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The Golden Guard looked down at this… man in disbelief.
‘ This couldn’t have been him.’ Granted, this man shared a striking resemblance. Sure, he looked to be 10 years his senior, had stubble that he presumed was a hard-won attempt at growing a beard and a gold ring on his right hand.
Hunter finally looked up from his half carved palisman to see the Golden Guard. This would've scared the carver, if he wasn’t struck by a certain memory at first sight.
“So, today’s the day?” He remembered reading about an old forbidden trick with time pools, giving someone a quick peek into their own future.
“Who are you?” the Golden Guard ordered.
Hunter let out a little laugh. “Isn't it obvious?”
Hunter had always wondered what he would say to his younger self. Would he tell him who Belos really was? Would he tell him about who he really was, about his new friends and family?
“There’s no way you’re me,” he snapped back. “I would never abandon my uncle nor the Emperor's Coven for… this.”
Hunter sighed as he got back to work. In the end, every scenario led to the same conclusion: he wouldn’t listen. Whether due to his stubbornness, the timeline not letting his mind change to keep it as was, or something else, the fresh 16 year old Hunter would ignore him to live the life he was brainwashed into believing.
“Trust me kid,” Hunter said, not meeting his eyes. “You are. And it’s going to be the best decision of your life.”
“What life could be better than the one Belos has planned?”
“One where Belos isn’t in anyone’s life and doesn’t have to live under his stupid rules.”
“You take that!”
Hunter didn’t respond, continuing his whittling work. He did stop, however, once his younger self aimed his powered up artificial staff in his direction.
“Take back what you said about the Emperor before I-”
“You’re not gonna do it.”
“What?!”
“You’re not gonna kill me.”
“You think I don’t have the courage to take a life?”
“No. I think you don’t have the courage to set this future in stone.”
It was hard to say what was going through the Golden Guard’s mind — not helped by his face hidden behind that stupid mask — but it was clear he was confused; evident in his staff powering down and being moved an inch from his neck.
“What?”
“You see, if you kill me here, in our future, you will be cementing my death as a fixed point in time. Thus, you will grow up to leave the Emperor's Coven, you will end up exactly like me and all resulting in you being killed by a past us, thus repeating the cycle forever.”
Belos’ right hand man, who still had his staff aimed at his (supposedly) future self’s neck, looked around confused before finally, slowly, lifting it. Hunter sighed. He wasn’t actually sure if what he just said was true. Truthfully, he had just pulled it out of his ass, quickly thinking of a very similar scene in Cosmic Frontier .
“What is it?” The Golden Guard said. “What does this life have to cause us- I mean you to leave the Emperor's Coven?”
“It has a better job, that doesn’t force us through hell or put our life on the line. It has people, who we can call our friends and who care about us. It has people who we call family and who are happy to have us a part of it. It has a beautiful, caring wife and an even more beautiful daughter who brings us endless joy. Not to mention, a second child on the way.”
The Golden Guard scoffed. “We- You! You gave up everything Belos gave us all for some pathetic, worthless wild witches.”
This was it — the only thing that actually got a rise out of Hunter. He stopped whittling and glared up at his past self, gripping the wood and knife tight in his fist. He could take a lot from his past self but calling his captain pathetic was out of line.
But before he could act on this anger, his past self shifted. It started at his boots before slowly making its way up his legs. He seemed to notice a beat later, removing his mask and finally unveiling the fresh, youthful face — one that furiously fixed him in a glare.
“You are a failure,” he said. “You are a disgrace to the Titan, a disgrace to the coven system itself and a disgrace to my — our uncle.” Before he could say something about how he will never be like him, his jaw disappeared followed by the rest of his head.
Hunter stared at the place where his past self once stood, slowly taking in his words. After a few moments of silent contemplation, he laughed and returned to his work.
“Two out of three ain’t bad.”