Chapter Text
Caleb was walking around in his house, worried sick. It was already eight pm, Hunter should be home by now, he phoned the club, Hunter did attend, but the meeting ended at six. He also spoke to the school, where they confirmed that they haven't seen him since the last bell rang. Where on earth is he then? Caleb called him at least twenty times already, the call always goes to voicemail straight. "Alright, if he doesn't come home 'till midnight, then I'll call the police and report him as a missing person.
Meanwhile Hunter was laying on the strange woman's couch, fast asleep, unbothered by the rather loud conversation taking place in the kitchen. "Why can't we just eat him?" A short, dog like demon asked looking at the unconscious Hunter "For the last time King, we're not going to eat him, he's just a random human, once he's awake and fully healed I'll send him right back where he came from" the woman said in a serious tone, which was uncharacteristic for her. "But, at least we could use him for something, you know in return for healing him" The furry creature argued "No King, we won't..." She started but was interupted by a loud voice "Eda! Look who I found in the forest, it's your sister Eda, isn't that sweet, she came to visit" It was the creature from the door, holding a black haired woman, trowing her onto the carpet. "Lilith, let me guess, you came to convince me to join the coven right?" Eda asked, already knowing what's about to happen "Come on Edalyn, the Emperor doesn't want to force you into his coven, but if you joined he would take care of your curse, and we could be in the coven together, like we wanted to when we were litttle" Her sister begin her usual speech, awfully unaware of how little her sister cared. Eda usually just told her a simple no and led her out the house, but it was getting really annoying "Yeah Lily, there's the key phrase, 'when we were little' , I grew up, my life goal is no longer to serve some tyrant. So for the last time, no, I don't want to join the coven, and no, I don't care that he would heal my curse, I don't want to owe him anything" She finally said what had been building up in her for ages "Bu- But Edalyn, I'm only trying to help you" Her sister looked devastated, she felt a little guilty for being so harsh "I know Lilith, but there's no need to help me, I want to heal the curse myself. But if you ever want to just chat, then my door is always open" Eda said with a smile, she knew her sister was trying her best. "Thank you Edalyn, if you ever need help, I'm always here for you, and I promise not to bring up the coven or your curse again" Lilith said and headed for the door, despite what she said she was still determinded to help her sister out of the situation she threw her into, because fixing the mistake is a lot easier than just telling her the truth and apologizing, right?
Hunter was still laying on the couch, but he was just pretending to be asleep, he was woken up by the door-creature, and overheard the conversation, between the woman and her sister. His head was now filled with millions of new questions: What kind of place still had a monarchy? Did they even know what democracy was? What is a coven, and why is this woman so against it? And most importantly, what curse where they talking about? Is it contagious? Can you 'catch' a curse? Hunter was too busy with the millions of questions running around in his head to notice that the pain was all gone, and there were no visible injuries or scars on his skin, this lady really was an excellent healer. "Good morning sleepyhead" Hunter was pulled back to reality by the woman's words aimed towards him "Morning, um I- thank you for healing me, also mind if I ask like a couple billion questions?" "No, kid, you don't belong in this world, by rules you should never have ended up here, the best thing for you is to go back to your world, and try to forget this hole mess, the only reason I didn't sent you back instantly is because you were injured" The lady said, looking grave. Eda wasn't normally like this, and she liked the human boy, but posessing a portal, if it wasn't issued out by the Emperor, was higly illegal, too illegal even for Eda, especially with her sister around so often, it's already a miracle she didn't notice the boy laying on her couch. It was too risky, her priority had to be her and more importantly King's safety.
Hunter was taken aback, he came to this strange world just hours ago, and now he has to leave already? What if he could learn how to do magic? And there was also a thought he would never have said out loud: What if this is the place where he could finally fit in? This place was weird, really weird, much weirder than Hunter, perhaps in this place he would just be a mundane person? He needed to convince that woman to let him stay, just for a couple of months, just until he learns to do magic "But what if I don't want to go back? To home I mean, not yet at least, please let me stay, just a little while?" "But why would you wan to to stay here? This place is soo different from the Human Realm, I thought most of you would be terrified" Eda replied, truly suprised "The truth is, I don't really fit in at home, and I was hoping that since place is nothing like back home, maybe I woud finally find my people you know? Plus I'm dying to learn magic" "Belive it or not kid, I know what you mean, I'm a bit of a weirdo here, both me and King are, that's why we gotta stick together, and if you wanna stick with us, you are welcome to" She said with a warm smile, Eda knew what she did was extremely dangerous, but she also knew she was doing the right thing, besides, this human could be pretty useful "Wait really?" Hunter expected it to be harder to convince the lady. He wondered who that "King" might be, maybe he's the king of an other nation, who is hiding here?, or is it just a goofy nickname, the latter seemed to be a more realistic option
"Yeah kid, you can stay, provided you make urself useful, okay?" "Yeah yeah, tottaly, I will make myself soo useful... Oh and by the way, can you teach me how to do magic, pleeease" He asked as politely as he could, while also exploding with exctiement. "Whoa whoa, slow down kid, humans can't do magic" "And you know this for sure? Or have they just never tried?" "I don't know kiddo, but I promise you we'll gonna try, but you are killing me with all these questions" She laid a hand on Hunter's shoulder "Oh okay, just one, no, two more question" Eda groaned "If you must" she said as she garbbed a bottle from the fridge and poured it into a cup, she gestured at Hunter to continue "Your name is Eda right, just cause you never introtuced yourself" "I'm Eda the Owl Lady, the most wanted criminal on the Boiling Isles" she declared proudly "You're a criminal? A criminal witch, neat!" "Was that your second question?" "What? NO, no no no, who is this King you spoke of?" "Did the little furrball not introduced themself? KING where are you?" She yelled out the last part, making Hunter jump "Eda you already beat me at schnapsen six times in a row I don't wanna lose agai.." Said the furry demon creature apperaing in the doorway, only to be cut of by Hunter "OH MY GOOD GOD, what an adorable little fella, come here" And he ran over and scooped up the demon "Ahh the human, it's alive, Eda help meeee" King cried out from within Hunter's grasp. Finally the boy let him go and chuckled littly "Are you King? What are you the King of buddy?" "Don't you dare call the king of demons 'buddy', I'm not some pet, I'm a feared ruler, or at least I was before they stole my crown and shrunk me" He added the last part quietly, but Hunter still caught it "Who stole your crown?" He asked, having serious doubts about this story "I don't know for sure, but it was probably one of my arch enemies" "Yeah yeah King" the Owl Lady interupted "So this is how we are, just King Hooty, yes, the door, and me. We're like a weird family, just tell anyone I said this" She chuckled a bit
*Somewhere in the Emperor's castle*
The Emperor and the heads of the nine covens were sitting in a conference room, having the monthly financial meeting. Plant coven head Terra Snapdragon and potion coven head Vitimir Petrov where in a middle of a heated discussion about whether the greenhouses or the laboratorys should get the donation from the Emperor's coven, they were arguing for a good twenty minutes now, and the Emperor was running out of patience, considering he had already told them he was going to give the donation to the hospitals of the healing coven, but that didn't seem to matter for them. He appreciates having the coven heads around, they know their field of magic better than anyone, helping him make good desicions, but the downside is that they tend to only focuse on what's good for their coven, and not the Boiling Isles as a whole. He was about to speak up when the doors opened up and someone stepped inside. Everyone turned towards the arriving person, who was wearing a white cloak and had golden mask covering their face, they were grasping a scroll and a small white fox, who was covered in a green liquid. As they walked closer to the table they were limping slightly.
"Golden Guard?" Belos said as he hurried towards the soldier. The guard bowed and handed the scroll to the Emperor "I found the prophecy, my lord" Belos took the scroll, but didn't look at it yet, he was more concerned about the state of his Golden Guard, close up he could see that he had multiple bloody cuts, his mask was broken and his leg stood at an unnatural angle. Guilt stabbed into him, what did he make this boy do? "thank you for your service Golden Guard, report to the infirmary please, and take your palisman too, you'll tell me the details later" He gave the boy an encouraging smile and squeezed his shoulder slightly. The soldier bowed again and headed for the door, only to be stopped by the Emperor's voice, he sounded... scared? He never heard him talk like this before "Is-Is this real?" "Ye-yes my lord, this scroll matches the description of the one you requested" The guard answered "All right, dismissed" He gained back his usual speaking tone. The Golden Guard left the room, leaving only the Emperor and the coven heads inside, all of them were on the edge of their seat, what could possibly be soo important that they interupt a meeting because of it? Belos slowly walked back to his seat, reading the scroll multiple times, despite it being straightforward, if you know what you're looking for in it, he just couldn't belive his eyes. He cleared his throat and spoke, his voice filling the noiseless room, bouncing back from the walls "This is a grave day, the Day of Unity is much closer than we anticipated, and with it, the return of the Beast"
Hunter was walking around in the town of Bonesborough, he was delivering potions to the Owl Lady's customers with King alongside him, to make sure he doesn't get kidnapped, eaten, or both "Oh woow look at this King, this place is much more interesting than the boring human city I came from" Hunter said shaking awake his furry friend who was napping in his birdnest-like blond hair "Let me remind you that this place is only new to you, I've seen it tousand time already, it's loud, stinky and dangerous, so mind your footing" King said grumpily, he hated being woken up, and this human boy never stayed quiet for more than three consecutive seconds, it started to get on his nerves. "pft, come on King this place is amazing, I seriously never wanna leave" Hunter then stopped to admire a "beautiful building" as he put it, it looked just like the ones next to it, and the ones next to those "Aargh, more walkie, less stopy, let's just deliver these things quickly and go home, I'm tired" King whined "Okay, Okay fine, but tomorrow you guys give me a full tour of this town, right?" Hunter asked as he headed trough an alley and stopped in font of a small door, it was surrounded by bags of trash, womit- and piss-stains, and other indescribable horrors. The boy gagged and tried to keep his lunch down "Told ya, this place is stinky" King knocked on the door.
It was opened up by a man wearing a stained shirt and sweatpants he smelled even worse than they alley "Hi, my name is Hunter, the Owl Lady's student and I'm here to deliver your potions" He said as he tried to fake smile "Wait, you're not the Owl Lady, I thought she will deliver the package" The man said looking at Hunter dumbfounded "Are you deaf, he just said that he is the Owl Lady's apprentice, and he is here to deliver the potions, just take 'em and pay up, it will be fifteen snails" King demanded as he climed back onto the boy's shoulder "Fifteen? I ain't payin' fifteen snails for these hot garbage potions, they were just ten snails last time" The man claimed "Look buddy, the price of fairy tears is trough the roof, so either pay up or you're not getting your potions" King said with uncharacteristic stuborness "How about I don't?" he said as he snatched the bag of potions from Hunter's grasp, who was caught off guard, before he could do anything the man closed the door and locked it. "Well, that's about that, who's the next buyer on the list?" King asked seemingly unbothered by the fact that they just got robbed in daylight. "What? No way we're leaving, that dude took our potions without paying for them" Hunter was determined to get them back, even if it meant going inside that house. "And what's your plan to get them back? Neither of us can do magic" "Oh, I have a plan, I just need your help too, okay, so first..."
Hunter and King were knocking once again, the same man opened up, but just as he did so King jumped off from Hunter's shoulder and onto the man's arm, and bit him really hard. The stranger yelped in pain, and while he was distracted with trying to get King off of him, the boy rushed inside, and looked for the potions. "Where are they?" He whispered to himself, the kitchen maybe? He looked around the piles of dirty dishes and... Jackpot! He found the bag of potions, they were untouched, but just as he grabbed them he heard the front door close and lock. He was trapped inside the man's house! Panic started to creep up within Hunter, he backed out of the kitchen, and jumped into a closet in the living room, he closed the door just before the man appered in the room "Little bastard" The man mutured "But at least I have the medicine for Anny, oh that poor thing" Hunter looked into the bag, all the potions were labeled 'medicine', he felt guilty, sure man the man did steal from them, but he did it to save someone close to him, his daughter maybe? When Hunter heard the man leave to the bathroom, he climbed out of his hiding spot, he heard knocking on the window, he rushed over to see King waveing for him to climb out. the boy was thorn between taking the bag and leaving it here. King gave him a puzzled look, and urged him to hurry . Hunter heard the man opening the door, he decided, he threw the bag onto the floor, and climed out of the open window. When the man saw him he assuemed that the boy was here to rob him, so he shut the window, the inpact knocked Hunter backwards, causing him to fall, he fell onto his back with full impact, pain rushed trough his spine, he cried out "What the sweet mother of Titan were you doing?, why didn't you take the bag?" King jumped next to him, he just groaned as an answer and tried to get up.
By the time they got back to the Owl House, Hunter had told his friend why he let the man keep the medicine, they both agreed to keep this secret from Eda, or she will never let them go anywhere. "Heey Hunter and King, back already? Eda isn't here, but someone left you a letter Hunter" Hooty greeted them, and then started gagging agressively, the others stared in disgust, finally, he managed to throw up the piece of paper, along with like twenty other things. It was a simple paper with the words "For Hunter" on the back. The addressee picked up the letter and started reading it out loud "Thank you for your kindness, you have no idea how much you helped me. I'm truly sorry about stealing and injuring you" the boy felt a paw on his leg "Hey, Hunter, what you did was a great thing, and I'm sorry for doubting you" King said looking at him. He picked up the creature and carried him inside and layed him onto a pillow, king fell asleep almost instantly. Hunter was all alone in the house, and suddenly the weight of his decision to stay fell onto him, his father pobably thinks he's gone missing, or that he ran away, which he technically did. Should he go back to tell him that he's okay, just staying somewhere else? No way that his father would let him stay if he knew the truth, Hunter hated to worry him, but the last thing he wanted was to go back to the Human Realm, where no one understands him. He was laying on the couch staring at the owl art on the ceiling, slowly, he felt his eyelids becoming heavier, he drifted off.
If someone walked trough that one hallway in the Emperor's castle, they would have heard a beautiful violin song. This tune beloned to the sixteen year old boy who was standing in his room, practicing, he hated how hard using a violin to cast was for him. He was really good at bard magic, but using the lyre or the flute was always much easier for him, but if he wanted to be good at his job he needed to master the violin and all the other kind of bard magic as well. Also plant magic, potion making, illusion casting, not to mention abomination creation, realisticly he needed to be good at all kinds of magic, no not just good, he needed to excellent. Sure it was a lot of work, but that's the least he could do after getting an opportunity that many would kill to have. He was playing perfectly for minutes when he made a mistake, causing him to mess up the whole tune. He groaned and wanted to smash the violin, he looked at his clock, four more hours before the Night Market started, and with it, his shift, he knew he needs to get some sleep, but he couldn't stop unless he got the tune right at least once. He decided to take a ten-minute break before continuing, he sat down at his table which was filled with books, mostly about the Beast these days, he wanted to help more than anything, but no one told him anything. Philip said that he was too young to bear the burden of these informations, which was ironic coming from the man who made him Golden Guard when he was only fourteen years old, but really how do they except him to help if he knows nothing? He got up from the desk, this topic only made him even more frustrated. He walked over to a cabinet, on top of it was a big stack of letters, stabbed trough it was a knife, the only thing his family left him after they died, other than the cripling pressure to keep their legacy alive, he does a pretty good job at it...right? He pulled out the knife to take a look at the letters, what he was doing was wrong and he knew it, the whole situation was terribly wrong, usually knowing something is not the right thing to do is enough to keep him from doing it, not when it comes to this. He sighed and went back to playing, his future needs to be first, then comes everything and everyone else.