A run-in with some friendly wildlife has life-threatening consequences for Luz.
Tropes That Appear In This Chapter:
- Anti-Regeneration: It seems that Luz's ill-defined Healing Factor and Lady Hele's healing magic are useless against Demon's Pneumonia, since the disease uses a witch's own reserve of magic-bile to protect itself. The only thing remotely effective is the same palisman-potion Belos uses to heal from his curse.
- Blessed with Suck: Hele implies that Luz's own Healing Factor is obstructing some of her healing magic before it can effect the Demon's Pneumonia in her system.
- The Caligula: The emperor before Belos, Emperor Crisis, was responsible for the Savage Ages, having ruled over demonkind before Belos overthrew him. Given that he was called the "Lord of Chaos", this era was wrought with societal instability.
- Combat Medic: Lady Hele is the current leader of the Healing Coven, is the palace doctor, and was one of the first of Belos' followers before he overthrew Emperor Crisis.
- Does This Remind You of Anything?: Belos is reluctant to use his palisman potion to heal Luz of her debilitating illness because it is highly addictive and comes with its own set of problems down the road, not unlike Real Life opioid medications.
- Evil Chancellor: Zul implies they used to be this before they were trapped in a Magic Mirror.
- Forced Transformation: Zul admits that they only look like Luz because her shattering the mirror imprisoning them trapped them in that form; otherwise, he'd be able to naturally copy the shape of other characters.
- Harmful Healing: While Belos relents, he is extremely reluctant to use his palisman potion to cure Luz, as it has proven to become an addition for him, and doesn't want Luz to fall prey to that or the side effects that could occur down the road.
- Lovecraftian Superpower: Belos implies his method of teleporting, including its unnerving execution, is all a part of the Titan's "gift". Later, he transmogrifies a pen into a stethoscope to replace Camila's old one, but it looks like it's made from fleshy-demon parts.
- Our Manticores Are Spinier: Luz encounters a manticore in the woods and helps it by pulling a thorn from its paw. Unfortunately, manticores are carriers of Demon's Pneumonia and it nearly kills her the following day.
- Power Incontinence: One of the symptoms of Witch's Flu and Demon's Pneumonia is runaway magic, as Luz starts sneezing fireballs and undoing gravity in a small radius.
- Real After All: Belos reveals that Luz's favorite fictional characters — the Good Witch Azura and her nemesis Hecate — were real witches in the Boiling Isles, having become legends before Belos' time.
- Red Herring: While at first it seems that Luz is merely suffering from Witch's Flu after encountering another sufferer earlier the previous day, it is actually revealed that she has the significantly deadlier Demon's Pneumonia after she starts coughing up blood, having caught it from the manticore she helped.
- Shout-Out: The Mirror Monster from previous chapters derisively calls Belos "Beetlejuice".
- Surprisingly Realistic Outcome: Fictional zoology aside, it is never a good idea to approach a stray animal in the wild. Even if it isn't openly aggressive, it could still carry parasites and diseases that could have devastating effects, especially for anyone new to that environment and thus lacking any level of immunity to local sicknesses.
- Would Hurt a Child: The reason why Eda stopped selling Level 3-5 potions, as one of her clients once used one of them to set fire to a children's hospital.
