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Titan knows what he saw in Belos’ mind, I can’t blame him for not coming back. I know you’re worried about the kid, but he’s probably with Eda. And you know how I feel about contacting Eda.
I think Belos wants to hide the fact that the Golden Guard left his side right before the Day of Unity. Which is good, means he’s scared of what it would make people think.
So, chill, will ya? The CATs got this. Hiss!
Meet me tomorrow night at the Latissa hideout. Derwin says he found something about the eclipse.
-R
Darius frowned and crumbled the little piece of paper his abomination messenger had brought him, feeding it to Eberwolf. Even though they had a point, Raine definitely did not understand why the situation was concerning. This wasn’t the reply he was expecting to his previous note.
First of all, he was not worried about the Golden Guard. The kid was a soldier after all, he could protect himself from whatever is out there. And even if he wouldn’t be able to, it was not like Darius cared about such a brat.
The concerning thing was that Belos didn’t seem to care. The Golden Guard hadn't come to the castle for two days, and everyone was acting like this was normal, like he didn’t exist in the first place.
Belos didn’t give any orders about finding or arresting him. He must’ve known that Hunter and Luz were inside his mind, he must’ve been aware of what they learned.
Then why did the Emperor not see Hunter as a threat? Did he not know anything useful? And if he didn’t know anything, why the hell did he not come back?
Was the kid already taken care of? Was he already put out of his misery?
No, no. If that was the case they would promote someone else to his position. When his mentor died, it only took a few hours to have the ceremony of Hunter inheriting his staff. Darius looked awful in every single picture that day, which was extremely rare. In his defense, he was still in shock; his mentor was in perfect health, and he was strong enough to not die on a stupid mission, despite what the records said. Darius was surprised, sad, suspicious, and way too tired to care about the next Golden Guard.
They had five days until the Day of Unity now, and the CATs still didn’t have enough information about this spell to stop it. There was a slight possibility that Hunter or Luz knew some useful stuff, but Raine insisted they wouldn’t contact the Owl Lady. Other than the Owl House, Darius had no idea where Hunter could be, and no one else seemed to wonder so.
After destroying the piece of paper successfully, Eberwolf tugged Darius’ cloak to divert his attention from Raine’s message. They knew he wasn’t pleased with it; knowing him for many years had its perks, such as being able to read his very subtle, but thoughtful expressions.
Until the meeting tomorrow night, they decided to do some further research. Maybe if they found out more about it, convincing Raine to use the Owl Lady’s curse would be easier. They didn’t have any other plan, after all.
•••
The wild witches who were captured and put into covens by force had always been problematic and troublesome, therefore the Emperor often called meetings to show some reports, the captured witches’ special abilities, and how he was going to distribute them into their covens for orientation.
He didn’t really care about the rest as long as he made sure the newly captured witches got their sigils, so the duty of adapting these “wilds” into civilization was left to the coven heads.
The meetings were necessary to keep everything organized. Since the order of capture of covenless witches was more and more fierce and strict as the Day of Unity approached, the frequency of the meetings increased as well.
Darius barely was able to keep his eyes open during the whole hour; he would definitely rather have a bubble bath right now. He had some new files, but he didn’t bother to take care of them, there was going to be no magic after the draining spell anyway.
As the end of the meeting came and Kikimora started to gather back all the files, Darius was done cleaning eight of his nails. While he was moving onto the ninth, Kikimora asked:
“Should I carry them to the storage unit, Sir?”
The Emperor didn’t bother to look at her.
“No. The Golden Guard will pick them up later.”
Darius’ hand slipped, and he almost broke the nail he was cleaning. He tried to see the Emperor’s expression as he mentioned the Golden Guard, but couldn’t see his face with his back turned.
“Sir, I noticed you’re only giving him errands to run.” Kikimora pointed out, trying to hold back her smile. “Instead of actual missions, I mean. Is he getting demoted?”
“I’m just giving him a break after everything that has happened, that’s all.”
Kikimora didn’t seem to understand what that meant, but she let it go and turned back to her work. After a couple of minutes the Emperor left the room, announcing the meeting is over.
One by one the coven heads passed through the wide doors. Adrian groaned loudly, complaining something about his back as Terra rolled her eyes, saying how she still has the bestest of the bodies despite her age.
Darius didn’t hear even a single one of the things the other coven heads were saying. After a couple of seconds that felt like hours to him, the meeting room was completely empty, except for the mountain of files, the abomination coven head, and his endless thoughts on air.
He stared blankly at his nails, mentally replaying what the Emperor said in his head to make sure he heard what was actually said and not what he wanted to hear. Though he wasn’t sure if what he wanted was the Golden Guard to be in the castle.
He was just about to start to make another million theories with the new information he got, but before he could get lost in thoughts, said guard entered the room. He had his mask and the white cloak on, covering any personality that might slip, making him look like the pawn that he is.
He didn’t look at Darius. Even if he did, Darius did not notice it through the mask. The Golden Guard kept his head up, standing upright, and walked straight to the files. He walked like Hunter did when he wanted to look taller, or more grown up, like a professional. Usually he had a cocky expression that Darius despised when he walked like that, as he tried to fool people into thinking he had enough self confidence. This one was different. This one was actually professional; it looked like the kid only walked to get his job done, and didn’t care about anything else.
He scooped up the files, made sure he had some balance so none of the papers would be lost, and with the same robotic walk, headed toward the door.
Darius blinked. Was he not going to say anything?
When the guard reached the end of the room and was about to turn to the long corridor that had his destination, the storage unit, Darius panicked that he would disappear again for days if he took his eyes off of him.
“Doing chores, Golden Guard?” was the only thing that he could think of that would sound… normal. He doubted he managed to capture his usual teasing tone though.
He wasn’t the type of person that panics. He would get mad if he was underestimated and would maybe let his emotions lead the fight. But panic was never one of those emotions. Now, though, he was strangely nervous, and he couldn’t believe what he was nervous about was literally talking to a teenager.
The Golden Guard stopped and turned to Darius, the dark void of the mask meeting his eyes for the first time. “Duties.” He said. “Every mission is essential, Coven Head Deamonne.”
Darius did not recall Hunter ever calling him by his last name. The rank was usual, since your worth was determined by what you accomplished in the Emperor’s Coven, but the use of the last name was quite abnormal for him.
“Did Terra give you some tea, Hunter?” he asked, because the Golden Guard was not acting like he remembered being inside Belos’ mindscape. If they actually gave him the tea, he might need the help of Raine and a witch with great healing magic. Even then, he wasn’t sure they would be able to convince him to betray his uncle and gather information from the poor kid.
The Golden Guard paused for a moment like this was a really weird question to ask.
“To be honest, I can’t picture Coven Head Snapdragon offering beverages to anyone.”
Darius couldn’t help a chuckle. “I suppose that’s true.”
He wasn’t sure if that was a good thing or not. If it was the tea, at least they knew what to do with it, how to avoid it and how to turn him back to normal. They had experience, due to Raine’s capture. But if it wasn’t the tea, Darius couldn’t have an explanation why the Golden Guard wasn’t acting like Darius expected him to do so.
Maybe the Emperor found him and threatened him so hard that he was terrified to even call Darius by his first name? Maybe he thought he was on thin ice so he agreed to run basic errands?
“Well, have a nice evening, Mr. Deamonne.” The guard said as he fixed his grip on the files. “I should get going.”
“Wait!”
The guard paused and took back the step he was about to take. Darius couldn’t see his face, but he could safely assume he was a little annoyed that Darius wouldn’t just leave him alone and let him do his job.
“Do you remember what happened two days ago?”
The guard must’ve been tired of carrying files for the whole conversation, so he walked back to the table and left them there. “Of course I do.”
“Did you… learn anything there?” Darius said, wishing he could see Hunter’s face so that he could check if what he said even meant anything to him. “Are you okay?” he added quietly.
The guard thought for a moment how to respond.
“Before I could detect the identities of the traitors, they fled, so no, I couldn’t learn. Unfortunately.” He replied, ignoring the second question.
So he didn’t recognize us, Darius thought, at least that would put Raine’s mind at ease. Still, the answer was not good enough.
“You know that’s not what I’m asking.”
The guard didn’t think this time. “I really don’t.”
Darius stood up from his chair, slowly pushed it back towards the table and carefully approached the kid.
“Hunter,” he tried to say with the gentlest voice he had, though he doubted he could make him believe this was a safe space. “After going into his mindscape, there is absolutely no way you didn’t learn how horrible Belos is. If he did or said something to you, you can tell me, and we will figure out how we can stop the Emperor together. Alright?”
He looked at the Golden Guard for a reaction, a sigh of relief, an afraid cry, anything. However, the guard stood still, measuring him through the dark holes of his mask.
Please say something. Darius thought.
“People can tell when you’re in there, so I thought…”
His words died in his mouth, turning into silent mumbles. He thought many things, he had many possibilities in his head, terrifying theories, and also worries, a lot of them. Maybe Raine was right about that part.
“I’m just glad that you’re okay.” He said as he put a hand on the Golden Guard’s shoulder on top of his clean white cloak. “If something happened to a child in there, I don’t think I would be able to live racked with guilt.”
The moment he finished his sentence, the Golden Guard grasped the arm he put on his shoulder, turned it around and pushed it up from Darius’ back, and used his astonishment to trip him over with a leg sweep at the same time.
Darius’ back hit the floor with a loud thud, and while he was trying to get over his confusion, the Golden Guard quickly grabbed his other arm as well, blocking him completely from making a spell circle.
Martial arts was essential for a witch with no magic, Darius figured. His mentor had shown him the same move not so long after they started training together. Darius wondered if his mentor was the one that taught Hunter the same thing.
“Do you wish harm on our mighty Emperor, Mr. Deamonne?” the Golden Guard growled. His grip tightened with the thought of holding a traitor on the floor. His voice sounded like he already decided that he won the fight, which seemed quite funny and cute to Darius.
Unfortunately for the guard, Darius’ abomination magic was much more than spell circles. His abilities weren't shallow like that hack Alador’s, there was a reason why Darius was the coven head, not him.
Moreover, he really hated that his face was too close to the filthy floor Adrian just stepped on with his ugly shoes. His clothes were getting wrinkled and dirty, and he had planned to wash his whites not too soon, so he would really prefer if his white cloak stayed the way it is.
He turned his arms into abomination goop, making them slide through the guard’s hands, and using them to catch him instead.
Except, while he was reaching towards the white figure, it turned red, teleporting behind the abomination arms to hit the back of Darius’ head with the red glowing orb of his artificial staff.
Before he could swing the cane, Darius turned his back, quickly catching the stick mid-air. “What? Are you too shy to use Flapjack?”
The guard slightly tilted his head. “Who?”
Darius tried to not think about how it was worse that Flapjack wasn’t with him. He had met the bird on their way back to the castle from the day Hunter tried to kidnap some Hexide students, and all he could say was that the bird was an absolute sweetheart, protective and very loyal to his witch.
Their bond kind of made him wish he didn’t join the coven so that he would be allowed to have a palisman.
For him to not be around Hunter, something terrible must’ve happened.
Darius threw that thought away from his head, trying to focus on the fight itself. The Golden Guard shouldn’t be a challenging opponent, but if he wanted to catch him alive to ask more questions securely, he needed to be careful.
“Darius Deamonne.” The Golden Guard declared his full name like a mom who’s about to scold her child. “I must arrest you for the crimes of plotting malice against the Emperor and fighting back against a coven official.”
The guard teleported again, sneaking behind him to land a hit, but Darius quickly turned his abomination arms into shields.
The Golden Guard was young and lacked fighting experience; he did not know fighting against someone stronger than you was like running a marathon. If you did not preserve your energy right, you would pass out mid-run.
As he kept teleporting again and again, another hit came in each flash of red, however all Darius needed to do as the Golden Guard wasted his energy and magic impatiently was to keep his shields up and wait. He stood still, watching the guard’s breathing go quicker and quicker. Even though the magic didn’t generate from his bile sac, activating the magic of the artificial staff still must have taken some energy.
Eventually the guard stopped, staying in his place to catch his breath. His chest was moving up and down quickly, challenging Darius to scold him to breathe with his diaphragm, not with his chest. He did not say anything, because he wasn’t this kid’s mentor, nor teacher, nor father, nothing like that.
He wasn’t stupid enough to waste this opportunity neither, so while the guard tried to recharge his energy with heavy breaths, he created two abomination spikes. They stretched towards the guard, resembling vines.
“No!” The guard yelled right before the abomination goop was about to catch him. He pointed his staff towards Darius again. “Keep those away from me!”
“Pretty hypocritical for you to say while you were just attacking me, kid.” Darius pulled the abomination arms back, making them smaller as a sign of peace. “Can we talk? Please?”
While the guard was trying to keep his fighting stance despite his trembling legs, he opened his mouth. Then he let out a little yelp and dropped his staff. It hit the tile floor with a noise that made both of them cringe.
Even though Darius wished to solve everything with talking, he couldn’t help but fetch the staff, leaving the guard completely magicless. Then he turned back to the guard to see what scared him.
To his surprise, the guard had tens of little spiders on him, crawling on his cape to get inside. A couple of them managed to get into the thin holes of his mask, and made the guard take it off and throw it away with panic.
Darius was about to catch the guard when he got a glimpse of the guard’s previously hidden face; he paused, and held the artificial staff tighter, frozen.
That wasn’t Hunter.
Okay, it was. But wasn’t? Darius knew he wasn’t. His face was a little rounder, hair a shade lighter, his little strand in front of his eyes shorter, his skin paler.
No tooth gap. No face scar. No undercut.
Same voice.
It was like Hunter, but with a very realistic penstagram filter.
One would think it’s Hunter if they were a couple meters away. Or if they didn’t really care what happened to him.
He resembled Hunter enough to fool people who didn’t interact with him for more than 5 seconds, which were literally everyone in the castle.
Eberwolf’s little chirp to say hi was the thing that got Darius out of his trance. He looked at Eberwolf as they drew another spell circle and the number of spiders doubled, none of them touching Darius, fortunately.
He didn’t even notice when Eberwolf entered the room, or if they were watching the whole time. However, by their smug expression and confident body language, Darius could easily understand they were expecting a thank you, or saying you’re welcome, dear.
“I completely had it under control, don’t get so hyped up already.” He mumbled, annoyed. “Now.” He growled and grabbed not-Hunter’s now messed up uniform’s collar.
“Who the fuck are you?”