Sense and Insensitivity

At the human collectable stand, King held up a board with an 8 ball, a Santa pez, and a hot dog that looked like it was covered in toothpaste. "Partake of my free snack samples! Take them; I demand it as your ruler, the King of Demons!" he exclaimed as several people passed by, never giving him a glance.

King threw down the board in frustration. "Nyeh! Why isn't anyone paying attention to me? I'm their rightful overlord. Intellectually and such." Eda sat up lifting her purple sunglasses. "Yeah…hey!" she said, grabbing the cowl of an oracle track student sniffing him. "It reeks more of nerd than money today."

"Guys!" Luz ran up to the stand in excitement slamming into the table with Cruz trailing closely behind. "You will not believe what's going on! It's a book fair! Where books come to life!" she said posing under the banner that read "Book Fair". A book fell from the table closest to Luz. "Hello," the book said politely, startling Luz as she kicked it away.

"A fair without rides?" King asked skeptically as a short witch with a backpack full of books and scrolls came up to him. "Who needs rides, when this can take you anywhere," he said, shoving a book into King's face. King threw a piece of bacon on the witch's face, a large purple flying demon swooped down and picked up the witch, carrying him away.

"I'm sure he'll be fine," Cruz said offhandedly.

"A, ew," Eda said, throwing away a book. "B, I'm bored. C, I feel like pickpocketing some dork while they browse," she said walking away. "No, wait!" Luz called out as Eda walked away before turning to King. "Will you give it a chance? I'll let you ride in my hoodie!"

"Ooohoohoohoo!" King excitedly agreed. "You two have fun. I'll be looking around to see if I can find any good books for my research," Cruz said. "Oh come on, Cruz. Don't you think it would be better if we stuck together?" Luz asked.

"I'll be looking for some books on any technology they've got here and some history. And I know how much you don't like history, hermana."

"That is true, history can be really boring," Luz said. Cruz gasped in fake shock knowing that Luz always had a difficult time focusing on certain subjects. "And that's exactly why I'll be looking alone. Come find me when you want to head home," Cruz said as he walked away to find his book. "Guess it's just you and me King," Luz said as the two of them left to explore the book fair.

After separating from Luz and King, Cruz had begun to browse all the different stands and noticed that there hadn't been a single book on technology or mechanics that he'd hoped to find. "Guess most people aren't really that keen on making technology. Not a real need for the stuff when magic can do most of the same."

As Cruz was contemplating going back and finding Luz, he finally spotted a book that managed to grab his attention. "Ancient Boiling Isles' resources'. This might be something," Cruz said as he opened the book and began to read the index of the book. Most of the subjects in the book simply had plants and parts of demons that could be used to fuel lanterns or potions, something he would be looking into much later, one part of the book caught his eye more.

"The most powerful source?" As he turned the page to the subject that he'd found the first two words stood out more than anything. "Titan's blood? I didn't know people used to harvest blood from the Titan. I didn't even think that was possible," Cruz thought in amazement as he read the page. "Titan's blood is the most powerful source in the Boiling Isles. It is said that Titan's blood can be used for any number of uses. The one use that is speculated the most, is the ability to punch a hole through dimensions."

Cruz read and reread the sentence to fully understand what he'd just read. "Titan's blood was probably used to make the portal. If this stuff is still around, then maybe I can get a bit of it to study it. Or I could use it as a fuel source. Even better, this tells me where I can find some of it. It says that the people back then might have already gotten it all but still worth checking out." The vendor, a tall three eyed gray demon, had just come back and noticed Cruz reading the book.

"Hey, kid. If you're gonna be reading my book might as well buy it," he said, catching Cruz's attention. "Oh, right, sorry. How much is the book and this map," Cruz asked after he'd grabbed a map of the left arm. "They're both going to be twenty snails," the vendor said, holding out his hand. Cruz handed the vendor the money before walking away to find Luz and King.

"Now I just have to see if Eda can take me to where the map's pointing. Shouldn't be too hard if I can help get her some more apple blood," Cruz said to himself as he noticed Luz and King walking towards him in excitement. "Alright spill, what's got you so excited?"

"Nothing much. Just that King and I are going to enter a writing competition," Luz said.

"That's great, you've always wanted to be a writer." Cruz remembered years ago when Luz had taken a photo for her 'about the author' page of any book she managed to successfully publish.

"King and I are going to be working together on the book."

"I don't want to say that's a bad idea. But it really isn't a good one. Most people don't work well with someone they know, especially when it comes to writing books."

"It's going to be fine, hermano. We're best friends, so we'll make the best team!"

"My names going on the cover first," King chimed in. "Alright, but if things don't go the way you wanted them don't say I didn't warn you," Cruz said, putting his hands up in defeat knowing there wasn't any convincing them.

Back at the Owl House, Cruz was examining the map in the book and compared it to the map he'd bought at the stand. Luz had set up a cork board in her room with multiple note cards pinned on the board. Luz pinned three more notes onto the board in a dramatic fashion. "Romance! Magic! Heartbreak with shimmer tears. And, the main character is of course, ahhhh, Luzura!" She held up a notecard with a drawing of herself wearing a pointed hat.

"I know it's cliché, but what's wrong with cliché?"

"Nyeh! And my main character is the King...err...the Ruler of Demons! With this totally original, all-star cast, victory will be ours!"

"Are you sure you don't want me to include a character for you, Cruz?"

"I'm fine, this is more something for you and King. I'll be doing my own thing when I'm done with my research."

"Alright then, now for the easy part," Luz said as she began to write out an outline of acts one, two, and three. Luz put a drawing of Luzura and Ruler standing in front of an explosion as Luz and King high-five each other. As Luz wrote down a four step plan involving cats, King nodded in agreement. As they have a clock with the words 'story structure' on it, Luz draws a mouth and eyes on it, the two smiling at the result.

As Luz is typing away on the typewriter for the book named 'Luzura's awakening' King is pacing around the floor reading a page as other pieces of paper lay on the ground.

"Luzura's tears fell on the frozen prince, bringing him back to life. "Ehhh, it just seems kind of unrealistic," King says.

"I see what you're saying," Luz begins to say as she stops typing. "But in your version, Ruler just destroys everything. I think a little romantic tension could help the scene."

"Hey, there's more to life than shipping," King pointed out. "Oh, you shouldn't say that to her," Cruz said, knowing how defensive Luz could be towards her favorite subjects.

"Don't you dare insult shipping in my presence!" Luz said angrily, proving Cruz's point.

"Apprentices! Living room!" Eda called out from downstairs, gaining their attention.

"We'll be back, we'll figure this out, okay writing buddy?" Luz says as she and Cruz head towards the living room. "My turn to write!" King says happily as he's left alone with the typewriter.

As Cruz and Luz enter the living room Eda is looking at a map she'd gotten from a merchant at the book fair. "Hey! What's up boss lady?" Luz asks as Eda closes the map. "I'm popping out for a few days to an undisclosed place to do undisclosed things. Cruz is in charge," Eda says.

"Actually Eda, I can't be in charge. I was actually going to head out somewhere and was wondering if you could take me there," Cruz said as he pulled out the map he'd bought and showed her the circled area he was going to explore. Eda looked over the map noticing that it was in a similar area to where she was heading.

"It's not a problem, but I can't take you directly there. I can drop you off pretty close to it," Eda said, pointing to a spot a little north of where Cruz had circled.

"That's perfect, and one more thing. Do you have a knife you can let me have? I'm probably going to need it for this," Cruz said. Eda fished into her hair pulling a small pocket knife that she kept around in case she'd needed it. Most of the time the knife was never of any use so, there was no harm in giving it to him.

"I guess that since you're not going to be home. Luz you're in charge," Eda said, turning to her.

"Great!"

"No questions!"

"Okay!"

"I said no questions! Let's get a move on, Cruz!" Eda said as she left the house. "Right behind you Eda. Make sure nothing burns down when we're gone Luz," Cruz called out as he followed after Eda closing the door behind him.

Eda and Cruz had flown for hours on Owlbert, by the time they had arrived close to the area they were searching for night had already arrived. They had set up camp and slept for the night to get a fresh start on their respective searches.

"Alright, kiddo. This is about as far as I can take you, when you're done just make it to town and let me know where you're at using your scroll so I can pick you up," Eda said as Cruz hopped off of Owlbert.

"Don't worry about me, Eda. I can make my way back home no problem. Especially if I can find what I'm looking for," Cruz said, holding up the book he'd bought. Eda looked at the book before shrugging. "Well, you're a pretty responsible kid so I'll trust you on that. Just in case, I'll try and finish up my business early."

"And what exactly is your business?" Cruz asked

"Like I said earlier, no questions!" Eda said as she flew away on Owlbert. "If it's illegal, as long as we don't get in trouble for it. Probably better not to think about," Cruz said to himself as he watched Eda fly away.

"Alright, time to head out and find me some fuel source." Cruz opened his map and compared it to the surrounding area to have a general idea of where to head towards.

After he'd been walking for an hour, Cruz had realized that Eda had landed in an area that was much further than he'd first realized. "I really should've been checking the map to find a better spot to land." As Cruz kept walking through the forest he stopped in front of a small river. "Let me see….the mine should be on the other side of this river." Cruz looked around and found a branch from a tree before grabbing it and sticking one end into the river. "Seems like it's not boiling, huh. Guess there are some bodies of water on the Isles that aren't boiling like the sea."

As Cruz began to cross the river he couldn't hear the sound of rustling trees behind him as a large creature watched him cross the river.

After crossing the river Cruz had managed to find the entrance to the mine after walking for a few minutes. "Finally, I can believe it took me so long to find this place. Now if this book is accurate, then the blood should be in the inner section of the mine," Cruz said as he closed the book and looked at the entrance to the clearly long abandoned mine. "No time to waste. Time to find some blood." As Cruz entered the mine, a large pair of gray eyes watched him.

Cruz activated a pre-made light glyph, lighting up the dimly lit mine and noticed multiple pieces of abandoned mining equipment. "Looks like they just left all this stuff behind. Still looks like it can be salvaged for some use. Well, no point in letting some perfectly good equipment go to waste."

Cruz opened the duffel bag that he used for transporting all of his potions, and began to put in multiple pickaxes along with hard helmets and what looked like drills. "Wonder why they needed drills if they were mining for blood. Maybe to break away some rocks?" He wondered to himself as he looked towards the mine and noticed multiple broken pieces of glass.

As Cruz continued to explore the mine he kept noticing more and more abandoned equipment but couldn't seem to find any traces of blood. "This is just typical. It figures that they would've dried this mine out. I guess I was hoping for too much expecting to find some blood," Cruz said in exasperation. As Cruz was thinking about leaving the mine and heading back out he noticed a blue orb sitting in the corner where the tunnel split.

"Hello, what's this?" Cruz bent down and poked the orb noticing that it was hardened like rock. "The color matches with Titan's blood. But it doesn't make any sense, it says in the book that Titan's blood is supposed to be a liquid." Cruz opened his book and reread the passage on Titan's blood before finding his explanation.

"Over time Titan's blood, if not harvested, can become coagulated and hardened, becoming a substance known as Fool's blood. This is the sign that the vein is decaying'. That would explain why this mine was abandoned. A decaying vein, that means I won't find any Titan's blood in here. Unless…" Cruz began to ponder what this Fool's blood could do before turning the corner and seeing a large amount of Fool's blood bundled together.

"Looks like I've found a good bit of material to experiment on," Cruz said with a small level of excitement as he took out the knife Eda had given him. "I should try and remove this stuff carefully. No way of telling how dangerous this stuff can be." Cruz dug the knife into the rocks surrounding and holding the Fool's blood, before chipping away into it and making the blood budge forward.

After chipping away at it for a minute the blood finally came loose as Cruz was holding it and studying its blue hue. "It looks so pretty. I'd never guess this was blood if I hadn't read about it first." Cruz placed the Fool's blood into his bag before looking towards the rest lining the floor and walls. "Won't have time to get all of it, but I should be able to get a decent amount." Cruz began to approach the blood before he heard what sounded like a large explosion in the distance. "Meh, sounds too far away. I probably shouldn't take too long here before I start my experiment and get back home."

After what seemed like a few hours, Cruz had finally managed to break away and store a large amount of the Fool's blood into his bag. "This should be enough to last me a good long while for my experiments. And if I run out I can just come back and grab some more. Doubt that anyone would actually be coming here to clear this out, it's been abandoned for way too long."

After gathering his belongings Cruz walked towards the now darkened entrance of the mine before noticing a strong and foul smell. "Ay Dios, (oh God), what's that smell?" As he left the mine he saw that standing in the clearing, outside of the mine, stood a large creature.

The creature stood at what looked like fifteen feet tall, and had crackly gray skin. Its face had long dark green and messy hair that reached towards its waist. Its large gray eyes seemed to have a small glow to them as they bore into Cruz, almost like the creature was studying him.

"Oh you're an...interesting creature aren't you?" Cruz asked nervously trying to determine if this creature was someone that he should be getting ready to fight or not. As Cruz cautiously walked out of the mine entrance and began to walk backwards towards the trees, the creature continued to study him. "Okay, big guy. Not really sure what you're after, but I'm sure that it's better for everyone if we just go our separate ways." As Cruz backed away further the creature took a step forward before finally speaking a single word.

"Food…"

It's voice sounded distant, but Cruz could feel that single word rattle his bones as if the base were directly underneath him. "So you want some food? Sorry to tell you, but I'm not really packing that much food with me. You're going to have to look somewhere else."

"Food…" the creature repeated the same word looking directly at Cruz before giving a toothy grin. When Cruz saw the grin a chill ran down his spine as a realization came to him. He was the food the creature was talking about.

Without wasting a second, Cruz pumped his arms back and activated his newly created gauntlets. These gauntlets were slightly bulkier with the marble shooter being integrated into the gauntlet and not simply attached. It had a new dial near the arms to switch between the explosive punch and his newly created shock gloves.

"Okay so I guess peace wasn't an option today," Cruz said as he realized that he'd have to outmaneuver the creature. Matching its strength wasn't an option due to the difference in size. The creature began to walk towards him picking up speed slightly as it began to close the distance. Cruz activated his rocket boots to create some distance as he flew back towards the trees.

Pulling out pre-made glyphs, Cruz used a fire glyph to shoot a fireball at the creature. The creature grabbed a fallen tree before throwing it and blocking the fire ball and continued its advance towards Cruz. "Oh great. It's pretty smart too, I'll have to distract it first before I can try and land a hit." Cruz fished into the pockets of his vest before he found a flash popper that he kept on him for emergencies.

"This should work." Cruz pulled down his goggles before he tossed the popper into the air gaining its attention as it exploded. When the flash popper went off, the creature turned away from Cruz to cover its face.

'Nows my chance' Cruz thought to himself as activated his boots and got his boom hammers ready to punch the creature. As Cruz was getting closer to the creature a chill ran down his spine, but before he was able to think on it he saw the creature grin as realization hit him.

'It tricked me' he thought in surprise as he tried to fly backwards. Before he was able to gain any distance, the creature reached out at a new found speed and grabbed Cruz straight out of the air.

As Cruz struggled to get out of the creature's grip he realized that with the way his arms were pinned to his side, he would have no way to use the boom hammers properly.

'You've got to be kidding me. After everything I've been through, I'm really going to die because I got careless! I'm sorry Luz, you're going to have to explain to mamá what happened to me. I shouldn't have come alone here. I should've asked Eda to come with me' As the creature opened its mouth to eat Cruz, he could only close his eyes in despair knowing there was nothing he could do.

From behind the creature near the tree lines, a large blue fireball came hurtling towards it and struck its back with a large impact. The impact forced the creature to throw Cruz away as it howled in pain. As Cruz landed on the ground he looked up towards where the fireball had come from and saw the last person he'd expected to see.

Standing by the tree lines, holding her staff pointing towards the creature stood Lilith. "Get over here, human," she said looking towards Cruz. Cruz quickly activated his boots and quickly made it towards Lilith landing next to her.

"Don't take this the wrong way, but what are you doing here?" Cruz asked.

"I was in the area looking for something. You're lucky this place was on my way towards the castle. I managed to spot your little fight," Lilith explained.

"You're right about my luck. You just saved my life from becoming this thing's dinner."

"This thing, is called a troll. It's a demon whose race is very old. I didn't think there were any left."

"Wait, seriously. A troll. I didn't think they got this big. I always imagined trolls to be really small woodland creatures." Cruz looked towards the troll and noticed that as soon as it spotted Lilith, it became a lot more weary.

"Trolls are normally around this size once they've matured quite a lot. If I had to guess from the looks of it, I'd say this one is at least 600 years old. A very dangerous creature to say the least."

"No kidding, I thought it wasn't smart. It proved me wrong so quickly. Did you notice that it's being cautious right now?"

"Naturally, these creatures normally only target witchlings. Fully grown witches are far too large for them to eat."

"Wait, it eats kids? As in, its main food source is kids?!" Cruz looked at her in bewilderment. "Yes, human. That's the reason trolls are regarded as quite a dangerous creature on the Boiling Isles. I believed that they had all gone extinct. It looks like this one managed to survive in hiding for all this time."

"So, what do we do? Should we try and scare it off?" Cruz asked as he switched his gloves to the lightning glyph. "I'm afraid not. Scaring off the troll wouldn't get rid of the problem. It's unfortunate, but we'll have to put it down," Lilith said as she raised her staff defensively towards the troll.

"Are you kidding me! You're seriously telling me we have to kill it?!" Cruz asked, looking at her wide eyed. "I get this thing is dangerous, but wouldn't relocating it be a better solution then just outright murder?"

"As much as I agree with you, this creature is simply too dangerous. Any place we relocate it towards would simply have the same problem. And besides, if we don't kill it then any other Witchling in this area would be in danger. That includes the other human with you," Lilith pointed out.

Cruz looked towards Lilith and then back towards the troll. He knew that if Luz ever came across this thing she would more than likely end up hurt or worse. "Maldita sea (Damn it). Fine, I really don't like this but I guess I've got no choice. I swear, I'm going to need therapy after this," Cruz mumbled under his breath.

"Do you have a plan, because I tried something earlier but the troll managed to get the jump on me."

"I do, but we'll need to figure out a way to keep it from moving for a couple of seconds." Cruz looked towards the troll before smiling as he reached into the pockets of his vest and pulled out three small glass vials filled with his potions.

"I've got something to keep it still. I'll need some support to be able to pull this off," Cruz said as pulled out a lightning glyph and he ran back towards the troll. As Cruz got closer to the troll, it began to move forward to try and grab him again. Before it was able to get much closer, Cruz activated the lightning glyph before throwing it towards the troll.

The lightning burst from the paper shooting off in multiple directions with some of the lightning hitting the troll and stunning it. "Alright big guy, it's not going to be so easy for you this time," Cruz said as Lilith shot off another fireball towards the troll hitting it in the face. As the troll reeled back from the fireball, Cruz threw an explosive potion towards the troll's legs, staggering it before he circled behind it.

From his bag, Cruz pulled out six bottles filled with his sticky potions. "Stick around for a bit," he said before throwing the bottles and coating the troll's legs and arms with the potion preventing it from moving. "Yeah, that pun was terrible. I feel embarrassed just from saying it," Cruz said with a groan.

The troll began to rattle against its bonds trying to get out of the potion. Cruz took a step back as some of the ground began to rip away as the troll kept struggling. "Anytime now, Lilith." Lilith prepared a large blue spell circle as she shot it towards the ground. The ground began to rumble underneath the troll, when suddenly a large stone spike shot out and impaled the troll in the chest.

As the spike pierced through the troll it stopped struggling as it looked down towards the spike before it slowed down. The troll attempted to lift itself from the ground as it grew more tired before finally releasing itself and falling limply onto the spike.

Cruz looked at the troll for a moment, before letting out a sigh of relief now that the fight was over. "Jeez, did you have to be so brutal with the impalement?"

"I had no choice. Trolls are incredible durable creatures. It was the only way to truly make sure it was dead. I will have members of the Emperor's coven come and collect the creature's body," Lilith said as she walked over to Cruz.

"Why?" Cruz asked confused

"Some parts of a troll can be used in potion making and have been known to have multiple other uses," Lilith explained. "Wait. If troll parts are used in potion making, then could trolls have been killed off so they could be turned into potion ingredients. I know that in the human realm, some animals are hunted for the same purpose. Some animals were hunted so much that they went extinct."

"I can understand the concern. However, there have been multiple reports of trolls eating a large number of Witchlings. Killing this troll was….for the best," Lilith said looking back towards the troll.

"Yeah, well tell that to my conscience," Cruz said as he sat on a nearby rock. Lilith looked at him with what looked like a small amount of concern. "Tell me human, what were you doing around this area?"

"First of all, my name is Cruz. It's not a hard name to remember, I mean it has four letters."

"Very well, Cruz. What were you doing here?" Lilith asked as she sat on another nearby rock.

"I was just looking for something."

"What could you possibly be looking for? There's nothing in this area besides…the mines. Did you go into the mines?"

"Would that be illegal?"

"Not necessarily. The mines have been abandoned for quite a long time, all you'll find in there now is simple junk."

"In that case, yes I did. I found this while I was there." Cruz opened his bag and pulled out one of the orbs of Fool's blood. Lilith looked at the orb in interest as she got closer to the orb.

"According to this book, it's called Fool's blood. I was looking for some Titan's blood but since it's coagulated, it became this instead." Cruz said as he handed the orb to Lilith so she could inspect it more.

"Fascinating, I've never actually visited any of the old mines. I always wondered what happened to them after the mining stopped. But, what could you possibly use this for?"

"I was thinking about using Fool's blood as a fuel source. It probably doesn't have as much power as Titan's blood, but if I charge it, there might be some way for it to be used."

"You might be right, but what are you planning to use this fuel for?"

"Go your interest with this stuff?" Cruz asked with a smirk. "I was planning to use it to finally get this little thing working." From his belt, Cruz pulled out a white cylinder that fit in the palm of his hand with a little button on the top. When he pressed the button, the cylinder expanded from both sides until a full staff the size of Eda's was in his hand. The staff was completely white with what looked like a small green jewel sitting at the top.

"The melted down, and hopefully charged, Fool's blood should be enough to power up this staff of mine," Cruz said proudly. Lilith looked at the staff in absolute fascination as she noticed the design to be very similar to the staff provided to some of the higher up members in the Emperor's coven.

"Did Edalyn steal that staff?"

Cruz laughed at her question. "What? No. I made this staff myself. It took me a while but I found enough research notes and books on staffs to be able to make it. It took a lot of trial and error but I managed to make it. Seriously, it took me about ten tries before I could get everything right on this thing."

"That's impossible, according to the emperor, it took him three years before he could complete the staffs for the coven members. How long did it take you?" Lilith asked

"Uhh…well, it took me a bit of time but not that long either," Cruz began as he scratched the back of his head. "I would like to know how long it took you. I imagine if you had the sufficient research it would've taken you a few months, perhaps even a year."

"I haven't been in the Boiling Isles that long. It took me about…a week. It took me pulling a couple of all nighters," Cruz said. Lilith simply stared at Cruz as she began to process what he'd just told her.

This human child had managed to complete and construct, what looked to her like a functioning mechanical staff, in a week. According to the emperor, he had taken three years to complete his first staff. And this teenage human had completed his in a week.

Cruz could hear Lilith mumbling something to herself. "Uh…Lilith. Are you okay?" he asked, concerned that he'd done something wrong.

"Cruz, you're a genius," she simply said. "Not to sound conceited, but I've been told that before. What makes you say that 'thou?" he asked as he grabbed the Fool's blood back from Lilith.

"To be able to construct this staff, and in only a week, it's something absolutely unprecedented. Your talents can be put to great use for the Emperor's coven. Please tell me that Edalyn doesn't have you doing menial tasks at her home."

"Menial tasks? No way, I help out at her shop sometimes, but I'm usually selling my potions and inventions in the market. And wait, join the Emperor's coven. I'm only fourteen, I thought that only people that were adults could join. And besides there's also the little fact that I'm, oh you know, human." Cruz had no intention to get closer to the Emperor's coven if he didn't have to.

"You being human is not an issue, the coven will surely welcome you in. As for your age, you can start off as an apprentice within the castle reporting to me. I could become your teacher and help you along with any of your magic studies that you'd require."

"As glad as I am that me being human won't cause any problems, I'm still going to have to say no."

"But why? Joining the Emperor's coven is a great honor for any Witchling. You surely can't be telling me that working for Edalyn is a better place for you to utilize your talents."

"It's got nothing to do with Eda. One of the problems is that me and Luz are going to head back to the human realm after a few months being here."

"And the other problem?"

"No offense to you, but being your apprentice doesn't sound that appealing."

"How would being the apprentice of the coven head sound unappealing to anyone?"

"Maybe because of what you did to Amity?" Cruz pointed out. Lilith grew quiet as she remembered the Covention and the duel between Cruz and Amity. "Ah…yes. I remember now. It was a rather…embarrassing moment for all involved."

"Seriously? You basically humiliated Amity in front of a large crowd. That's just not okay."

Lilith looked at Cruz before she began to think back to how Amity had reacted to being caught cheating before running off. She began to remember a time back when she was a young girl and how Eda had also run off after Lilith had cheated and made a mistake that still haunts her to this day.

"You may be right, however…" Lilith began before Cruz interrupted her. "No, there is no 'however'. You not only humiliated her in front of the crowd, but by cheating, you were essentially telling her that you didn't believe in her abilities as a witch to win a duel."

Lilith looked at Cruz in shock knowing that he was absolutely right. She hadn't even considered how Amity had felt in regards to her own abilities. She'd simply been focused on winning that duel and one upping her sister. Lilith knew how it felt when someone didn't believe in you and to be overlooked.

"You're right, I should speak to Amity about this again and apologize to her. I acted childish and it reflected poorly in the duel," Lilith said looking down.

"You really should, from what she told me and Luz, she really admired the Emperor's coven and wanted to join them."

"I will speak to her the next chance I get. I must say that, despite your age, you seem quite mature. I'm assuming that you act this way to try and keep your younger sister in line."

Cruz looked at Lilith in confusion before he realized what she'd been assuming. "You've got it all wrong, Luz isn't my younger sister. We're twins, and I'm the younger one of us two," Cruz said, clarifying it.

Lilith looked shocked at what Cruz had said. "If you're the younger of the two, then how come-"

"I'm so much more mature than she is?" Cruz finished her question for her. Lilith simply nodded. "Well, I think it has mostly to do with how Luz is just more likely to do immature things. Don't get me wrong, she's not someone that can't be mature when she needs to be. It's just that she's never really had a reason to grow up faster than either of us are supposed to."

"And you did?"

Cruz nodded at her question. "The main reason was because of some stuff that happened in the human realm. I've managed to find some ways to make medicine easier for a body to process and I've made a few tools that can make some jobs safer for people. Because of that, I had to learn how business deals work and how to make contracts. I mean if a kid doesn't know how a contract works then people will take advantage of their work and leave them with nothing." From his bag, Cruz pulled out a few empty vials along with a small metal table with a hole in the center.

"I see, that does make sense. Tell me, what are you doing now?" Lilith asked

"I'm just setting up the Fool's blood so that I can try and turn it into a liquid," Cruz explained as he took out the knife Eda had given him before wrapping a lightning glyph on the blade. Cruz then grabbed the Fool's blood back from Lilith before placing it on the metal table.

"Alright, this is either going to work…or just explode. Let's hope it works."

"Hold on, in that case-"

"No time for waiting!" Cruz plunged the electrified knife into the Fool's blood sending a strong current directly into the center of the orb. As the lightning passed through it, the Fool's blood began to glow as small bubbles began to form in the center as more of the rock turned into liquid.

"Oh yay, we didn't blow up. Now I just have to contain the liquid in the vials and I'll have my fuel source," Cruz said to himself with excitement. As Cruz sat and watched the liquid pour into the vial, Lilith watched him and saw an image of a much younger Eda sitting next to him. The same Eda from back when she and Lilith were students at Hexside and were inseparable.

"You remind me so much of her, you know," Lilith said, gaining Cruz's attention. "Of who?" he asked.

"Of my sister."

"Of Eda? How do I remind you of her?"

"With the way you get excited about magic and your skills with potions, it reminds me of Edalyn back when we were girls. I do believe that if she would have had a child, that child would have been like you," Lilith said with a small trace of sadness knowing that it was only wishful thinking on her part.

When Cruz heard this he laughed a bit before looking back to Lilith. "Would that make you my Aunt Lilith?" When she heard this a small smile formed on Lilith's face.

"Well…I must say, if I had a nephew like you, I would be very proud. Tell me, are you and your sister going to join any school. If you're interested I would recommend Hexside, it's the one Edalyn and I attended."

"I'm not really sure if I can answer that, not too sure what the Emperor's coven would do if we attended. They might try to capture us to get to Eda."

"Rest assured, they would do no harm to either you or your sister. After all, I am the one in charge of Edalyn's capture, and I would never use children as a bargaining chip against her."

"Well, Luz is definitely interested, so we'll have to see what Eda decides," Cruz said, avoiding an answer as he opened a section at the top of his staff before pouring in the liquified Fool's blood. The jewel at the top began to fill up with the liquid brightening up as he finished pouring it in.

"Alright. Now that it's filled up, the staff should work." Cruz held the staff admiring the glowing hue of the green jewel. "Let's see if this thing can fly." Cruz hopped onto the staff sitting on it the same way that he'd sat on Owlbert's staff all the times that Eda had shown him and Luz how to fly.

As he sat on it, he began to grow worried that he'd failed, when nothing happened. "This doesn't make any sense, I know I calibrated everything right. So why isn't this working?"

"The problem is that you're thinking of the staff as if it were a Palisman. For an artificial staff, you have to think about it more as a vehicle. After all, it's not alive."

Cruz facepalmed at the revelation. "Of course, it's like riding a bike, or I guess in this case, more like a motorcycle."

"I'm not sure what those-" before Lilith could finish her statement, the staff began to rise into the air with Cruz sitting on top of it.

"I did it! Take that impossibility! I told you I could make a staff!" Cruz exclaimed in excitement. Lilith looked in amazement as Cruz began to circle the clearing using his new mechanical staff.

After circling the clearing on the staff, Cruz finally landed back on the ground and got off his staff. "It seems you are rather adept at flying one of those staffs as well. But I do wonder, it's getting rather late. Shouldn't you be returning home?" Lilith asked. Cruz looked around and noticed the moon had risen high into the sky.

"You're right, Eda and my sister are going to get worried if I don't get back soon. Good chance to test out how fast this staff can fly me home," Cruz said as he hopped back onto the staff and began to rise again. "Take care, Lilith. And remember to talk to Amity about the Covention." As Cruz began to fly away he looked back and saw Lilith fly away towards her own destination.

After making it back to the Owl House, Cruz walked inside and saw Eda sitting on the couch holding up a book. Before he was able to ask about it, he received a message on his scroll. When he opened it, he saw a photo from Skara that surprised him and made him chuckle a bit. "Welcome back kid, what's got you laughing?" Eda asked.

"Just this photo I got from a friend of mine," Cruz said showing Eda the photo earning a laugh from her too. "That definitely explains this," Eda said, holding up a book called "Ruler's Reach: Enter the bad boy".

"Looks like they've had an eventful couple of days. I'll tell you all about mine after I talk to Luz and King," Cruz called out to Eda as he climbed the stairs up to Luz's room.

"Looks like you two had an eventful couple of days. How'd being a successful author turn out for you?" Cruz asked, walking into Luz's room and seeing multiple papers laying around with the same cork board sitting by the wall. "Oh hey, you're back. And we want nothing to do with that book," Luz said as she and King were cleaning up the room.

"Wait, really? What happened?"

"Nothing much. Just King and I had enough of writing competitions," Luz said

"Yeah. Especially after that crazy editor almost turned us into cube meat," King said, surprising Cruz. "Wait, what? You've gotta explain that one to me."

After explaining the last couple of days' events to him, Cruz sat on a chair processing everything Luz and King had told him. "I'm just glad you guys are okay."

"Wait, how'd you even know that I'd become a successful author?" King asked him. Cruz pulled out his scroll to show him the picture that Skara had sent him. It was a picture of Skara standing next to a cardboard cutout of King wearing a blue sweater.

"Oh, so that's where that went," King said

"Yeah….I have no clue why she took that home with her, and I really don't want to ask. But now, I've got something I'm going to take care of," Cruz said as he stood up.

"Wait, where are you going?" Luz asked

"Just gonna pay this little editor a visit."

"As much as I want you to take revenge for us, you don't even know where he is," King pointed out. "I'm sure I can find him. This guy seems like he'd be out in public."

"What are you planning to do?" Luz asked. "Oh nothing much. I'm just going teach him what it means to mess with my sister and little brother," Cruz said as he left the room.

"Little brother?" King questioned as Cruz left.