Chapter Text
Hunter was winded, and his legs shook when they landed at the skull of the titan. His right arm glowed and twitched. It hung useless at his side.
With his staff gripped tightly in his left hand, Hunter felt his jaw clench as the Draining Spell started to work its way up to his shoulder.
It was an odd sensation. Though, reminiscent of the burn he’d felt when he’d first been branded with the Emperor’s sigil. He would never forget that feeling. It had raged like a sorcerous flame, hotter than the brightest fire magic known to the realm. The roiling seas of the Boiling Isles itself seemed insignificant in comparison. So hot was that single finger touch, it was as if it burned cold while the nerves in his wrist had died where the mark now remained.
Hunter only wished his entire nervous system could die a little faster now, as he experienced an unknown anguish never before seen in the existence of recorded magical history.
The Draining Spell was an entirely different world of sensorial discomfort.
Hunter was initially caught off guard. It had started as a numb prickle of pins and needles at his palm when the coven sigil first began to glow back on the airship. He and Alador had shared a look then, though neither had said a word. Instead, they forged on. Through the inevitable crash of the balloon, and through the swarm of abomatons waiting for them when they impacted the ground. Despite the ever increasing physical distress on their bodies, they had fought through it all.
Hunter wasn’t certain how much longer he could fight for.
The pin pricks had escalated to a stabbing point right after that. It piqued just before the group had reached the spell circle of unconscious coven heads. Hunter prayed to the titan that Alador at least got away from the mess Odalia had sent after them. He could only hope that Alador had survived. Not that it would matter much if the Draining Spell couldn’t be stopped in time.
By now the appendage pulsed with a bone deep ache in tandem with his frantic, fluttering heartbeat. He could feel his chest constricting, the galdorstone nestled safely amongst the organs of his ribcage seemingly waning from the strain of the spell creeping through his system.
Every brush or bump against his dominant arm sent a flash of pain, his joints stiff from the odd numbness affecting his motor skills. Trying to grip anything was difficult when you weren’t certain of how hard the grip was, let alone with an added layer of agony on top of that.
Though, fighting left handed wouldn’t be an issue, as he had trained ambidextrously since he was old enough to wield a staff. Hunter only hoped he could outlast the Draining Spell before Belos could topple any of the others.
I’m hoping for a lot here…
He thought to himself. He knew at the end of the day that he could only give his all to making his hopes come true. Regardless of whether or not it would be enough.
That doesn’t matter. Just give everything you’ve got.
Steeling himself for the fight ahead, he stumbled into a jog after the others.
Willow immediately went to work and restrained Belos in her vines, all whilst smiling at her headstrong friend out on the bridge. She finished off their entrance with a warm greeting, “We’re here to help!”
“Did you really think we wouldn’t follow you?” Amity teased with a grin.
“Yeah girl, get with it!” Gus added.
Luz felt her heart swell with love and pride for her friends, “You guys are literally the coolest!”
Hunter, however, was speechless at the sight of Belos in front of him. His last memory of his uncle bubbling up, as he gazed at the same spitting image of the beast snarling on the bridge. Except that time, he had been in a mind scape with Luz. Back then, he was still loyal to his uncle. A time where he would defend the corrupted man’s blatantly heinous acts. When he was still pompous, and arrogant, and devoted to his established title as Golden Guard.
It felt so long ago now, despite it only being a matter of weeks.
“We have to get him to stop the draining spell, but he’s all berserk mad!” Luz called to them, as Belos thrashed.
Willow doubled down with her vines, but Belos struggled harder. The structural integrity of the space quickly compromising, as the bridge began to crack and debris showered from the ceiling.
Amity rushed over to make cover for herself and Luz with a sheet of abomination mix. Gus ran off to get King to safety, and Hunter darted forward in a flash of yellow to bat away falling stone from hitting Willow. He winced from the effort, as she strained with her own struggle with Belos. Despite Luz and Amity’s help from the other side, Willow could feel the vines beginning to give and desperately called for Gus over her shoulder.
“On my way!” He cried, as he ran back to them.
Luz grabbed a plant glyph from her pouch, and tried to help Willow in both maintaining the bridge and keeping Belos from breaking free. With a brief break from the raining rubble, Hunter circled to the other side of the bridge to look for a chance to support or strike.
“Hunter, be careful!” Willow called after him, heart thundering with fear for him in her chest. She wanted to follow, but was preoccupied as she lashed more vines to hold the pillars that braced the bridge together.
“I’ll try, Captain. But I can’t make any promises,” he said back with a small smile, before making his way.
Willow couldn’t help but blush at the nickname.
Amity wrangled her abomination mix, and managed to lasso an arm down just as Gus made it to the middle of the bridge, giving him an opening to use his looking glass mirror.
“Alright, Belos. Time to calm down a little.”
It was a small artifact, but it’s power was concentrated. One side reflected, while the other allowed the user to peer through it. Legend would tell tales of endless sheets of enchanted glass that could be fished out from the hottest deep water vents of the sea around the isles. Only one witch was clever enough to refine natural magical power into such a piece. Though the legend speaks not of who created it.
Gus could feel every pane of layered glass in the relic resonate with his magical pull as he strained to search for any memory he could use to try to soothe Belos.
He was instantly flooded by the overwhelming onslaught of emotions every image provoked, as they flashed through his vision. Memories of a chillingly Hunter-lookalike, smiling widely with a young Phillip in tow, poured out from Gus’ memory summon.
Gus fought to maintain his concentration through the rollercoaster of feelings crashing in waves through his body.
Rage. Remorse. Resentment.
Betrayal. Loss. Envy.
Even though there were trickles of love and happiness, it was overshadowed by the strength of the other emotions. Gus was not prepared for it, and found his hold slipping with the sweat down his brow.
Belos reeled from the memories, breaking free from the last of Willow’s vines and clutching his horned head. The bottled up emotions he had tried so desperately to ignore finally burst as he relived long forgotten sentiments. He surged forwards, aiming for Gus—
And missing.
A flash of yellow light streaked past as Belos swiped, catching fabric but no prey.
Hunter only managed to get Gus a few meters away before he felt something snap in his chest. He gasped and struggled to stay on his feet.
As he found his moment to rush in and save his friend, the sound of Hunter’s telltale teleporting magic crackled and distorted. He cried out in pain as agony rippled through the cells of his body, throbbing sharply from his sternum. The flash of yellow light that engulfed them both, stuttered with a rumble like thunder as the two flickered in and out of sight along Hunter’s targeted path. They landed sprawled at the end of it, as Hunter collapsed from the effort, head throbbing. He coughed and managed to prop himself up on one trembling elbow.
Gus recovered quickly, sitting up almost immediately and turning to his friend. Anxiety shooting through him at the sight.
Glowing veins had reached Hunter’s neck, working its way to his jaw. The young illusionist worried of what condition the rest of his friend was in that was hidden from view. Before Gus could say anything, Hunter’s gaze suddenly shifted back to the bridge in fear, and he said hoarsely, “Help me up!”
Gus pulled Hunter to his shaky feet before he felt himself quickly pushed behind the older teen, he spun around and froze. Blood turning to ice.
Belos was less than a foot away. Still as stone. His horribly disfigured face dripping with the tar of his melting flesh. His drooping eye sockets would almost evoke sympathy, if he had not proven his propensity to manipulate at every chance he could.
And with a ghastly exhale, he did. Shifting his face back to human form, his voice suddenly grew soft and cracked with a practiced emotional venom to bite in guilt.
“Hunter, why are you hurting me? I only wanted to help you!”
Hunter struggled to hold his ground, raising Flapjack in front of him and Gus protectively. He felt himself shrink back at the words, breath hitching in his throat. He couldn’t tell if it was the Draining Spell or the beginnings of a panic attack coming on, but he found the strength to choke out a retort.
“You’re— You’re lying!”
At that moment, Belos caught sight of Hunter’s adopted palisman and felt a second wind of rage, surging up to a crescendo that could match the height of a hurricane.
“CALEB?!” Belos roared, rearing up on his hind legs in disbelief. His human mask fell as it reverted back to reflect the wickedness he held inside.
Everything happened in a matter of heartbeats.
“Gus get out of here!” Hunter yelled, readying himself for what he suspected would be his last hurrah.
“B-but Hunter I can’t just—”
“Gus, you have to!” He insisted, before turning quickly and trying something new.
Wild magic be with me, please let this work…
He gripped Gus by the shoulders and gave him one last comforting squeeze, before willing him away. Hunter’s brow creased with the effort of trying to teleport a person elsewhere. He had toyed with the idea before. Theoretically of course.
“W-wait, wait, wait! Hunter, no!” Gus cried, desperately holding onto him.
In a flash of yellow light, his friend vanished.
Gus reappeared back with the others on the far side of the bridge, closest to the double doors that led further into the skull’s chamber. He tried to run back to help, but was held back by an exhausted Amity as Willow sunk to her knees. Luz still looked ready to jump in, until she locked eyes with Hunter.
The fierceness of his gaze threw her off, as she had never seen it before. It was a look of desperation and a sad resignation that told her, “I can’t be saved from this, so protect the others.”
She felt her heart ache, and pulled out a handful of glyphs despite the look he gave her.
Willow watched on with fear as she struggled to catch her breath. She wanted to help too, but with her early vine use to wrestle with Belos, it left her too weak to even stay standing long enough to be anything but a liability right now.
Hunter was nearly there himself as he swayed on his feet, but gripped his staff tighter as he faced Belos.
“Who was Caleb?!” He cried, throwing himself into the fight.
The beast this twisted man had become, writhed and squelched with every move he made, swiping madly at the young witch.
“It doesn’t matter who he was, he BETRAYED ME!” Belos roared.
“I’m sure you deserved it!” the young witch retorted, panting.
Hunter’s teleporting was suffering from the Draining Spell, and it was clear with every thundering crash of his strobing yellow light that time was running out. He didn’t care though. Each push that he gave he felt the strain in his chest twist tighter, but he kept on going. Whirling around Belos, and evading most hits with his dexterity.
He couldn’t evade them all. A tendril whipped at his leg, tearing a gash into his right calve. Another he couldn’t deflect fast enough clipped his left shoulder, making his grip on his staff slick as blood soaked his sleeve and ran down his arm.
They fought their way over the bridge, Hunter trying his best to kite Belos away from the others. He knew it couldn’t last forever. As his energy waned from his body’s overexertion, Hunter felt his capacity to summon his spells waver. His concentration shot from trying to outmaneuver Belos’ slinging tendrils.
Sending himself up as high as he could muster, Hunter let go with every ounce of magic he could feel left.
Belos reached to snatch him but hit an orb of yellow light instead, as Hunter threw out what magic he could to block the blow. Belos recoiled as if he touched acid. As soon as it had appeared, Hunter clapped his hands clumsily and the bubble suddenly shrank to cover his clasp on Flapjack’s staff, before giving off a small pulse, and exploding.
The shockwave sent a shudder all around them, and the thundering boom of the sound barrier breaking from the detonation rattled their eardrums.
Hunter’s spell erupted with such force, it blew off Belos’ right arm, sending his muck splattering across the cavernous space. Half his body vaporized, the remaining half dripping with a horrid shlup plup shlup, as Belos screeched.
In the pause of zero gravity, as his upward momentum stalled out, Hunter could do nothing as Belos struck with his left arm.
Completely spent of energy, the Draining Spell having reached the right side of his skull, Hunter felt himself pinned against the inside of the titan’s nose. His head cracking against the ancient bone upon impact, sending his brain in a dizzying spiral as Hunter’s vision whited out for a second.
HUNTER!
He could vaguely hear the screams coming distantly from the others, as tar swelled into his pierced stomach. It bubbled up his throat to spill from his lips in an uncontrolled retch, and he choked on it.
Belos leaned forward as he twisted his grip on Hunter’s galdorstone and hissed, “My brother will return home with me, but not through you.”
With a sickening choir of cracks, Hunter felt a pull of suction from his core as Belos extracted what he needed from his chest. Taking his sternum with it, Hunter saw with a dawning horror that Belos clasped his flickering galdorstone in his clawed fist.
The titan has big plans for you…
The phrase that had been uttered to such a degree, it was almost a mantra at this point, echoed in Hunter’s fading mind. It was as meaningless now as it was meaningless back then, and he couldn’t help hiccuping a chuckle.
“There… were never plans… f-for me, were there?” He managed to force out, gaze locked on the stone glistening with his blood.
“On the contrary, Hunter. My plans all revolved around you,” Belos said, and before the others could lash him down again, he vanished in a cloud of shadow.
It rose to the ceiling, before circling into a tornado to rush at the tall double doors that lead to the last portal to earth.
“NO!” Luz cried, rushing to reach them before Belos could, but felt a gust knock her and the others off their feet. When she looked up again the doors were shut, the puzzle reset. A resounding thud echoed in the cavernous space, indicating that they were now very much locked down.
With a terrible screech, Belos’ tornado instantly dissipated, and an odd silence fell over the group.
Luz wailed and pounded against the doors, lighting up the puzzle paths with each frantic hit. It would take time to get these doors to reopen. Time and patience. Two things that Luz felt she never had enough of.
Amity gently placed a hand on her shoulder and Luz started from the unexpected touch. She turned sharply to meet her girlfriend’s gaze, before sinking into her for an embrace. Her head buried in Amity’s neck, as frustrated tears streamed down her face.
“I’m so sorry Luz,” Amity said, in an attempt to comfort.
In the distance, a bird chirped with urgency.
“Hunter needs help!” Willow yelled desperately as she gingerly made her way to the other side.
With nothing to keep him pinned, Hunter had slid to the floor. A streak of red remained, marking his path down. Flapjack had long since relinquished his staff form and flapped in distress around his witch. Willow and Gus rushed over, fear gripped their chests at the sight before them.
Hunter was sprawled on the floor of the cavern, half of him still glowing from the Draining Spell. His right hand continued to twitch occasionally as he struggled to breathe, gasping with each passing second. His exposed organs squelched in the open air, and he heard Gus losing his own stomach contents nearby.
Willow was trembling with shock, having never seen such a fatal wound in her life.
So... so much... blood.
She thought, falling to her knees beside him, hands hovering, not knowing where to even begin.
“It’s… o-okay…” Hunter rasped. His dimming eyes were locked on her through half opened lids.
Willow sobbed, “No, it’s not!” she cried as she gently held his face. She gasped, feeling blood coat her fingers from the back of his head. She whispered the same pleas over and over again, “Stay with us Hunter! Please, just keep breathing for me…”
Hunter was distantly aware of Luz and Amity kneeling with the group comforting Gus, but all he could see was Willow. She took off her vest and wadded it up, before pressing down with all her strength on his wound. It was immediately saturated.
A wince was all he could muster in response, he gasped though he wanted to scream. His vision started to darken, and his breathing quickened shallowly as shock set in.
“I c-can’t…” he breathed, and Willow watched in horror as the bright colour of his irises began to fade to a dull grey. His pupils grew wide, searching for light they could not see.
“W-wil…low?” Hunter sighed with his last breath. His left hand reached out for her shakily, before falling against her trembling hands.
No… She started to hiccup, to fight off the sobs.
It was cold, and just as clammy as her own but she grasped it anyway, not caring that it was slick with blood and muck. Willow clutched desperately at his lax fingers. “No, no, no, no, no... Hunter! HUNTER! PLEASE!!”
She screamed his name, not caring that her vocal cords were shredding from the effort. She screamed and screamed before falling into a fit of sobs, curled over his cooling body.
The others wailed with her, sharing in her loss as they cried together. When their tears died down to shuddering shoulders as their breathing began to even out, Gus voiced the unspoken question they all wanted to ask.
“What did Belos take from him?”
Luz stiffened and Amity felt her girlfriend tense up beside her, “Luz?”
After a moment of silence, Luz let out the breath she was holding before looking at Hunter, “He was a grimwalker.”
The rest of them waited for her to elaborate, but she seemed to struggle to find the words.
“A grimwalker?” Willow repeated, confused.
“I don’t think any of us have ever heard of a grimwalker before,” Amity said, “As far as I know not even the library had any texts on such magic. Not even in the restricted sections.”
“I think it’s an old magic…” Luz went on, “That or something Belos configured himself after years of experimentation. Considering we’ve never had classes on necromancy I’m not surprised none of us knew about grimwalkers.”
“Necromancy??” Gus echoed, “That’s not even something we can talk about let alone think about. And, Hunter was alive... he wasn’t a reanimated corpse... Right?”
He paused to glance at the others before repeating his unanswered question from before, “What did Belos take from him, Luz?”
Tears streamed from her eyes as she whispered, “His galdorstone.”
Gus was speechless, and could only repeat her words, “His galdorstone??”
It made sense now why the illusionist coven head had wanted to get to the sanctuary where more were hidden. If Belos had more stones to use, who could stop him from making multiple grimwalkers?
“Yes, his galdorstone, Gus,” Luz reiterated hollowly. “I’m pretty sure it was the power behind Hunter’s life force before Belos ripped it out of him.”
The gears began turning in his head before he could stop the words from falling out his mouth, “I know where there’s more.”
Everyone looked at him.
Everyone except Willow.
“Do you think it would be enough to bring him back?” she asked, her eyes still fixed on Hunter’s dead stare.
No one answered for a moment before Luz piped up quietly, “It might.”
Now it was her words that made heads turn.
“How do you mean?” Amity asked.
“Belos mentioned Hunter was a grimwalker, when we got warped in the emperor's mind together that one time. Back in that locked chamber Belos had books and all sorts of wild magic scrolls. The hypocrite,” she scoffed out the last part.
“When he cornered me against one of the tables I caught a glimpse of a book left open. The page said Grimwalker along the top and then a list of items followed…” Luz continued.
“Do you remember what else was on the list?” Gus asked.
Luz wracked her brain, trying to summon a mental image of the page. She couldn’t remember the smaller text scrawled all over the margins but she could remember the bolded font.
“A galdorstone for heart and power, palistrom wood in place of keratin, stonesleeper lungs, selkidomus scales, and a bone of ortet,” Luz struggled to recall, “If there was more beyond that one page I don’t know any of them. That’s all I can remember from the moment. I didn’t exactly have time to thumb through Belos’ diary,” she finished awkwardly as she wiped the tear tracks from her face.
“His sternum is gone, so that was... probably the bone of ortet,” Willow chimed in solemnly, one hand still carding through Hunter’s limp hair.
“What is a bone of ortet anyway?” Gus asked.
“In botany, ortet is the original plant from which clones are descendants,” Willow recited verbatim from a passage of one of her plant books.
“Hunter was a clone??” Gus exclaimed.
“A clone of Belos’ brother, Caleb Wittebane,” Luz said. Heads turned again in shock.
“Belos had a brother??” Gus went on, grabbing at his thick head of hair in astonishment.
“An older brother I think,” Luz said, “Though he’s never referred to as such, Belos heavily implied in his journal I have that he didn’t stumble into the Boiling Isles alone.”
“So… do we need to get the bone of ortet back?” Amity asked uncertainly.
“I don’t think so,” Willow said, finally closing Hunter’s eyes with the gentlest fingers.
“If the galdorstone was the only thing keeping him alive we don’t need the bone. He’s already been made in Caleb’s image,” Willow went on, “His brain and his spirit are what make Hunter, Hunter. Bone or no bone, that part shouldn’t change.”
As long as we’re not too late.
Willow shook her head to banish the thought. She would not allow despair to set in.
Not just yet.
Not while a chance to save him still glittered distantly with hope.