Emperor's Palace

Hunter still remembers when the wounds on his hands were still fresh with blood.

He remembers the dissonance of being deprived of his sense of touch. So much pain occurred that it looped back to feeling nothing at all. He could not feel the crimson liquid on his hands, nor could he feel the jagged rocks cutting into his skin as he fruitlessly continued to dig.

He remembers presenting them to his uncle, their twitching form in front of his masked face and piercing blue eyes.

He doesn't like to remember what happened after, though. The memories of the yelling alone made him slightly shake.

"Are you cold, Hunter?"

The voice of Hettie Cutburn snapped him out of his reminiscing and he looked to see her soft eyes, not covered by the mask. Her blue, stringy hair tied in a neat bun as her horns cast a small shadow over Hunter. She spoke in spite of a lack of response, "you're quite shaky all of a sudden."

Hunter formed a quick response, "Yeah, it's a bit chilly here." he said with an awkward smile.

The Healing Coven leader simply grunted and went back to work. She examined his scarred hands with a close eye. She held out a small, metal needle and lightly jabbed the hands lain in front of her. Not hard enough to pierce flesh, but enough to elicit some form of a reaction.

This specific practice was a test to see if his reflexes and nerves still functioned. With every jab, there was a slight twitch of the hand, confirming that they worked. One particular jab near the proximal palmar made Hunter hiss in pain ever so briefly. Hettie took a small mental note at that and continued her jabbing for a short while.

Eventually, she put down the needle and stood up, "well, Hunter, your hands are certainly in good shape," she said with a smile, which made the Golden Guard smile back, "but I still recommend you keep them away from sudden and high stress. We don't want all this good progress to go to waste, now do we?"

He shook his head, "not at all, doctor."

Hettie wrote down notes on her clipboard. The… incident at Eclipse Lake was mentioned. Hettie voiced her concerns on that one, but the Golden Guard ensured that nothing major happened. It took some convincing, but she was willing to let it slide.

She then stopped writing and stood up facing him, "You're free to go." she said.

Hunter nodded, standing up to put his brown gloves and white cape on. Hettie smiled, "Treatment remains the same, as usual. I'll see you next week, Hunter."

"I'll see you next week, too, Doc." He said with a smile, turning away

"Oh, and Hunter…" Hettie spoke up, making him turn around to see her pushing a jar of candies to the edge of her desk, "you nearly forgot your lollipop."


He returned to his room and plopped down on his bed, the lollipop stick jutting out of the corner of his lips like a cigarette, the afternoon sun beating down on him as he lay there. He wondered what to do for today, assuming he won't (and secretly hoped) be getting another mission by his Uncle today.

Flapjack then landed on his chest with a chirp. The Golden Guard looked at him and smiled, reaching out a hand and scratching the side of his head. In spite of his often troublesome behavior and the fact that having him was a crime most heinous in the emperor's eyes, Flapjack has proven to be one of the greatest people he's met in his whole life.

"People." Funny how he equates a palisman to that word. All his life, he's been taught that palisman were a leftover tradition of the witches of the Savage Ages, remaining in use only because of generational imprinting and practices, as well as the mass outrage over the time Belos tried to outlaw them that proved far too difficult to contain.

Or so he was told, anyway.

He knew all members of the Emperor's Coven were to give their palisman up and donate them to Belos so that he may heal himself from whatever wild magic did to him, with the notable exception of the traitor Lilith Clawthorne. To resist this mandated order is severely punishable. Sometimes with petrification…

Yet here he was, scritching and scratching his little head, letting him rub against a hand that could just barely encompass his body. He could go to sleep right now and would wake up the next morning with a smile on his face.

A knock on the door interrupted the serenity of the scene and he immediately sprung his body up and motioned Flapjack to hide under the covers as he got up. He opened the door to see a Coven guard salute him and stand tall.

He cleared his throat, "what is it?" he asked, not even bothering to be proper.

"The Emperor is requesting you, Sir."

Hunter resisted the impulse to make his frown visible. He simply nodded at the guard and watched him walk away before closing his doors and sighing.

Flapjack emerged from the covers of his bed, tilting his head as he saw him putting on his cloak and shoulder guards. He chirped sadly at this sight, which Hunter noticed.

"I know, I know!" he said, slightly annoyed at his concern, "just stay here as always, hide under the bed, no flying out the window, yadda, yadda, yadda."

He grabbed his artificial palisman staff, "especially no flying out the window!" he added, rushing to the window and ensuring it was locked, "spent all night worried sick last time that happened."

He turned to the Palisman and immediately softened his expression, "I'll be back, alright?"

The palisman nodded and saw him instinctively reach for a mask that was not there before he realized it wasn't and left the room, the clicking of the lock following shortly.


Clawthorne Estate

It was only until the old generational Clawthorne house was in view that Eda realized she had made a mistake.

She hadn't been there in so long. Not since an outburst with the Owl Beast. Not since her father…

She winced at the very passing memory. She landed down behind the iron gates leading to the home and stepped off Owbert, everyone else doing the same.

She gulped, "welcome to the Clawthorne estate everyone," she muttered, just barely audible for everyone else.

"This is so cool! I've never been to your childhood home!" Luz said as she got off, before changing her tone, "I mean, Lilith is hurt, so that's not cool-"

"I know what you mean." Eda interrupted in a stern tone before taking a deep breath, "sorry. Just… a lot going on."

Luz looked back at her with a raised brow, "ok…" she commented awkwardly, not wanting to potentially further aggravate her, she turned and adjusted Hooty's travel pack on her back as King followed her to the home.

Eda stared at the house, feeling a weight suddenly settle in her stomach and a lump form in her throat at the very visage of the place.

She heard Spawn landing behind her, his cape flapping and shifting back to its normal shape the second his feet touched the ground. She glared behind her at his approaching form. "You go ahead," he said to her, ignoring the dirty look, "I'll look around the perimeter to ensure any unwanted guest isn't snooping around."

"Good to know…"

"Besides, you are right in that I won't exactly be a welcome guest here," Spawn mused, "your mother tried to pick a fight with me, you know."

Eda turned, "what!?"

Al nodded, "like I said, I won't be seen as a welcome guest. Best keep my distance. Be seeing ya."

Eda furrowed a brow. 'Why does Lilith love going on long lectures about useless shit, but leave out details on things that actually matter?' she thought to herself as Spawn walked away and disappeared in a green flash.

"Jackass," she couldn't resist muttering.

She brushed it off and looked at Luz, King, and Hooty entering the houses. She can already hear the excited commotion even from here.

She wanted to take a step forward. It should have been easy, after all, no? One foot in front of the other, repeatedly until she reached the door.

She took one step… and then retracted it. She hugged her palisman staff close to her, with a grip so strong, her knuckles became more pale than they already were.

In spite of the afternoon sun shining overhead and giving the day a warm feeling, she felt cold, like rolling in the snow with no clothes on cold.

'Why did Lilith tell me to come here?' she thought to herself, 'why?"


Admittedly, Luz expected something more… grandiose.

Not that she wasn't amazed seeing Eda's old home, not at all, but she figured perhaps the air of mystery surrounding what little Eda told her about her family was far more intriguing than any result could ever conjure. She expected walls that were lined with books of all kinds, a cauldron bubbling in the center of the room, maybe strange animals crawling up and down the shelves.

Nope. Just a small, quiet, humble little room. A coffee table in the middle, some chairs here and there, and a kitchen that looked pretty clean.

She shrugged those thoughts off seeing the form of Gwendolyn Clawthorne standing in the center of the room, her rather concerned face easing up seeing the three enter.

"Thank Goodness you're all here!" the sweet, old lady said in a tone that reminded Luz of her own abuelita whenever she and her mother visited.

They all exchanged hugs and their greetings. Gwen then moved aside to show Lilith on the couch, dotted with a few still healing bruises, scrapes and scratches, an ice pack on her head.

"LULU!" Hooty shrieked before detaching from Luz's back and rushing his neck towards her, wrapping her like a Gordian Knot, "I WAS SO WORRIED!"

Unsure of how to move in this new predicament, Lilith just chuckled, "I'm ok, Hootsifer, I'm ok."

Hooty began waxing lyrical about his feelings when Dell came up to the others, his smile visible behind his big gray beard and mustache, "ah, so you must be my daughter's apprentice I've heard so much about!" he stated in a jolly old tone that betrayed his somewhat weary face, "You've already met my wife, so allow me to introduce myself; I am Dell Clawthorne."

Dell extended a rather shaky hand, which Luz shook, "you must be Eda's dad!" she beamed

The old witch's face slightly lowered upon the mention of her name, "yes, yes I am," he responded a bit quietly, before his face quickly shot back up when King introduced himself.

"If you're Eda's father, does that make you my grandpappy by adoption?" the little demon asked with a wag of his tail.

The old witch laughed, " you must be this King Clawthorne I've seen shared on those little Scroll feeds," he kneeled down to shake his paw, "oh, I am so glad to meet my grandson."

If King had a visible mouth, it would be sporting the biggest smile in the world.

Just then, Hooty stretched his neck to Dell's face, "where's my greetings, Mr. Clawthorne~" he droned on, receiving an awkward chuckle from the old man.

"Yes, of course…. You." Dell awkwardly responded, "who... what are you, exactly?"

"I'm Hooty!" it responded with zero elaboration.

Dell shrugged and pat Hooty's head, "well, Hooty, I am glad to meet such an interesting creature like you."

Further short exchanges were made between the four before Gwen approached her husband's side with a smile towards them, "I'm so glad all of you could make it!"

It was at this point that Lilith spoke up, "In hindsight, I don't think it was necessary for all of you to come," she intoned, adjusting herself in Hooty's grip "but I appreciate it, truly, even if just Eda showing up would have been nice."

"Speaking of which, where is my little witchlet?" Gwendolyn asked, looking around the house, "I figured she would have been here by-" She interrupted herself as her pupils shrunk with a sudden realization.

Lilith too hit the same realization. With surprising speed, she leapt out of Hooty's grip as her parents joined her in a rush to the front door, they opened it and…

Eda wasn't there. The only thing that was present was a gust of wind that passed by, blowing away some leaves.

"No…" Lilith whispered, "I should have seen this coming, damn it!"

"How could we have forgotten?" Gwendolyn added, holding her husband's shoulder as he looked off to the horizon, "how could we have forgotten?"

"What?" Luz worriedly asked, sorrowful expressions shared by King and Hooty, "what do you mean by that?"

"Eda didn't tell you, did she?" Dell said, while Luz just tilted her head. The old man sighed, "there is a reason she never mentions her life with us…"


In the forests that surrounded the estate, Eda ran as fast as her legs could take her, her heels doing little to slow down her sprint as the wind rushed past her face with each step.

She had the faintest hint of deja vu. She ran away just like this when she was so young, albeit in a different direction. How long ago was it that she ran away? Twenty years at least? The details were a bit fuzzy when her mind was focusing on other things.

She had spent so long repressing the memory… But it came back to her full force now.

Overturned furniture, claw marks on the floor and walls. Her father… lying on the floor, his own blood covering his face and most of his body, the red liquid staining the floor and walls. She was staring at her own hands, soaked with her own father's blood, the muffled screams of her mother and sister droning on as the ringing in her ears covered every other sound, almost as if a loud explosion had just occurred. The only clear sound being her own heartbeat and ragged breaths.

She was knocked out of her train of thought when she tripped over an exposed root from a tree, grunting as she hit the dirt. She growled as her fists balled into the soil, raised her arm and tossed the handful of earth away, the dust fading away in the wind.

She grunted again and slammed a fist on the ground in frustration, "Stupid!" she cried out to no one, "stupid! stupid!"

She stopped pounding the ground, "Why…" she muttered with a cracked voice, "why, Titan, why did I have to answer that stupid text?" She bemoaned, too exhausted to even have a single tear flow through her eye. She was content with just laying on the dirt, slowly being consumed by her despair.

From behind a tree, Spawn observed from the shadows the trunk cast, wondering what could force a woman like her into such a state…


The Emperor's Throne Room

Hunter entered the grand throne room with a slightly fearful step, the form of his uncle turned

"Hunter," Belos addressed in a cold voice.

The Golden Guard stifled a breath before speaking, "You summoned me, Lord Belos?"

The monarch nodded, "yes, I have, my dearest nephew," his voice dripping with a cold contempt that Hunter didn't pick up, "I have what you have requested."

Hunter looked up to see Belos turn around, his face covered with his narrow plague doctor-like facemask that had a piece over an eyehole broken, the antlers attached to the mask standing proud and above his head. In his hands lay a round mask, with an almost visor-like eyehole and a gold sheen to it.

His eyes slightly widened at it. Could it be…?

"Your replacement mask." Belos seemed to answer a forming question before Hunter even had the chance to say it, "per your request."

"Th-thank you, Uncle," Hunter meekly said, reaching for the mask before Belos pulled it back suddenly.

"Do not expect another replacement should you lose this one too," the emperor coldly stated before pushing the mask back to the Golden Guard's reach, "I will not tolerate your clumsiness a second time."

Hunter only nodded, balling a fist under his cloak before releasing said fist and grabbing the mask in front of him. He looked at it closely to see if there were any differences from the previous one. It looked shinier, but that could be chalked up to a fresh new coat of paint, not necessarily a change in material. There were no unique blemishes on said paintjob, nor any slight unevenness in the outline.

It was basically the same mask. All he could ask for, he supposed.

He slightly thinned his lips before flipping the mask and raising it to his face, making sure it clamped snugly…. Funny feeling, putting it back on. He never noticed how cramped it felt until now. Maybe he was too used to his face being exposed for a couple of weeks now, but the mask felt a bit constrictive. It was a bit harder to breathe and his vision wasn't the best in this visor, it was incredibly narrow and limited…

Was he sure this was the same mask?

As Hunter tried to get used to the new mask, Belos spoke again, "there is another thing, my nephew."

'Of course there is.' Hunter thought, 'There is always another thing.'

"I have a mission for you," his uncle stated, pulling out a rolled up sheet of paper and revealing it to be a wanted poster for the Hellspawn, "I need you to track him down and find out his location."

Hunter nodded and bowed, "Yes, My Lord." He turned around, white cape swishing before he was stopped by Belos' voice.

"You are not to engage." The order was delivered quietly, but loud enough for him to hear, "you are to report his last seen location and inform the closest districts, they will send out a request of an Abomatron squadron to deal with him. Are we clear?"

The Golden Guard turned and bowed once again, "Crystal, my Liege."

"Good."

The Golden Guard nodded and turned back around, headed out of the throne room. As soon as the massive doors were closed, Belos turned to his throne, adjusting his cape with a toss of his hand.

He cursed himself for showing concern over the Grimwalker. But he could not blame his slip of emotion. It looked almost exactly like Caleb. He reminded himself that no matter how much this one looked like his late brother out of all the previous attempts, he could not get attached to it.

It wasn't him after all. It will never be him.

He stood near his throne and listened to the almost rhythmic thumping of the Titan's Heart which still beat above him, the sounds echoing across the throne room. He thought of what he said to Hunter.

What's done is done and if he returns with news that the Hellspawn's head would be delivered to him on a pike, excellent. If he doesn't return at all…

Well, he could always make a new one.

Regardless, he had a long overdue meeting planned and he needed to make haste.