Chapter 02 - Disobedience and Punishment

Emperor's Castle, Boiling Isles, 375 years later, current times.

"You look awful."

That was the first thing Hunter heard from his uncle, Emperor Belos, upon entering the throne room. It wasn't exactly what the boy wanted to hear, but it was understandable, after all the boy really wasn't in his best condition. Smeared with abomination goo from head to toe and full of scratches and bruises, it was pretty obvious to anyone who saw him that he'd had a nasty fight against a witch from the Abomination Coven (and probably lost).

Belos was wearing the usual golden mask he wore when he spoke to his subjects, a bad sign. This meant that the man sitting on the throne was now no longer Uncle Belos, but Emperor Belos. Although both uncle and emperor were the same person, the change in Belos' behavior when he took off or put on his mask was clearly visible. After all, when Belos was unmasked, he was just Uncle Belos, the kind old man (almost a caring grandpa) who liked to tell fun and wonderful stories about his old adventures in the human world to Hunter and who let Hunter pass by a little disobedience or some untimely prank from time to time, but when Belos wore the mask and 'became' the stoic Emperor Belos… Well, we can say that the Emperor was not known to be a very empathetic or merciful man… Not even to his nephew.

The boy knelt in respect and instantly lowered his head instinctively (out of fear).

'Calm down, Hunter, you got the key. It's broken, it's true, but there's still half of Titan's blood left inside it,' thought the Golden Guard, trembling a little. 'The Emperor will be pleased when he sees it.'

"S-sir, I can explain…" Hunter started to speak.

"I think your current state pretty much explains what you've done," Belos interrupted, his voice calm, low and colder than a block of ice. "How could you disobey me like that? Is this the thanks I get for everything I did for you?"

"Uncle-"

"I took you in, I raised you since you were just a little orphaned baby until now, and yet you still had the courage to ignore a direct order?!"

"I'm sorry, my lord," Hunter began to mumble, guilt gnawing at his insides as if he'd been drinking sulfuric acid. "I'm sorry... I just wanted to help..."

"And I already told you that you help by staying safe in the castle."

"B-but I brought the key!" Hunter said, taking the portal key out of his pocket, shaking with guilt and despair, and holding it with his outstretched arm, keeping it as far away as possible and in front of him, as if it were a shield that could defend him from the emperor's wrath and the guilt that had not stopped tearing him from within.

"What?" Belos blurted out in surprise, rising from the throne at once and walking slowly towards the boy.

When the Emperor got close enough to the boy, he took the key from his nephew's hand and studied it for a few seconds, then he said in the same cold tone as in the beginning of the conversation:

"It's broken."

"But there's still blood!" Hunter snapped even more scared.

"True, but that doesn't make up for your injuries."

"But-"

"You are more valuable and harder to replace than a few drops of Titan's blood," the emperor interrupted with no discernible emotion in his voice as he used some sort of spell to teleport the key somewhere.

"What?" Hunter asked in surprise, but then clapped his hands over his mouth, terrified that he might have sounded insolent or spoken out of turn. "S-sorry… I… I didn't mean to sound rude… I..."

"Didn't you know?" Belos asked with mild surprise. "I thought I told you how much of a hassle it would be to find a replacement for you before your little escape."

'It wasn't an escape…' Hunter thought even more downcast, looking at the ground.

"Hunter, answer me this simple question: how much time is left until the Day of Unity?" Emperor Belos asked.

"Th-three months, my lord..." The boy replied, still looking at the ground.

'It's right on my seventeenth birthday…' Hunter thought. Honestly, he hadn't been able to decide yet if that was a great honor (after all the most important day of all was scheduled to happen right on his birthday) or if it just meant that on that day his uncle would be too busy to celebrate his birthday with him. … Whatever, after so many failures he didn't deserve a birthday party anyway, the Day of Unity was far more important.

"Exactly," the Emperor confirmed in his usual cold, emotionless tone of voice. "Not long, don't you think?"

"Yes, my lord."

"Now… How long do you think the Day of Unity would be delayed if by chance you had died in your selfish little adventure on Eclipse Lake?"

"I don't know, my lord..." Hunter replied in undertone, almost inaudibly, more to himself than to the emperor, the urge to die or simply disappear forever from the universe reaching the stratosphere.

"Don't you know?" the Emperor asked curiously. "Do you really have no idea?"

"N-no, sir…"

"Seventeen years," the Emperor said, answering his own question.

Hunter's eyes widened and he instinctively looked up into the emperor's face, surprised by what he heard. The Emperor was joking, wasn't he? No… The Emperor never jokes. So the boy must have heard wrong...

"Surprised?" Belos asked rhetorically, seeing the Golden Guard's expression. "That's just what you heard. Seventeen years is the delay you would have caused to the Titan's plans if you had died in that place today. Did you understand now how big was the trouble you almost caused me? The hassle it would be to the other Coven Heads? You almost ruined everything with your disobedience, Hunter. Are you happy now?"

"No…" Hunter spoke in undertone, trying not to cry, immediately remembering the ridiculous scene he'd done a few hours ago digging his own grave in Eclipse Lake and deeply regretting it. It could be said that the boy was now basically made up of guilt.

"Then don't disobey me again."

"I won't disobey anymore, sir," the Golden Guard said, still holding back tears.

"I hope so," the Emperor commented. "But it won't save you from punishment."

"I understand, my lord."

"Excellent. So from today you are forbidden to leave the castle… until the Day of Unity."

'Three months?! All this?!' Hunter thought, turning pale. 'What about the missions?! Who will do the missions while I'm stuck here? And the Parade?! It's next week! We always watch the Parade together… And it's the only holiday we spend together as a family… It's not possible this year we will not…'

Tears began to fall silently from the Golden Guard's eyes.

"Hunter?" - The Emperor asked when he saw the boy's face. "Are you crying?"

"N-no…" Hunter replied, instinctively trying to wipe away the tears that kept falling. "I'm sorry… I… I understand my mistake and accept my punishment, sir."

"I'm glad to hear it," Belos said. "Now get up, take a shower, talk to Agatha, and after she's treated your wounds, go to your room."

Hunter looked away, not liking the idea of seeing the head of the Healing Coven while his eyes were still swollen from crying, but as that was an order…

'Great... When it rains it pours! The punishment was not enough, this day had to end in humiliation to be complete! Kiki will love it when she hears the gossip from the scouts that I went to see the head of the Healing Coven crying like a baby' the boy thought getting worse and worse. 'They will probably spread that I was fired or something like that!'

"If you prefer, you can go to your room to sleep before talking to Agatha, to avoid meeting any scout along the way and creating unnecessary embarrassment," Belos said, almost as if he had heard the boy's thoughts. "But tomorrow without fail I want your wounds to be healed."

"Yes, sir," Hunter replied, grateful for the little bit of consideration he'd just received.

"Now that everything is settled, you can leave. Good rest, Hunter."

- x -

Winter was hiding under the bed of his new witch, Hunter, anxiously waiting for the boy to return. The little red cardinal was super happy, his witch finally understood his language and now the two could finally talk! And Winter had so much to talk, so many stories to tell, 382 years of stories, to be exact, he was sure his little wizard would be impressed! And now that Hunter had managed to deliver the key to his terrifying uncle, Winter was sure Hunter would come back to his room super happy and…

Hunter entered the room at that exact moment… But he wasn't happy. In fact, his eyes were so swollen it looked like the boy had just cried… a lot. That sight broke Winter's heart.

The palisman came out of his hiding and flew to Hunter, asking in his bird language:

"What happened?"

Hunter didn't respond, he just grabbed a change of clean clothes from the wardrobe and left the room again, sniffling, leaving the red cardinal alone again.

Several minutes later Winter's witch came back into the room, this time the boy was very clean and smelling very good, but his eyes were still red and swollen, in fact they were even redder and more swollen than before. Was he crying in the shower?

Hunter went straight to the bed, immediately burying his head in the pillow.

"Hunter?" Winter asked worriedly, flying towards his wizard, landing right next to the boy.

Instead of answering, the Golden Guard, still lying down, grabbed the little bird and cried again, hugging the palisman tightly. Hunter stayed that way, hugging the red cardinal while crying, for a long time until finally fatigue overcame him, making the boy fall asleep.