Chapter 20: Chapter Twenty: Avalon Echoes Part 1

The intro opens with Booker rising from a dark void and clapping his hands. His magic markings light up, and the eye of the portal opens behind him, with a fire burning inside. One by one, his friends appear in front of him. First is Luz, who plays with her cards and does her light spells. Next, Eda steps out of a portal and spins her staff, only for King to come out from behind her. This is followed by Willow summoning massive vines as her eyes glow, Gus holding an open book and conjuring illusion clones of himself, and Amity twirling into the frame and smirking as she brings down a wall of abomination goo.

A Boiling Isle mural is seen again, only this time, the nine symbols of the Covens are added on top, the Owl House is on the bottom left, and the Emperor's Castle is on the bottom right. Lilith, Hunter, and Kikimora appear in the frames, taking the place of Willow, Gus, and Amity. They then show the reverse side of their frames, with Lilith sobbing, Hunter taking off his mask, partially revealing his face, and Kikimora enraged. 

The scene is burnt away again, but this time, it is by Emperor Belos. Behind him was his castle as lightning strikes.

Now, as the sun set, Booker and Luz were on Eda's staff, with Luz riding up front like she was driving and Booker standing behind like he was surfing on a surfboard. They zoom down the Boiling Isles, past many friends and foes alike, until Eda and King join in on the ride... then they hang on for dear life as a massive, monstrous worm-like monster, mouth wide open, lunges at them. Everyone, minus Booker, screamed in horror. The latter looked brave and defiant towards the beast, and he pointed his sword towards it.

Then, the scene changes back to the Owl House, where it's nighttime and stars twinkle in the sky. Only this time, the night sky is colored in a more vibrant purple, and the family of four can now see the Milky Way on the roof. Luz opens her hands to reveal a ball of light as Booker's hands glow, and a glyph-like symbol appears on the back of his hands.

He grinned and slammed his hands together, causing light magic to burst from his hands. That's when the title appeared.

The Seventh Son

Chapter Twenty: 

Avalon Echoes

Another day in the Owl House means another day for Booker and Luz to learn about their magical abilities. As it turned out, Lilith had made a startling breakthrough during the battle at Blight Industries. There was a way to combine glyphs to create new spells, and the two best friends were eager to try it out.

Sitting in the den of the owl house, Luz was surrounded by a mountain of books with a notebook in her hand. With all of the glyphs in her hands, Luz got to work on experimenting and studying new ways to make spells. 

Booker was sitting on the floor, trying to find out how to mix his spells together like his mom and aunt learned to do. He still hadn't found something to replace his sweater, so he was stuck with the white shirt he wore under it. 

He summoned a ball of fire and a block of ice. Booker then tried to press them together, only to extinguish the flame and melt the ice. 

"I don't know why I thought that would work," he said. Suddenly, King dived at him, knocking the boy over. "Ow! King!"

"Booker, Luz, I need your help!" King yelled, crawling over Booker to hide behind him. "I think Francois is trying to start a rebellion."

Wondering just what the hell King was talking about, Booker looked towards the corner of the couch, which was covered in the mighty 'army' of King's plushies. Their 'general' was Francois, his pale pink bunny plushie. He was sitting in the center on a pillow, looking completely normal, until a jagged dagger with a red gem on the hilt fell out from behind him.

"I'm not even going to ask where you got the knife. Should I…" Booker made a clicking sound with his mouth, running his thumb over his neck two times. 

"No! I don't wish for him to die," King said as if he were Caesar forgiving Cassius Longinus. "For you see, he was a friend. I shall forgive him."

"Really? And what will you do when he tries to revolt a second time," Booker asked, crossing his arms. 

"Oh, this isn't the first time," King said, waving his hand. "I'll just pardon him again."

Booker's eyes widened. 

"You can't just keep forgiving someone over and over if they keep betraying you," he yelled in disbelief. 

"You obviously don't know anything about being a king!"

"Will you two stop yelling?" Luz exclaimed, looking up from her work. "Look, King, Booker's busy, and I'm getting so close to figuring out this glyph combo."

"It's always glyphs and portals with you these days. What about King?" King asked her as he gestured to himself.

"Why don't you ask Lilith for help? She was in the Emperor's Coven," Luz said before gesturing to Lilith with her pencil. "She has more experience with unruly mobs than anyone."

Fortunately, that wouldn't be possible, and Booker knew this when he looked at his aunt. 

Lilith was kneeling at the coffee table, extremely focused on practicing her glyphs. She was drawing with a red paintbrush and Post-it board on the couch, with several books and papers around her. She was bent over, her eyes only a short distance from the paper. With precision, she focused extremely on drawing the perfect circle. Her hair was messy, and the whites of her eyes were huge, with tiny irises.

Due to being such a smart witch and losing her magic, Lilith dived headfirst into studying glyphs ever since Luz told her about them. Learning everything she could about them and making new spells became an obsession for her—so much so that every step of the process fascinated her. 

Giggling giddily like a crazy person, Lilith said, "Watching the ink dry is the best part."

King grunted in disapproval.

"Yeah, I'm not going anywhere near her when she's like this," Booker said. 

"Yeah, but she's still reliable," Luz said as she focused back on her notebook.

Hooty stretched over and gave Lilith a mug. "A fresh cup of tea for my favorite cup of tea. That's you, Lulu," he said, snapping Lilith out of her trance.

Smoothing out her hair, Lilith's eyes turned back to normal as she took a deep breath. "Hootsifer, you truly are a gem," she said, petting his head. "How do you always know what to do?"

King whispered to Luz and Booker. "What's going on? Is Hooty blackmailing her?"

"Oh, I think they're actually friends. Isn't that nice?" Luz said, closing her book and standing up, holding a glyph in her hand.

"It's strange. They are so opposite, but they make it work. Kind of like the two of us and Amity," Booker said, smiling at Luz, making her blush with embarrassment.

Standing up, she held up her glyph. "Okay, this time, this combo will work," Luz declared. 

"Have you got a new combo?" Booker asked, standing up and looking at her with an excited smile. 

"Yep. Have a look." Luz said as she held the glyph out, showing him a light glyph in the center with a ring and a second light glyph in the top left, while two ice glyphs were in the bottom left and right. "Now you see me…" 

She slammed the glyph to her chest and vanished. This alarmed Booker and King, both of them gasping in shock, making Lilith look up. 

"...now you don't." 

A second later, Luz reappeared. Confused, she looked at herself. 

"Oh, I guess it only lasts as long as I hold my breath," Luz said, a bit disappointed. "Still pretty cool, huh?"

"Hell yeah, it is!" Booker exclaimed, amazed that Luz was able to do that. 

"No, it's not!" King rushed and clung to Luz's leg. "Don't ever do that again!"

Just like her nephew, Lilith stood up in amazement. "Do that again! How ever did you accomplish it," she asked with excitement.

"Well, since you guys discovered that we can make new spells by combining glyphs, I've been experimenting," Luz said while Booker picked up King and let him hug his shoulder like a baby. "I got the invisibility idea from all your history books, Lilith."

"Fascinating!" Lilith said, walking past the table. "As the lead historical scholar of the Emperor's Coven, my aid could be very helpful in—Ugh!" Lilith stumbled over the tower of King's plushies, toppling them.

King gasped. "An ambush!" he yelled, jumping off Booker and picking up a nearby stuffed animal. "Men, defend your ruler!" 

King tossed the plush at Lilith. However, as heroically as it was possible for him, Hooty quickly stretched out and blocked it. Taking the hit and dramatically falling into Lilith's arms.

"I'm done for, Lulu," he said dramatically

"Hootsifer, this is make-believe," Lilith said, but Hooty continued.

"Ah, to die in your arms. Avenge me, Lulu! AVENGE ME!" Hooty screamed before he 'died' in her arms, drooping and sticking his tongue out, his eyes becoming Xs to indicate he was dead. 

King tossed another plushie at Lilith's head, making it squeak. "The King of Demons yields to no one!"

Lilith looked at Booker for an explanation. 

"It's just a bit he likes to do," Booker said. "He sees himself as the King of Demons."

"I don't just see it!" King yelled. "I know I'm destined for the throne."

"Historically, demons were never united under a single rule until Belos. There was no such thing as a 'King of Demons'," Lilith said before King threw another plushie at her head.

"Blasphemy! Clearly, you know nothing of my reign of terror. Allow me to tell you," King said as everyone looked at him. "I was once the mighty King of Demons. I was beloved almost as much as I was feared. But one dark day, an evil spell was cast...transforming me into this!" King fell to his knees to show how dramatic his origin story was…but no one seemed to buy it.

"Oh? What happened to your 'crown of power'?" Hooty asked as he stopped playing dead. He was referring to the Burger Queen crown that Booker and Luz stole from the Confirmatorium, only for it to be crushed by the now-dead Warden Wrath. 

"A trifle! That was just to test Eda, Booker, and Luz's dedication to me! They passed," King said as he gestured to Booker and Luz. This got an angry growl from Booker over all the trouble that little adventure caused them. "Eh…hehehe…My real crown is still out there. But when I shrank, my memories got, uh... fuzzy." 

King put a hand on the left side of his head, below where his broken horn was. Remembering his past wasn't an easy thing for him, and it always caused discomfort where his broken horn was. 

Lilith was neither impressed nor convinced. "How convenient," she said. "A hole in your memory for each hole in your story."

"Nice one, Lulu!" Hooty commented as he moved out of Lilith's arms. "Up top!" Lilith smirked a bit as she high-fived Hooty's face. Neither one was deterred by Hooty's lack of arms and hands. Giving him a black eye.

"Hey, I remember plenty! I remember armies bowing before me, being served the greatest of feasts...and falling from a massive height as evil hex shrunk me. One day, I'll return to my rightful place," King said to them with his arms out. "And all shall fear me!"

"Sure you are, little dude," Booker said, rolling his eyes with a smirk. Chuckling as Luz grabbed King.

"Aw, you're gonna be such a good tyrant! Who's the scariest demon king?" Luz cooed, like talking to a puppy. "Who is it?"

King laughed as Booker reached out and scratched his belly. "Me! It's me! Oh! Oh! Oh yeah!" King said, enjoying the scratching as he stomped his left leg. "Lower, lower! Higher! OOH! That's the spot!" 

"Your dedication to this farce would be charming if it…weren't so sad," Lilith said with her hands together, still unconvinced.

"Don't blame me for your ignorance. I'm not a liar, and I can prove it," King said as he marched out of the room and stormed off into a corridor, angry and determined.

Lilith let out an offended gasp. "He called me ignorant. Me!" Lilith said as she put a hand on her chest. "Hooty shakes his head in disapproval."

"That's enough, Aunt Lily," Booker said as he picked up a few of King's plushies and put them in a pile. "There will be no taking your frustrations out on King. I don't…really buy all this King of Demons stuff, but this story is really important to him, so the least we can do is play along. No matter how believable it is."

"You mean indulge his silly fantasy?" Lilith asked as she put her hands on her hips.

"Yeah! I'm a house of principles! You're asking me to lie?" Hooty said before looking away in offense. "Hoot-rageous!"

Booker sighed to them as he shook his head. He never believed the stories King told him, as they seemed far-fetched. But all that mattered to Booker was that they made King happy. Even if it may be bad for King later, it was good for him to have confidence in himself today.

"Could you please just go with it? For his sake?" Luz said before hearing a clatter.

Looking at the doorway, the group saw King struggling to get back through with two long poles in his arms. They looked at them with curiosity as he fell down on his back. King got back up and held them vertically, allowing him to walk into the room with ease. He revealed that he had Eda and Lilith's staff.

"All right, you two shall regret ever doubting me," King said as he pointed to Hooty and Lilith. We're going to my castle!"

"Wait, castle?" Luz asked in surprise, 

"You…had an actual castle," Booker asked in disbelief.

"What's wrong, you two?" Hooty said with a tease, stretching around their shoulders. "I thought you said we should just 'go with'—"

Booker's back-punch to the face shut Hooty up.

"Ow! Hoot!"

"Sure!" Luz said as she went to grab Eda's staff. "Let's check it out. I am curious to see what your kingdom was like."

"Fine. But I am only coming because my historical expertise is being questioned, and I will not allow it," Lilith said as she grabbed her staff from King before turning to Hooty. "Hooty, would you like to accompany us?"

The house demon gasped in shock and delight. Finally, at long last, he could go on an adventure! "Oh, my hoot! Oh, my hoot! Oh, my hoot! Yes, times a thousand! I'll get ready!" he said as he stretched to a closet and opened it. Reaching in, he pulled out a large birdhouse with backpack straps and a hole in it.

Booker, Luz, King, and Lilith looked at the birdhouse with curiosity. "But, how are you going to—Ooooooh, my Lord!" Booker yelled 

Over the sounds of crashing and squishing organs and splattering, the group watched in growing disgust, very disturbed by Hooty as he, in some UNGODLY WAY, ripped his long bird body from out of the front door and shoved it all inside of the birdhouse backpack. 

Needless to say, it wasn't pretty to watch.

When it was over, they gasped in horror at the part of the door where Hooty would be. It was now a hole in the purple-brown wood, with pulsing organs at the edges. 

"Porta-Hooty, reporting for Hooty!" Hooty said with the same smile at his disguised friends. 

Booker looked at Hooty in horror as Luz leaned on him and dry-retched. King was tearing up while slowly shaking his head. Lilith's hand was on her chest, taken aback. 

"Why are you like this?" Booker asked with a whimper. When Luz looked back at Hooty, she gagged and dry-retched again. "YOU PARASITE!"

Meanwhile, Eda sighed in satisfaction as she got out of a nice hot shower in the upstairs bathroom. Covering her slender figure in a green bathrobe and a towel on her head, she walked out of her steamy bathroom. Passing by the window without noticing Booker, Luz, Lilith, King, and Hooty fly away on their staffs. Her adopted flew with them on a pair of wings he made with his illusion magic.

Walking into the main room, she saw that no one was there, and the kids had left a mess. It made her suspicious. 

"Hmm? Where'd everyone go? Man, they made a mess in here," she said with a frown. 

But then she shrugged. 

"Oh well. It's been a while since I had room to put my feet up," said Eda, jumping on the couch and lying on her back. 

The witch detached her feet below the knees and put them out in front of her. Leaning her head on the armrest. However, just before she could fully relax, she let out a sigh before opening her eyes to see a note on King's plushy army.

Off to my real castle! 

Don't wait up! 

Love, your favorite demon overlord.

"Oh fuck, no! Not again!" Eda shouted as she tried to get off the couch. However, with her feet detached, she simply fell down. "Damnit!"

After getting her feet back on and changing into her normal clothes, Eda ran out of the door and headed into the shed next to the house. Throwing the door open, she rushed in.

A moment later, she emerged in her bathtub motorboat, flying it off a ledge and into the sea. She had to get to King and stop him before it was too late. 

With his illusion wings, Booker few next to Luz, who wore her cape, as she and King on Eda's staff, while Lilith road on her staff. The Porta-Hooty on her back. 

They'd been flying a great distance from the Owl House, going over the sea and into a fog. 

"Are we still flying? It's been hours," King grunted. 

"Should we call it a day? Or perhaps a night?" Lilith said, laughing as she carried Hooty on her back. "Hooty, your sense of humor is infectious."

Booker looked around, but the fog was so thick it was impossible to see anything a few feet in front of him. "King, do you even know where you're going," he asked as he flapped his white wings. "When was the last time you even came here?"

"It's been…" King gasped and pointed ahead. "There it is!" 

Booker looked ahead and gasped in shock. Up ahead, as the fog started to clear, was an island in the middle of the Boiling Sea. It was a mysterious island that had what looked like a stone wall with a white pillar in the middle of it surrounding it. A lush forest surrounded it, just like the fog, hiding it from the outside world.

"That's your castle?" Luz asked in surprise and awe.

"Yeah!" King said with glee. He steered Luz down towards it. Booker and Lilith followed.

"This…This can't be right. This island shouldn't be here," Lilith said as they descended, flying closer to the island. "It's not on any charts or maps."

"Really? It's always been there when I looked for it," said King, smirking smugly. 

They landed on the shore and started to walk into the jungle.

"After I shrunk, I woke up here, in Eda's arms, and she carried me away," King said as he held his hands together. "Like a wittle baby."

 "Awww…" Luz cooed. She then saw that Lilith and Hooty weren't sharing the same sentiment. Grumpily, Luz gestured at King to get them to follow along. 

Lilith growled. "Fine. Aw."

"Wow, so this is where Eda found you," Booker muttered to himself, looking at the strange foliage. "Where do we start?"

"There!" King pointed deeper into the island. The fog cleared to reveal the same dilapidated tower they had seen while flying to it.

"Ah, home sweet home," King said with a smile under his skull while Booker, Luz, and Lilith stared at the tower in shock.

Our heroes began the long trek through the jungle, with King leading the way. He had a much easier time walking through the foliage and climbing over tree roots while Booker, Luz, and Lilith walked behind him, struggling a bit with how thick and wild the plants grew. 

"That tower is certainly intriguing, but—Oh!" Lilith tripped over the root. Hooty extended himself to a nearby tree trunk and pushed his face into it, stabilizing her. "Thank you, Hootsifer."

Hooty said, muffled, "My pleasure."

"But couldn't we have landed a little closer," she asked the little demon. 

"The treetops are so thick; this is the only way in. Plus, now I can dramatically do…...this!" King said as he grabbed a bush obscuring the path. He pulled it aside, revealing that they were a few meters away from an entrance to the tower. The entrance itself was huge, shaped like an old-fashioned keyhole with golden inner walls, and set before short stairs. It was blocked by boulders that collapsed. 

"Damn, now that's a door," Booker said, looking at the doorway in awe

"Yeah. A door fit for a tyrant," Luz said. 

King chuckled with glee. "That's me!"

Together, they walk toward the entrance, noticing the strong, archaic lines carved into the gold. Scanning them, Booker is shocked by the lines' designs. Holding up his arms, the Seventh Son saw that they were the exact same as the markings edged into his skin. 

"This place…"

"You guys wait here," King said, climbing on the rocks and boulders. "I'll find you guys another way in. Wriggle, wriggle, wriggle!" The little demon chanted as he crawled into a crevice in the rock pile.

Booker looked at the others. "Guys, look at this," he said, placing his hand on the golden-lined interior of the keyhole, showing how the strange symbol caved into it matched his. 

Walking over to her nephew, Lilith took a closer look. "Huh. What a strange material. And this symbol matches yours, nephew," she said, brushing her fingers on the doorway. "I've never seen anything quite like this."

"Ha! I've seen better graffiti. I've got better graffiti on me," Hooty said, raising his side and showing "LUZ!" and "BOOKER!" and three cool S's graffitied on him.

"Okay, but what does this have to do with my markings," Booker asked as Luz walked over to look at it herself. 

Lilith took Booker's arms and examined them. "I'm not sure, but this predates any language I know. King's story may be a fake, but these ruins are a history mystery," she said, giggling and clapping excitedly.

The group was startled when the rocks blocking the doorway collapsed, clearing the way. Booker pulled out his sword while Luz and Lilith readied their staffs. All three of them are ready to fight. However, instead of a monster, they saw King peeking up.

"Eh? What's a mystery?"

Luz laughed nervously. "The only mystery is how Lilith can be so smart and so wrong at the same time," she said, still trying to lie to King. She then nudged Booker in the arm. 

"Uh yeah.Academics, am I right?" Booker remarked. 

"You so are. Come on in," King said before spinning around and jumping into the castle. 

Lilith gives Booker and Luz a dirty look. "Don't look at me like that; you werewrong," the Seventh Son said. 

The three climbed over the rocks and entered into the tower. Landing on the ground, Booker lit up the blade of Dragon's Bite while the girls used light glyphs to make their own lights. Together, they examined the chamber, which was littered with rocks stacked to make the same figure of something with two or three round rocks as a body and a crescent-shaped head placed horizontally.

"What is this placed," Booker said, waving his sword slowly over the figures.

"The chamber where I would devour the hearts of my foes. The taste was cold and bitter, but I bet yours would be sweet, Luz," King said to his human friend.

"Because of how much of a sweetie she is?" Booker said, wrapping his arm around her, making her blush brightly. 

"Well, that and With all the sugar I eat," she said, looking embarrassed. 

They all went forward into the tower. Their silence in the chamber convinced them that they were alone. Nothing could have entered this place over thousands of years. It was only them, with King leading the way and three of his four companions lighting his way.

As they continued exploring the tower, Hooty gasped and looked at a wall. "Are you seein' what I'm seein'?"

Seeing that he'd been looking at it, Lilith walked over to the wall. It displayed a carving of a giant, muscular demon resembling King.

Upon seeing the demon, Lilith gasped and held her light orb closer to see it. 

"These carvings are ancient," she said in a shaking voice.

"Wh-what does that mean?" Hooty said, sounding nervous.

"Well, if I've never heard about this ruin, let alone this entire island, who knows what other parts of history we scholars have missed," Lilith explained to her friend.

Hooty turned to her. "Are you saying…"

Lilith turned to him. "That he may actually have been…"

Together, Lilith and Hooty exclaimed in shock. "The King of Demons?!"

The duo turned to Booker, Luz, and King as the smaller demon stood at the top of a pile of rocks, showing off to the best friends another carving of himself fighting another monster. 

"Ah, my kingdom. I, uh…" King wiped a tear from his eye. "I got some bone dust in my eye."

Booker smirked and rolled his eyes. However, upon doing so, his eyes caught an opening in the ceiling with several large rocks plugging it. 

"Hey, King, you said that you remember falling, right," Booker asked as he pointed to the opening. "Is that where you fell from?"

King also looked up. "I-I can't quite recall," he said, rubbing his head. Shaking his head, he placed his hands on his hips and looked with pride. "I just remember a muffled roar, probably some minion praising my name."

Booker and Luz glanced at one another. "Right…" The Seventh Son said. "Well, uh... wanna head back? I think you proved your point. Mama Eda's probably on her third cup of apple blood by now, and the last time, it was real hard getting her off the roof—"

Booker was cut off and hit in the back of the head by Hooty, knocking him to the ground. 

"OW, JEEZ! THE BACK OF MY HEAD!"

"Your Majesty! It's me, faithful ol' Hooty," Hooty said, fawning over King like he was the new emperor. "You know I was messin' around with you the whole time, right?"

"'Your Majesty'?" Luz asked, looking at Hooty with a raised eyebrow as Booker tried getting back up to kill the house demon. However, that's when Lilith pushed Luz aside, making her land on Booker. "Ow, jeez! The back of my lower legs!"

"It's clear these ruins are of immense historical value. Perhaps you could tell me more about them," she said with a sickly sweet voice.

"Ow…" Luz groaned as she tried getting up. However, she stopped, and her eyes widened when she looked in front of her. 

Booker was under her, looking up at her with wide eyes and a big blush on his face. 

"Uh… hey, cutie," he said, trying to act suave. 

Luz giggled and said, "Hey to you too, cutie." Together, they helped each other up and brushed off the dirt.

King, loving all of the attention that he was getting, laughed. "I suppose I could, uh, regale you with some tales," he said. "Am I using that word, right? Regale?"

It was so bizarre. Not even a minute ago, they were doubting everything that King was telling them. Next, they were like vacuum cleaners with how much they were sucking up to him. Booker rolled his eyes again. 

However, he and Luz heard something hissing in a dark corridor.

"You heard that," he said, recalling his sword to his hand and turning it back on like a lightsaber. That's when he said slashing claw marks all over the floor and walls down the hallway. 

"Yeah," Luz said, grabbing Eda's staff. She then turned to the others. "Uh, guys, are you hearing this?"

"I'll show you where my throne used to be. It was made from the teeth of my enemies and…" King said, laughing while not paying attention to what was going on as he led Lilith and Hooty down another direction. "Boy, was it awkward to sit in?"

Seeing that they weren't going to get any help from, Booker sighed and looked to Luz. She nodded and grasped his head. Together, they walked down the corridor. The further down they went, the more the slashes grew and the more cracked and broken they became. And the darker it became until Dragon's Bite and Luz's light orb illuminated the dark abyss of the castle, which came to an end when the two friends came to a door. 

This door had the same marks as Booker and the castle's golden entrance and had so many slash marks that it was a miracle that it didn't fall apart. 

"What do you think is in there," Luz asked, looking at it with trepidation. 

Booker walked up to the door and placed his hand on it. Concentrating on the magic in the area. "I can't sense any kind of magic…wait!" he said, feeling something coming from the other side. "I feel some magic. It's just one source, but it's powerful."

The Dominican girl placed her hand on the door, now more curious than frightened. "Huh…"

That response got Luz a look from her best friend. "Luz, no," Booker said, frowning. 

"What?" Luz exclaimed defensively. "I'm not doing anything."

"Yeah, you're going to open the door and see what's there."

"What? No…" Luz said with a blush as she moved her body slightly closer to the door. "No."

"Luz, I can see you're about to do it."

"Huh? What? No! I would never…" Luz pushed the door and pretended to 'accidentally' fall through it. "Oh no, I slipped! Aaaah!" 

Booker's hand shot out quickly and grabbed her hand. Stopping her from falling to the ground and hitting herself. 

"Wow, you really like falling into trouble," he said with a smirk.

Blushing, Luz smirked back at him. "Because I know you'll always catch me, Booky."

Booker blushed in embarrassment and pulled her back up. Together, they looked into the chamber and were shocked by what they discovered. 

Together, they entered a tall, spiral room as tall as five floors. The walls were lined with the foyer, and inside of them were strange figures partially covered in fleshy goop. Each one was a massive armored golem with overlapping armor and a large fur cape. On their backs were the long handles of their weapons. And their heads were the skulls of a dear with massive anterors. 

However, each of the golems was destroyed. Some of their limbs were missing, their armor broken, and they appeared lifeless—if they were ever really alive. 

"What are these things?" Luz asked as she stopped by one figure with its "hand" sticking out. She groaned in disgust and passed by. 

A second later, she came back. 

"Just kidding. I'd never leave someone hanging. Up top, buddy," she said, high-fiving it and making it fall apart on her. 

Booker looked around, and as he looked up, his mouth felt dry at the sight of dozens of more slots and countless other figures recessed towards the ceiling. All of them were destroyed, for which Booker was more than grateful. 

Except for one golem. 

When Booker looked back in front of him, he noticed one golem was completely intact. It had no missing arms, its armor was complete, and it looked as nice as possible. 

Booker tried to approach it when he stepped in something gooey. 

"Ew, Booker!" Luz cringed as she pointed her light at his legs. 

"What?" Booker looked down and saw he had stepped in the same goo covering most of the golems. 

However, something wasn't right. Patterns of goo, like foottracks, went in all directions, each leading to a golem on the first floor. 

Looking at the walls, he saw more goo on the other golems, as if someone climbed up. 

As if they had pieces stolen from them. 

Following all of the tracks back down to the floor, Booker and Luz saw that they all led back to the same complete golem. 

The golem whose eyes ignited with blue fire.

"Ah!" Booker and Luz yelped in fear as the 10-foot being stepped out of its slot. The goo that kept it together dripped from the seams and small gaps. 

The golem grabbed its weapon's handle and pulled out from behind its back. It is a massive greatsword nearly as big as its body. 

"Luz, shield!" Booker yelled.

"Right!" Luz stabbed the end of Eda's staff on the ground, creating a force field of hard light to protect her and Booker. 

SMASH!

But the golem's massive sword shattered the shield into pieces. Luz's eyes filled with fear as she saw the blade down on her. Booker pushed her out of the way at the last moment and…

CLASH!

Blocked it with Dragon's Bite. Sparks flew off the metal as Booker's magic ran through the runes of the anti-magic blade. 

However, that glow started to fade the longer he tried blocking the sword. At the same time, Booker started to feel weaker. "What the…" 

The golem grabbed him by the throat and threw him against the wall. He screamed in pain before falling to the ground. 

"Booker!" Luz screamed, rushing to him and helping him stand back up. 

"That thing…has an anti-magic sword," Booker said, much to the show of his crush. Both looked back to see the golem advancing towards them. 

It placed its great weapon on its shoulder and opened its fire-filled mouth. It let out a loud, deer-like roar that echoed throughout the tower and filled Booker and Luz with fear.

Then, it jumped up. Disappearing into the shadows of the ruins.