them to fly around and dodge as best they could. Thankfully since it was aiming at multiple targets at once, the Demon wasn't as coordinated as before, so they were able to avoid its flaming whips without too much trouble, but it was only a matter of time before they got caught and either sliced in half, incinerated, or knocked into the lava.
Luz, absorbing as much heat energy as she could, felt a little strength return to her. She could maybe cast one or two more big spells, but she already knew nothing she did would phase the Ash Moth… at least, nothing she did alone.
"I might be able to manage an Aurora Beam spell, but it won't freeze this thing on its own! I need help!" Luz cried.
"I-I might be able to use water magic to cool this thing off a little? Maybe that'll help?" Gus suggested, struggling to dodge. He still couldn't fly very well with Emmie, so Luz was having to flap her wings and use drawn wind glyphs to blow them out of the way of attacks.
"That might just work! I'll assist with the ice glyph! I can at least do that right!" GG agreed.
Silver nodded too, and since she knew Luz could understand her now, she signed to her; "I will assist. I'm not much good with ice or water magic, but I might be able to bind the moth with shadows if you can get rid of some of the light."
"I can help too!" King cried, flying over by using Prince to carry him like before, the little Palisman looking terrified yet determined. Flapjack was also roosting on his head, tweeting in agreement.
"No, young King. You use your glyphs to protect the nest." the Bat Queen said; "I help them. Luz, I lend you my power once more!"
Luz beamed; "Great! I think I've got a plan! Let's do it everyone!"
There was a cheer from everyone, and a fist pump from the silent Silver as they all prepared to act. King and Prince immediately flew back to the Bat Queen, and King used an ice glyph to create a frozen platform for her to rest the Palismen nest on. Then as she flew over to Luz, King flew under the platform and carved plant glyphs into it, creating thick tree roots and vines to act as additional support for when the ice melted in the heat. With the Palismen relatively safe now, the Bat Queen was able to safely reach Luz and transform into her staff form, shrinking down to be the right size for Luz. Grasping the staff filled Luz with energy and she immediately began to fly with her own wings again, reducing the burden on Gus. She then used her magic to catch Gus and Emmie in one of her crystal barriers, which she controlled to allow him to fly and avoid the flailing fire whiskers without his staff.
"Thanks for the save Luz, but I can't use water or ice magic through this thing!" Gus yelled.
"I've got it handled!" Luz yelled back snapping her fingers as a couple of the hexagonal plates that made up the barrier disappeared, allowing Gus to put his hands through. Luz then continued; "Also, forget the water magic; I have a better idea for you! Mesmerise it, just like you did with the Detention Pit! If you could effect that thing, you can effect the Ash Moth!"
Gus gulped; "This thing's a bit bigger than the Detention Pit!"
"And you're a lot stronger than you were back then! Plus you have Emmiline now! Come on Master Illusionist, I believe in you!" Luz cheered for him as she began twirling the Bat Queen's staff to create chunks of ice that she launched at the Ash Moth, keeping its focus on her.
Gus still looked nervous, but then an illusory message appeared in front of him, conjured by Silver. It read; "I believe in you too, Gus."
He gasped softly and looked over to the Sentinel, who was flying around and avoiding attacks while her brother scratched an ice glyph into his remaining glove. She gave Gus a thumbs up, and the boy felt a little more confidence build up inside him.
"Alright! One illusion coming right up!" he declared, spinning is staff to create a huge spell circle. He then drew two smaller spell circles, one with each hand, and thrust his hands through them, causing his magic and the three circles to resonate. His eyes began to glow cyan, and the Ash Moth's eyes soon began to flicker between their usual red and cyan too, as the Ash Moth thrashed around for a moment, before going almost entirely still. Gus was showing it an illusion of its children hatching from their eggs, and the Ash Moth was focusing fully on them, ignoring the prey that would be no threat to them.
However holding the illusion was difficult, so Gus cried out to the others; "I can't hold this for long, so you might want to stop this thing somehow!"
"I've got it! GG, use ice or water magic to cool the magma below us! If just needs to be enough to stop it glowing so brightly!" Luz ordered.
"I'm on it!" GG yelled back, completing his second glyph glove. He nodded to his sister, who then flew him down to the magma pool where he began blasting ice from the palm of the glove. He pushed it as hard as he could, and the torrent of ice began to coat the magma pool. It melted immediately, naturally, but the water it melted into still cooled the magma and after a few seconds, the pool began to go from glowing red to a dull muddy brown, with only thin veins and cracks of brighter red remaining.
"Silver, the light is weak! Use those shadows to bind the Ash Moth! GG, start blasting it with water!" Luz ordered, spinning the Bat Queen staff to begin preparing her own spell.
The two elites obeyed, Silver landing on top of the barrier Gus was in so she could spin her own staff to make a massive purple spell circle, which she used to take control of all the shadows being cast within the caldera. The shadows twisted together into a plethora of black tendrils, and shot out towards the Ash Moth, binding it as tightly as she could manage. This clearly took a lot of effort too, and the girl struggled to keep control of the shadows even as the mesmerised Ash Moth barely moved. Meanwhile the Golden Guard was placed inside another barrier so Luz could move him around, and he blasted as much ice and water as he could out through a gap in the barrier. His efforts caused the flames on the creature's proboscises and the red hot veins of magic in its wings to begin cooling and turning dull, almost going out entirely. Between that and the cooling of the magma, the temperature in the caldera became noticeably cooler.
The Golden Guard kept up his ice spells until the glyph on his glove was completely spent, causing the glove to disintegrate from over use. He cursed and yelled up to Luz; "Whatever you're gonna do, do it now!"
Luz nodded, having drawn multiple spell circles with the Bat Queen's staff at this point, each layered on top of each other like a cylinder. Luz then rapidly used her finger to draw the ice glyph symbol inside easy circle, then channelled all the magic she had left into the Bat Queen staff as she thrust it towards the circles.
"I hope this works! Have a taste of my Absolute Zero Aurora Beam!" Luz cried. She fired an Aurora Beam from the Bat Queen's staff and into the cylinder of giant ice glyphs. As it passed through each one, its size and strength was magnified, and its temperature dropped lower and lower. By the time it passed through all the glyphs, the beam was large enough to consume the Owl House itself and was so cold that it was freezing the air around it, creating snow despite the hot air inside the volcano and covering every nearby surface with frost.
It struck the Ash Moth right in the chest, and began rapidly freezing it, using the moisture from the Golden Guard's spells to spread even faster. It took almost a minute of constant pressure, during which Luz struggled with all her might to keep the spell going, but her efforts eventually succeeded and the Ash Moth was frozen solid, leaving the entire thing looking like an ice sculpture.
Panting and nearly out of magic, Luz used the Bat Queen's staff to fly over to the closest silken platform and pulled the barriers she'd created over to her too before releasing them, causing Gus, Silver, and GG to land on the platform beside her.
"W-We did it!" she panted, smiling exhaustedly; "We froze the Ash Moth!"
Gus and Silver released their spells, ending the illusion and the shadow binding. Both were equally exhausted, and Emmiline and the Golden Guard moved to help support them, while the Bat Queen turned back into her full form to do the same for Luz. They heard King and Prince cheering from the ice platform nearby, and the other Palismen inside the nest were cheering too, making them all smile. Flapjack even came flying over and happily flew around them all, before landing on the Golden Guard's head and beginning to preen his hair.
"Huh, guess you made a friend, eh Golden Goof?" Luz giggled.
The boy didn't bother protesting the name, nor did he try to swat the Palisman away; he was too happy to be alive! Besides, it felt kind of nice to have the odd bird fussing over him.
"We should get out of here still. Your spell froze it, but the volcano is still active and hot; it'll only be a short time before it thaws out." he said, nodding to the frozen Ash Moth, which was already beginning to drip.
"The boy speaks true. We should go." the Bat Queen said, flying over to collect King, Prince, and the Palismen nest. She'd just made it to them when an impossibly loud roar filled the air, shaking the entire volcano. Everyone turned fearfully towards the Ash Moth, which was rumbling inside its icy container. It's glowing veins of flame began to get brighter again and the ice began to drip faster as cracks began to form.
"We've got less time that I thought! Move!" the Golden Guard commanded.
Gus and Silver quickly got onto their staves again and invited Luz and GG to join them, but before they could, the Ash Moth finally broke free from the ice with a roar of absolute fury, sending massive chunks of ice in all directions. One was about to hit the Golden Guard, so Luz tackled him out of the way, saving his life but leaving them both prone on the platform floor.
"LUZ!" King screamed as the Ash Moth whipped its flaming whiskers at her. Luz tried to conjure a barrier, but she didn't have the strength left and now that the Bat Queen was off helping the Palismen, so she was completely vulnerable. King used Prince to fly towards her and screamed "WEH!" to launch a sonic roar at the tendrils, knocking them off course and causing them to slice a portion of the silken platform. However the Ash Moth then flapped its wings, causing Prince and his mother to be blown back by the wind pressure, meaning King was dragged along for the ride too and unable to help as the Moth once again attacked Luz, pegging her as the bigger target due to her ice and barrier magics.
Luz, unable to move in time, braced herself for impact, but the Silver Sentinel leapt to her defence, creating a barrier with her staff just like her brother had earlier. It protected her and Luz, but it ended just like her brother's; the barrier was shattered and the tendril snapped Silver's staff in half, sending the fragments into the magma below.
"No! Without that, we don't have shadow movement! We can't escape!" the Golden Guard cried.
They had more immediate problems though, as the Ash Moth once again attacked with its whiskers, now aiming for Silver. She dodged out of the way, but the lash hit the platform again, and thanks to the previous cut it had made, it resulted in a huge chunk of the platform falling into the magma below… a huge chunk that Silver was currently stuck on.
"NO!" the Golden Guard screamed, reaching in vain for his falling sister. Without her staff, she was as powerless as he was and couldn't fly or escape into the shadows, so she had no way of escaping her fiery death in the magma below.
Luz tried to fly after her but she was still too weak to fly, and both the Bat Queen and Prince were already carrying burdens they couldn't safely drop to rescue her.
However Gus was not so helpless!
"I'm coming Silver!" he yelled, flying at the girl as fast as he could. He did his best, but no matter how hard he and Emmiline tried, they just couldn't fly right! They jerked backwards and sideways, all while Gus struggled to hold on and was almost in tears of desperation.
The platform Silver was on hit the magma and began to sink, and Gus was just barely able to cast an ice spell to cool the magma and buy Silver a few more seconds. "Come on!" he cried, "Emmie and I are in sync! Why can't I fly!?"
"No two bonds are the same!" The Bat Queen yelled; "Do not fly like others! Fly like you!"
Gus listened to her advice and took it to heart; he'd been trying so hard to fly like everyone else did with their staves, but he was never one to follow the crowd. He did things his way, just like all his friends did too. Amity was graceful on Ghost, Willow had been forceful on Clover, Skara had been skilful on Melody, and of course Luz flew in an entirely different way from the others! He needed to find his own way.
Taking a deep breath and following the same instincts he used when casting illusions, Gus leapt off of Emmiline's staff then landed on it with his feet, beginning to surf the staff through the air. To his surprise, this worked much better for him and he actually felt in full control.
"Now this is more my style! Come on Emmiline, we've got a friend to save!" he cheered. Emmiline chirped even in staff form, and they flew down to the magma with speed that outpaced any other staff user he'd ever met. Gus's ice spell had melted and the platform fragment Silver was standing on was a moment away from being submerged, when Gus swooped in and grabbed her, carrying her in his arms bridal style as he flew back up again.
"Phew! That was a little too close for comfort!" Gus laughed nervously, seeing the smouldering on the bottom of Silver's boots.
The girl was shaking in his arms, clearly terrified, but she threw her arms around his neck and held on for dear life, causing her shaking to slowly settle down. Gus smiled softly, even as his insides twisted at a couple of uncomfortable realisations; Silver was extremely light, being lighter than he was despite being taller. Not only that, but thanks to holding her like he was, Gus could feel the bones in her back and legs incredibly easily… the girl was underweight to the point of seeming borderline starved!
Before Gus could even think about questioning this, he was forced to fly out of the way of one of the Ash Moth's paws, as his use of ice magic and his sudden flying had made him the new focus of the Demon's wrath. Thankfully his new flying skills made evading the paw an easy task, and he flew directly up to the others. The Ash Moth roared and flapped its wings hard, causing Gus to be blown wildly off course just before reaching the rest of the platform. He struggled to right himself, but a sudden lash of fire struck at him, forcing him to awkwardly dodge it by trying to turn, only for the very tail end of his staff to be clipped, causing Emmiline to squeak in pain as Gus and Silver went tumbling off of her. They thankfully landed on the rest of the silken platform with Luz and the Golden Guard, but more lashes of fire were preparing to fall down on them. Gus used a quick burst of ice magic to freeze a portion of the platform ground, allowing him to slide Silver to safety and run the other way, drawing the Moth's attention away from her.
However, Gus's luck took a turn for the worse as one of the Ash Moth's proboscises slammed into the ground right in front of where he'd been running towards Emmiline, causing him to slam into it, getting a burn on his chest for his troubles. He fell back in pain, and the Ash Moth lashed at his prone form again, aiming to crush him with one flaming strike.
The Golden Guard, unwilling to let his sister's saviour meet such a fate, ran forward to protect Gus. He had no magic, no plan, and no chance, but he couldn't do nothing. He threw himself directly in front of the Ash Moth's blow and held his arms out protectively.
"I won't let you kill my sister's friend!" he roared, bracing himself for the blow.
Silver screamed in terror and reached for him, and the still weakened Luz tried to erect a barrier only for her magic to splutter out due to her weakness.
The Golden Guard saw his short life flash before his eyes, and briefly thought about all the things he'd done. He'd wanted to serve his family, serve the Emperor's Coven, and be a hero who helped bring order to the Boiling Isles.
"Well, maybe I finally succeeded in being a hero at least, at the very end!" he thought.
He heard the sizzle of flame, the swish of the Ash Moth's proboscis flying through the air, and the cries of his sister, Luz, and Gus… then he heard the sound of a tweeting bird, and heard an echo of a male voice inside his head.
"You kept me waiting long enough! Finally took the mask off on the inside too, eh?"
The boy's eyes flew open and he witnessed as a barrier of golden energy appeared between him and the Ash Moth's attack. The barrier cracked as it was struck, but a powerful electrical shock zapped the Ash Moth's proboscis in response, causing it to recoil and the beast to roar in displeasure.
"W-What!?" the Golden Guard gasped, as the source of the barrier became obvious; it was a Palisman Staff floating directly in front of him, with a familiar Red Cardinal sitting atop it.
"You… you're that Palisman who helped lead us here." he whispered in awe.
"You got that right. I've waited a long time for you, boy. I've been trying to bond with you all day!" the Palisman's voice said in his head as the bird tweeted. The voice was youthful, like a young boy's, yet it sounded wise
"B-Bond!? Does that mean you're-!?"
"Your Palisman? You got that right! The name is Flapjack! Don't laugh at it; it was given by the man who carved me and I'm very fond of it!" the Palisman demanded.
GG nodded seriously, almost reverently taking the staff. "I don't know what a Flapjack even is. But why would you choose to bond with me? You know what I was planning to do with you and the others!"
"Hey, I sensed your drive the moment you grabbed me earlier. You've got the kind of personality I'm looking for… besides, I promised my old partner I'd wait until I found a kid like you to watch over and be my new partner. Now enough talk; you want to be a real hero right? Then let's do it by saving your sister and our friends!" Flapjack declared.
The Golden Guard grinned and twirled his new staff, making the others all gasp. Silver clapped joyfully, while Luz, Gus, King, and the Bat Queen all gaped at him.
"Flapjack bonded with the Golden Goof!? He really is a little rascal!" Luz exclaimed, even as she smiled. She had mixed feelings about the boy, but she was happy to see that Flapjack had a partner.
"Thanks for the save, Dude." Gus said, getting up after grabbing his own staff.
GG opened his mouth to reply, but the Ash Moth recovered from the shock to its whiskers and roared again, causing the magma levels to begin rising as the heat inside the volcano intensified. Before long they'd all be submerged in magma and Luz didn't have the strength to put up a strong enough barrier to protect them, so escape was their only option.
"Gus, do you have enough magic left to make yourself and the others invisible for a while?" the Golden Guard asked, already getting on his new staff to fly. It felt a lot more natural than with his artificial magic staff.
Gus began surfing on his staff too, and nodded in reply. "I can manage it for maybe ten minutes? Enough to get clear from the volcano at least."
"I can help too!" King declared, revealing he had a handful of Invisibility Glyph Combos prepared. The Golden Guard hovered over and took one, since illusions and invisibility wasn't his forte.
The Ash Moth suddenly roared and pillars of magma shot up from the steadily rising pool, almost hitting King, Prince, and the Bat Queen. They managed to evade, but it was a near miss and the heat was growing worse; they'd catch fire from the hot air alone at this rate!
"Grab my sister and Luz and use those spells to hide! I'll lure the Moth away, then you guys escape to the Fingers! It won't leave its territory, so it should be safe there!" the Golden Guard ordered.
Luz, who mustered just enough strength to fly thanks to all the heat energy she was absorbing, protested; "How do you plan to do lure it away without getting barbecued!? Not even Gus or I could outfly that thing!"
The Golden Guard just grinned; "I'm a little faster than you two! Let's do this, Flapjack!"
With that, he used his flash teleportation, which was now the same golden yellow as Flapjack's magic as opposed to red like his artificial magic. He flashed straight into the Ash Moth's face and landed on its snout, before pointing his staff at it and firing blasts of electricity right into its face, using a similar spell to the one Belos has used on Luz. The Ash Moth roared in rage and pain, and Luz felt a little sorry for it, but a creature that big was still only barely bothered by the spell. Still, it was enough to fully focus its wrath on the Golden Guard, who immediately flashed out of the volcano entirely and into the midday sky. He then blasted a rain of thin lightning bolts down on the Ash Moth's head, causing it to roar and fly upward, leaving the volcano to chase him.
There was no flying creature or staff in the Demon Realm that could outspeed an Ash Moth, but the Golden Guard's flash teleportation moved him at nearly the speed of flight, making him faster than even the Ash Moth in short bursts, allowing him to keep ahead of the beast. He would fly normally (albeit as fast as he could) until the Ash Moth reached attack range with its paws or proboscises, then suddenly zap forward with his flash spell, once again gaining the maximum distance he could get in a single jump, keeping him safe.
Back in the volcano, Gus pulled Silver onto his staff and everyone flew out of the volcano, with Gus using illusions to hide himself, Silver, and Luz, while King used his glyph combos to hide himself, Prince, and the Bat Queen, including the Palismen Nest she carried. Completely invisible and with the Ash Moth thoroughly distracted, they all flew west to the Titan's fingers, eventually coming to a stop on the tip of the middle finger, which was high enough to actually be somewhat cold; a welcome change from the desert heat they'd been dealing with. They all touched down and dropped the invisibility spells, then looked to the east and saw the Ash Moth chasing the Golden Guard, who was too far away for them to see now.
"You think he'll be alright?" Luz asked worriedly.
Gus nodded; "He'll be fine. He may not stand a chance against it in a fight, but if he can evade it then he'll be fine."
Silver began signing her agreement, relying on Luz to translate for her since she couldn't conjure illusory messages any more. "My brother is clever; he'll lure it as far east as he can, then give it the slip and double back to us."
Sure enough, a few minutes later Silver was proven correct. The Golden Guard led the Ash Moth on a chase to within spitting distance of the border between the Palm Desert and the Wrist, before suddenly flashing behind the Ash Moth's head and using the Invisibility Glyph Combo he'd taken from King to hide himself, maintaining it as he began flashing back westward, leaving behind a confused and roaring Ash Moth. He managed to make it all the way to the Titan's fingers before his concentration on the invisibility broke and he became visible again.
He landed with a wide smirk and spun his new staff with a flourish; "And that's how an elite gets it done!"
Silver rushed over and hugged him with relief, and Luz and Gus smiled, while King huffed. "Don't get cocky, Goof! You only got away because you had my awesome glyph combo!"
"Whatever you say, Bird." he shot back.
"I AM NOT A BIRD!" King screeched, his voice getting high-pitched as he neared his squeak of rage breaking point.
Luz picked him up to shush him (causing Prince to roost on her shoulder in the process), then smiled at the Golden Guard; "You did awesome back there! I hate to admit it, but your plan worked better than mine."
"It comes with years of education in tactics and strategy." the boy replied smugly, before adding; "Still, you saved my butt a couple of times during that whole mess. And Gus, you saved my sister too. Consider me saving you as repaying that debt."
Gus nodded; "I'm cool with that. I'm just happy my new buddy got out of there alive!" he said, giving a friendly wink to Silver, who began to fidget in response, much to his confusion.
"In that case, shall we all just agree that we're all even? No debts owed between any of us?" the Golden Guard asked.
Silver nodded immediately, and both Luz and Gus followed soon after, while the Bat Queen (who'd not been able to do as much as she'd like) just sat back and watched. King grumbled about the boy paying him back for his glyph, but Luz whispered that she'd buy him a Smilkshake later to make up for it.
Seeing everyone's positive reactions, the Golden Guard sighed with relief; "Good… then I don't need to feel bad about this."
He pointed his staff at Luz and it began to threateningly crackle with electricity. The others all stared at him, wide-eyed as they realised something; now that they were safe, their truce had come to an end. Even Silver seemed surprised, and was looking between her brother and Gus, fidgeting nervously. Luz sighed, angry with herself for letting her guard down. Slowly, she stepped between the boy and the others and spread her wings wide, shielding them all from him.
"I guess my bad luck is gonna hold all the way to the end." she muttered, before glaring at the two elites.
"So this is it, huh? You're really gonna do this? You're just going to attack us and try to take me and all these innocent little guys to Belos? You know what he did to me. You know what he'll do to them… and you'll just do it anyway?" Luz asked, staring into the Golden Guard's eyes with almost more disappointment than anger.
The boy stared back, his steely eyes wavering.
Luz sighed and shook her head; "I thought that underneath it all, you might've been a good guy. That after all we went through today… I don't know. I guess I just thought we all understood each other a little, but I guess that was just wishful thinking. You're not my friend. You're not GG. You're just… the Golden Guard."
The Golden Guard's eyes filled with regret as he found himself hesitating. Behind him, Silver gently reached out and touched his arm, slowly urging him to lower his staff. Flapjack's voice was absent from his head too, but the Palisman remained stubbornly in staff form despite being able to render the Golden Guard powerless if he chose to change back; it felt strange to the boy… like the little bird was waiting for something.
He looked back up and met Luz's eyes again, then slowly lowered his staff, the electricity vanishing.
"My name is Hunter." he said softly.
Luz gasped and shrank her wings again, allowing Gus, King, and the Bat Queen to see past them again.
"Hunter? That's a nice name." Luz replied; "So, what do we do now Hunter?"
"We don't have to stop being pals, right man?" Gus piped up, before pointing his thumb behind him at the Palismen Nest; "You don't want to hurt these guys, do you? Just let them go, okay?"
Hunter bit his lip; "I-I don't want to hurt them, no. But what choice do I have!? Uncle needs those Palismen and if we fail, he'll-!"
The boy clamped his mouth shut before he could finish the sentence, causing Luz to sigh sympathetically and finish if for him. "He'll hurt you, won't he? You and your sister."
"He doesn't do it on purpose." Hunter said in a small voice, averting his eyes as his hand rose to his cheek, where the scar was. "When his sickness gets bad, he lashes out uncontrollably."
"And you suffer for it." Luz said, eyeing the scar; "Belos gave you that scar, didn't he? And the knick in your ear too."
Hunter refused to answer, so Luz continued, now looking at Silver; "I bet if I looked under your sister's mask, I'd find more scars. Am I right?"
Silver looked down at the ground, and Gus felt a spike of anger in his heart; so Belos really had hurt both of his elites! His own niece and nephew!
"L-Like I said, Uncle doesn't do it on purpose. That's why we need the Palismen. He'd be fine with them. We could keep being a family." Hunter argued.
Gus stepped forward so he was beside Luz; "Dude, I felt how thin and bony Silver was when I carried her earlier, and the bags under your eyes are obvious. I don't think he takes good care of you guys even without his sickness."
Hunter shook his head in denial; "He does care for us! It's just that we have to work hard to support the family, and sometimes that means missing sleep or missing meals. He doesn't starve us."
Luz and Gus didn't answer, and just stared at the boy with sad eyes. Even King and the Bat Queen, who'd been glaring thus far, began to feel sympathy for these two. Hunter and his sister weren't the elite, battle-hardened menaces they appeared to be; they were just a couple of magicless witchlings being pushed to the limit in service of the Emperor.
"Hunter, Belos is lying to you." Luz said softly.
"He's an angel, how can he lie!?" Hunter snapped.
"I'm an Angel too, Hunter. How could I lie?" Luz retorted, "And I don't know how, but Belos is able to lie without his throat burning like a normal Angel's would. I caught him in several lies when he had me captive."
Hunter stared at her in shock, then looked back at Silver. The girl stepped forward and held his hand, while his staff turned back into Flapjack, who landed on his shoulder and tweeted.
"It'll be alright, Hunter. I'm with you, no matter what choice you make. We're partners now." he said in Hunter's mind.
The boy felt his heart warm and he smiled, reaching up to pet the little Palisman. He then stared at Luz, who smiled gently and offered him her hand.
"I can help you. I am an Angel, after all." she said.
Hunter looked at the hand, but did not take it. Instead he turned his back on Luz and her friends; "Belos is still our uncle and the only family we have left. We won't turn on him." he said sternly.
"Then what will you guys do now?" Gus asked.
Still with his back to them, Hunter said; "We attacked the Bat Queen as she flew west, but we were assaulted by the Ash Moth. The Bat Queen and all the Palismen fell into the volcano. This is the truth… I don't see the need to say more than that to Uncle."
Luz and her group smiled; just like Lilith before him, he would let Belos believe the Palismen had perished. "Just make sure you get them all off of the Isles. Uncle can have Head Witch Osran scry for them, but his range is limited to the Boiling Isles; he won't be able to find them beyond the sea."
"Really?" Luz blinked.
Silver began to sign; "The Spirits that Oracles use are unable to cross lines of salt. The Boiling Sea is basically a monstrous wall of the stuff."
"Huh, I never knew that! Thanks for the lesson!" Luz smiled. She then looked at Hunter; "And thank you too, Hunter. I guess you were more than just the Golden Guard after all."
The boy nodded stiffly, still not facing her; "We'll take our leave now. If I'm going to hide Flapjack from Belos, we'll need to go to the outpost in the Wrist instead of flying straight back to the castle, so we've still got a long day ahead of us."
He switched Flapjack back into staff mode and climbed on, with Silver sitting side-saddle behind him.
"Good luck, Hunter! And you too Silver! And thank you for doing the right thing!" Luz smiled, watching as the two took off and began to hover away.
Silver turned back and waved, so Gus waved back and shouted; "Stop by Bonesborough some time! I'll show you all those fun things I told you about!" he grinned.
Silver giggled, then Hunter used his flash magic and the two disappeared into the distance in a golden streak of light, sticking to flying over the sea so the Ash Moth didn't pursue them. Luz and the others watched them go and shouted their well-wishes to Flapjack, with the Bat Queen especially yelling for Hunter to take good care of him. They stayed and watched until Hunter and Silver were out of sight, before moving to leave and continue their mission.
Prince was exhausted, so he was put to bed with his siblings inside the Palismen Nest, while King sat on the Bat Queen's head to direct her to his island and Luz rode on the back of Gus's staff.
"Man, we really can't catch a break sometimes." Luz complained; "We should have already been home by now, but we're still hours away from even getting to the island! We're gonna miss school today."
"Nothing we can do about it." Gus replied; "I'm sure Principal Bump and our parents will understand. Speaking of, we should probably call our parents."
Luz paled; "Oh no, I totally forgot about that! Mom must be worried sick!"
She immediately summoned her scroll, then scowled; "Dang it, we're out of range! Who knew these things couldn't connect beyond the Isles… I wonder if they're based on Oracle Magic too."
"Couldn't be since you can use them." Gus pointed out.
"Should we turn back?" King asked.
Luz thought about it, then shook her head; "No, we need to get the Palismen to safety before my bad luck strikes again. I just hope Eda and the others aren't too worried!"
It would ultimately take three hours of flying as fast as they could before they reached King's Island, which the Bat Queen took to calling Titan Cradle Island. Since flying through the jungle canopy was too dangerous, they landed on the beach instead and left the nest behind, instead releasing the Palismen to roam and explore their new home. The Bat Queen and her kids accompanied King, Luz, and Gus to the Tower itself, and headed inside so King could give Gus a tour while Luz climbed up to the roof and began working on the other end of the Teleportation Circle. By the time she was done, Gus and the others joined her on the roof.
"Finally complete!" Luz smiled; "I've already tested it and gone back to BQ's forest, so we're all done!"
"Finally! Man today has felt like it went on forever!" King complained, exhausted. The fact none of them had gotten any real sleep aside from the unconsciousness they'd fallen into after crashing made their tiredness feel even worse.
"Yeah. But before we go, I wanted to shoot an idea by you, BQ." Gus said.
"I am listening, child." she said.
"I was thinking; our buddy Matt didn't get a Palisman because the one that suited him wasn't ready to bond with him yet, right? Well Matt's a great Construction Witch and this tower is a bit of a fixer-upper, so I thought maybe he could come here to help rebuild it, and the little dude who'd partner with him one day can get used to him. What do you think?" Gus suggested.
Luz smiled brightly and the Bat Queen nodded in agreement; "A wonderful idea. I will agree, so long as Young King does not mind. We are guests in his home."
King gave a thumb-claws up; "If it means I get my old castle back to good condition, then sure!"
"Then it's decided! We'll ask Matt to help rebuild the place." Luz said, "But we really should be getting back; we still need to fly home from the forest after this. We've definitely missed school at this point too."
Gus and King agreed and they piled onto the Teleportation Circle with Luz. The Bat Queen and her three children waved goodbye and gave their thanks to the trio for helping them find this new sanctuary, while also asking them (and especially King) to come back and play with the kids sometime.
With that, Luz sang the melody to activate the Teleportation Circle and warped them all back to the Boiling Isles, bringing their long adventure to an end.