Everyone was in their places in the town square, the performers and an audience assembled from townsfolk and people from neighboring towns who visit for the festival—Luz hadn't exactly been plugged into Gravesfield's local culture until recently, but even she realized just how big a deal Halloween was here.
And, soon enough, it was time to start.
The road was closed in front of the Historical Society, and blockers were set on either side of the door to hide Amity and Gus. As Masha stepped forward to begin, Amity began plucking a spooky tune on Dulzura, and the bluish mist that was a sign of illusion magic began to flow and spread.
A portable stove that had been mocked up to look like a stereotypical witch's cauldron had been set in the road and as the music and mist set the atmosphere Masha lit the flame and began: "Good evening," Masha said, "Now, tradition dictates that on this most hallowed occasion that an old legend be shared. Sometimes a production on the stage, sometimes as a ghost story on the haunted hay-ride, but every year on Halloween, we of Gravesfield share the Tale of The Brothers Wittebane."
Masha pointed to the statue in the town square behind the audience. The people briefly looked at the statue of the two witch hunters, and as they did so, Masha threw some kind of powder into the flame and began their part in the events: The subtle working of skald magic, based around storytelling. Traditionally, it gave people a vision of the story being told, but combined with the illusion and bard magic already on display... Well...
"That tradition continues tonight," they continued, "but... With a twist. You see, we now know how the tale ends." This sparked some murmurs among the locals, and Luz could feel some of the shock among them. "And there are some realwitches in town who are more than willing to help fill in the missing details." More murmuring. "But I'm getting ahead of myself: Our tale begins in the early 1600s when Caleb and Philip Wittebane first arrived in Old Gravesfield."
In the mist, two figures took shape—one a teen and one a small boy.
"In the old days, Gravesfield was obsessedwith hunting and killing witches... I know that some people from out of state are here tonight, and well... Take everything you ever learned about Salem and dial it up to 11," Masha lectured. "To fit in, the elder brother Caleb became a witch hunter himself, lest he, as an outsider, find himself hung as one or else drown to prove his innocence or worse, find the same happening to his brother... All the while, young Philip became entranced with the idea of protecting the town from horrendous, horrid witches, often playing at being a hunter himself."
The image of young Philip was quickly replaced by an approximation of the form Inner Belos had briefly assured, the young boy in the carved mask, swinging about a toy sword.
"As Philip grew up, he naturally became a witch hunter in truth, and many of the accused Gravesfield witches met their end due to the brothers' actions... Including, as it turns out, the only actualwitch to be accused, though we'll come back to that later." a brief flash recreated what Luz had seen of the incident in the Witches's Road, Philip attending to the execution of the witch in question, before returning to the brothers, now as young men. "Now, conventional wisdom is that Caleb met a strange woman, a real witch, who ensorcelled him with the aid of a familiar in the form of a cardinal, but as it turns out, that wasn't quite the case."
"How do you know!?" called out a voice from the audience. In truth, it was one of Masha and Vee's friends planted in the audience, but to most people attending, it seemed as if Masha was being heckled.
From the roof of the historical society, Flapjack flew down and landed on Masha's finger. "A little bird told me," they said as the bird chirped, and then Flapjack took off again.
This got a lot of excited murmuring going, which went silent as the image of the brothers turned to a mimed argument.
"We now know that Caleb, as he grew older, became increasingly filled with doubt. After all, the so-called witches that they killed had been their neighbors or people from neighboring settlements. If they were so evil, so dedicated to the destruction of mankind and the subversion of God's will, then why had they just been living amongst the people? If they were truly witches, then why had they not used their powers to save themselves from execution? And he had the sinking suspicion that some of his fellow witch hunters had intentionally drawn accused witches to the surface while swimming them, something we in the modern day know to be true of almost allaccused witches convicted in that manner." Masha paused for a moment and gave a dramatic sigh. "So horrid, the evil that mankind does to itself, but I digress. At first, he kept these concerns to himself, but eventually, he tried to convince Philip that they should leave Gravesfield. It ended poorly, and Caleb withdrew his objections for a time."
The arguing brothers were replaced by an image of a woman in the woods. Redheaded, in rather simple period clothing and long and wild hair. Clearly not of this place, even before people started to notice the pointy ears. "One day, Caleb noticed a strange woman who would come into town in the evening, inquire about this or that, maybe purchase something from a local or self something else, and then leave. She always claimed to be from a neighboring settlement, but Caleb soon realized that that was a lie... curiosity got to him, and he noticed she seemed to be curious of him, as well."
The image changed again to Caleb confronting the woman, who was in the process of casting a light spell.
"One evening," Masha began, "he followed the woman in secret and discovered that she was indeed a real witch but... She didn't seem all that bad. It'd been months, and she'd never hurt anyone, so... He approached. When confronted, she gave her name as Evelyn and admitted that part of her had wanted him to catch her. After all, a human who was less murderous than the others was a figure of curiosity to her. And there's the rub: Evelyn was not just a witch, she was from another world entirely."
The illusionary fog expanded as the image faded, only to be replaced by a forest grove with red foliage under a pink sky. And from the mist emerged Willow, concealed in a dark cloak.
"The Boiling Isles exists in another dimension, on a planet known as the demon realm, though at this point, I must stress that what are called demons in my homeworld, and thus Evelyn's, are not the evil spirits that are associated with the term here in the human realm. They're just people and animals that happen to have magical powers. Witches too," Willow lectured. "The Boiling Isles, where Evelyn came from, are an archipelago formed round the body of a massive creature called a Titan... The Isles are dangerous but, in their own way, from the right angle..."
The illusion pulled back, zooming with immense speed across the landscape of the Isles, showing wilderness, civilization, and ruins, rising up over The Knee before taking to the air and pulling out further until the view from the square was the same stunning visual of the whole Isle, bones and all, that Eda had shown Luz on her second evening in the demon realm, complete with the pink sky turing a starry dark blue.
A number of people in the audience gasped, and as Luz couldn't feel fear, it wasn't from horror.
"They're beautiful," Willow finished. "Now, the Titan wasn't just immense: It was immensely powerful. Every inch of its being, every tissue and fluid, was saturated with magic... Especially it's blood, which has so much power that it can distort the fabric of time and space... In places where the Titan's blood pools, there are often... breaches between our world and yours... Stuff from the human realm ends up in the demon realm all the time." The eerie music that Amit was playing was briefly replaced by a comical melody as Willow noted, "You have a lot of garbage, by the way." That got a few laughs, but then the eerie music resumed. "Evelyn experimented with Titan's blood and managed to create a rudimentary portal before she began exploring this world so different from her own."
"After hearing Evelyn's tale," Masha resumed narrating as the image returned to the pair in the woods outside the settlement of Gravesfield, "Caleb's curiosity remained. The two continued to meet in secret. And over time, curiosity became friendship, and though they wouldn't admit it for some time, friendship eventually became love... Caleb shared his own doubts and, with knowledge of what witches 'truly' were, quickly came to regret the senseless deaths he'd helped perpetuate and once more began to think of leaving Gravesfield... And his heart nearly stopped when one day he was greeted by his brother with claims that they'd cought a witch red-handed working her foul sorceries."
The image changed again to a still from the hanging that had been briefly shown earlier.
"Constance Prudence Temperance Chastity Grace, she who had the longest and most sterotypical name of all New England puritain women, was the only real witch to ever be caught by the Gravesfield with hunters, well, the only really spellcaster to say the least: It's by my undderstanding that she wasn't a true witch by either world's defition," Masha clarified. "She was accused of drinking blood, dancing nude in the middle of the night, wearing pants, leaving chores unattended, ensorcelling other woman into practicing unnatural vices, and was caught red-handed turning her husband into a newt. I've done some digging through surviving records, he did not get better." More laughter. "Anyway, ten witch hunters died horrible, agonizing deaths before Philip managed to tackle her and restrain her wrists so she couldn't cast any more spells and, in the process of investigating her for further crimes, it was discovered that she's kept a journal detailing the magics she'd known and her contact with a being that she'd identified as her muse."
The mention of the deaths she'd caused stopped the laughter cold, and the scene changed just as the leaver was pulled to hang the accused witch, sparing the audience the sight of her twitching. Now, Evelyn and Caleb stood alone in the forest once more.
"Caleb was relieved, as he'd thought Evelyn had been caught, and while he'd known Constance as he'd known many other accused witches, and that her husband was no saint himself, the murderous glee she allegedly expressed meant her death did not strain his conscience," Masha continued, "but then he realized that no one had told him, one of the witch hunters himself, of the accusations against her or the efforts to capture her until after the fact. He wasn't trusted anymore, and that meant he was in danger... He asked Evelyn about going back to her world with her."
"Evelyn at first tried to discourage him," Willow interjected. "The Boiling Isles have dangers that, while nothing to a witch, are beyond anything humans had conceived of... Or so we thought. I've been advised to say that your world is actually terrifying, but Evelyn and Caleb didn't know that. Regardless, Caleb noted that as his lack of faith in the process, his unwillingness to hunt so-called witches had been noticed, and it would only be so long before he was condemned as a witch himself."
"Seeing that Caleb would not be deterred, Evelyn agreed," Masha resumed, "and the two began to plan in secret. As they prepared, Evelyn created a gift for Caleb. You see, she knew that leaving behind the only life he'd ever known. Especially his brother, would be hard on Caleb, and that he'd need magic of his own if he was ever to survive on the Boiling Isles without her, so on the evening they departed..."
The image changed so that Evelyn was no holding out a wooden carving of a cardinal. The image of Caleb took it, and the two figures mimed a conversation before the figure in question grew into a staff. Then, the bird in question came to life and flew off of the staff. It flew away, and the real Flapjack seamlessly took its place. Flying around, the palisman drew everyone's attention so that it was a surprise when he turned into a staff in the hands of a third storyteller. Hunter stood there, a cloth mask obscuring most of his face.
"A palisman is a creature of living wild magic," Hunter lectured. "Carved from a branch of palistrom wood and brought to life by a bond forged from emotions and wishes, they are a witch's most trusted companion and most powerful tool. Evelyn carved Flapjack here as a gift to Caleb, and he came to life not only because Caleb confessed aloud his desire to atone for the sins he committed as a witch hunter and the innocent blood he shed but also because he wanted to make a life with Evelyn. That he loved her."
"And Evelyn confessed that she loved him as well," Willow added with a smile, "and then did they depart for the Boiling Isles. Never to be seen again on Earth... If only the story ended there."
"We don't now for wure what happened next," Masha carried. It was then that the image of Philip appeared in the illusionary scene, spying on Caleb and Evelyn as a sinister musical sting played. "But we know that Philip found out and told the others in Old Gravesfield. We know that he stole Constance's journal and that he must have found some Titan's blood that Evelyn must have left hidden in the human world and used her portal to come to the Demon Realm to track down Caleb in a misguided attempt to rescue his brother, but... I've been saying it for a while now: Big Bro got a hot witch GF, and Little Bro got mad. Turns out I was right."
"Evelyn's portal led out near land where her family still lives to his day," Hunter continued, "but the Philip must have explored in the wrong direction at first because it took him months to find Caleb... In that time, Caleb and Evelyn had wed, and she was pregnant with Caleb's child. Philip was shocked, but Caleb welcomed him with open arms. He tried to convince him to give up witch-hunting entirely, as clearly the wonders of the Isles had proven they were wrong. He invited him to join the family he was starting with Evelyn, but... To Philip, all that Claeb had said and done was a betrayal. He pretended to agree, but..."
The image changed to Caleb holding a now bearded Philip in a hug as Philip raised a dagger. Just before the dagger was plunged into Caleb's back, it cut to an enraged Evelyn chasing Philip away with blasts of fire.
"Philip could not accept what he'd done." Masha resumed. "He rationalized the murder as having saved Caleb's soul and shifted all of the blame onto Evelyn and, by extension, all inhabitants of the Boiling Isle. He made a plan centuries in the making to kill them all. He unnaturally extended his life and gained power via the sacrifice of innocents. He summoned Constance's muse to aid him in the creation of his own portal." The image changed to Phillip kneeling in a greyed-out meadow as a black triangle formed above a ritual circle, which was met with gasps, fear, and a touch of dread. "Over the next few centuries, he'd lie, cheat, steal, and manipulate his way into a position of power, reshaping the society in his image so that the people he hated would unknowingly line up like lambs to the slaughter. He broke almost every Commandent time and time again, especially the one about murder..."
"Philip, why did you bring us here?"
"I needed a sacrifice."
"And over time, he became less and less human, even as he began to justify his crusade as saving humanity from a 'threat' that mostly didn't care that we even existed," Masha finished. "By the standards the old puritains used, Philip was the only witch in Isles: An inhuman thing born from a mortal who made deals with unnatural spirits and sacrificed others for power. Eventually, he took a new name to secure his place in the world he planned to destroy." Behind the storytellers, an image of Philip became an image of Emporer Belos who reoved his mask, revealing Philip's aged and scared face before dissolving into the monster of rotten sludged that was his true form.
"Belos," Hunter supplied.
"The worst part is how close he came to succeeding," Willow added. "Emperor Belos had us all fooled. We'd all have died at the beginning of September by your calendar if it wasn't for... Well, a couple of things."
"First, when Evelyn learned that Philip created a portal, she stole it from him and hid it away," Hunter explained. "She didn't know if his long-term plans or his twisted form of pseudo immortality, and assumed she was condemning him to die in a world he hated, which she thought of as a suitable revenge."
"Second, thirty years ago, give or take," Hunter continued, "one of the descendants of Caleb and Evelyn stumbled across it while running from home and has made use of it ever since."
"And finally," Willow finished, "at just the beginning of this past summer, another human from Gravesfield stumbled in through the portal and turned the Isles upside down."
That was her cue. Luz swallowed the nerves building in her throat and emerged from her hiding place, summoning her staff and making a show of spinning it as she took her place and... The town square was briefly filled with a warm, golden glow as the music seamlessly transitioned into Raine's Rhapsody: The love song Raine had written with Eda and that Eda had taught to her and Amity. As the musical interlude ended, Luz made a show of mock-glaring back at Amity's hiding space.
"Sorry about that, everyone," Luz noted. "My girlfrined's on music, and she decided to have a bit of fun." Still, that had basically killed her nerves and broken the ice. "So, some of you know me, I've kind of got a reputation as a trouble maker up at the high school. Again, sorry about the snakes and spiders, but frankly, pulling me down over the fake guts at play auditions was out of line." Luz shook her head. "Anyway, this isn't my story, and my part in it is pretty small in comparison—"
"Is it really?" Hunter interrupted. "You're the hero here."
"Guys, stick to the script. The Townsfolk don't want to hear about the local misfit," Luz chastised. This actually was part of the script; Luz had insisted on it. She didn't want her part in the story to eclipse the rest of it, lest people think she was grandstanding. This would let her downplay it just enough to keep it believable. "So, to keep it brief, I wandered into the Isles when a little owl stole my book. One thing led to another, and I ended up participating in a jail break, discovered I have powers—turns out I'm part space-alien, which I'm sure is a huge suprise to anyone who knows me—and got an opportunity to spend the summer studying magic in the hopes of being a real witch. I was supposed to go to a summer camp that teaches kids about mortgages in the hopes it'd help me remember that I'm not supposed to bring fireworks to school next time but, well..."
"Oh, trust me, Camp Reality Check is a waste of time for anyone who actually needs a reality check," Masha added. "Really, if someone was recommended there by, say, a school counselor, to help them fit in and stop living in fantasy and crud, then I'd recommend checking that person's credentials. Don't get me wrong, I love that I know how to do my own plumbing and put up drywall, but I don't see how that was supposed to do anything about getting caught up in weird hobbies or misusing creative energy. It's really more for people who need a crash course in practical skills."
"That said," Luz continued, "I did get what I need in the Isles. Real friends. New family. An awesome girlfriend." An upbeat musical sting played. "Yes, Hermosa, I said the thing. I had people who liked me for me, who helped me realize when I was crossing the line but also encouraged me to stand up for myself and be who I want to be. I became a witch's apprentice, I was enrolled in a magiv school, I learned powerful magic, carved my own palisman," Stringbean animated and flew over the crowd for a moment before returing to perch on Luz's shoulder, "and with hard work and a lot of help became a powerful witch in my own right... And if the idea of me, of all people, having so much power scares anyone here, that's okay because it kind of scares me, too," Luz quipped, which earned some laughs. "But, well, while I was making friends and having adventures, Belos took note of me. I was the first human he'd seen in centuries, and... I'm not a psychiatrist, but I've been seeing one, and he agrees with my assessment: Emperor Belos... Philip Wittebane... He was a narcissistic sociopath who could never admit that he was wrong but also couldn't completely convince himself he was right. He was desperate for another human to validate him, to tell him that he was right and what he was doing was good..."
"At first," Hunter took over, "He stole Caleb's body and used his bones to create... Well, clones, to keep it simple. A better version of his brother who would act the way he wanted... and at any deviation, he'd kill them and then make a new one." The illusions manifested a mirror, reflecting the audience and the town square perfectly while emphasizing the statue of Caleb as Hunter tore off his mask and let his resemblance to the carved figure speak for him. There were murmors and a few gasps as people recognized. "My uncle had long since given up on that by the time Luz came around. He was making us just to kill us off later, and it's because of Luz and the other people whose lives she touched that I was spared that fate. But, it did mean that she was a target of his delusions."
The image then changed to a recreation of Luz and Hunter being confronted by the Inner Belos, and then Luz resumed. "He went to great effort to try and recruit me to his cause. To try and make me agree with him... He even managed to trick me and manipulate me into helping him," Luz admitted out loud. The details were inconsequential, but this part she felt needed to be said if she was going to get any closure for this. "I got stranded in the demon realm for a while after losing the portal to Belos, and he tried to use that to get me to join him... The demented freak even offered to let me 'keep' my girlfriend. As if she were some kind of pet. But, we were able to get a message back to Earth, and help arrived at the Eleventh Hour."
The image became the heroes from Earth who had come to help them, fighting a monstrous Belos or helping young witches through the portal.
"...And the consequences of not holding up his end of the deal with one of the beings he bartered with came back to bite him."
The image changed to the Collector splattering Belos.
"I wish I could say that that was the end of the story," Luz continued, "but... Well, to paraphrase a well-known but somewhat problematic franchise, there just wasn't enough human left in Belos to die. Not from that. He continued to exist as just a tiny sliver of parasitic sludge and came back to the human realm without our knowledge. And the most awful coincidence that ever could have happened meant that Belos met another monster that for some inexplicable reason had chosen to hide out in the woods here in Gravesfield... Belos wanted my power. So did the other monster, and if any of you caught the Jean Grey Institute Charity Danceathon a while back, well..."
The image changed to when Belos revealed that he'd possessed Carnage. "Hello again, Luzura."
"Now this whole event was televised: I got possessed but was able to force him out with the power of friendship, Carnage was destroyed, but Belos escaped... But he didn't get far." Luz let that hang for a moment as Amity began to play a melody that was halfway between rock and country. "I had to ask around to find out how he finally died since I wasn't there for this part, but from what I've been told, well..."
The image changed to a beaten Belos fleeing for his life in the middle of the night down a dark and empty highway... Before he was entrapped in flaming chains. The Ghost Rider rode on by him, and then Belos was dragged off after him. "He was dragged straight to Hell when his countless sins caught up with him." It felt wrong to say that instead of 'the bad place,' but it worked better for the story so Luz could deal.
"And so, after centuries," Masha concluded. "We finally bring the dark and tragic tale of the Brothers Wittebane to its end."
Everything was silent for a moment, and then... Applause.