Chapter Text
“Last warning. Stand down, golden guard.”
The tip of Hunter’s staff glowed red. “You know I can’t do that.”
Hunter stared groggily at a light blue ceiling, painted boards rather than the cold arching stone of the keep.
Where am I?
The last thing he remembered was a flash of red light, and Belos shaking his head in disappointment. He’d always felt that disappointment, but to see it so clearly on his uncle’s face… There was something else, though, something he’d been more worried about, something worse than his impending death…
The harsh, metallic click of metal gloves tapping on stone.
“You’ve been spending valuable time with that little mentee from the coven training program lately. Darius, the abomination witch, isn’t that right? If you want him to have any chance at a bright future, or any future at all, then I suggest you forget whatever it is you think you’ve seen and fall back in line.
“LEAVE HIM ALONE!”
“Darius!” Hunter sat bolt upright. Almost immediately, a wave of pain swept over him, his skin burning and itching, chafing against bandages. He fell back again with a groan, sinking into pillows too soft to be the ones in his room at the keep.
“Oop! I wouldn’t move too much right now; you got blasted pretty good.” A mane of auburn hair appeared over him, accompanied by a smiling face. “Hey, there!” A healer? She had to be, but who would have brought him to her? Not Belos, not after their confrontation. And no scout would be stupid enough to challenge the emperor’s judgement and execution.
“How long?” Hunter whispered weakly.
Is Darius okay? Has Belos gotten to him?
Can I still save him?
“Hm. That’s… complicated.”
Hunter tried to sit up again. Complicated? How complicated could it be? Hours? Days? Surely he hadn’t been out for more than a week—the pain might have made his body shaky, but he didn’t feel the weakness of lying stagnant. “I need to—to—”
The witch gently pushed on his chest, shoving him back into the pillows effortlessly. “You need to rest. I’ve done my best, but you’re still not fully healed.”
“Where are w—Who are—” Really, who was she? Did she know who he was? What had hurt him? If she did know, then what kind of criminal was she, helping him against the emperor’s wishes? Was she dangerous? She had to be, to get this far.
“We’re going to explain, I promise, but it’s a lot to process, so we need to make sure you’re physically okay enough to handle it.”
“I doubt it’s more to process than the last couple of days,” Hunter said bleakly.
Uncle killed our family. He killed all of them, and he’s probably already gone after Darius. I can’t sit around here.
“You’d be surprised.”
Wait.
Hunter squinted, replaying her words in his head. “We’re going to explain?”
“Yeah. We. CALEB,” the witch called, “HE’S AWAKE!” She held her hands up. “Okay, try not to freak out, this is going to be… a little weird.”
A man poked his head in the room, and Hunter’s heart just about stopped in his chest.
He looks like me!
He didn’t look quite the same—the newcomer’s nose was bigger than Hunter’s, his eyes wider, and his hair shorter. He was older, somewhere in his late thirties, if Hunter had to guess, but overall…
Did Uncle not kill us all after all?
What is up with those ears?!
They sat rounded and too small against his head—Hunter had never seen a pair of witch ears like that. Surely he wasn’t a demon—he looked too witchlike for that. A shapeshifter, maybe?
“Hi,” the man said awkwardly, “Uhhhh sooooo… I’m Caleb. This is Evelyn. I’m the original.”
What.
“Wow, somehow this never gets easier. Yes. Hi. So. My brother. Philip. Belos. Whatever you want to call him. He—”
“Your brother?! But—”
“It’s weird, I know, it’s… I’m explaining this badly.”
“Yes, you are,” Evelyn teased. She reached out, as if to take Hunter’s hand, then faltered. “Permission to touch?”
Hunter nodded distractedly. Uncle has a brother—of course he does, I had to get here somehow. But he can’t be—he’s not old enough. Uncle is ancient; this can’t be his brother! And if he was, that would make him…
It just didn’t add up. Caleb and Evelyn were too young. Was that why he’d grown up without parents? But they couldn’t possibly be his parents, they weren’t old enough to have had him even at a young age, not unless they looked far younger than they really were. Was there a third sibling? Someone in between Belos and Caleb? Someone who had died before he could meet them?
Evelyn gave his hand a squeeze, the touch dragging Hunter’s spinning thoughts to a stop. “How much did Belos deem too much?” she asked quietly.
Hunter wanted to bury his head in the blankets just thinking about it. He’d never meant to uncover their family’s past, but he couldn’t have sat around and done nothing once he found out. “He’s a witch hunter,” he whispered. The words felt like a betrayal—to himself, to Uncle, and to the Isles Hunter had thought he was serving. A witch hunter. And not only that, but… “He killed our family. But if you’re his brother—did I have it wrong? Did I betray him for nothing?!”
Did I misread?
It was possible, knowing his abysmal track record with written texts. But he’d pored over those confiscated documents for hours, reading and rereading just to make sure he had it right. Surely he hadn’t misunderstood that badly. Surely he couldn’t have read it that poorly.
Did I put Darius in danger for a mistake?
“No,” Caleb sighed, “You had it right—or, at least, Philip’s version of right. He thinks I’m dead. And that’s the way I want to keep it. Look, what you didn’t find out, what he didn’t tell you is that… you’re only his nephew in a manner of speaking. I’m… you’re a grimwalker. Of me.”
Hunter stared blankly at him. Was the word supposed to hold some kind of meaning? In all his time as the golden guard, he’d never heard of a grimwalker.
“He doesn’t know what that is,” Evelyn chided, “What he means to say is, you’re a copy. A—a replica, if you will.”
“Philip wanted to replace me after I chose the Isles over him—his words, not mine.” Caleb held up his right hand, which was missing the last three fingers. “Fun, huh? Stabbed me, mutilated my hand, and left me to die. Much like he left you to die. But… I survived. Evelyn saved me. And we saved you, too.”
I’m… what, a clone?
Am I even real?
“I know it’s a lot of information to process,” Evelyn started, “But—”
None of this matters.
Hunter tried for a third time to get up, fighting back dizziness. “Thank you for saving me. But I have a kid I need to get back to—well, he’s not my kid, but he’s in danger, and he doesn’t even know it. I have to let him know I’m okay!”
The two exchanged a glance, and Evelyn gave Hunter’s hand another squeeze. “We can’t… quite let you do that. It’s—”
Should have seen this coming. There’s always a price.
Hunter ripped his hand out of hers, lunging out of the bed. He bowled the man over easily, limping for the door. Every muscle screamed in pain, and his skin protested every rubbing movement against the bandages, but he pushed out the door anyway.
“Wait!” Caleb called, “Let us explain!”
They can’t keep me here.
They can’t—
He stepped into a long hallway, lined with doors. A kid stared at him with magenta eyes to match Hunter’s own, his neck covered in heavy scarring, like someone had tried to rip his throat out. How old was he, twenty, at the most? That was being generous. Hunter’s hand went up to his own neck, covered in bandages and healing patches.
He looks like me.
“Uh-oh. Mom and Dad botched the explanation again, didn’t they?” the other chuckled, “Hi. I’m Auric. Welcome to the weirdest day of your life.”
Hunter backed away, his head whipping around as he tried to find the exit. More magenta eyes peered out from behind the doors—bedroom doors, he realized—watching him curiously.
There’s another one.
And another.
This is impossible.
They all died, and even if they hadn’t, the time in between—
This is impossible.
A few came out into the hallway, approaching him cautiously. Hunter stumbled backwards over his own feet, but Caleb caught him before he could fall. “Whoa, there. I’ve got you. Look, it’s complicated, we told you—we wanted to get you used to the idea before we introduced you to everyone, but I guess now’s a good time as any.”
“H-How,” Hunter whispered, “How is this—how are they—”
“They all used to be the golden guard. All of them, at some point, were ‘Hunter.’”
“That’s… I’m Hunter!”
“Not anymore,” a couple of the grimwalkers chorused.
Hunter shook his head, his thoughts whirling around unfinished. “This is—”
“Impossible. I know. But I’ve rescued every single one of my brother’s copies after he left them for dead. Every single Hunter.”
“But I’m—I’m—they’re not—I’m Hu— I’m—”
Caleb sighed. “I’ve got something to show you. If you’re up for it?”
Hunter nodded, numbly following him down the long hallway to another room where Caleb pulled out a crystal ball. He touched the surface, and it lit up, the mist inside forming the familiar hallways of the keep. Despite what Belos had done, indignation flared through Hunter.
“That’s not supposed to be possible; there’s anti-scrying measures.”
“Evelyn’s a talented witch. Besides the point. Look here.”
Hunter peered at the glassy surface, sick to his stomach at the sight of the hallways he’d walked down a thousand times.
Someone else walked down them now.
Someone wearing a uniform he recognized, although the cloak wasn’t quite the same, missing his sigil on the back.
It looks too big on him. Too heavy.
“That’s—”
“Hunter the latest.”
Hunter glanced back at him. He looks the most like you. “He’s just a kid! Why’s he already the golden guard?!” Belos had rescued him from his orphanage at age thirteen, but he hadn’t become the golden guard for at least another four years, and this kid wore the uniform like it was all he’d ever known.
He can’t be older than Darius was when I first met him.
“The youngest one yet,” the original said sadly, “The most obedient, too.”
Hunter shook his head. “This—it doesn’t make sense. Where did he come from?! I think I would have noticed him wandering around!”
A deep sigh. “The reason you can’t go looking for your kid, is because… it’s been years.”
What? No, I just woke up, and I’m still injured from the fight—how has it been years?
“I escaped Philip by fleeing to the future. He’s still here, but he’s not looking for me. Have you ever heard of a time pool?”
This couldn’t be happening. It couldn’t!
“Those are just an urban legend!”
“They’re real. And they’re how I was able to rescue the other Grimwalkers. It’s been years since your ‘death.’ Belos replaced you.”
What if he comes looking for us?
“Where’s my time pool?! I need to go back.”
“You can’t. I don’t know where they went, and you’re the last one I had to rescue, so I’m not going looking. They don’t always open up to the same times, anyway. Even if we did find one, there’s no guarantee it would take you back to the time you died.”
“But they always open up here?!” That seemed awfully convenient. “Why don’t you run further? Why don’t you run to a time where Belos is gone? Aren’t you worried he’ll find out you’re alive and come after you?”
“Well…” Caleb sighed, suddenly looking much older. “Think of it like… time is a river. It flows forward, in one direction. The time pools are like docks where you can get out of the river, walk up the bank, and hop in at another dock. You continue the way the river flows, or you can get back out and try to run back to the front of the river.”
“Why here? Why this time?”
Caleb shrugged. “Best I can figure, this is where the river stops. This is the front. The river is constantly expanding and we’re at the edge. I can’t go any further, because there’s nowhere else to go.”
“If you knew what was going to happen, if you knew you needed to save us, why didn’t you use the time pools to stop him from killing us?!”
If you’d stopped this earlier, I wouldn’t have been taken from Darius. If you’d warned me, I wouldn’t be here!
“It doesn’t work that way.”
“Then how does it work?!
Caleb waved a hand back and forth. “If we go back to the river metaphor… Say that I stick my finger in a river. It causes a disturbance, but the water just flows around my finger and back into the original flow. That’s how it is with time. Even if I try to disrupt something—like saving one of you—time would correct itself. Say I did rescue you before Philip left you for dead. He still would have made the current Hunter to replace you, and you’d still be gone. And Philip probably would have spent more time trying to track me down and kill me, and then I couldn’t save anyone else. By taking you after he thought you were dead, after you should have died, I took you after your impact on time was over. There was no need for time to correct itself.”
Hunter’s head hurt. What Caleb said made sense, mostly, but it all just felt like excuses. What did Caleb get out of rescuing them after their ‘deaths?’ There had to be a motive to rescuing them at all—what was the return price going to be? And what did they do now that they were in the ‘present?’ Hunter nodded to the crystal ball. “What’s going to happen to him?”
“I don’t know. I had an idea for the rest of you, or at least I could piece together roughly when Belos tried to kill you, but for him… nothing. It’s a bit terrifying, actually, not knowing when I’ll have to save him. I keep an eye on him, just in case. So far, he hasn’t given Philip any reason to kill him, but… he’s getting older. I’m worried about him.”
Someone else wandered through the hallways, a man with startling green eyes and living, moving abomination for hair. Hunter seized the ball. “Darius?!”
He’s okay!
He’s older than me, now.
It sank in like a punch to the gut, and Hunter’s legs wobbled, giving out beneath him. Caleb caught his elbows, lowering him gently to the floor.
“Oh my titan,” Hunter whispered, “He grew up. Look at him, he’s so big!” He laughed, tears pooling in the corners of his eyes. “He got a cape. Look at him! Is he the head of a coven?!”
He’s alive.
But Belos still has him.
Hunter rocked back and forth, gripping his hair. “He grew up, and I wasn’t there. And he probably never knew what happened to me, he never—” A sob built up in the back of his throat, and a gentle hand pressed against his back.
“I know it’s a lot to process. You’ve had a rough few days, and a rough life before that.” Caleb heaved a deep sigh. “I know it’s… hard… not being able to return to the people who do love you. I know you want to go back to Darius. But this house… we’re hidden, we’re safe. Belos hasn’t found us yet. If he does find out about us…”
“Everyone’s in danger,” Hunter responded dully, “I can’t leave, because it could get everyone here killed, and put the current Hunter in worse danger.”
Caleb shrugged apologetically. “We won’t… stop you… from leaving if you really want to. I’m not going to be Philip part two. But I do want you to be very, very, very sure that leaving is worth the risk not just to you, but the rest of us as well.”
Hunter glanced back at the crystal ball.
He’s all grown up.
He’s okay.
He… doesn’t need me anymore.
Hunter deactivated the crystal ball, erasing the image of his replacement, and the walls that made him sick to his stomach.
“No. I’ll stay.”
“You’re sure?”
Hunter folded his arms, bandages pressing against his skin. “Maybe I have the option to leave. But it’s not like there’s anywhere else I could go.”
Caleb flinched. “I’m sorry. I wish it didn’t have to be this way.”
“I’ll figure it out.”
Somehow.