Chapter Text
Amity could not believe she was in the position she was in now. Somehow, this… small owl thing had gotten into her secret room in her library and taken her Good Witch Azura book! Her mother was going to kill her if she found out Amity had ditched school – the green-haired witch could barely believe it herself – but that was her only copy, and the story was getting so good!
Amity raced through the marketplace, out of breath and honestly surprised she’d made it this far in the first place and was still able to keep track of the owl. “Get back here, dammit!” she swore, following the bird around bend after bend until eventually the owl flew into one of the tents. Amity hesitated, knowing that just… going in there might not be the best idea, but she quite frankly wasn’t in the best mood at the moment so it all evened out. Before she could convince herself otherwise, Amity ran into the tent and saw… a lot of really weird things.
Various items she’d never seen before were scattered about chaotically, Amity having to resist the urge to right the many knocked over or tilted… whatever these were. Looking around, she saw that the owl was nowhere in sight, but she hadn’t seen it leave so she knew that it had to be in there. So, she started searching.
The owl was probably a familiar, so it had likely just gone dormant. Alright, Amity thought to herself, Let’s go about this logically and methodically. Looking around at the vast piles of peculiar garbage, the few shelves being just as crammed as the floor, Amity decided that there was no point in digging through any of the piles. After all, her book had just been brought here, so there wasn’t much point in purposefully burying it, meaning it was likely on the surface level of the mess.
Amity cringed. Surface level… Who the hell even owns this stall? After shaking her head in disbelief, she started searching through the garbage. She found some… interesting things. She came across a pair of glasses with eyeballs attached to them via springs, a large orange cone with two white stripes, a bunch of tattered and unfamiliar clothing, and as Amity fished around she ended up picking up…
“Oh, GROSS!” the witch exclaimed, hurling the large, green sticky stone across the room and into the shelf. What the hell is- you know what? Just don’t think about it.
Unfortunately, the rock flew right into what looked like a glass pot, shattering it. Amity froze, the sound of the impact having passed but still ringing in her ears like a bomb. She gulped. Okay, this is fine. Maybe nobody heard-
“What are you doing in there, Owlbert?” the voice of a cranky old lady caused Amity to swear, “If you broke something again, then titan help me you-”
Amity tuned out the rapidly approaching voice, looking frantically for another way out of the tent. Why does it have to be so cluttered? She thought, sweat practically coating her body. There has to be another way out!
Then, she saw it. Flush against the wall of the tent was a large door with a large eye on it. Amity bit her lip. It was likely a portal, and going through would be extremely risky as she had absolutely no idea what would be on the other side. Granted, she didn’t have much of a choice, as she could see the silhouette of the person reaching to open the tent. Without a second thought, Amity rushed towards the door and ripped it open, running through as it closed behind her.
Unfortunately, the young witch hadn’t looked to see where she was actually going, and she tripped over an unexpected step, landing face-first in a pile of mud. Oh, come on! Amity thinks, standing up and brushing herself off best she can, though plenty of mud still sticks to her and her clothing.
Looking around, Amity sees that she’s in the middle of a forest, having just come out of a dilapidated wooden cabin. She could hear various wildlife making pleasant sounds, and the air carried a nice scent that she couldn’t quite place. Amity looked at the cabin again. The front door must’ve been the other end of the portal…
“The portal!” Amity exclaims, horrified, running quickly back to the door and opening it to find… the inside of the cabin. Amity gulps as she feels a sense of dread take root inside her. Desperately, she closes the door and reopens it. Then she does it again. And again. And again. Amity has no idea for how long she just stands there, opening and closing the door like a crazy person. Finally, after what felt like hours of repeating the same motion to no avail, Amity walks numbly into the cabin. In hindsight, she probably should’ve checked to make sure no one else was in there, but thinking straight was not something that she was doing at the moment.
Making her way to a small corner that still gave her a view of the door, Amity leaned against the wall and slumped against the floor, wrapping her arms around her legs and burying her head between her knees as moisture started to gather in her eyes.
I’m trapped, she thought to herself I’m stuck who knows where, with no way to get back… Where do I even go from here? And, despite her best efforts to remain calm and composed, Amity lets out a sob, and that opens the floodgates. Amity cries and cries and cries. Stop being such a child, she chides herself, You’re a grown witch! You shouldn’t be getting this worked up over anything!
After what Amity guessed to be about an hour, she managed to regain her composure and start to think critically about her situation. “Okay,” she thought out loud, “I went into a portal that is now closed. I have no way to get home, and I have no idea where I am.” Amity let out a heavy sigh as she picked herself up from the ground and forced herself to get out of the cabin. Which was probably for the best, as the cabin was full of dust and had caused Amity to sneeze multiple times, though that was also probably in part because of how emotionally worked up she’d gotten.
Deciding that the most important thing that she could actually accomplish at the moment was to figure out where she actually was, Amity started to explore the woods (which is to say, she started walking down the dirt path that extended from the cabin’s front porch).
As she walked along the path, Amity couldn’t help but be overcome by a sense of wonder. She was surrounded by flora and fauna the likes of which she had never seen in her life. It was amazing that all of these things could possibly exist without anyone in the Boiling Isles having heard of them.
All that being said, this was still an uncharted, unknown, and very likely to be dangerous environment and Amity could not afford to let her guard down for even a sec-
“Hello?” A voice called from behind Amity. Startled, the witch turned around to see a girl, about her age, but with darker skin and short, brown hair standing across from her.
Amity narrowed her eyes suspiciously “Who are you?” She growled, preparing to cast a spell if need be.
The girl, however, just laughed nervously, “I feel like I’m the one who should be asking that question, given that you just ran out of a cabin that no one has been in for, like, years, and then stood there for fifteen minutes opening and closing the door. Then-” The girl stopped, looking down at the ground, her cheeks reddening with shame. “Sorry, I’ve kind of been… eavesdropping on you since you ran out of that place.”
“What?” Amity asked angrily, stepping forward, “Really? You just- I mean- THAT’S SICK!” She shouted, getting close to the girl.
“I know…” she mumbled, “I just… didn’t know what to do. You were obviously… something, and these woods aren’t the safest place to be alone, so I just… I don’t know, I stayed to make sure you didn’t hurt yourself.”
Amity narrowed her eyes, not trusting the girl one bit, though she had halted her advance. “You still haven’t told me your name.” She said, “And I have no reason to believe a single word coming from your mouth.”
“Well,” the girl said, “While I can’t really help that second part, I can definitely fix the first!” She stepped forward and held her hand out enthusiastically. “My name is Luz Noceda. Mucho Gusto!”
Amity frowned at the strange phrase the girl- sorry, Luz had ended her statement with, and stared at her hand debating whether or not she should shake it. Luz seemed harmless enough, but then again since when did tricksters not look harmless.
Luz, evidently sensing Amity’s hesitation, offered a small smile, “Oh come on, I won’t bite. Besides, I told you my name; it’s only fair you tell me yours.”
Deciding that the risk was… minimal, Amity extended her hand to shake Luz’s “Amity Blight. I’m Amity Bli…” Amity trailed off as she saw Luz’s ears. Her round ears. “Why are your ears round?” Amity asks thoughtlessly, still unconsciously shaking Luz’s hand.
Luz laughed awkwardly. “Why… wouldn’t they be?” she asked, “Why are yours pointy? Oh, is it some kind of cosplay!?” She asked, letting go of Amity’s hand, “That explains… nothing actually,” She admits, sheepishly.
Why is she asking why my ears are pointed? Everyone’s ears are pointed! Except hers… Realization hits Amity like a ton of bricks in the face. “Luz…” she asks carefully, “Are you a human?”
Confusion passes over Luz’s expression. “Uh… yeah? What kind of question is that?” She asked with another small laugh. “What, did you think I was some sort of shape-shifting basilisk from the demon realm of something?”
But Amity wasn’t listening. This is bad, she thought, This is really, REALLY bad! Amity started to have trouble breathing. She went through a portal. To the human realm. A portal that had now closed. And given that that weird door was clearly portable, had a chance of never opening up in a location she could reach again in her entire life. She was stuck. Possibly forever. The reality of the situation sunk into Amity, and she choked back another sob.
“Hey, Amity, are you okay?” The witch felt a hand on her shoulder and looked up to see Luz, concerned. Instead of a response, Amity felt her legs give out from the sheer weight of her situation. She vaguely registered Luz’s increasingly frantic calls that grew into shouts, but she wasn’t listening. She wasn’t processing. She was stuck.
Amity Blight was trapped in the Human Realm. With no way out.