[discontinued] the wrong portal

I have to go disappoint my teacher

"You'll help me get stronger?"

"Umm, yeah, I did say I would help you."

"Thank you!" Luz' eyes lit up and a wide grin flashed on her face.

"Umm, are you alright?" A small voice sounded out and Luz stopped dead, turning around with her eyes wide. She saw a short girl, wearing a black dress with purple sleeves and leggings, with messy black hair (pls confirm what colour it is in comments I have no idea but it looks black) billowing down onto her shoulders, wearing big, round glasses as her forehead was stained with a purple smudge in the shape of a star. She quickly rubbed the star off and asked the human again.

"Uh, yep! I'm fine! Who are you!" Luz quickly slapped her mask back on her head and stood up straight, flashing the girl a quick thumbs up, pretending that she wasn't talking to the shadowy who had now tucked himself back into her cloak.

"I'm Willow, and why are you an emperor's coven guard? You look my age!" The short girl asked, tilting her head in curiosity. Luz tried to think of an excuse but was stopped by a quiet hiss from her cloak.

"Just tell her the truth you idiot!"

"I'm Luz! Hi!" She awkwardly waved and smiled behind her mask, voice cracking.

"So why are you in the emperor's coven so young? I thought witches needed to be 16 at least to join one!"

"I'm, erm, not a witch. Tada!" She spat out slowly and gave half hearted jazz hands, flipping her mask and hood off to reveal her round ears.

"Oh! Wow! A human! This is astounding!" She took a few steps forward in excitement but was stopped by her a distant bell sounding. "Sorry, I have to go disappoint my teacher."

"Oh, alright, see you." Luz responded, disappointed. The two girls turned and went their separate ways. Luz arrived at the castle and approached the job board, tearing down the mission that she went on, still sickened by the memory of the mutilated corpses. She headed to her room and checked her phone, it wasn't too late, so she figured she should just go eat and check the job board for another job that hadn't been done yet.

On the way to the job board, she bumped into Hunter, who was marching up and down, aimlessly.

"Hey Hunter! What are you doing?"

"Waiting for an assignment."

"Well why don't you go to the job board?" She said in an imitating voice, smirking at him.

"Shut up." He grunted, then turned to her again. "So? Did you actually get a job from the job board done?"

"Yep!"

"Which one? I can't believe that you have much ability to defeat people in battle."

"I'll have you know that I am perfectly capable of fighting!" Hunter scoffed at her dismissively.

"Yeah, right! Anyway, one of the conformatorium guards is off sick, if you can take his place."

"Sure! Can you give me a lift?"

"Alright, just take my staff and send it back when you get there."

"Thanks!" She smiled at him and he just shoved his staff towards her. Luz swung her legs around the staff, gripping it hard enough to turn her knuckles white as it lifted her up in the air and flew out of the window. The staff slowed down and dropped Luz off, before speeding back in the direction of the castle. The teen, still wobbly from her travels on the staff, walked over to the entrance of the conformatorium, letting herself in and being greeted by a hulking giant of a figure, wearing a similar uniform to regular guards.

"Hey, you Gary's stand-in? I'm the warden. You need to be wearing a prison guard's uniform though, the wardrobe is just down there, first left, second right, third on the left, go straight ahead, under the stars, past the bins, fifth door on your left, hurry up!" 

"Those are oddly specific instructions, do they not have signs here?"

"Nope, I would have had some put in here but I didn't build the place and I don't get paid enough to care." 

"Fair enough." She responded and rushed down, following the convoluted instructions. After a minute of rushing she found a wardrobe and eyed up the uniform, it had a mask, just like the regular outfit, except it more resembled an old plague doctor's outfit, she slipped it on and rushed back to the warden.

"Good, now, take a left down there and guard that area with the one obsessed with apple blood, she isn't much of a fighter, just wants to challenge you to a game of hexes holdem where if she wins you give her apple blood, she's just weird.

"Ok, sounds easy." She strolled down and took her post, glancing down at the prisoner she was supposed to guard.

"Oh, It's you." The disgruntled old lady grumbled from her dingy cell, recognising Luz immediately.

"Wh- how did you recognise me?"

"You smell weird, like lemons and young, naive confidence." She grunted out, still not warming up to the human.

"How does confidence even have a smell?" The older lady shrugged and gave a dismissive huff.

"Titan knows, anyway, do you even have any apple blood on you?"

"Don't you mean apple juice?" 

"No, I already prefer Gary compared to you."

"Ouch, and why would I give you anything? You're a criminal!"

"Hey! I haven't been caught breaking any of the stupid laws you enforce!"

"That doesn't mean you're innocent!"

"Nothing's a crime if you don't get caught." The lady snorted at her own joke, then her face changed to a serious look. "I still don't like you, but if you get the chance can you check up on my house? King will have run out of snacks by now."

"Who's King?" Luz gave a confused look from behind her mask.

"The little goober that you left alone in my house, with Hooty! And don't give me that look, I can see it in those eyes through that mask of yours!" The teen stopped to think and remembered the small, dog-like creature that she saw in the house.

"Oh, that guy? He's so cute!"

"I know!" The witch's eyes lit up and a reminiscent smile appeared on her face, before she wiped it off. "Anyhow, go check on him, he's an idiot and will get himself killed if he's left unsupervised."

"Yes, ma'am!" Luz saluted and went back to standing at her post, the rest of her shift went by, uneventful as the lady she was guarding showed no intention of escaping. After her shift ended, she headed over to the warden.

"Oh yeah, just put the outfit back in the wardrobe, it'll get washed eventually." He turned to her and grunted out before turning back to another guard who seemed to be giving him advice on asking people out, Luz just headed down the long corridors before making it to the wardrobe, she swapped out her regular uniform and headed out of the building, before stopping and realising that she was in a giant hole in the ground where the conformatorium was located, she sighed in frustration and set out to drawing an ice glyph in the ground to lift her out.

"Ugh, I really need a staff." She got out of the hole and trudged in the direction of the castle.