It's a Long Way To Dearest Gravesfield

Chapter 7: Briefings

When they arrive, Darius and Eberwolf greet them at the door, ushering them in with offers of warm drinks and snacks. They return the borrowed Palisman staffs and settle around the large table where Willow, Gus, Amity, and their parents already sit, Emira and Edric on either side of their sister. Also present are the rest of the CATs and Principal Bump. They settle in, Camila and Luz staying protectively close to Hunter.

Raine calls the meeting to order, "So we have some catching up to do. We need to tell you what we've been doing since you left and you need to tell us about the Day of Unity and whatever's happened since that could help us."

Darius starts off, "After the Day of Unity, we've had to try to piece back together some kind of government. It didn't go well. The coven heads couldn't agree on how to keep the peace, the Collector kept changing the rules and drawing people to play with them, and there were other faction that tried to carve out their own territories. None of it worked out very well. The immediate days after were terrible. Looting, burning, all the things you'd expect from people whose entire lives were turned up-side-down as they realized their 'benevolent' Emperor just tried to drain their magic and kill them. So we've been trying to intervene in the chaos, when we can. Bonesborough hasn't fared well, but it's been better than some places. We've mostly got Warden Wrath under control, especially since the Conformatorium burned," he shoots Eda a look, "mysteriously. But mostly, we've been trying to figure out what the Collector is and what they want, other than to play. We'd also heard that Belos still has followers and they've been adamant that since his body wasn't found, he's still alive. They seem to think the Day of Unity was a spell with good intentions that went wrong, or there was tampering from wild witches."

Amity nods, "And we can confirm he's not dead. But let's start with the Day of Unity. Luz went to confront Belos and we followed. Hunter was being drained, thanks to his coven sigil, but we were able to fight back. Belos transformed...he's not a witch anymore, not like us. He's a monster. Once King freed the Collector, they were pretty mad at Belos. Apparently he promised to free the Collector and didn't. So...he flung him into the wall so hard that Belos splattered. I think this is how he came through to the human realm. He dripped on one of us...or something. We had to step through a puddle of..... We were just trying to get out of there after the Collector ended the draining spell and decided to make their own Owl House. We were in danger of falling into an abyss and the only way we could escape was to go through Belos' portal to the human realm. We did, and we stayed with Camila the entire time we were gone."

"We discovered a hidden rebus in the cabin we'd taken over as our own headquarters," Luz continued, "it was an abandoned shack in the woods that used to lead to Eda's portal door. Since Belos made his out of the remains of hers, that made sense we came through there. But we were trapped. The portal collapsed. We tried to build a new one, but it didn't go so well. When we found the rebus under the floor, the others decided to decode it while I was at school. They were going to surprise me with what they found, because it indicated it led to Titan's blood."

"I kinda messed that up," Hunter interjects. "I was nervous. I'd thought I'd seen Belos, or heard him, and it was terrifying...so I stole the rebus and Luz and I sneaked out to Old Gravesfield. I saw something in the woods and took off. When I got there, Belos took over my body. I couldn't stop him. It was...bad. He fought my friends, crushed my Palisman, and I nearly died. Flapjack saved me...he...he used whatever strength was left in him to bring me back. But he's gone."

"We know more about who Belos was before he was Emperor, though," Luz continues. "We know some stuff that's pretty dark about the Golden Guards. And we know Belos was human before whatever he did to turn into a monster. His name was Phillip Wittebane and he came from Old Gravesfield in the 1600s when people suspected of being witches were being burned alive. His goal was to become the Witch Hunter General - that's still his goal. He and his brother disappeared from there and were never seen again. But they came here. And Caleb met a witch he fell in love with, so Philip killed him. Hunter and I were in Belos' memories and we saw paintings...they were pretty awful."