𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐧𝐞𝐰𝐛𝐢𝐞 | 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐠𝐨𝐥𝐝𝐞𝐧 𝐠𝐮𝐚𝐫𝐝

[52]

𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘳𝘦𝘦 𝘵𝘦𝘦𝘯𝘴 𝘩𝘰𝘱𝘱𝘦𝘥 𝘰𝘶𝘵 𝘰𝘧 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘮𝘦𝘮𝘰𝘳𝘺, 𝘰𝘯𝘦 𝘰𝘧 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘮 𝘧𝘳𝘰𝘸𝘯𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘢𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘱𝘰𝘳𝘵𝘳𝘢𝘪𝘵 𝘨𝘭𝘰𝘸𝘦𝘥, 𝘢𝘭𝘭 𝘰𝘧 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘮 𝘰𝘶𝘵.

"Belos was lying!" Luz exclaimed, Hunter looked back at the portrait in slight disbelief. 

"Wild witches weren't attacking him!" She glared at the boy. "How could you help someone like that?"

"He didn't know," Georgia frowned at Luz, gently pushing the girl away before looking at Hunter with a raised brow. 

"...Right?"

Hunter shook his head shakily, Georgia nodding a little as Luz hummed suspiciously.

"That was... probably a special technique to get people to listen to his message," Hunter stormed off. "It's... It's for the greater good."

Luz glared at Hunter's denial, Georgia frowning at him slightly. The Latina began walking up to Hunter, about to talk some sense into him before Georgia spotted green-tentacle like objects nearing them, tapping on Luz's shoulder.

"Luz, we might want to start running!" She cried out, Luz screaming after as they followed the giggling purple child.

"AGH! He found us!"

The kid hopped into a different portrait, his feet landing in the soft snow on the other side as the group followed, running up a steep hill to where a group of people stood, Belos still the centre of attention.

The child spotted a long piece of rope lying across a witch's shoulder. He jumped up, grabbing the rope before running deeper into the crowd of nine people.

"What's the kid doing?" Hunter questioned while Luz hugged her arms close from the cold and shushed the boy as Georgia shivered a little.

Seeing this, Hunter lifted his arm slightly, Georgia noticing this as she sidled up to him, the boy placing his arm over her shoulder as his cape covered her slightly. 

"Look what wild magic has done to your city," Belos frowned, gesturing to the burning town, smoke arising from its remains. 

"Now imagine what it's doing to you!" He clenched his fist. "A city can rise from the ashes. But a soul..."

Belos shook his head, the people gasping as they looked at one another in worry.

"What does that mean?" The female witch gasped, questioning, looking at the others as they murmured in worry.

"Wait... what?" Another witch asked, frowning.

Luz frowned, Hunter's gaze trained on his uncle as Georgia looked at the people in concern.

"I can make your magic pure again, as the Titan intended!" Belos cheered.

He held his staff out, another Golden Guard placing a grey glove onto his hand, the golden tip on his pointer glowing as the nine townsfolk held their wrists out.

The Guard walked closer to the people, tapping his finger against their wrists as different sigils with different logos appeared on them. The townsfolk smiled at each other in relief, some holding their arms up in joy as Belos' voice continued to speak.

"Welcome to your new covens!"

The purple-skinned witch from before smiled, lowering her arm to look at her sigil before it began to glow a light lilac, the woman covering her eyes before they shut in pain. The sigil began glowing, purple lines streaking across her arm slowly as the woman looked at her arm in horror, eyes wide.